Parakeet College

What a College Co-Ed Does in Her Spare Time

2010-09-17T17:44:00.003-04:00

Remember that whole getting to assignments and spreading out the work load thing I was talking about last post? Well, here's what Kathryn and Em are doing in their spare time on campus between classes....

Okay, cute. I appreciate them taking first day of class pictures on campus.

They both got a shot, good. Good.

Snack time? Colouring time? They are in college right??? I'm going to go with stress relief. It makes me feel better and less stressed. ;-)

Oh wait....Invader Zim is being chased by evil bubbles. Bubbles? *sigh* What can I say? Art kids!

Dual Enrollment

2010-08-20T02:23:00.000-04:00

I now have a college student...and a high school senior...all wrapped up in one. Kathryn finally got her ACT scores back and, despite being denied accommodations, she beat the minimum acceptance scores for admission to Piedmont! whoo HOO! It was really nice finding out too because Lee, the son of a college friend of ours, who is an admission counselor for Piedmont called Kathryn personally on her cell phone and congratulated her on her acceptance into the dual enrollment program. Talk about personal service!

[Dual Enrollment (a.k.a joint enrollment)- the process of a high school junior or senior attending and taking college level courses to receive credit in both institutions. Thereby getting high school credit and college credit simultaneously.]

No need say we were very happy! Kathryn will earn 12 college credits this year! After the official acceptance letter came in the mail we marked on the calendar the dates to go up for pre-registration and all the fun administrative stuff.

Notice her folder with all the pertinent paperwork etc.inside.

Luckily Emily had also been accepted months earlier because she took her SAT ages ago (We're slackers what can I say? Slackers and at the mercy of the whole accommodation scam. Bleh! :-P) Anyway.... Kathryn and Emily went to the pre-registration day and got their schedules, IDs and parking passes...

...they are full fledged co-eds now!

Shortly after all the pre-registration excitement the first day of class was upon us. Now, you must understand, Piedmont is an hour's drive away. The girl's first class is at 9:00, which means they need to hit the road around 7:45 a.m. to get up to school, parked and over to their class room. That means Kathryn has to leave our house at 7:15 a.m. to meet up with Em at 7:45 a.m., which means Kathryn has to get up around 5:45 a.m. to get showered, tame her hair and perform other cosmological feats of daring do to herself. Five. Forty-five. A. M. We are so NOT morning people this is killing us!

For years we have laughed at the poor public school kids that have to get up at this ridiculous time of the morning to get to school at an inhumane time every day...*sigh* Karma is a b!#$%. But I must say, for the first day of classes, both girls were looking quite chipper and perky.

Back when Kathryn was in private school, every year we would take her picture on the first day of school by the front door. For a few years there it was quite amusing to see the rapid growth as gauged by the constant of the front door. So here is the obligatory first day of school front door shot.

The girls met up at Em's house to follow each other to school since their licenses are still restricted to driving family members only. (They can carpool in the same car in another couple weeks.) We were just amused at their clothing choices. They did not consult each other about their choice prior to that morning. They just did it. Independently. More proof that they share the same brain! ;-)

Aaahhh, the obligatory Charlie's Angels pose, sans the third angel.

So my little co-ed has been going to classes a few weeks now. She has had to turn in a paper and a few unrelated paragraphs in English and has taken a test in Stats and actually did pretty good. She's doing okay. I'm just going nuts because the whole spreading out of the work and doing stuff as soon its assigned hasn't sunk in yet. While I'd love to let her fail for the sake of learning that concept, I can't. These classes will actually count toward her college GPA and credit so I don't want to sabotage that. I just can't figure out how to get through to her how important it is. I can make her do the work when I say, but until she internalizes it and comes to the realization on her own, it is simply a battle of wills and real learning has not occurred and wisdom has not been gained. Oh well, we have a whole year...maybe by May it will have taken hold.

Steampunkery

2010-07-11T02:23:00.005-04:00

Getting into the whole Steampunk spirit as I get ready for Dragon*Con we are inspired to redecorate the den in Steampunk chic. While I was looking for inspiration one day in Hobby Lobby I hit the mother load! Hobby Lobby has all kinds of steampunkery items to really finish out a room.

(Please excuse the photo quality - I only had my cell phone to take pictures with.)

Great faux leather and wood decor boxes.

It looked like a mini trunk!

The frames have that warm antiqued gold look and the Victorian decor. Perfect accent pieces!

More good wall decor.

A multitude of clocks to choose from!

I'm a sucker for analog Roman numeral clocks or watches.

This pedestal clock was soooo cool! The clock face spun around to a barometer on the other side - how very scientific.

More awesome Victorian-esque clocks.

A nice occasional table. The wood was a nice rich looking cherry. The drawer and doors opened for fashionable storage.

An antique map lamp.

An antique globe lamp!

Nice brassy desk lamps.

Fun shelf decor items. Globes and a mounted pair of binoculars.

Almost Deco looking desk tool set.

Small desk telescope.

Nice amber ginger jars.

The same ginger jars in ruby.

A cabinet for curiosities. Closed.

Open. Three glass shelves for display items. I actually bought this cabinet. I have almost filled it up with our various curiosities.

A matching desk organizer. I was trying to figure out how to mount 2 or 3 on top of each other.

Pretty decorative ruby glass bottles. Nice colour punches for a dark vignette.

More lovely Victorian-esque accent pieces.

I wanted to buy it all! But seeing as how we don't have the new furniture for the den yet, I couldn't justify getting all that and not know what I would need where. Just waiting to be able to go shopping.

She's On a Mission from God

2010-07-11T02:22:00.002-04:00

Kathryn is now officially an Intern for our youth group. It started out simply enough. The adult leadership of the youth group kept mentioning to Nathan, our youth minister, that we should reinstate the youth intern program just to help Nathan out with so many of the little bits of detail work he was having to deal with with the loss of our assistant youth minister. An added benefit would be to groom some peer mentors too. A month or so after this had been discussed in the adult meeting Kathryn approached Nathan and told him she wanted to help out more in youth and was there something she could do? So one thing lead to another and soon Nathan had a 'want ad' placed in the youth newsletter calling for applicants for Intern positions. Nathan was hoping to get at least 4 applications. He wound up with 6! After application essays, interviews, prayer and deliberation Nathan 'hired' all 6 kids. All 6 kids are great and will be a big asset to the program. Nathan wants to theme this 'class' of interns with the Blues Brothers. Nathan says "They are on a mission from God."

Mission from God or not, they are still learning a bit about planning, logistics and church policy. Their first official activity they did was to host a 4th of July Block Party. They decided they would roast a pig, have a slip and slide and have other games to play. It went off pretty good but the adults had to keep reminding the kids that the party was their gig and they were the 'hosts'. The kids were having a hard time not being a youth member and stepping up to being a leader. But for a first shot they did good.

Here is Peyton, Kathryn and Emily.
Peyton and Kathryn were helping serve the BBQ dinner and Emily was figuring out the video camera to get some footage.

This is Adam and Nick...the token boy interns. Yes, they are as goofy as they look. Absolute nutty, sweethearts, but good guys.

This is Amelia, she was manning the dessert table during the BBQ dinner. She's the keeper of the keys. The Interns have one of the church offices to call their own and Amelia holds the one and only set of keys to get into the church and the office. She will pass them off if some needs to get in the office, but the kids determined Amelia is the one they can trust to keep up with them!

I'm just so proud of Kathryn. She stepped up to put herself out there to be a servant and to me, that is huge. Am I having to remind her of meetings and intern obligations? Definitely. But she takes care of what needs to be done and I believe with enough practice and training, she'll be handling the commitments on her own by this time next year. Leadership does not happen over night but over a long period of time. Given enough time, leadership can be trained into someone. I just hope Kathryn ultimately realizes what a great honour and privilege this is and that she will get the most from the experience.

Shuffle Off to Buffalo

2010-07-05T23:21:00.002-04:00

Kathryn went on her annual mission trip to Buffalo, NY again. She left early on a June morning with about 12 other folks heading up there.

Loading up the bus with all the luggage and equipment they will need.

Every year our church sends a couple of mission teams to Seneca Street UMC to help out up there and to show the kids that there are people they can count on that will not desert them and that love them.

Duluth UMC Mission Team 2010

Loaded up and ready to roll!!

Going.

Going.

Gone.

So many of the kids that Seneca Street ministers to are from broken homes where the father is in jail and the mothers are, for the most part, strung out on dope or alcohol. The church, as part of their mission, feeds these kids breakfast lunch and in some cases dinner. The church is a safe place to come where the kids can get help with their school work or just life in general. When our youth go up there, they put on a Vacation Bible School. This year was very exciting. We had 120 pre-registered kids for VBS.

The first year I don't know that we had any kids pre-registered for VBS. Most of the kids or families had a wait and see attitude. That first year there were about 30 kids that attended VBS. The next year there were pre-registered kids and about 50 showed up. As the years went on the numbers increased. Kathryn tells me that the first year was very hard. The kids were street tough and very closed to outsiders coming in wanting to be friends with them only for the outsiders to leave and never be seen again. That was the paradigm these kids were used to. That first year it took nearly the whole week but our kids finally got through to those kids by the end of the week and the Buffalo kids actually warmed up and opened up to out kids. The big test came when they were leaving. The Buffalo kids asked, "Are you coming back?" When our kids answered, "Yes!" The Buffalo kids wanted to know if they meant it. So when we showed up the next year, as promised, that was huge to those kids. So many of those kids, so hungry for acceptance, affection and affirmation were running up top our kids asking if they remembered them. I am happy to say our kids did remember those precious faces.

Every year it gets better up there. The church is really making a difference in the community and our kids can see lives being changed in the kids up there. This year Kathryn told me there were now youth interns at the Seneca Street church, which is amazing! They are moving in the right direction but they are still figuring out the whole servant heart thing. I think one of the most thought provoking moments the whole week was when at one point our kids were doing some work around the church.; painting, repairing, etc. Some of the youth interns from Seneca Street walked by our guys and were making fun of them saying stuff like, "Haha! You have to work on your vacation!" "You have chores to do! Do your chores!" That sort of stuff. But our kids just looking at them amazed and said, "We want to do this. This is why we came here" Then the SSUMC kids asked, "How much are you paid to come here?" When our kids replied, "Nothing. We pay for the privilege to come up and serve." Kathryn said their jaws dropped in utter disbelief. The SSUMC kids asked how much we pay to come up there and our guys told them, "$250" That just blew those SSUMC kids away. Kathryn said they just kind of went on off after that but you could see the little wheels turning in their heads.

I sincerely hope that the presence of our kids up there and the other churches that go up to help touch those lives in a way we may never know or understand but that it will help them change their family tree and to seek a better way than what they have always known. We can only follow Christ's example and go and serve. What fruits we yield may take a while to ripen but hopefully we will help yield good and abundant fruit.

Mostly Steampunk Insipration

2010-06-30T00:25:00.003-04:00

Not much has been going on lately...

We went to see Toy Story 3 in IMAX 3D for the mid-night premier. A couple of Kathryn's friends from chuch joined us at the theater.

It was a tight night for Kathryn and I because that was also the night we had tickets to see Little House on the Prairie the Musical at The Fox. That was the first show in the current theater season we have tickets to. So, that night we drove downtown, saw the play, left before curtain call, and then hot footed it back up to The Mall of Georgia where TS3 was playing. We cut it close, but not too bad. Butch was there and had already found Lauren and Michael and got our tickets. They were hanging out waiting for us to get there. I was, but wasn't, surprised at the crowd at the theater. The average age of the viewer was probably 18-21. Yes, it was a midnight show, but still, I expected more kids. The theater was nearly sold out.

This was after the movie and most people were gone.

The movie was fantastic! The cliché, "I laughed, I cried, I cheered for more." is quite apropos here. Pixar did not disappoint, the story could have fallen flat but it didn't and the writing and story twists were great.

Swim season is still going on. Kathryn will miss 2 meets and about 3 weeks of practice...her last meet showed the lack of practice and next week's meet will too.

Kathryn is currently in Buffalo, NY on a mission trip to Senaca Street UMC. The youth have been going up there for several years now conducting VBS and service projects and, in general, just being there for some hurting kids that could use some friends. Over the years the Buffalo kids have come to trust our kids and really look forward to our week up there. If we do nothing else, I hope we show those kids that someone cares and that God cares about and loves them.

We continue to look for inspiration for our family room and all things steampunk for it. A couple weekends ago Butch and I went to IKEA to see what they had and get some ideas for tv units. We saw quite a few choices and made some notes.

This is the system we really liked, but this particular configuration won't fit the wall it will go on - too wide.

Three sections across like this might work, but I'd still like more storage and I do like the back wall section like the previous set up.

This configuration is pretty spartan but it has the back wall piece. We would add another side section, probably a vertical storage cabinet...

...sort of like this, but not this product line. The rounded lines to this style are too modern and would be too hard to integrate as steampunk. The others have a nice Bauhaus-ish, industrial look that would work in a steampunk theme especailly if I went with the dark brown finish. I'll have to soften the edges with textiles and more organic elements but it could work...

After IKEA we went to another store, The Dump. I had read about The Dump and wanted to see what it was all about. It is only open on weekends and it is high end furniture that is last season, over stock or some other condition to land it at The Dump. Furntiture can be up to 70% off regualr retail there. It was pretty amazing. As much as I liked the stuff at IKEA I found some awesome pieces at The Dump! The only problem is, what is there today, may not be there tomorrow. They only have what is on the floor. No overstock inventory. No warehouse. Which is too bad. I saw a set I loved that would be steampunk perfect! But we aren't ready to buy yet. :-(

This is the small curio cabinet sort of thing in the set I loved.

Mathcing end tables. Not crazy about the red tops, but it is something I could work with or live with...

Love the details on these; contrasting wood, rivets, natural oiled finish.

The tv console...check out the riveted metal top!! Squee!

Metal top - extreme close up. Just had to!

Sweet leather club chair...

..the "rivets" are shotgun shells!! How League of Extraordinary Gentlemen can you get?

Love, love, love this side table. Leather top, spindle legs, brass tacks...

...again, had to do the extreme close up.

These were a neat set of tables of various size. If I got them I'd darken up the wood a bit, but still, they are cool. Very warehouse, water front, industrial looking. I even like the candle hurricane on top.

Details from the piece. Check out those cool, brass, caster wheels!

Another line of a similar style. I loved the rivet details and unfinished wood.

Cabinet of curiosities! Very rough, barnwood like finish. I adore the brass finger pull handles.

Another cabinet of curiosities that I would LOVE to have! It is a true antique from India. That is Hindi handwritten on each drawer in gold paint below beautiful scallop shell brass finger pulls. But what was so absolutely amazing about this piece is, you could tell it had been a storage chest for spices/herbs. I opend one drawer and got a strong wiff of sandalwood. I thought the wood of the drawer was sandalwood, but when we opened other drawers and we got distinctly different aromas from each drawer. It. Was. So. Cool! I want that chest so bad! I doubt it will be there when we can start purchasing pieces.

Some steamy timepieces. The larger ones measure 4 feet across easily. Very large!

More of the large and modest sized timepieces...or should I say, 'chronometers'?

Another antique I really liked. It looks rather Persian to me. It would make a beautiful wall hanging with some soft light behind it.

This is a set of more 'polished' end tables. I really liked these too. They still had a steamy feel to them but were a little more sophisticated.

So the good news is, finding steampunk furnishings won't be as hard as I feared, it is becoming so much more mainstream. The bad news is, all these cool items at The Dump will be gone most likely when we go to purchase. The good news is, I shouldn't have too much trouble finding a suitable substitute.

I found some cool steampunk accessories today at another store. I took pictures. I'll post them later. I'm really getting itchy to start pulling the room together! Too bad I have to wait until our finances allow. Hopefully it won't be too much longer. Guess I ought to start drawing up plans. At least I'll feel like I'm doing something! ;-)

Stress 101

2010-06-17T00:05:00.002-04:00

Butch got a call two days ago at work. It was the Baymont Inn in downtown Atlanta. The very Baymont Inn we had made and pre-paid the reservations at for Dragon*Con coming up in a couple months. They were givng us courtesy call to let us know that they would be closing their doors in August and not available to lodge us in Septmeber!

[cue screeching, record scrathing noise here] What?!?!?

[Begin hyperventalation now] What do you mean closing? We have reservations! All the other hotels are booked up to their eyeballs! What are we supposed to do???

[monotone hotel minion voice] We are sorry. We will refund your money. *click*

No! No. No no no nononononononooooo!

[frantic dialing home] I just got this call.....

[groan heard from home to office without the benefit of a telephone] What are we going to do???

See, many of you have no idea how big a deal Dragon*Con is. It is huge. Titanic. Gargantuian. There is ComicCon in San Diego and there is Dragon*Con in Atlanta. These are two of the biggest Sci-Fi Cons in the country. Dragon*Con requires 4 hotels to house all the programming in and then that is getting to be a bit cramped. The official un-official count has been at 35,000 attendees the last couple years. But I believe those numbers to be on the low side. I'd hazard a guess closer to 40,000. With that many people coming in, most from out of town, the hotel space goes immediately and is at a premium. Last year, as people were checking out, they were making their reservations for the next year. We dragged our feet and waited a couple months - stupid! ALL host hotels were sold out of 2010 rooms in days of closing the 2009 Con. We got lucky and found an overflow hotel room and grabbed it. Now, weeks before the Con we are told sorry no room???

So I received the news and did what anyone would do; I posted a panic status on FaceBook! Luckily, one of my friends said they thought they had an extra reservation and we could have it. Sadly, that turned out to be untrue. She thought she had 2 reservations but the hotel said, nope, only one. I then found out about a LiveJournal community that is nothing but room reservation swaps and roommate match ups for Dragon*Con. I posted to that and got a hit right away from one girl who had double booked. (And people wonder why the Con hotels fill up so quick?) In between coordinating with this potential room source I learned that Con rooms were being canceled and to call the hotels directly. So cue me dialing all the host hotels.

[One ringy-dingy] Big Snobby Hotel, how my I abuse you today?

[ahem]Yes I was told to call to see about availability of rooms for....

[snotty abusive voice] Let me connect you to reservations. *click*

Oooookaaay...

Fianlly, I called the last one
[One ring-a-ding-ding-diddy-oh!]Thanks for calling major hotel #4

[quickly and breathlessly] Yes, I was told to call and speak to you directly about availability of rooms for Dragon*Con, to see if any reservations had been turned in.

[patronizing voice] Yes, reservations have been turned in but we aren't releasing them yet.

[timid broken voice] Wh-what does that mean... exactly?

[hrumph]It means. We. Aren't. Releasing them.

[close to tears]Will you? Soon? [then in a quick rush]See we were at the Baymont and you may or may not know, but they are closing August and we lost our reservations because they are closing and now we need to get rooms and I...I... help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!

[oily sinister voice]Oh reeaaalllly? Closing you say? I have to let my mana... oop, I mean the person who needs to know this, know about thissss. [sickly sweet voice]I think I misspoke earlier, I didn't look. Oh! It seems we do have some rooms available at the Con rate for those days. Let me look them up....

...and that ladies and gentlemen is why my blood pressure has resembled a class 5 roller coaster these past two days. I am happy to say I am a much calmer, happier person tonight knowing I have my Dragon*Con reservations once again secured. I need a drink....

R.I.P.

2010-06-16T10:57:00.005-04:00

I received this via e-mail today....I felt it worthy of passing along. Let's give a moment of silence for the dearly departed.
___________________________________________
An Obituary printed in the London Times- Interesting and sadly rather true.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

2010-06-14T16:27:00.000-04:00

*sniff* *sniff* Smell that? It's change. It's brewing up and will be blowing in on us soon.

Now, don't get all panicky it's nothing horrendous or earth shattering but it is change none the less - for me. It looks like our TV and amplifier are about to go to the big appliance pile in the sky - or Freecycle. The other day I came in and needed a fix. TV is our fix, our crack, we are hopelessly addicted to it. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many good sci-fi shows and Discovery Channel and History Channel and Food Network (mmmmm food p*rn) and Travel Channel and, well you get the point. TV is bad and we are hooked. I keep telling myself the stuff we watch is educational (We do learn things, really. Did you know that "cuss like a sailor" is a term that sprang from a phenomenon that occurs to fishermen exposed to extreme cold temperatures in the Bearing Sea? It's true! I learned it on Deadliest Catch. We also learned that one can ingest small amounts of poo repeatedly over long amounts of time and not get sick. Mike Rowe has proven this over and over again on Dirty Jobs. We also have learned that can can blow up just about anything with the right amount of explosives - even if you do have to bring in the feds to be able to do so. Mythbusters has proven it over and over.) So anyway back to my tale of woe...I turned on the TV and got a lovely picture but no sound.

Hmmmmmmm? Mute on? No.

Tape Monitor on? No.

Sound up? Yes.

Hmmmmmmmm.... well as with all things electronic, when in doubt reboot. So I did, and huzzah! Sound. Sort of. Static-y distorted sound.

Hmmmmmm....lemme see. Butch isn't home I've tried everything I can think of....reboot again!

Ahhh, sound, nice normal sound. Thus I was able to watch what I wanted. Later that night, Butch wanted to watch something. He turned on the TV and silence. So he played the boot, reboot game until he had sound.

Now unfortunately this little game has gone on every time we want to watch TV and sadly the last time I had to give up because, despite a ridiculous number of reboots, I never achieved sound.

Now we had been talking about getting a new AV system for the house, we are well over due. The TV is older than Kathryn for cryin' out loud...it *is* colour - but just barely. It looks like our hand will be forced and we will have to get the new system sooner than we had anticipated. (I doubt Dave considers this an emergency.) But getting a new AV system will require a second look at our family room furniture. What we have won't accommodate the new flat screen TVs nicely. Plus, if we get a new entertainment unit we could really stand to get new seating and the flooring is pathetic in the family room....so yeah, it looks like we will be having a major make over pretty soon.

While contemplating the new look for the family room I was researching decor online and oh, be still my heart, I found the most wonderful blog of ideas! The Steampunk Home! What a treasure trove of ideas! After looking at that and just thinking of projects left unfinished in the house I might just have to redo the master bath in 'Alternate Victorian' too!

Here's an interesting vignette in the Steampunk style. Love the leather, rich wood and low light esthetic.

Here's another little vignette I liked:

The idea if cabinets of curiosities really appeals to me. I've always been such a collector of stuff.

But this....this is what I'd redo our bathroom floor in!

Pennies!!! This floor is from the The Standard Grill in NYC. It is absolutely amazing! The cool part is, this is a lot cheaper than actual tile. I found where another person did this in their bathroom and it only cost them $37 in pennies to cover the floor. Much better than ceramic or glass tile!

I could just gush on and on, but for now, I'll let you look at The Steampunk Home and come to understand why I love it so. Time to start drawing up plans and researching suppliers.

Oh, and to those who might have read EPBOT - I did not steal the Steampunk idea from Jen! We just have similar tastes.

Blogging About Blogs?

2010-06-12T23:56:00.003-04:00

I'm still struggling with finding my muse for this blog. It is nothing more than a peek into our life. I'm glad to have this record of the past several years, it has captured the big moments in our lives and mundane that will be remembered more vividly in years to come because I have a record of it. I guess, in my mind, I'm trying to please too many people and I'm not doing this for me but for an undefined unknown (for the most part) audience. Soooooo to my ~~many~~ few readers I appreciate your loyalty....... or is it just a morbid sense of voyeristic curiosity? Either way, I appreciate your presence. That said, I must enlighten you to another blog to visit!

