All random, all the time . . .

Maybe that's what I should call this blog. Nothing I have to write is remotely connected.

First off - funny/scary stuff over at What The Heck Was She Thinking. We live in a strange world, folks.

Second - I gave birth to these boys. Should that not be enough for them to want to make me happy? Why do they delight in tormenting me and causing me to scream and run in fear?

Tim and one of his friends have a Sunday evening ritual of cruising the neighborhood streets to check out what people have put out on the curb for trash. Now, they have made some amazing finds (and I always make them go back to the house to check that the amazing finds are, in fact, trash) - a great bicycle, a weird shopping cart thing that Tim converted to a camera dolly for his movies, a flag and pole for Andy's treehouse, a book with over 100 cd's in it and on and on. Oh sure, that initial picture looks harmless enough. Scroll down to see what I see when I'm doing the dishes. Gah!

See what they found yesterday? I was coming in from the garage and Tim sprang that nasty thing on me. I did what any normal person would do, I slammed the door, screamed and ran to the neighbors' house. Today, I cannot turn around without finding the damn, nasty squirrel in my line of sight. I'd toss it, but I don't want to touch it, nor do I want to sacrifice a pair of perfectly good kitchen tongs.

Mike is not so squeamish, but he's delighting in my involuntary revulsion by the creature too. Stoopid men and boys. He is promising me that it will be gone by the next trash day. In the meantime, everyone light a candle to the saint that prevents rabies from badly taxidermied squirrels. This thing is vicious and it's feet are missing. Why are the feet missing? Why is the face so angry? Why is it in my house?

Swimming Hole?

Mike and the boys heard about a local swimming hole earlier this week. Today, they were up early and went to visit. Ian made a video. They had a great time, but I don't know if they'll go back soon. Around 11 am, after all the good folks were loosed from church, things got a little dicey. Lots of drinking and swearing and general weirdness. But, Mike and the boys were about done anyway. I'm torn. There are not very many unregulated places left in the world and I think there is a place for them. As you can see in the video, they definitely had a good time.

Is there a full-moon or something? I'm feeling very opinionated lately. But, didn't you guys have places you went as a teen/young adult that were "just there?" No admission. No park rangers. No Disney tickets required. No wristbands. Just nothing. We had a couple of places like that when I was young. And, mostly we just went and had fun and did nothing. I hate that places like this are a secret for most kids these days.

Do I want my kids wandering aimlessly, loitering and terrorizing unsuspecting middle-aged folk? Of course not. But, do I want my kids to think every single thing they do has to be structured and supervised? Again, of course not. For my own kids, I want some kind of happy middle-ground. Ugh ... am I making sense? Well, I know what I mean, so there.

Anyway, here are clips of Mike and the boys today. Ian did the editing. And, just to warn you, the nickname of this swimming hole is Big Balls. Charming, I know. I didn't name it. And, one more disclaimer, we do not know the girl that is in the beginning of the video. Can't imagine why she ended up on a video shot by teenage boys.

Big Balls at University from Ian Baker on Vimeo.

Give me your blogs . . .

I've finally committed to this blog template and am trying to update my list of blogs. I'm missing a LOT of you. If you don't see your blog here, can you please put it in the comments? Pretty please? My list seems so sad right now.

Random is as random does

RANDOM THING ONE:
When's the last time you thought about Lyndon Johnson? Nixon is the first president I have any real memory of, so I don't give LBJ a lot of thought. That is, until I heard this:

LBJ pants

It is a White House recording of LBJ ordering some new summer pants for himself. I promise it's worth a listen. I'm giggling just typing about it. If you have young kids running around, use headphones - there's some language you might not want to have to explain at the next play group.

RANDOM THING TWO:
I said it when I was eight and I'm still saying it. Boys are weird. They really are. When we went to Wekiva Springs last week, Ian had a couple of pictures left on the disposable underwater camera he'd taken to camp the week before. And he had a plan for the remaining two exposures. Tim actually took the picture. I'm seeing a career with National Geographic in his future. He calls this photo - Moses Meets the Springs. I'm so proud.

RANDOM THING THREE:
Ian is gearing up for his annual 4th of July Magic Show. This generally involves lots of visits to the thrift stores around town in search of weird random "magical" items. Yesterday we went out to scavenge for stage lighting. During our travels, I found a Target overstock comforter at GoodWill. It was in its original packaging, it matched our bedroom and it was $40. This is it. I'm bummed, I thought the shams were in the package, but it looks like I'll have to make those. But the comforter is a nice change from our tame pastel quilt. I think. I'm still undecided.

So there's the random stuff here for the weekend.

Really

I want to be the blogger you first started reading ... I do. Life was fun, funny and bizarre. But . . . and, yes, there's always a but . . . I'm finding myself flummoxed (talk about an excellent word!) lately.

The House of Representatives finds time to spare a moment of silence for Michael Jackson (child molester/musician). Yet, it seems not ONE single member of the House read the latest Cap and Trade bill (not to mention the first stimulus bill). WTF????? How can any one of them vote on something they haven't read? What happened to transparency and regular people being able to view a bill online? I read very quickly. Given the constraints the House was under for this bill, I don't think I could have read and made notes and fully understood the bill between midnight (and then 3 am when the goodies were added in 300 pages for those who agreed to vote yes) and 9 am. How are these people sleeping at night? What are they thinking? I'm good with someone reading the bill, being able to discuss it intelligently and voting in a way I don't agree with - but NO ONE read the freaking bill.

