Happy Thanksgiving!

We wanted to wish everyone a “Happy Thanksgiving!”  We hope you all have wonderful holidays!

He’s a green belt now

Tyler had TKD testing last night.  He passed!!!  He’s a green belt now.  Here are some pics I took last night:

2008 – Tyler TKD testing for green belt

 

In other news, I think he’s finally getting better.  His fever broke on Friday and we relaxed the whole weekend to be ready for the testing.  I don’t think he’s totally well yet, but he’s getting there.  So maybe now we can get back to doing some school work.

Learning Style

Sorry this is a quiz result.  Still trying to recover from sickness in our house so I don’t have much to tell you.

Your Learning Style: Curious and Brilliant

You are a very abstract learner. You can grasp even the most complex theories.  You Should Study: Astronomy Biology Chemistry Computer Science Linguistics Mathematics Philosophy Physics Psychology

What Should You Study?

Snow, Jobs

First, I have to share the picture of the latest Lego/Bionicle creation that Tyler put together.

From Creations by Tyler

Then I can share the “mountain” that Tyler made out on the deck on Monday. I got him snowpants on Monday so he could play out in the snow now.  He has started paths around the yard, but I don’t know how long they’ll last with warmer temps today.

From 2008 – Winter

In other news, I got a job yesterday.  It is a bookkeeping job and it just a few hours a week.  My first day is going to be Monday.  Should be exciting to get back out into the world a little bit.  An additional bonus to this job is that I’m helping someone else in their business endeavors that also includes an environmental element (which you know I totally support.)  The company that I’ll be working at takes a material that is considered scrap by others and turns it into a great toy for kids.  They also don’t use dyes, stains or colorings in the product and the packaging is minimal.

In Trent’s job world, he got the re-worked budget done a day early (even with being off most of the day on Monday for jury duty.)  He’s been putting in some long hours to make it happen.  He got his picture taken and his paperwork filed for his passport.  He got a notice yesterday that all the salaried people have to paint the whole office space before the end of the year.  They’ve split it into 4 areas and everyone has to volunteer 2 of the next 4 Saturdays to go in and paint.  Then he found out from a co-worker that they are forcing 4 days of vacation around Christmas.  This co-worker and Trent share the same boss, but Trent hadn’t heard about this yet.  I guess her area voted that everyone will take off the 2 Fridays (they already get Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as holidays) and then the other 2 days can be when each person wants.  He also found other areas are taking off the whole week of Christmas.  Not sure what will happen for him.  And speaking of Christmas, he got an email the other day asking how much he’d be contributing to his boss’ Christmas gift.  Not sure what to do about that.  Then there’s the talks about Christmas parties.  We are guessing that the company doesn’t have a party (guessing because no one has said either way), but some of the departments have their own parties (outside of work time) and now some are opening it up to others outside the departments.

And we’ll finish off with the fact that Tyler is sick again today.  This time it is the flu.  He has a temp of about 101.  He says his stomach hurts, he feels light-headed and he’s wobbly.  He went back to bed without being told (must mean he’s pretty bad.)  I took him some medicine and I haven’t heard anything from him.  I just peeked in his room and he’s sleeping again.  Guess that’s why I’m not hearing him.

Geography Awareness Week

Geography Awareness Week is Nov 16-22, 2008.  Geography Awareness Week is held the third week in November to promote the importance of geography education in the United States.  Check out the weeklong guide at this site: http://mywonderfulworld.org/gaw.html.  Today is Human Geography/Cultures.  There’s lots of information and a fun game to play at Friends of World Heritage.

Asking for insight

Sorry, no school updates!  We’re still sick here and Tyler’s head hurts too much to do school, so he’s been being lazy.  Remember I last wrote about the hyperness – no more.  Seriously, he’s laying around, reading, and relaxing.  I let him watch one movie yesterday.  So I know he’s feeling really bad by the way he’s acting.

Yesterday, I posted on Facebook that I was looking for a job and  I got a couple offers.  Unfortunately, I don’t live close to either of them so it’s not possible.  But it was a nice thought and it brightened my day.  Then I had to go reference hunting, which is a weird experience since I haven’t done it in awhile.  Everyone I asked sent me back a sweet email saying that I could use them.  Warm fuzzy feelings!  Hopefully it carries through to my first interview this afternoon.  I’ll keep you posted on what happens.

