I'm hiding from my children...

One is insisting loudly that Quiet Time, that sacred bit of time where I can relax do chores, is over.

No! It can't be over yet! I haven't even finished unloading the groceries from the car, which had to wait until two children were fed and bathed and dressed and hugged and put down for Quiet Time or Nap Time, depending upon which child we're talking about.

The other is shrieking sobbing uncontrollably if he's not attached to my breasts. 

You're fine! You're clean and dry and burped and fed! I just need TEN MINUTES to regroup. 

I think it's time for a brief walk in the backyard, before I start shrieking as well.

Then I'll go get the kids and thank my lucky stars that I even have this "problem" today.

A mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful life

 

Replace "spring" with "fall" in the Cummings poem below, and you'll feel the same joy C felt as she splashed through the mud in an outfit she put together on her own. I love this precious girl so much that it hurts sometimes. And, WELCOME to our wonder Fall weather-- in the FIFTIES this morning! 

PS Our weeds aren't usually this... weedy. This is after the week of rain, plus it's in the newly-enclosed-with-a-fence-and-still-being-improved-lot-that-is-now-part-of-our-yard AND after a water main leak!

[in Just-]

by E. E. Cummings 

in Just-

spring          when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles          far          and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far          and             wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

         the

                  goat-footed

balloonMan          whistles

far

and

wee

Yes, ma'am, we have some good news

Imaginary doctor, entering room: Well, we have some good news, and we have some bad news, ma'am.

Me, nervously: Give me the bad news first, Doctor. I can take it. (tenses body slightly)

Imaginary doctor, hesitantly: Well, ma'am, your ring is still stuck on your finger.

Me, exhaling: Ok, I can handle that for a bit longer. What's the good news, doc?

Imaginary doctor, jovially: The good news is that your finger is still stuck on your hand!

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 10)

1. Ring status: still stuck on finger. I tried once yesterday (with Windex again), but decided to wait it out a bit longer. The first time that the swelling in my finger really appears to go down, I'm going full-force. I figure that I'll give it a week, then get it cut off my hand (the ring, not my finger).

2. I have a new pumpkin pie plate that I found on sale at Kohls,  and I LOVE it. I made a pumpkin pie in it already, and it looks just as fabulous with a pie in it as it does empty. For all of you GF (gluten-free) people, you should know that I made it GF... I just made it crustless, like my mother-in-law does. It tastes just as great, without the extra crust-calories! I love this season so much, pie being a primary reason!

3. Speaking of delicious GF food, you've got to try the Amy's frozen meals. I haven't had a frozen meal since M and I got married. The meals were on sale at HEB today for... get this... $1.88/meal. So I bought a few for me and the kids (since H is still GF and is pretty hesitant regarding solids, but likes rice, beans, and cheese enchiladas!). Here's the story behind why I went ahead with frozen meals instead of cooking like usual: my mother-in-law always tells me about how whenever her husband would go out of town on business, she and the boys would go to the store and pick out frozen dinners. The boys would always get the "Hungry Man" dinners, which makes me laugh, picturing these young boys eating Hungry Man meals. Since M had to go out of town for the night, I decided to try out the frozen dinner plan! Anyway, the meals we tried and loved were the Cheese Tamale Verde, the Cheese Enchilada Whole Meal, and the Cheese Enchilada Entree. Yum to ALL of them!

4. Cloth-diapering mamas, I have a question for you. What sort of bag do you use at home to store your wet/used diapers before washing them? And how do you deal with the wipes? When I was using disposable diapers, I used a Diaper Champ pail and tucked the wipes into the used diapers then threw them away. Now, I'm not sure if I should just throw the wipes in the trash or put them in something with a lid, like the Diaper Champ (but I can't just drop them in there with the flip lid because they'd get stuck and it'd get all gross...). I'd love to hear about your diaper storage plan!

