Marty's been sick lately. Just a little sick, but sick. Slow to think, coughing, uncomfortable. He's going to work anyway, and went to fighter practice with Keith Wednesday night, but between things he's tired. Usually he goes to sleep around 8:00, but he told me early on Thursday that he wanted to go to sleep at 5:30, to take Tylenol PM, and put Vicks on himself and sleep all night. He had used that combination of sleep aids Tuesday night and slept well. He asked me to help make sure it happened.
This is a 17 year old boy with a good social life, who doesn't have to have a job but wants to, who was deciding to do, basically, a systems shut-down for an extended period of time.
So while he was at work, I made his bed, put the meds on his dresser with a bottle of water, put clean pajamas on the bed, and told others in the family that we needed to be quiet enough after 5:30 for Marty to sleep.
He slept until 5:30 the next morning, awoke to his alarm, went to work, and said later today that he felt really rested and strong.
I'm impressed.
Tonight we're going to see HMS Pinafore at Rodey Theatre, at UNM. Musical Theatre of the Southwest (once ACLOA, for the former Albuquerqueans who might read this). Holly, Marty and I are going.
The wind is blowing dramatically, Kirby got a phonecall from a friend he hasn't seen for over a year who will have stories of Baghdad (unfortunate she has them, but fortunate she'll be able to tell them).
And the only other news (I love light news weeks, honestly) is that Kirby got a new video game. He became frustrated with World of Warcraft and cancelled his subscripton and deinstalled it. He told me he had gone out with friends last Friday, and had a good time and felt happy, and the following night he stayed home and played WoW, and felt angry. So he pulled its plug, and the next day went to buy a game. He got Guitar Hero, and since it arrived (except Thursday when Marty was sleeping) it's been played quite a bit. Marty's playing at the moment. I'm on medium level and got a new guitar. Kirby has gone out a couple of nights with the guitar/controller in hand, to play two-player mode at someone else's house.
So it's been a week with lots of activity, lots of rock'n'roll gaming, and yet very peaceful.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
First Flower of 2006, and other little news
Well, it's the first flower in MY yard. It's still working on opening up all the way. The color started to show on the last day of February. On the first day of March, the news said we had set a record for the driest winter in recorded history. The next day it rained—not much, but late afternoon when we were picking Marty up from the airport.
Marty went to Legoland. He paid for his own airfare, and he bought viking Lego with his own debit card. The group outing was organized by Live and Learn Conference attendees and friends of theirs, who formed a mailing list for the western U.S., so there were others there he knew from the conference, and some unschoolers he hadn't met as well.
When Marty was at Legoland, it rained. It rained the next day too. It was hot and dry in Albuquerque. By the time Marty's plane arrived here, it was raining, lightly. He brought photos of Legoland, full of flowers. He said Carlsbad, California, is full of flower-market flowers. We just got the first flower of the season.
When Pam Sorooshian visited in January, I bought some not-quite-opened bulbs from Raley's where Marty works and brought them home so they could open, and later I could plant the bulbs in the yard for next year. Pam didn't know about forced bulbs, because she has always lived where flowers can bloom all year.
I'm tired but content. The past couple of weeks were busy and productive and exhausting. Last night the house had just our family, and all of our family, though Marty and Kirby didn't see each other, and I went to bed early (for me, 10:00). Holly took care of making sure Marty's apron for work went into and came out of the dryer. I will thank her profusely, when she wakes up, this afternoon.
OH! That reminds me. ElleGirl Magazine will have a half-page article (fullpage, but large stock art of a girl none of us knows) on unschooling in its April issue. The writer spent lots of time on the phone with three families, at least, but it doesn't much show. Her editor insisted she talk to college admissions officers. She asked me for contacts. I said that Roxana Sorooshian had just spoken with an advisor at St. John's College in Santa Fe that week, and she might call him. I warned her she was likely to talk to people who knew nothing about unschooling. She did. So along with several wan quotes from the unschoolers she interviewed, she had two more solid (but easily refutable) quotes from a school psychologist and a Harvard admissions person. The unschoolers quoted were Holly, Brenna and Roya. Others named were Kirby, Marty, Sandra and Gail, alll people we know. The other two were add-ons for "balance," but it wasn't balance so much as refutation by the unqualified-to-comment. Bummer. It could have been so much better, so easily.
