Beckie Tetrault (dot) Com

2019-09-23T14:48:00.003-07:00

Life as a fanwoman

2016-05-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am going to date myself here, ready.. I am going to be 45 in November.. Yep, 45.. And I still dress the same as I did when I was 20, maybe even more geeky, if I really think about it. And I was thinking about a while back when my friend Heather jokingly pointed out that I had my fandoms prominently displayed all over me. It was true, I was wearing a Supernatural shirt, a Doctor Who necklace and carrying an Alice in Wonderland purse at the time. That's how I like to dress. I realize by the time most people reach middle age (gasp!!) they have long since stopped dressing themselves from the Think Geek t-shirt section (unless you're my brother, Hi Tom!). But not me. And between you and me, I don't plan to change anytime soon.
I embrace the title of Fangirl (though I prefer Fanwoman). I am a Fangirl! I am a fan of so many shows, books, movies, muliverses and more, that sometimes I can't even keep track of them all! But the best part of my fandoms, is I make friends. People talk to me because I am wearing my Sam and Dean shirt, or they comment on my Doctor Who necklace. Once I was in Sacramento with my newest Doctor Who purse (made by my friend Kristn) and a woman stopped me to ask if I liked Doctor Who! See, meeting people all the time, via the power of the fandom.
Now I mentioned I have a lot of fandoms that I keep track of. Here is a short, but entirely incomplete list:

Doctor Who
Sherlock
Supernatural
Arrow
The Walking Dead
Game of Thrones
Marvel Universe
DC Universe
Harry Potter

I am sure there are a ton I am forgetting.

My fandoms give me a something to look forward to, a new episode, a new movie or book. My fandoms connect me with people around the world who I might never have otherwise met. Once I was live tweeting a Duran Duran concert, and met Suzi Parker, a writer and awesome person, who chatted with me about Duran Duran all evening.

So when I look at my overflowing T-shirt drawers (yep, there are two) and see there are only a few shirts that aren't black and/or fandom related, sometimes I think, wow, I really need to get a grown-up wardrobe. Then I remember, FUCK THAT, I dress for me, and if I want to wear a shirt with Deadpool eating a taco on it, I am gonna!

I am a fanwoman, hear me roar!!

And now some pics, because did you really think I was gonna post about my babies and not post pics? :P

Where else are you going to find purple hippos?

2015-09-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

I was delighted to be asked to play Jungle Rummy before it's official Kickstarter campaign (October 1st) recently by fellow podcaster, Tales of the Jungle Crews creator, Kyle Crocker. Now Jungle Rummy isn't your ordinary card game, created by the adventurous skippers on the rivers of the world after their last deck of cards was eaten by a crocodile. The artwork on the cards is stunning, designed to look like old trip tickets, with the suits Hippos, Pistols, Boats and Skulls. The back story of the game is amusing, and if you have the time, be sure to listen to the Tales of the Jungle Crews Radio Plays to learn more about the adventurous man of adventure, Skipper Gary London, ESQ. Dani and I played this afternoon. The rules are easy to pick up, with helpful Rules Cards included to help keep game play on track. Once we figured out the rhythm of the game, it became a laugh filled all out battle to win! The gameplay itself is fast and entertaining. Dani and I were laughing so hard at times it was hard to remember that we were both trying to win! (I won)

Parenting as a Spoonie

2015-09-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

You and me both, Lucy.. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I am sure the next most vocal voice in complaining against my illness would be my family, if they ever complained, which really they don't. But they should..

My kids miss out on so many things because their mom doesn't always have enough spoons to take them everywhere they want to go. In fact, some days their mom doesn't have enough spoons to even take care of herself.

Which is why I am so thankful for my daughter. I might have mentioned this before, but I don't know how I would survive without her sometimes. She helps cook on days when I am not able to. She makes sure I don't dehydrate on days when I can't stand the lights in the kitchen long enough to get some tea. She keeps the ship running on those days when I just can't take the wheel.

But they miss out on a lot. We've missed field trips because I woke up that morning in pain. We almost never go to park days, as the sun is enemy to me and my youngest. There are days I can't drive, so they miss classes and therapies. And there is nothing I can do about any of it.

I am treating my migraines, I am on daily meds that have their own slew of side effects. We play with dosages and prescriptions to find that perfect balance that will allow me to live a more normal life. I have given up hope that it will ever be completely normal, but there has to be something closer than this out there for me.

I had never considered myself a Spoonie..

2015-07-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

To me Spoonies were always people who suffered far worse than I did. I just have migraines. Sure, in between those migraines I get episodes of auras, and yeah, it takes a day or so to recover from a migraine. Oh yeah, I get 3 or 4 a month, and when I am not actively having a migraine I often am impaired by the medication I take daily to ward off migraines. And, of course, when I have a migraine, I am incapacitated for a day or more. But I didn't believe that was enough for me to qualify as a Spoonie. They REALLY suffer..

Today I woke up with another migraine, and I was laying in the dark, listening to my kids playing out in the living room, I realized.. I am suffering, I do suffer, I am a Spoonie.

Now for those of you who don't know what a Spoonie is, you are probably reading this with much confusing. So please, take a moment to visit Are You A Spoonie? I will give you a better idea of what I am talking about. TL:DR is that it is kinda an analagy to energy, healthy people have unlimited spoons (or energy) but chonically ill people have a certian number of spoons each day, and they have to carefully budget how they use those spoons, so as not to run out before the end of the day. It's a good analagy and I am making it sound silly, but really, go read it, it will only take a moment..

