Hair

Jake has been asking me to cut his hair for the last few weeks, since before Robin Hood was over.  The director asked him to leave it for the role of King Richard, so I was hesitant to just shave it off as he had wanted until I spoke with the new director about Alice.  I finally got to last night and she said he needed enough to pin the wig and ears to, so it could not be bald.

 My hair cut skillz are so bad that, at the time, I was certain I was cutting his hair in a straight line from left side to right side.  

It did not come out too badly!  He wanted it out of his eyes/mouth.

After he saw it, he put a box on his head and has been walking about like that ever since.
It will be perfect for when he plays Captain Hammer, if he will ever take off the box.

Good News Friday

This past week has been crazy-for us.  Which I am starting to think translates in Estherese to 'one thing went really wrong and I got tunnel vision'.  The kind of tunnel vision where any minor annoyance is amplified into an ordeal.

The Volvo died, but the part came in early this morning that should fix it for now and it can finish dying when the van is paid off.  That seems fair to me.  I have spent a while talking to it this week, but the battery is not in it, so I don't know if it can understand my explanation of why it needs to last another 6 months, and that another year would be even better.  There was drama regarding the part, and the company car-stuff dot com has given me a grand run-around.  More on that later, no doubt.

The kids got feedback from the directors of Alice that was fairly glowing, Jake needs to work on getting his lines exactly right so there are no missed cues, but otherwise it was all things you'd want to hear other people say about working with your kids.  : )

The problem with Alice is that even when there's dialogue, it's nonsense.  There's no logical flow of a conversation, I did not realize how confusing and difficult learning lines would be in that situation.  It's almost like toddlers with excellent vocabularies engaged in parallel play.  That's when littles sit together and take turns talking, but they are not engaged in the same activity, one may be carrying on a conversation about trucks while the other chats about farm animals.  Alice: the Parallel Play.

Jake absorbing some inspiration from the white rabbit

Let's see.  Sunday was A Bad Day, Monday I spent a few hours researching what we could do with the Volvo to fix it, Tuesday Matt took off work and we ran around seeking opinions.  I had been in touch with 3 different 'will come to you' mechanics on Craigslist and while they ALL got back with me right away, they all 3 totally crapped out on actually showing up!  I even settled on repair prices with the first guy. 

We went to the orthodontist Tuesday afternoon to pick up Jake's new retainer-keep in mind it's been 6 weeks since the old one broke.  They had sent off the WRONG KID'S TEETH to cast the retainer.  There was a note on his chart that he had a broken tooth-which was barely chipped and has been fixed for 2+ months.  So when the assistant was looking for the teeth to send, she picked up a set from another kid that day that had a tooth actually broken off.  So now I have to go BACK and pick it up next week.

My new glasses

Wednesday, I already blogged about with photos, Thursday was payday, which always helps tip things toward the positive spectrum.  I got billed again Thursday morning for Jake's oral surgery back in April, which I JUST got notice from the insurance company that it was all paid for (other than the un-cool grand I had to chip in).  But the oral surgeon's office was actually helpful this time and told me to disregard the bill!  In fact, I should be getting a $61 refund because I overpaid on my portion!

I feel I overpaid WAY the hell more than $61, but that's at least something.  It can pay for my Pizza Luncheon Plan.  Which my LAME FRIENDS have not gotten behind yet, but they'll be sorry they missed out.  Driving 3 hours to Atlanta to look at an Ikea store, seen as a good idea.  Driving 3 hours to eat pizza that I have heard is the most awesome in the whole state, seen as early onset dementia.  I got 'the look' from a woman who once drove me and 5 innocent children across 2 other states to buy a camper she did not even have a jack for.

my new sunglasses.  And very dirty bathroom mirror.

