Wow. We've just made a decision (and acted upon it!) that I never would have expected from either of us a year or two ago. We've sold Dan's car and become a one-car family. Even though our plan is to only stay this way for about a year, I'm still pleased (though a little surprised) that we're doing it. We're both excited about it, though, and I know I'm looking forward to the adventure. I'm also glad for the opportunity to show the girls that there are creative ways to solve problems, and that even adults share!
The backstory is pretty simple: Dan's Audi has not had the track record we expected of an Audi. The year before the girls were born (so, 8 years ago), he sold his Single Guy Car, the Mitsubishi Eclipse, and bought a Audi A4. (I wanted him to get a car with four real seats, and he wanted a car that went Vroom.) The first few years were all well and good, except for the recall on the coil packs. Of course, in the interests of Audi's bottom line, owners could only get their coil packs replaced once they had actually failed. Ours were eventually replaced (twice!); we've also had issues with the timing belt and, most recently, the catalytic converters. See, the car has been failing to pass the state inspection for the past 2 months, after having the O2 sensors replaced. The computer just wouldn't reset, and eventually the Mass RMV Dude was able to clear out a few error messages and get the computer to reset . . . at which point the computer told us that the catalytic converters were blown. Frustrated, Dan took the car up to Audi for an official, manufacturer-provided diagnosis (over the phone, Audi claimed it was "probably just a sensor"). It turns out that in addition to the cats being blown (which is very possibly a result of the multiple coil pack failures), there are several other things wrong with the car . . . at least some of which may also be the result of the coil pack failures. (Can you say Domino Effect??) So we took it to a used-car dealer who looked it over and said he'd buy it (most likely to auction off).
In the meantime, though, we are officially a one-car household. We're squirreling away the proceeds from the Audi until Dan goes car-shopping next summer, and until then, we're going to get even better at scheduling. (Anyone who has seen my desk-blotter-size, color-coded family calendar knows that that is nearly impossible, but I'm sure I'll find a way.)
I love a good adventure!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
on secular homeschooling . . .
Sigh. We homeschool our children for many reasons, but religion is not among them. Articles like this one are hugely misleading. See, what happens is that people see bits like, "the majority of home-schoolers self-identify as evangelical Christians," and then they find out that we homeschool. They reel back in shock and surprise, often commenting that they didn't know we were Religious.
"We're not," we reply, and then it begins. We must help dispel the myth that most homeschoolers are religious, or that every homeschooler's idea of a fun evening is a high-stakes spelling bee, or that as homeschoolers we don't allow our children to associate with other kids.
Most of the homeschoolers we know are not evangelical Christians; some are not even Christians. Never mind the diversity of my own circle of friends; people should know (and so I'm saying it now) that the HSLDA does not speak for all homeschoolers. It doesn't even speak for all Christian homeschoolers. Most homeschoolers, quite frankly, are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves . . . we do it often, and loudly when necessary.
The truth is that homeschooling is growing nationwide not because there are more evangelical Christians removing their children from the clutches of the God-hating leftist heathens who are in charge of public schools but because parents in general are increasingly dissatisfied with the environment of public schools.
So yeah, we're secular homeschoolers. We embrace a science curriculum which recognizes evolution as the well-observed scientific phenomenon that it is. We also teach our kids that there are people who don't "believe" in evolution because they think God just poofed us all into existence one day when he was bored because there was nothing on tv. (Well, there wasn't!) We haven't told them yet about the people who don't "believe" in gravity.
"We're not," we reply, and then it begins. We must help dispel the myth that most homeschoolers are religious, or that every homeschooler's idea of a fun evening is a high-stakes spelling bee, or that as homeschoolers we don't allow our children to associate with other kids.
Most of the homeschoolers we know are not evangelical Christians; some are not even Christians. Never mind the diversity of my own circle of friends; people should know (and so I'm saying it now) that the HSLDA does not speak for all homeschoolers. It doesn't even speak for all Christian homeschoolers. Most homeschoolers, quite frankly, are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves . . . we do it often, and loudly when necessary.
The truth is that homeschooling is growing nationwide not because there are more evangelical Christians removing their children from the clutches of the God-hating leftist heathens who are in charge of public schools but because parents in general are increasingly dissatisfied with the environment of public schools.
