And now, the santa suit is almost done

Miss Karen is still working on the belt and beard and plans to mail them to us this weekend. (She lives near flint - a good hour from here, making it even more amazing that she makes the trip as often as she does!)

I think you can see from the unretouched photo at the top that Jack wasn't feeling well last night, but he sure is excited with his costume. The retouching on the other two only mutes the roughened red mouth but doesn't entirely hide it and I didn't try to remove the circles under his eyes. (I love Picassa's new features!)

But then the poor kid woke up barking this morning and very confused. He came into the bath while I was showering with tears streaming down his face and barely able to talk. I eventually sorted out that he had awakened 'alone in the bed' and gone in search of his Dad, who was not in any of the usually places. Fortunately I was almost done with my shower, so I was able to wrap up in towels and pick his up and carry him off in search of Dad.

We started in the bedroom, and sure enough, there he was, fast asleep. I'm not sure why Jack 'couldn't find him' and neither was Jack. Rod was astonished that Jack didn't hear the CPAP, though since I am rarely aware of it, either, I was less surprised.

I was able to tuck a now much calmer in beside his Dad and go finish getting dressed for work, but it became clear that Jack's loss of ability to speak wasn't from panic. Every time he tried to talk, he started to cough with a deep, barking cough. Once I was dressed, we headed down to the kitchen, where I made my boy-budgie a nice cup of medicine tea!

Jack has taken lots of naps today and was asleep when I got home from work, which is why I can blog in the evening.

Now that Jack has the croup, our holiday long weekend suddenly looks very quiet.

I think I will manage to get the cards done after all -- and maybe even get a good start on the 12 dozen cookies I hope to get made in the next three weeks!

We may hold off on the feast a few days, too, since croup is reputed to reduce a child's appetite and that seems true of Jack, too, if today is any indication. After all, there is no reason we have to stick to the traditional day.

As much as I love our friends and look forward to seeing them all, I have to say that I am delighted to have several quiet days in a row to just hang out with my boys.

Maybe we can even get over to Cafe Luwak for breakfast when they open again, if Jack is feeling better.

(I don't know yet whether Jack has a three day croup or a seven day croup. I am betting on the briefer one, because he usually isn't sick as long as a lot of other kids other kids.)

Time to go wrestle a 17 pound bird into a salt bath...

What we've been up to...

Rod and I, as I have mentioned, have been sort of assisting with trying to get Red Barn Lunches off the ground. Our latest contribution was helping to start the web page off.

After hours and hours of work, it still looks pretty much like a prototype -- and not a really great one at that. We aren't web developers, nor do we play one on TV. We warned the principles of that, and they have a professional lined up to take our mock up and make it look like something. It does, however, give more of an idea of what the project is about.

Jack and I have finished reading the Three Musketeers at bedtime. It was in some pretty archaic and challenging English, so was surprised that it held his attention for most of the book, but it did (except wen he asked me to skip ahead and leave Milady behind and find D'Artagnan again. Her machinations just weren't all that exciting - -though he was appalled when he later discovered that she had killed the Duke and he missed it. He was much relieved that he hadn't missed a sword battle. )

And now we're reading The Book of Three. Mamma is relieved by the less tongue-tangling language, though it's not as pretty.

I guess my sweet baby has become a swashbuckling boy when I wasn't looking...

Work continues on any number of crafts -- Miss Karen will be over today to finish up the Santa suit, and then we'll work on Yule/Christmas cards. (She taught me to make a pop-up card -- is that cool, or what?!?!?)

I am closing in on the halfway point on the card designs, some more elaborate than others, but I am very pleased not to have one design that "obviously" has to be for the Grandmas -- so many of them are things I like enough to make them "the one:"! A nice twist. I guess enough practice makes it easier. I'll post some photos as soon as I manage to get them off the camera.

(I think these pictures are so funny! My friend, Calesta, took them at her son Alex's pirate birthday party. I cropped Alex out of courtesy, since I didn't have permission to mpost pictures of him and wasn't goig to call at 6am to ask.)

Wow...just, wow

I don't know how reputable 20/20 is anymore, but there were pretty good when I watched them regularly decades ago.



This is a 40 minutes analysis of the public schools. It clearly has a pro-voucher agenda, but the argument are pretty persuasive that *something* has to be done. The immense popularity of charter schools, private schools, and home schooling suggest that at least some schools *are* this bad, and honestly, my experience with schools in two generations suggest that 20/20 isn't exaggerating as much as we might wish.

What do you think?

(Thanks, Michelle)

The making of Santa...

As I think I mentioned at some point, Jack's beloved Miss Karen offered to make him a Santa suit, since he's outgrown last year's elf suit (and declared himself "too big" to be an elf now).

I had no idea I would learn so much!

