Donna's Friday Five

I always forget to check Donna's blog on Friday. I usually remember late Saturday night and then I feel like the late loser piping in. Well...it's still Friday so I can honestly do this one.

Friday Five Freak out!
1. When was the last time you had butterflies over something you were about to do?

Hmmm...Last Thursday I was a bit nervous when I had to do a "nature" lesson for a group of Scout Leaders. But outright butterflies...I would have to say May 2003.

2. What was it?

I was 31 weeks pregnant and had to have a cerclage done to stay pregnant. I was terrified. I have an irrational fear of surgery. I mean beyond the noraml fear of surgery because who isn't afraid of having someone cut on you. But I was willing to do anything necessary to carry that baby to term.

3. Have you ever tried out for a game show?

Nope, I am hopelessly slow with the buzzer thingies. Patheticly slow. We had a Academic team in high school and I was rejected due to my abysmally slow reaction time.

4. Jeopardy or Wheel. of. Fortune?

Jeopardy if someone else is doing the buzzer for me.

5. What are you doing today?

Housework. Wow....that's some interesting stuff. Oh...and baseball pictures. Plus I am once again searching for my car keys. I'm down to using the valet key. Apparently I am just as bad at keeping keys as I am at ringing the buzzer thingy.

So what is that mom?

It's my blog. It's where I write about all the stuff that we do and about you and your brothers.

Do you write about how great we are?

Yep...I sure do. I have a bunch of wonderful boys.

You sure do. Aren't you lucky?

Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.

The Plane! The Plane!

Nope, it's not a re-enactment of a Fantasy Island episode. It's my afternoon lunch time drive.

This morning the boys had a dental check up. All is well in the mouths of the Zoobys. However, we did have to have a slight skirmish with the insurance company when they announced that we didn't have dental insurance. WHAT!!!! Them's fightin' words "Gus!" We most certainly do.
After getting that situated, we headed down the main business road to grab some lunch before heading to the hospital for speech and OT.
Traffic was heavy, which is normal for that road and time of day. I pulled off(along with everybody else) to let an ambulance and a rescue/fire truck got by. I didn't think much of it. Then I arrived at a traffic light that was not working. Hmmmmmm....why is the light out.

Then I arrived at another non-working light just as a police officer was driving up on the curb so he could hop out and start directing. At that point, traffic was bad. Still not too much off normal though. When I saw the flashing lights in the suicide lane, I knew there had been a wreck. I didn't see any lanes merging so I started my mumbling rant about rubberneckers. I hate rubberneckers.

Apparently thought there was something to rubberneck at. Even I had to take a second look a the Cessna plane that was sitting in the K-mart parking lot. Apparently, the pilot made an emergency landing on that busy road and clipped a couple of power lines on his way down.

Wow!

Thankfully, no one was hurt and power was restored in an hour or so.

Wild stuff.

Dog tired

I have been running around like a mad woman all day.

I got up at 6 am to do some much needed housework. ZooDad is in Germany once again and the housework tends to get put off when I'm single parenting.

The we all go up, dressed, ate some breakfast and headed down to my wetlands interpretive park (our lot backs up to the wetlands park area) for the Earth Day celebration.

First there was a butterfly release for the ribbon cutting. Each preson was given a little triangle envelope with a painted lady butterfly inside. It was cool.

Here's M waiting to release his butterfly. This part took a while since all the bureaucrats all had to say something about our cool new park.

Then the boys got a chance to see all the critters from the ecology lab.


And I got to see my favorite ultra-cute herp nerd and his alligator.



That's me and two of the Zoobys. I'm holding a rat snake from the ecology lab. The little one with no fear is not even two yet. He kept looking at the snakes and yelling "Nake! Nake! Me 'old 'em. Me 'oooooooooooold 'em"

sooooooooooooo.........

he got to hold it. His daddy is going to freak out.


Here's the oldest Zooby with the same snake. Notice the little one with his hands outstetched begging to hold the "nake" again.

Then it was a whirlwind day. Back home for lunch. Back to the park for scouts where a local botanist took the pack on a trek through the wetlands boardwalk. After that we headed over to the church for the scout "God and Me" program. Then....I spent an hour coaching M's t-ball team.

