A Typical Occurence

In which Lauren acts out of turn, but gets rewarded for it anyway. This is from a page that's going into the Christmas album, with a few edits.

We went to the symphony last week, and the conductor did an amazing job really engaging the audience. Little did we know that he would engage Lauren most of all!

He was talking to us about each piece, how the composer was creating imagery with the music, such as “Waltzing Cat,” and “Painted Desert.” After one rollicking piece, he asked some of the high schoolers what they thought the characters in that piece were doing. None of them had much of an answer, so Lauren yelled out, “Riding a horse!” He looked around and asked who had said that. He got her name and age, then teased the older kids that they had been “owned by a five-year-old.” Then he came back over and asked Lauren if she would marry him. She just smiled while everyone laughed. Later, he asked her about another piece, which she said made her think of God.

After the performance, he said, “I want three things: I want everyone to wait to be escorted out by an usher, I want to meet Lauren, and I want a big hand for our world class symphony!” After a big round of applause, we waited a little bit, and he did indeed come out to talk with all of us, which really made our day. We’re definitely looking forward to making the symphony a regular excursion!

So here's the thing. When I originally wrote this all down, I thought that Lauren had raised her hand and waited for him to notice her and call on her. Why I thought that, I'll never know, because Lauren is apparently incapable of waiting for much of anything, much less to be noticed. So while other kids were waiting, doing the right thing, Lauren did what you're always told not to do. And got to be the belle of the ball. I wonder if she were in public school, if she'd learn to restrain herself better. I really should ask her co-op teachers how that aspect of things goes, but I think I know the answer already. I do realize that she's only five, and I don't want to stifle that exuberance and enthusiasm, but I would like her to have better manners.

Obligatory Halloween Picture

That's Daphne (although she usually said "Daph-a-ne," which sounded like "Stephanie," so it was a little confusing at times), and the biker chick. The daylight savings threw me for a minute ("Isn't it usually darker when we go out?"), but I liked being able to see them for the first hour or so.

That didn't take long.

When Sarah had her first loose tooth, I swear it took weeks for it to come out. Lauren pulled hers out tonight while I was at work. Jeff said that the thought of the money the tooth fairy would bring her was very motivating!

Fun

you are lightskyblue #87CEFA

Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect. Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Oh, Cruel Fate!

Guess who lost a tooth this morning? Hint: not Lauren.

Patience

Lauren has her first loose tooth, and it's so hard for her to understand that although she'll lose it soon, she probably won't lose it today. Actually, both the front bottom ones are loose, but the one on the left is really on its way.

Sniff.

Fun at the Park

Love those sound effects!

And no, that isn't me pushing them.

What I'm Reading

One of the other moms at dance recommended My Sister's Keeper, so I got it from the library and started it yesterday. Holy crap, what a tear-fest. It's good so far, but really, I don't have time right now to spend half the day sobbing. And since I heard the ending is an even bigger heartbreak, I think it might go back to the library unfinished. Maybe not, because I do think it's a good book.

So instead I'm going to pick up Microtrends, which I heard about on NPR and sounds really interesting.

I also reserved The Other Boleyn Girl. I don't know where I heard about that, but I tend to like chick historical fiction, so I'm looking forward to that.

Of course, I also have a huge stack of school books, but those aren't "fun." I do plan to do a lot of school-related blogging next month, though.

Follow that pumpkin

According to the general plan I had going, we weren't going to cover physics at all until the spring, but yesterday at the pumpkin patch, while rolling pumpkins down the hill, we started talking about inertia. Here's a nice starter site for dealing with Newton's three laws of motion.

Newton's Three Laws of Motion

New Fall Shows

I've succumbed to the lure of a fair bit of new fall programming. I've managed to avoid Life, Dirty Sexy Money, Kid Nation, and Journeyman, but there are 4 or 5 new shows that I'm recording. None of them have the obsession of first-season Lost, but some of them are fun.

First, Chuck and Reaper. They have similar plot lines--slacker guy gets in over his head with a new job that he can't tell anyone about, there's a cute wannabe girlfriend, and an annoying sidekick--but so far, I like Chuck better. First, I think the character of Chuck is nicer than Sam, who whines a lot. Also, the actor playing Chuck is cuter (that has nothing at all to do with my husband having dark, mildly curly hair, and working on computers all day, either!). I laughed harder than anything else this week when one of the characters got trapped in a cage, and they started playing the opera music from Shawshank Redemption. Gorgeous. Although Ray Wise really works as the Devil, I like Adam Baldwin better as a semi-antagonist.

Pushing Daisies. I like it, but it's really verging on twee for me. It's very cute, very clever, and very aware of that. Certainly unique, but we'll see how it holds up.

Bionic Woman. If I had to give up one new show, this would probably be it. It takes itself pretty seriously, and doesn't have the fun of, say, Alias (which I sadly didn't discover until it was almost over).

I'm also watching the final episodes of Queer Eye, which is still fun, but not as fun as it was when it first came out. I'm really looking forward to November 14--Season 4 of Project Runway!

Hello, Mother Nature?

Michigan calling here. We'd like October back, please.

Remember October? It's the best month here. A month of chilly nights, and days that are made for sweaters. A month of going to the apple orchard, picking the perfect pumpkin, and getting great fall color on film.

It is NOT a month to go swimming, so last week's 90 degree temps were rather uncalled for. Our church had a soup lunch for www.bread.org, and while everything was tasty, the air conditioning was a little incongruous.

According to the weather channel, you're only giving us one nice day this week--tomorrow. After that, the temps are going to be in the high 50's. None of the previously mentioned activities are as much fun if you have to do them in a parka. True, it will probably warm up again, but the leaves will probably be gone by then, the apples will be iffy, and my Dad insists that THIS is the week to get a pumpkin (we always go with him), even though Halloween is still three weeks away.

So, Mother Nature, how about it? Can we get back to a regular old glorious October? Please?

Homeschool Holes

Apparently, there are some things home schooled kids are less likely to learn. My stepsister has recently put her kids back in public school, after homeschooling for about five years.

The first week, she realized that her kids haven't learned how to keep track of their assignments and homework. Last week, she realized that her kids (or at least one) didn't know that you can't "help" someone else during a test. Oops.

Hearing about this is interesting to me, and makes me think about whether my own kids would also have these issues. I asked Sarah if you could help someone during a test, and she dismissively told me that of course you couldn't. As for the keeping track of assignments, I'm sure that would prove difficult at the public school level, although she does have some co-op assignments to keep track of.

She's also discovered how much homework her kids have, which makes me wonder if we do enough sheer volume of work.

HomeTeam

Today was our second homeschool co-op day, and it went pretty well. I was overwhelmed again, but not nearly as overwhelmed as before.

Lauren was in Arts & Crafts, but when it got merged with Bible Stories, we switched her to Gym. She gets Story Time at the library, and Bible Stories at church, and it's good for her to be able to run around in a directed way, so it's a good switch.

The Yearbook is still a behemoth, but at least now I can see what most of it looks like. I had no idea when I said I'd do it that I'd be in charge of the Pizza lunch fundraiser, and getting class picture day set up in addition to doing the actual book itself. Luckily, the woman who did the class last year is still around, and still does most of the pizza stuff, and is good for lots of ideas. We have lots of ideas for other fundraisers, and hopefully the final cost of the yearbooks will be small.

I'm still trying to figure out how we'll be able to do layouts, since we don't have access to the computer ourselves. We can do hard copy layouts, but then we'd have to have prints of all the pictures, which would be kind of a waste. Still working on that. At least now I have a plan and a goal, though, so I feel a lot better about it.

Aw!

Better Perspective

I need to not blog about stuff the same day it happens. I'm a lot more sanguine about yesterday this morning. Apparently, I need to be kicked out of my comfort zone harder than I realized in order to make something new happen. Will post progress later!

