Looks like it is that time of the year again. Benjamin had his first day out of school, but no, I didn't actually get to sleep in. We made it all the way to school and into the drop off line when he decided he wasn't feeling well enough to attend. (And he loves school) So, I got to drop off his homework, and head home, and get us through the door, and he made it inside and to a receptacle just in time to throw up. So he had a Star Wars/ Star Trek Movie day and relaxed on the couch. Monday we had unexpected snow. He doesn't attend Monday, but the policy is that if school is canceled, which it was, kindergarteners aren't to do their school-at-home work either. So I gave Jeannine the day off too and we had a fabulous time outside throwing snowballs, walking and making things. The snow packed very well and I decided to attempt an igloo -- it turned out pretty well, too. However, even the best built igloo doesn't stand up well to a night of rain, so now it is just a pile of slush. The next morning I did get to sleep in, thanks to a two hour delay.
In other news, Jeannine has decided to take part in a spelling bee. A month or two ago she decided she didn't want to do it, but they were trying to get a few more people involved. She is studying the second and third grade words which include local towns and lots of 'y" word plurals, silent "e" words with vowel suffixes and homophones. It should be fun. I crashed and burned on my very first all-school spelling bee on the word "kiwi" -- so made sure all the kids could spell it as soon as they learned their alphabets :)
Going into our third month of residence in Washington State, I was getting very used to the constant overcast grayness of the days. These last few have been almost too bright -- the daytime temperature got up to 50 degrees yesterday and the children were complaining of the brightness. A good problem to have, if you have to have one.
Last weekend, we tried out one of Washington's snow parks -- we bundled ourselves into ski suits and showed up around 3pm. For $10 we got a parking pass and access to a groomed sledding hill. At first glance it seemed very free-for-all and dangerous, but it turned out to be pretty well done. You just had to be aware of a good time to go down the hill, when the bottom below was almost clear and no one right next to you was going; like jumping in on double dutch, or merging into traffic. The hill was about 150 feet wide. The general idea was that sledders went down in the middle, and the outer edges were where people were to undertake their uphill climbs. Two standard size red sleds worked well for the five of us. The circular trashcan-lid type tended to explode or disintegrate under their riders, and there were sled corpses of this sort all around the restroom trashcans. We could get an adult and two smallish children on a red one, though, Jeannine's preference was to get ahold of one of the two and use it solo ;) Rose decided she didn't really enjoy the process, after getting snow in her face a couple of times. Her favorite part was a little snow "igloo" at the bottom of the run. Someone took a header off a sled while we were there and the emergency crew came quickly. I don't think they were seriously hurt, but it was nice to know they did have emergency personnel not too far away.
For some reason, the parking pass was good through midnight, so David wanted to check out just a couple more of the snow parks before we headed for dinner or home. The very next one down the trail looked like it catered more to cross-country skiers than snowmobilers, and we took a look around the parking lot and the attached side street looking for the trailhead. After declining to try some "doughnuts" in our minivan on the ice and snow covered road, we started heading back towards the exit, whereupon we saw a van coming towards us. We stayed to the right, at which point the other van slipped off the road into the snow-covered hillside, just a bit. We stopped and asked if they needed help, which they did. We took our minivan back to the main lot, and David ran back to try pushing them out and I waited with the children, and David called a few minutes later to say they weren't having much luck pushing them out; another car in the main lot was just pulling out and I jumped out and asked if they wouldn't mind helping too and we both went back. The stuck van was a rear-wheel drive, but the guy I stopped had an SUV and happened to have some straps which they were able to attach to the trailer hitch, so they both reversed the 200 or so feet down the road back to the main parking lot, with David walking behind the SUV to direct him, as visibility wasn't great, and me walking between to tell the van when the towing rope was pulling and when to stop.
We finished the evening stopping at Twede's cafe for dinner -- home of Twin Peak's cherry pie and decorated with Tweety birds of all varieties. I never watched the show, but before some arson a few years back, the interior was where they had filmed quite a bit of the show. They only were serving their lunch menu Sunday night, but the list of burgers was prodigious; they had everything from a peanut butter and jelly burger, to a cheesesteak burger, to a Greek lamb burger. We passed on the pie.
Please excuse the lack of pictures on the site -- we do have a camera, but it it is out of batteries and we can't find the charger. I really miss it since the mice I made for Benjamin's class turned out *so* cute. I found the recipe online, and it is simple. Maraschino cherries (with stems) -- chocolate chips and slice almonds. Drain and dry the cherries, melt half of the chocolate chips. I used an improvised double boiler, dip the cherries up to the stem in chocolate. Put cherry down on waxed paper, then working quickly put the flat side of a chocolate chip next to the front side of the cherry, then tuck two sliced almonds between the chocolate chip head and the cherry body. I put them in the freezer for the cholate to harden faster, then melted a little white chocolate and tinted it pink and put it in a plastic baggie and applied tiny little noses. They were the cutest things ever. A couple of the girls in Ben's class cried when people started to eat them. Unfortunately, the kids who did eat them tended to just eat off the chocolate. I think maybe chocolate covered peanutbutter balls using a chow mein noodle for the tail might be better tasting, and might be as cute. I'll try that sometime.
