I smiled when...

...Rich called me with the news that he got his promotion to Associate Professor. What this means in practical terms? Well, besides a really good excuse to go out to dinner Saturday night, not a whole heck of a lot. Nonetheless, I am very happy for him!

...my dear friend Chris sent me an e-mail that offered great hope and reassurance about matters that have been troubling our family. Thank you. Yet again.

...this week's New Yorker arrived and I saw its beautiful cover. (I so wish I could have found a bigger picture to link to, or been able to get a decent photo of the magazine.) But can't you just tell how gorgeous it is? It's titled "Homage" and is by the unbelievably talented artist, Ana Juan.

...my mom could not hide the excitement in her voice about their upcoming trip. My parents leave Friday morning for a month-long road trip "out West" (in their truck camper). Hitting the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Bryce Canyon, etc., etc., etc. I would have smiled even more broadly had they invited me along. ;)

...Ana posted this Ada Lovelace Day post. Okay, I more than smiled--I got downright giddy about all that lovely women-in-science bookishness. In fact, before I even commented and thanked my dear friend Ana, I went and ordered one of those books. :P

...my daughter uttered these words totally out of nowhere on the way home from the dentist: "I love you, Mom. I think I forgot to tell you that yesterday."

winter break good stuff

Just a note on something I've learned through this exercise: When things are sucking for me personally, I still find it possible to keep my eyes open for the "good stuff." Not that it's easy, but it's definitely doable. But it's infinitely harder to look for the "good stuff" when someone I love is going through a terrible time. I'm not sure if it's some sort of unconscious guilt about finding things to be happy about when I know someone I care about is hurting. I'm not sure if somewhere deep inside I feel like I'm betraying them by finding things to smile about when I know they're not smiling. Anyway, just an observation.

Feb. 12th "Good Stuff"

*Technically, winter break doesn't start here for another hour (when the boys get home from school), but SQUEEEEEEEEE...this had to make today's good stuff list...Ana, one of the most wonderful people I've ever known, got fabulously wonderful news today!!! Yes, yes, yes...I am just giddily happy for her!!!! :D #luvana


*Darwin Day. Yes, I am married to a science geek. And yes, every year we celebrate Darwin's birthday. Annie has a friend spending the night...and you know, instead of thinking that we were total dorks, I think she actually enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to old Charlie.
(Oh okay, I know it was really just the cupcakes she was happy about.)



Feb. 13th "Good Stuff"
















*I was incredibly productive, and accomplished so much! Well, with school stuff anyway. But don't ask me about the state of our home. ;)


Feb. 14th "Good Stuff"

*My hubby spoils me rotten. Yes indeed, he does. A gift card for books...does this man know how to make his "Valentine" happy or what? :)


*Family traditions. In this case, our heart pancakes for supper on Valentines Day. Despite the fact that for some reason, the blueberries hassled me endlessly with their sticking, thus the pancakes didn't come out all that "pretty." Oh well...they still tasted delicious.







Feb. 15th "Good Stuff"

*SQUEEEEE...more awesome news for an awesome friend!!! #luvana


Feb. 16th "Good Stuff"

*Whew. X a bazillion. It's been a tough, tense 24+ hours of worrying. My mom's best friend, a woman I've known all my life, had been having some major health problems lately (coughing up blood, severe exhaustion, etc.) but the doctors couldn't figure out what was going on. Finally it was found that she had an aortic aneurysm (it was in a spot that just hadn't been showing up on any of the scans before)...it actually broke through, but there was a wall of calcium that had kept her from bleeding out. It wasn't even something anyone in her area could handle...she was immediately sent to a leading specialist in the field. He gave her a 50-50 chance of surviving the surgery. But survive she did! And thus far, is doing well.

*Finished The Ask and the Answer. Whoa.


Feb. 17th "Good Stuff"


*Our mini at-home vacation begins! We drove the kids to my parents house, had lunch with everyone, belatedly celebrated my dad's birthday, and then Rich and I headed for home. We took the long way home so we could hit this huge antique mall. Spent a few hours antiquing, having a ball hanging out together. This little planter is my favorite purchase...I'm going to use it in my scrapbooking area to hold pencils, etc. I have no idea why it caught my eye the way it did...it's really not my normal "style"...but I am totally in love with this little deer. :)


Feb. 18th "Good Stuff"

*Oh my gosh...just everything about this day. A whole entire day with my awesome husband. Book shopping. Coffee. Hanging out. Watching a movie. Reading. Just being together, just the two of us. Heaven.


