Five degrees outside, but still another beautiful morning here!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Cold and snow are here!
There was snow on the ground when we woke up, and it's been snowing very lightly all morning. I'm guessing we have 3-4". The public schools called off today, but I'm not sure why. It doesn't seem that cold, but maybe they were expecting a lot of snow? The chickadees have been crazy all morning, I think they actually LIKE this weather! These are the two birdfeeders that are right outside the dining room window.Meanwhile, we're having school. One of the downs to homeschooling, I suppose! But I don't want to get off schedule, and I'd rather count a day now than tack one on in the spring. Because Robert is off on Thursdays and because Holly had a riding lesson scheduled, I already have a Game Day planned for tomorrow. I postponed her riding lesson until next week when it should be warmer, and since we'll be playing games for most of school, I didn't want to move things off today's calendar and overload the rest of the week!
Everyone wants to be in the blog
After seeing my mom's and dad's pics yesterday, my sister sent me an e-mail asking if she can get in. I'm beginning to think they should make their own blogs! Oh so conveniently (grin!), Lori has no recent pictures of herself, but she does have one of her dog.Her dog Friday is a "Cesar" dog, trained by Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan. Friday had some major issues and no real hope of ever being adopted into a real home. He was living with Cheri Lucas's no kill Second Chance at Love Humane Society. Cesar is friends with Cheri and took Friday on. Lori found Friday shortly thereafter and adopted him. Earlier this summer, Cesar and Friday were guests of honor at a fundraiser for the shelter. Cesar was very, very happy to meet up with Friday again!
Really cold weather coming, and our tree is up!
The storm started coming in late this afternoon, and it began snowing lightly before 8 p.m. The temp already dropped into the teens. Apparently, my end of the county is under a weather watch or warning, with up to 5-8" of snow expected tomorrow. We'll see. Usually, this is pretty cold to get much snow. On the plus side, I don't have to go anywhere. Trevor restocked our woodpile over the weekend. He did a terrific job, and I appreciate just having to step out the door to get wood.
We finally decorated the tree tonight, yippee! Robert does almost all of the other decorating. We just enjoyed the presence of this company (grin). Trevor amused himself with his Spiderman ornament, hanging it on every possible surface he could find. This left Holly and me to hang most of the ornaments, but we didn't mind!
And the finished tree. Robert likes to hang tinsel, and I'm happy to let him. But with our "new" kitties, who like to eat at the tree anyway, this is the second year our tree seems a little "bare." But I really like how the gold ribbon turned out, that was something new this year.
:)
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Here you go, Dad!
So I get an e-mail from my dad asking if he gets his picture in here too! :) This is from July when my dad and Sherry took us to Royal Gorge. It's very obvious that I need **complete** pictures--Dad and Sherry with the kids, Mom and Mike with the kids. Maybe next visits!
Update on my Mom and Mike
I just heard from my aunt that my mom and Mike got off island yesterday, deciding not to stick out the cold. So my mom called my aunt but not me!!! She will laugh when she finds out I was concerned. It's pretty fun to be grown up and still try to make my mom feel guilty! This would explain the drink in her hand . . . hahaha!!! I love you, Mom!!!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Monday, Monday
Wow, there are so many nice comments about my Pikes Peak pics! I am really surprised, I thought they'd be boring. I never expected such a response! It IS a gorgeous view. We also have clear shots of both Garden of the Gods and Cheyenne Mountain, but they are right between houses across the street. I should just crop out the houses and post.School wasn't as hard as I thought today, going back to work after a long weekend. We began reading Hittite Warrior, which requires some concentration on Trevor's part. Holly wasn't thrilled at first--the story is about a boy (gasp!), but she changed her mind quickly. The only killer is that the book is due next week, and I know we won't be done with it. I hate reading through it quickly just to finish. We were off to a great start to the day, stalled big time by late morning, but caught up early in the afternoon. Whew!
I haven't heard from my mom at all. The news I've read online says that half the county is still without power and it may take until late tomorrow to get everyone back up. The HIGH for today and tomorrow is below freezing. Unbelievable. They have a wood stove, and I wasn't worried at all until I saw the temps a minute ago. Two years ago, during an unexpected cold spell, a frozen pipe burst, poured water into their upstairs bathroom until the well pump burned out, and caused horrible damage. They were gone at the time and returned a month later to find their upstairs ceiling all over their dining room, mold everywhere. I'm sure they are glad to be able to keep an eye on things. I was hoping they were enjoying "roughing it," but this is too cold to pretend it's fun. If nothing else, maybe they'll have some good memories out of it.
Robert doesn't like it at ALL when I try new recipes for dinner. So I figured why stop at just one. :) He's been wanting cauliflower for a couple of weeks, so I built the rest of dinner around a new cauliflower recipe and tried a new pork recipe and new salad dressing recipe. I think we were all surprised that dinner turned out as well as it did. It was a huge hit!
The menu:Citrus Grill Pork Loin
Browned Cauliflower
Spinach with Warm Balsamic Dressing and Mushrooms
french bread
**
The kids and I sampled this pork recipe at Sam's Club last week. I already had the spice, since I'd sampled it with fish awhile ago at Sam's Club.
CITRUS GRILLED PORK
2 T. oil
1 pork loin, cut into 1/4" slices (I used 4 already-cut pork chops), trimmed
Durkee Citrus Grill Spice
pepper
1/3 c. orange juice
1/3 c. chicken broth
Heat oil in large skillet to medium heat. Sprinkle both sides of pork with Citrus Grill and pepper. Sear pork on both sides until browned. Add orange juice and broth to pan, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until cooked through, about 6 mins.
**
Trevor liked the cauliflower too, and we ate it all.
BROWNED CAULIFLOWER
3 T. olive oil (I used regular canola and it was fine)
1/4 t. hot red pepper flakes
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cauliflower trimmed into 1" chunks
1/2 t. salt
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add red pepper flakes and garlic, and add cauliflower. Sprinkle with salt and cover. Let cauliflower cook, giving the pan an occasional shake, for 4 mins. Remove cover and toss everything together well. Cover and cook 3 more mins., then toss well again. By this time, the cauliflower should be starting to brown. If not, turn up heat. Cover pan again, let cauliflower brown slowly, and toss every few minutes until cooked and browned, 12-15 mins. total time.
**
The salad was okay, too vinegary, so I won't make it again. But it was definitely edible.
Tomorrow will be the last of our "nice" weather. "Nice" is relative, it's way too cold for me now, in the 40s. Brrrrr! At least I'm not on an island without power in below freezing temps . . .
Quote of the Day
Regarding his fans:
"...there are some who don't want me to play anymore, but I can't control their thoughts unless I play well."
Broncos QB Jake Plummer, who's not doing any mind control lately and will NOT be starting this weekend.
"...there are some who don't want me to play anymore, but I can't control their thoughts unless I play well."
Broncos QB Jake Plummer, who's not doing any mind control lately and will NOT be starting this weekend.
Sunday miscellanea
Beautiful morning, wasn't it?!
Holly and Trevor have hit holiday mode. I am not ready to start back to school tomorrow. AACCKKK! We put off major tree decorating until tomorrow night. Robert put the lights on the tree, plus put lights on one more tree outside, and he went to Walmart THREE times to buy more lights between 5-8 p.m. Instead of using garland this year, we bought wide gold ribbon. It looks great, and I can say that even though I put it on the tree. It sounds like we are moving very slowly, but Robert did other decorating today too.
As I typed up our school schedule for the week, I realized much my husband has helped our science study this year--even though he does none of the teaching. The kids are using Zoology 1 from Apologia's Elementary Science, flying creatures. So far, they've just learned about birds. The optional projects have included building a bird feeder and suet feeder; building two (more) identical bird feeders, filling with different seed to determine which seed local birds prefer; building a bird bath; setting up two identical baths, one on the ground and elevating the other to determine which birds prefer; making two identical bird houses painted different colors to see which the birds choose; and building another kind of birdhouse.
I don't like activities like this; I loathe them. I hate messy stuff that can't be done quickly, and I don't like doing things when I have no clue what I'm supposed to do. Build a birdhouse? Me? One of the first projects was to make two gliders (basically paper airplanes) with different wingspans (or something), and I couldn't even pull that together. This year's curriculum would be a giant flop if it weren't for Robert's efforts (unknown to him as they might be).
He already had a lot of these things set up around our yard, long before he knew what the kids would be studying. (I'm willing to bet that he still doesn't know what they are studying!). We have two great bird feeders right outside our dining room windows--and a suet feeder. We don't have bird baths at different levels, but Robert built a stream and pond in our backyard, so we've watched birds bathing in the stream for a year or two. One of the kids has made a bird house in the past.
So Holly and Trevor didn't actually DO these projects. It's not like they would have done them if Robert didn't have this already set up. But they can enjoy what's been done and can learn. Because the activities are optional, I don't feel guilty about the other things we haven't done. It wouldn't work well if they did nothing at all though. We have a field guide and binoculars set up right by the dining room window, and the kids are very familiar with the birds that visit. But of course, you can't ask me what kind of birds they are. I have no idea.
To be fair to myself, we have done several of the activities, including an experiment demonstrating how air pressure works, going on a nature scavenger hunt, examining different bird feathers, waterproofing feathers, and more. I would say I like science in general, and this is by far my favorite science curriculum out of the half dozen or so that we used. We did Astronomy last year and we did all of those projects.
I'm looking forward to next year when Holly moves into a higher level of science. I've already asked Robert if he'll work on that with her. I've told him what a great bonding experience it will be for both of them. Do you think they'll believe it?!
