It's just like the Texas Two-step, only colder.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Alex was at the doctor today to have her liver enzymes checked.  The medication she's taking for her fungal pneumonia can cause liver problems.  She's had a nagging cough that's been getting worse (although still nothing to stay in bed with) for the last three weeks.  I also discussed with her pediatrician that her energy levels have NOT returned back to normal.  So, as a precaution she did some additional labs with the enzyme tests.

I feel like I've been run over by a semi.  Alex has mycoplasma pneumonia.  AGAIN.  I can't believe we're going through this again.  She's very discouraged and I'm worried she may be on the verge of depression.

Her regular pediatricain prescribed antibiotics and we'll talk with her pulmonologist tomorrow.

eta:  Well, the pulmonologist confirmed that this is a new infection and not related to the one she already has.  So not the news I wanted to hear!  I am so thankful for the discovery of antibiotics.

One more year until he can learn to drive.  Three more years before he is legally an adult.  How many more years until he cuts his hair?

Although we've had our rough spots, he appears to be turning into a very nice young man. 

Susan mentioned in her blog this week that the Netherlands has outlawed burqas and other face-covering gear.  This law itself isn't the subject of today's post, though.  It is the reasoning behind the law that just has me in stitches.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, who is known for her tough policies, said it was important that all people in the Netherlands were able to see and identify each other clearly to promote integration and tolerance.

 

"It is very important that we can see each other and can communicate with each other. Because we are so tolerant we want to respect each other."

 

Yes, they are OBVIOUSLY "so tolerant".  That is, tolerant as long as you dress like everyone else.  Oh, and they'll respect you, as long as you dress like everyone else.  I can NOT understand how she can make statements like that and keep a straight face.  I surely couldn't.

Yes, we finally have snow in southern Kentucky!  My youngest dd is beside herself with excitement.

Well, she was until she realized that though she has a scarf, hat, snow pants and a good coat, she can't find any mittens.   And none of her snow boots fit, although the chore boots will work with a couple pari of thick socks.  Austin doesn't have snow pants, and Alex doesn't have snow pants or a good coat.

But it looks pretty from the window. :)  Time to go bargain hunting for some cold weather gear!  We did just find out that dh has added some northern Indiana/Ohio and southern Michigan areas to his territory, so the everyone needs good snow gear so we can go skiing and snowboarding while he's working up there.

I now know the reason why we go to all the trouble of baking that yummy cake batter in to actual cake.  Yes, it tastes good licked off the tip of my finger.  It still tastes good when I lick the spoon after I've cleaned out the bowl.  It does NOT taste very good after you've eaten, say, a large ice cream scoop of the stuff.

On Wednesday, Alex became an official teen-ager.  To celebrate her 13th birthday we stopped at Bruster's for ice cream after church.  One of their flavors this week is... you guessed it... CAKE BATTER.  The teensy little spoonful I had for a taste sent me into paradise.  By the time I finished the huge scoop and got home, I never wanted to see a bowl of cake batter again.

To make it worse, earlier in the day I'd been burning a Yankee Candle Sugar Cookies candle.  Which, when I got home, I discovered smells more like vanilla cake batter than sugar cookies.

Good thing I much prefer CHOCOLATE cake to vanilla cake. :)

Today my second child became a teenager.  I asked her if she felt any different and she said no.  Yea, she's been ACTING like a teen for at least a year so there wouldn't be much change.

For her birthday she got a new pink cell phone that is also an iPod.  It is pretty sweet.  Once we opened the box, I realized that it was much nicer than what I thought we were getting (I think the model I thought I was ordering has been discontinued.)  It was actually inexpensive as well.  Hmmm...

She got a nice camera for Christmas.  Twice as nice as mine and yet less than half the cost.

I'm really having a problem with my 13yo having a nicer phone AND a nicer camera than me.  Not to worry, though, I can upgrade my phone in June. :)

School is closed for the rest of the week!  And it's not snowing, although it is unbearably cold.  Too many kids are sick with the flu, so the decision was made to cancel classes for the remainder of the week.  This is one of those things that I always hear about, but has never happened where I live.

Just another reason I'm glad we homeschool!  Since my older came out of public school I can say with much authority that my middle child is not sick nearly as much as she used to be.  Never did a month go by without a visit to the doctor with her - strep, pneumonia, flu, you name it.  On the downside, I don't have the same close relationship with our pediatrician that I had in those days. :)

On a whim, we all took a trip to Memphis this weekend.  The older two attended an event with our church's junior high youth while Aislin and I visited the Children's Museum of Memphis and the Brooks Museum of Art.

Unless your children are very young (5 and under), my advise would be to skip the Children's Museum of Memphis.  Everything seemed worn and a lot of things weren't working.  One exhibit that should have been the number one hit didn't have a single child working.  There were photocopied directions on a wall for a bunch of projects that the kids could make from a multitude of recycled materials.  BUT, there weren't ANY examples of finished projects - a must for the younger set.  They couldn't visualize anything fun coming from a one-dimensional, black and white piece of paper.   The Berenstain Bears traveling exhibit probably had more to offer to the child in a traditional school setting, but my homeschooled dd couldn't relate to a lot of the individual exhibits within.

Mozart with Marina was the highlight of our stop at CMoM.  Marina is a 7yo pianist who takes lessons from her mother and grandmother.  She played about six beautiful classical pieces, gave a little talk in between, and then closed with an arrangement of The Hokey Pokey written by her father.  Aislin was mesmerized, sat at the very front, and didn't whisper a word the whole time.  Afterwards, the kids in the audience were invited to give the electric piano a try.  Ash, having both a keyboard and piano at her disposal, wasn't going to try.  I told her to go up and play a couple of notes - the look on her face was priceless as she realized that it LOOKED like a keyboard but it FELT like a piano.  If I would have been on my toes, I could have planted the seed for her to ask Grandpa for an electric piano for Christmas next year. :)

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art was wonderful.  Given that my only other experiences at art museums were in Chicago and Philadelphis, I did find the collection to be rather petite.  But, it was just the right size for this mom and one nine year old girl who had been on their feet all day.  We did a lot of sitting on the benches (which were works of art themselves) and gazing at different paintings.  In each room we'd both pick out our favorite and talk about why it was so.  Never did we agree, this child and I have very different tastes in art it seems.   At one point I did get the chills just thinking about how old each painting was and how well preserved they are... as if Renoir or Mary Cassat had just finished them only a week ago... to look at the brush strokes, and think that if I were to touch (which we absolutely did NOT do) the paint, it would have also been touched by one who lived so long ago.  Yes, I confess I am a bit of a romantic.  Both of us agree that we wouldn't mind visiting again another day with the older two along for company.

At the end of the day, we drove to Horn Lake, Mississippi and ate dinner at Cracker Barrel.  The only purpose of this little side trip was so that Aislin can now say that she's been to a state that the other two have never visited.  No small feat for the youngest sibling of a couple of Navy brats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901361.html?sub=ARdf

I'll have to come back and write more later.  I just spent 45 minutes writing a post about this article and homeschool blogger has done it to me again.  Can you say, "FRUSTRATION!"

As I read what I wrote yesterday, I realize that I missed the mark.

My dislike of the State of the Union address isn't aimed at this particular president, or any other president for that matter.  It is, however, a result of politics in this media-rich society where the 10-second sound bite is more important than the heart of the issues.  If it were some other country and someone else's representatives, it would be quite the sport to sit and watch the politicos find new and interesting ways to make their opponents look badly, even when they agree on an issue or point.