I keep forgetting to mention that Drew started his new job at Starbucks on Monday, so he's been there a few times already. So far he likes it! He's just in training right now, learning all about the different beans and whatnot. They told him that being a barista there is one of the more difficult fast-food-industry jobs to learn, and it'll take about seven months before he's fully comfortable. Everybody's really nice, though, and there are some fun perks (Heh. Get it?), like free coffee before his shift starts and a discount on merchandise.
Baylee's teacher at the SoR, Michael Knight, got after her at her lesson this week, because she was unprepared. She hadn't done the homework he gave her. The problem is that she's in house band rehearsals, Lollapalooza rehearsals, and Motorhead rehearsals, and each one expects her to come with music learned. In fact, in house band not only does she have to have her own songs learned, but she has to understudy some of the songs of one of the other drummers who'll be gone for part of the summer. It's safe to say she's bitten off more than she can easily chew. Michael made a good point to her, though, which is that if you don't put the time into your lessons...working on technique, theory, etc...you'll never get better. He's right. That's the double-edged sword of the School of Rock. It's a performance-based program, so the kids are learning in order to perform. That's great, because it keeps them interested and excited, but sometimes performing takes precedence over learning. Anyway, Baylee will just have to work harder.
This morning I made the down payment to South Ridge for Baylee's next school year. That means that they'll be sending me curriculum, and I'll be able to start whenever I want after that. That's not going to happen any time soon, but it sure is nice to have almost everything ready to go! (I still have to get that Latin stuff.)
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Wednesday
Okay, it took about a week, but I'm pretty much over the oh-my-gosh-my-kid-is-in-school-and-I-can't-control-things anxiety. Just watching him do well and be responsible has eased my mind. Although he still starts his homework way too late, imo.
You know what's really nice? Being a mom instead a teacher! A couple evenings ago he came over to where I was watching TV and told me that he had to write an essay on a time in his life when he made a defining decision that changed the course of his future. He said he was having a hard time thinking of anything and asked if I had ideas. Before, when I was his teacher, I would've felt sort of obligated to encourage him to figure it out himself. Now, though? I said, "Oh, you could write about [such and such]!" Because moms are allowed to help like that.
Late a couple nights ago I was lying in bed next to Mike, who was asleep, and I was reading a book with a flashlight. Suddenly a big, brown spider crawled into my little circle of light. I gasped and bolted upright, and then started aiming the flashlight everywhere, trying to find the spider again so I could get rid of it, but it was gone. And then I had to sleep in that bed.
You know what's really nice? Being a mom instead a teacher! A couple evenings ago he came over to where I was watching TV and told me that he had to write an essay on a time in his life when he made a defining decision that changed the course of his future. He said he was having a hard time thinking of anything and asked if I had ideas. Before, when I was his teacher, I would've felt sort of obligated to encourage him to figure it out himself. Now, though? I said, "Oh, you could write about [such and such]!" Because moms are allowed to help like that.
Late a couple nights ago I was lying in bed next to Mike, who was asleep, and I was reading a book with a flashlight. Suddenly a big, brown spider crawled into my little circle of light. I gasped and bolted upright, and then started aiming the flashlight everywhere, trying to find the spider again so I could get rid of it, but it was gone. And then I had to sleep in that bed.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Memory
Yesterday I had a random memory: I was sitting in a Sunday school class sometime back in 7th or 8th grade, and the teacher was talking about how if we don't say, "In Jesus name" (or the equivalent: "In Christ's name," "In the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ," etc.), then the prayer won't be answered by God. I sat there in all my gawky 11 or 12-year-old glory, taking this in, when suddenly I had a question. "But what about people who are praying to become saved? If they don't say 'in Jesus name,' does that mean it didn't work and they're not actually Christians?"
The teacher looked at me for a few seconds, then said something like, "I don't appreciate what you're doing right now. You're trying to be silly and distract the class!" He moved on without answering me, even though I tried to tell him I was truly just wondering.
To this day I have no idea where he was coming from with all that. I've never heard anything like it since.
The teacher looked at me for a few seconds, then said something like, "I don't appreciate what you're doing right now. You're trying to be silly and distract the class!" He moved on without answering me, even though I tried to tell him I was truly just wondering.
To this day I have no idea where he was coming from with all that. I've never heard anything like it since.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Monday
Michel Thomas' Total French has seven disks, each with about an hour or sometimes a little more than an hour of instruction. So far in going through them again I've been able to whip through everything, but I'm still finding a lot of benefit in it. This time I'm really understanding those fine little details that Michel Thomas throws in, such as how grammar changes the spelling of words, and I'm having a ton of a-ha moments. Like I already knew...