I picked up pizza for dinner and the freshy bathed Zoobys are watching the Incredibles while I veg for a bit.

It was a fun day. But man...i am dog tired.

It was a miracle!

My darling ZooDad is less than handy around the house. He is more than capable in things computer related. In fact he is the Greek God of Computer stuff. However, he is no Ty Pennington. He's not even a Bob Villa.
But he does try. Last weekend, he finished the handrails on the deck steps. This is the deck that fell off the house in October of 2003. (Yes, 2003!) ZooDad replaced the deck in July of 2004. He's just now finished the handrails down the steps. Don't ask me when the cap rail will be done.

Not that I can talk. I still have to finish painting the kitchen. I started last October.

Time Flies.

A little more background so you understand the conversation. A couple of months ago, I lost my car keys and I had to call a locksmith to open the van....to see if I had locked them in there. I'm scatterbrained...I admit it. I hadn't and not only do I still not have my regular keys...the locksmith broke my window mechanism thingy and my passenger window wouldn't roll down.
This annoyed ZooDad terribly since that was 'his" window.

Saturday we had the following conversation.

ZooDad rolls down his window.

me: Hey, how'd my window get fixed?

him: I fixed it.

I stare at him. This is a highly doubtful statement.

me: No you didn't.

him: Yes I did.

me: When?

him: A couple of weeks ago

me: And you never even mentioned it.

him: No, I don't mention every little thing.

me: You'd mention fixing the window if you fixed it. You mention fixing the toilet at least one a week. (remember the toilet handle incident...he brings it up.) You did NOT fix my window.

him: Well then, how did it get fixed.

me: Must have been a miracle.

him: Don't you think God has other things to do than fix parts of your van. If he was in the van fixing line of work, why didn't he heal your transmission?

me: So, how did you get to the window if you fixed it?

him: I removed these things and took out he screws.

me: Without scratching anything? And where'd you get the part?

him: There wasn't a part. it was a cable.

me: You did not fix my window!

him: You'd rather believe the window spontaneously fixed itself than think that *I* fixed it?

me: I know what you did when you fixed your Ford seat. (It was a freaking mess. Car dudes would be horrified by the sheer carnage.) I don't see any evidence of your handiwork.

him: I am insulted.

me: I was on a really bumpy road at the Scout camp ground. Maybe that shook things back into place.

him: I am really insulted.

me: Sorry...but you did NOT fix my window. It was a miracle.

him: Well, you'll just never know for sure will you?


A window fixing miracle. Now what we need it the garage fairy to come and clean out all that mess.

Wow! I'm still awesome!

Today was interesting for me....as a former public school teacher.
After a busy morning of homeshooling my brood, the mail arrived. In it was my letter of recommendation and application to be listed in the Who's Who of American Teachers.

Hmmmm....

I haven't taught public school since 1996. I've moved twice since I last taught school so none of my former students or colleagues would know my current address.

But according to the folks who know this sort of thing....I'm "Who's who."

I am tempted to fill our the form and have my homeschool name listed. That would be funny.

It sure makes me rethink that "Who's who of American high School Students" award too.

Crack that whip!

Well, it appears that Sheila, Zoo keeper, and supermom extraordinaire, is a slave master.
It seems by posted schedules that I am working my little Zoo boys down to the bone.

believe it or not, we've been pretty much doing pretty much everything scheduled in the WTM.

Yep, J, my little 3rd grader (and his 1st grade brother), has math every day. Twice a week we supplement with algebra and geometry.
He does two pages of Easy Grammar every day while his M does phonics with SSRW or HOP along with FLL.
They have handwriting with HWT three times a week.
J has dictation, twice a week and spelling every day. He also has assigned daily reading for comprehension along with his daily hour of required reading each day. (J has no problem with this. He read a whole Lemony Snicket book yesterday.)

Geography is done twice a week and so is vocabulary. (Wordly Wise) Logic and writing (Writing Strands) are done three times a week. SOTW and Science are both "done" twice a week. But we discuss these things daily. My oldest sons love history and their mommy is a former science teacher who doesn't every stop teaching science.
I guess I can be excused from Latin. We tend to do a lesson every 2 weeks or so.

