Simple Woman #18

Simple Woman

FOR TODAY May 11, 2009

Outside My Window... Clouds, wind, rain, and my dogwood trees just starting to bloom.

I am thinking... Three more weeks of "official" homeschool...

I am thankful for... both my parents. Of course, with Mother's Day yesterday, I've been thinking about my wonderful mom :0), but with my Dad's unexpected visit to the hospital last week I've been thinking a lot about him too. I have a lot to be thankful for :0)

Not the least of which is that this Mother's Day was a bit calmer than last year's.

From the learning rooms... the boys are having "recess", which means they're outside practicing for a three-legged race. That is, Wyatt and Tate will be in the race. Gunnar is running along behind them "encouraging".

From the kitchen... nothing yet. I'm thinking leftovers for lunch (rice and bean burritos), and Chicken and Rice for dinner.

I am wearing... *sigh* jeans and a sweater.

I am creating... plans, plans, plans! We're winding down our "official" school year and I'm excited to plan for next year and to strategize about this summer.

I am going... to gather the boys and start our history reading, to remember to pray for two friends in the process of adopting, to thaw out another turkey, and to encourage the boys to finish well (the school year).

And now, Sir Walter Raleigh and the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island.

I am reading... poking along through "What He Must Be". It takes a lot longer to read a book with Kerry. Okay, *pause*, I'm not saying that he's slow, just that it's harder to find time to read together.

I am hoping... to have great inspiration for summer activities. That don't cost anything.

And to finish our memorization goals.

Well, you can laugh if you want. I aimed a little high. I was hoping we'd memorize Philippians.

The whole book.

Not so much. But we've memorized the first chapter. (A little shaky in the second-to-last paragraph.) And now that we're studying astronomy I thought we'd finish off the year by memorizing Psalm 19. That's going a lot faster, probably due it being poetic.

I am hearing... some sort of battle from the boys' room, along with requests for lunch. (I'd better wrap this up...)

Around the house... I'm enjoying my new curtains. Still no pics - I'm waiting for the right light. Piles of laundry, and it's too wet to dry it outside. The deer ate every one of my tulips. And I need to balance my checkbook.

It's a Monday.

One of my favorite things... Hand-made Mothers' Day cards from the boys. Priceless. I'll ask Kerry to scan them in :0)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Wyatt's piano lesson, Tate's sign language class, Gunnar's AWANA Awards Ceremony, and ???

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

The white dogwood - taken by Wyatt

Happy Mothers' Day

For Mothers

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place,
but have not love,
I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements,
but have not love,
my children learn cleanliness, not godliness.

If I scream at my children for every infraction,
and fault them for every mess they make,
but have not love,
my children become people-pleasers, not obedient children.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.
Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love accepts the fact that I am the ever-present "mommy,"
the taxi-driver to every childhood event,
the counselor when my children fail or are hurt.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, and runs with the child,
then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.

All the projections I had for my house and my children
have faded away into insignificance,
And what remain are the memories of my kids.

Now there abides in my home scratches on most of the furniture,
dishes with missing place settings,
and bedroom walls full of stickers, posters and markings,

But the greatest of all is the Love
that permeates my relationships with my children.

-Adapted by Jim Fowler

Ambystoma macrodactylum

Doesn't that sound like I'm really smart? (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

We decided we'd better release the salamander, lacking confidence in our ability to forage for him.













He has great color - really amazing. He has a sporty green streak down his back that is just the color of pond scum, and his skin is actually sparkly - looks like light reflecting off of very wet mud.

Tate was holding him very carefully and gently, I have to say. He wanted to be sure to get a picture of the sparkles on his underside.













Pretty cool :0)

Moments of Randomness

Sometimes I get little ideas, but they're not worth a post of their own. So they sit on the back burner until I forget them.

But today, because my bills are paid, my office is (mostly) tidy, the boys are outside, and Kerry is busily mowing, I have a few more moments than usual, so I give you these tidbits of randomness:

1. The Maldives.













Off the tip of India, near the equator.

Your google is as good as mine, so if you investigate, you'll see the sizzle may be better than the steak, (like a Muslim government and an average elevation of about 3 feet above sea level), but seriously, does that picture not make you think, "Is this what heaven is like?"

Or, "That water is so blue, if I swim in it will it stain my skin?"

Or, "Would I care if it did?!"

2. Weeds and boys.

We were weeding the flower beds. I have to give the boys credit, they wanted to help. Of course, their enthusiasm often overrides their good sense, like when they continued to pull "weeds" and fling them right over my head into the wheel-barrow, without first shaking the dirt off the roots.

Thank you. I really needed a dirt bath.

Then, of course, there's the whole problem with plant identification. They were amazed to discover that a "weed" is not one specific plant, like a poppy or a clematis, but there are, indeed, a variety of weeds.

3. Warm weather.

Because it's so warm here today (you know, maybe 60F) the boys felt the need to have a squirt gun fight. Nobody came to me crying or bleeding, so we'll assume it went well.

4. Joe.

After an hour or more of playing with the lizards again, the boys have informed me that it was Joe, and not Quartz, who lost his tail.

I knew you'd need this information.

5. The Leap Pad and sound effects

Why, oh why, do the manufacturers of kids' toys include an incessant stream of sound effects?

This drives me crazy.

