Monday

Remember the problem that I had with my back/leg?  Well, it's basically gone, except for when I first get up in the morning for a little while.  There is one other thing, though, that sets it off, and it's strange.  In fact, the first time it happened I didn't believe it, but it's occurred a handful of times since then, and now I'm sure.  I get terrible leg pain...like kicked by a horse in the back of my right thigh...every time I'm really upset.  Is that the weirdest thing ever or what?

The first time it happened I was mad at Drew about something, and he and I were talking.  Suddenly my leg started aching so badly that I could barely stand there and finish the conversation.  I toughed it out and didn't say or show anything, and then afterward I went into my bedroom, shut the door, and whimpered my way into the fetal position in bed.

Yesterday it happened again, because Mike and I, who hardly ever have big arguments anymore and haven't for years, got into it about, of all things, his snoring.  (I know that's a ridiculous thing to be mad at someone for, but in my defense I was exhausted.)  I had to conduct most of my side of our disagreement crouched on the floor, because my leg was killing me.  lol  Sigh.  I'm such a freak.

I'm like someone with an old war wound that can be used to foretell the weather, except mine is way less practical.

Sunday

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra show was amazing!!!  Parts were breath-taking, parts were ridiculously over-the-top, parts were beautiful...it was just incredible.  If you ever get a chance to see them, you should.  To give you a quick run-down:

• there was fire
• there were lasers
• part of the stage lifted up and out over the audience, like two arms reaching
• and, of course, the music was cool

Here's a video I found on Facebook of one of the neatest songs they did.  You can see both the moving stage and the fire in this.

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Yesterday Baylee and I were getting ready to run a quick errand to the store, where she was planning to buy a couple things for herself, and we had this conversation...

Baylee:  Shoot, I'm going to have to pay with all ones.  I'll look like a stripper.

Me:  Baylee!!  How do you even know about that?!

Baylee:  Who doesn't know about that?

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So I did one lesson so far in the French textbook.  The way it works is that there's a lesson, then an expansion, which teaches more in depth about things having to do with that lesson, then a bunch of exercises.  And, like I said, everything is in French.  For instance, I got up to a part with these directions:

Regardez, ecoutez et lisez.  Relisez le paragraphe et inscrivez sur la ligne la lettre qui correspond a la bonne response. 

And I understood it!  (It's not that hard, to be honest.) I'm finding it all pretty fun, but sometimes I have to pause the audio CD (because the entire textbook is also on a set of CDs, so that not only are you reading it yourself, but you're hearing it read by native French speakers.) just to give my brain a chance to catch its breath.  All this French coming at me nonstop makes me feel like I'm on the verge of being lost about a quarter of the time.  The introduction at the beginning of the book actually said not to worry about that.  It said to read/listen for overall comprehension, and not to get hung up on individual words, but it's hard for me to do that.  Hopefully I relax into it as I get farther along.

Random Things on my Mind

The other day a memory from my in-home caregiver days came back to me.  Before I tell it to you, though, I want to reiterate (because I've said it before) that I really loved that job.  I met so many wonderful elderly and/or disabled people, and for the most part they made it very fulfilling work.  However, there were a few clients who just weren't that lovable.  The one I remembered was somewhere in between.  She was friendly and kind, and she made the best eggplant, but at the same time she was...well...eccentric.

One time she was convinced that someone had planted an explosive device on her furnace. I went down, checked it out, and there was nothing there, but I still thought I should mention it to my boss.  I thought I had done my part as a caregiver by doing that, but the next time I had to work with that woman she sat me down on the couch and reamed me out.  "Suzy!  [She called me Suzy.]  I'm so disappointed that you shared what I told you!  Now I can't trust you!"  She went on for about a half an hour, and the whole time I knew that I'd actually done the right thing, but on the outside I was saying, "Okay, yes.  I see.  I'm sorry.  I thought I was helping."  Sigh.  lol  At least she wasn't boring.

Mike and I are going to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert tonight!  I'm excited!  We've loved them for years and years, and we always get their Christmas albums.  To see them live is going to be amazing.

Drew put his hair in a ponytail in order to work with Red earlier this week, and it actually stayed and looked good.  I have no idea why it took so long...3 years, I think?...for him to be able to wear it like that, but there it is.

