Eyore Days

I love Eyore Days. They are grey. They speak slowly, and even when something really exciting happens... it doesn't cause a ruckus. They are good days for stuffed animals and stories under sheet tents, and soup.

Which brings me to blogging. The boys are curled up under fuzzy blankets, watching Ned sing sailor songs - the lyrics to which make me cringe now that I'm sitting here actually listening to them - and anxiously awaiting the emergence of the Nautilus. I'm making potato soup for supper and will throw together a loaf of Bob's Red Mill Wheat Free/Gluten Free bread in a couple of hours. (It's really good for soups if you make it with an extra egg yolk! That gives it a thicker crust that's just perfect for sopping up the remains in the bowl.) Might add fresh veggies and dip to the menu. We've got cabbage, but I'm really wanting to eat that steamed w/ garlic butter, and I want to serve something light and cool along with the soup. It's a texture thing. Makes a meal more of a sculpture than a stick figure. I make enough stick figures elsewhere, but the meal table ought to be a masterpiece.

This brings me to Dr. Laura (notice the smooth transition phase I'm in today... like buttah!) I finished reading The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands. This book is a must read, even if you don't like Dr. Laura. Even if you think your marriage is just great, and especially if you think it's not about you (it's about him) and you'd read it only shortly after Hell froze over, read it. You don't have to like or agree with everything- just glean. Gleaning is good for you. Anyhow, this book is about remembering why you married your guy in the first place, then acting like it. It's about the honor, respect and dedication that marriage deserves. Zorak and I have a wonderful marriage (I checked with him before I spoke for him, too, *grin*) yet there were some really good tips, reminders, and general "I know this is a ways out there, but just keep an eye out for this... and this..." type items. Good stuff. Remember when I blogged about vigilance? It will always be crucial, and will always be an inherent part of our roles in tending to our families. Be vigilant. Slaying dragons is hard work.

While we're talking of books (couldn't think of a good dragon segue, sorry), we figured out the food-related recommendation for Eats, Shoots & Leaves!! It's a Flinstones vitamin! It's good for you, but you wouldn't know it from the yummy taste. It's chewable, and fun, too! So there ya go- take a vitamin and enjoy the book.

Enjoyment...

Fall...

AMY, Dying?! No. Not dying, changing. Morphing, if you will. You don't like Autumn in all it's "Yea! We aren't going to combust spontaneously in this heat" glory??? Silly Texan. Fall is wonderful! Things aren't dying, they are slowing down and preparing to refresh and rejuvenate. They are spending less time branching out and more time putting roots deeper into good soil. See, Good Soil. Coincidence? I think not. Come over, we'll bake and enjoy the weather. Maybe we could get Donna down here to get us to do crafty things. :-)

OK, soup needs tending, children need snuggling. I'm off. Thanks for the coffee break, y'all. Have a lovely evening!

Dy

Santa Daddy, and Life in General

Last night I watched Zorak smile widely and eat an entire handful of Veggie Stix, which he despises, one "delightful" bite at a time. He simply could not refuse the deleriously happy baby who was feeding them to him. The smile was worth fighting the gag reflex.

As if that wasn't sexy enough, tonight he came home from work bearing gifts:

Thera-Flu for Mommy
Honker Horns for the boys' bikes (one b/c James' broke when he wrecked a few months ago, and the other b/c John needed one for his bike)
Fuzzy fleece hoodies for the small children who have both outgrown their jackets from last fall
Tissues with lotion in them even though he may accidentally wipe his glasses with one and get the lenses all smeary
Cough Drops! Oh, ambrosia!

And he didn't make fun of me for the seriously lame dinner my oxygen-deprived brain came up with! WOOHOO!

Oh yeah, he is very, very cool.

***

My "how to do stuff" book was written by evil sadists. The first page explains how to cast on, knit, purl. The next page begins, "How knit with four needles" WHAT?!?! Tell me I've missed something- a page fell out of the book or something! Sheesh.

I've decided, by golly, that I will get this knitting thing figured out. I've known how for a long time, but have never been very good at it. I made a scarf for my niece once. It was six feet long and varied from 5" wide to 13" wide, depending entirely on how tightly I knitted. In some places it was waterproof! Of course, if I can overcome the horrible Home Ec sewing accident of 1984, what with the fingernail and the skirt and the shrieking and the failing... I'm pretty sure I can move beyond the scarf incident, too.

I am, however, really glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks it's just far easier to keep track of one needle, one stitch, and it all moves on its own! Voila!

***

Not much else going on here- quiet day, great game of dominoes after supper, warm lavender baths for the wee ones. Jeans in the wash, kitchen looks great. I'm going to go wrestle with some crafty form of activity and then hit the hay. (Switched out the sheets to flannel last night- oh, I do love Fall!)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Some things I've been chewing on today~

I don't care what's in your wallet, but What's on your bookshelves? I was chatting with Dee last night and we were talkin' books. (Shocker, huh?) In an attempt to be helpful with suggestions for new titles, I glanced at the bookshelf that sits beside our computer desk... Claculus, Advanced Calculus, Basic Technical Mathematics with Calculus, Introduction to Heat Transfer... mmm, I think Zorak took over this bookshelf! Good thing we have others. Hee hee.

***

It is a beautiful thing when a child learns to blow into a kleenex. This is a point often taken for granted. Remember this.

***

Forgiveness isn't about allowing someone to repeat a destructive pattern on you again and again. It's about not allowing bitterness to fester within your own heart and freeing that person up to make positive changes without fear of retribution. That doesn't mean you have to keep permitting someone to continually hurt you. Even forgiving yourself makes it easier to move on and fulfill your own journey better. I think it's easy to forget just how healing and strengthening forgiveness really is, and how important it is to bring it into our lives. It ranks right up there with laughter, I think.

***

Knitting is a lot harder than crocheting. There, I said it, pelt me with balls of yarn. (But make it balls of that soft, squishy, fluffy yarn, please!) I'm trying to knit a hat. It's a simple hat, and it's an easy hat, and I can't get past knitting the first row before I either forget where I am in the process, drop a stitch because I needed to move, or get mauled by a happy, snot-covered baby. Knitting does not survive this onslaught well. Crocheting, however, fares much better. It's more resilient with fewer moving parts.

Gram's lap blanket for reading on the porch is actually starting to look like something! WOOHOO! The babies, however, may remain hatless.

***

Jacob doesn't really have a mohawk. I am not sure what was up with his hair the day we took those pictures.

***

Kim, it was just a commuter train we took across the river. Zorak wants so badly to take a "real" train, complete with sleeper cars and dining car, as a family vacation someday. Personally, I'm waiting for AmTrak to be privatized before I do that. It may be a long, long wait. But what FUN!

Hey, if you're ever feeling adventurous, take the family to Mexico to ride the train through the beautiful Copper Canyon! It's bigger than the Grand Canyon, and you can get off anywhere en route to spend the night, do some hiking, relax and soak in the scenery. Zorak went with his family when he was a young lad and it's still one of his fondest memories. It's one of the big trips we plan to take when the boys are a little older.

***

be, Zorak made up the definition. I can clean a house in no time flat and read a story with all the character voices, but he's the one with the gift for the unusual and creative. I'll pass along the kudos. :-) Good to see you again!

***

Why does John always get some of whatever he's eating in his hair? I'm not sure how this happens. He smells like raisins now and his hair is the envy of Mallrats everywhere. Aquanet and egg whites couldn't get hair this stiff.

~Dy

GEEK!

I have become an Uber-Geek. How do I know this? It's easy.

Zorak tells the boys, "Go ask your mother." He does this more frequently than he used to.

My friends make fun of me because we'd go home and look up grates- the history of, and the different kinds and uses, when we got home. (Which I had actually planned to do, but I didn't tell them that while they were giggling at me, though.)

My favorite website: dictionary.com LOVE IT!

James asked at breakfast yesterday, "Mom, does 'plode' mean to move quickly in a certain direction? You know, like explode (he made arm movements going out) and implode (brought his arms back in)." Good question. Let's find out. So, we looked it up.

Then I spent the next five minutes chasing the boys from room to room, clapping loudly at them. (Go look it up and that will make more sense.)

But the big kicker, the ultimate proof...

Is that none of this strikes me as strange! ACK!

Dy

Cybernation

Cybernation: n. a withdrawl from the internet for a period of time; most often signaled by a lack of blogging or commenting on message boards, also lack of email correspondence; length of cybernation varies, depending on the cause of cybernating, ranging from days to months (seldom years); is generally cyclical and temporary in nature
v. to cybernate, cybernating

There ya have it. That's where I've been. Thank you to all y'all (that is proper grammar, trust me) who have sent us well wishes and peeked in to see how we're doing. We cybernated, and hibernated. We skipped Spanish and swimming, even a much-anticipated trip to the park, in order to beat back the ickies that had camped in our nostrils. We're all feeling much better now, thank you.



We were all feeling much better on Friday afternoon (except for the Smidget, who we thought was possibly just teething, but he produced copious quantities of snot Friday night which proved us wrong), so we packed up and headed to Philly to meet up with some wonderful Invisible Friends. We all met on an expecting club for those with babies due in September 1998, and over the years we've kept in touch. This group of gals is just wonderful: they have been a source of laughter and fellowship, joy and worry, friendship and strength- both received and given. I don't know what I'd do without them, really. The only problem is that the trip was just too short, but that's better than having not gone at all, and it was great to sit around the coffee table and visit in person the way we've been doing for six and a half years online! (Photo pending permission from all the parties involved in the group shoot.)



Zorak went with us. I honestly thought he'd stay home and hunt (two days guilt free hunting time~ I'd have been all over that!) but he wanted to come with us, and that was great. The boys got to ride the train from Jersey into Philly, and James now wants to make certain we ride the train any and every chance we get! Let's hear it for public transportation!