So how do I feel about Holly being used to help sell advertising for glittery eye make-up and studded handbags? If they hadn't talked to us they would have found other unschoolers. If they hadn't wasted our time it would've been someone else's. If I'd had a fancier camera, they'd've used photos of Holly instead of a stranger lying in a field of flowers. But their magazine is about appearances, and unschooling isn't much about appearances at all. Probably it just wasn't a very good match. Those interested in wearing those clothes and that makeup probably need to "stay on track" so they can get jobs writing fluffy articles for New York fashion magazines. The reporter was nice enough, but in the end she got paid real money, while unschooling was shortchanged.
Still, Holly's life IS peaceful, even though we have only one daffodil and not a field of flowers. Her brothers like her. She sat in the hot tub with both her parents last night ("if it's okay with you," she said, when she said she'd like to go in too). She finished her brother's laundry so he and I could sleep. You can't photograph that with any camera.
Marty went to Legoland. He paid for his own airfare, and he bought viking Lego with his own debit card. The group outing was organized by Live and Learn Conference attendees and friends of theirs, who formed a mailing list for the western U.S., so there were others there he knew from the conference, and some unschoolers he hadn't met as well.
When Marty was at Legoland, it rained. It rained the next day too. It was hot and dry in Albuquerque. By the time Marty's plane arrived here, it was raining, lightly. He brought photos of Legoland, full of flowers. He said Carlsbad, California, is full of flower-market flowers. We just got the first flower of the season.
When Pam Sorooshian visited in January, I bought some not-quite-opened bulbs from Raley's where Marty works and brought them home so they could open, and later I could plant the bulbs in the yard for next year. Pam didn't know about forced bulbs, because she has always lived where flowers can bloom all year.
I'm tired but content. The past couple of weeks were busy and productive and exhausting. Last night the house had just our family, and all of our family, though Marty and Kirby didn't see each other, and I went to bed early (for me, 10:00). Holly took care of making sure Marty's apron for work went into and came out of the dryer. I will thank her profusely, when she wakes up, this afternoon.
OH! That reminds me. ElleGirl Magazine will have a half-page article (fullpage, but large stock art of a girl none of us knows) on unschooling in its April issue. The writer spent lots of time on the phone with three families, at least, but it doesn't much show. Her editor insisted she talk to college admissions officers. She asked me for contacts. I said that Roxana Sorooshian had just spoken with an advisor at St. John's College in Santa Fe that week, and she might call him. I warned her she was likely to talk to people who knew nothing about unschooling. She did. So along with several wan quotes from the unschoolers she interviewed, she had two more solid (but easily refutable) quotes from a school psychologist and a Harvard admissions person. The unschoolers quoted were Holly, Brenna and Roya. Others named were Kirby, Marty, Sandra and Gail, alll people we know. The other two were add-ons for "balance," but it wasn't balance so much as refutation by the unqualified-to-comment. Bummer. It could have been so much better, so easily.
So how do I feel about Holly being used to help sell advertising for glittery eye make-up and studded handbags? If they hadn't talked to us they would have found other unschoolers. If they hadn't wasted our time it would've been someone else's. If I'd had a fancier camera, they'd've used photos of Holly instead of a stranger lying in a field of flowers. But their magazine is about appearances, and unschooling isn't much about appearances at all. Probably it just wasn't a very good match. Those interested in wearing those clothes and that makeup probably need to "stay on track" so they can get jobs writing fluffy articles for New York fashion magazines. The reporter was nice enough, but in the end she got paid real money, while unschooling was shortchanged.
