That awkward moment...

Several people have asked me if I un-friended them on Facebook.  I'm just not on it now.  So that looks a lot like being un-friended, except that if they search for me I just don't exist.  I think I will have to figure out how to have more self control and go on Facebook again.  There are several people for whom I have no other way of contacting them.  So...  But I have no self control.  I am either not eating sugar or I'm frying up a batch of doughnuts.  Sheesh!

nice parents...

I worry about the children.  Maybe we're being too nice to them.  I mean, there is still bed times with lots of meanness to counterbalance a days worth of trips to the library and playgrounds etc...  But it's hard to not just give them everything you can.  And it takes effort to remember that they have to practice good character when they are young so it is a habit later. 

I think one aspect of good character is gratitude and not wasting.   Honesty, Gratitude, and Generosity. 

and not biting people...

hearing aids

Our lesson this week for Primary is that "Worthy young men receive the priesthood at 12".  This is always a point of confusion since in general we try to not have boy things and girl things despite the way that we live our lives in very gender typical roles.   So the idea came to me to liken the priesthood to glasses or hearing aids.  Some people have them and some people don't.  Is that bad? 

   I honor the preisthood and have been told countless times that men shouldn't try to claim privilege because of it.  Maybe I'll liken it to a box of bandaids that you have to use for others but never yourself.   Clearly I need to read and think on this so I don't spout false doctrine or leave the girls wondering what's up.  I cannot recall ever wishing to have the priesthood.  I have also never desired to be the sole breadwinner for our family, thought I have done that for a little while. 

  We have such a covetous society and in some ways it's hard to understand the idea of "I don't need everything..." let alone help kids understand it.  I do want my children to appreciate our tremendous blessings.  I want them to escape the cycle of more is better and learn that more is just more.

a new light

With the new light in the bathroom, certain dingy spots were suddenly glaring at me.  The sink had a calcium mark from a previous faucet.  I tried CLR, I tried soft scrub.  Finally I remembered the good old Brillo trick and got the calcium marks off pretty quick.  I also got the soap stain off the sink. 

I also scrubbed the bath with the brillo pad.  Awesome!!  It's my new magic eraser.  Obviously not good for walls, but amazing on soap scum.

My mom used to say...

 When I was 13 or so I remember going in and out of K-mart several times consulting with my mom over what coat I should buy.  (Man, wouldn't it be nice to send your kids into the store?)  My mom used to say I was shopping for the millennium.   Witness these cast iron muffin pans.  Yes, they are meant to be heirlooms.  Yes, I spent long spans of time deciding what to get and then finding the pest price on them.

 And yes, they can fit into a toaster oven when all the kids grow up and all I need is one box of Jiffy mix worth of muffins.  And yes! they stack so they don't take up tons of storage.  And yes! they are both non-stick and I can use a knife when they are not quite non stick enough.  Usually I just turn it upside down and and the muffins fall out.  But I have in the past wanted to use a knife on muffin pans but because they were non-stick I couldn't.

 One of these lights is more effective than the other.  The light on the left was not very effective, but its partner would burn out florescent bulbs in months.   So for the last few weeks the bathroom was sort of dark. 

The new light on the right, which we now have a matching pair, is amazingly bright.  Who knew lighting could remodel the bathroom?  I really like the lights.  You can't tell because they are so bright, but they have a pretty wavy pattern in the glass.  The cord will straighten ought in a few days and then I'll take the glamor shots.  I love it when I can buy something that makes me look like I have better taste than I do.  These are a mix and match light you can buy in Home Depot.  After an hour of wandering around with the kids, we went back for another look and found these.  Hurray!  And the icing on the cake is that with these new bright lights the iridescence on the shell stained glass really pops.  The children were oohing and ahhing over it.  They'd never seen it in these 11 months we've lived here.

Amazing Bread

The secret to bread dough a strong 5 year old can make is as follows:
           combine and let sit for 10 minutes
2 cups warm water
1 Tbs yeast
          add all at once and then toss like a salad:
6 heaping cups of bread flour
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs brown sugar (optional)
          The goal hear is to make many small pellets
          of flour coated dough.  Then you add:
1/4 oil or 2Tbs of butter/lard what have you.
          Adding the oil at this point takes your bread
straight to kneading stage.  So instead of having it
get harder and harder to stir, you just dig in with
your hands.  Also, the oil makes it so your hands
don't get so sticky.  It's magic.

Even more magical than a cheek full of fruit snacks.

homeschooling

I read this article which my husband posted on facebook which I no longer play (but I went on to see what he was thinking)... sad, so sad.

On a side note I am amazed how much more often I say yes to my kids when I have nothing in my inbox and don't have facebook to browse.

So reading this article I was feeling a little bad that someone might think I don't like teachers because I homeschool.  Dude!  I love teachers!  I was one.  I am one.  I am married to one.  I know what an impossible task they throw themselves at.  What I don't like is school.  And more than that, I don't like other kids and the values they bring with them to school.  We are not religious homeschoolers, but call me self righteous I don't want my kid picking up the apathy and drama.  OK we grow plenty of drama ourselves. 

M told me on Friday that her group had gone to a playground across the street and had to run away because of the alligators.  There are a lot of details when she tells this story.  Knowing her amazing kindy teacher, I suggested that maybe the alligators weren't real but just looked like alligators.  "No mom, they were real.  They had teeth and eyes and were coming at us..."    I was worried about this apparent "story making" and discussed it with P.   Lo and behold, it's ok, normal even for a 5 year old to honestly believe the story they have created.   And it turns out that society and our lives in general are held together by our holding fast to the stories we tell ourselves.   Reality schmeality.

This year we started formally "unschooling" M, since she's 5 and all.  In addition to formally hanging out, reading and playing, we attend a Waldorf group on Mondays and Fridays.   I've mentioned this a few times.  This group is mega ambitious.  I like the people.  I like their children.   Monday and Friday are like a real school day.  M goes around with the Kindy group for 4 hours.  lP plays on the playground being watched by various moms who are available.  I teach 4 classes of music on Fridays.

A few weeks ago, when the group started for the year, there were lots of new families.  One of the new families had a son that was the sort of kid I don't want to be around.   He was actively challenging me as a teacher, rude to the other children, and just got up and left when he felt like it.  I liked the mom, we had some nice chats.  But the child was being raised in a vacuum of discipline and his free spirit was encouraged.  He'll probably grow up to make great contributions to the world.  But while he is still learning, he's a complete disruption to the teacher and other students.    The group encouraged them to find another approach since the Waldorf method is very specific about being teacher led and being nice to each other.  That experience was a big reminder of how nice it is to work with a small group of children whose parents expect them to be nice.

In other news, the kids have learned to make bread.  Crazy.  This picture is M with the cinnamon rolls she made all by herself.  My only contribution was placing them in the pan.  G has also made 2 batches of dough but not made it through the shaping process.   His second batch is rising though so he may get to make cinnamon rolls tonight.  Lucky me!  M's mouth is distended in this picture because she had an entire pack of fruit snacks surrounding her 2 Augmentin tablets.  (Note to self: if the doctor prescribes an Augmentin product, the children will not take it so it does no good.)  She ended up spitting it in the trash just moments later.