So yeah, we're secular homeschoolers. We embrace a science curriculum which recognizes evolution as the well-observed scientific phenomenon that it is. We also teach our kids that there are people who don't "believe" in evolution because they think God just poofed us all into existence one day when he was bored because there was nothing on tv. (Well, there wasn't!) We haven't told them yet about the people who don't "believe" in gravity.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Crazy for Maisie
Well, we've reserved our new puppy, a 3-day old beagle we've named Maisie. Our breeder is a little over an hour away from us, in central MA, and just a wonderful woman to speak with. We met Maisie this morning and although we couldn't hold her yet, we were able to take a few pictures of her markings. We'll visit again close to Valentine's Day -- at which point we'll be able to hold and play with her for a while. Right now, though, it's more important for her to bond well with her biological mommy.
We did get to spend a few minutes playing with some of the grow-up beagles today -- Sugar, Jessie and Rebel. Jessie is old and mellow, just the way Penny & Emma remember Masha, but Sugar likes to give kisses and was actually a little annoyed when we had to leave! Rebel, the proud papa, traveled back and forth between us and the door to the puppies' den; his face reminds me a bit of Masha's face (one of her more beagle-ish characteristics).
We're looking forward to getting to know Maisie, and will have to start planning our puppy-proofing strategies.
We did get to spend a few minutes playing with some of the grow-up beagles today -- Sugar, Jessie and Rebel. Jessie is old and mellow, just the way Penny & Emma remember Masha, but Sugar likes to give kisses and was actually a little annoyed when we had to leave! Rebel, the proud papa, traveled back and forth between us and the door to the puppies' den; his face reminds me a bit of Masha's face (one of her more beagle-ish characteristics).
We're looking forward to getting to know Maisie, and will have to start planning our puppy-proofing strategies.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Made with Real Girl Scouts
Penny & Emma are Daisy Scouts. They look so cute in their weird blue aprons, which are sporadically and asymmetrically growing petals as their troop works on various service patches. Yes, aprons. Weird, permeable aprons which have not once kept paint, frosting with sprinkles, or glitter glue off my daughters' clothing.
The un-apron-like aprons are not the issue, though. The issue is that the Girl Scouts of America as an organization doesn't really seem interested in serving its Girl Scouts.
Whenever I contact the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts about pretty much anything, it is a slow torturous process to get a helpful response, or a proper phone extension, or a return call, or any sort of timely action. I had to beg to get Penny & Emma into a troop in Chelmsford (when we lived there). When we relocated, they didn't really feel like reassigning us to a troop in Tyngsboro, even though I called and called and called. Eventually I gave up and kept the girls in their Chelmsford troop. So I'm again begging to get contact information for the neighborhood Tyngsboro troop, the theory being that we can cultivate a relationship and get the girls joined up for next school year. Maybe I'll just have to wander the neighborhood and see if anyone is willing to put me in contact with the troop leader.
Begging sometimes works. When I became Cookie Mom for Penny & Emma's troop, I was told to attend a 90-minute training session . . . scheduled 2 days before Thanksgiving. When I arrived (in spite of all the cooking I had yet to do), I was told that since they didn't know how many girls were in the troop, I could have 9 cookie packets. I begged, and they relinquished 2 more. It turns out there are 12 girls in the troop. My daughters actually had to share a cookie packet.
So here I am, a few days before the cookie orders are due, still waiting for those last straggling orders. I check out the GSEM website to get a preview of the cookie entry process -- maybe I'll go ahead and enter the orders for the girls whose forms I've already received. But, wait . . . what's this? A note stating, "There are features of this system that work only with the Internet Explorer browser. You should not be using Firefox, Safari, Netscape, or any other browser."
That can't be right. It makes no sense! Maybe it works best with Explorer, but *only* with Explorer? Nobody does that anymore!
But wait . . . the Cookie Advisor Book states otherwise. There's a little grey box on page 5 letting me know that unless I use Explorer 6.0, I will be "unable to adjust nor [sic] assign boxes to girls using any other browser." In the brief Introduction to the 2010 . . . Web Cookie System, I learn that the GSA has chosen to use a program which is "designed to work with Windows and Internet Explorer 6.0, SP1 or higher" and that there is no Mac support.
Do you know why there is no Mac support? That would be because there are no versions of Explorer for the Mac after Explorer 5.x -- because Mac users now have Safari. Even before Safari, I never used Explorer because quite frankly, it's so bulky that even I can tell the difference.
