Eclectically Yours,

In A Nutshell

Thursday we visit the Maine State Museum. It is wonderful. We want to go again.

Friday Ms. D is sick. Laying around moaning, "no" to movies, "no" to books, "no" to books on audio  kind of sick.

Saturday Ms. D slightly (ever so) better. Mom is sick. Achy, can't move, can't look at the PC sick. Now that is really,really sick.

So....maybe a hiatus...I'm going back to bed (thanks to David, who is NOT sick. Yet.)

Meme Meme

I'm not into meme's, frankly.

BUT....BUT...this is an easy one and well, it's from one of my favorite blogs, The Learning Umbrella.

The idea is this: Go to your photo's, find the sixth file and the sixth picture. How easy is that?!

Ya...well...why did I take a picture of the boxes in our living room? Boxes and boxes of books awaiting shelves. Maybe it was to remind me that in the very near future I will be disgruntled about something. Something about my never satisfied perfectionist personality. And that I need to look back and see how far I've come.

Today I spent a great deal of time unpacking those boxes. And putting the contents on my brand new shelves.

These shelves look empty in this photo. They are filled to maximum today. It made us realize what we really need is more shelves.....hmmmmm. Or maybe less books. Nah...what am I thinking?

Monday's Storm

I've about had it with winter, I can tell you. HAD IT. THE END. DONE. NO MORE. I'm going to sink into a morass of t.v. and hard liquor if this goes on any longer.

But it was beautiful. I'll give Winter that. You are gorgeous, Winter. And while I sit swilling my next Scotch I"m looking at your icy, cold beauty.

Our power went out. But this time for only 12 hours instead of 24! Hooray!

Here are a few pictures:

I swear there were turkeys back here...I swear it. It's just that I was standing INSIDE when this picture was taken....if you want real Maine turkeys..go HERE.

Pretty bleak, huh? Pretty, and bleak.

However, Tuesday was a beautiful and sunny day....the sunlight glistened off the ice covered trees and I put away my Scotch and actually showered.

 

 

And now it's all gonna melt into a quagmire of muddy,  slushy, snowy ICK. BUT..it will be warmer...and it will smell like spring. And the birds will twitter and frolic, and the days will get longer and longer and the woodland creatures will dance. But that's at LEAST a month away. Sigh.

About Opal

About Opal is a story line that Ms. D is creating about a girl who is a mermaid and lives on land with her friend, Veronica. The story starts out with Opal. (click on the photo to make it bigger)

Discovered Blogs And Awesome Commenters

When I first started homeschooling I remember thinking "What will I use for curriculum? Where will I find the material to teach my daughter?" I honestly laugh at that question, now. I am so completely overwhelmed by the choices out there. It's endless. And I spend too much money on all those great ideas. I get so many ideas and information for school and life in general from other moms who are blogging about their homeschooling life. Here are a few that I have recently discovered: 

Kristine at Wild Oak Academy is not only sharing a peak at her homeschooling days but her site is CHOCK FULL of resources and ideas. I've been over there quite a bit and have chatted with Kristine. She's a wonderful resource in more ways than one! Unfortunately, she's added to my Amazon Wish List and Cart a great deal. My pocketbook will NOT be thanking her!

I had a mom recently contact me and mention that she wanted to do a Waldorf approach to homeschooling. At Renaissance Mama, Dawn is doing just that. There is something about her blog that I find very relaxing and soothing.

And speaking of inspirational, check out Geninne's Art Blog. I try not to be jealous of her awesome creativity and organizational skills...but I just love her ideas. I haven't done one of them yet, but it's great to dream!

Talent runs in Geninne's family. Her boys have their own art blog, which has inpired Ms. D to no end!

I have been terrible about getting back to my commenters. I LOVE comments. Totally and in all ways. Ms. D was tickled and pleased by the comments on her poetry and her artwork. Thank you. And here is my chance to reply and thank you all in one fell swoop! There is Tara, and Heather, and EcoMom, and Urban Mom, and Sara, and Heidi, and Lorna, and Anna, and Candy, and rae, and Val, and Katherine, and Nona, and mrs. g, and bossy, and Aunt Jenny , and Jenny in CA, and sandy feet, and so not cool...and I'm having a total Romper Room moment right now....

...so did I mention I totally love my commentors and I totally love comments? If you've never commented to show me you love me, then please do so....it's really easy...just a few clicks, a few types..go on now you can do it! Particularly GRANDMA (yes, I'm talking to you) who is all computer savvy and literate. (Who should really write her own blog because it would be hysterical and it's a good retirement project when you're not knitting.) And particularly to those of you who are reading and peaking in and NOT commenting and who I consider to be my PEEPS. You know who you are,too....

I leave you with this thought:

Ask Jeeves

The cute around here is just getting out of hand.


