Three Ring Circus

Yay!

2008-10-15T01:30:00.002-05:00

I got a call from corporate office that I had a status advancement in my business. Translation: my customer base is growing. Yay!

Happiness is Beautiful, Confidence is Sexy

2008-10-05T00:34:00.002-05:00

A lovely woman whom I have known since my sophomore year of college got married tonight. The last few days have been a whirl with the bachelorette party, the rehearsal dinner, and the wedding and reception. Watching her radiant smile, a few thought upon which I've been musing finally gelled.

Happiness is beautiful. Brides are beautiful because they are happy. New mothers are beautiful because they are happy. And this isn't a trite platitude but observed fact. All my best photos are candids caught when I was deliriously happy. The smile is real, the joy lights up the eyes. And while tonight's bride has always been pretty, tonight she was beautiful in the way that only the completely happy are.

Confidence is sexy. While playing board games at the bacholorette party--it was Apples to Apples folks, nothing risque--we asked the bride embarrassing questions to fulfill the requirements of a proper last-night-of-single-life send off. While musing on wedding night attire, most of the women present revealed that the sexiest item of clothing our husbands or boyfriends had was a suit. For the military wives, it was their husbands' dress uniforms. Funny isn't that. I think it's because for men, when they are dressed up and and comfortable in what they wear, they exude confidence. And confidence is far mor sexy than revealing or skintight clothes.

Shear Genius

2008-10-05T00:24:00.002-05:00

I'm an old-fashioned girl and one of the ways it shows is my hair. Yes, I am clinging bitterly to my long locks the way some in Pennsylvania cling to guns and religion. I get tired of questions like "Have you heard of Locks of Love." Yes, thank you I have but I happen to like my hair this length.

The challenge of course is that the hair care industry is built upon frequent repeat clients and selling shampoo. The result, high maintenance color and cuts that preclude long hair. And so most graduates of beauty school are baffled by hair like mine. It reaches past my waist so it requires time to wash, time to rinse, time to comb, and time to cut evenly without losing too much length. I have had people try to put layers in, cut without washing and combing, or just look in bafflement at it. (OTOH, my DH has had baffled stylists ask what clipper setting he wanted and were lost when he couldn't name one since he trusts barbers to know how to do their job).

Well, I found a gem today. It's an hour drive for me but if you are in the DFW metroplex and have long hair, you will find this man is worth it. Not only does my not-cut-for-two-years hair look fabulous again, but I've learned some scalp saving tricks for putting up my hair, some good haircare basics, and tips on self-french-braiding that doesn't leave the arms tired.

I'm thrilled. My hair looks kempt and professional again. My husband is happy that I still have hair to rival Princess Leia. And the people bugging me about Locks of Love can wait until it's ankle length.

Awesome Outfit

2008-09-23T09:03:00.002-05:00

While shopping at the Costco this weekend, I glimpsed an awesome outfit. There is, at our costco, an Eastern European woman (I think she's a manager) who is always dressed to the nines. This weekend she was wearing the coolest clothes ever. She had her hair half-up, nicely done, was wearing a pleated black crepe skirt and an eyelet cap-sleeved peasant blouse, and a beautiful black satin corset with straps. The overall effect was a sleek, modern version of the dirndl.

Somehow I'm not surprised by this...

2008-09-17T08:57:00.001-05:00

Your result for The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test...

The Prioress

You scored 11% Cardinal, 56% Monk, 56% Lady, and 46% Knight!

You are a moral person and are also highly intellectual. You like your solitude but are also kind and helpful to those around you. Guided by a belief in the goodness of mankind you will likely be christened a saint after your life is over.

You scored high as both the Lady and the Monk. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Monk or the lady, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

Take The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test at HelloQuizzy

Hat tip to Drew at Running River Latin School for the link

Last Week of Summer

2008-09-17T00:26:00.002-05:00

Fall seems to be creeping up on North Texas. It's bearable enough outside that we're planning on going to the zoo today.

