Friday Fill-in--Marshmallows and Pirates and Toes, oh my!

To play, click on the picture above to go to this week's Friday fill in. Put a link to the Friday fill in in your post. Copy and paste the fill in the blank sentences to your post, and fill in the blanks. Fun and easy :)

1. I'd really like _a good, funny movie_ right now.

2. _"Mmhhhhm"__ is the word you'd most often hear me say if I stubbed my toe. So, I don't really say words when I get hurt. I make sad little squeaky whimpers.

3. Possession is _over-rated_. We have all our needs met. We have a warm house that suits our family. We have electricity (and after the ice storm this week, that's a blessing.) We have plenty of delicious food. We have boots and coats and gloves. We are able to make do on one-income so I can stay home and school the children. We have an awesome church. We have two reliable vehicles, even if one of them is older than our oldest child. I do catch myself wishing for more and comparing my furniture to ikea and thinking that my carpet might easily morph into some creeping horror, and I have to remind myself of all that we DO have.

4. _I'm entertained by_ Captain Jack Sparrow. But I'm still rooting for Will Turner. The sheriff in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was hysterical, but in the end I still wanted Robin Hood to win.

5. Marshmallows and fire go together like _holy communion IF there is chocolate and graham crackers involved_. Otherwise, its like empty legalism. Why bother going through the motions if the key element that would transform the ordinary into the extraordinary is missing?

6. _Winter drags_ on and on. Seriously. We've had snow since Tuesday, and I'm done with it. Before that we had a week or more of sub-zero temperatures. I'm ready for daffodils and sunshine. You who are in the true frozen north who have been buried in snow and ice and cold since November can laugh, but I can only do a few weeks of winter at most.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _a family night. Sweetling was scheduled to have a sleep-over at her Tae Kwon Do school, but their roof gave in under the snow and ice (or at least leaked) and their busy doing water-damage clean-up. So, the Jedi told her she could pick an activity for a family night intead. Tomorrow my plans include _a cleaning day at our local co-op facility. I think I might also be brave and go get my hair trimmed. And Sunday, I want to _get my coupon file and my grocery budget back in-order_!

ABC's; all about me

Affable
Bubbly
Creative
Delightful
Entertaining
Funny
Girly
Happy
Intelligent
Joyful
Kid-friendly
Loving
Mommy
Nature-loving
Orange belt
Precious pink princess
Quaint
Rescued
Silly
Tardy
Unorganized
Vivacious
Wonderful and wonder-filled
Xuan!

More Tune Twisters

I have a stack of Tune Twisters cards by my computer waiting to be typed in and saved for all posterity. And here they are...

(to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean")
The pirate has trousers that yodel.
He sails off to talent shows and American Idol.
His parrot says "Sell them," and "You're wierd."
His treasures are breath mints and hair gel.

(to the tune of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow")
A turtle is super for tennis.
It shells Daddy whenever you tell it to.
If all the Koopas are undead,
The Koopa Troopa Society will call an emergency meeting!

(to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat")
All my hairs are exploding,
Even my eyebrows and mustache.
They like to sparkle and all go ablaze,
Till I have lift off and reach orbit.

(to the tune of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?")
Meet my new pet Captain Huggyface.
He came all the way from Planet Lexicon.
He is really good at eating,
But he's not so good at flying.
And I take him to the Butcher
Because that is where he helps me.
Just don't call him Captain Bowsiwinks!

(to the tune of "Out in Deep Space")
Out in deep space, there's a duckie
That is famous for its kick combos.
It has three big shiny medals
That look just like Hammer Bros.
One's for sparring,
One's for board breaking,
And the third one, no one knows.
If you see it, you'll quack up
Because it is fiercely cute.

Toa of Boy

Every now and then, I look at the Jedi and say, "Remember, he's a very quiet little boy." And the Jedi chuckles, because Toa of Boy is not a quiet little boy. Oh, he was. He was a very quiet, introverted little boy. Several of the emails we received from his caretakers before the adoption told us how quiet he was and how he liked to play by himself. No problem, we said, Sweetling is the same way. We're a quiet family. He'll fit in perfectly. When we got to Guatemala, his caretakers stressed many times how quiet he was, so that we knew he wasn't a loud, boisterous kind of boy. Again we said, quiet fits in just fine.

And at first Toa of Boy was quiet. And then he got more comfortable and confident. And then he was quiet when we were out somewhere, and he was a bit louder and more boisterous at home. And then he got more confident still. And the quiet little boy was all gone. Now he goes tearing down the hallway at church yelling and laughing and chasing or being chased by his friends. I was standing and talking to a couple last week, and I looked over my shoulder to check on Toa of Boy (not to see if he was still there, cause I could easily *hear* that he was still there, but to see if the screaming was good screaming or bad screaming.) The screaming was good screaming as two little boys rolled around in a wrestling match in the middle of the hallway. The crowd just walked around them. I turned back to my conversation (which, by the way, was with the parents of the other wrestler.)

This week, I've noticed several things that have really struck me as particularly cute or memorable, and I wanted to jot them down.

On Sunday, I was in the kitchen. In the living room, the Jedi was watching the last round of the playoffs. Toa of Boy was watching with his Daddy. With no real understanding of the flow of the game, Toa of Boy cheered and yellled wildly whenever it looked like the crowd was yelling. Periodically, he would shout more specific cheers like, "Throw the ball! Throw the ball!" Once I heard him ask, "He dead, Daddy? Daddy, he's dead?" Every few minutes he would ask, "We won Daddy? Our team won?"

Toa of Boy has always loved to hide and be found. Every night, and I do mean every night, he "hides" under his blanket so that Daddy will have to "find" him for bedtime. Toa of Boy hides many, many, many times every day. "Come find me, Mommy. Mommy, come find me," will drift out of a closet or from behind a chair. During schooltime, he hides under his desk every chance he gets. If I turn to grab his math work book from the shelf, he's gone. "Now is a good time to hide," he will say, and then he runs away.

Toa of Boy is a constant source of noise and random remarks and sayings. It used to be that if he had to hold still and be quiet for more than two minutes in the car, he would be out like a light. Two of my favorite car ride comments this week went as follows. Pinkie and Sweetling were in the backseat of the van discussing all things Webkinz. Toa of Boy was buckled into the middle seat. Out of nowhere he starts cackling loudly. "Great," says Sweetling, "random evil laughter by my little brother. Okay." The other time was during the ride home from church last night. I don't even remember what the rest of the family were discussing, but in the middle of our conversation, Toa of Boy says, "I'm going to scream like a girl for three seconds. EEEEEK!" The Jedi was practically doubled over the steering wheel with laughter.

