Jammin'

Back in 2003, we first picked cherries from our neighbor's tree. That day got me one of my favorite pictures of the girls ever.

I love the expression on Sarah's face, and that the colors really pop. Lauren is just being cute. Sadly, this scanned image doesn't really show the crystal clarity of the prints.

That first year, we took all the cherries and made a pie. And that was one tasty pie. But eight servings later, it was gone. No more delicious cherry goodness. There was much sadness.

Last year, we picked cherries again (if they don't get the net on the tree soon enough, the birds devour the cherries in no time flat). I knew I didn't want to do a pie, but I didn't know what I did want to do with them. So I froze them. Sadly, most of them are still in the freezer. Sure, some of them made fabulous cherry lemonade slushies, and I wanted to do muffins with some, but I never got to them.

This year, I had a plan. I wanted to make jam. So the kids and I went over and picked for a while. It was difficult, getting around under the net, and it was hot. Sadly, I didn't get any classic pictures that will go down in my memory as Top 10, but we did get a fair number of cherries.

After picking, the cherries had to be pitted. And, since I didn't get to them that very same day, or even the next day, they had to be sorted to get rid of the ones that had gone bad. That was absolutely the most tiresome, annoying part of the whole process. I don't have a pitter, so I used a paring knife, and ended up giving my thumb some shallow cuts in the process.

Once that was done, I mashed them up a bit, threw them in a big saucepan, added some pectin, and brought it up to a boil. Then I added the sugar, let it boil again, and ladled it into the (already prepared) jars. Hot water bath was after that. The cooking part of it didn't take that long, and wasn't hard at all, but was really hot from the steam.

The next day, I tried some of the jam. Heaven! It was SO good, I couldn't believe it. Sweet and tart, clear gel with chunks of whole cherries floating in it. I have one of the jars to our neighbor (I'm not even sure if they got any of the cherries themselves).

To be continued tomorrow . . .

Update

Wow; it has been over a month. I really didn't realize it had been so long!

The month blazed by, but I didn't get nearly the stuff done I wanted to. Shrug. There's plenty for me to work toward in August!

I do have some specific things to blog about, so I can promise with certainty that it will not be a month before I blog again!

Goals

Summer is almost a third over. I don't care that the calendar says that summer starts June 21. Summer = June, July, August. Now that most of my classes are done, and dance is done, I'm going to be home a lot more. I'm planning to take it as an opportunity to get a lot done around.

Big, Vague, Long-Term Goals:

• sew
• websites
• clean house
• clean out basement
• Community Center classes
• walk
• school

Goals for this week:

• sew summer outfits for the girls (had the patterns & fabrics for weeks)
• get the Bathliners website posted; develop price/service list for other potential clients
  
• thoroughly clean out one of the three bedrooms
• spend half an hour every day working on the basement
• set up a meeting with the CC people about classes (develop class list)
• walk half an hour every morning
• get back on track with Science, Spelling, Social Studies, Math and Reading schoolwork
  

Opportunity + Nerves = Excitement

My crazy schedule is about to slow down to almost a complete halt. Two of my classes finish this week, along with dance. My last class will continue for 4 - 6 more weeks, but sporadically. This is good, because I'll have more time. But the other side of that coin is that I'll be bringing in less money.

I've been trying to figure out how to generate other income streams. One way (that will hopefully pay for our vacation in September) is to create small, basic web sites for local businesses. No e-commerce, no inventory. Just basic, informational sites that don't need frequent upgrades. I've been working on one for quite a while, but there have been a few hang ups. Hopefully it will be ready to go live soon. Then I'll be able to use that as an example of what I can do. If I can get five clients, that should cover us.

The other thing I've been giving a lot of thought to is classes through our community center. I'd like to do German, Computers, and seminars for parents who are interested in improving their kids' educational experiences. I've also thought about Reading classes, but those are a much larger amount of work.

The issue right now is that the community center doesn't have much of a computer lab. The computer classes that I'm teaching right now (through a community center for a neighboring suburb) got a grant, and they have a very nice computer lab, even though there isn't a projector, with does make things more difficult. Anyway, I saw in the paper that Jenny Jones (of talk show fame) was giving out grants of $25K each. That would definitely be enough to outfit a rockin' computer lab, as well as pay for a Nerd Herd guy to do maintenance, and an instructor or two. I have a feeling that free computer classes (for kids and adults) would fill up pretty quickly, you know?

I'd still have to charge for German and anything else I wanted (unless I could get another grant, hmmm).

I still need to talk to the community center some more about my plans and ideas, but I think this could be a really good fit for me. Now I just need to make it happen.

Dance Preview

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

They look way too old to be my children.








By the way, the car is going to cost $800 to fix. Don't know that it's worth it to get the insurance company involved.

Not the worst Father's Day Ever

That honor, of course, still goes to 2006.

2008 is now #2.

It's a tradition with us to go to a baseball game on Father's Day. If we can't get Tigers tickets, we go to Lansing or Toledo. This year, we headed south of the border. On our way there, the hood of our Corolla, which has been rusty for a long time, but getting much worse lately, unlatched in the wind and blew back up in front of the windshield. Luckily, there wasn't tons of traffic, and Jeff was able to get us to the side of the highway. It blew back so hard that it cracked the windshield and even dented the roof a little bit. Also, the hood itself has been dented/popped out (kind of like an umbrella).

We called his parents, and while we waited, talked about what we were going to do. Should we have it towed someplace close by, or pay extra to have it towed closer to home?

Luckily, we called Jeff's dad instead of my dad, because when he showed up, he got out some tools and took the hood right off. No tow truck needed! He drove our car home, and we took his Durango the rest of the way to Toledo. We saw the second half of the game (Mudhens lost to the Syracuse Chiefs, 5-3), then came home.

I have no idea how much all of this is going to cost, and thinking about it tires me out. But no one was hurt, so this falls into the category of "expensive inconvenience" instead of anything worse.

Know what these are?

These are pictures of my babies breaking boards. The one of Lauren is really blurry, but I only got one chance--that's why I don't have actual video up.

Friday was their last night of karate, and they tested for their first belts: white with a yellow stripe. Jeff said he was a little worried about them making it, but--cynical me--I told him that it was in the teachers' best interests that the kids be successful, so they'd want to continue. And of course, they all were successful, both with the test for the belt and breaking the board. Still, the looks on every child's face was a priceless, "Wow, I really did it!"

During the class, the instructors passed out information about the school itself. The classes we've been taking are an introductory thing through our rec center. They're very cheap: $40 per kid for 8 weeks. Continuing on at the dojeng (it's Korean karate, so not a dojo) is considerably more expensive: $80/month for 1 child, but $140/month for 2 or more.

Both girls have liked karate, although Sarah is a lot more focused and generally does better. Jeff said that if they wanted to continue, he'd do whatever he had to in order to make that happen. While I applauded his commitment, I can't conjure up and extra $140 a month. I said that we'd see just how interested they were before committing to anything more.

As it turns out, they're both more interested in gymnastics. There is a summer intro program, again offered through Parks & Rec, but our summer is plenty busy already. Scouts is almost over, but we won't be done with dance for a few more weeks. Golf starts for Sarah in a few weeks, and we're already starting to think about swimming. VBS is in July, and I'm still working a fair bit, at least for the rest of this month.

