Better Days with some General Grumpiness

Well Tuesday was better, Wednesday was a good as it could be.

Tuesday we played, did some work, played, did some work. Worked out on the deck in the sun. It went quickly and before we knew it, it was time for dinner, baths, and bedtimes. With ZooDad out of town, I get to be a single parent. When he is gone, I tend to roll into bed the same time the kids do.

Yesterday, was as productive as it could be. Wednesday is appointment day. M had his check up with the eye doctor. She didn't do any assessments. Mainly she needed to make sure there was no infection and that the eye muscles hadn't slipped.
All is well on the eye front.

Then is was a quick lunch at Micky D's and we were off to A's appointments. He has Occupational therapy and speech therapy every Wednesday. (And speech again on Monday.) That gives us two hours in the waiting room to work on school stuff. That depends on how distracting the waiting room is. I am amazed at how many people just do not control their kid at all. Yesterday, as the boys attempted to work on their SOTW worksheets, two children kept asking them their paper and colored pencils. I repeatedly and kindly (and loud enough for the parent to hear) said that the boys were working on school work and that they were using those supplies to finish their work. When I gave these children a sheet of blank paper found in my book, they pretty much pushed my kids away from the pencils and took over the area. They threw pencils. They pushed and shoved. They even attempted to tear other paper out of the boys' notebooks.
The parent said nothing the whole time. Oh, and her baby child took my baby child's pacifier out of his mouth and put it in her own. (ARRRGGGGGG!) And then pushed my stroller all over the waiting room.


I'm hoping that these kids are associated with a child just doing eval during our time slot and are not going to be weekly visitors when we are visiting. If they are, we'll have to hang out in the hallway because that is valuable school time for us. I know that sounds horribly ugly. But we've been doing school in the waiting room for 14 months. I make sure all of my children are quiet and well behaved. Baby S learned to walk in the waiting room and he even knows how to behave.


I don't expect quiet in a children's waiting area but I sure don't expect to be babysitting other people's kids either.

So FWIW the smiling mom in the waiting room who is humoring your children as they climb all over her and throw school supplies around the room...she is not happy with you and your lack of parenting skills. She thinks your kids are brats and would tell you so if she weren't trying to be a civilized person. If you'd stop watching soaps n the waiting room TV long enough to look over you'd realize that.

First Day "Back to School"

Yesterday was our first day of the new year. We took an extended vacation due to M's eye surgery. My MIL was going to be here for three days and I knew there was no way to get anything done with that distraction plus our general chaos.

I would like to say that the day went smoothly with no tears or problems. That we all had a grand time and we loving and creative. That all the boys in the Zoo were cooperative and willing to work hard.
But that would be a big...fat...lie!

ZooDad took off for a week-long trip. I should have known that would set the boys off a little. Plus we had speech today, so we had a timetable that had to be adhered too. Then basketball practice. I just should have realized that I was setting up a tough situation.

Almost all the planned work was finished...with some prodding, forcing, and tears. We skipped history...again. It is the one subject that just gets swept under the rug.

I'm hoping today will be better. I hate being the task master. Days like yesterday really make me give second thoughts to homeschooling. Not because I think I can't provide the boys with a good education but because I feel the teacher/child relationship sometimes interferes with the mom/son relationship.

But I know sending them to school wouldn't fix anything. My sons just don't have that school mentality. J's gentle spirit would be broken immediately. He would either change to fit in or he would be miserable. M would find the lack of rule enforcement unbearable. He would also face teasing for his eye issues, become more self conscious and withdraw. A....well, I don't know if he would ever be in a regular classroom. He would be in a self-contained classroom for at least 3 years. Our local school system has a self contained 3 year old speech special ed class. We have already been pushed to enroll him.
Yeah...that's what I want to do. Send him to special-ed at 3. Put that label on him for the rest of his life.

So I know in my heart that homeschooling IS the best thing for them. I know that the education I give them is superior to what a school could provide them. I just need the strength of spirit to make that happen. I'm hoping today is much better.

So far it seems to be. Math is done and verbs are conjugated. No major wars have broken out and nobody's cried.