He plays Wii and watches TV while jumping on his trampoline. He builds awesome Lego creations, and is capable of following the most complex Bionicle diagrams to assemble his plastic warriors. He always asks Sweetling which of her Webkinz is having a "special day" so that he can grab one of his Webkinz of the same color or type. He got $50 for Christmas and is planning on saving his money till he has a hundred dollars and is rich. Or he's going to save up his money and buy Mommy new carpet. As soon as he knows I want something in Webkinz, he buys it and sends it to me. He flies through his morning and afternoon chore list without being asked, so that he can earn the most points and win the chance of picking the family activity on Saturday. He's favorite word recently is "doomed." Everything and everyone is doomed. Or "coconut". Everything and everyone is also "coconut".

Sunday afternoons

Something about Sunday afternoons just imply an afternoon spent doing nothing. Really, think about it. Say Sunday afternoon to yourself and immediately an image is conjured of sitting on a porch rocker drinking lemonade and watching birds at a feeder or children playing on a lawn.

But, then again, say Saturday, and the image is of recreation...bike rides, cookouts, shopping with friends.

And yet, one of those days needs to be laundry, vacuuming, and other such chores. I usually take Saturday as my day of rest. Now, what I'd like, what my goal is, is to get home from church, have a quick lunch, and then have all my chores done by 3ish so I still have some of a lazy Sunday afternoon.

It was about 10 after 4 when I sat down to write. We got home from church at about 12:40. In that time, this is what I got done:
--reheated pizza for lunch for me and nuked a hot dog for Toa of Boy
--reloaded the dishwasher (the Jedi unloaded it), cleaned the kitchen table, cleaned the sink, cleaned out the microwave
--threw the first load of laundry in the washer
--vacuumed the house
--sorted the rest of the laundry and had the kids sort theirs
--transferred the laundry, threw the next load in
--read a book with Toa of Boy
--cleaned out two of Sweetling's drawers (with her help)
--cleared off my desk (its somehow covered again anyway)
--picked up clutter in the living room (it was all mine)
--clipped all of this Sunday's coupons
--hung up the first load of laundry and transferred the rest

This is what I didn't get done, that I would have liked to:
--file the coupons
--clean the bathroom
--sweep the kitchen
--get Sweetling's school list for next week ready

So, what I'm realizing is that my list is too long to fit in a two hour period. Even if I jump up and down on it to try to squash it in, it doesn't fit.

And this fascinating post is exactly why today.com isn't going to be handing me the big bucks.

Suckered In

1. I should be doing school.
2. I should be doing something productive. Dusting the living room maybe, you can write your name on the TV stand.
3. I should be updating my character for tonight.

What AM I doing? I'm getting suckered. Check this add out...

Get Paid to Blog about whatever you want
It's $30 minimum if you blog everyday!




Yeahhhh...Riiiiiight.

But you know I clicked on it anyway. I clicked on it, and I sent the link to Christopher Robin so she can get hopping on earning all a tropical island.

The catch is, you get paid $2.00 for every thousand unique clicks. Got that. $2. For a thousand clicks. Unique clicks. If I got 50 unique hits to my blog, I'd be smoking hot. On the other hand, what would I have to lose for trying? Its pretty much guaranteed to fail, but if I should get a check in the mail for $2, I can ask the Jedi to scan it for me and have Sweetling make a button out of it. I'll post it up on my blog as my reward to me ;)

What would I call it? and what would I write about? Insight, bless her, seems to think I make even laundry sound interesting. I could call it "doomedtoflop.today.com" or "stayhomemom". Hmm? I'm leaning toward doomed to flop.

(And while I type this, Sweetling is looking for blueberry syrup in the pantry and Toa of Boy is in the living room sniffling cause no one will read him the text boxes in Animal Crossing CityFolk.)

oooo...I could be "The Procrastinator's Blog"! I'm good at that!

Because I should throw up something about me

Ewww...did I just say throw up something about me? That's totally not what I meant. See, you didn't even go there till I pointed it out, did you? But now you are there, and you're going "ewwww" right along with me.

Friday Fill-In


1. Enough with the cold!!!!! Seriously, I wore long underwear under my jeans today. You think it was winter or something.

2. Sweetling sparring causes me to be conflicted. Tonight the Jedi came home and said it was a rough night at class. At one point, says the Jedi, at least four different kids were crying. Sweetling, says the Jedi, got kicked in the throat. But, says the Jedi, she did a great job of sucking it up, staying focused, and getting back into the sparring. The Mommy is thinking only one thought...MY BABY!!!! So, the Mommy calls the girl over, gives her a hug and asks calmly if she was alright. Sweetling smiles and says she is. And Mommy says, great job doodle-bug, while ignoring every Mommy instinct that is trying to rev her into over-protective tirade. And then Mommy went and got her own do-book on and grabbed her pads for her own tae kwon do class.

3. I've been craving a house cleaning fairy, a hot tub, a garden that maintains itself, a castle in the forest, a summer home on Christopher Robin's island. But you notice chocolate isn't on the list. Its cause I don't have chocolate cravings, I have chocolate fixes. There's a difference.

4. I make me laugh. Really I do. I think I'm pretty funny. The Jedi doesn't always agree with that, but then he only has to live with me.

5. I wish I could go nowhere next week.
Seriously. I just want to stay home, do school, get on the laptop, and chill out. I'm tired of running around. Though, if someone gave me a free trip to somewhere warm and sunny, I wouldn't turn it down.

6. Routines have been on my mind lately. Its sad but true. I've spent the past week or two thinking about, and lucky for you, blogging about my routines and the way my weeks are organized. (Hey Holly, I didn't get a chance to try doing my errands after co-op today. We wound up going home early cause Sweetling had a tummy ache. She was better in time for Tae Kwon Do, but that was irrelevant as far as my errands went.)

7. And as for the weekend, tomorrow night I'm looking forward to gaming if I can get Aimee's character sheet updated, Saturday my plans include two birthday parties at Mango's house, and Sunday, I want to watch Angel and Extreme Makeover Home Edition!