For the first time in ages...years, possibly...I ran across someone who asked the "socialization" question.  That is, "Aren't you hurting your kids by not letting them go to school and be socialized?"  In fact, her exact question was, "But don't you at least let them go to the school dances???"  LOL  She meant well, I'm sure, but it surprised me, especially because she was specifically talking about Baylee.  It's obvious that she doesn't know Baylee at all, or she'd never wonder about that.  Baylee is a social butterfly who gets along with adults, children, and kids her own age.  She's always been the kind of person who can make friends in any situation.  She's an ambassador.

Decorating

We got a new Christmas tree!  Last year our poor old tree was shedding its artificial needles like it was a real one that I forgot to water, so it was time.  The really cool thing, though, is that this new one is Zach's Christmas present to the family.  It's the nicest tree I've ever had, too.  It's beautiful.  I love that gracious, giving guy.

I ended up decorating it by myself, because the girls finally realized, after years of doing it, that putting ornaments on the tree isn't all that fun.  LOL  Dang it.  I had such a good thing going there, too.

2011

2013

2014

2015  ~ The year the punks hung up one ornament each, then decided to play Monopoly instead.

Thanksgiving, 2015

We had a fun, relaxing Thanksgiving over at Patty's house.  It was a great day with lots of delicious food and, most importantly, family.  Love them.

But first, look how well my pumpkin roll turned out!  I didn't want a repeat of last time, so I approached it with the precision of a brain surgeon.  

And here are a few pics from today.  Patty had a friend join us, a nice woman named Marlene, but I didn't get any good pictures of her, unfortunately.   In fact, even some of these are kind of blurry.  That's what I get for lazily using my phone camera instead of getting out the real one.

Wednesday

Baylee and I are the only ones home today, which is kind of nice.  It's quiet.  Mike and Zach are at work, as usual, but Drew's also working.  He got a call from Red...remember Red?...inviting him to help with some landscaping work that Red does on the side.

For me today is about cooking and baking for Thanksgiving.  We're going to Patty's, and I'm taking dinner rolls, sweet potato casserole (truly the best way on earth to eat sweet potatoes, and by far the best thing I make.  Seriously, the recipe for this casserole may be my legacy.), and a pumpkin roll.  And if the pumpkin roll fails, as it did last time, I may or may not swear, I'll possibly cry, and then I'll pick up a couple pies from the grocery store and call it good.

I finished the "listening only" portion of Learnables French 2, and now I'm on the final part:  the textbook.  It's kinda weird and cool, isn't it, that you have to do a school year and a half in this program before you ever encounter a textbook and have to do any writing?  I love it.  Their reasoning is that they want you to have heard and read countless hours of French before you try to write it yourself.  That way you're already very used to the way it sounds and looks.  Anyway, it should be fun.  Except for an introduction in English explaining how the textbook is to be used, the entire thing is in French.  And every exercise you do and question you answer has to be in French, too.

 

Tuesday

Here's an interesting insight into the way the French think:

• Their word for their job, the place they go to work, is "travail."
• And their word for "vacation" is always plural.  You don't just take a vacation; you take vacations.  You take "les vacances."

Last night Mike wanted me to see a new video by Weird Al about people who make a lot of grammar mistakes.  I watched it and it's cute and everything, but, as I told Mike, I fully expect to be forwarded 15 links to it on Facebook over the next few weeks.  Why?  Because everyone has this idea that I'm some sort of Grammar Nazi.  I don't get it.  Yeah, I like good grammar, and I do usually notice bad grammar, but I don't go around correcting people. That's not my style.  So why am I the go-to Grammar Nerd Meme Recipient?

I'll give you an example of how capable I am of keeping my mouth shut when it comes to this.  A couple days ago a friend of mine on Facebook wrote about one football player feeling confident about handing "the reigns" over to  another football player when he retires.  I saw it, and even though a part of me mentally cried, "For the love!  Haven't you ever seen Pa driving the wagon on Little House on the Prairie???  It's 'reins,' foo'!" I kept it to myself.

Monday

The kids talked me into taking the whole week off for Thanksgiving break.  I wasn't a hard sell.

