Greetings from runny nose land. I'm getting tired of this cold or whatever it is. It's not all that annoying, actually--it has comparatively few symptoms, and most of those not severe. But it's getting old. My throat has been hurting off and on for five days. My nose is running tonight, despite Benadryl, and I have a headache for part of every day, including now. I have a 4 year old who is still coughing and must be drugged so he can sleep without undue interruption. Our life has been on hold, it feels, in some ways. But in others, it just keeps moving right along. I'd like one or the other. Actually, the little break has been somewhat welcome.

Our little dance issues are, for the moment, resolved. I attended the new dance class today with Frances, and I felt like I wasn't such an awful dancer after all. Okay, so I haven't taken a dance class in 31 years, and my previous dance experience spans all of three months, but I did my best to keep up, and I was really sweating. Frances has gotten the role of one of two Little Princes in a production that will happen in February. We read the Little Prince at home, but in typical Frances style, she already knew the story and most of its details and many of the themes of the book from just the audition. I think everyone has enjoyed getting to know this story--it's good for discussing deeper meanings and for analysis, yet still very accessible to younger readers. I'm always on the lookout for good, classic books whose themes aren't excessively beyond the experience of the reader.

Walter and Ollie just checked out a new book group tonight at our local library. I wasn't there, but it sounds like it went fairly well. They absolutely loved the book, which we might not have stumbled upon on our own--_Life As We Knew It_. It deals with the challenges faced by a middle class family after the moon is hit by an asteroid and unexpectedly knocked closer to earth, unleashing a series of natural disasters (volcano eruptions, tsunamis, out of control tides, excessive seasons, earthquakes) that turn life completely upside down. I would have loved to be in on the discussion, but I was at a LLL Leaders' meeting at the North Side Grille. And I guess you were supposed to be a middle schooler to go to the book group, which would be a wee problem for me. They are part of another book club in our homeschool group, but have had increasing difficulty maintaining enough enthusiasm to finish some of these fantasy series books that are often chosen. It's just not a genre that they (or me) really enjoy, so I can't say I blame them for not wanting to invest the time in something that isn't keeping their interest. I'm not willing to spend my own time on a book that I'm just not into. So this was a bit of an experiment tonight. It sounds like there were only two other participants, but maybe it will grow over time. And we couldn't beat the convenient location.

Tomorrow our new dishwasher comes. I feel so guilty. I am an appliance murderer. Or at least I think I am. We have replaced every single major appliance in our house at least once, and some of them twice in the past 5.5 years. We have had two washing machines, a new dryer, a new range, a new refrigerator, a new freezer for the garage, new microwave, new hot water heater, and this will be our second new dishwasher. I don't know if we're just hard on things, if appliances aren't made the way they used to be, or if we're doing something unintentionally that is harming them. Our current dishwasher, a mere 4 years old, has been doing a poor job of washing dishes for at least two years. The kids are disgusted by the stuff left in the bottom of glasses or on bowls, and this is after pre-washing most things that go in. For well over a year, we haven't been able to change the cycle that it is on--and we're not even sure what cycle it's on. So hopefully this new one, which has a nifty steam feature that is supposed to both sanitize and get off nasty food. All I can say is that it can't happen too soon.

My days are truly packed now. It is a full time job to homeschool four children and to attend to their needs. All of them require so much from me--I'd like to think that we are moving toward more independent learning, but the fact is, everyone needs me to teach, to explain, to tutor, and to keep them on task as much as ever. The boys are doing very well in math, but their work is becoming more complex and they need to ask more questions and be helped to organize their work and answers so that they are both readable and free of careless errors. We play a lot of games lately--games I've made for Frances or that she has helped me make for math, Uno, Rummy Roots, games with the Latin flashcards. This also requires me to be right in there with them. I'm finding we barely have time to cover all subjects in the course of a week, much less daily. So once again I'm finding myself having to determine where to make cuts in our activities or the time we spend out of the house. I don't want their life to be nothing but work, but at the same time, we have to use our time smarter if we don't want longer. It's a good year, but it is requiring ever so much more organization from me to keep everyone on track.


Penguins are a big deal at our house, and judging by what I see on clothing, at the mall (I can't believe I set foot in a mall this past weekend while we were looking at dishwashers...), and just about everywhere, they're a big deal for a lot of people. Art class on Tuesdays is one of the indispensable parts of our week--it's the day most looked forward to, and I have to say, I love it because I don't need to be involved in any way whatsoever. It asks nothing of me except that I provide transportation to and from. And it's a good thing, since I never could have painted a penguin like that.


Some other animals are not so satisfying. This is one of our two fish in our Tank From Hell. I am no longer enamored with my saltwater tank. It's a den of doom, a veritable death chamber, and this is dragging me down. A hobby is no fun when it sucks away all your money and forces you to watch innocent animals suffering and then being mercilessly torn apart by hermit crabs. We have very slowly added some new stock over the past 2.5 months--this pseudochromis and a burgundy clown with a bubble tip anemone. In about 3 weeks, this gorgeous anemone went from huge and bubbled out to squished into the size of a quarter, wedged against the power head and the wall, and eventually dead. And he was expensive. Our previous anemone, who behaved as though he was less than thrilled at the interloper, is once again thriving--I've never seen him so expansive and front and center. And unfortunately, just when I was making peace with the recent loss, Walter informed me that the sea urchin, affectionately named Mr. Halloween because he looks exactly like a Halloween spider decoration, has started losing spines. Lots of them. And the spines are being carried around by the shrimp and hermit crabs. This is not a normal, healthy molting, so I'm expecting another big, icky, half-eaten carcass to remove any time. This leaves us with just our two fish, the anemone, the cleaner shrimp (our peppermint shrimp seems to have disappeared...), a xenia, and some button polyps. It's a rather paltry showing for a 60 gallon tank, but who wants to throw a bunch of cash at more living things to get attached to that are just going to kick the bucket at the first chance they get?