Although the intro stuff would probably be cheaper through P&R, I think we'll wait and sign up in the fall with our homeschool athletic program. It'll probably be a little more expensive, but it'll be during the day, so it'll fit better into our schedule. Part of me wishes they'd find/pick one thing to love and stick with it (they're both in their third year of dance, but that's as much my choice as theirs), but I'm glad they're dabbling in lots of different things, to see what suits them best.

This is them with their teacher, holding their boards back together.

I Can't Drive 55

Twice a week, I have to drive about 75 miles (almost all highway) round trip for a class. It generally takes about 45 minutes each way, and easily a quarter of a tank of gas. It's costing about $60 to top up the tank these days, so the extra money that I'm getting paid for a class that's outside of my usual range isn't going as far as I'd hoped.

I usually set my cruise control to 70, and don't mind when I get passed, which is pretty often. I've been reading a lot about how lower speeds can improve mpg, so I decided to slow down even more. Yesterday, I set the cruise for 65 for most of each way.

It's hard to tell if I did save much/any gas, but I was getting passed even more than before, if that's possible. If I'd tried to go 55, I'd probably get in an accident. I remember back in the 70's, when Carter first established the 55/hour speed limit, it was to save gas, not lives. Saving lives was just a bonus. I read about one guy who went 45 on the highway, and got truly phenomenal mileage, but he said that he didn't recommend it.

Even with gas prices going crazy, I don't see a lot of people slowing down, and I wonder why that is. Habit? Time being more valuable than money?

We're planning on driving to Florida in the fall, and going straight through instead of stopping half way, as we did the past two times. I'm wondering about the value of getting there as quickly as we can versus saving some money. We'll have to see what the situation is like in a few months.

Boycotting Subway

This just doesn't make sense to me.

Subway is having a "Every Sandwich Tells a Story" contest. Yeah, that part I get.

At the bottom is the disclaimer.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Contest is open only to legal residents of the United States who are currently over the age of 18 and have children who attend elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted.

No home schools? Why not? I'm going to email them and ask why, but until then, no Subway for us! Quizno's, here we come!

Update: apparently, the grand prize is $5,000 worth of sports equipment for the winner's school. They don't want to award all that equipment to an individual family, which I understand. But even though we don't have a school to give the equipment to, we do have our co-op, as well as our Homeschool Athletic League. Either would be thrilled with a donation like that. Though some homeschoolers do operate totally independently, there are many of us who are part of various programs.

Trying to Do It All

We've been here before . . .
My work schedule currently:

• Monday & Wednesday: German; 5 - 7; 45 minute drive (ends no later than August, possibly sooner)
• Tuesday & Thursday: German; 7 - 9; 30 minute drive (ends in June, but might be extended)
  
• Wednesday & Friday: Computers; 11:45 - 3:15; 15 minute drive (ends June 4)
• Tuesday & Thursday: Computers; 6:30 - 8:00; 30 minute drive (starts next week, ends June 19)

I also have an ESL student two or three times a month,but nothing regular.

This takes me to 18 hours a week at least (including drive time, it's 27 hours out of the house). That's a lot for me. But it will get better in June, and a lot better in July, and after August, the only class that I am likely to have will be the T/Th nights.

So when I got the email this morning that there's another German class open, of course it's tempting me. I feel like I have to enjoy this summer bounty while it lasts, because--like tomatoes--they won't be around forever.

This class isn't so far away--about 30 minutes--but the pay rate is less than the other German classes. After taxes, paying the babysitter (she's saving for a car and is happy to come over as much as I want, and the kids love her to bits), and the extra gas for the car, I'd bring home about an extra $50 a week.

I don't know if that's worthwhile. Yeah, over the course of the summer it would add up, and German classes are generally easy and fun, but it's still time out of my life. I actually found myself thinking, "Are you sure Sarah isn't old enough to watch herself and Lauren for a couple hours?" before NO came crashing in. She isn't. If I want the class, I'll pay for babysitting. In a few more years, it won't be an issue, but not now.

The question is, do I want it. We always need the money. I already have too much to do and can't keep my life straight. That's really what it always comes down to: Time vs. Money. Too Much Time = Not Enough Money. Plenty of Money = Not Enough Time.

Obviously, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Again. As usual.

Edit: That was almost too obvious. While I was talking to Jeff, I realized that although I can't take on anything else right now, once the afternoon computer classes are over, I'll have a little more time again. The question now is whether the student is willing to wait three more weeks for class to start, or if they can find another instructor who can start sooner. Either way, I'm satisfied with the outcome.

My Jalopy

Thanks to Pez for reminding me of this great word.

We have two cars; one (Buick) is primarily for whoever is driving the kids, and the other (Corolla) is mostly for whoever is driving solo. Originally, I drove the Buick only in the summer, when my MIL was driving her cute little convertible. That freedom was a wonderful thing. In the winter, if I needed the car, I had to drive Jeff to work, which was about 45 minutes each way. That meant that the kids and I would spend three hours in the car just getting him to & from work, never mind the actual errands we had to run. So a second car really made a big difference to me.

Eventually, after she and my FIL retired, they sold us ($1) the Buick. Now I had year round freedom! When Jeff asked what kind of car I would want if we got a new one, I told him that I wanted the exact same kind.

That was a few years ago, and I have to admit that I haven't done all I could to take care of it, largely because I wasn't working much since last spring and we didn't have the money. I knew the struts would need to be replaced, for instance.

This spring, I've been working a lot more, maybe 15 hours a week. Getting the car back in shape was a high priority for us, partly because the car was stalling out sometimes. It always started right back up again, but it's very unnerving to be driving along and have the car just die!

We found out back in February that the issue there was the EGR valve, but that the rear brakes were a higher priority. So we got those fixed (along with a couple other things), to the tune of $700.

Last month, I heard a squeaking sound coming from the back. That was the struts, which couldn't be put off any longer. $500 there.

This month, we were going to get the EGR valve fixed properly instead of a temp fix. Also, the front passenger door hasn't opened from the outside for about two years. It's inconvenient, but only when we're all in the car, which is about once a week on average. Oh, and I'd noticed a couple of weeks ago that the alignment was a little off.

Well, the rear driver's side tire has had a slow leak for a while. I've been adding air to it periodically, but knew it would need to be repaired or replaced. Last night, after a birthday part about 45 minutes away from home, it was again a little low, so I put some more air in it. As I was putting the hose away, I could actually hear air coming out of the tire! Holy cow, was I nervous on that drive home. Once we got back, the tire looked maybe a little lower, but this morning, it was flat as a pancake. Jeff put on the spare, and we got it to the garage.

I told the guy that I'd like to get the EGR valve, the tire, the alignment, and the door fixed, but this month's car budget was only $500. He said he'd see what he could do.

When he called me back, he said that the rear trailing arms were also really rusty, and were a higher priority than the EGR valve. In order to stay on budget, the EGR valve & door will have to wait until next month. The tire, alignment, and rear trailing arms will be fixed.

I told him that I was worried about the car being a money pit. Honestly, I love that car, but the money I'm sinking into it is frustrating. He reminded me that I'd put a lot of this off for too long, and that it's still cheaper than a new car. He said that with a little more preventive maintenance, I should be able to get two more winters out of this car.

That's good--it gives me a goal to shoot for. Still, I hate the thought of a new car.

And then there's the Corolla, which is also a jalopy and needs a fair bit of work as well. Um, I'll think about that tomorrow.

Edit: I got out for $400 today, and next month will be about $300. Apparently, the EGR valve is lower priority than I realized, though there are other things to do in order to get it to last the two years.

