Heptadecagon

On this last day of April, I just thought I'd round out the month with one last post.  That way, we will have 23 posts for the month of April instead of 22.  And as everyone knows, 23 is a prime number.  Prime numbers happen to be one of Tim's favorite things, and since Tim actually started this blog, I thought it might be fitting to post a topic in which he has interest (other than the kids). But my interests do not lie in prime numbers. Therefore, I can only truly say that a prime number is nice.  Hence, the short post.

Melina decided to use her kickboard as a surfboard in the tub.  She even wanted to wear her new swimsuit.  She had a blast! And it was a good opportunity for a couple of cute pictures.

I am taking the plunge. I signed up for a fiction writing workshop taught by a real-live, published author!  My friend sent me the link, and after thinking about it for 10 minutes and realizing that if I never try, I never will, I went ahead with the registration.  I can only hope that the other writer wannabees will be both graceful and compassionate in their comments on my fiction write-ups.  I am hoping to learn quite a bit over the next couple of weeks. Cross your fingers for me!

I took it upon myself to do a little cleaning today, considering we might have weekend guests.  I will confess that I do not clean every week, as I should, although the kitchen and the bathrooms get wiped down quite often.  The toilets especially get time from me.  And we vacuum incessantly, so I don't think we are living in filth. But cleaning got me thinking, of the days before Tim and the kids.  To the times when I kept my apartment spotless.  If I had more time now, I would find myself trying for that here.  But I learned long ago that certain things take priority, and the welfare of the kids and their homework comes before a house that has been ridden of the dust.  And then I thought, where does this need for this cleanliness come from?  Why do I cringe at all the clutter? I am no therapist, but I think it stems from my need for some level of control in my life.  Which means we need to go way back here.  To a time that I still lived at home with my parents.  No, I am not h

About a month ago, a friend asked if would be interested in taking a ballet class for grown-ups.  I thought it would be a fun thing to do and so I quickly said, "Yes, send me the information, please!" I looked up on the internet where to find ballet gear and had settled on a tank, ballet skirt, and tights all in black.  Melina wanted me to change those tights to pink, and so in the interest of pleasing my little one, I planned on wearing pink tights. Yesterday, I found out the night of the classes has been changed from Monday to Wednesday.  Wednesday night is reserved for Tim's baseball games, and since Tim is always accommodating when I want to go out running, I wouldn't possibly ask for him to give up baseball, just so I could don an almost tutu and fulfill my dreams of dancing on stage.  Doesn't he know the impact Billy Elliott had on me?!? Are you eye rolling yet?  You don't need to take out the tiny violin.  I never had dreams of dancing on stage,

When I was younger, the hippopotamus was my favorite animal.  I had figurines, stuffed animals, pictures, and books, all of which either were hippos or featured hippos.  My mom even found a garden statue once.  While I have given away most of my hippo paraphernalia, the garden statue now sits inside my house and is used as a doorstop for the basement door.  Who would have thought? I also had a very special hippo friend.  He happened to go by the moniker of Harvey, and was what one would call an imaginary friend . Technically, I created Harvey for the purposes of telling stories in our school newspaper.  The moderator asked me to fill the creative writing slot one winter, and I made up a story about a kid and his imaginary friend, Harvey the Hippo.  I'd like to say the characters were similar to Calvin and Hobbes, but they weren't quite so brilliantly written.  I've got a lot to learn from Bill Watterson. Anyway, one of the stories that featured Harvey attempted to explain

I promise: To stop opening the bag of chips from the bottom. To lock the top of the outside garbage after putting a bag into it. To stop complaining about the lack of sun. To try to be more positive on a daily basis. To stay up later a couple of nights a week so that Tim and I can actually have some time to chat. To post no further details on my children's development that might embarrass them.

