new blog

I've started a new quilting blog, with some help from Will, over at wordpress, called Kissy Frog Quilts. Come and see what I've been doing, I mean other than homeschooling, running, and ferrying six kids all over the wilds of Maine.

the end of the blog?

Maybe the life of an average blog is 9 years, only because it won't load any more pictures. I thought I was being judicious in my use of photos, but after trying for several days to load some snaps into my post about my latest quilt projects, it just won't. I'll try on another computer and if that doesn't work then I guess I'll have to switch to WordPress. 

time keeps on ticking

One of the things that I recall every time I feel a little guilty about not blogging often is that since the big kids have started going away to school, 2 hours of every day is now spent in the car. That is 2 hours I previously spent quilting, reading, blogging, cleaning, and playing with the kids. Every day now is as regimented as a new Army recruit: wake up, get ready, get kids ready, drive to school, come home, homeschool the boys, run, shower, get big kids from school, ferry some kid to piano, make dinner, bathe little kids, read aloud, say prayers, and finally put the kids to bed. 

So, what has our family been doing for the past few weeks? Well, Timmy, Charlie, and I did the Flattop race. The boys did great in the mile (Charlie 7 min, Timmy 8 min) and I did terrible in the 5K. The weightlifting I had been doing to improve my strength left my muscles so worn out, despite a 4 day break, that I could only barely manage to stay on my feet. Yesterday I did run the Bridge the Gap 10 mile race and did quite well: 1hr 20 min. I ran the first 8 miles with my friend Lisa at a 8:30 pace and felt as fresh ending it as I did starting. I've been going out way too fast and crashing at mile 2, so this was a good learning experience. It was much more fun to pass people, especially on the hills, than to get passed while gasping for breath. 

I've been quilting up a storm since I finished all my obligation projects: a tshirt quilt for an online friend and a brown bag exchange in our guild. I applied to submit this quilt in the state quilt show for judging and have until the middle of June to get it finished. After several weeks, I've now finished all the colored strips and have to connect it all with white sashing next. I'm not really looking forward to working with 34 floppy strips, all 2" wide, but now I have to get it done, and do it well, since I don't want to look foolish next to all the really talented quilters in our state. 

Will was accepted to the fancy high school so I can release the breath I was holding for several weeks. Our other option was to bring Will home for 9th grade and send Charlie to Catholic school a year earlier than anticipated. Now it is unlikely that I will be spending the next year in prison for killing my child because Will and I are at odds so often these days and the little boys will have each other to be best friends with for another year. I didn't think I could go back to more than 3 kids at home during the day, Timmy has made such progress this year without the drama of trying to get the older ones to do their work. I've actually had, despite the loss of 2 hours a day, more time this year to work with him on his studies. 

Julia Ellen is now officially potty trained, or housebroken as my Grandmother calls it. I am happily doling out m&ms as reward for not having to daily wipe a yucky bottom for the first time in 15 years. 

What is next? More quilting, more races, the arrival of our first batch of Buff Orpington chicks in a few weeks, and planting my garden. Spring is late in arriving to northern Maine, the ground is still frozen 4 inches down and there are still patches of snow here and there, but today there is a warmth in the air that hasn't been there before and the snowdrops in front of the library were blooming this morning. Happy Spring!          

back in the blogging groove

My old computer that I was having blackout issues with for the past year finally bit the dust completely the day Tim dropped us off at the farm. Four days with no access to news other than the radio made me so crazy that Tim scrounged up enough money to buy me a new fancy-schmancy laptop that will NOT have children's games/Minecraft/13 year old boys downloading illicit copies of Windows 7... and I think that means it will last longer than the old one that had its inside fried. Just in time because Henry Cate emailed me this morning asking me to host the Carnival of Homeschooling next week.

So, if you have a post relating in ANY way to homeschooling, such as a funny event, a field trip, a craft you taught the kids, a new book or curriculum you bought, please email it to: CarnivalOfHomeschooling@gmail.com by 6:00 PM next Monday evening. It will be greatly appreciated if the submissions come in earlier. Please send the following information:

Title of Post
URL of Post
Name of Blog
URL of Blog
Brief summary of the post
(With "carnival" or "submission" in the subject field of the email.)