Still, Holly's life IS peaceful, even though we have only one daffodil and not a field of flowers. Her brothers like her. She sat in the hot tub with both her parents last night ("if it's okay with you," she said, when she said she'd like to go in too). She finished her brother's laundry so he and I could sleep. You can't photograph that with any camera.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
They're Back!
At first I was lonely; the house was too quiet.
For two days I was THRILLED; the house was big freedom.
The Lovejoys arrived from South Carolina on Saturday and that day wasn't too busy; they were tired.
Sunday was busy, busy, busy and my legs hurt at the end of it, but we had gone for a walk, scouted some wood that Keith and I can retrieve later, had homemade banana pancakes, gone to Sandia Crest the back way, found some snow (not much), went to Garduño's (always fun), worked on a sewing project, watched videos, ate sorbet out of its fruit's own own peel (I don't know how to say that)... and that was a big, busy day.
Monday, the Lovejoys went to the Old Town Albuquerque Hotel, or the Hotel Albuquerque of Old Town or whatever its current name turns out to be, where the conference will be in September. They'll be back in various combinations over the next several days before flying back home Sunday. (Also flying Sunday: Marty to Long Beach, to go to Legoland with Pam and Rosie Sorooshian.)
But also on Monday, Keith and the kids came back, tired yet energized, full of stories, seeming bigger than usual, taller than I remembered, braver than I remembered. It was exciting to see them so... not thinking of a better word than "big." Things had gone well and they were embiggened.
For two days I was THRILLED; the house was big freedom.
The Lovejoys arrived from South Carolina on Saturday and that day wasn't too busy; they were tired.
Sunday was busy, busy, busy and my legs hurt at the end of it, but we had gone for a walk, scouted some wood that Keith and I can retrieve later, had homemade banana pancakes, gone to Sandia Crest the back way, found some snow (not much), went to Garduño's (always fun), worked on a sewing project, watched videos, ate sorbet out of its fruit's own own peel (I don't know how to say that)... and that was a big, busy day.
Monday, the Lovejoys went to the Old Town Albuquerque Hotel, or the Hotel Albuquerque of Old Town or whatever its current name turns out to be, where the conference will be in September. They'll be back in various combinations over the next several days before flying back home Sunday. (Also flying Sunday: Marty to Long Beach, to go to Legoland with Pam and Rosie Sorooshian.)
But also on Monday, Keith and the kids came back, tired yet energized, full of stories, seeming bigger than usual, taller than I remembered, braver than I remembered. It was exciting to see them so... not thinking of a better word than "big." Things had gone well and they were embiggened.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Very Quiet House
Keith and the kids have gone camping in Arizona with a few thousand others, at Estrella Mountain Park on the west side of Phoenix. Holly hasn't been to that event since she was little. The boys have been some years. This year all three are there. I spent the past couple of weeks repairing and replenishing their wardrobes, and then baked bread, cookies and sausage/cheese things. I did the fun stuff in a clean home and don't have to camp in the dust. But I'm glad the kids get to go, and feel somewhat guilty for not being there to help Keith out. I'll be helping a lot when they get back with all that dirty laundry, coolers, dishes... No problem.
I miss Holly most of all, because she tells me stories and asks interesting questions.
I miss Holly most of all, because she tells me stories and asks interesting questions.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Four-Things Meme
Ren, you goofy lady (I upgraded that from the original "evil woman"). Next you think I'll be posting "which LOTR Character are you" or "What Boots are You?" ?
Okay, here's the deal then. RenAllen has tagged me in a game of self revelation. I can reveal pretty well, but I can't tag. So here are the answers, and if any reader wants to volunteer to be one of my four, respond with a link to your page and we'll go and look.
I did follow back up the line from the one who sent it to Ren, and have to admit that was fun.
Here are the questions:
4 jobs you have had in your life
4 movies you could watch over and over
4 places you have been on vacation
4 websites you visit daily
4 of your favorite foods
4 places you would rather be right now
4 Cars you have owned
4 bloggers you are tagging
Here are my answers:
4 jobs you have had in your life
I'm not tagging, but anyone who wants to play can!
