Trying to keep our cheeks rosy.....

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday. We were too busy watching history unfold and enjoying our snowy world. The temperatures are up to safe levels so we're outside enjoying as much as we can. Its the only thing you can do to beat cabin fever, bundle up and get out there!

I felt really upbeat yesterday for some reason. I think it was the speeches. I particularly liked Rev. Joseph E. Lowery's benediction which moved me to tears and laughter. I think he stole the entire show with that ending!

I know some people purposely avoided watching the inaugural, which is a shame. Even if President Obama wasn't your first choice, the message was uplifting. No one person can dig us out of the mess we're in. We each have to work for it. We have to be willing to push on, regardless of our differences.

Today we're keeping the chill out grooving with baking cookies, washing blankets, building Legos and playing games. I'm also trying to create decorations for DS's upcoming birthday, but this is very difficult with him being around. I'm afraid he won't be surprised much.

I read through Carol Alt's Eating In The Raw. I can certainly agree eating fresh, raw fruits and veggies can be great for you, but I don't think I could ever eat raw meat. No offense to raw foodists. Its just, I could never get past thinking I'd be ingesting a tape worm or worse.

I should back up and explain why I read Eating In The Raw in the first place. I wasn't thinking of becoming a raw foodie. It was DS13 who asked me why people started cooking food in the first place. I told him anthropologists aren't certain, but its a guess that perhaps some game meat landed too close to the fire. Or perhaps their food source froze so they decided to thaw it over the fire and discovered, hey, that tastes pretty good! It was also probably realized that cooking and drying could preserve food as well. This is a good thing when you don't have a Piggly Wiggly down the block.

Anyway, I'm too much of a baker to want to give up anything heated over 100 degrees. Call me a carb addict, but I'll take fresh, whole wheat bread over dehydrated crackers.

Speaking of baking and being an addict, I can't stop making batches of chocolate cookies with white chips. I got the recipe from the back of the Nestle bag. I sent the remaining cookies with DH to work, but all it took was DS13 asking, "Where did those awesome cookies go," and I'm baking more. I'll have to ask him to hide them from me. Of course I asked my younger son to do this with my peanut butter, whole wheat cookies, and I discovered them weeks later under his bed. EWW!!

Well, its time to get my hands all covered in paint. Stay warm and stay positive!

Weekend Update

We had a great one, but nothing went as expected. Sometimes you just have to stop trying to hold onto the side of the bank, and go where the river wants to take you.

DS13 received a last minute sleep over invite. I knew I had to let him go. How do I say this without being disrespectful to him? Lately, its been felt he needs time away from us. Its not teen rebellion, but we're all wondering why he wasn't getting our sense of humor. Time apart is what we all needed to be able to come back together strong.

Plus DS(almost 10) loved having us all to himself Saturday night. We watched the end of Be Kind Rewind, and then I grew roots into the easy chair and read magazine after magazine, book after book, while DH and DS enjoyed "midnight gaming." (Midnight gaming is any late night video game playing with dad in the Mancave.)

Along with reading through several issues of Vegetarian Times magazines, looking for healthy recipes, I read Feed Your Family Right, by Elisa Zied and Ruth Winter. I basically speed read through to chapter 10, where you learn the real deal on the how tos. There's a brillant chart, The Ultimate Family Food Guide, that really helps you visualize the nutritional needs of each family member. I've made a copy of it for the fridge. Based on sex and age, you follow the chart to see how many servings of each group you should eat to meet, roughly, your calorie needs for the day. Older males for example, get to have more servings than females, or if weight loss is a goal, slip down a level and eat less servings. 

After picking up DS13 on Sunday morning, it was all about football. We watched the playoff games, hoping the Cardinals and Steelers would win. (DH told us he wouldn't be watching the superbowl if the other teams won.) We are technically a BEARs household, but DH has family in Arizona and he likes the Steeler's uniforms. LOL!

I didn't get the cleaning done I wanted to, but as always, it waits for me! I didn't make any ATCs but our party is still a week away. We didn't find a deal on a new computer yet, but there will be more sales next week.

We all got what we needed this past weekend to recharge. 

