Things on a Plane

According to the FAA regulations of today - when you fly, you can take in your carry on luggage:

Aerosol Cans
Cigar Cutters
Corkscrews
Cuticle cutters
Gel Filled Bras
Knitting needles
Nail Clippers
Safety Razors
Scissors (Yes! Scissors! Metal with pointed tips, but blades no longer than 4 inches. But I would not dare take a chance with mine. They are too expensive)
Toy Transformer Robots
Toy weapons, but only if they are not too close to the real thing.

Hmmm, well, can’t do any damage with any of those things, right? I think I’ve cut myself with everything on that list except the Aerosol can and that I sprayed in my own face because sometimes I just can’t see that little black dot. That’s why I don’t use it any more. Thought sure I would go blind or get cancer from breathing that stuff in.

But you cannot take a

Saber
Meat Cleaver
or a
Sword (drat!)

You also cannot take, just about any sports equipment no Hockey sticks, Lacrosse sticks, baseball bats, pool cues, Bows and Arrows, Spear guns, Cricket bats, Ski poles, or Golf Clubs. Guess they have figured out what most moms and dads have not figured out and that’s that Sports are Dangerous! (Wonder why they left out Cleats?) And I can attest to the fact that the Actual Lacrosse player is dangerous – one of them ran into my son during a practice and that broken collar bone was no fun, still isn’t, and will always bother him when it rains.

Now, this also means you cannot take your Billy clubs, your black jack, your krubatons (I’ll be goggling that later, as I have no idea!), and likewise a resounding no, on your Nunchakus, Night sticks (thought that was a Billy Club?), stun guns, shocking devices, and Throwing Stars (drat! I love my throwing stars! One of them has a picture of Bruce Lee!)

And, I know you are not surprised at all but your guns are out. All of your guns, your BB guns, your pellet guns, your hand guns, even parts of your guns separated in a zip lock won’t get on, your starter pistols, nor your flare guns may board. You can only take your toy guns, as long as they don't look to very much like a real gun. So, best to leave all your guns and gun parts at home.

And all of you carpenters have to ride the bus unless you check your tools; your axes and hatchets, your cattle prods, and crow bars, and wrenches and screwdrivers – it’s a nope. Not even in the zip locks. However, if a lot of your tools, like the scissors are shorter then 7 inches, you will be able to carry them on. Oh. How comforting. But at least they are required to be ‘sheathed and securely wrapped to prevent injury to the baggage handlers’ (no mention of the people on the plane. Hmmm.)

The list goes on, but just so you know, they do allow Jello and Pudding and Whipped Cream, duty free alcohol, but not Cheese in a pressurized container! Gotta watch that Power of Cheese thing, I guess.

Many of the things they didn’t allow after that last terror thing in that airport in Britain, they allow now, if it’s in a teeny tiny little container. Itty Bitty, teeny tiny, and also, put your teenies in a Zip Lock Bag. Only the Quart Size.

Now – here’s your stock tip ~~

ZIP LOCKS! You gotta have a zip lock to get on a plane. Especially the quart size. You heard it here first. And me, I think I invented using zip-lock on a plane! But it was more for protecting my things from being gnawed over by strange mitts! Oh well, now it will be to protect my little teenies.

Story of the Week

Three year olds have to be watched every minute, don't they? As much as we'd like to think they are okay for just a sec....

This little guy was not only a fan of Sponge Bob with the Square Pants, but my guess is that he's also watched a little bit of Rug Rats, or maybe his dad has taught him his way around tools.

Whatever the reason, he saved himself with the assistance of the Fire Department of Antigo. The story is here. I'm just glad to hear he's okay.

Another Thursday

So here I am on a Thursday still limping around. I've found a whole new way to walk that doesn't cause me that much pain. The new doctor I've seen has recommended Physical Therapy, and I have an appointment for next week. I'm feeling like I should do something before then like get some kind of exercise, but then again, I have this fear of another muscle spasm like the one that landed me in the emergency room ~ twice.

So instead of exercising, I'm eating donuts and watching television. And television is just so boring. Truly. I should be reading. I know. But my concentration level is so low. I think I'm being over shadowed by all the things I want to do that I can't do.

