I Knew Them When

I found out last night that my friend's band won the YouTube Underground music contest for best song. So congrats to Greenland.

If Only I Remembered Math

You paid attention during 91% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
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Homey Days

Today I had dinner (split pea soup) simmering in the crockpot by 7:15 and managed to make banana-cranberry bran muffins before lunch time. We also did school and I had my 6-week post partum check up. I seem to be getting things done and everything is clicking.

What I want to know is -- why can't I manage this level of efficiency at least once a week?

Desperate Times

Did you know that you can, in fact, cram a 26 pound child into a size 1 diaper?

I wouldn't recommend it as a general practice though. The cries of, "Mommy, my diaper is too tight!" get kind of annoying after a while.

I could have gotten a better fit if I'd had some duct tape in my purse.

I already carry a pocket knife and a tape measure, but clearly my Mcgyvering skills would be improved by the addition of duct tape. Do they make purse-sized rolls?

Uh Oh

Which Wooster and Jeeves Character Are You?

You are AUNT AGATHA!You are traditional, dignified, and in full control of your faculties. You know exactly how things should be done, and you do not suffer fools gladly. I long with all my heart for you to biff off--and after sneaking into the kitchen for a quick restorative, I may quakingly ask you to do so.
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Taken from the Llama Boys.

No Termites

Our termite inspection was this afternoon and didn't turn up anything active and only a small, old bit of damage. So that's that. I guess we really are buying the money pit on the other side of town.

And thus, I present to you -- The Purple House:

Martha's Menu

Martha Stewart has her 2006 Thanksgiving menu up. Although nothing looks bad, the menu is not one that inspires me to change a thing in the menu I'm planning.

What's on the menu over here? My husband keeps requesting that we trade the turkey for a rib roast, but I like turkey and the bird is staying. As for side dishes, we'll be making cornbread dressing, spinach gratin, possibly sauteed brussel sprouts (I love them and don't care if I'm the only one who will touch them), mashed potatoes, cranberry-pear-ginger sauce, maple-bourbon pumpkin pie and perhaps apple-cranberry cobbler. There may be something else that isn't coming to mind right now, but we'll see. That already sounds like plenty.

What's on your menu?

Anyway...

I'm not trying to turn this into a website of all quizzes all the time, but so much has been occupying my mind this week that I haven't been up for much else. We've been busy with homeschooling, of course, but on top of that it looks like we will be buying another house after all.

Without going into a lot of details, we have a contract on a big old house on the other side of town. It will need a lot of work, including several things that must be done before I will feel comfortable moving in (not even counting the kitchen which, at present is only a bunch of unfinished cabinets without electricity, plumbing or any appliances). It fell in our price range and is a good size for our family while still being close to town and satisfactorily old, and so we'll just have to take on the work and learn to tolerate the problems.

I love my current house and location, so the thought of moving makes me sad. We never really planned to move from this house, but although I think we could have done more to make our current house work better for us, I think ultimately it would always feel cramped and our children are just going to grow larger. The new house is also really beautiful and despite all the drawbacks, I really am excited to think of living there, fixing the place up and seeing my things decorating the place.

Assuming, of course, that the termite inspection doesn't tell us horrible things, we'll be closing in about a month and moving in as soon as we can have some of the necessary things, like rewiring, completed.

Hey! I'm not heretical!

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Nestorianism 75% Pelagianism 58% Donatism 50% Modalism 42% Apollanarian 42% Monophysitism 33% Gnosticism 25% Monarchianism 17% Albigensianism 17% Adoptionist 8% Docetism 0% Socinianism 0% Arianism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

What Kind of Reader Am I?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

From the Llamas.

One Month

I can't believe it, but it has already been a whole month since the wee one arrived. As his father always likes to say, "Babies eat, sleep and excrete." He likes to do all three with great frequency.

His siblings are fond of him. My main job is keeping them from squishing the baby with too much love. I can't believe that it won't be long before he's participating in the chaos and chasing his brother and sisters around, but that day will come all too soon. I know from experience.

I have to start working on ways to keep my little one little. These months pass too rapidly.

Behold! She Can Speak!

My two year old just came running in and said, "Behold! I have tights."

So, behold:

Shoes

I signed right up for NoBloShoeMo when Chris sent me an invitation. Fortunately the rules didn't actually insist that one post thirty days of shoes, because I can't seem to get around to getting photos off my camera every day, let alone taking photos of my shoes every day.

