Month: October 2006

  • Happy William Penn’s Birthday!

    Yes, in 1644 on October 14th, William Penn, the quintessential Quaker, the patriarch of Pennsylvania, was born. 

    Today my mom, Libby, and I made four apple pies. Someone gave her a bunch of tiny apples, and we spent a while paring them. (They more than I since I was visiting my grandma for part of the paring.) We baked two pies and froze two.  It’s amazing how much more quickly pie making goes by using those premade pie crusts. I’ve always made my own.  I’ll reserve judgement on the crusts until I’ve had a taste, which will be as soon as I finish this blog entry.

    I finished the book on Captain Cook and spent the night dreaming of explorers and exploring. It also gave me a mad desire to watch twelve hours of Horatio Hornblower, which I have not yet done. As a matter of fact, I think I loaned the DVDs to someone!  Aaah!  Must track down the viewer…

    TGD was wildly industrious when we got home from my mom’s. The house was cleaned, grass was mown and trimmed, jack-o-lanterns carved, bike seats lowered, and more!  He knows how to get this crew of kids working efficiently, and he even gutted the pumpkins himself, slimy job that it is.  These pumpkins are Michael’s dearly-beloved monster ones which he grew from seeds.  Here’s Michael with the pumpkins.  He’s rather judgemental of the other pumpkins he sees, disdainfully commenting, “Puny.” 

        



    And here are our new jack-o-lanterns.  As I looked at them, I thought
    of the folks in England who used to make jack-o-lanterns out of
    turnips.


     

    Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling,
    When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
    When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
    Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!

    John Greenleaf Whittier ~ 1850

  • Go, Go! Gooooo Gettysburg!

    I’m getting quite excited as Wednesday we head to Gettysburg for a tour.  I learn to love history more each day, and I’ve been wanting to head to Gettysburg for a number of years now.  Unfortunately, we’ve only made it up to the Pilgrims in history this year, so we’re skipping ahead a bit to cram some movies and books into our week.   It is my blushing nightmare to have us arrive at the tour (all homeschoolers) and have one of my children say, “Didn’t Gettysburg happen in World War 2?”  We’re watching shows I taped from The History Channel, reading various books, and I also rented the movie Gettysburg, although I recall it being somewhat dull.

    I’m reading a biography of James Cook,  the Captain Cook who “discovered” Hawaii. It’s well-written and entertaining, and I’ve never read a book with such thick pages. They’re like card stock, almost, making it a tactilely pleasant experience as well as a mentally enjoyable one.

    Tonight we head to my mom’s in good ol’ Curwensville to watch the last high school home game. It is to be in the 40s or lower, so I’ve already determined the girls and I will stay at her house and maybe watch a movie. We’ll spend the night and go out for breakfast at The Branding Iron on Saturday. (Yummy French toast!)  It’s always a trade off.  Sleep in as late as I want or go out to breakfast?  I always choose the breakfast.

    Saxon is on a halt for now. I guess they want the writers to go more slowly (?), so I’ve had two Saxon-free days.  (Not counting Saxon 1 and Saxon 76 which we do for school.)  I do appreciate all your prayers on my behalf. It took a number of days, but I think I’m back to my old self.  (Hey, is that some chocolate chip ice cream?)


  • Sigh

    Please pray for me, dear folks.  I am feeling like a giant idiot with this Saxon project. I though I was doing so well, and it turns out that Saxon wanted something else in the teacher’s notes. So, I am writing the “something else,” but I feel like I make error after error.  I know I’m mentally overreacting, but it doesn’t change the way I’m feeling right now. I don’t even want to eat ice cream. 

    But, on a happier note, words_are_things got her first edition of Excelsior, the PA Homeschoolers high school newsletter to press, and it arrived in my mailbox today. Kudos to her for a job well done!

    P.S. Why isn’t “idiot” in Xanga’s dictionary? It’s not a riddle; it’s for real.


  • Birthdays and Plays

    Ah, the string was broken. I had 11 comments for the past three posts, and then it ended.  I’ll not complain!

    I thought I’d report on Libby’s 12th birthday party, and here’s a picture for the complainers.


    Libby stars as the elderly Aunt Catherine


    She invited a bunch of girls ages 10 to 15. She wanted to have a dress-up tea party thing, but I didn’t know that a tea party would appeal to the crowd, especially for a 7:00 p.m. start time and sleepover.  Instead, the girls all arrived in costumes, toting props.  We were going to make a Revolutionary War spy movie!  I put the roles in a bag, and the girls drew their parts (the mother, an escaped prisoner, the foreign diplomat’s wife…). Then, I made up scenes.  “_________________ is discovered by _________________ with incriminating documents.”  “A secrect meeting at night is arranged by _______________________.  ___________________ is to meet ______________ at midnight.”   We put all the roles back into the bag and drew to see who did what. 