Now, you might think I did Friday's fill in a day early. No, I did last Friday's fill in a week late. See, the universe has been restored to its proper functioning.

Aimee, Part 3

Over three years later, Aimee paused outside another door. This time, it was not the soft clucking of hens that mingled with the early songs of the crickets that filled her ears, but the muffled sound of male voices broken occasionally by bawdy laughter. Going home now was not an option. For how could she go home, and explain to Aunt Nim what had really happened these last few years?

Adaro had kept his end of the bargain to Aimee. She had traveled with him and whatever other performers he could retain in their small troupe. She had done a lot of menial tasks at first, and in turn had been justly instructed and trained by Adaro. As she grew in confidence and ability, she had taken parts in the plays they put on in towns and villages, she had sang duets with Adaro in the winter halls of the wealthy, she had learned the art of “reading” fortunes to entertain women with far more coin and time than productive outlets for their time. But she didn’t know about Adaro’s business “on the side.” Didn’t know, or hadn’t wanted to put the parts of the puzzle together to see the larger picture.

After all, before she left home, she had been full of questions. Why then was it she never asked Adaro what he meant? On those rare evenings when they weren’t performing in some manner or another, when Adaro would drink his wine and begin reminiscing. With the first glass or so he told wonderful tales of places he had seen, parties he had witnessed, adulations he had received. After a few glasses, the tales became more baleful, winters he had been cold and hungry, rich patrons who had cheated him, insults he had borne. Then he would tell Aimee, she would see. No one wanted an old, washed-up performer. She would spend all her days and all her youth and all her energy making others happy….and in return she would spend her old age cold, hungry, alone, trying to make enough coin to keep her belly full and her bed warm. But not Adaro. He would grin slyly, his words slightly slurred, and repeat, no Adaro. He had it all figured out. No one was going to kick Adaro to the curb. At which point Aimee would put the glasses up and the bottle away. She would mutter meaningless phrases in a soothing voice. She would guide the silver-haired bard to his room and bid him a good night, telling him he would feel better again in the morning. And she never asked what he meant.

She should have.

She had the option of sailing away with him. When he finally decided he had built up enough of a nest egg, he had given her the option of coming with him. And he had assured her that he never had taken enough to be missed. He had been careful, he assured Aimee. Oh so careful. The largest parties, the grandest homes. A little here, a little there. Not enough in any one place to be noticed. When the guests were all assembled. When the other performers were going through their routines and the dogs were jumping through their hoops and the halflings were doing their flips and Aimee was managing props and the order of the acts. When everyone was distracted, Adaro would slip away and ensure his retirement.

She didn’t leave with Adaro.

So now, she was Aimee the Seer. She takes a deep breath, drawing herself into a straighter posture, assuming the confidence of the part. The unnatural red Adaro had had her dye her hair was nearly faded out. She had cut off as much as she could on her own, and now her hair hung to her shoulders and was mostly back to its natural honey hues. She jangles the cheap bangles on her wrists and adjusts the vibrant scarf on her head to make sure the points of her ears are clearly visible. Presentation is everything. She was about to walk through a door into a crowded tavern and convince its patrons that they wanted to give her money in return for whatever fortune she could convincingly spin out of the information she could slyly ply from them and she needed to convince the barkeep that he wanted to give her free food and shelter for the night in return for entertaining his patrons in a manner that did not involve dancing on a table. And she needed to figure some other gig out soon, because winter was coming, and she was not going to show up on her aunt’s doorstep during the first winter storm.

Aimee, Part 2

And that was the last anyone heard of Jan, till she showed up with the first winter storm two years later, thin and sickly and miserable looking, and out to here with child. Of course Nimertha took her back in, nursed her back to health, and delivered the babe when the time came. Even under Nimertha’s care, Janaice never did regain the glow of youth. She looked aged and tired beyond the two years she had been gone. When spring came, she kept to Nimertha’s garden and cottage just outside the village. And when the village women went to visit Dear Nim, Jan never even gave a body so much as a how do.

Janaice stayed with her sister and her newborn child through the summer and through the next long winter, but the following spring, when the trader wagons rolled again, Jan was gone. This time, there would be no return of the prodigal child.

Aimee rubs her fingers together briskly. The days were still quite warm, but the evening air was cooler now. Both the mist from the lake and her own private thoughts have chilled the girl. She was not her mother. Was not. Aimee didn’t want to go find a rich husband so that she could live a wealthy life. Aimee just wanted…. Well, she just wanted some answers. She wanted to know what had happened to her grandmother. She wanted to know who her father was. She wanted to know where it was her Aunt Nim went for a few days every month, taking the pony and the two wheeled cart while Aimee stayed with various village women in turn. (There was, Aimee knew, a way to answer that question, if only she could work up the courage to do it. But Aunt Nim would be furious, furious and disappointed, if Aimee slipped away and tried to follow her. And Aunt Nim’s disappointment would be far worse for Aimee to shoulder than her anger.)

Aimee took a deep breath. What was it she most wanted? She wanted to know if her mother was still alive somewhere, and if so, why hadn’t she come back for Aimee? And if not, what had happened to her? What had her life been like for the two years she was gone? What had her life been like after she had left for the last time? What was out there, that had been more important to her than her little girl?

Standing, Aimee begins to carefully make her way back across the small outcropping of rocks to reach the small path back to the village. The sun was low in the west, and the last thing Aimee needed to do was worry her aunt before she broached this topic with her. Feet safe in the dirt of the trail, Aimee continued to mull over her thoughts on her way home. She wanted, she just wanted, to prove herself. To show that she wasn’t her mother, and, ironically, she needed to leave to do that. Because, in Aimee’s mind, it wasn’t in leaving Kissingersee that her mother had erred. It was in expecting her dreams to just be handed to her. As far as Aimee could learn, her mother had left with no real skills and no real plan.

Aimee, on the other hand, had a plan. She had a job and a mentor and would be taken on as an apprentice. She would not be heading blindly out into the world hoping to land in the lap of luxury. Aimee would be traveling under the protection and tutelage of an experienced minstrel, and would in time learn his craft. And while she knew the villagers did not hold the small troupe of traveling performers in the highest of regards, for all that they had flocked to their show, Aimee could barely contain her excitement when she thought of joining them.