Did you read it? Good! Now back to me, because really, this post is about me ;) I have never identified as a Spoonie. I have always downplayed the role migraine plays in my life. Sure, if you are a friend of mine, you hear me bitch about them, I mean come on, they HURT! And they are inconvient. I try not to burden my friends too much from my complaning..

So why suddenly have I seen the spoon? Last night.. last night I went out with friends to a show. We had a thunderstorm, it was humid as hell, but we had a wonderful time watching the performers and just geneally being together. I did not drink heavily, I did not bang my head to heavy metal, and I did not tax myself in any way really. I also had a fairly peaceful day leading up to my outing, with the exception of kids being wound up from the storm. Yet, just going out with friends for a fun evening, was enough that I borrowed spoons from today (little did I know).

Today, I have a migraine. You can't tell (or maybe you can) I am sitting in a dark room, writing this with unfocused eyes because my medicine makes my eyes all wonky. Thank goodness for touch typing in high school and a computer with spell checker. I am going to publish this as soon as I am done, but maybe when my head is clearer I will go back over it just ot make sure it makes sense.

I don't want to stop going out with my friends, I don't want to become a hermit blogging from a dark room. But most days I mostly don't have enough spoons to do anything else. I want to be that mom who takes their kids to the park all the time.. But I don't haev enough spoons to deal with all my issues at the park (noise, light, smells, just to name a few) and Jack's (grass allergy, ezcema outbreaks, heat rash) together. I want to take my kids swimming, I want to take them everywhere they want to go, but I just can't. So if I say no to your invitation, most of the time it has little to do with you, and has everything to do with the conservation of spoons.

It may seem odd to some that I don't suffer from migraine every day, but that I say I am a spoonie. But what they may not realize is, even on days when I am not in pain, I may be suffering from other migraine related symptoms, auras to those in the know. Plus, the daily medications I take to keep my migraines from being a daily thing, make me dizzy, sleepy, and make my vision blurry. So even on a day with zero pain, and zero aura, I am still not 100%. I can't remember the last time I was 100%. I don't even know what that feels like anymore.

And maybe I am selfish for sometimes hoarding my spoons so that I can go out, with out my kids. So be it, I'll own it. But I have to be selfish. I don't get a lot of moments in my day without the kids. And while I love them, they are spoon stealers.

So this is me, saying outloud, I am a Spoonie. I have chronic migraine, and it effects me every single day of my life. I work hard, and I miss out on things, I miss my friends, and I feel guilty that my kids don't get to do with the other kids do. And I just spent one spoon writing this post, and hopefully I have made at least one person understand what it means to be a Spoonie.

Dani is joining the world of blogging

2015-02-02T14:04:00.001-08:00

ASMR, Migraines and Me

2014-11-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

For the last 20 or so years, I have suffered from debilitating migraines. Each migraine sufferer is different, and my particular migraines usually include vomiting, light sensitivity and brain fogginess. Now I am on a daily medication now to keep them under control, and it is working great, but still a few sneak through, usually because of my bad decision making (a concert, dehydration AND whiskey shots on the same day?). Now anyone who knows me, knows I HATE quiet. I always have a fan, the tv, music or an audiobook going, sometimes more than one. But the problem when I have a migraine is, I need darkness, so no TV. I also have difficulty following an audiobook when I am in mid-migraine. And music, sometimes I just can't listen to music.

Then I discovered ASMR. Now ASMR stands for Autonomous sensory meridian response, which is a long way of saying those tingles in the scalp or spine that some people get from certain auditory triggers, such as scratching or crinkling plastic. Not everyone gets these tingles, and not every trigger works for every person. You can check out a few of the more common triggers here, ASMR Triggers Even if you don't ever experience the tingling sensation, ASMR is very relaxing to listen to. They can help some people get to sleep and there are many ASMR artists on YouTube! Most of them are a combination of soft whispering, the repetition of certain words or sounds, tapping, scratching and the like.

So what does this have to do with migraines? I discovered today, when my head was not quite right from some medication management stuff my Doctor is having me do, that ASMR videos are PERFECT for when I need some sound, but nothing that requires deep thought or for me to follow a story line!

Now there many different ASMR artists and styles. And if you want to try this at home, you might want to play around a bit and find what works best for you, before you are in the grips of a blinding migraine. I have a playlist all set up and ready to go that I can start with the a few taps on my iPhone. In fact, I have an App that strips out the loud pre-roll commercials and makes it easy to built playlists and follow your favorite artists, I personally prefer male artists, but there are LOTS of female artists out there, I would venture to say maybe 75% of videos are from female artists. What I love about these, they do not require your attention. If you drift off, that's okay, you didn't miss anything. While still filling the silence with pleasing sounds.

I wanted to share a few of my personal favorites. You'll notice my list is all male, many with accents, and lots of geeky themes.

The first artist I found was Ephemeral Rift. He does some of the most interesting videos. Here are a few to give you an idea of his range of work:

Another great artist is WhisperMister. He has a very soothing accent, and he does some great geeky roleplay videos!

And one last one, before I leave you to explore on your own, Ricky7Whispers

What do you think? Have you tried ASMR? Let me know in the comments!

Halloween Post (#2)

2014-10-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Time for me to step up on my soap box, with my annual Halloween Post!
There is something I want to remind people about. There are going to be lots of children out trick or treating. And honestly, I'd hate for one of them to see me beat you down.

