Morning around here

Wondering how I find time to blog? Yes, it's a busy life, but lucky for me, I'm a morning person -- and my beautiful children are mostly night owls. Dan usually gets to bed earlier than Andy, but still can be counted on to sleep until 8:30 or 9 many days.

Other than lovely early morning rain, here's what been going on while I blogged today..

Not sure why Andy spent the night on the couch, but a few moments ago he mumbled something about how hard it is to stay up all night.

Nothing like spending the morning snuggled in bed, with a devoted dog at your feet.

Garden Show

We spent last evening at the Botanic Gardens concert. More accurately, we spent our evening watching two shows by We spent last evening at the Botanic Gardens concert. More accurately, we spent our evening watching two shows by We spent last evening at the Botanic Gardens concert. More accurately, we spent our evening watching two shows by Clan Tynker. The boys love Clan Tynker. They're a semi-local (from Santa Fe) Old World style performing troupe. The costumes are great, the magic tricks are cute, the comedy sweet and silly and the juggling truly phenomenal.

I took lots of pictures.

Clan Tynker opening the show.

Elijah with his unicycle. He rode it, too, but this was more impressive....

They juggle.....

They spin Diablo.....

The boys love watching Marygold & Rebekah with the 'Diablo' spinner. Now they want their own.

There's comedy and audience prompts.....

Elijah walks on the tightrope -- very cool!

Mostly, tho, they do this.....

Completely enchanted children!

Andy especially loves the show!

Clan Tynker travels around the country, performing everywhere from Rennaisance Faires to libraries and private parties. When you check out their website, have a look at their calendar. If they come anywhere near you, get out to see them. They are great fun!

Down on the farm

Finally, pictures again! After what seemed like forever!

This past month, we've spent a lot of time at Ironwood Farm helping out and hanging out. I first saw Ironwood Farms a little over three years ago, when the straw bale home Chris & Jenny built was near completion. I'm amazed at how much has changed in that time!


These pictures were taken the past two weekends.

Andy & Jenny with the two little piggies. They are the sweetest little pigs, and follow Jenny around like little puppies. Their names are Aelita and Yumi (from Code Lyoko). The kids named them.

Will and Chris out in the corn field. It was very hot yesterday (95) and they were irrigating which only added to the monsoon humidity around here. The guys worked very hard, hoeing and preparing the corn for watering. I don't know what was happening in this shot, but I liked the way their stances contrast. I think by this time, there was already water on the field, which makes walking interesting.

Irrigation at Ironwood Farm, like virtually all farms and some homes along the Rio Grande is done by opening gates that let river water flow into ditches run thru and around the farms (an acequia) which floods the fields. Growing up in New Mexico I thought that was how all farmers watered, until I moved to places where rainfall exceeds 2-5" a year!


Andy is helping Will & Jenny move an A-frame chicken tractor (housing for the chickens). One of several built by Chris, they're moved daily, allowing both chickens and grass to have fresh food daily.

I included this shot to show Jenny over at the other end of the show.

I know I had some pictures of kids chasing chickens -- a regular activity at Ironwood Farm -- I printed them, but can't find them now on the computer.

Even with the heat and hard work, we all love our time at the farm. Dan's best friend Scotty lives there of course, and we all love the whole feel of the farm.

Andy's Birthday

No pix again today. Still looking for the right digital camera, in our price range.

We had a great party for Andy's 12th birthday -- two actually, since the kids' party was on Monday, his actual birthday, with what Andy called a 'family after-party' on Tuesday night when Gary got home. Pizza both times, of course!

Andy had planned to shop for his birthday gifts on ebay, and when asked what he wanted told his friends cash. By the end of his party he had quite a bit of cash, and decided to check out Target before hitting ebay. We came home from Target with two big lego building sets, a remote control helicopter, a Rubik's cube and huge Nerf crossbow.

He has already assembled the lego sets, successfully flown the helicopter several times and fired the crossbow countless times. He had bought another lego set last week with some birthday money Grandma & Grandpa sent, so he's been busy churning out the lego creations for the past few days.

