Time for my biannual complaining blog post.
That's kind of what it feels like to me. I never blog anymore anyway (although I want to) and when I was finally able to log onto Blogger, I read what I'd written in years past. Somehow it sounds like today. Blah blah blog.
I still feel like the worst parent and wife EVER. I'm still depressed enough to not want to get out of bed some days. But on other days, I feel so much better...so full of gratitude and life I could just cry. Of course, I'd like to cry on these days in which I feel horrible as well, but for different reasons.
This morning I just did not want to get out of bed. Which was strange. The weather has turned cooler, I've finished a bunch of projects for other people (I'm doing a lot of sewing and alterations for pay now!), and it's Friday! No good. But I forced myself up out of bed and forced myself to be semi-normal. I took the twins to the library so David could get a Playaway for his campout and Keziah could print off more stuff for her report on muscles due next week at co-op. I couldn't even summon up the interest to look for a book for myself. I flat out didn't care. I ended up looking for books for Keziah's report and read some of one of them. It seems like everything around me tells me how rotten I am and how I may as well give up. The library books were reminding me of all the cool homeschooling stuff I did with the older kids when they were the twins' age and how little I care any more.
I could go on and on but I won't. This is my life at this second in time. I hope it improves soon.
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschooling. Show all posts
Friday, October 02, 2015
Thursday, July 31, 2014
The Scarlet F
How to even begin this little missive? I do not know. Here we go: I am no longer a perfectionist. I was one in high school and it made me very ill. It was still there in college, but gradually went away after I married and realized that my husband loved me no matter what. Some days I wonder if he wishes he'd done otherwise.
Like today.
Today is D-Day for getting my 19-year-old's high school transcript done so that she can apply to the college of her choice. Why am I not finished? Many reasons: procrastination, busyness, laziness, depression, not caring...on and on and on. Nevertheless, I am going to make the deadline, much to the utter disbelief of my husband.
Except for one class, which the child has not finished.
She took this class a year and a half ago and failed it. Which bothered her not at all. Until she had to have the science class for college, at which point she started to do it all over. She worked diligently on it, studying and taking tests. I was so proud.
I texted her yesterday to remind her to find the notebook in which her tests resided. She didn't text me back. I asked her this morning about the text and she said her phone was dead but she'd find the notebook so we could grade the tests and have the grade for her transcript. Which needs to go to the college tomorrow. Did I mention that? Tomorrow is the ultimate deadline.
She could not find the notebook. It was not where she remembered having put it. Chaos, tears, railings ensued. The whole family plus two of the neighbor kids looked for the lost notebook. While we were looking, I told her she needed to start retaking tests. She was not a happy camper.
Here we are, about sixteen hours before I need to leave for work, having completed the transcript and having had it notarized. There are so many ways that this is due to my ultimate status as the Queen of the Losers. I wear the Scarlet F (for failure).
If I were better organized, more caring, more on top of things, more insistent,etc., etc., etc. this wouldn't have happened. Yes, it is not totally my fault. But I am the one with the F on my forehead.
Like today.
Today is D-Day for getting my 19-year-old's high school transcript done so that she can apply to the college of her choice. Why am I not finished? Many reasons: procrastination, busyness, laziness, depression, not caring...on and on and on. Nevertheless, I am going to make the deadline, much to the utter disbelief of my husband.
Except for one class, which the child has not finished.
She took this class a year and a half ago and failed it. Which bothered her not at all. Until she had to have the science class for college, at which point she started to do it all over. She worked diligently on it, studying and taking tests. I was so proud.
I texted her yesterday to remind her to find the notebook in which her tests resided. She didn't text me back. I asked her this morning about the text and she said her phone was dead but she'd find the notebook so we could grade the tests and have the grade for her transcript. Which needs to go to the college tomorrow. Did I mention that? Tomorrow is the ultimate deadline.
She could not find the notebook. It was not where she remembered having put it. Chaos, tears, railings ensued. The whole family plus two of the neighbor kids looked for the lost notebook. While we were looking, I told her she needed to start retaking tests. She was not a happy camper.
Here we are, about sixteen hours before I need to leave for work, having completed the transcript and having had it notarized. There are so many ways that this is due to my ultimate status as the Queen of the Losers. I wear the Scarlet F (for failure).
If I were better organized, more caring, more on top of things, more insistent,etc., etc., etc. this wouldn't have happened. Yes, it is not totally my fault. But I am the one with the F on my forehead.
Saturday, August 03, 2013
Further tales from the dark side
As was obvious, I'm sure, I was in a very bad place last night when I blogged and then turned everything off and tried to go to bed. Unfortunately, I had quite the difficult time getting to and staying asleep. Fortunately, it didn't seem to bother me overly much today.
Because today is Saturday!
For the uninitiated, Saturday is the day that my blessed husband is responsible for the kiddles and their needs and I am responsible for myself. I'm supposed to do homeschool prep as well but I rarely do. Yes, part of the problem, I'm sure. Anyway, on a typical Saturday, I go do volunteer work at the library, then retire to Panera for the afternoon. This has been a typical day in that regard.
It has been atypical in that I was blown away by comments that friends left on my blog posts and at Facebook. I was so touched, y'all, I can't tell you. Whenever you feel the prompting to do something for someone else, do it. It could make such a difference to the person to whom you're reaching out.
I also received a phone call from a dear friend who had read the post and had many wise words and much commiseration for me. This friend has been going through the wringer herself and I was beyond touched that she felt compelled to reach out and comfort me. I was even able to concentrate on what she was saying and absorb some of it. What a blessing to this Wonder Woman! (That is what Friend Husband calls me. He says I have WW bracelets that deflect any compliments or anything positive that comes my way.)
