Rite Aid Run

I ran up to the local pharmacy tonight:

• I asked if there was a restroom I could use and was pointed in the right direction. There was graffiti on the wall.. my favorite line?

"I LOVE JESUS !"

Someone had written it in large letters, covering almost all of the door. I find this sort of vandalism a sad kind of funny.

I also cannot understand those who hold entire conversations and especially arguments on bathroom walls. Is this really a form of effective communication? Dr. Phil says no.

• When I came out, the pharmacist that pointed me in the right direction asked "Did everything come out alright?"

I wasn't sure how specific he wanted me to be! I replied hastily and returned to my shopping as far away from his counter as possible, wondering if perhaps there was a sale on milk of magnesia that I was unaware of. I have spent more time than I am willing to admit wondering whether he knew what he was saying or if he's just that graceful with words.

It reminds me of something I would do myself and then recount in a "most embarrassing moment" type story. I have plenty of those, so I'm not beating the guy up... if it was a slip.

I'd rather believe it was.

The Gift of Problems

My Thoughts On Problems

1. I have them.
2. While inconvenient, most of my problems are not earth shattering.
3. I continually brace myself for the inevitability of encountering the earth shattering variety.
4. I don't really like to talk about my problems...unless you are a stranger in an elevator.
5. I value problems for the lessons that come with them.
6. I wish the lessons were a little more instantaneous.
7. I am not very good at passing lessons on to others. I can only ever seem to say "Yep. Know what you mean"
8. I would like to do less "yepping" and more honest to goodness helping.
9. Problems I can Yep about:

• Money Shortage
• Health Problems
• Blended family woes
• Certain Types of Abuse/Mental Scarring
• Addiction/AlAnon
• Loss of Religion (not loss of faith or belief... just loss of blind trust in ceremony)

I don't believe I could share anything about the above problems and really make a difference to anyone facing similar struggles. I believe the lesson is found in the journey one makes through those shadows and that comfort is found in discovering the lesson.

Perhaps that is why all I can manage is "Yep."

As sober as all of this may sound, as much as I may know about problems and their value, I will still act like MY problem is the worst thing to happen since the fall of man when I am first encountering a new problem. This hissy fit will last longer than I'd like to admit.

I have learned through various problems that even the worst storm will pass.

I have seen many problems met with unexpected sources of help or inspiration.

The pastor who helped me when my car over-heated.

The friend who shared a secret so we could "yep" together.

An unexpected package that contains exactly what is needed- without anyone knowing the need.

There are so many delightful little twists; I believe this element gives problems their story to tell. I relish gleaning these tidbits from each trial I must face. I can't claim to relish the problems all that much.

Through our own problems we gain compassion for others and their problems.

We can use that compassion for wonderous things, or we can use it to "yep" people's ears off...I'm still working on my game plan there.

Cliche' as it may sound, in very recent days I pitied someone because they had not been as fortunate to experience certain struggles that I have had the priveledge to reap certain strengths from.

I am sure they could pity me also with strengths they received from problems I haven't had.

Isn't that the best part of problems? Or at least a really good point... they build community. They build relationship. They encourage forward thinking and positive attitudes.

Current Problems I am having:

1. Knowing when to hush.

Waiting

While Logan was busy tapping and spinning, the boys took to the soccer field. They also fed the lone duck in the pond every stale scrap from our pantry. Poor Duck.

Dancing Lo

Logan started ballet & tap class at our local Y this past Tuesday. She says she likes both types equally. She is to have a recital 12/20.

(more pictures should follow soon- classtime isn't very conducive to shutterbugs)

Science Project: Rock Candy

Supplies and highlights from today's rock candy crystal science project (cross your fingers and hope for success):

Look...Jesus!

Look...Jesus!, originally uploaded by kellybrewer.

I was slightly alarmed when I heard my eldest say "Look at the sky, it's Jesus!"
(I mean, c'mon)
Alas, it wasn't the Second Coming (yet), but some jet exhaust that, to my boys at least, was Jesus' cross.

Duck Crossing

Duck Crossing, originally uploaded by kellybrewer.

An entire family of ducks held up traffic on Wednesday (11/28/07)...I am not sure all of the motorists found the man beckoning them to cross with a bag of bread as endearing as did I.

Fall Leaf

Logan found this giant leaf and I promised to preserve its memory before the LeafCrunch Monster (Fisher) got it. Thus far it is still intact, but should he find the leaf's hiding place, the parking lot at the Island's Professional Center is full of this large variety. They are pretty impressive in real life, if you go for fallen leaves.

