Bother. Yesterday was M, which I mistakenly missed. Too bad, too, because I had all kinds of M words, like Mad Men, which I am currently {thoroughly} enjoying. I woke up this morning to the realization that when I sat down to order the groceries, I had also intended to blog. I decided to wait on the grocery order, due to circumstances beyond my control and completely forgot about blogging in the meantime. I am currently waffling between a c'est la vie attitude and one that sounds more like Grrrrr...

more reading

We're sick here. I have such a crazy cold that Samuel was laughing the other night at my voice and my sneezing and saying I had a cartoon cold. He also said he didn't realize they were real and that he'd never had one. I had to think about that a minute, but I think he's right about that. He's had plenty of other viruses, but not the common cold. And it looks like he isn't going to get it this time, either. His body seems to be going with another virus variety that has been floating around lately.

So today I have to go over and pick up our groceries- thank goodness for grocery pick up! And then the kids and I will most likely be watching a few of the Christmas shows I had on hold both at the library and on Netflix before Christmas, but which are only now just coming in. I wish we were finished with Little Women because I would love to watch that movie again today. We watched Gone With the Wind a few nights ago and Samuel and Eva both really enjoyed it. Samuel was stunned, actually, that it wasn't a happy ending. The sadness of the ending is fairly pronounced in the movie- all except for Scarlet's resolve, which remains strong. He said he liked it even if it was a tragedy, though he wasn't sure he'd be watching anything like it any time soon. And Eva really liked Scarlet. She was quite taken with all of the fancy gowns and hats and such in the movie as well.

We are all a little nervous about any sad scenes that might be approaching in Little Women. Samuel is really loving the story and the characters and the writing and has had quite a few realizations about the lives of women in the past (and present), which I find very interesting and thought-provoking. We are planning on watching both the modern version and the older, black and white version of the movie when we finish the book. And I am not sure what to follow Little Women with. I have a few ideas- a stack of ideas, actually, but nothing firm. We were given a copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and while Samuel and I have read an abridged version several years ago, several times (he was *very* into it), neither of us has read the full version. I guess I will decide once we actually finish Little Women. It's a good excuse to peruse the books lists to get some more ideas. I'm actually really wanting to read the Yearling to them, but honestly- and maybe I've said this here before- I don't know if I can take the sad scenes right now!

shoemaker and the elves

We went and saw the Shoemaker and the Elves today with the Tears of Joy Theater in downtown Portland. The kids and I see quite a few plays and musicals and such during school performances during the week. Seeing one on a Sunday afternoon was fun. Next door, the Oregon Symphony was playing Handel's Messiah and the streets around the Oregon Performing Arts buildings were packed with people dressed up for the holidays. There was a festive air and I was in one of my moods where I really enjoy seeing what people have chosen, who they are out in the world. The man who chose the yellow running shoes, for instance, and the woman who chose the long purple coat. Who is going to the symphony? Who has chosen the puppet show? Many of the people at the puppet show were families with children, often small children, but there were quite a few people there without children as well.

So I'll be honest, one of the reasons I chose to take the kids to the this show on a Sunday was because it has become increasingly difficult to work with the Tears of Joy Theater people as far as getting tickets to their school performances for homeschoolers. There are a few organizations like the Northwest Children's Theater and the Oregon Ballet Theater who make it very easy. I can call them up and order three tickets to see any of their shows during the day when they have a school performance. Other venues, like Do Jump and the Oregon Children's Theater, are willing to sell tickets to homeschoolers for their school performances, but there is a minimum number of tickets we have to buy, usually ten. And others, like the Tears of Joy Theater, used to let us buy tickets in groups of ten but have become increasingly rigid on this point and will now {mostly} only sell to the very largest homeschool organizations like Village Home.

I buy a lot of my tickets to different shows from a fellow homeschooling mom, but even she, who often buys in large quantities, was not able to buy tickets from Tears of Joy this time around. (I know, because I specifically asked about Shoemaker...) So she stopped trying. And I wonder if the people at Tears of Joy understand that there is a whole section of the population out here who has basically given up on seeing productions from them, whose kids are not going to see their puppet shows? I chose to spend the extra money to see the Shoemaker and the Elves this time because it's the holidays and because I really love that story and {I'll be honest again} because Tears of Joy has a tendency toward moralizing in the stories they choose, in my opinion, and I didn't think there would be very much room for that in Shoemaker.