Since I am following the Oxford term schedule, Michaelmas term begins next week so this is our last week of summer vacation. Once I have the finalized curriculum and schedule done I'll begin posting progress reports. We'll be focusing on reading and 'rithmatic. Writing will be set aside until the frustration dies off a bit. I see no reason to death-march a 5-year-old through his kindergarten year. For religion will be sticking to bible stories and narration thereof. Nature study will occur at the zoo, arboretum, our backyard, and any other place we can find with plants and animals. No worries about history or geography yet but we have so read alouds for the former waiting in the wings.

For now, we're focusing on having fun and enjoying that last lazy days of summer.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

2008-09-14T14:40:00.001-05:00

So yesterdays "severe weather" in DFW amounted to some light wind and an all-day soak.

My plants are happy for the water and my lawn is growing like a weed (perhaps because half of it is weeds). Nothing was blown about. But the weather is very nice today, so I think we will be going for a walk later on.

Battening Down the Hatches

2008-09-12T00:13:00.002-05:00

Who would believe that in North Texas a hurricane could be a real threat? Well, the news is that Ike may not bear the title of hurricane by the time he makes it to our neck of the woods but we could still be seeing gusts up to 50 mph along with the driving rain. Blah.

This is very upsetting. I was supposed to be going to a business training Saturday morning. It has been postponed, which is fortuitous only in so far as it opens up a window of opportunity for DH to grab a haircut, which wasn't going to happen while he was watching the kiddos. The dinner we were planning to go to has not been canceled, but needless to say, our 5 year old will not be enjoying the backyard of the friends we are dining with.

So today I am doing a sweep of the yard to make sure there is no debris for said gusts to throw into our windows. The potted rosemary will be hauled off the courtyard wall. The trike will be brought indoors and the grill will be moved against the house. And hopefully this storm won't throw any tornadoes at us.

Throwing my hat in the ring

2008-09-11T08:06:00.002-05:00

So I'm the last horse out of the gate on this one but I just wanted to note how impressed I am with Sarah Palin. Not merely is she smart, funny, and generally advocating those policies I desire, I like how she has managed to balance her responsibilities. I've had a special needs baby (a 3-month early preemie, who has since outgrown most of the more time-consuming difficulties), I've worked full-time with an infant in arms. I can appreciate how she manages all this with grace. I look forward to hearing her in the debates and seeing just how well she manages under pressure. I'm sure anyone who has managed to raise 5 kids should have no problem with journalists and senators.

Coming soon!

2008-08-30T08:29:00.002-05:00

A new feature will be entering the blog. I will be interviewing women who run home businesses, with the intention of helping those doing the same through tips, tricks, and inspiring stories.

If it is a success, I would like to make it a semi-monthly feature, perhaps alternating with interviews of homeschoolers for the same purpose.

Where to Dine in Salt Lake City

2008-08-30T07:49:00.002-05:00

So I am now back in town. We had a fabulous vacation in Salt Lake City. Lovely town. It reminded me of Switzerland in the dessert: very clean, very orderly, mountains. And so should it be any surprise that we found a fantastic Viennese bistro with Swiss and Austrian cuisine? Well, yes, it probably should but we found it all the same.

Vienna Bistro is one of those gems that you don't find in an overly suburbanized metroplex like DFW. We had two fantastic meals there and would readily go back again. The chef is an Austrian transplant from Sud Tirol who, after years of convention center cooking, deciding to bring the specialties of his homeland to Utah. And is it ever worth it. Our first meal consisted of a platter of cured meats (all done by the chef from locally raised meat), pickled veggies (local organic produce) and a camembert/gorgonzola blended cheese, followed by veal medallions in a chanterelle pan sauce, with spatzle and green beans. We finished up with a lingonberry creme brulee and the best linzer torte ever. Two words: go there. Don't make excuses, just find a way to get to Salt Lake City and have a meal there.

On Friday, we had dinner at a great little sushi bar, Ginza. (Sadly, they have no website). It was a small place with great fresh sushi. Our infant was in heaven with the sushi rice and gobbled up the crab from my rainbow rolls, as well as much of the grilled eel. The atmosphere was great, no music, discrete TVs that were ignorable, anime prints on the wall. It was a perfect light meal before heading off to the talent show.