( I most certainly do)

Morning P.E.

Shooting hoops before hitting the pool this morning... had to wait for water aerobics to let out...

Camera Phone Pics

Pals

Hanging out with new friends from SUHN after last week's Shrimp Boat tour.

It was the most lovely day-- there were so many dolphins playing near the shore, it was like our own little Sea World show. There was a lute player, good conversation, not one, but TWO compliments on home schooled children, beautiful weather and red beans and rice to boot!

~of course I didn't bring my camera for all of that... guess you'll just have to take my word for it~

Mayflower Pictures

Some paintings from our study of the pilgrim voyage this past month:

Logan

Fisher

Chandler

The Ultimate Gift

I recently finished "The Ultimate Gift" by Jim Stovall. I was inspired to read the book when the movie came out. It looked like the makings of a heartwarming story and I decided I'd like to see it, but I have a strict policy regarding books and the movies inspired by them: Read the book first. Rarely have I broken my policy knowingly, and so to keep my record pure, I waited to watch the movie until I had read it's parent book, which took awhile because when it comes to books, I am forever adding one to the list which causes me to forget others previously on the list... but, thanks to a recent display of the dvd's in WalMart (the Devil) I FINALLY remembered to get the book (almost a year later) and am ready to watch the movie. Which, actually, I am STILL waiting to watch because I am thrifty (yeah, cheap) and seem to remain indefinitely in 9th place on the waiting que at the library to borrow it.

Moving on to my point (and I do have one)- I have again begun to feel uninspired and stretched for time, as well as bored and somewhat tingly on my left side--much like back when I employed my TLOTday series. What better time then, to explore the gifts listed in "The Ultimate Gift" ? What better way to escape plumbing the dark recesses of my soul, the constant foraging for sorrow? Posts in the near future will be gloriously mundane inner reflections and personal drivel as inspired by each of the "gifts" given in the novel. Hold on to your hats!

Besides, it is the Season of Giving and this little listing project does include the word GIFT. It's Brilliant.

Also, wow! Jim Stovall is a pretty interesting person.

Why Not

* thanks to Family.org for

Shrimp Boat Field Trip

It wasn't Friday, but it was a beautiful Monday for a field trip, so we joined some other local homeschoolers/unschoolers/etc for a shrimp boat tour on Tybee Island.

October Home Ec

In October, we made friendly with apples. We also drowned some in caramel and impaled them on sticks! For all the gorey details, Click On!

Old School

Aletheia Academy will now make an effort to become a blog unto itself. Wait until I leave the room to double over in laughter, please.

"Old School Ways, Modern Days"

Homeschool Is The Bearded Lady

~Following is a transcript from my earlier rant concerning the circus sideshow some folks treat you like when they find out your "dirty little secret". I'm over it now, but perhaps you could use a laugh, or a grammar correction activity sheet for your fourth grader ? Help yourself:

