ZFamily - Pacific Coast, USA

TWO YEARS??

2011-11-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow.....I CANNOT believe two years have gone by since I last posted to this Blog. To coin my favorite phrase (safely)....WTF? Oh, wow, so much has happened......I almost don't know where to start.

So.....I am typing this new blog post on our BRAND SPANKING new SHINY laptop. As such, it has no photos of any kind on it, other than what comes loaded onto it. So, I picked the sailboat because we recently tried, as a family, to bring Mr out on a sailboat since his last foray onto the ocean resulted in his "chumming". Well, the second sojourn onto the water was BETTER in that there was no "chum" involved....but still...not his cup of tea.

What else is new? The biggest news (from Mama) is that I have officially "retired" from any and all activities with the large homeschooling support group I have been working with and for over the pat 6 or 7 years. THAT in itself is a long story for another time, but suffice it to say that the adjustment will be....ah, in a word.....interesting. We are still homeschooling the kids, of course. But now I'll be able to focus my energies toward working on my OWN degrees....that I plan to take to Law School someday.

So, this post and the resurrection of the BLOG was inspired by my quilting and fellow mommy pal, Jake Finch, who spearheads Generation Q Magazine to write about being thankful for cuteness. I'll write about that tomorrow. For now I just wanted to get back into the BLOG of the thing.....

)O( Mama Z.

Winter Holidays 2009 (placeholder)

2010-01-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

Heyas! Sorry our recent post was such sad news. We actually had a GREAT time over the holidays. But, we came home to a dead computer, so we are borrowing one temporariliy. We still have to unpack, do laundry, sort out and download all of our photos we took during our trip to Utah and Colorado.

Then,......I PROMISE to replace this boring post with a great one about our trip, complete with photos.

Stay tuned!!!!!!!

Love, The Z Clan!

Goodbye Sweetest Girl

2010-01-05T10:12:00.001-08:00

Our dear sweet kitty, Penny, passed away on January 2, 2010.

On New Year's Day we woke up to some odd behavior by her, mainly her eyes looked strange and she was having trouble walking. After a long day spent at the pet emergency clinic and a very long night of wondering and considering, we decided that we could not put her through rigorous testing, poking, prodding or long-term rehabilitation. The family decided it was best to relieve her suffering.

To the best of our knowledge, we believe she had a stroke, a rare thing for kitties, but with a purebred (ragdoll), it is certainly possible. She was having trouble with negotiating the left side of her body and we are certain she was blind and possibly deaf on one side. She also did not respond to her name, something she has ALWAYS done since we adopted her.

Goodbye "Pennies From Heaven". We will ALWAYS love you!

)O( The Mama

Feast or Famine.....Part Deaux....

2009-08-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah.....I know why aren't we posting to our blog more often? Well, the simple answer is.....WE ARE BUSY!!! The better answer is.....we are lazy!

LOL! Actually, we are not lazy, we just keep moving "update the blog" to end of the list and then onto the next "to do" list and then to the next one....and so on....and so forth.....ah, you get the picture. You are also guilty of that, too, hmmm????

Actually, we are enjoying the summer. We adopted a new cat named Penny. We discovered Facebook a while back and that sort of took over all "spare" computer time.

So, this is Penny. This picture is not one of her best, but it shows her interesting markings. She's a purebred Ragdoll cat; six years old with a championship pedigree. She's pretty cute and quite a lovebug. She's a little bit shy around the kids, but tolerates their love and hugs pretty well.

We are enjoying having a cat in the house....oh, did I mention that she is long-haired? Eesh! Forgot what de-linting is all about.

Well, I've got to run....I'm prepping to go the Ventura County Fair tonight, sans kids, to see Huey Lewis and the News! This should hold everyone for awhile, right? Sending much love to all......

)O( The Mama

The QUICKEST Month

2009-03-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Every February I am amazed at how 28 days can zip by in a blink.

I also figured that neglecting the blog just isn't a very good thing to do. Even before and after February, Life moves at the speed of psycho and the blog is the best way we know how to keep everyone updated (including ourselves.....)

Most of you know that the "mama" took a gigantic leap into the thespian category (it's about time since Boy and Girl are both going to be seasoned Shakespearean actors by the time summer rolls around) and landed a very special first role on a stage. Check out the "MAMA" blog, for the full story on that.

Mama also took a new quilt class. This time using a pattern with "points" (which means "triangles"). Here are two blocks that are being made:

(Mama switching to talking in the first person now--)I started out on my usual wonderful sewing machine that really got me started and gave me the room to really appreciate sewing. However, the precision that this particular pattern required was far beyond what my "basic sewing and mending machine" was capable of handling. Part way through my classes, I began to realize that I really needed to upgrade my machine.

I had been thinking of doing this anyway as early as several months after I began quilting and realized that I absolutely LOVE to do it. Literally, for the past year, I have been wanting this machine:

It's a 2008 Heart Truth from Janome, which is a pretty good name in the quilting realm. But the best part is that DS saw how much trouble I was having with getting this quilt together. So.......he gave me the money, just before V-day, to buy it as an early anniversary gift (10 years next week). Isn't he the BEST!? I was able to nab ONE of the final TWO in Ventura County. I brought the "new baby" home on February 13th and spent the weekend playing with it and loving it!

DS is the BEST gifter.

While my project was begun on a lower-end machine and that still presents a lot of challenges, I am now planning to finish it. (More details about that on Mama's Blog

Another, very sad event took place at the end of February, really the beginning of March.... My Uncle Harvey passed away. Here is a very small part of his life:
"Walking in Multiple Worlds"

Daddy continues to work hard and hunt gophers. The kids continue to play hard and grow their brains (here's a few photos on that):

and life is as grand as it can be out here in the West.

We miss you all every day.

)O(
~The Mama
MNMS

Yes! We are STILL HERE!

2009-01-26T15:03:00.000-08:00

I can not believe it has been more than six months since our last post here.....We've done A LOT! Black Belts for Mom, Dad and Boy in October....the holidays.....quilting projects....family adjustments (not the immediate....nobody panic)...wondering about the state of Countrywide/Bank of America.

I've picked up the responsibility of Chair for California Homeschool Network's Legal Rights Advocacy Committee.....I am also running for a seat on the Board of Trustee's for CHN.

We bought a new car--2007 Kia Sedona.....unexpected right before Christmas (on the Winter Solstice to be exact) because Frankentruck was pissing all kinds of fluids at every turn.

We continue to live quietly wondering who Countrywide/Bank of America will decide to keep on their payroll lists (hopefully MY husband!!!!!).....

Lots of things.....none of them Earthshattering or really important enough to have neglected blogging......just.......Life.

)O(

Whenever Schooling

2008-06-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's hard to believe that time flies by as fast as it does. The "school year" ended mid-June for most public schools in this area. It also seems that a lot of homeschooling families also choose that time to "break" for the summer. Perhaps those that "break" are actually home schooling through the public school districts Independent Study Programs.

EQL Academy (that is our private school) is a "year round school". We take "breaks" whenever we need them. Since we are constantly learning all of the time, we don't feel the need to count only certain activities, times of the day or days of the week as "schooly".

These photos were taken as the kids were learning about physics. There was a question about reflection (what makes mirrors) and then why they couldn't sit comfortably on the top of the couch. Traditional lessons? Hardly. Fun and laughter? ..... TONS!

If our children embrace the love of learning, they will outstrip us in every way possible. Their success will be endless.

Speaking of success....I'm off to teach us all how to compost.

)O( Mama

Video Killed the BlogStar?

2008-06-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

I figured out how my nifty little "EnV" phone takes videos. I have a 512MB card in the phone and can store LOTS of photos and videos. So, here's a video of Poodle in one of her "shows" for her dance class. It's an informal recital for the parents. It's less intimidating than the other dance studios that perform their recitals in a HUGE auditorium in front of a few thousand people.

So, let's try this. I'm not sure the sound quality is that great. But....here it is!

~~Mama )O(

Happy Toes!

2008-06-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Poodle and I had a pedicure! Well, I had the works. Poodle just had her toes painted for the very first time.

I'm not much of a "girly" girl and when my friend told me she used to be a pedicurist (?) in her life before hubby/child/homeschooling and then offered to give me a pedicure, I simply could NOT say no!

Ah, it was heaven. We 21st Century "homemakers" rarely have moments to ourselves, let alone take the time to do our nails! Helping each other out is a great trade-off. While I was having my relaxing reflexology pedicure, our children were all playing Scrabble!

Now, we are ready to hit the beach!

~Mama )O(

Happy Children!

2008-06-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

..in a grocery store in the middle of the day. I just love these four! They made a game out of things. And they are so cute, too!

ARRRGH! There be pirates about......

2008-05-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

Ahoy, There!!!.......

Today we attended the Spring Ojai Renaissance and Pirate Faire near Lake Casitas. It was wonderful. Sunny, but cool with a lovely breeze off the lake which turned into a gale by the time we headed home.

But a good time was had by all...including our baby pirates. Observe them scouring the land for booty!

At the Faire, which consists of bawdy adult humor and is aimed at adults with lots of dubloons to spend, the kids get "treasure maps" when they come in. They hunt around for booths that have a special flag with certain characters on it (one has a merman, another has a unicorn, another a pegasus, etc...) and then they ask for a stamp for their map. Once they get all of the stamps, they return to the scene of the map handout and are directed to the treasure. They can rifle through the chests and pick out any treasure they wish.

For the second year in a row they both picked the same thing; a Pirate of the Carribean kit consisting of a telescope, eye patch and nifty sword.

Well, they are very cute baby pirates.....

~~Mama )O(

Whack Jobs ....

2008-05-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

I have this way cool killer new cell phone. It's an "enV" by LG. And it ROCKS! It takes the most FAB photos! And these aren't even the BEST resolution ones. I got this 512MB card with the phone. I SWEAR! The card is no bigger than one of my fingernails. Anyway, it holds tons of photos. Now that I figured out how to transfer from phone to card to PC......I'm a picture taking fool!

We all got our hair cut recently by Angela, our fashion-ISTA who lives in Grand Prarie Texas. I feel like such a diva when I tell people my hairdresser flies in especially for me.

My hair and Marc's look about the same as they always do. But this was Shan's first time getting a "REAL" haircut. She told Angela that she wanted her hair cut "just like mommy's". Now she has this all new funky personality along with it, too.

Oh Boy! We are in trouble.......

~~)O( Mama

"A Playdate with Shakespeare"

2008-04-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

We have all survived another season of Shakespeare. N played three parts in this latest installment. A grand time was had by all and S can't wait for her turn. As always, we have ordered extra DVD's to share with family and friends.

This group of children aged 6 to 9 were absolutely astonishing in their performance and delivery. "Shakespeare" conjuring up the witches for the "Macbeth" portion was uber-fantastic!

Congratulations to all in the Much Ado About Shakespeare programs all over Southern California and congratulations to Rebekah Czarnecki (who is having her baby as I post this!) and family on the arrival of "Linda Lee Rose"....

"A Rose by any other name, would still smell as sweet."

~~ShakyMama )O(

The Farm of the Painted Pony

2008-04-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Riding Painted Ponies

EQL Academy's Thursday field trip this week was to a private farm called the Painted PonyFarm in Upper Ojai.

We had tons of fun! We learned that some chicken do lay green eggs (and they are Polish chickens, so thats a plus!) and that white eggs come ONLY from chickens with white feathers. Growing up in New England, my husband and I recall TV commercials for eggs with the jingle "brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are FRESH!" I have no idea why they used that little silly jingle.

Oh my, there truly is nothing like an egg fresh from the chicken. If we could, we would raise chickens for their fresh eggs. The kids tried to smuggle one of the chicks, but I was ready.

The "kids" milked a goat.

I was going to milk the goat, but she became impatient and kicked everyone that came near. She also booted over the bucket of milk (it wasn't full). So, I just decided to leave her alone rather than risk a boot from a nannygoat.

After the kids all had their turn at milking, they all toddled after the baby goats who were calling frantically to their "Maaaaaa"'s and then we retired back to the house for goat's milk ice cream made fresh on the premises. Yum (and I am NOT a fan of goat cheese)! Really, though, it was absolutely delicious.

We tried to pet the painted ponies, but alas....they like to bite little fingers.

Our next project is to figure out how to build an incubator so that we can hatch some chicks of our own. We'll have to return them to live on a farm, but the project will be fun nonetheless.

~Mama )O(

Quilting On

2008-04-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Here is my finished quilt top for BabyGirl. She picked out all the fabrics herself. Christmas themed as they are, there is an interesting significance to it which I will share once the entire thing is completed.

~~Mama )O(

This episode sponsored by "Dogfights" (only on the History Channel

2008-04-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

"Dogfights" is a program on the History Channel that we accidently happened upon at the last CHN homeschooling conference. Since then, we've seen many episodes, purchased Season 1, learned quite a bit about aviation, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict and much more. Nicolas and I have been inspired by several episodes, and so we present our tribute to "Dogfights" in Lego of course:

========================================================
Jets
========================================================

Type: Jet
Make: Mig-17 (Russian)
Conflict: Korea (N. Korea)
Armament: 3 Front mounted 20mm cannon
Max Speed: 711 mph at 10,000 ft
Range: 1,290 miles
Ceiling: 54,460 ft

Type: Jet

Make: Mirage-III (French)
Conflict: 6 day war (Israel)

Armament: 2 wing mounted 20 mm cannon, 4 air to air missiles
Max Speed: Mach 2.2
Range: 1,450 miles
Ceiling: 59,000 ft

========================================================
Bi-Planes
========================================================

Type: Bi-Plane
Make: Spad-13 (French)
Conflict: World War I
Armament: 2 Vickers .303 front mounted machine guns
Max Speed: 138 mph
Ceiling: 21,820 ft

Type: Bi-Plane
Make: Fokker-7 (German)
Conflict: World War I
Armament: 2 forward firing Spandau machine guns
Max Speed: 190 mph
Ceiling: 22,900 ft

"California Criminals", Continued........

2008-04-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

At the tail end of March, the 2nd Appellate (Headache) District decided to throw out it's very controversial decision that caused such an uproar at the start of that month.

Here is excellent commentary regarding these events by John Stossel.

So, we are all waiting until June for the decision of the court.

In the meantime, it's EAU (Education As Usual).

~Mama )O(

It is Finished!! ...

2008-03-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

I became interested in quilts recently when a friend asked for help in completing a quilt that was more than 40 years old and had been pieced together completely by hand. The quilt was donated to a church organization for purposes of an auction. In keeping with the spirit in which the quilt was created, it was decided to completely finish it by hand. So, one day, my friend brought a bunch of needles and thread to our homeschooling park day and we had ourselves a little quilting bee.

Pretty soon, I found myself wanting to make a quilt of my own. So, I signed up for a beginner class, picked out some pretty radical fabric and proceeded to begin.

I discovered that sewing is very relaxing and I love creating these great works of art that are also functional and warm.

This is the back and an example of the quilting.

This is the finished product.

While I was working on it and trying to figure out what I would do with it, N asked if he could have it. I thought that was appropriate, my first quilt for my first born child.

So, "The First Spark" was finished the day after his 8th birthday.

Of course, my girl wanted to know where HER quilt was! Once I explained that I could only work on one at a time, she then rifled through my fabric stash (I've been collecting fabric for several years just because I like many different fabrics and use them for decorations), picked out some that she liked and then informed me that we needed to go to the fabric store to find some others for her quilt.

More to come.....

~~Mama )O(

The Essence of "Privacy"

2008-03-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Tammy, was featured in this video clip from CNN today regarding the homeschooling situation in California.

