tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45985041580464517382024-02-20T14:11:34.438-05:00sugar boot and weaselour unschooling adventureanna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.comBlogger785125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-26928304757217524542013-12-18T10:11:00.000-05:002013-12-18T10:11:30.070-05:00T.A.R.D.I.S. Lace Hat Pattern<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUExW05yUAaSI4wHf5OiNrAmJ3SyR3yhNZO6vk8npUjzQmXtBZny-DIRZJ96zRMiruyWkSZAX4rFH0wzXlwRQYvf5MpbsmxJJeK7L0EImG1xgZahCMH_scFveJoZETEMP3NPvmMtg7i90/s1600/IMG_2597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUExW05yUAaSI4wHf5OiNrAmJ3SyR3yhNZO6vk8npUjzQmXtBZny-DIRZJ96zRMiruyWkSZAX4rFH0wzXlwRQYvf5MpbsmxJJeK7L0EImG1xgZahCMH_scFveJoZETEMP3NPvmMtg7i90/s320/IMG_2597.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="color: black;">Bastian is getting a T.A.R.D.I.S. hat for Christmas, though he doesn't know it yet. I adopted this pattern from two other patterns and thought I'd share. <a href="http://ajarofmarmalade.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-29.html">Austen at The Marmalade Jar made a hat with a single T.A.R.D.I.S.</a> on it for an adult. My variation uses her premise plus the <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss12/images/tardisCHT.jpg">Bigger on the Inside chart</a> but adopts it for a child and adds five more T.A.R.D.I.S.es. </span><br /><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]"></span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[1]" /><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[2]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]">Pattern: </span></span></span></div>
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<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][2]"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]">I used <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/Comfy+Worsted+Yarn_YD5420171.html">Knitpicks Comfy Worsted in Celestial</a>. </span></span></span></span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[4]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[5]">Using size US 4 (3.5 mm) 16" round needle, </span></span></span></div>
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<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[5]">CO 90 sts. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[6]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[7]">k1p1 til measures 1.5" </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[8]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[9]">Purl (I knit) 3 rows</span></span></span></div>
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<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[9]"> </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[10]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[11]">Begin T.A.R.D.I.S. pattern (from <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss12/images/tardisCHT.jpg">Bigger on the Inside chart </a></span><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[13]"></span><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[15]">, work upside down):</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[16]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[17]">Round 1: * p2, ktbl, k5, ktbl, k5, ktbl, rep 5x from *</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[18]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[19]">Round 2: * p2, ktbl, p5, ktbl, p5, ktbl, rep 5x from *</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[20]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[21]">Round 3: *p2, ktbl, p1, k3, p1, ktbl, p1, k3, p1, ktbl, rep 5x from *</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[22]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[23]">Repeat round three 4 more times. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[24]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[25]">Next round: * p2, ktbl, p5, ktbl, p5, ktbl, rep 5x from *</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[26]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[27]">Next round: *p2, ktbl, p1, k3, p1, ktbl, p1, k3, p1, ktbl, rep 5x from *</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[28]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[29]">Repeat last round 4 more times. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[30]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[31]">Next Round: * p2, ktbl, p5, ktbl, p5, ktbl, rep 5x from *</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[32]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[33]">Next Round: * p2, ssk, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, yo, CDD, yo, ssk, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[34]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[35]">Next Round: * p2, ktbl, k5, ktbl, k5, ktbl, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[36]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[37]">Next Round: * p2, ssk, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, yo, CDD, yo, ssk, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[38]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[39]">Next Round: * p2, ktbl, k5, ktbl, k5, ktbl, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[40]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[41]">Next Round: * p2, ktbl, k11, ktbl, rep 5x from *.</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[42]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[43]">Next Round: *p2, C2R, k9, C2L, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[44]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[45]">Next Round: *p3, C2R, k7, C2L, p1, rep 5x from *.</span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[46]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[47]">Next Round: *p4, C2R, k5, C2L, p2, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[48]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[49]">Next Round: *p5, C2R, k3, C2L, p3, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[50]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[51]">Next Round: *p6, ktbl, k3, ktbl, p4, rep 5xfrom *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[52]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[53]">Next Round: *p8, mb, p6, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[54]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[55]">Purl for 3 rows. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[56]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[57]">Begin Decreases: *k2tog, p13, PM, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[58]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[59]">Next Round: *k2tog, p to marker, rep 5x from *. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[60]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[61]">Repeat previous round until 6 sts remain, remove markers. </span><br data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[62]" /><span data-reactid=".r[5e240].[1][3][1]{comment10201945920282352_59985196}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[63]">Next Round: (k2tog, p1), 3x til 3 sts remain. Break yarn, thread through. </span></span></span></div>
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<br />anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-61850507852716765142013-04-06T15:17:00.001-04:002013-05-30T16:02:20.793-04:00Inventing MathematicsBastian makes equations. Harriet Tubman plus Che Guevara equals Ghandi times pi. <br />
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anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-62671918614964237012013-03-28T15:46:00.000-04:002013-03-28T15:46:44.439-04:00On Child-Centeredness: Ain't Nobody Got Time For ThatI grow weary of the way unschooling is sold. I have grown weary of beating myself up as a parent. I have grown weary of assuming that some mystical, joyful, always-kind-and-generous-and-patient ideal exists or is possible. I live in the world. Where there is poverty, inequality, injustice, torture, abuse, and all manner of nasty things, but also where there are <i>other people</i> whose boundaries are breach-able.<br />
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My boundaries get all sorts of breached all the damn time. Especially thanks to having children, especially since they're at home all. the. time. I used to believe the hype that there was some appropriate way to deal with this - something born of Non-violent Communication where I could perfect my speech so as to make sure my children were fully unconditionally loved all the time and thus grew up knowing that they were valuable, thus could go out and conquer the world with their love or some such.<br />
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I tried. It didn't stick. I don't sound like that. I don't communicate non-violently. It's kind of what's totally awesome about me. I am fierce. I say shit that don't nobody wanna say. I am opinionated and loud and stand up for myself and those I love. So at the end of the day, it was inauthentic of me to assume that I could adopt a voice that was not my own.<br />
<br />