Madam Blueberry is doing well. We're having exams this week and next. Seems like an easy week for me. We're not as far behind as I thought we would be! She's baking once a week and we eat whatever it is very quickly. I think we are all like addicted to sugar now?

I just got her Shakespeare book in the mail - The Merchant of Venice - and I had forgotten that I ordered it. Apparently, I thought I ordered it from Amazon but when it didn't come with my last order I thought I didn't. It came from someone named Eleanor in Washington state. But it's here, and it's a brand new book so that's good. We have the movie with Al Pacino, and it's a great one.

Mr. B is liking, and not liking, his job all at the same time. He likes what he's learning, and he is determined to make himself seen as someone valuable to them. He sees little signs that that is working. Each day there seems to be some encouragement. Actually, it doesn't work quite that way -- it works like this.... he comes home one day all up and feeling proud and then the next day, bam, something happens and he feels awful; and then three days go by, and he feels good, and then one day goes by and he feels bad. So all things measured, I think the good might be out weighing the bad. And, this is a field that he is interested in learning. So, I put forth to him the idea that he is actually being paid to go to school. Seems to me you have to look on the positive side of things to survive.

Tomorrow I have a day off. I am getting a pedicure. For my birthday. Hahaha. No. Just because I want one. I’m using the birthday as an excuse because I think I need an excuse to do something for myself. I like getting pedicures. I had actually booked the appointment before I knew I had the day off. If I had known I had more time, I would have booked Madam Blueberry an appointment with me. It's just a fun thing to do together. One of those guilty little pleasures of life, I suppose.

"Short is the joy that guilty pleasures bring" ~ Euripides

And it's true, they don't last long, but I find it an enjoyable thing to do.

Oh, by the way, I realized that eating the donuts - be it four or two or even one - doesn't really satisfy anything, so I'm thinking, why bother? Maybe this is the last of my bingeing. I guess I'm feeling deprived. Deprived of what? Maybe control. A feeling of a lack of control can raise stress levels. That's probably what contributed to my back issue in the first place maybe. I internalized the stress. And I over think things.

But that's okay. I'll get it right. I'm just taking a little detour. Like the long way around, you know?

Also, I could be wrong, and I've just got a bad back that gave out on me! But seriously. I do think everything is connected. I just need to get all my dots in the right order! This random chaos is wrecking havoc in my career choice of being a calm human being! (What did she say?)

Didn't mean not to write

I have been neglecting my blog. And that is not a precedent I want to set, One’s blog should be tended carefully, and not carelessly.

To catch up, I’d have to look at a calendar – Let’s see on the 7^th of October I found myself in an extreme amount of pain at about 7:15 in the AM. My daughter was also up and found me on the floor and said, “mom, you’ve gotta go to the Emergency Room,” and she called my son Sean, who came right over from next door where he lives, and took one look at his mama on the floor and said, “mom, you’re going to the emergency,” and he immediately went and got his older brother Bill who also lives right next door– both boys woken out of sleep – and they loaded me into the car to some safe place, but new to the area, I wasn’t quite sure of my directions and the first place we went to was closed. I made another choice and called out the directions I thought were correct, but they ended up being wrong.

My pain was not stopping. That kind of pain that one can’t just get away from, I mean even labor pains ebb and flow, and bob and weave, but this pain showed no mercy. So off to the other emergency place I thought I knew, we flew.

But that’s all I can write about right now. I can’t sit for long because even though it’s been a week, the pain in my leg has to be controlled with pain killers and I don’t like to take more than two a day, and I’m passed my limit. I’ll have to take a sleeping aid to make it through the night. I’m setting a record for ignoring my blog. That’s not a good precedent. I enjoy my blog

I’ll tell the rest of the story at a later time. But God is good. Always, God is good.

Today's notes

Things of the day in no particular order:

1. Cleaned my house. Brought Jacob here to play with his new toys. Tuesday was his birthday, he is now officially three years old, so he had some really cool and interesting new things to do. And I am happy that things do look better around here. I got spoiled with a clean house there when my house for sale, and we lived under the Clean House All The Time rule. It was so lovely.

But. Even though Jake had the new toys, he played with this . And waited, he did, excitingly for the train! The luggage cart was used to haul his trucks to the garage for repair, and for rides of himself to appointed destinations. Nothing like a child's imagination.

