Today is one of those days that without a great deal of prayer, I will
wind up being a fleshly mother (as well as a corpulent one!).  I
will yell, get snitty, rush, and be irritated.  We had planned a
nice, leisurely trip to Curwensville Friday morning. But, nice things
happened, so I had to change those plans. My dad called and invited
Nathan to go turkey and deer hunting with him this Friday and Saturday
and asked me to bring him halfway on Thursday night.  Well, I thought, if I’m going halfway Thursday and all the way Friday to Curwensville, why not just go all the way on Thursday night?

So, today is a day of cleaning, packing, cleaning, preparation, and
whining.  Plus, I had irritating news for which I am going to
throw myself on the mercy of the Wilsons and ask them to temporarily
adopt Michael for the evening. Football practice, which is supposed to
always have all the boys at the same field, has changed. Michael is
here near our house and ends practice 30 minutes earlier while David
and Libby are in town.  This might not sound like much, but I also
promised Nathan he could attend Scott F’s last home football game. Now
I’m just whining.  James will feel bad since he’s in Georgia. I
hope he’s having fun!  (I’m sincere. Why should both of us have to
hassle with these details?) Oh, for a boring life!  (Hee hee)

I, like kid, wish that Runts did count as fruit. I am constantly
saying, “What fruit did you eat today?”  Sometimes I get the
answer, “I had cheese. That’s a fruit or vegetable, right?”  Who
teaches these kids anyhow?

I, like GAP girl, wish to eat an entire bag of chocolates today, maybe
more than one bag.  But, Lord willing, I’ll be too busy with too
many children watching me to succumb to the real desire. Those five
bags of Halloween chocolate are calling my name….”Glutton! Glutton!
Come and eat us!”

I hadn’t intended to read Northanger Abbey,  but I was hooked after three pages. I’ve read it before, but I had forgotten how socially clever it was! 

And, hello Tim! I didn’t even know you were a blogger!  Who knows
who lurks in the shadowy recesses of the net reading my stuff…Well,
Becky for one, but she’s not so scary. 

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve hit the big 100. Yes,
I’ve read 100 books this year, a feat I don’t know that I’ve ever
accomplished before, unless it was as a child. I didn’t count books on
tape or little kid books.  I did count children’s novels I
read.  

Another beautiful day for a football game!  Despite the fact we
though it would be cold and miserable, it was just chilly and
gorgeous.  David’s team won again, although David had to sit out a
quarter due to an injury. He thought he broke his leg as he got hit
quite hard, heard three snapping noises, and was in a lot of pain. The
pain and the fear of a broken leg actually caused him to go into mild
shock, I think, and he was pale, crying, and shaking for a while. 
After about 15 minutes, he seemed to return to normal. He’s now playing
Madden football on the computer with Michael. (Oh, he just got up and
limped across the room, asking if we had any crutches. Always the
improviser, I told him he could use a broom.)

The girls–surprise, surprise–are doing cheers. It’s a 24/7 sort of
thing around here. But, I’ve put Libby work creating cheers to teach
Rachel to spell. She now can spell her middle name, Leigh, with ease
thanks to a cheer Libby dreamed up. (I forgot to mention that the
generous $5 tooth fairy was the hospital staff where Rachel had her
surgery!)

Ah, now everyone has leaped (or limped) into the living room to watch
Extreme Makeovers with Ty (and with James). I guess there is no good
football game on.

Like others I could name, I should have a “currently eating”
section.  Right now, it is a huge worthy-of-a-restaurant salad and
a slice of French bread with butter. Mmmm!

Saturday, the kids and I pulled out Settlers of Catan’s Knights and
Cities expansion. After reading and reading and reading directions, we
all decided to play the regular version and wait until LJ could come
and officially teach us how to play.  It seemed as if the
expansion game would take three times as long as the regular, and at 90
to 120 minutes per game already, we were a little daunted. 
Michael was the big winner with 11 points. He called in a monopoly just
when everyone who had cities on grain struck it rich two times in a
row, and he had a two-for-one grain.  (My apologies to those of
you who have no idea of what I am speaking!)