A couple days ago Drew took the reading and writing parts of the Compass (a placement test for college), and he just showed me his scores. Out of 100, he scored in the high 90s on both sections! Anything above 80 is considered "at college level," so he did very well. I mentioned before that he was pretty unmotivated those last couple years of his homeschooling, so, to be honest, I'm kind of shocked. lol I guess he was learning, after all! Now he has to schedule a time to take the math portion, since the testing center closed before he got to that.
- savior = to know
- sais = know
- sait = knows
A couple days ago Drew took the reading and writing parts of the Compass (a placement test for college), and he just showed me his scores. Out of 100, he scored in the high 90s on both sections! Anything above 80 is considered "at college level," so he did very well. I mentioned before that he was pretty unmotivated those last couple years of his homeschooling, so, to be honest, I'm kind of shocked. lol I guess he was learning, after all! Now he has to schedule a time to take the math portion, since the testing center closed before he got to that.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
French
I haven't been talking about French lately, but that doesn't mean I'm not doing it. It's just that I'm not moving forward into brand new Learnables material right now, but instead I'm using my time this summer to review. For instance, I went through all of Duolingo for a second time, and that took me about a week and a half. Now I'm doing all of Michel Thomas' Total French again and I'm also simultaneously going through French in Action. I've talked about French in Action before. It's a college class (that can be found on this website), all in French. Sometimes you're in the classroom watching the exchange between the professor and the students, and sometimes you're watching a kooky soap opera about an American boy who visits Paris and falls in love with a French girl. It's all amazing practice in listening to and understanding the language spoken at a normal rate of speed.
I did about 13 lessons of French in Action several months ago, but I ended up putting it aside because it got too hard. Picking it up again, I've been very happily surprised at how much easier it is for me! I can understand about 98% of what's being said. I'll give you a little example...
You can see that the course doesn't really pull any punches. Everybody talks at regular speed. Here the professor is saying that Mireille, one of the main characters in the soap opera, is the kind of person who likes to tease, but she isn't mean at all. In fact, "elle est très gentille." (She is very kind.)
Anyway, it's been fun to go back and review old stuff, because it's both strengthening what I know and showing me how much I've grown.
I did about 13 lessons of French in Action several months ago, but I ended up putting it aside because it got too hard. Picking it up again, I've been very happily surprised at how much easier it is for me! I can understand about 98% of what's being said. I'll give you a little example...
You can see that the course doesn't really pull any punches. Everybody talks at regular speed. Here the professor is saying that Mireille, one of the main characters in the soap opera, is the kind of person who likes to tease, but she isn't mean at all. In fact, "elle est très gentille." (She is very kind.)
Anyway, it's been fun to go back and review old stuff, because it's both strengthening what I know and showing me how much I've grown.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Weekend
Baylee's had quite a weekend so far. Yesterday afternoon she and several friends went to Gasworks Park and did something called "ice blocking." It was the idea of a new friend to their group, a boy named Jack from Australia. He said they do it all the time there. You get ice blocks, put towels on top of them, sit or lie on them, and then slide down hills. The kids had a ton of fun.
Baylee did it, too, but I don't have pics of her. I just have what she took of other people.
And today she played with the house band at the Greenwood Car Show. It was the group's first gig, and they did a good job. And just as importantly, I actually had fun with the other house band parents. lol I'll put it this way: There are good years and bad years as far as that goes. That first summer Drew was in house band, several of the other parents were super standoffish. (And one mom was just downright horrible. She was a real stage-mom in the rudest sense you can imagine.) Anyway, it was awful and I hated having to go to events without Mike because of it. He was my social buffer. This time, though, I had a nice, friendly, non-awkward chat with a few of them, even though I was there by myself!
From the gig today: Max, Mira, Lucas, Baylee, and their new friend, Jack, from Australia (taken by Max's mom)
Here's a song that Baylee sang backup on...
And here's one where she played drums...
Baylee did it, too, but I don't have pics of her. I just have what she took of other people.
And today she played with the house band at the Greenwood Car Show. It was the group's first gig, and they did a good job. And just as importantly, I actually had fun with the other house band parents. lol I'll put it this way: There are good years and bad years as far as that goes. That first summer Drew was in house band, several of the other parents were super standoffish. (And one mom was just downright horrible. She was a real stage-mom in the rudest sense you can imagine.) Anyway, it was awful and I hated having to go to events without Mike because of it. He was my social buffer. This time, though, I had a nice, friendly, non-awkward chat with a few of them, even though I was there by myself!
