Looking Back at 2012

I’m not going to miss 2012. It wasn’t the best year I’ve ever had. There were good things, but there were plenty of not-so-good things.

2012 was largely defined by my headaches. In January, we found that my creatinine level was elevated, so my doctor took me off of meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication. My creatinine stayed high, so I ended up visiting a kidney specialist and finding out that I have mild kidney damage from years on this medication. On a brighter note, my creatinine was back to normal a couple of weeks ago!

Stopping the meloxicam, though, cranked up my headaches. Sooooo, it was back to a neurologist. This time, though, I’m seeing a guy who’s pretty new and who impresses me with his thoroughness. He also has a good bedside manner – very important when dealing all day with people with migraines. I’ve had a couple of rounds of Botox with just minimal relief. Unfortunately, I also fell and hit my head several months ago which triggered a worsening of the headaches. Yeah, 2012 wasn’t really my year.

On to some good things, though! The Knitting Nest is doing better than we could have hoped for. We have been so happy with the response of yarn crafters to our shop. I love getting to knit for a living! PWM does most of the “hard” stuff – like going to work every day!! I don’t have to go in when I have a bad headache (which has been a lot this year) and I get to knit at home or at the shop. It’s a great job!

Rosie Girl has had a really good year. The big thing that happened for her is that she went to Music Camp at UWSP and discovered that she really does love music composition. She’s been taking composition lessons this Fall which has been confirming for her that she wants to study composition in college. Speaking of college, she will be going to UWSP next fall! She still has to audition for the College of Fine Arts, but she’s been accepted into the University. It’s hard to believe that my little girl is 17 1/2 years old.

Wild Man started high school this year which kind of freaked me out, but which he took in stride. He’s in the high school marching band, but he much prefers his time in the church youth worship band. He will try to play anything resembling a guitar – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, mandolin. He has even convinced his sister to give him keyboard/music theory lessons.

That was 2012. Here’s praying for a happy and healthy 2013!!

Music

Our family LOVES music. Obviously. I play piano and clarinet and have been known to sing in a church choir or two. PWM plays acoustic guitar and bass guitar as well as doing sound for the worship team at church. In high school, he played clarinet, trumpet, and drums (but not all at the same time). Rosie Girl is outshining both of us musically, playing piano, acoustic (nylon string) guitar, ocarina, and clarinet (a little); arranging and composing music; and planning to study music composition next year in college. Wild Man is musical but managing to be different from us all. He plays percussion in the high school band. In the youth worship band, he plays drum kit, acoustic guitar, and bass guitar while on Sunday mornings, he and a few other teenagers lead worship for the children’s ministry.

Now that I’ve laid down our family’s music-loving credentials, I’ll tell you that the point of this post is to express appreciation for all the artists out there who are making beautiful instrumental music that continues to fascinate and inspire my children. When I was younger, I loved listening to Chopin and Debussy, but I doubt that there were many of my friends who shared such tastes. And, even with those tastes, I still didn’t turn to NPR or other classical sources for most of my music. Baroque and Classical didn’t do much for me at the time.

My kids, though, are loving a wide variety of musical eras due to artists like The Piano Guys. They’ve got some amazingly beautiful Beethoven and Bach reimagined musically and then videotaped in some amazing scenes. And then there’s the very silly Rockabel’s Canon (well, the video is silly – the arrangement is still beautiful). Even the pop songs sound less “pop” when done on grand piano and cello.

One of Rosie Girl’s passions is movie and video game soundtracks. She has several movie soundtracks that she can tell you the action and dialogue that is happening throughout the entire score. And explain why the composer made the choices he/she did. A couple of weekends ago, Rosie Girl and I spend a “Girls’ Weekend” in the Twin Cities and saw the Zelda Symphony. Because of the 25th anniversary of the Zelda video game series, the composers had put together the music of the series into a symphony. It was amazing! Rosie Girl and I loved it. And there were two harps!! The Zelda video games were what got Rosie Girl playing ocarina. In fact, at music camp this summer, Rosie Girl composed a piece for ocarina and piano.

These are the kinds of things that are getting my kids excited about instruments besides piano and guitar. I’m not sure Wild Man is going to be asking for cello lessons anytime soon, but I love that he’s listening to these “classical” instruments and isn’t turned off by them like so many teens have been in the last few decades.

When the kids were younger, I would put classical music on to play while they were doing their schoolwork. They didn’t complain. These days, they quite often have their ipods on while they are working and I don’t complain because they are usually listening to one of the soundtracks or Piano Guys. Generally, they manage to choose things that have a rhythm that helps them focus – especially good for Wild Man.

Music is not some accident of nature. It’s wired into us. Not everyone is as talented as my kids at making music, but I dare say that almost all of us enjoy it at some level. And God enjoys our making music. Entire families were devoted to making music in the temple. The whole book of Psalms is music to be sung to God – everything from laments to wild praises! And the New Testament also tells us to continue to sing hymns and psalms. All of this music is like part of nature – it points us to the beauty of God. And I’m so thankful.

