The Year in review

Wii hope you had a Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We celebrated Advent all month long as we usually do. This year Fatso read to us from Bartholomew’s Passage each night.

Several years ago Prince Charming introduced the idea of a Christmas Eve Silent Service (in the Quaker tradition). That particular year our kids were too young for something like that. This year someone decided it was time to do it again. It was really, really amazing. You can’t imagine what it is like without experiencing it, I don’t think, and I’m not sure how to describe it. We just sat there and focused on God. I know Space Cadet and Fatso enjoyed it. Czarina fidgeted A LOT. But it was a great time to stop and focus on God’s gift that we celebrate at Christmas.

We made a rule when the kids were younger that no presents could be open without the entire family, and that we would not open presents before 7 am. Czarina’s first Christmas with us was in 2005, when she was here with the hosting program. She did NOT want to get up in the morning. Fatso and Hoodie Girl pulled her out from UNDER the bed.

Well, I found out this month that 2005 was the first year she’d EVER celebrated Christmas. She had no idea what to expect! And it had never occurred to any of us that she wouldn’t know.

(After the 1917 revolution, Christmas was banned in Russia for more than 70 years. Some people started celebrating again in the early 90’s, but apparently no one Anastasia knew celebrated Christmas, and they didn’t celebrate it in the orphanage.)

This was Anastasia’s third American Christmas (she was in Russia in 2006), and she was really into it!

After we all opened our presents (one present at a time), the kids noticed a little gift bag left behind the tree. The label said, “To the Millers”. They decided to open it together, pulled out some tissue paper, and then pulled out a couple of remotes. . . to a Wii? They were a bit confused. “Did you buy us a Wii?” I told them to look in a drawer, and all pandemonium broke loose. “We have a Wii! We have a Wii!” They were so excited I was afraid one of them was going to lose control and wee. . .

Then Fatso stopped and asked, “Mom, how could you afford a Wii in today’s tough economic times?”

“If you’re really worried about it, I could take it back,” I replied.

Fatso didn’t think that would be necessary. . .

Adventures in Shopping

I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday! Prince Charming and a couple of the kids still had shopping to do, so today he took Space Cadet, Fatso and Czarina out, while Hoodie Girl and I stayed home.

Czarina and Hoodie girl have a clothing budget. They each have a certain amount of money every 6 months, and they can buy whatever clothing or accessories they want with it, but when the money is gone, that is it. Their current budget lasts until March.

Prince Charming called. They were at The Limited Too and there was a Jonas Brother's Hoodie on sale for $12. Could Czarina buy it? I told Prince Charming Czarina can buy WHATEVER she wants, but when the money is gone, it is gone. Okay, does Hoodie Girl want one? I called Hoodie Girl to the phone and she talked to Prince Charming about colors and sizes. Do they have any with Kevin's picture? No, she doesn't want one with just Joe or just Nick. If there isn't one with just Kevin, she wants one with all three of them.

A few minutes later, he called again. Is it okay if Czarina gets a white hoodie? I remind him that it is HER money, and she can get what she wants. . . she just needs to realize that white gets dirty faster, etc. Oh, and can she buy a t-shirt, too? It's HER MONEY, I remind him, and she can buy whatever clothing items she wants with it. Hoodie Girl prefers a black hoodie. Is it okay if Czarina gets the same hoodie as Hoodie Girl. Yes, they love to dress alike.

A few minutes later, the phone rang AGAIN. They are checking out, and the hoodie is not $12, it's $22. Does Hoodie Girl still want one? No, Hoodie Girl does not want to spend $22 on a hoodie. She will wait for the after Christmas sales and see what she can pick up then.

Now, how many Dads would go to this much trouble to help their girls get Jonas Brothers stuff?

A while later, they returned. Czarina has purchased a Jonas Brothers hoodie, two Jonas Brothers t-shirts, and one long sleeve Jonas Brothers shirt. She has about $6 left in her clothing budget, to last until March. Should be interesting.

She also has two 15% off coupons, good for the week after Christmas. She won't really be able to use these (unless she wants to use her allowance money, or Christmas money from Grandma) so she gave them to Hoodie Girl.

(I realize my verb tenses are all mixed up here. . . sorry, it's late and I'm tired. . . )

Hoodie Girl just found out that Fatso is going to the same Christmas Party she and Czarina are going to tomorrow night. Concerned, she began grilling Fatso on manners. This is the tale end of their conversation:

Hoodie Girl: What do you say when it’s time to leave?

Fatso: This wasn’t as lame as I thought it would be.

Hoodie Girl: No, you say thank you very much for inviting me. What do you say if you see me?

Fatso: Twinklestar! How’s your constipation problem?*

Hoodie Girl: You say NOTHING because YOU DON’T KNOW ME!


*Hoodie Girl would probably appreciate it if I tell you she does NOT have a constipation problem. . .