We also made a point of visiting the Cathedral of the Madeleine while there. (No we did not visit the LDS complex. I'm not even sure we're allowed in but the 20 foot wall are kind of imposing and off-putting anyhow.) It is a lovely neo-gothic structure with a neo-gothic interior that had been for the most part untouched by 20th century wreckovation. The stained glass is stunning, the pipe organ lovely (and I'm sure in good repair since they have a very impressive music/choir program at the cathedrals K-8 school), and the paintings intriguing. They are not in a gothic style but in something more akin to Art Deco or Art Nouveau. Very stylized in a 1920's or 30's way but perfect for the setting.

The Convention itself was fun and we met some great people there. I am inspired to make something of my business beyond the hobbyist level so hopefully you'll be hearing significant progress reports on that in the coming year.

Basic Brown Rice

2008-08-20T23:47:00.002-05:00

I'm off for a few days on the closest thing I've been to a real vacation in years. Until then, here's the recipe for the fabulous rice.

2 tb. Olive Oil
2 tb. Butter

Melt in a pan over medium and add the seeds from:

5 Cardamom seed pods

Once the seeds have popped open, add:

2 cups long or medium grain brown rice (I use Texmati)

Stir until the rice grains turn milky.
Then add:

4 cups chicken stock (or if you don't have stock, 4 cups of chicken broth and 1 tb. gelatin)
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Bring to a rolling boil and leave there for 10 minutes until the liquid is almost at the level of the rice.
Turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover the pot and cook for 1 1/2 hours or up to 3.

Serve, enjoy and watch people rave about how they always thought plain rice was bland until they tried this.

I'll be posting the fabulous rice recipe soon...

2008-08-20T12:25:00.001-05:00

In the meantime, go visit Chris Johnson's Midwest Conservative Journal and read his Chris Johnson, Anglican Investigator series. Just look us any of the links under Greatest Hits in the sidebar.

Perfect Dinner!

2008-08-11T22:33:00.003-05:00

I have struggled with Meal Planning since before I was married. Finally in the last month I hit upon a scheme that is working for me. Mondays are New Orleans night, with a rotation of classics like Red Beans and Rice or Jambalaya. Tuesdays are Chicken, Wednesdays are Wild Card, Thursday is Steak, Friday is Fish or Veggie, Saturday lunch is grilled cheese and dinners Saturday and Sunday are based on whatever we pick up at the market that day.

I had my first triumph tonight. Not only the Gumbo (Chicken and Andouille Sausage) but the rice that went with it earned high praise. Recipes to follow. Desert was vanilla bean infused pannacotta, suggested my eldest and cooked with his assistance. Also went over well (though I've cooked it before so I expected it to be good, while the gumbo was a pleasing surprise).

Not being from New Orleans, it is especially pleasing that I am mastering the food my husband loves. Some of the techniques, like making a roux, take practice and getting it spicy enough to please while not killing the taste buds is an art. Let me tell you sometime about so of my early attempts at cooking. It's a good thing that Zatarain's makes these. My early efforts weren't edible.

The other part of the triumph is that since we are amending the diet, I was able to make all the changes necessary to make it work for us while still having it turn out good. Yay!

Emergency Preparations

2008-08-11T08:53:00.002-05:00

When I have free time, I like to read. My most recent discovery has been S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire and its subsequent books in the Emberverse. It was recommended by way of Dale Price of Dyspeptic Mutterings and I finally got around to reading them.

They are very enjoyable books about the end of the world as we know it. I know, I know, cheerful reading. But they really give a lot of food for thought. For example:

1) How prepared am I in the face of a short-term emergency?

I had family in New Orleans who spent a few weeks up here when Hurricane Katrina hit a few years back. Many lost all sorts of important things and we all know there were a lot of people who left the city with not more than the clothes on their back. I want to start thinking a bit ahead and have all the important paperwork in order. I want to have emergency food stores and cash stores in advance. God only knows what sort of emergency would cause one to evacuate from North Texas but I'd rather have some sort of contingency plan in place.

2) What if we had to leave home forever?

When I was kid I remember reading the Diary of Anne Frank. How weird would it have been to one day be a suburban teenager writing in the diary about a stolen bike and the next living in a secret hideaway where life and death are at stake. I had this brought back to mind as the characters realize that they need to get away from civilization fast and don't have much time to pack.

a) What would I take with me?

