An urchin laugh

Those children o' mine just make me laugh so much.

(Just for reference, we play a game in the car where we call out "JuicyFruit" any time we see a yellow vehicle. It's mindless fun. Try it. You'll never miss a yellow vehicle again. In our version, commercial vehicles don't count.)

SASS: That was a man driving that JuicyFruit.

SPYDER: How do you know?

SASS: Well, he was bald ....

SPYDER: That doesn't mean it was a man. It could just be a REALLY UGLY woman.

Lascaux

We are reviewing prehistory, mostly for Sass because she was so young when we did it four years ago for Spyder. On Sunday we read a couple of chapters and discussed art in particular, so I went searching for the famous prehistoric art at Lascaux.

Oh. My. Word.

The French Ministry of Culture has a fantastic website that is absolutely filled with information. It actually allows you a virtual walk through the cave itself, with detailed information on the individual paintings and engravings.

The site map gives the visitor direct links to information about the geology of the region, the discovery itself, the research on the artworks, and much more.

Even if your students aren't studying the era, the website is well worth a visit.

The new school year

It is amazing how time gets filled. And the best laid plans often have to change. So it is with our school year.

I had hoped to manage a three day week this year, with Spyder working (mostly) independently. That hasn't happened, either one. We are continuing with the four day week, and I am doing direct teaching for both 6th grade and 2nd grade. We are managing, and it's better to continue with the same-old since I know that it will all get done that way. Perhaps we can move into more independent learning as the year progresses.

Add the extra activities -- fencing (twice a week), music class, volunteering at the food pantry, church, art class (twice a month), plus a couple of field trips every month -- and we are always busy and often running like mad. It is a treat to stay home for an entire day, and it seldom happens.

Sass is especially enjoying her studies this year. She hasn't said that she has a favorite. She likes them all. Math is her current #1, but I think that's only because we've been doing hands-on activities for the last week.

Spyder has read every book that I've assigned for this semester. Yes. He has already read all 16 of them. And he read two extra ones that were on the list for NEXT semester. Thankfully, he still needs to write the papers for most of them. I suppose that buys me a little extra time on deciding on more books for him.

His best girl

(via text)

SKEETER: I came home to surprise you. You aren't here.

ME: We are @ Target, but we will be home soon.

SKEETER: We need trash bags and chocolate.

ME: We are buying the trash bags.

SKEETER: And chocolate. I haven't seen Little Debbie in some time. I kind of miss her.

SKEETER: She is my not-so-secret crush. Even though she is Michael's girl.

Christmas Carol train tour

Next stop: Dickens' London.



To promote the new Christmas Carol movie, Disney has a train tour that is traveling throughout the US.


First, this was marketing genius. Seriously. It's just a movie. But the promotional tour that they are doing is great!

But before we get to the tour, let's talk about the line to get in.

OH YEAH. There was a two hour wait. There was a worker dude at the end of the line asking everyone, "You made sure to notice that there is a TWO HOUR wait from this point, right? TWO HOURS." It was as if he was even surprised that we were staying. I know I was.

But wait we did. For two hours. It was 92 degrees.

OH PEOPLE. The things that I do for my children. I should have taken a photo of the guy in front of us. He had this cool little camping belt with two canteens hooked to it. And a pocket for snacks. The woman two families behind us had a folding camp chair. I felt thoroughly unprepared.

But we stood in line like troopers, minus water and snacks and camp chairs. We did a lot of standing in line.

But, as usual, we made friends with the people near us. (Not with Mr. Prepared with Camping Gear though. He was a little snooty, as if we were beneath him because we didn't anticipate the two hour wait.) (I didn't. I was pretty shocked by the wait time.)

Ahem. Back to the friends. We actually found out that the family behind us was just starting homeschooling, and we had a mutual acquaintance. That was unexpected.

Anyway, the chatting made the wait much more bearable. And about an hour into our wait, Christmas carolers showed up! Sass sang Christmas carols all day after that.


But alas, even with the carolers, we had more waiting. A little closer to the train itself, there were three of these cooling fans set up. My children thoroughly enjoyed the mist generated by the fans. But it really looked more like a spray once they were finished.