I try not to judge people.  Yes, I can be hard on other people, especially members of my family, but in general, I try to abide by this philosophy:   If you are a good person and you aren't doing anything to hurt someone else, then I will let you live your life the way you want to.  Really, who am I to judge? Anyway, I was checking up on people yesterday.  I had enough time to check on some blogs and see what various people I know/used to know were up to.  One of these persons is very much the same as me, but very different.  We both value education, hold post graduate degrees, understand the benefits of homeschooling, and consider ourselves Christian.  The differences between us lie in how those characteristics manifest themselves in our everyday life.  For the sake of clarity and anonymity, I will refer to this person as Claire. Claire chooses to home school and bring her children up by the Bible.  I choose to supplement our schooling at home (while entertaining the idea of

While I realize that Zoe might be somewhat embarrased at some point that I have posted about her, I still plan on doing it.  I just wanted to get that out of the way. Yesterday, the following conversation occurred at our house. Talia:  Mom!  I think Zoe is growing breasts! Me:  REALLY?  [I was skeptical.  Just last week I had seen her in the shower.  There was nothing going on.] Talia:  Yep.  Me:  I'll be right there. I walked out of Melina's room and ran into Zoe. Talia:  Sorry, Zoe.  But I told mom. Zoe:  That is okay. Me:  Honey, you might be embarrassed, but can I please check? Zoe:  Sure. Zoe lifted up her shirt, and a plethora of emotions overcame me.  My child, while slightly embarrassed, was perfectly willing to lift her shirt up for me.  I must be doing something right!  Then, I was slammed with the thought that my first born (by a minute), my little Zo Zo bean, was growing breasts.  I couldn't believe it.  Sure enough (and I won't go into det

I finished the rather large PDF version of Fifty Shades of Grey . Well, I did not actually read the entire thing; I found myself skimming much of it. The sheer amount of intimate information was just too much for me. I was literally tired of reading about it! And that is the truth. I wouldn't say that I am a prude. I just couldn't bear to read any more details. TMI! I also found that I had no idea about toys, if you know what I mean. Of course who hasn't heard of canes, whips, handcuffs, and restraints, although I have admittedly never used them. (Shocking that I haven't, right?) But as to other paraphernalia, I was in the dark. Because this is a family blog, I am not even going to mention some of the objects I read about. I cringe just thinking of some of them, that is for certain. That Red Room of Pain really was outfitted well, if you are into that kind of thing. Did I enjoy the book, though? Yes, and no. The PDF version was essentially a fan fiction ve

If you are a regular of this blog, you know that Melina has been going through a superhero phase. Thank goodness , is all I can say. There is only so much pink I can take. Yesterday, we went to book club at a local Starbucks. I made sure to shower after I ran, and put on clean clothes for our jaunt to the book club. Melina made sure to grab her cape. She went dressed as Batman. The above picture does not have the black cape, but she loves to put the whole thing together, and was happy to sip a hot chocolate at Starbucks. She then decided that she wanted to ask people if they knew who she was. She started with the book club ladies -- all 8 of them. Most of them guessed Batman, and were rewarded with a big Melina smile. If they replied Batgirl, she quickly corrected them: "I'm Batman!" After she had gone through all 8 ladies, she asked a friend of mine to take her up to a random man in line. They politely asked him if he knew who she was. He looked at her and sa

This post probably falls under the I never knew that about you category. In fact, I might never have told anyone this, because it makes me seem strange. Whoa! I know what a few of you might right now be thinking. We already know you are strange! Right? No really, keep reading. This is somewhat weird. Back when I was a kid, I used to think that I was part dog. You read that correctly. I am not kidding. I was not certain of the breed, but right about the time I was eight, I was pretty sure that somehow, someway, my genes were not entirely human. It was all because of my ears. No, they weren't pointy or furry or even overly large. But every once in a great while, I would hear a high frequency noise in one ear, and no one else seemed to notice. I remember asking my friends in school if they could hear the ringing that I did. All of them looked at me like I was crazy. Perhaps I was. But I knew I heard something, and the only thing I could equate it to was the dog whistl

