Because when you are married to the military, you get alot of practice practicing being patient.
We still don't have written orders. And we are not moving to Cuba. Well, most likely not, but until things are in writing, stuff can change and things are REALLLLLLLLYYYYYY SLOOOOWWWWWW in getting to the writing part of the program this year.
But we have been informed that we should be moving to the DC area. Larry is supposed to be up there in June. JUNE. Do you know what tomorrow is? You betcha- June.
Taking deep breaths and trying really hard not to hyper ventilate.
Because the way moving within the military works is once you get your written orders in hand you can start the rest of the ball rolling such as scheduling movers, finding tenants for your current home, etc, etc. However, the closer to said date you get, the more likely you are going to hear "well, our next avail appointment is Sept 2nd" and that just doesn't work when your dear hubby has to be working 6 hours away starting in July.
But since I refuse to be held hostage, I signed the boys up for summer golf league and Sonia has her jaw surgery scheduled for next week and has to have 6 weeks of follow up here (do the math, I'm committed to being here until at least mid July right now)
Plus housing wait list for on base housing is at least a year long.
{inhale, exhale}
Ok, the details will fall into place. I will be praying and trusting and not sure how those without some sort of faith do this sort of thing. Actually I think I know- they prescribe the sort of help you can use to get through this insanity.
Helloo, apt line? I'd like to schedule an appointment. Next available is end of August? never mind.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, February 29, 2016
Sometimes you hit a few walls
Figurative and literal walls.
Our more recent adventures involve twice weekly gym time. Because all the money and those years I sat pool side with swimming lessons have to pay off sometime and after they can all pass the "you won't likely drown" swim test, they get a swim card which allows them to swim without me in the pool. BUT what I learned about a month ago is that if allows me to NOT EVEN HAVE TO STAY IN THE ROOM with the pool. This is fabulous, I can go play on the other gym equipment, they can exhaust themselves and get exercise. I call this a win.
Of course they have started complaining that it's "boring" but less so once they get there and I have recruited a friend with a 12 year old boy to join us and anytime there is new blood around they generally get less "bored"
However, last week, I have no idea exactly how it happened (not being in the room and all) but according to the child and the 4 other witnesses, he swam into the pool bottom, apparently at a pretty hard clip judging by the road rash on his face.
Life lessons- look before you leap or something like that. That particular child has been not particularly quick at learning that lesson...
Our more recent adventures involve twice weekly gym time. Because all the money and those years I sat pool side with swimming lessons have to pay off sometime and after they can all pass the "you won't likely drown" swim test, they get a swim card which allows them to swim without me in the pool. BUT what I learned about a month ago is that if allows me to NOT EVEN HAVE TO STAY IN THE ROOM with the pool. This is fabulous, I can go play on the other gym equipment, they can exhaust themselves and get exercise. I call this a win.
Of course they have started complaining that it's "boring" but less so once they get there and I have recruited a friend with a 12 year old boy to join us and anytime there is new blood around they generally get less "bored"
However, last week, I have no idea exactly how it happened (not being in the room and all) but according to the child and the 4 other witnesses, he swam into the pool bottom, apparently at a pretty hard clip judging by the road rash on his face.
Life lessons- look before you leap or something like that. That particular child has been not particularly quick at learning that lesson...
Sunday, February 21, 2016
In the( likely? unlikely? who knows how likely?) event of a move to Cuba
I have a running list of things that need to get done but a growing list of things that I have questions about.
Such as:
1. Internet. It's such a common thing here in the US, but everyone I've talked to who's been there says it's miserable at best AND that you should bring satellite dish with you to accomplish this. So, after online chatting with people who tell me that it is impossible to take a dish with you outside of the continental US and from forums which say you need a bigger than average size dish, wouldn't you know- the #6 thing on my google results list is that "prisoners get satellite TV and soduku and happy meals" in GTMO. So riddle me this, joker- how is it that the PRISONERS there get satellite tv yet the families stationed there cannot? There has got to be a way, I just haven't fount it yet. I can get dial up. yeah. However, since we haven't had TV service in forever, we are used to streaming entertainment regularly. This will be a problem. Also a problem-if you use satellite internet you are limited to a certain about of data a month. If you've seen my kids binge play online games, I'm pretty sure it will be a problem here when we hit that limit in about 6 hours.
2. Pets. So we can bring our pet(s) no problem, The problems is that when we arrive, unless there is a house waiting for us, the pet have no where to go since there is no boarding facility and you cannot bring them into the hotel.
3. Passports. Why can adults renew by mail but kids must be done in person with BOTH parents present. Also. Why does there have to be 2 different passports? Can't we use the passport with the most clout? Or, neve rmind, I remember the class I had to sit through on being a terror target and it probably goes back to being a low priority target.. And if so- why don't they re-reimburse for those?
4. Vaccines. Don't get me started. But we are not almost vaccinated enough to live in the US....
Such as:
1. Internet. It's such a common thing here in the US, but everyone I've talked to who's been there says it's miserable at best AND that you should bring satellite dish with you to accomplish this. So, after online chatting with people who tell me that it is impossible to take a dish with you outside of the continental US and from forums which say you need a bigger than average size dish, wouldn't you know- the #6 thing on my google results list is that "prisoners get satellite TV and soduku and happy meals" in GTMO. So riddle me this, joker- how is it that the PRISONERS there get satellite tv yet the families stationed there cannot? There has got to be a way, I just haven't fount it yet. I can get dial up. yeah. However, since we haven't had TV service in forever, we are used to streaming entertainment regularly. This will be a problem. Also a problem-if you use satellite internet you are limited to a certain about of data a month. If you've seen my kids binge play online games, I'm pretty sure it will be a problem here when we hit that limit in about 6 hours.
2. Pets. So we can bring our pet(s) no problem, The problems is that when we arrive, unless there is a house waiting for us, the pet have no where to go since there is no boarding facility and you cannot bring them into the hotel.
3. Passports. Why can adults renew by mail but kids must be done in person with BOTH parents present. Also. Why does there have to be 2 different passports? Can't we use the passport with the most clout? Or, neve rmind, I remember the class I had to sit through on being a terror target and it probably goes back to being a low priority target.. And if so- why don't they re-reimburse for those?
4. Vaccines. Don't get me started. But we are not almost vaccinated enough to live in the US....
Thursday, February 4, 2016
So where are you from?
I have a lot of pet peeves. Sometimes I think I should read a few more self-help books to work through them, but at the very top of the list is that phrase "where are you from?"
I know to most it's just an innocuous phrase used in 'get-to-know-you' conversation but it's just such a loaded question when you ask that to my kids and it really brings out the protective (or overly guilt wrought?) mama bear in me.
My oldest 2 have lived in 5 homes - not including our 3 month stint in the camper or the 1 month stint in Florida. We've seen the entire country, more than I had ever seen growing up, our lives have been rich with diverse friends and acquaintances yet every time someone asks that question, I cringe.
Living in a military town it's still not as uncommon a question - largely because it's a very very young military town and this is the first place they've lived outside of their mama's house. And they like it here because they have never lived elsewhere. But even then, it's often asked as a way to figure out accents or personalities or 'WHY on earth you'd request THAT duty station?'
It gets weirder now that officially this week neither my parents or inlaws live in the state DH was born and raised in and I spent most of my childhood in. While I have nostalgic memories, there is less there that has me needing to go back (sorry, Greg, we will still try to visit sometimes) unless we actually can convince you to leave, too. I promise you winter it totally overrated.
So in my effort to completely immerse my kids in everything possible so we'd have things we miss here I have them in sign language classes. And this past week one of the vocabulary phrases we covered was "where are you from?" to which the kids look at me with confusion (or guilt inducing glare) and I say, well, you've lived in California the longest time, so go with that. Or make something up. Apparently "military brat" was not a covered ASL sign, but when all else fails you can finger spell it, it just takes far longer than a simple state abbreviation.
Even if we walked away from the military and went into a real life, I think the damage is done. We are citizens of the United States and have little bits of many places and locations tattooed onto our souls. I'm ok with that, just don't expect a simple answer to your simple question "where are you from?" better to stick with "hey, how are you?" because you're more likely to get a one word answer "good/fine" or, in the words of the Marines at the gate checking ID's:
Living the dream
try not to be jealous.
I know to most it's just an innocuous phrase used in 'get-to-know-you' conversation but it's just such a loaded question when you ask that to my kids and it really brings out the protective (or overly guilt wrought?) mama bear in me.
My oldest 2 have lived in 5 homes - not including our 3 month stint in the camper or the 1 month stint in Florida. We've seen the entire country, more than I had ever seen growing up, our lives have been rich with diverse friends and acquaintances yet every time someone asks that question, I cringe.
Living in a military town it's still not as uncommon a question - largely because it's a very very young military town and this is the first place they've lived outside of their mama's house. And they like it here because they have never lived elsewhere. But even then, it's often asked as a way to figure out accents or personalities or 'WHY on earth you'd request THAT duty station?'
It gets weirder now that officially this week neither my parents or inlaws live in the state DH was born and raised in and I spent most of my childhood in. While I have nostalgic memories, there is less there that has me needing to go back (sorry, Greg, we will still try to visit sometimes) unless we actually can convince you to leave, too. I promise you winter it totally overrated.
So in my effort to completely immerse my kids in everything possible so we'd have things we miss here I have them in sign language classes. And this past week one of the vocabulary phrases we covered was "where are you from?" to which the kids look at me with confusion (or guilt inducing glare) and I say, well, you've lived in California the longest time, so go with that. Or make something up. Apparently "military brat" was not a covered ASL sign, but when all else fails you can finger spell it, it just takes far longer than a simple state abbreviation.
Even if we walked away from the military and went into a real life, I think the damage is done. We are citizens of the United States and have little bits of many places and locations tattooed onto our souls. I'm ok with that, just don't expect a simple answer to your simple question "where are you from?" better to stick with "hey, how are you?" because you're more likely to get a one word answer "good/fine" or, in the words of the Marines at the gate checking ID's:
Living the dream
try not to be jealous.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Anxiously awaiting the final word
Preferably in writing. For where we will be living next.
Although just when I think I'm good with a move to a tropical island hubby throws out there his doubts of remaining in or starts discussing civilian jobs. So, I'm just going to take it one day at a time. Just like the song or the theme from AA. Well, I think that's an AA theme based on this TV drama I was watching- but can't say for certain. It has pretty much every medical detail wrong so it could possibly have that wrong, too.
So I debate if I should actually weigh the tonnage of stuff I have disposed of or have piled in the guest room for either a theoretical yard sale or big donation to a tax write off sort of place. Either way we are moving and it is highly unlikely we will EVER live in a place as big as this one. Plus hubby was out on a government sponsored camping trip and on a pilgrimage to get his parents to Florida this week so I have plenty of time to sort through closets of stuff uninhibited by the opinion of the other adult in the house. Now the kids... Joey went with his dad, so his room is on the chopping block this week and JM was playing on the computer so completely oblivious to the trash bags leaving his room last week. The girls are hard. I'm threatening to send to stay with their grandparents so I can go through their room unrestricted by all the precious treasures they refuse to depart with. And by precious treasure I mean every bit of scrap paper, broken toy bits, destroyed jewlery and enough stuffed animals to completely fill a VW bug. And this was what escaped the last purge when they were in school prior to the last move. Although with my work schedule I didn't cull through it *quite* as thoroughly as I would now. The letting them log onto Minecraft doesn't work like it does with JM, one of the duo has hawk ears and the very second she hears that someone is having a cookie, donut or the sound of trash being removed from her room brings her running.
We've finally gotten involved with friends and activities so now the kids have changed their tune from "we hate it here' to 'well, it's ok if we don't have to move.' And as much as I 've felt relieved that we're finally connecting with others, I can't say I feel like this location has been the best fit for us. It rains entirely too much, the number of very very very young families and couples is overwhelming and makes me feel very very old and at the risk of sounding like a snob, the apparent education level of the bulk of the population is somewhere around 7th grade with 3rd grade grammar. But I'm really not a snob, I promise. But being raised a yankee in a education-as- priority family and state probably doesn't help. At least I've been able to find a few homeschool moms who have similar values.
Started fencing and sign language classes and writing classes and a co-op where I'm teaching the science portion. I'm actually enjoying the teaching part. I didn't think I really would, but past the kinder-2nd grade level it's not terrible. I'm teaching the 3-5th writing class and it's actually been enjoyable. The science class is 6-9th and the best part is that the co-op owns/bought the microscopes and dissection kits and preserved frogs and all sorts of other stuff that I'd been too cheap to buy. I haven't found chemistry burners yet, but I found test tubes and pipettes. It's only 15 weeks long so I think chemistry might be too much to cover anyway, we're doing basic science and biology concepts.
But if we do move to a tropical island and the kids go to school I'll look back into being a real nurse or school nurse or take the classes online to teach. As I figure it, Larry has changed careers since we've been married, time for me to consider a career change. Well, assuming that I want a career, which is not always certain.
Although just when I think I'm good with a move to a tropical island hubby throws out there his doubts of remaining in or starts discussing civilian jobs. So, I'm just going to take it one day at a time. Just like the song or the theme from AA. Well, I think that's an AA theme based on this TV drama I was watching- but can't say for certain. It has pretty much every medical detail wrong so it could possibly have that wrong, too.
So I debate if I should actually weigh the tonnage of stuff I have disposed of or have piled in the guest room for either a theoretical yard sale or big donation to a tax write off sort of place. Either way we are moving and it is highly unlikely we will EVER live in a place as big as this one. Plus hubby was out on a government sponsored camping trip and on a pilgrimage to get his parents to Florida this week so I have plenty of time to sort through closets of stuff uninhibited by the opinion of the other adult in the house. Now the kids... Joey went with his dad, so his room is on the chopping block this week and JM was playing on the computer so completely oblivious to the trash bags leaving his room last week. The girls are hard. I'm threatening to send to stay with their grandparents so I can go through their room unrestricted by all the precious treasures they refuse to depart with. And by precious treasure I mean every bit of scrap paper, broken toy bits, destroyed jewlery and enough stuffed animals to completely fill a VW bug. And this was what escaped the last purge when they were in school prior to the last move. Although with my work schedule I didn't cull through it *quite* as thoroughly as I would now. The letting them log onto Minecraft doesn't work like it does with JM, one of the duo has hawk ears and the very second she hears that someone is having a cookie, donut or the sound of trash being removed from her room brings her running.