At a forking in the narrow trail, Aimee turns aside from the route that would lead her down into the village proper. Instead, she climbs the small grassy hill that hid her Aunt’s cottage from the worst of the winds off the great lake. Topping the small crest, she is relieved to see she has made it home before Aunt Nim had lit the window candles. The houses in the village only placed lit candles in the windows on sacred nights, but each window in Aunt Nim’s cottage always had a candle burning. Women who came to Aunt Nim for herbs or advice always brought her a candle or two as part of their payment. Aimee was certain, was more than certain, that the candles placed in the windows never burned as quickly as the one they used on their table. When she asked her Aunt why this was so, Aunt Nim always answered “just in case.” And when Aimee pressed and asked, in case what? Aunt Nim would smile and reply that the candle was a symbol that warmth and safe shelter was nearby. And when Aimee asked why those candles burned so much more slowly than the others, Aunt Nim would only answer that the candles in the windows were for those who were in true need. Which wasn’t an answer at all.

Aimee lifts the latch and pushes open the low wooden gate. The gate was too low to keep any person or large animal out, and the gap underneath the gate was too high to keep any small animal out. But there the gate was nonetheless. Outside the garden fence, tall grasses and wildflowers rambled in the sun. Inside the garden gate was a wide path to the cottage’s front door and several narrow paths that crisscrossed the many garden beds and all around was an abundance of vegetables and herbs that grew so thickly they made the wild grasses outside look tame. Aimee takes the time to chase a straggling chicken back to the coop in a back corner of the garden. She makes sure the door of coop is firmly shut for the night. How had Aunt Nim missed one of her chickens? And, more importantly, should Aimee mention the magic the minstrel had showed Aimee after the rest of the audience had departed?

Part Three

Aimee, Part 1

The waves broke open upon the rocks and sprayed fine mist into the air. The girl sat just above the spray, the leather of her cloak keeping the dampness of the rocks from seeping into her skirts as she sat. Aunt Nim would never approve. No matter how the youth turned the arguments over in her head, she couldn’t find a single thread that would pull her aunt around to this plan. And it was important, ever so important, that Aunt Nim give her approval. Aimee couldn’t leave here with the silent accusation of ‘just like her mother’ ringing in her ears.

Farther out on the water, the tiny fishing ships of Kisingersee were pulling up their last nets of the day. Aimee could just see the flecks of their sails away down the coast. And that, she knew, was part of her problem. Just like her mother, her gaze was always wandering to the horizon, nor did her curiosity stop when the line of her sight did. Just like her mother. It seemed like she had grown up in the echo of that refrain. Never from Aunt Nim, and soon enough, the townsfolk knew better than to say it in front of Aunt Nim. But Aimee knew it was said nonetheless. What wasn’t said, what no one in town seemed to want to acknowledge, was that Aimee was like her father as well. The tilt of her eyes, the slant of her cheeks, the tapering of her ears…her elven heritage was plain to be seen. Not that elves, or those of elven descent, were unwelcome in the village. But those few of elven blood who did take to sea sailed on merchant ships far too grand to need to lay anchor at the modest little fishing village of Kissingersee. No, what the townspeople avoided discussing, at least openly, was that no one knew who Aimee’s father was. The one woman who did know had refused to say anything.

Aimee’s mother had been, according to the village gossips, always walking along with her head in the clouds, with dreams far too big for simple, hard village life. Janaice had been full of her ambitions to leave the village, to marry wealthy, to have a life of ease and comfort and luxuries. Aunt Nim had raised her younger sister as best she could. Aimee, despite her best efforts, never did learn what had happened to her grandmother. Aunt Nim would only say that she would tell her when Aimee was “ready to hear it”. Others would only make a gesture to ward against evil if Aimee discreetly tried to steer a conversation in that direction. About Aimee’s mother, however, the villager’s were more than happy to spill an earful.

Aunt Nim had raised her younger sister the best she could when… (fingers crossed over heart)…and if anyone could have gotten some sense into Janaice, it would have been Dear Nimertha. And Janaice had been a pretty little thing, even if she weren’t reliable or sensible. She could have had her pick of any of the young village men, though she would have made a poor housekeeper. Still, the boys seemed to dote on her like anything. But she was too quick to tell everyone how she wasn’t going to spend her life scratching a living out of the dirt, slaving in a hovel with a baby pulling on her skirt. Not Janaice. There were better things in the world, and Janaice was bound to get them. First chance she got, she slipped away with some traders heading toward the Capital. Bout broke her sisters heart she did, and after all Dear Nim had been through and all she had tried to do for Jan, ungrateful girl that Jan was.

And that was the last anyone heard of Jan, till she showed up with the first winter storm two years later, thin and sickly and miserable looking, and out to here with child.

Part Two

Simple Woman's Daybook

I've seen this many times, on many blogs I love to read. I've always considered playing along, but its usually Thursday or so before i read the daybooks on other people's blogs. But now, its only Tuesday, I have my act together enough to follow the link, and I think I'll give it a whirl. :)

So...

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY (Tuesday, January 14, 2009)...
Outside my window... it's dark. The neighbors across the street still have their Christmas lights up. Personally, I hope they leave them up all winter. They have strands of delicate white 'icicles' hanging from the roof line of their ranch style home and a light sprinkling of colored lights atop the evergreen bushes that run along both sides of the house. Its simple and understated with just a touch of color and light. I need that during the long winter nights when both the evenings and the mornings are dark.

I am thinking...that I should be working on my grocery lists and coupons. But I woke up early this morning, and so I thought that deserved a little extra "me" time.

I am thankful for...the kisses the Jedi gave me just before he headed out the door. He never forgets to come and give me a kiss before he leaves for work. Even when I'm still in bed, he comes back to the bedroom, leans over, and kisses me lightly. He is so my prince charming.

From the learning rooms...Toa of Boy can read sentences like "The dog was hot and sad in the van." Sweetling can use a compass and straightedge to construct the bisector of any angle. My big goal is to get 5 chapters of her history book read before co-op tomorrow AND to get my note cards done for the research paper the composition class is working on. (Ok, technically that's two goals. But I could say 'my goal is to be prepped for co-op tomorrow.' That makes it one goal with two parts.)

