Tis Cold!

Brrr! I had to dig out my winter coat this morning to walk Penny. It was 41 with a cold wind blowing. I wish I had had some mittens to wear. And this is the morning that Charles got up early and went out to throw some hoops! He is crazy! But he wants me to take him job hunting today, so maybe crazy is a good thing! First on the agenda, though, is a hair cut. Maybe I should take a picture of how long his hair has gotten in case he ever thinks about growing it long again. He has not had a hair cut in over a year!

I came across this fun vocabulary site today. Free Rice. "For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger." That is a quote from the site. I do not see advertising on it, but the site states that is how they pay for the rice. The vocabulary words are quite challenging and adjust to your level, up or down, as needed. I spent a few minutes on it this morning and found many words that I could make educated guesses on and some that completely stumped me. There is a setting you can make on the site so that it will keep track of your vocabulary level and the amount of rice you have "donated" from visit to visit. Right now my vocab level is at 41, with my best being 46, and I have donated 1180 grains of rice. Try it out!

Is anyone watching the Sci-Fi miniseries Tin Man this week? Way cool! I always loved The Wizard of Oz but this is a much more grown up adaptation of Frank L. Baum's novels. I really should put them on my "to read" list.

I guess I had best get working on my Christmas cards, since it appears that I will be on the road some today. And no, I have not forgotten that I had promised to write some pithier posts here this month. I am mulling over a couple of different ones concerning unschooling, and also an addendum to my Joy post earlier this month, so stay tuned.

Happy Birthday to my step-father George in sunny south Arizona. Hope you have a great day, George!

Joy

I recently read a topic on Amy's Live, Learn, Knit blog titled What Brings You Joy? In her post Amy mentioned a book she had read, Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer, which I have added to my "must read" list. During this past week's marathon NaNo writing, I found myself often distracted from my story and thinking about joy. I began to wonder what the difference was between joy and pleasure, since I could easily think of many things that brought pleasure to my world, but not so many things that seemed to bring joy. So today I looked up the words "pleasure" and "joy" online and found an explanation that suited me at Dictonary.com.

Pleasure, enjoyment, delight, joy refer to the feeling of being pleased and happy. Pleasure is the general term: to take pleasure in beautiful scenery. Enjoyment is a quiet sense of well-being and pleasurable satisfaction: enjoyment at sitting in the shade on a warm day. Delight is a high degree of pleasure, usually leading to active expression of it: delight at receiving a hoped-for letter. Joy is a feeling of delight so deep and so lasting that one radiates happiness and expresses it spontaneously: joy at unexpected good news.

So what does bring me joy?

My first thought was writing, but writing is not always joyful or even pleasurable. It can be difficult, painful and emotionally revealing, none of which brings me joy. Writing is something that I have to do, like breathing and eating. It is a rare day that I do not write something, whether a blog post, an email or a letter to a friend (sometimes those are even handwritten!). It does not matter to me whether anyone reads what I write or not. The possibility of an audience is not why I choose write.

Reading also comes to mind, but again, it is more of a need I have, like an addiction to caffeine or nicotine. A day is not complete if I have not had my daily fix of word input and output, reading and writing.

Crocheting gives me pleasure and satisfaction. I find it relaxing, soothing. But crocheting does not give me joy. The act of giving a crocheted item away, knowing that it will be used and appreciated by the recipient, that gives me joy. I never really understood why we needed to save an item that someone had made, pass it down from generation to generation, never to be used. To me, the value of the item is in knowing the person who created that item. If I did not personally know great-grandma Tilly, I am not going to value something made by her nearly as much as I am going to value something made by my Grammy. And so it brings me joy to know that items I have made and given to others are actually being used. That was the reason I made them in the first place!

Here is a picture of the baby afghan I made for my niece's new baby boy:

Knowing that Aiden's older brother loved his afghan and carried it around with him for several years gave me great joy. I hope Aiden enjoys his half as much.

Here is another thing that gives me joy:

Copper has taken to sleeping on laptops and computers. When it was ninety degrees and better outside, she preferred sleeping out on our balcony all day long. But when cooler temperatures came in September, she ceased wanting to go out on the balcony and now sleeps away the day on top of laptops or any other computer she can find that is running and warm. Anyway, just seeing a cat gives me pleasure, but having one (or more) of my own that I can interact with gives me joy.

Photography brings me joy. Amy mentioned photography and art in her post, too. Unlike Amy, I have never been interested in the darkroom and developing of pictures. What I love is the hunt for a good subject, the art of framing the subject and the sense of accomplishment I feel when I capture a moment in time. That gives me joy, knowing that I have saved some essence of "now" that can easily be recaptured in the future simply be looking at the picture.

My children, of course, bring me moments of joy. Their individual births were three such moments. Add to that my granddaughter, Miss Munchkin; I was lucky enough to be present at her birth and one of the very first to hold her. Miss Munchkin brings me joy almost every time I see her. There is just something about a toddler who is happy and curious and loving that is joyful, especially when she is related to you.