Feb. 19th "Good Stuff"

*Yet another day of relaxing. Used book stores. Art supplies. Discovering this fantastic little vegetarian Ethiopian restaurant. Finding I Kill Giants--finally. More movie time. More reading. More just being together, just the two of us. More heaven.


Feb. 20th "Good Stuff"

*Seeing the munchkins again.

*Eating Animals. Despite the fact that it's possible I will have to pull one of my hide away from the world for a few days defensive maneuvers, because I seriously lack coping skills.


Feb. 21st "Good Stuff"

*Another year in this life. A life that is blessed beyond words. With the most wonderful husband I could ever dream of. With three incredible people that call me "Mom." With the very best friends I could possibly imagine. With so very much more...

*Being married to a science geek. Yeah, I mentioned that above with the Darwin birthday party thing. More proof: Last night, he dreamed that our neighbor won a preserved coelacanth. She didn't want it, and asked Rich if he did. Well duh--no need to ask what he said to that offer, is there? Anyway, he then had to go on and explain to the neighborhood the importance of coelacanth as a transitional fossil. He so cracks me up--he thought this was an awesome dream. Now for anyone who might someday come visit, I promise you he doesn't act this way in real life. Well, not often anyway. ;)


*Said science geek husband is a wonderful cook...and he made me the most incredible manicotti for supper. Mmmmmm...

*Chris's new app. :D #luvchris

*Chatting on Twitter. Oh, how I've missed it. And oh, how I've missed my wonderful friends! Thanks to all you lovelies for an incredibly enjoyable afternoon. #luvana #luvchris #luvamanda #luvjason #luvcare


*Sooooo many awesome-sounding books for my birthday.
















*The USA/Canada hockey game! Sorry Kelly. :( But you gotta admit it was a hell of a game, right? :D #luvkelly

*****
While winter break had its ups and downs (the downs coming in the form of worrying about people I love), I have to say that it was a much-needed and much-appreciated break. I hope that I'll now be able to keep up a little better with the day-to-day. Including blog reading. (Though I will be hitting that "mark as read" button and starting anew.) But if I can't keep up...well, I'm going to try to stop beating myself up over it. I got a wonderful e-mail from the wonderful Care with some very wise words. I'm going to try to remember them. Thank you, dear friend. #luvcare

I hope everyone had a glorious mid-February!

*raises hand extra high*

Yeah, that was in response to the question, "Who just totally sucks at this whole blogging thing?"

No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to come up with some sort of plan that works for me. It's not so much that I can't seem to post regularly...I probably should wait until I have something worth saying to post, which would see me posting far less often. But it's my blog, and I have the right to be as boring as I want, right? :)

No, it's the blog reading that causes me so much anxiety. Or rather, the lack of blog reading. :(  No matter how hard I try, I can't keep up. There are people out there I adore whose blogs I haven't visited in weeks. And my reader doesn't contain nearly as many blogs as most peoples' do. I'm just soooo frustrated. I had high hopes for yesterday...I was going to get through half the posts in my reader, and then tackle the other half today. Yeah right. With 10+ hours buried in events leading up to WWII, a few more hours spent laundering and vacuuming and scrubbing toilets and baking brownies, a couple with the normal "kid stuff" which involved an extra kid for the entire afternoon...well, I managed to slip in just a handful of posts. *sigh*

So, do I give up blogging, at least until summer when I have a little more time? No. I don't like that solution. Do I weed my reader down even further? I seriously don't think I can...I have it at bare bones right now. Do I just keep on going as I'm going but give up on feeling bad about it? Sounds good, but who can I get to reprogram my brain wiping out the enormous chunk I use on feeling guilty.

*****
I started this day off with a major shot of happy! *hugs dear friend*
*and then hugs some more for all the sadness and grief that remain*

February 6th "Good Stuff":  Yesterday, despite its typical busyness, gave me plenty of smiles.

