Club Jen True or False

Last weekend marked another meeting of Club Jen.

Club Jen is also known as girl's night out- here's the twist, -with my best-est girl friend, Jen.
Hence, the cool club name. She's lots of fun, loves to shop and has great taste. So, for me, it's like a fun vacation. It's the only time I ever step foot into a coach store. Cultural literacy is important, people!!

Club Jen took place mostly in Canada.

*I've never been to Canada before. True or false?

*Being world travelers, we instantly knew what the blinking green and yellow signal lights at some intersections meant. True or false?

*Vancouver is more like Orange County than like New York. True or false?

*It rained most of the time, and I forgot my raincoat. True or false?

*not to worry, though- Club Jen is all about shopping! I bought a raspberry colored rain-coat at an expensive store I cannot pronounce. In Canada. True or false?

*Shopping really was not the main event of the trip, we went to pick up our kids at the fun circus Summer camp Meg and 2 of Jen's kids were at. We arrived the last day to see their final act. True or false?

*In Vancouver, I had the best fries I've ever had. We had dinner at an oyster bar and people- watched. True or false?

*My friend Jen lives in Washington State. I visited Pike's Place, a favorite place of mine when I was young and living in Seattle. True or false?

* Jen's oldest dd, who is 16-drove us around in her band-new car. True or False?

*Her girls took us for crepes, we had #16- Crepe Aux Fraises Chocolate- which had chocolate Nutella in it. Up to this moment, I had successfully avoided Nutella. I knew it would be my kryptonite. True or False?

*Sky's crepes are awesome, but I have to admit that these were a tad bit better. True or False?


*Meg saw many musicians out busking. She wished that she had brought her violin, so she could clean up. True or false?

* I never fly without motion-sickness patches. I forgot them this trip, and remembered as I sat down in my seat on the plane. I warned my seat-mate, who was grateful for the warning.
True or False?

Dear blog

Dear blog,

Today I am rather busy getting Meg packed and onto a plane for Seattle.

In- between washing clothes/helping to pack and taking her to the airport, I also will have my face stuck in- between the pages of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society...I am on page 48 and am deeply in love.

We went to the OC Fair yesterday, it's a family Summer tradition. I bought my requisite bag of chocolate-drizzle popcorn. I am snacking on this while reading my book.

We are off to the pool now, where I can read & snack while the kids stay out of my hair..er, while they have loads of Summer fun while getting in plenty of physical exercise and vitamin D.

I'll visit when I come up for air,

TTFN,
(tah-tah for now!)
love,
Jenn

Mom, getting it done badly


I can't do it all. Most of the time I don't do it all. Some days I do well with juggling all the different tasks/cares/responsibilities/fun. Many days I limp along and get it done ungracefully.. -and then there are the days when it all comes crashing down on my head.

We call it, living the Jen life.

Sky says I'm my own worst enemy, and I know he's speaking wisdom there.

{photo by Alexander Somma -used by permission}

I struggle with how real to be here on the blawg- I want to be honest...and yet, I kind of doubt many come by to hear me whine.

I have this feeling though, that there are many moms & specifically homeschool moms who struggle like this. I don't have any easy answers, I'm figuring it out as I limp along. But, I wanted you to know that I'm just like you, that I have horrible days. I have days when I am late to everything and I hurry through a lesson and get it done 'good enough'.

Mostly, I feel like I bounce from one big event to the next. First it's getting my homeschool records done for end-of-year, to next getting Meg to an Irish Feis. Next getting ready for vacation and camping. Then I have a breather of a few days before I have to start epic cleaning for our Bible Conference and having people stay here. Then they leave, more arrive, finally a quiet house and bam- we have 2 weeks of youth Bible school for my 12 year old. This means 2 weeks of driving her around every night and hosting the kids for dinner at least one of those nights. Then bam- it's Irish feis time again. Then bam- put oldest on a flight to Washington for her Bible camp, and then I'm getting on a flight to join her. Then bam, it's start of school again.
Whimper.

In between I have paper work to do for the beginning of school, laundry, cleaning, cooking-when I remember. This week I had two days where it all came crashing down on my head. One of those days I cried.

Sky was good though, after he lectured me on my own folly (linear brain that he is, he couldn't resist) he took me to a favorite restaurant for girl food to soothe the soul. He's good like that.

