Happy New Year to everyone I know and love! Be happy. Be safe. You can see better if you close one eye, trust me. Puke in the toilet only. Try not to get bed spins. V8 juice will help in the morning.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 31, 2001 at 11:09 PM
The new decoration for our front door courtesy of Mr. Buttonmonkey...
We are NOT interested.
Did you read that? We aren't interested in buying anything from you -- books, magazines, cookies, cakes, your mama's false teeth, your uncle Ted's old dirty boxer shorts -- we are NOT interested and if you think that was hostile I dare you to knock on the door.
Now move along.
Good day and thank you for cooperating.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 05:03 PM
My lack of posting is due to the fact that Mr. Monkey has been home from work for the past several days. Some days we have stayed up until two in the morning just to all sleep until noon the next day. Other days we are up and ready and out of the house early and off to do whatever it is we do when we do it. Mostly that equals spending money, which we are SO very good at, and which is SO messing everything up. Lots of eating, sleeping and general laziness is going on. Mt. Bigasspileoflaundry is gone along with the pile of dirty dishes, thanks to the seductive moves of my monkey. He knows all the right things to do. Uh huh. He is going back to work for a day tomorrow. Not sure what to do with myself. Haven't been on my own with the children in awhile. What is cool is that we, the children and I, will most likely take a telephone apart tomorrow. Maybe we will have a pretend televised cooking show. Maybe we will build some Lego or K'nex artwork for the annual homeschooling art festival. Maybe we will have a tea party. Maybe we will watch some Disney DVDs. Maybe we will do it all. Or maybe we won't. I don't know. We will do whatever floats our boat in the morning I guess.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 30, 2001 at 09:11 PM
It has been a very long Christmas Day. Full of eating and naps and trashed apartment. All in all, I would say everyone is pleased. I am little uncomfortable with the amount of crap that is piled up in our little place, but I will deal. The tree has to go immediately though. It would appear that our floors are made of nothing but pine needles. As much as I have been in the Christmas mood, I am quickly getting out of it.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 25, 2001 at 10:12 PM
Merry Christmas Eve to all of you!
Posted by gwendolyn on December 24, 2001 at 10:57 AM
It seems that Gwencentral got a little more than a new dress, she got a whole new wardrobe.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 21, 2001 at 09:19 PM
My son just expressed his concern that the man who married his parents might not have been legal and asked what we would do if we found out that we weren't really married. This came out of the clear blue sky. I told him that I thought daddy would still marry me after all.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 10:17 AM
Happy Birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Gwencentral is one today. She got a new dress just for the occasion.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 20, 2001 at 11:00 PM
It seems that you have to have a really messed up display before Apple will give a rat's ass. Just because you drop a couple thousand dollars on one of their products doesn't mean you are entitled to receive a perfect display with no bad pixels. In fact, you have to have five bad pixels before it is even considered defective. I don't know about you, but that just doesn't seem right to me. Hmmmmmm.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 02:21 PM
I got my Christmas present early. I don't know if it was just my begging and pleading or if he just wanted his too, but either way it works out for me. There is a tiny little problem though. I have a bad pixel on my brand spanking new iBook. This is something that would have taken me months to notice but Mr. Monkey noticed right off the bat and had a small fit over it. Then I got to thinking about how wonderful Apple's technical support is about replacing defective things quickly and had a small fit too. When my other powercord shorted out it took about six weeks to talk them into sending me a new one. All because I mentioned the word "shock" in my description of what happened, it became a federal case that had to be researched and decided upon for weeks. Anyway, I still love it. Even flawed. That is the kinda girl I am.
I have been in contact with an unschooling member of our support group and am excited about getting to mingle and get some input. I know that not all of you, maybe none of you, will approve of or understand this seemingly natural progression. I wanted child led learning from the very start. I wasn't convinced it was acceptable or normal to be so relaxed about things. It isn't really socially acceptable to be more concerned about finding out what your children want to know instead of what they need to know to be "at grade level". At this point, I just really don't care anymore. I would like to get to know some other people who don't care.