First, Karen started with a measuring tape, a roll of paper, and a wriggling boy and showed me how to create a pattern.

Next, we used the paper pattern to make a muslin mock up to make sure it was going to fit. We just pinned it and make sure it would fit, but I will sew it together this weekend to try my hand at sewing and then Jack and I will decorate the coat into some other costume for his collection.

Meanwhile, none of this (other than being measured) was very interesting to a young man who wasn't allwoed to use the sewing machine or the circle cutter or the pins. Jack is pretty much used to being able to work alongside me whatever I'm doing. (One advantage of a low tech lifestyle) and he was very frustrated to keep hearing "no".

So, thanks to Stephanie, I had a GREAT idea! Jack and I made mittens for the grandmothers from the Santa suit scraps! (Now we can hope our Grandma and Mormor don't stop by here before these arrive in the mail!)

(Thanks, Stephanie -- this isn't the only great idea I'm borrowing for gifts this year -- you are amazing!)

Jack is sure that his need to hang from the fingertips. I will grant him that it looks pretty -- but I have to figure out how to get the ribbon in now... I am happy to put the ribbon at the wrist after I stuff it.

Of course, all this is taking a lot of crafting time and so my cards are falling way behind -- one more week: yikes! But we're having a blast! I will try to get some action photos next week when we get together to (I hope) finish the costume. (Karen is, believe it or not, making SANTA BOOTS! for the costume!! Wow!)

Glorious weekends

Lately we have been having those weekends I daydream about when life gets just way too stressful and hectic...
Most Saturday mornings, Rod does life-drawing.

Usually, Jack and I hang around in our pajamas and waste half a day doing "not very much" until Rod gets home around 1 p.m. and then our day begins -- usually rushing off somewhere.

A couple of minutes, er months ago now, you know, when it was late summer, the friends of the library was having a special sale, and I wanted to pick up something at Michael's for my latest scrapbook page, so Jack and I decided that we get ready and we'd go with Rod, drop him off, and then run errands.

Rod made a lovely soaked porridge (he's been doing a LOT of that lately) and we ate breakfast together, and then we took turns showering and dressing. Jack asked "are you going to work?" because that's our week morning routine. He was delighted that I wasn't. Ahh, sweet children.

We all hopped in the car with all Jack's library books and off we went. We dropped Rod off at University, where the artists gather on Saturday morning.

Next, Jack and I went to Micheal's and bought some silk flowers (even at full price they are far cheaper than Prima flowers -- that week, they were 50% off. A real bargain! I got enough on two stems to last for a year or more!) Oddly, it wasn't hard to find what we wanted and move on. (I usually end up wandering endlessly at Micheal's, overwhelmed by all the choices.)

Next stop, the library, where we dropped off Jack's older library books and then we fought our way through the throngs to find a bag full of books, only to discover that the special price I read about was on *Sunday*. The prices were exactly the same as they are every day at the Friends of the Library book shop but the crowds were horrendous. Oh well -- that's still an amazing price, and as it turned out we coincidentally ended up getting roughly the same price as I expected. The crowds are far smaller at the everyday book shop, so I think we'll stick with that -- but we did find a few very nice books. Then, Jack wanted to get some more books to check out.

Once we had our books, we were hungry and thirsty, so we stopped by the food co-op to pick up snacks and drinks and we walked to a nearby park to munch and chat while waiting for time to pick Dad up. We ended up having a blast, watching people and critters, reading and talking and exploring.

Once we picked up Rod, we headed out to visit Mark for a while and then we ended up back at the park where we relaxed as a family, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. Rod did some more sketching, Jack and I went noticing, and we all did a whole lot of nothing. It was bliss.

Sunday was just as good. We woke up late and prepared for ritual that afternoon. Sunday afternoon rituals don't seem to involve pot lucks in the way that Friday evening ones inevitably do, and that makes it a lot easier to get ready. We took our time and wandered off to the ritual, just on time.

Another weekend, we had to drop the car off to get repaired. Now that we're down to one car, that posed a puzzler. However, our mechanic is only a few miles down the road, so I suggested that we could go for a walk -- and we did. First thing Saturday morning, we all hopped in the car and drove over to the mechanic. Then we spent the remainder of the morning walking home by a meandering path.

It's amazing what you learn about an urban environment you think you know when you take the time to walk it. We found all kinds of treasures along the road, discovered a "hidey hole" that looked like a secret clubhouse (and probably was, and it's probably just as well it was uninhabited when we passed by, but nonetheless it was very intresting and appealing in daylight!) We noticed businesses and former businesses that we had never noticed before, and got a chnace to examine architecture and speculate about the history of the area. When we got home, we were all happily tired, so we sat down at our computers for a bit, and then we had a meal and headed off to get the car. We decided that two such walks in one day weren't necessary, so Rod checked the online schedule and then we walked out to the main road where the city bus makes it eastern most Region 2 stop, and got off the bus in a neighborhood a few blocks from the mechanic.

