He makes me laugh

SKEETER: How do you spell "luncheon"?

ME: L-u-n-c-h-e-o-n

SKEETER: You're sure? I was going to spell it l-u-n-c-h-i-n.

ME: (laughing) Yes, I'm sure.

SKEETER: Oh, I guess my version is just the redneck spelling.

This and that

Things have been so busy lately, and I can't seem to settle my mind into a decent post, so I'm all for bullet points at the moment. A smattering of is currently rumbling in my brain:

• I'm going to have to buy another car. I detest the thought of it, but I think I'm at a loss. My poor old car has had its share of woes recently. Our SUV is having transmission issues (again) and the sedan is simply old and decrepit. What's worse is that we need to get a decent vehicle before our vacation at the end of July.

• Spyder is rereading the Harry Potter series, and (unlike before) I let him continue with book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We've had long conversations about the emotional overtones, and he knew what to expect, but we're continued with our discussions as he read because it IS such a dark story. He's about midway through book 6 now, and he'll probably be finished with that by Monday.

• Spyder has taken a small break with Harry Potter this evening, and he started recording books using his Readio software. He did Dinosaurs Before Dark tonight, and he wanted to do The Knight at Dawn, but it was too late at that point. I'm sure he'll be up and recording before church tomorrow though. We've had it for a couple of months, and I never could get him interested in it. Today he went into it full-force. Typical Spyder behavior.
  

• Skeeter is starting a new job at the beginning of July. It's not really a new job though. He's been a contract employee for the past 7 months, and the company has decided to hire him directly. It's been a strange transition, but he's pleased with it. It will require us to move in a couple of years though, and I'm a bit sad about that.

• The new job will give us dental insurance once again. Sweet blessings! Spyder is roaring toward orthodontia, and I wasn't looking forward to it.
  

• The pantry is very close to being empty. I bought a few things tonight, and I should be able to last next week with those few items and what we have now. After that, it will be time to scrub out the refrigerator, then shop.

• Skeeter played in a golf scramble today, as part of a company team, and he won a "Roadside Assistance Kit." Considering the car woes, I laughed loud and long over that. It actually a very nice kit though, complete with jumper cables and the like.

• Skeeter and I completely emptied Sass's room tonight. So far, I've got two boxes and three bags for the thrift store in the trunk of the car. And that doesn't include the four bags I took earlier today. It's taking me a lot longer to put things back into her room than I anticipated, but I think it's because I'm culling things. I'm being pretty thorough with it, and I'm only putting back what I know she plays with.
  

• My homeschool group had a curriculum sale today, and I didn't go. You can't imagine how I had to restrain myself. But really, we have what we need for next year, with two exceptions, and I asked a friend if she'd look for those two things. I knew that if I went, I'd find loads of things that I want but don't really need. So I avoided the temptation. It was harder than I expected.
  

Just a little helpful hint

If you're the type of person who likes to talk with your hands, maybe a Bluetooth isn't really for you. Especially when you're walking around the grocery store. When other people are nearby.

Just a suggestion.

Sincerely,

The person you hit -- twice -- tonight during your riveting, gesture-filled conversation about James Bond.

PS: Don't worry about the milk. The nice person working in the dairy section let me get a different container.

Green and white, again

Tonight's dinner was mostly green and white as well, although slightly prettier. :)

Today I made a pasta salad using chicken, cucumber, sugar snap peas, and cheddar cheese. Oh, and of course, pasta. I served it on a bed of baby spinach. Normally I use olives and sweet red pepper, but I'm out of both at the moment, and a Pantry Challenge is all about making it work with what you have on hand.

I did go to the store tonight to buy a few necessities -- milk and eggs and ice cream. Oh, I know the ice cream isn't really a necessity, but we'll pretend it is for today. :)

Dinner tonight: green and white

I'm in the midst of a Pantry Challenge -- cooking from what I already have stocked in the pantry or freezer.

Tonight was (not surprisingly) stir-fry! Normally, I try to make the dish a bit more colorful, but in working with only what I had already, that's how it ended up -- green. Broccoli, sugar snap peas, and sweet peas from the freezer; bell pepper from the fridge. I didn't even have any brown rice to go with it, so I had to use the white.


And let me give you a little secret to making really good Asian stir-fry at home -- toasted sesame oil. Good stuff! The flavor is like no other oil, and it gives the stir fry a great taste. If you think that your Asian dishes just don't taste quite right, try using the sesame oil in place of whatever you usually use. It's expensive but definitely worth it. I use it for all of my homemade Chinese and Thai dishes.

And I'm pretty sure that stir-fry isn't normally served with mini corn muffins, but hey, I'm a week and a half into it, and I'm feeling the challenge. :)

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

Last night Skeeter and I took the children to see You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. They LOVED it!

We have the soundtrack, and the children absolutely love it, especially the song "My New Philosophy." What's even better about that particular song is that it's sung by Sally and Schroeder, giving it a girl and a boy part -- perfect! They sang the whole scene along with the performers, although (thankfully) they just mouthed the words rather than belting it out like they usually do.

Snoopy came into the audience during his "Rabbit Chasing" number and sniffed Sass, who thought it was just the funniest thing ever. Even today, her favorite part was when Snoopy sniffed at her. :)

I've mentioned in passing that it's important to me to be able to give my children opportunities to see live performances, and it seems that each time we attend one that desire becomes even stronger. I'm happy to report that both children sat through the two hour performance with no wiggling and no talking, aside from the occasional "Oooh, that's on the CD!" or "He's funny!"

Now I'm on the search for the next one to attend!

I'm so not ready for this

Welcome



to


summer.


Yay.

Sass as Clifford

My Sass is quite a creative little one. She made this Clifford (the Big Red Dog) mask for herself before bed a few days ago. I only knew she had done it when she came out to model.


How cute is she?!?

What's on your list?

Jules at Everyday Mommy has posted what's at the top of her Netflix queue. Since we're movie hounds (see the two previous posts!), I'm following her lead. We have 397 titles in our queue -- no I'm not exaggerating -- but I'll only list the first 10.

You're welcome.

We have the 5 at a time plan (one is specifically for Sass & Spyder's queue though). We currently have at home:

The Journey of Natty Gann. I saw it when I was a teen. Loved it then, loved it when we watched it this weekend. It got sent back today.

The History Boys. Skeeter and I saw the trailer for it a while ago, and it seems like one we'd like.

The Recruit.

Jeeves and Wooster. Based on the PG Wodehouse novels, Hugh Laurie (currently of House fame) and Stephen Fry star. Very English, but incredibly funny, mostly relating to the idea of "society" and "class."

