May. 5, 2008
Upon a Monday Morning
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I had planned to start school up this week after our week off. After church yesterday we came home to my game plan of spring cleaning. We all pitched in and the house looked gorgeous in no time. We got rid of the old filthy couch and brought up from my sister's room the lovely futon I bought years ago when my other sister had moved in. It looks brand new and now our issues with another bed handy are solved as well. So we decided to have an open house sort of thing and put out an invitation. To our delight, several friends and their children came and the rest of the day was spent in happy fellowship. One missing element called to say that by the time they had gotten home from church their middle daughter was feverish and ready to vomit, needless to say, their plans to join us were curtailed. Rats. So, later on, our house gradually emptied, my beloved did the dishes and I vacuumed again and we sat down to watch Extreme Makeover The Home Edition with the kids. After bawling our eyes out, as we usually do at the end, we tucked the kids into bed and there we were, in our nice clean house, for a few moments of silent prayers of praise and thankfulness. It was then I remembered that I hadn't actually done the school planning I was supposed to do while I was off, nor did I manage to knit a pair of socks which had been a goal. (not that I didn't try, mind you.) I had a dozen library books on the subject and I learned how to manage the set of double pointed needles, but no matter what I did, I couldn't keep the pattern working correctly! I ripped out the sock no less than 5 times! Also, I decided the days we spent that I wanted to ship the kids to my mother in law's and hide in a closet didn't really count as vacation time per se. So, maybe I will start school again...... tomorrow. |
Apr. 9, 2008
In the Stillness of the Morning, A small cheat on Wordless Wednesday
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I know, you are probably thinking "Here comes a lovely, Biblical, serene comment or observation". If you are and would like to read something along those lines, please read no further. Hit the "random blog" button. This stillness came following my normal routine. Get up, feed the dog, the cat, the guinea pigs, the birds and the fish. Go out and scrub the bird baths and refill and check suet and seed supply. Clean the kitchen and do the dishes then make lunch for my husband. Then check email and prayer chain and pay bills and then work out for half an hour. After all that, THEN, in the stillness of what's left of my morning, I am sitting in my chair eating my Trader Joe's O's and I see a gorgeous sight! A Great Blue Heron is majestically flying over the front yard. And I think to myself, wow, I am so glad I was sitting here, that was amazing! Not a sight one usually sees in the backyard bird watching genre. Then he comes around again and now he is SO close and I am marveling anew at this beautiful creature. Suddnenly, he actually came in for a landing not 10 yards from where I sat.......right into my neighbor's yard. Right into her Koi Pond. Where I can no longer see him but I know exactly what he is doing now don't I. I'd better call my neighbors.  photo from http://qonholiday.blogspot.com/2007/09/hike-to-lagoon.html |
Mar. 14, 2008
A snapshot of our week by my dear husband
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Don’t get me wrong; I was going to get up eventually. I probably would have shot for more than 4 hours of sleep but I would have gotten up at some point. You see I had worked all the day before and then started a paint job at 6 M. I got into bed at 4 AM. I do not do this sort of thing often but it was a Real Estate office that moves a lot of rentals and it might lead to more business. Since they didn’t want me sloshing paint all over prospective buyers I worked overnight. I was sleeping when it happened. Because I was sleeping when it happened I cannot thrill you with visual descriptions of the excitement. When I stumbled downstairs to get coffee my dear wife was quietly and efficiently putting things back to right and our normally “active” Aussie Shepherd was subdued and, dare I say, sheepish. I took a small sip of coffee. I shivered in pleasure. “I’m sorry the dog woke you,” said my wife. “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the dog that woke me. In fact,”, I replied “I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t the dog that woke the whole house.” “Really?”, she asked. I took another little sip…lets see. There was: WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! Then there was: AAUURRGGGHHHH! STUPID DOG!!!!! (in an angry, very loud, sing-song kind of a way) STUPID!, STUPID!, STUPID!, STUPID!, STUPID!, STUPID!, STUPID! OOOHHHHHHH! LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU! (that unsettling singing again). Pounding feet up the stairs and a rising, guttural sort of a growl. Into the bathroom and the growl rising and forming into some type of shriek that every Banshee in earshot must have appreciated. GgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRROOOOAAAAAH! OH! I HATE THAT STUPID DOG! Bathroom door slams open. Feet pounding down the stairs. Lecturing the dog now. Not entirely un-loud. Not entirely a rational act. Do you see what you’ve done? (See? Maybe. Understand? No way) Look at this mess…Just look! (No way to guess the canine response) You are a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad dog! You knew who it was. Why do you have to do that when you know who it is? Stupid dog. You see, the dog had come in the back door to avoid a friend’s dog with whom there is some kind of doggy passive-aggression. Anyway. Came in the back door, raced to the front window, jumped up on the TABLE to bark at the dog it was just standing next to outside. Coffee got knocked over into Dear Wife’s knitting bag. Stains on her latest, light colored, project for youngest daughter. Circuit breaker in Dear Wife’s head tripped, fried maybe. Dog has no idea whatsoever. What an intelligent breed! So I’m awake. To be honest, I suppose that the dog did wake me up. Stupid dog! Of course it was my wife that kept me awake. Love her. |
Feb. 29, 2008
I knew I should have just bagged the school day after the squirrel incident!!