Sometimes I hear Michel Thomas' voice in my head when I'm trying to figure something out in French.  Like today I drew a blank on the words "Je vais."  They mean "I'm going," and I knew that, but it just wasn't coming to me.  Anyway, as I was staring at them, I suddenly remembered Michel saying, "Je vais! [/juh vay/]  I'm on my way!"  He has a bunch of little rhymes and tricks like that to help you remember.

Speaking of not remembering stuff, the other day Baylee and I had this conversation, which just goes to show why I probably wouldn't make a good teacher in an actual school...

Her [doing the same sort of basic algebra problem that she's done a million times]:  I don't remember how to do this.  I'm having a brain fart.

Me:  Brain fart?  That's more than a brain fart!  Your brain pooped its pants!

(Good thing she loves me!)

I have some news about Zach.  For different reasons (and after months of thought), he decided that the airplane gear shop wasn't the place for him, and he quit.  Immediately, though, he got work back at the bike shop where he was employed when he was in high school.  This bike shop is sort of unique, in that they build their own custom brand right there on-site.  They have a storefront, but then downstairs they have...I guess you could say it's kind of a little factory...where they have all the machinery.  That's where Zach is, and he's really happy.

 

Looking into the Future

Baylee:  "I can't wait to be pregnant."

Me:  "Please be married first."

Baylee:  "I will.  But I just really can't wait to be pregnant for one reason.  When people look at my stomach and say, 'Aww, is it a boy or a girl?'  I'm going to say, 'What?!  I'm not pregnant!' [laughs loudly to herself]  Oh, man, that's gonna be priceless."   

Saturday

Man, Duolingo is a tough taskmaster.  I went one day without doing it, and you should've seen the amount work it made me do to bring my strength bars back up.    Holy cow.  It makes sense, though.  I saw somewhere that the secret to learning a new language is simply that you have to put in the time every single day.  It doesn't even have to be a lot of time.  A half an hour a day, every day, will get you to fluency.  It's about being consistent.

(Maybe you're wondering why I care so much about my progress on a phone app.  It's because I've had a ton of growth since I started using it, both in overall vocab and in spelling.)

I mentioned this briefly a few days ago, but Drew is in a new band with some friends of his.  They named themselves Morrow.  (I don't know.)  Drew has done this a few times now and it's petered out, and perhaps this one will, too, but maybe it won't.  They seem more serious, somehow.  Drew and Trevor, especially, are putting a ton of effort into it.  They Skype almost every night, writing music.  Then on Saturdays the whole band meets to play.  The thing is, they're not bad.  They're pretty good!  They've recorded an EP, which they want to put on disks and give away as advertising for themselves.  Anyway, we'll see what happens.  If nothing else, it's grabbed hold of Drew's mind, and it's keeping him focused in a really positive way.  

Friday!

This is turning into the most wonderful day.  I thought it was going to be busy, but plans changed one by one, and now it's almost clear sailing.  I LOVE quiet, peaceful days.  Plus the sun is shining brightly!

This morning  I was orally quizzing Baylee in Biology, in order to help her study for an upcoming test.  I said, "What's the heat-sensing organ used to find prey called?"

She answered correctly, "The pit."

Then I got curious.  "What kind of animal has that?"

"Umm...a pitbull?"

Sigh.  (It's a snake.)

Thursday

Yesterday in my French story an overweight man looked at his overweight wife and said, "You're fat.  Very fat."

And she looked back at him and replied, "So are you."

I don't know about you, but I find that to be a really engrossing story line.  ( Get it?  Because the word "gros" means "fat" in French? *grin*  I'm here 'til Friday.  Try the veal.)

Speaking of, I woke up in the middle of the night last night sort of stressed out, because I dreamed that my alarm was a woman speaking in French, and I was afraid I might not understand her and wake up on time.

Today's the day Drew goes to the orthodontist and they do whatever they need to do to make a retainer for him to wear at night.  Then next time we go his braces come off!  It may not seem like it's been long, but he'll have had braces on for over 2 years when all is said and done.  I hope his teeth end up looking good.  A couple weeks ago Baylee, Drew, and I had this little conversation about it:

Me:  Is it me or do Drew's teeth look smaller somehow?
Baylee:  They do!
Drew:  I'm not gonna lie.  I thought the same thing.

