Life at the W.A.C.K.O.S. - Homeschool Blogger

Oops...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:26:00 -0600

Did my last post seem a little... uh... unfinished? Illogical? Not quite wrapped up? That's because it was, in fact, unfinished. I fell asleep while writing it and woke up just enough to hit 'save as draft". Or something. Obviously it wasn't the "save as draft" button I hit.

But I didn't know that until now. Because I was a good girl today and busied myself with more important things, I did not check email or blog. I had no idea that my "draft" was sitting there in plain sight for all the world to see. Well, for my 3.5 remaining readers to see, anyway.

So what's the problem? you ask. Just finish it. The problem is that today, in my ignorant bliss, I decided I was not, in fact, going to finish or publish that post. The "punch line," you see, might be considered to be in bad taste, making light of something that ought not to be made light of. Did you notice that I never came back to the part about tying in history with other subjects? Did you notice that I was leading up to Fuzz saying something and never got that far? That was the unfinished part. The as-yet unwritten part in which she made a casual but oh-so-Fuzz-like comment tying in our history studies with Spaz' animated roller-coaster escapades.

Our history studies included the Holocaust, remember? And Spaz was being the evil roller coaster engineer with his roller coaster of death. So Fuzz made this off-hand observation tying the one to the other, and it was rather funny and made great blog material-- except that it wasn't and it didn't. And the more I thought about it, the more it seemed that there really wasn't any way to finish the story and put in the punchline without crossing the line of poor taste. So I decided today while vacuuming downstairs that I would save that roller coaster bit to work into a possible future post and then delete the post from my draft folder.

Except that, as we have already established, it wasn't actually in my draft folder. Drat.

So I guess I won't be finishing the post. I might modify it a bit after a few days, just so that it makes a little more sense. I'll figure out some way to make a finished post out of the rollercoaster thing without including the "rest of the story".

*Sigh* This is what I get for blogging when I'm tired. So much for trying to actually get a blogpost out there. Should I give up yet?

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:41:00 -0600

We've been studying World War II and the Holocaust this fall. We've read and discussed and read some more and made timelines and read yet more and... and that's about it. History is just history this year, which is odd for us. I used to try to integrate various other subjects into whatever we're studying in history, but I'm not doing that so much this year. Why is not the point. The point is that sometimes it happens anyway, in ways I least expect it.

Spaz takes classes on Fridays, and some of them, including his science class, involve homework. That is a good thing. (It is also one of the reasons I am not making great efforts to tie multiple subjects together.) His class is studying physics, and one of his assignments last week was to go to a website where he could "build" a roller coaster and adjust various factors such as speed, friction, and angle until his car was able to run the entire track without coming to a stop or falling off.

But of course, it is ever so much more fun to make the car fall off.

Spaz dutifully adjusted everything in such a way as to let the car complete its run, thereby fulfilling the assignment. That took perhaps four minutes. He then spent the next twenty minutes playing with the controls and adjusting all the factors to provide for maximum spills and thrills. Especially spills.

"I am the evil roller coaster engineer!" he'd cry gleefully as the car plummeted off the track for the umpteenth time and hurtled off the screen. "I like to send people to their deaths! Ahahahahaha!" I know this sounds six-year-oldish, and indeed it is. Spaz is a perpetual child-at-heart, at the moment fourteen-going-on-seven, but someday forty-going-on-nine.

And so it was that the animated roller coaster car continued to plummet off the track and the boy continued to exult in his evilness and the girl continued to look on with interest and the mom continued to say, "We need to turn the computer off now and move on to other things," and the boy continued to say, "Just one more time, pleeeeaaaase?"

If Spaz is fourteen-going-on-seven, Fuzz is eleven-going-on... well, twelve I suppose, or sixteen in some ways, and sometimes thirty or even sixty. But her mind works in mysterious ways. She comes up with the most interesting questions and observations.

And so when Spaz announced for about the fourth time that he had built "the roller coaster of death!"

Does this post seem unfinished? It is. I fell asleep. I do that sometimes. It is not a good idea to hit buttons on the computer when one is falling asleep, or one might hit "publish" instead of "draft". See above post on why I'm not actually going to finish this one.

I Guess We'll Have to Shoot Him

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:19:00 -0500

*Sigh* I don't know how on earth Mr. Bright But Unfocused And Very High Maintenance will ever survive real high school next year. And I don't know how I would ever survive an attempt to homeschool him through high school.

I guess we'll have to shoot him. It's a shame, because he's such a great kid.

That's going to end up being a facebook status update one of these days, but you read it here first. Maybe someday I'll even elaborate on it and turn my frustrations into a real blog post. For now, you just get this. Because my brain is too tired to elaborate, and besides, I am supposed to be doing school stuff right now.

Like trying to figure out a workable structure for our schooldays so that the highly motivated 11-year-old isn't getting shortchanged by the high-maintenance 14-year-old. Like trying to figure out how to help the highly unfocused 14-year-old manage his time and buckle down to work. Like trying to ensure that said 14-year-old gets in the "meaty" learning and skill-building he needs when in fact it is a challenge just to manage what seems like a bare minimum.

And when I'm finished figuring all that out, I'm going to go to Washington and solve the economic crisis.

You laugh. I cry.

Of course I wouldn't shoot my son. Despite the challenges involved in homeschooling him, he's a wonderful kid. No, much as I'd like to some days, I won't shoot him...

...but I might blow my brains out.

That would just solve everything very nicely. For me.

But no, I can't do that either. The stain would never come out of the carpet.

I am a crazy woman. Why else would I do this? What else could I be? I homeschool an attentionally-deficient adolescent because I am crazy, and I am crazy because I homeschool an attentionally-deficient adolescent.

That is about the long and short of it.

And now I must return to my futile endeavors. Thank you for reading. I shall return when I can next muster up the spare brain cells.

Alright, You Try to Come Up With a Title for This One

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:20:00 -0500

Wow. This blog has gotten so boring that even I don't want to read it anymore. That's kind of sad. My headblogs are really interesting, though. Too bad we're kind of missing some key steps involved in getting them from my head to this blog.

Maybe I will just abandon this blog and start a new one. That should remedy the problem, because of course, having a new blog would make me a more consistent blogger. Just like moving into a bigger house made me an excellent housekeeper, getting new shelves in the schoolroom made me an organized homeschooler, finding a new church would render me a mature and godly Christian, and of course, getting a new husband would turn me into the perfect wife.

Right. Well, I am going to switch to blogger at some point, because I have wanted to for a couple years now anyway, but I don't think now is the time. What would be the point of starting a brand new blog to neglect when I am doing perfectly well at neglecting this one? Methinks I need to begin blogging regularly again before I start anything new.

Ceasing to work 32 hours a week might help me be a more consistent blogger. That is already in process. (The ceasing to work 32 hours, I mean, not the consistent blogging. Don't get too excited.) It's a seasonal job, remember, and the season is nearly over. Work is dwindling and even if it were not, I would be cutting my hours, because I just haven't been able to devote enough time & energy to my day job. You know, the one I don't get paid for. The important one. The one I usually think I am crazy for doing but have been doing for going-on 18 years nonetheless (or 22 years, depending how you look at it). Yes, that one. And, huh... who'da thought that working 4 pm to midnight 4 nights a week would have even the remotest effect on our homeschool days? I sort of expected that it would, but I didn't realize how much.

I am rambling again, which is all I know how to do lately.

Here is another sad thing: there have been no madding hordes clamoring to know "the rest of the story" from my last post-- that is, what exactly happened a few weeks back to render my van temporarily undriveable? Apparently you are all "suffering from a deplorable lack of curiosity" (to quote a line from one of my favorite old movies). Although I can think of a few other explanations, not all of them flattering...

