I should have pictures today of egg dyeing and egg hunts and bunny rabbits and all that. But, I was a lazy camera mom this weekend and took no pictures. Can you believe it?! It's true. I suck. Then again, you could look at last year's pictures and pretend they are this year's. In 10 years, you won't know the difference anyway. Right?
Well, whatever. Since I have no pictures I took, I'll give you these that Stella took of herself. Just a couple of them :P
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
I know you are all dying to know what our hotel suite looked like in Santa Fe. It was a pretty standard bedroom w/king bed, bathroom, vanity, kitchen and living room. Stella had to record the room in detail. Minute detail. I'm sure from her slide show below, you will be able to picture our room in your mind.
I may have forgotten to mention that your mind needs to be severely altered in order to picture our room in your mind via Stella's montage. My bad.
And, believe it or not, and really, you should believe it, I edited her photo shoot down by 30 lovely photos for you. You're welcome.
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
I know that Trader Joe's is an icon. People go crazy for it. They say that it is all that and a bag of organic, free-range chips. Brian is on some email list or FB group or something where someone claimed guys would literally(1) sport wood for Trader Joe's.
Santa Fe has a Trader Joe's, I HAD to experience it.
All I can say is, "meh."
Sure it had some good prices, some cool stuff, but really it was just a cross between our local Sprouts and Whole Foods. If we had one in town, I'd go. I won't be driving to Boulder for it when it goes up down there though. No woodie for TJs here, sorry.
(1) Yes, I know the difference between literally and figuratively. It was in the frame of a discussion of those two terms on Brian's list that the TJ's comment surfaced.
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
Friday night in Santa Fe continued...
We returned from a walk to downtown Santa Fe and found that besides the most exciting salad tongs, our kitchen came with wine glasses. These had to be used. right. now.
They put their 7up in them and were "proper." They would say things like, literally, "blah bla blah, oh, blah ba blah" in a bad British accent, and then toast.
This was, apparently, frickin' hilarious, because they would dissolve into laughter from which they would have to compose themselves so they could be proper again.
Obviously, I found this hilarious as well because I took pictures!
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| The toast |
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| How to sip like a proper, um, weirdo? |
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
Because I don't like to announce to the world when my house is empty, you are receiving these Santa Fe updates on a 3-day delay. We had a most fabulous Groupon deal for a suite w/kitchen for 2 nights so we got away for the weekend. On Friday...
On Friday, Brian asked Stella if she liked Santa Fe so far. She cocked her head to the side thinking then ticked off on her fingers, "Well, we have a hotel room with salad tongs, a pool, I can run around like a crazy person AND there's a donkey statute. Yes, of course I like it!"
So there you are, if you would like your town to rate high on the Stella scale, be sure and have all of those items.
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
Trigger warning: I am going to write about rape. This is a subject that can be triggering for many, and since 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, it's a good bet some of you are included in that number. Thus, the warning. You can leave now.
For the ones who stayed, just know, I'm pissed.
I try to avoid television news. Because of that, I'm often behind on big news stories. I do this on purpose because bad news depresses me (for real, not just "makes me sad".) There are so many horrible things, and it seems the more horrible, the more press it gets. It's gone beyond, "if it bleeds, it leads." It's now, "if it bleeds, make sure and get a close up and then beat it over the head a few times and then dissect it."
Still, even in my TV news-free bubble, I heard about the Stuebenville rape trial outcome and the horrendous media coverage.
I have been angry and stewing over this and have decided that this. needs. to. stop. right. fucking. now. And I mean rape culture. Yes, sexual assault and rape needs to stop, but until we address the rape culture in our country, in our world, that is not going to happen.
Tired of hearing about rape culture? Too damn bad.
Wikipedia defines rape culture as "a concept used to describe a culture in which rape and sexual violence are common and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape. Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, sexual objectification, and trivializing rape." I know that WikiKnowledge isn't necessarily the best source but I think they nailed it this time. This is exactly what. we. do. as a society. We blame the victim. We question their credibility. We ask the victim what they did to make this happen to them. And we do all of this before we even look at the perpetrators. How many of these excuses for sexual assault have you heard (for real):
- She was drunk
- She slept around, what's one more guy
- He's her husband
- He couldn't have, that's his nephew
- She's just saying that to get attention
- What was she wearing? Well then, what did she expect.
- I just can't imagine that from him.
- Why would she say that about him
And what else do you hear? You hear about how we need to have guns. One person recently was saying about how "democrats want a woman to have a whistle to stop rape, what she needs is a gun!" No matter what you are telling someone about stopping a rape happening to them, you have it backwards. In doing that, you are telling the victim how to change their behavior in order to stop being violated. Stop it, just stop.
"Then what do we do?", you say.
Teach your boys! I'm not picking on boys, 99% of sexual assaults are by males. Don't just assume that they know not to rape. Do they know what rape is? Because "...men who committed rape, 84% said that what they did was definitely not rape." (Warsaw, R. I Never Called it Rape. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.) So yes, they need to be told.
Talk to your kids about consent. What does consent look like? Feel like? Sound like? Do they know that someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol cannot give consent? Do they know that a coerced "yes" is a "no?" Do they know that saying nothing means no just as much as the word no? You know what else means no? "Maybe," "I'm not sure," "Umm," pretty much everything except an enthusiastic "yes."