I'm just like Vernie! (Organization Project 2009- the pantry)

"Roaming through the cupboard, jar of pickles never opened since 1983..." - Shannon Hoon wrote this lyric about his beloved Grandmother, Vernie.

I didn't discover any pickles, but I did find a jar of Nutella from 2005. How was this still in my pantry? I know I have cleaned the pantry since 2005. It must have survived previous pantry purges because it has chocolate in it. I'm over that. If I'm going to have chocolate now, it has to be good chocolate.

I was really disgusted I filled an entire garbage bag with stale crackers and cereal, half eaten bags of snacks, and forgotten science project potatoes. As a family, we must stop wasting so much food. We're not saving money buying in bulk when we toss much of it.

I tried to place the not so healthy food up high.  I attempted to leave space so food can be shifted around to see what's hiding behind. This hopefully will stop new bottles being opened before old bottles are used up.

The over the door shoe holder doesn't look tidy, but its doing a good job of holding all the little stuff that could get lost, like seasoning packets. Hanging behind it are thermal shopping bags and my aprons.

I'm using a plastic shoe box for all of my tea bags. It was insane how much tea I found I didn't know I had!

Tea doesn't expire right? I suppose it could loose potency over time. Maybe I'll have to mix and come up with new, crazy brews.


 

Quick Friday update

Today should be our last brutal day and then it will warm up to the 20's. YEAH! I may just have to go outside tomorrow and build a snowman to celebrate.

Last night about half the families were grateful we were open, but the other half were calling, "What! You're still having lessons?! Well, we aren't coming!" I was really hoping after lessons were over, no one would come for open swim but on the contrary, I guess people wanted to be submerged in 88 degree water on bitter cold nights.

My plan today is to tackle the pantry. I know I would enjoy cooking healthy meals more if I could find the food, which is currently hidden behind half eaten boxes of cereal and packages of stale crackers. I remember buying organic black beans and salt free stewed tomatoes, but all I can see are cake mix boxes and forgotten candy. I'll take before and after photos and share later.

DS-soon to be 10- is building Lego cities and I've heard conflict is brewing. The colorful Lego figures are being attacked by the non colored, conformists. I'm rooting for the colorful people, but over all I just hope peace prevails. I don't want to be vacuuming up Lego figure body parts the next few days.

Well, I better get busy. Have a great Friday!

I have to give a shout out to Cuddle Duds!

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

I don't know how I could stay warm without them. They aren't the long underwear of years gone by, but a comfortable, really soft, toasty layer that fits so well under your clothes.

People living in cold climates can relate to that feeling of not wanting to bend your legs when you are outside because that bitter cold snaps at the back of your knees. Even in jeans, when its below zero Fahrenheit, that cold bites, unless that is, you are wearing Cuddle Duds!

I'm so grateful to have mine!

Brrrrr............................

Its a safe bet we won't be playing basketball today. At least the sun is trying to come out.

The death cold has moved in for the next few days. This is when I must reach down and remember my Scandinavian roots. I will survive! With my multiple layers, warm hot fluids, and running the van's engine every few hours, I will make it.

Getting to work may not be fun with the blowing and drifting snow, but once I'm there, its warm and cozy thanks to our 88 degree water temperature. There are many families though that elect to not come to swim lessons because its so cold outside.

Another problem I have with this weather is the fact it makes me want to eat. Its so tempting to keep the oven baking up goodies, because it keeps the kitchen warm. I swear I do feel more hungry than usual. Is it because my body's furnace needs the fuel? Doesn't it realize we have fuel reserves in abundance?!! LOL!

Bananagram is keeping us busy. This game is sort of like Scrabble only without the board. For the most part, DS just enjoys spelling out words on the carpet, on the kitchen counter, on the table, on the couch, anywhere but a sheet of paper! That's how unschooling works. If I would give him a piece of paper and ask him to spell words, he'd be bored. The carpet surface, spelling while on your belly is so much more fun!

I have to keep this short. DS9(soon to be10!) just read my blog post over my shoulder and now he's asking to play Scrabble.

I'm just not feeling it...

