The Slow Slide Back into Good Citizenry

Day 7 of the new year...Day 2 of the second semester...Day 1 of the ACTUAL new schedule.  That's how MY life works out.

Obviously, you can't start a new semester on the 2nd day of the year.  There is far too much fun being had on the LAST day of the prior year to be worth much productivity on the first day of the year...and the second day is merely the START of the clean up from the holiday at the END of the year.  Are you following me, dear reader?

So like all the rest of my society, we let the first 5 days of the year go by in a whirl of cleaning and visiting and, if I'm honest, laying about.  It's vacation.  This year we had the added excitement of some sickness, I'd say flu, but it seems everyone has had it worse than we have, so we'll just say, "The Crud" and leave it there.  So the first 5 days also had the fun of a few people really needing the extra sleep that a full schedule simply does not allow.

Every new year of my homeschool career...save the last two (2012 - The-WE-ARE-getting-a-divorce-and-right-soon-Year and 2013-JUST-GOT-divorced-and-moved-and-have-to-settled-Year) where my emotions wouldn't allow it...I have used January to hunker down, get a new schedule and re-connect my household. 

See, starting with my birthday in the beginning of November, we have a 2 month slide into vacation-mode (think Island-Mode without the waves) that lasts through the first week of January.  I know that most of our friends have a similar slide but I think mine is worse.  See, having a birthday at the beginning of the least productive time of the year, adds an extra three weeks of less productivity, because, "But it's your BIRTHDAY" happens a lot...and I generally let it.  Just keepin it real.

So today we start our new schedule.  This is the MOST HATED DAY OF THE YEAR.  See, generally my kids are up and reading or journaling or sometimes even playing piano, even on vacation, by 7:30.  But on SCHEDULE...it's up at 7:15.  This is a heinous thing to them...and I cause it, ergo, I am evil.  The fact that it gives me joy makes it exponentially worse.

We had "the talk" yesterday.  You know the one, "Everyone needs to be up and doing what SHE is supposed to do in the morning."  There was a motion to scrap the whole idea, which was then seconded and they hoped carried by their third member (that easy-going curly one)...thank heavens I hold veto power...or they'd stay the unwashed masses until it was time to go to church.

We spent yesterday restarting the wheels that came to a complete halt a little over 2 weeks ago at the beginning of the Christmas break...finding all the school books that got squirreled away...organizing the library list...getting math back on track...overviewing grammar and writing...overviewing our new unit in history (Industrial Revolution ... I'm excited)...and sorting out the plan for the new sciences that we got over Christmas.  Today, everybody KNOWS THE PLAN. 

It will STILL take a few days to implement it...but they KNOW it.  And it is POSTED on the wall.  (Oh yeah, I AM that mom).  So tally ho!!  I hope you all have a GREAT day, I know I will.

See ya later 2013...

See ya around...

Happy New Year - 2014

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a little late.

We've been sick and lazy the last few days...and I'm not even feeling apologetic.


The sunset in Florida in September...that's the kind of lazy I feel...

But I woke up this morning...and the sunrise was beautiful, and I realized...We have this whole year in front of us with no mistakes in it yet. 

So, while I haven't much to say, I leave you with this...

May your 2014 be filled with a million joys and experiences to grow you in ways you can not even imagine today.  May you have friends who love you and offer you peace and grace and a kick in the butt, where needed.  May you and your family be healthy and strong so that you can face up to the challenges that will meet you this year.

There are dreams to be met and lived, my friends...Let's GO!

See ya around...

Christmas Week 2013

(All pictures in this post are from LAST Christmas)

 

In case you were wondering at my quiet, I would remind you of something I said a couple of years ago, "I blog on the upswing."  If you are new to the blog, this drop in visual productivity, it has happened a lot over the years...I feel the downward pull of emotion or circumstance and I can't.find.words.




A girl and her "Grinch Punch" and her living back stop

Those closest to me will recognize it in my arguing style...I lose nouns and descriptors and start calling everything "crap" and "thingie" and "stuff" and find that, while I may have a valid argument in my head there is no way that it will be passing my lips anytime soon. So, I go quiet and stay that way until I find I have control of my faculties again.  It's just how I process.





