No doubt, it is a relief for our country and the world to have Osama bin Laden's reign on Earth over. However, in following the amazing news of the past couple of days, when i see the pictures of Americans cheering while wearing Old Glory draped around their neck, i confess to feeling a bit squeamish.
Am i crazy, or is it really wrong to celebrate someone's death, even if they have proven themselves as a highly dangerous religious terrorist that has orchestrated numerous attacks that have killed many innocents? An occasion for relief? YES! But still, shouldn't it be a solemn event? And obviously our government thought so as well, or why would we have respected the Muslim burial law and buried bin Laden within the 24 hours mandated by that law?
Instead of celebrating, i think i'll choose to keep those touched by such a tragic and misguided figure of history in my prayers. Sadly, he was someone who's reach was wide--not just because of the death and injuries he caused or the souls he brainwashed for his personal vandettas, but also for the mark of his tainted and twisted Muslim extremism that has unfortunately left a scar on one of the world's majour religions that has some of the most beautiful and peaceful people among its followers.
Showing posts with label ponderings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ponderings. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Aren't these great quotes??
In looking for whom to credit with the great saying, "If you and i were the same, one of us wouldn't be needed," i found some other great quotes.
Mark Twain:
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." (This one needs to go in my chore book and sewing room!)
"Don't let schooling interfere with your education." (I'm posting this one in the school room!)
And a little something appropo today,
"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." (especially when there is an impending gov't shutdown due to lack of budget. Due truely to lack of funding, because companies like GE continue to make profits, pay ZERO taxes, and actually collect tax rebates. Isn't America great? hurrah!
PS should you happen to know with whom to credit the "If you and i were the same..." quote, could you please leave it in the comments? Thanks!
Mark Twain:
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." (This one needs to go in my chore book and sewing room!)
"Don't let schooling interfere with your education." (I'm posting this one in the school room!)
And a little something appropo today,
"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." (especially when there is an impending gov't shutdown due to lack of budget. Due truely to lack of funding, because companies like GE continue to make profits, pay ZERO taxes, and actually collect tax rebates. Isn't America great? hurrah!
PS should you happen to know with whom to credit the "If you and i were the same..." quote, could you please leave it in the comments? Thanks!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
I Can't Believe My Eyes!
Last night, while at Mass, our deacon included in the prayers of the faithful "the shooting victims in Tucson." I remember scrunching my face up and looking over at Moose and saying, "must have been some more trouble at the border. Maybe Deacon should throw El Paso in there too, cause there's alway some kind of murder going on down there too."
Then we get home and i see the news.
It's insane! It's completely incomprehensible to me. I grew up in Tucson, and i don't remember it being anything like this!! Most people there were just laid back and somewhat friendly.
And the more i here about Arizona itself, i can't believe it could change that much since we left about 15 years ago. I never knew we had a racial problem down there...the part of town i grew up in there were only about 15 gringo kids for every 100 hispanic kids. Before we left, grocery clerks would greet everyone, no matter the skin colour, in Spanish. I thought the last place on Earth that would pass a law requiring people carry papers would be AZ. Leave that wacked out business to UT or ID.
And now to see a mass shooting, driven by political idiology, killing innocents like a 9 year old girl, a federal judge, and 3 retirees. If you'd like to read more about their stories, please visit the Arizona Daily Star. It's the "horse's mouth" so to speak, being Tucson's daily morning newspaper.
I have to concur with Sherrif Dupnik (man, he's been around a long time--since i was just a tot!) when he said, "The bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
Sure it's not a slogan the board of tourism can use, but sometimes the truth hurts.
Then we get home and i see the news.
It's insane! It's completely incomprehensible to me. I grew up in Tucson, and i don't remember it being anything like this!! Most people there were just laid back and somewhat friendly.
And the more i here about Arizona itself, i can't believe it could change that much since we left about 15 years ago. I never knew we had a racial problem down there...the part of town i grew up in there were only about 15 gringo kids for every 100 hispanic kids. Before we left, grocery clerks would greet everyone, no matter the skin colour, in Spanish. I thought the last place on Earth that would pass a law requiring people carry papers would be AZ. Leave that wacked out business to UT or ID.
And now to see a mass shooting, driven by political idiology, killing innocents like a 9 year old girl, a federal judge, and 3 retirees. If you'd like to read more about their stories, please visit the Arizona Daily Star. It's the "horse's mouth" so to speak, being Tucson's daily morning newspaper.
I have to concur with Sherrif Dupnik (man, he's been around a long time--since i was just a tot!) when he said, "The bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
Sure it's not a slogan the board of tourism can use, but sometimes the truth hurts.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Dear Washingtonians,
While stuck in traffic this morning when it took 2 hours to drive a mile and a half because of inclimate weather, i have a few insights for drivers living in our area.
Because our roads are like \ or / with lots of U, S or C (read "lots of hilly, curvy roads" for people with more than half a cerebrum), snow is never a good thing when it falls in the Pacific Northwest.
When conditions exist that make the roads look like this:
Because our roads are like \ or / with lots of U, S or C (read "lots of hilly, curvy roads" for people with more than half a cerebrum), snow is never a good thing when it falls in the Pacific Northwest.
When conditions exist that make the roads look like this:
picture taken by Cookie Monster at 11 in the morning
there are some basic truths you should follow. See below my list of handy hints to help make yourself not look like even more of a moron than you already do, especially if you are taking your life and fellow drivers' lives in your own hands. Besides, if you end up dead, you'll never have another chance to prove that you aren't a complete jerk or totally daft!
1. Don't go out in your car if you've known you needed new tires since last Spring. (I actually heard someone admit this today while she was stuck blocking one of the lanes on the highway to our house.)
2. Don't drive your BMW with 16 inch rims (but 1 inch thick racing tires) ON ANY ROAD.
3. Don't operate a truck without 4 wheel drive, unless you have something heavy in the back. Also, if your truck is sliding all over the road because you neglected to put sandbags in the back or if you have bald tires, it's probably also wise not to try to "gun it" up the hill with a 65 degree turn in it at a high rate of speed when you are surrounded by at least 50+ cars.
4. Don't drive on the shoulder to avoid the traffic jam. (P.S. You will not get around because all of the semi-responsible people who have deduced correctly that they will not make it up the highway you are travelling have actually pulled their cars onto the shoulder and left them there till the snow melts. (That's why all the people are walking down the road...against traffic.) Your car, however, may get stuck sideways while you are trying to cut back into the lane of traffic that will be moving as soon as the semi up the lane gets his chains on.)
5. It doesn't matter how close you follow someone, it will not make them be able to go any faster, since they are in fact behind 50+ cars that aren't going anywhere either.
5.1. Along the lines of following too closely: when you see the vehicle ahead of you whipping back and forth across the road because they are losing control of their vehicle, that is not the time to ride their bummer.
6. If the road was a two lane road before the 2 inches of snow fell, chances are pretty good that it's still a two lane road....at most. If you want to be completely honest, in a total white out, with no exposed asphalt, probably best to make it a one lane chain, slogging it up the hill together and leave space for emergency crews to get through to help clear accidents.
7. It doesn't matter if you are late. Slow down!! Breathe. And btw, you might want to hang up your phone. Doctors, your boss, the school....all will understand when you arrive really late, because they will hear on the traffic reports that the highway is at a complete stop.
8. Also along those lines, forget the speed limit. The new speed limit is only what it takes to get your car safely up the hill. Think of 5 mph as the new 55mph.
9. Don't cut off the guy with the Minnesota license plates. Granted, he may not look like he knows what's what because he chose to wear shorts to a snowstorm, however....he has more experience at this than you do. Worship (and follow) him (just not too closely.)
10. When you are stuck next to someone going the opposite direction (whether walking or driving), roll down your window and talk with them. Ask 'em about what's going on ahead. Oh share a better route to get through. Shoot, even if they don't know or you don't know anything, you can at least find something in common and help pass the time.
Truly, when it snows in the Greater Puget Sound area, it's probably best if you stay at home and do this. 
I know that was our last trip out in our vehicle till Thanksgiving.
If it hadn't been for the bread for our dressing molding, we wouldn't have been able to put together this list. I am going to be most thankful this week that i still have my life. Now to try to get Moose home in one piece.
People back East had Snomegeddon last year; we're calling this snOMG here in the Pac NW. At 6:30pm it's 25 degrees and the wind is blowing snow at 20 mph. 2" accum.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
It's Time to Play Big Dose of Reality....
today's game is brought to you by people who can't control their implusive spending, corrupt banks that couldn't help but leave people swimming in money (aka debt that they could never repay), and the Party of No!
First Question: What would you do if you wanted to list your home in the 2010 market, however the listing price is the same as the appraised value from 11 years ago??
a. unpack all your treasures again 'cause you're not going anywhere.
b. curse Bush 2.0 and those who came before him...all the way back to the president after FDR.
c. raise your child in an area where they could possibly film a whole season of Cops.
d. if it's this bad for a family that has a stable-ish job and a slightly sensible mortgage, pray HARD for those families whose jobs are on the chopping block and who are teetering on the brink of foreclosure.
doo doo doo dum, doo doo doo.....
Second question: True or False. Can you negotiate the price of a short sale home?
doo doo doo dum, doo doo doo.....
We're sorry you didn't win anything on today's episode of "Big Dose of Reality." But as a lovely parting gift, we'll leave you with more cardboard and packing tape than you could ever use in your lifetime. Plus, the extra bills this month to fix the kitchen floors and the second coat of paint for the deck.