Last weekend was, perhaps, the most blissful of all. I never left the house at all -- unless you count a trip to the compost heap and a swing past the mail box. On Saturday, Jack threw an "I love my friends" party.

As regular readers know, for many reasons, we celebrate our birthdays together with a family adventure. Jack enjoys that, but after years of going to other people's birthday parties he had begun to get the idea that it being the host of a party would be a lot of fun.

So, we planned an "I love my friends" party for his "half-birthday"! We made personalized invitations to invited 12 of Jack's closest friends. I asked all the mommies to bring a (new or used, but cheap) kids book wrapped up as a present. We brought in a big dinosaur cake from the bakery and some of the largest helium ballons I have ever seen -- one for each kid! We carried in the cake and sang the friends song (Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold) and everyone, from the youngest up, chose a present to open. We had music and popcorn and cookies hot from the oven. We covered a long table with butcher paper and everyone coloured and drew on it, we had a Little People diorama on another long table across the room for lots more play. But mostly it was a play date with cake and balloons. The kids did what kids do -- and periodically all of them would barrel out into the yard to chase each other around, hollering for ten minutes and then come barrelling back in. It was a hoot! Perhaps because all the familiar party elements were there, but there was no stress, all of the the children were beautifull behaved the whole time. Then again, more likely, we were just lucky to have a great groups of kids.

OK, I have been trying to finish this post for a week. It's still not done, but I am way behind time to hop in the shower, so I am going to post it anyway. (Did I ever get around to maiking a point?)

I'll try to write again soo -- there is, needless to say, so much to tell...!

Interesting...

Hey, folks...

I am sorry there hasn't been a real post in so long. It's that season when if i am going to make Yule cards then I have to work on them pretty constantly. (Our list is 70 this year and that takes some doing...)

And then, out of the blue, Jack's beloved Miss Karen offered to make him a Santa suit ... and so I have been learning how to craft a pattern from scratch and helping to make the suit. Of course, my help means that things have to be done over from time to time, but Karen has been very patient.

Anyway, I heard about this movie and it looks fascinating. I haven't had time to go and watch the previews, so I cant actually vouch for it, but in the interest of not boring you to death with silence, I figured I'd post it and let you see for yourself. From the web page:

Have you seen the news stories about the obesity epidemic? Did you see Super Size Me? Then guess what? ... You've been fed a load of bologna. Comedian (and former health writer) Tom Naughton replies to the blame-McDonald's crowd by losing weight on a fat-laden fast-food diet while demonstrating that nearly everything we've been told about obesity and healthy eating is wrong. Along with some delicious parody of Super Size Me Naughton serves up plenty of no-bologna facts that will stun most viewers, such as: The obesity "epidemic" has been wildly exaggerated by the CDC. People the government classifies as "overweight" have longer lifespans than people classified as "normal weight." Having low cholesterol is unhealthy. Lowfat diets can lead to depression and type II diabetes. Saturated fat doesn't cause heart disease -- but sugars, starches and processed vegetable oils do."

I actually do have five real posts started and several more in my head. I hope to get to those in the next day or two ...I hope you're enjoying the change of seasons as much as I am!

An open letter to the Obama Administration

14 November 2008

Ypsilanti, Michigan

Dear President-Elect Obama,

Congratulations on your heart-warming, history-making victory on November 4! Along with the majority of our fellow-citizens, your election has brought new hope to our family for our country's future.

I am heartened to hear that you have made the education of America's children one of your highest priorities; I understand that the greatest gains are to be made within the public school systems. I heartily support your agenda and am happy to see our tax dollars used for the genuine benefit of the children within the public school systems.

My concern is this: I have not seen any policy statement anywhere about the your view of homeschooling, and its future as a viable alternative for those families whose children cannot or will not fit within the public education system.

It requires no special inquiry to observe that no system of mass education can be expected to meet the needs of every student in the nation. Atypical children, whether they learn more slowly, more quickly, or just differently than the majority, wind up on the periphery of a system that, by its very nature, cannot be made broad enough to cope with their needs without also jeopardizing the overall quality of education for the majority.

Homeschooling parents, in increasing numbers, are choosing to step up and fill the atypical educational needs of their children at home, rather than impose a further burden on an already challenged system. Your own biography notes the enormous debt you owe to your mother for her 4am homeschooling sessions. Homeschooled children enjoy that extraordinary teacher/student ratio all day every day, and several national studies have shown that they benefit from that advantage.

