So yesterday we had our power turned off. Some guy waltzed into our backyard and when I went to go find out why he told me he was turning off our power because we hadn't paid our bill.
Here is the part where I explain how I am not as irresponsible and stupid as I look. So, yes. Money is tight. Yes, we have a certain amount of trouble paying all of the bills. The power bill is one that gets juggled frequently. And in the past they have been very lax in doing what they say when they say "pay your bill or we turn it off, yo." So I knew we were behind. But I wasn't paying a lot of attention. I knew I was going to get caught up and I was pretty sure nothing was going to happen. I made a payment on Monday online through a third-party website. Tuesday they came and turned it off and I was full of righteous anger at the poor soul who had to do the job. But in my flustered state I totally forgot that I had made a payment at all so I didn't tell him about it. Three minutes after he was gone and I had finished throwing things against the wall in a blind rage (but not so blind that I didn't make sure that whatever I threw wasn't going to break or damage the wall), I remembered that I had actually made a payment.
So I got on the phone and waited more than 30 minutes even though the recording told me that I could give my phone number and have them call me back after more than 30 minutes and I would not lose my place in line. Some poor soul answered (after more than 30 minutes had passed) and I told that poor soul that my power had been turned off but I had made a payment the day before online. She asked where I had done it, I told her, and she told me that they didn't accept payments from that particular site (she didn't mean they didn't accept them, she just meant it wouldn't count when it came to getting it in on time because it would take a couple of days for the payment to go through) and I said bad words and slammed the phone down. I was not at my best. Of course, I only punished myself because I had to call them BACK and wait ANOTHER MORE THAN THIRTY MINUTES and be calm enough to grovel because of course when it comes to electricity, they are the only game in town, so what the hell else am I going to do?
Totally totally my own fault but STILL VERY ANGRY.
So I called back and talked to a very nice person who was not a poor soul because he didn't have to bear the brunt of my misplaced anger because while I was waiting for the call back (having wised up some this time and chosen the call me back after more than 30 minutes option), I calmed down and coached myself and practiced what I was going to say. He was very helpful and "put in the request" to have someone come out and turn it back on because he was "going to take [my] word for it" that I had actually made the payment even though he had no way to verify it, and it was apparently something they do not do (though I suspect they probably do at least sometimes when people are not raging maniacs). He thought they would be able to get to it that same day, but it didn't actually get turned on again until today at about noon-ish.
So we went without power for 24 hours and I guess I am irresponsible and stupid, or at the very least, very disorganized, but there you go. It had been longer than I thought it had been, I didn't open envelopes I should have, I was complacent. We lived. The temperature had just that day dropped enough that it wasn't unbearably hot (night time was not so good, though, not until about 4 or 5 in the morning). We talked about what we'd do if we didn't have electricity for a longer period of time. We played outside and it was very nice out and the clouds were beautiful at sunset. The park gave us lots of extra light until well after we had gone to bed. It's all good.
So anyway, the girls were playing charades and Saren and Harper were being things like a tornado, a candle flame, a trick-or-treater, and so on. Here's some of how Irina's turns went.
*starts running in place waving her arms around*
me: a runner?
Irina: no
me: a princess?
Irina: no
me: a dancing queen?
Irina: no
me: a tornado?
Irina: no
me: okay, what are you?
Irina: a thing I like.
*starts running in place waving her arms around*
me: a dancing queen?
Irina: no
me: a runner?
Irina: no
me: a turkey?
Irina: no
me: okay, what are you?
Irina: a person
*starts running in place waving her arms around*
me: a person?
Irina: no
me: a dancing queen?
Irina: no
me: a runner?
Irina: no
me: a cat?
Irina: no
me: okay, what are you?
Irina: a shlingla
*starts running in place waving her arms around*
me: a shlingla?
Irina: no
me: a florgleboop?
Irina: You're close!
*we all die laughing*
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Dinos For Sale!
We went with a few of the other Life Learners to see some fossils on display at the Venetian today. It was free! Free is good! These fossils are going to be auctioned off in the beginning of October. I assumed they would be bought by museums, but apparently museums can't afford fossils? I guess some rich weirdo will buy one and put it in his living room, maybe face it toward the t.v. and pretend like he has a T-Rex best friend who likes to argue with him about whether to watch Dancing With the Stars or Survivor. (The T-Rex wants to watch Survivor.)
Also, if you ever want to go to the Venetian, I would advise against parking there as the ceilings in the parking garage are so low that when you get out of your car you hit your head on them and then you have to skulk and crouch all the way to the elevators.
Here are some pictures and yes, Irina did dress herself today, why do you ask?
Also, if you ever want to go to the Venetian, I would advise against parking there as the ceilings in the parking garage are so low that when you get out of your car you hit your head on them and then you have to skulk and crouch all the way to the elevators.
Here are some pictures and yes, Irina did dress herself today, why do you ask?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
This is why I love having a blog.
I went back to find out when we had sold the RV and what I had said about it and I was reminded that we sold it to a family that consisted of a mom, a dad, three girls, and a baby boy. In between those few days that we were selling the RV to them and some time about 3 months later, I distinctly remember laying in bed, thinking about that family, and sending out to the universe a sentence from my mind that was pure, unadulterated, sparkling wish, though I certainly wasn't thinking of it as such. "I want a baby boy." Please note, I did not say, "I wish to be pregnant" or "I am now ready to expand my family." But it was good enough apparently because sometime in the beginning of September....Surprise!
Here's our surprise, my wish granted, my desire seen truly, and deposited into our family. He kind of-sort of can sit up on his own now.
Here's our surprise, my wish granted, my desire seen truly, and deposited into our family. He kind of-sort of can sit up on his own now.
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Thinks I Have Thunk. (Prologue)
I feel like I have a lot to blog about, but I don't really know where to begin. My thoughts today have had both a negative and positive overall vibe. When it was negative, I would have called it "muddled." When the overall feeling in my brain was positive, it was more like "swirly." Or "happily confused," maybe. But not really clear. So, I'll do my best and if I need to continue with different topics on different days, I will do so.
The first thing I need to get out of the way is this: our house is right now going through foreclosure. I had anticipated this being a post of it's own, all dramatic and monumental. But right now, it actually just kind of feels like a side note. Something you need to know in order to know the rest of it. And before, I was worried about writing about it at all, about being judged harshly. But actually whenever I have mentioned this to someone in real life, the response has been positive, understanding, and supportive. The world looks very different right now than it did just a few years ago.
I wish I could say that this is completely and totally the result of the current housing crisis, but it isn't. Not totally. Though it's a big part. A huge part, really. We are definitely underwater with our mortgage, like so many other people are. But we also made some pretty bad decisions in the years since we bought our house and if we had not, the picture might not be as dire. Or maybe it would. The house is worth practically nothing nowadays and maybe we would be making the same decision now even if we had made the best, most "responsible" choices to begin with.
So here is our situation as it stands and why we are deciding to let the bank take the house. We owe more than we could ever make from selling the house, if we could sell it at all, which is unlikely. We hate the house. It's dreadful living next to a park, despite what you might think. It's even more dreadful living next to a park in a less-than-great neighborhood. And it's even more dreadful living next to a park when your only separation from that park and it's parking lot is a chain-link fence. It turns what should be our private outdoor retreat (it makes me laugh to call our backyard a retreat because even with a solid fence, it's nothing at all like a retreat, but you get the idea) into a very visible, almost public place. The only difference being that it's generally not considered polite to walk into people's backyards. But smoke pot on the other side of their fence? Sure. There's that and the cars that screech through the parking lot regularly or blast their stereo systems and make the floor shake, or the kids who BANG BANG BANG their feet on the metal bleachers directly on the other side of the fence, or the regular knocks on the door we get because someone has lost their ball in our yard, or the... well, I won't go on. That's the living next to a public park aspect.
The other thing is we can't afford to live here. Hilarious, I know. Because ironically, it's the fact that it is so old and crappy that makes it so we can't afford to live here. There are just too many problems that arise with living in an older house and we do not make enough money to keep up with them. Case in point. We'll be paying for the new water heater, A/C, and bathtub plumbing long after we don't live here anymore. And that just sucks. We can't afford to keep it looking nice either. It badly needs new landscaping and paint and carpet and, and, and, well, we just don't have the resources to do anything about it.
We never meant to stay here permanently. We wanted to sell it right away, but we didn't and now we are kicking ourselves for it, because it just isn't going to happen. I don't see the housing market stabilizing anytime soon. I don't see waiting it out as being a feasible solution at all. That would just make me feel way more trapped than I already do. So if the housing market takes 10 years to recover (not unlikely!) or it never does (doooom), and it takes 7 years for a foreclosure to get off your credit report, and you're miserable in your house, and selling it is like a pipe dream, what's left? So this is the path we're taking and I have to tell you, I had such a huge feeling of relief when we finally made the decision to just go ahead with it. It just felt so right. Which doesn't make it not frightening, not in the least.
And here is where I wish I could say that this is going to solve all of our financial problems, but it won't. It doesn't change the fact that we have more outflow than we do inflow. I'm seeing this time as a very transitional time, almost a do-or-die time, even though I know it isn't that, and there are more options out there than just the ones on the surface. So we'll figure it out, we'll make changes, and we'll hopefully arrive at a place where our relationship with money is more positive.
From all the research I've done, we will have until roughly the end of November. Longer would be better, but I certainly won't count on it.
Oh well, I guess it did turn out to be a bit more dramatic and monumental than I had intended and I didn't get to my other thoughts. Assuming I have great follow through, here are the topics you can look forward to from me: unschooling/parental and personal growth/Sandra Dodd's book, passions, RVing and travel, searching out a new home. Also, cute baby pics. I'm not giving them up completely, Miranda!
The first thing I need to get out of the way is this: our house is right now going through foreclosure. I had anticipated this being a post of it's own, all dramatic and monumental. But right now, it actually just kind of feels like a side note. Something you need to know in order to know the rest of it. And before, I was worried about writing about it at all, about being judged harshly. But actually whenever I have mentioned this to someone in real life, the response has been positive, understanding, and supportive. The world looks very different right now than it did just a few years ago.