Memories

We've been having trouble with one of our computers getting hung up -- not to the point of The Blue Screen of Death, but hung up and not doing anything.

It hung up this evening as Czarina tried to use it. I sat down in front of it and tried to figure out what was going on.

Czarina (who chatters incessantly at times) was sitting on the couch saying, "Too many memories, too many memories. . . ." and I'm wondering what unpleasant things she is remembering, if this is a post traumatic stress thing, and how I should approach her about it. . .

. . . and then I remember. . . Prince Charming had said the computer was hanging up because we were using TOO MUCH MEMORY. . .

Earning her keep

The other night after we went to bed, Prince Charming and I heard some curious noises. Prince Charming guessed it to be a rodent. Well, we haven't had any signs of live mice in the house since we got Peace 8 1/2 years ago (although she has brought a few dead ones in from outside. Actually, that is when Prince Charming decided she was a contributing member of the family and gave her permission to sleep on Space Cadet's bed.)

Tonight, Space Cadet hadn't been in bed for very long when we heard some other curious noises. Space Cadet came upstairs and announced, "Peace brought me a present." Space Cadet had gotten up to do something she'd forgotten, turned on the light. . . and there it was, on the floor next to her shoes, a cute little gray dead mouse.

Space Cadet is grateful it wasn't IN one of her shoes.

I Celebrate the Day

Last year I bought Relient K's Christmas CD, Let it Snow Baby, Let it Reindeer. The song "I Celebrate the Day" quickly became a family favorite. Check it out!!!



Isn't God awesome?????

Kitty Bulb Tester

see more crazy cat pics

FINALLY after 2 ½ weeks, our washing machine is fixed. All the money we’d saved on our water bill after getting the front loader was spent at the Laundromat. Oh well, at least it was under warranty.

organize pantry
clean out fridge
defrost freezer
start holiday baking
do “pre-Christmas decorating cleaning”
put Christmas lights up outside

Those are just a few of the things I’d had planned for the week beginning November 17. But, the kids and I ended up being sick, so I spent several days doing their chores (since they were sick), watching videos, taking naps, and driving my sick self to the Laundromat.

The following week (Thanksgiving week) they were better, but I ended up with bronchitis.

It is tradition for me to make a bunch of pies before Thanksgiving. I freeze what we don’t eat, and we have pie for breakfast on Christmas morning. Well, I was not up to that AT ALL, and Czarina & Hoodie Girl spent the day before Thanksgiving rolling out pie crusts and making TWELVE PIES. Apple, pumpkin and cherry. (They possibly would have made more, but they ran out of pie plates.)

I slept most of Thanksgiving. I got up in time for the WONDERFUL dinner Prince Charming prepared. He even cooked the sweet potatoes I’d purchased, and he doesn’t like sweet potatoes.

After dinner I watched the kids put up and decorate the tree, then I went to bed.

Now, I had not gotten my pre-Christmas decorating cleaning done due to being sick, and things in the living room and deteriorated pretty badly from us all being sick. But when I woke up on Black Friday, the living room was BEAUTIFUL. Czarina and Hoodie Girl had cleaned the living room AND decorated it. . . including putting out the deluxe nativity scene and other Christmas decorations.

I think I will keep them. . .

Stop and Smell the Chicken Soup

If there is a Murphy’s Law of appliance breakdowns, it is this: Appliances always break down on Fridays.

Our 3 month old Maytag front-loading washing machine, which has cut our water bill almost in half, blew a gasket Friday. Literally. Somehow the sheets that Fatso was washing got caught in the rubber gasket around the door, got all twisted, and pulled the gasket and some round wire thing away from the door.

Being a Friday, I could not get an appointment until Monday. Being that we are gone all day on Monday, I scheduled an appointment for Tuesday (today).

The good news: the washer is still under warrantee, so we do not have to pay anything. The bad news: it will take about 5 days to get the parts, so the repairman is coming NEXT Tuesday.

Tonight was our Homeschool co-op’s Thanksgiving Dinner. We were all looking forward to going. The high school history class was demonstrating different craftsman’s skills from Colonial times. Fatso’s was glassblowing, which obviously he could not really do, but he downloaded some videos to show on the laptop, and made a really nice display.

But he got sick this morning (upper respiratory stuff) and couldn’t go. Space Cadet wasn’t feeling well either.

I discovered there is a Laundromat close to where the dinner was being held, so Czarina, Hoodie Girl and I went there this afternoon to do about $16 worth of laundry. Our timing was pretty good for getting to the dinner on time. But while at the Laundromat, I noticed Czarina’s voice was getting hoarse, and Hoodie Girl’s nose was a bit sniffley. They insisted they were fine and wanted to go to the dinner. I’ve had a low-grade headache all day, and an occasional cough.