Thus it has been a much better day for me. I did, however, remember one other thing I meant to say yesterday about depression and people who have it. It is not at all useful for me to focus on other people and their various struggles and needs in order to make myself shake my depressive moods. Perhaps an example would be useful. I had a friend in high school who always said, "You need to think about those people in Russia or South Africa who are suffering under horrible governments. Or, perhaps, the starving people in Africa. That will put your suffering in perspective."
Really?
Really. He said that. As y'all are probably guessing, it was not the most effective suggestion ever. Thinking about such things either deepens my despair or makes me very angry. Neither of these things is beneficial to banishing the dark clouds of depression, at least around my head. So, if you are so blessed as to have no idea how to comfort or sustain your friend or loved one who is depressed, take a page from my book and avoid having them contemplate people who are in even worse situations. You are very welcome.
For today, I am so thankful for my friends and family who keep me going even when I'm deep in the pit of despair. You are lifesavers, every one of you.
To celebrate, I'm actually going to work on some homeschool planning. How about that? I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks, for at least a day at a time.
Because today is Saturday!
For the uninitiated, Saturday is the day that my blessed husband is responsible for the kiddles and their needs and I am responsible for myself. I'm supposed to do homeschool prep as well but I rarely do. Yes, part of the problem, I'm sure. Anyway, on a typical Saturday, I go do volunteer work at the library, then retire to Panera for the afternoon. This has been a typical day in that regard.
It has been atypical in that I was blown away by comments that friends left on my blog posts and at Facebook. I was so touched, y'all, I can't tell you. Whenever you feel the prompting to do something for someone else, do it. It could make such a difference to the person to whom you're reaching out.
I also received a phone call from a dear friend who had read the post and had many wise words and much commiseration for me. This friend has been going through the wringer herself and I was beyond touched that she felt compelled to reach out and comfort me. I was even able to concentrate on what she was saying and absorb some of it. What a blessing to this Wonder Woman! (That is what Friend Husband calls me. He says I have WW bracelets that deflect any compliments or anything positive that comes my way.)
Thus it has been a much better day for me. I did, however, remember one other thing I meant to say yesterday about depression and people who have it. It is not at all useful for me to focus on other people and their various struggles and needs in order to make myself shake my depressive moods. Perhaps an example would be useful. I had a friend in high school who always said, "You need to think about those people in Russia or South Africa who are suffering under horrible governments. Or, perhaps, the starving people in Africa. That will put your suffering in perspective."
Really?
Really. He said that. As y'all are probably guessing, it was not the most effective suggestion ever. Thinking about such things either deepens my despair or makes me very angry. Neither of these things is beneficial to banishing the dark clouds of depression, at least around my head. So, if you are so blessed as to have no idea how to comfort or sustain your friend or loved one who is depressed, take a page from my book and avoid having them contemplate people who are in even worse situations. You are very welcome.
For today, I am so thankful for my friends and family who keep me going even when I'm deep in the pit of despair. You are lifesavers, every one of you.
To celebrate, I'm actually going to work on some homeschool planning. How about that? I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks, for at least a day at a time.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
First days
Monday was our first day of school this school year. It was also the first day that Friend Husband was back to teaching at the uni. It was also the day I went back to the doctor to see what he had to say about my healing, 6 weeks later. Big Monday!
First, the doc. He said that I've healed up well and cleared me for most activities, with the caveat that I need to start small and work my way up. No problem there, I'm so tired most days that I wouldn't dream of going back full-bore. In fact, I was kind of hoping he'd tell me to lay low for a couple more weeks. 
Oh well!
This year, as last, I have 5 students at home. This is the last year that Sarah will be in my greedy clutches, I mean, in my tutelage, as she is a senior. She is taking a couple of classes at our co-op, a couple of college classes 
and stuff at home. Rachel is a sophomore this year, Abby is more or less in the 6th grade, and the twins are first graders. As eager as they were to start school yesterday, they have not been eager to continue it today...hee hee!
Here are some pics to document the big day!
All of them, together at last. I had to hustle them out during supper to take the picture because they steadfastly refused to be in the same place at the same time yesterday.
12th grade 10th grade
6th grade
1st grade 1st grade
Well, this has already taken me 2 days to compose. We started a new 1 hr. on the Internet policy which is severely restricting me, ha ha! Yesterday (Tuesday), Sarah started her college classes. She said they were "ok". Here's my college student, reading Pygmalion (an assigned text) on her first day, before leaving for the uni. (Sob, sob)
I've been working through the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Keziah and David. David is a very distractable little boy...surprise surprise. If he'd gone to public school, he would have been the class clown for sure. They were sounding out the word "mean" yesterday. David kept saying, "Meat" instead and I told him, no, it was "mean", like "I'm mean!" and I illustrated with a mean face. Which he then replicated for me while saying, "mean!"
He can do a really funny mean face when he tries. This is not it! And this should serve to illustrate his back-to-school haircut...a wonderful mohawk! Also note the presence of one of his sisters in the background, doing PE. 
Of course, if one twin does something, the other must also do it (this applies much more than the general pronouncement that if you do for one child, you must do for all of them). So here's Keziah's mean face. In the family, this is known as "giving us the teeth" because she used to do this a lot when she was angry with us.
Of course, she kept trying to smile for the camera too so she doesn't look very fierce.
On Tuesday I also got to go "play" with my friend Rachel. She's working on her son's scrapbook and I was making a few cards...and here they are!
This one was the last I made and it was a little off-center. I still like it. 
I was just so tickled by this one. BTW, the caption at the bottom says, "I don't have a problem with caffeine, I have a problem without caffeine!"
Pretty
This was totally out of my comfort zone, but it worked well. Yay for trying new things!