However, since I have no access to my 13 year old computer expert, I am having trouble figuring out if my Ipod music list is on an account somewhere or lost inside my old laptop. If you know, please let me know.  

IRL update

I've been on a self-imposed hiatus to spend more time doing school, quilting, and reading. This post is a short attempt to "catch up" since winter break when I not only lost a library book (which was found at the farm under the sofa), but my pink Ipod I bought myself after my first (and so far only) 1/2 marathon.  

Since then I have joined a local quilt group and finished a bed quilt, a quilt challenge, and several blocks for charity. I'm signed up for a machine quilting class in an attempt to get the hang of quilting on a shortarm frame, but part of me thinks it is a lost cause and the purchase was a total waste of money. I quilted about 3/4 of this Union quilt on the frame, but finished it on the machine sitting down. The throat space of only 5-8 inches to work with as well as my lack of dexterity quilting using handles instead of having hands on the quilt is proving frustrating.  

Will was in the play Beauty and the Beast at school as a townsperson, a wolf, and a fork. He also made honor roll his first quarter in Catholic school, proving that homeschooling is academically equivalent to a college prep curriculum. 

After several cancellations, Julia Ellen, Timmy, and I finally visited Amy Dacyczyn, of Tightwad Gazette fame for several playdates (her grandson is 2). 

An article on beachcoming I wrote over 3 years ago for a children's literature course is to be published in Spider magazine in the May/June edition. Perhaps finally getting paid for my writing will inspire me to attempt another article, but I don't envision making much money on the "publish something every 4 years" plan. 

Finally, 3 of the kids and I drove up to the farm this past weekend to take part in another Sub5 race. Speeding toward the finish with Danger Zone from the movie Top Gun blasting from my Ipod (I bought a blue one only to find the original pink hidden in a tote bag at the farm), I thought I did very well (22:18), but apparently this year I might have some stiff competition in the middle-age lady category as I came in 3rd in my bracket. The kids did well, Charlie came in 5th overall in the mile only being beat by 11 and 12 year olds, Maggie won the 9-10 age bracket, and Mary came in right behind her sister claiming a hurt foot.           

Spring is almost here and despite the snowfall this morning, the daffodils are blooming, the sap flow from the sugar maples has ceased, and the peepers are making lots of noise in wet spots all over Maine. I've planted my peas and spinach and hopefully will see some sprouts when we go back up to the farm for Easter break. As far as I know I will be hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling in a few weeks so I'll be asking for submissions and thinking up a carnival theme. 


I do hope you have a very blessed Holy Week and a very happy Easter.

taking a hiatus

Between attempting to get 4 children's schooling accomplished in the morning, driving same 4 children down to the public schools for art and gym, driving down to town to pick up Will every afternoon, and helping Will work on his geography project on PowerPoint every evening, I don't have time to think, much less blog right now. If we go up to the farm sometime in April then I only have a month or two left of this out-of-control schedule. 

I have realized, perhaps a little too late, that taking that one step into institutional school has made my older children realize that they want more than doing school at home. Of course, the girls haven't been involved in as many activities here as they have been in the past: no CCD, no Little Flowers, and no ballet. So, it seems likely that we will be sending them to Catholic school this fall. I won't exactly be fancy-free with the little boys in 1st and 3rd grade and Julia Ellen still the rambunctious toddler. My days will still be spent homeschooling and potty training, washing dishes and folding laundry, but my evenings will be filled with helping with homework, exhorting children to practice the piano, and making sure their clothes are ironed for the next day. It seems that my circumstances will take another turn and I need to trust that God will give me the strength to accomplish whatever is put in front of me and the practical knowledge to say my plate is full.

my life is a giant jigsaw puzzle

NFP is not an exact science, and when I was 4 days late recently, my mind raced between picking out baby names (Henry James or Elizabeth Ann, if you care to know) and utter panic (a year without running, where would I put a baby in this house?). Since everything I do, from the moment I awake to the instant my head hits the pillow has to be fit in like a giant 500 piece puzzle, I didn't relish the idea of having to fit more pieces into my daily life.

