Gotta Love Waffles

Waffles just aren’t very practical in my house.  Years ago, I used to buy the frozen blueberry ones in a box.  It was ridiculous how we went through those.  I had to put my foot down.  Nowadays I don’t make them often because it takes forever—I can only produce two every six minutes.  It is an all morning affair.

But on rare occasions, when there isn’t anything pressing that morning, I pull out the waffle iron and pop the beaters and mixing bowl into the freezer (I fold whipped egg whites into my batter for melt-in-your-mouth fluffiness).  The kids know what that means, and all of a sudden, this boring morning with nothing to do is magically transformed into a holiday! 

Someone volunteers to whip the egg whites while I compile the rest of the ingredients into a thick batter.  I like to double the recipe to make the most of the work.  If I am going to be chained to the kitchen, I might as well commit, right?  My goal is to have a few waffles to freeze so that we can have a labor-free treat on some school morning.  More often, we just have waffles for breakfast, brunch, lunch and linner. 

Ok, so it isn’t the healthiest thing ever.  But to have that lazy family morning where everyone is close, waiting for the timer to ding again, chatting, snuggling, with nothing better to do than to just be together… It is worth being a little hypoglycemic come late afternoon, isn’t it?

Done with School!

We have finished our school year!  I exceeded my goal and we finished with time to spare.  This year (Core 3+4 Sonlight) we studied American History and it was a review for my son and I, and more of a survey course for my daughter. Next year (Core 5 Sonlight) we are going to study the Eastern Hemisphere.  I am so insanely excited about it. 

The reviews of the course seem to be in agreement that the Core 5 is pretty demanding and there is a big leap in expectations from Core 4 to Core 5.  I pushed us through this year so that we would have plenty of time to really immerse ourselves into the next one.  American History is reviewed in the years to come, but Eastern Hemisphere is never given this sort of focus again.  I want to watch movies, do projects, and have themed days at the end of each people group we study.  I figure that will be the best way to help the lessons sink into to their long-term memory, especially for my non-auditory learning gal.

I have this whole next month to plan and schedule events to reinforce the lessons.  I really enjoy planning!  Too much.  I purposely bought a curriculum that doesn’t require planning.  I tend to choose planning over doing, and when it comes to the kids, that is a pretty stinky choice for me to make.  I hear myself saying thing akin to, ‘Stop bugging me while I plan this fantastic day.  I am doing it all for you.’  Rotten.

Hopefully, I can resist that temptation and get things settled pretty quickly and easily!  I look forward to recording on this blog the adventures we will have exploring the other half of the world!

It isn’t Easy to be Mom

Last night was supposed to be a special treat.  Daddy was away and we do like to play!  The kids sleep in my room when my darling husband is out of the house. We read stories, sing songs, play games and I tell them about when they were babies.  That last part is probably their favorite part, the little narcissists!

My secret from them is that the tradition is just as much for my peace of mind as it is fun for the kids.  I like to have everyone close by without a man in the house to keep us safe.  When they aren’t I don’t sleep well, and I am straining to hear and identify every little sound.

But yesterday my little girl broke a rule, then covered it up.  In our family, we don’t punish anything like we do lying.  The deal was that the next time she lied, she had to go to bed immediately and stay there until morning—no matter what time of day it was.  And if it was late, she would stay in bed the whole rest of the next day.

See, my gal is very social.  Being alone is the worst punishment ever for her.  Last time she was supposed to go to bed as punishment we granted her a reprieve.  It felt right and we talked about grace and mercy and how we all fall short.  Blah blah blah.  The girl did it again!  I was so disappointed!  Not only do I not tolerate lying, I just get exasperated watching this little darling work against her own best interest.  

Here was our special night and I had to exclude her.  It stinks being a mom.  I didn’t even do it very well.  I went in and stayed with her a while.  We talked about the consequences of lying, masks, trustworthiness, the whole nine yards.  I know it is time to stop talking and just let her bear the consequences, but the little rat is my chick and I happen to like being with her!

When I told my son that she wouldn’t be joining us, I could see he felt the same way.  We were both wanting to just grab her and bring her in for story time. 

This is comparatively a small thing.  She was supposed to clean her room, but hid the junk under towels instead.  No big deal, and perfectly typical.  I hope I am doing the right thing by making it a big deal, though.  I want her to learn the lessons with my fake consequences now so she won’t wander into real trouble with consequences doled out by the real world.  She better learn this lesson toot sweet, because I want to get on with just being a family!

Working at the Car Wash, Baby!