When the boys were smaller we got a couple of Leap Pads, and even now we could use them for educational purposes.

Except for Tate. It's hard enough for him to decode what a recorded voice is saying with no visual cues, but then throw in a layer of loud, useless, bee-boppy sound effects and it becomes an exercise in frustration.

Wouldn't it be nice if they made separate volume controls for the sound effects? Or you could turn them off? Like a sing-a-long CD with a separate track for the vocals and the accompaniment.

I'm just saying.

Fickle

Who, me?

I keep changing the look of the blog.

I move the furniture too.

But here's the deal. I like having a wider space for the pictures and posts, but all the cool free blog backgrounds are for Minima!

Hello out there!

All you clever designers at The Cutest Blog on the Block, or Aqua Poppy, or The Blog Fairy... have mercy and whip up a bunch of Stretch Minima backgrounds.

Please...

Lizard-Mania

I know, I know, we're obsessed, lately.

Mom, you'll want to look away.













So, the boys were playing with the lizards today. They've named them and claim to be able to tell them apart. They're probably right.

"Quartz" is the lizard we caught earlier this week. He lives in the aquarium. "Bob", one of yesterday's catches, lives with him. We found them all snuggled together this morning keeping warm. Have I mentioned it's still pretty chilly here?

"Joe" will fight, so he has to be separated and lives in a five gallon bucket.

Anyway, they had the lizards out and were playing with them when I heard a commotion.

"Mom!"

Okay, right there, let me point something out:
Some day I'm going to do a study.
I'm going to count how many sentences in one day start with, "Mom!"

But I digress...

"Mom! Ya gotta get down here and see this! Quartz' tail fell off and it's twitchin'!"

And then, a moment later,

"Mom! Really! Momyougottaseethisit'sstilltwitchin'!"

Somehow I resisted.

So, one by one, they appeared in my office with the delightful story. And pictures.

Exhibit A













I apologize for the blurry photo - they were excited.

Notice that Quartz is indeed sporting a rather stumpy tail.


And, (not for the faint of heart):


Exhibit B

The severed tail.

I made this pic smaller, but you can click to enlarge. It really is interesting if you're not the squeamish type.









About the boys - really, they're not cruel. They weren't torturing the reptiles. They had them out to hold, and all the lizards decided to make a break for it at the same time. There was a frenzy of grabbing for them, and ta daaaa.

Besides, it was the perfect opportunity for discussion, when Gunnar (looking out the window) asked, "Mom?! Why is his tail still twitchin'?"

Because God made it that way. If a hungry predator made a grab at the lizard, he might pull the lizard's tail off. If the tail just lays there (lies there?) the predator will be more likely to notice the lizard skittering off as fast as he can. But if the tail twitches around for awhile, the predator might be distracted by that, allowing the lizard time to escape. It's really his only defense. He can bite, but he's got no teeth that we can see, and he's not venomous. Okay, well, he has one other defense. He'll try to poop on you. Yuck, but not scary.

Gunnar, feeling sorry for Quartz, made a closer inspection and reported that his stump wasn't bleeding - there were just a few drops of blood that were already drying.

Northern Alligator Lizards - Remix

Oh, I'm a lucky mom.

The boys came home from Grandpa and Grandma's with more lizards. Now they each have their own. That is, if they'll coexist in the aquarium.

Outside.













You can see two in this photo. Although one is in motion and blurry, you can see the color variation.













Then, while they were turning over the pavers to look for food for the lizards (bugs, centipedes, snails), they found an as-yet-un-photographed salamander. He looks a bit like this, and is probably an Ambystoma macrodactylum - a long-toed western salamander.












Photo from www.northwestherps.com

Mom : A Job Description

POSITION:
Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on-call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The rest of your life.
Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.
Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers.
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.
Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION:
Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, while constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
None required, unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:
Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 due to the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered, this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

- anonymous

We now resume our regular programming...

As if life were ever normal around here.

At any rate, this is what we're doing today.

Kerry is out at the church. They've been waiting for a break in the weather to tear off part of the roof on what my boys fondly call the cookie room, (probably better known as the fellowship hall), and re-roof it - connecting it to the new addition.

In our part of the world getting two consecutive rainless days in the spring is somewhat iffy, so they're going to "make hay" as fast as they can.

The boys are up at Grandpa and Grandma's for a PTO day. I had prepared them for the possibility of rescheduling, but G and G said to go ahead and bring them :0)

Dad is doing fine. Hallelujah again! I had discussed with the boys his need to take it easy for a few days, and the probable difficulty (frustration) he'll have with this. They arrived and Tate promptly announced, "Grandpa, you're under house arrest!" And then they went downstairs and filled the wood-box.

True to form, Dad sent an email around to his friends, adding a post-script which said something like, "I'm not to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds, to avoid opening the incision in my femoral artery. My nightly bowl of ice cream is now off limits."

I think he's recovering just fine. *eyes roll*

And I am sitting home, in an uncharacteristically quiet house, trying to drag my eyes away from the sunshine outside and get my bills paid.

Hope you're having more fun than I am ;-P

Good News

False alarm.

Hallelujah.

The CT showed no aneurysm. They're sending him home :0)

He'll still have some major life adjustments to make, but the "threat level" just dropped a few notches.

Hurray :0)

Julie