Sewing Starts

Got the Serger back, yay!

I've made a reasonable start--I sewed the patches on Lauren's Daisy tunic, fixed a zipper on Sarah's 2006 Easter dress, and made these:
I didn't finish the hems other than to serge them, and they're considerably shorter and less baggy than regular karate pants, but they'll do just fine.)

Top of the list

Counting Beanbags

My nephew's 2nd birthday is coming up, and I think I'm going to make these. The hardest part will be finding little print/animal fabrics to use for the counting appliqué fronts.

That, and explaining to the girls why their karate pants still aren't done. Official word is that I'm waiting for my Serger to come back from the shop. Unofficial word is that I try to do too much at once.

Forgot these . . .

• CD holder
• Insulated Water Bottle Holder
• Criss Cross Coasters

Jonesin' for Sewing

There are so many sewing projects I'd love to be working on right now.

• Cloth napkins. I hate going through paper napkins so quickly. This would be a fast, easy, useful project, and I think I have fabric I could use already.
• Little Boxy Pouch. So cute! Looks quick and easy to make. I have plenty of fabric, but don't think I have any extra zippers. Also, I have no idea what I would do with it once it was done. Suggestions?
  
• Grocery Bags. I hate the mountains of plastic bags we go through. The pocket on the side also means that I could fold it up and keep a few in my purse or the car--less likely to forget them that way. Supplies: I'm sure I have appropriate fabric downstairs.
• Baby Quilts. I have no upcoming baby showers (though the girls' dance teacher is due with her second baby next fall), but I could always be a blanketeer. I don't currently have any appropriate fabric for this project, but supplies can be had for about $10 if I find a good sale.
  
• The Un-Paper Bag. I love the size and shape of this bag. I really love the leather handles. Maybe once a few more paychecks come in, and we get the car and oven fixed, I'll splurge on supplies for that one. A cute summer bag.
  
• Shoulder bag. Looks fun and practical, but a little slouchy. Not at the top of the list right now.
  
• Totes for the kids to take stuff to the pool this summer.
• Summer clothes for the kids. When we were looking for Easter dress fabric, they saw a lot of cute summery fabric (think bumblebees, watermelon, frogs, etc.), and I promised we'd make some sun dresses & other clothes.
  

So how many of these projects will be done soon, or even ever? That remains to be seen, but right now it's definitely just a wish list.

Easier Than Expected

I went in to talk to the principal this morning, and he pretty much agreed to exactly what I asked. So I'll be making about the same amount of money, but instead of being gone from 7:30 AM to 2PM, I'll be gone from 11:30 AM to 3PM. I'd much rather be gone in the afternoon than the morning, and mornings are when we get most of our schoolwork done, so I'm hoping it will be a better situation.

Thanks for all the good wishes!

Can't remember the last time . . .

I locked my keys in the car.

I was at my German class tonight, getting ready to leave, when I realized I'd locked the car door, then set the keys down, then looked at some paperwork, then got out of the car. Without the keys. So I had to call Jeff and get him to come unlock the car. No biggie, except that particular student lives 45 minutes away from us, and class wasn't over until 7. So the girls went to bed around quarter to ten tonight.

I'm still in limbo about my time at the school, but it should be resolved by Friday.

Go, Tigers!

What am I thinking?

Last week, I decided that working the two days at the school was taking too much out of me, and negatively affecting our school work. So I decided to quit. I didn't like it; I don't want to quit because something is hard. Also, I made a commitment, and they are counting on me. In spite of that, once I made the decision, I actually felt lighter. I felt so happy, it surprised me. But I also felt like that was an indicator that I'd made the right decision.

Yesterday morning, I called to see if the morning class was available, which she thought it was (my regular contact is on vacation and I talked to the woman covering for her). She had it listed as a Tuesday/Thursday class, which I'd originally said I couldn't do, because of our co-op. She said she'd see if they were willing to switch days, and I told her that if they weren't, I'd work it out for T/Th (there are only two more regular co-op days, and I could get a friend to drive the kids, then meet them up there a little late).

So. Then I started thinking. This is where the trouble started, of course.

"If I took this new morning class on T/Th, I could stay on at the school. Wow, that would take me up to 23 hours a week once the other night class starts. More if my ESL student can meet. That's nuts. But I don't want to leave the school in the lurch, and it's only two more months. And those classes really take a lot out of me. But it would be steady work again in the fall, when my other classes usually dry up." On and on, ad infinitum.

So here's what I've decided. I'm going to call the principal and tell him that I can't continue as before. I need at least a little more money, and I need the schedule to change. I appreciate that I'm getting paid for prep time, but I need those hours at home. The ball will be in his court, and I'll feel better about it. If I do continue there, the next two months would be really hard, but I'd get through it.

And the coats

I was nervous about the buttonholes, but they came out great!

Of Course

How could it possibly have been the other way around?

Stupid Conscience

I'm working quite a bit these days, and about to pick up two more evenings. When I got an email yesterday about an early morning class, I told my contact that I was swamped and couldn't take on anything more.

After classes today, I'm wishing I hadn't. I'd forgotten how exhausting teaching groups of school kids can be. And those classes run from 8 until 1:30. Not all of that is class time; some is prep, which I still get paid for, which does help. But it eats up pretty much my whole day, especially since dance and scouts (and more work) are in the afternoons and evenings.

The prospective class, in addition to being adults (who generally want to be there, or at least hide it pretty well if they don't), is from 7 to 9 AM. That time wouldn't eat into our school day very much at all.

Also, the pay rate is about 2 and a half times what I'm making now. I'd bring home about the same amount, but for four hours of work instead of eleven. (For a while, I was giving 40% of my take-home pay to a babysitter, but that issue is cleared up now, and I think our parents will be able to take care of it.)

So, let's sum up.

• Less stressful
• Better pay rate
• Better time of day

What's stopping me from switching? Oh, that's right. I made a commitment. Also, I'd feel super guilty, because they kids' old computer teacher left (I don't remember why), so they haven't had any consistent computer education.

Instead, I feel stressed and guilty because my own life is pretty much a shambles right now (our school work is really suffering right now, and the house is a wreck).

Guess

Guess which fabric goes with which girl's dress . . .

This week's goals

besides planning out my classes for work, I will complete a rough draft of the website I said I'd do, and finish these:

I need to fiddle with the collars, hem them, and do buttons /buttonholes. No telling if the clothes they'll wear under them at Easter will be made by me or not. I think they're turning out cute so far!

Noooooooo!

La Shish closes 11 metro eateries

My #1 favorite restaurant, gone!

Best Baby Shower EVER

I went to a baby shower today for one of Jeff's cousins. At a SPA. Sadly, the mother-to-be lives out of state and couldn't be there, so the grandmother-to-be opened the presents. We all got manicures & massages, had champagne, and Chicken Caesar Salad (or salmon) for lunch. Heaven!

I made my first baby blanket as part of our gift:It's cute, and wasn't very difficult or very expensive, but if I ever make another one, I will either find my quilting ruler or buy a new one. I am not precise enough with scissors to get really even squares, which are necessary for the "prairie points" around the outside.

Working

For the past few months, I've been working very little. Like, "six hours a month," little. In some ways, it's been nice--lots of time at home. In other ways--financial ways--it's been the pits.

Now the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction. Just today, I started teaching computers at a local private Christian school. It'll be 11 hours a week, which is a nice chunk, and it's only a ten minute drive. The downside is that the pay rate is considerably less than what I usually make.