A Girls’ Weekend

The Rosie Girl and I spent Saturday and Sunday together on a Girls’ Weekend – being girls together and having fun. I’d share photos, but I only took a couple. I’ll just share  memories instead.

• We shared the driving from Weyauwega to Minneapolis and listened to Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card most of the time. Interspersed we had some serious conversations about religion and life.
• I’m really glad Rosie Girl is old enough to drive.
• We were hobbits and had breakfast when we left home and then second breakfast a few hours later.
• When we reached our hotel, I took a nap (because I’d slept so poorly the night before) while Rosie Girl researched whether we could take public transportation to the Mall of America and/or the concert that night. Short answer – no.
• After my nap, we drove to the Mall of American for dinner and shopping. And, can I just say, thank you, Minneapolis for all your clear driving instructions through the construction – NOT! Thankfully, Rosie Girl reads quickly.
• For dinner, we went to Bubba Gump’s and shared snow crab legs. Wow. Yummy.
• Then, a quick stop at Hot Topic for Rosie Girl to find some more T-shirts (like she needs any more!) before we were off to the concert.
• We needed to drive west for one exit and then go north into downtown Minneapolis to the Orpheum theater. Unfortunately, it was about 7pm and the sun was directly in our eyes. Despite sunglasses, Rosie Girl and I were completely blinded. I couldn’t see the cars in front of me or the barricades beside me (again, thank you, Minneapolis construction!) and Rosie Girl couldn’t read the signs because of the sun!! Talk about stressed! Rosie Girl had me just keep going for another couple exits till we got to the exit for our hotel where we knew we could turn around and then go east to find the correct exit to go north.
• We got to the Orpheum theater and parked in time for the concert – Zelda Orchestra: Symphony of the Goddesses!
• Talk about geek heaven!! Rosie Girl didn’t change into her costume until we got to the theater, but there were tons of folks of all ages already in costume when we got there! Some were costumes purchased online or in costume shops, others were homemade, while others (like Rosie Girl’s) were a combination of thrift shop and homemade.
• The Orpheum Theater is beautiful! I have no idea how old it is, but it has been restored and looks amazing. We were in balcony (aka cheap) seats, and could see so much. It was gorgeous!
• The symphony conductor is a woman! I realize I should not be shocked, especially since I went to medical school at a time when women were still a minority. But I was still surprised since I’ve never seen a woman conduct in person.
• The conductor was just wonderful, but her jacket was atrocious. She wore what looked like a black suit with pants, but the jacket had ruffles on the back right on the butt that were just awful. Thankfully, the music more than made up for it.
• And the music was, indeed, amazing!! They had two harps!!
• On a large video screen, there was footage from the game that went along with what the orchestra was playing. I understood some of it really well, but some of it I was completely unfamiliar with. But the music was wonderful!
• At intermission, Rosie Girl got a T-shirt and a poster.
• I can’t say enough good things about the music. What was really cool was that I was used to hearing it while the other three family members played the video game, but hearing it played by a symphony was like going from 2 dimensions to 3 dimensions. Wow.
• Saturday night, Rosie Girl and I stayed up and I listened to her chatter for about an hour about music, Zelda, and books.
• We were a bit disappointed that there was no free continental breakfast in the morning, but that motivated us to get moving and get to the Mall of America.
• When we got to the Mall, we had manicures at an Aveda salon – something we’ve never had done before.
• The next few hours were spent shopping (I got some cute tops at Lane Bryant) and generally sight seeing.
• The hardest part of the trip was coming home! We were both tired and had a hard time staying awake, so we traded off frequently. At every stop, the next driver would get some soda and run around outside in the chilly air.
• But, the best part of the trip was coming home because we were very glad to get home to PWM and Wild Man – and to tell them about the amazing concert and all the fun we had!

2012-2013 Curriculum

By this time of the year five years ago, I had curriculum and books purchased and was scheduling out our year week by week. By this time of year two years ago, I had curriculum and books purchased and was planning the year although I hadn’t gotten around to actual scheduling. By this time of year last year, I had everything purchased and was hoping we got most of it done. Right now, I have a general plan, but haven’t actually purchased any curriculum.

And this is Rosie Girl’s senior year of high school (or, for the more unschooling in the world, it’s her last year of being educated at home). Which kind of freaks me out. I’m not concerned that she’s not ready for college – she has great ACT scores and is clearly academically ready. I’m not emotionally prepared to be the mother of a high school graduate. YIKES!! But it does have the advantage that I’m no longer responsible for her education

Here is the general plan:

Rosie Girl

English – Sonlight Core 450 – British Literature (lots of reading, some writing)

Social Science

Semester 1 – American Government – The Everything American Government Book (with some supplements, I’m sure)

Semester 2 – Sociology – I don’t know what text we’ll use, but I have a degree in Sociology, so I’m confident we’ll figure something out.

Math

Semester 1 – Dave Ramsey Personal Finance

Semester 2 – Basic Probability and Statistics (probably using ALEKS)

Comparative Religion – Hippocampus using World Religions in America

Tap Dance at Dance Dynamics

Piano Lessons

Music Composition Lessons

Community Service – helping the Worship Arts Director at church every week.

