We've had some wicked thunderstorms these last 2 days. Even as my age advances I haven't outgrown my fear of thunderstorms. I remember riding my bike home from somewhere one night in the middle of a stormy Aug. w/ lightning bolts seeming to be hurled all around me, head low & pedaling as fast as I possibly could down Cemetary Rd. to escape God's just wrath. I seem to remember more storms in Mo. than anywhere Va.
Victor is on a science fiction kick. We've been reading the unabridged The Invisible Man for a read aloud but then I saw one of those Great Illustrated Classics of The Time Machine at the library so we read that in 3 days. I searched on the internet for the movie & found the 1960 version on youtube. I used to watch that waaay back when TNT had monstervision on Fri. nights. He is very impressed w/ the Morlocks & has a fairly good grasp of the whole thing; he went into detail telling daddy all about it when he got home. Invisible Man not so much, a great many big words, words I need to look up for myself. Still he wants to finish it.
I'd like to find more of those Great illustrated Classics, I must have had at least 20 of them when I was younger. They were so good I went & read most of them unabridged starting around 12. That was a mistake. There is no more self punishing novel than Moby Dick or anything by Jules Verne for that matter. I ought to read them again to see if my perspective has changed; I hugely enjoyed Treasure Island a few months ago, but Mike just finished it the other day & for him it was self-punishing to read it.
I'm still not in a school routine as I would like. I really want him to want to learn & his disinterest drives me wild. His writing, when I persuade him to do anything resembling the act, is alot more steady than it was before. He only recognizes 1/2 of his letters but I console myself that he knows their sounds & can string them together into a word. "Letter beads on a word necklace." He liked that idea & the look of delight on his face when he gets a word is beautiful. But he doesn't want to, just army games & war all day long, unless we're reading.
Speaking of we took our first family trip to the library which was fun. Mike got a book called Weird Carolinas & our heads are full of places to road trip. There are some out there things too, really just weird. Ripley's helped to write the book. But the best part was we got to switch off & I got to see the adult section. The children's room is downstairs so that's where we're at. My head is full of ideas; entymology is our predominant subject for outside but the field guide is not to be taken from the library. Bummer.
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
17 May, 2010
26 March, 2010
March Madness
Goodness, but we're busy. Daylight Savings has sent us awry; we are just getting to where we're supposed to be this week instead of everyone sleeping until 8:30. Miranda is a night owl, but once she's down it's for the night.
Our garden for the year is underway:
Miranda is a month old & filling out. She's a very serious baby. Mike & I have heard her laugh & seen her smile but she only does those as she sleeps. I got a backback Snugli for her off of ebay so I can have 2 hands free for food prep. She vastly prefers it to the Hotsling & so does my back. I used it yesterday as we went to the flea market (high entertainment here, 3 whole counties turn out every weekend), Mike said he heard some complimentery comments about it. We got 2 peach trees, a plum & cherry. I need to get our apple seedlings back, the family has been waching them for us as we moved. Probably we'll be cutting down some not not so useful trees up front, there's a weird gnarly nut tree & a willow by the stream that can go.
Here's Miranda at about 2 weeks.
She had terribly long nails at birth. I tried to cut them twice & twice I nicked her, so it was mitten hands for the first 2 weeks until the nails would let me get under them. I've got more to say but nary a moment to say it.
Our garden for the year is underway:
We've got strawberries, garlic, lettuce, onions & carrots in so far. Our land has almost no topsoil, so Mike ordered a dumptruck of mixed fill dirt & fine mulch. They came in 2 separate unmixed trips leaving us to do it by hand the old fashioned way. We're very grateful to have it; I think our land grows mostly rocks.
Our schooling is a bit off & of a practical nature. For instance, w/ the carseats/ booster, Victor got bumped to the back. Well after 2 weeks of climbing to the back to buckle him we had a pretty long lesson just on buckling himself in. Lots of that. Learning to wipe himself w/out a checkup, staying focused long enough to give himself a bath, etc. He is distracted terribly easily & really needs someone to guide him back to the task almost constantly. Not being rebellious, just interested in everything. Here's a more fun lesson on changing the oil.
Diapers are something else I didn't expect to be quite so overwhelming. Every child is in cloth diapers & each has their own system. Miranda is in the wraps & flatfolds. Charlotte is in the training panties w/ a diaper liner for added absorbency, & Victor is in them only at night (yay!), w/ a prefold & my homemade flannel diaper folded into some larger underwear. I wake him up to pee as I go to bed & sometimes w/ that he'll be dry all night like last night. More often than not it isn't so & he's still asleep even standing in front of the toilet waking only when he's climbing the ladder on the return trip. He sleeps very hard.
Miranda is a month old & filling out. She's a very serious baby. Mike & I have heard her laugh & seen her smile but she only does those as she sleeps. I got a backback Snugli for her off of ebay so I can have 2 hands free for food prep. She vastly prefers it to the Hotsling & so does my back. I used it yesterday as we went to the flea market (high entertainment here, 3 whole counties turn out every weekend), Mike said he heard some complimentery comments about it. We got 2 peach trees, a plum & cherry. I need to get our apple seedlings back, the family has been waching them for us as we moved. Probably we'll be cutting down some not not so useful trees up front, there's a weird gnarly nut tree & a willow by the stream that can go.