We received the paper this morning (despite my efforts to cancel delivery for the past three months - in person, on the phone and via mail - I don't pay for the paper, they just keep delivering it. @@ And people wonder why newspapers are failing?) Anyway, on the front page of The Orlando Sentinel was the newest jackass voted into the House, Alan Grayson. He actually bragged about voting FOR Cap and Trade because he'd been pinky-sweared a $50 million Hurricane Research Center. At least he's up front about his motives. I dunno, I have yet to talk to anyone in Orlando that has felt a pressing urge for a Hurricane Research Center. But, what do I know.

I love junky tv and tabloid gossip as much as the next person, but really? Is anyone paying attention to the real news? The real, real news . . . not Michael Jackson, not Sarah Palin, not that stoopid blogger that just got punched for being stoopid, not John and Kate, but the constant, aggressive erosion of our basic freedoms by the people we've all elected? That's the kicker - WE elected them.

Once you've given up a right, it's hard to get it back. I don't care what your party affiliation is. We have a Congress full of sloppy, self-serving people and they need to go - every last one of them. They vote on things that will cost us all for the rest of our lives, yet they don't take the time to read what they've voted on - WHY? Does anyone else on the planet (save Homer Simpson) have this luxury? I never did when I was working full-time. Do you/did you? Am I the only angry person?

Gah . . .

I'll go back to human and entertaining tomorrow. You can read about my exploits painting my sad little laundry area and life with stoopid teens tomorrow.

Talk me down (or not) . . .

Mike came home this evening with a flyer from our local library. I'm not sure what I make of it. I'm going to share the pertinent bits of the flyer and my thoughts. If you disagree or have something to add, I would REALLY, REALLY appreciate the input.

THE FLYER:
Keep our Seminole County Public Libraries Public!
Seminole County Gov't has posted a request for proposals for privatizing the library system. They are suggesting that outsourcing the library system to a private FOR PROFIT (their capitalization, not mine) company would save the county money, but at what cost to us, the citizens?

* A for-profit company is actually seeking to make a profit off of our tax dollars. (Umm...who builds the roads, libraries, other structures, etc? Private companies! who win the bid for a gov't job. And, yes!!!, they do it to make money. Why is that bad?)

*Service to the citizen will no longer be the priority, profit will. (My experience has always been that someone looking to make a profit WILL go out of their way to make a customer happy. Maybe it's just me, but my experience with people who work for our local gov't really don't give a flying f***)

*A for-profit company (WHEN did it become a bad thing to run a business to make a profit? Isn't that how most of us earn our livings? Really, has it come to for-profit=evil? That makes no sense at all.) will now hold all of our private citizen's (note bad punctuation - from a library lover no less) personal records that were entrusted to the library. (Help me out here. I, 15 years ago, gave the library my driver's license from which they copied my name and address. It's 2009, does anyone really think their names and addresses are secret? And, what exactly would this nefarious library company do with your addresses? Sorry, I'm not feeling threatened.)

*The company currently under consideration is not even locally owned (I know you guys read from all over, how many library management companies 'live' in your area?), but out of state and none of the profit would stay in Seminole County. (What the flyer fails to mention is that the company in question goes out of its way to hire local employees - and aren't those jobs kept a stimulus to the economy?)

That's the "meat" of the flyer. They have a blog, but it has no more details or information. If you've read my blog for any length of time, you've heard me bitch about our local library. The people are lovely - the contents, not so much. They rarely have what we need or are looking for - ever.

The other thing the "meat" of the flyer fails to mention is that by privatizing, the employees of the library are no longer county employees. They no longer have that union protection. And, as much as I like our librarians, I can't jump on board funding their county-paid retirements when we ourselves have been set back a good 20 years. And, I KNOW Mike and I are not alone.

Anyway, the flyer annoyed the heck out of me. They did not present even ONE good reason to oppose letting a FOR PROFIT company coming in and saving it. The website annoyed the heck out of me too. No details. No links. No foundation. Nothing. http://keepingpublicseminolepubliclibrary.blogsot.com

I need to sleep on it, but I will be emailing my County Commissioner tomorrow to let him know that I am all for privatizing the library's operations.

Am I way out of line? I know I'm not heartless, but . . .

The Anti-Frugal!

I met up with my mom (aka Bing) yesterday. We ran some errands, ate delicious Chinese food and then had a pedicure. This was my birthday present and ahhhhh . . . I made it through the pedicure without kicking the nice lady in the face due to my ticklishness. It was an awesome day and I've been distracted ever since trying to sneak glimpses of my purty toes.

(I was going to add a picture to this post, but the multitude of feet kind of skeeved me out. Imagine nice little feet with red toenails.)

Frugal Tip of the Day

I read yesterday that if your printer is out of ink to try setting it to the "photo" option (just be careful to resize). I just tried this. I have no idea why, but I just got five shipping labels out of what I thought was a completely empty cartridge. I love tips like this all the time, but I love them even more as we near the end of the month and the end of the checking account.

I like to think we're pretty frugal(die-hard Tightwad Gazette fan here), but I'm always open to new tips. Anyone have anything unusual to share? I draw the line at knitting with dog hair (though, I could probably make some amazing blankets) or recycling toe-nails. Beyond that - I'll give anything a try.

