Bakers Dozen(s)

Right now the Spring Fair is going on, which means instead of 17 days of crowds, weirdos, and lovely burger aromas wafting around town, we only get 4.

And the owner of the scone trailers at The Fair made a deal with those of us in the Valley Arts Society: we could staff one of his trailers from 4-closing every night during the Spring Fair, and he would donate $0.15 per scone sold during our time!

I've always wanted to work at the fair, but never have been able to. I remember Rebecca telling me about working scones, and how the dough made her hands feel. Since that time I've always wanted to work in the scone booth! I mean, the product sells itself; the scones are marvelous. So yesterday at 4 pm, I showed up at the designated trailer and got to work! But not in the dough. And not baking. And not even splitting, buttering, jamming, or bagging the scones.

I got to be the cashier.

YES! Meeting thousands of strangers, taking their money, giving them their scones, talking them into buying MORE scones, introducing new soldiers at Fort Lewis to the wonders of the Fisher Fair Scones.... I had a fabulous time. We were busy the whole night. The baker had 5 trays in the oven going constantly (about 200 scones; the max that the oven could hold) - and we got rid of them as fast as we could make them.

The lines got longer. Many people wanted Bakers Dozens. And I don't blame them: with scones priced at $1/each, and a bakers dozen (meaning 13 scones) priced at $11- hey, it's a deal, especially when you're a teenager hanging out with a group of friends and you're all ravenous. It wasn't always teens, though--one woman in her mid 60's walked up and ordered 3 Dozens. She had to wait for a bit; the assembly line was backed up. Immediately behind her, a man ordered 2 Dozen. Eeep! I reassured them that their scones would be extremely fresh and hot; if they'd please just step to the right, I'd get them their scones ASAP. The customer behind him: another dozen! I was getting a little antsy that people might start to get irritated at the wait, but nobody seemed to mind at all. And in reality, their wait was only 1-2 minutes each.

I had some spending money in my purse to go out and grab a Smitty Burger and see the rest of the fair when I took a break, only that time never came. I was behind that register from 4:30 until 10! The lines died down at 9:35, but I was going to be ready: I got 7 bakers dozens prepped and in their bags, waiting for the onslaught of the fair workers that I suspected would come by on their way home from their shifts. My efforts were rewarded; however, it really wasn't an onslaught at all. Just one or two dozen.

Then the owner came by, closed the lid down, told us to wipe off the counters and sweep the crud out the door; let the morning crew deal with the details... but I do NOT like to operate that way. So I restocked the pop cooler, filled the napkin dispenser, got out more coffee cups and lids, restocked the bags of mix, and filled up the brown paper bag rack.

And funny enough, after we were closed, people STILL came by, asking if we had any scones left! We made an additional $6 after the till was empty and we were officially shut down.

OH. And all those bakers dozens I'd made up in advance? the owner told us to divvy them up and take them home with us.

I have 26 scones in ziplocs in my freezer!



--and I looked at the cash register report on the way out: we'd sold about $5400 worth of products. That wasn't *all* scones, but 98% of it surely was. About 5000 scones! WoW!

Is this for real??!

Puh LEEZE. People give this woman money?

INSOMNIA and book reviews

After flipping and flopping in bed for the last 1.5 hours, I gave up sleeping as pointless for the time being and came out to the living room. I love laptops and WiFi!

Occasionally I make it to the library. It's pretty sad; me, the literature geek, not able to regularly visit the library, but it's true. However, due to WASL testing this week, I didn't begin piano teaching until 3 pm on Weds, so at 1 pm the family --ME INCLUDED!-- walked down to the library.

Hence, I've read a couple new books. Let me preface by saying (if you don't know already) that I really don't read "grownup" books and never have done much of that. I honestly prefer reading young adult fiction. It's a throwback to my teaching days, trying to find "that perfect book for so-and-so" - but also, I just enjoy the whole genre. With the exception of the Printz award books, but that's another post.

Before I got to the library, though, Tuesday night I picked up Robert Newton Peck's book A Day No Pigs Would Die. Geared for early teen boys, it's a serious coming-of-age story. If you're looking for similarities to Peck's VERY funny Soup series of books--you won't find any, except that the main character is named Rob Peck. I've got mixed emotions on this book; in a nutshell, it's like your classic boy and dog story, except PIG replaces dog. And you know what happens to the dog in all those "classic" books!! It's (overly) graphic at times; the language is occasionally rude, but not gratuitous. One of my 6th grade English students had LOVED THIS BOOK and his mom told me about it, so I followed through and read it myself. I could see where it would appeal to Philip; I'd use caution with other, different kids though! Rob (main character, first person narrative) is a Shaker boy growing up in Vermont. He helps a neighbor's cow give birth; and in gratitude, the neighbor gives Rob a piglet. The pig is more pet than pork - but the Shaker lifestyle (according to this book) doesn't put up with frills, so when the piggie doesn't produce piggies of her own.....well, that' s just an extra mouth to feed, so to the butcher she must go. Oh, and conveniently, Rob's Shaker dad is a butcher. There's a lot of conflicting emotion there! "I love my dad, but I love my pig==I hate my dad, who has to kill my pig....I love my dad, who does what's right even though it's difficult..." etc.
Ironically enough, from what I know of Shakers, they were celibate. Which is why the sect has just about died out. So for this boy to be living in a "Shaker Family" makes me wonder about the rest of the "Shaker traditions" mentioned in this book --artistic license?


Yesterday I read a library book that I got entirely because of the title: How To Train Your Dragon, by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, translated from the Old Norse by Cressida Cowell (btw her husband's name is....Simon. Isn't that the guy on American Idol?? (which I have never seen, for the record) (like it matters, but some people start to wonder about your "spirituality" if you mention something like that without some foolish disclaimer. BUT I DIGRESS.) ) )

Anyway, back to the point! CHARMING book. I'm going to read it to the kids, especially since we are studying the Vikings right now in History. In the book, Hiccup has a huge problem: he's the chief's son, therefore he's expected to be More Viking Than Thou--the issue is, Hiccup tends to use his brains, rather than the typical Viking response of brawn (which he lacks). To pass the rite of initiation into their tribe, he and each of his age-mates have to go steal a baby dragon from a dragon nursery, and train it/make it obedient by Thor's Day (which my two children could tell you is where we get our day "Thursday" thanks to History lessons) (excuse the parental moment). Well, Hiccup ends up getting the smallest, toothless dragon. (How will THAT look as a chief's son?) The book details How To Become A Hero The Hard Way. Hiccup's brains (plus his ability to understand and speak the dragons' language) eventually save the day when a huge Sea Dragon washes ashore and threatens the entire tribe. Geared toward lower elementary, but not quite a read-alone book until grade 3 or so.

Tonight's book was Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-Li Jiang. Unputdownable. Should be required reading for every middle school student. It's Ji-Li's autobiography of growing up in China during Chairman Mao's quest to abolish the Four Olds: old culture, old traditions, old ideas, old habits. She is devoted to Mao and his ideas, and longs to be a revolutionary, but finds herself increasingly held back, because her grandfather was a landlord---hence, a capitalist who exploited others. THroughout the book, she struggles with her family's bad class status and witnesses the propaganda campaigns launched against many people whom she loved and respected. I'm still processing all the ramifications of this, plus I'm a little sleep drunk (do I hear robins chirping outside now? NUTS. It's 5:25 am and I've been awake since 3!!!!) --- but this is a book I plan to get and keep on my shelves.

OK. I have to be out the door at 8:45 to take the kids to piano. Hopefully I've sat up long enough now to be able to scrounge another few hours of sleep. Begorrah!

Christ Is Risen Indeed

Happy Resurrection Day!

It's been a while since I've used Audra's digital camera (since mine bit the dust and she has like three, she isn't missing one of them :) ) - so here are what my kids looked like this morning following the church service.

And no rain! yet.

Here is S next to my tulips (which look stunning against my grey house).









Now D and he's wearing a TIE---ooooo!

Thanks to Grandma Sandy, these outfits arrived yesterday in the mail. Just in the nick of time, otherwise I'd have had to go back out to Wal Mart (scary scary thought).



Our two halflings share a laughing moment.

Ok , off to heat up the ham and stuff!

Eat the ears off your chocolate bunny first; then he won't be able to hear you coming after that.

Goin' Mo- Take Two

OK, Rebecca straightened me on how to publish from e-mail. Had to check a
little box that wasn't checked before.

So this is a rather pointless post, but it reassures me it can be done.

Off to figure out what's for dinner!

ciao

Sharper Iron Relaunching

This has been a good time to break my addiction to Sharper Iron, a Christian blog and forum. Earlier this week their site went down due to their hard drive crashing....and it's been unrecovered up till this point because their web hoster did not back up regularly. (gee, this sounds familiar to me!)

So they're redesigning the site and will reopen a week from Monday. Time to break the habit!

South Hill on Saturdays...

...and especially the day before a holiday.....is ALWAYS a bad idea. I knew this before I ventured forth. It was necessary, however. Neither S nor D had any decent Sunday shoes that fit properly. We sneaked into WallyWorld about 11:20 am. It was busy, but not overwhelming. Managed to get dress shoes for them both, and some sneakers for S--then back in the car by 11:45. We needed to get to karate in Graham by 12:30, so instead of battling Meridian traffic southbound, I took a shortcut down to the Sumner-Orting Highway and went up the back way. Saved tons of time; we were there 15 minutes early!

After karate, I knew I had to do more shopping. We crept slowly back into town (this time via Meridian northbound); got some groceries at the new Safeway (lines horrible); grabbed lunch at McD's; and sadly, had to go to WalMart again for things i was unable to get the first time due to time constraints. It only took me about 10 minutes to grab the items- but by this time, the LINES to check out were absolutely horrendous!! My stars!! By this time D and S are quarrelling. I put one on one side of the cart, one on the other, told them not to speak to one another, and put on a happy face (probably a little strained). The lady in line behind us was cracking jokes about how she went through the same thing, etc. and I smiled as warmly as I could at her while trying to keep my kids in check.

