I am sorry that I have not been posting. I took a picture the other day that pretty much sums up how I have been feeling.

Yes, I have been entirely gastropodish. Isn’t that an awesome word? Gastropod. If you say it to your 8 year old son he will think of something entirely different than the yellow-green slimy thing pictured above and he will laugh hysterically. I am not sure if that is a banana slug. I thought banana slugs had black spots, but I am surely not a gastropod expert. I may have no idea what I am talking about at all.

 I do know that my dad used to pay me a penny for every black one that I killed. I would slice them in half with a shovel and watch their guts run out. And look how “green” my dad was! No chemicals for my dad. Just give the kids a shovel and send them off to work. Ah, the more memorable days of my childhood. (Dad, I think you still owe me a couple of bucks, by the way) You don’t want the black ones anyway. They eat your garden. I never did pour salt on them. It just seemed like an awful way to perish even  for a gastropod. (Man, I am just loving that word!)

So, that is how I have felt about blogging lately. I really do want to write more. I just needed a little break.

And now, for the real mom confession of the week ….

I let my kids gorge themselves on their halloween candy. They eat until it is gone and I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I tried the rationing bit. You know, the “just two pieces a day” plan. But then, I had to listen to them asking me every 10 minutes if they could have “just one more piece of candy”. So, problem solved. Eat the candy. Get it out of my house. When it is gone. It is gone.

One week is all it took, and now I don’t have to worry about candy again until Christmas.

Can you stand another one of these posts? I have had a few days off. It was a planned mini vacation. The kids enjoyed a little break from the books. So did I. I have been thinking some more on high school and how stressful homeschooling high school can be. I have had another small lightbulb moment.

If my children are  successful am I making that my success? Or, I can turn it around. If they are not successful, is that my failure? What is successful? Is it my job to define their success? That is what hit me.

Am I so worried that if my kids don’t get into the “right” college that their life is going to be over and it is going to be all my fault? That it will ruin all their chance at happiness?  Or, I can turn that one around too. If they get into the “right” college then I have been an awesome homeschooling mother and can hold my head high.

I need to quit wrapping my own self-worth into their school work. I already graduated from high school. I am going to study. I am going to memorize my 4th and 5th declensions. I am going to make sure that I can do the math. I am going to read and critique their papers. I am not going weep and blame myself if they fail their math test. I teach them everyday. I am available to answer questions and facilitate their learning. At some point they have to want it.

 When they figure out what it is they want, I will be here to help them with that. Until then, they have to do what I say. (insert evil, maniacal laugh) I hope they figure it out soon.

Do you watch college football? I don’t, but my husband does.  A lot.

He has been ranking the college football teams for awhile now using his own mathematical system. I don’t get it much. I think he got tired of sharing it with his less than enthusiastic wife, so he started blogging about it. If you like, hop on over there and give him a hit. If you like college football, bookmark it and discuss the rankings with him. He would love it, and you would take the pressure off of me.

I’m Taking Over

Did I have a mom confession last week? I don’t remember. This week was such a blur. Trip to the mountains, sick kids, Latin, and hormonal imbalances. It all kind of runs together.

My confession this week is a no brainer, but it is something that I struggle with a lot and bears repeating.

 I spend way too much time worrying about what other mothers are doing with their children.

In some respects I am getting better. I don’t check out other math cirriculums because someone mentions how well such and such is working for their child. I don’t feel guilty that my kids haven’t won a trophy playing Little League. I am also not concerned that they are happy to sit and watch reruns of Spongebob on a fairly regular basis.

Unfortunately, I struggle with plenty. So-and-so’s kids took writing classes from such-and-such a person and they won an essay prize.  I wonder if I shouldn’t put my kid in the class. Man, it would be SO nice to let someone else grade their writing.

 OR 

Mary Beth’s kids are so driven. What does she do? Why are my kids content to spend their entire free day playing the Wii? What am I doing wrong?

You know. Stuff like that.