We've finally gotten involved with friends and activities so now the kids have changed their tune from "we hate it here' to 'well, it's ok if we don't have to move.' And as much as I 've felt relieved that we're finally connecting with others, I can't say I feel like this location has been the best fit for us. It rains entirely too much, the number of very very very young families and couples is overwhelming and makes me feel very very old and at the risk of sounding like a snob, the apparent education level of the bulk of the population is somewhere around 7th grade with 3rd grade grammar. But I'm really not a snob, I promise. But being raised a yankee in a education-as- priority family and state probably doesn't help. At least I've been able to find a few homeschool moms who have similar values.
Started fencing and sign language classes and writing classes and a co-op where I'm teaching the science portion. I'm actually enjoying the teaching part. I didn't think I really would, but past the kinder-2nd grade level it's not terrible. I'm teaching the 3-5th writing class and it's actually been enjoyable. The science class is 6-9th and the best part is that the co-op owns/bought the microscopes and dissection kits and preserved frogs and all sorts of other stuff that I'd been too cheap to buy. I haven't found chemistry burners yet, but I found test tubes and pipettes. It's only 15 weeks long so I think chemistry might be too much to cover anyway, we're doing basic science and biology concepts.
But if we do move to a tropical island and the kids go to school I'll look back into being a real nurse or school nurse or take the classes online to teach. As I figure it, Larry has changed careers since we've been married, time for me to consider a career change. Well, assuming that I want a career, which is not always certain.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Can you feel cold from looking at a picture?
Because Joey's off skiing with his scout troop and I swear I feel my face stinging just looking at the pictures.
Other than one text telling me that they arrived over 1 hour later than they were planing. Which, honestly, *I* could have told you was going to happen - because if GPS tells you it takes 5.5 hours to get somewhere AND you're planning on stopping for dinner, it is not going to take you 5.5 hours from when you leave to arrive. Uh- duh. PLUS, I don't know who was planning this, but I can tell you that the time for each stop increases incrementally with the number of bodies you have traveling together. Our family of 6 take double what a family of 3 would take, assuming similar efficiency and no disabilities. But at least this was a pack of boys, take a bus full of girls and suddenly the line at the bathroom is 35 minutes long. Although, I can say in traveling with only 2 boys, sometimes the men's bathroom is not always open for speedy use, either. For this reason, we developed a partiality for large truck stops - for big capacity bathrooms (plus plenty of room for a novice RV dragging a car driver like me to park without having to back up)
But I think I digressed.. the troop has a mom who vocally proclaims her OCD tendencies who made a facebook page and updated it with picture. It was kinda funny since we had a delay to winter here and I couldn't even remember the color of the brand new winter coat I had bought Joey. Apparently it was black or navy blue with royal blue trim. Good thing there was a sitting without the ski goggles and helmet picture or I wouldn't have know what same-as-everyone-else color coat I should be scanning for in the pictures.
But skiing was one of those few things that made winter fun. But now that my bones and muscles don't bounce back quite like they used to, I think winter is still over-rated. Although in hearing from the inlaws, it appears their shipment of winter has also been delayed- this time last year I think the schools had already had 3 weeks of snow days added to their spring schedule.
But mommy guilt has me feeling bad that the remaining kids have no "fun" stuff this weekend, so we're running off to the movies. Larry has introduced them to Star Wars and now that they have caught up on the rest of the 2 trilogies (what does that make that a septilogy?) we will go watch the latest. I will lament that I am now old and Han Solo/Luke/Leia are also old. But at least I'm younger than they are.
So until next time or until the force (or computer) awakens...
Other than one text telling me that they arrived over 1 hour later than they were planing. Which, honestly, *I* could have told you was going to happen - because if GPS tells you it takes 5.5 hours to get somewhere AND you're planning on stopping for dinner, it is not going to take you 5.5 hours from when you leave to arrive. Uh- duh. PLUS, I don't know who was planning this, but I can tell you that the time for each stop increases incrementally with the number of bodies you have traveling together. Our family of 6 take double what a family of 3 would take, assuming similar efficiency and no disabilities. But at least this was a pack of boys, take a bus full of girls and suddenly the line at the bathroom is 35 minutes long. Although, I can say in traveling with only 2 boys, sometimes the men's bathroom is not always open for speedy use, either. For this reason, we developed a partiality for large truck stops - for big capacity bathrooms (plus plenty of room for a novice RV dragging a car driver like me to park without having to back up)
But I think I digressed.. the troop has a mom who vocally proclaims her OCD tendencies who made a facebook page and updated it with picture. It was kinda funny since we had a delay to winter here and I couldn't even remember the color of the brand new winter coat I had bought Joey. Apparently it was black or navy blue with royal blue trim. Good thing there was a sitting without the ski goggles and helmet picture or I wouldn't have know what same-as-everyone-else color coat I should be scanning for in the pictures.
But skiing was one of those few things that made winter fun. But now that my bones and muscles don't bounce back quite like they used to, I think winter is still over-rated. Although in hearing from the inlaws, it appears their shipment of winter has also been delayed- this time last year I think the schools had already had 3 weeks of snow days added to their spring schedule.
But mommy guilt has me feeling bad that the remaining kids have no "fun" stuff this weekend, so we're running off to the movies. Larry has introduced them to Star Wars and now that they have caught up on the rest of the 2 trilogies (what does that make that a septilogy?) we will go watch the latest. I will lament that I am now old and Han Solo/Luke/Leia are also old. But at least I'm younger than they are.
So until next time or until the force (or computer) awakens...
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Impatiently waiting
It's that time again. That time were we will upheave our lives and move or transition or something. We're still in the mindset that hubby will retire from the Navy if he can manage to stay in, so we get to play the 'oohh what's available' game.
Of the 9 or 10 possible options hubby asked for, the only one that was mentioned as a possibility was the dead last one on the list. One he didn't even consult with me before putting it on the list. This of course throws my theory of 'you get the 4th or 5th choice' method out the window. That or hubby really made someone somewhere mad. It also shines a light on the practice of promising 'just take this crummy position and next time you'll get first pick' as total nonsense. Because THIS was one of those nobody-wants-to-go-there places and well, the people who make those promises know that they'll be gone and don't actually have to fulfill any of those promises.
Although as I understand it, if you want to promote and stay in, it 'looks good' to have a check box in all the life in the military inconvenience boxes. Cross country moves (X) Deployment (X) Green Side/Operational (XXXX) Overseas ( ) oh, I see. yes, that box is still vacant. Lucky for us, we need a waiver to go to many of those such places since we have more than 2.5 kids. Apparently housing regulations prohibit you from putting 4 kids in a closet. Only on submarines is this permissible and then only with grown men.
SOOOO since it is terrible form for the spouse to get involved I have to wait for hubby to get in touch with the person who makes the final decisions and he says she isn't answering the phone or replying to emails. *I* would be tempted to keep re-dialing until she finally gave up and answered the phone. But that's just me. Plus I don't have troublesome time constraints like a job to hold be back.
Although I have managed to almost over commit myself even without a job. So Monday afternoons we're in a group writing class, I'm teaching 3-5th graders. Friday morning we're in a co-op, I'm teaching 6-8th science.. Suddenly the possibilities of long weekends are shot. Or I'll just say 'hey, I need a substitute this week' and let someone else figure it out. The science class I'm actually a little excited over, the coop purchased dissection kits and frogs and had far more resources than I have at home (yet) And since a $250 microscope is pretty breakable and military movers are notorious about not breaking things I just couldn't justify it. Plus I am counting on dual enrolling for science and math and english (ok pretty much everything) for the second half of high school. Assuming we are in the US. OR there are online options but I think you just can't get the smell of science and chemistry labs without the actual classroom/lab experience.
The kids are good. Mostly. Some days I think I'd like to send a certain 8 year old to school because he just can't finish a task without getting out of his chair, but then I realize that I'd be getting those 'behavior reports' from whatever teacher he would have that would not be ok with said behavior. Also they don't usually appreciate his tendency to be the class comedian. HOWEVER if we go overseas and the DOD school is good, he is ABSOLUTELY going to school. and potentially to the pediatrician for that conversation about ritalin.
Spring sports sign ups are upon us and they don't offer soccer so it looks like baseball it is. Golf was an absolute waste of time, so I think we'll pass on that one. There's a running club that I'm mentally preparing myself to get the kids involved in. However, practices are at 7 am and we're just not morning people here. But then again, I'd like to be more morning people than we are. Larry leaves at 5:30 3 times a week, so if I can not go back to bed, it's a whole lot more morning left than if I crawl out of bed at 7:30. We will see, first practice is next monday, and since it's a holiday for hubby it'll be THAT MUCH HARDER to get out of bed. Maybe we'll catch up with them for the second practice. I think base offered track in spring, so maybe we'll get it together and sign up for that.
Joey's in scouts now, and aside from all the boys being pretty much live wires, I think he enjoys it. He's skiing this weekend with them. Hopefully he will return with zero broken bones. Speaking of, I need to remember to make a copy of his health insurance information to send with him....
Of the 9 or 10 possible options hubby asked for, the only one that was mentioned as a possibility was the dead last one on the list. One he didn't even consult with me before putting it on the list. This of course throws my theory of 'you get the 4th or 5th choice' method out the window. That or hubby really made someone somewhere mad. It also shines a light on the practice of promising 'just take this crummy position and next time you'll get first pick' as total nonsense. Because THIS was one of those nobody-wants-to-go-there places and well, the people who make those promises know that they'll be gone and don't actually have to fulfill any of those promises.
Although as I understand it, if you want to promote and stay in, it 'looks good' to have a check box in all the life in the military inconvenience boxes. Cross country moves (X) Deployment (X) Green Side/Operational (XXXX) Overseas ( ) oh, I see. yes, that box is still vacant. Lucky for us, we need a waiver to go to many of those such places since we have more than 2.5 kids. Apparently housing regulations prohibit you from putting 4 kids in a closet. Only on submarines is this permissible and then only with grown men.
SOOOO since it is terrible form for the spouse to get involved I have to wait for hubby to get in touch with the person who makes the final decisions and he says she isn't answering the phone or replying to emails. *I* would be tempted to keep re-dialing until she finally gave up and answered the phone. But that's just me. Plus I don't have troublesome time constraints like a job to hold be back.
Although I have managed to almost over commit myself even without a job. So Monday afternoons we're in a group writing class, I'm teaching 3-5th graders. Friday morning we're in a co-op, I'm teaching 6-8th science.. Suddenly the possibilities of long weekends are shot. Or I'll just say 'hey, I need a substitute this week' and let someone else figure it out. The science class I'm actually a little excited over, the coop purchased dissection kits and frogs and had far more resources than I have at home (yet) And since a $250 microscope is pretty breakable and military movers are notorious about not breaking things I just couldn't justify it. Plus I am counting on dual enrolling for science and math and english (ok pretty much everything) for the second half of high school. Assuming we are in the US. OR there are online options but I think you just can't get the smell of science and chemistry labs without the actual classroom/lab experience.
The kids are good. Mostly. Some days I think I'd like to send a certain 8 year old to school because he just can't finish a task without getting out of his chair, but then I realize that I'd be getting those 'behavior reports' from whatever teacher he would have that would not be ok with said behavior. Also they don't usually appreciate his tendency to be the class comedian. HOWEVER if we go overseas and the DOD school is good, he is ABSOLUTELY going to school. and potentially to the pediatrician for that conversation about ritalin.
Spring sports sign ups are upon us and they don't offer soccer so it looks like baseball it is. Golf was an absolute waste of time, so I think we'll pass on that one. There's a running club that I'm mentally preparing myself to get the kids involved in. However, practices are at 7 am and we're just not morning people here. But then again, I'd like to be more morning people than we are. Larry leaves at 5:30 3 times a week, so if I can not go back to bed, it's a whole lot more morning left than if I crawl out of bed at 7:30. We will see, first practice is next monday, and since it's a holiday for hubby it'll be THAT MUCH HARDER to get out of bed. Maybe we'll catch up with them for the second practice. I think base offered track in spring, so maybe we'll get it together and sign up for that.
Joey's in scouts now, and aside from all the boys being pretty much live wires, I think he enjoys it. He's skiing this weekend with them. Hopefully he will return with zero broken bones. Speaking of, I need to remember to make a copy of his health insurance information to send with him....
Saturday, December 19, 2015
The trouble with the world today is...
Let's pretend I'm 19 and have all the answers in the world again. I can fix EVERYTHING and have not been jaded and trampled by life not going exactly as I expected it to go.
And let pretend I have a blog. (ok, pretend it's 19 year old me not midlife crisis me)
And let's surround my blog with people who read what I write and take it as gospel truth, because if it's on the internet and has a million page hits or is linked by another blog or news site I like, it must be true.
And people circulate these posts, and other people circulate the dead opposite posts, and both people think their side has monopolized the truth/true way to fix the world/economy/religion/etc...
I finally hit that proverbial straw this week when rather than hitting delete, I started responding. I had been operating under the modus operandi of 'respond with grace/ignore/delete' but this clearly has only gotten my 1083 unread emails in my inbox and a facebook feed I can hardly read. So my almost new year resolution is to no longer just ignore but to respond - to everything that I disagree, because isn't that the way the internet is supposed to work?
No one listens anymore, since their minds are already made up and they have 1000 or something likes to prove they are right.
Most things won't matter in eternity. Life the life that God has called you to do, demonstrate His love for others and stop doing battles on every front there is. God did not call us to destroy each others' churches. He did not call us to pick fights in extra-biblical theology. He called us each to an individual relationship with Him. He did not call us to critique other's relationship or lack thereof with Him. There is a few verses about this- he without sin casting the first stone (john 8:7) and taking care of the log in your own eye (matt 7:3-5).
The one thing in life that has opened my eyes to the way our heavenly Father's relationship with us is parenting kids. So many times there are squabbles and tattling- child a with sin issue a tattling on child b with sin issue b. And like our heavenly Father, I want to YELL at them (does He yell? Sometimes I think he does) IF YOU CAN JUST WORK ON YOUR OWN ISSUES AND LET THEM WORK ON THEIR OWN ISSUES WE'D ALL GET ALONG SO MUCH BETTER!!! And that is what I feel when I see church member a getting wound up that church b isn't "taking a strong stand against (abortion, same sex marriage, upholding the constitution, liturgical rites, etc)
So often I see church b brow beating someone (who wants nothing to do with Church B) for going to hell for not following their moral code. The church is putting the pony before the cart. There is no reason for people to follow the laws/moral code/etc of the Bible if they don't claim to be a Christian or follower of Christ. And the way the 'christians' treat them, I hardly blame then for not wanting anything to do with Christianity.
