It's All Relative

Quarto and Terzo are compiling family history books as an exercise in learning how histories are put together. How do we know what we know from history? They have a page for each person in our immediate and extended family and had to interview people (or have mom send an email for them) to find the answers to the questions listed. Terzo interviewed me, and when we got to the question about what my school was like I told him, "My elementary/ middle school was very small. When I graduated from 8th grade, there were only 32 kids in my class... a lot smaller than my high school class of 575."

Terzo got a funny smile on his face and responded, "Mom, that's not that small. I am the fourth grade!"

True, that.

Flexibility

This is a cross-post from my other blog 11:36. (When you have problems keeping one blog updated, it is perfectly logical to begin a second one, right?) Enjoy!


My plan today was to be at the local Maker's Market selling. Then I found out that Primo had a rifle shoot scheduled, Secundo had a fencing lesson, and Terzo and Frodo had a camping trip scheduled... all when I was supposed to be at the market.

Sooooo...

I told Primo she couldn't go to the shoot (she has two others scheduled this month), Secundo could go to fencing, and Frodo would take Terzo camping, and I would hold-down the fort at home and go for a walk at the walking park.

Thennnnn...

Primo and Secundo were invited to a sleepover. Their friends are moving out of state this summer, so I want them to spend as much time as possible together. This didn't change my plans too much, though. My house just became the kid-exchange rendezvous point for Saturday morning.

Sooooo...

I get a call Saturday morning from sleepover mom that Secundo has a fever, so she is going to give her meds and let her rest until it's time to drop the girls off. This is quickly followed by a text from The Man's mom asking if Quarto is going to storytime with them today. (Quarto loves going to storytime with The Man, and The Man is moving this summer, too, so I follow the "hanging out with friends who are moving" philosophy and say he'll be ready to go in 20 minutes.)

Thennnnn...

I get another call from sleepover mom that they are on their way, but can Primo go to friend's little brother's soccer game with friend. I say yes. (See "Thennnnn...." #1) So she goes to the game (so I think... see below) and Secundo gets dropped-off and promptly falls asleep on the sofa. This results in my sending an email to the fencing instructor (can't find her phone number anywhere) letting her know that Secundo is sick and won't be at class. Quarto gets picked up for storytime. All is quiet.

Until...

Primo is dropped off by sleepover dad. She discovers new SpongeBob DVDs and disappears into my room (Secundo is still asleep in the living room) to watch them. (I got a call from sleepover mom about 20 minutes after Primo gets home apologizing for the miscommunication. Sleepover dad brought Primo straight home rather than to the soccer game. I thought that was a rather short game.) Then Quarto gets dropped off and quickly joins her.

Thus...

I am not at the park walking (although I guess I could go now that Primo is home and Secundo is asleep and Quarto is fixated on the TV), and I am not at the Maker's Market as a browser (the seller ship has passed). I am instead listening to Saturday NPR (one of my favorite things to do) and folding laundry and getting ready to plant some seeds then head to the grocery store. Not the day I planned, but a good day. I like good days. And it can only get better when Frodo and Terzo come home... I miss them.

Fly on the Wall

Quarto is fascinated with weather, so yesterday morning when I turned on the weather radio to listen to the forecast, it was not a surprise when Quarto appeared within seconds and became fixated on the forecast himself. He would share his thoughts on everything being said to anyone who happened to be within eye-shot and shouting distance. (He is testing out a new tone - indignation, so every one of his comments was seething with it.)

As I entered Quarto's sphere of communication, he turned to me and the following conversation ensued:

Weather Man: The following is a severe weather alert for east Arkansas, the ...

Quarto: [indignantly] There is no such state as Arkansas!

Me: [with shocked laughter] Yes there is.

Quarto: Really? I thought they were making that up.


Arkansas... a conspiracy of cartographers, apparently (to quote Rosencrantz... or Guildenstern).

Theology Can Be Tough

The Children's Director at church decided to reward the kids with a pizza party if they learned X # of questions from the Children's Catechism (# depends on age of student). Quarto (age 6) learned 19 of his 20 questions but was stuck on "What is God?" The answer is "God is a spirit and has not a body like man." I was trying to help him the other day:

Me: "What is God?"

Quarto: "God is a.... a..."

Me: "Ssss.."

Quarto: "God is a... sin?"

Primo: (as an aside to me) "Ooooh... he's going straight to hell."

Then we all burst out laughing. (We figure he was thinking he had a 50/50 shot since the two big religious "S" words he knows are "sin" and "spirit.")

We kept working on it (obviously), and yesterday he didn't even wait until class to tell his teacher (the Children's Director) the answer. He ran up to her in the hallway, mouth full of doughnut, and yelled, "GodisaspiritandhasnotabodylikemancanIgotothepizza party!?" LOL!

I Want An Office

Frodo has an office. Three days a week, he works at home; one day a week, he rests; the other three days he goes to an office. Granted, he shares that office with two other people, and they have to balance office hours and such, but it is a place to go. If a student has a question, he can say, "Meet me at my office." Need to find him easily? He has posted office hours. But more important than having a place where he can go work and must be for his office hours, he has a place to not be when he is sick. If he's sick, he stays home. He does *not* go to his office. He has not only a physical respite, but an aesthetic/environmental respite.