From the gig today: Max, Mira, Lucas, Baylee, and their new friend, Jack, from Australia (taken by Max's mom)
Here's a song that Baylee sang backup on...
And here's one where she played drums...
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Those Summer Classes
Drew started his classes two days ago, and so far he's had two all-nighters. The first one was to write a paper, and the second one was to read and take notes on a 40-page chapter in a textbook. (The notes are going to be graded and also used for an open-note quiz, so they really had to be done well.) I know he took a little nap yesterday afternoon, and he may have gotten a couple hours of sleep early this morning, but as far as I know that's it. He looked like a zombie when he left this morning. God love him, but he's really dumb about time-management, even though both Mike and I tried to warn him. He's learning the hard way, I guess.
Speaking of all this stuff, Drew mentioned to me that there's only one thing that homeschooling didn't prepare him for (ahem...besides managing his time), and that's note-taking from a lecture. He said that it's been a trial by fire for him, but that he's getting it, and he feels like he's doing a good job with it. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, if he picked it up that quickly, then I couldn't have done him too much of a disservice. On the other, I should've foreseen it being a problem. Oops.
I'm going to take his experience to heart and make sure Baylee goes to college knowing how to take notes. I've been thinking about it, and I'm pretty sure I know how I'm going to do it, too. I'm going to start having her take more DVD classes with lecturing teachers, and I'll require that she take notes from them.
Since she really doesn't like learning French very much, and since she's already taken two years of it, I'm going to let her replace it with Latin, which she's been asking to learn since she was in junior high. I found a Latin class that's all on DVD, with a man standing in front of a blackboard and teaching. She can take notes from him! It'll be perfect. The man is actually pretty engaging, too. Here's a sample:
I'll find other DVD courses in other subjects during her junior and senior years, and hopefully she'll get the skill that she needs.
Speaking of all this stuff, Drew mentioned to me that there's only one thing that homeschooling didn't prepare him for (ahem...besides managing his time), and that's note-taking from a lecture. He said that it's been a trial by fire for him, but that he's getting it, and he feels like he's doing a good job with it. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, if he picked it up that quickly, then I couldn't have done him too much of a disservice. On the other, I should've foreseen it being a problem. Oops.
I'm going to take his experience to heart and make sure Baylee goes to college knowing how to take notes. I've been thinking about it, and I'm pretty sure I know how I'm going to do it, too. I'm going to start having her take more DVD classes with lecturing teachers, and I'll require that she take notes from them.
Since she really doesn't like learning French very much, and since she's already taken two years of it, I'm going to let her replace it with Latin, which she's been asking to learn since she was in junior high. I found a Latin class that's all on DVD, with a man standing in front of a blackboard and teaching. She can take notes from him! It'll be perfect. The man is actually pretty engaging, too. Here's a sample:
I'll find other DVD courses in other subjects during her junior and senior years, and hopefully she'll get the skill that she needs.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Tuesday
Yesterday Drew asked me if I'd go to Pet Smart while he was at school, in order to buy thirty live crickets for the geckos to eat. "Why can't you just do it after your classes?" I wondered.
"Because the lizards are hungry. They're getting thin! Please, can you help me out?"
Siiiiiiiiigh. I went to Pet Smart, got the crickets, came home, and somehow dumped/shook all thirty of them into the lizard cage before any crawled on me or jumped away. It was definitely a how-did-this-become-my-job moment. Then the lizards came out of their ziggurat and promptly gobbled up almost all the little buggers. It was like Godzilla in New York City. These four are the sole survivors. I think they're having a meeting about it.
Drew's first day of his summer classes went well, but I found myself having an unexpected reaction to it. I felt anxiety. (Warning: The following is going to make me sound super weird and overbearing.) The thing they don't tell you when you decide to homeschool is that it becomes really hard to let go and trust. You're so used to bearing part of the load when it comes to the kids' success, and then suddenly it's all on them. It's scary.
So Drew came home yesterday with a syllabus detailing all kinds of assignments and expectations, plus he had a paper to write right off the bat. I didn't tell him this, but inside I started freaking out. Can he handle this? Will he give it the proper amount of work and care? Will he spell stuff right??? I badly wanted to give him ideas, prompt him to get started, be his personal spell/grammar checker; in other words, I wanted to hover. It was especially torturous because he didn't get started on it right away. Oh, no. Instead he messed around for hours, playing the guitar, eating, talking to friends online, etc. I had to keep telling myself, "This isn't my problem. I can't micromanage. He has to sink or swim." Long story short, he stayed up late and got the thing done and it was no big deal to him. lol Lord, give me strength. Hopefully I'll settle down pretty soon.
