LBP and LBP2

If you don't own these games and you want your family to continue on in a state of peace, do not buy these games.

I don't play games as a rule.  Just not good at them.  But when Lego Harry Potter came out, my hubby, knowing what a HP fan I am, bought me a pearl pink controller and I played.  And played.  And played.  I'm missing two items in the whole game and finally gave up.

Then a friend said, "Hey Robin, you've gotta buy LBP for your kids.  They'll love it."

Well, guess what?  Momma loves it too.  Momma loves it so much that she sits around tapping her toes until it's time for the kids to go to bed so she can get her game on.

But why do I wait for them to go to bed?  Because I will beat the living tar out of them if they play with me.  And I don't mean I'll beat them at the game.  I mean I will beat *them*, figuratively speaking of course.

It's a game that is so adorable, with music so soothing, totally benign on all accounts.  Except that it's easy to get ahead of the other players which in turn kills the other players.  And the levels of discovery are so fun, that one wants to get ahead, wants the bubbles, wants to get to the next checkpoint.  At the detriment to everyone else.

So like an addict laying aside his crack pipe, I've retired the pearl pink controller.

~R

We'll Die of Nothing

My husband has done it again.  He's read a book, taken it for gospel and now we all have to suffer the consequences.

I've read the book too and as someone holding a degree in nutrition, I see the physiology.  I see the biology happening.  I understand the flow of the food, but damn if I can give up what the book tells me.

The book, if you are interested is The Paleo Solution.

So, as usual, I have to prepare three meals each evening.  Actually, it's more like four since RePete no longer eats anything but eggs, PB&Js and hotdogs.  And Pirate Booty.  He loves Pirate Booty.

I make BN his paleo diet.  No grains, no dairy.  I make the kids something along those lines or sometimes altogether different.  And I either eat what the kids are eating or am forced to make my own meal.

I'm so stressed about it, I'm starting to look into the cost of hiring someone to cook dinner for us.  I can handle the breakfast and lunch, but dinner vexes me.  I think it stems from lack of caring.  Don't get me wrong, I care deeply for my men, but I've never been interested in cooking.  I never cared how my food was prepared when I was young.  My mom is an excellent southern cook and I ate anything she made (within reason).

And although I blame BN, it really is all my fault.

When BN and I struck out on our own, I was so repulsed by the raw meat when cooking that we became vegetarians for three years.

We slowly added chicken back into the mix and occasionally some turkey.  But we've been cow and pork-free since 1992. (although I've been known to partake of a barbeque sandwich)  He doesn't care for fish, so I don't cook it.  But by introducing BN to healthy thinking, I created a monster.

Year after year, he finds more and more things to add or eliminate.

I'm a mess.

I long for a time when meals were cooked lovingly in bacon drippings.

~R

Let's Talk About Disney

First, I used a cell phone to post to FB.  Based on my past technological mishaps, this is nothing short of a miracle.

Second, it's good having a police officer living right next door.  They moved in and he volunteered to have a car swing by and check on things while we were gone.  Not necessary since I live in a neighborhood that makes Beaver's look like crime central.  It's that safe.  But what the heck.

Then, I make a mental note to myself to drive around Georgia on the return trip so that I don't have to hear BN sing "Georgia on My Mind" every few minutes until we cross the state line.

A toy soldier from Toy Story called me Private Blue (color of my shirt) and Mama and refused my refusal to get up and dance at the Hollywood Studios Block party parade.  We Macarena'd, Saturday Night Live'd, and some other dances that I'm not hip enough to do.  I have to admit it was a little fun.  Then he gave a me a bouncy ball.

I'm too old for the whole Disney shebang.  My feet were killing me.

I almost got all the smooshed pennies from the parks.  Actually, I only ended up with about 20 or so, and there are sooo many more.  I could plan a Disney vacation around getting my pennies smooshed.  Note to self:  bring rolls of quarters next time.

Lion King at Animal Kingdom is the best show ever.  I never get tired of seeing it.

Trick or Treating at Magic Kingdom is so worth the over-priced tickets.  It's too bad our feet were killing us by then because we didn't ride any rides and the lines are extra short on those special days.  Of course, October is the best time to go - rides are no more that 20 minutes and most are only 5.

4 trips in 7 years and we are officially over Disney.  We still love it, but the novelty has worn off.  I think we'll wait another 5 years before going again.  Or maybe more.  Sorry Mickey.

BN and I are no longer economy people.  We've chosen each of the four "economy" resorts because we figure, why pay for a room we only sleep in.  I'll tell you why.  It's crap.  On our other trips, the trips part was less expensive, so we splurged for better rooms.  Suites, in fact.  Once you sleep in luxury, you just can't go back.  Neither of us slept well, had enough room, we had to share a bathroom, etc, etc.  I know I shouldn't complain, but it's like that.  Of course I have myself to blame because BN wanted to splurge, but I was being a tightwad practical.

We took cash but ran out so had to use our check cards for a few items.  (we don't do credit)  Of course, someone swiped my number and gave $5.00 to March of Dimes and then tried to spend the rest of our account at an online tool shop, so I had to cancel my card.  Thankfully, Debbie at ToolUp dot com saw a problem with information given and didn't complete the charge. Thank you, Debbie.

And that about sums it up.  Now to relax.

~R

Dental Dismay

I love the dentist.  I'm probably the only person I know that does.

I don't love the dentist for my kids and I don't mean a specific dentist, I just mean dentists in general.  There's a reason a pediatric dentist's office is almost always connected to an orthodontist's office.