1. Nobody actually reads this blog anymore. Although that would be perfectly understandable, it can't be true now that I think about it, because I did actually get some comments on that post.
2. Like me, everyone reads blogs on google reader and is too ~~lazy~~ ~~forgetful~~ ~~totally enraptured by my posts~~ lazy to click over and comment. Then again, see #1, so this can't be true either.
3. Most of my blog friends are now my facebook friends as well, so they already knew what happened long before reading it here. This one gets my vote.
4. Nobody really cares. I don't really like this option, but it's quite possible.
5. Everyone figured it was pointless to ask, since my blogging history (recent and otherwise) reveals a distinct tendency to not get around to posting those rest-of-story things regardless of how many people ask. Sad but true.

Well, be that as it may. My van is once again driveable and in better shape than it was before its unfortunate run-in with odocoileus virginianus stupideus. Too bad we can't say as much for our wallets, since we had no collision or comp on the van. That wasn't my decision, but we're not going to go there now, or ever, thankyouverymuch. Besides, the same day that we received the repair bill, we received notice of a settlement ("internet purchase gone bad") that had been pending for a couple years. That was money we never expected to see again and it will be about the same amount as the van repair bill. And then there is the new unexpected high-efficiency woodburner funded almost entirely by homeowner's insurance, which we have greatly enjoyed every day since its installation and will enjoy even more when we get our rather diminished heat bills this winter. So it all works out, because God is good.

And yes, I was behind the wheel during that unfortunate run-in, and yes it was a horrible experience. thank you for asking. I pretty much bawled all the rest of the way home, partly from shock and partly out of sorrow for the poor creature. (I didn't have kids in the car, so I didn't have to get a grip.) Then I felt like bawling again when I saw what the stupid thing did to my van. Oh well. All's well that ends well.

Enough about that. Totally random fact: today is Rich Mullins' birthday. I miss that guy immensely. I mean, not that I ever knew him in the first place, so I guess what I mean is that I miss his wonderful songs and musings and concert presence and all that stuff.

Another totally random fact: My nutty bar stash has been replenished, and I ate four of them tonight. Well, you know, two 2-packs. Nutty bars are pretty much the meaning of life, you know. Especially now that Rich Mullins is gone. Hey, that was a pretty clever and spontaneous tying together of unrelated random facts!

I suppose that's enough from me tonight.

A Long and Winding Post...

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 23:15:00 -0500

At my job, I sit in front of a computer for eight hours. So what am I doing on my night off? Um, sitting in front of a computer. Go figure.

Speaking of my job… I leave for work before the kids are done with school and now get up about the same time they do. This means I no longer have planning and prep time at the end of our school days or in the morning before the kids got up. I miss that. So what have I not done at the computer this entire evening? You got it, school planning and prep. Go figure again.

My excuse is that, since on Thursdays we have just enough time for writing, math, and piano before leaving for soccer, the day pretty much plans itself. Of course, I could be planning for Friday or next week or the duration of our World War II unit. But then I would miss the adrenaline rush that comes from having to do it all at the last minute. Besides, wasting time on the internet is ever-so-much more fun.

This is turning into a stream-of-thought post. And you know, any sort of post would be good at this point. In case you haven’t noticed, the combination of working 32 hours a week and homeschooling (or trying to, or pretending to, or something), coupled with my tendency to get quick writing fixes on facebook, has pretty much sounded the death knell for my blog. So we could consider this life support, a valiant attempt to resuscitate the blog by simply going wherever my thoughts may lead. (Within reason, of course, thankyouverymuch.) So here I go…

Schooling and working… It’s been interesting, that’s for sure. I find that I kind of like working, but I do not like the toll it takes on the rest of life. Last week seemed especially hopeless, as I felt as though my kids spent the first 3 hours of their school days being educated (or not) by Zombie Mom, and by the time I finally kicked it into gear, we’d only have a couple hours before I had to get ready for work. I was really thinking something would have to go, and I couldn’t decide whether it would be the job or the kids. Okay, it would have been the job, or at least some of the hours. But last week was my “tired” week, too, if you know what I mean, plus there were nights I couldn’t get to sleep, plus there were other stresses going on. This week it has all seemed a little more do-able.

Working… It is kind of nice to get out while someone else (Hubz) does all the things I used to do in the evenings. (No, he doesn’t blog or facebook; I mean the other things, like fixing dinner and making sure the kids have finished their lists and getting Spaz to football practice… those sorts of things.) My job is not exciting but I kind of like it, especially now that most of my time is spent doing a photo-editing process called “green-screening” rather than the mind-numbingly monotonous data entry work for which I was hired. Plus I have discovered the existence of a whole interesting class of people called “co-workers”. Who knew?

Co-workers… One of my them, by the way, is Cheez, who was hired in as a green-screener a few weeks ago without so much as an interview. Like me (and almost all our 2^nd-shift co-workers), she is a seasonal employee, working just until mid-November. That’s okay with her, as it is a thousand times better than working for a repo agency, tracking people down and making phone calls to the former next-door neighbors of their cousins’ brothers-in-law ad nauseum, which is what she’d been doing all summer. It was, she said, “the only job in the world where the customer is not always right.” It was also, as you might guess, very unpleasant work, and it unfortunately took place in a very hostile work environment. She finally decided that a job that makes you cry even when you aren’t at work is a job not worth keeping, so now she sits in the cubicle next to mine and works on school pictures in a nice, friendly, non-threatening environment where no one gets yelled at for making mistakes. She likes it.

And I do too. Cheez being the source of much of the afore-mentioned “other stresses”, I wasn’t sure whether this would be a nice thing for me or not. After all, work was sort of a nice escape from the stresses of home, and now one of the stresses would be sitting in the next cubicle. Hmm. But you know what? It has turned out to be a nice thing. It is kind of fun to work together. And being able to share rides has been a real life-saver this past week, because...

…because I don’t have a vehicle. I mean, I do, but it isn’t drivable at the moment. That story I will save for another post, simply because I can. And you are going, But wait! The way you are going, there may never be another post! And I would say that your concern is very valid, but I am still going to save it for another post. It is all written, which greatly increases its chances of actually making it to the blog. Although you should see all the "already written but not quite finished" posts that haven't.

Okay, back on track here... where was I?

Oh yes. The undrivable van... Moments before my van was rendered incapacitated (which happened to happen on my night off work last week), I was on my way home from finishing up my editing manuscript at Pahookey Bread. That editing gig is finished now, which is nice because it is one less thing to do, and not-so-nice because it was really fun and interesting. We will see whether I am able to go any further with editing. I sure would like to. For now, though, I think two jobs is quite enough. Yes, two-- you know, the paying one and the important one.

And I think that pretty much brings me back to where I started, unless you want me to start talking about the important job. You know, that utterly insane endeavor called homeschooling. And I don’t think you want me to get started on that, because this post is already far too long. That’s kind of how it goes with this blog, I think. Famine or feast. When it rains it pours, etc…

Oh, but speaking of rain….

Ha, you thought I was going to keep going, didn’t you? Nope, I’m done.

Why I Don't Edit at Home

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:06:00 -0500

Going to work nearly full-time after 22 years as a stay-at-home mom has been a huge adjustment. Moreso because my entry into the workforce has come at the same time we are starting a new school year. On top of that, I still have the editing job to finish. (And we're not even going to talk about those unfinished home organization projects.)