Groan

I had lots of different things I wanted to blog about: our new school schedule, my enormous Yearbook task for the co-op, an article I read about "haves and have-nots," a super cool article & website about hypercars, and whether Kwame Kilpatrick or Jenny and the Lansing Losers is a bigger black eye to Michigan right now.

Instead, I'm going to be miserable & panicky because one of my ESL students, the one who got me the most hours per month, has told my company that it's not working out and she (apparently) wants another tutor. I hate rejection, even for something like this.

The worst part is that I feel surprised, but not surprised. I knew she wanted more formal, grammar-based, more challenging lessons, but I thought she was happy with the more relaxed focus we had going. We'd been reading a book, "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office," and going over terms & concepts she didn't get. We'd also been going through a grammar book and a book of business slang, but she didn't seem as interested in those. We also spent a lot of time in conversation, which I thought was helpful (my other ESL student and I do the same thing, but now I'm starting to second guess that as well), but I guess was not as professional.

So that's about twelve hours a month for the rest of the year that I've lost, and it really sucks.

Back in the Groove

Or hopefully, finding the groove. I've had a lot of trouble getting us into a school routine this month. I need a regular routine--without one, not much gets done. Part of this is because I'm approaching things differently. I'm basing a lot of what we do is from The Well Trained Mind. I realized over the weekend that I was using that as a textbook instead of a guideline. I don't have to do everything exactly as they say. So this week, I'm planning to find my groove.

Last week, my mom & stepdad stayed with us, which was nice, even though that also contributed to the lack of routine.

We also had a busy weekend. I went over to Canada for the burial of my grandparents' ashes--the bagpipes post.

Saturday, my stepbrother & sister-in-law had their annual fall party. There were easily a hundred people there, and he went all out for the kids. In addition to the pinata, one of his cousins brought her two horses and gave the kids rides, he rented a bounce house, and once it got dark enough, he projected a movie on a canvas hung on the side of the barn/shed. We didn't get home until 10 (didn't stay for the whole movie), and we were all dragging.

Sunday, we drove out to see my great aunt (she invited us to dinner after the funeral). It was nice to see her, but she is so typical Old Country (even though I think she was born in Canada). "Eat, eat! You eat like a bird." This to my stepdad, who was really polite.

I'll post about the co-op stuff tomorrow (it's not bad, but typically overwhelming).

Wrenching

What is it about bagpipes that cuts right through to your soul?

My grandparents' ashes were interred today, and my aunts found a piper (my great grandfather was from Scotland, and great grandmother was of Irish heritage). It was a nice touch, though it's impossible for me to tell if he was any good or not.

Tired now; been a long week. Will write/gripe about the homeschool co-op later.

So. Frustrated.

When I checked Quicken this morning, our mortgage payment had cleared. But the amount was over a hundred dollars more than usual. Huh? I asked Jeff, and after a moment of looking perplexed, he realized that it's probably homeowner's insurance.

Yes, we have homeowner's insurance through a separate company. The mortgage company has repeatedly asked for proof of this, and I've repeatedly asked the insurance company to provide it. They've repeatedly said that they've done so. I'm thinking it hasn't happened.

So now I get to call the mortgage company to see if this is the case, then call the insurance company to get the damn proof myself and mail or fax it, since they obviously never will, then try to get our money refunded from the mortgage company.

I also have to find out if I have a class tonight, since no one has gotten back to me on that.

I'd also like to make an appointment for a haircut, since I haven't had one since January and now officially hate my hair enough to be willing for them to shave it all off, if need be.

I was planning on leaving the house by 9 so that we can go visit my Dad and have one last day on the boat, too. Ha. Ha. Ha.

I seriously want to scream at the insurance company. How hard is it to provide proof of insurance to a company that asks for it? Isn't that part of the job description?

(feel like I'm about to cry from frustration)

Does this work?

Yes!!! FTR, that's me at the end, yelling, "Swim!"

Now I'm Really in Trouble

I know what I want to do. The job/money thing. I know what I want, and that is a terrible thing, because now I really need to act on it. That will require work, effort. It will not fall into my lap like a ripe plum. It's also going to take time, and may never pay off. But this is it. This is my thing, and I can't believe I didn't come up with it earlier, when I was kicking around other ideas (Etsy store, Ebay, making Photo Books for people). The German classes, I'm still going to move forward with, because that is relatively easy, I do have (hopefully) something of a market for it, and it can move fairly quickly once I get rolling.

I had my dreadful epiphany Monday morning, while looking through this WHAM-IT! document. (I still haven't finished reading the whole thing, such as the part about actually getting traffic to your site, but I'm still a little overwhelmed by all of it.) I was thinking about what kind of content I could put on a site that would draw people in. What do I know; what am I good at? Well, last November I did a fair bit of blogging about homeschooling, and that seemed to interest a few people, even those that don't home school their own kids. Hey, we all want extra ways to enhance the kids' learning, right?

I also remembered a conversation I had with a homeschooling friend on the way home from a co-op meeting (we joined a co-op, and although the drive will suck, I think the experience is going to be fun). She said that she loved looking at my lesson plans--she's a lot more relaxed about schedules and such. I told her that my schedule was my crutch: without it, nothing would get done. But I do like lesson planning, and even writing materials. Well, mostly. Sometimes I am hugely relieved to get lesson plans that are complete with little to no extra input from me. Since I don't buy a pre-made curriculum, I put the bits and pieces together myself. Generally, I like that flexibility, but sometimes, it's a lot of work.

When I was in college, one of my jobs (my best job ever, in fact) was working at a private reading clinic. One of my jobs was to write new content for the students to work from. I loved it. I loved planning it, writing it, creating the attendant worksheets, etc. We had big dreams of publishing our materials, although that never came to fruition.

But now. The world is a different place now. I can write and publish my own materials online. I've seen other unit studies available, though I've never bought them (I'm way too cheap). This is something that has enormous potential. It is also a potentially huge amount of work. Of course, it doesn't all have to be done right away. It's the sort of thing I can build slowly and accumulate over time. I'm nervous about it, because it means putting myself "out there," and taking a risk. Like I said, it's also going to be effort, and my plate is pretty full already. But I can't help it. This is my thing.

I'm going to make it happen.

Good News/Bad News

Sometimes, it's the same news. In spite of keeping me quite busy last spring, my computer classes have dried up recently. I was hoping that they'd pick back up again next month. When I talked to my friend at the office yesterday (she'd been in training all week and couldn't call me back sooner), she told me that she'd gotten a phone call from the owner. When she paused, I knew it was bad news. They're planning to sell all the equipment. Essentially, they'll no longer be in the computer class business. This is no big surprise to me--they haven't been actively advertising classes in quite some time, and have let things slide a lot. They're taking their time and resources in a different direction, so I knew this was possible.

So the bad news is that my income potential has now been razored. I'm not devastated by this, though--note I said income potential. Classes from them have always been somewhat spotty & unreliable.

As it stands now, I have a couple ongoing classes I think I can count on for about four to six hours a week (a pre-existing computer class that I hope will continue, and a couple ESL students). That isn't enough, though. I've been thinking about selling last year's dance costumes on Ebay, and maybe starting an Etsy store to use up some of my fabric stash ideas (taggie blankets, tooth fairy pillows). It's also hopefully the kick in the ass I need in order to really get German classes going. My goal is to get something posted somewhere for an 8 week session starting October 2nd. Any amount will be a big help, but my goal is to get at least eight students, distributed over three classes.

I've complained a lot about my computer class company. I've gotten frustrated enough to want to leave, and looked at other options more than once. But I never did anything concrete, because it was too easy, too convenient, to stay. Now, I don't have a choice, and I'm hoping this ends up being good news instead of bad.

Jinkies, an imposter!

