Well, I did it.

I quit the Bunco group last night. It's the best decision, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. And to top it off, I won a prize last night. The category? Last Bunco.

I called Skeeter on the way home and told him that I really did it. I think he didn't believe I'd actually go through with it. We both decided that I needed to find something else to do just for me, at least once a month. I'm pleased that he's realized that I need the time away. When I first started Bunco -- and for the first year, really -- he moaned and whined every month when it was time to go. And it was just for one night, for about 4 hours.

He's come a long way though, and I'm really glad that he can see that time for myself is good for me.

Bunco

I'm quitting Bunco tonight.

It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is to me. I've been with this group for three years, and really it's my one night a month to just go hang out with friends.

The problem is that it's on Sunday night, which is when our ladies group has Bible study at church. It's been bothering me for quite a while that I've all but dropped out of the ladies group, and I decided this morning (at church) that it was important that I start going again. I'm still doing the Awana store, so I'll need to miss once a month anyway, but twice a month would just be too much.

Most of our original group is gone anyway. I think there are only three or four of us left.

So tonight is the last Bunco for me. I'm a little bit sad over it, but I know it's best. Maybe I can start another group that doesn't meet on Sundays!

It's so hot

One can't do much more than complain about the heat. And poor Skeeter works outside in it every day. The temperature supposedly isn't hotter today than it has been for the past two weeks, but it certainly feels a lot worse.

We had to leave the house for about two hours. I had promised Sass a milkshake, and we had some things we needed from Target. When we got back home I let the doggies in again, and the poor things were miserable from being outside! Poor Lucy camped out at the water dish and didn't move for 15 minutes! Brownie didn't seem to have fared quite so badly, but he was definitely glad to be inside again.

Unwarranted guilt

I'm such a pleaser. Sometimes it's fine. I actually do like to help other people. But why do I feel guilt when I say no?

Yesterday afternoon, the manager at the bookstore called me with a nicely convoluted story about how they were a person short. I had plans for the evening, and I truly didn't want to go in. We had dinner plans with friends, two stops to see more friends, and family time all planned out for the evening. Nothing was unbreakable, but really I just didn't want to. I asked Skeeter's advice, and he just asked the basic question, "Do you want to go in?" No, I didn't. So I called and told them that I couldn't come in.

Another example: on Monday I was supposed to keep a friend's children during the morning so she could see a relative in the hospital. She didn't call, but I stuck around home thinking that she'd be over any time. I finally called around 1:30, and she hadn't made it out yet. She asked if she could bring them over around 2:30, and I had to say no. We had errands to run that day that I had already put off because I had thought they were coming earlier. And I was working that night, so I had to get the errand running done before 4:30.

So why did I feel selfish in saying no in those instances? I still haven't figured it out.

Wordplay

My friend Julie gave me John Langdon's Wordplay for Christmas a few years ago, and it's one of my favorite books to peruse.

I love words. I love wordplays and puns and word puzzles and creative use of language. John Langdon's word art brings in all of these, as well as the artistic sense of the word.

Langdon's book brings in another aspect of his word art: philosophy. Philosophy within vocabulary and art and science.

This isn't your typical "sit down and escape" type of book, but it is definitely a book for those who want to think about language and art and its impact on our thoughts.

Family Day

We spent yesterday at my parents' house. My sister was visiting, and we don't get to see her very often, since she lives about 6 hours away. The only day that the rest of the family was available was Friday, so we decided to have the big family cookout then rather than waiting until Saturday or Sunday.

Skeeter fell at work on Thursday and twisted his ankle very badly, so he spent the morning at the minor medical center. (He's fine; he got the usual "keep it elevated" directive.) He got home at about noon, and we headed out just afterward.

We got there around 2 pm, and the children immediately headed to play with Ranger, my sister's dog. He's a beautiful chocolate lab with a great personality. He's only about a year old, so he's still playful enough that he and the children really enjoy each other. It was hot though, so we brought the doggie inside not long after.

We spent the day doing what we usually do at Mom & Dad's house -- chatting, watching the children explore the bean field and climb the trees, and playing with the dogs.