Our poor van was screaming for some attention.  It was so dirty that it really wasn’t safe to drive during sunrise or sunset.  The front glass lit up with dead things.  Ew!  Family car wash time! 

My daughter loves car wash time, and is shameless about wanting to get wetter than the van.  My son offers a bit of challenge, though.  He plays hard to get.  He’s not too bad about anticipating our moves and keeping the van between himself and the business end of the hose.  This time, my husband finally had to get our daughter into his employ to hold our son so he could get his dousing!  In retaliation, my boy grabbed the scrub brush to give Daddy a run for his money! 

In the end, the parents win!  Both kids are too wet to even be allowed in the house.  When I brought out towels and tossed one each to the kids, they immediately began to dry themselves!  Frankly they were in more need of it than the van.  All’s well that ends well.

OK, the Fly Thing is Getting a Little Ridiculous!

We aren’t even bothering to count by ones anymore, so I guess it is a good life lesson in math. But having to count flies killed by tens gets a little old, no matter how dedicated one might be to capturing natural learning moments.  I am hearing the buzzing in my sleep!  Every time a door opens a new flock swarms in, those opportunistic buggars!  Hmm… Spell check doesn’t think that is a word.  Must be nice!

We are actually studying insects in science, and if I were a good kind of mom, I would trap one and let the kids study it.  While I am not above feeling like a brave Mickey Mouse slapping away at a throng of flies, it does feel too cruel to me to allow the kids to capture one and hold it prisoner.  I am such a girl!

But the apple doesn’t fall too far.  The other day, we bonded as a family while going after the flies.  As much as I am a girl, my husband is a boy.  He couldn’t resist teasing our daughter.  He told her there was a dead fly on her arm.  Will the insurance pay for the broken window if I say her scream caused it?  She put my own squeamish utterings to shame.  There was no fly, but she just had to go wash her arms anyhow.  When she was done, she came over and pushed her Daddy for making her scream.  What a girl!

Fun moments aside, I am very ready for the flies to go bye-bye once and for all!

Tighter? Really?? Or ~ Contact Lens Woes

I have pretty poor eyesight.  I am far beyond hoping to see anything on the standard eye chart and passed up legally blind over a decade ago.  The professionals I have seen don’t bother with that 20/20 scale.  Last I heard, back in college, I was 20/1800.  If you wear contact lenses, the prescription may hold some meaning to you.  Mine is –8.75.  Only certain companies make lenses in that power.  On top of that, I have an astigmatism. 

Most of the time, this really doesn't matter.  I mean, who doesn't have an astigmatism?  I wear my contacts or glasses—though I prefer the former—and live life.

Lately, it has garnered far too much attention in my daily routine.  I unexpectedly ran out of contacts in May.  My pack rat tendencies caught up with me when I realized, too late, that my stash of lenses were all in prescriptions too week.  Then I couldn’t get into my doctor until July!  What was I going to do?  It took several days of finagling to buy some more contacts online.  Drama.

When I did get in, my doctor felt that normal contacts aren’t giving me the correction I need.  So he decided to try out a new contact lens for me—Touric, if you know what that means. Apparently, you have to ‘orient’ these lenses, so there is a top and a bottom.

I tried them for the first time, but they would float around every time I blinked.  I was seeing double out of one eye—when you include the other eye, does that mean you see three total, or just one and a half?

Anyhow, needless to say, this sample was a no go.  I need a tighter fit, so the contact won’t swim and swirl in my eye.  Tighter.  What?  I actually like small places, but the idea of tighter contact lenses makes me feel a little claustrophobic.  How about you?

God is Good

We have this poplar tree towering over the entire neighborhood that is dead as dead can be. It has been dead or dying for about eight years.

We took down this tree’s six friends that lined our backyard fence seven or eight years ago. We have called to have this one taken down, but we hit the same old rigmarole we always hit trying to do business in this town. It is either too expensive or no response at all.

I even called our insurance to see if they would help cut the cost. They said they sure would just as soon as it came crashing through the roof and around our ears. So helpful, those guys!

So our solution? I sleep in the living room on windy nights to ensure that our kids will only be 50% orphaned.

Imagine our surprise when someone knocked on our door yesterday afternoon and said he’d take down the tree, clean up the mess and be here the next day all for an itty bitty fraction of the quotes from the guys who’d bothered to show up to give estimates!!!

That is exactly what happened and today we have just a stump in the yard!! Whoo hooo! I can sleep in peace next to my darling husband on even the stormiest of nights!