French

The good news is that I'm almost finished with French 3!  (I'll finish this weekend.)  The other good news is that I received Advanced French, which is the next level in the Learnables program, in the mail today!  The bad news is that I looked at it and tried the first reading, and it's hard.  Gulp.  It's just so dang fast.  I had to listen to it over and over and keep pausing it in order for the all the words to sink into my mind.  Luckily it's not too long.  Here it is:

 And here's the translation to the best of my ability:

Jacques is on vacation in the countryside at his grandfather's house.  Their house is in the woods.  Jacques must not go alone into the woods.  One day, while his grandfather isn't there, Jacques goes into the forest.  As he sinks into the forest, a bear appears suddenly.  When he sees the bear, Jacques takes his legs to his neck and flees.  Jacques runs as fast as he can, but the bear is stuck to his heels.  The bear follows step by step.

PS:  I like the part about taking his legs to his neck.  lol  It must be a French figure of speech.  It definitely gives a good mental picture!

Wednesday

The weather is so beautiful today that we've got the windows open.  It's truly spring, and not the rainy, yucky kind, but the balmy, flowery kind.

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I talked to Mike about my pet peeve (see yesterday's post), and he said that it's not just me being inhospitable.  It's actually annoying.  He also said that it's possibly a Seattle thing.  The more I think about it, the more I think he may be right.  I can't remember it ever happening in Michigan.  In Michigan, if people want to get together with you, they say something like, "Hey, I haven't seen you and your family in ages!  Why don't you guys come over to our house for dinner on Friday?"  Here, though, it's often not like that.  People express interest, but then they throw the whole issue into your lap.  I'll give you another example:

I know a woman who has a daughter around Baylee's age.  More than once she's called me and said, "Boy, my daughter really wants to hang out with your daughter!  We should get them together!"

"Okay, sure!" I say.

"Great.  How about an overnight this weekend?"

"That sounds good."

Now she has me, you see.  She knows I'm willing.  She's like a trapdoor spider and I'm like a blissfully ignorant ant.  The trap closes:  "Wonderful!  So should it be at your house or ours?"*

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Yesterday evening Mike made leg of lamb for dinner.  It was his first time trying it, and it turned out perfectly.  He's quite a chef.

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*A couple times...the last couple times before I wised up...she really got me good.  We went through the whole conversation, but at the end, instead of at least giving me the "your house or ours" choice, she cut right to the chase.  "Hey, can it be at your house?  My husband and I want to go out, just the two of us, this weekend."

I'm left agreeing, then hanging up the phone and going, "What just happened???"

Tuesday, Part 2 (AKA Pet Peeve Alert!)

I'm gonna run a scenario by you:

Somebody makes a big fuss about how you haven't seen each other for a long time and how you just really need to get the families together.  So you say, "Yeah, sure!"

And then they say, "Great!  When and where?"

Are they kidding me right now???  They're the one who wanted to do this, but suddenly it's my thing to plan??????

My answer in my 20's and 30's: "Oh...umm...this weekend?  My house?" followed by the irritation and confusion that comes from falling for a bait-and-switch scam.

My answer now that I'm in my 40's:  "Hmm.  No idea!"

(Yes, this post makes me sound like the total Boo Radley that I am.)

Tuesday

It's still morning, and already I've gotten two things done that I wasn't looking forward to:  a dental check-up and a trip to the post office.  The rest of the day is pretty much smooth sailing, even if it is the first day back from spring break.

Speaking of having to go to the dentist, it occurred to me as I was sitting in that chair that getting a cleaning is baaaaaarely worth it.  I HATE doing it.  Like, it's a white-knuckle situation for me.  And it seems like the older I get, the more I feel like saying, "Forget it.  My teeth can fall out."

The sunrise was pretty this morning.

And here's a gratuitous picture of the cat.

Monday

He's starting to ride his motorcycle to different places, and every time he does I lose about a month off my life expectancy.  At least he's humoring me for now, in that he's calling me when he gets to where he's going.  Here's how that conversation went:

Me:  Zach, I know you're twenty and an adult, but would you please let me know when you get there?  It would make me feel so much better.
Him:  Yeah, sure.