I'm mad at the squirrel who lives in our backyard. We got a squirrel-proof birdfeeder (or at least squirrel-resistant) -- and a suet feeder. After having some troubles with the former, he has taken to guzzling the latter. He climbs down on it, opens the top and stuffs his face. I replaced the suet yesterday, and it is gone today. I'm going to have to figure out how to provide suet for the birds without allowing a squirrel buffet.
As to the mole -- we have one, and we don't like his actions very much. The mole section in our local hardware store is truly scary. There is even a video, and a kill trap that is the largest I've seen, with vicous teeth. We haven't purchased anything yet, and I really don't want to apply poison. I'm hoping the mole just decides to leave. When we bought the house there was an electronic device in the ground that apparently produced anti-mole sounds, but it doesn't seem to be dissuading our current moley tenant.
My son's kindergarten has a weekly letter and right now they are on letter "M" -- and we are slated for snacks, so I have to find a healthy snack to bring in tomorrow that starts with "M." Milky way bars, melon and marshmallows were on the suggestions list. However since melon is very out of season and due to a unsatisfactory dental appointment, we're avoiding sugar, none of those work all that well. Last time it was our turn we had "D" which was a bit difficult. We did: dried fruit, dates, and "dominoes" (graham crackers with cream cheese and chocolate chip "pips"). This is a short week, so I'm only responsible for two snacks. I'm wondering if they have mangoes at our grocery store, and my other possibility is mouse cookies -- I saw some adorable ones online with chocolate chip eyes and string licorice tails. I was going to head to the grocery store after we finished school, but it is snowing outside. It started out with rain, but it has definitely switched now. The temperature is in the upper 30's, but the snowflakes seem to be big enough to stay frozen even at the warmer temperature.
I just remembered I have muffin-mix in my pantry. I don't really want to go driving out in the snow.
I might try the mango/mouse cookies for Wednesday.
I'm also trying to make my own sourdough starter, and have seen several recipes: some calling for sugar and yeast. However, one of the first hits on "google" has an article stating that a sourdough purist uses nothing but flour and water to begin and feed a starter -- and I relish a challenge. So my little container of flour and water sitting nice and warm and cozy by the fire, waiting to become our "pet."
Yesterday I got the girls ready to pick up Benjamin from school. I noticed a little bump as we were about to get onto the highway, and then the car started acting funny and vibrating like crazy, and I got to experience my first flat tire -- a blowout at 60 mph. I pulled quickly over to the shoulder, and turned on the hazard lights not quite sure what exactly had happened -- but noticed little bits of black rubbery matter coming from under our car in my rear view mirror. With traffic whizzing by the road, I didn't exactly want to open the driver's side door, but opening the window and peeking out, I was able to verify that our left front tire was completely gone. I had my cell phone with me -- fully charged, and called my husband. Yes, he could go pick up Benjamin for me -- and yes, he'd come help me change the tire -- but didn't our insurance have road side service? A co-worker in the background pondered if I couldn't change the tire myself. I called the school to let them know we'd be late, and called our insurance. They asked me a few questions and then let me know this wasn't covered, and would be an out-of-pocket-expense. Never mind, I told them, and headed to our glove compartment to read the instructions for what to do in the case of a flat tire -- and called David to let him know the roadside assistance wasn't complimentary and Benjamin would be waiting in the school office. I had just bought four brand new tires the year before, wanting to avoid such an issue -- their tread was lovely and thick and we kept them pumped up. How had this happened?
The manual had efficient step by step instructions for where to find the bag, the jack, how to lower the spare tire, and the fact that the car should be empty when you deployed the jack. I became aware that the position of the car, while safe for the moment, was not the ideal place to change a tire -- or to let out passengers. I was stopped on a portion of the road with a guardrail on the right. The shoulder was fairly wide, but the fact that the afflicted tire was on the traffic side of the car was worrisome. The guard rail continued on for about 110 feet, after which the shoulder widened a little. So I decided that moving the car was a necessity and started the car. The car was not happy, it lurched and pulled and bumped and the Jeannine and Rose were giggling like crazy in the back seat, but we went slowly and we managed to make it past the guardrail and a little further to the right on the slightly wider shoulder. Here I got out, stopped the car, retrieved the back, unscrewed the jack, moved the seats to expose the lug nut that held on the tire and then noticed that the directions insisted that you "block" the wheel opposite the jack, both in front and back of the wheel before you go on. What?? Did they provide a block? No of course not-- they only mentioned it once in the book, and offer no suggestions. The picture has one that looks custom made. Does a flat tire usually happen in a place with convenient blocks? Of course not. This was like having a book on emergency field medicine and expecting someone to have hydrogen peroxide stashed away in their pack. I let David know about the block requirement and he promised to bring a rock.