I see that Xanga got rid of the box around the text thing...I guess that means that I'll have to remove my background...bummer.
Well, who knows when I'll be able to get back on Xanga. Maybe Saturday. We're all going through electronics withdrawl: the twins mourn the loss of summer's television and the girls miss the computer (and probably the tv too). I definitely miss the computer...no more mindless computer games to wind down. But I hope that all of you have a happy end-of-summer, beginning-of-fall! May God be with you all.
Monday, April 26, 2010
My last couple of weeks...
have been rather busy and stressful. Performance Night for our co-op was Saturday night. One daughter was in the performance of Alice in Wonderland. Two daughters were in the performance of Fiddler on the Roof. In addition to all the stuff they needed (and the house, husband, and other children needed), I was working on costumes for Tweedledum (Abby) and the three Alice dresses (for when Alice grows and shrinks). Of course, I was asked to do the dresses waaaay back in September or October. I knew they were coming. Did I work on them ahead of time? Not so much. I was still hemming late Friday night, at the dress rehearsal. Oi!
Despite some decidedly awful dress rehearsals, the children really pulled it out and did a great job during the performances. Yes, I know that dress rehearsals are supposed to be awful but...Anyway, it was glorious to just be able to sit in the audience and watch everyone perform, which I finally got to do during Fiddler. (During Alice, I had to wait through the first couple of numbers for Tweedledum and Tweedledee to come backstage for their costume change and draw red circles on their cheeks.)
And I did not get many pictures. My teens (and even Abby) are getting to the point where they don't want Mom pointing a camera at them and their friends and saying, "Smile!" They apparently don't mind if my friend, the amazing and talented Denise Owens does, however, so I hope to have some pictures from her before much longer.
Fiddler was such a bittersweet performance for me. For one, we're losing the drama teacher we've had for the last few years. She does such an amazing job with the children and with the performances. And her daughter does the choreography as well. So Becca won't be back again. But the most poignant part of all was watching all of those children (teenagers, I mean) working so hard at their roles. And what roles! I don't think many people who have seen Fiddler on the Roof are not moved by its portrayal of Jewish village life in czarist Russia. Knowing that my husband's family escaped that situation put an extra layer of emotion into it. And then there were the teens themselves.
My daughters were playing Hodel (the daughter who goes to Siberia to marry the Communist radical) and ensemble roles. Of course, the exchanges between my own daughter and her onstage parents brought tears. When she sang "Far From the Home I Love", I felt it, very deep down. When I saw her sister onstage, with her hair wrapped up according to the Jewish tradition of the time, blessing the Sabbath candles, and generally doing what she was doing, I was struck at how beautiful this daughter is, and how close she is to leaving our home for good.
What surprised me though, was the emotion I felt for the teens who do not live in my house. I just love those kids! Getting to interact with them on Wednesdays at co-op is always an experience. Watching them work at their roles (over and over and over again) was amazing. But to see them in the roles, onstage, was another thing altogether. It almost felt like those kids were my own, all of them. It made me teary to see the boys, acting like men, knowing that only a few years ago, they were little boys. And in only a few more years, they will in fact be men. And feeling the same about the beautiful girls, including my own. So close to adulthood, still close to childhood. That was what really hit me more than the play.
So enough babbling...I hope that Xanga will allow me to upload some pictures here. I guess we'll see. I'm including a picture of "the dress" that caused me such stress. If you aren't a Facebook friend, be glad. I've done nothing but freak out about those dresses for the past week. I feel strange today without a needle in my hand.
The Tweedle Twins, during the dress rehearsal (no red circles on their cheeks). The one on the left is mine.
My daughter Rachel entitled this one "Tevye's girls". The one in the green shirt is mine. The ones standing in the back row are the ones with speaking roles.
THE dress. You cannot tell from this picture how voluminous those sleeves and skirt are. Trust me, they were. I can gather like a professional now.
My daughter Rachel and her Communist paramour.
Despite some decidedly awful dress rehearsals, the children really pulled it out and did a great job during the performances. Yes, I know that dress rehearsals are supposed to be awful but...Anyway, it was glorious to just be able to sit in the audience and watch everyone perform, which I finally got to do during Fiddler. (During Alice, I had to wait through the first couple of numbers for Tweedledum and Tweedledee to come backstage for their costume change and draw red circles on their cheeks.)
And I did not get many pictures. My teens (and even Abby) are getting to the point where they don't want Mom pointing a camera at them and their friends and saying, "Smile!" They apparently don't mind if my friend, the amazing and talented Denise Owens does, however, so I hope to have some pictures from her before much longer.
Fiddler was such a bittersweet performance for me. For one, we're losing the drama teacher we've had for the last few years. She does such an amazing job with the children and with the performances. And her daughter does the choreography as well. So Becca won't be back again. But the most poignant part of all was watching all of those children (teenagers, I mean) working so hard at their roles. And what roles! I don't think many people who have seen Fiddler on the Roof are not moved by its portrayal of Jewish village life in czarist Russia. Knowing that my husband's family escaped that situation put an extra layer of emotion into it. And then there were the teens themselves.
My daughters were playing Hodel (the daughter who goes to Siberia to marry the Communist radical) and ensemble roles. Of course, the exchanges between my own daughter and her onstage parents brought tears. When she sang "Far From the Home I Love", I felt it, very deep down. When I saw her sister onstage, with her hair wrapped up according to the Jewish tradition of the time, blessing the Sabbath candles, and generally doing what she was doing, I was struck at how beautiful this daughter is, and how close she is to leaving our home for good.