The editing job is why I'm at Pahookey Bread* on my night off instead of being at home with my family. As much as I ought to be doing school planning or putting away all those still-homeless clothes (the unfortunate victims, as you may remember, of an impromptu cabinet ~~snatching~~ relocation resulting in yet another of those not-to-be-spoken-of unfinished household organization projects)... anyway, as much as I ought to be home, or at least running errands if I am going to be out, I am instead sitting here at the aforementioned coffee-&-bagel-etc shop. (*Name changed to prevent discovery of this blog by stalkers who actually look at the 373 millionth page of a g**gle search.) Because the editing must be done.

I was going to try editing at home tonight. After all, nearly everyone was gone earlier in the evening, with the lone exception being a 14-year-old boy who would be very happy to play video games downstairs while I worked upstairs. Minimal distractions, right? This could work. So I set up a little table in front of the living room window where I would be free from distractions, grabbed a chair and my laptop, and started to get set up.

Except...

The window was dirty. There was a dead bee on the sill. I could see the planter on the deck with weeds in it and it bothered me, as did the overturned kiddie picnic table that all my kids have long outgrown. There was a book on the sofa. And even though I couldn't see them, I knew the newspapers on the coffee table were messy.

(Funny how those things don't bother me most of the time. I could sit down in my comfy chair to engage in facebook or a good kakuro puzzle and I'd be totally oblivious to all of them.)

Furthermore, the dog was barking. The kid downstairs playing video games probably hadn't set the timer and would go over his alloted time if I didn't interfere. The phone was poised to ring at any second, because it always does as soon as I get involved in something. And as soon as someone walked in the door, even if they went immediately and quietly to another area of the house, my concentration would be shot.

So I'm here at Pahookey Bread.

And I'm not editing. Did you notice that? But I will. I'm good at keeping internet playtime to a minimum when I'm here, if I even engage in it at all. Normally I don't, but I just had to check in with you all.

So I did. Just to let you know I hadn't dropped off the face of the earth or anything.

Now I'm off to fetch my manuscript from its cozy folder. See ya.

Stolen Shelves, a Porr Misfortunately Lightbulb, and Other Ediotic Ramblings

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 14:30:00 -0500

After making fun of myself in my last post for the spelling errors in the previous one, I made an even bigger gaffe at the end of that one.

All 3.5 of my remaining readers were too kind to point it out.

*Sigh*

Perhaps I should forget blogging and stick with pursuing an editing career. Or an edioting career, as seems more likely. Although I'm not sure I'd want to be the author with the misfortunate to get me as an ediotr.

Changing the subject without any sort of transitional sentence whatsoever (and would you believe I just typed "snetence"?)...

My schoolroom makeover is finished and ready to be organized! Not that it necessarily will be, since I have learned that reorganized space does not, unfortunately, somehow magically turn me into an organized person. (I can be very organized on paper; with "stuff", not so much.) But having so much extra shelf & cabinet space definitely helps, and so does simply having something "different". We all need to change things up every so often. Although we did not end up tearing out stained carpet other than in the new supply closet, the other changes --closet, "new" (recycled) cabinet & shelving, and furniture rearrangement-- have made a huge difference. My "new" space is much cleaner-looking, more unified, & less cluttered. (Well, until I get my stuff in it, anyway.)

You want pictures, I know. Yes, I have some. It remains to be seen whether I will have time to post them. Besides, I'd prefer to wait and take more pictures after I have everything in the schoolroom & supply closet put away & organized. (Which means you may be waiting a very very very long time.)

I did get most of my history-and-lit shelf put away already. That was the fun and easy part, since I knew exactly how I wanted to do it. The rest, not so much. I also need to get the lightbulb changed in the supply closet before I can do anymore in there. Funny how that lightbulb worked perfectly fine for years and then decided to burn out a day after we made over the closet.

By the way, unlike my cousin & facebook friend who claims to have "literary ADHD", I think I must have "project ADHD". I really function much better on a one-thing-at-a-time basis, but you wouldn't know it. Much as I can't stand the idea of starting one project before the last one is completed, I have a tendency to do just that. In this case, I sabotaged my far-too-long-in-process-but-nearly-finished bedroom reorganization project by stealing a cabinet from the bedroom to anchor the schoolroom project. It would just match the schoolroom shelves too too perfectly, so despite the fact that I had just organized it in my bedroom on Monday, I emptied it out again on Friday and had it carried to its new home downstairs. It looks great down there, but I'm not sure what I will do with all the clothing and miscellaneous stuff that used to be in it and is now all over my bedroom floor...

So I've had fun with my new space, but now I need to stop and get to work on the edioting joob. I may even try working in my "new" space rather than my office-away-from-home, aka P*nera Bre*d. We'll see how that works, since it is still out in the middle of everything; our schoolroom is not actually a room with a door but a corner of a large open room. My kids are perfectly quiet & content in their rooms right now, but I'm sure that as soon as I sit down in the schoolroom to do some work, they will be right next to me needing something and then will be back to ask something five minutes later and...

I'd work in my bedroom instead, but there are homeless clothes and stuff all over. See paragraph immediately preceding the last one.

This blogpost is beginning to sound as though I have Blogging ADHD. Rambly posts seem to be the only kind I can write lately. Don't expect any sort of a real "ending" to this, either, because I haven't come up with one. This is it. In fact, edioting hopeful or not, maybe I'll just stop right here, in the middle of a

Making Over Words and Rooms

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 22:36:00 -0500

My previous entry contained two spelling errors. One was in the paragraph in which I told you I was doing some editing and contemplating becoming an editor. I find this very amusing.

And just so you know, it is highly unusual for me to type "beacuse" when I mean "because". Usually what I type is "becasue". Really. And half the time I type my name as "Bethnay". What is really funny is that in the above paragraph, I caught myself typing "ediotr". Funnier yet is the fact that I caught the error before I had quite finished the word, so it came out simply as "ediot". Knowing how offended some writers become at the changes their editors make, I am sure there are those who do indeed think of their editors as "ediots".

I'm not going to tell you what the second spelling error was. You'll have to dig through and find it. Unless, of course, you have a life or something.

Moving right along...

In other news related to the previous post, that big mess in the homeschool/art room --the one that very nearly put me over the edge-- turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Hubz felt so sorry for me that he is enlisting some outside help to make sure the mess is taken care of quickly. (This is quite something, since major messes are rarely taken care of quickly at our house due to our unfortunate tendency to look at them and feel totally overwhelmed and suddenly think of 23 other things we need to be doing... and so it goes for days into weeks...) But that's not all. After he & his Builder Buddy Bruce are done packing up boxes and taking care of everything, the two of them are giving me...

...an Extreme Homeschool-and-Craft Room Makeover! Okay, maybe not extreme, but pretty major to me. They are tearing out stained carpet (we'll just have bare concrete floor for a while since new flooring is not in the budget), replacing some of my mish-mash storage with shelves & cabinets that actually match each other, and rearranging the space. They're also putting more shelving in the laundry/storage room so that the finished walk-in storage closet near our school area can be emptied out and transformed into a school-and-art-supply closet. Builder Buddy Bruce & I designed the whole thing out today. Hubz & I have great ideas for every room in our house, but few of them ever materialize; with BBB on board, this one most definitely will, and quickly. Not only that, since he & Hubz usually just trade labor and we are recycling some of the materials, this is not going to break the budget. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this project, but I probably don't need to.

As for my new job, the holiday weekend means I have the next 5 days off. While this is rather unfortunate for the wallet, it does give me more time to ~~do stuff around the house~~ work on the editing and do some school planning. And of course I can hardly wait to organize my new schoolroom as well. Funny how a change of scenery can turn a dreaded task into an exciting one.

