Enjoy the Silence

For me, one of the best things about being a stay-at-home mom is the deep silence that can be found when the kids are at school. The only noises I can hear right now are birds singing outside, the snoring of one of our cats soundly asleep on the couch, and the hum of some sort of motor outside. It sounds like someone is getting carpets cleaned or something similar. I suspect only an introvert can enjoy so much quiet on a daily basis, but I think we all need a little peace and quiet at times, to think our own thoughts, make plans and dream dreams.

The Saga Continues

Since I'm tired tonight, I will just give a quick update on the Air Conditioning Saga. It was determined that we need a whole new air conditioner. Air conditioner wouldn't even run; it tripped off the breaker every time instead. Fortunately, it has been fairly cool, although rainy, which means running around the house closing the windows when it rains. Good thing the weather has not been too unbearably hot, since the air conditioner is not scheduled to be replaced until July 7th.

Unfortunately, my skin has been unusually itchy. For a while I had some good heat rash going on, but that hasn't been so much of an issue the last few days. Since we're getting rain just about every day, the humidity is high, so I'm guessing it's some sort of outdoor allergy. I'm using cortisone sparingly and looking forward to closing the windows to see what happens.

Thoughts on Schools

I've been mulling over this article by Zombie and accompanying pictures for quite a while. Taking your students out of school for a day to lobby for higher pay for you *cough*andsocialism*cough*? It's awful, and I absolutely believe it is true. I do see it as a bad sign for our country. I just don't see something this extreme happening outside of self-segregated leftist enclaves. YET. My daughter was in no higher than second grade when she informed us that there was now a camera on her school bus. We of course called the school district right away to find out what was going on and why we weren't informed. Is the Musician a little more apt to notice such things than the average kid? Yes. But with all the kids at that rally, aren't the odds high that there would be some child that came home and told mom and dad, "We went on a field trip today?" If the moms and dads weren't on board with this, it couldn't have happened.

I just keep coming back to personal responsibility. Mr. BTEG and I talk a lot to our daughters, not only about what they are learning in school, but about world events, what we watch on television, what we and they are interested in. We are also blessed that in our school district we do get to see most of what they are learning. The Musician can bring any of her school books home, and so can the Dancer. Projects the girls did were proudly displayed before being taken to school. The Dancer's school sent home piles of completed schoolwork. The Musician did find one of her teachers this year seemed to be a little leftist, but it barely came out during the course of the school year. Neither of the girls was ever told to tell her parents to support the local school levies. If they were told that, they would know we as parents make up our own minds about things. They do get the evolutionist line in their science classes, but they're going to get that everywhere even as adults. They're learning the valuable lesson that what adults tell them, even teachers, isn't always true.

Are there socialists at my daughters' schools? Probably. Are all of them socialists? I doubt it. What are the odds? Do I believe that everyone in this town is a socialist? Despite the fact that we are in a suburb of Cleveland, in some ways this really is like living in a small town. Lots of people who grew up here, stay here and have their own families here. Teachers live in our neighborhoods. Some of them are from prominent families in the area. We get to know them. One of the teachers at the high school has a daughter who takes a dance class with the Dancer. I was very shocked when I and another parent were talking about all the chaos done by the teachers' union in Wisconsin, and his reply was that Fox had just made all that up!! But I don't think he's a socialist. He's just an ill-informed man. Other Parent and I were very quick to inform him how good teachers currently have it. Tenure? Guaranteed yearly raises? Health insurance completely paid for? Retirement pay? Ha! Who in the private sector has seen those things in decades? But I got to have face-to-face communication with this teacher, and tell him where I stand. I doubt that the parents of those children at the rally get the same privilege. If they even want it. We do have to fight for schools that actually teach facts and useful knowledge instead of political mantras and slogans. But we aren't all hopelessly lost out here in public school land.

A Little Piece of Land

I've been feeling kind of cruddy in the mornings lately (don't go there!) but yesterday Mr. BTEG and I did go to the garden center at a local big box hardware store. We're living in a condo at the moment, so a big garden is not feasible, but we are doing a little container gardening. We were successful with tomatoes and green peppers a couple of years ago. This year, we're trying tomatoes, green peppers, strawberries and oregano. We also discovered mint and some kind of onion in the bed at the back of our place.

The front of our home has enough shade that I am going to try some lilies of the valley. I've only tried them once before and they didn't really take; I'm hoping I'll do better this time. I love the smell of lilies of the valley.

We moved into this place last November. It is amazing how much more at home I feel getting a few plants growing and prettying up our entryway outside. We may never have an enormous garden, although goodness knows it would be economical, but it is nice to have a little bit of the outdoors as our own.

Life in 2010

Yesterday the house was full as my in-laws came in from Youngstown. Fortunately, they brought all the food, including a pork roast, kielbasa and sauerkraut. I really wasn't prepared to do a lot of cooking. My sister-in-law covets my kitchen. I'm rather fond of it myself.