We had a great time touring Philly, chasing ground squirrels, checking out the carvings on buildings and poking our noses into all the grates.

We stopped at a fire station to admire the fire-engines and wave to the firemen. That resulted in a wonderful invitation to tour the station! The boys had a great time, and we learned more about the different features on trucks than I could have imagined. It was a great surprise in our day.





KinderChoir ROCKS!! We made it today. We were an hour early thanks to a misunderstanding: our bedroom clock is an hour fast, so when we glanced over and saw that we had thirty minutes to get everyone showered, dressed, loaded up and on the way, we kicked it into high gear! We all piled into the Suburban breathless, and still somewhat damp, only to realize we had over an hour to spare. Ah, well, we had a good laugh over that and decided to get Squishies and enjoy them on the lawn at church.

The program is designed to be very parent-child interactive, and it's just beyond my wildest dreams for a program. I'm certain a lot of this has to do with the director: she has a passion for music that surpasses any I've seen. She has music centers set up for the children to enjoy before class begins. Tactile music notes, a table to make rubbings of the day's lesson (today was quarter notes), matching games, building games. Each table is tied to the lesson in particular and to music in general. The children have a wonderful time exploring. Then she sings them to the center of the room and begins the program. It's fully interactive and engaging, upbeat and positive. I cannot say enough good about this program, and am so thankful that we are able to enjoy it. The boys had a thoroughly splendid time and cannot wait to go back. An added bonus is that I now have some idea where to go next with our recorder lessons. *grin*

Boy, I've got a bunch to tell you, but this entry is too long already and I'm dying to go have coffee w/ the rest of you wonderful blog-buddies. So tomorrow ask me about Dr. Laura's Care and Feeding, Gram's lap blanket, and the perils of remembering how to purl (as in, "knit one, purl two", yeah, it sounds so simple...)

Love on those precious babies, and enjoy all these gorgeous leaves that are whirling about!
~Dy

Snot-nosed Kids

Nope, not a rant about feral children. It's mine. They're not snot-nosed :: feral, they're snot-nosed :: stuffy-chested, lethargic, snot-infused, running a fever (each one- would that be fevers, plural?) In all, I have three very miserable little ones on my hands.

I've spent the majority of the afternoon trying to convince myself that it's probably just a 24 hour thing. I think I'm lying to myself. The conversation has gone like this:

They were a little punky way back on Friday, remember?
yes, i remember
Monday they had the snuffles and sniffles and started slowing down, remember?
yes, I remember
Yesterday they were all but slugs. Slow-moving, snuggly little slug-like creatures who napped like the wind, remember?
yes, I remember

Wow, it's been a long 24 hours!

Book Review & Lovely Mornings!

Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a wonderful book. It isn't the direction Lynne Truss offers us on proper punctuation that makes it such a fun and engaging read; it's her style. If you were to visit a quirky little village called Punctuation Towne, she'd be the local you would want to connect with early on in your visit. She puts her arm in yours and takes off down the boardwalk, pointing out the local color, sharing wonderful anecdotes about famous visitors, expounding on the local points of interest- all with an eye for the truly interesting that only a local can have. I haven't come up with a food category for Eats, Shoots & Leaves, but this is the book that will take you to the best local breakfast diner, the ultimate little bakery, and, if you pay attention, you'll also find the local brewery. After her tour, you feel you could find each one again without much fretting or frantic roaming.

It's FIFTY! Yep, fifty degrees at nine in the morning. Ahhhh, feel that Crisp! Feel that Chill! Feel that Fall! The boys are freezing, but it is just beautiful outside this morning! The car windows in the parking lot were frosted when I peeked out earlier, and the dew seemed crystallized on the lawn. Mmm, this is the good stuff! As a matter of fact, it calls for a snuggle on the couch in our jammies and some hot chocolate to start the day...

I can't believe Summer is finally at an end. While my mind knew it would end, my heart was so weary from the heat and the stickiness that it had honestly begun to wonder... sort of like the little child who just knows it takes a full year to get from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Off to enjoy the Fall air!
Dy

The end result

Well, supper has been eaten, the downstairs tidied, stories read and shopping done. We stopped for Squishies -Slurpees or ICEEs for some, but for Simpsons fans they are Squishies- after doing our shopping and had a lovely recalibration of the whole thing. For those of you who could laugh, I have to say I'm glad you read here. You "get" it! I was laughing, too (moreso once the RR kicked in, but even before- it was all that could be done). Without our ability to laugh at ourselves and with our friends, life would be depressing, to say the least. Anyhow, in all, the day was salvaged.

The Sea Monkeys, sadly, were not. And they were getting so big, too! But that's the way natural consequences work. If you insist on lifting the legs of the end table to put the beads around the legs of the table, eventually you will knock over the items at rest upon the top of the end table. This will include the water-filled container of creatures, and they will flail upon the carpet while you stare in utter disbelief (and your mother cringes from head to toe because, well, have you ever seen a large Sea Monkey?? And now that thing is in Mommy's carpet!) And Daddy will have to end their suffering with the wet/dry vac. And it is a sad day, but a day of learning. Natural Consequences; you can run, but not fast enough.

Zorak is just so cool! I hope the boys grow up to share his ability to see the ironic, the absurd, the hidden path, and to embrace it. Some days I hope they just manage to avoid needing to spend their tuition money on therapy. He spiked James' hair last night after bath and sent him into our bedroom, where I was putting away the wash. James let out a deep sigh (the one that says, "You people are so weird sometimes!") and said in a very monotone voice, "Dad said to come say, 'It's a nice day for a white wedding.'" He shouted back to the bathroom, "I did it." Then looked at me and said, "Mom, what is he talking about?" I glanced at my skinny, pale, white-haired boy with his hair sticking out in all directions, and promptly lost it. It was just too funny! I wonder if we can get him to do the sneer?

OK, and speaking of Billy Idol (what a segue- wham, you're just sucked right in, huh?), in my quest to find that excellent sneer pic, I found this article by Steve Tilley, reviewing a 2001 Idol show, the 80's, and the seemingly beneficial trade-off of banning Mony, Mony at school dances vs. going out back to drink behind the gym. Zorak and I did not have the upbringing we hope -pray- to give the boys, so this particular article made me laugh so hard I woke the baby.

And ya know what, y'all? I am bushed tonight! I have enjoyed Toad's Wild Ride, but it's time to get off and go find the Pepto - can you use that instead of creamer? - and let Zorak work some mojo on the computer. (I never know if he's actually doing work on the computer or if he's cruising the sales at Sportsman's Guide, but he does manage to look productive either way!) Have a lovely evening!

~Dy

Breathe In... Breathe Out...

UPDATE: we got back on a good track. Jacob slept for two and a half hours and awoke much happier. Our Wonderful Neighbors Who Moved came by for a visit, so we all sat outside enjoying the gorgeous weather and wonderful company. The boys are much improved in their general mood, as am I. See, it was salvageable, and beautifully so, particularly with such a great surprise visit.

Now off to the market!

~Dy

Breathe In... Breathe Out

Just me, havin' a "day" here. It's nearly ten-thirty, and here's how the day has gone by 9:30:

Jacob puked on me before we got out of bed.
James woke up sneezing and watery-eyed.
I gave him some Emergen'C, which he promptly set down.
Jacob saw that as a gloriously serendipitous opportunity to... dump the stuff in my boots. (That'll teach me to put them where they belong, huh!?)
Jacob began screaming - and didn't stop.
John slept late, and awoke with a horrible cough and phlegm. Also whiney.
We're out of eggs.
We're out of oats. (We're also out of jelly, so lunch isn't looking so hot right now, either.)
We're out of apple juice. (Don't know how that happened!)
John has been in tears four times today- not fits, just the helpless crying that he cannot stop. I think he got into some wheat.
James and I went rounds about his attitude (Where is the pencil? *it's in the family room,* NO, it's not, Mom. *James, yes, it is. Your pencils are in the pencil box on the craft shelf in the family room.* NO, they aren't! ARGH- so I went up and sure enough, if he'd bothered to open - the - box he'd have seen them, in all their yellow glory. But I know my Mother had a talent for finding things that were completely invisible to me, so that didn't get me. My issue w/ him this morning was his attitude.)
John wanted to say something, but wanted to take a million years to spit it out, speaking into his chest, and starting over every... single... time... he... got... four... words... starting... over... every... starting... yeah.
Jacob screaming in my left ear,
James clamoring for attention,
John starting over again.

ENOUGH, ALREADY!!!

SO-
I put Jacob down for a nap at 9:30 (he is currently drooling all over the couch- my best guess is that he's teething), set James up with his "Draw Insects" book, and snuggled John in with a tape on Ancient Greek myths, took some Rescue Remedy, and am waiting for it to kick in.

In the midst of all this, we've done Math and Reading, two loads of wash, made the bed, tidied the kitchen, and ran the dishwasher.

*sigh*

OK, I feel better.

Thanks for listening. Sometimes it's difficult to explain, but I think you ladies know what I'm saying. I'm definitely not angry at anyone or resentful of anything, just a tad bit overwhelmed by all that took place in a short two hours. I love our boys and love doing what I do- but even w/ the bestest job in the world, not every day is a Mary Poppins kind of day. :-) Days like this happen, and it's up to us how to approach them.

On the upside, it's only ten thirty, so there's time still to salvage it! I can feel the Rescue Remedy kicking in, James just brought me an amazing drawing of the Assassin Bug, John is on side two of the tape and seems to be a little more calm now. I'm off to have a puppet show and do a little mock bull jumping! Then, provided Jacob arises from his nap in a better frame of reference, we'll go to the market for those peksy food products that keep disappearing.