For my conundrum of the day, I ask for insight.  As many of you know, I’ve been leaving Tyler home alone for a couple hours every once in awhile, which I run errands or get groceries.  He has his own cell phone to call me, if he needs me or just wants to check in.  He plays on his computer, watches movies or plays with his toys.  He has more than enough easily obtainable food and snacks.  So really he lacks for nothing.  None of you have written to me that you can’t believe that I leave my kid alone, so I’m guessing I haven’t set off any major buttons with you, my readers.  However, I happened to mention it at TKD the other day and I thought all heck had broken loose.  Parents there could not believe that I left my kid – he could get into things, he could destroy things, he could make messes, etc, etc, etc.  These were parents with kids about the same age as Tyler.  Now, you know that I am very comfortable not going along with the crowd.  But with this new job possibility, comes a chance of having to leave Tyler home alone for a few hours once a week.  I’m wondering what is acceptable?  Is it not OK that I leave him home alone at all?  Are a couple hours fine?  What do you think or what have you done your your kids?  Thanks to all!

Busy, sick, life

We’ve been busy around here.  Saturday was TKD in the morning and I went out with my dad for dinner.  Just the two of us.  It was very nice.  Sunday, we relaxed, did chores, and had my niece’s birthday party in the evening.  Monday was more chores and TKD again.  Yesterday found all of us sick.  Trent still went to work while Tyler & I took it easy.  We are still not back to being well today, but we seem to be on the mend.  Tyler is unique in that he doesn’t feel good, but he will run around with the dog for hours and then just collapses.  On one hand he is used to so much activity that laying around relaxing just gets him too wound up, but I wish he would just rest and not get so hyper.  The homeopathic ColdCalm seems to be helping.  

On a sad note, yesterday our heat (from the furnace) wasn’t working when we woke up, so it was a little cold in the house.  And it didn’t warm up until it got warm enough outside for our heat pump to work.  The reason is a malfunctioning wire somewhere in the furnace.  So we have to have a new thermostat installed with a new “board” downstairs on our units so that they get regulated correctly.  The easiest way to explain it is that we currently have a computer that was built in 1987 trying to run an air conditioner (don’t know how old), a furnace (that is about 5 years old), a heat pump (from this year) and a programmable thermostat (from this year) and it just can’t handle all the newer equipment.  So we will get our new stuff installed on Friday, which is great because it will be turning colder again this weekend into next week.

Getting that stuff installed on Friday means that we won’t be making our field trip.  I had planned on going over to Wolf Park(http://www.wolfpark.org/), but heat is more important.  We’ll just have to do it some other time.

With all these extra expenses adding up, I’m looking for a part-time job that has flexible hours.  I applied for a bookkeeping job, which should be easy since that’s what I’ve done for almost 10 years now.  We’ll have to see if I hear anything and find out how flexible they’ll be.  I can’t be leaving Tyler for hours on end during the week.  Anyone else know of any job openings that might interest me?

Trent has had some excitement at work recently, and though I can’t share the details with you, it might mean some travel to Canada.  Probably not until January, so he has to be looking into getting his passport.  None of us have them since we never go anywhere too exciting.

I’ve been reading an interesting book.  It is “Destiny at Your Fingertips – Discover the Inner Purpose of Your Life and What It Takes to Live It” by Ronelle Coburn.  The premise is that your life purpose is coded into your fingerprints, so decoding them will help you with learning and living your life purpose.  I’ve done mine and Trent’s and, I have to say, that it is pretty accurate, even if it stuff that we don’t quite want to hear (especially if it is something that we need to work on more.)  I have a couple life purposes that I need to weave together and then a group life purpose that overlays them.  I know there isn’t a magic formula, but it sure would make things easier.  All this thinking about things and trying to figure out life is hard work.

Awesome Bug

Yesterday, after I got done cleaning out the gutters, I found an awesome bug (you know me and nature.)  I didn’t know what it was so into the bug tent it went until we could identify it.  Here is a picture of it (not one that I took since it wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to take a good one.)

We looked online, but the field guides that I normally use didn’t help this time.  So while we were at the library for a program on Thanksgiving Traditions, we looked through the field guides there.  And we found it.

It is a wheel bug.  It is in the same family as the assassin bug.  The wheel bug is a predator bug and eats soft-bodied insects.  Their method of eating sounds a lot like spiders.  They pierce with their beaks, inject juices that dissolve soft tissue, and then drain the fluid.  The good news is that they are in the beneficial insect category, so don’t go killing them just because they are big (the one we had was probably 1 1/2 inches long) and scary looking.  While looking it up online, I found this tidbit of information: The bite of a wheel bug is painful and may take months to heal (sometimes leaving a small scar), so caution is advised when handling them.  Good thing I handled it carefully!  We did set it free last night in a place where I know other insects tend to be.  I figured it had been starving all day with no bugs to eat inside the tent.  Hopefully it finds a mate, and they lay some eggs so that in the spring we can see some nymphs.  Wheel bugs are welcome to stay in my yard anytime.