Pete has never had a cavity.  He's never had fluoride.  His teeth are strong like mine.  His are also big which makes sense, since I'm pretty sure he'll hover around six feet tall when all his growing is done - he's going to need big teeth.

RePete's mouth has a been a mess since he was about two.  Even though I nursed him for nine months, even though he only drinks water and takes a good multivitamin and even though he has well balanced, nutritious, organic foods to eat, his baby teeth didn't calcify completely.  They have been very susceptible to dental caries and we haven't been able to do anything to stop it.  He's had four fillings so far and is set to have a fifth.

We found out about the fifth one at our checkup visit today.  The dentist also informed me that his permanent teeth were HUGE and he would need to have some pulled to make room for them all.  When dentist tell me things like this, I just nod my head and eventually leave having no intention of allowing them to pull my six year son's teeth.  Because I know that in two years time, his mouth will have grown and he'll have more room.

Will his teeth be perfectly straight?  Only time will tell and really, are we that vain?  Pete grew into his teeth and his are straight (no braces).  I grew into my teeth and they are straight (no braces) and BN grew into his teeth and his are mostly straight.

What is up with these professionals thinking it is okay to just pull teeth all willy nilly like that?  I'm sure there are plenty of moms and dads out there that trust these professionals and allow all sorts of things to be done.  I'm sure they trust that these folks went to school and know what they are talking about.

But not me.   Without giving me a specific VALID medical reason, there isn't one single thing that anyone can say to me to make me think this is okay.

Based on RePete's growth charts, he'll probably end up around six feet or more just like his brother.  And he has big teeth for a reason...he's going to have a big mouth just like his mother.

~R

When in Doubt

have a nightmare.

Yesterday, our schooling didn't go so great.  None of us had any energy and it all just felt blah.  Because of this, I started to doubt my ability to actually provide a decent education for my children.  I started to doubt my methods, my curricula choices, whether we should use wood or mechanical pencils.  It went bad really fast, I tell ya.

As I watched my young sons work on math, I started a list in my head of what I needed to do to get them in school.  Should they both go, should one go one stay home, where would the school place them grade wise.

When BN came home, I worried over it with him and then I got online and started looking at "curriculum in a box" thinking there's no way I can miss anything if I use one of those.

And then we went to bed and my last thoughts to BN were along the lines of, "How could they miss anything - they live life."  When I was in school, I would cram, cram, cram and then dump, dump, dump.  Sure I picked up lots of trivial information and can perform math computations without a calculator, but what did I really learn that was so important from a textbook.  And then I recounted folks who unschooled their kids who are now in college or already graduated and are now productive little American workers.

And then fell asleep and dreamed social services walked in my front door, only it was the door to a tiny apartment, not my house, that was in total disarray and it was the middle of the day and BN was taking a nap and I was showing the apartment to a realtor (why I don't know since apparently I didn't own it) and the clients were asking if the storage closet always smelled like food and I don't even know where the kids were because they weren't in my dream.

And then I woke up.

Today, Pete showed me a story he wrote and it was cute little story but there were spelling errors.  It occurred to me then that we would use those words for spelling today instead of the next chapter in our spelling book and it also occurred to me that if Pete were in a class all day, he wouldn't have time to write that story, or the comics he's written, or the movie he's written and will work on producing this weekend.  It also occurred to me that if he were in school, he'd get the same spelling words that everyone else crammed and dumped on a test and that the teacher, no matter how wonderful, would never be able to tailor her spelling test to my son.

And then I relaxed.

~R

My Little Bowl of Goodness

Here's my lima bean harvest.  There's only about 2 tablespoons of beans in the bowl and I plan to eat them one at a time!

This week's garden lesson:  This bushy plant needs more room to prosper and I'll probably need to plant more than one.

~R

Times are changing.

For all of us.  I like to blame it all on last December 11th.  That's when I turned forty.

My older son Pete is 10.  Just the other day he and RePete got all dressed up (costumes) and planned out their play session and just as they were getting started, Pete decided he didn't want to play after all.  RePete was devastated but Pete explained that he just didn't feel into it anymore.  He thinks he has lost his imagination.  I explained to him that he's just getting older and he's starting to develop new interests.  What they are, I'm not sure yet and it got me thinking,


What do kids his age like to do when the "playing" stops?

I can't for the life of me remember back that far.  I know we didn't have video games and Nickelodeon.  What did I do for fun at 10?  I guess it wasn't that fun since I can't remember.  And then there is the fact that we homeschool and he's not preoccupied in a classroom all day so he has to entertain himself or be entertained - and that's a long day.

So what can I do for poor Pete?

RePete is having a hard time losing.  Of course he's 4 years younger than his brother so losing is a daily occurrence around here.  He just started his soccer season and I'm worried he'll have a meltdown on the field.  He's very hard on himself and gets frustrated so easily.  There was a time when he never got upset or had opinions about anything.  Now he upsets daily and will share those opinions, which usually includes the words, "this sucks" or "this is stupid".  Ugh!  There must be a book on sportsmanship out there that I can read.  Need to look for that.

And then there's me.  I walked into that baby super store I used to frequent when mine were little and immediately felt out of place.  I was by myself and didn't have a baby bump.  And honestly, although I spent many hours in there over four years ago, I couldn't find anything.  And then when I found stuff, I couldn't make decisions.  And when did disposable diapers go up $20?  Holy cow, I'm glad mine are out of those.

I think BN is the only one not changing.  The only advice he had for me when I told him that story about the baby store was that he could knock me up if I wanted him to.  Like I said, he hasn't changed.  Still a my BN!

So, yep, things are changing around here.

~R