Next week, I'm starting a German class. That'll be four hours a week, but it's at least a 45 minute drive. I usually won't go farther than half an hour, and they knew that, so I managed to get an extra $10/hour out of them.

I'm also trying to get my evening adult computer classes running again. That one is about half an hour away, though I don't know how much it will pay. I'm hoping it will also be four hours a week.

So if everything pans out, I'll be looking at 19 hours (over two days and four nights) a week. That's kind of nuts for me, especially considering that co-op takes up most of another day. I think I'm going to go look at once-a-month-cooking sites again . . .

Big Hair

Back in the 80's, I rocked the big hair look. Of course, it took an hour and a half to achieve said look (that was with the curling iron or the hot rollers).

I don't think Lauren is going to have that issue. I washed her hair last night, and was a little disappointed that it didn't curl up at all once it was wet. It was still a little damp when she went to bed. When I saw her this morning, I was kind of taken aback. Sweet merciful crap, look at your hair! I thought. Some curl had managed to erupt, but only in one section. I had her put on a headband to keep it out of her face, and I'll try to tame it with some water before we go to co-op in an hour. I think it'll be ok, but this just serves to remind me that I know diddly about curly hair. Maybe it should be cut with some layers? Maybe I should have had it thinned out a little?

Maybe I should pray for the 80's look to come back by the time she's a teenager.

Haircuts

Not mine! I'll be interested to see what Lauren's does next time I wash it.
Edited to add this conversation from last weekend.
Sarah: How old do I have to be to dye my hair?
Me: . . . Um . . . a teenager.
Sarah: Oh, so 13 or 14.
Me: No! . . . Um . . . 16.
Sarah: OK.
Me: What color would you want to dye it?
Sarah: Oh, bright yellow, like sunflowers, because they're my favorite flower.
Me: . . . So what got you thinking about dying your hair? (There's a couple teens at our church who frequently have blue or hot pink chunky highlights.)
Sarah: I don't know, I was just thinking about it.

So now I'm wondering what her first shade of Manic Panic will be!

Crawling out of the sludge

Last week was rough. All of us had nasty colds, and there was more than one day that I didn't leave the house. Lauren had the worst of it--she missed dance, the library, and her first Daisy meeting. We all seem to be over it for the most part, though.

So back to the grind for us! Lots of school work to catch up on, and I agreed to do a website for the company that put in our tub liner. I might also have a job at a nearby private Christian school as their computer instructor. The website payment would be a nice shot of cash, and the teaching would be steady. I haven't heard anything back about the evening computer classes.

I'm also helping a friend's daughter with her schoolwork. She just started homeschooling, and since she's a teen, she's working pretty independently. I'm going through her English and History with her--she's ok on the Biology and Algebra herself.

Oh, and I also got some camel colored polar fleece and leopard trim, to make Easter coats. Normally, I just make dresses, but since I got a gift card to JoAnn's for Christmas, I splurged a little. Hope they turn out cute!

So Cool

Check it out!
Coffee Table Touchscreen Computer

Thought Provoking

I saw an interesting link at Marcy's Musings today: Dumbing Down America. Like Marcy, I thought the video was interesting (but not terribly surprising, sadly), but it was the last paragraph that really got me thinking.

Then consider the greater than $48,000 average cost (four years) of state college tuition and the fact that many students (I’ve seen figures as high as 78.7%) require remediation once they are there. Consider that in 2005, starting salary averages for college grads were between $29,733 and $53,279. Add to it all the idea that you need be degreed before you can answer a phone and it becomes clear that our education system has been set up to weigh students down in debt before they make a dime.

I was lucky to not have excessive debt when I got out of school, thanks to grants and loans from my parents. I did have some government loans, but they weren't crippling when I finally got started in the real work force (not counting my au pair stint). I have no idea what my kids are going to do in 10 years when they reach college age.

Seriously?

I took the girls skating last week to a rink that is fairly close to our co-op. It was billed as "homeschool skate," so I figured we might see some friends from co-op. Nope, didn't see anyone I knew, which wasn't a big deal. The girls had fun, liked skating with the other kids. There were a few teens, but no one was rowdy. I even saw a few deliberately go out of their way to avoid my oblivious younger child when she skated into their path.

The musical choices were interesting. Ok, interesting isn't the right word. I'll let you guys come up with a better adjective in the comments. I noticed early on that there was a distinctly Christian vibe going on. It was kind of hard to make out all the lyrics, but I caught a few talking about Jesus and my Savior, etc. Hm. Not my cup of tea, but they also played the Scooby Doo theme song, which thrilled Lauren to death. However, when I heard lyrics like, "would you take the nails from his hands; would you take the sword from his side," that was excessive to me.

Here's the kicker: I was talking with the manager, and she asked me, "Do you find the Hokey Pokey offensive?" I actually turned around to look at her. "Do I what? Huh? What?" Utterly perplexed. What the hell is offensive about the Hokey Pokey? She told me that someone from this particular group had complained about the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance, because both have you "shake your butt."

Are you kidding me? I told her that as long as it wasn't "Baby Got Back," I was pretty much ok. She laughed and said that was for Friday Nights, ha! I'm not in favor of sexualizing children, but I think those two songs are pretty innocent.

I think that if we went back to that rink (which is unlikely, since I've found one closer that also has daytime "homeschool" skating), I'd have to ask them to alter their music.

In other news, our online library network has been down for a few days, and it is killing me that I can't put any books on hold. What is up, librarians?

Close Call

Lauren got some new skates for Christmas, and she & Sarah love skating around the basement. She's fallen a few times, but been ok. So when I hear her start crying really hard yesterday, I didn't wait to head down to the basement. She was standing up again, but still crying really hard. I didn't see anything, and was about to tell her she was ok, when I noticed a little blood on the under side of her chin. Whoops, a little scrape, I thought. I briefly wondered how she would do that--wouldn't she put out her hands as she fell, stopping her from scraping her chin on the floor?

We got her skates off, and brought her upstairs for a drink of water. She wanted a Band Aid (she loves Band Aids, wants them for every little thing), but I told her I had to clean it off first. When I took a closer look, I realized it wasn't a scrape, bit rather a slice, and a fairly substantial one at that. She was still doing that sobbing, can't catch my breath thing, so I got her a little more calmed down, then called our neighbor (thank you again, God, for moving me across the street from a family where both parents are nurses). The dad was home and confirmed my feeling that a visit to the Urgent Care Facility was in order. (We also found out that what she hit her chin on was a wooden doll bed. More incentive to do a mass garbage dump of all the stuff down there!)

I have to say, the UC did a good job--we were there less than an hour, and in the end Lauren didn't need stitches after all, but only a Steri-Strip and a gauze strip & some tape. A Super Band Aid, if you will! She even made it to dance class after that, and where is she right now?

Down in the basement with Sarah, rollerskating. Back on the horse, that's my girl!

Not Quite What I Expected

The flight down to Orlando was good. I hadn't gotten much sleep, though, so I was a little groggy all day. There were two other instructors that came down on the same flight, and at various times, we all asked each other, "Are we all here for the same job? Is this training, or an interview?" We all thought we "had the job," and all the hours that went with it.

In actuality, the company wants a pool of potential instructors up here, so that as they get more clients, they have people that they've already seen, and already know how to use the materials. Also, the current client is apparently being a little flaky and not ready for more than one class to start right now.

