Back Online

I've been without Internet access for over a week now. Something is wrong with our home desktop, but our wireless connection works fine. So Jon hit the after Thanksgiving sales and bought me a new laptop. Yea!!! As soon as I get files transferred and programs loaded and downloaded I'll be back in business. You can expect a few updates including riveting stories about theft, hard work, and childhood milestones reached--but you might have to be patient until I get everything in order.

Unemployed

One perk of being homeschooled is that Gem can run to the neighbor's house at noon every weekday and let out the neighbor's two little dogs--a gig that has provided a steady $20 a week. A job schedule changed and the neighbor's partner is not going in to work until noon, so now he can let the dogs out. So, all of a sudden Gem has gone from a steady income to zilch. Not too comforting for a 9 year old who had her sights set on boosting her savings to $1,000 next year.


Gem loved to take Sinatra along.


What a great big sister.


Or maybe it was just free slave labor.


It was precious and so profitable.

Birthday Bash

Monday was Jon's birthday. We celebrated in style. Well, in high fashion anyway.

Popcorn Talk

Popcorn is so fun to listen to sometimes. Four is just a cute age.

Yesterday on the way to church he said, "Mom you should have told me to bring my gun (cap rifle)."

"Why?"

"To shoot that deer if he chases after our car again."

He's been obsessing about the deer and how it might hit the car again. I swear he has this deer and his partner pegged as a special ops unit with a mission to take us out.



Also, this morning I was playing our "do you like this or this better" game. I asked him, "Do you like crispy toasted marshmallows or squishy gooey marshmallows better?"

"I like the kind that are hottish/coldish."

"You like them warm?"

"Um, no. I like it just hottish/coldish."

Oh, Deer!

At a little before one in the afternoon I turned out of the college onto the busy 4 lane road. I hadn't gone 100 yards when a buck bounded across the road and slammed into my rear passenger window. He got back up and ran into the nearby woods. Another deer darted across with more success.


I pulled into a campus parking lot and called Jon. Thankfully, he had all the kids with him at homecoming. If they had been there, Shakespeare would have had half a face full of glass and Popcorn certainly would have had a lapfull. I'm glad that the only damage is a window, some body work, and a $250 deductible.

Babies

Twins? Nope. But there is another baby on the way. It's not my own. It's my brother's!!! Congratulations to Mark and Lori on the coming addition to the Jones side of the family. Lori is due in early July.

Happy Birthday to Me...

I'm Thir-r-ty Three! Popcorn told me, "Happy 43rd Birthday, Mom!" I took a deep breath to recover then gave my sweet little man a hug. He also asked his daddy yesterday if I was going to be five on my next birthday. I love 4 1/2 years old. At 2 1/2, Sinatra is pretty adorable as well. There is just so much to enjoy.

In pregnancy, I'm 14 weeks along now and am feeling so much better. I didn't know how out of it I was until I emerged from it. First trimester, check.

I've felt the baby move a few times, but nothing that the kids could feel on the outside yet. I'll have an ultrasound in a few weeks to check on progress and hopefully, to discern the sex.

Side note: I have no camera. Sinatra sneaked into my purse and "played" with my camera. Now it doesn't work. Also, Sinatra got ahold of my old camera and while he was fiddling around Popcorn came in the room and told him something he didn't like. In true toddler form (the side of the toddler world that isn't cute) he threw it at his brother. Thankfully, it still takes pictures, but you can't review them or delete any--most inconvenient.

A Dress...a School

The wedding dress that I wore was borrowed from my mom's cousin. When I wore it, it was about 25 years old and had been worn by my aunt as well.

I got married in 1996 and can tell you that the Vera Wang dress of simple, smooth lines hit the main stream the following year. In '96 the "in" style was a fading spinoff of all that was beaded and poofy from the late 80's. I searched everywhere, but could not find anything close to the dress from that picture of my aunt's wedding. I remember asking a sales lady to bring me something without poofs, beads, or a gigantic satin butt bow. She came up with one dress--one! What a relief to find out that my mom's cousin still had the dress from 1960/70-something and that it would fit me.

After I was married we had the dress cleaned again and preserved in one of those special boxes with acid free paper and sent it back to my mom's cousin (sniff, wipe tear).

A few years later we found out that Sharon (mom's cousin) had a grandchild that needed a skirt for a bassinet. I'm sure it made a beautiful bassinet, but it still makes me cringe to think of it. Such a very typical Segraves move--like wiping out the starling nest along with the eggs.

Last night I checked my email and found a notice from Taylor University. Stay with me here. It will all tie together in a minute. In 1994 I applied to one university--Taylor, in Upland, Indiana. Nowhere else really appealed to me, so I put all my eggs in one basket. I was academically accepted, but the hitch was that there was no more room on the campus and would I consider going to their brand new extension campus in Fort Wayne, IN for a year and then transfer the following year?

I looked into it and found that the major I really wanted was only offered on the TUFW campus. TU offered only a minor. Also, TUFW would give me a $2000 scholarship. Done. Why in the world would I go to a school of only 500 students? That was smaller than my high school. Oh well, here I go.

Four years and a marriage later, Jon and I graduated from TUFW. Our degrees only state that we graduated from Taylor University--no mention of Fort Wayne. Good thing too. According to last night's notice, the Fort Wayne campus didn't support itself and is being cut from the apron strings. Anybody in the market for a small college in a slightly urban environment?

I feel like my dress is being cut up. I never thought I was very sentimental about that ramshackled campus (the physical defects of the campus were numerous), but I'm finding that I was just a bit more attached than I thought. I guess I'm more attached to the idea of getting the alumni magazine and finding out who had a baby or which professor retired. I want the home base. But as of May '09 it's up for bid. Another dress cut up.

A Break for the Pregnant Lady

Sorry I've been away so long. I haven't been very sick, but haven't had extra energy either. Just getting school done is my daily task. I swear that the house is being held together by chewing gum and filth. Jon has been cooking and taking care of kids when he gets home. He also puts our tribe to work cleaning their daily sprawl of toys and junk. He lets me sleep or just sit in a quiet room by myself. Good man. He brought me flowers the other day. Right now I love things that smell nice.

All that sounds a bit pitiful. I have had bad days and good days. My worst day was followed by my best last week. On my worst I laid around the house and slept, barely ate anything, could only speak in fragmented thoughts, and put Gem to work watching Sinatra. On my best, I mowed the lawn, tore out the dead garden, fixed the step on the treehouse, took the bush vine thing off the mailbox and washed it, played with the kids and cancelled school because it was a glorious day and I was feeling great.

All that to say, I took a break from blogging. In fact, I don't know that I am back yet. This entry might be a fluke. I'm 10 weeks along, so this shouldn't last much longer. I'm looking forward to feeling better all the time and getting back to blogging.

The Capital of Maryland

This year, Popcorn is in the kindergarten level class at our homeschool group. They learn all the same material as the older kids, but not as in depth.

We've been going over the states in the U.S. The older kids are learning capitals. The younger ones are concentrating on names of states. We also cover history, science, math, Latin, etc. etc.

When I review the material at home, Popcorn often interrupts and says, "Let me answer." I wasn't surprised when he tried to answer my question today.

"Shakespeare, what is the capital of Maryland?" I asked.
"I know, I know, Mom!" Popcorn said as he popped up from the floor where he was playing cars.
"Okay, Popcorn, you can answer. What is the capital of Maryland?"
"Butt whiff."
"What?!!!"
"Butt and whiff."

It seems that we have some confusion with a Latin conjunction and preposition from the last two weeks: Sed=but, apud=with.