He's a nice boy.

Leaving for work this morning...

      

Happy Easter!

This has been a totally low-key holiday, because Mike had to work all weekend.  I put Easter baskets together for the kids...I think this is my last year doing that, btw.  I mean sheesh.  They're getting too old for it...and I'm going to make a nice dinner.

My family in MI is getting together, though.  They sent me this (kinda blurry, but that's okay) picture of my brother, Eric, my sister, Lindsey, and my neice, Addison.

Friday

Me.

Tonight we're going to a Tenebrae service at church, because Baylee's playing drums in it.  Her one job is to do the heartbeat of Jesus in His last moments on the cross. The whole thing...her part and everybody else's...is actually really moving, and this year it's being done completely by the Jr. and Sr. highers at church (with lots of adult supervision and direction).  I'm looking forward to it!  

I Bet You Didn't Know I Could Write a Post About Garlic Fries

There's an awesome fast food restaurant in Seattle called Kid Valley.  They sell amazing burgers and shakes and stuff, but they also have garlic fries.  Garlic fries are absolutely delicious, BUT!!!  They make you and your house (if you get take-out) smell like death.  Seriously.  Death. 

Last night Zach came home with garlic fries, and as soon as he was finished with them I wanted the  container they came in put outside in the bin.  Mike, however, said that the bin was full (pick-up is today) and that it would be fine if we just wrapped it in its own garbage bag, tied it tightly, and put it in the garbage in the kitchen.  Well.  Guess what was a terrible idea.  Our house reeks today!  This morning I made Baylee take the offensive garbage bag within a garbage bag out, I've lit candles, and I've got windows open.  Thank goodness we don't have anybody coming over.

PS:  And when I say "death," I mean the kind where something dies, but then it comes back as a zombie and continues to just spread its stench around.

Wednesday

The guy in the tree finally came down, more than 24 hours later.  Can you believe that?  He spent all night up there!

Baylee and I decided to have our spring break this week, and then, upon making that decision, immediately did a hug/happy-dance thing.  We looked like idiots.   We didn't care.

Tuesday

So, this morning some guy climbed a really tall tree in downtown Seattle and he wouldn't get out of it.  Roads were blocked off, the police and fire department were called, and...nothing.  He didn't want to come down and nobody could get him down.  People were arguing online all day about whether or not he should just be left alone.  For all I know he's still up there.

Only in Seattle.

Morrow News

This morning Drew showed me a review that was done on "Last Light" recently:

Morrow is a very new band that has only been in existence since 2015, that is if you disregard the fact the the project functioned under the Black Tears moniker. The band hails from Seattle, Washington, and is a welcome addition to the ever growing and ever promising USBM that we have today.

"Last Light" is a single the band released digitally in 2016 and is a great indicator of what’s to come from this four member band in the near future. The track spans a little over 9 minutes and takes you to many places and creates many interesting soundscapes throughout its total run time.

I was greeted with an elegant instrumental passage during the first couple of seconds where the acoustic guitar work is masterfully executed and excels in establishing an air of melancholy and desolation. The listener is then treated to a black metal assault commandeered by raspy vocals that grate against your ear drums. The single takes many shapes and forms throughout its duration and is a definite indicator of the fact that Morrow is headed in the right direction.  The riffing is exceptional and the guitar solos are melodic and adept enough to draw your attention, the vocals are raspy and in your face, whilst the drumming is fast and helps give an overall direction to the music.

The only downside I see is the production.  The instruments should’ve been balanced better, but I believe that Morrow will get things together on the production front as time goes by.

Not bad!  The only thing that's not exactly correct about it is that they're actually a five member band.  Right before "Last Light" was made, though, one of the original members, Michael, the bassist, quit.  Drew ended up playing the bass parts on the song, as well as lead guitar.  So for "Last Light" they were a four member band, but now they have a new bassist.  He's a guy in his 20's from the Ukraine, and Drew said he's really good.

Wordless Sunday

Vehicles

We've had a weekend of vehicles over here.  After putting it off for months, Mike finally got a new (to him) car to drive to and from work.  The one he got a couple (few?  I can't remember.) years ago had put in its time and was almost done.  He was afraid it would break down on him at any moment.  Anyway, so here's the new one.  It's a Volkswagen Passat.