Jesus came to serve then call people to repent and follow him. If we could all get that order right, God would be pleased and the world would be better.
But the more we continue fighting being angry with each other and forwarding, posting more of the same, the more evil triumphs.
We have a choice.
And let pretend I have a blog. (ok, pretend it's 19 year old me not midlife crisis me)
And let's surround my blog with people who read what I write and take it as gospel truth, because if it's on the internet and has a million page hits or is linked by another blog or news site I like, it must be true.
And people circulate these posts, and other people circulate the dead opposite posts, and both people think their side has monopolized the truth/true way to fix the world/economy/religion/etc...
I finally hit that proverbial straw this week when rather than hitting delete, I started responding. I had been operating under the modus operandi of 'respond with grace/ignore/delete' but this clearly has only gotten my 1083 unread emails in my inbox and a facebook feed I can hardly read. So my almost new year resolution is to no longer just ignore but to respond - to everything that I disagree, because isn't that the way the internet is supposed to work?
No one listens anymore, since their minds are already made up and they have 1000 or something likes to prove they are right.
Most things won't matter in eternity. Life the life that God has called you to do, demonstrate His love for others and stop doing battles on every front there is. God did not call us to destroy each others' churches. He did not call us to pick fights in extra-biblical theology. He called us each to an individual relationship with Him. He did not call us to critique other's relationship or lack thereof with Him. There is a few verses about this- he without sin casting the first stone (john 8:7) and taking care of the log in your own eye (matt 7:3-5).
The one thing in life that has opened my eyes to the way our heavenly Father's relationship with us is parenting kids. So many times there are squabbles and tattling- child a with sin issue a tattling on child b with sin issue b. And like our heavenly Father, I want to YELL at them (does He yell? Sometimes I think he does) IF YOU CAN JUST WORK ON YOUR OWN ISSUES AND LET THEM WORK ON THEIR OWN ISSUES WE'D ALL GET ALONG SO MUCH BETTER!!! And that is what I feel when I see church member a getting wound up that church b isn't "taking a strong stand against (abortion, same sex marriage, upholding the constitution, liturgical rites, etc)
So often I see church b brow beating someone (who wants nothing to do with Church B) for going to hell for not following their moral code. The church is putting the pony before the cart. There is no reason for people to follow the laws/moral code/etc of the Bible if they don't claim to be a Christian or follower of Christ. And the way the 'christians' treat them, I hardly blame then for not wanting anything to do with Christianity.
Jesus came to serve then call people to repent and follow him. If we could all get that order right, God would be pleased and the world would be better.
But the more we continue fighting being angry with each other and forwarding, posting more of the same, the more evil triumphs.
We have a choice.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Annual Christmas Letters
It's that time of year where we start receiving those brag sheets annual Christmas letters with updated pictures of kids we may or not have seen, ever. Of course since we moved shortly before Christmas last year and have given up on updating addresses for pretty much anyone when there is facebook and email available for contacting.. and blogging if one is so motivated.
But anyhow, tocompete with keep in contact with all those not forgotten loved family and friends, here is our letter:
Greetings to all our loved friends and family! In case you missed our un-mailed letter and address change notices from last year(s) we are now living in coastal North Carolina and waiting with baited breath to hear our next duty station. We should here in the next 2 weeks, or 2 months, or about 2 weeks before we have to report to the new station. We anticipate moving to Florida, Texas, California, Japan, or some other heretoforth not known location that will take me a full year to accept living there. Briefly we thought we might be getting out of the military since staying in requires certain physical fitness and weight requirements that is completely not compatible with our baking habits, but the insurance is pretty good and the forced adaptability skills are not to be missed. Plus there is that motto about seeing the world and all that was promised.
This year Larry did get to see the world, or at least Europe/Spain for 8 months. I guess if you have to deploy, Europe is the way to go. It certainly would be my first choice. I did rope my parents into watching the kids so I could visit him while he was there. For those of you familiar with the military ways- yes, this was rather unusual for a deployment. But if you get sponsored by the command you can not only visit but you can fly Space-A. Space-A is short for Space-Available which roughly translated means you can get onto a military transport plane going in the direction you want to go for free or dirt cheap, but you have to show up and hope there is an open seat and it's based on a ranking system of who needs to go and how only wants to go and how long ago you signed up to go.. in a logarithm some programmer came up with.
I learned a few things: sign up early, pack light but bring a winter coat even if you travel from 90 degrees to 90 degrees because at 10000 feet or however night they fly, it gets dang cold in an unheated plane. I also learned if you wanted to pack an air mattress and sleeping bag, you can completely lay down to sleep in such planes. Really trippy, but c-c-c-c-cold.
But Spain was totally cool and I'd add it to my list of "places I wish the military would send us" but the nature of military life is that the very second I add it to my top 3 locations, I will.not.get.that.place. So, it's unspoken. Plus I'm not sure the grandparents would totally forgive us for taking their grandkids that far away even if we flew space-a back yearly to visit.
The kids are just fantastic.
Sonia ( age 12 , grade uncertain since we homeschool and grades are just arbitrary designations anyway) loves homeschooling because it means that instead of my harassing her to wake up for school at 6:30 she can sleep in until 8:30, or 12:30 if her mother gives up on the battle that day. She still loves animals, especially strays more than her siblings and has taken to feeding every stray cat in a 5 mile radius. If you could possibly adopt a cat, please come see me. I will ship them, if I can catch them. She also enjoys reading, cake decorating, sleeping in and standing up straight since it makes her appear taller than her mother. She played volleyball this year as a compromise since it involved no running and was an indoor-air-conditioned sport and comfort is key.
Joey ( age 12 about to enter engineering as a profession) has make it a life goal this month to devise a trap to trap said strays to aid and abet his mother in dropping said creatures off at the pound. Since we have yet to successfully manage this, our front porch/stoop looks like a cardboard box disaster complete with sticks, rubber bands and cat food and fabric bits. He did successfully catch one, however it would turn out that packing tape is not strong enough to contain the fury of a captured stray cat, so while that success was short lived, the tape does contain enough hair and DNA evidence of holding a cat to give him hope of catching them. Other than that, his hobbies include minecrafting, golf, growing 6 inches this year and sprouting a pair of feet bigger than his father's feet and he joined boy scouts this year. From our limited experience with the boy scouts thus far it appears that a new hobby will include playing with fire and a pocket knife as soon as he earns the pocket knife 'tote-n-chip' or whatever the official permission is that scouts gives you to carry a knife - think of it as the concealed carry permit for the pre-driving crowd.
Kayla (age 10 and at last count I think is somewhere between the 5th and 6th grade) is still playing the role of the agreeable middle child except for the days that she isn't agreeable. She still is our resident life coach to her younger brother and the example to the rest of us of how extroverts live. She is our fashion conscious, fad following child who keeps me up on all my texting acronyms. IDK where she learned them all, but it would appear that she is the child that knows the trends. At a homeschool Christmas party today she was the one of my 4 kids who not only went up to do the dance but knew the moves to it. If anyone wants to tell me that homeschool kids are necessarily sheltered and odd, let me introduce them to this kid. She cha-cha slides and sings one-direction (who apparently goes by 1D?) with the best of her public school counterparts. But seriously we don't even have cable, I think this kid learns this stuff by osmosis.
JonMichael (age 8, at last count he's somewhere between 3-4th grade) remains our youngest child. Much of his antics secure that position because after him, I'm pretty sure we are just broken parents who are just surviving. He announced this year that he wants to be called "Jonathan" however, I'm pretty sure his real name is "Tigger" since it would most certainly appear that his top is made out of rubber and his bottom is made out of springs. We bought a trampoline this year, largely because I thought he needed something to expel all this energy that didn't involved absolutely destroying the house and so far we have experienced 0 broken bones, so I call this a win. Unfortunately is rains a great deal here and trampolines are entirely an outdoor toy. He remains our sports orientated kid and loves anything that involves a ball. This year we added golf to his sports played mostly because they were short one kid for the team Joey was on. He and Kayla consider the entire world the audience for their 2 person comedy act. They get this from their father, I think- he's the funny one here.
Larry continues to work with Marines and has picked up minecraft to play with the kids,or at least he said it was to play with the kids. They have some communal island and build and grow things. I tell them they should try programming so they can be the ones making the next big thing like minecraft. No one is really interested.
Gina has no interest in Minecraft and has over 1000 unread emails in her inbox. She occasionally thinks of going back to work but in the meantime has been driving kids to co-op class, sports, and will be teaching the 6-9th graders science this winter. We continue to homeschool since we have managed to cover more material in less time and have more flexibility in our learning. Also the flexibility in vacations, sleep schedules and pretty much everything else is pretty awesome, too. And not being in the parent pick-up and drop-off lines every day: priceless. But who knows and we are fickle people and next year might bring public or private or charter school, depending on location.
Overall this year has been filled with ups and downs and character flaws and character growth. We've been able to look back over our friends and family lists and photos and reminisce about lovely memories and hopeful dreams for the future. No matter where our lives have crossed and where they will cross again, the one hope we have is that we will meet again in eternity. Until then, we blog, we laugh, we eat and hope to see you all again.
Much love
XOXOX
G, L and kids.
But anyhow, to
Greetings to all our loved friends and family! In case you missed our un-mailed letter and address change notices from last year(s) we are now living in coastal North Carolina and waiting with baited breath to hear our next duty station. We should here in the next 2 weeks, or 2 months, or about 2 weeks before we have to report to the new station. We anticipate moving to Florida, Texas, California, Japan, or some other heretoforth not known location that will take me a full year to accept living there. Briefly we thought we might be getting out of the military since staying in requires certain physical fitness and weight requirements that is completely not compatible with our baking habits, but the insurance is pretty good and the forced adaptability skills are not to be missed. Plus there is that motto about seeing the world and all that was promised.
This year Larry did get to see the world, or at least Europe/Spain for 8 months. I guess if you have to deploy, Europe is the way to go. It certainly would be my first choice. I did rope my parents into watching the kids so I could visit him while he was there. For those of you familiar with the military ways- yes, this was rather unusual for a deployment. But if you get sponsored by the command you can not only visit but you can fly Space-A. Space-A is short for Space-Available which roughly translated means you can get onto a military transport plane going in the direction you want to go for free or dirt cheap, but you have to show up and hope there is an open seat and it's based on a ranking system of who needs to go and how only wants to go and how long ago you signed up to go.. in a logarithm some programmer came up with.
I learned a few things: sign up early, pack light but bring a winter coat even if you travel from 90 degrees to 90 degrees because at 10000 feet or however night they fly, it gets dang cold in an unheated plane. I also learned if you wanted to pack an air mattress and sleeping bag, you can completely lay down to sleep in such planes. Really trippy, but c-c-c-c-cold.
But Spain was totally cool and I'd add it to my list of "places I wish the military would send us" but the nature of military life is that the very second I add it to my top 3 locations, I will.not.get.that.place. So, it's unspoken. Plus I'm not sure the grandparents would totally forgive us for taking their grandkids that far away even if we flew space-a back yearly to visit.
The kids are just fantastic.
Sonia ( age 12 , grade uncertain since we homeschool and grades are just arbitrary designations anyway) loves homeschooling because it means that instead of my harassing her to wake up for school at 6:30 she can sleep in until 8:30, or 12:30 if her mother gives up on the battle that day. She still loves animals, especially strays more than her siblings and has taken to feeding every stray cat in a 5 mile radius. If you could possibly adopt a cat, please come see me. I will ship them, if I can catch them. She also enjoys reading, cake decorating, sleeping in and standing up straight since it makes her appear taller than her mother. She played volleyball this year as a compromise since it involved no running and was an indoor-air-conditioned sport and comfort is key.
Joey ( age 12 about to enter engineering as a profession) has make it a life goal this month to devise a trap to trap said strays to aid and abet his mother in dropping said creatures off at the pound. Since we have yet to successfully manage this, our front porch/stoop looks like a cardboard box disaster complete with sticks, rubber bands and cat food and fabric bits. He did successfully catch one, however it would turn out that packing tape is not strong enough to contain the fury of a captured stray cat, so while that success was short lived, the tape does contain enough hair and DNA evidence of holding a cat to give him hope of catching them. Other than that, his hobbies include minecrafting, golf, growing 6 inches this year and sprouting a pair of feet bigger than his father's feet and he joined boy scouts this year. From our limited experience with the boy scouts thus far it appears that a new hobby will include playing with fire and a pocket knife as soon as he earns the pocket knife 'tote-n-chip' or whatever the official permission is that scouts gives you to carry a knife - think of it as the concealed carry permit for the pre-driving crowd.
Kayla (age 10 and at last count I think is somewhere between the 5th and 6th grade) is still playing the role of the agreeable middle child except for the days that she isn't agreeable. She still is our resident life coach to her younger brother and the example to the rest of us of how extroverts live. She is our fashion conscious, fad following child who keeps me up on all my texting acronyms. IDK where she learned them all, but it would appear that she is the child that knows the trends. At a homeschool Christmas party today she was the one of my 4 kids who not only went up to do the dance but knew the moves to it. If anyone wants to tell me that homeschool kids are necessarily sheltered and odd, let me introduce them to this kid. She cha-cha slides and sings one-direction (who apparently goes by 1D?) with the best of her public school counterparts. But seriously we don't even have cable, I think this kid learns this stuff by osmosis.
JonMichael (age 8, at last count he's somewhere between 3-4th grade) remains our youngest child. Much of his antics secure that position because after him, I'm pretty sure we are just broken parents who are just surviving. He announced this year that he wants to be called "Jonathan" however, I'm pretty sure his real name is "Tigger" since it would most certainly appear that his top is made out of rubber and his bottom is made out of springs. We bought a trampoline this year, largely because I thought he needed something to expel all this energy that didn't involved absolutely destroying the house and so far we have experienced 0 broken bones, so I call this a win. Unfortunately is rains a great deal here and trampolines are entirely an outdoor toy. He remains our sports orientated kid and loves anything that involves a ball. This year we added golf to his sports played mostly because they were short one kid for the team Joey was on. He and Kayla consider the entire world the audience for their 2 person comedy act. They get this from their father, I think- he's the funny one here.
Larry continues to work with Marines and has picked up minecraft to play with the kids,or at least he said it was to play with the kids. They have some communal island and build and grow things. I tell them they should try programming so they can be the ones making the next big thing like minecraft. No one is really interested.
