"I Not Wau-ra."

Dad really needs to quit teasing the kid and calling her Laura Ingalls. Not pictured? The pink flowered prairie skirt. No bonnet. :)

It's as American as Dad-ple Pie

It's vaguely cannabalistic, but we were tired of the usual lattice shape.  The ears shifted a bit during baking.

It's That Time of Year Again...

Wasps LOVE this window and come year after year. There is no way to get up into the window from outdoors; it's three floors up. From inside, there's no way to get up in there without dis-assembling the entire window (so I never, never clean INSIDE the windows; deal with it). Elf and Emperor like to take turns standing on chairs near the window so that they can see what the wasps are doing and how they live. The happy cry of, "LOOK! They're having more babies!" brought D over to the window in a hurry. He started tapping on the glass violently, disturbing their family life and I tried to appeal to his sense of empathy by telling him he was ruining their peaceful Father's Day. "Good!" he said. He had us tap on the glass to anger them and draw them outside where he would be waiting with the sprayer. Of course, he didn't get them all. He's mad. He comes by and bangs on the window about every three minutes and speaks some not-blessing sorts of words over their lives. Oh... as I was wrapping up this post I had to take that back. The downstairs toilet is full AND broken, so he is off to the hardware store to get the parts he needs to fix it and some more poison spray. For some reason, he wants to go on this trip alone. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, D!! :)

Parenting Teens

A friend did this last night. G came home with a different earring, a BIG "diamond" one. D was quite upset. I didn't like it but tend to put this sort of thing into the "things we don't fight about" box. D was very mad. He mowed the yard for about two hours. He had several discussions with G between clipping vines and mowing.
*
Wellllll... he's still really mad. He still really hates it. But he is going to bend on this when he saw how important it was to G. It is starting to look all bruisy and icky. It wasn't even a gold earring they used! I took him out and HE bought rubbing alcohol and a gold earring. Hope it doesn't get infected. But wow. I hope his taste doesn't run into mohawks or purple hair next. It wouldn't bother me *so* much, but poor D can't stand much more, bless him!

*

Maybe I'm not too upset because I remember doing this once myself. KT and I were 15 once and liked to listen to Duran Duran in her basement with her cat. We used a hot needle, a cork, and some ice and pierced each other's ears. We were cool. Now we are both all grown up and she is a professor of history. :)

The Possum Socks

My husband is wearing socks made of possums and merino wool. Yup. Bonnie sent 'em to us, along with a ton of other stuff, from New Zealand (postage = yowie). There were gifts for EVERYONE in the family, including D. He just LOVES them, and has been telling anyone who will listen (and probably a few people who won't) about how he has possums on his feet. It's true! Wikipedia tells us that possums are Australian native animals, imported to New Zealand and devastating to the local ecosystem. So they kill 'em and make clothes out of them. These are not the same 'possums you're used to seeing around here, though. Those are opossums, and nicknamed 'possums. But they're not possums. Now you know. D will be wearing these socks to work tomorrow and showing them (and the packaging) to everybody. Seriously, these socks are the best and most unique gift he has received from anyone - myself included - in years. Thanks, Bonnie!

Wasting Money.

I know... I have more dishes than I could possibly ever use. But I saw this set at the thrift store for $7.98 and had to have it. I think it's a fair few dishes for $8 in any event. My husband demands to know why I want to buy this ugly stuff... but I just love it and think it's pretty and happy-looking. I have no idea where I will put it or if it will get broken with use. But I want to keep it out even so... I'm one of those types who will actually USE the antiques at my house, and I like to use my possessions until they break or wear out before I throw 'em away or repurpose them. :) After I got it home, I did a little research. This stuff is (apparently) handmade in Poland and some of my pieces were made before 1996, and some after. When you examine it carefully, you'll see slight variations in colour from one piece to the next and even a little variation in the shape of the pottery itself. Do you just *love* it like me, or do you also think it's ugly, or maybe just "ok?" Update: D just came in, saw that I had taken photos for the blog, and related to me that it's ok... sometimes he's made stupid purchases in the past, too. Thanks, D... I think. Grant you, he did approve of the purchase because he saw how attached I was to those "ugly" dishes. :) Yay!

New Lunchbox for the Homeschooling Dad!

We've been looking in thrift stores about *forever* for a new lunchbox for D. We refuse to pay the $20 for a new one, but just hadn't seen any adequately-sized lunchboxes in good condition... until now. D wasn't sure if he should get it or not. I told him he should get this $1.98 bargain, because it not only holds his work lunches, it's also *blogworthy.* :P

Nooo! It's MINE! *I* Want to Wear it to Church!

Apparently this latest creation of D's makes the wearer look like "Bowser," and is very cool. This bracelet would also be ideal as homeschoolwear, except for the fact that Mom said "no." And Dad said to put it back on his leatherworking table and leave Dad's things alone, please.

Taxes!

Well, it's tax season. I don't imagine we're going to owe much on what we have here. We've been so diligently saving... you know, in those savings plan things? ... and there really isn't much money in there to speak of anymore. I think when we retire, it'll buy us a tent or something to set up under the overpass. If the price of tents doesn't go up *too* dramatically in the next 30 years, that is. That old couple looking for handouts with the cardboard "invested too much money in the 2000's" sign? Be generous to them.

Usually around March, D starts in on how he isn't going to pay taxes anymore. He's done. Make an appointment with the tax guy? That's for looooosers. Around April 10 or so, he gets his butt in gear and just plain old gets it done. Then he gets money back in the mail later. He always does.

Today, I made the mistake of asking D when he would get the taxes done. He starts flying through his paperwork, which in his organizational system means "a BIG box with every scrap of paper collected over the last year in it." (The stupid envelopes, too! Why?) Then he got very upset that he couldn't find some city tax thing.

