I arrived at my sister’s house while she was at the grocery store. My 15 year old nephew showed me the metal “sword” that his visiting friend had made for him. The friend had one, too, and after I expressed my admiration and turned to my iTouch to check email, the two began dueling. In the living room.

“Has your mother talked to you about this behavior?” I asked.

“Good point,” he said.

And experts say 15 year olds can be left home alone.

Turning a boy into a man.

So glad my teen boy has a father.

Unhearit – get that d@mn song out of your head

We created this site for those of you that have a song stuck in your head and you can’t get it out no matter what you do. Using the latest in reverse-auditory-melodic-unstickification technology, we’ve been able to allow our users to “unhear” songs by hearing equally catchy songs. So really all we’re doing is making you forget your old song by replacing it with another one… sorry. 

They also have a mobile app.  Highly useful.

File this one under “What the…??”

Spring baseball is quite enough for me, and I really try hard to keep fall sports light.  Last year, Billy did soccer, which was bad enough, but not the travel team, which would have killed me.  Fritz did “Fall Ball” which was a double header every Sunday afternoon for 6 weeks, but no practices.

This year, Fritz, Billy and Peter are doing flag football through the local Baptist church’s Upward program.  Practices once a week; games on Saturday: same time, same place.  Low speed, and what I need.

This afternoon, I got an email from a man saying when and where practices would be.  It didn’t say for which boy, but under his signature it said 5th – 8th grade.  Cool, I thought.  Both my older boys are on the same team.

This evening, I received a phone call from a man who said he was Billy’s coach.  I missed the call, so Bill called him back.  Practices are at the same time/day as the one in the email, but he only has Billy.  “I’ve got 5th – 8th grade,” he told Bill, who told him both boys were in that age range.  “He must be on the other team,” said the man.  Like their basketball program, which Billy did in the spring because one too many pitches hit him in the side the previous spring, there are only two teams in their age range.  So, the same teams play each other every weekend.

And I’ve got a boy on each team.

Now, who am I supposed to cheer for?

It’s always hottest before you get the new air conditioner.

I have a new A/C unit sitting in my backyard waiting for installation.  The guy will come Sunday morning, he says.  Earlier this week, things weren’t too bad.  We had several cloudy days and a few inches of rain.  House temperatures were reasonable.  Yesterday, and today, the heat index was (is expected to be) about 110.  It was 89 upstairs at bedtime last night. 

Next week will be glorious.

*******

Last year, I only sporadically watered the lawn here.  The front has a sprinkler system, so it’s not like it’s a difficult thing to do: turn ON.  Irregular watering led to a less than lush yard.  And I felt like a bad steward.  It was bad enough that the oppressive heat kept me from doing any weeding until the fall.  This summer, I decided I would set the sprinkler system going on a regular 4 day watering cycle and let it be.  The lawn looks very nice right now.  I am a good steward.

And then I got my water bill yesterday, which is billed 6 times a year (every 2 months).  Hm.  I think I’ll be knocking down that watering to twice a week.  Or maybe I’ll just pray for more rain.

*******

Of course, if it rains, then I can’t hang my clothes outside to dry.  And my electric bill will be higher.

But it’ll be lower, because the A/C won’t have to work as hard?

I think I just want it to be October already.

I am old enough that when I was in high school, there was a class called “Typing.”  There were mostly girls in this class.  And it was, in my teenaged, not-very-humble opinion, a class for those whose highest aspirations involved working for the CEO, not being the CEO.  My guidance counselor suggested this class when I had a free period and did not want a study hall (another completely useless thing, in my thoughts) but I turned my nose up at the idea.

So, I hunted and pecked my way, on a word processor machine, through my upper class research papers and graduated with a diploma that reflected higher learning, not secretarial training.

Even in college, not knowing how to type wasn’t such a big deal.  I didn’t take very many liberal arts classes with writing assignments.  I earned an engineering degree (please note the distinct snobbery in my voice).  Knowledge of spreadsheets and how to format them was much more useful than what was becoming known as “keyboarding skills.” 

It’s really only been in the last 5 – 7 years, since I began blogging, that knowing how to peck out more than 30 words per minute seems like a good idea.  When a typical day includes homeschooling, running, cooking, laundry and basic housekeeping, time for blogging is often carved out of time I could spend doing things arguably more important.  If I could type faster and more accurately, blogging would take less time, theoretically.  Or maybe I would just blog more.

I would still be saving self-improvement programs for some future rainy day if this past school year hadn’t convinced me that my children needed to learn to type, too.  One child in particular was having a very difficult time coping with the fine motor skills required and muscle fatigue that occurred with some of the assignments.  My MODG counselor suggested I just let him use the computer instead of facing the daily battles.  He and I were much happier with this idea.  Now, too, both boys have to write papers.  I honestly do not know which is worse: watching the mental strain of my 13 year old son as he constructs a thoughtful and grammatically correct sentence, or watching him stab the sentence out using only his right index finger.  My suggestion that he use two index fingers at least was declared “too difficult.”