What is frustrating for most of us in California is the insistance that the law has "always been like that" (meaning that parents cannot choose to homeschool their children without a teaching credential). It's simply not true. Many are using the private school option which does not require teachers in a private school to be credentialed. There are plenty around here, in this Hollywood area bedroom community. Expensive as hell...and wouldn't you know it? Not all the teachers are credentialed. The "authorities" better go after THOSE schools before they come after mine.

What does a credential prove anyway? That one is adept at "classroom management" or that one is an expert to spot abuse at home? What about all the credentialed teachers that do the abusing? I am not trying to devalue a teaching credential. Several of my aunts and my cousin are credentialed teachers. I'm just saying that it is not necessary in order to enable EVERY SINGLE child to be educated.

Public school is but one CHOICE. Our family chooses private school, our own private school. So, to the government I want to say quite loudly....BUTT OUT!!!

Despite what is being reported, erroneously most of the time, this fight is NOT about the interests of the child. It's about government control over a parents right to freely choose what is in the best interests of their children.

Since when does the government get to butt into our lives and tell us how to run our families??

Abuse will be happening regardless of whether a child is in a public or private school.

Jumping off of my soapbox now.

~~Mama )O(

The Pace of Today

2008-03-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

How did I spend the beginning of this week? You can listen here .

In case anyone is wondering, we are just fine out here. We haven't changed what we are doing. And we won't. If our freedom to choose our children's education ourselves, then we will move out of the state.

~~Mama

Legal Firestorm in California

2008-03-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

The really juicy stuff I posted to my other blog. For now, I'll give you the Reader's Digest version of the latest "firestorm" in The Land of the Fruits and the Legal Nuts.

A trio of moronic, ancient and well-used-past-their-prime Appellate Court Judges have suggested--No, I'm sorry--blatantly stated--that it is unconstitutional for parents to home educate their children.

Yeah, I know. And you read that right.

You can go to my other blog to read my rant. However, be warned....you may learn things about me you might not otherwise have known. Like that I am fond of four-letter words and have a mind of my own. But then again, most of you already know that.

In the words of Bon Jovi--"Have a Nice Day".

~~)O( The Mama

Dizzyland!

2008-02-04T23:24:00.000-08:00

We went to Disneyland! It was for the 3rd Annual SoCal Homeschooler's day. It was a great day. It was a bit cool, but that didn't hinder our fun very much. If you look closely, you will see N. He's the one raising his arms toward the center in the back. Banan-girl is just to the left of him, though you can barely see her.

She looks better here with her Rainbow Butterfly face-paint.

We went with a wonderful family we know. All the kids get along smashingly.

And here we all are:

N and his new friend, J.

Disneyland is a learning place. We learned that S gets scared by the Pirates of the Carribean ride and that N isn't crazy about roller coasters of any type. Big Thunder Mountain wasn't his cup of juice.

It wasn't bad for a weekday.

Homeschooling is FUNFUNFUN!!!

~Mama

Movin' On Up.....

2007-12-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

Miss "S" contemplating all those sacrifices she made in order to achieve this belt. All those hours she had to wait through Mama's and Daddy & Big Brother's training classes; those Saturdays she wasn't allowed to watch TV so we could attend a class as a family; the early bedtimes on Fridays; oh yes....and all those graduation cookies!!!!

She's doing fantastic. We can not bring her to a class without many compliments on how focused she is and how well she does. And then on Saturdays--she giggles her way through the rolls and the throws and the sword katas. She's SUCH in inspiration.....

And here is Shihan Woodard gleefully handing her her belt.

And she said "Domo Origato Goziamas Shihan"!

~~Proud Mama

History Channel's "Human Weapon Series"

2007-12-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

If you want to know more about what we are doing in Taijutsu, you can check out the History Channel TV show "Human Weapon". If you can find it in the archives or on episodes from Netflix, our sensei, Shihan Matthew Woodard was in Japan when the show's hosts, Bill and Jason traveled to Japan to study at the Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu Dojo with Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, Grandmaster of the nine schools of ninja arts in Japan.

Here you can find some more information on Hatsumi-Sensei and the art of Ninjutsu
http://shinkentaijutsu.com/content/bujinkan.php

and here about our Dojo. http://www.secretstobetterkids.com/woodard/

Shihan Woodard, training with Hatsumi-sensei during the filming of this show and was able to be part of the show. Jason Chambers is seen carrying our Sensei on his shoulders during Ninja conditioning training.

Hollywood Fun

2007-11-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

Recognize this guy?......

Now, can you pick him out of this photo?

AND who are those other great looking people in the photo???.............

My "bonus-sister", J, is married to producer-guy, (whose name is the same as my guy's only with a different letter at the end). He has a great relationship with LeVar Burton, who is well known as Lt. Cmdr (or Cmdr--depending on the movie) Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Mr. Burton is also well-known as the host of PBS' Reading Rainbow. Mr. Burton is currently wrapping up a film called Tempting Hyenas that he directs. (He also has an acting role in TH.) We helped out my "bonus-BIL" (who is credited as a producer on TH) by showing up on a set this past weekend to act as extras in some filler material that may be used between scenes.

You can keep up with the information on Tempting Hyenas by checking out www.imdb.com.

Mr. Burton is a gentle, wonderful, personable man. His appeal to children was apparent in his dealings with N and S (though S was a bit on the shy side). I am certain we will be seeing more of him as time progresses (and as J receives her Black Belt in December).

Sometimes we get to do some of the "fun" Hollywood stuff.

Today is Thanksgiving (which most should know unless you live in another country or under a rock). We are missing our distance family and friends. Sending you love and joy and lots of gravy covered, yummy, turkey.

Gobble-gobble.

~~Mama ~~)O(

Hi-YAAAAA!!!!!

2007-11-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, that isn't REALLY what we say...more like "Whoa!" and "Yeah!". But isn't S.he cute?????

Look at that pious concentration (the ONLY time she's likes this, we assure you....) as she takes off her very first belt, (white) and prepares to accept belt that will unlock the "next level"
(yellow).

Mr. Woodward presenting the youngest student (currently) at T Dojo with her new belt.

She has the BEST rolls! Ah.....to be so flexible and young again.

Not to be outdone, N and Daddy also advanced (the graduation was after this photo was taken). They are now at the Green/White Stripe level and Mama is Red/Black Stripe level.

The elder 3 of Z Family are all on track for Black Belt next October. Mama will be accelerating some classes in order to catch up to N and Daddy either in December or February.

What an amazing journey this is.....the best we've all undertaken. We will "Stand Tall, Stand Proud and Stand Out From The Crowd".

Best,
~~Mama Z. ~~)O(

Are you "blown away" by our blog updates???

2007-10-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

LOL!! We might be! The Santa Ana's have arrived! As you can see from this satellite image I found today, it's a wee bit smoky over this way!

The fires began in Malibu. It was very sad to see that Castle Kashan was one of the first victims. While it is never good to see any loss; of structures rather than life, I am thankful.

There are quite a few fires burning in the area. This time, not many are affecting us directly other than smoke. The closest fires, in Piru and the NightSky fire in the Santa Rosa Valley in Camarillo, are the closest with small spot fires in and around Simi Valley. My dad and MIL called yesterday with concerns. It is touching and I know that everyone out there is thinking positive thoughts for us. Seriously, though, my excuse fro staying at home the past few days has been that I am more concerned for a tree or branch falling on my car than any fires activity. I saw no less than 6 crushed vehicles in a jaunt 2 miles to the post office. Esshhh......I'm staying inside. It gives me an excuse to prepare for my next undertaking.....NaNoWriMo.....(for more details, see my own personal blog-- FeenyxRises -- click the link over there ----------------------->

The kids are so much fun! I spend more time during the day feeding them than much of anything else. We just had a totally fun day out at Riley's Farm in Oak Glen, CA http://www.rileysfarm.com/index.html

Here's a few photos:

The kids were impressive with their ability to actually write with quills and ink.

I'm off to clean up the house before the winds die down and I can clean up the yard.

~~Mama~~

Way too long

2007-10-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

As the title suggests, it has been WAY too long since we last posted to the blog and that requires rectification. Since it's been so long since we last posted there are quite a few things that have been happening here:

I had some minor surgery on my hand (taking out a ball of fibrous tissue) which went extremely well. All that's left is a very small scar. The hand has healed up nicely. Other than that, I've been keeping myself busy with work, business, kids and fantasy football. :-)

Momma has been busy as usual with the kids. She is super, and does such a wonderful job raising our incredibly special children. She also excels at continuing to expand their knowledge
and experiences through local trips. These pics are from a recent trip to Kidspace, an interactive museum in Pasadena, CA. http://www.kidspacemuseum.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index

N is growing like crazy and doing extremely well with his reading and martial arts. That brings me over to the little one, who is the newest member of the family to start taking classes. She may look like a cute blond marshmallow in her outfit, but don't let that fool you. She packs a whallop when she throws that knee out!

The weather over the last few weeks has been a bit cooler and we've even been getting some rain (and boy do we need it). The last two days have been gloomy by CA standards, but I have been glad for the change in pace. The Santa Anas have not really hit us too much yet, though that is likely to change in a few weeks or so. If it were up to me, I'd rather skip them altogether. Personally I prefer winter to wind. I know that goes against all CA theory on weather, but it's hard to have a frame of reference when the temperature variation is only about 30 degrees! :-)

Overall, the West Coast Z's are doing well and flourishing. More to come soon.... I promise :-)

Daddy Z

The Final Chapter....

2007-07-24T10:01:00.001-07:00

After much hype, waiting, anticipating, cajoling, begging, gnashing of teeth, disappointment of early spoilers.....

It is over.......

*Phew*.....finally. We didn't take any chances in our house, Daddy bought several copies of the book. One for me to read, one for him to read and one to give away.

I won't give anything away, but let's just say I was stunned, shocked, saddened and relieved. The story is finally complete.

And it was AWESOME!!! Ms. Rowling....you are brilliant! And we'll miss waiting for your wonderful stories....We hope you keep writing more, even though we know they won't be about Harry and Hogwarts.

~~Mama

Translatio Imperii!!

2007-07-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit since I've put my perspective out on the blog, and now when I do I end up using Latin. So why use the dead language and even more pertinent... What does it mean!!!
Well, I used Latin for a few reasons,: 1.) It sounded cool ; 2.) It grabs attention and 3.) I wanted to make this announcement sound much more formal.

Now to what it means. Translatio Imperii is "transfer of rule", or the succession of a great power in favor of another.

Of course, now I've explained why, and what the phrase means, but not the most important question. Why is this phrase even significant?

Now for all of you that are not from the East Coast, this is not going to be quite as awe inspiring as those that knew me growing up.

For those of you that know my history with the game of RISK, this is why I am making such a formality and using Latin.

My son has handily defeated me in only his second attempt of playing RISK.

He hit me with 2 RISK trade-ins in a row at 30 and 35 armies a piece. If that weren't bad enough it also doesn't hurt that he inherited this weird ability to roll lots of 6's. :-)

All hail the new Pax Zawroticana!

~~Daddy

Hot Fun

2007-07-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

...it's summertime!
Jeez-Louise! I can't believe how fast time goes. Here it is already July and I feel like I just put away all the Winter Holiday decorations. Pretty soon....(like next weekend!), they (those at the Mall) will be putting out the Hallows decorations.

Tonight it is a gorgeous night. The day was sizzling !HOT! But, it's summer in Southern California. So, I know I can't expect anything less. I am on my patio in my lounge chair (with the laptop and a wireless connection....got to LOVE technology!) sipping a cool drink, watching bats fly through the yard as the sun goes down and all those yummy bugs come out of the caves they have been hiding in all day. But "bugs" around here isn't at all like in New England. It's way too dry here for mos-qui-toes.

The summer has been going for a couple of weeks now. Our "year" activities with the other homeschool group finally wound down. Girl began a dance class and Boy is taking a rock climbing class (indoors with A/C--thank the gods!). They are both on the same day, so there is minimum running around for this mom.

The biggest issue right now is our park day for the "elf" group. For three weeks now we have trucked on out to our usual, quiet, wide open spot and if none of us had a calendar we would have all known it was summer anyway. Our park was completely crowded! Here is N's reaction to all the kids in the park now:

Actually, this was taken after everyone had cleared out. But it's a very funny picture so I have included it.

That's all the news for now. We are missing everyone.

~~Mama

Come Now.....

2007-06-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

....what masks? What Dances Shall we Have? Call Philostrate!.....

Oh! Our little budding thespian has completed a wonderful study of Shakespeare. He performed as Duke Theseus in "Pyramus & Thisbe" (the play within the "Midsummer Night's Dream" play)

He was wonderful! (Though I am a bit biased....his teachers all did say he was wonderful, too.)

*sigh* I've almost gotten to where I can understand the Old English language. Maybe I'll just stick to the children's versions of the Bard's stories........

~~Mama

On a Roll!!!

2007-05-18T22:58:00.001-07:00

After not being able to blog for so many months, I'm catching up nicely, I would say. This photo is me, JB and JW, enjoying Mother's Day with our families (and some champagne among ourselves).

Daddy and I and the kids have been working on the yard during our "wet" season (translation; only have to water twice a day). Things are coming up ROSES!

(ABOVE) This bush was here when we moved in. I have no idea what it is called, maybe "Sexy Rexy". But it's pretty and produces a ton of flowers. They have a delicate scent, if any at all and the bees are crazy about them.

This is my "Double Delight" bush just outside my kitchen window. These flowers are very strongly scented and they are "delightful" to behold. I never thought I would ever have any type of rose interest. But the more I care for them, the more they produce. In some parts of California, (like Lancaster which is in the middle of the desert) rose bushes thrive wildly with little or no care. Go figure.... one would think roses are delicate. I'm learning that this is not the case.

We are coming up on two full years here. The enjoyment we have here is so wonderful. It's a great place to be all day long as a homeschooling family. Not that we are here as much as that last sentence makes it sound. Between two park days a week, classes, playdates, field trips and oh yeah, that reading and writing thing, we have to PLAN to stay home! But we are never bored and are totally loving our life.

Many Blessings to All

~Mama

Hear Ye! The Lostus of the The Firstus Toothus!

2007-05-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Boy has lost his first tooth! He was determined to have the tooth fairy visit that night. He worked it loose himself and pulled it! What a smile. He got 4 Quarters!

Our little thespian is going to be Duke Theseus in "Pyramus and Thisbe". This is the current gathering of costumage: (we still need a crown).

Not to be outdone, Girl has been "reminding" me every day that I need to get her into a dance class. She is very persistent. Here is playing with the globe that JiJi got Boy for Solstice. (They like to fight over it). She's picked out Greenland. She really likes the music there. I hope she doesn't start her dance tour there.

Fog City Getaway

2007-03-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

My first images of California are of this bridge. Is there anything like it in the world?

The photo above was taken at Baker Beach, just West of the Presidio.

We checked out Alcatraz. There was even a former inmate, Darwin Coon, there that day plugging his book, Alcatraz; The True End of the Line.

We stayed in this GREAT little place, Hotel Del Sol in the Marina District.It is the BEST place for kids. There were cookies and milk every night, videos for loan, games, *BRIGHT* colors (see photo below) and it was remarkably quiet for being in the middle of the City.

Our favorite babysitter attends SFSU. We got to drag her to the Exploratorium. I don't think she liked it much. (I'm being sarcastic.)

We wandered around Fisherman's Wharf, ate clam chowder from a bread bowl, had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and even found the USS Pampanito.

As I have done my time with the military, I choose to stay topside. Submarines are way too close quarters for me.

