Obama Bows to the Japanese Emperor

Here’s where I got the photo.

I read the headline in a yahoo article where I hate to admit, I often get my latest hot news off the press. Though, not to digress, I still LOVE paper newspapers and read two each day. Anyway… what is the big deal? Why do the Republicans of which I am still, at least on paper, one, have their panties in a wad over this? “I personally believe”, to quote Miss South Carolina, that it was a nice gesture of trying to show respect to their culture. I just loved the way Bill Bennett, God love him, says, and this is a quote, “It is ugly. I don’t want to see it”  Puleeeze, what is ugly about Obama showing respect for someone else’s culture, and why do I care what you want to see or not see? I’m thinking Mr. Bennett is being ugly which is what I learned meant not nice while growing up in the deep south in the 70’s. I actually read his Book of Virtues to all my four kids but was rather disheartened when I heard that he had a gambling problem, now that is something that is ugly. In all seriousness though can the Republicans not find a real issue to sink their teeth into instead of nit picking every stupid thing like this? It makes me think our countries politicians are nothing but a bunch of school children bickering at each other. Get a life folks and move on to some real issues say like global warming, or the health care debate, or the UGLY financial crisis we are in. And before all my conservative friends throw the rotten tomatoes, please note that I AM a conservative.  And just one more thing while I am on this subject, why was it not OK for Obama to bow to the Prime Minister but if was cute and endearing for Michelle Obama to hug the queen? The End, off my soapbox.

Making a Diorama

At first when my youngest daughter came home from school and told me that she would have to do a diorama I thought oh no. She had happily chosen the Inuit Indians as her topic. I had some ideas and she had some ideas and with an old shoe box and a few twigs from the back yard I helped her to put together a wonderful project. The only things we did buy were white spray paint and a little piece of faux fur. She made all the bits and pieces but I helped with the glue gun due to the fact that the poor child has been burned twice by glue guns, once a second degree burn over four fingers with a hot glue gun and one by a “cool glue gun”. It obviously wasn’t very cool. Anyway….

We painted the box white to look like snow. The little people were made out of pipe cleaners with either cotton ball, faux fur or felt for their clothing. Below is the person at the dogsled which is little twigs glued together with pipe cleaner dogs, carrying his little brown paper packages.

She had wanted to make an igloo out of sugar cubes but we couldn’t find any at all. So, I took an old candy box and snipped cut it and Sara covered it with little “blocks” of white felt. Then she sprinkled glitter paint on it. Best of all, it can be flipped up uncover a mom with lovely fur coat with a papoose on her back. The papoose is made of a q-tip. Sara used acorns she had collected for her leaf collection as bowls. She glued fur on top of a clothes pin to make a bench/bed and threw down a fur rug to boot. The faux fur was her favorite part of the whole thing, I think, well worth the $5. It might be of interest to note that the Inuit did not normally live in igloos but used them as temporary hunting/fishing homes but they are fun to make. Also I was guessing that in the polar north there weren’t too many trees for firewood but Sara insisted on stacking “logs” which are behind the igloo and are actually little twigs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We tried to put in as many aspects of their life as we could so there is a man at a fishing hole with “snow shoes” made out of marker colored q-tips. Sara made and excellent bear skin which she glued to the side of the box and drew a fence to hang it on. Do they have grizzlies that far north?? She even covered the inside top of the box with a man fishing for whale with a “harpoon” actually a paper clip, sitting in his dugout canoe, complete with a little stick paddle. The fire was made with sticks and colored foil, which were old birthday decorations. I seem to remember that they burned oil. So this diorama was not 100% accurate.

In the end Sara spent about eight hours on two Saturdays working on her project. I asked her what she thought of it and she said it was fun. This is exactly the kind of thing I was meaning to do while homeschooling but just didn’t get around to. It was a worthy project.