Okay, here's the deal then. RenAllen has tagged me in a game of self revelation. I can reveal pretty well, but I can't tag. So here are the answers, and if any reader wants to volunteer to be one of my four, respond with a link to your page and we'll go and look.
I did follow back up the line from the one who sent it to Ren, and have to admit that was fun.
Here are the questions:
4 jobs you have had in your life
4 movies you could watch over and over
4 places you have been on vacation
4 websites you visit daily
4 of your favorite foods
4 places you would rather be right now
4 Cars you have owned
4 bloggers you are tagging
Here are my answers:
4 jobs you have had in your life
- Cafeteria (La Posada) in college at UNM
- Waitress (El Paragua, fancy New Mexican restaurant in Espanola)
- English teacher, Espanola Jr. High (where I had gone to Jr. High)
- CEO of the SCA, Inc. ("Steward" and Executive Director a few years later)
- El Cid
- Guarding Tess
- Henry V
- Brother Sun, Sister Moon
and many, many more! and I do!
- England (twice; Cambridge and Kirk Ella)
- Disneyland
- Bonfield, Ontario
- Washington, DC
- Unschooling.info/forum
- Neopets
- geocities, to edit my website
- imdb.com, not every day
- fried potatoes
- chocolate chip cookies
- chicken
- Blake's Lotaburger with cheese
- I like where I am better than anywhere else, but...
- 1972 was especially fun, and
- if I could go back here and there and do some things better that might be good, but
- I'd take England, if I HAD to transport right now; wouldn't care where I turned up.
Yeah, I cheated, but I LOVE New Mexico!
- '68 VW bug, dark blue, sunroof
- 1974? Honda Civic, silver (later painted green)
- 1983 15 passenger Ford van, yellowish tan (GREAT for three kids)
- 1985 VW Jetta, tan
I'm not tagging, but anyone who wants to play can!
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
How Google and a hot tub help me clean my house
[This was posted last week, and disappeared. I probably helped, but I'm not sure how. Luckily, I had also put it on a hot tub discussion list, and so could re-post it.]
So we have this wood-fired hottub—one of the best new toys Keith and I have had in... ever. I've begun to notice lately how much cleaner our yard is, and our house too! We got some bamboo just the year before last, and it sheds its [fronds? leaves? what's the word?], but they're great for starting fires. A couple of our trees shed sticks when the wind blows. Good! We need those sticks.
Woodlot scrap, from where Keith cuts wood for the fireplace and hot tub, when it's too small and dusty and ugly to bring into the house is PERFECT to dump into the stove of the hot tub.
And for the house, I was going through a drawer of music the other day—sheetmusic from singing groups over the years, handouts I made, copies of things that were sung once 20 years back and weren't so popular with the group we had then. Those can go into the fire. Yesterday I found some ballad-lyrics pages, and those can DEFINITELY go into the fire, because those same lyrics are easily found with google. I only need to keep the obscure things now. Many of the cheap reference books, paperback dictionaries, almanacs, etc., that I've saved over the years aren't worth keeping now. Movie guides published years ago are junk now that imdb.com exists. Magazines kept because of a bio or a science article aren't worth keeping any more, if that same info (and often the same photos and then some) are easily available on the internet.
Old newsletters from SCA groups I was never even part of, that I got in trade when I did SCA newsletters back when they involved physical paste-up with tape or spray fixative. Trash. T-shirts that once had sentimental value, not worth keeping, not worth giving away: into the fire. It seems much better than putting them into the trash, into a landfill. They become heat that we use.
Cardboard boxes I was keeping just in case can be put into the fire. There are other cardboard boxes in the world. Scraps from sewing projects; junk mail; old phone books: they can burn. The vacuum cleaner canister or bag can be dumped into there.
