I saw this first at Learning through Living. It was interesting and I figured, why the hell not? It’s not like the dishes are going anywhere.. they’ll still be there waiting for me after I post this.
- Please stop :: yelling.
- Move over :: So they all rolled over and one fell out.
- Sweet as :: a georgia peach
- Bet :: Whatcha wanna bet?
- Mad about :: you <~ ok, seriously.. looking up the link for this one, I did find something to be mad about. Ugh. OK, I’m not actually mad… but it is lame.
- It’s over :: the past
Now, I have some song in my head.. I think it says.. “The past is over…” But, I cannot for the life of me remember anything else about it. It’s driving me nuts. Anybody? HELP?! - Intend to :: change
- Blame :: forgive
- Jefferson :: Thomas. My son just checked out yet another book on the American Revolutionary War and the Beginning of The United States of America. Thomas Jefferson is on my mind a lot.
- Heartless :: Maniacs
Enjoy.
Edited: I placed the song. No longer need help. It’s not “The Past is Over.” It’s from John Lennon’s “GOD” and the lyrics are “The Dream is Over.” But, what the hell.. might as well be the past.
Here it is:
God is a Concept by which
we measure our pain
I’ll say it again
God is a Concept by which
we measure our pain
I don’t believe in magic
I don’t believe in I-ching
I don’t believe in Bible
I don’t believe in Tarot
I don’t believe in Hitler
I don’t believe in Jesus
I don’t believe in Kennedy
I don’t believe in Buddha
I don’t believe in Mantra
I don’t believe in Gita
I don’t believe in Yoga
I don’t believe in Kings
I don’t believe in Elvis
I don’t believe in Zimmerman
I don’t believe in Beatles
I just believe in me…and that reality
The dream is over
What can I say?
the Dream is Over
Yesterday
I was the Dreamweaver
But now I’m reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I’m John
and so dear friends
you’ll just have to carry on
The Dream is over
Tags: aimless, free association, links, unconscious mutterings, wonder, words
Instead of making a list of things that I have to clean up, or to do, I took before photos. I thought it would be good motivation, to want to see the comparison between the before and after photos.
So, here’s my before of our sketch table, which has gone from sketch table to Buddha Board table. The Buddha Board is a desktop easel that you paint with water. Your painting will magically disappear in about 15 minutes. The boys like it.
Before:
I had bought those wooden frame things a week or so ago at the thrift shop. I painted them and had been meaning to hang them to display artwork by the boys. Notice the collection of hats and coats on the poor chair. Well, the closet is right near the table. Problem is, there’s no height-appropriate hooks for the boys to use and no hat storage facility. So, those are next on my list.
I also finally hung the mirror up on the wall, rather than just propping it up.
I’ve also been meaning to get around to a book nook. After seeing these cute book nooks:
Lulu’s Library, Reading Chair, Reading Corner, Reading Nook, and seeing these Rain Gutter Book Shelves.
Well, I finally comfy cozified our book nook, and added some display shelves. We actually used molding for the shelves.
Before:
Before:
After:
The Book Nook shelves were a big hit. Once my youngest noticed them, he brought 9 of the 12 books, one after another, to me for reading. He even sat down with a couple of the others, in the corner, to read himself.
Here’s a closer view of our shelves made from molding. The grooves of the molding can hold the books in position. It worked really well. But, something remains that I wish to have a proper storage place - our growing collection of puppets. I figure we’ll work something out with some dowel rods to give them a decent home. Sitting on the chair is OK, until someone wants to sit on them.
My husband, David, noticed I had put “David Gets in Trouble,” right at the top in plain view for everyone to see. Of course, we love David Gets in Trouble, it’s hilarious - but, having a Daddy named David gives it a special kick to the top of our favorite books list. The boys have memorized it, but really enjoy making the sound effects as I read the book to them. Especially the ginormous burp.
Where’d all the magazines go? And the Library books, that just happened to be strewn everywhere - chairs, couches, tables, floors…?
Now, I really don’t think this is effective for attracting the boys to discover their library books. But, it’s a great collection box for books that are ready to return to the library, or a great spot to stick them in case of an emergency clean up (like company coming, or something.) Otherwise, the unread books will still find their homes in various corners of the house. I like the idea of having the finished books ready to return for spur of the moment library trips.
One problem we’ve had is keeping track of what is or isn’t a book checked out from the library. This is partially due to the fact that we bought a bunch of books at the library sale, and they still say “Property of Library.” I thought I’d solve this problem by making some extra-long bookmarks to stick in library books as they enter the circulation in our home. That way, I can just look at a book and if it has one of the bookmarks sticking out of it, I can be sure it should go back to the library.
So, there’s my weekend projects. I only have about 50 more nightmarish before pictures to correct. I guess, I could photoshop them. LOL
Tags: art, artwork, book nook, Books, cleaning, display, frames, home improvement, housework, library, read, reading
I’m a Chevrolet Corvette!
You’re a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You’re all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.
Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.
What? Not this:
Or even better: THIS!