Here's Miranda at about 2 weeks.
She had terribly long nails at birth. I tried to cut them twice & twice I nicked her, so it was mitten hands for the first 2 weeks until the nails would let me get under them. I've got more to say but nary a moment to say it.
06 February, 2010
Homeschool Encourgement
This was posted on my homeschool loop & while encouragement doesn't usually jump right in my face, this certainly did. So I thought I would put it out here for any others.
I've been a member of this group since the beginning of the year, however this is my first post.
We live in W- and this has been our first year homeschooling. I have three kids, E- is 8, E- is 6 and My little Juju Bean is 2. I must say that we have had some struggles. I feel like I am in need of some encouragement. I have heard that the first year is the hardest and it that has made itself very clear. I feel that we have all lost our luster, we don't get out enough and sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get the kids to focus on their schoolwork. My Daughter (6) is a social butterfly and since our co-op group ended for the semester I feel that she is really lacking in that area. It is also incredibly painful doing any sort of Math with her. She just can NOT sit through it. Her mind wanders, I'll tell her the answer to something and then rephrase the question and ask again and she will answer with something completely off. :) I've tried to make it interesting and have mostly just played games with her. Any other suggestions? ?? PLEASE??? I'd also love some suggestions with science, history, social studies...Am I trying to take on too much? Am I going to make it through this first year?!?!
Well, with that off my chest...
We are trying to buy a house in H-- right now. It looks like it may work out which means that we will be moving to that area in the next month or so. I just wanted to put my "feelers" out to that area to see if there are any homeschool groups out that way...or just some homeschool families that might just want to get together and give each other support every once in a while. Or just hang. :)
Thanks to all of you, and I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself before.
--R. L.
Hi R.,
Welcome to homeschooling! I think one of the biggest reasons the first year is difficult for many people is trying to do too much. Everyone does things differently, but for our family, we don't do much "school" until the child is seven. (A quick background here, I am the oldest of seven homeschool graduates and am expecting my eighth child next month, all of whom will be homeschooled for all their school years.) When my children are younger than that, we work with alphabet puzzles and sing the alphabet song, then gradually begin talking casually about the sounds each letter makes. They learn to write their own name and usually at some point begin copying words they see around them. When the time comes that we actually, technically, begin reading it is usually about a two week period to go from not reading to reading beginner phonics level books. With math, they play with pattern blocks by either making freeform designs or covering pictures on the accompanying cards, playing with the Cuisenaire rods to get familiar with them, use Building Thinking Skills worksheets with the pattern blocks or snap-cubes, and play "Store" with older siblings. We do lots of informal counting, adding, subtracting, even some multiplying and dividing throughout the day with setting the table, figuring how many biscuits each child can get, playing with their toys (ie. two boys are playing and there are eight cars so divide them evenly, or how many yellow Legos did you use in that boat you made?, Did you use more red or blue ones?, the doll had three dresses but now there is only one; how many are missing?) Doing these things in a casual way, not turning everything into a school session but just in a natural conversation will teach your children as much as trying to get them to fill in their workbook pages would do, or probably more.
History - read good books with historical settings. Little House on the Prairie, missionary accounts, some of the older books written about presidents, inventors, etc. Again, this sets the stage for future study that will be more indepth and will prepare them for it by familiarizing them with it.
Science - take them outside - even in the snow - we tracked birds, fox, deer, rabbit, and dog prints in the snow and had so much fun following them around. plant a garden - even a little flower garden - each spring each of my children gets their own plant to put in the ground, care for, and watch its growth. Nature notebooks - let them just go on their own and draw something they see, then when they come back inside, ask them about their artwork and questions will naturally come up. Then go to the library or the internet and find answers to those questions. We have found videos on youtube for everything from bees to silkworms, plants blooming in time-lapse photography, wildlife in Africa... everything we have looked for so far. Just search for and preview your videos without them around and then make sure you put it on full screen, because there is some pretty bad stuff on there. Please be careful! Nature study was the basis for many of our scientists and inventors who went on to contribute immensely to the scientific field in their later years.
Music - expose them to good music. Mine are really into Vivaldi right now, from my almost three year old who is shouting "dunt da du dunt da, dunt da du dunt da, da da da duuuuhhh" to my almost 16 yr old who just came to ask me if he can load "The Four Seasons" onto his computer so he can listen to it without everyone else making so much noise.
Social Studies - I looked at a kindergarten/first grade social studies curriculum once, and have looked at the course of study for the public schools - they both basically "introduced" people in your community such as mailman, policeman, fireman, doctor, etc. and told what they did. Do we really need to pay money for a book to teach this!!! We happen to have a mailman that comes to our house everyday and a doctor that we go to every so often. What child possibly grows up in America without knowing all about a policeman or fireman? We have taken them to the local police and fire stations for field trips - both organized group trips and personal ones. They love to show the children around and usually have stickers, coloring books, etc. to give out. When one of mine was eight he did a science fair project on fingerprints and the policemen gave him a tour complete with fingerprinting him in the place they do the criminals that are brought in, and gave him the official fingerprint card to take home. They showed him how they lift fingerprints from a crime scene and match them in the computer database. Believe me, my children learned and retained more from that one hour than they would with weeks of studying a book. Books have their place, but read to them when they are little, so they develop a natural hunger and love for reading, not a dread of it. All of my children are true bookworms by the age of nine. A very effective punishment at our house is "no reading for two days!" Aaauugghh, what cruelty, what torture!! Hands on learning and interactive learning are best for the younger years. You do not want to turn them off from school and yourself off from homeschooling before you even get into the fun stuff! If you provide a learning atmosphere and surround them with things that inspire imagination, creativity, and curiosity you will be doing the most valuable teaching you can at this age.