I wish I could say that this is completely and totally the result of the current housing crisis, but it isn't. Not totally. Though it's a big part. A huge part, really. We are definitely underwater with our mortgage, like so many other people are. But we also made some pretty bad decisions in the years since we bought our house and if we had not, the picture might not be as dire. Or maybe it would. The house is worth practically nothing nowadays and maybe we would be making the same decision now even if we had made the best, most "responsible" choices to begin with.
So here is our situation as it stands and why we are deciding to let the bank take the house. We owe more than we could ever make from selling the house, if we could sell it at all, which is unlikely. We hate the house. It's dreadful living next to a park, despite what you might think. It's even more dreadful living next to a park in a less-than-great neighborhood. And it's even more dreadful living next to a park when your only separation from that park and it's parking lot is a chain-link fence. It turns what should be our private outdoor retreat (it makes me laugh to call our backyard a retreat because even with a solid fence, it's nothing at all like a retreat, but you get the idea) into a very visible, almost public place. The only difference being that it's generally not considered polite to walk into people's backyards. But smoke pot on the other side of their fence? Sure. There's that and the cars that screech through the parking lot regularly or blast their stereo systems and make the floor shake, or the kids who BANG BANG BANG their feet on the metal bleachers directly on the other side of the fence, or the regular knocks on the door we get because someone has lost their ball in our yard, or the... well, I won't go on. That's the living next to a public park aspect.
The other thing is we can't afford to live here. Hilarious, I know. Because ironically, it's the fact that it is so old and crappy that makes it so we can't afford to live here. There are just too many problems that arise with living in an older house and we do not make enough money to keep up with them. Case in point. We'll be paying for the new water heater, A/C, and bathtub plumbing long after we don't live here anymore. And that just sucks. We can't afford to keep it looking nice either. It badly needs new landscaping and paint and carpet and, and, and, well, we just don't have the resources to do anything about it.
We never meant to stay here permanently. We wanted to sell it right away, but we didn't and now we are kicking ourselves for it, because it just isn't going to happen. I don't see the housing market stabilizing anytime soon. I don't see waiting it out as being a feasible solution at all. That would just make me feel way more trapped than I already do. So if the housing market takes 10 years to recover (not unlikely!) or it never does (doooom), and it takes 7 years for a foreclosure to get off your credit report, and you're miserable in your house, and selling it is like a pipe dream, what's left? So this is the path we're taking and I have to tell you, I had such a huge feeling of relief when we finally made the decision to just go ahead with it. It just felt so right. Which doesn't make it not frightening, not in the least.
And here is where I wish I could say that this is going to solve all of our financial problems, but it won't. It doesn't change the fact that we have more outflow than we do inflow. I'm seeing this time as a very transitional time, almost a do-or-die time, even though I know it isn't that, and there are more options out there than just the ones on the surface. So we'll figure it out, we'll make changes, and we'll hopefully arrive at a place where our relationship with money is more positive.
From all the research I've done, we will have until roughly the end of November. Longer would be better, but I certainly won't count on it.
Oh well, I guess it did turn out to be a bit more dramatic and monumental than I had intended and I didn't get to my other thoughts. Assuming I have great follow through, here are the topics you can look forward to from me: unschooling/parental and personal growth/Sandra Dodd's book, passions, RVing and travel, searching out a new home. Also, cute baby pics. I'm not giving them up completely, Miranda!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
More Photos
Here are some more photos from the conference. I missed a few because I reached my monthly limit because I no longer had a pro account. I know there's a way to make the pictures smaller without doing so to each and every one, but I was too lazy to figure it out. And then I was editing on Piknik to cover up the names of children who are not mine and found that you can't replace the old photo with the edited photo unless you have a pro account. So it will add on the new photo and then and only then can you go and delete the old one. Which meant before I was finished editing I had reached my limit for reals and it wouldn't let me add on the edited version. So I checked and found that we had a bit more money than I thought and I upgraded my flickr account to pro. Flickr relies on lazy people like me to pay their bills.
The end.
The end.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference 2009
Silas and I are up before the girls. I'm going to see how much of this post I can do before all the morning hubbub.
We left on Thursday one hour later than we had intended (8 instead of 7), which isn't bad, but since we were trying to make it to San Diego within a two hour window (between 12 and 2) I was a bit worried that we wouldn't make it in time to do registration without having to search someone out.
We made one stop in Baker to nurse Silas and one stop in Barstow at the Pepsi Play Park (tradition!). We were going to eat there, but no one was really hungry yet as it was still pretty early, so we decided to press on and just eat lunch when we got to SD. One odd thing did happen while we were at the park in Barstow. A gaggle of preschool children started walking over the hill to come and play at the playground. There were three adults with maybe 20 or so kids. They were making slow progress because the adults had to keep shepherding them, making sure none of them were wandering out of the group. They got about halfway and then one of the adults said something to the kids, but I wasn't paying much attention, so it sounded like this, "blah blah blah blah blah strangers blah blah blah blah blah." And then they turned around and left. And I heard the adult say, "We'll come back tomorrow." Saren said, "Did they just leave because we're here?" You know what? I think they did.
We got to the hotel at about ten minutes to 2, because we are nothing if not consistent in our lateness. Saren and Harper saw their friends who live part time in Vegas and part time in Reno, whom they hadn't seen all summer. They screamed and hugged each other and the desk clerk looked on bemusedly. Then I looked down and saw that Irina was in tears. She was upset because the girls had found some of their friends, but she hadn't found "her Emma." I was totally perplexed because here I thought that her Emma was a completely made up imaginary friend, but her Emma is based on an actual person, the girl that Harper played with for most of the last conference we went to in May of 2008. (There are two Emmas that my girls are familiar with and both were there. And despite Irina not having been her main playmate, she knew exactly which one she was talking about (and she was newly 3 back then and almost a year and a half have passed) and glommed right on to her whenever she saw her for the rest of the conference.)
Later on, while I was up in the room with Silas, Pat and the girls found Miranda and her family and they came up to visit and meet Silas. So good to see Miranda again. It had been a long time. But then again, it was almost like, "Hey didn't I just see you last week at park day?"
We went out to get some food at a place called Pat and Oscar's, a pizza place. A very good pizza place. The breadsticks were so very yummy. Then off to the beach for the welcome party. It was Torrey Pines State Preserve and seriously, one of the best beaches I've ever been to. The temperature of air and water were just perfect and I took Silas in the ocean. He liked it! Or he seemed to. He wasn't whooping it up or anything, but he didn't cry. Later on he cried in the hotel pool, so that was a bit weird. Irina liked it too, which was great because she sometimes has water issues. Saren and Harper played with their friends and built sand hearts and leaped in the waves. We only got about two hours at the beach and I wish we could have had more. Next time we're in San Diego, we're definitely going to that beach.
We went back to the hotel and drew names for fairy godparents and just hung out until it was time to go to bed. In the fairy godparents game you choose a person from a hat who you will do nice things for all weekend without them knowing. I wanted to participate this time, but chose to do so through Irina. I put her name in, and we both fairy godparented the person that she chose. Interestingly, all the girls chose kids close to their own ages. These are a couple of the fairy godparent gifts they received.
Oh, boy. I'm going to have to abandon the chronological order thing now, because it's getting a bit muddled in my head.
Presentations & Chats - I went to a presentation by Pam Sorooshian about unschooling math which was very good. One of the bits that sticks out for me is when she was talking about how in real life mathematical accuracy isn't often necessary. For instance, when you're figuring out the tip at a restaurant, you figure out ten percent, add half of that to it again, and you call it good. But in school, you do it that way and you're flat out wrong. There are lots of opportunities in school math for you to be wrong and it makes people freeze up and panic about math. But an unschooled kid who doesn't face that has plenty of time to relax into it and explore it at their own pace and figure it out for themselves, in the way that their own unique brain finds best.
I listened to a small part of one of Sandra Dodd's presentations and all of Miranda's, which was about big picture stuff and the state of the world. There was a chat after that which was good and all of it got me thinking. All of the stuff that she was talking about has been on my radar for years but I've done very little about it other than to say to myself, "Well, we'll figure it out." Which is fine, I *like* being a person who trusts things to the universe. But at the same time, I think I've been feeling like I need to know how to approach the changing world in my own way. I need to figure out where *I* fit in. And after listening to Miranda and the other people in her chat, I think it's time I took a more active approach to figuring that out. I may not be destined to own a bunch of land and run a small farm, but I want to move into my future mindfully and find out what it does look like.
I completely missed my friend Tara's chat, which was about green living and sustainability, because Silas needed me, and I was bummed about that because we don't get recordings of the chats. I figure I can talk to her about that at park day any old time though. I also missed a chat about fulltime RVing because, again, Silas needed me. Oh well. I really feel like I missed a lot of presentations and chats that I had wanted to check out, but at least I'll have recordings of all the main presentations and that's fine.
Another chat I went to was called Strangers in a Strange Land, which was about how to deal with traditional parenting when you're out and about in the world. When you (or you and your kids) witness belittling, shaming, spanking and such, what do you do? I'm not sure I have the answer to that. I was in and out of that one as well. Irina had gotten separated from Pat, so we were trying to locate her. (She was with Saren and we knew that, but didn't want her to get further separated and end up alone.)
Amy Steinberg ~ This time I went to the Amy Steinberg concert, but I only got to be there for one or two songs. It was really too loud for Silas so I had to take him to the other room where the girls and I were selling stuff. Amy Steinberg is like the unofficial unschooling soundtrack. She has played lots of unschooling conferences now and she's a really nice and funny person. She asked if she could hold Silas for a little while and Silas was totally cool with it.
Funshops ~ The girls went to a ton of funshops. I was in and out of them and Pat was with Irina for the ones she wanted to go to, so he took more pics than I did, probably. There was rope-making (so cool! no pictures!), international candy tasting, arts and crafts, journal-binding, and others. The picture below with Irina making the face is where she tried some candy she didn't like.
Untrepeneuring ~ The girls and I had some stuff to sell at the family fair. I made these little handsewn stuffies that I called Warm Fuzzies (the name was almost too twee for me, but I had to do it) that were meant to be for giving to people, with fairy godchildren in mind. They were made from wool felt and embroidery floss and each one had a tag that said, "Hi, I'm a Warm Fuzzy and I think you're awesome [or somesuch]!" And then a to and from spot. I made five of them and had wanted to make more, but didn't ever get around to it. I priced them at $4 each and they all sold. I think I may make something similar for an etsy shop, but I won't have the fairy godparent thing as a what-these-could-specifically-be-for type thing. So I don't know. My favorite was a cloud shaped one with sleepy eyes that said, "Sweet Dreams." That one sold first.