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After driving the squirrel to the Wildlife Center, 40 minutes each way, I am finally ready to start school. At which point Little One sweetly reminds me I had promised to make pancakes with her this morning. Half an hour later my niece calls asking to use the shower and shows up "stupid sick" and needed a ride to work!!! Would have been a lovely few minutes to chat.... if she could speak above a mumble! So, now I have reheated my breakfast soup so many times it has boiled away (I hate pancakes), Eldest is the only one getting anything done and Little One, who I should be teaching is playing Polly Pockets. Maybe we will do school tomorrow. |
Feb. 29, 2008
Week in Review
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You know, I can't even recall Monday, or Tuesday really, Wednesday has a vague memory of yet another useless allergist appointment and I am quite sure we did school all week. Thursday though, Thursday I remember! My sister and I have been walking at 6am each day. Our scales are liars but we figured if the pants don't fit.... Yesterday may have been a bad idea, we were twinsicles by the time we got back! And the dog, who we let run for a few minutes at the beach, had little teeny icicles on her fur! And that was at 21 degrees! It is 10 out right now, I am thinking a good Tae Bo video might be a better idea. Fleece pants can only take you so far. Yesterday, we had just left for sign language class when we spied a squirrel in the road in a Buddhist meditation position. Knowing that, as a general rule, squirrels are not Buddhist, I assumed, correctly, he had been hit by a car. Now, you may know, in a previous life, that both Mike and I were once wildlife rehabilitators well versed in both rescue and treatment of all things wild that live on the Cape. PLEASE keep in mind that does not mean I still WANT to! I also wish the girls had never been regaled with stories of the glory days because they now think I will help anything! Squirrels, meditating or not, are bloodthirsty dangerous little wretches with sharp claws and ever growing teeth and we used to handle them with huge, thick welding gloves. So I pull over as the girls keep a running commentary and inventory the car for anything useful. Right. I have a zip up sweatshirt and a canvas bookbag full of books. I hope he is meditating really deeply. His eye is bleeding and swollen shut, so he has a blind side, helpful for rescue, really bad for the disposition. (his, not mine) I was able to throw the shirt over him which sent him into a terrified frenzy. Great, now, with NO welding gloves, in fact, no protection whatsoever, I have to pick it up in the shirt. So I manage that, tell Ro to dump out the book bag and deposit the animal into the very thick bookbag and roll the top down. Then we turn around and go home, I run in and grab a carrier to put the squirrel into. Now I have to risk life and limb again getting it out of the book bag (still, thank God wrapped in the shirt) and into the carrier. He almost got loose but I got him in the carrier, stuck it on a heating pad in the basement with a blanket over it and we arrived at sign language class in good order. Now I will share with you that you really want one of two outcomes. One, it is really not injured, just was deeply in meditation and you can go home and let it out and wave goodbye. Two, it dies peacefully and we have a heartfelt funeral. What you do NOT want is what happened. It needs longer term help. I have nothing left from the old days, most importantly, no ketamine to knock it out and examine it. My old clinic, that used to not only be open 24/7 when I ran it but had rescue and transport volunteers, informs me on the phone, that is is open 9-5. There is an option to hit "208" if you have an animal in distress. So I hit "208". It again informs me it is open 9-5. Now I am in distress! So, yesterday I remember and it is likely I will remember todays trip to the rehab clinic that took over when I left and I have horrid, bitter and unreasonable anger towards. Yes, still. Sue me. Stupid Squirrel.  |
Feb. 9, 2008
Weekly Report
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This week was fairly non-productive but I still fell good about it. Monday we had a very early Dr. appointment to have chemical test patches put on our eldest. They are still trying to find what she is allergic to, if anything. Well, they bothered her and she was crabby all day but school did get done. Youngest finished LightUnit 6 in her math. We are really enjoying the Apologia Zoology 2 and the lapbook. I decided to include them together and let older daughter put away her General Science text for now. Tuesday we got some work done and Eldest had her Beginning Public Speaking class. It is a great class. She recited "The Wind and the Sun", a poem based on the Aesop tale. Wednesday, another 9am appointment to remove the chemical strips and evaluate reaction. She hurled her guts up and spent the rest of the day on the couch reading. Little One did school with me and spent the rest of her day playing on math websites doing