Gina has no interest in Minecraft and has over 1000 unread emails in her inbox. She occasionally thinks of going back to work but in the meantime has been driving kids to co-op class, sports, and will be teaching the 6-9th graders science this winter. We continue to homeschool since we have managed to cover more material in less time and have more flexibility in our learning. Also the flexibility in vacations, sleep schedules and pretty much everything else is pretty awesome, too. And not being in the parent pick-up and drop-off lines every day: priceless. But who knows and we are fickle people and next year might bring public or private or charter school, depending on location.
Overall this year has been filled with ups and downs and character flaws and character growth. We've been able to look back over our friends and family lists and photos and reminisce about lovely memories and hopeful dreams for the future. No matter where our lives have crossed and where they will cross again, the one hope we have is that we will meet again in eternity. Until then, we blog, we laugh, we eat and hope to see you all again.
Much love
XOXOX
G, L and kids.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Furghettabout it
I'm listening to an 'informative webinar' which is supposed to go over the jr high program in said program I've been considering that's part of the current program we're in.
And I have a few impressions:
1. using big words that no one understands doesn't convince the world you are smart. Quadrivium? seriously. ooohhh, wait... I took latin. Quad clearly means "4" but rivium? humm I got nothing.
2. IMPRESSIONS MATTER. Starting late, 'technical' problems after a late start do not give the impression that you are a professional. I AM NOT IMPRESSED.
3. 37 minutes into this and I still have ZERO idea about what they are covering. WHY you ask. Lemme share a slide from this presentation. I believe it's supposed to convey that everything is interconnected.
(oh. wait. Since I got the new iphone my computer doesn't recognize it. I'll work on this. In the meantime. Pull up a graph in your memory. Then put arrows everywhere over it. That's the slide.)
Seriously, for an organization that prides itself on producing students on being able to present material they really need to evaluate the presentations they are producing.
The only parts I think would be beneficial are the group discussions, mock trials and science fair.
And I have a few impressions:
1. using big words that no one understands doesn't convince the world you are smart. Quadrivium? seriously. ooohhh, wait... I took latin. Quad clearly means "4" but rivium? humm I got nothing.
2. IMPRESSIONS MATTER. Starting late, 'technical' problems after a late start do not give the impression that you are a professional. I AM NOT IMPRESSED.
3. 37 minutes into this and I still have ZERO idea about what they are covering. WHY you ask. Lemme share a slide from this presentation. I believe it's supposed to convey that everything is interconnected.
(oh. wait. Since I got the new iphone my computer doesn't recognize it. I'll work on this. In the meantime. Pull up a graph in your memory. Then put arrows everywhere over it. That's the slide.)
Seriously, for an organization that prides itself on producing students on being able to present material they really need to evaluate the presentations they are producing.
The only parts I think would be beneficial are the group discussions, mock trials and science fair.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
New year, New Posts
Yes, I know it's already a full month into the New Year. And honestly now that the business is closed I feel like I have a much better handle on my time for the most part. Or, rather - now that the business is closed, Larry is overseas, the kid aren't going to fulltime school and I'm not trying to juggle working and a dozen other commitments I feel like I have a better handle on my time.
That said I'm back to hash out my thoughts. I am open to GENTLE suggestions. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mom and Dad.
So.. I signed the kids up for a well known school program. I felt like I was floundering and not really reaching the potential of all they could be learning and wanted more. Like the really smart homeschool kids I had in my mind that graduate college at age 16 sort of smart because they ARE that smart if their mother says so herself.
So this program is a once a week program with lots of memory work that is supposed to form all sorts of foundations for the rest of their schooling. They memorize a timeline of events from Creation to Sept 11. And if you buy the $35 CD set you too can own the 16 minute long song. Actually it's about the best (only) thing on that CD worth listening to all that much.
They "learn" (memorize) the songs for states, capitals, presidents and hand gestures to go with it. It's impressive to see their showcase 6 year olds be able to recite all the presidents of the US when I can barely remember half of them.
HOWEVER.
I'm 3 weeks into this and I'm really having second thoughts on this whole model and company.
First of all- it is not cheap. Their "corporate" gets fees for each child and if you have a 4th grader and up they get 2 fees for each child. I'm not entirely sure what these fees go to other than paying the lawyers they hire to try to keep their proprietary system out the the hands of non paying classical teaching parents. Frankly my 3 interactions with them trying to order my books has left a bitter taste in my mouth. They let me buy them, but refused to ship them until they had confirmation I had paid the fees for a class in the future and then did not send all of them because they were 'backordered.' Then to boot the newest edition which isn't officially a revised edition is 2 pages off of everyone elses' book PLUS the 'recommended to go with' timeline cards were not the ones to go with this cycle but I didn't realize they had shipped and I had ordered the wrong ones until I had opened them. If they girls they have answering their phones are graduates of their program I'm getting off this trail now. BUT it's a no refund policy so I'm pretty much committed for this year. And I'm trying not to finish burning this bridge with 17(or whatever) more weeks left in the classes.
The whole method is they have 'tutors' which 'teach' you child (read from the pre-approved verbage of corporate and demonstrate approved hand gestures) for the facts of the week. Then sing song about them and drill said facts and facts from previous 6 weeks. OK. information is being imparted I'm ok with that.
The first week I watched the older class (parents are supposed to be in there helping/watching/whatever) and the tutor was engaging and organized. BUT.. I added 3 kids to the class and the tutor didn't want to continue so they split the class into 2 classes and gave them 2 new tutors(teachers) the following week. One of which started the same week I did. OOOOkkayyyyyy. No longer impressed. Daughter 1 was in a class with one other girl who's mother was the teacher . Granted there was another girl absent but when you have one sullen teen with their mother and my daughter in a room I don't see a whole lot of the 'socialization' aspect that this community promised to deliver. So that was week 2.
Week 3 (today) I went into JMs class. He told me he was the oldest in his class. I didn't realize he was in with kids who couldn't even spell their name or speak intelligibly. Sure I'm an over-achieving parent but you can not possibly expect that my kid is going to learn in this sort of environment. EVEN with the song method of teaching - because the chaos was so loud I couldn't figure out was was being taught. And we missed 13 previous weeks of material.. I was mad. I asked the teacher if he was too old for this class and then asked the director why he was in a class with 4-5 year olds. She said 'oh, there were other kids absent who are older' which was total nonsense because there was ONE kid missing and she was 7. Talk to the other teacher and she has 7 -9 year olds. So why was my kid in the class with the kid that wouldn't keep his hands out of his pants or nose? And why are you telling me that in other communities there are 4-10 year olds in the same class as justification? If other schools have kids smoking pot are you going to say it's ok? *I* teach 8-11 year olds in one house and I can tell you from experience that it's a HECK of a lot easier to teach them at their level rather than trying to teach an 8 year old 7th grade math or expect a 11 year old to not be bored to tears with basic writing. Sure, some subjects would work. EVEN this timeline stuff could work in theory. I sure as heck wasn't seeing it work in real life.
So. Next week he will be in the "other" class that they still defend are the same age. I call BS if the director can't tell the difference between a 5 year old and 9 year old perhaps she should try teaching that age spread.
The afternoons JM goes to "Bible study" which is akin to nursery at church where it's basically babysitting with a Bible picture to color in. (It's a "christian") program. Today he was whining that he would rather stay with me which for me is all sorts of red flags. I'll probably keep him with me next week.
Where am I when this is going on? I'm in the afternoon grammar/writing class for the 4th-6th graders. It's old school. I mean older than me school- they still teach diagramming sentences. And after having to teach myself and the kids 13 weeks of this we are finally caught up and getting it, more or less. The diagramming part I could take or leave. It has a cult like following, almost reverent worship among parents who do this program, but I honestly can't see how it's all that useful. Not even at the college english major level useful. Sure you can identify subject/noun/adjective/adverb/pronoun but my kids learned that doing ad libs. Writing is a weak area for my kids and the IEW book and DVDs they use I actually find useful, but that's 1/3 of the afternoon. And THOSE books I don't need to be a paying member to buy since it's a totally different system.
Next year the 7th graders are supposed to graduate into a 'amazing/wonderful/challenging/make-your-child-guaranteed-to-succeed-in-life' program. And all the costs associated with this will nearly double. If we want to try to secure a spot I have to register for it next week. NEXT WEEK. There is all sorts of 'it will sell out, so register fast' pressure especially since I want to transfer to a campus here in town rather than commute an hour. I've hear they are larger campuses and I have hopes that means that they'd be more organized out of default and that they kids would have more opportunity to make friends their ages.
But I'm torn. This is one of those programs that you're supposed to commit to 3 years to get all that memory foundation. I see some benefit to memory. I think I'd like to keep JM and Kayla in it. I';m just so very torn on what to do with Sonia and Joey. Sonia wants to go to public school based solely on the fact that she would have more regular access to a library. Joey wants to homeschool based solely on his desire to not be in school from 7:30-3:30. I think they're learning more this year and we're fixing alot of bad habits and learning what was missed along the way. But I'm not in love with this program and I'm a bit creeped out by the way this program has a cult like following that you MUST love it and I find myself frustrated that the corporate office control and propaganda.
Some of my biggest frustrations come from the degree of propaganda and control. They won't let you buy the curriculum until you enroll in it. So I can't see next years until I enroll? So I can't make an educated decision I just have to go based on their testimonials that this is the best academic program out there, well worth the high cost. If I wanted to make decisions based on testimonials alone I'd buy all my household goods off late-night TV.
I have until Feb 10 to decide. I know Larry thinks I should send them to school because he thinks social interaction is key. I find this incredibly ironic coming from one of the least social people I know. I haven't met anyone who has said 'wow, jr high years in school were awesome' and have met countless people and count myself among those that would rather chop off appendages than have to live through those years again, especially everything that involved the interactions with others in school.
I approached the director asking to see a copy of the 7th grade program before committing and since her kids are not that age she doesn't have one. I can ask the local overseer on Feb 18th when she's visiting.. but that's exactly 8 days too late.
Maybe I'll email her directly. At this point I have few reservations. I already gave my current campus my 'I'm not returning in the fall' notice. EVEN IF the rest are full I can't see it worth going back there. I have the books. I'd buy the CDs and call it a day. Maybe that's my problem, that deep down inside I'm not a social person? That I'd rather raise my kids in a vacuum that I enjoy than go out in a world that I have to regularly filter what I say. This particular area I'm needing to filter alot.
But since this is my overall dumping ground.. let me say a few things:
First of all- I know we live in the south here and all... but seriously "Lincoln's war between the states" and "Lincoln went to war against the southern states" has a serious bias. And while I like and appreciate Jim and Elizabeth Eliot, Missionaries to Equador are they really world events? Seriously- he got killed that first year he attempted to reach that people group. Their legacy lives on and all and I really respect what Mrs Elliot had since done in life but really? They're on par with the War of 1812 and China's Ming Dynasty?? I understand they(the program) used to use Veritas Press timeline. I may go buy that instead if we flunk out of this system. At least then I'll have something to compare it to.
And lastly. Some of those songs on those CD's.... ugh. just ugh. Like if the kids fight in the car I threaten to play them but only if I first put on headphones. Screeching soprano, no accompaniment. Seriously. Just. No.
That said I'm back to hash out my thoughts. I am open to GENTLE suggestions. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mom and Dad.
So.. I signed the kids up for a well known school program. I felt like I was floundering and not really reaching the potential of all they could be learning and wanted more. Like the really smart homeschool kids I had in my mind that graduate college at age 16 sort of smart because they ARE that smart if their mother says so herself.
So this program is a once a week program with lots of memory work that is supposed to form all sorts of foundations for the rest of their schooling. They memorize a timeline of events from Creation to Sept 11. And if you buy the $35 CD set you too can own the 16 minute long song. Actually it's about the best (only) thing on that CD worth listening to all that much.
They "learn" (memorize) the songs for states, capitals, presidents and hand gestures to go with it. It's impressive to see their showcase 6 year olds be able to recite all the presidents of the US when I can barely remember half of them.
HOWEVER.
I'm 3 weeks into this and I'm really having second thoughts on this whole model and company.
First of all- it is not cheap. Their "corporate" gets fees for each child and if you have a 4th grader and up they get 2 fees for each child. I'm not entirely sure what these fees go to other than paying the lawyers they hire to try to keep their proprietary system out the the hands of non paying classical teaching parents. Frankly my 3 interactions with them trying to order my books has left a bitter taste in my mouth. They let me buy them, but refused to ship them until they had confirmation I had paid the fees for a class in the future and then did not send all of them because they were 'backordered.' Then to boot the newest edition which isn't officially a revised edition is 2 pages off of everyone elses' book PLUS the 'recommended to go with' timeline cards were not the ones to go with this cycle but I didn't realize they had shipped and I had ordered the wrong ones until I had opened them. If they girls they have answering their phones are graduates of their program I'm getting off this trail now. BUT it's a no refund policy so I'm pretty much committed for this year. And I'm trying not to finish burning this bridge with 17(or whatever) more weeks left in the classes.
The whole method is they have 'tutors' which 'teach' you child (read from the pre-approved verbage of corporate and demonstrate approved hand gestures) for the facts of the week. Then sing song about them and drill said facts and facts from previous 6 weeks. OK. information is being imparted I'm ok with that.
The first week I watched the older class (parents are supposed to be in there helping/watching/whatever) and the tutor was engaging and organized. BUT.. I added 3 kids to the class and the tutor didn't want to continue so they split the class into 2 classes and gave them 2 new tutors(teachers) the following week. One of which started the same week I did. OOOOkkayyyyyy. No longer impressed. Daughter 1 was in a class with one other girl who's mother was the teacher . Granted there was another girl absent but when you have one sullen teen with their mother and my daughter in a room I don't see a whole lot of the 'socialization' aspect that this community promised to deliver. So that was week 2.
Week 3 (today) I went into JMs class. He told me he was the oldest in his class. I didn't realize he was in with kids who couldn't even spell their name or speak intelligibly. Sure I'm an over-achieving parent but you can not possibly expect that my kid is going to learn in this sort of environment. EVEN with the song method of teaching - because the chaos was so loud I couldn't figure out was was being taught. And we missed 13 previous weeks of material.. I was mad. I asked the teacher if he was too old for this class and then asked the director why he was in a class with 4-5 year olds. She said 'oh, there were other kids absent who are older' which was total nonsense because there was ONE kid missing and she was 7. Talk to the other teacher and she has 7 -9 year olds. So why was my kid in the class with the kid that wouldn't keep his hands out of his pants or nose? And why are you telling me that in other communities there are 4-10 year olds in the same class as justification? If other schools have kids smoking pot are you going to say it's ok? *I* teach 8-11 year olds in one house and I can tell you from experience that it's a HECK of a lot easier to teach them at their level rather than trying to teach an 8 year old 7th grade math or expect a 11 year old to not be bored to tears with basic writing. Sure, some subjects would work. EVEN this timeline stuff could work in theory. I sure as heck wasn't seeing it work in real life.