I bought the 2 pairs of glasses in the above shots a couple weeks ago from eye buy direct dot com for under $40 for both pairs, shipped.  I have been happy with them, especially for the price I paid.  I do wish I could have seen the frames in person (and on my face) instead of online, but for under $20 for the frames and lenses, I am not complaining.  I like the black framed glasses, they are very geek girl.

In the final good news category, a friend from high school I have missed very much has been in contact with Matt via FB just this morning (I am not searchable) and just friended me! I am looking forward to catching up and getting to know what all has happened in the past 20 years! 

Impromptu Lunch

We were supposed to go to Heather's for a swim party, but she had to cancel due to illness.  I had bought a ton of sweets to make dokobobs and I needed help getting it eaten before the ants found it!  So I sent the invite for anyone who wanted to brave the ants to come on out.  Suzette, Karen and Michelle came over with their kiddos around noon and we had a big snack-fest since everyone had bought snack foods for having at the pool. 

Suzette brought out a big batch of tomaters as well!

I set up the dokobob station on the island so the ants would not attack it right away.

The less sugary options were on the table so we could snack on fruit and veggies.

Yummer!  In case you wondered what a dokobob is, I am sure I am spelling it wrong, but that's okay.  We watched Death Note last week and L made a few of these, it's just a series of sugary snacks on a stick!

It was a fun time just hanging out together, the afternoon seemed to fly by, it was 4 hours later before we knew it!  There were some thunderstorm concerns, but they just came and went without very much fanfare.  We made plans to get together again soon before everyone is back in school mode!

Year Twelve

I just mailed off our check to pay for legal covering for our 12th year of homeschooling. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Alabama state laws, put very, very simply, no one homeschools here-you have to be a church school. What you do to be legal is sign up under an umbrella covering that is set up by a church or as a church and there are dozens, all with various requirements and fees.

From July 2000, when we first decided to homeschool!
We were getting ready to move to TN, the house was not usually so messy!

 

Some make you sign a statement of faith than lines up what THEY believe and you have to agree to it all.  Some require you use X curriculum and attend classes at their campus at least once a week, some are very laid-back and offer only legal covering and at the end of it all, a diploma if you kept up with your transcripts.  Nearly all of them have a certain number of days you must 'attend' in the year and most want a copy of that record.

The children's discovery house in Tennessee, we spent whole days here!

Channapoo the fall we started homeschooling

We started out in Tennessee-which has similar laws, at least for K-8-and used Covenant as our legal covering.  They were very easy-going and supportive, they wanted attendance and subjects taught/grades and they did require you have a mentor and that you call your mentor through the year, I was assigned a very interesting woman who had 10 children and pregnant again.  They would answer the phone, "Who is this?"  She always had a crying child in her lap when we spoke and she always sounded on the brink of dropping off to sleep.  She eventually said she would sign the paper saying we had spoken monthly and I was doing fine if I would just stop calling. 

All three the next spring!

At the time, she was my sole support, I did not know any other homeschoolers.  Matt's dad told me Matt's mom was seeking custody of the children, trying to have me declared unfit because I was homeschooling.  My own mother was disparaging up until I cut her out in 2006 and for my 26th birthday the summer before we started homeschooling, my sister sent a card with a LONG letter detailing all the damage I was about to inflict on Jacob by denying him a public school education.  Now, she does not speak to me at all unless Daddy is there.

We spent lots of days painting and doing art on the patio of the townhouse!

By the next fall, I had started a nature study group for homeschoolers, put Jake in cub scouts, helped start a local co-op and was leading a girl scout troop.

Ben on a visit to the state capital!

After our first family vacation-to the Smokies!

When we moved back to Alabama in 2004, I had been running the Moms Club, handling newsletters for 4 different groups, attending weekly meetings in 3 towns, still working at the co-op and keeping the nature study group busy at least twice a month and had changed my methods from traditional schooling to Charlotte Mason to unit studies to unschooling.  Probably a few more methods in there as well, I basically tried everything until I realized what the kids did on their own and on the days we did not 'do school' was what they learned the most from.