And I was right. In fact, it was one of the first things that Samuel mentioned when we left the theater. He had, apparently, been trying to figure out which moral angle they would take with this story and was relieved that they had decided to just stick with the good deed and the thrilling gratitude. So the kids and I talked about the show and morals and the characters. Samuel, I would say, enjoyed the show and the characters the most of the three of us. Eva and I were not quite as taken with the elves as Samuel was (mischief making elves who even Santa had to let go...). And I have to say, after hearing Samuel go on and on about how much he enjoyed them and remembering how much he had laughed aloud at their antics during the show, I was doubly happy I had gotten the tickets for us. We ended our afternoon out with hot chocolate, coffee and snowman sugar cookies.

match point

I've been on a bit of a Woody Allen kick for the last couple of months. Tonight I watched Match Point, after reading something about it being one of his top ten best movies and a big comeback for him after several let-downs in a row. I really enjoyed it. For a while I thought the subject matter was quite a bit different from some of the other movies of his that I have liked so much.

(It was even a little too much of a thriller for me at one point and I went and looked for a spoiler. I have no problem watching a movie like that after I know what is going to happen. Even then, it usually still turns out to be a bit on the intense side for me. It's been a while, too, since I decided it was fine if I looked ahead in books, movies, what have you. Gave myself permission, at it were. It is supposed to be fun, after all. I feel like I have enough not-knowing in regular life without it taking over in the fiction I read and watch. Unless I want it to, that is.)

...but then, the ending {in particular} really brought home some of the meaning-of-life (and is there meaning to life?) questions that had been posed during the movie- if seemingly briefly- and included some extra introspection about luck that I especially enjoyed. It got me thinking again about the Luck Factor that I read earlier this year.

this and that

Today I have nothing cohesive to write about. Lots of this and that going around. Chilled heads, wearing hats, drinking hot chocolate. We also went to see Tangled today which was very very cute. Very well done. Even if the mother issue was so familiar, so in line with one of our culture's biggest mother-fears. You know, that mothers mainly hold people back? That we are all frightened and un-trusting that our children will be able to handle themselves and so we step in and prevent them from living out their dreams? Yeah, that one. Anyway, they did a good job of making this mother-issue so over-the-top-enough that I think almost anyone would be hard pressed to think she had Rapunzel's best interests at heart.

We started reading Tom Sawyer. So far so good. Some of the language is archaic and some of it is just plain not said anymore, which makes for interesting discussions.

And it's that time of year when keeping well and keep warm seem to be synonymous. I take vitamin D religiously now and that seems to help quite a bit. I drink warm beverages and take warm baths. One of my migraine triggers this time of year is a cold head, so I wear a hat indoors much of the time.

Which also means I am knitting a new hat. Even though I also bought yarn for mittens. For myself. Eva wants new hand warmers too but she wants a different pattern, which makes it slightly more tedious than it would have been because I already know the gauge and size and pattern, etc of the other hand warmers really well. Oh well. I will learn the new ones soon enough and they will be purple with hearts, lots and lots of hearts.

I was also perusing this blog for holiday things to do around Portland in December and that got me thinking about the little walk around downtown Portland we didn't make last year because we were all sick- the gingerbread houses and the big tree in Pioneer Square. Hot chocolate. The new Santa village thingy in Macys. Although I'm told it's not the same as the old one. {What ever is?} That whole tour I had planned. And I was thinking of doing it this week and caught myself and thought is it too soon? But you know- as I go back and forth with myself right now as I am writing, real time self-introspection, if you will- this whole month has the potential to just fly by. Why not this week? And get in the holiday spirit.

And one more thing. I am actually considering putting up holiday lights this year, which is something I have never done. Something I never thought I would do. Would want to do. But I saw these lovely periwinkle colored lights on a few houses as I drove home tonight and I think I may have been sold. I also may want one of those reindeer whose head move. Or something. Although I don't know yet. I'll have to see how much they cost and then decide.