Saren had a bunch of shirts for sale that she had embellished with sharpie markers. If you're thinking about it though, sharpie markers are not the best for embellishing t-shirts. We tried a bunch of different things to make sure the colors wouldn't bleed, but they always did, at least a little bit. The black was okay though. She had a bunch of awesome designs and I think she sold more than half of what she had brought with her. Here is a picture of a child wearing one of her creations. She used some of the money she made to buy other things that people were selling; some pens, some raspberry jam, a pottery cup.
Harper sold a bunch of mini-notebooks and some bookmarks made with cardstock and decorated. She sold a whole bunch of them to Irina's fairy godchild, who was quite taken with them.
It was a lot of fun, but I think next time I'll start preparing a lot earlier.
Fairy Godparents ~ Doing the fairy godparent thing was so much fun. I'm glad I did it this year, though I was really only an assistant. One day I went to the store and bought a bunch of little things for the girls go give to their people, stuff like balloons and small toys and treats. This was another thing I had meant to prepare for better. I wanted to have a stock of things ready to choose from, but this was okay too. For the most part, we just took our little gifts to the rooms of the recipients and left them on the doorknob or taped to the door or on the floor outside, but I think next time I'll make more of an effort to vary things. For instance, Harper's fairy godparent was Holly Dodd (and her assistant fairy godparent was Sandra Dodd) and while we were selling our stuff, she had her brother come up to us and distract us with two dead frozen lizards (that sounds weird, doesn't it?) while her dad came up to the table and set something on it next to Saren while we were looking the other way. She turned around and said, "Hey Harper, this is for you!" And on the heels of that was, "Hey! He was distracting us!!!" That was pretty funny. And cool. I was going to use the money I made from my Warm Fuzzies to buy Sandra Dodd's new book, but Holly gave Harper a copy of it for her final gift of the weekend, so instead I bought one as a gift for Annika, whom we went to see after the conference.
Talent Show ~ The girls did their annual hula-hooping extravaganza and this time Irina did it too. Saren got really frustrated though because there were kids getting in her way the whole time (including Irina for a bit) and because some of the things she tried to do didn't go as smoothly as they did while she was practicing. Also, this year Pat worked up his courage to go up and tell some jokes. Actually Cary, Miranda's husband, signed him up for the talent show without his knowledge, but he decided to go ahead with it.
Contradancing ~ There was a contradancing lessons funshop and then some contradancing right before the Sunday night dance. I did some of this with Pat at the tail end of the lessons and it was so much fun. I guess it's kind of like square dancing, but... not? I don't know. It was easy and fun. I had Silas strapped to my chest the whole time. One of the bigger girls (not ours, someone else) helped Irina while Pat and I were dancing. Saren loved it and did both the lessons and the pre-dance dancing. I don't think Harper did it at all. Not her thing. I'd like to try it out if they have lessons or something available in Vegas, but I'm worried about how it would be in a non-unschooler situation. We've got the littlies and all.
Sunday Night Farewell Dance ~ For most of the dance this time, a group of unschooling dads (plus one not-dad young man on the drums and some backup moms) played music for it, mostly classic rock. It was awesome, but again, I couldn't stay for the whole thing. This time it wasn't Silas who was not enjoying it, it was Harper. She would go in and then have to leave a few minutes later. Too much noise, too many people. Harper's an introvert. So am I, and I know I wouldn't have been able to do the whole thing either.
Monday Picnic ~ The picnic was at Balboa park. There was liquid nitrogen ice cream-making, which was pretty cool. However, Harper was starting to feel sick at this point (this is the fourth conference we've been to and the fourth time one of us has gotten sick, Saren was sick as well, but took some vitamin C that made it not as bad at all) and wanted to go back to the hotel. Saren stayed and got a ride back with her friends. She says one of the dads did hypnotism after we were gone. Too bad I missed that.
Goodbyes & Tuesday with Annika and Sam ~ After a teary goodbye with Miranda and her girls, we headed up to Santa Monica to meet up with Annika and Sam at a playground. We ate lunch and Sam and Irina played together and were adorable and then all too soon we had to say goodbye. The nannies came along and invaded our space to help us along. Seriously, out of the whole playground they set up *right next* to us. So bizarre.
Then we drove home and it seemed like it took forever to get here. Or at least the part where we were driving in rush hour L.A. traffic did.
And now we're home and wishing it could have gone on for a lot longer, while at the same time being totally exhausted and ready for some downtime.
Unschooling conferences are awesome. They are all at once peaceful and calm while a little wild and unruly. It's rather difficult to explain. Because unschooling conferences are not without incidents and minor annoyances. For instance, on one of the evenings, a child pulled the fire alarm. I was with Irina and holding her hand and grateful for that. Silas took it in stride and in fact, fell asleep as we were walking out. There were several times I got in the elevator and saw that all the buttons had been pressed so I had to go through every floor stopping. And there were some knock and run incidents on doors of people who weren't conference go-ers. But the overall reaction to this was calm. People took it in stride and moved on. I'm not saying that any of those things is good or desirable. I just mean that in any other situation there would be a lot of yelling and anger and railing against the wild, unsupervised children who needed to be controlled. In an unschooling conference environment, it's like people know that life is messy and kids are kids and when something happens, they deal with it and move on. Whether the dealing with it is making an announcement to the general unschooling population to knock it off or to simply shrug and let it go, the reaction is not an indictment of children in general and an expression of a need to tighten controls.
So when I say that an unschooling conference is calm and peaceful, I mean that the overall energy of the people there is calm and peaceful. There is very little to no stress/anger/yelling. If there is a stressful frustrating situation involving a child (I experience these all the time with Irina), in general they are dealt with using as much respect as possible for the child in question. Irina was too small to keep up with the bigger girls as she wanted to and Pat couldn't always go where they went to be with her, so we needed to make sure she had other fun things to do. And being around other people who are so mindful with their children just makes me that much more able to stop and think before I act.
So, calm and peaceful and dare I say? Good Vibrations. Yep. And all at the same time everything is so vibrant and wild and full of life. Because all of these small people and not so small people are free and learning to be free-er. Learning about the importance of being happy and helping your kids be happy as opposed to the importance of what society calls successful parenting and a successful life.
It is good. It is very good. In four years we have been to as many unschooling conferences. I'd sure like to keep up that tradition.
As a conclusion to this post, I wanted to make sure that I said thank you once again to Mary and to Flo for helping us to get there. We are so grateful.
I will upload even more pictures to flickr later and link to them.
We left on Thursday one hour later than we had intended (8 instead of 7), which isn't bad, but since we were trying to make it to San Diego within a two hour window (between 12 and 2) I was a bit worried that we wouldn't make it in time to do registration without having to search someone out.
We made one stop in Baker to nurse Silas and one stop in Barstow at the Pepsi Play Park (tradition!). We were going to eat there, but no one was really hungry yet as it was still pretty early, so we decided to press on and just eat lunch when we got to SD. One odd thing did happen while we were at the park in Barstow. A gaggle of preschool children started walking over the hill to come and play at the playground. There were three adults with maybe 20 or so kids. They were making slow progress because the adults had to keep shepherding them, making sure none of them were wandering out of the group. They got about halfway and then one of the adults said something to the kids, but I wasn't paying much attention, so it sounded like this, "blah blah blah blah blah strangers blah blah blah blah blah." And then they turned around and left. And I heard the adult say, "We'll come back tomorrow." Saren said, "Did they just leave because we're here?" You know what? I think they did.
We got to the hotel at about ten minutes to 2, because we are nothing if not consistent in our lateness. Saren and Harper saw their friends who live part time in Vegas and part time in Reno, whom they hadn't seen all summer. They screamed and hugged each other and the desk clerk looked on bemusedly. Then I looked down and saw that Irina was in tears. She was upset because the girls had found some of their friends, but she hadn't found "her Emma." I was totally perplexed because here I thought that her Emma was a completely made up imaginary friend, but her Emma is based on an actual person, the girl that Harper played with for most of the last conference we went to in May of 2008. (There are two Emmas that my girls are familiar with and both were there. And despite Irina not having been her main playmate, she knew exactly which one she was talking about (and she was newly 3 back then and almost a year and a half have passed) and glommed right on to her whenever she saw her for the rest of the conference.)
Later on, while I was up in the room with Silas, Pat and the girls found Miranda and her family and they came up to visit and meet Silas. So good to see Miranda again. It had been a long time. But then again, it was almost like, "Hey didn't I just see you last week at park day?"
We went out to get some food at a place called Pat and Oscar's, a pizza place. A very good pizza place. The breadsticks were so very yummy. Then off to the beach for the welcome party. It was Torrey Pines State Preserve and seriously, one of the best beaches I've ever been to. The temperature of air and water were just perfect and I took Silas in the ocean. He liked it! Or he seemed to. He wasn't whooping it up or anything, but he didn't cry. Later on he cried in the hotel pool, so that was a bit weird. Irina liked it too, which was great because she sometimes has water issues. Saren and Harper played with their friends and built sand hearts and leaped in the waves. We only got about two hours at the beach and I wish we could have had more. Next time we're in San Diego, we're definitely going to that beach.
We went back to the hotel and drew names for fairy godparents and just hung out until it was time to go to bed. In the fairy godparents game you choose a person from a hat who you will do nice things for all weekend without them knowing. I wanted to participate this time, but chose to do so through Irina. I put her name in, and we both fairy godparented the person that she chose. Interestingly, all the girls chose kids close to their own ages. These are a couple of the fairy godparent gifts they received.
Oh, boy. I'm going to have to abandon the chronological order thing now, because it's getting a bit muddled in my head.
Presentations & Chats - I went to a presentation by Pam Sorooshian about unschooling math which was very good. One of the bits that sticks out for me is when she was talking about how in real life mathematical accuracy isn't often necessary. For instance, when you're figuring out the tip at a restaurant, you figure out ten percent, add half of that to it again, and you call it good. But in school, you do it that way and you're flat out wrong. There are lots of opportunities in school math for you to be wrong and it makes people freeze up and panic about math. But an unschooled kid who doesn't face that has plenty of time to relax into it and explore it at their own pace and figure it out for themselves, in the way that their own unique brain finds best.