 

Wild Man

English

Spelling – Spelling Power

Writing – Excellence in Writing, maybe WriteAtHome

Literature – American Literature from Sonlight Core 100

History – Sonlight Core 100 (Rosie Girl did Core 100 three years ago, so all I need to buy is the Instructors Guide and a few new books) – American History

Math – Algebra 1

Bible – Starting with N.T. Wright’s The Bible for Everyone: Revelation because that’s Wild Man’s current interest. From there, who knows what he’ll study?

Science – Singapore Biology with lab

Marching Band at the local high school

Possibly hip-hop class

Community service at the Senior Nutrition Site

 

How prepared are you for the new school year?

Fort Wilderness Memories 2012

This was our tenth year of going to Family Camp at Fort Wilderness and it was wonderful, as usual! Here are some highlights.

• Rosie Girl and I picked up Wild Man from camp on Friday and the three of us stayed in Rhinelander, went to see Brave, and did Wild Man’s laundry.
• Wild Man had a great time at Built to Live Camp where he got his Hunter Safety certification. It was incredibly hot during the week of his camp, so they spent lots of time swimming and playing games involving water.
• On Friday night, I did an assessment of Wild Man’s injuries – sun rash from his first day which was just fading, blister on his little toe which looked like another toe, various bruises. But, he didn’t complain – he said it was a great week!
• PWM stayed here in town until the shop closed and then drove to camp. He made it just in time for dinner.
• Stuart and Jill Briscoe were the teachers for the week. I felt smarter just listening to them because of their British accents! Well, they’re really smart, too!
• 
• It was also pretty cool that they both taught. Jill would start each session with a few thoughts, then Stuart would do the main teaching, then Jill would wrap up.
• Both kids stayed in the sessions with us to listen to the Briscoes instead of going to the high school group. They like the guy who does the high school teaching, but they preferred listening to Stuart. And I thought it was pretty cool to be all together.
• The Briscoes taught on holiness this week. Lots of good stuff for everyone.
• We met a family this week that was there for the first time and they have just moved to Milwaukee from England. The kids (even the two year old) have adorable British accents)!
• I am still following my migraine diet, although I did loosen things up for the week we were there. I only had 1 piece of bacon on the mornings when it was available. The only chocolate I had was in mint chocolate chip ice cream. And I did have a couple of Cokes. Overall, not too bad.
• On the headache front, though, my headaches weren’t any better, despite the Botox. I had two definite migraines along with the daily headaches. One of them was Thursday night, so I missed some of the last session. On the upside, though, the kids did all the packing. (Really, though, I’d have been happy to pack if I could have avoided the migraine!)
• Rosie Girl made a basket on Tuesday. I actually don’t have a picture of it – bummer. Anyway, take my word for it – it’s beautiful with blue and green stripes.
• PWM and Wild Man were in the carpetball tournament, but both were beaten pretty early this year.
• 
• In more important news, I beat Christopher in carpetball!! He proceeded to turn around and beat me right back, but I have the satisfaction of beating him once in my life!
• 
• PWM and Wild Man did lots of riflery during the week. PWM, Wild Man, and Rosie Girl all did some archery and Wild Man won the tournament, receiving a coupon for a double scoop of ice cream!
• 
• The weather for Wild Man’s week at Built to Live camp was awful – temperatures in the upper 90s with high humidity. He said that they went swimming a couple of times a day and had water breaks every hour or so, no matter what they were doing. The day that Family Camp started, though, the weather improved dramatically. For Family Camp, the highs were in the 70s to low 80s and the lows were in the 50s to 60s. Absolutely perfect!
• 

Now that we are home, we have embarked on Laundrypalooza 2012 and resting up for Family Camp 2013!!

So, how has your summer been?

7 Quick Takes Friday–December 10, 2011

 

Yep, I missed Friday again.  I guess I didn’t completely miss it.  I mean, I was here.  I just forgot to do any blogging.  But, I’ve remembered now and I’ve got plenty to say!

1. Last Sunday, Wild Man played Congas (hand drums) to accompany two singers and a guitar player at our church’s Women’s Christmas Tea.  What a wonderful job they all did!  It’s hard to believe sometimes that he’s just 13.

 

2. On Thursday night, Wild Man played percussion with the rest of the 7th and 8th grade band at the Middle School.  It was a wonderful concert!!

 

3. Rosie Girl got her PSAT scores yesterday and they were quite good, particularly the reading and writing scores.

 

4. Wild Man was in the other room playing bass guitar when Rosie Girl got home yesterday.  She went in to show him her scores and he was very excited for her.  I love seeing my kids happy for each other!

 

5. Wild Man is playing drums today at a Christian camp Christmas event – I’m sure he’s having a blast.  He’s such a performer at heart.

 

6. Rosie Girl was sick last week and only got to work a couple of hours (and missed her piano recital, although she wasn’t too terribly upset since performance isn’t her favorite thing), but she’s working a full day today which will make her bank account happy!

 

7. I’m still slowly increasing my Topamax.  I think the migraines are marginally better, but the side effects are annoying (well, except for the loss of appetite).