Our great nation was built on the principle of individual freedom, and as a people we have fought, from the very first, to maintain the independence of our citizens from government interference. The education of our children is primarily the responsibility of their parents and families and secondarily the responsibility of our expert consultants within the various school systems, public, private, and parochial. It makes a great deal of sense to increase funding for the public system and set realistic achievement standards for public education institutions to increase our nation's competitive edge. It makes equal sense to allow those of us who choose to educate our children ourselves, to do so unimpeded.

If we couple the higher public education achievement objectives of your administration with the already high achievement levels of home educators, together we can twice strengthen the most important asset this nation has: its children, and therefore its future.

Please allow home educators to continue the work we have started, a work that meets our shared objectives for a better educated, freer, America

Best regards,
Misti Anslin Delaney Smith and Rodney B. Smith
Parent Educators

P.S. Our 5 year-old son, Jack, who followed both your primary and presidential campaigns with fervent interest was sadly disappointed when he did not get to meet you a the polling booth on election day!!

P.P.S. Kim has posted her letter about homeschooling to the Obama Administration over at Relaxed Homeskool, so you might want to head over and see what she has to say.

Would that I could speak so powerfully

I could not have expressed my feelings as clearly, but he did...



Except that I do have friends and loved ones who are deeply effected by this.

First snow!

SE Michigan had our first dusting of snow for the season yesterday.

Not much -- but it was pretty as it fell, and it promises that winter is truly nearly here.

And, probably no coincidentally, we also had to turn on the central heating for the first time last night. Blankets make it toast when the wind blows -- up to a point., But even I think that 23°F is beyond "adventure" and into "bloody cold!"

what is this thing?

Any idea what this is?

Jack found it at "Value World" for ten cents and fell in love with it.

I am thinking a baseball helmet of some kind, but with no idea why I think so...

It’s In Your Hands, America

The election is over; the die is cast.

Whether you were jubilant or frustrated and disappointed by the events of November 4, this is your America.

It's time to move from the rhetoric that characterizes a political campaign to the rebuilding of America as it should be.

To do that, we need every voice, progressive and conservative. To do that we need to work toward a consensus that blends the concerns and priorities of every U.S. citizen, and even the voices of our fellow citizens of planet earth.

In the interest of transparent transition and a government in which literally every voice has the chance to be heard, the Obama administration, as one of its first official acts, founded a web site at http://change.gov/

From the web site:

Change.gov provides resources to better understand the transition process and the decisions being made as part of it. It also offers an opportunity to be heard about the challenges our country faces and your ideas for tackling them.

The story of the campaign and this historic moment has been your story. Share your story and your ideas, and be part of bringing positive lasting change to this country.

I have heard it referred to as "Open source Government" (thanks, Lydia!) and that sounds to me like Government by the people and for the people has come of age. Welcome to the 21st century!

Whatever your feelings about the turn of events this week, I encourage you to take your best ideas and your deepest concerns over to change.gov. Make a difference, take back this country, by the people for the people. *All* the people.

Dad

I've been thinking about my Dad lately.

Harold James Delaney 1932-1998

Thinking about the kind of person he was and how very much of who I am, I owe to him. I am very much like him, I guess. Mom always said that was why we couldn't get along when I was a young woman!

We both have a really goofy sense of humour. We both believe what we believe passionately. He taught me not to "let George do it", but to take responsibility for filling needs as they come to my attention, and that contribution is what it's all about.

I had five younger brothers before my sixth birthday, so Mom and Dad had their hands pretty full as I was growing up. Things were rarely easy for them, so it wasn't until I grew up and left home that I started to really get to know what was important to Dad.

As I was struggling to raise my first family on my own, Dad and I would talk on the phone from time to time. His tales were full of his projects to improve the world around him -- working in soup kitchens, organizing a neighborhood watch in his community to combat a growing drug culture and crime problem, cleaning up an abandoned lot on the street where he and Mom lived to create a park for the local kids to play in.

I was so proud of him. I admired his enthuiasm and his civic spirit. Instead of complaining that life in his neighbrohood wasn't perfect, as so many people do, he set out to find ways that *he* could make it better.

I don't know whether I ever thought to tell him how proud I am, though.

One of the most emotional moments of my life was at his funeral ten years ago. A woman came up to me and said "You must be Harold's daughter. I worked with your Dad at Home Depot." I was startled, because I had never lived in San Antonio with my parents and didn't get a chance to visit very often. Then she went on to tell me that my Dad was always so very fuill of stories about me and my adventures - - that he had been so proud of me and all that I had accomplished against what he saw as some very tough odds.

Imagie that! My Dad; proud of me! Telling my story to complete strangers just because... I burst into tears and wished vehemently that I had known how he felt while I could still hug him and thank him.

I still get teary just thinking about that moment.

I have decided not to let my own children have that experience. I try to make it a point to let them know when I am proud of them and what I like about them. Regularly. Because I am proud of them -- they, too, have managed to become good men against some pretty big odds.