The more the mess unravels, the more ashamed i feel about the country of my origin.
This is not what America has been about these last 234 years. Except for maybe a short time during the 70's and 80's where you couldn't sell a home if your life depended on it and you were stuck in line for gasoline.
Good day, fellow Americans, and good luck!
It's murder out there!
First Question: What would you do if you wanted to list your home in the 2010 market, however the listing price is the same as the appraised value from 11 years ago??
a. unpack all your treasures again 'cause you're not going anywhere.
b. curse Bush 2.0 and those who came before him...all the way back to the president after FDR.
c. raise your child in an area where they could possibly film a whole season of Cops.
d. if it's this bad for a family that has a stable-ish job and a slightly sensible mortgage, pray HARD for those families whose jobs are on the chopping block and who are teetering on the brink of foreclosure.
doo doo doo dum, doo doo doo.....
The answer is All of the Above, Charlie!
Second question: True or False. Can you negotiate the price of a short sale home?
doo doo doo dum, doo doo doo.....
The answer is false. You'll need to pay listing price. And as an extra added bonus, you'll pay extra fees too as the banksters way of saying, "Take that!", er, um, ahem, we mean "Thank you for your patronage (and more money we can throw toward the casino!)" It is actually easier to purchase a property that has been foreclosed on (taking down a low to middle income family with it) than it is to help them save their credit and find yourself a nicely discounted farm, turning the situation into a win-win for everyone.
We're sorry you didn't win anything on today's episode of "Big Dose of Reality." But as a lovely parting gift, we'll leave you with more cardboard and packing tape than you could ever use in your lifetime. Plus, the extra bills this month to fix the kitchen floors and the second coat of paint for the deck.
The more the mess unravels, the more ashamed i feel about the country of my origin.
This is not what America has been about these last 234 years. Except for maybe a short time during the 70's and 80's where you couldn't sell a home if your life depended on it and you were stuck in line for gasoline.
Good day, fellow Americans, and good luck!
It's murder out there!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Livin' the Slow Life: A Day in the Life of Moi
Annette at the fabulously inspiring Sustainable Eats participated in "A Day in the Slow Life" posting from one of the blogs she reads. You can follow the trail there. :) She invited her readers to post their goings on for their submissions to Simple Lives Thursday.
I'm game, but i have to admit, i feel a little homely compared to some of what these amazing people do! I don't grind my grains or make fabulously healthy dinners every night of the week. But i thought i would contribute since even the littlest changes and successes count, right? I have become more scheduled this year, consequently overcoming my need to make extra trips to the grocery during the week or consisently feeling behind (in some areas anyway, i'm still a work in progress, don'tcha know?)
So, here it is "Livin' the Slow Life: a not so typical Wednesday" by me, Whit
Now yesterday's kinda Wednesday doesn't happen every week. We have religious ed class once a month during the school year. It makes our life a little crazy, as you will see, however it is totally worth it because Cookie Monster is getting a great education (so are we)...and to boot she gets to see her uncle, who is our priest, more often!! Good Guys Win! Woot!
0545 Moose's alarm wakes me up. I dispise getting up this early. Especially because most nights i'm wide awake from somewhere around 2 am to 4 am. So, as i watch hubbie have a rendezvous with the snooze button over the next half hour, i tuck the covers back around me and grab the phonebot to catch up on the news that happened overnight--you know, mainly just what some crazy Tea Party candidate says on the Really Late Late Shows or something.
0700 Cookie Monster wakes. This is usually the time we snuggle in bed and read, awaiting Moose's departure. This day, we finished our first American Girl mystery.
0730 Moose is currently in a heated battle with some hornets that decided to build there nest just under our bedroom window in the wood pile. He pours 3 gallons of hot tap water on them to try to evict them. This is the third day in his war against the hornets, and thankfully it's not as expensive as another current war going on in our world. :)
0745 Moose says good bye and head's off on his bike for his 3 mile commute to work. C.m. and i get up and get ready for the day.
0800 Made granola. A few months ago, i purchased large quantities of flour, oats, and the like) and spent a few hours over the course of a few days making homemade "pre-mixes" of things that we use frequently (cookie mixes, granola, granola bars, meatloaf mix, and such.) As you can imagine, this really cuts down your "baking" time.
0825 While the granola is baking, it's time to make bread. I am currently working my way through a bread book by the River Cottage owner and his instructions are wonderfully easy! And while my stand mixer does the work for me, i jump online to check out a couple blogs. Obsess some more over a really cool quilt i discovered on one of my favourite blogs. But how to make it bigger???
0900 We have breakfast: we have cereal and some of our homemade applesauce we made at the beginning of the week. We tend to read during this time too, making breakfast extremely longer than it actually needs to be.
0945 We clear the table and get down to business: Homeschool! And remember to take the granola out of the oven before it burns. :)
Since we are a homeschooling family, we need to make the most of our weekdays. So i discovered creating a weekly plan that considers our work load, our appointments, and our dinners really helps us out. I usually sneak out of the house at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning and because the local library isn't awake that early, i head to our local coffeehouse (my only trip to a coffeehouse for the week) for a couple hours, taking with me cookbooks, school books, and our trusty calendar to plan the week and make the grocery list. After a sufficient amount of caffeine, i head from there to do the weekly shopping. We've made significant changes in the way we shop: we visit the butcher once a month on our way to church and we order staples from a food co-op monthly. I can't believe how much those two things will add up in time savings at the brick and mortar grocer!
1000 Math lesson.
1050 Break. During our 15-20 minute breaks inbetween subjects is when i bake or clean. Now i can add the extra task of packing up the house to the list too. On this day though, the bread was overdue for shaping and it's second rise. Also swept floors.
1105 Writing and spelling. Clear the table.
1200 Stick bread in the oven and make lunch. We keep it simple for lunch most days. Today it's ham, cheese, and apple quesadillas.
1250 Clear the table (again) and prepare some grapes to freeze to sustain Cookie Monster's appetite for them through the winter.
1310 Retrieve bread from oven and start Art History: read about Toulouse-Lautrec and Matisse for 30 minutes. Also cover our memory work that involves trying to commit the Egyptian dynasties to memory.
1400-ish Read for 30 minutes more. Cookie Monster tackles this while i discuss the latest object of my obsession over the phone with my mom. After serious debate, we're satisfied we've solved my problem. Unfortunately, we were both quite chatty and ate up a huge amount of our day. Arrgh...times two.
1515 Grammar lesson. STAT!
1530 Take leftover grapes, lunch, and snacks out to the Ladies of Laying, take care of their water and food, and collect eggs. Look over the garden quickly to see if there are any treats for the girls. Since the ruthless killing of one of our hens by our neighbours off leash beast, we haven't been able to let our girls free-range as they should, so gathering treats each day is a MUST!!
1550 Return inside to help dress Cookie Monster for her dance lesson. Reminded again why i love these crazy Wednesday night because she doesn't need to wear tights to class. I *loathe* tights!
1555 Make 2 tuna sandwiches and one PB with homemade raspberry jam on homemade bread. Pack water and cookies.
1615 Head to dance in the Kent Valley. While dance class is on, i obsess some more over the quilt while i eat dinner and work a bit on my first pair of socks i am knitting for C.m.
1745 Meet Moose at the car, dispense dinner items and beat cheeks to Lakewood.
1834 Arrive 4 minutes late to religious ed class, however it is okay, because the Deacon George still has have of his announcements to go since he has to make them in English and Spanish.
2030 Drive back home. Play "Whoever Yawns the Most on the Way Home Wins" game with family.
2105 Arrive home. Indulge in a dalliance on the computer for 10 minutes while C.m. gets herself ready for bed.
2115 Head to bed myself, reading a Curious George story to C.m. and giving the feline a pat before hitting the pillow. Having a brief thought about Mad Men before my eyes couldn't stand it any longer. We went through Hell this entire season with Mr. Draper, and now, in just a few hours in California with his secretary, he's proposed marriage to her? Really?
Anyway, that's a day in the life around here. A little extreme i guess because truly it's only one day of the month that looks like that, but subtract out the trip to Lakewood and it all pretty much looks the same otherwise! :)
What's your day look like?
I must say, reading through some of these entries has given me a plethora of great ideas!
To see more ideas on how to make your life simpler, visit the Simple Lives Thursday link at the top of this post.
I'm game, but i have to admit, i feel a little homely compared to some of what these amazing people do! I don't grind my grains or make fabulously healthy dinners every night of the week. But i thought i would contribute since even the littlest changes and successes count, right? I have become more scheduled this year, consequently overcoming my need to make extra trips to the grocery during the week or consisently feeling behind (in some areas anyway, i'm still a work in progress, don'tcha know?)
So, here it is "Livin' the Slow Life: a not so typical Wednesday" by me, Whit
Now yesterday's kinda Wednesday doesn't happen every week. We have religious ed class once a month during the school year. It makes our life a little crazy, as you will see, however it is totally worth it because Cookie Monster is getting a great education (so are we)...and to boot she gets to see her uncle, who is our priest, more often!! Good Guys Win! Woot!
0545 Moose's alarm wakes me up. I dispise getting up this early. Especially because most nights i'm wide awake from somewhere around 2 am to 4 am. So, as i watch hubbie have a rendezvous with the snooze button over the next half hour, i tuck the covers back around me and grab the phonebot to catch up on the news that happened overnight--you know, mainly just what some crazy Tea Party candidate says on the Really Late Late Shows or something.