Happy Mistake

We've been going stir-crazy here. It's been hot. Doh! It's Florida. But it hasn't been Florida hot, it's been desert hot. No wind, no rain, just unrelenting heat. We're not really set up to deal with that here. Today, we woke to a breeze and semi-cloudy skies. A break!!!! We headed to Wekiva Springs. It was still 97 when we pulled into the park, but it was a Florida 97, not an Arizona 97. I love Wekiva Springs - it's shady and cool and not usually crowded. We left after lunch in a effort to avoid the worst of the sun. I do love that the older boys totally do not mind being seen with me on these outings. Sure, they ignore me while we're there - well, sort of, actually they don't ignore me too much. They seem to have fun with Andy and they keep track of him. I don't know, sometimes I surprised - I thought I would have snarkier teens. After today's outing, I feel really lucky.

We were nearly to the park when I realized I was book-less. Gah! The whole point is for the kids to swim and leave me to read and study people. Without a book in hand, studying people becomes gawking. I stopped. I was annoyed with myself for not having a book - I have stacks of unread books here at home. I sucked it up and paid $10 for a brand new book. Happy Mistake! I picked up The Likeness by Tana French. I read her first book last year while at the beach. (In the Woods). I enjoyed the first book just fine as a beach read with some substance. The Likeness, I have to tell you, I loved it! It's thought-provoking, well-written, and I recommend it to just about anyone! I finished it in a day. This is one book I would really love to see made into a movie. It could be great. I finished it around midnight and it was all I could do not to go wake someone up and make them read this book. I am happy I forgot my book today and happened upon this book. Good stuff.

I-Pod issues. I heart my I-Pod. The boys are really teaching me the ins and outs. My first act was to download (with my new Audible.com subscription) Pillars of the Earth. This is one of my favorite books ever and I've been wanting to reread it. Now, I'm listening to it. Great reader. I'm loving it. But, at some point a person as to stop painting chairs and doing laundry and maybe go to bed. Or do they? The past week or so, I've been testing those limits. I'm thinking sleep might win a little. If I could only figure out how to read one book while listening to another, I'd be much happier.

Anyone else counting the days until the new Harry Potter movie?

Why Dodge Ball is important!

Watch this video through the end. Really. It's worth two minutes.

(Thanks to http://www.brutallyhonest.org/brutally_honest/)


Battle w/ Police - Tehran, Iran - June 20th 2009
Uploaded by mightier-than. - Watch the latest news videos.

Happy 45th Anniversary!!!!

I wish I had one of their real wedding pictures to put up here, but I don't. Robert Doisneau will have to do.

Happy 45 Years, Mom and Dad!!!!! (This is where we all raise our glasses in a toast . . .)

Road Trip?

We're all restless here (in case you hadn't noticed). We're talking about taking a road trip to visit my sister and "the cousins" in Raleigh (consider yourself warned Lynne) and then detouring for a camping trip to the Outer Banks and then heading home. Mike cannot take that kind of time off, so it would be just me and the boys. I think it would be fun and it's one of the last chances we'll have to do this as they'll all be working and going to school and *sniff* trying to leave me soon.

What are your best travel-cheap tricks? We usually 'rent' books-on-tape, pack a few coolers with drinks and snacks, camp if we can and (shhh don't tell 'em) my kids still believe that souvenir is the French word for pictures. Other thoughts? Has anyone camped on the Outer Banks and found a place they really loved? (Tent camping that is.) We had a great vacation a few years ago camping on Ocracoke Island, but I'm hoping to not have to drive that far down if we can avoid it.

Anything you have to throw at us would be great! We're thinking August, maybe.

Sleep!!!! And other random tidbits . . .

Thanks to a friend on an email loop I belong to, I figured out the insomnia, twitchy legs thing! Finally - it was getting ugly here. Iron and magnesium are my new friends. Two days of adding/upping those and I actually slept for six hours last night. It was amazing to wake up and feel like a human being this morning! I'm actually looking forward to climbing into bed soon and sleeping - for more than 1-2 hours. Good stuff.

Today I cleaned. Why is it my dog is not bald? Seriously, I could build two dogs from the hair I find floating throughout the house. And this is every single day. If I ate dog food everyday, would I be able to regenerate my hair overnight? I think I may have the cure for baldness here. Anyone willing to test it out for me?

I'm brand new to the land of I-Pod. It's making the boys insane that I have put nothing on my little green machine yet, but it's all so overwhelming. Do any of you have experience with Librivox? Pod Casts? Music you cannot live without? Please share the good, the bad and the ugly.

Vanity, thy name is . . .

oh never mind ... just get the manager.

Seriously, I'm over the edge, folks. I dragged Andy to the grocery store today. We went to Winn Dixie, the unfancy, affordable grocery store that just remodeled but somehow still feels like a double-wide with only half of its paneling removed. We go there all the time. And, in general, the employees are really nice and friendly. But, there is one girl that I consider my nemesis (think Seinfeld and Newwwmannnnn). She's the most unpleasant person I can remember meeting in the past 15 or so years (and you guys know that I attract some doozies). She does not have the look of a stoopid person - but she seems to be living her life stupidly. How would I know this? Well, that is what she does while she works - she talks to anyone who will listen about how horrible her life is and how hard she has it. She might be 22-23, tops. I will do nearly anything to avoid getting in her line because my first impulse is to grab her ponytail and shake her head and tell her to grow up and take charge. Of course, this girl has about 7" on me and a good 100 lbs, not to mention the home-made tattoos and I would never really do that because I'm scared of her.