At the dinner, Hoodie Girl’s home-made ginger snaps were a big hit. Some of that is probably due to Czarina standing by the dessert table, telling everyone, “Try my sister’s ginger snacks! They are really good!” Well, that got people to try them. . . but then lots of the middle school boys went back for more. (If the way to a man’s heart is really through his stomach, Hoodie Girl is making quite an impression!)

After the dinner they went home with Prince Charming, who’d met us there, and I stopped by Wal-Mart for a “sick person run”. I got two chickens, ginger root, garlic cloves, different juices, Kleenex®, and some vitamin C.

Tonight I am making chicken broth in the crock pot. . . tomorrow I will turn it into chicken soup. Instead of complaining that we don’t have time to be sick, we will be taking it easy, eating chicken soup, drinking lots of fluids, and watching a movie or two. Hopefully we will bounce back and get to do all the neat Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating type things we hope to do next week!

Heroes

more animals

Christmas Shopping

I just overheard this conversation:

Fatso: I could get Dad a Jonas Brothers T-shirt for Christmas.

Hoodie Girl: That's a great idea! Make sure it's in my size, though.

The Day After the Election

I do not know who wrote this. I read it on one of my Myspace Friends' blogs. (I also don't know why some of it is highlighted. I have tried to change it with no results.)

Day after election....

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, Jesus will still be King.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our responsibilities as Christians will not have changed one iota.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the greatest agent for social change in America will still be winning the hearts and minds of men and women through the gospel, not legislation.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my primary citizenship will still be in this order – (1) the Kingdom of God, (2) America, not vice-versa.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the tomb will still be empty.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the cross, not the government, will still be our salvation.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our children will still be more concerned with whether or not we spend time with them than with who is President.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my neighbor will still be my neighbor, and loving him/her will still be the second greatest commandment. (Do you know the first?)

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see abortion ultimately overturned will still be winning men and women to a high view of life through the gospel of Christ.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see gay marriage ultimately defeated will still be winning men and women to a biblical view of marriage through the gospel of Christ.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my retirement will still not match my treasure in Heaven.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, "Jesus Is Lord" will still be the greatest truth in the Universe.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, we will still know that God is in control.

Remember who you are and who He is.

Wrap Rage

Last week I did something I've never done before. . . I made the minimum payment on one of our credit cards. We have ALWAYS paid our cards off each month. However, due to factors such as price hikes in gas and groceries this year, high medical costs, feeding 2 adults, 4 teenagers and 2 cats, and having a higher mortgage payment because we refinanced to pay for the adoption, things have been rather tight.

It's not a good feeling.

We have some medical things we HAVE to take care of, but I'm not sure how. I get frustrated with myself for not trusting God. He has always taken care of us before.

On Thursday evening I put a bunch of books, DVDs and CDs for sale on Amazon.com. So far I have sold 7 items! That has been a blessing. It is not a huge amount of money, but it helps.

Remember my post about trying to open new CD's? Today when I logged on to Amazon.com to print out a packing list for one of my sales, I saw this:
(You have to click on it to get it big enough so you can read it.)

"Wrap Rage". What a concept. . .

see more crazy cat pics

That's Entertainment

Czarinaisms:

"Look! Daddy shaved the grass!"

"Just a minute. I'm shuffling my tea." (She meant "stirring".)

Looking outside this morning to see frost on the grass: "It's crunchy outside!"


And from Fatso:
Fatso had to draw the Great Seal of the United States for his co-op history class. Fatso has many talents, but drawing is not one of them. Below the seal he wrote, "You go school with the art skills you have, not the art skills you need."

And from a homework assignment turned in by one of my literature students:

"The British soldiers were sharpening their bonnets." ("bayonets")

Who cares if we can't afford Netflix or Cable TV?

Democracy

We participate in a Homeschool co-op that meets all day on Mondays. Yesterday they had elections for Student Council. Fatso was running against one other guy for student council president. (Hey, might as well go for the top, right!) Out of all the different positions, he was one of only two with any kind of prepared speech, and his speech was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. He lost by a narrow margin, but they gave him the position of “journalist” for the student council. Now he gets to go to the meetings and give his opinions and vote.

Then today Space Cadet and I took advantage of early voting. This was Space Cadet’s first election. We waited 2 hours in the cold and then about 15 minutes in the building before we cast our ballots. I am glad to get it over with. . .

When I got home from voting, there was a message on the phone. . . we missed Fatso’s orthodontist appointment.

I know how to solve the illegal immigration problem

I just got Hawk Nelson is My Friend in the mail.

I would like to listen to it, but I am having trouble getting it open.

It has occurred to me that if we can get the people who package CD's to seal the border, we will no longer have an illegal immigration problem.

The Incredible Edible Egg

When Space Cadet was small, she watched Beauty and the Beast roughly 5,000 times. Because of this, I have most of it memorized.