It was windy (not on the submarine) alot and we throughly enjoyed ourselves for the rest of our trip. I remembered what I originally loved about California. Things you can only find up north; Eucalyptus on the Bay breeze and fresh green vistas. But in the end, we returned home to SoCal safe and sound after having left a teeny bit of our hearts in San Francisco.

~~Mama

A Spring-y Celebration!

2007-03-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the arrival of Spring on "Irish Day" (you'll see the date on the photos, so you'll be familiar with it) with some very good friends. (Translation: we ate corned beef and drank to everything Irish we could think of.)

The kids had a spectacular time as did the adults and we all went home happy and full of good cheer, I mean...Cheers...

We would normally do a celebration of Spring, but....alas, we all forgot. Too stout with Stout, I guess.

Cheers!
~~Mama

Nicolas is 7!!!

2007-03-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Boy turned 7 and it was a racous time. We have a standing NASCAR date with our dear friends, Lady and Smuffy and their kids and there just happened to be a race on Boy's birthday. Yes, his hair is quite long. He's been working on a padawan braid (like the Jedis) and so the rest of his hair was growing. But then it got too long and I had to give him some bangs. MORAL; never let Mama near your hair with a pair of scissors!!!! (It's since been fixed.)

~Mama

Fun at the Races

2007-03-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

It has been too long since this reporter has graced the web with his witty dialogue, engaging writing style and his humble outlook on life...
So since that reporter is not available, I want to talk about racing.
It's only been a couple years since I started watching NASCAR and becoming a fan. In that time, I have to say that NASCAR is the best at educating it's viewers on the terms, rules, and strategies that make up racing.
In the times that I've become a fan of racing, I've picked a driver at random and started watching races now and again becoming more and more educated. What's funny is that I am a die-hard Steeler fan in football and they are dressed in black and gold. My driver is Matt Kenseth. What color is his car? Black and Gold. Coincidence? hmmmmm......
What I had not done is actually gone to a NASCAR race.

Last Sunday at the California Speedway, I did just that.

My good friend Ed and I got up really early and headed over to Fontana, CA. The race was set for noon, but we also got pre-race pit passes and wanted to make sure we got full use of that priviledge. We parked in general parking which is free, but a decent walk to the Speedway. This may sound like a pain, but it was totally worth the walking as leaving was not the ordeal it was for the other 90,000 people trying to worm their way out of the parking lot.

So we wandered about the trailers full of merchandise and "outfitted" our families, with shirts and hats then made our way to the pits.

What I didn't realize was that the pit pass allows you to actually go out onto the track itself, into the infield grass, and through all the pits themselves. The only thing you can't do is go up to the cars themselves. The pits have all the gear from high-tech screens to precision repair devices like aluminum bats.. :-)

After walking around for about 3 hours (one wouldn't think that there would be that much to do before a race...), we grabbed some grub and headed to our seats.

Oh yeah, we also go these headphones and track scanners that allow you to hear the driver-pit chatter throughout the race.

Now logically, I cannot explain how it would be fun at all to sit down with 90,000 other people and watch cars turn left for 250 laps. I have to tell you though.. I LOVED IT!! It was such a blast! The track scanners were awesome and I spent most of the time listening in to my driver.
At the end of the day, it was an exciting race and my driver won the first NASCAR race that I've ever been to. (By the way, Thanks honey for getting the awesome seats!!!)

So in conclusion: Racing= good, Live at the track= fun, Marc = silly.

Coming soon: We're going to be taking a family vacation up to San Francisco! So stay tuned for pics and stories from that adventure.

Signing off......
Marc

Tu-be or Not Tu-be

2007-02-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

My little patriot--she found this headpiece soon after we were finished watching "Liberty's Kids".

Yes, we watch television in our house. As anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis (or talks to me in person for more than 2 minutes) knows, we school at home. Sometimes television is part of the day's curriculum. We've learned that within our family, too much TV can seem like the brain has been sucked right out of the body. But that is where our family rule about "everything in moderation" comes into play.

I hope that before anyone passes judgment on what they think they know about home education, time is spent talking to a child who is allowed the freedom to explore the world their way. Talk to them. You won't have to "dumb down" your speech or avoid using big words. They will have a full conversation with you (usually involving Legos and Star Wars and Dora the Explorer or Diego).

Having the freedom for my children to explore who they are at any given moment and taking advantage of that freedom is one thing I am grateful for today.

Now....it's time for Disney's Playhouse, so I have to go.

Ciao!

Happy Love Day

2007-02-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

I'm not the only one who has renamed this original Hallmark Holiday. My friend, T, and I spent some time talking about this yesterday and the topics of discussion all around me were the nuances of Valentine's Day in the schools, both public and private.

In my niece's private school, the kids were asked to bring Valentines for each child. My sister couldn't find any boxed Valentine's that were not commercial in some way (SpongeBob Squarepants or Barbie Princesses) so she found some cardstock at JoAnn's and we spent the day cutting out hearts for my niece to decorate. That in itself was a great experience for me. I got some time to spend with my sister and the kids all had a great time playing dress-up.

My niece, "D", was looking at the list sent home by the teacher of all the kids in the class and she was giving me bits of information about each as she was making valentines for them. One child is mean to her and to all the other kids in the class. He always talks about stealing all of his Dad's money". She also doesn't like that he teases her about her relationship with my son. (Boy & D were "womb mates" of a sort and are inseparable.) I have had people tell me that this is "normal" socialization for children. Normal??? negative attitudes and snotty comments all the time? I wouldn't want give that kid a valentine, either. But, in this day and age of political correctness, there's no leaving anyone out.

I think I have the greatest MIL (mother-in-law). She sent packages to the kids for Love Day. In it were the coolest treasures! For each, she found these really interesting card games in little lunch box tins, a new t-shirt and--books! Books are the best. S's were painting books and N's were classics (yay!!!). Yep, my MIL totally rocks. She called to see if they enjoyed them. How could they not? There was paper strewn all over the room! And got to have a few words with each of the kids before they shooed themselves off to fight over who was going to play their game first!

She and I had a great conversation about how much she enjoys reading these blog entries. I am so thrilled and inspired (especially to watch more closely what I write about--Hee-hee!) My audience is more varied and diverse than I originally thought. (Hi Mary!!!)

On some days I feel the distance between our family and our extended family more strongly than on other days. For those days, I am very grateful for the telephone, internet, e-cards and regular cards. For all this "technological closeness", one would think it would be very difficult to feel those large spaces. But, we do. So, what do we do? We just love everyone wherever they are.

Happy Love Day!

~~Mama

Shmitle (rhymes with 'title")... OR.... the Beast at the Beginning

2007-01-31T08:50:00.000-08:00

I would like to be a good writer. My sister and friend, bkwurm, whom I have mentioned before, is an aspiring writer and one of the best I know. Some of her prose rattles around my head at the most interesting times. The one about the trees and the seeds, in particular. She will know of what I speak and I don't have permission to publish the rest of that, but trust me, it's awesome! She writes all the time!

I have another friend who I mainly "see" online and she is a great inspiration on writing, too. She's a kick in the pants, a published writer, a great homeschooling mom and I really enjoy our discussions.

I used to think that being a writer meant that you had to write *good* all the time. Now I am beginning to realize that being a writer means only that you have to write *something* all the time, maybe even EVERY DAY, no matter what it looks or sounds like.

So, I carry my current books around (in case I get inspired by something I might by chance read, when I have a chance waiting in line or something) and my journal so that I have ONE PLACE to keep my thoughts. Because sometimes I feel as though my brain is too full of kid "assignments" and schedules and what all the little groups around me are doing....I can hardly remember the things I would LIKE to do, never mind all the things I HAVE to do. But if that is one bane of motherhood, pshaw! There are so many other wonderful things to dilute that.

Like this photo:

(Quick subject change and I get to talk about the kids). This is the kids idea of "shopping for boring new rugs for the kitchen with Mom". But, they learned about spatial relations (like my son can't actually fit onto the shelf in the store, at least not the way he wants to which is with his legs straight up in the air) and we talked about fractions and percentages and sale prices v. everyday prices. There was way more learning going on for all than I had originally planned. I just wanted to get new rugs! And we did, and they were a good price. Good for them, good for me, good for the house "finance department".

So, back to my "title". When I open a new post for posting, I immediately balk at the idea of giving something a "title". So, I try to find something random that might be eye-catching. Does today's "title" have anything to do with what I'm writing about? *SHRUG* You decide, dear reader. But I am getting new photos of the kids on the blog on a regular basis like I promised and I'm babbling a bit for purely entertainment value.

I do realize today that I'm beginning to get the hang of this writing thing (oh yeah, and that I can edit my posts!). And I'm enjoying it....

Now I'm off to write about completely different topics in my journal. And I don't give those pages a shmitle, just the date on the top of the page. Oh, I number my pages now, too. Thanks, Sistah!

Maybe I'll start giving those entries titles-shmitles, too. To practice-shmactice.

Hey! That's a good Shmitle.

~~Mama

New Discoveries

2007-01-19T23:40:00.000-08:00

One can never be "too old" not "too young" for education.

I've been having these really great conversations lately about books with my friend and sister, "Bkwurm".

I found this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay in a book she had lying out on the kitchen counter:

Sweet love, sweet thorn, when lightly to my heart
I took your thrust, whereby I since am slain,
And lie disheveled in the grass apart,
A sodden thing bedrenched by tears and rain,
While rainy evening drips to misty night
And misty night to cloudy morning clears,
And clouds disperse across the gathering light,
And birds grow noisy, and the Sun appears--
Had I bethought me then, sweet love, sweet thorn,
How sharp an anguish even at the best,
When alls requited and the future sworn
The happy hour can leave within the breast,
I had no so come running at the call
Of one who loves me little, if at all. -- Edna St. Vincent Millay

I was talking to J earlier and sort of teasing her about Emily Dickinson's poetry. I heard recently that most of her poems can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and also the theme song to "Gilligan's Island".

So, I found a book of Emily's prose and this poem struck me:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me. -- Emily Dickinson

So, time for bed, the little one said...........

~~Mama

ZBooks Partaken - 2007

2007-01-19T21:44:00.000-08:00

Isn't our new library beautiful?!? It's in the South End addition. NOT!!!! Someday......

These are the books that we, Zawrotny-West, are reading or have read this year. This list was begun on January 19, 2007 and will be frequently updated.

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde (mpz)
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (mpz)
3. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne (maz)
4. Thinking for a Change - John C. Maxwell (mpz)
5. Dumbing Us Down - John Taylor Gatto (mpz)
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling (all)
7. A Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis (audio - nqz)
8. The Persian Pickle Club - Sandra Dallas (mpz)
9. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (maz)
10. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein (maz)
11. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey (maz)
12. Forty Million Dollar Slaves - William C. Rhoden (maz)
13. Personhood: the Art of Being Fully Human - Leo F. Buscaglia, PhD. (mpz)
14. Solitary Witch - Silver Ravenwolf (mpz)
15. The Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft - Christopher Penzcak (mpz)
16. Tales from Shakespeare - Tina Packer (all)
17. Cutting the Ties of Karma - Phyliss Krystal (mpz)
18. Sai Baba; The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist - Sandweiss (mpz)
19. Our Town - Thorton Wilder

Except for "CSI", we have given up any television habit now that football is (almost) over. Back to reading.........

How Do You "Know" That They Are Learning???

2007-01-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

This is a question I get constantly as a homeschooling mother. Most of the time I think "well, DUH!? How does ANYONE really "know" that they are learning?" Oh, right....they get a D+ on an English test right after the teacher got a speeding ticket that morning or they are "average" because they got great grades in one class, but failed another because they argued with the teacher.

When you fall on your face and break your nose, you will "learn" that you shouldn't skate around on the freshly waxed kitchen floor with new socks. When you get slapped with a late charge of $50 and the interest rate on your credit card goes from the 8.9% special to the "for normal instant gratification-ers" rate of 35.99% you might "learn" to pay your bills on time. There is no end to these types of lessons.

Our current "average" standard is to "test" and "measure" and for our children to memorize facts for one purpose...one short-sighted, momentarily milestone.....THE EXAM. That is so backward to the Realism of life.

Our family considers itself an organization of "LifeLearners" so the "tests" are every moment, every single day.

I have a story in mind here that has prompted this musing.

Daddy has the day off in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. So, we thought we would take the day rather leisurely and sleep in a bit (perhaps 8:30am vs 7:15am).

Our two children were making the usual noises in the living room. "That was MY spot!" "Where's green blanket and ducky?" .... "No, that's MY crossbow!" (a very elaborate, original structure made from Lego's). Girl's first words nearly every morning are "I'm Hungry, Mama!" I've discovered that bread is a quick precursor to breakfast and ... they can get it themselves.
They can turn the television on and watch "PBS Sprout" since they are 7 and 3. So I heard "Teletubbies" in the distance while I was working myself casually out of sleep.

So, Boy wanders into the bedroom about 9:00am, gives me a kiss on the nose and whispers "Mama! We have a surprise for you!" Here's what we found:

Our 7 year old and our 3 year old, without hollering at each other and working as a team, pulled out the silverware, china plates, matching placemats (*I* don't even remember where I put those!!!), glasses, set the table, poured water, made toast for me and, get this.....a ham sandwich for Daddy! ... AND managed to find "oranges" for garnish (the are actually lemons off of the tree from the backyard, but, SO WHAT!?!?!?) Oh yeah, they didn't break anything or make a huge mess (probably because they have "learned" that they are responsible for cleaning up their own messes).

Perhaps you think there is nothing so unusual about this. Well, here is what is particularly interesting....we don't set the table this way for our everyday family meals. So, it isn't like Boy has learned to set the table because it's his "job" at mealtimes. We have, however, experienced this treatment when we have been guests at other's homes or if we have had special holiday meals or have guests over. So, what prompted my children to get up and give us this special gift? Well, they LEARNED it somewhere and I *know* that this was never a specific, structure, "lesson" in our house. However, they have seen Daddy and I be kind to one another and make breakfast for each other and/or the family, you know.....everyday stuff. They have seen (and heard) us each own up to our mistakes and offer sincere apologies when necessary. In our very exclusive private school (the tuition is just the right price, too) we do not use any structured curriculum. I run quickly the other way whenever such things are offered or suggested or I am criticized because I don't use one. We are raising Leaders, not automatons.

Normal life is learning every moment. The "training" that is suggested in public schools that life is a series of "jumps" from test to test to exam to graduation to first job rejection to working 50 years to retirement at 67 and then death the following year is so oppressive and depressing! We have chosen to guide our children and lead by example. We are kind to each other and those around us. We stand up for ourselves, we work to protect those that need protecting from tyranny and abuse and we live our lives in love and joy. We realize, as a family that all of our seeking and yearning is useless until we learn that whatever we search for outside of ourselves will never be achieved until we can look inside and find it for ourselves, first.

This cute little table with toast for breakfast (and chocolate donuts for dessert) may not be such a big deal in First Grade, or "count" in other structure curriculum but it showed us without a doubt that our children have "learned" valuable skills. And they never had to stress out studying for The Test. This experience brought tears to our eyes and swelled our hears with pure joy. All of us.

How do we *Know* our children are learning? We talk with them. We communicate with them, we don't push them to "memorize" or "conform". Their integrity speaks for itself. And we learn from them as well.

We ARE "the changes we wish to see in the world".

~~The Mama

Is it a NEW YEAR already????

2007-01-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

I Love my Afghan, Babci!!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Girl and Daddy were ill with a stomach bug for the NYE celebrations. Then Boy fell ill and then finally, I got it. But we are all healthy now.

Don't worry.....she doesn't look like this permanently. At least we don't think this is permanent! :D

We got through the silly season and we just have to get away from these windy conditions. While it doesn't snow here. Usually, we might all be blown off the map.