But, today, I had to go through her line because she was the only person with a line. And, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, vanity - mine. I had decent sized cart of food and among those items was beer. Well, I'm 44, I don't worry about that. Until today. I think this girl knows I don't like her because she talks over me so I only hear her horrible life stories vicariously. This morning, she glared at me and demanded ID before she would scan the beer. Ummm ... no. I was not about to pull out the new license with it's horrible old-lady picture when both scary-girl and I know I'm probably older than her mother. (Andy was all excited thinking he would be the first in the family to see the hideous license picture. Sorry, Andy.) I dug deep, took a cleansing breath and refused. The girl got nasty. I asked for a manager. Lucky me - it was a manager I actually know and like. In fact, our groceries every week probably cover a large portion of that poor manager's salary. There are weeks where I talk more to the manager than to Mike. Anyway . . . The girl started to explain and the manager hit some key on the register and told scary girl to get a grip - I was clearly over 35. How's that for tact and diplomacy (on the manager's part) and immaturity (on my part)?

So, we made it through the store. I still haven't shown the license to anyone and I'm still just "clearly over 35." Ahhhh victory.

I've asked before, but I'll ask again. Please, someone send me a life. I'm fast headed down that road to becoming a crazy old bat who causes scenes everywhere she goes for real and imagined slights. Save me!!!!! (I'm putting the new driver's license picture up here - kind of fuzzy a la Joan Crawford - maybe that'll cure me?)

I'm bored . . .

Really. I am. I HATE when my kids say this to me, but here I am. Bored completely out of my mind. And, unlike my kids, I would be totally happy to sit on my floor and play jacks for hours on end or to go sit in the treehouse (with a lot of bug spray) and read the day away. But ... no. I get to keep doing the dishes, the laundry, making the meals, doing more dishes, you get it. My life by no means sucks, but sometimes, I hit a wall and am completely stifled by boredom.

I am a person who needs to be doing something with a purpose. Lately, unless clean underpants for the gang counts as a purpose, I'm lost. I feel like I should say that I am grateful to be able to be home with my kids. I am grateful, but it's not a gift I received. Mike and I work very hard for me to be able to be home and so that we can live on one salary. I know everyone isn't in that situation, but, for us, it's worked out. Now, let's get back to me, me, me.

So about me ... what to do with myself? Normally, this time of year I'd be planning homeschool stuff and poring over the various catalogs. This year, eh. I know what works for us, I have most of it. Danny will be dual-enrolling at the local community college (Calculus and Physics), Ian and Tim will be tortured for another year of more-of-the-same. Andy? He's so easy, it's scary. So, homeschooling planning isn't really my thing this year.

This afternoon, I turned off the tv and deleted a bunch of my "quick" links on the computer. Me and 24-hour news is not a good combination. But, honestly, what the hell is going on in our country? I get having nothing and being poor, but this approach of penalizing anyone with anything makes no sense to me. I liked this letter that I heard about on another blog. This woman articulates everything I've been thinking. But, enough is enough. I cannot watch this stuff all day and all night. I freak out when one of the kids doesn't own up to the dirty towel on the floor - you can imagine my reaction to our government lately. In a fit of activity, I actually unenrolled myself from any established party on my voter card. I despise them all equally.

Oh, right, back to me finding something to do with myself ... you can see how me not having something specific to do could get ugly . . .

Anyone interested in a "novel" challenge - 50,000 words from July 1 to August 31? We can work out the details if there is interest. Or, is anyone interested in my coming and repainting your whole house (my color choices)? Or send me a puppy? Something ... I need something to do that isn't dishes or laundry or cleaning or managing teenaged boys. Did I mention it should be a free something? Free is good.

Send Tums . . .

I'm up with heartburn. But, it's the good kind of heartburn. The kind you get when you eat an amazing dinner and top it off with a monster chocolate cake. Mike came home early tonight. He and the boys made amazing shish kabobs - spicy shrimp, peppery-steak, mushrooms, peppers, onions, new potatoes, pineapple and some really hot peppers. One of Andy's friends stayed for dinner - I was glad; Ian's at Scout camp and it feels weird not to have at least four kids at the table.

AND! Mike got me a birthday present. We don't usually do gifts (well, nothing more than $20) for each other ever. I now have an I-Pod. I'm so excited. I can putter around and listen to audio books or music that I've actually chosen. I'm kind of freaked out that he spent the money, but I'm really excited. It's shiny and green. Dan promised to give me a tutorial tomorrow.

My mom is going to take me out for lunch and a pedicure (pedicures kind of freak me out - I've only ever had one) later in the week. Like a grown up. Cool, huh?

That's me in the picture. See how young I look - it's as young as I'll ever be, right? Nice overalls, huh? It was a formal affair.

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah . . .

Today it's my birthday ... (think Beatles, don't make me type more nah's) . . .

Back when I turned 41, Mike, the boys, my entire family forgot my birthday. You can read about it here, back when my blog was new and funnier. I was so bummed. The following year, I hosted a big party for my own birthday. You can read about it (minus the pictures) here. Last year was low key and here I am again. I have taken to marking my birthday in multi-colored markers on the calendar. Mike and the boys KNOW it's my birthday, but I'm not taking chances. I baked a peanut butter/chocolate/oatmeal cake this evening that is sturdy enough to hold *gasp* 44 candles. Anything else is gravy.

How is it that I'm 44? I had to go to the DMV today to renew my license. *sniff* The last time I had to physically present myself at the DMV I was newly pregnant with Andy. My hair was long and normal. I thought I was in control because the "bigs" were all of 6, 6, and 7. I was so stoopid. I knew NOTHING. Today, I had to relinquish my tranquil old driver's license and get a new picture. Let's just say if a still picture could have an eye-twitch, mine does. Sadly, I'll probably look back fondly on this hideous picture when I have to revisit the DMV in 10 years. Andy will be 19, Danny will be nearly 27 and Ian and Tim will still be digging the basement home for themselves under our current house.