Why, you might be wondering, would I be threatening the nice people who are just handing out candy to kids? Because every year there are a few ignorant f*cks who require my son to say "Trick or Treat" before making with the fun sized Snickers.

My son has a speech delay, and while most of the time most people mostly understand most of what he says, he has a really hard time speaking to strangers, or in stressful situations. Such as when some idiot is holding a bowl of candy just out of his reach and saying, "what do you say??" Umm, I say make with the candy before I smack your stupid face.

There are few things that actually get me as angry as this insistence on saying "magic words." Heck, I don't even make a fuss when people give my kids Chick Tracts (see previous Halloween post) or campaign literature with their cheap dum-dums. I calmly strip the offending paper off the candy and hand it back to them with a smirk. (Unless its a Halloween chick tract, I'm saving those for an art project). But insist my child says "magic words" to get candy and I will go mama bear on you. And yes, I suppose I could explain to all those people or better yet, make him wear a button, right? WRONG!

There is an unwritten contract on Halloween, you have lights on, kids knock, you give them candy. Period..

As Wil Wheaton says, "Don't be a dick" especially on Halloween..

Annual Halloween Post (#1)

2014-10-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Complete with a dire warning to check your children's Halloween candy carefully, because nefarious types are slipping Ecstasy into trick or treaters candy bags!! *insert evil laugh*
Okay, let's for a moment think logically about this claim. Firstly, my argument below works perfectly for this myth, NO ONE is going to pay $12 - 15 per pill, then give the drugs to your children. People who buy drugs, want to take the drugs, they don't want to give them to random children who may knock on their door looking for a quick Snickers fix.
Last year we had a new horror of Halloween to debunk, the THC dosed candy!! (insert spooky music here). Yes, now that many places have made the use of marijuana legal, there is a plethora of products out there that are made with the same active ingredients as those found in marijuana. Parents are being warned to carefully check their children's candy to make sure that none of the fun sized bars they get pack a little extra fun. First off, let me be the first to say, stoners are NOT criminals looking to get the neighborhood kids stoned. Second, dosed candy is NOT CHEAP. No one is gonna buy a bunch to hand out to the costumed kiddies. Until I see evidence of a single child being harmed by a marijuana infused piece of candy, that DIDN'T come from their own family member, I am gonna write this one off to more paranoia.

REPOSTED FROM 2009: Free Range Kids has a great post about how Halloween is being ruined for scores of children FOR NO GOOD REASON!! Something I have discussed on this blog several times ;) Here is a repost of my classic posting from 2008 ;)
First off, Halloween started out as a harvest holiday known as Samhain. Now contrary to popular Christian belief, there was NEVER a pagan god known as Samhain. Samhain is derived from the Celtic word for Summer's End, cause DUH! it happened at the end of summer, LOL! So, no pagan god Samhain, and therefore no human sacrifices to him. Also, pagan's don't believe in Satan, and they sure don't worship him, cause he's NON-EXISTENT in pagan culture. So, no human sacrifice to him either. In fact, there is NO human sacrifice in paganism today, AT ALL! And if you look at history, Christians have killed many, many more humans then any pagans, I'm just sayin...

Secondly, the whole idea of poisoned, tampered with, or booby trapped candy. This is a myth that has been blown so far out of proportion, it's absurd! TWO, yes TWO cases of children being killed by Halloween candy have been recorded in the news since 1964 (yep, that was 44 years ago people). The first was a boy in 1970 who ate his uncles stash of heroin, and then the family tried to cover it up by saying the drugs were in his Halloween candy. The second, in 1974, a boy ate a pixy stick that was laced with poison. Upon investigation it turned out the boys own father planted the candy in his son's bag, to collect on the boy's insurance money. NEVER has there been a recorded incident of a stranger handing out laced, tampered with or poison treats on Halloween to random neighborhood children, and contrary to the Chick tract above, it is not common practice to do this to harvest sacrifices for Satan!

Read it here!

It's that time of year again...

When families are faced with the choice, to celebrate or not celebrate Halloween. Personally, I am sure all of you know, I not only celebrate Halloween, I revel in it! I LOVE Halloween, and would prefer to get rid of Christmas and Thanksgiving all together ;)

But I swear, the more I read people's arguments on why to NOT celebrate Halloween, I am filled with a dread that I can't shake. Are people really so paranoid of a holiday that PartyWorks and Hershey's have so corrupted from it's original form, that it is barely recognizable?? I understand the not wanting to expose your children to excessive blood and gore, okay, I get that. But to not even let them dress up and trick or treat?? Or worse yet, to be a TOTAL hypocrite and let them go to a trunk or treat at the local church. If they are trunk or treating, you are celebrating, so get over yourselves.

Let me give you a few thoughts to ponder. First off, if you have EVER gotten your information about Halloween from a Chick Tract, then please, click away from my page now and go and pray or something, cause you are too stupid to continue reading.

So, while I can go on and on about the non-horrors of Halloween, I do want to make a point. These days, Halloween is another hallmark holiday, cleansed of all it's original roots, and make palatable to the masses. If you are a family who chooses to NOT celebrate Halloween because of it's pagan roots, then I recommend you think twice about Easter and Christmas too. Because the "historical" activities attributed to those holidays, namely the birth of Christ and his resurrection, remain unproven at best, and the actual dates of said activities and the celebrating of those holidays are NOT specifically condoned in the bible. Shockingly the dates and MOST of the activities now celebrated for those holidays are in fact PAGAN in origin ;) Christmas trees or Easter bunnies anyone??