And this week it is COLD!!!! Not "MamaCold". Downright, DADDYSaysItsCold--Cold!

So here is what we (well....one of us) are (is) doing now;

We. are. in. so. much. trouble.

Girl is taking a dance class. It's scary how much natural talent she has. AND she has informed me that she want a pair of ballet slippers BEFORE the next class!

We. are. in. so. much. trouble......... Did I mention that?

~~Mama

As 2006 Draws to a Close

2006-12-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

...we are unearthing ourselves from the barrage of Christmas paper and putting batteries in all the new gear that requires batteries. Placide (Melissa's mother) was visiting and we had a wonderful time.

A few days before (Winter Solstice), Marc and Nicolas graduated to belts of Solid Blue in Taijutsu and Melissa moved to Blue/White Stripe (one belt below Marc and Nicolas). Now we are on training vacation until after the New Year holiday.

The day after Christmas, we headed out to the Reagan Library with about 50,000 other people. The Christmas trees from around the world were a beautiful display and of course, Air Force One was a HUGE hit. Here we are on our way....

So Mom is on her way back to Florida and we are digging out from under the barrage of wonderful presents. Our household received an iRobot Roomba, so we are playing with it and training it to clean the rugs and floors. It's really not a time-saver at the moment; we spend so much time watching it and "tricking" it.

We are looking forward to the rest of the week being quiet and playing with all of our new toys (and making room for all the new stuff!).

We'll post again soon!

~~Melissa

Winter Holidays 2006

2006-12-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

How did the Holidays sneak up on us again?!? It’s not like they should be a surprise or anything! “Oh, look, Martha…there’s a new holiday this year on the calendar!”

The kids are great! Shannon is about to enroll in a dance class. She LOVES to sing and dance and is so very expressive. She has *quite* a determination and focus.

Check out the photo below…what a ham! Marc nearly choked when he saw it. The blinding flash twelve years into the future was just too much to bear.

Nicolas officially began attending a very exclusive private school this year. He LOVES it and just ADORES his teachers. We are fairly certain that Shannon will have a similar experience. (We are our own private school = homeschool.) He had a great soccer season, a great coach, an awesome team and for his last game, he was full of team spirit.

He will be starting the New Year attending a Shakespeare class with kids of all ages. I have no idea what play they will do, but he CAN’T WAIT! (Especially if it involves any type of swordplay.) He also wanted to take chess and fencing classes, but there wasn’t enough time this time around.

Melissa rides a sweet paint mare named “Bella”, owned by friend Cathy. Cathy also has a thoroughbred gelding, ex-police mount named Toby. Bella and Toby arrived in California from Ohio in February with Cathy and her family. Bella was carrying a bit more weight than was necessary or healthy. She needs regular exercise to keep trim and conditioned. Cathy and Melissa try to ride as often as possible which is at least every Saturday. The local orchards and close national park space provide plenty of shade and miles of trails to explore.

Marc, Melissa and Nicolas have been working on a black belt program in Taijutsu. Shannon will join us when she turns four. Sensei Woodard (a real-life Ninja) has a fantastic Leadership Program that is in perfect alignment with our family’s goals for the immediate and long-term future.

We are feeling the miles between all of us particularly during this time of year. The time difference often prevents us from “reaching out and touching someone” (well....that, and the potential lawsuits!). But hopefully you all know that we think of you often and send virtual hugs.

We'll close with this latest photo. We send you all lots of love.

~*~ Happy Holidays ~*~

SuperStars 2006 - Final Score - Who Knows????

2006-11-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

Soccer Season in Moorpark is over.

Shannon says: Good! I can finally take a nap!

The season was great. Nicolas had a blast and ended the season with a great show of team spirit. (Actually, Mom is finally happy to be rid of that weird can of spray hair color). The SuperStars, Brandon, Ryan K., Sean, Quinton, Ryan H., Nicolas, Anthony and Jake all did exceptionally well. They played some awesome games and some not so great games. But they all had fun and we are sad to see the season end (in some respects).

Now we are all going to have a nap--until such time as the shopping season begins.

Cheers! ~~Melissa

Mo ichido....onegai shimas

2006-11-05T14:45:00.000-08:00

"One more time.....please assist me". Learning japanese is part of our ninjitsu training. Counting to ten is a daily part of the routine. When we haven't practiced enough, it's tough to remember what the word for "ten" is!!

Here is the Z family with Sensei Matthew Woodard (he's a real "ninja"!) at our most recent belt graduation. Nicolas and Marc went from Yellow/Black Stripe to Blue/White Stripe and Melissa went from Yellow to Yellow/Black Stripe. (Melissa has just been invited to "fast track" to catch up to Nicolas and Marc. It won't really be "fast", but it will take a good amount of sweat.)

Shannon just goes for the cookies. She will start her training when she turns 4 years old. For now, she sits and watches during our training. She has practiced at home with us a bit and she has excellent form. It has been a tremendous boost for all of us in so many areas of our lives (all of the important ones!).

{{Special thanks to Jane Wolfe for this photo}}

Yep...Time for an update

2006-10-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

Look at the lawn! We finally have success in having a nice yard (such as it is--we have a nice view.) Daddy worked so hard on it and I know all of our East Coast people who have not been out yet will choke on the size of it. Believe it or not, it's average around here and we are happy to have it.

Soccer ends in a few weeks and Taijutsu is in full swing. Daddy, Boy and Mama just received their newest belts at graduation on October 27. (When Auntie J sends us the photos, we'll post them!)

We joined a local homeschool group and discovered this fantastic family that lives a few houses down our street! We have a lot of similarities and look forward to spending lots of great days together. There is a LOT of Star Wars play and they have this really cool gopher snake!!!! Also, as part of the group, Boy will have a great opportunity to act in one of Shakespeare's plays (the mother of our neighbors coordinates it, so her kids will do it and then so will mine! This is fantastic peer pressure!)

We are busy, busy, busy playing with Legos and discussing Harry Potter, the planets (WHY did they demote Pluto???) and sharks and the Civil War (we can hear the cannon fire from the yearly re-enactment of key battles in the Civil War at a local farm just over the ridge) and listening to music such as Bach and Grieg ("Hall of the Mountain King" and "Air"--Thanks to Disney's "Little Einstein's" TV show).

Boy is READING!!! Everything and anything--The back of the snack truck, the countless numbers of catalog that are piling up in anticipation of Christmas shopping, all of the labels in the grocery store and even the weekly local newspaper! Mama is reading Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London and Daddy is reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Mama is also reading a book about Winston Churchill. We are reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling to Boy and occasionally, when she isn't tortuing Boy for some reason, Girl will sit and listen, too. She will also be training in taijutsu when she turns 4, she never sits so quietly during the hour long classes, two or three times a week. She loves to dance and we are going to find a town class or two for her to try out.

We have been missing our favorite babysitter who moved to SF a few months ago to start her college career. She was back to visit at the end of September, but we missed her as we were out of town. :( We know she checks the blog and hope she had a great visit. We can't wait to see her next time.

That's about it for now. We'll post more soon.

~Mama

A New Season.....

2006-09-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

.....Fire. The smoke and ash drift down upon us covering the car with fine dust. We don't notice it to much on the ground, but we have been outside and it seems to be snowing ever so lightly. The "Day" fire in the Los Padres Forest about 30 miles from us has been burning for more than two weeks. The Santa Ana's were blowing over the weekend and our soccer game was called on account. Standing around (trying not to be blown around, actually) for the team photos was eerie with the view from the field virtually the same as the view to the left here. We have had cooler weather, but we still have the A/C running to clean out the air in the house. The kids are remembering vividly last year's fire and wondering if we will be in danger. I assured them that we are not.

There was a solar eclipse a few days ago, coincinding with the Autumn Equinox and though we weren't able to "view" it over here, the afternoons feel rather eclipse-like with the smoke and ash from the fire. And the sunsets, a lovely brilliant red, remind us that beauty can indeed be deceiving.

Our new homeschool park day seems to be lifting off the ground a bit. It's been rather lonely these past few weeks and I have been painfully reminded that who you associate with is as important as who you become as a person. The lesson of all of this going hand-in-hand and about trusting and boundaries have been front and center, too.

When I first moved out to California, I painted and glazed a ceramic napkin holder (that is still in use today) with the phrase "Keep company with those who make you better". Today, Nicolas read the whole thing with no help. Then he asked be about the phrase and we discussed why it's important to surround yourself with people of quality.

Why are people petty and manipulative? Is it the way of humanity to have to "one better" each other? There are no easy answers to these not-so easy questions.

Last evening, we had an excellent harvest feast with two other wonderful families. The turkey was excellent and the celebration grand. I made up a new green-bean recipe and it was a huge hit. None left (of course, the adults ate them all). And of course, great wine and homemade apple pie......

I spent some wonderful quality time with my sisters and ended the day in gratitude for the circle and cycles of life. Some joy, some pain and balance continuing to be fluid.

Here's a great photo of Girl hanging out at a friend's s soccer game. She had just done her new eye-crossing trick. She can make Boy choke at mealtime when she does it out of the "blue"...(eyes. She has blue eyes. Get it???) She's so sweet and cute, even with that feisty spirit.

Gods help us...........

To the Very Edge....

2006-09-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

...Where the Summer Ends. I love Autumn. In New England it's the best. But even here, I've learned to read the sunlight and the wind change. Such a good little witch I am!

My mother recently sent me a CD with some photos of my family (Thanks, Mom!). She knows I have developed a certain passion for geneology (which blossomed when I heard that I am descended from one who was tried for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials) and just enjoy the history of our family.

I was particularly struck by the photo of my mother and her two sisters (the B&W). My daughter very much resembles my mother, the one that looks like the trouble-maker in the middle. Actually....they ALL look like trouble-makers (Love ya, Aunties!)

We are all entering a Leadership Program journey toward Black Belt at our local martial arts studio, Woodard's Todai Dojo. You can see some photos there.

Girl can enter when she is 4 years old, but she accompanies us to class and is the quietest of any while class is in session. (Mr. Woodard thinks she's the cutest thing--and she IS!!!!!) When I get more photos of us in class, I'll post them. In the meantime, did you see the photo of me and my new "do"?

Boy had his first "official" soccer game of the 2006 Season today. He spent some time in the goal and made a save! The SuperStars didn't win this game, but it's only a matter of TIME........

The NFL season has started! Daddy and Mama (and Brother J) are involved in a Fantasy Football League. With the Steelers opening night (even without Big Ben at the QB helm) the Steelers had a great game and with Heath Miller, Cedrick Wilson and Hines Ward on my FFL roster, I didn't do so bad, either!

I can't believe that Toodles will be THREE BIG years old on Monday! Like most mothers, I feel like her birth was "only yesterday!" Thank the Gods that nature makes women forget the pain the second you look in the baby's eyes! Her's are still the bluest BLUE!!! And Boys...his eyes are the EXACT color of his Daddy's.....

Kids are THE BOMB!!!!!!

(yeah, yeah, yeah.....I'm such a goofball). I'm gonna go back to my chic-flick now.

L8R!!! ~Mama

Time Flies like a Hummingbird....

2006-08-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

...it's all beautiful when you have the chance to observe it and then....POOF!!..................only the dust is left.

Holy CowFlippers, Batman! I can't believe we haven't updated the blog since mid-June. Two months flew by like Jeff Gordon at Daytona!

We (all of us except Girl) have begun martial arts training. Boy has been wanting to do this for so long and we promised him that when he turned six, he could do it (provided he was still interested). So, we found a "dojo" just down the street where we live, called Todai (Japanese for "lighthouse") and we all really enjoy it. Daddy, Boy and Mama are testing for our next belt level this coming Thursday.

The photo above, incidentally, is not from our current class. Boy attended a birthday party for a friend last year at his studio and this picture was taken then.

The summer has been eventful and enjoyable now that it's cooled off some. As you can see from the photo of Girl, the breeze is blowing nicely on the day she decided to stay in PJ's all day. That same day, I got this great shot of Boy and D jumping off the tree stump together. Summer fun!

Soccer has started, too. Between that and martial arts, I'm glad for the days to rest between evening activities. I'm so glad we are homeschooling. I can't imagine trying to do homework in the middle of all of the rest of that, too!

Our favorite babysitter is off to college (she's the one with the snowflake on her head)! We are so happy for her but we will miss her very much. She is truly a part of the family. She's headed up to SFSU and we are planning a long weekend before the end of the year to head up and see her, take in Alcatraz and maybe pop over to the Wine Country. GOOD LUCK, K-drag!! She also works at one of the local bead stores. With her gone, I'll have less motivation to stop in and spend a gob on baubles to help me make more baubles (the Family Finance Dept. will be very relieved to hear this).

As school all over the country starts, our private school, ZEQ Leadership Academy, has been officially established this year and we'll continue to read, draw, play in the grass and on the less crowded beaches and explore our SoCal world. Museums, here we come! (They are the greatest places in the early afternoon after all the school groups head back out).

More later............

~Mama

The Princess is in court..

2006-06-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

These kids are (for the most part) very loving to each other. The Princess Girl shown in the fashionable Cinderella dress was sitting on a "throne" that Brother Boy made with her rocking chair, blankets, a whole bunch of pillows and a giant imagination. They are very sweet... when they're not saying "He said...!" or "She's not...!" or "HE says I'm being BOSSY!" (Yes, Girl has lately taken to calling Boy by a nickname, a practice that is not thrilling to Mama. But he doesn't seem to mind....).

BELL-EE-SEE-MA

2006-06-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

1. Gopher update.
2. My "legal" status.
3. Our new acquisitions.
3. Update on Kids
4. WHO is Bella?????

The weather has been FAB-YOU-LUS! It's been just wonderful. 75 degrees and SUNNY! Perfect horse-back riding weather. So, that bringe me right to #4. Here's more details; Bella is a 10 year old Paint mare owned by my friend C. I met C a few months ago when she moved from Cinncinati, OH. C and her partner homeschool their daughter, S-M, who is about Boy's age.

Bella is companion to Toby, C's 19 year old Thoroughbred Gelding. They are boarded just down the street from our home. In fact, the avacado and lemon orchards that are across the street are adjacent to the facility where the horses are housed. It's a private residence with some of the most BEAUTIFUL property I have seen since I have been out here.

Bella was acquired a few days before C and her family moved. The horses have had the stress of the move from Ohio to California and have also had additional facility moves in the months since they arrived in California. C has generously shared Bella with me and I have been taking my time reacquainting myself with equine, English tack and some of my leg muscles that I haven't visited in some time (since BEFORE children!!!)

I am having an absolute blast with Bella. She is incredibly smart with a strong will. When a firm, but kind, hand is applied, she will try her best to do what is asked of her. When there are carrots, apples or oat cookies involved, she tries even harder. Okay, so that my new "thing". Daddy, in the meantime, is very supportive of my visits to tack shops and the smell of saddle cream and hay permeating the garage. Good preparation for the day we have our very own horses.

Next is Daddy's good news! Ding-dong the gopher is DEAD!! After his appearances in the afternoons when the kids were in the yard and the lack of attention to our methods of persuasion to move on to more accepting realms, I decided that enough was enough. One day when he was bold enough to stick his face out of his hole and pack his little cheeks with grass the kids were feeding him while they were trying to decide on what to name him. I quietly found the gopher "peanuts", sent the kids into the house and distributed my own contribution to his buffet. The kids realized that after my telling them NOT to feed him that what I was feeding him was probably poison and barraged me with petitions of manumission and stays of execution. Anyway, we haven't seen any sign since. So, we can only conclude he has moved on to the "summerland". Feeding special peanuts to the gopher is most definitely against my spiritual beliefs, but my dedication to keeping my kids safe and unbitten by vermin-ridden rodents won out over my worry of judgment from the gods. I mean, it's not like we didn't ask him NICELY to leave, many times.