Then we all laughed, but the truth is that his teeth do look smaller now that they're all nice and straight.  It's like they shrunk.  I mean, of course, they didn't, but...

Wednesday

I'm really proud of Baylee today, because she took a difficult test on verbs (It covered action/linking, transitive/intransitive, active/passive, and tricky verb pairs.) and she aced it!  She got 100%.  We gave each other a big high five over her success.  This is actually her second 100% in a row, as she got one yesterday on a Bible test.  I think she's realized the amount of work she has to put into studying in high school, which is different and more than in junior high, and now there will be no stopping her. 

Speaking of Baylee's English class, the next section involves reading the book Swiss Family Robinson, which can be tedious, but I hope she likes it.

That reminds me.  Drew and I are about halfway through Frankenstein.  (He's listening to an an expressive old guy read it to him on an audio book, and I'm reading a paperback.)  I recommend it!  It's a fairly quick read, and it's surprisingly different than anything you think you know about the story.  In fact, the textbook for the British Lit course we're using introduces it this way:

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the original telling of the story, one will not find a hunchbacked sidekick, nor grisly details of body parts and desecrated graves, nor great detail of bizarre, futuristic scientific equipment.  Also missing is "Dr. Frankenstein" himself; Victor Frankenstein was a student when he created the creature.  Young Victor claims to have philanthropic intentions; he is certainly no mad scientist.  Further inaccuracies in the celluloid versions include the personage of the creature.  He is nothing of the slow-witted, creaking, ponderous fellow of movie fame; instead, he speaks eloquently and pointedly.  This synthesis of monstrosity and intellect instill in the reader a much wider array of feelings toward the monster than simply fear or disgust.  While such obtuse details may make for popular filmography, they utterly diminish the entire point of Shelley's great work.  If you have ever seen any of the movies made about the monster, forget them now.  You are about to read the original, the story as it was meant to be known, a story chilling in its possibilities and its indictments.  (Learning Language Arts through Literature ~ British Literature, page 40)

Give it a try!  You can get it really cheap on Amazon.

Tuesday

I'm still listening to French stories every day, and I'm understanding them, and that's giving me such a feeling of accomplishment.  I've wanted to learn another language since high school, so to be finally doing it is wonderful.

Do you know what I'm looking forward to, though?  I'm excited for the day when I don't have to painstakingly translate what I hear into English in my mind.  I can't wait to just "get it," you know?  I mean, yes, I do automatically understand a lot of French now, but there's still a lot I have to think through.  For instance, I'm constantly pausing the stories to mentally rehash what was just said.  The problem for me right now is the structure, because in some ways it's different than English.  Like, they put pronouns in front of verbs.  To give you an example, we say, "He gave me the apple," whereas they say the equivalent of, "He me gave the apple."  It's hard to wrap my head around, especially when I'm hearing it and not reading it, because it goes by so quickly.

Anyway, you guys are probably sick to death of me talking about this.  Sorry.  lol

Learning Stuff

Even though it's the weekend, a surprising amount of learning was done.  For one thing, Baylee did her first dissection of the year:  a frog.

Here she is opening up the vacuum-sealed bag of specimens.  All but the frog were put into a Rubbermaid container and stored in the fridge.

And here she's following along with her video teacher.

She's been excited to do dissections for years, because she watched her older brothers do them.  Now that it's finally her turn, though, she's discovered that...drumroll...she hates it.  lol  She realized that as soon as she had to cut open and spread apart the skin and muscle layers.  Oh well.  She's going to continue to dissect over the course of the year, whether she likes it or not.  I already bought, like, 8 or 9 different dead animals, dang it.

Another thing that's been happening lately, including this weekend, is that Drew and a couple of his friends have been writing and recording music.  In fact, one of their band's songs even got played on a radio station in Poland.  The songs aren't completely polished (haha) yet, but the boys are excitedly working on it.