I know it's only August, but my kids are already talking about their Halloween costumes. I still can't get them to go for the mermaids, sigh. Sarah has wanted a Chinese costume ever since she saw the kimono & cheongsam dresses at an import store at the mall. She says that she'd rather have a jacket and pants than either of those, though. I could buy her something for about $30, and they have the tai chi slippers, as well. I'll have to price out brocade to see if I could do it for cheaper, and it would be easy to do.

Lauren, who has been in love with all things Scooby Do this year, decided she wanted to be Daphne. (I didn't help matters by taping the Scooby marathon from a few weeks ago. We finally got through the last one yesterday.) I know Daphne costumes are available, so I checked them out on line.

This? This is Daphne? I don't think so. Daphne's dress had sleeves, for one thing. She didn't wear go-go boots, either. Her dress was dark purple, with lavender bands at the cuffs, dropped waist, and hem. Her scarf was a big poufy thing, not some skinny band that went down to her hem. The hair is the only thing they got right. Luckily, a true Daphne costume will be pretty easy to make, especially if I do a skirt & top instead of a dress. The hardest part is going to be choosing the fabric. Fleece would be easy, but too hot for the indoor party, I think. Knit is probably the best way to go, even though it still intimidates me a bit.

More Pool Progress

At the pool last week, Lauren started swimming underwater. Not deep, but with her face submerged for several seconds. That was big progress for her. She's been "swimming" in the shallow in for a few weeks, but it's hard to tell how often she puts her feet down.

This week, we had some other friends over (cousins are on vacation), and the middle child is a girl two months younger than Lauren, although she seems more mature to me. Anyway, she was swimming like a fish in the deep end, which surprised me a little.

So I had Lauren stand on the "deep" side of the rope (there's still enough of the shallow end for her to stand) to see if she could swim to me a few feet away, and she did it easily! I moved farther back, and she still could. Eventually, she swam all the way to the diving board! It still makes my toes curl a little to think of her doing it, and her dog paddling isn't the most graceful thing I've ever seen, but she did it! She also did a lot of jumping off the edge and swimming parallel to the rope, which I was better with, because I could touch bottom and knew I could grab her if need be. I never did, though.

Now I have to work up the courage to let her go off the diving board without a ring. Really not sure about that one, though.

The Search is Over

Remember the search for a bed for Lauren? The saga continued, on and on. For a while, I decided that we would use the headboard from the day bed, until I realized that the cost of a full size mattress & box spring is a lot more than a twin size. It also takes up a lot more space in a fairly small room.

So I went back to looking at twin beds. We'd already been to the store where my Dad used to work, and spent at least an hour looking at kid's beds there, before deciding they were just too much money. We looked online, and Saturday decided to go down to a local store. The only option that was remotely within the budget wasn't appealing at all. Just didn't look well made. So we went to the store where my Dad used to work. Very limited selection, and higher prices (although by that time I was willing to finance part of it), but I didn't like the quality. We finally realized that we had to go full circle, back to the first store.

Again, we spent a lot of time looking, but in the end it came down to the one we originally liked. When we asked Lauren if she liked it (they'd been playing in the "Kid's Castle" before--fabulous concept!!!) and she immediately fixated on the pillows & comforter, for all our telling her that she'd have different sheets, etc. Went right over her head, of course.

We ended up paying about $250 then, and will pay the other $300 over the next three months. I can live with that. The mattress was out of stock, so it should be delivered sometime this week.

Now comes the hardest part: making room. I have to clean off and get rid of the treadmill in our room, then I can bring in the hope chest from Lauren's room. Doing that will also give me room for a TV stand, where I can keep all my sewing stuff. It'll be a much better result in the end, but a pain to accomplish.

Dance Decisions

It's almost that time of year again. Time to sign up for extra curricular activities. Those fun things that not only eat into our budget, but also our time. Brownies (and this year, maybe Daisies), dance, music, sports, and various other potential classes that I'd love to over schedule my kids with.

My big decision right now is dance. The girls have been in dance through our Rec Center for two years now. If they make it to five years, they get a nice little trophy. We love the teacher, and the cost is very good: $160 per kid for September through June. Our other choice is through the local homeschool group: $75 per kid for September through November. The Rec Center is cheaper per hour, but the HS group doesn't have the associated costs: t-shirts, costumes, recital tickets, pictures, video. It easily comes to another $150 - $200. I think the HS group does some little demo of their dance at the end of the class, but no big recital.

Don't get me wrong, I like the recital. It's cute as all get out, and seeing what the other classes have done is fun. I like getting t-shirts for the girls as mementos, and the costumes are reasonably priced. But it does all add up.

Also, the Rec Center doesn't offer Irish Step dancing, which I think the girls would really like. The HS group does, and the class is ages 4 - 10, so both girls would be in the same class. One class means one day of driving instead of two. It's a considerably farther drive, though--at least half an hour, compared to less than ten minutes for the Rec Center.

I'd like to stay at the Rec Center, but feel like the HS group is the smarter choice. I think I went through this whole thing last year as well, now that I think of it. :/

Totally worth the $

I don't think I raved enough about the Aquapac enough last time. I'm a complete convert. It's going to be so hard to pick pictures for this year's album . . .

As Time Goes By

2005

2006

2007

Vacation Bible School

This is my third year at VBS; the first year, I was a crew leader. Too much "sit down on the floor, stand up to dance, sit down for a craft, get up to go to another station, etc."

Last year, I did the video station, which featured a goofy chipmunk. That was ok, but this year, I offered to take pictures and put them in an album. As it turns out, there is even a specific photographer's job this year! Not to take pictures for an album, but to take posed pictures in the morning that relate to the Bible Story and drop them into a Power Point presentation to see at the end of the day.

Either of these jobs would be fine. Both of them together are a pain. I'm hoping that tomorrow, I'll be able to get more of the pictures I need early, before the regular stuff starts. It's fun, but I'm tired.

No Meatballs For You!

The crib we got before Sarah was born converted to a day bed, then to the headboard of (I thought) a twin sized bed. I realized a few months ago that there's no way that was the width of a twin--it was easily a full, and when I measure it, I was right. Lauren really doesn't fit in it anymore, and we told her she'd get a new bed this summer. We could just get a full sized frame & mattress, but then I'd have to get new bedding to go with it, and I'd need to keep her linens distinct from Sarah's, and everyone knows I'm way too lazy for that.

My Dad (who worked in a furniture store for most of my life) suggested we check out IKEA. We got an IKEA store here last year, to great fanfare and madness, but I hadn't had a chance to check it out. Also, when I looked on their website, I saw a bed I knew Lauren would go crazy for.

It's got that loft/bunk bed feel, but it's not as high as one of those. The tent would just be gilding the lily, and she'd probably never leave her room. Sadly, they didn't have it at our local store, and you can't order it online, but we went to check out the store itself anyway.

We dropped the kids off in the play area (Sarah is just shy of being too tall), and started to look around. We saw some kid's beds that looked like they had potential, but then I noticed the size. When I asked, the sales person told me that it was "European Youth" size. Um, yeah. That's not going to work. (I think the bed above is a standard twin size, but I'm not positive) Then we went to look at other beds, that came in the size we wanted. We found a couple things that would work, but come on--it's IKEA. It's all very plain. I could get some boards and cinder blocks and make something comparable. I think that's fine if you choose that style as an adult, but I know Lauren would like something a little "more." Not necessarily frilly, but not just a plain box. So the search continues.

As for the famous meatballs, we glanced over at the cafeteria, but didn't stop to get anything. Also, I could drag Jeff through housewares to save my life. I'm going to have to go back sometime (maybe I'll take my mom when she comes for her September visit) and have a good long browse.

I forgot how much I like steak

I have a freezer full of meat. My stepsister and I split a quarter of a cow from a guy my stepbrother gets meat from. He gets a lot more meat than we did, although he has to feed a lot more people--he has an assisted living facility, and his mom & grandparents live right next door. He'd mentioned it before, but I balked at the price. $400 for meat at one shot? That's hard to budget. But when my sis offered to split it, I decided to try it out.