*Okay, this picture is obviously not from yesterday. But it's one of my favorites from last year. Just look at those three boys...can't you just tell they're up to no good?!! Yep, well, there's lots more mischief to come this August!!!
"It's real! It's real! It's reeeeeeally, reeeeeeally real!!!" That's been my chant for the last 24 hours, because Chris got his airline tickets! There are just no words to describe how incredibly happy and excited I am! :D #luvchris

*Just look at all these shiny new crayons! My darling husband was out doing the grocery shopping and running some errands yesterday...and he brought these home just for me! Aren't they just bee-yoo-tee-fool?!! (And don't even try to tell me that I'm the only "grown-up" who adores crayons, because I know better!) #luvrich

 *Double-decker kitties.

*Okay, so the photo isn't the greatest, but this bookcase is so cute and full of homemade charm. And guess how much it cost us? Nothing! Someone set it out for the trash! Rich saw it when he was driving Gray's friend home. We just had to clean off the snow and nail in a couple of brads to stabilize some loose shelves.

a week's worth

In an effort to not make this the longest, most boring post on record, I've decided to just go ahead and publish the past week's good stuff. Okay, it still may be the most boring, but at least it will be a shorter version of boring. :D (And no scolding--I am not picking on myself, I am merely affirming that the minute details of my life may not make for the most gripping reading for others. #luvana)

*****
January 27th "Good Stuff"

*Gray's concert. Yes, he was nervous, but never came close to breakdown mode. So happy for him. So very, very happy for him. :) And his best friend came to watch the concert, sat right up front in the audience in front of Gray...thus there were actually a couple of awesome smiles seen from Gray during the concert! (Honestly, we didn't even expect to see his face, as lately he tends to hide behind his hair whenever he's feeling uncomfortable.) Unbelievable, in such a wonderful, wonderful way. Plus, the concert was actually very good...the kids played awesomely well! Have to admit I wasn't expecting that. ;)


*Max and his graphic novel spree. He's kicking my butt. He finished up Zelda Oracle of Seasons last night, bringing his graphic novel total for the year up to five. (May not seem like much, but believe me, it is for this reluctant reader.)



*Finishing Annie's quarterly report!!! Such a relief to have another one of those behind me.


January 28th "Good Stuff"

*Gray's school raised more than twice the money they needed to build the classroom in Kenya. But no, they're not building two classrooms. Instead, they decided that all the additional money is going to be used to build a medical dispensary at the school. Is that not just beyond awesome? I swear I tear up every time I think about it. :)

*Ordering in pizza.


January 29th "Good Stuff"

*The boys didn't have school (grading day). Oh how I love the more relaxed mornings that "no school" brings. And not having to pack lunches. I know, that's such a silly job to despise, but despise it I do. ;)

*The power of words. I received two e-mails today that brought home this point. One from Gray's teacher, one from one of my best friends in the world. Two very different subjects. But what they had in common: both were ten words or less and both positively made my day! Yep, the power of just a few perfectly chosen words. :D #luvchris

*Finally finished another book. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman. I'm ashamed to admit how little I knew about her, beyond this vague notion that she was one incredible woman. So I not only enjoyed this book a great deal, I learned a lot, too. Can't beat that, right?


January 30th "Good Stuff"

*Kitteh pictures to cheer up a sick little boy. :) #luvana


January 31st "Good Stuff"


*We finally decorated the Valentine tree!


















February 1st "Good Stuff"

*Gray had a truckload of homework tonight, but he didn't fuss about it one little bit. That's one for the "miracle" category.

*We've had our Gazelle Edge for about a week now. I've done 30 minutes on it most days since...and I'm still not sick of it yet. ;)

*I finished another graphic novel--In the Small by Michael Hague. But lest you think I'm putting a dent in Max's lead in our little family graphic novel race, let me assure you that this is not so. He's finished yet another two--an Avatar book (not the movie, but the awesomely cool animated series The Last Airbender) and a reread of the Garfield Treasury that his "big brother" sent him. #luvchris


February 2nd "Good Stuff"

*I'm happy with the way my little Valentine thingies are coming out. Now if I can just finish them and mail them in time.