So. Next week he will be in the "other" class that they still defend are the same age. I call BS if the director can't tell the difference between a 5 year old and 9 year old perhaps she should try teaching that age spread.
The afternoons JM goes to "Bible study" which is akin to nursery at church where it's basically babysitting with a Bible picture to color in. (It's a "christian") program. Today he was whining that he would rather stay with me which for me is all sorts of red flags. I'll probably keep him with me next week.
Where am I when this is going on? I'm in the afternoon grammar/writing class for the 4th-6th graders. It's old school. I mean older than me school- they still teach diagramming sentences. And after having to teach myself and the kids 13 weeks of this we are finally caught up and getting it, more or less. The diagramming part I could take or leave. It has a cult like following, almost reverent worship among parents who do this program, but I honestly can't see how it's all that useful. Not even at the college english major level useful. Sure you can identify subject/noun/adjective/adverb/pronoun but my kids learned that doing ad libs. Writing is a weak area for my kids and the IEW book and DVDs they use I actually find useful, but that's 1/3 of the afternoon. And THOSE books I don't need to be a paying member to buy since it's a totally different system.
Next year the 7th graders are supposed to graduate into a 'amazing/wonderful/challenging/make-your-child-guaranteed-to-succeed-in-life' program. And all the costs associated with this will nearly double. If we want to try to secure a spot I have to register for it next week. NEXT WEEK. There is all sorts of 'it will sell out, so register fast' pressure especially since I want to transfer to a campus here in town rather than commute an hour. I've hear they are larger campuses and I have hopes that means that they'd be more organized out of default and that they kids would have more opportunity to make friends their ages.
But I'm torn. This is one of those programs that you're supposed to commit to 3 years to get all that memory foundation. I see some benefit to memory. I think I'd like to keep JM and Kayla in it. I';m just so very torn on what to do with Sonia and Joey. Sonia wants to go to public school based solely on the fact that she would have more regular access to a library. Joey wants to homeschool based solely on his desire to not be in school from 7:30-3:30. I think they're learning more this year and we're fixing alot of bad habits and learning what was missed along the way. But I'm not in love with this program and I'm a bit creeped out by the way this program has a cult like following that you MUST love it and I find myself frustrated that the corporate office control and propaganda.
Some of my biggest frustrations come from the degree of propaganda and control. They won't let you buy the curriculum until you enroll in it. So I can't see next years until I enroll? So I can't make an educated decision I just have to go based on their testimonials that this is the best academic program out there, well worth the high cost. If I wanted to make decisions based on testimonials alone I'd buy all my household goods off late-night TV.
I have until Feb 10 to decide. I know Larry thinks I should send them to school because he thinks social interaction is key. I find this incredibly ironic coming from one of the least social people I know. I haven't met anyone who has said 'wow, jr high years in school were awesome' and have met countless people and count myself among those that would rather chop off appendages than have to live through those years again, especially everything that involved the interactions with others in school.
I approached the director asking to see a copy of the 7th grade program before committing and since her kids are not that age she doesn't have one. I can ask the local overseer on Feb 18th when she's visiting.. but that's exactly 8 days too late.
Maybe I'll email her directly. At this point I have few reservations. I already gave my current campus my 'I'm not returning in the fall' notice. EVEN IF the rest are full I can't see it worth going back there. I have the books. I'd buy the CDs and call it a day. Maybe that's my problem, that deep down inside I'm not a social person? That I'd rather raise my kids in a vacuum that I enjoy than go out in a world that I have to regularly filter what I say. This particular area I'm needing to filter alot.
But since this is my overall dumping ground.. let me say a few things:
First of all- I know we live in the south here and all... but seriously "Lincoln's war between the states" and "Lincoln went to war against the southern states" has a serious bias. And while I like and appreciate Jim and Elizabeth Eliot, Missionaries to Equador are they really world events? Seriously- he got killed that first year he attempted to reach that people group. Their legacy lives on and all and I really respect what Mrs Elliot had since done in life but really? They're on par with the War of 1812 and China's Ming Dynasty?? I understand they(the program) used to use Veritas Press timeline. I may go buy that instead if we flunk out of this system. At least then I'll have something to compare it to.
And lastly. Some of those songs on those CD's.... ugh. just ugh. Like if the kids fight in the car I threaten to play them but only if I first put on headphones. Screeching soprano, no accompaniment. Seriously. Just. No.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Homeschooling/Roadschooling our way
I've decided that the time the have stared out the windows staring at the rain, puddles and not the birds playing in the puddles counts as nature study. Especially when it was when they were supposed to be doing math or writing.
Never mind getting them to write in a notebook about what they've seen. That would make us serious experts in Classical or Charlotte Mason or whatever. We are no experts here. On anything except *maybe* slowly loosing our minds. On that I can assure you I'm at expert level.
Largely because it's raining. AGAIN. I swear to you I have moved to Seattle. This home on wheels in only intended for living in dry southern CA where it does not rain. And now with the new added feature of wind it not only leaks in the known places (which I swear is pretty much the entire roof perimeter) it blows in through the vent and air conditioning unit in the roof. Not that we have a whole lot of floor space to walk in, it's better without the buckets catching drips - on the floor or my bed.
BUT after pretty much exhausting the options on rentals, great ones (well from the online listing or road) being already rented, others being too small or just nasty dirty and smelly, others I thought were perfectly acceptable but none of which called Larry's name and seeing every known house, neighborhood within 30 minutes of base that was for sale or rent we bid on a short sale being told - sorry- assured- that it could close in 45 days but at day 15 it hadn't really moved anywhere and we were being told we needed to understand "these things take time" which I responded that we only bid on it because we were assured that it would close in 45 days but if they couldn't even get the process rolling in 15 then we were going to cut bait and run. Because frankly closing by Christmas will drive me out of my mind much much faster than closing by Halloween. Especially if this stupid rain keeps up. I told our agent to pass on the other one that a little honesty upfront wouldn't have lost the chance of a sale or wasted 2 weeks of my life. In fact I'd like to lock him in a camper with the rain with my 4 kids and see how quickly he would have gone crazy.
So.. we looked at our other options and other houses and were in the process of bidding on a somewhat more sure bet one squirrel trail led to another and a late night change of plans led us to bidding on a house we'd previously excluded being out of our price range but dragged into it because.. well.. because it was going to be cheaper in a few days and the builder was ready to sell it asap and willing to make a deal. Ironically this neighborhood the first week we got here we ruled out as being a little too foo-foo. It later became a top pick- mostly because it was close, had dock, water, pool and exercise room. HOWEVER it also comes with an HOA. Of which I've only read 31 pages of the 65 or so of the restrictive covenants and other HOA related materials. Our house doesn't have a flower bed so I won't get fined for not having live flowers in it. I'm going to assume that parking on the road is a problem but they have a lot for us to park the camper at if we keep it. *IF* and that's once it gets back from it's prospective 6 month stay at the RV repair spa. We have an extended warranty and know how to use it.
Back to the house - We've never had a new house before. This is going to be a new experience. Assuming all goes as planned and no new hiccups occur. Probably need to double check about the mortgage having everything it needed.
And it's further from the water so much less likely to have a first floor filled with water should that first hurricane get here. Tho with the wind blowing like it is maybe I should check the weather...
So yesterday as the weather and I conspired to confine and torture the kids with schoolwork they took it upon them selves to fog up with windows with their breath and write "HELP" on them. So help me.... if ever I am blogging from a jail cell I can tell you I'm innocent and my kids are somehow the culprit.
Two of said culprits just got back from collecting sand and shells. There are 2 shark teeth. more signs. I should fill in the rest of back story to that- But later- I have a beach to walk on.
Never mind getting them to write in a notebook about what they've seen. That would make us serious experts in Classical or Charlotte Mason or whatever. We are no experts here. On anything except *maybe* slowly loosing our minds. On that I can assure you I'm at expert level.
Largely because it's raining. AGAIN. I swear to you I have moved to Seattle. This home on wheels in only intended for living in dry southern CA where it does not rain. And now with the new added feature of wind it not only leaks in the known places (which I swear is pretty much the entire roof perimeter) it blows in through the vent and air conditioning unit in the roof. Not that we have a whole lot of floor space to walk in, it's better without the buckets catching drips - on the floor or my bed.
BUT after pretty much exhausting the options on rentals, great ones (well from the online listing or road) being already rented, others being too small or just nasty dirty and smelly, others I thought were perfectly acceptable but none of which called Larry's name and seeing every known house, neighborhood within 30 minutes of base that was for sale or rent we bid on a short sale being told - sorry- assured- that it could close in 45 days but at day 15 it hadn't really moved anywhere and we were being told we needed to understand "these things take time" which I responded that we only bid on it because we were assured that it would close in 45 days but if they couldn't even get the process rolling in 15 then we were going to cut bait and run. Because frankly closing by Christmas will drive me out of my mind much much faster than closing by Halloween. Especially if this stupid rain keeps up. I told our agent to pass on the other one that a little honesty upfront wouldn't have lost the chance of a sale or wasted 2 weeks of my life. In fact I'd like to lock him in a camper with the rain with my 4 kids and see how quickly he would have gone crazy.
So.. we looked at our other options and other houses and were in the process of bidding on a somewhat more sure bet one squirrel trail led to another and a late night change of plans led us to bidding on a house we'd previously excluded being out of our price range but dragged into it because.. well.. because it was going to be cheaper in a few days and the builder was ready to sell it asap and willing to make a deal. Ironically this neighborhood the first week we got here we ruled out as being a little too foo-foo. It later became a top pick- mostly because it was close, had dock, water, pool and exercise room. HOWEVER it also comes with an HOA. Of which I've only read 31 pages of the 65 or so of the restrictive covenants and other HOA related materials. Our house doesn't have a flower bed so I won't get fined for not having live flowers in it. I'm going to assume that parking on the road is a problem but they have a lot for us to park the camper at if we keep it. *IF* and that's once it gets back from it's prospective 6 month stay at the RV repair spa. We have an extended warranty and know how to use it.
Back to the house - We've never had a new house before. This is going to be a new experience. Assuming all goes as planned and no new hiccups occur. Probably need to double check about the mortgage having everything it needed.
And it's further from the water so much less likely to have a first floor filled with water should that first hurricane get here. Tho with the wind blowing like it is maybe I should check the weather...
So yesterday as the weather and I conspired to confine and torture the kids with schoolwork they took it upon them selves to fog up with windows with their breath and write "HELP" on them. So help me.... if ever I am blogging from a jail cell I can tell you I'm innocent and my kids are somehow the culprit.
Two of said culprits just got back from collecting sand and shells. There are 2 shark teeth. more signs. I should fill in the rest of back story to that- But later- I have a beach to walk on.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Life in the small house
Small houses are all the rage. I guess those don't realize that there is huge populations of people that have been doing this forever. They used to scornfully call those people trailer trash. Honestly the main difference between a tiny house and trailer trash is where your tiny house is parked. The right neighborhood makes all the difference. We still wait for more permanent housing. And since we've been less than thrilled with our neighbors here we shopped around for other trailer parks. And I realize not all are the same and honestly if we just bought a plot of land with sewer and electric we could be all set. Although showering is still a hassle in the camper.
But since a picture says a million words here is our life
So that's it. not glamorous. I could take pictures of all the storage cubbies but I doubt it's all that exciting to anyone else. Besides then I'd feel compelled to clean them first to make it look uber organized instead of the general shove-it-in-quick-and-close-the-door-before-it-falls-out way that things tend to revert to. if you have any doubt look at the bathroom picture or the storage shelve pictures.
But since a picture says a million words here is our life
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| The front "cabin" now the makeshift library. |
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| The classroom. Under those books is painter's tape. It's divided into 4, although 4 do not think they fit there at all. |
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| shower. Also doubles as the laundry hamper, clothes dryer hanger thing and catcher of leaking roof drips |
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| living room area. minus kids who are outside now. without rain and 100 degree heat outside is more appealing. |
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| kitchen. this is across from the living room area above. Enough counter space for 2 coffee cups. coffee maker has to go into the closet to make room to cook. |
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| microwave. also dish drainer storer and bread holder. this is not household size nothing sized larger than 1/3 actual size fits in either the microwave or toaster. that's a micro-dish drainer. I'm pretty sure it should have been sold in the doll size dish section of Ikea. But having no counterspace for anything else and this thing hangs off the wall.. it's what we have. |
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| another view of the kitchen/stove. |
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| the beds. Bunk bed and double bed in back. The dining room table and couch also turn into beds. |
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| micro-closet. hanging all our coats, Larry uniform and storing most of the clothing. It might look big but I assure you it doesn't fit much. |
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| storage. seriously at a premium here. this is cleaning suppliesa, extra whatever, kid stuff,etc. |
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| the school work shelves. Not sure that TV works, as the rest of the entertainment system in the RV has not worked. It came with it and hogs that space. but it's deceptive. It's not deep enough to hold a regular size binder or book. so it's about 8 inches deep instead of the 8.5 in you need for that sort of thing. |
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| 6 of us share this. There are 2 towel rods so that's pretty much the way the kids just stuff towels up. And unlike real houses you have to deal with the stuff that comes out in regular plumbing. For your household it's about every 3-4 d that I have to empty the tanks and do laundry. I have over the door hooks over the side of the shower door that hang robes and towels if anyone bothered to try to hang towels there. in theory it was a good idea. in actuality it' turns into a huge face level mass of wet towel/robes that blocks the mirror. |
So that's it. not glamorous. I could take pictures of all the storage cubbies but I doubt it's all that exciting to anyone else. Besides then I'd feel compelled to clean them first to make it look uber organized instead of the general shove-it-in-quick-and-close-the-door-before-it-falls-out way that things tend to revert to. if you have any doubt look at the bathroom picture or the storage shelve pictures.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Finally the weather has broken
We were promised that it would get better. Yesterday was absolutely glorious. No too hot, not raining, humidity under 100%.