Tuesdays are my worst days: Mary at the elementary school at 8:50 for art and gym, Charlie at the primary for gym at 10:00, pick Mary up at 10:10, pick Charlie at 10:35, Maggie at the primary for gym at 11:15, pick up at 11:55, drop off 3 children at piano at 2:00, drop off Will and pick up 2 children at piano at 3:15, pick up remaining children at 4:00, fit into all of this school for 5 children ("Will, this is how you do this algebra problem, I want to see the rest completed before I get back."), laundry, breakfast, lunch and dinner, tidy the house, etc. etc. etc. There are always errands to run, doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointments, groceries to buy, and a phone call, "Can you do this?" thrown in for good measure. At any moment I feel like the whole puzzle is in danger of being tipped off the table by one or more of the children. Yesterday Julia Ellen got hold of a pair of children's scissors and not only cut her own bangs days after I trimmed them so carefully, but cut up the first page of a library book, and cut off the kitten's whiskers. 

I just don't think I can add one more thing to my day, my life, my world. So, when Parents.com, of Parents magazine emailed me asking me to be in contention for their new homeschool blogger position, with the obligation, under contract, to produce 3-5 posts a week about homeschooling, I was pleased about the recognition, but knew in my heart that I could not accept. When I say I will do something then I try my best to honor that promise, whether that obligation be daily prayer, marriage, children, art lessons, or employment. I didn't think I had a table large enough right now to work on a 1000 piece puzzle, no matter how much I wanted to. 

However, I realized on Friday morning that if God asked me to take on the 750 piece puzzle we could make it work. I can say no to some things, but not to another precious life.  There are only so many hours in each of our days and we must pick and choose how we will fill them. In 2011, I have chosen to teach my children at home, supplement with public school classes, and be a homemaker. In 10 years that situation will likely be different, but I do hope and pray that one day I will see the completed puzzle of my life, including 6 (or more?) beautiful children and a happy husband.    


edited to add: it was a short-lived false alarm, but I found that 36 hours are plenty of time to be horrified, be resigned, and be prepared, before being disappointed.

slow blogging

It isn't for a lack of something to say, but my laptop is dying a slow death by shutting down between 5 and 60 minutes after I turn it on. It immediately crashes if I go onto blogger.com so I'm waiting to research new laptop models until I have access to Tim's computer at the other house. I'm leaning toward an Apple, but don't know if I'm capable of figuring out how to use one. They do seem to be more sturdy than my dying 3 year old HP, I accidentally washed my IPod and it still works fine.  

thanks Obama

You know those tacky shirts that say, "My grandma went to Jamaica and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"? Well, I feel the same way right now. Our president and the Democrats have spent trillions of dollars on bailouts for public sector union jobs, cash for clunkers, bank bailouts, shovel ready projects that weren't quite so shovel ready, dozens of exotic vacations for themselves on corporate jets, an illegal campaign ad, and thousands of other sleazy things. 

Last week I researched internet options for our farm. I was tired of hoofing it to the library to check my email and with no TV either, I was completely clueless about what was going on in the world. Our phone company only offers dial-up for us country folk and when I called the cable company, they sent someone to estimate our hookup cost. "Due to the distance of 950 feet from the nearest road and with only 2 residences on the property, you do not qualify for a subdivision rate. The cost for running the cable to your home will cost approximately $3200. Please call us if you would like to proceed with service installation." Uh, no, thank you. Then I pulled out a year-old postcard from the satellite company and called them. "Due to the federal stimulus and reinvestment act, you are eligible to receive free installation and dish for internet access." 

So, 3+ trillion dollars later, I got a little gray dish stuck on the back of my house and am surfing the net in my furnace room. Apparently the big bucks from Obama only cover the modem coming in to one location and the cord is only 12 inches long. So until the electrician comes to connect a splitter and install a special plug upstairs, I'm the epitome of a basement-dwelling blogger typing away in her jammies.      

a blogging pause

Lately things have hit a rough patch and I need to focus like a laser on the children's behavior and their school. This morning I almost broke down in the confessional (after making the three big kids skip part of CCD so they could go to confession). It dawned on me that the solution begins with me, a regular schedule every morning with breakfast, brushing teeth, and starting school on time, rather than letting things slide so I can read the political news. I need to spend more time supervising my children rather than writing about them. So... I'm going to take a little blogging break and hopefully will return with lots of good news to report on the parenting and homeschooling front. May God bless all of you.