~Dy

It happened!

This morning, as I sat on the porch enjoying my coffee, I could feel it. So, I *sniffed*...
could it be?
*sniffed again* OH!
Joy! Yes!
I was so afraid that perhaps we wouldn't be able to smell Fall here, but yes, *sniff*, there it was! I sat there for a good fifteen minutes, just inhaling and exhaling and grinning from ear to ear.

Later, as we loaded up for church, I asked Zorak, "Did you smell it this morning?" *he gave me a rather disconcerted look* "Fall, honey. Did you smell it?" He hadn't been outside yet, but just then James came bursting through the door, shouting,

"Mom! Mom! The air outside smells SO good! It smells fresher than Febreeze and nicer than cookies! Come smell, Mom! It smells beautiful!"

Zorak smiled and said, "Well, there you have it. It must be, then."

We enjoyed the sniffing of the air today in a deep and wonderful way. Regardless of what the calendars say, Fall began today for our home, and it's a happy season.

We missed services this morning (I think the extended air-sniffing didn't help), but made it to Sunday School. We went anyway mainly just so the boys remain in the habit of going there regularly. It was good. It'll be nice to finish the visitor's class, though, and be allowed to use a room that has some form of climate control. It's just been stifling in there all summer, and today was no exception.

After church, we drove about looking for a property we saw for sale. STILL couldn't find it. We searched four miles in either direction of the supposed location, too, but no dice. Ah, well, if it's meant to be, right?

Mmm, brain isn't working right tonight. Just feeling a little restless. I am going to go work on my blanket and *sniff* for a bit.

Dy

Hear that?

Shhh, listen! Hear that?

No, that's the dishwasher... listen again.

Um, that's the washing machine... once more. It's the really loud noise coming from outside.

YES! It's the nice powerwasher guy, ridding our house of the green that wasn't put there by the folks at Benjamin Moore! WOOHOO!

Zorak took the boys to the dump. I cleaned. The belt broke on the vacuum cleaner, though, and I thought, "Hmmm, I can break out the tool box and fix it... OR..." so, here I am, blogging, a little after one on a Saturday afternoon.

What fun!

We watched The Missouri Traveler last night- oh, guys, it's a good movie! You can get it right now for $3.99 at Big Lots (double feature DVD w/ The Lone Ranger!) and honestly, it's the best cheesy family movie we've watched in ages. No swear words. No unnecessary nastiness (as in gratuitous). Lee Marvin's character is such a jerk, but he's got a heart. It's not gold, by any means. The only thing that creeped me out a bit was the, um, romance. That, I'll admit was just a little too creepy to sit well with me. But hey, what can you say? Can't have it all. If you get a chance and want a funny, clean, feel-good movie, check it out!

Zorak decided last night that if he had a time machine, he would buy all the solid wood coffee tables at IKEA and go dump them in some nifty section of the Petrified Forest, then fast forward to Today and retrieve them. Wow, wouldn't that make just the neatest furniture? Perfectly formed, unibody, petrified coffee tables that only need to be polished. The brackets would rust away, but the structure would be one piece. Wow. I couldn't come up with anything cool to do if we had a time machine. I was too sleepy.

Well, while it's quiet and the laundry's not quite ready to switch out, I'm going to go blog run and have coffee w/ friends. Have a lovely weekend!

~Dy

Wow, we are SO in the wrong business!

How much would you bid to expand an existing, servicable, three mile road from two lanes to four? And how long would your crew like to have to get it done?

$3.2 million? Sounds reasonable.

$5.5 million? Yeah, even that makes sense.

$15 million? Mmmm, well, okay...

How about $52 million, with a pending additional $10 million (without which, said project would "languish", according to State legislators).

Now, could you do it- from design to completion- in three years? No? How about five? No, hmmm, well, ok, you can have six. To begin with. (But anyone who has worked in construction knows that's only a preliminary target date. It'll move.)

This project won't begin until 2007, and is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

For the most part, this whole project is a joke, but the clincher for me was reading "...project was credited to increases in vehicular registration fees". OH MY GOODNESS!!! *banging my head against the monitor*

Now, it's not as if they have actually purchased the right of ways yet. There are 120 properties along this three mile stretch that will need to be negotiated for (under "eminent domain"). This won't take place until the engineering is completed. Then the purchase.

Roy Dyson and John Bohanan, who voted against the measure (as well as the fee increases), did not attend Thursday's roadside ceremony to commemorate the project. They'll have "way to go" letters from this old gal come Monday morning.

My goodness, but it just gets curiouser and curiouser...

Dy

What a day!

The boys were both a little punky today- not sick, just a little tired and slow on the curve. We slogged through a bit of math and phonics, but then retreated to our favorite hidey hole: reading together. That calmed the Bicker Beasties and warmed the hearth fires a bit, and we did get through the day with relatively few eruptions.

James is working on a new skill set in math. He gets it and enjoys it, but as with most newly acquired skills, this seems to have shoved previously mastered information back into the "must I really drag all that out again" file. Hrumph. Fun. His penmanship has improved so much, it's downright pretty now, and he's enjoying all the various avenues his education is taking this year. I think I'm going to switch the Burgess stories to read alouds, though. He seems to enjoy them more when we explore them together.

John read quite a bit today. He can read with relative ease any of the words I can make using the phonograms he has mastered. The ones he's still working on take a little deciphering, but he can do those, as well. Talk about a warm fuzzy! The way his face lights up when he reads is just one of the best feelings in the world.

Jacob today tried to stage dive. If you've ever seen a Chris Farley movie, then you have an idea of how well that worked out. It seems that either my hair belies the actual size of the head beneath it, or his depth perception is as bad as mine. Whatever caused the miscalculation, however, resulted in a blinding blow to my temple as his knee jerked forward in preparation for the landing. He glanced off my head and tumbled onto a bed of animal crackers, then laid there, looking at me with a "that was sooooo weird" expression on his face. No blood, no foul, and he was immediately back up on his feet for another giggle-filled go. Oh, the resiliency.

Mommy brain strikes again! Got a call from the children's music director at church. She got the blue form, but not the orange form... that means two things: the orange form is somewhere in the Suburban, and I have NO idea what I stuck in the collection plate last week. Anyhow, the boys are signed up for KinderChoir, and we're all looking forward to it. It starts on Sunday! We've held off on music sessions at home until I could get a feel for what they'll be doing in KinderChoir this year, as I'm hoping to incorporate the two.

Ah, well, the baby is just about out now, and we have a sweet movie waiting for us to enjoy. (Missouri Traveler, starring Lee Marvin, who I just adore, although it's strange to see him without Clint Eastwood, a la Paint Your Wagon.)

Enjoy this lovely fall and don't forget to stop and smell, er, observe the critters!

Dy

Ahem...

See, I get all excited about the sauces and forgot the main dishes! Mercy, I'm a mess!

OK, so check out Good Soil. I didn't link it HERE, because it's over THERE! (Pointing to the left of the screen.) See, she's there at the top of the list! Her link will also open in a new window. She's not new to the blogosphere, and I didn't just find her, but you know how often we take things for granted- like lunch with a good friend, or coffee at sunrise (like I'm watchin' the sun rise without coffee! *shyah*)... well, I goofed. Amy rocks. I read her daily (as she can attest by the sheer volume of "when are you going to blog again" comments I leave.) She is funny and energetic and much hotter in her bikini than I am in my 1930's "beach wear"...

Dy :-)

Gettin' Fancy!

OK, I fixed the sidebar links, aaaannnnndddd...

Click on 'em- they now open in a new window!

I've been wanting to figure out how to do that for two years. LOL.

OK, now I'm really going. Have a great day!
Dy

Wowsa.

Good Morning, guys! Can you believe it's October 1st!?!? I can't. It's still August (although I must say, the weather this August is just lovely *grin*)

We had a great day yesterday. We made it to Spanish on time, then got a temporary base pass for me (not nearly as bad as I thought it would be- I think the guy behind the counter took one look at me with three small children in tow, explaining everything in the office to them on their various levels and realized my life is the tangible equivalent of filling out every form in triplicate, without the benefit of carbon paper, and decided that I probably actually really just lost the darned thing in the melee). Then we had lunch with Zorak and headed to the park for Park Day.

The kids had a blast and we stayed for quite a while. It was so nice to visit with the moms in our group. One lady and I were discussing some of the recent not-so-bright articles that have been written about homeschoolers, in particular the concept that homeschooled children are only around other children of like mindset and cultural beliefs, and we had a really good laugh over that one. (This group is about as non-homogenized as it comes!) The weather was pretty nice as long as the breeze kept up or the clouds obscured the sun. The kids all managed to migrate from the play area to the creek. (Kids will do that- you can spend tens of thousands of dollars on playground equipment, but if there's water and Mama says it's ok, they're in the water!)

We drove about on the way home, trying to find a house that's for sale. Never found it. Found one that I thought *might* be it (and I was quite relieved that it's *not* it). John and Jacob fell asleep, so rather than going to the market we came home, had a snack and then worked in the back yard.

We pulled weeds at first.

Then we watched the critters we'd unearthed pulling weeds.

That morphed into trying to identify the different critters, and we spent a wonderful hour and a half just bug watching.

Today we'll work on the front porch. We have to get all the stuff pulled away from the house so it can be power-washed tomorrow. Yippee!! It's very green right now, and it's not supposed to be green, it's yellow. But everything here grows mold if it's not mobile. We were going to wash it ourselves next weekend, but the property mgmt. folks said it's the owner's job. Wow, very cool!