I like the book I’m reading.  Although I don’t particularly like
some of the choices the main character, Jane, makes (her boyfriend 28
years her senior, for one), I really like Jane herself.  I like
witty characters who also happen to be copy editors.  The book
isn’t what I expected. It’s a series of snapshots of certain periods of
her life (and one chapter of someone else’s, which I hope connects
eventually).  She’s 14 years old in one chapter and 20-something
in another, and so on. 

The good doctor will be gone Wednesday through Sunday to a math
conference in Georgia. He’ll miss the kids’ last football games
(David’s important one which might decide the league championship) and
a trip to Curwensville for their last home game. I’m very much looking
forward to going to my mom’s Friday and  Saturday even though it
means we will miss the Crouse’s big fall party (which has Libby
irritated).

It’s Saturday, and I’ve had a productive day. I was in desperate
need to get a set of essays graded. Since I chained myself to the
computer today, I was able to get all the essays graded and finished.
James and the kids did a lot of house cleaning and a lot of football
watching which of course has culminated in the Penn State game.

Rachel continues to act as if she didn’t have anything done to her
on Thursday.  (It was outpatient surgery, so we came home that
day.)  She is just as feisty and active as always. We will know in
two months when we go back for a follow up visit if the surgery was
successful or not. Please pray that it will be successful, as they will
want us to do a slice-you-open surgery on Rachel, and we do not want to
do so.

My new profile pic is of Rachel with her first lost tooth. They
pulled it on Thursday at the hospital while she was knocked out. (It
was fine with her.) Then, the tooth fairy came to visit and left her
$5!  She was quite pleased when she was awake enough to realize
what was going on. (Also, this picture was taken Thursday night, about
eight hours after her surgery. Doesn’t look too worse for wear, does
she?)

Yesterday, we invited the Wilsons and Bolichs (two homeschooling
families) over for the late afternoon and evening to celebrate
Chaucer’s Death Day.  Although the official day is October 25th,
it was more convenient to hold it on Friday.  We filmed four
different Canterbury tales, two acted out, one done with paper puppets,
and one with Playmobil figures.  The most classic line was when
Michael, who got to act out the part of the old, ugly woman complete
with “Billy Bob” teeth and a pink dress asked Knight David if he would
rather have a wife “who was old and ugly but sensitive.”  (He was
supposed to say “but faithful.”) We also had a Middle English
translation contest, ate pizza, and generally had a nice time.

As to the book I said I’m reading, I was reading Citizen Girl,
but I stopped. In true McLaughlin/Kraus form, the main character
is named Girl, her boss is Guy, and her boyfriend is Buster. I stopped
reading after about 100 pages for three reasons. The first was the
horrible language.  I just don’t like that level of swearing in my
books.  I should have known better when the first title
was named “Doris Benderf***” (or some other similar last name with
the swear word all spelled out). The second reason is that the plot
seemed to be going nowhere. Girl works for a loser women’s-issue,
non-profit group, looses her job, looses her apartment, and then finds
another of both.  I suppose the real story must have gotten going
after page 113, but I didn’t care to find out. The third reason is that
I just didn’t care for any of the characters. Girl is just desperate,
the boyfriend an absent-minded fellow who isn’t really a “boyfriend,”
but instead is a guy she’s met a few times.  Her brother, a
teenager, is okay, but not enough to redeem the book. So, I give
Citizen Girl a thumbs-down and recommend The Devil Wears Prada instead, which is a similar plot but a much better story.

I am seriously considering skipping David and Libby’s football game
tomorrow. I do not relish the thought of sitting in the cold in the
rain to watch David’s team crush Bellefonte again. James, that clever
man, had a great idea. We plan to take his car to the football field
before church and park it in a prime “watch the game from the car”
location. Then, Rachel, Nathan, Michael, and I can watch the game from
the dry, cozy comfort of the car.  I knew I married him for a
reason!

After I prep my Sunday school lesson for tomorrow, I’m going to find some sort of sweet snack and pick up The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing
(a modern romance novel, in case you were misled by the title!) and
find a nice, warm spot to read–probably one with lots of bubbles.