 

 

Facebook and Narcissism

 

Last night it dawned on me that Facebook was bringing out the worst in many of us. I know I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes, many of you probably figured this out long ago. Idid a Gooogle search on Is Facebook Making Us Narcissistic? and found all this. I asked my 17 year old if she felt it was making us narcissistic and she said, “absolutely but Twitter is worse.” I don’t get Twitter, nor do I want to post things that often, who cares anyway? As for Facebook, I don’t know whether to be amused or horrified that they have constant updates on who loves you and how popular you are. I suppose they are trying to get at what is the most basic human need but what kind of love is this that we see it in updates on a computer generated program.

I prefer the good old fashioned kind of love which often comes with a hug attached from a real live person. Yet, I admit, I have become so addicted to fond of Facebook  that I haven’t blogged in almost four months. Aren’t a good many of  us in this narcissistic party together? To me it seems like we are all encouraging each other to just update as often as we want with the most trivial information. For me, there is that pull to see how people respond to your witty one liners, or even your boring thoughts on everything from your kids to what you had for dinner. I enjoy sharing a few photos regularly with friends. I do like looking at others photos too. I also enjoy keeping up with people I do not regularly see. I have connected with folks I haven’t seen since I was a pre-teen. It was due to Facebook that I managed a trip back home for a 31st high school reunion. I have also enjoyed changing my profile photo to show the various things I’ve done, places I’ve been and people I’ve met. Few people knew I have two black belts, or what I looked like at the very end of my pregnancy with my giant baby, or that I rode horses, or that I have traveled to remote places. It all comes back to feeling I am important and wanting to share myself with others. Which brings me back to my original topic of narcissism. What is healthy sharing and what is obsession with oneself? For me, it has to do with how balanced my real time life is. That’s where the rubber hits the road. How do I live my daily life? Am I spending too much time on the computer, probably as it is one of my favorite past times but I am not yet too concerned. I do think I will make an effort to cut back on my time there though. I have too many good books waiting to be read.

From Home to School

A few months ago I wrote this blog and when I hit publish I didn’t realize that our internet connection had gone down and it zipped out into a black hole.  It was pretty maddening as I had worked hard on expressing myself but alas.. here I go again.

I did something this year that I never thought I would.  I put my kids in public school for the first time.  For some people this might not seem like a big deal but for me a  it was a huge decision and and a big change. I spent a number of sleepless nights before making the decision.  The girls had done well homeschooling but we all needed a change. I still think homeschooling is amazing and my eldest graduated last year from homeschool high school at age 17 and is full time in college and doing spectacularly well. She will transfer to a four year program at age 18 with almost enough credits to go in as a junior.

Our transition has gone much more smoothly than I thought it would. Everyone immediately adjusted, in fact, I think the kids did better than I did. The hardest part for me has been that I can not leave the house until my youngest is on the bus and that means no more early morning work outs. My day starts much later and ends earlier too because I come home before they do. I used to be home from the gym before they got started with their day. Now with one in high school, one in middle school and one in elementary school my morning routine is lengthy. With the occasional kid needing a ride, mornings are hectic. No more doing school work in our jammies.

All the girls are doing very well academically and the issues we are facing with behavior and concentration are the same ones we faced when they were homeschooling, so no surprise there. It would be nice if my distracted daughter could miraculously get organized but somehow she is managing to get good grades and do well. Hopefully she can learn some organization skills as she goes along.

Here are some things I never expected. First of all we do tend to have more family time in the evenings. Each of the girls has homework to do and often we end up together in the evenings preparing for the next day whereas when we were homeschooling we did our own things more and seemed to spend less time together. Now, I am more focused on doing fun field trips. For example, recently the girls had two days off school and we did two amazing field trips, one to the Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art and another our fossil hunting. I am reading aloud as much as I did before and help with school work, I hate to admit this, almost more than I did when they were homeschooling.

I have no idea what next year in our house will bring, but then nobody really does as the future can not be predicted by anyone with exact clarity, but I have a feeling the girls will continue with the path they have chosen. If not, we’ll take up homeschooling again.

The other thing is that all the girls chose to go to school, I would not have made them. The door is open too, they may come home if they wish. The only thing I said was baring a major catastrophe, they had to stay in at least until Christmas and I really wanted them to accomplish at least one year. So far they plan to go back.