From the kitchen... my oven currently has a yellow post it note stuck to the door which reads "Do not turn on oven!" I'm completely serious here. I baked fish on Saturday, and I put the fish on flat cookie sheets with no rim. The fish oozed fish oil (who knew?) which ran right off the cookie sheets and puddled and sizzled and became burnt pools of goo at the bottom of the oven. So, monday morning I grabbed the spray can of oven cleaner and READ and FOLLOWED the directions for use. Preheat oven to 200 degrees, but do not exceed 200 degrees, read the can. I carefully put my oven on 200 degrees, its lowest marked temperature setting. I waited a few minutes. I put on the rubber gloves the spray can told me to wear. (See, I can read and follow directions.) I held the can 12 inches from the surface of the oven. I depressed the spray nozzle while gently morving can in a horizontal direction parallel to surface of the oven. I thought I would pass out from the noxious fumes that erupted with the cleaner hit the oven surface and vaporized. I slammed the oven door shut and stumbled into the other room, vision distorted through watering of my eyes, gasping and choking and coughing for air. (See, even when I read and follow the directions, I'm doomed, so I may as well do things my way.) When I could breathe again, I opened the oven door slightly to let it cool down. Maybe my temperature setting was just a little too high, despite the fact that I had set it to 200. After my oven had cooled for 15 minutes or so, I tried it again. Same results.

Plan B was to go with the overnight cleaning method in a completely cool oven. I left my oven alone for several hours. This didn't break my heart any. I sprayed the toxic waste container into a completely cool oven. I still coughed and sputtered, but didn't feel that my life was in imminent danger, so I perservered. This method required leaving the oven closed for 6 hours while the holy terror I had just unleashed upon its interior did its work. Fine by me. I slapped a post-it not on the oven door, and there we are.

Now, don't get me wrong. I've cleaned my oven out many times. It has a habit of collecting pools of burnt goo along the bottom. I don't know why. But I've realized that paying the extra money for the name brand FUMELESS oven cleaner is totally worth it. The generic nerve gas was not a bargain.

I am wearing... fuzzy bunny slippers that Sweetling has named "Flip" and "Flop". White socks, cause despite my heated waterbed and feather down comforter and extra blanket on top of that AND a Jedi that is he's own heat generating wonderfullness, my feet get cold at night. A pink nightgown that has totally seen better days. I don't think I'm a restless sleeper, but the busted seams on most of my nightgowns claim otherwise. And I was going to say more about that, but Sweetling reads my blogs. The tears aren't there from fun times. I said it anyway. Moving along, I am also wearing a heavy burgandy bathrobe. It's like a portable blanket and I love it. Now, normally my goal is to get up by seven (and when I say normally, I mean, every few weeks I reset this goal for myself. I do it for about a week, then I fall of the wagon. Then a month later I decide, I really need to get up by....) So, ideally, my goal is to get up by seven and to get a shower by seven-thirty. Today, Mom was up (well, she's always up) but today she decided she wanted to get her shower early. So as soon as the Jedi left for work (just before seven) Mom got in the shower. Now its 7:25 and she's out, but I'm blogging.

I am creating... a mess? That's always an accurate answer. Actually, my current 'work in progress' is a character history. I'll post some of it later.

I am going... to pink up Pinkie this afternoon if both girls get their school work done. Then we have church tonight. I need to step down from children's ministry for a while. I got burnt out last spring and I just never recovered. I'm not excited about going to church tonight. And it used to be that I was excited. Oh sure, sometimes I got overwhelmed and busy (ok, often), but it still brought me joy and pleasure in the midst of my business. Now I'm not overwhelmed with children's ministry, but I'm not joyful either. I refuse to speculate that the two go together. They totally don't. I do NOT need to be overwhelmed to feel fulfilled, thank you very much.

I am reading... Diddly squat. I have a stack of library books AND a stack of books Nora loaned me and they have been sitting here all fall. (Well, not the library books, but that's a rotating stack. I take them back unread and bring home new ones that will sit unread.) Normally, I'm a book-aholic, so I'm completely baffled by this behavior pattern.

I am hoping...that's a good question. What am I hoping for? I'm hoping for pleasant and productive weekdays.

I am hearing...Mother bustle around getting ready. This is alternatively accompanied by whispered mutterings to herself and quiet humming.

Around the house...it is dark and quiet. The Jedi is gone. The kids are still sleeping. Mom is down the hall and I can hear her, but the light from her bedroom or from the bathroom is stopped by their closed doors. The living room is dark, the stairway behind me is dark, the picture window beside me is dark. It seems like only the kitchen light is on as I sit at the table with my laptop.

One of my favorite things...Ghiredelli brownies. I had forgotten how good they were. Mother had a meeting after work yesterday, and everyone was to bring a dessert to share. On Monday, Mom decided to go to Walmart and just pick up a ready made something. She asked me what I wanted, since she was planning on getting something to take with her and something to leave at the house. I said we needed eggs and I would like a 99 cent brownie mix please. She said, no, she didn't want me to have to make something. I said the brownie mixes were way yummer than the premade store bought brownies. She agreed to that and came home with 18 eggs and four Ghiredelli brownie mixes. I made one to keep with us, one for her to take to work, and put two boxes in the pantry. (I also took the batteries out of the smoke alarm, cause the brownie baking was happening after the fish baking had occurred.)

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Church tonight. (Hey, I just realized its really Wednesday, not Tuesday. I'll have to adjust what I wrote earlier.) We have co-op tomorrow and we're going to try to launch our new 'get most of the errands done on one day' plan after co-op by hitting walgreens, cvs, and the library that afternoon. Then Sweetling has Tae Kwon Do at 6, Toa of Boy takes a bubble bath on Thursday nights, and the Jedi and I have Tae Kwon Do at 7:30. On Friday afternoon, Pinkie and Equistrian are coming over for God's girls. I think we're gaming Friday evening, which means I need to finish my character write up, update my character, and vacuum before gaming. Saturday is blissedly free of plans (except that I'll be helping Mother get her classroom portfolio worked on). Sunday morning is church. Sunday afternoon is cleaning and laundry day. Sunday evening is Extreme Makeover Home Edition. And that brings us back to Monday. Monday afternoon Sweetling has a dentist appointment (they found a cavity at her check-up yesterday.) Monday evening is free. It's the only weekday night that is free. Unless the Jedi has an elder meeting. Tuesday we'll go to Meyer in the afternoon, Sweetling has Tae Kwon Do at 6 and I have dance at 6:30 and then Tae Kwon Do at 7:30. And that's our upcoming week. Plus, you know, homeschool during the days.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...