Just a quick update–
Rachel’s surgery went fine. It was tough for her coming out of the
anesthesia because she was groggy and weepy, in pain, and felt like she
“had to go” and couldn’t. But, she rallied in about an hour. I’m quite
tired from the drive, and early morning wake-up,  and a foolishly
late night last night thanks to an unwise caffeine soda. 

Rachel is currently sucking on a lollipop and watching TV. I knew she
was fine when she started to do cheers in her chair at lunch after the
surgery.  (D-O-W-N, that’s the way we spell down!)

Thanks for your prayers!

I promised myself
that if I graded five essays tonight, I would get to update my blog. I just
finished said five essays (late), but now Xanga won’t load.  So, not to deny myself the treat, I’m typing
in Word and will post some other time. But, alas, I don’t know what I last
wrote, so I might be repeating myself.

 Last night, Nathan
was asked to join the shooting club. He was just taking the class through Parks
and Rec, but the main guy asked him to join the official group of 4-H kids.
He’ll start the tournament circuit in January. 
I hope he does as well as I think he is able!  The other kids in the group seem to be a nice
bunch, both girls and guys.  Most of them
seem to be around his age, and Nathan knows one of them already from his week
at Camp Cadet.

 I had a nice treat
tonight. I was busily feeding my kids and preparing a meal for someone in
church (you know who you are!) when James called.  He had a late meeting at work and a deacon’s
meeting at church, so our original plans called for me to take Libby and a
neighbor to cheerleading practice by 6:00, a friend (Wilsons) to take David to
football, James to come home after I left to eat supper and go to football
practice, James to take David home from football and then go to his meeting
late, and me to arrive home about 30 minutes after James.  But, he called and said, “Hey, I think it’s
dumb for me to come home and do all that running. Since you are coming into
town, why don’t we meet for supper?” 
What a lovely treat!  It was a
nice respite from both of our days. 
Plus, I actually got to eat supper, which was under some debate under
the current plan. 

 It was such a
treat to be in all the services at church on Sunday. With football running
around, I hadn’t been to all the services in a month.  (Granted, I was in the nursery for one of
them this Sunday and taught Sunday School for another, but I was there!)  Nick preached a great sermon which really
convicted me.  Which is more evident in
my life—the deeds of the flesh or the fruit of the spirit?  I discussed this with James at Sunday lunch
(at Hoss’s due to David’s 13^th birthday request for lunch as his
birthday was Sunday) and recited some of the list of the deeds of the flesh.
When I got to “outbursts of anger,” said birthday boy let out a snort and made
some comment like, “Uh, yeah. That sounds about right.”  I would have been irritated, except he was
right!

Well, the good
doctor is home from his meeting. I need to be a loving wife and end now.  Maybe I’ll get a chance to write more
later…so much to ramble on about!

Home again, home again, and what a perfectly lovely day for
football!  We had been praying for great weather for Bulldog’s
Day, and we certainly had it!  James went to the field (which is
maybe one mile from our house) at 7:30 am. I took Michael at 10:00, and
the rest of us arrived for the day by 10:50. 

Lest you were wondering, Bulldog’s Day is the big event for our
football league. All the teams play at home, there are lots of raffles
and special things, and it’s generally a great time.  We were up
against Bellefonte, who are a pretty good group of opponents. 
However, in every game, the mighty Centre Bulldogs came out as
winners.  Yea! 

I got to work the concession stand, a job I enjoy, but BOY was I
busy!  For two hours solid, the line was at least eight people
deep. We sold out of so much that it wasn’t even funny. Instead of
nachos, we were reduced to selling Fritos covered in cheese sauce.
Mmmm… makes you wish you were there, eh?