Finally! The wait was over! And once we got inside ... WOW! The first car was set up with period costumes and portraits of characters from the film. Plus it had three cases full of books and letters on loan from the Dickens Museum. I could have stayed there longer reading the letters.

Aside: Did you know that Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins were friends? And even wrote a book together? I didn't until reading some of the information in the cases.

But alas, the two hour wait seriously cut into the "seeing" time because Spyder had to get to fencing class afterward. So we moved on to the models.

The movie uses computer generated animation, but they used models in some of the process. This model of Big Ben was amazing.

We weren't allowed to use flash photography, and so this photo was the best I could manage.

Next came the ... I'm not sure what it's called. The actors wore suits like in the photo and acted out the scenes, then they were animated in a later process. It was pretty interesting, and there were screens set up along the wall that gave the information about how it was filmed that way.

I loved the way they used the mirror to make the train car seem much bigger than it actually was.

On the way out we visited the interactive car, where the favorite activity was taking photos of ourselves and morphing them into the movie characters. That was really fun. But let me mention here -- that particular car was hotter than waiting in the sun outside. I felt like I was about to faint when we got out of there.

And finally, the end of the train cars. A happy ending, of course.

We also got to see a 10 minute preview of the movie in 3-D. My children were in awe. And YUP, 3-D still gives me a headache, even with all of the improvements since the 1970s.

The bottom line: If the tour is coming to your city, it's worth going. Just make sure to bring a camp chair and a cooler.

One week

School starts in one week.

The last of our materials are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. I will spend the next few days going through and organizing, but I am afraid that I might have to hide them. The urchins are really excited about digging into their new studies. (Let's hope that continues for quite some time AFTER we have begun.) Truly, I think that I am just as excited as they are. We have some fun and interesting things this year.

This year we have scheduled for three bookwork days and two non-bookwork days. I am a little nervous about that, and we might end up changing. We have never had two non-bookwork days each week. We are attempting it this year because we work at the food pantry for four hours one day per week, and it can be tiring work. Friday is generally set aside as a free day for museum or zoo visits, but it can be used as a catch-up, catch-all day if necessary.

As always, it's a work in progress. I am sure that things will get rearranged during the first couple of weeks to see how it works best for us.

Couponing, an update of sorts

This is EXACTLY where I am. Skeeter and I changed over to a cash-only system for grocery shopping last month.

Anything pertaining to food or toiletries comes out of our grocery budget. That includes any eating out and food for the dogs. I spend $10-$15 a week for coupons, so I subtract that from what I take out of the bank. Oh, and I toss my change into our Disney fund every night. I do SPEND the change when I'm out though -- if I haven't dumped it yet -- so it's usually less than $1. I am all about change management.

Changing over to the cash system made it evident that I was going over budget regularly -- sometimes not by much, but regularly -- in search of that elusive deal. Not good. That has stopped due to the cash-only constraint. If the money isn't there, I can't buy it, no matter how good the deal is. I can also honestly say that I've learned to choose the deals I buy more carefully. I was moving there before, but changing the way we handled grocery money is making it a reality.

When I first began couponing, I was really overwhelmed with all of the information available. I spent hours finding deals and even more time getting the coupons together to do them. But deals will come around again! If I miss it, no big. I will get it on the next go if it's something we need.

I've changed to choosing the stuff we need that week (bread, milk, produce ...), then finding the deals on items that we already use, then finding deep, deep deals for things to stockpile or donate. I have certain sites that I check, and that's about it for the searching. I use the time that we are waiting for Spyder at fencing class to sort coupons so that I have to spend less time doing it at home.

The deal sites that I use have become more of a launching point than anything, looking for what others already know is available. Some of the best I have found simply by looking at the clearance sections to see what is there.

Last week, I lucked upon half gallons of organic milk discounted to $.99. I bought two of them, but I should have bought at least three. I should have known that we would use them before the expiration date. (We did. They all had a July 31 date. I had to go back and buy more milk -- full price -- on July 30. My urchins love milk.)

Kroger has a fantastic clearance area. Absolutely fantastic. I never know what I am going to find there. A few weeks ago I bought dental floss for $.19 a package after coupons. I found Pull-Ups for a friend for $2 a package.

