Ah, another gorgeous day in Central Pennsylvania!  It’s turning windy, which does not surprise me, as we are supposed to get some rain tonight and tomorrow.  But, we sucked up all the sunshine we could while still having full days of school. Both yesterday and today, the kids and I played some Ultimate Frisbee.  You see, when I was at the youth retreat a few weeks ago, no one passed me the Frisbee. I assumed it was because I stunk, so I thought I should practice and hone my skills, meager as they are.  But, I’m finding that I am also old and don’t care to make flying leaps to catch a Frisbee, especially since I was wearing a skirt during today’s game. 

Tomorrow, I am hoping to go out in the afternoon and do a little shopping.  Dress Barn has a skirt I liked, but they did not have it in my size. I asked if they could find it in the correct size at a different store, and they did (from Michigan)!  So, I will be heading there Saturday, Lord willing, and perhaps will find something nice to go with it.

David baked some killer chocolate chip cookies yesterday around 3:00. There are none left, not even the chipless cookies made for Michael. If a batch of cookies lasts 24 hours at our house, it must mean we have the flu.  But, we still haven’t sliced into the waterfall cake.

We are trying to plan out what and when and where for our summer trips.  We’d like to go camping a few times, but we aren’t sure of the dates or the places or the company (or at least one of those variables).  I know it is frustrating for the good doctor not to have settled plans as he has to request time off, and they need to hire someone to cover for him for the summer advising he’d be missing. 

As for me, I hope I get back into the normal “feel” of things.  I seem to be busy all the time and get nothing done.  I am not sure why this is happening, but I’d like for it to stop.  I have actually been really tired at night, which is a blessing because I fall right to sleep, but it’s not good in that my evening is when I do things “for me”–reading, Bible study, Bible memory, AP grading, etc.  These things have not been getting done as much as I would like (or I am doing them with drooping eyelids).

I think I might make frozen chicken parts for supper, but I’m not sure if the box of breaded meat-stuffs will be enough to feed all of those eating.  Maybe if I make a huge mass of macaroni and cheese to go with it, all will be well.  I should get busy on it, as Michael starts baseball practice tonight at 6:00.  TGD is an assistant coach of sorts, which will be fun for him.  He doesn’t like to be the head coach, but he does like to help out. 

Have any fun weekend plans?

I was just leaving my blog alone, hoping that a few people would comment, and they did!  (Kudos to you.)  Today was a happy kid day. They were giddy and giggly which always makes life much more pleasant. We went out to Denny’s for supper, and it was a lot of fun to have them making jokes and grinning like fools. 

We had our homeschool co-op today, and it was Cake Decorating Final Project Day for David. They studied cake decorating for two weeks (about two hours total). He took in a four layer cake and had to decorate it in any style he chose.  Here’s his finished product.

We haven’t cut into it yet, but I’m sure it will be a waterfall of delights to our tastebuds. It will also be quite a few calories–a cup of butter, a cup of shortening, and two pounds of confectioner’s sugar made up the icing!

Here’s Mr. Confectioner with his creation.

I haven’t had much to say of late. I’ve feel like I’ve been really busy but have done very little.  I suppose we all have times like these, right?  I hope? 

Last night, we had four people from the drama group Splinter stay at our house.  They are a group of homeschooled kids who tour and present a wonderful drama about the life of Christ done in a dramatic choral reading with singing and some great expressions of voice and face.  If you ever have a chance to go and see them perform, it’s well worth it!

I’m a happy pup. I got a set of AP essays graded (leaving me only one set to grade). I spend the afternoon shopping with Libby and the Wilsons (with a trip to Long John greasy Silver’s for lunch–yum! I ate almost every bite.).  I got some new sneakers for all that walking and jogging I do (har har) and two skirts.  I’m glad the long, tiered broomstick skirts are back in fashion. I’ve been wearing them anyhow, so at least this year I’ll be stylish.  The good doctor gave me all his honorarium from his last math talk to treat myself, so I surely did!  What a nice guy.

As I climbed into bed last night, I thought, “I feel like a character from The Princess and the Pea.”  The new mattress is quite soft and quite high in the air.  I’m sure it’s only five inches or so higher than the old one, but I felt as if we were sleeping on stilts!  It’s still a great bed, though.