I have a huge list, as usual, but it’s “huger” than usual.  I’ve got lots to grade, but I had planned to watch A Knight’s Tale
with the older boys tonight as sort of a “fun” Chaucer study. 
Yes, I know there is an unclothed bum in one scene, but it’s a guy bum,
so I didn’t think my guys would care. I don’t remember any “heaving
bosom” stuff, but I’ll be holding the remote in case such a scene
should occur.  But first, I have to prep for Sunday School as I’m
substitute teaching the 4th to 6th grade class tomorrow.  It’s no
bunch of lightweight Bible students I’ll be up against, so I’ve got to
make sure I’m prepared.

I have to go through the kids’ school checklists. I just have way too
much writing scheduled for each day.  I am sure none of them will
complain when I cut some of it and replace it with some quizzes and
things like that.  It just seems as if they spend 50% of their
school time in writing, so I think I’ve got too much scheduled. 
David, for example, is required to write about 1,600 words per week.
Michael clocks in at about 1,200. I think I’m making my kids write more
(in word count) than I’m making my AP class write.  It’s time for
a change!

We have Bible time (almost) every school day. I’ve been reading a
biography of Adoniram Judson to the kids (which is quite good). 
When I read on Friday, we heard the tale of how a widowed young doctor
who did cataract surgery in Burma (where Judson was) accidentally
blinded a Buddhist woman during an operation. He felt so awful about it
that he married the woman “on the spot” (as the book said). During our
prayer time, we were all praying for Rachel’s upcoming operation on
Thursday (to help correct her misplaced/misfunctioning ureter flaps
between the bladder and kidneys) when David said, “Lord, help the
doctor to not slip up when he’s operating on Rachel so he won’t have to
marry her on the spot.”  If it hadn’t been the middle of prayer
time, I’d have been rolling!

I just wanted to close with a thank you to those who read my missives
who are non-Xanga folk and can’t reply.  Becky, Katie, and my mom
all get a big hello! (Those who reply are doubly-thanked, of course!)

So much of nothing to say!

First of all, I forgot to pick up my comforter, as I feared, at
kid6896′s house (sorry!). I’d call the good doctor to get it, but his
cell phone is here on the counter.  Oh, well.  

Second, to answer aefarson, it’s funny you should ask about those
Pamela Aidan books. As I was reading the first one, I said, “Oh, I am
DEFINITELY going to mail these to NC.”  The first book was great.
The first third of the second book was equally good, but then Darcy
went to a house party to search for a woman to marry to get Elizabeth
off his mind, and in the span of about four days, there was some
mysterious happening involving an insane woman bent on revenge, animal
sacrifice at Celtic stones, and so on. (Perhaps I make it
worse-sounding than it was).   I think I’ll wait until the
third and
final of the series is out (which is supposed to be any day now),
purchased, and read. Then I will mail them
to you.  I just really like the way she portrayed Darcy in the
first book.

The big Bulldog’s pep rally is over.  We had all the teams, coaches,
parents, and cheerleaders in Park Forest Middle School’s gym tonight. A group
of PSU cheerleaders came, the Nittany Lion came, and about seven PSU
football players. I don’t know who they were because as they each had
a turn with the microphone to introduce himself, all I heard was
“hmmmr. HEUNDdnmmm..” (or something close to it).  I leaned over
to Linda Wilson and said, “Not a speech com major in the bunch.”

Today, as I was industriously answering student emails at my computer,
David (who will be 13 on Sunday) came up to me. He presented me with a
small bouquet of wildflowers he picked and said, “I caught you a
delicious bass.”  I just about laughed myself silly.  I am so
pleased that they have grown into a sense of humor.

As to Dante’s Inferno, it’s really so much more approachable than I
ever imagined.  I’ve been enjoying it. I’m still slogging my way
through that Chaucer bio also. I think I have five chapters left. 
I’ll have to finish my “serious” reading so I can move on to Citizen Girl (by the same authors who wrote The Nanny Diaries!) But, tonight is not a reading night. It’s a curl up on the couch with James and finally watch Sahara night. (Yes, all that should be hyphenated, but I didn’t.)  It will be my second video of the day, the first being The Black Death. Can I pick ‘em or what?