2. A suggestion ~ If anyone in the world has not started to declutter their house, now is a really good time to start. The holidays are coming upon us very, very soon. And one can always use extra space around the holidays. Donate it, make it straight, or give it the gate.

One of the things I did, in my trying to organize here, is create a kitchen that holds only what we use on a daily basis. Then, I put the other kitchen stuff I had, which is plenty, in containers in the laundry room, in some kind of fake order. I'll go through it again after Christmas, and whatever I didn't use, I'll give away to a place near me called Jesus of Hope Thrift Store.

I have no regrets for all the things I threw or gave away. I did for about 12 minutes once on a Tuesday.

3. My niece from Lakeland is coming into town today. She was in one of those schools that was put into lockdown on day in late September, that made CNN the day that criminal shot the officers in Kathleen, Florida. Anyway, she coming in to West Palm Beach on the train, and the train is late. It's late because someone got killed by the train on the tracks in Orlando. Sad. I live near the tracks now, and People really shouldn't fool around with the train. You think you might have time; but there is no guarantee. Sometimes it's just a work train and it's just going back and forth, but sometimes it totally is not.

4. Mr. B is on his way home. He's late tonight. Overtime pay, but is it worth it? I suppose, if you want to buy food and books and pay rent, it is helpful.

5. So gasoline prices are down? Well, ha ha ha. Food prices are up. It's just a political game they play. It's like the property tax - property value game. They lower your taxes, but raise the value of your property. So do you get ahead? The only way you might get ahead, is if they are giving out cabbage.

6. Want to know how to stop the war? This will do it pronto. Go to Washington and tell everyone that Congress, and the President and all his men, should immediately go out the back door. There, waiting for them will be buses. Load them on the buses and take them directly to Paris Island. That's where the Marines train a few good men.

Have them deposit their suits and ties in a zip lock bag, and put thereselves directly into combat fatigues to begin their basic training with their destination being Iraq at the end of three months. What odds can I get that, within three months, someone will come up with a really good plan to get us out of Iraq? Sometimes you just need the proper motivation.

How did I become Anonymous?

I am perplexed. For some reason I have become Anonymous in the Comment Boxes. Not just on mine, but on any that I post. If anyone out there reads this blog and sees this question perhaps you can tell me ~ How did I become Anonymous and more importantly, How can I fix this?

It seems that I have lost my URL identification. I looked through Blog Help and didn't find what I needed.

Until then,
I remain, forever and the same,

Miss Roxie,
but to some
Anonymous

Oh October, How I love Thee

I don't know why I wrote that. I guess I just felt poetic at the moment.

Things here are still a tad unorganized (stop laughing). I worked all weekend at putting things away and still getting rid of things, and I'm tired. And still things are to be done. Mr. B went shopping at Home Depot ~ and, no, I did not go because I always want to stick a pencil in my eye while I'm there ~ and he bought more shelving. Yes, this will be the House of Shelving. "Where is it?" one will ask when looking for something, and someone will say, "On the shelf."

Okay, so that's one thing. What's the second thing? I can't remember.

My sister is coming this weekend (newsflash ~I just got a call, and she is coming tomorrow night, and I am excited about that. So that could be why I feel some pressure to do more straightening out/up or around because I would like things nice for our visit. I love orderly for visits. It helps me relax.

She and her husband and my great nephew Nathan will be sleeping at my son's house, who is right next door, so that part is good. He has an extra room with a real bed for guests.

I have heartburn today. And my mother says it's because of the self imposed stress of things not yet done. I was thinking I was eating too much pineapple. I don't know, but it's really uncomfortable. I think I'll try the Prisolec over the counter stuff for two weeks, and see if I feel any better.

I have just now got my list of all of Madam B's schoolbooks! I do hope I’m not missing anything else! A couple of them just arrived yesterday. I was going to go to Barnes and Nobles to pick up the books, but things were just so pressed time wise, I ended up ordering them and they were delivered to my door. I found the Math Tests last nigh in a blue crate, and the Science in a box of old work from years previous. How these things didn’t end up together in one box is so beyond me at this time. But I can’t dwell on it or I would go mad, mad, mad, I tell you!!