I think I meant to, but failed to, blog about Kathryn, Emily and I going down to Buckhead at the end of last year and meeting Jen and John of Cake Wrecks fame. Now Emily is not a slacker and she actually made a post about it. Even better, we actually made it on to Cake Wrecks web site itself - well at least a picture of Em and Kathryn did....5th picture down, on the right, behind the contest winners. In the blue and white shirt and hat and scarf. Anyhoo, while at said event last year I learned of the depth and breadth of Jen and John's geekiness (they attend Dragon*Con for cryin' out loud!! :-D) So, my love of all things Wrecky grew that night because of J&J's geeky coolness. Well today, while perusing the Cake Wreck's site I followed a link to another blog and lo and behold, it is Jen's personal, non cake blog! I fell in love with it. So much geeky goodness on it and all of Jen's personality. If you like Cake Wreck's or just good, girlie, geekiness you must visit Jen's blog, EPBOT.

©EPBOT 2010

Just go, enjoy. You can thank me later.

Last one I Promise

2010-06-09T00:08:00.004-04:00

..until next trip! :-)

Just a few remaining pictures from our trip I wanted to share. These are from our days at Hollywood Studios (or as it will forever be know to us as, MGM), Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom and just around.

This is the only picture I took of the grounds at the Poly and it is only the sign to the building we stayed in.

*sigh* such a lovely sight. A view of the Poly from the Water Taxi from the Magic Kingdom to our hotel. I loved all the transportation so convenient to our room!

Waiting in the train at the Main Gate station.

This was an adorable mama and her babies at Magic Kingdom. She kept her babies close to her but she was proudly parading them around, showing them off. We kept watching them all day as we passed this same area. Mom would herd the kids off to one area and receive the "Ooos" and "Aaahhs" from the guests, then she'd lead them off to another section to receive more compliments from other guests. The babies were just as cute as can be and were definitely NOT human shy. I was able to stick my hands down by them and was able to actually pet one of them and (s)he didn't flinch or run away.

Here's mom showing off her brood in another location later in the day. She always had an "awwww"-dience!

Our picture from Splash Mountain. I'm still hoping WDW will get their ride photos on the PhotoPass system! I know they still have some contractual deal with Kodak and it will be a while, if ever, for them to covert over....although Disneland is already hook up for PhotoPass ride photos. *hrumph*

I was very happy to see Tiana and Prince Naveen greeting guests at the Magic Kingdom. Not the most complimentary photo of either but I was zooooooomed way in and getting the best I could.

We are on the Steamboat. I finally got to ride it. I don't think in all the times I have ever been to WDW I have ever ridden the steamboat.

A decent shot of the two of us in front of the castle. We have our "Celebrating our Anniversary" buttons on. Everywhere we went, cast members kept telling us Happy Anniversary! It got to be comical as folks who I think were cast members, but in the park as guests, greeted us with anniversary wishes too.

Isn't the castle lit up at night just beautiful?

We had pretty good spots to see the Wishes fireworks show.

Having fun on the Dinosaurs ride at Animal Kingdom.

The view from the top of Everest.

Oh snap!!!

I liked this window display from one of the shops at MGM. It was such a cool Alice theme.

I love the architectural style of MGM. I love the 40's-50's era Hollywood and the style from then. I also love the light at twilight at MGM because you can just see the glow of the neon and it just makes a darn cool picture. These are just a few detail shots from around MGM that I took that I like.

Tower of Terror at night = awesome!

Two hidden Mickey's at MouseGear in Epcot.

Another hidden Mickey (or is it a blatant Mickey?) in Morocco.

Had to take the photo of the Yellow Submarine! ;-)

Just for Kathryn, the Beatles bling cart!

Dinner one night was atop the Contemporary Hotel at the California Grill. Another amazing night of culinary delights.

My citrus lobster salad. Oh my YUM!

*blink* *blink* *blink* *blink* I'm signaling a left turn in the thought train.....

On the subject of really nice, upscale, fancy restaurants can I just say that I was appalled at how parents allowed their children to behave at them? Oh. My. Gosh. There was one table by us at California Grill where the kids were yelling and bickering, running around the table, standing in the chairs (almost understandable for a 2 year old, certainly not for a what looked to be 9-10 year old!), back talking to the parents, disobeying them left and right. The whole time this was going on the parents did nor said nothing to stop the behaviour. Every once in a while the dad bellowed at the kids, they just looked at him like, "Yeah, right! What EV-er!" and went right back to their horrendous behaviour. Never once did anyone at the table stand up, take those kids by the arm, remove them from the room and go 'visit the restroom'. This is just one example of behaviour like this. We saw the same sort of thing the whole time we were there. It was despicable! To be honest it really detracted from our enjoyment of those moments. I was sorely tempted to have our waiter present our bill to that family to pay for our meal since they ruined it for us! The disregard for one's fellow man, the disrespect for the other patrons around is really sad to see. Judging from how these parents acted I doubt they saw anything wrong in how their spawn were acting. At the very least they could have had the courtesy to be embarrased by it.

Now before you paint me as an unfeeling, uncaring, ogre; let me say I understand the whole being on vacation, the kids schedules being out of whack, dealing with being in a strange setting, being hopped up on sugar and excitement. I get it, I really do. But that is no excuse for such poor behaviour. Today's parents don't parent and have abdicated all authority to the kids, and they are subsequently little monsters. Me? If Kathryn had even flinched in the direction of acting like one of these demons did we would have had her thinking twice. I refuse to allow the lunatics to run aslyum and I have enough respect for my fellow vacationer to not allow my child to disturb them or their vacation. I did not pay to suffer at the antics of an ill behaved child and I certainly wouldn't expect you to suffer from my ill mannered child. I would stop it. Why can't they?

*ahem* Sorry. Stepping off my soapbox now.... That is just a huge pet peeve of mine and the way society is going these days I don't see things getting any better and I just had to vent....sorry you were in the blast radius.

Anyway, that wraps up our little voyeristic look at our vacation to WDW. Next up, back to the reality of life.

Disney Anniversary Dinner Post

2010-06-07T23:51:00.007-04:00

I couldn't talk about our trip to Disney if I did not talk about, or at least show you, the unbelievably, decadent, luscious, delicious, sumptuous, expen$ive meal we had there. Our blow out, 20th Aniversary dinner. It was our meal at Queen Victoria's Room. This is that nice little private dining room inside Victoria and Albert's in The Grand Floridian. This little corner of heaven seats only 8 guests a night and lavishes attention you as much or as little as you want. We had a 10 course (technically 11 course) meal. We chose to spring for the wine pairing with the meal - good choice! We were treated to foods, tastes and combinations of food and wine we never would have thought about, much less tried. On the "this is what living is about" scale, this was a 10.

This was our 'palate awakening' course or more correctly named; Amuse-Bouche. French meaning to amuse the mouth. These are small bite size appetizers served by the chef's choice. These are never ordered by the patron but simply served to the patron, for free, at the chef's discretion and selection.
Our choices were L-R back:
Popcorn encrusted Gulf shrimp
Crispy Buffalo Mozzarella
Soft poached Quail Egg with Galilee Caviar
In front:
Smoked salmon Panna Cotta with Salmon Caviar
paired with: Ruinart Blac de Blancs Brut - Reims

Our salad course:
Caviar Tin of Alaskan King Crab with DeSietra Caviar and Petite Herbs
Not noted specifically but worthy of mention was the hand prepared croutons at the top left of the picture with the tongs. These were specifically seasoned and prepared tableside with our choice of oil, salt and herbs. They were divine!
paired with:
Michel Redde Sancerre "Les Tuilieres" - Loire 2007

Butch finishing the last bite of his salad. I could have had a plate full of that stuff!

Course 3:
Cold "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lamb with Fiji Apple and Curry Dressing.
paired with:
Valwiger Herrenberg Riesling Auslee, Mosel 2003

The 'cold smoked' was dry ice that was under our plate and was 'activated' with water at the moment of serving it. You can almost see the wispy smoke curling up at the 3:00- 4:00 position on the plate. The yellow items between the lamb bites were pickled apples - yum!

This is Israel Perez the Maitre d'Hotel. He was preparing our next course.
Course 4:
King Salmon Cooked Tableside on a heated Pink Himalayan Salt Rock
Served with wasabi puree - pure wasabi root grated and served on sharkskin boards

The "yak salt" better known as Himalayan salt is salt mined in the Himalayas and brought down on yaks.

You can see the slabs of salt under the pretty pink salmon. The salt had been heated to 500* and the residual heat cooked the salmon to perfection.

Israel putting the finishing garnish and touch on the course.

Voila! a plate full of YUM!

paired with:
Kanbara "Bride of the Fox" Gohyakumangoku Junami Ginjo, Nigata
Polished rice sake. Once of the few sakes that can be drunk cold, the polishing of the rice makes a smoother sake. (This was the one pairing glass I could not finish, it was smooth, but strong!)

Course 5:
Day Boat Scallop with a Trio of Cauliflower
The 3 white dollops at the top of the plate are cauliflower purees with tiny bits of assorted cauliflowers as garnish. Under the scallops is a lettuce puree....it was... unique. The scallops were cooked to perfection, tender, delicious.

paired with:
Hyde Vineyard "HDV" Chardonnay, Nappa Valley 2007

Course 6:
Minnesota Elk Tenderloin with Braised Red Cabbage Tart
The tart is to the left and tasted like a mince meat tart. The middle plate offering is a spiced apple puree and obviously the elk is to the right. The elk was tender and flavorful, not gamey - some where between beef and lamb.

paired with:
Familia Schroeder "S" Pinot Noir/Malbec, Pantagonia 2004

Course 7:
Australian Marble Score #9 Wagyu Beef Tenderloin with Oxtail Jus

Think Kobe Beef and you have exactly what this beef tenderloin was. The main difference, this came from Australia as opposed to Japan. The Oxtail Jus took 7 days to prepare. It is a reduction from oxtails, continuously cooked and reduced for 7 days. The combination of the two was just amazing, a symphony in your mouth. I regret I forgot what the puree was with the miniature vegetables on it, but it was wonderful with the beef.

paired with:
Torres "Perpetual Salmos" Priorat 2005

One of our fabulous servers, Nancy. She is preparing our
Course 8:
Selection of Cheeses from the Spaulted Maple Tray

paired with:
Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2003

This was a heady selection of cheeses runny to firm. These were accompanied by a selection of candied or pickled fruits, a chutney of sorts, a honey, a fruit bread and some nuts. To be honest a couple of the cheeses were too strong, I do not like blue cheeses. But many were delicate and quite delightful paired with the sweet fruits and other offerings. The port was actually a very nice complement to this course.

Course 9:
Green Apple Mousse with Hazelnut Cookies

That is apples and cranberries between the mousse and cookies. The spikey looking items at the top of the plate are thrown sugar hazelnuts. These candies, made for us that night, were about 8" long with the entire tail. The hazelnut cookies were more meraguine like than cookie like, they were so light and delicate. The Asti was an interesting pairing that went very nice with the mousse.

paired with:
Paolo Saracco Moscato D'Asti, Piedmont 2007

Course 10:
Tanzanie Chocolate Mousse and White Chocolate Gelato

The mousse is the cone on the left of the plate and is topped with 24k gold leaf (totally edible). It was garnished with strawberries and the tear drop shaped piece behind it was made from dark chocolate. The gelato was served on a bed of dark chocolate 'eyelashes' with raspberries. Again, I must confess, I could not finish this course. The chocolates were all dark, very dark. The gelato was nice, not so bitter. The 'eyelashes' were a very dark chocolate. They balanced ok with the gelato

paired with:
no pairing

Course 11:
"Celebes" Coffee, Tea and Friandises

This coffee pot was an interesting item. It was very much like a percolator of old and it perked the coffee right at our table. Me, not being much of a coffee drinker, didn't get the full effect of the coffee, but I was assured it was a gourmet coffee.

Pre- perked above. Perked and ready to serve below.

I do not have a picture of the Friandises (a variety of small sweets, preserved fruits, etc. served as desserts) but they were delicious. They were hand-made chocolates and candies and a fruit/nut loaf of bread /made fresh that day. We were so stuffed by the coffee course we couldn't eat them so our servers packed them up and sent them home with us. They were good a couple days later.

This meal was a huge treat and absolutely, totally worth the money. Butch was kind of grumbling about the price of the meal and then the price of the wine parings on top of it all in the beginning, but before we were half way through the meal he was totally convinced. I am so glad we did this. It might be a once in a lifetime thing, but at least we can say we did it.

Butch and I under the watchful gaze of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Butch and I with our fabulous staff, Terry on the left, Nancy in the middle and Israel on the right.

All the wait staff are trained sommeliers and they know their stuff. Any question we had about anything we ate or drank that night could be answered, and quite intelligently, by whomever was serving us. This was a night of experiences, experiences of taste, smell, texture and knowledge. We asked many questions all night long and we were taught many things by our servers. At one point we were actually apologizing to Israel about being so inquisitive and he told us that it made their jobs so much more enjoyable when the patrons participated in the experience and enjoyed it like we were. So we kept asking questions and learning what we could and enjoying it all so very much. All I can say is, if you EVER have the chance or opportunity to eat at Queen Victoria's Room do so! You will not regret it.

The finishing touch, the rose I was given as we left. They think of everything.

A long-stemmed red rose as a parting gift to me from Queen Victoria's Room.

Disney Another Day

2010-05-31T23:54:00.003-04:00

I really enjoyed our accommodations at Disney this time. We stayed at the Polynesian hotel with a lagoon view room. Oh, wow. That was fabulous. The rooms are larger than the usual rooms in the budget or moderate resorts and the amenities were nicer too. But what did it for me was the view.

We just walked out our room and could look right over and see the castle. It' is blocked in this view by the door frame (2nd from left). But we could wake up and the first thing we would see is the castle and at night, even hours after the park closed, we could see the castle all lit up.

We had breakfast out there one morning. Mickey waffles on the veranda looking at the castle, pretty darn sweet!

We had a towel Mickey greet us when we got to the room our first day.

.
Nice big room. That couch could pull out to a double sleeper.

Another view of the room. I loved the closet section there at the top of the picture. Two closets flanking a fridge and 'bar' area.

The two beds opposite the couch and desk area.

Our very cool bathroom. We had tiki gods on the wall as lamp sconces. Love how the theme was out there but not too tacky.

We didn't take a bunch of pictures in the main part of the hotel. I guess we should have, we were just too busy taking it all in.

Top 5 things I loved about the Polynesian
5. It is one of the original resorts - it has history.
4. Its location - very convenient.
3. You can get a Dole whip in Capt. Hooks snack shop
2. It has a monorail station right in the hotel (how cool is that??)
1. I got to experience a dream resort for the first time with Butch.

We have plans for another splurge trip in several years to come. I'd love to stay at the Grand Floridian - balcony room, lagoon view! :-)

I'm a failure as a mom

2010-05-27T23:47:00.001-04:00

Today my child started taking Concerta. She isn't really ADD but the doc knew no other way to 'label' her. He thought the ADD meds would help. She has some major short term memory wonki-ness (yes, that is a perfectly valid medical term). Maybe this will help her on her college board tests...becasue the good Lord knows that the test boards don't want her to succeed (her accommodation request for extend time was denied) Apparently she isn't disabled enough to warrant help. *sigh* So now I fall into the drug trap to help my kid.

We're giving it 6-9 months to see if it make a difference.

Hmmmmm, let's see..where was I?

2010-05-26T23:30:00.003-04:00

Oh, yes! About to go to Disney World for our 20th anniversary trip. :-)

We went and had a fabulous time! I love going to WDW with just Butch. We just chillax and take our time and do whatever the heck strikes our fancy. Which, if you can believe it meant that while in Epcot this time, we didn't ride one ride. Zip, zilch, nada. We did however wander aimlessly looking at all the lovely flower and topiary displays and just enjoying, soaking it all in.

Wait...I take that back, I did ride something.... the Segways!

There is a spot in Innoventions West where you can learn to ride a Segway for free. It was fun, all 60 seconds of it. *sigh* guess I'll have to spring for the Segway tour next time!

I think the thing that just spun my propeller the most the day we were in Epcot was the monorail...one of the cars was totally wrapped in an ad for the new Tron Legacy movie coming out in December! I don't know why but that just totally made my day!

Blue bike on the left....

Yellow bike on the right...racing each other!

The name down each side of the train.

This is a good shot of the majority of the train pulling into the station. I just thought it was the neatest thing. The monorail operators thought is was a bad idea and didn't like them messing with 'tradition'. :-) Gotta love loyal cast members! (FYI trivia - Pink monorail was the one co-opted for this mission.)

Other fun I had at Epcot was the wildlife spotting.

Saw this beauty in the butterfly house.

...as well as it's younger cousin.

This dude was hanging out in England sunning himself.

Another English beauty was this adorable little fellow nibbling on some Impatiens.

A few other things I enjoyed looking at was the faierie houses and habitats.

This was kind of the backdrop to the faierie display

I liked it since it was rather steam punk looking.

I liked this house the best because it had a distinct steam punk feel to it too.

Clever use of a tea pot.

Very naturalistic looking...very English Fairie feeling.

So that was pretty much our day at Epcot, well, except for our delicious lunch at Le Cellier and the lovely dessert plate they brought out for us!

I love, love, love my travel agent, Jan. She takes care of the small details that make a trip to WDW 'magical'. Thanks Jan! Oh, if you're curious, that is maple creme brulee on the left and mojito sorbet on the right, both were delish!

I post more about our trip in an

20 Years....wow.

2010-05-03T22:44:00.007-04:00

Butch and I have been married 20 years now. Our actual anniversary was in March but it was a low-key celebration because Butch surprised me on Valentine's day with a surprise, dream vacation to Walt Disney World. So we allowed as how the trip could be Valentine's and anniversary gift all rolled up into one. I'm so excited. We will be staying at the Polynesian Hotel. I have wanted to stay there ever since my first trip to Disney World in 1973. I vaguely remember eating dinner there but not staying as a guest. I was entranced by the decor...I'll finally get my wish. We often get naysayers demeaning our choice to stay at Walt Disney World. We are told it is a kiddie park, there is nothing for adults there. We say, "You never looked very hard did you?" While we are there we will enjoy a gourmet meal I have been looking forward to for moths. We will dine in the new Queen Victoria's Room at the Grand Floridian.

It is part of the Victoria and Albert's restaurant. My first choice for our blow-out-special dinner was Chef's Side Table at V&A's but then I saw the Queen Victoria Room....I was captivated and decided that was the place. Who could NOT want to enjoy,

"– an elegant, intimate setting behind closed doors where French gueridon service – tableside finishes for diners’ pleasure and entertainment – is making a comeback. With just four tables and rich décor inspired by Old World dining rooms of London and Paris, the tone is set for a luxurious, leisurely evening. The sublime experience includes up to ten courses."

On top of the magnificent dining experiences we are looking forward to, I am eagerly anticipating a day of pampering at the spa at the Grand Floridian. I have lined up an Anti-Stress Calming Facial, 110 minute Olive & Salt Exfoliation/Massage with an added Reflexology Massage and Spa French Pedicure. Ahhhhhh, I can feel the stress ooozing away as I think about it! While I am being pampered at the spa, Butch will be have a fun guy's time bass fishing the waterways of the resort.

Besides the exquisite dining, day of fishing and pampering the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival will be going on too.

That is a beautiful display of horticulture at it's best. Disney creates themed gardens, practical and whimsical and installs them all over Epcot. It is a sensory sight to behold. Between the colours, sights, and smells it is just a pleasing experience. We went to the Flower & Garden Festival a couple of years ago and I was so inspired to go home and transform our yard. Unfortunately, I was scheduled for some major surgery a few days after we returned from the trip so my summer was pretty well shot. No heavy yard work for me. I hope to pickup inspiration this year for the yard. The Fragrance Garden intrigues me...I want to see and smell that.

But this just gives you naysayers some insight into the other side of Disney. It also goes to prove that even after 20 years we are still young at heart! I'm amazed at how fast these 20 years have gone. I guess time does fly when you are having fun!

We Found One!!!

2010-05-01T23:42:00.003-04:00

Huzzah! We found a car today.

I have put more miles under my butt today than I'd care to think about. Between drivng down to the airport for a homeschool conference this morning and then driving around to look at Craig's List cars I have covered the greater geographical regions of Metro Atlanta - South, Northeast and Northwest. But, finally, I am happy to say, Kathryn now has her her own car; a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire. We finally found it way up and over in Acworth. For those you you unfamiliar with the basic geographic layout of Atlanta, let me illustrate.

1 = where we live
2 = airport convention center (48 miles from #1 to #2 just to get an idea of scale)
3 = first car appointment and various car lots
4 = final car appointment

So order of events today...
1 -> 2
2 -> 1
1 -> 3
3 -> 1
1 ->4
4 -> 1

We looked at a couple other cars or lotstoday but either their CarFax turned us off or the car just wasn't the best or the price was prohibitive. Luckily the guy that sold us this one was home and available for us to come by and see the car. The funny part is, we went to see a Ford Escort but it wasn't the car for us. So this guy tells us he has a Sunfire for the same price. It turns out this guy is a car dealer that sells out of his home! He had about 5 cars he was actively selling from his house and his phone was constantly ringing and he had 3 customers while we were there. It was a good thing I guess. He had more than one option for us to look at when we turned down the Escort. I'll call it Kismet, Kathryn will call it, "a WIN!".

Here is Kathryn all happy after we decided to get the car.

Checking out how she looks from behind the wheel.

Driving it home, enjoying some interstate time.

For the money we paid, it is a good car. There are a couple things we want checked out by our mechanic on Monday (there seems to be an exhaust issue) but really not too much to worry about. The only glaring things were cosmetic; the windshield needs to be replaced (it's cracked) and it could stand a new paint job, but that can wait. Other than that everything else seems to be pretty good for a 9 year old car. It's doesn't have a ton of extras, the windows and locks are manual, the radio is a crappy aftermarket one and the interior is pretty spartan, but it is a car and it is Kathryn's. She's a happy girl right now! I'm pretty happy too. It think it is just enough sport car to make her happy and not so much sport car to make me worry.

Kathryn plans on getting up early and driving herself to church in the morning and then she has to stay for Admistrative Council afterward. Butch and I can come and go at our leisure on our schedule, not Kathryn's now - whoo Hoo!! Despite my melencholy of Kathryn growing up, there are certain perks to it! Now to just pray she stays safe driving it! :-/

Last Day

2010-04-27T22:55:00.003-04:00

Today was the last day or Artios for the year. In some way I am glad for it to be over, but I'll miss the kids and the fun there. I'm glad Kathryn is driving so it will be easier for her to get together with and see her friends over the summer.

Photo © Lindsey B. 2010

This is a picture that Lindsey took today and had on her Facebook...I just had to laugh. This is soooo Kathryn and her crew. Lindsey had titled it, "Don't Ask". Don't worry dear, I won't. I get it.