I will accept reasonable discussion of this topic in my comments. BUT keep in mind, any argument you make to me that uses God or the Bible as it's basis, will be countered with the teachings of the ALL POWERFUL AND KNOWING SQUIRREL IN MY BACK YARD :) After of course, the appropriate offerings of nuts and seeds are made ;)

It's Banned Book Week!

2014-09-22T13:23:00.001-07:00

Let's take a look at the list of most challenged books of 2013, according to the American Library Association:

1. Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey~ Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence

2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison ~ Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence.

3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie ~ Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

4. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James ~ Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collin ~ Religious viewpoints, unsuited to age group

6. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone ~ Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit

7. Looking for Alaska by John Green ~ Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ~ Drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group.

9. Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya ~ Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explcit

10. Bone by Jeff Smith ~ Poltical viewponts, racism, violence

I have read a few of these, specifically, 4, 7 and 8. I think I want to read Bless Me Ultima. It was the big read here at the library last year, but I was not in a place to take on a new book.

The reason I make this post every year, is because of something Ray Bradbury said, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." This is important. If someone can come along and say that you can't read The Hunger Games, then someone else could come along and tell you that you can't read Curious George. Where do we draw the line?

I don't believe that anyone should have the right to tell me, or you, what books we can have access to, or what b ooks we can read. I believe it's each persons right to make those decisions for themselves. And it's each parents responsiblity to be actively involved in the books their child chooses to read.

I wish people could spend as much time working on themselves and their own lives as they do trying to control what other people can do with theirs.

But until that happens, all we can do is to continue to speak out against book banning, read banned books and educate the future generation to do better!!

Homeschool Planner Blues..

2014-08-10T15:22:00.002-07:00

I am going crazy trying to find just the right planner for our new school year. Half of me wants to just order this one from Etsy:

But I have a hard time spending $20 on myself, when I can probably create something from a composition book and some markers..

I have not needed a paper calendar for years now, but I want a more flexible way to document the children's learning this year, and while I love the Homeschool Helper App, I want to be able to just jot things down then transfer them to the app to create reports for the children's charter school.

I am thinking some pictures cut from my old Doctor Who magazines, some washi tape and a bit of work and I can make a usable planner, from a $0.50 blank composition book from Target..

It's super difficult to find the perfect homeschool planner, a huge percentage of them are religious for one, I don't need a bible verse a day or a space for planning my bible readings.

So what planner do you use?

How Weird Al changed my whole day..

2014-08-04T17:29:00.001-07:00

I've had a rough day today. And I was in tears, when this song came on my Spotify, and changed my whole outlook on the day..

So I decided instead of a long post about how irked I am with my insurance, I'm going to make a list of the things I am thankful for today, August 4th, 2014...

1. I am thankful I have a clean, safe place to sleep every night.

2. I'm thankful my hubby makes the coffee around here, because I am terrible at it.

3. I'm thankful my kids are happy and healthy.

4. I'm thankful I can take a hot shower when ever I please.

5. I'm thankful my husband has a job, when so many others do not.

6. I'm thankful said job provides insurance.

7. I'm thankful that said insurance covers my daughter getting her eyes checked, and a pair of glasses. And that we have an awesome optometrist office that helped us pick glasses that are covered by the insurance.

8. I'm thankful that when things go awry, there are super helpful people out there who are still willing to go out of their way to help.

9. I'm thankful I have transportation, especially when I have to get to Clovis to take advantage of those helpful people's help.

10. I'm thankful it didn't rain while I was out and about sans windshield wipers.

11. I'm thankful that I have a kitchen full of things that can be combined into a meal for me and my children.

12. And I'm thankful for Weird Al, for reminding me that my problems are tiny and manageable, and if you can laugh, it's easier to stop crying.

So what are you thankful for today?

Gist Academy for Gifted Youngsters 2014-2015 Curriculum Choices

2014-07-26T20:04:00.001-07:00

We will probably be doing a Savvy Homeschool Moms show on our curriculum choices for this year, but I thought it would be a good way to get back into blogging. Keep in mind, as with everything homeschooling this list is subject to change!

TOGETHER:
History

History Odyssey Modern Times, we are still working on the level one curriculum, but Dani still enjoys it so I think we will continue this as something both children do together.

JACK-JACK, 3rd Grade (9 years old)
Language Arts

Moving Beyond the Page, ages 6-8, this also incorporates Social Studies and Science appropriate to the books we are currently reading!
All About Reading, Level 2, we are working on Level 1 now, and we are loving it! Jack has done so much better with this than any other language arts program we've tried, for learning the mechanics of reading.

Math

Math Mammoth, 4th Grade, we are continuing with Math Mammoth, Jack is a grade ahead in math, and he continues to do very well with the concepts as they are presented by MM.

Science

REAL Science Odyssey, Chemistry 1, we LOVE RSO! Dani did Chemistry a few years ago, and I am excited to revisit it with Jack.

DANI, 7th Grade (age 12)

Language Arts

Moving Beyond the Page, ages 10-12, I can't wait to read The Giver!

Math

This one is up in the air at the moment. Math Mammoth says they will have 7th grade available at the end of August, if so, we will continue with Math Mammoth.

Science

REAL Science Odyssey, Biology 2, Mom just got us an AWESOME microscope, so I finally feel prepared to tackle the microscope labs included in this curriculum!

And of course, they will continue to attend enrichment classes at Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center.

I suck as a blogger these days.