 

So, how was your week?!  Anything exciting?!  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

Lagniappe

I woke up about an hour ago with a migraine.  I’m not having a good feeling about today.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t have some blog fun!  And by blog fun, I mean that I’ll write about my life and you, hopefully, will enjoy reading it.  So, let’s get started.

1. Yes, I still have chronic migraine and, no, we still haven’t found a cure.  It does provide me with plenty of surprises, though.  I’m never quite sure when the headache is going to get rip-roaring bad.  I’m having to pretend to be a Boy Scout – “be prepared”.

 

2. When I have a bad migraine but still need to interact with the world (which I try to avoid), I have taken a clue from the penguins from Madagascar – “Smile and wave, boys, just smile and wave”.  It kind of works.

 

3. Rosie Girl writes a paper every week, with the topic varying among Bible, History, or Literature.  She wrote a very nice essay explaining why she didn’t particularly like Murder on the Orient Express.  She spent all day yesterday writing a short story.  She said that it’s kind of like fan fiction with some Hetalia characters (don’t ask, I don’t keep up with all her anime and manga!) that takes place during the great fire of Peshtigo, WI.

 

4. Wild Man has been using voice recognition software (apparently, it’s part of Windows 7) to help him with spelling when he is doing his daily journals.  It’s great because it requires him to articulate which was hard enough before braces, but has become a real challenge with that palate expander in place.  It also means that he doesn’t have to ask me how to spell every other word.  Pretty cool.

 

5. Our family’s favorite football teams, the LSU Tigers and the Green Bay Packers, are having great seasons.  Apparently, the WI Badgers are also doing well, although we only pay attention to them tangentially.  Sadly, we decided last night that we should support the Brewers since they had a chance of going to the World Series and all of our other friends are huge Brewers fans.  It was a short relationship.  I’m sure the Brewers did their best, but it just  didn’t work.  We’ll have to see about whether we’ll try again next year.

 

6. In two weeks, we (as in, The Knitting Nest) will be participating in BooFest on Main Street.  We’ll give out candy, teach finger knitting, and wear costumes.  Actually, I think PWM will take care of that while I hide in the back room from all the children.  I need Xanax to handle large numbers of kids.  PWM loves it, though.  I’ll just keep an eye on that extra candy.  We wouldn’t want the kiddoes to eat too much chocolate, now, would we?  Of course not.  So, I’ll take care of that.

 

7. Have you heard the new Shaun Groves album, Third World Symphony?  What are you waiting for?  This is a wonderful album that I’m sure you’re going to love!  Check out Shaun’s website!

 

Since 7 is the number of completion and perfection, I’ll be done now.  Besides, my brain is a little fuzzy from this migraine.  I’m off to knit.  I hope you have a wonderful day without migraine, but with lots of fun and love.

 

Growing Up

About a year ago, I read Escaping the Endless Adolescence, a wonderful book that deals with the issue of young adults and their lack of maturity.  Having two adolescents in my home made this particularly pertinent for me.  This week, I’ve seen the authors’ thesis played out in front of me.  Basically, the authors point out that teenagers are not maturing as we would expect them to because they are given very little real challenge in their lives.  How can this be, when they are taking AP classes, playing sports, and generally being very busy?  Teens are having trouble connecting much of what they do with “real life”, so they feel like they are (and, in many cases, really are) living in a bubble.  Many adolescents spend most of their time around other adolescents.  They go to school, practice sports or music, and maybe even have a job, but they have a hard time connecting it to their anticipated adult life.  Yes, their grades are important, but college stands between them and “a real job” in many cases.  The authors point out that teens quite often “step up to the plate” when given adult responsibilities with appropriate feedback.

So, how does this relate to my life?  In the last week, The Knitting Nest started getting our yarn and other product shipments.  Earlier this week, Wild Man helped PWM inventory and price a bunch of the yarn as well as put together the wire display cubes and putting the yarn in the cubes.  You can tell that it’s Wild Man’s work because the yarn balls are all lined up nice and straight.  Yes, he likes order.  Rosie Girl spent all day today working with PWM to price and display more of the yarn.  (And they’re not done!)  Both kids have been very proud of their work in the shop during the last few days.  Wild Man was sick last week and watched more TV than anyone should watch, but he didn’t seem to miss his daily dose of Disney Channel this week.  The kids have been paid with drinks from the local coffee shop; clearly, it’s not money that’s motivating them.  They enjoy seeing that their effort is important.  All the yarn that they price is yarn that PWM and I don’t have to price.

One of the reasons that we teach our kids at home is because we don’t think that a school environment where kids are with their peers all day every day is the best thing for them.  We want them to be comfortable with people of all ages.  We also want them to learn to work.  We’ve been deliberate about giving them work to do here at home, including their own laundry.  Wild Man works at the Senior Nutrition Site helping to get Meals on Wheels ready as well as being one of the helpers in children’s church.  Rosie Girl works with our Worship Arts Director, helping with paperwork and making chord sheets.  It really seems that home education works in our favor in this case.

I have no idea how my kids are going to “turn out” – that’s largely between them and God.  However, based on what I’ve been reading and how I’ve seen my kids interact with the world, I’m pretty optimistic.