*Rich, knowing that I've just been blue lately, hired a babysitter (Annie :D) and took me out to dinner and then to B&N for some book shopping and coffee. Which yes, also led to new books coming home with me. That's like good stuff on top of good stuff on top of good stuff, right?

new books, blame, and good stuff (quite the uninspired title)

Decided that I ought to get caught up here on the doling out of blame. My latest two trips to the bookstore need to be accounted for.

First though, the non-blame books:

The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel. I am sooooo excited to read this book...it just sounds incredible. If it lives up to its description, it sounds as if it not only addresses the failings and unfairness of our world economy, but it offers hope and ideas. And as I was just admitting to a very dear friend, as optimistic as I try to be in my own little personal life, I tend to be extremely pessimistic about the future of our world in general. So pessimistic that it can leave me hiding in depression for days at a time. So yeah, I'm all for a little hope.

Created Equal: Voices on Women's Rights by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter. Another one I'm really excited to read! Okay, I guess that's sort of a no-brainer, huh? Obviously, I really want to read these books...otherwise, I wouldn't have bought them. This isn't a long book. It appears to be more of an introduction to the state of women's rights around the globe today. Among the issues it discusses are education, violence against women, slavery, and poverty. I may have to wait to read it though...when Annie saw it, she immediately asked if she could borrow it.

The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma by Thant Myint-U. I'm really tempted to blame this on poor Eva, but I guess that wouldn't be fair. See, I really wanted to get From the Land of Green Ghosts because of her review, but the bookstore just didn't have it. But I was determined to read something about Burma, so I picked up this book instead.

Nylon Road by Parsua Bashi. A graphic memoir. What can I say...you all have turned me into a graphic novel junkie...seems as if I have to get my fix every time I hit the bookstore anymore. ;) This wasn't the book I really went looking for...thanks to Ana, I really, really, really wanted to get my hands on I Kill Giants, but they didn't have it. But this book caught my eye...and then made its way home with me.

Collage Lab by Bee Shay. One of those impulse buys. One of my biggest personal goals for the year is to make more time for "playing" in my craft room. A goal, I am to the point, failing miserably to meet. This book makes a massively fun addition to my inspiration library.

And now we come to those books that I refuse to take personal responsibility for. ;) Points go to:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I have been wanting to get my hands on this soooooo badly ever since reading Carl's review! It just sounds so utterly delightful and fun. (Irrelevant side note: I was surprised to realize that this was the only novel of the whole bunch.)

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande. Yeah, no way Eva's escaping blame for this one. And somehow I suspect that blame for Better will be forthcoming as well.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. Don't even have to tell you who gets the blame for this one, do I? Yep, the lovely Ana made it impossible for me to resist. And I suspect she doesn't even feel guilty about it. ;)

*****
Whatever day it is "Good Stuff"

*Annie started her latest college course last night. She's taking Arabic. And she came home just as excited as could be...chatting away, showing me the letters she's learned to write so far, talking about the course in general. Don't you love the way that enthusiasm is simply contagious?

*Last night was also the first night of Rich's evolution class for this semester. And all went well! I suppose on the surface it seems a silly thing to even worry about...we certainly haven't worried about his other classes that start this week. But yeah, because it's evolution. And there's been precedent for attracting people who don't want to learn, don't want to listen, don't want to ask questions, but simply want to be disruptive and obnoxious and threatening in an effort to promote their religious agenda. The first semester he taught this course, things were so bad that we actually worried a bit about his safety. But Rich was so happy when he got home last night, said his students seemed engaged and enthusiastic and asked really great questions...and well, it's just a relief.



*There are times when this kiddo has me wanting to pull out all my hair in frustration. And then there are times like these...yep, my heart just melts. I think I shall never tire of watching the munchkins sleep. :)

*Sooooo happy for Chris!!!! And the city of New Orleans, in general, too. :D

*I've been trying so hard the last few weeks to come up with an idea for "something," but just couldn't come up with anything I was satisfied with. But that proverbial lightbulb lit up yesterday! And I don't just like the idea, I love it! (Hopefully, it will turn out the way I envision it in my head.)

finally

Sheesh, I was beginning to think that I was never going to finish another book again. :(

But now I've finished two. Two, while both being graphic novels, could not be more different from one another. Perfect example of how comics are NOT a genre.