And it's Friday! The time is just flying by. I can't explain it, and I think it has to do with more than just having the boys (although they have sped up my perception-clock tremendously!) Zorak brought up a good point last night: his schedule seems to generate the sensation that each week doesn't take very long. He works a full week, then works a four-day week. We have long weekends every other weekend, and that makes the weeks feel so short, even though he still puts in 80 hours a pay period. We really enjoy the long weekends, and suddenly we look up- *poof* A year has gone by! Hooo, weird.

At any rate, it's a late-morning blog, but it's all good. We're off to read from the Thornton Burgess book we checked out and then to enjoy the beautiful morning while we work on the yard. Have a wonderful Friday!

Dy

GOOD MORNING!

Yes, folks, you read that right, it's morning and I'm blogging! What in the world is going on here???

Well, as it turns out, I hog-tied "Night Dy" last night and hauled her rear upstairs by (get this) ten-thirty! This AM, "Morning Dy" hopped right out of bed, showered, dressed (no, not to the shoes, sorry Flylady), did some laundry, tidied the kitchen, made the bed, and settled down to read the boards. Mmmmm, ok, now *this* is what I'd imagined when I wanted to start getting up early. (For more sense of the Night/Morning people residing in my happy home, check out Staci's musings a few days ago. So true.)

There was no sunrise to watch this morning, but it was beautiful and dark when we arose, and it felt SO good to sit on the back patio and just enjoy the gentle brightening of the sky. A hot cup of coffee, a good man, and a clean dishwasher. Mmm, good stuff!

So, what's on the plan for today? Should be busy, should be fun, but it's not going to be, erm, an interesting blog. HA! Isn't that always the way? It's the weird, out-of-step days, the tirades and ironic highlights that seem to make the best grist for the mill. Alas, there isn't much some days. Sorry folks.

*Wake the children (who are, thanks to this gloriously grey Eyore-like weather, sleeping past six o'clock nowadays! WaHOO!), get them fed, dressed, and somewhat educated for the day.
*Call Zorak and tell him we're ready to brave the Great Big World
*Stop at the pass office on base to admit that I, um, can't find my base pass, no, I'm-not-a-terrorist-who-has-loaned-it-to-a-psychotic-suicide-bomber, yes, I really mean that, and may-I-please-have-another-so-I-can-pick-up-my-husband-from-work-on-days-we-really-need-the-Suburban?
*Make it to Spanish co-op. Perhaps on time, perhaps not. That will depend on the folks at the Pass Office.
*PARK DAY!! I'm so excited! I always forget about Park Day with our homeschool group. Yesterday I got an offlist email from one of the ladies reminding me of it and asking if we wanted to start coming! *Hmmm, could I have found an Activities Coordinator who will call me and remind me of things so I don't completely forget to show up for life outside the house????* (I'll blog more about AC Friends tonight- it's really kind of sad, but beautiful that friends look after me that way. Ha Ha.)
*Market. We're out of fresh fruit, and it's driving us all nuts! (Can't believe I actually wrote that.)

Oh, did I tell y'all about our stop at the Republican Party booth at the fair? Actually, it was Zorak's stop at the Republican Party booth. The boys and I stood outside and spun in circles until we were dizzy and fell over. (I'm sure he didn't proudly point us out to the folks at the booth...) Well, Zorak came back out just beaming! Come to find out, the Republicans have a candidate running against Barbara Mikulski!! Oh, well, gotta find out more aout that, then! So in I went (while Zorak stood outside and spun in circles with the boys- we're odd, but we're well-matched.) I did sign up to volunteer to support Pipkin in any way possible. Zorak and the dizzy boys rejoined me at the table and bumped happily against my leg at this point. (The boys did, Zorak wasn't too wobbly.)

The gentleman recognized Zorak, (enter A-ha! moment here) then he asked my age. (I am so past the point of thinking anyone is ever hitting on me!) The conversation was a little strange:

Me: 30
Him: Would you consider signing up to help out with the Young Republicans group in St. Mary's County?

*awkward silence*

Me: No. I'm not a Republican. Sorry.

He was a little surprised, considering my enthusiasm toward Pipkin (of course, having corresponded with Mikulski, just about anyone would be tickled to support Pipkin, but I'll blog about that later, as well.) Then I had to come out and admit that I've defected to the Libertarian party. I don't think he's ever heard that before, gauging from his reaction. Considering Zorak had just signed up to help with the YR group, it was probably doubly unexpected.

He did ask why! Wow, how cool. I explained that the Republican Party has gotten a wee bit grabby with individual rights, almost to the point of being as bad as the Democratic Party, and that gave me the willies. So, I will support Pipkin in any way possible, but just can't align my support with the party as a whole. He was gracious (and so was I). We reiterated our support for Pipkin, and look forward to helping out with the campaign.

You know, both sides are like that now, and it's depressing, really. Fewer freedoms, more restrictions "for our own good". It's as if we go from our father's homes to our Brother's homes, and never know the point of being grown ups in our own rights. Just sort of sad. Too many hills they want us to die on that I'm not willing to die on. Hills that have nothing to do with Freedom.

...And now for something completely different...

I added some new links to my sidebar, but evidently I'm functionally illiterate in HTML and they don't work because I have too many "http's" in there. I'll fix that tonight. One I love is Modus Operandi, but it seems it's now doing the same thing Krista's (Homeschooling 101) does on my browser, and I get an odd message- my ISP won't let me go there. But check it out (and Krista's, too). Neat stuff!

OK, time to get the boys up and dressed so we can get going! Have a wonderful day!

~Dy

It is a bizarre sensation to log on to NOAA and see that the hurricane that has been terrorizing Florida is the same front that's brought all this rain to us today! Wow. I just haven't the words to synthesize it. What we're experiencing here is nothing to what others have experienced. Perhaps that's what makes it seem more surreal: this doesn't feel like what I would imagine a hurricane would kick off. This feels like, I don't know, late summer monsoon weather. Well, whatever it is that brought it, we've had to turn the a/c back on just to try to pump some of the moisture out of the air. It was downright stifling in the house today. Both John and Jacob have been covered in a sweaty sheen for 48 hours. Poor kids.

Our library evidently has stopped calling each time a "hold" comes available for pick up. They used to call for each hold as it arrived. I've been waiting a few days before picking up our new books, as I didn't want to have to make multiple trips to get what we needed. They never called again, though, after that first call to tell me they had one book in. Well, I broke down today and took James to return some books and pick up the one book that was waiting so it didn't get sent back. HA! We had three big stacks ready and waiting! Gosh, if I'd known, we'd have come sooner. *oops* However, the living room now resembles... something untidy. Books are everywhere, and we had a blast reading before supper. Both boys traipsed upstairs after supper with armloads of books for bedtime. I do love the library!

OK, let me go on record as being in AWE of anyone who has actually hooked up the camera to the TV to watch clips or slide shows! *I salute you, in humble adoration and mild envy* The closest I've come to that is reading somewhere in the instruction manual that it's possible. Otherwise, that's right up there with getting the VCR to record a show on the proper channel (which has never happened for me).

School today was entirely child-led. James did 30 someodd pages in a reading workbook, and ten pages of math. John wanted to do things that pertained to the "k" sound (C and K). You know, it was just too hot to argue, and it's not like they made poor choices. So, no Latin or music, but hey, it's all flexible and good. It was a very good day!

Still no word on buildable land or affordable housing. *sigh* Still looking. :-)

Alrighty, then, I'm going to go catch up with Frodo and see what's going on there, then up to read to my little Hobbits for a bit. Y'all be good to each other! Kiss those babies.

~Dy

Head Coverings?

So, does a do-rag count as a head covering?

John wanted a proper "pirate hat" the other day, and the best I could do was to tie a bandana at the four corners.

Fast forward two days, James came down with it on his head. Then he untied one corner and put it over my head.

There, now your head is covered, and the tail comes down to cover your braid. That's better.

Um, either I am in dire need of a new hairdo, or James is thinkin' I'm just not modest enough for his taste!

So, do ya think this counts? LOL.

Dy

Tech Blog

Hi Diane! Thanks for the note. I have to admit I'm really *really* not a technical person. (Reference the whole "plug thingie" bit about the CD-DVD thing.) Any successes I've experienced are usually due to pure dogged determination and a good grounding wire. However, I'll share what we stumble upon as we go along. You have to promise to do the same, though, OK? Maybe if we all share our tips and newfound ideas we can make some use out of these newfangled gadgets.

So far, the best perk we've enjoyed from the short video clips on the camera is the ability to create short email video messages for family and friends far away. The boys sang Happy Birthday for Jess' son, Ryan and we emailed it to him (took me three days to figure out how to "convert" the file for email- d'oh!- but it can be done!) And it was really fun when Ryan, and all the rest of the gang, sent a Thank You video back! So that's our typical birthday card now. We'll also use it to tape the boys doing their memory work or singing a song and email those things to Gram, who can no longer read.

Also, and I haven't played w/ this just yet (because I found it the other day), our camera software has the ability to create single frame photos from the video! Now, considering how difficult it is for me to get catch all three boys mid-motion without at least one of them being some kind of UFO-like blur across the screen, I think once we figure out how to do this, it's gonna be FUN!

I'll try to figure out how to upload and save movie files. Perhaps one of my more tech-oriented readers will decide to do their kind deed for the day and walk us through it? Wouldn't it be fun to have movies on the blog!

~Dy

Just thinking out loud

Lord of the Rings: brain candy, deep reading, or a little of both? I can't decide, but I'm thoroughly enjoying the read. I do, however, find myself getting confused after reading LOTR for a bit and then going through The Hobbit with James...

CD-DVD: *sigh* The box didn't come with the proper pluggie thingies and the computer is ignoring it. That is the official report from the "Tech Dept." It's going back.