Keep the t.v. off and avoid toys that rely on batteries to provide the noises and actions that your child's mind and body were made to do. And teach them early on the proper place for social acitivities - as an occasional supplement to the natural friends God gave them in their parents and siblings. It is an incredible blessing to have teenagers look forward to game night with their parents or lament the absence of a brother who stayed overnight with a grandparent, when I see other families whose teens can't wait to get out the door to be with their friends but are sullen and rude around their own family. Seeds planted and allowed to grow early on will bear fruit at some point. What seems cute and innocent quickly flourishes in a child's heart and will go its own way if not carefully nurtured and guided along the proper path. Many children place great importance on outside activities and friendships at an early age but if gently guided into a lifestyle of family-focused living will develop a stronger foundation of family-first thinking that will be a real lifesaver through the adolescent years and will greatly influence the decisions they make as they merge into adulthood. Tie those heartstrings to yours and don't let anything in that loosens them in any way. Guard your child's heart zealously until they are mature enough to do it themselves. These are the most important things to focus on in the early school years... laying foundations for the years ahead - spiritually, emotionally, and academically.
Be encouraged; you can't mess up even close to what government schools have done and have many years ahead to try out different things and to catch up where you feel you may need to. You are about your Father's business and He will be with you and help you through all of it.
J. F.
I've been a member of this group since the beginning of the year, however this is my first post.
We live in W- and this has been our first year homeschooling. I have three kids, E- is 8, E- is 6 and My little Juju Bean is 2. I must say that we have had some struggles. I feel like I am in need of some encouragement. I have heard that the first year is the hardest and it that has made itself very clear. I feel that we have all lost our luster, we don't get out enough and sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get the kids to focus on their schoolwork. My Daughter (6) is a social butterfly and since our co-op group ended for the semester I feel that she is really lacking in that area. It is also incredibly painful doing any sort of Math with her. She just can NOT sit through it. Her mind wanders, I'll tell her the answer to something and then rephrase the question and ask again and she will answer with something completely off. :) I've tried to make it interesting and have mostly just played games with her. Any other suggestions? ?? PLEASE??? I'd also love some suggestions with science, history, social studies...Am I trying to take on too much? Am I going to make it through this first year?!?!
Well, with that off my chest...
We are trying to buy a house in H-- right now. It looks like it may work out which means that we will be moving to that area in the next month or so. I just wanted to put my "feelers" out to that area to see if there are any homeschool groups out that way...or just some homeschool families that might just want to get together and give each other support every once in a while. Or just hang. :)
Thanks to all of you, and I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself before.
--R. L.
Hi R.,
Welcome to homeschooling! I think one of the biggest reasons the first year is difficult for many people is trying to do too much. Everyone does things differently, but for our family, we don't do much "school" until the child is seven. (A quick background here, I am the oldest of seven homeschool graduates and am expecting my eighth child next month, all of whom will be homeschooled for all their school years.) When my children are younger than that, we work with alphabet puzzles and sing the alphabet song, then gradually begin talking casually about the sounds each letter makes. They learn to write their own name and usually at some point begin copying words they see around them. When the time comes that we actually, technically, begin reading it is usually about a two week period to go from not reading to reading beginner phonics level books. With math, they play with pattern blocks by either making freeform designs or covering pictures on the accompanying cards, playing with the Cuisenaire rods to get familiar with them, use Building Thinking Skills worksheets with the pattern blocks or snap-cubes, and play "Store" with older siblings. We do lots of informal counting, adding, subtracting, even some multiplying and dividing throughout the day with setting the table, figuring how many biscuits each child can get, playing with their toys (ie. two boys are playing and there are eight cars so divide them evenly, or how many yellow Legos did you use in that boat you made?, Did you use more red or blue ones?, the doll had three dresses but now there is only one; how many are missing?) Doing these things in a casual way, not turning everything into a school session but just in a natural conversation will teach your children as much as trying to get them to fill in their workbook pages would do, or probably more.
History - read good books with historical settings. Little House on the Prairie, missionary accounts, some of the older books written about presidents, inventors, etc. Again, this sets the stage for future study that will be more indepth and will prepare them for it by familiarizing them with it.
Science - take them outside - even in the snow - we tracked birds, fox, deer, rabbit, and dog prints in the snow and had so much fun following them around. plant a garden - even a little flower garden - each spring each of my children gets their own plant to put in the ground, care for, and watch its growth. Nature notebooks - let them just go on their own and draw something they see, then when they come back inside, ask them about their artwork and questions will naturally come up. Then go to the library or the internet and find answers to those questions. We have found videos on youtube for everything from bees to silkworms, plants blooming in time-lapse photography, wildlife in Africa... everything we have looked for so far. Just search for and preview your videos without them around and then make sure you put it on full screen, because there is some pretty bad stuff on there. Please be careful! Nature study was the basis for many of our scientists and inventors who went on to contribute immensely to the scientific field in their later years.
