Crazy Day

This was my day yesterday:
7 wake up, have tea, eat breakfast, finish gathering tax information
9:30 leave home, drop off Summer at her house
10:30 tax appointment with accountant
12 arrive home, wake Jerry for dog walking
12:30 dog walking (while walking: call Warren to see if he'll be driving Jerry to D&D, no answer; call Jerry's friend Shea re: early pick up for D&D; send e-mail to woman in France who is worried because my sister-in-law, who is supposed to be hosting her daughter this summer, has not responded to her e-mails; call sister-in-law to see what the heck is keeping her from responding; call warren again, no answer)
1:15 drop Jerry off at home, start water boiling for pasta, back into the car to pick up Shea
1:30 shuffle boys, plus Warren into car for D&D game
1:45 compose e-mail to woman in France explaining that sister-in-law must be really busy, send another couple e-mails
2:15 leave house to interview teacher for newspaper
3 interview
4:30 home, eat
5 clean
6 decide to take a break and watch Galapagos DVD (Warren and Jerry arrive home soon after)
6:45 make dinner
7:45 clean
8:45 do some Japanese with Jerry, read first pages of "Getting Started in Electronics" with Jerry and do a quick experiment
9:45 clean
10:30 bed at last

It was a busy day.

Here's the photo I took of the teacher I interviewed. I really like it.

C'est La Vie

I had a feeling it was too good to be true. The Vita-Mix is not going to be mine. Apparently the guy who offered it to me failed to check with the other resident of his house (his mother) before offering it to me. And she wants to keep it. Oh well. It's a good thing he asked her before giving it away! So, I'm still hoping some other giving soul who doesn't use his or her blender will see fit to give it to me.

In the meantime, I just interviewed a junior high school English teacher for the local paper and he was so interesting! He's exactly the kind of teacher you want your kid to have. I asked him if there was any one kid that he felt he'd really impacted in some way and he said that it's the kids who are making an impact on him. He said they teach him something new every day. What a gifted and inspiring guy.

And now we are down to the countdown. Our house swap begins at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon and the house is a mess. There is lots of work to be done! But at least we have a lovely, newly painted front door.

Defeat & Victory

Defeat:
I've given up on my career as a worm castings farmer (or vermicomposter). I sold the worm bin on Craigslist for $45 yesterday, after my worms died. Yet again. They were doing so well just before Christmas, but then I unthinkingly threw a bunch of food and eggshells in before we left for the holiday. It was just too much for them. The result was mold, flies, and dead worms. So no more worms for me. My regular compost pile is doing really well now and I'm just going to stick with that.

Victory:
I really, really want one of those expensive, super powerful Vita-Mix blenders. My parents bought one a couple years ago and I've been patiently waiting for the Vita-Mix to join the other unused (or rarely used) appliances in their garage so I can surreptitiously transport it to my own kitchen, but it just isn't happening. They keep using the darn thing. So, when I heard they were on sale at Costco, I asked Warren to stop by and check out the price. Sadly, (and as expected, really) the Vita-Mix does not fit into the unemployment budget. So, on a whim, I posted an ad on FreeCycle. It must have been a month ago that I put that post up and I had given up on the idea of getting one completely. In fact, I hadn't held out much hope of getting one in the first place because even used (like on Craigslist) they sell for a well over two hundred dollars. But guess what I found in my inbox this morning?

OK. Enough guessing. I'll tell you. I got an e-mail from a guy who said he'll give me his Vita-Mix blender!!!! Can you believe it!? He said can he have a six-pack of Miller in return and I told him I'd give him a case!

Yippee!!

Super Bowl

Jerry made his annual Super Bowl Sunday theme park trip with his friend, Jackson, yesterday. But for the first time I just dropped the boys off at the park and left them to their own devices. Jerry was a little nervous about it, but I couldn't justify spending money on my own ticket when funds are so tight. And it all worked out really well. Jerry had a great time and checked in with me throughout the day on his cell phone, and I was able to spend a few hours with my grandma. We visited for a couple hours, then watched the first part of the Super Bowl in the living room of her assisted living home with the other old folks. They were my kind of sports spectators. We all just rooted for whoever had the ball and cringed when anyone got tackled. So all in all it was a fine day for everyone!

We've had confirmation that the French boy will be staying with us for three weeks this summer, so that's really exciting.

Today I'm going to paint our front door. Well, I'm going to primer it today. I'll paint it (cobalt blue!) tomorrow. So, that's exciting, too (for me, anyway--our door has needed paint pretty much since we moved in).

I feel like moving to New Zealand today. I'll probably get over it, but every now and then the mood strikes me. Anyway, that's all I have to say, really. Sorry this blog has become so boring. I only keep up with it because I enjoy other people's blogs so much that I would feel guilty about dropping mine--just in case anyone feels the same way about mine. Ah, well, the paint can is calling!!

Released

I've been released from jury service for the year. Yippee! They settled out of court, so I never even ended up on a jury. I did, however, get free entry to the Museum of Modern Art on my lunch break yesterday, which was cool. And which is why I have no pictures to show you today.