So bit-by-bit, this is a crazy year, but things will come together. She has already been working about 3 hours a day on what she has, so she's not really excited that a plan of adding more work is in the works! But she will adapt. She always does come through. This year, maybe a bit more verbally, so is that to say, ‘she found her voice and it says ‘no, no, no, I say’ …?

Oh my, I just remembered! She finished her Shakespeare book – Comedy of Errors - about two weeks ago, so there’s another assignment for me! I have Henry V, that we tried once before, but it’s a tad to heavy for right now, so something lighter might be better.

Maybe tomorrow we will go to Barnes and Nobles ….Get a coffee, and chill. Jacob will want to play on the Thomas the Train table. Maybe I won’t do too much chillin’ after all. We’ll see.

A bit of Shakespeare before I go –

A bit from Sonnet 60 ~

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand...

The Busy Day

I just know that when I wake up every morning now, things are different. I am still not acclimated to the situation of the daily play called My Life.

Taking care of my 3 year old nephew from 10 AM to 3 PM, is a good part of *the active part of my mind* day. Madam B says, “That _is_ *the day*.” We are having to work on our school schedule. I’m doing a lot of writing of questions instead of talking with her, but I find if I wait until the end of the day, I am too tired to really get into the depth of real thinking, so I put my questions down in the morning, and she writes out the answers for me. This is disturbing me some, but I’m sure we’ll get things worked out. We need to be fair and give ourselves time. We are each in new surroundings. We’ll get it right.

We are trying to meet earlier in the morning. We were so spoiled by our prior years; it’s almost ridiculous to even go there! Such a private, quiet life we led on most days, compared to now.

At least with my nephew, he doesn’t care how I look or even smell…hahahaha…or what I am wearing. He cares that I care for him. My day with him can be challenging depending on what we might choose to do.

One of the best things is playing in the sandbox in his special play area on the side of the house. My brother lives on the water and has a pool, so Jacob has to be watched 24-7 and the locks on the doors have to be checked and double-checked. Jacob is the kind of child who challenges the ….ummm, how about Everything!

But like I said, the sandbox area is great. There’s an area to run and a slide and I give him the hose. What child doesn’t love to play with water in some way? And yes, the sandbox turns into the beach, so to speak, but his parents don’t mind because it’s easier than worrying about it, and he says he needs the hose. So there you are.

Yesterday, we did some cast fishing off the dock. Well. We were out on the dock feeding the fish, and I said, “We really need a fishing pole.” He mumbled something, and then he turned and began running towards the house, saying something about he knew where the fishing poles were, and danged if he didn’t lead me right to the poles – the real big poles – hung up on the wall in the garage.

“Nope,” I said, “that won’t do for us. We need a smaller pole. We need a stick to make ourselves a fishing pole.” Actually, what we needed was a cane pole. Remember them?

Jake got busy looking for a stick in the garage. Mumbling to himself, “a stick, a stick, a stick….” He found a huge piece of wood. “This stick?” he asked. Now, Jake doesn’t speak all the clearly. He says a whole lotta words, but it’s not so easy getting them into understanding. But I’m trying, and I knew he was asking ‘was this a stick that would work?’ And I told him “No, too big.”

Long story short, I found a piece of quarter molding about long enough, and then cut some fishing line off one of the hanging poles. I wrapped/tied the line to our pole and looked around for a bobber. So did Jacob. He didn’t know what a bobber was, but he sure tried to find one. At first I had said, “We need a weight,” and he ran right over to the weight bench and hurled a 3# weight in my direction. That’s when I clarified a bit and said, “something to bob up and down on the end of our line, a bobber, something light.”

That’s when I found an old traveling toothbrush. A fine bobber there; an inventive bobber. Not so attractive, but it did float.

I am no fishermen, fisherwoman, fisherperson, or whatever; I just thought it would be fun to do some casting out on the dock.

Okay. So got the pole, and the string, and the bobber, and now we need a hook. Are you with me? Where would you look for a hook that a 3 year old can use? In the kitchen! I got a bag tie and made a hook on which I squished our bread. And it stayed on long enough to cast that baby over his shoulder and into the water. I had some room to jump out of the way each time, so that was good.

“The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.”