What surprised me though, was the emotion I felt for the teens who do not live in my house. I just love those kids! Getting to interact with them on Wednesdays at co-op is always an experience. Watching them work at their roles (over and over and over again) was amazing. But to see them in the roles, onstage, was another thing altogether. It almost felt like those kids were my own, all of them. It made me teary to see the boys, acting like men, knowing that only a few years ago, they were little boys. And in only a few more years, they will in fact be men. And feeling the same about the beautiful girls, including my own. So close to adulthood, still close to childhood. That was what really hit me more than the play.
So enough babbling...I hope that Xanga will allow me to upload some pictures here. I guess we'll see. I'm including a picture of "the dress" that caused me such stress. If you aren't a Facebook friend, be glad. I've done nothing but freak out about those dresses for the past week. I feel strange today without a needle in my hand.
The Tweedle Twins, during the dress rehearsal (no red circles on their cheeks). The one on the left is mine.
My daughter Rachel entitled this one "Tevye's girls". The one in the green shirt is mine. The ones standing in the back row are the ones with speaking roles.
THE dress. You cannot tell from this picture how voluminous those sleeves and skirt are. Trust me, they were. I can gather like a professional now.
My daughter Rachel and her Communist paramour.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Rain, rain, go away
I logged on here to answer a message and realized that it had been quite some time since I'd blogged. I still blog or journal in my head all the time but don't take time to come here and write it down. Part of that is just getting through all the trauma and depression that life brings me. I don't always like to have everyone know how very disturbed I am and how often.
But I came on here to answer a comment and remembered that Friend Cherylyn had called me last week with some fabulous news. I will let her tell you in her own way but suffice it to say that it is really wonderful news. And who doesn't need that these days?
Yesterday was a homeschooling holiday for us. I meant to look up Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech for the children to listen to but never got around to it. Wonderful Friend Husband offered me the day to replace a couple of Saturdays that I'd lost to illness and Commencement, so I guiltily took them! I managed to rework a little of my homeschooling stuff to hopefully compensate for missed classes. It's hard for me to believe that Sarah is a junior this year! I think I may be in denial about it. There are so many things I've wanted to do with her in high school but it's been difficult to fit them in with preschoolers running around. Not to mention my general laziness quotient. But it's definitely time to organize and buckle down.
So I did that, then I spent the rest of the day playing with "fun paper". No, it's not money, I'm referring to scrapbooking and card making. I made a set of 8 cards for a gift and did some organizing on a double-page spread I'm putting into 5 scrapbooks I'm making for me and some friends. I've been making these things for about 9 months and I'd like to be finished with them. A group of church friends and I "take tea" when our schedules permit. These scrapbooks commemorate one trip we took to Eden Hall back in April of 2009. I had big hopes of doing all of our trips but obviously those hopes cannot be realized in the amount of time I currently have. But it has been loads of fun to work on them. To streamline and to make it so one (the one I started with) did not get more done to it than others (namely, the last one), I decided to do the layouts at the same time but vary it for each person using different paper & embellishments. So I have three pictures to spread over a two-page area. I figure out how I want them organized on one set of pages, then replicate them (more or less) for the other four books. For me, the time-consuming part of scrapping is in getting the layouts the way I want them. Once I get that figured out, it goes pretty quickly. Perhaps I can take some pictures to illustrate when my camera batteries are charged up. Which would not be now. I do have a camera photo of the cards I made.
It's very blurry and has a weird yellow cast on the second card which does not really exist but you get the picture. The one on the left says "I don't do mornings until I've had my coffee" and the one on the right says "I like you a latte" I really liked all the stamped coffee beans in the background...they gave the perfect touch, I think.
So anyway, that is what is happening here. Friend Husband and I have a date tonight...dinner at Red Lobster! He has a coupon or a card or something which will make it more affordable and I do like me some Red Lobster and time with Friend Husband! So off I go to work...hope y'all have a most excellent day!
But I came on here to answer a comment and remembered that Friend Cherylyn had called me last week with some fabulous news. I will let her tell you in her own way but suffice it to say that it is really wonderful news. And who doesn't need that these days?
Yesterday was a homeschooling holiday for us. I meant to look up Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech for the children to listen to but never got around to it. Wonderful Friend Husband offered me the day to replace a couple of Saturdays that I'd lost to illness and Commencement, so I guiltily took them! I managed to rework a little of my homeschooling stuff to hopefully compensate for missed classes. It's hard for me to believe that Sarah is a junior this year! I think I may be in denial about it. There are so many things I've wanted to do with her in high school but it's been difficult to fit them in with preschoolers running around. Not to mention my general laziness quotient. But it's definitely time to organize and buckle down.
So I did that, then I spent the rest of the day playing with "fun paper". No, it's not money, I'm referring to scrapbooking and card making. I made a set of 8 cards for a gift and did some organizing on a double-page spread I'm putting into 5 scrapbooks I'm making for me and some friends. I've been making these things for about 9 months and I'd like to be finished with them. A group of church friends and I "take tea" when our schedules permit. These scrapbooks commemorate one trip we took to Eden Hall back in April of 2009. I had big hopes of doing all of our trips but obviously those hopes cannot be realized in the amount of time I currently have. But it has been loads of fun to work on them. To streamline and to make it so one (the one I started with) did not get more done to it than others (namely, the last one), I decided to do the layouts at the same time but vary it for each person using different paper & embellishments. So I have three pictures to spread over a two-page area. I figure out how I want them organized on one set of pages, then replicate them (more or less) for the other four books. For me, the time-consuming part of scrapping is in getting the layouts the way I want them. Once I get that figured out, it goes pretty quickly. Perhaps I can take some pictures to illustrate when my camera batteries are charged up. Which would not be now. I do have a camera photo of the cards I made.
It's very blurry and has a weird yellow cast on the second card which does not really exist but you get the picture. The one on the left says "I don't do mornings until I've had my coffee" and the one on the right says "I like you a latte" I really liked all the stamped coffee beans in the background...they gave the perfect touch, I think.