The next ones in our queue are as follows:

Rivers and Tides.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company.

English Punctuation: The Standard Deviants.

The Heart of the Game.

Tell Me Why: Americana & Beginnings.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

This week is Vacation Bible School at church though, so I doubt that we'll have much movie-watching time.

Easily amused, updated

After an hour and twenty minutes of browsing, Skeeter decided to watch Strange Brew, which was (unsurprisingly) one of the first ones he discovered.

In an interesting bit of irony, it's also one we have on video in the other room.

Easily amused

I've introduced Skeeter to the "Watch It Now" feature in Netflix. I wonder if this was a wise decision on my part.

He's spent the last hour browsing the movies that are available to watch RIGHT NOW! ON THE COMPUTER! NOW! WITHOUT WAITING!

I've been listening to the commentary he's giving (unintentionally) as he's reading the titles. He's an absolute riot, and I think he has more fun reading the titles than actually watching the movie.

I keep hearing:

SUPERFLY!! Badass!

Oooh, Good Boy. Cute movie. We liked that, didn't we?

The Chamber. Don't think I've seen that.

Hmmm.

Even Dwarfs Started Small. Interesting name for a movie.

Last Temptation of Christ.

Modern Marvels! There are several of those.

Hey! The Natural History of the Chicken. Oh, never mind. How bizarre. Someone is going to spend an hour watching a documentary on the chicken?

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas? I wonder what that's about?

Blackula! Oooh, how cool!

He Died with a Falafel in His Hand. What's a falafel?

Hey, what are you doing? You're writing everything I'm saying?!? Freak! Stop making making fun. I'm the only husband you've got. Hey, Pagemaster.

Oops, I've been discovered, but at least he's easily distracted by more titles.

Preconceived notions

I just love Hathor. I don't always agree with her, but she makes me challenge some conventional wisdom and decide whether her view is right for us.

The above cartoon, however, is absolutely spot on for me as a homeschooling parent. When someone (a stranger, a family member, a friend, doesn't really matter) finds out that Sass and Spyder are homeschooled, the first question almost always is "What about socialization?"

The snarky part of me that Hathor shows always groans and thinks, "Not again!" I have to assume, however, that the person asking is truly curious to know how children who don't go to a traditional, mainstream school "socialize," so I always answer honestly and politely. But considering how often we're asked about it, I wonder if people really do believe that we homeschoolers live in a box.

Let me preface this by mentioning that every family is different. Every person you ask will have a different answer. As for us, we have many, many opportunities to "socialize" with others.

Perhaps it's hard to imagine for someone who isn't a homeschooler, but "socializing" isn't a problem. My standard answer is, "We attend church. We are part of a group of homeschooling families that meets regularly, and Spyder is in Scouts." If the conversation continues, I mention the specifics.

We attend a relatively large church -- about 500 members or so -- and we participate fully. The children attend junior worship or regular service, as well as the Awana program. They both have several friends from church. With one exception, all of Spyder's church friends go to school, either public or private. When time permits, we have regular social activities with these friends.

Additionally, Spyder is in Cub Scouts, and he regularly attends meetings and social activities. Sass is beginning Brownies this summer, and we'll have similar meetings and activities for her as well.

The children also attend art class on Wednesdays, which started out as being only art class, but it's turned into a wonderful class/playdate with the other students. Sass's class is from 2-3. Spyder's class is from 4-5. But the classes are held about 30 minutes away from our home, so we simply stay for the hour in between. Most other parents do this as well, so we generally have anywhere from 10-14 children playing before or after his or her class.

We're also members of a wonderful homeschool group which meets every other Friday for a playdate. Moms chat, and children play. It's a fantastic time, for the moms and the children.

Sass is a member of an American Girl club within our homeschool group, which is a kind of history club based on the American Girl books. We meet once a month to discuss one of the characters, her books, and her historical context. Occasionally, we have a field trip. The next one is to a plantation.

Sass and Spyder both take a class for homeschoolers once a month at the science and history museum, which they absolutely love. We also go to the children's museum regularly, and they make fast friends there every time. We also have field trips at least twice a month. Just this past week we went to a paint-your-own pottery studio with our homeschool group.

We have a couple of close friends within our homeschool group, and we have impromptu playtimes with them at least a few times a month. We also attend a variety of live theater and music performances, as well as wandering around the botanic gardens and art museums.

Sometimes our schedule gets so full that we have to pull back from some of these activities, simply so that we can spend a bit more time at home, doing what we need to do. It's not unusual for us to have 4 or 5 outside activities per week, and it's easy for Spyder (in particular) to feel like we're doing too much.

But really, aren't many of these the same kind of activities that all children have? Scouts, playdates, zoos, museums, and the like aren't exclusive to homeschoolers, nor are they only found within traditional school activities. It seems that both groups tend to forget that.

Skeeter got his first taste of answering the "socialization" question during Space Camp. When they found out that Spyder was homeschooled, it was the first thing they asked. Considering where they were and what they were doing, that really surprised me. The other campers were with Spyder. They ate together; they took classes together; they even slept in the same bunkhouse! That's socializing to me. If the person who asked had taken a moment to think about it, he could have answered his own question.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that we all live in boxes -- boxes that are defined by our notions of who we should be. We all have a tendency to place our personal boxes around others, and they don't always fit.

Quote

Always be happy. When people are in a bad mood, the last thing they want to do is hang around with happy people.

-- Kermit the Frog, from "Before You Leap"

The urchins and the mud

Today's main activity:

Music Meme

I seem to be in a meme mood lately.

Shamelessly lifted from Kaleigh at Musings From Yet Another Working Mom on her 200th post!

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool ...

Opening Credits
Samain Night -- Loreena McKennitt

Waking Up
French People Suck -- Meatmen

First Day at School
Token Celtic Drinking Song -- The Pogues

Falling in Love
Get Out the Map -- Indigo Girls

Fight Song
Synchronicity II -- The Police

Breaking Up
Subdivisions -- Rush

Prom
E=mc2 -- Big Audio Dynamite

Life is Good
Masochism Tango -- Tom Lehrer

Mental Breakdown
Harajuku Girls -- Gwen Stefani

Driving
Games without Frontiers -- Peter Gabriel

Flashback
Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby -- Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss & Emmylou Harris

Getting Back Together
Girlfriend -- Matthew Sweet

Wedding
Just Like You -- Keb Mo'

Paying the Dues
Under a Violet Moon -- Blackmore's Night

The Night Before the War
Mountain Dew -- Caprizzio

Final Battle
Sinister Minister -- Bela Fleck & the Flecktones

Moment of Triumph
Million Pieces -- Newsboys

Death Scene
Goody Two Shoes -- Adam Ant

Funeral Song
Brothers and Sisters of Azania -- Manfred Mann's Earth Band

End Credits
Boomin' -- tobyMac

I think this proves it. I'm sooooo not cool.