2014-07-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

I was coming to my blog to check out my old Menu Planning Monday posts, for some inspiration for our menu for this week, and I see that I haven't actually blogged since October of last year! My goodness, I remember when this blog was so important.. but now with Facebook, I don't need this blog as an outlet to keep friends and family updated on our lives anymore. But I do want to keep it going, I still get hits (bizarre!) and I still enjoy the long form version that Blogger offers vs Facebook. So, here I am, and I am gonna be here more often. But for now, I think I will make a post outlining the curriculum we are going to use for fall this year! I have a 3rd grader and a 7th grader this year! WOW!

Annual Halloween Post (#2)

2013-10-27T15:16:00.002-07:00

Every year at this time, I climb on my soapbox like Andy Rooney on a bender, and rant and rave about how people are ruining my favorite holiday, Halloween. My usual favorite topics are the ever amusing Chick Tracts that people have the audacity to give to my children with their fun sized bags of M&Ms (check out the new one for this year, First Bite!), cities that postpone or worse yet cancel their trick or treating because of religious pressures or Halloween falling on a Thursday, and ANYONE who holds a Trunk or Treat in a church parking lot to help save their spawn from the horrors of the Pagan holiday. So far the airwaves have been pretty quiet, so I will just repost my post from 2009, and keep an eye on this space for any future developments ;)

REPOSTED FROM 2009:

Free Range Kids has a great post about how Halloween is being ruined for scores of children FOR NO GOOD REASON!! Something I have discussed on this blog several times ;)

Read it here!

Here is a repost of my classic posting from 2008 ;)

It's that time of year again...
When families are faced with the choice, to celebrate or not celebrate Halloween. Personally, I am sure all of you know, I not only celebrate Halloween, I revel in it! I LOVE Halloween, and would prefer to get rid of Christmas and Thanksgiving all together ;)

But I swear, the more I read people's arguments on why to NOT celebrate Halloween, I am filled with a dread that I can't shake. Are people really so paranoid of a holiday that PartyWorks and Hershey's have so corrupted from it's original form, that it is barely recognizable?? I understand the not wanting to expose your children to excessive blood and gore, okay, I get that. But to not even let them dress up and trick or treat?? Or worse yet, to be a TOTAL hypocrite and let them go to a trunk or treat at the local church. If they are trunk or treating, you are celebrating, so get over yourselves.

Let me give you a few thoughts to ponder. First off, if you have EVER gotten your information about Halloween from a Chick Tract, then please, click away from my page now and go and pray or something, cause you are too stupid to continue reading.

First off, Halloween started out as a harvest holiday known as Samhain. Now contrary to popular Christian belief, there was NEVER a pagan god known as Samhain. Samhain is derived from the Celtic word for Summer's End, cause DUH! it happened at the end of summer, LOL! So, no pagan god Samhain, and therefore no human sacrifices to him. Also, pagan's don't believe in Satan, and they sure don't worship him, cause he's NON-EXISTENT in pagan culture. So, no human sacrifice to him either. In fact, there is NO human sacrifice in paganism today, AT ALL! And if you look at history, Christians have killed many, many more humans then any pagans, I'm just sayin...

Secondly, the whole idea of poisoned, tampered with, or booby trapped candy. This is a myth that has been blown so far out of proportion, it's absurd! TWO, yes TWO cases of children being killed by Halloween candy have been recorded in the news since 1964 (yep, that was 44 years ago people). The first was a boy in 1970 who ate his uncles stash of heroin, and then the family tried to cover it up by saying the drugs were in his Halloween candy. The second, in 1974, a boy ate a pixy stick that was laced with poison. Upon investigation it turned out the boys own father planted the candy in his son's bag, to collect on the boy's insurance money. NEVER has there been a recorded incident of a stranger handing out laced, tampered with or poison treats on Halloween to random neighborhood children, and contrary to the Chick tract above, it is not common practice to do this to harvest sacrifices for Satan!

So, while I can go on and on about the non-horrors of Halloween, I do want to make a point. These days, Halloween is another hallmark holiday, cleansed of all it's original roots, and make palatable to the masses. If you are a family who chooses to NOT celebrate Halloween because of it's pagan roots, then I recommend you think twice about Easter and Christmas too. Because the "historical" activities attributed to those holidays, namely the birth of Christ and his resurrection, remain unproven at best, and the actual dates of said activities and the celebrating of those holidays are NOT specifically condoned in the bible. Shockingly the dates and MOST of the activities now celebrated for those holidays are in fact PAGAN in origin ;) Christmas trees or Easter bunnies anyone??

I will accept reasonable discussion of this topic in my comments. BUT keep in mind, any argument you make to me that uses God or the Bible as it's basis, will be countered with the teachings of the ALL POWERFUL AND KNOWING SQUIRREL IN MY BACK YARD :) After of course, the appropriate offerings of nuts and seeds are made ;)

It's that Halloween time of year again..

2013-10-27T15:05:00.001-07:00

Time for me to step up on my soap box, with my annual Halloween Post!
There is something I want to remind people about. There are going to be lots of children out trick or treating. And honestly, I'd hate for one of them to see me beat you down.
Why, you might be wondering, would I be threatening the nice people who are just handing out candy to kids? Because every year there are a few ignorant f*cks who require my son to say "Trick or Treat" before making with the fun sized Snickers.
My son has a speech delay, and while most of the time most people mostly understand most of what he says, he has a really hard time speaking to strangers, or in stressful situations. Such as when some idiot is holding a bowl of candy just out of his reach and saying, "what do you say??" Umm, I say make with the candy before I smack your stupid face.
There are few things that actually get me as angry as this insistence on saying "magic words." Heck, I don't even make a fuss when people give my kids Chick Tracts (see previous Halloween post) or campaign literature with their cheap dum-dums. I calmly strip the offending paper off the candy and hand it back to them with a smirk. (Unless its a Halloween chick tract, I'm saving those for an art project). But insist my child says "magic words" to get candy and I will go mama bear on you. And yes, I suppose I could explain to all those people or better yet, make him wear a button, right? WRONG!
There is an unwritten contract on Halloween, you have lights on, kids knock, you give them candy. Period..
As Wil Wheaton says, "Don't be a dick" especially on Halloween..

