Blessings, Holly

Oct. 12, 2009 - Demented Nesting

Bought a six foot circle rug at Target for the front computer room. This carries my circle motif from the front living room across the house (living room has a rectangular rug with circle pattern on it and round candle holders on the walls). It also brings burgundy into the room from the hall rug color and back living room rocking chair cushion color. Ordered a 6' octagon rug for the back living room and am contemplating whether I need to change out my larege, square metal wall art there for a huge round clock on the wall or if I can consider the square part of a broader "geometric" theme--square pattern on front living room chair, four framed square prints above that room's couch.

Downstairs half bath was too "cool" in color in it's new grayed blue form to go with the rest of the house. I decided that the white hand towels were not helping the cause with the white pedestal sink and white wall cabinet. Ditched the white hand towels for dark brown, which matches a frame in that bathroom anyway. MUCH better as it carries the sand/taupes/browns/burgundy warmth from the rest of the house into that room and counters the coolness of the walls, the cabinet and sink. Am pleased that the large oval mirror is already a play on the circle theme, but will look for some circle decoration in deep brown for the wall. Am also going to get two small display shelves in the same deep brown and put two pieces of my white pottery collection (sure, I've bought all the pottery at various Goodwills, but it still looks nice) in that half bath on the shelf. Those will be my white pottery birds; one duck and one quail. That will leave all my white pottery with looped handles in one massed collection on top of the front living room's tall, dark brown furniture piece. Which now that I think about it, carries that dark brown and white theme across the house too.

We did pick up, but haven't put together, the crib. No diapers yet other than three that came in a mailed sample pack. Haven't brought up the baby bath or the portacrib or the infant seat from the basement workroom. Haven't broken the new infant car seat out of it's packaging. So, I *am* nesting, but crazy, patterned OCD type nesting rather than making actual progress toward what a baby needs and uses nesting.

Blessings,
Holly

Oct. 1, 2009 - If

Posted in Christian

IF you happen to be doing a lesson on Martin Luther in homeschool AND you decide to find the kids a video of his most famous hymn "A Mighty Fortress" AND you happen upon Steve Green's YouTube one AND you burst into tears listening to it, well, you just might be 34 weeks pregnant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRJHKzU_t1M

Blessings,
Holly

Sep. 27, 2009 - Wish I had taken a "before" picture!

Posted in Organizing

Because my newly organized laundry room looks fabulous "after!"

12 identical, numbered, see through, purple lidded, six quart, stackable
containers used to corral everthing. List of the contents by box number hanging
just above the laundry room sink. Poisons way up high, almost as if we were
responsible parents.

All eco-friendly totes--which I'm convinced mate during the night, but being pro-life, I can't bear to part with even one--neatly folded and placed inside two large, square fabric bags.

Washer and dryer decrudded of dust and sticky ole laundry detergent spills. Mismatching socks awaiting mates--they are celibate as the totes are promiscuous--in a neat basket with box of dryer sheets on top of the dryer.

White painted door brightened by a good going over with a Magic Eraser.

Goodwill donations cataloged, priced and placed in black trashbag, neatly in laundry sink area, awaiting transport to the Goodwill.

Now, to impose such order on all the rooms of the house before baby arrives and it all goes to pot again.

Blessings,
Holly

Sep. 25, 2009 - A Marriage Addendum

Posted in Mr. Wonderful

For the back story, one must read the entry below before this one. A follow up note to my cousin:

With self-righteous flourish, Mr. Wonderful read my post and then silently
unveiled a manilla folder (out on a counter, buried under newspaper) with manly,
handwritten "Timeshare" on the tab.

I was not fooled by his bluff. I knew 10 to 1 the info needed was NOT in the
Timeshare folder.

He rifled through. I saw a birthday card from his mom, a Universal Studios
Orlando glossy brochure. No timeshare seller info.

He has foresight and back up, though. Or at least that's the positive spin I'm
going to put on the fact that the man never deletes an email, so if you need to know
what restaurants in Columbus OH were offering one week specials back in 2007,
we've got you covered for that too. Sure 'nuff, he did find the seller name that
we used for one of our purchases and the same one his sister used a year ago.
The Ebay seller name is laman34. There is a company name too, but that seller
name should be all you need to find their listings on Ebay. For the second, the
seller was tttimeshare. While we don't personally know anyone other than us who
has used them, we had good success and they have a high seller rating on Ebay.

