Saturday, October 2

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

Friday, October 1

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

Thursday, September 30

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

Tuesday, September 28

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