So last weekend, we took three coolers up to his house (only needed two), and brought home 46 pounds of meat--boneless--26 pounds of it very lean ground beef. Seriously, when I made Sloppy Joes the other day, I had to add a couple pieces of bacon!

There are a couple of roasts, and quite a few steaks. I rarely buy steaks. When we grilled a couple of strip steaks last night, and I couldn't believe how good they were. It was cooked exactly the way I like it, although I think it might have been a little rare for Jeff. Lauren ate it up (gave her mostly from the outer edges, so cooked more), and Sarah had some tilapia, which she likes. There's only one strip steak left, but that means that I'll make a chicken dinner for me and the girls, and Jeff can have the steak. For me, that will be a treat in and of itself. I just have to try and remember some good chicken recipes!

I still need to go and price out steaks/roasts to see how much I would have spent if I'd bought them individually, but it's diffucult. Do I check the sale price at the mega mart, or the regular price at a butcher shop? I'm pretty sure that a $4.80 price per pound average is pretty good, especially when you consider that the ground beef is so lean, but I'd like some more specific numbers.

Results

Today, Purple Heart gets three bags of kids' clothes, one bag of adult clothes, one box of books, one box of toys, and a computer monitor that may or may not be working. It's not much, and it hasn't made a dent in the basement, but it's a start. The three biggest things right now are organizing my sewing stuff, organizing the kids' clothes, and throwing lots of stuff away.

Sarah had a hard time getting rid of stuff--she snuck a few things out of the toy box, and when I told her she had to replace it with an equal volume (she tried putting a tiny toy back in place of a big one--no luck, sister!), she ended up putting at least one of the toys that I'd originally had in there back.

New Toy

Last year, I tried putting my camera in a zip lock bag in order to protect it in the pool. Didn't work so well! I also got a disposable underwater camera, but was very disappointed with the results. When I saw the Aquapac, I thought it might be a good solution. I ordered it a week ago, and when it arrived Friday, I was really excited. I finally got to give it a test run today.

Overall, I'm glad I got it. Definitely worth the $35. However, it's not perfect. Getting good underwater pictures is incredibly difficult, although that isn't because of the bag, really. You can't really look through the viewfinder, so it's hard to see if your subject is in the frame. I got at least 5 pictures of Sarah's body--no head. And even if you do get the subject reasonably centered, chances are good it will look distorted.
If I only wanted to be able to get underwater pictures, I'd be somewhat disappointed. But the other aspect to taking the camera in the pool is that I can get closer to the kids, and get different angles. Last year, I was really limited by being on the sides, even with the zoom.
I could never have gotten this shot last year. I also got some close ups that I like.

It was almost impossible to see if I'd gotten a shot or not--the bag combined with the sunshine made it hard to see the LCD screen. Taking the camera in and out of the bag was a little unwieldy, but not too difficult. I did leave it open on the table for a while, because even though I had a bag of silica gel desiccant in there, I did get some condensation, which I was trying to avoid.

Overall, I'm glad I got it, and I'll keep using it at the pool. It's going to be hard to narrow down the swim pictures for this year's Christmas album!

Synchronicity

Last night, I got a call from Purple Heart. "We'll be out on x day, do you have anything to donate?" "Absolutely!"

Also last night, I watched the super-sized Clean House, "Messiest House in America." Holy moly, what a dump. Not one, not two, not three, but FIVE dumpsters. Yeah, it was a good sized house, but when you have more dumpsters than bedrooms (four), that's a problem.

My house is not nearly that bad, but it has inspired me to make my Purple Heart Goal:

• 1 box of books
• 2 boxes of toys
• 1 bag of kids' clothes
• 1 bag of adults' clothes

What would be really great is if I could throw out an equivalent amount of garbage.

The Happiness Budget

Whoever says money can't buy happiness doesn't know where to shop, right? Yeah, ha ha ha, the best things in life are free, etc.

For the most part, I'm quite the tightwad. Some of this is out of necessity, some of it is out of habit.

Yesterday, I went to a local farmer's market, with naught but $14 in my pocket (the amount left from what we gave Sarah to take to the water park with her Brownie troop last weekend). The first thing to catch my eye was a basil plant. I love basil, and try to grow it, but don't use it as much as I like. And since I seriously procrastinated on the garden, I hadn't been able to find any. I also got some red leaf lettuce, and small containers of blueberries and black raspberries. All for the low price of $11. I thought about getting some flowers, too, but the gladiolas were $4, and the bouquets I really liked were $5. "Next week!" I thought. While I was driving home, the smell of basil filled the car, and it made me so happy, I couldn't believe it. I've already added some of the bigger leaves to pasta & garlic, yum.

I realized that I like being able to splurge on things like fresh flowers. When I was doing my au pair thing, the mom always had fresh flowers in the house. She had a huge shelf devoted just to vases. I loved that. I rarely have fresh flowers around now, because most of the time, I find crappy bouquets or overpriced arrangements.

I'm going to set aside $10 or $15 a week to splurge on little things like that. I'm not going to include it in the grocery budget, and it's going to be for little things that I really like. Jeff gets $12/week for his lunch out with work buddies. I did have a twinge of, "Crap, that's almost $100 a month!" I try to have our budget down to the bone as much as possible, but I think that investing in happy little luxuries is worthwhile.

Not Overworked Anymore

I've been working very steadily since the middle of January. It hasn't been a lot--generally between eight and fourteen hours a week--but it's kept me busy. And the steady stream of paychecks has made our lives a lot easier. We've been able to get our savings account reasonably well built up, and haven't had to worry about our purchases too much.

For the first time in 23 weeks, I don't have any classed scheduled. I will have a one-day class in a few weeks, but there are no new packages set to start. (A package generally lasts five weeks, two days a week.) I'm going to have a lot more free time, but a lot less money. I knew this day was coming; in fact, I'm surprised it didn't come sooner. My job has never been steady, which is one of the things that frustrates me about it.

I'm going to feel obligated to get back to stuff that I've been putting off, using work as an excuse:

• the basement
• sewing projects
• making freezer jam from the sour cherries I've had in the freezer for almost a year now,
  
• getting the German class fully planned out (I've got lots of ideas, but haven't written out my objectives and lessons yet)

And of course I'm already getting concerned about money. I'm also starting to think about other avenues of revenue:

• photobooks for other people
  
• Ebay (Pley, I wish you were here to help me!)
• creating websites
  
• other classes I could teach
  

Reviews

I enjoyed this year's recital a lot more than last year's. Last year, by the last few acts, I just wanted to get done and get home. This year, I liked watching everything right up to the end.

I attribute this to two factors:

1. I sat in the audience, instead of volunteering to sit with the kids. Last year, I got to see most of the show, but not all of it, and I had to police kids.
2. I sat with Jeff, who stayed for the whole thing, instead of going home at intermission. I didn't worry about how he was feeling, or think about getting home ASAP.
   

The show itself was a lot of fun. Wide variety of music; Sarah looked like she was enjoying herself; Lauren stole her scene, if not the whole show; the finale, "Time Warp," was super cute. I'm glad I sprang for the video this time.

Shoe Shopping

I got a gift certificate for a shoe store last Christmas, and since I'm getting a pedicure tomorrow (also from a Christmas gift cert, and that's a story in and of itself), I decided I needed new shoes, something to show off pretty polish.

I happily went into a store the size of a warehouse and started walking the aisles. The hundreds of options dwindled rapidly.

Criteria #1: size 10. I'm tall, and I have feet to match.
Criteria #2: no or low heels--see above.
Criteria #3: summery, preferably sandals, to show off pedicure.
Criteria #4: casual, but still nice enough to wear to work or church
Criteria #5: Nothing that goes between my toes--no flip flop/thong styles.

