stat counter

So that I dont' have to type it all I just copied and entry from mo mommy. She verbally put is so well. I highlighted the really pertenant parts and edited some things that are only pertinent to her life... aka references to husband and her location. ** means I'm inserting my own comments, and ending them. If you really want to feel REALLY self concious, add a counter to your blog. You can see how many people visit, when they visit, how long they visit and where they are at. I added one yesterday and it's already freaking me out. First off, why do so many people want to come and read about my mundane life? Second, why aren't all of you leaving comments?! A simple hello would be nice! :) I learned that someone in a little town next to my little town visits my blog. **ummm Herndon?? I only know one family there, wink wink smile smile** So thanks. For making me feel like my thoughts are worth something to someone other than me. For being patient when I sound a little bit kooky. And for making me feel like a part of the blogging community that I love so much. You are all so awesome! And for the people from other countries, Wow, I feel cool now!

staying up past bedtime

I've decided not to stay up past my bedtime anymore. When I do I write sadly pathetic entries like the past one. My life really doesn't suck like it sounds. I actually enjoy what I'm doing and how we're doing it. Kev is simple amazing, he goofs off with us a lot more than the last post made it sound. I was just in a melancholy mood. Again I don't recommend staying up past your bedtime.

Solitary Confinement

I've discovered how much a blessing Sundays are to me. Kev has decided that he will not study on Sundays (yipee!). He wasn't raised doing this so when we got married and I mentioned it to him he liked the idea (not that he studied much during undergrad to begin with. He's one of those really sick smart people who don't need to study while graduating in bio-chem. yep sick). So moving on to medical school it was a big step for him to 1. learn how to study and 2. not do it on Sunday. He had made the decision before with the thought process that if he's going to do what Heavenly Father wants him to (aka keep the Sabbath Holy) he needed to not do what he normally does on the other days to set the day apart, Heavenly Father would help him to keep up with the class and do well. So it's worked. Kev, right now is taking 35 credit hours. The schedule they've given him of what he is supposed to study is Sunday -Saturday 5am - 9pm. Most single people do study that much. Kevin is going from 7:30 am -1am at night with Sundays off. Sundays are family days. Those are the days where he breathes as does the rest of the family. Those are the days that both he and I get to come out of solitary confinement. I'm supporting Kev and the fam right now by earning money to keep the dream alive. I work 11 hour days with an average of 5 toddlers, Megan being the oldest, she turned 3, three weeks ago. Because I take care of so many I cannot go to others houses, go to play dates, I always have someone sleeping so friends with their children coming over is out of the question (the kids tend to go crazy when I'm not focused on them) so except for my blogs that I read, communications from emails and occational phone calls from mothers (& in-law), Jeanie and Shelyn I feel I'm in solitary confinement many times. I think Kev, feels that he is too because of the immense load that he has to bear with the balancing act of school and family. Did I mention how much I love Sundays? This is they day we get Kevin all to ourselves (sort of other than church callings). This is the day when he and I talk, the day he wrestles with the kids without feeling guilty about his studies, the day that we truly get to have family time. This is the day where we get to cuddle and he plays with my hair (yes I know, but man it sure makes a woman swoon). I was just thinking about this as I sit on the couch, after cleaning the house getting it ready for tomorrow's mad rush of children (I have 6 tomorrow starting at 8:30am) and listen to Kevin sitting at his desk, rustling though his books trying to keep up on his studies (at this point he's said there's no way to keep up, he has to guess what would be most beneficial to study because there's no way he'd be able to cover it all). I can't wait for Sunday... is it really only Monday? Funny how spoiled I get with one day. I'm getting selfish. I need a 3 day weekend. Isn't there one soon? Enter Solitary confinement, I'm going to bed to wake up at 1/1:30 when Kev comes to bed. Poor thing, I thought I had it rough, you can only imagine what he's going through, he's got the short end of the stick, at least I have time to talk to people after 8pm, him not so much. Good man, hard worker, glad I married him.

** hard part's not even here yet. I hear rotations, intership and residency are worse. Then he won't come home at all, not even on Sundays. Girl in ward said that her hubby worked 18 hour days while on rotations 7 days a week. No hours limitations for med students only residents... hospitals take advantage of that. whew!! Suck it up ness, only 7 and 1/2 more years to go!!! yes! countdown begins....