I work at home. I am a mom, a homemaker, a homeschooler, a daycare provider, and a writer. All of these jobs are centered in my home... except when I escape to write at the coffee place, but they make me pay to go there. When I get sick, I stay home.... where I see the unwashed laundry and the dusty mantel and the piles of schoolbooks and the latest outline. I get that I chose these occupations (paying or no), but when I get sick, I realize the biggest benefit to having home and work separate - an office. A place not to go. A place to leave unfinished tasks where they cannot be seen unless I want to see them. A place to call and say, "I'm sorry, but I can't come in today. I need to rest." It doesn't have to be far away. I really don't even have to have someone there to call. I just need a place I don't have to go to.

Something like this would be nice:



Btw, this is David McCullough's office. That's Mr. McCollough himself standing in the doorway.He actually works in his office though... it's not really set-up for napping. I covet Mr. McCollough's writing ability in addition to his office. Just thought I'd mention it.

Maybe I need an office as a place to go when I'm sick? About a hundred yards or so out the back door. A bed/ window seat, comfy chair, sunny windows (with blinds), and a reading lamp. That's it. That's all I'd like. It doesn't even need to have electricity as long as I had batteries, a crank, or a little solar panel to run the light. I could bring a book and my MP3 player, snuggle under a blanket and get better.

Is that really too much to ask?

Needs Vs. Wants

I need to find an exercise program that works for me. I had convinced myself that all of the running around I do with 4 kids (6 kids if you include the borrowed ones) burned enough calories so that I didn't need to exercise, but I just can't keep up that charade any longer. I get achy too easily, and I tire too easily. I am obviously out of shape.

So, over the last few years, I have tried-out some various "programs" and schedules. I am not really the internally-motivated type. If it's not down on paper, I won't do it (I will also freak-out that it won't fit into my schedule). So I was looking for something pre-packaged that I could follow then adapt as I got to know it better.

Attempt #1: Back when I only had 2 kids, then 3, Body Electric would air during the kids' nap time. It was perfect. Low impact. Scheduled. 30-minutes and done. Then we moved and our new PBS affiliate didn't carry it, but I had recorded some of the workouts so I thought I'd be good. Wrong. When Quiet Time came around, I'd think, "Oh, I can pop in that tape" [remember tapes?!] "any old time. I'll clean [nap, make supper] now and exercise later." I needed that set time everyday... a set time ordained by someone else. We've moved again since, but now we don't get TV, so any broadcast program is out of the question.

Attempt #2: Exercise class through adult ed at the local high school. I was the youngest, least fit person in the class. I finished-out the classes I paid for then stopped.

Attempt #3: In an attempt to encourage me in my exercise endeavors, Frodo purchased some exercise equipment for me: a yoga mat, a balance ball, a block, and a bag to store and carry it all in. I've use the mat... twice? The ball has been taken out of the box; it wouldn't fit in the bag in its box, so the box had to go. I tried using the block once for some modified push-up exercise and almost gave myself a bloody nose when I slipped off the stupid thing. I use the bag all the time. It stores all the equipment very nicely and fits beautifully in its appointed place, conveniently located to be grabbed on the run or when I need to move it to clean my closet or locate a rogue shoe.

Attempt #4: To go along with my relatively new, yet already dusty, exercise gear, I bought the book Pilates: Body In Motion. It is a DK book with great photos, easy to follow descriptions of each exercise, and recommended exercise plans. I only used it twice. Have you ever tried to "Roll Like a Ball" while holding a paperback exercise book? Not pretty.

Attempt #5: I figured the quick fix to the book problem was to get a DVD. I ordered Louise Solomon's Yoga & Pilates Total Body Toner. Two problems: 1) I had to enforce my own schedule. Ha! 2) I couldn't do the workouts on the floor and see the TV. The one in the living room may have worked if our living room didn't have any furniture in it, and the one in our bedroom was so high up (being on top of a highboy dresser) that I got a workout but then needed to see a chiropracter about the crick in my neck.

Attempt #6: SparkPeople.com I have actually tried them twice. Once paired up with a physically distant friend. I liked the accountability (she could see if I had logged in my food and exercise info for the day and whether or not I was acheiving my goals), but it only works if you enter in your info every day - what you ate and the exercise you did. The exercise was actually pretty easy to enter, but the food was a chore. I often had to enter meals by ingredient since we rarely eat out, eat little prepackaged food, and often make recipe substitutions (whole wheat flour for white, etc) or just don't use a recipe at all. The second time (which I am currently in the process of abandoning - and overlapping with "Attempt #8... oh joy), was solo. All the frustrations of the first go-round with no accountability. Disaster waiting to happen.

Attempt #7: Since I couldn't find someone/ something to impose an exercise schedule on me, I decided an in-house exercise partner might work. Frodo is a faster walker than I am, and we generally have very different schedules, so that pairing wasn't going to work. I decided to go for exercise accountability and one-on-one mom-kid time and asked Primo to do Couch to 5K with me. Who'd of thought that a program with "5K" in the title would involve running? I don't run... unless I am being chased by a bear. They didn't provide one.

