What's New, Pussycat?

It probably has caught your attention that some things have changed at my house, even after all these months of non-posting.  I'm no longer homeschooling, for one thing. Economics have driven me from my home, but it's not a bad thing.  Here's what has happened in the last year:

Hubby has picked up more freelance work and qualified for social security. See? There are good things about being old :o)  Financially he feels more secure.  He's also written a book (Full Circle by Phillip J. Powers) which is available on Amazon.com.  Another book he wrote years ago is also available (The Longest Night) which I like better. The second one is a psychic thriller and involves all kinds of plot twists.

Jack earned his Eagle award from scouts, got his driver's license, got a car, got a job at a hardware store (working about 25 hours/week), finished up his last year of high school as a homeschooler (graduating with honors), and started junior college in the Fire Science program with a goal of becoming a firefighter. He's also teaching himself to play the guitar.

Steve started public school for the first time, entering a smaller school than our local one that is working out GREAT.  He's in all honors classes and earned a 4.53 GPA his freshman year. He was also on the track team.  He's spending time this summer doing volunteer work for Nana's Kidz (feeding motel kids), and at our church as well as learning to skim board. Steve just got back from a week of hiking and tubing at Bass Lake in Utah with our high school youth group.

I am still working as a kindergarten aide and have picked up a bunch of odd jobs as well.  I "companion" a dear little 94-year-old lady, do PR/social media for an organic gardening company, work for Breast Cancer Angels, and have different clients who require different things (decluttering, family helper, etc.)  I also lead a prayer group and volunteer where I can. My big goal this summer has been to try and lose some weight :o/ I walk in the pool a lot.

So... while I miss homeschooling, I did wean out of it. My children are flourishing; I have NO complaints.  I even have time to fool around with my hobby of making little miniature room boxes. I haven't actually finished one yet, but they're fun to think about.

Easter Fun!

The part-time pioneer has had full-time bronchitis this week, but we still needed to get some Easter decorations made. With two boys who are teen and pre-teen, cute little bunnies are OUT. More complicated crafts and projects are IN, so we decided to make blown eggs. This entails blowing the "guts" out of an egg and then painting the shell with acrylic paints. Messy and fun!

We had a pack of 18 eggs in the fridge (using what we have) and a bunch of paints out in the garage left over from all kinds of other projects. We found that the paints that worked best were left over from Boy Scout Pinewood Derby projects; shiny and easy to apply. The boys blew the eggs -- my bronchial tubes made blowing difficult, but I managed a couple.

I did capture all the leftover yolk and carefully strained it to avoid shells. Then I baked a frittata for dinner! We had baked some homemade bread as well, so dinner was easy tonight.

Painting the eggs was soothing and creative. It was the perfect activity to do with bigger kids who want to be creative. Our plan tomorrow or the next day will be to thread them, then hang them from the large picnic umbrella in the backyard. Since we're slated for rain tomorrow, we may make this an activity for later in the week.

Clean-up was a breeze -- all water-based paints! That's actually one of our regular salad plates there that we're using as a palate. A salad palate? LOL!

Just Drive, She Said

Growing up, driving my mother’s car was humiliating. She always had good, solid cars that were not even close to being cool. I remember trying to “cruise” in her Volare station wagon; embarrassing. It had a “Go, Dodger Blue” bumper sticker and a Jack-in-the-Box bobblehead on the radio antennae.

Years passed and I found myself in sudden need of a car after mine was totaled in an accident. By then my mother had passed away and my father still had her old car in the driveway: a white Buick Century. Needing transportation quickly, I bought it.

At first, tooling around town in the Buick was a little disconcerting; everyone else driving one was over the age of 65. But I found that it fit two car seats well, and the trunk was so big that we could buy our Christmas trees and lay them down sideways in it without having to tie them to the car. It was a great trunk for hauling boogie boards and bikes to the beach.

When the gauge approached 100,000 miles, my husband began making comments about looking around for a new car. I was sadly reluctant to let this last piece of my mom go. Driving around with my children listening to their kiddie tapes, not worrying about the sand and Cheetohs all over the seats was relaxing. And remembering my mother, who used to do the same thing with us as children, makes me feel that I am continuing the legacy of being a cool parent. In an uncool car.

As it turned out, an illegal driver who blew through a red light made the decision about whether or not to trade in the car a moot point.

