More old news!
Last week I took Logan to homeschool day at Funky's (formerly, and always in my heart, Skatetown USA). I had so much fun skating! I always forget just how much I love it. It kind of made me want to go skating regularly as a form of workout, as that's really the only workout that I can remotely imagine finding enjoyment in. I wonder if they still have Christian skate night...
But Logan is not a very adept skater. He is very young, so I don't fault him for it at all, but it's kind of frustrating for both of us. I want to just be able to skate like I'm 14 again, and he wants me to help him learn. Well, it's pretty obvious what I have to do in that situation, but I can't tell you how much I wanted to just let him sit in the snack area while I skated! It is hard to teach a child to skate! It got me wondering how I really learned and I remembered that when I was in middle school, we had a roller skating unit in PE! The workers from Skatetown brought skates and taught us to skate. Granted, we all already knew how to get by, but they taught us how to do it better and how to do tricks and stuff! Very useful stuff! Wish I could remember how they taught it so I could do the same for Logan.
They do have these weird little corner shaped things - kind of like an old-people walker with wheels - that kids can skate behind. (Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture). But those things are super frustrating for us! Logan wants to lean all his weight on it and then just run behind it in his skates! But his feet are too heavy with the skates on, so he gets tangled and face-plants anyway. I don't know if it's better or worse to have the skate-walker, and neither does he. He went back and forth on the issue quite a lot.
The absolute worst thing about homeschool skate day, though, was the absolutely atrocious music they played! It was literally the same two songs on repeat for two hours. And they weren't even decent songs! It was some kind of Charlotte Church-y opera gospel stuff. How are you supposed to skate to that? I mean, throw me a bone here! When I used to go to Christian skate night they played DC Talk and Petra. There is so much more good music out there now! Why the opera junk? Sacre bleu and triple merde!
In other news, I now have another blog. Yeah, I know... why I second blog when I do a terrible job of keeping up with this one? Well... the other one's actually about something. I really just started posting here, to get some practice to do what I'm really supposed to be doing. I can't say the other one's any good, but I'm trying at any rate.
Also I broke a tooth! And I know I'm going to catch a lot of heck for this, but I will be honest about it, as I have been told that it is the best policy. I broke my tooth because of my tongue ring. The worst of it is that I have always been super careful not to mess with my tongue ring. I have a super short barbel in so that I can't play with it even if I'm tempted to. I used to hang out with the guys at Alley Cat all the time, and it the opinion that I never play with the tongue ring was forced upon me, and the habit stuck. I just like having it. But I was eating dinner last night, and happened to bite down wrong and broke a huge bit off of one of my teeth. It's terribly irritating because it's jagged now and sensitive to cold. And also I have no insurance and my sweet husband needs two root canals, so any money we're able to save for dental bills will be attributed to his. So it looks like I'll be living with my tongue-ring inflicted battle wound for a while.
Also, despite his looks, Logan is proving to be totally my boy! He started taking his showers in the mornings, so now I have to take mine at night. Logan literally uses up all the hot water. I could take mine before him, but I like to use all the hot water! So we have to break them up some so that there is hot water for all. He also has taken to falling asleep with a book either on top of or underneath of his head, now that he's able to read some. I love it! I did have to tape the one of the pages of The Stinky Cheese Man back in the book, because somehow his head ripped the page out, but I still love it! And interestingly, my little mini-me, Maggie, is, so far, exhibiting way more personality traits of Eric's. Crazy kids...
And as a side note, I've started listening to sermons in the evenings (not just while cleaning house) and have been taking a massive amount of notes. I will probably post the more interesting ones somewhere, just because, well, what good are notes if you do nothing with them? (To be honest, I just like taking notes for the sake of taking them, actually, but it would probably be better to use them.) Just need to determine whether they'd fit better here or on the other blog.... Hmmm....
All I know is that skating is getting better, the guys are getting better throughout the whole age range. ~Elvis Stojko
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
In which I become a savior to small, odd creatures
Just to give a little background, I have two outdoor cats, Paul Nelson and Thecla. They're named for the gnostic gospel of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, just because I think it's cool stories despite the falsehood of it. The Nelson came because they are twins and Paul just can't live without my love and affection. Anyway, they live on our porch. And no, I have no idea what we'll do with them this winter.