So anyway, the Cookie Lords attempt to encourage me by letting me know that I can do the data entry a little at a time over the duration of the cookie sale. (How am I supposed to know how many boxes each girl has sold? I'm still missing 3 girls' orders, and it's 2 days before the deadline. All the other girls' orders came in today, and I consider myself lucky to only be waiting on 3 orders. Clearly the Cookie Lords have never met a procrastinator, or been held hostage by one.) There is a further attempt to mollify me by suggesting that I use "any (non-Mac) computer at home or at work or at the local library." Really!? Any (non-Mac) computer? How about my husband's company-issued computer? It runs OpenSolaris.
I thought not.
We're a happily Windows-free household, and have been since we became a household (that's 11+ years ago, for those who don't know). While some people might say that we get what we deserve, I beg to differ (See? I'm begging again!) and must point out that I've never before encountered a situation that couldn't somehow be resolved without resorting to invading the library and using their Windows machines or downloading VirtualBox and using Dan's work-copy of Windows.
Come on, Girl Scouts of America. Get a clue.
The un-apron-like aprons are not the issue, though. The issue is that the Girl Scouts of America as an organization doesn't really seem interested in serving its Girl Scouts.
Whenever I contact the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts about pretty much anything, it is a slow torturous process to get a helpful response, or a proper phone extension, or a return call, or any sort of timely action. I had to beg to get Penny & Emma into a troop in Chelmsford (when we lived there). When we relocated, they didn't really feel like reassigning us to a troop in Tyngsboro, even though I called and called and called. Eventually I gave up and kept the girls in their Chelmsford troop. So I'm again begging to get contact information for the neighborhood Tyngsboro troop, the theory being that we can cultivate a relationship and get the girls joined up for next school year. Maybe I'll just have to wander the neighborhood and see if anyone is willing to put me in contact with the troop leader.
Begging sometimes works. When I became Cookie Mom for Penny & Emma's troop, I was told to attend a 90-minute training session . . . scheduled 2 days before Thanksgiving. When I arrived (in spite of all the cooking I had yet to do), I was told that since they didn't know how many girls were in the troop, I could have 9 cookie packets. I begged, and they relinquished 2 more. It turns out there are 12 girls in the troop. My daughters actually had to share a cookie packet.
So here I am, a few days before the cookie orders are due, still waiting for those last straggling orders. I check out the GSEM website to get a preview of the cookie entry process -- maybe I'll go ahead and enter the orders for the girls whose forms I've already received. But, wait . . . what's this? A note stating, "There are features of this system that work only with the Internet Explorer browser. You should not be using Firefox, Safari, Netscape, or any other browser."
That can't be right. It makes no sense! Maybe it works best with Explorer, but *only* with Explorer? Nobody does that anymore!
But wait . . . the Cookie Advisor Book states otherwise. There's a little grey box on page 5 letting me know that unless I use Explorer 6.0, I will be "unable to adjust nor [sic] assign boxes to girls using any other browser." In the brief Introduction to the 2010 . . . Web Cookie System, I learn that the GSA has chosen to use a program which is "designed to work with Windows and Internet Explorer 6.0, SP1 or higher" and that there is no Mac support.
Do you know why there is no Mac support? That would be because there are no versions of Explorer for the Mac after Explorer 5.x -- because Mac users now have Safari. Even before Safari, I never used Explorer because quite frankly, it's so bulky that even I can tell the difference.
So anyway, the Cookie Lords attempt to encourage me by letting me know that I can do the data entry a little at a time over the duration of the cookie sale. (How am I supposed to know how many boxes each girl has sold? I'm still missing 3 girls' orders, and it's 2 days before the deadline. All the other girls' orders came in today, and I consider myself lucky to only be waiting on 3 orders. Clearly the Cookie Lords have never met a procrastinator, or been held hostage by one.) There is a further attempt to mollify me by suggesting that I use "any (non-Mac) computer at home or at work or at the local library." Really!? Any (non-Mac) computer? How about my husband's company-issued computer? It runs OpenSolaris.
I thought not.
We're a happily Windows-free household, and have been since we became a household (that's 11+ years ago, for those who don't know). While some people might say that we get what we deserve, I beg to differ (See? I'm begging again!) and must point out that I've never before encountered a situation that couldn't somehow be resolved without resorting to invading the library and using their Windows machines or downloading VirtualBox and using Dan's work-copy of Windows.
