Kirby's 19th birthday

Kirby is 19, so I've been a mom 19 years.

When I was 19, my mom accidentally got pregnant, and if that had been me that year, I'd've now been a mom for 33 years or so. This way's better.

Kirby had a costume party and photos of most guests are linked from Kirby's page, but here's one of my three, who went as Casey Jones from the first Ninja Turtle movie, Dr. Strangelove (he had a wheelchair and more props, but this was while he was getting ready, when he was being MeatLoaf) and Addie, from Paper Moon.

Lots of people came over yesterday afternoon and last night, and it seemed to be a really good party with nice people and good costumes. Kirby seemed happy with it all.

Birthday

I'm 52 today. Kirby brought me breakfast in bed. That was sweet. He scared me, though, when he woke me up. And I wasn't in the mood to eat, but none of that kept it from being a really nice gesture. :-)

He stayed and talked a while. He turns 19 next Friday.

Keith and Holly are at an SCA campout in the Jemez Mountains (Lonely Mountain, for those with the need to know). Marty stayed here with us.

This afternoon Marty and Kirby and I are going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and then to eat out. That's my birthday party, and it sounds like a good one.

Last night my friend Ramona took me to Garduño's and tomorrow morning (which is HER birthday) I'll take her to breakfast.

Sounds like my birthday is all about food this year. I didn't think about it until I wrote it all down. Mostly it's about being with people I like, though, in air-conditioned places.

Here's something about birthday cake: CAKE

Scattery writing

I'm supposed to post once a week to remain a member in good standing of one of the blogrings, maybe both. It's hard to feel like a slacker, as I write about unschooling every day, but it's scattered here and there.

Lately I check unschooling.info, the UnschoolingDiscussion list and AlwaysLearning, and usually leave a story or an idea.

Kirby is applying for jobs. More and more, companies are collecting applications online, and so Kirby's first-impression strengths aren't so useful. It's interesting to see the world change in those ways. I used to work (long-term temp) at a personnel office for a scientific research company on Kirtland AFB, and it was very interesting how the applications were handled. Some of them were never seen by anyone but me and the secretary, but we did the best we could when one of the engineers or managers requested resumes of a certain sort. It's overwhelming to think of it.

Marty's working four days a week making boots still. His boss got another job, doing books and office work at a motorcycle repair shop, and so Marty works alone, listening to CDs. He doesn't mind. I wouldn't last in a non-socializing environment myself.

Holly and Marty have been playing a swimming-pool team sport with a goal and a bumpy ball, designed by their friend. I'm glad they're letting Holly play too. It's been really hot here, and that time of the year when being inside and not moving much seems healthiest, until evening.

There are some new photos of my kids online from when they were little, in an article about medieval children's costumes that I wrote years before the photos were taken: sandradodd.com/duckford/children (Magnus is Kirby, Bardolf is Marty, and Asta is Holly.)

Happy Sparkly 4th of July!

With apologies to Canadians and Brits who might wander by, it's hot-dog and fireworks day! And I lived. The swelling is all down and I can lean on my arm now. Good.

Here's a newish photo. Two months old (5/5/5) but as I've been scanning lots of old photos it seems like yesterday.

Bee sting

OUCH!!
Thursday morning early, I got the worst bee sting I've ever had. I'm not allergic, but it felt like fire, and deep, so I guess I didn't notice the first stick and he dumped his whole load. YIKES. I took antihistimine, put antihistimine outside. Sleeping helped.

Friday morning, my arm was fat (it's a few inches below my elbow, where I can't see it except in the mirror) and kind of oozing. Gross! I read what I could find, but most sources don't say much if you don't swell up and nearly die in the first half hour. I found some information about delayed symptoms. That night I soaked it in the hot tub and slept hard.

I suppose I could go and spend $50 for urgent care and get a shot. But I'm not sick or feverish, and it's not as bad Saturday as it was Friday afternoon, so I'll probably just tough it out.

I'm glad it was me and not one of the kids.

Life-Learning Interview

Life Learning Magazine arrived this week, and there's a transcript of most of an interview I did for a radio and download site. Actually for a homeschooling family involved in radio shows for homeschoolers to hear first-run or to listen to on the website.

So...
In the recorded one it was edited to fit in half an hour, so it seemed I talked even faster than I really do! That's linked here: SandraDodd.com/radio.

The magazine version has photos the kids and I took of each other. That was a fun day. As I read it I saw some things I liked, some things I wish I had said better, and mostly realized I like writing better than I like to read a transcript of what I said!

Some years back, there was an interview in Home Education Magazine, but that one was done by e-mail, and edited back and forth and discussed on the side, so it was writing, though writing within someone else's template, as it were. Writing with a director. That was fun. And I did the final edit myself, because what the interviewer liked was too long and the magazine editor needed it to be shorter. So somewhere on my computer, I have "the director's cut" and should put that on my website. I hope I have it still. The shorter "official" one that was in the magazine is here, though:

http://www.homeedmag.com/HEM/HEM151.98/151.98_art_sd.html

LATER NOTE: SandraDodd.com/interview
There it is, the full long version, with the three photos that might've gone with it in the first place, IN COLOR! Ta-daaa! My sister took those photos in her yard. Marty and Holly made it in HEM's version; Kirby didn't. Now they're all three restored to their spots, much afterwards, but still... —Sandra, February 2006

Joy and Frustration

Frustration, thy name is new computer. Glad to have it, but there are those other files and folders to move, and the files that won't open on the new computer, and the wishing that Mac had just stayed Macish, and PCs had not copied Mac's windows, so that Mac wouldn't have been so happy to copy PCs' organizational scheme so that I didn't have to learn so much on such a hot day.

The cool thing, though, was that Keith brought a little THING from work, a USB memory-transfer stick, and that is a HECK of a lot easier than CD-copying. I could've just hooked them together directly and downloaded the whole other thing, only the old one is OS 9.2 so it wasn't old enough. Had to be TEN (X) and have the name of a large jungle cat, or the new one cannot have intercourse with it (social, verbal or cabloid).

I'll probably dream about not finding something that's layers and layers down and trying to get a folder/door to open before a Tiger gets me or something. (Maybe thinking it before I sleep will keep me from dreaming it.) Maybe I'll dream of flying, because I have wireless DSL access now rather than being the last dial-up consumer in the house. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll sleep like a dreamless rock.