In search of a dress.... And a body to fit it.

So my sister-in-law Julie is getting married. She is having a party/reception/rehearsal/bachelorette/bachelor party the night before. Yes, I have absolutely no idea what to call it. She wants all the women to dress in pink and the boys to have some sort of baby blue in their clothing (I know what you're thinking... "80s?" sorry Julie, it had to come out, it should be fun, I'm getting a hot dress *hee hee*). The party is supposed to be semi-formal (cocktail) in nature so I am on the hunt for an amazing dress (heck if I'm going to buy a dress, I'm going to look hot in it). Sadly enough I must admit that I am also on the hunt for a body to go in it. So I have started my "Accelerated body sculpting" video again. I must say for those that haven't found it, it is AMAZING!!! For those of you who have seen me lately.... don't judge by what you've seen, I haven't been using it, but I digress. I used this for 3 weeks (not even regularly) twice one week. 3 times the next and 2 times the next and I lost 1 1/2 inches on my waist. Of course then thanksgiving came, laziness set in, stress accumulated and well my workout fell by the wayside but hey at least I know it works! Anywhoo I did it once last week, followed by 3 days of too much soreness to do squat and then did it again today. Hopefully by March I'll at least have lost something. So now for the dress. I think I found the one I want. Seen here. I will be getting my hair trimmed up and layered and Jeanie, my ever faithful friend will be dudding me up. Jeanie is a makeup artist. She worked for ABC doing their makeup here in the DC area and she knows her stuff. You should see her. Her skin is AMAZING and she is just down right gorgeous. I love the way she does makeup, it's classy and yet not overbearing. It's going to be fun. We are planning a makeover/ playdate with the kids and us. It'll be a blast. Hopefully I'll be able to wear this dress without too many rolls showing. If I fail to meet my goal I will be making a purchase of a girdle. Sigh, I must admit I wore one for a couple of formal dances in college... there is a definite reason why people wear them. They work. However, I think it's a faux pas to admit to wearing one so you will all forget I mentioned it. So between my pilates, diet (need to work on that one) and the girdle (again your memory has been altered) I will be able to fit into this dress and look HOT. Here's to dreams and wishes, and to family that inspire you to stick to some sort of goal (yeah Julie for getting married and threatening me with pictures!)

STUPID DEMOCRATS!!!!!

So when the whole small business issues were going on in Washington I really didn't pay attention to what happened. All I remember is that the Democrats were all upset because George Bush wanted to give small businesses tax breaks and technically he had a "small business". Now I understand why that was all so important. You see while that was going on I never imagined that I myself, moi, would have a small business. That's what I have to classify my daycare system that I run out of my home. On average I work 11 hour days and am completely exhausted by the end of the day (5 toddlers all but 1 under the age of 3). Last year we had to buy a mini-van (sigh I'm one of THOSE women) because we couldn't fit everyone (mine and the kids I watch) into our sedan (huge expense!). Well we figured out that total, before taxes, without deductions and everything I made $26,000. Now back to the taxes. For my small business (according to turbo tax, yes we are going to do something else instead in hopes for different outcomes) I have to pay $3-4000 in "small business tax". ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I only freaking earned $26,000. Compare this to the cost of living in the DC area (our rent alone is $1275/mo and that's a normal price). Sigh. This sucks. I think we finally made it into the return mode last night about 1 am when we added in the EIC. You know I never realized how distanced many of these politicians are from us po' people. *sigh*. Not only that because we were using the van for business purposes AND we drove it to church we "used it for personal use as well". So we can't even write off the van (After a year we only have 4,500 miles on it). The taxes gave us $324 of deduction for our mini-van that we bought for the business. Did I mention taxes suck?

It's rough having cute kids (note the sarcasm)

So the kids were screaming and running around a bit earlier. I looked up to see Meggie on a chair screaming "Oh no a Tiger!" Then there's Spencer with his hands made into little claws going "Roar" (actually it sounded like rarr but who's holding it against him? Not I). Also SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! About time!. I've been working with the kids on attempting to have them pick up after themselves. Needless to say it has been a fruitless venture. However, today I look up and hear Kevin asking "Who wants a treat?". The kids were ecstatic. Then I realized why they were getting a treat. THE PICKED UP THEIR BLOCKS WITHOUT BEING ASKED!!!!! YIPEEE!!!! Yes I'm also making cookies with them tonight. Good kids.