Out of the whole store, I ended up finding about half a dozen that I could try on.

#5 was really killing me. At least three fourths of the cute, summery, moderately casual sandals were flip flop style. I hate feeling something between my toes. It's downright painful. All the other shoes that fit the size and style requirements were dreadfully plain. I actually considered one set of flip flops, just because they had some decoration. In the end, though, I couldn't. I couldn't get something that I knew would hurt and make me crazy. The ones I ended up getting are some plain slides--I shall have to get some very vibrant polish to make up for the lack of ornamentation.

Mean Mom

I feel for Sarah, honestly. She really is the only kid in the neighborhood who isn't allowed to ride her bike in the street. It's got to be frustrating and hard to keep up with everyone.

Today, while my Dad was babysitting, she rode home from a neighbor's, and tried telling him she wasn't in the street. "I was on the edge" of the street, and "I'm not a little kid, you know."

It would appear that she's also one of the few (if not the only one) who has to wear a helmet, although she doesn't seem to balk at that.

It is a quiet street, at least most of the time. That's not the point. It doesn't change anything.

I hate being Mean Mom.

Not that I'm Biased

Seriously, my kids knew their dance routines better than anyone else in their respective classes. True, Lauren is the oldest in her class, and the only one who took dance last year, which makes a big difference.

Walking

I've started walking again, although not yet regularly. I actually like to get up early, before everyone else, and go out while it's cool and quiet. If I'm by myself, I don't have to worry about one kid going too far ahead, and the other complaining about being "hot and sweaty and tired." I need better shoes, though.

Not What You Want to Hear

"You do seem kind of on edge." My mom said that to me yesterday, while in the course of discussing various things. Sadly, she's right. I am too busy, too stressed out.

I don't know what I can do to cut back (although I have trimmed my admittedly over-ambitious summer school plans--no piano right now, thanks!), but I am trying to not be so snappish with the kids. It breaks my heart a little when Sarah asks if I'm mad. I'm generally not, not really, but I can see why she might think so. That's not good for anyone, so I'm going to try to be a little less tense.

Walking in the mornings would probably help with this. I've only gone out a couple times so far, but if I dig my alarm clock out, I'd like to go more often.

Wish List

We went to my stepbrother's house on Memorial Day for a barbecue. It was a nice day, nice for the kids to be able to play together, etc. The high point was when they got out the dune buggy and took all the kids for rides (my stepsister drove). She didn't like the noise at first, but then we could hear her laughing like crazy, even over the noise of the engine. All the kids loved it, and all day Tuesday Lauren was telling me she wanted a buggy for her birthday.

That is, until we went to the end of the year Brownie party, and she saw their trampoline . . .

Bleep

We have a critter in the attic again. It's mostly in the area over and to the left of the computer, and every time I hear it, it makes me want to tear my hair out. I don't even remember what we did last time, but I remember that it involved repairing the roof vent.

Also, regarding the shower surround: it's gorgeous. Shiny, clean, awesome--it makes the rest of the bathroom look like crap. One tiny issue--he forgot the shower curtain rod. We probably won't get it until the weekend. Taking a shower with no curtain is interesting.

Or Maybe I'm a Masochist

Last night at Sarah's Brownie meeting, the co-leader mentioned that there was no one to lead a Daisy troop next year. Hm. Lauren will be ready for Daisies next year, though I wasn't thoroughly committed to signing her up. Extra time commitment, extra $, etc. So why did I say I would "consider" being the leader?

Obviously, I have a brain tumor. Or something.

I mentioned it to Jeff this morning and he just looked at me. "Don't bite off more than you can chew." I do tend to try to do too much. His next comment was, "What are you going to give up so you have time for this?" Give something up? Huh? How does that work?

So I'm still thinking about it. I'm also thinking about the garden, sewing, baking, this summer's school schedule, the grocery list, and a garage sale.

The Countdown's On!

Only five more days! Woo hoo!

On Sunday, we're having the new shower surround installed. Although it should look better and be easier to keep clean, the surround itself is not the cause for the celebration. In addition to installing the surround, they are also going to fix the pipes. The pipes that leak so badly that the bathtub faucet was a constant dripping stream. It was so bad that we generally leave the hot water to the bathroom turned off. When we want to take a shower or bath, someone has to go down to the basement and pull a lever to turn the water on. When finished, the lever has to be put back, so that we don't end up paying a ginormous water bill from the waste.

It is really pathetic, how excited I am that as of next week, all I'll have to do to take a shower is step in and turn a handle, without the pilgrimage to the basement. I'll post pictures!

I changed my mind

I want a rototiller for Mother's Day. Funny, Jeff laughed when I said that.

I got some Tiger Lilies from a freecycler this afternoon, and planted them about an hour ago. They only take up a row about six feet long or so, but I'm still beat. I would like to put a lot more plants and flowers around the house, though. Hence, the rototiller.

And the bunnies are back in force. Even a dog doesn't keep the bunnies out of the neighbor's yard, so how am I going to keep them out of ours?

Sad, I Know

Jeff asked me the other day what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. "Huh? Oh. It's May, really?" I couldn't come up with anything in particular I wanted to do (except maybe mini-golf, and that's just because I want pictures for the annual album), but while I was making dinner last night, I realized I really need a new can opener and vegetable peeler. Somehow, though, I don't think Mother's Day should celebrate culinary drudgery.

I also told him that even if I don't get this as a gift, I'll be getting it for myself sometime before it gets too hot. Last year, I alternately coveted a friend's underwater camera and tried putting my own camera in a zip loc bag. Neither had very good results. I'm really hoping this does the trick, and I'm willing to drop $30 to find out. Obviously, the quality of the picture depends mostly on the camera itself, but as long as the plastic is clear enough, I think it will do ok. I'll post results once I get them.

Drawing the Line

We have a neighbor girl (about a year older than Lauren and two years younger than Sarah) who frequently comes over to play with Sarah. She only plays with Lauren because she "has" to. To give her credit, sometimes she is nice and encouraging to Lauren, and Lauren has more than her share of the whines. But she's frequently bratty & manipulative. She threatens to go home, or not be friends any more, and pouts when she doesn't get her way.

I'm torn between how much involvement I should have. I'm a firm believer in letting kids work stuff out themselves, without a lot of "fixing" from parents. In spite of that, I tend to remind her (and sometimes the other kids who come over to play) that they have to play nicely. Heh, Jeff is more likely to just kick her out. He has a lot less patience for her.

Once it warms up this summer, I anticipate more activity over here. I got this yesterday:
I'm picturing myself, sitting on the back porch (with a book, probably) every time we have kids over, insisting that they play decently. I'm torn between letting them deal with it themselves or saying "No Brattiness Allowed." Do I want to be the neighborhood hard ass, the Enforcer? Yeah, I'm already on my way to that--last week, I had to say, "No back flips from the top of the fence, guys."

Time to dig

It looks like it's almost time to start digging. Digging in the garden, and digging out the summer clothes.

It's only 71 right now, and supposed to go back to a more April-ish 50's & 60's for the rest of the week, but I'm thinking spring. I'm thinking about planting tomatoes and green beans. I'm thinking about those denim skirts for the girls. I'm thinking about garage sales and going to the zoo. I'm thinking about walks after dinner. And I think I see a lot of trees putting out green leaves!

My Downfall

I am going to waste sooooo much time at these places.

The Newspaper Clipping Generator

The Movie Clapper Board Generator

Wanted Poster Generator

Dollar Bill, Hollywood Sign, many others

I am already planning to use the first one to write a "review" of the dance recital in a couple months, to put in the annual album.

Guess the Show

You know the drill--which shows are these, based on their IMDB keywords?