Yesterday the library program was on Thanksgiving Traditions.  At first we were the only ones there, then 2 other kids showed up (ones I was hoping wouldn’t – I know it’s not nice, but they are super, super, super hyper, extremely loud and don’t understand the concept of personal space, even when asked/told by the other kid to leave them alone; so basically they infringe on my son’s ability to learn and that annoys me because he sits there trying to listen to the librarian with his hands over his ears and his arms & legs pulled as tightly as he can get them into himself – OK, I’m done.)  Then we were joined by 3 other kids.  They started by talking about Thanksgiving of the past, people who came over on the Mayflower, etc.  The librarian pointed out that Sarah Palin is a descendant of people who came over on the Mayflower.  Subtle plug?  I’m not sure.  This is an pretty red area, but I thought it was interesting that she didn’t mention that the Bushes (as in the President & former President) are as well.  You can see some famous other ones here:  http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Genealogy/famousdescendants.php  They played 2 games.  They did a wreath where they put things they were thankful for on the leaves.  Tyler’s were: TKD, Saturday, Sunday, Hershey, Nea & Elan.  Tyler finished before the others so he helped the librarian set the table and prepare the food for the snack.  They had turkey, carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin bread to get them in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

We are still plugging along with TKD.  Tyler has decided that right now it is too much for him to learn his form, his weapons form, his XMA form and his XMA weapons form and try to remember the white belt, yellow belt and orange belt form.  So he would rather concentrate on the forms he needs to know right now.  He knows that means he won’t be helping out in classes very soon, but he is fine with that.  And, as I am just along for ride of supporting his dreams, goals and decisions, I’m just fine with it.  So the extra time we’ve been spending before class on Mon & Wed is now being spent working on his current form and his weapons form.  He is getting really good at both.  And don’t think that he has given up on helping others, he still has plenty of time to do that.  There is another girl that has been showing up early like Tyler and they have been practicing together.  Tyler has taken to helping her get her form right and pointing out things that will make it better.  It is cute to watch they together.  I know he’s using the skills he’s learning in Leadership because I hear him say things like “No, your arms have to be turned this way” and he shows her, if she still doesn’t turn her arms then he goes over and turns them the direction they should be and says “That’s better.”  And he notices things, like if the next time she does it right, he says things like “Great job with your arms.”  And he’s still helping others during class.  If someone next to him gets stuck and can’t remember the next move, he shows or tells them.  Wednesday, they were practicing some new moves with their nunchakus.  Tyler has tried these moves before and I gave him some pointers on how to do it better by switching which arm was closest to his body.  Now, he tried to tell me that I didn’t know anything, but when he did it and it worked, he finally believed that I might know something.  So on Wednesday, he was showing a few of the other kids about the arms and helping them.

And we move forward…

The elections are done and now we can all move forward.  Tyler didn’t stay up to watch the results, which is fine because there are things I don’t know how to answer.  Like how can you declare a victor with only 1% of the precincts reporting or how IN was one of the first states to close the polls but one of the last to reveal the results.  Things like that.  I’m glad it wasn’t a close race so that it could be drawn out or contested.

Anyways, now we have to figure out what to fill our extra time with.  I’m thinking it should be something fun and exotic.  Something that will take our minds off the upcoming cold winter weather.  Something tropical.  Oh, wait, maybe that’s just my fantasy.  Tyler really likes snow and cold.  I guess I’ll just have to wait to see what he decides.

In other news, my wonderful husband installed the new dishwasher last night.  It is so super quiet AND no one had to keep going out to the kitchen to reclose it when it opened on it’s own during the various cycles.  I have to say I’m happy with our choice.  And the side benefit (if you can call it that) is that the dishes are much cleaner coming out of the new dishwasher.  I knew the old one wasn’t working, but I didn’t realize how much it wasn’t working.

I knew it!

I knew I shouldn’t have said anything about Tyler doing school so easily yesterday.  I jinxed myself.  Today he has decided to do it in spurts.  He does a few things, then goes and plays for a while.  He is coming back to do school on his own (without me reminding him), so I do have that to be thankful for.

He says that his brain is tired today and that his playing is helping him recharge it.  How can you argue with something so well thought out?!?

Then again, my brain is tired as well.  Too much time spent tossing and turning last night and not enough time sleeping.  For some reason, I just couldn’t shut it down last night.  And I tried all my tricks.  I know part of the problem was that Trent’s back was hurting him and I could feel the pain radiating from him.  Maybe I’ll have better luck tonight.

We got our new dishwasher yesterday.  Trent picked it up after work.  Unfortunately, it didn’t get installed.  When he went to pull the old dishwasher out, he couldn’t move it.  Turns out that the current dishwasher’s electrical source comes up through the floor and is wired directly to the dishwasher – no outlet and plug used.  STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!  Just had to vent a little.  Do you know how many remodeling projects that we’ve done over the years where once we get into the project, we find that the person doing it before us didn’t do it right and now we have to spend more time & money to fix the previous person’s mistakes before we can even do what we originally intended to do?  Let me tell you, it is A LOT!  One more reason on my list of why I’m tired of home ownership.