Finally, I finished the grammar section of French 2 and moved into the listening section.  I like it!  So far I've heard a fairly long story, all in French.  I'll give you a synapsis:

Once there was a man who was eating dinner in his home, when a thief broke in.  The thief demanded the man give him all his money, and, to add insult to injury, he also ate the man's spaghetti dinner.  Finally the thief had to make an escape, because his mask accidentally fell off.  The man called the police, and they took him down to the station to look at a line-up.  The man picked out the thief, got his money back, then left to go to a restaurant, where several things went wrong.  For instance, things were spilled on him and a bird flew in the window and perched on his head.  The waiter wasn't that helpful, either.  All he did was take the bird off the guy's head and put it on the table.  Furious, the man left and went back home, only to encounter a second thief.  This one was stealing his silver cutlery.  This time the thief demanded that the man take off all his clothes except for his underwear (I promise you.  That's what happened.  I think the point was that the thief didn't want to be followed.  Or maybe it was just to teach me the words for "undershirt" and "underpants."), and, when the man complied, the thief laughed at him.  The man had finally had enough, so he knocked the thief over the head with a wine bottle.  The End

I have no idea who's writing these stories, but I'm entertained but their total oddness.

Saturday

So I've been messing with Duolingo in my spare moments, and I really like it.  Duolingo is like playing a game, except you're actually learning something.  Also, I didn't realize this when I talked about it last time, but one of it's neatest features is that every skill you pass has a "strength bar," which goes down over time.  In order to keep your strength up in all the different areas, you have to periodically go back and do little reviews.  That's such a great idea!  It keeps everything fresh.

I'm still going through my backbone program, Learnables French 2, as well.  In fact, I'm really close to being finished with the grammar section, and then I'll get to move into the second part, which is all about listening.  I'll be doing nothing but hearing little story lines (at a level higher than French 1), and I'll have to follow along with some pictures, but no words.  I'm looking forward to it, because I've started to realize that my reading of French is far outstripping my listening of it.  I want to even it out.

This past week Drew and I started Frankenstein as part of his British Lit course.  So far I like the book and Drew's putting up with it.  lol  I will say that the story is nothing like any of the movies.  There's no big, stupid, greenish monster with bolts in his neck and a square head.

Speaking of that, one time, awhile back, Mike bought himself new shoes for work.  When he got home he put them on, showed them to me, and asked me what I thought.  I stared for a second, then said, "Well...don't you think they're a little bit...Herman Munster-ish?"  He didn't agree and was sort of offended, but the real point is that he understood the reference.

Friday

Last night Mike and I were talking about the adult foster care home where we worked several years ago...

Me:  What was the name of that one resident?  The really short one?

Mike:  ...

Me:  He had CP.

Mike: ...

Me:  The head of his bed had to be propped up so he could breathe at night.

Mike:  ...

Me:  He had curly, black hair.

Mike:  ...

Me:  You had to wipe him.

Mike: [calls out guy's name]

Me:  Really?  That's what rang a bell?

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Yesterday someone I know on Facebook linked to a little article about a straight guy who was hit on by a gay guy at a wedding.  Well, not hit on exactly.  The gay guy just gave the straight guy his phone number.  Anyway, it included this text conversation they had the next day:

It reminds me of something that happened to Drew not too long ago.  He was at a SoR show, and he was out in the audience.  Another boy his age came up to him, they started to talk, and they discovered that they had a lot in common.  Most of all they both liked guitars.  After quite a bit of conversation between the two of them, the other boy said, "You're cute.  Do you want to go out sometime?"

After a split second of surprise, Drew replied, "You're cute, too, but I'm straight."

The boy was able to take it in stride, because Drew was gracious.

Back Update

Every day now my back is getting noticeably better.  In fact, the last pain hold-outs, which happened during the night and when I first got up in the morning, are about 90% improved.  I'm so, so glad.  I told Mike last night that the difference between living with significant pain day after day, month after month, and then not having (much) pain is like the difference between being nine months pregnant and then having the baby.  The contrast is extraordinary.

Thank you, Lord.

French Stuff

I discovered something really cool! (Well, I've known about it for awhile, but I just downloaded it yesterday.)  It's called Duolingo, and it's a free language-learning app, with lots of different languages to choose from.  Here's an advertisement for it...

I've been messing with it for hours because we took the day off for the holiday, and it's good.  I recommend it.  The only thing is that, in my opinion, it moves a little too fast as a stand alone method. I strongly suggest using a different program as your backbone, and then using Duolingo as a way to quiz yourself on what you already have a decent handle on.