So, there is some update on the kids. They still wish we could get a hamster or another gopher and this time keep it as a pet ("then it will like us and won't bite us"). Now I just have to figure out how to get them to stop bickering. I've considered things like duct tape (it comes in such pretty colors now) and sewing their mouths shut, but they will manage to figure out ways to torture each other, I'm sure. After all, they will still be able to kick and pinch each other..... can anyone give me a quick lesson on hogtieing??

I am on hiatus from working part time for the law firm. I'll revisit that in September. In the meantime my time has opened up for horses and the peace of trail riding.

What's left? Oh yeah, we bought new bedroom furniture. A "West Coast" King bed and nightstands that match! It will all be delivered tomorrow! I can't wait!

Okay, I have to go get the kids now, whom I finally sent to the rooms for a "Mommy Needs a Time-Out!!!"

~Mama

Licensed... to hunt gophers

2006-05-07T08:12:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,
For those that are not aware, I have been involved in the grand project of "restoring the land". These are some pictures of what the yard was like when we moved in as compared to more recently. This process has gone from bramble - > dirt - > grass. Originally we just threw down whatever grass we had in an attempt to get green. Now that I have grass, I've become a grass snob and now dislike the quality of my grass.. go figure. So with the help of a borrowed rototiller (Special thanks to G'Pa and G'Ma Huf for the extra long loan), I've started to re-till the back, planting one consistent type of grass that I like.
So now to the title of this post, for it must have been the transformation of this dead world into the paradise it is becoming, that first attracted the gopher. Now I don't recall having to deal with these guys back east, and other than the movie "Caddyshack", I can't say that I'm familiar with the species at all.
After multiple attempts to, shall we say.. "relocate the gopher to the untouched green fields of the afterlife", I have come to the conclusion that I am in fact dealing with a cartoon gopher.

Let's examine the evidence:

I've gassed this guy 4 times and he has survived. Only a cartoon gopher is either smart enough to snuff the wick after I've plugged the hole, or wear his gasmask which he procured from his endless supply of ACME brand products.
Water. I've sent rivers of water at this guy and yet, he still is around. No doubt he is now the cleanest gopher having dutifully shampooed and washed with every flooding and is the envy of friends and family alike.
Non-lethal methods only seem to please him. I got this anti-gopher powder stuff that is made up of dried blood, bone, and chili pepper. I am sure that being a southern California gopher, he likes it spicy, and has been bottling what I've spread around and in his holes.
He mocks all creatures bigger than him. He pops in and out of his holes, just enough to tease the neighborhood cat or get the kids worked up. This gopher has NEVER shown himself live and in person to me, thereby demonstrating a higher intelligence than a real one since he knows that I'd likely take the rototiller to the spot.

So there you go. Conclusive evidence that I am dealing with a cartoon gopher.

The latest attempt to dislodge him from my lands comes in the form of a couple devices that send soundwaves every 28 seconds that gophers find highly irritating. Now this of course will result in two options..

The gopher will leave, unable to stand the annoying sound and go on to greener pastures

2. He will undoubtably don his pair of ACME earmuffs and mock me yet again...

Daddy

Boy Bowls into his Sixth Year

2006-03-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

Boy's sixth birthday was a bowling bash at his request. A fun time was had by all of the little people and some of the big people too. Even Dad decided to fling a rock down the lane.
Mom actually bowled pretty well for not having done it in such a long time. The big guy had some trouble since as you know if you are a bowler... it just isn't quite right if you can't grip the ball well.
The party was a resounding success and we were bombarded with Legos.
Girl is now planning her party..........

Interim correspondent
Daddy

The Sweetest!

2006-02-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

Though it is not an "official" Valentine's Day photo, is this NOT the cutest pair you have ever seen? Okay, okay.... I'm a bit biased, but still??????????

It's been a euphoric few weeks, coming off the Super Bowl win of the "house" team and with the news that my "sister" will be returning stateside very soon.

I've been frantically busy with CHN Legal matters. Will someone give me a good reason why public school districts think they OWN our kids? Okay, don't give me the argument "because they DO", because I will shout a resounding BS! on that play. The issues with the public school districts have been that somehow, once the children are turned over to the public institutions, the only rights the parents have is the right to be pulled into school like their children when the PARENTS aren't behaving as the SCHOOLS think they should. This way of thinking is totally amazing to me. Today's kids are spoiled, bratty, snotty, undisciplined, whiny, unmotivated, watch too much television, don't get enough exercise, go to bed when they "feel like it" and have never felt the sting of discipline on the seat of their "Versace Young" jeans. Holy Guacamole! I've never paid $300 for an outfit (except my wedding dress) and I saw a "dance" outfit on a website somewhere for this amount. I saw three kids at the mall the other day wearing the exact same outfit. They weren't knock-offs.

We live in an affluent, Hollywood bedroom community. One of the local High Schools has so many students, many of them park on the street. Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Escalade, Hummer--I even saw a Maserati in the upper parking lot one day! (I wanted to know what the parking lot contained if the STREET contained so much "cheap" chop-shop bait). There is so much PC jostling that we have lost sight of the goal. My husband and I are raising children who are responsible leaders who can think for themselves. And yes, it sucks when they assert their little wills at 2-1/2 years old and refuse to go to their rooms when they have thrown something across the room in frustration. I pick my daughter up and place her in her room if her feet won't move her there. As a result, my son is outgoing, articulate, talkative and wise. My daughter is following in his footsteps. Why, because we spend TIME with our children rather. We teach them how to go out in the world and find a way to EARN what they want. We don't give them the world.

Most of the children I encounter will claim that they are "entitled" to have the GameBoys, in-car DVD players (on on across town trips), computers and telephones in their room and many of today's parents will give in. That, my friends, feeds the monster.When will it stop?

Thank you to those who are reading this and know who you are, for the feedback you give us, even though you lives thousand of miles away. We love you and are proud to be raising the next generation of your family.

By the way, if you are reading this blog and you don't KNOW me, keep your opposing opinions to yourself. I don't care if you were a straight A student. You'll wind up working for the Bill Gates of the world. And you will probably think you have "earned" the right to his lifestyle.

Think again.

~~Mama

CHAMPIONS!

2006-02-05T23:02:00.000-08:00

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) Super Bowl XL - Now the Steelers are Livin' Large in Detroit and moving the party back to Pittsburgh.

Wow. Excellent game played by BOTH teams. Of course, our house is very HAPPY with the results. We had a great Super Bowl party with our closest friends (residing in the states).
I received some good news today, a friend who decided to live abroad for a year is returning early. I'm glad. I've missed her very much.

Daddy took a Super Bowl Holiday off from work tomorrow. Yay! I'm off to bed. It's been a long day.

Congratulations, Bill Cowher, the Rooney Family and most importantly the players of the Pittsburgh Steeler team. You guys are AWESOME!!!!!

~~Mama

~~Melissa

2006-02-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

1. Take Two Kids and Two Ballooons and you have an afternoon of fun and frolicking.
2. Take a friend I haven't seen in awhile (even though she lives down the street) and add my two adorable kids and we have a KandKid photo op.
3. The two kids having a good moment of love and non-bickering.

We played with the video camera today and got some great shots of "homeschooling" in action.

~~Mama

AF Champs on to SuperBowl XL

2006-01-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS PITTSBURGH STEELERS!

Extra Large? That's how I felt when the Steelers won the AFC Championship. I can only imagine how the TEAM feels.

Second year QB, Ben Rothelisberger (photo top right) took them this far (with a broken thumb, no less) and looks to be able to take them ALL. THE. WAY. It was be a great achievement as long as I've been a fan. They went to the SB in 1996, but didn't win. Coach Cowher deserves a ring. I believe he is a phenomenal leader and mentor. The team is a TEAM. Not collection of Marquee players or smack-talking-nothing-to-back-it-up boneheads.

My favorite player is Hines Ward #86. (Photo top left) The man NEVER stops smiling! He enjoys the game so much and I enjoy watching him enjoy the game. See him up there! I have looked at TONS of online images of Ward. He SMILES in every single shot. He's PLAYING the game!

Good Luck, Bill Cowher and the Pittsburgh Steelers. I hope they retain their offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt after the Bowl. It would be horrible if he went to the Oakland Raiders as is rumored.

Hey, Oakland! Nothing is going to save you!

~~Mama

New Kidlet Photos

2006-01-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

I really don't have much to tell about them that wouldn't bore you to tears or make you gag from the sweetness. So, I'll just post a bunch of photos. The last one is just another shot of the Orcas, but I love the color of the ocean in this one.

~~Mama

Thar She Blows!!!!

2006-01-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

Boy and I went on a whale watching expedition on Monday, January 16. Our homeschool group got together for this very fun trip. We left out of Ventura Harbor toward Anacapa (photo here) and Santa Cruz, two of the Channel Islands. (Anyone remember the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins"?) It was quite choppy at first and it took a few minutes for Boy and I to get our sea-legs. Boy looked pretty terrified, hanging onto the rail toward the stern (rear) of the boat. I kept asking him if he was okay, (he said that he was!) and the little trooper rode it out until he stopped being dizzy and was able to enjoy the ride. Here he is with his friend, L.

The first creatures we encountered were a pod of Orcas (Killer Whales). These beautiful creatures are so playful and amazing. One was right next to the boat, turned belly up and swam under the boat. Peotry in motion! As we moved off to find other creatures, we realized that several seals were following the pod of Orcas. Now, Orcas like to eat seals, so either they had a death wish or realized that the Orcas were not hungry and better to keep an eye on the enemy than become lunch before one's time!

We were treated to the rare and wonderful sight of a female Pacific Gray whale with a newborn calf! Rare, because these whales are migrating to the warm waters off of Baja California from Alaska to give birth in the saline lagoons and feed. It takes them several months to undertake the journey. Our Captain told us that the mother was very nervous as she was alone and with her baby. Plus, the Orcas were relatively close by and they are a natural predator of juvenile whales. I could not get a good picture because the Grays were so elusive, but it was absolutely breathtaking. We followed them for a bit and then moved off to return to shore.

As we were returning with the sun low in the sky and the b.r.e.e.z.e. (okay, it felt much colder to me than it probably was) blowing in our hair, we encountered a HUGE school of common dolphin. They were playing around the boat and there was a TON of them! They were clicking and calling, surfing our wake and it was magical. This is the only photo I was able to get--The End.

~~Mama

Rain, Rain, Mud and Snow (in the Mountains)

2006-01-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Winter returned with a vengence this weekend. "Winter" in Southern California being defined as "tremendous volumes of rain and mudslides". It rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained for two straight days! Now, this may not seem like a lot, but for a place where 1/4" is a lot, it's a wonder SoCal isn't floating halfway to Hawaii. Fortunately for us, there were no mudslides nearby. The fires over the summer weakened the flora and it's root system, but so far, all has stayed in place. And I must say our lawn is now looking rather like a jungle. Tomorrow or the next day I will be forced to mow it! The kids had fun going outside in their "wellies" and splashing around in the puddles. Daddy and I enjoyed watching our grass grow. He was off of work for two weeks and it was very tough for him to go back to work today. It was quite difficult for me, too. I got used to someone else being around. The kids didn't like it much either. I spent much of the morning telling them that Dad was at "stinky job".

WARNING--> I have to go on a Political Rant.

I keep listening to NPR when I am alone in the car. It's the only time I can actually LISTEN to something other than Disney songs. NPR stretches my brain and sure does get my blood boiling. Also, reading my friend "Bly"'s blog isn't helping me remain ignorant either. She has such a way with words.

What is going on in this country where the government controls the people rather than the other way around? I read that there is a probe into who leaked the information regarding illegal spying on American citizens. Uh, EXCUSE ME???? But, don't we want to know WHY this is being allowed before we give a rat's fanny about WHO leaked it?

Okay, yes, find out who did it and GIVE THEM A REWARD. I don't believe that we should allow our Mr. Baby Bush to usurp the laws that WE, the People, law down for HIM, our notorious leader. He truly does believe that Jesus died to make him God, doesn't he? In addition to his personal religious values which he insists on cramming down our throats being illegal and unconstitutional, he's an arrogant, ignorant ASS to "cowboy"boot.

Now that I'm sure I just wound up on some government "watch" list somewhere. Good! I hope Laura or Jenna or someone else close to him bought him a good phonics dictionary for Christmas. He'd best start practicing how to pronounce "Impeachment" correctly.

~~Mama

The Weather Outside Was Frightful...

2005-12-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

actually, it was .... dum-dee-dum-delightful.

Christmas Eve we spent at M and S's home. The H family swept us into their warm family circle and Christmas Eve tradition. Brother B was visiting from Atlanta (he's the one wearing the red nose). We played fun games that M and S cooked up and ate a fabulous meatless lasagna (Thanks again, S, for the special no-peppers one for me!). Girl left the party early. She was so excited to see Umby Bumby and Aunt Lo that she fooled me into thinking she was napping. We learned later (the hard way) that she had NOT napped. Just after she left, the boys were washing their hands in the powder room and placed the used towel on top of the beautiful tea light holder on the bathroom sink. M remarked "if you smell smoke, don't worry, the fire is out". So, not much harm done except a charred and smoldering hand towel.

Christmas day was just about as non-boring. Boy was awake at 4:00am and then at 5:00am and I finally convinced him to sleep in until 6:15. He ran into our room to tell us that there was a gift under his bed .... "Santa must have dressed invisible and chucked it in there". He ran back out to roust his sister who discovered a giant stuffed "Uniqua" sitting on her chair. She and Umby Bumby were teasing each other calling it "My-Niqua". B and Ls arrived early and L (bless her in her beautiful skirt) gamely parked her self on Boy's floor to help him assemble the Viking ship.

We headed over to Lady and Smuff's for a bite of lunch. L and I sat at the kids table to keep the chaos in some semblence of order. Boy's stomach rebelled at my attempts at getting him to clean his plate. Sooo.......I was finished with my lunch rather early and cleaning up the boy and the table. After some great quality family time with the wonderfully generous family, we returned to our house to have dinner (and wine!) with B and L and we had a great evening of discussion and sharing.

Santa brought a video camera and a great sound system for my iPod. We are having fun using both of these fun gifts. Our greatest blessings of this Season were the moments spent with our wonderful family and friends. We love you ALL!

God/dess Bless us, everyone! -- Tiny Tim in Santa Susanna Repertory Theather production of Dicken's A Christmas Carol December 2005

Happy 2006! (Enjoy that extra second of 2005!)

~~Mama

Gratitude. Let's Have a Serving

2005-12-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

This is Girl during a recent haircut. She let A curl her hair. I was at the office so A snapped this photo with her camera phone. My Beautiful Baby with Curls!

It's the height of the Silly Season here in Hollywierd; the week before the REAL insanity begins. Everyone is trying to outdo everyone else with the decorating. There are icicles galore and booty-shaking snowmen, moving deer, large globes with air blown "snow" inside, Santa and a million reindeer cavorting on rooftoops. Where Lady and Smuff live there is a "candy cane lane" where all the houses on the cul de sac decorate to the NINES each house with a theme (M&M's, salsa penguins, the Grinch, Disney, etc....) except for one, dark house in the middle. It is a reminder that not all celebrate the Season of Silliness in the same way.