Movie Meme

Shamelessly lifted from A Happy Childhood Lasts Forever.

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times. The Princess Bride

2. Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in the theater. National Treasure

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie. Rowan Atkinson

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie. Nick Nolte

5. Name a movie that you can quote from. Star Wars

6. Name a movie musical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs. Mary Poppins

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with. Music and Lyrics

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see. Little Secrets

9. Name a movie that you own. Accepted

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops. Ice Cube

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? Yes

12. Ever made out in a movie? Not in the theatre

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t gotten around to it. Catch and Release

14. Ever walked out of a movie? Yes

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. Charlotte's Web

16. Popcorn? Usually. Lately I'm partial to Dibs though.

17. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)? Pretty often. It's more difficult to watch a non-child movie at home, so I generally see them at the theatre.

18. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater? Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

19. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? Comedy

20. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? The Blob

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen? Nacho Libre

22. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? Most recently, Blades of Glory

23. What is the scariest movie you’ve seen? The Blob (I was really, really little when my cousin took me, and it scared me like nothing else in my young life.)

24. What is the funniest movie you’ve seen? Real Genius

Complete Sass-ness

Because every girl should have a pair of gold wedge peep toe heels.

The Dangerous Book for Boys

Today, Spyder and I were wandering in the book section of Sam's Club when I found The Dangerous Book for Boys. I had heard about it a while ago, but I was never able to find a copy in the bookstore to see if it was really something I wanted to buy.

I thumbed through it there at the store, and it didn't take me long to figure out that it was a must-buy. Definitely.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Spyder is (as my mom would say) "All Boy." He likes anything that has to do with weaponry, mess-making, building . . . . The list could go on for hours.

Spyder noticed the book in the cart, and he picked it up immediately. (I think the "dangerous" part had him intrigued.) He started reading it there in the store, and he didn't put it down for the rest of the day.


It covers a range of topics, from history lessons to how to build the perfect paper airplane to talking to girls. (At age 9, Spyder is both intrigued and disgusted by the idea of talking to girls "that way," although the list of dos and don'ts are really just common sense.)

He spent the first part of the day folding that perfect paper airplane, and I have to admit, it's a pretty good design. He was able to get it to fly almost to the end of the yard -- much, much further than he has ever done before.


Last night he told me about the Battle of Waterloo. Today he taught himself how to tie three or four different types of knots. Both subjects came from this book.

The list price is $24.95 (kind of high) but we paid $15 at Sam's, and Amazon currently has it for that price. It's well worth it. The design is perfect for my boy, a stiff cloth hardcover with no dusjacket. It's illustrated throughout, occasionally with color drawings, sometimes with simple sketches.

I almost fussed at him for taking it outside and putting it on the damp grass. But really, it's the type of book that I want him to carry around, to use enough to get fingerprints on the pages and wear the corners of the cover. So instead of fussing, I just picked it up, wiped it off, and moved it to a dry spot.

The Dangerous Book for Boys gets my highest recommendation.

Spyder's aspiration

Little birdies

Hold onto your hats, my real-life friends. I am becoming (gasp!) an amateur bird enthusiast. I've mentioned my convoluted feelings about the avian species before, but I definitely feel that I'm coming around to the idea of inviting the shy ones to stick around.

Spyder and Sass have art class on Wednesdays, and the art teacher has several bird houses and bird feeders set up in various areas around her yard. While the children are in class, I've started sitting on the deck in the yard, just watching the squirrels and the birdies.

Since I've been so fascinated with their wildlife, I've bought a couple of bird feeders to set up in my own yard.

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten a really good picture with the birdies actually around the feeder. The squirrels like it just as much as the birds though. There are usually three squirrels around the base of the feeder, but they generally scatter as soon as I get close enough for a photo.

We even have a cardinal nesting in the holly bushes beside the house. While she is a beauty, having her (and egg!) that close does make me slightly uneasy, so I've been avoiding that particular path to the yard.

The adventure weekend

Remember that grand adventure? It was . . . Space Camp!


Skeeter and Spyder went to Huntsville, AL for the Parent/Child Space Camp! They spent the weekend building rockets, training on the moon walk simulators, going on a space shuttle mission, and learning about NASA.


The US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville hosts the Space Camp, but it also is a museum that shows the history of the US space program. We didn't realize it at the time, but Sass and I could have gone with them (staying in a hotel rather than at the camp) and toured the grounds and museum. Ah well! Perhaps another time.


Since they did the Parent/Child camp, it was only a weekend. But it was a pretty intensive weekend! They were scheduled from breakfast to bedtime, and they were exhausted by the time they got back home.

Both Skeeter and Spyder thoroughly enjoyed it though, and they're already talking about returning for the Aviation Challenge weekend in a couple of years.

The program gets highest marks from both of them, which truly says a lot about it. Considering their excitement, which continued for days after they got back, I would highly recommend the program!

A few tips for anyone considering the program:

• Spend the extra money and buy your camper the jumpsuit. It sounds a bit silly, but Skeeter said that Spyder felt more like he was really "in training" once he started wearing the jumpsuit. I didn't buy it in advance, and in retrospect, I would.
  
• Plan to eat at least two meals not included in your camp. Lunch is not provided on the first day or the last day. I would have packed them a lunch for the first day, at least, if we had realized that. As it was, they had to eat lunch in the snack bar, which was grossly overpriced (as in all touristy areas). If I had known to plan ahead for it, it would have saved us $35 to $40 on those two meals.
  
• Bring a bottle for water. Or buy one bottle and save it to refill. Water from the machines was $1.50 (pricey!), but you can refill the bottle from the water fountain.
• Pack light. The rooms are designed exactly as a space station would have them (think bunkhouse in Star Trek). The beds are actually set into the wall, so you have a very limited amount of room. I sent my campers with two bags, one large bag for clothing and one smaller bag for toiletries. Skeeter said it was crowded to have two, so he ended up repacking in the back of the car.
• Use travel sized toiletries. We have quite a collection of trial toiletries, some from hotels, some that I've gotten in the mail . . . . I sent these with my campers -- everything from mouthwash to toothpaste to shampoo. Skeeter said that these were absolutely fantastic. Between the two of them, they used a bottle of shampoo per shower, and he could just throw the container away. They used the shampoo as body wash as well, so they didn't have to bother with a bar of soap OR an extra bottle of body wash.
• With the way that the days were scheduled, it was best to shower at night. Skeeter is accustomed to taking his showers in the morning, and he didn't realize that the schedule didn't permit that until he was too late. He had to squeeze in time for a quick shower sometime mid-day on Saturday, since he didn't have time in the morning.
  