The Rubik's cube has been the most interesting to watch since Monday. He bought it Monday morning, and promptly scrambled it. He tried to solve it thru the day -- taking a break for his party. By Tuesday morning, he was ready to find a solution online, but they all took too long for him. He chose instead to dismantle the cube, thinking he'd put it back together. Moments later I was asked to reassemble the cube. Okay, not a big job, only took a few minutes and it sat for a while in its pristine state. Later he scrambled it again, then announced he wanted to take the color stickers off. I thought he wanted to try to put them back on to make the cube 'solved' and pointed out that once peeled off, the stickers likely won't go back on easily. No problem, he didn't want them back on -- the cube will now be a controller for some fantastic, imagined lego creation (I've forgotten what was called). He likes the idea of being able to spin the cube levels without being concerned about the disordered color squares, and where else are you going to find a controller for his amazing lego creations?

I'm curious to find out what the next incarnation will be for the Rubik's Cube.

Prairie Dogs

No pictures -- we forgot the camera phones -- but we had a great time today watching and feeding the prairie dogs along the bike path in the foothills. There were lots of prairie dogs -- adults, nursing mamas, babies. They all came close enough to watch, some even ate from the kids' hands! We got there early afternoon, tho, and it was too hot (high around 90) for most of the little ones. Next time we go, we'll choose either early or late, when it's cool enough that we're not interrupting siesta time.

We learned about what the prairie dogs like to eat, and that they get water from the grasses they eat, but in a true drought, they will eat cactus to get water! We read about the relocation program done by Prairie Dog Pals, an outfit that also feeds the prairie dogs.

We arrived early, and Andy insisted we walk the half-mile to the pedestrian walkway over Tramway Rd. Did I mention it was hot today? At the other end of the walkway we found a cute little park with a playground. The boys wanted to stay right then, but our friends were meeting us at the prairie dog park, so we walked back, getting there just as our friends arrived.

Afterwards, we drove over to the little park, spent about half an hour then headed home. We drove by the house I grew up in here -- it's so different, and ugly, with a big upper level that looks like an airport observation building. And it's unfinished. I'll be the neighbors are just crazy about what's been done to the house by the current owners.

It's all so different in that neighborhood from when I was a kid. Tramway Road was 4-lane packed dirt until 1983, and there were no strip malls or pedestrian bridges. In the 70's that part of town really was the edge of creation for us. Now it's city all the way to the mountain. Still hard to wrap my head around.

How to build the impossible

This past Friday we spent the afternoon at Explora Museum. The kids had a good time, played at the water table, spent loads of time at the sounds exhibit, exploring different musical instruments, and time in the building blocks area. I only got one picture to share.

Actually, Andy took this picture with his cell phone and I managed to transfer it here.




He built this with Kapla blocks, having watched a museum volunteer build a similar one.

Andy started with two arches, each made from two vertical blocks with a horizontal span. Each additional layer of horizontal blocks is placed just slightly interior, until they almost meet in the middle. Add several layers of blocks to bridge the space, and the outer vertical blocks as columns to counter-balance the center stack. Once that's all in place, the outside columns can be carefully removed, leaving this impossible-looking archway.

The two blocks on top, leaning to center are Andy's design flair, and not structurally necessary.

Another great birthday party -- with pix!

Last Friday Dan's best friend, Scotty, turned 8. Scotty's Dad, Chris, turned 38 the same day. Happy Birthday guys!

We spent Sunday afternoon at another great party at Ironwood Farm to celebrate. The steam engine was fired up and used to lower the kids into the 'mine shaft' (about 8' deep) and raise them to the frame (about 12' up) in a miner's bucket. Very cool and lots of fun for the kids. Everyone had a turn, and Gary even helped out on the bell during Andy's turn.

That's Chris firing up the engine.

Dan in the miner's bucket. He shared the ride with Scotty.

From this angle, tho, all you can see of Scotty is the 'extra hand' below Dan's arm.

Andy being raised in the miner's bucket, with Gary in the background.