* * *
It seems like a lot of people have commented in the past few months how tall Holly's grown. Of course I don't really notice, since I'm around her all the time. For the past year or so, if I help her with her hair, I will have her stand on a step lower than me so I can see the top of her head. I finally measured her today--5'3". She has some tall friends and she has some short friends. She's 12, and to me, this seems like a regular height. When I was 13, I was 5'6". For the most part, I've always liked being tall, and I usually feel intimidated when I'm around women who are taller than I am. I hope Holly likes being tall as she gets older too. Based on the heights of our families, we are thinking she has another 5-6" to go.
* * *
My mom lives part time on an island in NW Washington state. The weather's usually gorgeous --they are in a "banana belt" that doesn't get the rainfall associated with that area. She's there right now, and I found it funny when it started snowing there this morning. I even teased her about the snow being no big deal--because the little bit of snow they get usually isn't a big deal. They have cameras set up around their property, and we can easily check in via the internet. It was even funnier to me a few hours later when she said they'd measured 10" in one spot on their property. I felt a little sorry for her when, apparently on the last legs on the generator, she e-mailed to say they'd been without power for two hours, and the generator was going down. Her cameras went down too, so I can't check in with her, but we did keep watch on various island cameras all afternoon. Most of them were covered with snow, so there wasn't much to actually see. Her local news is reporting 9" of snow in town. I can't wait to hear about all of this directly from her! My cousins in Mount Vernon also sent pictures of the snow they've received today. It is really amazing that all of this info is instantly available with just a few clicks of the mouse, thanks to the internet.
Meanwhile, we had 50 degrees, blue sky and loads of sunshine at the base of the Rockies . . . but I can't be too smug. This storm will be here later this week, and we'll be coooooold!
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Today was great!
Today was great. Holly and Trevor played at a friend's house. (THANK you, Kathy, more than you know!!!!) Robert was at work. I rarely get time like this alone, it happens maybe once or twice a year. I cleaned house yesterday so there was no excuse to stay home. I went shopping and got to listen to music *I* like in the car, and I got to listen to it very loudly.
I hit the-day-after-the-day-after-Thanksgiving sales today. I would never-in-a-million-years go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but today was great. I went to Kohl's and bought five different shirts, all for me: two fleece, two long sleeved white t-shirts, and a button up corduroy shirt/overshirt. The total was $50, plus I got $10 in Kohl's cash to use this week.
I went to Home Depot and bought dh's Christmas present. He's a good gift giver, but he's not a good gift receiver. He's made VERY sure I know exactly what he wanted me to buy. He's been waving the ad at me since Thursday morning. He's marked it with Sharpie and strategically placed it in front of my computer. Last night, he wanted to drive me to Home Depot so I could buy it for him. (I refused, poor guy!) He knows they were out of what he wanted, but I won't say here exactly what I bought. Stewing over it is good for him.
I went to the Family Christian Store and bought a couple of small things, picked up a book at the library, went to Vitamin Cottage and Petsmart, and I stopped to see Robert at work. That was even fun, being there without the kids. I went to the grocery store. The longest line I stood in had one person in front of me, and they were being waited on when I walked up. Traffic was normal. I think the crazies who were out yesterday were holed up at home today recovering!
Where did the time go? I was out for a total of five hours before I picked up the kids. Is it a little sad that I didn't buy anything for them? Really, I think they're covered, and I'm very happy with what I did buy. How often can I go clothes shopping for myself for 1.5 hours? :)
Robert put up the Christmas tree tonight. Usually I dread Thanksgiving weekend, since it's traditionally our decorating time. "Our" in this case means "Robert's" decorating time, really. I'm never too excited about an entire five plus weeks of decorations. But tonight was fun. A "loopie" friend's blog entry got me excited about our tree, and this was the first time I can ever remember actually helping put the tree together. (Thanks, Debbie!) Tomorrow the kids and I will decorate the tree. Robert looks forward to this. He doesn't like actually putting on the ornaments, so he supervises. He likes us to put them on and then he rearranges them when he thinks no one is looking. I like taking the ornaments out of the boxes and remembering where/when/how we got them.
A lot of houses already have up their Christmas lights. It seems really early. Robert and Holly sat on the porch, watching the neighbors lights, enjoying ours, and enjoying the cool sliver of moon that was out. The kids took turns playing on the computer, and when I could, I got on and put up the Christmas countdown thing on the sidebar. Playing with the template and all that stuff is half the fun of blogging! Holly gets to stay up a little later on Saturday nights, and the two of us watched Little House on the Prairie. While the show is entertaining, it kills me to see how far they deviated from the books. Everyone else is asleep, and it's time for me to get some ice cream!
Today was great!
I hit the-day-after-the-day-after-Thanksgiving sales today. I would never-in-a-million-years go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but today was great. I went to Kohl's and bought five different shirts, all for me: two fleece, two long sleeved white t-shirts, and a button up corduroy shirt/overshirt. The total was $50, plus I got $10 in Kohl's cash to use this week.
I went to Home Depot and bought dh's Christmas present. He's a good gift giver, but he's not a good gift receiver. He's made VERY sure I know exactly what he wanted me to buy. He's been waving the ad at me since Thursday morning. He's marked it with Sharpie and strategically placed it in front of my computer. Last night, he wanted to drive me to Home Depot so I could buy it for him. (I refused, poor guy!) He knows they were out of what he wanted, but I won't say here exactly what I bought. Stewing over it is good for him.
I went to the Family Christian Store and bought a couple of small things, picked up a book at the library, went to Vitamin Cottage and Petsmart, and I stopped to see Robert at work. That was even fun, being there without the kids. I went to the grocery store. The longest line I stood in had one person in front of me, and they were being waited on when I walked up. Traffic was normal. I think the crazies who were out yesterday were holed up at home today recovering!
Where did the time go? I was out for a total of five hours before I picked up the kids. Is it a little sad that I didn't buy anything for them? Really, I think they're covered, and I'm very happy with what I did buy. How often can I go clothes shopping for myself for 1.5 hours? :)
Robert put up the Christmas tree tonight. Usually I dread Thanksgiving weekend, since it's traditionally our decorating time. "Our" in this case means "Robert's" decorating time, really. I'm never too excited about an entire five plus weeks of decorations. But tonight was fun. A "loopie" friend's blog entry got me excited about our tree, and this was the first time I can ever remember actually helping put the tree together. (Thanks, Debbie!) Tomorrow the kids and I will decorate the tree. Robert looks forward to this. He doesn't like actually putting on the ornaments, so he supervises. He likes us to put them on and then he rearranges them when he thinks no one is looking. I like taking the ornaments out of the boxes and remembering where/when/how we got them.
A lot of houses already have up their Christmas lights. It seems really early. Robert and Holly sat on the porch, watching the neighbors lights, enjoying ours, and enjoying the cool sliver of moon that was out. The kids took turns playing on the computer, and when I could, I got on and put up the Christmas countdown thing on the sidebar. Playing with the template and all that stuff is half the fun of blogging! Holly gets to stay up a little later on Saturday nights, and the two of us watched Little House on the Prairie. While the show is entertaining, it kills me to see how far they deviated from the books. Everyone else is asleep, and it's time for me to get some ice cream!
Today was great!
Friday, November 24, 2006
More Questions
Trevor: IF a venom spider bit you and it filled up your DNA, would you be able to do the same things as Spiderman?
Mom: I don't know. (Eyes glazing over.)
T: Because it happened to Spiderman.
Mom: I don't know. (Eyes glazing over.)
T: Because it happened to Spiderman.
Mandarin Salad Recipe
This has been our long time favorite holiday salad. I don't know why we "save" it for holidays. It's simple to make and really good.
Mandarin Salad
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3 T. sugar
1/2 head romaine lettuce, cleaned
1/2 head iceberg lettuce
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
Dressing:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 T. vinegar (I've used both white and cider)
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
dash of pepper
1 T. fresh parsley, chopped (I rarely have any on hand, so don't use)
dash of Tabasco sauce
In a small pan on medium heat, cook almonds and sugar. Make sure it doesn't burn. Stir constantly until almonds are coated and sugar is all melted. Cool and store in air tight container until ready to serve.
Whisk together all dressing ingredients and chill.
Mix lettuces, onion and celery. Just before serving, toss with dressing, and top with oranges and almonds.
The nuts and dressing are super easy to make a day ahead of time. Serves 6.
Mandarin Salad
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3 T. sugar
1/2 head romaine lettuce, cleaned
1/2 head iceberg lettuce
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
Dressing:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 T. vinegar (I've used both white and cider)
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
dash of pepper
1 T. fresh parsley, chopped (I rarely have any on hand, so don't use)
dash of Tabasco sauce
In a small pan on medium heat, cook almonds and sugar. Make sure it doesn't burn. Stir constantly until almonds are coated and sugar is all melted. Cool and store in air tight container until ready to serve.
Whisk together all dressing ingredients and chill.
Mix lettuces, onion and celery. Just before serving, toss with dressing, and top with oranges and almonds.
The nuts and dressing are super easy to make a day ahead of time. Serves 6.
Twenty Questions from an 8 year old boy
Trevor's been awake for less than an hour. So far, he's been asking me questions such as:
T: IF you could travel a million miles an hour and you hit a brick wall, could you go up the wall and turn around to go back the other way?
Mom: Yes. You would have to somersault when you hit the wall, because you couldn't turn your body on your own IF you were going that fast. (Okay, I know there are a million reasons why you couldn't do this, but that's not the answer he wants, and I've learned.)
T: IF you could inject yourself with a speed potion, could you go fast enough to move the air?
Mom: Yes, don't you remember the whooshing noise made by that thing you were swinging yesterday?
T: NO, could you move air fast enough to push someone else over?