Attempt #8: The kids have been taking swimming lessons at the university since last fall. Only students, faculty, and recreation center members (and swim school kids) can use the pool, so this summer we signed up for a student family membership to the center. It was great! When Primo was in her lesson, I swam around with the younger three. When the younger three were in lessons, Primo and I swam laps and played speed games in the pool. Frodo would even join us when he was done with his afternoon tutoring sessions. I was guaranteed an hour in the pool twice a week. It was very easy to plan another family swim time at the pool or lake a third day during the week. I was golden. Until swimming lessons stopped. We went 2-3 tmes a week for almost another month, went on vacation (where were went swimming in the hotel pools almost daily), then came home and... nothing. I think we've been to the pool two times since early July.

As I was discussing my exercise woes with Frodo the other day and sharing with him my plan to get up earlier and try to get to the pool or walking park (did I mention there is a walking park 2 miles down the road from us?) early a few days a week, I came to a realization:

I need an exercise program, but I don't want an exercise program.

I want an exercise montage. Like in Rocky.

I want to don my "I mean business" exercise clothes, lace up my Nikes, and two minutes later be sweaty, fit, and celebrating at the top of the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I don't want to have to find real time, be sore, create more laundry, or add more showers to my week. I want great background music and a fit body in two minutes. I'm not even averse to sweat.

Is that too much to ask?

And while I'm at it, I would also like commercial breaks where a stage crew comes in and cleans my house. And have conflicts that result in witty one-liners (made mostly by me) and are resolved by a compassionate yet clever heart-to-heart less than 30 minutes (minus commercial breaks) after the introduction of the conflict.

How do you get out of the habit of no disciplined exercised to some form of disciplined exercise? Anyone? I'm all out of ideas.

Fly on the Wall

At the lunch table this afternoon:

Quarto: Dad? Can I eat the rest of my jellybeans tomorrow?

Frodo: No, you'd get a tummy ache.

Terzo: And be in a sugar comma.

Schnitzel Von Krumm

A few years ago, friends from New Zealand introduced us to a wonderful little pup, Schnitzel Von Krumm and his very low tum. Terzo was the intended audience for these books, but never took to them as much as I did, so they spent most of their time on the bookshelf biding their time until someone would come along and appreciate them. Fast forward about 5 years, and they have found a fan... two actually.

Quarto and The Man (the three year old who becomes part of the family during the weekdays) LOVE Schnitzel Von Krumm... and yes, you must say his entire given name whenever reffering to him. It's just the way it is. Every day, we have a story time just before the kids go to quiet time, and every day for the last couple of weeks, Schnitzel Von Krumm has been enthusiastically brought as the day's selection.

Schnitzel Von Krumm is a dachshund with a very low tum who is quiet and lovable and doesn't ask much but to be surrounded by life's comforts - his family and his favorite beat-up, smelly, threadbare but comfy dog bed. His name and droopy little ears will immediately win your heart. If you are a little more difficult to woo, Lynley Dodd's playful artwork and engaging rhymes will have you hooked before you finish the first story.

Today, Quarto brought as his reading selection Schnitzel Von Krumm Forget-Me-Not.

However, the recent favorite of both Quarto and The Man has been Schnitzel Von Krumm's Basketwork.

I love reading this one aloud to the boys. A typical reading finds me reading along in the story,

He liked all the tatters,

he liked every tear,

the broken down edges,

the holes and the hair.

The smell was so friendly

and as for the fit-

if he needed to squeeze,

did he mind?

All this time the boys' anticipation has been growing. They've been squiggling and squirming and repressing giggles. They are so happy as I finish the line and then they burst out with,

"Not a bit!"

This joyous refrain is repeated numerous times throughout the reading, and each time the boys greet it with the same anticipation and glee.

There are many childrens books that I enjoy, but after the 20th reading in half-as-many days, I want to rip out my vocal chords after most of them. Not so with Schnitzel Von Krumm. I could read them over and over again... and I do. With a very happy and not-at-all hesitant audience.

Generally, you can tell which books in our library are well-loved because they are wrinkled and torn and dog-eared and probably have many, many patches of packing tape. The Schnitzel Von Krumm books do not have that "well-loved" look however... they have a "cherished" look. You can tell they aren't new - barely. They have been read over and over, but they are treasured. They are put away with care not to wrinkle them. They are closed when not being read or looked through and set in a safe place so as not to be accidentally trodden on. They are not used as magic carpets for action figures or barricades for army men. To the boys, they are Schnitzel Von Krumm, and they are treated like any well-loved canine best friend should be.

There are three books in the Schnitzel Von Krumm series, but our little dachshund friend did not make his debut in these books. He is actually one of three canine friends of the apparently popular series of books starring Hairy Maclary From Donaldson's Dairy (the books are very popular in Dodd's native New Zealand as well as in Australia and Great Britain, but in America, their fan base, although just as dedicated, is still very small). The Hairy Maclary series, also by Lynley Dodd, follows the antics of a hairy, rather shaggy little black dog who looks mysteriously like our own, aging Gideon. I have a feeling we will be adding the Hairy Maclary books to our library in the very near future. I know I can't wait to read them, and I will enjoy many more afternoon story times on the sofa with Quarto and The Man... I am sure I will enjoy reading these again and again as I have the Schnitzel Von Krumm books - no matter who else in enjoying them with me.

Random Puzzlements

I have been having a couple of thoughts/ questions rattling around in my brain over the last few days, and they have been stuck in the rattling and pondering mode without much development, so I thought I would share them here. Either you all can add to my thoughts and help me jump-start them into serious "analysis mode" or, at the very least, I'll have good company in the "rattling around" club.