Old wicker baskets or easter baskets which have been holding sewing supplies or catch-all this'n'that in the house first become collectors for kindling, but after a while the baskets themselves can go into the fire. Newer ones (though still old) are at every garage sale and thrift store. Little wicker trash baskets can be used until they're grotty and then... kindling.
We've had this for a year and already there is more room inside the house, the ground is cleaner outside, and the county landfill is less affected by us.
Because we had three days in a row of no-burn nights in a week when Keith's back and shoulder were really hurting him, he talked to his doctor about approving an application for an exemption for the tub, and was given a prescription to soak his shoulder daily for the arthritis. When we get the letter from the city's air quality control people, I'll share it with the neighbors and inform the fire station (I think that was in the small print of the requirements for follow-up).
So we have this wood-fired hottub—one of the best new toys Keith and I have had in... ever. I've begun to notice lately how much cleaner our yard is, and our house too! We got some bamboo just the year before last, and it sheds its [fronds? leaves? what's the word?], but they're great for starting fires. A couple of our trees shed sticks when the wind blows. Good! We need those sticks.
Woodlot scrap, from where Keith cuts wood for the fireplace and hot tub, when it's too small and dusty and ugly to bring into the house is PERFECT to dump into the stove of the hot tub.
And for the house, I was going through a drawer of music the other day—sheetmusic from singing groups over the years, handouts I made, copies of things that were sung once 20 years back and weren't so popular with the group we had then. Those can go into the fire. Yesterday I found some ballad-lyrics pages, and those can DEFINITELY go into the fire, because those same lyrics are easily found with google. I only need to keep the obscure things now. Many of the cheap reference books, paperback dictionaries, almanacs, etc., that I've saved over the years aren't worth keeping now. Movie guides published years ago are junk now that imdb.com exists. Magazines kept because of a bio or a science article aren't worth keeping any more, if that same info (and often the same photos and then some) are easily available on the internet.
Old newsletters from SCA groups I was never even part of, that I got in trade when I did SCA newsletters back when they involved physical paste-up with tape or spray fixative. Trash. T-shirts that once had sentimental value, not worth keeping, not worth giving away: into the fire. It seems much better than putting them into the trash, into a landfill. They become heat that we use.
Cardboard boxes I was keeping just in case can be put into the fire. There are other cardboard boxes in the world. Scraps from sewing projects; junk mail; old phone books: they can burn. The vacuum cleaner canister or bag can be dumped into there.
Old wicker baskets or easter baskets which have been holding sewing supplies or catch-all this'n'that in the house first become collectors for kindling, but after a while the baskets themselves can go into the fire. Newer ones (though still old) are at every garage sale and thrift store. Little wicker trash baskets can be used until they're grotty and then... kindling.
We've had this for a year and already there is more room inside the house, the ground is cleaner outside, and the county landfill is less affected by us.
Because we had three days in a row of no-burn nights in a week when Keith's back and shoulder were really hurting him, he talked to his doctor about approving an application for an exemption for the tub, and was given a prescription to soak his shoulder daily for the arthritis. When we get the letter from the city's air quality control people, I'll share it with the neighbors and inform the fire station (I think that was in the small print of the requirements for follow-up).
Thursday, February 02, 2006
FEBRUARY!?? What the...
I missed January!?
I guess I didn't miss it entirely, it just swept me along and I forgot about blogs and stuff.
January had two pretty cool happenings: Pam, Roxana and Rosie Sorooshian came to visit us, and Marty turned 17 on Saturday, the 14th. Unfortunately, the Sorooshians had to start driving home that morning. Fortunately, last year Marty's friends kind of botched his birthday. So this year they had a surprise 16th birthday party for him the night before he turned 17, cake and all. Pam's kids got to help keep the secret and go to that one.
We did some good touristy stuff. We took the tram to the crest of the mountain and ate. The girls got to play in what little snow there was (some crunchy piles and little bits). Bummer they came all the way out here in January and were two miles above sealevel, and still no snow.
We bopped around Old Town some, and Marty's pick to do for sure while they were here was Explora. It was nearly empty when we were there, Wednesday afternoon. It was nice.