Got school work done and spent the afternoon at the beach. Larry and the boys spend the night hours fishing. We are having fresh caught shrimp tonight for dinner. He's been spoiled living here at the beach - all the fishing, shrimping, crabbing and clamming is just a short walk away.
I'm re-thinking most of my earlier curriculum choices and now that I have a post office box I can actually get mail.
That was an unexpected frustration in this whole move- when you move without a forwarding address you can send it to "general delivery" at a main post office at your new town. Well.. I choice Camp Lejeune. But apparently I chose the wrong main zip code because when I got there they didn't have any mail and had to look up where it was actually sent- which is downtown Jacksonville.
And while using the term 'downtown' is really a stretch here. it's definitely out of the way and hard to find. My GPS is totally unable to find it and insists it's in Jacksonville, Florida. (sigh, technology)
And when we got there to get the mail, I ask, can I get a PO box? and the answer is " you need proof of physical address- registration, drivers license, lease, etc" to which I looked at him and said "if I had that I wouldn't need a PO box" And he tells me 'oh, that's ok, you can have it sent general delivery for up to a month" so which I reply "it's already been 3 weeks." he says, well, as far as concerned, it started today." gee, thanks.
So this goes on a few weeks when I go to the base post office (the one that didn't have our mail) to cash in a money order (long sorrid story of shipping a car going sideways) and ask them, can I get a PO box? I brought a copy of Larry's orders knowing that usually gets us far on base. Sure, he replies and hands me the same form. I start filling it out and hit the same "physical address" part and instructions that I need 2 proofs of physical address.. and look at him and say "this part is a problem" He says "what's your husband's unit, put that there"
Seriously, that's it?
That's it.
I have a copy of his orders..
That's fine. I don't need them.
Oh glory day.
On to update addresses for all things like bank statements and credit cards...
So I can get the mail actually delivered, hopefully.
The other rather unexpected part in this is that when you use your credit card at the pump and it tells you to put in your zip code... it's hard to remember it. In a military town I don't get too many crazy looks when I have to pull out my phone to look up my address and zip. Usually I just say "we're new, I'm having a hard time remembering it"
We bid on a short sale house. It's a lovely house and we have absolutely no furniture to put in it. Almost absolutely, practically speaking. It's more house than we need. But it has all hard wood floors and I really like that idea. PLUS it has washer/dryer hook ups. And a real size kitchen and fridge. Another huge bonus and it probably wouldn't be TOO hard to put a gas tank and line in for my dryer. BUT you can see the water from it - as in the water that rises when a hurricane visits. So I am almost guarantee you that the first real hurricane of the season will be the month after we close on it if we get it. It's ok as long as I'm mentally geared up for that. It's not like we'll have had time to buy furniture for the thing. I'm still not entirely sure what is on that moving truck since we sold and gave away so much stuff including furniture. It will be like Christmas when we actually do get to open that truck and boxes.
In all it's having a real shower I miss the most. The shower in the camper is good to rinse but not enough water comes out to actually de-soap or de-shampoo so we a trek down to the public bath house for showering. Besides if your use the camper one then you have to empty out your grey water tank that much faster and I'd have to find somewhere else to put my dirty clothes hamper. Some camp grounds have nice laundry and bath houses. This isn't one of them. But it's cheap, it's on the water for fishing and on the beach for swimming. Priorities, people, really. who needs clean clothes and bodies when there is salt water to be in?
I thought it would be washer and dryer I missed most and those are a close second. I'm almost to the point where I think I don't need a dishwasher - it's kinda nice having the dishes washed, dried and put away without having to empty the dishwasher hours later and sort clean vs dirty dishes. I do miss counter space and wish I had a full size dish drainer not the 'it looked good at Ikea' wall one that isn't intended for any of the dishes sizes we have. Not having a washer/dryer or storage space to store dirty clothes it's dramatically changed my view on clothing - every day they need clean underwear. Aside from that, if it isn't visibly dirty or smelly it can be worn again. Some of the family are better at staying cleaner than others. Especially when there is salt water and sand to be digging in.
Got school work done and spent the afternoon at the beach. Larry and the boys spend the night hours fishing. We are having fresh caught shrimp tonight for dinner. He's been spoiled living here at the beach - all the fishing, shrimping, crabbing and clamming is just a short walk away.
I'm re-thinking most of my earlier curriculum choices and now that I have a post office box I can actually get mail.
That was an unexpected frustration in this whole move- when you move without a forwarding address you can send it to "general delivery" at a main post office at your new town. Well.. I choice Camp Lejeune. But apparently I chose the wrong main zip code because when I got there they didn't have any mail and had to look up where it was actually sent- which is downtown Jacksonville.
And while using the term 'downtown' is really a stretch here. it's definitely out of the way and hard to find. My GPS is totally unable to find it and insists it's in Jacksonville, Florida. (sigh, technology)
And when we got there to get the mail, I ask, can I get a PO box? and the answer is " you need proof of physical address- registration, drivers license, lease, etc" to which I looked at him and said "if I had that I wouldn't need a PO box" And he tells me 'oh, that's ok, you can have it sent general delivery for up to a month" so which I reply "it's already been 3 weeks." he says, well, as far as concerned, it started today." gee, thanks.
So this goes on a few weeks when I go to the base post office (the one that didn't have our mail) to cash in a money order (long sorrid story of shipping a car going sideways) and ask them, can I get a PO box? I brought a copy of Larry's orders knowing that usually gets us far on base. Sure, he replies and hands me the same form. I start filling it out and hit the same "physical address" part and instructions that I need 2 proofs of physical address.. and look at him and say "this part is a problem" He says "what's your husband's unit, put that there"
Seriously, that's it?
That's it.
I have a copy of his orders..
That's fine. I don't need them.
Oh glory day.
On to update addresses for all things like bank statements and credit cards...
So I can get the mail actually delivered, hopefully.
The other rather unexpected part in this is that when you use your credit card at the pump and it tells you to put in your zip code... it's hard to remember it. In a military town I don't get too many crazy looks when I have to pull out my phone to look up my address and zip. Usually I just say "we're new, I'm having a hard time remembering it"
We bid on a short sale house. It's a lovely house and we have absolutely no furniture to put in it. Almost absolutely, practically speaking. It's more house than we need. But it has all hard wood floors and I really like that idea. PLUS it has washer/dryer hook ups. And a real size kitchen and fridge. Another huge bonus and it probably wouldn't be TOO hard to put a gas tank and line in for my dryer. BUT you can see the water from it - as in the water that rises when a hurricane visits. So I am almost guarantee you that the first real hurricane of the season will be the month after we close on it if we get it. It's ok as long as I'm mentally geared up for that. It's not like we'll have had time to buy furniture for the thing. I'm still not entirely sure what is on that moving truck since we sold and gave away so much stuff including furniture. It will be like Christmas when we actually do get to open that truck and boxes.
In all it's having a real shower I miss the most. The shower in the camper is good to rinse but not enough water comes out to actually de-soap or de-shampoo so we a trek down to the public bath house for showering. Besides if your use the camper one then you have to empty out your grey water tank that much faster and I'd have to find somewhere else to put my dirty clothes hamper. Some camp grounds have nice laundry and bath houses. This isn't one of them. But it's cheap, it's on the water for fishing and on the beach for swimming. Priorities, people, really. who needs clean clothes and bodies when there is salt water to be in?
I thought it would be washer and dryer I missed most and those are a close second. I'm almost to the point where I think I don't need a dishwasher - it's kinda nice having the dishes washed, dried and put away without having to empty the dishwasher hours later and sort clean vs dirty dishes. I do miss counter space and wish I had a full size dish drainer not the 'it looked good at Ikea' wall one that isn't intended for any of the dishes sizes we have. Not having a washer/dryer or storage space to store dirty clothes it's dramatically changed my view on clothing - every day they need clean underwear. Aside from that, if it isn't visibly dirty or smelly it can be worn again. Some of the family are better at staying cleaner than others. Especially when there is salt water and sand to be digging in.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Blogging is a one way conversation
A personal soap box if you will. Some people pick a topic and choose to educate their audience... this blog is really just my way of venting. One of the main reasons I stopped blogging was that those near and dear to me were feeling distressed by the blog and felt one of 4 things needed to happen:
1. I needed to stop telling the world my thoughts - people might get the wrong idea about me2. They needed to get on the email and tell me I was wrong and why
3. They needed to get on the phone and call and voice their concerns to me or
4. Call others to try to fix what ever my blog was about
So from this point forward- and I'm pretty sure I wrote this before and look to the right at my disclaimer- This blog is just me venting. If reading it renders distress or an overwhelming need to fix me PLEASE read someone else's blog. I can come up with a few suggestions if you need them. I can even tell you it's my blog.
That said we can now return to our regularly scheduled venting/therapy session...
Life still goes on and I think I am now qualified to write 'professional beach bum' on my resume. We are going on 4 weeks at the beach now and honestly it's not as bad as the rest of the world seems to think it must be. Don't misunderstand- it's not a cushy life - but it has some advantages when it isn't raining. The kids and Larry have fully embraced the lifestyle and love to catch fish, shrimp, crab... and this weekend they added clamming to their skill set.
Clams- I am not a fan. The boys like them just fine, Sonia described them as " chewy salt water" which I thought was a pretty accurate description. Said chewy salt water will be chowder for tonight's dinner, tho....
Yesterday was Sunday - and another fail for the search category. I started looking at it like jury selection- Larry and I each get a certain number of 'rejection' cards. yesterday we were both willing to excuse that juror/church..
The other day I went for a walk on my own at the beach. Alone- to clear my head and pray and as I was walking I was praying and asking God for a sign - I looked down and saw a shark tooth. I was thinking a friend who has stories upon stories of signs from God.. and I heard " you don't ask for signs" And then I asked " what was that a sign of?" I forgot to specify. I guess it was a sign that God is still present in my life, still hears, still cares. Even when I'm convinced my soul is going to shrivel and waste away if I don't find a good church and fellowship here, God is here. I have a tooth to remind me.
Monday, September 8, 2014
We have peeing ghosts again
If you know my peeing ghosts story we've been friends practically forever. But it goes back to our Mansfield house- we bought it and started rennovating the kitchen. And I'd often be the first one there and honestly it had a pretty eerie vibe.. But I started noticing that there were puddles in the middle of the floor. The floor around it was dry so I decided (in my hyper spiritual days) that the house was possessed and athe ghosts were peeing on the floor and started praying over it.
God heard me and shortly afterward he sent aa hurricane that downgraded to a tropical storm just before it hit our location. And thus revealed I did not have peeing ghosts, I had a leaking roof which was running down the walls and a pooling up from the low area of the floor.
I am much smarter now and when there were large puddles on the counter of the bathroom I thought I had sloppy kids. Until another downpour came and I could see it running down the walls. This camper is SOOOOO being sold if I have any say in it.
But the new thing we learned today is that thunder is loud and that not all lightening is as close as it would appear.. But when you are camping on a island surrounded by a storm it all seem rediculously close..
And I hae kids way oversenitive to loud sounds they didn't produce ( because if it's their noise they have no problem) pacing in the camper with their fingers in their ears.
We're at the library now. I told them it was a tornado shelter.
God heard me and shortly afterward he sent aa hurricane that downgraded to a tropical storm just before it hit our location. And thus revealed I did not have peeing ghosts, I had a leaking roof which was running down the walls and a pooling up from the low area of the floor.
I am much smarter now and when there were large puddles on the counter of the bathroom I thought I had sloppy kids. Until another downpour came and I could see it running down the walls. This camper is SOOOOO being sold if I have any say in it.
But the new thing we learned today is that thunder is loud and that not all lightening is as close as it would appear.. But when you are camping on a island surrounded by a storm it all seem rediculously close..
And I hae kids way oversenitive to loud sounds they didn't produce ( because if it's their noise they have no problem) pacing in the camper with their fingers in their ears.
We're at the library now. I told them it was a tornado shelter.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Sunday Sunday..
The absolute worst part of moving is not the actual moving of stuff, the leaving friends behind, the backbreaking actual moving, cleaning and the frustration of finding somewhere to live. No believe it or not the part I like least about moving is finding a church.
I have a feeling this will be a weekly blog theme for a bit.
You see we are not Catholic, Southern Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal or anyother just find the nearest parish/church and go. We are not liturgical people, much to my father's dismay. Our last church was officially an "evangelical free" church but we'd go to community churches, interdenominational churches or pretty much any church that has reasonable music and bases their beliefs and teachings on the Bible..
I'd like to say we're not picky but apparently I might be. We've been to slain in the spirit churches where the congregation lined up like communion to be slain - people were falling everywhere and wondering why Larry looked so uncomfortable much less still standing, to all african american attendee churches, to a church where the pastor was preaching until the spirit told him to stop. Not sure at what point that was because at 2:00 we bailed... (it started at 10:30 or 11..) to one where we were told to go to different stations and feel the spirit while music played - one was rocks, one was water - I dunno- to appreciate nature?? We've been to Baptist churches and didn't know to know give our real address on the new person card- because putting a real address or filling that card out means that they will be at your door Wednesday night. I have a whole collection of mugs from baptist churches because it seems that the first time you go you get a mug of candy. We even attended a Southern Baptist church for 3 yrs because our options were that limited.. I mean really I don't think I'm THAT picky. But I guess we weren't real Baptists since I rarely went Wed night and we all know you need to go Sunday School, Sunday service, Sunday night and Wednesday to be a real Baptist. If you didn't know that I didn't either for the first 2.5 yrs we went there and then I just didn't care that much being a yankee and all...
Anyway, we've kissed ALOT of frogs. And we(I) thought (I)we'd gotten a method down to find a new church - and the advent of internet and websites helps alot- but sadly we are still in the frog kissing stage.
Let me take a moment to say once again, I loved our old church. I understand that no church will ever be like it. I'm ok with a few basic requirements. But if they wanted to open a venue I'd be first in line to go.
Church fail #1 - we went on recommendation of a friend we knew from our old church and BSF. I thought if someone was going to be particular about their church this would be it. We get there (late, it was an hour away!) and go the the 'I'm new here' booth to ask where the kids go. Up through 5th grade has the kids' program and were escorted there. 6th and up go so service with adults. There was a point in my life when I believed in the family integrated church... I'm past that now. And while my kids have learned alot listening to our 'adult' sermons from our beloved church it was nice they had an option for the kids that included small groups. But back to this fail- the sermon had a summary of some TED(?) talk and was a book report about "The Scarlet Letter." I felt like I was back in the Episcopal church except there were probably 800 people there.. and the liturgy was more than 5 minute. There was referenced to bible verses with out actual reading of those verses ("the bible says to love each other" sort of reference-) and there was 1-2 verses actually quoted. While I'm sure there were people that need this sort of church.. I really felt like I was in a self improvement seminar with a casual wave to God.
