…at the Cub Scout den meeting…

Den Leader: Has anybody ever been on a boat?

Tiger Scout: I have!

Den Leader: That’s great! What kind of boat was it?

Tiger Scout: A big ol’ money pit.

Well, I did it. I ran all ten miles. Around 4 1/2 miles I was getting tired, but once I hit the half-way mark at 5 miles, my spirits boosted for a bit. Then came mile 7, and my split times started to creep upward. My fastest mile (mile 3) was 10 minutes exactly, but that last mile was 11:11. Later, Bill said he just wanted to get behind me and push. I kept waving for him to go on without me, but the knight in shining armor refused to leave the side of his beloved.

Our final time was 1 hour and 44 minutes, which puts us just under a 10 1/2 minute mile pace, which is what I had been doing on my longer runs. So I’m pleased. And tired.

I have three PT goals this year, and that was one of them. I’ll talk about the other two later this week, as I should accomplish the second one in a few days.

It’s not merely a Homeschool Carnival…

It’s not merely a Catholic Carnival…

…it’s a Catholic Homeschool Carnival!

Check it out!

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the ticker at the top of my blog, you’ll know that the Army Ten Miler is TOMORROW.

I have never run in a race before (a real race).

I have never run ten miles before.

I have never run with my husband before.

This should be fun!

We’re having lasagne tonight. That’s a real treat because pasta is a banned substance for my husband, and I avoid tempting him by simply not making pasta dishes (pasta, bread, potatoes and stuff like that send his triglyceride levels through the roof…like to the 6 or 7 hundred range…very very bad). I love pasta and miss eating it (but my hips don’t miss it a bit!). One night of carbo-loading is okay for us both.

My lovely sister-in-law has graciously agreed to come to our house tonight, spend the night, and babysit the kids tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a solid 6 hours of time out of the house with no kids but with the charming company of my dear husband.

My goal is to finish the race in one hour and 40 minutes (that’s a ten minute mile pace). Most of my shorts runs fall in that range, but the long runs are usually 10 1/2 minutes per mile. I’m hoping that the energy of the other 23,999 runners will carry me along.

Bill’s goal is to not hold me back! Poor guy did a 25k ruck march on Thursday to earn a gold German Army Proficiency Badge that he can wear on his uniform. He’s still hurting a bit from that hike which he accomplished in 3 3/4 hours. The timing between that event and the Ten Miler could have been better.

And speaking of bad timing…I think that the penultimate sacrifice someone can make is possessing 4 free tickets to a Toby Keith concert and giving them all away! Okay, perhaps it’s a bit lower down the list than that, but still, I am very unhappy that the concert is the same day as the Ten Miler. There is no way I will have the energy to attend an evening concert after running that distance. I know I will be sore and exhausted. So, even though I picked up the free tickets at the USO office, I have given them away to other country music fans. Maybe next time…

..so, wish me luck for a good race tomorrow!

Toby Keith’s You Ain’t Much Fun

Katie: Why did he quit drinking, Mommy?

Me: Because his wife was getting mad at him.

Katie: Why is he upset?

Me: Because his wife is making him work now.

Explaining song lyrics to children is so tedious I try to avoid it as much as possible. Next on the radio…

Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire

Katie: What’s a ring of fire?

silence

Katie: I think it’s a bunch of rings and there’s a fire…

Billy: It’s a circle, Katie, and it’s on fire.

brief silence

Katie: I think he must know stop, drop and roll, so he’ll be okay.

Yes, let’s remember that advice, dear, when you begin dating. Things getting a bit too passionate? Just stop, drop, and roll. You may have some grass stains, and possibly a dent in that chastity belt your father has picked out for you, but you’ll be okay.

The phonics program I use is Little Angel Readers. I love it. It’s sweet, it’s Catholic, but not Catholic-only (the stories for the kids to read include Aesop’s Fables and ones like the Little Red Hen as well as stories about families going to church and doing little acts of kindness), and it has worked for two of my kids thus far.

The first eight lessons are about recognizing the sounds made by eight different consonants: S, T, P, H, D, M, C and N. Lesson 9 (of Reader A) introduces the vowel A and begins blending the sounds together to make words.

When Fritz was in kindergarten, we stayed on Lesson A9 for an eternity. He just didn’t get it. I would drop it for a week and do other things, then come back and try again. Even after he began to blend it all together, it remained a struggle for him for quite some time. We went on and added other consonants and other vowels and began reading stories, but it was only recently that he’s become more at ease with reading. And he is still not wholly comfortable, especially if there are lots of big words he thinks he’s never seen before. He is easily frustrated, and I am easily frustrated by his frustration. But we’re getting there.

Last year, I used the same program with Billy and planned to be at Lesson A9 for a while. But Billy figured it out right away and we spent little additional time on that lesson than any of the previous ones. What a blessed relief. Billy is now in Reader B and has learned that vowels make long sounds too. He’s doing great!