No plans for the day. The things I would really like to do (bra-shop, fabric-shop, paint samples and maybe a pedicure) aren't high on the boys' hit list. It's a work day, so Mike will be tired when he gets home.

Who knows, I hate to let the day just go by ... maybe the boys and I will end up doing something fun tomorrow. Something fun that isn't shopping for new bras or checking out fabric swatches . . I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I think everyone reading should eat 44 M & M's (or whatever floats your boat) . . .

More books . . .

I've been working through Edith Wharton's House of Mirth. I'm enjoying it but was sidetracked when my Paper Back Swap book arrived. It was a copy of The Godfather. The Godfather has LONG been one of my favorite movies, but strangely, I had never read the book. So the past 1 1/2 days have been spent reading the book. I have to say, the movie adaption is one of the very very very best I've ever seen of any book. My opinion of the movie is only strengthened by reading the book. The book was interesting, especially having seen the movie first. There was a lot more in depth study of characters in the book who are in the movie, but don't get a lot of special treatment. The movie makes a lot more sense now.

Here's the original trailer of The Godfather. If you've never seen it, it's worth putting on your Netflix list. Old as the movie is, I don't recommend it for kids under 16 (and only mature kids in the 16-18 range). It's a beautifully made movie, but it's violent and sometimes gruesome. More importantly, the themes of the movie would be hard to talk to about with a lot of adults, much less a teenager.


In the meantime, if you haven't already, check out PaperBackSwap.com. It's great if you read a lot and are on a tight budget. I've found it costs me about $2.50 to send a book to someone. It's cheaper than buying a new paperback at the bookstore and you can be choosier than you can at the thrift store. When we're not "doing" school, I can go through 1 to 1 1/2 novels a day, so this site has been a lifesaver for me. For homeschoolers, I've found a bunch of great supplemental reading for the boys over the years using this site.

OK - plug finished.

Mean!!!

Sleep deprivation makes me mean. There! I said it. I was mean, mean, mean when we all got up and got moving today. I was tired and feeling mean. The boys are familiar with me being "pissy" but "pissy" is NOT mean. Today I was mean. And, the boys' poor friend . . . until today, I was the goofy mom that wears overalls a lot and doesn't care if you make a mess. Poor friend, he saw a whole new side of me today. This whole lack of sleep thing is becoming an issue. I've never needed a lot of sleep. But, even I need more than two hours at a stretch.

But, we were packed up and we went to the beach, dammit. And, lo and behold we had fun (not enough fun that I took pictures, but fun nonetheless). It was hot and windless, but the water was perfectly cool and refreshing. The boys were in the water nearly the whole time (sure, they might have been a little scared of me) and I read and hopped in and out of the water. No major issues. Just a nice, fun day.

Everyone is asleep right now. Mike is getting them up SUPER-early (think 4:15) to drive out to Titusville and see one of the last shuttle launches. Mike asked me to go a few times ... I think he had me confused with someone else. I love Mike. I love the boys. I just HATE the early morning (unless I never went to bed at all). To make up for my suckiness, I have packed up their coolers with breakfast and lunch and brownies with caramel gooey stuff in the middle of them.

If things go well, I might get more than 2 hours sleep tonight. No reason for Mike to bang around in the kitchen early, early, early only to leave me with a full sink of dishes. No reason for Andy to hop onto our bed early (not early, early) to tell me about his dreams the night before. Which are fascinating - I lied, they're not fascinating. No reason for any of the older boys to speak to me at all.

Here's to a silent morning and a good night's sleep! I really would like to be a nice person again.

So we never left the house . . .

Today just never came together . . . for the second morning in a row, I woke up at 5 am with a horrendous sinus headache. You know, the kind of headache that makes you consider whether life is worth living? It's not a migraine - I've had those (and they suck at least equally). I growled at Mike who was up and happy and peppy and ready to start his day. I KNOW he was happy to talk to me. That poor man. Ultimately, I ended up taking a big gulp of Nyquil. The headache faded, but so did the prospects of us getting anything real done in the morning. Ultimately, I did get a LOT of laundry done and cleaned the bathrooms and did all that stoopid mom stuff that makes me want to get a lobotomy. So, at least that's all out of the way.

To make up for our pathetic excuse of a day today, we're going to the beach tomorrow. I made little pita breads and a variety of dips (using my NEW tupperware-type containers). I'm looking forward to the day. I'm currently "bookless" (as in I haven't found anything that's really grabbed my attention) so I am bringing an assortment of books, blank notebooks in case I get a great idea for the novel that's going to make us rich, my knitting AND the camera. Something interesting is bound to happen -right?

For now, I'm getting ready to color my hair. If you pray - pray. If you are not of the praying persuasion, light something blondish (not gray-blond tweedish) on fire in your house. My hair is seriously making me mad. Of all the things I've ever had going for me, great hair was one of them. Until, ummm, the last six months. I do not even know how to begin to deal with the mess on top of my head. It's not great - it's not pretty - it's kind of oogy. How did this happen? Should I even mention the eight-foot long old-man hair in my eyebrows this morning? What is THAT about? I'm wondering if I should save these scary hairs and make a prayer rug or something? Wahhhh . . . can't someone get me committed? Nothing fancy, just a nice quiet place where I'm not listening to three sports at once and where everyone smells good?

Look for beach pictures and a better attitude tomorrow.

Bing!

Hi Bing! Thanks for having us over today and feeding us. They might have been quiet, but, the boys had a great time. (Sorry for the old picture, but I love this picture and so do the boys!)