Paul and Thecla have an affinity for licking slugs. It's very annoying because then they're going around trying to rub the sticky junk off their tongues for an hour afterward. Additionally, I've always been a sort of slug activist, so the reasons for which I'm bothered by that are two-fold. I am constantly having to rescue slugs from excessive cat-licking. Rescuing slugs is not a particularly pleasant business, but they are just too slow on their own for me to feel anything but compassion for them.
Apparently word got around. Two nights ago, we were sitting on the front porch when one of the cats (probably Thecla, as Paul is the type who generally occupies his time by chasing his tail... shall we say, not the brightest bulb in the box...) walked by with a praying mantis in it's mouth. Ack! So I jumped up, grabbed the cat by the back of it's neck and got it to drop the mantis. After scuffling around with the cats (they were both interested in having a mantis play date by this point) I got it. It took a little rest on my hand, probably thanking God that it's enough like a bird that it can fly far - far, far away from here, and then it flew. It couldn't have been too grateful though, because it didn't hang out long enough for us to get a decent picture.
Last night, I stepped outside, sat down, and saw the cats playing with something. My first inclination was mouse, and I wasn't about to step in. But then, after further observation, it occurred to me that it was a baby mole. Double ack! So I ran at the cats and they scattered. The baby mole kind of shuffled around in circles like a blind little rodent. I started to pick it up, but the bloody thing bit me like it was an ROUS or something. Luckily it didn't draw blood... I guess they aren't terribly vicious until they reach unusual size. So I got a piece of junk mail, slid it underneath the mole, and dumped it into a flower pot. I debated whether or not to keep it to show to Logan, but figured the cats would pretty easily find it despite my best efforts to hide it, so I took it next door (no one lives there) and put it in the flower bed (weed bed). If the cats found it after that, they left no evidence of it, which was really my goal. I understand the circle of life and the food chain and all of that, but I don't need mangled remains of the circle of life on my front porch.
It's been pretty rainy today, so hopefully the cats will stay put enough that they won't find any wildlife for me to rescue today.
In other news, Maggie seems to have totally recovered from her injuries from last week and is back to running around and tearing apart our house. Logan has been occupying himself with tangram blocks for the past two days. He doesn't even have any patterns, but he's been able to make some pretty intricate things with them. Unfortunately Maggie destroys them before I'm able to get pictures.
Eric left last night for a leadership conference in South Carolina. It has been so weird not having him home; oddly, even during the hours he'd normally be at work, it still felt weird knowing he was gone. I feel so much for women who's husbands are frequently gone for work reasons and the like. It is so hard! But I just talked to him a little while ago and he's on his way home. I can't wait to see him and hear all about it. Apparently he had a real Mastercard commercial experience there, so I'm glad he went! Now I just need to get the house ready for him to see it... amazing what can happen in two days of not having a man around to clean for.
"Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist." ~Westley
Paul and Thecla have an affinity for licking slugs. It's very annoying because then they're going around trying to rub the sticky junk off their tongues for an hour afterward. Additionally, I've always been a sort of slug activist, so the reasons for which I'm bothered by that are two-fold. I am constantly having to rescue slugs from excessive cat-licking. Rescuing slugs is not a particularly pleasant business, but they are just too slow on their own for me to feel anything but compassion for them.
Apparently word got around. Two nights ago, we were sitting on the front porch when one of the cats (probably Thecla, as Paul is the type who generally occupies his time by chasing his tail... shall we say, not the brightest bulb in the box...) walked by with a praying mantis in it's mouth. Ack! So I jumped up, grabbed the cat by the back of it's neck and got it to drop the mantis. After scuffling around with the cats (they were both interested in having a mantis play date by this point) I got it. It took a little rest on my hand, probably thanking God that it's enough like a bird that it can fly far - far, far away from here, and then it flew. It couldn't have been too grateful though, because it didn't hang out long enough for us to get a decent picture.
Last night, I stepped outside, sat down, and saw the cats playing with something. My first inclination was mouse, and I wasn't about to step in. But then, after further observation, it occurred to me that it was a baby mole. Double ack! So I ran at the cats and they scattered. The baby mole kind of shuffled around in circles like a blind little rodent. I started to pick it up, but the bloody thing bit me like it was an ROUS or something. Luckily it didn't draw blood... I guess they aren't terribly vicious until they reach unusual size. So I got a piece of junk mail, slid it underneath the mole, and dumped it into a flower pot. I debated whether or not to keep it to show to Logan, but figured the cats would pretty easily find it despite my best efforts to hide it, so I took it next door (no one lives there) and put it in the flower bed (weed bed). If the cats found it after that, they left no evidence of it, which was really my goal. I understand the circle of life and the food chain and all of that, but I don't need mangled remains of the circle of life on my front porch.