Photo © Lindsey B. 2010

Yet another Lindsey picture. I appreciate Lindsey and her photo taking. Without it I doubt I'd get this good of an insight into Kathryn's day. It's tough looking at the photographic evidence and dealing with the fact I have such a reclusive and restrained child and she has such similar friends. *cough* *cough*

Lots of things coming up on the books over the next few days/weeks. Tomorrow I have to finish getting as many of my extra/used curriculum ready as I can to go in the used curriculum sale coming up this Friday. Thursday is faculty preview of senior projects and afterward we are hopefully going to be going to a car auction to find Kathryn a car (provided we can purchase since we aren't used car dealers). In among this I need to:

Be getting packed and ready to go on our 20th anniversary trip.
Finishing up the accommodations request with the college boards (I finally got Kathryn's updated diagnosis - Huzzah!).
Filling out paper work for a former scout's award.
Finding and getting some inventory into my booth.
Getting some yard work done - it's been too rainy to do much.
Writing up class evaluations/grades.
Conquering Mount Laundry.
Make sure tickets are purchased for various events.
Etc., etc., etc.

Hmmmm, I guess there never really is a "last day" for moms huh? Alas, I'll just have to settle for a trip with the hubby. :-)

How Hard Can it Be???

2010-04-27T00:18:00.004-04:00

...apparently very hard if you are trying to find a good "starter car" from a used car lot for $2k or less CASH. Kathryn has been enjoying the liberty of being able to driver herself hither to and yon lately and subsequently I have been stranded at home sans wheels on several occasions. That didn't bother me too much until Gina, mom to Kathryn's BFF Emily, pointed out that if something happened to Kathryn on the road and I got "the" call I would have no way to get to her! YIKES! So I have stepped up the car search. Today we hit as many Junior Samples type car lots as I could find or think about.

Well, at nearly every stop we got the same answer, "Sorry little lady, we just can't find safe cars at that price to resell." Another stop blamed the whole Cash for Clunkers joke of a government program. It seems it took all of the cars in that price range outta the pool of available cars and literally trashed them. Sooooo we are down to the limited options of private sales or the auctions. Seeing as how the private sales are proving less than fruitful via the usual search methods (AutoTrader and CraigsList) the auctions seem to be the next best bet. Besides several of the dealers told us today, cars in that price range automatically go to auction - so it must be true. Actually I have gotten that answer from a variety of sources so I'm going to be interested in seeing what the offerings are and what shape they will be in.

There's a weekly auction this coming Thursday near us. I've left a message with my dad to see if he'd go with us this. He's an old hand at auctions of many varieties and I value his opinion of the worthiness of a car.

I have to give Kathryn credit on this whole thing. She has been very patient, flexible and mature about the whole process. She knows what the budget is and that we can't go over it. She is painfully aware of a want vs. a need. She points out a lot of cars she wants but knows it is out of the question on many levels - insurance especially. She has a thing for Mustangs, Corvettes and other go fast cars. She is willing to wait on the right deal. She is also willing to go with a not so cool car if it meets our criteria; is a 1996 or later, gets good mileage, has a good engine, is rated safe and in our price range. I keep telling her, "We can buy new tires. We can get a detail job on the car. We can have it painted. Let's invest in a good solid mechanically sound and safe car." So she is, I am proud to say, good with that. I so enjoy not having a spoiled brat for a child! LOL That, and one that has embraced the Dave Ramsey philosophy.

Soooooo, now we wait for Thursday. Maybe we will come home with a car.

I Feel So Inadequate

2010-04-25T00:29:00.002-04:00

For various reasons I have felt compelled to research visual journaling these past few days. It actually ties in with altered books which I have been doing with the Middle School Art Club at school. But, I've been more focused on the journaling aspect and creative thought process these past few days and the research I have done, just online, is mind-blowing and makes me feel like a total, do nothing, loser. There are some amazing journals and journalers out there. While I'd like to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty doing the journaling I also feel like just slowly backing away. I don't think I'd have anything interesting to do and I doubt I'd contribute anything to the 'journaling community' so it is almost like, "Why bother?" I guess I have issues...messy, complicated ones I don't need to go into here, but mostly I fear failure and so logically I think, why try and risk failure? That is my mental answer to too much actually. Lately I've been feeling a bit artistically, intellectually and emotionally constipated. Guess I need some Mental Metamucil.

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem

2010-04-18T23:26:00.003-04:00

Hello, my name is Diane and I am married to a hopeless geek. There I said it.... *whew* Now, don't get me wrong, being married to a geek, a hopeless one at that, isn't the problem it's the flotsam and jetsam that comes with him. It's a package deal of sorts I guess. See, we have been living in our house for nigh on to 13 years now. In those 13 years we have acquired, inherited or otherwise have come to be the owners of quite a few pieces of technological wares. So much so that it would seem these items have the mysterious properties of rabbits and multiply behind our backs...quickly!

Fast forward to Saturday morning. Kathryn is gone to a scout overnight function and Butch and I are sleeping late but coming to consciousness. It is in that dim, murky time between wakefulness and dreamland when thoughts and to-do's filed away filter to the surface. One such item floated to the top, my eyes pop open and I remember, the local high school is hosting an electronics recycling day - that day! I inform Butch of this and tell him that we need to take as much stuff as possible to it. "Mmmrph'K" is the response I get.

Well I have things to do so I get up and start getting to it. We have hair appointments for the afternoon, friends are coming over in the evening and the house, as usual, looks like it has thrown up; I have work to do. So I get to gettin'. After beating back some of the mess, I go back upstairs and poke Butch awake, "honey, if we are going to take anything to that recycling thing you need to get up, they are only there 'til 1". "Mmmmmurph'K" says he. I go back to domestic goddess mode. Shortly thereafter I start hearing thumps, thuds and banging around coming from upstairs, "ah good, Butch is up" I think, aaannnnd it sounds like he is on the prowl for electronic flotsam. I continue sweeping up piles of pollen off my floors and wiping it off my counters. Later, as I am vacuuming up bird ~~carnage~~ feathers from the dining room (...don't ask) Butch starts parading downstairs with arm loads of laptops, and other electronic stuff and starts loading them into the car. Thus begins the March of the Dead Electronics; go upstairs get an armful of stuff, bring it down, load it up. Go back upstairs, rummage around for more, get another armful, bring it down, load it up, etc. etc. Time was getting close to make the 1:00 quit time so I start helping since Butch was sitting in the front hall ripping out the hard drives from all the computers so we didn't have to worry about personal data getting loose in the world and it was taking some time.

I remember there is a computer in the basement and 2 printers and a printer/fax/scanner combo and a monitor that all need to go. So I start schlepping up and down the stairs bringing all that up and adding to the hard drive-ectomy pile. Then I start loading all the accumulated inventory build up into the car as Butch finishes the surgery.

Here's why I think we have a problem. This is what we ending up purging from the house:
4 laptops
4 PCs
2 old tube monitors
3 keyboards
1 fax machine
1 fax/printer/scanner
1 answering machine
3 printers (laser and ink jet)
2 cell phones
4-5 bags of assorted cables, hubs, routers and other assorted flotsam

A trunk full...

...backseat full...

...even the front seat had to utilized!

I am very happy to say we have shed ourselves of all these pieces of geekiness flotsam and jetsam, I'm just hoping there is another recycle day soon since there is more we missed, not to mention that whole rabbit like multiplying problem that this stuff has...

The good news is, Butch made it to the recycle point on time, we made our hair appointments, Kathryn drove herself home safely, the house got cleaned up enough to allow folks in without risk to life and limb and we had a great time hanging out with friends just chillin', chatting, playing games and responsibly indulging in assorted adult beverages. It was a good day. We just need to do something about our addiction to computers and the assorted stuff that goes with them. Is there a 12 Step program for that?

Driving and Doctors

2010-04-14T13:55:00.004-04:00

Okay, I know I've been whining about Kathryn getting older and subsequently me as well. Since you are used to it by now, I'm going to whine a little more!

First off, Kathryn finally drove herself somewhere by herself last night. Since Kathryn has had her license and we have needed to go somewhere - we were both needed to be there so she hasn't HAD to drive anywhere. Last night I didn't really feel like going to scouts so I let Kathryn drive herself so she finally had a need....being the sappy mom I am, I of course photo documented the event.

Pulling out from the garage....

...going up the drive way....

....going out the driveway...

...getting turned around....

...going...

....going and gone. *sigh*

I am happy to report she made it to and back from scouts safe and sound and I amazingly wasn't a nervous wreck...I just didn't think about it! LA LA LA LA!

Then another punctuation to my advancing years occurred today with 2 doctor appointments in one day. Or was that actually judicious use of my time; scheduling them close together geographically and time-wise? Hmmmmm, I'll go with judicious use of my time! :-) But can I just say that it really isn't nice to make me wear a paper towel in the exam room and have the AC cranked down to arctic temps?!? I was about ready to pull the curtain off the changing cube and bundle up in it! Maybe I should have, I'd just say I was channeling my inner Scarlett O'Hara! Fiddle dee dee, what is a girl to do if she is so cold? Freeze to death right there in a doctor's office?

So, there ya go, my daily wimper to my relentless march to the grave. I don't have to to take it lying down, and I don't intend to. I plan to arrive at death's door, thoroughly used up, scratched up, banged up and full of awesome life stories. I just like to whine about the whole mess, it makes me feel better! So there! :-P

CITA

2010-04-08T12:15:00.003-04:00

We are getting ready to head to Charlotte, NC tomorrow for the annual CITA (Christians in Theater Arts) competition. About 14 kids from school are going up to compete. Kathryn was signed up to do 3 monologues (1 full length & 1 set of contrasting monologues) and 1 duo acting scene. But Kathryn put off and put off learning her monologues and now it looks like she is only going to do the duo scene and the one full length monologue. I'm disappointed to say the least. Mostly disappointed in her poor preparation that lead to her scratching the contrasting monologues. She is perfectly capable of doing all 3 monologues she just chose not to work on them. Since she wasted all her practice time and is panicking here at the 11th hour she offered to pay me back for the entry fees for the contrasting monologue since it is her idea to scratch. I will let her do so. She needs some consequence.

I am hoping and praying that this little glitch won't cloud my vision of the experience and I hope I will still enjoy going up there and seeing her work and all the other kid's work. It's hard watching these types of things and being fairly sure that she will not win. I'm her mom, I want her to win, I am proud of her abilities and accomplishments, I'm just a realist. Just like there will always be someone richer or thinner than you, with acting, there will always be someone better that you. I don't like admitting or acknowledging there are kids more talented than she. I just struggle against baser human feelings and instincts of jealousy, bitterness and anger toward any number of people or things. I pray that I am a blessing to Kathryn, supporting her interests and encouraging her on her way. But sometimes a I feel like a "stage parent" in the worst possible way toward her. But, I have the benefit of experience and I can see things that would only be beneficial to her and her goals, unfortunately she just doesn't want to invest the time or effort so often. I don't know where Kathryn's final path leads but we still try to seek God's will and follow His path for her life. All I can do is pray and offer the support she wants. She has to do the work. The question is, how bad does she want these things?

I guess raising a child, especially a teenager, is much like the Comedy/Tragedy image above. One minute your are crying the next you are laughing...or if it isn't you, it's your kid with the emotional roller coaster going full tilt! Ahhhhh, never a dull moment. Wish us luck!

Back to the Present

2010-04-05T12:38:00.006-04:00

I'm taking a break from bringing anyone interested in the Blog-Gap up to current time. We've just had so much going on that I wanted to share some of it before I forgot. Last week alone was rather momentous.

Let's see....Wednesday Kathryn went for her second stab at getting her license. The first time she went she failed the road test. The instructor for her drivers ed school was getting his certification be an authorized private road tester. So he needed kids to take their test while he was getting tested. I signed Kathryn up thinking, she knows the instructor, likes him, is comfortable with him, knows the car, she should do good.....apparently that was a mistake. With the addition of the evaluator in the car for the instructor, it made him nervous, which made Kathryn nervous which sent her into a downward spiral. It also didn't help she said that every time she looked into the rear view mirror there were two eyes of the evaluator staring back at her. But, happily, the instructor earned his certification and offered Kathryn a free second chance road test. She took and did very good on it.

Kathryn with her certificate saying she passed the road test! Look at the grin.

So she passed her road test and we spent the next couple hours getting her license.

Waiting at the DDS with all the required paperwork for a new driver.

After waiting about an hour to get served and listening to the interesting conversations around us (I never knew so many parolees and convicted folks walked freely among us!) She finally got her license!!

Kathryn with her temporary license as we left the DDS.

I haven't let her drive anywhere by herself yet...there hasn't been an oppportunity for a short jaunt close to home. I'm not ready to let her drive all the way to school alone yet! She offered to let me sleep late Thursday and she would get up and drive herself the hour commute in morning rush hour traffic to school for the Chorale rehearsal....I told her I was more than happy to get up and drive her there!

Thursday was the Spring Concert at school with all the choirs (elementary - high school) performing. Everyone did so good, it was a real treat to hear it. The Senior Chorale (the one Kathryn is in) sang an arrangement of Amazing Grace that was beautiful! It was a college level piece and really challenged the kids but they pulled it off and it was just beautiful to hear!

You can kind of see Kathryn in the middle here, the only one with pinkish, red hair! ;-)

This was post concert. This is Kathryn and most of her buds from school. They are all goofy, nutty kids and I love every one of them.

This is the three musketeers here; Kathryn with Lindsey and Imani. Again, these are great kids and I'm so happy Kathryn has them as friends.

Imani, the ballerina, is pulling off some awesome leg work while Kathryn and Lindsey just act themselves!

The other big event that happened on Thursday was Kathryn got her class ring. She had been asking me off and on over several months if homeschoolers can get class rings so I took that as a "hint". Kathryn never hounds, nags or pesters about anything. So when she asks the same thing in a short period of time, I take it to mean that it is important. Of all the places that offer class rings for homeschoolers it was Wal-Mart that had the best deal and variety. The fun part about getting a homeschool classring is we got to pick our own school colours, mascot and other fun stuff! We decided since our school is named after little Jimmy Buffett Parrotheads (Parakeets) that the mascot should be a pirate, it just fits. Kathryn's favourite colours are blue and green so those became our school colours. The only issue we had was we were limited on the school name. Apparently the stock choices are "academy", "school" and I think one other generic name. Our school is Parakeet College but we weren't allowed to have college on a high school ring...hrumph. Are we going to fake a college degree with a ring? Anyway, after some back and forth with Keystone, the ring manufacturer, we compromised on Parakeet Academy (Kathryn didn't really care) The ring was delivered in a little over 2 weeks time and Kathryn is happy. She feels more official now. I think she just likes proving that homeschoolers really don't miss out on any of the trappings of public high school like everyone thinks!

Side 1 - the pirate mascot and graduation year

Side 2 - her name and special interest - drama (big surprise!) You can't see it, but under the drama masks is a little shield with the school colours, blue and green.

So, last week was a bittersweet week for me. We had two very distinct events that clearly marked the growing up of my baby. I'm so proud of her for so much but at the same time, I see her slipping away and I won't have her around as much. I've been looking for a bible verse that brings comfort to an empty nest mom but I haven't found one to that specific need. I'm sure something is out there...just gotta find it. God will lead me to the one I need. I have another year with her, but that is going to go so fast. I'm trying to concentrate on enjoying and being thankful for each and every day I do have with her here at home. It's times like this I couldn't imagine not homeschooling her and it makes me sad I didn't do it from the beginning. But thank you Lord for bringing me to the decision to homeschool and giving me the desire! It has been such a blessing.

Just Because I Can

2010-04-03T22:40:00.004-04:00

I want to post some pictures of my fur babies. Nutsy, the grey tabby, is our senior cat at 14 years old. Jack, ahem, excuse me, Col. Jack O'Neill, SG-1, the ginger tabby, is the baby at 4 years old. They each have their own personalities and provide many hours of amusement, "purr therapy" and exasperation. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

December

2010-04-03T21:54:00.003-04:00

December was lots of fun for us. I finished up my work at Operation Christmas Child a couple of weeks into December so I had a few weeks left to enjoy the holiday and other fun opportunities. One of the opportunities I had, that was a blast, was when Kathryn had some friends over to spend the night and go to see the Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier. After you have driven through all the lights you end up at a building where you can visit Santa and get your picture made, buy Christmas ornaments, roast marshmallows, and ride on carnival ridesL in 20* weather! Honestly, nothing says Christmas quite like a tourist trap like that! ;-)

Another fun highlight was taking a group of kids to see Disney's movie, The Princess and the Frog. It was a great movie and so much fun with such great kids to share it with. Besides the movie they had a go on the bungee bouncer thingee and played around with all the fun toys in the Disney Store.

All in all December was a lot of fun with good friends and celebrating the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

November

2010-04-03T20:47:00.003-04:00

Well, November was pretty busy. The biggest thing that was taking up ou time was the Fall Production at Artios, Pride and Prejudice. Kathryn played Lady Catherine and she did an awesome job! She loves playing witchy old ladies.

After the play was over Thanksgiving rolled around. I managed to get a raging case of bronchitis over the actual Thanksgiving weekend. While that was a bummer it was also the first week or working at Operation Christmas Child and we were told we could not miss a day or we'd have to be let go. So I had to tough it out. I lost my voice in the process which was interesting given that I was a trainer and I had to talk all day long! Since I couldn't miss work I had to pass on Thanksgiving at Butch's family's house. Butch and Kathryn went up though and enjoyed the time with them.

While at Meme and Pa's my nephew talked his sister Haleigh into going hunting with him and the other uncle, Scott. Haleigh agreed to go hunting if Kathryn and Nichole would go too. So, they agreed and they all went 'hunting'. The reports from the field tell us that the girls spent most of their time, giggling, singing and dancing. Sounds pretty normal to me! :-)

October

2010-03-13T00:48:00.005-05:00

Here is what we did in October

We took a trip to Walt Disney World (revealed on Father's Day) with our friends the Clances. We all had a great time and the kids had a blast running around on their own for the most part. We introduced Mike and Gina to the wonders of the Free Dining Plan as we nommed our way around the world at the Food & Wine Festival and all the other auh-mazing restaurants at WDW. What was so incredibly cool to me was that we got to go backstage-ish at Epcot into the 'golf ball' to the Siemens hospitality suite becasue Mike works at Siemens. It was so cool. Free sodas and coffee, really neat high tech toys to play with (showing off Siemens technology), 'executive' restrooms with the 'good TP' ;-) and a head of the line walk on to the history of communication ride. The other big thing was Kathryn and Em got to finally take the Keys to the Kingdom tour. Kathryn had heard enough about it from us for so many years she had been counting down the days to be able to do it herself - you have to be at least 16 to take the tour. They had a blast, it helped we had a great tour guide. I wish we could do that trip again...but pending tuition bills look like they will prohibit that from happening. *pout* But, I do get to look forward to a 20th anniversary trip to WDW in May. It was a surprise from Butch for Valentine's/Anniversary. I am very much looking forward to it! :-)

Yes, I Know.....

2010-03-13T00:32:00.005-05:00

..it's been a looooong time since I was here. I've been dealing with some 'stuff' and really not in the mood to blog. But, I think I'm in a better place now and may want to start sharing my life a little bit again....maybe. Bear with me as I go in fits and starts here...hopefully more starts than fits.

Let me fill you in on the past several months...

This was August. It was Kathryn's Sweet 16 and daddy made her topsy turvy cake. In September she helped out a photographer friend of ours who needed some Senior Portraits for his portfolio to drum up new business. We agreed to a few hours of our time for him in return for some amazing photos. I'll call it fair trade. These are some of my favourites. The red dress is edgy and not really Kathryn, but it is an awesome shot. The ones in the green shirt are most like her.

Draagon*Con Fly By

2009-10-16T23:20:00.006-04:00

When last we spoke of Dragon*Con it was Day 1. Day 2 brought much of the same sort of stuff. Kathryn and I caught the parade Saturday morning. Butch was feeling a bit queasy (Sometimes the meds he has to take at night don't wear off by the time he has to get up, leaving him feeling thus.) so he missed the parade and a panel.

The parade was amazing as usual. The parade is a pageant of costumes over a mile long. Participants are broken up into genres or categories. There are specific show, movie, games, or Manga categories, then there are more general categories. But whatever category, for the most part the costumes are amazing.

Here comes the Middle Earth folks!

Vintage Batman and Robin, complete with Batmobile!

This is from the Children's Movies characters group. Center is the upcoming Disney's Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter (to be played by none other than Johnny Depp. Below is the poster with the Mad Hatter...dude did a pretty good job eh? Beside the Mad Hatter is obviously Glinda the Good Witch and behind is a Coraline and her mother. There were quite a few very cute Coralines.

Our personal favourite, The Princess Bride group, followed by some Disney characters. Cinderella's evil step sisters are in the back right.

Monty Python's Holy Grail. King Arthur and Patsy.

One of the vestal virgins pulling a catapult. What is hard to see in this picture is the fact that in the basket of the catapult is a chihuahua dressed up as a cow!

The Wooden Rabbit

This group was awesome! They were the entire Periodic Table!! Each person dressed up as an element. Some were very clever. They were walking too fast to get many pictures. You will notice the Potassium, there in the middle, is dressed up as a banana. Hydrogen was all in white with some blue accents with H's on them and a big blue foam sports hand that said "We're #1!!"

Iron was dressed up as a Chef...The Iron Chef. Kathryn and I were cracking up! Loved the touch with the pepper.

Ghost Busters!!! Ecto1 was there too!

Arrrr, thar be pirates on Peachtree!

Thar be wee pirates too!

Box Trooper

Chew-box-A and Box Vader

Cardboard AtAt

Dude, is he not George Lucas???

Kilted Storm Troopers!! LOVE IT!

After the parade Kathryn and I ran to catch the Ghost Hunters panel. We got lucky besides the regular Ghost Hunters; Jason, Grant, Steve & Tango. The Ghost Hunter International guys; Joe Chin and Dustin Pari were also there.

What was even cooler about this panel was the fact that they had their camera crew there filming for footage that could possibly make it to a show!

So stay tuned, we may make it on to the show, the camera did pan over a a few times! =)

After lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and Kathryn acquiring our obligatory Hard Rock/Dragon*Con pins we queued up with a couple thousand other folks to see Adam Savage of MythBusters in his panel.

Adam was great, very much seemed like the guy you see on TV every week. But despite his goofiness, he was very gracious and actually humble about himself and his success. The coolest thing he did was share his 100 Wishes list. That is 100 things he really wants to do or accomplish - a Bucket List of sorts.

After Adam's panel we just wandered around checking out costumes and gawking!

I absolutely adored this merry band of condiments!

Tune in tomorrow boys and girls, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel for more adventures at Dragon*Con!

Blog Blahs

2009-10-13T17:29:00.002-04:00

To my ~~many~~ couple fans who have actually poked me over the past month....for you I post something.

I have been suffering from major case of the blogger blahs and just not feeling the whole blog thing. I guess it one of those artist traits...the Muse just wasn't speaking to me. Or something like that. I'll try to catch up to current time with a few posts. Over the next few days. There isn't that much going on really. But I'll bore y'all anyway.

We Did

2009-09-09T23:23:00.003-04:00

I am finally recovered sufficiently from Dragon*Con to start posting about the experience - which was amazing as usual!