Then add in A's work for preschool and speech. He and M sit in for Five in a Row lessons together. And A sits in on Baby S' B4FIAR books.
And we have three sessions of speech, two sessions of OT, scouts, PE, Art and crafts, and just general play time.

I'm at a point now where I thing the boys would get a vacation if they went to school. They aren't complaining though. They enjoy learning and even enjoy doing workbooks.

But sometimes I wonder if I push them too much. Sometimes I have to step back and remind myself that education is not a race but a journey.

But...

If they like it....is it ok to race anyway?

I'm walking on sunshine....or at least trying to

This is day three of my "shake that funk" project. Saturday, day one, there was much shopping. I drove up to the next little town, away from all the visiting golfers, and went to my favorite teacher supply store. There wasn't much I wanted. That makes me happy. I must be more satisfied with my curriculum choices than I realised. Then it was off to my hoity-toity plant shop to pick up some plants. They were all out of Spirea ( I want two for the back yard.) but I did manage to get hostas and gardenias. Then off to Home Depot to get all the stuff ZooDad needed.
Further toilet repairs included replaced the boys' toilet seat with one that removes for cleaning. It snaps off. That is a brilliant idea. Kudos to the mom of multiple boys who must have thought that one up.
Then Zoodad had to repair the mission style couch. The thing just flat out broke. Friday night, Zoodad was attempting to rest on it while the monkey boys were climbing over the ladderback and jumping on him. Then there was a crack. They broke my couch.

Thankfully it was repaired with several very long screws and new drill bit.
Since he had been so successful with the couch repairs, Zoodad then decided to go ahead and finish the handrails for the deck. I supervised and assisted where needed. I now have a 99% completed deck. We still need cap rails, but at least now, the boys won't fall off the side of the steps.

While we worked on the deck, the boys did some moving for me. They moved the leftover firewood from the front porch back to the firewood stack. They moved all my plant purchases from the front to the correct plant beds. Moved 6 bags of top soil and 8 bales of pinestraw. I was so impressed. They were so proud of themselves too. They'd load up the Red Flyer wagon and pull it around then unload it. The two oldest worked together to lift the bags of topsoil. I didn't even know they could lift that much. Boy labor is a good thing.

As a reward for all their hard work yesterday, today we are putting out the top soil and planting their flower garden. They have chosen sunflowers, zinnieas, and cleomes. J wants me to pick up some tiger lilies to add to the bunch. (By the way, clomes get really tall and when not blooming, look an awful like a certain prohibitive weed.)

Oh, I have to add this.
Wednesday we had a marathon of doctor and therapists visits so we had McDonald's for lunch. (The children's hospital has one in the lobby.) the boys and I played "I Spy" with the abstract paintings that decorate the eating area. At one particular painting we said things like, "If you turn your head, there's a light house. If you turn your head, there's a man playing the guitar. If you turn you head, there's a sunset on a beach." The J finally said, "Hey Mom, that's not an abstract. That's an impressionist. They hung it sideways." We all looked, head cocked sideways and had to agree with him. It was a picture of a man with a guitar on a beach with a lighthouse and the sun setting on the water behind him.....sideways.

Or course we all broke out laughing when we noticed other people with their head cocked sideways trying to figure out what we were looking at.

I'm a broken record, but at least I'm predictable

The pontiff was buried today. For me, His death has been a flashback to September. I had to turn off the news when the press was busy describing exactly what the Pope was doing as he was dying. It was too easy to go back to the night when my Dad died. I could easily envision the scene described.
The coverage this week was also painful. It didn't help matters that Pope John Paul II looked an awful lot like my own little Elf Dad. So much so that J chimed in, " He looks like Granddaddy. Who is that?"
It reopened the wounds that were just beginning to scab over and I've spent the last few days tired and moody. I'm going to have to seek professional help if I can't shake this funk soon. I want to avoid that if possible. Pills seem to be the number one fix-it miracle these days and I don't do well with any form of medication. I rarely even take Tylenol.

The rain isn't helping things. Three days of cloudy skies and rain off an on.
Tomorrow, I plan to go the garden center. I'm on a quest to signs of new life. Zoodad, being the supportive wonderman he is, actually suggested it. That's brave of him, since he's the one who has to dig all the holes. ;)

Peace in the Valley, sung by Johnny Cash and also Elvis. Very good song. You can hear Elvis's faith in the lyrics but JC's world weary voice really made this song for me.