When we started out, I had them sitting at school desks!  Ack!

and we had charts and posters on all the walls!

It took about a year to get going here, I have slowly accumulated friends over the last 8 years and slowly let go of nearly all vestiges of 'school'-as many years as I spent playing school with stuffed toys, it's HARD to not want an attentive little mob to hang on my every word as I lecture my way through the day.  It's megalomania at best, even knowing what I am doing, I tend to give an essay when an answer is all they require.

We were at the library every week for storytime and dancing!

Ben and Chan had matching babies, they spent hours and hours playing with them and when they got a medical kit for Christmas, those poor babies were nearly dead from every disease known to a 2 and 4 year old!  Namely overeating, falling from the swing, falling off the bed, being hugged too hard and only eating candy.

Back when I assigned work each week (that was all done in a huge cram on Friday morning by the boys) Chandler would hand in her work premarked A++ 100%.  Sometimes it was A+++ work, it depended on how much time it took.

The original Kid Counsel!

Daisy Scouts!

Cub Scouts!

I have gotten ALL the questions over the years.  Is that legal?  What will they do for friends?  How can you teach everything they need to know?  Are you ever going to send them to real school?  Do you wear pajamas all day?

And all of the statements.  I could NEVER spend all day with my children.  My kids don't listen to me.  I can't believe you are with your kids THAT much and have not killed them yet.

I guess they don't know my kids are A++ 100%.

He was not always a lefty!!

They all slept in one room and used the other for their toys.

We rode bikes 4-5 times a week!

 

Jake and Chan not wearing clothes, Ben dressed in the body of a dragon.

We have been through numerous transformations.  We have been Castle Academy, Springhill Elementary, Castle Center for Independent Studies and Northfield Academy, though we mostly consider ourselves roamschoolers.
Though, looking back over these photos from our first 2 years, I think Shirtless Academy would have been more accurate!

This year, the kids are in 7th 9th and 11th using the public school grade level system.  Meaning I only have 5 more years of this before I have to find a new gig!

I have had such a nostalgic morning going through our photos from a decade and more ago.  Every photo I took from June 2000 to April of 2002 fit on one disc.  These days, I have to split single days onto several discs if we go anywhere special.  And my camera and skills are both improved.

I am looking forward to the additional changes, the kids finishing up at home and heading out on their chosen paths.  Whatever I will do after this phase is over, being married without kids at home-we had 3 by our third anniversary, I don't even know what we will do without kids around.

But before all of that, all of this.  The days with friends, more exploring, loads of reading, nights of marathon movies, trying many new things, learning every day.

Ants!

Since the rain kicked in, we have been infested with ants!  I thought I would chronicle what I am doing to battle them since we seem to cycle through fleas every 3-5 years and I tend to forget what really works.  (Bengal house spray and K-9 Advantix on the dogs currently)

So, first things first, I cleaned out every cabinet and wiping down the wood with vinegar to destroy scent trails and remove all traces of spills and food residue.  We put everything open, like cereal, in lock and lock containers.  I tossed anything sticky, like left-over cough syrup from last winter.  I also tossed or moved the few things I still had sitting around to 'decorate' the kitchen because wiping around things is a PITA. 

I caulked everywhere I saw ants coming in.  I had already caulked around the windows last fall, but now the countertops and door frames and even where the trim meets the ceiling are all sealed up.  As of this morning, they are coming in 2 places, somewhere beside the fridge and the kitchen window over the sink, from a hole about the size of...an ant. 


I went all around the house and put granules on every anthill inside the fence and threw handfuls in the vent openings under the house as well. It rained, so I am not sure how well that will have worked, the stuff under the house will be okay and I did not see any ant lines, I think they are already in the wall.