We drove down to Atlanta Thursday night check into our hotel and go ahead and get our con badges that night since we were pre-registered. Well, it seems us and about 3,000 other folks had the same idea. Registration was set up in one of the lower ballrooms of the Sheraton. This was a double ballroom that, if charis were set up could easily hold 2,000 people. This is where the queue began, in a zig-zag, amusement parkesque queue that ran the entire length of the room, it then proceeded out the room, up to the sidewalk,down the sidewalk, around the corner, around the next corner and half way up the block. It was at that point we got in the line...people kept falling into the line after us. I believe before it was done the line nearly looped the block. But our patience paid off and we got our badge the night before all the official activities began so we would not have to worry about losing time in the morning getting our badges then.
Some of the line once we got inside

The next day, Friday, we hit the ground running hoping to get a spot in the Leonard Nimoy/William Shatner panel. We managed to do so, only we went to the original ballroom scheduled and it had been changed during the night. So we and hundreds of other con goers we lined up 1-2 hours early at the wrong ballroom. No one on staff thought to let us know until we were in the room and in our seats that it was going to be simulcast from the LIVE panel into our location. Considering how good our seats were and how far away the other location was and how close to panel time it was we stayed put. We would have missed out in both locations if we had tried to move at that point. So we watched the panel on the big screens. It was a good hour with the two of them. All I can say is Leonard Nimoy is classy and Shatner ain't. I was hoping real life would show Shatner in a better light but alas, no. We were so annoyed at not seeing them live, I didn't bother to take any pictures.

After that panel we hit up several of the costuming panels and learned quite a bit. The panel participants were quite impressive, many professional stage actors and costumers and props masters.

In between all that we managed to see Tom Felton, Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter fame, on one of his many panels. Tom was a very well spoken, nice young man. Nothing like his famous character.

After all that we caught a quick bite of dinner and ran to see the costume contest being held that night. The costume contest did not disappoint! There were some amazing costumes there and the level of skill, dedication and talent that went into them was amazing.

These next 5 pictures are costumes inspired from the movie The Fall. I had never seen the movie so after we got back to our room I looked it up. I saw these two costumes on the web site and I couldn't believe how well these two ladies did in recreating these costumes. From where we sat, they were perfect! Spot on. (After seeing photos of scenes from the movie, I must see it, the visuals and frame composition is stunning.)

Contest Costume

Contest Costume
Film Costume

This guy was dressed up as Scotty....he didn't need a costume! He looks just like James Doohan!

A fabulous period piece based on Madame de Pompadour

This costume is based on the upcoming Tim Burton Film Alice in Wonderland. She is the Red Queen. Her over skirt and under skirt were hand stamped.

These guys were flipping amazing!!! A quartet of steam punk X-men!! How awesome is that?

Wolverine

Xavier - the smoke stack on the back of his wheelchair actually emitted steam!

Gambit and Rogue? Jean?

After the costume contest we crashed. It had been an exciting, but long day and we had to get up early for Saturday to get a good spot to see the parade. Speaking of crashing, I'll post those pictures tomorrow.

Will We or Won't We?

2009-09-01T23:34:00.004-04:00

As I sit here furiously popping echinacea and vitamin C like mad hoping to ward off the evil H1N1 from our house. I ask my self will we or won't we make it to Dragon*Con in 2 days?

Last week 1 of the girls in our 4 girl carpool came down with H1N1, then her twin sister got it as well as the other girl in carpool. Kathryn started coughing, getting snotty and saying her throat had been hurting yesterday. Grrrrrr. I've been bugging the stew out of her today making her take her temperature and constantly asking her how she feels. This morning at 6a.m. it wasn't "good morning honey" it was, "here stick this in your mouth, I need your temperature" I'm such a good mommy. I also a good citizen. I didn't want to take a sick child to school and expose the rest of her classmates. Luckily Kathryn didn't even register a normal temp this morning, she was below normal, so we went on to school. Sometime around 2:30 Butch calls and tells me he is heading home, his face is puffy and hurts and he's all gunky (don't let my advanced medical nomenclature intimidate you). Gah! No more sickies!!

So, here I sit, worried that Kathryn is going to blossom into a rousing case of H1N1 and Butch will too or that his sinus infection will linger for 4-5 days, like it usually does, making him a miserable, pitiful, grumpy bear. I am the last woman standing right now and I can't afford to fall too. I have waited a year for Dragon*Con and I really don't want to miss it. But I don't want my youngin's (Butch falls in this category) sick either. So I'm biding my time and shoveling supplements and cold remedies in bodies as fast as I can. Hopefully we will all be feeling better/fine come Thursday and will enjoy our weekend. If not, I have a nice room at the Hilton if anyone wants it. *sigh*

New Discoveries

2009-08-31T01:29:00.004-04:00

OMG! I have found the most random and fun stuff on-line tonight.

The first thing is thanks to my 'nephew' (he's actually my 2nd cousin but I think of him as a nephew.) It's not new, but it's new to me!
MyLifeIsAverage.com. O.M.G. prepare to loose several hours of your life reading this silly thing. It is true LOL material!

From that site spawned a few new discoveries.

Where's Waldo online. You can play Where's Waldo with their little widget. Yet another time sink.

But what I think is most exciting was the discovery of International Talk Like Yoda Day. Sadly, I missed it for this year (May 22)...but for next year, prepared will I be! I think this will be almost as fun as International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is coming up in a few weeks - September 19th.

Sorry, just had to share these....they were too fun!

Paaarrrtaaay!

2009-08-23T00:15:00.001-04:00

Today was Kathryn's Sweet 16 party. Today marked another year older and closer to my baby leaving the nest. Today I just concentrated on enjoying watching my baby have a great time at her party and having a ball with her friends. And have a good time they did!

We had her party at Sims Lake Park. A lovely passive use park owned by the city of Suwanee. This had been private property until just a couple years ago but the owner bequeathed property to the city contingent that they make it a park and not let it become developed. The city improved the property a bit and we now have a lovely park to enjoy.

We set up an area to hang out in under old, canopied hardwood trees. We set up a couple extra tables and our pavilion tent and all the camp chairs we, my folks, Butch's folks and couple other folks had. It was a lovely day, sunny, yet not too hot, with a wonderful breeze under the trees. The kids didn't really care where we were they just gathered and did what teens will do, hang out and chat. Kathryn spent a couple hours the day before filling up 300 water balloons to take to the party for a water balloon fight.

Sadly, we lost almost half of the water balloons to heat and the weight of the balloons on top. But there were still plenty to have a decent little battle.

Once all the balloons were destroyed and the players were all thoroughly soaked, it was time to take a break and enjoy a treat one of the guests brought as a present, Jell-o cupcakes! You eat them with a straw! That was too funny.

Kathryn just gave up with the straw and went for the inhalation method!

After the Jell-O fun there was more water wars to be had using the nylon water balls like you use in the pool. The funny part was, we were using melted ice water to dunk and soak the balls in. There was still ice floating in the water..it was cold!

Here, Kathryn manages to get her friend Andrew's back good and wet.

As a special birthday treat, Kathryn's friend Anthony from school decided she needed to cool down, so he dumped a 2 litre bottle of ice water on her.

We had a good group of kids in attendance; cousins, friends from church, friends from school and just long time friends that have become family.

They are good looking bunch of kids too!

Goof balls all!

Kathryn was still beaming over her cake. Butch got lots of compliments and kudos on it. He deserved them!

It was a good party. I am proud of the young woman Kathryn is becoming, but I still get a little tug at my heart knowing how soon she will be gone. I'm just going to enjoy everyday I do have with her. She will be gone so very soon.

Such a Good Daddy!

2009-08-22T21:42:00.000-04:00

Kathryn has had quite an active hand in the planning of her Sweet 16 party. When she posted the invite to a group event on FaceBook she found a picture for the event.

This picture to be exact.

Someone asked her if that was going to be her cake and her reply was, "Welllll I'd like it to be..... Daddy! " *big smile* *flutter eyelashes* Daddy is now instant puddle-boy. *sigh*

See, Butch, in his long and storied past, took cake decorating classes with his younger brother and has, a few wedding cakes, anniversary cakes and birthday cakes to his credit. Several of Kathryn's birthday cakes were made and decorated by him. So, in Kathryn's eyes, Daddy can do anything. She also knows he will try anything if that is what she wants....it's that whole little girl and little finger thing that happens with daddies and daughters. Oy!

So, that all said, Butch and I started trying to figure out how to make said cake since Butch has NEVER worked in fondant before, he was a strict butter cream man. Butch started out in the logical place, the cake decorating department of Michael's seeing what tools were available and purchasing publications with fondant information. This move, in turn, resulted in Butch trying to make fondant from absolute scratch with gelatin and other ingredients mere mortals just do not keep in their larders. Let's just say, it wasn't his shining moment....After an online search we found a great recipe that worked beautifully, was easy to make and forgiving in production and decoration. Once we found that recipe Butch's practice batches went much better.

So, with instilled confidence from successful trial fondant batches and 11 cake layers baked and frozen, Friday rolled around. Friday, the day before Kathryn's party, the day we had to assemble the cake.

Understanding the herculean task before him, Butch left work a little early Friday to get home and get started. Since he had to explain to his co-workers why he was leaving early, proof of his reason was required. It seems that Butch's co-workers didn't believe that uber, alpha-geek, manager boss had it in him, so they requested photos of his efforts. Following are highlights of our all night cake decorating session.

Here Butch is adding royal blue colour to one of the fondant batches.

Now for the black fondant.

We're going for black..the marble effect is kinda cool though!

Starting to shape the base layer. Hard learned tip here....use frozen cake! I'm just sayin'.

Adding the crumb coat of butter cream layer of icing.

Rolling out a fondant layer.

Draping the fondant over a prepared layer.

Some of the embellishments and decor for the detail work.

Base fondant on, starting to add the embellishments.

Butch's slave labor adding in the embellishments.

The finished product...at 5:30 a.m.!

Later that morning, Kathryn's voices her approval. Note, her outfit matches her cake.

Kathryn loved it, it got rave reviews online and at the party...but, we were just 'ok' with it. It was an ambitious task for a first pass at fondant and, as a first attempt ever at fondant, it did turn out wonderful...but...we may just have to try another one to get it better. There were things we learned that will help make the next one go better. But, I must say, I am very proud of my hubby. He makes a mean Sweet 16 birthday cake! He's such a good daddy! Kathryn and I are so blessed with him. :-)

Thoughts to Ponder

2009-08-14T22:45:00.003-04:00

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

This passage resounded in my head last night around 3 a.m. as I lay awake in bed. I was thinking over an e-mail I had received that was bothering me greatly. As I cried out to the Lord to help me find peace in my heart about the situation in the e-mail the Ecclesiastes 3 passage rang out in my head as if God Himself spoke the words in my ear (I guess He did huh? Cool!) Actually I heard the passage as spoken then The Byrds song, Turn Turn Turn ran through my head. The passage/song gave me peace and answered a question that had been nagging me. Bottom line? There is a time and place for everything and I am entering into a new time.

Today a dear friend sent me a couple passages to ponder and;

Proverbs 13:3
He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

was one of them. God once again spoke to me a very appropriate passage for the "time" I am in. Isn't it so neat how God will cradle and comfort you through His word? I am so glad I have it to turn to and my friends do too. I hope you know the comfort of God and His word in your life. If you don't, ask me about it. I'd be glad to talk to you.

Livin' Off the Land!

2009-08-10T21:26:00.004-04:00

...sort of.

This year my dad had some volunteer tomatoes popping up in his yard. Seeing as how they volunteered outside his established, fenced in garden area he was going to pull them up. But he decided to ask if we wanted them or if we had any friends that might like them. I allowed as how I'd LOVE some tomato plants. So dad, being the good dad he is, dug them up, planted them in 5 gallon buckets and brought them to me. That was perfect! I could put them on my deck and not have the deer and rabbits get to them.

They are a little spindly but have been slow, but decent, producers considering their limited environment. Luckily the squirrels and birds haven't discovered them either.

Tonight I decided to harvest my grape tomatoes and a slicer tomato.

I left a couple nearly perfect red tomatoes on the vine to collect another day this week. I also have some new blooms that have set that will give me some more tomatoes in about 2-3 weeks

Since we were having a light dinner tonight, I incorporated a nice salad into the menu to take advantage of the grape tomatoes. Tonight's dinner menu consisted of.

black beans and rice
sausage
steamed broccoli
tossed salad

It was rather yummy!

Now to figure out what is for dinner tomorrow! We will be in two places at once. Butch and Kathryn will be at the first Venturing meeting of the year with a new (to us) crew and I'll be at the parent's meeting for Artios to meet my students and answer any questions before the year starts. I'm thinking a crockpot meal or soup of some sort.

Tag!

2009-08-07T17:16:00.003-04:00

Well, it seems I got tagged my my friend The Penguinator and I have been charged to complete this quest, which is; to finish this survey.

Favorite 5 movies?
...in no particular order... (they change from day to day, month to month.)

The Quiet Man - John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark - Harrison Ford
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (all 3 of them)
The Sound of Music - Julie Andrews
The Princess Bride - Andre the Giant

What is your favorite movie quote?

Ray, the next time a someone asks if you are a god, say, "YES!"
--Ghostbusters on the roof at the final showdown with Gozer.

What are your 5 least favorite movies?
oookkaaay, this is more like genre's not specific movies.

Any of the horror/slasher/torture movies (Saw/Children of the Corn/Texas Chainsaw...etc)
High School Musical, Hannah Montana, etc.
Full Metal Jacket (too much language, violence etc....yes, I understand it is a war movie but I just don't need or want to see things so graphically)
All those stupid, sophomoric, potty humor movies (American Pie, Mel Brooks, et. al)
Sequels for the sake of the Hollywood machine. Craft a great movie and let it be.

Who is your favorite movie character?
OOohhhhh tough one. So many have been done so well. But for pure comfort escapism, I'd have to say Indiana Jones.

What's your favorite kind of movie?
Action adventure/fantasy/sci-fi

Is this tag lame or cool?
Eh, it is. It made me think....ow! ow! ow!

I'm so Indecisive

2009-08-01T00:03:00.004-04:00

I went to the Southeast Homeschool Conference today and did my reconnaissance. Tomorrow I go back with Butch and Kathryn to make final decisions and purchases. I thought it was going to be simple; pick up a few things, look at a few more then I was done. But no, since I was able to put my hands on some specific Sonlight materials and got to actually look at the Core spines and the books and I was better able to understand what was going to be covered in a year. It was then I was able to make a decision I been gnawing on. As of *right now* I'm going to go with Sonlight Core 400 for the History/Civics and Bible. The Bible curriculum is very intense and deep. We may stretch that one over a couple years. It is more academic than faith based. But, it looks like it could give you a good exercise in worldview thinking. The history is perfect, it will dovetail nicely into what we have been doing and will be moving into. This too I may stretch out over a year since I have other material to use too.

I went ahead and purchased Latina Christiana 1 as a good beginning Latin class and I also got the next Traditional Logic book in the series we have been using. Both of these are elective type courses, so we will take it easy in and spread them out through the year instead of trying to cram them into a semester.

I am so glad as homeschoolers we can, for the most part, take what classes we want and can take them at our pace. No need to stress yourselves over a class and take the fun out of learning something. We might be able to actually enjoy some classes others would cringe at the thought of! Now, if I can just stick to my decision....I feel like I'm trying to nail down Jell-o lately trying to make a decision about next year!

Procrastinators Unite!! ...tomorrow

2009-07-30T14:00:00.004-04:00

Yes, I admit it, I am procrastinating. I've been running down an HTML problem with the blog (I think it is fixed), piddling around the house straightening up, laundry etc. Yes, I am avoid finishing up my lesson plans. Lesson plans take thought and my brain hurts!

Thank you Monty Python

So I'm trying to do other productive things that don't require a lot of brain power...thus I'm blogging! LOL

Just thought I'd post a few pictures of scenes from around the house.....

Everyone say it with me, "Awwwwwww!" These are my two stalwart companions when I am at my desk, Princess da gogige, and Nutsy my grumpy, old, man cat. I love my peaceable kingdom.

That's Jack my whippersnapper of a cat. He is beautiful and he knows it. I can't resist getting snaps of him when he strikes such an adorable pose.

This is my other distraction. Getting 16 years worth of photos organized chronologically and put into albums. I don't know if you can read it but the little pieces of paper on the ends of the boxes are years. I broke the years down and am using that for my initial sort I pretty much have Kathryn's first two years in albums now, now for 3-16!

The binders standing up to the left are the albums I am putting photos into. Costco has a pretty good deal on 2 leather binders for $20. My goal is to have ALL of Kathryn's years in matching binders. So every payday I go to Costco and buy another set of them. I need to do this before they don't carry these anymore or they change subtly. The boxes are storage boxes of unorganized photos I've been wading through. Some have been sorted through, others I'm still working on.

This particular project is herculean! I keep unearthing handfuls of pictures stuffed and stored in nooks and crannies all over. The bad part is, I found a huge cache the other day of Kathryn from infancy. Bad why? Because I already had that album filled and I'd have to undo 2 albums to sort these picture into their chronological order in the album. I'm considering having a "blooper reel" or a "director's cut" album for just such issues. It will be photos that turn up too late to get in the 'regular' album. This is a little bites project too. I can only do so much sorting for so long. Especially when I can't remember when a photo was taken, how old Kathryn was or what grade she was in. It is taking a lot of detective work to figure out some of these dates. There were a couple Kathryn she didn't change dramatically enough to tell by looking at her how old she was.

It's fun looking at the old photos though; watching Kathryn grow up in 'FF speed'. It makes me want to hold on to her even tighter as I see college, independence and empty nest looming large ahead of us. Like I said before, I like my kid. I'll hate to lose her presence in my life every day. I guess I'll have 16 photos albums to thumb through instead. It's hard to hug a photo though.

I guess I'll go now, tend to chores, lesson plans, get some lunch and go hug Kathryn. You too, get up from the computer and go hug your kid(s). You only have them for such a short time, make the most of it.

Construction done?

2009-07-29T23:51:00.003-04:00

Well, my foray into the current version HTML went ok. I found a nice new template I liked, downloaded it and then uploaded it. I hadn't counted on the loss of the colour scheme from the sample on the upload. So I muddled along trying to get some colour combination set that worked while trying to figure out all the named parts of the template. I still need to fix my header image, but I'll get to that later...for now, it works.

I've bee trying to finish up figuring out my lesson plans for next year for Artios. I finally found out who and how many students I was going to have and that helped drive some of my assignment decisions. I almost have my syllabus, calendar and assignment sheets all filled in. I just needed to walk away from them for a while, it was all swimming in my head and I was about to mix stuff up or drop something entirely. Back to it tomorrow.

I am still in the throes of finalizing Kathryn's plans for this coming year and forward planning senior year. That doesn't help me keep the Artios plans clear in my head with other plans swirling around on top of it all. :-P I wouldn't be so bad but all of it is 'due' this Friday. Artios, I have to turn in to my boss. Kathryn's stuff I need nailed down before I go to the homeschool conference Friday so I can buy what I need while there. Yes, I could have gotten Artios done sooner but I was missing some information from other folks that was impactful on the plans and schedule. So don't be wagging' your finger in my face. ;-)

I'm still wrangling round and round with Kathryn's language arts. I think I am going to go with Write4Home for Kathryn's composition/literature/grammar. I'll sign her up for English 2. It has some good literature books assigned and the grammar is integrated into the composition which is what Kathryn really needs. I was looking at Sonlight 530 British Lit core or its 400 core but I think I am going to drop that idea and just let English 2 do the job and I'll just have Kathryn read some classics the side . I won't make her answer questions or do literary analysis on them, just read them. I will probably read the books along with her and then we can discuss them some, but nothing formal.

We're still going with:
Rosetta Stone French
Christian Liberty Press American Government/Civics
Blue Stocking/Uncle Eric Economics
Math-U-See Algebra 2
Apologia Marine Biology (?)
Beautiful Feet Med./Renn. history
Maybe Sonlight 100 history (Early American) after finish Beautiful Feet(?) mid year. Still wrestling with that.

On top of that we will have Artios one day a week and Kathryn told me last night she wants to get back in year round swimming again! Oi! Swimming will have to wait until I see how she handles the load this year and how much she is getting done a day. She has got to step it up in a major way this year to start mimicking college level work. I want her to have a taste of that and practiced in that before she heads to college.

Obviously still hammering out the details but I think I have a better handle on what to do next year. Too much in my brain....must...go...lie...down.

Under Construction

2009-07-27T16:58:00.001-04:00

Revamping the look....please bear with us.....

Guidance Counselor Part II

2009-07-26T18:31:00.002-04:00

So as I extolled on in my previous post, I have been wearing my guidance counselor hat lately. I've been nailing down college entrance requirements, college core classes cross referenced with CLEP eligible credit and dual enrollment options. Well, all that is well and fine if, and I stress IF, I can secure testing accommodations for Kathryn for her SAT/ACT tests. First hurdle, getting a new assessment from a doctor stating, "Why yes, this child does indeed have dyslexia which makes it hard for her to read at a "normal"pace. I, the doctor, must tell you that becasue her mother is far too stupid to know this." So said doctor will type it up, sign it with their name followed by the appropriate alphabet soup after their name and then it shall be 'official' that my child has dyslexia. If I didn't have the alphabet soup letter, her dyslexia wouldn't exist, she would just be stupid, just like her mama who dares to diagnose her child and know what she need to succeed in academia. *sigh*

But I digress.... where was I? oh yes, first hurdle; secure a doctor The doctor who did her original diagnosis retired to Aruba! How dare he, and not take me. It seems the psychological education doctors are few and far between and even father from cozy with insurance companies. I am trying to A.) Find a doctor to test Kathryn - again and B.) One that accepts/will file insurance. These two little requirements of mine seem to preclude many doctors in the northern Atlanta area suburbs.

Second hurdle; insurance. I've been trying to be a good little citizen and get all my information in a row before I start calling doctors so I don't waste their or my time in attempting to set up an appointment. Unfortunately when I call the insurance company to find out exactly what the insurance will cover they won't tell me. First I am told to call the pre-authorization department at this "other number". This is a number I cannot be transferred to, I must hang up, call the number and wade through the very annoying auto attendant until I reach a living, breathing, warm body. I am then told, by the said lukewarm biomass, in a rather cavalier manner that they can't give me that information, you have to call the other number I was just speaking with! Gah!!!!! **don't slam the phone down, I don't want to break it**

Third hurdle; ~~opening a bottle of wine while upset and frustrated~~ calling the board of education to see if their special education department can help. All I need is a stinking letter, from an official, sent to the testing monopolies, stating my child needs extra time. That's it! A what? 15 - 30 minutes of an administrators time? I'll even fill out the paper work! They just need to sign it and mail it from HQ. Because when it comes from a school/BOE, it's official, if it is from a parent, it must be scrutinized under a microscope and left up to the whims of a PMSing cog in the machine to allow or deny said request. If it is denied I miss the deadline and must start all over again and Kathryn has to take the test without accommodations and not do nearly as well as she could had she been allowed the accommodations!

So where I stand currently is, I am waiting to hear back from the special ed department of the BOE to see if they will deign to help a poor homeschool parent. I have been playing phone tag with the admin assistant for several days now. I'll start calling again tomorrow.

If I strike out with the BOE, I'll go back to torturing myself with the insurance company and seeing how much money it is going to cost us to give our child a fighting chance to do what she is capable of on the college entrance exams....which by the way she needs to take before she can get a foot in the door to take dual enrollment classes!

*grumble* *grumble*....where is that bottle of wine?

How Many Hats Can I Wear?

2009-07-25T00:20:00.003-04:00

Wait..don't answer that it may be more than I actually want!

My latest round of hat wearing fun has been acting as High School Guidance counselor. With Kathryn entering her junior year it is time to turn our full attention to matters of testing, scholarships and college applications. Kathryn has pretty much settled on a school, Piedmont College, and we now must determine exactly what classes she needs to complete in high school that Piedmont requires for home school admission. We are also looking at what we can take as dual enrollment while in high school to get some pesky core requirements out of the way. Piedmont accepts CLEP credit, which we are working on too, but they only accept a limited number of CLEPs relative to her intended major(s) (We are still deciding.) So, I am pouring through the most current college catalog and trying to help Kathryn see what she has to "look forward to" - and to light a fire under her backside!