It's been pretty rainy today, so hopefully the cats will stay put enough that they won't find any wildlife for me to rescue today.
In other news, Maggie seems to have totally recovered from her injuries from last week and is back to running around and tearing apart our house. Logan has been occupying himself with tangram blocks for the past two days. He doesn't even have any patterns, but he's been able to make some pretty intricate things with them. Unfortunately Maggie destroys them before I'm able to get pictures.
Eric left last night for a leadership conference in South Carolina. It has been so weird not having him home; oddly, even during the hours he'd normally be at work, it still felt weird knowing he was gone. I feel so much for women who's husbands are frequently gone for work reasons and the like. It is so hard! But I just talked to him a little while ago and he's on his way home. I can't wait to see him and hear all about it. Apparently he had a real Mastercard commercial experience there, so I'm glad he went! Now I just need to get the house ready for him to see it... amazing what can happen in two days of not having a man around to clean for.
"Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist." ~Westley
Monday, September 13, 2010
In which Maggie gets x-rays and I acquire a cape dress
Granted I am a bit late in this posting, as everyone who will read this, if there are in fact any readers, will probably already have heard it all. But the weekend was hectic, as they always tend to be, so here it is anyway.
On Friday, we attended the VHE picnic. Good times were had by all, I'm sure. Logan got to hang out with lots of other homeschool kids on the playground, there was a ridiculous amount of good food, and we got to talk with other homeschool parents. The lady who happened to occupy most of my time was super nice and full of information. But man, she was a fast talker. She crammed at least 2 hours worth of conversation into 45 minutes, and I said very little. It was kind of nice as I rarely am able to converse with people I don't know, so I could just sit and listen.
But to be honest, the most memorable thing that happened was that Maggie got hurt. I insisted that she wear shoes to the picnic, despite the fact that she really hasn't started wearing shoes yet. I knew she'd want to play on the playground and didn't want her to step on anything. But in a fluke accident - like when a person gets more hurt by their seatbelt than they would by their car wreck - her shoes are what caused her injury. In going down the slide, the rubber on her shoe soles caught against the plastic and twisted her tiny ankle. She was in misery the rest of the evening and cried all night long. The next morning, we took her to the doctor, who sent us to radiology for some x-rays. We always expected that Logan would be the first of our children to require x-rays, but little Maggie managed to achieve that title. Luckily, nothing was broken, so we just have to try to keep her off it for a few days, and give her Motrin for discomfort. She should be back up and running by the end of the week.
After our hospital visit, we headed out to some yard sales, which is completely the highlight of my week. After walking around to many yards without finding much junk we're interested in, I came across one that had cape dresses. So I promptly purchased one! If you don't know what that is, think "old order Mennonite", although they aren't the only ones to dress like that. Why the heck would I want such a thing?? Well, when you travel in the circle that I travel in, it becomes necessary to fit in sometimes. Going to an old-order Mennonite store in jeans and a French Quarter New Orleans tee shirt is just plain uncomfortable, head covering or no. So now I can fit in. That is, as long as they don't pay close enough attention to notice the tattoos and nose ring.
Yesterday - that's Sunday - we went to church as usual, then headed out to the mall. I met the new manager at Journeys... ugh... She automatically rubbed me the wrong way by taking my aluminum "Go Green" (yes, that phrase was printed on it) water bottle and throwing it away! Apparently there was just so much trash in the back room, that she couldn't tell what was junk and what wasn't. Hmmm.... it seems to me that, while that might be true in some cases, an aluminum water bottle would obviously fall into the "not trash" category. Additionally she is trying to come in and force everyone to do everything "by the book." Not necessarily a bad thing, as that's pretty much how I ran the store when I was manager. But doing with an iron fist is not going to win you any points with your employees. I don't imagine that many of the part timers will last long under her rule, and I honestly don't imagine that she'll last long under her rule either. Whatev... not my problem...