Friday we went to Santa Fe where a couple of unplanned things happened. We went to St. John's College, in which Roxana had expressed an interest, and it so happened that in walking around we discovered there was activity in the administration offices, and when I asked the administrative person whether there was more literature I could take away (hoping to make a pile of stuff for Roxana to take home), she fetched an admissions counselor. Not bad! Not planned, but kinda nice.
Then at the plaza, the girls posed for "Rent photos" and the it's-not-really-a-busstop spot with St Francis Cathedral in the background. Luckily, Holly had just bought candy cigarettes at Señor Murphy's, so they had props too.
That visit gave me a huge thrill. I've stayed at the Sorooshians' house a dozen times, I think, over the years. My whole family has been there twice, and none of them had gotten to visit us. Maybe if Roxana goes to St. John's they'll have more opportunities to visit here.
A less profound thing we did was to visit Marty and Kirby at their respective places of employment, and to go into Active Imagination where Kirby spent his formative gaming-shop years. Now Kirby works at Dion's (a local pizza chain) and Marty at Raley's (a courtesy clerk, formerly known as "sack boy"). So Pam can picture them at work when I tell stories in unschooling discussions. That's cool. I got to visit Roya's (her oldest's) place of work when she was working at a ceramics supply company, years back, and have been with Pam to pick up and deliver kids from college classes.
Marty's birthday was nice. Seventeen. I can hardly conceive of that huge number in terms of Marty.
So this post thusfar has said nothing about February. That's okay. Much will happen in February. Maybe I'll even write about it!
I guess I didn't miss it entirely, it just swept me along and I forgot about blogs and stuff.
January had two pretty cool happenings: Pam, Roxana and Rosie Sorooshian came to visit us, and Marty turned 17 on Saturday, the 14th. Unfortunately, the Sorooshians had to start driving home that morning. Fortunately, last year Marty's friends kind of botched his birthday. So this year they had a surprise 16th birthday party for him the night before he turned 17, cake and all. Pam's kids got to help keep the secret and go to that one.
We did some good touristy stuff. We took the tram to the crest of the mountain and ate. The girls got to play in what little snow there was (some crunchy piles and little bits). Bummer they came all the way out here in January and were two miles above sealevel, and still no snow.We bopped around Old Town some, and Marty's pick to do for sure while they were here was Explora. It was nearly empty when we were there, Wednesday afternoon. It was nice.
Friday we went to Santa Fe where a couple of unplanned things happened. We went to St. John's College, in which Roxana had expressed an interest, and it so happened that in walking around we discovered there was activity in the administration offices, and when I asked the administrative person whether there was more literature I could take away (hoping to make a pile of stuff for Roxana to take home), she fetched an admissions counselor. Not bad! Not planned, but kinda nice.
Then at the plaza, the girls posed for "Rent photos" and the it's-not-really-a-busstop spot with St Francis Cathedral in the background. Luckily, Holly had just bought candy cigarettes at Señor Murphy's, so they had props too.
That visit gave me a huge thrill. I've stayed at the Sorooshians' house a dozen times, I think, over the years. My whole family has been there twice, and none of them had gotten to visit us. Maybe if Roxana goes to St. John's they'll have more opportunities to visit here.
A less profound thing we did was to visit Marty and Kirby at their respective places of employment, and to go into Active Imagination where Kirby spent his formative gaming-shop years. Now Kirby works at Dion's (a local pizza chain) and Marty at Raley's (a courtesy clerk, formerly known as "sack boy"). So Pam can picture them at work when I tell stories in unschooling discussions. That's cool. I got to visit Roya's (her oldest's) place of work when she was working at a ceramics supply company, years back, and have been with Pam to pick up and deliver kids from college classes.
Marty's birthday was nice. Seventeen. I can hardly conceive of that huge number in terms of Marty.
So this post thusfar has said nothing about February. That's okay. Much will happen in February. Maybe I'll even write about it!
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