So far I have discovered:

Piedmont does not accept ASL as a foreign language. They require a high school level spoken language (Latin included).
Part of the core requirements in college is 2 classes of a foreign language.
The required math class (even for BFA majors) is statistics!! (Or as Butch lovingly referred to it at Tech; sadistics!)
The 2 lab sciences have flexibility so it's not just bio or chem.

Kathryn's eyes have opened a little wider and the reality of what this year will bring is starting to sink in. She has even chosen to take French as her high school foreign language, so I guess we'll be buying Rosetta Stone at the home school show next weekend ($ouch$).

I'm also looking at some possible changes in our curriculum (more $ouch$). I'm thinking about trying the Sonlight 530 British Lit course. I think it would be a good ramp up for college level work for Kathryn. Don't know if we could get it all done in a year but we can try. I'm liking it becasue it has a whole year's worth of lesson plans already planned out - I don't have to do all that! whoo hoo!

I debating on what science to do next year. Piedmont doesn't specify what science just "3 science units". I am assuming they mean 3 lab sciences. But if we can do Marine Biology instead of Chem.... I'll see what K feels up to. Butch will have to take over Chem if we do that!

We are in the middle of our Medieval/Renn. period history so we will continue with that then roll into early American as we finish up with early explorers (Columbus etc.). This will ultimately tie into the Government/Civics and Economics classes I am planning on for 1/2 credit each. I found the Christian Liberty Press books:

They cover the basics very nicely and aren't too boring.

The Econ class will be the Uncle Eric book with the supplemental lesson guide. I have only ever read good things about this book. I hope I learn as much as Kathryn does...or at least I hope she learns!

I'm still looking at a grammar curriculum for high schoolers...we need to brush up on that a bit.

So for Junior year we have so far:
History - Beautiful Feet Medv./Renn.
LA - Sonlight British Lit (?) & grammar/composition class?
Science - Apologia Chem(?), Marine Biology (?), Human Anatomy (?)
Math - Math-U-See Algebra 2
FL - French Rosetta Stone
Civics & Econ
I would love to continue our Logic course and do a little light Latin
...but that might not happen depending on if we go with the Sonlight 530 and how Kathryn does with it. But nothing is ever written in stone so all is subject to change to best suit Kathryn and still achieve our goals.

Otherwise our schedule looks pretty full to me. I hope I can do it!

Taking the guidance counselor hat off now and putting on the night cap. Need to rest up for all the other guidance counselor stuff still to do. More on that another time.

Are ya happy?

2009-07-24T16:50:00.002-04:00

My friend Gina told me I needed to change the photo header on here, so I did. Happy? ;-D

Sad News

2009-07-10T17:54:00.001-04:00

I have come to the decision that I will not be returning to AHG next year as a leader. Kathryn wants to take a break too. I am not going to know what to do with myself on Monday nights now. I'm going to miss my girls too. It was a difficult decision but one that needed to be made. Our troop meets on Monday nights at a church about 20 miles from where we live. In our part of the world, 20 miles equates to nearly an hour drive. That hour drive and me being a leader, which equals extra time before and after a meeting, meant Kathryn and I weren't getting home until 10:00 p.m. or later. Now, usually that isn't so bad, but this coming year our art school is going to be meeting on Tuesday at the location Kathryn will be attending and the kids have to be there at 8:30 a.m. Not so bad... but that means we have to leave around 7:30 since it is nearly 25 miles away and a 7:30 departure means getting up at 6:30 minimum. Okay, okay, yes, lots of ~~government~~ public schools have to go in that early - yeah I'm whining. Shoot me. But this is one of the big pluses to me of homeschooling, you can set your hours to work with your best time...early morning hours are NOT our best time. Us getting home at 10:00 would mean Kathryn, nor I, would realistically get to bed and asleep before midnight. We. Just. Wouldn't. We're night owls. That, with such an early morning, just wouldn't work for us, it would throw off our schedules for the whole week and we wouldn't get nearly as much accomplished as we should. So we are removing a limiting factor...AHG. *sigh*

On top of the whole logistics thing Kathryn dropped the bomb on me that she wasn't that interested in AHG any more. She earned all the "cool" outdoor badges and isn't really that interested in the others... So the appeal of the whole thing is kind of lost on her. She does want to stay with Venturing (yeah!). She likes the high adventure stuff and wants to still have those opportunities. We will probably just transfer our Venturing memberships over to a crew close to home. I am just bummed she didn't stick it out long enough in AHG to get her Stars and Stripes. But, I can't, and shouldn't, force her to do something like that if her heart isn't in it. It would be about me and not her then. She did allow that she would revisit the idea next year after a year off. In the meantime maybe she would be willing to work on Venturing awards.

The thing that surprised/saddened me the most was the absolute, deafening silence that echoed through the rafters when I told my unit we would be leaving. Not one scout or parent called or e-mailed to express sadness, disappointment, disbelief..anything, over my leaving, or even appreciation for the past 4 years of my service to them. Silence can often speak louder than words. So, it may be best that I did leave...apparently I wasn't that wanted.

I'm glad I served as a unit leader these past 4 years. I got to know some really good girls and Kathryn made some great friends. But as I am seeing with many areas of my life, seasons come and season go and it is abundantly clear that several seasons of my life are passing. I am glad to have had those seasons and I feel am a better person for them...I just wish the passing wasn't so painful.

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven: ² a time to be born and a time to die,

¹² I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. ¹³ That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2; 12-13

So, I have toiled the toil the Lord gave me and I am now free for his next assignment. I just pray that he will help me keep my eyes and ears open to know when that next assignment comes.

4th Report

2009-07-08T23:22:00.004-04:00

The 4th of July was a nice, low key day. Butch and I chilled out at home until mid afternoon then we headed over to Mike and Gina's for some kick back time around the pool. We were waiting to hear from the Buffalo contingent to know when to go pick Kathryn up from the church. Thanks to the modern marvels of mobile technology we were able to keep up with their movement and updated ETA on our iPhones via Facebook . One of the counselors that was driving one of the buses was in contact with his wife and she was posting the info in her status box every hour or so. It was awesome! Ain't technology great? Butch was finally able to go get Kathryn around 7:30 p.m. I was so glad to see Kathryn. I had really missed her. She was a bit hyper. I guess sitting on a bus for 10 hours hopped up on caffeine and sugar will do that to you. But, Kathryn got there just in time to enjoy some yummy 4th Fare and see the neighbor's fireworks and, what we think were, some of the Mall of Georgia fireworks. Besides just watching fireworks, Kathryn, Emily and Jared had Snap-n-Pops to play with and sparklers (wheee!). The Snap-n-Pops went pretty fast (Kathryn likes to dump the whole package, all at once, on the ground. It makes a rather satisfying machine gun noise.) The sparklers provided a bit more entertainment, as evidenced below.

Kathryn is just a bit crazed here and still working that sugar out of her system.

Kathryn and Emily performing the obligatory 'wizards' duel'.

Jared being.....well.....Jared. Gotta love that kid! LOL

Later, the kids wandered down the street to where one of the families had a ginormous pack of those 'low grade' fireworks. Still, they provided some entertainment and a little Ooooo and Ahhhh factor.

After the fireworks had pretty much played out the kids got in the pool to goof around. While in there Butch called them over to ask them a question. He asked them, "What are y'all's costumes going to be?" It took them half a second but they figured out that they are going to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party when we are at Disney in October. To say they were excited would be putting it mildly. They are planning and plotting the what's and how's of various costume ideas. We shall see how many times the costume decision changes before they settle on an idea that is doable.

All in all it was a very nice day. We got to spend it with friends, travel freely in our community and between states, talk political dissent, and political party trash talk, and do so all in the warm comfort of knowing it is our hard won rights to be able to do so. We are aware of the price of our freedoms and we are grateful for them. Maybe we don't do enough to help take this country back or help change the direction we are going in, but we do what we can and we do it gladly, proudly, and willingly knowing that that is what makes this country so unique - that we can have our hands and opinions in the policy making of the country and we can have our voices heard. It is for these rights and freedoms we enjoy that I thank God I am an American. I just pray that Kathryn, at my age, will still know the America we know now and knew growing up.

Headed Out! ...Now What?

2009-07-02T23:43:00.005-04:00

Kathryn and all the Buffalo missionaries had to meet up at church at waaaay too early for us on Saturday to load up and head on out. I got a few quick pictures of the madness before they were gone.

This is the drivers side of the 'people bus'. This bus pretty much carried all the kids going as well as a good portion of stuff for VBS. The other bus was empty except for luggage. I hope as they got up the road, some of the kids moved over to the other bus if for no other reason than to help keep Bob awake!

The passenger side of the 'people bus'. You can always count on Summer and Brooke to be the camera goofs! :-)

Nathan, our youth minister. He is driving the 'people bus', he is a brave soul.

Aaannnnnnd they're off! The last vision I had of Kathryn for a week, as they were leaving the church parking lot.

All I know about the return trip is that they should be back around dinner time Saturday. When exactly dinner time is, I have no clue. Hopefully the kids will be able to use the adult's cell phones to call parents to come get them when they are getting close to home.

In the mean time I am covering a pet sitting job for Kathryn until she gets home. It's a good gig, about 10 days so that will be some good money for her to put up and save for Dragon*Con coming up on Labor Day weekend, and then for Disney World in October. Today was my first day of sitting. Kathryn gets to take over Saturday night.

It's been a really slow, low key week with her gone. I've stayed home for the most part. The Saturday Kathryn left for Buffalo Butch and I went to lunch with 2 couples, Chris and Beth and Anne and Don, and then we went to see Star Trek. C&B and A&D had not seen the movie at all and were very excited to see it. After watching Star Trek in IMAX Butch and I decided we wanted to see it again on a regular screen. There is so much action in that movie that we were giving ourselves whiplash trying to see it all at IMAX. So we all went together. After the movie, we all came back to our house to play games. We've really been enjoying the Battlestar Galactica game since we are all BSG fnas. We played it most of the evening.

The game is very true to the spirit and plot of the series and thus very complicated. But the element of intrigue and surprise really appeals to us. We wind up spending 4-5 hours per game. Not too bad. We are getting quicker as we are becoming more familiar with the rules and flow of the game. Next game night we need to put that one aside and play something else like Apples to Apples or Cranium or something so Mike and Gina will want to come over an play too.

As far as school goes, I need to start pulling my lesson plans together for Artios for next year. Then for our school I need to finalize some of the curriculum (grammar) and tie up some loose ends on other items. I'll start that project next week.

I really look forward to Kathryn getting home. I miss her. But I'm glad she went to Buffalo, it is so important for the kids up there and the kids who went. Kathryn always gets so much out of the mission trips she goes on and after each one I see a little more growth in her personally and spiritually. These trips are as much her schooling as any book work she will do. These trips are more important in my mind, they develop her into the adult she will become far better than any book work she could do. Is this whole language learning?

Go Ye Forth...

2009-06-26T23:32:00.003-04:00

Kathryn leaves for Buffalo, NY tomorrow morning at 0'my lord early. She and the other folks going will be putting on VBS for the kids at Seneca Street UMC. Kathryn went a couple years ago on the same mission and loved it. For some reason our youth didn't go back last year (I think it was scheduling issues) but they are very excited to go again this summer.

We spent a couple hours today once VBS was over gathering what props and supplies we could for them to take to to use up there. We did Crocodile Dock here at home and they will simply do it again up there. Several of those that are going have done it this week so they are familiar with the flow and story line. We packed up one of the buses going with donations, supplies, AV equipment and misc stuff for the week. Tomorrow all they have to do is load up luggage and people and they are off!

Last Sunday it was nice, the church had a commissioning of the folks going to Buffalo. They got called to the front of the church and had a blessing read over them by the congregation.

Here is the first of the blessing. I didn't photograph every screen shot, I wanted to participate in the blessing. Sadly, in the Contemporary Service they don't provide Orders of Worship so I don't have a copy of the blessing that was given. It was a nice one, one I'd like to keep but I don't have it becasue they do things different in that service. (and that's all I'm going to say about that.)

So, I'm going to head off to bed. It's late and I want to be awake as we send Kathryn off tomorrow.

File This Under; Weird

2009-06-23T15:35:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago a needle that was lurking in my carpet waiting to ambush poor unsuspecting toes. It found mine. No biggie, I've been stabbed by pins and needles before. The needle stabbed me, I did the obligatory #!%$@ dance, inspected said stab wound - yup it is bleeding freely - applied appropriate first aid and bandage and went merrily along my way. Come the next morning my toe was throbbing in pain, red and inflamed. I removed the dressing, looked for obvious "expressible infection", reapplied antibiotic ointment and band aid. This goes on for several days. I was hobbling, limping as I walked. If I so much as lightly bumped that toe against anything the pain was debilitating. Okay, I decide, I've got something going on big time. I go to the local urgent care office to have it looked at and get some antibiotics. The doctor looked at it, told me it does appear to be infected (No!? Really?) and offered two choices. First choice; they could cut my toe open, try to express any lurking infection there may be deep within and prescribe an antibiotic. Second choice was; prescribe the antibiotic, send me home and see what happens. I took the 2nd choice.

Fast forward 10+ days. I finish my round of antibiotics. The toe is better but not completely healed. It still hurts like a son of a gun if I hit it on anything but at least the swelling has gone down. Butch looked at it and he saw a small black spot right at the wound site. "A ha!" we think, maybe some lingering infection is working its way out. I pierce the site where the black spot is thinking to work out some infection...imagine my surprise when this comes out!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is a 9/16" piece of needle that broke off in my toe that I didn't know was there! No wonder I felt like I was being stabbed again every time I put any pressure on that spot!

I am happy to report that I am feeling much better, the redness is gone, the pain is gone and I am now healing up nicely. All I can say is thank God for tetanus shots and antibiotics!

Rabbit Trails

2009-06-22T11:15:00.003-04:00

We all have gone down these little trails, rabbit trails. You start off discussing something with your cronies which leads to a 'left turn' (a thought spawned by the conversations but TOTALLY off topic - please signal) and then that left turn takes a another turn and well you get the idea. Sometimes you take these trails on the internet. You are skimming along researching something, or as I was innocently doing this morning, catching up on my regular blogs, and you follow a link, or an ad and that leads to another and well, you wind up in a place where people find it amusing (see me raising my hand?) to tape bacon to their cat....

Jack!? Oh Jack! Where are yoooouuu???

It's Father's Day Today...

2009-06-21T17:22:00.000-04:00

....what are you going to do?

As backwards as it may seem, we decided to give the kids a Father's Day present.

Butch and I had been talking about going to Walt Disney World again this fall and had begun planning a trip around the free dining dates available. We went ahead and got reservations made. A few days later we were chatting with Mike and Gina and commented about going to Disney and they should come. To my surprise they agreed to go! Mike and Gina have usually turned down invites to trips like that because they are on the Dave Ramsey plan too and are watching the money. But after talking about it they decided it would be a good thing to do and simply pay cash for the trip.

They, like we, are looking at our kids growing up so fast and we won't have them around much longer to go on vacations with or just enjoy spending leisurely time together. So they decided to seize upon this opportunity to do a family vacation. I'm ecstatic because this will give Kathryn some buddies to hang out with and we will have some friends to hang with too! :-) As an only child I know what it's like going on trip with the 'rents. I loved going on trips with my folks but when I was Kathryn's age, I really would have enjoyed having a friend my age along. So I'm glad she will have Emily along again this year as well as Jared! I'm looking forward to it because we had so much fun last year showing Emily all the "insider" tips, tricks and info about the parks. This year we get to do it with Jared, Gina and Mike! I think Jared will be the most excited of the three though!

We parents had been planning and plotting for weeks to get the trip in place without the kids knowing. Once all was firmed up we tried to figure out when to tell the kids. Last year was easy, it was a combined birthday present to Kathryn and Emily. This year it is simply a vacation. So we decided to do a Father's day lunch out on Sunday after church. Right after we placed our food orders we had each kid say something about what they appreciated about their dad in honour of Father's Day. When they all had said their peace, Gina then pulled out a couple envelopes, one for Mike and Butch and said, "Diane and I found a little something for y'all last minute, here." and she handed them the envelopes.

Here they are opening the envelopes...

...and here are the kids faces when they were shown what was on the card (see photo at top). The kids went nuts! They were so excited, Jared especially! It was so funny, they talked a mile a minute for the rest of lunch. Kathryn and Emily took it upon themselves to start telling Jared all about the parks and what he needs to ride and do and look for. They decided they will take him with them when we let them go off alone and show him the sights. So the kids are excited, we are excited and we all can hardly wait for October to roll around!

Father's Day, it's a good day to plan a family vacation.

Looong week

2009-06-20T22:40:00.003-04:00

This has been a long week. Our swim season is shortened by a couple weeks due to the venue we use for county finals. Since we couldn't get the facility when we wanted it, but had to take what was available close to those dates, it compressed our season by a week. So we had to fit two swim meets in this week to accommodate the full season roster. Of course we swam two of the toughest teams this past week. By Thursday night Kathryn and all the other swimmers were done - they were not into the meet and were just marking time to get it over with. Personally I think a lot of the parents were too!

On the plus side, we had our niece Nichole down for a few days (Monday night - Friday night). She had to suffer through swim practice in the morning and two meets too! Not much of a visit for her. Luckily she is a very easy going kid and took the weekly grind in stride. She and Kathryn got to enjoy some giggle time between practices and meets. We also went to see Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian on Wednesday afternoon since that was the ONE day she was down we had the whole day with her and no meet.

The movie was great! Lots of laughs and actual history lessons sprinkled liberally throughout. Emily and her brother Jared joined us as did Nana.

Friday, Nichole's last day with us, we skipped the fun swim practice we always have the Friday after a meet. We slept in a bit and then Kathryn and Nichole decided to to go to Jillian's where we had an over priced lunch and played rip off games of chance, to earn tickets, to trade in for cheap junk. (No, I'm not jaded at all.) Right after Jillian's we had to run home, grab suitcases and hit the road to meet at the designated mid-way pick up/drop off point. This years visit was a bit disappointing. We usually have a good 7 days with Nichole and usually not during swim season. But, as the girls are growing up their summer schedules are getting tighter and tighter. In a few more weeks (post swim season) Nichole will be starting band camp and will be going to it every day for 3 weeks to prepare for the start of this year's football season. So, there goes our July visit. Oh well, I'm just happy we got to have her at all this summer! Nichole may have other thoughts given what this year's trip was like!

More fun on the horizon for us. Next week starts VBS at our church and Kathryn is working at it again. That means our days will be starting earlier than usual. We are still working on school work since we just took a few weeks off for various reasons which means that is what Kathryn gets to do once she gets home from VBS every afternoon. This coming Saturday, the day after VBS ends, Kathryn and 15 other youth and adults will load up in the buses and head to Buffalo, NY for a mission trip.

Our church has gone to Seneca Street UMC in Buffalo for years providing VBS, reading camps, general odd jobs at the church and just loving on the kids that come to the church for a refuge from their daily lives. Kathryn went on this trip a couple years ago and loved it! She couldn't wait for the opportunity to go again. She is very excited. I'm so glad she is excited over service to others. She really enjoys giving of herself and helping others and as a mom that is so gratifying to see. I hope she keeps that spirit of service alive in her heart and always looks for ways to help others.

She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
Proverbs 31:20

It's never too early to learn to be a Proverbs 31 woman! :-)

It was a long week this past week and it looks like this one coming up is shaping up to be one too. It will be a long week but quick, we will be so busy. Oh well, this kind of busy I can handle. It has point and purpose and we will be accomplishing something, God's work! :-)

Happy Birthday Gina!

2009-06-18T23:15:00.001-04:00

Today was Gina's birthday. It was a swim meet day. It was a trying meet. It was an away meet, It rained like there was no tomorrow and we were under a severe thunderstorm warning. Luckily, it was a fast moving, typical summer storm and it blew over quickly. Once it was past us, it was actually very sunny and ~~warm~~ humid. In honour of it being Gina's birthday, the kids dedicated their "back art" to her. Back art is where swimmers write on their backs their team names, encouragement or just stuff. Kathryn and Emily have taken back art to a whole new obscure, twisted level. Tonight was tame.

Gina got lots of congratulations on the day thanks to the kids 'advertisement'. And yes, we know birthday was spelled wrong on Kathryn's back....thanks Em! ;-)

Happy Birthday Gina!! :-)

Don't Ask Me, I'm Just the Driver

2009-06-13T15:35:00.006-04:00

It seems a standard has been established that I am the unwitting Atlas to. Kathryn and Em have declared this the summer of "a movie a week" - or so it seems. Last week was X-Men involving, extended time at the mall doing girlie stuff. This week was Star Trek in IMAX (awesome!!!) preceded by many hours at the mall doing girlie stuff. (Understand this....the only show time for Star Trek IMAX is at midnight - deep breath, ...ok, I can do this.) Kathryn and Emily had been cooking up this plan at swim practice and in the bull pen at meets. Once the plan was mostly hatched Emily invites Lauren along. Lauren is another church buddy that was working with Em at a day camp at our church. No big deal, Lauren is a good kid. But now I have 3 girlies.

Friday afternoon I pick up Em and Lauren and we we hit the mall by 4:30. The VERY first thing they want to do is try on party/prom dresses. So we spend an hour or so in the dressing rooms trying on stuff. It was actually very fun and the girls had a good time. They were even trying to figure out how to buy some of the dresses (they were on a great sale) even though they had no immediate event or dance to attend. Here is a sampling of what they tried on.

Cute, little, silky party dresses. I was a bit concerned about the length on them though. (Don't bend over girls!)

More cute, little party dresses. I think Em's socks really set the whole ensemble off!

Here they all are in sparkly, pink dresses and making their "sparkly, pink dress face", which, by the way, translates into, "MEH!". Lauren's was actually really cute except for the plumage at the cleavage.

Now, here they are in different pink dresses (yes they really are different) putting on their happy "I like this one" face. What the difference is, only they know.

These were the 'princess" dresses. Kathryn and Em had on Belle's ball gown and Lauren had on either an Aerial or Tinkerbell dress, I don't remember their verdict.

After ballgown shopping it was on to just regular ole malling. We hit all kinds of stores looking at all kinds of stuff. The girls were lamenting lack of funds left and right. But they still managed to have a good time.

Knee high Converse shoes, "oh yeah!" They tried the same pair on....

Star Trek crew shirts! Well, we were going to see ST after all. And no, there were no red shirts.

"Dude! $12.50 for a scarf!?"

We make this look good!

Saw this on the way into a dressing room area....had to laugh (and get a picture!)

Once we closed the mall down we went to TGI Fridays' for a late dinner and waited until time to head to the show. Oh! Another big idea they had was to 'dress up' in pajamas like little girls (it was a sleep over). They changed at the restaurant before we headed back to the mall.

It was starting to rain, and Kathryn loves the movie Singing in the Rain....
It's hard to see but Lauren is in the middle and Em is all the way back

Uhm, eerrr, riiiight. See what happens when you turn your head for just a second?

The obligatory photo with the large promo piece for the movie viewed.

Feets with flash.

Feets without flash...aren't they cute????