It's Back to School time again!! (2013-2014 Curriculum)

2013-08-07T17:02:00.001-07:00

While the sounds of children screaming, "NO, NO SUMMER IS NOT OVER!!" gently waft through the air, homeschool parents fancy lightly turns to thoughts of curriculum. And here at the Gist Academy for Gifted Youngsters we are stocking up on school supplies and the mail carrier keeps bringing packages of shiny new books! With out further adieu, our curriculum for 2013-2014*

Jack-Jack, age 7, 2nd Grade-ish
Explode the Code ~ Continuing on from where we left off, supplemented with lots and lots of easy reader books Moving Beyond the Page ~ ages 5-7 Math Mammoth ~ Finishing up 2nd grade (light blue series) and moving on to 3rd grade as appropriate Real Science Odyssey ~ Life Science, finishing up what we missed last year, then moving on to Earth and Space He will also be continuing with the enrichment classes through our charter school, Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center, and Occupation and Speech Therapy weekly.
Danielle, age 11, 6th Grade-ish
Moving Beyond the Page ~ ages 9-11 Winning With Writing ~ We started this one over the summer to touch on some of the mechanics of writing that I felt she was missing. Math Mammoth ~ Finishing up 5th Grade, and moving on to 6th Grade as appropriate Real Science Odyssey ~ Biology 2 we are about half way through this, so we will finish this up. Elemental Science Earth Science & Astronomy ~ We will be moving to Elemental Science once we finish Biology 2 Plus the enrichment classes offered through our charter school, Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center
Both Children Together
History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 1 ~ Finishing this one up! History Odyssey Early Modern Level 1 ~ Then on to the next time period!
That's the plan for now, as usual, we'll see how things go and make adjustments as we go along

* (subject to change with out warning, warning: may contain traces of nuts, Do not use around pets, Be kind - Rewind)

Regeneration is hard..

2013-08-04T19:05:00.003-07:00

Whovians around the world right now are mostly likely doing one of three things:

Laying on the floor in a fetal position sobbing
Running in circles cheering
Frantically watching everything with Peter Capaldi in it on Netflix.

The reason for this is, while we have known that our current Doctor, Matt Smith was going to be leaving the show, we just found out today who is going to replace him, Peter Capaldi. If you have watched Doctor Who, you might recognize him as Caecilius in Fires of Pompeii, or on Torchwood: Children of Earth as John Frobisher.

NeoWhovians, as in those who have only been watching since the 2005 reboot, often have visceral reactions to a regeneration, grasping desperately to their chosen Doctor (often David Tennant) and refusing to see the good points of any one who DARES try to take on the roll. I myself have been guilty of this at points in my life, namely when ever any Doctor has regenerated. But I pride myself on my ability to get up off the floor, and remember that each actor brings something new to the role, but the Doctor at heart remains unchanged.

So while I may have initially reacted to the news in a less then joyous manner, I am reminded that Doctor Who is more then the man who plays the role. It's a huge fandom that I am proud to be a part of. It's a story about (if I may steal from Craig Ferguson) the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism.

Here are just a few actors who have played the Doctor, and there was a general uproar when they took control of the TARDIS, and yet, we all survived, and they were fantastic, and we were sad to see them go. I imagine the same thing will happen when Peter takes the controls, and that's all part of the Doctor Who experience :)

The 9th Doctor

The 10th Doctor

The 11th Doctor

And, announcing, the 12th Doctor!

Happy Blogaversary to me.

2013-06-19T11:44:00.001-07:00

9 years ago I started this little blog, and 9 years later I feel a twinge of guilt that I haven't worked harder to keep it up. With the advent of Facebook, I find I no longer need the blog to keep distant family and friends up to date on the younglings. I still enjoy the long form style of blogging for some things, but the day to day stuff has really shifted more to Facebook.

Still 9 years isn't something to sneeze at, and I am still here posting now and again.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh

2013-06-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome Blog Hoppers!! Thanks for joining us here at Beckie Tetrault (dot) Com. Please be sure to visit the other blogs listed on the blog hop below, and leave a comment so I know you were here!
Homeschooling even on the best days can be a tiring task. Sometimes what you really need is a good laugh! I went so far as to print out a few comics and attached them to my message board so that I can read them when ever I need a little pick me up!

Comics are a good reminder that things really do happen in other families! (Click the comic to visit Home Spun Juggling for even more comics you can relate to!)

I know exactly what this mom is going through! I often think that teaching my child, X, Y or Z is going to be the death of me!

Do you ever feel like every other homeschooling family is better then yours? Yeah, don't worry, we all have things we'd rather our kids not share with other homeschooling families. Personally, I'd rather they not share how often we eat Happy Meals.

This is us, this Monday, our last day of homeschool for 2012-2013! YAY!