Before you spill it, I'll just tell everyone that the boys and I played a VERY long game of Clue this afternoon. Andy decided to make his guess after about three turns. We were sitting on the porch playing the game and we made Andy go inside to look at the cards in the "secret" envelope. Andy returned to the porch and said he had something to tell us. We shooed him away, not wanting him to ruin our game. TWO hours later, Ian made a guess at the cards. Ugh. We should have listened to Andy. The stupid enveloped had two room cards and a weapon card. Gah. Listen to the short people.

On the way home, we stopped at Costco to pick up two take and bake pizzas, batteries for Ian's upcoming summer camp. Go figure, I was on an impulse-buying rampage. We bought a box of Sham-Wow's (yes, they make you say WOW) for Ian to use as towels at camp and then I went totally crazy . . . are you sitting? I bought us new Tupperware! Fancy stuff with snap-lock lids. it means I'm old, doesn't it, when I keep going to check the drawer with my new tupperware, doesn't it? I'm insanely excited about this stuff. No more topping off nasty plastic ware with foil lids. No more messy tupperware drawer. Woohoo - does anything scream "I'm going to be 44 in a week" more than this?

Sadly, the kids and I all agreed we're not getting out enough. We spent a full two hours messing with the new Sham-Wow's. And we had a blast doing it. Anyone local with carpet who is willing to let us dump grape juice or red wine on your carpet to see what happens with the Sham-Wow's? We'll bring lunch!

Exciting stuff, I know. Tomorrow, we're headed to WalMart and maybe even IKEA. I know, I know - bring the smelling salts.

Color me paranoid today . . .

I haven't been sleeping very well. That leaves a lot of free time for thinking and worrying and, you know, thinking. Last night, I was thinking (as Mike breathed really loudly and slept very soundly) and started thinking about some of my recent posts and thought maybe I should clarify some things. Or not. But, sleeping isn't looking that great tonight, so I thought I'd go ahead and type out my thoughts. You know, my blog and all of that.

One, with the older boys, Mike and I are following the same pattern we did when the boys were little and trying to follow our gut feelings. We're new to the whole older teenager thing, as are most of our friends with kids this age. We certainly don't know all (or any) of the answers and I never mean to presume here that we do. We are trying to take the course we think is in the best interest of the boys. Maybe it will payoff and maybe it won't. In the meantime, I write here to keep a record of sorts for myself. I also write about our experiences with the boys to maybe help someone else in the middle of these years or someone who is coming up on those years. It's not a handbook - just our experiences. I welcome your comments whether you agree or disagree.

Two, with Andy. Andy is a brand new experience in being parents for us. In many ways, he's an only child. He's too young to participate in many of the things his older brothers do, but he's part of their lives simply because he lives here. He has his own friends (he's very, very lucky in this department) and his own interests. Summer camps are definitely pricey for us. Really, I just kind of rule them out because in the past I've always had to consider three tuitions. Lazy thinking on my part.

But, Andy is tough. He usually shrugs my suggestions off when I bring up summer activities. I know he's envying his buddies who are attending summer camps right now. However, I showed him a few camps (this past spring) for the summer and he wanted nothing to do with them. He was not just NOT interested, he was intensely NOT interested. He's a kid torn between two worlds, I guess. he doesn't want to miss out on anything the older boys might do (beach, springs, etc) AND he doesn't want to miss out on anything his friends might be doing (various camps, etc). Hence, my "UGH" statement. It wasn't an "Ugh" about anything other than having a child that makes me crazy.

Anyway, when I can't sleep for nights on end, I worry about stuff and I worry about how people will take things. It's crazy, really. Since I've moved to "Blogger" I haven't tracked who's reading here at all. I'm "kind of" curious, but not enough to do anything about it. In so many ways, it doesn't matter. I love that so many people read this blog and that so many people have become friends through this blog. But, ultimately, this is a record of our(mostly my) life during however long I keep this blog. With a few blips, I have never purposely used this site to target people or say mean things or suggest mean things. And I've never sat here typing with the intent to be mean or to suggest that our way is the only way to do things.

And, enough people read here actually KNOW me. I think they know this to be true. I hope you all know that to be true. I hope I've clarified things if you had questions. If not, leave a comment or email me at all4mine@bellsouth.net.

Finally ... what to do with a summer . . .

We're lucky. The kids and I have nearly two full months ahead of us, unplanned. BUT, it's not like when they were little and happy to go to the zoo for a morning or the park to play for a few hours. Most likely, Danny will be working most days. But that leaves the rest of us. I'm figuring on lots of beach days and springs days . . . and then? It's up to them. I've found in past years that if I let them get bored enough, they come up with some great ways to entertain themselves. I'm hoping this year is no exception.

They all have "reading lists" to get them thinking and, more often than not, they'll read the books and find themselves surprised that they liked them. But, summer is summer. I will not be a harpie (even if I am the Queen of Harpies) and I will not stand guard and make them read (though I think endless reading is the perfect summer). Additionally, I will not be the constant tour guide trying to make their summer fun and interesting.

I think this will be the hardest for Andy this summer. His best friends are all in a variety of summer camps throughout the summer. They'll be bowling, going to the movies, putt-putt golfing, hitting theme parks and water parks and generally doing a lot more than Andy will be doing. We'll just call this Andy's-wake-up-call summer. The other boys lived through their friends doing all the cool stuff all summer and Andy will too. Part of me wishes I could send Andy to camp with his friends, but a bigger part of me says no. Ugh.

But, I DO wish I could think of one really cool thing to do that all the boys would love and remember. It's early, I'll come up with something.