I'm not feeling this blog post today. We've got the worries. I think the bitter, dangerous cold has me scared. Will my car start when I need to leave for work? Will it start when I need to drive home? My furnace is constantly running. Will our utility bill be outrageous?

DH was a little late last night coming home, due to the blowing snow, and DS9 was worried something bad had happened. He's so much like me when it comes to worrying about the what ifs.

What doesn't help matters is hearing of bad news. My parents were witness to a horrible tragedy involving their neighbor, so now I'm worried about them. They're not in danger of a mob hit or anything, but I'm worried about them dealing with their grief, especially since right now they are trapped inside due to the dangerous temperatures.

I'm really going to try and focus on the positives today. It would be so easy to give in to the anxiety and depression but this isn't where I want to be.

DS9 asked me to provide healthy food and snacks to him. He told me he is beginning his plan to get in shape because he wants to be a police officer. He told me even though being a police officer doesn't necessarily mean constant action, you still need to be in shape.

"You know being a police officer isn't going to be like being James Bond, mom."  That's good. I would prefer he wasn't shot at everyday.

We've been having some serious UNO battles. We're currently using a National Parks deck, with wonderful photos from US parks. The special card is the Bear Attack card. You don't want to be hit with that!

Speaking of cards, DS is creating special cards to infuse into his Apples to Apples deck. He's also been writing trivia cards.

Last night DH and I watched a different version of Sweeney Todd. Now I'm wondering how the original story was written. The version we watched last night wasn't the Johnny Depp musical. I don't recall the actor's name, but in this version on the IFC channel, Mr. Todd isn't after the judge so much. He's even more of a psyco, turn on a dime, type killer. It was more dark than the Burton film, and showed more of what life was really like during that time period.

I better stop putting off going out into the arctic air. I have to try and start my van or for sure it won't start tonight. I also need to stock up on healthy snacks for someone's future law enforcement goals. 

Stay warm!

Our Weekend...

We spent Friday watching the snow fall and digging out. After lugging 4 loads of wet clothes to the laundry mat to dry, I decided we are paying to have the dryer fixed or buying a new one. Our mom and pop appliance store here in town will agree to take off the cost of the service charge if I decide to buy a new one after I learn what the cost of repairs will be. (I'm waiting for the repair guy this morning.)

Saturday morning after moving more snow out of the way, we headed to town to shop around dryers and computers. We enjoyed lunch at Noodles, but couldn't find the new computer DH was looking for. I decided I really don't like sales people in the slightest. I know what kind of dryer we need, just give me your best price. Sales people always come across as liars and a waste of time to me. I couldn't help but also notice they left DH alone to look at PCs while I was hounded in the appliance section. Was it because I was a woman?

Sunday we cleaned half of our basement, totally motivated by the fact a repairman was coming! We hauled out a giant bag of garbage and bag after bag of recyclables. Now I'm thinking why was I living with all of this garbage? Its been a great kick start, and I hope we can keep the ball rolling. We have lots to purge and organize!

We took the boys to the sledding hill in our town. It wasn't too crowded. (We're used to having it to ourselves during school hours.) We all went down multiple times, but of course on DH's last run, he injured himself. He hit not one, but two jumps built into the hill. Unfortunately under the 6 inches of fresh snow was a solid sheet of ice. DH said he felt like he compacted his vertebrae. My only injury at the time was several white washes to the face. Later that night though, I could feel my leg muscles ache. It was quite difficult to walk up the hill with the ice underneath the snow.

The boys want to go back today, but I think its getting too cold. We are suppose to dip down to -20 F wind chills. Its going to be brutal like this all week. Lucky I found the window plastic kit in the basement while cleaning up! I don't know if that trick really works, but its simple to install so I'm trying it.

I suppose we'll stay inside this week and dream of spring.

Watch Super Nanny tonight!

A few months ago Super Nanny came to our small town of Evansville and tonight the episode airs. I don't know the family, but I'll be watching tonight to see if my sister is in the background!

While she was shopping at the Piggly Wiggly, Super Nanny was shooting the family trying to grocery shop with begging children. I'm also curious to see how they portray our small town. We have about 4000 people, but we're a bedroom community close to Madison.

