Who else didn’t write much this week because they knew it would all be a bunch of senseless, angry babble and they just needed to simmer down and not add to the glut of unhelpful and emotionally charged things filling up Facebook? Just me? It was a major case of “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”, thus me venting a lot to my husband and not the world, probably for the best.
But today- today! is a new day, with new potential not to be overshadowed with misery and woe. I’m going to try to bring a bit of joy to my corner of the world. So feel the joy people- FEEL IT!
1. The lip synch entries are slowly coming in, and that’s fine. There are no hard and fast rules in this contest so I’ll continue to let people submit their first video through this week. I will submit a second video of myself at some random point because 1. I said I would and 2. it’s just another part of my joy bringing. Yes, the Middle East is in crisis and depression is a terrible thing, but can’t we all laugh at the mad skillz of Crazy Master K for three minutes? (That’s my new rapper nickname courtesy of Colleen. I’m gonna pick up a customized grill later today so you don’t forget it!)
2. Be sure to visit all our entries and give your favorites a thumbs up. There’s Kendra, Suzanne, Lauren, Blair, and our newest contestant Colleen doing Ice, Ice Baby. So. great. I’ve been trying to convince Jen to join the battle and plenty of other bloggers have expressed an interest: Heather, Mary, Mary, Dwija, Micaela, Bonnie, Christy, Molly – the time is now ladies! And what about the menfolk? Be sure to harass your favorite blogger or loved one to join the battle. Because the internet could use a little more silly right now.
3. And speaking of non-lip synching Micaela, she wrote this lovely piece which I just want to beat everyone over the head with… in the nicest way possible of course.
4. The start of the school year is rapidly approaching and I’ve got a couple of weeks of top-notch homeschooling posts in the works. Everything from curriculum, to hot mom style to in-genius ways to keep your toddlers entertained during school time that I guarantee no ones told you about. But just in case I miss something, are there any questions regarding homeschooling you’d like me to answer? (And don’t ask “What’s the most rigorous curriculum I can enroll my preschooler in?” because I’ll smack you.) Don’t forget to visit my Bookstore page for some of my favorite items and my Free Downloads page to see how we do history. I recently spell-checked Year 3 History too, so that’s a whole lot less embarrassing for me.
5. And now, just a comment on how, having boys means having unidentified bleeding wounds coming at you. Be prepared! If I had a dollar for every time Byron walked inside and said his leg/arm/torso/face was bleeding (usually onto the floor) without knowing how or when it happened, his college fund would be set for the Ivy Leagues. Last night, after returning home from a Vigil Mass, Byron comes downstairs after changing into his pajamas and shows me his shin is smeared with blood. His biggest concern? That he’d been wearing dress pants all evening that been caked in blood. He next thought was how quickly he could get his origami ninja throwing star and dab in onto his wound to make the star more “cool”. So yes, we have bloody and possibly disease infested paper weaponry in our house. As a gal who only grew up with one sister this boy thing is just one. big. adventure.
6. Random car conversation this week revolved around breakfast cereal mascots and the absurdity of most ad campaigns based upon them. “Why can’t the rabbit have Trix? Why can’t the leprechaun share his Lucky Charms? And who thought it would be a good idea to eat horseshoes or red balloon?? And why does that bird go so crazy for a chocolate cereal? That’s not normal. He needs psychiatric help.” And how did Cinnamon Toast Crunch, once branded with a happy trio of baker become the cereal that eats itself? “It’s cannibalism!!” Mantoan kids 1 Madison Ave. 0
7. Lastly, if you ever want to spend a fun evening with your kiddos, start sharing ridiculous stories from when you were in high school. (My college stories tend to get a little more…um…PG-13 or so..cough…so we stick with high school or childhood tales.) Or even tales from when your oldest children where little. One of my kids favorite tales that I’ve told them was about the time I got splinters in my foot. Hang on its actually interesting!
I was heavily involved with theater in high school and one night after a practice I was sliding around on the stage in my socks. I ran to pick up speed, slid and then felt several hot daggers pierce into the bottom of my foot. I ripped off my sock and couldn’t even reach the splinters they were lodged so deep into my foot. A friend’s mom was dropping me at home and no sooner did I enter the house then I collapsed crying on the floor trying to explain what happened to my parents. My dad grabbed a needle and tweezers and I laid face down on a fold out sofa bed in the front living room while he cradled my foot on his lap and tried to dig the splinters out. I screamed and cried into a pillow for what felt like an eternity before my dad decided this required a trip to the ER. I hobbled into the empty ER at some late hour and had to explain what happened to a friendly and amused doctor who thankfully, numbed up my foot with a couple quick shots and used a scalpel to remove the chunks of wood. My foot was wrapped and I was given an Rx for an antibiotic. The next day my sister told me she was in bed, not quite asleep when she heard muffled screaming downstairs. She thought someone was being attacked and had NO IDEA what was going on. I learned she’d laid upstairs, hidden under the covers, terrified an assailant was in the house and coming for her next. I think she was relieved it was just splinters in my foot. News quickly spread about my injury and at next weeks practice I had to give a presentation to all the theater kids about the dangers of wearing socks on the stage. I gave that same presentation every year, at the beginning of each production until I graduated. The moral of the story: beware old, wood floors!