Time to make thos Yule cards...

Wy do I always wait so late?

*sigh*

We haven't even decided on a Yule-card list for this year...and I haven't started making th cards. This could take a while, and here I sit on the computer wishing I had time to blog.

My "aggressive winter hare" and I...

Wish you a most blessed Samhain

And a wondererful new year.

(Gotta love Ladybug magazine -- a new adventure every month!)

Little Blue School: Barack Obama and Socialism

Little Blue School: Barack Obama and Socialism

If you enjoy having weekends off, thank a socialist.
If you appreciate the eight-hour work day, thank a socialist.
If you approve of minimum wage, thank a socialist.

If you like living in a country where it's illegal to sell your child to a sweatshop for a dollar a week, you can be thankful that socialists, yes those are anti-capitalist, anti-free-market socialists, worked hard in the face of big business and government opposition to make that happen.

You might want to check this out...Lydia's manifesto is excellent food for thought!

Thanks, Lydia!

One might think...

In reading some of the comments that never make it to the blog, one might think that I am good at keeping secrets.

That is patently so untrue that I am utterly mystified.

Yes, I am a homeschooler. Indeed, I am.

However, I am not associated with the Radical Religious Right, I don't teach Jack at home to teach him creationism, or to protect him from socializing wioth people who might lead him to doubt the Bible.

Truly.

As a matter of fact, as I thought was very clear, I am a liberal, feminist, pagan homeschooler.

Just for the record.

My beautiful Swedish Grand-babies!

Though they have obviously long since stopped being "babies".

They are all dressed up up to celebrate an Internation soccer championship down at the pub. Isabella is six and Oliver will be four at the end of the week.

Aussie boy!

Harvest season

Back soon ...

Back to the drawing board

Oh well. Our annual trek to Tony Packo's is off this year.

Rod has a gig that night and it just wouldn't be fun without him. (And the logistics could be pretty scary now that we're down to one car.)

So now I am looking for something for Jack and I to do on the evening of October 31. Finding any place to go or anything to do where we would be allowed to ignore Halloween seems pretty improbable at this short notice, so I guess we'll just borrow some movies from the library, close the gate, and stay home watching movies and eating popcorn. I know Jack would like that -- and we are almost finished with Peter Pan and I'm pretty sure that's been made into a movie. He also saw a preview for Fly Away Home that intrigued him...actually, back to back movies till Dad gets home would be his idea of the perfect evening.

I am tempted, though, to darken the house and take Rod's laptop into the back bedroom where the lights won't be visible from the street, so we don't have kids opening the gate to knock on the door. And then again, I hate feeling like I'm "hiding" in my own home. That's why I have traditionally gone somewhere.

Halloween is everywhere and those of us who don't want to deal with it are seen as worse than the Grinch. Why is that? Believe it or not, people sometimes get positively hostile when it comes up that we don't celebrate Halloween, and even those who don't get hostile urge me to reconsider. I don't understand. Why does it matter? We don't celebrate Diwali, or Ramadan, or Easter either Nor Cinco de Mayo, Crayfish Day (Kräftskiva), or the Queen's Birthday. We have our own holidays and we're perfectly happy with them. This isn't one of ours, we don't want to participate, why isn't that OK?

On the brighter side, it has proven to be a great time to add to Jack's dress-up clothes collection inexpensively. You've seen his knight suit -- and we found a baseball helmet for $2 the other day, so it's not all bad.

Almost Monday

I am so happy to report that Mark is home after just less than a week in the hospital!
It was very frustrating for him, because he mostly felt fine, but one misadventure after another meant his stay was extended and extended.

I haven't had the change to find out the details yet, because I was leaping into the shower as he stopped by. But the detail that matters most: Mark is home and feeling pretty good! I am so very, very happy for him and for Matthew.

It has been such a good weekend. I spent yesterday baking and cleaning and baking some more -- and then, Rod took a turn baking and I made a yummy soup. Pretty near the perfect weekend!

Red Barn Lunch -- what a great idea!

Lots of parents would like a better lunch choice for their school aged kids, but right now the choices are:

• eat whatever is provided in the school cafeteria,
  
• Stop at the local Kroger and pick up something that's a bit better and find the time to pack it
• plan, shop, and find the time to pack a lunch with the highest quality, locally grown, organic foods the kids will eat. That could be a part time job!
  

Just planning for menu that the kids will eat is tricky enough, without finding the time to research and travel all over the region looking for the highest quality, organic foods.

It's been a headache for years for anyone who actually cares about nutrition. As we learn more and more about the effects that food quality has on our kids, it's become a more pressing question.

So, where do we get the best foods for our kids and how do we manage to get them packed into nutritious, kid-friendly lunches five days a week?

Even families who homeschool have to pack something for the weekly homeschool coop meetings and play dates.