Hope that helps!

Blessings, Holly

Sep. 25, 2009 - How to Spice Up a Marriage in the Second Decade

Posted in Mr. Wonderful

This note originally went to my cousin, but it contains so much about how to have a successful marriage, that I'd thought I'd share it here too. Enjoy!

Sue, I'll get you the timeshare company names. Mr. Wonderful has those and I
have to free it from whatever tiny scrap of paper he wrote it on. The more
essential the info, the smaller the scrap of paper he sees fit write in on and
the weirder, less intuitive place he must ferry it to. I suspect this info
probably earned something like a half napkin and is stuffed between the back
seats of his car.

I would look in the manilla file folder clearly labelled "Homes" in the armoire
with all our other important manilla folders that I maintain, but that would be
pointless. Only the info Mr. Wonderful may ever need from me is there.

It's just one of the little things Mr. Wonderful likes to do to spice up our
marriage, sortof a grown up scavenger hunt just to keep me on my toes. He
probably is secretly disappointed that when he tells me he needs a dentist
receipt from three months ago to submit to FlexBen, all he has to do is sit
there for 30 seconds until I bring it to him.

To keep him on his toes, I've been doing a great rendition for him in these last
few weeks of "Which psychotic Holly will greet me today?" I'm sure it's a fun
game for him and I'm upping the ante with each day that brings me closer to
delivery. Will it be Weepy Holly? Raging Holly? Sleepy Holly? Achy but can't
sleep so let's discuss all my worries at 4am Holly? Or, his personal favorite,
Rapid Cycling Through All of the Above Hollys? These are all just a warm-up for
Post-Partum Holly.

Let the games begin!

Blessings,
Holly

Sep. 15, 2009 - Who Knew?

Posted in Parenting

I was beaching my gigantic belly on the couch and drooling on a pillow after our field trip this morning and assigning the three and half year old princess some tasks to keep her busy while I dozed in two minute increments.

She came back for another "job" after coloring a pretty picture and I said "Why don't you sign your name on the back?"

Now, mind you, I've never shown this kid how to make letters, except A and O a few months back. And it's not like her name is short; it contains 8 letters.

She trotted off and I thought I might get a three minute doze.

Wrong. She promptly returned with a perfectly spelled, left to right. One letter was backward, but still.

Who knew?

Blessings, Holly

Sep. 8, 2009 - No wonder he's hungry.

Posted in Parenting

Eldest son has always been a good eater. But within the past several months, he has become a ravenous eater, to the point where I find myself thinking, "What massive quantity of cheap, healthy carbohydrates can I serve with what used to be our regular dinner?" He often eats two complete meals at one sitting and it's neck and neck as to whether the teenage boy or the pregnant mama can pack more away.

Today I found out why. The kid has grown 4 and a quarter inches in the past year and put on 16-20 pounds. Not that he's breakin' any records; he is still just 30th percentile in height (and even less in weight). But last year, by way of comparison, he was 15th percentile in height...which was an improvement over the 5-10th percentile he had hovered around for many years.

I now understand why it seems like he went from size 12 to 16-18, with nary a stop at 14. Because that's exactly what he did.

Thing 2, who put on a respectable 2 and a quarter inches, is green with envy.

Blessings, Holly

Sep. 8, 2009 - Priceless Princess

Posted in Parenting

Today on our stroller ride, we passed two ladies. One lady had on the traditional Muslim hijab.

Caroline delightedly and loudly exclaimed, "Oh, look, mommy! I sink (Caroline always 'sinks' never "thinks") one of those ladies is a super hero!"

Blessings,
Holly

Sep. 4, 2009 - So I kinda think Jesus might have made a mistake.

Posted in Parenting

No, not really of course. My posse tends to get mighty riled by statements like that, so I need to put forth the immediate disclaimer.

But if the Almighty really wanted companionship that last night before the cross, perhaps he should have done better than to pick a bunch of men as his disciples. Nothing against men, mind you. I want it on the record that I have corrected my three year old princess a time or two when she innocently declares, "Boys grow up to be men and girls grow up to be grown-ups."

All Jesus really needed that last night was one pregnant woman.