Recently this little verse has been going through my mind:

When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs
Ev'ry morning to help me get large
And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs
So I'm roughly the size of a barge

My family eats a lot of eggs, so I usually buy them in the five dozen packs. (Yes, if you were wondering, there actually are people who buy that many eggs at one time.) We repack them in 18 pack containers.

Last Monday, I bought 5 dozen eggs when I did my weekly grocery shopping. The kids, as usual, carried the groceries in for me. They are great that way.

On Friday, Hoodie Girl wanted to bake cookies for the middle school party. . . problem, there were only 3 eggs left.

Okay, I know certain people in our family really like eggs, but really. . . one dozen eggs a DAY? And I myself had only had TWO eggs in that time period. But that’s one of the things about having teenagers. They fix themselves food whenever they’re hungry. (Which is often). And they love eggs. This is why I have 6 frying pans.

Well, I had a few things I needed to pick up at Kroger, so I added eggs to the list.

The lady bagging my groceries commented on how many eggs I was buying. I told her the above story. (Well, except the lyrics from Beauty and the Beast.) I’m used to comments about my groceries. Particularly about the large amounts of hand soap I buy (thanks to my OCD handwashers. . . ), and the many pounds of bananas.

I paid for my groceries, walked out to my van, and. . . discovered the five dozen eggs I had purchased on Monday were STILL in my van. . .

Can anyone say Salmonella?

Well, Prince Charming thought I should add an egg fight to the list of festivities for the middle schoolers. . . I thought not.

Noprah

A web-site I am familiar with sent me this email:

The Oprah Winfrey Show is looking for families willing to discuss how they are handling the financial crisis with their teens. Are you a parent that is having a hard time telling your kids "we can't afford that right now." Do you feel challenged when discussing finances with your teens? Are you looking for simple explanations that can help your family? If you are a parent struggling with the daily challenges of raising money conscious teenagers in a troubled economy- we want to hear from you.

Since this is something we had just been dealing with, I sent out a quick email:

I am happy to reply to this as I have 4 teenagers!

I have 3 bio kids ages 13, 17 & 19, and also a 14 year old we adopted from Russia last year.

We were already pinching pennies because of the high cost of adopting our daughter. I am blessed to have kids who are willing to sacrifice for a good cause! Like, most of our clothes come from Goodwill or clearance racks. (Only stuff in great shape though!)

They all do chores and get allowances, and they use their allowances for things they want, going to the movies, etc. We get them gifts only on holidays (Christmas, birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter) and the rest of the time if they want something (used to be toys, now DVD's, music, books, video games, etc.) they buy it themselves. Two of them have gotten pretty good at selling the stuff they don't want anymore on eBay.

We have made a few more changes in the last few months.

I told the family I was spending XXX amount of money on food each week. Once I spent that, I was not going to the grocery store again before the next Monday, we could just eat what we had in the house. (We ALWAYS have plenty of food, it's just not always what they want!)

For my two youngest fashion-conscious daughters who want lots and lots and lots of clothes, I have given them a clothing budget. I will buy their shoes, underwear and coats, but everything else has to come from their clothing budget, which has to last them 6 months. They are being a bit more discerning about what they buy. (In the past I have bought clothing items that were worn once or twice and then they didn't want them again.) This is new and neither of them has exhausted their budgets yet, so the jury is still out on how this is going to work.

We COMBINE TRIPS to stores. (None of my kids have their licenses yet.) If one of the kids wants to go to a store or whatever, I tell him/her when I will be going that direction. If the kid JUST CAN'T WAIT, then he or she will have to pay for the gas for the extra trip.

I clicked “send”, and forgot all about this.

Until the next day, when I received this email:

Hello In the World-

Please contact me at [phone number] when you are free to talk.

Thank You,

Leigh Posner
The Oprah Winfrey Show

I went to the Oprah web-site, and saw that they are looking for parents and teens for a show they will be doing on “frugal teens.” Uh-oh. . .

Ha! I can count on one hand how many times I have watch Oprah.

One of my favorite songs has this line:

What if the family turned to Jesus,

Stopped asking Oprah what to do?

Plus, I HATE speaking in front of people.

So unless I get a telegram from God, I am NOT answering the email. (Don’t even think about it, Krispy. Or Rake.)

I thought this was all rather humorous, and I told my kids about it. Here are their replies:

Space Cadet: There is NO WAY I’m going on NATIONAL TV. Who KNOWS what I might do to embarrass myself!!!!

Fatso: Yeah, let’s do it! I’d love a chance to grill Oprah on her support of Obama!

Czarina and Hoodie Girl: Mom, we’ve got to do this! We’ll be famous!!!!

Hoodie Girl: Where do they film Oprah?

Me: I don’t know. Maybe New York City?

Czarina and/or Hoodie (can’t remember exactly): NEW YORK CITY! Sometimes the Jonas Brothers are in New York City! Maybe we could meet the Jonas Brothers!