But here's a shot of the shoes I wear on a lot of days.



Comfy, if not so very pretty.

Lego Art

Last year The Boy was some what obsessed with Legos. Over the summer, he forgot Legos in favor of dinosaurs and my bare feet cried out in gladness. Unfortunately, as autumn arrived, the dinosaurs fell out of favor and Legos have returned.

The bad news is that the upstairs area where he plays is a disaster area and I constantly curse the creators of Legos (I suppose I should learn to curse in Danish). The good news is that I always know where to find The Boy.

The other good news is that he makes some interesting things.

Lego people:


Lego Minoan Temples:


Lego Penguins:


Lego Icons:


Yes, it is all about Legos here and I haven't even shown you his Lego nativity scene, the Lego houses, Lego Empire State Building or some of the other things he has made lately.

Election Day

I haven't actually gotten to vote yet. First I forgot to take advantage of early voting. And while I've gone out and driven past my polling station twice this morning, the lines were long enough that I decided to wait until I didn't have to vote with four children in tow. I'll get there eventually.

In the meantime, I thought I share this little bit of political profiling (not to mention profiling of other sorts) that was left on all the houses in our neighborhood the other day.



You can click on the image to enlarge it.

The small text reads, "So much is riding on your vote. Money for classrooms instead of war. Retirement security for our elderly. Good jobs to keep our young people off the streets and out of trouble."

One Reason I Love Homeschooling

We went to a picnic with other homeschoolers in the area (the area being defined in the broad sense since most of these people live at least 30 minutes from us) on Saturday afternoon. I enjoyed meeting some new people and chatting with others doing what we are doing, but my favorite moment was when I heard my son ask the kid he was digging in the sand with if he had "heard of the heretic pharaoh Amenhotep." And the kid said, "Of course." Both these boys are six.

I Speak Californian and Other Languages

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
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TWO!

Today is not just the day after Halloween or All Saint's Day. Here it is most commonly remembered as The Younger Girl's birthday. She's two. Which means she's got a strong will, sweet smiles and a personality that makes you fall in love.




She never misses anything. She sees all and she says all. She talks almost constantly. Much of what she says is sweet, but also repetative and as I've mentioned before, she has learned many things from her older siblings that they didn't know at the tender age of two. She doesn't seem to understand that at only two she shouldn't think she can do everything a six year old and four year old can do. Not that that stops her. She's in the fray and part of everything that goes on around here.

The Younger Girl sings and loves music. Every afternoon before her nap, she wants to hear "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean" and "You Are My Sunshine." She wants a repeat of the latter at bedtime. I love it when she sings to me in return and it surprises me how much of the lyrics and tunes she remembers from songs we sing around the house.

Just a little less than two years ago, I was surprised and upset by the appearance of a hemangioma in the middle of her forehead. I had never seen such a thing before and all I wanted was for someone to get that thing off of my little girl. At the same time, I did not want to subject her to cosmetic surgery just for my own vanity. The birthmark is still there, but just as the doctors told us, it is shrinking and fading away. If she ever grows some hair, the birthmark really will be almost invisible under bangs. I'm glad it is disappearing, but I'm certain I also needed the lesson in learning to worry less about appearance and remember just how wonderful and beautiful she has always been even when the red mark was at its largest.

Happy birthday, you adorable little two year old!

Trick or Treat

Although earlier in the day, the forecast had called for evening thunderstorms, the weather turned out to be cool and only slightly overcast. We handed out a candy to the early birds and then turned out the lights and went out on our own candy-seeking adventure.

Yes, as you can see, all of the children were in costume. The Oldest wins most creative costume -- not because of his homemade beard, but because he was not your average pirate, but Mad Dog Morgan, pirate captain in The Voyage of the Arctic Tern, an epic poem that Justin is reading to the kidlets for bedtime. The younger girl was too young to understand trick-or-treating last year, but this year she thought it was the best thing she'd ever heard of. We did have to reign her in a bit as she started walking up to people's houses, sticking out her hand and saying, "Give me candy!"

Halloween always makes me a bit grumbly, but I do like getting out and seeing the neighbors and the children had a blast. Naturally after they were in bed, we proceeded with annual raiding of the candy bags "Mmmm, dark chocolate!" and other candy reduction measures were taken that should result in there being better candy at my husband's office for a month or two.