1. Sexual Tension/FBI/Conspiracy
2. Mountain/Medical/Surreal
3. Cooking/Food History/Science
4. Comedy/Mystery/Best Friends
5. Japanese/Cheerleader/New York City
6. Detective/Strong Woman/Quirky (I had to make these up--IMDB lists no keywords for this show!)
7. White Trash/Flashback/Mustache
8. Model/Judge/Fashion
9. Father Son Relationship/Survival/Beach
10. Backstage/Sketch Comedy/Spoof

Don Imus

I don't listen to Don Imus. I don't listen to Howard Stern. I listen to locals Drew & Mike about once a year, but only if the kids aren't in the car, and even then I usually only make it about five minutes before I can't roll my eyes at their idiocy any more and look for something else.

I admit it. I'm not edgy. I thought that comment betrayed what an asshole he was, but I'm pretty sure he made that apparent long ago.

If Imus had called a bunch of California women's basketball players "bleached-blonde hos," would there have been any comment?

While listening to the radio last night, I heard a commenter call this a "cash veto," which I thought was very apt. If people don't like what they hear or see, they can choose to not support it. Money goes away, support goes away.

New Dinner

I try to find new meals (particularly new things to make with ground beef or boneless pork chops), on a fairly regular basis. Last night, I saw African Safari Pilaf and decided to give it a try. It came out ok. The kids said they liked it, but then didn't really eat that much of it. Jeff & I thought it was ok, but I have to admit, it didn't look all that appetizing. With the peanut butter & curry powder, it looked a little . . . "sludgy." Anyway, it was different, but I doubt it will make it into the standard rotation here.

Now, what to make tonight . . .

Quote of the Day

Actually from Monday morning . . .

"Mom, I don't like peace and quiet."
- Sarah, said on the way to pick Lauren up from her solo sleepover at Gran'mama & Gran'papa's house on Sunday night.

Current Thoughts

. . . about the pool vs. swings.
Jeff's mom made a couple good comments yesterday. She said that she thought the novelty of swings in our own back yard would wear off fairly quickly. I could see that. She also mentioned that when they had a pool when Jeff & his brother were kids, she made it a rule that if kids came over to swim, a parent had to be with them, and stay in the yard while the kid was in the pool. I think that is a great rule, although I bet it would deter a lot of kids from coming over (or parents from letting their kids come over). Part of me would really like to have the backyard that is always full of kids. Part of me realizes that wouldn't necessarily be so idyllic.

. . . about sewing.
I heard that Hancock Fabrics is closing all their MI stores.
This is bad, because I won't have a fabric store nearby anymore.
This is good, because they'll be having big sales.
This is bad, because I neither need nor can afford to buy more fabric right now.

I currently have three sewing projects in the works: Christmas pajamas (yes, from Christmas '06, shut up), napkins, and ruffly jeans skirts (have to go back to Katie's tutorial for a refresher).

The Easter dresses turned out cute. I love patterns that only use 4 pieces. Next year, I'd like to do something with a chiffon overlay. I think I finally "get" putting in zippers.

I really need to sign up for that Serger class this summer.

Swings vs. Pool

Jeff & I have been talking about putting up a swingset for a couple years, but (like so many things) never got to it. This year, I'm trying to kick us into gear.

My Dad keeps telling us that we should get a quickset pool instead. Our neighbor has one, and the girls went over frequently last summer, but the parents supervise them from inside the house, and that doesn't cut it for me, so every time they went over, I went over unless I knew they would be outside with the kids. I was more concerned for Lauren, because Sarah can swim reasonably well, and she's tall enough to have her head and shoulders above the water. Lauren was barely tall enough to touch the bottom comfortably.

Anyway, my Dad tells us that a swingset will only get about 4 more years of use before Sarah gets too old to play on it, and that it costs easily twice as much. Related to that, my stepsister said that her oldest son, who will be 10 in August, has already started to lose interest in their swingset, and that she wishes they'd gotten something bigger.

My counterpoint is that a pool can only be used three months of the year. Also, you have to mess with chemicals & such. True, it would be a great way to cool off in the summer, but I don't think it's as practical.

At this point, I'm not even sure we'll put anything in the backyard. Any money we spend would probably be better spent on landscaping the front or something.

The View in My Backyard

When we first looked at this house, I loved that the back yard was like a private meadow. On all three sides, there were so many plants that you couldn't see the neighbors at all. Since then, the people behind us cut down all the scrub trees that had grown up along their side of the fence. The neighbors on our right pulled out all the overgrowth from their back yard as well (their entire yard was jungle). So then we could see to the street on one side, and to the pool & house behind us.

This week, the neighbors on the right had their huge oak tree taken down, as well as a few other, smaller trees along the fence. We had the same guys take down our dead ash as well, at a reasonable price. Then the neighbor on the left decided he wanted his oak down, too. They also took out all the lilacs along the back of the fence.

My back yard is going to get a lot more sun this summer. Jeff keeps telling me it's going to be great for the garden, but I know he's happiest that there are going to be so many fewer leaves to rake now. I'm going to miss the lilacs, but they'd gotten badly overgrown, and didn't bloom much anyway.

We're trying to decide if we want to put some kind of kid-themed contraption in the back yard, but I'll write about that tomorrow.

Of course, the real reason the view in my backyard is different right now is because there is SNOW in it.

Library Time

Sadly, Story Time is done for right now, so although we still go to the library every week, Lauren spends most of her time looking at the movies. Then, right before we leave, she grabs one of the mini Beatrix Potter books, insists on checking it out herself. She looks at it in the car on the way home, then ignores it.

Since I've discovered the joys of managing my library account online, and can place holds on books from my computer, I usually have at least 15 books to pick up each time we go, from various local libraries. They're books for Sarah to quiz on, cookbooks, resources for school, and books for me to read. It's a gazillion times more efficient, and I don't have to limit myself to book in our local library. The main drawbacks are that I now spend less time browsing in the stacks (although if the kids are hungry, that isn't so much a drawback), and that sometimes we get books that I realize won't work for us after all.

Unfortunately, three of the books we turned in last week still show as being checked out to me. I know I returned them--Sarah & I went through them as we stuffed them in the bag before we left the house. They've done shelf searches, but no luck. I've renewed them (again, online), so I'll have more time to work out an option, but I'm worried that I'm on the hook for these books; if they don't find them, I have to pay for them.

The book I'm reading right now is Looking for God in Harry Potter. My mom said once that she wouldn't read the HP books and thought they were anti-Christian, because they showed witchcraft & the occult in a positive light. Well, yeah, some of the witches & wizards are good guys, so I can't much argue with her on that point. I don't know her views on Lewis & Tolkien, although I know a lot of fundamentalist Christians have fewer problems with them than with Rowling.

At any rate, I've just started this new book, and it's interesting, though so full of stuff that makes me think that I can't read it for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time. After that, I find myself putting it down and wandering around the house, letting it all ferment in my head for a little while.

Miss Emotional

Poor Lauren--she's been really emotional lately. At choir practice yesterday, she was practically in tears because she got the plain wooden sandpaper blocks (cool noise) instead of the blue ones. "But blue's my favorite color!" The choir director told me it was kind of funny/cute, because the song they were singing started with the words, "Why me?" She really looked the part (pathos), but by the time they sang during church, she was fine.

More interesting is that she's started crying at happy endings of movies. I got home from work one night about a week ago, and Jeff said that she'd cried at the end of 101 Dalmations (live action version). "What? Why? None of the dogs died, did they?" He told me that all she would say was that she was happy. Last night, we watched Spirited Away. Although Lauren left the room during one rather intense part (we read a book in my room for a few minutes), she came back for the end and again, cried, because it all turned out OK.

The interesting thing is that although I can certainly sympathize (I'm also a big sappy crybaby), I didn't expect this from her, at least not at this age. She's never seemed that invested in things like this before. I wonder if she saw either of those again, if she'd have the same reaction, or be more "prepared."

For the record, when she was younger, Sarah cried at Stuart Little when Stuart was being taken away from his human family, and at Lilo & Stitch when Lilo was being taken by the big bad alien guy. She seems to have matured past that, though.