Ode to my dying computer

Well technically it's not my computer. It's my hubby's. My computer, which had died and then rose from the ashes like a phoenix, is now the boys' computer. After the death of my not-so-trusty HP, and before it's miraculous resurrection, I was forced to install my hard drive on the upstairs monstrosity that my computer geek husband calls a desktop. Well, it does fit on the desk. The problem is that with three hard drives and numerous add-ons, it requires several fans to keep everything nice and cool. The end results of all these fans is that you power up the computer and it sounds like you're standing on an air craft carrier.

So, that computer is dying. I know I will be blamed for it. I seem to have the PC death touch. You know that AOL commercial where the guy says, "I'd like my computer to make a noise like a Yeti." The monstrous PC did that very thing.
I'm sure that it is not a good sign.

unfortunately, ZooDad is off to DC for the week so he can't fix it.

So that's where it stands. I have a computer to use. I have internet access. I just don't have access to any of my files and all my junk.

Boy Moms, Boys, and Basketball

Today was my first scrimmage as a Basketball coach. I won't even tell you that I knew what I was doing. Amazingly though, the boys played wonderfully, showed all their amazing talent, and the parents of these awesome boys were happy with what we had done so far.
Whew...big sign of relief. One of my biggest concerns is that I wouldn't do right by these boys. That I wouldn't be able to help them learn and grow. And I was afraid that I would let the parents' down.
We have one more practice before the first game and I know what we need to work on. We need to learn two plays, work on defense, and practice making those shots. My co-coach is incredible and I have faith that he can come up with a couple of plays for the boys. I can't. I've ordered "Basketball for Dummies" because I can't tell the difference between a "pick" and a "screen." Plus I have no clue what the positions are. That is sad for the coach to admit.

We had fun. The boys felt good about what they were doing. They worked hard.
I was darn proud of them and relieved with myself.

While there, I dropped off two bags of clothes for a friend of mine's daughter. My friend has 2 boys and a girl. She has successfully mastered that whole boy/girl mom thing. I am in awe of her most days. Heck....I'll admit it. I'm in awe of her everytime time I see her. She's one of those homeschool Mom's that really has her stuff together. She is comfortable being a girl mom and a boy mom. She can talk cub scouts and American heritage girls.

Me...I'm not so "all-together." I manage though. But I am most definitely a boy mom. I can't get the girl thing at all. I can deal with boys of all ages. I can deal with lots and lots of boys. But I can deal with one or two girls for a limited time. More than that and I'm seeking an alcoholic beverage to dull my throbbing head. I'm not sure why that is. After all, I was a girl. I should understand girls.
Maybe that is the problem. I was a girl. I know about that whole "queen bee" thing and hated it as a girl and hate it now as a woman. I guess now I've gotten to a point where I can chose not to deal with that stuff anymore...so I don't.

I chose to shoot baskets. I chose to help dig up worms. I chose to whittle soap bars and build pinewood derby cars. I chose to play with train sets and legos. I chose all that boy stuff.

Most nights I check up on my pack of boys after they have all gone to sleep. I am amazed at what I have brought into the world: these future husbands and fathers. And I hope that I am doing a good job as a boy mom. I pray that I am doing right by them in all things and not just in basketball.
And I am thankful for the opportunity to be their mom.

Just reading through old posts

First I want to give a "howdy" shout to Nerni.
A Berkeley Republican. That one gave me a giggle. You might not want your Alma Mater to find out or they may revoke your diploma. A big thumbs up on GI Joe too. My sons wear camo at least once a week. They also have laser guns and play with RC tanks. ZooDad is a former soldier and the boys are taught that the military are special people who deserve respect for making that decision.

While I was reading my posts I discovered that I am a bit gloomy here. My online persona is so very different from my real world self. I am very quiet online and apparently quite grumpy.

In real life I am a smiling big-mouth. No really...I don't shut up. Don't call me unless you've got a half hour to spare...at least. I can talk about anything too. I tend to read a lot of magazines on some very strange topics and I'm a news junkie.
I'm also extremely overcommitted. I am a Cub Scout leader and a basketball coach though I know nothing about basketball. (hasn't slowed me down though.)
I go "Martha" when it comes to the kids' birthday parties. This year J wants a Magician party and I plan to make a rabbit in a hat cake. I've already found the magic kits to give as party favors. The invitations are a black hat where you can pull out the rabbit with all the information on it.