It took me forever to get these pix up, since the process from Andy's cell phone was hard for me to figure out. Now that I have that all figured out -- if I can remember how I did it -- I'll get more pix up. Still eager to replace the digital camera, tho.

more math

It's fast and easy for me to just dash them off here -- and since the stories here live in cyber-space, they won't get lost in the next computer crash.

We were in the car yesterday -- maybe we should call what we do car-schooling -- when Andy asked, 'what's 95 plus 65?' I answered 160, without thinking about it. I know Andy can do math, so I figured he was keeping other facts in his head and probably just checking his answer with me. He was playing Pokemon on his DS when he asked.

A few seconds later, Dan said "I know how to figure that out. 95 plus 5 is 100, then plus the 60 from 65, and you get 160." Very cool! He knew the easy method for that problem was to make two groups of ten-units and add them up. Andy then quizzed Dan for several math problems, a favorite activity for Andy, who seems convinced that Dan should know as much he does. Dan was very close in his answers. He's good at figuring out a system to do the math reliably. It also gave Andy a chance to show he could do the math, correcting Dan's answers.

It's great that they really enjoy playing with numbers and doing math. Really, tho, my favorite part in all this is watching their relationship -- they're good friends and companions despite their differences in age and personality.

And they laugh so much every day!

Pokemon and Honesty

Lately, it seems that video games are being seen as negative, addictive, bad for kids, filled with violence and totally without redeeming value. We have a different story around here to share.

The boys each have a Nintendo DS. We don't have a game system for the house, tho we hope to pick up a Nintendo Wi sometime soon. Andy usually owns only one game, because his allowance money goes to other things most months. He plays Pokemon, each new game he gets, all the way thru. We've had more games with gemstone names than I can remember. When he's finished with a game, he trades it up (with some cash required) at Gamestop. Dan currently has 4 games, and rotates them pretty regularly. My story today is about Andy, but I didn't want to leave Dan out.

For the record, we've not seen any signs of 'addiction.' Neither boy plays Nintendo to the exclusion of all things. Dan often forgets to bring his to the car, and seldom remembers to charge it. His DS has even gone missing for a day or two at a time, with no distress. They were both without Nintendo after the break-in, for more than 2 months, and life went on. Andy plays his more often, but will happily set it aside to play with Dan, take a phone call from his grandparents, help out around the house, or read a book.

Andy's current Pokemon game is Explorers of Darkness. In this game, players don't choose a pokemon to play. Instead, the game presents a personality profile quiz, then based on the answers given by the player, a pokemon is assigned. Andy has been frustrated by this process. He answers all the questions honestly, and it gives him a Tododile, which he does not want to play. He tried this several times -- the questions change in each taking of the quiz. Always a Tododile.

He explained this all to me. What he really wanted was to be able to choose his own Pokemon to play. I asked if he'd tried answering the questions in the opposite to his genuine feelings. He said that he had once answered all the questions with A, trying to change the outcome. The game gave him a Piplup. I said that was good, didn't he want to play a Piplup? Andy replied, "Yes, I like Piplup, but I can't play him -- I got him by lying. It just wouldn't be right." OH, now I see the problem! Andy is incapable of lying. Really. He's not only the most inept liar I've ever seen (even worse at lying than Gary!) but he will confess to things he has already gotten away with! Andy truly does not have a dishonest bone in his body. Which begs the question, "how did I get this kid?" but that's another topic.

I explained to Andy that it seemed to me that the Pokemon game was designed to profile his personality based on the quiz, and give him a Pokemon he'd enjoy. They were trying to be clever and helpful. They just guessed wrong with him -- his preferences don't fit their profile expectation. They've put him in the wrong box is all. I shared that he does have a few options -- he can answer honestly and accept that the pokemon he's given is the one he's MEANT to play (my friend Susan is of this opinion); he can answer oppositely as a strategy, just as a way to cope with the skewed system in place; he can have fun with the quiz, answering the questions in silly ways and see what comes up until he gets one he'd like to play.