Music - expose them to good music. Mine are really into Vivaldi right now, from my almost three year old who is shouting "dunt da du dunt da, dunt da du dunt da, da da da duuuuhhh" to my almost 16 yr old who just came to ask me if he can load "The Four Seasons" onto his computer so he can listen to it without everyone else making so much noise.
Social Studies - I looked at a kindergarten/first grade social studies curriculum once, and have looked at the course of study for the public schools - they both basically "introduced" people in your community such as mailman, policeman, fireman, doctor, etc. and told what they did. Do we really need to pay money for a book to teach this!!! We happen to have a mailman that comes to our house everyday and a doctor that we go to every so often. What child possibly grows up in America without knowing all about a policeman or fireman? We have taken them to the local police and fire stations for field trips - both organized group trips and personal ones. They love to show the children around and usually have stickers, coloring books, etc. to give out. When one of mine was eight he did a science fair project on fingerprints and the policemen gave him a tour complete with fingerprinting him in the place they do the criminals that are brought in, and gave him the official fingerprint card to take home. They showed him how they lift fingerprints from a crime scene and match them in the computer database. Believe me, my children learned and retained more from that one hour than they would with weeks of studying a book. Books have their place, but read to them when they are little, so they develop a natural hunger and love for reading, not a dread of it. All of my children are true bookworms by the age of nine. A very effective punishment at our house is "no reading for two days!" Aaauugghh, what cruelty, what torture!! Hands on learning and interactive learning are best for the younger years. You do not want to turn them off from school and yourself off from homeschooling before you even get into the fun stuff! If you provide a learning atmosphere and surround them with things that inspire imagination, creativity, and curiosity you will be doing the most valuable teaching you can at this age.
Keep the t.v. off and avoid toys that rely on batteries to provide the noises and actions that your child's mind and body were made to do. And teach them early on the proper place for social acitivities - as an occasional supplement to the natural friends God gave them in their parents and siblings. It is an incredible blessing to have teenagers look forward to game night with their parents or lament the absence of a brother who stayed overnight with a grandparent, when I see other families whose teens can't wait to get out the door to be with their friends but are sullen and rude around their own family. Seeds planted and allowed to grow early on will bear fruit at some point. What seems cute and innocent quickly flourishes in a child's heart and will go its own way if not carefully nurtured and guided along the proper path. Many children place great importance on outside activities and friendships at an early age but if gently guided into a lifestyle of family-focused living will develop a stronger foundation of family-first thinking that will be a real lifesaver through the adolescent years and will greatly influence the decisions they make as they merge into adulthood. Tie those heartstrings to yours and don't let anything in that loosens them in any way. Guard your child's heart zealously until they are mature enough to do it themselves. These are the most important things to focus on in the early school years... laying foundations for the years ahead - spiritually, emotionally, and academically.
Be encouraged; you can't mess up even close to what government schools have done and have many years ahead to try out different things and to catch up where you feel you may need to. You are about your Father's business and He will be with you and help you through all of it.
J. F.
16 January, 2010
Jan. Adventures
These have been such happy busy days, made all the more interesting by the trials & setbacks that have come up. To sum up the first half of the month:
Our midwife will be unable to attend our birth, (I'm about 34 weeks or so) so we're looking into a better hospital w/ nurse midwives on staff a bit further away. This is a very male dominated area in regards to female specific health care & I want nothing to do w/ that. The new clinic is very accommodating.
I was robbed for a day at Aldi's. My billfold fell out of my pocket after I paid for my purchases & a gentleman behind me turned it in. I know this because I saw the security tape. This was on one of those 20 degree windy days when we were finishing our shopping into nap time having passed lunch by. Victor & Charlotte were better than I hoped as I unpacked, searched & repacked the groceries several times out in the wind & unharnessed all of the carts in two's & three's (the chained quarter carts) thinking perhaps it was wedged in the seat top. No avail. The cashier hadn't seen it the first I asked her, the second time I asked her no one had turned it in. I was in a panic, we've taken a 70% loss of income w/ retirement. I didn't know how I could face Mike w/out the debit card or remaining cash & especially w/out my military dependent ID. There's no place to get a replacement around here & it doubles as an insurance card. The wonderful manager took me into the back to check the security cameras & we watched it all on tape. The gentleman handed it off to the cashier as it was the the proper thing to do & she put it on the counter. The manager sent me home & said he would watch to see if anyone took it off of the counter. I borrowed the store phone & called Mike to cancel the bank card. He was predictably unhappy. After feeding the children & laying Charlotte down the manager called to see if I could come to the store as they had it!