I scrapbook. I rubberstamp. I love to play the Sims2. And since I brought that up, I have to confess that one of my Sims guys married a woman with a teenager. The teen was surly and impossible to please....so I drowned him. I'm not sure what that says about my personality or morality.

I collect frogs. I used to have real live frogs, and lizards, and newts, and rabbits, and hamsters, and guinea pigs, and birds. But then I had kids and the critters died or found other non-kid houses.

I love Monty Python, CSI, and Boston Legal.
I'm funny.
I smile and laugh most of the time. I'm also extremely sarcastic and downright snarky sometimes. I do derive great humor from other people's tackiness...though I am quite tacky myself.

I have no idea why I am so different online. Maybe if I was as reserved in real life, I wouldn't come home regretful after parties thinking, "Girl, you ran your mouth too much tonight. Those people's ears will be hurting for days."

Oh well.

A Late Resolution

So I'm 6 days late on the whole Resolution thing...but I've decided that from this day on...I will blog 5 days out of 7. I can do that. I think
Oh yeah...and lose some weight too. If I can remember to blog and then hop on the treadmill, I might achieve that.

So I am 6 days behind.
Yesterday I had an excuse though.
My little dictator, M, had eye surgery yesterday. He has a variety of eye issues: amblyopia, congenital esotropia, accommodative esotropia, exotropia after his last surgery, and 4th nerve palsy.
We was diagnosed when he was three. He wore glasses for a years, then stronger glasses. At age 4 he started wear a patch for 8 to 10 hours a day to get his weak eye stronger. At that time he was 20/80 in that eye. He is now 20/30. Then at age 5, he had surgery to try to keep his eyes from turning inward...since the optics and patching had not totally succeeded.

The surgery was not entirely successful either. He was left with an intermittent exotropia. (eyes wandering outward every now and then.) Yesterday was his second surgery. The hope was to bring his wandering eye back inward.
We suspect that now his eyes will turn slightly inwards, which...hopefully...can be fixed with glasses.

And our final hope is that will help align his up and down problem caused by the fourth nerve palsy, avoiding yet another surgery.


Being a parent is hard. You become quite educated on things you never wanted to or expected. I have learned about eye issues, hernias, heart defects, gastro-intestinal issues, speech deficits, sensory disorders, and developmental delays...plus all the 'normal' childhood issues like hand, foot, and mouth, croup, ear infections, and chicken pox.

My pediatrician once joked that I should write a book on "How to know when something is wrong with your child." I'm hoping that someone else does so I can read it.

BTW, M is going just fine. He's playing Age of Mythology with his older brother. Amazing.

What I'm doing besides ranting

Christmas is coming.

It will be here before I figure out Photoshop.

Since losing her husband of almost 54 years, my mom has been a little depressed. I can't blame her. I miss my Daddy so much that I can't put it into words.
She doesn't want anything for Christmas this year. At least nothing anyone here on earth could give her. So I thought I would just do something for her. At my Daddy's funeral I was asked to bring some pictures the funeral home so we could remember what he was like before cancer. I searched through a box of photographs my father gave me and I found what I am sad to say....is the last professional photograph of my parents together. It was taken when I was 3 or so. I remember having it done. It was a photo shoot for the church directory. There is a shot of the three of us and then one of my mom and dad.

As you can see, the photo is in need of repair.
And I am attempting to do that.

So I'm doing some crash courses on Adobe Photoshop. It is very frustrating.
Thankfully, I have a photo printer so I can just print that puppy when I finally get it done.
Mom requested that I do something about her horn-rims and to make her look younger. I love the horn rims and think she looks wonderful. In this picture she's a little older that I am now.
I especially love that 43 year old man who is healthy and grinning. I remember that grin so well. That was the grin that said "come on...let's get some ice cream. But don't tell your Mom this time." That was the grin that followed, "Hey Pumpkin!"
I miss that grin.
I miss that man.