The girls and Uncle K putting up the lights that I STILL have up on my back fence.

But, today, dear reader, I found my upswing.




Uncle BakerMan chattin them up

This has been a hard week for me, well...honestly...a hard month.  It's Christmas for crying out loud.  Usually I'm one of those OBNOXIOUS "Let's sing Christmas carols on Halloween" people.  I usually start in about September sizing up my kid's friends to see which would be caroling fodder and try and teach them new songs they might not know so that when Christmas comes around I can drag them around the neighborhood.  BUT...not this year.




Those are his ACTUAL horns...been there all his life...only
became so prominent as he lost his hair.  Just ask Uncle J...he'll tell ya.

It's odd how a fact that underlies your life affects you.  I've know since the divorce last year that my-ex and I would be trading off holidays...he was nice enough to give me the first Christmas, and I've KNOWN that meant that I wouldn't have my kids this Christmas.  KNEW it.  Prepared my head for it or so I thought.

There is a whole series of these
I'm saving them for her wedding video.

See, I've been "crankier" than normal since putting my feet back in my house after my Florida trip.  It started out as just little things...running out of coconut milk and butter.  Other people have other staples that they never run out of...in my house it's coconut milk (for curry) and butter (for life)...I am NEVER out.  Over time it progressed to either me being too weepy or too silent with everybody. 





Hilarity all around.

When last week started, I could feel the completely counter-productive desire to tell the kids to just "GO ALREADY!"  It's been a surprising emotion for me, "get out of here, it hurts me to know you'll be gone, so just GO."  I've felt that way a lot in the last year.  Thankfully, by the time Mom GOT married, I think I was better at recognizing it for grief and NOT saying stupid things that I didn't mean...I think. 

Anyway, when it hit this week, I definitely recognized it...I lowered my goals for the week...I pulled my kids close and actually WENT caroling on a whim with zero preparation (which was great by the way) and finished up school and tore apart caches of clothing that needed to be torn apart and went to a movie and did everything I could to ENJOY my last week with my girls for the year.





I was SO sick in this picture...but it's become on of my favorites
Go figure.

And then they left.

Singing with my family around is not something to miss...

And then I sat on the floor in the middle of the mess and cried...for awhile.  And then I reached out to people in one post...spent awhile chatting, texting, and talking...to say that my phone 'LIT UP' would not be an exaggeration.  And then I realized that this was something I was going to have to walk through ... So I did what any self-respecting total geek would do...I set up my laptop in my bathroom,  watched a couple of episodes of "Farscape" from my tub and decided that sleeping was a pretty good option, all things considered.  I find Science Fiction soothing...it is part of my charm.




Ah wrapping...a skill I hope their daddy realizes HE needs to teach them.

I wish I could say that my "funk" was over at that point.  I'm not sure it's over now.  But over the last couple of days of quiet within my own house, I realized something pretty great... I realized that I walked through another valley and made it...again.

Nine of us last year.  So much fun.

In "The Screwtape Letters", chapter 8, C.S. Lewis talks about the "Law of Undulation".  If you've not heard of this book, in a nutshell, it is letters from an elderly "Uncle" demon (Screwtape) to his younger nephew detailing ways to bring people AWAY from God.  It's a very interesting juxtaposition in Christian writing, taking it from the devil's point of view, everything that seems like a triumph is actually a defeat for Christ.  In the quote below, the "patient" is this nephew's charge.  The nephew has noticed that the patient is downhearted and supposes it is his success that has make him so.  Dear old Uncle Screwtape offers insight into our lives in his answer.

If you had watched your patient carefully you would have seen this undulation in every department of his life - his interest in his work., his affection for his friends, his physical appetites, all go up and down.  As long as he lives on earth periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty.  The dryness and dullness through which your patient is now going are not, as you fondly suppose, your workmanship; they are merely a natural phenomenon which will do us no good unless you make a good use of it. 

Let's just say there is a LOT of estrogen in my house, and leave it at that...

