Arachnophibia

Joe and I are deep in the trenches of a spider study. He wanted me to buy him a tarantula, but I talked him into an egg carton spider instead. This seemed less terrifying to me. The last thing that I want to think about is a tarantula getting loose in the house and biting me in my sleep. It would be like the Brady Bunch episode only with more screaming and crying. (Fast forward to 11:19)



This is the craft that we made. The best part? Googly eyes. We like googly eyes.

Creeping out from the darkest recesses of the school room...

...come the spiders!

Coming Clean (not literally)

What I want you to believe:




The reality:

This is what the room looks like at the end of 4 out of 5 school days, minus the tipped over chair. I know that the tipped over chair gives the room a "the beatings will now begin" feeling, but I can assure you that is not the case. Joe was playing visit the dog in jail, and the chair just never got picked back up. Nor did the legos. Or the blanket. Or the books. You get it. Sometimes you just have to shut the door and say, I will deal with you tomorrow. (Or in a week from now.)

So this is a reality check for those who think that my home is always clean. Clearly you have been supplied erroneous information. Don't you feel better?

Schoolroom transformation, part 1

This house has an amazing room that the previous occupants called The Den. My sister calls it The Rumpus Room. I call it The Inappropriate Schoolroom. Note the bar, hence the inappropriate. Also? That light fixture above the bar? It is ugly. And the light, when illuminated, casts an orange hue that can only be described as murder scene lighting.

So, before we had chaos. My sister says that my brand of chaos is not the average persons brand of chaos, but it is chaos nonetheless.

This red chair is my decorating kryptonite. We bought it in North Carolina, but it only worked well as a functioning piece of furniture in the FROG (family room over garage) in North Carolina. I keep it for purely sentimental reasons. It was, literally, the elephant in the room when it was placed there in the schoolroom as a last resort. You could not get around it and it is afraid of mice. It is crazy. Currently it is taking up 98% of the floor space in the family room. Something need done with it, as my favorite North Carolina pal used to say.

More of my brand of chaos. And a random child.

I should have closed the door to the bathroom. Tres tacky. Readers, meet the toilet. That behemoth of a coat rack was left by the previous occupants. I think they left it to drive me crazy because every place that I put it, I accidentally walk into it. I hate that stupid thing.

Oh! This was the water that I used to wash the paneling. Um, ew. That was one wall. The paneling is going to be painted. I don't mind painted paneling, in fact, I really like it as it adds some architectural character to a room. The brown paneling and trim in this room though, make me feel like I am sitting in a cave. In 1970. With Marcia Brady. And we are saying things like, "Dancing with Davy Jones is so groovy."

That's better. I call this the art corner. I am original with my titles, admire me. The boys painted those abstract art canvases in North Carolina. I love the bold pops of color. That magazine rack belonged to my grandma. It makes me happy to have a part of her near me. Also? Classical music playing softly in the schoolroom? Must have.


This was our first day. Notice the red chair is absent. In its place is the white chair that I slip covered my mother worked on tirelessly. This chair is a much better fit.

The, finally(!), organized shelves.


How adorable are those jars from Ikea? Love. I am going to go back and purchase a few more.

To be or not to be sign courtesy of Primitives by Kathy. I have this one and this one on my wish list.


Outside is the patio. I cannot wait until the humidity disperses and we can commence with outside reading.


I plan on painting the paneling on our six week break. I can't wait to cheer this room up with some color.

More afters to follow!

Summer thrills

Yesterday we took the boys to Six Flags Great Adventure. We do this every year. The boys wanted me to ride the big coasters with them, and I went along hesitantly. I am way too old to be riding roller coasters. Granted, I don't suffer from the list of maladies that they post on the warning signs as you enter the ride, but I suffer none the less. Those rides wreak havoc on the central nervous system. I truly believed that I was suffering from a brain bleed after getting off of El Toro. I had to literally force myself to walk.

"You can do it."

"That's it. One foot in front of the other."