The children were, of course, absolutely filthy by the end of the day. It's a very good thing that I believe in the "always prepared" mantra when it comes to the children, and I had extra clothes and underwear for both of them. There is absolutely no way that I would have even let them into the car without a bath. Spyder's feet were black from all of the dirt, and his whole body had a layer of grey dirt. I had to wash his shoes! (Luckily, he wore his Crocs, which are pretty easily washable.) I still don't know exactly what he got into that made his feet so black. Sass doesn't like to wear shoes when she's playing outside, so I didn't have to clean her shoes, but she did have a nice layer of dirt everywhere though. :o)

It was a very full and fun day, but it's left me confused on the days of the week, since yesterday felt like a Saturday!

24 hours in a day

And sometimes I need far more. The blog has been sadly neglected.

We "officially" started school again this week, although truly we never stopped. But it's quite a bit different doing "official" work four or five days a week rather than one or two! I can't imagine how hard it would be if we had completely stopped over the summer!

Sass is absolutely thrilled that she's doing school this year. She picked out a backpack at Target, and she's organized all of her workbooks into the backpack. She's still doing mostly what we did last year, but she wants to feel as if she's just like her big brother, so it works out well for me, I suppose. :o)

Spyder has gone into school with a vigor that I hadn't expected. He is doing about twice the work that I expected for him. I'm sure that will wane in time, but for now, it's nice. He's even getting up an hour earlier to get a head start on the day. (Is this really the same child that I had last year? LOL!) I am rather proud of him though. He's still having some difficulty memorizing his multiplication tables, but he's moved into double digit multiplication with no trouble at all. We started division today, and he completely got the concept right away! ::happy dance::

It's so interesting how I can see Spyder growing up. He's started taking notes for all of his learning. I hadn't realized that until he got his planner book out today when I was explaining division. He wrote down all the steps as I explained them, and I could see that he'd written out some of the multiplication tables and the steps to double digit multiplication.

It seems like every day is another time for me to say, "Oh my babies are growing up!"

As for the pantry,

I really, really blew it. I took Skeeter and the urchins to the store with me tonight (bad idea), and I spent $38 of my weekly grocery budget AND I got almost nothing to show for it.

Part of it really was my fault; I admit it. I went looking for a few specific ingredients for a copycat recipe for Alice Springs Chicken like they make at Outback. I normally don't buy for recipes. I tend to adapt the recipe according to what I have already. But Skeeter had a bad day at work today, and I wanted to do it the "right" way for him. I also got Starbucks whole bean coffee for him instead of the usual, and that was a huge splurge.

So, alas, I'm working on $12 remaining for any grocery or household items until next Friday. And that's not particularly good, since my pantry is looking rather bare! This week's shopping really should have been all about working through the small amount left and restocking. Bad, bad me! Because of my poor shopping today, I think that my pantry challenge will last about a week longer than I had intended!

The Alice Springs Chicken recipe was excellent though, so I'll definitely make that again.

No, no, no!!

Beginning this week, the British version of Monopoly will no longer have the traditional multi-colored cash. Monopoly in the UK will be now sold with Visa cards and a scanner!

Yet another once wonderful real-life teaching tool ruined by "modernization." How many of us learned to count money by playing Monopoly? I know I did. My son did. My daughter is.

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the "improvement" makes its way across the pond to the US. As for us though, we'll keep the old paper money.

Should I be worried?

I just got a set of hair care products to use as part of a study. On the bottles is a warning:

"If you experience a medical emergency related to the use of this product, discontinue use and call xxx.xxx.xxxx."

Um, YIKES!

The beginning of the end of summer

It's time to look into school.

My friend Carla had her annual "end of summer" party today. It seems really strange to think of July being the end of summer. When I was little, it was still considered the middle! But, as I found out today, schools start soon. One district starts on August 2nd! The ones closer to me start August 14, but even that seems early to me.

