Haven't been around much lately....can't say what it is....time, nothing to say (wait. that can't be it...) busy? Or tired of of blogging? I keep thinking I'll take this down and just keep in touch via FB or flickr, but I can't quite let go of the blog...not....quite...hanging...on....

At any rate, I wanted to pop in for all my readers reader and just say that my wonderful online friend (never met the girl, but she is lovely) has started a quarterly magazine for home/un schooling families. Please check out her blog and offer a submission!

Homeschooling Voices

Ms. D and I look forward to being regular contributors! So maybe that is my current niche? Who knows, it all remains to be seen.....

School (Sky)

Today my teacher's wearing an 80's dress,
To remind all of us she used to be an actress.

I'm surrounded by kids saying:
"You're lower than us!"

Have they no respect?
So I got an F plus?!

I can't take it! Oh the drama!
When my teacher wears peacock feathers,
It makes her look like Cleopatra!

This is injustice!
Two times today,
I've been in the principals office.

This is outrage!
I want to go home.
I want to go back,
Where I can roam.

Back to my calmness zone,
Where I don't have to worry,
About using the wrong tone.

Q: So this is another poem spoken through one of the three sisters?

A: Yes, this is Sky. Sky is very uptight and sensitive. She is good at many things, such as math, history and other types of homework.

Q: You seem to really catch the feeling of school! How can you know this when you've only been to public school for kindergarten!

A: I spent a lot of time with kids who have been in school. Obviously, they don't like it all that much, when I was in kindergarten I remember having a rough time.

Q: Can you explain the last line....about using the wrong tone?

A:Where she doesn't have to worry about being so careful all the time.

Q: That teacher...she's nothing like your teacher...like your teacher doesn't wear 80's dresses to class does she? DOES SHE????

A: (laughs) No, but I wanted a feel of a different kind of teacher. A teacher that is funky and fun, but the kids don't like her. Heck, I don't even like her.

Q: But the teacher seems to like herself!

A: Yes!

Q: She's confidant! She doesn't care what the kids think!

A: Right.

Q: Kind of like your teacher.

A: YES!!!

It always comes back to socialization. When all the questions about homeschooling have been answered and taken care of the socialization question looms. And others deal with that question so much better than I.

Here is a great article by Jennifer Klever dealing with socialization and homeschoolers......again.

Say Something! (Jenabell)

Hey! There's that new boy in school.
Should I say something?
Should I walk by?
Or should I sit here and drool?

Man, he is cute! I just can't bare it!
I would normally say something,
But I talk like a parrot.

I have a crush
(as you can see)
And I"m...oh my gosh!
He just looked at me!

Beads of sweat roll down my face.
I gotta get out of this place!
I run to the door,
But begging for more
I want to stay....

Say something!
I can't.
How could I?
I can't just say "Hi!"
as if it were nothing.

Is my hair up right?
Am I my normal height?
My gosh!
He's coming this way!
What a long day!

I feel almost two inches tall!
OH how I yearn!
Wait, he's taking a turn.
He wasn't looking at me at all.

Q: Who his Jenabelle?

A: There are three sisters named Jaclinn, Sky, and Jenabell and they all write poems about each other.

Q: So you speak through these sisters' voices?

A: Yes.

Q: I really felt the panic Jenabell was going through. How did you come to write this?

A: I have had many crushes on boys. One night I was thinking about them and now nervous I was around them. And this poem came to mind. I used Jenabel to tell the story, that is sort of mine.

Q: You don't go to school, but you talk about school.

A: In my mind these people go to school. It's more interesting in my mind. It gives me ideas.

Q: I'm failing you and you really want to be in public school, don't you?!

A: No. Really. You are the most wonderful homeschooling mother ever in the whole world.

Q: Tell me about the ending.

A: She thinks she is being watched by this guy and he's watching her and she's so worried how she looks and she feels stupid, but he wasn't looking or walking towards her at all.

Q: Is she relieved or disappointed?

A: Both.

Q: You're not going to start actually dating until you are 37, right?

A: Are we done?

A weekend visiting family and attending a wedding out of state.

This is David and his sisters family. Two of four kids present. Brett is from NYC. Check out his website!