And on that note- it's time to go to bed. Time to read. Time to drink another Emergen-C and some more Kombucha, gear myself up for taking care and keeping warm. Extra vitamin C. Hot tea. Astragalus. That sort of thing. And try and finish my hat, for winter's sake. It seems like it goes by so quickly, but really, it's winter here until June. Or at least that's when I stopped wearing my winter hat last year. So as usual, I really do have all the time in the world.

tut tut...

I was a huge Facts of Life fan at one point in my life. And while there are a few scenes that I remember fondly from that show, there is one scene in particular that has stuck in my head all these years and that continues to come up over and over for me still, particularly when I am reminding myself not to worry.

The scene I am remembering was with Tootie, during a time when she was being punished for something or other. (It seems like this was a common occurrence for Tootie on the show.) On this particular occasion, she was required to write something 100 times or more, something along those lines, on the blackboards in a classroom. At some point during the punishment, the camera came into the room- I can't remember if it was followed by a teacher or not. Eventually, a teacher did come into the room, though, and told her that what she was writing on the board wouldn't work as her punishment. Tootie had decided to write double quotation marks (as in " ") over and over again underneath *each word* in the first sentence rather than writing out the sentence word for word, over and over, line after line. And she thought she was being quite clever, too, because while she wrote, she sang the song, "Tut tut Tootie, don't cry. Tut tut Tootie, goodbye."

I love that. Tootie, in her roller skates, skating back and forth across the classroom, writing double quotation marks and singing that song "Tut tut, Tootie...". (To be honest, the last word isn't necessarily goodbye. I sing it alternately with my my at the end, depending, and have been doing so for years. Just now I tried to verify it on Google but sadly it did not show up. Nor on YouTube, as it were.)

I was reminded of this song again this evening when I told Eva I was going to take a break from cutting out Christmas trees because my finger was getting sore and she rolled her eyes at me and said, "Tut tut." I chuckled. Oh Tootie, you have made your mark on this world and it has stuck. I have no doubt that Eva's "Tut tut" came from my singing Tootie's song around my kids for all these years. Of course, the meaning has altered slightly, over the years, morphing to suit our family's needs, depending on the situation and nuance required, but that is, after all, what all language does anyway.

Just for fun, I decided to go over to Netflix to see if they have the Facts of Life {on instant watch or otherwise} and put it in my queue. It seems like it might be a fun thing to watch with my kids. They can finally see Tootie in her roller skating glory singing the "Tut tut" song they have come to associate with me. I'm fairly certain of what their response will be. A little eye rolling, a groan and a definite, "Tut tut..."

current books

Around the time that Maxwell died, the kids and I finished up several ongoing stories we had been working on. We finished the 7th Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and are now eagerly anticipating the 7th movie due out on November 19th. We finished up the back seasons for both Glee and the Office. Since his death, I have also indulged quite a bit in Grey's Anatomy and am now officially caught up on that. I've also watched several Woody Allen movies which have been a lot of fun.

Since finishing up Harry Potter, we have read the Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, a Newberry winner and are currently reading the Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, also a Newberry winner. When we finish Despereaux, I think we will go ahead and watch the movie- it's usually interesting to see how the movie compares to the book and one of the things that we enjoyed about Harry Potter was ending each book with the corresponding movie.

Before reading either of the above books, we started reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. We ended up not finishing it because we actually weren't thrilled with it. I'm not sure why, it seemed to differ for each of us. I had originally started reading Wrinkle... to the kids because we are supposed to see a play based on it in the spring and I thought it would be fun to read the book beforehand. I had also never read it as a kid and had always heard good things about it. The good that came from starting it in the first place was that it got me to check out the list of Newberry winners again, another great place to find new books to read.

Two books that are sitting in our reading pile that I think we will read next are The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. The kids are also reading the Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien with Matt. He read them the Hobbit last year. They are really enjoying the story and are looking forward to the movies once they have finished reading.