For me, this in an inconvenience. I don't want full time work, and the $ that I bring in is to make our lives easier. We can still pay the bills if I'm short on hours, although there's a lot less wiggle room. The other two instructors are both single. For them, the job is the main source of their income. I felt badly for them, especially the one who said that he'd turned down other opportunities because he thought this was a done deal.

So this job isn't quite what I thought it would be. In a way it's good--I won't have to reschedule as much stuff, and if I can get my evening classes running again, that would actually work out better. I'll be calling to try to get that rolling in about an hour.

Can I ask for more luck again? :)

Ouch

"My" car has been having trouble lately. (Note: "my" car is actually the kids' car, no matter which of us is driving it.) It's been stalling out while driving, which is really unnerving. It hasn't done it on the highway, but who's to say that it won't eventually?

I took it in to the place where we get our oil changed, and they told me that it needs a tune up, and for the fuel injectors to be replaced. $300. I took it to a mechanic for a second opinion, and although they agree with the tune up, they said nothing about the fuel injectors, even though I mentioned it. They also said that a ball joint needs to be replaced immediately, as it's dangerous. $167 for the tune up, $152 for the ball joint.

He also mentioned that it was badly behind on maintenance, which I conceded. The other things that are going to have to be taken care of this spring are:

• rear brakes & rotors--$179
• two new tires & alignment--$196
• struts & mounts--$359
• spring insulator bushings--$85
• fuel system cleaning--$85

I really hope this new job pans out.

Today's List

Today's To Do List included things like laundry, dishes, library, groceries. It also included "get a job." I haven't been working much lately (like four hours a month), and it's been frustrating. The money I bring in really does make a big difference to us, even though it isn't a lot. I don't want to work a lot of hours, but something reliable and steady is so helpful.

I went on line to check out Craigslist, and there amid the ads for "type at home," Kaplan test centers, teaching in China, and piano & voice teachers, there was one for "Certified German Teacher Needed."

Well. There you go.

I checked it out, and it's for an instructor for a group of professionals, and looks like it's in my area (I generally try not to drive more than half an hour to a class site). I called about it, and it sounded promising. It would be four days a week, two hours a day. I prefer to work more hours on fewer days, but that wouldn't be an option here. There would be some scheduling issues, with dance classes and co-op, but I can work those out.

They're based in Orlando, and would fly me down a week from Friday for a couple workshops and for me to do a presentation so they can see my teaching style and how I work with their materials. I'd just be there for the day, but Jeff is already teasing me about clubbing with cabana boys, etc. The whole thing made me a little nervous at first (finding a job on Craigslist is kind of like finding a spouse in a chat room--it happens, but it's kind of unconventional, and what if they're not on the up and up?), but I think I'm going for it.

I'm going to be so nervous about this for the next ten days . . .

Here's another one

This Little Light of Mine

Hee . . .

Still not done

but I don't really care. What gets done, gets done.

I'll be posting video & pictures over the next couple days--here's the first. Hm . . . I can't upload a movie. Must have something to do with the file format. Dang, I probably won't be able to mail them, either. Have to talk to Jeff.

In the meantime:

Sewing 911

That's what I'm calling my mom these days . . .

I got the zipper in Lauren's dress, and I'm satisfied but not happy with it. Luckily, her hair is long enough to cover the top. Now I'm glad we haven't gotten in for a haircut yet! Last night, I was about to cut out Sarah's skirt, when I realized that the plaid would be going in the other direction from Lauren's dress. It's hard to tell, but in Lauren's, the blue and green stripes run vertically, and the gold runs horizontally. If I lay out the fabric for Sarah's according to the directions (and I can't see a way around it), it will be the opposite. I'm probably the only one who would notice, so I should get over it and just get it done.

I still have to go to the post office (today!), make more cookies (I practically burned a batch of tarts last night, grumble), and do some more shopping. Also, the Christmas party at church is back on this week, so I need to make something to take to that (ate the hummus from last week), make some dessert to take to my Dad & Stepmom's for the 24th (Christmas torte and baklava are both totally out of the question this year), and more hummus & a veggie tray for the 25th.

Oh, here's a preview of the dress. The neck facing doesn't lie perfectly flat in this picture, but that will be fixed before she has to wear it anywhere. And yes, those are glittery ruby slippers she's wearing. They each got a pair, though I had to go to two different Target stores to find the right sizes.

Tuesday

Lauren's dress was going so well yesterday, that when I got to the zipper, I just stopped. Zippers have always given me trouble, although the last time I did them went better, because I, you know, followed the directions. Amazing what a difference that makes. But I was still a little intimidated. For the record, both velveteen and taffeta are not that hard to work with, but they both ravel like crazy. The pinking shears are my friends on this one!

So I'm going to call my mom and have her give me some tips/walk me through it first thing this morning. It'll be the third such call on this project, and those calls have really helped.

Then we'll head to the library and shoe shopping for the girls. I told Sarah that maybe they could get red shoes instead of black, and she was thrilled, heh.

I didn't get any cookies made yesterday, because it was a snow day, so dance class was canceled. The whole point of getting the cookies done was to take some to dance teachers. We'll see if class runs today. If it does, I'll try to get at least a few done. If it's canceled again, they're out of luck.

Sarah has Brownies tonight, and hopefully I can go shopping after I drop her off. But since Jeff is likely to be working late all this week, I might just bring Lauren home again. He got home about an hour late last night, but by doing this, he's more likely to be able to stay home all next week. It's a worthwhile trade off for all of us.

Monday Again

We made it to church yesterday, only about 20 minutes late, and most of that was because I had to get the car cleared off. Most of the roads weren't plowed, but our sub was the worst. Luckily, when I did get the car stuck, it was right outside church, so I got the kids inside and went back to dig out. A few people helped, and it wasn't hard to get me back on clear ground. Sadly, the roads were still bad enough that we canceled the Christmas program. It would be great if we could do it in the future, but don't know if that would pan out.

Today's agenda:

• sewing until noon
• cookies after lunch until dance class
• dance class in the afternoon
• (quick?) stop at the post office after dance

Crying Wolf

Every time there's a hint of snow, the local weather guys make a huge deal out of it. It's gotten to the point where Jeff refers to every rain or snow fall as "DeathStorm! 2007" or whatever year we're in.

Case in point yesterday. They were calling for four to six inches overnight, and with more today. It so rarely occurs, so I just hoped it was another case of crying wolf. Today is the one day that a huge mess of snow would be the worst, because we're supposed to be at church by 8:30 for rehearsal, and then back by 3:30 to get ready for the show.

When I woke up and looked out the window this morning (about 15 minutes ago), I saw easily half a foot of snow. At this point, I have no idea what we're going to do, but I'm going to iron the angel costumes, and make the hummus (supposed to bring an appetizer for the party), because if we make it there, and the show isn't canceled, I'm not coming home in between.

Thursday Progress Report

1. Angel costumes are assembled. "Assembled," I have come to realize, is not the same as "done." Though all the pieces are together, and the edges have been serged, I still need to turn up the hems/cuffs/collars, get some silver trim on them, and put a button & loop at the back of the neck. I predict that I will have an industrial sized bottle of fabric glue on Sunday, and not come home between practice/Sunday School/church and the show itself (about a three hour window).