"Because the lizards are hungry. They're getting thin! Please, can you help me out?"
Siiiiiiiiigh. I went to Pet Smart, got the crickets, came home, and somehow dumped/shook all thirty of them into the lizard cage before any crawled on me or jumped away. It was definitely a how-did-this-become-my-job moment. Then the lizards came out of their ziggurat and promptly gobbled up almost all the little buggers. It was like Godzilla in New York City. These four are the sole survivors. I think they're having a meeting about it.
Drew's first day of his summer classes went well, but I found myself having an unexpected reaction to it. I felt anxiety. (Warning: The following is going to make me sound super weird and overbearing.) The thing they don't tell you when you decide to homeschool is that it becomes really hard to let go and trust. You're so used to bearing part of the load when it comes to the kids' success, and then suddenly it's all on them. It's scary.
So Drew came home yesterday with a syllabus detailing all kinds of assignments and expectations, plus he had a paper to write right off the bat. I didn't tell him this, but inside I started freaking out. Can he handle this? Will he give it the proper amount of work and care? Will he spell stuff right??? I badly wanted to give him ideas, prompt him to get started, be his personal spell/grammar checker; in other words, I wanted to hover. It was especially torturous because he didn't get started on it right away. Oh, no. Instead he messed around for hours, playing the guitar, eating, talking to friends online, etc. I had to keep telling myself, "This isn't my problem. I can't micromanage. He has to sink or swim." Long story short, he stayed up late and got the thing done and it was no big deal to him. lol Lord, give me strength. Hopefully I'll settle down pretty soon.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Monday
This is a big week for Drew. He's starting his summer class today, on Thursday he takes the Compass Test (for placement in college language arts and math classes), and then next Monday he starts his new job at Starbucks.
Baylee had a sleepover on Friday, and one of the girls took this pic. They were at the grocery store picking up more junk food than you can imagine...
...which they brought back to our house and stayed up until 4am eating.
Baylee had a sleepover on Friday, and one of the girls took this pic. They were at the grocery store picking up more junk food than you can imagine...
...which they brought back to our house and stayed up until 4am eating.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Happy Father's Day and Anniversary
Today is both Father's Day and our 23rd anniversary! Mike and I decided to celebrate by going into Seattle and trying out some new restaurants. We went to a Japanese ramen place, which was fun and delicious, and then we tried something called the Pie Bar. You get pies and alcohol there. (That one was Mike's idea.) I had a piece of chocolate mousse pie and an Irish coffee, but I actually hate alcohol, so that coffee was waaaaaaay too much for me. I only had a couple sips.
Also, we went on the Great Wheel for the very first time! It was a prefect day for it, because it was warm and sunny and gorgeous out.
Also, we went on the Great Wheel for the very first time! It was a prefect day for it, because it was warm and sunny and gorgeous out.
At the Japanese restaurant
One of the views on our walk down to the waterfront 
In line to get on the ferris wheel
View from the top of the Great Wheel
PS: I figured out why Asians, in general, are such slim people. It's because of the chopsticks. Having lived here in the PNW for 9 years now I can use them fairly well, but still. The thing is, you can only get a little bit of food at a time using chopsticks, so eating a meal takes forever. You get sorta bored before you get full.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Celebrations
Tonight we celebrated Zach's 21st birthday with his choice of dinner: shrimp penne pasta and...ahem...Almost Better Than Sex Cake. I wish it wasn't called that, but what can I do???
Speaking of birthdays, Drew was invited to a birthday party for a girl, and he was stressing over what to get her as a gift. Then a couple days ago he said, "I know! Japanese candy!" And sure enough he went to a Japanese store and got a bag full of all different sorts of candy. The girl whose birthday it is isn't Japanese, though, so we'll see how it goes over. It could be really fun and cool or it could be like, "Uhh...thanks..."
Speaking of birthdays, Drew was invited to a birthday party for a girl, and he was stressing over what to get her as a gift. Then a couple days ago he said, "I know! Japanese candy!" And sure enough he went to a Japanese store and got a bag full of all different sorts of candy. The girl whose birthday it is isn't Japanese, though, so we'll see how it goes over. It could be really fun and cool or it could be like, "Uhh...thanks..."
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Thursday
Yesterday Baylee officially finished 9th grade! She studied for and took the last test, which covered all of Algebra 1, and she did well.