Of course, lessons start again for us on Tuesday, as we work our way though our summer lessons :)

When you're getting maxed out, remember there are educational ways to get a few minute break!

As a last resort ;)

(Click on the above comic to visit The Pajama Diaries and read more!)

Be sure to visit the other great blogs in the Savvy Homeschool Moms Blog Hop!

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The Name of The Doctor

2013-05-12T14:43:00.001-07:00

On the next episode of Doctor Who, it has been strongly suggested that the Doctor and Clara will go to the Fields of Trenzalore, where Dorium Maldorvar has said the Doctor's name will be revealed. Now, if you don't know what any of that means then please feel free to stop reading now, as the rest of this post will be just as confusing.

Now, just Whovians left? You, you there... I think you outta move along now, you just spelled T.A.R.D.I.S. with all small letters.. Now, for this of you who are left, grab a Jammy Dodger and a cuppa and relax..

I don't know if I wanna know the Doctor's name!

I have been watching Doctor Who for. Very long time...

Not THAT long, how old do you think I am???

That's better... Tom Baker, he was the 4th Doctor in the series, and my first Doctor thanks to our local PBS station. And we didn't know his name.. And that was okay.

The closest I think we have gotten to his name is from his baby cot, where it was written in Gallifreyian.

And while I haven't been searching for it, I also haven't stumbled across any attempts to translate this. I'm sure it's out there somewhere, but I'm not sure i want to know.

What if its disappointing? What if I hate it, or it doesn't fit him? I don't want to look at him and think Ralph.. Of course, Time Lord names are not anything like ours, Rassilon, Ushas, and Morbius to name a few. But it seems to me it doesn't matter what his name is, it won't feel right. He is and should remain only, The Doctor... Or Mr. River Song, but only among special company *wink*

I predict no name could be given to this man that will make the fans happy, and I don't look forward to the Internet after it is revealed. (Hopefully those who were affected by the BBC shop shipping error keep their mouths closed until next Saturday) There will be those who love it, armed to the teeth in a fight to the death with those who hated it.

I have my fingers crossed, that the revealing of Clara's secret will cushion the blow of my inevitable disappointment... In learning, the Doctor's name...

I feel bad for neglecting my blog..

2013-04-30T22:27:00.002-07:00

I want to blog, I really, really do. But I find myself frittering away the hours on Tumblr instead of getting serious and writing on my blog. Because that's kinda how it seems, it seems like seriousness here, and it's all silliness there. Tumblr, IMHO, seems to be made up of two kinds of people, Hipsters (who shall not be mentioned on here again) and FanGirls/FanBoys, who all geek out on their favorite stuff just like I do. Not that we all share the same fandoms, mind you, but there something there for everyone, if you can get past the fact that it is very likely that most of your followers were born after your graduated from high school.. So I thought I would inject some of the silliness of Tumblr here to my blog. So here is a quick tutorial on fandoms, shippers and OTPs. A Fandom is something you are into, I am mostly into TV Show fandoms, for example:

I am heavily invested in the Supernatural Fandom.

Firefly

And of course, Doctor Who :)
There are many, many others, but these are my top three. Now that you know what fandom you are interested in, next you need to learn about shipping.
Shipping is shortened from relationship. As in, I wish those characters were in a relationship, or I see signs of a deeper relationship than the dialogue seems to show.
It's pretty open for people to ship pairs or combinations of characters from a show, or among more than one show. Some examples:

Batman and Catwoman

The Doctor and his latest companion.
Not all ships are hetrosexual, even if the characters appear to be so. Not all ships are human to human (such as The Doctor and Clara, Time Lord/Human relationship)

JohnLock from the BBC series Sherlock

There is even a small but vocal group that ship Dean and Baby (his Impala)
So you have your fandom, and you have started shipping couples left and right. What you need to do now is find your OTP!
Your OTP is your One True Pairing. This is the relationship that ship above all others. The one that you see in all the shows subtext and the one that you talk about enough to drive your non-fandom friends crazy.
I have two OTPs.

Dean and Castiel from Supernatural
and

Jayne and River from Firefly :)
And most ships have cutsie names, like Destiel (Dean + Castiel), Megstiel (Meg + Castiel), Samifer (Sam + Lucifer).. All too adorbs.
There is a quick lesson on fandom, shipping and OTPs ;) Hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to leave a comment and tell me about your fandoms and who you ship!

Me Time Sponsored by EdenFantasys

2013-03-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I as a mother find the hardest to do is to carve time out of our busy day just to have a few moments to myself. I take care of everyone's stuff, then when it's all done, I am too exhausted to do much other then surf the net, and watch bad TV. I have decided I am going to try to change that in 2013! Even if I can't escape, at least I can do a few things that are strictly to take care of me! So when EdenFantasys offered me the chance to try out some of their yummy beauty and body products, I jumped at the chance! Now they have a HUGE bath and body section on their website, http://www.edenfantasys.com/beauty-and-body/ so I was like a kid in a candy store dreaming of all the fun things I could try. When it was all said and done, I chose two items, one bubble bath, and one hand lotion. I have been looking for a new bubble bath, ever since our landlord put in a new hot water heater, one that can FINALLY fill up my bathtub, lol! I had been using the kids Mr. Bubble, so it was nice to move up to something a little more adult, shall we say..

Dona has created a simply scrumptious line of bath and body products in a variety of scents. I am partial to the Pomegranate myself, but it is available in Goji Berry, Mangosteen, Blue Lotus, Acai, and Camu Camu! The bath foam comes in a 9.5 oz bottle, and 2 capfuls gave me a nice layer of scented bubbles.