And Zach bought himself a motorcycle.  It's a Honda CBR 500R. (I had to ask about that, of course.)  Zachs's very happy.  I'm proud of him, actually, because he handled this totally alone, including making the decision to not quite pay for it outright, but to make payments on a fraction of it in order to build up credit.  My baby is an adult!

Edited to Add:  Mike just gave me this picture that he took of Zach talking to the salesman.

Friday

Yesterday during biology Baylee had a little meltdown.  It didn't actually have anything to do with school; it was about an issue she's having with a friend.  Specifically, it was about being able to set and stick to boundaries.  It was about being able to say "no," even when the person you say it to tries to guilt-trip you.  (PS:  This isn't a sex/cigarettes/beer/drugs story.  It's innocent.)  We ended up putting aside biology for awhile and talking through the whole thing, and finally Baylee felt a lot better.  She put her foot down with the person via a text, and we were able to move on.

What's frustrating for me is that this is something that both Mike and I have had to revisit with Baylee over and over.  The "problem" is that she's a really nice kid and her default is "How can I help?  Let me bend over backwards to make you happy."  That's such a wonderful thing, but over and over again in her life it's gotten her into these situations with jerks (ie other girls) who take advantage of her good nature.  It drives me crazy.  I've had to say some form of, "You need to stand up for yourself!" a million times.  Another one I'm always saying is, "'Let me think about that' and 'No' are legitimate answers that you can give people."

What's a bit ridiculous is that I can dole out good advice all day long, but the truth is I struggle with the same dang thing.  I'm a people-pleaser.  Some of my worst case scenarios involve me feeling like I can't make someone happy no matter what I do.  I wish there was a class people like me could take:  Not Being a Pansy 101.   I'd sign right up.

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By some weird coincidence, right when all this was going on with Baylee, Drew was having his own issue.  There was a new guy driving the city bus Drew takes to get to school, and the guy didn't seem to know what he was doing.  He was more than a half hour late to the bus stop, for starters, then when he finally did get there he was surly.  He didn't understand that the ticket Drew had was from the college, and it meant Drew got to ride for free.  He told Drew to get off.  Now if that was me he was talking to, I would've meekly done what he said, but that's not how Drew handled it.  He looked the guy in the eye and told him, "You will let me ride this bus, and you will give me a transfer pass."  And the guy did!  lol  Apparently Drew's got assertiveness down pat.

Thursday

Yesterday Baylee and I had this conversation out of the blue...

Baylee:  One of my friends said that I have a weirdly good relationship with Drew, considering we're siblings.
 
Me:  Really?  Wow, that's awfully nice to hear.  Maybe it's because you guys were homeschooled together. 
 
Baylee:  I think that's exactly why it is.

That made me glad!  First of all, it's neat that somebody else noticed something positive and commented on it.  More importantly to me, though, having Baylee so matter-of-factly attribute her friendship with her brother to homeschooling is almost like a "Thanks, Mom."  Even if that's just in my imagination, I'll take it.  lol   

Wednesday

I don't know if this is normal or if it's just me, but as an adult learner I tend to go in fits and starts.  For instance, I'll go gung ho with French, maybe doing an entire school year's worth in a few months, then I'll stop for awhile.  I'm just coming out of one of those down periods (unless you count having to sit and discuss things with Baylee every day while she does French 2) and I'm excited to be taking it all up again.

Of course, I'm back to doing Learnables French 3.  I'm about halfway through it, and I'll probably finish it off before I take a break again.  I'm actually excited to get to the next part of this program, called Advanced French, because it's not set up in a lesson format.  It's just lots of lots of readings on various subjects, all in French.

Another thing I started doing is watching this lady's stuff on YouTube.  She's excellent!

What's embarrassing is that I've been learning French for awhile now, but Learnables is immersion-based, and it just hasn't focused much on the basics.  I  never learned the French alphabet, the days of the week, or the months of the year, for instance.  At the same time, I fully understand things that are a lot more difficult than that.  LOL  It's backwards.  So I've been watching Alexa's beginner videos and learning a ton.