7 Quick Takes Friday–July 15, 2011

Friday, once again!! I celebrated my 44^th birthday yesterday, so today's post is all about July 14, 2011.

1. I was awakened by PWM and Wild Man who had made chocolate chip pancakes – my favorite! They had a candle in the pancakes that I blew out. When I pulled the candle out, the very bottom was just a string – the wax had melted in the hot pancakes! We cut the very center bit of the pancakes out so I didn't get a big bite of wax!

2. We met with a sales representative for several yarn companies yesterday from 10:30am-1:30pm. I have learned my lesson – sales meetings take at least twice as long as I expect.

3. After our meeting, I went up to church to hang out with our Worship Arts Director for a little while before my counseling appointment. PWM and the kids had stopped at Dairy Queen and picked up an ice cream cake and brought it to church for me to enjoy with my friends. Unfortunately, the cake was so frozen that we couldn't even get the knife through it! I put it int the church refrigerator and my friends and I had some after my counseling appointment.

4. The kids were both at sleepovers last night, so PWM and I had the house to ourselves. Don't worry, though, there's still cake in the freezer for them.

5. Wild Man is staying with a friend of his whose family owns a large dairy farm. He went over yesterday afternoon and is staying until Youth Band practice tomorrow afternoon. When he's over there, he works right along with the other kids. While this is a wonderful thing for him to do, it does mean that he's going to be pretty sore on Sunday and Monday. It's good for him, though.

6. PWM made steaks, broccoli, buttered corn, and garlic bread for our dinner last night. It was a perfect birthday dinner!

7. A birthday tradition in our family is that my parents always sing Happy Birthday over the phone to me. In harmony. It makes me feel very loved.

How was your week? Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

Lagniappe 5/25/2011

Just an update on what is going on in our little family.

• Wild Man got Rock Band Beatles for Wii for his birthday and it has become one of his favorite games.
• Rosie Girl is making bracelets with flags on them based on one of the anime shows that she watches.  She’s probably going to sell them on Etsy – I’ll post a link if she does.
• Wild Man is doing lots of practice on his drum set and he’s becoming pretty good.
• Wild Man has also been practicing bass guitar.
• After a visit with the accountant today, we’ve made some decisions about the yarn shop that mean that we may be able to get started without a bank loan.  Yippee!!
• The Weyauwega Fiber Arts Circle afternoons and evenings have been going great!  We had six women at the Circle this afternoon and three last week on Thursday afternoon.
• The elementary school knitting club is finished, but we’re going to be doing a knitting/crochet club at the library over the summer.
• I’m working diligently on my Fair Isle sweater, but it’s slow going.  Items for the County Fair have to be finished by July 26th, so I have to keep moving.
• PWM is knitting a hat and I’m learning crochet.
• Next week is stage rehearsal and dress rehearsal for Rosie Girl’s tap class.  It’s always a busy week, but worth it!

OK, that’s it.  Nothing deep today.

Lagniappe–5/4/2011

1. We had ten kids at knitting club yesterday – it was a blast!!  Of course, now I’m exhausted and sore from leaning over kids to help them knit.  Last week, we got the first nine casting on.  This week, we got those nine knitting.  We had another girl in the club and she learned to cast on and to knit all in one day.  I’m going to see if the kids are interested in continuing through the summer at the library.  I’m honestly having a lot more fun than I expected with this project.

2. I’m going to start on the rest of my Fair Isle sweater soon.  I was going to start last night until I realized that the socks I’m knitting are on one of the needles that I need.  Oops!

3. I’m working on a business plan and spreadsheet for our yarn shop venture.  Wow – I’m learning a ton!

4. We still have the Christmas lights inside the house and around the front door up.  I think we’ll try to get those taken care of in the next few days!

5. Wild Man turned 13 on Sunday.  He’s having a Nerf Darts party on Saturday.  I’m so not ready for this!

6. Along with turning 13, Wild Man’s appetite seems to be increasing.  Since breakfast this morning, he’s had lunch at the Senior Nutrition Site and then the equivalent of two more meals here at home.  I’m not sure if we’ll be afford to keep him!!

7. We finally got some sunshine today!!  Yippee!!  At the rate we were going, I was afraid we’d all be Vitamin D deficient in month or so.

Catching Up 5/1/2011

Just a list of what’s been going on around here!

1. Today Wild Man turns 13!!  I am the mother of two teenagers!!  Ack!

2. Since Wild Man is 13, he’s getting his own Facebook account.  Ack!!

3. PWM and I are feeling a little stalled on the yarn shop thing.  We are meeting with a friend who knows a lot about business stuff to pick his brain and sort out the next step.  I’ve been working on our business plan and have even learned some basic spreadsheet stuff.  So, despite feeling stalled, I guess we are progressing, albeit slowly.

4. I’ve got several hats and bags up at the coffee shop for sale.

5. I came up with a great idea for a purse, but it didn’t work out.  I wanted to have cables up the purse that extended into the handles.  Unfortunately, I chose a kind of cable that is not the same right side up and upside down so I can’t hook up the cables from one side to another.  Do I rip it out and start over?  Try to do another kind of handle so I don’t have to start all over?  Think about it tomorrow?