I listened to a small part of one of Sandra Dodd's presentations and all of Miranda's, which was about big picture stuff and the state of the world. There was a chat after that which was good and all of it got me thinking. All of the stuff that she was talking about has been on my radar for years but I've done very little about it other than to say to myself, "Well, we'll figure it out." Which is fine, I *like* being a person who trusts things to the universe. But at the same time, I think I've been feeling like I need to know how to approach the changing world in my own way. I need to figure out where *I* fit in. And after listening to Miranda and the other people in her chat, I think it's time I took a more active approach to figuring that out. I may not be destined to own a bunch of land and run a small farm, but I want to move into my future mindfully and find out what it does look like.
I completely missed my friend Tara's chat, which was about green living and sustainability, because Silas needed me, and I was bummed about that because we don't get recordings of the chats. I figure I can talk to her about that at park day any old time though. I also missed a chat about fulltime RVing because, again, Silas needed me. Oh well. I really feel like I missed a lot of presentations and chats that I had wanted to check out, but at least I'll have recordings of all the main presentations and that's fine.
Another chat I went to was called Strangers in a Strange Land, which was about how to deal with traditional parenting when you're out and about in the world. When you (or you and your kids) witness belittling, shaming, spanking and such, what do you do? I'm not sure I have the answer to that. I was in and out of that one as well. Irina had gotten separated from Pat, so we were trying to locate her. (She was with Saren and we knew that, but didn't want her to get further separated and end up alone.)
Amy Steinberg ~ This time I went to the Amy Steinberg concert, but I only got to be there for one or two songs. It was really too loud for Silas so I had to take him to the other room where the girls and I were selling stuff. Amy Steinberg is like the unofficial unschooling soundtrack. She has played lots of unschooling conferences now and she's a really nice and funny person. She asked if she could hold Silas for a little while and Silas was totally cool with it.
Funshops ~ The girls went to a ton of funshops. I was in and out of them and Pat was with Irina for the ones she wanted to go to, so he took more pics than I did, probably. There was rope-making (so cool! no pictures!), international candy tasting, arts and crafts, journal-binding, and others. The picture below with Irina making the face is where she tried some candy she didn't like.
Untrepeneuring ~ The girls and I had some stuff to sell at the family fair. I made these little handsewn stuffies that I called Warm Fuzzies (the name was almost too twee for me, but I had to do it) that were meant to be for giving to people, with fairy godchildren in mind. They were made from wool felt and embroidery floss and each one had a tag that said, "Hi, I'm a Warm Fuzzy and I think you're awesome [or somesuch]!" And then a to and from spot. I made five of them and had wanted to make more, but didn't ever get around to it. I priced them at $4 each and they all sold. I think I may make something similar for an etsy shop, but I won't have the fairy godparent thing as a what-these-could-specifically-be-for type thing. So I don't know. My favorite was a cloud shaped one with sleepy eyes that said, "Sweet Dreams." That one sold first.
Saren had a bunch of shirts for sale that she had embellished with sharpie markers. If you're thinking about it though, sharpie markers are not the best for embellishing t-shirts. We tried a bunch of different things to make sure the colors wouldn't bleed, but they always did, at least a little bit. The black was okay though. She had a bunch of awesome designs and I think she sold more than half of what she had brought with her. Here is a picture of a child wearing one of her creations. She used some of the money she made to buy other things that people were selling; some pens, some raspberry jam, a pottery cup.
Harper sold a bunch of mini-notebooks and some bookmarks made with cardstock and decorated. She sold a whole bunch of them to Irina's fairy godchild, who was quite taken with them.
It was a lot of fun, but I think next time I'll start preparing a lot earlier.
Fairy Godparents ~ Doing the fairy godparent thing was so much fun. I'm glad I did it this year, though I was really only an assistant. One day I went to the store and bought a bunch of little things for the girls go give to their people, stuff like balloons and small toys and treats. This was another thing I had meant to prepare for better. I wanted to have a stock of things ready to choose from, but this was okay too. For the most part, we just took our little gifts to the rooms of the recipients and left them on the doorknob or taped to the door or on the floor outside, but I think next time I'll make more of an effort to vary things. For instance, Harper's fairy godparent was Holly Dodd (and her assistant fairy godparent was Sandra Dodd) and while we were selling our stuff, she had her brother come up to us and distract us with two dead frozen lizards (that sounds weird, doesn't it?) while her dad came up to the table and set something on it next to Saren while we were looking the other way. She turned around and said, "Hey Harper, this is for you!" And on the heels of that was, "Hey! He was distracting us!!!" That was pretty funny. And cool. I was going to use the money I made from my Warm Fuzzies to buy Sandra Dodd's new book, but Holly gave Harper a copy of it for her final gift of the weekend, so instead I bought one as a gift for Annika, whom we went to see after the conference.
Talent Show ~ The girls did their annual hula-hooping extravaganza and this time Irina did it too. Saren got really frustrated though because there were kids getting in her way the whole time (including Irina for a bit) and because some of the things she tried to do didn't go as smoothly as they did while she was practicing. Also, this year Pat worked up his courage to go up and tell some jokes. Actually Cary, Miranda's husband, signed him up for the talent show without his knowledge, but he decided to go ahead with it.
Contradancing ~ There was a contradancing lessons funshop and then some contradancing right before the Sunday night dance. I did some of this with Pat at the tail end of the lessons and it was so much fun. I guess it's kind of like square dancing, but... not? I don't know. It was easy and fun. I had Silas strapped to my chest the whole time. One of the bigger girls (not ours, someone else) helped Irina while Pat and I were dancing. Saren loved it and did both the lessons and the pre-dance dancing. I don't think Harper did it at all. Not her thing. I'd like to try it out if they have lessons or something available in Vegas, but I'm worried about how it would be in a non-unschooler situation. We've got the littlies and all.
Sunday Night Farewell Dance ~ For most of the dance this time, a group of unschooling dads (plus one not-dad young man on the drums and some backup moms) played music for it, mostly classic rock. It was awesome, but again, I couldn't stay for the whole thing. This time it wasn't Silas who was not enjoying it, it was Harper. She would go in and then have to leave a few minutes later. Too much noise, too many people. Harper's an introvert. So am I, and I know I wouldn't have been able to do the whole thing either.
Monday Picnic ~ The picnic was at Balboa park. There was liquid nitrogen ice cream-making, which was pretty cool. However, Harper was starting to feel sick at this point (this is the fourth conference we've been to and the fourth time one of us has gotten sick, Saren was sick as well, but took some vitamin C that made it not as bad at all) and wanted to go back to the hotel. Saren stayed and got a ride back with her friends. She says one of the dads did hypnotism after we were gone. Too bad I missed that.
Goodbyes & Tuesday with Annika and Sam ~ After a teary goodbye with Miranda and her girls, we headed up to Santa Monica to meet up with Annika and Sam at a playground. We ate lunch and Sam and Irina played together and were adorable and then all too soon we had to say goodbye. The nannies came along and invaded our space to help us along. Seriously, out of the whole playground they set up *right next* to us. So bizarre.
Then we drove home and it seemed like it took forever to get here. Or at least the part where we were driving in rush hour L.A. traffic did.
And now we're home and wishing it could have gone on for a lot longer, while at the same time being totally exhausted and ready for some downtime.
Unschooling conferences are awesome. They are all at once peaceful and calm while a little wild and unruly. It's rather difficult to explain. Because unschooling conferences are not without incidents and minor annoyances. For instance, on one of the evenings, a child pulled the fire alarm. I was with Irina and holding her hand and grateful for that. Silas took it in stride and in fact, fell asleep as we were walking out. There were several times I got in the elevator and saw that all the buttons had been pressed so I had to go through every floor stopping. And there were some knock and run incidents on doors of people who weren't conference go-ers. But the overall reaction to this was calm. People took it in stride and moved on. I'm not saying that any of those things is good or desirable. I just mean that in any other situation there would be a lot of yelling and anger and railing against the wild, unsupervised children who needed to be controlled. In an unschooling conference environment, it's like people know that life is messy and kids are kids and when something happens, they deal with it and move on. Whether the dealing with it is making an announcement to the general unschooling population to knock it off or to simply shrug and let it go, the reaction is not an indictment of children in general and an expression of a need to tighten controls.
So when I say that an unschooling conference is calm and peaceful, I mean that the overall energy of the people there is calm and peaceful. There is very little to no stress/anger/yelling. If there is a stressful frustrating situation involving a child (I experience these all the time with Irina), in general they are dealt with using as much respect as possible for the child in question. Irina was too small to keep up with the bigger girls as she wanted to and Pat couldn't always go where they went to be with her, so we needed to make sure she had other fun things to do. And being around other people who are so mindful with their children just makes me that much more able to stop and think before I act.
So, calm and peaceful and dare I say? Good Vibrations. Yep. And all at the same time everything is so vibrant and wild and full of life. Because all of these small people and not so small people are free and learning to be free-er. Learning about the importance of being happy and helping your kids be happy as opposed to the importance of what society calls successful parenting and a successful life.
It is good. It is very good. In four years we have been to as many unschooling conferences. I'd sure like to keep up that tradition.
As a conclusion to this post, I wanted to make sure that I said thank you once again to Mary and to Flo for helping us to get there. We are so grateful.
I will upload even more pictures to flickr later and link to them.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Chalk Drawings
Saren and Harper made some chalk drawings on the back porch. Saren's is the sunset and Harper's is the pig. Saren took these photos.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
What Silas Can Do Now
Pretty much overnight he became strong enough to hold his head up high when he is on his tummy. He also rolled from front to back.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Van Decorations
Here's how we decorated our van's windows for the trip. Also some proof that we actually do wash our van. Sometimes. It was hard to take pictures of the decorations because we cleaned the van so shiny! Also, we used Crayola window markers, which I would not recommend as they were too thin and difficult to use.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Packed and Ready to Go
Except that we aren't. Yet. It's 9:37pm and I still need to get together the food and put all the stuff in the van. But we're almost ready. And in the morning, we get up, get showered, eat, and go! And because I'm awesome I have scheduled 4 posts for while I'm gone. Go me! Good Vibrations, here we come!
