Baby Boy earned his purple belt in tae kwon do last night. I'm so proud of him - here's a few photos and even a short snippet of video of how the evening went.
Today I have to email my friend, D (we’ll leave it at that to protect the innocent). She has chickens on her land and she is always trying to sell me her farm fresh eggs. I do not like eggs. Since I do the cooking in my house, no one in my house eats eggs. I do not cook anything I will not be eating. Them’s the rules.
Yesterday, after sending Mom #2 a flurry of text messages regarding money and the car and other miscellaneous items, I happened to mention D and her over abundance of farm fresh eggs. Mom #2 mentioned it to her parents and oh my goodness the world has a new bright and shiny light and I AM IT. Turns out they need five, yes you read me right, five dozen eggs. This is for two people, my mom-in-law and my pop-in-law: no kids, no pets, no guests. I don’t get it, but okay.
Turns out they LOVE farm fresh eggs! It is simply astounding to me that Mom #2 and I have been together almost ten years and no one mentioned to me that eggs are apparently their very favorite food. I guess since I have such a violent disgust for them, they decided to let me live in my delicate egg free bubble.
So, like I said earlier, today I have to email my friend, D. I will ask her to put five dozen eggs in a box and bring them to our next home school field trip. She will be very excited as selling them is one of the many ways she earns her living.
It has done my heart good to know that I could make this love connection, I mean love match (wink, wink, you thought you had me, didn’t you).
P.S.
I know you may not believe this, but this is a true story.
This actually did happen to me today.
The words for this week were apparently meant especially for me, LOL.
Thanks, Ami. I had fun.
The organizer of the homeschool field trip group we've been popping in on invited Baby Boy and me to come to a game of Ultimate Frisbee this afternoon. We're down to only one vehicle, so when I politely declined, she actually offered to give us a ride. Now we live closer to town that we used to, but by no means at all can we be considered really local, so this was an extremely kind gesture. I'm going to have to add this lady to my Christmas card list.
Baby Boy and I didn't have a clue of what Ultimate Frisbee was. I didn't even have the presence of mind to try to Google it or anything. We just went out there blind as bats.
Baby Boy said he had a lot of fun. He used to play a lot of disc golf back in his summer camp days, so it helped him not to be totally incompetent. That's always nice. I honestly don't know what they were doing out there. I saw some frisbee throwing and some running. Actually a LOT of running, so I know this game is not for me. I don't really run. Actually let's be blunt - I don't run.
Anyway, Baby Boy had fun and said he wants to go play some more so . . . that's nice and . . . we'll see.
We did get our art projects completed today as well.
We are learning a little bit about Impressionism. An art form that includes capturing an impression (via a quick glance) of something you would ordinarily see in nature. Anyway it's supposed to look loose and unfinished and you're supposed to be able to see the brush strokes. Well we didn't use brushes, we used oil pastels . . . so anyway.
Well, we've had a pleasant enough weekend.
As you know, in this part of the country, Easter is the beginning of the barbecue season (which, by the way, lasts all the rest of the year). Yesterday my In-Laws invited us over for a fantabulous dinner. My father in law barbecued an amazing brisket. That man KNOWS he can barbecue! My mom-in-law made homemade potato salad, asparagus cheese wraps, and cheese cake. It was heavenly. We had a good meal, some nice conversation, and an all around delightful time.
My dad was supposed to take Baby Boy to church this morning, but he called last night and said he had to go into work, so that was that. I think Baby Boy was about half disappointed and half not too concerned, because he slept in extra late this morning.
So this is what we ended up doing today.
Happy Springtime, Everyone!
Of course you know down here, it's already been in the 90's daily for weeks, but we have recently gotten some much-needed rain, so that's good. I'm a big fan of rain, as long as I don't have to drive anywhere. Frankly, I'm not a great driver anyway, and rain just makes it that much worse. I generally try to stay home in the rain.
We do have our official first sign of spring - Mom #2 has planted her strawberry plant. Isn't it cute? I'll let you know the status of that experiment in a few months, LOL.
Oh, school was so great this week. We finished every single thing on our schedule. I love when that happens! It's a rare and unusual phenomenon, and believe me, it's worth mentioning.