Target also has fantastic clearance sales. I've been shopping those for years; I'm just using coupons to make them better now!

So it has only taken me a year (!!), but I think I finally have a handle on how it works best for us. Changing over to the cash system was just another piece in the puzzle.

Science quiz?

My 11 year old took this Science Knowledge Quiz. My 11 year old. And he scored better than 90% of the people who have taken it? Considering the questions, that worries me.

In all truth, he did ask me about one question, so I suppose technically we collectively scored 12 out of 12. But still, he would have gotten 11 of the 12 correct without me.

(H/T to The Common Room)

Flight of the Bumblebee

Accordion style. Pretty amazing, actually.



Sass and I were talking about musical instruments, which led to listening to some in our collection, which led to looking them up on the internet, which led to this. Isn't that always the way it is?

Grumble, grumble

I have been rockin' the coupon thing lately. People are getting tired conversations containing "Hey, do you need barbecue sauce? How about some A1? Please take it. Please."

Tonight I made a stop in the Kroger for a few things -- using coupons, of course -- and my total actually ended up being in the negatives after I used all of the coupons. I didn't really want to add anything, so I had the cashier take a couple of them off, and I paid my $2.03.

After I was in the car and on the interstate, I realized that I had left the change from my $10 bill in the little change dispenser in the self-checkout.

ARGH!!

How's that for negating all of the self-congratulatory thoughts on the couponing?

I just hope that whomever found my $7 felt blessed by it.

Something right

So much of parenting is a trial and error. At least for me. I'm sure that many (most?) parents will disagree, but I often find myself thinking, "Oh, I could have done so much better if I had ________." It's nice to actually SEE where something turned out well.

Sass and Spyder went to a Vacation Bible School this week, at a different church where they knew no one. Despite what non-homeschoolers might think, this was not a problem for them. Not at all. They are always ready to meet new people. The other children at the VBS? Not so much. At least not unless they look/act/talk like everyone else.

For those who don't know, Spyder has long hair.


This isn't exactly common around here, but obviously he isn't the first male to have long hair. And yet, all of the children at the church could NOT let it go. They teased him about it all week.

All. Week.

I can understand it being a topic of conversation the first day, as he was the only one in his class with long hair. But to go on day after day with it? Excessive, to say the least. And it wasn't just talking about it. The others were really mean about it. So mean that the day after VBS ended, he asked to get it cut.

Spyder is actually growing it to donate to Locks of Love. I think he said that at first so that I would let him grow it out, but now it has become truth. Little did he realize that I would have let him grow it long any old way. My only rules were to keep it brushed and out of his face.

We went to the salon and the stylist measured it. He is at 9 inches. It has to be 10 inches to donate. He mulled it over silently. I went to pay for Sass' trim because it was his decision. After a few minutes, he said, "No, I'm keeping it. I'm almost there. Doesn't matter that other people don't get it. I'm still me, and I know why I'm doing it."

Why am I pleased? Spyder navigated an entire week

a) with people he didn't know
b) in a completely new place
c) with those people who were determined not to like him,
d) ultimately deciding to continue with his plan
e) despite the raging disapproval of the children in his age group.

That is the kind of child that I was hoping to raise.

Yesterday

6:30 am -- Take Skeeter to work.

7:15 am -- Back home, unpack car, take shower.

8:30 am -- Take urchins to McDonalds for breakfast. Because I promised in a moment of weakness.

9:30 am -- Volunteer at food pantry.

1:15 pm -- Leave food pantry. Stop home for a snack and to gather the library DVDs.

1:25 pm -- Library.

2:10 pm -- Home from library. Start laundry in washer. Sass conks out on the couch. Spyder starts reading his book. I sit for mindless computer time.

2:55 pm -- Friend calls. I forgot I was supposed to meet her to trade coupons. Rush over.

4:05 pm -- Home again. Move laundry to dryer. Start packing clothes into a bag for Goodwill.

5:10 pm -- Got a call that fencing was canceled. THANK THE LORD! Realized I hadn't checked the bank account today. Paid two bills. Continue cleaning bedroom and getting Goodwill bag together.

6:00 pm -- Meet Michael at Fazoli's. Stop by the Kroger on the way.