I feel joy when we hit the road for a road trip, whether it is just a day's jaunt somewhere or a vacation. There is something truly joyous about leaving behind the every day world for a bit and looking forward towards possible great adventures. And I feel joy every time I step onto a beach. Hearing the waves crashing onto shore and the cry of the gulls, feeling the heat of the sun through the sand on your bare feet, the smell of the salt spray, it all fills me with joy. Oh, and the skirl of bagpipes bring me joy. If ever I were to come across bagpipes being played on the beach while I was walking barefoot with my granddaughter, my heart would likely burst from experiencing too much joy all at once.

Amy's post talks a lot about finding joy in your work or rather work that you find joyful. I know this is the goal of many unschoolers, to find a way to turn their passion into a career. That is a great goal, although I know few that have been able to truly realize it. The only possible work-related thing that brings me joy is being able to find answers and resources for others. I love to research; I love to hunt for the perfect gift, for the perfect book, for that needed quote or just the right word that will complete a project. I think that is why I continue with my website, since HTML and web design certainly does not bring me joy. On the contrary, many days it fills me with stress and frustration. But I love to know that a resource I have reviewed or something I have written has provided an answer to someone's quest. That brings me joy.

So, what brings you joy?

I'm a Great-Aunt, again!

I just received an email notifying me that I am now a great-aunt, again! My niece, Melanie Gibson Webster, gave birth to a second boy this morning.

Welcome to the world, Aidan Ansley Richard Webster! Mommy (& Daddy) and baby Aiden are doing well.

Ansley is a family name on mommy's side of the family and I assume Richard is a family name on daddy's side.

Now, I am off to do some NaNo writing. I seem to have a case of vertigo this morning, so I believe I am going to take the laptop and plant myself in the recliner and do nothing but type. Even sitting here at the computer I find myself leaning to the left. Hopefully the laptop idea will work. I have a lot of words to write today!

Finished projects

Finally! At Last! It's About Time!

My niece graduated from high school last May and I just last night finished her graduation present. The weather is getting cool enough now, maybe she'll need it at college!

The pattern is called "Southwestern Cables Afghan" designed by Karen Wolfram. My niece didn't care about pattern or size; she just wanted something with yellow and bright colors. What looks like red is actually a Red Heart's Shocking Pink. Why is it that pics taken inside do not always show the true colors?

Here you can see part of the reverse side.

It fits a full-sized bed just nicely. I hope my niece likes it. It is tightly wove, a very warm afghan! Should keep her warm at that north Georgia college.

I also found this scarf that I crocheted last spring. Miss Munchkin was going through a phase of wrapping ties and scarves and other pieces of clothing around her neck, so I made a scarf for her out of Bernat's Softee Chunky, Circus.

There was enough yarn to make two, so this one is going on to my E-bay Store later today. The rule is a six-inch ruler, just to give you an idea of how long the scarf is.

FlyLady Influence?

Did you notice there were no posts Wednesday and Thursday? Wednesday we had unexpected company. Miss Munchkin's daddy had the day off from work so the whole family came to spend the day. When Miss Munchkin visits Grandma, Grandma gets no work done! And barely any computer time. So no writing, no posting here.

It is amazing the increased number of words that Miss Munchkin was saying Wednesday as compared to ten days earlier, the last time we saw her. Then it was "eat" and "car" that were very clear and "Pe-eey" for Penny and "Pa" with the appropriate ASL sign for Grandpa. Now it's all of those, and Penny almost has some n's being pronounced, along with "Daddy" and "Bye" and the sign for Uncle. And a lot more talking that sounds almost like real words, after several months of not so much jabbering. It won't be long and she will be talking a steady stream.

So that explains why no writing on Wednesday. Thursday, though, that was a cleaning day. Miss Munchkin told Grandma that her house was dirty. Well, she didn't come right out and tell me that, but she certainly demonstrated it. Kat has been following a FlyLady schedule the last several weeks and Miss Munchkin has been helping. Obviously she enjoys cleaning, since when Miss Munchkin was here she did the following:

• Swept the balcony with her little broom.


• Took one of Grandpa's handkerchiefs and tried to "sweep" or "mop" the living room floor with the cloth.


• Picked up any tuft of dog hair and returned it to Penny, setting it on top of Penny.


• And the one time we left my bathroom door open, she found the bottle of Ivory Liquid and proceeded to dump a large portion on the floor. Then she took a wash cloth that was on the edge of the tub and began scrubbing the bathroom floor.

So yesterday I swept, mopped and vacuumed floors. Of course, that did not take all day, but it did take a fair portion of time that I normally would have spent writing. And since I still do not have Penelope back, the rest of my writing time was spent driving! Arg!

My Nice Clean Desk!