Keep teaching. Do they know about sexual harassment? Since 83% of girls and 79% of boys report having experienced sexual harassment, they should damn well know what it is.
And. Don't. Stop. There! Teach your kids, boys and girls, what to do when they see someone being sexually assaulted or harassed. Make sure they are bold enough to step in and help, or at the very least, tell someone or dial 911.
Don't let a victim be blamed in your presence. Speak up.
And then tell them about love. They need to know that with consent, in the right circumstances, that making love is a wonderful thing. Don't let them only hear the bad side of sexuality because you know what, most if it is GOOD. They shouldn't be afraid to love. Some day, some time, they will have a beautiful, loving relationship. That is what we hope for our kids, right?
Let's try and make sure that beautiful loving relationship is what happens for everyone's kids. Don't be afraid, just talk to them.
It feels like springtime today so what do we homeschoolers do? Head outside. And since my children cannot be separated from their precious chicks and since it is actually warm enough for the chicks to go outside, we are having a combined schoolwork (for children) and first foray into the great outdoors (for chicks.)
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| Chicks and girls, both quite content. |
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| Chicks are very helpful with schoolwork. Pecking at it, walking on it. Overheard Stella saying, "get off my book, I don't want poop on it!" Yes, chicken poop is a hazard of homeschooling. |
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
Sometimes we ask the children to check the chicks. Or the chickens. Or the rabbits. In my mind, this means check said animals to see if they are doing ok, then check their food, water, bedding, etc to be sure all is well.
This is not how my children interpret things.
For instance, I had this conversation with one of my darlings:
Me: Did you check the rabbits?
Child: Yes
Me (looking at rabbits): But they need water.
Child: Oh, well...I just checked them
You see, "checking" means something different to the generations. Therefore we had a discussion that involved them knowing that when I say "check on x" they will not just see if x exists, but actually check on its well being. Be sure it has the essentials for life and happiness, namely food, water, shelter and love (the love being in abundance, the others needed periodic, well, checks!)
Note: For those worried about our animals welfare, please realize that while the children are "in charge" of their care, this care is overseen, daily, by competent adults. I would never leave an animal to the mercies of an adolescent brain. They forget. They thing it's "good enough." They don't want to be bothered. Whathaveyou. We make sure all of the animals are checked, and actually checked, twice daily (or more often in the case of the baby chicks.) No animals will be harmed by neglect or otherwise on my watch. Hell, I gave away my house plants when I couldn't keep up with their care after Stella was born, you think I would overlook an animal? No way.
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
All I want is a bunch of freezer cooking recipies that are vegetarian, wheat and citrus free, are made with real food (not meat substitutes, not velveeta or canned soup,) and have a healthy balance of fats/proteins/carbs (not a bunch of simple carbs and cheese.) Is that too much to ask? Yes, I believe it is.
In other news, here are the cakes I made for the church auction. Completely NOT a healthy mix of fats/proteins/carbs.
Green Velvet Cheesecake Cake - layer of cheesecake sandwiched between two layers of green velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. This one is completely from scratch.
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Dalek made of brownies - six pans of brownies, 4 cans of frosting, a bag of tootsie rolls, and a carton of whoppers.
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| Sandis pretending to be afraid of being exterminated. |
BTW, did you know that my computer cannot read my mind? It's true. I clicked on the upload photos link and it wanted me to choose which photos to upload. Didn't it just know what I wanted? No, no it didn't. Oh well, probably better that way in the long run.
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
Sometimes you just need a day off. After running on life's treadmill for seven consecutive days, today was that day. The kids played with chickens, colored the driveway with chalk, read books. I cleaned the kitchen in my pajamas and then read my own book. There was nowhere to be (until dance tonight,) nothing pressing that needed to be done. Maybe we "should" have done math or ran errands, gone to co-op or caught up on ancient civilizations. But we didn't. We took today off.
And it was wonderful.
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.
Sandis is doing archery in 4H. She's taken a couple of sessions (2? 3?) of archery lessons at Rocky Mountain Archery. All of the lessons were on recurve bows.
Tuesday night we went to the first official 4H archery practice. Sandis doesn't have her own equipment so she was going to borrow some of the county's equipment. The county equipment consists of compound bows.
This was not good.
Sandis refused to use the compound bow. She stood behind me like a obstinate mule and muttered under her breath over and over about how she didn't like the compound bow. It was confusing. She didn't like it. She didn't know how to use it. It was weird. It was creepy. All the time giving me the death stare.
So we left Katniss practice without ever having touched a bow, let alone shooting one. Productive, yes?
No.
Children are so much fun.
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Did you know that clicking is scientifically proven* to be good for your health and well-being? True**! And you can vote for me and my blog by clicking! Coincidence***? Improve your health today by clicking here. Or here. And once again here. Just for good measure, click here. Your body will thank you later****!
Fine print
* - not even scientifically studied. If it has been, I have not read about it.
** - not true
*** - totally NOT a coincidence
S**** - your body won't care at all. Thanks will not be forthcoming.