Cancer is cruel. It robs you of the most wonderful people. It tortures them and wears them down. You watch them suffer for so long that you forget the joy, and happiness, and sweetness that their faces once held.

But I was blessed.

Right before we found out that the cancer was back, I took my Daddy to get new glasses. He was right proud of them. You could see it in his face, the way he held himself, the way he smiled. They made him feel good. About 2 weeks before he died, we were sitting in the hospital, watching the Olympics together. He had on his nice new glasses. ("You just wouldn't believe the compliments I've gotten on these glasses, Pumpkin.") He had just gotten his hair cut and was looking rather spiffy. We sat and watched the athletes and talked about politics and the kids. We talked about everything but the cancer that had been the topic of discussion for 5 years.

He looked just like that happy man in the picture and I wouldn't trade that moment for the world.

Out of the blue...A discussion on charity

On the WTM board there is a discussion of door to door soliciting. I must admit, that I hate the constant barrage of school kids selling gift wrap and candles. But I look through their catalogs if I have money and if they have something I want, I buy it. If I'm not interested or have no money to spend, I tell them so with no guilt at all. It's not that hard to say no.

But I was saddened by one poster's admonishment of people collecting food door to door. I know she probably didn't meant it that way and I'm sure she's not heartless. And I can agree with these posters on most door-to-door issues...except the food collections.

You see, I am the captain of my neighborhood's annual food drive. It is part of a larger food drive in 9 counties in 2 states. This past year 158 neighborhoods collected donations for our local food bank. This is an all volunteer program and 100% of all donations go straight to our local food bank.
We don't show up unannounced. Fliers are sent to every house (all 22,000 this year), the newspaper prints daily reminders, and most neighborhoods, including mine, have large signs for all residents to see. So no one can say that they didn't know we were coming.

While I know that every one has their pet charities that they feel are the most important to give to (and this one is mine), I just can't understand the indignation over giving up a single can of food. One can per house in a 150 house neighborhood, would fill 5 barrels. Just one can.

This past October, my 130 house neighborhood filled the 5 barrels I had and every box I could find. We collected 1350 pounds of food and $200. This was warmly welcomed by the food bank. So much so that I am looking forward to doing more next year. I was so proud of my volunteers (21 of them, mostly children), my neighbors, and even myself. I felt privileged to have had the honor of serving such a good and worthwhile organization. It was such an easy thing to do. Make some calls, put out some fliers, highlight maps and weigh all that food. So simple with such great rewards.

I guess it hurt to see that what I viewed and such a godsend, someone else "loathed."
I'm glad she doesn't live in my neighborhood. She'd "loathe" me every year because I happily do all I can to help our food bank. But she would know ahead of time to not answer the door.

I'm also glad that the Golden harvest Food bank exists. Last year they provided over 2 million meals. (MILLION!!!!!) Over a million of those meals went to children. They also provided food pantries to 165,000 families. This does not include to boxes of food delivered to homebound senior citizens (723 a month), supplemental food for at risk seniors ( 3427 bags of food each month), an afterschool food programs for underprivileged children (22,600 meals served) and a daily soup kitchen for our homeless. ( Over 72,000 meals served.) It also doesn't include the 700 boxes of food sent monthly to families in rural communities.

I can't change the world and I can't make miracles. But I can provide a meal to just one hungry person.

Can you guess what happened?

The good news is that everyone is just about over the stomach bug. The bad news is that I now have a cold. Just in time to head down to the farm for Thanksgiving. Oh well.

The boys love the farm though. Uncle C will be there. He takes the boys fishing. He also prompts my hubby to take the boys out target shooting. The the older uncles also let the boys help feed the goats and cows.

Lots of boy fun on the farm.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Still Sick and it is interfering with plans

What's that quote about best laid plans? Ours have definitely gone astray. Sick children fill my house. Well, moderately sick children. Sick enough to stay home. Not sick enough to warrant a trip to the doctor.
Poor M is bearing the brunt of it and he's not even sick. While all the others have had the chance to lounge around and veg out all for days, he's had no one to play with and no fun things to do. And he's had to clean up all by himself.
He missed out on his trip to the newspaper yesterday. Today he will miss Cub Scouts. (So will his other brother but at least he feels poorly and didn't want to go.) He's even had to endure the limited food options.