Come on, Girl Scouts of America. Get a clue.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Chewbones roasting on an open fire
Squirrels begging for their lives
Tasty morsels hiding in the kitchen trash
And shoes scattered on the floor.
. . . . Although it's been said many times, many ways,
A very Puppy Christmas for you.
We still miss you, Masha! Even though we're getting ready to adopt a new puppy this spring, we will never forget you. Our hearts are full of warm memories from so many happy years with you.
Tasty morsels hiding in the kitchen trash
And shoes scattered on the floor.
. . . . Although it's been said many times, many ways,
A very Puppy Christmas for you.
We still miss you, Masha! Even though we're getting ready to adopt a new puppy this spring, we will never forget you. Our hearts are full of warm memories from so many happy years with you.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
the lamb lies down in my knitting bag
Well, we've moved into the new home, we're mostly unpacked, and we've worked it out with Mike to finish the attic starting late in January. We're also officially approved homeschoolers in Tyngsboro (a Massachusetts town that actually sends an approval letter!). The town does have a rather obnoxious, over-reaching form, but they backed down with just a politely worded letter (explaining why it would be an exercise in poor judgment for us to give them information to which they were not legally entitled) and a printout of AHEM's "Info for Superintendents" brochure. I'm thrilled with Tyngsboro's library, too; they have an excellent children's section -- I swear it's more comprehensive than Chelmsford's children's library, in spite of the cramped space.
Our neighborhood is a very young one, since all the homes are new construction. The girls have made several friends, and Dan & I definitely don't miss that sense of entitlement that had us constantly rolling our eyes. Just in time, too -- I'd have hated for my eyes to stick that way!
Most interesting of all is the fact that I've taken up knitting. I used to see people knitting and think to myself, "Oh, how quaint!" Now? I take my knitting projects everywhere, in the hopes that I get stuck with a long wait. I've made a few obligatory dishcloths, then moved on to a baby cap for my nephew-to-be. Now, I'm working on ponchos for the girls. So call me quaint, but I'm loving knitting!
Our neighborhood is a very young one, since all the homes are new construction. The girls have made several friends, and Dan & I definitely don't miss that sense of entitlement that had us constantly rolling our eyes. Just in time, too -- I'd have hated for my eyes to stick that way!
Most interesting of all is the fact that I've taken up knitting. I used to see people knitting and think to myself, "Oh, how quaint!" Now? I take my knitting projects everywhere, in the hopes that I get stuck with a long wait. I've made a few obligatory dishcloths, then moved on to a baby cap for my nephew-to-be. Now, I'm working on ponchos for the girls. So call me quaint, but I'm loving knitting!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Hotel Massachusetts
Well, 1 Prancing is no longer ours! I drove by yesterday with the girls, so they could wave goodbye and remind the house that we loved it and made lots of awesome memories there. I really hope the new owners made it to the block party -- it was a really fun way for us to meet the neighbors, our first year there.
We, however, are technically homeless (thank goodness for PO Boxes!). We found a moderately priced extended-stay hotel with 1 bedroom, a pull-out sofa, a little kitchenette, and free laundry. So far, we've been putting the girls to bed in the bedroom, so Dan & I can work on the usual Grownup Stuff in the evenings, and then switching them to the pullout when we are ready for bed. They really like sleeping on the pullout!
I've got activities all over the calendar, as well as the previously-scheduled trips to Wisconsin (Hooray for grandparents and state fairs!) and Disney World (Yay, Carolina Homeschoolers!) peppered in for good measure, so it's my steadfast hope that the girls (and we) do not go stir-crazy. Plus, Voyagers and first grade start after we get back from Disney World.
We, however, are technically homeless (thank goodness for PO Boxes!). We found a moderately priced extended-stay hotel with 1 bedroom, a pull-out sofa, a little kitchenette, and free laundry. So far, we've been putting the girls to bed in the bedroom, so Dan & I can work on the usual Grownup Stuff in the evenings, and then switching them to the pullout when we are ready for bed. They really like sleeping on the pullout!
I've got activities all over the calendar, as well as the previously-scheduled trips to Wisconsin (Hooray for grandparents and state fairs!) and Disney World (Yay, Carolina Homeschoolers!) peppered in for good measure, so it's my steadfast hope that the girls (and we) do not go stir-crazy. Plus, Voyagers and first grade start after we get back from Disney World.
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