Pencil Thin

Home schooling children means putting up with ongoing clutter. Our dining room also serves as our school room. In the 4 years that I have been home schooling I have tried a dozen different ways to organize our school supplies. I have tried bins and shelves of every sort. I am now thinking that we need cabinets of some sort. I would like my husband to build a cabinet with pull out drawers at some point in the future. I know he has some drawer slides he has been saving for this sort of project. The real problem is finding time to build something of the size that we need. For now I am going to have to work with what I have which means constantly straightening shelves and clearing out bins to keep things in some sort of order.

Yesterday I took my oldest son for an MRI of his right hip and thigh. I really thought he might have difficulty sitting still for a long test such as an MRI. As it turned out he completed the test with ease and was thrilled to be able to see an MRI machine up close. The technician provided him with music to listen to and allowed him to read his book during the test. He said it was boring but that sitting there was not tough since he was able to read. I will be glad when we finally have a clear answer as to whether anything is or is not wrong with his leg.

This afternoon I will attend an informational session at my older son’s cyber charter school to become familiarize with their junior high program. I can’t believe my son is going to be in junior high school because I don’t feel old enough to have a child in seventh grade. Fortunately the meeting is online and I can attend from the comfort of home. His school uses a number of great web conferencing solutions to provide these type of sessions and online classes. We really love the online format as an educational tool. It allows my children to learn without all distractions they would encounter in a traditional classroom setting. Teachers are able to focus on teaching rather than dealing with student behaviors and other elements that can prevent teaching from taking place.

As my children get older the differences in their personalities become more and more clear. Our youngest son loves to be outside and on the go. He begs to go outside and take long walks. My older son prefers to have his nose deep inside a book and rarely wants to be outside. They are the perfect balance for each other. You would think that they wouldn’t get along very well because of this and the fact that there is a seven year age difference between them but they really do love one another. My older son takes the time to sit with his little brother and read stories to him and often plays along side him. Our little guy encourages his older brother to get outside and enjoy the world around him. I hope they continue to appreciate one another as they get older the way they do now.

It seems like only yesterday that my youngest son was just baby. This summer he will turn six years old and has just completed kindergarten. Each and every day he surprises me by doing something on his own that I didn’t think he could do. The other day he took one of our metal step stools and got dishes off the shelf to set the table for dinner. No one asked him to do this. He simply decided that we were going to be having dinner soon and would need something to eat off from. Sometimes his independence gets him into trouble but for the most part it is great to see him starting to be his own little person. There is a part of me that wants to keep him little forever but instead I cherish each and every step forward that he makes.

Last year when I started my vegetable plants from seed it seemed like the easiest thing on earth. This year I followed the exact same steps as I did last year with the exception of using peat pots instead of plastic cups. This has been nothing short of a disaster! The peat pots molded almost immediately and I have been fighting a battle to keep the plants alive ever since. I have no doubt that I will be buying plants from the local Amish greenhouse this year. There is only about a month until I can officially plant tomatoes and green peppers outside and I know these plants are never going to be big enough by then. Such a disappointment.

For some reason lately I have become hooked on following this online garage sale for my county. I have never bought a single thing on there and probably never will and yet I am fascinated. You will find practically everything imaginable listed from harley davidson accessories to snow blowers. There are tons of clothes and jewelry listed as well. What really surprises me are the people who list valuable jewelry with their real names, addresses, and phone numbers. It seems like a bad idea to put out there for everyone in the world to see. On the other hand some of the things people list are pure trash and yet they seem to want a ton of money for them. I guess the saying is true that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

When I was growing up my mother constantly had my hair cut short. In fact all I had short hair for most of my life. About 4 years ago I decided to let my hair grow out and now have what could be called long hair. At least it is long for me. The problem is that I have no idea what to do with long hair. I don’t know how to braid it or put it up in any way other than a pony tail. Not having a daughter has left me with little reason to learn about long hair until now. I am not really sure what hairstyles out there today are appropriate for a 41 year old woman? I will never go back to short hair because I love just washing my hair and leaving it go. Still it would be nice to be able to do some of those clever hairstyles I see today.

For the last couple of weeks we have been debating about what summer camp to send our twelve year old son to. He has never gone to an overnight camp before and has that option this year. For the last couple of years he has attended a summer music camp put on by our school district. It is an awesome programs that gives the kids tons of hands on experience with profession equipment and offers skilled teachers. My son talked for weeks about the guitars they used. It sounded like they might have Whirlwind Guitars but I couldn’t be sure. He love his classes in directing and play writing as well. The only thing he didn’t like was that the camp was 3 weeks long and that he had to get up early every day to be there. He said he doesn’t want to the music camp this year which allows other options into the picture. He could go to Boy Scout camp for a week or he could go to a local space camp. Honestly, I don’t think there is a better program out there than the music camp but I have allow him to make his own choices sometimes.

In giving up grains, sugar, and dairy I have learned to live without many foods in my life. There are times where nothing is as satisfying as a something crisp and crunchy. I have been working on perfecting making potato chips from sweet potatoes in my food dehydrator. Until today I could get the flavor right but the chips were too thick. I found an ultra-thin slicing blade for my Cuisinart on eBay and ordered it hoping that it would produce very thin slices. As I type I have 9 trays of chips in my Excalibur dehydrator and have high hopes that these will be totally perfect potato chips at last! Will keep you posted on the results.