I suppose it would depend on what was causing us to run. I occasionally speculate on what
(reasonably plausible) events would create a Second Dark Age here in the U. S. I don't
know if that is likely in my lifetime but given our similarities to another Empire that
entered a period of decadence, I have no doubt that our civilization will fail eventually. A
new persecution of Catholics seems a possibility nearer term, especially looking at Canada
and Europe. Maybe a failure of oil supply enough to really mess up global logistics.

Not knowing what lies in the future, I hardly know what would be valuable to stockpile. If
the government falls apart, I don't owe anyone on my student loans but I also have a
worthless bank account. If food supply is a problem, seeds become priceless. If
transportation fails, my coffee beans are worth their weight in gold. Not to mention the
spices.

Speaking of stockpiles, as food prices have been climbing, I notice a lot of people have been
talking about building up stores against future food shortages. And that brings up the
hairy problem of how big and for how long. And how to defend it from the hoards of
hungry people who notice that you're not starving.

What books would I take if I thought I would be out of civilization for a long while? How
would I teach my children?

b) Where would I go?

This is a two-pronged question. If some disaster hit and was separated from all or part of family, where would we meet? Separately, where would we go if we had to leave North
Texas?

Again, I'm asking questions without knowing the cause for evacuation. But consider the
Hurricane Katrina example. The obvious where was "dry land, inland" but the less
obvious was where will there not be a ton of refugees? In the Catholic persecution
scenario, I suppose we'd have to leave the country. For the others, what low-population
density area of the country would we have a chance of surviving in.

c) What useful skills do I have for survival?

This is the biggie. I can't light a fire without matches. I don't know how to hunt. This is
the first year I have kept plants alive all summer. On the other hand, I can sew pretty
well, have good books on dyeing and herbcraft, I can cook traditional foods, including lacto-
fermentation and other traditional methods of food preservation.

I did a bit of fencing but I have no other usable self-defense skill. Through the agency of
my brother-in-law I now have a bow and want to learn archery. (Yes, shotguns are easier
but they wig me out and gunpowder is a lot harder to make than arrows). That may
answer the hunting question in the long run.

I've begun to put together a list of skills I'd like to learn to increase my general usefulness
as a human being in the long run. It should make for some fun homeschool projects along
the way.

In general, I've been contemplating how complacent I've become. All of us in the United States live in the worlds biggest castle, it's invisible walls defended by men and women (including my brother) thousands of miles away. The barbarians won't be at the gate the next time Rome falls. They'll be inside. And I don't want to be a helpless suburbanite who doesn't know how to eat if the shipment didn't arrive at the Kroger.

Life Has to Change, or Not So New Year's Resolutions

2008-08-08T08:51:00.002-05:00

The start of the school year sends my dear husband into an inevitable funk. It's a combination of a few things. The still not stamped out anticipation of busyness, only to reminded that it's same-old, same-old at work. A new year of theater and not having the time to audition. Wanting to be teaching theater and knowing it's not financially possible right year. The black dog seems to hound us annually in August and this seems to be what calls it back.

Traditionally (or historically, or whatever), I am awful at pulling him out of these tailspins. It annoys me because I want to help and I have no clue what to say besides "Buck up" and "Maybe it'll be different next year" or "why don't you go out and audition for something." So I've determined that I need to do something to change the situation.

Money is a chunk of the issue. We've got a few years of debt payment before theater as a profession is doable. Certainly we must have everything paid off if he wants to go to grad school. His income is handsome insofar as it pays our bills. But to pay off everything rapidly, I'm going to have to go ballistic on the home business.
Resolution #1: Bring home biz income to replacement level within 1 years time.
Tasks to accomplish resolution: Ask all and sundry for leads to grow my business.
How you can help: Know anyone looking to make part time income? Please have them e-mail me at brightwomenachieve. at. hotmail. dot. com

The other thing getting us down is weight. We're both carrying a spare person or nearly so and it's depressing us greatly. We need to make some big dietary changes which is a bit difficult on a tight budget since the cheap stuff is part of why we're not losing weight.
Resolution #2: Lose 50 lb. with one year's time.
Tasks to accomplish resolution: Stop drinking soda. Soups cooked every Monday so that we have fuller dinners with less overall caloric intake. Find snacks that work to keep stocked at the office.
How you can help: Offer suggestions for filling snacks. Ideally high fiber or high fat. Both bring high satiation and I'd rather one 300 calorie snack that leaves one full than 3 150 cal. snacks that don't.