Our family celebrates ALL of the light festivals, specifically the Winter Solstice and Christmas. At least we do in Spirit and are really working to do so in Wallet, too. It's so tough not getting caught up on all the craziness of the most DOMINANT "celebrations" of $MONEY$--Ka-CHING!!!
Everyone is crabby, rushed, stressed, overspent, overworked, overfed, over hung (take that in any way you want) and I wonder.....WHY do we always do this? So far, I haven't found any answer that makes any sense.

My mantra right now is "Gratitude". I got something about it in an email from my good friend Pat and it's been a wonderful, beautiful gift. Like a good shot of caffeine, it's a "feel good" substance, so I try to have a little bit every day. Today it is for the beauty of frost on the clay rooftiles and the smile on Girl's face as she says she's a "Steeler Girl". That is what the real meaning of the season is about--Peace On Earth and doing everything with a Grateful Heart, no matter what book you read or in whichever god/dess you Trust..

Last year we and three other families did an all night vigil on the Longest Night (Winter Solstice for those not familiar with the Ancient Feasts). The kids stayed awake up until they were delirious and passed out. The adults stayed awake all night and were just delirious. Just before dawn, it was time to hike up the hill and greet the Sun. It was fun and special, but I don't think we have it in us this year. We will spend special time with friends and family to remember really, what Winter is about--hibernating, being lazy and preparing for Spring to arrive--after a nice long nap.

But, we still have to get through the Silliness!!! I have been online shopping and everything got screwed up. After one whole day spent on the phone everything is fine now. I should have just STARTED on the phone. It seems that most sites were completely unprepared for the frenzy of the online shopping and out of stock for EVERYTHING. I'm glad that there wasn't THE one BIG HOT Furby-like toy this year. Though, trying to find a child's Easel seems to be a major hassle.

The kids are very excited for the arrival of the BIG RED ONE, and all his treasures. However, I doubt we will get Girl anywhere near him. Speaking of BIG GUYS....What is UP with Howard Stern? That is ALL I have been hearing about today. Is it seriously going to make Headline News if he decides to moonlight as Santa? There are definitely more important things to discuss other than him! Oops! The other "him" isn't talking.

It reminds me of the steriod controversy in MLB. It was the Feds way of saying "LOOK at this SHINY OBJECT over here to make you forget ALL ABOUT what we are (or aren't) DOING OVER THERE".

Okay, I'm babbling and wandering onto dangerous soapboxes. I thought I had all this interesting stuff to say, and actually I do. But, I fear it's only interesting to me. Though, my wee Irish-living bookworm friend and I could kill a few pints in such a discussion. As I sit here in front of the screen, I realize that most of what I have to say is probably a tad too liberal for most of my family, even though they all know that I am a Bleeding Heart, Tree-Hugging, Moon-Worshipping, Freaky Homeschooling Alternative Witchy Liberal Mom.

Let's just leave it at that.

Oh, Happy Christmas!--John Lennon

Holy Guacamole, Beginning Batman (--a great movie! and a subject for another day--), I can't believe I just quoted John Lennon--My Mom will be so proud!

~~Mama

LET THE SILLY SEASON BEGIN

2005-11-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

Top image: Girl and Mama. Girl DOES have pigtails in her hair. She kept them in most of the day.
Middle Image: Boy and Girl (with a look that looks very strangely like one my mother has once in awhile when she's trying not to look guilty of some sort of mischief).
Bottom image: Eating ice cream just outside our front door. The day was a balmy 85 degrees. Ah, California-- warm in the winter, blistering hot in the summer. Snow in the mountains and perfect surf at the ocean.....paradise under the "HOLLYWOOD" sign....

Well, we survived Thanksgiving. Rather excellently, I might add. Our dinner gathering was wonderful. We met "Phantom Matt", of the Clan Schmidt and stuffed ourselves silly on G'Ma Pat's turkey, harvest veggies and apple pie, pumpkin pie, Guiness, and then more pie.

Good Lord and Lady, now it's time for what I call the "Silly Season". It is rather difficult to keep in mind "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men" when some gentle person comes out of nowhere to slide into the parking space, located 20 miles from the mall, that you have been waiting ever-so-patiently for over 10 minutes and then flips you the "Partridge in the Pear Tree" when you attempt to draw his attention to his faux pas (actually more like 'faux off'.)

There is something great to be said about shopping online. No waiting for a parking space in the upper atmosphere, then having some FOOL rudely abscond with it; shopping any hour of any day and in your pajamas (or less) no less. The only reason I even go to the mall now is for RECON missions. Then I don't have to stand in line and deal with rude checkout clerks who have never even heard the term "Customer Service".

I broke down and ordered holiday photos. I couldn't resist! I snapped the cutest photo of the kids in front of the Christmas Tree, so I had to do it. Besides, we got our first Holiday card yesterday and I'm feeling very sentimental.

Yeah, I'm a big ole' sappy goofball. Oh, there's my cue....Doris Day signs a beautiful classic Holiday tune. I can't identify it because of the loud battle for a blanket the kids are currently having (like we don't have a dozen they could choose from). For such small people, they could compete easily with 5 Gigaton dynamite blast.

This is BLISS...................

~~Mama

Serenity...

2005-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

This photo, courtesy of Corbis.com, reminds me of the book "Misty of Chincoteague" which we borrowed from the library recently. The blue sky and earthy scent of horses reminds me of being a young girl.

Saturday was Boy's final soccer game and post-season pizza party. The Sharks tied their last game 1-1. Boy, H and O made some tremendous plays and the Stingers were a challenging team! Congrats to this years Region 9 AYSO teams. See you next year!

On Sunday, we hung out with Smuffy and Lady and their kids and just relaxed. It was great. We watched a bit of football, and the final NASCAR race of the season, sorted Lego's, and then built various modes of air transport wit them, played cards, played Porsche 911, fed the kids and us when it seemed appropriate and had a giant slumber party. It was grand!

What a weekend! The previous week was break-neck pace, so the slowness and the consciousness of not having to DO anything in particular was wonderful. Thanks to the H-family for being awesome hosts and letting us crash overnight.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

~~Mama

I'm in Hog Heaven....

2005-11-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

Oh, boy. I'm in a bad state today.... I seriously want another Harley.

I had one, briefly, when I lived in Hawaii. But gave it up in an amicable division of assets before I moved back East in 1991. Since it was January in New Hampshire, I thought it best I have the vehicle with doors, windows and a heater. My half of the 883 Sportster (actually both halves) were best suited to living in a warmer climate.

My cousin and 11 of his cronies are in California for the week. They came out last Thursday for the 22nd Annual Love Ride (Jay Leno and other celebs usually ride, too) on November 13, 2005, from Glendale to Lake Castaic. It looked like fun (Chris showed me photos), though I suppose that 25,000 bikers strong doesn't make for a very "peace"ful ride. Maybe that's why they call it the "Love Ride". You have to LOVE riding to gang up with that many Harleys. I'm surprised I didn't hear them going up the 5 from way over here!

Cuz's gang headed up to Monterey on Monday and back down the Coast Road where they will wind up the week on the Santa Monica Pier. The kids and I met up with Cuz in Santa Barbara at the Hotel Mar Monte last evening (Tuesday). The hotel is on Cabrillo Blvd, just across the road from the Pacific Ocean (Cuz's room had an ocean view) and it's a stone's throw from the Santa Barbara Zoo. Our family holds a membership to that Zoo. So, while waiting for Cuz to arrive in SB, the kids and I spent the end of the day and "feeding time" at the Zoo. We checked out some new exhibits (the most interesting being a Blue-Tongued Skink) and played by the farm animals who were annoyed that we didn't bring them any food. When the zoo was closing, we went over to the Hotel and just in time. The guys were checking in. I don't think I have ever met such a great group of bikers. (Gus is in the top photo worried about Girl falling off the back of his red bike). The kids were saying "Peace, Dude!".

The guys were friendly, respectful, generous, funny and very entertaining! Boy shared french fries with Sully and Mark kept us all well-supplied with drinks (lemonade for the kids). I got to meet Chuck and Jeff and Doug and the others whose names I can't remember now. All, exceptional men. I heard stories of the trek down through Big Sur and one person's reluctance to cross Bixby Bridge, a well-known California landmark. (You may have seen it in a car company advertisement, Chevrolet, I think, featuring a white bridge over the ocean. NOT for the altitude-shy!) I also heard about one of their own who was tragically killed in a riding accident earlier this year. I did not hear his name, but I know he is incredibly missed. I feel deeply for this group of gruff-looking, yet so wonderful, gentlemen.

I am so glad that the stigmata of bikers is changing into something much more positive than the day's of the Hell's Angels and such. There is no way I could ever think of Cuz in the same light as the Hell's Angels of the '60's and '70's, "Easy Rider" time. Before we headed out, the kids and I checked out the local Harley-Davidson Establishment (literally down the street from my house). I found a tank for myself and Boy INSISTED that we get Cuz a black T-shirt with a babe in a blue outfit. Girl screaming bloody hell because I wouldn't let her sit on the bikes for sale. She's going to give me a heart-attack and we'll be fighting over who gets to ride the family Harley. :) She was VERY happy sitting on Gus' bike in the top photo up there ^^^^.

Cuz and I share the exact same birthdate. We were born hours (and several states) apart. Spending the summers together growing up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire was a lot of fun. We jumped into the icy cold Swift River and slid down the natural rock slides, caught bunches of small trout to bring home for Cuz's mother, my mom's cousin, to fry up for breakfast. My grandmother even liked to eat the heads! (Ewww!) Once we were a certain age, we would have to outmaneuver the National Forest Service rangers, getting picky about fishing licenses and all that. I recalled, with amusement, the time that I flipped a trout right into the bushes behind me, I was so excited to get it's teeny-tiny bite. Yes, Gram ate that one, too, head and all. (Yuck!)

I also recall learning how to ride snow machines (by hanging off the back of them) with all my cousins at Buddy's house in North Conway. It is miraculous no one was hurt.

Maybe next year Cuz will come out again and I'll rent a Harley and ride with him. :)

In the meantime, I'm off with the screaming kids to the indoor playground and a large dose of real time.

~~Mama (imagining the wind in my hair and the road in front of me as I steer a sleek, purple , chrome and black H-D onto ... "Ventura Highway in the Sunshine/Where the Days are longer/the nights are stronger than moonshine" ).

Victory!!!!

2005-11-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

It was a dark and stormy night...
No wait... wrong story. Ok it was a California chilly morning. The sun was casting its rays upon the field of battle where powerful forces would soon collide to decide the difference between victory and defeat.
In other words... Soccer. The game was at 10:00 this morning and the Sharks had their full team present and ready for action. They changed up their usual practice and did some drills where they played offense and defense against each other. Gone were the kids who look at the birds... these kids were swarming defenders and aggressive goal scoring machines.
Gametime...
(Image blurring.. thinking back) The Dragons were the first team that we were to play... that day they outscored us 7-0. (Image returning... to the present)

The Dragons set up to start the game. They had their wingers spread out and were in a 3-1-1 formation (only 5 kids on the field at a time). The sharks were two groups of huddled kids.. 3 up front and 2 in the back.

The Dragons came out kicking and started to move the ball to the Sharks end. Now this is where the comment on the practice becomes significant, because our team charged the ball and repelled attack after attack.
As the game wore on (about 5 minutes later), the Sharks pushed the Dragons back, by a great defensive clear by Boy Z. He took a tumble and a foot to the head, but got right back up!! After the throw in, BoyZ got the ball to Ry who broke free!! Score Sharks!!
Later in the game..
A dragon 1-1 ended up in a score for them tying the game. The Sharks, however, would not go quietly into the mid morning this time. Pressing attack after attack, the Sharks controlled the ball for most of the game. There were a few close shots taken by O and J, but both wide of the target. With about 5 minutes left in the game, out of the scrum came the ball and Ry!! Cruising ahead of the defenders, he shoots, he SCORES!!!
The Sharks kept up the tempo and at the whistle, the Sharks defeated the Dragons 2-1 for their first victory of the year!! (but who's counting).
The boys played with gusto, confidence and fervor.
It's so great to see when learning and fun start to sink in....
Especially if you're a slightly sometimes competitive Dad...

Signing off and still flying high!!
~~DaddyMan

... To Be Determined

2005-11-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Are they related or what????? Boy is playing in a play hut that our neighbors gave us. It takes up the entire "Great Room", but it's worth it to see how much fun they are having. They dragged every item imaginable into the tent. Blankets, pillows and clothes included! They are having a ton of fun with it. <Thanks Singer Family!>

Girl is well on her way to making this family "All Steelers - All The Time". Boy seems to be a "fair weather fan". Whatever team is showing on television on game day, he likes. We are trying to convince him to let go of his "Raider Envy". In the stores, the most predominant NFL team gear have San Francisco 49ers or Oakland Raiders logos. Both of which, um, in a word......STINK!!!!! See? All the other stuff has been snapped up by the hordes of "other" fans! Or maybe I just don't notice display of another teams insignia or name??? .....

Nah! The California teams are yucky. The Steelers have the MOST and the BEST fans, Terrible Towels down! Go #86 - Hines Ward-- three passes away from breaking the all-time Steeler record for passes currently held by John Stallworth. (My husband will be so proud that I remember this statistic; we just won't worry about the fact that I originally thought the record held by Lynn Swann!)

Hhmm....So, "What's new?" you ask?? Let's see.... I started a part-time job with the Law Office. Hey, J left to move to Ireland on a grand adventure and that left an opening in the firm! It is my duty to see that the place is held for her eventual return to the "States". Actually, it has been fun so far (one day). I was tossed right into the deep end of the pool. Fortunately, I can see the bottom and I'm a great swimmer! I'm glad to have joined the Team.

Yesterday, one of my oldest (meaning person I've known the longest; not in terms of solar age) N, had a birthday. I met her on her birthday about 30 years ago in Mrs. Morgenthaler's 4th grade class at John Fitch Elementary School. Wow. That's a long time ago. I haven't talked to her in awhile. I'm sure she's been busy with her beautiful daughter who should be about 4 years old. But, I wish her well in whatever she is doing. Today, one of my newest (met her fairly recently) but definitely one of my dearest friends, Lady, had a birthday. Her mother, MZMax, ad a birthday yesterday, too. What is with all the November birthdays?!? We are supposed to be in the malls shopping for the Winter Holidays and freaking out about our Holiday Cards getting into the mail on time after Thanksgiving when we are stuffed to the gills with whatever we will be eating on that day. Birthdays!smirthdays.

In all seriousness....Happy Birthday N and Lady (and MzMax!).

Yesterday was election day in many states across the country. Here in California, we voters spent the day voting down a bunch of propositions that were put on the ballot for our special election. So, there I was, arranging for an absentee ballot and then going over the summary and the laws packet, popping out my little chads and making sure none were "hanging" and then finding a place to deliver said ballot. Thanks, Gova-nator! >:( Personally, I can think of a million other more productive uses with that total time. I'm rereading the Outlander series so that I can catch up to J. We are forming the MalaMoor IrishCa Book Club. First meeting: whenever we can coordinate child care/sleeping/working schedules. This whole "time zone" thing is gnarly.

I have to close now. I have a date with yon Sheamus (Jamie) Fraser-->900 more pages to read.......

~~Mama

BOO!!!

2005-10-31T16:00:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Is it the fact that there is a spider on N's lap or something S sees outside, like ...
the guys building the wall in our backyard ARE STILL HERE!?!?!?!?!

I'm thinking the last one. Sheesh! How long is it supposed to take? They originally said three days. It's DAY TEN and it still isn't finished. It's not the Great Wall of China, for crying out loud!

Okay, enough complaining. Life really is spectacular right now. Boy is enjoying soccer and he's doing so great! He runs like the wind and kick the ball HARD when he gets it. I'm such a proud Mama.