Tomorrow is a carry-in dinner for church. Michael whipped up some Lemon Yogurt Pound cake for me (from scratch), and I think I’ll take something like macaroni and cheese.  I shan’t stress over it.  But, a church meal means that my Ladies’ Sunday School class cannot meet in the tiny kitchen due to the one table being covered in crock pots. I suppose we’ll huddle in the nursery with the babies.  Ah, the blessings of a church needing a larger facility! 

I was sad to see that no one listed any of his/her life maxims.

Yes, indeed, the new mattress arrives tomorrow (Friday). Did you know that today is the 231st anniversary of Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech?  In keeping with the Revolutionary War theme, I alluded to someone else in my title.

Today wasn’t our best day of school, but it was just because we were too rushed. I suppose that’s what happens when the whole family sleeps in… Did anyone say Proverbs 6:9?

I was quite thrilled last night to have a call from rjdohner.  She had just received our housewarming gift in the mail and called to thank me.  Although they laughed initially, they actually like the photo I took for their new home.

Tonight was play practice for Shouting Valley.  It seems to be coming along better every time we rehearse, which is the point of rehearsals, is it not?  With only four practices left before the dress rehearsal, I probably ought to panic, but I won’t.  It’s just too much fun to worry over.  But, doing this play has given me some good rules for being a director/producer of plays.

1. Pick a well-written script. 
2. Choose a play with action.  Every play ought to have a sword fight in it.
3. Start practices in November or December.

They aren’t worthy to add to my list of life maximums, but they are close.  Would you like to know my life maximums, the rules I live by? No? Sorry. Here they are anyhow.

1. A woman should be soft, smooth, and smell good.  (Hence the use of lotion, razor, and perfume.)
2. Never pass up the opportunity to potty.
3. Every Christmas should have a weapon and/or a baby doll among the gifts.
4. Treat yourself often.  It makes life pleasant.

Um. I guess that’s it.  (Facetious grin)

Yes, I have work I ought to be doing, but instead, I’m fiddling about on Xanga.  Those “Grade This Timed Essay” posts will wait, won’t they?  The good doctor is napping, the hunter is happily tapping on IM, and the others were watching a high school diving meet and laughing hysterically. I watched about three minutes of it, and it was rather funny to see all these scrawny fellows in Speedos doing somewhat lame dives (compared to the Olympics!).

Once upon a time, there was a newlywed couple. Hand-in-hand, they went to the furniture store to make their first “big” purchase together–a mattress.  They chose what they could afford (not much), and eagerly awaited the arrival of their new bed to their brown-paneled,  basement apartment.

The mattress supported them and cradled them and soon held another person–their newborn baby.  A leaky diaper, a spit up here and there, a spilled bottle–all of these dribbled on to the mattress.

Then, the mattress went for a ride to Ohio where the not-really-newlyweds-anymore set up their second home and welcomed their second child. Some nights, there were four bodies on the bed, although some of them were rather small. 

 By this time, the mattress’s springs had started to be noticeable through the now-flattened padding.  The couple passed their tenth anniversary, and the woman said, “I think we might need a new mattress.” But, being frugal folks, they just bought an eggshell mattress topper and went on with life.

The mattress, happy though it was to be serving, continued to grow harder and flatter as the years wore on.   There was a definite dent in the center.  One eggshell mattress wasn’t enough to hide the springs, so a second was added.  “I really think we should get a new mattress,” the woman said on the couple’s fifteenth anniversary.  “I think you’re right,” the man answered. 

So, they began The Quest for the New Mattress.  The woman was much more interested in the Quest than the man, as the man could fall asleep on a pile of gravel.  She researched some prices, went to a few mattress stores and tried them out, and finally found exactly what she wanted. 

Then, the summer trip cost more money than they thought it would.

Then it was Christmas.

Then the washer broke.

Then, when they had the money again, the price of mattresses went up 15% due to the major mattress foam manufacturing plants being wiped out in Hurricane Katrina.  “I’ll wait,” said the woman.

Finally, there was hope.  A furniture store sale flyer appeared in the mailbox.  “A third off everything in the store with an additional ten percent off the sale price!” the flyer proclaimed. The man and the woman decided to check it out.