The total cost for whole trip (including travel, food, and souvenirs) was right at $1000, which is exactly what we had planned. That sounds like a lot (and it is), but it took us about a year and a half to save enough for it. Saving $30 per paycheck for 17 months is infinitely more do-able than $1000 all at once. :)

Moroccan Chicken

I've had a few emails asking for the Moroccan Chicken recipe I mentioned recently, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

Originally it came from The New Basics Cookbook (which I highly recommend), but I've made a few changes to it.

Moroccan Chicken

2 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp onion powder (optional)
1 tsp lemon peel
4-5 cloves of minced garlic (fresh is best, but garlic powder can be substituted in a pinch)

Coat 4 chicken legs or thighs with the spice mixture and let them stand at least 1 hour. (I coat them when I'm making lunch and leave them in the refrigerator until time to cook.)

In a large skillet, heat 2 tsp of olive oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the skillet. Cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes on each side.

(For those of you in the south, you're essentially making spiced fried chicken in olive oil.) :)

We've also made these on the grill and in the oven, with equally yummy success. I've also used the spice combination with tofu, but Skeeter won't stand for that tofu nonsense, so I haven't done that recently. :)

Enjoy!

Various yumminess

I am in love with the new Lipton White Tea Apple Cranberry. I picked it up on a whim at the grocery store a few days ago, and I am absolutely hooked.

The new drink-mix-to-go single serve tubes have been popular for a while, but I've never really liked them. They all had an odd aftertaste to me. I've been trying them off and on, but I've never really found one that I really enjoyed until recently.

A few weeks ago I tried the Propel Berry flavored powder packet, and it was yummy! Truly, it was the first one that I tried that I truly liked. Light flavor, and no aftertaste. I think that gave me enough courage to try the Lipton one. :)

We've also been enjoying a new snack treat, the Flat Earth brand fruit and veggie chips. The grocery store held a demo last week, and Spyder, Sass, and I all tried three different flavors available. Their favorite was the Garlic & Herb. Mine was the Apple Cinnamon Grove. Quite yummy!

(FYI: There is a coupon available through the link. Just click the "Come On In" sign in the middle of the page and the look to the left when the second page loads.)

Happy sipping and snacking!

A grand adventure

Spyder and Skeeter are off on a grand adventure! We've been planning it for over a year, and finally it's time!

They'll be gone for the whole weekend, and it will give Sass and me a little "Mommy and daughter" time together. We don't have anything planned, but the weekend is filled with open promises, and I'm anxious to see what it will bring.

They left this morning at 6:30, and I was both excited and sad to see them off. I can't wait to hear what their adventure brings them!

Works for me Wednesday: Recipes in a flash

I have several recipes that we really like, but they require lots of spices and/or ingredients. One of the ways that I speed up preparation is to blend the dry ingredients in advance.

I collect and combine all of the dry ingredients as if I am making the recipe. Instead of continuing with the recipe, they are stored in a Ziploc bag in the freezer, labeled with the recipe name.

For example, one of our favorite recipes is Moroccan Chicken, which requires about 10 different spices. Preparing the spices in advance cuts the prep time tremendously. For this particular recipe, I make 4 or 5 bags at a time, using the small "snack size" Ziploc bags. When I begin making the recipe, I just take out the bag labeled "Moroccan Chicken" and my work is more than half done.

I make Amish Friendship Bread every 10 days, and bread making day doesn't always fall on a day that's convenient. I speed up the process by combining the dry ingredients at a time that is convenient for me, usually a few days in advance. Again, it cuts the prep time tremendously.

Works for me!

Check out all of the Works for me Wednesday tips at Rocks in my Dryer!

Welcome to Holland

Encouragement can come in ways you never imagined.

A friend sent this to me tonight. Her son has just been diagnosed with an "autistic spectrum disorder" and she is coming to terms with that and what it means. While my children don't have those issues, I found encouragement and meaning in it anyway. I have a feeling that I'll refer back to it on those days that I feel overwhelmed by this life I've chosen.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

The couch

My mom must have the most comfortable couch ever. At any family function, the couch is sure to have its own slumbering guest.

Today we celebrated Mother's Day, and in usual fashion, we had a cookout at my parents' house with a house and porch full of people. Ribs on the grill, potato salad, homemade macaroni and cheese . . . the works.

My dad usually chooses the old couch for his naps. The Michael and Uncle Richard weren't at the celebration, so I expected the napping couch to be empty. It wasn't. My cousin E set up residence and didn't move for at least three hours.

The children and I shot the basketball. We played catch. Spyder shot the BB gun. Sass, Spyder, and Skeeter all rode the 4-wheeler. E slept through all of it. He even slept through Sass and Spyder's game of hide and seek/tag through the house, which required squeals, shouts, and slamming doors. He was still asleep on the couch when we left. As far as I can remember, E has never been one of the nappers, but today he outdid them all.

My family has a tendency to name everything. Just in the living room we have

The old couch
The orange chair
The poofy couch
The rocker
and
The new rocker

Today I hereby declare that The Poofy Couch is officially renamed. Hereafter, The Poofy Couch will be referred to as The Napping Couch.

Case closed.

Through the eyes of a child

Tonight I had to make a run to the grocery store around the corner. We were out of coffee -- a crisis! -- and it couldn't wait til morning.

It's an older store, in the older part of town. It has all of the conveniences of a newer store -- deli, hot bar, bakery -- but you can just tell. It's older than most around here.

There is a mosaic set into the floor in front of the seafood and meat case. It's not fancy, but it would have passed for such 30 or 40 years ago when the store was built. I usually go around it when I'm shopping, simply because it makes for a very bumpy cart. It's definitely not an easy go when I have one child hanging onto the edge of the cart and one hanging onto my leg.

Tonight when I was there, a girl of about 9 was at the mosaic, pushing the cart behind her father.

She stopped after she'd passed the edge of the mosaic. "Dad! Dad! Look! It's just beautiful, isn't it?"

Dad looked over and continued walking toward the dairy case. "Yeah, it's great."

The girl picked up her pace again and followed. She looked at me as we passed and said, "Just beautiful," in that wispy, wonder-filled voice that children often have.

