I'm big, sparkly, loud and a tad bit over-the-top. I watch too much TV and listen to my music way too loud. I am not a writer, so don’t expect excellence. I am not deep, so don’t expect anything altogether too profound. I'm actually quite shallow, but I do have the occasional spark of brilliance; I’ll be sure to post those in bold print, you won’t want to miss them. Enjoy!
I know I've been neglecting my blog as well as neglecting visiting the blogs of all my dear cyberfriends. I've been fighting off a raging sinus infection and Mom#2 hasn't been letting me do much of anything that isn't absolutely necessary. Of course she doesn't understand how important blogging is, LOL.
To be honest, I just haven't really been in the mood for blogging lately. I'm taking an antibiotic that makes me sick to my stomach; I'm trying to keep school going as we only have a few weeks until our summer break (YAH!); and I've been mulling over my curriculum choices for next year as well. I'm still plugging along at my part time gig as well. I guess it's all starting to get the best of me.
Anyway, rather than whine about myself, I thought I'd provide some photos for your viewing enjoyment.
Baby Boy and I recently started a new series of art lessons on sketching portraits. These are our generic portraits and over the next 6 weeks or so we'll learn how to draw specific eyes, noses, mouths, etc . . . and try and do a real self portrait in a month or so. That should be interesting, stay tuned!
Generic Face by Baby Boy
and
by Mom #1
So that's that.
We also studied bioluminescence in Marine Biology. We studied the different effects of darkness, sunlight, cold water and warm water on the chemical bioluminescence used in some deep sea fishes. It was very interesting. Here's a short photo essay.
The glow stick represents the chemical bioluminescent material in the fish.
This is how bright it is in warm water.
Next we let it sit in ice water for about 5 minutes and then took it into the dark again. Trust me, it dimmed greatly, but it didn't photograph well (LOL), so here's how it looks on the kitchen counter in ice water.
And finally, here's the bioluminescence monster coming to get me because he's tired of doing schoolwork.
Thanks for stopping by. I'll post more when I get back to a little more normalcy, whatever that is.
We did get all of our scheduled lessons done this week. Well all except for one Spanish lesson, but I gave Baby Boy a pass on that one. Like I said in an earlier post, all of this darned warm and beautiful weather has got us in the worst way. We have been lolly-gaging something serious around here.
We had two big events this week.
First, Baby Boy and I got all dressed up (well Texas style, which means I ironed Baby Boy's jeans and my capri pants) and went to the opera on Wednesday night. We went with the new homeschool field trip group we've been exploring. There was a great educational discount, otherwise we never would have been able to go. Mom #2 was having none of it, so we left her butt at home. We had a great time!
Here we are, on our way to the opera . . . oooh la la.
Of course, on Saturday, we had Baby Boy's birthday party. We slathered on all the sunblock we could handle and had a big ol' barbecue by the pool. Mom #2 made a brisket and homemade potato salad; I supplied all the drama and loud conversation. Fabulous!
Of course, Baby Boy was the main attraction. It was his day and we let him have everything he wanted for this special occasion.
His cake was a narcissistic tribute to himself, LOL.
He got lots of gifts.
All of those envelopes contained cash, which as anyone knows, is a teenager's one and only true love.
And a great time was had by all!
They played and swam and chased each other all afternoon, until it was time for Mom #2 and I to clean up. Then they all piled up in Baby Boy's room and played video games for another 3 or 4 hours. Let me tell you I was tired of playing host, but I'm glad it all went well.
Now I need to finish all the laundry and other chores I neglected to pull off party day.
What are you saying goodbye to? What would you LIKE to send away from your self forever? What single thing do you have that's holding you back?
Write as much or as little as you like. Get personal. Or keep it on a superficial level.
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Well, first and foremost, I want to send a ton of weight away from myself. I'm too big. I know it and everyone who can see knows it except for blessed Mom #2. Secondly, I'd like to send all self-doubt away from myself. I get pretty good ideas from time to time, but after sitting and thinking over them, I remind myself how impractical they are; how difficult they would be to pull off; and how I'm just not the person to perform this specific adventure. I really need to stop that, because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it people like me (Sorry, I LOVE Saturday Night Live). Finally, I wish I would send indecisiveness away from myself. I cannot make a decision unless I mull it over for at least several hours, usually days and even weeks. It doesn't matter how small the decision is, I always have to think it over. Red or blue, paper or plastic, today or tomorrow . . . I don't know! Let me think about it. It pisses Mom #2 off and as I get older, it pisses me off too. And those are the things I would send away from myself. If anyone needs any of these things, please feel free to take as much or as little as you need. It's all free for the taking.