This is my character sketch of Aimee. I did the drawing quite some time ago, and made a character from the sketch. But I never had a clear history or story for her, so that's what I'll be working on this week.

Now it 7:55, and I'm off to get a shower.

As Promised

I told myself on Thursday I'd spend time reviewing the agenda I posted in September. Here I am. (And Christopher Robin, I *meant* to start small....but the project just spun out of hand).

So, here's what I posted in September, copy and pasted for my convenience.

This year...
* I am NOT going to let staying with the curriculum dominate our schooling. I am going to skip units and lessons when appropriate for either or both children.

Yes. I skipped whole units in Toa of Boy's math. And I'm condensing his language arts, cause no way is he going to want the same story read to him three days in a row. Instead, we read the story once, we go back through and retell it (rereading bits if needed) and we do the supplimental activities all in the same day.

Sweetling's curriculum is a little trickier. I skip the literature essays that seem boring. We skip writing out the answers to the 'history journal' questions. But her curriculum is still pretty intense.

* I am going to make sure Sweetling has plenty of time during the day, at least one to two hours, to work on her own, independent projects and studies.

This isn't happening. You know why it isn't happening? I just did Sweetling's school list for the week. And beside each subject for each day, I put how much time I think it should take. She has 4 and a half hours of SOLID curriculum each day. And that's just how much time I think it should take if she sat down right away, stayed focus, and worked efficiently. That just doesn't happen like that. Even if we start school at 9am and work with our noses to the grindstone till 12:30, that's 3 and a half hours. If we take a lunch break and get back to school at 2 and work till 3:30, that's another hour and a half. Then on Mondays is library. On Tuesday is grocery shopping. On Wednesday, Sweetling wants to go pick up Pinkie for a play date. On Thursdays is co-op. On Friday is God's Girls. I don't know what to do. This work load isn't working for us. It will burn us both out.

*I am going to stick to a basic daily structure and schedule. We will start the day on time. We will take only an hour for a lunch break. We will end the day with plenty of free time left over.

I am obviously capable of completely divorcing myself from all reality.

*I am going to insist that morning and afternoon checklists get accomplished each day, including mine.

The kids get their morning routines done every day. Mommy not so much. No one gets their afternoon routines done, cause all we do is run run run every day. And again, I don't know how to fix the run run run. I sense a phone call to Christopher Robin in the near future.

*I am going to get up at a reasonable hour to get dressed, do my devotions, and get through my morning stuff before school starts instead of waiting till the last minute to roll out of bed.

*cough, cough* Ahem...um...yeah....Well, I'm working on this. Getting out of bed is a continual challenge for me. This area will always be a 'work in progress'.

*I am going to sort and start laundry, clip coupons, vacuum, and get the next weeks worth of lessons done on Sunday afternoon so that we are ready for the week on Monday morning.

I am also going to end world hunger and create world peace.

*I am going to get most of my grocery list written and in order Monday night, so that I'm ready to go shopping Tuesday after school.

This has to be done during lunch hour on Tuesday. Grocerygame doesn't have the coupon lists out till Tuesday. At best on Monday I can get the laundry folded and get the coupons clipped and filed (cause you know that didn't happen on Sunday.)

*And I'm going to have to find some way to keep things varied and interesting for me, because doing the same thing week after week isn't going to happen all year long. I'll crash and burn, baby, crash and burn. Blogging is one of those ways, but I know I'll need to cycle through some other things as well. I'm getting back into dance this fall, but I'm not sure if that will increase my happiness or increase my stress levels. I'm going to need some other, fun, relaxing creative outlets. (Hint, hint, and nudge, nudge, to Christopher Robin.)

You know, the thing that's stressing me out more than anything is the afternoon running. Aside from trying to move library to the weekend, which is crappy cause our weekends are already full, I don't know what to do. We need to go to the library, but maybe every other week instead of every week. We need groceries, and yes, every week we need milk and eggs, and we shop the deals every week. Sadly, every week we need to hit four different stores to make the most of our coupons. And yes, this keeps my grocery bills under budget, so it is worth it. So, I think I just need to stop whining and come to the grips with the fact that we have something to do nearly every single weekday afternoon. There's only one word that can really sum up my feelings about that, and its not something I care to repeat.

There. A rather cynical reassessment of my lovely, rose-colored glasses view of what i was *going* to do this school year.

edit to add:

I spent my lunch time reading through some of my archived blog posts. I literally started at the first post I ever wrote, and read up from there. I'm rediscovering when I really, really love homeschooling, this is what it looks like. It has mornings where doing math problems evolve into making spaghetti restaurants for a group of aardvarks. It has days where the written curriculum activity is dull and lifeless, so we go to the nature preserve instead. It has fall days where we sit outside on the swings to read and write poetry.

I think Holly is right. I need to cut down on my afternoon trips by making a long day on Thursday. If I go to Meyer on Tuesday, I can go to Walgreens and CVS and the library on Thursday after co-op. That's totally what needs to happen. It will absolutely free up some of my days and drop the stress level of the me. Cause if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

Resolutions are yucky

Why are resolutions yucky? Because they feel like a burden, not a load, a burden. What's the difference? A load is something that takes some effort, but is still manageable and is simply part of everday life. A burden is something overwhelming, unbearable, that causes us to stagger and stumble. Maybe some of it is that December is a busy month for me. In January, my main goal is just to get "back on track", not to add new responsibilities. Maybe part of it is that I know I have at least two months of dark and dreary winter days ahead of me. Winter is not the time for me to be enterprizing. But, probably it is because I know how difficult, impossible, it is for me to keep brand new goals that I lay out for myself in January.

And yet.... It is a appropriate to spend some time reflecting on what is important to me. Just what are my goals and priorities, and how am I doing in fulfilling them? So, I'm not making resolutions this year. I'm confirming the things I want to continue in doing and tweaking the things that have veered slightly from my goals. My scripture verse for this process is..."So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (Col 2:6-7)

So, my first priority should be to my spiritual walk. I have the intention of sitting down each weekday morning with my notebook, my Bible, and whatever devotional book I'm using to guide my morning quiet time. I'm fairly consistent with this. I'm currently using Women of the Bible as my devotional guide. I find that I'm identifying with imagining what each of these women must have faced and their responses to their life's circumstances. From there I can draw parallels to my own life and applications. I'm also trying to foster the habit of putting a verse or a thought on a post-it note on the bathroom mirror to see and reflect on my devotions during the course of the day. This coming year, I want to
Continue in my morning devotions with my notebook and my hot cocoa and my pink pen
Continue putting a verse or a thought on the bathroom mirror and Tweak this practice by reading it and reflecting on it more regularly. (Sadly, I put it there and then never "see" it again.)
Tweak my ongoing connection to God by having short prayer conversations with him through the day.