I'm not trying to suggest that being abusive instead is okay. I'm not trying to suggest that that's what I do. I do yell though. I do say things messily. I make demands. I curse. My kids do too. We also talk about our feelings and cuddle and say fun, adorable and loving things to one another and ask nicely and apologize (a lot). That is because authentic feelings and behaviors exist on a spectrum. As we move through our days, we frustrate, perplex, and anger one another in addition to inspiring, surprising, and delighting. <br />
<br />
This is probably obvious to everyone in their real lives. Everyone probably regularly experiences all of these emotions and more. Discovery largely includes failure, after all, and children are in the most constant process of discovery as they are new people, learning and experiencing life for the first time, raucously and haphazardly.<br />
<br />
It would be lovely if I, in my older, more experienced age, could appreciate and delight in that all the time. But I can't.<br />
<br />
Yet this is the very thing we're encouraged, as unschoolers, to do - to delight and appreciate, to hold space for the children to be precious in. Of course they're precious. They're also annoying. I also want them to hurry the eff up and figure some of this stuff out so they can stop breaching all my boundaries all the time. I <i>also</i> want to delight raucously and haphazardly in exploring the world at the place in life that <i>I</i> am at. Honestly, that place is not all about my children.<br />
<br />
While technically I am an unschooling mother in the home without full-time outside employment, I hesitate to declare that my primary occupation. My primary occupation is about <i>my</i> life, <i>my</i> exploration of the world, being who <i>I</i> am, having <i>my</i> experience. Sometimes that's about raising my children. Often it's about my other relationships with my family, husband, friends, and community. It's about writing and making art. It's about knitting and gardening. It's about managing groups and vegetables. It's about cooking and cleaning. My life and exploration is about my dreams, my goals, my desires, my struggle. My children's life is about theirs.<br />
<br />
A simpler way to put this is that I get the feeling from the unschooling community that our job as parents is to be child-centered. That a child-centered approach is appropriate, righteous even. That doesn't sit well with me. I don't dig it. We are family-centered. I consider our family a collective. We work and live in collaboration, but we also promote space for autonomy. There's a lot of boundaries to hit in that. Each of us have our boundaries and each of our separate relationships with one another have boundaries. Our space has boundaries. We spend a huge portion of our lives negotiating those boundaries. It can get nasty. But so it goes. <br />
<br />
If unschooling is about being in the world instead of having the world divided and categorized into streams of data, then a family life should reflect the goals we have for our larger world. Our family is a safe space where we support one another. Our family is also comprised of autonomous individuals whose desires and goals come into conflict. Being honest and authentic within those conflicts is paramount to helping our children navigate the larger world and the relationships they inhabit there. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFT4spsJxigUIqzUSrzzAZ8BgfBUjv8KJMlaIuxDdan1JAe2JRfAgQoa0Pq74qFOe36HkqPyr3z431b1f3qwKZCg1p6XQCoGA6SMdtD9vRb9jVmRHQuQwS7kOjDCWijCSnTqGUXoV-qFI/s1600/159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFT4spsJxigUIqzUSrzzAZ8BgfBUjv8KJMlaIuxDdan1JAe2JRfAgQoa0Pq74qFOe36HkqPyr3z431b1f3qwKZCg1p6XQCoGA6SMdtD9vRb9jVmRHQuQwS7kOjDCWijCSnTqGUXoV-qFI/s320/159.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Aleks, pissed at me for forcing him to pose for more photos</span></i></td></tr>
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<br />anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-69768101155191471662013-03-26T17:25:00.000-04:002013-03-26T17:25:43.937-04:00Forgive Me, For I Know Not What I DoThe other day, I received a Facebook message from a friend of a friend asking about homeschooling and unschooling. She's considering changing what they're doing and wanted to know what I think about living and learning. The vibe I got was that the real question is, "What drives you to do this?" She wants underlying principles, thoughts about how children learn, and practical ideas about how to go about it.<br />
<br />
I haven't responded. <br />
<br />
