Today when I got home from our homeschool group, I found this on the front step:
And I found this in my living room:
So what’s a knitter to do? Well, since I didn’t make the mess, I’ll let the culprits clean it up themselves. And since I did buy the yarn, I’m off to wind it and print out the pattern I’m using with it.
Priorities. Gotta have ’em.
Now this is not normally blogworthy, but today it is. We’ve been battling either a prolonged stomach virus, or two viruses back-to-back for about 3 weeks. I will spare you all the details, but it has been unpleasant for all involved. I’m tired of all the extra cleaning that goes along with a stomach virus, the sleep deprived nights as feverish children can’t sleep and the way the house totally falls apart when I’m sick. But mostly I’m tired of not eating.
I completely lost my appetite last Friday as the virus hit me full force. Since then I’ve eaten an egg or some crackers every day, but that’s about it. I drank a lot of V8 Fusion to keep from getting light headed, too. Pumpkin Girl got back to normal a couple of days ago, and Bip is almost there. Boo and Philip escaped completely, so I’m the last one on the mend.
My appetite returned today and I ate three meals! Granted, that only means 2 pieces of bacon, a boiled egg and most of a homemade burrito, but it’s an improvement over yesterday’s chicken strip.
Tomorrow I’m hoping to work up to a salad for lunch.
I think I’ve mentioned a time or two that I’m a regular writing over at The Homeschool Classroom. Go check it out – it’s a great resource. Lots of good articles by fellow homeschooling moms sharing tips, ideas and inspirations. I just did a three part article on the Homeschool Preschool. You can find them here:
Part 1 – Preschool At Home…Or Not
Part 2 – Toys and Games for the Preschooler
Part 3- A Preschooler’s Day
I need to take a break from writing for The Homeschool Classroom for a few weeks. Nothing serious, I just need a break and get some pre-pre-move stuff done.
So if you’ve got a good idea for an article that you’d like to write, now’s your chance! Actually, it could be an article you’ve already posted on your blog, you just need to state that at the end of your article. Search your mind and your archives and help me out by submitting an article to run during my hiatus.
Details on becoming either a guest writer, regular or semi-regular writer can be found here: Guest Writers.
What sort of topics are we looking for? Product and curriculum reviews (positive and negative), craft ideas, organizational tips, co-op ideas, more preschooler ideas, teaching a child with disabilities. Do you follow a Montessori model or use Charlotte Mason’s ideas? We’d love to see more information on these methods. Anything that has to do with homeschooling is good!
We survived the cattle call that was the auditions for a, um, nationally televised talent show.
I’d love to tell you all about it, except that I signed a contract, agreeing not to discuss or disclose events related to the Program, my involvement in the Program, blah blah blah, forever in perpetuity, world without end, amen. I think I signed away Boo’s first born son, too, but I’m not sure.
I can probably tell you that we sat around and waited for 3 hours before it was our turn and then the kids danced half their dance (we knew going in that they only allow a minute and a half performance) and it was over. Now it’s “don’t call us, we’ll call you.” If we hear back from them, we move on to a live performance. It not, well then that’s it.
It was fun, though. I could have done without the people smoking pot outside the entrance (hello? major resort and convention center!) or the cross dressers (we only saw them briefly and I think the kids didn’t notice. I wish I hadn’t), but other than that it was a good experience.
My favorite part was Boo’s answer to the question on his application – Why do you think you are America’s next great talent? “I’m a good dancer and a great guy with a winning smile.” Gotta love the boy!
My least favorite part- paying $19 for parking.
Philip: Oh man! Where’s my pager?
Me:Â Did you lose it?
Philip: I think so. I’ve been all over the place today, too. The metro, the commissary…
Me: Do you want me to send it an email and we’ll follow the buzz?
He doesn’t answer, so I sent an email anyway.
Me to pager: Hello? Little lost pager? Where are you?
Philip continues to search, grumbling all the way. He shoots off an “arrow” prayer, “Please Lord, help me find my pager.”
Ten minutes later…
Pager replies: at the commissary
Life is good.
This just in: The Boy got an A in math. Not on one test, but for the whole book. This boy. Got an A.
He’s made such a huge improvement in his attitude towards school which has shown up in his math grades. He’s worked so hard to overcome his difficulties and I’ve gotten so much better in being compassionate and patient. He called his daddy at work to tell him, then played a little air guitar in celebration.
So anyway…just had to share. An A in math!
Until today, Boo didn’t know the color of his eyes. He’s of Chinese and Mexican heritage, I bet you know the color of his eyes! His language arts assignment required him to write similes, including one about the color of his eyes. He claimed he couldn’t see his own eyes, so he didn’t know what color they are. Nope, he’s never looked at himself carefully enough in the mirror to know. So off he went to investigate and returned to tell me that his eyes are “Brown like dirt.” Good to know.
I would have gone with “as brown as chocolate.”
In completely unrelated news, it looks like the kids’ America’s Got Talent audition will be less exciting than I thought. There won’t be any judges, it’s basically a taping of their performance which the judges will view later. If they like what they see, we’ll get a call back to a live, local performance in front of an audience. So no autographs from “the Hof” for us. Also, we’re not allowed to bring cameras. I guess that’s good for the show, but it’s not good for the blog. Don’t these people know I’ve got people wanting a behind the scenes look? I wonder if it’s too late to get a press credential?