What is it about Michelle Obama?

I have been absent from the blogging world because I’ve been spending too much time on Facebook lately. I guess things go in fits and starts too though. Facebook is much quicker and let’s face it, there’s something to be said for instant gratification. I do pop in to check on my stats and my no-existent comments. What I have noticed is that one of my posts, “Michelle Obama, I’m Jealous” gets about 50 or more hits a day. Thinking that folks wanted to read about Michelle Obama, I wrote another one called, “Michelle Obama Hugs the Queen” which I thought was actually much better, it seems people are more interested in jealousy. True secret here, and I hate to mess it up for people, I am not really jealous of the First Lady. I am happy for her, she seems to be doing a great job as a first lady and, most importantly, a mom.

As for my exciting life and Facebook, it is because of my new found fun internet compulsion I have reconnected with friends I thought I would NEVER see or hear from again. I even got to go to a 31st High School Reunion. I know 31st is a kind of odd number but what the heck, I’m glad I was included. I knew only a few people but I was happy to meet with them. I was a nobody in High School in my senior year because I had been away for 8th- 11th grades going to a large metropolitan school. Coming back to a small town school which had not even been integrated was a bit tough but all anyone needs is a few good friends, and those I had.

It was fun to see what had happened to the “hot guys” as the kids call them now back then they were simply the “cute guys”. Many are bald old and fat, so to all you hot guys out there, beware, age happens and then guess what, you’re stuck with your personality so if it’s shallow you don’t have much to fall back on. There were a few folks who looked much better than they did in High School and a few really looked young. My secret elementary school crush still looked cute and in great shape. He didn’t even remember we were in class together, my heart is broken yet but again, NOT. What fun though, I’m so glad I went.

Then

Now

Pugglicious

This is a story of Princess Tula the Puggle.

Impossibly cute, I know.

"I'll even ocassionally fetch a stick like I'm supposed to."

Sometimes I put myself in time out, under the bed.

"who, moi?"

"I shall sit where I please, including on your arm."

"What can I get into next?...that is the question.

I am sorry, well at least a little bit.

See I told you I was sorry... let's kiss and make up.

What's this thing, is it friendly?

Are you sure we can't play, I love to play!

I know I am only the princess but I would rather be the queen.

What Homeschoolers Do All Day.

In all fairness, my kids reminded me that they do this stuff when their school work is finished, but in all seriousness, I think “play is a child’s work” as good old Dr. Spock of 1950’s baby and child care fame once said. Frankly, I’m glad my kids have time and plenty of it to mess around and act silly. This is important to me.

I’m up on my soapbox so feel free to depart if you don’t want to hear a rant, but… Kids do not have time to just be kids anymore. Their lives are so micromanaged with activity from long hours sitting in school, to dance lessons, to gymnastics, to soccer, to swim team, to scouts, to god awful mindless, useless homework, to so many, many other things.

Many kids are woken up in the wee hours of the morning to be carted off to day care and are not picked up until dinner time. Heck they might as well put on the suit and tie and carry their little brief cases, they work just as hard as the hardest working office worker.

While Clarinet Hero is not going to get my kids a good grade on a standardized test or even help them with a future career, it does allow them the freedom to just be creative. I once read that  a number of polymaths or people who are geniouses in more than one area and had been interviewed, all stated that they had lots of time to just sit and think as children. None of my kids are geniouses but they do at least have time to get themselves bored and thus figure out how to get creative.  This is a good thing, I think. Enjoy.

Gobsmacked by Susan Boyles

I can not stop thinking about this whole thing with Susan Boyles.

Have we learned anything from her? I hope so. What if Susan couldn’t sing though? What if she was just Susan Boyles same person without her special and amazing talent? Would we adore her?  We should. Why? Because she is Susan Boyles. My point and as Ellen DeGeneres says, “I do have one”, is that each and every person on this planet is unique and yes special and even wonderful.