Neighbor Kids: Zorak has become the local "fix-it guy" for the neighborhood boys. We're very glad they are comfortable coming to the door when they need help with their bikes or anything else, and we enjoy having them around. Still, it is a little sad knowing they don't have someone at home to do these things. (We don't know the details of their home lives, only that they don't have anyone at home to show them how to take care of their things, or to keep them supplied with tools and such.) He wants to pick up brake pads this week. The boys are cruising around on bikes with no brake pads and they're grinding their wheels to death.

They are very good boys, and we enjoy having them around. They're in 8th and 9th grades, right on the cusp of testing those waters of manhood. It's a tenuous period. We hope to help keep positive things and healthy activities within their grasps as they grow. Active young men will look for things to do, and it's human nature to do whatever is easiest. Zorak remembers that all too well. *grin*

Church & Tithing: You know, there is simply no delicate way to handle the mandate of tithing when discussing it between believers and non-believers. It sounds like it's all about the money, which completely depends on your perspective, I guess. I'm pretty sure that's because the two parties are not coming from a common foundation or using common definitions. Obviously, we don't tithe. Not because I don't believe in it, but because Zorak earns the money and he doesn't agree with it (y'all should've seen his face the first time I suggested tithing! "Ten percent of all of it???") He's never taken issue with me tithing monies I've earned, which I appreciate and respect. I also respect his stance on the money he earns. Today in the Visitor's Class, the topic of the day was... ta-da! Tithing! Zorak and I had a good talk about it after class, but that's one of those topics that probably won't ever find a consensus.

Computer Time: I think I'm going to cave in and allow the boys scheduled computer time. If they're going to be on, I'd rather it be doing something slightly more productive than playing MOHAA with Zorak. Now that the computer is running stunningly better, we'll install some programs on the boys' log-in and work it into our regular routine. It helps that we don't have access to regular TV, so I don't feel like it's just one more thing to compete with for their attention.

Typo: oh good grief, we watched Horatio, not Horation. *sheesh* Evidently I didn't have enough coffee last night, eh?

All-in-all, a quiet weekend with not much going on. After church today we came home and made fried chicken. We told stories and made root beer floats. Then we read ourselves into a stupor and tucked the boys into bed. I love days like this.

Oh, and John has discovered the ultimate filibuster! He makes up a story to share. It's generally long and involved, but comes to an ending something along the lines of, "And they lived happily ever after... Except for the time that..." and he launches into yet another impromptu story! This will go on for as long as you can stand it. He has found it useful for both supper and bedtime so far. We usually give him a little leeway, just to appreciate his creative and wonderful stories. (And to quit giggling- it's really hard not to giggle when they're so cute.)

Ah, well, I am going to head out and gather this week's schedule. Hope you are all having a lovely end of September!

~Dy

Neat Day!

The hard drive has been replaced successfully! Not only did we replace it, but we *knock on wood* managed to piggyback the two drives and transferred all our files intact! It was a tense few hours and we went to bed just as the sun was thinking of coming up, but it worked! Zorak says he feels "like such a Beta nerd". (Picture the Superman pose w/ a cup of coffee in hand as he says this.)

Today...

Jacob walked! Not just one step or two, but up to five at a time, and he kept at it all day. I don't know who is more proud of him: us, the boys, or himself.

St. Mary's County Fair is where we spent our afternoon. It was absolutely wonderful, and probably one of the best County Fairs either of us has ever attended. We had a lovely time in all, saw several people we know, enjoyed the rides and the junk food.

We learned so much about goats that we hadn't known before. Neither of the boys wanted to milk one, although they both had several opportunities to do so, but they did enjoy hearing about them and touching them. One gentleman in particular spent plenty of time answering all our questions and sharing "getting started" stories about raising goats. The nubian goats are just beautiful!

We also were fortunate to find and visit with the folks who brought draft horses for the horse pull. Holy Cow! These horses are mammoth! We had to head out around seven thirty, and the teams were only pulling around 6,000 pounds when we left. (I say "only", as we heard last year's pull was up around 12,000 pounds by the end- can you even imagine? The power and grace in these animals is just awe inspiring.) They weren't even straining! It was amazing.

The bonus, the unexpected thrill of the entire fair, though, came as we headed for the gate. Among the competing sounds of loud 80's rock, the calls of the horse pull announcers, the whirrs of various vittle makers, we heard something familiar and... we stopped, listened, and turned to face one another. It was like our own personal Cricket in Times Square! We heard Western Swing! Playing live, no less! Oh, finditfinditfindit! I chirpped happily, hopping up and down, trying to discern the source of the melodies amidst the din. We found it, and we danced. We waltzed, we two-stepped, we danced the happy, strange, spinning dances that only children (and parents of children) do. We danced with the boys, we danced together, we swayed and hummed and just absorbed the familiar, warm music we both love so much. This bit of serendipity delayed our exit from the fair by about half an hour, but none of us minded. The band is truly excellent, which only added to our excitement.

Nobody seemed to know the name of the band, but we plan to track them down and if they play locally, then there's a date night coming on!

We got video from the fair on the digital camera- wow, this thing is GREAT! Not only can we take great snippets of video with it, but we can extrapolate stills from the video clips once we've uploaded the files to the computer. Wow, technology has come such a long way from the Commodore 64, or Polaroids! Neat stuff.

Anyhow, Zorak and I stayed up way too late watching Horation Hornblower (which we thoroughly enjoyed, and now I'm going to have to read the entire series!) so that's all I have time for this evening.

Enjoy a beautiful Sunday!
~Dy

Technical Difficulties

Well, the computer was kind enough to let me know it's dying. That gave me time enough to try to back up the files before it goes under completely. Sort of. There are a few things it seems I will never learn: go to sleep at a reasonable hour the last two weeks before the baby is born, fill the gas tank when it hits the 1/2 full mark, and back up my hard drive regularly to an external source.

As it turns out, the vague period between your first inkling that your computer is dying and the moment it actually dies is not the time to discover that your CD burner is also kaput, or that your photos are too numerous to fit on all the zip disks you own (including cannibalizing from hubby's school set).

The new hard drive is waiting patiently beside my chair. Photobucket is going to charge me double in the morning, I'm sure. Zorak is picking up a new CD-RW at Wal-Mart (while we're in there, we might as well do all the fixin' it needs). It's going to be a long night. Hopefully, though, it will be a productive one.

In case we don't see you until Monday, have a beautiful weekend. Enjoy the fresh fall air (chilly fall air for those of you way up North!) Be good to one another, and hug those babies.

~Dy

He's Home

So, just wanted to share a snippet about the joy of homeschooling an accelerated and/or asynchronous learner (edited for clarity since it's not three am this time 'round!) This is part of a larger thread on the concept of grade skipping advanced children.

We don't have to pick one or the other (comfortable surroundings with a healthy environment or quality academics). They can learn at their own paces, grow at their own paces, garner the skills they'll need to be fledglings at their own paces.

If that means we're having to bone up on physics theory or other high-end (or obscure) areas of study so that our children can continue their educations at home until they're 18 or so, that's fine with us. That's actually what we anticipate.

They'll probably have things they will look back on and say they wish we'd done this or that differently (rare is the child who doesn't), but hopefully they won't look back and feel they had to pick between an excellent education or their childhoods.

And now, I'm off! Not that I don't love spending time with you all, but hey, you guys didn't bring me a big honkin' box of baklava!

G'nite!
~Dy

Our homeschooling days...

Mmmm, the bliss of the cocoon has begun to show benefits! Thank you to those who encouraged that we just follow the nudge of the soul. It's been a great week! It's been a slightly different week, but good in new ways and warm, fuzzy ways. Anyhow, I thought I'd touch base on education tonight- both mine and the boys'.

We've pretty much ignored Latin this week, except for the prayers. I know, bad Classicist. Hey, I have two more stages to play with (and most of this first one), so I'm really not sweating it. Besides, we promised James we would attend a Latin Mass over the bridge once he finished Prima Latina... and I'm in no hurry to drive an hour and a half to sit through a church service that *I* won't understand most of, anyway. LOL. We've focused on Spanish a bit more this week, trying to get the boys into a comfortable spot with that.

Still trying my darndest to reconcile the differences between Castillian Spanish and Mexican, but I think we can find a way to make it blend. We've read one book a day in Spanish all week, and that's rapidly become one of the highlights of each day! (Who'd a thought?) Too bad I can't speak/read Latin as easily as I can Spanish. As for the pronunciation differences, I figure the boys will end up wonderfully adaptable with dialects, or totally unintelligible in any Spanish-speaking country.

Math this week has been a mix of everything. Place value has been the study du jour for John, which he is mastering with great finesse. He can build, read, and even write just about anything you ask him to. He still likes dotted lines to trace, though- it's fun for him, and a bit more interactive that way. So, dotted lines it is! Review of skip counting by 7's, word problems galore, and a ton of mental math games have been the plan for James. He makes up most of the games. Today he wanted to play what he called "string along", where you begin by adding two numbers, then adding another, subtracting a number, etc. (He, erm, kept up better than I did.) Later, and I've no idea what started it, while we were putting away the wash, the boys erupted into an impromptu game of "what number am I?", using their bodies to form numbers. That was fun, and a great game for building concrete understanding of the symbols, as well as spatial comprehension of forms and axis orientation!

Reading is always a "go" here. I will admit to spending more time reading in the evenings than Zorak traditionally does. Namely, I am bone-tired by the end of the day and the mere thought of wrestling or roughhousing makes me want to hide in a corner and whimper quietly. Still, it's so important (for all of us) to spend time together, and while I have zero drive to be mauled by three excitable little monkeys, it is nice to snuggle with them once they've been sedated, er, bathed and jammied. So, we read and read and read until they (or I) begin to fade. John surprised me by bringing in a stack of books he literally could not see over, announcing, "We'll begin reading from the bottom of the stack!"