There is no way we're going to watch Charlotte's Web for a long, long time.

To Garage Sale or Not?

That is the question.

I didn't make a whole lot of $ on last year's sale, but in the end, I was up a couple hundred bucks, and down a whole bunch of crap in my house. That's a pretty good deal.

But now I don't have as much left to sell. No more furniture, for example. I do have a lot of toys, but many of them are things that Lauren still plays with occasionally (a Cozy Coupe car, tons o' Fisher-Price Little People). I could probably make a real killing if I waited until next year. But I'd like to get rid of the treadmill ASAP (I'd rather just go for walks, and I have other things I'd like to put in that space in the bedroom).

Another drawback to a garage sale is our neighbor. He apparently has Alzheimer's, and is constantly over, asking the same questions, telling the same "jokes." I feel sorry for him, but he actually walked into my house unannounced last year. He thought he was helping (by bringing some stuff in), but it doesn't change that it was over the line.

Hmm . . . maybe Craigslist.com is a better solution for the treadmill . . .

Renewed Enthusiasm

Last week was the end of my morning class, and although I know that the cutback in income with hurt, I am so happy to have my mornings again! Well, most of my morning. I do have my ESL student this Friday, but that's only a couple hours.

Yesterday and today, I've had a big upswing in enthusiasm for getting things done. I'm making inroads on the laundry, which really got out of hand, and I've got a budget in place for next month. I want us to eat more fish and vegetarian meals. If anyone complains, I'm going to blame it on the doctor. "Dr. Singhi told me to make salmon for dinner." It's kind of true; she told Jeff he had to get his cholesterol down . . .

We just got back from the library (19 books checked out, including two heart-healthy cookbooks), and the produce market, where--for $18, I got:

• a quarter of a watermelon
• 1 pound of strawberries
• a head of garlic
• some roasted peanuts in the shells*
• parsley
• red leaf lettuce
• two containers of yogurt*
• 3 pounds of Golden Delicious apples
• an Asian pear (this is our new thing to try)
• 2 Honey Tangarines
• 3 navel oranges
• an avocado
• a loaf of wheat bread
• a loaf of Calabrese bread (think of a big oval loaf, sliced--good for sandwiches or toast)
• a package of Greek pita bread* (no pockets)
• a package of bow tie pasta (dinner tonight, along with some shrimp from the freezer, some broccoli, and a whole bunch of lemon, garlic, & parsley)
• a red pepper
• a bag of lemons
• a pound of carrots*
  

I passed on the coconut, because I just didn't want to deal with it. I love going there, because I can get so much for relatively little. I wish I could find the same situation with a butcher.

*Indicates currently being consumed by children for lunch.

Even More Reason to Go for a Walk

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17662246/site/newsweek/

Exercise does more than build muscles and help prevent heart disease. New science shows that it also boosts brainpower—and may offer hope in the battle against Alzheimer's.

Toward the end of the article, it also mentions the link between exercise for kids and greater learning potential. So why are so many schools cutting PE and recess?

Anyway, I've been planning to start getting out for more walks. Like, half hour walks with the kids every day before lunch, and whole family walks after dinner, if I'm not working. It's good for Jeff's cholesterol, good for my weight and stress levels, and good for all of us in general.

One of the past impediments is that a "half hour walk" frequently turns into an hour and a half production. Finding shoes takes forever. We meet someone and chat once we're out and about. I give in to pleas that we stop at the playground. That eats up a big chunk of the day, and on days that I work or that we have other stuff going on (dance, library, etc.), I don't always want to take up that time. In spite of all that, I need to make it happen.

Now, if it would just stop snowing . . .

Fangirl Happiness

A few days ago, I heard that George RR Martin's fantasy series, A Song of Fire and Ice, is being developed as a series for HBO. I really like those books so far, and think HBO will do the best job of it. They plan to for each book to be one season, which is awesome. It gives them plenty of time to develop the story lines, and room in the budget for kick-ass production values. I was worried that Sci-Fi would get its mitts on it, and butcher it like they did A Wizard of Earthsea. So I'm optimistic. It's enough to make me think about getting HBO, because waiting for DVDs would probably kill me.

Then today I heard that The Talisman is going to be a miniseries on TNT or TBS in the summer of 2008, and might become a full-fledged series after that. That's one of my favorite Stephen King books, although the follow up, Black House, didn't do much for me.

Let the fantasy casting begin!

Incompatible

Most of my cooking and grocery shopping lately has been geared toward

• saving money
• food that can go in the freezer or be finished easily by Jeff while I'm at work

This equates to lots of ground beef, but not a lot of particularly healthy stuff.

But.

We just got Jeff's latest cholesterol numbers. As soon as he got off the phone with the doc, I yelled from the other room, "Someone's going to start eating oatmeal for breakfast!" He agrees that he's going to work on a healthier plan (good for all of us), and we're going to walk in the evenings after dinner whenever we can.

I canceled the holds I had on the Barefoot Contessa & Freezer Cooking cookbooks, and instead have holds for "Low Cholesterol Cooking for Dummies" and and a couple cookbooks from the American Heart Association. Salmon, tuna, and vegetarian, here we come!

Thoughts in a Whirl

(I almost titled this "Brain in a Blender," because that's more how I feel, and isn't alliteration pretty? But also, sometimes, nauseating.)

I feel like I'm on the Til-A-Whirl. Gawd, I loved that ride as a kid. The spinning, wheeeee!

But right now, my brain keeps running in circles, and I can't get it to slow down or focus very well. So here, for your confusion and entertainment, is some of the stream of consciousness that's been rolling around lately . . .

my student didn't show up for her makeup session, again, but she's out of luck now; we'll have a big review when we do the next part of the lesson; it's an extra $20 for me, but I'd rather have stayed home for the extra hour

Lauren's sick, but not much; "out of sorts," my Dad said, and she took a nap; I put it down to the time change and all the extra exercise & fresh air lately, but she had a little fever this afternoon; I don't like being gone if I don't have to

my morning class is done next week, and I'm sorry to see the $ go, but glad to have my mornings back

if I want to get an 8-week German session to finish by Memorial Day, I have to advertise for students yesterday; do I need just business cards, or a flyer? is it unethical to list myself as a certified teacher? I was certified, but it was in '92, and not in this state; I need to get my lessons ALL planned out NOW; flashcards; make audio CDs for practice; wish I could put more stuff on hold through the library, just to see if I like it; I wonder if Germany's Amazon.de will ship to me? I'd love to have Toy Story or Finding Nemo in German.

As it turns out, my student did show up for her make up, just late. Teaching pulls my head around and focuses me like nothing else--now I can't even remember all the stuff that was jumbling around while I was in the car. I am still spending a lot of time thinking about trying to get German classes rolling, like now, on top of everything else.

A Tale of Two (Potential) Businesses

My current teaching jobs are very sporadic. I'm working a lot right now, but when these classes are done, there's no way to predict if I'll have any more. It drives me crazy that I don't have a reliable income. I've looked at other jobs, but they either A) pay half of what I'm used to B) want full time work C) want someone with a Master's Degree.

I really like doing my digital photo albums, and I've had people tell me I should turn it into a business. I love teaching, and I've done that as a side business before (reading tutor). This time, I'm thinking about German, geared to home schoolers (I think I kicked this idea around a few years ago, too, but never went anywhere with it). Both ideas have pros and cons.

Photo Album Business Pros/Cons

• Pros: Fun, creative, potentially lucrative, most of the work could be done at home on my own.
• Cons: higher start up costs (a lap top and flatbed scanner would be nice, but at the very least, I'd need sample books, brochures, advertising), dealing with picky clients who have a different "style" than I do (Bridezillas, eek!), finding those clients in first place and selling them on my product. I'm not so much a salesman. Also, creating those images can be very time consuming, which cuts into the profit margin.