He tried the quiz several more times this way. He'd answer the questions -- I don't know whether his answers were genuine, contrary or silly -- hit the right button, and wait with his eyes closed for me to read to him the answer. Lots of Tododiles, so I guess he wanted to be able to have both honesty and a cool Pokemon. Every so often, the answer would be Piplup, or Charmander, or something else. After a while, he stopped asking me to read the answers. (he can read, just wanted me to tell him in his suspense)

Somehow, he got a Pikachu and he's happy with that, so he's playing the game. At one point, I heard Dan ask "so the Pikachu will evolve into a Raichu?" Andy replied that he's not going to evolve this Pikachu, since he likes it better than a Raichu. I don't know enough about Pokemon to know how that will affect play, or if he can just set that Pikachu aside and pursue another Pokemon he's willing to evolve. I don't know how he got the Pikachu -- did he manipulate the quiz, or did the game finally reward his honesty?

It was interesting to me that, even in games, Andy's not comfortable with inauthenticity. He has to live the life that's most true for him. At the same time,

Maybe it was helpful to him to see that sometimes the system does required selective disclosure and a little finesse.

Or maybe the universe just rewarded him for his honesty!

a crazy busy week

Well, a crazy busy couple of days around here. On Tuesday, we had Scotty & Eliza over all afternoon while Jenny took a friend to her first chemo treatment, then Scotty overnighted. Yesterday, as soon as Jenny picked up Scotty, I headed out to pick up Emma for an afternoon out of the house. Dan & I hit three parks with Gwen, Megan, Zoe & Emma along for the fun. Dan was very gracious (and at times long-suffering) to spend his afternoon in girl-land, and we all had fun. He got a chance to improve his skateboard skills, and the girls each tried out the skateboard, too.

Andy, meanwhile, saw the latest Jackie Chan movie, Forbidden Kingdom, with Susan & Spencer. Gary spent his day at home waiting for Dennis to show up with a load of extra furniture they won't need as they move to Portland in just over a week.

Today's trip to Trader Joe's, Hobby Lobby, and the T-Mobile store (to replace Andy's phone that was stolen in January) seemed restful by comparison!

At one point we were talking about shopping for books at the thrift store. I mentioned that I'd rather buy them there where I can get 8 books for $4 than pay $8 for each book. In less than a minute, Dan said, "That's 50 cents a book -- I did the math!" In his head, no less. Division. At 7 years old. I've never sat down and shown him how to divide, tho we've talked about what division is and I've shared how I do math in my head as I go along. It's not likely he'd recognize the symbols or problems on paper, but he clearly gets the concept.

Tomorrow should be quieter, and I hope to get my herbs planted, buy and plant several more strawberry plants and some banana pepper plants. It's taken me forever to get my garden started this year! And our peach tree has little tiny, fuzzy, pea-sized peaches on it! Dan is so excited -- me, too! The rosebush out front is full of buds, the iris patch is filled with beautiful dark purple blooms, and I think it's safe to say the last freeze has passed.

Saturday we'll be hosting Ian for the day while Sue & Bruce finish up their last day of 'parent training' as part of the adoption process, in the hopes they can add to their family. Ian would very much like to have a brother/sister (or two or three, even).

I heard from an old friend I haven't talked to in ages -- Hi Sage & Todd and Paul!

Still no camera, so no pictures, tho we hope to pick up one when we get our extra tax rebate in June. I'm sure once I have a camera, I'll go crazy posting updated pix for everyone to see.

Will in college

I realize I usually write here about our school-free lives, but this year -- for the first time in almost 7 years -- we have a family member in school. Will is taking two courses at the local community college (CNM) this semester. For the time being, he's only attending part-time, since he lives on his own and has a full-time job.

He enrolled this semester part-time, with an eye towards earning a Liberal Arts Associates Degree, then transferring to UNM for a BS in Sociology. This semester, he's taking English 1101 and a remedial Math course, because he feels a need to renew his math skills from high school. Altho he passed the GED test 5 years ago, with high school level math scores, when he took the placement test this time around, his math scores were lower. When we sat down with an advisor, we were told that CNM has added more remedial math courses, because more students are coming in from high school with gaps in their math learning. For example, Will's algebra scores were fine, while his 'middle-school level math' scores were low, something that's apparently quite common in recent years at CNM.