Sometimes you just can't get that first photo to turn out...someone always goofs it up, trying to give bunny ears.

...and after the fifth try, it goes right.

And the wedding. My girlfriend- since- birth's second wedding. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Tears were shed.

These are her sisters minus one. They introduced me to David way back in the olden days.

Our family...

Ms. D with the brides daughter....her good friend...whom she will miss terribly. Yes, Ms. D is a tall drink of water. My Amazon Girl.

It was a good weekend....

Since my parents last visit from WI, we've been journeying through lots of old pictures and memorabilia. I'm a big packrat saver of stuff.  David has a TON of notebooks from art school, and notebooks from songs he wrote...old letters sent, some not sent, and received. I kept notebooks since around age 8 or so...poetry I liked, goals, lists, dreams. I sift through all this will a little lump in my throat. That sentimental lump. And by the end of the day I'm a little emotional.

David and I have been comparing notes on old photos, trying to make a time line of sorts. For example, when I was 11 or so making lists of what I wanted my life to be, he was graduating and moving out. When he was busy going to India with the love of his life, I was graduating. While he was trying to figure out what to do with his life...well, so was I.

What was...what might have been...what wasn't....for example, in the later category stands our wedding.

What wasn't was what I thought was "going to be" when I was 11.  I don't know if you can read this little notebook, but for my wedding I was going to have Light Blue dresses for the bridesmaids, Brown for the Groom and light blue for the Groomsmen. For flowers I wanted lily of the valley (oh, yeah, cause those keep so well) I also had a list of Bridesmaids that I wanted, which mostly included cousins and friends since childhood.  On the next page were the songs I wanted at my wedding. Why I thought "Love on the Rocks" by Neil Diamond would be appropriate is beyond me. That goes to show what I knew at age 11. And Guilty with Barbara Streisand/Barry Gibb? Hello? What message did I want sent  at my wedding? And "You Don't Bring Me Flowers?" How depressing.

And here is what was..

Phew....no brown for the groom. (With all due respect to my brother wife who pulled off a brown grooms suit in a lovely way...)

No light blue for the bridesmaids....no lily of the valley...

And, our song was "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid. And before you laugh, remember, at least it wasn't "Guilty".

However, a couple years BEFORE our wedding, it  seems my future brother-in-law and his wife would get my 11 year old self's note on weddings:

Your welcome, Lori, glad I could help!

Okay, let me start by saying I never win anything. You think that is an exaggeration, I"m sure, but it's actually true. Even my friends know it. "Maria," they say, "you never win anything." So there it is.

But this time I won. And I am sadly, compelled to share HOW I won. And it's not pretty. So I'm just warning you.

First of all, one of my favorite "I-really-need-to-laugh-irreverently" blogs has been The Country Doctors Wife...and then she went and changed her name to My Sisters Farmhouse because she has this skewered conflicted relationship with her sister. Or something like that. I think. Because I don't have a sister, but I've watched these types of things closely, out of jealousy. But that has nothing to do with what I won.

So, Rechelle at My Sisters Farmhouse had this contest. And honestly I thought "I am NOT creative today. I couldn't come up with a single creative thing to send. I hate my hair, I've gained weight, I have no collections and the hormonal meanderings of my 11 year old are going to make  me give up homeschooling!" That's right. Public school. Summer school. Can't come soon enough.

And then my husband said "Honey, I don't think it's just Ms. D....." EXCUSE ME???? Like, maybe I was part of the problem. Oh. Really?  And then he took this picture to prove it. The photo I titled "A Horror of Hormones" and sent in to Rechelle on the spur of the moment. The photo and caption that won me a Brown Betty. But the thing is I revealed myself in a way I never would not my own blog. But now that I won, I'm going to have to show it to you. And again, if you have young children in the room you may want to have them look away. If you've just ate....you may want to just walk away.

Just so you don't think we totally are at odd with each other...here is a picture from almost a year ago. When we appreciated each other.

And here is the photo I titled "A Girl of Gray Hairs" I think Ms. D and I have  to take respondibility for at least some of those gray hairs and part of the balding. But definately the hand over the eyes. It looks a bit like despair.

