Big Changes

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

So there we were… living in town, dreaming of the country.  Looking at houses nearly every week, and coming home depressed because either the house was impossible or the land was.

And then – BAM!  New house!  Lightening fast closing!  Right in the middle of the homeschool conference, and just before the final piano studio recital.

The week after the recital we spent getting ready to move.  Even the Moose wanted to help.

I don’t normally let him play with sharp objects.  But he wanted to help SO MUCH.  I got the picture and then took it away.

The house was chaos while we got ready to move.  I haven’t moved since 2000!  The amount of stuff coming out of the woodwork was incredible.

Now we’re trying to sort out what we want to keep, what we want to toss, and what we want to pass on to others.  I suspect we’re going to be unpacking boxes for quite some time.

But – it’s worth it.  Especially when I get to see scenes like these:

Natter pulling the others in the goat pasture with his great-grandpa’s garden cart.

Natter and Rosebud pulling apart an old stump in what will eventually be the backyard.  Note the helmets!  Safety First!

Yesterday we did math at the kitchen table, and I unpacked boxes in between helping with division and fractions.  The pellet stove – soon to be a wood stove – had a fire merrily burning in the corner, and the rain pelted down outside.  The kids went biking in the rain and exploring in the woods for half an hour and got thoroughly soaked.  We drank cocoa on the porch swing and listened to the birds and the train whistle off in the valley, miles away.

I love living in the country!

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Busy, busy…

Posted on May 13, 2012 by

Sorry, no pics again – but I found the computer, and that’s a minor miracle in itself.

We moved yesterday – lock, stock and barrel!  Big thank-yous to the Z family, the Jns family, M & E, and Fred!  We absolutely could not have done it without you.

The major lifesavers for me were also the D family, who took Natter, Rosebud and the Moose for the entire day.  I love you!!

The Stch family loaned us a pickup; the Jdn family loaned us a trailer, and the Z’s rented another trailer…andwe had a 26 foot U-haul.  Somehow, nearly everything made it out in one load.  I have no idea how… but Mr. Z’s packing ability played a major part there.

Now we are cleaning up the old house, getting it ready to sell.  The goal is to have it ready to go on the market by this weekend.  I’ll get pics posted once the detritus has been cleared, and the last walls painted.

The Jcb family helped with packing – as did my parents – and the CZ did at least half the work.  I need a teenager.  I am so grateful to everyone who loaned me theirs!

Back to the scrubbing – more updates to come!

 

 

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… and then it poured.

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

Awhile back, we had brakes and lights installed on our little 5×8 utility trailer.  The trailer shop we went to did a horrible job – although it took us awhile to realize it, because if we knew anything about wiring a trailer and van up, we’d have done ourselves.

Finally, a good friend who is also an experienced mechanic, told us that – no, it really wasn’t us, it was the poor job – and to take it back and have them fix it.

Mr. Caffeinated called the shop over a week ago and explained the problem.  He also told them that we’re moving soon, and that we really needed the trailer up and operational.

They said they couldn’t get us in until today.  So Mr. Caffeinated took the van and trailer in, bright and early.

That’s when they said, “Oh… we don’t do electrical work anymore.  Haven’t in months.  Too much liability.  Why don’t you take it to some guy we recommend that’s an additional half hour away?  [and in the wrong direction]”

!  !  !

At the moment, we don’t have a trailer with lights OR brakes… and the van won’t work with any OTHER trailer either, since the system on it is dysfunctional as well.

So Mr. Caffeinated came home.  I took the van to the chiropractor’s, and decided to gas up on the way home.

Except… my credit card wouldn’t work.  Which makes no sense.  We pay it off every month; we have excellent credit.  I mean, we just got a mortgage, and in this market!

Mr. Caffeinated called the credit card company, Citibank.  Turns out there was someone using our credit card number at a couple of arcades yesterday, so they froze the account.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m glad they have anti-theft software and can catch these sorts of things early.  But couldn’t they have called and let me know, rather than me having a gas attendant treat me like I was either (a) clueless and (b) a criminal for using a defunct card?

The account is now closed.

I called a friend to vent… and she had the exact same thing happen this past weekend as well!  But, since she had a card with a different company, they called her.