5. On the cloth diaper subject, I had a glorious revelation the other day. I had been drying the diapers outside when it rained on them. I already had clothes in the dryer and some in the washer that had to get dried, since I consider it fairly important that M wear pants to work. I have (more than) several disposables left from H and C, so I just used the disposables. I realized that I don't HAVE to commit to cloth diapering when it's inconvenient for me, and that I can go back and forth. I'm doing this (cloth diapering) to save money, but since I already OWN a box full of disposable diapers, there's no monetary problem with using whichever ones work for me at a particular time and place. I love the cloth diapers, but don't need to feel guilty about the times that they're not convenient for me.

6. Marilyn-- this one is for you. If you're reading this, please e-mail me your address. I need to send the cookbook, and am missing all of my addresses. And stamps. It's starting to become a problem. If anyone sees a bag that has Simpsons and lighthouse stamps in it, and a typed address list with tons of cross-outs and handwritten addresses, please let me know. It needs to find its way home again. And if anyone happens to find it wandering out in the world, it will be easy to send back to me-- there are a TON of old stamps in there!

7. I'm going to turn my computer off all weekend. I think I need to practice better internet restraint, and weekends may be where I need to start.

In need of a helping HAND

Or a new hand. Or at least a new ring finger.

Anyone have a spare ring finger lying around? No? Oh well. It was worth a shot.

I rarely wear my engagement ring. I had to take it off right before I gave birth to C, and then once I put it back on when she was a baby, I was forever scratching her head when I nursed her and would switch her from one side to the other.

By the time she was weaned at 15 months, I was already pregnant again and a bit swollen from time to time, so I just stuck with my wedding band except for "dressier" occasions. I'm still nursing H, so the "don't scratch the baby" rule is still in effect.

HOWEVER, Saturday night was a "special" occasion in that our little family headed over to visit with some neighbors at their house. The adults drank margaritas and laughed for hours while the kids played on the swingset until they conked out and we put them all to bed. M and I so rarely stay out late anywhere anymore, so I decided that it was time to get dressy-- slide that ring on your finger, Lisa!

And my, didn't it glisten in the moonlight! Or, at least the back porch light...

However, when I went to take it off last night, I discovered that it was stuck. As in, my-finger-may-have-to-be-amputated-because-it-hurts-so-badly-now stuck. The more I twisted and tugged and pulled, the more swollen the knuckle area became.

I decided to enlist my husband in getting the ring pulled off. BAD IDEA. Not only was it super-late at night, but it made the situation so much worse that I lied awake for HOURS in pain. We tried all kinds of things this morning, to no avail. I ALMOST got it off during an afternoon shower, but I couldn't push past the pain, not knowing for sure if it would work.

Here's what I've tried:

- Ice packs to numb/reduce swelling
- Advil to reduce inflammation and pain
- Lotion
- Astroglide (yes, I just admitted that...)
- Wrapping dental floss around my finger to make it straight and not puffed out
- Windex (read this online...)
- Soap
- Topical lidocaine, in hopes of numbing it enough it yank the thing off. No luck.
- LOTS of coffee to act as a diuretic. It's a good thing I don't have to nurse H too frequently, or he wouldn't sleep for a month!

I know I can get it cut off if need be, and I can also wait again until the swelling goes down to try again. Each time I try I make it FAR worse for the next several hours. It has become so swollen now that I can't even twist it on my finger without cutting into it.

Anyone else have any other ideas? Just wait a bit? Get it cut off? I'm not so sentimental that this would bother me... I don't think my finger falling off from lack of circulation is anymore positive for my marriage than keeping the ring intact.

Sorry for the grainy, off-color iPhone pics. They're the least of my worries now.

PS No Homeschooling Discernment Series post today...  ring finger pain trumps school post :-)

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 9)

1. This will likely get a post unto itself at some point, but if you smell dog mess, even if you can't see it, NEVER assume that it's a dog toot. You WILL step in it. With BOTH feet. On the 100% wool authentic ORIENTAL RUG.

2. I'm always surprised by the anti-Catholic hatred that is spewed around the time of papal visits. In this case, our Pope is in the UK now. Their newspaper comment sections are filled with absolute disgust for this man, and for our faith in general. I honestly can't comprehend the hatred of the Church and one of her servants.