0700 Cookie Monster wakes. This is usually the time we snuggle in bed and read, awaiting Moose's departure. This day, we finished our first American Girl mystery.
0730 Moose is currently in a heated battle with some hornets that decided to build there nest just under our bedroom window in the wood pile. He pours 3 gallons of hot tap water on them to try to evict them. This is the third day in his war against the hornets, and thankfully it's not as expensive as another current war going on in our world. :)
0745 Moose says good bye and head's off on his bike for his 3 mile commute to work. C.m. and i get up and get ready for the day.
0800 Made granola. A few months ago, i purchased large quantities of flour, oats, and the like) and spent a few hours over the course of a few days making homemade "pre-mixes" of things that we use frequently (cookie mixes, granola, granola bars, meatloaf mix, and such.) As you can imagine, this really cuts down your "baking" time.
0825 While the granola is baking, it's time to make bread. I am currently working my way through a bread book by the River Cottage owner and his instructions are wonderfully easy! And while my stand mixer does the work for me, i jump online to check out a couple blogs. Obsess some more over a really cool quilt i discovered on one of my favourite blogs. But how to make it bigger???
0900 We have breakfast: we have cereal and some of our homemade applesauce we made at the beginning of the week. We tend to read during this time too, making breakfast extremely longer than it actually needs to be.
0945 We clear the table and get down to business: Homeschool! And remember to take the granola out of the oven before it burns. :)
Since we are a homeschooling family, we need to make the most of our weekdays. So i discovered creating a weekly plan that considers our work load, our appointments, and our dinners really helps us out. I usually sneak out of the house at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning and because the local library isn't awake that early, i head to our local coffeehouse (my only trip to a coffeehouse for the week) for a couple hours, taking with me cookbooks, school books, and our trusty calendar to plan the week and make the grocery list. After a sufficient amount of caffeine, i head from there to do the weekly shopping. We've made significant changes in the way we shop: we visit the butcher once a month on our way to church and we order staples from a food co-op monthly. I can't believe how much those two things will add up in time savings at the brick and mortar grocer!
1000 Math lesson.
1050 Break. During our 15-20 minute breaks inbetween subjects is when i bake or clean. Now i can add the extra task of packing up the house to the list too. On this day though, the bread was overdue for shaping and it's second rise. Also swept floors.
1105 Writing and spelling. Clear the table.
1200 Stick bread in the oven and make lunch. We keep it simple for lunch most days. Today it's ham, cheese, and apple quesadillas.
1250 Clear the table (again) and prepare some grapes to freeze to sustain Cookie Monster's appetite for them through the winter.
1310 Retrieve bread from oven and start Art History: read about Toulouse-Lautrec and Matisse for 30 minutes. Also cover our memory work that involves trying to commit the Egyptian dynasties to memory.
1400-ish Read for 30 minutes more. Cookie Monster tackles this while i discuss the latest object of my obsession over the phone with my mom. After serious debate, we're satisfied we've solved my problem. Unfortunately, we were both quite chatty and ate up a huge amount of our day. Arrgh...times two.
1515 Grammar lesson. STAT!
1530 Take leftover grapes, lunch, and snacks out to the Ladies of Laying, take care of their water and food, and collect eggs. Look over the garden quickly to see if there are any treats for the girls. Since the ruthless killing of one of our hens by our neighbours off leash beast, we haven't been able to let our girls free-range as they should, so gathering treats each day is a MUST!!
1550 Return inside to help dress Cookie Monster for her dance lesson. Reminded again why i love these crazy Wednesday night because she doesn't need to wear tights to class. I *loathe* tights!
1555 Make 2 tuna sandwiches and one PB with homemade raspberry jam on homemade bread. Pack water and cookies.
1615 Head to dance in the Kent Valley. While dance class is on, i obsess some more over the quilt while i eat dinner and work a bit on my first pair of socks i am knitting for C.m.
1745 Meet Moose at the car, dispense dinner items and beat cheeks to Lakewood.
1834 Arrive 4 minutes late to religious ed class, however it is okay, because the Deacon George still has have of his announcements to go since he has to make them in English and Spanish.
2030 Drive back home. Play "Whoever Yawns the Most on the Way Home Wins" game with family.
2105 Arrive home. Indulge in a dalliance on the computer for 10 minutes while C.m. gets herself ready for bed.
2115 Head to bed myself, reading a Curious George story to C.m. and giving the feline a pat before hitting the pillow. Having a brief thought about Mad Men before my eyes couldn't stand it any longer. We went through Hell this entire season with Mr. Draper, and now, in just a few hours in California with his secretary, he's proposed marriage to her? Really?
Anyway, that's a day in the life around here. A little extreme i guess because truly it's only one day of the month that looks like that, but subtract out the trip to Lakewood and it all pretty much looks the same otherwise! :)
What's your day look like?
I must say, reading through some of these entries has given me a plethora of great ideas!
To see more ideas on how to make your life simpler, visit the Simple Lives Thursday link at the top of this post.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Finally, A Current Events Story We Can Teach!!
Isn't it amazing the live feed from Chile? Truly a miracle for our entire human race!
And what was pretty good about it (the best being that everything is running smoothly, by the grace of God, and the men are coming up reasonably healthy and reuniting with their families) is that it is a current events story i feel comfortable teaching my soon to be 8 year old about! Hooray!
Up until now, i've been pretty mum about the whole business. I remember the day in '86 when someone at our school had the great idea to have us all watch the Challenger lift off because it carried the first teacher in space. And there us 5th graders sat with a group of 2nd graders to watch the horrifying events of the morning, while our teachers and principal shuttled in and out of the room dealing with their own shock, and having to contain ours, while coming up with a game plan. So you can say i've been a little antsy to say anything about the Chilean miners...until today!
But that's just what we did....as soon as our feet hit the floor this morning!
And what was pretty good about it (the best being that everything is running smoothly, by the grace of God, and the men are coming up reasonably healthy and reuniting with their families) is that it is a current events story i feel comfortable teaching my soon to be 8 year old about! Hooray!
Up until now, i've been pretty mum about the whole business. I remember the day in '86 when someone at our school had the great idea to have us all watch the Challenger lift off because it carried the first teacher in space. And there us 5th graders sat with a group of 2nd graders to watch the horrifying events of the morning, while our teachers and principal shuttled in and out of the room dealing with their own shock, and having to contain ours, while coming up with a game plan. So you can say i've been a little antsy to say anything about the Chilean miners...until today!
But that's just what we did....as soon as our feet hit the floor this morning!
We talked of the geography and methods of mining. We talked of the science of living underground--trapped a mile below for 17 days with little food or light. We covered math in conversions from days to months and metres to feet to miles. We touched on everything else from plate techonics to modern technology. We talked about life vs. time: miners celebrating birthdays, babies being born, men who had just started working a few months ago with a man who was going to retire in a few months. We discussed the strength these men have to possess to stay alive for 69 days underground. We discussed world relations of Chile and Bolivia having to put aside differences now because the miners include a Bolivian citizen; and how a number of US companies and NASA helped with donations of materials so that the Chilean government could design a plan that would be so successful! We delighted in their superstitious belief about the number 33: there were 33 of them, it took 33 days for the rescue shaft to be completed, and they were rescued on 10/13/10 (add them up, you get 33)--they marvel at the fact that their 33's match up to the number of years that Jesus was alive on this earth. We talked of the power of hope. Of faith. Of determination. And of courage.
And then, we went downstairs for an hour and watched 2 rescues. Cookie monster's hooked now. I can't get her to come back up and eat breakfast so we can start school. And once she heard the chanting "Chi chi chi, le le le. Los Mineros de Chile," she couldn't stop singing it.
We've found a great live feed website to share called Breakingnews.com. It is filtered to receive only the news on the miners, and MSNBC links video of important developments very quickly. They even have a video of the ride up the rescue shaft with the rescue of Edison Pena. The BBC has a great website that is updated as well with international feed. I find their feed for mobile devices is best...as in if you are in a place that you can't watch video feed but you will be able to read updates.
I know we'll be glued all day!!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
What's Been Keeping Me Busy?
Oh boy, once we returned from the beach, reality kicked in big time!
So what's been keeping me busy?
So what's been keeping me busy?
- Moose. His feet aren't healed yet from his sunburn. I am thinking he has a 2nd degree burn on the tops of his feet. After a trip to the doctor, he's medicated up; including a fun sulfa cream (the kind we used to hand out like candy to the burn patients in the hospital) that kills practically anything it comes in contact with. I'm not kidding...the cat is looking a little piqued! :o) Hoping he is well enough to walk around soon. He's going batty just sitting around, staring at his feet.
- Chickens. Oy! The chickens. They've ceased laying eggs in their hidden nesting grounds. But, really, 14 eggs to go to waste like that? So Moose helped me with a little research tonight which will lead up to a new post tomorrow.
- Cookie Monster. Tomorrow's our official first day of 2nd grade. We begin English by reading excerpts from St. Augustine's "City of God" and move onto Beowulf. Wish me luck.