We *do* have a Firebird (it’s a ‘75 with a 455). Paid a dollar for it. And living in GA, we get to fly down the same roads. LOL
1. Please feel free to gaze into my eyes lovingly.
2. When I curl up next to a boy, I can’t help sniffing it occasionally.
3. My favorite thing to cook up is trouble.
4. A boy’s undivided attention is something I can’t get enough of.
5. That’s the thing I love most about boys. Always goofing.
6. Wheels always make me think to myself, what the heck?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to snuggles, tomorrow my plans include snuggles and Sunday, I want to snuggle!
Tags: dog, friday fill-ins, puppy
My blog reader is full of mistakes, today. People making mistakes and fixing them, or discovering something totally new - because of them.
It’s important to be able to make mistakes without stressing over who’s going to yell, or what am I going to do now…. a mistake can be just as much, if not more, brilliant and eye-opening and awesome as a flawless masterpiece.
1. You don’t always have to start over… is Zayna’s advice. She made a mistake that could have resulted in a lot more work, or a disappointed child. But, she saved the project with creativity.
2. At Camp Creek Blog, you can immerse yourself in this post, “Mistakes Are Valuable.”
3. And check out this new, soon-to-be-released book, “The Day-Glo Brothers.” It’s the story of the guys who invented fluorescent colors. “It all started with a magic act and an accident at the ketchup factory. I can’t wait to get my hands on this book. My son will love it.
4. Not an Ordinary Teen is beating herself up over stupid mistakes, for some reason.
5. More from Camp Creek Blog, Mistakes are Good.
Tags: accident, Daily Deschool, deschool, fix, home study, homeschool, mistake, mistakes, unschool
KWCW
I decided not to go with a Mister Linky. If you participate, please leave your link in the comments. Thanks!
Next Wednesday, I’ll be giving away a Magic Eye Book to one of the participating kids! I’ll draw a participant name at random. Rules: Kid (under 18) must participate by taking a photo and have it posted on their or their parent’s blog & linked in next Wednesday’s KWC post. Enter your photos next Wednesday-Friday. Winner will be chosen Saturday & prize will be mailed Monday morning.
Magic Eye Books are full of pictures hidden within static looking images. Sometimes, it takes a bit of practice before you can see the hidden pictures.
Tags: giveaway, Kids With Cameras, magic eye, photo, photography, pictures, prize, wordless wednesday
I’m a very avid reader. I enjoy having tons and tons of books. I may as well pull a wagon to the library every week. Last month, we went to a library book sale event. We went twice, because the first time I was still able to lift the box. That was unacceptable. I took a wagon the second time.
But, as with anything I do, I went a bit overboard. I bought books that I thought the boys would enjoy when they got a bit older. I’m bad about that… I bought my oldest son a big wheel for his second birthday. Nothing wrong with that, except he couldn’t reach the pedals until he turned 4. So, sue me.. I’m not exactly great at estimating measurements (or paying mind to them at all).
My donkey has yet to get to work on the custom shelving I ordered. But, that’s ok, because I keep changing my mind about where exactly to install them. So, I’m stuck with boxes and boxes of books and nowhere to put them until my shelves go up.
Over the weekend, we were looking for a board to do something that I can’t remember, now. But, I had stumbled upon the leaves of one of our dining tables (yes, I’m a pack rat and we have two). Donkey refused to use them for the task at hand, and it’s a good thing. I thought they were kind of wasting away stored in the garage. So, I brought one of them up and made a little table facing the big dining room window.
I used the “How It Works,” encyclopedic set to hold up the table leaf. In between those, I put mostly nature books that currently interest them. I moved Rowdy’s favorite kitchen window plant to it’s new home in this window, and place our jack be littles in the window. I put a recently investigated Weekly Reader, and some photos from his penpal in the Card Trees. The tin cans in the far window are tin punched with constellations to make lanterns.
Soon after I finished, Rowdy wrote a letter to his penpal and included a sketch of Red Baron. He then discovered a book he hadn’t noticed before, leaning on the new table.
I had purchased it at the book sale for Donkey who has an endless fascination with outer space. I guess, being 12 at the time of the lunar landings and space races will do that to a boy. Anyway, he flipped through the book asking me all kinds of questions that I had no idea how to answer. Good thing we were looking at a book about it all. I do know how to read.
We sat on the floor, in front of the new table. The last half of the book showed nothing but maps of constellations. Rowdy asked about every one of them. What’s this one? What’s that one? That does not look like a Bear, or a Dog. He did agree with the naming of Sagitarrius and was happy to see that there was also an arrow. He was pleased to see there was “A Lizard (Lacerta),” a “Scorpion (Scorpius),” & a “Snake (Serpens).” When we got to the Charioteer (Auriga), he asked, “What’s a chariot?” I explained and what would be a light bulb for most folks, went off like an M-80 for Rowdy. He insisted on taking pictures to send to his penpal, immediately, so penpal’s mom could explain what it was.
Other stuff we did, yesterday:
Watch a DVD about training a dog. We got it from the shelter. (I’m already pretty darn good. But, it can’t hurt to learn new stuff!)
