July 17, 2011 10:21 p.m.

For Calvert School’s 3rd grade course, Sweet Girl has been assigned a research report on the history and geography of her local community.  It turns out that there are many resources available to her for this report.  Our little country hamlet is certainly proud of its history!   There are several webpages with the history of our community, there is a local history museum, and our county library has some well written books about the history of our county.  I have to admit, researching for this project has been interesting.

First we printed out some 11 articles from the internet, and Sweet Girl read them all, highlighting the most important details.  Then we made a visit to our local history museum and spoke to the docent there.  She was happy to learn that Sweet Girl would be writing a report, and she asked for a copy of the completed project for displaying in the museum.  We learned about a time capsule that was placed underground in front of the museum in the year 2000 – to be opened in the year 2025! 

Throughout the visit I took several photos of the museum.  Since the visit, Sweet Girl has written part of the first draft (the history part) and this week she will continue on with the geography part of the report.  Calvert provided guidelines to assist her in creating an outline plan of the report.  I can’t believe that Sweet Girl is actually doing a research report. 

Here are the pictures of our visit to the history museum.

First, we set the scene.  This is the front entrance of the museum.

Sweet Girl is taking notes (drawing pictures) after viewing a Union Army uniform from the Civil War.  Don’t ask me why there is a Union Army uniform and not a Confederate Uniform.  That’s a mystery on me.

This was a display of old toys from past residents of our area.

A genuine Edison phonograph – the kind that used wax cylinders.  A far cry from the modern MP3 file.

Sweet Girl writing on a slate typical of the old school house days.

There used to be a train line going through town about 70+ years ago.  Here is the original sign from the depot.  It is hard to believe there was once a train here.

Admiring some artifacts of a former woman’s lifestyle. 

Imagine a washing machine like this in your home!

Thinking about bread making in the old days….

….. and ironing, too.

This museum is pretty “hands on”.  I cannot remember what Sweet Girl was doing here.

Farming tools from “back in the day”.  There on the left is a taxidermy sand hill crane.  We have plenty of them here (live ones, that is), even now, especially at this time of the year.

Sweet Girl was especially interested in the old telephones.  She thought dial phones were pretty neat.  The black one on the extreme bottom, and the beige one on the right, were just like the phones in my house while I was growing up.  Sweet Girl could hardly believe that.

We stayed in this museum until we “closed down the place”.  It was a nice outing and it is not often that only the two of us go somewhere together by ourselves.  Now this week, as we approach lesson 110 in Calvert’s 3rd Grade Course, we will finish up this assignment.  And yes, we will bring a copy to the museum, too.  Sweet Girl will be proud of that!

March 24, 2011 3:57 p.m.

In my life this week...

We had a nice, quiet celebration of Sweet Girl’s 8th birthday on Tuesday.  She doesn’t ever specify what gifts she wants or expects; just trusts us to know what she likes.  We hit on some winners with a scrapbooking kit, a bean bag chair,  and some Polly Pockets.  She was also happy to get a replacement kickball and hula hoop.  It isn’t easy to keep those kinds of toys in good condition for long.

And Spring is in all its glory here these days.  Today, especially, Breezy Point is more like Gusty Point!

In our homeschool this week...

Plugging and chugging along.  Chips turned in his second test set last week and is up to lesson 46.  Sweet Girl is on lesson 55.  We gave her a day off from school for her birthday, of course.  She especially enjoyed her science lesson this week, which involved Oobleck. 

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We try to schedule a Saturday between birthdays for a family outing for celebrating Chips and Sweet Girl’s birthday.  But birthday plans for our family outing are on hold.  It is a long story, but Chips really needs to learn not to shoot off his mouth.  Character training never stops around here.  Long sigh..  (How to create consequences for one without the other having to pay, too?)

My favorite thing this week was...

Giving a Russian-English New Testament to our violin teacher, who I don’t think has ever read the New Testament.  She seemed to be happy to receive it.

What's working/not working for us...

