Allergies

So, well, I was taking some Tylenol Allergy/Sinus in preparation for being outside this afternoon. DD7 came up behind me.

"Momma, do you think I will need medicine like that?"
Well, I don't know sweetie. I don't remember you ever having trouble with allergies before.

"Well, one day I did hiccup a lot."

Why does she wait until I have a drink in my mouth to say these things?! I almost spewed generic Pepsi all over the keyboard!

Skating

The girls and I went skating yesterday. It was a birthday party for a couple of girls in our home school group.

The young'uns had a great time. I even got out on the floor for one time around. There is no photographic evidence of it, though, thank goodness. One of the perks of being behind the camera.

Now accepting your ideas...

I am in the mood to actually get moving on one of my One of a Kind Barbies. BUT, I have no doll hair for a re-root, nor do I have medium extender to properly thin the acrylic paint for a facial re-paint. So, I can use a face that still has factory paint and try to get creative about the hair.

Any ideas? Polyester pillow fluff, glued on or poked into the holes? Cross stitch thread? Yarn that is subsequently brushed to make it no longer look like yarn? Pine needles? Copper wire?

I am interested in seeing how copper wire turns out. I'll have to see if we have any spare wire around the house, the kind that has many small copper strands inside the insulation.

What else might I make hair on a Barbie out of? Even if it sounds weird. I am trying to think of things I have around the house, so I don't have to go shopping or wait for an internet order to arrive.

Here is a picture of one of the heads I might choose from.

Though there will be no paint.

Lawn is mowed

Our lawn no longer looks like there could be a car hiding in the grass.

I paid a friend's son to come and mow it. It all worked out nicely. I got to have some grown-up friends time while the girls got to play with their friends. There was chatting time here, time at the park, home school support group planning talk time, lemonade...

It was a good day. I wonder how soon I can legitimately wait before I pay him to mow again, a week, two? I can't wait.

Here is a picture from another good day. July 4 2007. DD9 is finishing off the last of her smore.

Back on Film

Well, digital, actually, but we are rolling once more with a new digital video/still photo camera.

The girls requested they get to be the first photo taken. I am happy to oblige, obviously.

I am an eBay seller now!

Well, yesterday I finally got around to posting the stuff I picked out to sell on ebay a few months ago. And one thing sold already! Woohoo!

The buyer even lives near the city where I used to live. Cool.

R.I.P. Cannon ZR300

My camcorder / digital camera just died. DD7 and I were planning on having a "Picture Taking Day" where we take pictures of her, me, the cat, flowers, dolls, etc. I went to check how charged the battery is and BLAMMO all I get is a white screen on the screen and nothing through the viewfinder.

The blasted thing was working just an hour ago! I took this (the last picture this camera will take. *sniff*) to illustrate something about my Firefox bookmarks.


Then I noticed the battery was getting low and plugged the camera in just like I have thousands of times over the past ... thinking ... 3 years. The screen went white and there was nothing. So sad. It was a good camera.

This doesn't come as too much of a surprise. There have been some clues that it was on its way out since Christmas. Oh well.

Here is the last actually interesting picture taken with this camera. Our cat Pippen in the window of my craft room enjoying the breeze, and birdsong, and sunlight, and whatever else cats like when they sit in second story windows.

Pay It Forward

Andrea at The Happy Hippy Chronicles posted about a gift ... (word search..."exchange" isn't right..."train" maybe) Paying Forward the warm fuzzies of receiving a gift.

So, here is how it works...The first THREE people to comment to this post will receive a gift from me. The they must Pay It Forward by repeating what I (and Andrea and whoever sent Andrea a gift, etc) by sending out three gifts.

Let's Go!

Dr Laura on HSing

Dr Laura Schlessenger posted today on her blog about a study done at a Jackson, MS university that measured how well home schooled students adjust to their first semester of college, compared to comparable traditionally schooled students.

http://www.drlaurablog.com/2008/05/22/home-schooling-does-not-hamper-socialization/

The Prime Equator

How is it that a child can forget information that they knew mere seconds ago?