Train & play with Red Baron
Listen to Magic Tree House books while we rode around in the car.
Get some groceries.
Make Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Play Insaniquarium on the computer.
Read about Pilgrims in the Weekly Reader.
I’m sure there’s more, but my notebook is downstairs.
In other news, it’s that time of year, folks!!! Yes, that glorious time of year when my favorite coffee creamer is back on the shelves. I do, usually, stock up a bit - but I never make it past March.
Here it is: It comes refrigerated or powdered. I buy the refrigerated kind until the “season” is over, then I stock up with the powdered version.
Yum.
Tags: Books, coffee, constellations, nature, reading, space, stars, table, unschool, writing
I gave in, to this.
The Red Baron
No, I didn’t give in to the kids.. It was me. I am constantly drawn to dogs. My best friend, Ivan, is 11 yrs old, which makes him 77. His age is quickly catching up to him. His walks are shorter. He can no longer effortlessly hop into the back of the van, he needs a ramp. He stumbles over steps, where he once was very graceful. Our last camping trip was a tell-tale sign of his aging. There was a time when he’d swim through the water, climb the boulders and navigate narrow paths near steep cliffs. Those days are over. He plopped into the water and could barely find the strength to pull himself out.
Once, he led my little explorers deep into *his* territory - the wilds of nature.
Now, he opts to ’sit this one out’ at camp.
While I intend to give him the most comfortable and loving senior years, I miss the energy of his younger years. We had discussed getting a puppy. We wanted to hear the sweet sounds of a hound singing in our backyard. So, I set out to the shelter with that in mind. If I found somebody who was singing “swamp music,” I would adopt them.
Sure enough, I found him. Here he is…
The Red Baron
Ivan & The Red Baron
Sounds good together.
First, I read Alicia’s seven things about her to balance out all of the beautiful mothers with fancy clean houses and children with neatly combed hair. I decided to join her.
1. I never wear makeup. You can chalk it up to laziness, or the fact that I just never “got into” that sort of thing. But, the fact is, I don’t wear make up.. never have.. never will.. don’t care.
2. My house almost always looks like Taz the Tasmanian Devil lives here. Yes, I clean up.. and would say that I spend quite enough time doing so! The fact remains, that any given moment in any given day, you could expect to find Taz lurking in at least two rooms.
3. We never do anything that even remotely resembles anything that could be called “school work.” Ever. Granted, this is our first year home schooling and unschooling. But, if it looks like somebody would be doing it in a classroom, we’re probably not going to be doing it. We do math - at the store.. weighing produce on the scale (Rowdy actually saved me some money by insisting we weigh the “5 lbs” bag of apples before buying it. It was NOT 5 lbs. it was 4.) And reading nutrition labels, and counting his savings, and earning money and telling time and multiplying acorns in the driveway…. We read mostly Captain Underpants books. We do english - in the form of Mad Libs. We do science in the backyard, in the garden, at the zoo, in our Wizard Lair, cooking in the kitchen.. which also, I suppose counts as home ec. But, we never sit down and do any worksheets - other than the Mad Libs. In fact, the only time we really sit down for any extended period of time is to play video games or watch cartoons.
4. I watch a ton of cartoons. I love cartoons. I love Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Johnny Test, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Inspector Gadget, Kenny the Shark, Chowder, Wacky Races, Yogi Bear, Underdog. And old shows.. like Get Smart, F Troop, Andy Griffith, Airwolf, Knight Rider… I watch them a lot. In fact, we watch a cartoon everyday before nap time and every morning with breakfast. And sometimes, on weekends, I’ll watch an entire DVD set of F Troop or Get Smart or Rocky and Bullwinkle.
5. I sometimes wonder how the hell my mom did it.. AND she was drunk, on top of that. WHAT?! My mom was amazingly cool. She was always exploring, helping us expand our horizons, exposing us to neato stuff and just letting us soak it in at our own pace. She took us places, did things, found cool stuff to buy, planned trips.. packed everything.. and it was amazing. On top of all of that, she was an alcoholic. I’m not. I have no excuse. Ugh.
6. I rarely intervene between my boys. When they argue or fight or disagree, I just let them solve their own problems on their own. I rarely intervene in the affairs of children’s relationships. No one refereed for my brother and I when we were younger, other than to tell us to take it “out to the yard.” I feel the same way. Let them handle their own business.. and while they are doing that, maybe I can mop the floor.
7. I am what I am. You know, what? I’m happy, the kids are happy, the hubby is happy and the dog is happy. I am not one to fret much over the fact that my dog sheds so much hair that I could probably make wigs for all the bald men in America, or that we don’t wash dishes until one side of my sink is filled to the brim with dirty ones, or that every glass surface in the house has fingerprints all over it and that I think one of my boys’ most important jobs is to get as dirty as possible every day. At least I always have something to do.
I hope I make good company, Alicia. 
Tags: captain underpants books, child, children, kids, mad libs, math at the store, mom, moms, mother, motherhood, saturday seven, unschooling