He's been in the classes for a month now, and I'm really pleased to see the time and effort he's putting into his studies. Yesterday, after Math class he told me they'd been able to see their grades and check their class standing, and he's second in the class. He said this is only because he skipped over some of the first assignments, thinking that he only needed to do those he didn't yet know (because those early handouts were outside the syllabus) so he skipped those he felt confident with. Now he'll go back and do them, get the scores and boost his grade that much more. Today he got his first essay back, with a grade of 3.5 (B+ to A-). He's very jazzed about this, because he can see now what he instructor expects in the way of style and content, and so feels he'll do even better on future assignments.

He is very happy about his progress and his experience in college. When he told me about the math class standing, I commented that this was a new for him. He replied "yeah, this is a first." Today he called me just to share the news about his essay grade, and he was both pleased and confident about upcoming essays.

Last week, he mentioned to me that he'd re-done his math homework, because even tho all the work was right, he felt the paper was too messy and wanted it to be cleaner. I could have danced for joy right there! You see, this was confirmation of what I've always known was true of Will, what I was never able to convince anyone of when he was in public school. Will is not lazy or unmotivated -- he's a perfectionist! I always believed that the reason he 'lost' his homework assignments (I would see him finish them, so I knew he was doing the work) was because he didn't want to see low grades for less than perfectly right work.

It's just so wonderful to see him, after a 5 year break (he last took a couple of college classes in 2002 mostly because we pushed him to try college), doing so well in college.

long time, no post

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted. No camera, so no photos, which means I'm less likely to post.

What's been going on around here? A mix of good and not so good. Our house was broken into on Jan 9th, relieving us of the aforementioned camera, both Nintendos, the 'better' computer, our DVD player, both the boys' cellphones, one window, and for a time, our sense of safety in our own home. It's take me almost 4 weeks to gather the necessary paperwork (just got the police report today, and it's not even the complete updated version) to file our insurance claim. It leaves me wondering -- is the secret to just not own any valuable stuff, or to keep every receipt we ever get? For that, tho, we'd need the ever-bigger house George Carlin joked about, so I guess not.

Gary's new job is going well overall, but due to some warehouse delays for all of December and much of January -- and now snow delays two consecutive weeks in Utah --we're not really seeing any more money than when we had him home every night and all weekend, so it's easy to be frustrated at all this sacrifice, for what?

Dan and Will both had birthdays last month -- my firstborn is now 23, and my baby is 7! It doesn't seem possible that I've been a Mom for 23 years.

Will is taking two courses at the local community college. He's really enjoying them, and I'm pleased to see he's both doing and enjoying the work. I had no idea, tho, how expensive college textbooks are! Captive market and all that, I guess, but the books will cost almost as much as his tuition when it's all totaled up.

We closed out the year with the death of a much beloved Uncle in Gary's family, which has prompted some very deep -- and sweet - conversations about life and people. Andy said, "If I could time-travel, I'd go back to when Uncle Nobu was a kid -- I'll bet he was just as great a kid as he was an uncle! Oh, and I'd tell him to be sure to look out for Auntie Michie, because she's the perfect one for him!" He is such a sweet soul.

Winter this year has been just too cold, too early dark and too long already for us, and it's just barely February. The snow today was pretty. At least if we have to be cold, pretty snow falling is a nice pay off.

Oh well, off to play Monopoly with Dan -- have I mentioned how much I miss the Nintendos? I'm just not a big fan of board games, especially Monopoly. I have trouble settling down to a game that complicated.

And on update, the game of Monopoly was fun. Unlike most times, we actually played for longer than it takes to set up!

tagged twice

Okay, I've been tagged twice -- first by Katy with the 8 things game, then by Jenny for the Arhive posts. Jenny said she tagged me in the hopes it will get me to post something here. And if you can't count on your friends to drag you outside to play, even when that's the last thing you have any energy or desire to do, then what else are friends for?