Then, too, I am not a happy computer-sharer.  I confess, I am selfish with my toys.  If my children need to use the computer, they need to get on and get off as quickly as possible.  Agonizing over the location of every letter of every word every single time is just not conducive to family harmony when there is a queue of people who are waiting for you to be done already.

Last summer or fall, I scoured the internet and looked at different keyboarding programs.  The free ones online were inadequate, I felt.  After much waffling, I finally decided upon Keyboard Classroom, which is not a cheap program.  I bought a single-user version to try it out.  I had Katie begin, and she liked it very much.  You begin with a rank of Cadet.  The keys are introduced gradually.  In order to earn a “promotion” to the next rank, the keys must be practiced so often that memorization of their placement is the result.  As you work on your promotion, you earn tokens which can be used to play games.

This summer, I decided to buy the triple-user license so that Fritz, Billy and I could also learn to type.  Other people can sign on as Katie, but they would be working at her level.  Unfortunately, I had significant difficulty loading the triple user version on the computer.  It continued to bring up the single user version, even after I uninstalled it and re-installed the triple user.  I emailed Keyboard Classroom, and within a short period of time received help on how to load the triple user version (it wasn’t my incompetence!  There was a special trick to delete the other code, I guess to prevent abuse).  However, I had wanted 4 users (single plus triple) and there was no way to get both to work, it was either or.  Once again, I emailed the company about my dilemma, and they got back to me right away.  They ended up giving me the code for 5 users, which I very much appreciate.  Their technical support/customer service team is top-notch!

Yesterday, Billy, Katie, and I spent some time working with the program.  I thought I was doing well with 85 – 95 keystrokes in the time period, but then Billy got on and was doing over 100, consistently, with fewer and fewer errors (I attribute this to his years of piano lessons).  I’ve told the kids I want each of us to do 15 minutes a day.  Katie wanted to do longer; Billy was fine doing it and stopping after 15 minutes; I, personally, thought that 15 minutes was the maximum tolerable time period.  It hurts to learn new tricks, mentally.  Well, I’m not learning a new trick as much as re-training myself to do something in a better way.  Fritz will start today.

I do recommend Keyboard Classroom.  Until we get away from using a keyboard, which I don’t see happening anytime soon, it is a skill that our children will need to have, sooner or later.  Once a user has mastered the program, you can clear that user and another user can start from the Cadet rank, so you only need enough users as people who will be actively participating at one time.  I could have managed with just 3, and either made Katie wait until I had mastered it, or waited myself until one of the children grew proficient.  I’m hoping that in a month or two, we’ll all be typing away at a steady pace.

Then, perhaps, it wouldn’t take me two days to write a blog post!

When you wake up in the morning and the light is hurt your head
The first thing you do when you get up out of bed
Is hit that streets a-runnin’ and try to beat the masses
And go get yourself {prescription} sunglasses
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah

Now go out and get yourself some big black frames
With the glass so dark thay won’t even know your name
And the choice is up to you cause they come in two classes:
Rhinestone shades or cheap sunglasses
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah

These weren’t cheap, but they were worth every single penny.  I don’t know how I ever survived without them.

I said goodbye to two friends yesterday.  That was rough.  I think it would have been kinder if they would have staggered their leaving by at least a week, but I guess the Army didn’t take me into consideration when planning their moves.

I got to spend a lot of time with this little guy.

He wasn’t interested in smiling for the camera.

He loved to kiss and hug/bite Mary.

He also loved to sit on my lap.

Mary was not interested in sharing my lap.

Yesterday was also Peter’s birthday.  Bill was gone all week, and I didn’t think he’d be home in time to celebrate, so we had cake last weekend.

I did not make this cake.

He loved it.

I told myself to get a picture BEFORE somebody dropped a nectarine on it.  Too late.

The birthday serenade.

Even though we had cake last week, we still had to do something on his actual birthday.  So we went out for ice cream, and met another military family new to the area.  Because that’s the way this military life works.

For every goodbye, there seems to be another hello.

While chatting with this new family, the conversation turned to Scouts.  I asked what rank the older boy was, and since the mom couldn’t exactly remember, I turned to Fritz (who was hovering) and told him to go introduce himself to the boy, Scout to Scout.  As he got up immediately, shook hands, and started talking, I had yet another heart-touching moment where I realized that this boy is quickly becoming a man.  Long-gone is the 7 yo whom I sent on the playground accompanied by his gregarious younger brother to meet the neighborhood kids.  No, this young man can introduce himself all on his own.

{sigh}  I’m so happy for the maturity.  I just wish it wasn’t so bittersweet.

I’m babysitting the most placid 16 month old on the planet.  He’s snuggled on my lap with a toy in each hand and staring up at me with his serious brown eyes with sinfully long dark lashes.

If I were his mother, I’d be frustrated that I can’t get anything done. 

But since I’m the babysitter, I’ll just get caught up on blog reading.

Flags should be flown at half-mast until noon.

Enjoy your parties, but be sure to remember the dead.  Pray for them, and the families and friends left behind.