I just don't know what to say. I don't know what I think anymore. I don't know how to do this. I don't really rightly know what I'm doing and I go back and forth all the time about what kids need in a practical sense versus what they need in a big, broad idea sense.<br />
<br />
There's a lot of factors informing all of this. For one thing, it's winter. It's been winter for what seems like a long time. I always have a freakout at this time of year. <a href="http://sugarboot.blogspot.com/2010/03/honest-about-doubt.html">Always</a>. It's always about the same stuff too. This year is no different. We're stuck inside, sick off and on, grating on one another's nerves, there's low motivation, and moods drop low in the gray and the cold. That's to be expected. I can reasonably excuse most of my doubt and freakout as "just winter."<br />
<br />
Still, winter is not the whole of it. Winter is the thing that is inspiring a lot of the <i>feeling</i> of doubt, but it's not <i>the thing itself</i>. And that there's doubt is not the precise reason I don't know what to say about living and learning, unschooling and parenting.<br />
<br />
Another factor is that my children are getting older, and they're getting more complicated as that happens. Nowadays, what we do is also what we've done. It's in the past. I'm not getting any of it back. I can't do it over. All I can do is see it back there and wonder if it was the right thing. Honestly, I don't know if it was. I don't think any of us do. None of us can. Sometimes people speak really authoritatively though, and it sounds as though they do know what they're doing.<br />
<br />
When I'm feeling doubt, that doubt is underscored by others speaking authoritatively about ways of being/doing that seem at odds with what I think & do. Often, what they say doesn't even have to be at odds with my own personal goals or ideas. The authority itself makes me perceive their words as gospel, that whatever it is they're stating is effective and implementable, that they have, through effort, clearly and cleanly achieved their goals. This makes my doubt blossom fully. Because I am unsure of what we do and how it happens, I become <i>very </i>aware of how messily we achieve anything and this is also a failing. It takes my failure and expounds upon it. If in doubt, I go straight for self-loathing. It's a skill.<br />
<br />
Which is also why historically, it helps me to get back to philosophy, to get back to the big, broad ideas underneath my goals and reinvest in them, find why it is I do what I do and am what I am. Yet still, I am at a loss at the moment. These messy, complicated, slightly older children are still confounding to me. What is it that they need? I have no idea! When I begin to think about what they need, all I can see is what I can't do, what my limitations are, the problems I can't solve, the tools I don't have. <br />
<br />
Then I begin to wonder. What am I even doing? Perhaps I'm not prepared to do these things. I feel weary, incapable. I feel inadequate to the task of being here, preparing the children, engaging them, providing them with the tools and resources necessary to... And there I'm stuck again. To be happy? Productive? To reach their full potential? What would that even look like? What's possible? What's reasonable? What, precisely, is enough? <br />
<br />
And there's the question. I cannot answer what I think about things because I don't know how to think about them. I am complicated by life, by stressors, by circumstance. My goals become cloudier than they once were. My ideals turn to muddied variations of their earlier, robust visions. It is easy, when things are new, to commit whole-heartedly and perhaps naively, to ideology. It is simple. It is stark. It is plain and easy to see and understand. Further in, getting into the ins, the outs, the messy, dark recesses of life and its limitations, ideology is beside the point. Practicality trumps all. And that is where I find myself. Bogged down by the need to feed everyone, to keep the floors clear, to attend meetings, and run errands.<br />
<br />