Who knew that putting one foot in front of the other could be so difficult. I felt Lindsey Wixsons pain.

The boys had a blast and thought that my screaming was hilarious. I tried to explain to them that I was not screaming from an exhilarating adenaline rush, no. I was screaming because it was excruciatingly awful. The ride so set me off of my keister that I was bordering on sick for the rest of the day. The thing that really did me in? The rotating and revolving, while 40 feet up, hot air balloons in the Loony Tunes park. That's me, hard core all the way.

Kevin took the boys on the park's newset ride The Green Lantern. I opted out with Joe and we made a cotton candy run. I really wanted another funnel cake, but at almost $10 a pop went for the cheaper air sugar. Yes, we paid almost $20 for two funnel cakes. (If anyone from Six Flags corporate is reading this entry please know that we were extremely displeased with the prices in the park. We paid to enter, and to park. Is it really necessary to charge exhorbinant amounts of money for water and funnel cake? And. AND! Don't even get me started on the bag restrictions and forcing us to purchase locker space for the offending bags. Seriously Six Flags? Family fun? I think not. Family extortion is more apropos.)

I sound bitter, but really we had an amazing day of fun and laughter. And it only cost us $300.

So today we are recovering and letting our brains settle back into their rightful places.

Chance of rain, possible shark attack

Today we are hosting our home school summer pool fellowship. Today is the kick off for it, and I am peering anxiously out the window hoping that the ominous looking clouds burn off and the sun makes and sustains an appearance. According to weather.com, the chance of rain is 30%. That gives us a 70% chance of no rain. I know I am awesome at math, no need to compliment me.

I remember when I was a young girl I hated swimming in the pool alone because I was afraid of sharks in the pool. Absurd, right, but I was frightened nonetheless. Then I grew older and my fear of sharks in the pool subsided...until I saw this.


If this shark can get into that pool, imagine what size shark can make its way into our pool!


dun-dun! dun-dun! dun-dun! dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, da-na-na!

Charlie, take my word for it. Don't look back. Swim, Charlie. Swim!

Newly minted high schooler

I can't believe it. This is a good place to insert all of the cliches about them being babies yesterday and enjoy the years when they are young, but it really is so true when it is happening to you- time passes at an alarming rate of speed.

One day you are encouraging them to crawl and the next day you are mounting the church sanctuary stairs getting ready to hand them their 8th grade diploma.

And just like that they are taller than you. And eat more than you. And make you laugh harder than you ever thought possible. And make you prouder than you ever imagined.

They even put up with you embarrassing them, because deep down they love you as much as you love them. Even if they show it by rolling their eyes and sighing at you.


We made it this far. I can only hope that high school is not the death of me. Or where I gain 300 pounds from stress eating.

Our weekend plans

include a graduation. My eldest is graduating from 8th grade. Where does the time go? I don't know.

This is their walk out song. We chose it because it is fun, and an exhortation to our children as they are burgeoning into adults.







Every moment is a chance to let Your light break through
This life, this life was meant to shine

Hold your heads up high, this is a moment to rise!

Smells like teen spirit

My oldest is graduating from 8th grade next week, I can hardly believe it. Yesterday was his first graduation practice, and only one of us was excited about it. Guess which one. (Hint. It was not the teenager.)

"Mom, what did I look like up on the stage when we were singing?"

"You looked like someone was holding a gun to your head."

My good friend, who also has a son graduating, was laughing hysterically at John's face.

"That teenage angst face kills me." she said. You have no idea how much it kills me too, I wanted to say.

He really is coming out of the worst of the teenage angst, I have to be honest. I was nervous about him being a teenager. Teenagers are interesting creatures and teendom? Yes it might end well, and also a giant fireball might consume everyone. You never know, it could go either way.

I decided the best way to approach it was to treat him like an adult. I began asking his opinion and consulting him and listening to his input. I began letting him make his own decisions and letting him own his failures. And do you know what happened? He began acting like an adult. Who knew? I am growing up right along side of him.