Scrapbooking gone bust... sort of

Last night I decided I didn't have any boy paper to make Spencer's scrapbook. I also decided I didn't have enough money to buy all the paper I would need to have the paper to make his scrapbook (interesting how that works). So I went to the ever trustworthy snapfish and made a masculine and yet charming album for Spence. It should get here in a day or so. I'm sharing some of my all time favorites.

I have 5 different pictures of Spencer with some type of food/bowl weird object on his head. He seems to have a hat fetish right now. I didn't post the one with a PB&J as a hat.

The Dynamic Duo

Shaving with Dad was a HUGE hit.

Yes he even says he's a "True Princess". He's not allowed to get in the actual dresses anymore (a mandate from his dad). He makes a pretty cute princess though doesn't he? He now dresses up in his Zorro outfit and plays the prince although for some reason he still call himself a princess... hmmmm. I think Megan has something to do with that.

My cuties at Grandma's house.

The games people play

It's interesting how we discover who we are and how that effects our perceptions on life and our experiences. After going to BYU young and going through culture shock there (going from GA it was a huge shock) I started to have a very sarcastic frame of mind. EVERYTHING can be mocked and usually is. Even though I don't say anything (too timid) I am secretly holding comments unbidden although not unwelcome in my mind. I believe I am a rational being, someone who can see the details of situations and know instinctively what people are thinking and what needs to be done. However, people don't like my opinions most of the time due to the harsh realities that many of the problems that need fixing are petty and egotistical in behavior (not mine of course). I can't stand games and word play for instance. This was one of the behaviors that sent me into a tailspin when I went out to BYU. I learned that people don't mean what they say and many people are severely offended when you say what you mean and don't beat around the bush to save people's sensitivities. The posturing infuriates me. I've discovered that this stems from peoples insecurities. I can't stand that. I feel if people enjoy who they are and are comfortable with who they've become we would have a better community. I suppose this line of thinking has stemmed from my only interactions with the human race older than 3 and Kev. I have about 5 women who I see on the regular basis. 2 of which are comfortable saying whatever pops into their heads and 3 who are so self conscious or self posturing that it makes me frustrated and annoyed to be in their company. They are constantly afraid of who they are. I suppose I think of Nelson Mandela's speech where he stated "When we let our light shine we unconsciously let others do the same." I've discovered that this line of thinking has two effects. 1. People love being in your company and 2. People think you are obnoxious because you really don't care what they think of you good or bad. I discovered the other day that it isn't the kids that make me tired at the end of the day. Granted tending 5 toddler and 1 6 month old take their toll at the end of the day (Yes, yesterday was a bear when it came to taking care of the kids. Usually I have them staggered but all the schedules collided yesterday). However, it was the posturing of one of the mothers that completely exhausted me yesterday. This is one of those people who refuse to buy anything unless it is the MOST expensive MOST designer whatever they can get their hands on. It was trying because I also had my friend Jeanie (who will cuss up a blue streak on cue and laugh at anyone who gives her a funny look. Which has just endeared her to my heart because of it) over picking up Caroline as well and this other mother wanted to pretend to be as good as a friend as Jeanie was to me. Let's just say it was weird. Very weird. Oddness. Up until this mother came over I was fine with the kids. Hey I even had enough masochistic tendencies, energy to make cupcakes and give them to 5 toddlers to eat (yes they were everywhere). After that though I was beat! Ahhh the posturing must begin again. They are here. Must go. sigh. I was having fun with my two and the baby. ** note: Montse brought up a good point. Yep it's rude to speak your mind. I usually don't however it annoys me to no end. I just silently mock and vow to be better, more blunt and yet charmingly tackful.

elusive time....

