23 December 2017

Merry Christmas!

Hope this Christmas finds you and your families happy and well.  Pictured is my father (r) and his twin (l) in their coonskin caps in 1954.  I think this is the longest I've ever seen their hair in photographs until they became hippie freaks in the 60's and let it grow out a whole two inches.

Finding Gobi

Finding Gobi: The True Story of One Little Dog's Big Journey by Dion Leonard arrived just as we were searching for a homeschool reading book for Woodjie.  Boys love adventure stories and they love dogs, so it was perfect! 

Woodjie is 11 and this book was about at his reading level.  He would be a fifth grader if he went to school.  What he liked about the book was the idea of this little doggie befriending the author on his run, just tagging along.  Later, the author goes to great lengths to find Gobi and bring him home. 

The only criticism I'd have - and it's a small one - is that sometimes younger readers don't understand some of the concepts presented in the book as givens.  For example, a child mightn't understand the "dangers" of speaking to the press in a foreign country.  It would be nice if some of these concepts were spelled out a bit better but it wasn't a biggie.  I was right there listening to him read the whole book aloud during my recent surgery recovery... so I could explain everything I felt he needed to know as we went along.  A charming book!  With photos!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

10 December 2017

Still Here!

Woodjie fixing dinner.

I've had some major surgery which I'll just describe as "about as extensive as your Thanksgiving turkey underwent this year and also very similar."  I'm home now and recovering rather nicely so far, but it's been a hard go of everything, really.  Perhaps preparing for a large and horrendously embarrassing surgery is the worst bit of it emotionally and physically.

Anyway.  One thing I did do (to my credit!) was to teach the littlest children to make grilled cheese before I went to hospital.  All I have to do now is pop the burner on and make sure there is some margarine, bread and cheese handy.  So Woodjie not only made us all dinner the other night, he let me know that I'm the best mommy EVER because I allowed him.  (Yay!)

Rose is also doing her own hair now.  Her part is not perfectly straight but it's a pretty decent job of two simple braids.  Now she will do her hair every morning all by herself.  I am well enough now that I did her hair this morning just because.

Rose can do her own hair.
I planned way ahead and ordered all kinds of homeschooling video lesson$, but wouldn't you know that the computer picked just that time to crash and/or not recognise the various players and websites etc etc?  So that hasn't worked well so far.  Oh well.


Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...