About the time I was REALLY feeling sorry for myself, I found out that Mrs. H, who was just moved by the Navy across the country (literally coast to coast), at 7 ½ months pregnant, had her stuff finally delivered (weeks late) – and they destroyed her chest freezer and her nice grill.  The movers were drunk.  Every piece of furniture was scratched and bunged up.  They claimed they received the freezer in that condition.  (Really?!  Squashed flat, walls broken, seal ruined?)  They took out a cable line with their truck as a grand finale.

I guess I don’t have it all that bad after all.

Back to packing…

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The Final Piano Recital

Posted on May 6, 2012 by

It’s done!  The piano recital has gone off, without a hitch – which is a minor miracle, considering that only Natter had his piece completely down yesterday.

Everyone did well.  We even got to hear from my apprentice and her student – also her brother – which made it even more fun.  I guess you could say that I have a grand-student?

Here is Natter, playing “Making Mischeif” by Leaf

Rosebud, playing “Deep in the Woods” by Vandall

The Moose, enduring all of this music making with *some* patience.

… and me, forcing the crowd to endure my version of Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in g minor.”

There were a lot of heartfelt farewells, as this is my final recital with this group of students.  In a few short days… we move!!

Many thanks to Mrs. J from church, who took these pictures and many more on her phone!

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Time Zone: Homeschool

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

We tend to be a night-owl family, rather than an early-bird variety.  I work in the afternoons, and so dinner tends to be a bit later than average.

The kids can stay up late, because we’d rather they sleep in late and let us get some beauty rest.  We need it.  (Of course, some of this will be changing with the new farm!)

I hadn’t realized how much our kids’ assumptions about ‘normal life’ time had been warped by us until I was correcting Rosebud’s math today:

Yep, that all looks about right for our house.

Sally must be some neighbor kid, ’cause school doesn’t start here until well after 8:00 AM, and is done well before 8:00 PM.

Usually…

 

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Safety First

Posted on April 23, 2012 by

We’re very safety-conscious around here.  Especially when it affords the opportunity to don cool headgear.

An ascension to the heights, for example, is a splendid opportunity to sport the latest in padded plastic head armor.

A ride in a sports-car might conceivably end in a situation warranting protective headgear.  Although I submit that, given that the driver is Grandpa D – a former professional limousine chauffeur with many years of experience, that the likelihood of such devastation is unlikely.

But – I fail to see the inherent risks that would lead three children to conclude that a quiet afternoon’s diversion in a sandbox would make helmets an utter necessity.

I’m told that there is an ad or a video that is showing up at the end of this post.  Please know that it’s nothing that I’ve put there or have anything to do with; it’s the cost of having a free blog.  If there’s any advertising or video on this site, and I haven’t specifically referred to it in my post, then please discount it as being something that I have no interest in and have not asked for or promoted in any way.

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Variations upon a Theme

Posted on April 23, 2012 by

What do you get when you cross a homeschool mom with young children with a music geek?

There’s probably a pretty pithy answer to that… but given that I tend to the magniloquent, I’ll go the route of illumination.

Every mom has warbled countless renditions of the old standard, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”  The English poets Ann and Jane Taylor created the words we all know, and set them to the French tune “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” back in 1906.

And that was after Mozart beat the poor theme to death in 1782, with his Twelve Variations, which are well-known if not well-beloved by all of us serious piano geeks.

To lighten my mood in the Hour of Packing, Mr. Caffeinated has introduced me to yet another variation upon the theme:

The yuppie version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.

“Scintillate, scintillate, globule orific
How I conjecture your nature specific
Way above in the ethereal stratosphere
Like a giant gem carbonaceous.

When torrid Phoebus refuses his presence
And ceases to lamp with fierce incandescence
Then you illumine the regions supernal
Scintillate, scintillate, semper nocturnal.

Then the victim of hospiceless peregrination
Gratefully hails your minute coruscation
He could not determine his journey’s direction
But for your bright scintillating protection.”
– Gyles Brandreth, “The Joy of Lex”

I had to go look up the original lyrics – so, for your delectation and translation, they are thusly:

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.”

I didn’t have a lovely star photo to end with, but I will share this view of the moon that I so enjoyed over a vineyard last summer. (Because, you know, every blog must have the obligatory photograph.)

G’nite!

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