Month: March 2007

  • The Leg Remains Unbroken

    I’m home!  What a fabulous time LibbyK and I had!

    But, let me start at the beginning… I don’t know if you heard about the big snow storm that hit PA on Friday–12 inches over most of Route 80. Guess who drove right down Route 80 for 3.5 hours or so? Yup. Praise God that He keeps even the stupid safe on the roads.  We arrived at my friend Valerie’s house and then left again to take the Hunter to avaricewrex’s house for a youth retreat overnight.

    Saturday dawned sunny. Big Boulder, the place where we were to ski, had 18 inches of snow on Friday.  Valerie and her oldest daughter(who is just a few months younger than LibbyK), and I headed to the ski rental place and got all of our things. Then, we headed for the slopes. Valerie’s friend from church, Bill, is a member of the ski patrol. He gave us complimentary lift tickets and skied with us for four or five hours before he left for the day, giving us pointers and tips, basically teaching us how to ski better.  The last time I skied was in 1988, and even though I remembered how to do it, I never had any instruction, so his tips were quite helpful.

    We stuck mostly to the bunny slopes and intermediate ones.  I only fell three times. Once was getting off the lift when Lib skied into me. (I whacked my head on the side of the lift for that one.)  The other two times were when I went down Bunny’s Elbow, a bumpy intermediate course. I went rather quickly and planted my face in the snow twice. It was cold, really cold, in case you were wondering!

    By 9:30 p.m. I was well-chilled, so I sat in the lodge while the girls and Valerie made three final runs down the hill.  Then, we headed back to her house.  Skiing from 1:30 to 9:30 with a few breaks for snacks and warming up is a lot of ski time!

    My original plan had been to head home around 7:00 Saturday night, but TGD and others were so gracious that we wound up sleeping over again Saturday night. It was wise, as the snow had returned; it was 19 degrees, icy, and dark; and I was rather worn out.

    But, I’m home now, still exhausted and worn out. (My neck is rather sore–skiing or a strange bed for two nights?)

    Perhaps I’ll have a picture or two in a few days. My friend has the pictures on her camera.

    How was your weekend? Did you get any of the snowstorm?

  • Strike!

    Today the kids and I went bowling with a group from church. I bowled the best I ever did in my life. I’d tell you my score, but I honestly don’t know what it was–145 maybe?  Every time I threw the ball, it seemed to end in a strike or spare.  Flutemom38 was a good friend to rejoice with me, even though I beat her excellent score of 120.

    We continue to have mild weather, and I got to take a four mile walk today, another treat!  Walking is so enjoyable. I’m sure I don’t get maximum benefit because I don’t keep to a quick enough pace. But, it’s wonderful nonetheless. What would a “good” walking pace be? I do three miles an hour or thereabouts.

    Tomorrow we are not having school as two of my children are at sleepovers and a third has a friend over tonight.  Let’s all sleep in!  With that in mind, I am planning to stay up late and read. (Such a departure from my usual routine. HA!)

    This weekend, I might go skiing. Yes, only I would wait until its been 60 degrees all week and then head to the Poconos to ski, but it still might happen. I haven’t skied since 1988. If I break anything, I just pray it is not anything on my right leg. If it is, how would I drive?  Actually, I’ve never broken a bone. Have you? When was it? Do tell! Do tell!

    EDIT–I totally forgot! I broke my toe last summer!

  • What Happens When You Do Laundry Only Once A Week


  • 13,658

    That’s how many words I have in The King of Veritas now. Yeah! (Er, Yah! Yea! Peachy!) 

    Saturday, I was blessed by our ladies’ prayer time at church and then headed to breakfast with a friend. (We split a French Toast Grand Slam at Denny’s. It’s an insane amount of food!)  Next, I bought two mattresses and box springs on clearance for the girls.  After that, I headed to the library where I planted myself in a chair for over five hours to write.  (I did stand up every now and again to stretch.)  I truly understand why writing is a discipline of sitting and doing. It’s not hard to make the words come. It’s harder to find the time to sit!