Church fail #2- less a fail but don't see us going back was a recommendation from a realtor we started working with. On paper and in the website it looked good - I mean they even had "growth groups" which was our beloved church's code for small groups - except they had only 1 for adults and it was monday nights (which we were told from our monday night group it was the hardest night to hold small group on..) And it was a odd mix. I think it was modeled more on Bethel Church based on their music selection being only from their church. But we go to their "new person" desk - check in and again - only have stuff for kids k-5th grade. They lost Larry when the music said to move to the right and move to the left and jump and the congregation was doing it - kinda like the Charlie Brown or Tootsie Roll or whatever that dance is these days.. And the pastor subscribed to The Rock pastor's method of having people repeat words which well, in style points- that's just not us.
I find it ironic that when we moved to what we thought was going to be a drought of Christ followers there was many Bible preaching, very alive churches but here in the Bible belt this seems to be a rare fish.
Still fishing. Still find frogs. Although the fishing and catching snapping turtles is probably a better metaphor to use.
Speaking of fishing.. apparently Larry really loves this whole beach fishing thing. As do the kids. I tell him "my people don't do these sort of things" but they've all learned how to use cast nets and catch shrimp. (pictures at 11:00) What almost amuses me is the sign that says to leave the alligator alone. THAT would be a better analogy- when you catch the alligator when you're fishing for fish.. apparently you just cut your line and move one. And that's what we're doing - cutting the line and moving on..
I have a feeling this will be a weekly blog theme for a bit.
You see we are not Catholic, Southern Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal or anyother just find the nearest parish/church and go. We are not liturgical people, much to my father's dismay. Our last church was officially an "evangelical free" church but we'd go to community churches, interdenominational churches or pretty much any church that has reasonable music and bases their beliefs and teachings on the Bible..
I'd like to say we're not picky but apparently I might be. We've been to slain in the spirit churches where the congregation lined up like communion to be slain - people were falling everywhere and wondering why Larry looked so uncomfortable much less still standing, to all african american attendee churches, to a church where the pastor was preaching until the spirit told him to stop. Not sure at what point that was because at 2:00 we bailed... (it started at 10:30 or 11..) to one where we were told to go to different stations and feel the spirit while music played - one was rocks, one was water - I dunno- to appreciate nature?? We've been to Baptist churches and didn't know to know give our real address on the new person card- because putting a real address or filling that card out means that they will be at your door Wednesday night. I have a whole collection of mugs from baptist churches because it seems that the first time you go you get a mug of candy. We even attended a Southern Baptist church for 3 yrs because our options were that limited.. I mean really I don't think I'm THAT picky. But I guess we weren't real Baptists since I rarely went Wed night and we all know you need to go Sunday School, Sunday service, Sunday night and Wednesday to be a real Baptist. If you didn't know that I didn't either for the first 2.5 yrs we went there and then I just didn't care that much being a yankee and all...
Anyway, we've kissed ALOT of frogs. And we(I) thought (I)we'd gotten a method down to find a new church - and the advent of internet and websites helps alot- but sadly we are still in the frog kissing stage.
Let me take a moment to say once again, I loved our old church. I understand that no church will ever be like it. I'm ok with a few basic requirements. But if they wanted to open a venue I'd be first in line to go.
Church fail #1 - we went on recommendation of a friend we knew from our old church and BSF. I thought if someone was going to be particular about their church this would be it. We get there (late, it was an hour away!) and go the the 'I'm new here' booth to ask where the kids go. Up through 5th grade has the kids' program and were escorted there. 6th and up go so service with adults. There was a point in my life when I believed in the family integrated church... I'm past that now. And while my kids have learned alot listening to our 'adult' sermons from our beloved church it was nice they had an option for the kids that included small groups. But back to this fail- the sermon had a summary of some TED(?) talk and was a book report about "The Scarlet Letter." I felt like I was back in the Episcopal church except there were probably 800 people there.. and the liturgy was more than 5 minute. There was referenced to bible verses with out actual reading of those verses ("the bible says to love each other" sort of reference-) and there was 1-2 verses actually quoted. While I'm sure there were people that need this sort of church.. I really felt like I was in a self improvement seminar with a casual wave to God.
Church fail #2- less a fail but don't see us going back was a recommendation from a realtor we started working with. On paper and in the website it looked good - I mean they even had "growth groups" which was our beloved church's code for small groups - except they had only 1 for adults and it was monday nights (which we were told from our monday night group it was the hardest night to hold small group on..) And it was a odd mix. I think it was modeled more on Bethel Church based on their music selection being only from their church. But we go to their "new person" desk - check in and again - only have stuff for kids k-5th grade. They lost Larry when the music said to move to the right and move to the left and jump and the congregation was doing it - kinda like the Charlie Brown or Tootsie Roll or whatever that dance is these days.. And the pastor subscribed to The Rock pastor's method of having people repeat words which well, in style points- that's just not us.
I find it ironic that when we moved to what we thought was going to be a drought of Christ followers there was many Bible preaching, very alive churches but here in the Bible belt this seems to be a rare fish.
Still fishing. Still find frogs. Although the fishing and catching snapping turtles is probably a better metaphor to use.
Speaking of fishing.. apparently Larry really loves this whole beach fishing thing. As do the kids. I tell him "my people don't do these sort of things" but they've all learned how to use cast nets and catch shrimp. (pictures at 11:00) What almost amuses me is the sign that says to leave the alligator alone. THAT would be a better analogy- when you catch the alligator when you're fishing for fish.. apparently you just cut your line and move one. And that's what we're doing - cutting the line and moving on..
 |
| That's a cast net. |
 |
| Joey and the 'kid sized net' |
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| If you're wondering - Shrimping with a Cast net is a low tide, night time activity. This event is taking place about 11pm, good thing we homeschool... the kids would love to cast net all day long, however you can't see what you are catching and they've caught all sorts of things that they weren't trying for- Jelly fish, pencil fish, fish fish, crab and frankly I'm ill equipped to deal with the accidentally caught stuff. Like I say- often these days- "my people aren't made for this" I'm not sure what of "my people" I'm referring to but my parents weren't sea/water/beach people and I really never acquired a taste for this sort of activity. |
 |
| living head on shrimp. Their eyes glow orange. |
Friday, September 5, 2014
brushing off the dust of this blog
Sorry I know it's hard to see through the haze of dust here. It's been a while since I've had THIS much life upheaval that I needed a regular outlet. I'd call that a good thing. Mostly.
And boy have I had material to write about but my computer died a painful death about day 4 of the adventure. While it's been touchy with the power cord for years it appears that all the moving it around was the kiss of death. So it hit low priority to hack into my account because I don't remember logins or passwords for anything... And it's not first in line for technology failure in my life. My first link to the world my cell phone was first in line. IS first in line. Back in may it stopped backing up. It ran out of memory because I'm a spaz with pictures.. I needed to get pictures off to free enough memory to update and I needed to back up the pictures which it wouldn't do....
This is the point where my brother would point out this must be inherently because I use an apple product. And this is the point that I will point out that for 4 years my apple product worked very well..
Back to the current life. Actually let's back up about 6 weeks because that really sets the stage for where we are now.
6 weeks ago (cue music and blurry screen)
We were still in CA. Our moving truck arrived and we had just found tenants for our home. Our home was in the middle of getting new plumbing so that it wouldn't have another plumbing leak while we were renting it out AND it was finally getting the backsplash for the kitchen and new paint.
We hired help. This should have gone beautifully. I should only have needed to finish packing because we were also hiring cleaners.
HOWEVER
the painters. I don't even know where to go with them. I spend 2 days chasing them around wiping up paint they got on everything, including carpet, cabinets and even the rabbit. I kid you not. Supposedly they had a license to paint. I do not believe them at all.
the cleaner spent 3 hours was surprised when I said yes to her 'do you expect me to vacuum?" I could have and did spend 3 DAYS cleaning... and finally gave up.
the movers- I had a perfect system - I had triaged all the boxes - the must move, vs 'if there is room on the truck' move us boxes. The hired movers put everything on the truck, buried 10feet deep. We got the first 1/2 the truck filled with about 1/4 of our household items. As we realized this we started taking everything else apart to the smallest component including all the particle board stuff that will never make it back together again. seriously not sure why we bothered moving it.. but it's on the truck.
The truck itself - ever seen those mini tractor trailers with "ABF" on the side - that's what all our stuff went into. The theory is great- we fill it, they move and store it for us until we have a home. The jury is still out. Right now I'm saying 'never again' and I'll just let the military move us. HOWEVER will will have to pare down our belongings.. we were several thousand pounds over our weight limit and that would have cost us if they were moving us. I have my suspecions about what put us over our limit and 90% sure that of our 6 person family 1 person and all his heavy toys put us well over that limit. I mean really - have you ever weight a gun safe? And he left a TON - technically probably 3 tons of crap in CA.
Now this all is the normal moving stuff. Where the crazy part ratchets up is that we bought a motor home. A 35 foot used motor home. For a great price - so low that we should have known it was a run for the hills sort of deal. Larry is never one to run from a challenge and took it on.
We bought the extended warranty for it - the kind you add on and hope they cover what breaks - thinking 'well, at least it will get fixed when it breaks'
However unlike homes or cars when they break no one is on any sort of urgency time table to fix said thing.
So we picked it up in Jan. took it camping one weekend and found out that the hydraulic parts weren't' working. brought it to a rv fix it place who took custody of it for 2 months. between the "repair" and the extra things Larry needed onto it to tow the car and stabilize it so we didn't kill ourselves driving it.. it was 2 months and not. cheap.
Then he spends 2 weeks doing more add on repairs to add an inverter/welding stuff on the frame, batteries, etc... this is the last month- last weeks- last day we were in CA. When I say that that RV has become a sore spot with me I am not exaggerating. He thinks I over react. I can tell you I don't over-react I just slowly simmer forever until I hit a boil over point. It's been at a hard boil for a while now. I was ready to drive it into straight off a dock into the water yesterday... (spoiler alert: hydraulic parts have been repaired twice now and still don't work)
Have to run. Will be back- Wild offspring have hit their boiling point and I need to go run them for a while outside of this 35 foot cabin.. so off to 100% humidity, the smell of low tide and sweat that can't evaporate even if it tried.
And boy have I had material to write about but my computer died a painful death about day 4 of the adventure. While it's been touchy with the power cord for years it appears that all the moving it around was the kiss of death. So it hit low priority to hack into my account because I don't remember logins or passwords for anything... And it's not first in line for technology failure in my life. My first link to the world my cell phone was first in line. IS first in line. Back in may it stopped backing up. It ran out of memory because I'm a spaz with pictures.. I needed to get pictures off to free enough memory to update and I needed to back up the pictures which it wouldn't do....
This is the point where my brother would point out this must be inherently because I use an apple product. And this is the point that I will point out that for 4 years my apple product worked very well..
Back to the current life. Actually let's back up about 6 weeks because that really sets the stage for where we are now.
6 weeks ago (cue music and blurry screen)
We were still in CA. Our moving truck arrived and we had just found tenants for our home. Our home was in the middle of getting new plumbing so that it wouldn't have another plumbing leak while we were renting it out AND it was finally getting the backsplash for the kitchen and new paint.
We hired help. This should have gone beautifully. I should only have needed to finish packing because we were also hiring cleaners.
HOWEVER
the painters. I don't even know where to go with them. I spend 2 days chasing them around wiping up paint they got on everything, including carpet, cabinets and even the rabbit. I kid you not. Supposedly they had a license to paint. I do not believe them at all.
the cleaner spent 3 hours was surprised when I said yes to her 'do you expect me to vacuum?" I could have and did spend 3 DAYS cleaning... and finally gave up.
the movers- I had a perfect system - I had triaged all the boxes - the must move, vs 'if there is room on the truck' move us boxes. The hired movers put everything on the truck, buried 10feet deep. We got the first 1/2 the truck filled with about 1/4 of our household items. As we realized this we started taking everything else apart to the smallest component including all the particle board stuff that will never make it back together again. seriously not sure why we bothered moving it.. but it's on the truck.
The truck itself - ever seen those mini tractor trailers with "ABF" on the side - that's what all our stuff went into. The theory is great- we fill it, they move and store it for us until we have a home. The jury is still out. Right now I'm saying 'never again' and I'll just let the military move us. HOWEVER will will have to pare down our belongings.. we were several thousand pounds over our weight limit and that would have cost us if they were moving us. I have my suspecions about what put us over our limit and 90% sure that of our 6 person family 1 person and all his heavy toys put us well over that limit. I mean really - have you ever weight a gun safe? And he left a TON - technically probably 3 tons of crap in CA.
Now this all is the normal moving stuff. Where the crazy part ratchets up is that we bought a motor home. A 35 foot used motor home. For a great price - so low that we should have known it was a run for the hills sort of deal. Larry is never one to run from a challenge and took it on.
We bought the extended warranty for it - the kind you add on and hope they cover what breaks - thinking 'well, at least it will get fixed when it breaks'
However unlike homes or cars when they break no one is on any sort of urgency time table to fix said thing.
So we picked it up in Jan. took it camping one weekend and found out that the hydraulic parts weren't' working. brought it to a rv fix it place who took custody of it for 2 months. between the "repair" and the extra things Larry needed onto it to tow the car and stabilize it so we didn't kill ourselves driving it.. it was 2 months and not. cheap.
Then he spends 2 weeks doing more add on repairs to add an inverter/welding stuff on the frame, batteries, etc... this is the last month- last weeks- last day we were in CA. When I say that that RV has become a sore spot with me I am not exaggerating. He thinks I over react. I can tell you I don't over-react I just slowly simmer forever until I hit a boil over point. It's been at a hard boil for a while now. I was ready to drive it into straight off a dock into the water yesterday... (spoiler alert: hydraulic parts have been repaired twice now and still don't work)
Have to run. Will be back- Wild offspring have hit their boiling point and I need to go run them for a while outside of this 35 foot cabin.. so off to 100% humidity, the smell of low tide and sweat that can't evaporate even if it tried.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
So it takes a state exam on vaccines for my 3rd grader to bring out my blogging mania.
There really hasn't been all that much time for me to blog. Or I manage it poorly. Or both.