Hoodie Girl: And if we go on Oprah, maybe she’ll give us a new car!

Dream on. . .

potpourri

Teen Bible Quizzing
Last Saturday our church hosted the second quiz of the year for the northern half of the Georgia District. (The southern half met in Savannah.)

Out of 4 quizzes, Fatso quizzed out 3 times without error, and 1 time with error, for a total score of 350 (the highest possible for 4 quizzes is 360).

Hoodie Girl quizzed out without error the first two quizzes. This is going to sound horrible, but I begged her not to do better than her older brother. . . this is his last year, and she has 4 more years. She says I jinxed her, but she ended up tied for 4th place, a real record for her. (Fatso was in 1st place).

In cumulative scores over the entire district, Fatso is tied for 3rd and Hoodie Girl is in 12th.

Czarina is really hanging in there with the quizzing. She only got to answer one question; she knew the answers to several other questions, but she keeps getting out jumped. I think she is doing great!

College
Yesterday Space Cadet, Fatso and I met with a rep from Patrick Henry College (which is in Virginia). All of this college stuff is a bit overwhelming. We need to be making a decision in the next few months.

Johnny Tremain
Tomorrow night my Middle School Literature Class is coming over to eat pizza and watch Johnny Tremain (which is the book we recently finished). I previewed the movie Tuesday night, and the book is way better.

But here is what is really cool: Our rec room in the basement has been a wreck ever since we got our new washer and dryer (I think it was in August). They brought the appliances in through Gordon’s home office (aka junk storage room) and I had to move stuff. Plus the kids had left big messes down there. I had been thinking I was going to have to get the kids to clean it up, when lo and behold, Hoodie Girl just started cleaning it on her own. And she didn’t stop there. . . she decided it needed to be made “cool”. She enlisted Prince Charming’s help, and . . . they are actually finishing it up tonight. I’ll try to remember to take a few pics.

Old Friends
A couple of weekends ago, Prince Charming and I went to Operation Mobilization’s 50th Anniversary celebration. I saw people I hadn’t seen in over 20 years. I was having a grand time chatting with my old friend and former roommate, Susan, when she made reference to turning 50.

FIFTY? Susan can’t be FIFTY. . . she’s only 2 years older than I am!!!!

Regardless, we had a great time, and I wish we could do it again. . .

More Etiquette and More Stuff

Tonight was etiquette class, and once again I forgot the camera.

They had several role-playing exercises. For practicing introductions (for example, who do you introduce first), Space Cadet was a princess and Hoodie Girl was a grandmother. Then they role-played job interviews, and I was a bit nervous when they chose Fatso and another young man who, like Fatso, loves to be the class clown. Fatso was happy when the teacher asked him to show us the WRONG way to do a job interview. He got a lot of laughs.

We found out Prince Charming's name. We also found out, much to Czarina's chagrin, that Prince Charming is 18 years old.

Tuesday night Czarina, Hoodie Girl and I went to a local upscale shopping center for a middle school scavenger hunt. Each team was given 25 or so clues of things they needed to get pictures of. The pictures had to be in order. We used digital cameras so the scorekeepers could see them on the display, and we didn't have to print them out. Our team didn't win any prizes, but we sure had fun! I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the evening, though!

In other news, today the treasury department introduced the new one dollar bill:

Etiquette and stuff

I am loving the cooler weather, and being able to have my windows open.

Especially after seeing last month’s electric bill. Yikes!

I enrolled the kids in a once a month etiquette class (some of you may be thinking "it's about time!), which started last week. They had to dress up so Fatso wore a suit, and all 3 girls wore skirts (first time they’ve worn them at the same time), Hoodie Girl did NOT wear her ever-present High School Musical Hoodie, and I forgot to take a picture! Well, there is always next month.

The young men had to be “gentlemen” and escort the ladies. Fatso was an excellent escort, but at home complained that he would never use any of this in real life. “Mom, they act like girls are idiots who can’t decide on their own where to sit. I don’t know any girls that stupid!”

Czarina and Hoodie Girl particularly enjoyed learning the Fox Trot and Jitterbug, and had fun talking everything over once they got home.

One of the young men who escorted one of them was quite good looking, and as they talked about him they dubbed him “Prince Charming”. I asked what Prince Charming’s real name was, and Czarina said they didn’t know. When I pointed out that everyone was wearing name tags, they looked at each other and laughed. Well, there is always next month.

Our Homeschool co-op started September 8. We are there from 8:30-3:45 on Mondays. Then they have homework to do the rest of the week. Fatso & Space Cadet are taking US History and Spanish II, respectively. During the rest of the time they go to study hall or the nearby library and work on their other subjects. Czarina and Hoodie Girl (both 8th grade) have General Science, Art, Literature (which I teach, and is tied into History), History, and Hoodie Girl also has Writing.

