I'm a Book Worm

Many of you from my not so distant past (college even) don't know that I'm quite the book worm now. I've taken the lead from my little sister, who, during high school, decided that she would read all those classics that everyone is supposed to have read but never actually did.

I don't strictly stick to classics, (neither does Em) but do tend to gravitate that way. Right now I'm reading a book called With the Eagles by someone Phillips. I can't go get it right now to check the author's name because it's 2a.m. and I'm not going up to my room to get it and chance waking my hibernating hubby. You'll just have to be in suspense. It's about a Roman Legioneer.

I'm also about to begin a brand new book by Susan Wise-Bauer called The History of the Ancient World. This one is branching into a whole new realm for me: Non-fiction. (Though I did read 1776 by David McCulloch last year). I tend to go the Mark Twain/Jane Austen/Bronte Clan way, so this is a big stretch. The author wrote the wonderful history series that my kids are using for homeschool (Story of the World) and I wanted to read an adult version.

From now on, I'll post the current book(s) I'm reading.

Pre-Test Jitters and Keds

The end of the school year is quickly approaching and so is mandatory state testing. I thought that I didn't care much about testing or results, but as it gets closer, I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous. Will she know all the terms that a text book would cover but I didn't teach? What kind of holes might I be leaving in her education?

It's not my kid on trial, it's me. I feel a burden that I'm supposed to bear. It's actually good for me--maybe not the worry part, but the responsibility part--because homeschooling today is nothing like it used to be.

If I had been homeschooling even 15 years ago I would have felt the burden of having to bear up under tremendous scrutiny from all communities: local government (school board), neighbors, police, and family. Homeschoolers often felt that they had to hide their kids until after school hours, fearing that they would be turned in again by a well-meaning neighbor. With so much threat and so much misunderstanding about what homeschooling was or whether or not it was even legal, homeschoolers constantly had to be on their toes. They worked so hard to teach with excellence: they organized portfolios of the each student's work, maintained immaculate attendance records, and had a book filled with detailed lesson plans, mapping out each month in detail.

I can't say that I have that much order in my classroom. Today the NC law just requires that I register with the state, keep attendance records and test any child over 7 annually. And with so much more understanding and acceptance of homeschooling in the community and so many resources at hand, it's easy to become lax.

So, the fact that I'm a bit nervous about this test means that I'm worried that I didn't cover everything. I guess that means that I just needed a good jolt to reassess my year and see if I reached my goals. The test will tell me if I missed any concepts along the way that I need to add to next year's curriculum. It's so nice not to have the state breathing down my neck and neighbors calling the police because my kids are at the park at 2 in the afternoon.

Now I'm free to worry about more important issues: my greatest fear about homeschooling is that some retro homeschoolers will bring back denim jumpers and Keds.

T-Ball and Baseball

Shakespeare and Gem are playing baseball this spring. Here is the only decent picture from Saturday's first game. I love that he wants to wave to me.



Shakespeare hit the ball and ran toward 3rd base two times in a row. It was so adorable. The third time at bat he almost took off toward 3rd, but caught himself and ran to 1st. Last year he would trot to the base, but this year we told him to run like Dash (Incredibles) and he's doing much better. It's just so fun! His coach is the High School baseball coach and is great with the little ones.

How a Type-A Gets Rid of Bushes

Step one: Secure a strong rope to the tail end of a Ford F-150.

I think the rest is self-explanatory. One word of caution, though: remove all small children that may be in the path of flying shrubs. In the end, it cuts a 3-4 hour job into about 30 sweatless minutes.

Happy Birthday to Woo

Why we call her Woo I'll never understand, but long ago it stuck. My sister Emily's nickname (at least to immediate family) is Woo. Tonight I called her and sang, "Happy Birthday to Woo." She is, I think, 24 today. Happy Birthday, Emily!

A bit of family trivia: Hers marks the end of the minor-holiday-birthdays on my side of the family: Dad-Ground Hog's Day, Mark-St. Patrick's Day, Em-April Fool's Day. Mom sometimes manages to land on Election day. Guess I'm the odd one out, though I just miss Halloween (not a bad one to miss, I guess).

Mark's Military Move

My brother is being transferred to Scott AFB in Illinois. I don't know when. He got word of the assignment the other day. He'll be flying the C-21,a smaller jet (Lear). He does training this fall. He'll mostly be flying bigwigs around. Welcome to the Midwest, Mark! My parents are thrilled. Mark and Lori will only be about 4-5 hours away from them.

Home-not quite as sweet as I'd imagined but okay-Home

Here it is done. Jon is just happy that the house is painted and that he didn't do it.

Here they are repainting my shutters.


The house saga is over and everything is fine. It's not what I was aiming for, but it looks nice. Yes, the blue shutter color was a flop. Did I cry?--not one tear. I laughed. It was a $100 mistake, but, hey, what can you do. When they painted them black they looked so much better. Now my house looks almost exactly like another one on our street.

The whole event brought out the neighborhood. One lady down the road liked it a lot. Another neighbor thought it wasn't a stand out, but that when we get older we'll understand that things like house color don't really matter that much. The neighbor who owns the house with the same colors didn't seem to appreciate us copying much. I didn't' tell them that it was a mistake. They will get over it.

All in all, the house is not something fantastic, but it's nice.

Blah Brown House

I'm trying not to cry. I really hate the color. I was looking forward to a nice gray taupe. Now it's a tan/brown--not even a dark or light, just midtone. How did I go wrong? I compared paint chips for months. I guess the mistake came when I made a new, last minute decision. I should have hired a decorator to pick the colors for me.

The first day of painting was just okay. I wasn't thrilled with the color, but thought it just needed the trim to contrast. WRONG! They started the trim and I made them stop. It looked hideous. They just painted white trim instead. It's quite stark. Now I'm holding my breath. If the shutters make it look worse I'm going to cry buckets of tears then paint them something else.

Jon says that it's just okay, not great, not horrible. Yep, I paid thousands of dollars to have my house painted blah.

My American Cities

American Cities That Best Fit You::

60% Austin

60% Denver

60% Seattle

55% Honolulu

55% Miami

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Hawaii, here I come!?

Our Masonite Mansion

Our home is sided with masonite (press board) and requires painting every 6 years or so. We're having it done this week. They have already stripped it of it's shutters and screens and power washed it with (of all things) bleach. Then the carpenters came to replace some boards that showed signs of rot. Of course, the boards are all gray and our yellow house looks ridiculous. It reminds me of a woman getting foil highlights: the final result will be worth it, but walking through the process requires a great measure of faith.

In the end our vulnerable little home will be a light putty/taupe with cream trim and slate/navy accents. No more faded banana and sea foam green.