Mom: Yes. (You think I'd know he just wants a yes/no answer.)
T: COULD you go through water fast enough then?
Mom: Yes.
T: WHAT if you put air into your veins, a needle in each arm and leg, would that make you go faster?
Mom: Air in your veins will kill you, so no.
T: BUT I thought you get air in your veins when you breathe.
Mom: Well, that's different, you can't put air directly into your veins.
Notes to self:
1. Start drinking coffee earlier in the morning.
2. Do NOT leave any needles out for the next few days.
T: IF you could travel a million miles an hour and you hit a brick wall, could you go up the wall and turn around to go back the other way?
Mom: Yes. You would have to somersault when you hit the wall, because you couldn't turn your body on your own IF you were going that fast. (Okay, I know there are a million reasons why you couldn't do this, but that's not the answer he wants, and I've learned.)
T: IF you could inject yourself with a speed potion, could you go fast enough to move the air?
Mom: Yes, don't you remember the whooshing noise made by that thing you were swinging yesterday?
T: NO, could you move air fast enough to push someone else over?
Mom: Yes. (You think I'd know he just wants a yes/no answer.)
T: COULD you go through water fast enough then?
Mom: Yes.
T: WHAT if you put air into your veins, a needle in each arm and leg, would that make you go faster?
Mom: Air in your veins will kill you, so no.
T: BUT I thought you get air in your veins when you breathe.
Mom: Well, that's different, you can't put air directly into your veins.
Notes to self:
1. Start drinking coffee earlier in the morning.
2. Do NOT leave any needles out for the next few days.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Giving Thanks
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Th 5:16-18
What a year this has been. One of my online friends commented about God's timing, and that couldn't hold more true than at my house. We have been so blessed. Robert and I are amazed by the grace of God's perfect timing in our lives, so thankful to be where we are (spiritually, not physically).
We had discussed earlier what to do for Thanksgiving, invite friends over or spend it alone. We decided to see Santa Claus 3 at the movie theater. It didn't get great reviews, but we enjoyed the first two and knew we had to see this one too. It was an okay movie. Parts of it were terrible, and parts I really liked. I'm not too discriminating--after all, I find Tim Allen entertaining! But I can't stand Martin Short. We had tried to go to the movies on Thanksgiving a few years ago, but whatever we'd planned to see was sold out. We were over-prepared today, buying tickets online ahead of time, getting there very early. The theater was only 1/4 of the way full, a nice surprise--and nice to not sit packed like sardines with a bunch of strangers too!
By the time we got home from the movie, we were in a push to get things ready for dinner. We'd already planned to keep it low key--roast turkey breast, our favorite mandarin salad, cheesy mashed potatoes, gravy, and Robert's cranberry nut bread. He made pumpkin pie and Holly made a triple chocolate brownie/fudge thing for dessert. I felt a little guilty that Robert did so much of the work, including setting the table early today. I remembered to get a shot, just as we were starting to put food out on the table. It looked so pretty! Thanksgiving for us is the "Christmas starts" signal, and we pull out the Christmas china. Since he finished putting up the outside lights/decorations yesterday, we have those on too. Every holiday, I think that we should eat in our dining room more often.
Here's the dessert Holly made. I "helped" by pouring the fudge sauce across the top, but I don't know how much "help" that really was.
Trevor was able to convince us to take a walk after dinner. This was quite a feat (his convincing, not our walking!), as we ate pretty late and had to put some things away before walking.
Later on, he decided that a not-very-loose-tooth HAD to go--and he successfully pulled it out. Ugh! I can't believe he really did it, it was not anywhere near being ready! He didn't even use pliers, haha!
Once more thing I know I'm thankful for: that tofurkey wasn't on our menu!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Th 5:16-18
*******
What a year this has been. One of my online friends commented about God's timing, and that couldn't hold more true than at my house. We have been so blessed. Robert and I are amazed by the grace of God's perfect timing in our lives, so thankful to be where we are (spiritually, not physically).
*******
We had discussed earlier what to do for Thanksgiving, invite friends over or spend it alone. We decided to see Santa Claus 3 at the movie theater. It didn't get great reviews, but we enjoyed the first two and knew we had to see this one too. It was an okay movie. Parts of it were terrible, and parts I really liked. I'm not too discriminating--after all, I find Tim Allen entertaining! But I can't stand Martin Short. We had tried to go to the movies on Thanksgiving a few years ago, but whatever we'd planned to see was sold out. We were over-prepared today, buying tickets online ahead of time, getting there very early. The theater was only 1/4 of the way full, a nice surprise--and nice to not sit packed like sardines with a bunch of strangers too!
By the time we got home from the movie, we were in a push to get things ready for dinner. We'd already planned to keep it low key--roast turkey breast, our favorite mandarin salad, cheesy mashed potatoes, gravy, and Robert's cranberry nut bread. He made pumpkin pie and Holly made a triple chocolate brownie/fudge thing for dessert. I felt a little guilty that Robert did so much of the work, including setting the table early today. I remembered to get a shot, just as we were starting to put food out on the table. It looked so pretty! Thanksgiving for us is the "Christmas starts" signal, and we pull out the Christmas china. Since he finished putting up the outside lights/decorations yesterday, we have those on too. Every holiday, I think that we should eat in our dining room more often.
Here's the dessert Holly made. I "helped" by pouring the fudge sauce across the top, but I don't know how much "help" that really was.
Trevor was able to convince us to take a walk after dinner. This was quite a feat (his convincing, not our walking!), as we ate pretty late and had to put some things away before walking.
Later on, he decided that a not-very-loose-tooth HAD to go--and he successfully pulled it out. Ugh! I can't believe he really did it, it was not anywhere near being ready! He didn't even use pliers, haha!
Once more thing I know I'm thankful for: that tofurkey wasn't on our menu!
******
Repeating it because it bears repeating:Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Th 5:16-18
Tofurkey?
What in the world is this, and why would someone want to eat it? If I eat meat, I would eat turkey. If I'm a vegetarian, why would I want to eat pretend turkey? BLECH! This seems too gross to contemplate!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Countdown to Turkey Day
It was another beautiful day! I don't think the heater even kicked on this morning, and it was almost 50 degrees outside when I woke up. Robert got a head start on Christmas lighting for the outside. He's given up on wrapping lights around the giant blue spruce, and this is the first year we haven't had lights on our house. This isn't bad--I'm soooo glad that I don't have to see him perched on a ladder, which is very precariously balanced on the roof over our garage. I always worry that he'll sneeze, lose his balance, and, well, it's a long and hard fall to the driveway. He decided to string a bunch of lights in the shape of a tall Christmas tree instead.
Trevor found I-don't-know-what, but boys will make weapons out of anything! (Why is this boy wearing long sleeves? Even I had a t-shirt on!)
He finally changed his shirt and took his remote control motorcycle out for a spin. See if you can click on the look on his face!
The halo effect I was aiming for didn't work, but it's a cute pic of Holly.
We got a lot of things done today. It seems like everyone is trying to beat the holiday rush. We went to the mall to find Robert a flasher bulb (or something like that for Christmas lights that he's been unable to find). He didn't find what he wanted, but the rest of us each bought a new pair of shoes. Later in the afternoon, we left the kids at home and just the two of us ran to the store. It was like a date, I love it when just the two of us are together, and that doesn't happen very often! Holly and Robert baked a pumpkin pie. I, of course, considered getting things done tonight instead of tomorrow, but I don't think that's going to happen!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Miscellaneous/Countdown to Turkey Day
Our new read aloud, Casting the Gods Adrift by Geraldine McCaughrean, is really terrific! This surprises me only because I've not heard of this book before. I love to read homeschool catalogs and consider myself a curriculum junkie. We've also been at this for quite a long time, and popular hs book titles are pretty familiar to me. I don't know how I found this particular book, but I've liked the author's other children's books in the past. We read through half the book today. It's about an Egyptian boy whose father makes frequent trips to Nubia, buying and taming wild animals before returning to Egypt and selling the animals. The boy's younger brother is blind, and their mother is dead. Through a series of events at the beginning of the book, the boys end up as guests of the pharaoh Akhenaten (considered a "god on earth" by the Egyptians). Akhenaten begins implementing laws to make Egypt monotheistic, which deeply disturbs the boys' father, who holds the traditional polytheistic beliefs. The book is a quick read but very detailed, one of the best we've read on this subject/time period ever. I'm looking forward to reading the second half tomorrow.
I DID get my Thanksgiving grocery shopping done today, yippee! Trevor was a BALL of energy, bouncing his way through the store. By the time we got home and I encouraged him to ride his bike or play basketball or jump on the tramp while I put groceries away, he claimed he was too tired. (eyes rolling)
Robert wasn't feeling great but agreed to pitch to Trevor in the backyard. Even Holly joined in briefly. We took turns shagging balls; once Trevor finds his rhythm, he's a pretty consistent batter.
Robert is DEAD set on repairing a hole in our siding--TOMORROW. He's had a specific saw-like tool out for over a month, planning to fix the hole. He couldn't find it anywhere. Robert's pretty meticulous (uh, that's a nice way of saying anal retentive), and he was on a mission to find this tool. He never seems to lose anything and even has a reputation within the family for finding any and all misplaced items, no matter who lost the item. I am sure he looked for over an hour before finding it in our mess of a basement. So now he's very happy that he can fix the siding tomorrow. Oh. I didn't mention that the hole in the siding has been there for FOUR YEARS. He just decided that tomorrow is that day that it will be fixed. :)
It's our tradition to put up all Christmas decorations the weekend following Thanksgiving. Actually, this is Robert's tradition, I don't do much decorating. In fact, in the past, he's made me promise often that I would decorate the house for the kids if anything ever happened to him! (Well, yes, then I would, since no one else would be doing it.) We're toning down the outside lighting this year (see the outdoor Christmas tree picture a few posts back, haha). Last night, he wrapped a new light string around a wreath, and the kitties have really been enjoying it. They seem to have acquired a taste for the light strands and were busy playing and chewing on the wreath. I didn't actually get a picture, but I did get Holly's cat Pumpkin licking her paws after eating the wreath.