He hasn't complained though. He's such a good kid. I think I might reward him with some new Pokemon cards just for being such a good brother. He's like the little mouse. Only this momet touches him.

Today's lesson

Science: Viral containment and how viruses affect our bodies
History: Famous plagues, including the ZooHouse pandemic of 2004
Home economics: The suggested diet of sick stomachs and techniques for carpet cleaning.
Preschool letters of the day: B R A T
Math: Determining time between "incidents"
Reading: closed captioned cartoons (it is hard not to read that stuff)
Latin vocabulary: vomitus, dormus, regurgitare, defaecare

Read alouds:
Everybody Poops
Germs make me sick
Rick is Sick
You wouldn't want to be sick in the 16th century
Who's sick to today?


Well, back to the pestilence. The natives are awake, restless, and demanding chicken soup.

I'm such an odd bird!

I know I can't be the only one of my species. (Well, I know I'm not because I married a guy just like me.) But I want a friend like me. Just like me. I want somebody to hang with. I don't want to be alone anymore.
Sure being a homeschooler puts me automatically in the minority. And being a Happy Little Republican allows me to fit in with 51% of the voting population and about 75% of homeschoolers, at least that is how it seems.
But even among homeschooling republicans, I am the odd bird. You see, I am an evolutionist. In fact, I'm a Political Conservative, Christian, Secular Homeschooling evolutionist who 'does" Santa, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy.
And that just doesn't fit in anywhere.
When I meet a group of evolution minded homeschoolers, they inevitably start bashing Christians and/or Republicans. Though why they think evolution and Christianity must be mutually exclusive is beyond me.
Conservative groups are way too religious for me. When I evitably hear some child say that the Earth is only 6 or 7 THOUSAND years old, I balk and stare and say something...Which I know has caused some people to think I am a plague to be avoided at all costs. And yet, they ask me to teach science co-ops. (figure that one out!)

So I just float between the two worlds: the Christian Conservatives Creationists and the Anti-Christian Liberal Evolutionists. And I never really ever fit in. In both groups I have learned to keep my mouth shut.
The CCC's must never learn that I think Darwin was cool, I let my kids trick-or-treat, and that I hate all those forwarded prayer requests and religious emails. The A-CLE would be aghast if they found out that I am jumping for joy that Bush won re-election, that I am opposed to gay marriage, and that I think that God does have a plan for all of us, even if we aren't privy to it.

So here's my personal ad for a homeschool buddy. I need someone to hang out. Yes, I know it's snobby to want someone just like me. But it's human nature to not want to be alone.

Friend wanted.
Must be a homeschooler, preferably with a lot of boy children. Curriculum not important but if you are a pseudo-classical homeschooler who doesn't use religious materials...It would be a plus.
Conservative politics is a must but I have no problems with domestic liberals. I have some liberal ideas on domestic policies. If you didn't vote for either Bush's, don't bother to apply. (edited to add: If you didn't vote for Bushes I or II, it isn't a deal breaker. As long as you don't tell me how wrong I am for doing so. I don't berate anyone for voting their heart. I do berate them for not voting at all.)
You must believe the Earth is at least 3 Billion years old. However, use of the terms BC and AD is encouraged. I would also love it if you didn't find Genesis and "The origin of the species" to be mutually exclusive.
I would also like someone who has faith (any faith) but doesn't feel the need to talk about it, enjoy reading but realizes that there are also other things to do, and enjoys being with family but still sees the need to do things with friends.
You must also decorate for Halloween, hide Easter eggs, and leave cookies for Santa. (Bonus if you also have an Advent Wreath)
You must also be spontaneous, love music of all kinds, and have a good sense of humor and an understanding husband.
Having a special needs child and a disorganized home are major positive points! Living around the corner from would seal the deal.