I did & was welcomed by the police, manager & district manager. Apparently the employee (Jennifer Crump, 27 yrs old, beware of her!) had palmed my billfold & got nervous when they kept looking & threw it in the trash. It probably helped that I called Mike & had him cancel the card right in front of her. They had discovered that not only was she guilty of petty theft in my case, but had been pilfering money from the store for a long time too. The police escorted me to the magistrates to file a complaint & Aldi's (I love you Aldi's; where but you can I feed a family of 4 for $60.00 a week?) comped my fuel in the form of $10.00 off my next grocery bill & gave me a free gallon of milk besides. Anyway, nothing was missing & I had a very rare opportunity of being in town w/out children so instead of going to the library by myself (what I really wanted; what does the adult section look like I wonder?) I went to the bank to see if I could still keep my card. No, they had cancelled it promptly which I really enjoyed knowing. The banker very speedily hooked me up w/ a temporary card & said my new one would come in the mail. All in all it was a happy report to take home.
Mike started school this week & his first day away the house sort of fell apart. The toilet clogged & I had eggs boiling on the stove. I realized that if Iwas going to the hospital I should pack a bag. I had no idea what to bring, only that the list in What to Expect When You're Expecting was entirely too long. So I got lost on the internet looking things up & let Victor pick out coming home outfits for the baby. We were in my bathroom packing toiletry thing when I kept hearing these weird pops & saw the cat come streaking around the corner. I figured she had done something & started to check it out when the smell hit me. Had I cooked something?
I totally forgot about making eggs. The memory had to be searched for, it was weird. Is this what they call mommy brain? I've heard of (& experience) absentmindedness all of the time, but this was a whole different level. Egg was everywhere. 5 half eggs burned to the bottom of a very dry pan & exploded egg on all of my condiments, coffeepot, vent hood, cabinets, floor, etc. It was very cold outside, but the windows had to be opened to get that smell out. I opened them & started some hot chocolate on another burner & the smell increased. I played musical burners, but I guess egg &/or egg water had gotten down into all of them. Victor & Charlotte very nicely ate their lunch while chanting "Eggy, eggy, eggy!" I can't explain it, they have some kind of Eggy game they play that involves running.
Today (the 15th) was Victor's birthday & though we didn't have the party he was expecting, he thoroughly enjoyed the day. I think he thought he was getting a party because he attended his cousins birthday last spring & it left an impression. He & daddy went squirrel hunting & I guess Mike did some kind of land nav w/ him which he excelled at. They chopped wood for a fire that night & as they did their outside things Charlotte & I made a peanutbutter cake. It was very gooey in the middle, like a melted Reeses Peanut Butter Cup.
Disclaimer: I have permission to mention this.
I had cookies in the oven after that. I used a different recipe & figured that that accounted for the extra crispiness, I just couldn't bake them gooey how I like them. The bread followed suit, very brown & done on top but when I flipped it out of the pans it wasn't cooked through at all! I flipped the loaves on their backs & asked Mike to watch it while I ran to the store. He assented so I left. However, he had to unexpectedly run to the bathroom & being a responsible man turned off the oven first. Right as he realized that we were out of toilet paper in our bathroom he was assaulted by a burning smell from the kitchen & was forced to make a mad dash across the house to the other bathroom for the toilet paper to take care of himself before rescuing my loaves which had gone up in flames. He had accidently turned it to broil instead of off. They are right next to each other. He sawed off what he could, a raccoon or possum has been eating the burnt pieces at night. I've been drying out the rest & making bread crumbs & croutons out of the remainders.
We did a thorough investigation after that & realized that the bottom heating element had completely melted through & burned in half; praise God that our house has been spared & all we've had to put up w/ are crispy goods & skillet meals! We like skillets, it just took some rearranging of my menu for the week. Today (the 25th, I never finish a post when I start) we got a new element & I could bake again. I had my first appointment at the new clinic today too, they operate out of a magnet hospital w/ a very low c-section rate which is very reassurring.
We've had alot to be thankful for this month so far; I've got more to say but will try to get another update in this moth.
Our midwife will be unable to attend our birth, (I'm about 34 weeks or so) so we're looking into a better hospital w/ nurse midwives on staff a bit further away. This is a very male dominated area in regards to female specific health care & I want nothing to do w/ that. The new clinic is very accommodating.
I was robbed for a day at Aldi's. My billfold fell out of my pocket after I paid for my purchases & a gentleman behind me turned it in. I know this because I saw the security tape. This was on one of those 20 degree windy days when we were finishing our shopping into nap time having passed lunch by. Victor & Charlotte were better than I hoped as I unpacked, searched & repacked the groceries several times out in the wind & unharnessed all of the carts in two's & three's (the chained quarter carts) thinking perhaps it was wedged in the seat top. No avail. The cashier hadn't seen it the first I asked her, the second time I asked her no one had turned it in. I was in a panic, we've taken a 70% loss of income w/ retirement. I didn't know how I could face Mike w/out the debit card or remaining cash & especially w/out my military dependent ID. There's no place to get a replacement around here & it doubles as an insurance card. The wonderful manager took me into the back to check the security cameras & we watched it all on tape. The gentleman handed it off to the cashier as it was the the proper thing to do & she put it on the counter. The manager sent me home & said he would watch to see if anyone took it off of the counter. I borrowed the store phone & called Mike to cancel the bank card. He was predictably unhappy. After feeding the children & laying Charlotte down the manager called to see if I could come to the store as they had it!