You might have guessed that I am a Jeopardy fan. I don't get to watch it often enough, as we are usually eating dinner while it's on. We ate a little early, and I caught it tonight. It's a Celebrity Tournament week, and the contestants were actors Michael McKean and Hill Harper, and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. They dumb the questions down for celebrities, that's for sure. (Just an observation, not a judgement!) After all the reading I've done about the show, I know that a LOT of success depends on your ability to judge the timing when hitting your buzzer. Later on tonight, the national news radio blurb included Margaret Spellings placing 2nd on Jeopardy. She's pretty proud of herself for coming in 2nd, sharing that she "studied hard" and held her own. Well. Maybe so. But she came in behind the guy who played Lenny on from Laverne & Shirley. I don't really know what I think about THAT, but it kind of seems like that wouldn't be too hard!!
I DID get my Thanksgiving grocery shopping done today, yippee! Trevor was a BALL of energy, bouncing his way through the store. By the time we got home and I encouraged him to ride his bike or play basketball or jump on the tramp while I put groceries away, he claimed he was too tired. (eyes rolling)
Robert wasn't feeling great but agreed to pitch to Trevor in the backyard. Even Holly joined in briefly. We took turns shagging balls; once Trevor finds his rhythm, he's a pretty consistent batter.
Robert is DEAD set on repairing a hole in our siding--TOMORROW. He's had a specific saw-like tool out for over a month, planning to fix the hole. He couldn't find it anywhere. Robert's pretty meticulous (uh, that's a nice way of saying anal retentive), and he was on a mission to find this tool. He never seems to lose anything and even has a reputation within the family for finding any and all misplaced items, no matter who lost the item. I am sure he looked for over an hour before finding it in our mess of a basement. So now he's very happy that he can fix the siding tomorrow. Oh. I didn't mention that the hole in the siding has been there for FOUR YEARS. He just decided that tomorrow is that day that it will be fixed. :)
It's our tradition to put up all Christmas decorations the weekend following Thanksgiving. Actually, this is Robert's tradition, I don't do much decorating. In fact, in the past, he's made me promise often that I would decorate the house for the kids if anything ever happened to him! (Well, yes, then I would, since no one else would be doing it.) We're toning down the outside lighting this year (see the outdoor Christmas tree picture a few posts back, haha). Last night, he wrapped a new light string around a wreath, and the kitties have really been enjoying it. They seem to have acquired a taste for the light strands and were busy playing and chewing on the wreath. I didn't actually get a picture, but I did get Holly's cat Pumpkin licking her paws after eating the wreath.
You might have guessed that I am a Jeopardy fan. I don't get to watch it often enough, as we are usually eating dinner while it's on. We ate a little early, and I caught it tonight. It's a Celebrity Tournament week, and the contestants were actors Michael McKean and Hill Harper, and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. They dumb the questions down for celebrities, that's for sure. (Just an observation, not a judgement!) After all the reading I've done about the show, I know that a LOT of success depends on your ability to judge the timing when hitting your buzzer. Later on tonight, the national news radio blurb included Margaret Spellings placing 2nd on Jeopardy. She's pretty proud of herself for coming in 2nd, sharing that she "studied hard" and held her own. Well. Maybe so. But she came in behind the guy who played Lenny on from Laverne & Shirley. I don't really know what I think about THAT, but it kind of seems like that wouldn't be too hard!!
Monday, November 20, 2006
Countdown to Turkey Day
As you can tell, it was another beautiful morning here. The day was cloudy and overcast, which is unusual. We can expect cloudless blue skies almost every day, with a little bit of snow in between. It really is perfect weather. Today was pretty warm, in the 50s I think, and we should see 70s later this week!We don't have much planned for school, but I wanted to get in enough to count three school days this week. We're continuing the morning read aloud, in line with our current history, the Middle and New Kingdoms of Egypt. Trevor's working on skip counting, and both kids are focusing on Honor (Rom. 12:10b) and Doing Everything Without Complaining and Arguing (Phil. 2:14). Holly's finishing up one of her math books tomorrow, so both kids get a break on Wednesday and have no math. My other big reason for having school this week is to keep on track with history, or at least not get behind, and I'm taking advantage of these three days to review the Latin they've already learned, instead of rushing through a new chapter. Holly and Trevor both have quite a bit of "free time" scheduled too. (Oxymoron.) Trevor took advantage of his time to build a giant flying-Star-Wars thing (I'm woefully ignorant). Instead of reading to himself, he was allowed to continue writing his stories in his notebooks.
Even if Holly had no "free time," she'd choose to write. She's continuing her "D.L.," over 60 pages now. One of her writing programs this year is Learn to Write the Novel Way, which leads the student to write an entire novel during the course of the school year. While she has a story line for that and just began writing last week, I'm letting that fall by the wayside for her to continue this story. It certainly won't make any difference in the end, and it's exciting to see her working at this which comes so easily to her.
I did finish up the kids' Christmas lists over the weekend. But I still haven't figured out the plan for Thanksgiving. One of our SHS friends reminded us to take our frozen turkeys from the freezer to give it time to thaw. For at least the past two years, I've been caught at the grocery store, wanting to buy the frozen (translation: sale) turkey, but I was shopping too close to Thanksgiving for the turkey to thaw. You might think I'd live and learn. That assumption would be wrong! I'm hoping to get my shopping done tomorrow . . .
Book Review - Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris
After reading Ken Jennings' Brainiac, I found Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris, one of Jeopardy's top all time players. Bob is funny. And smart. But he's one of those people who doesn't have much motivation when it comes to life in general, and he's not wildly successful at whatever it is he does--including the stand up comedy circuit and repeatedly failing Jeopardy auditions.
The book outlines Bob's life growing up in Ohio, his ongoing relationships with family, girlfriends and other players, and his life as a whole. As an example of both Bob's lack of a life and obsession with whatever happens to catch his interest, to prepare himself for the Tournament of Champions, he replicates the conditions under which he will play. This means, that for four months, he even eats the same type of green room snacks and protein bars that he would eat on game day.
The only unfortunate thing about the book is that the publishing date was so close to Ken's book. Bob marches to a different drummer, he's likeable, and his slightly self-depracating humor is entertaining. Recommended as a good light read, if you might find the subject of trivia and Jeopardy mildly interesting.
The book outlines Bob's life growing up in Ohio, his ongoing relationships with family, girlfriends and other players, and his life as a whole. As an example of both Bob's lack of a life and obsession with whatever happens to catch his interest, to prepare himself for the Tournament of Champions, he replicates the conditions under which he will play. This means, that for four months, he even eats the same type of green room snacks and protein bars that he would eat on game day.
The only unfortunate thing about the book is that the publishing date was so close to Ken's book. Bob marches to a different drummer, he's likeable, and his slightly self-depracating humor is entertaining. Recommended as a good light read, if you might find the subject of trivia and Jeopardy mildly interesting.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Book Review
I'm wondering where I got the idea to read Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory by Randall Balmer. This book is a general survey of varied religious "events," from well known churches/pastors, to the annual Christian Booksellers Association conference, to how Christians play into GOP caucuses. I'm not sure how this mishmash made its way into a book, but the inside flap of the book flatters itself, claiming similarity to "an even-handed reflective series of New Yorker-like profiles." It's been updated, but I am reading the first edition.
I find it interesting that the author is now an editor for Christianity Today. While reading through the book, found him to be exceedingly smug and his dislike for Christians was glaringly apparent.
Definitely not recommended.
I find it interesting that the author is now an editor for Christianity Today. While reading through the book, found him to be exceedingly smug and his dislike for Christians was glaringly apparent.
Definitely not recommended.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Super Saturday
Holly's dance recital was this morning. She was AWESOME; all the girls did a marvelous job, and the teacher is amazing! Holly's been looking so forward to this and was so excited today. The class is through our co-op, nothing too formal, and the girls have not had a lot of classroom practice. There were seven different groups/classes, ranging from K-12th grade, and Holly's class danced to Rachael Lampa's Day of Freedom.
Robert couldn't come this morning. That left me to videotape Holly's group's program AND try to take pictures with my digital camera. Oh, and I was the "stage mom" too, waiting with the girls until they got on stage, and then I had to dash to the back of the room to try to find a good spot. Meanwhile, Trevor and Holly's friend sat in chairs waiting patiently (and Trevor was sooo good!) I tried my best with both the video and digital cameras, but I did a lousy job. I don't use the video camera often, it's sadly obvious. But I did remember to watch Holly, in between messing with both cameras! Later, we met Robert for lunch, all huddling around the camera to watch the videotape. My camerawoman "skills" are non-existent. :)
It was beautiful outside. I say that a lot; we have a lot of great weather. We were out by the Air Force Academy . . . only the best and the brightest, without a doubt!
We saw at least a dozen academy planes out flying. They fly when the weather's nice, and that's pretty often. There were several planes practicing taking off and landing. There were a couple of gliders out, with tow planes, and we saw a parachutist. Just one parachutist is unusual, typically we see a dozen at a time.