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Sorry to keep it so short this week. We JUST finished an all day birthday party for Baby Boy and I am wiped out. As soon as I get up tomorrow, I'll get the photos uploaded and show you all the fun we had.
Fifteen years ago the most handsome, incredible, persuasive, artistic, and unique person I've ever met entered my life with a huge BANG and decided to take me on the wildest roller coaster ride of my life.
Here's a short review of his life in photos . . .
. . . fifteen years ago . . .
. . . ten years ago . . .
. . . five years ago . . .
. . . and . . . TODAY!
Have Mercy! These last five years have definitely been the growing years, LOL.
Happy birthday, Baby Boy. You are the single best thing that ever has or ever will happen in my life. I love you and I know we have lots more years of twists and turns ahead of us.
We've been having such wonderful, beautiful, delicious weather that Baby Boy and I can hardly concentrate on anything other than sitting on the patio and taking Baby Doggy for walks.
We did manage to get all of our assignments done, and we are both pleased to be almost finished with several of his subjects for this term.
We've completed Music Theory and our Movies as Literature this week. Actually and honestly, we ditched the Movies as Literature, we only had two more movies to watch, but neither of us were all that jazzed about them, so we decided to call it a year on that. Don't get me wrong, if you've looked at this for your own student, it's an excellent curriculum. It's very unique and requires real analysis, easily as much as a good rigorous literature curriculum would require, if not more, because with the visual, there is so much you are expected to notice. You end up practically watching each movie four or five times. For almost every question, Baby Boy and I found ourselves reviewing the scenes to make sure we didn't miss any subtleties. It's been a lot of fun, but we're just done, LOL. This is the time of year we get antsy and don't want to waste our days away watching television. We have some other literature activities that we're doing that are not curriculum and textbook based. It's just one of the perks of homeschooling, I guess.
Of course we did get a chance to get our art projects done this week. We studied Expressionism, which we learned is two giant steps away from realism. That's what we liked best about it, because we tend to do art that doesn't look very realistic whether we are trying to or not, LOL. It's more of a visual display of how you emotionally feel when you see something in nature. This week we did our own renditions of Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Field with Rising Sun (We have pretty high self esteem, don't we? I mean we really aim high! he he he).
The original, Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Field with Rising Sun illustrating Expressionism
Another version of Expressionism by Baby Boy
And yet another, by Mom #1
In case you're wondering, yes, we did at least have fun, LOL.
I know this post is getting long, but one more thing. We went to see my niece, who I love dearly, play an original composition at a piano for her school last night. It was actually the neatest thing I have ever seen. She goes to an all girls private school. Anyway, the girls are learning how to compose music that is uniquely them. So they are used regular music notation as well as graphic notation (which is just a fancy word for pictures) in their music scores. During the performance, they showed each girl's photo and a copy of the actual work she created on the overhead projector while we listened to them play the piece.
The pieces are untitled, but they did provide descriptions. Here's the description my niece's piece:
I have chosen to focus on shifting emotions, moving from happiness to anger, then sadness. Gradual healing begins and then returns us to a state of happiness once again.
The quality of this video is pretty pathetic, because the lighting was down in the auditorium so we could see the slides on the overhead projector, plus I was using a regular camera, not a video camera, so . . . it's really important that you understand that before you get too excited to see it.
Proud moments aren't only for moms, they are for aunties too!
For dessert, delicious pastry, a cake that is head-turning.
I sift the soda with sugar and blend it with the flour,
Salivating as I know it will be tasty to devour.
I attempt to crack the eggs on the edge of the bowl,
Most ends up on the counter, but that wasn’t the goal.
On with the oven to melt my sticks of butter
I can already taste it, my heart’s all-a-flutter.
But wait, it’s been a moment or two, and I’m feeling a chill
It should be buttery soup de jour, but instead it’s sitting still.
What am I to do?I’m hungry, I want cake.I NEED CAKE!
With no working oven, with what shall I bake?
I have to think, I need an idea, a light-bulb, a flash
But I want to be reasonable, not hasty or rash.
I spy my niece’s toy oven; you know the one that cooks with a little light
If I’m careful, I may be able to get it toasted just right.
Carefully I measure batter into tiny cupcake pans
And slide it into the oven, trying not to burn my hands.
Moments later it’s done, well the center is a little too runny,
I think I’ll just have ice cream.I’ll give this mess treat to my Honey.