I did & was welcomed by the police, manager & district manager. Apparently the employee (Jennifer Crump, 27 yrs old, beware of her!) had palmed my billfold & got nervous when they kept looking & threw it in the trash. It probably helped that I called Mike & had him cancel the card right in front of her. They had discovered that not only was she guilty of petty theft in my case, but had been pilfering money from the store for a long time too. The police escorted me to the magistrates to file a complaint & Aldi's (I love you Aldi's; where but you can I feed a family of 4 for $60.00 a week?) comped my fuel in the form of $10.00 off my next grocery bill & gave me a free gallon of milk besides. Anyway, nothing was missing & I had a very rare opportunity of being in town w/out children so instead of going to the library by myself (what I really wanted; what does the adult section look like I wonder?) I went to the bank to see if I could still keep my card. No, they had cancelled it promptly which I really enjoyed knowing. The banker very speedily hooked me up w/ a temporary card & said my new one would come in the mail. All in all it was a happy report to take home.
Mike started school this week & his first day away the house sort of fell apart. The toilet clogged & I had eggs boiling on the stove. I realized that if Iwas going to the hospital I should pack a bag. I had no idea what to bring, only that the list in What to Expect When You're Expecting was entirely too long. So I got lost on the internet looking things up & let Victor pick out coming home outfits for the baby. We were in my bathroom packing toiletry thing when I kept hearing these weird pops & saw the cat come streaking around the corner. I figured she had done something & started to check it out when the smell hit me. Had I cooked something?
I totally forgot about making eggs. The memory had to be searched for, it was weird. Is this what they call mommy brain? I've heard of (& experience) absentmindedness all of the time, but this was a whole different level. Egg was everywhere. 5 half eggs burned to the bottom of a very dry pan & exploded egg on all of my condiments, coffeepot, vent hood, cabinets, floor, etc. It was very cold outside, but the windows had to be opened to get that smell out. I opened them & started some hot chocolate on another burner & the smell increased. I played musical burners, but I guess egg &/or egg water had gotten down into all of them. Victor & Charlotte very nicely ate their lunch while chanting "Eggy, eggy, eggy!" I can't explain it, they have some kind of Eggy game they play that involves running.
Today (the 15th) was Victor's birthday & though we didn't have the party he was expecting, he thoroughly enjoyed the day. I think he thought he was getting a party because he attended his cousins birthday last spring & it left an impression. He & daddy went squirrel hunting & I guess Mike did some kind of land nav w/ him which he excelled at. They chopped wood for a fire that night & as they did their outside things Charlotte & I made a peanutbutter cake. It was very gooey in the middle, like a melted Reeses Peanut Butter Cup.
Disclaimer: I have permission to mention this.
I had cookies in the oven after that. I used a different recipe & figured that that accounted for the extra crispiness, I just couldn't bake them gooey how I like them. The bread followed suit, very brown & done on top but when I flipped it out of the pans it wasn't cooked through at all! I flipped the loaves on their backs & asked Mike to watch it while I ran to the store. He assented so I left. However, he had to unexpectedly run to the bathroom & being a responsible man turned off the oven first. Right as he realized that we were out of toilet paper in our bathroom he was assaulted by a burning smell from the kitchen & was forced to make a mad dash across the house to the other bathroom for the toilet paper to take care of himself before rescuing my loaves which had gone up in flames. He had accidently turned it to broil instead of off. They are right next to each other. He sawed off what he could, a raccoon or possum has been eating the burnt pieces at night. I've been drying out the rest & making bread crumbs & croutons out of the remainders.
We did a thorough investigation after that & realized that the bottom heating element had completely melted through & burned in half; praise God that our house has been spared & all we've had to put up w/ are crispy goods & skillet meals! We like skillets, it just took some rearranging of my menu for the week. Today (the 25th, I never finish a post when I start) we got a new element & I could bake again. I had my first appointment at the new clinic today too, they operate out of a magnet hospital w/ a very low c-section rate which is very reassurring.
We've had alot to be thankful for this month so far; I've got more to say but will try to get another update in this moth.
06 October, 2009
Good Things
We have been busy & having fun. Cid was here last July & fell in love w/ 8 & 1/2 acres right outside of town. The realtor who happened to be there at the time told him to not bother, it was already under contract. BUT, he went by there again & it is now new, improved & on the market so he had taken us to look at it.
I could see he was excited for us to look at it, so being silly & spying an old lipgloss that had fallen out of my grocery/ restaurant catch-all purse, I put it on & made flirty eyes at him. He rolled his eyes but started laughing when Victor asked in his very serious little boy voice, "Mommy, why do you want other men to look at you?" My sweet little man, you are wise beyond your years. I wiped it off, apologized for being silly & put it in the trash bag. There was unmistakable relief on his face & a big smile as I put on my usual chapstick instead. How thin a thread their security can hang! I was sorry, to have made him worry so. I do think that that was the last of my make-up too, if it isn't the other stuff is all too old to be healthy to wear anyway.