I've become rather attached to this house. It's ending up, though, that the main living of the house is being done down the basement, while I prefer to stay upstairs and soak up as much natural light as possible. I guess we'll still have to work things out. On the other hand, the treadmill is downstairs, and I used it today! Not for very long, but it's a good start. This treadmill seems odd, though. Like it was made for running. The very slowest setting is about the fastest I can keep up with it. Well, it's worth every penny we paid for it! :)

Environment

The girls are really getting settled into their new schools. Not only in regards to making friends, but also as far as their studies. They're rather like me in regards to their schoolwork; there are some classes they are breezing through and others that they have difficulty with. I'm not sure about Mr. Evil Genius' career as a student except that he will not do his best for you if you bore him. Perhaps he will chime in here. :) The Dancer made an interesting comment. Basically, she does her best school work at school because it feels like school. Despite the fact that she had been homeschooled for five years, apparently she still felt like an institutional school setting was "real" school. Or something like that. All the kids she knew at church were homeschooled, but she saw the kids in our neighborhood(s) far more often, and they all attended some sort of formal school. Perhaps that influenced her thinking.

The girls are also quickly becoming bonded to our new locale. School probably has a lot to do with it, but I am amazed at how quickly they have come to feel this is home. The Equestrienne likes going to high school football games, and although most of that is likely related to opportunities to socialize, she does seem to be turning into a loyal backer of her future high school. The Dancer likes to spot all the signs in people's front yards that indicate that a local sports player lives there. She also wants a shirt featuring the school colors, like most of the kids at her school have.

I also am settling well into our new home. A bigger kitchen makes it much easier to do real cooking as opposed to just throwing something frozen into the oven. Not being crowded in makes it much easier to mop and vacuum. Our much bigger laundry room makes it easier to sort laundry piles. We really did try to take care of our previous abode, not wanting to perpetuate the negative stereotype of renters, but it did become very difficult due to lack of space. Of course, my husband will tell you I can feel guilty about just about anything, but I do wonder if I could have tried harder at our old place. But it's in the past, where it should stay. :)

ETA: In fairness to myself, I should also note that halfway through our time at our old place is when I was hospitalized because my bipolar got out of control. This didn't help anything!

Settling In

At last I am back! The move itself was very tiring and hectic, but I am enjoying settling into our new home and getting things organized and put away. It's funny, we would not have picked this floor plan out ourselves if we had the opportunity, but we are finding it suits our lives very well. The Dancer is thrilled because her bedroom has a door opening on to their bathroom as well as another door out to the hall. The master bed and bath are a little separate from the rest of the house, and the Equestrienne's bedroom is a little off to itself as well. I'm a little scared by how much I love this house. It seems too good to be true. Very fatalistic of me.

The girls are both in public school this year and are enjoying it. Both girls have friends, although the Equestrienne is and always has been more of a social butterfly. The Equestrienne is doing well in all her classes and recently tested at a post high school level in reading. The Dancer is also doing well although her struggles with math continue. I still enjoy helping the Dancer with her homework; the Equestrienne mostly works alone. I am pleased that both girls have made the transition to public school and are doing so well, especially since the Dancer never had formal schooling before this year.

The Art of Blogging

I'm feeling blogger envy, of all the people who can write extensively and heart-stirringly about subjects. I'm not going to say I can't write, but I don't know that I'm a good essayist. I tend to be rather brief and to-the-point when I express myself in writing, and I'm afraid it makes me rather boring. I also see my readership dropping, and a lot of hits on my blog are coming from people merely finding a search match to a certain phase or picture on my blog. I still have opinions on a lot of things; I'm just having a hard time putting them into words right now.

Oddly enough to me, life is seeming more demanding than it did when the girls were little. Yes, they can do more for themselves and help out around the house, but there are all the activities they are involved in, wanting to go to friends' homes (wishing we knew some kids who lived closer), concentrating more on schoolwork as the girls get older, especially the Equestrienne who will be starting high school in a little more than a year and needs to be prepared.

I also tend to be a bit in a fog lately. Not sure if it is age, or my bi-polar meds, or the craziness of life, but I'm struggling to put coherent thoughts together. Not ready to give up yet though. If anything, perhaps getting complete sentences and paragraphs out might help my brain-fog.

Life Goes On Without Me

Other than the fact that we are largely over our illness, very little is happening here. I have said before that I am largely ignoring the news; well, I am still doing that. It just discourages me. I haven't done anything lately in knitting or sewing. I'm just stuck in a rut. Today and tomorrow, though, I don't have to drive Mr. BTEG to work. I hope that will make a difference.

Downers

I was feeling awfully blue yesterday. So much so that I burst into tears last night. I think only having one car is really wearing on me. We were going to take Mr. BTEG's car in to be repaired, but would you believe that a place with "Auto Body and Frame" in its title doesn't, actually, work on frames? Now we have to find someplace else who will take on the job.

We're hoping to move in late spring, but I don't know where we're going to move, and that wears on me also. Of course there's still a lot of time ahead, but I like having things planned and settled out. Also, it may not be practical to stay in this area, and I love it here. I've lived most of my life on the west side of Cleveland, and I'm very attached to it. I'm sure if we move, we'll find someplace nice, but I don't enjoy the uncertainty of having nothing specific to plan for and look forward to.