Tomato staking update: Sorry, Jodi, contrary to what you'd originally thought, dear, I do not live in an area with a looong planting season. (grin) I've not been good or consistent about keeping ds right close by. But he's not been allowed many privileges at all, very minimal tv (only as a reward), no Gameboy except for a short time today, no friends. He's been encouraged, and is more than willing, to help out with various things around the house. Things ARE improving, his attitude is much improved, and we'll stick with this for the next week plus, at least. In a nice twist, his two neighborhood friends are gone this week. It will be good for us to have Trevor stuck with us at home.
Procrastination update: After posting last night, I finally ordered my photos from our summer vacation. Hey, this is big for me! I spent forever trying to find a valid coupon code with no luck. I like the photo sharing option at Kodak, and I chose it because other family members use it too. But there's no store in my state to pick the photos up, so I had to spend over $7 to ship about $14 worth of photos. Sigh. My other alternative was to reload them all up to another website, so by then I figured I'd cut my losses.
This afternoon, I ordered our Christmas cards, woo-hoo! For the past couple of years, I didn't get this done until mid-December. That seemed to take forever too, checking out four different websites, looking at the costs, card choices, and message space. One more knock against Kodak. I can't remember if they had the usual 4x8 photo card option, but they were several times more expensive than the other places I checked.
Next to get done is pulling together Christmas lists for the kids. I have all sorts of scraps of paper in front of the computer, letters to Santa from Trevor, notes in my purse, and notes somewhere already typed in the computer. I still need to plan Thanksgiving dinner. I would love to get all of my Christmas stuff DONE before the end of next weekend. Am I hopelessly optimistic? (The general answer is: Yes.)
Robert couldn't come this morning. That left me to videotape Holly's group's program AND try to take pictures with my digital camera. Oh, and I was the "stage mom" too, waiting with the girls until they got on stage, and then I had to dash to the back of the room to try to find a good spot. Meanwhile, Trevor and Holly's friend sat in chairs waiting patiently (and Trevor was sooo good!) I tried my best with both the video and digital cameras, but I did a lousy job. I don't use the video camera often, it's sadly obvious. But I did remember to watch Holly, in between messing with both cameras! Later, we met Robert for lunch, all huddling around the camera to watch the videotape. My camerawoman "skills" are non-existent. :)
It was beautiful outside. I say that a lot; we have a lot of great weather. We were out by the Air Force Academy . . . only the best and the brightest, without a doubt!
We saw at least a dozen academy planes out flying. They fly when the weather's nice, and that's pretty often. There were several planes practicing taking off and landing. There were a couple of gliders out, with tow planes, and we saw a parachutist. Just one parachutist is unusual, typically we see a dozen at a time.
Tomato staking update: Sorry, Jodi, contrary to what you'd originally thought, dear, I do not live in an area with a looong planting season. (grin) I've not been good or consistent about keeping ds right close by. But he's not been allowed many privileges at all, very minimal tv (only as a reward), no Gameboy except for a short time today, no friends. He's been encouraged, and is more than willing, to help out with various things around the house. Things ARE improving, his attitude is much improved, and we'll stick with this for the next week plus, at least. In a nice twist, his two neighborhood friends are gone this week. It will be good for us to have Trevor stuck with us at home.
Procrastination update: After posting last night, I finally ordered my photos from our summer vacation. Hey, this is big for me! I spent forever trying to find a valid coupon code with no luck. I like the photo sharing option at Kodak, and I chose it because other family members use it too. But there's no store in my state to pick the photos up, so I had to spend over $7 to ship about $14 worth of photos. Sigh. My other alternative was to reload them all up to another website, so by then I figured I'd cut my losses.
This afternoon, I ordered our Christmas cards, woo-hoo! For the past couple of years, I didn't get this done until mid-December. That seemed to take forever too, checking out four different websites, looking at the costs, card choices, and message space. One more knock against Kodak. I can't remember if they had the usual 4x8 photo card option, but they were several times more expensive than the other places I checked.
Next to get done is pulling together Christmas lists for the kids. I have all sorts of scraps of paper in front of the computer, letters to Santa from Trevor, notes in my purse, and notes somewhere already typed in the computer. I still need to plan Thanksgiving dinner. I would love to get all of my Christmas stuff DONE before the end of next weekend. Am I hopelessly optimistic? (The general answer is: Yes.)
Friday, November 17, 2006
End of the week, yay!
Last night, Trevor decided to copy Holly and begin writing his own "D.L." "My D.L." stands for "My Dream Life" and is the title of a book that Holly is writing. She has a close friend who is also writing a book with the same title, and both books are what they imagine their lives to be like as grownups, complete with husbands, kids, horses and of course, each other as best friends. Both girls have written over 50 pages so far, in fact, I believe the friend has written 100.
I'm lucky. Holly is a gifted writer who's never needed much formal instruction in this subject. She's very auditory, and we've read hundreds of books over the years--even a couple thousand. She's always had a great imagination. She literally has over 60 notebooks containing stories she's started to write or story ideas. I cringe every time she buys a new notebook; they take up a lot of space.
So Trevor and Holly were working on their "D.L.s" last night. When I went to wake Holly up this morning, Trevor was still in bed--writing his D.L. They came downstairs and continued writing before school. When Trevor asked if he could write instead of do his independent reading assignment, you can bet I said yes. I moved everything I could off of his schedule so that he would write to his heart's content. So far, he's up to 7 pages. Not bad for an 8yo! Even if he stops tomorrow and doesn't write like this for a couple of years, I'm still thrilled!
I think the holiday season officially began late this afternoon. We ran out to the library, Sam's Club and grocery store. Only the library wasn't a zoo, although I still didn't get great parking. I am getting in lots of computer time tonight. Holly has a friend over, and I'm not interested in watching Shrek or Little House on the Prairie with them. I should be online ordering Christmas card photos, or working on the kids' Christmas lists, or even planning what I'm having for Thanksgiving. I should be getting my own holiday season started here . . . but I am SUCH a procrastinator!
I'm lucky. Holly is a gifted writer who's never needed much formal instruction in this subject. She's very auditory, and we've read hundreds of books over the years--even a couple thousand. She's always had a great imagination. She literally has over 60 notebooks containing stories she's started to write or story ideas. I cringe every time she buys a new notebook; they take up a lot of space.
So Trevor and Holly were working on their "D.L.s" last night. When I went to wake Holly up this morning, Trevor was still in bed--writing his D.L. They came downstairs and continued writing before school. When Trevor asked if he could write instead of do his independent reading assignment, you can bet I said yes. I moved everything I could off of his schedule so that he would write to his heart's content. So far, he's up to 7 pages. Not bad for an 8yo! Even if he stops tomorrow and doesn't write like this for a couple of years, I'm still thrilled!
I think the holiday season officially began late this afternoon. We ran out to the library, Sam's Club and grocery store. Only the library wasn't a zoo, although I still didn't get great parking. I am getting in lots of computer time tonight. Holly has a friend over, and I'm not interested in watching Shrek or Little House on the Prairie with them. I should be online ordering Christmas card photos, or working on the kids' Christmas lists, or even planning what I'm having for Thanksgiving. I should be getting my own holiday season started here . . . but I am SUCH a procrastinator!
A Regular Thursday
It was a gorgeous day outside, clear, blue sky, and I think it hit 60 degrees. Last year for Christmas, Robert strung about a dozen strands of lights on a large pine tree in our front yard. It was quite a feat--the tree must be 25-30 feet tall. Our ladder isn't. He braced the ladder against the tree (and nothing else), and I "helped" by using a loooooong tree branch cutter that he'd jerry-rigged to hold up the wire. Along with a lot of lights, it took a lot of time and effort. It looked great! He's left the lights in the tree all year--and I suppose it's NO surprise that they won't all light now. I think he's given up on the tree. I'm not sure what he was doing on the ladder in this picture. I didn't want to know. I was inside doing school with Trevor, becaues I hate to watch Robert do stuff like this. Instead, he's decorated a tree in our backyard with giant ornaments, lights and more, and I'm sure I'll get a picture posted soon.The morning flew, and we took Holly out to her riding lesson. She's learning how to jump, having a blast, and doing a good job! Trevor had basketball tonight, but none of my pictures turned out that well. Surprisingly, the kids aren't sick yet of me dragging out my camera everywhere, lol.
Book Reviews
I read a lot. I enjoy reading, and even though my time is stretched thin, reading is a priority for me. I've linked several of the books I've read recently on the sidebar, and I think I'll begin posting brief reviews for each of the books I've read.
I finished Anne Tyler's Digging to America tonight. I have always enjoyed her books in the past, and that's why I chose to read this one. I like her writing style, and it's easy for me to get wrapped up in her stories. This book wasn't up to par. It seemed very average, and I'm not sure I would have even finished it if I weren't expecting something bigger, better. It's loosely about two families who both adopt girls from Korea and meet each other at the airport when their children arrive in the U.S. One couple is a younger, yuppie-sh Iranian family; the other is older, more overprotective, with a perfectionist wife, and the couples become friends. The story is disjointed and details only specific events over the course of several years, mostly the annual "Arrival Party," which takes on more importance than the girls' birthdays. Each of the two couples has a widowed parent that begin dating each other, which is a secondary storyline. It was an okay book overall, but not anything I would recommend.
The Brethren by Beverly Lewis is the third and final book of her Annie's People series. While I've never gotten into many of her older books, I have enjoyed her latest couple of series. All take place in Amish Country, and there's always an underlying theme about the redemption of Jesus. Good series, and if you are interested in learning about Amish culture (I am!), I recommend the series.
On Gold Mountain by Lisa See is a true account of her family, beginning with her g-grandfather's immigration from China in the 1800s. She intertwines her Chinese background with California history as her g-grandfather travels from San Francisco to Sacramento and finally settles in Los Angeles. Her extended family plays prominently in the book. Also interesting is the fact that her g-grandfather, grandfather and father all married Caucasian women, certainly not the norm for the times. Shortly before this, I had read her fictional Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which I really liked and led me to this book. I've always been fascinated by the older Chinese culture. While both of these books are very different, I would definitely recommend.