- The Garden. Today i decided i'd give the snap peas the eviction notice. It's been a great year for peas around here. Normally peas succomb to the heat of July (no worries there.) The dwarf ones we grew were supposed to stop at 2 ft. The vines were as tall as my shoulders today (5 ft.) Whew! But i am super nervous of disease--pea enation in this instance, so i ripped them out and cleaned the vines. 2.5 lbs worth of peas! What the chickens don't eat, i'll add to the compost. Tied up the tomatoes again. They are eyeball to eyeball with me, but not many tomatoes yet this year. The plants are finally putting off flowers. I'm really liking the tomato staking this year--bunch the leaves up against the stake, tie with twine. Couldn't be easier! Planted a packet of Little Finger carrots and weeded the brassica bed. Need to head to the local hardware store for some concrete reinforcement sheets to make cloches for that bed. Killed a couple slugs. All in a days work. :o)
- Mad Men! Woot! The first episode of season 4 i thought was meh. I did really like the John/Marsha exchange between Peggy and her assistant, although i don't really know why. Is Don Draper ever going to become the white knight i am hoping he'll be? If not, come series end, i could be deeply disappointed.
Speaking of Mad Men. It's almost on. See ya tomorrow!
Here's hoping you had a great weekend!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Perspective
Hello! Hoping you are having a good week! We are having a very productive week with school; wishing the same could be said about the garden too. Ah well, Mother Nature has no intention on delivering sun to Seattle anytime soon, unless it happens to be wrapped in a "sunshower", so we might as well enjoy the last little break before the real gardening work begins, eh? After all, we'll be planting 6 tomatoes, two cukes, and a ton of green beans and fending off hungry crows from our blueberries and boysenberries this year. Wish us luck. :o) As a little aside, i am hoping your raspberry patch, should you have one, looks as promising as our this year. My goodness, for fear of getting stung, you can't get within 2 feet of our raspberry canes. I tried and was immediately swarmed by bees that look like they may be from a hive. They've got funny little colours to their bee-hinds. :o) It's rejuvinating to see the raspberries already starting to take shape. Thinking i might try to make some raspberry syrup this year as well as jam.
If this year's self-imposed Lenten break helped me with one thing, it was gaining a bit of perspective. I don't need to feel guilty if i'm not posting something everyday (although, we are so busy around here, it leaves me feeling udderly behind when pictures and events i want to post collect on the camera.) I mean, really, you have something you could or should be doing right now too, rather than reading the internets, right? ;o) We, as a society, have become a bit more passive than generations before us. We want to be entertained seemingly every minute of the day (thanks more than ever to the t.v., computer, phonebot...etc. but there's enough blame to go around for the swimming lessons, dance classes, movie theaters, sporting events, etc.) Some of us just happen to have a good balance of all of it. Others of us (like me) find ourselves like a swinging pendulum between utterly in control of entertaining one's self and accomplishing tasks and letting it all go to you know what for the want of someone else to do all the work. :o)
I guess this week has been a bit of a combination of the two. I've been neglecting my blog in order to finish up garden plans, trying to keep up school with this year's "finish" and next year's "start" seemingly approaching at that same speed at the same time, watching Dylan Ratigan "preaching the gospel", as it were, keeping the economic scandals facing our nation in our faces and not allowing his viewers or the gov't reps he interviews to succumb to the goldfish syndrome (aka "The 5 Second Attention Span), and playing the new game i got for Mother's Day in hopes of burning a few more calories each day than i take in. Today, i doubt that is likely as we're having homegrown quiche for dinner. Again. As there are 5 dozen eggs in the fridge and i broke the broody and she's laying again.
Speaking of my Mother's Day gift, when i saw this game for the Wii called "Just Dance" i was intrigued.
One of my greatest memories about growing up was dancing in front of the boob tube to the latest music videos from Mtv. This game is based on that: songs from the Fifties to the Naughties that have an avatar performing a composed dance to the tune. The idea being that you dance along to the music, the way the avatar does, as if they are your mirror's image. Cookie Monster and i just love it. She loves to watch me do the nerdy moves of the professor avatar to the tune by the Caesars called "Jerk It Out" (i love that it reminds me of the way my friends and i used to dance in high school.) I love watching her dance the "Mashed Potato". She does really well--all she needs now is a poodle skirt. :o) The hustle, or whatever the 70's style dance moves are called in this number, is starting to grow on me, as Cookie Monster loves the song, "That's The Way (I Like It)". Love the 80's music and moves--the Blur, Kylie Minogue, Blondie! It's such a workout too, which is entirely why i wanted it. After about 6 songs, i've played 30 minutes, and not to be too indelicate, but i've never perspired so much in my life! :o) Just talking about it is making me want to hit the publish button and go get my groove on.
But first things first, it's school time. Cookie Monster is almost finished with our "1st Grade" year. And we've gotten a nice routine down too, while she completes her workbooks or writing or colouring, i break dinner into steps that can be completed in 20 minutes or less and get to getting. As soon as the sun comes out again, i'll be fitting garden tasks in with the dinner ones.
Cookie Monster is about 26 lessons away from finishing her 2nd grade math text, so we are about to incur a serious hit to the pocketbook for the next year's text. I shouldn't look at it that way though, i suppose--it's much cheaper than a mediocre private school or an uneducated child. :o) In the last few lessons from this year's text, she's learning multiplication tables to 5's, measuring area and perimeter, geometric shapes, and tangrams. We're slowly getting the hang of the spelling curriculum--namely how to start it with the student spells at a fourth grade level already but she hasn't learned the phonetic alphabet or grammar rules. She's taken to teaching herself the piano from her new lessons we just purchased, and can play Old MacDonald Had A Farm from memory now. She's really become a hound for art history too. We've made it through these wonderful books about Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Breugel, and Goya. If i had thought about it beforehand, i think i would have waited to introduce the artists when we came to their period in world history. So i am thinking i will re-introduce them with her favourite paintings by each artist as we come into the times in world history. Dover sells these educational packs of artists' famous paintings printed on postcards, so i like the idea that after we are finished studying the cards we can use them for correspondance for thank yous or birthdays.
Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend, and also some pleasant weather!
Take care!
Fondly,
Whit
If this year's self-imposed Lenten break helped me with one thing, it was gaining a bit of perspective. I don't need to feel guilty if i'm not posting something everyday (although, we are so busy around here, it leaves me feeling udderly behind when pictures and events i want to post collect on the camera.) I mean, really, you have something you could or should be doing right now too, rather than reading the internets, right? ;o) We, as a society, have become a bit more passive than generations before us. We want to be entertained seemingly every minute of the day (thanks more than ever to the t.v., computer, phonebot...etc. but there's enough blame to go around for the swimming lessons, dance classes, movie theaters, sporting events, etc.) Some of us just happen to have a good balance of all of it. Others of us (like me) find ourselves like a swinging pendulum between utterly in control of entertaining one's self and accomplishing tasks and letting it all go to you know what for the want of someone else to do all the work. :o)
I guess this week has been a bit of a combination of the two. I've been neglecting my blog in order to finish up garden plans, trying to keep up school with this year's "finish" and next year's "start" seemingly approaching at that same speed at the same time, watching Dylan Ratigan "preaching the gospel", as it were, keeping the economic scandals facing our nation in our faces and not allowing his viewers or the gov't reps he interviews to succumb to the goldfish syndrome (aka "The 5 Second Attention Span), and playing the new game i got for Mother's Day in hopes of burning a few more calories each day than i take in. Today, i doubt that is likely as we're having homegrown quiche for dinner. Again. As there are 5 dozen eggs in the fridge and i broke the broody and she's laying again.
Speaking of my Mother's Day gift, when i saw this game for the Wii called "Just Dance" i was intrigued.
One of my greatest memories about growing up was dancing in front of the boob tube to the latest music videos from Mtv. This game is based on that: songs from the Fifties to the Naughties that have an avatar performing a composed dance to the tune. The idea being that you dance along to the music, the way the avatar does, as if they are your mirror's image. Cookie Monster and i just love it. She loves to watch me do the nerdy moves of the professor avatar to the tune by the Caesars called "Jerk It Out" (i love that it reminds me of the way my friends and i used to dance in high school.) I love watching her dance the "Mashed Potato". She does really well--all she needs now is a poodle skirt. :o) The hustle, or whatever the 70's style dance moves are called in this number, is starting to grow on me, as Cookie Monster loves the song, "That's The Way (I Like It)". Love the 80's music and moves--the Blur, Kylie Minogue, Blondie! It's such a workout too, which is entirely why i wanted it. After about 6 songs, i've played 30 minutes, and not to be too indelicate, but i've never perspired so much in my life! :o) Just talking about it is making me want to hit the publish button and go get my groove on.
But first things first, it's school time. Cookie Monster is almost finished with our "1st Grade" year. And we've gotten a nice routine down too, while she completes her workbooks or writing or colouring, i break dinner into steps that can be completed in 20 minutes or less and get to getting. As soon as the sun comes out again, i'll be fitting garden tasks in with the dinner ones.
Cookie Monster is about 26 lessons away from finishing her 2nd grade math text, so we are about to incur a serious hit to the pocketbook for the next year's text. I shouldn't look at it that way though, i suppose--it's much cheaper than a mediocre private school or an uneducated child. :o) In the last few lessons from this year's text, she's learning multiplication tables to 5's, measuring area and perimeter, geometric shapes, and tangrams. We're slowly getting the hang of the spelling curriculum--namely how to start it with the student spells at a fourth grade level already but she hasn't learned the phonetic alphabet or grammar rules. She's taken to teaching herself the piano from her new lessons we just purchased, and can play Old MacDonald Had A Farm from memory now. She's really become a hound for art history too. We've made it through these wonderful books about Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Breugel, and Goya. If i had thought about it beforehand, i think i would have waited to introduce the artists when we came to their period in world history. So i am thinking i will re-introduce them with her favourite paintings by each artist as we come into the times in world history. Dover sells these educational packs of artists' famous paintings printed on postcards, so i like the idea that after we are finished studying the cards we can use them for correspondance for thank yous or birthdays.
Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend, and also some pleasant weather!
Take care!
Fondly,
Whit
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
Like Cookie Monster says, "Ah! This. Is. The. Life!"
Around 9 this morning, i was readying for the possible visit by a dear friend at lunch. Determined not to let the state of my wreck, er, home, stress me out, i set about deciding whether to make quiche or soup for lunch.
Going out to recess the chickens always helps me think, so out i went to try a little experiment in letting the girls recess themselves in the morning. Last time i tried it, we returned to the coop to find a squirrel emerging from the coop with a chicken feed moustache. Upon opening the door, i found two things: Mama chicken is broody again (oy!) and three of the little gals and one big gal had left their eggs for the day in the corner already. Hooray!
So, i gathered the eggs and went back inside...the decision seemingly made for me: because who would elect to make soup with 4 "Fresh from a chickens' bottom" eggs in their hands?
Now, to figure out what to put in the quiche was my second thought. We had some bacon and cheese left over from last week. Ooh, and the spinach in the garden was looking mighty fine. With a colander and some shears, out i went to fight the biddies for some of the spinach.
Simple as that. What a glorious reward for your effort to be able to grab eggs from your hard working chickens and spinach from your garden and in an hour have a wonderful meal to serve anyone. That's a real feeling of accomplishment, i tell you!
Around 9 this morning, i was readying for the possible visit by a dear friend at lunch. Determined not to let the state of my wreck, er, home, stress me out, i set about deciding whether to make quiche or soup for lunch.
Going out to recess the chickens always helps me think, so out i went to try a little experiment in letting the girls recess themselves in the morning. Last time i tried it, we returned to the coop to find a squirrel emerging from the coop with a chicken feed moustache. Upon opening the door, i found two things: Mama chicken is broody again (oy!) and three of the little gals and one big gal had left their eggs for the day in the corner already. Hooray!
So, i gathered the eggs and went back inside...the decision seemingly made for me: because who would elect to make soup with 4 "Fresh from a chickens' bottom" eggs in their hands?
Now, to figure out what to put in the quiche was my second thought. We had some bacon and cheese left over from last week. Ooh, and the spinach in the garden was looking mighty fine. With a colander and some shears, out i went to fight the biddies for some of the spinach.
Simple as that. What a glorious reward for your effort to be able to grab eggs from your hard working chickens and spinach from your garden and in an hour have a wonderful meal to serve anyone. That's a real feeling of accomplishment, i tell you!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
One Of Those Days
We've been roughing it the past few days. The cabin has no electricity, no running water, but it does have an outhouse. :o)
I love taking this vacation, because I can give myself a jolt of humility-correct my thoughts that I could actually live like this indefinitely -- off the grid as they say.
However I have a question to ask you...it might be a revolving sort though, and your comment could be "beware of vicious circles" or rather chicken vs. egg-ish.
Does all the living off the grid we've done the past few days get wiped off the records when I paid another $1.50 this morning for a second round hot water at the marina's showers just so I could stand under it?
I needed it though you see, as when I stepped out from my first 5 minutes of hot water, proud (read: full of myself) that this was the second day in a row that I beat the shower clock, I promptly knocked my nice, clean, dry, "only towel I brought with me" towel in the toilet.
In the infamous words of Charlie Brown...
ARRRRRGGGHH!!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
This Is Great! Amen!
Have you seen An Open Letter To Conservatives by Mr. Russell King?
I highly recommend it! Frankly, it and all the links provided within should be a required read for anyone voting in their next state election.
I highly recommend it! Frankly, it and all the links provided within should be a required read for anyone voting in their next state election.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wow! Ash Wednesday Already?!?
Yup, can you believe it?!?
Today we visited Lakewood for Mass. Fr. Bro-In-Law gave a great homily, especially as it was also the school children's Mass. He gave us quite a lot of food for thought, as is the usual with him. He is a very blessed individual with the gift to relate to his sheep he is helping to corral. :o)
He asked the kids about what Lent was about and likened it to serious conversation and time spent with a loved one. The concept being that if the kids wanted to talk with their parent about something super serious, would they go to a really noisy restaurant (the kids' all suggested Chuck E. Cheese) or would you go to a nice quiet restaurant (the kids' suggested 'some fancy place their parents always want to eat'.) I love the Masses where the school is in attendance!
So Fr. Pete's message regarding the season was issued as such: It is time to make your life quiet. Cookie Monster has given up 30 minutes of computer a day. I think i will follow suit. I am going to take an Internet break for the 40 days of Lent. So, this old blog will be "dry" for 40 days while i take this time to put toward a few more things that the Lord has put me in charge of.
Hoping you all have a wonderful season: restorative for all, whether you're Catholic or not.
Today we visited Lakewood for Mass. Fr. Bro-In-Law gave a great homily, especially as it was also the school children's Mass. He gave us quite a lot of food for thought, as is the usual with him. He is a very blessed individual with the gift to relate to his sheep he is helping to corral. :o)
He asked the kids about what Lent was about and likened it to serious conversation and time spent with a loved one. The concept being that if the kids wanted to talk with their parent about something super serious, would they go to a really noisy restaurant (the kids' all suggested Chuck E. Cheese) or would you go to a nice quiet restaurant (the kids' suggested 'some fancy place their parents always want to eat'.) I love the Masses where the school is in attendance!
So Fr. Pete's message regarding the season was issued as such: It is time to make your life quiet. Cookie Monster has given up 30 minutes of computer a day. I think i will follow suit. I am going to take an Internet break for the 40 days of Lent. So, this old blog will be "dry" for 40 days while i take this time to put toward a few more things that the Lord has put me in charge of.
Hoping you all have a wonderful season: restorative for all, whether you're Catholic or not.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy St. Valentine's Day!
What bad can you say about a day where you wake up to a love letter penned just for you from your Sweet Baboo, even though he's is sick?
Last night, to kick off Valentine's apparently, we had a surprise. We attended our old parish church for Mass since Moose wasn't feeling up to speed. And last night was the night the priest there does monthly blessings for wedding anniversaries. We were the only ones. So our family had to stand in front of the church and Moose did all the talking. Cookie Monster was there to witness this time, unlike the last. :o) Lo! and behold it was the night for a 2-fer, because as soon as we got back to our seats, the priest asked all the married couples to stand up and gave all of us a blessing.
We've enjoyed a family Wii date--rented a couple new games to try out--and i was blessed enough to get in a small amount of time to sorta relax at the local cafe and work out some lesson plans for the next two weeks (when did i become that hyper-organised homeschool mom with the lists, eh?) and now 2/3rds of us are recessin' the chickens while 1/3 of us is cleaning out some junk.
I went through my yarn stash....ei yi ei! Found just a few things that i can part with no prob. This is just the cotton alone. Oy!
Last night, to kick off Valentine's apparently, we had a surprise. We attended our old parish church for Mass since Moose wasn't feeling up to speed. And last night was the night the priest there does monthly blessings for wedding anniversaries. We were the only ones. So our family had to stand in front of the church and Moose did all the talking. Cookie Monster was there to witness this time, unlike the last. :o) Lo! and behold it was the night for a 2-fer, because as soon as we got back to our seats, the priest asked all the married couples to stand up and gave all of us a blessing.
We've enjoyed a family Wii date--rented a couple new games to try out--and i was blessed enough to get in a small amount of time to sorta relax at the local cafe and work out some lesson plans for the next two weeks (when did i become that hyper-organised homeschool mom with the lists, eh?) and now 2/3rds of us are recessin' the chickens while 1/3 of us is cleaning out some junk.
I went through my yarn stash....ei yi ei! Found just a few things that i can part with no prob. This is just the cotton alone. Oy!
Then when i gathered all the other yarns, half finished projects, usw. that i have....
this is borderline abominibal!
Those knitting needles will be smokin' over the next few weeks. After that, i don't think i'll need a new washcloth for at least 3 years.
I got a couple Valentine's projects done...made a couple of Valentine garlands with that super cute pattern i found, and ended up sticking with the original heart pattern, while adding a few stitches to it to make it work for me. I just loved the conversation heart theme....i can't wait to make felted hearts to write sme of the old Necco sayings on YEARS DOWN THE ROAD FROM NOW WHEN I NO LONGERS HAVE SUCH A HUGE STASH OF YARN!
(Look, Linda, look!!! I can't believe i did it!!!)
Over the past week, we were looking at houses too, and had another beauty that we really liked striped off the market before we could bat an eye. Grrrr. That's getting old. So i think we are going to spend some time just cleaning out the house. I don't mean "Mr. Clean"-in' out the house, but like actually taking her down to the furniture....or emptier. Then we'll strike will the iron is hot on the next beauty we see.
Hoping you all had a great Valentine's day with ones you love!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Isn't It Always The Way?
A couple Sundays ago, i broke down and bought this on my grocery shopping trip....
It had been at the grocer for about a month, with a very good price on it and their 10% discount for whole packaged goods. I was very good the first few times i saw it--an immediate about face and out of the bulk food section's general vacinity. Alas, it finally wore me down, as i kept thinking of all the things we make with oats, and how handy it would be to have "mixes" put together for the week or tons of granola on hand.