But, I would like to share what I've been eating for breakfast with you. It's so yummy. And so healthy. I've been having Irish oatmeal with 2 chopped dried plums (aka prunes) and 2 chopped dried apricots with a sprinkling of cinnamon every morning and it's delicious! This is my third or fourth week of my new healthy eating and I'm loving it. I can't say exactly what has changed, but I'm having no problem sticking to the foods that are healthy and leaving out white flour, dairy, sugar, and processed foods. It's weird. Normally I would give up after a couple days. I'm also reading a great book that is just reinforcing my decision to eat healthier. It's called The Blue Zones. In the book, the author visits three (or four?) areas of the world that scientists call "blue zones," where a high concentration of centenarians exists, and tries to figure out what lifestyle choices led those people to such longevity, then he gives ideas for how we might do the same. It's a quick easy read and I'm enjoying it a lot. Once I'm certain my eating habits have changed I'm going to move on to exercise and find ways to get moving a bit more. Then I'll add meditation and I'll be set for life. I hope.

More good news: we might have a French boy come stay with us for a few weeks this summer. It would be an "exchange" of sorts through Homelink (the house swapping service we belong to) so that he could improve his English. I'm hoping it works out, though I doubt Jerry would be interested in going to France without us. But, you never know. I can't recommend this house swapping thing highly enough. If you've ever thought about doing it, just take the plunge. You'll never regret it!

By the way, on the unschool front I've made a couple changes. Warren is very worried about the way Jerry spends his time. He particularly wants him to know some things about history and feels he should study Japanese in between his lessons, instead of only doing it for the one hour each week when he is with his teacher. So, Jerry and I have taken to spending some time most evenings after dinner going over a Japanese book I bought him a while back and doing flash cards and I'm also taking the opportunity to tell him a few things about history, or to read a short book from the library on a certain topic. So, it's not strictly unschooling because he isn't coming to me saying "Mom, I want to learn this. Can you help?" But, on the other hand, he's not complaining and we both enjoy cuddling up on the new bed/couch we recently put in his playroom and reading and talking. So I see it more a me nudging him. If he refused to sit with me I think I'd have to let it go, but so far we both enjoy the time, so I'm going to keep going. And it puts Warren's mind at ease, which is good. So it's win/win all around.

I've been thinking of trying to add some math to his life, though. And that might not go as smoothly. The reasoning behind my idea, is that whenever I read about people who study video game design, they always mention that math is important. Now Jerry says he wants to study video game design. But he hasn't yet made the connection that he'll need math. He still thinks he hates math. So, I've been thinking of trying to find a person who loves math to come over now and then and show Jerry what he or she loves so much about it. I'm not really thinking it would be a "lesson" so much as a shared passion. I'm still toying with the idea in my mind. But, I do think that knowing Jerry, and knowing how he tends to feel overwhelmed when he doesn't feel comfortable doing something (which inevitably leads to his giving up), I'm just thinking it may be a bit negligent on my part to ignore the math thing completely. On the other hand, maybe if he focused more on video game design now, he would recognize that he needs math and then he would want to learn it. Hmmm. I think that might be right. So, doing more video game design with him now will lead him to want to learn math if he sees he needs it for the game design that he's doing. Aha! I've just figured it out. OK. Forget what I said before. We're just going to focus on what Jerry loves doing now. And if he finds he needs math to do it, then we'll learn math because he sees a need for it. Yes, that's right. Phew! That was a close one.

Jury Duty, Part 2

I'm sure being part of a jury is really interesting once the trial begins, but the jury selection process is mind numbingly boring. The only interesting part is finding out what people do for a living, if they're married and what their spouses do (all the jurors have to answer those questions). But after you sit through 14 people in one courtroom and 20 in another even that tends to get old.

Still, I made the most of my lunch break by leaving the courthouse and walking around some of my favorite places in downtown Los Angeles. And I took pictures for you. With my phone.

This is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.The Walt Disney Concert Hall.That's City Hall in the background, but the real reason I took this picture was the aloe plants that were in bloom. This flower is one of my favorite things about winter in Southern California. I love it.And I took this one just outside the courthouse. It's for my New Zealand friends. :)I'll be back at the courthouse on Thursday for the continuation of jury selection. So I expect I'll have more pictures for you on Friday.

By the way, have you checked in with the Redpath family lately? They're a family of four, from our homeschool group, who are traveling the world for a year. And they've just been to Stonehenge!

Jury Duty

That's where I'll be starting at 7:30 a.m. today--well, by the time most of you read this it will be today (Tuesday). I could have done an online orientation and reported later than 7:30, but because I'm lame and I forgot about it until this very second, I'm too late for the online orientation and I have to be there at the crack of dawn. Woe is me.

On the other hand, last time I had jury duty I met some really nice people who I've kept in touch with, so maybe the same thing will happen this time. Either way, I'll be bringing a few good books (I'm reading My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell at the moment--it's great!) and will spend the day doing some guilt-free reading, maybe a few crossword puzzles, and making new friends.

In other news, I've been going through our New Zealand pictures, trying to choose a few for a frame we're putting up in the hallway (a frame we bought for that very purpose over a year ago) and I found this one of our shadows in front of the Rotorua Museum of Art and History. I like it.