I offer, to the person filling the above requirements, lots of distraction, a partner in crime, a place to hang out, kids to play with, curriculum to peruse, and someone to call and chat with.
I also pledge to support you in any way, loan you whatever I have, laugh and cry with you, and be your loyal friend.

I hope you write soon.

While I was out.

Nothing happened. I was a bit disappointed too. I was hoping that some TV decorating crew would stop by and paint my house and decorate things nicely.
It didn't happen.
Now I am forced to do it myself. When we first moved in the house, we so hated the flat, beige wall paint that I quickly painted the living room.
Then I burned out fast.

Two years later, I painted the older boys' room. It's a very dark blue. Very. Dark. Too dark. I'm going to have to paint it again. However, my husband has laid down the law and stated that the all rooms must be painted one before I can re-paint a room.

sigh

So I did the little boys' room to prepare for the new baby.
Burned out again.

I finally got motivated to attack the pink dining room. It was very pink and flowery. We are not pink flowery people. It is now a lovely pea green with a Jungle print valance. I know the jungle print sounds odd but it suits us. It has a black background with jungle trees, peacocks, jaguars, an little brown monkeys with parasols. The boys picked it out.
I love it. It is wild and it gives me an excuse to buy monkey accessories.

The rest of the house is painted with an awful dark beige builders grade paint. (Translated: it takes three coats of anything to coat it.)

I have now started the kitchen. The old blue wallpaper is gone and the lower part of the wall is a lighter pea green. The top on two walls is a pretty light yellow. I now have to paint around the cabinets. (arg!!!!!!) and if I am feeling brave, I will pain my 1980's cabinets because they are ugly and new cabinets are way too expensive for us right now.

So this is a long way of saying that I have added three new colors to my favorite panting pants. (which are maternity pants since that is when I do most of my painting...Not I'm not pregnant.)
My painting pants are a great memory keeper for me. J's nursery walls, the kitchen of our first house, our purple bedroom. A memory of rooms that I won't ever get to see again are preserved on a pair of old navy blue stretched out pants.

Thank you Blogger

You fixed my stuff. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. My links aren't bright blue. My Blogger bar is now stretched out over my blog instead of little stunted rectangle in the corner.
I am happy.

It's odd that I would find happiness in such a tiny little thing but I have been feeling very put out and unappreciated lately. I feel as though I do for others but receive little in return and I hate even *thinking* that way. (how "what have you done for me lately" of me)

Just having someone do a little something nice for me...It makes me feel really nice. Especially since the Blogger-folks most likely have a lot bigger fish to fry than my tiny issues.

Thanks!

Trying to get settled in

I'm still trying to get used to this format. When I first switched to this blog, I dressed it a bit and then lost interest because I couldn't seem to get rid of the bright BLUE links. (what a trade off...bright blue for spell check capabilities. But if you could see how poorly I type, you would understand the choice made.) Needless to say, I have not yet figured out where to stick the code to make the bright blue links become some other calming, muted tone.
I know you are wondering why it even matters to me...It does. Bright blue is my equivalent or red ink. It upsets my delicate psyche.

Then once I got my pictures all in place...My photo host fell through. At that point I just said, The heck with it! I have enough stuff going on right now." My problem is that I only have a little bit of webpage knowledge. We all know that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. ;)
The sad part is that I am webmistress (I don't really like that word.) to two websites. One is a business site. The other is my homeschool support group site. If anything, I should know how to change to color of some words. But not here. My magic here is seriously limited.

Today's activities include making a giant pine cone wreath. I have some large cones already so the boys are supposed to be outside collecting smaller ones. I say supposed to be because I hear them and they don't seem to be discussing how attractive or how prickly the pine comes are. They had direct orders to fill the bucket with nicely shaped pine cones that had not been stepped on nor eaten. Since we have rather prolific "Pine Cone" trees, they should have any trouble finding enough cones. But I'm afraid that they have lost interest in the cones and become interested in one of the large numbers of Daddy Long Legs spiders that have been around out house lately. (I just heard, "Wow, look at the legs" so I'm making assumptions.)