7:15 pm -- Leave Fazoli's and head home to check air filter size.

7:40 pm -- Shopping at The Dreaded Wal-Mart for air filters, sprinkler, and something else that I can't remember now. Remember why I avoid The Dreaded Wal-Mart at all costs.

9:10 pm -- Leave The Dreaded Wal-Mart with a now-grumpy husband.

9:30 pm -- Leave husband and urchins at home. Go to Kroger.

9:50 pm -- Return home from Kroger. Sit to help Skeeter with filing paperwork while watching Psych.

10:40 pm -- Finish television show. Husband off to bed. Lucky him.

10:50 pm -- Begin this post.

11:20 pm -- Give up because I am too tired. Attempt to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

11:45 pm -- Takes me 25 minutes to read 20 pages. Decide to give up on the day and go to bed.


** Not every day is quite this busy, but you get the idea of what my days are like lately! Thus, sporadic posting.

Proud mama

Spyder performed three magic shows today.

My friend is a first grade teacher, and today was the last day of school. First grade + last day = nothing planned. Several weeks ago, she asked if Spyder would be interested in coming to her classroom to do a little performance.

Naturally, the answer was, "OF COURSE I WILL!"

Word spread around the school of the magician, and it ended up that every class wanted to see it. Most of what he does is close up magic using cards and coins, so it doesn't work all that well with a really large audience. Instead of one huge audience, they split the classes and he did three shows instead. Even at that, each performance had about 25 to 30 children and 4 or 5 teachers, so he walked among the crowd.

I know that I am biased -- I figure I'm allowed -- but he did a really great job. Last week he did a show at the library for an even larger audience and he did just as well. Spyder is a natural at performing, and it's somewhat surprising for me to see. He knows what he's doing, and he is comfortable enough in front of an audience to change things around depending on the reactions he gets. I'm still a little bit astonished at how well he does. His performance isn't perfect by any stretch, but he just doesn't let the stumbles get to him and rolls with it.

One of my favorite instances was when Spyder did some card trick, and one of the children was absolutely unimpressed. The child called out, "Hey, why don't you make that card disappear?" Spyder just looked at him and said, "Okay." *poof* The card was gone. The child's jaw dropped, and I was glad I was standing behind the door because I had to laugh.

His shows today took about two hours. That's a long time for an 11-year-old, and he was visibly tired at the end of it. Pleased-tired, but tired all the same, so we all went out to lunch as a "yay, Spyder!" and had ice cream for dessert to celebrate.

I am really proud of him. Even though I get tired of being the practice audience sometimes.

Truth

This afternoon the urchins and I were at Big Lots, specifically to get manuscript handwriting paper (I was quite disappointed that they had none), but we ended up wandering. Because really, that's the best thing to do at Big Lots. I love that place.

I had told the children that they could each choose a package of snacks to put in the snack basket at home. Of course they ran straight to the super-sweet, teeth-rotting, mom-would-never-choose-those shelves.

I must admit, I ended up being glad about that. Sass picked up a package of Little Debbies, pointed to the logo picture and said, "What's that girl's name? Michael loves her." And it was said so honestly and earnestly that Sass couldn't quite understand why I was laughing so hard that I couldn't speak.

$250 later

Ol' Skeeter got mad at the faucet tonight. It has always been quite temperamental, that faucet. We've lived in this house for six and a half years, and the faucet has dripped the whole time. Not horrible, just drip-drip-drip. It didn't really bother me. What DID bother me was when it just decided to stop. It would whine -- yes, high-pitched whine -- and suddenly the flow of water was reduced to a trickle. You would have to wiggle the handle just. so. to get it to work properly again. That was quite an annoyance. Thankfully, it didn't happen terribly often, perhaps once a month, possibly less.

Today it did the whiny trickle, and Skeeter attacked it with a vengeance. Oh, he was attempting to fix it, but I think he might have gone at it a bit too vigorously because -- SURPRISE! -- he busted some gasket. Water flowed freely throughout the kitchen. And yes, the laundry room. The laundry room that has been flooded four times in less than a year. That poor laundry room.