Random Puzzlement #1:

I get that President Obama's election was an historic one because of his ancestry. However, isn't making a big deal about his race defeating the point of being color blind and not making race an issue? How much celebration is appropriate without violating the principles encapsulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of not judging people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character? Isn't "positive" racism still racism?

Random Puzzlement #2:

Why weren't Mr. and Mrs. Obama wearing coats at the inaugural ceremony? I know this doesn't seem like a big deal (it probably isn't), but it really bothered me for some reason (because I'm a mom of a child who shares Mr. Obama's percentage of body fat, maybe?). I don't know, but all I could wonder was if it's because our society tends to place so much importance on image that we can't even allow the President and First Lady to wear a coat during an outdoor national ceremony on a 20 degree day for fear we will miss what designer they are wearing so we can all criticize them later?

Random Puzzlement #3:

Why was the phrase "so help me God" added to the Oath of Office during the inaugural ceremony? It's not in the Constitution, so why did Chief Justice Roberts feel compelled to add it? He also added at the re-take, so I don't think it was a fluke. If President Obama wanted to say, "So help me God" after taking the oath as a sort of public prayer, that's fine. George Washington did. That's where the tradition comes from. However, I have a problem with it being formally added. Does it's inclusion negate the oath taken since the oath would no longer be in compliance with the Constitution? If so, would that mean we have been president-less for decades since it has traditionally been added for who knows how long? Frodo says I was being nit-picky in the case of President Obama's swearing-in since it was asked as a question, but it wasn't at the re-do. Does it really matter?

Random Puzzlement #4:

Why hasn't more than one President used the word "affirm" as opposed to "swear" when taking the oath?

(Really, Really) Random Puzzlement #5:

Why do I feel guilty taking our two stray kittens to the animal shelter? It's a no-kill shelter, their other sibling that was there was adopted quickly, we didn't ask for these kittens, and Frodo is deathly allergic to cats... sooo, why do I feel bad?

Hunkerin' Down

A few weeks ago, Gustav threatened our area, so we updated our emergency kit, put fresh batteries in the weather alert radio, and kept an eye on the weather forecast. By the time Gustav arrived, we got a lot of rain and about an hour's worth of tornado warnings, but otherwise, our day went on as usual.

Then Ike looked like it was heading our way, but it veered-off toward Texas instead. Again, we simply continued with our regularly scheduled program.

This week, we are again stocking up. The cabinets are full, the cars are filled with gas (we're still borrowing cars while we wait to hear the verdict on our truck), and we've got an ear turned to the radio for updates and information. We do not have an evacuation plan, however. We are not stocking up on drinking water, and our lives will still basically continue as always... we just won't be going into town during the next few days. Until Thursday, to be precise. And that's only because I'm insane.

Today is a home football game. The campus opened to tailgaters and RV parking at 4am this morning. That's standard for home football game Saturdays. Our general MO for home game Saturdays is to hang out at home and get stuff done around here. At 6pm, we head to WalMart. Why 6pm? That's when the football game starts. The 60,000 spectators in the stands and the 80,000 tailgaters will be in the stadium or glued to the big screen TVs they hauled to the campus watching the game. It's the perfect time to go grocery shopping. WalMart is on our side of town, so that's where we go during game day. We don't want to have to drive by campus just in case we run late at the store, and even if we leave late, at least we'll be going against the flow of traffic.

You may be thinking, "Well, you should be used to game Saturdays by now. What's the big deal?" It is a big rivalry weekend, so the crowd will be even larger, but that's not what makes this game Saturday different from every other. In fact, there will not be another game Saturday like this before Frodo graduates. That's because yesterday They started arriving.

Private jets began buzzing over our house on their way to the University airport yesterday. They'd fly over, land, then fly over again... presumably on their way to Memphis to hang out for the week since the University airport can't house all the planes and helicopters in need of a resting place this coming week. The kids would hear a plane coming and begin scanning the sky. "There it is!" they'd cry. "Here They come," I'd sigh internally.

I have been conflicted about the arrival of Them since hearing they were coming a few months ago. As a resident of our small, university town, I think about the increased income it will mean and am happy that I will benefit from the freshly paved roads and other public works projects that were put on the fast track over the past few months. However, I have had to suffer through closed roads, constantly changing traffic patterns, security fences and jumbotrons popping up like mushrooms overnight, and the rapidly developing single-mindedness of business owners, local government officials, local media, and university higher-ups. As a homeschool mom, I think about what a great opportunity this is for my children. They will probably never have an opportunity to witness something like this again. What a great opportunity for discussion of government, politics, campaigning, and rights vs. privileges. But we're also going to have to cover topics like discrimination, the KKK, talking points, sound bites, and spin.

What could cause both energizing excitement and paralyzing dread?



That's right... as of yesterday, if you don't include the Secret Service agents and construction workers setting-up two 8' perimeter fences, one interior/ one exterior, and the media tent on campus over the last few months, the media, politicos, and security began descending on our town of 20,000. (Well, if you include the students, it's almost twice that.)