Its on ABC at 8:00pm CST.

All Children's Books Banned?

I haven't researched this extensively yet, but if this is true, we must all act to stop it. This was posted in a home schooling email newsletter I receive, The Homeschoolers Notebook by Heather Idoni,  Familyclassroom.net.

I really hope this law doesn't pass. I'd rather it not be a crime to buy used books. I can make sure my children don't eat them. I think its ironic the EPA would be causing more harm to us by banning all books previously published than saving us from lead exposure.

I think this legislation also bans home made items being sold, such as baby blankets, hand made toys, etc. (Having trouble getting the link to work, but here's the address: http://coolmompicks.com/savehandmade/  )

 The Sale of Children's Books to be Banned 
 
  --- 
 
  Oh, how I wish this were a joke!  But it is a grim and looming, 
  almost Orwellian, reality. 
 
  Effective February 10th, in the United States, the sale of 
  all children's books (books intended for children ages 12 and 
  under) is to be PROHIBITED.  Every single book printed prior 
  to the ruling is affected, whether new or used.  New books in 
  production are required to include a "lead-free" certification 
  and will be the only books that are legal to offer for sale. 
 
  What does this mean to the homeschooling family? 
 
  Well, for one, curriculum fairs across the country will be 
  canceled as book vendors scramble to figure out how to comply 
  with the new ruling.  Complete book inventories will have to be 
  destroyed -- the ruling even prohibits giving away the books! 
  Local thrift stores will be hard hit -- most will likely have to 
  close their doors -- yes, even Goodwill and Salvation Army. 
 
  Clothing, toys and books -- even CDs and DVDs are included in the 
  ruling.  Thrift stores will no longer be able to accept or process 
  anything (including clothing) that would be intended for a child. 
 
  No more library sales.  Libraries will not be permitted to give 
  away or sell book donations.  It is unsure yet, however, how 
  the libraries' shelves themselves will be impacted (the ruling 
  doesn't explicitly mention "loaning" books, just selling or 
  giving them away).  The key word, however, is "distribution" -- 
  libraries may well be required to destroy books from their shelves. 
 
  (The ruling that originally passed was about toys, but the EPA has 
  since made a statement that clothing, books and media are included 
  in "children's toys".) 
 
  Just how serious is this new law? 
 
  Amazon.com has already notified all vendors of their need to comply. 
  No book can be sold at the Amazon site that was printed prior to 
  compliance.  And the "compliance" must be coordinated at the manu- 
  facturing stage.  At the time of this article there is no clause 
  to be able to grandfather-in older books or even rare out-of-print 
  books.  It can cost between $500 and $1500 to test a book for lead. 
 
  I happen to own a children's bookstore specializing in living books 
  from the 1950s and '60s.  My punishment for selling a book after 
  February 10th?  Up to $100,000 and 5 years in jail.  And yes, it is 
  a felony charge.  For selling a SINGLE book. 
 
  (Although I don't think the S.W.A.T. team scenario would become a 
  reality overnight, at the same time I would be leery of blatantly 
  violating Federal law.) 
 
  So what can you do to help save your local used bookstore that 
  sells children’s books?  Or that homeschool curriculum business? 
  Or your EBay business selling children's items? 
 
  ACT NOW before the quickly approaching deadlines: 
 
  1) Email or call the CPSIA - the office of the CPSC ombudsman at 
     888-531-9070.  http://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/newleg.aspx 
 
     Comments on Component Parts Testing accepted through January 30, 
     2009.  Or email: Sec102ComponentPartsTesting@cpsc.gov 
 
  2) Contact your local representatives. For their contact informa- 
     tion, just enter your zip code. 
     http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/dbq/officials/ 
 
  3) Make your voice heard by voting on this issue!  The top 3 in 
     each category will be presented to President-elect Obama. 
     http://change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia 
 
  4) Sign the petition. 
     http://ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html 
 
  5) Spread the word!  Forward this article.  Send an email.  Write 
     about this on your blog.  Tell others about this issue and 
     encourage them to do the same. 
 