I had to agree. For a moment, I could see it the way that she did. The textures are different than the rest of the store. Certainly, the oversized, generic Super WhatEver doesn't have anything like it. There is nothing utilitarian about it. It seems as if it's there simply to be noticed.

I often point out different features to my children: shapes in the clouds; colors in the sunset; interesting points or designs on a building; butterflies. I had never once considered that old, shades-of-brown mosaic on the floor to be worth my interest. And I think I was missing out.

Works for me Wednesday: Headphones

All four of the computers in our house are in one centrally located room. Skeeter and I decided to do it this way deliberately, since all of the computers have internet access, and we felt it was unwise to have internet access is not-easily-supervised rooms.

But with having them all centrally located, it can be quite annoying to listen to Sass playing her game, Spyder playing his game, and Skeeter listening to his music all at the same time. Now, instead of listening to everything at once, each person has his or her own set of headphones. Whenever someone is doing a "noisy" activity on the computer, it's time to plug in the headphones. The volume is set internally (by me) at a level where they hear the game just fine, but they can also hear me if I'm talking to them.

Today Spyder played a Nancy Drew game at the same time that Sass was playing a JumpStart game. I was able to listen to the radio rather than the cacophony of sounds and we were all happy. :)

Skeeter has a really nice, noise reducing pair. The children each have an inexpensive pair, so that I won't be upset if they get broken (as happened to Sass when she sat on hers).

We've been using this system for a few months now, and I wonder why it took me so long to think of doing this. Life is much more peaceful for us with headphones!

Visit Rocks in my Dryer for more Works for me Wednesday tips!

End of an era

My very first pair of Birkenstocks are going away today.

I bought these shoes 18 years ago when I was in Germany. (Yes, you read that correctly. 18 years.)

At the time, Birkenstocks weren't popular in the US, and when I wore them I got loads of teasing about my "ugly shoes." I wore them anyway, almost every day in appropriate weather. They were extremely comfortable and I just plain liked them.

Just a couple of years later, they were all the rage on my college campus. I found this highly amusing, considering these were the same people who made fun of my shoes in the first place.

It was time to let them go. They just weren't as comfortable any more, and they tended to rub a little if I wore them for longer than a couple of hours. I feel a little silly for feeling so nostalgic about them, but I do anyway.

I suppose this gives me a reason to find another pair. :)

Wistful

Quote

What is eternity? You're on the checkout line at a supermarket. There are seven people in front of you. They are all old. They all have two carts and coupons for every item. They are all paying by check. None of them have ID. It's the checkout girl's first day on the job. She doesn't speak any English. Take away fifteen minutes from that, and you begin to get an idea of what eternity is.

-- Emo Phillips

Papermaking!

Spyder, Sass, and I made paper! Spyder got the idea and recipe from the Beakman's World DVD.

Sass and Spyder shredded two pages of a newspaper. We put it in a blender, one page + one cup of water at a time. (Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures!)

We blended the paper and water into ugly gray goo, then put it into the kitchen sink with about three inches of water. Then we added two tablespoons of Elmer's glue and stirred it around. I really think I added too much water, so I'll cut that down a bit next time.

We used a wire coat hanger as the frame, and stretched pantyhose over the hanger to make the drying surface. We put the frame into the goo/water/glue mixture and captured the fibers to make our paper.

The DVD instructions said to lift it slowly, but it worked better for us to lift it quickly and turn the hanger so that the entire surface was covered. It didn't take long at all (less than a minute) for it to begin to set, and I was able to hang the paper in the shower to dry overnight.

This is what our surface looked like after it dried overnight.


We carefully pulled the paper off of the pantyhose. This was the hardest part for us, partly because I think our mixture was a little too thin. Spyder had to get his hand underneath and push it up to get it started.


Once it was started, he was able to pull the middle, thicker portion.


Here is one of the finished products! You can see some of the larger pieces of newspaper that didn't get blended well, and you can see the torn portion at the edge.


This was a fun, easy craft, and I know we'll do it again. Today we were talking about using the sale flyers that come weekly so that we can have different colors, rather than just light gray.

Fun and easy!

Works for me Wednesday: Distributing treat bags

I wasn't planning to participate in this week's WfmW because I shared my best tip last time. But I was reminded of this one when I visited another contributor.

One of the ways we use to send off the party with a bang is to put the treat bags in a large box and wrap the box in wrapping paper several times (I usually do it 20 times) using different types of paper. The children sit in a circle and we play hot potato with the wrapped gift. Each time the music stops, the child holding the box gets to unwrap a layer. Just continue until the box is completely unwrapped, then let the children open the box and take a bag.

For obvious reasons, it's best to use bags that can be sealed, like patterned Ziploc bags or decorated paper bags that have been stapled shut. :)

It's a great way for the children to feel like they're also involved in the present-opening, rather than just being a spectator. We let the birthday boy or girl work the CD player (with help from mom or dad).

We've also used this for Halloween parties and Christmas parties when we're going to be distributing treats to the children.

Check out the rest of the Works for me Wednesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

The Shakespeare Stealer

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood is the story of Widge, an orphan in the late 16th century. Widge is taken in by a rector, who teaches Widge a version of shorthand. The rector uses Widge's learned skill by sending him to listen to sermons and have him transcribe them word by word.

Eventually Widge is sold to another man who charges him to transcribe Shakespeare's Hamlet while standing in the audience. Widge succeeds, but loses his transcription. Caught behind the stage, he pretends to be interested in learning to be one of the players.

Widge makes friends with the other apprentices -- the first real friends of his life -- and the players become his family in a way that he has never had before. Eventually Widge has to choose between loyalty to his purchaser and his new-found friends.

Spyder and I both really enjoyed this book, and we had an excellent discussion on it afterward.

Many of the people in the book play a role to conceal his true character, just as a player does on the stage. Widge pretends to have the acting bug so that he can steal the play, although he learns how difficult that is. The rector pretends to be an upright and honest man, but he uses Widge to steal ideas and words from others. There are other examples, but they would be spoilers, and I wouldn't do that to anyone. But at any rate, Widge finds that the people who show their true selves to him are the players themselves.

Additionally, Widge finds himself in a situation where he has to find his own morals. His world has been filled with adults who display amoral behavior in one way or another. Widge has been shown this type of behavior, but he finds that he is dissatisfied with it and decides to make his own way.

This is exactly the kind of book I hope to find when I'm browsing, one that is both exciting and thoughtful.

Very highly recommended for both boys and girls (and adults)!

Traditional ballad, rewritten

We've recently enjoyed a most wonderful book called, appropriately, Magic by the Book, in which three children are dropped into various stories and live out a portion of the adventure within.