For weeks I have been trying to clean off the top of my desk. You wouldn't think it would need cleaning, since we just moved in here a little over 4 months ago. But flat spaces seem to accumulate stuff in my house, with myself as the chief offender. It's a lifelong work in progress, keeping flat spaces clean. Any, all I seemed to accomplish was moving piles, or parts of piles, from one side of the desk to another, but never really making a dent in the total massed accumulation.

Then earlier this week I read an article over at Zen Habits titled "Simple Living Simplified: 10 Things You Can Do Today to Simplify Your Life." Item #7 was "Clear your desk" and I immediately saw that the process it outlined might just work for me. It said to remove everything from the top of the desk, putting everything either in a pile on the floor in into a box. By doing this, I could actually get my organization plans in place and then deal with the items one at a time.

So this morning I found a box and put everything in it. Now I had room to set up my nice color-coded manila folders and envelopes I had purchased and get organized! Hopefully now I have a place for everything. Of course, I still have the box to work through, but at least I can see my desk top and I feel like I have a method in place to deal with everything in that box. So the goal for the rest of this week is to tackle that box, dealing with each item one at a time, until the box is empty. And I think I have until Thursday to accomplish that, since it sounds like Miss Munchkin is coming to visit Grandma again!

See how nice it looks? I should have taken a "before" picture, but believe me, you could not see any desk top and it was piled almost as high as the bottom of the monitors.

While I was working on my desk, the men were installing a wall mount and hanging our flat-screened TV over the fireplace in the living room. Again, I wish I had taken a before picture. The TV was sitting in front of the fireplace on top of an unfinished wooden chest. This looks so much better!

We are not quite done with the project. Now we have to find some sort of component unit that will hold the receiver, DVD player, etc. and also somewhat contain and conceal all the cords that seem to accompany all these wonderful electronic gadgets. Hopefully we can find what we want this next week and be able to finish this project up by next weekend. Then the old kitchen table can go into storage or be used elsewhere. And we'll have a nice orderly living room!

It feels good to be working on some of the projects we've left undone from our move. I still have a few things I want to finish:

• Hang my seashore quilt in the living room behind the couch
• Hang curtains over the window I bought for the dining room
• Get some matching picture frames to hang family pictures in a couple of spots (living room and dining room)

And here is a pic of Bill as he "watches" the Busch race.

I usually try to wake him if there were any exciting parts so he can watch the replay!

Poor Penelope

Penelope was involved in a traffic accident Sunday afternoon. No humans were injured (other than maybe some self-esteem damage), but Penelope suffered major cosmetic damage and is going to need extensive work done at the body shop. The estimate I received today was for just slightly over $3800. I think that is likely the most expensive pizza run we have sent a child on! (For those of you who don't remember who Penelope is, check the October 2006 blog archives for pics. I won't post pics here of how she looks now. She would be too embarrassed!)

So we are down to one car to use to get everyone to work and college and karate. David is learning how the local bus system works. It looks like we might be without the van for most of two weeks, so we'll have to decide whether we can continue the "car shuffle" or if we need to rent something to drive for the duration.

This weekend was a good one, even with the accident. Miss Munchkin stayed with Grandma and Grandpa from this past Thursday till Sunday. She is getting to that fun stage where she can somewhat entertain herself for a short while. She especially likes going "outside" (one of the few words you can understand) and on Saturday Grandma let her "discover" our balcony. She spent most of the rest of Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday going in and out, taking her cars and her ball and playing "outside."

Grandma and Grandpa learned some new signs this weekend, like butterfly and watermelon. Signing helps the communication issues, since Miss Munchkin is not saying very many words yet that you can really understand. She's funny ... When she wants to sign something and has her pacifier in her mouth, she takes the "passy" out of her mouth, either giving it to you or throwing it down, and then she signs and speaks at the same time. She does not seem to realize that you can sign without speaking.

I took some pictures of Miss Munchkin while she was here, so hopefully I will get a chance tomorrow to get them off the camera and upload a couple here! So watch for pics tomorrow!

Still Hot?

While I write about a hint of fall weather (the forecast mentions night time temps below 70 later this week), my daughter seems to be suffering from an overdose of heat and humidity. Read The Rebel Cause for a unique perspective on the effects of a Southern summer.

Tractor Pulling

My dad seems to be fully recovered from his heart surgery in June. I visited with him last week for a few days and it sure was nice to see him in a setting other than the hospital. He had lost some more weight, but I think that was the plan. Better yet, he was looking fit and tanned and had started back to work in the shop. He has an appointment with the cardiac doctor in six months, but otherwise is cleared to resume life. Hurray!

My brother Eric went with Dad to a tractor pull last week. Dad recently joined a local club and they meet the last Saturday of every month to compete. Here are three pics that my brother sent me of Dad competing.

Good Eats and other Food

I recently discovered the Food Network show Good Eats with Alton Brown. What a lot of fun that show is! I have watched about five episodes and learned a lot, even though I have been cooking for a long, long time. I did not know why russet potatoes work better for baking than red potatoes. Last night's episode was all about scallops. Now to go get some scallops and see if they will taste better than the last time I cooked them! I hope to convince the boys to watch a few episodes. Maybe it will get them excited about cooking.