And I'm not just talking about me.

~~~"Mom, I am just going through a wicked tragic irony right now...."~~~~

Ms. D (almost 11)

Do You Mehndi?

My biggest regret about my trip to India EONS ago?? I never got Mehndi'ed. My biggest regret about not attending unschoolers conventions? They all seem to Mehndi.

So,Inspired by Laura Ms. D and I experimented with a Mehndi kit.

And look! This is me!!! Didn't it turn out well? I look great, don't I?

(this photo from here.)

And this is my beautiful artwork here, too.

Okay, maybe not...here is our feet...I mean,my stubs..

And here are Ms. D's... (she has toes like her Grandma)

I'd like to try another kit. Ours seemed to come off really fast. It could have something to do with the fact I totally had to put socks on because I was FREEZING...and then I took a shower. Ya.That could have something to do with it.

Anyway, I think we'll revisit the whole mehndi thing this spring and summer. And better yet....speaking of mehndi coming off a little too soon...check this out!

I can't imagine this would stay on long...or that I would look really good licking my own hand and the chocolate oozing down my elbows...then again...you never know...

Bright Eyed and....

I'm not a morning person. This would be David's domain...the mornings.  When we were first married I made a show of getting up in the mornings and making him a healthy brown bagged lunch.

That lasted a week. (David says two days, but ha! I know better. I'm no quitter.) I figured the  man had been getting up in the mornings making his own lunch for nigh on 18 years or so, who was I to stand in the way of progress?

So while I'm fast asleep, in the burgeoning dawn,my husband putzes around the kitchen pulling together toast and cinnamon for his breakfast.

When Ms. D and I got up later, (how much later is our own business, thank you very much!) we noticed the following:

I am not even going to mention age or the need for reading glasses. Because that might mean he will start needing help in the mornings. And I just don't want to go there.

Aptly Named

...because it's like ADDICTION came out of that box she opened. I have gone nuts at discovering new music. House cleaning? Whatever. Homeschooling? Hey, it's a music lesson.

It was getting a bit embarassing that my almost eleven year old would say "Hey Mom could you find that cool song by Incubus?" and I was all "Incue wha?" Action had to be taken before I loose my cool status in her eyes. Because I'm way cool. Too cool for my own good,actually.

Anyway, back to addiction masked as music, look, I even put a little widget down on my side bar so you can see all the new cool music I have discovered. (You can also probably go see the "stations" I have created which will tell you that I grew up in the 80's and had a few The Cure phases, but that also the world "eclectic" applies in more ways than one.)

If you haven't seen Pandora consider this your DIRE warning. Like the Prometheus dude who said "Pandora, just don't.go.there." But she did.

And if you haven't seen Limewire. Consider this another warning. Not that I do anything illegal. I mean, not even those grey areas. Really.

Who We Were

 I have long loved to sift through old photographs in estate sales and flea markets. When I was in high school I used to frame them and hang them in my room, imagining their lives, weaving stories. So much history, with so many questions surrounding one photograph. Or so many answers, depending on how you look at it.

Thus, in the Internet age, I was thrilled to discover Square America and The Found Photo to name a few vernacular photography sites. Having not perused either site in awhile I was thrilled and pleased to pick up at my local library  Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America by the guys at Square America!

Many photos I recognized from the website, but others were new to me. Congrats to this awesome team, on an incredible book! 

And next time you rummage through a flea market or basement bin of old pictures buy a couple. You're holding someones history in your hands...

Healthy Pudding

No dairy, no sugar, and good for you! Guilt free, my friends! And delicious. Does it get any better?

I'm not posting measurements because this is one of those "by taste" recipes. Whatever your preference is...experiment!

Ms. D's Avocado Chocolate Pudding

1 Avocado

Organic Cocoa Powder

Agave Nector (for sweetness)

bit of almond milk for moisture

1/2 banana (optional)

Blend to a pudding like consistency.

This is what Ms. D had for breakfast this morning! Yummy!!

~~Our 2009 Kinda Sorta Curriculum HERE~~

What Goes Around...

One night, shortly after we were married, we were snowed in with nothing to do. It was too late for a trip to the video store (remember videos? This was in the days when "burning" and "ripping" had to do with bodily functions and not DVD's or CD's) and so we scrounged past the old Star Trek videos and he came up with one I hadn't seen. It was a documentary titled Darshan: An Indian Journey hosted, narrated and traveled by Michael Wood. That video enthralled me. While seeing pictures of David's journey to India a few years previous, had intrigued and inspired me a great deal, this video totally had it's hooks in me. The colors, sounds and contrasts of India were palatable. Or maybe it was a combination of all these things that made me look at David and say "Do you ever think you'd like to go to India again?"

Or maybe it was my crush on Michael Wood. I find tall, lanky men hoisting a backpack and talking about history enthusiastically to be the height of infatuation.

 

(this photo was blatently stolen from HERE and if they don't like it I can remove it)