Sass, Spyder, and I all absolutely loved the story, but one of our favorite portions was when the children were dropped into Tolstoy's War and Peace. In this particular scene, the children have a war of words with someone, based on an old ballad for children.

In particular, the children were fascinated with this portion:

What is greener than the grass?
What is smoother than crystal glass?
What is louder than a horn?
What is sharper than a thorn?
What is brighter than the light?
What is darker than the night?
What is keener than an axe?
What is softer than melting wax?
What is rounder than a ring?"

Envy is greener than the grass,
Flattery smoother than crystal glass.
Rumour is louder than a horn,
Hunger is sharper than a thorn.
Truth is brighter than the light,
Falsehood is darker than the night.
Revenge is keener than an axe,
Love is softer than melting wax.
The world is rounder than a ring.

Sass prefers to answer the questions with her own answers rather than the traditional ones. Here are her answers to the questions.

Paper is greener than the grass,
My hands smoother than crystal glass.
Screams are louder than a horn,
A knife is sharper than a thorn.
Sunshine is brighter than the light,

Being scared is darker than the night.
Teeth are keener than an axe,
Fluffy dogs are softer than melting wax.
A circle is rounder than a ring.

We've been doing several activities with word associations lately, and I think it's one of her favorite things we've done.

Quote

Fast from bitterness - feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern - feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety - feast on eternal truth.
Fast from anger - feast on patience.
Fast from words that destroy - feast on words that build up.
Fast from discontent - feast on gratitude.
Fast from discouragement - feast on hope.

- Susan Tassone

Adventures

And so it goes that when you have animals and children, there is always an adventure.

The children and I were playing outside at my parents' house. Dad had run to the store, and I was there with the children and the dog. Sass was digging in the dirt, and Spyder and I were throwing a ball when I realized that Molly, Dad's hound dog, was missing.

I started calling her, but no response. The neighbors two doors down called over that Molly had headed to another neighbor's house. Sure enough, I could see her waggy tail peeking out from the bush in front of the yard three houses down and across the street.

I called to Spyder for him to get the leash and follow me. I told Sass to stay where she was, then I took off after Molly. By this time, she was in front of the neighbor's fence, barking at their three dogs -- two Pit Bulls and a German Shepherd mix. And they're big. And not so friendly.

I was almost to Molly when I heard Sass scream and start to cry. I abandoned the dog, and ran over to Sass. She had tried to follow, and halfway through the yard next door, she stepped barefoot into a patch of stickers. She was scared to sit down on the ground, but she couldn't walk back to the driveway. I picked her up and carried her to next door's porch. She was still crying hysterically, and she wouldn't let me help pull the stickers out. And she had a lot of stickers in her foot. I let her get the stickers out, then I carried her back to my parents' driveway, again telling her to stay put.

Spyder had found the leash by then, and I grabbed it and took off -- again -- after Molly. By this time, Molly was darting in and out of the fence, alternately attempting to play with and not get eaten by the bigger dogs. Luckily, the dog owners came out and rounded up their dogs, so I was able to get Molly.

Molly and I walked back to the house, and my dad passed by in his truck. I couldn't see Sass or Spyder anywhere, and I had a panicky moment thinking, "What ELSE?" then I realized that Sass had situated herself on the couch. In true Princess style, she had gotten Spyder to fetch a wet washcloth for her foot, and as I walked in the door she was asking him to get her a cold drink.

Twenty minutes. In a span of twenty minutes, I had located and rescued a dog. Sass had run into a spot of trouble and been rescued. Spyder had been turned in a servant boy, and Sass had declared herself worthy of service.

All in a day's work.

Summertime joy

Arrgh! It never ends!

Sass has decided on a Strawberry Shortcake theme for her room, since we're having to replace her comforter set anyway.

I've found the comforter online, and now I'm debating whether to spend $50 more and get the matching sheets and drapes, plus two extra pillowcases. My girl is all about pillows, so I'm thinking the pillowcases might be necessary anyway.

Decisions, decisions. I'll have to sleep on it to be sure, but I'm thinking yes. As my snobby neighbor would say, "It's only money."

Ah, memories!

Today I came across Smockity Frocks via Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer. Her post is on juggling, and I was immediately reminded of my own juggling days.

Juggling days (you ask, curiously)? Yes, I once learned to juggle, during those strange but memorable college days.

My friends Shannon and Gary taught me to juggle, in about six hours one Saturday night. I suppose it was efficient, mastering it in one night. But there is a disadvantage to mastering it in only one night.

In learning to juggle, I dropped the things for 4.5 of the 6 hours. The next day, my legs hurt so badly from the constant bending and picking up that I could barely walk up the stairs to my dorm room.

And now for the most interesting part of my juggling experience: I learned to juggle using breast implants. Shannon and Gary both worked at Dow, which made breast and testicle implants, and they had an abundance of the things. They used stuck them in the freezer and used them as cold packs for bruises and sprains. They filled an old throw pillow with them and used it as a footrest. And they used them for juggling.

By the end of the night, I even had favorites. They were the perfect size for my hands, and they were textured, so they had a better throw than the smooth ones.

Shannon and Gary gave me four of my favorites, and I used them throughout my college years. It was my favorite way to work out a problem with my schoolwork.

Unfortunately, someone took two of them from my dorm about halfway through my senior year. I was both appalled and saddened by the theft. By then, both Shannon and Gary had graduated and moved away, and I didn't know anyone who had quite the stash that they did, so I was never able to replace my juggling supplies. I tried working with "normal" bean bags, but they never felt right, so alas, my juggling days came to an end.

But after this ramble down memory lane, I think I may look into those bean bags again.

Sometimes

Sometimes it just takes the right person, and a handful of clover flowers feels like a dozen roses.

Um, yeah, like that

I was in the back yard at my parents' house watching Sass and Spyder playing with a variety of bugs when I overheard the following conversation.

Spyder: Make sure that you're gentle with the bugs. They're smaller creatures. Since we're bigger, it's our responsibility to treat them gently. You don't want to squoosh them. Treat them like you would treat a friend.

(Mom smiles proudly and puffs out her chest.)

Sass: A friend?

Spyder: Yeah, a friend. We need to show others that smaller things are special too.

(Mom smiles even bigger, thinking her talks have paid off.)

Spyder: And if they ever mutate and get monster-sized, they'll know you as the girl who was nice and didn't squoosh them. We'll be king and queen of the mutant monster insects.

The joys of being a boy

Flarp: Slimy goo that makes flatulence-like noises when squished, much to the delight of boys everywhere.