So anyway, that is what is happening here. Friend Husband and I have a date tonight...dinner at Red Lobster! He has a coupon or a card or something which will make it more affordable and I do like me some Red Lobster and time with Friend Husband! So off I go to work...hope y'all have a most excellent day!
Friday, September 04, 2009
Crazy days
I have been feeling pretty crazy here lately and this will probably sound disjointed. David is sitting here next to me. He finally decided that he is interested in words & letters and wants to learn it all NOW. I think I need more coffee.
I've spent the last week or so dealing with this bounty from Friend Hazel:
Friend Hazel went to the Panama Canal with a tour group and asked me to come pick the last of her beans and tomatoes. It took me 3 separate trips out there to get all the beans. I need to go back and pick some more, as there are probably more that are past ready to pick, but I've been trying to deal with these first. Plus I need to pick in my own garden and do other pesky things like laundry, teaching, etc. Those are 2 5-gallon buckets full of beans (and a little bit of thyme, in one of them) plus about 50# of tomatoes. I'm almost finished with the beans. Still have another canning of them. The tomatoes...some of them I made into spaghetti sauce, which I had intended to can. Friend Husband had other plans, so we've been eating on that.
Spaghetti sauce is a messy undertaking. Especially when your dishwasher is broken, which ours is. The girls have been in high dundgeon because of my insistence that they take their turn at washing dishes. They are very spoiled. Except for Sarah, who is a willing worker. Keziah is a willing worker when it comes to dishes...she purely loves to hand wash dishes! I do put her to work but I have to keep an eye on her lest something formerly clean get dumped into the dirty water.
This week was Friend Husband's birthday as well, so we spent Tuesday getting ready for that. He requested vindaloo, curried cauliflower & chocolate lasagna.
While I was getting his cauliflower, I noticed that there were many heads on less than half-price in the produce section. I bought 5 of them and last night, turned them into cauliflower pickles. I do love the pickled cauliflower I get sometimes at the store. I hope these are as good as those. I don't have much luck with pickles. Mine are always soggy.
Speaking of which, I was hunting for more canning jars to can beans and came across some pickles that I had made in 1994. Yikes! They were mushy after I made them, which is why I never ate them. David and I dumped out the contents and the jars are now full of beans. Which I hope will not be mushy.
We got to go visit Friend Gina yesterday. Beforehand, we stopped at the store to pick up a few things (and to look for canning jars, which they did not have...I went to 3 stores yesterday before I got them!). I saw these marvelous donuts. We didn't buy any but I thought they were works of art in the bakery case:
I have a whole lineup of pictures to show, as y'all can see! This week, David also got his head stuck in the footboard of my bed. He and Zi used to slide off the end and slip through the rails. David found out that he has now grown too much to be able to do this. After laughing hysterically, then trying to get his head out, I ran to get the camera and took this picture. He was not thrilled with me. Eventually, he told me how he got into this predicament and I figured out how to undo it. Perhaps he's learned his lesson, at least for now!
Well, that's what's going on and I have to go pick my garden before the mosquitoes get too warmed up and fast. The weather here has been very much like fall, rather than the end of summer. I am grateful. I don't do so well with heat and humidity.
I hope you all are well! Pray for me as I pray for you.
I've spent the last week or so dealing with this bounty from Friend Hazel:
Friend Hazel went to the Panama Canal with a tour group and asked me to come pick the last of her beans and tomatoes. It took me 3 separate trips out there to get all the beans. I need to go back and pick some more, as there are probably more that are past ready to pick, but I've been trying to deal with these first. Plus I need to pick in my own garden and do other pesky things like laundry, teaching, etc. Those are 2 5-gallon buckets full of beans (and a little bit of thyme, in one of them) plus about 50# of tomatoes. I'm almost finished with the beans. Still have another canning of them. The tomatoes...some of them I made into spaghetti sauce, which I had intended to can. Friend Husband had other plans, so we've been eating on that.
Spaghetti sauce is a messy undertaking. Especially when your dishwasher is broken, which ours is. The girls have been in high dundgeon because of my insistence that they take their turn at washing dishes. They are very spoiled. Except for Sarah, who is a willing worker. Keziah is a willing worker when it comes to dishes...she purely loves to hand wash dishes! I do put her to work but I have to keep an eye on her lest something formerly clean get dumped into the dirty water.
This week was Friend Husband's birthday as well, so we spent Tuesday getting ready for that. He requested vindaloo, curried cauliflower & chocolate lasagna.
While I was getting his cauliflower, I noticed that there were many heads on less than half-price in the produce section. I bought 5 of them and last night, turned them into cauliflower pickles. I do love the pickled cauliflower I get sometimes at the store. I hope these are as good as those. I don't have much luck with pickles. Mine are always soggy.
Speaking of which, I was hunting for more canning jars to can beans and came across some pickles that I had made in 1994. Yikes! They were mushy after I made them, which is why I never ate them. David and I dumped out the contents and the jars are now full of beans. Which I hope will not be mushy.
We got to go visit Friend Gina yesterday. Beforehand, we stopped at the store to pick up a few things (and to look for canning jars, which they did not have...I went to 3 stores yesterday before I got them!). I saw these marvelous donuts. We didn't buy any but I thought they were works of art in the bakery case:
I have a whole lineup of pictures to show, as y'all can see! This week, David also got his head stuck in the footboard of my bed. He and Zi used to slide off the end and slip through the rails. David found out that he has now grown too much to be able to do this. After laughing hysterically, then trying to get his head out, I ran to get the camera and took this picture. He was not thrilled with me. Eventually, he told me how he got into this predicament and I figured out how to undo it. Perhaps he's learned his lesson, at least for now!