So whereas yesterday I woke up wanting to either (a) stay in bed all day or (b) spit nails at anyone with the misfortunate to cross my path, today I have been feeling pretty happy. I am rather up and down like that.

Stayed tuned. I might actually post again sometime.

Stuff Happens

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 13:36:00 -0500

I wrote most of this on Tuesday and finished it now, so read it as though it is Tuesday. You can do that. It's dated as though it posted Tuesday. I can do that.

The less I blog, the more I don't blog. Or something like that. The longer I go without blogging, the harder it is to do it. Besides, all my good intentions get sabotaged by life. It is very sad when life has to impede important things like blogging.

I didn't even blog about Spaz' 14th birthday. But I scanned the old pictures I was going to use, so that was something.

There is no way to get this blog caught up with my life, so I am just going to sort of start in the middle here. Here's an overview of the past week:

*I worked on the editing job I have mentioned. I really enjoy this and would like to pursue it, though I'm not sure there will be more work where this job came from. For that reason, part of me doesn't want to finish it, beacuse... well, when it's done, it's done, and then what will I do for fun? I do obviously need to finish it, probably within a few weeks, and I still have quite a ways to go.

*I trained for and started my new 2nd-shift "boring job to help pay the bills". I am doing data entry for a school portrait company and worked my first full shift last night, 4-12. I will be doing this 4 or 5 nights a week through mid-November and then the job will probably end. This will be a huge adjustment for all of us, since I have not held a job outside the home in 23 years of marriage. Obviously it will have an impact on our homeschool as well. I could write a lot more about this, but I'm thinking I have a decent chance of actually finishing and posting this, so I'll not hinder my odds.

*One of the kids finished a thorough and much-needed summer-long bedroom overhaul-- not redecorating, just weeding out, cleaning, & organizing. Yes, it took all summer to do that. This has resulted in a really nice bedroom that is the cleanest & neatest in the house and a school/craft area just beyond that is now the sloppiest and worst. There are boxes and piles of stuff all over and it just pretty much makes me want to cry. All my ~~delusions~~ hopes of cleaning & reorganizing the already-messy-&-cluttered schoolroom for our new school year have pretty much been flushed away.

*My brother (age 45) had a stroke one week ago and is still in the hospital, though doing quite well. The stroke was in the cerebellum, which affects balance & fine motor. His speech and reasoning were not affected, for which we are all thankful. In my family, losing verbal or logical ability would be like... uh, trying to think of a good analogy here... like an athlete losing a leg, or an artist losing vision, or a politician losing his pork fund, or something. Fuzz and I drove 1-3/4 hours each way to visit him on the second day, which turned out to be the worst day possible to visit. Six hours at the hospital yielded one 4-minute conversation in which I'm sure it was all he could do to not ask me to just leave so he could sleep and get rid of his pounding headache. However, we had a very nice 20-minute phone conversation on Sunday which more than made up for it. He is even posting his own Facebook updates now, which means I don't have to any more.

*A major crisis erupted with one of my young adult kids. Actually there have been crises with this particular kid for about 5 years, and they just seem to get more serious. It ain't over yet, either. Said kid needs to be whacked upside the head with a 2x4 to knock some sense back into that good brain. Said mom needs to cry less and wander around the house less and run the mouth less and pray more.

So that's been life around our house.

I had decided a few weeks ago that we would start our "official" school year (which differs from our "summer school" in matters of quantity, frequency, and structure) on September 1. We wouldn't be full swing until the 21st, but we'd start our structured, school-focused days nonetheless. When I found out sortly thereafter that my job would start not on the 24th of August as I had first been told but on the 31st, I considered deviating from the Sept 1 plan, but decided to go ahead with it anyway. "Time to adjust" is overrated, right? I'm sure people start a new job one night and a new school year the next morning all the time. And it isn't as though I would be tired or anything, since my job would entail sitting in front of a computer for eight hours. May as well just start everything all at once.

So last night --I mean this morning-- when I got home from my first night of work, I wrote a little sign on our message marker board for the kids that said, "Happy 1st Day of School!" I think it was almost more for me than for them. I needed to get myself into the mode and the mood so that when daylight came, I would jump out of bed all ready to start a structured day of intentional learning.

Or not.

Some seven hours later, after about an hour of hitting the snooze button, I dragged myself out of bed. The kids, of course, were not yet up. According to the loose "schedule" I'd typed up, I needed to get them out of bed about 45 minutes later. I made coffee and wrestled with the devil on my shoulder throughout my shower. After said shower and a couple cups of coffee, I still felt dead on my feet.

I looked at my marker board note. I listened to the devil on my shoulder. I wiped off the marker board and wrote a new note:

"Happy Last Week of Summer Break."

Because I am flexible like that.

The kids were rather elated. I was rather relieved. It was a wise move.

Note from Wednesday night, when this was finished & posted: My 2nd night at work went well and I had tonight off. The kid crisis has been pretty well averted, at least for the time being. Hubz has hired a friend's daughter to come and help me take care of the mess downstairs. I haven't done a lick of editing yet this week. My brother is still doing great. The kids and I are not even doing "summer school" and are thoroughly enjoying having one last week of summer break.

Zap! and It Was Gone...

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:41:00 -0500

In a valiant attempt to both keep this blog alive and kicking (or alive, anyway) and preserve some memories, I sat down over the weekend and spent some time writing up a post about a trip Spaz, Fuzz, & I took last week to visit our cousins in Columbus. We were having quite the storm outside as I typed, so I was running my laptop on battery. I was nearly finished when I noticed my battery was getting low, so I went to hit save-- just as the power blinked off, momentarily knocking out the wireless router. You guessed it: all my words, well over an hour’s worth of work, vanished into cyberspace somewhere.

We've all had this sort of thing happen in one form or another, so I don't need to tell you how disappointing and FRUSTRATING this is! Nor do I need to tell you how much I am kicking myself for writing my post directly on the blog rather than in Word. I lament the loss of my post not just because it would have been nice to have it on my blog for my readers (let's face it- these days it is nice to get anything up on my blog!), but because it nicely preserved the memories for me. Although I used to write about trips and adventures in our "memory journals", it has been years since I kept one of those, and I rarely write about such things in much detail anymore. This post, like many, wasn't just for my blog, it was for me. And I liked the way it was turning out.

Oh well. I also don't need to tell you that I don't have time or inclination to rewrite the post in its entirety, so you're just going to get some highlights... later.

On another note, we were supposed to leave today (Monday) for yet another mini-vacation, this time with Hubz, to his friend's cabin an hour north. But shortly after our arrival home Thursday evening, Hubz and I relunctantly decided to cancel --or at least postpone and drastically shorten-- the cabin trip. After being slow for the better (or worse!) part of a year, Hubz has some work in and he needs to stay home and do it. Work good, canceling vacation bad. It just makes me that much more glad that the kids & I made our little trip last week.

Huh. Guess Biz will have to cancel that wild party he was going to have in the empty house...

And just think: had I been sitting in an internet-free cabin relaxing as I am supposed to be right now, I would not be writing this utterly boring blog post. I suppose there's a bright side to everything.

Stay tuned...

Adventures in Buckeye Country

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:25:00 -0500

I think I spent just as long writing this as the original (and much better) post that vanished into the great beyond. So much for not having time to do that. And then I had to add pictures.

So I didn't take time to write an intro this time. Did that, it disappeared, not writing a new one. You'll survive. Let's just jump right into...

Highlights of our visit to our Columbus Cousins

(Yeah, I know, it just makes your heart palpitate, doesn't it?)