They also enjoy the one about me skipping class and hiding in a costume closet from a teacher, filling my friend’s locker with popcorn and hiding from the police in a park after dark. What’s a funny story from your past your kids enjoy hearing?
Wow, for Quick Takes, that got long fast. Sorry! For takes on the quick side of life, swing back to Jen’s and be sure to comment on how watching her lip synch would be the highlight of your life.
Aw, you’re nice to mention my post. I’m glad you liked it. And yes, I do want to lip synch. I’m taking auggestions on what would be a funny one for a pregnant mom to do. Ideas?
Byron cracks me up! So funny to thnk about what my crazy boys will be like in a few years. My college stories will be hidden from my kids until they are college age. I have whole photo albums that are verboten for years to come. High school stories? Hmmm. There’s the time a friend and I wrote out the lyrics to Police’ “I’ll be watching you” and left it in another friend’s locker as a joke. But then she got completely freaked out that someone was really stalking her. The real police may have gotten involved, and we never ‘fessed up, I don’t think.
Um, I had never truly put much thought into the children cereal’s mascots. The one about Cinnamon Toast Crunch really is one that needs to be analyzed by psychiatrists.
I was in high school plays, too! It’s where I met my husband. My story is more of one where the girls learn not to try to impress a boy by doing something you are deathly afraid of. I am very, very, very, very, very, very scared of heights. My husband and his friends would climb the catwalks during practices when they weren’t in the scenes. Trying to be “cool”, I climbed up one time with them. I was fine, really, until it was time to get back down. I may or may not have had a major panic attack that led to the director stopping practice because I had a death grip on the railing, apparently was sobbing and incoherent, and scaring the other kids. The killer part? My husband barely remembers me climbing up there. It was all for naught!!!!!
I have a homeschool question. My daughter, oldest of three, is about to start public K (long story why we didn’t end up at Catholic school). I work part time so my kiddos have been in daycare/full time preschool and they love their places but I will probably not return to work so that’s that.
I began researching homeschool earlier this summer before the baby arrived and loved what I found. Especially the classical curricula. With the help of a cousin who homeschools, I selected a math and reading curriculum and began working on them at home with my daughter to “explore” how that would go. My husband is skeptical, mostly because of the usual stereotypes about homeschool. I wanted to prove to him that I could make it work.
So here are my question(s). I’m having a hard time getting motivated each morning to break out the books. I know a schedule would really help but our mornings with a newborn and 2.5 yr old never seem to run on a schedule. Also, I’m having a hard time knowing where to start with her coursework. Some things are too advanced, some are too basic. I live in Los Angeles where there are very few local homeschooling groups. Just this morning she told me that she wants to do learning at school not at home.
So far, we’ve done really well. About 20 min of math and some phonics work plus book reading every day. I’m proud of my effort so far. But how do I maintain momentum for the long run. And if We are both getting bored with three days of pre-addition number bonds, what does that imply for HS in general? And is it ok that she wanted to do this little workbook that I picked up from the dollar section of Target instead of her Explode the Code (which I spent oodles of time researching!). I feel so rejected! Lol.
Sorry for the long comment, but it was just sitting nursing my baby and read your post and just prior my daughter was whining about watching Dinosaur Train and not doing school today. Perhaps you or someone has written about getting started before?
Alright, I did a video. Let’s see if I can get it linked. (I’ll do it on the other post.)
Boys…I don’t get them sometimes. The bloody wounds don’t bother them, but the screaming that ensues when I suggest a Band-aid. Apparently, nothing on God’s green earth hurts more than a Band-aid being taken off.
As for your splinters, I DID THE SAME THING except I slid into a closet in our own house. Oh, the pain! (speaking of bloody wounds) I also had to go to the ER for the extraction. I am absolutely paranoid about splinters now. My kids have never and will never be allowed to walk on a wood deck in their bare feet.
Thanks for bringing some sunshine to the anger and sadness going around this week. I’m off to get that video posted…