The homework has been a pretty heavy load, especially when we add our other subjects, like Math and Bible Quizzing for both of them, and helping Czarina to learn to read and write English. I am thankful that this year Hoodie Girl has been almost entirely independent and very diligent in getting her work done. I have been working with Czarina from the time we get up in the morning until about 4:00 each day, and we are both wearing out. I have to read all the 8th grade work to her and then explain what everything means in 2nd grade English. She flunked her first science test, but I have figured out a way to help her study for the next test. In Literature, it took us forever to get through The Witch of Blackbird Pond. She enjoyed the basic storyline, but there was a LOT she didn’t understand. The next book is Johnny Tremain, and I have decided that Czarina gets to watch the movie so she understands the class discussions, but we will read instead the Felicity series from American Girl. She should be able to read most of that herself with a little help.

In History we started with an overview of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance/Reformation period, as a prelude to the discovery and founding of America. She remembers Martin Luther as “The man who started Halloween.”* Actually she is doing pretty well in History. . . on her first quiz, she actually found a mistake the teacher made. The multiple choice question was “Who started the Reformation,” and Martin Luther was not listed as a choice.

Okay, I guess it's time to get back to planning for my next Lit class. . .


*For those of you who are not history geeks, Martin Luther is credited with starting the Reformation when he nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Church door on October 31, 1517. As I keep reminding Czarina, he really had nothing to do with Halloween.

Dear Mr. Obama

Fun with English

First of all, I’d like to make clear that I think Czarina is doing an amazing job of learning English. I am amazed at how well she reads at times. However, there is still a lot she doesn’t know. . .

When you need to find someone to relay a message for you, it is not necessarily a good idea to ask the person who is just learning English to do it.

Czarina will get off the phone with her friend Masha, also from Russia, and tell me something that Masha’s mom wants me to know. It usually makes no sense to me whatsoever.

So, I will call Masha’s mom and what she tells me is NOTHING like what Czarina was saying.

A few weeks ago, Prince Charming decided that he and I would drive separately to church Sunday night, because he needed to stay late to help count the collection money.

He forgot to tell me this until it was time to go. I was in the bathroom and Prince Charming told Czarina, “Go tell Mom that Fatso & I are leaving for church.”

Czarina called through the bathroom door, “It’s time to go!” As far as she was concerned, she had relayed Prince Charming’s message.

Well, I knew it was time to go. I grabbed my purse and Bible and ran out the door, locking it behind me.

And realized Prince Charming’s car wasn’t there.

And my car keys were locked in the house. Because I didn’t need them, because Prince Charming always drives the family to church.

Only Prince Charming had already left. Did I mention my house keys were also locked in the house?

I sat down with my cell phone and attempted to call Prince Charming while Hoodie Girl ran around the house trying to find a way in. First call, wrong number. Second call, right number, no answer. Of course Prince Charming is going to turn his Blackberry off before he goes into church. Hoodie Girl ran back around the house and said all the doors are locked, all windows closed.

Czarina asked, “Doesn’t Space Cadet have key?”

Duh. Of course Space Cadet has a key to the house. So Space Cadet let me in, and I got my keys, and we were only a few minutes late for church.

~~~~~


I had neglected to put the sun shades up in the car while we were at the pool.

I said, “Wow, the steering wheel is hot.”

Czarina asked, “WHAT didge ya say?”

I said, “The steering wheel is hot.”

“What didge that?”

I pointed to the steering wheel. “This is a steering wheel.”

Czarina whispers something to Hoodie Girl, and they both laugh.

Hoodie Girl said, “Mom, Czarina thought you said `Mr. Will is hot!'” (Mr. Will being a friend from church). More peals of laughter.

And yes, I am trying to teach Czarina that didge is not a word.


~~~~~

So what did you do at the library?

I on the computer.

What did you do on the computer?

I went to that web-site, you know with the brown guy. The brown guy with the Underdog. Remember?

Umm, not really.

Singing the song. With the raven. The brown guy. Oh, never mind.

I later figured out that the "brown guy" she was talking about was Kyle Massey, who is in "That's So Raven" and sings a song at the end of the "Underdog" movie. I still don't know what website she was talking about.

God is so awesome!

I have been much in prayer today because tomorrow one of my children starts a class at one of our home school co-ops. This is a NECESSARY class that I can NOT teach myself. (I am science intolerant). The problem is one of unforgiveness and overt hostility towards another classmate over something that happened last year.

We have discussed this many times, and I just keep feeling like I’m not getting through.

Tonight we went to church. I hang out with the youth group on Wednesday nights, and tonight, the youth message was on forgiveness and the hypocrisy of a Christian holding a grudge.

I do not know if it sunk in, but I do know that the message could not have been any clearer!

more animals

Fun with history

I always enjoy looking over my kid’s history answers. Here is a recent example from Space Cadet:

Q. Who reformed the calendar in ancient Rome?
A. Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in ancient Rome. (Sadly, he didn’t think to cut out the Ides of March.)