Once they arrived at the store, the eager mattress salesman told them more than they ever wanted to know about mattresses.  He even demonstrated how nerves become entrapped due to a worn out mattress. He did this by facing the man and grabbing the man’s arms at the shoulders and squeezing really hard for several minutes. The woman was in silent hysterical laughter over this situation, but she maintained her composure.

After the couple had lain on many mattresses, the salesman came back.  “We just don’t want to spend $1300 on a mattress,” the woman sighed.  “Oh, he replied. Well, we have the Royal collection for $2300.” This fact was not stated in a joking way.  After regarding him quizzically, the woman replied, “We don’t want to pay $2300 either.”   The man looked sad.

The couple asked him about the sale flyer (of which he seemed to have no knowledge even though it was the last day of the sale and there were huge posters every ten feet proclaiming the sale).  They determined that the mattress they liked the most would be on sale. “We’d like to buy it!” the couple gladly proclaimed.

This proved to be a bit harder than they thought as the poor mattress salesman was unable to figure out what 33% of the original price was. He kept typing things into his calculator and was finally satisfied with a number and was about to write it down when it was pointed out to him, “Uh, all you did was subtract $33.00 from the original price. That’s not 33%.”  After explaining to the mattress salesman how to find 33% and then the additional 10%, the transaction was made. The new mattress will arrive on the 24th.

Perhaps you think that the old mattress was so well-loved that it will become real. Perhaps you think that next summer, if the woman looks under a bush, she will say, “My! That looks just like my old mattress which I lost when I had scarlet fever!” But you will be wrong.  There is no Velveteen Mattress.

Spring break is over! Let me weep into my decaf Lady Grey.  Actually, for a first day back to school, this one wasn’t so bad. The weather was very mild and lovely (near or at the 70 degree mark!), and the children and I walked with the Wilsons. Then, while Nathan was at orchestra, the kids jumped on the trampoline and had a great time.  I pulled the hammock out onto the deck (it’s a free-standing hammock), got a big pillow and a pile of AP exams, and had a nice time grading essays.   We are supposed to get thunderstorms (which would be neat), but not much has happened yet. Maybe they missed us.

Sunday night was our second Lifeline at our house.  Lifelines are small-group Bible studies in the evening which are geographically split so that the people who live near us (within 15 minutes) are “assigned” to our house.  This past week, we had 35 at the house. After the study, we dug into the snacks and had a great time of fellowship. Wish you were here, Loeschers and Dohners, former Lifelines members! I made Pear Custard Bars!

Does anyone do anything interesting for St. Patrick’s Day?  When I was in high school, some friends of mine (Bonsalls, for those who know) used to have a St. Patrick’s Day party. We all dressed up in dorky costumes featuring green. They made “slime punch” which was some sort of ginger ale/Kool Aid/sherbet concoction.  But, I’ve not carried on the tradition. 

I finished reading an interesting book last night, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.  What makes this novel unique is that the narrator is a teenage boy with autism and a gift for numbers and mathematics. 

The story begins when the narrator, Christopher John Francis Boone, discovers his neighbor’s dog–dead–impaled with a pitchfork.  Christopher decides to investigate this mystery and turn it into a book.  But, this novel is not a detective tale. Instead, it is a view of the way an autistic person sees the world.  Subtle nuances of expression are foreign to him. Jokes are incomprehensible.  Imagination and pretend are forms of lying in Christopher’s world.  We get to empathize and understand his thinking and appreciate his genius for numbers.

However, the book does not glorify this young man.   He curls into a ball and “does groaning” when things are stressful. He hides, wets himself sometimes, and performs complex mathematical equations in his head with equal emotion. 

The story does not linger on the death of the dog. It moves forward, giving us a slice of the life of Christopher Boone.  The terror with which he views ordinary events (like a handshake or a trip to the store) are neatly juxtaposed with the seeming dismissal of life-changing events (like the death of a parent). 

There is profanity in the novel. His father and people he encounters casually (policemen, people on the street) swear, but Christopher himself does not.  There are a number of English words that I didn’t know (slang from England).  What’s a “skip”?  A stoop? An alley?  This novel would be appropriate for upper high school to adult readers.