Unfortunately, the end for her wasn't the end for me. I spent quite awhile yesterday and again today filling out paperwork and gathering up everything I needed to send in to the school for grading. Once I got that squared away and taken to the post office this morning, I came home and started the daunting task of putting together portfolios. I had to do quite a bit of work for Baylee's 8th grade year (because last year I ran out of storage supplies, so I put it all aside, thinking I'd get to it later. Later turned out to be a whole year later. Sigh.), but I finished that, then I did her 9th grade year, and then Drew's 12th grade year (what I had from before he left us, that is). Finally, I cleaned out the school bookcase and got it set up for fall. Now there's nothing left to do but enjoy the summer!
Also today Drew and I went to Seattle University to pick up Orion's pet geckos. Drew's going to be taking care of them this summer while Orion, who's in the reserve, is away at training in another state.
Here they are set up on Drew's desk. You can't see this, but there are two of them, and they're actually kind of cute. Hopefully we don't accidentally kill them.
Unfortunately, the end for her wasn't the end for me. I spent quite awhile yesterday and again today filling out paperwork and gathering up everything I needed to send in to the school for grading. Once I got that squared away and taken to the post office this morning, I came home and started the daunting task of putting together portfolios. I had to do quite a bit of work for Baylee's 8th grade year (because last year I ran out of storage supplies, so I put it all aside, thinking I'd get to it later. Later turned out to be a whole year later. Sigh.), but I finished that, then I did her 9th grade year, and then Drew's 12th grade year (what I had from before he left us, that is). Finally, I cleaned out the school bookcase and got it set up for fall. Now there's nothing left to do but enjoy the summer!
Also today Drew and I went to Seattle University to pick up Orion's pet geckos. Drew's going to be taking care of them this summer while Orion, who's in the reserve, is away at training in another state.
Here they are set up on Drew's desk. You can't see this, but there are two of them, and they're actually kind of cute. Hopefully we don't accidentally kill them.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
New Friends and Old
One of the best things to come out of the Queens of Soul season was a new friendship for Baylee. She met Payton, who happens to live only about three or four blocks from us. It's weird. We've lived here for years and Payton has lived in her house all her life, but the two girls never met and probably never would've if it wasn't for the SoR. Now they hang out all the time! Payton is a great kid...easy-going, smart (kind of a math genius, actually), and nice. I'm so glad she and Baylee hit it off.
Payton is the one in the middle. She doesn't normally look like that, but she had dramatic make-up on for the show.
And here's a picture from the wedding Baylee and Rachel went to the other night. I just like it.
Payton is the one in the middle. She doesn't normally look like that, but she had dramatic make-up on for the show.
And here's a picture from the wedding Baylee and Rachel went to the other night. I just like it.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Happy Birthday, Zach
Zach turned 21 today! I'm so proud of the man he's grown up to be. He's kind, hard-working, responsible, intelligent, funny, and gracious. He's always the first to apologize in any kind of disagreement, and he does it genuinely. He's a good guy.
He has to work today, so we're going to celebrate him over the weekend.
He has to work today, so we're going to celebrate him over the weekend.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Fact
If you die on Mount Everest, like up near the summit, they leave you there. For real. The reason is because the people who make that climb can barely get themselves back down, much less haul a dead body with them. And because it's always frozen up there, your carcass is preserved, so every climber has to pass by it and look at it for year and years. True story.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Queens of Soul Show
We just got back from the Queens of Soul Show and I couldn't be more proud of Baylee. She did such a great job! She made it look easy. Here are a couple of my favorite songs that she was in.
"Think," by Aretha Franklin
And this is part of "Proud Mary," by Tina Turner. Now this one was hard for Baylee to learn. Most of all, it's just extremely fast and took weeks of practicing with a metronome to get up to full speed. She'd play it at a slower tempo, get that down, up the speed a bit, get that down, up it a bit more, get that down, etc. There were many tears involved. On the stage today, though, she absolutely killed it.
"Think," by Aretha Franklin
Going to a Wedding
Yesterday one of the high school youth group leaders got married, and Mike took Baylee and Rachel to the wedding.
Her: I love THESE!!! [pointing at wedges with very high heels]
Me: Absolutely not.
Her: We'll just put them aside and keep them in mind.
Me: How about those over there? They're nice and flat, see? And they have straps and stuff.
Her: What??? Yuck! Those would make me look like a gladiator!
Etc.
And that's the story of how she got these very high wedges.
Now we're on to the next thing: Baylee's show this afternoon!
PS: While they were at the wedding Patty and I were here at home watching the movie Everest. It's based on the true story of a terrible tragedy that happened when a climbing expedition tried to summit the mountain. Moral I Got Out of It: Stay at sea level!