Talkin' 'bout MY GUY . . .

Sure, I bitch about him. But, mostly, I've married a great and wonderful man. For years, when the kids went to bed early, Mike was working nights. Now that he's home nights, we have nocturnal teenagers. It's hard to find time and space to have a grown-up conversation these days. When we manage, it's usually because I'm frantic and clueless on the boy-manhood journey and we end up crouching in the driveway whispering. It's pathetic. (But, if your oldest is grounded, one of your second oldest has a totally hot girlfriend living just 'round the bend and the other two are willing to keep their mouths shut for certain amounts of money - Andy currently has more disposable income than Mike and I could hope to have over the next few months! . . . you do what you have to do)

So, as kind of a joke, knowing Mike-the-morning-guy would see it - I taped a picture of some chairs I liked from the Sunday paper onto our bathroom mirror a few weeks ago. And, damn, if the man did not make two of the chairs this weekend. How cool is that? Now, Andy has a place to sit and read to me while I do laundry. I have a place to sit and read while half of the kids are lifting weights on the porch and the rest of them are watching hockey/rugby/baseball/basketball/football in the living room. So cool. I think I'm going to paint them an orangey-red (think old geraniums) when they're ready to be painted.

AND ... Mike agreed to come out last night for a local fundraiser. The man has far better judgment than I do. We probably should have stayed home. But, what with grounded oldest kid, I've been antsy and anxious to leave the house for just a night. Most of the families we were out with had their kids (mostly teens) in tow. I think Mike and I won the award for "Family Most Likely To Say NO!" We are, I think, FAR from being great big prudes, but we're also in agreement that there's no reason to set the older kids up to fail. I don't know ... I guess we have to wait another 10 years to see how this all pans out. The kids were fine with our decisions and I had a great time talking to real-live people. Mike did too.

Ugh ... older kids are WAY harder than toddlers. They're more fun, but they're harder.

Let's get the books out of the way first . . .

I started I Am the Messenger, but kind of hated it. I had a hard time believing the author of The Book Thief wrote this book. I'm going to come back to it. Sometimes a good book is just a matter of timing. Next, I tried Waterland - the description was intriguing - the book, ehhh ... again, I've set it aside for now, maybe I'll like it better in a few months. For now, I didn't like either of these books.


Not to be book-less, I started We The Living by Ayn Rand (yes, I've been on a kick, but you're safe, she's dead and I've read everything she's written). This was her first novel and, like her other books, I've been hit by how compelling it is given how old this book is and how current it remains given the times we're living in (I'm sure lots of you disagree, but . . . you're not going to change my mind and I'm not trying to change yours). What struck me while reading this book was how interesting it would be if you were homeschooling some older teenagers and to have them read The Jungle and then We the Living. Both books, imo, were heartbreaking - people in hopeless situations that just kept getting worse and worse - and both books failed to supply a remedy that works.



Next up, my neighbor passed on The Time Traveler's Wife. I have to be up front. I hate time-travel anything. It confuses and upsets me. The Terminator movie and all it's incarnations make me insane. There are just too many variables and too many things that allow my brain to wander off thinking about the "what ifs" to allow me to focus on the plot. This book was no different - I struggled with some of the concepts. I'm ready to argue a few. But, overall, it was a sweet love story and it even made me weepy in parts. I just hope no one tries to make this strange little book a movie - it'll never make sense.

What do you think?

I kind of like this new background ... it's not JUST right, but it's getting closer . . .

It's clean!!!!!

Sorry to disappear but, you know how it goes . . . you start cleaning one thing and that just makes the all the rest looks filthy so you have to clean that too? And it goes on and on and on? Well, that's where I've been. And, now it's all cleaned out. I think. As clean as it's going to get, anyway. And, I'm back regale you all with tales of my exciting life.

Right after this commercial message. Below are a few things I'm selling and a few things I'm still giving away. First come first served. A quick Google will give you any details you need about the various books. I will have these up until Monday afternoon, then I will move anything left to the homeschool message boards. (And, if you really want something I'm selling and are short on cash, just email me. We'll work something out.)

FOR SALE (paypal address amy@thefoilhat.com):

Math-U-See PreAlgebra - DVD (2) and Teacher Manual - $40 postage paid

Math-U-See Algebra I - DVD (2), Honors Booklet, Test Booklet (with erasures on tests 1-5), and Teacher Manual $50 postage paid

Trisms - Age of Revolution - Modern world history from 1850-2005. Can be used as a 1 or 2 year program. Includes 1st (1850-1920) and 2nd (1930-2005) Student and Teacher books (four hefty books in all). Additionally included are blank worksheets, maps, quizzes and tests for each unit. The set is definitely used with random pencil marks and some notes in the margins (mostly in pencil). The 2nd semester Teacher Edition was involved in a tragic Diet Coke accident and there are scars - but it is completely usuable. All three of my older boys enjoyed Trisms, this sequence in particular. We no issues with all three boys sharing these books. I found it perfect to add to and subtract from depending on our own particular needs. $180 postage paid

ARTistic Pursuits - Color & Composition - Senior High Book 2 - We all really liked using this book. The variety held the boys interest as did the subject matter. I would not recommend this book for an average artist younger than 13-14. If you have a middle-school-aged child who is an avid, interested, active artist, go for it! $24.00 postage paid.

FREE:

(1) The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism (Official Revised, Version #2)

(1) Once Upon a Time, Saints by Ethel Pochocki - we all loved these books

(1) More Once Upon a Time Saints

(1) Trisms - Expansion of Civilization (2002 edition) + Answer Keys - this is the older version, but if you are looking for something thorough and are willing to put some time into it, I think it's a great program for high-school kids.