In our version of homeschooling, we never officially stop. We just take more breaks in the summer because Spyder's friends are more available. There is something fun about the "beginning" of the school year though. Spyder and I both got sucked into the school supplies aisles at Target yesterday. We ended up buying pencils (several 8 packs for 20 cents each) and a composition book, but I managed to restrain myself otherwise. I can tell we'll be back though.

As for schoolwork, Sass will begin Pre-K officially. I'll need to make an entirely new curriculum for her. Spyder just skipped Pre-K -- or he did it before I realized it -- so I'll need to focus on researching that. As for Spyder, we're revisiting Egypt because he specifically asked for it. We're also continuing our geography study(Sass too), focusing on US geography mostly, but we do touch on European and Middle Eastern. Reading, writing, spelling, and math will continue as usual. The only thing we'll be changing -- sort of -- is science. I'm looking into science curriculums, simply because Spyder wants to use one. I have a sneaking suspicion though, that he'll get the currciulum and do it in about two weeks. He's done that before!

Summer has been good for science, really, because I let both of the children choose a plant to nurtre, and they've loved it! Sass chose lavender; Spyder chose impatiens. They've loved taking care of the plants and watching them grow. It ended up being an excellent teaching tool, that was completely unintentional! I bought some cilantro from Home Depot, and on the spur of the moment, I decided to let them each choose a plant. I need to do things like that more often!

Pretty soon, I'm going to attempt to dry some of the lavender to make sachets or something. I think Sass will love making those. I'm thinking Christmas gifts, at least for the grandmothers. :o)

Puzzlemania

My Sass is a girl after my own heart.

She's incredibly into puzzles at the moment, and she's really good at them too!

Her favorites are the 24 piece Polly Pocket puzzles, probably because they're so girly, but she can do the 100 piece ones that belong to Spyder. She's just not all that into Spiderman or the Fantastic 4. :o)

Oh, the woes of an eBay seller

I'm pretty sure that I'm giving up my eBay store. I received an email yesterday, via the eBay automatic system, saying that store listing fees were going up dramatically, and Final Value Fees are also increasing.

Last year, eBay raised the base price of a basic store from $9.95 to $15.95. Even then, it seemed worth it for me to just keep the store running all the time, with items only $.03 a month + the 8% Final Value Fee. Now, most of my items will be $.06 a month + the 10% Final Value Fee. Prices take effect on August 22, and I need to determine ASAP whether it will be worth it. I'm not a tremendous seller. Mostly I sell things from around my house -- toys, my children's outgrown clothing, books, movies, music -- that sort of thing. I would have to put much more effort into actually having a store for it to be worth it to me. It would become just another stress point, and that's not something I need at the moment.

Spyder's homeschooling has become much more mom/teacher-intensive, and Sass will begin Pre-K this year, most likely with the same type of schooling. I'm pleased with the path that schooling has taken for us, and I can't see changing it as a good thing. I can't afford to take away time from them to make eBay more profitable.

I've been thinking about this since I got the email, and I only came to my decision on the ride home from work tonight. As much as I hate to give up my "fun money," I know it will be the best decision in the long run.

Ephiphany

Nothing makes me appreciate my own children more than keeping someone else's.

Must have been a good dream

When I went to wake Spyder this morning with the usual, "Good morning, Sugarbunch!"

He responded with, "Well? When are the arms going to explode and shoot the stuff?"

Three minutes later, he had no idea he'd even said it.

Childhood relived

I've begun reading a book to Sass every night. Not a picture book, like we used to. A real honest-to-goodness book that we both can enjoy.

We sort of fell into it by accident. I read to relax every night. She'd crawl up into my lap, so I read out loud. I think she must have really enjoyed it because she started coming to me regularly, expecting to hear me read the story. It was very nice, for both of us, just sitting in the rocker, spending quality time together.

Our first story was Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster, written in 1912, but the prose is so engaging that it isn't difficult to read at all. In fact, it reads very much like a teen historical novel written today.

Our current story is Mandy by Julie Edwards, one of my favorite books from my childhood. My grandmother had a copy on her shelves -- a hardcover -- and I loved reading the book whenever I went to her house. I'd sit on her couch or at the dining room table and fall in love with the little cottage all over again. I didn't find out until much, much later (in my 20s) that the author was truly none other than Julie Andrews, whom I absolutely adored as Mary Poppins.