Maybe instead of worrying about what Mary Jane’s kids are doing, I should go buy Rock Band and play a little Wii with my kids. Maybe instead of worrying that my kids may not (notice that I don’t say never) win an essay contest, I should be thrilled that they are having a blast writing comic strips. I need to get over myself and let my kids be my kids. They are awesome! I love being with them and am proud of them. I need to step back, enjoy the ride, and let them be who they will be.

And for all that is beautiful and good, I need to quit worrying about what Genie Noseblower’s kids are doing. I just need to chill out!

My sister told me that the leaves were very pretty up on Steven’s Pass. She even proved it with gorgeous pictures that she had taken on their trip. It convinced us that we needed to take a drive. So, on Monday we made the loop. It was pretty. It was also very cold. We were ready for cold temperatures, but we weren’t ready for 29 degrees and snow. We still had a wonderful time. It was very good to get away from the books for the day and spend some time together even if most of it was in the car.

My husband convinced me that I needed to get in front of the camera for a change. I don’t like being in front of the camera, but I do have to admit that this picture didn’t turn out too bad. I have proof that the kids do love me, and I plan on pulling out this picture on bad school days to remind myself that they do.

Unfortunately, I could not convince my husband to get in front of the camera. He kept complaining about being cold or some such thing. Something about how he doesn’t have any hair and that his ears get really cold. I didn’t feel that sorry for him.

Considering that I live in the Evergreen state, fall is quite beautiful, isn’t it?

Biscuits made with baking soda instead of baking powder will not be edible.

That is all…

We went to my parents’ house for a visit today. Yesterday was my dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! He is now old enough to get a discount on the ferry. It is hard to beat that.

My dad showed a sensitive side when he brought down two bags. The bags were full of school work of mine and my sister’s. Lots of laughs there. Now I actually do have proof that I was a good student, and that I had nice, neat papers. My kids are going to have to believe me now!

I spent my early years at the the Lutheran Day school that my kids went to. After 6th grade my parents sent me to the local public school because they knew that they just couldn’t pull off private high school. Because I am the oldest, they took great interest in things that were going on in the classroom. I must have been quite forthcoming about the things we were watching in the classroom because it prompted my dad to write a few letters.

I barely remember the movie that nearly ended my social life. I remember that nuclear war or something had destroyed the planet and a few people were living in some kind of green house thingy. It was called “Ark”, and I only know that from the letter that my dad saved after all these years.

The letter is dated Dec. 4, 1984. It is from the Assistant Suerintendent, and he tells my parents in the letter that he has had the chance to review the topic of the movie with my teacher (oh, I didn’t like her) and the principal of my school.  He goes on..

The lesson taught by Mrs. ** in which she used the film, “Ark”, dealt with the objective to teach children to identify the tactics used in the film. It might be said that the teacher was trying to do exactly what you are concerned about, that is, to make children aware of tactics people might use to persuade them. This lesson was within the SLO’s of <this school district> cirriculum and is an integral part of the language arts program.

Huh? Really? It was?  I am kind of confused how that would have been an integral part of the language arts program. My dad must have been confused too because I was removed from the class for the rest of the movie days. I remember being very embarrassed because all the kids in my class wanted to know why I was able to leave. I am sure you can imagine it. “Hey! Why does she get to leave?” and “I want to go to the library too!” and “”Why is she so special?” What 13 year old wants to tell them that their dad is writing letters to the school board in protest? See? End of my social life.

I have to say that as a parent now, I am certain that my dad did the right thing. I am scanning my brain and trying to figure out how that movie  could pertain to anything that was language arts related.  No wonder my writing skills are weak.

This was 25 years ago. I hardly believe that this was isolated, and if anything there is probably a lot more junk being used to help children “identify tactics that people may use to persuade them” during language arts. Yep, I will just keep my kids at home. Thanks.

I just finished up the menu for the next two weeks. It is one of my least favorite chores. I wish that it didn’t save me so much time because then I could really put it off and not bother with it. However, it is a life saver. It is so nice to know what I am going to do with whatever piece of meat that I happen to have in the freezer.

The problem is that I really have to be economical. Somehow, no matter how careful I am, my grocery bill is just too high. It really bothers me how much we spend on groceries. It doesn’t bother my husband, but it just seems crazy how much we have to spend to keep us fed.