But as a personal discipline thing I 've found as soon as I turn on the computer - even for 'just one quick thing' that minutes suddenly evaporate. And that's a big reason for me to just.leave.it.off. I have internet/email/facebook on my phone and it is there to quickly check when I really only have a few minutes - like in the parent pick up line.. it's finite.
But today, my friends, I picked up kids from said parent pick up line (which itself could be several blog posts on terribly behaving parents) in reply to my question of "how was your day?" I got "TERRIBLE!"
Well, I've gotten that reply once before in response to pre-teen drama. Today was because of the standardized testing.
Of course this is my child that cannot guess if she doesn't know the answer. She NEEDS to know it's right before she'll click submit. I'm sure she'll need therapy and lots of it at some point.
But the question that tripped her up was "what 3 shots are required at 6 months?" and was based on a chart provided.
First of all.. it is 5 shots "required" at 6 months. 6 if you include the oral vaccine as a shot. 7 if you're going to have a 6 month old during flu vaccine season.
Second of all.. this is 3rd grade, not nursing school.
And this makes me wonder "what else are the testing them on?!?!!???" I would like to see a copy of said test, frankly.
In other news..
We survived the Firestorm of the Century. And while I'd like to never, ever go through that again I know full well that we may well enter into North Carolina just in time to experience the hurricane of the century.
If they are going to have another evacuate the school emergency I'd just as soon not be a part of it. Wednesday they evacuated several schools. Including our middle school and elementary school. What happened was the middle school was called first. I don't know what their procedure was but with flames at the driveway apparently they weren't checking IDs or anything. Those parents promptly drove down to the elementary school and started pickup up their younger kids.
However, the elementary has a brand new "you much have your ID checked against the master emergency contact card policy" which means.. it's not as simple as releasing the hounds. They have the parent stay in the tiny office while they page the kid. On a normal day it takes my kids 20 minutes to be released if I have to take them out early for an apt or something.
So.. you can imagine as it's snowing ashes on the school grounds the level of panic was building as the line of parents was out the door and down the road. literally.
I was blissfully unaware at work that there was any sort of thing going on until the manager looked especially panicked and asked if "I was OK?" and while working there often I have not OK days it wasn't the worst. I said "am I supposed to not be ok?" when she told me the county was on fire and they were waiting for instructions on what to do. About 10 minutes later my neighbor texted me the picture from her backyard of flames and told me she was getting her son, should she get mine, also?
I left. Right then. They couldn't find my last patient and I told them if they did find her, they had lost me, got in the car and hit Armageddon levels of traffic.
So.. what I had never planned for in all our "if it hits the fan" scenarios was what to do when all major roadways are gridlocked/closed due to fire. Most of the freeways were closed due to fires and it blocked the secondary roads. I'm a country girl. I know pretty much every secondary/tertiary/unimproved road, paved or no. But it still took an hour to get to the school.
Once there...
A little background - we live in the "country" here. This means that this is horse country. LOTS of horses and when you evacuate you take said horses with you. So.. at the school parking lot it looked like Noah's ark- trucks, horse trailers left any which way, everyone with a pet was up there. Dogs on leashes galore. No one could leave anything in a car since it was over 100 degrees... so just picture a line of 300 panicking parents, 100 barking dogs and horses and horse trailers in smoke and ash.. it was.. awesome.
While in said line, which of course moved up at a snails pace they decide to send out the emergency call to evacuate. This means that now EVERYONE has to be called and show up with ID and pick up their kid. There is no waiting until 2:30 to get in the drive though lane (which it jammed with horses) Pure chaos. We got home and later that evening we got a robo call from school 'thanking everyone for their patience as they followed their safety procedures' (well I was there there were alot of NOT patient people, I guess this is the new rule on changing parental behavior) and they were 'proud to announce all students were safely released to an emergency contact by 5 pm" Are you kidding?! it took them 5 hours?! What if this was an actual emergency??? Call 911??? I'd actually be surprised if there weren't parents calling 911 from the back of the line.
Yet another check in the "homeschool next year" column. Because in the unlikely event of an actual emergency you just can't depend on them handling it they way you'd like them to.
And now I bet they will add a new drill to the school drills- fire, earthquake, lockdown and now fire-surrounding-the-school drills.
So.. since our earthy possessions were not reduced to ash I have started culling and packing things. The fire and packing the cars to evacuate gave real perspective on life, though - everything priceless and irreplaceable easily fit in the car. The rest is mostly for sale on Craiglist.
Edited to Add: Bragging moment:
One of my kids tested highest in his class on all the standardized tests. Of both classes. His sister was close behind.
While I don't usually take this testing stuff seriously or brag about it- this time it means something because of THAT other parent. You know the one that on an open house night with EVERYOTHER parent there she has to make sure she asks if the teacher it up to teaching her more advanced children? Because they're so brilliant and all.. And she asks several times in a few different ways because they need to be taught more and challenged, etc... etc... YES. My twins beat your twins.!! But I won't be making any announcement to the class. just here. Although I guess next year those top spots will be open again for her kids.. bah.
But as a personal discipline thing I 've found as soon as I turn on the computer - even for 'just one quick thing' that minutes suddenly evaporate. And that's a big reason for me to just.leave.it.off. I have internet/email/facebook on my phone and it is there to quickly check when I really only have a few minutes - like in the parent pick up line.. it's finite.
But today, my friends, I picked up kids from said parent pick up line (which itself could be several blog posts on terribly behaving parents) in reply to my question of "how was your day?" I got "TERRIBLE!"
Well, I've gotten that reply once before in response to pre-teen drama. Today was because of the standardized testing.
Of course this is my child that cannot guess if she doesn't know the answer. She NEEDS to know it's right before she'll click submit. I'm sure she'll need therapy and lots of it at some point.
But the question that tripped her up was "what 3 shots are required at 6 months?" and was based on a chart provided.
First of all.. it is 5 shots "required" at 6 months. 6 if you include the oral vaccine as a shot. 7 if you're going to have a 6 month old during flu vaccine season.
Second of all.. this is 3rd grade, not nursing school.
And this makes me wonder "what else are the testing them on?!?!!???" I would like to see a copy of said test, frankly.
In other news..
We survived the Firestorm of the Century. And while I'd like to never, ever go through that again I know full well that we may well enter into North Carolina just in time to experience the hurricane of the century.
If they are going to have another evacuate the school emergency I'd just as soon not be a part of it. Wednesday they evacuated several schools. Including our middle school and elementary school. What happened was the middle school was called first. I don't know what their procedure was but with flames at the driveway apparently they weren't checking IDs or anything. Those parents promptly drove down to the elementary school and started pickup up their younger kids.
However, the elementary has a brand new "you much have your ID checked against the master emergency contact card policy" which means.. it's not as simple as releasing the hounds. They have the parent stay in the tiny office while they page the kid. On a normal day it takes my kids 20 minutes to be released if I have to take them out early for an apt or something.
So.. you can imagine as it's snowing ashes on the school grounds the level of panic was building as the line of parents was out the door and down the road. literally.
I was blissfully unaware at work that there was any sort of thing going on until the manager looked especially panicked and asked if "I was OK?" and while working there often I have not OK days it wasn't the worst. I said "am I supposed to not be ok?" when she told me the county was on fire and they were waiting for instructions on what to do. About 10 minutes later my neighbor texted me the picture from her backyard of flames and told me she was getting her son, should she get mine, also?
I left. Right then. They couldn't find my last patient and I told them if they did find her, they had lost me, got in the car and hit Armageddon levels of traffic.
So.. what I had never planned for in all our "if it hits the fan" scenarios was what to do when all major roadways are gridlocked/closed due to fire. Most of the freeways were closed due to fires and it blocked the secondary roads. I'm a country girl. I know pretty much every secondary/tertiary/unimproved road, paved or no. But it still took an hour to get to the school.
Once there...
A little background - we live in the "country" here. This means that this is horse country. LOTS of horses and when you evacuate you take said horses with you. So.. at the school parking lot it looked like Noah's ark- trucks, horse trailers left any which way, everyone with a pet was up there. Dogs on leashes galore. No one could leave anything in a car since it was over 100 degrees... so just picture a line of 300 panicking parents, 100 barking dogs and horses and horse trailers in smoke and ash.. it was.. awesome.
While in said line, which of course moved up at a snails pace they decide to send out the emergency call to evacuate. This means that now EVERYONE has to be called and show up with ID and pick up their kid. There is no waiting until 2:30 to get in the drive though lane (which it jammed with horses) Pure chaos. We got home and later that evening we got a robo call from school 'thanking everyone for their patience as they followed their safety procedures' (well I was there there were alot of NOT patient people, I guess this is the new rule on changing parental behavior) and they were 'proud to announce all students were safely released to an emergency contact by 5 pm" Are you kidding?! it took them 5 hours?! What if this was an actual emergency??? Call 911??? I'd actually be surprised if there weren't parents calling 911 from the back of the line.
Yet another check in the "homeschool next year" column. Because in the unlikely event of an actual emergency you just can't depend on them handling it they way you'd like them to.
And now I bet they will add a new drill to the school drills- fire, earthquake, lockdown and now fire-surrounding-the-school drills.
So.. since our earthy possessions were not reduced to ash I have started culling and packing things. The fire and packing the cars to evacuate gave real perspective on life, though - everything priceless and irreplaceable easily fit in the car. The rest is mostly for sale on Craiglist.
Edited to Add: Bragging moment:
One of my kids tested highest in his class on all the standardized tests. Of both classes. His sister was close behind.
While I don't usually take this testing stuff seriously or brag about it- this time it means something because of THAT other parent. You know the one that on an open house night with EVERYOTHER parent there she has to make sure she asks if the teacher it up to teaching her more advanced children? Because they're so brilliant and all.. And she asks several times in a few different ways because they need to be taught more and challenged, etc... etc... YES. My twins beat your twins.!! But I won't be making any announcement to the class. just here. Although I guess next year those top spots will be open again for her kids.. bah.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Am I just that cranky today?
We're only 2 days into Larry's week of night call so I really shouldn't be that cranky yet. But this afternoon I was considering joining one of those species that eats their young. Not that I really would, but...
A prime example of the day was at "parent pick up" time. Other schools have school buses. We all have to get into one of 2 assigned lines and wait for a teacher with a megaphone to call our kids to the curb. TODAY 2 kids decide to do the 'no you go in first' dance while the rest of the dozens of parents/kids wait for them to GET.IN.THE.CAR Next time I leave their butts. Seriously. I threatened to do that when one of my dear cherubs decided to not hear her name called maybe 12 times, ignored her sibling who went to get her, so she could finish her game/conversation.
So I bring that home to try to keep them from killing each other or inciting others to kill them. I know when they were little my goal was to raise them to be perfect little beings. Now I'm just happy that when they finally fall asleep that they're all still alive. Today they had to fight over a pencil (twice, actually) we easily have 100 pencils here. THIS pencil, was worth 1000 pencils, of course, and it wasn't like they were even doing homework with it! No, better, they were writing in each other's notebooks either scribbling nonsense or calling each other names in writing. But wait! It gets better in the course of the pencil snatching, running away/holding it behind their back/you-can't-get-it game that was going on, someone gets stabbed in the face with the pencil. FAILING parenting here. And I quit before someone looses an eye and I get to explain THAT to the emergency room.
So I finally get them in bed, confiscate the flashlights and all other forms of light that are allowing them to fight sleep and I see a "you must see" military tribute movie.. ok. I need SOMETHING to put me in a better more before I end up eating chocolate with wine and playing some stupid game on the computer.. Ah, it has world war II vets, that's touching. Yes, that war sucked and no the current generation doesn't get it. Oh, wait, there's saluting.. OK, yeah, I can see the Vets saluting the new guys, it's a respect thing.. no wait.. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? DIRECTOR!! Did you research military protocol? The civilian kids don't saulte! Civilians don't salute. Sure stand in respect.. but. ARGH. We have been a military family too long. I can no longer watch all those stupid military feel good things without pointing out the incorrect stuff about it. Medical shows, also gone. The leaves the shows on vampires, which is just so ... eh.. Maybe if we had cable I'd watch something with food. Or not. Then I'd be hungry.
Yep it's just a cranky nothing going to fix this sort of night. I'll go find the chocolate. Chocolate fixes everything but my clothing size.
A prime example of the day was at "parent pick up" time. Other schools have school buses. We all have to get into one of 2 assigned lines and wait for a teacher with a megaphone to call our kids to the curb. TODAY 2 kids decide to do the 'no you go in first' dance while the rest of the dozens of parents/kids wait for them to GET.IN.THE.CAR Next time I leave their butts. Seriously. I threatened to do that when one of my dear cherubs decided to not hear her name called maybe 12 times, ignored her sibling who went to get her, so she could finish her game/conversation.
So I bring that home to try to keep them from killing each other or inciting others to kill them. I know when they were little my goal was to raise them to be perfect little beings. Now I'm just happy that when they finally fall asleep that they're all still alive. Today they had to fight over a pencil (twice, actually) we easily have 100 pencils here. THIS pencil, was worth 1000 pencils, of course, and it wasn't like they were even doing homework with it! No, better, they were writing in each other's notebooks either scribbling nonsense or calling each other names in writing. But wait! It gets better in the course of the pencil snatching, running away/holding it behind their back/you-can't-get-it game that was going on, someone gets stabbed in the face with the pencil. FAILING parenting here. And I quit before someone looses an eye and I get to explain THAT to the emergency room.
So I finally get them in bed, confiscate the flashlights and all other forms of light that are allowing them to fight sleep and I see a "you must see" military tribute movie.. ok. I need SOMETHING to put me in a better more before I end up eating chocolate with wine and playing some stupid game on the computer.. Ah, it has world war II vets, that's touching. Yes, that war sucked and no the current generation doesn't get it. Oh, wait, there's saluting.. OK, yeah, I can see the Vets saluting the new guys, it's a respect thing.. no wait.. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? DIRECTOR!! Did you research military protocol? The civilian kids don't saulte! Civilians don't salute. Sure stand in respect.. but. ARGH. We have been a military family too long. I can no longer watch all those stupid military feel good things without pointing out the incorrect stuff about it. Medical shows, also gone. The leaves the shows on vampires, which is just so ... eh.. Maybe if we had cable I'd watch something with food. Or not. Then I'd be hungry.
Yep it's just a cranky nothing going to fix this sort of night. I'll go find the chocolate. Chocolate fixes everything but my clothing size.
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