What’s working for us is when I can manage to stay off the internet until we get through most of our lesson day.  If I get online for anything, anything at all, all order and productivity goes out the window.  Just like speaking on the telephone.  I’ve learned this time and time again.  I just have to live by it now.  So, help me, Lord.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am thinking that I want to start keeping up with the sixth grade readings in history and geography, now, as well as science and literature.  History is getting more into ancient civilizations, and geography is getting into in-depth covering of all the eastern hemisphere and its individual countries.  I never remember getting any of this in middle school (or, perhaps, I slept through it all) but I am happy to be getting it now.  Having said that, though, as much as I want to do this, it will not be easy because it is all so time consuming.

Photos to share...

Sweet Girl, here, is making a friendship bracelet for her little friend at church.  She pretty much did it with very little support from me.  Just goes to show how “8” she really is!

Chips was a savvy shopper with some of his violin award money.  He found a great indoor flying helicopter for only $26.  This one works particularly well, and has many metal parts.  Air Hogs were cutting it for him anymore (too flimsy).

Here, Sweet Girl can be seen talking to her Mimi while opening her gift.  A lovely set of fresh water pearls!

Who says “School in a Box” is dull?  I’m making Oobleck for my studies in physical science this week.

This is the weirdest stuff, Chips!  Do you remember doing this?  It acts like a solid when you slam something into it, but then things sink if you leave them there for more than a second.  So is it a liquid or a solid?  Hmmmm..  ??

I cannot believe Calvert had Chips balancing chemical equations this week.  I know I never had any of that until high school chemistry.  It was a bit difficult for him to teach it to himself, but once I explained it to him, he understood, and even finds it enjoyable.  I guess I really taught something this week.

New bean bag chairs for all!  I called this a “book nook”, but they prefer to call it a “cozy corner”.  Whatever it’s called, it is a great place to read and write journal entries.

March 16, 2011 4:25 p.m.

Today our homeschool group did this activity for the first time – Letterboxing.  I’d say everybody in our group had never done this before.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and around 80 degrees, and a perfect setting to search for letterboxes.

There were two such boxes in this county park we visited, and we broke into four groups to accomplish the task.

For those unfamiliar with the idea, letterboxing is like geocaching or orienteering, except without the compass and the technology.  Instead of using a GPS device, you follow the clues provided to find a letterbox.  Then you stamp the book inside the letterbox and write in the date and your trail name.  Similarly, you use the letterbox stamp to stamp your own notebook that you keep just for this activity.   You can note the date and the location in your notebook as a remembrance of the day.  This is a neat activity to do as a family, especially when you are on vacation.  The location of a letterbox near you,  and the clues to find it, can be found at this website and this one.

Here are some of the highlights:

Receiving instructions before beginning.

Starting down a trail after the first letterbox.

Can you see where the first letterbox is hidden in this photo?

Retrieving the first letterbox.

Everybody stamp the book!

At another part of the park, finding the second letterbox.

Stamping away.

A final group photo.

If you are interested in trying letterboxing, or want to find where a letterbox is hidden near you, investigate these two websites:  www.letterboxing.org  and www.atlasquest.com . 

It may just become our newest free hobby!

March 14, 2011 5:09 p.m.

On Saturday, the ladies of our church celebrated Spring with its annual tea.  Although I am not a collector of tea time finery (and could not hostess a table, unless styrofoam cups would have been alright, and I suspect not), Sweet Girl and I were able to attend as guests and meet and get to know more women in our church.  It was Sweet Girl’s first ladies’ tea (not including the tea party we had here at our house when she turned 5).

This tea is a tradition for our church, and began back in the day when the senior pastor’s wife used to host it in her home.  The church is now much too big to allow a ladies’ tea to be held in her home, so it is in the fellowship hall.  And unfortunately, our senior pastor was hospitalized over the weekend, so his wife was not in attendance at this tea, either. (but as best we know, he was to be released from the hospital this morning).

Anyway, this was some tea!  An event that is best explained with photos.

Here we are just before leaving home.

This is the table to which we were assigned.  One of the prettiest, I think.

There were 17 tables in all, but I am showing just a few here.

Lovely in blue.  I enjoy all these other ladies’ talents.

And their vision and creativity.

Each table is as unique as its hostess.

I love these colors here.  So Springy!