I hab a colhd.  I am sneezing and snorting and am tired and
bleary-eyed. We already planned that today would be a lighter day of
school since we had to watch all the Chaucer and Black Death videos
that we borrowed from Penn State, and I was glad of the mental
break.  We didn’t get to the Black Death. Nothing like the plague
to brighten a school day! (There’s always tomorrow!)

It was not an “easy” day, thought.  Since the weather has changed,
it was time for our annual misery–the unpacking of the winter clothes
and the packing away of the summer ones.  I just hate it, but we
don’t have enough dresser/closet space for each child to keep two
seasons out at once.  Plus, it is a great time to purge what
doesn’t fit and to root through any hand-me-down boxes. It just takes a
long time and makes such a mess.  Also, I get a lot of foul
attitudes from certain members of the family who have to try on clothes
to see what fits. 

The kids are going to watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl
tonight. I don’t hold out high hopes it will become a family favorite,
but perhaps it will be better than the title suggests. I got Sahara 
for James and me to watch later. I’ve been told it is good. I’m
wondering if my cold-stupor will allow me to enjoy the movie. But,
thankfully I rented from Blockbuster, the place of no late fees. 
I do so like that feature! Also, we are Blockbuster Rewards members
which means that Monday-Wednesday are rent one get on free days. 
I stock up for the week during movie-watching season. (which comes
after football-never-at-home season)

Speaking of football, both boys still have undefeated teams.  We
did enjoy the Penn State/OSU game. I keep getting surprised by Penn
State. I expected them to stink again this year, and they are really
doing well, so it’s a new thrill every week when they win.

Ah, what a bittersweet day.  Today was (and still is) Libby’s 11th
birthday. We left the house at 5:25 a.m. for her first ever
cheerleading competition. (We had to be in Lock Haven by 7:00, and I
wanted to eat a nice breakfast at McDonald’s.)  My bottom was
already sore from sitting when the competition finally got underway at
10:20. There were five groups there: Centre Bulldogs (us),
Williamsport, Bald Eagle, Bellefonte, and Central Mountain (Lock
Haven).  In Libby’s category, the oldest group, all but
Williamsport had a team.

Libby’s squad, by far, had the most difficult and entertaining routine.
They showed the most pep and smiles.   But, when all was said
and done, they wound up in third place.  I believe that at the
level they are in, Novice, only considers how well you perform the
routine, not how difficult it is.   They had a few bobbles
and such on their mounts, but nothing major.  The team that took
first looked great. The team that took second looked weak. Their
routine wasn’t all that entertaining, but they did it well. 

When they announced that we had taken third, there was silence in the
gym. I think everyone was stunned that we didn’t place higher. 
People from other teams came up to our coaches to express
astonishment.  Unfortunately, the coaches, in their frustration,
shared this fact with the girls and the fact that they considered that
we were “robbed.”  I just don’t like it when another group’s glory
has to be lessened to make us seem better. Yes, we did a fantastic job,
but for some reason we didn’t place in the top two.  (The top two
squads advance to regionals.)

After all the crying and more crying by the squad, we left for
home.  A trip to Dairy Queen for supper and the promise of
presents did cheer Libby up, but I know she is still bummed. For my
part, I am disappointed for the girls, but I am glad that we don’t have
to go to New Jersey to compete at the Regional level.  Fundraising
to earn money for a bus and hotel and such doesn’t sound so wonderful,
especially since both Michael and  David have undefeated teams,
which more than likely means trips to New Jersey for Regionals for both
of them.   It’s a good thing we really like the other
parents. We see a lot of them.

To finish Libby’s birthday, we opened presents (a scooter, outfit, book, lip gloss, gum, flannel sheets) and watched Napoleon Dynamite,
which the kids had been dying to see.  Not surprisingly, they
found it lacking in plot and not that funny, although they kept
proclaiming, “Oh, Jud does that perfectly” every time Napoleon did a
“Gosh…”  I think an early bedtime is in order, even though the boys get to stay up to watch the Penn State game.

As for me, my fivef hours of sleep didn’t go too far. I did try to fall
asleep earlier by going to bed at 9:30 last night, but it didn’t
work.  Such is life.