I made it through another undulation...another turn of the wheel.  YAY ME! Every one of these "undulations" has taken me farther into comfortable-in-my-own-skin and given me proof that I'm capable.  It's hard to admit, but without these dips I wouldn't have made the progress that I've made.  When things coast along, I get proud...supercilious (one of Bean's words this month ...  go on, go look it up...I'll wait. ;) ).  I guess I need that humility of despair now and then, maybe we all do.

Monkey Face dazzling her Grandma

I've gotten a couple of emails from the girls and it sounds like they are having a GREAT time.  I wouldn't take that away from them for the world.  The hardest part of this week is that guilty feeling that I have in the low moments where I would rather it be ME having fun with my girls.  How selfish is that?  And narcissistic? And entitled?  I pray THAT part goes away.  I think that it's probably a natural reaction...but so SO destructive.  Just keepin it real.

Monkey Face's mantra last year, "I'm going for the Yahtzee"...and she got about 8 of them. 
Amazing!

Today is Christmas Eve...by tonight, Nali and I will be tucked in among our dear friends, probably eating cookies and playing Rummi Cube.  Tonight, I will be surrounded with family I've adopted as my own and I will make memories and they will be beautiful, too. 

Scott and Stacey 2012
Love my big brother.

And next week, when my girls get back, for the first time in THEIR lives, we won't be starting school on the 2nd.  Nope, we're going to figure out some new fun New Year's traditions beyond taking down the tree, so the NEXT time I have my Christmas week to myself, I have something great ahead of me.

I have so many pictures of the sky changing colors over those roofs.
Just my favorite spot to watch the sky change.

Well, unless we get bored...then we'll just break out the microscope...

My loves, 2012

 

 

See ya around...

snow, Snow, SNow, SNOW!

I really hope you heard Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen singing that title, because that's how I wrote it. Well, truth be told, I wrote it singing all by myself; but, as is completely possible in one's imagination, I was part of that chord while I was singing it and typing it...so, dear reader, you should endeavor to hear it thusly.

Yes, indeed.  We have snow.  Well, that's not exactly true either.  Here in Texas we don't really GET snow.  At best it's a "wintry mix" which includes some snow, more sleet and a bunch of just plain ice.  Last night and this morning was no different...it wasn't exactly snow that fell from the sky.  And now, on the ground we have solid ice covered by powder.  And it's cold...and that is a wonder for my children. 

This is the seam of my garage, where the door goes down...

Monkey Face was up at 6:45 and in clothing and outdoor gear sometime before 7 am.  THAT never happens.  She had this icicle and wanted me to eat it.  I declined.  I try to keep my icicle eating to after my morning tea...and only when it's more than 65 in the house.  She seemed to enjoy it, though.

 

 

As for the other two, they were pretty content to stay in bed until I offered them the chance of a shortened school day.  First I had to check the weather because the temperatures can change VERY fast here.  There have been other times that I've tried to get school done first only to have the snow completely melted by the time they were finished.  At least for today, we aren't getting above 28 degrees, so it was on.  They had to work hard until noon and then they were free.

 

It's amazing how much can be done when "snow" is on the table.  Seriously.  I wish I had such a great carrot for every day. 

Once all tests were taken and all assignments safely stowed in my inbox, they started putting on clothes.  I've heard that at least two people have on two pair of socks, two pair of pants...and after a dip in the slush at the end of the drive way, two MORE pair of unmentionables.  ;)  Not sure how much EXTRA warmth is to be found in a second pair of choneys...but there it is.

 

 

 

I always feel badly that we don't own a sled on days like this.  Now, to be fair, we only have a couple of these days a year and I've never, even one time, seen sleds on sale in my local stores...but still, I think it would be cool for them to have a sled.   However, every single time we do have a day like this...many things are tried to substitute for a sled.  I think they nailed it this year.

 

 

 

 

I, for one, hope it doesn't last forever as I prefer dry pavement overall. I start getting antsy about three days into a forced stay-in-the-house ice storm.  But at the same time, I'm glad they get a few of these.  Everybody needs a different-than-the-norm day now and then.

 

 

 

 I personally hope this child survives...she likes to jump...and slide...and skid...and splash...waaaay more than her sisters.   I try really hard not to watch because she stresses me out and who needs momma stress when you are flying through life, really?  So, I provide extra choneys and look away.  Good thing she's cute...