Yesterday was Katie’s turn for Lesson A9. Although I crossed my fingers and wished for this lesson to progress like it had with Billy, I know my daughter. Even though she loves to do schoolwork and I have to work hard to keep her busy, I expected that she would be more like Fritz. Sure enough, she can identify the sounds made by the letters C and T and she learned A, but could not blend them together to sound out the word CAT. We went through about a third of the page. She would identify the individual sounds made by the letters, and then turn her bright expectant eyes to me and listen to me repeat what she said, but maybe a bit faster and then again, a bit faster, and then she would get very excited as she would say the word we were sounding out. It was really cute to see her eyes light up and watch how thrilled she was to witness the sounding out of real words.

But I can tell that the little light bulb is not going off in her head. And I sigh a heavy sigh. Truth be told, I just want it to be easy. I want my kids to know how to read, and how to read well. I want my kids to enjoy reading. I would love to be able to say, “Ah, look here at my 6 year old reading chapter books and my 3rd grader selecting novels off the junior adult section at the library.” But more than that, I just want the whole reading thing to click with little to no trouble at all. I don’t want to have to actually work for success.

But this is not to be the case, apparently.

In all fairness to Katie, she only turned 5 in August. Fritz was also just over 5 years old when I tried this with him. Billy was at least 5 years and 7 months when he got to Lesson A9, since his birthday is in February. So, today, I will show her a few more words on that page and see if it makes any more sense to her. If not, then we will just drop it for a month and learn about other consonants.

It is very frustrating. But if she’s not ready, she’s simply not ready.

I don’t intend to make this a daily thing, but it’s what is on my mind right now.

Yesterday I looked at a few ways I do things.

Number One: laundry. In August, SFO Mom talked about using less laundry detergent. I’ll admit that I am somewhat lazy about measuring the amount I use. I do recognize that the scoop is bigger than even the large-load amount (and recognize that this is done intentionally to get us to use that powder faster than necessary, making us buy more), and so I will, at a minimum, make sure I use no more than the recommended amount and begin experimenting with using less, since my washer is pretty new and should be able to do the job efficiently.

Also, I ran out of those dryer sheets that prevent static cling, and keep forgetting to put them on my shopping list. For a few weeks now, I’ve been doing laundry without any, and I haven’t really missed them too much. Perhaps once the colder, dryer weather kicks in, I may need to restock, but for now, I’ll live without them.

Number Two: doing dishes. Here’s another area where I’ve developed a bad habit. I am very grateful for my dish washer, which is filled to the brim at least once per day. I avoid doing small loads, and will sometimes wait for the next day’s breakfast dishes if one day produces one and a half loads. Of course, there are always one or two dishes that can’t go in the dish washer, and they get washed by hand. My habit is that I will squirt out a small amount of dish soap on a scrubby and wash the few items. That’s fine for one or two things. But if I actually have a sink-full of things I intend to wash by hand, I will waste quite a bit of soap doing it that way. So, I will work on a new habit wherein I make nice soapy water and wash the dishes the right way.

This month’s resolution is to look at how I spend my money (and my time and resources) and see how I’m being wasteful. I’m not necessarily trying to make my life harder; I’m trying to consider if the little (or big) luxuries are worth it.

I’m also trying to be extra thankful for those luxuries. We all take our standard of living (whatever level that may be) for granted. I use disposable diapers. I consider their usage to be a significant benefit to me by sparing me loads of laundry and hours of labor (washing, drying, folding). I’m not going to give up disposable diapers, but I will recognize that they are a luxury. If I were truly poor (third-world country poor), I would not use disposable diapers.

Now, I need to consider brand. I buy Luvs. They are cheaper than Huggies and Pampers, but not as cheap as generic. I used to buy generic at one grocery store chain, because they were just like Huggies. I don’t live near that chain anymore and haven’t tried the commissary’s cheaper brand yet. Mental note: buy cheap diapers the next time I’m at the store. I have to at least try them and see if they’ll suffice.

Another luxury I use often is paper towels. Paper towels are one of the many alternatives I reach for in dealing with the multiple spills that occur hourly around here. Honestly, I reach for paper towels first more often than not. I’m going to try to rewire my brain to automatically reach for a cloth towel first. I do laundry every day anyway. I don’t see a few extra towels in the load as significantly affecting my day.

…it’s the fault of the Catholic Church.

I mean, how can you survive being raised Catholic without serious repercussions, right?

Former Rep. Mark Foley, under investigation for sending lurid Internet messages to young male Capitol Hill pages, issued a series of revelations from rehab, including a claim that he had been sexually abused as a teen.

Attorney David Roth, speaking on Foley’s behalf at a Florida news conference Tuesday, said Foley was molested between ages 13 and 15 by a clergyman. He declined to identify the clergyman or the church, but Foley is Roman Catholic.

Verdict: not guilty by reason of being Catholic! He was abused as a teen, which made him gay? and made him an alcoholic? and made him a pederest? No proof is needed. All you have to do is say you are Catholic, and all bad behavior is exonerated.

I received this email today:

The Virginia General Assembly has designated the week of October 15 – 22, 2006 READ ALOUD to a CHILD WEEK in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Reading aloud is one of the most effective techniques that parents can use to positively impact their children’s success in school and in life.

http://www.readaloudva.org/raweek/2006/2006raw.pdf

CHEEEEE – ECK!