Homeschool is the Bearded Lady

I should let it go, I know that. I am bigger than these silly trivial matters- or I should know how to be bigger by now, but like an "I Told You So" just bursting to get out, so too, is an "I Knew It" or an"I Saw It Coming"---or both."Aletheia Academy" had 'recess' at the park today. It was a beautiful day and we combined the play time with some learning activities- win, win, right?Sure, a perfectly suitable, and enjoyable I might add, educational and play time experience, until the fleet of mini van moms rolled in with their less than school age troupe and rained on our "before public school lets out" parade."There she goes- proving that those homeschool moms really are trying to stay away from the rest of the whole wide world" I can hear you tsking - but Wait! Let me finish--It wasn't their company or even the mass amount of little children pouring from their vans like clowns at the circus that changed the vibe... contrary to popular belief, I actually welcome and look for chances for my children to meet and play with other children from all sorts of walks in life. No, it wasn't sharing the park, it was the look on their faces; the look that planted itself in their features as they pulled up, parked and unloaded that said "Someone beat us here... she must be evil! "I KNEW IT.I SAW IT COMING.So, I waited for it and it didn't take long...I made a point of continuing the Map Activity that I already had my "students" doing before releasing them to play freely as a means of minding my own business, and even after there was little left to occupy myself with, I NEVER MADE EYE CONTACT. I wasn't rude. I wasn't showy. I just minded my own little space at the least desirable picnic table in the park (I had chosen the broken one in the event that others came along needing a place to lunch- thoughtful yet evil park dweller that I be)They spoke first."So, you're kids are quite a bit older, eh?"A bit of a change from the typical "Hi!" or "Nice Weather We Are Having Today" that we Americans consider proper greeting form... not even the more eccentric varieties of "Howdy" or "Wzup?" were offered. I try to imagine this as an ice breaker/getting to know you sort of line in any other context and it just doesn't really come off as folksy, ya know? At the grocery store for instance- I can see using this line to strike up a conversation with a mother of obviously older children in line and getting odd stares in return.What I think she meant was " Shouldn't they be in school?" or maybe she meant "Are they mutant 3 year olds?!" but more than likely it was the former.So, I answered, knowing that cold, stony silence was also not on the folksy list of options.I nodded and "introduced" the children along with their ages, by pointing them out and returned to my reading/writing"Do they homeschool?" inquired the 'sidekick woman' (doesn't seem to care about the subject at hand but fights friendliness anyway because Joker-- er, I mean, AlphaMom tells her to)"Yes they do" and a quick return to my own business, but not without a pleasant smile first.I tried to leave very little in the way of words for them to draw on, but lacking context did not prove to be a deterrent. Remember, they started the conversation with nothing but gargantuan children (in matching Aletheia shirts) running around the playground... they don't NEED context.It was quiet for all of 45 seconds when AlphaMom tsked as if to herself, but really loud and in my direction"That homeschool! Wow, must be..."As if we all knew homeschool is a tricky bandit who forces you into his cult...er, I mean clutches in the dark of night.( i am still trying to figure out what homeschooling must be- tough? hard? nice? easy?- which way did her assumptions flow I wonder)Sidekick piped up here " Do you like it?"I would like to receive nickels at this point for every time I did not answer these questions in all of the fun and satisfying ways that I could have. I stuck to the Sugar and Spice and all things Nice approach and answered that I do like it (to myself: that's why I do it) and gave a few quick blurbs about having been homechooled myself, online curriculum that made keeping track a bit easier, etcI suppose they finally ran out of angles and so they moved on to other forms of cattiness. Only we women could invent such games as " Holding a Conversation That Is Really A Series of Questions Directed At Someone Not In The Conversation Whom We Want To Pick Apart, In Hopes They Will Pipe In And Give Us Details From Which We Can Compare and/or Brag About Our Own Similar Objects and/or Experiences-SO THAT We Do Not Have To Actually Invite Her Into The Conversation Or Otherwise Be Genuinely Nice"Only a woman would know that this isn't a normal conversation just being held "accidentally too loud"I decided that manners allow one to ignore conversations in which there is no direct address or in which no official invitation to join in has been offered, even if one knows that the only reason the conversation is being held is in hopes that she (the uninvited) will join inI am a donkey, yes. But, I spit on your carrot, I trample it underfoot. I see the barb hidden within...Anywho- words like New Car, Mercedes, Leather and Entertainment Package flew around and excuses for keeping a minivan instead of something "cooler" surfaced like a plea from a defense attorney. Job titles were flung about, volunteerism was touted like a boy scout badge and the troubles of traveling husbands were compared and contrasted without certain mothers knowing their situations were being discussed, what with them happening to stroll out of ear shot and all... (gossip)If I would have had a ball of yarn, I swear I think I could have distracted them, or bribed them to like me, if only for the moment, or at the very least I could have used it to string them up properly from a tree like all cats should be, but I digress...I had played Vow of Silence Monk-ette long enough so I rounded up my children who made me proud by being obedient the first time I called them... I got in my "not a minivan" and watched as in that VERY instant (the one in which we left) all of the other children were called to the table and served their lunchesYou don't think they were waiting on us to leave, do you? Why would people act like that? I mean, isn't it kind of silly?I don't think they were worried about getting tainted, or catching homeschool leprosy. It seemed to me a bit like someone who just wants to finish the last 2 minutes of a show/game/activity before moving on to their responsibilities.I mean, I suppose, if I were just going about my business, in the midst of an ordinary day, and then, coming to my neighborhood park, I spotted a circus sideshow freak sitting on the bench, I too may be tempted to stare and gape and poke it with a stick...If everyone you encounter is an opportunity to make a difference or make a friend or extend kindness, I am still trying to figure out what to offer folks like these. I believe some of it is general interest in what a real life homeschooler looks like...do they speak English? Are they human? Can I touch one? Will it bite me? And I am fine with that in a reasonable and respectful manner.Others, however, seem to fall into the category with Large Family Nay-sayers- those joy robbers who like to make petty comments about 3 children being a gaggle compared to their American Dream 2 point five set of offspring....and don't you DARE have more than four or you just may be involuntarily "fixed" for your own good ( "Don't you KNOW what causes this, yet?!")It is like homeschool is against some core virtue or value held by a particular group of people. As if, perhaps I didn't get the memo, am not "in the know"...like high school cliques all over again.Those people bug me. I don't know why. I don't care if you like me- I'm a pretty "take me or leave me" kind of gal- but at least have a darned good reason for hating my guts... ya know?Like, if I kill your cat- I deserve it- you can call me nasty names and send me hate mail. If I run over your foot or accidentally shoot your horse, forget your birthday or pop all your bubble wrap, if I take all the corner brownie pieces or pick all the pepperonis off your pizza..throw a brick through my window or buy a voodoo doll of me... if I have done something wrong, make me feel your wrath, make me earn you love-- but if you don't know me, well, I just think you should at least give me a fair chance at ticking you off BEFORE you make up your mind...and, in the name of fairness, Homeschool Haters, I will try to do the same for you.