First up, there's Four Letter Worlds, an anthology of short stories. Total impulse pick-up from the library. The unique concept really caught my eye. The book is divided into four sections: Love, Hate, Fear, and Fate. Each section contains four stories, each eight pages long, each with another four letter title.

As is the case with most any short story anthology, there were some stories that I loved more than others. Some authors amazed me with their ability to convey so much in so few pages.

The first story in the book was definitely my favorite. "Spin" by F. Clay Moore with art by Steven Griffin. Seriously, I so totally loved this story. First love and music and growing up. Very bittersweet.

But then wham, like a painful smack upside the head, came the next story "Lust." Ugh. I positively despised it. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Just crude, with nothing really to offer. Or if it did, I totally missed it.

And with those first two stories, I got my strongest reactions out of the way. There were several more stories I really enjoyed, one that I hate to admit I didn't really understanding the ending of, some were just meh, but there were no more that I truly hated. Overall, I'm glad I picked up the book...I loved that I could pick it up and read a whole story in just a few minutes.

As with the written stories, the art was quite varied. Again, I enjoyed the art in some stories more than the art in others, but this wonderful variety in style made the book quite fun all on its own. And at times the difference in the artists' styles was quite startlingly obvious, as each story ended on the left page with a new one beginning on the right.

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation by Michael Keller, with beautiful art by Nicolle Rager Fuller.

I realize that most of the few people reading this have already read Ana's beautiful review, and maybe a couple of you have even read Rich's glowing review, so really, you don't need me to say much. I'll just offer you a quick few thoughts:

1.) Gorgeous!!! Nicolle Rager Fuller is one talented artist. (And for a totally irrelevant piece of info: Before reading her mini bio on the dust jacket, I didn't know that one could receive a graduate certificate in science illustration.)

2.) The book is divided into three sections: the first tells a brief version of the story of how Darwin came to write On the Origin of Species, the second and longest section is a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book, and the final section of the book talks about the breakthroughs in evolutionary theory since Darwin's time.

One of my favorite things about the book is how the second section, the adaptation itself is told mostly in Darwin's actual words, coming directly from Darwin's masterpiece itself. I really need to thank Rich for not saying, "I told you so!" I've always been quite certain that I wouldn't understand Darwin's writings. But Rich has always pretty much answered my fears with, "Piffle!" He's told me time and again that On the Origin of Species is Darwin's most accessible book (he did write to be read by the general public, after all), and that I should give it a chance. I now have to admit that he was right. :)

Still, I will confess that I likely will not be reading Darwin's original...not because I wouldn't enjoy it, as I'm now convinced I would, but just because there are so many books I simply want to read first. Sorry, babe...but hey, I did just admit in public the error of my ways, right? ;)

3.) I feel like there should be a "3"...but I can't off the top of my head figure out what it should be.

surprise, surprise...good stuff

January 22nd "Good Stuff"

*My dad had surgery yesterday. And everything went very well. Not that problems were expected, but it's nice to have that nerve-wracking worrying over with anyway. And as happy as I am that it's over with, and I'm sure he's even happier.

*This almost seems odd to put on a list of good things. But it's something good that comes from extremely sadness. Jason's Poor Kitties Memorial Fund. He started this in response to sadness. Neil Gaiman's sweet, beautiful cat Zoe is dying. And Bookfool, a woman with a heart of gold, has been left with that heart aching as she just lost a much-loved feline friend. While not everyone reacts to the loss of a furry loved one in the same way, for so many of us it's truly a loss that defies words. But Jason invited us to say a few words about kitties who have touched our own lives. I think I will just link to this post I wrote a few years ago...as I said, this kind of loss defies words, but I tried in that post to convey what one big, beautiful, affectionate feline baby meant to this family. Especially to one little boy. And you know, it's now been 3 1/2 years since Taco died, and he is still missed daily by every one of us.
While Jason has suggested a charity to donate to, I do hope he won't mind if I donate to our wonderful local shelter instead. Max has a new buddy now, Lucky. And while Lucky could never in a bazillion years replace Taco, he is a very special new friend. And without Lollypop Farm, who kept this sweet abandoned cat alive for several months just waiting for the right person to come and love him, Max wouldn't have this very special kitty in his life now. And neither would the rest of us.