6. Wild Man and PWM both passed their Tae Kwon Do test for green tip belts!!

7. Rosie Girl played at Piano Festival yesterday and felt like she did pretty well.

8. I was up most of the night with a migraine, so I’m feeling like a wet dishrag at the moment.  I’ve got a lot of things bouncing around in my head, but it’s quite the mess up there, so I’ll write more when I’m a little more awake.

That’s all for the moment. 

Moral Messages In Media?

This post is inspired by a friend’s comment on Facebook about the movie “Tangled”.  Our family watched “Tangled” last night (and the kids put it on the DVD again this morning) and just loved it!  The animation is amazing, the plot is interesting, the characters have depth, and it’s just a fun movie!

Spoiler Alert!

The problem in the movie is that the hero starts out as a thief with very little in the way of redeeming qualities.  By the end of the movie, he is a good guy, but he never pays for his earlier actions.

You may have figured out by now that I have the ability to be a world-class worrier!!  I don’t practice that skill much any longer since I’m getting better at trusting God and not trying to control everything and everyone around me.  What are some of the media things I’ve worried about?

• 1. Cinderella – a girl only needs a man to be happy.
• 2. Beauty and the Beast – while it celebrates intellectual activities, the main character is not content with her life in the village and is disdainful of the villagers with “little minds”.
• 3. Pocahontas – a complete travesty of history with overtones of pantheism.
• 4. Harry Potter – I didn’t have issues with the witchcraft and wizardry, but rather with the hero’s ignoring the adults, breaking rules, and even using unforgivable curses.
• 5. Veggie Tales – telling Bible stories with silliness – can this be good?
• 6. Shrek – potty humor
• 7. Pirates of the Caribbean – Jack Sparrow – need I say more?

And I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.  There are no perfect books or movies.  And if there were, they’d be boring.  Even Bible stories often show people doing bad things and not always receiving the appropriate consequences.

So, should we shield our kids from anything that doesn’t have the appropriate “message”?  No.  When kids are very young, we should perhaps be careful to weight their books and movies (and lots more books than movies!) toward those with positive messages and generally good characters.  As our children get older, though, media can be a wonderful tool for both entertainment and education.  I’m not suggesting that we need to be overt in trying to teach our kids whenever we watch a movie or read a book.  Rather, we should make it a habit to read aloud to our kids (which we still do even though the kids are 12 and 15) and watch movies with our kids and make discussion a normal part of our family life.

This hasn’t come easily for me.  I’m learning to do my best as a parent and trust God for the outcomes.  While it does require work to be a good parent, it’s much easier than trying to be a perfect parent.  In observing families, it seems that the ones whose kids turn out confident and ready for the adult world are those who had good relationships in the family and who have been gradually given more responsibility.  We do have some hard and fast limits on our kids’ media exposure – no R-rated movies unless they are with a parent, no T-rated video games without parental approval, no more than 1 hour of media on weekdays, etc.  As they’ve gotten older, we’ve gradually loosened our limits (from PG movies to PG-13, etc.) but we still try to be involved and watch movies and read books with them and have discussions with them.

How do you handle media and moral messages with your kids?  Has it changed as the children have gotten older?

7 Quick Takes Friday – 3/25/2011

1. I still haven’t blogged about our trip to Universal Studios in Florida.  In summary, it was a total blast!!  More later.

2. Today was Day #4 of a migraine.  I start to get really crabby after about 2 days.  Thankfully, it appears to be a good  bit better.

3. We watched MegaMind tonight.  That is one of the best family films I’ve seen in a long time.  Entirely too often, my mind gets distracted because the plot is dragging, or there’s just a bunch of action animation.  This one, though, was entertaining to the end.

4. We got eight inches of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Unfortunately, it also rained, so there were layers of snow and ice.  I drove Wild Man to church last night, and he and I scraped/pushed/otherwise removed a good three inches of snow and ice from the top of the car.

5. However, my family is determined that it really is springtime, so we got a watermelon!!

6. Between the winter blahs and the colds/sinus infections in this house, we are ready for warmer weather and to open the windows!  Rosie Girl and PWM still have left-overs of their colds and Wild Man was diagnosed with sinusitis on Tuesday.  I’m the only one who hasn’t had an upper respiratory infection (fingers crossed, knock on wood!).

7. You know already that Rosie Girl plays piano and Wild Man plays percussion.  Rosie Girl also plays ocarina and got a double ocarina this week.  She is thrilled!!  The double ocarina gives here a much wider range to play.  Wild Man is now learning to play electric bass and doing quite well.

I’m not feeling terribly verbose today, so it’s a short post.  Check out what other people are up to at 7 Quick Takes Friday.

Snow Day!

The winter storm started yesterday with mixed rain and sleet.  Then we had some snow, then more icy rain but this time with thunder and lightening.  And, of course, I had a migraine.  Let me tell you, though, listening to the sleet hit the windows while it was thundering and lightening last night was a strange experience.  I always think of snow storms as being generally quiet, or maybe having a little howling wind.  The thunder and lightening is supposed to come with rainstorms – and rain, not snow!

