Is it wrong of me to say to the girls, "Daddy's home!" when I know that really he's not? In the time that it took them to run to the living room window to look, I was able to get the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer, without so many people underfoot (M stayed - she's too little to run). And he did come home just a few minutes later.

Funny Cartoon

The other day, the Waynesboro News Virginian ran a hilarious editorial cartoon. Unfortunately, I can't find a link to it online, so I'll have to try to describe it.

It showed an evening news anchor saying, "Good evening. In his State of the Union address, President Bush didn't mention our next president, Barack Obama, once. And that ends our coverage of his speech."

I actually laughed out loud when I saw that! So true! If anyone thinks that the media doesn't care who is elected, and doesn't try to put one candidate above another, well . . . .

Ice

The forecast is calling for ice tonight and tomorrow morning, to be followed by high wind gusts. Aacckk! I hate ice storms, although they are beautiful. Why can't we just have regular old snow? I hate losing power, having trees come down, and being stuck at home. This will probably make S miss her Friday morning dance class for the third week in a row.

Ten Months Old

Marina thinks that she is too old to take a morning nap, but I think this picture proves otherwise.

President Hinckley's Passing

Nothing profound to say, except that I am happy for him! He gets to be with his wife again. Ninety-seven years is a long time to be on this earth, and being the prophet is a heavy burden to bear. I think it's safe to say that he is in a good place. The rest of us will be just fine!

Homeschooling

If I had a popular blog, this post might get some people riled up, but I don't, so I don't think this will offend anyone. And that is not my intention anyway.


Sometimes for kicks, I check out the Homeschooling Blogs Carnival. I find it interesting, amusing, and even a little sad to read what the various homeschoolers out there are up to. As a former teacher, homeschooling is something that I have thought a lot about. I had already made up mind that I probably wouldn't homeschool, but if I were still on the fence, these other bloggers would have pushed me off the fence into the public school camp. Why?
1. Holier-than-thou attitudes
2. Paranoia regarding the "government monopoly" schools
3. Poor writing skills
4. It seems like many homeschoolers are just flying by the seat of their pants.
5. A lot of them take great pride in reinventing the educational wheel (waste of time).

Additionally, I've known a few homeschooling families myself. Their homes were in utter chaos, and nerves were frazzled. The kids often are just set down with worksheets - not a quality, demanding education. The mother/teachers did not have college degrees. Basically, teaching is a full-time demanding job. You can't do it all. If you have an only child, maybe. But how can you care for a baby, toddler, home, AND teach the older ones all they need to know? Someone will be shortchanged.

That said, I do sometimes feel the lure of it. I am well aware of the shortcomings of the school systems, and I know I could do so many more interesting things with my kids at home than a teacher can with them in a class of 30. Whenever I'm in the library, I look at all of the books and imagine myself reading them all with my kids. How fun! But really, I would go crazy. There's not enough time in the day to do it all properly.

However, I would homeschool under a few conditions:
1. my child needed special ed services
2. my child was miserable in school and wanted to be homeschooled
3. the school was very low-performing, dangerous, etc. (but we would try to move first)

Hopefully, I won't have to. I'm not opposed to others doing it. Just don't act self-righteous about it!

A Blankie by Any Other Color

Ever seen a baby blanket that color? Probably not. This is K's precious green blankie, that I washed with a bright orange skirt I bought at one of those Indian stalls at an outdoor mall. Thank goodness I didn't wash it with anything else.

It's one of those thermal receiving blankets that you can buy most anywhere. When she was an infant, I could tell that she was wanting to get attached to something, so I encouraged her to adopt a thermal blanket, since I had several already, and they're so easy to replace. For the first two years she would take anyone of them, which was really handy. Can't find the green one at bedtime? No need to search the house over; just pull out a pink one. Left the pink one at Grandma's house three hours away? No problem - spares await at home. But by the time she was two, she foiled us by emphatically preferring the green one. A few times in the dark at night I was able to pull a switcheroo, but that's all.

So when I pulled her green blankie (or "blan-blan" as she often calls it) out of the washing machine, I was horrified. But it turned out better than I thought. At first she didn't believe me, thinking it was just another second-rate substitute. Then when I explained what happened she cried just a little. For a day, she tried to take a pink one instead. But now, she has gone back to her trusty green/orange favorite, and isn't even mad about it.

Sleep interrupted

So I have sick kids, and had a bad night last night.

The first sleep interruption was at 12:45.

Then 1:45.

Then 2:45.

So when I was just dozing off AGAIN, and heard M cry, I knew without looking that it was 3:45. But I looked anyway, and I was correct to the minute! Kind of cool, but not really. The last one was at 4:30, so that blew the pattern. But still, it's weird.

Coughing

S woke everyone up this morning, coughing. Then K started. Then my husband started hacking. What is going on? No one acts sick. It's just random, nasty, early morning hacking, that has already stopped.

The worst part is that I can't stand it. Usuallly I am the cougher. I get coughs frequently, and they last for weeks sometimes. Once in college, I apparently was driving my roommate crazy, because I came home from class one day to find five different kinds of cough medicine and cough drops on my pillow. So I am a big offender in this area, yet when my family coughs for 20 minutes, I about go crazy. I felt like Mrs. Bennett in the A&E Pride and Prejudice movie when she fusses at her daughter for coughing too much.

Klondike Derby Sympathy Pains

My husband, in his new role as scoutmaster, is going to the Klondike Derby this weekend. I don't know much about it, except that for some insane reason it involves camping in the dead of winter. J has been avidly following the weather forecast, and it is supposed to get down to 17 degrees on Friday night (with snow on the ground). He's not too happy about that, and I don't blame him. But the other day it occurred to me that I will be suffering too! Why? Well, I have a hard time staying warm at night in the winter, or I did when I was single. But now with a warm body next to me, I'm usually fine. So I told him that I will be also suffering from the cold the night that he is gone. The look on his face was priceless! He couldn't even get any words out! I said, "Oh, is that a little insensitive of me to say that?"

Then I pointed out that that's how we women feel when men complain that they, too, suffer during pregnancy and childbirth!

But seriously, I do feel sorry for my poor husband this weekend, and am glad that I don't have to do it!

Christmas

I'm a little late writing about this, obviously. We had a Christmas miracle, which some would say was not worthy of being called a miracle, but I say that the Lord does care about a three-year-old’s desires. Before Christmas I guided K into choosing a gift for S, and she picked a Disney princess toy cell phone with a little pink plastic case. Cheap and flashy. When S opened it, K had second thoughts, and some tears were shed as she tried to reclaim the gift.
That afternoon we traveled to my parents’ home and opened more gifts that evening. Lo and behold, my mother had bought the identical toy phone to give to K!! It is exactly the same, except that it features a different princess on it. You have never seen such happy amazement on a little girl’s face. It was definitely the highlight of her Christmas (and perhaps mine too).

Tagged - Six facts about myself

Emily tagged me, so here goes:

1. I really don't like popcorn. Why do people like it so much?

2. I sometimes get a rash on the inside of my elbows. Apparently, it's an allergic reaction to something, but I can't figure out what.

3. I am the oldest of ten children.

4. One of my best talents is reading quickly. It was helpful in college, but I haven't yet figured out a way to make money doing it.

5. I've had three c-sections. Not fun.

6. I'm one quarter French.

7. My mission covered three countries.

8. I've never broken a bone.

9. When I was a kid, 4th gradish, I wanted braces really badly. Everyone else was getting them, and I wanted to be cool, too.

10. I can't stand clutter. I get invigorated just by finding things in my house to get rid of.