Karen Myers has been thinking about this for a while and she has an idea. How cool would it be to have access to a prepacked lunch for each child every day? Not lunchables or takeout, but real, locally grown, traditional foods, grown organically and sustainably and served minimally processed. In serving sizes just right for youngsters, and at a reasonable price!

A few weeks ago, Karen and some friends gave this idea a trial run by providing the lunches for sale at a local "foodies" conference, and it was a hit. Rod and I were excited about the idea and even more excited when we tasted the foods! Wow! For 5 or 6 dollars, we got a lunch that was delicious, generously sized, and easy to store.

So, last week, we attended a planning session for Karen's brainchild, Red Barn Lunch. It turns out that while there were quite a few people in attendance with experience and enthusiasm, the idea hasn't quite jelled yet.

It's pretty clear that there is a market out there, and we had some ideas for ways that we could make the lunches accessible to a wider audience by finding ways to make them available to people with specific dietary needs.

So, how good is the idea? Would you and your family be interested in buying such lunches? If you were interested , what would matter most to your family? What price would be willing to pay per lunch?

Feel free to contact Karen.

Autumn thoughts

Today, autumn has clearly arrived. I woke up to a bedroom that had plunged below freezing. As the sun came up, I realized thta all of the trees in our yard had turned and the grass was crusted with a glittering frost.

Of course, that got me thinking about winter and winter preparations.

Every year, I prepare a winter emergency kit for the trunk. (Having spun off the road in a blizzard while wearing a business suit and pumps - no coat and no boots-- not once but several times was a very convincing argument that they are a good idea.)

In the kit:

(For each person who regularly rides in the car)

• an old coat
• old boots
• wool socks
• mittens
• hat
• scarf
• Add to that a pair of trousers and a pull over sweater for me, just in case I happen to be in a suit when a blizzard hits.

Then:

• an extra bottle of windshield cleaner
• an *extra* ice chipper and snow brush for clearing the windows and headlights
• a big blanket
• a book for each of us
• a candle in a jar plus matches or lighter. (A flashlight is also a good option -- but be sure you check the batteries periodically.)
• A freeze-proof source of calories -- nuts, granola bars, etc, amounting to 1500 calories per person

I have been trying to figure out what to do about water. I recently heard about foil pouches of water that can expand as the water freezes and are pretty easy to defrost by putting them inside your coat, so I'll be looking for those and will add the equivalent of a liter per person.

The candle needs to be handled carefully in a car, of course, but I like that option because it means a tiny bit of extra warmth and no dead batteries. If you go that way, just remember to crack a window when you have the candle burning since the candle is 'breathing', too. If you get sleepy, put out the candle!

Things I have heard of, but don't carry myself (but you might want to):

• a small snow shovel and traction mats or cat litter/sand
• a "Please call the police" banner and reflective triangles or emergency flares
• jumper cables and tow ropes
• first aid kit
• tools
• brightly coloured cloth to tie to the radio attena
• fire extinguisher
• money for phone calls (good luck finding a pay phone)
• tire chains
• portable battery charger
• fuel line deicer
• portable radio

So, what's in your emergency kit?

Do you Know FlyLady?

Jack has been on a real Chore Wars binge lately.

We've been adding more and more and more chores as he begs for more things to do -- and he does them eagerly and asks for more! At this point we're beginning to add Quests -- one time, major things that we've been meaning to get to for some time. At about the same time, I have been decluttering by getting off lists I don't have time for any more. One of those was the Fly Lady coaching list. And all of this -- the struggle to find more chores and the decluttering of my e-mail -- had me thinking about a day, not so long ago, when finding chores wasn't a problem, but finding a usable surface was.

I think TJ and Corey would be utterly astonished to see how Chez Smiffy looks on an average day. It's far from sparkling, but we can usually be ready for company in an hour or so, and cleaning up is never a two-day enterprise anymore. I didn't know how to accomplish that level of organization when they were living at home. Chores were a constant struggle and the chaos won a lot more often than we did. Once TJ and Corey had moved out on their own and I was living alone, I did find it somewhat easier to keep my apartment clean. Nonetheless, even when it was just me, if life got busy, my apartment started to show the lack of attention.

Then someone mentioned Fly Lady. Now, my place was pretty clean because with just me around the amount of energy I was used to spending on housework had my place so polished that some of my friends were teasing me and calling me "Martha". Still, I was curious to learn more about how to keep it tidy when life got more 'exciting'. When I knew that Rod would be moving in -- and that tidiness was no more in his nature than it had ever been in mine -- I knew I had to get a handle on this homemaking thing. I had become rather fond of living in a tidy home and being able to start a project at a moment's notice with no need to clear a space first.