I don't know what to say about unschooling anymore because we're not unschooling. We're seeking diplomatic solutions for life. We're in constant negotiations, attempting collaborative upkeep in seriously messy ways, and it all just looks like so much treading water. We're keeping plants and pets and ourselves alive. We're making dates and maintaining inventory. We're yelling and slamming doors and snuggling and discussing birthday plans. We're trying to make goals, to host conferences of dreams and wishes, to balance what we think is good for us with what we're inclined to, and to decipher what is True. So much so, that I feel disingenuous trying to offer Truth to anyone else.anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-53948774693537139712013-03-25T18:13:00.000-04:002013-03-25T18:13:20.682-04:00Blogging, Not BloggingClearly, it's been a long time since I've blogged. Partly, I just haven't made an effort of it. Partially, I hardly ever get to use the computer because the children or my husband are constantly on it. It often takes me a long time to compose what I want to say and to gather the necessary photographs about it, so they usually want to be using the computer to do some dreadfully important gaming that I have no interest in fighting because most of the things I need to do on the computer are done on my tiny hand-held computer (read: smartphone) anyway. Thus, if you want to see what we're up to with more regularity, the best bet is to follow me on <a href="http://instagram.com/annakissmm/">Instagram</a>. I would, however, like to make more of an attempt to update here as well. I will try. I do have things to say. I just can't really seem to grab a moment of time in which to work them out.<br />
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<br />anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-20104756856031891882012-01-08T14:52:00.001-05:002012-01-08T14:52:42.526-05:00Playing GamesBastian and I are playing Tier auf Tier on this lazy Sunday afternoon. To determine who goes first, the instructions say "Whoever can balance on one foot like a flamingo for the longest time starts the game." Between Bastian and I, I can stand on one foot the longest. I won. Now we're to play another game. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xfXJg1yEnyN4Jb19XTm1oW6PZlMyyk_g_lepEXO4SfUEvXZULmsKowZEDKiwM17OPc8nQnOKtesoOw3c9v9S7ja-BngkF0eVevLlPoeu3h2eJT1aCKGZDdPS0O-8Gkxao2S1e0zzorw/s640/blogger-image-1004402574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xfXJg1yEnyN4Jb19XTm1oW6PZlMyyk_g_lepEXO4SfUEvXZULmsKowZEDKiwM17OPc8nQnOKtesoOw3c9v9S7ja-BngkF0eVevLlPoeu3h2eJT1aCKGZDdPS0O-8Gkxao2S1e0zzorw/s640/blogger-image-1004402574.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-40839775661761177712011-12-19T13:16:00.003-05:002011-12-19T16:46:47.412-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 17<blockquote>December 17 - Make or buy an ornament for each family member related to a significant experience from the past year.</blockquote>This is a new tradition that I can't understand why I didn't think of it before. What a lovely way to grow a meaningful collection of ornaments! Our neighbor friend does this, which is where I took my inspiration. For Aleks, I knew exactly what to buy - a bone to signify his bone graft - though in retrospect I'm not sure how much he'd like to remember the year this way. I guess it's all about me. We found an ornament in the shape of a bone a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that I knew this activity was coming, so we should get a head-start on our browsing. It's supposed to be a dog bone, I suppose, but it works nevertheless.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_FJwQKSJuWo91Hxjv631DKQdACseUTZbwHNR2X5H8ev9euaIp1FS3UOPeht4V1QrHNr6UQCPJytWh5A04TD1AYzDP7MC_-YLf-cE4z_mAN01bVJ1eLgGiuxVGS3aLbAJ0KrPN_rbHSM/s640/blogger-image-1005008208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_FJwQKSJuWo91Hxjv631DKQdACseUTZbwHNR2X5H8ev9euaIp1FS3UOPeht4V1QrHNr6UQCPJytWh5A04TD1AYzDP7MC_-YLf-cE4z_mAN01bVJ1eLgGiuxVGS3aLbAJ0KrPN_rbHSM/s640/blogger-image-1005008208.jpg" border="0" /></a></div> Jon came home one day last week with his all picked out. I had spent a lot of time in stores trying to think of what could represent his finishing his PhD. He figured it out while buying a soda at the school book shop. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72q8YGI274QG04Z0j3b9TER8DEyQx2BLQazLjCV-byoQpqgGFWI8L54KrKmU_JWO3VoPJqbc8TwWl1TEJPJH8GskUnpsZ9ykcCpBqu2BqH-jWQZSGdxzw5SCj1QsSWn3Y9CuoJgaG1LA/s640/blogger-image-1824482517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72q8YGI274QG04Z0j3b9TER8DEyQx2BLQazLjCV-byoQpqgGFWI8L54KrKmU_JWO3VoPJqbc8TwWl1TEJPJH8GskUnpsZ9ykcCpBqu2BqH-jWQZSGdxzw5SCj1QsSWn3Y9CuoJgaG1LA/s640/blogger-image-1824482517.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br />We had trouble deciding what might represent something that Bastian did or enjoyed or learned this year. His warming up to the homeschool co-ops didn't seem wholly positive. He hasn't quite learned to read, though he's getting the hang of letters (and numbers for that matter) like a boss. He didn't start riding on two wheels. He liked to play a lot of video games though. A lot. I just couldn't stomach that though. And then it hit me - the other thing he really did genuinely enjoy this year that was all him was board games. He loves board games. Finding a ready-made board game ornament was tough though. Wheel of Fortune didn't count to me. So I had to make one. One of his favorite games is Othello. So I got some wooden tags and painting a teeny tiny Othello board. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cWPDyzyHcawnN6qNy4vNTJZ_zYg-dceFO_Ibv5jCM6bem34dXtpLdp642V67wKoXVJ0R3QqRZEZ1fmeG-O9iZtplNpnih6kxPe0j-QQGTa3lt4EMAmohHg6i-b6pO6VfhyH0DYQQyqM/s640/blogger-image--1042178714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCFkGOQ2ktqQfK8gjK17wJzuY30eOFOSur42yLgbAqSyk8Sx9LNwPH2fTWsnYVPfu5SC9d3fFR33dq18bnRrwPfvBcZf-MdunFqHRwwK8AS59cPmRV8TVFIjdH3W7pfK1r8Xh2LHCk0aA/s640/blogger-image--1563302862.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCFkGOQ2ktqQfK8gjK17wJzuY30eOFOSur42yLgbAqSyk8Sx9LNwPH2fTWsnYVPfu5SC9d3fFR33dq18bnRrwPfvBcZf-MdunFqHRwwK8AS59cPmRV8TVFIjdH3W7pfK1r8Xh2LHCk0aA/s640/blogger-image--1563302862.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>We glittered up the edges and back to make it properly fancy. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJPlgciDQUF13IAMA5_RA93dOdywp90LRjUtwK1jb2-ctdl-j6t6gPmigIjrkoMqnmXPr1jSL37lDSGbn0rMkTa-1wA4qaUAuvoB_n7T-IZtoaLS-HwrkJq4bg56h2hGfp-EiBNkJf0M/s640/blogger-image-1452258936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJPlgciDQUF13IAMA5_RA93dOdywp90LRjUtwK1jb2-ctdl-j6t6gPmigIjrkoMqnmXPr1jSL37lDSGbn0rMkTa-1wA4qaUAuvoB_n7T-IZtoaLS-HwrkJq4bg56h2hGfp-EiBNkJf0M/s640/blogger-image-1452258936.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>I still had no idea what to get for me. Everything I've been doing is pretty much the same stuff I've been doing. Except maybe teaching Stop Animation, but still. I thought about finding a vegetable ornament to represent my ascension to full manager of City Fresh, but I couldn't find one and it didn't feel quite right. We saw a yarn ball ornament, but it was way overpriced when I knew I could make one easily. I'm not sure I did quite enough knitting this year to really warrant it, either (though I did finish my first lace pattern). Then, a friend showed me <a href="http://tinyapartmentcrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/golden-snitch-ornament-tutorial.html">this tutorial</a> for a golden snitch ornament, and I knew we had a winner. Yes, the most significant event of my year was the last <span style="font-style:italic;">Harry Potter</span> movie. Go ahead, scoff.<br /><br />The ornament ended up being quite a pain in the butt. Shaping wire is not my forte, for one. Secondly, no matter what the tutorial says, Fabri-tac is not necessarily a guarantee for making those wings stay on. One of my wings keeps falling and I'm thinking the only solution may be glass glue. Which I will get to...later. After all the other Christmas stuff I have yet to do.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCLl-LizvLj1T82gsr3asZ6YwnPf-hxRX2sM5ElCE9a7FVUTMSa4yjtpmEZouaGd2WG8GsZU8RPvEktIeNTxBHV4HX6mnuGkEBXJb8MLwoRd1YN8DVdWpLmu4-orCD-TiyB3eG4hjnJo/s640/blogger-image-2077854017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCLl-LizvLj1T82gsr3asZ6YwnPf-hxRX2sM5ElCE9a7FVUTMSa4yjtpmEZouaGd2WG8GsZU8RPvEktIeNTxBHV4HX6mnuGkEBXJb8MLwoRd1YN8DVdWpLmu4-orCD-TiyB3eG4hjnJo/s640/blogger-image-2077854017.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW360JYdA5cD1CjrvnsL7WqP7uee2YhSNPOEiaU9_elP27uVJse2cKWkvAnPhl1qDI3v_kz02e1jRrpgwqrwDVfkrbMWilnJzIfg6pKUSNeH8yhJRzqm8eDiGXnVAl1pQAfTtIgRHsuk/s640/blogger-image-797003614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW360JYdA5cD1CjrvnsL7WqP7uee2YhSNPOEiaU9_elP27uVJse2cKWkvAnPhl1qDI3v_kz02e1jRrpgwqrwDVfkrbMWilnJzIfg6pKUSNeH8yhJRzqm8eDiGXnVAl1pQAfTtIgRHsuk/s640/blogger-image-797003614.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-62576829334025319232011-12-16T01:36:00.003-05:002011-12-18T17:33:37.346-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 14<blockquote>December 14 - Make Lego snowmen (and maybe other types of snowmen as well).</blockquote> I got this stupid snowman kit at the craft store because it was cheap and easy. All you do is glue the pieces together, so it's not really creative, but at least this way they were able to do more than one type of snowman. Especially considering how long it took Aleks to put the Lego Snowman head together. We don't own quite enough white Lego bricks, as luck would have it. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwTZZeS3-ZgDjladlhspArJbgyavXVOaixxEo2E4sEpwzJTN3Ur_65ijGwvd1RM4EJNiqzwY61NJbdld0y5acvQ_nBksINMacXSi4Pjk9j7LMQvz7PNBEozhutncw-nWkFFTV0DIL5cA/s640/blogger-image--38679451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwTZZeS3-ZgDjladlhspArJbgyavXVOaixxEo2E4sEpwzJTN3Ur_65ijGwvd1RM4EJNiqzwY61NJbdld0y5acvQ_nBksINMacXSi4Pjk9j7LMQvz7PNBEozhutncw-nWkFFTV0DIL5cA/s640/blogger-image--38679451.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>I still think it looks great.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichbf5L2PXtasEnzkmz0cxzhNit1v_T3BnsjDJmAizMgFcNiDyAYn7u4_0KYiz3iDxedNMFVNaRlHOM4LK973fnMjX_VLoE6nDDLt3Cj6JeQEQ02pQt5CsK1zEXslB2f12HVkWpMnCm7M/s640/blogger-image-1637885279.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichbf5L2PXtasEnzkmz0cxzhNit1v_T3BnsjDJmAizMgFcNiDyAYn7u4_0KYiz3iDxedNMFVNaRlHOM4LK973fnMjX_VLoE6nDDLt3Cj6JeQEQ02pQt5CsK1zEXslB2f12HVkWpMnCm7M/s640/blogger-image-1637885279.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-1912219084872912332011-12-15T19:38:00.003-05:002011-12-18T17:31:03.780-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 13<blockquote>December 13 - Make gummies.</blockquote>Aleks has wanted to learn more about candy making for awhile. I'm no candy-maker, and I'm not certain what his exact aim in all of it is, but I agreed to put making gummies on the countdown list, thinking we'd maybe give some away as gifts. I found <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-gummies-easy-and-delicious/">a tutorial on Instructables</a> (actually, there were several, but this seemed the simplest and most to bring about the desired consistency). It was certainly a rare event for me to be headed to the grocery to buy Jello, but I got a large box of cherry, which we used about half of in combination with non-flavored gelatin. <br /><br />First, you mix the two with water in a Pyrex measuring cup. Let sit for ten minutes to allow the gelatin to absorb all the water. Then place the cup in a saucepan of water to double boil the mix and allow it to melt into a pourable consistency. This takes awhile. Aleks did the stirring and almost had a disaster when he fell off his chair. Luckily, it all worked out and no one was injured, though we were all startled. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6RMpFDU-d9OJlZzOAv165YL2r_dczUOYN0AU97HuDspawTEcNjMoAAWlfWCEWl5LwUMRrfuaeMS86nwq3tW7n3X5AR_lFyvOJ4F1EwxbOPPH2Mw1DU7AoREafSME8kXEmeZ0UpHJJ8XQ/s640/blogger-image-809429530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6RMpFDU-d9OJlZzOAv165YL2r_dczUOYN0AU97HuDspawTEcNjMoAAWlfWCEWl5LwUMRrfuaeMS86nwq3tW7n3X5AR_lFyvOJ4F1EwxbOPPH2Mw1DU7AoREafSME8kXEmeZ0UpHJJ8XQ/s640/blogger-image-809429530.jpg" border="0" /></a></div> We poured this into a bred pan (which I lined with plastic wrap, just to make it easier to get out, though I'm not sure that I needed to. Putting it in the freezer as the tutorial recommended did help quite a bit in speeding up the hardening process. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzMjtRRZ_b-TxorjWSs9vxr75MGsSlNJPxbpH9ML7Ct4FBkd8X_qYsxexL5bPDgbOImm4WYl58BcQ7irYsWspWeZmhC331_kd8W9fWIQ9KneqizAi1CcFkXahVaSNkzTeEp_MohSgKVw/s640/blogger-image--2048020957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzMjtRRZ_b-TxorjWSs9vxr75MGsSlNJPxbpH9ML7Ct4FBkd8X_qYsxexL5bPDgbOImm4WYl58BcQ7irYsWspWeZmhC331_kd8W9fWIQ9KneqizAi1CcFkXahVaSNkzTeEp_MohSgKVw/s640/blogger-image--2048020957.jpg" border="0" /></a></div> They look like Jello, but they are quite a bit harder, I swear. The boys ate them all before noon the next day. So alas, no one will receive any. They weren't that great and I'm sure there are better ways of doing it. Using Jello as the flavoring might have been just too much gelatin, though the other recipes I read which called for fruit juice didn't seem to have the consistency we desired. Clear juices I think help with clarity of the end result. The other thing is that this recipe didn't make that many. I'm not real anxious, however, to make a big batch any time soon.anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-62465351372127190532011-12-15T13:56:00.003-05:002011-12-18T17:21:17.387-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 11<blockquote>December 11 - Build a gingerbread house (or rice crispy tree house, as the case may be).</blockquote>We got out our rice crispy treat house kit and set to work. First we had to make the crispy rice mix, melting the marshmallows.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCL6Nan_mNlXNX8cLxGI7zYcZ_9wCkZxwWv7hqglh9oc8lRJufIm11WmWvohN9Chv_mZi0-ZUo1uuSuLW018tax-YGTt89X2IFHcii0KYG-Ok3qr2ZjlWihpShxEp3iWe7fjDGi6M-jYw/s640/blogger-image-907663502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCL6Nan_mNlXNX8cLxGI7zYcZ_9wCkZxwWv7hqglh9oc8lRJufIm11WmWvohN9Chv_mZi0-ZUo1uuSuLW018tax-YGTt89X2IFHcii0KYG-Ok3qr2ZjlWihpShxEp3iWe7fjDGi6M-jYw/s640/blogger-image-907663502.