This week has been a barrage of todo lists and failures to manage time efficiently. Although I must say I got a lot accomplished. Wednesday for daytime enrichment the ladies wanted everyone to bring their quiet books. Realizing that I had yet to go to the store to get the heat bond to finish my quiet books I put coats on the kids, got the carseat that needed to be loaded up and went out the door.... after closing the door I realized we didn't have the keys. We were locked out. 3 toddlers and a 6 month old on her way in an hour we were stuck in the hallway. Needless to say it was an experience I do not wish to repeat. Luckily we had access to the basement (mutual storage area with our neighbors) where I collected blankets, extra childrens books and retired toys. We laid down all the blankets on the floor where we then plopped ourselves for the next 3 hours. Let's just say that the hallway is NOT big enough for all of us. It's about 7 feet long and 3 feet wide. Sam (the baby) was able to sleep in her carrier and the kids thought it was pretty cool to have a "fort". After about 1 1/2 hours Megan decided she needed to go "potty". I was in a decided panic until I remembered the utility sink in the basement. I know, I know, gross, however necessity breeds ingenuity. Needless to say we survived. Not by much however. After all the kids left that night both of the children crashed as did I. In bed by 8, not a bad night... only to start again in the morning. I was almost able to finish the quiet books. I only have to head bond the pages together, or sew them however I'm not feeling THAT crafty. Anywhoo they'll look quite cute when they are done. Mom bought them from ldsquietbooks.com . I realized this morning that I've been so busy in the evenings that I haven't had time to read my beowulf nor Bring out your dead this week. Sigh, we'll have to try again later today.

Petis Pains au chocolat

So I finally made my cute little chocolate thingies that I posted the recipe for earlier. This was the all time easiest recipe (aside from buying it) I've ever done. Instead of using the bar chocolate that the recipe calls for I used chocolate chips. It tasted wonderfully however it went from looking like a professional pastry (Shireen's) to looking like pigs in the blanket (mine). Here they are however they look they are divine!! (And unlike Athena I cannot take pictures to save my life. blurry I know.

High panic

Is a Stake Primary Meeting supposed to send you into blind panic?!!!! OH wow! I just went from thinking I had everything I needed to do down pat and to a system (I'm the primary secretary). I am in so much trouble. I do nothing! I have so much to do by Sunday, let alone the next few weeks with the "Great to be 8" coming up, Primary Post, Primary Program songs out to every child and soo soo much more. This is all the stuff I was already planning on doing that's not including the stuff I didn't know I was supposed to be doing (did you know that many other primary secretaries pull all the pictures for their teachers? yeah not doing that, not going to either) SANTA VACA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK need to write my todo list so I don't go insane. OH yeah though, good site given at the meeting. Makes my job a lot easier. The Idea Door

Beowulf... Bring Out Your Dead part II

I realized I haven't posted on the progress of my reading. I've reached the midway point of "Bring Out Your Dead." This is truly a fascinating book. Apparently at the onset of the yellow fever outbreak only one doctor, a Dr. Rush, realized the magnitude of the events that were transpiring. He realized that an epidemic was about to unleash itself upon Philadelphia and he was encouraging everyone to leave. Due to the politicking though there in the city other Dr.s were contradicting him at every turn and attempting to make a name for themselves. It was all very interesting. After 3 weeks of this plague so many people had died and so many people had evacuated that civil disorder erupted. It is incredible to the mind to contemplate a sickness so terrible that beings were vomiting blood and that the stench was of such a magnitude that an older gravedigger who had previously lost his sense of smell was able to smell the stench and died from it 2 days later... or so the story goes. I am loving this book. As the history is unfolding we have gone from utter confounding in that none of the doctors were able to cure the disease with any success to that of Dr. Rush and his compatriots coming up with a virulent purge that when administered would cure 7 out of 8 people. However, due to pride and self importance other doctors refused to accept Rush's cure. They felt that he was too invasive and thus encouraged patients to avoid Rush and others that practiced his method. So many people died because of it. The tale is horrific considering if anything struck any of the cities nowadays what would the civil unrest be and the consequences be if anything of that magnitude struck. Scary thought. Anyway I am now in the fourth week of the plague and decided to change up my reading, at least intersperse it with a different story so I am rereading Beowulf (for those not wanting to read the epic poem here's the summary). I am now on page 10 of that history. I need to get back into synch with reading poetry. Whew!!! Loving it though. I always had a knack for understanding poems of that fashion.... at least I think I understood them but hey that's open to interpretation.