And as one would generally expect after such a committment....life took over and destroyed my grand plans. :o) I got sick, had a few appts to kept, played catch up with other things when i healed....well, no more ignoring the bag o' oats now!
But here it sits...still waiting for my elbow grease to repackage it. So that is on my list today. I'll be packaging up some dry granola bar mixes, some cookie mixes, and some granola mixes in jars and ziplocs. The rest i'll store in the freezer for breakfast or meatloaf/burger additives.
Then, it's off to schoolin'
It had been at the grocer for about a month, with a very good price on it and their 10% discount for whole packaged goods. I was very good the first few times i saw it--an immediate about face and out of the bulk food section's general vacinity. Alas, it finally wore me down, as i kept thinking of all the things we make with oats, and how handy it would be to have "mixes" put together for the week or tons of granola on hand.And as one would generally expect after such a committment....life took over and destroyed my grand plans. :o) I got sick, had a few appts to kept, played catch up with other things when i healed....well, no more ignoring the bag o' oats now!
But here it sits...still waiting for my elbow grease to repackage it. So that is on my list today. I'll be packaging up some dry granola bar mixes, some cookie mixes, and some granola mixes in jars and ziplocs. The rest i'll store in the freezer for breakfast or meatloaf/burger additives.
Then, it's off to schoolin'
UPDATED 2/9: With half of the bag gone, i now have:
- 18 bags of various flavoured (pumpkin spice, cardamom, cinnamon) mixes for peanut butter granola bars
- 4 bags of dry granola mix
- 1 batch of granola made
- 3 batches of granola bars made.
Monday, January 25, 2010
State of The Homeschooling Address
Wow! Is January really almost over already?!? Whoa!
You know what that means: time to audit the books.
And what i've found is that we need a whole new approach to the science and spelling areas. We also need to spend a few days "catching up" here and there. We aren't as bad off as before, but we are definitely in need of an extra lesson or two a day for a couple weeks to get ourselves ahead again.
November had 17 possible school days, December had 20 and January has had 12, as we took a long Winter Break. All totalled from the beginning of our "year", we've had 72 opportunities for a school day. So here's how it's looking:
Math: Lsn 51 (we spent 2 hours on Monday finishing four lessons...hopefully we can get more of that done during this week.)
You know what that means: time to audit the books.
And what i've found is that we need a whole new approach to the science and spelling areas. We also need to spend a few days "catching up" here and there. We aren't as bad off as before, but we are definitely in need of an extra lesson or two a day for a couple weeks to get ourselves ahead again.
November had 17 possible school days, December had 20 and January has had 12, as we took a long Winter Break. All totalled from the beginning of our "year", we've had 72 opportunities for a school day. So here's how it's looking:
Math: Lsn 51 (we spent 2 hours on Monday finishing four lessons...hopefully we can get more of that done during this week.)
English:
- We've ditched the reading guide because it was too babyish and i am currently investigating an alternative that is a phonics and spelling program rolled into one.
- We've also taken on a new approach to the spelling workbook. Instead of making C.monster finish on the list work in the book, i have her focus on writing paragraphs about the theme of the lesson. She i have her do an enrichment exercise making sentences for five words from the spelling list. Today, while administering the spelling quiz, i was met with C.monster's skill and wit--when i asked her to spell words like sea, meet, real, & week they were met with the questions, "What kind of..... Do you mean sea like 'i see a cat' or do you mean the ocean? Do you mean reel, like an Irish dance or do you mean it like a fishing reel or do you mean it like 'is that real food?'" Smart-alec kids these days! :o) That being said, she is already in the second book of the series and on lesson 11 out of 35. Our cirriculum says that she should finish the 7th book by 4th grade. I think that won't be a problem.
- For her grammar, we've been continuing in First Reading Lessons and she is humming right along with 58 lessons completed (more than have way done with 1st grade grammar.)
History is atrocious. We've only progressed 8 lessons. We're working on that this week.
Science is also abominable, so we are working on reworking it. This picking up books at the library every week is getting old...especially because we would rather not leave the house in favour of staying home to work on school and projects. So, i will try scheduling a science reading day once a month to work on reading about animals, but then would rather get her fired up about basic chemistry experiments and she's dying to learn about the human body other days of the month. During Spring, i'd like her to study plants. I think i am going to try a different approach to science and just work on a different unit of study once a month.
Religious Ed: December about killed us. We had 25 lessons requiring 15 minutes a day to keep up with. Needless to say, we opted for weekends, when Moose could be home to help with them. We managed to finish somehow, personally i believe it was a Christmas miracle, a now we have 30 new lessons to complete by Feb 3rd. Oy! I am not very pleased with this set of lessons, not only as the next class falls on our wedding anniversary, but because our parish has asked us to teach the kids about abortion this month. Now....really!?!? My child is 7. I could see teaching it to the 8th graders or the high schoolers, but my 1st grader?? One of the reasons we took her out of public school is because of the things she would learn there that would not keep her a child for much longer--one being AIDS education in kindergarten. :o\
The lesson was debated between Moose and i, but i firmly believe that there is another appropriate time to teach my child about abortion...especially when she doesn't even know how babies are made yet. She asked once when she was 5, but i gave her a simple beginning and end story. I wasn't about to tell a 5 year old that you insert tab A into slot B and yada yada yada...10 months later, boom, you have a baby. I told her that making babies was like a recipe--the mommies have the eggs and the daddies have another ingredient and when the ingredients are mixed together, poof, you get a baby. I am certainly not looking to explain this any further until she's needs to learn about the changes her body will be going through. And sensoring the process required to make a baby but not sensoring abortion didn't seem right. Like putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. Moose has a different experience though, coming from a strong, Catholic family where they were told at an early age that abortion is just plain criminal--and that i won't deny. I respect that, but i fear that if we were to tell C.m. about certain people willing to kill a child, she is still young enough that she would be horrified. I could hear her asking anytime she'd see someone pregnant whether they were going to kill their baby. I just don't think she needs to know this yet. She needs to be a kid while she can...and i remind her of this when she asks to watch more teenage appropriate programming, or when she wants to wear make up like Momma to ordinary everyday church or when she talks about being older and married and having kids. Right now, she needs to focus on book learnin', silly songs like "I Always Wished That I Could Be A Cubby", and playing with dolls....cause much too soon, she'll be a pre-teen and it will be time to introduce her to the cold, ugly, cruel world that she'll all too soon after that be an adult in. Sheesh!
One thing is for certain, we've learned a lot about the homeschooling process this year!
Monday, January 18, 2010
I. Just. Can't. Anymore.
I just can't watch any more news. I've been trying to follow on written word, rather than t.v., but last night i watched a special they had on the Haitian Quake on MSN. Speechless. I couldn't sleep last night as Chris Matthew's sound bite about his trip to Haiti and the first thing he saw was a kid drinking out of a pothole kept replaying in my head. And here this morning, i am able to wake up, drink my coffee out of a cup, eat my salad for lunch with a fork and a plate, on a table, after having used clean water to clean all of the ingredients in the said salad, and watch my child play with her toys while she sips juice and milk. Incredible how blessed we are. It is incredible to me that we are a country where if anyone needs food or water, there are shelters set up to deliver just that. Yet, i am still reeling from the news of our countries apparent ineptitude with this recent international disaster.
Having worked in the medical field--for a while at a nationally recognised burn centre, i know the medical miracles that a good medical team can pull out. Yet, i can't help reflecting on whatelse i saw after watching the news lately. We'd complete inventory regularly and find tons and tons of medical waste in the form of numerous expired bottles of pills at various $$$/pill & dump them into a cardboard drum that was loaded up when full and shipped to an incinerator. Saline bags (salt + water for hydration purposes or for adding medicine into to be given IV) outdated by 1-2 months--still in original sterile packaging--removed from sterile packaging and cut open and drained of it's contents into the sewer system.
This morning, i caught a glimpse of CNN reports from yesterday and today. Infuriating and embarrassing to say the least.
Especially infuriating was the story about the gentleman that they had patched, but because of severe hydration, and lack of saline bags, he was suffering horribly as his saline had run dry and his family was there to wait with him until his death.
Another report this morning was about the Isreali medical hospital that set up in Haiti...looking like something straight out of a M.A.S.H. set, but with ventilatours and computer modules. And where are the Americans that are only 1100 miles away? For cryin' out loud!! It's over 6500 miles from Jerusalum to Port-au-Prince!!
I appreciate that the personnel we do have there is helping the best they can, in many cases momentarily saving the lives of hundreds of survivours, who without further treatment for something even so minour as a broken bone, they will be stablised only to die a longer and more horrific death.
What is definitely becoming apparent is something that i thought was common sense knowledge...whether it's meant figuratively or literally, for some things a band aid isn't gonna solve the problem.
I encourage you to surf the net, if nothing else. If our gov't can't get it together in a timely fashion, let it be said that it wasn't for lack of help from nor the lack of generousity of the American populous! There are many bloggers out there that are donating money based on the number of comments they receive. There are ebayers and esty-ites that are selling wares with proceeds going toward Haiti relief. Find a charity to donate to. Ask your church or social group about any planned contributions and pile yours in with it. It's time to start our seeds here, and i'm mulling over the idea of planting the entire packets this year and selling the leftover starts i won't need for a massive donation to CRS.
Truly, any way you can help and at any time you can help...Lord knows the people of Haiti have needed help for many years, and they'll need it for a great many more years to come.
