7 Quick Takes Friday

1. It’s a baseball summer around here!! Wild Man is playing baseball at least 4 days a week. So far, his traveling team is undefeated!! And, of course, since we all bleed LSU purple and gold, we watched the College World Series this week and celebrated mightily when the Tigers won!

2. Rosie Girl came home from camp with a little bit of a sore throat last Friday. She has had some pus right in one crypt of her left tonsil (actually a little bit of superior tonsillar tissue that’s not part of the tonsil itself) but without much sore throat. We’ve been watching this get bigger and smaller for a week. I talked to our doctor on Thursday and we decided to have her looked at if it’s not completely gone by next week. In the meantime, I have her trying to gargle with Listerine or else swab some on that spot. What a frustration!! There’s definitely a downside to being a doctor. I know that she doesn’t have strep and doesn’t need antibiotics right now, but I also know that a crypt that keeps plugging up will eventually cause a true tonsillitis. I hate waiting! (Quick, what movie is that from?)

3. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that we’re going to have to follow something of a schedule next year if Rosie Girl is going to finish all of her work to get the credit hours for high school. (The alternative is to let her do whatever she wants and try to sort out later what it all amounts to – not my cup of tea, and she won’t willingly do enough of some subjects to please a college entrance committee. Besides, she’s pretty happy about having a plan to follow.) I have all the books on my desk and am setting about putting the schedule together in Homeschool Tracker Plus (which is an excellent program, by the way).

4. Wild Man is going to be in the Middle School Band next year. He’s already taken drum lessons privately, so he had a drum pad, but his band director said that he needs a bell set. OK, no big deal, right. Wrong! These things are $300+ new and $200+ used! Yikes. I should have encouraged him to play trumpet or clarinet – we already have those instruments. But, the music store is renting us a used bell set for $15/month. Not great, but we can still buy groceries.

5. Rosie Girl couldn’t sleep last night – and I never can sleep – so we sat up and talked for almost an hour about literature. We discussed how I got a bad grade on a paper in college because I didn’t understand The Prince by Machiavelli and how much I love Paradise Lost by Milton even though I typically despise epic poetry. She told me about the fantasy books she’s reading and how there are so many similarities and who she thinks influenced whom. I think these are the things that are going to protect her from making bad life choices more than lectures and scary filmstrips. Knowing that Mom and Dad love her and want to hear from her is so important.

6. I got the kids to write to their great-grandmother this week. Rosie Girl had no problem. She just went to the computer and wrote a nice little letter about her life and wishing her Grammy well. Wild Man was quite another story. I asked him to dictate his letter to me, but he completely clammed up. I finally started pretending to be Grammy and asking him questions the Grammy would ask them (she’s 94 but pretty spunky) and finally got some good stuff from him. I’m going to have to remember this during the coming school year when he needs to write. He doesn’t do well yet with just a prompt. He needs specific questions.

7. I bought three new dresses this week (two of which were on sale) from Lands’ End. This is an event for me. I even called my mom. She was proud of me!! I haven’t been much of a clothes shopper since high school, but I really haven’t been into shopping for clothes the last couple of years. I’m pretty much a jeans and T-shirt or sweatshirt kind of gal, ya know. During the summer, I love wearing loose, comfy dresses. My last three were purchased at Goodwill about three years ago, but I’ve had no luck this year with quality second-hand stuff. Mr. Math Tutor also bought shoes today – he had to buy expensive running shoes because he’s been having foot pain for about 3 months now. The way we live here is to not have very many (or very exciting) clothes, but have good ones (I like to buy second-hand, but it’s not always easy). My dresses will probably last a good long time. Mr. Math Tutor is going to have to wear his running shoes pretty much all the time until his feet quit hurting. But, I don’t mind buying him good shoes, especially when it’s one pair at a time!!

So, that’s it for my 7 (not so) Quick Takes. Check out Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes Friday posts!!