A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work. ~Author Unknown

The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. ~A.K. Best

Sweet Emotions

Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it. ~Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. ~Dale Carnegie

I've discovered a new level of fatigue. The fatigue of many people around you. I'm not a person who has been around a lot of people during a day in the past, and now I am.

Everyday. New Emotions.

I'm not saying it's bad. I'm not saying it's good. I'm just saying, it's different, and it affects me.

The ages of the people range from 90 to 3 years old. There's a few generations in all of that. And I am a relational type of personality which is good, but I am, also, a private person, which is -- well, not easy to be right now.

I do get on with people just fine; I make jokes usually about things, but I am super sensitive, also. I make jokes to keep people at ease, but I am very attuned to pick up any oddities in emotions. And this is becoming a pull on the center of my own emotional gravity. That probably doesn't make sense to some people, but it makes a whole lot of sense to me.

I'm like a person that really needs to get up and go to the beach by themselves, you know, to regroup what is clashing around inside. And, I have to make myself do this, because I am also the type that will do that one more load of laundry just to get ahead of tomorrow. I'm am not my own best friend. I am not the type that takes care of me first.

I have to learn now how to be here. I can do this.

To give vent now and then to his feelings, whether of pleasure or discontent, is a great ease to a man's heart. ~Francesco Guicciardini

Tuesday, then Wednesday ....quickly it seemed

So it's Wednesday. Again. And somewhere else, it's Thursday.

I suppose to blog, one must blog about what one knows, or pass along information one has found out and think now they know something more than they knew before. I, for one, am still often astounded at what I think everyone should know and then find that someone obviously does not know and causes a huge ruckus with their lack of knowingness. Like left turns or simple right turns, or how to function at a four way stop, and not every place is a right turn on red, and your cell phone use while driving can interfere with your thinking.

When I am on my cell phone in the car, which is more these days then I prefer, if I'm in traffic, I just say, 'left turn' and put the phone down. Some people who call me don't even realize I have put the phone down.

Today the car in front of me was making a right turn into a parking lot area. Then. Out of the clear blue sky, the car in front of him decided he was making a right turn, also, into the same parking lot area without any warning or thought of anyone behind him. There was much honking and screeching of brakes. They were both turning into the exact same piece of road. Both were in little gray cars. Maybe they thought they were the same car. It was strange to watch. I was, apparently, the only one of the three of us paying attention.

Then it was funny to watch them try to figure out who should go, now that they were practically on top of each other. It was like a video game. Like someone was pressing a control button as one would edge forward and brake, and then the other would edge and brake. I think they were afraid to look at each other.

Down the street from me, on an electric wire, are a couple of pairs of sports shoes. They are tied together on a string - I think Madam B photographed them - they are not old shoes. Funny, that someone came home without their shoes, and I wonder what they told their parents. I've seen two other people taking pictures of the shoes.

Monday night my sister in law and I took both her parents to the emergency room. What a long day that was. My mother in law passed out at 8 AM. I told her to go to the walk in clinic.

"No, I'm fine now," she says. (She's 80 - did she forget?). I had a really long day with my nephew that day, as my mother had had surgery on her feet and I needed to keep Jacob from 9 AM until 6 PM.

I talked to my mother in law and sister in law a few times during the day and couldn't convince anyone to go to the doctors. I was sure she was dehydrated.

So I get home a little after six, and go over to their house (which is right next door to mine) and I hear my father in law coughing. And that was not a cough to fool with,

"You really should get that checked out," I said.

"I'm fine," he said ~ (He's 90 - did he forget?)

so finally, at around 7 PM ~ it took my husband, my sister in law and myself to convince them - you really need to go to the doctors. (Where is Mr. Rogers when you need him? "Can you say 'stubborn'?)

Long story short, we got home around 9:30 PM. My mother in law is dehydrated, but the passing out thing is something she has been doing for awhile. She probably has the same thing my husband (her son) has - neurocardiogenic syncope .

But. I've never been 80, and I've never been 90. I have not a clue what it's like to try to read your body signs that far down the road. My own aging body is tricking me now and again, and I'm not sure what is going on. A weird thing this aging stuff, but I think I can tell you - it's safe to watch your diet carefully, and drink water! (Yes, she was dehydrated, and my father in law has acute bronchitis, which I found out is something that just comes on quickly and is contagious), get exercise, and don't stress. It's just not worth it.