So, I read the Fly Lady web site and subscribed to the coaching list. For several months I implemented her suggestions faithfully until I felt i had internalized the sense behind the system. Then I went "no mail" on the coaching list and went on with doing it my way. Once Jack was born, everything fell apart and I turned the list back on once we got our feet under us again so that we could catch up and then went no mail again until I needed another booster.

One of the most important things I learned from Marla and her Fly Lady methods is that clutter can't be organized. Up to a point, stuff makes out lives easier -- and after that out stuff starts to own us. If we own more stuff than we need, we end up spending much of our time moving it around, cleaning it, trying to find space for it, or just stepping over it. I know that viscerally and once Marla put it into words for me, I began a campaign to simplify my world. Our place is much easier to maintain these days because I have spent the last 8 years jettisoning anything we don't have an immediate need for.

Some day I will teach Jack the Fly Lady system...but meanwhile Chore Wars is going a long way to making him enthusiastic about keeping the house tidy. What a different world my baby boy is growing up in!

My knight in shining armour

Just call me 'Grace'

I'm feeling pretty stupid today.

I fell.

Again.

I have a bad case of rolling ankles. Usually, I can catch myself before I fall, but every so often - every couple of years, something complicates the catch, and I don't make it. I had to stop carrying Jack on my shoulders after I fell while carrying him twice in six months. Thankfully, I managed to roll him off my shoulders and up on top of me as I fell both times, but I just couldn't count on being able to do that again.

This time, who knows what it was. Maybe I was carrying my handbag and lunch box in a way that unbalanced me. Maybe I tried to right myself while stepping on a stone.

Whatever it was, I wasn't able to get my feet under me, and down I went. In the past, I have had scrapes and bruises to content with for a week or so, but it was never more serious than that. This time, though, I really messed up my ankle and I have been having spasms in my back and stomach in addition to the usual scrapes and bruises. I think that amounts to "Getting older". I know that as small children, we bounce pretty well and as we get older, we get less resilient. I don't think I fell any harder than usual -- I just didn't bounce this time.

Worse, this means I have had to fill out an accident report at work because I am limping like an old wreck, and I foolishly answered the question "Where did that happen?" As it happens, I was on company property, waiting for Rod and Jack to arrive. Company policy says that every accident on company property, regardless of the cause, has to be reported officially.

Ick.

In brighter news, Jack is still very much enjoying chess.

Rod is still helping Jack to think through his moves, but he is also having to really work to win. They played for three hours again yesterday, and Jack wasn't ready to stop when Rod finally got him in check mate. It led to a meltdown. Jack lost it and then refused to speak to Rod for several hours after it was all over.

It seemed to us that it was less about "being a poor sport" than it was that he had taxed his young brain to the breaking point and while the exertion was exhilarating, it was also exhausting. When it ended so suddenly (from Jack's point of view), it took him a long time to recover and he didn't have words for what, exactly, he was feeling so he retreated into sulking. All was well by the end of the evening and Jack went down to check that everything was OK with Dad before he could sleep last night.

I think he will learn to see the bigger picture rather than focusing on the move at hand and the end won't come as quite such a shock to him. He will also get his synapses stretched so that he's not working quite so hard when they play and that will help his resilience, too.

Oh, and Jack has started holding forth on history, explaining to us all about the Romans and the Gauls and the Barbarians. It's kind of amusing to hear his oversimplified, but basically correct, view of history. It's not unlike "the history of Europe, as written in letters to the newspaper editor".

Move over Bobby Fisher!

Rod and Jack have been playing chess for three hours now!

Jack has moved from step one, "this is a pawn" to being able to discuss moves and why they're a better idea than some other moves. I honestly haven't been paying enough attention to know how he's doing with the chess part -- but I can report that his enthusiasm hasn't waned for even a moment.

On the domestic front, I finally had the energy to take my turn at cooking. Split pea and carrot soup. Yum.

Check!

Jack has taken a big interest in chess lately.

He evidently read about it in one of his gazzillion library books and has been eager to learn to play for about a week now. He and I went to the library yesterday to pick up a couple of books about chess for children and he started trying to read them, and then decided, at 10 minutes past bedtime, that he wanted me to read them to him. I will -- but by the light of day.

Mark has offered to loan Jack a chess set one of these days so he can actually practice. But in the meanwhile, Jack has been running around the house shouting "Checkmate!"

As with so many things with a five year old super-hero, Jack is sure that he will be very good at chess right away. I wonder how long his interest will last once he realizes how challenging it really is. Then again -- he has persevered with many more things than I expected so far in his short life. (I do wish Corey were around though. Corey actually likes chess.)

In other news, in scratching around Rod found that between our newly simplified ways and the cash he has earned over the last little while, we are able to (just) afford a new washing machine. It will be delivered on Saturday. I have to say that I am very glad that I was in the habit of keeping up with the laundry -- it means that we will be able to get through the rest of the week very handily. Now, I just hope that the fridge will hold on until we can pull another rabbit out of our hat!