Well, that's what's going on and I have to go pick my garden before the mosquitoes get too warmed up and fast. The weather here has been very much like fall, rather than the end of summer. I am grateful. I don't do so well with heat and humidity.
I hope you all are well! Pray for me as I pray for you.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
First Day
Monday was our official "first day of school". I have that in quotes because we do work all summer but the "first day" is when we try to get back into the swing of doing a lot of work in a day. It was also Friend Husband's first day back.
Well, in addition to all the craziness which is inherent in the first day back, Mama decides that it would be fun to have a tea party to commemorate the event, complete with company in the form of some church friends. So we did. It was fun but it made a lot more work and worry in the middle of the day. Why I do these things to myself, I don't know.
The folks we invited are friends of ours from our congregation. The little girl was having her first day of kindergarten on Tuesday, but school had started for the rest of the children the previous Friday. So I thought it might be nice to celebrate her last day before school (and to keep her mind off the fact that her sister was already at school, where she wanted to be!) They also babysit a little boy. The twins love Christian, so it was a bonus to have him around.
On the day, I decided that, instead of tea, we'd have lime slushes, my favorite from Sonic. I figured out a way to make them so that they were good and that's what we had in our tea cups instead of tea. Generally, the children don't like tea anyway. It did get everyone pretty sugared up!
See what I mean? Sugar!
Apparently Abby wasn't getting enough sugar because her eyes were closed.
Slushie!
This is what the tea table looked like prior to our sitting down. We had hard boiled eggs (which were supposed to be deviled, but I ran out of time), red grapes, baba ganoush, hummus, roasted tomato soup, & chips. How about that?
Kez loves tea parties.
After the sugar surge, we went outside to swing and play with the dog. I love this picture of Adalyn...she loved the swing!
The look on Zi's face cracks me up. I don't know what she was in a snit about but it's right on out there.
Christian loved Lucy. I tried to give her to him as a party favor but Tonya was having nothing of it.
After the guests left, I went back to canning. I had already finished off the tomatoes, but here are pictures of them anyway.
These are the 20 # or so of tomatoes that Friend Husband and I picked. Plus some green beans. I picked corn last night and we had that for supper. It was good but I was still miffed that, of the many many seeds I planted, only 5 or so plants came up.
But Monday I was working on canning peaches. I had bought a bushel from our local apple orchard (they import them from PA) and had started working on some peach butter, because my beloved sil loves it so much. Here's the peach butter long before it was ready to be canned:
It's more the color of apple butter now, and it's all canned, as of yesterday. Because I hit it in high gear, canned that, and canned some more peaches, just as peaches. So now I have no more peaches to can, but I have a lot of medium syrup left. I think I might have to go get another bushel of peaches...
Here's the beans, tomatoes, & corn from my very own garden plus peach butter and, in the back where you can't see them, some canned peaches. I feel just like Olivia Walton. Except less. Yeah.
JoAnn wanted to see a picture of my new/old desk. Here it is, already covered with papers to grade.
I did get a new lamp because that clamp lamp was just not working. Plus the lightbulb on it, combined with the general gloom of the basement, made it impossible to see my scrapbooking stuff correctly (ie, see the colors correctly). I had intended to get one of those lamps that mimics daylight but settled for a desk lamp with a Reveal bulb, which is closer to the actual spectrum than are incandescent bulbs. The folder on the right side of the desk holds my current scrapbooking project (the tea party books). To the right of the desk are some built-in shelves which have been housing part of our voluminous record collection. I moved some of those records out and put my teacher's manuals and scrapbooking stuff in the cubbies. It made me happy! Here's a photo:
And I guess that's all except to say that Friend Cherylyn got some good news from her recent MRI. They indicate that her breast cancer and lymph node cancer are completely gone! Hallelujah! I know that a lot of you were praying for her, so I thought I'd give you the good news. I've been floating on it for a while now!
Have a good day! I'm way past the time I need to get out and pick more tomatoes! Yikes.
Well, in addition to all the craziness which is inherent in the first day back, Mama decides that it would be fun to have a tea party to commemorate the event, complete with company in the form of some church friends. So we did. It was fun but it made a lot more work and worry in the middle of the day. Why I do these things to myself, I don't know.
The folks we invited are friends of ours from our congregation. The little girl was having her first day of kindergarten on Tuesday, but school had started for the rest of the children the previous Friday. So I thought it might be nice to celebrate her last day before school (and to keep her mind off the fact that her sister was already at school, where she wanted to be!) They also babysit a little boy. The twins love Christian, so it was a bonus to have him around.
On the day, I decided that, instead of tea, we'd have lime slushes, my favorite from Sonic. I figured out a way to make them so that they were good and that's what we had in our tea cups instead of tea. Generally, the children don't like tea anyway. It did get everyone pretty sugared up!
See what I mean? Sugar!
Apparently Abby wasn't getting enough sugar because her eyes were closed.
Slushie!
This is what the tea table looked like prior to our sitting down. We had hard boiled eggs (which were supposed to be deviled, but I ran out of time), red grapes, baba ganoush, hummus, roasted tomato soup, & chips. How about that?
Kez loves tea parties.
After the sugar surge, we went outside to swing and play with the dog. I love this picture of Adalyn...she loved the swing!
The look on Zi's face cracks me up. I don't know what she was in a snit about but it's right on out there.
Christian loved Lucy. I tried to give her to him as a party favor but Tonya was having nothing of it.
After the guests left, I went back to canning. I had already finished off the tomatoes, but here are pictures of them anyway.
These are the 20 # or so of tomatoes that Friend Husband and I picked. Plus some green beans. I picked corn last night and we had that for supper. It was good but I was still miffed that, of the many many seeds I planted, only 5 or so plants came up.