Earlier this year, we enjoyed watching Ken Jennings' run on Jeopardy. He was such a likeable, nerdy kind of guy. His book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs was very appealing to me. While I'm nowhere near Ken's level, of course, I like trivia. I've always felt I know a lot of things no one cares about knowing. Ken detailed his journey on Jeopardy, interspersing accounts of his quiz bowl life, both in college and afterwards. He made the quiz bowl games sound FUN (okay, so I'm a big trivia nerd). It was an engaging book, but probably only if you like Ken.
A book that will stick with me long term was Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million. This was haunting. The author takes you along as he attempts to trace his great-uncle and family, Jews who vanished when the Nazis invaded Ukraine. He picks up bits and pieces during his search and travels almost around the world to talk to people who lived in the town and knew his relatives. The story appealed to me on a couple of levels, in addition to general human interest. Before we began hsing, I was heavily into my family's genealogy. One of the branches I traced included my gg-grandparents who lived in Ukraine and subsequently immigrated to Calgary. Two of their daughters wrote an unpublished book detailing their lives, both in the Ukraine and Canada, and included a very long narrative of another sister, who had remained behind. Armed Russian? soldiers later forced the villagers to leave following the collapse of Austria-Hungary c. 1918. Like I said, this book will stick with me for a long time. Highly recommended.
Now I feel like I can limit the number of books in my sidebar!
I finished Anne Tyler's Digging to America tonight. I have always enjoyed her books in the past, and that's why I chose to read this one. I like her writing style, and it's easy for me to get wrapped up in her stories. This book wasn't up to par. It seemed very average, and I'm not sure I would have even finished it if I weren't expecting something bigger, better. It's loosely about two families who both adopt girls from Korea and meet each other at the airport when their children arrive in the U.S. One couple is a younger, yuppie-sh Iranian family; the other is older, more overprotective, with a perfectionist wife, and the couples become friends. The story is disjointed and details only specific events over the course of several years, mostly the annual "Arrival Party," which takes on more importance than the girls' birthdays. Each of the two couples has a widowed parent that begin dating each other, which is a secondary storyline. It was an okay book overall, but not anything I would recommend.
The Brethren by Beverly Lewis is the third and final book of her Annie's People series. While I've never gotten into many of her older books, I have enjoyed her latest couple of series. All take place in Amish Country, and there's always an underlying theme about the redemption of Jesus. Good series, and if you are interested in learning about Amish culture (I am!), I recommend the series.
On Gold Mountain by Lisa See is a true account of her family, beginning with her g-grandfather's immigration from China in the 1800s. She intertwines her Chinese background with California history as her g-grandfather travels from San Francisco to Sacramento and finally settles in Los Angeles. Her extended family plays prominently in the book. Also interesting is the fact that her g-grandfather, grandfather and father all married Caucasian women, certainly not the norm for the times. Shortly before this, I had read her fictional Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which I really liked and led me to this book. I've always been fascinated by the older Chinese culture. While both of these books are very different, I would definitely recommend.
Earlier this year, we enjoyed watching Ken Jennings' run on Jeopardy. He was such a likeable, nerdy kind of guy. His book, Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs was very appealing to me. While I'm nowhere near Ken's level, of course, I like trivia. I've always felt I know a lot of things no one cares about knowing. Ken detailed his journey on Jeopardy, interspersing accounts of his quiz bowl life, both in college and afterwards. He made the quiz bowl games sound FUN (okay, so I'm a big trivia nerd). It was an engaging book, but probably only if you like Ken.
A book that will stick with me long term was Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million. This was haunting. The author takes you along as he attempts to trace his great-uncle and family, Jews who vanished when the Nazis invaded Ukraine. He picks up bits and pieces during his search and travels almost around the world to talk to people who lived in the town and knew his relatives. The story appealed to me on a couple of levels, in addition to general human interest. Before we began hsing, I was heavily into my family's genealogy. One of the branches I traced included my gg-grandparents who lived in Ukraine and subsequently immigrated to Calgary. Two of their daughters wrote an unpublished book detailing their lives, both in the Ukraine and Canada, and included a very long narrative of another sister, who had remained behind. Armed Russian? soldiers later forced the villagers to leave following the collapse of Austria-Hungary c. 1918. Like I said, this book will stick with me for a long time. Highly recommended.
Now I feel like I can limit the number of books in my sidebar!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tomato Staking
Over the last year or so, I've heard the term "tomato staking" in parenting discussions on discipline. You can read more about it here. I've tried to ignore for awhile that this would eventually be necessary at my house, but today I began my tomato garden--Trevor is my tomato. I don't like doing things differently, but the current way isn't working. Things around here MUST change. I am not looking forward to working on this, but I am looking forward to the results I expect to see.
Actually, Trevor and I are both the tomatoes. We both need to go back to having a GOOD relationship with each other, enjoying each other again, with him showing a proper attitude, and with me recognizing his good behavior. I'm not that tough to please; I expect a pleasant and cooperative spirit, not perfection. I have realistic goals.
Today wasn't so bad. He has zero privileges unless I decide differently. The only tv he was allowed to watch was a little Schoolhouse Rock, some math and grammar songs. We played a game from his new Lego catalog. He hung out in my room while I did some things there. He did some work for me around the house, helping with dishes, dinner, garbage, getting firewood and other small things. He was well behaved. (Tonight I saw ::something:: small run back under the woodpile when I went in the backyard. I raced back into the house and asked Trevor if he'd go instead. No way, he said, but I don't fault him for this one! Robert will be getting up mighty early tomorrow to get more wood. YUCK!!!)
Maybe I need to be spending more time with Trevor, and if that's the case, this will work too. I need to discipline myself to follow through with this for many days, a couple of weeks, because the effort will be well worth it--for all of us. (That might seem silly, "spending more time with Trevor," as if I don't spend enough time. But I mean relationship-building time, fun time, really listening and enjoying each other. Sure, some of our school time counts, but this might be a time where he just needs a little more.)
It was cold today, high of about 40. Brr! You'd think it's winter (haha). We were busy with school; Wednesdays aren't usually this busy. We ended the afternoon with art and music. The kids are studying Ancient China this week. While they listened to a Chinese music CD, they had fun writing Chinese figures on scrolls. Trevor first worked on a dragon on a regular piece of paper. Holly's work was really cool. I'll tie them up and save them, along with some of the other artwork that doesn't fit into a binder notebook.
Robert will be off tomorrow, yay! Holly has a riding lesson. While we pay for one lesson each month, she received a lot of money for her birthday specifically for this, and she's been paying for one additional lesson each month. I'm not sure how she does it, but once again, we are expecting wonderful weather--in the 60s. Hmm. Hope it's a good day for gardening . . . staking my little tomato . . .
Actually, Trevor and I are both the tomatoes. We both need to go back to having a GOOD relationship with each other, enjoying each other again, with him showing a proper attitude, and with me recognizing his good behavior. I'm not that tough to please; I expect a pleasant and cooperative spirit, not perfection. I have realistic goals.
Today wasn't so bad. He has zero privileges unless I decide differently. The only tv he was allowed to watch was a little Schoolhouse Rock, some math and grammar songs. We played a game from his new Lego catalog. He hung out in my room while I did some things there. He did some work for me around the house, helping with dishes, dinner, garbage, getting firewood and other small things. He was well behaved. (Tonight I saw ::something:: small run back under the woodpile when I went in the backyard. I raced back into the house and asked Trevor if he'd go instead. No way, he said, but I don't fault him for this one! Robert will be getting up mighty early tomorrow to get more wood. YUCK!!!)
Maybe I need to be spending more time with Trevor, and if that's the case, this will work too. I need to discipline myself to follow through with this for many days, a couple of weeks, because the effort will be well worth it--for all of us. (That might seem silly, "spending more time with Trevor," as if I don't spend enough time. But I mean relationship-building time, fun time, really listening and enjoying each other. Sure, some of our school time counts, but this might be a time where he just needs a little more.)
It was cold today, high of about 40. Brr! You'd think it's winter (haha). We were busy with school; Wednesdays aren't usually this busy. We ended the afternoon with art and music. The kids are studying Ancient China this week. While they listened to a Chinese music CD, they had fun writing Chinese figures on scrolls. Trevor first worked on a dragon on a regular piece of paper. Holly's work was really cool. I'll tie them up and save them, along with some of the other artwork that doesn't fit into a binder notebook.
Robert will be off tomorrow, yay! Holly has a riding lesson. While we pay for one lesson each month, she received a lot of money for her birthday specifically for this, and she's been paying for one additional lesson each month. I'm not sure how she does it, but once again, we are expecting wonderful weather--in the 60s. Hmm. Hope it's a good day for gardening . . . staking my little tomato . . .
Speaking Too Soon
I wrote earlier about not getting any snow. Shortly after that, it began snowing lightly here and has for the past couple of hours. It's not enough to get excited about, but it does once again prove two popular sayings around here:
1. The weathermen are never right.
2. If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes.
The problem with #2 is that it works both ways--if you DO like the weather, it won't necessarily last for long!
Robert's going up to Denver early tomorrow for work meetings, but this dusting of snow shouldn't have any effect on that. The kids and I already weren't planning to do much.
This morning was a crazy rush for me to fix a double recipe of dinner. Since we do the majority of our one on one schoolwork in the mornings, I completely knocked myself off schedule. Holly was a huge help in getting out the door in time. While I was making all of the manicotti, she dictated Trevor's spelling words for him and read him a story that I had planned to read. She also spent time writing out a verse to include in the extra meal we made and subsequently delivered. She was terrific and made everything go much more smoothly for me this morning.