I like to keep the majority of our dinners under the $15 range.  I mentally calculate the cost of the meal as we are sitting at the table eating it.  I am especially excited when I get it under $10. I thought that might be good blog fodder. You know, good food for less money. It isn’t fancy food that is for sure, but my family eats it and is sastified. For a couple of hours at least.

On the menu-

Pulled pork sandwhiches w/ ? not sure yet

Roast turkey or chicken in the crockpot

Turkey/chicken pot pie (leftovers) with a salad

Honey dijon chicken

Beef tenderloin (got this on the extreme sale rack for $4)

Taco soup-made in the crock pot. This is my favorite pantry meal.

Lasagne- may take this to my dad’s for this birthday

Cranberry pork roast- another crock pot recipe. Love to make this in the fall.The meat is the most expensive part of the meal. I serve with mashed potatoes and a veggie.

Chicken patties from the freezer case- this is my I-don’t-feel-like-cooking meal

Homemade pizza- I can make two pizzas for the price of one pizza from Papa Murphy’s.

Baked Salmon -my most expensive menu item.

Clam chowder with homemade bread. -I haven’t made this before, but it too is going in the crockpot. Not sure how this much this one is going to cost me.

Brats or Cheddar Dogs (as my kids call them)- another I-don’t-feel-like-cooking menu item.

So, there it is. Nothing fancy. It may change if I find some really good deals on meat. I will be adding up the cost later if anyone is interested.

I had to think awhile for this week’s mom confession. It isn’t that I was Mrs. Cleaver. Far from it. It just seems that I seem to be a repeat offender of several of my confessions.

I will say that I did think that I was pretty awesome this week. Not because I did anything spectacular, but because I let my girl cook something for us and I didn’t get in her way. The worst part was that while she was cooking I was applauding myself silently for letting her make a mess of my kitchen instead of enjoying the time we were sharing together.  How is that for a confession?

She had been asking to make a soup that was in her American Girl cookbook. It was Cream of Carrot soup. I like Cream of Carrot soup. I had all of the ingredients, so there really was no harm. I usually put her off by telling her that I don’t have all the ingredients. I don’t know what it is. It isn’t like I keep a clean kitchen. I just like to be the one to do all the cooking. Isn’t that weird? I know there are awesome moms out there that let their girls cook their way through the day by the time they are this age, but I just can’t seem to let it go. It is a hang up of mine.

Anyway, so she made us soup. I congratulated her on the flavor. I ate my bowl, and probably would have gone back for seconds had there been any left. I told her that it was a good soup, and it was.  It is too bad that she didn’t really like it, so we chatted about how we could improve on it.

See? It wasn’t so bad. She got accolades from her father for making a tasty soup, and when I look back, I did enjoy cooking with her.  It was fun standing side by side at the stove each of us cooking our side dishes. I think that we may just have to do this again sooner rather than later.

The freshman is culturing pond samples as part of his Apologia Biology course. In a few days we will be looking for members of the Kingdom Monera. Until then, we have to look at something, right?

I was pretty disgusted with a couple of the little creatures that we caught. I don’t like crawly things. I will work with them if I have to, but ewww. I didn’t mind the little black dots that were floating on top fof the water, so we all decided that we would look at those.

 

 

 This is your common water flea.  Well, a common, smashed water flea. My girl identified it for us using this website.  This is a very cool website, by the way.

 

 

 

 

Actually, we made a wonderful slide of another water flea. It was still alive even though we laid a coverslip over him to hold him still. We could see the heart beating and all the eggs in the brood pouch. It looked almost exactly like the one at the link. It was an exciting time at this house. Then, my girl changed magnification and forgot to lower the stage. oops. We then had a very crushed water flea. We weren’t able to get another specimen quite as nice.

The above picture is actually mine. I still don’t have a fancy camera and this was the best I could do under the circumstances. You can see the gut clearly and the antennae. Other than that, it is pretty smooshed. None of us were brave enough to grab one of the larger creepies, but that is OK. I am anxious to see what comes from our cultures.