I have great news! I'm re-entering the working world! I will be working part-time for my friend D who is also a fabulous Trust and Estates Attorney. She needs the help in her office, I have huge interest in legal matters and it will give me something "adult" to do. It ought to be interesting. If my very good friend J was here, we'd be working together. She is off on her own having a whirlwind adventure on the Emerald Isle and I can't wait to see her. Daddy and I are going to take the kids to Ireland next year! I'm so excited!

***NOTE: When reading the following paragraphs, you may learn something new and possibly surprising. Though I (Mama) do not purposely hide this part of myself, some may be a bit startled at my revelations here. As you read, please keep in mind what you know of me personally. ***

Happy Hallows! Otherwise known as Hallowe'en, Hallows Eve, or sometimes Samhain (pronounced SOW-en). This is my personal New Year's Day. After Trick-or-Treating and the whirlwind of parties this evening, I will build an altar in the West, (the direction of Autumn, the Ocean and Her creatures, tears and emotion), reflecting on the past year and let go of what is no longer needed. Also in the West, I will honor my ancestors, especially those who have died this year and sit quietly for a time or meditate or using a candle flame or bowl of water (called "scrying") to reconnect with those who have passed to the Summerland. In the East, (the direction of Spring, new beginnings and flying creatures) I will build another altar welcoming in the babies who have been born this year the new ideas and projects that may come and plan my own personal new year resolutions. I will cast a magic circle and call upon those spiritual entities I have come to know, my personal gods and goddesses. I will ask them to guide me in my growth.

In the time between Hallows and Winter Solstice, I will journal, dream and plan out that I wish to accomplish in the coming year. Like January first to most of the rest of the world, I make those resolutions to work toward better physical fitness, healthier eating, reading more books, laugh more, be grumpy less, be a better parent, wife, mother, sister, friend, daughter, etc.

So, are y'all freaked out now? ....

~Mama

Sunshine....what is that?

2005-10-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

This photo was supposed to be in anticipation for a cute family holiday photo. "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" (or Igg and Ook as they are sometimes known--Hudson Hawk anyone?) were less than cooperative. But, I look good!!!! And that's all that counts, right?

My friend and "sister", J. has been in Ireland for a few weeks. She'll be there until....whenever. All this past week and weekend, it's been overcast and cloudy, even a bit rainy during the night hours. She doesn't know what she's missing....wait a second...it's similar weather over there! Maybe the sun moved, too? You can read her blog by clicking the link over there on the right ------>. It's the one that says something about Ireland.

We finally contacted a lawyer to get our Estate Plan worked out and starting Trusts for the kids. Guardianship is an agonizing thing to think about. But, with two kids and family across the country, we have been worrying about it for awhile. What really set things into motion was the case of Terri Schiavo case and the fight between her parents and her husband. Heart-wrenching and awful to watch or think about, Terri's case had wide-reaching impact. Making those types of plans seems so strange to someone in their 30's. But, with little kids, it is so very necessary. Choosing Guardians has been the most difficult thing to do. But, we finally figured it out (right after we met with the attorney). I feel so much better like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Funny, that meeting also brought an offer from the firm to work part-time, possibly as a paralegal. The idea does appeal to me very much. Hubby seems to be in agreement and willing to give it a try-out. It would give me large blocks of time out the world of adults, using my brain for more than Dr. Seuss or potty training. Not that those things are not important. But, two-on-one is draining much of the time. Bouncing back and forth like a ping-pong ball between them and then suddenly remembering at 4:00pm that I never ate breakfast (or anything else all day) is the ultimate Yo-Yo Diet!

I think fondly of the tribal times when the whole village would take the responsibility of raising each child, so no one person had to bear the full burden all or most of the time. Elders with their wisdom and knowing were strong in their convictions and body. No such thing as a nursing home back then. The children of the village kept them young in spirit. Can you tell I've been reading historical fiction?????

What else....the Steelers had a particularly impressive game yesterday against the Cinncinati Bengals. Did I get to see it? No. But we saw the highlights. It would have been a game to see. Darn the black out rules!!!!

One of my oldest friends, Ann, finally told off her buttinsky mother-in-law, Trish, who basically treats her like something icky and squishy on the bottom of her shoe. Ann, and her husband, Donald, have been together since we were all in high school (20 years ago. Ewww.....) Anyway, from day one, Trish has disliked Ann and made no secret of saying as much to anyone within hearing range (including Ann the day before she got married). Tacky Trish had the audacity to tell Donald (right in front of Ann!) that she thought that Yours Truly was such a nice girl and he should have married me instead. Well, not only was that an awful thing to say in Ann's presence, but it made me want to punch Trish's lights out. Now, I'm not sure where I was at the time. I was around somewhere for the wedding, but I didn't hear about that until after the fact. Oh, I remember, I think I was chasing around after the best man! :) I've wanted to punch Trish's lights out (okay, figuratively) just about every time I've seen her in the 15 years or so since Ann and Donald's wedding. It's always torqued me that I seem to be nowhere nearby when something like this has been said. I miss the perfect opportunities for weenie roasting! Anyway, I was so proud of Ann. She told me the story and I was laughing so hard from trying to picture the two of them shouting at each other in the restroom of a public restaurant. It's like something out of a movie, and a long time coming. I giggled for about another hour after I went to bed. I so wish I had been a fly on the wall. I hope Trish remembers that Ann is strong in her own right and she'd best take heed or risk seeing her only grandchild. It sucks that Ann has to play it that way, but she is undermining the relationship of the child and it's parents. THAT is just not acceptable.

Hallows is next week and it's a new moon. The perfect time to celebrate my personal New Year's Day. I'm really looking forward to it. In the meantime, there are parties, parties and more parties. Sweet! It's SO good to be popular.

Catch y'all later. Until then, tell me what's happening in your world? Leave some comments so I'll know you have been here.

~~Mama

Read In Rain Bows

2005-10-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Finally! We get some rain. This is the extent of the flooding here.

I know I am getting absolutely no sympathy from everyone on the East Coast. I have heard from JiJi and Babci and Papa and all say that areas that were peaceful, meandering creeks have turned into raging waters. Thank the gods, everyone is doing okay.

Today, though, I just want to curl up and finish reading my book. I'm so tempted to leave the TV on all day for the kids. It's one of the rainy, cool, fall days, cloudy, damp and chilly. If I knew anything about my fireplace (it IS or WAS gas) I would have a fire going. I really, really miss New England in Autumn.

Last night, as I was contemplating the Full Hunter's Moon during Her fleeting glimpses, I got to thinking about how different our society was less than 250 years ago. Back then, there was much more of a tribal feel to families and villages even though there was so much wilderness in between settled areas. Today, in 2005, there are more people crowded into smaller and smaller areas, so much on top of each other so that it is impossible to ignore one another. Yet, we manage to close ourselves into little boxes that all have cell phones and other wireless gadgets. In our effort to globally connect, we are missing the immediate connection we can have with the person at the next table, if all we did was smile and say "Hello".

I used to read romance novels all the time. Not those goofy Harlequin Romances that always seem the same, just change the time period and the names of the main characters. I would read Danielle Steel who I found much more interesting in the strengths of her characters and stories. There was a time when I didn't read much of anything. However, for the past 15 years, I have been reading thriller/mystery, science fiction/fantasy, Tolkien and now the classics, Louis L'Amour, Jane Austen, Steinbeck.... anything homeschooling related and lots of non-fiction books on a wide variety of topics. Daddy and I love to read.

So, recently, a friend slobbered all over herself telling me of young James Fraser and his wife, Claire, a triage nurse who served in WWII (thats right, the math doesn't add up) in a book she lent me, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It is the first in a series (of six) that follows the meeting and life paths of the two main characters. It weaves time-travel, Scottish and English History, The Stuart Uprising, piracy and the years in the American colonies just before the Revolution into a book that was impossible for me to put down. Since time travel has always been something I have been interested in, I quickly finished that one and moved on to the others (in order), Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, The Drums of Autumn and The Firey Cross. When I traveled back East a few weeks ago, I brought The Firey Cross which is 1,443 pages in paperback. I was traveling alone and had 12 hours of uninterrupted time total plane flights. I finished it as my plane touched back down in Los Angeles. A few days later the latest book was published, A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I made myself wait a few days before I bought it in hardback. Not a small thing at 979 pages. I'm about 1/2 way through so far. The story is fiction, but the history is rich and wonderful. I warn you, if you are ANY kind of romantic, this story which spans 30 years or so, could be one of the best you may have ever read. If you are looking for a story to get lost in, this is a good one.

As I'm writing this I received an email with a phone number from my friend Jenni who moved to Ireland earlier this month. I'm going to go figure out how to call her.

~~Mama

The Wind Doth Blow....

2005-10-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

If it isn't fire...it's wind. The mighty Santa Ana winds that have fueled the brush fires around these parts for the past few weeks did more damage to the compartmentalization of Southern California. Portions of the fences on both sides of the yard came tumbling down.... No one was hurt, but Boy decided he wanted to be in the picture. There are three young girls that live next door and the kids all play together on the weekends. They found great delight in this new (and simpler) way to access both yards. Alas, it's only temporary, but luckily we all like each other so there is no rush to fix anything.

The neighbors on the other side have an "Aspen" (a mutt) and he likes to saunter over. I woke up in the middle of the night recently to scratching on the sliding glass door in our bedroom. I didn't have my glasses on and just saw this canine shape. I am told that coyotes jump the fences to get the good morsels in the yards (quail, roadrunner, rabbits....).

It took a few moments to realize it was Aspen and I was relieved, but it took me a while to get back to sleep. About an hour later, I awoke again to Aspen barking. This time at a pack of coyotes who were yipping and howling in celebration of the capture of some sort of prey.

I just learned that one of the neighborhood cats is missing.......Sheesh.....

~~Mama

It's Quiet Today

2005-10-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

This is a picture that Boy did online at the NASA website last year. It's he, the Astronaut, on Mars. :)

Most of the fires that are anywhere near us are finally out. The sky is much clearer today than yesterday. Of coure, the Santa Ana's are blowing up again today, so that is one reason things are so clear. They may also touch off some more fires. 'Tis the season!

It's "quiet time" in the house right now. Baby Girl went right down for a nap after screaming her head off that she wasn't tired. Yeah....

Mr. Man is playing with legos and listening to a book on CD. I am trying to figure out what to do with MY quiet time! Oh! The luxury of it.....

Things have been totally nutty for two weeks. My friend, J, moved out of her house and is leaving for Ireland next week. She's in NoCal until then and I miss her a lot. I just read her blog update and I'm all emotional about it. I have thought about how hard it is for those of us staying behind to have said goodbye. It seems much more difficult to be the one leaving. (B-Family, We love you!)

~~Mama

Firewatch......

2005-09-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is the view from the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California looking South toward Thousand Oaks/North Ranch. It doesn't show up well at a reduced size, but if you click on the photo, it should open at a high resolution. Those little orange things are flames at the base of that icky looking cloud.

Just out of the frame, to the left, is the Simi Valley Reservoir. One of the water sources that the aircrews are lifting water for the drops to fight the area fires. This photo was actually taken about 11:15am today and there were three major blazes within sight distance and another one starting in Burbank. I've been listening to the air traffic, helicopters and that orange and white C-130 that the news shows dropping the red fire retardent. I packed the car with clothes and photo albums and kept the television tuned to the fire coverage. A few times today it looked like the fires were coming under control. Then the wind would change. As of 8:30pm this evening, two of the fires in the San Fernando Valley on the Los Angeles/Ventura County lines were about to merge.

Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers. So far, no one has been seriously injured. The firefighters have been working tirelessly and I cannot personally express my gratitude enough, having been way too close to the flames yesterday. (It's much better when I am in control of the fire!)

I talked to most of my family and friends and got info on some other friends who were closer to the action today. Luckily everyone is safe and surprisingly, there is not a great deal of structure damage, less than a dozen buildings for a nearly 17,000 acre wildfire.

Everyone is rather jumpy. I feel much better being a bit more prepared. It's so weird to have the television on so much and really, not much else is getting done. I did get the kitchen floor vaccumned. (Whoo-hoo! I'm sure you will all be waiting with baited breath to see what happens tomorrow!) When we went out to the grocery store today, they were low on bread, milk, bottled water, diapers.....all those things that are necessary in the face of disaster.

Last night, after the adrenaline rush had subsided, I absolutely crashed. I woke at 4:00am to an ominous glow in the South. I kept watching it and when I went outside, the air was strange feeling, thick and too warm. Also, birds and other creatures were moving about as though in daytime. It gave things an even more eerie feeling combined with the orange glow from our bedroom slider window.

We have a marine layer (a/k/a "fog") coming in this evening. That will help the fire lay down.

TO: LAFD, VCFD and all the other departments across the state who have come to help out, we in Moorpark THANK YOU!

~~Mama

HOT In the City....

2005-09-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

This shot is from directly behind our home!**

Woke up yesterday morning and realized that it was very warm. Before the sun was up, it was 70 plus degrees. The wind began to come up and it just felt....weird. I had the windows opened for awhile and all the doors open. The breeze was going through the house and then some green leaves started bouncing around. That was some strong wind. I closed thing up and turned on the A/C. Our kitchen and dining area faces the East and when the sun rises above our neighbors house, it gets quite warm. I had closed the blinds and curtains in the kitchen area.

Our neighborhood is very quiet during the day. So, it was very strange for me to hear lots of activity. I started to realize that things were busy while I was talking on the phone to Daddy. Then I moved toward the kitchen window and realized that something looked very, very wrong. I saw the black smoke and hung up on him with a quick "(Insert expletive Here)! Gotta go!!!". I ran out into the driveway to see flames licking over the hill into the backyards of the people on the next block, 200 yards away. I ran back into the house, tossed the kids in the car, grabbed my purse and cell phone and left. There were lookey-loos who were blocking my driveway in their effort to gawk at the flames. I almost pulled a "monster truck" move in my haste to be gone. I called Daddy when I was down the hill to tell him about the fire and then we went over to his office which is about 3 miles from the house. After my heart-rate got back to normal and I had lunch, we saw mostly white smoke in the area and thought it might be safe to return. The sheriffs had blocked all the roads. I sat at the bottom of the hill and watched the firefighters putting out hot spots on the scorched hill just a few feet down from where I knew our place is.

When we were finally able to return to the house, we discovered all structurally spared. I saw that my neighbor was home and so I went to talk to him. I discovered that he had returned to his house about the time I was leaving mine with the kids. S's first thought was to check to see if we were home. Then he saw that some of the flames had started on the hill behind our houses. So, he jumped up on the roof and some other awesome anonymous passer-by jumped on my roof with the hose and started battling the flames which came to within about 20 yards of our place. Mr. Singer, if you read this...YOU TOTALLY ROCK!!!!! Thank you.

I really have to check this "Flame of the South" thing....

~~Mama (She of the Southern Flame)

**Photo Credit: (c) AP

Look Who I Found in My Living Room Today!!!

2005-09-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Jon Bon Jovi (left) and Richie Sambora (right).

The rest of the band is in the kitchen (out of frame) making me breakfast.

Okay, not really. But, that would MAKE MY DAY! No, my LIFETIME. I found a bunch of photos online today while I was listening to the band's new album, "Have a Nice Day". (All of my local friends are rolling their eyes and I can hear them saying...."She's obsessed. We need to do an intervention.") Hey, there could be WORSE things I am obsessed about.

Well, it sort of looks like my living room.

~~Mama [like I have to even sign this one.....]