 

Happy Snow-Day, y'all,

See ya around...

 

 



Something Missing in Translation...

You know...sometimes you find the COOLEST craft. And you think to yourself, "Oh, the girls could TOTALLY do this one...and it's pretty so I can actually leave it out where other people might see it." Of course, I love every single craft or coloring page that my little darlings put their hands to...yes.I.do. But this was different...this had GREAT potential...with the right colors...ooo...I'd totally have one of two of them.

Here let me show you how totally cute this would be...

Source: leslieashe.blogspot.com via Stacey on Pinterest

Right???


So...today...the Day of the DECORATING (the tradition that follows the Day of  the Thanks in our house)...I pulled out the buttons and pins and Styrofoam balls..I was VERY excited.

So they got started.  And for about 10 minutes, things seemed to be going just the right direction.  Of course, by the time I was done with dishes...I knew something had gone terribly awry.



No matter which angle you looked at...this was MOST definitely NOT what I'd expected...


 The littlest one was not much interested in anything other than poking the ball with the pins so Beloved stepped in and helped her "make" a reindeer ornament...really, she just played with the glue...and complained bout how the Elmer's is the WORST GLUE EVER because it doesn't stick immediately.  Beloved got out the tacky glue and then the hot glue...both of which offered more instant gratification, which kept her going just a little longer.


I kind of expected as much from the Bear and the Monkey Face...but THE BEAN?  I really expected a pretty, buttony ball to hang on my tree.  And she started out really strong, please note the "hat" portion.  But alas...



Seriously?  A Snowman?  Pshaw!

I sat down, disgusted.

I picked up my own Styrofoam ball...I grabbed the buttons and beads...the girls had nearly exhausted the supply of pins on the table so I ran upstairs to raid the stash in my sewing room.  The other thing I noticed was that I didn't have any of the right buttons.  I mean...they are pretty enough...but not near Christmas-y enough...

But I did have fuzzy puff balls.  Fuzzy puff balls could be Christmas-y.

But as I started, it didn't take VERY long to realize that poking pins through smallish fuzzy puff balls to cover a larger ball gets tedious...especially when everyone else is bored with it.  I wish I could say, I pressed through and made a pretty, fuzzy puff ball Ball...but...well...


 

That's as far as I got...I kinda liked it when I was doing it...but looking at the picture...eh!

Anyway...Elf was on...and we'd never seen it.  While our ornaments didn't come out exactly as planned...the movie has been pretty good.

Well, I don't have pretty button-y Christmas ornaments...but I do have a FABULOUS Snowman and a Becky ornament...and it's even possible I have a reindeer.  And NOBODY else has ANYTHING like them. Everyone always wants those one-of-a-kind things and I got mine FOR FREE.

sigh.

I can't wait to tell their kids about the night of ornament making that misfired...and show them what they made.

See ya around...

Pie in a Jar...oh MY!

A few weeks ago I came across this fabulous idea on the internet. Pie in a jar...Let me say that again...PIE...in a JAR!

Now, it's possible this concept is not as exciting to you as it is to me, dear reader...but seriously WHAT could be better? Especially as regards PIE? Let me convince you...Pie in a jar means more kinds of PIE, without having to try to STORE those pies. Pie in a jar means individual servings that I don't have to cut and try to put neatly on a plate. But even MORE exciting, pie in a jar means that the crust to pie filling ratio is greatly increased and that the eater of said pie gets the crispy edge bits ALL.the.way.around. Go ahead, take a minute and let THAT fantasy sink in.

From a strictly custodial standpoint...Pie in a Jar means that the baker of the pies can prepare the pies WELL in advance...slap a lid on them and freeze them in their little buckets of joy...and then pull them out days later (maybe WEEKS later)...take the lids off...fling 'em on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil...and bake them...no muss no fuss.

As is my custom, I found this idea...posted it on Facebook...and then promptly forgot about it for awhile. So when I remembered it the other day, just in time to make some for a gathering that's happening Friday, I decided it must be fate. I started rummaging through my supplies and found that I had enough of everything to make about 6 of these little babies...so I gathered the girls and I gathered the stuff an then...