Since we found out the dabate was coming to town, the papers and my email box have been full of requests for apartments, houses, and rooms for rent during debate week. Last week, Frodo received an email offering him (and every student, staff, and faculty member) $10 worth of credit at the student union food court if he didn't park on campus this week. The security fences, media tent, and closed parking lots around the debate site have caused many commuter students, like Frodo, to park off-campus and shuttle in to class. (The shuttle service into town and to some surrounding apartment complexes is actually a very positive improvement that we hope the university will continue after the debate. This town really needs a good shuttle service.) Classes are canceled Friday, debate day, and some professors are canceling classes the night before so students don't have to battle through those setting up for Rock the Vote and the increased security that will begin on the eve of the candidates' arrivals.

If I were sane, I would stay hunkered and not emerge from our lovely home until next Saturday and just survey the damage. But, I'm not sane. I'm a homeschooler. I trucked my kids to Washington, DC to attend Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004 (Frodo was an accomplice on that one). Also in 2004, I took, alone, four kids, in the rain, surrounded by the scent of chocolate, to hear Presdient Bush speak when he was campaigning for re-election in Hershey, PA. We stood in line at security for hours, and I had to bring a note from our doctor to show the Secret Service agents (which they quite enjoyed and passed down the line of metal detectors) explaining why Terzo, just shy of 4 years old at the time, was probably going to set-off the metal detectors (he had swallowed a quarter a couple days before and hadn't passed it by the day of the speech). If I have the opportunity to allow my children to experience history and national events first hand, I'm going to take it. That's why, on Thursday, we are heading downtown to attend our town's parade, local and state politicians' stump speeches, and the taping of a radio show. Friday, assuming I have enough car seats and the couple whose kids I watch during the day decide to brave the trek to their office on Friday (otherwise, I'll just have my kiddos), I am going to take 6 kids to campus to see the Rock the Vote events and get a taste of the debate experience.

Of course, this is all assuming I don't have to parallel park. Never ask a person with bad depth perception to parallel park. Especially a Suburban.

Frodo will be staying home. He is my designated sane person.

I'm still dreading the invasion of the coming week... but, man, it's exciting!

A Gap in Their Education

The kiddos are trying to fit in as much TV as possible before we cancel the satellite service at the end of the month. Primo's favorite channel is the Bomerang Network. They show classic cartoons from the 60's and 70's with a few earlier ones thrown in for good measure. I think Primo is just amazed that they had cartoons when Frodo and I were kids... heck, she's amazed that television existed when Frodo and I were kids! Anyway, tonight she was absorbed in an episode of Scooby Doo. When I walked into the room, she turned to me and said, "Mom, that's Cast Elliott," indicating a character in the show. "Dad knows who she is. Do you know her? Cast Elliott?"

"Do you mean Cass Elliott? Yeah, that's Mama Cass."

"Yeah, that's it! Cass Elliott. Who's Mama Cass?"

"Mama Cass. She's a singer. From The Mamas & The Papas."

"Yeah, she's a singer on here, too. Who are The Mamas & The Papas?"

"You don't know who The Mamas & The Papas are?! Are you sure you're my child?"

At this point, I open up YouTube. (What would I do without YouTube and Google? I mean, seriously?)

"This is The Mamas & The Papas..."



"And this..."





"And this is Mama Cass. Cass Elliott."



"Oh."

Oh?

Sigh. I can see we have to have a more formal study of "American Folk Music of the 50's, 60's and 70's", aka "stuff Mom listened to when she was a kid" and these kids better learn it if they are going to have a good grounding in American Culture Studies (and be able to get half of the jokes in The Simpsons... when they are old enough to watch The Simpsons, that is). They obviously aren't picking it up properly through casual exposure and are seriously lacking in appreciation of the classics of American music.

Johnny Cash does seem to be sticking with Secondo. She has recently declared him her favorite. So, here is a little Johnny Cash to help diversify your own folk music studies. Here is Secondo's favorite:



And here is mine:






(Hey, I'm impressed I was able to hold myself to two.)

Fly on the Wall

Quarto: [casually, while putting markers away] Dad, what's sharper, a marker or a sword?
Frodo: [slightly puzzled] A sword.
Quarto: [with the tone of a schoolteacher amazed at his young pupil's apparent wisdom beyond his years] That's right!

Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Friends of ours have been considering selling their extra, organic eggs at the local farmer's market. Another of our friends has a booth at a local antique mall where she sells furniture and other items. Some men in our church made really great name tags for the kids attending Vacation Bible School by cutting rounds of wood, painting the kids' names on them, and drilling holes in them and adding string to make them into necklaces.

After learning that our friends get to do such cool things as raise chickens, go yard-salling for re-sellable furniture (I'm going for a making-up-hyphenated-words-record, apparently), and make handicrafts with natural materials, our kids decided that each of them was going to learn a handicraft or skill of some kind that they would then try to market. I challenged them to come up with crafts and skills that could be done at home with as many 'found' or recycled items as possible.

Primo, Secondo, and Quarto don't know what they want to try yet. They each have a lot of ideas, but don't know how to narrow them down. (All of Quarto's ideas involve play dough and toy cars, so I'm not sure how successful he'll be, but that's another post.) Terzo has his mind set on opening a quill pen stand... well, he said "feather pen stand," but then we did a brief history and science lesson on feathers and quill pens, so now he's referring to it as a "quill pen stand." He already knows where to get the feathers. The home where the kids are attending VBS has a small flock of wild geese living on the property. Terzo has brought home four feathers already and has purposed to ask the owners if he can come back through the summer and collect feathers. I am very impressed with his determination and focus, but I have one issue... anyone know where we can find information on how to make quill pens?