Every once in a while, when I am done reading a blog, I hit the next button at the top of the page and see where the old internet takes me. Sometimes, I stumble onto some very good blogs. I found a great poetry site once, and a few full of wonderful photographs. I have also found quite a few family oriented blogs, similar to mine, that I enjoy reading. It is good to see other people struggling and enjoying the same things that I do. Today, I stumbled across one of those sites but the last post occurred late in 2011. It got me thinking. What happened to keep this person from posting? She already worked full time as a teacher, so she didn't go back to work. Did they move, and she doesn't have the time to update? Or did something awful happen to them? I hate to dwell on the negative, so maybe instead they just had quadruplets, and are just too tuckered out to post something to benefit people like me. I'll never know, but I would like to know. Which means that when I a

About a year ago, my friend suggested that I read something from John Green. (Yes, Kelsey, that was you. I should probably have an entire post devoted to you and your book recommendations. I cannot thank you enough.) I picked up Looking For Alaska and read the entire thing in one day. I moved on to Paper Towns , and realized that this John Green guy had something. A something that made me want to read more of his books. A something that made me borrow every single one from the library and then wait for his next one to be released. You might wonder what that something is, and I do find it difficult to articulate. But I will try to do so in the event you'd like to become a fan of Mr. Green. 1. John Green is an author with an intellect that shines through. His writing is not only thoughtful and provocative, but it is chock full of good vocabulary. I have, on occasion, been forced to pull out the dictionary when reading one of his novels. The word usually looks familiar, bu

In my world, we call the school; the school doesn't call us. So anytime I see the phone number of the school pop up on our caller ID, I brace myself. Questions start to swirl in my mind: Who is sick this time? What happened on the playground? Who had to go to the principal's office? You see? I try not to be negative, but again, we call the school. The school doesn't call us! So yesterday, when the school called, I thought perhaps Talia had fallen victim to mono. The secretary identified herself first, and was quick to follow that with, "The kids are all okay." Um, thank you. Glad to know that from the get go. She proceeded to tell me that Aaron was essentially attacked by a kid on the playground. The kid did not like what Aaron was doing (he was pretending to be a zombie, with his arms stretched out) and so the other child scratched his face. She told me that the child drew blood, and that the scratch was a pretty good one. She had cleaned him up and

As most of you know, I finished up teaching last November when the quarter was over, and I took a self imposed hiatus for the Winter quarter. It is now Spring quarter, and I have not gone back. It isn't that I didn't want to teach, it is that the pickings were a bit slim. The school is transitioning to semesters, and therefore the number of sections they have to offer adjunct faculty is few. Even if I wanted to teach, the times are not always convenient for me. So, Tim and I discussed it, and I decided to just keep being a full-time SAHM for a bit. That will likely last until next January, because the Fall semester won't have much to offer me, either. Well, when I first realized how much time I'd have on my hands, I rejoiced. I ran around the house, decluttering and reorganizing. I had energy to spare, and figured I could get a lot done. And I have. My presence at the kids' school has increased, and I feel that I am more aware of what is going on in the ki

I fear that: The standards I set forth for an education are much higher than those set by the state in which I live. We had our summer in March of this year. I am cold right now, and I don't like it. I will go insane trying to keep this house in order. I complain too much and too loudly on many things. The wrinkles on my face are going to overtake the smooth skin, and it is going to happen soon. I won't live up to the expectations of my kids The superheroes have invaded our house, and as much as I love superheroes, we just don't have all of their costumes. Melina thinks that I can fashion said costumes from anything in 30 seconds flat.

Someone who shall remain nameless forwarded an old version of Fifty Shades of Grey to me. Apparently, the story started out as fanfiction. The characters were originally named Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen. One of my big problems with Twilight was that Meyer's vampires had bodies like stone: hard and cold to the touch. Without a working heart, there was no blood to pulse. How Edward ever managed to consummate his relationship with Bella, I will never understand. My question to E. L. James then, should be somewhat obvious. Has she ever even heard of a refractory period?!?