Can't seem to find read alouds for the boys that James doesn't get to first. Of all the books we picked up at the library this week (over 20), there is ONE he had not read by this morning. That one, he said, he started to read but just "didn't find it very interesting". *pphhttbbbtthhh* I'm going to have to hide a secret stash of books to read aloud for that boy! (Oh, I know. I'm definitely not complaining, I'm overjoyed!)

History has been moved to the supper table. The boys this week have requested Lei Zu & the Silkworm, and the Anansi stories (both found in Story of the World Vol.1) each night. Tonight, however, we also read about the bull-jumpers of Crete. The boys acted it out after supper. I was in stitches. They're pretty good backpack, er bull jumpers.

And what have I been doing with my quiet evenings this week? I've been simmering through Lord of the Rings (which, I have to laugh at myself here, I'm reading the same way I read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt- with one thumb in the appendices, constantly flipping back and forth. It is going to take me a month to finish this book, but that's ok. I plan to be here in a month...) My "snippets of time" selection this week has been Eats, Shoots & Leaves, which has not failed to provide all the enlightenment and humor for which it has become so well-known. This is a delightful little book! I've also enjoyed music that usually gets butchered by my own personal Weird Al (Dan Folgelberg, James Taylor... It is amazing what Zorak can do to seemingly innocuous lyrics, really!)

Zorak is doing well, and will be home tomorrow. We contemplated meeting in PA and doing a little visiting over the weekend, but tonight he said he just wants to come home and "do what we do". That sounds perfect to me! Thanks for allowing me to wax sentimental while he's been gone. I'll try not to be too sappy too often, but sometimes a little sap is good. That's where you get yummy syrup for breakfasts, healing balm for scars, and gin. (OK, gin's from juniper berries. I couldn't think of one made from sap.)

*update: wine! You can make wine from birch sap! There ya have it! Learn something new every day!*

Enjoy those precious babies (of all ages)!
~Dy

Missing Zorak

It's quiet. I didn't realize how much we talk together. Our conversations and banter feel so natural that for the most part it goes unnoticed until it's gone. Then it's awfully quiet. He's such a great conversationalist- witty, funny, sarcastic, occasionally smarmy, but always warm and honest.

It's also really cold. Now, listing this as one reason to miss him in no way intimates that he could be replaced by a hot water bottle. Not by a long shot! But that is one definite perk. If I can outlast him by about four minutes, my side of the bed is warm. Yup. Not necessarily a bonus in the summer, but sure would be nice this evening!

He smells really nice and gives the best hugs. I am a geek, yes, and am wearing his shirt. I can't get a hug right now, but this is close.

I also used his coffee mug today. :-)

Wow, it's almost funny to think he's got me thinking and acting like a twitterpated school girl.

What am I saying? When it comes to him, I feel like a twitterpated school girl! After ten years, it's still a wonderful feeling!

The boys sure will be glad when he's home, too. They miss him the most in the evenings, when he is generally there to wrestle and read after bath. We talk a lot about Daddy during the day, about what he does and why, about how Daddy would handle this situation or that situation.

They know Daddy will always pick the morally right choice, even when it's not the easy choice. They know Daddy will always help the underdog. They know Daddy loves them and misses them even when he's far away. They know Daddy is so smart~ he's the smartest, bestest, biggest, lovey-est Daddy in their whole wide world!

Yep, Zorak is loved and missed.
~Dy

Oh, today was nice!

Our Wonderful Neighbor was right- the weather today was absolutely perfect! It was just gorgeous, and of course, we had to go play in it. The boys rode their bikes and built a "shelter" among the trees (there's a nip of forest-like stuff at the edge of the property, with plenty of deadfall for small children to enjoy and make stuff with), and just sat and visited with us moms. Just beautiful. I love this time of year!

We're enjoying the redesigned family room upstairs, too- it's got great natural light, there's plenty of creative space for three boys to romp and play, and room for all of us to negotiate around during lessons. It's not really a large space at all, but the right furniture did wonders for its usability.

Zorak arrived safe and sound. He called to chat a bit and say goodnight to the boys. I'd forgotten the quiet void that one of us being gone creates. We are actually glad for this opportunity with his work, and I think he'll enjoy the work itself... but we both said we're really glad he didn't take a position with a lot of travel. That's something we've both done in the past, and it's a whole different ball game pre-children. Ah, in the meantime, we'll just cruise along and try to keep the pace. He'll be home much sooner than we first thought, so that was nice to hear.

We went to the library this evening, just before supper. That's really a nice time to go- we've never been in the evening before. The boys got to watch one of the volunteers clean the big fish tank, and the guy was great- he explained the tool he was using, let them touch it, played with them. Wow. And they both remembered to say "Thank you" when we headed on in to the books. We stocked up on wonderful books- some old favorites, some new surprises. Eats, Shoots and Leaves came in, too! WOOHOO! So after I'm done here, I'm going to curl up and do a little learnin'.

I do owe y'all an apology- I got sucked in and broke my own rule- don't talk to strangers. So, for my part in the unpleasantness on the blog recently, I do apologize to you (the innocent bystanders, friends, family, the ones I ought to be talking to) and I will remember my own rule in the future. Please forgive me.

Let's see, what else is going on over here? Not too much. With Autumn on its way, things always look a lot brighter. There's just something about the crisp air, the light breeze, the incredible shade of blue in the sky... it puts a spring in our steps and whispers that there is something amazing around every corner, in every meeting, in the daily to-do, even. We really love the fall.

Tomorrow will be a day of library books spread out all over the living room, music playing in the background, and time spent just hanging out enjoying one another. Someone used the term "cocooning" to describe what I've been feeling, and I think that sums it up really well. There are tides and seasons to everyone's life, and if we listen to the rythm of those cycles, things go much more smoothly, more enjoyably. Incredible things happen inside cocoons! And a time of emergence follows shortly after... good stuff, this life.

Wrap your arms around those sweet babies and breathe in the love!

'Nite,
~Dy

Lookie! A troll!

Wow, I didn't know I had a secret loather! And a long-reading one, too, evidently! Is that cool, or is it scary? Hmmm. Actually, a little creepy, but I won't go into that because I might get tired from telling someone how much I hate snarky anonymous posters who can't follow the rules! Wouldn't want to make anyone else angry, now, would we?

LOL! Ah, so let me see if I have this straight... if I'm angry over having to cough up $800 to register a vehicle in MD, that's not OK. And if, after the two week three-ring circus of trying to get the thing registered, I'm just thinkin' it's not feelin' like it's worth it, and I make the comment that I resent being forced to pay for two years (am I allowed to resent this, or is this another problem you have with me?), and in my exhaustion and frustration say that I don't want to be here that long... oooohhhhh, bad Dy. It evidently upsets people who are FROM Maryland. Why would this upset you? Ought I to have been tickled pink over spending nearly a grand on this? Did ya want me to just keep it quiet? Was I inadvertently airing Maryland's dirty laundry? Or were you just unaware that other states don't really charge that much and you're mad at the messenger? I'm missing why this has your panties in a bunch.

Or, looking at the other referenced incident, the "whole blog of June 16th", if I am bothered by the level of Big Brother poking his nose into my home when he can't even run his own schools well, that makes me "inappropriately nasty". I cited my examples for being frustrated. So, just HOW does that make my frustrations "inappropriately nasty"? What in the WORLD are you talking about?

Since, dear reader, you signed your cheerful little note, "Sheeple", I'm taking a wild stab here and guessing you are in favor of the government involvement I discussed in that post. OK. Yay for you. You evidently see some benefit to it that I'm not seeing. At the time, I'd have asked you to share them, but ya know... not so much now. I think perhaps you have enough issues to deal with than trying to be civil to someone when Big Brother isn't making you do it.

I'm so glad to see you've completely missed the things we like here- they may not be the same things YOU like about Maryland, and you might be offended by that, too!

And see, my question that you inappropriately replied to was in response to another snark-n-run attack from the other day- had nothing to do with MD. Entirely different issue altogether! You're funny.

Finally, and then I'm going to play outside with the boys, why on earth are you coming if I'm so offensive to you? One Click Away! It's that easy. I'm not blogging to make you mad, and I assume you don't come online to get your feathers ruffled. From the tone of your comment, you find nothing of redeeming value here, so I don't know what you think you're going to find by coming back. Anyway, it's a big world, and there's plenty of room not to have to run into one another. If you actually know me IRL and honestly feel that I've somehow set out to hurt your feelings, let me know and we'll talk, but this anonymous deal just doesn't bring out the bleeding heart in me.

~Dy

Put another pot on to brew

It's going to be a long night. I'm doing the wash so Zorak has all he needs for an upcoming trip... thought I'd post random thoughts as they come to me... the fresh pot of coffee is just about done.

I just read this tonight, and found it enjoyable and thought-provoking, told in a lighthearted way. I think I got it from Carmon. But it's late...

*Updated: yep, that's where I found it!*

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And I'm wondering, just how many inappropriately nasty comments does one have to make to a stranger in order to get the coveted NOW "Aggression Badge"? Just curious.

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Haven't been to the boards at all lately. I've been in a very homebody mood, not just in real life, but online, too. There's been too much activity, too much ignorant hostility in the world around us lately. It's too much fun to curl up on the couch with the boys and lose ourselves in a good book, or a rousing game of Uno. Do you suppose my dragon-slaying days are over, or this is just a lull? Whichever it is, it's nice.

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Oh- there's the dryer. Be right back.

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Mmmm, back. Fresh load going, fresh coffee in the cup- what other things are out there?

