In which I ramble a bit...

I missed quick takes yesterday, guys.  Sorry.

In my defense, I was helping a friend shop (she just had the squishiest, cutest, absolutely-most-lovable little boy) for the first time post-baby-arrival, and then we met another friend for lunch, and then I got that phone call that everyone who's preparing for a move across the country just dreads:  a super perky voice asking "Could we possibly let her show our house to a prospective renter in a mere four hours?"

I mentally walked through every room of my house in about a split-second's worth of silence before cheerily replying, "Sure!   It'll be ready by then!"

Then I packed up the rascals and RAAAANNNNNN HOOOOOMMMMMEEEEE as quickly as our grey-seven-seater-made-in-Japan chariot would take us.

The boys and I managed to get the house beautifully clean, after a quick debate on the book of faces as to whether or not I should mop if the only cleaner I had on hand was Pine-sol, which I happen to love the smell of but understand that not everyone feels the same way.  (Because I know you're wondering, I ended up mopping with it, but a very very very very very very very small amount, and then boiling some vanilla in the oven so that the house smelled lightly of baked yummies).   The one downside to house showings when you're merely renting the house and not the home owner?   We never get any feedback, so I don't know if the prospective tenant appreciated the cleaning stress that he/she put us through or not......

Let's see, where should I ramble to next?

Hmm, let's take a brief homeschooling pause.   We just finished up week 3.  Well almost finished week 3.  We've got one day left, because we missed a couple of days this week helping the friend with the brand-new baby.    School is going well this year - we made a few changes to curriculum and it seems to be boding well for our little school.    No more fights with Rascal #1 about his math assignments - he actually ASKS to complete them.   Rascal #2 is doing an amazing job learning to read, which is a lot of fun.   I'd always said that I was terrified of teaching my children to read - I just cannot remember learning (I learned when I was pretty young), and so trying to teach something that just was second nature to me was a really scary prospect.   I'm happy to say that he and I are both LOVING it.   He actually read an entire little story to me today, with only a few pauses and having to "read it slowly" (what we call the sounding out process, which we don't really rely on, but he tends to fall back on if it's a word he doesn't know).   

Rascal #3 is doing a self-designed preschool program, and then we might be sending him out a few days a week once we get back to Maine to kind of round-out his preschool experience.   Right now, he's working with me on shapes and colours and learning to write, use scissors, count, etc.  He's loving "doing school" and hates when his work is finished and I move on to the next rascal.    Here's a sampling of his work this week:

This child WILL be a graffiti artist, methinks.   He found the sharpie we were using to label moving boxes with.  Sigh.  Luckily he only practiced his letters on a moving box.  That'll be fun to explain to the moving company as they try to figure out where to put this box!

His art project today was to build a house out of construction paper blocks - this is the finished masterpiece.   We were practicing our colours, our counting, and the letter "B"

He drew this on his own the other day - it's a city full of skyscrapers.   The blue tent-like thing is a splash pad and it's under a "roof"  (I think it's supposed to be an awning?).  His drawing is really coming along - it's actually starting to be recognizable!

So, overall, school is going well.   With all the fun of the baby arriving this week and the house showing, I'm even more thankful that we're homeschooling.   It was really a great source of relief for me to know that we could move school to be any time of the day, week, or weekend (yes, we did school today to "make up" for this past week) without any real consequences.   It made being able to be flexible for our friend, or for the showing, so much easier.   One point for homeschooling!

Let's see....rambling where else today?  Hmm..I could get all political on you about the different conventions the past two weeks, but honestly, I don't have the energy today.   We'll deal with those topics on another day.   I will, however, say that I loved Cardinal Dolan at World Youth Day this last year, and I love him even more now.   I especially love the best.tweet.ever, thanks to Cardinal Dolan at the DNC, brought to my attention by the lovely Kara.  Here it is, in all it's fabulousness:

Best.Tweet.Ever

Also, I think that should actually become a verb in our vernacular.  Kind of like "Google-ing" did.   

What other shout-outs should I put on here?   I've seen so many awesome posts recently.   How about a top five list?

In no particular order, some of the best blog posts I've seen this week:

1.  Remember that Open Letter to Melinda Gates that I referenced a few weeks back?   Well, my friend Leila posted it as well, and a very lively discussion started in the comment box at her blog.   Eventually, the actual authour of that open letter joined in, and this blog post is a continuation of that conversation.  Uju (the letter writer) speaks with an eloquence we don't usually hear from a debate in a comment box. I invite you to go check it out!

2.   Ever want to just laugh at yourself as you try out a new exercise routine, or join a new group exercise class?   Meet Ashley Jones.     You need to read her blog.   That's an order.  She's hilarious, and worth every second that you spend in front of her blog, reading about her attempt to get off her couch and get healthy.

3.   Bad Catholic might just be one of my favourite-ist bloggers ever.   He's so often spot-on that I just want to jump for joy reading his posts.   This post about dissent within the Church is no exception.  I cannot wait for part two.  

4.  Have you guys checked out Camp Patton yet?   I really cannot even link to just one post from this week.   Grace is just all-around fabulous.  Hilarious, quirky, and just plain refreshing.   Not to mention a great deal snarky, which is awesome.   Her husband is an OB/GYN resident, so that might just be part of my attraction - I so.very.much. know where she's coming from!

5.  I'm not a huge reality TV kind of person - for some reason, it just doesn't do much for me.  However, drum-roll-please, this might just be a reality TV show that I count down the days to and watch every.single.episode.   Why?  Because it's our very own Jen, over at Conversion Diaries!  Go check it out!!

I think that might very much be enough rambling for this week.  Our house has been overrun with moving boxes, and I need to organize them at least a little bit before I start to lose my mind.  I don't do well living around moving boxes - I might need to shove them into closets so I can pretend they don't exist.  ;-)

Have a great night, y'all!