A friend came to pick us up at the scene of the accident and said, “Don’t forget to get everything out of your car before they tow it.” Her eyes widened as the pile of sporting equipment, car seat and other miscellaneous items piled up on the sidewalk next to her car. We barely fit it all in to her sedan.

Now I drive a Trooper. It’s marginally cooler than a Buick, but of course my son, who is approaching driving age, is dying at the thought of having to drive it. He has his eye on sportier models. No matter. I blithely spread my Boy Scout sticker on the back window and, as a crowning touch, a Jack-in-the-Box bobblehead on the antennae. Perfect.

Spring Cleaning for Spring

Lately I've been nesting. Or maybe it's spring cleaning. At any rate, I've been getting organized and clearing out unnecessary items that can better benefit someone else -- in another house or garage.

I'm pretty good at clutter control, but even the best of us have room for improvement. Today I tackled the back yard which was only recently photographed for inclusion in a local magazine; you'd think it would look pretty good. Still, things grow and need to be clipped back, especially the English ivy which encroaches from my neighbor's yard. I love the ivy, but it gets pretty bushy and needs thinning.

I felt kind of bad when I yanked on one strand and about two feet more came from my neighbor's side of the fence. Oops. I did that two or three more times before I caught on that I should use my clippers. I don't want to leave their side of the fence denuded of greenery.

The kids helped, too. We found some great "boy" jobs: climbing on a tall ladder; hauling a heavy plant in a pot; digging a hole. We rearranged a few plants, cut a few things back, poked holes in the dirt of all the potted plants and just generally spruced things up a bit.

In the process we enjoyed the little white blossoms of our pea plants beginning to bloom. The first cucumber seed pushing a pale green shoot out to greet the sun. And the tiny strawberries and peaches that are so small, yet so precise.

The only bummer of the day was what to do with all the ivy. My worms dislike it; I have put bushels of ivy in the compost pile only to have it rejected by all the chompers who busily churn out fertilizer for me. Since we live in a townhome we don't get the "green" trash can from our local service, so I had to just throw it all away. For some reason this bugged me, then I realized that if that's the biggest problem I had today, I was doing pretty darn well!

We’re Heading for the Hills!

There’s snow in them-thar hills and we want to get at it. We’ll only be gone for two days, but it requires a lot of packing. Since it will be the boys and me, we’ll have the space ordinarily occupied by hubby to stash a few bags.

We’re extremely fortunate to have kindly friends who let us stay in their home when we need some snow time. In return we generally bring up a big hamper full of snacks + a couple of 12-packs of Cokes (all of which will be consumed in that two-day span by our four teenaged boys, one young woman, her boyfriend, adults and any friends who come over to play.

For play we do. Aside from the heaps of snow available for sledding and throwing, there are air soft guns to shoot, knives to throw, video games to play and lots of good old-fashioned horseplay. Two days is never enough time to spend with our friends, so we make every minute count. My favorite thing to do is to hike around the arboretum with Robin, my friend who knows everything there is to know. He’ll show me the hope of spring in those gray, dormant plants and we’ll plan to come back again in April to see everything in bloom.

Later I’ll visit my girlfriends. We like to hang out at the Starbucks in Blue Jay where sooner or later someone we know will stop by to shop and chat for awhile with us. The proximity of the in-store coffee shop to the fabulous German-style bakery is not an accident and we are very capable of consuming a full day’s worth of calories in just a couple of hours. Another girlfriend lives in a house that overlooks a sea of green trees unbroken by any roof line. It's spectacular to sit at her dining room table looking out.

We met these lovely people through the internet! A cyber-friend on a message board announced there was snow at her house and anyone who wanted to come up and sled was welcome. That was all we needed. We loaded the truck and hauled ourselves up for the day, where we met some of the best friends we’ll ever have. We’ve since had them down here for the beach, traveled and camped with them, comforted them during their mother’s illness and subsequent death, and chatted on-line via Facebook. Friends introduced us to friends and now we’re fortunate enough to have several families up in the mountains we can call our pals.

Community is what you make of it, and we have been fortunate to find lasting friends both IRL (in real life) and on-line. You definitely have to step outside your comfort zone once in awhile, but the end results can be magical. For us, that magic will manifest itself in a frosty forest ripe for boys to run around in this weekend. We’ll feed our souls on fellowship, nature, and Twinkies.