"What's that you say, Chief? You want me to stay up and pray and keep you company? No prob-lemo. Ain't no sleepin' going on here. I gotta pee, my joints ache, I'm all stuffed up and can't breathe....oh, yes, quite right. Yes, sure does pale in comparison. Right-o. Sorry about that. I'll just be right here--not sleepin'--praying for you. Except, of course, it's slipped my mind exactly what I'm to be praying? Oh, yeah, right right. I'm just a little absent minded..."

Having completed my own third watch of the night, I wish I could actually claim to have made spiritual progress. But I would have been just as lousy as all those men were for Christ. My own third watch contained:

Worrying if I could get back to sleep (negative).

Worrying if I was totally screwing up registration for 400 AWANA kids (probably affirmative).

Sending some emails to try to stave off said screwing up.

Reading blog of fellow mom/homeschooler/pregnant old lady complaining about the associated physical annoyances of the third trimester (noted irony of doing so to self since self is only one up in the household).

Reading the NY Times headlines. Reading the WSJ headlines. Noted to self (see above) that if pregnancy actually allowed for any short or long term memory process to occur, I'd be a decently informed citizen.

Running the dishwasher.

Folding a load of laundry.

Balancing the checkbook.

Making lunches for the first day of homeschool co-op.

Having a cup of tea.

Writing a blog post to at least attempt to find the humor in not getting sleep. Remembered the Suburban Diva's comment after giving birth to her fourth that "sleep is for rookies."

Deciding to give sleep another go around and see if bladder/joints/insomnia/other pregnancy maladies would let a gal catch a break (probably negative).

Blessings,
Holly

Sep. 3, 2009 - I can relate.

He was John Adams of Braintree and he loved to talk. He was a known talker.
There were some, even among his admirers, who wished he talked less. He himself
wished he talked less, and he had particular regard for those, like General
Washington, who somehow managed great reserve under almost any circumstance.

--David McCullough in John Adams

Aug. 26, 2009 - My own personal $600 per month toilet

Posted in Homeschooling

Never do I feel more "a leg up" in the process than the first few weeks of school. I love hearing of my friends' kids experiences...the new two minute passing time for middle school, navigating the "up" staircase and the "down" staircase, the locker jams, FB pics of school buses pulling away at 7am, the first graders who haven't yet touched a pencil. I love these because they not only fill me with a bit of nostalgia, but they also alleviate the guilt that comes when I declare a four day week or a long vacation or "heck, it's a beautiful sunny day and we're homeschoolers who are going out to enjoy it!" We've been back at it for a couple of weeks now. Rather than orientation/navigation issues, we dived into our Latin, our music practice, our adapted Shakespeare Richard III (in written and in animated formats), our Renaissance and Reformation history, our area and perimeter, algebra, TI-89 Titanium programming calculations (depending on the kid). I need the annual reminder that what we do is both flexible but also just darn efficient.

Oh, to bottle and remember these days for the upcoming November and December, when our emphasis will be on "life skills" such as how to diaper a baby, how to fix lunch so Mom can nap. I will be certain then that the kids would be so much better off somewhere--anywhere--else but home. My rational side knows this is not true, but I don't expect to be rational in the first months of a new baby.

But am I really all that rational now? (don't answer that.) 3/4 of our property taxes go to the local schools. That's about $6K annually straight to D204, or $600 monthly per 10 month school calendar. What do I get for my $600? Well, the elementary school secretary is quite kind enough to let me stop in and use the bathroom during my long morning waddles around the neighborhood. Maybe I am a chump; even if I stop in to pee every week day, that's $30 a flush. Shouldn't I also at least be given a latte and a bouquet every time I enter the building, in grateful appreciation of me forking over the cash without burdening the district with my four, soon to be five, kids?

It seems expensive to me, as far as loos go. But not having to send my kid to a non-air conditioned building at the end of August nor having them waste time searching for the "down" staircase? Priceless.

Blessings, Holly

Aug. 23, 2009 - Cruel Joke

Posted in Parenting

Only a male designer could possibly have come up with the recommendation so often seen on maternity clothes labels and in maternity shops:

Try on your normal prepregnancy size.

Um, yeah. Sure. Right.

Blessings, Holly

http://www.duggarfamily.com/characterqualities.html

Aug. 17, 2009 - First Day of Homeschool

Posted in Homeschooling

Preceded by a night of the three year old puking.