Well, I hope you like it. I've got a teenager, so we haven't seen a Dr. Suess book around here in years. I can't really remember how they go, but I know they rhyme, so I just focused on that. Also I just didn't draw a picture because I'm too lazy. You know us homeschooling moms are such rebels, LOL.
And that doesn't even include three nights of tae kwon do classes, all the dinners I cooked, dishes I washed, laundry I did and the everyday housework!
You're walking down a tree-lined street in a lovely neighborhood. As you pass a lovely two-story house, set back from the street as far as it can be, you see the legs of a child (boy? girl? you decide) hanging down from a tree.
Because you're omnipotent, you know this child has a bouquet of wilted flowers in one hand, a raw egg in the right pants pocket, and is very excited waiting for the neighbors to come home. Why? Why is s/he in the tree? Why does s/he have a raw egg? Is it broken? Whole? What kind of flowers? What happened all day to lead to the child waiting in the tree? I feel generous. You can have up to 1000 words this week.
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Last night she had been so excited that she hardly got a wink of sleep. The day was finally here! She had been hoping against hope that this would happen every since the crotchety old neighbor lady had moved out of the farm house down the street a few months ago.
She had been eavesdropping on her mom and auntie for weeks now and she was almost certain that she had the complete report on the new neighbors. They were moving from the city to the country because the wife had some sort of "breakdown" and needed a calmer way of life. The dad was a hot shot for some big company down town, but had agreed to move to the country and endure the hour and a half daily commute for the wife's sake. They had three children: a baby boy, a 7 year old boy, and a 12 year old girl. It appeared that the mom stayed home with the children, who had already been enrolled at the local school.
What she found most exciting was the fact that they had a 12 year old daughter. They were the exact same age! Her rural neighborhood had almost no girls in it and the few they had were so immature. She was sure the new neighbors, since they were from the city, would be much more sophisticated. She was trembling with anticipation.
Earlier she had picked some beautiful daisies from her mom's very own flower garden and carefully wrapped her current most prized possession in a thick fluffy hand towel and shoved it deep into her pocket. She couldn't wait to show it to the new neighbor girl, who she was sure would be her new BFF. It was an egg she was trying to hatch on her own for her 4-H project this semester. Then she climbed up into her own private looking perch, the large oak tree in her front yard, and waited anxiously, a solitary welcome wagon, for the new neighbors to arrive.
I usually review all the movies we do for our Movies As Literature curriculum, but I thought it would be a nice change to allow Baby Boy to do the review as his writing assignment. It's a nice way to still get the writing in without getting bogged down in all the outline, five perfect paragraphs and perfect formal writing . . . yadda yadda yadda . . . that we usually do with our writing assignments.
The weather has been so nice here that neither of us really want to do much school work at all. I thought this would be a good compromise. By the way, the movie we watched is Raiders of the Lost Ark.
So this was his assignment:
Unlike a plot summary, a review can be lengthy or not-so-lengthy depending on what your feelings are about the movie. Don’t forget to devise your own rating system and be sure to give your film a rating.
And here is his review. . . Enjoy!
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is an action/adventure movie made in 1981, directed by Steven Spielberg, and is rated PG (Parental Guidance).This movie is about an archaeologist who explores lost temples and finds buried treasures.His name is Indiana Jones.He hears about an artifact called the Ark of the Covenant and he seeks it out.He must face countless obstacles, supernatural powers, and a bitter rival.What happens next?Well sorry pals, but my information is limited and you will have to watch the movie to learn the rest!
I loved this movie beginning to end!There were tense parts, scary parts, and all out action!The acting could’ve been a little better, but I still loved it!The story is a little confounding in the beginning, but about half way through the movie, it should be all clear.This movie does have some mild language and lots of dead people, heavy alcohol usage, and evil spirits.Oh, and I can’t forget the truckload of snakes, there are tons of them!If any of these negativities conflict you, you probably shouldn’t watch this movie.
On a scale of 1-10, this movie is an 8!!
RATING SYSTEM
1. Boring beyond all reasons!!!
2. Mega boring
3. Kind of boring
4. Didn’t like it much
5. Alright
6. Liked it a little
7. Liked it
8. Liked it a lot
9. Super awesome
10. Best movie in history!!!
I have to say, I agree with pretty much everything he said. I'm not exactly sure why the movie is rated PG, I'm sure it should be PG-13 because they are straight boozing it up in several parts and when the spirits were released from the Ark of the Covenant, it was too scarey for me. I covered my eyes. Oh, well, I'm really working on leaving Baby Boy's work alone and not always feeling the need to add my two cents to it. So, there's the review above. LOL.