Thankfully, I was at work when this occurred because I probably would have had a panic attack. And yelled. I am told that there was quite the tidal wave of water flowing freely from the pipes. So Skeeter did what any man would do when he's in over his head like that. He called the plumber, the guy that worked on his job site and came to fix our laundry woes back on Christmas Eve.

Let me take a moment to note that this occurred on a Sunday. On a Sunday night. He called a plumber on a Sunday night. Not that there was really any way around it, but when he told me, I will admit that I wondered if I needed to sell a kidney or something to pay for it.

Skeeter finds such convenient times to have water woes.

I found out about all of this at 7:30ish, when he told me that the kitchen flooded and the plumber was there. In a text message. I was calm. And patient. I sent him a text message asking him to let me know what happened when he could. I was VERY. PATIENT. Especially for me because I am not a patient person. I waited a whole hour before asking for an update. As in do I only need to sell one kidney, or do I need to put both of them on the market? And WHAT WAS GOING ON IN MY KITCHEN!

Truthfully, I still don't know what really went on. That might be a good thing though. I just know that it's going to cost me $250. But since I kind of like having a working kitchen and an unflooded house, I am not going to complain.

The only other things I really know are that all of the items that were on the counter and underneath the sink are now outside on the picnic table. And that the plumber's parting comments were, "I don't mind being your plumber at all, but I'm taking your plumber's wrench away."

And he did. When he cleaned up his stuff, he took Skeeter's plumber's wrench right along with him.

Flower Potty

Just in case anyone thought I was joking about the whole toilet-as-lawn-art thing.

Behold.

Road trip!

Originally the plan was to take a little overnight trip. That was scrapped though, partly because Skeeter wasn't interested in getting up early. The kicker was the weather though. Rain, rain, and more rain. And storms. I couldn't leave the poor old doggies out in the bad weather, and I sure couldn't leave them inside for an overnight away trip.

So instead of an overnight, we took a drive to the Jim Henson Exhibit in Leland, MS. It has been on our list of "someday ..." and we decided on a whim that today was the day. It was a longer trip than we anticipated, but all four of us were pleased that we went. The attendant (docent? host?) was incredibly accommodating when we arrived late -- very late. The museum was scheduled to close 10 minutes after we arrived. EEK! It's a small museum, but not quite THAT small. The attendant graciously stayed an extra 45 minutes so that we could have a decent look around.

The main room of the exhibit is filled with letters and photos of Henson's childhood and later success.


It also includes an original Kermit made by Jim Henson and used in one of the films.


A smaller room filled with memorabilia was just as fun. There were so many things there that Skeeter and I remembered from when we were little. Most of the items in that room were donated by Muppet fans. And sadly, they did not have my absolute favorite album -- Sesame Street Fever. If I can find mine, I will donate it. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of that room. I had forgotten my camera, so I only had the piddly little camera on my phone. And I only have room for about 6 photos at a time! Talk about limited!

We might make it back there at some point if we are nearby. We were a little bit rushed because we were conscious of the fact that the attendant stayed extra just for us, so I would like to go through it again. But even if we don't, it was a satisfactory experience. And I think I love the Muppets just a little bit more now.

My nefarious plan is working ....

ME: So, what do you think? Corn or broccoli for dinner tonight?

SPYDER: I think ... broccoli.

ME: ::double take:: Seriously?

SPYDER: I KNOW! You've indoctrinated me!

Now if I could only work my sinister English pea magic on him.

My favorite lol

see more Lol Celebs

A Box of Nothing

(conversation via text)

SPYDER: *indistinguishable photo*

ME: The picture was too dark. I couldn't see what it was. Can you tell me?

SPYDER: A box

ME: A box of what?

SPYDER: Nothing

ME: Why did you send me a picture of a box of nothing?

SPYDER: I want it.

ME: You want a box of nothing?

SPYDER: Yes

ME: Um, okay?

SPYDER: Good.

At that point I decided to call.

ME: So tell me ... what did I really just agree to?

SPYDER: I want the box.

ME: The box of nothing.

SPYDER: Yes. Well, I want the box. Not really the nothing inside.

ME: Oh, I see. I was wondering what you would do with a box of nothing.

SPYDER: Well. Probably nothing.


Anyone else see that as a scene from an Absurdist play?