*Listening to The Land on CD in the van*

I could write up an entire post on why audio books & dramas are an absolutely integral part of any road trip we make, but I won’t. Suffice it to say that being engrossed in a story keeps everyone happy and (key word here) quiet and thus goes a long way toward the preservation of sanity (mine) and tranquility. Anyway, on this trip we listened to The Land, prequel to Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, which we’d read aloud together earlier this summer. The Land, whose main character wrestles with his identity as the son of a slave woman and her white owner, is a tad mature for Fuzz, but still appropriate and well worth the listen. It is also quite long; despite driving 5-1/2 hours each way, we did not get through all 10 hours of it and have yet to finish.

*Stopping at Cabela’s on the way down*

The Cabela’s just north of the Michigan/Ohio border is practically a natural history museum and makes a great stretch-your-legs stop. It was also a good place to pick up some fudge for our cousins and to eat our packed lunch on the vast front lawn. The latter embarrassed Spaz no end; he hurried through his lunch and even eschewed the pudding cup in favor of sitting in the van to wait for Fuzz & me to finish.

*Spending time with family*
Obviously, this was the whole point! Although we grew up a thousand miles apart and barely noticed each other when we did see each other as kids, my cousin ML and I have grown quite close as adults. The shared experience of motherhood does that to you, I think. We decided at some point that we really needed to get our families together more often than just at our bi- or tri-annual family reunions, and sometimes we actually do so. This was one of those times. She has four girls ranging from Spaz’ age to a few years younger than Fuzz, and while the girls don’t always initially know what to do with Spaz (he is, after all, a boy), once we get over that hump they all get along well.

("Over the hump"- get it?)

*Wolverines vs. Buckeyes*

We’re University of Michigan fans at my house, and Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes don’t mix. Yet here we were, venturing behind enemy lines into Columbus, the heart of Buckeye Country. The things we do for family! Our original plan was to have Spaz bring all four of his U of M t-shirts, wearing a different one each day so as to drive our cousins nuts. (Buckeye nuts, to be precise.) Much to Fuzz’ and my disappointment, he reneged on that plan at the last minute, preferring a greater variety of shirts. He did, however, take two of them, along with his U of M toothbrush, chapstick, pen, and fleece blanket. ML’s husband initially tried to banish the latter from his house, but relented as long as he didn’t have to look at it. Good thing; we really needed that to ward off any evil Buckeye vibes.

(I don't know why some of the text isn't conforming to size, but again, oh well. It bugs me, but not enough that I'd spend another hour trying to fix it.)

*COSI*
On Tuesday we visited the Center of Science and Industry, a kids’ science museum that I’d read about but never visited. A great time was had by all…

*Donuts and Popcorn and Ice Cream, oh my!*
We rather unintentionally had a food-themed day on Wednesday, beginning with a box of Dunkin Donuts on the kitchen island. (Don’t blame ML or me; it was all the fault of that “buy 6, get 6 free” coupon.) Then we were off to take a “tour” of a local popcorn factory. ML and her kids had not done this before and thought it’d be fun to try. As it turned out, the “tour” consisted of watching a video and sampling the many unique flavors of popcorn. Quite underwhelming to say the least, but it was fun to try such popcorn flavors as jelly bean, lemon, and pizza. We each picked out a small bag to buy, and I picked up a bag of pomegranate popcorn for Cheez and cookies-&-cream for Hubz. After that it was on to Graeter’s Ice Cream, where we looked through large windows to watch ice cream made “the old-fashioned way” with the “French pot method”. Don’t ask me what that means; I don’t remember. It sure was interesting though, and the ice cream was yummy.

Continuing on our inadvertent food theme, we followed that up with…

*My first-ever trip to Trader Joe’s*

And now I understand why people in our area will drive two hours to get to one. Where else can you get “healthy”, delicious gourmet food at nearly SuperStuffMart prices, and with a pleasant ambience to boot? The kids initially complained about this stop, and we left the older ones in the van to enhance our shopping pleasure. My two were eventually placated with a box of long-coveted Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, which cost far less at Joe’s than at our local health food and grocery stores. I lost some weight in the wallet on this stop. We so need a Trader Joe’s in the GR area.

Finally, there was...

*Just sharing in the everyday stuff*
One night we ate burgers on the deck, after which ML’s hubz got most of the kids engaged in a rousing game of backyard volleyball while ML and I talked and talked and talked some more. Another night we helped ML’s 2^nd daughter celebrate her 13^th birthday. She was not happy to have to share her special day with the President, even though we pointed out that it had been his birthday first. One morning ML had to go into work for a couple hours (after several years of homeschooling, she is now a guidance counselor at a Christian high school), which gave me an opportunity to work on my editing job while the kids read, played games, and hung out. Later I enjoyed accompanying her to worship team practice at her church. We have not been to each other’s churches and I am not highly familiar with their denomination, so it was fun to see that their worship is very similar to ours. I had taken my editing along to work on, but didn't get very far because I was singing along from my perch in the back. And in between all these doings, while the kids played Wii and board games, ML & I leafed through a scrapbook... and went online to look up possible locations for our next family reunion... and commented on each other's facebook posts from right in the very same house... and mostly just talked.

That pretty well wraps up our visit to the Columbus Cousins, except for one final highlight…

*Making peace with the GPS*
And that one could almost be a blog post in itself. I think I'll save it.

(Yes, I know- the conclusion to this post was every bit as fabulous as the introduction. That's how it goes. You shoulda seen the post that got away. Too bad I can't remember how I ended it. Oh wait, I can. ZAP!)

How to Make Your Mom Choke On Her Caesar Salad

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:58:00 -0500

Conversation with Biz over lunch yesterday:

Biz: "So when are you guys going up to (our friends') cabin?"

Mom: "August 42-45."*
(*not the actual dates)

Mom again: "Why? Do you want to go with us?"*
(*rhetorical question whose answer is already presumed to be No.)

Biz: "No, I just wondered when the house was going to be empty."

Um... should I be worried about this?

Mom: "You wonder when the house is going to be empty? That's a rather disconcerting statement.'

Biz: "That's not what I meant. I just wanted to know when, if I stop by, there wouldn't be any food."

Oh, Okay. That does make me feel a little better. It also rather confirms my suspicions that he stops over not so much because he likes to spend time with us but because we feed him.

But I'll take having my son stop over for any reason at all. And I still like that explanation of the "empty house" statement better than the obvious one.

In other news, Biz showed up for our lunch date wearing a button-down shirt. He did not text anyone the entire time we were together. He seriously debated between salmon and tilapia before settling on a steak. (Lest you wonder, we were doing L*gan's 2-Fer deal; it was still a cheap date.) And one of the sides he chose was skewered vegetables.

They really do grow up.

Wordy Wednesday

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:10:00 -0500

You guys wouldn't believe how many recent unfinished posts (including some almost-finished ones) I have languishing in my queue. So in the interest of actually finishing an entry and posting it, today's post is going to consist of a brief, facebook-status-update-like comment.

Up at 6 today to get Spaz to church for a youth group outing to the Fort Wayne Zoo. This is a good 2 to 2-1/2 hours earlier than I've been getting up this summer. It's kind of nice, actually. After getting back, I did some touch-up painting around a window in my bedroom in a spot I had missed yesterday. I started this window-trim-finishing thing on a lark last Friday (it had needed doing since we replaced windows well over a year ago) and this should be the last thing. Maybe I will get the room put back together by the weekend, but i really doubt it, since I plan to do some clutter-elimination and reorganizing.