What if Susan had a mediorcre voice, or worse, a horrible voice. She would NOT have made such a sensation. She would have been laughed off the stage or worse booed at and made fun of. When did we get so obsessed with physical characteristics, money, prestige and yes talent? When did we get so darn mean!? Don’t get me wrong, Susan’s voice brought tears to my eyes. I can’t wait to her more of her singing. I honestly can say though that if I met Susan in Scotland when I was traveling near her hometown just over two years ago, I’m sure I would have liked her, even if I had never heard her sing,  because well, she just seems like the kind of person I would enjoy sitting and chatting with over a cup of tea.

What about the average Joes and Janes though that fill this planet? I have a good feeling that if any of us took the time to hear their stories and really listen we would find a world of Susan Boyles or at least of people equally as wonderful and surprisingly talented in an amazing variety of ways. I’m really hoping my kids will take note and listen to my rambling lectures on the value of each human being on this small blue ball we call home. God bless you Susan Boyles and all the Susan Boyles who have yet to be discovered.

Michelle Obama Hugs the Queen

More on Michelle Obama… not only is she stylish, and boy it seems every time I see her on the news she is ever more stylish, but now she’s off hugging the queen. Hug away girl! This is the kind of woman we need more of. (photo from the BBC news 24)

This is not the only hugging this woman has been doing she’s been busy hugging people all over the world. More power to her. I say we all could use more hugging. In fact, hugging is downright good for us. I was looking for a link to a good article on this even though I know of the positive affects from my own scientific experiments here at home. There are just too many out there so I decided to just go right on ahead and put a link to the google search itself. In a nutshell, hugging helps release oxytosin which is a bonding hormone that helps us to feel secure and loved. It actually reduces blood pressure which can reduce the risk of heart disease. I think Michelle is on to something here. I know I don’t hug my kids nearly enough. (Save your allowance girls, you’ll need it for therapy one day!) But seriously, I wonder if Michelle was the president if she would still hug people? Do female presidents hug people, how about male presidents, they only seem to hug babies at election time. This whole hugging thing is no small matter and just another reason I’m liking her as a first lady.(photo news.sky.com)

I hate to be so shallow but isn’t that outfit striking. If I only had one once of her style… I am so amazed at how this woman puts on color. Most women run screaming from color this woman embraces it, no pun here of course. She does wear a fair amount of black also but it seems to be at the more formal events.

(photo chicago tribune)

(photo the huffingtonpost.com)

(photo www.zimbio.com)

The Last Child in the Woods

Today I took 15 six and seven year old girls and assorted siblings, parents, and grandparents on a walk in the woods. We weren’t really even in the woods but walking along the lakeside next to the woods. The weather was gorgeous and the kids had been sitting in school all day, poor kids. It’s days like this when I realize just how lucky my own homeschooled kids are. The girls were overly enthusiastic which is always nice and who wouldn’t be in such a beautiful environment. We saw deer tracks which one child suggested were pig prints. I told her it was great she noticed the cloven hoofs. They got the dog prints right away but one child asked if they were wolf prints. I said they are part of the same family but there were no wolves in our woods.

What struck me as surprising and even somewhat sad was how frightened one of the children was. It was broad daylight and it was as if she was concerned that something was going to jump out at us and attack her. She insisted on holding my hand the entire time even after I assured her she was completely safe. She jumped even when a small twig brushed against her face. I realized many of these kids do not get much or any time in nature to explore and learn. How sad.

Which brings me to the title of my post. The Last Child in the Woods which is an amazing book written about this very subject. Many children are more comfortable sitting on a couch watching television or playing video games rather than playing outside in the great outdoors. They do not connect with the natural world because they have no experience with it. Their parents are either too busy to take them out or afraid themselves. Rural spaces and woodlands are not always accessible to the public. Some people do not even see the benefit of going out in the woods. All I know is that it brings me great joy to expose kids to the many wonders of the natural world which can be as simple as seeing a deer print in the sand next to a lake, finding tufts of fur in the woods, or as exciting as baby birds hatching or a snake eating a frog. There is much to learn from nature and if few children are exposed few will have the interest or concern to care for the environment in the next generations.