    After the library closed at 5:00, I went across the street  and down two doors to have a hair trim and then directly across the street to have supper at Panera.  (State College is a convenient town.) While I ate, I read through what I had written and did a bit of editing.  I need to make King Christopher a bit wittier and the whole thing funnier. The Hunter was less enthusiastic about this installment than he was about the first, so I’ll have to attend to this “dull bit.”

    After a run to Wal-Mart, I closed the day by finishing Janet Alymer’s Darcy’s Story.  It, as you may have guessed, is Pride and Prejudice told from Darcy’s point of view.  Here’s a review!

    Some books can be captured with one word: stunning, daring, brilliant. This book can also be summed up with one-word epitaphs: boring, dull, repetitive.  Yes, Ms. Alymer (a pen-name for an Austen enthusiast from Bath, England) basically took the exact text of P&P, added, “Darcy looked at her”  or “Darcy wondered,” and had it published. In the parts where there is no P&P to propel the story, she has Darcy thinking about previous lines. And, when that gets dull, she has him think of those same lines again! 

    I found myself skimming huge sections of the book because they were verbatim from Austen’s novel.  Parts that Alymer could have expanded (like Darcy in London while Elizabeth is at home) are summed up with, “Darcy was in London for three weeks, but then he went back to Pemberley.”   Urgh.  

    The writing suffered from much repetition as well.  Beauties such as, “Darcy strongly favored his mother, and he had a strong personality…”  (Okay, not a direct quote, but the repetition of words and word forms in a sentence happened often.)  Where was this woman’s editor?  It wasn’t a self-published work. It was a Harper Collins book.

    If you haven’t read P&P in a long while, you may enjoy reading this book. However, I recommend Pamela Aidan’s three-book set which tells the story from Darcy’s view in an entertaining and original way.  This book, you might want to leave on the shelf. Definitely don’t cough up $10 to buy it from Amazon!

    What are you reading now? Do you recommend it? Do you have a favorite Pride and Prejudice sequel or spin-off? (Some were featured in World magazine this week.)

  • Taxes, Taxes, Beautiful Taxes!  Forgive Me a Cruel Chuckle…

    Kudos to anyone who can identify the source of my title! (It’s from a movie which used to be the Hunter’s very favorite.) 

    I do not agree with the sentiment expressed in the title, however. There was nothing beautiful about the bottom lines after finishing an evening of TurboTaxing federal, state, and local income tax.  All my Saxon writing and TGD’s writing and consulting were untaxed, but, never fear. They are now! 

    On a happier note, tomorrow is another morning ladies’ prayer meeting at church. Afterward, I just might get to go out to breakfast with a friend. And then, it’s off to the library for a day of writing Veritas! Yeah!  I have all the revisions done for the part I wrote last time, so I’m ready to press on to new chapters.  TGD and the boys plan to spend the afternoon and evening watching wrestling on TV. The girls will find lots of things to do, I’m sure. LibbyK always has good ideas for this and that.

    How many of you do your own taxes? Do you get a refund?

  • Facing the Giants

    I am feeling much better today, although I’m still hacking and coughing.  I am certainly feeling a great deal better than half of the cast of Peach Fuzz, as they have the flu!  Since they were all sick in bed, we canceled practice tonight.  I made tacos (a treat I rarely make, for some reason), and we all watched Facing the Giants.

    I don’t know if you are familiar with this movie or not, but I highly recommend it.  It tells the story of a coach with more problems than a man should have: broken car, smelly house, five years of a losing season as a football coach, unable to have children, the football parents want to fire him…   Yet, faith and perseverance prevail in this satisfying story. 

    No, it is not amazing acting. Many of the cast are just regular people who actually played on the football team dramatized in the movie.  The woman who played the coach’s wife in the movie was the real-life coach’s wife.  Yes, there are lots of trite, clichéd

    lines. Yes, you can guess at the ending. But, it is so rare to see people in a movie pray or trust in God. That’s what happens in my life. Why shouldn’t happen in my movies?  I’m not one usually to cry at a film, but I found myself wiping away tears three or four times!  Also, the football footage was not stylized.  I don’t know if it was footage of the team upon whom the movie was based or staged games and shots for the movie.  I’ve seen more than my fair share of small-town, high school football, and this footage was just as it should be. It sounded just right. It looked just right.  We said, “Oooh!” at the hard hits.