People, in general, when they first meet children or when they are visiting a "school aged" child that they haven't seen in awhile seem to always ask them the same thing. "What grade are you in?" and "Are you getting good grades?" They don't ask them what they are interested in or whether or not they are happy. I always wonder why, when we go back to the "school at home" thing, we are all cranky and fighting and crying and miserable because it is boring as all hell, and what we really want to be doing we can't because we have so much work to do to.
Deep down I think I am more confident about the whole thing than I am willing to admit. I think that all my internal struggling has been the fear of getting into trouble for doing what comes naturally. Every day I see the great things that come from my children when they are handed unlimited resources and given creative freedom and unlimited time to be curious and explorative. I see sparkle in their eyes and smiles on their faces. In a perfect world this is what everyone would see in their children. That would be one of the more important things in a child's life, not what grade they are in. I wish people would sit back and watch their children a little more, and control their learning process a little less. They might gain a new perspective. Protecting them is a different story. I think people don't protect the innocence of children the way they should. I think young children shouldn't have to carry burdens of adult problems. That may go against the fundamentals of unschooling in that you aren't giving them the entire life experience. I think that should come with emotional maturity. I think there are some issues children shouldn't have to deal with until they are mature enough to handle them. I don't think that you should lie to them about things to protect them, but I don't think you should go out of your way to expose them to mature issues just for the sake of doing it. That is my two cents for all it is worth.
Okay well, that was my rant for today. I think I am just gearing up for the holiday visiting we will be doing this weekend.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 10:44 AM
Look what I found on a jar of spaghetti sauce at the grocery last night. I was just a little too amused by this.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 17, 2001 at 10:11 AM
This weekend was rather eventful. Saturday we went to the mall to see Santa. All along we have been asking Hope if she is scared of Santa. She said "Nope." When we finally got our chance, she wouldn't get within four feet of him and shrieked and hid behind me and practically climbed up over my head. She didn't want anything to do with having her picture with him and she most certainly didn't want me anywhere near him either. So, the annual picture of the children with Santa is going to seem, twenty years from now, that Hope was not around. Mr. Monkey could probably insert her digitally into the picture, but is that the memory we really want? I don't think it would feel right to have an artificial picture. I would much rather remember her screaming bloody murder and pulling me with all her weight by the hand toward the exit gate. Logan and Savannah do the same thing every year, they give me a hundred different lists of what they would like for him to bring them. Then when they finally get to sit on his lap and hash it all out with him, they clam up. They are smiley and bashful. They have trouble remembering whether they are good or bad. This is the stuff all mothers most treasured memories are made of. Especially when you call the grandparents who are expecting a picture with three children in it to tell them that we didn't force the youngest through possibly lifelong damaging trauma by making her be in the picture. Since the experience Hope has repeatedly said, "I scared of everysing!" It is too cute. She then makes a list of all the things she is scared of. Hello Kitty, Angelica, Santa...
Yesterday, we went to the Museum of Discovery and Science. The children and I had been there before, this was Mr. Monkey's first visit. It was pretty fun. The children weren't especially perfect, so that was stressful. But all in all we had a good time. We bought an annual memebership. I think that is going to be one of the grandparents gifts to the children. Whoever sends us money, that is what they got them. It wasn't cheap. We bought the most expensive membership so that we could get invited to all the special events and get a behind the scenes tour and participate in the camps they host. There is an exhibit there currently called "Grossology". It is a huge hands on, climb right in, explanation of the human body and all of the nasty details. We got to learn about snot, farts, armpit odor, and poop among other things. What better education could a kid ask for? We watched the Dolphins movie in the IMAX theatre. It was pretty great too. I have once again proven my need to purchase a sweater to take with me everywhere I go. I think they were trying to cultivate snow in there. During this footage we got a glimpse of a place in the Bahamas called Hope Town, one of the researchers lives there studying Dolphin communication. I think that is where my monkey is going to want to live now. I have no idea what we would do in hurricane season, but it sure is a beautiful place.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 10:02 AM
Three plastic paintbrushes and a seventy-four cent can of Colgate Shaving cream become an entire morning worth of learning and creative art projects in the bathtub. Let's see the public school system beat that!