In addition to chess, Jack has gone on another Chore Wars binge...and I have to say, it;s very amusing to watch him scour the list of chores for something he can do and then tear around the house cleaning up and putting things away! At his request, we loaded that page into the places he can visit from his own computer, with the promise that he won't claim any chores unless he has adult confirmation. He has been checking his list several times a day, which has Rod and working hard to come up with new chores to add to the list.

The game has also lead to seeral discussions about the nature of chores and what is and is not a chore and what it means to be a member of Team Smiffy. Jack wanted to add "eating my dinner" and "obeying an adult" to the list, and we talked about how some thinsg we do for ourselves and some things are just expected in civilized company, and other things have to be done for the family to be comfortable, but it doesn't matter so much *who* does them, except to be fair. I have to be sweet to Jack eve when I have a headache. He has to obey his adults. That's just being a good team member. But while the laundry needs to be washed and dinner cooked, as long as it happens, it doesn't matter too much who does it. Those are chores. He seems top get it -- and when I mentioned Team Smiffy, he has taken to giving a HUGE roar that would do Uncle Trevor proud at a Geelong Cats game, which first astonished and alarmed Rod and then caused him to topple over laughing.

When it rains, it pours

So, last night, Rod and I were hanging out in the kitchen, he was cooking on our brand new stove while I whined about how sick I felt.  But we were both feeling relieved to have mastered the recent challenges.

 

We had successfully made the transition from a two-car family to a one car family, we had replaced the very nearly dead stove and had the repairs done on the one remaining car so that it wouldn't go belly up, leaving us no way to get me to work.  We were waiting for the part we need to repair the vitamix back in action, and it looked like life was moving forward.

 

Then the refrigerator growled at us.

 

"Uh oh.  That's not a good sound.  Never heard a fridge say that before."

 

"Maybe it can hold out until refund time...?"

 

"Maybe."

 

Then, this morning, i did my usual routine.  I carried yesterday's laundry down to the basement, stopping on the way to start a pot of coffee.  I took the clean clothes from the dryer, tossed the wet clothes in, and started another load and then went up to have that first blissful cuppa.  Rod had gotten the kitchen sparkling last night, which made that first cup even more blissful!

 

But a while later, Rod and I heard the drains in the kitchen and bathroom, gurgling. 

 

"Wierd nooise.  i wonder what that is..."

 

"Dunno"

 

It went on and on.  Eventually I went up to take a shower.  The water was running ice cold. 

 

"Uh oh.  Honey, would you go down and check on the water heater?"

 

I went on getting ready for work, sans shower.  Eventually Rod called up the stairs.

 

"The water heater is fine.  The washer, however, has lost its ability to sense when it's full and is overflowing.  That noice we heard was sump pump -- which is also working fine."

 

OK.  Now what?  The fridge may hold out for tax refund time, but we have to have clean clothes.

 

Back to the drawing board.

The Story of Stuff

Jack and I have been watching these videos and we think you might like them, too.

ever really loved a bathroom?

I am so pleased with how this room came out -- even if it is just the loo.

The art game...

We have a new passion. "The art game".

The rest of the world calls it "Child Sized Masterpieces."

Jack says

" The game is very fun. You try and get the most matches, if you want to win."

And he's quite right. It's a blast!

We started by matching identical art cards. Even with a vast collection, he was bored pretty quickly. So we moved on to the artist match. We have a collection of art cards and we try to match two by the same artist -- extra points if we can name the artist before we check the back of the card. ;)

Jack is really, really good at it! Some artists I can tell -- Carl Larsson and John James Audubon are plain obvious. But there are others that are similar enough that weeks later, if they're the only ones left, I really am guessing. Jack never seems to be guessing, and I really need to get up the courage to move onto the next step -- matching four less similar pieces by the same artist.

I did get the books - but thank goodness Dover has books of art cards at a fraction of the cost, so we can make it more challenging without spending a fortune! (And without *having* to rush on to the next step.)

Yeah, I know, Mark. We have wierd hobbies. *grin* We have to do something to keep you guessing.

Banned Book Week

Every year we celebrate the Freedom to Read during banned book week.

Founded in 1982 by the American Library Association, this event is intended to remind us not to take our precious intellectual freedom for granted.

During banned book week, we celebrate our freedom to choose and the freedom to express our opinions, even if that opinion is unorthodox or unpopular.

This event also stresses how important it is to ensure the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to anyone who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

The 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2007

• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• TTYL by Lauren Myracle
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Any books you love on this list?

One of the best things about the new schedule

One of the best things about our new schedule is that we have the time to sit down to a hot breakfast together.

I love that part!