David, Benjamin and the Rock arrived, turned on his hazard lights and I let the girls and Benjamin out and bundled them up in coats. They settled themselves on the grassy hillside next to the freeway and had strict instructions not to approach the cars. David released the spare tire, placed the block and was about to jack up the car when a "Roadside Incident" truck with flashing lights pulled up behind our two cars. "Flat tire?" he asked, and when he noticed our puny little jack, said he had a better one in the truck, in a trice he'd jacked up the car, then took off the lug nuts holding on the old tire and got the spare on. We offered to tip him, but he said he wasn't allowed to accept -- so offered him our warmest thanks. We settled the children in the car; Benjamin with David, as it was approaching rush hour and an extra child helps with the carpool lanes tremendously. Spare tires were only for short distances, and 50 mph was the highest so we were thinking to head for a tire store. I used my Garmin Nuvi GPS to locate the closest Goodyear store (the place we'd bought the previous tires was a Gemini/Goodyear subsidiary -- and we were hoping that they were still under warranty) and it was only 1 mile away, and waited for a good place to pull out into trafic. Mr. Incident Report stayed with us and followed us as we left the road. I accelerated up to 30 -- then 40 -- we were only 400 feet from the exit. The car started to vibrate, I slowed down, but indeed it had happened again, the unmistakable feeling of a flat tire. I kept going at 10mph-- in the exit lane there was no good place to stop. Finally I was able to pull over, in the shoulder to the right of the bus lane, with my second flat tire in as many hours. Mr. Incident Report gave us his sympathy and said that since we weren't blocking traffic and had no way to fix the car, he'd be leaving and would come check on us in an hour or two. I passed the Garmin over to David with the directions to the tire place. He took the tire and headed off. Benjamin joined us in the minivan and we left the car running, with hazard lights and popped in "Silverwing" a book on CD until David joined us with the tire about an hour later. He'd been able to park in a park and ride place right near the exit. He'd barely pulled out the jack when Mr. Incident report came with lights flashing behind us and his fancy industrial strength jack. The spare came off -- completely torn away from the rim, just the same as the other one. The new tire went on, and David suggested that he drive -- which I was fine with. Having a tire go out makes driving seem like a precarious activity. We stopped at a local Mexican place and had a meal. Apparently the first tire had been taken out by a nail, and we assume the spare tire wasn't at the correct inflation. Make sure your spare tire gets checked on a regular basis! Ours is only 4 years old, but that was plenty of time to become deflated.
The rest of the evening we went to a King's High School basketball game, got some free popcorn, and took a walk on the King's campus, where David had gone from preschool- 10th grade.
This is a phenomenon I'd read about several years back and was very tempted to do -- but not quite enough to buy myself a GPS unit to undertake it. However, with the kind gift of a Garmin by my mom this past Christmas I returned to Washington State ready to try it out as an educational experience for the kids. We did a quick lesson on the longitute and latitude thing, packed a lunch and bundled up. I chose one that looked fun, and we started out under clear skies (for the Seattle area) -- and after parking, negotiating a two lane country road with 3 small children, finding the trailhead carefully picking our way along a path of mud and briars heard a happy little voice saying "You have reached "The Cache," -- which I'd named the coordinates in my "favorites" previously. The only trouble was I discovered after searching the first spot thouroughly and finding nothing, then turning around and passing "The Cache" and approaching it from the other direction that "The Cache" was an area encompassing several hundred square feet of trail, lake, mud, grass and briars. The kids and I were game, though and proceeded to search the area as best we could. Per Geocaching rules, we were not supposed to have to dig. I assumed right near the water wouldn't work, as the pond could possibly overflow its banks and destroy said cache, but even with these clues, we weren't having much luck. And when the heavens opened and began a steady rain shower, we decided that it wasn't all that important to actually find the box, and that we should return on a sunnier day. "In April," my five-year-old son suggested hopefully, and I hadn't the heart to recite the little ditty ending with "Brings May Flowers"
I was impressed that the kids weren't more disappointed at not finding anything. I think the rain helped, and the promise of our packed lunch -- and the interesting spotting of a dead opposum on the way back to the car. My littlest one wanted me to take a picture, but I didn't oblige her.
I think I'll read more of the clues next time, and maybe look at a picture of what the boxes look like -- and maybe bring a garbage bag. In the bushes I kept seeing things that didn't belong there and I wasn't sure if the gatorade bottle was in reality a strangely-shaped cache of items.
