Ordinary Time

For various reasons, I felt the need to retreat to my studio and do quite a bit of spinning this afternoon. I have found something that is even better than just sitting and spinning. Sitting and spinning and listening to MIT course 9.13 The Human Brain on MIT OpenCourseWare via YouTube. I've known about OpenCourseWare for a long time, but what was available I didn't find particularly useful. But actual lectures? That's a whole different story. I'm in! This particular class does have two introductory prerequisites, so I hope I can keep up. When I mentioned this to J., he laughed at the idea I wouldn't be able to, keep up, that is. I would happily spend an hour spinning and listening to a course lecture each day if life didn't happen to intrude, which I'm sure it will.  We are also very much missing TM today on his 19th birthday. He has already planned out all the things he wants to have when we do our delayed celebration when he gets home. And, that's all...

There was a general consensus among the children that no one was really interested in going trick-or-treating this year. While they were still interested in candy, all the rest of it wasn't feeling overly interesting. They decided that what would be fun would be to get candy and watch a movie. I suggested a movie marathon of watching the two versions of Journey to the Center of the Earth and we could compare them to each other and to the book. Everyone thought that sounded like a fun idea and agreed. Then we decided that since Halloween was on a Sunday, it would make more sense to do the marathon on Saturday.  Earlier today J. took everyone to a local candy store and people got to pick out the candy that they wanted. To squeeze both movies in, we started about five o'clock with the first, older version. At six, we needed to take a break so I could bring in and feed horse. J. also ordered pizza and went to pick it up. (Ordering pizza for dinner is a long time Halloween tradition...

Uncle! Uncle! Uncle! Is October over yet? Please, please, please can it be over now? Wonder how our week has gone? I'm sure you don't have to wonder too hard.  We are still in the one good day- one bad day cycle with R. It feels never ending. I feel done in. I lost my patience quite a bit before lunch time today and it was a very good thing that J. had already planned to take the afternoon off due to the late hours he worked earlier in the week.  To make things even more fun and enjoyable, it seems that late October has become my own fun little traumaversary season. The only thing I can pinpoint as to the cause is five years of dealing with R.'s traumaversaries. This year has not been fun, but it has been significantly better than previous years. They were bad. Really, really bad.  What does it feel like? I can feel stress in every part of my body all the time. It is difficult to focus and I have no margin for, well, anything. I am exhausted yet get nothing done and it is...

Our teatime read aloud these days is The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. We are enjoying it very much. The story is engaging, the writing is very good, there is word play, and lots of imagination. At times, all of us feel extremely strongly that at some point the author read Haroun and the Sea of Stories and was heavily influenced by it. There are echoes and similarities of the Rushdie book in this one.  But to really appreciate it, you have to listen to the language. This is from the point in the story where September (the protagonist) is having a bath in order to be able to enter Pandemonium, the capital of Fairyland.  "Lye poured a bucketful of golden water over September's head. 'When you are born,' the golem said softly, 'your courage is new and clean. You are brave enough for anything: crawling off of staircases, saying your first words without fearing someone will think you are foolish, putting strang...

Tomorrow at our co-op everyone is to dress as a favorite character in a book or a movie. So yesterday, I finally finished this costume that I started a while ago. All that was left were the buttonholes and the hem. (I hate doing buttonholes and hems.) In my defense, there hasn't been a lot of costume events in the recent past. But this is now done, and I'm happy to have it in the completed column. Any guess who I'm going to dress as tomorrow? Here's a close-up of the print. I just need a lizard. You would think that in my reptile loving family there would be some sort of stuffed lizard, but there isn't.

Since we were just at the Art Institute last week and with the recent docent brouhaha, I'd though I'd chime in here with some of my thoughts. They might shed a little light in what it turning out to be a contentions argument. I have gone to my fair share of field trips led by docents over the years at the Art Institute (and other museums for that matter... I have something to compare with). Field trips where we (other families as well as ours) registered as a homeschooling group and where our demographics were less than typical due to age and ethnicity. Large, adoptive, homeschooling families don't fit neatly into very many boxes. The H-S family mom was usually in charge of organizing these field trips which usually coordinated with whatever period of history we were studying. We had a very narrow niche of art that we were usually interested in. (And without the H-S family mom, the P. family mom and I realized that we are not terribly good at organizing things for ourselves...