Last night, we headed back to church to listen to a good friend's testimony. It was amazing and moving, and a was a great way to end our day. Unfortunately, the child-care provider that we'd lined up failed to show, so my wonderful husband ended up taking care of 5 children instead of sitting in the sanctuary. But the sound system was working well and he was able to hear it all, so it all worked out, praise God!
At the end of our very long weekend, we came home, put the kids in bed, and decided to watch a movie. We very rarely watch movies, so I'm ashamed to say that, while we've owned it for quite a while, this was the first time we'd seen Juno! It was amazing and is now one of my favorite movies!! I'm in love. Interestingly, I'd heard several people say after the movie came out, that the main character, Juno, reminded them of me. I suppose I can see their point, but I'm not nearly so bold as she is. Maybe if I'd been given a name like Juno, instead of one that 45 other people in my graduating class had, I'd be a little more bold too.
You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events. ~Juno MacGuff
On Friday, we attended the VHE picnic. Good times were had by all, I'm sure. Logan got to hang out with lots of other homeschool kids on the playground, there was a ridiculous amount of good food, and we got to talk with other homeschool parents. The lady who happened to occupy most of my time was super nice and full of information. But man, she was a fast talker. She crammed at least 2 hours worth of conversation into 45 minutes, and I said very little. It was kind of nice as I rarely am able to converse with people I don't know, so I could just sit and listen.
But to be honest, the most memorable thing that happened was that Maggie got hurt. I insisted that she wear shoes to the picnic, despite the fact that she really hasn't started wearing shoes yet. I knew she'd want to play on the playground and didn't want her to step on anything. But in a fluke accident - like when a person gets more hurt by their seatbelt than they would by their car wreck - her shoes are what caused her injury. In going down the slide, the rubber on her shoe soles caught against the plastic and twisted her tiny ankle. She was in misery the rest of the evening and cried all night long. The next morning, we took her to the doctor, who sent us to radiology for some x-rays. We always expected that Logan would be the first of our children to require x-rays, but little Maggie managed to achieve that title. Luckily, nothing was broken, so we just have to try to keep her off it for a few days, and give her Motrin for discomfort. She should be back up and running by the end of the week.
After our hospital visit, we headed out to some yard sales, which is completely the highlight of my week. After walking around to many yards without finding much junk we're interested in, I came across one that had cape dresses. So I promptly purchased one! If you don't know what that is, think "old order Mennonite", although they aren't the only ones to dress like that. Why the heck would I want such a thing?? Well, when you travel in the circle that I travel in, it becomes necessary to fit in sometimes. Going to an old-order Mennonite store in jeans and a French Quarter New Orleans tee shirt is just plain uncomfortable, head covering or no. So now I can fit in. That is, as long as they don't pay close enough attention to notice the tattoos and nose ring.
Yesterday - that's Sunday - we went to church as usual, then headed out to the mall. I met the new manager at Journeys... ugh... She automatically rubbed me the wrong way by taking my aluminum "Go Green" (yes, that phrase was printed on it) water bottle and throwing it away! Apparently there was just so much trash in the back room, that she couldn't tell what was junk and what wasn't. Hmmm.... it seems to me that, while that might be true in some cases, an aluminum water bottle would obviously fall into the "not trash" category. Additionally she is trying to come in and force everyone to do everything "by the book." Not necessarily a bad thing, as that's pretty much how I ran the store when I was manager. But doing with an iron fist is not going to win you any points with your employees. I don't imagine that many of the part timers will last long under her rule, and I honestly don't imagine that she'll last long under her rule either. Whatev... not my problem...
Last night, we headed back to church to listen to a good friend's testimony. It was amazing and moving, and a was a great way to end our day. Unfortunately, the child-care provider that we'd lined up failed to show, so my wonderful husband ended up taking care of 5 children instead of sitting in the sanctuary. But the sound system was working well and he was able to hear it all, so it all worked out, praise God!
At the end of our very long weekend, we came home, put the kids in bed, and decided to watch a movie. We very rarely watch movies, so I'm ashamed to say that, while we've owned it for quite a while, this was the first time we'd seen Juno! It was amazing and is now one of my favorite movies!! I'm in love. Interestingly, I'd heard several people say after the movie came out, that the main character, Juno, reminded them of me. I suppose I can see their point, but I'm not nearly so bold as she is. Maybe if I'd been given a name like Juno, instead of one that 45 other people in my graduating class had, I'd be a little more bold too.
You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events. ~Juno MacGuff
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