Today we went on a little outing with the homeschool group. We went to see an exhibit on The Beat Generation poets. The exhibit was interesting, not exactly what I expected, but tolerable. I arrived late, as usual, but everyone was still very nice to us - that's the sign of a good group. This is our 3rd time tagging along and I'm not feeling "frozen out" yet, so I think this might work. After the docent tour, we went to a social spot where Baby Boy enjoyed playing pool and air hockey. He is really warming up to the kids there, which is very pleasing because neither he nor I make friends very easily. I'm actually sort of struggling to get along with the other moms, but I'm going to make an honest and determined effort for Baby Boy's sake. It's so obvious that he's tired of having his mom as a best friend. Oh, why must they grow up so fast?
Oh, and I was wondering why there weren't that many other families on the field trip and why there were so much traffic on the highway. . . why didn't anyone tell me today is Good Friday and Sunday coming up is Easter. Oh my goodness. I guess just Baby Boy, Myself, and a few other heathens were wandering around at museums and such. Everyone else was on the highway trying to get to their families and to churches all over town. Oops! I need to go call my mom, I hope she's cooking something good.
I need to get in touch with the Easter Bunny and see if he can make an emergency house call. I'm severely lacking in decorations and such. It's way too early this year.
Oh, well.
Until next time . . .
Smooches!
Well, I know I've been behind in posting our Movies as Literature movie reviews, but today I'm going to get caught up right quick.
I have two movies to discuss.
The movie we watched a few weeks ago is called The Journey of August King. Let me give you my short version first - Hated it! (Unregulated flashback to Men on Film)
I guess I need to give a more detailed review, so here ya go.
The movie is about a widow, August King, who is on the way home, a three day journey, from the general store where he has purchased his annual supplies for his home and farm. Along the way he discovers a run away slave girl and reluctantly decides to help her get to the freedom trail so she can get to the North and be free. Ok, that sounds nice, even noble, but this movie is dry as a bone. It seems like it goes on forever even though it's only a hour and a half long. The dialog is silly and barely understandable due to the overly emphasized "native dialect" that both the white man and the slave girl use. Both Baby Boy and I spent most of the time asking each other what was going on. It also has one extremely violent scene that had me covering my eyes. I wasn't expecting it and it took me quite by surprise. I think that given the fact that this movie is rated PG-13, it could have been handled in a more subtle way. There are lots of other things implied in the movie where it doesn't go into graphic detail. They should have followed suite with this scene. I don't know, maybe I was having a bad day, maybe I have just seen my fill of slave movies for the year. Believe me, black people have more to contribute to American history than the fact that we were once slaves. (hopping down from soapbox, sorry) The movie does show that even common every-day people can make a difference in the world, like August King did for the slave girl. That's the message I emphasized to Baby Boy, but the movie simply was not very entertaining or engaging. For it to be considered good by me, it would have to be at least one of those, and preferably both.
The movie we watched last week, A Raisin in the Sun, was magnificent. Ok, I will admit, I love Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee, so I may come off a little biased. Actually, I may come off a lot biased. It's the story of a multi-generational family, (Mom, her daughter, and her son along with his wife and child) living in a tenement where they share a bathroom with several other families. The father has recently passed away and they are waiting for his life insurance check to come in. Once it comes in, there are many twists and turns as they decide what to do with the money that will be best for everyone in the family. The mom is a hard working old fashioned woman, the sister is a free spirit artistic girl, and the son is a hard working man with big dreams regarding his future and the future of his family. They deal with financial struggles, class struggles, and racial struggles even though there is no slavery, there is still segregation and racial tensions. This story is so cleverly written and acted. It's really great to see Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier in their youth. I don't want to give too much of it away, so I'll just say that it's highly recommended.
I missed Puff Daddy (or P Diddy, or whoever he is right now) and Phylicia Rashad's remake of A Raisin in the Sun. I recorded it to my DVR, but somehow it got erased before I could see it. It's supposed to be coming on DVD in a few months, so once I get a chance to look at it, I'll try to compare the two. I didn't think Puff Daddy acted that great in Monster's Ball, (I hated that whole movie, so once again, I'm biased) but everyone keeps saying he was really good as Walter Lee Younger, so I'll reserve judgment until I see it for myself.