On Death and Dying

This is all I'm going to say about the case in Florida. And I say this as a person who has lost all her grandparents, her father-in-law, and her father in ways that could never be compared to "dignified" deaths.

Let's just pretend for a moment that I, as a reasonably healthy and sane adult, decided to starve myself to death. I made this decision, informed dear ZooDad of it and had his support. If my state powers-that-be found out, they would involuntarily commit me and force me to eat.

AND...if I somehow managed to starve myself to death without the state finding out, the state would press charges against my husband for assisted manslaughter.

Now, if for some reason my darling ZooDad decided to starve me to death and I was not in a state where I could prevent this from happening (either mentally or physically), he would be charged with murder.

Interesting.


BTW, I know some will say...but it's different in cases of terminal illness.
Nope, it isn't.

The kid knows what he wants

Baby S is sick. Well at least he was. He's 20 months old and this morning he woke up with much coughing, gagging, and retching at about 5 am. He seems to have some allergy problems.
After throwing up all over the crib, he decided he (and by default, me) was up for the day. So for the next 3 hours I chased him around with a towel, a can of Lysol, and a Bissell spot cleaner. At 8 am, he decided to take a nap and slept until noon.
When I went to get him out of bed he seemed remarkable improved and he had his shoes on...and a diaper. When I put him to bed, he had pajamas, a diaper, and no shoes.

The boy loves his shoes. He can put them on by himself. He wears them all day long with socks or without. The only time you can get the shoes off of him is when it is bath time or bed time. If you bathe him too early, he'll put his shoes back on. I guess he's a Fly-kid. Shoes and diapers are the only essential items of clothing....the diaper is negotiable. When I take his shoes off, I usually place them on the dresser near his bed. I might have to break that habit since the kid can reach the shoes and put them back on.

After a late lunch of home-made pizza, (I know...it's not the BRAT diet...but the little guy seems to be fine.) the older boys headed outside to play. S decided he was going too. However, he was having a shoe problem and he didn't know how to fix it.
After a quick inspection, I discovered that he was wearing two LEFT shoes. They were the same style but one was a size larger. That's one of the drawback of saving all the kids shoes and having some many feet to shod. I have many pairs of shoes around. Lots of sizes, lots of styles...and occasionally I buy a repeat.
I searched all over, with a crying, snotty, threatening-to-throw-up-at-any-minute toddler following my every step.
I can't find either right shoe of that particular style.

So...since it is so warm today, I grabbed the "shoe box" and pulled out the next size of velcro strapped sandals.

S was intrigued. he had not seen such shoes before. He sat down and offered first one foot and then the other. He watched my every movement as I strapped them on his chunky square feet and then wiggled his plump little toes.
He stood up and walked around in a circle, looking down to see how the shoes fit.
Then he hugged me
and headed out the door to play.

I guess he's feeling back to normal after all.

Sleeping with the Enemy

Well, at the very least, getting services from them.

Today I enrolled my 6 year old at the local elementary school. Officially.
It was weird. The secretary thought I was, for a lack of a better word, dumb. She could see that I had a child almost my size and could not figure out why I was having so much trouble filling out the paperwork. I had to explain that I homeschooled and had never enrolled any of my children in a school.
Ever.
Not even Mothers Morning Out.
Not even pre-school.
Well, once for day care but J was only in day care for 10 weeks and that was 9 years ago.
She asked and was shocked, horrified, and then very cautious of me since I must obviously be close to the edge of sanity being home all day with FOUR children.

Of course, M won't actually go to school there. He's just going for speech therapy once a week for half an hour. But the school is planning for him to be there until next March. They want to hang on to my little guy and they haven't even gotten him in the room yet.

My nine year old looked around the place with some contempt and once again confirmed that he didn't "have to" go there. According to him, they have a very small library and the food smelled funny. After peeking into a few rooms he confirmed that he wasn't missing much.

Afterwards we went to the library and checked out as many books as we could carry and had an early lunch at Pizza Hut with our Book-it coupons.
Poor school can't compete with that.

It's Spring!

Which means we're way behind!!! We'll never catch up. We'll be doing school all summer.