Apparently, Terzo isn't putting all his organic eggs in one feather-lined basket, however. Nope. He's got a backup plan... songwriting. This afternoon he composed a song. Once I figure out how to get my videos or at the least an audio file on here, I'll post him preforming it. Frodo and I were rather impressed with the tune he came up with. Until then, I'll just post the lyrics. You'll have to provide the tune.

God Is In Our Heart
by Terzo

God is in our heart.
God is in our heart.
He is in our soul,
And He is in our heart.

We believe in Him.
We will sing with Him.
He is in our soul and heart.

I'll let you know when his CD comes out. If you pre-order now, we'll send you a free quill pen with your CD.

We Call Him "Liberace"

The moth, not the kid.



It's a Dryocampa rubicunda or Rosy Maple Moth. (The moth, not the kid.) Here are some closer pictures (of the moth, not the kid):







And here's a picture of Quarto, or Homo sapiens sapiens, in his natural habitat (the kid, not the moth... just to make it fair and all):

Little Serendipities Go A Long Way

I am a planner by nature. If I find out that we are traveling somewhere (and it doesn't have to be far; if we are going to be away from home for more than a couple of hours, that's enough) or having company, out come the paper and pencil, I pull up MapQuest and Google on the computer, and the research and planning begin. And although I get great pleasure out of planning little (and big) excursions, it is often those little serendipities that provide the most pleasure and the greatest memories. We recently experienced one of these little serendipities, and I know it is something I will always remember.

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago. They had never been to our new place here in Dixie, and since our new home is over 1,000 miles from their place, we haven't seen each other in almost a year. With the price of gas soaring as it is, who knows when we'll get together again, so I decided to try and plan some short trips that would give them a good taste of the area in their short trip plus include some places our family hadn't had a chance to explore yet. One of the places we went was the University Museum. Our family had been there before, but it is quite an impressive little museum. They have a wonderful antiquities collection that includes pottery, coins, mosaics, and busts as well as a doll collection, a Civil War (or should I say "War Between the States" or "War of Northern Aggression") collection, a small but broadly representational art collection, and a collection of historical scientific instruments that my children always find fascinating and wish they could touch. Tucked off on the side is a small room that usually houses a temporary exhibit. Terzo was very disappointed when he investigated back there this time and found that the Art of the Faulkners exhibit that we had seen on our last trip was gone. "Now it's just some old books," he lamented to me. Not connecting his statement with some information Frodo had given me earlier in the semester, I took my time moseying back to the exhibit and stood only feet from it is a I re-examined a sketch created and autographed by Kurt Vonnegut that is part of the museum's regular collection. Frodo was just behind me as I finally made my way to the "old books" and I could hear him gasp as we entered, "These are the Remnant Trust books. Remember, Hon, I told you about these? Cool."

At the beginning of the spring semester, Frodo mentioned that the University was going to host a tour by the Remnant Trust. The tour consisted of books considered significant because of their age, rarity, or influence on the world, but even cooler, you not only got to see the books, but you also got to touch them. When I went to the University Museum's website to see if I could take the kids over to leek at the books, I came across this notice:

These books are available for professors to use in their classes under supervision in the museum. The books cannot be removed from the museum. We can accommodate groups up to 70 in our [gallery], up to 40 in our classroom and up to 10 in our board room. For larger classes special arrangements may be possible. We need two weeks notice to arrange to host your class at the museum. Our regular hours are 9:30-4:30 Tues.-Sat. We will try to accommodate classes that meet outside of those hours when ever possible but we cannot guarantee that. Call... to book a class.

Drat. We weren't going to be able to go. Frodo was hoping to arrange a time for his university students to go to the exhibit, but he wasn't able to get a hold of the correct person to arrange an appointment. With the end of the semester, we figured his chance to view the exhibit had gone.

Fast forward to my parents' visit two weeks after the semester ended. The RT was late in picking up the collection, so the University Museum still had it on display! As we were oohing and aahing over the books in the display cases, a museum employee approached us and asked if we wanted the curator to open the cases for us and give us a closer look at the books. Minutes later, we were getting a personal lesson on the books on display.



This is the curator showing us a handwritten, illuminated manuscript (on parchment, I might add) of the Magna Carta from 1350. 1350!

Then, it got even better:

That's Frodo and Primo holding and casually thumbing through a handwritten, illuminated manuscript of the Magna Carta from 1350. How cool is that?!

Here is a closer view. (Handwritten! 1350! Did I mention that it was handwritten and illuminated on parchment in 1350?)

The curator shared the books in all the display cases then left them open for us to go back and pick up and leaf through the ones we wanted and to ask questions.

What other books were there? Well...

Secondo's favorite was the illuminated copy of St. Augustine's City of God c. 1494 (two short years after "in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.")



I tried to take a picture of her flipping through it, but every time she suspected she was being watched, she took her hands off the book. See, here she is doing the "Me? I wasn't touching the book. I was just standing here rubbing my eye" move. I think she had "don't touch the exhibits" going through her head no matter how many times we were told to feel free to pick up and examine the books.

A first edition of Thomas Paine's Common Sense... printed in England in 1776.


