Friday bullets, December 11, 2020

Let's jump right in, shall we?

• I had a moment of slight panic when, earlier this week, Y. happily announced to me that Christmas was in about two weeks. It's not as though the date of Christmas changes every year, but boy, did I not really internalize exactly how close Christmas was. There may be more than a couple of IOU's under the tree because of slow shipping times.
• Apollo is a most acceptable kitten.

• This is a rare December where we have not already stopped school. In fact, we still have one more week in a valiant attempt to catch-up to my schedule. The children are fine with this; I am the one struggling. Usually I don't think very much about exactly how much time I spend homeschooling, but going so far into December, when I have more than a couple of other things to do, is really highlighting the time-intensive nature of the beast.
• A comment made by one of my children leads me to believe that one of their lasting childhood memories will be their mother shouting, "Check your key signature!" from another room as they attempt to play a Christmas carol. 
• In my defense, not all of my children believe in observing accidentals.
• Having two days above fifty degrees in December was pretty nice and I made the most of it. No riding this weekend due to massive amounts of rain forecast. Oh, how I wish I had an indoor arena.
• I'm realizing there is kind of big difference in what children want to do in anticipation of Christmas between having your youngest be ten years old as opposed to eleven years old. I think we are past having little children. I will not dwell on this right now.
• Why won't the geese put themselves to bed like the chickens and ducks? Are they trying to be eaten by coyotes?
• I am officially finished with all my horse classes for the season. I'll spend winter planning a level two and start offering them in the spring. I have very much enjoyed having something to teach again.
• We did more chemistry today about density. I'm happy to report that only a brief review was needed and they were off.
• You know those pictures you see where the wife stacks a great number of empty boxes outside the front door to prank her husband into thinking she bought a ridiculous amount? That wouldn't work here. I have many adult children as well as myself who are expecting items. We receive a lot of boxes. If they were all stacked outside not a single person would think anything about it except to ask, "Is one of those mine?"
  
• While she has had some disregulated moments, I'm happy to report that R.'s general trajectory has been positive. I cleared my schedule extensively, and I think she is feeling a little more secure with me around a bit more consistently.
• We are now nearly finished with our second Leonidas Witherall book at teatime. Everyone is loving them, and I have to admit they are extremely fun to read. Well-done farce is always fun. If you read them, though, I feel I need to warn you that they are a product of their time. Since they were written in the 1930's, I do a bit of bowdlerizing on the fly as I read out loud. I'm afraid that racial slurs and attitudes were pretty darn common during that time period. On the plus side, these can be all omitted without changing the story at all. In some cases I think it would be fine to go back and do a little editing of good books which need to shed some of their cultural baggage. In short, I feel fine reading these out loud because I can edit and read at the same time, but I wouldn't hand it to a child to read until they were older and could sift through it appropriately on their own.
• Our oven is on the fritz. It won't heat up. You can set it to any ridiculously high temperature and the highest it will get inside the oven is about 125 degrees. You can't really do anything at 125 degrees. This has never been my favorite range, but it was better than nothing. It seems it now is determined to be nothing. I didn't really want to have to replace a range this month. I saw a beautiful five burner, high-end range advertised the other day. It was blue and gorgeous. It was also $4000. Instead, we will probably take a trip to the Habitat ReStore and see what is available. It will help us eek out another year or two. I do tire of the vaguely disposable appliance situation, though.
• Everyone taking college classes has finished all of their assignments and exams. Plus, it seems there are 4.0's all around. I have some very happy people around here.
• I'm glad I have quite a few books to read because our library is temporarily closed due to Covid exposure. 
• Our family dinners are loud, even when not everyone is home. Conversation can really run the gamut of topics, and they are not always what one might consider appropriate for eating. They are also not dull. 
• Finally, another thing I'm learning about being the subject of a documentary is that with so much film footage, you're never quite sure where you will see yourself turning up. It can be a bit surprising. Here is the most recent example, with family and friends singing The 12 Days of Christmas which is kind of a tradition around here that my father started. Hayden and Her Family

Good night, All!