Uh yeah, I knew I couldn't actually write an FB-status-update-ish post... but that's okay. Continue...

On the agenda today:

1. Begin editing a manuscript. I am trying to break into the editing/publishing field, which is difficult when I lack experience. So a nice editor I know (who happens to be related to me) is giving me a chance to show what I can do. I already did a practice manuscript for him; this one is real. He has much more confidence in my ability to pull it off than I do. This is scary!!!

2. Have lunch with my birthday boy, who turns 22 today. This means I have been a mommy for about half my life!

Definitely too long for an FB status update... Continue...

3. Go pick up curtains that are supposed to come in today. Right now our living room windows have six different curtains/valances on them because we are trying them all out. What doesn't work gets returned. So far everyone (hubz, kidz, guests who've happened by) are unanimous on one set-- the one that I don't like. Too dark and hotel-ish looking, in my most-important opinion. The ones on order from a different store are the same pattern as those but in different colors; here's hoping they'll be "the ones".

4. Maybe go to the farm market and maybe not; we've yet to consume everything I got last week.

5. Enjoy not driving the 35-mile round trip to piano lessons, since the teacher is on vacation. (And the next two Wednesdays, both Spaz & Fuzz have all-day events, and the two Wednesdays bookending these three, Spaz had/will have an all-day activity... C'est summer, when lessons are sporadic but the mom still requires the practice...)

6. Take Fuzz to a free horseback-riding session at a local ranch ministry and then probably have her friends sleep over.

Okay, so that wasn't really facebook-status-y at all. But for me, it was indeed brief. And hey, it's a post; that's what matters.

Time to quit procrastinating on my editing. Must... get... off... the internet. Must put in scary CD-RW and start scary job so that it will cease to be scary... After I get some more coffee...

Wordless Wednesday: Oh, Take a Flying Leap

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:51:00 -0500

In Which I Blather About Camera Settings and Post a Few Pictures

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:53:00 -0500

My bloggy friend Melissa (aka The Blogger Formerly Known as Chickadee), is doing a series on getting the most out of one's camera. I'm not necessarily planning to participate. After all, the series is called "Using Your Camera Without Reading the Manual," and I like reading the manual. Okay, granted, in 2-1/2 years of owning my Olympus E-500 dSLR, I still haven't finished reading the manual. But it's kind of big and there's a lot there and I forget a lot of it so I have to keep backtracking and... but I do read it. Sometimes. So I don't need this series, but I find it interesting. (Actually I find nearly everything TBFKAC aka Melissa posts interesting because she is a good writer and a good photographer, but that's neither here nor there.)

TBFKAC's first installment in the series dealt with "moving out of the green zone". You know, as in putting your camera dial on something other than that green AUTO setting? (Actually, it's blue on my camera.) When I commented on something in that post, TBFKAC asked whether I was planning to participate in the meme or class or whatever you want to call it. The Using Your Camera thingy. My reply was in essence, "No, I am way beyond that." Which sounds arrogant, I suppose, but it's true. I rarely if ever use AUTO. Who buys a dSLR and then keeps it on auto?

(By the way-- chasing a little rabbit here-- everytime Hubz uses my camera, he asks, "Where's the Auto setting? Is it this A here?" No honey, the A is the Aperture-Priority setting -my favorite, by the way, and you really ought to try it. "No, I just want Auto. Where is it?" Um, ~~doofusbrain~~ honey, that would be this little blue word here that says "Auto". It's the same place it was the last 73 times you asked. "Oh. Well, I never see that because it's blue." This conversation never fails to amuse me.)

Anyway... out of idle curiosity, I stopped by ~~TBFKAC~~ (okay, that's getting annoying) Melissa's blog yesterday to see her okay-post-your-pictures-now post. In it she noted that "If you're way beyond the automatic settings, feel free to join in too." Huh. Coincidental wording, or ya think she was talking to me?

Well, I am usually too lazy to jumps through the hoops required to post pictures, and I am really bad at keeping up with memes or whatever you want to call them. So I am not promising to participate every time. But Melissa is my bloggy friend and friends humor each other, so what the heck. I'll participate this time. But I really don't have any great pics from the last few days, so I'm going to post some I took in June that go along with the theme. Also, I am going to be too lazy and/or arrogant to nab that cute little "Get the Picture" button.

Yeah, that one. I changed my mind.

(And yes, I know I'm a day late. That is to be expected. My epitaph will no doubt read, "I would have died sooner, but I didn't get around to it." Or perhaps just, "Sorry I'm late again.")

Okay then. Melissa encouraged her photo-tutees to experiment this week with some of the other auto settings this week, such as portrait, landscape, action, macro, or the "scene" modes. Now while I rarely use straight Auto, I do often use the selective auto modes. Especially portrait, because I like that wide-open aperture look. And although my personal challenge to myself the last 6 months has been to stop using them and use primarily the "creative" or manual modes, I do still use them. Just not as often. Well, unless I am being lazy or... okay, I still use them a lot. So can post a picture or two or forty-six using some of these settings.

I don't use my "Scene" modes very often, but I do like the Sunset mode. I took some sunset pictures at Lake Michigan last month and I used that setting. However, I forgot to use it for the first picture. I'm not sure what my dial was on, but it wasn't sunset. Here's what I got:

Kinda blah, right? Now here's one taken with sunset mode:

See the difference?

(Skip this paragraph if you are happy on auto or barely out of it or not really into photography. I'm adding this next part for those who, like me, are working on using the manual modes. It's possible --I'm not certain-- that the picture above was taken while not technically in sunset mode but still using the same settings. That's because I had a brilliant thought while sitting on the beach with my camera. Since I am trying to train myself to use manual modes more often, why not put the camera on sunset mode, compose the shot without actually taking it, make note of all the settings the camera decided upon --the shutter speed, the aperture, the white balance, the ISO-- then put the camera on manual and mimic the settings the camera used? That way I learn what settings work best for sunsets and I get used to making those adjustments myself. So I did that for some of my shots. Whether this was one of them, I couldn't say.)

By the way, here's the same shot, adjusted on the computer for contrast and cropped differently:

I know that has nothing to do with "using your camera", but it was kind of hard to post the other and not show you the "final version". And I have many more sunset shots, but I'm going to move along.

I have a great action shot from that same day at the beach, which I'm going to save for a "Wordless Wednesday" tomorrow. (Or Thursday or whenever I get around to it.. .) Because it's been a month already and I am old, I do not remember whether I took it using an auto mode or a manual mode because I did some of both. I can tell you this, though: when I do use an auto mode for action shots, it is often not "action" mode (the little running man on the dial) but portrait mode (the face). I find I get better focus that way, and because the portrait mode uses a wide-open aperture, the shutter speed is usually fast enough to stop the action.

Here's an action shot taken in portrait mode. (I am fairly sure about this because this pic was taken less than two weeks ago and the memory has not yet expired. Don't ask me about it a couple days from now, however; I'll look at you glassy-eyed and go, "Huh? How would I know? That was two weeks ago.")

On my camera, little-running-man mode doesn't give me any focus points, which is the main reason I don't care for it. Portrait mode does the trick nicely for a shot like this. I set my focus point on Spaz. He was a big target, so it wasn't difficult to keep him in focus even though it was an action shot. I think the camera did a pretty good job of stopping the ball in action here. The kid in the background is bothersome to me, but apart from that, I like this shot. (This photo, by the way, was framed and given to Hubz for his birthday the other day.)

Well, Melissa said to "tell us how you got your picture so we'll know how to do it too." That I have done, but now I feel like I'm the one trying to give a tutorial. Sorry about that, Melissa. I knew I wouldn't be a very good "student", but you asked.