Q.What is an example of ethnocentrism?
A. One example of ethnocentrism is thinking that Hispanics are time wasters because they focus more on when everyone’s come than when the event was technically advertised to start at. Myself, I like the Hispanic method. It lets me sleep in.

But my all time favorite is from a report she wrote years ago about Leonardo da Vinci:

“The Mona List currently resides behind a pane of bullet proof glass in the Louvre. Why anyone would want to shoot the Mona Lisa is beyond me.”

They're in!

Space Cadet and Fatso have been accepted to do Distance Learning classes at Patrick Henry College! They start next week! I was a little worried because we sent the applications in a little late, and then I didn’t hear from them. . . but we’re in!

Pinch me, I'm dreaming

Saturday night we had a Teen Quizzing party at our house. It was supposed to end at 8, but everyone was having a great time so we went until 10, and then one of the quizzers ended up spending the night.



We had our first practice quiz on Sunday afternoon. Our “core quizzers” are Fatso (also known as “Izzle” for quizzle, I mean, quiz purposes), Hoodie Girl (which is what my youngest child wants to be called), Bizzle and Jizzle.

There are also two other young ladies coming, who have both said they would come to practices but don’t want to compete. One if them is Czarina, who thinks her English is not good enough for quizzing. Well, I had an idea to just pick out 8 quiz questions a week for her to study, and ignore the rest. Then I thought, what if I did that for the other girl as well? At practice, they BOTH answered questions. . . out of two quizzes, Czarina got 3 jump questions and 3 bonus questions. Everyone was quite amazed! The other girl is encouraged by her success, and Hoodie Girl is encouraging them both to go to the first quiz. Hoodie Girl thinks we should have a girl team and a boy team. Our first quiz is coming up in a few weeks and it would be way cool if we had 6 quizzers!

We started school on Tuesday. We are not at a full load yet because our co-op hasn’t started yet.

This is what last year looked like:
Space Cadet would start her schoolwork around noon and finish (hopefully) by dinner time. She would also spend a lot of time in her own little world, take 1 ½ hours for basic hygiene needs, and complain that she never had time to do what SHE wanted to do.

Fatso would get up and get started on his schoolwork, finish in a timely manner, and have all sorts of time to spend on his interest.

Czarina would be frustrated because she would see what Hoodie Girl was doing, and feel like she (Czarina) wasn’t learning anything. We had been told in Russia to make her first school year in America all about English, and that’s what we did. Czarina attended the same co-op classes as Hoodie Girl, (science, history, writing, literature and art) but did not have to do all the work. At home we worked on reading, writing, understanding and speaking English. Czarina was mostly pretty co-operative, but sometimes would get in a little snit and not want to do anything.

For most of the school year, Hoodie Girl would go off in her room or the basement to “work on schoolwork”, and I would usually find her reading a non-school related book, or drawing. It would be time for me to make dinner and she STILL wouldn’t be done with her school work. Along with this came speeches about how horribly unfair life is, and about how boring school is. Hoodie Girl lost many, many privileges and spent much time grounded. She also had a very difficult time with the concept of following directions. And her writing? Hoodie Girl was a “stream of consciousness” writer. Her first co-op writing assignment, she wrote 13 pages and got 69% because, although her report was interesting and fairly well-written, she did not follow the instructions.

Fortunately by the end of last school year she got her act together and ended up with straight A’s for the last semester. However, it still took her forever to do her school work.

This year (or this week, at least)
The first two days, Space Cadet was done with her school work (and her shower) by NOON. Today she was working on her last assignment at 1:00. She has had lots of time to work on private projects.

Fatso – no change. He gets up, does his chores, does his schoolwork, and gets on with his life.

Czarina will not be able to complain that she isn’t learning anything. She is the one child I have that I have to work one on one with a lot, due to language issues, but she has been very co-operative this week.

And Hoodie Girl has absolutely amazed me. . . she starts her school work right after breakfast, FOLLOWS THE DIRECTIONS, does not complain, and is done by noon!

(Of course, once the co-op classes start no one will be done by noon, but this is a good start.)

I am looking forward to a great year!

Help me name my youngest child!

On this blog I have chosen to go the way of many wiser than I, and give my kids “code names”.

I’m kind of stuck on my youngest child’s name.

Space Cadet (there’s a fine line between rocket scientist and space cadet) and Fatso (who is a teen-age boy with hollow legs and an amazing metabolism) chose their own names. Czarina got her name because we adopted her in Russia (Czarina means “Russian princess”).

The youngest can’t think of a name she is willing to be called. I thought of using her family nick name, “Skippy”, which was given to her by my husband’s sister’s husband’s father when she was about 5. I also have considered “Drama Queen”. We also have considered Strawberry (I have no idea why), Superchick, and Supergirl (again, I have no idea why).