Anyway, we got there before the realtor & so got to walk the property w/out him & it's almost perfect. I actually don't know of any faults yet, but I've only seen it once. It's kind of in a valley, the acreage going up a timbered mountain. Not very thickly timbered though, easily cleared w/ several trails running through it. A road has already been cut in, & though it needs work going further up & there are several sites suitable for building. I think it is Grandfather & Tablerock Mountains you get good views from at the top.
The house itself is a doublewide from 98' & is fairly huge, 1600 sq ft. It's been landscaped, recarpeted & painted & has a well. I saw some newer looking T-posts out in the woods from an old clothesline, there is no dryer or dishwasher & I'm glad, the dishwasher made me lazy. Now that a house is a real prospect, Cid is enthusiastic over the idea of another homebirth, which makes me glad. I know he didn't want to rent a cabin & he'd mentioned the hospital once or twice as a maybe. He's been trying so hard to find us a nest, I love him.
There's also a well up by the road, a dilapidated shed & a year round branch that comes down the mountain & cuts through the front yard. Cid is making his usual defensive position decisions & we've been talking about when to get what animals & put them where. There's only one spot for a garden for now, as only the front 1/2 acre is cleared, so we'll keep our first garden very basic.
But the best part is that that after offering, counter offering & counter-counter offering, they've accepted our bid & we are able to put 1/2 of the cash down up front; we've been preapproved & our mortgage is so low the payments can easily be doubled & probably paid off in 5 years, barring something horrible happening. He plans on going back to school for fun & extra income like I did & all kinds of castles in the air are floating over our fire pit. The inspection is scheduled for Wed. Praise God!
School-wise we've not done so well. We went to the library & some homeschool information was posted there, but not for the region we're moving to. I did get a pamphlet on the NC homeschool association. It was easily the worst library day I've ever had. It's a small town intimate library, w/ the librarians seeming to know everyone (we had just missed story time) & noticing the new people (us). The children's section is downstairs & very nice. Victor had decided ahead of time that he wanted to read about Eskimo's, Australia & goats. That's how we do the library, it makes it easier to get in & out & leaves time to read some stories while we're there too. He always has a random combination of subjects.
We were there, reading stories, collecting his books & WHAM! A terrible odor assaulted me from the next aisle. It could only be from Charlotte who loves the library & was running & playing peekaboo through the gaps. I had to chase her down, & right when I caught her she unlatched her disposable diaper tab (how did she get by that?) & stepped right into whatever had been fermenting in her little tummy. My changing pad was in the next aisle over & I used my loudest inside library voice to get Victor to assist me as I furiously unbuckled her shoes & smeary socks. I was between the front desk librarian & a re-shelving librarian. I could feel their eyes.
This was an etiquette crisis. There was no way I could take Charlotte, who was flipped over my knee w/ her sludgy bottom waving, squealing in joy at this new naked game upstairs past the other patrons to the front desk to get the restroom key. But, it is completely inappropriate to change a toddler (my opinion) in a public aisle of anything. I did have to break w/ my opinion on this one. There was no way to hide the diaper. Smelling as it did I just could not leave it in the regular trashcan.
Charlotte was now barefoot, so I had to carry her, the diaper, changing mat & Victor's books upstairs. He very gamely volunteered himself to carry her shoes. When we got to the front desk to get a library card & check out we were told that it was impossible as we had no permanent address. No one likes a gypsy, even today. Victor was kind of in shock; he wasn't sure how to handle it. The library has always had open arms for him. He opened his mouth & loud & slow started sobbing "But I want to read about Eskimo's! I want to check out books!"
We'd created enough of a scene so we left, but all the way home it was the same chorus, "I want to check out b-o-o-o-o-ks!" Except for 1/2 way there then he started asking me did I swallow the baby to get it in my tummy? Well how did it get in there? How did God get it in there? And then more "I want to read!", so I was kind of saved.
We are doing an alphabet caterpillar right now, I write the letters out for him & he colors them, cuts them out & pastes them to a paper plate. Then he'll look for the letter in several books & point them out to me & we go over the sound & think up all the words we can that start w/ that letter. When he colored the face for the caterpillar, he made a cyclops, but recognizing his mistake he drew another eye, though it was on top of the first like a flounder. Easily, it is the creepiest caterpillar I've ever seen.
Charlotte is reading to herself the books she knows, it is so cute. She'll babble & match up the actions & sounds I say w/ the right page. She can say, "pretty, kitty, book, ball, bacon, mama, daddy, maynya (naked), piggy, shoe & others I can't remember. She has 3 teeth cutting through but is very sweet on the whole, unlike w/ the rest of her mouth. She sleeps poorly though.
Victor himself has had a fever on & off again the last couple of days. I've had both of them sleeping in Charlotte's bunk Irish style, w/ a head on either end to keep warm on the colder nights & stack the blankets. They both sleep better & don't argue or kick like I expected they would. God is so good & we've been blessed us w/ so much; it's very humbling looking at it all.
I could see he was excited for us to look at it, so being silly & spying an old lipgloss that had fallen out of my grocery/ restaurant catch-all purse, I put it on & made flirty eyes at him. He rolled his eyes but started laughing when Victor asked in his very serious little boy voice, "Mommy, why do you want other men to look at you?" My sweet little man, you are wise beyond your years. I wiped it off, apologized for being silly & put it in the trash bag. There was unmistakable relief on his face & a big smile as I put on my usual chapstick instead. How thin a thread their security can hang! I was sorry, to have made him worry so. I do think that that was the last of my make-up too, if it isn't the other stuff is all too old to be healthy to wear anyway.