2. This year's Christmas cookies will be: Pecan Tassies, Jam Thumbprints (a new recipe I'm trying for the first time), Chocolate mint-dipped Oreos, Buckeyes (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate), Gingerbread men, and Sugar cookies (Kids decorated those yesterday at my Dad's house--I have pictures, but can't download them yet.)
   

I bought a couple boxes of butter & cream cheese, and powdered sugar & peanut butter, but I still need pecans and coconut, to say nothing of five pounds of dipping chocolate. I also need a bunch of tins or plates so that I can give them to people.


3. Christmas dresses are not begun. That's high on tonight's adgenda.
   
   
4. I took Lauren back to the ped again--her cough and drippy nose are better but not gone, and I still have to give her medicine at bedtime, on top of her antibiotics. So we got a scrip for a new antibiotic. Hopefully it does the trick.
   

Yeah

Six Chix

Tuesday Round Up

• Disco Astro Turf Christmas Tree Ponchos--check (took about an hour, Sarah even helped).
• Lauren to the ped--check.
• Antibiotics & a new digital thermometer purchased--check.
• School work--mostly check.
• Angel dresses--no check, will do tonight.
• Drool over new camera, take a gazillion practice pictures, curse the bad weather/lack of opportunities to use snow and beach settings--CHECK.

The camera is awesome; I love it. Lauren sounds worse today than yesterday, and felt crappy enough that she didn't want to go to the library for story time. Once we got there (had to return some books), she just wanted to go home, which we did. Did I mention that they're supposed to sing at their Christmas productions on Friday and Sunday (two different productions)?

Katie, I can't wait to see how those brocade dresses turn out--I might be talked into making one for Sarah's birthday.

Coming Soon: Kim's Crazy Two Weeks of Sewing and Baking!

Monday's To Do

• Take Lauren to the pediatrician. Her cold has hung on too long, and last night she had a fever.
• Buy a new thermometer, since the old one won't turn on--dead battery, I assume.
• Make five Christmas tree ponchos for church play--no sewing, yay for super fast! (I feel a little embarrassed that I tend to go all out for Halloween & Christmas for my kids, but for church, I take shortcuts.)
• Make 3 Angel dresses, also for church.
• School for kids.
• Get my camera (crossing fingers it's delivered today)!
  

Or maybe this

When I was talking to my mom the other day about the potential insanity that is the previous dress pattern, she gently slapped me upside the head through the phone.

• Brocade.
  
• Piping.
  
• A weird neckline that I've never tried before and probably defies at least three laws of physics.

On the other hand, I could make a dress that I can make pretty much blindfolded, and let some pretty, festive Christmas fabric "do the work" for me.

The JoAnn's I went to yesterday had this dress made in size six, with a black top. The bottom was some kind of fabric that I can't remember the name of. It had velvet Scotty dogs embossed onto it. Yeah, Scotty dogs are cute and all, but don't say Christmas to me. However, a beautiful blue/green/black plaid with gold shooting through it? Screams Christmas to me. Sarah: "I don't like plaid. I hate green." Last time I let her have any input on her clothing choices, I tell you. . .

I won't buy anything until the weekend anyway, when I can use my big coupon, and the pattern goes on sale. Anyway, I have five green capes to make (I bought glitter felt, God help me), and three angel tunics. I'm going to the dentist today, and tomorrow is the co-op Christmas party. Did I mention I have a cold? But the fact that I'm not making the crazy-making dress is a big, big load off my mind.

Masochism

I didn't make Christmas dresses last year. Didn't have time, and I was fine with what I bought for the girls, although Sarah's was so short that she only got a few months' wear out of it. I thought about making dresses this year, but was undecided. Then I saw Simplicity's 3588 again. One of the bodice options has the cheongsam neckline that I think is really interesting, and one of the fabric choices is brocade. Sarah's been drooling over brocade Asian dresses at a local store for months, and I considered this a viable alternative. I'd get a new, challenging sewing project, and they'd get dresses that they'd love and would really fit.

Still, brocade is a pain to work with, I've heard. And the fit issues that have given me problems in the past haven't gone anywhere. Sarah is about a 6 or 7 around, and is about 4 inches too tall for the biggest size in this pattern, an 8. Lauren is about a 3 around, and a 7 in length. So, a considerable amount of fiddling would be required.

I'm still debating, but the title tells which direction I'm leaning.

I did it . . .

You know that scene near the beginning of Pretty Woman, where Julia Roberts, while covered in bubbles in an enormous tub, is negotiating her week-long price with Richard Gere? And once they come to an agreement, she squeals, "Holy shit!" then giggles & sinks beneath the surface of the water?

I feel a little like that right now. Of course, there's no Richard Gere, no enormous tub, and I'm wearing clothes. But I do have a bit of that giddy feeling.

I just ordered the bigger, 6x zoom camera. Eek! I'm really excited!

Control

One of the classes I work on at our homeschool co-op is Yearbook. It's been a huge amount of work, and next semester is going to be even more so, because we actually have to do all the layouts. Luckily, the guy who did it last year is doing it again next semester. Even better is that he now has a laptop, so the kids should be able to do a lot of the work themselves. So there is going to be another person to do a lot of the work--that's a good thing, right?

You don't know me very well, do you?

I want to be in charge of the yearbook. I like doing layout, and I want to be able to make sure that everything gets done. And, to be brutally honest, I want the accolades that will come with it. There, the ego has spoken. Of course, the ego is stupid. This is a huge amount of work, and I should be immensely grateful that I have someone who is willing to take it on. The fact of the laptop alone is a huge relief. I will still be involved in it, I just won't be the top dog. Damn, I hate that I hate that.

Greed

The Canon PowerShot A570IS has been on sale at Amazon for a while, and I told Jeff that it was all I wanted for Christmas. It's rather out of budget for what we usually spend on each other, but I told him that I'd use some of my leftover birthday funds to make up the rest.

It's a definite upgrade over my current camera, which is ok but not great. It's more megapixels (more than I really need, in fact), and has higher zoom, which I'm looking forward to. I'm also looking forward to hopefully doing better in low light situations, and being able to play more with the settings.

But then. Then I saw the Canon PowerShot A720IS. It has 8 megapixels instead of 7, but what really has me drooling is the 6X zoom. I love being able to zoom in from a distance and get in really close. It's also about $50 more. Much as I want that extra zoom, I can't justify the extra money. But I still covet it.

Free Passes

I hereby declare that 2008 will be The Year of the Museum. Our library is participating in the Detroit Adventure Pass, where you can "check out" free passes to 25 different local museums. Some passes are for two people, some for four, but since I can use Sarah's and Lauren's cards, as well as my own, to check out passes, it shouldn't be an issue. The passes are only good for one week, but we can go again and again. This is going to be awesome!

Home Ec

Home Ec is once a week, alternating between Cooking and Sewing. I've tried to tie the lessons in with Geography. The first week, we made a couple recipes from Amish Cooking for Kids, with moderate success. I'm a little skeptical of an Amish cookbook that calls for the microwave, you know?

Last week's project was Bandana Bonnets, keeping with the Pennsylvania theme. I made one for Lauren (she chose a very bright print, with "Love" written all over it), and Sarah made her own (from a more sedate blue/green). They turned out cute, but if I were to make them again, I would make the front part narrower. The proportions seem a little awkward. Also, I used fabric glue instead of fuseable web to attach the ribbon. I didn't want to do any more ironing, and I think glue holds better. She did a good job with it (sewing a seam, running elastic through the casing), and says that she likes the finished product, but not as much as she thought she would.