But Monday I was working on canning peaches. I had bought a bushel from our local apple orchard (they import them from PA) and had started working on some peach butter, because my beloved sil loves it so much. Here's the peach butter long before it was ready to be canned:
It's more the color of apple butter now, and it's all canned, as of yesterday. Because I hit it in high gear, canned that, and canned some more peaches, just as peaches. So now I have no more peaches to can, but I have a lot of medium syrup left. I think I might have to go get another bushel of peaches...
Here's the beans, tomatoes, & corn from my very own garden plus peach butter and, in the back where you can't see them, some canned peaches. I feel just like Olivia Walton. Except less. Yeah.
JoAnn wanted to see a picture of my new/old desk. Here it is, already covered with papers to grade.
I did get a new lamp because that clamp lamp was just not working. Plus the lightbulb on it, combined with the general gloom of the basement, made it impossible to see my scrapbooking stuff correctly (ie, see the colors correctly). I had intended to get one of those lamps that mimics daylight but settled for a desk lamp with a Reveal bulb, which is closer to the actual spectrum than are incandescent bulbs. The folder on the right side of the desk holds my current scrapbooking project (the tea party books). To the right of the desk are some built-in shelves which have been housing part of our voluminous record collection. I moved some of those records out and put my teacher's manuals and scrapbooking stuff in the cubbies. It made me happy! Here's a photo:
And I guess that's all except to say that Friend Cherylyn got some good news from her recent MRI. They indicate that her breast cancer and lymph node cancer are completely gone! Hallelujah! I know that a lot of you were praying for her, so I thought I'd give you the good news. I've been floating on it for a while now!
Have a good day! I'm way past the time I need to get out and pick more tomatoes! Yikes.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Another Day
This is our last day of togetherness before the fall semester starts. I'm already missing Friend Husband. I'm thankful that he has a good job (and one he enjoys to boot) but I miss him when he's gone all day.
We were supposed to have a humdinger of a storm come in today and I didn't finish picking tomatoes yesterday, so I asked him if he wanted to go out and pick with me. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I'm all about getting the job done but it was nice to be able to chat and not be stressed about it. We picked 10 pounds this morning, to add to the 7 or 8 I picked yesterday. Yow...anyone want a bunch of grape tomatoes? Next year I'm not planting as many!
Because of the timely rains this July, the tomatoes are huge and beautiful. My romas are usually the size of the romas you can get in the grocery store. This year, they're half again as large! I've never seen anything like it. And being in the middle of all the plants is a little like being in a jungle. I just know that I'll be straddling two rows one of these days and a snake will appear and slither right by my legs....eek!
My favorite garden snack used to be fresh tomatoes. I do like fresh tomatoes but my favorite snack this year is raw okra. Man, is that good! When we were in Texas a couple of years ago, we stopped by to see Friend Tony (Melton) and his wife, Friend Norma. Friend Tony had himself a big old okra patch (which I am still amazed at, to this day) and he asked us if we'd ever tried raw okra. I thought I'd had okra every which way you could have it (and love it in all its permutations), but I hadn't had it raw. It was a revelation.
Ok, it's not a chocolate sundae, but if you like okra, I think you'll like it raw. It is, of course, crunchy, with that nice okra flavor, but not slimy at all. And not prickly either, as one of my Facebook commentators asked. Just plain yummy goodness. Unfortunately, most of my okra seeds did not sprout this year so I only have 2 or 3 plants to produce okra. Not enough to make the hot okra pickles I'd hoped to make (my second favorite way to eat okra) but enough for me to have an absolutely fresh okra pod every time I go out to pick. Yum!
So, I'm trying to get myself geared up for another school year. No, I'm not terribly excited about it. I remember with great fondness the days when I skipped downstairs in the morning to get things ready and skipped downstairs in the evening to grade papers. I wish I still skipped (mentally, at least) when thinking about homeschooling. Mostly it's the attitude issue. I don't mind grading so much (despite the stack of papers on my desk at all times) but I do get very tired of fighting two of my students to get their work done. They have no idea how good they have it and they have no idea how much they wear me down each and every day. Unfortunately, one of them is the one I think would be seriously negatively affected by going into the government schools, or I'd chuck them in and enjoy my days with Sarah and the twins.
Ah well, there it is. My constant battle with my reality. Any constructive ideas would be welcomed. I just get so tired of battling with them and dealing with the attitude.
What else? Can't end this on a sour note. Hmmm...I'm about to clean off a desk for myself downstairs and move my papers & scrapbooking stuff there. This is the desk that I had when I was living in my mother's house and it used to belong to my grandfather's family. It may even be homemade, for all I know. I treasure it and it will be wonderful to be using it again.
There now...y'all have a good evening, Friday, & weekend!
We were supposed to have a humdinger of a storm come in today and I didn't finish picking tomatoes yesterday, so I asked him if he wanted to go out and pick with me. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I'm all about getting the job done but it was nice to be able to chat and not be stressed about it. We picked 10 pounds this morning, to add to the 7 or 8 I picked yesterday. Yow...anyone want a bunch of grape tomatoes? Next year I'm not planting as many!
Because of the timely rains this July, the tomatoes are huge and beautiful. My romas are usually the size of the romas you can get in the grocery store. This year, they're half again as large! I've never seen anything like it. And being in the middle of all the plants is a little like being in a jungle. I just know that I'll be straddling two rows one of these days and a snake will appear and slither right by my legs....eek!
My favorite garden snack used to be fresh tomatoes. I do like fresh tomatoes but my favorite snack this year is raw okra. Man, is that good! When we were in Texas a couple of years ago, we stopped by to see Friend Tony (Melton) and his wife, Friend Norma. Friend Tony had himself a big old okra patch (which I am still amazed at, to this day) and he asked us if we'd ever tried raw okra. I thought I'd had okra every which way you could have it (and love it in all its permutations), but I hadn't had it raw. It was a revelation.