Yay.

All is well in the world or, Bill Bryson writes again

Bill Bryson is one of the few -- very few -- writers who can publish absolutely anything and I will read it. Bryson's latest book is a memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, which chronicles his childhood in De Moines, Iowa in the 1950s.

Bryson's style is personable and fun, and the reader feels like a friend. And if you listen to him read the audio version, you can imagine being a friend who is sitting across the booth at a coffee shop, just listening to the story unfold.

The Thunderbolt Kid (as Bryson was dubbed by his father) brings to life a time that is foreign to me, the time in which my parents grew up, but I never really understood. As a child of the 1970s, I never thought about bomb shelters or future space accommodations. It wasn't part of my world, and I couldn't really comprehend how it could have been believable at one point.

The memories that brought about The Thunderbolt Kid exemplify the intensity and innocence of childhood, a time unlike any other. And it doesn't matter whether childhood occurred in the 1950s or the 1970s, many of the emotions are exactly the same.

Very highly recommended.

Booking Through Thursday: 'Fess Up

Booking Through Thursday

• Okay, there must be something you read that's a guilty pleasure . . . a Harlequin romance stashed under the mattress. A cheesy sci-fi book tucked in the back of the freezer. A celebrity biography, a phoned-in Western . . . something that you'd really rather not be spotted reading. Even just a novel if you're a die-hard non-fiction fan. Come on, confess. We won't hold it against you!

I sometimes read chick lit. Yes, I've said it. I do. It's what I read when I want to read something, but I don't want to think about it. Going through the motions of my evening read is comforting, but I don't always want to be invigorated or challenged by it. On those nights I turn to chick lit.

Uninspired

Is it acceptable to blog about nothing? I'm feeling tired and uninspired. (But I like the way that I unintentionally rhymed that last sentence.)

The past few days have been spent with everyone in a regurgitative state. At least it wasn't everyone all at once. Sass began it on Saturday, then it moved to me on Sunday. I really thought it might stop there, but alas, no. Spyder started with it on Monday morning, then Skeeter brought it to a close on Tuesday.

I thought that Sass might have restarted the festivities again early this morning, but it seems that it was only sinus drainage. We managed to get through the 5 or 6 moments on Saturday with the "dry clean only" comforter that she had gotten for her birthday unharmed, but the drainage problem ruined it. And, oh yes, it's ruined.

She was quite upset at first, but she gets to choose a new comforter now, so that (sort of) makes up for it. We're looking for another set just like the one she has now, but no luck so far. Sass mentioned tonight that she may go for a Strawberry Shortcake theme instead.

Skeeter and I decided today that we were going to redo all of the bedrooms anyway, starting with Spyder. I took his two bedding sets in today to consign. They were only still there out of habit, since he's long outgrown both Bob the Builder and the Wiggles. We wandered around Target today, and he found a couple of sets that he liked, but he didn't make a final decision. All of the sets were simple stripe patterns rather than themes, which makes it both easier and harder to redo the room. He's pleased about getting to choose the colors though.

Quote

You do the best you can and that is all you can do and don't worry about living up to someone else's expectations or ideals. Never give up and try your best. Sometimes you will far exceed the goal, sometimes you will make the goal, and sometimes you will miss the mark all together but none of that matters ... what matters is that you take a chance.

-- Janice LaBella

My birthday can only mean one thing

RAIN!

It's become a huge joke over the years. It rains on my birthday every year. Well, that's a slight exaggeration. I can remember two birthdays where it didn't rain. But still, I'm zooming upon 40, and you'd think that I'd have at least a few more rain-free birthdays to my name.

This year's rain has been the most spectacular so far though. Hard rain, hail, and a huge lightening storm. This year felt much more like a winter birthday than one full of "spring showers."

All in all, it was a good day, full of family and fun.

The children and I spent the day together, as always, but the grey day made us cozy up together more than we usually do. We left the house only once, in the late afternoon, to return books due at the library and to pick out our weekend movies there. Normally we walk to the library, since it's only about two blocks away, but the cold rain made us all decide that it was just better to drive.

Spyder and I decided that we should join the Friends of the Library. We're some of their most frequent patrons, so it seems only right. They're hosting a book sale within the next few weeks, and Spyder, Sass, and I will be helping set things up.

We spent the evening feasting picnic-style on the living room floor while a fantastic storm pounded outside. We did our family movie, then Sass and I played Operation and Spyder played Mario Sunshine on the GameCube while Skeeter did some prep work on the computer.

I put everyone to bed slightly later than usual due to a last minute birthday call from my mom, and I stayed up to read a bit (my favorite unwind activity).

A day well lived!

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Have you ever missed an important appointment because you have become so engrossed in a book you forgot the time or were up so late reading that you didn't wake up in time? Been late to work because you couldn't resist the temptation and left the house too late?

I can't remember ever actually missing something important (school, work, or the like). However, I can definitively say that I haven't been at my best on many occasions because I've been up too late reading.

Quote

[Many people] live as though they depended, not on God, but on themselves alone. They do not deny God's wisdom in theory. They simply disregard it in practice.
- from "My Daily Bread"

A little step back

I grew up in a small town, but it was the largest small town around, and we were lucky enough to have a movie theatre. The name -- "Twin Cinema" -- says it all.

There were two screens, and if you were lucky, whatever movie you wanted to see would be playing on one of the two screens. The show times were 7:00 pm and 9:15 pm daily. When I was a senior in high school, they went crazy and started showing 2:00 pm matinées on Saturday and Sunday.

To be honest, they probably didn't need more showings than that. One of my best memories in that theatre is going to see Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure with Michael and Michael Ann. We were the only ones there, and we had gotten there a few minutes after the movie started. The guy in the projection room called down, "Don't worry! I'll restart it for you!"

We've started going to an older theatre here that reminds me of that theatre in my hometown, with the heavy draperies on the walls and the close seats that are placed on an incline toward the screen.

Last week I took Sass and Spyder to see Meet the Robinsons on opening day, and we were the only people in the theatre. The only people. As we were walking in, Sass cut her foot, and the lady running the place (from whom we had just bought our tickets) said, "Just take her in the bathroom and wash it. I'll bring a Band-Aid and some Neosporin." And she did.

Today we saw Firehouse Dog with The Michael, and again, we were the only ones in the theatre. The lady who sold us the tickets served us our popcorn, then she started the movie. And I'll bet if we had been late, she would have restarted it for us.

For a long time I think I bought into the idea that newer and nicer was always better. Not consciously, but I did go to the bigger and nicer chain theatre for a long time without really questioning why I chose that one.