*Rich. For more reasons than I could ever list.

busy, but happy

I had high hopes for 2010...that I was going to keep myself more organized and not let myself get behind on things. Yeah, not really working out that way. ;)

Does anyone else feel guilty when they can't keep up with their blog reading? Especially with the blogs of your very favorite people? *sigh* I hate it!!! I mean, in a way, it seems silly to feel guilty about it. Everybody goes through overly busy patches. I know I certainly don't feel offended or hurt when someone doesn't read my blog...so why do I worry that other people will feel that way? Just silly, I know.

On the homeschool front, I managed to get a lot of work done last weekend, but I'm afraid it just wasn't enough to make up for how unbelievably far behind I got in December. So I'm still sort of in overdrive here trying to finish up all that needs done before the end of this quarter. (The quarterly report is due next Friday.) After that, life will hopefully calm just a bit as new deadlines will be off in the distance. :) Yep, after I get that report written next week, I hope to regroup. We'll try for a little more organization then, I suppose.

Anyway, I'm not complaining. Just explaining. Hopefully, I will then be able to get my act together and make my "good stuff" lists on a daily basis, actually finish some of the many books I have going finished, catch up on what's been going on with everyone, get some creative projects finished...

*****
the last few days of "good stuff"

*Having my own personal music picker-outers who introduce me to awesomeness I would never discover on my own. Ana, I finally listened to the I Am a Bird Now CD. *hanging head in shame that it took me so long* Already I'm in love. Antony's voice is pure heaven. And I just know that I'm only going to fall more and more in love as I have a chance to better soak up the lyrics. Thank you again! #luvana #luvchris

*And also in the #luvana #luvchris category: Having friends you trust so completely that you can discuss touchy issues without fear, make awkward confessions knowing you won't be judged, and share goofy little anythings with the knowledge that they won't think you're a complete idiot.

*Feeling optimistic about getting a "new start" after this quarter is over.

*Thrifting with Rich yesterday. Damn, but I love hanging out with this guy! :D We hit three thrift stores, and found lots of great stuff, including a new coat for Gray. His winter coat was sort of falling apart (not a good thing in upstate NY), but we found him a wonderful one that looks practically brand new. And I found some great stuff for Annie. She's so awesome in that as much as she loves clothes, she never feels like she has to have new, brand-name stuff. We buy nearly all our clothes from thrift stores, and we secretly worried that someday that would start bothering Annie. Bad me...not giving her nearly enough credit.

*And speaking of Miss Annie, she got her grade from her last college course. Another A. So proud of her. Not because she's "smart"...that's the luck of the draw. But because she works hard and she tries new things even when she's nervous about them.

*The boys both gathered up their money...they didn't have much, but they scrounged up their change and whatnot and each came up with almost $5...and donated it to the Walk for Kenya fund raiser Gray's class is hosting. And Annie gave each of them $5 as well. Rich and I were of course already sponsoring both boys, and we never asked them to donate their own money; they all just did it on their own. It just makes me very happy to see that their hearts continue to be caring.

*Anticipation! It's just soooooo wonderful to have awesome things to look forward to, isn't it?!!
--Mom and Dad gave Rich and I a "coupon" for four days/three nights of babysitting in February. They've been doing this for the past several years, keeping the kids for a few days over winter break. Rich and I always have sooooooo much fun! Going wherever we want, whenever we want. Eating whatever and whenever we want. Staying up as late as we want without having to worry about the munchkins getting us up. Yes, it's positively heavenly!
--Hopefully getting to meet Amanda in May! Still working on this one, but am very hopeful. #luvamanda
--And ZOMG...the cat is already out of the bag, so I don't feel like I'll jinx it anymore by talking about it, but one of my very bestest friends in the whole freakin' wide world is coming to visit in August!!!!!! Giddy, yeah, that doesn't begin to describe how this has me feeling! And I've got a houseful of people here sharing the giddy, too! #luvchris

and yet more of the good stuff

January 9th "Good Stuff"