    The girls had so much fun planning out where and how the scene would happen, what outfits they would wear, and so on.  Three plus hours of filming and fussing turned in to a 20 minute movie.  They were so engrossed in the project that we didn’t even have cake!   I got to film the whole thing (and direct it–imagine that!). 

    Speaking of plays, it looks like there might be a play this spring after all!  Bkroeker and flutemom38 approached me at church and asked if I might be willing to help them with a musical this year.  It turns out that I wrote a musical ten years ago (which needs much work), and they are enthused about that project. So, once Saxon is done, I’ll pull out The King of Peach Fuzz, a musical comedy based on the fairy tale King Thrushbeard. 

    Tonight, I have a Saxon-free night. Since they wanted some changes to what I was writing, I turned in a new lesson today and was told, “Don’t write any more lessons until we review this one.”  So, I won’t. Yeah!!!


  • We Are the Mighty Bulldogs!

    Today was Bulldogs Day. All the teams in the league play at the high school field, and it’s pretty fun.  I left the  house at 7:15 a.m.  with Rachel and Nathan since R. had to cheer for the 8:00 game.  After that, I dropped Nathan off at a shooting match.  Rachel and I headed to Panera for hot chocolate since we were pretty chilled.  After a quick stop at a bookstore and Goodwill, we picked N. up and headed back to the football field by 11:45 or so to meet the rest of the family.  Then, it was football, football, wooden  bleachers, football  until  David finished his game at 9:50 (a crushing victory).  R. was so exhausted, we made a nest for her out of coats and blankets, and she fell asleep in the bleachers. Now, we are home and all quite tired, although I had some caffeine, so I won’t be able to fall asleep for a bit (or a bit more). 
     
    Have a blessed, blessed Sunday, Libby’s 12th birthday!


  • Be Still and Know

    Nick the Godfather gave a wonderful devotional message last night at prayer meeting.  He said, “We wouldn’t know what to do with God if we weren’t doing for God.  If serving God is the only way you can enjoy Him, then something is wrong.” He based his ideas on Luke 10:38 – 42:

    As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
    She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.  But
    Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She
    came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me
    to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
    “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,  but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

    We get so busy and distracted by all we HAVE to DO that we don’t enjoy God. We don’t sit at His feet and worship. Prayer and devotions are “just another thing to check off the Post-It note.” 

    Today, I encourage you to “sit and be.”  Don’t fret over the laundry, the dishes, the piles all around you, the rushing to and fro you HAVE to do.  Stop.  Cancel things (the world will not end).   Put the school books aside for an hour or two and just sit.  Don’t pick up the mending, the mail, the scrub brush. Just let God talk with you.  Take a walk, just you and God.  Spend some time reading a whole book of the Bible in one sitting (no, not 3 John!). 

    There is a belief in Africa, I’ve heard, that if one works too hard or moves too quickly, his soul cannot catch up.  Let your soul catch up to you today.

    (And, no one is allowed to ask me if I’m doing this today.  I am–sort of!)


  • Much Better

    Thank you boatloads for your great suggestions! I got one of those wrist wrap things with the metal insert from Wal-Mart and have worn it for two days. It makes typing harder, but I feel so much better. I also ditched the gel-rest mouse pad.  The kids were eager to swap with me.

    Yesterday (Sunday), TGD got home from his four-day trip to Chicago (math conference). The kids and I met him around 1:30 for lunch at The Olive Garden which was a great time, despite the fact that one child ate so many breadsticks s/he threw up in the Olive Garden bathroom. Ah, gluttony.

    Then, at 5:00, TGD and I sat down and began to work on editing Saxon lessons.  We sat, he on one computer and me on the other, until almost 2:00 a.m. That’s a lot of editing. And the bummer was that we didn’t even get done.  I worked some more tonight, and I’ve gotten through all of them. But, TGD has the true editorial eye. He’ll have to finish them tomorrow since he went to bed quite early tonight and missed all the editing fun.

    I’m feeling quite relaxed about all this writing and editing. I can only assume it is the grace of God, a direct result of everyone’s prayers. 

    I feel these blog updates are so dull lately–Saxon, Saxon, whine, whine.  I did make some break-apart cookies today, those peanut butter ones with the tiny peanut butter cups. Mmmmm!  I also helped all the children sort through outgrown clothes and make the summer/winter switch.  David came to me and said, “Mom, all my sweatshirts are too short in the sleeves.”  “Well,” I answered, “we’ll just have to go and buy you some more.”  Imagine my delight when David appeared from the storage room in the basement with a huge JC Penny’s bag filled with sweatshirts in his size that I bought last year on clearance for $2 to $5!  He was pretty happy, too.