an invitation

I love checking out the postings at American Thinker and am proud when occassionally I see my husband's name on the byline. I started reading there after the site was mentioned several times by Rush Limbaugh and found a great source of entertaining and provocative writing on the events of our time. I jump into the fray every so often and was surprised to find this in my email inbox this week:

As a long time moderator for Mr. Lifson's American Thinker comment section, I get very peeved with commenters who use gross generalizations and stereotying like I did with my silly comment about no fat people in China... but your comeback was good. I like it a lot. You've got a wonderful way of expressing yourself - smart and gritty. I was wondering if you'd be interested in giving our moderator team a whirl? ...I try to find people who have rock bottom common sense and who can express themselves with civility, as you do.

It sounds like an interesting proposition, but the snag is our summer in Maine with the dreadful slow dial-up internet connection. What do you think?

worth staying up for

Every so often I come across a passage in a novel that is so perfectly aligned with my experience that I wonder if the author and I are twins separated at birth. Last night I had a little too much chai tea and couldn't drift off to sleep and instead padded downstairs with a stack of books. Only after I finished the last page of Everyone is Beautiful did I climb back into bed.

It was nice to be doing something that was only for me. I had been longing for something that was just mine for years now. I had tried to explain to Peter once, and he had been obtuse about it. "The kids are yours," he'd said.
"They're mine, but they aren't me."
"But you are doing a great job of raising them."
"Sometimes," I said. "And sometimes they are unraveling every roll of toilet paper in the house while I sit on the sofa with my head in my hands."
"You can't tell me they aren't great kids."
"No," I said. "And I wouldn't want to."
"Peter had a gleam as if he'd won.
"But," I pushed on, "when Toby picks his nose and wipes it on the couch, I don't exactly beam with pride and say, 'I did that! That's all me!'"
Peter shook his head.
That was the tricky part. You poured inordinate amounts of time and attention and affection into your kids, but the result was indirect. You didn't point out a cat to you one-year-old and then watch him, minutes later say, "Cat." Instead you pointed out a hundred cats to your one-year-old and then one day, watched him point to a cat and say "Mama."
That was what I wanted Peter to understand-that everything you did for your children was filtered and refracted through their personalities. There was nothing you could take credit for. You just tried to hold yourself together, give them lots of hugs, get them in the tub at least once a day, and hope for the best.
What I needed so desperately, and did not have time in my life, was something I could point to and say, "I did that." Something that was a direct reflection of me.

Housework is only gratifying if no one disturbs the perfection of a polished coffee table neatly stacked with books, no one dribbles urine on the newly cleaned toilet seat, no one spills the bowl of popcorn kernels all over the freshly vacuumed rug. Cooking is only an art if no one grumbles during the partaking, "This is yucky. Can't I have cereal?" Children, as Katherine Center puts it so well, are not little puppets, able to recite Latin proverbs for their relatives on cue just to prove your parenting prowess. And they rarely say "Thank you," for all the work, time, sweat, and tears. This is why I blog, why I quilt. I need something that is mine and I can say, "I did this!"

I this wrote on my etsy profile which sums up this feeling: Quilting relaxes me, feeds my creative nature, and allows me to produce something that will last. With 6 children to take care of, sometimes my life only seems to be full of dirty dishes, laundry, and diapers. Quilting allows me to produce something of beauty and fills my life with color, order, and a finished product.

what a writer!

Not the Mother I Want to Be... you must read this if you feel doubts, like I do sometimes, about your ability to be a great mother to more than 1.2 children.

keep it in perspective

I've got the theme for next week's Carnival of Homeschooling, I've got the beautiful pictures of our state to prove that Maine: the Postcards Don't Lie, and my house is clean because I implemented a new chore system. However, Blogger won't save my post if I download photos onto it. So.... how can I show the beauties of Maine with no pictures? Hopefully the situation will resolve itself and I can remember that there are many much larger problems in the world and in my own backyard.

I am blessed...

because I have 6 happy healthy children who do care for one another. Quite often Timmy will hug one of his siblings and say in a syrupy way, "I love you." My husband appreciates my efforts and loves me beyond measure. We have friends and relations who support us and give us joy. We can afford both a new vacuum cleaner and schoolbooks during a pay period. I have the opportunity to live somewhere (at least part of the year) that is beautiful.