I've decided that the smaller theatre really is the better one for me, if only because it allows me to take a little step back into my past.

Works for me Wednesday: Gift tags

I find that as my children get older, they are invited to more and more birthday parties from casual friends. These friends are ones that they see at classes or functions, so the children know each other, but the parents don't necessarily know them well enough to put a name to a face.

Our solution for these situations? Picture tags! Now I use my digital camera and color printer to make an oversized tag (usually about 4x6 total) with a picture and a Happy Birthday and "From Sass" or "From Spyder" inserted.

The (rather boring) example pictured above was done in Paint, but I've also used Word, and even a blank email. Just print and cut it out. I use one of my patterned scrapbooking scissors, just to make it a little cuter. And of course, my children are much cuter than Mr Skookum Man. :o)

I've done this since before I had my nifty digital camera though. Pre-digital, I would get duplicates of cute snapshots of my children and attached one of them to colorful card stock paper using scrapbooking tape. I'd use one of my scrapbooking pens and a few stickers to liven it up and say "Happy Birthday."

We always get comments on how cute the tags are.

Works for us!

Check out the rest of the Works for me Wednesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

New old entertainment

Sass, Spyder and I made a trip to the bookstore today. We were nearby -- Spyder took a class on sharks at the science and history museum -- and we decided to stop in for a bit.

One of the employees saw me reading Fancy Nancy to Sass. A few minutes later she came by and handed Sass a Fancy Nancy paper doll and outfits.

Sass has had such a great time with them, all day. Paper dolls have never even occurred to me before, but I'll definitely keep them in mind for the future.

US Geography

We've been doing a fun little study on US Geography this term, and I've found a few internet resources to share.

Awesome America.

A great fact-filled website that shows a state map, plus the state flag, symbols, trivia . . . loads of clickable information in the site.

This has been a great site for us in an "I didn't know that!" kind of way.

Make your own map of states you've visited.

Spyder thought this was particularly cool. Just check the states that you've visited and you can see your own map. Ours was particularly heavy on the South and East, and we've never been further west than Oklahoma.

Test your knowledge!

A click-and-drag map to place the states within a certain time. (I think it's three minutes, but I can't remember.)

Another test!

Answer questions on the right side of the screen by clicking on the correct state.

And yet another test for state placement!

What I like about this one though, is that you can do it either with or without the state outlines as a guide. It's more challenging for those who've been doing it for a while and can get bored with the same old stuff.

I truly appreciate the work that goes into sites like these. They make learning interactive and fun, and make my job a little bit easier. Enjoy!

Easter, the highlights

I have a rotten sinus infection, so bullet points seem easier at the moment.

• I am brilliant! I hate the plastic Easter grass. I find it everywhere for weeks afterward. This year I was determined not to use it. I decided that I'd run by Target and get green tissue paper. Well, Target was so crowded that people were parking in the Kroger parking lot. Considering that I had both children with me, and my nasty sinus infection was making an appearance, I decided not to go. My completely from-the-hip solution? Construction paper, run through the shredder! I used all different colors and shredded them. It looked lovely, and it's SO much easier to clean up!
• It was cold this year. I think the overnight low was 29. Sass couldn't wear her cute little Easter dress. Maybe next week. It did end up being chilly-but-sunny in the afternoon, so we got to hide eggs.

• We had the Easter feast at Mom & Dad's as usual. Sass spent the day playing with Dad's dog Molly, who was quite sad that she had to be in the pen during the egg hunt.

• Spyder spent the day shooting the BB gun, as any Southern boy should. :)

• Uncle Richard took his usual post-feast nap, although I didn't hear snoring this time.
• My Memaw and The Michael had a hilarious discussion about nothing. What made it funny was that Memaw is losing her hearing, and kept misinterpreting what Michael was saying. He'd have to explain and redirect her to the actual conversation. Michael and I had an entire discussion about this during his discussion about nothing with Memaw, and she never knew a thing.
• I took a nap at Mom & Dad's, which is something I never do. When I woke up an hour later, I realized that I've passed the "stuffy" and have moved on to "sick."

All in all, a very satisfactory day!

I think we're born with it

SASS: Dadda, could you please make sure the toilet round thing is DOWN? I just went, and it was up.

SKEETER: You mean the seat?

SASS: Yes, Dadda. The seat. I can't sit without it. I fall in!

SKEETER: Can't you just put it down?

SASS: Well, I could, but it takes longer. You don't want me to wet my pants, do you?

******************

She's never even heard me fuss about the toilet seat. I actually prefer having both the seat and the lid down, so when I do fuss, it's about the lid rather than the seat. :)

The heart bowls

Two years ago I bought four of these little ceramic heart bowls from the dollar spot at Target. They had them at Valentine's Day, and I got them specifically to make heart shaped cakes for the family for a Valentine dessert. I did use them for the intended purpose, but I honestly never thought we'd still be using them two years later.

They're just perfect though. The picture shows Sass's snack afternoon snack a few days ago -- a Laughing Cow cheese wedge and some whole wheat crackers -- and it's just the right size.

It seems like it's always just the right size, for just about anything. Almost any time someone says, "I want a snack," I respond with, "Grab a heart bowl and I'll make something."

Because I'm all cheezy like that

Skeeter got new cell phones for both of us this week, and my ringtone for him is tobyMac's "Made to Love."

I had really wanted "No Ordinary Love," but I couldn't find it. :)

Booking through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Just out of curiosity, as we enter into Passover and Easter season... have you ever read the Bible? Just the odd chapter or Psalm? The whole thing? (Or, almost the whole thing? It's some heavy reading, of course, and those "begats" get kind of tedious.) I've read most of it. I use The One Year Chronological Bible, which is a wonderful "read the bible in a year" resource. It also makes me realize correlations between books that I wouldn't have otherwise. I've never made it all the way through because I sometimes get behind, and I've decided that it's better for me to just keep going rather than lament over where I got stuck.
   


2. If so, was it from religious motivation or from a literary perspective? Stuck with nothing else to read in a hotel room the Gideon's have visited? Any combination? Religious motivation. I studied portions as literature when I was in college, which was fascinating, but honestly I got more out of it when I did it for spiritual reasons.
   


3. If not, why not? Against your religious principles? Too boring? Just not interested? Something you're planning on taking care of when you get marooned on a desert island? N/A


4. And while we're on the subject... what about the other great religious works out there? Are they more to your liking? I've read the Apocrypha, which is not included in my Protestant bible, and I've read small portions of the Mormon bible, but I can't think of any others.