So it seems we are in a period of a good day followed by a bad day for R. Yesterday was a good day. Today? Not so much. J. took the first part of the afternoon and I took the second. I decided that I wouldn't be able to concentrate enough to read so decided to knit. Other than co-regulating with R., I finished one sock and got the second cast on. One of the things I like about making things is that they stay made, unlike say, cleaning the kitchen which stays clean for approximately 20 seconds. It is also soothing. There is enough to keep the brain busy so the hamster can't get on its wheel, you're using both your hands so there is all that brain activity going on, and you end up with a final product.  "Research shows that even when we are relaxing or daydreaming, the brain is anything but idle. Downtime replenishes the brain's stores of attention and motivation, and encourages productivity and creativity. Research also indicates that any number of activities where ...

I'm glad we are to the end of this day. It's been... trying. R. has been off the rails (again) most of the day. I'm glad it's the weekend because I've kind of used up what little patience I have. I need a break to replenish it and am more than glad to tap out and let J. take over. But in more positive news... I can see!!! When I brought my new contacts home I waited until Tuesday to put them in. I was a little worried that the adjustment to them would be not very pleasant. I was wrong. I put them in and nothing seemed different except that I could read without cheaters again. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. I will be calling to confirm the prescription and order a year's supply. We turned the heat on today. It was (finally) feeling just a little nippy in the house. I forgot to mention yesterday when sharing about our field trip about my children's appreciation of a parking garage. They decided that having a large underground parking garage underne...

Our co-op didn't meet this week, so it was the perfect time to head downtown to the Art Institute. A while back we had read The Sixty-Eight Rooms about children who were magically able to shrink and then enter the Thorne Rooms as the Art Institute. Everyone was very interested in the Thorne Rooms after that but Y. most of all. As soon as I had announced we would be heading down to see them she had been counting the days.  For the first time in can't remember how long, I did not drive the van into the city. Do you know how much easier it is to park a regular sized car downtown? It is life changing! It was so easy! We drove downtown, I drove into the closest parking garage to the museum, we parked, and went to the museum. Just like normal people. No more trying to find street parking within walking distance. No more worrying that we would over stay our meter. No more worrying about where we would leave the big, hulking van. (Well, except if J. decides to go with us, but then he ...

I know you're thinking, "She's always nattering on about play. Surely there isn't anything left to say at this point." Well, it turns out this is a little bit more to say. But before I do, let's talk about math. Specifically let's talk about math and how challenging it has proven to be for K. He can do it, but each new concept is an uphill climb to conquer. I know there is a math brain in there somewhere... his visual spacial ability is uncanny... but finding it has proved challenging to all of us. Until last week, that is. As I've mentioned, G., L., and K. are working through the Key to Learning Fractions books. Doing fractions takes a lot of multiplication and division because of creating like fractions and reducing to simplest terms. Multiplication and division have been among K.'s challenges. Suddenly, it has been like a switch has flipped. He has been the first one done, his work is done correctly, and he has been happy doing it. Then on Thurs...

When you are quietly waking up, sipping coffee in bed waiting for the neural connections in your brain to start functioning and you hear an unpleasant and loud wailing/moaning/whining noise outside your bedroom door, your heart sinks more than a little bit. When your husband gets up to deal with the wailing/moaning/whining noise outside the door and instead of the noise abating, it just increases, then you wonder how you can crawl under your covers and pretend you are not there. It doesn't make one bound out of bed. This is particularly true when the day was already feeling just a little bit overwhelming to begin with.  I admit that it was with more than a little dread that I got up. It has not been a great week with R. and it didn't look as though positive movement was in the offing. My to-do list was also longer than I am typically comfortable with. I try to avoid that happening, but sometimes life gets in the way and there you are.  My first decision, which made immediate l...