I'll keep y'all updated on this. I'm off to drop off advertising cards at frou-frou coffee houses.

Know when to Hold 'em...

2008-08-05T23:15:00.002-05:00

After several false starts and frustrating weeks, Pre-K is going on hold. Our oldest seemed eager to start reading last year so we've been working our way through phonics. As the year has progressed, it has become clear that following the Saxon Phonics script unadapted to the needs of a highly kinesthetic 5-year-old boy is a bad idea so we're pulling back and regrouping.

The plan for the moment is as follows. Lots of read alouds. Walks at the mall and outdoor play time. Coloring and drawing, modeling clay, training chopsticks, and yarn cross-stitch for fine motor development. Let him be a kid.

I realized that my pride was getting the better of me. I have a high need for approval and I have to remember that I'm homeschooling him because it is the best way to educate him, not because I want to be crowned Mother of the Year. It just took awhile to realize that I could trust my gut and say "whoa" to the forging ahead with phonics for a few months. Since Sloth is my other bete noire, I was doubting my instincts and fearing it was just laziness rather than the overwhelming sense that now was just not the time to forge ahead.

We'll go ahead and restart at Michaelmas Term. Luckily the math curriculum should be a more natural fit (RightStart A) with his learning style so I won't have to do as much adaptation. I'll spend the next few weeks figuring out how to restructure the Saxon lessons so that the hated worksheets won't drag a 15-minute lesson out to an hour. Maybe speed up the pace as well. Whether we try to restart handwriting will be a judgment call but everyone I've talked to seems to agree that boys are just not as eager to sit at a desk and write prettily, even for a few minutes a day.

Is there anything of value in edu-tainment?

2008-08-04T22:40:00.003-05:00

I am convinced that Nick Jr. and other channels of that ilk are a great big racket out there to make money and sell soap (or in the case of children's tv, sell chicken fingers, water cannons, action figures, and that weird yoghurt that comes in tubes.) What I want to know is, setting all that aside, are any of their shows actually worth watching.

What I know empirically is that the month we had cable our eldest son watched it constantly. He was an addict within days. I couldn't turn Noggin off without violent withdrawal. Out went the overpriced programming. We're not crying too hard. We borrowed Blue's clues from the library. Same reaction. Blue will not enter this house. He still wanted to play the games at the official websites. They are now banned from usage. We have a limited stock of approved games and websites that don't seem to cause behavior problems.

I'm not the only person who learned the hard way to limit or exile the TV because it was so detrimental. Right now, it's off by 5 in the evening and when it is on, it's playing railroad videos (the kind grown men buy to watch "hours of steam engine action" which translates to film of a train going by with an easy-listenin' soundtrack) for the toddler during homeschool time, and Muzzy Italian in the early AM.

I have always had my doubts about the value of the Baby Einstein products. I like my CDs for the car but I'm just not sure there is anything good that can come of a video for a little baby. I like certain shows that I don't mind borrowing from the library. Bob the Builder and Franklin the Turtle come to mind. Perhaps it is that they are real stories as opposed to the "show" format that Blue and Dora and Diego seem to follow. I don't know what to think about the Wiggles. Is is twaddle or silly fun? Barney can go hang. I love VeggieTales. Where do y'all fall on this spectrum. Total TV blackout? Some shows or videos? Which ones and why?

To Fletch or Not to Fletch

2008-07-30T08:25:00.002-05:00

My brother-in-law is, among other things, an archer. With his arrival, my 5-year-old has caught archery mania and asked for his own bow and arrow. For the time being, he has a toy set with the suction cup tipped arrows but he is already talked about a longbow when he grows up.

I have begun looking for patterns and materials for a back quiver so that he can stop using the backpack he's drafted for the job. I've found youth longbows (you can find youth compounds but for some reason, recurves seem to be solely an adults toy/weapon) aplenty, including some beautiful ones made by a Christian RenFaire merchant.