We took a snow day today like the public schools.  Normally, we continue with our regular work, but Rosie Girl is getting over a cold, Wild Man started yesterday on antibiotics for tonsillitis and sinusitis, PWM is on the tail end of a cold, and I have a migraine.  Yes, we’re quite the picture here.  Unfortunately, it’s going to be cold for several more days.  This is a problem because PWM and I feel like we need to open up the house, spray Lysol everywhere, and then leave for a few hours (or days).  We’re probably going to open up the house tomorrow anyway and just bundle up!

Today, PWM has read to us from The Hobbit.  Rosie Girl scanned one of her drawings into the computer and is working on it in Gimp (a graphics program).  Wild Man has been listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when I’ve had it on and has played Wii, even beating PWM at bowling.  PWM is working on some little projects around the house.  I’ve been working on some knitting.  At some point, PWM is going to deal with the snow, but it’s still coming down.

What do you do on bad weather days?

7 Quick Takes Friday – 2/18/2011

1. A migraine cure?  I watched a PBS special on the Donner Party this week.  Margret Reed was a member of the Donner party.  One reason that the family wanted to go to California was because Margret was plagued with “sick headaches”.  During the terrible winter in the mountains, however, she not only survived, but was considered one of the most brave.  After the family arrived in California, Margret had no more headaches.  Should I subject myself to a terrible winter ordeal in which half of my friends die in order to get rid of the migraines?  No, don’t think so!  (It’s unclear from what I’ve read whether or not Margret was one of the members who resorted to cannibalism.)

2. Rosie Girl is finishing her last Driver’s Ed classroom session tonight!  Her first drive is scheduled for next week, although she’s already driven around the school parking lot and then back home with PWM.  (And she did amazingly well – 100% – on the written test last week.)

3. I just finished listening to The Sisters Who Would Be Queen about Lady Jane Grey, Katharine Grey, and Mary Grey.  I am fascinated about the Tudor family and their role in British history and really enjoyed listening to this book while I was knitting.

4. Wild Man cooked dinner tonight for the family!  I’m so glad that my kids are learning these important skills.

5. My dad sent me a document a few days ago that was written by my great-aunt about my paternal grandfather.  My grandfather (known to everyone as Cavie) died before I was born, so I cherish this glimpse into his life and personality.

6. Rosie Girl and I have been listening to the music from Wicked since we went to see the show.  Wild Man has become hooked on The Dick Van Dyke Show.  He watches as many episodes as I’ll allow him each day!

7. I’ve been reading The War On the Weak, which is a history of eugenics in the US.  It’s really scary how far along the movement got.  Many of the leaders would have been happy to have all Native Americans, African Americans, and those of many other nationalities exterminated.  Unfortunately, we’re doing some of the same thing by allowing (and encouraging) abortion of children with birth defects (and even those who are just inconvenient).  If we don’t respect all life, we respect none.

Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others are up to!

What I Like About My Life Right Now – 2/15/2011

It’s been a rough couple of days around here with my insomnia and migraines.  It’s 3:15am and I’m still awake, although I don’t feel the need to have an icepack on my head.  Instead of complaining tonight (this morning?), I decided to regale you with a list of things I like about my life right now.

1. I’m allowed to sleep as late as I want in the morning.  When I was working, I was up between 5 and 6am (and sometimes had been up all night the night before).  Since I don’t have to be anywhere tomorrow, the insomnia won’t decimate the day tomorrow.  That’s pretty nice.

2. I totally love that my dear hubby bought me a single red rose (just like he did almost 20 years ago when he met me at the airport in Colorado Springs) and some truffles from a florist who recently opened a shop downtown.  It was sooooooo sweet – and made me forget the headache for a few minutes.

3. Christopher is the silliest boy that I know.  He loves to tell jokes and otherwise be crazy.  But, he can be serious, too.  He came back from H2O, the junior high youth group, last Thursday so excited not about the games (although he enjoyed those), but about the stories people told about how God was changing their lives!

4. Rosie Girl likes to talk to me.  She’s less interested in discussing school items, but she will talk up a blue streak about her anime and manga stuff as well as music.  Yesterday morning, she asked me about the history of various European countries because one of the anime shows she watches has characters that are personifications of the countries.  I don’t really understand all the stuff about the anime, but I do like getting to talk about things with my kids.

5. I like that we (the whole family) have real discussions.  Rosie Girl is reading Wicked right now.  One of her friends tried to read it but got bogged down early on.  (There’s a lot of political and religious commentary throughout the book).  Rosie Girl told me and PWM that she thinks she’s having an easier time with the book because we often having religious/philosophical discussions.

6. Of course, I’m loving yarn these days!  My Fair Isle sweater is coming along pretty well.  I was trying to figure out how to deal with all the ends since I change colors just about every round, but I’ve come up with a working solution that involves weaving in ends as I go.

7. As frustrated as I get with the difficulties of sticking with a schedule, I still love educating our kids at home.  Rosie Girl needs help with just Chemistry and Math, which PWM takes care of.  Wild Man is able to do more and more reading by himself.  I’m also going to start having him work on typing skills and copywork so that getting ideas on paper/screen is easier for him.  In the meantime, I like being around my kids.  They are really fun!