I told him if *I* filed it, naturally it would probably be under the "W" file.

"W?? WHYYY the W file? That makes no stinkin' sense!" he accuses.

Well, sure it does. W is for water, and we pay our city water bill as well as our taxes so naturally all the city stuff would be under the W file...

(left out dialogue here) It isn't here.

Ok, then look under the T's because T is for trash, and we pay the trash bill with the water...

D: (ranting about my bad organizational system)

Later, I'm ripping up some of the useless papers occupying his big honkin' box. D tells me NOT TO DO THAT because he's looking for a paper about the stimulus something or other from the government.

Well, did you look under the file I put all your pay stubs in? It would start with the letter "D" because...

"WHYYYY would you put it there? I swear, I'm gonna file all my own stupid crap next year in ONE BIG PILE where I could just find everything I need later!"

Good grief. It took me less than five minutes to find all the missing papers by looking under the correct letter of the alphabet. :]

In other news about taxes and government, do you know how much a trillion dollars is? It's a lot of money! Hat tip: Easy Opinions blog.

Wittenberg University.

Here D and I are in 1992 around graduation time. Yes, I really dyed my hair that awful bright red colour. But that's only because I found that blonde looked hideous on me. We're outside Myers Hall in the center of campus. My dad took this picture as he made the trip out to meet the guy I was going to marry.

Patrick at NHD Contest

Patrick went to Truman Library in Independence for the National History Day competition. He presented his DVD about Bobby Fischer. That guy had some... language. But Patrick enjoys chess very much and wanted to find out more about him. He wishes, after doing so, that he had chosen someone else to spend so much time researching about. He also didn't figure out how to bleep out words in the interview snippets he included from Fischer, which is a bit of a problem. I'm sure D is glad it's over as it snowed AND he got lost on the way out to the competition. D returned with several photographs like this, many of which are blurry and/or cheesy.

Here You Go. I'll Share.

Dad also had to take the girl away from the little pile of Cheerios he left out for Woodjie because she was starting to look like a chipmunk.

The Man With the Boots.

D made bootstraps and a bracelet that match. Do you like them? His favourite shop is the Standard Rivet Company. I've edited it so that there is no confusion that we're looking at the boots ok? LOL

The Secret Santa Gift.

Red leather, star conchos and green gems added for a Christmas look. Entirely handcrafted by D down to the stitching on the side. The gift must've been appreciated as the recipient (a girl in one of Patrick's classes) wore it right away.

Financial Stimulus Voucher!

We done gots ourselves a free key with this here financial stimulus voucher package, too. If the key works, it's OURS. D pointed out that since they sent the key in the mail, it's ours anyway. But look! Doesn't it look like the car place is trying to put one over on the not-so-sophisticated shopper? You know, the one who might think that he's getting some sort of bailout?

D Wins, Finally!!

Literally, we could play the Parcheesi game for years and D would always lose every time, just by a little bit. When he won yesterday, he insisted on having this photograph taken for my blog so that all my readers will see real, substantiated photographic evidence that he won. (once, anyway...) Do you see how close the game was?

PE Uniforms

My older boys attend public school and are to wear a PE uniform during gym class. I don't have a problem with this as we don't want kids with chains dangling from their pockets ruining the equipment, or having zippers catch onto things they shouldn't, or *whatever.* I bought Patrick and G each two uniforms three years ago, and now it's time to buy new again. But I don't want to go to the special "sports" store where the stuff is sold during the week with the babies and middle children... you know, with EVERYONE tagging along. And yesterday I spent on weeding and D mowed the lawn.

So, today I called the sports store to see if it were open and got an answering machine. I hung up, figuring it isn't open on Sundays.

Off I went to organize some homeschooling items when the phone rang. D answered and called from across the room, "It's the sports store. They hit the re-call button and want to know what you want."

"Oh, well, I was calling to see if they were open Sundays.. " Curious that I hit *67 but they were still able to track my number, though...

"You open Sundays? (pause)"

"Ask them if they have PE uniforms!"

"Do you have P uniforms?"

"P-E- Uniforms! PE!"

"Yes, that's right. PEEE. As in URINE. Yooooo- rinnn..."

"D (full name!) I can't believe you! You stop that!!"

(Cackling and howling)

Turns out that he surreptitiously called our number on his cell phone and made up the whole conversation. Dork.

Pumpkin

Our pumpkin is growing in our front yard by the dying apple tree. D says it's all my fault the apple tree is dying because I planted the pumpkin too close. In honour of his birthday, I'm posting this picture. Happy birthday, D!!

My Grandma Loves Me

My dad didn't tell my grandmother we were coming out to visit her. We drove about 11 hours to go see her and I was tired. But when my grandmother saw me, she snatched me away from my dad for kisses and fusses. Am I that cute??

They're Back, With Babies.

Isn't that CUTE? All the little wasps love our house and our hospitality so much, that they came back and brought their babies. See them inside the nest? The BEST part of it is the fact that it's impossible to reach the nest from outside with a ladder - it's too high because of a hill/deck placement. This is what it looked like after many sprayings with insecticide. D thought he'd open the window quickly to remove the nest, and that's when we discovered there's really no way to do it because the top window doesn't open. He took a stick between the window panes and kind of smashed the nest up. Then he vacuumed it. Well, that was our afternoon, pretty much. D went poison shopping, spraying, jumping and smashing... I had hoped that the inside window would open and we could knock the nest into a pickle jar, poke a few holes in the lid and watch the wasps hatch. You know, to make this an even MORE interesting homeschool blog. But to get it out of the window area without opening the window meant the nest looked more like a pancake than a thing of beauty (to be admired from afar).