Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today, Monday, January 26, 2015

Australia Day.

Which means that while the boys are hoping for snow (above),

and what we're getting is mostly this...

... I'm remembering this...

I spent nearly every day of my Australian summer at Scarborough Beach.

Tough life, you know?

Outside my window...  fog and mist.

Hearing...  the dryer, and Gunnar moaning.  No, he's not sick.  He just went to take an online test for CAP.  It's a twenty-question test.  He answered one question and then accidentally clicked "submit" instead of "next" and now his life is no longer worth living.  Drama, much?  (If you fail a test you can't retake it for seven days, because - you know - you should study.)  But I've emailed his commander and we'll probably find a way around it.

*Update*

His commander was able to reset the system so he can take the test.

Hurray!

Pondering...  walk first, or start school first?

Praying...  work for Kerry, work for Wyatt (UPS is pretty slow just now), and for friends in Myanmar and friends in the Solomon Islands.

Thankful...  Tate lost a contact... and found it.  I think it stuck to his finger when he thought he put it in the holder for the night, and then he wiped his fingers on a little cloth.  That's where he found it in the morning - stuck to the little cloth.  Probably dried out, but it's fine.  Whew!

Also, Gunnar passed his PT test - one of four things the cadets have to pass each time in order to promote in Civil Air Patrol.  The PT test had been holding him up.  The others - leadership test, aerospace test, and drill test - he can manage just fine.  Actually, the PT test has several parts.  They have to pass two of three (push ups, sit ups, sit-and-reach) and one of two (shuttle run or mile run).  It was the running that was killing him.  He's dead slow, but this time he made it.  Everything is weighted for your age/gender (how many push ups, etc) and he had to complete his shuttle run in 10.8 and made it in 10.7 - WHEW!

Maybe our daily walks are finally paying off :D

Also thankful for what I'm...

Wearing...  my contacts!  I can wear my contacts again!  Because, while I get that first world problems aren't really problems, but I was tired of being all fogged up on our (frequently rainy) walks.  Hallelujah :D

Creating...  frustration for myself!

I saw this pattern in a magazine and thought of making it as a baby quilt for my friend in North Dakota.  (Only with different borders, because I don't love those borders.)  The pattern was in a Christmas quilting magazine, but I thought the evergreen tree might remind her of home.  Turns out she had a specific idea of what she wanted in a quilt, so that's fine, I made her something else.  But I had already cut the triangles for this with remnants from the quilt I made for Kerry.  So, yah, I can make it for myself!  Right?

Except I cut the triangles wrong and had to go back and trim every single one.

And that was fun.
No, I'm kidding.
That was not fun.
At all.

Then I realized I had cut the side (half) triangles wrong and would have to cut new ones.

And then I realized there is a special technique to sewing the triangles together -

they have to be offset just right.

Well.

I'll tell you what.

This quilt is going to be considerably smaller than the one in the photo when I get done with it!

But it's just going to be for me.

It might be a wall hanging, or I could add borders to make it bigger,

if it hasn't driven me crazy.

(A short drive, I know.)

We'll see.

Going...  for the walk first.

Looking forward to...  hmmm.
I'm going to rehearsal tonight to decide if I want to "do" this choir season.
Share or don't share?
I don't want to be a complainer.
I'm not feeling whiny, but this is my thought-process.

Every Christmas we do Handel's Messiah.
And I love Handel's Messiah,
but I like to learn new things too, so I look forward to the spring season.

I looked in my folder last week and found nine songs.
Six of them we've done before, some of them more than once.

Now, I get that we can improve.
One in particular is a very difficult piece.
But I'm bored.

We're also doing a couple of (what used to be called "negro") Spirituals,
and I usually like those, but these are so "sanitized" they're more opera than authentic spiritual.
I'm kind of leaning toward sitting out this season.

I'll see how it goes tonight.
I don't want to sit there and be a grump,
and the music has already been chosen.

In the kitchen...  hurray for leftovers.  Made a big batch of venison meatballs over the weekend, knowing tonight would be busy :D

In the learning rooms...  I'm letting Gunnar have a late start today so he can take the aerospace test :D  Tate is having a four day week (no school Friday) as it's the end of the semester.  And Wyatt has one of his long days today - he's in class until 4:15.

Around the house...  The sun has finally burned off the fog and all is bright and sparkly - so much cheerier than clouds and fog.  I crave the brightness.

The Mother Load...  I think I need to put that quilt on hold and do something about my desk... quite a pile of notes to sort out and decide what I need to act on.  Ugh.

Noticing that...  my eyes blink differently and it's harder to get my contacts back out.  Weird!  But I'll figure it out.

Something fun to share...  I just went for a walk and I could see the whole thing!  (Not fogged up glasses.)  More motivation to conquer the new blink-the-contacts-out maneuver.

A favorite quote for today...  Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.   - Doug Larson

I would add "tasted" to "smelled" ;D

One of my favorite things...  solving a problem!

A Bible verse...  James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom,
you should ask God,
who gives generously to all without finding fault,
and it will be given to you.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  homeschool, music lessons, choir, CAP, a craft day Saturday, and game-night/potluck at the chapel.
That sounds good :D

A peek into my world...  back in 2008...

... aren't they cute?