So, here I am...sitting on a ton of laundry, tired and disorganized-trying to figure out how to get any of it done.

Working moms- total hats off to you, I do not know how you do it. I have all day to somehow get it together, and I don't.

So, I'm still a continued work in progress.

How about you? Have you figured out a good, workable system for family life? Or are you like me, keeping the plates spinning-except on days when you don't?...

fear of spiders or why we don't have a pet tarantula

Photo by jpctalbot
I have maybe a medium fear of spiders, after reading Kit's tale of tarantula escape-"Please don't read this if you are Arachnophobic, Seriously" over at Blogging Dangerously, I thought it time to delve into my phobia and reason it out.
Or not. -the reasoning part, that is..

As a child, I was pretty fearless. I once found a tarantula walking down our street (we lived close to orange groves) and I still can't believe this, but hey, I was there...I took a large, glass mayo jar and scooped the hairy thing up. It's unbelievable, really, because nowadays, being in the doorway of a room with a loose tarantula in it would cause my arm, and then my body- to do that shivery-jiggle-heevie-jeebbie thing and then I would run screaming the other way.

Clearly, my growing fear of spiders must be hereditary, because- I remember running into the house to proudly show my mother my 'catch'... she was blow-drying her hair in the bathroom...she hopped from one foot to the other, cringing and screaming at me to get it out of there. I think she might have burst into tears, too- that part is a bit fuzzy, I was busy high-tailing it out.

This defining moment, though- might have triggered my problem with spiders: I was maybe 8 years old, I walked into my room and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something hide in the crack of my bed, next to the wall. Somehow, I thought I had caught a fairy or a doll playing in my room and then hiding from me...it's weird, but-yeah, that was my thought process. I laughed and jumped on my bed.
And a big, hairy spider jumped out at me.
I ran out of the room screaming.

Since then, my aversion to spiders has grown into a fear. I can't watch the spider part of The Lord of the Rings, and Sky is the official killer of all things Arachnid. I can't even pick up a dead one with a napkin. Seen the scene in Malcolm in the Middle where a tarantula bites Hal on the face? Yes, the stuff nightmares are made of...

Sky and I visited Taiwan in 2004. The stay in Taipei went well, but while we were visiting a church in a small village-waiting to find out who we were going to stay with, I looked across the room and saw the dried exoskeleton of a humongous, tarantula sized spider hanging on a curtain. It was bigger than Sky's out-stretched hand. Since it molted, the important question was, how big is it now? I remained in mortal fear of meeting one of these the rest of my trip.
I regret not taking a photo, but I was worried about offending the church people.
It looked like this spider I think, it was big like a tarantula, but skinnier and longer.
Youtube Taiwan spider

Demi went through a stage of loving and being fascinated with spiders. His room still has a wallpaper border with these cute, cartoon spiders on it. But, no pet spiders will ever live in a house with me.
No stinking way, with cherries on top.

How about you? What are you afraid of?
Any good spider stories?


7 Quick Takes Friday, the after camping edition

~1~
We went camping a week ago ,or so. I hate camping. We've hit on a happy compromise, we go to a timeshare first for a few days, then go tent camping for 2 days. Marriage is all about making
your spouse happy.

~2~
We stayed in Solvang for a few days. It's this cute Dutch town in California. Very pretty, lots of shops, lots of snacks.

~3~
we are all about the aebleskivers, dessert of Vikings! maybe. but good.


~4~
we visited an ostrich farm. They had emus, too. More about this later, I promise.

~5~
Solvang is a tourist town, it's small and everything closes early. We caved, and drove into
Santa Barbara to find the Barnes & Noble for an evening.
Or two. Click over here* for a visual example of what I mean.

~6~
We got home, to a doodle-dog who missed us very much. I washed our coats, our pillowcases and our towels, which all smelled like smoke. Then my washer broke.

~7~
It was very, very windy the first day at Lake Cachuma. We set up camp, the kids played, we took a walk to the lake, had a very windy dinner....and then drove into Santa Barbara to hang out at Barnes & Nobles where it was warmer and no wind, and internet-people! We came back late and had smores and crawled into our cold, cold sleeping bags.
Sky had mercy on me and let us go home the next morning.
I heart my husband!

um, it was very windy, trying to set this up...and we lent it out, and behold, the instructions were missing! I did not fear tho, because Sky is mr. civil engineer-man, and can figure anything out, given enough time. He did!