Tomorrow, she's going to make Pineapple Casserole to take to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. We got the recipe about a year ago from a woman at church, and have made it a couple times. It's kind of like a pineapple bread pudding.

I know, that doesn't tie in with Geography too much. We've been doing Arizona and Oklahoma last week and this (next week is Texas), and she's so not a fan of southwestern food. I'm going to look around for a Native American type sewing project for next week, unless I come up with something else. Oh, and I'll probably also show her how to make (not sew) a chiton, which I found in The Daring Book for Girls, to tie in to Ancient Rome.

Ultimate Resource

Holy cow, am I drooling. I just got Best books for children : preschool through grade 6 from the library. I thought it would be another nice list of fiction, like The Read-Aloud Handbook. What I got was an incredible reference book. It lists over 25,000 children's books, arranged by theme. It also has an author list and a subject index. Each book only has a one-line summary, but it's enough to get me to investigate more through Amazon.

Sadly, it costs $80, so I guess I'll be checking it out of the library periodically and getting ideas for books to last a few months.

And again

I should have mentioned that one of the reasons I got up so early yesterday is that Lauren again found her way into our bed in the middle of the night. I don't mind so much if it's early in the morning, but in the middle of the night, it really does interfere with my sleep.

So before bed last night, I told her that she needed to stay in her bed all night. And that I would make pancakes in the morning. Yes, I use bribery. Gonna make somethin' of it?

Sadly, the little cookie has gotten herself quite a cold. It can be hard to tell a cold with her, because she frequently has the runny nose due to allergies. She was really stuffed up last night, though. Even though I gave her some medicine, she was obviously having difficulty breathing through her nose. She was miserable, so I finally had Jeff bring her to bed. Laying down with me seems to help, although the mention that we had strawberries & whipped cream for the pancakes might have also had something to do with that.

Today, I am totally taking a nap.

Not much today

I had another one of those "wake up at 4, can't get back to sleep until 6:30, have to be to church by 8:45" mornings. So I'll probably be going to bed right after the kids tonight.

Last night, I had yet another "fall down go boom" incident. Luckily, all I did was skin my knee. It's moderately ugly, but not too painful.

In-Freaking-Credible

Beowulf. IMAX. 3D. AWESOME. Story? There was a story? Yeah, the story was ok, and some of the characters' faces were a little flat at times (the queen was the worst example), but that's not why you go. You go for the effects. And the effects rocked.

What we chose

For our anniversary this year (which actually isn't for another five weeks), we are going to dinner (Mongolian BBQ) and a movie (Beowulf at IMAX), which is typical. We're also going back to the hotel where we spent our wedding night, which we haven't done since our wedding. It's a little more special than usual, but still not a big trip or expense, which is exactly what I wanted at this point. My awesome in-laws will be here in about an hour to get the kids, wheeee!

Project Runway's Back!

Yay! Thoughts on last night:

Elisa--I thought it was interesting when she started rubbing grass stains onto the fabric, talking about using natural dye mediums like tea. I thought the blue dress she made was really pretty. Not wanting to finish the edges? OK, say you're going for "deconstructed," but know that it will get you kicked off eventually. Crazy will only take you so far. That train on the dress? Crazy. And you knew it. When you don't edit, you come off looking lazy. So step it up, and stop being such a Daniel Franco/Guadalupe.

Simone--boring and poor execution will trump crazy any day, and I wasn't surprised when she was sent home.

Rami--when I first saw him draping that gray fabric, I loved it. Then when I saw that he had changed it around, I was disappointed until I realized that I loved that version as well. When I saw the third incarnation on the runway, I really liked that, too. Man knows how to drape some fabric! I was glad he won.

Christian--I was expecting to be annoyed as hell at him, but I kind of liked his dress.

Jillian--I made the mistake of watching her submission video. She is annoying. Her voice drives me nuts. I seriously want to stick firecrackers in my ears every time I hear her. Luckily, she wasn't on much tonight, but I fear we'll be stuck with her a good long time.

The Pioneer Woman

I first discovered The Pioneer Woman Cooks, though I don't remember how I found it. But as soon as I did, I was hooked. Oh, the food! The pictures! The witty repartee! I want to cook it all.

Then I found the original. Ree sounds even more fun here than when cooking, and the story of how she met and fell in love with her husband, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, has me checking her page compulsively. Now I know how people in the 1800's felt while waiting for the next installment from Charles Dickens. Well, ok, not exactly. But now that Miss Doxie is posting very sporadically, this is my new favorite "voice." Enjoy!

3rd Grade Spelling

We're using this list, which I think has reasonable words. I like the way they're grouped, and that the choices are spelled out--ou or ow make the "ow" sound for this week.

Last year, I made an effort to make spelling interesting and fun. We'd do something different with her words every day: crossword puzzles, word searches, Scrabble tiles, secrete codes, etc.

Not this year. This year, I write the words on Monday and she has to copy them twice for handwriting practice. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, she writes them on the white board, and I help her if she has trouble. If she has a lot of trouble, she then copies them five times on a separate piece of paper. If she has a little trouble, it's only two or three times.

Spelling is easily her most difficult area. She really has a hard time with it. I don't know that this year's boring, repetitive approach is better--she's still barely getting a 7/10 average. It frustrates me a bit because I'm generally a pretty good speller. We'll see how the rest of the year goes.

Sewing

Sew, Mama, Sew Handmade Holidays-- 30 Days of Gifts to Sew!

Can you imagine how excited I was about this? Incredibly excited. Most of the tutorials haven't been earth-shattering (though I still want to try making some totes), but some of them could prove very useful.

One of the links took me to a tut about making a kid's belt out of fabric & a couple D-rings. Some of you might know that I have some skinny girls here, who constantly complain about the droopiness of their drawers. It appears to be very quick and easy; I'll post results once I get to it.

Geography--United States

For Geography, we're slowly making our way through the United States.

For each state, we read one of the alphabet series (M is for Mitten, L is for Last Frontier, G is for Grand Canyon). I also like the Welcome to the USA series, Portraits of the States, and Rookie Read About Geography. The Rookie series is a pretty easy level for Sarah; I like mixing it up a little, and a lot of the other books are considerably more difficult. We also used the Enchanted Learning site regularly.

I'm also trying to get as much fiction that relates to the state as I can. I came across a list from Scholastic last year, of books that "go with" each state, broken down by grades. It was a great find, but some of the books leave something to be desired. See the Yak Yak is a fun book, but I don't see what it has to do with Alabama. So I'm adding to the list as I go. Last week, for Pennsylvania, it was Shoo-Fly Girl by Lois Lensky. We're almost done with it. With longer chapter books like that, I'll usually read her a chapter at night, and then she'll go and read some more before she goes to sleep. I got Brighty of the Grand Canyon for Arizona this week, and that is a long book! We'll be doing Oklahoma next week, and I doubt we'll be done with Brighty by then, so we'll skip a long book for that one. I try to get more short/picture books that she can read to Lauren.

For each state, she

1. fills in a blank map, and draws the flag, describing it a little.
   
2. does a spider graph with basic information: capital city, climate, resources, landmarks, etc.
   
3. answers ten questions that came from the non-fiction books we've used. She's allowed to look at the books for the answers.
   

After we've done some more writing practice, we'll start including a paragraph for each one as well.