  --- 
 
  For the complete story, read the following links: 
 
  http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html 
 
  Consumer Product Safety Commission Summaries on Legislation Index 
  page for Children's Products Containing Lead; Lead Paint Rule and 
  other rulings 
 
  http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/legislation.html#summaries 
 
  Office of the General Counsel FAQ on retroactive inventory require- 
  ments -- The use of forward effective dates appears to force current 
  inventories to adhere to the ruling on February 10th, 2009 
 
  http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/summaries/101brief.html 
 
  Specific FAQ on their interpretation of books and other media to be 
  included in the testing of lead based products 
 
  http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/faq/101faq.html 
 
  Effective Date: Lead content limit of 600 ppm becomes effective 180 
  days after enactment. An advisory opinion regarding the application 
  of the new lead limit to inventory existing at the effective date 
  can be found on our web site at 
  http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/advisory/317.pdf 
 
  Getting the Lead out:  There is no lead in children's books 
  http://news.bookweb.org/news/5695.html 
 
  There is no lead in Children's books: From a Pediatrician 
  http://health.yahoo.com/experts/childhealth/3955/is-there-lead-in-baby-books/ 
  
  --- 
 

Wednesday's babble

We finished up our ATC invitations for DS9's upcoming 10th birthday party. He's going with an Artist Trading card theme hoping friends and family will make and trade cards. (Family members reading this- start making your cards!) We used all number 10 cards from old discarded decks I've collected strictly for making ATCs. Now I've got to get them in the mail pronto.

It took me all of about 5 minutes to get back into the work routine last night. I was nervous having been away for 2 weeks, but it was all for nothing- Like falling off a horse, just get back on. I was somewhat disappointed to learn a great deal of what I've been working on with our new software has to be entirely redone. For some reason, over the 2 week break between classes, the staff didn't use our new scheduling software, but reverted back to our old way. (Anybody read Who Moved My Cheese?)

I think I've decided to buy a new dryer rather than fix our old one. The service visit alone would cost $80 and that doesn't include parts and labor to fix the problem! I'm hoping I can find one of those no interest for a year deals somewhere. In the mean time, I'm hanging up clothes from any surface I can find!

DS9 has been so inspired by the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series, he's decided to keep his own journal. I'm letting the cat out of the bag, but he'd like to write a journal and draw cartoons and publish his own book to share with our family. I hope he follows through with the idea because I think that's an awesome Christmas gift for next year!

I better keep this short and get cracking. I'm short on time today because of my dentist appointment this afternoon. Oh joy! Where's my Burt Bee's Pomegranate Lip balm! 

Darkside Dawn- the smelly version

Darkside Dawn's nose works too well. Yesterday she had a brain cloud. That's a headache that's not quite a migraine, but you know the potential is there. She figured she could take it easy, and the only thing required of her was to take her two boys to their dentist check up.

She decided to forgo the Advil since she believes medicines are used only as a last resort, and she tried to drink cami tea with lemon as much as possible. (Chamomile tea is naturally  anti-inflammatory.)

At go time, she donned the shades and headed to the dentist office. Traffic was respectful and things seemed to be stabilized.

After checking in on the ground floor, she heads up to the waiting room with the boys. It all goes downhill from here. Apparently, the restrooms are backed up with sewer issues. The office has also screwed up the appointment times and now the boys' appointments are over an hour apart.

Darkside Dawn feels the headache creep back in as she is forced to breathe poo vapor. After first DS's teeth are clean and sparkly, she decides she can't wait another hour in the sewer waiting room so they head to the used book store to kill time.

This should brighten Darkside Dawn's mood, only at the used book store, the horror continues. The clearance shelves are located next to the restrooms, cruel fate. Bargain book shopping comes to a complete halt and retreat when another patron begins to puke his guts out. Add a nauseous stomach to the headache now.

The fresh air outside is cold, but it brings temporary comfort. Unfortunately, Wisconsin in January can be brutal. She couldn't linger for long.

Back to the dentist office for round two. Yup, an hour later, poo vapor's still flowing strong.

Think it can't get worse? Guess again.