The scent was light and pleasing, not overpowering, and the bubbles lasted while I sipped my tea and read my book. When I got out of the tub, the scent lingered. This bubble bath did not dry out my skin, and left it pleasantly scented.

This bath foam is paraben free & cruelty free.

Ingredients:

Purified Water (Aqua), Sodium C 14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Lycium Barbarum (Goji) berry, Coffea Arabica (Coffee) Seed, Euterpe Oleracea (Açaí) Fruit, Morinda Citrifolia (Noni) Fruit, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Fruit, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf, Garcinia Mangostana (Mangosteen) Pericarp Extracts, Propanediol, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Guar Gum, Benzyl Alcohol, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazone, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance

I was also given a bottle of Everyday Hand Lotion, from EOS, the company that makes my favorite lip balm! I chose the berry scent, but it is also available in Cucumber Melon and Nurture scents.

This hand lotion comes is a sleek bottle, perfect for on the go. It has a pleasing scent, and keeps hands soft all day. It comes in a 1.5 fl oz. package, but only a tiny amount is needed to cover both hands sufficiently and I didn't feel the need for many applications over the course of the day.

Everyday Hand Lotion is paraben free and made with 97% natural ingredients.

Water (Eau), Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Cocoglycerides, Glyceryl Stearate, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Avena Sativa (Oat) Meal Extract, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Fragrance (Parfum), Carbomer, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, DMDM Hydantoin, Sodium Hydroxide.

Between these two products, this mama is feeling the pampering! I love having lovely things around, and they encourage me to take time out of my busy schedule to take care of me. Which is something that all moms can probably use!

This post was sponsored by EdenFantasys, who provided me with the products for review. The opinions contained are all mine :)

Why I won't be wearing green on St. Patrick's Day

2013-03-13T11:33:00.001-07:00

Though I am Irish, I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day. In fact, I go so far as to wear black on St. Patrick's.. I know most people don't give the day a second thought. It's a day to have fun, wear green, possibly pinch people and drink. They see the symbols, the shamrock and leprechauns as all good fun.

So, why am I so opposed to the celebrating of this innocent holiday? Well, because everything you probably know about what St. Patrick did is wrong..

When you ask the average person, why do we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, if they don't just shrug their shoulders, they will tell you St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland. That is the story that had been told over and over. There is a slight flaw with that story though... It's a complete lie.

Ireland, as anyone who has studied geography knows, is an island. And according to National Geographic there are no snakes today in Ireland (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090316-st-patricks-day-facts.html). But you know what? There never were! Snakes can't swim though the frigid waters around Ireland to migrate there. So, if there are no snakes in Ireland... What exactly did St. Patrick do that made the Catholic Church like him enough to make him a saint?

He was a missionary. And missionaries have only one purpose, oh they may say they are building houses or digging wells, but the only true purpose of a missionary is to convert people to their religion, in this case Christianity. And that's what St. Patrick was doing in Ireland.

And missionaries at that time didn't come in hold hands and sing songs. No, this was more the wrath of god time frame. They came in and did their best to lay waste to the predominate religion of the area before replacing it with Christianity. And that's exactly what St. Patrick was doing. He was going after the Druids. He destroyed their holy places. He converted the king, which then put into place a system for the government to persecute non-Christians.

So when it is said that St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland, what they are really saying is his drove the Druids (who ancient symbol for wisdom was the serpent) out of Ireland. The celebration of St. Patrick's Day is the celebration of a religious genocide.

Therefore, on St. Patrick's Day I will be wearing nothing green. I will drink no green beer, and I will have no leprechaun traps built at my house. I do not celebrate holidays that glorify men who did nothing more with their lives then persecute and kill others. I choose not to glorify St. Patrick as I choose not to glorify Columbus. I choose to teach my children the truth, not the white washed hallmark version that most people believe.

5 Things to Catch You Up

2013-01-01T18:57:00.003-08:00

Since we last spoke many things have happened! So here is a quick 5 bullet point list to catch you up!

I turned 41 on November 21st! So far so good for my 41st year of life. It wasn't nearly as difficult of a number to accept as 40 was!
Also on November 21st, I had surgery! A hysterectomy to be exact. After spending a year in intermittent pain, and a month solid in pain, the decision was made to take those bits out that were causing me trouble. The surgery was 100% a success, and here about 8 weeks later, I am pain FREE!
Jack-Jack started back to Speech Therapy! This is a major thing. Since he was two, I have been the one to hunt down all the resources (testing, therapy and such) that he needed. It's SO NICE to have a the school helping out this time. They arraigned all the testing, and set up the new speech therapist and everything.
Our holidays were good, well, I slept through Thanksgiving, but Christmas and New Years were great. Kids all happy. I got a lovely Evil School of Evil shirt, a gift card to Kohl's, and a new Alice in Wonderland tea set :)
Wow, I said 5 didn't I? I can't think of a 5th one... How about this? Things are going pretty well. My Podcast, Savvy Homeschool Moms, is rocking out, after a month off for recovery purposes. Gist Academy is trucking right along, with all the usual numbers of tantrums and joyous moments. Dean and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this past weekend.

I guess that's about it. Hopefully I can find some more time to work on this blog, I feel bad not writing on it more. Not because I am worried about my hoards of rabid fans (heh, hoards), but because it was the best way I could record what's going on in our lives, for us to look back at later. I already get nostalgic when I read back to my first posts. Imagine how it would be 10 years from now?