If you ask Primo which book was her favorite, she will tell you it was this one, Summa Theologica Pars Secunda c. 1497. From the accompanying plaque:

"One of only three known copies in the world. One in the British Museum in London and the other in the Newbury in Chicago. This is the most perfect of the three."

See the large blanks in the copy? This copy was supposed to be illuminated, but apparently no one got around to it.


Although she says Aquinas' book was her favorite, Primo spent most of her time paging through this 1862 copy of William the Conqueror's Doomsday Book.


Terzo's favorite was this print of the Boston Massacre made from the plate created by Paul Revere and his silversmiths. (The curator was impressed that Primo knew that the Boston Massacre was instigated by the children of Patriots, and some Patriots, throwing snowballs at the British soldiers... although something was bound to happen sooner or later after months of military occupation in Boston.)

Frodo had a hard time nailing down a favorite. Besides City of God, the Magna Carta, and Summa Theologica which I have already shared, he probably would list the two works by Frederick Douglass that were included in the display.


Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1945)



My Bondage & My Freedom (1855) signed by Frederick Douglass

On the top of a list of Frodo's favorites, if he had been forced to rank them, would have been the copy of John Calvin's Institutes printed in 1578. William Shakespeare was apprenticing at the print shop where this edition was printed and probably set some of the type for the volume. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the book. I got a picture of the plaque, but not the book. (Mom, do you have a picture of Calvin's Institutes?) Not sure how that happened. I was probably distracted by my favorites in the collection.


William Penn's The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience c. 1670.


I was also amazed to see the Minutes of the Second Continental Congress from 1778 and the Illinois broadside of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln. (Each president signed all broadsides sent to his home state.) I couldn't get a good picture of the broadside because it was framed under glass, and I have no idea why I don't have a picture of the minutes. (Mom? Did you get one?)


Other books in the collection were William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Law, 1771 (above), Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication on the Rights of Women, Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Document (1787), and Letters Concerning the English Nation (1733) by Voltaire.

What a great day!

The Paradox

A friend pointed out the other day that I hadn't posted here in over two months. After the shock wore off that there is someone out there who cares enough to check here regularly to see if I've posted and note the frequency of the posts, I responded, "Yeah, I know. Life's been too crazy." And there is my paradox... when life is busy, I don't have time to post here; when life is slow and I have all the time in the world to write blog posts, I don't have anything interesting to write about.

Here's a brief list of all the stuff that's gone on in the last two months that I would have loved to have written about (and will, eventually) but just didn't have time to because, well, I was busy doing them:

1. Frodo finished his first year in the PhD program (I know, that doesn't sound like it has much to do with me, but trust me, it does... it throws me into single-parent mode)

2. I finished the second book of my science curriculum series. (Now, I just have to shift gears and work on editing the first one.)

3. We took some time off of homeschooling and played, and the kids enjoyed having parents who weren't working, working, working. (We all so enjoyed this.)

4. My parents came for a week-long visit. (We hadn't seen them for almost a year, and really had a wonderful time.)

5. Had the car fixed. (That was a very expensive proposition.)

6. Had the car fixed again. (Can you call it "hemorrhaging money" when you're already broke?)

7. Took lots of pictures. (I am finally getting a chance to play with my new camera, plus the publisher for my books wants to go color and may use some of my photos.)

8. Read a lot of books. (I love to read... especially when I have writer's block or when I am procrastinating.)

9. Began attending small groups at church. (The church just started the small groups, and we love ours.)

10. Sent Primo off to Youth Group... one activity involved dropping her off on campus to meet-up with the rest of the youth to attend a concert. (I am not ready for this.)

11. Deep-cleaned the house. (I have been wanting to do this for months, but waited until the book was done and spring semester was over. The house is so nice and comfy now.)

12. Sketched a design and began collecting fabrics for my new nephew's quilt. (I haven't tried anything this ambitious before, but I think it will look great when it's done. I just hope I can have it done by September when we hope to drive up for a visit. Oh, and on that note, pray for gas prices to stay down.)

13. Started up our homeschool's summer session. (Homeschooling year-round is great. It allows us to take off from Thanksgiving to New Year's plus we are inside in the a/c or heat on the truly hot or cold days and have the time to take off a day or two when those perfect spring or fall days come around.)

14. Wrote up a school plan for the upcoming year and planned what texts I need to purchase. (Now I just need money... and more bookshelves.)

15. Wrote up a summer reading list for myself. (I tend to focus on "have-to" reading, education and work-related things, so I wanted to come up with goals that included some pleasure reading.)

16. Wrote up an outline and a list of reading materials in preparation for book 3. (Now all I need is the contract for book 3.)

17. Held a book handwritten in the 1300's, another that was one of only three copies known to be in existence (one of the other two is in the British Museum), and touched the signature of Frederick Douglass. (I'll post about that shortly. This was so cool!)

18. Found out that the University Museum allows homeschoolers to check out boxes of actual artifacts to take home and study. They will also set up private displays and viewings on request. (You know we'll be taking advantage of this.)

19. Ate way too many hot dogs. (I know they are bad for you, but they're yummy.)

20. Began walking in the walking park down the street three times a week. (see # 19)

That's all I can recall for now. I know there is more, but I am going to go hang out with the kids for a bit then start in on my summer reading list. I'll share some more details of our recent adventures soon... sooner than two months from now. Promise.