Last week, we also tied Home Ec into Pennsylvania. I found Amish Cooking for Kids, so we made a couple of recipes. We did have some limitations, though. The oven is still unreliable, so that let out making bread. There were several other recipes that called for using the microwave--not so Amish, methinks. We ended up making Vanilla Pudding on the stove. It tasted ok, but sadly, was not as smooth as it should have been.

I'm going to start making extra credit available as well. I borrowed a book called Geography Challenge, which has 190 questions. I've copied about 45 of them so far, and am going to print them on little slips of paper, then put them all in a container. She can pull one out and try to figure out the answer. Some of the questions require map work, but others will let her try some internet research skills.

It's a rather superficial study (just sounds really complicated), but I think it's fine for this year.

History--Ancient Rome

I was only going to give Ancient Rome a month, then move on to other ancient cultures before the end of the year, but I found a really good resource from the BBC. It's a little heavy on the "Rome in England" end, not surprisingly. I'd rather it have a little more about Roman life, and Julius Caesar (rather than so much about Hadrian's Wall and Boudicca), but it has a lot of materials for us to work with, and I think it'll do just fine. Actually, I was relieved to find something that had so much of the work already done.

If we do History twice a week, we'll be done with this unit in about two months. In addition to that site, I have a bunch of books from the library. The one I like best for this is My Best Book of Ancient Rome. For fiction, we'll read Galen: My life in Imperial Rome. We already read The Roman Twins, which was cute (and tied in nicely with our Poetry unit, since it's written in couplets). I also found a cool Construct an Aqueduct site. I'd like to try some recipes, but I don't know that they're feasible. As a final activity, we'll do a Venn diagram comparing life then and now, and a time line--that'll probably be the hardest part.

Changing a Tradition

For the past few years, I've been making photo albums as Christmas gifts. They started small, and have gradually grown. This year's album looks like it might have 29 pages in it (I might edit). I make them for our parents and grandparents, as well as one to keep for myself. In the past, the digital albums have been in addition to traditional scrapbooks. Lately, I've had less and less interest in traditional scrapping. The digital version is simply more appealing to me, and I've pretty much decided that I'll be doing that exclusively.

The only problem with the digital albums (other than not being able to incorporate actual physical objects, but I can deal with that), is that, in order to have them back by Christmas, I have to submit them by the middle of November. That means that Christmas photos have no place to go. I've always intended to do a "Christmas over the years" album (even when I was doing the hard copy scrapping, I kept Christmas separate), but it's not really the same.

So this year, I've decided that I'm going to go back to a "Year's Highlights" format for the gift albums, and I'm going to wait until January to submit my own album. That way, I'll be able to include all the end-of-year activities. This is going to be more expensive; in addition to not getting the discount for buying in bulk, my personal album is going to have a lot more pages (I'm predicting close to 40 for this year). Don't care!

To Grade or Not to Grade

This year, Sarah got a progress report, her first one. I started keeping track of her stuff fairly recently, but now the whole grades thing has really taken off. I've been keeping track of certain things for a long time: her Book Adventure points last year, her Math Magician scores practically since we started. But for the other stuff, I didn't assign grade values.

In some ways, homeschooling can be anti-grades. True understanding of the work is more important than a grade, right? Well, yeah, of course. That's true in any situation. But grading has had a few effects.

1. It's made me more accountable. I'm keeping better track of what we're doing, and I'm forcing myself to come up with concrete, objective, "grade-able" assignments.
   
2. Sarah seems more invested in how she's doing. Time will tell if that continues.
3. It's giving me a new place to go crazy with Excel. Seriously, I love setting up the formulas and formats so that all I have to do is plug in the numbers, and I get instant results.
   

I don't think every family needs to use grades, be they letter or number. In fact, they're kind of a crutch for me. Like the schedule I use that some of my homeschool friends really admire. Ha--I use that because I have to. If I didn't, nothing would get done.

As for Chicago, I love Chicago. Jeff suggested it early on, and I jumped on it. Then he reminded me that it will be cold there in late December/early January; I hate the cold. That makes Chicago a lot less appealing. It's still a possibility, but a slim one.

Suggestions?

Our tenth anniversary is coming up, and we'd like to do something special outside of our usual "dinner and a movie." We want to go some place for the weekend. We want to be able to drive for a day or less. Actually, the top contender right now is the Great Bear Lodge. It's reasonably close, and it's self-contained, so we wouldn't have to go out in the cold. There aren't any other "sights," though, and it would be fun to go someplace new. We've thought about Nashville or Kansas City, but I have no idea what there is to do in those places.

Any suggestions?

Story Time

Lauren is still young enough for Story Time at the library, but not for too much longer. I'm going to be sorry when that's over, because she really likes it. A few weeks ago, we started Story Time here at home, too. For about half an hour before lunch, Sarah reads out loud to Lauren. We have a bin of books from the library, and they choose from those. Sarah gets practice reading out loud, and they both really enjoy it. Sometimes they surprise me--in the second week, I had the adventures of Hercules for Sarah, but Lauren ended up requesting it pretty frequently.

Story Time also has historic precedent. When I was a kid, my brother was diagnosed as "hyperactive." My parents decided to forgo the Ritalin and do some other things instead. I vaguely remember some dietary changes (a different milk), and half an hour before bed every night, we would have Quiet Time. I'd get to do funny voices for the different characters, and he'd mellow out before it was time to sleep. It was a great bonding experience. When I found one of our favorites at a garage sale a few years ago (The Monster at the End of This Book, with lovable furry old Grover), the rush of memory that came flooding back was amazing. Those are the kind of memories I hope my kids will have.

I just got a poster for "100 Picture Books to Read in Kindergarten," along with stickers so that you can mark off the title when you're done with it. That'll give us fodder for quite a while! I'm so glad that I can reserve and renew books on-line. I love letting the librarians do most of the work for me! Sometimes it's a little embarrassing when I have over 15 books to pick up, though!

Lauren's current favorite is Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse--it came with an audio CD, and she is in heaven. I really need to start making more use of that medium.

Homeschooling: This Year

I really like The Well Trained Mind's attitude toward homeschooling. The general idea is to delve very deeply into subjects--really take your time with them and be thorough. Another concept is that History is the framework for most other learning, including Geography, Literature, and Science. They also advocate a cyclical pattern.

• First grade covers "the ancients" (science is about things the ancients could see: animals, plants, and the human body)
  
• Second grade is medieval/Renaissance (science is the earth and sky observations--thank you, Copernicus!)
  
• Third is 1600 - 1850 (time for basic chemistry: atoms, molecules, elements)
  
• Fourth is modern times (beginning physics)

The idea is that "these divisions correspond to the child's growing ability to think abstractly." The cyclic part is that when you get to fifth grade, you go back to the ancients, but start dealing with it more in depth, as better fits the child's capabilities.

I like this book and its ideas a lot. They make sense to me. I haven't followed them exactly, though. I've used it more as inspiration. For one thing, Sarah's already in third grade. I don't want to start in the middle, so I'm compressing things a bit. We did Greeks last month, Romans this month. Next month we'll cruise on toward the medieval period, and in the spring we'll get to the "correct" time period. This has an added benefit for Lauren. She'll be starting the ancients next year (and we will take the whole year to do it), but she already has some background, thanks to Sarah. Also, it'll be good review for Sarah next year.

I am using the Usborne Book of World History quite a bit. So far, I keep getting it from the library, but I really need to break down and buy it. I'm also trying to get lots of literature from those time periods.

We are doing different things for Geography and Science, but that's for another post.

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!