*The awesome project that Gray's class has come up with and has been working hard on all year to get ready to introduce to the whole school. They call it "Walk for Kenya." All the kids in the school will be wearing pedometers for one week. They made all kinds of designated courses and whatnot throughout the school. Anyway, they are trying to have all the kids' steps add up to walking from their school to the town of Maseno, Kenya. They are getting people to sponsor them so they can pay to have a classroom built in Maseno (they are working with an organization called Building Futures). Anyway, their big kick off assembly is this coming Tuesday. Gray is very nervous because his class has to sing and dance in front of the whole school...but on the other hand, it's quite obvious how very proud he is of how they're doing something to make a difference. :D

*My lovely friend Kara guilting me into motivating me to get back to my diet blog. Well, it's not exactly a diet blog, but sort of...and I don't know what else to call it. And I honestly can't believe I put a link there so everyone can see in numbers just how fat I am. Anyway, I'm glad to be thinking about it again. Changes need to be made.

*Okay, I am probably the only one who finds this so funny, but when I went to make a comment on Kara's most recent post on her "diet blog" the damn let's-try-to-cut-down-on-spam-by-typing-in-random-letter-codes thingie was "waffles"!!! I kid you not...is that not just an evil thing to do to people trying to lose weight?!!

*Helping Rich come up with his own 50 x 50 list. Of course, he has a few more years to finish his list than I do.

Okay, I'm back and there are probably other things that I could add to this list, but I just sort of emotionally drained myself...so I just want to add this one last thing and call this a post.

*Wonderful friends who listen to my emotional dumpings. And who still love me anyway. (Well, I hope they will anyway.) Thank you Amanda and Ana...really, thank you so much.

good stuff...a babbling version

January 8th "Good Stuff"

*Finding out that the intersession class Rich is teaching doesn't meet on Fridays...I'd thought it was Mon.-Fri. Such a happy, happy surprise!!!!

*Silly me should have mentioned this before...Rich is not in the Bahamas right now. :) Okay, I honestly never begrudged him his January trips to the Bahamas. Really, I didn't. But on the other hand, I'm not going to complain that he turned down the opportunity to co-teach the marine biology class there this year. I like having him here with me. With us. And seriously, not just because I don't have to shovel the daily snow we've been getting. ;)

*And speaking of snow...I know I say it all the time, but oh how I love it! And we've really been in the typical lake effect pattern since the end of December, and this just makes me so very happy! We usually only get a couple of "big" snows (as in 18+ inches) per year, sometimes only one big snow a winter. But thanks to living so close to the Great Lakes, we do get snow most every day for a few month stretch. Not a lot of snow per day...generally one to four inches. Enough to keep things looking beautiful all the time because there's always fresh snow to cover the ugly brown stuff from the snow plows, but not enough to cause problems to people who are used to it. Yes, I do believe I am utterly spoiled. :D

*Songs that make me cry. Every single time I listen to them. Like Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens. Thank you, Ana!

*Documentaries. And the fact that I get to watch them for school so often. :) Yesterday, Annie and I watched World in the Balance: The People Paradox. (Actually a NOVA episode, I think.) So good. Also yesterday, we watched the third lecture of AIDS: Evolution of an Epidemic, a four-part lecture series by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Yeah, see, despite my bitching about all the work that homeschooling is, it really is a pretty good gig, huh?

*An added bonus to watching movies for school...I get to crochet! Watching TV is usually the only time I have to crochet and knit. And I really have very little time for watching TV. So "having" to watch it for school...well, you can't beat that, can you? :D


*This guy. Officially Lucky. Though we tend to call him Luxray. Of all the non-human animals that share the house, this guy is definitely the life of the party! (If we were including humans, it would be a tough race between Luxray and Maxidoodle.) Lux is such a character. Playful as all get out, rascally as hell...and yet so damn affectionate. Yep, we're all so grateful that this fellow came to be part of our family. Even Aldo, though she'd never admit it. (And in the wee hours of each morning, when he's woken me yet again for some pampering, I'm loathe to admit it, too.)

Sheesh, it's still morning. This babbling might just make novel length if I don't just hit "publish." Not that having a mile-long list of good stuff is a bad thing, of course. :D