I didn't check my cellphone time (I wasn't wearing a watch) but we easily spent 30 minutes in line waiting to check out. I only had 5 items; everyone else had carts filled to the brim, it seemed. And the checkout clerk was painfully slow. Ah well. Serves me right for delaying my shopping until a holiday weekend!

For tomorrow, I've made a fresh strawberry pie (craving!). With it (oh, yes, the main course) will be a spiral ham and a Taste of Home recipe I've wanted to try called Onions Neptune. Add a broccoli casserole and it will be perfect. The only thing is, we're probably going to be too full to enjoy it properly. There's a breakfast at church tomorrow, and that usually involves a great deal of food. I'm bringing orange juice! wuahahahahaha.

Goin' Mo

e-Blogging, the wave of the future? Thought I'd give it a try--though
honestly, what's the point? If I have to go online to send the email to
Blogger, I might just as well log into the dashboard and post something!

Still, might be useful if I'm posting from my phone. not easy to type
using a 10-key though!

So this is an official test post--e-Blogging, live from Puyallup.

****EDIT**** Ok, I can blog from email, but it saves as a draft until I get back to Dashboard. What's the point, then? nice try, Blogger, but no cigar.

CSS Woes

Argh.

I was goofing off with my template here today, and now all my posts have Times New Roman. IT DOESN'T SAY THAT ANYWHERE IN THE CSS. I want Verdana. or Trebuchet.

blimey.

I want to put on some spring colors!!

**edit** - ok, this should be in Trebuchet now....

BUT I want it to default that way!

I do not have time to learn CSS!! I want this to be easy!! *waaahaahhaaaaa*

Mommy Moments

I've several anecdotes of mommyhood that have been niggling at me to record them here in cyberspace. These have taken place over the last two weeks or so, during the illness, etc.

Moment 1: Sleep Talking

In the middle of the night during the flu weeks, I heard S. cry out. I dragged myself from my bed to her ailing side. "What is it, Sweet Pea?" I asked.

"I have to throw up!"

"Here's the bowl." I hand it to her.

She ignores the bowl, and whimpers and cries some more.

"I'm hungry!!"

"Here's some crackers." I hand her a saltine, which she also ignores. However, she makes smacking sounds with her lips.

"They make us wipe our bums before they launch the rocket," she explains.

"WHAT?!" I respond.

More insistently, S declares, "They make us wipe our bums before they launch the rocket!"

I laugh my head off, write this exchange down in my notebook, and return to bed.
She has no recollection of this incident.

Moment 2: Sleep Talking, Part II
Two nights later, I go in to check on S. to be sure she has water, take her temperature, etc. She looks up at me, glazed expression fixed on her young face. "It's tough on the river," she tells me sadly.

Later on that same evening, she was rather upset. I questioned her, and she told me "there's not enough room for you and me in this [Kleenex] box!" No, my dear, there surely isn't!


Moment 3: Won the Battle; Not So Sure About the War


Last night I told the kids I was going to take a bath; please practice your piano while I'm in there; THEN, and only then, may you watch The Little Rascals on video.


I finished my bath at 9:00 p.m. I saw all of S's piano books still on the piano in front of D's. I knew she had practiced. Both kids, however, were watching videos in the living room. "D, did you practice?" (knowing full well he hadn't). "Um, noooo..."


I proceeded to turn off the TV, informed him that he would not be watching any TV the following day, and to get to the piano immediately. Which he did, STOMP-STOMP-STOMP. Cue: "Intervention" Time! After administering the discipline, I was treated to a brief (ahem, very brief) lecture from my dear son about how I, as a mom, always get my own way!! So, intervention time--a second time. He flopped his bottom down on the piano bench, folded his arms, and, as Kipling would say, behaved as a camel would ("HUMPH!")

Third intervention... this time from Dad. There was crying, oh yes, precious, but no submission. After the FOURTH bout of disciplinary action, back at the piano, D choked, gagged, and said "I have to throw up!"

Unsympathetic, we told him to get to the bathroom. He did make it, thankfully. After washing hands, face and mouth, we told him to get back to the bench and practice.

"WHAT?!!?!! I threw up and YOU DON"T EVEN CARE!!!"

(Nope!)

Finally, ONE HOUR LATER at 10:00 p.m., he had finished the --three-- songs he had to practice. There was forced compliance, but the rebellion remained. We had a threesome discussion after the fact, reminding him that his behavior was not only dishonoring to his parents, but also dishonoring to God. We reassured him of our love for him, and prayed with him that he would make the right choices in the future.


Oh, and this morning, he sat down at the piano-- without being told-- and completed all his work.

So, something good came out of last night's exhausting mommy (and daddy) moment!

new obsession

Sudoku!

It's pretty sad. I bought a grocery-store booklet of sudoku puzzles for a supplementary birthday present for A - but then he and the rest of the family were so sick, and I was lonely..... I CONFESS........I STOLE BACK THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT!! **Sob, sob**

I've been getting through 2 or 3 puzzles a day now; trying to hide my addiction is getting ever more difficult. Is there a hotline I can call? I don't want this to ruin my life.

staggering back to good health

OY. SUCH a time as we have had!! (said with best Jewish accent I have).

This influenza lasts and lasts. Praise be to God that I never got a full dose of it, thanks to the drug called Tamiflu. I still have a secondary, lingering ear infection, though. I"m on day 10 of the antibiotics (like, the last dose is today) and my left ear is still plugged up.

A. keeps joking about our having a "deaf-mute" household: he still can't speak well due to his lingering who-knows-what (Flu? bronchitis? sinus infection? probably all of the above) - so between his sotto voce and my one working ear.......we're practicing for our dotage years!

Spring break wasn't entirely a break in our home. We used two days to get caught up in Science - now the online school "progress bar" is in line with History. I am a compulsive "box checker" in tracking the kids' progress on K12.com. I love seeing the completion bar move ever closer toward the finish line= 80% is required to move ahead to the next year's coursework; we'll make that just fine. Lord willing and no more illness.

Tonight was another group piano lesson at Mimi's. These are always fun, but challenging. She gives difficult homework. For tonight, we had to analyze a Landler by Schubert; compose our own Landler; prepare all scales in 8's to the metronome click of 88 (I am SO NOT THERE. It's a worthy goal, but not one I'm willing to bust my rump for at present); and also compose a 16-bar melody using one of the scalar modes (Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Phrygian, etc.) Well, of the 5 people in the class, only two had done the homework. (yes, I was one of the two).

After we go through the homework together, we move on to performances - play, from memory (if at all possible), something we're presently working on. It's always nice to hear other people play, especially at the adult level. But, only two people were really prepared for that. And I was one of them.

Rereading this, it sounds like I had an "I'm all that" evening, but in reality, I hadn't done the homework until this afternoon when I had an unexpected 2 hour block of time in which to do it. And the performance piece I HAD to do, because I didn't play at last month's meeting, so I was rather obligated to do so.

After the evening class was over, I did some sightreading duets with another lady in the class named Kari. We'll be performing a Mozart sonata together in June sometime.

I came home tonight to find the kids' piano books scattered around on the floor. This is actually a good thing: it means they practiced when I wasn't standing over them with a bullwhip.

A. just came in from his office. He's looking gaunt, pale, and exhausted. I must put him to bed. Come to think of it, I belong there too. I'm whipped!

And if this silly ear of mine doesn't unplug soon, I'll.....

Spring Cleaning

I want to update the look of this blog. I've found some really pretty things on other people's blogs, but I don't quite know how far I can go in tweaking this template; I might mess up some javascript or css and then I'd be up a creek not knowing how to fix it. (CSS and javascript illiterate, though I'm ok with html).

Update on kids: Influenza B lasts 7 to 8 days before the 102-103º fevers return to normal. I had to take S in to the Dr. on Thursday because she acquired a secondary infection: pinkeye!

Poor kid.

Thursday night A. coughed all night long (sleep was but a fond hope, not a reality) - so Fri. I got him into the Dr. to get some meds for bronchitis. He walked out of there with 3 prescriptions - 1 inhaler, 1 cough syrup with codeine, and 1 gel pill. Plus a sampler for another inhaler.

Friday night, loaded up with medication, A. proceeded to cough all night long. PFUI!
Saturday morning, with his temp at 101.7 º we made arrangements for a "substitute preacher" for today, and he "slept" last night in the living room partially sitting up in the recliner---still coughing.

So for this particular bug, Albuterol, Tessalon, and CoTylenol are not effective.

Praising God, though, that D and S are 98.6 and 99.5 (and coughing) That's good enough to start school again tomorrow! We're now a week behind. Spring break is the first week of April and I don't want to skip it, so we're going to double up as much as possible this upcoming week. We'll see how much grief I get from D and S. I think I can pull off 3 history lessons and 3 science lessons - then if I do that on two other days, I'll be in good shape. Then on the short days (Tu and Wed) we'll do some extra LA, Math and Art. (Just thinking out loud here... now I'll be able to remember what I've planned!)

I went to Sunday school alone this morning, but came home right afterward, because really, A was in no condition to be the "adult in charge" of two kids on the mend. I figured I had about an hour, then I didn't want to risk it any further.

I am so sleepy right now. I think I might just sleep in the living room myself, first putting in some earplugs to tune out all the hacking.