Not always considered two great things and certainly not two great things that go great together.

All in all, a successful day though. Puking was done by 4am. School started at a respectable 10am-ish and morning chores were mostly done cheerfully and well.

For the next little bit, at least until AWANA starts, we are beginning our school day with copywork/dictation from the Character Qualities chart featured on the Duggars' website:

Today's trait was "Truthfulness" and we discussed how twisting and shading the truth can be "putting on falsehood." We also touched on the fact that one can report solely the truth yet still give an overall false report/impression. Good discussion and nice to begin the day together. After copying/writing from dictation the trait, the definition and the associated Bible verse, each kid decorated their paper with colored pencil flourishes.

We then jumped in to our new history curriculum The Mystery of History. All three boys can do this together and it also allows each kid to practice some outloud reading. We will center on Renaissance and Reformation this year. We looked at the Tower of London on google video and created a neat little flip chart to keep all the English rulers straight. The princess finger painted while we discussed the first unit in MOH. Bigger kids also watched another of the Teaching Company's 30 minute DVDs from the World History course.

The big boys practiced their music (trumpet and sax, respectively) while the eight year old tackled Rosetta Stone Latin and I ran out to the store for some supplies.

We reconvened after lunch for me to do some pattern blocks with the eight year old to reinforce the concept of "area" as we finish up his Singapore Math left over from the spring. He should move into book 4A within a week or two. The 12 year old jumped into Harold R. Jacob's Algebra and the 14 year old is learning to use his new TI-89 Titanium calculator. He'll start Thinkwell's PreCalc in the next week or so. After math, bigger boys tackled their Rosetta Stone Latin while I took a short nap and the princess watched Dora and the 8 year old played outside.

In between subjects throughout the day, there were periods of play and all the boys headed out, beating the rain, in the late afternoon. Both of the bigger boys are reading GA Henty's A Knight of the White Cross , which corresponds to what we're learning in history, and the younger boy read some of Cobblestone Publishing's wonderful Appleseeds magazine.

The 8 year old will take a Fun with Physics class at our co-op beginning in early September and might do some hands on science as part of an every other week boys' club I am forming for his age. I am still mulling science options for the two bigger kids and don't have a good solution to that yet. Lots of ideas, few concrete conclusions. The biggest kid right now is signed up for Science Olympiad at our co-op. But we need some time to build into and adjust what we already do have planned, so I am not too stressed about that elusive science component (yet). I am looking forward to the karate, art, woodworking and band that will begin with the co-op. The middle kid will play soccer this fall in a local league as well. Math Club and AWANA both gear up in mid to end of September.

I figure today will be the most organized, most planned, most generous in patience and of spirit that I am likely to be, so if long silence follows before a next update, you will know that replicating Day One has proven elusive. But if you've homeschooled more than five minutes, you probably already knew that.

Blessings, Holly

Aug. 17, 2009 - How does your garden grow?

Posted in Gardening

Anyone put in a garden this year?

Our strawberry plants doubled this year and had a good yield. Unfortunately, the slugs found many of the berries before we did. Next year, I will set out shallow containers with beer in them. My mom always used that to keep down the slugs in her garden, though I'm not clear whether the slugs got drunk, got drowned or both.

Tomatoes haven't done well this year...too cold, I think. Puny plants and just starting to bear fruit.

Cukes have gone wild over the past week and I am wondering how to use four large cukes in feeding six folks dinner tonight.

Most of our apples got either a fungus or a worm, which happened last year too. I did get the proper spray from a local nursery to combat this for next year. We might save a few this season too. The pears, though, seem unaffected and we are just beginning to come into the ripe season for them.

Threw some old seeds at the side of the house and squash actually grew. We picked our first of that yesterday.

Our potato plants don't look very large, so we'll see what happens with the tubers. We won't pull those up til late September or whenever the plants die back for fall.

What's up in your yard?

Blessings, Holly

Jul. 26, 2009 - And I thought I was being rather stoic.

Posted in Parenting

Why does every person greet a pregnant lady with a "How are you feeling?"