That's more than enough from me for tonight. I'm off to get tomorrow's post ready... seeing as it's actually tomorrow already.

Two by Four

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:05:00 -0500

If I am ever going to clamber back onto the blogging wagon, I am going to have to stop being so left-brained about it and just post some random thoughts. So, resisting my inclination to explain this statement further and get into a lengthy analysis of all the hindrances my brain throws in the way of blogging and why I have such a hard time just doing it, I am just going to post a random thought. (Accckk! Redundancy! I ended two consecutive sentences with the same words! Okay, Bethany, it’s alright. Leave it.) It’s about my birthday, which was a few weeks ago. It has nothing to do with anything-- no context, no real reason for being here. Is that okay? My left brain says it isn’t. My right brain says to shut up and get on with it already. *Sigh* Will those two ever quit fighting?

Anyway…

A few Sundays ago, we kicked off our annual Birthday Season with a one-day early celebration for yours truly. My parents came over, as did my Eldest Offspring. Hubz grilled some great Aldi steaks (our favorite because they are good and relatively inexpensive), and we had strawberry shortcake with biscuits & berries that I had prepared the previous evening in order to avoid having a birthday dessert consisting of nothing but ice cream. Hubz cooks, but he doesn’t make desserts. (Well, maybe he would have made strawberry shortcake, but he’d have put sugar in the strawberries, a habit which I consider to be not only entirely unnecessary, but something bordering on evil. So I got them ready myself, sans sugar, using strawberries which Fuzz and I had picked at a nearby farm just a day earlier.)

Interestingly, as soon as dinner was over and before gifts could be opened, the three oldest kids suddenly decided they urgently needed to run an Errand of Utmost Importance and, despite my protests, they all took off in Biz’ car. My suspicions as to the nature of this mysterious errand were confirmed within a few minutes of their return, as I observed that the number of gifts upon the living room cabinet had increased in number. *Sigh* My children are such products of their upbringing. Not that I go out and purchase birthday gifts between the dinner and the gift-opening, but they do generally tend to be purchased later rather than sooner around here. Actually, we do a lot of things later rather than sooner. We are, unfortunately, kind of last-minute that way.

(Speaking of which, tomorrow is Hubz’ birthday, and I have bought neither gifts nor food. Hmm… perhaps I should get off the computer and go do that. As soon as I finish this post.)

With my sweet youngest, who will be one-quarter my age this year. In the background is the birthday banner she made, because she is Fuzzy like that.

With my not-so-sweet eldest, who will be half my age this year and needs a haircut. (It looks better just a tad shorter.) I am holding up the Barnes & Noble giftcard he gave me. Big surprise, since that's what he always gives me. I love it, too. I have about $50 worth just from him now-- think it's time to go spend 'em? Surrounding us are some of my other gifts: lime-green croc knock-offs from Fuzz, slippers and Chocolate from Spaz & Cheez, a cool book about Tolkein and Lewis et al from my parents.

By the way, I turned double-fours this year. Precisely a month after my birthday, Biz will turn double-twos, making him half as old as I am. And about six-and-two-sevenths weeks after that, Fuzz will turn double-ones, making her half as old as Biz. I just thought you really needed to know that.

No Shirt, No Shoes...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:02:00 -0500

As mentioned, last month we lost our internet service for an entire week. Of course, we had called our cable internet provider as soon as service went out, and we called again when the problem was not resolved. When told that it would be several days before a repairman could come out, we fussed and fumed. We grumbled aloud about it every day. Life was rough, I tell you. Boy, were we glad to get it restored.

A week later, our phone service went out. We hardly noticed. We'd pick up the phone to make a call, hear no dial tone, say "Oh yeah, I forgot that our phone must be out," and pick up our cell phones instead. It was three days before we thought to contact the phone company.

Does that speak volumes about our priorities, or what? (Granted, I think we'd have been a tad more concerned about the phone had we not had our cell phones to fall back on. Still...)

Our internet, phone, and TV actually come through the same company. Here's hoping the TV will go out next. I might simply forget to call about that one altogether. Unfortunately, my HGTV-addicted Hubz would be all over it, with the help of lots of friendly reminders from the kids.

(Note, accompanied by deep *sigh*: Once upon a time for many years, we had one TV, with rabbit ears only, and it was hardly on. Cable TV was, in our book, a foolish matter of "spending money in order to waste time." Alas, combining business and residence on one property rendered high-speed internet a necessity, and with it came cable TV. Or to put it more simply, times have changed, and so has Hubz.)

Oh well.

Back to the phone business. Here's the clincher: There was not even a problem with our phone service. The reason we didn't have a dial tone was that someone unplugged the phone cable box, quite possibly for the purpose of plugging in a video game accessory.

And it took us 3 days and a call to the cable company to figure this out.

You can bet that if it had been the modem which was unplugged, we'd have figured it out in about two seconds.

Sad. Very sad.

In case you were wondering�

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:41:00 -0500

I got my internet back. I got my son back from camp. Both on the same day, in fact. Two weeks ago already.

I have not yet gotten my blogging groove back. You may have noticed.

I’ve taken pictures for posts, written parts of some posts in my head, started a few posts on the computer. Gotten whole pages written, even. But I haven’t actually posted anything. I find myself suddenly unable to string more than a few sentences together in a cohesive manner, and nothing I write seems interesting enough to finish. I seem to have forgotten how to blog.

This is bad. This is very bad. Somebody needs to stage a Blogging Intervention here.

Except, um, there really is no one here to intervene.

So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to make a valiant attempt to jumpstart my blogging engine here by engaging in some “random blogging,” or what my friend Christy refers to as “stream of consciousness blogging.” Basically I’m going to start typing whatever random thought pops into my head, try to turn it into something halfway interesting, keep typing until I am tired of it, then hit “submit” and call it a blog post. (Actually, I’m not really sure that’s what Christy does, but it’s what I’m going to do.) Cool with you? Alrighty then.

Okay, so now I just have to decide which of the approximately 713 random thoughts swirling around in my head to type.

So it was my birthday last week, and… no, wait. That would make a good “what’s been going on around here lately” post; I should save it for that. Because you know I write lots and lots of “what’s been going on around here lately” posts. I mean, I haven’t really done very many, but I’m going to start. So, nix that one. New thought.

I spent some time this week making little container gardens… No, that would make a good photo-blogging post, and I’m not going to deal with photos right now. Granted, I rarely get around to doing all those photo-blogging posts I plan because it is such a process to post photos. However, because I continue to persist in the delusion that I really truly will, in fact, do all the uploading, editing, resizing, copying, and pasting necessary to produce a wonderfully entertaining and enriching photo post about whichever thing I am currently thinking would make a wonderfully entertaining and enriching photo post, I will abstain from typing anything further about the container gardens just in case I end up writing a wonderfully entertaining and enriching photo post about it.

(Incidentally, is it redundant to say, “continue to persist”? I think it might be.)

So I won’t tell you about the container gardens. Not even about my very favorite one, the only one I really even liked, the one whose container, upon being picked up, broke and spilled its contents in an unrecognizable heap on the lawn. Nope, not gonna tell you. New thought.

My fingers smell like bleach. That’s because earlier today I scrubbed out the inside of the dehumidifier bucket which was really black and gross… Um, no. That one isn’t going anywhere.

Wait, yes it is. Dehumidifiers and tomatoes and mulberries and birds and… Alright, I’m going to have to catch you up to speed a minute because I’m already getting ahead of myself. And I suppose I should try to at least make it sound interesting.