Standardized testing is coming. Have I mentioned that I am the test coordinator for my homeschool support group? I have to place a $2000 order today. Scary.

Spring is also planting time. 10 bushes are in the ground and I don't know how many flowers to go. But my azaleas are starting to bloom. So are my irises and crabapple tree. My Lady Banks Rose and "Nanny's switch" bush are about to bloom. They take me back to her arms. I have to order sod today. We'll need 2 palettes. The left over grass will go down to the cemetery to dress up Daddy's place along with a few hardy azaleas. I would plant a Lady Banks but those things grow like wisteria and I can't get down there often enough to keep it from taking over the whole back wall.

Spring is also baseball. Baseball starts next week. Have I mentioned that I am coaching again? yep...t-ball. I can't mess up t-ball. Thankfully the game season is only 6 weeks.

On a good note, ZooDad will not go to TX for 3 weeks then Germany for 8 days. Now he'll just take 2 four day trips to DC and then to Germany for 8 days. I plan to quarantine him in the garage for at least 5 days. The boys however, are quite excited about the prospect of more German chocolate.

There's other stuff. I'll post it as I come to it in my head.

I did get a great complement.
When I was in high school and college, I always felt that my best feature was my smile. Well,poundage, 4 kids, and the stress of life has diminished my smile a bit...so I thought.
I was in Home Depot (buying plants) and asked an associate to point me towards the carpet cleaning solutions. He asked if he knew me. I admitted he looked familiar but couldn't figure out how. We played the association game. (Are you are Warren? We had basketball at Wesley? Do you work on post?) When he finally said, "I know you from someplace...I remember you smile."
I guess I still have it. I'll live off that one for the next month.

Oh, and the new buying season has begun. My HWT books are in and so is Singapore MPH science. I love it!!!!! We got home at 4pm and J has already done the first chapter including the work book and activity book. He loves it too.
I've also ruled out Singapore math...I think we'll just stick with MCP and actually do all the stuff in the teacher's manual for a change.

It's spring! Plant flowers, be happy, and don't forget to spray the weed killer before they take over the place.

Homeschool March Madness

Yes, it's that time of year again. The catalogs have started arriving. Those glossy pics filling my mind with unfulfilled educational opportunities. Lakeshore tempts me. Oh I need all that stuff! What beautiful tables and cubbies and COOL organizers!
Catalogs make me anxious to scrap everything and start anew. We need new science. We need new math. Maybe Singapore math will turn my little guys into math geniuses. What kind of bad mom am I to deny them such a powerful tool for understanding math!

Catalog guilt!
My kids don't own enough books!
My kids don't have enough math practice.
We've haven't done nearly enough Latin!
My kids don't write well enough.
And we are behind.
I need something to fix it! Maybe I'll find in in Rainbow Resource when that catalog shows up.
Maybe I should send them to school.
Frantic. That's me. Every March.


Then I stop and actually think for a minute. Maybe I could add some Singapore or maybe I should fully implement the math I have first. The kids aren't behind. They aren't compared to anything but themselves. If I compare them to the poor children locked up in our local schools...they are certainly on average with them. Calm down.

yeah...easier said than done.

I'm not dead but I feel like it.

ZooDad brought home a German super bug. It has worked it way through the Zoo, affecting each zooby in a different way. ZooDad cocooned himself in bed for 2 days and was incoherent but caused me no extra work.
Baby S developed croup with led to a trip to the ER. After a nebulizer treatment, a steroid shot and 4 hours of observation, we went home only to return to the doctor two days later for oral steroid prescription and antibiotic for the impetigo he has developed on his face. (We've taken to calling him El Snotto.) The cool mist humidifier is going 24 hours a day.
A got a high fever (104) then M joined in (105) just to keep Mommy on her sleep deprived toes. We went back to the doctor and found out that both have Strep throat. More antibiotics.
Today, J threw up a few times. He is not running a fever. I'm keeping a close eye on him. The doc has now said that if he even thinks about a sore throat, he'll start antibiotics too.

Yay me~!!!!!

Now I have a sinus headache and my nose is stuffy. I had briefly considered wearing a mask ala MJ. Now I wish I had.

I've been lysol-ing the house and scrubbing everything.
So the Zoo is closed.

I need a bablefish

My third child is a hoot, even when I don't understand him.