And lastly, you’ll be glad to know that my PayPal-eBay fraud claim was resolved in my favor. Turns out that someone won a computer on eBay, then hacked my PayPal account to pay for it. Since I check my email 700 several times a day, I saw the PayPal notification within 20 minutes of it coming through my email, and within 30 minutes I had a fraud claim filed. The seller had actually shipped the computer to Vietnam when he heard from PayPal saying the transaction was in dispute. He got his computer back and helped out with my dispute by telling PayPal everything he knew and he filed a complaint with eBay. eBay is pressing charges. My money is back in my account and all is well.
Well, it’s official. Boo and Pumpkin Girl are audition for “America’s Got Talent” on Saturday. Apparently, the producers of the show contacted their Mexican folkdance teacher, looking for “cultural talent” to audition. Both the adults and the children of the company are auditioning.
I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, how fun and educational it will be to go through the audition process, not just in front of judges, but in front of cameras and crew as well. I have no illusions of grandeur in thinking my children are the next Big Thing, but getting used to performing or speaking in public is a good thing. It’ll be interesting to watch the whole proceedings from behind the scenes and to see the other people who perform. I’m pretty sure that I’ll walk away from the whole thing never wanting anything to do with the entertainment industry again.
Normally I am very protective of my children. I want to keep them away from any negative influences until I feel they are mature enough to reasonably handle them. It’s not about creating hot house flowers that only bloom when carefully attended. It’s about equipping them with the skills they need to deal with people and situations on their own. Thrusting them into the limelight of a nationally televised TV show and subjecting them to that level of criticism is not usually the kind of thing I do as a parent.
However, there is safety in numbers. They have been dancing with the other children for two years now and they all get along really well. They will perform as a group and fail or succeed as a group. Odds are, they won’t make it past the DC auditions, but it will be a unique experience for them. Something they’ll remember forever. I’ll be there the whole time, as long as the producers let me. I bet they’ll probably allow the parents to see the actual audition, seeing as how they are all minors. Who knows, though.
One cool thing is that the auditions are taking place at the very next exit down the highway from where I live. No fighting traffic downtown and getting lost. Unfortunately, there are no dressing rooms provided, so everyone has to show up in costume and make up and not mess themselves up for however long it takes them to be called.
The other thing is this…their teacher picked their weakest dance to perform. It’s a polka, the very one that fell completely apart on the first night of their last show. I think it’s one of their least favorites, too. And a polka – really, does that say “Mexican Folkdance” to you? I didn’t even know that Mexicans even danced the polka until my children learned it. Oh, and I need to make Pumpkin a hair peice before Saturday.
I was hoping they’d do the children’s favorite, easiest and most impressive looking dance, “Los Machetes.” This is the quintessencial Mexican dance. Boys in sombreros, with flashing and clashing machetes, girls in huge, swirling, colorful skirts with matching ribbons in their braided hair. It’s a simple dance in terms of footwork, but with the girls weaving in and out all over the stage and the boys in the center with their machetes, it’s an exciting dance.
Oh well. As Philip always says, “it is what it is.” The children will have fun and that’s what matters most.
According to the contract I have to sign, I can’t tell you what happens on Saturday. I guess at some point if I mention that I’m flying to LA, you’ll know the company was selected to move on. Or maybe I’ll just let you know which night the Washington auditions are set to air and what to look for and you can see for yourself.
Did I mention that our computer wasn’t working? Well, it got fixed. Then I did something to it and it’s not working again. This time it may be fatal. Apparently, I should not be allowed to touch the technology.
I was going to tell you all about this year’s Pinewood and Powder Puff Derby, but I have pictures and guess where they are? Yep, the computer. The good news is, they are not lost forever because we back up our computer daily using an online service. I just can’t get to them until we restore the files back.
But I can show you my latest craft projects. I finished several things that have been almost done for a number of months. The first one is this teddy bear which I made for the Mother Bear Project.
I got the pattern from Knitting For Peace. Normally, a title like that would cause a knee jerk reaction from me. I’m allergic to “peace” causes. There’s a whole lot that needs to be done to achieve peace and knitting isn’t one of them. However, I saw this little bear on someone else’s blog and she mentioned the book, so I bought it. I’m really glad that I did. It’s filled with lots of great projects to make for others in need. Most of the patterns can be found for free on the internet, but the stories in the book are well worth reading. The one about the Mother Bear Project brought me to tears. And so a bear was born, or er, knit. Be sure to check out the Mother Bear Project website, especially their Photo Album.
Then I finished my snowman’s scarf:
And I crocheted a chicken pot pie holder. Too funny!
During Pumpkin Girl’s piano lesson I realized that it was a good time to mop the kitchen and bathroom floors. So I did.
All clean and shiny and smelling like lemon verbena.
As I said goodbye to the piano teacher, I caught a whiff of something, shall we say…not so pleasant.
I walked through the kitchen towards the living room and realized I hadn’t seen Bip in several minutes.
“Bip?”
He replied from the newly cleaned bathroom, “I have sumting to tell you.”
Oh no.
Let’s just say that his stomach is clearly upset and he had made a mess of epic proportions all over his clothes, himself, the toilet and my clean floor. Clothes were immediately thrown in the washing machine, and I carried Bip at arms length upstairs for a bath. Boo was put to work supervising the bath while I tackled the bathroom.
I wiped up and mopped again, remembering to throw the mop head into the washer with the clothes and now my bathroom is clean again. This time it smells like Chlorox wipes and Lysol spray.
I bathed the boy and washed my hands 52 times because of course I didn’t wear gloves while cleaning. Gloves are for rookies anyways.
Oh, and the computer is acting up again.
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