In walks cigarette smoking guy with Athlete's foot. I swear this is all factual, and I'm not making this up! Cigarette smoking guy at first doesn't notice the poo vapor. He sits down, across the room, removes his work boots and socks and begins scratching his feet!

Trying to keep her jaw from dropping, Darkside D tries to focus on her book. Cigarette smoking guy eventually notices the plumbing aroma and decides he needs another smoke. He quickly returns, only sitting this time one seat away from Darkside Dawn.

If you are a smoker, your olfactory is impaired so you may not notice, if you go outside in the cold to smoke, you will return with the most disgusting, smoky, sweat smell all over you. Again the work boots come off and the stinky, smelly, itchy feet are added to the violent vapor mix.

Despite her pounding headache, Darkside Dawn remembers a tube of hope in her bag. She whips out her Burt Bees Pomegranite Lip balm. Maybe a little inhalant therapy will get her through this nightmare.
 
People are too busy staring at the cigarette guy scratching his bare feet to notice the strange woman constantly balming her lips. The trick works.

Problem is, Darkside Dawn's dentist turn is tomorrow. She'll have to go back. Why did she have to beat the rhino? A stuffy nose would come in handy.

Berry Good Wheat Waffles

So good, I wanted to eat two!
(no lemons in recipe- I should have moved them out of the shot.)

Berry Good Wheat Waffles

1 egg
3/4 C light vanilla soy milk
2 T apple sauce
1-2 t cinnamon
2 t baking powder
1-2 t brown sugar
1 C whole wheat pastry flour

Whole blueberries (frozen work) and dried cranberries

Spray your waffle iron with non-stick spray and heat the iron to high.

Beat the egg and soy milk until frothy and add the rest of the ingredients, except for the berries.

Once your waffle iron is hot, add about 3/4 C of batter onto the iron and then drop whole blueberries and dried cranberries on top. Close the iron and bake for about 4 minutes or until steam no longer comes out from the waffle iron.

Eat right away or cool on a wire rack to freeze for later. This recipe makes 4, but you could easily double the recipe.

Our Sleepyhouse Sunday....

Woke up to everything being covered in ice. We shouldn't have even tried to go anywhere, but we needed milk. The grocery store isn't that far, but we drove because sidewalks were impassable. As it was, DS9 slipped and fell on his hip at the store. They had put down ice melt salt but there was just too much ice.

We took down our Christmas tree and tried to haul it to the curb. Our village offers free tree recycling. We tried to cut off a piece of the trunk as a souvenir, but our saw kept getting stuck and with the cold wind and icy surfaces, it just didn't work out. Every year we try to keep a slice of the trunk. Our state does this with the official state Christmas tree, and they display the tree rings at the capitol building each year. DH may bring home a better saw from work and if the tree is still at the curb, we'll try to cut off a piece. I'm not sure when the village will come with the wood chipper though.

Our dryer has stopped working properly. It still tumbles, but there's little or no heat. Why does this have to happen now, when its way too cold to line dry outside? The dryer is 7 years old. I know we've had it repaired once, years ago, and I don't know if its worth it to repair it again or look for a new one. At first this news really stressed me out, but then I forced myself to chill out. Its a stupid dryer, not worth stealing my joy for!

We watched a really cute movie, CJ7. I highly recommend it. Its by the same guy who did Kung Foo Hustle. We read the subtitles. I don't know if there is a dubbed version, but I prefer to hear the original actors speak anyway.

Here's the trailer.

Watched my first Blue Ray movie and had fun drying my hands....

We headed to K-town to satisfy our pizza cravings and watch our first movie on Blue Ray. MIL has a much better TV so we brought DS's PS3 and watched Close Encounters. I never realized Richard Dryfuss had such blue eyes.

On our way home from MIL's we stopped at a new Target, which surprisingly, looked trashed already. I bought more Emergen-C, (fighting the Rhino once again). On the way out I used the restroom and was impressed with the hand dryer. I normally can't stand air dryers and prefer to use paper towels, but this Target had the "Xlerator" dryer!