Jepson Arts Field Trip

We went to the Jepson Center for the Arts in September for a Friday Field Trip®

First Day Of School

Click HERE to see our first day of school.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving @ BeanBean & Todd's House in Evans.
See also: Impromptu Baby Shower for Ashely and Uncle Nick's Appendicitis.

Shrimp Boat Field Trip

Aletheia Academy took a field trip on the 19th to Captain Doug's Shrimp Boat, "Sassy C." The Captain taught us a lot and everything was very hands on learning, which is why we returned home smelling quite fishy.

* No, Aletheia's enrollment has not grown, we went with a local homeschool group.

WordPress

Haven't decided whether I'll stay or not... or maybe do both...saw that my little bro gave it a try, figured it couldn't be all that bad...only time may tell:

Me in my new WordPress Outfit

Words to Eat

At Free Rice, a strong vocabulary is worth a bowl of rice. I played to 350 grains of rice before attending to other chores/chickening out. How full is your bowl?

Dolly

I made a nylon stocking doll...

Logan and I have named her "Francine"

Head_In_The_Clouds

"There's something about the heavens, makes me stand in awe again..."

~Ten Shekel Shirt

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

Fisher's 5th Birthday

Fisher turned 5 on November 1st. We went to Chuck E Cheese and then came home for "Doggy" cake and presents. Everyone is still recouping from a stomach bug, so it was sort of a low key day, but still a special one- Happy Birthday, Little Buddy!

Halloween/SCC Pumpkin Patch

Halloween is a special holiday in our household and not just because we aren't "cat people".
Our family's very existence can be traced back to the holiday and the first date pC and I shared(ten years ago this year).
~more notable is Fisher's BDay on the 1st because THAT was our second date- the one I swore I wouldn't go on... but I digress

We attempted to celebrate in the traditional way, only to be cut short by a nasty stomach bug that announced it's presence with large volumes of *confetti, thrown haphazardly, and quite spontaneously near the laps of innocent hayride passengers

(Like premarital counseling for the betrothed, I believe vomit cleanup should be a mandatory course when one wants a child...various levels would have to be mastered: Vomit out of carpet, Vomit out of hay, Vomit out of hair, etc. to determine the truly committed parental candidates)

Though our night was cut short, there is some footage for your entertainment ( sadly, none exists of the hayride nor the post hayride clean up effort, those would have been hilarious)

*What do you do with confetti? Throw It UP... precisely

I'd like to thank the academy...

In a recent Worth1000 contest, I entered several rhyming lines about fall(per the contest guidelines) and while I didn't come in last place, I didn't come in first either--you can read the drivel here ( I'm not a huge fan of formalized poetry, but I had some credits to burn and an itchy pen)

The point is, though I didn't score even close to the top (8th, 10th, 11th and 28th out of 29 entries) I feel validated because I've been chosen... not by the Jury (though some of my entries did receive their pat on the back-yay!) but by other contestants in a recent, neighboring photo contest.

The idea was to choose a poem from the poetry contest and capture it in a photo... I received an email notifying me that someone planned to use one of mine :)

But that's not all...

When I went to see his work, I found that others had chosen me too . . .
It was a nice surprise and a little kick of self esteem after bombing the text contest.


Entries for Autumn Diversity:


Entries for Mother Nature:



Good Luck, Ya'll (whoever you are)- and thanks for picking me!

CockyDoodleBoo

A snapshot of our Boo-tiful "Cocky" pumpkin before taking him to live with our fellow Gamecock fan on the island, Miss Alissa the Librarian.