And that was that. So fast forward, say, 16 years or so. Netflix. Modern age of DVD's. We rent the documentary Conquistadors. Ms. D and David started the movie while I was finishing up a few things in the kitchen. And then I heard the voice. I said "I'd know that voice anywhere!" and then "WHO on earth is that?!"

It was Michael. He came back for me. To talk about Cortez and Pizzaro. He's still enthusiastic. He's still hauling a backpack. He's still tall and lanky. I am still infatuated. As he walked through todays Mexico following the path of that rotton scoundrel Cortez I was, once again, pulled in....

And then Ms. D said "Oh, you guys...could we go to Mexico?! It's beautiful!!"

Oh, Michael...you've struck again. I don't want to talk about spanning the generations because that would make you feel old, but there is something about you that inspires the desire to travel. With a backpack...with a lanky guy...and that just might be possible for Ms. D and I.

"Hey Mom, can we listen to something while we work?"

"Well...okay, nothing too distracting..."

"How about that lecture on Mozart?!"

Words every homeschooling mom (or not) would love to hear, right? So I just have to plug The Teaching Company....again. We are listening to The Teaching Company's Great Masters: Mozart-Hist LIfe and Music by Prof. Robert Greenberg.

Prof. Greenberg is terribly entertaining and informative. He makes history and music come alive and he's a bit of a comic. Which Ms. D LOVES. However, it is rather difficult to concentrate on the history of Mozart AND math.

But I was glad she didn't request Metallica....or Hannah Montana.

Tuesday Tea

Another successful Tuesday Tea. We really enjoy the quiet time, reading and listening to the lilt of good poetry on our tongue. As with last week, this week was inspirational to Ms. D also. She has allowed me to once again, share her poem.

The Broken Locket

The locket of my heart is open,
So is the door I'm walking thru.

My suitcase is packed,
My hair all curled,
Who knows where I will go,
As I wonder thru this world?

As I go, I look back,
As every door has it's key.
The locket of my heart closes,
Because now I know you've left me.

So we shall keep our Tuesday Tea and poetry reading going. And because it's like me to belabor any good point, I am looking for books on poetry analysis for Ms. D's grade level. Then again, perhaps I should let the words not be dissected and bisected and analyzed to death but just sit....and hum in her brain.

 

Ms. D's Art

There is a lot to be said for letting kids be "bored". This is what happened today while Ms. D was being "bored". She sat staring at our book shelves (okay, okay, the book shelves are not technically done...so here the word "book shelves" mean the stacks of books that are sitting on the floor)

She choose six books. "Three that I have already read, and three that I have not..now THESE two are about WWII, one is completely fiction based on real events, the other is definitely based on a true story. I saw the movie on THIS one, but I think the book is gonna be a lot different...let me read the synopsis to you..."  Ms. D proceeded to sit in the sun and read excerpts from each book. Which somehow led to drawing, which is Ms. D's favorite past time at any point, bored or not. She never really bores of drawing. She has been drawing since coming out of the womb. She probably drew in the womb too, although from my point of view, marching seems to be what she was doing....

Ms. D rarely uses color. She likes to draw with graphite only. But today she sharpened those colored pencils and really took to illustrating. The first is titled "Must Everything Match" She's even copyrighted it...because, well...you never know. The mother in me is thinking "Where have I failed!?" I try really, really hard to let Ms. D have her own say in what she wears...you know, let that creative spirit flow.But apparently those early,formative years of having a control freak mother have really scarred the poor lass.

 

 

This next work is titled "Dancing Nature". It is  representative of Ms. D and some of her friends. Seems I'm not the only waiting patiently for spring....

Tuesday Tea

I've been perusing the Bravewriter site. I've downloaded a sample of The Arrow (we love it,more on that later) and we've started to implement Tuesday Tea and Friday Freewrite. Ms. D was enthusiastic about the whole tea idea. Here is a poem by Ms. D  borne of our first Tuesday Tea.

(this photo blatantly stole from HERE without permission, but the artist loves me dearly and won't mind)

Cold, cold is the snow fall,

Cold is  my heart,

Longing for you.

The lock of hair

That I gave to you,

Is a piece of my heart

Entitled to you,

Sincerely dedicated,

To love you.

OH, I shed many a tear!

One hundred and one miles or more,

Each day more and more,

And yet,

In my heart, you are here.

Sinking Low

What is it about kids at this pre-teen/teen age in which they have to bring everything to the lowest common denominator.

At one time, my child would pose willingly and sweetly for photos.

 

She was joyful, happy.

Sure, like her mother, she was a bit TOO ready for her close-up.

But then something happened. Something that looked a lot like rebellion.

Take the other day,for example. We were in the kitchen and the light was just right,and I liked the look of her hair. And I said "Hold it! I want to get my camera and experiment a bit."

So, camera in hand...and at first, it was okay...we experiment without flash...

...we experiment with flash...

..and something began to happen...

...a certain glint in the eye...

....a change of direction...

...a lack of cooperation...

...and then, the lowest common denominator struck.

Where does this come from??

 
Where is the tipping point? That terrible glint in the eye of your subject, when you know their dignity is really going to take a plunge at any moment.

At what age will it stop??

Perhaps those are questions better left unanswered.....