In news on the home front, we are going on another field trip with the new home school activities group tomorrow. Wish us luck!
Until next time . . .
Smooches!
The weather has been super hot lately, think 90's.
Anyway as a pick-him-up for having to get surgery last week, Big Papa (my dad) took Baby Boy on another fishing trip this weekend.
Guess what we're having for dinner . . . Delicious!
. . . Until next time . . .
Smooches!
Just for anyone who was thinking of us, Baby Boy's surgery went well, and he's home safe and sound. We're just taking it easy as he is extremely grouchy when he wakes up from anesthesia and it takes a while for it to flush out of his system.
Oh, and just for kicks, Mom #2 woke up with a raging flu. So she was unable to help me get everything together and get me out of the house on time. Now, this is one of Mom #2's major job functions. It is her job to get me out of the house for any class, extra-curricular activity, social event, or appointment on time. I am habitually and perpetually late to everything. I don't do it on purpose; I don't think I'm better than anyone else; I don't think I'm worth waiting for or anything like that. I have read all the psycho mumbo-jumbo and none of it applies to me. I am just always running late!
So, of course, I was running late to the hospital. It really didn't help that I was trying not to breathe or allow Baby Boy to breathe all morning, because (per the rules and I know them by heart) if he had thrown up, run a fever, or had excessive mucus in the 24 hours prior to surgery, then no surgery for him. No one wants surgery, but really the worse kind of surgery is re-scheduled surgery after you've already planned your entire life around this one hospital visit.
Anywho . . . here's a look at him after the nurse had already taken his vitals, but before the doctor to came in and talk with us. Still trying to keep his spirits up.
I'm off to take care of my Baby Boy!
. . . until next time . . .
Smooches!
Well, we've been plugging along at our own pace here at the Two Moms' Homeschool. The public schools are on Spring Break here this week, so there are spare children running the streets everywhere. We also have a little music festival not far from here this week, so we have lots of extra people around. I've been hibernating inside to avoid all the extra commotion. Besides that, I'm still recuperating from the time change - Springing forward - OY!
School is going remarkably well. Baby Boy has really been applying himself and even in the toughest of subjects, I'm seeing lots of positive grades. It's so sad when the teacher suffers more from spring fever than the student. That's what's going on here. I have to physically force myself to get my lesson plans together, get my paperwork organized and to stay on task so Baby Boy and I can get things done in a reasonable amount of time.
We've had alternating days of beautiful and sucky weather. One day it's 75 and sunshiney and the next it's 40 and raining. On the nice days, we try to get out and have a little walk or at least sit out on the patio and soak up some sunshine. I love sunshine. The one thing I do have to admit about the time change is that I do like having the sun stay up a little longer. That part is nice. I just have to conquer getting up on time.
We're planning another tag-along visit next week with our homeschool field trip group. This time we're going to see a poetry exhibit followed by bowling and chit chat. Wish us luck, I'm sure you've heard by now, we really aren't group people.
Oh, and I've been trying to pick up extra shifts at my little work-at-home gig. You know, as the infomercial lady. So if any of y'all get bored in the middle of the night, turn on a little late night TV and then pick up the phone and give me a call. Order everything or nothing at all, I'm paid per minute of talk time. ;-)
We got some pretty disappointing news from one of Baby Boy's medical specialists this week. I don't think Baby Boy quite realizes what was said. I'm taking a little time to digest it myself before I sit him down and tell him all about it. It really sucks! It's not life threatening, just life affecting and, frankly, life annoying, if you know what I mean. Anyway, keep us in your hearts and minds as we work through this one.
Also, Baby Boy is having another outpatient surgical procedure tomorrow. It shouldn't be a big deal, but you never know. I have a little flutter in the pit of my stomach every time he has to be put under anesthesia. I'll keep you posted. Give us an extra thought as you sleep tonight.
But don't let all this talk of medical negativity get you down. You KNOW that if nothing else gets done around here, art projects always will.
So let's get it started!
First we learned . . .