My mother in law will probably end up going to a cardiologist for further checking out Maybe she has a slow heart rate.

My father in law is supposed to get plenty of rest, but he just doesn't get that. He is sure that he should be walking every day. And I don't blame him one bit. He's wrestling with wanting to fall asleep and go for a walk. Mr. B says, 'you know, it's his life, and he should just make his own parade.' I tend to agree, but find myself reminding them of the doctors advice.

I did go to the library and check out about 6 movies for them, and got some books and some magazines for them to read.

I, myself, am tired. Just plain old fashioned tired. I should follow my father in law's parade and just go walking anyway.

Note to self

por1. Make a list of all you have to do.

2. Do not loose the list.

3. Do not loose the pencil.

4. Do not forget what you are supposed to write down.

5. Find Paper.

6. Find Pencil.

7. Or pen.

8. Gather thoughts.

9. On second thought re: #8 --
Better to let mind run random and remember things at will. Better to have more on the list than less.

10. Good Luck.

11. Do not loose the list.

Sweet little thoughts

Over the years I have been faithful to making my kids write letters and thank you notes.

Tonight my mother in law brought over a pile of them, and what a treasured time it was looking through them! There is no way anyone would remember these things without having them right in front of them. Just looking at the spelling and the formation of the letters and the grouping of words becoming sentences was one thing from the 'teacher' point of view in me, but the sweet sentiments of my kids! I just got welled up with tears reading them.

Sean wrote this letter to his grandma when he was 10 --

Dear Grandma,

When I think of you, I think of your fun spirit, working outside, eating raisins bread (my favorite) and best of all, you just being here. We also love Grandpa being here.

See, when you're here, I can sometimes skip school!! ha! ha!

Hope to see you soon.

Love,

Sean

I lauged so hard at this. It's in cursive, and you can read it. I'm not sure you can read his handwriting now that he's 20! There are words crossed out and replaced - like 'jest' crossed out for 'just', and 'hear' crossed out for 'here', and 'bear' for 'being' and 'raisins' has a big fat S on the end. But it's precious as all.

And my mother in law did the sweetest thing! On each of the cards and letters, she has written a comment! Like on that letter she wrote, "Sean, you are such a great writer. I love getting your letters." I guess she intended on giving them back one day.

So that's an idea for us. When we get those special little notes and cards from the special kids in our families, we can write a little message for them to have when they look at them when they are all grown up.

It funny about those things, that sometimes at the time, there might be a little fussing about the doing of it, ‘Oh, I already said thank you do I really have to write a card?’ …I held my ground, “Yes, you have to write a card. People need to know that you care and appreciate them.”

I am so glad I followed through. I have such trouble following through on so many things. Ask my closest, closest friends, and they will tell you – but with my children, I know deep in my soul that these are the things of importance. They involve love ever after.

Look up in the sky.....

Friday night Mr. B and I went to the beach. We took a couple of chairs and made ourselves comfortable. Just felt like looking and listening to the ocean for a while. It's got to be a good thing.

The moon rising was unreal. It was a red moon! It was about 8'ish in the evening, I think. Mr. B says it was earlier, but close. We thought we saw a ship out on the water, and it looked like it was coming closer and closer, first slowly and then moving very quickly. We thought, 'gee that's a weird light for a ship to have' ... then Mr. B realized that it was the moon rising. I thought we were being attacked by a UFO.

It really was an amazing thing. There is such power in the earth. People yell and argue and scream at each other and their kids and start wars and steal cars and swindle old people ... but they can't stop the moon from rising red over the ocean. Sometimes I wish the moon would crash down on the heads of bad people. And then just get up and rise back up in the sky.

Saturday we watched the launching of the Space Shuttle Atlantis from our front yard. Very unique feeling to go out into the front yard and see people being shot into space. I hope it does us, as a people, as the earth, some good. I really don't know about these types of things. It does give the mind something to do, I suppose, you know, going out into space. That's a lot of planning. I go crazy thinking about 16 people coming to my house for the weekend; I can't imagine planning to launch them into space! Ummm. Maybe I should.

Video Tapes

The list of things to do to keep my life from exploding right under me is growing beyond my minutes in the day.