Speaking of French, today I was randomly thinking about how French people answer the question, "What's your name?"

They say, "Je m'appelle [insert your name here]."

Well, "Je m'appelle" literally translates to "I call myself."  In other words, if  I was a French person and you asked me what my name is, I would answer, "I call myself Sue."

Is that weird or what?  If you said that in America people would start to wonder if they were dealing with a kook.  They'd be like, "Uh...okay.  But what's your actual name?  What did your mother put on your birth certificate?"

In other ways, though, the French language surprises me with how polite and passionate it is.  For instance, one of the main, most common ways to say "I'm sorry," is "Je suis désolé," which means "I am desolate." Interesting, huh?

Sunday

Baylee and Rachel are starting their second game of Monopoly in one day, and I just overheard this from them...

Baylee:  I'm never going to forget how you won that first game with grace, patience, and love.
Rachel:  [giggle]

Hmm.  I'm sensing some friendly sarcasm there, aren't you?

So you know how the French use the word "derriere" for "butt?"  Well, today I found out that it doesn't really mean that...or, at least, it doesn't mean just that.  It means "behind."  So you could say, "Le garcon est derriere la barriere," which is, "The boy is behind the fence."

I'm listening to Pandora right now and "Sweet Child O' Mine" just came on.  I happened to look at the beginning of Pandora's description of the band Guns N' Roses, and I read this:

At a time when pop was dominated by dance music and pop-metal, Guns N' Roses brought raw, ugly rock & roll crashing back into the charts. They were not nice boys; nice boys don't play rock & roll. They were ugly...

Tsk.  Speak for yourself.  Axl was adorable back then.  He looked like my brother.

Axl Rose in his 20's...

   
My brother in his 20's...

 

Saturday

Yesterday out of the blue Baylee told me that I'm slacking on my blog.  She said she comes on here once a week or so, expecting to have lots of stuff to read, and lately there are only three or four entries.  Ingrate!  lol  After that we segued into the following conversation...

Baylee:  What if I started a blog, but it was secret and you didn't know about it?
Me:  I'd be sad, because I'd love to read what you have to say.  Plus I'd wonder what you were hiding.
Baylee:  Don't worry; I wouldn't do that.  I'm a very open person.
Me:  Yeah, I know.  Actually, sometimes I wish you'd hide things a little bit more.

Then we laughed, because we both know that she can be an over-sharer.  She definitely didn't inherit my easily-embarrassed Dutch sensibilities.

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Yesterday at physical therapy an elderly English woman came in as a patient, and she and her therapist went to the area right next to where I was, so I could hear them clearly.  Her therapist said, "How can I help you today?  Where is your pain?"

The old woman, in her awesome English accent, replied, "I don't have any pain."

"Well, why are you here?"

"I don't know, do I?  I came because I have a cold!"

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I learned way back in French 1 that a woman's dress is called a "robe" in French.  Today, though, I found out that a bathrobe, for either men or women, is called a "robe de chambre," which means "dress of the chamber."  Literally, it's a dress that you wear in the bedroom.

Friday

"Sometimes I low-key feel like you're my little brother."  ~Baylee, to Drew this morning

1. When he heard that he smiled and accepted it.
2. "Low key" is their way of saying "kind of."  I'm not sure if all the kids are saying it like that these days, or if it's a SoR thing.

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Today I happened to be in the room while Baylee was taking a French test on plurals in the Learnables program.  The way it works is that they put three or four pictures of different things...sometimes only slightly different...up on the screen, and then they show in writing and say aloud a sentence in French.  You have five seconds to choose the picture that goes with what they're saying.  It can be a little nerve wracking.

Anyway, after the test was over Baylee and I got to talking about how we wish they wouldn't do sound effects with some of the pictures during the lessons.  Like every time they talk about airports or airplanes they do an "airplane taking off" sound.  And every time they show people eating or drinking, they do chewing and swallowing sounds.  We both hate it.  Oh, I just thought of the worst one.  It's when they were teaching the word "dormer," which is "to sleep."  They showed different people in the family sleeping, including the pets, and all of them had unique snoring sounds.  Ugh!