There was an older gentleman (60's maybe) in the theatre by himself, sitting behind the girls and I wonder if they were more entertainment to him than the movie. They were quite chatty and giddy, and oh such a sight to see. I caught him smirking a couple times at their antics. He also got to catch their performance after the movie of running up the down escalator. That was interesting.

It was a great day/night and I had a ball watching the girls just be teenage girls. They are good kids, polite, respectful, mature (when the need arises) and I don't worry about them unduly. Now, I was right there with them the whole time, but I didn't have to keep an eagle eye on them to keep them in line from becoming too obnoxious. That makes it so much more pleasant to do things with them and it makes me willing, even happy, to do it again. This is a parenting thing. These girls have parents who have kept priorities in order and made it important to raise respectful kids and helped them remember it isn't "all about you". This is something I have to remember a lot of times when I see kids behaving badly. It isn't the kids fault fully, it is the parent's that haven't put the extra time, effort or energy into actively parenting the kids past 13. I think it is sad that at the time in a kid's life when they need their parent's love, discipline, and guidance the most, the parents backs off and either becomes the friend or just quits being a parent. But I digress, I am so thankful for the friends Kathryn hangs out with and I hope to continue to nurture and make available more friendships with similar kids. If that means I'm just the driver, then I'm more than happy to drive!

Uhm......Ewwwww

2009-06-12T01:51:00.002-04:00

Got this link off my buddy Calvin's blog. The topic was gross enough I had to take the quiz; the 'What Would You Taste Like to a Cannibal' quiz!

Created by Recipe Star

Go take the quiz and find out what you might taste like! :-P

Swim Lessons

2009-06-12T01:15:00.004-04:00

Tonight was yet another swim meet. This week however went much better than last week's! We did not get rained out. We had a brief thunderstorm rumble through right before the meet and then the weather was beautiful! It is hard to photograph a swim meet with my dinky little camera but I got a few pics of Kathryn tonight.

This is Kathryn is the 'ready' position just before the backstroke.

This really is Kathryn doing the backstroke it is just hard to tell.

Here she is post race with the other swimmers.

Kathryn waiting for her next event, I think it was the 100 yard freestyle. (She did awesome BTW, she shaved time off her best time.)

Kathryn and Emily waiting their last event, the 200 yard Freestyle Relay - or Freelay as we like to call it. (That is 4 swimmers on one relay team, each swimming 50 yards freestyle) You can tell they are stressed about the impending heat can't you?

I really enjoy Kathryn swimming in the summer league. No, really I do, despite my grumblings about meets that last forever! Kathryn has a good time with the other swimmers, gets some really good exercise and learns lessons about perseverance, sportsmanship and personal goals. I am realistic, unless something goes off in Kathryn's head in the next few months, she will never be a collegiate or Olympic swimmer. But I do know she tries really hard to do her best and that is all I ever ask. She has learned to work on beating her time, if she wins the heat even better. But, Kathryn is realistic too, she's more interested in seeing improvement in her past performance. She's all smiles when she improves time or just puts in a really good effort. I like that. I have seen kids at the meets that get mad if they don't win. They will throw temper tantrums, cry or taunt/bully the kids that won. That is not what I want my child to learn, I want her to learn to win graciously and lose just as graciously. I see her congratulating the other swimmers that beat her and encouraging the ones she beat. To me, that is being a winner. Hopefully she will carry those lessons as far or farther than the history, science or math lessons we do, becasue those lessons are lessons for life.

Hold the Bacon Please

2009-06-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

Some of you may remember that in November my mom had open heart surgery to replace one of her valves. As ongoing monitoring care of her post surgery, her doctors have been watching her carotid arteries for blockage (they had been watching even before the heart surgery). At a recent appointment it was decided it was time she had a carotid endarterectomy becasue there was plaque buildup but, more importantly, there was a 'pothole' in the plaque in one area that could cause a blood clot and thusly a potential stroke. So surgery was scheduled and I was told about it a couple days before it was to happen....hey, nothing like the last minute eh?

Last Monday mom was admitted into the hospital to have the plaque removed. She spent the night in the hospital and was sent home the following morning. Kathryn and I went by to see her at home (we had been at the hospital all the day before too). On the way over we decided that a Blizzard from Dairy Queen might be good medicine for a sore throat so we brought 3 Butterfinger Blizzards for mom, dad and my aunt Meme who was there to help out as needed. Mom's dressing was off and she was feeling pretty good. I took a couple pictures, they aren't that bad the weirdest one is the actual plaque they removed from her. But if you are the least bit squeamish you may want to skip the next pictures or look away as you scroll past them.

****Squeamish buffer****

This is the incision. She has one stitch in her, stitching the artery shut that will be removed in the doctor's office when she goes for a check up. You can kind of see the stitch loop on the right sticking up above the steri-stirps on her neck.

****Squeamish buffer****

This is the actual full piece of plaque that was removed from her left carotid. You can see the 'pothole' at about the 1:00 position, it is round-looking, almost like a hole. The doctor said what can happen is that; as blood flows through, platelets can sort of swirl and eddy in that pothole, clot, then break free again, flow to the brain and cause a stroke or just become a blood clot in some other part of the body. It was the goal to prevent that from happening. In about 6 weeks she will go in again and have the right side done also.

We are so grateful that all went well and that technology has come so far in these areas. In 1973 my grandmother, mom's mom, had this exact surgery done and subsequently suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed completely on her left side for nearly 7 years. We were all thinking of that as mom went in, and praying that history would not repeat itself. So far, so good! One down, one to go.

Hmmmmmm, can we count this as science? ;-D

Fashion Show

2009-06-10T00:11:00.002-04:00

As promised, here are the pictures from the "fashion show" Kathryn and Emily put on for me last Friday at Old Navy.

They try, but they just don't sport 'tude real well. Although Em is getting closest.

Not sure of the faces they were making....snobby? Aloof? Smell something bad? Not sure....

This is a darling shot of the two of them...the empire waist is not the best choice for Emily's body. Still a great picture of them, especially Em.

Going for a European flair I suppose.

I. LOVE. THIS. ONE! This is soooooo the two of them. It captures them so perfectly!

Again a European sort of look? This shirt did not look good on Kathryn. The colour is great, not the cut.

Busy, busy, busy

2009-06-08T00:35:00.002-04:00

I have been rather busy these past days/week. Swim is in full swing now so we have morning practice and then Thursday meets. This past Thursday's meet was rained out. Yes, go figure, a swim meet can be rained out. It wasn't because of lightening or thunder, it was because of rain. We are talking, torrential, toad strangling, biblically epic proportions. It seems that when it is raining so hard the swimmers can't see the bottom of the pool, it is time to call the match. Kathryn wasn't too upset about it, the match got scratched right before her event in breast stroke...not her favourite stroke.

Besides swim Kathryn has had a few babysitting jobs this week and more importantly she had fun girlie time. Emily came over Friday and we went to see X-Men Origins - Wolverine. Excellent movie. Hugh Jackman what a cutie! :-D After the movie Kathryn and Emily wanted to mall crawl so we went to several clothing and boutique stores. At Old Navy Kathryn and Emily decided they needed to try on half the store. Too bad we couldn't have bought it all because, with only one exception, those two looked fabulous in everything they tried on! (I'll post pictures later.) Once we got home those two sat up til 7 A.M.(!) watching movies and giggling and snorting. After a whopping 3 hours of sleep they were up and at it again.

Tomorrow Kathryn and I go to the hospital to hang out while my mom has some surgery to clean out her carotid artery and hopefully repair an ulcer that is there. More on that later when I know something!

For now, I'm going to bed because I need to get up early.

This is NOT What I Signed Up For

2009-06-01T22:50:00.002-04:00

We had to burst our baby's bubble.
We had to tear the curtain down.
We had to break our baby's heart.
I hate being the parent of a teenager right now.
I'm just saying.

Support your struggling blogger

2009-05-26T18:08:00.002-04:00

I just found out that Kathryn's BFF's brother has his own blog now too. "Calvin" is 11 and quite and extraordinary boy. So I thought I'd give a shout out to Calvin and plug his blog, The Tiger's Den. He has a neat feature good for other homeschoolers, it is his WotP or Word of the Post. He will post a word, a rather esoteric word, and you are to either know it or look it up. He will then, in the next post, define it for you. Kind of a fun way to do vocabulary work eh?

So head over there or send your kid. (I'm trying to up Calvin's traffic a little for him! ;-))

It's a Small World Afterall

2009-05-25T23:18:00.005-04:00

This is more true to me now than ever! As I mentioned in my Crazy Eight post there is a story behind my learning about the blog Treasured Chapters. I left a message for K., the owner of Treasured Chapters about a post on her blog about letterboxing. They had found a letterbox our Cub Scout Pack had planted at Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center. This got us chatting back and forth about her location. It turns out that she:

Lives in the same town as my parents
Goes to the church where Artios Duluth met this past year
She teaches one of my students in her ~~bible study class~~ writing class/course
She went to see him (my student) in the fall production of Secret Garden and remembers Kathryn's performance as Mrs. Medlock in it
She knows and teaches one of Kathryn's BFFs in her writing class/course
I had actually contacted her for her on-line composition class/course for Kathryn!

Talk about 6 degrees of separation! Try 1 degree in 6 directions! LOL I am just amazed at how total strangers can get to know each other via the internet and learn they aren't such strangers. So anyway, big smile and wave to K. over on Treasured Chapters!

Crazy Eights

2009-05-23T14:45:00.008-04:00

Alright, I wasn't 'officially' tagged in this tag game....nobody ever tags me. Insert pitiful pouty face here =====> <:`-(

But, be that as it may, I am strong, I will persevere and I will simply tag myself! I saw this little dilly at Knowledge House Academy who had been tagged by Treasured Chapters (who is another story for another post.) So I am playing along. Here's my answers & if you'd like to participate, let me know so I can read yours.

So here is the Tag Game:Crazy Eights

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

Seeing what tomorrow will bring
Growing old with Butch
Seeing Kathryn married
Bouncing grandbabies on my knee
Going on another Disney cruise
Living like no one else, becasue we are living like no one else (being out of debt)
Dragon*Con '09!
America waking up and taking this country back.

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

Went to the bank
Went to the grocery store
Went to the butcher
Filled in missing lesson plans for the summer
Did laundry
Cooked a crock pot of marinara sauce
Checked e-mail and Facebook
Had friends over for dinner

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

Make 'it' all better (whatever 'it' is) for all my family and friends
SCUBA dive
Play French Horn (I'm too musically challenged)
Win the Lottery! :-D
Take a year to travel around the world (see #4)
Meet and hang out with Jimmy Buffett like old buds.
Travel in space as a tourist
Make friends easier/Never lose my good friends

8 Shows I Watch (I assume still in production....):

Eureka
Dr. Who
Mythbusters
Dirty Jobs
Deadliest Catch
The Dog Whisperer
Clean House
Primeval

Bloggers I'm Tagging:

Okay, now you go tag some blogging buddies and let me know you are playing so I can read your answers!

The Morning After...

2009-05-23T11:35:00.001-04:00

Okay, before I go any further let me be perfectly clear. I drink alcohol. I do not apologize for it. I like wine, I like mixed drinks....kind of over the whole beer thing about 25 years ago. I do not go off on benders. I do not have a problem and I have not corrupted my child. I drink in moderation and responsibly. That said.... this is what I found this morning after I got up. I remember it, but at the same time....I was in dire need of water to help quell the wicked headache I had. Geeeeee, I wonder why I had the headache?

I turned from the dining room and looked to the kitchen. I spied the recycle bin. Yeah, we had a good night. LOL

We invited some friends over last night for dinner. We haven't been able to see them and chat for a while and since the husband is out of work right now we wanted to offer our support and let him vent. Some other friends came by to chat too and well, we had a very nice, relaxing, adult night as you can see. We will need to do it again...I will just have to remember to drink more water before I go to bed!

Foto Friday!!!

2009-05-22T15:20:00.002-04:00

This picture was taken about a year ago at Epcot during the Flower and Garden show. (A trip that was my Mother's Day preset to myself that year since I was about to go into surgery the following week and would be laid up for about 6 weeks.) It forever altered my perceptions about marigolds deterring rabbits from my garden. :-/ This little cutie was happily munching away at the lovely marigolds in the display here.

Lookie Here

2009-05-22T00:01:00.003-04:00

You never know what you will stumble upon as a homeschool parent on the interwebs. Today I was frantically trying to find either a DVD or CD of Shakespeare's King John so Kathryn can begin that section in our history curriculum (Beautiful Feet). I ran across this little gem of a web site!

Oh. My. Gosh! It has tons of audio books you can download for FREE!! It's a dream come true. I have trouble finding some of the books I want Kathryn to read on audio at the library and I really don't want to have to buy them all... this is a perfect solution! Better yet, they have King John! Whoot!

I have been sweating Kathryn tackling Shakespeare becasue of the whole dyslexia thing. Ole Billy Bard is hard enough for 'regular' folks to understand much less those with reading troubles. The best piece of advice I have ever seen regarding Shakespeare is to listen to it. It was written to be spoken, not read. If The Bard's work can come off as drama (and it is) to Kathryn, she'll do great. It will really help to hear the tone, timing and inflection of the story.

Beyond my ecstasy over finding Shakespeare at Learn Out Loud there are free downloads of many of the classics I was wanting Kathryn to read next year. Oh, we are soooo good on Language Arts now!

Oh, and at a related site:

They have lots of historical documents, speeches and what not available too. So, much of our Civics class is taken care of too! :-)

I just had to pass this info on! Hope you or a friend can use it!

Planning Forward

2009-05-19T23:48:00.003-04:00

Tonight was our AHG board meeting. We filled out end of year paperwork to recharter with national and then worked on setting our calendar for next year. I feel very good about next year and absolutely LOVE having having 90% of next year's calendar set!

Next year we will have 7 troop activities/service projects
September:

Our traditional baked goods for police and firemen delivered on a Monday night as close to 9/11 as possible.

October:

An all day craft/sewing day to make stuffed gingham bears and dolls to donate to Operation Christmas Child as filler items.

November:

A service project for Veterans Day in league with our local VFW
Deliver bears and dolls made in October to the Operation Christmas Child Atlanta Processing Center and get tour

December:

Bell ringing for the Salvation Army one Saturday at a local mall.

January:

Making and delivering handmade blankets to the Georgia Baptist Children's Home (the older girls will be able to deliver and play/talk with the children there - this could be a great on going mission for the troop)

March:

Scouting for Food - food drive for the local co-op. We hope to be able to deliver and shelve the items we collect.

For troop activities we will have:
June:

Bowling

July:

Tubing in Helen, GA

August:

Raingutter Regatta

September or October:

Fall Family Camp

March:

Powderpuff (Pinewood) Derby

April:

Spring Family Camp

Not a bad line up of items for our coming year. In addition to these items I will be adding in a few for my girls. We have a first aid and CPR class lined up for August. They will help with the new scout 'boot camp' where we help the new girls to earn their Joining Award by learning the Oath and Creed, salute, pledges etc. They are also going to be planning and implementing the Fall award/bridging ceremony. Besides the troop work they will be doing I hope to get a few more camping trips in with just the girls. They love those!

Whew! The year just finished and already we are looking to next year!

Oh! on a slightly different note. I also discovered that one of the girls Kathryn likes to hang out with on swim team is in a Venturing Crew near us. She had offered to help us find out way in getting our Venturing legs under us. Maybe their crew will allow a few girls to come and observe a meeting and ask questions. That would be very helpful!!

Into the woods

2009-05-18T23:56:00.003-04:00

The inaugural trip of Crew 593 happened over the weekend. Butch and I took 4 girls, including Kathryn, camping at a BSA property. It wasn't anything major or high adventure just a leisurely weekend camp trip. The girls have been dying to take a camping trip with just them, no little siblings, no younger scouts, just the Patriots. Okay, okay, I know this seems confusing mixing up AHG and Venturing but it is really very simple. Several months ago I finally got our charter application turned in to begin a Venturing Crew out of our Charter Organization location to go along with our AHG troop, Cub Pack and Boy Scout Troop. This is ostensibly so the older girls will have more opportunity to do outdoor adventure outings then we would be afforded just through AHG. We will now have all BSA properties to go to and all BSA high adventure programs to participate in should we so choose. So, while this was an official Crew event, it was also a Patriot event since all the crew members we have right now are AHG Patriots. Got it? Clear as mud? Just nod you head....moving on.

We went to Camp Rotary on Lake Hartwell on the Georgia side. Camp Rotary is one of the Northeast Georgia Council properties. It is a lovely little finger of land surrounded by lake. It is beautiful! While we were there this weekend Butch commented that this was the first time he had felt like he had been camping in a long time; no marked out camp site, prepared tent pad, piled on top of your neighbor camp. This was a primitive camp with only a fire ring and picnic table provided per site. There was one bath house with running water and flush toilets. Everything else was privies with drip sinks. We don't mind the primitive conditions and we managed to have a very nice, relaxing time.

This was right after we got there and realized we had unloaded in the wrong camp site. There are no numbers up by the road. The numbers are welded on the fire ring on the side away from the road! We had the girls stop setting up their tent in case we had to move. We were awaiting a call back from either the district camp coordinator or the local camp ranger. We talked to the ranger first and they told us we could stay since no one had reserved that site for the weekend. Whew!

This was our view from the camp. I could SO live right there!

This was the view to the right of our site. That point of land was off another camp site but we pretty much had that whole curve of the lake to ourselves.

This was the fire ring (note the #2 -that was the site number) and the table. That is the girls tent in the back ground.

This is the other side of the camp. That is the girls tent and miscellaneous gear stowed under our ginormous tarp. Butch's and my tent is the red one on the background.

Friday after we got camp set up we let the girls wade into the lake to cool off a bit...that wonderful Georgia red clay inspired them to have a spa moment and give themselves mud facials!! LOL

It's hard to see but C., V. and M. pretty much have full mud masks on. Even after they washed off they had this bad, self tanner orange, cast to their skin for the whole weekend. V. was so bad we were calling her an Oompaloompa!

Saturday we had a break in the rain (whoo hoo!!!) and we let the girls go swimming off the swim dock. M. was enjoying the water so much she wouldn't come out of it!

Buddy Check!!!! Luckily we had an even number of girls! ;-)

This is Sunday morning as we were leaving. I wanted to get a memorial photo of all the original Crew members on the inaugural trip of the Crew. Can you tell they had fun? We are already figuring out the next adventure.

I got an answer

2009-05-13T22:57:00.004-04:00

...sorta.

I got a reply back from national about our uniform dilemma. Basically they state that there is not plan for now or in the future to change the PiPa uniform from a sash to a vest (which would afford a lot more room). But, one solution they have seen for a scout in Kathryn's position is to sew her next badges on top of the existing ones, but only at the top of the badge so that the new badge will flap up to show the badge underneath. Not my favourite plan. A flip book of badges? Erm...weird :-/

So, as Scarlett would say, I won't think about that now. After all, tomorrow is another day!

Although on a positive note, nationals is looking to create a new service star that will denote higher numbers (50? 75? 100?) of hours on one star. That alone will free up a TON of space on Kathryn's sash! Too bad I might not see that in action until it is no longer an issue for Kathryn. Hey, at least I know national is listening to us.

Erm? Now what?

2009-05-13T00:44:00.002-04:00

I never thought I'd have this problem but here it is staring me in the face...

This is Kathryn's scout sash...she is out of room. I sewed her most recent badges on there that she got last night at the award ceremony. Now, except for one reserved spot for a future Science and Technology badge to come, she is out of room on her sash. I sent a note with this picture to my rep at national. I'll be curious to see what they offer as a solution. As it stands now, Kathryn has no room for her level award she is planning on getting in October, or her Stars and Stripes award she will eventually get (hopefully). She can get about 6 more service stars (120 hours - She will have that in a year) and then we are out of room there too.

I really hope national rethinks their uniforms and badges...we need help!

My Name is Diane And I Am Addicted To Books.

2009-05-12T12:37:00.004-04:00

....okay, whew! There I said it. I've heard tell that the first step in recovery is admitting there is a problem....but I really don't see book addiction as a problem. Case in point. I belong to paperbackswap.com it is an exchange service where you mail books requested of you to folks who want them now and in exchange you get credit for them and you can in turn request books. In fact I'm mailing one off this morning. See? No problem there...one goes out, one comes in.

But then....well, then there are the homeschool conferences. All these wonderful book vendors show up at them selling living books, text books, antique out of print books and I just can't resist the smell of paper and fresh ink or the musty, dusty smell of a well loved antique book...and then all sense and reason leaves my head. But! See, I need these books! They are for school. We use living books for much of our history and our literature and supplemental reference for the time period we are studying and .... well .... well..... we NEED them!

See here let me show you.....

This is some of what I bought for next year. Can you tell we are going to civics and economics? ;-) I found this lovely CD with the Canterbury Tales on it. We are about to start reading that, so it will help Kathryn with reading it. She needs some practice with grammar and composition so I had to get Editor in Chief as a good practice book. It will also double as SAT prep. Of course who would do economics without doing it with The Uncle Bob book, Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and its accompanying workbook? The Christian Liberty Press books of The Land of Fair Play and The Story of The Constitution are great books that cover the basics and do it from a Christian point of view, which is important to us. So see? I had to get these books so I could frame our courses on them for next year.

Okay. So see? I'm not that bad off. I had purpose and reason to get those books. But there are times when you need to support your habit and you sell things, to get some money, to get another fix... OKAY! OK! I admit it! I sold some cast off books to buy new ones. There! I said it... .. quite cathartic. But again, it is for my child I do these things. She will need them. I will need them....I had to do something.

Kathryn has been purging her toy room in preparation of a remodel in there. Part of her purge was several boxes of books. So we thought that since we were going to Meme and Pa's and that they live sooooo near McKays' Used Book Store that we would just take those boxes of books and trade them in for more books. =8-o !!Oh dear lord! I'm making my child co-dependent!! Well, it is nice to have company on these little outings. So anyway, we take our boxes to McKay's and get awarded $93 in store credit! It was like Christmas morning to us! We went scurrying about the store pulling treasures off shelves left and right. We finally had to meet and regroup to see how much all our treasures were going to cost us. Our first pass at our tabulation put us over the $100 mark. So Kathryn gave up 3 CD's of musicals, Rent, My Fair Lady and one other that escapes me right now (that sacrifice was hard for her). She also gave up book two in a series she was just starting. After recalculating we were down to $80 - well within our credit! Now, it wasn't all fun and games. I was thinking ahead to next school year and some books we will be needing....nice to have....called to me.

Since we are studying civics next year it only seemed fitting that we read some biographies of some of the framers of the Constitution. So I had to get the biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. And for Language Arts next year it will be a focus on literature I had to start picking up some iconic classics to be read that we didn't already have. So A Movable Feast and The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway seemed a good start (besides Kathryn has been to his house in Key West and already read The Old Man and The Sea, she is familiar with him). Then I saw the coupled books of Jack London's Call of The Wild and White Fang. What a deal! Two books in one, it was a wise fiscal decision. Then there was the classic Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth. Kathryn loves fantasy books, she can read a classic one for credit! Then I figured, "Why overwhelm her with the Grapes of Wrath when I can introduce her to Steinbeck with Of Mice and Men?" Then, just to bring things back around to our historical time period in civics I figured The Scarlet Letter would be a good tie in. So see? All innocent and necessary for the successful completion of school. There is no sickness here, no addiction. Nothing to see....move along now.

As a reward for giving up her books and accompanying me to the store I of course let Kathryn pick a few things she wanted.