Monday, September 07, 2009
I SAID, EVERYTHING WORKS OUT GREAT FOR ME
I have a lot to blog about! And even though it all happened within a handful of hours, some of it doesn't have anything to do with other parts.
So. Yesterday we decided we wanted to go to the pool for the last time before it closes for the summer. Let's not get into how we'll still have swimming weather for another month and a half *at least* but the pool schedule is created with the school schedule in mind and how that irritates the crap out of me, not to mention how for most of the summer they close at 5pm even though it doesn't get dark until almost 9 sometimes. For the past week or so the van had been hesitating somewhat when we turned the key to start it. Foreshadowing!
I'm not a hugely social person. I don't attract a lot of chit-chat from strangers because in most places and situations I exude a don't-talk-to-me vibe. I don't work at it, it just happens. Sometimes I like talking to people I don't know, most times I don't. So I was surprised to have not one, but three people interact with me while we were at the pool. One lady came up and out of the blue offered me and Silas a little floating ball to play with while she and her son were out of the pool. I told her that Silas was still a little too young to play with it, but thanked her anyway. Then a woman came up to me while I was swimming with Irina and asked me to retie the back of her bikini top because it was getting loose. Okay, whatever. Personally, I would have sought out someone I know to do that for me, but maybe she was there with only her kids. I helped her, she went on her way.
Irina was playing with a little girl who was with her dad. Then the dad and the mom switched and the mom struck up a conversation with me. (Not pertinent to the story: At one point a bee came by and freaked everybody out, but the mom just calmly coaxed the bee onto her palm and took it to the back gate and let it go. So weird, yet so awesome.) And maybe this is an indication of who I really am (a horrible, mean, antisocial monster), but I just really wanted her to leave and stop talking to me.* And then she started talking about how she wanted to meet more people with kids her daughter's age so that she could start facilitating more playdates. And it is really awful of me, but I groaned inwardly at that point. It's awful of me because I have been this woman. When Saren was 3-ish, I worked up my nerve to go ask a woman with a little girl in Saren's gymnastics class if she would be interested in having some playdates at a park or something for Saren and her daughter. And we ended up meeting with them once a week for almost two years, until her daughter started Kindergarten. But now? Now we have Life Learners and I feel like Irina has plenty of opportunities to play with other kids, so the thought of trying to meet up with this woman for more, especially since Saren and Harper don't go to school, just seemed overwhelming and impractical.
But I swear, I'm not a monster, so I took her number and she took mine and I was thinking maybe this could be fun, maybe it could work, maybe Irina will have a new friend. And then, because I thought it was probably important to know, I told her that we homeschool and my older two girls are always with me, in the back of my mind thinking maybe we could get together at a park or something so that everyone is happy. She seemed cool with that and even said that she had thought about homeschooling and started to talk about home-preschooling, whatever that may be. And then I wanted to give her my email address because our phone's ringer is turned off a lot of the time. So while I was writing it down (unschoolingmama at gmail dot com) I mentioned that we go to a weekly park day with our unschooling group and that there are a lot of kids there and she could come to it if she was interested in unschooling (thinking if she's interested in homeschooling, she might be interested in unschooling).
Maybe I imagined it. I think I'm pretty good at picking up on people's thoughts and feelings though. It seemed to me that as soon as I mentioned the word "unschooling" she started to wonder what she had just gotten herself into. I could almost see her draw away from me (we were standing face to face at that point while I wrote down my email address). She mentioned that she had read an article about unschooling and said something like, "Is unschooling really like *that*?" Ugh. There is nothing I want less in my life than to defend unschooling. I discovered a long time ago that I am not a debater. I have no problem talking about unschooling to people who want to know about it, who are interested in it, who have questions about it. But for those who already have negative opinions about it; I feel perfectly secure in our choices but have no desire to defend them. I talked to her about it briefly, smiled, and tried to defend the family in the mystery article anyway, though, by saying that a person can learn a lot from playing on the computer and on the piano.
Still, I was pretty sure I had scared her with my mention of unschooling. And I am pretty sure that she won't be contacting us. Time will tell. She was on her way out at that point, so at least I know she wasn't fleeing from the crazy people who let their kids play on the computer all day.
After they were gone, we had to sit out during a pool check. The bees, at that point, decided that we were the most interesting flowers they had ever seen and there followed the most uncomfortable hour or so I had all day. DO NOT LIKE BEES.
We left about a half hour before they were going to close. I took a picture of Irina, Silas, and Pat, all asleep.
And the van wouldn't start. I was so pissed off at myself for not making sure we had taken care of whatever was wrong with it as soon as it started hesitating when we started it up. But it always comes down to money. Money and time. Because it's a pain to take the van somewhere to be looked at and the uncertainty of how much it's going to end up costing us keeps us from acting as well. But we were stuck. I called my dad, but he wasn't at home and I didn't really know what else to do. There isn't anyone we can call to pick us up because we won't all fit in anyone's vehicle. There's a lot of us nowadays.
We decided to walk to the bus stop and then take it home. While walking I went through my list of 'at least's. At least we hadn't gone to the other pool, which would have made getting to a bus stop a lot more difficult. At least there was a park on the way, so we could stop and rest for a bit and get some water. At least it wasn't the middle of the day, so it wasn't a million degrees outside. At least I had brought all the small bills I had because I could have just taken the $12 we needed to get into the pool. At least we were all together, happy (for the most part), whole, and healthy. At least we got a bit of exercise? At least Pat's boss had just given us some belated gift money for Silas and now we can use that to fix the van (hope it's enough) even though I wish we could have used it for a cushion in the conference budget or actually *for* Silas because he's busting out of his clothes at the moment. So I was pissed when we were in the parking lot trying to get the car started, all righteously angry at the universe. But during the walk, I felt a lot better and was positively giddy when we got home. It's okay. Life is good.
And then we ordered a pizza.
Neither here nor there: My uncle was on the bus. Weird, but kind of cool.
So, now the van is at the parking lot of the pool and I am trusting to the universe to take care of it until my dad can go to it with Pat and help us diagnose and fix it tonight. Please let it still be there intact, when they get to it. Please let the problem be simple to fix and cost less than $100. Please, please, please.
*Important note: I do like talking to people in situations where I'm specifically there to meet and talk to people. Park day, unschooling conference, sure! Grocery store, library? No.
Edit: The van is fixed! It was the battery and it only cost us $31. Woooooooooo! We also replaced the air filter. Good to go.
So. Yesterday we decided we wanted to go to the pool for the last time before it closes for the summer. Let's not get into how we'll still have swimming weather for another month and a half *at least* but the pool schedule is created with the school schedule in mind and how that irritates the crap out of me, not to mention how for most of the summer they close at 5pm even though it doesn't get dark until almost 9 sometimes. For the past week or so the van had been hesitating somewhat when we turned the key to start it. Foreshadowing!
I'm not a hugely social person. I don't attract a lot of chit-chat from strangers because in most places and situations I exude a don't-talk-to-me vibe. I don't work at it, it just happens. Sometimes I like talking to people I don't know, most times I don't. So I was surprised to have not one, but three people interact with me while we were at the pool. One lady came up and out of the blue offered me and Silas a little floating ball to play with while she and her son were out of the pool. I told her that Silas was still a little too young to play with it, but thanked her anyway. Then a woman came up to me while I was swimming with Irina and asked me to retie the back of her bikini top because it was getting loose. Okay, whatever. Personally, I would have sought out someone I know to do that for me, but maybe she was there with only her kids. I helped her, she went on her way.
Irina was playing with a little girl who was with her dad. Then the dad and the mom switched and the mom struck up a conversation with me. (Not pertinent to the story: At one point a bee came by and freaked everybody out, but the mom just calmly coaxed the bee onto her palm and took it to the back gate and let it go. So weird, yet so awesome.) And maybe this is an indication of who I really am (a horrible, mean, antisocial monster), but I just really wanted her to leave and stop talking to me.* And then she started talking about how she wanted to meet more people with kids her daughter's age so that she could start facilitating more playdates. And it is really awful of me, but I groaned inwardly at that point. It's awful of me because I have been this woman. When Saren was 3-ish, I worked up my nerve to go ask a woman with a little girl in Saren's gymnastics class if she would be interested in having some playdates at a park or something for Saren and her daughter. And we ended up meeting with them once a week for almost two years, until her daughter started Kindergarten. But now? Now we have Life Learners and I feel like Irina has plenty of opportunities to play with other kids, so the thought of trying to meet up with this woman for more, especially since Saren and Harper don't go to school, just seemed overwhelming and impractical.
But I swear, I'm not a monster, so I took her number and she took mine and I was thinking maybe this could be fun, maybe it could work, maybe Irina will have a new friend. And then, because I thought it was probably important to know, I told her that we homeschool and my older two girls are always with me, in the back of my mind thinking maybe we could get together at a park or something so that everyone is happy. She seemed cool with that and even said that she had thought about homeschooling and started to talk about home-preschooling, whatever that may be. And then I wanted to give her my email address because our phone's ringer is turned off a lot of the time. So while I was writing it down (unschoolingmama at gmail dot com) I mentioned that we go to a weekly park day with our unschooling group and that there are a lot of kids there and she could come to it if she was interested in unschooling (thinking if she's interested in homeschooling, she might be interested in unschooling).
Maybe I imagined it. I think I'm pretty good at picking up on people's thoughts and feelings though. It seemed to me that as soon as I mentioned the word "unschooling" she started to wonder what she had just gotten herself into. I could almost see her draw away from me (we were standing face to face at that point while I wrote down my email address). She mentioned that she had read an article about unschooling and said something like, "Is unschooling really like *that*?" Ugh. There is nothing I want less in my life than to defend unschooling. I discovered a long time ago that I am not a debater. I have no problem talking about unschooling to people who want to know about it, who are interested in it, who have questions about it. But for those who already have negative opinions about it; I feel perfectly secure in our choices but have no desire to defend them. I talked to her about it briefly, smiled, and tried to defend the family in the mystery article anyway, though, by saying that a person can learn a lot from playing on the computer and on the piano.
Still, I was pretty sure I had scared her with my mention of unschooling. And I am pretty sure that she won't be contacting us. Time will tell. She was on her way out at that point, so at least I know she wasn't fleeing from the crazy people who let their kids play on the computer all day.
