Techno-nerd

I want an iPhone. No I really, really want an iPhone. Really. A lot.

They are over $500 so it isn't likely, but I can dream. I always have loved the gadgets that utilize new technology in ways that amaze and astound- it's like modern magic. I don't really care how it does it- well that's not true- I sooo want to know how our new library can check out 5 books at a time just by stacking them up on the innocuous looking electromagnetic force field pad thingy.

I also want this brand new technology for my living room (click here)

Now if I could just find a pillow that would straighten my hair while I sleep...

Independence Day

Independence Day

Today is the 4^th of July and I can hear my neighbors out with their friends and families, while me and mine stay tucked in our house, watching The Cat in the Hat, Dick and Independence Day. Shawn is brewing beer and I am sorting digital photos. Grace is helping him (interspersed with checking in on the kittens, eating watermelon & blueberries with cool whip, and tinting sugar cookie dough with red & blue to make stars). We are just about to grill up our share of the 150 million hot dogs that will be eaten today.

Shawn mentions he feels a bit guilty for not going to any of the friendly backyard BBQs we were invited to (did you know there were 74 million Americans who participated in one last year?). We are enjoying our solitude. Later we will quietly acknowledging the bombs bursting in air, and huddle closer as Will Smith saves the planet from aliens with a computer virus. We will still count ourselves in the number of those who participate in a BBQ, but this year it’s just “we three”.

I feel a pang of sadness as I think, “Grace would love to be somewhere racing around with other kids,” but then she comes up to me, placing her hand on my arm as I hear a little boys voice fill the air with “You Say It’s Your Birthday” and she tells me she has turned on her Kids Beatles CD, “so we can get the party started”. Off she dances and I smile to myself, admiring her independent spirit.

There are plenty of other days when we share ourselves with the world at large, days when I don’t feel like socializing and she does, times when Daddy really wants us to go to a party, evenings when I have to drag them both out to a park for a picnic. But for the most part we tend to agree with Dorothy: there is no place like home… in this land of the free!

Happy Birthday America!

Beating the Heat

Yesterday we enjoyed a visit with friends and Grace went for a swim in their pool. She is fascinated with seeing under water. She borrowed her friend's goggles and has barely stopped talking about it since! I need to take her on one of those glass-bottomed boat tours!

Today we slept in, so we decided to go to the afternoon library program (at the other, older library several miles further away). We left around noon:thirty and it was 108 degrees when we got there! The had canceled the afternoon session, because the air conditioner was down. We completely understood. But when we got back to our house I noticed it was only 100 degrees- just 10 minutes later. It really is cooler in our little windy canyon.

While Shawn and Grace played in the pool this evening, I planted some basil, oregano and cantaloupe. I also mixed some soil from old pots and added in some of the compost we started in the spring. It could use a good sifting, we left way too many big twigs in it, but other than that it is perfect. I pulled a bunch of weeds in the garden bed yesterday and I wanted to plant some corn- although it a little late, luckily it SoCal! But alas I was hot, so I just took pictures instead!



I have been trying to acclimate myself to the heat- Shawn read another article about air conditioning being another factor to our heavier society. Our bodies used to work to cool us, and now we let machines do all the work. We are lucky that our house stays so fairly cool. By staying outside more and keeping the windows and blinds drawn during the day then opening everything up when the afternoon winds whip through we believe we can make it through the summer without using the air conditioner.

But I AM realistic, it's only July 3 and I'm only 3 months pregnant- check back in two months and I may be singing the praises of our modern conveniences. It seems another one is making it's way back into our family as we prepare to welcome broadcast television back into our lives, albeit with the added convenience of the modern miracle TiVo.

Entry for July 01, 2007

The fireworks from Pechanga were visible out our bedroom window last night, and they were truly spectacular. I wasn't feeling so well, and I wanted to lay down so I told Grace I'd been watching fireworks for 30 years so there wasn't anything new.

How sad is that? And I was wrong- she held me close and wouldn't let me go and I saw some beautiful displays - stars, Saturn type spheres with rings around them, lots of multicolor pyrotechnics! She oohed and aahed, almost as if to encourage my joy!

She then colored me a picture of fireworks before she went to bed- aren't children wonderful?

Oh I posted a new blog on myhomeschoolplace too- visible only to friends, since it's got a great shot of Grace in her new bathing suit.

Original Post from MyHomeSchoolPlace

My internet guru, Mel, posted about myhomeschoolplace and so I had to give it a whirl. I have been thinking about trying to consolidate, or at least maybe categorize my interests accordingly so I have set up a few blogs for specific purposes and I really like the idea of my "hub" being centered on homeschooling, since that is the center of our life- everything else is just icing and decorations on that delicious chocolate cake that is our lifelong learning path.

So we'll see how it goes and if I can keep up with it all online, in RL and in the deepest recesses of my overactive imagination! So far this one looks pretty cool, with each new site, there are better features and more interesting aspects.

My little Tortilla Maker

Today we are taking it easy- I'm desperately attempting to get our school room organized, my computer stuff sorted and our schedule planned out so that we can relax and enjoy summer (it's officially here as of this weekend in my mind!)

Grace did some work on www.starfall.com and then we made tortillas from the Kinder Krunchies book we got from Discovery Toys. She has also been working on some art (pencil colorings and sorting her past work into a binder).

I am still wrestling with my decision to enroll in CaliVA, so I haven't yet sent in the paperwork. Decisions, decisions!

What helps you?

I've started a list of things that "help"- whatever the need may be, taking a few minutes to do one of these activities helps me.

1. Washing my face

2. Pulling weeds

3. Laying in the grass

4. Walking my dog

5. An extra long hug

6. Smelling a kitten

7. Drinking a big glass of water

8. Prepping fresh produce so it's handy for myself and my family

9. Smelling one of the herbs growing in the garden- (basil & cilantro are current faves)

10. Completing a job worth doing- especially if it's challenging!

I plan on adding to this list- that is unless I forget or can't find it...