This morning I woke to the proclamation "I uh ites geen!"
You want ice cream?

"No! I uh Ites GEEN! GEEN! Geen?" He looks at me as if I have lost some mental faculties.

The ice is clean?

"Noooooo! I uh geen. I air uh gown." Holding his hands above his head. This is said with the air of the French Knights from Holy Grail. I can almost imagine him adding..."you zillly woman!"

By now I am just staring at him. I have no idea what he is talking about....then it dawns on me.

You a king? You wear a crown?

"Yets!"

At this point my oldest comes in to the room to inform me that A is an Ice King who wears an ice crown. Oooooooohhhhhhh. Gee, why couldn't he have told me that five minutes earlier.

Today's Treadmill Report

32 minutes, 1 incline, 2.8 MPH, 6 minutes running (I am a sad and pathetic woman)
U2's One album for entertainment

Techno geek husband

ZooDad is such a geek. He has this "reader" program installed. You highlight the text and hit "play" and the computer will read it to you in one of 10 different voices. The AT&T voices are the most realistic sounding.
So I tried it out by having it read my last post.
unfortunately there is no "Southern Belle" voice.
ZooDad has Chosen Crystal 16 as his favorite.

For some reason this bothers me a little. He likes having this computer woman read to him.
Hmmmm.

and on and even stranger note...My backspace key has stopped working. How weird is that. I didn't realize how much I used it.

Today I got my butt up!

I actually got motivated by Poppins' get-up-and-go post. I got up and went.

I got up at 7 am. Now don't laugh. I am a night owl and 7 am is disrespectfully early for me to get up and dressed. But I did this morning.
I threw on some cotton pants and a t-shirt. Put on my running shoes, popped some biscuits in the oven and set the timer. I told my oldest to come get me when the stove beeped. Then I went upstairs and climbed on the treadmill.

After a quick warm up I powered the incline up to 1 and the speed up to 2.8 MPH. I'm short. 2.8 MPH means my feet are flying. After a 10 minute walk, I tried a little running. I did two minutes as Sarah recommended, then 4 minutes of walking, then another 2 minutes of running.

Then I had to hop off and get the biscuits. I did get to squeeze in a Rocky move by running down and then back up the stairs...so that should count too.

Once I prevented breakfast from burning (Mah biscuits are burnin'!) it was back on the treadmill.

I quickly remembered why I hate being on the treadmill It's pretty boring, even with CC on the morning news.
I put on my headphones and popped in some Maroon 5.
Awesome dance music. Kind of a bluesy/funk thing to it.
I didn't meet the goals for running but I did keep my feet moving fast by dancing on the treadmill. Yes, dancing. I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought of me this morning.

Once "Tangled" started, I was really going. Just imagine a short, overweight mom with no dance skills doing a Jamirquai imitation, except without the big, furry, pimp hat. That was me this morning.

It was fun. The time flew by.

I must say that I feel (and hope) that dancing on the treadmill is just as good of a workout as jogging on one. At the very least, it's more fun. I sure was sweating.
Oh, if you try to do this at home, make sure you keep one hand on the bar for the fancy footwork, especially on the little side turns.

Tomorrow is Violent Femmes. I'll let you know how that works out. I'll have to keep the headphones on for that one.

Shallow tales from the Zoo

ZooDad is home and he'll be leaving again tomorrow. The man needs to give me at least a week between trips. I haven't even finished the laundry from his last trip.

J has rediscovered the Etch-a-sketch. He's quite good at it too. He writes me etch-a-sketch notes. That's a talent right there. I can't ever figure out which way to turn those knobs and he's writing out eight word messages on it.
I wonder if etch-a-sketch artists are paid highly.

A cracked me up this morning. He happened to see that toe fungus commercial, the one with Digger the Dermaptophyte. He got this look of horror on his face and then yelled...."IT'S IN A TOE! IT'S IN A TOE!!!! It's not in my toe."
snort

M starts OT tomorrow. He's just barely off average and the therapist thinks he only needs about 6 months of therapy. That's a whole lot better than the years we expect A will need.

Just one more basketball game and the season is over. We had out last practice last night. I am so relieved. Now if we can just hold our own on Saturday, I'll be happy.

May your toes have no fungus.