Floor Space

Athena showed a picture of her floor. She is brilliant at photography. I decided to include some of my pictures of my floor. Definitely not the same. *sigh* I wish I had clean floors.

Fancy Schmancy

Enrichment tonight was pretty cool. They had 3 different classes on entertaining/hosting a party. It was quite fun. One of the ladies is all about presentation. She goes overboard quite a bit but it was interesting to see her ideas. EVERY table she does is a full blown deal. I thought my aunt Chacha went all out but she doesn't even hold a candle to this lady. It was pretty crazy. We then had my friend Shireen show us some favorite party foods. YUMMY!! She said the best nofail stuff was using puff pastry from the freezer dept. in the grocery store. She had several things with that. My favorite was the Petis Pains Au Chcolat 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed and each sheet cut into 12 squares 1 large egg beaten to blend with 1 t. water for glaze 4 3.5 oz. bars bittersweet or milk chocolate cut into siz 2x 3/4 inch pieces Sugar Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush top of each puff pastry square with egg glaze. Place 1 chocolate piece on edge of pastry square. Roll up dough tightly enclosing chocolate. Repeat with remaining pastry and chocolate. Place rolls on baking sheet, semi side down. Can be made ahead and refrigerated. Preheat oven to 400. Brush tops of pastry rolls with egg glaze and sprinkle lightly with sugar. "Bake until pastries are golden brown about 15 mins. Serve warm or at room temp. Also good with tsp. of raspberry jam added to chocolate. These taste like the chocolate croissants we had in Spain. They are sooo yummy!! We also had a professional party planner talk to us about etiquette. It was fun Betsy (the party planner and our primary chorister) is hystarical and made it a lot of fun. My favorite thing from the evening was when Shireen said "There are soooo many fun things to try. Desserts especially. List all the ones you might want to do and everytime you make dessert for your family try something new. My problem is I think to myself, '52 weeks in a year and if I make dessert once a week that 52 new things I can make' My problem is I make dessert way more than once a week." oohhhh to have that lugsery. It's hard to go to these things in the light that these people spend literally fortunes on everything they do, and they don't realize it. The lady that did the decorating was saying "Oh you just take the cheap roses from Costco ($13 at least) and put them in a little vase you around the house, make sure you put 'oasis' in there (foam, $3) and surrround it with moss ($5). Add candles little tealight or votives are a must (~$3) and add... she went on and on and she said it's not expensive at all and you have a wonderfully set table. In my mind I was thinking, "Ok that's shoes for Spencer, who needs new ones, a coat for me, I left mine on the plane.... food for the table that's in another form than pasta or chicken nuggets." It was hard to listen to because she was so out of touch with at least half of the poor students that were there in the audience. Oh well. She did a good job otherwise. I guess I was just frustrated that there's no possible way I can have fun with that stuff, even when I will have money I think or at least hope I'll be a little bit more conservative with the money.

Promises

It's interesting how cohesive Sundays seem to be of late. Today we had the opportunity to hear from our Stake President. He is a fascinating man. He is the President and CEO of the National Mining Association and well as a truly inspired man. Today he repeated a promise given to us from the pulpit that if we put our houses in order and do everything to live according to the will of God we will be blessed, temporally, spiritually and we will be blessed in all of our endeavors. This in and of itself was reassuring as to what we are trying to do in our home. After that I taught sharing time, which was on promises the Lord gives to us. It was fascinating to review with the children our Heavenly Father's love for us. It's interesting how often we forget the blessings we receive from Him. The one that really struck me was from Matthew 11: 28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I think of what Kevin and I have been through in the last few years and it's amazing to see that there were very few times when I felt sad, or stressed or anything along those lines. I can only attribute it to the provisions of this promise. I think of the stress that a normal human being would feel when asked to pay tuition at Georgetown and no have the means to do it. To have a jobs provided when in need and to have the patience to work with 5 children under the age of 3 (well actually Megan just turned 3) everyday is a miracle to me. I think of what the Lord asks of us, to trust him to obey him in all aspects. He truly grants us peace and rest. The peace I feel is the knowledge that the Lord is in all aspects of our lives and that things will turn out the way the Lord wants them to and in His own time. Once we realize that we have rest. On a complete side note we asked Megan how her second week in Sunbeams went this was our answer "Sister Amanda had a pretty skirt and very pretty socks and Sister Becky had a bandaid on her toe. I like Sister Becky. I like my new class." Sister Amanda was wearing this funky skirt and fish net stockings. She apparently was a hit.