Speaking of cooking, I tried a new recipe last night that turned out very well, California Cod. It is a Publix Apron's Simple Meals recipes. Bill was a bit apprehensive when I mentioned it was cod, which he remembered as not liking as a child. But we both liked this. The only thing I can see that I should do differently is peeling the lemons so that they are more edible. Try it and see what you think!

California Cod

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 4 cod fillets (1 1/2 lb: thawed, if needed)
• 3 tablespoons white wine (or white cooking wine)
• 1 teaspoon seafood seasoning
• 3 plum tomatoes (rinsed)
• 2 lemons (rinsed)
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Coat 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange fish in baking dish (wash hands); drizzle wine over fish and sprinkle with seasoning.
2. Tomatoes and lemons can be peeled, but no necessary. Slice both very thinly; layer over top of fish, alternating and overlapping slices.
3. Sprinkle with cheeses and then oregano. Bake 11-14 minutes or internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F (or flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork). Use a meat thermometer to accurately ensure doneness. Serve.

CALORIES (per 1/4 recipes) 180kcal; FAT 10g; CHOL 90mg; SODIUM 360mg; CARB 5g; FIBER 1g; PROTEIN 38g; VIT A 15%; VIT C 35%; CALC 25%; IRON 4%

Tip: If cod is not available, use another firm white fish like snapper or orange roughy.

If you have not seen the Publix Simple Meals cards, look for them the next time you are in the store. Publix highlights a different 30-minute meal each week. The recipe card includes a shopping list and needed items for a complete meal. This week's card included Baked Potatoes and Fresh Asparagus along with the California Cod. The menu cards assume that the reader knows next to nothing about cooking and so explains everything. And best of all, every ingredient that you would need to prepare the complete meal is all in one section of the store. I have tried a few recipes from different menu cards and usually they are very tasty. Tasty enough that I always check out the new week's card!

End of July Update

Can you believe it is time to wrap up July? Here are some brief thoughts, pics that didn't get posted, and updates on various items mentioned earlier this month.

While Kat and Miss Munchkin were here two weekends ago, we visited the beach. I did not think to check for beach advisories before we left, so we were rather disappointed to discover one when we got there. That meant no swimming. It was hot and sticky and there was no breeze and it was not much fun if you couldn't get into the water. Miss Munchkin played some with her sand and shovel and chased some birds, but we did not stay very long. Next time Grandma will remember to check online for advisories.

I keep telling her Mommy that she needs a haircut!

Penny Update - I took Penny back to the vet on the 23rd for a follow-up. She was doing better and then she wasn't, so the vet decided to do an x-ray to see if she had any kidney stones. Good news: no stones. (Bad news: wasted money on an x-ray!) The vet decided that she likely has a leakage problem that is fairly common with spayed females of her age and size. So she is now on a twice-daily dose of something to prevent bladder leakage. It does seem to be working, which is good news for my carpets! Now to retrieve my rug cleaner when I go back to Alabama next month.

We had a lot of rain yesterday, maybe close to two inches. The pond in the apartment complex is much higher this morning and Mr. Alligator is having fun cruising around. He seems to be enjoying the higher water level. And I notice this morning that the bird that has been fishing around the pond the last week was now staying out of the water, just fishing from the stone bank. Maybe Mr. Bird is more concerned about Mr. Alligator now that Mr. Alligator is getting around the pond more quickly? I don't know what the bird is, maybe a heron or egret. I will try to get a pic tomorrow.

The boys signed up for Kenpo Karate last week. Now they just need to get into a routine again, hopefully one that will not involve me doing all the driving! With David as a driver now, it would seem like I should be able to stay at home when they go.

I have been working on updating my Alabama Church School listings the past several days. Each summer I contact every church school listed (and many, many that are not listed) in my attempt to have the most up-to-date listing of church schools online for Alabama homeschoolers. It is a lot of work, but necessary. There are just so many lists online that are not up-to-date, with inaccurate URL's, e-mail addresses that no longer work, and church schools mentioned that no longer exist.

David's Freshman English class ends next week. It appears that he is doing well in it, perhaps even a B average. That would be great, compared to how he did last year at Evansville. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

And I think that is it for the updates! Tomorrow is August 1st. That is my Grammy's birthday, or would have been if she were still alive. I should make molasses cookies in her memory; she always made the most delicious molasses cookies! I wonder if I have her recipe with me or if it is packed away back in Alabama?

Harry Potter Mania

I know, I know. All the non-HP fans around the world are tired of hearing about Harry Potter mania. I'm sorry. I tried not writing about it, truly I did. But since we are all immersed here in HP, I couldn't seem to come up with anything else to write about.