I don't know. It is a talent, I guess. I don't know where they get it from.

Wait, what was the question?

Anyhow, today was a geography/map use lesson. Latitude, longitude, Prime Meridian, International Date Line, Capricorn, Cancer, Arctic, etc. I suppose it went well. DD7 did best when talking with me but she froze for the quiz. I can certainly understand that.

We'll have to see if they can find Mississippi on the globe again tomorrow; or Greenwich, England; and the northern hemisphere.

We did have.

This weekend--
DH decided he wanted to relax and play some Magic:The Gathering. He tried to get me to play, but I put it off. I do enjoy watching others play more than playing myself. He and DB refreshed DD10 on her rules and taught DD9 for the first time. All in all it went pretty well.

And what did I do while they played cards? I ripped hair out of Barbie dolls, preparing them for future re-roots. I have a little army of bald Barbies now, waiting to do my bidding! hahahaha!

Now I just need to remove the factory paint off of the ones I plan to repaint, such as lovely Mulan in the picture.

Boring Life

My life is really boring. I don't know why I bother to try to blog about it, other than as a freaky way of keeping a diary.

Today's questions...should I hang the bizaaro-looking exotic hanging table (from the Philippines) that my mother gave me near my desk, or at the top of the front stairs, or somewhere else entirely? (maybe over near the dining room entrance) I cannot decide.

My allergies are bothering me. Mostly eyes today, which is unusual. I am mostly a sneezey, stuffy allergic.

Can I legitimately call myself a home school mother if we haven't done SQUAT all week? The move laid me out, lesson-wise. I want to get back to it, but then I look around and my house is full of boxes. I tell myself, "We really need to focus on unpacking and THEN we can get back into school." But there are so many boxes that I feel overwhelmed and just sit and do nothing.

OK, so, that is stupid, no? Lets dissect that...too many boxes to unpack. Shall we just wallow in boxes then and NEVER MOVE IN? No. OK, so what to do...Let's unpack. BUT instead of worrying about THE WHOLE FEAKIN' HOUSE, I'll concentrate on one room. And withing that one room, I will start with one box.

Which room do I start in? Arrrgh!

OK, calm down. Let's not be paralyzed like rabbits in headlights.

Which room is EASIEST?

...thinking...

I think I will do take care of what I can in my bedroom.

There, see? All that to come to the decision that I need to go clean my room. WHat a boring blog!

I am off, to actually do what I need to, believe it or not.

(PS - I think the hanging table will go over near the dining room.)

Interesting Photo

Unfortunately, I cannot credit the photographer because I cannot remember what website I found it on.

It may seem cruel, but I have every confidence that this squirrel was not killed to take this shot.
I love the composition, making the GI Joes look like they hunted the beast and killed it. As a customizer of 1:6 scale figures, I can appreciate that.

The New House

Here is the new house before we moved in. Mom and the girls included. You can see that most of the front yard is taken up by parking lot. The house was used as a business building for the last 10 years. I suppose I could eventually reclaim the yard, but then again, I have found having a parking lot to be incredibly convenient, even when I don't have 20 cars visiting.


Big fireplace. I cannot wait to decorate for Christmas. But then again, I always love decorating for the holidays.


The kitchen, BEFORE we moved in (Read- It is much messier now.)


The kitchen from downstairs.


Brick planter-thing. This house was built in 1968 and is a little weird. I am planning to cover the brick top with plywood and put my 55 gallon fish tank here.


This is in the garage. Three little desks built onto the wall. This used to be office space. You better believe it is classroom space now, Baby! (or will be once I get it set up right)

Caught Up - sort of

OK, I went through and copied and pasted the entries from my other blog into this one. Everything between "Souvenir" (with the kitten) and "Not quite a year" (where I tell it has not quite been a year since I posted) was added in. I did not post any of the entries where I say that yahoo 360 blog feature sucks or it was giving me headaches. However, the hassles I experienced in simply going to old posts to copy them make me think coming back to blogger might be a good idea.