In addition to watching Woody Allen movies, I have also been reading a few different books including Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (actually my first Vonnegut book aside from a feeble attempt at a short story in college) and Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert (I am a sucker for French 19th century realism and it has been too long since I've bitten off a book like this one.). I've also been reading the Chocolate Cake Sutra by Geri Larkin. Although I confess that my attention for reading hasn't been what it could be and I have been doing far more knitting than reading lately. I'm currently looking for owl knitting patterns and am excited to have found a pair of fingerless gloves on ravelry with owl patterns on the fingers...

When late afternoon is suddenly 3:30 pm and the light outside is casting the longest shadows of the year. We have had gloriously-cold-sunshineyness over the last several days here. The kids are talking of snow but alas, there is not a cloud in the sky, a marked contrast to the days preceding this cold snap.

Today Samuel's project was to fill up the kiddie pool outside with water from the kitchen sink. His goal is to have not one but two large containers of water that will freeze so that he can spend his mornings breaking up ice, a favorite activity for him and Eva this time of year. Eva is also dreaming of an ice rink in the backyard and is hoping at the very least to be able to stand on the frozen pool of water tomorrow.

I have been busy knitting mittens and now fingerless gloves for the kids. For some reason the mittens have not been a big hit in the choosing-to-wear-them-when-cold sense of the word. Every child in my family was choosing to wear my fingerless gloves when he or she was outside and cold instead of the mittens I dutifully carried around for them. This made for very cold momma hands and very cold other-child hands as well. So, after spending a little time feeling frustrated and considering just framing the mittens, I decided to knit both kids fingerless gloves- when in Rome, if you can't beat 'em join em, and all that. Eva was sick the other day and I knit her pair that day. Samuel's will hopefully be done today, unless I run out of yarn, which is a distinct possibility, in which case it will mean another trip to the yarn store tomorrow. I am loving the yarn I used for Samuel's mittens and now for both of their fingerless gloves. It is a worsted merino wool from Malabrigo Yarns. So yummy soft and warm. I want to knit everything in it. The mittens and gloves are knit at 6 stitches/ inch and the woman at my yarn shop showed me a shawl she knit at 4 stitches/ inch that felt very close to cashmere. Heavenly.

The other fun thing the kids and I have done was to go and see Fantastic Mr. Fox- Wow! I have an extra soft spot in my heart for foxes anyway and this movie made it even cushier. Just a lovely funny marvel of a film. I can't say enough goodness about it- about the story and the music and the details and the crazy perceptiveness of the film's creators. So many little details that made it just so.

dark chocolate coconut bliss

So it turns out the kids did not care for the original Battlestar Galactica- something about it being too challenging to follow the story and the characters looking too much alike. They are now enjoying Knight Rider- again- and it has turned out to be one of the favorite series they have tried, second only to Lost In Space, I think. I mean we haven't tried that many series, but of the ones we have tried, Knight Rider is a hit. They coaxed me (Eva's word...) into trying Netflix.

And then we tried the previously unthinkable today. We super glued Barbie's shoes on. Can you believe it? There is something so liberating and freeing in knowing those tiniest blue heels will never ever come off of those permanently flexed feet. Imagine that. Barbie {in shoes!} climbing trees and no emergency run outside at dusk searching for a lost shoe by candlelight- I mean flashlight. Or even moonlight. No single shoe floating around the house waiting to be found...



Barbie brushes all lined up and ready to go

watch it!

creativity- the process of having original ideas that have value- Sir Ken Robinson

"something potentially more dangerous than a Cylon outpost..."

The kids are watching the original Battlestar Galactica series and loving it. I have to chuckle at how familiar it all is- the characters, the song, the voices...

Eva asked me the other day if when she died she could come back as a worm? She said she likes worms so much. Not as much as earwigs, though. Earwigs are her favorites.

I made the first jam of the season tonight- strawberry. Going to the upick tomorrow to pick more strawberries. Hooray for upicking!



Samuel let me take some pictures of him in his new Mario shirt!

Eva and Samuel have been very into Alladin the last couple of days and I have the catchy tunes from that movie perpetually in my head. They really are catchy. And I have to say I love it that he chooses to free the genie in the end as his third wish (sorry if this spoils the movie for anyone). I was truly touched when I heard that. And how wonderful that the genie sticks around as his friend and helper ever after...