Shark Bait! Who-ha-ha!

Today the boys and I are headed down to the Camden Aquarium. We love aquariums, specifically this aquarium, we just don't love the location. Camden is a less than upscale area of New Jersey. It is not as bad as Trenton, but it holds a strong second.

Joe just told me that my breath smells like our dog , Sami, so if worse comes to worse and we are car jacked, I can just breathe on the perp. Did I just say perp? Paging Starsky and Hutch.

Now if I fall into the shark tank, well, my breath will do nothing to deter the ensuing feeding frenzy, I am sure.

Here's to a thrilling day of aquarium adventures minus car jackings and shark attacks.

September begins

(Can that title be any lamer?)

I cannot believe that it is September already. Just last week it was June, and we were reveling in the long days of summer that we had stretched out before us. Now, I have the inexplicable urge to sing Neil Diamond songs.



Today I have to conquer Home School Closet #2, I conquered Home School Closet #1 earlier this summer. I took all of the various items that I did not know what to do with and moved them to closet #2, and I can no longer put off the inevitable purge and organize. I am good at purging and organizing, so that does not bother me. But when that closet is completed I have no other excuse to not start another school year. The fact that I have not ordered our curriculum is, well, pathetic. And I know it. Just this week I made the final decision to go with BJU. This is new for us this year and I am hoping that it helps to foster more independence in my older boys while allowing me to spend some much needed one-on-one time with Joe.

I feel optimistic about the coming year. This is a change from last year when all I felt was dread. Home schooling is both a blessing and a trial. I still feel that we are called to it, but I was definitely waning in my desire to continue being the one responsible for my childrens' education. I am renewing my mind and trying to accentuate the positive.

Enjoy this September morn!

I leave you with one of my favorite fall poems.

Autumn

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.

-Emily Dickinson

Field Day

Yes, the hottest day of the week and I have the privilege of standing in a field wilting in the sunlight. I am assigned to the Water Balloon Toss activity station. I asked the Magic 8 Ball if it foresaw wetness in my future and the answer was, Signs point to yes.

(Note to self, rethink wearing that white T-shirt.)

My older boys are excited because we participated last year and it was oodles of fun. The best part, for me, was watching them use a hula hoop.

What can I say, he's got my style. Hands flailing, hips shaking, it's like that every day here.

Clearly we need to discuss with this boy the difference between his neck and his waist.

And, of course. Is there nothing more precious than my baby in a potato sack? The Cuteness. It destroys me. Pardon the extreme blur. I was in the denial phase of my vision going south and did not have my glasses.

I am glad that today is field day. It marks the official end of the school year. And that is reason to celebrate.

Now, where did I leave my hula hoop?

Operating Heavy Machinery

Oh, hello. Are you still there?

This is my woefully neglected blog. Woefully neglected because I was run over by a steam roller full of "life". Yes, life has been busy, and exhausting.

We are busy wrapping up the end of year for scouts, pioneer club, and co-op. Notice I did not mention school. Sadly, that will not be over until sometime in July, hopefully. Taking a long winter break always sounds so good in the winter, when we are taking the break in Florida with my parents. But when reality sets in and I am still knee deep in geometry, handwriting, and history in June, well, I want to stab myself in the head with a fork.

Pray for me.

Who let the reptiles in the house?

Ironically enough, it was I! Today I hosted our first homeschool field trip, in our home. I found http://thelizardguys.com thru a community newspaper at our local library. I went to their website and was very pleased with what I saw. I booked them and invited a bunch of other homeschool families. There were 25 kids plus 9 moms! WHEW!! A mansion, we do not have. Quarters were close but so were good friends and laughs.
We were quite pleased to see and touch a Gecko, turtle, frog, scorpion and a 13 foot python. (Insert sound of mother fainting here) Mother,now revived,realises she has a pair of shoes in her closet resembling said python.
A fine time was had by all!
Press On, my friends.