And then I discovered the traditional bowhunting and primitive archery world. These people make their own bows and arrows! That is so cool. I want to make arrows. They look like the fiddly detail work I'd love. And I suspect my sons would appreciate this craft from my hands alot better than my cross stitching.

I'm not about to run out and buy a fletching jig, not having room in the budget at the moment, but I am wondering "to fletch or not to fletch". Is this archery thing a passing fancy or are we seeing the beginning of a favorite sport and perhaps the chance at some fresh venison in the coming years?

I didn't realize I'd been gone two months...

2008-07-29T22:08:00.003-05:00

...when my husband told to come and post again.

In that time:
--My brother-in-law moved in. Yay! Free babysitting.
--My business grew a bit.
--We worked on four letters (Phonics has been going a bit slow. It's so hard to work up the energy to homeschool, or do anything else for that matter, when it's 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside but this is foundational stuff that won't stop for summer.)
--I've fought, occasionally with some success, the doldrums.
--My brother-in-law moved out, having received the offer of a real bedroom with futon, dog, and no children barging in at a friend's house.
--The A/C broke and was fixed.
--My brother-in-law received two job offers.

August is coming up fast and I'm excited. I'm going to a convention for my company late in the month, we're going to be starting Math soon, Kidaboo is fascinated by phases of the moon so I'm going to start up some informal astronomy lessons, and Kindermusik starts up again in a month.

Expect more to come soon, including to fletch or not to fletch, emergency preparedness, the success of my quiver making project, and the merits of various children's shows.

The Unicorn loves Pizza

2008-05-24T17:00:00.002-05:00

This afternoon my four year comes up to me and says "I'm a brave knight". With sword and shield in hand, he started pestering me for monsters to fight. After the Hydra, the Minotaur, Grendel, a mountain troll, the Pegasus, a red dragon, and company of orcs, I finally sent him to capture the Unicorn.

A few minutes later I asked what sort of pizza he wanted for dinner. (You can tell what sort of high living we do when I'm not cooking primarily for adults around here.) Given a choice of cheese or mushroom and olive (his favorite, believe it or not) he chose cheese. A moment later he asked "Can the Unicorn have a slice of pizza? The Unicorn loves pizza."

Doesn't this sound like the title of a Mo Willems book?

Strawberry Sorbetto

2008-05-22T09:03:00.002-05:00

My dad bought some strawberries at the Costco last weekend. With everyone leaving town, I was briefly worried that they would mold on us. (Silly me. Kidaboo, our #1 son, can eat a 2 lb. box in one sitting). So when #1 son pulled out the ice cream maker and pointed to the strawberry sorbet recipe, I said "Sure!".

We pureed a pound and a half of strawberries in the blender, boiled up a simple syrup, added the puree, juice of half a lemon, and about a cup of chopped straberries to the syrup, stirred, and chilled overnight.

Last night we poured the chilled mixture into the ice cream freezer and set it to running while we had Pad Thai. It sat in the freezer while we ran off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get curtains and when we returned, it was ready.

Very, very yum.

Let me recommend to all who have one of these marvelous contraptions, USE THEM. You will find no cheaper desert in summer, since all summer fruits are dirt cheap when in season, and for the price of a pint at the store, you can make a quart or more of sorbet. And it will be very, very good.

Now the vanilla bean ice cream I'm making for Memorial Day...that will be good but will only be cost effective because of the 10 beans for 10 dollars I bought at the Costco. What would I do without that place?

Ceiling Fans

2008-05-08T10:28:00.003-05:00

Here in Texas, Spring lasts for a few weeks and summer comes very early. We're going up to 85 today and the Weather Channel is predicting 90 for tomorrow. So it was no surprise that yesterday I thought to myself "My the house is getting warm and muggy." And yet the thermostat read a somewhat comfortable 75. What's that all about?

My fans were all still on winter setting. Easily solved. I went and flipped the directional switches and turned them back on. Instant relief. Today I will go through the house with a Sharpie so that I can remember which direction is summer.