We are all blessed because we live at a time in history that offers the best standard of living man has ever known. We have running water, flush toilets, machines that let us instantly communicate with one another. We have medical advances that allow us to live longer and healthier lives. We have the opportunity to educate ourselves for free at our public libraries. We live in a country of freedom and opportunity.

Mary and I are in a contest (Will started a day late so he can never catch up) of who can finish the Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events series first. She has the advantage of being able to read in the car, but I can stay up much later than she can (plus I skim much of the text). I think reading these has made both of us grateful, she for not being an orphan who has murderous Count Olaf hounding her every step, and me for not being a parent burnt up in a fire. My problems are minuscule compared to the Baudelaire children and so very slight compared to any one of the 7 million Americans who have lost their job the past few years. Yes, I am blessed and I know it. (but if you call me nasty names in the comments because I complain about my problems they will be deleted)

what my husband did on paternity leave...

Instead of bringing me a cup of hot tea, washing dishes, or getting up with the baby in the middle of the night Tim wrote this piece on Obama's incongruous anti-cloning but pro-embryonic stem cell research position currently on the docket at American Thinker.

(just kidding about that washing dishes part, Tim loves a clean sink, but Julia Ellen and I were the only ones awake at 3am)

fun but frightening

I found this Madame Zaritska's birth predictor. After answering the bizzare questions I found that:

The day you deliver, outside will be foggy. Your baby will arrive in the late night. After a labor lasting approximately 12 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 15 pounds, 2 ounces, and will be 18 inches long. This child will have dark hazel eyes and barely there brown hair.

I would rather jump off a bridge than deliver a 15 pound child. Luckily we have had a tie for biggest baby at 8lb 1oz. Wanna guess which ones?

where did Quickfoot go?

Yesterday was a zoo. Between not waking up until after 7am and then the kids clambering to get outside in the snow, I was off to a rough start. Timmy pulled the typical toddler act of wanting to go out, but taking more time getting his snowsuit and boots on than he spent outside. I must have taken off 12 pairs of boots, dried 14 pairs of gloves, and swept the kitchen floor 6 times to get rid of the snow. I was certainly dreaming of a future mudroom with vinyl floors, hooks for coats, and a place to lay out mittens and hats to dry. One day I will have these things, but in Maine where they will be needed on a daily basis, not just once or twice a year.

The other thing that threw me off was the missing header picture on the blog. It just disappeared. Well, easy enough to fix, I'll just find the photo file and put it back in. No luck, I took that picture with my non-digital camera, it is stored on the old computer in Maine, and I have apparently lost the disk.

Plan B would be to take another picture of the two alligator bath toys. But.... I could only find one, even after looking all over the house two times, stooping uncomfortably to peer under beds, in toy chests, in the basement. Then I remembered that we had spotted the exact same alligator at the thrift shop last week and the kids begged me to get it. Maybe it is still there a week later?

So, after dropping off Will and Mary at piano we searched the toy aisle but of course it was gone. We did find a close substitute. I bet Will $5 that we will find Quickfoot (one of the two baby alligators in the picture book, No Fighting, No Biting by Else Minarik) when we pack up this house in 2 years, but until then, the lizard will have to do.

For fun read Creative Minority Report's adventure of Dad trying to get 5 kids to the doctor's office in record time and finding out 1/2 way there that 1 kid forgot his shoes... I haven't laughed so hard in a long, long time!

grammar police again

effect: a noun that means "as a result of"
affect: a verb that mean "to cause"

advice: a noun that means "suggestion to another"
advise: a verb that means "to give a suggestion"

Please, homeschooling mothers look uneducated and incapable of teaching even 6 year olds if they can't distinguish between a noun and a verb. And don't even get me started on using "I or me" and "good or well."

back on the horse

My husband Tim, after the fellowship year from h&%* down in NC, is back to blogging about Catholic ethical issues from a medical perspective. He is much smarter than I am and is a better writer and can be found at Catholic Medical Weekly.

What I want to know is, with two parents who enjoy writing, how come getting Will or Mary to write 1 book report a quarter the only task I despise in homeschooling?