She also had a dress rehearsal for her dance recital this weekend. Trevor and I got to watch all of the groups' routines. Well, Trevor probably didn't care too much, but I thought they were awesome, and I'm sure to be posting pictures following their performance.
1. The weathermen are never right.
2. If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes.
The problem with #2 is that it works both ways--if you DO like the weather, it won't necessarily last for long!
Robert's going up to Denver early tomorrow for work meetings, but this dusting of snow shouldn't have any effect on that. The kids and I already weren't planning to do much.
This morning was a crazy rush for me to fix a double recipe of dinner. Since we do the majority of our one on one schoolwork in the mornings, I completely knocked myself off schedule. Holly was a huge help in getting out the door in time. While I was making all of the manicotti, she dictated Trevor's spelling words for him and read him a story that I had planned to read. She also spent time writing out a verse to include in the extra meal we made and subsequently delivered. She was terrific and made everything go much more smoothly for me this morning.
She also had a dress rehearsal for her dance recital this weekend. Trevor and I got to watch all of the groups' routines. Well, Trevor probably didn't care too much, but I thought they were awesome, and I'm sure to be posting pictures following their performance.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
What's Cooking, Part 2
What IS cooking?! When we were eating ham last night, I told the kids they could have the leftovers with eggs for breakfast. Trevor immediately asked if I'd make GREEN eggs and ham. This is something they both first "experienced" in preschool, and I've made green eggs on occasion--like St. Patrick's Day. But if they want to eat those horrid looking green eggs, fine with me! The trick to really green eggs is to skip the green food coloring all together. Use BLUE food coloring. The eggs still look green even after I added a bunch of cheddar cheese to the eggs. Even if I close my eyes while I eat, they still seem to taste different.
We have such amazing weather here. It was in the low 50s earlier this morning. It was storming in the mountains, and you can see the clouds in this picture over Pikes Peak. Shortly before noon, the clouds blew in--and out again. It's dropped about 20 degrees now, but we won't see any snow. I'm not complaining about that one bit!
What's Cooking
It's late, so nothing's actually cooking here. But I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy watching cooking shows. I don't watch much tv, but when I do, I like to watch Food Network. I like Rachael Ray, Iron Chef America, and the Deen boys, along with The Next Food Network Star show too. I would never make the food they do, but I think that's why I like to watch them make it.
Friends invited us over for dinner on Saturday night. I didn't get to watch our hostess cook, but I sure enjoyed eating what she made (beef stew, biscuits, salad, and pumpkin cake for dessert!). Robert made dinner last night. He made "goulash," something his dad used to make a lot, with ground beef, a can of tomato soup, noodles, maybe some ketchup and something else. The kids love it. When Trevor first began liking it, he mixed up the vowel sounds, so we refer to it now as "galoosh." Tonight for dinner, we had ham, mashed potatoes, corn, canned peaches and something called "frizzled" cabbage (it's sliced thin and sauteed in a little butter). The only reason I made this tonight is because Robert loves the cabbage. We had some left over in the fridge, so I planned the rest of the meal around it.
I'm not always good at planning meals out ahead of time. But I know that tomorrow night, we'll be eating manicotti, garlic bread and salad. I've written before that we attend a weekly function at New Life Church. Our group leadership have asked for people to bring a meal this week bless the families of the staff at New Life. There are over 150 staff members there, and one can only imagine what the last few weeks have been like for them. So I'm making manicotti tomorrow, along with the garlic bread and salad, to take over to the church, and I'll double everything for our dinner too.
Next week is Thanksgiving, and we've been talking about what to have for dinner. Robert would like to have company over. I am happy to have Thanksgiving by ourselves--but I will be cooking anyway, and I know the kids would prefer to have company. When I was growing up, we never had family around to share holidays, and it was much more fun to share the holiday with friends. I caught Rachael Ray's Thanksgiving show last week on tv. It was a 60 minute meal that looked fabulous, so I found the recipes online and printed them all off. Anyone who knows Robert knows he was LESS than thrilled to hear that I was considering ANYthing different than our usual menu with the usual recipes. I would really like to make something a little different though. We'll see!
Friends invited us over for dinner on Saturday night. I didn't get to watch our hostess cook, but I sure enjoyed eating what she made (beef stew, biscuits, salad, and pumpkin cake for dessert!). Robert made dinner last night. He made "goulash," something his dad used to make a lot, with ground beef, a can of tomato soup, noodles, maybe some ketchup and something else. The kids love it. When Trevor first began liking it, he mixed up the vowel sounds, so we refer to it now as "galoosh." Tonight for dinner, we had ham, mashed potatoes, corn, canned peaches and something called "frizzled" cabbage (it's sliced thin and sauteed in a little butter). The only reason I made this tonight is because Robert loves the cabbage. We had some left over in the fridge, so I planned the rest of the meal around it.
I'm not always good at planning meals out ahead of time. But I know that tomorrow night, we'll be eating manicotti, garlic bread and salad. I've written before that we attend a weekly function at New Life Church. Our group leadership have asked for people to bring a meal this week bless the families of the staff at New Life. There are over 150 staff members there, and one can only imagine what the last few weeks have been like for them. So I'm making manicotti tomorrow, along with the garlic bread and salad, to take over to the church, and I'll double everything for our dinner too.
Next week is Thanksgiving, and we've been talking about what to have for dinner. Robert would like to have company over. I am happy to have Thanksgiving by ourselves--but I will be cooking anyway, and I know the kids would prefer to have company. When I was growing up, we never had family around to share holidays, and it was much more fun to share the holiday with friends. I caught Rachael Ray's Thanksgiving show last week on tv. It was a 60 minute meal that looked fabulous, so I found the recipes online and printed them all off. Anyone who knows Robert knows he was LESS than thrilled to hear that I was considering ANYthing different than our usual menu with the usual recipes. I would really like to make something a little different though. We'll see!
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Veteran's Day
To my friends De'Etta and R______, who will read this, thank you for putting a very real "face" on our military to me. Please know that I regularly pray for you and your families. I don't know how you do it.Wow. I have endless gratitude for ALL of our nation's soldiers AND their families.
Luke 4:18-19
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Friday, November 10, 2006
It's the be-est day eee-ver!
At least that's what NickTV's been promoting for their 24 hour Sponge Bob cartoon fest. The kids have known about this for weeks. Holly did virtually all of her schoolwork ahead so she had nothing left today. (While I encourage her to plan ahead and sometimes do this, it's not my goal for her to watch Sponge Bob all day. Sigh.) She even came downstairs on her own at 7:30 this morning instead of me dragging her out of bed. She's had the tv on all day, sitting on the couch, sometimes typing on her laptop, sometimes reading. Of course, the tv's been on the whole time.
Disclaimer: This is not a usual occurrence at our house; in fact, I can't recall it ever happening before. Or regular rule is absolutely no tv at all during school days (unless it's a movie for school).
Trevor decided he'd had enough of a "best day ever" by 11. He was bored with tv and he'd already finished up his school work. He asked for a haircut. You can tell a boy needs his hair cut when he ASKS for one.
Later in the afternoon, the kids did their last art project for Ancient Africa. They drew designs with crayons on fabric, then dyed the fabric. It was a neat project. Perhaps someone can explain to me why Holly got dye on her pants, *I* got dye on my shirt (I'm not even painting), but my 8 yods didn't get a speck on him. That seems to go against all laws of nature!
Trevor had a "best day" at basketball tonight. It's not a team, but a class that promotes good character along with skills. We were the first people there tonight, and he grabbed a ball, ran over and made a basket. When Robert picked him up, they were playing a practice game. Someone tossed the ball to Trevor, he turned, shot, and made the final basket of the night! Kind of makes that ugly black/purple bruise on my thigh worth it.
Last week, the kids were studying Ancient India, and tonight I finally made Indian Butter Chicken. It's a favorite of ours at a nearby Indian buffet, but I've never made it before. (Can you believe my city of 350,000 has two terrific Indian buffets, both close by?) I found a simplified recipe (which means I had the spices it called for). I made the chicken, jasmine rice, and browned pita bread for dinner. It was a "best dinner" and everyone liked it. This is nothing short of a miracle here. I think this is the fourth meal EVER that everyone actually likes. (Or at least it seems like only the fourth meal.)
INDIAN BUTTER CHICKEN
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken, cut in 1/2" pieces
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. oil
2 t. curry powder
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
1 T. fresh ginger root, finely chopped
1 T. oil
1 T. butter
1 T. curry powder
1/8 t. pepper
1/2 t. salt
3/4 - 1 c. tomato puree
2 T. butter
1 c. heavy cream (I used fat free evaporated milk)
Toss chicken pieces, lemon juice, oil, and 2 t. curry powder in medium bowl. Set aside.
In large skillet, cook onion, garlic, ginger in 1 T. oil and 1 T. butter until "fragrant." (Whatever that means--I cooked it about 7 mins. on medium heat.) Add curry powder, pepper, salt, tomato, and 2 T. butter. Boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 mins.
Stir in chicken pieces. Boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 more mins. until chicken is cooked through. Stir in cream and heat gently. Serve over hot white rice, basmati, if you can). (I used jasmine rice, because it was a lot cheaper.) Serves 4-6.
***
It WAS a good day. :)
Disclaimer: This is not a usual occurrence at our house; in fact, I can't recall it ever happening before. Or regular rule is absolutely no tv at all during school days (unless it's a movie for school).
Trevor decided he'd had enough of a "best day ever" by 11. He was bored with tv and he'd already finished up his school work. He asked for a haircut. You can tell a boy needs his hair cut when he ASKS for one.