While resting chin in hand in the classic thinker-with-laptop pose, I notice that my fingers still smell faintly of bleach. The odor lingers despite the many hours that have passed since I stood at the sink with rag in hand …

You know, I’m beginning to understand why I rarely finish a blog post lately. Are you?

Anyway, enough of that. I scrubbed out the inside of the dehumidifier bucket because… well, because it needed it, for one thing, but need is not always a good motivator at my house when it comes to cleaning. Need is relative, you know, so just because something supposedly “needs” to be cleaned does not mean that I or anyone else at my house feels a need to actually clean it. No, there was a deeper motive behind my sudden desire to scrub out the dehumidifier bucket, and that was… tomatoes.

You see, I like to empty the dehumidifier bucket onto my plants. Not only does it conserve water by reducing the need to water the plants from the outside spigot; it also keeps the bucket-water from recycling back into our grey-water tank as it would if we disposed of it by dumping it into the shower. I’ve been emptying it onto my flowers, but since they are easily watered via sprinkler and my tomatoes are not, it makes more sense to…

You know what? This is so boring that even I am losing interest. Okay, forget the dehumidifier bucket that I cleaned out so that I could water the tomatoes with its contents. That is not blog-worthy.

I’m not doing very well at this, am I? *Sigh*

Here’s something else about my tomatoes that probably isn’t blogworthy either: I’m going to have to take down the lovely green-wire trellis I made for them to climb and make some green-wire tomato cages instead. Why? Because apparently my tomato trellis is a favorite resting spot for some of the local birds. Don’t ask me how I know this. The evidence is on my tomato plants. Said birds have also apparently been gorging on our mulberries. Don’t ask me how I know this either.

I have never been very successful at gardening, by the way. That really has nothing to do with the birds or the mulberries or the dehumidifier bucket; I just threw it out there for you as a freebie. I wouldn’t want you thinking I am some sort of fabulous or even decently good gardener just because I plant tomatoes and tried making container gardens. I somehow manage to maintain a flower garden with only a few annual casualties; veggies, however, are another story. The reason I plant veggies year after year, despite the miserable results, is that I am delusional. The idea that I might one day grow a successful vegetable garden is another of those highly unrealistic fantasies in which I continue to persist.

So, perhaps, is the idea that I will actually write a decent blog post tonight. May I quit now?

Thank you for saying yes; I somehow knew you would. With multiple exclamation marks.

Perhaps I will be more successful on my next attempt. For tonight, this is what you get. I’m calling it a blog post and hitting “submit”.

Camp Laundry Revisited

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:33:00 -0500

As if I weren't having a hard enough time returning to blogging already, our internet has been down for nearly a week and was behaving quite poorly for over a week before that. Hubz, Cheez, and I all just thought our computers were having issues until we started talking to each other, which was right about the time Biz came over and got on his computer and informed us that we were having internet issues. Oh. And then it just stopped altogether. Apparently our cable modem is in its final stages of life or something like that. The cable company is coming to fix it tomorrow, hooray. Of course, they will be charging us a service call even though the modem technically belongs to them. Hmmm. All the more reason to switch to another service. We are running out of arms and legs to pay this one anyway. Funny how they hook you with a good price and then the fees go up and up...

Okay, sorry. You are not here to read about my internet woes. (What are you here to read about, anyway?) And I have only yea much time before this coffee shop closes and my computer and I have to go back to our home netless home.

I have oogles of headblogs clamoring to get out of my brain and onto the blog. Unfortunately, I can't blog, even here. There is a lovely duo here at this coffee shop playing some lovely gospel-y bluegrass-y music. Not only is it really difficult to not sing along; it is also really difficult to THINK! Blogging (unlike Facebook) requires thinking; ergo, if I can't think, I can't blog.

But I have to post something. It has been far too long. It doesn't take an abundance of brain cells to copy an old post, so while the majority of my brain cells are engaged in mentally singing along to "I'll Fly Away," the remaining few still in service have found an old post for you to enjoy.

This post was written a couple years ago after I had picked Spaz up from his second year at church camp. Tomorrow I will make the same trip, but I hope not to have the same conversation...

As noted in my last post, Spaz was at church camp this past week. This was his second year. Due to certain issues Spaz has (including, but not limited to, a tendency to go into meltdown mode), we were a bit hesitant last year to send him. But Spaz is well-known, well-liked, and well-understood at church, and we had peace knowing that, whatever arose, he'd be loved and taken care of. And he was. One counselor stayed up talking with him til 2 am when he couldn't sleep one night, another calmed him out of his sole meltdown, and the camp nurse deftly removed the head of a tick from his upper thigh. All in all, he had a great time, and his counselors, despite spending 4 days with a bunch of 9-to-11-year-old boys, seemed to have most of their sanity still intact.

It always helps Spaz if things are kept simple. (Hint to other parents of KWADs: I also make sure HE is the one who actually puts everything in the suitcase, in hopes that it will help him remember what he has & where it is.) So in preparing for camp, he & I packed "clothing rolls"-- socks, underwear, T-shirt & shorts rolled up and secured with a large file-size rubberband. (Socks are not normally a staple around our house in the summer, but state law mandates that kids at camps wear socks and close-toed shoes.) One roll for each day, plus one extra. A couple 'pajama' rolls, too (which of course, since he is 11, are not actually pajamas, but rather T-shirts and knit shorts that he uses specifically as sleepwear). He thought this was great. I figured that, like last year, he'd come back with a couple rolls yet unworn, but it never hurts to be on the safe side.

Post-camp conversation at the ice-cream shop:

Mom (observing Spaz' filthy camp T-shirt, swimsuit, and lack of state-mandated socks): So, Spaz, how many of the clothes we packed did you actually wear?

Spaz: Um, what I came in. Plus this shirt they gave me. And I wore my swimsuit all the time.

Mom: Spaz!!! Didn't you put on clean clothes after showers?

Spaz: ShowER, you mean. I just put my swimsuit back on. It was clean from the pool.

Mom: You didn't by any chance wear your pajama shirts & shorts to bed?

Spaz: The first night I did.

Mom (not really wanting to know): And then...?

Spaz: I told you, I wore my swimsuit the whole time.

Mom: Ooo-kay. And did you, perchance, use your toothbrush?

Spaz: Yup! Once.

Alrighty, then.

Though not apparent at camp & the ice-cream store, the smell became quite noticeable upon our arrival home, and he was sent almost immediately to the shower.

At least I don't have a ton of laundry to do.

*Sigh* Memories...

Well, the singing has stopped but the coffee shop is closing, which means it is time for me to go "Fly Away". Here's hoping we'll be hooked up again tomorrow.

Perhaps Somebody's Been Listening to Anne of Green Gables Just a Little Too Much...

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:27:00 -0500

I was shoveling mud off the cement curbing at the bottom of my flower garden a couple weeks ago when Fuzz skipped over to see what I was doing. For reasons we have never been able to determine, water and dirt collect in this spot, melding into a lovely soft mud, and it is a never-ending battle to keep it clear. Generally I don't bother to try, but with Cheez' open house looming, I was putting forth extra effort in all aspects of yard and garden, and this stretch of curbing was no exception.

"Shoveling all that mud off, huh?" was Fuzz' astute observation.

"Yup," I replied. "Not that it will make a whole lot of difference. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, and this will be full of mud all over again."

My ten-year-old looked at me, at the shovelfuls of muck, at the muddy curb, then shook her head and made her pronouncement.

"A noble but pointless effort," she sighed, and ambled away.

Gotta love a kid who tells it like it is, and in fine literary style to boot.