Charles and I have been rereading the series in preparation of Year 7 coming out. I just began Year 5 yesterday and Charles is on Year 3. Both of us are determined to finish the series all the way through. We did that the when Year 6 came out and that is what we are doing again this time around.

Kat was visiting over the weekend (along with Miss Muchkin) and she became so caught up in our conversations about the previous books that she began to read the series. She had read the first three or four, but none after 2003. So she started Year 1 and took Year 2 home with her.

David, on the other hand, just dove in Saturday afternoon when our copy of Year 7 arrived and began reading. He finished Year 7 yesterday afternoon and now walks around with the smile of a superior being that knows how the series ends. And the frustration of not being able to talk to anyone about it!

It is amazing how many books this HP series has sold! The first twenty-four hours of its release it sold 5,000 books per minute! Per minute!!! Can you imagine? A book! A children's book at that! It is simply amazing.

I would love to be reading the series right now, but as a responsible adult, I am doing adult things instead. I have taken my morning walk, balanced my checkbook, answered a couple of e-mails, and repotted several plants this morning. Instead of 10 African violets, I know have 15. I ran out of potting soil or I probably would have turned 10 into 18 or so, since I still have two plants which need repotting. Potting, Potter, hmmm… I do believe I have HP on the brain, a disease for which there is an easy cure. It's lunchtime … I do believe it is permissible for a responsible adult to read during lunch! Cheerio!

Another Chat Success

About three weeks ago, maybe four, someone on chat mentioned that they had used the Signing Times program with their toddler with good success. At the time my daughter was experiencing some difficulties with Miss Munchkin's temper and I thought that might be due, in part, to Miss Munchkin's inability to make her needs known. So I checked out the Signing Time website and ordered the Baby Signing Time gift set and had it shipped to my daughter. It seems they are a big success! Check out Adventures With Miss Munchkin, July 15th post, for Kat & Miss Munchkin's experience with them.

And a big thank you to the chat member (sorry, I don’t remember who it was) who mentioned the Signing Times DVDs.

Visit Two

The boys visited The American Karate Studios. They had a quick private lesson to learn a couple of forms and then joined in on the evening Adults class. This dojo has a much different style than the one they visited Wednesday evening. Again, some things are similar to what they are used to doing at their old dojo and other things are very different. If they were to join, it would be the same as the other, they would need to begin at white belt and would work their way up the ranks as quickly as they were able to catch on. The cost of each place is about the same. I have not heard a final verdict yet, but I think the boys are leaning towards going with the first dojo they visited.

Visit One

Last night the boys joined in on an hour class at the Kenpo Karate & Kickboxing Center. They were assessing whether they wanted to join there and, at the same time, the instructor was assessing their skills and style. The style of karate seems very similar to what they are used to, but not exactly the same. Charles tells me that there is no such thing as a standard karate, that every dojo has it's own style. If they decide to join there, they will have to begin at white belt level, even though they both have black belts already. But Master Ingle (the owner) said that, based upon the skills he saw, they would move up through the ranks very quickly. They rank based upon accomplishment of skills and not based upon any time frame.

I was pleased that both boys said they should still try the second dojo we checked out, even though they were favorably impressed with this first place. It's been nice to listen to them explain what they are looking for and the plusses and minuses of each place we have visited. We have left the choice up to them, as they are the ones with the experience and knowledge upon which to base a choice. Tonight we will visit the second place and then the boys will make their choice.

I am still figuring out the traffic patterns here in Tallahassee and how to judge how long it will take to get somewhere. So much depends upon whether it is rush hour and how many red lights you hit. Tallahassee has the longest stoplights I have ever experienced. You can sit several minutes if you pull up to a light just as it is turning red. Tuesday when we went to first check out the two dojos, it only took us about 25 minutes to get to the first one. Last night it took 45 minutes, which meant that we were just a bit late. Part of that was because it was later in the afternoon and we got caught in rush hour traffic. And part was due to the fact that I took what appeared to be a more direct route, which was obviously a mistake. The side streets would have gotten us there much faster. I am still trying to decide how much time to give for getting to this second place tonight. It is further away, but there are fewer side street options.

On another note, Penny is feeling better. She is more energetic when she goes outside and less smelly inside. This morning we took a very long walk, going around the whole complex once. We usually take that walk in the evening, but I am trying to up her exercise level (and mine!). By 7:15, when we began our walk, it was already 78 degrees and 80% humidity. We have gone several days now without any rain, so this weekend's forecast of 60% chance of rain sounds good. Of course, that means thunderstorms, not just a general rain. Supposedly July is the wettest month of the year here, but like most of the southeast, we are still in a drought situation. So any rain sounds good!

Anniversary Update

So, did we do anything special for our anniversary? Yes and no. We got Chinese take-out for supper, not the cheap buffet places, but take-out from an expensive, sit-down restaurant, the Ming-Tree Chinese Restaurant on East Lafayette Street. That was where we went to eat our very first night in our apartment here. David likes it because they have lamb dishes. Spicy lamb dishes! Anyway, we brought our take-out home and watched the Daytona 400. What an ending to that race! Bill's brother was supposed to have been in the grandstands watching and it certainly would have been a good one to see live! But it was equally as nice watching it at home sitting next to my hubby of twenty-eight years.