One other French-related thing happened recently that I thought was kind of cool.  I was holding my phone, texting a friend of mine, when I was interrupted by a conversation Baylee was having with her friend, Grace, in the next room.  They were talking about the weird way certain emotions are expressed in other languages, and I piped up with an example in French.  A couple minutes later I looked down at my phone, and apparently I had hit the "voice to text" button, because it had recorded, in text, everything I had said.  The cool thing is that it even got the French sentence in there!  And it was spelled correctly!  Isn't that neat?  My phone's a genius.   

That Kid

There's something about Baylee that I equally admire and am mortified by, and it's this:  She doesn't embarrass easily.  Honestly, it's like she's adopted or something, because she doesn't get that from me.  I get embarrassed watching other people do stupid stuff.  Like, I can't even watch a TV character make a fool of himself, because I get flop sweats.  Baylee, though?  She doesn't care. 

Case in point:  The other day Mike took her to Central Market (which is kind of like Whole Foods), and while they were there an oldie called "Think," by Aretha Franklin, came on over the loudspeakers.  Baylee happens to know every word of this song, and...umm...she sang along with it.  Loudly.  She even hit the high notes.  People heard!!

And that's why I love her...and why I sometimes don't want to walk next to her.

Motorcycle Saga

Zach spent the whole weekend at a class, learning how to ride (drive?  What's the right word?) a motorcycle.  Each day was about eight hours long, and then at the end of the second day, which was today, everyone took a written and a driving test.  Zach passed the written, and he was passing the driving with no problem, except at the very end he was supposed to stop the motorcycle in a box painted on the ground, and he didn't do it.  He just drove right over it.  He forgot, I guess.  Anyway, he's very mad at himself.  Like, we're all avoiding him, because he's Grouchy with a capital g.  He'll get it next time, though.

Saturday

Everything is blooming in our yard.  I know I take the same pictures of the same flowers every year, but they're always beautiful and I just can't help myself.

We've had so much wind and rain over the last few days that these pink flowers are really droopy.  I held them up for the picture.

For some reason "quicksand" came up in Baylee's world geography course, and it made her remember and then remind me of an embarrassing moment of mine that I don't think I've ever talked about here.  It happened several years ago when we were on a vacation to visit Mike's parents.  (We lived in MI at the time, so we drove to WA, spent time there, then drove back.  The whole thing was a couple weeks long, I think.)  The embarrassing moment happened on the way home.

I don't even remember what state it was anymore, but we stopped somewhere to take a break from the long drive and enjoy a picnic lunch in a park.  Just before we got back in the car Baylee, 4 years old, decided she had to use the bathroom, so it was up to me to figure out where to make that happen.  She and I walked for quite awhile, and finally we found a women's restroom.  She did her business, then on the way back to the car I thought I'd take a shortcut...and bonus!  It had us walking right by a pretty lake!  So we walked over there, and, sure enough, it was a big, nice-looking lake.  It had a beach area and some boulders, and the water looked inviting.  Weirdly, there was nobody on the beach; instead, everyone was clustered on the boulders, but I didn't think anything of that.  I stepped right out onto the sand.  Thank goodness Baylee didn't follow me,  because that was no regular beach.  It looked exactly like a regular beach...it even seemed dry!...but it wasn't.  It really, really wasn't.  It was quicksand.  Within a few steps I sunk up to mid-calf.  It wasn't deep or anything...maybe a foot and a half...but walking through it was almost impossible.  It had suction like you wouldn't believe.  By this time, of course, all the people sitting on those rocks were watching me flailing around, and they were kind of laughing at me.  I'm sure now that's the entire reason why they were there in the first place:  to wait for unsuspecting tourists and then enjoy the show.  Anyway, I managed to get out eventually, muddy up to my knees.  Oh, and I lost BOTH my sandals in that mess and had to do the barefoot walk of shame back to where Mike was waiting.    Probably in about 10,000 years some archaeologist is going to find those shoes and it'll be a great discovery.  And that's my quicksand story.