There is no good answer to that question. It is not a nice or solicitous question to the pregnant one. Trust me on this. To a pregnant lady, complete with pregnant hormones, this inquiry is nothing short of an all-out taunt. My heart is sideways in my chest. My blood volume has doubled. My intestines are pushed way up past my belly button. How do you imagine I feel? A whole range of ungodly though wickedly funny replies play through my head as I struggle to compose a socially acceptable response that is neither an outright lie nor the litany of complaint that no one, not even me, really wants to hear.

I was beginning to sputter out a reply to one well-intentioned inquiry this evening. "Oh, well, you know, I guess pretty good..." when Mr. Wonderful cut me off, "She's miserable," he told the person. Which when it comes from your husband sounds solicitous of his wife and yet subtly conveys the idiocy of the question. How would one expect a person who looks like a Macy's Day parade balloon to feel, afterall?

Too bad the fella has to work for a living as I would love to have him around as my spokesperson on a full-time basis.

Blessings, Holly

Jul. 26, 2009 - So, I kinda like the new table afterall...

The new air hockey table is growing on me. First, it is a great table; one of those $500 retail babies and to get it for $30 was a steal. Mr. Wonderful, sensing my doubts (and initial displeasures no doubt), did a great job of cleaning it up to gleaming perfection.

Second, since I am pregnant and Mr. Wonderful not yet fully recouped from neck surgery and two burly neighbor men out of town this weekend, we decided to leave it in the garage for now. So, I cleaned out and organized the garage, a task that inexplicably needs doing every month. Am now feeling virtuous and self-righteous rather than grumpy and frumpy.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, the kids love it. As do the neighbor kids.

Fourth, I'm not sure it will ever fit through the door and into the basement. Which means only one of us will be able to park in the garage this winter. That would be me. Which may make my honey pause and contemplate a bit more before he lugs home a new oversized item.

Natural consequences are a beautiful thing.

Blessings, Holly

Jul. 25, 2009 - How is this even possible?

Posted in Organizing

I swear, I was gone one hour. ONE. A quick trip for a dental check up. Upon my return, I discover a huge air-hockey table in the garage. This has happened at various other times with a large, electronic, indoor basketball game and a large kids' train table. Both of these, mind you, largely unused and to my mind, necessary and no-brainer, must-leave-the-basement-in-order-to-make-room-for-the-new-air hockey-table, items. The family doesn't seem to understand the concept of "parting with" only "adding to." If one Lego toy is good, 10,000 pieces of them are better! Why have one puzzle when one can have an entire shelf full, each apparently too precious to give up to Goodwill. It's hard to be a minimalist amidst such pack-rat-ery. And guess who ends up being crab-in-chief, policing the pick up and organization of all the crud?

I really hate garage sales sometimes, particularly when the male contingent venture out to them unsupervised.

Blessings, Holly

Jul. 25, 2009 - Mark the day; I agree with the NY Times.

Posted in Politics

Today's NY Times on Obama's Gates arrest statements:

"Advisers said both his sharp statement, which was made at Wednesday night’s news conference, and his toned-down remarks on Friday reflected strains of his experiences. He was personally outraged by the arrest and wanted to speak bluntly about it, aides said. And they said he was distressed that his words proved polarizing and contrary to his instincts for conciliation."

Duh. Race issues are hard in America. The President, to borrow a phrase, acted stupidly in rushing to comment on a situation where he didn't know the facts. As more emerges about the facts of this particular case and it becomes increasingly clear that this case does not fit any racially motivated pattern, does anyone in our country seriously doubt that many cases do exist where there is underlying racial tension exhibited by police?

On Friday, I think Obama showed the three things I like best about him. First, he listens to his wife. If reports are accurate, it was after talking the whole hoohaw over with Michelle that Obama marched himself into the press room to try to dial back his wrong comments. Second, he at least tries to listen to opposing viewpoints. Third, his astute political survival instincts can push him to make concessions that go against some of his strong opinions.

I don't know if Michelle can help him with his stances on Israel and on health care (I suspect not). But the President would do well to apply some of what I do like about him to craft better foreign and domestic policies, rather than solely extend those instincts only in political dust-ups threatening his personal popularity.

Blessings, Holly

Jul. 23, 2009 - I knew it!

Posted in Mr. Wonderful

I knew Mr. Wonderful would say, "You can't ride a camel while you're pregnant!" Which is why I didn't tell him until after I rode the camel.

Blessings, Holly