(1) Great Studio Projects in ART HISTORY (revised) - This is a nice soft cover book to have on had for rainy days and/or during "blah" periods in your history studies. Older elementary kids do well with lots of instruction. Motivated middle and high school do fine working independently.

Updates

Soaps still available:

Sets of TWO soaps - $12.50 (2 sets available on a first come/first serve basis. Shipping included 1 set of 2 Dragonsblood/Malabar Peppercorn also available.)

Dragonsblood/Malabar Peppercorn - masculine, clean and not too masculine. It's what I have in my shower right now.
Pink Sugar/Oatmeal, Milk and Honey - two classics that work well together. Surprisingly well. It's as close as I'll ever get to making a his/her soap. Good stuff.


Ingredients: Distilled water; goat's milk; lard; olive oil; shea butter; fragrance and/or essential oils. May contain: dead sea mud; black pepper; honey; tea leaves; and/or oatmeal.

You can paypal me at amy@thefoilhat.com or email me at all4mine@bellsouth.net if you'd rather handle your transaction by check or money order.

I have spent the evening cleaning out the bookshelves. I'll have some additional stuff available tomorrow at no cost and some available at a VERY fair price. Check back.

Brrr ... I'm wearing a sweater!

The a/c guy came today. Nothing huge, he thinks. Like all air conditioning guys, though, he took great delight in showing me how filthy our filter was. The older I get, the less impressed I am by these speeches. I have a hairy dog, four filthy boys and, sue me, I'm not a stellar housekeeper. Anyway, a/c guy's advice, if the a/c fails again in a week or so, we're in trouble. I'm taking the "all things are good" approach. The house is cool - very cool - I am actually wearing a sweater. Nothing bad is going to happen until I deem we can afford it.

I have successfully avoided the dinner dishes for the past five hours - it's time to suck it up and get 'er done, I guess. I'm just not that thrilled about it. Where's Alice when you need her? (You know, Alice, the Brady Bunch maid?) I wouldn't even make her wear the girdle and the uniform - unless they made her happy. I'm nothing like that horrible Carol Brady woman.

Read another book today. Drowning Ruth. It was an Oprah Book. I didn't know that until I actually received the book via Paperbackswap.com. But, it was a classic Oprah book. It was compelling and definitely had me curious until the end.

Next up on my reading list: Waterland by Graham Swift (another random Paperbackswap.com choice) and I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak (Ian picked this up and read right through it after reading The Book Thief - his opinion on the Messenger book is still up in the air, though).

OK - so we didn't camp or kayak, but if I had my druthers (does druthers need some kind of punctuation?) we would have. We spent a gorgeous day at the beach. The weather was perfect (hi 80's), the water was less-than-frigid, I had a great book and a car load of food and snacks.

Mike and the boys hit the water as soon as we arrived and left me (mostly) blissfully alone to read and stare into the horizon. I love playing in the water, but only when I have contact lenses. I'm not big on wandering nearly sightless in the Atlantic. I'm currently out of contact lenses, so I suffered and read and snacked. Yes, I AM a giver.

Things of note from the day? Two girls near us on the beach, both reading diet books, both sporting an extra 30-40 lbs, both in bikinis and I wouldn't put either one at a day over 17. And, I tend to be in the "give that girl a sandwich camp." Initially, I thought "How nice they're supporting each other." Then the one girl picked up a giant breast of fried chicken (best Homer Simpson voice ... Mmmmmm fried chicken) with a fork and proceeded to gnaw the chicken dangling from her fork until there was NOTHING left for even the hungriest of foragers.
They never got up except to complain about their chairs getting saggy and (we were close to them) they both spent the whole time texting with people who were NOT at the beach. It was sad and kind of creepy.

Next up, a family that was clearly not American taking a walk on the beach. How do I know they weren't American? The men were wearing Speedo's and were not overtly gay. These families were stunning. Mike and I even commented that our beach was being run-over by the beautiful people and it was just a matter of time until we weren't allowed in any longer.

Just then, one of the moms took that moment to take her bikini bottoms off entirely to rinse them off in the surf. From Mike's perspective this was not a bad thing - and I have to say the hour or so of silence it brought to my sons was worthwhile. But, it was not something you normally see in New Smyrna, FL. Color us international.

Finally, late in the day, we didn't get to the beach until about 2 pm (now that the boys are older, going later and avoiding the 10-2 sun times makes sense), this poor guy came out to fish. Mostly everyone else had left the beach and I think that was his plan ... to be alone. He didn't count on the six of us watching and waiting. He had all the regular gear - the PVC pipe to hold the fishing pole, the net, the clippers, the cooler and whatever the heck else fishermen need. I dunno, he also had a book and a blanket. I think the fishing was a ruse to escape and read and just be at peace. Poor man, he caught a good-sized (7-9 lbs) fish right away. As we all sat gaping at him, it was clear he'd never fished a day in his life. That fish, once the poor guy figured out how to get the hook out of its mouth, smacked him upside the head til at least next Thursday. I've never seen a grown man get beat up by a tiny fish before. OUCH!!!! But, as we're not a fishing family, his secrets are safe with us.

We got home to discover that our air conditioner isn't working. This is akin to someone in Maine who suddenly has no heat or fireplace. It's bad. Cross your fingers it's nothing too too bad. We're hitting critical mass on how many things can we ignore. The A/C really isn't something we can ignore. And, if you're bored and rich, send money.