I keep reading Tammy's blog and thinking I need a hobby that I can do sitting down. (those monthly ladies' craft saturdays are nagging at me). I guess I don't have the sticktoitiveness though; all I've ever managed to crochet (and it was a BIG DEAL, I assure you!) was some scarves for D and S. I was proud of those! But it seemed like they took forever. So I don't think crochet or knitting is the way for me to go. (sigh)

I'll just sit here at the computer and play neopets I guess. :)

Tales of Blah in Vivid Language

I haven't posted in quite some time! Not because I haven't had anything to say; I HAVE, but just have been unable to get here to jot it down. Now that the kids are in bed (again) I've a few spare minutes to sit in the La-Z-Girl recliner with my laptop and relax a bit.

Yes, the kids. D had fever and chills Sat afternoon; S woke up Sun. am, threw up, then had fever and chills. We're talking 102, 103 degrees! Yesterday afternoon I took D in to the Dr's office with a 103.5 fever; motrin, liquids and bed rest were doing nothing for him--he was still sleepy, feverish, and miserable. Dear Doctor tells me if only I'd brought him in Sat or Sun we could ahve started him on Tamiflu, but as it is, D will have to just be miserable for another 2-3 days. Both kids are pretty miserable, and it's been very quiet around here, except for the sniffing and coughs.

I am keeping an eagle eye out for any symptoms in A or myself; I will GO GET THE MEDICINE rather than be knocked on my rump for 5 straight days, which is what's happened to the kids. They migrate between their beds and the couches, very little else.

Yesterday we got a call from someone in our old youth group - John! He, his wife and daughter are up here in WA visiting his parents (who now live in Sequim) - and they were going to come to Puyallup to catch up! Too bad that my family's under quarantine. A. was able to go to Cattins with them for dinner tonight, though. John hasn't changed much. :) His wife and daughter are beautiful; he's a fortunate man. I did get a chance to chat with them for about 15 minutes, standing in my driveway in the rain. (I didn't want to expose them to any lovely virii that are floating airborne in my home).

Last week or so A. gave me the evening off and I went out to Borders to sit and read a book. I remember now, it was March 7. (Eeeep! It HAS been a while!) There was a ginormous number of teens there in the coffee shop (Seattle's Best!), so the noise level was pretty high, even in the back of the store, where I usually roost.

Overheard: "Dude, did you hear about the guy who shot himself in the leg TWICE??"

"No freakin' way!! Why!?!"

"Like, he said he wanted to find out if it hurt as bad the second time!"

Me: *snort, snort, snicker*

I do not know if the shooting was an actual event, or if that was supposed to be a joke, but I certainly found it funny!

Last week (now I have my dates on straight) A. went to the FBFI conference up in Monroe. Kids and I had a pretty good time holding down the fort. It's amazing how one person less makes a big difference in the dynamics of the family. First, I was able to get all caught up on laundry. Second, I made it to the gym every single day, because I made reservations in the Bally's Kids' Club for my halflings. We also went out to dinner at Pizza Hut (which makes A. sick, so we never go there when he's home). AND best of all, he came home early Weds morning, instead of Weds. night like I was thinking. Probably with all the outside running around I did with the kids, they picked up the flu during that time; it hit on Saturday, so the incubation would be about right, I think. :( The disadvantage of homeschooling: they don't always develop immunities to common illnesses.

Then again, do I really want them to be in an enclosed bldg. all day getting exposed to who-knows-what? I was reading an article today re: public schools needing to make emergency plans for pandemic outbreaks - just HOW will schooling continue if the school needs to literally, physically close down for a month or more until the outbreak is controlled?

Praise God that we currently have the answer to that, and it's called the Steilacoom Virtual Academy. We go online, we communicate by email, telephone and Elluminate, and we complete our coursework at home. I'm tellin ya, it's great. I think more public schools should use this as a viablel, reasonable option for education.

D. has just migrated again back to the living room couch. "I feel weightless," he declares, snuffily. He wants some applesauce to eat. I think this is the first thing he's asked for today; everything else has been a concerned mommy giving him water, banana, toast, yogurt, WHATEVER he'd nibble... and it's all pretty much been nibbled once or twice then put aside. So this means I'm closing for now. I will leave you with some doggerel I wrote back in 2002 which I found this morning while perusing an old journal: (sorry about the formatting, I can't make it do what I want to!)

1. A life: boiled down

vaporized, wafting
extracted painfully
puffing a phrase here
thought there
fragment, fragment, fragment
to find what?
Meaning? Pattern lost amid
myriad insignificance
Tale of blah in vivid language

2. I write,
therefore I have nothing to say.

3. Carpe diem! Before I forget
Just what the heck I've ever done
worth writing about.
Carpal tunnel! Too late.

4. Create, my heart said.
What? my mind replied.
A chasing of the wind, a desire to leave a mark
indelible
on the heart of another
touching mind with
penstroke

5. The phrase that
escapes me at present
will surely
come back tonight
in spectral garb--
A dream forgotten later--
but
leaving the shade
of a soul
unexpressed--
unshriven.

6. Blunt-tipped words
Held in place by
an obliging piece of paper
and corresponding blunt wit.

Minesweeper Update

My best time is now 298 seconds on expert. :)

Ho, Ho, Ho!

My Christmas cards are now in the mail, en route to diverse points in the Continental US and abroad.

I take heart that it isn't the Fourth of July as I write this.

Now the next task, and pronto: Get the taxes done!!

training cavies

My dear daughter came up with a great game for the guinea pigs this morning. The young Snippet, who was an early Christmas present, was chewing the bars of the cage because cavies need to chew to wear down their ever-growing incisors. I suggested to S. that she put an empty tp roll in their cage to play with, chew, etc. Then S. came up with a good idea: put a small carrot in the center of the roll, and see how long it takes the guinea pigs to get at it!

We had a great time watching the pigs bump the roll around, fight over it, struggle to get that nugget of orange goodness...

So I'm not sure if it was really a game for the pigs, or just entertainment for humans. I think both!

The weather has warmed up to mid 30's, but with it, the humidity has jumped back up too, making it feel much colder. A. has been stomping all over the house trying to keep warm and complaining about Cispus-like conditions. Cispus is a learning center/campground in SW Washington where I swear they NEVER turn their heat above 60 in the buildings/dorms, so you spend your time there wrapped up in flannel shirts and sweats, clinging to your cup o' joe not only for its caffeine content, but also for its WARMTH. The tip of your nose is red and drippy, and chaperones huddle together in small groups, wondering when the educational experience will be over so you can take the 8th graders back home and you can WARM UP. That is Cispus, in a nutshell.

Science today involved a review/assessment of simple machines: lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, screw, and wedge. Then there was a link to Rube Goldberg devices, and now the kids are drawing inventions, making simple things more difficult by the use of machines. Rather creative! D came up with a balloon-popping device involving scissors, a pulley, an anvil, a balance, a broom and a knife.

and it was snowing briefly today!

OK! I'm off to the gym, I think. I'm ready to get out of the house, because we did 2 days' worth of science and 4 days of history all today, so we're DONE. I love playing catch-up! :p not.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind

With sunny days and bitter cold nights around here, somehow some fronts got all tangled up and we had quite the windstorm here yesterday in the South Puget Sound. We lost power several times for a few moments over the course of 10 hours, then about noon it went down for good until nearly 4 pm.

All this would be well and good, were it not for the fact that I had a church banquet to prepare for. Fortunately the church did not lose power, and I was able to proceed as planned with my end of the cooking.

A, however, had a rough time with the grilling. His job was to grill pork ribs and marinated chicken, but with the winds howling and the wind chill somewhere around 3º, the flame kept blowing out! It was a grueling grill gig. (wuahah)

The meal we were preparing featured Southern comfort foods: pork ribs, chicken, coleslaw, baked macaroni and cheese, cornbread - and banana pudding and peach cobbler for dessert. I received a phone call from A. a little after 4 (the power had come back on at the house; I was cooking at the church). He'd had so much trouble with the chicken - he had put it on like 45 minutes before and it was still raw after 45 minutes of grill time. He walked back into the house for 15 min (who wants to stay outside in that nasty wind?) - came back out, and the chicken was charred black.

!!! What to do!? That's half of the banquet right there~!! He was just sick at heart. So, using his noggin and his car, he blazed a trail to Famous Dave's and got two grilled chickens to go!! Oh, the accolades from the dinner guests!!

Meanwhile with the wind storm, virtually all of South Hill was without power; parts of it are still without power even now. 6 people called and cancelled their reservations at the banquet, so we have tons of leftover food. Woot~ no cooking fo me!

I think the most popular menu items were the macaroni and cheese and the banana pudding. I have no leftovers of the banana pudding, sadly. I'll have to make some more; it was truly scrumptious. I got the recipe from Lori, whose MIL is a southerner. I also used her green beans recipe, which I love. That reminds me, some of the food is still on the back porch. Hey, if it's in the low low 30's, it's not going to go bad, and my fridge was rather full.

So the banquet was a success, cooking-wise. It was one of the more relaxing banquets, because much of the food was made in advance (coleslaw, muffins, desserts) and the only cooking I did on the day of the banquet was the mac, the beans, and the cobbler. A. had the harder job of grilling all that meat.

Today, driving up to South Hill, I thought I'd save time and take 94th instead of Meridian. BAD CHOICE. Power out at 128th caused a long long backup. Took me 45 minutes to get to 152nd street. Fir branches everywhere!! And many people out with their yard waste cans, wheel barrows, chippers, what-have-you, just to deal with the mess. I am so glad we do not have many fir trees near us anymore. D and S were playing in the backyard when the next-door-neighbors' fir tree decided to drop a largish branch right next to David! The fir tree does not hang over the fence; it BLEW over into our yard! I told them to play on the WEST side of the yard after that, because the winds were coming from the NE.

I am glad I didn't have all the tree litter to pick up, but I did do a fair amount of picking up everyone's recyclables from down the street......cans, papers, cardboard, etc. I know someone had to pick up mine, too, because my recycle can was not as full as when I'd first pushed it out there!