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Rachel often comes over for lunch on weekdays (because she goes to the high school across the street), and she happens to be here right now.  I just heard her say to the dog, who's eyeing her sandwich, "Don't even think about it.  We'll fight."

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I had my 2nd physical therapy appointment this morning.  It went well!  In fact, I'm making such good progress that he told me that after next week I don't have to see him again for two weeks.  Woo hoo!  I hate going there.  


 

Thursday

The other day I was thinking about the teaching style of Michel Thomas...about how he forces you to speak in French from day one, and how that makes you get comfortable with the language quickly...and I realized that I had a teacher sort of like that in college.  His name was Dr. Dewitt, and one of the things he used to do was start every class with what he called "recitation."  That meant that he would question us about the homework we were supposed to have done, and we were supposed to "recite," which meant answer.  You never knew if or when you might be called on or what you might be asked, so it was best to be prepared.  This was bad enough in a large (for Bible college) class of 25-30, but one time I had him as a teacher of a class of only 3 students.  I'm telling you right now, I never worked so hard as I did then.  There was simply nobody to hide behind!  Every time we met we would go through that whole recitation thing, and, since there were just the 3 of us, we'd all have to answer multiple times.  It was hard, but I learned a ton, and that class turned out to be one of my favorites of all my 4 years there.

When I took this picture Drew should've been doing chemistry and Baylee should've been doing algebra, but all that had to be put off for awhile, because, as they put it, "it was the championship round."

Yesterday I was in my room folding some laundry, when "WHAM!"  Something hit the window.  I looked out the French doors and there was a robin lying on the patio, dying.  It was pretty awful.  The poor little thing was struggling to breathe and just really, really not doing okay.  Then I looked up to where it hit and there was blood and...I don't know...matter of some kind...smeared on the glass.  All that said...

Reason 1,098,345 why I love being married:  When Mike got home from work he took care of the dead bird and hosed the window down. 

Sweep Picking

Yesterday Drew put this little demonstration of something called sweep picking on Instagram, and he got likes from lots of different guitar players around the world.  That was pretty encouraging for him!

#sweeppicking #shredding #economypicking #guitar #riffwars

A video posted by Drew (@frenchtoastistasty) on Nov 3, 2015 at 12:56pm PST

Monday

I used to get a kick out of the way Baylee seemed to get totally into those video classes that she did in 5th grade, as if they were happening in real time.  Like the day she finished doing a history class, and she came out to excitedly tell me that Mrs. Walker had gotten a haircut.  lol  It turns out the joke's on me, though, because I find myself doing the same thing with the Michel Thomas Total French program.  (I'm going through it again.)   The way it's set up, he's got two students, a man and a woman, who aren't actors.  They're real people learning the language for the first time.  And you, the listener, are the "third student."  It sounds a little silly, but it works.  Not only do you learn from Michel's teaching, but you pick up stuff from the man and woman's questions and mistakes.  Anyway, I find myself talking to them all the time.  Today I got annoyed with the guy student for being especially stupid, and I loudly told him, "Come on!  That's disk one stuff!"

In other completely random news, yesterday Baylee and Rachel painted a moose, which Baylee plans to hang on her bedroom wall.

  

Thinking about Habit

You know how they say that it takes 21 days to form a habit?  Well, I don't believe that's true.  Or, at least, it's not true for me.  For me it takes much, much longer.  I think back to when I first decided to floss my teeth every day, and it's clear that a true habit wasn't formed until I'd done it for...shoot...a year?  Maybe longer.  Up until that point I sort of low-level hated it every evening.  Now, a couple years later, I'm finally to the point where it drives me crazy not to do it.

Anyway, I'm getting to a point, and it's this:  I want to reach that same place, where it bugs me to not do the right thing, with both my diet and with learning French.  It's going to take a long time I'm realizing.  I'm going to have to be uncomfortable for ages.  That's just the way it's got to be.

I haven't mentioned this yet, but for months and months I've had two goals for 2015.  The first was to complete one level of French, and I've already done that.  Mission accomplished.  The second is to get down to within my healthy weight range (even the top of the range is good for now) and I'm on track to make that happen by the end of December.  Man, if I accomplish this...if I don't give up...I'm going to be on top of the world.  I just have to remind myself that it's not going to magically become natural anytime soon, and I just have to do it anyway.