drills. (no, I did NOT make her, she likes that sort of stuff) Thursday, all seemed well, I chalked up the vomiting to stress and off we went to our ASL classes which pretty much blow the whole day. We did do some reading and listened to Diana Waring in the car. We love her. The I drove all the way home, made everyone supper and got ready to drive all the way back into town for a home school support group meeting. Took tween daughter with me because we almost never get that special her and I time. Friday, off early with Eldest to take her to IEW class, back home to do school with Little One. The I dropped her off at her best friend's for a play-date and took other one to a follow up appointment with our primary Dr. to get blood work results. All her panels were negative, praise the Lord. Her thyroid ultrasound was iffy but the blood work doesn't back it up yet. We will keep an eye on that as hypothyroidism runs in the family. The Dr. does a routine physical, says her tonsils are huge and ran a strep test which was positive! Tells us she shouldn't be around anyone for 24 hours until the antibiotic takes effect. Perfect.  |
Feb. 6, 2008
Wordless Wednesday
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Feb. 5, 2008
Where do you keep your alarm clock?
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I was not sleeping well last night. It happens. It happens most often when there is a third person in our bed with us. I bailed for the empty loft bed around 3am to little avail. I kept bumping my head.
So I hear Mike's phone alarm was going off. He never hears it so I escaped from the loft bed without injury and went to go turn it off. It wasn't next to our bed. So I listened and headed downstairs. His phone is normally on top of the tv. It was not there. It sounds muffled. Is it still in our other daughters room where he slept the night before? No, it can't be, he had it at work yesterday. I am listening and walking about stalking the elusive sound. I couldn't find his stupid phone anywhere! I finally tracked it to the wall where our instruments are... it was IN HIS GUITAR CASE!!!! Who puts a cell phone in a guitar case? In all our married lives, has he ever put it in the guitar case? Oh yeah, I would have found that in a jiffy. And I KNOW he would never in a million years remember he had put it there because WHY WOULD YOU??????
So, I am up and awake. Now I have to go wake him up. Maybe I will do it with the guitar case. |
Jan. 19, 2008
Another week gone by..
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Where does the time go? It was a fairly ordinary week, uneventful with steady progress all around. Our morning devotions have been sparking interesting discussions and setting a nice tone to the days. Leading Little Ones to God is our 'jumping off" point and we are really enjoying it. I have had a rotten cold all week and have been a little foggy which was fun. Rowan is struggling with the parts of a circle and I can't help but think it is pure contrariness. She lost 10 points testing out of light unit 606 because of it! Oh well. We will just go over it ad nauseaum until she can't forget what a chord, diameter or radius is! We are really loving the new ASL course but it does wreak havoc with the schedule. We have to leave here at 12:15 and are not back until 4:30. And Ro forgot her bag of schoolwork that she gets done while Jenna and I are in class and had to come home and do it. Writing class is going so very well, Rowan did a 3 paragraph research paper on Charlemagne that was rather good I thought. This weeks assignment is a current events re-write, then we decided to do the big research paper in March followed by poetry. It really keeps us sharp having someone else teach the class and having other kids help critique and help. Following writing my friend and i had a high school overview strategy session. We had a blast. This is because we intend to continue to have our kids work together in writing, rhetoric and a few other things. Our big decision was to teach AP Biology together. We got to giggling that we would have to get our own dissection specimens or we would take over the kids. It may seem twisted but for 2 science geeks, this is our idea of a really good time. The kids thought we were nuts. Friday afternoon we finally got home around 4 and I succumbed to my exhaustion and allowed the Hannah Montana marathon which left me not being able to put in my Sharpe's Rifles dvd 2 until 10pm!! Naturally I was forced to watch until midnight with my beloved. Mike is thrilled, he found a resource to further our 7 year olds interest in robotics. He had a nice virtual chat with Gary at Gibson Sale Systems. With his help they chose an inexpensive but comprehensive kit to work with. How I am going to keep up with this child I do not know. This coming week we begin a third outside class, Beginning Public Speaking which I am really excited about as well. Fortunately it is 3:15-5 so we should be able to get the whole school day in before we have to go out. Hope you had a wonderful week. |
Jan. 16, 2008
Herding the Waves
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