Now the winds are calm, and we're expecting low 20's/teens tonight. The guinea pigs are in the living room so they don't turn into hairy ice cubes. And I'm heating up leftover mac and cheese.

Life is good!

Diamonds in the Rough

Yesterday, upon returning from their weekly walk to the library, David presented me with a paper lunch bag with the label "DIMONDS (EMRALDS)"

When opening the bag, I saw some lovely broken auto glass that had broken into gem-sized pieces. They had a slightly bluish-green cast to them, so they did indeed look a little bit like diamonds/emeralds.

I've never gotten a sack full of gems before! What a thoughtful Valentine's present.

Valentine's Rant and a Tribute

Why I think Valentine's Day is a load of tripe:

1. Because it's supposed to be all about me, darn it, and nobody else but myself realizes it!


There. Rant accomplished.

Today was not very Valentiney. I'd bought doughnuts at Top Foods after choir practice last night so I wouldn't have to cook breakfast - present #1 to myself. While there I also bought some cinnamon jelly hearts - present #2 (I love cinnamon things). Today I rushed the kids through LA and Science, plus a smidge of Math (we're finally moving on past double-digit addition with regrouping, yay!). Lest one read this and think I only valentined myself (I love backformation - creating new words from existing ones) - I did indeed make sure that the 3 beloved ones in my home received a modicum of chocolate to sustain them. The little heart-shaped boxes went to the kids, and the medium box of Dove milk chocolate with almonds went to the hubby. and like I said, I'd made sure I got what I wanted. :) I have experience in these matters.

Hurried the kids over to a babysitter so Andy and I could attend Sharon's funeral --mom of Crystal and Richard, former kids in our youth group who are no longer kids, but GROWNUPS. It was a good funeral. God was magnified. Richard read scripture from Job and Isaiah 40; Crystal delivered part of the eulogy. She made it through until the end. I was proud of her to be able to do such a hard thing.

Then there was the open mic time. I thought about what I could say to 200-odd assembled people and decided I'd rather share it here in my blog, where there's an edit button. I did share some of this with Richard afterwards, too, so these thoughts are not just entering the void, so to speak.

I will always remember Sharon as loving her children passionately. I remember Crystal and Richard referring to her, eyes rolling, as the "ball and chain," because teens do not understand (nor can they, really) the depth of love/caring/fear that parents have for their children. Sharon was very protective of her children. She was also quick-witted and sharp-tongued. :) Andy found that out when Richard, the quietest kid in the youth group, was accidentally left at the top of Mount Hood while the remaining youth group vans drove down the hill to Sandy, OR. Yes, Richard was retrieved and made it home safely, but Sharon had plenty to say once they got home. (I was not there at the time; still finishing my senior year of college).

Sharon taught me and Crystal how to make jam. She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and was undergoing treatment. Her hair was gone, and she was wearing a little terry-knit cap on her head, but she still took the time to teach me and Crystal how to make strawberry jam. I know now it must have been tiring for her, but she never mentioned it. Crystal and I wandered off at one point, and when we came back to the kitchen, Sharon's cap was off, and on the back of her bald head was a beautiful tattoo of a butterfly!! (temporary). I didn't quite know what to say or do (what is the proper protocol for admiring one's head tattoo??) but Sharon jumped in and brought it up by saying "do you like my tattoo?" I stammered out some funny gibberish, yeah-that's-really-interesting-type comment, then Sharon said, in a confidential tone, "Rex is not amused." (Rex being her husband).

I will always remember Sharon with that butterfly, and in the back of my mind, Rex just rolling his eyes at her.

So Sharon is finally well and whole and free of cancer. Would that we all could live our lives realizing that we're not on our way to the land of the dying, we're on our way to the land of the living.

My Candy Heart says:

Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"

You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love. You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!) Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Never Underestimate Your Children

Somehow I've managed to get tendonitis or something in my right wrist. This is interfering with my Schumann and Beethoven. So Mimi's taken me off the big boomy, chordal sounds and put me into Czernys and various etudes that involve an overemphasis on wrist rotation so I do not aggravate the issue further. She encouraged me to look at a Rondo by Bartok and Trois pieces pour la legende doree by Pepin in my Celebration Series Repertoire book.

Darn it, and I was getting good at the Schumann, too. But it was painful to play, and piano shouldn't hurt.

Had a lovely practice this afternoon with a soloist at church who's been classically trained. Together we are working on Panis Angelicus/O Lord We Pray to Thee, and she's planning to sing a Dvorak solo ("I Will Sing New Songs") in the South Sound Classical Choir concerts in May, so I was helping her through some trouble spots.

Friday I went on a field trip with the kids to the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. The docent got us all seated in the media room for orientation before we got started, and began her presentation talking about artifacts. "Do you know what artifacts are?" Well, in a room full of homeschoolers, duh, yes, there's several junior/junior high boys that can tell you exactly what artifacts are, and they proceeded to do so. Perhaps a little surprised that we rube homeschooling families knew what artifacts are, she continued on...."what artifacts do you think our generation will be remembered by, 500 years from now?"

A few seconds of silence, while the students pondered. Being helpful, the docent volunteers ideas: "Who in here has a Playstation?"


Silence.

"An X-box?"

Crickets chirp.

Desperation in voice: "a computer??!"

And every hand shot up. Of course we have computers, we use k12!

The docent then drew the conclusion that years from now, archaeologists may find our computers as artifacts, yada yada. But I got a secret chuckle over the fact that there were no playstations or xboxes in our group.

It got better though. The docent then began to discuss some things we would see in the museum upstairs, one exciting find being some Clovis Points (they look like stone spearheads) found near Wenatchee just after the Ice Age 16000 years ago.

David's hand shoots up.

"Uhm, yes?" the docent asks politely.

"Only one problem..." David begins, with the air of explaining something to one who is slow.

"What's that?" the puzzled docent responds.

"It wasn't 16000 years ago." He is certain.
I smile inwardly.

"Oh, well...um, that's what I have on my information sheet." The docent hurriedly got us up and started on our self-guided tour, no doubt glad to wash her hands of this weird homeschooling group.

Later on I thanked David for standing up for his beliefs, but reminded him that it might have been better received had he not corrected an adult in public.

Five minutes later we're upstairs and in the first section of the museum--how Washington looked 17 million years ago. Sammie chimes in loudly: "But Washington wasn't even HERE 17 million years ago!!"

I know of the 5 or 6 families that came on this museum trip, four of them are families of faith, so we all had about the same perspective on the old earth viewpoint.

I need to arm my children with more facts so they can defend their faith against an unbelieving world. This means I need more education in this area myself. I can't just depend on Andy to do it all/answer all the questions. but doggone it, this has been a lifelong passion for him. Me, I didn't even believe dinosaurs existed until I was in late in my high school years, no doubt due to other people like myself who didn't consider themselves qualified to deal with the dinosaur/ice age/history of the world from a Creationist viewpoint. So there is a great silence in my particular history of the world. Andy throws out certain words at me and I have to sort through whether it's an evolutionary term, or if it is a legitimate description of an actual era of world history.

So many things to learn, and only one lifetime to do it. *sigh*

Repost: The Pirate Who Doesn't Do Anything

My pirate name is:

Bloody Anne Vane

Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For you, it's definitely the fighting. You tend to blend into the background occaisionally, but that's okay, because it's much easier to sneak up on people and disembowel them that way. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Just for the record!

Ain't I somethin' ?

I love taking these useless internet tests. Thanks to grisaleen (nope, don't know her personally) for leaving a link on her site!

are you ready for some football?

OK so I did it. I watched the Superbowl. I am not a Seahawks fan, but when your hometown team does something right, you support them when you can. So I plugged in the cable for the afternoon. D and S were really hyped up, OOH BOY< CABLE!! FOOTBALL!! COOL!!

(for the record, I have a cable internet connection. It is marginally cheaper when you get it with the basic cable TV package deal. Because I turn into a TV zombie if it's on, I unplug the cable so I don't watch TV. Make sense? I don't need the hindrance in my life.) (LOL, the Internet is bad enough of a hindrance for me!!)

Anyway, when I first turned on KOMO, there was Stevie Wonder singing Motown favorites during the pregame show. Man has he gotten big! We watched/listened for about 5 minutes, then David voiced the opinion for all of us: "I've had about enough of this." So I found the Hallmark Channel and we watched about 20 min of Little House on the Prairie.

Back to Channel 4! I missed the kickoff, but only just. It was all Seahawks in the 1st Q. But my stars, the refereeing!! Hm, a little biased?! I am glad I do not wrap my life around pro sports any longer as I used to----because it was bad enough NOT being a fan and getting extremely hyped up at the horrible horrible reffing. Standing and shouting at the TV, I was. Shaking my fist and jumping up and down. Take away that touchdown for offensive pass interference? GADS that was an incredibly lame call.

Oh and don't forget that NON Touchdown by the Steelers --the guy never even crossed the line until after the down! What was that all about? I'd love to know that ref's bookie.

Anyway, LIKE I SAID, I'm glad I don't follow pro sports on a regular basis. It's a real snare! LOL.


To be honest, though, I must confess: It's all about the commercials for me. The corporate megabucks spent on advertising ensures a VERY entertaining afternoon. There were 4 or 5 that were VERY good. So here's the list:

The Five Best Commercials During the Superbowl (ranked from lowest to highest, but I can't turn it around to make it say 5-1!):

1. Jackie Chan and Diet Pepsi: Stunt Double
2. Bud Light: Bear Attack
3. Fed Ex: Caveman
4. Bud Light: Magic Fridge
5. Budweiser: The Clydesdale Football Game

Honorable Mention: Michelob: A Little Darker ("You were open, but now you are CLOSED!")
(I am waiting for D to try this on S very soon)

Now I need to go unplug the cable before I forget and discover my kids watching Dr. Phil or some such thing.

making butter

I had some heavy cream left over from a 1/2 gallon jug (that's how it comes at Costco!!) so A. suggested I make butter with it when it looked like I wasn't going to be able to use it all up. I mean, really, what do you do with a HALF GALLON of whipping cream, besides get arteriosclerosis?