Posted by gwendolyn on December 14, 2001 at 11:09 AM
I am up late buzzing on coffee. Again. I swear we need to buy decaf! What have I don't with all this awakeness that is productive? I hung up a shower curtain and I sorted some of my music into folders. Not even worth mentioning, huh?
The truth is that I started tons of projects today. I have noticed I am really bad about that. I have the attention span of a two year old when it comes to these tasks I keep taking on. Or maybe I just juggle so much that I have to work at each project in short random spurts in order to have even had the satisfaction of starting them to begin with.
For example...and you know you are dying to know what it is I do all day:
- Today, I started weeding through the kids clothes for donation. Yes, for the zillionth time this month. Now you can actually look through their closet and see the outfits instead of one big crammed together mess of material, half of which hasn't been worn in the last year.
- I stuffed and addressed several Christmas cards with the intention of mailing them today. I haven't.
- I pulled out my entire MK inventory to get ready to fill out the forms and ship it back to the company. I intended on sorting through it and catagorizing it so that it would take less time for me to fill out the forms and pack it. It is still sitting the same way I got it out.
- I am all ready to wrap presents but haven't found the time to hide away and do it.
- I organized and filed a lot of Logan's homeschooling stuff, but still have a few days worth of bookwork to back log into the database.
I did all of this while:
- repeatedly unloading and loading the dishwasher
- keping the girls from killing each other while, fighting over who's turn it was on the computer, breaking several pieces of the tea party dishes, fighting over tub toys, and then trying to "help me" with the...
- glitter glue I was using to apply their names neatly to their new stockings
- fed,cleaned, and clothed them seemingly several times
- helped Logan with his assignments, which includes reminding him several times that the details he is reciting to me of Harry Potter aren't in his Math workbook
- rescheduled appointments for next week that are now conflicting and will need to be rescheduled again
- kept Mt. Bigasspileoflaundry going even though it doesn't seem to have gotten any smaller
- and swept with both the broom and the vacuum several hundred times
That was a pretty typical day. Not everything was included. I think there were about twenty more things going on, I just couldn't think of them all. In fact, that doesn't even cover the routine drama that takes place after Mr. Monkey comes home. For instance, our trip this evening to a restaurant where Hope and Savannah decided to throw fits upon sitting down at the table and we exited immediately to come home moody and hungry and have spaghetti instead (which prompts another round of dishes, sweeping, and bathing for all).
Exciting life, isn't it?
Posted by gwendolyn on at 01:57 AM
This evening my son referred to writing a letter to Santa as "putting in your order". Where did I go wrong?
Posted by gwendolyn on December 11, 2001 at 07:43 PM
Oh! I forgot to mention that my monkey got his hair cut very very short :( It looks very nice, but I really liked it long.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 09:05 AM
Haven't had much to write about in the last week. Yesterday was nice. My monkey took the tribe to Wolfgang Puck's to dine on the terrace for lunch, then the little people and I took a short but very nice trip to the beach to play in the sun and the sand. We had dinner out also. Today I need to catch up on the housework and make some appointments. Logan needs to get some book work done. Other than that, we are just hanging out until Mr. Monkey comes home to take us to get the tree and see Santa. Think Santa will let me sit on his lap and tell him what I want this year?
Posted by gwendolyn on at 08:50 AM
Yesterday, I moved all of the "outdoor" toys to the back of the van so that my children could have something to play with while they also got some much needed fresh air and sunshine. Last night we went to the store and bought needles and a pump to pump up all of our balls so that we could take them to the beach to play with today... in the sunshine. I stayed up late, made sure the dishes were done and the laundry was still going, planned the entire day's curriculum for today around going to the beach... to play in the sunshine, and did my Ireallywanttostopwantingtopukewhenilookinthemirror workout. I went to bed at two this morning.