I think next will be Heidi, another favorite at my grandmother's house.

I am so excited that Sass is finally old enough to enjoy books with me, not just picture books. And although I never really think of myself as a girly-girl, but I'm so glad to have a daughter who wants to share these with me.

Larry-Boy Saves the Day!

Skeeter and I are helpers for children's church once a month. Yesterday wasn't supposed to be our day, but another couple asked if we'd trade since their daughter was being baptized this week.

Sunday morning at 8:30, we got a call from the coordinator. The lead worker was sick, and we were the ONLY ones for children's church that morning! No lesson plan. No snacks. YIKES! We sprang into action.

I am a local Veggie Tales ambassador, and I had picked up my kit for the new movie Larry Boy and the Bad Apple earlier in the week. We had planned to have a movie night at the church in the beginning of August, but Larry-Boy came to the rescue for children's church instead!

We gathered a story that worked with the "temptation" theme, got a small craft together, grabbed the DVD player, and Skeeter was at church by 10 am setting it up! I ran to Target for snacks -- goldfish, graham crackers, and apple juice -- and I got there around 10:30, just as they had finished the craft and were heading for the movie.

We had planned to share the story at the very end, just before prayer. The pastor ended his sermon early though, and the parents were coming to get the children just as the music video ended.

Despite the short notice, I think children's church went off really well. And I think this Larry Boy is one of my favorites -- and not just because he saved the day. :o)

Pantry cheater!

Well, it wasn't *that* bad, I suppose, but I spent $22 on Saturday, and not all of it was "must-have." Particularly not the ice-cream sandwiches! Bad me! :o)

I bought ground beef (2 pounds), and today I'm making spaghetti and meatballs. A friend gave me a huge bag of ripe tomatoes that really needed to be used ASAP, plus I'm using garlic (that I had in the fridge), mushrooms (jarred from the pantry), onions (already diced in the freezer). I already had the spices and things as well, so no trouble there.

I still haven't made the pantry/freezer list, so I'm sure that there will be another trip to the store involved in that. *sigh*

Pantry news

WOOHOO!! Things are looking good in the pantry and freezer! Things are clearing out, and I can see the light! LOL!

We have used all of the meat in the freezer, with the exception of two large chicken breasts and a ham bone for soup. We'll have the chicken this week, but the soup will have to wait for cooler weather. I'm not really interested in soup when it's 100 degrees outside.

We have (no kidding) a two gallon bucket full of rice that I completely forgot about. I found it in the back of the freezer. It's been there since October of last year, so that needs to be used ASAP. Luckily, we eat rice quite a lot! Since we're in the South, I keep all of our grains that require "long term" storage in the freezer. Flour, pasta, cornmeal, rice, and occasionally spices go into the freezer because they can get buggy if they're stored more than a couple of months, especially during the summer.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping for the must-haves, so I'm planning to go through the fridge, freezer, and pantry to make a list of what we still have. I'll have to do that to be able to plan what we need to use. I know that I'll have to buy eggs, spinach, carrots, and the like, but I'll need to plan our main meals, and I can't do that without assessing what we still have.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Skeeter, Spyder (and a friend), and I went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean film last night.

I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't like it as much as the original. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'm going to try to be as vague as possible.

As before, the action scenes were excellent, and overall the film was great fun. And I'd say it is a film that works best in a movie theatre, on the big screen. The water wheel scene alone is worth the price of admission. We saw it on an IMAX-style screen, and it was one of my favorite scenes in the film!

I also loved the depiction of Davy Jones and the crewmen, as more creatures of the sea than true men. That was excellent!

Most people have heard that there will be a third installment what has become the Pirates of the Caribbean series. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that this film felt like it was doing nothing more than setting up the third film. It raised issues and questions that weren't resolved. They weren't even explored. They were sort of dropped into the viewer's mind, then left.

I'll definitely see the third Pirates film, but I'm sorely disappointed that this one was merely set-up for the next.