Meanwhile, check out some of the other entry's at My Sisters Farmhouse, because they are hysterical. There were about 3 I completely loved and wanted to win. In fact, I lost a lot of money on the bets I placed as to who would win. Because you know, I NEVER win anything!

These photos were taken a couple weeks ago when it was actually SPRING.

Because now it's not.

No, the last two weeks have actually been winter again. The weather just hasn't gotten hip to the fact it's actually MAY. And almost the  middle of MAY.

The weather laughingly says tomorrow is supposed to up to 65 and we're all "Oh. Really? Prove it."

Meanwhile, we are just looking at these photos remembering what spring is supposed to look like.

I am cutting and pasting the words that spoke to me the most. This from someone who has taught me a lot about what unschooling looks like. Thanks, K. If you'd like to read the full post, click HERE.

And here is something else by the same author. Via a wee little homeschool forum.  David and I have talked about it over and over again.

I just wanted to take a moment and say " back at'cha" to some of my commenters. I have lovely commenters. Faithful commenters, funny commenters and thought provoking commenters. I love you. But, I'm really and truly bad about commenting back. I really need to improve. But here are some of my replies:

To Rae and Tara: Come on over/up any time!!

Barbara, Sara and Karena: You have done well to heed my lesson concerning blip.fm. Remain strong! Resist! And Brenda, perhaps you and I need some sort of Blippers/Twitters/Pandora-ers Anonymous?

Lorna commented on our blue,blue, blue,sky...and ya, it was INTENSE that day.  Just like Wizard of Oz. We live in a fairytale!

And did you get shivers when listening/viewing this on youtube? Bossy did. But then bossy gets shivers over silly things like John Cusack, Barak O'Bama, Kevin Bacon and Steel Cut Oats.

And frankly Blanchette is KILLING me (in a good laughter kind of way) in that she is commenting in verse. How perfectly divine! And yes, Blanchette, you were the one to whom I told "I don't 'get' Millay"  in that way one does when one doesn't know what one is TALKING ABOUT! And that poem? The Cairn? Vincent is SO advocating homeschool there,  don't you think?

One of the best comments was that I looked slightly Lady Diana-ish back in the day. Oh, I love you Urban Mom. That I looked anything but completely sad back in the day,makes me feel good. For a minute. Then I remember the Shaker sweater phase.

Thanks to all who shared their ideas for a name for Ms. D's poem! The winner has been chosen by Ms D who said "Musings of a Tower Flower" by Champagne Fluffyduck (who does not give her website address, for shame!)

Kim and Candy aren't sure what to make of my April 10th Ode, Millay's Spring. It may help to know that my friend and cousin died on that date, and like Millay, she was brutally honest about the facts of death. She, like Millay,was wry, cynical and witty. I throw an Ode her way every April 10th.

And thanks to Heather, Dawn and Laura for their appreciation of Ms. D's definition of school!

And here are a few blogs I've discovered recently, if you get a chance check them out!

The Lazy Organizer (oh, tell it, sister!)

Farm School (check out their star party information!)

An Unschooling Life (okay I haven't just discovered this, but I LOVE LOVE it.)

Buying a "real" purse is fraught. I mean, I have plenty of purses. Gratuitous purses in various colors, handle lengths and sizes lay about my room. Funky purses, totes, clutches, serious bags that mean business. But a "REAL" purse? Something that does it all?  A purse for all seasons?? Try finding a needle in a haystack. I mean,really. Try it. That's how hard it is to find the perfect purse.

Here is what I want. I want a purse that is perfect for summer. Small, but not too  small. I want to be able to pull it across my body for those hands free times when one is say, at a gallery or summer fair. But I don't want it to HURT my shoulder. Adjustable straps. Yet, I want it to be able to hold my sunglasses, checkbook, library cards and sunblock. Oh,and my chunky cell phone. I also want this to be a good purse for winter. Something to stash my gloves in. But I want it to be nice looking and not say "SUMMER!"  yet not say "WINTER. Blah."  I also want to be able to take my purse out in "smart" company. Say, if I were dressed up a bit, I don't want to be embarrassed to be seen with it. Meanwhile, I don't want a front flap, I hate dealing with those. I want lots of inside compartments.