She found the audio version of Peter and The Secret of Rundoon, one of her favourite series. She loves the audio books becasue Jim Dale, the talent that read all of the Harry Potter books, reads these too. (If you have never heard Jim Dale read a book you are missing out on magic! I'm just saying.) Kathryn also chose to get the Shel Silverstein books, Falling Up and Runny Babbit. Kathryn adores his prose and still will pull out her copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends and read it. She found a copy of The Golden Compass to read along in. She has had the audio book for a couple years but hasn't listened to it yet since she didn't have the book. She needs the book to follow along in as she listens. So now she can read it! She also got book one in the series Maximum Ride. Her friend Emily has been bugging her get it and read it, apparently it is a good series. All of this was after also purchasing, at the homeschool conference, the triology of The Uglies.

So see? We are fine, we don't need help. We have it all under control.... Hey? Are you done with that book? Can I read it?

Back to the Races

2009-05-11T23:34:00.004-04:00

Today was the last American Heritage Girls meeting of the year. We are off for the summer and will resume in August. We had our end of the year awards ceremony and bridging ceremony. The ceremony was nice, one of the Explorer units coordinated it and ran it. Those girls did a good job of it too. They had nice decorations for the bridge aspect of it and had mapped out the program with the Bridging ceremony at the end. It looks like the Pipas will be doing the same in October when the Explorer girls get to bridge up. Kathryn and Charity need to plan and implement a troop event and what is better than an awards ceremony? So I'll let them loose on the planning of the next one. It will be a little closer to their hearts since the ones that will bridge up will be coming into our age group.

Even though the ceremony is behind us we are not done for the summer. This weekend 4 of the girls including Kathryn will be going camping...guess where we will be? We will be praying that it does not rain on us as is our luck with this particular assortment of girls on outings! Then I'm hoping to secure another weekend camp somewhere during the summer to keep the girls in touch and polishing their skills. I also have to help those who need to work on things over the summer to be eligible to get their level awards next year.

Next week we have our leader/board meeting for AHG for next year to plan the year and set the calendar. So now I have to think waaaaaaaayy far in advance to help plan that calendar.

Then tonight one of my girl's mom told me she knew two ladies who would be interested in teaching a sign language class for high schoolers next year. Yippee! Now I have to get that information from her and contact the ladies and try to get some class arranged and in place before August.

Let's see what else? Oh yeah, swim is starting back up this week so I have to add that into the mix over the next couple months. VBS is also going to happen soon and on the heels of that, the Buffalo mission trip, then right after that Kathryn is scheduled to have her wisdom teeth removed surgically and then maybe somewhere in all that we can let her go up to Meme and Pa's to help out with VBS up there and then have my niece Nichole come down for a week between band camps and other events in her life.... *pant* *pant* Aaaannnddd before this month is over we have 4 birthday's to celebrate in some fashion or another and a yard sale to participate in, in Tennessee. Oh, and on top of all that we will still be doing school work through the summer.

I am woman, hear me wimper.

Mother's Day - Meh!

2009-05-11T00:02:00.003-04:00

Well today was Mother's Day....

...we spent it in Cleveland, TN with Butch's folks. It was good to see them, we hadn't seen them since Christmas. As with most things with them this weekend was was very low key...not a bad thing mind you. Just for me, there was nothing exceptional or remarkable for me to mark today day as anything special. I got a Mother's Day card from my folks Friday before we left, and I got one from Butch's folks this weekend....I just didn't get one from Kathryn OR Butch. Hmmmmmm. Now I do not hang my hat on a mass manufactured card for happiness, but I do appreciate something that shows some effort as a token of esteem. A carefully crafted handmade card would have been lovely or some act of service cheerfully and lovingly given would have been nice. *sigh* Nothing. I made sure we had cards for both our mothers, one from us and one from Kathryn. I made bread and cinnamon rolls for our moms, bought a small gift for his mom out of my discretionary (fun) money, made sure to take them both out to eat....but nothing for me.

Sorry, having a little pity party. It's hard to wax rhapsodic over Mother's Day when you're feeling slightly jilted. To be fair, Butch works long and hard so I can stay home and homeschool Kathryn. He indulges me in my goofy behaviour and quirky moods. He will allow me to spend money on some things when we really shouldn't and he is very understanding about my lack of housekeeping skills. He is patient and kind and long suffering. One might even argue that, becasue of these things, every day is Mother's Day for me. But sometimes...... sometimes a gal just wants a little something to make her feel extra special in his eyes. Maybe next year.

Time Travel

2009-05-09T22:47:00.005-04:00

Been busy these past few days.

Thursday Kathryn and I went to the Georgia Reminiscence Fair. That was fun. There were a lot of demonstrations and learning opportunities available since Thursday was Homeschool Day at the Fair. During the day Kathryn met Leonardo DaVinci and became a living example of DaVinci's Vitruvian Man.

Now some of you may know, The Vitruvian Man is a study in the proportions of man. It points out the relationships between parts of the body to other parts of the body. The circle and square on the image represent the fact that if man stood in a square or a circle with his feet touching bottom and hands touching top, his navel will be in the exact center of the circle or square. The Vitruvian Man also points out the ratios and measurements of a man. Did you know that the length of your pinkie is also the same length of your nose from bridge to tip? The distance from the tip of your nose to the corner crease of your eye is also the same measurement as the height of your ear!

Other Vitruvian facts:

a palm is the width of four fingers
a foot is the width of four palms (i.e., 12 inches)
a cubit is the width of six palms
a pace is four cubits
a man's height is four cubits (and thus 24 palms)
the length of a man's outspread arms is equal to his height
the distance from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's height
the distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin is one-eighth of a man's height
the distance from the bottom of the neck to the hairline is one-sixth of a man's height
the maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of a man's height
the distance from the middle of the chest to the top of the head is a quarter of a man's height
the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is one-fourth of a man's height
the distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of a man's height
the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height
the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose is one-third of the length of the head
the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is one-third of the length of the face
the length of the ear is one-third of the length of the face
the length of a man's foot is one-sixth of his height

DaVinci called for a volunteer, so I volunteered Kathryn.

Here we see Kathryn being measured from finger tip to finger tip. This measurement is also her height - it was! 5' 7"

Here Kathryn is about to be measured to prove that the measurement from her wrist to her elbow is the same as the length of her foot - and it was!

Here DaVinci shows Kathryn her foot length measurement taken from her forearm length measurement - yeah, we know she has a big foot!

Besides learning at the foot of DaVinci, we also learned about some raptors. This was more of an environmental talk than an historical talk about the art of falconry in the middle ages. But that's okay I guess, we got to see some beautiful and amazing birds.

A Harris Hawk

An Indian Condor - the largest bird in the world with a 10 foot wingspan. Cousin to the California Condors.

We learned how to be well mannered and well bred citizens in the Middle Ages. We also learned various superstitions and origins of phrases from the Renaissance period. But most importantly we learned how to ward against the Evil Eye! (hint: you cross your fingers)

We took a break from all the serious academia to enjoy some levity by way of the Dexter Tripp Thrill show! Dexter juggled flaming torches, juggling pins and chain saws (no, the chains saws weren't very period but still very thrilling). Dexter also did daring feats of do with various balancing acts and tightrope acts.

After Dexter we enjoyed some dramatic presentations from The Bard in a convincing reconstruction of The Globe Theater. The presenters delivered several of the more famous soliloquies from Othello, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and Julius Cesar. Shakespeare is so much better performed than read.

All in all it was a good day and I got to spend some fun time with Kathryn. That is always such a nice treat for me.

On the way home from the Fair I decided to swing by my old houses I grew up in since we were on that side of town. Kathryn had never seen them and I was curious how they looked. It was bitter sweet moment for me. The house I lived in in high school had changed so much! It is so over grown and over planted in the yard and the house was altered from its original look.

THEN-

NOW-

The neighborhood looked a little neglected too, not bad, but just not the way I remember.

From Fayetteville we drove up to College Park to my early childhood home. I also drove past my elementary school for 6-7th grade and the high school I went to in 8th. Both schools have had their name changed and the high school is now a middle school! The old neighborhood didn't look too bad for 40+ years old. The homes are in decent shape, a little rough around the edges, and little worn and shabby looking but not too, too bad.

THEN -

NOW -

From this house I drove to my early elementary school. It is now a Service Center/Operations Center for the BOE. The original building is still there, but so much building has been added to it! The playgrounds are gone, the 'blacktop' is gone, the field is gone. All gone and filled in with parking lots and additional buildings. It is sad to me. I had good memories from that school. I went there back when you could still pray publicly in a public school and not get threatened with a lawsuit - I remember us all lining up for lunch and each day one child got to lead us in our blessing for lunch before we left the room. Discipline was enforced and backed up at home. It was a good school with good kids. *sigh* time marches on....

I don't feel older after seeing these per se, just sort of melancholy over the demise of the monuments to my childhood. These places that are so firmly and indelibly etched in my mind, that hold the best and worst memories of my life from that time are gone, swept away by the tides of time in the name of progress and necessity. I find it desirous to have these touchstones to my past still available. The physical structures are still there.... but deep in my heart, I hold the desire to be able to walk through those doors, any of them, and see, hear, touch, and smell what my mind's eye remembers. Sadly that can't happen. I know this. I understand it. I guess with the recent deaths in the family it has made me contemplate my own mortality which makes me turn and face my past in a desire to embrace it only to find the wispy vapor of memories to embrace. So I face these monuments defaced with graffiti, smoothed on the edges by time and weather, sagging and sad from age and disrepair. But I'll take these flawed monuments, lock them up in the vaults of my memories and treasure them. Because, just like family, they are still part of me, flaws and all.

Catcing Up - again...

2009-05-07T00:01:00.005-04:00

Life has just been weird and I haven't been posting regularly. So much we have done! I'll try to catch up my posts over the next several days. Although, it seems odd that as I pick back up on my posting I must report another death in the family. Butch's grandfather passed away this past Sunday. G'pa was 99 - he had lived a good long life. He'll be happy to be reunited with GG, he was rather lonely these past several years without her. Godspeed G'Pa we'll miss you, but heaven gets another angel.

I forgot to mention that a couple weeks after Bodies/Dialog Kathryn and I went to see the Terra Cotta warriors at the High Museum. That was really cool, to see those items in person. The archeological excavation has been turning up more and more artifacts and exposing the vast burial ground borders...it's huge! 22 acres so far - I think.

But on that note I need to get to bed. Kathryn and I are going to the Georgia Renaissance Fair tomorrow - it's homeschool day. Hopefully I'll have pictures to post later of that. Then Friday we are off to Butch's folks to spend Mother's Day.

Fun at The Fox

2009-04-19T22:23:00.003-04:00

Today I took Anne to see the 75th anniversary showing of Gone With the Wind at The Fox Theater. GWTW is Anne's all time favourite movie. I saw this showing advertised months ago in the paper and I got an e-mail about it from The Fox. So I forwarded the e-mail to Anne with one word, "Birthday?". Her immediate response was, "YES!!!" Kelley decided to tag along on the junket too. So we had dinner at Mary Mac's Tearoom (YUM!) and then the movie. The movie had two showings and BOTH sold out. The Fox seats a full house of nearly 4,000! We, fortunately, had gotten good seats on orchestra level so we had a great view. This was only Anne's second time to The Fox and her first movie there. She had a great time listening to the Mighty Mo playing and taking part in the sing along before the movie.

This is Anne before the movie. I had to get the awesome painting on the curtain as the background!

Here's Kelley and Anne during intermission.

It was a great movie as always, especially at key lines when you could everyone around you reciting the line! LOL

Happy Birthday Anne! Glad I could get you away from the chaos of your life and give you a little "girl time".

Tech Week, Heck week!

2009-04-18T22:54:00.002-04:00

It has been Tech Week around here and chaos reigns supreme! Artios is putting on Seussical the Musical as the Spring production

and Kathryn is Stage Manager - oh heck let's call it what is really is, Asst. Director! Kathryn has been in charge of sooooo much and handled it so well. I got many compliments about her all through the show season. I know she missed being on the stage but she really wants to learn all aspects of theatre and this is an important part to know, the behind the scenes logistics, planning and command. Several times she was left to run and direct practices solo - yikes! =8-o But she did it and did it well. What impressed me more was that she had the respect and cooperation of all the kids in the cast. This was a real growing experience for her and I'm glad she had it.

Here's Kathryn during a dress rehearsal getting flowers from Meme and Pa wishing her luck since they were not able to come see the production like usual.

The kids, 3rd graders - 12th have worked so hard and done an awesome job! This week has been long grueling hours for all the kids, especially the younger ones. Butch and I wound up working on the set. Butch wielded power tools and Marcy (my boss) and I paintbrushes. But the set was really cool and very Seuss looking.

Some of the set pieces during Tech Week.

I'm happy to declare that the production went off as planned and was met with rave reviews! :-)

The Bird Girls and Horton

The Cat and Jojo with the creatures from the Jungle of Nool

Mr. & Mrs. Mayor of Whoville

More Whos

Even more Whos

So this years theatre season is over for us and next year's will be starting before we know it! But as always, it is fun and very satisfying to see all the pieces finally come together in an awesome show!

Do Over

2009-03-22T23:46:00.005-04:00

Since my groove was severely thrown off last week I am calling a Do Over and will get back to normal (well as normal as *I* can get) this week. We had a rather busy weekend. Friday Butch, Kathryn and I along with Kelley and her youngin's went to Dialogue in the Dark and the Bodies Exhibit. Those were amazing.

Dialogue was, pardon the pun, eye opening. It is an experience for sighted folks to find out what it is like to not have their eye sight. You are given a cane, lead into a prep room and slowly the lights are dimmed until you are in total darkness. Once in darkness, armed only with our cane and other 4 senses, which really do become more acute, we had to navigate 5 different environments. It was pretty amazing. We knew we were in a safe, controlled environment, being monitored for trouble, with a trained guide with us. But just experiencing what it is like to cross a busy city street, shop for groceries, buy a drink or other simple tasks made me realize how intimidating blindness can be. If nothing else, I came away from Dialogue with a much greater sense of thankfulness for my eyesight, age failing though it might be.

Bodies was very educational. It wasn't as gross as you'd think it could be given that the displays are real human cadavers.

One person, two halves, incredible insight.

The displays were done with taste and dignity. It was fascinating to see literally, into the human body. Not a drawing, not a diagram but real body parts. It helped tremendously, that there was no blood involved. The bodies have been preserved in a specialized multi step process that makes them impervious to decay. They are kind of rubbery feeling (we got to feel a spleen at the end of the exhibit). But just being able to point to parts and say, "See, this is what is wrong with daddy." "This is what mommy was operated on for." "This is what what is wrong with Grandma Nancy." etc. helped the kids to understand very personal issues better. It helped us too. It's one thing to look at an MRI of Butch's brain (yes he does have one!) it's a whole other thing to see the brain and pituitary gland and to understand visually how it all fits together. I made sure Kathryn paid special attention to the displays so she could see the underlying muscles and bones, to help her in her life drawing.

Here is Kathryn with Victoria, Katharin Ruth, Aaron and Greshia just after we finish up the Dialog part of the day.

Here they are again once we were through with Bodies.

After those two activities Butch, Kathryn and I met up with Chase and his family for a delightful diner out with his family. I felt really sorry for Chase's dad, he had been on the road for a few days, up late, sleeping bad, and catching early flights homes. He was bushed. I appreciated his agreeing to go out to dinner, I know he was tired and probably jut wanted to be at home, with his feet propped up with a nice glass of vino in his hand. But, I appreciate his willingness to go out for the kids sake. We owe you one A.!

Saturday was a busy day too. Kathryn had a major drama rehearsal to help with, Butch and I had errands to run and then we went to see Spamalot!

I finally found tickets for it that weren't outrageously expensive. I'd been wanting to take Kathryn to see for for months, ever since I found out it was coming back to Atlanta. I'm so glad we got to go it was a great! We had the added bonus of having Richard Chamberlin starring as King Arthur. He did a good job and you could tell he was having fun doing it. We laughed ourselves silly at the show and enjoyed saying many of the lines with the actors and singing along to the catchy songs.

Today we attended the confirmation of two of "my boys", Aaron and J. They both had quite the crowd standing with them as they pledged their faith. I'm so proud of both of them. I'm glad we got to share in that special moment of their lives.

Now, after such a long and exciting yet tiring weekend, I'm off to bed to get ready for Maniac Monday. School all day and scouts right after. Night.

HR troubles

2009-03-19T23:56:00.003-04:00

Who knew I'd ever have HR woes as a home school mom!? I've been trying to find a sign language instructor and set up a class for Kathryn to take it as her foreign language. Other home school moms have piped up and said they'd like to join in as well. I thought I'd found a candidate for instructor. She is deaf and has taught ASL previously.

I e-mailed with her back and forth trying to work out details. All the while I'm thinking this is going to be great! But, in the midst of going back and forth the e-mails got weird and I felt like she was blaming me for her not having a job and then she'd get belligerent about my response times to her, at one point she is whining about me on e-mail loops. Then she did it again today to a friend of mine that was looking to take the sign language class too. My friend had e-mailed the potential instructor with a question and the potential instructor starts in on my friend. When I found out about that I had to politely tell her thanks but no thanks the position just isn't going to work out. Now I'm just waiting for the reply and blast e-mail I'll get from her tomorrow. *sigh*

Anybody know a good ASL instructor? I'd really like to find one!

Uncle Joe

2009-03-17T23:00:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd introduce you to my uncle who just passed away. I could pontificate on about him but I would only be repeating what everyone has been consistently saying. Uncle Joe was truly a good man, an honourable man, a man of integrity and loved by more people than I think even my aunt and cousins knew.

I present you, Uncle Joe.

From the Griffin Daily News Obituaries:

Mr. Thomas Joseph Johnson Jr.
Died March 14, 2009
Griffin resident Sunday, March 15, 2009 1:13 AM EDT

At my cousin Kay's wedding.

Mr. Thomas Joseph Johnson Jr., age 86, of Griffin, passed away Saturday, March 14, 2009, at his home after an extended illness.

Mr. Johnson was born in Sunnyside, Ga., to the late Thomas Joseph Johnson Sr. and the late Viola Reeves Johnson. He was preceded in death by his sister, Lynette Standard, of Hampton. Mr. Johnson was a graduate of Spalding High School. After graduating from high school, he worked for the Western Union Telegraph Company. Mr. Johnson enlisted in the United States Marine Corps with which he proudly served in the Souther Pacific and China.

In the Marines in 1958.

He flew the F-4U Corsair while serving in China. After his military service ended, Joe worked with his father in the oil business in Griffin. On Aug. 10, 1957, Joe married Sue Garner. Mr. Johnson was the co-founder of Jim and Joe’s Photography, an icon in the photo finishing and professional photography field for more than 50 years, and he was also the co-owner of Parkwood Cinemas.

Mr. Johnson was a member of the Griffin Rotary Club from 1969 through 2008. During his membership in the Rotary Club, Joe served as the club photographer, documenting club activities and assisted with the club scrapbook, which won many state honors for showing the Rotary Club’s service to the community. Joe was named Rotarian of the Year for 1985-1986 and was named a Paul Harris Fellow, as well as Rotarian of Distinction for his many years of service to the community and the Griffin Rotary Club. Joe embodied the Rosary motto of “Service above self.” In addition to his membership in the Rotary Club of Griffin, Joe was a member of numerous professional and social organizations prior to his retirement. During his retirement, he enjoyed traveling in his motor home with his wife and family on many trips across the country. Mr. Johnson was also a longtime member of the First Christian Church of Griffin. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Mary Sue Garner Johnson; daughter, Kay Johnson Landham; son, Thomas Joseph Johnson III and his wife, Terese Johnson; grandchildren, Rob Landham

Uncle Joe with my 'nephew' Rob, before Rob went to serve as an escort at Cotillion.

and Heather Hutchinson; brothers, Howard and Jane Johnson and Bart and Shirley Johnson, of Griffin; nephews and nieces, Mark and Rosie Johnson, Billy and Mary Johnson and Linda and Patty Standard.

Memorial services for Mr. Thomas Joseph Johnson Jr. will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday, March 16, 2009, at Griffin First United Methodist Church.

The arrangement from the church service.

The Rev. Hubert Flanagan and the Rev. Kyle Smith will officiate. Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 15, at the family residence located at 1142 Pine Valley Road. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in memory of Mr. Johnson be made to the Griffin Rotary Club, P.O. Box 473 Griffin, GA 30224.

Haisten-McCullough Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

Comments left at the Griffin Daily Post for Uncle Joe:
Mar 16, 2009 12:25 PM:
Joe Johnson was one of the finest men I've ever known. I was very proud to have worked for him and to call him my friend.

Of course, with Joe, no one was a stranger. He would bend over backwards and forwards for everyone he met. He worked hard and treated everyone like they were the most important person in the world. He was a true gentleman in every respect of the word, and in fact, one of the finest gentlemen I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

The Griffin Rotary Club, Griffin and indeed the State, have lost a Giant of man.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his wonderful family. I'm sorry that I couldn't make it to the Memorial service, but know that Sue, Kay and Joe are always in my thoughts and prayers.

Mar 16, 2009 7:12 AM:
My prayers are with you in the passing of Joe Jr.. I worked with Joe and his Father at 10-10 Service Sta. many years ago. I thought a lot of him. I pray that God will comfort you during this time.

Gus Adams

Mar 16, 2009 7:06 AM:
To the family of Mr. Joe,
Griffin, Ga. has lost one of the finest citizens & heaven has gained him.
Mr. Joe was so well thought of by the entire Griffin community as well as by our late parents Cleveland & Betty Williamson owners of Williamson & Son Garage.
With Deepest Sympathy to the entire family,
"J" John Williamson
Jimmy & Brenda Williamson

Flag and certificate presented to the family from the local Marine Corps League.

The lovely arrangement sent by Uncle Joe's church.

Arrangement from Carol, a good friend of Kay's, who now lives in Ireland.

There were other beautiful arrangements and wonderful food brought to the house. The support from friends and neighbors has been amazing. Those of you who have sent expressions of sympathy to me thank you, I appreciate the support.

Farewell

2009-03-15T16:53:00.002-04:00

Farewell
Farewell to Thee! But not farewell
To all my fondest thoughts of Thee;
Within my heart they still shall dwell
And they shall cheer and comfort me.
Life seems more sweet that Thou didst live
And men more true Thou wert one;
Nothing is lost that Thou didst give,
Nothing destroyed that Thou hast done.

Anne Bronte (1820-1849)

RIP - Joe Johnson "Uncle Joe"
1922 - 2009

Would You Like Some Pi?

2009-03-14T13:44:00.003-04:00

Happy Pi Day Everyone!

Yes, today is Pi Day, it only comes around once a year. Why you might wonder, is today Pi Day??? Well, isn't it obvious??? It is March 14th of course! Or, if you think mathematically, 3.14.....do you now understand? If you don't, visit the site and become enlightened.

Now, go celebrate.....with pie of course!!!

Or perhaps you'd like to try your hand at some artistic pursuits....carving perhaps?

You you may just want to amuse yourself with humorous math cartoons.

However you decide to celebrate today...just remember to be real and stay rational.

Oh! And if you'd like to actually try to learn something today about pi, you might want to try the EasyFunSchool. They had quite a few ideas.

Foto Friday!!!

2009-03-13T15:35:00.003-04:00

Today's letter is "C".