A little educational video on quicksand:

  

Windy

We had a storm last night with really strong winds.  The wind storms here are something I don't think I ever experienced in Michigan.  I mean, yeah, it got windy once in awhile there, but here it can get so bad that people are actually killed because trees fall on them.  The worst thing that's happened to us is that one time we had a section of our backyard fence blow over.  This time our damage is limited to a completely missing trash can lid.  It's just gone, man.  Maybe it's in Oz.

Wednesday

Last night I was in bed, almost asleep, when something weird happened.  It kind of sounded like someone threw something at the big windows near the ceiling of our bedroom, or like maybe a bird flew into them, but not really.  It was a bigger, deeper sound, and it made all the windows shake, not just one.  This morning I found out what it was:  There was a huge gas explosion in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle, right by the School of Rock.  That's what I had heard and felt, and we live almost 4 miles away from there!  (Edited to add:  Mike says it's only a little more than two miles as the crow flies.)  The SoR is fine, but two other businesses are leveled.  No one was killed, because it happened at one in the morning.

Here's a picture from online.

 

Tuesday

Yesterday a couple of Rachel's little sisters came over to borrow our bike pump, but once Mike took a look at their bikes he decided to do a little bit of maintenance. Aren't they all cute?

Drew came out of his room this morning with a big smile on his face.  During the night their new song...which is called "Last Light" by the way.  I forgot to mention that...got some online attention among people who like that style of metal.  It was blogged about, YouTubed, and one guy even made some "fan art."  lol  It's all pretty neat, and icing on the cake for these boys who just really love making music.

Here's the original recording.  It has a much better sound quality than what I put on here a couple days ago.

Monday

Zach signed himself up for a motorcycle class that lasts a whole weekend.  He also went to a shop and bought the stuff he's supposed to have for the class:  helmet, jacket, gloves, and boots.  (The class provides the motorcycle.)  He's gonna do this.  He's happy about it, so I'm happy for him, but I'm still nervous!

Finished Project

I didn't mention this, but Drew was gone all weekend, too.  He spent it at either at Trevor's or at the college, where they put the finishing touches on the mixing part of their song.   (I thought for the longest time that they were recording all their songs, but it turns out they only did one.  I guess it's a lot of work.  Even that one took many hours over many Saturdays.)  Now they're finished!

Morrow posted this picture on their Facebook page, with the caption, "Ten minutes long?  Check.  Irish drums?  Check.  Acoustic finger-picked passages?  Check.  Trading solos?  Check.  New song?  CHECK."

And when Drew came home today, we finally got a chance to hear this thing.  I like it!  As the caption said, the whole thing is 10 minutes long, so I'll just show you parts of it.  I want to warn you right now, though, that this is what's called "melodic metal."  That means it's beautiful music with...well...screaming.  I cut out most of the vocal parts.  You're welcome.

Here's the beginning.  That's Drew playing his Martin acoustic guitar.

Here's a piece in the middle I like where he's finger-picking, and it sounds kind of like classical music.

This is a part where he has a solo with a cool story behind it.  You can't tell very easily unless you listen to it through the computer with headphones (and not through my camera), but he layered that solo.  In other words, he went in one Saturday and played it, then the band decided it needed to be stronger, so the next Saturday he went in and played it again, along with the first recording of himself.  That way it would sound like two guitarists were playing it together.  Anyway, the guy running the soundboard was blown away, I guess, because Drew matched himself perfectly in one take.

And here's a bit I like from near the ending.  It's got vocals in it, so be prepared.  The part I really like is the music underneath the singing. 

Saturday

I talked to Baylee on the phone this morning, and she said she's having a great time.  I'm so glad!  She also told me something that made me feel like we did at least one thing right as parents:  She said that she's been making sure to be a helpful guest.  She loaded the dishwasher after supper last night and made her bed this morning. 

She sent me a couple pictures as well.  This is the view from the back deck of the cabin.

And here are her and Mira.

Man, the weather is an absolutely beautiful, sunny 58 degrees.  Mike's out mowing the grass for the first time this year.

Friday

So you know that cat cafe Baylee and her friends went to yesterday?  Well, Baylee said there's a coffee shop, and then there's a big, separate area where the cats are, with all kinds of things for the animals to play with and climb on and stuff.  Here's a picture of it from online.