As I looked down at the warm air blowing on my hands, I could see the skin on my hands being pushed back like an astronaut's face being exposed to G-force. Strangely, it didn't hurt my hands, even though looking at my skin you would have thought it should have. My hands did dry really fast, to my disappointment. It was fun watching my skin being pushed back on my hands. After I walked out, I wish I would have had someone with me, willing to put their face under the Xlerator dryer. I wondered if you'd look like an astronaut with G-force. (Its so easy to impress me.)

I found this video on youtube to show you.

InHome Conference

Start:	Mar 5, '09
End:	Mar 7, '09
Location:	St. Charles, IL

http://www.homeeducatorsconference.org/

A great home school conference in Illinois.

WPA Home Education Conference

Start:	May 1, '09
End:	May 2, '09
Location:	Oshkosh,WI

Wisconsin's premier home school conference.
http://www.homeschooling-wpa.org/conference/

What day is it?

I am so confused. It's Friday right? It feels like a depressing Monday. I'm going to write the proceeding paragraph as if I'm in depressed, Monday mode, and then I'll snap out of it.

I know DH and I are depressed. Its the post holiday blues with the added stress of feeling helpless. Things are not going so well with the kitty that came to our door, whom we nick named Mojo. No one has called to claim him and we can't keep him. I can't deny it, the itching spread from my skin on to my eyes. (I'm not going to drug my body.) We thought about having him fixed and then keeping him as an outdoor pet. To have him fixed the vet quoted us at $150. That seems really high to me. We only have one vet in town. I called the county humane office and they don't take surrenders. They told me to call the police. I called Evansville's finest, and they told me they don't take cats and don't know why the humane society said they did. I now understand why our town has a huge feral cat population. My heart is breaking.

Yesterday I took down Christmas decorations and then decided I needed retail therapy. DH seemed content to watch college football so I called up my sister. We hit the Target with a Starbucks inside of it. I decided I needed something stronger than retail therapy so I splurged and got a Peppermint Frap.

DS9, soon to be 10, decided he would finish his book yesterday. The kid sat and read for so long I started to get worried. I reminded him of the purpose of bookmarks, but it did no good. The kid's got serious determination skills.

DH decided to go to bed early, but I got caught up watching Half Ton Teen and Half Ton Mom. At one point my oldest son, who had been writing on his blog, asked me why I was watching something so depressing. He had a very valid point. I thought these shows were motivating me to eat better and exercise, but the reality of it, they were depressing as hell. I turned it off and went to bed.

So here I am, feeling like yesterday was a waste and today feels like a Monday. I'm going to remind myself that its FRIDAY and I must not wallow. I must jam the Melon and make my soul sing again. 


 

Happy New Year!

We spent part of New Year's Eve at my sister's house enjoying our 1st Annual Ping Pong Balls Of Fury tournament. She made Swedish meatballs and baked up Ore Ida Cottage fries since they sort of resemble paddles. I brought round shaped rolls, cake ball truffles, chocolate chip pie and we also made the traditional New Year's Eve fudge. My sister also had frozen mini cream puffs. It was too much sugar!! I should have brought over cherry tomatoes, grapes and melon ball salad.

The ping pong was a blast! We played singles and doubles and invented special rules for playing off the ceiling fan. I found the sound of the ball very therapeutic.

DS9 is still recovering from his infected lymph node so he tired out before midnight. We headed home and got comfy with PJs and blankets. We turned on the TV to watch the ball drop in Times Square but while we waited, we saw the most awesome stunt I've ever witnessed.

In Las Vegas, Robbie Maddison jumped his motorcycle 120 feet up to land on the Arc de Triomphe in front of Paris Las Vegas. Then he free fell down 50 feet, barely sticking the landing on the ramp on his way down. It was the first time I was watching a dare devil and thought, there is no way he can pull this off and live! I really thought he wasn't going to make it. Its the most daring stunt I've ever witnessed. Later we watched Robbie Knieval jump the volcano at the Mirage hotel and it seemed lame in comparison to Maddison's stunt. Sorry Mr. Knieval but you were over shadowed big time!
After the stunts and countdowns, we ate our traditional piece of fudge and then I hit the hay. DH and the boys, pumped up from the sugar or the stunt action decided to head downstairs for a little midnight gaming. I'm sure our New Year's Day will be a sleepy one.