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We met a wonderful magician today! He is from Ecuador. He came to the US as an exchange student his Junior year in high school, and has returned for college. He's funny, and smart, and very witty. We thoroughly enjoyed standing on the sidewalk out front, visiting with him. He did some magic for the boys. While John bounced up and down, giggling with glee, James was busy turning the poor guys' hands over to see how he did that. A good magician is a humbling thing, you know that? Just when you starting thinking you're pretty observant, you find yourself drawn in and awestruck. Sometimes it's nice to view the world like that once again. I didn't want to know how he did it.

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The boys did math today during church. *shhhh* They don't know it was math. They just thought they were really fun pages to do, you know, for fun. Hee hee.

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We kept Jacob with us today for Sunday School. He'll not be going back to the nursery until something changes there. When we have left him in the nursery (three times- just for Sunday School), I've always left explicit instructions, both verbal and written (there is a "special instructions" section on the sign-in sheet), to come get us if he needs anything. If he needs a clean diaper, a drink, a snack, a hug. If he is anything less than deleriously happy to be there, come get us. Twice I have been taken with a need to go peek in on him, and both times it has been clear that our directions were not heeded. Once, he was asleep in someone's arms, and while I wasn't really convinced of her story (she claimed he just climbed into her lap and stared at her until he fell asleep- he doesn't fall asleep like that, not this kid), at least he was being held, and so I held my peace.

The second time, however, I poked my head in and there he was, red-faced and tear-stained, out cold in a swing with his head flat on the tray. I was so angry I could barely be civil. The lady running the nursery tried to actually talk me out of taking him from the swing by telling me, "He was crying and fussy, so I picked him up, but that didn't help, so I put him in there. He seems fine now." ARGH!!! And obviously he wasn't at some point before he passed out like this!

I explained, through clenched teeth, "I am his mother, and this is my job. I was under the impression that you understood when I said to come get me if he is less than 100% happy. Obviously I was mistaken." Her response? "Well, he seems ok now..."

AEIGH!!! What part of "COME GET ME" does not come out the same as it sounds in my head?!?!

The part that really galls me is this attitude that I am a "nervous first time mother who needs to learn the ropes". Um, no. I have been hearing things like "you need to let him cry" and other such nonsense for six years now. I have picked up and comforted three children, and while I've never once resented picking up a crying baby, I certainly resent someone telling me how to raise my child!

Anyhow, this is "that mentality" that I mentioned I was concerned about when we first considered coming to this church. Zorak agrees that it needs to be addressed (at the very least that they acknowledge that we aren't all Ezzo fans and that not every child is to be treated as an Ezzo-ite). He also, however, wants me to wait for the pastor to mention it. (Pastor seemed a bit confused at the presence of a baby in class today, but said nothing.) While I am normally more than ready to march to the top of that hill and duke it out, I'm wondering if perhaps my less-than-thick skin as of late has been a preparation to listen to Zorak's wisdom and wait for them to open a dialogue. I don't know, but my baby won't be left alone in that room again any time soon. Attitudes don't change overnight.

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How long does it take for a load of clothes to dry? Two cups of coffee, at least...

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OK, this was funny. True. And funny.

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Well, the last load is about to go into the dryer. It's almost one o'clock. Tomorrow's going to be a hectic day, to say the least.

James' Surprise Party

Turned out not to be as much of a surprise as we thought it would be. He heard the little neighbor girl say something about "surprise" and then her Mom said, "SHHHHHHH!" So, he knew it was coming. BUT, he didn't know *when*, and I wish we had a digital version of the expression on his face when he walked in the door.

It was a blast for everyone!

The day started out great~ we had 24 snails cruising across the back patio, so the boys got to hang out and play with them for about an hour. Then it was waffles for breakfast, and some time to play. (They don't normally wait, but I am pretty sure John foraged and found some snacks Zorak had left out the night before.) I ran to the market, then to pick up his gifts and the party stuff (it is very quiet, and kind of lonely to go to the market alone- next time I'm takin' one or more of the boys with me). I got home and we started cooking supper for a family at church.

Erin (our Wonderful Neighbor) took James & John to the market w/ her and her girls (she says there is no way she wants four children- "They were all great, but there are just so MANY of them! They're everywhere!" The four children are aged 6, 5, 4, and 2- so yeah, that could be overwhelming. *grin*) We got the cake made and decorated, the house cleaned, fajitas and all the trimmings prepared, chips fried up and salsa made- then Zorak picked up James and took him on an errand, while Erin brought the kids to the house to wrap presents and finish decorating (spread confetti, fling streamers- the fun stuff).

Everyone was waiting when Zorak and James came back, and boy was he surprised! At first, all he could do was inhale. LOL. Then he realized there was a total stranger in the dining room (other neighbors had brought a friend of theirs who was in town for the day- that's part of our open door policy- friends of friends are welcome any time) so the first words out of his mouth were, "Wow! ~ Hey, wh- who are you?"

Anyhow, we did things a little backwards, but it worked out great. We did presents first, then ate supper, then cake. That actually is a great way to do things (provided you aren't doing the "30 loud children hopped up on sugar in an enclosed space" parties- then, I wouldn't recommend it). For the low-key get togethers we have, though, it's wonderful, as all the kids enjoy playing together. James got the 50th Anniversary Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, Sea Monkeys (yes, I am a dork), a new Etch-A-Sketch (the old one had developed a mortal wound in one of the moves and had to be put out of its misery), and a book of Optical Illusions. The neighbors gave him guest tickets to Busch Gardens and a Rubik's Cube (ARGH! It's ok, though, they have a child's b-day coming in March... that gives me time to plan. LOL!) It was a wonderful day of frolicking and playing, dancing and balloon-sword fighting, singing and squirrelling around as any young boy loves to do. He said at bedtime that his favorite part was having everyone there for dinner. I hope all three boys always remember that it's about celebrating life with those you love.

The tradition Ben & Claudia (our old Wonderful Neighbors from AZ) started of giving one sibling gift was continued today- we bought John his very own DVD of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He bounced around for five minutes, hugging it to himself and shouting "yay yay yay!" The first thing I heard this morning was, "Mom, can I watch..."

Six. It just feels so big. But he's still so small, just a little guy compared to when he'll be "Daddy-sized". I can't believe six years have gone by, and I can't find the words to express it. Perhaps another time, the words won't fail me, but right now all I can do is choke up and shake my head in wonder. Wow. It's just amazing, and James is such a great kid. I wonder if the next six are going to go by this quickly? After the boys were tucked in, Charles and I watched a few videos of years past. *sniff* I'm speechless. We are so blessed.

Enjoy those kiddos!
~Dy

*shhhh* It's a Surprise!

Well, we are having a surprise party for James today. It's definitely going to be a surprise. He wrote up invitations for his actual birthday and distributed them about- "Monday at 2:34 PM"...

I love how kids need to have very specific, detailed things. Dates and places are of utmost importance to them. "How about the fourth Tuesday of 2005?" or "Can we go at ten twenty-one AM on every Monday?" I don't know where they get these things, but I suspect it's from their growing grasp of the detail of time, and the power to determine the when and how of their schedules. We try to accomodate, but sometimes it's hard. "Mom, can we get ice cream from the ice cream truck every six years on a Thursday?"

This bizarre weather seems to have thrown everyone a bit off. Not only did James sleep like the proverbial baby (the one I didn't have), but so did Jacob, who slept from two until six-thirty the other day and was back out at nine. All three boys were out cold last night and didn't get up until eight this morning. I hope it's the weather, at any rate! If it's not, I'm going to worry that they're up to something. Might be a good idea to scout the house for hidden "experiments" and the random apple core, just in case.

This morning we found 24 teeny tiny snails on the back patio. That's been today's excitement, and we've learned what they eat, how they reproduce, and just how badly it grosses Mom out when you show up at the back door with a snail crawling up your arm.

Have a lovely day!
Dy

The more mundane

Today was, overall, one of the less eventful days. It certainly wasn't one of the better days, either.

We had Spanish lessons at ten. Everyone slept until nine. Argh. Short, hurried breakfast, then off we went. It went well, for the most part. Our local homeschool group held a curriculum share today that I've been looking forward to for a long while. We did not make it. The boys were just too "off" from the wonky morning. I couldn't put my finger on it, but my Spider Sense was tingling, so I took heed and we stayed in. (I'm glad for that.)

We lunched, then trekked upstairs to the newly decorated "family room", where we read, played Uno, and enjoyed each other tremendously. Then the phone rang. I have no idea what transpired in the time it took me to run downstairs, grab the phone and head back up, but James was raging mad as I topped the stairs. The best I can figure is that Jacob touched, bent... perhaps drooled on... one of the Uno cards... to which, for whatever reason known only in the dark recesses of a frustrated almost-six-year-old's brain, the obvious response was to damage many more Uno cards himself while growling and screeching like a trapped, rabid wolf. Um, yeah, you can go to bed until you calm down a bit. En route, he took the time to stop and smack a guitar that hung from his bed. Note the past tense~ hung. Said guitar has been entered in the Witness Protection Program. I did stay calm, which surprised even me. James was hysterical and belligerant and downright nasty. It is impossible to convey anything to a belligerant, nasty, vengeful almost-six-year-old who has flown with wings spread wide into the Depths of Hysteria. So, I took a deep breath, let him know that while he may see this fit as necessary, the rest of us are under no obligation to listen to it and he can either stop. Now. OR, I can close the door. Either way, we aren't captive to his fits. He stopped. Then he got suspiciously quiet. He was out cold in less than two minutes. That was shortly after lunch. He slept until I woke him at six this evening. Well, that certainly explained a lot.