We had a defugalty when one of our 6 jars went skidding across the counter and onto the floor. No matter...I run on munchkin power and they had it fixed...well, cleaned up...in a jiffy...


So onward and forward...first the pie crust must be smooshed (technical term - write that one down) into the jar and the edges prettied up. (This was gonna be a pecan pie, so no upper crust, in an upper crust situation the edges would need to be crimped...this was really just putting a pattern on the upper part so that it would crisp to perfection).


And then the pie guts poured in...


And then BAKED.


No, really look at this beautiful creation...


SO good.

Now, things I will do differently on the next batch...well, I'll follow this tutorial at Our Best Bites for getting the dough INTO the jars...we did this batch by cutting circles in the dough and stuffing it all in there...I think they have a better idea...

I also used a different pecan pie recipe. Bear has 'issues' with corn syrup, so I made this with all honey...and it was good, make no mistake...but a little too cloying in an already REALLY rich dessert.

If you google "pie in a jar", and I really think that you should, you'll find that I didn't fill mine as full as many folks are doing...I did that on purpose. The best part of this for me is the transport option, so I wanted to be able to put the lid on them, both before and after baking because I don't want to have to figure out how to transport glass cupcakes (essentially)...I want them to stay jars. I mean really, won't these be great on the Girly Trip? But if you like the poofy crunchy ones that you don't have to cart around, by all means, fill it to overflowing.

Now...I have to go. I have a bunch of these to make...because, well, we HAD to eat all of those for quality assurance purposes. You understand.

See ya around...

Pictures!!!

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH...I've got 2 blog posts waiting in the wings...what are they waiting for? Time to sit and critique and edit. You know what's gonna happen, don't you? By the time I have time to DO that...the subject material will be old and tired and I will be bored with the subject and then I just won't do it...

BUT I HAVE PICTURES!!

Now I suppose I could just post the pictures on facebook...instant gratification and all that...but believe it or not I know people who AREN'T on facebook...can you imagine?

So anyway...here it is...a totally random post...just to get rid of them...

Grandma is here and we went a-scampering through the woods and fields of wildflowers sometime the week before last...it was just beautiful...



The girls especially liked the flowers...



Look...it's been so long Bear's finally got her teeth back...




So then LAST week was the craziest week we've seen in a while...we had 3 soccer practices, 2 swimming practices, 2 birthdays (one an extravaganza), 1 funeral and 1 homeschool fair...phew...

These pictures are from Bean's birthday...she's now 11...we took the day off of school and went to the Botanical Gardens and walked and walked and walked!!!

Monkey Face was a little disturbed by the dead thing with "holes in it's eyes"...but Bear was intrigued...


A couple of cutie pie shots for your perusal...


these are just from around the gardens...can I just say, Cindy Brady had NOTHING on my Bear's banana curls...





And the final, FAVORITE, moments were spent scampering in the "Frog Fountain"...I'd like to say, those creatures were most obviously TOADS, but I don't want to be too much of an amphibian geek...

Look how cute...they are PRETENDING that they are going to stay dry...



still dry-ish...but notice Beanie's pants...by the second shot they are wet quite a way above her knee...





Well...hmmmm...this is kinda like my mom telling me that I could "wade" and finding me neck-deep...and me explaining that technically I was STILL wading as my feet were still on the bottom...(I'm not sure if it ACTUALLY happened to me or to my brother...but the sentiment is the same...). Still once the breach was crossed...there was no holding ANY of them back...







Bear LOVED this toad...errr...frog...and spent most of the time on his toes...I think it might have been because he was made out of metal and was warm...there's an interesting irony...being WARMED by an amphibiam...


They had a really good time. And on the tram ride back to the front, our driver sang 3 different songs to Beanie...she was a little embarrassed and a little giddy...but she just couldn't stop grinning. I think it was a pretty happy birthday after all...



So for now, I'll pretend that's all I have to say, cuz it's all I have time for...stay tuned...I haven't emptied the camera in 4 days...

See ya around...