I don't know if you can see this very clearly but that is a Curious Cat Chased up a tree. This particular day, Jack had escaped outside with us. While we were outside, our neighbor Tom and his young dog, Radar, came over to visit. Well, Radar is a puppy and still loves to chase stuff. Jack peeked out from under the cypress tree and Radar saw him and started to chase him. Tom tried to stop Radar but I told Tom to let Radar chase Jack...I wanted Jack to learn that outside is a bad place and no fun to be. So Jack ran around to the back of the house, Radar was close on his tail. Jack remembered he has nice sharp claws and can climb trees! Up the tree Jack goes with Radar looking up trying to figure out how he did that. Now, we had followed the pair as they ran around the house and I just happened to have my camera on me. (I think this was the day Kathryn and Chase went to the homecoming dance). While we were laughing at the whole situation I snapped this picture of Jack Clutching on for dear life bout 12 feet up the tree. No to worry dear readers, Jack jumped to the roof of the play house and stayed there and glared at me for laughing. I climbed up there and rescued him from the clutches of the evil roof and took him inside. Jack seemed quite content to stay inside for quite a while after that! ;-)

I'm Calling in Sick

2009-03-13T14:50:00.004-04:00

The assignment today is to write about what we do when we homeschoolers are sick. Do we take a sick day? Take the day off? What?

The good thing I must say about homeshcooling (among others) is sick days are far more infrequent than they used to be. With us setting our own schedule Kathryn and I are allowed to work with our bodies natural rhythms. We can work when we are most alert and we can have down time when we need it. Most importantly Kathryn is allowed to get the amount of sleep she needs as a teenager. Studies are showing that teens need 9 -10 hours of sleep but are, on average, only getting 7.5 hours. I let Kathryn sleep until she wakes up or it is noon....whichever comes first! ;-) She usually gets up by 9 or 9:30 after having gone to bed at midnight. (We are all such night owls!) I believe with Kathryn and I getting enough sleep it helps us stay healthier by being able to fight off sickness.

All that said, we still do get sick on occasion and when we do, we have fall back plans for school. If Kathryn is just fighting a head cold/sinus infection and just feeling kind of foggy and miserable from the congestion, I let her just pleasure read or if there is some interesting show on the History Channel or NatGeo, or Discovery we will watch that playing the part of the pitiful, sickie, vegging out on the couch. If she is really and truly sick, sick, sick - too tired to get out of bed, need to sleep sick we do just that. Since Kathryn does read most of her literature books and pleasure books on CD, she can recline in bed and listen to a good book is she is awake and needing something to do. Some days I just let her have a free day if she just needs a "mental health" day. No demands on time or attention, just a free day to do what ever she wants. Those days are usually productive with creative pursuits or "language arts" in e-mails and IM session with friends on the computer.

Now, if I am sick, things pretty much go on as normal. I am lucky that Kathryn is at that point now that she can school herself with little interaction from me. I am even luckier that if I am really, really, "icky sick", she is capable of helping take care of me when Butch is at work. Last May, after my surgery, when I was pretty much house bound and not feeling too swift, Kathryn really stepped up and helped take care of the house, helped with meals and helped me to get around if I needed it. She did a wonderful job and I was so proud of her and how she was so attentive to everything. She might have been in her room doing something but she would listen for me to call or just come in periodically to check on me to make sure I was okay or if I needed anything. It was wonderful and very comforting to know she was capable of those types of actions. That said, if I get sick it isn't really as impactful on our schooling now than it would have been 4-6 years ago.

I guess you could say for us, sick days are kind of a non-event. They may happen, but it is no big deal. I'm sure if I had more kids and younger ones I'd be singing a whole different tune! But I'm lucky and I am at a good place in mine and Kathry's lives that life's pretty easy (relatively).

Wedding Memory 2

2009-03-10T23:38:00.003-04:00

Continuing with Small World's challenge of telling about your invitations and music from your wedding I will try to remember details about ours.

Like I said yesterday, Butch and I wanted a very traditional wedding. So music was going to be a big part of that... at least for the service. We were married in a very pretty church with a traditional center aisle, a marble alter, stone floor and a gorgeous stained glass window right over the alter. It also had a large pipe organ. For the prelude music I had the good ole standbys of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Pacabel's Canon and some other pieces of the same vein. To augment the organ I had a string quartet playing too.

If you look to the left behind my maid of honour you'll see the quartet.

But more importantly, I had a very dear friend of mine from college there to sing The Lord's Prayer. Scott had (I assume he still does) a wonderful voice and had sung professionally. He and I were good buddies at school and I really wanted him to be part of our wedding. I was so happy when he agreed to sing at it. He did a wonderful job and my absolute biggest regret of the whole thing was not having the ceremony videoed. I really wish I had that to look at later to enjoy those little details that you miss as the bride on your big day. I of course had the traditional wedding march to come down the aisle with and the equally traditional recessional. From there, for the reception, tradition in music was diverted from.

We had hired a DJ for our reception and part of the prep work for the DJ was to send a nice questionnaire for us to fill out to help the DJ know what to play when for what. They had a list of their available songs to refer to when filling out the questionnaire. Butch and I sat down with the list and questionnaire and just stopped. Top of the list was Couple's First Dance song. Butch and I just looked at each other like, "You have GOT to be kidding!" we are so not sappy, googoo eye, lovey dovey first dance kind of people. We are fun loving, party people! So, for question #1 - Couple's First dance - we filled in; The Hokey Pokey! It went downhill from there. ;-) Okay, fast forward to the reception. We gave folks a chance to get to the restaurant, go through the buffet line and stake out tables. All along the DJ was playing low key, background, instrumental, jazz music (at our request). Then it came time for the dancing. It quickly became apparent the DJ had not looked at the dance play list prior to that very moment. He turned on his best DJ voice, called every one to the general area, called Butch and I to the dance floor and then said, "Okay everybody we are going have the couple's first dance annnnd ......" the DJ covered the mike, called Butch to the DJ and stand and asked, "Is this right?!!?! The Hokey Pokey!?" Butch and I just grinned and said, "Yup!" The DJ went back to the mike, shaking his head and chuckling, he lost some of his DJ voice and announced to the crowd, "Well folks, this is a first one for me, let's get the wedding party on the floor, the first dance is going to be the Hokey Pokey!" As you can imagine, from there on, it was a great reception!

Butch and I dancing our first dance!

The rest of the folks dancing our first dance!

We had people for years tell us that was the best wedding moment they ever experienced! They would say they knew ours was a marriage that would last becasue we could laugh at ourselves. Maybe so, but we did the Hokey Pokey so all the other folks wouldn't laugh at the two of us dancing! It would not have been a pretty sight!

Hmmmm, other memorable songs from our reception:
Whip It
Rawhide
Love Shack
and other delicate love songs of similar nature! ;-)

We had a great reception. We were surrounded by family and friends, enjoying a joyous time and in general just partying and celebrating like crazy. I was almost reluctant to leave when the limo came to get us - I did have a honeymoon to get to! ;-) I did hear quite a few folks stayed on and continued to party. I can quite honestly say the music was a big part of the day and to this day there are certain songs or scores I'll hear that remind me of our wedding day and I'll just grin remembering that day. The more I think about it, the more I really would like a renewal ceremony/reception. I mean hey, the first one was a blast! ;-)

Can I remember??

2009-03-09T23:48:00.003-04:00

Over at Small World a challenge was given. In honour of her 20th wedding anniversary S. is hosting a contest for her blog readers to tell their memories about their wedding invitations or music. I guess I'll tell about the invitations first. I must say I feel a connection to S., her wedding day is one year and day off from ours!

Okay, the invitations....

Butch and I wanted a very traditional wedding, from invitations down to the honeymoon (Niagara Falls). When it came time to order the invitations I knew I would be going to the Crane Co. for them - you just can't get much more traditional than them. I was going to have engraved and embossed ecru invitations. Butch was a good fiance and liked what I liked! Actually he really did like everything I liked.

This is the actual invitation.

We got the invitation, with an RSVP card. In addition to the invite I also ordered the bride-to-be monogrammed, folded, ecru, thank you notes, the married monogram thank you notes plus the set of engraved enclosure cards. I still have my engraver's plates for our invitation, married thank you notes and gift enclosure cards. But, what I think I treasure most of all is what Butch's grandmother gave me - her gift enclosure cards. See, Butch is a Third (III), his grandfather is naturally the Sr. When G'Pa and GG were married she got the cards with her new married name on it Mrs. Wxxx X Mxx - no Sr. on it since they had no idea at the time. With me marrying the III, her married name and mine were the same, so she bequeathed me her cards. I still have them, in their original box. I couldn't bring myself to use them! The specialness of them just touched me so deeply that I hate to part with them. I am now connected to GG in a way none of the other daughter's in law can be and I just have a hard time even expressing how amazing that is to me.

A funny story related to the invitations and the fact Butch is the III came about after all the invitations had been mailed. Butch took at job in Knoxville right out of Tech. He moved up there in September '89 knowing no one. But Butch, being Butch, fit right in and became friends with his co-workers. He asked that I send them all invitations to the wedding. Well, Butch is not legally named Butch. That is a nickname given him, by GG, when Butch was an infant that stuck. (Like I said, Butch was the Third and they needed a different name to cut down on confusion as to who was who! So Butch it was!) So, at Butch's new work place they only knew him as Butch, not by his legal name which was used on the invitation. It turned out that when folks started receiving their invitations they didn't know who these people were. They later admitted to pulling out old high school albums and quizzing spouses and friends! They all got a good laugh when they figured it out becasue Butch just does not really look like his very formal and impressive sounding legal name!

Our wedding invitation is special to me. I framed one of them up (It is shown above) and it hangs in our front hall next to one of our wedding pictures.

One of the first things you see when you come in.

I often think for our 25th, or maybe just our 20th, that it would be fun to host a re-wedding. Do a renewal of vows and then have a great big party with all our friends and family. (Eh, who am I kidding? We are always looking for any reason to have a big party!) I would want invitations again, but I think they would be rather casual or whimsical - a better match to our personalities now.

Scout Sunday

2009-03-08T23:24:00.002-04:00

Today was Scout Sunday at our church. Why we can't do it in February when it really is I don't know.... but I digress.

Since our church does not sponsor an AHG troop but Kathryn, Victoria and Katharin Ruth go to our church and are in AHG I 'weaseled' my way in to our Scout Sunday service. Actually everyone involved was very gracious to let us join in the service and accommodated us beautifully. Only having 2 girls available today and 3 services to cover over 2 time slots got a little crazy, but we worked it out. Kathryn and Victoria marched in the colour guard at the 9:30 contemporary service. Victoria delivered the oath and gave the prayer during the service.

Kathryn was flag bearer (that's her behind the Brownie and Jr. Girl Scout)

Victoria delivering the oath.

I stood in at the 9:30 traditional service and recited the oath. I was rather embarrassed after my oath becasue I worked on info given me Wednesday night at practice. I was told that they (the service coordinators) were glad I was doing the oath becasue I was the last one and I would remember to tell the congregation to be seated..and I did just that... *sigh* apparently I was working under false information and the congregation was to remain standing for the hymn... oh well. No biggie. Apparently the girls had some issues in the contemporary. I understand that Victoria got a little flustered with an attentive audience when she was doing the oath and she bobbled it briefly but recovered nicely. I'm sure she was mortified. Poor baby - very traumatic to a dramatic 14 year old!

At 11:00 both girls did the colour guard again but with Victoria being flag bearer.

Victoria is posting the colours here behind the Jr. GSs

Kathryn delivered the oath and read the scripture.

That really is her between C. Kay and Tommy reading the scripture - I had a bad angle to shoot from.

Kathryn did a wonderful job on both the oath and scripture...all that drama training! ;-) In fact I had to remind Kathryn to not read the scripture in a "drama voice" as she did Wednesday night at practice! LOL She was bordering on William Shatner style! ;-)

C. Kay was supposed to recognize the awards the girls had received but the Cubs and Boy Scouts went long with their awards and Tommy had to have things sped up. So the Girls Scouts and the AHG girls got skipped. Not to worry, I collared C. Kay after the 11:00 and at at least got her picture with the girls. She has known them since they were 6 or 7 so she has watched them grow up. C. Kay is very special to us and I think we are to her. :-)

C. Kay with the girls.

We were able to tell a few folks about AHG but there wasn't as much interest at our table between services as I would have liked. I may still see if there is any chance of starting up a troop at our church. I'd gladly serve as COR and/or in advisory position but I couldn't be a leader. My girls at 593 would kill me if I left and I don't want to leave them. But I really think an AHG troop would be a wonderful asset to our scout offerings at our church.

Speaking of scouts ... tomorrow is Maniac Monday with Artios and scouts and being gone All. Day. Long. Besides, I need to get to bed. I'm really tired from looking for my lost hour! Has anyone seen it? I could really use it back.

Foto Friday!!!

2009-03-06T13:31:00.003-05:00

Today's letter is B and here is my picture for it!

Yes folks you are looking at two, Big, Beautiful tickets, in reserved seating at Lakewood Amphitheatre, for Jimmy Buffett's yearly appearance in Atlanta!! Let the Bacchanalian Beach Bash Begin!!!! :-)

House work?

2009-03-06T00:20:00.003-05:00

My blog "assignement" this week is...
And I quote:
"Tell us about your experience with teaching life skills."

I hadn't really thought about it that much. But I've been teaching Kathryn life skills for quite a while even before homeschooling. Kathryn has been doing her laundry since about 5th grade. I got tired of her coming to me at 10:00 p.m. Sunday night telling me that she didn't have any clean uniforms to wear. To encourage her to not do that anymore she learned how to do laundry. It helped somewhat. She took ownership of her laundry pretty quick but there were times she would just forget to plan ahead...on those times depending upon the time of day she realized she had nothing clean, she either went in dirty clothes or she at least got to fluff and freshen them in the dryer with a dryer sheet. Thankfully Kathryn isn't a super messy kid so we didn't have mud and food all over the uniform to deal with, just body funk. :-P As she got older it became more important to have clean clothes and those last minute "oopsies" just didn't occur with the same frequency. Today, she does all of her laundry and sometimes even ours. It is nice having her proficient enough to do her's and our laundry.

Doing laundry with the old washer and dryer. See? She can do it!

I've been very lax in teaching her kitchen skills. She can make some rudimentary dishes. She can follow directions enough, if I leave them with her, to put together a dinner if I have to go to a board meeting or something and I need her to get dinner pulled together for her and Butch. She usually makes her own lunch, lately the favourite is taquitos. Those aren't too challenging; put on baking stone, put in oven. She also makes tuna salad or egg salad, taco soup, tuna/hamburger 'helpers', and scrambled eggs. I have had her try her hand at chopping veggies but she still has certain dexterity issues becasue of her dyslexia and I fear for her fingers! We are also working on proper stirring and mixing techniques within a cook pot/pan. Too often the contents of the pot go flying due to inattention to what she is doing. *sigh* I've been thinking lately I need to step it up and start getting her involved with the meals more. Maybe I get her to prepare one meal a week? Let it be her total responsibility? And it can't be pizza Friday! ;-)

She is a whiz at loading and unloading the dishwasher. We are still working on looking for what else needs to be done...dirty sink, messy counter top....etc.

As far as general housekeeping goes, Kathryn can clean and vacuum and make beds etc. Sadly, she follows in my footsteps and eschews those sorts of activities on a regular basis. I do them to try to keep the house presentable and the health department at bay. But there are those who would think I don't do these activities often enough. But hey, when the killer vorpal dust bunnies start attacking, I dust and vacuum! When the pet fur tumbleweeds eat one of the cats, I sweep! I just don't have that Donna Reed/June Cleaver mentality. But I have taught Kathryn how to clean her bathroom and change her bed. Whether she chooses to do them is her call. I will declare 'mommy law' at times when I know we are going to have over night guests or just company in general. No need to scare friends and family with an ill kept house. I must say, my personal goal is to get better about daily cleaning so it doesn't becoming overwhelming and such a daunting task when I do my weekly cleaning. It is just really hard to get motivated to do it! :-P

She can and does iron...when necessary.

This was before we tiled the front hall. She is shampooing the eternal 'pee spot' ...thus the reason we tiled! ;-)

All in all though Kathryn is pretty well equipped. If she had to handle the house right now, without me or Butch, I feel pretty confident she could. What she doesn't know, she would figure out. I do know she knows more than a lot of kids her age. She did manage to earn the Family Helper badge in scouts. The required her to be able to do at least 5 major but not everyday chores among them; ironing various clothes, doing laundry, shampooing carpet, vacuuming, washing the car, cleaning the fridge and others. These are some of the ones Kathryn did. (the above pictures were some of the 'proof' of her doing them) She also helps with big projects; painting, when we tiled the front hall way, when we finished the basement, major garage cleaning, etc. She was also an enormous help last May after my surgery. She kept things up and running pretty good when I couldn't. So I think I'd grade myself a good solid B on her housework training. I just need to improve her cooking and related skills.

Now, I just have to squeeze in some major cleaning tomorrow along with everything else I need to do!

SIGH

2009-03-04T21:33:00.003-05:00

Today has not been a good day for me. It has been a good one for Kathryn, she got a good bit of school work done, she made an A on her history test and got to see Chase at church tonight. I on the other hand, have not had such a good day. I have been tired from a poor night's sleep, overwhelmed into near inaction over things I need to accomplish by the weekend and to top it all off, I hit another car on the way to church tonight making Kathryn and I miss dinner and be late to Scout Sunday rehearsal.

Kathryn and I are fine, the other driver is fine, his car is drivable, my car is drivable, it's just a pi$$er. It was a typical thing, stopped at a red light waiting to turn right, driver in front seems to go, I move up a bit to go, looking left for oncoming traffic....BAM! Kathryn was trying to warn me to stop but being so tired and foggy-headed my synapses just weren't firing quick enough. The driver is a young kid (to me). Fresh out of Duke University down here doing some serious athletic training looking to get into the NFL. He must be decent, he has an agent footing the bill for the training. Once he got over his initial testosterone laden, knee jerk, reaction to being hit, he calmed down and was actually a nice kid to talk to. He seemed to have a lot going for him football-wise, big dreams there, but he also has a academic fall back plan for his "post pro" years. Hey, at least he thinking smart!

The other car and it's damage....

Poor Wilma and her damage...all cosmetic....but still. At least my Castaway Cay license plate isn't damaged! I have to look for the silver lining! ;-) (The silver lining beyond no one being hurt of course!)

I have to talk to the insurance company tomorrow, UGH! I am really not looking forward to that...I know they are only doing their job, but I feel so judged when I have to talk to them. Bleh!

I don't know what God is trying to teach me or tell me...I just wish He would use less dramatic lessons sometimes! Although dense students need dramatic lessons, I know! I know! Okay, I'm off in search of some comfort in some form.... Pray that my tomorrows go better than my today.

Something Fun.

2009-03-03T00:11:00.001-05:00

Get your own Family Sticker Maker.

Snow! Sort of...

2009-03-02T23:02:00.005-05:00

Check the bread and milk aisles folks, metro Atlanta may be wiped out! We had snow and school closings today and yesterday.

Yes, that weird storm that blew up from the Gulf, up the Eastern seaboard dumped snow on Lil Ole A'lanna. Now the dispersement of snow was freakishly weird. While eating lunch, after church, at the Olive Garden, by The Mall of Georgia we enjoyed the lovely views out the windows of the big, fat, fluffy snowflakes coming down and blanketing the cars, trees and grass areas. It was still just warm enough that the road stayed wet but not frozen. So as we drove home we marveled at the beauty God can bestow on us and use the canvas of suburbia to do so. As we got closer to home the snow became less and less and by the time got home, nothing. Oh, it was snowing, but nothing like it was just 10 miles away. :-( It kept coming down but nothing was really sticking. I got a few pictures out on the deck and out the front door.

This is from the back deck looking into the woods. You can see it coming down but it was just too warm and the snow too wet.

This was about all that stuck.

The scene out the front door.

I must say, I am disappointed with the snow, I was hoping for a bit more. But I understand other folks in Atlanta were quite put out with the snow and the subsequent power loss.

Sunday also marked the day that the piggies, Dandi and Flower went to their new forever home. I had listed them on Craig's List to rehome them. A nice mom contacted me with 2 kids who had been dying for some piggies. So they braved the drive up to us to get the girlies. I'm sad to see them go, but I'm sure they will be happier and get more interaction where they are now.

Here's Jack checking them out as we were getting the piggies ready to travel. They are in their travel cage. Jack kept looking in at them like, "They look big enough to eat now mom! Where are you taking them??" The piggies were unimpressed.

While Butch and I were dismantling the piggie condo I peeked into Kathryn's room to see what she was up to. I should have known...

I give you the natural state and habitat of the Southeastern North American Teenage Khaki.

On her bed, laptop at arms reach, iPod plugged in and providing tuneage, sketchpad in lap, pencil in mouth....room in total disarray. *sigh* I pick my battles. That isn't one that is worth the breath. She has a door, we close it away. If anything starts crawling out from under her beds that is not a cat, it's time to pressure wash.

Since the county schools were cancelled today, so was our school. Kathryn and Chase used the opportunity to hang out for a while. Kathryn went to Chase's house and I ran some errands. I picked up Kathryn and we went home intending to to go to scouts later. I had Kathryn get some school work done since we had the time, and I made a lovely baked rigatoni while she toiled away. Luckily I checked my e-mail and discoverd our scout meeting was cancelled due to unknown ice conditions at the church we meet at. I assume we will do our award ceremony next week. Now I just have to figure out how to get over there and get our AHG flag. I need it this coming Sunday for Kathryn and Victoria to use at Scout Sunday at our church. Maybe I can get in the church to get it tomorrow since I will be over there in the general area.

For now, a major decongestant and bed!

Happy March!

2009-03-01T16:10:00.004-05:00

Well, it is the first of March and we have important days to keep up with.

The whole month of March is National Noodle Month! Go enjoy some pasta!
March 4th - Hug a GI day - To the soldiers who got our Valentine's Day cards, consider yourself hugged! :-)
March 4th - Unique Name Day - this is also just one day in a wild, wacky week of name related days. (March 1-7)
Before I put it off anymore, we must remember that
March 8 -14 is National Procrastination week. Mark it on your calendar...NOW!
March 13th - National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day. The purpose of this day is to open an umbrella indoors and note if you have any bad luck....riiiight.
March 16-20 World Clown week ..... *shudder* That. Is. Just. Wrong. Now this is not to be confused with International Clown Week that is in August.
March 16 - Tumbleweed Day, I have those in my front hall, they are composed of cat and dog fur!
March 19 - Let's Laugh Day - why not? We don't laugh near enough the rest of the year.
March 20-26 - National Bubble Week begun with the intent to encourage rampant bubble blowing on the first day of spring. I just find the activity enjoyable to annoy the cats with!
March 22 - National Goof Off Day - I say, why just limit it to one day a year? I'd like to see more effort spent on this holiday pastime!
March 30 - Pencil Day - being of an artistic bent I really like this day! :-) Just make sure mine is a lovely HB and not a too soft #2, unless I'm taking a Scan Tron test and then it had better be a #2 and I must fill in the bubble completely and make no stray marks on the answer sheet.... Ahem, oh, sorry.... flash back.....
March 31 - Bunsen Burner day Yet another holiday that smacks of academia. Can I set my #2 Scan Tron pencil on fire with the Bunsen burner?

Well there you go, a smattering, lightly scattered, sample of holidays to come this month. (hmmmm, I have the sudden urge to go to Waffle House!)