The girls went in there, but every time they tried to get near a cat it would run away.  So basically they paid $10 each for the privilege of not petting anything.

This morning she was packing for her weekend away, and I noticed she was putting some of our little plastic storage containers in her suitcase.  I asked her about it, and she told me that Mira's dad wants her to take her drumsticks and "some Tupperware to bang on."  He has some sort of plan, because he asked Mira to take her portable keyboard, and he's taking his acoustic guitar.  Apparently Mira was a little mortified by all this, and said to Baylee, "Sorry my dad is so embarrassing!"

"No problem!" was Baylee's reply.  "I know all about embarrassing dads!"

And she does.  Mike and I both try not to be embarrassing, but it's harder than you might think.

Baylee's Weekend

I'm so proud of Baylee this week.  She worked her butt off to get 5 days of school done in 4, so that she could do a couple fun things with friends this weekend.  What made it even harder was that she had four tests to take today:  one for biology, one for algebra, one for English, and one for Bible.  Ack!  Even I was tired, just from being her teacher and study buddy.

Like I said, though, she did really well, and none of the tests were easy.  Part of the Bible test was learning a long passage of Proverbs.  The algebra test was on something called simultaneous equations.  Baylee learned how to solve them 3 different ways, including using coordinate graphs.  The biology test was on human anotomy:  skin, bones, and muscles.  Here are a couple sections of that one.

 And the English test was on punctuation and verbals (gerunds, participles, and infinitives).  Here's a bit of that.

Now she's all done, and she gets to enjoy her long weekend.  It's starting with something crazy.  She and a couple friends paid good money to make reservations at a "cat cafe."  It's a coffee shop in Seattle where cats roam around.  You go there, pet the cats, and drink coffee.  (Yes, you heard me right.  You pay to do that.)  The girls are VERY excited to do that a little bit later today.

Then tomorrow she gets to go with a friend and her family to a cabin on an island in the Puget Sound.  They're gonna hang out, hike, etc. for three days.  She's a lucky kid!

Wednesday

Yesterday at about 4am I woke up with a burning question in my mind.  Truly, I couldn't go back to sleep until I thoroughly googled it.  The question was:  Why in the world did Almanzo Wilder's family leave their extremely profitable farm in New York to start a new farm in Minnesota?  If you've ever read Farmer Boy you'd agree with me that that's far-fetched, and yet it's the truth.  His father, mother, brothers and sister (and him, of course) all packed up and made that move.  It's referred to in The Long Winter, which I just reread for the millionth time.  I mean, this is pressing, right??  I needed to know!  That's why I researched it for a good 45 minutes before finally going back to sleep.

Pro:  I found out!
Con:  I was tired all day.

Baylee's friend Grace came over yesterday with her fake baby from heath class.  It's very realistic.  It breathes, snores, cries, sucks a bottle, and wets a diaper.  Plus it's computerized, so it keeps track of things.  It lets the teacher know if it's been neglected, for instance.  Just like a real baby, it slept the whole time it was at our house, then right when the timing was most inconvenient...when Grace was trying to get ready to leave...it started to shriek.  lol  She had to stop everything and feed it.

Tuesday

One thing about this GED program that Drew is in is that it does everything possible to help those kids succeed.  Like I said before, it's got teachers roaming the room, ready to answer questions.  Over the course of the day it gives a couple breaks and a lunch period, and that includes giving the students water and snacks.  It carefully tests everybody, then gives them work according to their results.  Etc.  What I haven't told you about yet is the prizes they give for attendance.  If a student comes every day, Monday through Friday, for at least three hours, he gets a candy bar at the end of the week.  If he comes every school day for an entire month, he gets a $15 gift card to Fred Meyer.  All that to say...guess what!  Drew got a gift card for the month of February!  He did miss that half hour one day for coming back from a break late, but he made it up, so it didn't count against him.  Also, he wasn't obligated to go every day last week, since they were only open in the mornings because of in-service meetings in the afternoons, but he went every morning anyway.  He got another gift card for $10 for doing that, and he was the only one.  I'm proud of him!