Anyway, we got there before the realtor & so got to walk the property w/out him & it's almost perfect. I actually don't know of any faults yet, but I've only seen it once. It's kind of in a valley, the acreage going up a timbered mountain. Not very thickly timbered though, easily cleared w/ several trails running through it. A road has already been cut in, & though it needs work going further up & there are several sites suitable for building. I think it is Grandfather & Tablerock Mountains you get good views from at the top.
The house itself is a doublewide from 98' & is fairly huge, 1600 sq ft. It's been landscaped, recarpeted & painted & has a well. I saw some newer looking T-posts out in the woods from an old clothesline, there is no dryer or dishwasher & I'm glad, the dishwasher made me lazy. Now that a house is a real prospect, Cid is enthusiastic over the idea of another homebirth, which makes me glad. I know he didn't want to rent a cabin & he'd mentioned the hospital once or twice as a maybe. He's been trying so hard to find us a nest, I love him.
There's also a well up by the road, a dilapidated shed & a year round branch that comes down the mountain & cuts through the front yard. Cid is making his usual defensive position decisions & we've been talking about when to get what animals & put them where. There's only one spot for a garden for now, as only the front 1/2 acre is cleared, so we'll keep our first garden very basic.
But the best part is that that after offering, counter offering & counter-counter offering, they've accepted our bid & we are able to put 1/2 of the cash down up front; we've been preapproved & our mortgage is so low the payments can easily be doubled & probably paid off in 5 years, barring something horrible happening. He plans on going back to school for fun & extra income like I did & all kinds of castles in the air are floating over our fire pit. The inspection is scheduled for Wed. Praise God!
School-wise we've not done so well. We went to the library & some homeschool information was posted there, but not for the region we're moving to. I did get a pamphlet on the NC homeschool association. It was easily the worst library day I've ever had. It's a small town intimate library, w/ the librarians seeming to know everyone (we had just missed story time) & noticing the new people (us). The children's section is downstairs & very nice. Victor had decided ahead of time that he wanted to read about Eskimo's, Australia & goats. That's how we do the library, it makes it easier to get in & out & leaves time to read some stories while we're there too. He always has a random combination of subjects.
We were there, reading stories, collecting his books & WHAM! A terrible odor assaulted me from the next aisle. It could only be from Charlotte who loves the library & was running & playing peekaboo through the gaps. I had to chase her down, & right when I caught her she unlatched her disposable diaper tab (how did she get by that?) & stepped right into whatever had been fermenting in her little tummy. My changing pad was in the next aisle over & I used my loudest inside library voice to get Victor to assist me as I furiously unbuckled her shoes & smeary socks. I was between the front desk librarian & a re-shelving librarian. I could feel their eyes.
This was an etiquette crisis. There was no way I could take Charlotte, who was flipped over my knee w/ her sludgy bottom waving, squealing in joy at this new naked game upstairs past the other patrons to the front desk to get the restroom key. But, it is completely inappropriate to change a toddler (my opinion) in a public aisle of anything. I did have to break w/ my opinion on this one. There was no way to hide the diaper. Smelling as it did I just could not leave it in the regular trashcan.
Charlotte was now barefoot, so I had to carry her, the diaper, changing mat & Victor's books upstairs. He very gamely volunteered himself to carry her shoes. When we got to the front desk to get a library card & check out we were told that it was impossible as we had no permanent address. No one likes a gypsy, even today. Victor was kind of in shock; he wasn't sure how to handle it. The library has always had open arms for him. He opened his mouth & loud & slow started sobbing "But I want to read about Eskimo's! I want to check out books!"
We'd created enough of a scene so we left, but all the way home it was the same chorus, "I want to check out b-o-o-o-o-ks!" Except for 1/2 way there then he started asking me did I swallow the baby to get it in my tummy? Well how did it get in there? How did God get it in there? And then more "I want to read!", so I was kind of saved.
We are doing an alphabet caterpillar right now, I write the letters out for him & he colors them, cuts them out & pastes them to a paper plate. Then he'll look for the letter in several books & point them out to me & we go over the sound & think up all the words we can that start w/ that letter. When he colored the face for the caterpillar, he made a cyclops, but recognizing his mistake he drew another eye, though it was on top of the first like a flounder. Easily, it is the creepiest caterpillar I've ever seen.
Charlotte is reading to herself the books she knows, it is so cute. She'll babble & match up the actions & sounds I say w/ the right page. She can say, "pretty, kitty, book, ball, bacon, mama, daddy, maynya (naked), piggy, shoe & others I can't remember. She has 3 teeth cutting through but is very sweet on the whole, unlike w/ the rest of her mouth. She sleeps poorly though.
Victor himself has had a fever on & off again the last couple of days. I've had both of them sleeping in Charlotte's bunk Irish style, w/ a head on either end to keep warm on the colder nights & stack the blankets. They both sleep better & don't argue or kick like I expected they would. God is so good & we've been blessed us w/ so much; it's very humbling looking at it all.
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