Beforehand, though, Baylee and I went to buy her some new shoes to go with her dress, and we had this conversation. (Don't judge. She's my third child and I'm almost out of reserves.)
Her: I love THESE!!! [pointing at wedges with very high heels]
Me: Absolutely not.
Her: We'll just put them aside and keep them in mind.
Me: How about those over there? They're nice and flat, see? And they have straps and stuff.
Her: What??? Yuck! Those would make me look like a gladiator!
Etc.
And that's the story of how she got these very high wedges.
Now we're on to the next thing: Baylee's show this afternoon!
PS: While they were at the wedding Patty and I were here at home watching the movie Everest. It's based on the true story of a terrible tragedy that happened when a climbing expedition tried to summit the mountain. Moral I Got Out of It: Stay at sea level!
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Saturday
People like to say things like this...
...but it's actually probably not true. We use simple algebra all the time, but we don't even realize it. Anytime you have a certain amount of something, and you need to bring that up or down to another certain amount, you're doing algebra in your mind. For instance, let's say I gave the gas station attendant a $20 bill, then I went out to the car and started pumping gas. I noticed after a while that I was at the $12 mark, and I knew I had $8 to go before I was done. That's algebra. 12 + x = 20.
Tomorrow is Baylee's big show, the Queens of Soul. I'm excited! She said it's either going to go really well or really badly, depending on if a bunch of white girls can pull it off.
...but it's actually probably not true. We use simple algebra all the time, but we don't even realize it. Anytime you have a certain amount of something, and you need to bring that up or down to another certain amount, you're doing algebra in your mind. For instance, let's say I gave the gas station attendant a $20 bill, then I went out to the car and started pumping gas. I noticed after a while that I was at the $12 mark, and I knew I had $8 to go before I was done. That's algebra. 12 + x = 20.
Tomorrow is Baylee's big show, the Queens of Soul. I'm excited! She said it's either going to go really well or really badly, depending on if a bunch of white girls can pull it off.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Thursday
Drew got his student ID for college! It makes it seem real.
By the way, he's been having a personal crisis over his signature lately, to the point of even trying out different ones to see what he likes best. I really hope the example on this card isn't what he landed on.
I've been doing so well with my diet, but last night I decided to have a cheat meal. I ate grilled hamburgers, french fries, coleslaw, and a chocolate chip cookie, and it was great...all the way up until I finished. Besides the guilt, I had intense thirst. It's like my body can't handle salt anymore, because over the rest of the evening I drank five or six glasses of water. Then this morning I got on the scale and it showed that I gained a pound. Then, to add insult to injury, I was cold-sweat, in-the-bathroom-every-ten-minutes sick until lunchtime. Not worth it!!!
Yesterday Baylee was finishing up her algebra assignment and the high school across the street was just getting out for the day, when suddenly there was a racket like you can't believe. It sounded like a fight...like constant shouting. I looked out the window and saw a man standing outside the high school, wearing a shirt that said "Repent or Perish" and holding a picket sign. He was yelling into a portable microphone, telling the kids that they needed to get right with Jesus, that they needed to repent, etc. The thing is, it felt really wrong, like an attack. It was awful.
I thought I could hear someone else's voice shouting the same sort of stuff just out of my line of vision, and sure enough we found out later that these people were actually surrounding the whole school. Who do they think they're reaching with this tactic? Who wants to be screamed at??? It's like Baylee said: "Is there really someone who sees a sign like that and says, 'You know what? I think I will repent!'"
By the way, he's been having a personal crisis over his signature lately, to the point of even trying out different ones to see what he likes best. I really hope the example on this card isn't what he landed on.
I've been doing so well with my diet, but last night I decided to have a cheat meal. I ate grilled hamburgers, french fries, coleslaw, and a chocolate chip cookie, and it was great...all the way up until I finished. Besides the guilt, I had intense thirst. It's like my body can't handle salt anymore, because over the rest of the evening I drank five or six glasses of water. Then this morning I got on the scale and it showed that I gained a pound. Then, to add insult to injury, I was cold-sweat, in-the-bathroom-every-ten-minutes sick until lunchtime. Not worth it!!!
Yesterday Baylee was finishing up her algebra assignment and the high school across the street was just getting out for the day, when suddenly there was a racket like you can't believe. It sounded like a fight...like constant shouting. I looked out the window and saw a man standing outside the high school, wearing a shirt that said "Repent or Perish" and holding a picket sign. He was yelling into a portable microphone, telling the kids that they needed to get right with Jesus, that they needed to repent, etc. The thing is, it felt really wrong, like an attack. It was awful.
(I took this picture through our window.)