So this morning after making waffles, I decided it was time to give it a shot. But how? A. suggested put it in the mixer on low. Then I remembered waaaay back when I was teaching, the 2nd grade teacher actually made butter with her kiddies by pouring cream into baby food jars, and having the kids shake the jars until the butter formed. I thought that was worth a try. So into a tupperware bowl the leftover cream went!

I've spent my afternoon shaking the cream, off and on. A little ways into it, it stopped shaking and sounding liquidy. I pulled off the lid: whipped cream. Not good enough! So off and on again, I went back to smacking the bowl around. And HEY! it worked! Finally it started to sound watery inside the bowl, and voila! I now have butter and buttermilk!

So now I have to decide what to do with said butter. But still, cool!

My computer just made a thunderstorm sound at me. My weather.com alert went off. High winds on Saturday with wet, soggy soils means trees down and power outages, according to the National Weather Service. Fun!

The "best" windstorm ever was on Bill Clinton's inauguration day in January of 1993. I've never experienced anything like it. It was so powerful and awesome.

I do want to be careful here. I know that the Gulf Coast states experience this thing all too often and that most people certainly would not use any words like "best" in association with a wind event, and that I really have no clue as to what a "real" windstorm (hurricane) is all about.

But with my limited experience, I'd never witnessed such raw power before, and it was exhilarating; both fear-trembly and exciting at the same time.

My dear son is sitting next to me on my bed, grousing about math and school in general. Addition with regrouping (carrying over) is the current bane of my--and my children's existence. We're spending lots of time but not getting very far! All in good time, I suppose.

Meanwhile, A. has found his sermon title for Sunday: "Another Night With the Frogs." Moses is the current Sunday morning message series, and this is a reference to Pharaoh begging Moses to withdraw the plague of frogs from the land. Moses asks Pharaoh just when he would like them removed, and Pharaoh responds, "tomorrow." WHat's up with that?! Why not, "RIGHT NOW!!" ?

I'm out of here. I'm going to the gym. My jeans do not fit!! rgh.

Snurgles and--surprise, surprise...rain showers!

This a.m. D. woke up with a plugged nose and a gross, chunky sounding cough. I kept him home from church so as not to share the blessing with others.

It was a nice, lovely quiet morning; I was able to have some quiet time and relax, listening/watching the rain fall, then I did some exercises on the body ball to strengthen my weak lower back and abs.

Enter the rest of the family home from church. It ceased being a quiet day at that point! D. may be battling the effects of some cold bug, but he certainly hasn't diminished in the ability of making his sister angry. I have spent my day refereeing and sending various children back to their corners of the ring.

To calm things down a bit, I read Little House on the Prairie to them. As I read on, my living room became filled with 4 kitchen chairs and assorted blankets covering the chairs, to simulate the Ingalls' covered wagon. S. grabbed some dry kindling and firewood and made a suitable "campfire" and they played in and around their wagon as I read. 4 or 5 chapters later I had to bow out, hoarse.

So next came the Atari game that S. got for Christmas! I love this thing for nostalgic reasons. The whole game is contained in the joystick. You plug it into your TV and voila! you have Yar's Revenge, Adventure, Breakout, Pong, Carnival, and several others. All these games I played at my best friend Karen's house when I was a kid! (she always got the cool toys) D. and S. played Adventure for a bit. It's a maze-type thing; you have to find the arrow to kill the dragons, find the keys to unlock gates, find the chalice that's guarded by the dragons, etc. The kids have done pretty well at figuring out the secrets and codes, etc., but it wasn't too long before one was irritated with the other for not playing the game "right." Begorrah! Turn OFF the TV and GO TO YOUR ROOMS. but first, take down the wagon!

If we can keep a truce going long enough, we'll watch A Day at the Races with the Marx brothers. D/S love these guys and so do I :) But any more sniping and the halflings will go OFF TO BED while A. and I enjoy a nice evening on the loveseat!

Beeping Slooty and a rant about powdered sugar

By the way, the rain finally ceased last Saturday, after 34 days of measurable rainfall. Sunday took itself literally, Monday and Tuesday copied their predecessor, and Wednesday a new storm system moved in. But three days of sun helped IMMENSELY.

I have been meaning to post for the last week but I haven't gotten to this screen. So you know, I decorate cakes for fun and profit. Mostly fun, but the profit is mighty nice too. (Go see! Sweet Finales) ANYwho, 'round Christmas time someone borrowed Betty (my mixer) and my last 2# bag of C&H powdered sugar, since she only had 1# of the store brand called Western Family pwd sug. and she needed to make a double batch of frosting.

Long story short: I had a birthday cake to make last weekend. The ever-popular and best selling caramel apple spice cake with cream cheese frosting, for Al's 82nd birthday. I pulled out the Western Family powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese, vanilla, etc. and went to work. Hm. runny texture. The recipe calls for 3 cups of powdered sugar, mind you, and a pound of powdered sugar is a little over 4 cups. I emptied the remaining sugar into the bowl. Runny. I grabbed an open bag of C & H I've had for a while - added 2 more cups of sugar. A little soft, perhaps, but should work for covering the cake, even if not for piping. I frost the cake and smooth it, and put it in the garage fridge to set up.

In the morning: the cake looks like the saggy baggy elephant! AGHRGGH! So I chop pecans up, press them into the sides of the cake to hide the multitude of frosting sins, and attempt to do some "finish work" - shell borders, writing, etc. on the remainder of the cake. The shell borders do not hold, but rather form a nondescript blobby pool at sequential intervals. AUGHGHHH!!!
THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use anything but the BEST - C & H Pure Cane Powdered Sugar From Hawaii Growin' in the SUN! western family is on my blacklist for powdered sugar!!

When Tracy came to pick up the cake I told him this was NOT representative of my work and I would not charge him the full price, but when he wrote the check out, he went ahead and gave me close to the original price. He's a guy; what does he care how it looks, as long as it tastes good? Still, my resolve is firm. C & H for me. I should do their commercials.

Also last weekend, pre-cake, I went out to my old teaching/coaching haunt by the request of the current cheerleading coach to help her cheerleaders with some stunting. They seriously needed to get back to some fundamentals, so we went back to basic shoulder stands, as far as how bases should pull down on the back of the flyers' calves just below the knee for added stability and support. Also in how to get OUT of stunts, "shake right, shake left" - the hand grips needed and the proper support to get their friends SAFELY down to the ground. I then showed them a "cooler" way of getting into a shoulder stand via a calf pop. I'd show you what it looks like but I don't see any examples of it on Varsity.com. Basically the base stands in a forward lunge position, and the flyer uses the base's back leg as a sort of mini tramp to get up to the shoulders. One pair of stunters was able to get this technique so I felt that was a job well done. That, in addition to teaching them the proper grip. I firmly emphasized the need for them to go to a good cheerleading camp to get proper training in technique to spare themselves injury, if they plan to do stunting like they want to do. Becky (the coach) mentioned that they couldn't do an elevator extension so after watching the girls try a couple of preps, I made a few suggestions (they really could do it all along, they just didn't know they could, you know?) and the first time they tried it, ZING, right up the flyer went, locked and held solidly in her first ever extension. You know, in cheerleading that used to be a BIG deal, but now it's a pretty basic stunt. The thing a squad needs to be elite nowadays is a ground-up liberty extension. I think *one* stunting team on my squad got that one down, but I don't think we used it in any games because it was a little shaky.

OK, that's enough cheerleading. A. would rather watch grass grow than have anything to do with it, but I can't help it, I love it, especially the stunting and acrobatic parts.

Today we went up to the Seattle Children's Theatre and saw Sleeping Beauty. This was not the Disney version. It had more Scottish overtones in it (accents too!) and instead of three fairies trying to undo the spell of Maleficent, there were two sister witches ("one bright, one dark") who, in their personal conflict, make Briar Rose the fulcrum of their success/failure. The dark witch was rather a conflicted soul; the writer of the play made it clear there was personal bitterness between the sisters. "I am who I was made to be" I think was a line repeated more than once. I don't think I'm quoting it correctly.
Anyway, after that we went to the Pacific Science Center and goofed off there for a bit. I don't know what the most popular exhibit was for the kids, but I was having a good time looking at the digital human scans/3D computer anatomy.

And now I am wondering why I'm sitting here fully dressed when I could be in jammies with a bowl of popcorn......or, ooo, hot chocolate, that sounds even better. The kids are watching Lilo and Stitch and I just might go watch it to see Lilo educating Stitch on how to be a model citizen like Elvis.

yeeeeep.... 31 days

Amendment to my post earlier: it's raining. So now we're at 31 days of rainfall.

here comes the rain again

Well. I woke up at 4:30 this morning, flopped around until 5:30, gave up sleeping as a hopeless endeavor, and came out to the living room to tidy up, do some laundry, make some coffee, read my BIBLE WITH NO INTERRUPTIONS and in general have some alone time.

I will pay for this substantially later on, I know, but for now, it's all good.

I love having a laptop with a wireless connection!

My new thing:

South Sound Classical Choir! I love this so far. I've been to two rehearsals and we're doing some lovely works:

1. Awake The Harp, Haydn (from The Creation)
2. O Domine Jesu Christe, Palestrina
3. How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place, Brahms
4. Zion's Walls, Copland
5. The Last Words of David, Thompson
6. Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace, St. Francis of Assisi, music by Rutter
7. Libera Me, Faure (MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE - incredibly rich melody in Dm)
8. "See, the conqu'ring hero comes!" from Judas Maccabeus, Handel (you might recognize the tune in your hymnal as Thine Be the Glory)
9. "Sing unto God" (also from Judas Maccabeus)
10. In Paradisum (from Requiem), another Faure.