My second priority should be to my husband and my marriage. Notice I'm using "shoulds" here. These priorities don't always wash out in this order in practice. And, I'm rather ashamed to admit I'm not sure what this looks like on a regular basis. I try to keep time set aside in the evenings for spending with the Jedi. This is difficult on weeknights because so many other activities pull us in different directions. But, I try to be conscientious about how I'm using what little free time I have in the evenings, to make sure that I'm doing things with the Jedi, even if its just sitting with him and watching tv. And, because our weeknights are so busy, I try to guard what I do with my Friday and Saturday nights. Its really easy for me to want to schedule and do all kinds of social things on the weekends, but doing so seriously cuts into time I have with my husband. I'm trying to take the approach of not, do I have this Saturday free? But, what else do I have scheduled on other Saturdays this month? I'd really rather not be scheduled 'away from home' more than one, sometimes two Saturdays in a month. (And yet, there are still months where its a challenge to be home one saturday a month.) The Jedi's primary love language is acts of service . Let me tell you how much "acts of service" is usually below my radar. Fortunately, having dinner cooked each night means a lot to the Jedi. I can usually follow through on this one. Having the house relatively picked up, and the laundry done and put away also means a lot to the Jedi. Those of you who know me, or who read my blog regularly, know how much I struggle with these things. Neither of them are really that important to me personally. Laundry I do cause we all need clean underwear. Housework I do cause we can't live in a pigpen (though we come close sometimes. Kidding. Sort of.) But the Jedi hates clutter. And the Jedi twitches around incomplete projects. And yet, the Jedi married me. Clutter and incomplete projects are practically my middle name. Punctuality is also important to the Jedi. (Christopher Robin is laughing her head off right now. Go ahead, laugh.) I'm including all these things, because I do want to make sure my marriage and my relationship to my husband is strong. And to do that, I might just have to make sure I'm looking beyond my own needs and making sure he's needs for love and affection are also met. (And yet, quality time is my primary love language, and you'll note that spending time with the Jedi was listed well before acts of service was ever mentioned.) Despite this fact, I'm going to
Continue to make sure to spend time with the Jedi in the evenings and on weekends.
Tweak and get back to meal planning so that dinner is not a last minute dash for something semi-edible to get on the table a few minutes before we have to be back out the door.
Tweak and get back to getting afternoon routines completed so the Jedi returns home to some degree of order. This week we haven't even been home before the Jedi arrives, and we certainly hadn't picked up the chaos and clutter we created during the morning before we left. And dinner was a hodge-podge affair every night this week. Which means,
Tweak my afternoon errands so that I'm home by 4:30. Tuesday can be an exception since we do grocery shopping that afternoon.


My third priority should be to my children. This one is going to be a long and complicated assessment, since its so multifaceted. Do I break schooling into a separate paragraph? Or is schooling part of mothering? Grrr. I'm just breaking right to my list of continues and tweaks.
Continue encouraging the completion of the morning routines. I think these are helping to make our day start out smoothly, are teaching responsibility, and are simple, effective, straightforward.
Tweak getting our afternoon lists done. This goes back to tweaking getting home by 4:30.
Not that getting chores done is the most important part of mothering. Just the easiest to list right now.
Continue encouraging Sweetling in her chapter by chapter reading of the Bible.
Tweak, as in DO and START, Toa of Boy's daily devotions. yes, that's right, its January and I never got his devotional book ordered for him for the school year.
Continue to support, encourage, and be involved in the children's ministry at church.
Continue to let my words be apples of gold in settings of silver. I want to affirm, encourage, and build up my children. I want any redirection or correction to be done in loving guidance.
Continue to laugh and have fun with my children. yes, Sweetling, this means chicken dance.
Continue to build memories by making the ordinary extraordinary. Yes, yes, this is completely achievable. Laundry isn't, but the extraordinary is. We have family traditions that are important to us and we constinently try new experiences (especially in the summer.)
Tweak some way of recording those memories and experiences. Both children love to look through the few scrapbook pages they have and Sweetling loves to read and reread the Christmas memory books. I need some way of doing a scrapbook that's simple and manageable on a regular basis. And the time and the space to do it in.
Continue to support their growth in their individual gifts, talents, and interests. For Sweetling, that means time to write on Webkinz Insider, time and encouragement in Tae Kwon Do, time with friends and God's Girls on Friday. For Toa, that means time to be active, legos to build and be admired, plenty of paper and drawing materials for spontaneous sketches and art projects and the space in which to display his creations.
Tweak a space and system to display Toa's artwork. He needs a bulletin board or clipboards or something. He hangs his own stuff in his room and on his door. And I have a door for him in the school room that we hang papers on every month (then photograph at the end of the month and refill the next month.) But he has so many drawings every day and every week. He doesn't like sketchbooks by the way. He likes looseleaf paper to draw and create on. I also need to buy him a set of crayons at least every month. They get lost and broken and used up so quickly.
Tweak praying for my children every day. I pray with them at meal times and bedtimes, but I need to pray for them daily.

School needs to be its own category. I'll come back to school, because in looking for the name and author of the devotion book I wanted for Toa, I found a post about my homeschool agenda for the year. I think it was a good agenda, and I want to reread it and re-evaluate how I am doing on it.

So, does school count as priority three, priority three-a, or priority four? this is why numbered lists break down for me. Moving on anyway.