Having worked in the medical field--for a while at a nationally recognised burn centre, i know the medical miracles that a good medical team can pull out. Yet, i can't help reflecting on whatelse i saw after watching the news lately. We'd complete inventory regularly and find tons and tons of medical waste in the form of numerous expired bottles of pills at various $$$/pill & dump them into a cardboard drum that was loaded up when full and shipped to an incinerator. Saline bags (salt + water for hydration purposes or for adding medicine into to be given IV) outdated by 1-2 months--still in original sterile packaging--removed from sterile packaging and cut open and drained of it's contents into the sewer system.
This morning, i caught a glimpse of CNN reports from yesterday and today. Infuriating and embarrassing to say the least.
Especially infuriating was the story about the gentleman that they had patched, but because of severe hydration, and lack of saline bags, he was suffering horribly as his saline had run dry and his family was there to wait with him until his death.
Another report this morning was about the Isreali medical hospital that set up in Haiti...looking like something straight out of a M.A.S.H. set, but with ventilatours and computer modules. And where are the Americans that are only 1100 miles away? For cryin' out loud!! It's over 6500 miles from Jerusalum to Port-au-Prince!!
I appreciate that the personnel we do have there is helping the best they can, in many cases momentarily saving the lives of hundreds of survivours, who without further treatment for something even so minour as a broken bone, they will be stablised only to die a longer and more horrific death.
What is definitely becoming apparent is something that i thought was common sense knowledge...whether it's meant figuratively or literally, for some things a band aid isn't gonna solve the problem.
I encourage you to surf the net, if nothing else. If our gov't can't get it together in a timely fashion, let it be said that it wasn't for lack of help from nor the lack of generousity of the American populous! There are many bloggers out there that are donating money based on the number of comments they receive. There are ebayers and esty-ites that are selling wares with proceeds going toward Haiti relief. Find a charity to donate to. Ask your church or social group about any planned contributions and pile yours in with it. It's time to start our seeds here, and i'm mulling over the idea of planting the entire packets this year and selling the leftover starts i won't need for a massive donation to CRS.
Truly, any way you can help and at any time you can help...Lord knows the people of Haiti have needed help for many years, and they'll need it for a great many more years to come.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Worth It
My Little Cookie Monster and i stayed up waaaaay to late past our bedtime last night.
That's because we both wanted to see Barrie's production of Peter Pan at the childrens theatre.
And it was great! The cast was amazing, and the actor that played Capt. Hook made the character lovable, which i realise is so totally not the point! There was even an actor dressed in a crocodile suit with a tick tocking tummy! L.O.V.E.D. IT!
And so did C.m., who proudly sat on the edge of her seat the whole time, except during intermission when all she did was desparately ask every 2 seconds, "Momma, is intermission oooovvvver yet?!?"
Thinking about it last night and this morning...it is something i want to do more of with her more often. We live in this hellaciously busy, crazy, sometimes not so great area, but we need to go out and experience the good things this area has to offer once in a while, right? Otherwise, we should move to a teeny tiny little place in the middle of Wyoming or somewhere......like the town my parents took me to when we visited Wyoming years ago and the citizens were so excited because it was the first time in 3 years they had kids graduating high school--all 4 of them. :o)
On the cusp of the New Year, like millions of other people, i was thinking about what could be done differently around here to make life more enjoyable.
One, being that we need to take C.m. to Seattle once in a while. Big cities are magical places...and if you aren't lucky enough to be the type of person who can slog it out in one, you can atleast visit once in awhile to experience it. It's always full of surprises. Like last night, for instance, when we were in the Center House looking for a quick bite before the show, we saw some people we remembered from the Christmas Cruise in Cd'A a couple weeks ago. They're Aussie on a US holiday, and they were sitting next to us on the boat. Someone else had their ear the entire time, telling them about all the things they missed along their trip (Americans...we really stick our foot in it sometimes, eh?) We stopped them last night and talked with them--this is one of many trips they've taken in the States. They love it and would move to Nashville in a minute. Daughters were married in Las Vegas. They've seen and done things in our country that i can only hope to get accomplished someday before my numbers up--drive Rte 66, tour the eastern seaboard, visit Nashville. They had been to Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Boise, and Portland since we had seen them in Cd'A. Covered 4,000 miles so far and drove through their first snowstorm!
C.m. was soooo excited last night, she was wondering if Seattle was always that pretty. I didn't have the heart to tell her that if we had just been a few blocks down at the bus tunnels, things aren't so "pretty" down there unless you are a prostitute, drug dealer, or gang banger. We were on 5th Ave....the Ave on which Macy's and Nordstorm fight for customers. Where the monorail runs, Starbucks has it's flagship stand (and about 8 other caffeine refueling stations on 2 city blocks.) Martini bars, taco bars, cigar bars, and theatres rub up against one another. Just beyond are the old early 1900's buildings converted to beautiful little condos for "vintage living", as their billed, and at their doorsteps is the Seattle Center with the Space Needle all a-glow. C.m remarked that when she was a teenager or something, she would live there! :o) Didn't have the heart to tell her she wouldn't be able to have chickens in her condo. :o)
The other thing i am wrestling with this year is "owning" where i live. I hate where we live--it's that kind of place that if people hear where you live they say, "Eew, i'd never live there. Eeew!" It hasn't always been this bad apparently, but let's just say it isn't getting any better. Case in point, the pracitically nude coffee shop (that now has a neighbouring business just as bad called "Pole Fitness"--where you too can get in shape by learning to dance like a stripper!) :o\ Last night, on our way home from dropping off library books, i notice that the signboard for the coffee place reads, "Feelin' Nippy? So are we." UGH! I bet the fine people of Inuvik, NT don't have to put up with this crud! Then again, someone would have to be off your rocker to open up a scantily clad drive thru coffee place in the NW Territories! WA might as well be like that though, it's not like we've got pleasent year round weather like AZ! But with the whole econ crisis, there is absolutely nowhere to move--lots of people in our area are in the same boat. We own modest houses, we'd like to move up a little, but there is nothing on the market that is affordable for our kind and to boot, there is currently very few people who can afford a modest family home--or at least qualify for loans for them like they used to. Grrr. And i know the minute we decide to stay and put up a fence and make this place "work" as a little urban homestead in the 'burbs is when we'll find something affordable and won't be able to move because this place will have too many unfinished projects. Like i said, Grrrr! But there comes a point when it's more detrimential to sit and say, "i can't wait till this, i can't wait till that" and putting your whole life on hold, eh? I don't want to become so bitter that i can't even find reasons to get out of bed in the morning because i'm so depressed about where we live, what we didn't do, yada, yada, yada.
Also speaking of worth it.....the other thing i've been thinking about a lot lately is my health. I'm pretty happy with myself, that's is until i look in a mirror and don't recognise the person or those fat ankles looking back at me. I know exactly when and how i put on these 150 pounds i need to take off (as soon as i found out Starbucks Choco Chunk Cookies were 11 points, er aka the number of calories in a healthy, filling meal, there was no point in prolonging the inevitable breakup that was brewing--no pun intended.) But what i'm not so certain of is the why. Why did i let myself get this fat?? I know my weight will be a life long challenge, but right now, i've just got to focus on chisellin' a little chunk off the chunky, you know? I've been thinking a lot lately about why i let my waistline get this outta hand? But since that is a truly depressing thought to me and the more i think about it the more down on myself i get, i try not to think about it. Thinking about why you're not happy truely doesn't help you get any happier, eh? (Reasons for unhappiness???! See above re: humble family home near unabashedly crude "business" district.)
Recently at my WW meeting, an acquaintance gave me a bookmark entitled "If I Lost 1 lb Each Week of 2010...." and then it lists all the holidays and how much weight could be lost by each. Just thinking about it amazes me. I'm trying to remind myself of each time i go for the fridge or cupboard. But mostly, i am trying to convince myself that i could do it!!
I'm thinking if i could personalise it just a little bit more, it might make it easier for me to remember, so here goes....
Feb 3rd...my 9th anniversary. Moose's "Ball and Chain" would be five pounds lighter!!
Feb 14th...Valentine's Day. I would be lovin' the fact that i was 7 pounds lighter!
Mar 17th...St. Patty's Day. I would be 11 lbs lighter...which coincidently is about the size of a leperchaun!
Mar 26....Mom and Me Tea at Meeker Mansion. I would be 12 lbs lighter for our second annual mom and daughter tea. 12 pounds lighter than the last one!
Apr 4....Easter. 14 lbs lighter -- maybe i could do the bunny hop then!
Apr 22nd....Moose's Birthday. We could celebrate his birthday and my weighing 16 lbs less with crab cakes instead of birthday cake! Anyone know how candles work in crab cakes? :o)
May 9...Mother's Day. 19 lbs less of me--well on my way to becoming one hot momma (or momma to another lil sweet pea--even better!!!)
June 1st...Happy B/D to me--especially because i would be 22 pounds lighter. On my way to lookin' more and more like Marilyn Monroe each day (whom, incidently, shares the same birthday as me.)
June 21....Summer Solstice. I'd be 25 lbs lighter, which would really help with all those late night gardening chores!
July 4th...Independance Day. 27 lbs down. There's a reason to celebrate with some fireworks!
July 25th....an ordinary Sunday would become the day i lose 10%! 30 lbs....that's a whole mess of potatoes!
Aug 15th...such a boring month is Aug. However, with 33 lbs down, i could make it exciting by shopping for some new clothes!! I'd be needing them by then!