    So, if you are looking for a good way to spend the evening with your
    older kids (the preschool crowd would more than likely find it rather
    dull, unless they like football), I recommend this film.

    Thanks to bkroeker and flutemom38 and family for the loan of the DVD. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to flutemom38!

    Have any movie plans of your own this weekend?

  • Snow Day–Yeah!

    Today, as predicted, we awoke to three or so inches of icy snow.  The kids said, “Please, oh, please. Can we have a snow day?”  Being the fun mom that I am, I said, “Sure!”  They played pinochle, lounged about, and are currently watching High School Musical while LibbyK  makes grilled cheese. (Get’cha, get’cha head in the game!) There is sledding planned for after lunch. I hope to sew some costumes since I would be foolish to go sledding with this cough.

    FI read Fairest last night. I’m a fan of Gail Carson Levine (except for The Wish which was so-so). Fairest wasn’t as good as Ella  Enchanted (is anything?), but it was a nice take on Snow White.  I stayed up until 1:30 reading it. (Uh, you didn’t see that TGD.)  May Veritas be as entertaining and even more so!

    Now, for the other half of  my title.  How do you spell the exclamation of happiness: yeah, yah, yeh, yay, yaa?  I have always spelled it “yeah,” but I feel that word could be misconstrued as the slurred affirmative as in
    “Did you put the pickles on the table?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did you clean up the spilled cat food?”
    “Yeah.”

    What say you? How is it spelled? Is my “Yeah!” acceptable?


  • Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

    With apologies for dredging up horrid memories to anyone who remembers that song and its singer, I thus begin my narrative. I realize I reported on Friday’s activities  before, but now that I have pictures, how can I not re-narrate?

    Feel free to skim and skip to the end. I know that long entries full of pictures can be most tedious, especially if you don’t really know the people involved nor care if I got my skirt at Sears or Macy’s.  (Neither, actually.)

    We started our time without any film in the camera. It was “Beauty Shop” where we fussed with hair and lip gloss and such.  After a lunchmeat sandwich lunch, we headed out to shop. Our first stop was Wal-Mart to pick up the film and some movie snacks to smuggle. (I see I’m not alone in this nefarious activity.)

    Next, we went shoe shopping and each found a pair. The shoe LibbyK is holding was hers at the time of the picture, but she graciously let me have them by the end of the weekend as they matched my new outfits.

    After shoes, it was across the street to Barnes and Noble, then to the movies, then to shop.  Finally, we went to Baby’s. Here are the girls outside the restaurant.

    And inside


    And me having a smirk and a chocolate shake.

    The next day dawned full of promise, especially after a good night’s sleep.  My mom (also known as Grammy Peep) arrived after lunch.  We headed to Libby’s flute recital, where she did quite well. Here she is with her teacher, Flutemom38.

    Next, we hit various stores, and I was pleased to find a crown and disposable wine glasses for The King of Peach Fuzz.  Paint the inside of those goblets red, and we’ll be all set!

    Little Miss declared herself “Starving!” so off to Applebee’s we went.  They have a deal where you get an appetizer, meal, and dessert for one price.  I got the most delicious chicken Alfredo penne pasta thing.  MMMM!   Libby was in the mood for mozzarella sticks, so that was her meal. (We shared noodles and dessert with her, of course!)


    It was off to the mall after our gorging time.  I got two nice outfits at Christopher and Banks. The girls got extra dessert as Little Miss was once again STARVING!  Here is Little Miss, flopped on the floor to indicate just how hungry she was thirty minutes after dinner.


     

     
    Once that extremely filling Baby Bottle Pop was in hand…er, mouth, she was fine.


    Grammy Peep, LibbyK, and Teacherperson with their bounty–clothes, pink purse, and more!