3. My brother-in-law just clued us in to Arrested Development, which we're able to watch on our streaming Netflix. It's soooo funny! It's been a nice kids-are-in-bed-and-we-can-snuggle show to watch. Since it only lasts about 22 minutes, we can watch one or two easily without staying up too late.

4. This probably should have been #1, but... LAUREN AND HER HUSBAND HAVE A BABY! Welcome, Abigail Chiara! We all love you, precious girl! Please continue to pray for this new family and the birth family.

5. Cloth diapering has, thus far, gone pretty well. H was soaking last night, though, at a 1 am feeding. I'm not sure what happened. The thing I have to remind myself when I get discouraged by leaks, is that they used to happen with disposable diapers, too. They've rarely happened with cloth diapers at night when I have a hemp insert in there with the regular insert, though, so I really have no idea what went wrong... it didn't even seem very soaked in the diaper itself! Maybe I didn't do a good job adjusting it just right???

6. While I would rather have been outside with my family under more pleasant circumstances, I had a great time last night on the driveway, washing the Oriental rug (see #1). I pressure-washed the driveway and garage, laid the rug on the driveway, shampooed the rug with Woolite and rinsed it, then laid it on the clean garage floor to dry. M finished building the gate for our fence (he's so handy, that husband of mine! He built an entire fence himself for our huge yard... 2/3 of an acre!), C skipped up and down the driveway, and H sat in his highchair and ate. It was fun to all be outside together, even if it meant the kids were up later than I would have liked.

7. I foresee a busy, outdoor weekend as we try to restore order to our backyard after havoc wreaked by the torrential rain and the broken water main (oh yes... adding insult to injury) that re-flooded our backyard. On a happy note, my tomatoes are finally turning red, and I even have a few new (very small) green ones on the bush. I may have enough for all of us to eat 1 pizza. Drat those deer!

Homeschooling Discernment Series: Academics and Catholic curricula, Part One

As a former Catholic school English teacher, I am definitely interested in the academic success of homeschooled students, in addition to recognizing the other benefits that homeschooling offers to children (doing fractions while in pajamas and baking muffins, anyone? And definitely no gangs in the household, unless my kids ally themselves with the cat and dogs...).

Thus, a 2004 article published in The Journal of College Admission that discussed how well homeschooled students did in college definitely caught my attention. In it, the author, a college recruiter/admissions officer, was pleasantly surprised to discover the success of these students both on standardized testing and on actual college campuses. He says that

Research showed that our homeschooled students had above-average SAT and ACT scores (1210 and 29 respectively). They also performed better academically. They had a combined cumulative grade point average of 3.47, compared to the 2.91 shared by the general student population. Through semi-structured interviews, I found they were also doing well socially.

These students were well prepared for college by their homeschooling experience. 

Sounds pretty nice, huh?!

CBS's Moneywatch.com also ran an article this summer entitled "Can Homeschoolers Do Well in College?" The verdict? Yes, they can! (I apologize for the slight reference to... you know... Bob the Builder... and that other guy) And take a look at these two statistics-- I found them the most interesting and inspiring, given that one could argue that the homeschooling advantage would fade away once the student completed his or her first year of college.

The GPA advantage was still present when homeschoolers were college seniors. Their average GPA was 3.46 versus 3.16 for other seniors. 

Homeschool students graduated from college at a higher rate (66.7%) than their peers (57.5%).

These academic statistics appear to support the idea that parents may be  the best teachers of their children, at least from an academic standpoint.

On a different topic, I've started looking into some Catholic homeschool programs. The ones I've found so far, in alphabetical order, include:

Some Catholic homeschool programs, in alphabetical order:

Angelicum Academy

Catholic Heritage

Kolbe Academy

Little Saints Catholic Preschool

Mater Amabilis

Mother of Divine Grace School

Our Lady of the Rosary School

Our Lady of Victory School

Regina Coeli Academy

Seton Home Study School

St. Thomas Aquinas Academy 

I've made a few notes on some of the programs, and will hopefully find time for the remainder of them for the next Wednesday or two.
 