Fourth of July

I meant this to go up on the 5th. Oh well, better late than never.

Here's the way to celebrate July 4th. Spend a couple of hours at the beach with your children and grandchild, walking, wading and swimming. Pick up some steamed crab legs, shrimp cocktail and cheesecake on the way home. Eat supper. And then enjoy your granddaughter's delight as she experiences her first firework. Priceless!

Smoke Alarm Test

Charles decided to test the smoke alarm system in our apartment last night. Not intentionally, mind you, but the end result was the same. They work very well. Guaranteed to wake you up from a dead sleep at 1:45 a.m. I promise!

It would seem that cooking hot dogs directly on the burners of an electric stove causes a lot of smoke! Can you imagine? Bill was dumbfounded that anyone would even try! But Charles assured us that you can cook them on the burners of a gas stove! Oh my. I think that maybe we need to invest in a small, electric hot dog grill!

Driver's Edge Review

Here is David's description of his participation in the Driver's Edge program last Saturday:

So, Saturday I got to attend Drivers Edge in Atlanta. If you're not familiar with it, Drivers Edge is a non-profit driver's education program based in Las Vegas that travels around the country, run by professional race car drivers. It holds that in America today, people are not truly taught how to drive, but merely how to pass the driver's license test, and it therefore seeks to teach new drivers the skills needed to actually drive safely.

All the participants were given a short test on their knowledge of driving and car care in general, and then we were divided up into four groups, to move through the four different portions of the program. I first attended a talk given by a local police officer on traffic laws and safety, and his personal advice. It was mildly interesting, but the highlight was one of the fathers asking the officer if he should teach his daughter to obey the speed limit or follow the flow of traffic. I'm sure you can guess what the answer was.

Then we moved on to the oversteer portion, where I got to drive a very nice BMW vehicle through a wet portion of the parking lot and learn what it feels like to spin out a car, and how to prevent it. That was fun, and the cars were air-conditioned, which, considering the 95 degree heat, was quite nice. The primary lesson here is to look where you want to go, not at what you want to avoid. After that we moved on to the driving posture, safety, and car care lecture/comedy act. The speaker did an excellent job of making a somewhat dull subject more interesting, and taught me to Wash BOATS.

Finally it was back to the cars for the braking and avoidance course. The idea here was to experience what ABS feels like when it activates, and it does kick a bit. The second portion was a small jink in the track meant to simulate a rapid lane change on a highway. I got a bit of a lecture here on proper steering, and how to keep a firm grip on the wheel at all times.

Finally, there was a post-test to be compared to the pre-test, and some awards were handed out. I got one for scoring in the top two of the group on the pre-test, and there were awards for the driving portions for best driver and most improved. Then they handed out various, free, merchandise, and certificates of completion, and then we were done.

Since taking the course, I've done a bit of driving, and have noticed myself paying more attention to the road, particularly farther ahead, and keeping a better grip on the steering wheel. Overall, I'd say it was a worthwhile experience, though the day and a half on the road there and back might have been a bit much.

Driver's Edge and stuff

David and Bill just left for Atlanta. David is signed up to participate in the Driver's Edge program tomorrow afternoon. They will spend the night near Macon and be back late tomorrow night. For those of you not familiar with Driver's Edge, it is a youth driver's education program founded and developed by a professional race car driver. Here's a quote from their website:

Young drivers are placed through this half day, four hour program at no cost, making the program accessible to young drivers from all economic backgrounds. With professional driving instructors at their side, the students … participate in customized behind the wheel driving exercises developed to address the most common driving situations that can lead to collision.

I'll post next week to let you know how it went and whether David found it to be worthwhile.

So what have I been up to this week? Mostly playing with Miss Munchkin. I drove up to Albany Wednesday morning and brought Kat and Miss Munchkin here for a few days. They were getting housebound. Not sure yet when I'll take them home: possibly either tomorrow (Saturday) or Monday. I could do it Sunday, but Sunday is race day and the four-hour round trip would cut into my race watching!

It appears like David is ready for Orientation on Tuesday at Tallahassee Community College He's spent quite a bit of time online and on the phone and visiting the college, trying to get all the needed paperwork submitted. He plans to take an English Composition class this summer and then begin full-time classes in the fall. We are hoping that this works out better than Evansville did last year.

Oh, and I found a great natural foods place yesterday. New Leaf Market.It has a deli, organic and local produce, and best of all, it's a co-op! I'll be joining after we get next month's paycheck!

There are also three different farmer's markets in the area, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The one on Monday is less than a mile from me! I hope to get there next week. Last Saturday we visited the one downtown and bought loads of fresh produce and some cut zinnias. It's so nice to have fresh flowers!