I Returned Safely

2005-09-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to discover that Daddy was able to post something to this blog. Of course, I was highly amused to read it while I was away, too. Sheesh! I never said Z males can't do anything by themselves. They are excellent eaters, sleepers and bread-winners, gamers, football fans and playmates for their children and grand-children. :) Now, the Z females are in a league all their own. We're all a bunch of nutballs. Okay, I don't speak for them, so it's just me that is a nutball.

Anyway, my trip was enlightening, though quick. I was able to visit our newest nephew (he's so cute!) and see our other niece and nephew (we drove in the Incredi-moblie). I saw my friend, L, her daughter, S and her mother, J and everyone looks great. I had a wonderful time, though the visit was too short.

The return trip was fine; uneventful except that I had trouble finding my way home from the smaller of our local airports with the very supremely marked freeways out here and my tired index. Anyway, I'm glad to be home. Sitting on a plane for 4 hours is not much fun. Though I did get almost caught up on my "Outlander" reading (Diana Gabaldon's epic series about time-travel, World War II, Scotland, witch-hunts, the Stuart Uprising and the Revolution in the American Colonies). You can find the books in the Romance section of the bookstore. Yeah, I know, I'm not the romance type, but the historical references throughout the series are fabulous. I'm almost ready for the final book in the series (there are six books) that was released over the weekend.

I didn't bring the camera so the photo above is one I had laying around. It's gives those writing and reading the blog entries something interesting to look at. I originally had posted a photo of Jon Bon Jovi, but I can't figure out how to work it into the subject of my blog. Except that I'm just a nut for the band (and the man---good thing we are both happily married). "Have a Nice Day!"

~~Mama

On the next episode of "Lost"..

2005-09-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

A family without it's mother!! How will everyone be fed? Get dressed? FIND ANYTHING!!
Well, never fear faithful viewers, Z males are actually capable of doing things on their own....

Mama arrived safely in New England after both her flights. She hit some turbulence from Rita but otherwise smooth sailing..or flying.. whatever.
The kids and me? We had a great day. I'm finally feeling better after being sick with a serious sore throat for the 2nd time in a month so we got ourselves fed and dressed and on the road. We started with boring errands, but eventually ended up at a local indoor play place. The rest of the day on the left coast was a mixture of lunch, naps, reading and playing. Boy wanted to go to Toys R Us just to "check things out" so we did. As mentioned in previous posts, he is very much into the lego Knights (though I still believe he needs more of the regular blocks.. as I am getting tired of building the now commonplace 3 color buildings).
The day ended in our traditional "Special Movie Night". All in all, the kids were great (as usual) and asked about Mom a lot.
Momma, if you're reading, "We love you!!!"

~~Daddy

Pre-Flight

2005-09-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

I'm almost packed and ready to go to New England. When the planes land safely in Atlanta and then again at my final destination Hartford, I'll be ready to handle anything. I don't like flying at all. Especially when my family isn't with me. But, I'm just being anxious and silly. I've got my iPod and several books to occupy me while in-flight. It will be nice to see Mom and Dad and some of the other family. Whomever I can get to see, that is. I'll miss my family very much. Cutie Girl and Big Boy. He has photos at soccer on Saturday. I'm going to miss that and his game. Daddy has been working with him and he looks great!

~~Mama

The Kids Are Alright...

2005-09-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

I know this is post #3 in one day. The kids are watching several new episodes of "The Backyardigans" and I figured I needed to post another photo of them. They are just too cute! This photo was taken in Girl's room. I had another great one, but it was too blurry to post. Now, if I could only get Wiggles to keep his mouth closed!

~~Mama

The Front Yard

2005-09-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is the view to our front door which is off to the right of the photo. Since we have moved in and taken over the yard work, there have never been people more happy to show off "dirt". Boy has helped quite a bit and earned some extra money for more Legos. (Hint to the family: anything with knights and sword in a Lego format, he'll totally love it forever).

The yard is all rain-washed and fresh this morning. It's coming along. It's by no means a perfect, thriving lawn, but we have done all the big stuff by pulling out the ivy and preparing the yard. We water regularly, dig out the weeds here and there, we have pulled all the rotting wood trim around the yard and even tried to revamp the sprinkler system. There's still much to do; rototill, put some fertilizer and grass seed down and then see what comes up. We have rediscovered the citrus trees. We have a lemon, an orange, a guava and there was another citrus tree with our orange. A friend of ours who used to own a nursery couldn't identify the tree. It had huge, gnarly looking spiky thorns. So, I cut that thing out and I think the orange tree is much happier.

Our lemon tree is bursting with new leaves and blossoms. I can't wait to make fresh lemonade with fruit from my own tree. Well, technically, the trees belong to the owners, but I don't think they would mind us using the fruit. You see that rose bush covered with roses? When we moved in it was full of dead branches and only had one or two flowers. I cut the whole thing down and added a bit of water and POOF, beautiful blossoms. You can't see it, but in the back yard, past the gate and the black thing (which is our BBQ) I have another rose bush with deeper pink blossoms.

I never thought I cared much for roses, but now I just love them. I guess it's like that with anything you invest a bit of yourself in. Hmmmm........

~~Mama

A Rainbow Morning

2005-09-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of one of my rose bushes this morning with the beautiful raindrops. At 3:45am I was awakened by the dog next door barking his head off. He's normally a quiet pooch, but he was definitely upset. Between his barks, I heard several eerie sounds. One, the yipping of a pack of coyotes cornering some prey. The other, the distant roll of thunder. "Thunder is no big deal" my Nor'Easter family might say, but for SoCal desert Rats, it is a welcome sound. The lightning can be frightening as it tends to touch off wildfires.

Well, I suppose every place has its jewels and it's thorns. Personally, I'd rather brave the wildfires than get buried in a blizzard. Must be my firey nature.

I counted the seconds between lightning and thunder and the storm seemed to be 5 or so miles out.

I stepped outside and breathed in that unique scent of ozone spark in the air. I felt the rumble of the thunder in my belly and I felt very peaceful at that moment. I was thinking forward a little bit to this weekend when I'll be in New England at the Equinox and it will feel quite different.
Then the rain started and I tried to remember what might be laying out in the yard that might have an aversion to being rained on. No small feat at 4:00am, but I managed to stumble out to the garage and find a tarp in my sleepy haze with no glasses on. I covered a few tools that are sitting in the yard and went back to bed. I left the slider open so that I could hear the rain and feel the humid breeze.

Then the morning struck, I was late getting up for my doctors appointment and the traffic was exceptionally awful. When I got to the office, the doctor wasn't even in and neither was his receptionist. So, everyone in the waiting room (about 5 of us) remarked about the weather. It's such a big deal to Californians when it rains. It makes for conversation for hours. One can discuss the multitudes of accidents they pass on a rainy morning. It rains and people lose their minds. That's when we all discover that our tires are way too bald. Thank the gods it doesn't snow here. No one would survive winter.

On my way out of my appointment, I saw a beautiful rainbow. I didn't have my camera, though. So I missed that shot. The traffic was heavy approaching our exit off the Freeway and as I came upon it, my exit was completely blocked! A big rig (tractor trailer for everyone NOT living in California) was laying across the ramp. Sometimes I wonder how they do that? I'd rather not learn about it first-hand.

~~Mama

A Trip to the Dump

2005-09-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

Today was "M residents get in for free day" at the local landfill. I know, sounds incredibly exciting and I can understand if many of you turn your computers off at this moment....

There really is a story here, so for you brave souls....We (M&M&N) have been working like mad on the side area of our yard. (NOTE: the photo to the left is NOT of any place in our yard...but, I wish!) We have pulled a bunch of ivy off the fence and cleared a lot of weeds from the more flat areas. There were weeds that were three feet high when we moved in and once they were cut down, they were stubborn to remove completely. They are still a pain in the rear. But, a few minutes here and there with the hoe has been satisfying on many levels; aesthetically, spiritually, ecumenically.....

Okay, so I'm straying from my title here. Today, I loaded up about 15 trash bags full of the weeds and dead leaves and all the other yard junk that has not been able to fit into our Yard Trimmings waste bin (picked up once a week) and also the small dumpster we rented when we first moved in to this place. I hauled it all to the dump and while I was on my way, I had a nice little trip down memory lane....

When I was a youngster (i.e. early teens) living in Windsor, I used to go to the town dump with my Dad on Saturdays. We had a little sticker in the windshield and I always thought it was really funny that we had to stop on a scale before we went in. Like, how do they know exactly how much my Dad and I and the truck weigh versus the trash?? ((Oh, the things that make young grey matter churn.)) I felt very privileged to be helping my Dad at the dump. He's probably reading this laughing his rear-end off! He got slave labor and I was actually ENJOYING IT!! My brother was no dummy. He didn't want anything to do with the dump. Yep, it was bonding day for me and Dad. Seriously though, my Dad and I have a great relationship and it would be okay for him to read this since I told him this story this afternoon when I called him. We do talk about things other than the dump. (I love you, Daddy!!!)

As I'm waiting in the line for my turn to dump, I was trying to imagine what it would look like. Now, really, I have not been to many dumps in my lifetime. When I lived on Staten Island, there was a place near the mall where the seagulls would be in constant flight formation. That, and the putrid, but sweetish, smell always told you where the dump was. I remember going there one time (to that mall) and realizing about the dump and the not going back there for a long while (a year or so) and then returning to find how much the landfill had grown! Yikes! My dad was telling me today about the landfill in the town where I grew up and how high it is now. I had long forgotten, or put out of my mind at least, how much we humans throw away. Today's trip was a sobering reminder. I think everyone should go to the dump once or twice a year (and bring the kids, popcorn and binoculars!) to remind themselves just how wasteful we can be.

I was even at least going to be somewhat environmental but opening the non-biodegradable trash bags and dumping all the leaves, dirt, vines, etc. One of the workers made a point of coming over to stop me from opening the bags and told me to simply the stuff on the pile, bags and all. So, there I was throwing the plastic bags which contained bio-degradable contents onto a large pile of branches which was covering a huge metal desk. As I pitched the last bag, a couple got out of the huge Escalade next to me, (kids in the back watching a DVD. I don't think they had any popcorn, though) and dumped a huge plastic storage tub that looked brand new! They also dumped a very large plastic dog bed and several large rolls of used kitchen floor vinyl.

I wonder, in 10, 000 years, what the archeologists of that day will think about that plastic dog bed. Can that be accurately carbon dated?

~~Mama

Blogging...California Style

2005-09-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is what our backyard looked like soon after we moved in. It looks better now, but I don't have updated photos and I'm still playing with this blogging thing.

I enjoy that I can jot down some quick (or not so quick) thoughts, add a photo if I wish and be on my way. I really like the fact that I can send a link to family and friends and all they have to do is check back once in awhile rather than complain about the photos being too big or too many or their internet connection being to slow or whatever. I think this was such a great idea to start this (Thanks, J!!).

I am finding that I put a lot of myself here, but that's the point. Besides, though I am very different than some I haven't seen in awhile might realize, I have nothing to hide. Some people who read these blogs, members of my family (or my mother's friends), will perhaps think that I am really off my rocker out here in Southern California (the "land of the fruits and the nuts"). But, hey, I was "strange" before I came to California. My kind of strange is just a bit more acceptable here. . . . .

Girl is 2 now. I have to remark that she is remarkable. Yes, we are biased, but she was talking in complete sentences such as "Daddy, can I have more pizza, please?" before her second birthday. Today she said "Mommy, I dropped my sippy-cup". Of course then she screamed Bloody Hell when I told her that I wasn't going to pick it up because I was driving and it wasn't safe. You would think I was pulling her toenails out by the noise. Oy, sometimes these kids make me nuts. (Yeah, I know Mom, paybacks are a bee-itch.)

I have majorly revamped this week. I felt the need to mentally and emotionally "clean house". I backed off doing Full Moons with this group I have been working with for a year or so.
I also closed the TONL group so that JA and I can revamp it and make it more than a preschool playgroup. TONL wasn't taking off as I had hoped and many people were using it to "check out" homeschooling. That's all great and all, but our kids are approaching the age where we are starting to really teach them more on the academic side, though I am so not interested in being severly structured. Jill has been wonderful about committing to me and this group. She even helped me pick out this totally wacko name...and it's a GREAT play on words.

~~Mama

Halloween is on it's way....

2005-09-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, aren't they cute? I found these great Halloween costumes at Kohl's the other day and Himself was in his for two days! Of course, I don't really count these as the costumes they will wear for Hallows. They like to dress up and these were on sale. I like to find costumes in thrift stores, too or scarves and such that they can be creative with. These were a surprise for the price AND quality. Girl got all itchy (see the look on her face?) and the fairy costume was off in like a minute, but she looked cute long enough for me to get this photo done.

This whole blog thing is really interesting. I'm trying to figure out if I want to share it with the family. Maybe I'll try it out on one or two people. It seems to be a great way to share updates on happenings and photos. Yikes.....I'm entering the world of "everyone".

~~Mama

Today I Became a Soccer Mom

2005-09-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I'm a Soccer Mom?? NO WAY!!!!

Soccer began today and it was crazy at the fields. Boy's team (The Blue Sharks) was so cute, a scrum of boys buzzing around a ball. He did great, though and while the other team scored one goal and the Sharks, none, he had fun and he looks forward to doing it again.

So, I'm heading to Connecticut on Mabon to support my mother as we say goodbye to Uncle P. A fitting day, the Second Harvest to return my uncle back to the Earth. I'm surprised at my own reactions to this whole affair. Though I don't feel much grief for my Uncle, I am sad that he is gone; more for my mother's sake. I definitely have a different view of death than most people I know, so it probably makes me look very unfeeling. It's the body that is dead, not their lifeforce (you know, the "Force", Luke!). I'm surprised that I feel very compassionate and more supportive of my mother than I have in a long time. (She'll probably read this and choke.) Maybe I've done enough work to realize that some stuff can just be put away; everyone does their thing and is allowed to live their own life. I just hope others remember that about me. . . I've gotten enough "messages" lately to realize that I am in a strong place. I've looked a lot of "stuff" that I need to dump or finally put to rest. Nah, I'm not gonna do my therapy session on HERE, don't worry.

While I'm not keen on flying, you know, to support my mother while she grieves and finds closure just feels the the very right thing to do.

~~Mama

Getting Used to This

2005-09-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

Labor Day Weekend, the day when the laborers get a day off...or a good excuse to have a cookout and drink beer....

By the calendar the summer is not yet over, but by the season, it is. The Wheel turned from Summer to Autumn before Labor Day, though by the calendar Autumn doesn't arrive for a few more weeks.

My Uncle Pl died Monday. He was 88 and had lived a full life. I'll miss him, but he is no longer in pain or suffering in any way.

My friend J, is leaving at the end of the month for an exciting move to Ireland. Daddy and I went to Ireland for our honeymoon and we just loved it. When she first told me, I was SO EXCITED!!!! I still am, of course, and now that the word is out that she is leaving, many people are looking to me and asking "how are YOU holding up?". I don't want to answer. I don't want to think about it. J and her family are going to have a fabulous time and I'll do whatever grieving I need to do when they are safely on their way.

~~Mama

The Beginning

2005-09-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've heard so much about "blogs" in the past few days and a few of my friends have created blogs. One to to document a trip to Texas to support Cindy Sheehan, another to document the devastation on the Gulf Coast. Finally, one of my best friends is working on her blog so that she can keep her loved ones updated as she embarks upon the adventure of a lifetime and moves her clan to Ireland for a few years. Bon Voyage, B-Family!

Yes, I know that clans are a Scottish thing. They're Scottish, so that works.

I thought about it a bit and I think it's a good idea to start one for ourselves. We can put our thoughts here and add some photos and let you all know what we are doing and what the kids are doing and how they are growing. Enjoy!

~~Mama