After they were gone, we had to sit out during a pool check. The bees, at that point, decided that we were the most interesting flowers they had ever seen and there followed the most uncomfortable hour or so I had all day. DO NOT LIKE BEES.
We left about a half hour before they were going to close. I took a picture of Irina, Silas, and Pat, all asleep.
And the van wouldn't start. I was so pissed off at myself for not making sure we had taken care of whatever was wrong with it as soon as it started hesitating when we started it up. But it always comes down to money. Money and time. Because it's a pain to take the van somewhere to be looked at and the uncertainty of how much it's going to end up costing us keeps us from acting as well. But we were stuck. I called my dad, but he wasn't at home and I didn't really know what else to do. There isn't anyone we can call to pick us up because we won't all fit in anyone's vehicle. There's a lot of us nowadays.
We decided to walk to the bus stop and then take it home. While walking I went through my list of 'at least's. At least we hadn't gone to the other pool, which would have made getting to a bus stop a lot more difficult. At least there was a park on the way, so we could stop and rest for a bit and get some water. At least it wasn't the middle of the day, so it wasn't a million degrees outside. At least I had brought all the small bills I had because I could have just taken the $12 we needed to get into the pool. At least we were all together, happy (for the most part), whole, and healthy. At least we got a bit of exercise? At least Pat's boss had just given us some belated gift money for Silas and now we can use that to fix the van (hope it's enough) even though I wish we could have used it for a cushion in the conference budget or actually *for* Silas because he's busting out of his clothes at the moment. So I was pissed when we were in the parking lot trying to get the car started, all righteously angry at the universe. But during the walk, I felt a lot better and was positively giddy when we got home. It's okay. Life is good.
And then we ordered a pizza.
Neither here nor there: My uncle was on the bus. Weird, but kind of cool.
So, now the van is at the parking lot of the pool and I am trusting to the universe to take care of it until my dad can go to it with Pat and help us diagnose and fix it tonight. Please let it still be there intact, when they get to it. Please let the problem be simple to fix and cost less than $100. Please, please, please.
*Important note: I do like talking to people in situations where I'm specifically there to meet and talk to people. Park day, unschooling conference, sure! Grocery store, library? No.
Edit: The van is fixed! It was the battery and it only cost us $31. Woooooooooo! We also replaced the air filter. Good to go.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
It's too long for Twitter, I'll just have to blog it.
Watching the fire scene in Spiderman 2.
Me: When is Hollywood going to learn that real fires don't look anything like that?
Pat: Shh--I'm trying to beat this level!
Me: When is Hollywood going to learn that real fires don't look anything like that?
Pat: Shh--I'm trying to beat this level!
Friday, September 04, 2009
Another Year's Worth of Reading
Last year I did a post in which I wrote about all of the books I had read in the previous year (May '07 through May '08) and I want to do that again right now for the past year. Except that it's more than a year's worth. Again. Because I am Procrastinator Extraordinaire.
I feel like this is going to be an ultra-boring post, but I'm going ahead with it anyway because it's my blog and I'll write the titles of 63 books with or without commentary if I want to. Feel free to skim. Feel free to go away and come back the next time I talk about pee or poop or post a cute baby pic. I'm okay with it.
I kept track of all the books on GoodReads and gave them all a star rating there, though I didn't say anything else about them at all. In looking back, that really drives me crazy since I don't always remember the books very well, but for whatever reason I still don't write reviews there.
Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician ~ Daniel Wallace
I actually did write about this already. Link. I gave it one star.
Pay the Piper: A Rock and Roll Fairy Tale ~ Jane Yolen
Wrote about this too. Three stars means I liked it.
Steps Through the Mist ~ Zoran Zivkovic
Again.
Physik, Septimus Heap #3 ~ Angie Sage
I read this to Saren. But it was a long time ago. I gave it 3 stars which means I liked it, but why then have I not finished reading to her the 4th book? Mainly because I got pregnant and lost my reading-to-the-girls-regularly mojo. I really need to get it back.
The Ramona Books (minus Ramona Quimby, Age 8) ~ Beverly Cleary
Read to Harper. In the last post I made like this I said that I thought Harper didn't like the Ramona books as much as I did as a kid, but I was wrong. She liked them a lot and we went on to read them all together. She's even re-read some of them. I think Beverly Cleary was an expert at writing from a kid's point of view. And the books are very funny. Yeah, my kids are unschooled and Ramona has to go to school and eat tongue, but humans are humans and kids are kids and Beverly got it right, yo. It so happened that we read the Ramona book in which Ramona's mom announces that she is pregnant at exactly the same time that I myself became pregnant. Harper and I think that Harper is a lot like Beezus and Irina is a lot like Ramona.
Outcast (Warriors: Power of Three, #3) ~ Erin Hunter
Oh, Warriors. I am stuck on reading the 4th book to Harper (same story as the 4th Septimus Heap book). It belongs to Saren and she wants her book back.
The Fault Tree ~ Louise Ure
Man, it is a good thing I wrote about a few of these before because looking at the cover of this book (on Goodreads), I can't remember it at all.
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You ~ Peter Cameron
This was an excellent book. I gave it 4 stars, which is great because in looking back, I never once gave five stars to a single book. Apparently I have to be pretty damn impressed for that. Anyway this was a YA book that was funny and well-written and in skimming the description of it, I can remember it pretty well, but not well enough to write more about it. Hold on there. I wrote about this book. Excellent.
Twilight ~ Stephenie Meyer
Well, I gave it one star but I would have given it negative stars if I could've. It still boggles my mind that this book and the following books in the series became so popular. It boggles my mind that they ever got published. Sometimes I picture Stephenie Meyer as Sarah Palin. Not sure why. I wrote about it in the same post as the last book.
The Forest in the Hallway ~ Gordon Smith
I liked it enough to give it three stars, but I can't remember it at all. Okay, I've refreshed my memory. It was a middle grade fantasy book with a young girl with missing parents who travels through a strange world in search of them. I think I should have chosen "It was okay," or 2 stars, but 2 stars seems too paltry. I need a different star system.
Magic or Madness Trilogy (links to first bk only) ~ Justine Larbalestier
I found Justine Larbalestier's blog first. I was looking for blogs by YA writers and hers is one of the ones I found. Through that I found out about her trilogy and read each one from the library. I enjoyed it. I found the characters, the story, and the humor to be engaging. It takes place in both Sydney and NYC, which was interesting. Justine Larbalestier lives in both places.
Thirteen Reasons Why ~ Jay Asher
I was looking for good YA books to read and found mention of this on a blog. One of those YA author debut blogs, I think. I found it at the library and remembered it so I picked it up. I gave it two stars, but I think maybe one would have been more accurate in thinking back. Maybe I was trying to be generous because the writing was not terrible? It's about a boy who is one of 13 people given a series of tapes from a girl who had committed suicide, telling them all about what made her kill herself. Only what it seems like is a dead girl trying to blame others for her own choice, and the reasons she gives, the incidents that happened, just don't seem all that bad. Certainly not suicide-inducing anyway. I just remember thinking that it was really unfair of her to foist these tapes on these people. Talk about a guilt trip.
The Gemma Doyle Trilogy (links to first book) ~ Libba Bray
I read Libba Bray's blog as well, but I can't remember which I found first, her books or her blog. Another good little fantasy trilogy, a pleasant diversion. Plus there was a character named Pippa and I kept telling Pat I wanted to name the in utero baby Pippa if it was a girl, because... Pippa! Please. Who doesn't want to shout, "Pippa! It's time for dinner!"? No one, that's who.
Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange~ Melissa Marr
There sure are a lot of YA fantasy novels with pretty girl pictures on the covers. Another pleasant diversion. This trilogy (I know, I only listed 2, because I've only read 2 so far) is set in modern times whereas the previous one wasn't. The last one was about magic of the witchcraft sort and this one is about magic of the fairy sort. Also writing this up has reminded me that there's another one out there for me to read still. Which is good.
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (links to first book) ~ Tad Williams
This is one of my favorite fantasy trilogies. I've reread it several times. It might even be on my last year-of-reading post, I'm not sure.
The Mysterious Benedict Society ~ Trenton Lee Stewart
This is a middle grade book. It was a lot of fun. A bit Roald Dahl-esque with out-there characters. There is another out now, which I have from the libe and yet another coming out in October.
Skin Hunger ~ Kathleen Duey
I loved this book. It's a dark fantasy which has two protaganists living in different time periods. I was so upset when I came to the end and found out that it didn't resolve at all and that it was the first book in a trilogy and the second book wasn't coming out until... oh, boy! It's out now. I wonder if I should wait until it's closer to the third one coming out and get both the second and third together. Anyway, the main thing to take away is that I thought this was an excellent, excellent book and I am eagerly awaiting the rest of the story.
The Looking Glass Wars ~ Frank Beddor
A YA fantasy about Alice from Wonderland, in which Lewis Carroll got it all wrong. It's the supposed real story. I enjoyed it, but it's a trilogy and I haven't had any desire to continue on with it, so I guess that says something. My god, does anyone write anything anymore without planning on writing two or more sequels? I like sequels. I do. But it really seems like that's all I've been reading anymore. Because that's what keeps coming up on my radar. Because there's a lot of them.
Creepers ~ Joanne Dahme
I picked this up from the library because it was about graveyards, ghosts, death, etc, something I am drawn to. But I was pretty disappointed. I can't tell you why. I've forgotten. Please remind me to write about the books I read right after I read them.
The Eyes of the Dragon ~ Stephen King
This has got to be one of my favorite Stephen King novels ever. I've read it several times and I have an old battered paperback copy of it. So different from what he normally writes, yet still totally King.
Plain Truth Salem Falls Change of Heart Harvesting the Heart Vanishing Acts ~ Jodi Picoult
I read Jodi Picoult because she's really prolific so there's a lot to choose from and because her books keep me interested. They're page-turners. They are literary Oreo cookies. I pick them up and can't put them down, but I don't feel good about it. According to GoodReads, my reactions to her books are lukewarm to DID NOT LIKE, so I really think I need to quit reading her stuff now. It helps that I'm not pregnant anymore and presumably have better use of my brain.
Me Talk Pretty One Day ~ David Sedaris
David Sedaris is a name I had heard of but was not familiar with. I picked up this book from the library. It's a collection of essays, which I think is all he does, but I'm not totally sure. It was so very funny. There was this essay that was about poop that had me laughing out loud because I am five. I need to read more of his stuff.