The Dancer, especially, misses our cat, Champ. She had more of a bond to him than any other cat in our household. He had a special bond with the rest of us as well. Losing a pet is always hard, but we didn't expect to lose him at such a relatively young age.

I'm trying to soak up as much sunlight as I can. I think it's been an unusually sunny winter, albeit also unusually cold and snowy. I'm trying anything I can to keep my spirits up.

We're in Trouble

Mr. EG used the blender to help the girls make some banana milkshakes the other night. Now we're out of ice cream and the girls want to use the blender and are getting restless. I'm hoping they won't decide to play Will It Blend?.

In other news, the girls are getting over the colds they've had, so we're *not* in trouble there, and I'm glad.

Does watching the Charlie and Lola episode, I Wish I Could Draw Exactly More Like You, with some famous paintings, count as art for the day? lol

On the topic of Charlie and Lola, does anyone think there are not enough suitable shows out there for older kids, like preteen age? Even shows like Hannah Montana, and movies like High School Musical, are not necessarily suitable, and seem like they're aimed at kids more like Wildchild, not at kids almost in their teens like the Scientist. Perhaps the Scientist is already supposed to be watching adult-type fare??? It's a good thing she still enjoys watching stuff supposedly for younger kids. I just won't tell her. :)

This post brought to you by the letters A, D and D.

Ho Hum

We are doing things around here, but they're not very exciting things. We're doing all right at school work, we're getting all the Christmas decorations packed away in the attic, I'm even exercising and going for walks with the daughters.

We still have our stray cat, as we couldn't find a local shelter that had room for her, and the non-local shelters won't take non-local cats. We've let her into our home after an appropriate quarantine period, and the other cats have adjusted to her presence miraculously well. Their attitude seems to be, "Oh, another one." We'd still like to find a home for this cat, and she definitely needs to be spayed, as she went into heat again recently for about ten days. Annoying, but good first-hand experience for the Scientist-wanna-be-veterinarian about what a female cat in heat looks like. Oh, and this cat is also young enough that she's climbing the wire cubes up to where we keep the hamster that the Scientist got for her birthday last month. Definitely Not Good. Hamsters are Friends, Not Food. (A movie quote just for Kate.)

And since Debbie shared her purple poinsettia, I think I will show you our blue poinsettia. :P :)

Keeping Warm

Of course the furnace picked yesterday to go wonky, as the temperature dropped and the blizzard started. Fortunately, it's not completely dead, so it does keep the house from getting dangerously cold; it's just not as warm as we would like. So things are a little disrupted here. Hope to get back to blogging soon!

Spinning

It's not exactly chaotic here at the home of the Evil Genius, but I feel like I'm going in circles. I'm just sort of drifting to whatever hits me at the moment, which is usually staying on top of the girls to make sure they get their assignments done. I'm the Cookie Mom for Wildchild's Brownie troop, there's a meeting tonight for Cookie Moms, and the pants I want to wear need to go in the dryer. I also need to get my fajita meat marinating so I can cook it for dinner tonight. Also, I know there were some errands I thought about yesterday that I wanted to run today, and I have completely forgotten what I wanted to get. Ack!

I'm having a "grass is greener at the other homeschool" kind of feeling. Now, there's a good reason we're thinking about switching the Scientist's math curriculum. My husband hates the way math is taught in this country (and not the fuzzy math kind, which I read so many horror stories about.) He's hated the way math is taught since he was in grade school. The Scientist thinks the same way he does, mathematically, and the result is that I get frustrated teaching her math, she gets frustrated trying to learn it, and her father can help her understand but is frustrated with the curriculum. So we're looking at Singapore math. In this case, it's good. But I have this general tendency to be constantly re-evaluating our curriculum and thinking there's something better out there. Not healthy, I know. I need to focus more on working with what I have.

BTW, the Scientist just took care of the dryer for me. She has some things she wants to get in the washer. Now I remember why having older kids is good. I'll try to remember this during her next hormonal moment.

Zzzzzzzz

Despite the fact that we got an extra hour of sleep last night, I've been tired this weekend. I did sort of kick-start my sewing ambition a little working on Halloween costumes, so I've been doing a little sewing this weekend. Other than that, not much. I'm looking forward to the school routine tomorrow, at least. And hoping I get a good night's sleep tonight.

The Pace of Life

Some people (and families) seem to like to be constantly on the run. They're never at home, except to sleep and maybe eat; their lives are filled with scheduled activities. I am not one of those people. Perhaps it's because I am introverted, and need big doses of quiet, "alone time" to rest and re-energize. Perhaps it's because I show a lot of the indicators of ADD, and I'd go nuts trying to juggle more than I already am. In any case, as my kids are growing older I'm really appreciating how much homeschooling helps with a laid-back lifestyle. We're involved in a lot more activities than my husband and I hoped to be in the naive years of our early parenting. However, several of them can be fit into the daytime, so that we're not on the run all late afternoon and evening. For example, my daughter's Latin class, taught by one of our pastors, is held on Wednesday mornings. She also takes piano lessons, and those can be taken during the day as well. Not to mention how this really minimizes having to run one child one place and then run another child someplace else. It's so fulfilling, and yet so relaxing!