Very well, with a little nudging, here I go for my second post. This morning I was given a lesson in giving spelling tests. My son's school uses Spell to Read Write and Think, which is a neat system. My daughter uses Spell to Read and Write. They sound similar, don't they -- well they are. My son's came first and then a student of it, namely Wanda Sanseri took that method and improved upon it. So I've been learning the second system for the last three years and like it better -- it seems like a step backward to be using the older one. However you can't really tell a kindergarterner that his kindergarten teacher is wrong, and in all, they are both teaching the same thing. I just can't wait to get him full time and "fix" it so we'll both be on the same system. Both systems rely heavily on phonograms (which are mostly all the same) and markings -- which are vaguely similar. The one that immediately comes to mind is how they mark silent "e"s -- the first and the second both double underline the "e" -- all well and good. The first proceeds to mark your common or garden variety "e" -- i.e. changing can to cane with a single underline under the "a", an underline under the "n", because it is in the middle of a silent letter and the vowel it changes, and then, finally a "1" next to the e's underlines. The poor word now looks like it is the most complicated thing to spell on earth -- and if the child forget's even one of these markings the word is marked 50% off on a spelling test. Sanseri's method goes from the double underlined "e" and then has the child draw a "rainbow" over the word between the vowel and the silent e -- and then, since it is the most common reason, causing a vowel to change its sound, the child is done. Which one would you prefer??
Oh, since I haven't managed to mention it earlier I am a "librarian" -- I haven't worked professionally in a library since my first year out of library school, 10 years ago, but I'm keeping my hand in. I spent the last year and a half as the librarian of my daughter's school. It was a brand new school and she was part of the first kindergarten class, so I got to do it all -- help with aquisitions, manage the formation of "wishlists" for various grade levels, cover books, research library software, catalog, print out spine labels, check out books to students, do library tours, etc. It was a wonderful collection of books for being only 1 1/2 old -- and I spent much too much time on it, for no pay. Since we've moved I had to turn over my "baby" to a team of ladies. It's still going, though I think the cataloging is going to suffer a little.
I made the decision not to get quite so utterly involved here. Their school is more than ten years old and the "library" is not really there. They bought some software several years back and one of the teachers got it loaded, but I don't expect it to be a working library for years yet. I am enjoying being a library consumer, though. We joined the local one and I have been checking out books right and left -- mostly not for me, and the kids and I tend to do a lot of audiobooks, so we can listen together while driving to and from school and activities. We're listening to "Escape" by Sid Fleischman -- a biography of Harry Houdini. Some of our favorites have been "Larklight" --by Philip Reeve because it is an English book I think the audiobook is a must -- I would read it, and did read the sequel, but the audiobook is superior as my brain can't provide the correct accent.
Personally, I finally checked out and read the final Harry Potter book -- and I was quite pleased to find it was an extremely satisfying read. Yes, very late, I know, I haven't had access to a library since last May, and wasn't ready to purchase. While reading, I did find, however, that my recollection of the details in the half-blood prince were hazy at best, as I only read it once several years back. I almost thought I'd missed one along the way. I'm currently reading "Inkspell," which is taking much more thoughtfulness of a reader to finish. It is rather like going from chocolate chip cookies to celery with peanut butter, both of which I love, but one of which takes more effort.
Off to do the drive-to-pick-up-my-child-at-one-of-her-activities thing. More later!
I've been told in the past that I should blog but for some reason, mostly lack of time, I have not done it. I certainly enjoy other people's blogs though. It always seems like a nice newsy letter just for you, even though it could and might be read by millions of people depending on the content, and a stand in for a diary. I have valiantly begun diaries over the years and really enjoy reading historical entries but I tend to run out of steam after a few months.
Anyway, I made a resolution this year that I'd begin to blog and was just reminded by an e-mail updating someone else's blog that I have been a bit of a slow starter, so since I have a few minutes
Right now I live in Washington State in a suburb of Seattle with my three kids, 7, 5, and 4 whom I homeschool. My son goes to a private Christian kindergarten three days a week, and he started class yesterday. However we all just got back from a lovely 3 week vacation to visit my parents in VA so I am really taking some time to ramp up. We did math this morning and then had a snack and I really haven't corralled them back to work on spelling or history. Then they have dentist appointments in the afternoon -- and it is raining. I did sign up for the rain part when we decided to move to Washington, and I do enjoy being inside and not having to go out. Rain is the perfect reading weather -- curled up in a nice armchair by a fire. Our house has one of those gas fireplaces where all you do is push a button. So easy!
Well, having fulfilled my new Year's resolution to begin a blog, I will do my best to keep it.
For dinner tonight I am making chicken curry -- with apples and raisins and sprinkled with coconut - yum!
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