The Thief ~ Megan Whalen Turner
A really good middle grade book with a snarky, funny protagonist and a surprise ending. There are more of these too, which I need to get.
A Girl from Yamhill ~ Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary's memoir. Like I said, I really love Beverly Cleary, so I loved reading about her early life. What? There's another one? It's a memoir, cut it out already!
The Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap ~ Heather Bouwman
Loved it! Middle grade. Has awesome art on the cover.
Uglies trilogy ~ Scott Westerfeld
Scott Westerfeld is married to Justine Larbalestier, from further up my list. YA dystopian future novels. Page turners. Lots of adventure and action. I liked 'em. Spagbol.
In the Woods ~ Tana French
I DID NOT LIKE THIS BOOK. In fact it made me very angry. The main character ended up so screwed at the end of this book and there was a subplot (which was way more interesting than the main plot) and IT WAS NEVER RESOLVED. AND IT NEVER WILL BE. I am still mad about this book. Especially because I bought the damn thing.
The Reader ~ Bernhard Schlink
Isn't this a movie too? I'd like to see that. I liked this book. I liked it good. Maybe I should take a break from doing this so I stop writing like I'm in grade school and writing a book report.
The Secret Life of Bees ~ Sue Monk Kidd
Pat and the girls bought this for me for Mother's Day a couple of years ago and I started it and never finished it. I don't know why. I started it over completely, finished it, and really liked it. It's a movie now. I should check that out.
Alis ~ Naomi Rich
A YA book set in an imaginary past. Liked it well enough to give it 3 stars.
The Red Thread: A Novel in Three Incarnations ~ Roderick Townley
Man, I wish I could say more about this than, "Didn't like it much," but it's another one that I'm too far removed from to remember why I didn't like it.
The Unnameables ~ Ellen Booraem
Middle grade fantasy. It's set in modern times, but on an island that keeps itself separate from the rest of the world and lives a less technical existence. The story itself is about how conformity stifles and I liked it quite a lot. A lot of humor in this one as well, especially from the goat-man.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy ~ Jeanne Birdsall
I loved this book! It was fun and funny and old fashioned while still being modern. There's another one as well now that I'd like to read.
Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts With Worry ~ Lenore Skenazy
Such a good book. In theory. Sadly, it didn't make me any less of a worried parent. But I'm working on it because I really do think my kids need more freedom than they currently get. But not worrying isn't as easy as reading a book and knowing the real statistics. I will say that after I read this, I let Saren walk to the store by herself. In Panaca. Population 595. I may have a bit more work to do.
Newes From the Dead ~ Mary Hooper
This was loosely based on a true story about a girl who was hung but didn't die and came to on an autopsy table in England in 1650. It went back and forth between the girl thinking about what had happened to get her into her not-dead state and one of the medical students about to watch her body be cut apart. I thought it pretty interesting and engaging.
As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial ~ Derrick Jensen
Everything Derrick Jensen says (here and elsewhere) is perfectly true. All the little things we are told we can do to save the earth are not enough and yes, they do help people stay in denial. But Derrick Jensen's answer is to bring down civilization (not in this book) and that just makes everything seem even more futile. I just don't think it's a practical way to look at things. Not that there is one. Not that I have the answers. But Derrick Jensen always depresses me. He also makes me laugh.
The Freedom Manifesto: How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, and Waste ~ Tom Hodgkinson
This is a great book! But it doesn't necessarily offer a lot of specific how-to stuff as the title might imply. But as a guide to life, I think it's great. I'd like to buy it (got it from the libe) to have it around to refer to often.
How to Ditch Your Fairy ~ Justine Larbalestier
A funny YA book about a girl who lives in a world where everyone has a personal fairy. Hers is a parking fairy which means whatever car she's in can always find a great parking spot, but she hates it because everyone always wants her to go with them when they go somewhere and she smells like petrol. So she tries to get rid of it. Hilarity ensues!
Heroes of the Valley ~ Jonathan Stroud
Middle grade fantasy. Another funny one. I love books with truly amusing writing. This one is about a short stocky boy with a sharp wit and what it means to be a hero.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~ J.K. Rowling
We saw the movie version at the drive-in and it inspired me to re-read the book. To purge the taste of the movie from my brain?
The Tales of Beedle the Bard ~ J.K. Rowling
I don't know. It was okay? I liked J.K. Rowling's illustrations.
The Graveyard Book ~ Neil Gaiman
Middle Grade/YA. Excellent. I told you I like graveyards and ghosts. This one is about a boy named Bod (short for Nobody) who lives in the graveyard and is raised by the ghosts. It has an awesome character named Silas. One of the chapters was originally a short story in another of his books, which gave me a huge sense of deja vu, but I figured it all out.
The Amulet of Samarkand ~ Jonathan Stroud
Middle Grade/YA. I picked this up because I so liked the Heroes of the Valley from uplist (though this was written first). I wasn't disappointed in the humor or the story, but so far (I'm working on the second book right now) I am finding the main human character to be less than sympathetic. But I'll give him a chance because I assume he will change by the time the trilogy is done. Bartimaeus (the titular djinni) is hilarious though. And there's a lot of unreliable narrating going on that results in some funny stuff.
The Almost Moon ~ Alice Sebold
I read this because I read The Lovely Bones some time ago and liked it. This one was about a woman who ends up killing her elderly mother and what happens in the 24 hours afterward. It explores her relationship with her mother throughout her whole life as well as with her father and her ex-husband and her children. I liked it more after I had finished it and had some time to let it settle.
So, in conclusion, that took a really long time and I am thinking of maybe, possibly, starting a book blog instead of doing it this way.
I feel like this is going to be an ultra-boring post, but I'm going ahead with it anyway because it's my blog and I'll write the titles of 63 books with or without commentary if I want to. Feel free to skim. Feel free to go away and come back the next time I talk about pee or poop or post a cute baby pic. I'm okay with it.
I kept track of all the books on GoodReads and gave them all a star rating there, though I didn't say anything else about them at all. In looking back, that really drives me crazy since I don't always remember the books very well, but for whatever reason I still don't write reviews there.
Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician ~ Daniel Wallace
I actually did write about this already. Link. I gave it one star.
Pay the Piper: A Rock and Roll Fairy Tale ~ Jane Yolen
Wrote about this too. Three stars means I liked it.
Steps Through the Mist ~ Zoran Zivkovic
Again.
Physik, Septimus Heap #3 ~ Angie Sage
I read this to Saren. But it was a long time ago. I gave it 3 stars which means I liked it, but why then have I not finished reading to her the 4th book? Mainly because I got pregnant and lost my reading-to-the-girls-regularly mojo. I really need to get it back.
The Ramona Books (minus Ramona Quimby, Age 8) ~ Beverly Cleary
Read to Harper. In the last post I made like this I said that I thought Harper didn't like the Ramona books as much as I did as a kid, but I was wrong. She liked them a lot and we went on to read them all together. She's even re-read some of them. I think Beverly Cleary was an expert at writing from a kid's point of view. And the books are very funny. Yeah, my kids are unschooled and Ramona has to go to school and eat tongue, but humans are humans and kids are kids and Beverly got it right, yo. It so happened that we read the Ramona book in which Ramona's mom announces that she is pregnant at exactly the same time that I myself became pregnant. Harper and I think that Harper is a lot like Beezus and Irina is a lot like Ramona.
Outcast (Warriors: Power of Three, #3) ~ Erin Hunter
Oh, Warriors. I am stuck on reading the 4th book to Harper (same story as the 4th Septimus Heap book). It belongs to Saren and she wants her book back.
The Fault Tree ~ Louise Ure
Man, it is a good thing I wrote about a few of these before because looking at the cover of this book (on Goodreads), I can't remember it at all.
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You ~ Peter Cameron
This was an excellent book. I gave it 4 stars, which is great because in looking back, I never once gave five stars to a single book. Apparently I have to be pretty damn impressed for that. Anyway this was a YA book that was funny and well-written and in skimming the description of it, I can remember it pretty well, but not well enough to write more about it. Hold on there. I wrote about this book. Excellent.
Twilight ~ Stephenie Meyer
Well, I gave it one star but I would have given it negative stars if I could've. It still boggles my mind that this book and the following books in the series became so popular. It boggles my mind that they ever got published. Sometimes I picture Stephenie Meyer as Sarah Palin. Not sure why. I wrote about it in the same post as the last book.
The Forest in the Hallway ~ Gordon Smith
I liked it enough to give it three stars, but I can't remember it at all. Okay, I've refreshed my memory. It was a middle grade fantasy book with a young girl with missing parents who travels through a strange world in search of them. I think I should have chosen "It was okay," or 2 stars, but 2 stars seems too paltry. I need a different star system.
Magic or Madness Trilogy (links to first bk only) ~ Justine Larbalestier
I found Justine Larbalestier's blog first. I was looking for blogs by YA writers and hers is one of the ones I found. Through that I found out about her trilogy and read each one from the library. I enjoyed it. I found the characters, the story, and the humor to be engaging. It takes place in both Sydney and NYC, which was interesting. Justine Larbalestier lives in both places.
Thirteen Reasons Why ~ Jay Asher
I was looking for good YA books to read and found mention of this on a blog. One of those YA author debut blogs, I think. I found it at the library and remembered it so I picked it up. I gave it two stars, but I think maybe one would have been more accurate in thinking back. Maybe I was trying to be generous because the writing was not terrible? It's about a boy who is one of 13 people given a series of tapes from a girl who had committed suicide, telling them all about what made her kill herself. Only what it seems like is a dead girl trying to blame others for her own choice, and the reasons she gives, the incidents that happened, just don't seem all that bad. Certainly not suicide-inducing anyway. I just remember thinking that it was really unfair of her to foist these tapes on these people. Talk about a guilt trip.
The Gemma Doyle Trilogy (links to first book) ~ Libba Bray
I read Libba Bray's blog as well, but I can't remember which I found first, her books or her blog. Another good little fantasy trilogy, a pleasant diversion. Plus there was a character named Pippa and I kept telling Pat I wanted to name the in utero baby Pippa if it was a girl, because... Pippa! Please. Who doesn't want to shout, "Pippa! It's time for dinner!"? No one, that's who.
Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange~ Melissa Marr
There sure are a lot of YA fantasy novels with pretty girl pictures on the covers. Another pleasant diversion. This trilogy (I know, I only listed 2, because I've only read 2 so far) is set in modern times whereas the previous one wasn't. The last one was about magic of the witchcraft sort and this one is about magic of the fairy sort. Also writing this up has reminded me that there's another one out there for me to read still. Which is good.
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (links to first book) ~ Tad Williams
This is one of my favorite fantasy trilogies. I've reread it several times. It might even be on my last year-of-reading post, I'm not sure.
The Mysterious Benedict Society ~ Trenton Lee Stewart
This is a middle grade book. It was a lot of fun. A bit Roald Dahl-esque with out-there characters. There is another out now, which I have from the libe and yet another coming out in October.
Skin Hunger ~ Kathleen Duey
I loved this book. It's a dark fantasy which has two protaganists living in different time periods. I was so upset when I came to the end and found out that it didn't resolve at all and that it was the first book in a trilogy and the second book wasn't coming out until... oh, boy! It's out now. I wonder if I should wait until it's closer to the third one coming out and get both the second and third together. Anyway, the main thing to take away is that I thought this was an excellent, excellent book and I am eagerly awaiting the rest of the story.
The Looking Glass Wars ~ Frank Beddor
A YA fantasy about Alice from Wonderland, in which Lewis Carroll got it all wrong. It's the supposed real story. I enjoyed it, but it's a trilogy and I haven't had any desire to continue on with it, so I guess that says something. My god, does anyone write anything anymore without planning on writing two or more sequels? I like sequels. I do. But it really seems like that's all I've been reading anymore. Because that's what keeps coming up on my radar. Because there's a lot of them.
Creepers ~ Joanne Dahme
I picked this up from the library because it was about graveyards, ghosts, death, etc, something I am drawn to. But I was pretty disappointed. I can't tell you why. I've forgotten. Please remind me to write about the books I read right after I read them.
The Eyes of the Dragon ~ Stephen King
This has got to be one of my favorite Stephen King novels ever. I've read it several times and I have an old battered paperback copy of it. So different from what he normally writes, yet still totally King.
Plain Truth Salem Falls Change of Heart Harvesting the Heart Vanishing Acts ~ Jodi Picoult
I read Jodi Picoult because she's really prolific so there's a lot to choose from and because her books keep me interested. They're page-turners. They are literary Oreo cookies. I pick them up and can't put them down, but I don't feel good about it. According to GoodReads, my reactions to her books are lukewarm to DID NOT LIKE, so I really think I need to quit reading her stuff now. It helps that I'm not pregnant anymore and presumably have better use of my brain.
Me Talk Pretty One Day ~ David Sedaris
David Sedaris is a name I had heard of but was not familiar with. I picked up this book from the library. It's a collection of essays, which I think is all he does, but I'm not totally sure. It was so very funny. There was this essay that was about poop that had me laughing out loud because I am five. I need to read more of his stuff.
The Thief ~ Megan Whalen Turner
A really good middle grade book with a snarky, funny protagonist and a surprise ending. There are more of these too, which I need to get.
A Girl from Yamhill ~ Beverly Cleary
Beverly Cleary's memoir. Like I said, I really love Beverly Cleary, so I loved reading about her early life. What? There's another one? It's a memoir, cut it out already!
The Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap ~ Heather Bouwman
Loved it! Middle grade. Has awesome art on the cover.
Uglies trilogy ~ Scott Westerfeld
Scott Westerfeld is married to Justine Larbalestier, from further up my list. YA dystopian future novels. Page turners. Lots of adventure and action. I liked 'em. Spagbol.
In the Woods ~ Tana French
I DID NOT LIKE THIS BOOK. In fact it made me very angry. The main character ended up so screwed at the end of this book and there was a subplot (which was way more interesting than the main plot) and IT WAS NEVER RESOLVED. AND IT NEVER WILL BE. I am still mad about this book. Especially because I bought the damn thing.
The Reader ~ Bernhard Schlink
Isn't this a movie too? I'd like to see that. I liked this book. I liked it good. Maybe I should take a break from doing this so I stop writing like I'm in grade school and writing a book report.
The Secret Life of Bees ~ Sue Monk Kidd
Pat and the girls bought this for me for Mother's Day a couple of years ago and I started it and never finished it. I don't know why. I started it over completely, finished it, and really liked it. It's a movie now. I should check that out.
Alis ~ Naomi Rich
A YA book set in an imaginary past. Liked it well enough to give it 3 stars.
The Red Thread: A Novel in Three Incarnations ~ Roderick Townley
Man, I wish I could say more about this than, "Didn't like it much," but it's another one that I'm too far removed from to remember why I didn't like it.
The Unnameables ~ Ellen Booraem
Middle grade fantasy. It's set in modern times, but on an island that keeps itself separate from the rest of the world and lives a less technical existence. The story itself is about how conformity stifles and I liked it quite a lot. A lot of humor in this one as well, especially from the goat-man.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy ~ Jeanne Birdsall
I loved this book! It was fun and funny and old fashioned while still being modern. There's another one as well now that I'd like to read.
Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts With Worry ~ Lenore Skenazy
Such a good book. In theory. Sadly, it didn't make me any less of a worried parent. But I'm working on it because I really do think my kids need more freedom than they currently get. But not worrying isn't as easy as reading a book and knowing the real statistics. I will say that after I read this, I let Saren walk to the store by herself. In Panaca. Population 595. I may have a bit more work to do.
Newes From the Dead ~ Mary Hooper
This was loosely based on a true story about a girl who was hung but didn't die and came to on an autopsy table in England in 1650. It went back and forth between the girl thinking about what had happened to get her into her not-dead state and one of the medical students about to watch her body be cut apart. I thought it pretty interesting and engaging.
As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial ~ Derrick Jensen
Everything Derrick Jensen says (here and elsewhere) is perfectly true. All the little things we are told we can do to save the earth are not enough and yes, they do help people stay in denial. But Derrick Jensen's answer is to bring down civilization (not in this book) and that just makes everything seem even more futile. I just don't think it's a practical way to look at things. Not that there is one. Not that I have the answers. But Derrick Jensen always depresses me. He also makes me laugh.
The Freedom Manifesto: How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, and Waste ~ Tom Hodgkinson
This is a great book! But it doesn't necessarily offer a lot of specific how-to stuff as the title might imply. But as a guide to life, I think it's great. I'd like to buy it (got it from the libe) to have it around to refer to often.
How to Ditch Your Fairy ~ Justine Larbalestier
A funny YA book about a girl who lives in a world where everyone has a personal fairy. Hers is a parking fairy which means whatever car she's in can always find a great parking spot, but she hates it because everyone always wants her to go with them when they go somewhere and she smells like petrol. So she tries to get rid of it. Hilarity ensues!
Heroes of the Valley ~ Jonathan Stroud
Middle grade fantasy. Another funny one. I love books with truly amusing writing. This one is about a short stocky boy with a sharp wit and what it means to be a hero.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~ J.K. Rowling
We saw the movie version at the drive-in and it inspired me to re-read the book. To purge the taste of the movie from my brain?
The Tales of Beedle the Bard ~ J.K. Rowling
I don't know. It was okay? I liked J.K. Rowling's illustrations.
The Graveyard Book ~ Neil Gaiman
Middle Grade/YA. Excellent. I told you I like graveyards and ghosts. This one is about a boy named Bod (short for Nobody) who lives in the graveyard and is raised by the ghosts. It has an awesome character named Silas. One of the chapters was originally a short story in another of his books, which gave me a huge sense of deja vu, but I figured it all out.
The Amulet of Samarkand ~ Jonathan Stroud
Middle Grade/YA. I picked this up because I so liked the Heroes of the Valley from uplist (though this was written first). I wasn't disappointed in the humor or the story, but so far (I'm working on the second book right now) I am finding the main human character to be less than sympathetic. But I'll give him a chance because I assume he will change by the time the trilogy is done. Bartimaeus (the titular djinni) is hilarious though. And there's a lot of unreliable narrating going on that results in some funny stuff.
The Almost Moon ~ Alice Sebold
I read this because I read The Lovely Bones some time ago and liked it. This one was about a woman who ends up killing her elderly mother and what happens in the 24 hours afterward. It explores her relationship with her mother throughout her whole life as well as with her father and her ex-husband and her children. I liked it more after I had finished it and had some time to let it settle.
So, in conclusion, that took a really long time and I am thinking of maybe, possibly, starting a book blog instead of doing it this way.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
EC Update
EC is still going well, even though lately I would say we only catch about 50% of his pees and poops. Used to be that we would catch all his poops but that's not true anymore. I'm very casual about it because I don't want to stress over it, but what if I'm being too casual? What I mean is, if I was just a little bit more insistent with myself, but not to the point of stress-making, that I was going to catch more eliminations, would I?
But then, I also think that he's just such a mellow guy that he's never going to make that much of a fuss about it. He does signal but not all the time. Sometimes he's just content to go in his diaper. I always change him immediately, so maybe sometimes he just feels like it's too much of a bother to make a signal. Or am I not noticing the signals? I don't think that's the case; he truly just sometimes pees without telling anyone that he's going to.
However, and this was pretty cool, there was this one time that he was laying on the bed next to my foot and it suddenly felt warm near my foot like he had peed, but he hadn't. I had read that sometimes that's a signal, so I set him on his potty and he peed! In conclusion, maybe I just need to be more open to instinctual cues and not just the blatant ones that he gives us, and I'll have more successes. Regardless, as always, I still think we all benefit from it even if we were to only have one catch per day.
But then, I also think that he's just such a mellow guy that he's never going to make that much of a fuss about it. He does signal but not all the time. Sometimes he's just content to go in his diaper. I always change him immediately, so maybe sometimes he just feels like it's too much of a bother to make a signal. Or am I not noticing the signals? I don't think that's the case; he truly just sometimes pees without telling anyone that he's going to.
However, and this was pretty cool, there was this one time that he was laying on the bed next to my foot and it suddenly felt warm near my foot like he had peed, but he hadn't. I had read that sometimes that's a signal, so I set him on his potty and he peed! In conclusion, maybe I just need to be more open to instinctual cues and not just the blatant ones that he gives us, and I'll have more successes. Regardless, as always, I still think we all benefit from it even if we were to only have one catch per day.
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