For some reason, I was just thinking about my home movie video tapes. I did a little search on line to make sure I was storing them properly (not that I can find them at this moment, they are in a box somewhere), and I realize there is a great chance that I am not.

First, the tapes must be stored like book ends - straight up.
Second, tapes must be exercised. You should run your tapes, on fast forward if you don't watch them, periodically. We did this when the kids were younger, but it's been awhile since I've watched the home movie video tapes.

And lastly, copies of your orginals. Which I do not have.

If this were a test, I have failed.

A Challenge to all School Age Children

Dear Any Parents of Any Child of School Age --

(This challenge is being 'tongue in cheek' put out there because of the information in this post.)

I would like to initiate a challenge to you. The challenge is in two parts:

1. Give your child a Four Digit Number to memorize. This number must be known everyday for 100 and 80 days. If your child CAN successfully remember that number, your child is making a step toward independence of the common thinking.

2. Teach your child how to handle change. This might involve learning to get change out of ones pocket or bag and give this in payment for a service of say, about $2.85 will do. And I extend this challenge to add that the child also be able to know if he/she is given the correct change. You can consider that a bonus part of the challenge. And you can consider your child on his/her way to another form of independence, if this part of the challenge is mastered.

If you and your child/children should take and participate in this challenge, I would very much like to know if your child/children have been successful.

I thank you. And one day, America will thank you.

Sincerely,

Miss Roxie

And are you kidding me?

How did I survive the lunch line as a child?

This link is for a news story telling of the latest move regarding technology being misused for the continued dumbing down of our children.

In one of the states in our union, they have been given permission to switch to a scanning system of using a finger to pay for lunch at school. BECAUSE -- and I quote from the television interview I heard with my own ears, "It's easier than having the child fumble for change, or to have to remember a four digit number."

*Fumble* for change? Oh heavens. Can you imagine living in a world where children actually *fumble* for change in a lunch line? (Oh dear, they might learn about money and become responsible!)

And having to *remember* a *FOUR DIGIT* number? Oh heavens again! How could we inject such cruelty to the mind of a child. And in a SCHOOL no less? Oh how outrageous. Thinking! Who’d ever thunk it? Actually, remembering a four digit number? How can you require that from a child? (Oh dear, they might actually learn to think for themselves!)

I think the people, who came up with this idea, didn't look around and notice -- They were in a SCHOOL.

I can't, for the life of me, figure out what is wrong with a child learning about money and change. What is wrong with memorizing a FOUR DIGIT number? What about addresses and phone numbers? Is it out of fashion and requirement for children to bother memorizing such things? (Did all sense and logic die with Mr. Rogers?)


And while I'm asking questions, why are people - in schools no less - allowed to make children into blooming idiots? Are there really so many people in the world, so busy, that no one can take the time to assist a child in learning about how to buy his lunch?

Maybe I'm not seeing something wonderful and logical in this action of finger scanning. I just see stupid people doing stupid things, taking away more responsibility and desire of thinking and making more people more stupid and neglectful of personal responsibility.

One day 4 years ago

Two separate sides of the door.

My side:

I am in the laundry room while my daughter is in the
family room folding clothes.  The rooms are adjacent
separated by a door that is not closed all the way. I
am singing with enthusiasm while I rearrange some
things on the shelves. 

I come across a full  box of
laundry detergent that I hadn't realized was there.
It falls with a load thud.  I stop singing to pick it
up and hope it didn't break in the fall. A moment of
silence passes and I hear hysterical laughter from
behind the door.


My daughter's side:

She is in the family room folding clothes.  She hears
her mother singing loudly from behind the door:

"I get knocked down
but I get up again
they're never gonna keep me down,
I get knocked down
but I get up again
they're never gonna keep me down,
I get knocked down..."

*THUD*

silence....

she breaks out into hysterical laughter.  She is
picturing a great video in her head.

Jacob and The Giant Library

Tuesdays and Thursdays are library days for Jacob and I. It’s Story Time with Miss Vanessa. Jake is very friendly to everyone. Very touchy, huggie, sweet little fellow ~ most grown-ups find it charming...but some little girls just don't like it.

