Stormy Skies
The sky was amazing last weekend, just before all of the lightning strikes that started so many fires.
Archive for June, 2008
N64?
Some of you will find it comical that I’m posting this, since it’s common knowledge that I have exactly zero interest in video games. Others will understand.
Evan has been working to save money to buy a wii because his mean old rational mom won’t buy one for him. Once he had earned enough, he came face to face with consumerism: the wii is hard to come by. He spent weeks calling around, trying to find one in a slightly panicked state. While he was hard to live with during this time, the weeks gave his brother - Mr. Anti Consumerism - a chance to reason with him: Why not SAVE a bunch of your money and get a used N64? Why pay big bucks for a wii when you can play it at your friends’ house? And on.
Big brother’s reasoning won. We now have an N64, but we’re back into that panic mode as Evan searches for used games. Which leads to my post here. If you’ve upgraded and are sitting on some old N64 games, I have a kid who would love to take them off your hands for a reasonable price plus shipping. He’s specifically looking for Smash Bros, Mario Cart, Mario 64, and Donkey Kong 64.
Homeschoolers in College
With a teen in the house, one can’t help but think about college as one of the possibilities for the future. As such, I appreciated reading Tammy’s post today at Just Enough, and Nothing More. In particular, the first paragraph of the quote cracked me up:
My son had his first college class today, and I’m thinking I’ve finally discovered a negative to homeschooling - his expectation was that he would learn a lot today and he was disappointed.
Little Robin Redbreast…
Oh, how you make me mad!
I love to have birds around, except for when I have a fruit tree that is nearing harvest time. We came home in time to find my persnickety pluot (plum/apricot cross) tree loaded with fruit. Thrilled I was. Until I discovered this:
Which prompted me to do this (surely, the neighbors think I’m nutty?):
It worked well for a while, but the birds seem to have seen through my scheme over the weekend. After sampling a few pluots, we all agreed that they were ripe enough to harvest. I’d prefer to leave them on the tree and eat them fresh off the branch as they ripen, but honestly? I’m just not benevolent enough to share any more of my crop with those pesky birds. As it is, they’ve ruined about half the crop. Here’s what we managed to save (you’ll see on the left that I even picked a few lightly pecked fruits, scavenger that I am):
An Improvement to Public Schools?
Dare I say it? Public schools are showing a little bit of flexibility, at least in Oregon where high school seniors will be given a choice of three different methods to show competency before graduation. In other states, dropout rates and summer school attendance have soared in the shadow of mandatory exit testing, which doesn’t exactly serve much of a purpose.
In Oregon, the Board of Education has decided to offer a national test, a state assessment test, and what they call a local version: a student portfolio. The portfolio will show colleges and employers (because, you know, employers always ask to see your high school diploma) that a student showed proficiency in reading, writing, applied math, and speaking skills.
Son of a gun. Can it be possible that there are other ways to exhibit knowledge beyond testing?
Summertime Fun
Happily, boredom is a rare occurrence around here, but if I find myself wondering what to do with the kids, I’ll head on over to An Unpink Life to check through the list of 150+ Ideas for Summer.
If you’re feeling like organizing a neighborhood (or family) fun day, you might want to stop by my Great Solutions blog to read this post.
Book lovers will want to note that Jen Robinson is giving away five copies of The Adoration of Jenna Fox. You have until June 24 to enter.
When it gets to hot to head outside, get crafty with these little dolls. I’m usually not big on crafts from kits (I prefer crafts from recycled or found items myself), but these little ladies just tickle me.
And while saving money might not sound like fun step on over to my friend Teri’s blog, Family Money, where you’ll appreciate the common sense and easy to understand financial advice.
Ooh. And one more. My friend Patti is asking what YOUR favorite childhood candy was. Go on over and reminisce! It’s a calorie free candy trip.
Authors - Are your books in libraries?
You can find out, here, though I can’t vouch for its accuracy. Just type your name in the search box and the site will pull up a list of your books along with how many are held in libraries.
Tagged, in Good Company
COD at O’DonnellWeb tagged me for a book meme.
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.
And here you go:
He cleared his throat. “I am here, as I’m sure you know, because of Albus Dumbledore’s will. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another.
Yes, folks. Harry’s off the shelf again, here.
If you’re up for it, I tag:
When was the last time…
…you played in the mud? I mean truly got in the mud and felt it squish between your toes? Mucking through puddles in boots going about your adult business doesn’t count.
When we moved into this house - the first time, ten or so years ago - we decided it would be grand to have a pond. The boys and I spent countless days excavating, sometimes with shovels, sometimes with Tonkas. It’s about 8′x10′, and three feet deep at it’s deepest point. We realized that it could become a mosquito breeding ground so we tossed in a half dozen goldfish, not knowing if they’d survive or not. Certainly not expecting them to thrive. But, year after year the fish multiplied and the pond became a science experiment and a great place to muck around.
Our tenants managed to keep the fish alive and the pond relatively full, but upon our recent return we decided that it’s not a very good use of our limited water supply. We allowed the water to start evaporating and Evan went in with a net, in search of the surviving goldfish. He caught one and couldn’t find any more.
Today, I passed the pond and noticed movement. Mind you, there is maybe a half gallon of water left, and it’s floating atop six inches of slippery, dark brown mud. In the middle. My kids were not here, so I tossed off my slippers, put on my cape, and stepped into the muck (only two of those are true) to save the flailing fish. I’m pretty sure the stuff that was oozing between my toes was made up primarily of fish poop.
Turns out, I rescued half a dozen full size fish that were struggling to survive in the muddy water, along with a bunch of babies. What we’ll do with them, I don’t know.
BookTour
Just in case you missed this, please let me point you to BookTour. While I haven’t spent a lot of time on the site, I’ve been thrilled that by signing up I receive a weekly notification of authors that will be doing presentations or signings in my general vicinity. For instance, Barbara Park will be at a Borders store near here, talking about her new picture book, Ma! There’s Nothing to Do Here! A Word from your Baby-in-Waiting. Not exactly my kids’ cup of tea right now, but I’m sure there will be some very interesting authors that roll through town.