Today was my annual eye appointment. I'm happy to report my eyes are healthy. Given past issues and family history, this is not something I assume, so it's a relief each year when it is. I complained about how I was seeing, though. My far vision is just fine. My near vision? Well, it stinks, frankly. Up until this past year, I had been wearing contacts with two different prescriptions which enabled me to see close up. This was mainly because one eye had gotten worse and the prescription wasn't strong enough, so we fixed that. Then I found I couldn't see at all close up and invested in a ridiculous number of cheaters. I'm tired of it. Today we decided to have me go back to monovision with one eye wearing a contact for near vision and the other eye with a contact for far vision. I haven't put the trial lenses in yet, but will do so in the morning. I anticipate feeling a little off balance for a couple of days. I'm not looking forward to it, but am hoping that ...

It was a fantastic retreat this afternoon. The weather was perfect and everyone who came enjoyed three hours in which to pause and think and enjoy being out in nature. Oh, and a chance to spend some time with horses, too. I think everyone left refreshed and ready to face a new week.

We celebrated H.'s 19th birthday tonight. A. wasn't able to join us for dinner, but she stopped by during the afternoon to see H. We were also missing D. and TM, but everyone else was able to come. H. chose a green curry with chicken and green beans served over fresh Hong Kong noodles for dinner as well a dumplings. For dessert she chose root beer floats. This is the first time she hasn't chosen a fancy store bought cake with flowers on it. I see that as a sign of felt safety and maturity... that willingness to try something new. Some pictures from the evening. H. while we were singing happy birthday. B. is holding the birthday candles just out of the picture. H. wasn't sure she was so thrilled with being sung to this time. (r - l) L., G., B., and B.'s significant other. I should probably figure out an initial for her. (The things you don't think about when you first come up with a system... the complete unwieldiness of continuing to add initials as the family g...

We'll jump right in. Yesterday was H.'s 19th birthday. We'll celebrate tomorrow when most people can be here. Does it sound as crazy to as it does me that H. is 19? Aster is blowing her summer coat. There is hair all over the house. This is not your average, everyday husky fluff, this is huge tufts of hair that comes out in clumps. Aster is not looking her best at moment. She looks rather like one of the poultry outside at molting time.  For school today, I had a documentary planned about engineering in Ancient Carthage since we will be reading about the Punic Wars next week. It is part of a multi-DVD set that I bought. After they were done with the one about Carthage I was begged that they be able to watch the ones about the Aztecs and the Mayans. My children watch documentaries for fun. As I was working in the studio the other day, H. comes wandering in and watches me for a moment. Then she wanders around the room a bit. After a while she tells me, "You have many, ma...

Today I do get to share my latest spinning project with you because I was able to finish plying it this afternoon. I bought this wool about two years ago. It sat for a while, then I started spinning it, then W. gave me some other wool that I wanted to spin more, so I worked on that. I love it and it's nice to have it done. I actually changed plans. I had at first thought I would make a 3-ply yarn, so still have quite a bit of wool left. I don't know what I was thinking because the wheel I was using isn't really set-up for doing a 3-ply yarn. Since I have other spinning projects in mind, I decided to stop with two. Here is the final product. One of the things which fascinates me about spinning is seeing what the yarn looks like when it's all done. You really can't tell until you have it in a skein at the very end to see what you have. You can have a general sense in the middle of a project, but not completely. To give you sense of that, I took some pictures. Here is ...

I was originally planning to show you my most recently completed spinning project, but since I worked for two hours plying said spinning project and it is still not done, that will have to wait. It is a lot more yarn than I thought it was.  Instead, I deliver to you excerpts from tonight's dinner conversation, though most of it is not verbatim. At one point, K. said something that was mildly annoying and a sister identified it as a quote from Peter Fox in the comic strip, Fox Trot. (If you are looking for Fox Trot compilations at our local library, don't bother. They are all at my house.) I suggested that if K. was going to channel Peter Fox on a regular basis, that perhaps the Fox Trot books needed to be returned. J. added that channeling the father or Jason wasn't such a tremendous idea either. Someone threw out that maybe K. could channel Paige. Clearly K. doesn't pay any attention to that particular character since he wanted to know what he would need to do if he di...

Here are some pictures from J. camping trip with the youngers. L. H., G., and R. Y. H. and K. L. and B. K. L. K.