Sept 4th..."Wear A Cute Apron" Day....with 35 lbs down, maybe i could even tie it in the front?!?
Oct 11...Columbus Day.... 41 lbs down would be like discovering a whole new me!!
Oct 31st ...Hallowe'en... with 44 lbs lost, i'd have the best looking costume i've had in a long while--a healthier, slimmer me!
Nov 7th... Cookie Monster's b/d... i'd be 46 lbs lighter and while we would be celebrating our little one's day, i would secretly be celebrating the fact that i could rest assured that i would be here for many more celebrations to come!
Nov 25th ... Thanksgiving & 47lbs lighter. A whole lot to be thankful for, wouldn't you say? Please, don't pass the gravy!
Dec 25th ... Christmas... i'd be 51 lbs lighter. That's the best Christmas present i could get, and ain't nobody can give it to me but myself!!
and by New Year's Eve, i could be 52 lbs lighter...not only would i be celebrating the New Year, but also rejoicing in the fact that i had reached my goal of 250 lbs, that would allow us to be able to try to have another baby in 2011, as i'd be the same weight i was when we found out we were pregnant with C.m. Talk about a celebration!!!!
That's because we both wanted to see Barrie's production of Peter Pan at the childrens theatre.
And it was great! The cast was amazing, and the actor that played Capt. Hook made the character lovable, which i realise is so totally not the point! There was even an actor dressed in a crocodile suit with a tick tocking tummy! L.O.V.E.D. IT!
And so did C.m., who proudly sat on the edge of her seat the whole time, except during intermission when all she did was desparately ask every 2 seconds, "Momma, is intermission oooovvvver yet?!?"
Thinking about it last night and this morning...it is something i want to do more of with her more often. We live in this hellaciously busy, crazy, sometimes not so great area, but we need to go out and experience the good things this area has to offer once in a while, right? Otherwise, we should move to a teeny tiny little place in the middle of Wyoming or somewhere......like the town my parents took me to when we visited Wyoming years ago and the citizens were so excited because it was the first time in 3 years they had kids graduating high school--all 4 of them. :o)
On the cusp of the New Year, like millions of other people, i was thinking about what could be done differently around here to make life more enjoyable.
One, being that we need to take C.m. to Seattle once in a while. Big cities are magical places...and if you aren't lucky enough to be the type of person who can slog it out in one, you can atleast visit once in awhile to experience it. It's always full of surprises. Like last night, for instance, when we were in the Center House looking for a quick bite before the show, we saw some people we remembered from the Christmas Cruise in Cd'A a couple weeks ago. They're Aussie on a US holiday, and they were sitting next to us on the boat. Someone else had their ear the entire time, telling them about all the things they missed along their trip (Americans...we really stick our foot in it sometimes, eh?) We stopped them last night and talked with them--this is one of many trips they've taken in the States. They love it and would move to Nashville in a minute. Daughters were married in Las Vegas. They've seen and done things in our country that i can only hope to get accomplished someday before my numbers up--drive Rte 66, tour the eastern seaboard, visit Nashville. They had been to Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Boise, and Portland since we had seen them in Cd'A. Covered 4,000 miles so far and drove through their first snowstorm!
C.m. was soooo excited last night, she was wondering if Seattle was always that pretty. I didn't have the heart to tell her that if we had just been a few blocks down at the bus tunnels, things aren't so "pretty" down there unless you are a prostitute, drug dealer, or gang banger. We were on 5th Ave....the Ave on which Macy's and Nordstorm fight for customers. Where the monorail runs, Starbucks has it's flagship stand (and about 8 other caffeine refueling stations on 2 city blocks.) Martini bars, taco bars, cigar bars, and theatres rub up against one another. Just beyond are the old early 1900's buildings converted to beautiful little condos for "vintage living", as their billed, and at their doorsteps is the Seattle Center with the Space Needle all a-glow. C.m remarked that when she was a teenager or something, she would live there! :o) Didn't have the heart to tell her she wouldn't be able to have chickens in her condo. :o)
The other thing i am wrestling with this year is "owning" where i live. I hate where we live--it's that kind of place that if people hear where you live they say, "Eew, i'd never live there. Eeew!" It hasn't always been this bad apparently, but let's just say it isn't getting any better. Case in point, the pracitically nude coffee shop (that now has a neighbouring business just as bad called "Pole Fitness"--where you too can get in shape by learning to dance like a stripper!) :o\ Last night, on our way home from dropping off library books, i notice that the signboard for the coffee place reads, "Feelin' Nippy? So are we." UGH! I bet the fine people of Inuvik, NT don't have to put up with this crud! Then again, someone would have to be off your rocker to open up a scantily clad drive thru coffee place in the NW Territories! WA might as well be like that though, it's not like we've got pleasent year round weather like AZ! But with the whole econ crisis, there is absolutely nowhere to move--lots of people in our area are in the same boat. We own modest houses, we'd like to move up a little, but there is nothing on the market that is affordable for our kind and to boot, there is currently very few people who can afford a modest family home--or at least qualify for loans for them like they used to. Grrr. And i know the minute we decide to stay and put up a fence and make this place "work" as a little urban homestead in the 'burbs is when we'll find something affordable and won't be able to move because this place will have too many unfinished projects. Like i said, Grrrr! But there comes a point when it's more detrimential to sit and say, "i can't wait till this, i can't wait till that" and putting your whole life on hold, eh? I don't want to become so bitter that i can't even find reasons to get out of bed in the morning because i'm so depressed about where we live, what we didn't do, yada, yada, yada.
Also speaking of worth it.....the other thing i've been thinking about a lot lately is my health. I'm pretty happy with myself, that's is until i look in a mirror and don't recognise the person or those fat ankles looking back at me. I know exactly when and how i put on these 150 pounds i need to take off (as soon as i found out Starbucks Choco Chunk Cookies were 11 points, er aka the number of calories in a healthy, filling meal, there was no point in prolonging the inevitable breakup that was brewing--no pun intended.) But what i'm not so certain of is the why. Why did i let myself get this fat?? I know my weight will be a life long challenge, but right now, i've just got to focus on chisellin' a little chunk off the chunky, you know? I've been thinking a lot lately about why i let my waistline get this outta hand? But since that is a truly depressing thought to me and the more i think about it the more down on myself i get, i try not to think about it. Thinking about why you're not happy truely doesn't help you get any happier, eh? (Reasons for unhappiness???! See above re: humble family home near unabashedly crude "business" district.)
Recently at my WW meeting, an acquaintance gave me a bookmark entitled "If I Lost 1 lb Each Week of 2010...." and then it lists all the holidays and how much weight could be lost by each. Just thinking about it amazes me. I'm trying to remind myself of each time i go for the fridge or cupboard. But mostly, i am trying to convince myself that i could do it!!
I'm thinking if i could personalise it just a little bit more, it might make it easier for me to remember, so here goes....
Feb 3rd...my 9th anniversary. Moose's "Ball and Chain" would be five pounds lighter!!
Feb 14th...Valentine's Day. I would be lovin' the fact that i was 7 pounds lighter!
Mar 17th...St. Patty's Day. I would be 11 lbs lighter...which coincidently is about the size of a leperchaun!
Mar 26....Mom and Me Tea at Meeker Mansion. I would be 12 lbs lighter for our second annual mom and daughter tea. 12 pounds lighter than the last one!
Apr 4....Easter. 14 lbs lighter -- maybe i could do the bunny hop then!
Apr 22nd....Moose's Birthday. We could celebrate his birthday and my weighing 16 lbs less with crab cakes instead of birthday cake! Anyone know how candles work in crab cakes? :o)
May 9...Mother's Day. 19 lbs less of me--well on my way to becoming one hot momma (or momma to another lil sweet pea--even better!!!)
June 1st...Happy B/D to me--especially because i would be 22 pounds lighter. On my way to lookin' more and more like Marilyn Monroe each day (whom, incidently, shares the same birthday as me.)
June 21....Summer Solstice. I'd be 25 lbs lighter, which would really help with all those late night gardening chores!
July 4th...Independance Day. 27 lbs down. There's a reason to celebrate with some fireworks!
July 25th....an ordinary Sunday would become the day i lose 10%! 30 lbs....that's a whole mess of potatoes!
Aug 15th...such a boring month is Aug. However, with 33 lbs down, i could make it exciting by shopping for some new clothes!! I'd be needing them by then!
Sept 4th..."Wear A Cute Apron" Day....with 35 lbs down, maybe i could even tie it in the front?!?
Oct 11...Columbus Day.... 41 lbs down would be like discovering a whole new me!!
Oct 31st ...Hallowe'en... with 44 lbs lost, i'd have the best looking costume i've had in a long while--a healthier, slimmer me!
Nov 7th... Cookie Monster's b/d... i'd be 46 lbs lighter and while we would be celebrating our little one's day, i would secretly be celebrating the fact that i could rest assured that i would be here for many more celebrations to come!
Nov 25th ... Thanksgiving & 47lbs lighter. A whole lot to be thankful for, wouldn't you say? Please, don't pass the gravy!
Dec 25th ... Christmas... i'd be 51 lbs lighter. That's the best Christmas present i could get, and ain't nobody can give it to me but myself!!
and by New Year's Eve, i could be 52 lbs lighter...not only would i be celebrating the New Year, but also rejoicing in the fact that i had reached my goal of 250 lbs, that would allow us to be able to try to have another baby in 2011, as i'd be the same weight i was when we found out we were pregnant with C.m. Talk about a celebration!!!!
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