Ok, it's not a chocolate sundae, but if you like okra, I think you'll like it raw. It is, of course, crunchy, with that nice okra flavor, but not slimy at all. And not prickly either, as one of my Facebook commentators asked. Just plain yummy goodness. Unfortunately, most of my okra seeds did not sprout this year so I only have 2 or 3 plants to produce okra. Not enough to make the hot okra pickles I'd hoped to make (my second favorite way to eat okra) but enough for me to have an absolutely fresh okra pod every time I go out to pick. Yum!
So, I'm trying to get myself geared up for another school year. No, I'm not terribly excited about it. I remember with great fondness the days when I skipped downstairs in the morning to get things ready and skipped downstairs in the evening to grade papers. I wish I still skipped (mentally, at least) when thinking about homeschooling. Mostly it's the attitude issue. I don't mind grading so much (despite the stack of papers on my desk at all times) but I do get very tired of fighting two of my students to get their work done. They have no idea how good they have it and they have no idea how much they wear me down each and every day. Unfortunately, one of them is the one I think would be seriously negatively affected by going into the government schools, or I'd chuck them in and enjoy my days with Sarah and the twins.
Ah well, there it is. My constant battle with my reality. Any constructive ideas would be welcomed. I just get so tired of battling with them and dealing with the attitude.
What else? Can't end this on a sour note. Hmmm...I'm about to clean off a desk for myself downstairs and move my papers & scrapbooking stuff there. This is the desk that I had when I was living in my mother's house and it used to belong to my grandfather's family. It may even be homemade, for all I know. I treasure it and it will be wonderful to be using it again.
There now...y'all have a good evening, Friday, & weekend!
Monday, April 20, 2009
And now back to our regularly scheduled program...
So, the homeschooling convention was, as I'd hoped, a blast. And a shot in the arm. I really needed that, especially this year. Maybe I'll get to the end of the year without threatening to send Rachel and Abby to public school.
I am so tired.
And this is not a good week to be tired, as the end of the week is the musical that we've been preparing for since September. I still have many many costumes to make and I have a nasty cold or sinus infection or something going on. I was totally out of it yesterday. But I did manage to see most of what I wanted to see at the convention AND go to tea with Friend Priscilla and the girls. The girls being the middle-aged women I take tea with in our congregation.
The first two photos which follow are of stuff that was near where we parked on Friday. I think the first one is Music Hall and the second was a couple of steeples to what, I don't know. I just like steeples.
The third photo is of the vendor area at the convention. I am proud to announce that I only purchased one book, which Sarah needed for school. We did have the opportunity to look at an algebra book, which was nice. I wish we could have found the other one for comparison purposes, but since she's been studying math out of the other series for a while, we pretty much know how it goes.
Here are a few photos of our tea experience. We went to Edith Mae's Tea Room in the Eden Hall Mansion. Eden Hall was used as the model for Sally Cochran Rausch's house in ...And Ladies of the Club (my favoritest novel ever) so it was beyond cool to go inside and see it. And to stand on the corner outside it and ponder some scenes from the book. The tea experience was nice too, except for the lack of serving utensils. Fortunately, we're all friendly!
Eden Hall Mansion (there's a ballroom on the 3rd floor!)
Our charming hostess, Friend Priscilla.
My place setting, before I switched plates with Friend Sherri, because she didn't particularly like hers.
Here was the plate that Friend Sherri liked a lot less well than I did:
And here is the group, in the yellow dining room adjacent to where we had our tea.
I can't wait for the next tea party! I think I'm going to try to have everyone in June to my house. I actually have a few ideas, for once!
More pictures tomorrow, Lord and health willing. And costumes and party prep for Sarah's party on Saturday. As I said, it's a busy week.
Be well!
I am so tired.
And this is not a good week to be tired, as the end of the week is the musical that we've been preparing for since September. I still have many many costumes to make and I have a nasty cold or sinus infection or something going on. I was totally out of it yesterday. But I did manage to see most of what I wanted to see at the convention AND go to tea with Friend Priscilla and the girls. The girls being the middle-aged women I take tea with in our congregation.
The first two photos which follow are of stuff that was near where we parked on Friday. I think the first one is Music Hall and the second was a couple of steeples to what, I don't know. I just like steeples.
The third photo is of the vendor area at the convention. I am proud to announce that I only purchased one book, which Sarah needed for school. We did have the opportunity to look at an algebra book, which was nice. I wish we could have found the other one for comparison purposes, but since she's been studying math out of the other series for a while, we pretty much know how it goes.
Here are a few photos of our tea experience. We went to Edith Mae's Tea Room in the Eden Hall Mansion. Eden Hall was used as the model for Sally Cochran Rausch's house in ...And Ladies of the Club (my favoritest novel ever) so it was beyond cool to go inside and see it. And to stand on the corner outside it and ponder some scenes from the book. The tea experience was nice too, except for the lack of serving utensils. Fortunately, we're all friendly!
Eden Hall Mansion (there's a ballroom on the 3rd floor!)
Our charming hostess, Friend Priscilla.
My place setting, before I switched plates with Friend Sherri, because she didn't particularly like hers.
Here was the plate that Friend Sherri liked a lot less well than I did:
And here is the group, in the yellow dining room adjacent to where we had our tea.
I can't wait for the next tea party! I think I'm going to try to have everyone in June to my house. I actually have a few ideas, for once!
More pictures tomorrow, Lord and health willing. And costumes and party prep for Sarah's party on Saturday. As I said, it's a busy week.
Be well!
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