Oh, and I want this purse to be perfect if I decide to flit off to a foreign country at the last minute. So it has to be able to hold LOTS of anti bacterial wipes and a passport. I want it to be able to hold a small, slim, paperback if need be. Or some letterboxing gear. Or my Playbill in case I happen to go to a Broadway show. Maybe it should be able to hold a small change of clothes,too, in case I decide to take a small road trip. It should also be able to hold an extra muffin from my favorite...wait. I think I ventured into fantasy land there....but really, am I asking to much?

I had a few purse/bags that seemed to do the trick, but nothing that really lit my fire. Enter: Baggallini. 

I love the wonderful colors. The cool, clean, washable, wipe-able yet elegant fabric. I love the sheer amount of options. So many options that it took me a year to decide. Well, options and price were a consideration. Spending more than 20.00 on a purse puts me into cardiac arrest. But a purse that would do all of the above?? I'd pay ANYTHING. So I hemmed and I hawed. Should I get the About Town? Hmm. That looks nice, but a little too big. Oh, how about the Downtown Bag? It has that whole backpack concept going. No, too casual. How about the Baby Hampton. No, handles too short,although it's a beauty. Oh, the City Bag! Now we're talking. I love the Convertible Bag, but it's a bit too small. But I do need a new wallet...hmmm...No, focus. I just need to focus. It finally came down to THIS and THIS.

I choose the later. Here it is. Up close and personal. I give you: Eco Large Wallet.

Cell phone pocket with magnetic closure. Hmmm. I love you. Small front pocket for keys/change and yes, passport. I'm positive it would fit a passport. (If I had one, I'd let you know for sure.) You are so fine, Eco Large Wallet.....

Here is the back view. Sort of. I can place the straps this way or angle them so the back is carried differently and blah, blah, blah...I'm just sayin' that Eco Large Wallet looks very good from behind.

Inside view. I couldn't figure out why the pen holder was so HUGE. And then I looked online again. It's actually a LIPSTICK holder. Oh. Because since about the exact age of my daughter I have not been wearing lipstick. But check out all those pockets! Two zippered pockets, all those credit library card pockets! My checkbook fits!  My gloves will fit. Yet still small enough to carry across the shoulder. In case I need to ride an elephant in India. It could happen. Eco Large Wallet, you are perfect for me! And for the me I could be!

Expandable. Did I say expandable? Did I say two way zipper? Did I say adjustable? The words that sing to a woman of a certain age!

You must be wondering about this company (who, hello? should really send me a free bag for all this publicity I am giving them!).  Here is a blurb about them. Stolen from their website:

baggallini Inc. was founded in 1995 by Dixie Powers and Ann Simmons when the two veteran flight attendants recognized a need for more fashionable and functional tote bags, handbags and travel accessories. Since their modest start, baggallini has grown to be recognized as a worldwide leader in creating products that are incredibly organized and look as good as they perform. We are well known for our distinctive color pallets, fun fabrics and lightweight durability. Especially popular are our everyday use totes bags, wallet bags, messenger bags and cosmetic/jewelry organizer bags. baggallini was founded on the belief that baggs can be functional and fun to carry, and to this day we continue to build bags that deliver on this promise.

baggallini’s primary U.S, distribution is through specialty stores, catalogs and online “E”tailers. baggallini can also be found in better specialty stores in parts of Europe, Canada, the Carribbean, South America and Africa. Our global headquarters and distribution facilities are located in Milwaukie, Oregon USA. We are a wholesale only manufacturer.

Here is me on my first date out with eco large wallet baggallini.(everything is lower case on their website so I thought I should do it too. must be cool.) Look how happy we are together!!!

However, there is a wee problem on the horizon. I didn't want to tell eco large wallet.

The thing is...eco large wallet is everything to me. Truly. I'm so happy I found him. But.....but....Shanghai Satchel is so hip. And well. Monaco Clutch Large is sleek. And while eco large wallet can go out on the town with me, I'm not so sure he could really and truly make polite conversation. Sadly, I can't seem to buy these online. Which means eco large wallet and I have a lot of stores in my locale to look through. So, see, there are some happy days ahead for us. It's not like I'm ignoring him or anything.....