Everyone rises around sevenish, gets dressed for the beach, packs our stuff for the beach, and proceeds to take Mr. Monkey to work so we can go enjoy some of that sunshine, salty sea air, and sand. We go outside and it has been raining at some point. There is a thick layer of clouds in the sky and it is not showing any signs of clearing. Then to add insult to injury, it sprinkles all the way home from dropping Mr. Monkey off at work. We have had nothing except beautiful days for the last couple of weeks. Today, I make a huge effort to go outside and play, and it is raining. The weather person says it will be raining on and off for the next few days. Fucker.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 06, 2001 at 09:34 AM
Today started on a really high note. Hope's strep culture came back negative. YAY. We got to stay home in our jammies all day and download Christmas music, decorate the house, and read about all of the traditions of Christmas and how and why they all came about. I am even just about finished Christmas shopping, which gives me a bit of an upset stomach at the amount of money I have spent. Otherwise, It was fairly enjoyable except for the fact that there is absolutely nothing in the house to feed the kids and nothing to clean the growing pile of laundry with. Sometimes not having my own vehicle is such a pain in my ass. But I know that having two vehicles would drastically affect our finances. Payment, insurance, gas, and the fact that going anywhere usually requires spending money of some sort. Been there, done that. It isn't pretty.
This evening I got on the scale. I am still gaining weight. I am currently freaking out about it. I have spent the last couple of hours reading everything I can get my eyes on about low carb diets. Admittedly, I haven't been sticking to much of anything lately. I have been really horrible. I disgust myself. When I feel like this, everyone around me feels it. I am not fun. I am not nice. I am bitchy and weepy and pissed off at the world. I feel desparate and hopeless. I have lost my grip on whatever it was that was working for me. It has been a year since my surgery. It has been a year that I have been able to physically eat whatever I want. Translated, that means it has been a year of struggling because I have no will power and low confidence. In March, when I was pampering myself with tanning appointments, trips to the salon, and new clothes, I felt so good. I felt healthy. I liked what I saw when I looked at myself. I liked that hollow feeling in my middle instead of this horrible bloated one. I realize this all sounds like a broken record. It sounds the same in my head. I want the new and improved me back. Fucking hell.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 04, 2001 at 06:20 PM
Ladies....this is what the perfect husband says...
gw3nd0lyn: what are we gonna do for dinner?
eatonte: Whatever you want.
eatonte: You are the supreme ruler.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 03, 2001 at 04:21 PM
We got "our monkey is home" presents :) The girls got voodoo dolls and Logan got a Mardi Gras pointy wizard hat looking type thing with decorations and a tassel on the point. I got a box of Godiva chocolates and a "Don't Fuck With The Cook" chef's hat. Everything is returning to normal in our house, except for Hope's random throwing up. She did it again this evening. I am getting so good at grabbing her up and at least getting her over a washable surface when it happens. You know you are a well trained mom when you can sense and predict and even handle situations like that with minimal damage.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 01, 2001 at 10:23 PM
I think my most recent "we haven't done any school in two weeks" panic attack that hit me yesterday comes entirely from the lack of lists of page numbers and lessons covered for the time period. However, it has nothing to do with any personal feeling that we did nothing educational for two weeks. If I honestly felt that we hadn't done anything worthy of being called "educational" in the past two weeks of chaos, then I don't deserve to be a homeschooling mom. The trick I need to learn is how to log life in a way that will suffice. These people who judge us, they don't hold much stock in the idea that life is, in fact, full of lessons.I have to make lists to prove it. It so sucketh.
"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of education have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe that it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly."
--Albert Einstein
Posted by gwendolyn on at 03:26 PM
One trip to the airport down and one to go today. Yay! Also, two credit cards down and two to go as soon as the large payment I sent yesterday posts, and Terry's company reimburses him for this trip to cover the remaining balance. Woohoo!
Posted by gwendolyn on at 02:05 PM