I'll tackle the 8 things first, since it will be less work and right now I need some easy sense of accomplishment. Then again, I've already done one of these 'share something no one else knows' things here so there may not be anything readers of my blog don't know about me.

The "rules":* link to the person who tagged you* post the rules* name 8 things others don’t know about you* link to 8 other bloggers

1. Tho I love to have a real dinner for Gary when he's home, when left to my own devices to eat alone, I'm perfectly content to eat cold cereal every night and call it dinner.

2. I am practically unable to back the car out of anywhere more complicated than my own driveway. I hate to back the car any distance, and will circle the parking lot looking for the open double space I can drive thru to front out.

3. And I will go almost any distance to avoid turning left against traffic without a left turn arrow. I routinely drive a mile or more out of my way so I can turn right leaving Will's street, because traffic is so daunting for me there. Even tho it's a left turn from his place to drop him at work, I often turn right then make a u-turn at the next traffic light up the road.

4. I chose the high school I attended -- as a transfer student -- only because my friend's older brother (they lived next door) bet me $10 I'd never get into the other high school.

5. In order to get that high school transfer I signed up for JROTC my entire time in high school -- yes, me the anti-war gal you all know today.

6. My first love in high school was named John Edwards -- no, not THAT John Edwards, but I find it a strange coincidence, and thinking of him I wonder what it's like to share the name of someone well-known.

7. I have the same birthday as Hillary Clinton -- I could say she shares my birthday, but she's older so it was technically hers first. I'm not a big fan of HRC, so it's kinda strange.

8. I am very sensitive about my ears -- I can't stand to have water get in them, and I've yet to find an earphone or hands-free phone ear device I can use. The very idea of having anything inside my ears is just wrong. Really, only one thing on my long list of odd sensitivities. And I used to wonder how my kids turned out so sensitive! Yeah, that would be genetics.

I'm not going to tag 8 other people, tho if there's anyone left on the planet who hasn't played this tag yet, and you'd like to play, consider yourself tagged by me.

Archive Meme Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you've written. ... but there is a catch: Link 1 must be about family. Link 2 must be about friends. Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are... what you're all about. Link 4 must be about something you love. Link 5 can be anything you choose. I think this is a great way to circulate some of the great older posts everyone had written, return to a few great places in our memories and also learn a little something about ourselves and each other that we may not know. Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be *newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better....and don't forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!


Favorite family post: Two Such Happy Boys


Friends post : New Year's Day With The Tribe

about me post: this was the hardest, finding a post that's just about me, who I am... okay, so I'll admit I wasn't able to find a post specifically about me. Just last week, I dismantled my 'sacred' blog, tho I did save to my hard drive the posts there with musings I think I'd like to revisit someday. I've been thru those, tho, and still came up empty. Not sure if this means I should blog more about me -- that feels just a little too private, too invasive in recent days, which have been kinda rough and filled with too much transition, too much winter, and too little sunshine. I'll deviate from the game here, giving myself permission to be alone with myself for awhile.

something I love: would of course have to be about Gary, whom I love more than I can say News Musings Gratitude

anything at all: Stream of Consciousness

So, there it is -- two games of tag on my terms.

Off to make snickerdoodles from Diana's yummy-looking recipe, which I found here.

unconventional paths to a career

In thinking about the choices we've made about education in our family, I had a realization -- it's not just the kids who enjoy an unconventional path to learning.

Gary's current job is a perfect illustration of how learning happens without formal instruction or a curriculum. Almost 10 years ago, we decided on a huge life change. It's become so much bigger than we could have imagined when it all started. I had just decided to quit my full-time job to be home with Andy. On my 35th birthday. From there things quickly evolved from me working at home to a decision to sell our home in Northern Virginia and move to New Mexico.

We'd expected that Gary would find a job in the gov't contractor field, as he'd done for the previous 18 years. When we arrived, tho, he wasn't able to find work. After several discouraging weeks looking for positions, he saw an add for delivery drivers, using your own pick-up or van. We had a minivan, and he enjoys driving, so he took that job. He found he loved it --just the right balance of time alone and time with customers, beautiful views while driving around, time outdoors in the fresh air, no office politics, no work to bring home, and a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day when the van was empty. He was very happy, but wanted to make more money.