I went to the local hardware store, where I spent 45 minutes chatting with Jerry who lives about 1/4 mile from me and who saw a coyote or dog kill the yorkie that lived next door to him about a month ago.  I came home and cried a while.  But I also came home with boric acid and some kind of horrific smelling contact-killing spray from Borine that lasts for 3 months.  I mixed the boric acid with honey and put it around the kitchen counters and in the cabinets on cupcake liners and pulled the fridge out and sprayed the hell out of the wall and floor with the spray and pushed it back in place. 

I just pulled it out on Monday after watching Billy the Exterminator discover roach nests in refrigerators.  So it was clean under there, I had already washed the wall and floor and the back of the fridge with Mean Green spray cleaner.  No roaches, btw.  Or raccoons, which is another thing he found in the back of a fridge.  I was a little bummed about the lack of coons, but I am over that now.

Keep your fingers crossed, though I may have too much boric acid in with the honey because they are not going for it like I thought they would.  I may mix it with popsicle drips because they go for those like crazy.

Okay, that's it, my one-two-three attack of cleaning, sealing and baiting.

Thursday of Not Much

Today we slept in until 10:30, had potato chips and diet soda for breakfast and then watched an episode Jim Henson's The Storyteller. Perfect morning! : D 

Then we had some raw veggies and actual food, did a few chores around the house and the kids worked on Alice for an hour or so. Since then, I have felt like I am here alone, I think the heat has us all moving as little as possible. 

 Fairy Dogmother contacted me to say Famous has been VERY sad since we left him.
Kira has been adopted, so we took them both back at the same time.

Intruders Beware!

This afternoon we are finally making Matt's birthday cake and I have made fresh noodles, asparagus, black-eyed peas and have some really good tuna for dinner. 

Fostering and other news

This week, we have Amos and Kira, click on the Foster Dog link up there to learn more about them!   We are trying out a rotating system, so we can get as many dogs that NEED to be out of the kennels for a little while over here to run and play and be socialized with some humans and less dogs.  It helps their chances of being adopted, plus I can take pictures of them for their information page!

Famous (he was Festus, but she put up new pics and changed it to Amos to see if she could get some new interest, so I call him Famous now) says, 'this bed is JUST the right size for me!'

In other news, it's been hot.  Not just 'gosh it's hot' hot, but BLAZING hot.  When 95 seems sort of pleasant, you know it's been crazy hot.  The mower still is at the shop, so I called a guy in the paper to come up and mow for us this afternoon.  The $30 will be worth it to be able to sit inside in the AC and then wander out later to discover the yard is flat again!  I may never get the mower fixed!  hahaha

The only other thing of note this week-other than Robin Hood is OVER-is that I am in early negotiations to do some set location work for a movie being filmed in the area!  My requested fee is that the kids get to be somewhere in the background of one of the scenes.  How cool would that be?  Even just getting to visit the set one day, they would learn so much.  I am hoping it will all work out and that he will need not only local location ideas but lots of local extras.  I know a few more kids that would love to be in a steampunk movie!  So far I have just been contacted initially to see if I would be interested in helping out.  I said heck yeah!  Now put my kids in a movie.  LOL

Speaking of steampunk, Alice rehearsals are Friday.  I will be glad to get that underway, the kids are a little stressed because they are supposed to be off script, but have missed 2 rehearsals in a row.  I think when they get in there Friday, it will go so well that their unease will be put to rest.  Jake has about a zillion lines, but he has Act I down pat-mainly because all he has to do when Alice says anything is reply with how late he is!  I don't think any of them know their songs yet...

It will all come together-or it won't.  I am done second-guessing how things like that work.  It's nothing I am interested in taking over, so I need to just shut my yap when I feel like complaining or tossing out what I would be doing differently.  It's kind of like when you spend all day cleaning the house really well and then company comes over and ALL you can see are the smudges on the cabinet doors or a corner that totally got missed in the mopping process.  It hardly matters everything that DID go just fine and is all clean now.  It's those 2-3 little things that stick out.  And after the fact, they don't matter at all.