I have mentioned before that our oldest son is very involved in Boy Scouts. He is constantly working on requirements for earning different merit badges. I have to admit that some of the options for merit badges surprise. I had no idea you could earn a badge in space exploration. This summer my brother is going to work with our son on his metal working badge. My brother welds and works metal as a hobby. He has everything imaginable when it comes to welding gear including welding jackets and masks. I am a little leery of some of the badges like rifle shooting simply because my son is a little absent minded at times. He is twelve and safety is not always forefront in his mind. At least he has his choice of badges to earn and I can still influence what he pursues right now just a bit. Steering him away from more risky options for now is working. When he is older the choices will be his.

After the weird winter we had there is nothing in the weather realm that should surprise us. We seem to be caught in a cycle of really warm weather followed by very cold weather. This has made for a very tough start to our gardening season. Part of me thinks I should be able to just put the plants out and let them fend for themselves since they are supposed to be “tolerant” of our growing season but the other part of me just wants to do everything I can to help them along. What I end of doing is covering and uncovering the plants every couple of days. Starting tomorrow we are supposed to get around a foot of snow. Given that it was nearly 75 degree yesterday you can appreciate how it might make keeping things alive a bit tricky. Plants are an investment of time and money and I am trying to get the best return on my investment even if it drives me crazy in the process.

Because we homeschool we make a point to have our children in as many outside activities as we can. For the last couple of years our son has participated in the summer music school program offered by our school district. It is a really great program that lets the kids have hands on experience with all type of professional equipment and instruments. My son is convinced that we need one of those Kustom PA Systems for our house. I suppose it might help me get him out of bed in the morning. This year I was surprised to learn that he is unsure if he wants to go to summer music school. I suspect it has something to do with him getting older and not wanting to get up early during the summer. I am giving him a week or so more to decided for sure whether he wants to participate. It is such a great program I hate for him to miss out but I also want him to start making some his own decisions.

For as long as I can remember I have been the type of person to have a large supply of food on hand in my home. I never really thought much of it but I knew other people who thought this was weird. A few years ago the way I obtained the food was via using coupons. In the past three years I have switched gears after realizing most food from the store is not really healthy and that I could grow better food myself. This led me to learn to can. I can with passion and zest. Last year I put away almost 800 jars of food.

My friends think I am planning for the apocalypse. What they don’t realize is that if you use 3 different jars of food in the course of a day then 800 jars really isn’t that much. In any given day we might use a jar of green beans, some canned meat, and a jar of applesauce. Other days we might use even more food. I guess this might make me a prepper in that I put away food for a year during the summer. I don’t really care what people think because I love knowing that we have almost all the food we need to last out many events right in our basement.

My father is seventy four years old. For the last couple of years his health has seemed to decline quite a bit. I wish he would take better care of himself but he just can’t seem to find it in himself to do so. Recently his ability to walk has changed. He is supposed to go to the doctor’s today and see if there is anything they can do. I am taking the children to visit him this weekend because they are as good for his spirits as having the the very best grandpa gourmet gifts delivered to his door. Whenever the children are around he immediately seems more vital and alert. It is hard when your gut tells you that someone could change their situation for the better but they just can’t make the effort to do so. Maybe more visits with the children are in order?

If there is one thing that can be said about me is that I love to learn new things. It is funny to me when people never try to learn or attempt a new thing. What I have noticed is that the people I know who are never trying to learn anything new is that they are always bored and need to constantly be one the go. It occurred to me that these are the same people who are constantly shopping and acquiring things. I don’t feel the need to be on the go, shop, or acquire things. I have enough and am content with being a home and working on my projects. This leaves me wondering is all the shopping is really about a quest for contentment? Traveling is something I love to do simply to experience new places but this is different than hitting the road on the weekend to find a shopping plaza to peruse.

The weather here has been so warm that all the plants are coming to life ahead of schedule. I am taking a cue from Mother Nature and am getting a jump start on my gardening. We spent this weekend building a new fence around our garden and changing the configuration of it. We also took time to clean our our compost bin and use the compost to freshen our soil. We planted some peas as well as some greens that love cooler weather. Planting this earlier is a bit of a gamble in our area but this has been a really unusual winter. My hope is that the temperatures do not take a sudden dip and continue to stay unusually warm. It would be really great to get an extra two or three months of growing time this year.

I have spent the last couple of weeks doing some spring cleaning around our house. Spring always makes me want to give the house a fresh look. Given that we have painted just about every room in our house in the last three years there is little to do in that department. I have been focusing my attention on clearing away any clutter and rearranging the furniture. It is always fun to see how moving few pieces of furniture can make a home feel larger or more cozy. The kids always love to help with the moving of things and find it exciting to find lost treasure that may have been hidden under the furniture. I love the feeling of everything being fresh and clean.

My parents are the type of people who hang onto everything and rarely throw anything away. It is getting to the point that they have to be urged to part with stuff they no longer need in order to make their life more functional. A couple of weeks ago I helped my mom go through all the clothes she has been saving. She has worked in a nursing home for 30 years and has saved all of her nursing uniforms she has worn over the years. I am not exaggerating when I say she had no less than 300 pair of scrub pants in her attic. I am not sure what she has been saving them for but I did manage to get her donate about half of them to a charity. Given that she is retiring this year I have no idea what she is going to do with the other half of them but she feels sh needs to keep them for now.

In our part of the country there is typically no need for summer clothes until May. Given how strange this winter has been it should not surprise me that we need them right now in MARCH. This weekend our temperatures were in the 70′s and will continue to be that high for the next week. Last night my husband went to the attic and brought down all of our summer clothes. The temperature inside our house was as high as 78 degrees this weekend. What makes me even happier is that since I have lost weight I am now able to wear all the clothes I haven’t been able to wear for a couple of years. It is like getting a new wardrobe!