Allow me to shock you, Unschooling really works

In a house filled with video games, this kid is reading a book. He wasn't asked to. Its not an assignment. He rolled out of bed and like his mother, enjoys waking up his brain with reading.

As Unschoolers, we didn't purchase any expensive reading curriculum and schedule our days around it. My son reads because he wants to. He saw us reading and we read to him everyday. That's all we did, I kid you not. He reads now because its important to him and he's interested in it. Why fool with self motivation?

We don't limit video game playing. They can play all they want. Interestingly, they don't choose to play as often as you would think. There are some games that require an investment of time, but my children know when they've had enough, and when they are ready to move on to something else.

TV has no limits either. TV is probably the thing my children spend the least amount of time with. I suppose if it was a forbidden fruit, they'd want to taste it more often.

A friend of mine was considering allowing her family to get the DISH network, but she was concerned her children's creativity would suffer. I don't think anything really crushes creativity except being told what to do, when to do it, and how it must be done.

My children have taken inspiration from media and games and their creativity has flourished. DS9 has a binder filled with hundreds of pages of game level ideas he hopes to develop someday. He hand drew each page. He also has several other binders filled with Artist Trading Cards he's created.

Often the neighborhood friends will show up at the door and DS will turn them away, "All they want to do is come inside and play video games. I want to play in the snow." On more than one occasion, DS has chosen to hide his game systems because it seemed like a more diplomatic solution to preventing fights over turns.

My children didn't quite understand why it was so difficult for their friends to share turns. I explained how their not homeschooled friends spend a great deal of time in a competitive environment, where access to fun is limited. They've been conditioned to take all they can get, when they can grab it.

I think my children's own competitive nature is one that is healthy. Of course there is some degree of typical competition among their peers and siblings, but they also have a self competitiveness that propels them forward. More often its about beating their own scores, or improving their own productivity. Their self esteem is coming from their own accomplishments rather than beating down someone else.

I know that by not setting limits, my children have been able to act on self motivation, and develop self discipline. They rarely are bored. They aren't expecting someone to entertain them. They know they can engage themselves with anything that stimulates their fancy. 

As an Unschooling parent, its my responsibility to ensure my children aren't constricted by limits but rather exposed to healthy options.

Take food for example. I'm not in control of my children's hunger, but I do control what food they have access to. I should provide nutritious options, but its up for them to decide what they are craving. That's not to say I haven't provided not so nutritious options as well. If they aren't exposed to both, how will they learn that nutritious choices lead to health and happiness? (There are buckets of candy left over from Halloween in my pantry right now that prove my children know when enough if enough.)

In some ways, I'm a censor in that sense, but I'm only censoring stuff that I think will cause great harm. And it doesn't mean I have to censor it forever. You have to expose them to the good and the bad so they can practice making those choices and learning from the consequences while you're still around to guide and comfort them if they need it.

Being an Unschooling parent doesn't mean you're lazy. Quite the contrary! You are a primary role model in your child's life. You have to demonstrate all the positive qualities you want your children to develop. You have to be engaged with your children and tune in to their needs. Its not that your children go off and do their own thing. You have to share the experience with them, reading the books they read, playing the games they play. Being an Unschooling parent rocks because you are rewarded with the blessings of having a close relationship with your children.

I just love it when people say, "It must be so difficult to homeschool your children."  Its not at all difficult if you enjoy spending time with them.

"How do you get them to mind you all day?" Uh..they don't misbehave really. They don't rebel either. I suppose giving them the freedom we do, they don't have a need to rebel. I also suppose sharing so much of our lives together we have developed a respect for one another as well.

The most difficult thing about Unschooling is just learning to trust it. As someone who went through the public school system, its conditioned in me, not to trust what God designed so perfectly in me. But these past 10 years have really de-programed me and now I get it. Its not about becoming someone that someone else thinks you should be, but discovering your God given talents and making the world a better place with them.

I have to get off my soapbox now. Kitty fight club is starting.