     

    We were all ready to go home at a reasonable hour.  I was glad to crawl into bed, for sure!  Sunday, we woke early to head to the first service at church. We ate leftovers from our many restaurant forays for lunch.  Sickie that I am, I had a nice nap. We then headed out for our final supper–Chinese.  Now, you must realize that none of us really like to eat Chinese food. We just like to use chopsticks.  The girls ate rice, chicken nuggets, and jello while I had Sesame Chicken and some various other mild foods from the buffet. 

     

    Little Miss displays her prowess with chopsticks.  I didn’t get a picture of the ice we spilled all over the floor as we were leaving. (I did try to clean it up as best I could!)



    Our weekend ended much as it began, at Wal-Mart.  Little Miss got three pair of long shorts, a t-shirt, and two summer dresses.  We also got cat food.  I bet the guy stocking the dog food never had someone ask him to take a picture in the aisle before!


    I am most grateful for my digital camera after this time. All my shots with the film camera came out greenish. Also, I had to scan all of them.

    Thanks for hanging in there to the bitter end of the narrative!  As a side note, the menfolk returned safely last night at midnight, I’m sick in bed, worse than I was all weekend, and I am grateful that I have my laptop back (the guys took it) so that I can lie in bed and update my Xanga.

    Kudos to LadyOftheManse, my 100th subscriber and a brand-new Xangan! She’s a wonderful homeschool mom, so I hope you’ll visit her site and wish her well! 

    Where is the strangest place you have taken a picture or asked someone to take a picture of you?

  • Girl’s Weekend

    This morning, the menfolk in my house packed up and headed out to the Big 10 wrestling championships in Lansing, MI.  Last year, they did the same, except they drove to some I state–Illinois? Iowa? Indiana?  I forget.  After an eight or so hour drive, the boys were glad to jump in the hotel pool and dine on Little Caesar’s Pizza, a real treat for us, as there is not a local Little Caesar’s.

    So, that left the girls at home, all by their lonesomes. What to do? What to do?  Hee hee. As if we needed any ideas!  Since the men took the digital camera, I thought it would be fun to pull out the ol’ film camera and blow a roll on our girl’s weekend, taking pictures of all the things we did and places we went.  But, first, I had to get some film!

    We began the day in a beauty parlor way, straightening LibbyK’s hair. Next, we headed out for some shopping: Walmart for that roll of film and some movie snacks, Burlington Shoes where we all got a pair of dressy, summer sandals, Barnes and Noble where I got Lauren Willig on the clearance table and LibbyK got an American Girl sleepover book, and then to a 4:00 showing of Night at the Museum.  Lib and I found it quite fun, but Little Miss found it boring, too loud, and a bit intense in spots.  After gorging ourselves on popcorn at the movies, we weren’t quite ready to eat supper, so we shopped some more! 

    First, we headed to Office Depot where I got some nice paper to print my blog from last year. (It will be my first real attempt at hand bookbinding.). Next stop was JC Penney’s where I ordered dress pants for Hunter (as a skinny waist/34 inseam isn’t carried in the store for some reason…). I also got a spring jacket for me and a swimsuit for LibbyK and saved $30 in addition to the almost half-price sales.  By this point, Little Miss declared herself to be hungry, so we headed to Baby’s.

    Do you remember those “But they don’t take American Express” commercials put out a few years ago which highlighted various places which took Visa but not AEx?  Baby’s was one of the places featured in a commercial. It’s a fun, 1950′s style diner in downtown State College.  We had shakes and fried things, played Rock Around the Clock and Great Balls of Fire on the jukebox,  and then headed for home, dodging college students clad in green, wending their way to the first bars of the evening with “It’s two weeks before St. Patrick’s Day, but the 17th is during spring break, so let’s get really drunk tonight” shining from their eyes.

    I am planning a NyQuil apertif (er, after-tif?) and some cuddly jammies.  I’m glad we did the 4:00 movie showing as DayQuil can only take a body so far. Plus, I need to be refreshed for Saturday’s fun: LibbyK’s flute recital and my mom coming over for said recital and to take us shopping and out to eat.  Fun, fun, fun, and there’s no one even here to take my T-bird away!

    So, how many of you smuggle candy or water bottles into the movies?