Mater Amabilis- Per their website, Mater Amabilis is "a Charlotte Mason style curriculum for Catholics in the 21st century." The curriculum is free, so long as it is being used for personal use and not for profit. I see two HUGE upsides to this site: 1) for those who are concerned about tuition costs for homeschooling, this is potentially a saving grace and 2) it is a great resource for parents who want to pull ideas from a variety of sources, or test out different curricula. The program appears to be still in development, so I don't quite see it being used as a full-time "school."

One thing I love about homeschooling is how efficient it is, time-wise, when compared with public/private schools: the intro page for Mater Amabilis says that Levels 1 and 2 (K-5) only take up to 2 1/2 hours per day, using a 36-week schooling plan!

Our Lady of the Rosary School- I should have taken the Home Economics elective offered through this school... I could have made a chasuble in addition to the blue dress! The program requires parents to return all books and lesson plans at the end of the school year, or until the youngest child has used them. I understand their logic in attempting to keep costs down, but I'm not a fan of not keeping the books and lesson plans, in principle.

Pre-K- $99
Kindergarten- $225
Grades 1-12- $529

There is also a $20/child cash discount, and a $20/child (2 kids) discount, $40/child (3 kids) discount, and $60/child (4+ kids) discount for families with students grades 1-12.

On top of this is the cost of the curriculum (prices vary based upon whether or not you already have the books and whether or not you want the grading service).

Our Lady of Victory School

It is, by their assertion, the oldest Catholic homestudy program in the United States. It only supports the Latin Tridentine Mass. The school is accredited by the National Association of Private Catholic & Independent Schools. I need to look more into this one, and check out their fees.

Seton Home Study School- Seton is fully-accredited by SACS. I LOVE the sample lesson plans on this site-- they've helped me to understand how exactly homeschooling works as a practical matter. For instance, check out the lesson plans for Kindergarten P.E. and 1st grade Math. These aren't scary at all! I can visualize myself doing these things with C in the next few years and not going crazy. And, as I peeked ahead to future grades, I can see how feasible it is to do work with younger children (the Kindergarten P.E. stuff, for instance) while the older children are reading or doing Math work. Then, the younger children can do their coloring of numbers or whatever their Math lesson of the day is while I would work with the older children. On a slight negative note, I'm wondering about the whole Evolution Hoax CD that 9th graders buy... on a personal level, I've never had an issue with evolution coexisting peacefully with the creation story and consider them complimentary, not contradictory. I'm under the impression that Catholicism has no issue with this, either. Help, anyone??

Seton's website has a handy calculator to help estimate costs-- though we only have two children now, I know the basic timeline we're hoping for with a future child(ren) and can thus calculate a bit further into the future. Not including the $30 new family fee, the breakdown looks like this:
$200 Kindergarten
$490* per child, grades 1-12

*There is a $50 price break for 2 children, a $100 price break for 3 children, and other price breaks for more children (I didn't keep doing the math)

Students can also enroll in one or more academic courses without actually being fully enrolled in the Seton program. I'm not entirely sure exactly how this works, but it sounds like a nice option for those who want to pick and choose various curricula.

And have I mentioned how much I love the word curricula? I think it looks like Dracula, which amuses me to no end.

On another note (given that it's my note, it is likely off-key), C's Mother's Day Out program (ok, they're calling it a "preschool" now, but I use it as an MDO... I'm supposed to be finishing my thesis during the 9 hours of "free time" I have each week, but having a crawling infant has sidetracked that even further) uses the WEE Learn program. At first, I saw the $129 price tag for the 3 year old curriculum and thought, "No WAY am I paying that for a book!" Then I realized that 1 month of MDO tuition covers the book. Hmm. Basically, I'm using the MDO program as a sitter for C, though, so I'll justify it for at least a few more months. :-) It sure was great when I was pregnant with H because I scheduled my million appointments for one of the two MDO days each week. Anyway, my point is that I could just purchase the WEE Learn curriculum guide and do it at home, and perhaps with another local family or two! I LOVE the home(pre)schooling co-op that The Domestic Notebook does. It's such a great idea! (Seriously... is it possible for me to go an entire week without mentioning how much I love this site?)