I thought I could hear someone else's voice shouting the same sort of stuff just out of my line of vision, and sure enough we found out later that these people were actually surrounding the whole school. Who do they think they're reaching with this tactic? Who wants to be screamed at??? It's like Baylee said: "Is there really someone who sees a sign like that and says, 'You know what? I think I will repent!'"
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
So Close
I've finally, with only one week to go, burned-out on this school year. That's not bad! Boy, am I ready to finish, though. Having to do the standardized test this week, on top of finishing algebra, has pushed both Baylee and I over the edge.
Blah.
Blah.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Tuesday
My mom makes a handmade/handsewn quilt for each of her grandchildren when they graduate from high school, and yesterday Drew's quilt came in the mail. This one is called a "crazy quilt." It's beautiful (and priceless!). We looked it all over and admired it, and then it was promptly folded up and stored for when he gets married.
It only took my Christmas cactus about five years, but it's finally blooming! (Nowhere near Christmas, but whatever.)
This morning Drew went to one of the high schools in Bellevue, because he's going to be a part of his friend's project on Spain. Drew's job is to play flamenco music on the acoustic. Hopefully that goes well.
Baylee had her first house band rehearsal last night, and she said it went really well. She said there's a "really good vibe" among the students, which is always nice. It's way more fun when everyone gets along. I guess Zeke gave his "This is hard and a lot of responsibility, and at least one person will end up crying before it's over" speech, too. lol
It only took my Christmas cactus about five years, but it's finally blooming! (Nowhere near Christmas, but whatever.)
This morning Drew went to one of the high schools in Bellevue, because he's going to be a part of his friend's project on Spain. Drew's job is to play flamenco music on the acoustic. Hopefully that goes well.
Baylee had her first house band rehearsal last night, and she said it went really well. She said there's a "really good vibe" among the students, which is always nice. It's way more fun when everyone gets along. I guess Zeke gave his "This is hard and a lot of responsibility, and at least one person will end up crying before it's over" speech, too. lol
Monday, June 6, 2016
Diet Stuff
The two main things I'm learning on this diet that I never learned on Weight Watchers:
Eating doesn't have to be a big event. It doesn't have to be special, calming, comforting, super tasty, or a lot. Most of the time it's just fuel.
When you're doing Slimfast (or Medifast) you eat five small "meals" a day and one regular one. If you want to get really honest about it, you eat five snacks and one meal. Wrapping your head around that takes time. You have to get used to, for instance, a cheese stick being the only thing you eat at one sitting. You have to get to a place where you can say, "Okay, that was good and it'll carry me through the next couple hours."
You don't have to eat in the evening. You can have your last snack at 6 or 7pm and then be done for the rest of the night.
I won't lie, this one is hard and I still struggle through it every day. It's not that I'm hungry; it's that I'm finally relaxing and want junk food. It's an association for me that's tough to break. I think getting a handle on it is huge, though, because it makes all the difference in my weight loss. Hopefully it'll get easier with time.
Eating doesn't have to be a big event. It doesn't have to be special, calming, comforting, super tasty, or a lot. Most of the time it's just fuel.
When you're doing Slimfast (or Medifast) you eat five small "meals" a day and one regular one. If you want to get really honest about it, you eat five snacks and one meal. Wrapping your head around that takes time. You have to get used to, for instance, a cheese stick being the only thing you eat at one sitting. You have to get to a place where you can say, "Okay, that was good and it'll carry me through the next couple hours."
You don't have to eat in the evening. You can have your last snack at 6 or 7pm and then be done for the rest of the night.
I won't lie, this one is hard and I still struggle through it every day. It's not that I'm hungry; it's that I'm finally relaxing and want junk food. It's an association for me that's tough to break. I think getting a handle on it is huge, though, because it makes all the difference in my weight loss. Hopefully it'll get easier with time.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Sunday
I totally forgot to share my big news yesterday: I went shopping for some summer clothes and I found out that I'm down a size!!! I'm so excited and happy! Slimfast is the best. I'm like a Slimfast missionary now, because I spread the word about it all over the place. Plus, I don't know if I mentioned this here or not, but Mike has lost 20 pounds with it so far!
Baylee is going to be so busy this summer. Here's how the SoR will work for her weekly:
She found out one of her Motorhead songs, because the director came up to her and said, "Baylee, I've got a really hard one for you!" You only have to listen to the beginning to get an idea of the drumming, because it starts out crazy and stays that way through the whole thing.
I think she's going to be exhausted by the time it ends.
Mike planted a garden this year! It's bigger than any we've had yet and includes lots of veggies and even some berries. I'm glad to have a husband that loves to do stuff like that.