Fly on the Wall

Terzo: Mom, can we do that game where you read me stuff, and I write stuff?

Me: Um, what?

Terzo: You know, that game where you read me stuff out of that book, and I have a pencil and a piece of paper and write stuff you tell me. Then you take a red pen and write some of the things I wrote wrong right, so I have to write them again, but when I get them right, you use the red pen to write big C's next to them then you hug me! Can we play that game? Please!

Me: You mean a spelling test? Sure, I can give you a spelling test.

Terzo: Yay! I like the spelling test game!

Church Membership

In order to become members of the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), as we are, you must affirm five vows:

1. Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, and without hope, except through his sovereign mercy?

2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and savior of sinners, and do you receive and trust him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel?

3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes a follower of Christ?

4. Do you promise to support the church in it's worship and work to the best of your ability?

5. Do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of the church, and promise to strive for its purity and peace?

Primo and Secondo took these vows at our church's Maundy Thursday service. They are the girls in the hats. The pastor with the dark hair is our head pastor. The pastor who looks like Santa Claus is our youth pastor. We love them. The other gentlemen are church elders. (We love them, too.) I think it's funny that when each man hugs Secondo, they act as if they are afraid to break her. *grin*

I apologize in advance for the incompleteness of the videos. This was my second attempt to use the video feature on our camera. (You can imagine how sad the first attempt came out.)








After the service, we enjoyed a delicious ham dinner. The kids loved eating at the Passover Seder table. You can see the girls in their hats in the background. Terzo is the one in the black coat in the foreground. (The coat was new, and he refused to take it off.)



Here are Terzo and Quarto enjoying their supper.



This church really knows how to host a supper!



This is the Seder Plate containing chazeret (bitter herbs representing the bitterness of slavery), charoset (sweet, brown, grainy mixture representing the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt), karpas (a simple food dipped into salt water, representing tears, to remind us of the plain foods the Hebrews ate while in captivity), z'roa (roasted lamb shank bone representing the Pesach sacrifice now fulfilled by Christ, the Lamb of God), and beitzah (representing the festival sacrifice, or chagigah, and symbolizing mourning).



And lastly, Elijah's place.

Our Church

The congregation we attend was founded by Scotch-Irish immigrants on January 11, 1835 (our landlord's ancestors were founding members). The original Session meeting minutes are kept in the vault of a local bank. The congregation bought 23 acres on which to build a church building in 1842 for $400. The building, made with bricks that were fired on-site, was finished in 1846 at a total cost of $2809.75. Worship continues in that building today.



We usually approach the building from the side. We are told that some congregants were talking after church one Lord's Day a couple years ago and the topic turned to the need for a walkway leading from the parking area to the church porch. Before you could say, "Bob's you're uncle," and without a word, our landlord (who at the time was about 70?) had laid a new brick walk.






The pulpit,



pews,


and pew doors are the originals.



It is a really beautiful sanctuary. I grew up attending an historic church, and there is something special about participating in a tradition of worship that has gone on for generation upon generation.









There used to be a balcony (inside and outside), but not anymore. The plan is to replace it eventually, but since the church is an historical landmark, restorations are tricky to get approved... and expensive.


Upstairs are the Sunday School rooms for our older three. Terzo loves Sunday School.



And he has his sisters right next door.




After service, the kids scatter... after everyone who wants to takes a turn ringing the bell.


The girls and younger kids (when the little ones are running around in the yard) often sit or jump around the benches of the old Sunday School circle.







The boys go here.



What do they do here? Well, they don't call it "The Climbing Tree" for nothing.

My New Toy

On New Year's Eve Day, I spent my Christmas money to buy myself a new camera after losing our old one... somewhere. I still have no idea what could possibly have happened to the old one, but it eats me up that the memory card with our vacation and moving photos are still in that camera. Arg.

Anyway, I am very pleased with my new camera. I had originally planned to buy a different camera that cost about $300 more, but 1) it wasn't in the budget and 2) this camera will take at least 90% of the shots I'd like to try and that remaining 10% wasn't worth $300 to me.

When I was lying in bed the other day moaning and complaining because I still had the flu (I think I am finally over it now, knock on wood), I decided it was a good opportunity to read through the camera's instruction manual and play around and try to become more familiar with my new tool toy tool toy. There aren't many interesting things to photograph in my bedroom, so I sat in the bed shooting pictures out the window.

Here's the view looking out over the front yard (click on any of the pictures to make them larger):




Then I decided to play with the zoom and focusing features, so I focused on a shrub right in front of the window:



That came out very clearly (even through the window screen - you can see the screen in the first photo), so I aimed for the big maple tree that you can see in the upper right of the first picture:




Not too bad, so I decided to try the digital zoom on top of the mechanical zoom and took a picture of the neighbor's mailbox and trash platform (you can see in the first photo how far away they are - if you enlarge the photo and squint; I'd guess at least 100 yards away, probably more):




The focus isn't as good as the others, but I was rather impressed.

Since we kind of live out in the boonies, we do sometimes come across some strange creatures, and despite traps and a cat, who is an excellent mouser (and birder and rat-er and mole-er and lizard-er), they seem to find a way into the house.



Sure they look cute.




But then they get in your face.



And make a mess of the place.

No good. The lot of 'em. ; )