57 people in this choir, and it is bone-chillingly beautiful. The choir already knows Awake the Harp and Zion's Walls, but the other 8 songs they are just beginning to learn so I'm not too far out of it. Fortunately I sightread well and I'm a pretty quick study. Still, this isn't going to be a cakewalk; I am way (!) out of vocal shape. Where did my breath support go?! It'll come back, though.

And another nice thing is I'm being exposed to composers I'd only heard of (Faure) and now I want to hear more more more.

Now, technically I think our rainy streak ended at 27 days, because Sunday at SeaTac they didn't get enough to measure. BUT it rained in Puyallup. So though "officially" the streak has ended for Seattle, it hasn't quit here; although yesterday there was some occasional (very occasional) sunshine. And oh yes, rain. Looking out the window right now in the early morning light: ground is wet, but I don't see any drops splashing in the puddles in front of my house right now. So as of yesterday, 3o days of rain in Puyallup. Gads. I need a light box, therapy, something. I mean, for a California girl, I'm pretty acclimated to the Pac NW now, but this is getting very challenging. I'm having pity on those with S.A.D. I can fully understand the desire to move to Tuscon. Get back, Jo Jo. (gratuitous Beatles reference).

Hm. almost 8 am. Still silent in the recesses of the house. Better grab myself another cuppa before A wakes up and filches his 75% of the Daily Brew. (Sideline comment: I love the word filch. And I love the character Argus Filch in the HP series - well no, not the character, but his name is just so darn appropriate, KWIM? Argus, the mythological creature of thousands of eyes; Filch, to take, steal, commandeer, what-have-you.....and you have the perfect name of the caretaker at Hogwarts who snoops around the halls and corridors looking for students who have fanged frisbees, dungbombs, etc.) That was a long parenthetical aside, boy howdy.

This am is our monthly Chapter meeting of the WSMTA. Business meeting at 9:30, then I have a student coming at 10:30 to demonstrate the adjudications process with Dr J. My lovely student will play one of her pieces, then Dr. J. will demonstrate how/what an adjudicator will do. This will be very helpful for both me and my student: adjudications are new to me this year, as well as my student. So we get a free trial run, so to speak. Plus my student gets to skip classes at school, always a benefit! :) I think I'll get her a McD's Arch Card for her willingness to be a guinea pig.

I've babbled on long enough; time to refill my St. Elmo, CO mug and start the wakeup process of the rest of the family. Yeah, we get up late around here. Lazy Homeschooling family, u know.
I always sing the Silly Song "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" but make some changes:
We are the homeschoolers who don't do anything--
We just stay at home and lie around---
If you ask us to do anything...
We'll just tell you.....
We don't do anything!!

What a laugh though, our schedule is packed with lots of things! :)

Bumper Sticker Chuckle

You've all probably seen the bumper sticker that says "Run, Hilary, Run"

But what you DIDN'T know is that the target market is for BOTH Democrats and Republicans!

Democrats put it on their back bumpers--
Republicans put it on their front.

New Year, Restarting

I meant to post this last week but was too darn sore. I went to the gym last week and took the PowerFlex class for the first time in 3 mos. Wouldn't you know it, it involved tons of squats and lunges. That used to be my strong point; I could go on forever and carry on a conversation with the person next to me while the other fitness gods and demigods were dropping like flies.
NOT this time! It was starting from ground zero for me, like a year ago. Quivery and weak when finished. Ok, I can handle that, the key thing is to keep moving, right? So the very next day, I wasn't going to lift weights, oh no, I was just going to get a good cardio workout in the Cycling class.

*smacking head* LEGS, numbskull, LEGS.

Two hour-long classes in two consecutive days contrived to make me walk like Herman Munster. And excuse my lack of discretion, but THEEEEEE worst part was trying to sit down on the Necessary. Took me 3 days to get back to normal.

I waited until today before heading back to the gym, same class. This time I was more cautious, but the focus was more on upper body, chest, shoulders and arms. I can handle that. Who cares if I can't lift my fork to my mouth? That's a good thing, right? :O) And tomorrow I will be doing advanced step aerobics, not cycling (don't wanna get up that early).

Following the Powerflex class I met up with Audra for our weekly Starbucks encounter. I had the caramel apple cider drink. yum.

School today consisted of "art" and "organizational skills" - translated, clean your rooms OR ELSE.

25 straight days of rain here! The front yard feels like a sponge.

Ac-CEN-tuate the positive, E-LI-minate the negative...

So as I reflect over the last several days of SAHM bliss, I was thinking there wasn't a whole lot of bliss, rather, BICKER. So rather than post all of that, which is non-edifying and non-helpful, I will now be POSITIVE and CHEERFUL.

Having typed the above, I paused for a full 30 seconds to reflect.

I remember a quote from Nero Wolfe, I forget which novel, in which The Rotund One says (paraphrase) an optimist is perpetually disappointed. The pessimist is always pleasantly surprised.

So I guess I need to be more pessimistic about things.

On Sunday following the morning service I was talking with a lady, who in an offhanded way said that a friend had given her a newspaper clipping re: a local classical choir seeking new members. The friend told her, jokingly, she needed to join the choir and get a life. They meet Monday evenings at Aylen Jr. High. HEY! that's MY neighborhood. **I** need a life! So I phenagled the information from her and called up the director.

So last night I went to my first rehearsal with the South Sound Classical Choir. They do "real" music there! OOOOO! and I get to SING and not have to PLAY! OOOOOOOOOO! And it's CHALLENGING, not hokey! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And yes, the other lady came too and she also joined. So I have a Monday night outing now.