Dancing shoes

One of the most impressive shows I went to while at BYU was the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. This is a world renowned dance school and I was privileged to go and see them perform. I was so impressed that to this day I have yet seen something to equal their dancing. I loved it. Today out of randomness I saw Acro-dancing for the first time. This is a new sport and it reminded me so much of the athletic ability of the dancers from Alvin Ailey. I loved it!!! These dancers were being tossed and dancing in the air as their partners caught them in ways that seem physically impossible to do. It is now my new favorite sport. Even above gymnastics. This is a big feat.

A few of my favorite things....

Feet pajamas make me smile.

Help me Mommy! Help Me!

Spencer had decided to be incredibly cute of late. He is hitting a new stage in life that of "Keeping up with everyone older than myself" stage. It's incredible to think that this little one is only 20 months old! I compare him to the other children I know his age and marvel at his capacity to understand and communicate. His latest item is say "Help me Mommy! Help Me" when he wants to do something that he's not allowed to do. This creates quite a conundrum because it makes me giggle that he's asking for help to get into the box of wipes or climb on top of the piano or say dig into the birthday cake (yes he did ask for help when he did this) with a spatula and yet he is not supposed to be doing those things. Sigh. I suppose I just have to get tough with him. It's awfully hard though when he's super cute about everything. Today he was laying on his dad and he "accidentally" fell off of Kevin to "accidentally" mess up Megan's line of blocks. He then proceeded to say "Help me Mommy! I fell down!" With a huge grin on his face as he laughed at Megan. Yep I'm in trouble, so was he.

You came visiting when?!!!!

Last night was a long, long night. Kevin studied until about 1am. He's really good at getting his time in. He's taking 35 credit hours this semester. ugh is all I can say. I'm a light sleeper so I always check the time when he comes to bed (mostly because I wake up). Anyway I fell back asleep only to hear the doorbell at 1:30 am! What in the world! Living in a metropolitan city there is no way I'm opening the door at that time in the morning. I did however think about who it could possibly be or hoped that it wasn't someone needing help. However, it most likely was someone up to no good. Anyway I fell asleep again only to have the doorbell ring at 3AM! Ugh. I noticed this time as I was wrenched from deep sleep that there was a beeping sound right before the doorbell rang. Ah Ha! mystery solved. The batteries were running out in the door bell and like the smoke alarm it starts beeping as it's dying. So here I am in the middle of the night on a chair attempting to take the batteries out of the doorbell so it wouldn't ring again. Unfortunately that wasn't all. Our neighbors have an hour commute every morning so they get up at 10 to 5am every morning, and Megan started coughing about 5:30. Sigh. No sleep for us last night. OH well. I just feel sorry for poor Kevin who will still study till 1 am tonight as well.

Exercising patience is exasperating

I tend 3 children other than my own during the day. I have no problems understanding what the children need and attending to them. Their parents on the other hand are a different matter entirely. Well no, one set of parents is trying. I have been told to expect a certain child at 8:15 every day. So I get up earlier than normal, make sure the house is clean, breakfast is ready, kids are dressed, I'm dressed, showered, dishes are done and everything prepared for arrival of the children for the day. Yesterday however this one child didn't get here until 9, no call, nothing. Today at 8:50 I receive a call saying "Oh I forgot to tell you that we have a Dr's appointment and we wont be there until close to 10". Now however I have cranky children (my own) because they get up a bit earlier than normal and have to get dressed, which they don't like to do. Unfortunately to mention this insensitiveness on their part to them would mortify them. They would be completely embarrassed, mortified and horrified. Goodness, I told them their son threw a fit one day because he wanted something and I refused to give it to him and they acted like I had told them that they were the most wretched people in the entire world. To tell them they were actually being impolite would horrify them. Sigh I guess Grin and Bear it Ness, Grin and Bear it.