There is one little girl in attendance each week that wants nothing whatsoever to do with Jacob's friendliness. If he smiles at her, she complains, 'Mommy he's looking at me!'. If he touches her shoulder – (and he does this to just about any child he goes up and talks to) -- she yells, "Mommy he's touching me!"

In a way, I applaud the little girl for loudly and clearly protecting her space. But it’s difficult to explain to Jacob that some people just don’t appreciate ones friendliness.

The little girl’s mother said last week, "She has issues." Today her mom said to me, "He's fine, she's just like that. I don't know what's wrong with her."

I told the mom, I really didn't think anything was 'wrong with her', that someday that attitude might serve her well.

But it is all very confusing in the early stages of life, isn't it? All the 'having my space stuff'.

I do think that Jacob does not have an awareness of any ones *space*. It's all his space after all, and you just happen to be in it!

But he's like a doctor; he means no harm. He looks people in the eye when they talk to him, if he has met you once before, he’s liable to put his arms around you while you are talking to him, he's just that socially comfortable.

I told the mom of Miss Don't-Look-at-Me that both her daughter and Jacob have something to learn. These two just happen to be the extremes of all the Respect My Space problems in the world (and there’s no *we* in My Space). Perhaps they can learn much from each other. Such cute little grasshoppers they are. Maybe they will grow up and get married.

It is difficult having Jacob over at my house right now because everything is not neatly put away and organized enough for a two year old to just boldly go from room to room. And he’s a boy explorer who needs to learn about *space*…and because it was raining outside today and our park plans were squashed, all playing space was limited, and Madam Blueberry was trying to concentrate on her math, I decided to take Jacob home an hour early and finish out our play there.

On the way home, just in conversation, I asked him if he was happy. He said, “No.”

I asked him why.

He said, “I’m mad at you.”

“At me?” I said, “Why is that?”

He said, “Because you are taking me home.”

Silly as this may sound, this made me smile. Only because I was wondering, did he like me and want to be with me for 5 hours every day. I think his little bit of anger answered my question.

Soon the weather will get nicer, and Madam Blueberry will get better at her math. (She was even looking forward to going to the park with Jacob today.) Soon everything will blend nicely and find a place to be in my house, and so soon things will be so that Jacob won’t have a reason to be mad at me anymore.

The Standard

I spent a good part of the day in Home Depot. I don't enjoy Home Depot. I whine when I am in Home Depot.

We had to buy some shelving. There is a lot of math involved in shelving projects. But now, THERE is a homeschool project that could kill the proverbial birds with the one stone. Have your child put up shelves. Hopefully, they won't make as many holes in the walls as Mr. B did.

However, there is no guarantee in that. You see, contractors say - the studs are placed at 16" --and ha, ha, ha on the measurements of contractors. We had a stud-finder that says contractors rulers are off a tad.

Do you know what a 'standard' is? I didn't. But that strip that holds the supports that holds the shelves is called a 'standard'. How about that? I would have called it a support strip. Or in short perhaps, a strip. - but if you click on this, you can see what a standard is.

Live and Learn.

Tunneling through it

I feel like I have nothing new and/or intelligent to report.

I couldn't sleep last night, and I was to tired to read, so I just tossed and turned. I ended up sleeping in this morning, and was tired all day, then a most unusual thing for me, I went out looking for rugs. I need one that I can tolerate.

I have realized I don't like looking for things. Or maybe what it is, is that, I really need to get some more of this unpacking done before I can feel comfortable going out to look for things.

I need a computer desk. Unless I order it on line, I doubt it will come to me. I have to go out, and look for it. Why do I hate that? I must be lazy.

People ask me, 'have you checked on ebay?' I never check on ebay for anything. It's like in my world, there is no ebay. What does ebay stand for anyway?

I have no idea what is going on in the world. I sat down at my inlaws today for a cup of tea, and they had the television on. There was President Bush talking tough about Iran. And I thought, 'oh you have got to be kidding me, please don't let us go to war with Iran.' I hate the whole war thing.

We all decided to order pizza tonight. I dialed the pizza place and got my mother-in-law.
What?
What is your number?
She gave me her number.
Her number is one digit off the pizza place number!! She just got her phone Friday!
What are the odds of that? Now really!

What is more important - the longevity of life or the quality of life? Do you live like one of those is a real choice to you? Or do you just get up, and there goes a day?