Must rework schedule for cleaning Dr J's though; I must say being out from 1-5, then again from 7-9 is not a good thing for my poor dear husband. Will try to do cleaning in AM, then homeschool in the afternoon, then sing in the evening.

```````````````````````````long time break inserted here; disciplinary issue. Resolved, yes; but a continuation of how this day has gone.

Argh!! I need to be more pessimistic about things! :)

where have all the days gone?

Yikes. Been over a month since I was last here! I can only say it's been CRAZY busy, starting the 2nd week of November and continuing on to now. It all kinda began with my friend Lavonne's wedding, with Thanksgiving Day close on its heels, and smooshed together with piano performances and recitals and shopping and losing presents (argh, more later), and reshopping and and and.... you get the picture.

Been challenging with my dear son as well. Hating to label people, I still need some way to help ME understand what is going on here. Coming to the conclusion that he may be labeled as ODD: Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

Traditional discipline does not seem to work with this child. I type this, weeping. I do not know how to raise my son. I do my best to live by and apply Biblical standards in the rearing of my children. I hold them to the two rules set up by God: Honor your parents, obey your parents. Straightforward, simple. But challenging--emotionally!--when there is little to no response when those rules are not followed and discipline ensues. I ask myself what am I doing wrong? what am I not doing? I come up empty. I persist, because I must do what I am called to do by God, to bring my children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

I grieve over this constantly. There's this whole Jeckyll-and-Hyde behaviour I see in him. I don't know what to do. I pray for God to change him. To change ME. But there's this latent scientist in me that wants to see a fixed outcome by following the procedures outlined in the Word. Hypothesis (if I follow the principles of the Word, my child will be obedient), procedure (follow the principles of the Word), record the data (my child is not obeying), interpret results (is my hypothesis therfore incorrect? Maybe I'm asking the wrong questions) =conclusion (Either God's Word does not work, which cannot be - or my hypothesis is wrong--which
is likely.)

Here's where the arminians and Calvinists chime in on the nature of sin and mankind.

On to the fluff side. Last night I was planning to go see my friend's daughter be a shepherd in a Christmas play. I missed the turn off to the subdivision where the play was being held (in someone's home) - and when I pulled into a parking lot to make a phone call to ask for further directions, I knocked one of my contact lenses out!

I was unable to find the lens in the darkness of my van (my van has no overhead lights; I took them out because of too many dead batteries caused by leaving doors open, etc) - so I made one last attempt to find the place, which I quickly abandoned, because all the headlights, taillights, and stoplights looked like so many glowing dandelions or dahlias in my fuzzy vision. I left a message explaining my predicament to my friend and carefully drove home, accompanied by the wails of my daughter, who was sorely disappointed to miss the play.

Today is the last day of school before Christmas vacation.........IF my children get to the 25% mark in LA, History and Math. S is close. D has like 3 maths left. History I'm not sure what's left. We'll see,. it's been a challenging morning.

It's COLD HERE! I'm going for a sweater.

It's been a hard day's day

Note the time of this post: 8:06 pm PST. We just finished school for today. Actually, it's more of a "fiat" finish (you know, like "fiat money" - valuable just because the gov't says so..... so this is a "fiat" finish to school in that I have declared WE ARE DONE FOR TODAY.") In reality The Schedule dictates that there is still science and art to accomplish, BUT NOT NOW. I have had quite enough, thank YOU!

The day was rather hashed up, though. The kids had a 12:30 picture appointment, I had a 1 pm hair appointment, and I was out this AM until after 11. So school didnt really BEGIN until 11:20. And like the Energizer Bunny, it just kept going, and going, and going.....interrupted by various and sundry Important Things. (I have been reading A.A. Milne, author of Pooh, who Capitalizes Important Ideas like the above).

I dunno if it's the cache of Halloween candy david found, or what, but the kids for the last two days have been like Tiggers. Driving me BATTY!! This house isn't big enough to contain all the kinetic energy - not to mention potential energy -- contained in two primary aged kidlets.

And did you know my new haircut makes me look "old"? :p Not my age, 35, but more like 40 or so. So I have been told.

And I thought I looked perky.

Oh well, at least the grey is gone!

Now, where is that Halloween candy? I need some of that to jazz me up a notch!

I know I did other things today, but you really don't want the details of blanching and cutting corn from the cob to get it ready to freeze in packs. I will finish the task tomorrow (LORD WILLING!!)

I have also made it to the gym 3 days straight---EXCEPT for today. And tomorrows not looking too good either. But i was proud of myself last night. I made it through Delaina's Cycling class. Usually I start getting nauseated, blood pounding, lights flashing behind my eyes, about :40 into the ride. THAT DID NOT HAPPEN last night! WOOT! I was dripping quarts of sweat (excuse me, perspiration for the gentler readers), and I was physically challenged, but I never made it to that out of control level that characterized my rides back in January. February. March. etc. So either my fitness level has improved; or I didn't push myself as hard. :) I think partly the music she chose was rather in-your-face motivating, yeaaaaaaaahahahahahaaa GO GO GO. That really helps. Anyway I wanted to build on that success today, but alas, it was not to be.

Lori told me tonight (via IM) that I needed to read Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss. I have heard about this book for years but never found it (not looked really hard either!) but anyway.... I'm asking for it for Christmas. No doubt it will be a really convicting read! :)

Wow, in the time after dinner it took to finish school and me to blog, the dishwasher has stopped running. Yay!~ enough hot water to take a bath!! I am putting the spawn to bed and it's only 8:29 p.m.!! And I will eat popcorn and read a book! or maybe play Minesweeper!!

OH YEAH!!! I finally beat the game!! Twice, now.

*prideful*

minesweeper woes

Argh! I can't beat this game!! I seem to get down to the last 20-30 mines and then blow myself up.

Andy says he would have given up long before now. Then again, he beats this stupid game with relative ease. "It's just deduction!" he says, helpfully.


I had left the game up the other day, and A. had the screen cleared to the last two squares, where you'd have a 50-50 chance of choosing the wrong one....... so I finished the game and chose. Wrongly.

ARGH!!

SO I am on a quest ( and have been for the last two weeks or so) - BEAT THE GAME.

Maybe I should switch to Hearts for a while. NO. I must BEAT THIS GAME.

OK so I finished the Boston Jane series by Jennifer Holm. Overview: a girl from Philly goes to Washington territory to be the wife of a man who used to be her father's intern. She has attended finishing school. This leaves her ill-prepared for the realities of pioneer life. Because she was late in leaving Philly, her betrothed assumed she wasn't coming, and took off. So when she arrives in Shoalwater Bay (now called Willapa) - there is nobody to meet her.

It's rather amusing to see her struggle along, trying to live up to Miss Hepplewhite's standards when those standards are completely impractical for living /roughing it in the wilderness.

Still, this series misses on many counts. The native Chinook Indians are well-rounded characters - however, in contrast, Ms. Holm portrays thewhite men as flat, two-dimensional characters with the sole motive of acquiring the Chinook, Makah, etc. land, and putting the Indians together on one reservation. The only good white men are those who intermarry with the Indians, or adopt some of their culture. Sadly, there is a Catholic priest who makes the journey with Jane, with the stated goal of "converting the savages." He is portrayed as boring, witless, good enough in his own way, but like Miss Hepplewhite's guidebook for young ladies, his religion is immensely impractical in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. By the end of the first book he has made no converts. The Indians' spirit religion is shown to be superior.

Anyway, that's the jist of the first book. It's an amusing enough read; however, I came away with the impression that Ms Holm has very little use for "the white man's God."

There's also a weird subplot involving the ghost of one of Jane's traveling companions haunting her - tying into the Chinook belief that if you don't change your name following the death of a family member, you will be haunted by that person - The subplot resolved itself, somehow, but I wasn't quite sure of the mechanics behind it. At first Mary would haunt Jane with an angry expression, seaweed in hair, dripping wet and ice cold.......... but after Jane, at a point of crisis, resolves within herself that she might as well die in the Pac NW as well, it's no point to go on living in this hell.......then Mary appears to Jane as happy, bright and shining.......and never haunts Jane again. I mean, what was the point in that?! Jane had to decide life wasn't worth living for the ghost to leave her alone? I totally didn't get the reasoning there.

Anyway.

It's 10 am and time to start school.

a good week

This week was a rather pleasant one, albeit hectic. Gma K was visiting us from MI, and the dear soul didn't want to add to my workload so she took us out for dinner frequently this week. She left this morning.

Today it was a blessing to make brownies and stromboli. Weird combo, but who cares.

Today we also went to the NW Captive Breeders Expo: Turtles, snakes, lizards, and other animals termed "exotic" by the powers that be. A walked out of there with two hatchling wood turtles, the final result of a trade that happened back in August. D was rather disappointed he did not get a snake; we told him there would need to be much more responsibility on his part before we'd consider it. I was noticing that the clientele of the expo was much more "mainstream" than in years previous: it used to be only freaking weirdos that came to these things. That element is still there, but there are many more average Americans attending now.

This afternoon was profitable as well; I planted some summer-flowering bulbs Audra had given me, cleaned out my planter baskets and barrels, and varnished Andy's outside office door. The kids went over to the park to play - a first, because they went together, without us along. The rules were to stay together, don't get wet, and be home in an hour.

After a while A and I realized we never looked to see what time it was when we sent them out, nor did either of the kids have on a watch. We walked over to the park to retrieve them, and met them as they themselves were wandering home.

Responsibility! I like it.

I'm also reading a fair bit of books lately; mostly in the YA age group. I finally read Holes by Louis Sachar. A well-crafted book. Ties up all the loose ends neatly, and overall a very good story. I have no idea how the movie based on this book turned out, though.

I also read Rodzina by Karen Cushman of The Midwife's Apprentice fame. She lives on Vashon now! Wow, a Newbery author, practically a neighbor. Anyway....... I thought this one was pretty good. Much better than her Matilda Bone or The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. Rodzina is a girl who was sent on the orphan train from Chicago to The West to find a family. Very interesting, and it tugged my heart a bit. Ms. Cushman always does her homework; there's nearly always a long list of resources she used at the end of each of her novels.

I was very disappointed in Sharon Creech's Absolutely Normal Chaos. I loved Walk Two Moons, but ANC was just......mediocre. A girl's junior high diary ramblings. It tries to be meaningful in the story of Carl Ray, but it never really touches the emotions. It depicts the ups and downs of junior high romance in a stilted, cliche way. It tries to be funny with the creative ways that Mary Lou tries to abridge her language after she is forbidden to say "God, " "stupid," or "stuff," but ends up being borderline blasphemous with her altering her swearing to "King of Kings," "Alpha and Omega," "Deity" and the like.

Though I must admit to enjoying her substitute for "stuff": quintessence.

Anyway. I have 3 more books (I think?) to read before next library day, and they're a series all from Jennifer Holm, who won the Newbery for Our Only May Amelia (a good book, and set here in the Pac NW)- the series is about Boston Jane, who is a "mail order" bride. I will let you know how it comes out.

OK stromboli must be about ready, and Im' sure the family is rawther hungry. adieu.

And Jennifer I am fine. Thanks for calling :)

"MOM PLease staY owT"

....this on a sticky note on the front door as I returned from a morning coffee with my friend Audra. I knock, because I don't want to ruin any nice surprise the kids have concocted for me.

D lets me in, timorously. My suspicion mounts. My ideas of kid-made surprises I might consider "nice" evaporate like so much dry ice. "Why did you want me to stay out?" I ask, thinking by now that i really don't want to know, and wondering just where in sam hill Andy is.