That first job gave way to other delivery gigs, with a couple of nationwide shippers. Really, tho, the in and out of home deliveries wasn't really what he wanted. As time went on, he wanted to do more driving and less delivering. And he wanted more money, which meant getting his commercial license. He continuously looked for new job opportunities, finally finding one with a small, local company, delivering freight. The owner agreed to help Gary earn his first commercial license, a CDL-B. Within a couple of months, Gary had his B license. That company closed up shop and Gary was laid off. He signed on with an office products company, where he was able to gain more experience with 24' trucks that require a CDL-B license.

The real money, tho, requires a CDL-A license, to drive tractor-trailers. The usual route to a CDL-A license is to attend truck driving school. The company he worked for didn't need class A drivers, so they weren't in a position to help him get the training he needed. Truck driving school costs about $4,000 and takes 4 wks of time without pay. We couldn't afford that, so he'd need to get his A license without formal training.

Last October, that company announced they were closing the local warehouse and letting everyone go. This time, tho, he was already interviewing with a freight company that would help him get his CDL-A license.

When the warehouse closed, Gary took the new job immediately. Within 3 months, he had his CDL-A license. Continuing the job search, he found that virtually all the good driving jobs required over the road driving time, anywhere from 6 mos to 3 years. While there are companies that hire inexperienced CDL-A drivers, they usually keep their drivers away from home for weeks at a time, which isn't our first choice for a lifestyle.

Last month, he was offered a job with a national carrier, home at least once a week -- actually, he's home twice a week, tho with only one true 'day' off. He's finally found the over the road opportunity he needs for experience to qualify for better jobs that will bring him home more often. He's finally making the 'more money' he's wanted for the past several years -- a take-home increase of about 40%.

While he misses being home every night and all weekend, he really enjoys this driving job. It's still not entirely driving, but much better than any other job he's had. We all know this is temporary -- just another part of the path to the next thing.

He's accomplished all this without any formal training -- and he was in his 40's when he got that first commercial license, now he's 52. What an illustration for our boys that you can learn anything you want, when you're open to finding the path that fits your chosen life. And that you don't have to spend your entire adult life in a job that's wrong for you. Not to mention that it's never too late to redesign your life to fit your dreams!

How cool is it that our kids get to learn from Dad how to find your own joy in life, on your own agenda?

UPDATE: Now it's September, 2010 and I was reminded of this post today, in a conversation with another unschooling Mom. Now Gary has a job driving a truck on a local route, working for a company whose offices are exactly one mile from our home. Four years ago, when we bought this house, Gary said "wouldn't it be cool if I could get a job there?" Last June, that company offered him a job. Now he has a job he enjoys more than any other he's ever had, and it's right in our neighborhood, so he's home every night -- weekends and holidays, too!

Andy CAN read cursive!

Last month, after the grandparents visited, my mother in law told us "Andy wishes he could read cursive." hmmm, news to me! I asked Andy and he related that during a neighborhood walk with Grandma, they came across a handwritten sign, in cursive, and she asked him if he could read what it said. He had replied, "too bad I don't read cursive." She had taken that to mean he really wanted to be able to. Okay, that makes much more sense, knowing Andy.

"Do you want to learn to read or write cursive?"

"No, I don't really need to -- I don't see it very often."

"If you decide you'd like help, let me know -- and you know Dad or I will always be happy to read cursive for you, if you can't."

I included his answer in an email to my mother inlaw, with an assurance that when Andy is ready to read cursive, we will of course help him.

A couple of days ago, I received a birthday card in the mail from Will's fiance, Elena. It was a funny one and since I was driving when the boys found it in the car, Andy offered to read it to Dan. He read only the pre-printed portion and they laughed at the joke. Later in the day, I stopped for gas. When I came back to the car, Andy held up the card and said "Mom, what's this word -- I can't read it."

"It's in cursive, sweetie -- what word do you need help with?"

