Today at lunch, a coworker and I went morel hunting in the woods behind my work. No finds. We think it might not be warm enough yet.
The boys are on their way down south now, and I’ll be getting off work early in a few minutes for our company bowling outing. After that, who knows? (My love is working tonight!)
Yesterday I took a half day from work and spent the day with the family. We got the lumber and other hardware we need to create our new raised garden beds. Tonight, the boys are going with Grandma P. down to my step-brother’s farm for some fishing and other fun. They will be back on Friday or Saturday. Again, I am left with free time…
There are some interesting tidbits from this week’s Will County Sheriff’s Office police blotter. Besides the usual DUI’s, domestic batteries, and burglaries, it seems we have a pickle vandal and a copper thief:
We had an impromptu extended geography session with the boys yesterday. Seems their knowledge of where places are (and basic things like how many continents there are) are a bit lacking (worse than me!).
So, we reviewed some geography basics over at BrainPop, while Dad showed them various aspects on Google Earth. I pulled up a video from UnitedStreaming (which wasn’t really that great - reminded me of snoozing during social studies in elementary school) that covered the basics of geography - most of which was very simple and known to the boys, but showed the holes in their knowledge, like the meaning of “prime meridian.”
Afterwards, we did a little testing at the Traveler IQ Challenge. The boys didn’t make it past the first level. I didn’t make it past the 5th. Dad, in his infinite wisdom, made it past the 10th. Try it out and let me know how you did!
So, this was a wake-up call to focus them more on geography. Any other resources you would recommend for 5th-6th grade level geography?
Meanwhile, here are a few links of interest…
A recap of the weekend. Friday night I took the boys to see Nim’s Island, which was surprisingly good. Afterwards, the boys were very interested in how we could acquire a private island of our own. On our way over, we saw this great farmhouse with a huge lot and a forest of trees… I thought it had a for sale sign but it was just an advertisement sign. Not that we’re looking to move per se, but if we ran across our dream house we might consider it.
The rest of the weekend was pretty well spent cleaning, up until Sunday afternoon when my brother came over and we watched The Mist (his new favorite movie, which while good, was not the best thing ever), and Juno (which was good, but probably overrated).
15 things Kurt Vonnegut said better than anyone else, including:
“I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’”
“There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
“Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.’”
Another kidless night last night. Grandpa E. came over to watch the boys after work (they watched movies and played board games, later joined by Grandma E.), while my love and I took a very long drive (bad traffic) into Chicago to visit the Art Institute. A lot of it was under construction, but we enjoyed the Japanese prints most of all, and the conversation. We followed it up with a lovely dinner at the Bennigan’s across the street, where I had a scrumptious spinach chicken salad. When we got home, the ‘rents stayed for a bit and we got to have some nice conversation there, too.
Not sure what our weekend plans are as of yet - my dear husband works tonight and tomorrow but is off on Sunday. There is a Jonathan Coulton concert coming up next weekend that we’d like to go to (and wish the boys could go to but it is over 18 only). Also, we saw an advertisement while we were in the city for Avenue Q which is coming to Chicago May 21s through June 7th, so we’d like to go to that, too.
Yesterday we had anticipated spending the afternoon/evening babysitting my cousin’s kids, but as it turned out, we didn’t have to (as much as we loving having 4 children running amok at our house). This is one of those little joys, like finding a bag of Doritos that still has chips in it, or finding some money in the pocket of your jeans that you didn’t know was there. Joy!
I should have been more sympathetic about it (we weren’t watching them because one of them was vomiting) but I’m still moving beyond my sociopathic tendencies and just didn’t have it in me.
Anyway, the husband and I spent the afternoon sitting on the deck, chatting about wedding plans, while the boys played with their foam swords in the front yard with the only nice neighborhood kid. We had a nutritious dinner of White Castles (note: skip the french onion, bacon, cheese… only the plain sliders will do) and then settled in for a movie.
We watched Casino Royale, rated PG-13, with the boys. Both they and we enjoyed it immensely. There was one kissing scene where the Bond girl was starting to kiss a little too far down, but it was momentary and ended without the boys being traumatized by it too badly. Besides that, it was filled with action, but nothing too gory. I loved watching the young Bond become the Bond we know and love.
Whenever I watch movies like this, it makes me want to train to be a super-spy (or superhero in the case of Batman Begins). If Bond can do it, why can’t I? 
So, tonight, another small joy… I went to pick up the boys and was told they were spending the night. My dear hubby is at work, so I am confronted with an evening of freedom. I’m never entirely sure what to do with this time once it is surprisingly presented, so we’ll see what happens.
Link of the day: Foreign Language Podcasts
Long day at work. Seems like I am always busy now… hardly any time to aimlessly surf the internet.
I guess that’s good though, because it keeps me busy thus provides more job satisfaction (I’m glad we are finally doing stuff).
Tonight, the boys each learned more about some elements, specifically Boy #1 had Helium and Boy #2 had Hydrogen. They researched the basic stuff like atomic numbers, symbols, and mass, and then looked up interesting facts / trivia about their chosen element. Boy #2 was amazed that it would take 6,000 helium filled balloons to lift just 75 pounds. Boy #2 was amazed that Hydrogen was an ingredient in sugar (sucrose) and wondered if it would be as reactive, since hydrogen mixed with air and lit will explode. I proved him wrong on this one. He was also reminded that the Hindenburg had been filled with Hydrogen (which he vaguely remembered from the Mythbusters episode on the Hindenburg).
Later, we played a round of Dungeons and Dragons (the basic version), which they have been begging for for weeks. They quite enjoyed it, and didn’t complain at all when I ended it.
Now, they are sitting on the couch together, laughing and reading The Far Side. (Thanks, mom)
Meanwhile, here are some links I’ve collected up over the past however long of intermittently surfing…
The husband is off at work and the boys are out fishing. I’m taking a break from cleaning for a bit to give my dear fans an update.
Earlier this week, we had dinner with the ‘rents at Famous Dave’s, where I had some great catfish. Not as good as a certain catfish chef I know in Chattanooga, but pretty good.
Last night, we had my brother over and watched a few movies. First was The Darjeeling Limited. This was a long, drawn out, sometimes funny, spiritual journey waste of time. I guess I just can’t relate to the spiritual journeys of eccentric rich people. It’s hard enough for me to relate to normal spiritual journeys, as I’ve never been much of a spiritual person. I have thought recently, however, about becoming one. Not terribly sure where to start with that though.
For my buddhist husband’s birthday, I got him a book called 201 Little Buddhist Reminders. The one so far I most relate to:
Gatha for morning tea or coffee
This drink is my cup of mindfulness. I hold the present moment in my hands.
My mom is reading a bunch of interesting spiritual books at the moment, too.
Anyway, the next movie was MirrorMask which we watched the beginning of but got bored with. Everyone agreed that if we were 7 years old it would be more entertaining.
Next, we watched Shawn of the Dead, which we’d seen before but is hilarious.
Finally, we watched The Amateurs, which was pretty funny, but not quite 40-year-old Virgin funny.
OK, back to work.
J.
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