It is the Friday before Easter, known as Good Friday to us, and a good Friday it is. We woke up cold, but we woke up. So we thanked the good Lord. Don't worry, I have not gone preachy on you overnight or anything. Sometimes, you just have to remember all of the good stuff you have in your life, and be grateful for it. And so I am. Thanks to the multitude of viruses we have been battling as of late, we have no plans to travel over the Easter weekend. Likewise, no one is coming to see us. I am under the impression that our families really don't need an Easter bunny that just keeps on giving or a virus that sticks around until Pentecost. And to be honest, I just don't mind that we will hopefully have a calm and quiet Easter weekend at home. My only concern is that if the weather is not nice, Tim and I might be trapped inside with our kids.What? Why is that all of a sudden a problem? Well, I will tell you. Our children have become very talkative. Chatty, loose-lippe

Melina has been a bit under the weather the last few days. She picked up a virus somewhere and I think it triggered croup. Two nights ago she had the barky cough, and now, she has a nice wet one. Sorry. But I simply state the facts. She won't be going to school again today, although I will probably drag her with me over to the elementary school to help out. Oh the woes of being the last kid. Well, yesterday we decided to have some time with the Superfriends . We had borrowed the first season's volume from the library. I don't know who was more excited, Melina or me. We popped in the DVD and went to town. First off, I recognized four things. I still love these people! There are lessons to be learned way beyond what I realized the first time I viewed the Superfriends. These episodes are far more entertaining and hilarious now than when I was a kid. We have underestimated the power of Casey Kasem. Let me briefly explain. One of the episodes we watched had to do wit

How many times have you felt like you were trying to keep up with the Joneses ? Does that describe you? Thankfully, the times that I have felt like that in my life are few and far between, and hover mainly in the past, somewhere between adolescence and college. I remember those times fondly, despite the need to be like the Jones family (at one point, we actually had a Jones family on the street, but oddly enough, I didn't compare myself to them), possibly because of the positive influences that dotted the landscape at the time. In any case, for whatever reason, I feel compelled to tell you to stop. And no, I am not necessarily pointing my finger at any one reader. I hope that all my readers are confident in who they are and what they do, but I do know that it is human nature to feel inadequate at times. Well, try to stop that. Try to dwell on the beauty that is you. Feel the love emanating from my words, and embrace what makes you, you. Whether that be the fact that you ca

The reference librarian and I were chatting the other day, and we both decided that we are addicted to books. I probably should chart the number of books I have checked out from the library; the graph might make a pretty (and impressive, at least to Tim) picture. Well, this morning I was dropping off some of the books I have read, and picking up the ones I had on reserve. I quickly glanced at the New Fiction book rack (I prefer to read fiction, because it is easier on my head usually), something I usually do, just in case. And there, at the bottom of the rack, was a book with an American Gothic-like cover. I looked closely, and read the title: The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten , by Harrison Geillor. Immediately I thought, Twilight and Lake Wobegon spoof? Let me at it! So, I brought it home. I plan on starting it this evening. Has anyone read it? I found reviews on the internet, but I'd like to know how you felt about it, if indeed you have read it. *** Speaking of reading

I tried to think up something nifty to fool you all with today, but I did not want to jinx myself or my family, and thus, I abandoned the project. Instead, I have a question for you. Tim asked me this morning the following question. If I had the ability to know the winning numbers ahead of time, would I play the lottery? Obviously, this question came up because of the mighty large jackpot that was up for grabs the other night. I thought for about two seconds, and replied that I would, but then I'd give most of it away. Not just to family, but to all the causes I think are worthwhile. I could help so many people in such a short time. It would certainly be a case of the end justifying the means, but yes, I would play the system. So I am wondering: Ignoring any other factors, would you play?