Love this even more.  The Youth Group boys (middle school through high school) take on the duty of being waiters.  Our waiter was a 13 year old boy named Holdane.  So polite!  I loved seeing them rise to the occasion and act as gentlemen.   I really think the experience is good for them. (and Chips will probably be doing this next year).

These cakes were given away as door prizes.  Our table hostess won the big teapot one in the middle.

Is it dessert time yet, Mommy?

Who could wait very long to try out all these truffles?  Lemon ones, red velvet ones, chocolate mint ones, and chocolate covered strawberries that were hand-picked from the farm the day before.

Another gentleman providing the music.

All the ladies had a wonderful time.

So did Sweet Girl and I.  She was proud to pose for this photo after much happy nibbling of hors d’oeuvres and truffles.  It was a wonderful first tea!

December 31, 2009 7:51 p.m.

Remember the Y2K "crisis"? A lot of people made an awful lot of money over that fear- mongering. And that night came and went -- nearly without a hitch -- all over the world. The lights stayed on. Not just in places like the US where billions of dollars were spent to prevent a catastrophe, but even in countries on the other side of the world, countries that had no money to spend on the "issue". I shall never forget it. Y2K has forever changed the way I view the world, the mass media, and the "crisis of the day". It has taught me that, if you get old enough, and hold on to memories of times past, pretty soon you won't believe anything they tell you. Did you notice how, beginning with the very next day, nobody on television or in the papers had anything to say about it all? It was all simply forgotten and never talked about again.

Back in those days, Yours Truly (Breezy Point Mom) was a Senior Electrical Engineer with responsible charge over design projects throughout the high voltage transmission and distribution systems at the House of Mouse (remember that place we camped a few weeks ago?). The property containing the House of Mouse is approximately twice the size of Manh*ttan Island, and consumes electrical power equivalent to a medium-sized city.

For eighteen months, one of my responsibilities was to test equipment related to electrical power distribution across the property, all to reassure upper management that everything was "Y2K Compliant", that is, it would continue to function normally after crossing that momentous time threshold into the year 2000.


Of course, this task came in addition to all my other project responsibilities. It was a sort of... uh .... added blessing in my professional life.


Most of the work associated with testing all the equipment required me to work through the night. Company policy forbade us engineers from testing equipment during theme park opening hours, when a mistake could take down power for thousands of visitors. So Y2K required me to continue working regular days, interspersed with many nights, as needed, at various times, over the course of 18 months. I was never able to get into a routine of either days or nights. It was often two nights followed by two days, etc.


To top it all off, all of the salaried employees where I worked were required to spend the big Y2K night on the property "manning" all of the high voltage substations serving all of the visitor venues, including four theme parks, many hotels, and a shopping mecca. If the power system came crashing down over the crowds, we were supposed to come to the rescue and restore power manually.

Oh, and did I mention that over a million visitors were expected to be on the property that night?


For you see, even thought the world was waiting with bated breath to see if the world would come to a crashing anarchic end, the House of Mouse was not concerned. They were not planning to be "closed" that night due of concern for public safety. In fact, they were throwing a really big party to ring in the new year. They had such confidence in us ... in little old me... just imagine.


So as I was saying, we salaried folks manned the stations, not just engineers and electricians, but all professionals and the operations departments for all systems - solid waste, waste water, reclaimed water, mechanical systems, as well as electrical. Also, administrative assistants and all office and business support personnel who were salaried were required to be on site, driving around the property, supplying foodstuffs to all us more technically-oriented folks. This included two of my best friends, who were able to visit me briefly that night before moving on to another substation.


What about Self-Reliant Man, you may ask? Where was he throughout all this excitement? Unfortunately, he was not permitted, due to legal (and insurance) reasons, to share this wonderful night with me at the substation, and he stayed home (50 miles away) and went to bed.


So while the world was ringing in the new year (decade? century? millennium?) I was sitting in a swivel chair beside a Formica topped table with a two way radio sitting atop it, shooting the breeze with three electricians. Yup. I'll never forget it.


And when midnight struck, we heard all the fireworks outside, but had to stay inside and wait for orders in case the end of the world as we knew it happened.