"This one here" and he point to a word that was about the eighth in a sentence of a dozen or so words.

I told him what the word was, and he read the rest of the sentence. I said, "cool -- you can read cursive!"

"Oh, that's right. It's in cursive and I read it -- it was easy! Elena's cursive is easier to read than that sign I saw with Grandma. I can read cursive!"

Andy was right -- Elena's cursive is easier to read than most. She writes in big, round letters. Who knows how clear the sign was?

Happy Halloween!

We had a fabulous time tonight at the Fuller's house for Halloween. Pizza, pumpkin lager, friends, dry ice, great costumes, even some Guitar Hero!

Chris with the kids and a bowl of dry ice -- very cool stuff!

Most of the crew (minus Dan) before heading out to trick or treat

The all important candy trade afterwards!

Andy playing Guitar Hero

I watched Andy playing Guitar Hero tonight and he had such fun I just had to video a few seconds. It's interesting to note that when Dan plays GH, the ONLY things that moves are his fingers. Literally, he stands there like Keith Richards. Andy, tho is moving all over the place -- he plays that guitar with everything he's got!

And yes!!! this time the video worked -- I can now put videos on my blog and make them work!!!

All Hallows Party

On Monday, the tribe had our All Hallows Party at the park. Some dressed for the occasion, some didn't.

Susan brought a pumpkin pinata -- here's Emma talking her turn
After the sack race

There was way more going on that I didn't get pictures of -- everyone set up a *house* gave away candy, we had face painting, hair painting. Dennis even let Jenny paint a Homer-esque zigzag on the back of his head!

We had a new family join us too! Something like 30 people at one time -- our tribe is growing!

Aquarium/Botanic Gardens

A couple of weekends ago, we spent a wonderful day at he aquarium/botanic gardens with friends. yeah, I've been lax about getting pix into the computer, but here they are.

Megan, Emma, Dan & Andy watching the small mantas (or are they skates?)

The kids spent what seemed like hours sliding down and running back up to do it again!

By the time they were done everyone was ready for some lunch.

Andy challenged Kevin to arm wrestle. Then everyone joined in!

Dan does math

About half an hour ago, Dan came to me with a handful of nickels, and told me he'd just counted his nickels and got all the way to 400!

Wow! 400? Can you show me how you counted that?

He spread his nickels out on the desk, and started counting them one by one into his hand.... 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, all the way up to 100. Then he paused a moment, and looked at me. He asked, "what comes next?"

One hundred and five -- a dollar five when you're counting money.

Okay. One dollar five, one dollar ten, one dollar fifteen, all the way up to one dollar forty. He just beamed, and I wondered when Dan learned to count by 5's.

Minutes later, he came running with two quarters. "Will gave me 50 cents to put with my other money! How much do I have now?"

Let's see - you have $1.40, add 25 cents you have a dollar sixty-five, twenty-five more makes a dollar ninety. If you go get that dime off the counter in front of the microwave, how much will you have then?

Immediate reply. "Two dollars!" and off he ran.

I asked Will just a moment ago if he'd shown Dan how to count his nickels. He answered, "no, I gave him two quarters I didn't need, but I didn't help him count anything."

Dan knows how to count by fives, and that a dollar ninety plus one dime is two dollars!

Pictures Again!

I don't know how it happened, but my camera is resurrected. Last month, the camera stopped, and I swapped to a new battery (at least, I thought it was new) but the camera was still dead. I put the camera, along with two (presumably new) batteries, in the glove box and began camping on ebay for a new camera. Didn't win any bids in my price range, so I've been without pictures for about a month. Thursday, on a whim, I put in a new battery and the camera came to life! I don't know whether it was that I had grabbed a dead battery or that a new battery was defective, but we have pictures again.

These were taken before the camera battery died, on a tribe park day.

Trying to help Sorscha down from the tree

Andy showing off his strength with Judson on his shoulders -- Judson is 5" taller than Andy, tho somewhat lighter.
Andy watching Sorscha & Spencer in the tree -- don't know where he found the Readers Digest