Baylee is going to be so busy this summer. Here's how the SoR will work for her weekly:
- House Band: 3 hour rehearsal
- Lollapalooza Show (her choice): 3 hour rehearsal
- Motorhead Show (school's choice): 3 hour rehearsal
- Lesson: 45 minutes
She found out one of her Motorhead songs, because the director came up to her and said, "Baylee, I've got a really hard one for you!" You only have to listen to the beginning to get an idea of the drumming, because it starts out crazy and stays that way through the whole thing.
Mike planted a garden this year! It's bigger than any we've had yet and includes lots of veggies and even some berries. I'm glad to have a husband that loves to do stuff like that.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Saturday
Man, I've been going all day long, and I'm tired. I can't decide if I want to crash and read a book or if I should clean. Reading sounds awfully nice right now.
One of the things Baylee and I did today was see Baylee's friend Lily in her school's musical, Shrek. Lily played the dragon, and, honestly, she stole the show as far as I'm concerned. She was excellent!
While I was gone Mike took this picture of the cat. I sure like that little guy. (I'm talking about the cat, but I like Mike, too.) Also, looking at this picture just drives home how much we need new couches. Is it really worth it, though, to buy new furniture when you still have children and pets living at home?
One of the things Baylee and I did today was see Baylee's friend Lily in her school's musical, Shrek. Lily played the dragon, and, honestly, she stole the show as far as I'm concerned. She was excellent!
While I was gone Mike took this picture of the cat. I sure like that little guy. (I'm talking about the cat, but I like Mike, too.) Also, looking at this picture just drives home how much we need new couches. Is it really worth it, though, to buy new furniture when you still have children and pets living at home?
Friday, June 3, 2016
Friday
Today I had to eat breakfast (which means drink my morning shake) at 5am, because I woke up with a headache and needed to take some ibuprofen, but I can only do that with food. Because of that insanely early breakfast hour, I've been riding the struggle bus all day. I'm hungry and out-of-sorts. On the bright side, I'm dealing with it and not cheating.
Speaking of my diet, I figured out awhile back that I can't actually eat 600 calories for supper. That's the Slimfast UK version. In the United States we're only allowed 500 calories for supper. I asked my UK forum friends about the weird discrepancy, and they seem to think it's because we're fatter over here and need a stricter program. LOL Maybe they're right.
Baylee finished the penultimate chapter of Algebra and took the test today. Now she only has one chapter left, which is a review of the whole year, and one final test, and then she's done with every subject. We also got her standardized test in the mail yesterday, so she'll take that over next week as well. We're so close to being finished!!
Speaking of my diet, I figured out awhile back that I can't actually eat 600 calories for supper. That's the Slimfast UK version. In the United States we're only allowed 500 calories for supper. I asked my UK forum friends about the weird discrepancy, and they seem to think it's because we're fatter over here and need a stricter program. LOL Maybe they're right.
Baylee finished the penultimate chapter of Algebra and took the test today. Now she only has one chapter left, which is a review of the whole year, and one final test, and then she's done with every subject. We also got her standardized test in the mail yesterday, so she'll take that over next week as well. We're so close to being finished!!
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Thursday
Today while we were doing Algebra Baylee said, "Oh, this reminds me! Last night I dreamed that I was telling one of my friends that if you have to work with pi, you can use 3.14 or you can use 22/7." She's right! Yay for homeschooled weirdos! lol
I've had a sinus headache for days. Let me explain something to you that you might not be aware of: Western Washington has its own climate because it's between two mountain ranges. It's wet pretty much all the time. Eastern Washington, on the other hand, is really dry. Honestly, the two parts don't even look like they belong in the same state. That's why when we go over to Leavenworth, where it's drier, I always have problems. My lips become two shriveled up worms, and I get sinus headaches because of the drastic change. Then right when I start getting used to it, we go back home. My lips get better, but I get headaches again. All that to say I'm very excited for my dumb sinuses to get re-used to being on this side of the mountains.
I've had a sinus headache for days. Let me explain something to you that you might not be aware of: Western Washington has its own climate because it's between two mountain ranges. It's wet pretty much all the time. Eastern Washington, on the other hand, is really dry. Honestly, the two parts don't even look like they belong in the same state. That's why when we go over to Leavenworth, where it's drier, I always have problems. My lips become two shriveled up worms, and I get sinus headaches because of the drastic change. Then right when I start getting used to it, we go back home. My lips get better, but I get headaches again. All that to say I'm very excited for my dumb sinuses to get re-used to being on this side of the mountains.
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