And then we had to stay there until 7 a.m., per planned procedure, in case all the equipment took time to recognize that it was supposed to fail. Only it didn't. And at 2 a.m., I received a cell phone call from the manager of electrical operations. His voice over the phone sounded so relieved that I could almost envision tears in his eyes. He said since all was well, I was permitted to go home, and Happy New Year. Poor guy. He must have aged ten years during that last quarter of 1999. All for a hoax.

Fast forward to now. I sure am glad that I am now a stay at home homeschooling violin mom of two, spending my New Year's Eve playing Jenga and Pay Day and watching the movie "Scrooge". I wouldn't trade my new life for anything.

Happy New Year to all my dear bloggy friends! We made it ten years past the end of the world.

December 7, 2009 8:02 p.m.

The Christmas season often brings a range of emotions to me as my present day life mixes with the memories of Christmases past. I have a wonderful new life with my immediate family of four, yet I can't forget the wonderful life of my past, with family members who are either deceased, or living a thousand miles away. And there are those childhood Christmas experiences we all had, both good and bad, that can never be repeated again, remake the same impression on our hearts, or be experienced ever again in the same way.

As we have entered this final crescendo of 2009, I realize how truly blessed our family has been this year. While nothing especially dramatic or tremendous has occurred, we have experienced God's common grace in all areas of our lives. Many friends and acquaintances are struggling with tough situations around us, and these things just serve to remind me all the more of our blessings.

Which brings me to yesterday, a day of special blessing. Yesterday's worship service at church was completely beautiful, in an unexpected way. The music, the choir, the organ, the prayers -- seemed especially ethereal to me, filling me with happiness as I reflected on all our blessings this year.

To top it off, our children were participants in a lovely Christmas pageant yesterday afternoon. I had an opportunity to help with this, being in charge of the seven wise men (who said there had to be three?) and providing some of the refreshments. Considering that we are still pretty new to this church, one nice part was that the other ladies who were helping out made me feel like an old friend and not like the new mom in town, as we met the challenge of being sure that Joseph and Mary were available when they were needed in the program, as well as dozens of adorable sheep, shepherds, and angels. And the fact that my wise men were perfect gentlemen, both on and off stage (well, most of the time, anyway) was nothing short of miraculous.

It was a beautiful children's Christmas pageant, in a beautiful setting, with help from some very talented people. I was thankful that we could be part of everything at church yesterday, and the entire day placed a song of happiness in my heart.

I forgot (AGAIN!) my camera, so I hope to get some photos from others to post really soon. It was a beautiful day!

October 31, 2009 7:19 a.m.

One of the many exciting parts about having children, is that they really live. Everything to them is fresh and exciting, and worthy of extensive reflection and retelling. Nothing is "ho hum". Everything is an experience worthy of their entire heart and attention.

Yesterday, the children had an opportunity to perform their violins at a nursing home. Their teacher, who is in her 70s, has her mother (age 97) in a local nursing home, so she organized a concert there with ten of her students, all playing violin or piano. There were perhaps 20 or so people in the audience, and it seemed the concert took place in one of their dining halls. Oh, and this was a lovely, pleasant facility, and all of the employees we came into contact with were wonderful.

The concert lasted about a half hour, and both children played just fine. I was especially thankful for this opportunity because I love when they play in nursing homes. Also, they had not performed for an audience since May, so I wanted them to get in the groove again. Baby Girl played "O Come Little Children" and Little Son played two pages of the Accolay violin concerto he is learning, a six-page concerto overall. Did I say they both played great, as did all of Miss S's students?

Anyhow, the best part was the conversation in the car afterward, including the kids' retelling of the event to Self-Reliant Man over the dinner table. Here are some snippets I recall, in no particular order:

BABY GIRL: That was a good audience, because they really can't get out places.

LITTLE SON: Mommy, I liked performing there. It was fun.

BABY GIRL: They had a parakeet and a lovebird in the cage there. Weren't they cute?

LITTLE SON: That lady with the blanket over her legs shook my hand after.

BABY GIRL: Some ladies liked my dress.

LITTLE SON: Those people seemed fine, just like the people at Mimi's [assisted living].

BABY GIRL: The really bad off ones were probably still in their rooms.

LITTLE SON: This was a chance to share our gifts with others and serve Jesus.

Yep, you got that right! That's exactly right.