Maybe I should give her an artist’s name (but not Van Gogh, because I like her ears) because she is drawing all the time. Or. . . Karaoke Queen, because she loves to sing (as long as no one but Czarina watches/hears).

Anyway, I would like to hear YOUR suggestions! Please leave a comment with your ideas! (And be kind. . . )

And speaking of artists. . .

You can’t go outside until you pee in the popcorn. . .

We have two cats. Peace, 8 years old, belongs to Space Cadet. Before we got Peace, I prayed for a cat we would not be allergic to.

I should have prayed for a NICE cat we would not be allergic to.

Not that Peace isn’t a good cat. . . she’s very good. She doesn’t scratch the furniture or pee where she’s not supposed to or keep Space Cadet up at night or chew things up, or go into the cat food bag between meals. . . she wouldn’t even DREAM of jumping on the kitchen table. . . she’s just good.

She’s also very rigid, antisocial (except to Space Cadet) rarely affectionate, is very rude to “THAT KITTEN”, and a TERROR at the vets.

When it was time for Fatso to get a cat, I prayed for a nice cat we would not be allergic to.

I should have prayed for a nice OBEDIENT cat we weren’t allergic to.

Sherifina, 17 months old, is sweet. Sherafina just reeks of sweetness. She is cute and funny and affectionate and playful. She ADORES Fatso, and follows him around like she’s a puppy dog. She waits outside of the bathroom for him. She purrs up a storm. She likes to have her belly rubbed. She is friendly to visitors.

She also escapes from Fatso’s room (she has figured out how to open the door), jumps on the kitchen table, meows loudly at night for Fatso to wake up and play with her, scratches the couch and the furniture, and last week chewed through Czarina’s headphone cord AND the USB cord for Czarina’s MP3 player.

She also tries to get into the cat food bag between meals. Peace is totally disgusted by this. “We don’t get our own food!!! That’s what we have SERVANTS for!”

Back to Peace. . . we’ve had to make several vet trips with her this year. The vet’s assistants tremble when we walk in with Peace. There are notes all over Peace’s chart. “Be careful. . . she bites!” On a recent vet trip a new employee said, “I’ve heard about Peace!” They gossip about my cat behind her back!

To get blood work from Peace, she has to be sedated. So several months ago, when we could tell she wasn’t feeling well, we took her in and they did blood tests and a urinalysis. (Prior to the test results coming in, the vet suggested we put her on Prozac. . . I am NOT making this up.)

Turns out Peace has a urinary tract problem. They sold me some expensive food and the vet said to feed it to her for a month and then bring in a urine sample.

Um, excuse me. . . am I supposed to get this cat to pee in a CUP?

No, the vet explained, we can clean out her litter box and line it with shredded wax paper or unpopped popcorn. I had wax paper, so that’s what I filled it with. Then we had to keep Peace inside until she peed.

About 40 hours later, I was wondering if maybe it was not healthy for a cat with urinary tract problems to hold it in so long. . . until Fatso sat in a chair and said, “gross!”

Of all the kids that could have sat in the cat pee. . . it had to be the one with OCD. . .

Fortunately I had been wanting to get rid of that chair anyway, but I wasn’t about to sacrifice any more furniture, so I took her to the vets, they sedated her, and got the coveted specimen themselves.

Unfortunately, she’d gotten WORSE. I was told to mix a certain supplement into her food, and try again in a month.

Times up. After paying the last vet bill I decided to try the popcorn. So this morning Space Cadet cleaned out the litter box and refilled it with unpopped popcorn. Peace keeps trying to tell her, “This is just WRONG!” She wants to go outside, but we keep telling her, “You can’t go outside until you pee in the popcorn!”

And I’m praying for my furniture.

Stay tuned. . .

How not to save money on school supplies

This is the time of year when many stores offer incredible details on school supplies to get people into their stores.

One Sunday night a few weeks ago I sat down with the ad inserts and made a chart of who had what for sale. Office Depot had notebook filler paper for 15 cents and plastic 2-pocket folders for 1 cent.

Since there is an Office Depot right around the corner from Fatso’s orthodontist, and he had an appointment Monday, we stopped by after the appointment.

I was patting myself on the back as I carried out my 59 cent bag of school supplies. I didn’t even use up much gas (always a consideration these days) since it was so close to the orthodontist’s office.

Forty-five minutes later I pulled into my driveway and. . . discovered my purse was missing.

I called Office Depot and yes, someone had found and returned my purse. So it was back to Office Depot.

At the cost of about $12 for gas.

I was so relieved to get my purse and see that my credit cards, cellphone, etc. were still in the purse.

Later though, I went to get some cash and. . . it was all gone. Whoever found my purse relieved it of it’s cash before they turned it in.

I think there was around $40 in there.

So. . . my 59 cent bag of school supplies actually cost me more than $50. . . .