*7 Quick Takes Friday is Hosted over at Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes Friday, May 14

~1~

It's homeschool curriculum catalog season. Ah, book lust is in the air...In my mailbox this week were Timberdoodle (if you have kids, you need this catalog, even if you don't homeschool), Veritas Press
and Abeka. I'm happy with what we are using, I'm happy with what we are using...
Rinse and repeat.

~2~

I attended my first twitter party. Yes, you heard that right, a twitter party. I won a ticket
to Bloggy Bootcamp in San Francisco! -(one of the prizes handed out at the party!)
I am sooo excited!
I'm excited also, that this conference is close enough to drive to.

~3~

I really like twitter now. At first I didn't get it, but now I use it every day.

~4~

I'm working on a secret bloggy project. shhh. I'll tell you about it in a few days.
~5~

Sky gave me a 6 month yoga studio membership for Mother's Day. I haven't used it yet.

~6~

The garden is in full swing, Sky and the kids did a lot of planting this week. Meg has been wanting to try growing peanuts, so Sky found a peanut plant for her. Me, I do Jane Austin gardening, I tell Sky where to plant things and he obliges me.

~7~

The Casual Blogger Conference is just two weeks away! I am really excited! I cannot wait to meet blog friends I only know online. I am really looking forward to meeting and hanging out with Janae from Pink Moss. See, my internet friends are real! ;)

7 Quick Fridays is hosted by Conversion Diary every week

TMI


First off, internets, ...so I'm trying to do this non-dairy, no-wheat thing..in a loose sort of way (because that's just how I roll..) Pretty much no dairy, and trying to cut out the wheat.

So, I bought some gluten-free bread, to replace the toast I usually have for breakfast.
And
it was kind of yucky.

It was Ener G Seattle brown loaf. My beloved cinnamon pear jelly made it barely tolerable.
Barely
**So, can anyone suggest better gluten free plus dairy free bread?

I'm betting on the wonders of the internet now...come on, don't fail me!

So, toast is out, but oatmeal is in- with strawberries and rice milk. Yeah!

Next, kind of related...

I'm on day 6 or so of the 30 Day Shred. I say 'or so' because I've missed a night here and there.

On about day 3, I noticed a flapping sound as I was jumping around, doing jumping-jacks.
I was relieved to be by myself in my room, no witnesses. 'cept Emma, but she is discreet.
So, I hear this flapping and decide it must be my tummy, which has got a roll on it,
hence The Shred. I hold on to it to stop the un-genteel flapping.

flapping continues.

I realize it must be my behind flapping. Horrors! I grab on- and flapping stops.

I thought motherhood robbed me of dignity, but aging trumped motherhood.

So, now my goal is not to be "shredded", but to humbly prevent butt jiggle when I run.

This, I did not ever predict.

TMI, maybe?

Daybook, Monday May 4

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... beautiful, blue California day

I am thinking... about the learning records I need to finish for tomorrow.

I am thankful for...a husband who enters into my interests with the enthusiasm of a good friend.

From the learning rooms... School work is all done, the table has coloring materials on it still from our history narration of Viking burial traditions and from our mapwork.

From the kitchen... baking chicken, something that I can prepare and pop in the oven before I leave with Meg for Irish Dance- again, last week it was a big hit. I just dip it in egg, then flour mixed with onion soup dry mix, then pour a can of chicken noodle soup over the top, bake.

also baking some vanilla cupcakes. From a box mix, easy and crowd pleasing.

I am creating...playing with blog stuff and ordering business cards for CBC10.

I am going... to Starbucks while Meg is at Irish Dance, I will work on some blog stuff.

I am reading...

I am hoping... that I won't be up too late tonight working on learning records.

I am hearing... pages turning as the girls do some quiet reading.

Around the house... the house was spotless Sunday night for the Bible college boys dinner, mostly it is still very clean, except the kitchen looks like it has exploded for some reason, and we have books and papers all over the learning table still.

One of my favorite things... cinnamon pear jelly. It almost makes the gluten free bread not taste weird.
almost.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Learning record tomorrow with our charter school teacher, Meg has a violin recital this weekend. I need to pick the princess party pack winner and post it on the blog.

Pondering these words:

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
-Audrey Hepburn

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

boy and dog council

The Simple Woman's Daybook happens weekly here*