Bring Out Your Dead

Decided to begin reading book that I have presently in storage while waiting on the Library to come forth with the book I have on hold right now. I started "Bring Out Your Dead" by J.H. Powell. This is a non-fiction book about the Yellow Fever Plague in Philadelphia in 1793. I figured any book that begins with a preface that states "Do not read this book before eating, or in the midst of a sleepless night. For it is a revolting book, filled with disgusting details of a loathsome disease. An unfortunately, all the details are true." has a predisposition to be good. Fun Stuff

Thoughts on improvement

When I consider the extent of atrophy that occurs with stagnation it astounds me that we as people feel content to remain idle when there are many things to learn and experience. On a personal note, I've discovered that I myself have declined in my readiness of mind and gumption to expand my experiences. I discovered a bit ago that I was not improving my mind nor my intellect due to the fact that I was extending myself to such an extent during the day that at night I was exhausted. I have found myself sitting in idleness and stagnation "relaxing" to a point that once the kids were in bed I did absolutely nothing until I myself went to bed. Upon realizing this I've decided to put myself on a sort of crusade to aquire knowledge and learning to the benfit of myself, my family and those around me. I read a blog today that said "As much as we'd like to pack our admissions forms with extra-curriculars, they're not going to mean squat if we're not taking challenging classes and scoring well on tests. " I agree and yet disagree with this statement, realizing this quote was taken out of context, it started me on a track of thinking of what I considered education and improvement of myself. I suppose in reading this comment, the comment correlated with what I had been thinking on previously, that of improving myself. Being homeschooled I discovered when I went to college how much I missed in high school. I've also recognized how I feel, now after finishing college and going on with my life, having a family, what I want for my children. I've started thinking how I want them to be educated and what opportunities I want them to have. At the University I realized that I had done the opposite of what the blog said in high school. I studied on the core subjects and the classes and didn't experience the "extra curricular" things. I believe by being homeschooled and by doing that, I failed to expose myself to areas that I would have not only enjoyed but excelled in. Realizing that it was failure to expose myself to the "extra curricular" I failed to realize the potential that I could have reached had I been exposed to different fields or interests. I believe in participating in the extra curricular classes and mandatory subjects you increase your range of experience enabling yourself to then pursue a wider field of interest. This tought process is similar to the idea of pre-requisites and generals in college. A student is asked to take generals in order to provide him/her with a wider field of experience so that the student is exposed to areas that he/she might be interested and in which he can excell. It is similar to pre-requisites in that you need a basic knowledge of certain subjects to explore them further. Thus the basic aquirements of experience in high school for further exploration later in life. The reason why the quote from that blog spurred my thinking to such an extent was the thought processes I had already been going through were encouraged or rather incited by the comment. I've been debating putting my 3 year old daughter in extra curricular classes for the past few months. I would like to provide her with experiences that will enable to her either pursue the added fields of experience or to know about them, get a taste for them and lay them by the way side. I want to provide her with option of doing or not doing. I realized when I reached college that I did not have the appropriate expereince nor the expertise that I needed in order to pursue my interests to the extent desired. I figure that if I can provide my daughter with the training, starting early, she will have the basic knowledge and/or expertise needed to pursue anything she wants to. Or if she so chooses make an informed decision as to what she does not want to do. My daughter, Megan, loves to dance and sing, draw and sculpt. She also loves learning. I want to encourage this by allowing her to have training in those things. On a different tangent here are the options I've been tossing around for Megan. There is an option of a preschool 2 days a week where she will have organized play, reading, arts and crafts and socialization. There is also a Tiny Dancers class I am looking at. In the fall I am going to enroll her in a Montessori program... I think. Saying goodbye to my babies is a struggle that I think I will need to overcome. These classes will help her in her interaction with other children and the art of following directions, regardless of what she learns. As for my own pursuits, I've decided to not only reread my 18th century literature (a favorite of mine) I plan on reading through some of the classics that I enjoyed and was exposed to in my humanities courses in college. I've decided to read through my Greek poetry, Milton, Wordworth (my favorite poet), as well as others. I've considered reading Don Quijote as well as rereading Virgil. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to reaquire my skills in Spanish and the progress to a different language. I believe I might try French, German or try Hindi or Cambodian. I've read a couple of ethnologies on Cambodia and India. Those areas facinate me. We'll see. Time for bed.