"Um....Sam threw Tang at my door. Don't kill us."

I know this is not the full story.

Come to find out, the kids had a Tang fight. David instigated it by dumping a glass on Sam while she was doing her math, and Sammie retaliated by throwing a glassful at D's retreating back as he slammed his door shut. D re-retaliated and doused her door accordingly.

Andy was blissfully taking a shower. The Tang fight happened in the five-minute window between Andy's stepping in and my coming home to a powder-blue sticky note. 5 minutes.

Calming breaths. Ohhhmmmmm....

SO our school (school comes in many forms, oh yesss, preciousss) consisted of murphy's oil soap, a sponge and a towel. The kids cleaned each other's doors. Then I had to shampoo the carpet (thankfully I have a Kirby with attachments).

There will no longer be any Tang in this house. (At least not for a LONG while.) So let it be written, so let it be done. <---(oblique reference to The Ten Commandments)

Shhhhhock the Monkey

I beat the monkey by 11 points.
Famous Trivia Quiz

........which isn't a whole heck of a lot of points, when ya come to think of it. It was a challenging trivia quiz for me, incorporating everything from Cs 137 to Ringo Starr.

"it's time to play the music..."

D & S are watching a DVD of The Muppet Show right now, before I make them practice their piano. I LOVE THE MUPPET SHOW. Another guilty pleasure.

We're slowly getting back into some type of routine, but I have discovered if I am not around in the AM, things just do not get done, school- or house-wise. Surprise, surprise. So i have axed my morning workouts at Bally's for the time being, and to tell the truth, I'm a little (lot) annoyed about it. Because SOMETHING IMPORTANT always comes up in the evenings so I can't go work out then either. Ergo, I am sitting here on my widening rear end, not exercising.

I hate feeling like the whole world depends on me to get it going! I need some "me" time. But not gonna get it, not tomorrow or Weds, that's for sure. Teach all day both days - first my own, then piano. *sigh*

So i'm escaping here to my own private idaho (a nod to the B-52's), with no solutions to my dilemma and feeling a little blue about it. It's a thankless job. I want to crawl in a hole, or, better yet, take a sun-drenched vacation. I feel like I have to sit in the presence of the kids during all their waking hours or NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. Aigh. Even paid laborers get mandatory breaks.

I think I'm about to say to heck with this and go out, who cares if it's 8:17 in the evening and exercising now would keep me awake all night.

But then nobody's piano would be done. I do not sacrifice 4 hours a week cleaning Dr J's for the kids NOT to practice.

BACK TO THE RESENTMENT. Things only happen if I'm here, and frankly, I feel like being a Maizie Bird. And if you don't know who/what that is, you need to seriously brush up on your Dr Seuss.

Yee-Haw!

You Are A: Pony!

Who doesn't love a pony? You are one of these miniature horses, renown for your beauty and desired by many. Full of grace, you are a beautiful and very special animal, full of strength and majesty.

You were almost a: Puppy or a Lamb
You are least like a: Groundhog or a KittenThe Cute Animals Quiz

all quiet on the western front

We are currently having a visit from Andy's dad from NY. So today they're all at the PDZA enjoying a field trip. Me, I went shopping all by me onesies. Groceries. woo. Still, the novelty of shopping alone is wondrous. Now I am cooking dinner in advance (enchiladas) so I can take a map. My current temp is 99.4. My piano students have shared their illness with me apparently.

Yesterday I taught straight through until 8:45 p.m. Oh, yeah, there were some breaks; however, between schooling my kids (10-12:45); piano students (1-5) ; making dinner (5-6); eating (6-6:45); cleaning up (to 7"15); then running the kids through piano practicing (7:30-8:45) - I collapsed in bed at 9:20 and didn't even read before going to sleep. Unreal.

So today is my day off.

Just got a phone call from the Zoo Excursionees - they are cold and wet. It started raining while they were there. This means hot chocolate. But I don't think I have any right now.

I'd better finish the enchiladas before the hordes arrive!

Spam Spam Spam Spam

You know I really thought I was all alone in my little blog world--then Rebecca found me!--and now I check my comments AGAIN over the last couple of posts and I find that even HERE people are shilling for their little pseudo-businesses in my comments section.

Friends and relations and perfect strangers take note: you are welcome to share your opinions and agree or disagree with whatever I'm nattering about on any given day. You may even provide a link to your own blog if it is relatively PG rated and dealing with your OWN thoughts and opinions. However, DO NOT come here and shill for your personal companies.

This has been a public service announcement. Return to your lives, citizens.

September Morn

Ahhh it's getting brisk outside! It was 41 according to the Weather Channel Online this morning. Andy started a fire in the fireplace; Sammie's snugged up with him in his La-Z-Boy. Cinnamon rolls are in the oven, coffee is hot......life is good.

Recovering from our 2-week van trip from WA to CO. I got home one week ago yesterday and I am still tweaking the routine around here to incorporate school, piano practice (for three people), exercising at the gym, and home and wifely duties. Varying degrees of success in each category. The kicker is I'm still waiting for our school mat'ls to arrive: K12 lost our application and I had to redo everything the evening we returned from vacation. All the applications have now been processed and the kids are both enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy, but the books and matls are somewhere in between VA and WA. That's a lot of ground to cover; however, I do expect the Brown Truck to appear sometime today. (Please, Lord!)

In the meantime the kids are doing school with some extra materials I have, so they're not just sitting around goofing off. (Though yesterday they were goofing off with school books in front of them. >:O )


I've been requested to come and enjoy the fire while it is still radiating a bit of heat. So off I go.

so there.

Andy says to me this morning, "So, basically, all you do is link to other articles and add 3 lines of commentary?"


YES, that's all I do. It takes too long sometimes for me to come up with something cogent about what's happening in Life, so I just record the news of the day and move on.

So Andy, just for you: (since you alone read this)

I am starting to come out of the fog following NBT and the subsequent mandatory July 4 celebration at our home. I have been emotionally and physically exhausted. Can't even sit to read books for very long because I fall asleep. I've been dealing with keeping the kids away from a grouchy, in-pain husband so they do not awaken his wrath, while striving myself to avoid same. Take your vicodin and be nice, or go sit in a room by yourself. sheesh. eggshell walking is no fun for anyone.

I have to plant a garden. Recognizing that we will be gone the first two weeks of September, prime harvest time. However, since we are planting the garden so late, it's entirely possible that nothing will be even READY until we return from our vacation in CO. In which case we'll have about 3 weeks of harvest and then a frost.

That last paragraph is riddled with fragments.

I have to make a beachy wedding cake for next weekend, so I need to find some palm tree looking things, make some chocolate shells and starfish, and find some metallic blue aquarium foil to cover a cake board. This needs to be done on the weekend, because next week I start teaching again and I want to have the externals done in advance of Thursday/Friday when I start baking.

My van is filled with recyclables from NBT - so there's 2 weeks worth of stuff in there that needs to go.

Meanwhile I'm sittin in my jammies, posting for the sake of posting. Blah.

6 days until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out. So I'd better bake that cake on Thursday so I can read the book on Friday.

My predictions: (partially based on seeing the back cover of the American edition)

1. There will be a death at Hogwarts. There's a Dark Mark in the sky above what looks like the Hogwarts grounds, and we all know that Death Eaters would shoot that into the sky whenever they killed.
2. Ron and Hermione will come to some sort of understanding. They are not the one/s killed.
3. Dumbledore will have to die - whether in book 6 or 7 I don't know. But he's the only one Voldemort fears, and Harry will have to come into his own by losing that protection Dumbedore gives.
4. There will be some sort of showdown involving Harry, Voldemort, and Snape. Snape will probably save Harry's life and/or vice versa. Snape and Harry will come to a cessation of hostilities.
5. Petunia Evans Dursley is a squib. Somehow or another she's brushed up with the wizarding world before, and not just because of her sister Lily.
6. Long shot - Harry becomes interested in Luna. C'mon, with a surname like Lovegood? Jo is Dickensian in naming her characters.
7. Percy Weasley is humbled and reconciled to his family.

Redneck Games

FOXSports.com - More Sports- Redneck Games are a good ol' time


Nooooooooooooooo thank you. I lived Down South for nearly 4 years. Celebrating butt crack? I don't think so. Parading and rejoicing in ignorance is not for me.

Yeah, so I'm a snob.

I need to rename my blog to something like "The Missing Finger"

WFTV.com - News Of The Strange - Woman Says She Found Fingertip In Applebee's Salad


Egads, another one!

Yeah, but what do their yards look like?

FOXSports.com - Lawn mowers not just for chores anymore I thought this was a Worth1000 Photoshopping contest, but NOT SO!

If NASCAR is for the beer-and-chilidogs crowd, then what breed of human would watch this?

Still, it's funny enough to me that I'd probably watch it at least once......so perhaps it's for the quirky college-educated quasi-intellectual types?

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | 'Berlusconi's fat' moulded to art

Does this give you the creeps as much as it does me?!
GAG ME.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | 'Berlusconi's fat' moulded to art

New York Daily News - Stanley Crouch: The descent of Michael

New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - Stanley Crouch: The descent of Michael

All those people protesting outside the SB County Courthouse, insisting that Michael is innocent... should at least examine this article - are they basing their judgment on the facts of the case, or are they simply honoring a man's ability and talents and concluding he can do no wrong?

I'm reminded (since I just reread the book) of Book 4 in the Harry Potter series where Ludo Bagman, on trial before the Wizengamot for passing secret Ministry information to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named - essentially gets off because 1.) he's an idiot and didn't suspect his father's best friend of being a spy for Voldemort, but more importantly, 2.) because he plays on England's Quidditch team and helped them win a very important game just before the trials began.

Let's hope the jury keeps the focus on the facts, not the fans.

Mall Reflections

I was out last week. All by me onesies! Andy took the dear kids to Mt Rainier and I WENT SHOPPING with my birthday money. It was peaceful! Quiet! nobody badgering me to BUY THIS BUY THAT CAN I HAVE THIS WHY NOT?

I had the most opportunity for people watching at the mall. I went to Costco first, but those people fall into my range of normalcy, so I didn't witness anything too odd (to me) there. But the mall, however, draws people of all walks of life.

At one point I saw Lily Munster. I swear! She was in her late 50s-early 60s; about 5 feet tall, long black hair with streaks of grey; defined cheekbones and sharp jaw, and the heavy eyeliner/shadow--it made me do a (mental) doubletake.

On my way out I was reflecting on the current trend for women to wear low-rise jeans with cropped t-shirts. It doesn't seem to matter nowadays if you have a doughnut around your middle that flops over your jeans, just let it all ooze anyway and strut yourself! Be proud of Who You Are! And flaunt all your...assets! As I was pondering such things, I had to do a hard stare. Walking about 50 feet ahead of me was a well-fed woman in her early 20's who was wearing jeans and a crop top. What made this rather interesting is that the belt she used to cinch her pants to her body was a pale pink/flesh color. So from a distance, it looked like she had about 2 inches of crack showing before her jeans began. I chuckled to myself when I figured out a second later that the "crack" was, in reality, a belt loop. It was cursedly inconveniently placed though!

I briefly considered buying a "Vote For Pedro" button but decided against it. Napoleon Dynamite is a guilty pleasure. It's a stupid movie, but it makes me laugh anyway. "Tina! Come eat some HAM!" --side note, That should be the topic of another post: guilty pleasures.
heh.

My bathtub water is getting cold. The kids are supposedly staying in their rooms so perhaps I can leave my post now and relax. However, it's never a sure thing; last night Sam came in at midnight to tell me she couldn't sleep...thereby waking me out of a sound sleep. then of course they stay in bed today until 9:45 am. I must get better at getting this family UP and AT 'EM; otherwise they'd stay in bed all day. (Yes, even you, Andy.) it's difficult though, if I leave the house at 8:15 to go to the gym...
ah heck with it, I can't control everything, and I'm not responsible for everything. I do what I can, and hose the rest.

There.