Later in the afternoon, the kids did their last art project for Ancient Africa. They drew designs with crayons on fabric, then dyed the fabric. It was a neat project. Perhaps someone can explain to me why Holly got dye on her pants, *I* got dye on my shirt (I'm not even painting), but my 8 yods didn't get a speck on him. That seems to go against all laws of nature!
Trevor had a "best day" at basketball tonight. It's not a team, but a class that promotes good character along with skills. We were the first people there tonight, and he grabbed a ball, ran over and made a basket. When Robert picked him up, they were playing a practice game. Someone tossed the ball to Trevor, he turned, shot, and made the final basket of the night! Kind of makes that ugly black/purple bruise on my thigh worth it.
Last week, the kids were studying Ancient India, and tonight I finally made Indian Butter Chicken. It's a favorite of ours at a nearby Indian buffet, but I've never made it before. (Can you believe my city of 350,000 has two terrific Indian buffets, both close by?) I found a simplified recipe (which means I had the spices it called for). I made the chicken, jasmine rice, and browned pita bread for dinner. It was a "best dinner" and everyone liked it. This is nothing short of a miracle here. I think this is the fourth meal EVER that everyone actually likes. (Or at least it seems like only the fourth meal.)
INDIAN BUTTER CHICKEN
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken, cut in 1/2" pieces
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. oil
2 t. curry powder
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
1 T. fresh ginger root, finely chopped
1 T. oil
1 T. butter
1 T. curry powder
1/8 t. pepper
1/2 t. salt
3/4 - 1 c. tomato puree
2 T. butter
1 c. heavy cream (I used fat free evaporated milk)
Toss chicken pieces, lemon juice, oil, and 2 t. curry powder in medium bowl. Set aside.
In large skillet, cook onion, garlic, ginger in 1 T. oil and 1 T. butter until "fragrant." (Whatever that means--I cooked it about 7 mins. on medium heat.) Add curry powder, pepper, salt, tomato, and 2 T. butter. Boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 mins.
Stir in chicken pieces. Boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 more mins. until chicken is cooked through. Stir in cream and heat gently. Serve over hot white rice, basmati, if you can). (I used jasmine rice, because it was a lot cheaper.) Serves 4-6.
***
It WAS a good day. :)
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Heat wave!
The official temperature here was 78 degrees today, a record for this date. When I woke up at 6:30, it was already 57 degrees. What a great way to start my morning! We're at about 6800 feet, and it warmed up to about 70 here.
(This is really a picture from yesterday morning, but it was so pretty with the sun shining golden on the trees in the front of the photo!)
Here are some pics of what the kids did today. Holly and Trevor always have a "second" math activity in addition to their regular curriculum. Trevor's currently reviewing time/clocks, so we have been playing Timing It Right, an older game that the kids like. (Aunt Lori, do you remember when you gave this to Holly?)
It was about 10 in the morning, and we already had the windows open in the living room. I'm repeating myself, but it was wonderful!! We're studying ancient Africa for history this week, and it's a perfect excuse to play mancala. I keep losing.
Our dog Lucky hung out with us.
Later this afternoon, the kids did some African art. According to a specific tribal custom, they wrote down their "soul" name based on the day of the week they were born and then added in art. Trevor's a terrific artist--he copied his drawings in permanent ink, just by looking at the examples in the book. Holly used some cool geometric and flower patterns. She also spent some time figuring out what day of the week a friend of hers was born on, and then drew a sheet for her.
They even shared the book nicely. (Must have seen the camera!) Here's their finished products. They liked this so much that they are working on more drawings tonight as I type. If you want to see some detail, click on the photo and you should be able to zoom into it more.
Robert barbequed hamburgers for dinner, and I made that popular salad with the shredded cabbage, almonds, sunflower seeds, and dried ramen noodles. It seems like spring! While we'll still have above average temps tomorrow, though, it will only be in the lower 60s. I'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts!
(This is really a picture from yesterday morning, but it was so pretty with the sun shining golden on the trees in the front of the photo!)
Here are some pics of what the kids did today. Holly and Trevor always have a "second" math activity in addition to their regular curriculum. Trevor's currently reviewing time/clocks, so we have been playing Timing It Right, an older game that the kids like. (Aunt Lori, do you remember when you gave this to Holly?)
It was about 10 in the morning, and we already had the windows open in the living room. I'm repeating myself, but it was wonderful!! We're studying ancient Africa for history this week, and it's a perfect excuse to play mancala. I keep losing.
Our dog Lucky hung out with us.
Later this afternoon, the kids did some African art. According to a specific tribal custom, they wrote down their "soul" name based on the day of the week they were born and then added in art. Trevor's a terrific artist--he copied his drawings in permanent ink, just by looking at the examples in the book. Holly used some cool geometric and flower patterns. She also spent some time figuring out what day of the week a friend of hers was born on, and then drew a sheet for her.
They even shared the book nicely. (Must have seen the camera!) Here's their finished products. They liked this so much that they are working on more drawings tonight as I type. If you want to see some detail, click on the photo and you should be able to zoom into it more.
Robert barbequed hamburgers for dinner, and I made that popular salad with the shredded cabbage, almonds, sunflower seeds, and dried ramen noodles. It seems like spring! While we'll still have above average temps tomorrow, though, it will only be in the lower 60s. I'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Lesson learned today
I don't remember what the kids learned today, but I learned something, and I think they've learned it too:
**Do not wear Crocs while playing basketball.**
You'd think anyone would know this. In fact, I know it. I even thought of it as I slipped on my Crocs right before we went out to play. They were fine for awhile, but at one point, the ball starting rolling right down the center of the street. I started chasing it, planning to kick it out of the way.
I'm one of those people who trip when I wear my Crocs, even if I'm walking on a flat, even surface. You can imagine what I do on a roughly paved hill while running fast.
Before I could kick the ball out of the way, I tripped. I went flying, trying to run fast enough to catch my legs up to my body. I slid on the street, on my palms, on the side of my leg. I shouted at my son to let the ball go. I can't believe my pants didn't tear. My dd was equally horrified and laughing. (And you'd laugh too if you'd watched my fall.) My ds was traumatized. I told you he's used to an uncoordinated mom who sits around and ponders.
Now he's worried that I won't play anymore. My palms are bruised and my fingertips are numb. I know I'll have a great bruise on that side of my thigh. Don't worry, I won't post pics of that. But of course I'll get out there and play basketball again. Probably even today. Just not in Crocs.
**Do not wear Crocs while playing basketball.**
You'd think anyone would know this. In fact, I know it. I even thought of it as I slipped on my Crocs right before we went out to play. They were fine for awhile, but at one point, the ball starting rolling right down the center of the street. I started chasing it, planning to kick it out of the way.
I'm one of those people who trip when I wear my Crocs, even if I'm walking on a flat, even surface. You can imagine what I do on a roughly paved hill while running fast.
Before I could kick the ball out of the way, I tripped. I went flying, trying to run fast enough to catch my legs up to my body. I slid on the street, on my palms, on the side of my leg. I shouted at my son to let the ball go. I can't believe my pants didn't tear. My dd was equally horrified and laughing. (And you'd laugh too if you'd watched my fall.) My ds was traumatized. I told you he's used to an uncoordinated mom who sits around and ponders.
Now he's worried that I won't play anymore. My palms are bruised and my fingertips are numb. I know I'll have a great bruise on that side of my thigh. Don't worry, I won't post pics of that. But of course I'll get out there and play basketball again. Probably even today. Just not in Crocs.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
The big and small of it
It was a regular weekend around here. "Regular" means we don't do a lot. Sort of. Robert's off on Sundays, and when he's home, he does a lot. He likes to stay busy. He does BIG things. He can't seem to sit still. Today he went Christmas shopping. Twice. He also took us out to buy a new basketball and to the bookstore. He mowed the lawn. He put up a basketball hoop in front for Trevor, and he played basketball. He washed both cars in the driveway and vacuumed them out. I'm sure he did a few things I don't know about. He's working on something in the basement right now.
I do small things. This is a nice way of saying that I don't do much. I like to sit, and I like to ponder. But I don't even want to ponder Christmas shopping yet. I planned out our school schedule for the week. That takes a lot of pondering, and the planning is one of my favorite things to do. I watched Robert mow the lawn and wash the cars for a few minutes, but just so I could take pictures. I did play some basketball. I read a little. I drove in my clean car. I'm still not doing much, just sitting here at the keyboard. I think it's been a pretty good weekend.
Small things make me happy. I'm happy that Sam's Club has brought back their buffalo chicken pizza. They haven't had it in several months, but we found it last night and ate it for dinner tonight. I'm happy to find out this weekend that daylight savings time will last longer beginning in 2007. It will start in the middle of March and end the first Sunday of November. Small things make me happy, but I sure appreciate all the big things my husband does.
I'm so glad he put up the basketball hoop. We had it up at our old house. We've never had the hoop up here because the ball will roll down our sloped driveway. We live on a bit of a hill, and the ball will roll all the way down the street. It's pretty far, and I don't want my kids chasing after it. Robert attached the basketball post to our mailbox, which is on a flat part of our street. Before our kids were born, we used to go down to the school and play basketball. It was fun. I'm pretty uncoordinated, but I'm an okay basketball player. Robert gets very competitive. Holly's a great player. Trevor's just learning, but he's doing a great job too. I enjoyed playing today, and it was funny to see how impressed Trevor was whenever I made a basket. He's used to an uncoordinated mom who prefers to sit and ponder. We're supposed to have weather in the 60s to 70s this week, and I plan to get out every day and play basketball with my kids.
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