German Tutoring Pros/Cons

• Pros: Fun, creative (in totally different ways from above), potentially lucrative, most of the work done at home, much lower start up costs (business cards & flyers but mostly word of mouth advertising), I already have lots of materials created.
• Cons: If I had classes here at the house, the house would have to be immaculate all the time (Jeff would say that's a pro, heh). I don't know if I could get enough students on a consistent basis. Dealing with groups of kids can sometimes be frustrating. Also, do the parents drop off and come back later or what? I'd want to get a babysitter to watch my kids while I had classes (although I'd pay a bit less per hour, since I'd still be home).
  

Both ventures would require me to keep very good records. I can do that. I'm not good at keeping the house tidy, but if it's part of a job, I can be very anal.

One of our neighbors is a homeschooling mom who teaches music--in fact, Sarah's probably going to start taking recorder lessons from her, because I can't do much more with her. I could get some input from her on how she sets her stuff up, if she worries about liability insurance, etc.

Right now, I'm spending more time thinking about how to make the German classes work than the photo albums. I think I'd still do albums for spare cash if I knew someone that wanted them, but I think I'm going with what I know, and what I know I can do, at this point. Wish me luck!

The Lottery Game

You've all played this, right? The "What would I do if I won a million dollars" fantasy? No, I don't play the lottery, but that has no effect on playing the game. Jeff & I especially like the game when we're on long car rides. What charity would we give to, where would our second house be, etc.

Sometimes I play an abbreviated version--what would I do if I won $5K, for example. This generally involved the more prosaic things, like getting the car & shower fixed, having a professional do some landscaping, putting a swing set in the backyard, etc.

I've also been thinking about how much $ it would take to start a small business (more about that in another post). I was thinking that a spare $5K would be plenty to get me rolling. Then I realized that even if I had a spare $5K, it would go to the home things before anything else.

So apparently, I need to win $10K in the lottery that I never play instead of $5K.

Bandwagon

If Pez and Katie do it, then so will I. (What's that you say about jumping off a bridge if everyone else does it too?)

I can't deal with a physical calendar, because we're constantly changing and updating things. I keep meaning to add when bills are due, as well, because I'm so good at looking at Outlook, that if it isn't there, it isn't in my brain at all. Sometimes I think I should print it, at least weekly, but it eats ink, and I don't think we really need to. Sometimes we do forget things, but that's pretty rare.

Here is our March calendar. Light blue are my computer classes, green are ESL classes, dark blue is Lauren, purple is Sarah, red is birthday reminders, orange is church stuff and there are some other miscellaneous things without color.
It's a pretty typical month, at least lately. I don't know if my morning class will continue after next week; it depends on whether my student wants more training, or if she thinks the Basic package is enough. I like the class, and hope she does continue, although it would be nice to not have to teach during the day. On the other hand, I don't think there are any more classes coming up, so I need to get all I can while I can.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Home Business

After making the wedding album for Jeff's cousin last fall, I got a few suggestions that I should do that as a side business. I dismissed the idea, because I didn't think I'd be able to make any money at it. And although I can't make the same $/hour that I do for teaching, I can't teach at home in my pajamas while the kids do school work, either. It's a trade off, but one I might be able to live with, especially since my teaching schedule is so erratic (crazy right now, but there's no telling how long that will last).

So if I were to make albums for other people and charge for them, where would I get background images ("papers," in scrapbook-speak)? I need to get stuff that is copyright free, obviously. Usually, I just google image search for what I want, and since it's for personal use, I don't worry about it. Can't do that in business, though.

Also, I need to figure out pricing, how to get clients, a business name, and how I can afford to get started. A CM consultant suggested I sign up and just do their Memory Books, but I like my own, template-free program better. Aren't there grants for women to start businesses?

I'd really like to be able to do this, but the prospect of getting started is rather daunting.

"The only thing Nyquil ever cured . . .

is consciousness."

And that's why I love it. I took some Thursday night, and felt better the next day, and now I'm just about 100% back.

Really busy right now (I need to try to retro-figure all my mileage from last year's computer classes and medical appointments for taxes, which is going to be a big job), but I wanted to let everyone know I was back in the land of the living. Thanks for the good wishes, all!

Not Food Poisoning

After throwing up 7 times Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I had a good guess that I had either the flu or food poisoning, and I tried to think of all the things I'd recently eaten. I asked the waiter for my patty melt to be well done, and I think it was, but I really didn't pay attention. I had a little bit of bread dough, and that has raw eggs, but that was only an hour ago. Rice? Not likely. Half a pasty? Nah, I know those were cooked, and Jeff eats them all the time, and he's fine.

Wednesday morning, I canceled my classes (which are now totally messed up), and made an appointment at the doctor's. Luckily, Jeff had the day off anyway, so he could drive me. Doc said that it's viral, nasty, and been making the rounds lately, so go home, get a lot of rest, and stay hydrated. That last part is the hardest for me, because I worried that drinking anything would make me throw up again, and I do prefer to avoid that. But I did manage to get a little water and a little ginger ale, and spent most of the day in bed.

Today, I'm better. Not really well, but better. I still can't watch cooking shows, or think about dinner, but I am planning on teaching my class tonight, although I'm hoping I'll be able to sit more than running around. That's not likely, but it's only a two hour class.

Knitting

Apparently, I don't have enough hobbies.

Sarah has been asking to learn to knit, and since I don't remember how (I think I made all of one scarf while in college), my mom gave us a basic lesson yesterday. So far, all we can do is the garter stitch, which is fine for scarves. Sarah picked out hot pink yarn, and Lauren's is a dark blue with some subtle multi-colored flecks. It still looks basically blue.

Sarah pretty much has the hang of it, and I'm also doing ok, but man--is it slow! I worked on Lauren's last night, and it's only 30 stitches wide, but it's still less than six inches long. At this rate, the snow will be all gone by the time she gets to wear it! I can't understand how Katie makes all those sweaters.

We're also supposed to go scrapbooking Sunday, so I guess I should order some pictures for that.

Although it's just a hobby so far, I'm trying to figure out how to turn my digital photo album passion into a paying job.

Here's another Demo

This is a demo for my stepdad.

Demo

This is my demo post for my Web Design class.

We can change sizes, colors, and add links and pictures.

The Price of Happiness

Cost to make me happy yesterday: $1.67
What I got: this week's groceries (milk, eggs, cornflakes, bananas, bread, and frozen pizza are all I can remember right now, but I know there were one or two other things). We didn't need much, because I stocked up so much last week, and we took back about $5 in bottles & cans.

Cost to make Sarah happy today: $8.46
What she got: a yard of polar fleece and a yard of rip-stop fabric, both in purple, natch. I'm going to make her some snow pants based on a pajama pants pattern piece. I'll use thread and elastic I already have. They should be done tonight or tomorrow, not that she'll get to wear them while the weather is like this. (Current temp: 3 degrees.)

Cost to make Lauren happy today: $0.63.
What she got: helium for the balloon they passed out at the movie Saturday. We got free passes to see Cinderella III last weekend, and they were passing out balloons, but the helium tank broke. Ever since, she's been dying to have her balloon, and we finally had a chance to get it filled today. She's been squealing ever since.

(Note: I have decided that if Lauren is determined to be a "blue princess" again next year for Halloween [as she has for the past three years], I will cave and make her a true Cinderella dress. If anything will break the spell, I hope that will do it!)

Yum

I finally made the Pasties, and they are so yum! I might even get over my "once a year" rule, and make them again soon, because my mom & stepdad are going to be here in a few weeks, and the five that are left will not last that long. The combination of ground beef and ground pork (not breakfast sausage) is really tasty, and I'd forgotten how much I like home made pie crust.

The freezer itself is nicely full, so maybe I won't have to cook so much next week. Cross your fingers for me!