Want to know the difference? If the leading edge of the fan is slanting down, it's on winter setting and pushing warm air back down. If the leading edge is slanting upwards it's on summer and drawing the warm up, cold down.

If only humidity could be dealt with so easily...

Math Novels!

2008-05-08T10:14:00.002-05:00

A Tip o' the Hat to Drew Campbell of Running River Latin School blog for pointing out these delightful things. I already knew about the Sir Cumference picture books but I had know idea that these heirs to Flatland existed. I ran to my library (well, that's a slight exaggeration, Wednesday being library day regardless) and picked up The Number Devil to peruse for Kidaboo (aged 4 3/4 so it will be a few years yet) and Flatterland for myself. I'm searching for A Gebra named Al through interlibrary loan.

What I love about these is demolish the "I'm a language arts person/I'm a math person" divide. It's math. It's a novel. It's a math novel! I'm getting concepts that were alien in math class because no one ever thought to explain that mathematics is just another language.

Another great thing about these is that even if one is not planning to homeschool, this is a good way for parents to be involved in enriching their child's schooling. You can read these together, discuss the story, the ideas, and talk about school in a non-"do your homework" kind of way.

What do Harold and the Purple Crayon and Ronnie James Dio have in common?

2008-05-05T15:42:00.002-05:00

Utterly incomprehensible lyrics.

It's tough filtering the media your child consumes. You try and try but someone still sends you that movie you find execrable or the toy that you vowed wouldn't enter the house. And, being gracious, you accept it with gratitude and hide it in the hall closet.

But then there are those things that you deliberately borrow from the library only to be dissapointed.

I am, of course, speaking of HBO's television adaptation of the delightful Crockett Johnson Harold and the Purple Crayon series. Now to be fair, I think that it is most ways a charming show, faithful to the style and spirit of the original series. If only the music lived up to the books...

It's the lyrics that really get to me. The music itself is pleasantly forgettable. Being a busy mom, I do not have the time to transcribe samples (and Google is not behaving today) but I think they have the coherence of the lyrics produced by Ronnie James Dio. Honestly, if we're trying to teach our children, wouldn't coherent, grammatically correct poetry be a good start?

Networking

2008-05-02T08:33:00.003-05:00

My brother-in-law, who has recently graduated from college, is coming to live with us. My husband, while discussing sleeping arrangements (solution: let the office do double duty as a bedroom), mentioned that paying for a cot or mattress may not be necessary.

"Someone in our network might have something they're looking to give away," DH replies.

"You have a network?"

Now I realize that college is hardly the place to use networks. Scholarly work tends to be individualistic and one is unlikely to, say, get a better professor because you know a guy who knows a guy. Still, it's funny to see what a difference a few years in the working world makes and how differently you view the people you know when you think in terms of mutual assistance.

I know some people are put off by the idea of "using other people" and "not doing it on your own merit". This is to misunderstand what networking is. If you only ever tap your network but never give back, yes, you're a pretty selfish and vile individual. But I bet if that's how you operate, you've pretty much tapped out your network. If you've been "paying it forward", often with no view of quid pro quo in your actions, you will be amazed at how without realizing it, you "have a network". And you're still being judged on your merits but its those very merits that make people want to help you.

To get back to the soon to be lodging with us brother, please offer a prayer or two for a safe drive down and swift employment.

Quandary

2008-05-01T08:44:00.002-05:00

I love my quiet mornings, with my cup of chai, a few free hours at the computer or tidying the house, weeding the garden while it's cool. But inevitably if I let the kids sleep in, it means nobody gets to sleep before midnight.

Sigh.

Welcome to the Circus.

2008-04-29T21:43:00.002-05:00

Hello, gentle readers. I look forward to seeing what this project yields. This blog is part personal progress journal, part inspiration for fellow travelers. I hope to chronicle my own experience balancing home, kids, husband, schooling, running a business, and maybe having a life. I also hope to provide hints, articles, and links for others that I have found helpful in doing the same.

Since I'm trying to keep a fairly reliable routine in my home, I will do the same in my house, expect regular posts three - five mornings a week. Anything else is lagniappe.

Let me know what you find useful and feel free to trade your own experiences. Keep your comments clean, charitable, and (when possible) cheerful.