It's not like anyone cares. No one reads this.

Have a great day!

Well, not quite a year

Didn't quite make it to the 1 year point between posts. I'll have to try harder next time.

There are lots of things to relate, many of which I covered in another blog (don't feel betrayed. I know no one reads this blog anyway.) I'll see if I can transfer over what is there to what is here. Maybe. Later. Right now I have things to do.

We have moved. The cat has grown. We still home school. I am not taking classes right now. Tada! You are up to date! Just kidding, but really, I don't want to bring this blog current right now. Later. Maybe.

House Ahoy!

Well, we have not closed yet, but we have been notified that that is pretty much a formality (my paraphrasing) so WOOT! WOOHOO!

We are kicking the moving into high gear starting tomorrow and renting a truck probably next Saturday to get the deal done. Yay!

I am not all that pleased to lose my anniversary to a move, but DH says we can have a make up anniversary later. You better believe I will hold him to it.

What an anniversary present! A house! Yay!

Turning the Other Cheek

For the last couple of days I have been musing on what I believe (and do not believe) in my spiritual life. I am a Christian. That much is certain. I was raised as a Southern Baptist, but I find some of the teachings (or lack thereof) there to be not my own belief. Much of it is what I believe is trivial, piddly stuff. (not that trivial piddly stuff hasn't created schisms among denominations in the past) There are things I believe that are much more in line with other Christian denominations and even Judaism. I try to use the Bible as the final authority on what to believe and what not to believe.

I am having one bit of trouble just now. If you have an opinion, please share it intelligently and without vitriol. Be prepared to back it up with scripture references, or well, you are just spouting off then, aren't you...

Anyway, here goes...

How does one justify Jesus' teaching of "turn the other cheek" with the (one's own, that it, MY own) belief that there are some things which must be fought for?

Now, there was the rage at the temple...Is "fighting back" to be reserved for blasphemy?
What about self defense? Self defense seems contrary to turning the other cheek. Does that mean we have to take abuse?
What about defending the week and abused others? Must we stand by and watch others being hurt, telling them to "turn the other cheek"?

The Old Testament is pretty full of people standing up for God and for themselves (and not), but as a Christian, how do I fit the teachings of Christ on the matter into my own beliefs. Are there other teachings of Christ that have bearing? I am not a scripture scholar (maybe I should have been. It would serve me better than having to read Homer repeatedly as a Classics major.) What does Paul have to say?

I will do some of my own research, but part of that is to consult trusted sources. You might as well be one of those until you prove otherwise.

Where's the fun in that?

So, I am starting a game for DH and setting it in Baldur's Gate (maybe) and I want a map. Can't find one online, but DB has the old video game. maybe there is a map in there. We load Baldur's Gate onto the computer and instead of looking for a map, of course, I start to play. I generally don't do computerized role playing games, but it starts out interesting and I learn the ropes in the free area, introduction, nothing can kill you here place. Fun. Then I move out of that and promptly get killed. Or as DH said...

"Aha! Into the great Wild! Ack! A wolf!" *gurgle* *scream* *twitch*

The next day went a little better. I did make it to the next town. Two or three times even, since I kept dying in said town. All together, I am a little reconfirmed in my belief that computer RPGs are not for me. I told DH that the game was pretty pointless and things just keep coming out to kill me. He said maybe I should try Spyro or Super Monkeyball. Haha, very funny. Maybe I will just limit his DVD collection to Rated G.

Anyhoo, I will probably be sticking to puzzle games.

Yada yada

Sorry the blog has be so quiet lately. We have been moving stuff over to the new house DESPITE not having closed yet. (I know, I know...) The seller said that if we were certain we would be getting the mortgage, he was ok with us moving some stuff over. DH says he is certain we will be approved, so we schlep boxes across town. Nothing huge, nothing that can't be moved out again if the worst should happen, nothing nailed to the walls...I think we're good. It will definitely help having gotten a head start once the approval does come in and we only have a couple of weeks to get out by the end of the month.