8. And I’m glad for my friends, especially the one who meets me on Thursday for a nice chat! 

So, that’s it for now.

What do you like about your life?

Our Week In Review – 2/5/2011

While the rest of the country was bombarded with snow and freezing weather, we had  our usual “Great White North” snow and freezing temperatures.  We did get fresh snow a couple of times this week.  Unfortunately, we also had one night with below zero temperatures – although, I guess, it’s good news if you like to ice fish or snowmobile on the frozen lakes.

Wild Man

I feel like Wild Man is getting short shrift these days with the school stuff.  He’s been reading a good bit, but we only got to spelling and grammar once this week.

He’s supposed to be learning about Central Asia, but we just got the two discs about Russia from Netflix that we’ve been reading some about Central Asia and then watching DVR stuff about Russia.

Wild Man is doing quite well in Math.  He is still using ALEKS and working on math facts with PWM.  He’s much more able these days to read and understand the explanations in ALEKS without PWM’s help.

Yesterday, Wild Man went over to Grandma’s and learned to sew a little bit.  He has no interest in other needle or fiber arts.  But, it’s important to know some sewing basics, and I’m glad that Grandma is teaching him.

Rosie Girl

Driver’s Ed started this week!  Rosie Girl was pretty overwhelmed on the first day of class, but is settling in pretty well.  The class did a practice test for temporary licenses (even though Rosie Girl already has hers) and Rosie Girl did wonderfully well.

PWM has been helping Rosie Girl with Chemistry this week since the chapter was on unit conversions (i.e. math) and energy.  It was very nice for me to have a break from Chemistry – and PWM is a good teacher.

The highlight of Rosie Girl’s week was Thursday night when she and I went to dinner and then to see Wicked at the PAC!  The show was wonderful!  (I would have loved to see the show on Broadway with Kristin Chenowith, but I can’t complain about the traveling cast that we saw.)

That was our week.  Not terribly exciting on the education front.  I’m going to try to do a little more Language Arts with Wild Man this week.  Otherwise, we’ll just keep moving forward.

How was your week?  Anything interesting happen?  Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have  been up to!

7 Quick Takes Friday – 2/4/2011

Friday!!  Yippee!!

1. Last night was Girls Night for me and Rosie Girl.  We went out for dinner and then to the Appleton PAC to see Wicked!!  The musical was absolutely wonderful!  I was concerned that our seats weren’t going to be very good, but we were on the first row of the highest tier, so we could see the whole stage very well and even down into the pit orchestra.

2. It looked like the bass player had an old-fashioned stand-up bass, but also had an Ashbory electric bass.  The reason that I know about the really cool little Ashbory is because that was PWM’s Christmas/birthday present last year.  And, he loves it!

3. It looks like my week is going to be taken up by LAUNDRY!!  I’m soooooo excited!  Usually I do laundry early in the week, but I never got to it this week.  It looks like tomorrow is laundry day around here.

4. Living in the Great White North, we are serious Green Bay Packer fans!  Wild Man, in particular, is really stoked about the upcoming game.  Go, Pack, Go!

5. I’ve become such a hermit that going out in the cold weather is a big deal for me.  When I was working, I’d sometimes have to go in to the hospital in the middle of the night during the coldest parts of the year.  PWM was a sweetheart and would often start the car for me.  In spite of that, I still had to deal with some serious cold weather.  In the last few years, I’ve become a Winter Wimp!

6. Now that I’ve seen Wicked, I’ve got the music on my mp3 player and have been listening to it most of the day.  What a wonderful musical!

7. I read the book, Wicked, a few years ago.  The musical explores many of the same themes, but makes some pretty significant changes to the plot.  I was pleased to find that I enjoy both of them, just in different ways.

How was your week?  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

7 Quick Takes Friday – 1/21/2011

 

1. PWM turned 44 last week!!  For his birthday, his mom is taking our entire family to Universal Studios and the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando!!  We got all the reservations made this week – we’ll be going in March.  We’re all very excited! 

2. Since we’re going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we’re now reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows together at night.

3. PWM and I both have colds.  It’s bad enough to be sick, but when we’re both sick, there’s no one around to “baby” us!  Yeah, we’re pretty pathetic.

4. Because PWM and I have colds and it’s hard for us to read aloud, Wild Man read about half a chapter tonight.  Yes!!  My dyslexic child is reading!!  Out loud!!  To the family!!  (And I may have a little addiction to exclamation points.)

5. We’ve been tossing around possible names for our yarn shop.  The kids have voted down (loudly) both “The Loopy Bin” and “The Knit Wit House”.  I wonder why?

6. I have lunch every week with a friend and we’ve decided to read through a book together.  We’ve chosen Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.  I’m really looking forward to some good discussion time each week.

7. I’m just about done with the Fair Isle mittens I’m working on.  I’m very pleased with the outcome, but I think I’ll invest in a cable needle if I do mittens again because I’m having trouble keeping the tension right between the three double points. 

That’s what’s up around here.  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have to say this week.