So sweet. Knit fairy and her horse having a little fish and water. There is also a raven sitting on a chair behind the horse who didn't make it in the photo and another fairy on the ground taking a nap or some such but I wasn't sure if she was actually a part of the scene or just haphazard chaos from earlier.

I remember watching this for the first time one Christmas and love the song Feliz Navidad. I have had it in my head ever since!

This special has 7 parts to it, each about 10 minutes long...


Samuel and I watched a couple of the segments together tonight.

she's a real martian beauty

Eva has been very inspired by this vintage sesame street flick.

She has taken to drawing the martian beauty in various drawings and today gave me a sample of what types of tattoos I could have. Martian beauty was one of the options...



baby sweater knitting in background...

We went to the market today and the kale guy said he may not come next week because, after all, it is winter. I mean, sort of, I guess. We did get a frost today. The market attendance was low today and I can see that many others feel as he does. Everyone is wearing a hat. There are some coats. I feel sad when the market closes but luckily I have my produce basket to keep me in fresh produce for the next couple of months until the market (and my garden) get back into the swing of growing. I bought extra kale.

Jack was so excited by the frost that he went outside and ran around really fast, jumping up and down excitedly. He loves the cool weather and if we ever get snow, hang on as he bounds this way and that into the snow drifts.

Samuel had the idea to pour water all over the patio and then when it freezes at night, we will have an ice skating rink in our yard. They may do this. I can't say for certain but if they are inspired, this could indeed happen, at least on part of the patio.

Overheard-
Samuel, "Eva don't spit, it's not polite!" [I swear I have never ever said this.]

mittens!

I finished Eva's mittens. Love mittens to go with her bear hat. I have been sick for the last couple of days and am feeling so much better today. We have so many overdue library items I blinked when I saw the list. Too bad they don't have a I'm-sick-can-I-have-a-few-more-days-on-the-library-books option. I suppose they would argue that people would take advantage of this. Did you know that Borders doesn't allow returns without a gift receipt (or any receipt, for that matter) because of book-return-fraud issues? True. I had a clerk tell me all about it last time I was in there trying to return a book without a receipt. I think my dog ate it? No, Eva drew on it and it is now a part of the scrapbook? They didn't believe me.

The next thing to knit is a sweater for Mary's baby (don't look Mary!) who is due very very soooon. And the kids need to work on some crafty things for a homeschool craft sale they are doing next week. We are thinking something like bracelets, melty-bead-robots (or something robot, depending...) and something like brownies because Eva doesn't want to sell anything she makes but food is OK. Maybe some little guys with eyes? We need to head over to the craft store and just get a couple of ideas, set them up on the table, and see what happens. Samuel is also planning a raffle, so it could end up he makes one of each and then just sells raffle tickets for the lot, which seems like a pretty good option at this point in the game.

When you're done, you're done. I just burned a grilled cheese. Yikes.

We watched Martian Child while I was sick and now the kids are watching the newer Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Augustus Gloop the Nincompoop...that sort of thing.

We are fresh back from camping with friends. This clip was the Astronomy Picture of the Day today and I found it very inspiring. More on camping later...

Watch it!

This is a really inspiring video and I highly recommend that you watch this!

such a lovely lovely clip from you tube-

Animal School

whew...

Well, I have been out of it with illness, and the kids as well, on and off for a little while now. Today we forayed out of the house to get additions for our life. Groceries and a trip to the library filled in the pieces well. I finally got a copy of Animal Vegetable Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver after waiting since um June maybe. Well worth the wait I think as I have already started reading it and am really enjoying it. More of the same type of local eating talk that is found in This Organic Life or Plenty and she is fun to read as well.

We watched The Education of Little Tree yesterday as I attempted to sit still for a while to rest. What a really inspiring movie. Someone on an unschooling list I am on recommended it as a good unschooling movie and I have to agree. I am tempted to read the book as well but for now my reading plate is full as I also received Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller from the library. And I am reading a few metaphysical-ly books as well. Much to enjoy.