Digital Natives

Wow! Another great article at Life Without School

Unschooling and the Digital Native by Laureen

What is a Digital Native? From Laureen's essay:

The term digital native was coined by Marc Prensky, who explains it like this:

They are native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. I refer to those of us who were not born into the digital world as digital immigrants. We have adopted many aspects of the technology, but just like those who learn another language later in life, we retain an “accent” because we still have one foot in the past.

Laureen writes:

I've read through some of the literature on this phenomenon, and I'm convinced that it falls short, because it's being written by people who self-identify as professional educators. As an unschooler, I don't believe in educators, I believe in learners. My personal paradigm rests firmly on the assumption that children are self-starters, and that the information they absorb is the information most necessary to them in the environment they inhabit, so I'm exploring this digital native idea with that in mind.

Prensky states,

Today’s students have not just changed incrementally from those of the past, nor simply changed their slang, clothes, body adornments, or styles, as has happened between generations previously. A really big discontinuity has taken place. One might even call it a “singularity” – an event which changes things so fundamentally that there is absolutely no going back. This so-called “singularity” is the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century.

Today’s students – K through college – represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives.

Her family sounds much like ours! Check out her essay and see what you think!

Double the Wishes

Today is my youngest sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Jen!! Jen is a great mom and a wonderful person and today is one of those days that I wish we lived a lot closer to each other. But she is in Colorado where it snows! And I am in Florida, where there's humidity. So the likelihood of us ever living very close together is not very high! Enjoy your Colorado summer, Jen!

And today is also Father's Day. A day of special meaning this year, since we (my siblings and I) almost lost our father earlier this month. Heart attacks. Triple By-pass. I think we've always thought our dad was invincible, since he's always been so strong and healthy. He's doing great now, though, walking several miles each day and his doctor gave him the okay earlier this week to drive again. It won't be long before he's dancing again! Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you!

Am I Home Yet?

I know I have not made an entry here in over a month, but I've been busy! It sure would be nice to be able to stay at home for a few days and begin to settle in here in Tallahassee. Here is a brief recount of the past couple of months:

April 5th - Drove to Evansville to pick David up for Easter weekend.

April 9th - Drove back to Evansville to take David back to college.

April 11th - Drove to Tallahassee, Florida

April 12th - Bill's job interview in Tallahassee

April 13th - Drove to Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida

April 14th - Home again to north Alabama

April 18th - Bill received the job offer, but had to wait for all forms to be processed before giving notice.

April 19th - Bill accepted the job offer in Tallahassee.

April 30th - I drove to Tallahassee, looked at a lot of houses and apartments to rent, settled on one apartment complex and came home on May 3rd.

May 1st - Bill gave two weeks notice at his current job.

May 5th - Drove to Evansville to bring David home for the summer.

May 10th - Son-in-law (Shawn) received a promotion and notice that his new job was in Albany , Georgia.

May 11th - David went to Kat's to help her pack up her apartment.

May 13th - Shawn left for Albany, Georgia, to begin his new job the next day.

May 14th - Kat arrived, with Miss Munchkin and their cat in tow, to stay with us until we go to Tallahassee.

May 15th - Bill's last day at work.

May 17th - Picked up the moving truck.

May 18th - Loaded the moving truck. Discovered that the a/c system on my van was not working properly. Left it at the dealer so they could order the parts and fix it. Picked up a rental van to drive for the duration.

May 19th - Finished loading the truck. Went to the Hobo Dance and stayed up way too late considering how early we had to leave in the morning.

May 20th - Drove to Tallahassee. Shawn arrived in the evening to pick up Kat & Miss Munchkin. We kept their cat.

May 21st - Unloaded the truck.

May 23rd - Bill began his new job.

May 25th - I drove back to north AL to return the rental van and pick up my van. Drove back that same day (arriving in the wee hours of the next morning). Saw my dad, who had just gotten back from vacation, a vacation he cut short because he wasn't feeling well.

May 26th - Drove to Albany, Georgia to pick up Kat and Miss Munchkin. Life in a motel was not working out so well with a fifteen-month-old!

May 27th - Received a phone call from my dad that he had had a heart attack and was in the hospital, scheduled for a catheterization on Monday and possible installation of a stint.

May 28th - They were unable to do the stint on my dad as he had too many blockages. By-pass surgery was scheduled for Wednesday.

May 29th - Drove to north Alabama to see my dad before his surgery.

May 30th - Dad's surgery.

May 31st - Dad moved in to a private room less than 24 hours after the completion of his by-pass surgery. They did a triple by-pass. I visited with him there before heading back to Tallahassee; he was doing great.

June 2nd - Took Kat to Albany, Georgia, so she and Shawn could go back to north Alabama to move their stuff. Kept Miss Munchkin with us for a few days. Dad called to tell me he was back home, having been released several days early due to how well he was progressing.