Once we have enough pine cones, we will all don heavy gloves so I can wire them together into a large wreath that the boys wile decorate with fall leaves, acorns, nuts and whatever else they feel is "fallish." Of course along the way we will talk about why leaves change color, what nuts are, where the seeds are in pine cones, why squirrels each pine cones, nuts, and acorns, why pine trees don't' change color (evergreen versus deciduous) and anything else that might come up.

Science and art day. Plus I end up with some holiday decorations.

So the "email your post" thing doesn't work that well.

I guess there are still some issues to work out. I should just go ahead and manually publish all my old posts but now it's old news. There's no fun in posting old news.

So what's going on at "The Zoo?" Lots, little...It depends on how you look at it. The things that should be going on, aren't and there all kinds of extra things going on.
I am neighborhood captain for our neighborhood food drive. I'm trying to round up volunteers to make this thing work out this year. Scouts are going smoothly though homeschooling is still a little rough. With all of our other stuff, I just haven't gotten into a groove yet. Work is getting done and the boys are learning but it's not the fun kind of learning that I want for them. They aren't complaining. They just enjoy learning and they know that it would be a whole lot less fun if they were in a durational school.
As much as they hate grammar workbooks, they don't hate them enough to miss out on all the other fun stuff.

Soccer is winding down. Yeehaw!!!! Just in time for basketball sign-ups. At least they practice at night and have Saturday games. This is highly preferable to afternoon games and practices.

The lack of sunlight is getting me also. On sunny days, we do 'school" out on the deck so I can relish what little light I can.
Thank goodness we don't' live in Alaska. I would go crazy the first season.

We Did It!!!!!

We had a miracle!

Yesterday, my Bear Cub Scout den of 14 managed to actually do all the requirements for “Chips and Shavings” achievement, including carving something with a real knife!

Even more amazing….no one got hurt.

We also practiced the flag ceremony that we have to do at Thursday night’s pack meeting and did a few more parts of the “Tying things up” achievement.

It was a fun and productive day.

There’s no way I could have done it without the parents’ help. We have awesome parents. I also have some awesome Den Chiefs. And the Bear Cubs are pretty cool too.

My biggest complement came from the mom of 10 (yes 10) children. She said that she was amazed by how smooth things had been at the den meetings and said that the boys really enjoyed themselves.

Hey, when you can amaze a mother of 10….well that is amazing in itself.

What a big day!

haven't felt much like posting

On September 9, 2004, my wonderful father lost his five year battle to cancer. He had esophageal cancer that returned and spread to his lungs. My mom, sister, and I were with him when he passed.

I’m still just devastated. I think about my little elf Daddy every day. But I’m getting better, I’m only crying a half dozen times a day now.

But I just feel pretty empty.

I sleep but I don’t rest.

I’m just walking around going through the motions.

The older boys went to the funeral and I am amazed at how well they did.

Last week “Granddaddy” was M’s proper noun of choice during last week’s First language Lessons.

We listen to a lot of Johnny Cash, Pasty Cline, and Blue Grass Gospel. We call it Granddaddy’s music.

Just trying this out

So can you rally email your posts to blogger? That would be a God-send. I might actually post if I didn’t have to log on and be tempted to “fix up” the place. After all, I can hyperlink in email anything of interest and I seldom have pictures, though I have posted a few.

And the kicker, since I use word for email, I have a kicking spelling a grammar check and The Lord Above knows that neither grammar no spelling are my strong point. If it weren’t for those little red and green squiggles under my words to let me know how “off I am, I would be unintelligible. (Wow, I spelled that one right on my own.)

A novel to write and no time to do it.

So where did I go once again?
1.
Well, the computer died. It just gave up the ghost. It is now glorified door stop. Alas, all is not lost. My hard drive in no installed but inaccessible in my hubby's monstrous computer creation. So I have files, somewhere.

2.
We started back to school. That part is pretty much all consuming. Plus Scouts started and soccer will start soon. Way too much running around these days but I like to be busy because it takes my mind off...

3. my father's cancer is back. I'll have to post that whole epic later. Let's just say he's putting up a better fight than my old computer. The Elf Dad is what one call a "real trooper." Stay Strong Daddy!