While sick I spent a good amount of time knitting and I finally finished my sweater! Hooray! I am actually wearing it as I type right now. It is very warm and comfortable and I have spent so much time with it that it felt just right putting it on, as though I had been wearing it for years, which in a sense, I have. Hauling it around for at least the last several months. I am quite happy with it and can also see how you could nip and tuck at a garment forever, searching for just the right...length or width or feel or drape or whatever. It is fun. Now I am going to finish those gloves that I left the last three fingers off of the second hand.



Finished sweater! Samuel's photo of me in my finished sweater!

Santa brought the kids each a watch this year and Samuel is making great strides in learning how to read one. It is great for one of us to have a watch because I don't wear one and Samuel likes to know what time it is. What better way to learn to tell time! He has the second hand down and even timed me last night when I said five more minutes. Hmmm. I wonder how literally he is going to take this time thing. We talked extensively today about what a complicated system it is and Samuel asked numerous questions about why they made the clock the way they did and why it was so complicated and how it would be better if they just had one hand to look at.



Eva has been having a lot of fun playing with her playmobil wildlife care center and with the pattern blocks. She loves her orca whale and shark and take them in the bath whenever she gets a chance. She has also, apparently, been taking many pictures because I just looked at the pictures on the camera and there are a slew of Eva shots. Some of them I am not sure of and others are definitely care bears sleeping in little beds and such, as well as several of Samuel with his newest guys Maxilos and Spinax.



Jack has since torn up his Christmas squeaky and we presented him with a new one today which he promptly took away into a corner to squeak.



Samuel and Evan playing chess, Samuel with Maxilos and Spinax, Maxilos and Spinax at last!

And here is Charlie, who really likes to take his time getting out of his cage. He is quite cautious when leaving, so much so that I can go across the room, get the camera, take his picture, return the camera, come back over to offer my hand and he is still thinking about it. He is not, however, cautious about taking snacks and takes those promptly from my fingers. Anything. Pretty much anything. He wouldn't take the dried apricot I offered him the other day. But he does look forward to eggs and toast in the morning.

Dinosaurs!

Well, the dinosaurs have definitely taken over our house. Out came the bucket-o-dinos from the garage. Out came the robot dinosaurs. We have checked out several detailed, not-so-detailed, simple and complex books about dinosaurs of all types from the library. Dinosaurs counting, doing their abc's, going to sleep, chasing people, showing up out of nowhere...The kids have played dinosaur video games, including the Walking With Dinosaurs game, which has a very complicated and fun time line to fill in with dinosaur pictures and names, the likes of which most of us have never heard of!

There have been several videos watched and rewatched about dinosaurs, including one of Eva's favorites, The Land Before Time (and all of the seven or eight! follow up episodes, which aren't nearly as good as the original, in my opinion) as well as Dinosaur and Dinotopia and of course, Walking with Dinosaurs. And did you know there is a Walking with Prehistoric Animals (I can't remember the exact title). Samuel liked this one better than the original one with Dinosaurs. The favorite, by far, has been Chased by Dinosaurs and Allosaurus (the story of Al, the allosaurus). Both specials are made by Walking with Dinosaurs, so the graphics are amazing. And there is much theory woven into a story about how the dinosaurs looked and lived and enjoyed their time on Earth so many years ago.

Last night we read a great book, Did Dinosaurs eat Pizza, which talked about what we don't know about dinosaurs. I enjoyed reading this after Walking with Dinosaurs because it focused on what we know for sure about dinosaurs and what are theories and guesses and ideas about how dinosaurs may have lived. Eva was very happy to find out that some of the momma prehistoric beasties may not have just abandoned their young like the narrator said they did. She was very happy it was just a theory!

In the car Samuel likes to go over many of the dinosaurs and what we know about them. He likes to list off the dinosaurs that *most* people know about, the old standbys like stegosaurus, triceratops, t-rex, you know the usuals...And then he lists some of the dinosaurs that only experts know about. I can't remember those right now and am not sure if he includes me in with the experts or not. I do know that he lists himself as a certified dinosaur expert and on most day he even includes Eva!