Jacob went down after drooling on many more Uno cards while John and I played a few rounds. We hadn't played since John learned all the numbers, so this was pretty fun and new for all of us. We had a great time. John watched a movie while I laid down with Jacob and read Lord of the Rings erm, ok, passed out along with the baby. He woke me up when his movie ended and we spent a while reading more about dinosaurs than you'd ever want to know, building with blocks, and just enjoying a little one on one time.

Friends from Arizona will be on the East Coast next week!! We are hoping to coordinate our schedules to get together. They are just the neatest people, and they've got a wonderful little girl we all adore. We really miss them. They left Arizona shorly after we did, and it just feels like it's been forever since we've seen them.

Have not heard from a friend in the Pensacola area. He's a police officer, and I don't imagine things are looking very good right now. We're sure praying he is safe and sound, just busy helping others.

Tomorrow is Friday already! You know, I thought I had a grasp of time at one point. No longer do I suffer from that delusion. Anyhow, Zorak got word that he'll have to work extra on James' birthday, so we now have to plan a party on the spur of the moment for this weekend rather than Monday. (Not like that's anything different than how we normally do things, it's just strange to have a head's up.) We are going to talk to the Wonderful Neighbors and see about doing a "surprise party" for him. I think he's to the point where he'd "get it" and enjoy it. We'll see.

Have a wonderful Friday, and enjoy the world through your children's eyes!
~Dy

Birthday Pictures

Jacob is our surprise baby. We thought we were done with two children. We thought we knew what was best for our family. We had strong feelings about limiting the number of children in our family for many, many reasons. Those thoughts vanished when we learned about Jacob's pending arrival. It's just not possible to look God in the eye and say, "No, *we* know better than You do." Well, at least I just couldn't go about things like that, at any rate.

The transition from one child to two children was, for me, really rough. John was 2.5, and I had just become almost comfortable in raising two children without the constant fear that I was going to forget one of them somewhere or that the incessant sibling "things" would drive me to chew my own hair out (I was raised as an only child due to the age gap between my siblings and myself- sibling relationships are entirely foreign to me at this stage). So, when we learned that Jacob was coming, I cried. For three days straight. I laid awake at night, terrified that I could never be the kind of Mother James had, or John deserved, let alone manage with another child in the mix. I cried so hard I threw up. It wasn't the baby that was the problem, it was me. If I am to be perfectly truthful, I'm still amazed on a near-daily basis that I didn't get myself killed before I turned 25! To be entrusted with not one, not two, but three precious babies who would rely on me and need me to "have it together" was... pfft. Terrifying doesn't come close.

We were also in Zorak's third year at Riddle. My mother had passed away the previous Spring. My best friend had died that summer. Our church had become a battle ground of incredible proportions and we were now homechurching. Saying that I was exhausted is like saying Marry Poppins was cheerful.

Still, a baby! Another wonderful little one in our home, our hearts! Our hearts had grown and filled with more love than we'd been capable of finding the words to express when we had James. We thought we'd reached the pinnacle of joy and had literally peered into the heart of God when we held him.

And then came John! Who can explain the ability of the human heart to double in size to accomodate more love? It's like the flight of bees- seemingly impossible, yet there ya go. Our love for John soared and shone as brilliantly and as deeply as our love for James.



The same was true for Jacob/Emily (we didn't know which, and really thought we'd used all our luck in having two boys thus far). Only with the boys already running about and aware of the idea of a new baby, it was all even more exciting. Jacob was a gift, right from the beginning. Imagine a spiritual and emotional Christmas where you get everything you have always wanted and just couldn't imagine anything left to wish for... and then finding just one more present tucked behind the tree... and it's perfect! Absolutely perfect! That's us, and how we felt about Jacob for the remaining eight and a half months of his preparations.



Not a day has gone by that we haven't enjoyed him, enjoyed the boys all together, enjoyed the new dynamic of our lives. Not once have I gone to bed without sighing a thank you from the depths of my heart for all that I have, and our family seems complete now. ('Course, we thought that before, too, so we've stuck with the less stubborn "seems", "feels", "pretty much" syntax this time around.)



And now he's one! My goodness. What would this past year have been like without the three boys? I wouldn't even want to guess. Jacob has taught me to slow down, take a deep breath, yell less and nap more. In just one short year, he has reminded us all that it's the little things that count the most, so your little things (a hug in the morning, a laugh over supper, a surprise nonsense game in the middle of the afternoon) should be many and varied, and enjoyed by all.

OK, here's my issue with the OSCE (ok, issue*s*)

I'm having trouble writing this post because I have SO many arguments against this very bad, bad idea that I don't know where to begin. Here's a quick synopsis of what I'm trying to say, and then I'll flesh it out.

This organization is useless for its purported purposes, and is subject to corruption the likes of which the United States, with its ever-depressing pool of politicians on the scene, has never seen face to face.

This organization had elected to the Presidency of it's elections unit an individual who has a very specific agenda, and questionable ethics. He is one of very few US Federal judges to have ever been impeached and removed from office. (He was caught taking bribes to let racketeering criminals walk.) Yet he's the head of their commission to ensure "fair and democratic" elections. Oookkkkaayyy...

Our Constitution delineates the process by which our elections are run, and the states, the ones mentioned in the United States, are the ones responsible for the election of National offices. This is a states issue, and the power and authority to handle the debacle of the 2000 elections needs to be on the states themselves. (AND many states, particularly those in question after 2000, have taken steps to truly ensure fair AND democratic elections!) This simply isn't the place for foreign interests who are not beholden to, nor desiring to conform to OUR Constitution. But it's OUR Constitution, and these are OUR elections.

You can get a vague, undetailed primer on the organization at the organization's website here. This is a monitoring organization, of which we (the U.S.) are a part, although I'm betting most of the Citizens of the US aren't aware this organization even exists, let alone that we are a part of it, funding it ~we're paying a little over 9% of its operating budget~, and are now considered "obligated" to permit foreign interests into our country to "monitor" our elections.

You can get more information at CNN (which is tickled pink by this), the EUobserver (again, thinks its neat), and from the American Policy.org website (which states some of my biggest concerns with this issue, although not as unbiased as I would like to see- this isn't a partisan issue, this is a national sovereignty issue, but that's just my .02).

My concerns with having a European Security group overseeing our elections are many, starting with the fact that it is the states themselves, not the State Department that runs our Federal elections. Power, in America, is supposed to flow UP- FROM the people TO the States THEN on to the President. We've got it all wrong to think that the power needs to be meted out in doses that we common folk can kin.

Jeff, thank you for your comments -is this Steph's Jeff? Hi!- but I will have to disagree that it's all ok based on the ideas they're just watching and they've been here before. If anything, the fact that they've been brought in before makes me feel worse, although that was at least on a state level and the state (CA) had a say (though probably not via a referendum, I'm guessing!). The idea that they're "just watching", however, while exactly what the PR face is all about, is mostly not true. Please allow me to elaborate:

They come prepared with their own Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. We, as "member states", are bound by that membership and the organization's own by-laws state that this agreement is "based on a legally-binding statute in the form of a treaty". Their CCA is to be considered an OSCE-related entity, outside the PR realm of the OSCE itself, yet fully compliant with the OSCE. So the actual OSCE does the watching, but by our mere involvement with this organization and its monitoring, we bring ourselves under the jurisdiction of the OSCA-related CCA. Our power as States has been yanked completely out of our hands and placed in an international forum whose decisions are binding. Our Presidential elections could potentially be hung in the balance of Alcee Hastings' crew and a committee in Geneva. Furthermore, we would be "legally bound" by their decision, regardless of the "will of the people".

There are other reasons we simply do not need to have monitoring in our elections: the states, as is appropriate, made changes after the 2000 election to ensure that another situation such as that did not happen again. That's their job. They did it. But that's not good enough? Why? Let's take a look at who will be "just watching" and see if it makes any of us feel any more certain that this group can somehow "ensure" a "fair and democratic" election for us (with thanks to Ron Paul-R, Tx):

*In Bosnia, the State Department observed intimidation of prospective voters and incomplete voter registers. 107% of the possible voting-age population turned out for that election, and the OSCE gave its nod.

*In Tajikistan, President Emomali Rakhmonov and cohorts continue gaining power in elections the State Department dubbed as "neither free nor fair." In Turkmenistan, President Saparmurat Niyazov, a former Communist Party leader, has held office since 1990 and in 1999 was appointed president for life.

*In 1998, the OSCE observer team that was to monitor the cease-fire between the Serbs and Albanians was caught sending targeting information back to the US and European Union in advance of the U.S.-led attack on Serbia.

*This year, the OSCE approved the election of Mikheil Saakashvili in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia with a Saddam Hussein-like 97 percent of the vote!


Since the Florida aberrations in 2000, a nationwide election came — and went — in which a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives was chosen in undisputedly free and fair elections.

In October 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft unveiled the Voting Access and Integrity Initiative, pledging the Justice Department would prosecute any election fraud more vigorously than ever.

Voting machines have been replaced, ballots re-written. I cannot think of a single country that has bent over backwards the way the US has to remedy a situation as quickly, nor as clearly.

This is also about a step in general that we have no business making in many ways. It's about more than just watching. This is about finally getting the US to kneel before the UN and start "learning its place" in the International Community. If y'all honestly think it's about "fair and democratic elections," then... I don't know what to say.

There are probably more typos in this entry than I'd care to admit. It's ok, I'm going to call it good. There is so much more to say, but I could fill an entire Civics class with the history and information needed to get it all out there and at some point I think Blogger would seize up on me and refuse to allow more entries. So, I am going to go read a bit of the Lord of the Rings, enjoy a hot cup of coffee, then go kiss my babies and get some rest.

Be good to your little ones.
~Dy