June 5th - Drove to Albany to take Miss Munchkin back to her Mommy and Daddy and also to help unload their truck. A long and exhausting day.

June 6th - Today! Slept late. Have done little to nothing. Hopefully I will have more energy tomorrow. There are still boxes to unpack! And things to do! A new life in Tallahassee to begin!

And The Beat Goes On … Unschooling Adult-Style

Unschooling is child-led, interest-led learning, or at least that is my quick and easy definition. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? But lately I have been thinking that my definition does not fit our situation anymore, since there are not very many children left in the house. It is difficult to have child-led learning without a child!

So I have been contemplating on what my current definition of unschooling should be, now that my children are adults. How does this sound? Unschooling is individual-led learning that occurs on an as-needed or as-desired basis. What? That isn't unschooling! Isn't that just life? Exactly. Which is why unschooling as a homeschool method held such appeal to me when I first heard of it. It was exactly the way we (my husband and I) already approached life. It was the example we were already setting for our children. It was the way every adult I knew operated. Why should the way our children learned be any different from the way all the adults around them learned?

I am often asked for examples of unschooling in action. It seems silly to tell others what we do, since unschooling is just living your life, whatever your life might be. My life is going to be different from yours. I can tell you about my typical unschooling day, but it really won't bear any resemblance to what your unschooling day will be like. But I would like to share a couple of examples of our adult lives and how we are learning as we go; not our children, but Bill and I, the parents in the family. Because I consider us unschoolers also, unschoolers for life, unschoolers of life.

To read the rest of this new LeapingFromTheBox.com article,
please visit Unschooling Adult-Style

Accompanying that article,
How to Conduct an Online Job Search

Catching Up

I can see I should have set a goal for writing daily in April! Goals. Must have goals! And deadlines! All procrastinators work better when there is a deadline looming.

Here are some pics of Miss Munchkin from Easter Sunday. She had fun gathering Easter eggs at my dad's, even though she did not have a clue what was going on. Once she got one egg in each hand, she just grinned and watched all the other kids running about, picking up eggs.

And here's a pic of the handbag I crocheted for Miss Munchkin. I had troubles with the handle and will probably have to redo it, but she seemed to like it.

It's been a busy April. On the 5th I drove to Evansville to bring David home for Easter break. And on the 9th I drove him back. And then on the 11th we (Bill, Charles and I) drove to Tallahassee. Bill had an interview there on the 12th (his birthday!), which we are still waiting to hear the final verdict on. Hopefully we will get word soon.

Friday the 13th we drove to Jacksonville, just to see. There are more job opportunities there, but none of us felt at all comfortable there. It is just too big of a city. Way too many people. Way too much traffic. We drove right on through and headed for St. Augustine, spending Friday night there. On Saturday morning (the 14th) we visited Castillo de San Marcos and walked the beach long enough to get the beginnings of a nice tan. It was lovely. Saturday afternoon we headed back to Tallahassee and then for home, driving through some very nasty storms but arriving safe and sound in the wee hours of Sunday morning. It was very nice to be home. And it was a good thing we came home earlier than planned. Bill had turned off the power strip to my fish tank before we left. I had some very cold, hungry fish in dire need of some oxygen! The tank was down to 62 degrees and most of the fish were just lying on the bottom, slowly fluttering their fins / tails. But I did not see any dead ones. I think they must have been practically hibernating from the cold and lack of oxygen. By Sunday morning they were looking much improved, swimming around the top, waiting for their breakfast!

Dogwood Winter Sucks!

I hate dogwood winter. Just when you think that warm weather is here to stay, old man winter blows his icy breath and we get several days of cold weather. I know you all in the north country are thinking that fifty degrees and a north wind is not cold. It is, though, when it has been in the eighties for two or three weeks. It is not nice to have to turn the heat back on and bring all the plants back inside so they don't freeze.

Yesterday I drove to Evansville and brought David home for a few days. Two days driving (yesterday and Monday) so that he can be home three days. Crazy. But it is nice to have him home, even for that short a time.

I haven't posted here this week because I have been trying to concentrate on writing a couple of articles for my website. Almost done and then I have to convert them to HTML and get them all linked up to the site. I will post here when they are up.

Next Thursday is Bill's birthday and also, coincidentally, the day he is scheduled for a face-to-face interview for a job in Tallahassee. So he is going to use a couple of vacation days and we will spend Thursday through Sunday in Florida. Most of that time will be in Tallahassee, but I think we will try to get in at least one day in Jacksonville. There seem to be many more job possibilities in Jacksonville, so we would like to see the area before we decide whether to submit a resume to any of those opportunities. Hopefully this interview on Thursday will work out and we can get under motion, begin to get out from the limbo of waiting and actually begin moving and living again.

Today was pay day and I should be paying bills instead of updating blogs! Bill paying is always so much fun. NOT! Wouldn't it be a blast if just once there was a huge surplus of funds left over after ALL the bills were paid?! I am sure that is just around the corner for us!