I need to take care of myself so that I can take care of others. I'm thinking this has several components to it.
Spiritually...
I need to continue my devotions and increase (tweak) my conversational prayer life. I already hit on this one.
I need to continue in dance. The Christmas dance was a huge commitment, but I love the creative process and the unique form of worship that dance gives me. In fact, during sunday services, i feel more connected to the worship music when I can close my eyes and visualize a dance that would go with the song. Dance makes Tuesdays more busy, cause we do school, grocery shopping, Sweetling's TaeKwonDo, dance, and my TaeKwonDo. But dance is not one of the things we're cutting out of Tuesday.
I need continue to appreciate the beauty of the natural world. Walks in the wood don't happen often and so aren't practical on a regular basis, but looking at the sky, noticing the play of light on the maple tree branches, watching the squirrels in the yard, these things renew my spirit. I like having a 'beautiful something' to put in my list of seven praises in the morning.
Emotionally--
I need to continue to blog and tweak giving myself some freetime and the permission to write bad fiction that no one is going to read. I think that was one of the appeals of NaNo. It didn't matter the quality of the writing, the applause came from *doing* it. I want to write at least once a week, preferably twice a week...one on my blog and one for just pure fiction for the heck of it.
Ok, this doesn't fit in a continue or tweak category, but I just told the kids that we're doing school upstairs until March. I don't like being in the basement in the winter. Its cold, and despite the two megawatt fullspectrum bulbs, it feels dark. Maybe its a tweak, since its an adjustment.
Tweak getting up at a regular time each morning. I feel so much better about the day when I feel like I had time in the morning to shower, do some simple cleaning, and have some time to myself.
Physically--
Continue in Tae kwon Do. I feel stronger and healther and proud of myself. I need to
Tweak finding time everyday to stretch. I feel tight and sore on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (from TKD) and I need to stretch out each day or I'm losing some of the benefits of TKD. *WHEN* I will do this is an unanswered question.
Tweak my eating habits by consuming more fruits and veggies and limiting my hot cocoa to breakfast and evening.
Tweak being better about getting *me* to the doctor. I'm all about getting the kids in for check-ups, but can't even remember when was my last pap smear.
Mentally--
hmmm. Tweak my academic reading. I haven't been keeping up with Sweetling's history reading, so I want to start reading the chapters she's reading. I'm not keeping up with her literature reading either. She's finishing up Tom Sawyer, but I haven't read that since I was a girl. I need to reread that so I can discuss it with her. Ok, both of these are motivated my schooling, not by personal growth.
Tweak keeping up with current events. Even if I just spend five minutes a day reading some of the lead stories on a reliable news site.
Tweak becoming more politically involved. I need to check out Obama's change.gov and educate myself so that I can feel comfortable and confident enough to participate in the forums. As a homeschooler and a conservative, I am a little worried about what direction education might take in the new administration. But, if I don't stay involved and connected, I've forfeited my voice and my opinion through my silence.
Drat, there's no "continues" in this category.

My friends. This is a category that I always fall short in. I have awesome friends who are always there for me. I'm less than awesome at being there for them. I might, in fact, be the sucksers. I need to tweak calling them on a regular basis, which should mean about once a week. I need to work out when this is going to happen. Again, its the when that kills me. I should also tweak emailing far-away friends once a month. I've been lazy with this thinking that I can give people my blog address, and that this excuses me from maintaining contact. Bad me. I also feel like with the loss of the wednesday morning Bible study, I've lost touch with friends at church whose company I really enjoy and whose input and prayers I really treasure. I'm not quite sure I know how to tweak this to fix it. And again, no continues in this category.

My siblings. This sort of overlaps the friends category because it has a familiar refrain. I have awesome siblings. I want to be a better sister and a better aunt. I need to tweak making phone calls and sending cards and letters. I need to talk Taters into coming over for dinner once in a while. Smurf and I always have a good time together, and its sad that we get together so infrequently. Sure, its easy to blame her crazy school demands, but still.

My extended family and other loved ones. Like Vaya. Who I never see but could and should spam her email box. And Mama Maddie (no, this is not my mother) who I should drop emails too and send photos too. And Nana, again, the woman is in want of photos.

My house and home. Yeah, notice this came last. Cause it involves cleaning and decluttering. Maybe I should drink a cup of mid-day hot cocoa while I consider this.
Continue keeping the kitchen clean. This means multiple times a day the sink needs emptied and wiped. The counters and stove needs cleaned. The table needs cleared and cleaned.
Tweak and get back to cleaning the bathroom every day. I was doing this, and then
December happened and I lost that good habit.
Continue sorting laundry and getting it started on Sunday afternoon.
Tweak getting it folded and all put away by Monday night.
Tweak doing room rescues in the afternoon. This was part of the afternoon routines that fell by the wayside.
Tweak decluttering the closets and shelves and such. Tweak in this case being start. I can add ahalf-hour of grab and toss to my Sunday afternoons. I think we'll start in Sweetling's room. Her drawers are so stuffed she can't close them, and I know there are clothes in there that don't fit her anymore.
Tweak actually doing some gardening. Yes, its January. Yes, once again, I'm full of delusions of what my yard *could* look like. And yes, once again, Saturday mornings become the targeted time slot for working in the yard.
Continue in clipping coupons and keeping the grocery budget under a tight rein. Which means
Tweak getting coupons clipped AND filed on Sunday, and
Tweak doing the CVS list Monday night, and
Continue keeping track of what I spend in pocket excel on my phone, and
Tweak having some system of keeping track of what I have and what I need or am low on, and
Tweak where I'm storing all of this stuff, and
Tweak making regular donations to the food pantry ministry at church.


And that's a ton. See, I started out NOT going to do resolutions because they were too overwhelming. And instead I ended up with a list that no one can keep track of. (And I haven't even gotten back to my Homeschool Agenda.) I think I know what I'll do. I'll follow the example of Benjamin Franklin. I'll pick one virtue a week to work on. I'll post my progress on Sunday. Maybe I'll sign up for the New Me support group on Cherry Soup. There is, after all, a cool button. Though, hers is primarily health and fitness based, and my tweaks span the spectrum. We'll see.

What to pick first? Its a toss up between getting up on time, which I did two out of the four days this week, and being home by 4:30, which I did two out of the four days this week (but likely won't manage today, so may as well say one out of four.). Can I work on both? They are both important, and rather connected. If I don't get up on time, there's no way I'm going to get through my day in a timely fashion. So really, I should work on that one first. Ok. (and, if I don't go to bed in a timely manner, there's no way i'll get up on time.)

Goals for this week and next:
Get up by 7am (and be out of the shower and dressed by 7:30.)
Review my homeschool agenda on Sunday.

There. Those two goals are totally doable.