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>We pressed the treat mix into molds and hoped it would all work out. It was both easier and more difficult than I'd imagined. It was also sticky. I helped the boys get the structure going and they decorated the house. Aleks made a Skyrim dovakiin figure out of the remaining crispy rice treat mix. This was instead of the recommended reindeer, penguin, or snowman. It turned out pretty well, actually. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9j1IcL_AD7x0hIPKOqt1iHMCslH-Oqr5RF8Xm5uMYKiextqXnTp6a_zq3c2EKV0cgmUWZ4MaLAP4q-ODPCOjeuwRZuN9CUXjP-lA3UwNDNU7gpO4t2xrSz-LOaeO72Nr9G8Ymy7fmwrI/s640/blogger-image-209065581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9j1IcL_AD7x0hIPKOqt1iHMCslH-Oqr5RF8Xm5uMYKiextqXnTp6a_zq3c2EKV0cgmUWZ4MaLAP4q-ODPCOjeuwRZuN9CUXjP-lA3UwNDNU7gpO4t2xrSz-LOaeO72Nr9G8Ymy7fmwrI/s640/blogger-image-209065581.jpg" border="0" /></a></div> Once finished, the house immediately began to collapse. Marshmallow may not be the most reliable structural element, it turns out. The boys ate bits of it throughout the next day and Jon composted the rest of it in the evening. So that was short lived. Fun and sugary sweet, however.anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-81586357272751164542011-12-11T12:14:00.001-05:002011-12-11T12:14:25.024-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 10December 10 - Have a fancy dinner with china, silver, candlelight, and guests.<br />
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We invited our friend Heather over for our fancy dinner. It was very fancy. The kids and I cleaned in preparation while Jon went to a department holiday party. I taught Aleks how to dust while Bastian vacuumed. Aleks had determined the menu. He wanted raw oysters and salmon steaks with buttered broccoli. I bought sparkling lemonade and champagne, nice cheeses, assorted olives (including Aleks' favorite, garlic stuffed), and a pre-maid key lime tart. Jon pan-seared the salmon individually and we placed them on a bed of rice pilaf. We steamed broccoli and slathered it with some of our homemade butter. <br />
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The table was set with crystal candelabras, my newly-inherited China made in 1940s occupied Japan, real silverware (also newly-inherited), and stained cloth napkins, which was unnoticeable in the dark. Classical music was piped out of the computer. <br />
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Aleks wore a sports jacket, Bastian a sweater, and I a hand-me-down studded halter dress which Aleks asked about being made of mithril. We toasted sparkling beverages and were all so full that dessert was postponed until long after dishes. <br />
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Aleks ate most of the oysters, FYI. <br />
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I didn't get any photos, but our javelina, decked out for the holidays, watched over us while we ate. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt1pLDYIX1AdwIBcZw4S_t8mA1t1J2YrjGZUKENjXKPYRTe9-GShrP_0_S2MqUVh1ja2Kniv6cOC_x72j9tf4HZnDIyxkpTRqIU0ml44j4JKCr-MGxg3RQAeEfqCvYQMpQkZG53Guh6pE/s640/blogger-image--950651187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt1pLDYIX1AdwIBcZw4S_t8mA1t1J2YrjGZUKENjXKPYRTe9-GShrP_0_S2MqUVh1ja2Kniv6cOC_x72j9tf4HZnDIyxkpTRqIU0ml44j4JKCr-MGxg3RQAeEfqCvYQMpQkZG53Guh6pE/s640/blogger-image--950651187.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-21496503513795603502011-12-09T19:40:00.004-05:002011-12-09T20:11:58.029-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 9Due to scheduling conflicts, we had to switch Days 9 and 10. Thus, Day 9...<br /><blockquote>December 9 - Have a Mad Hatter tea party with friends.<br /></blockquote> We invited the neighbor girls over to join us. We had the latest version of <span style="font-style: italic;">Alice in Wonderland</span> playing in the living room. We had four or five different tea sets on the table. Bastian and I made a chocolate beet cake for snacking.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLWPBQD0i5VAzxW0pmQpvLGnsIHbJFVrLfSIsOItShaYzOfxGvDFmWe4lQ6CRvweTMTxiYJirS3_j9JdHGqzugV9Q1tdlj8_5zHcEuDZFAIfAKJ4OorrYF5a9sVUu1wRtNAcqfamVWS4/s1600/cake.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLWPBQD0i5VAzxW0pmQpvLGnsIHbJFVrLfSIsOItShaYzOfxGvDFmWe4lQ6CRvweTMTxiYJirS3_j9JdHGqzugV9Q1tdlj8_5zHcEuDZFAIfAKJ4OorrYF5a9sVUu1wRtNAcqfamVWS4/s400/cake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684295989900836706" border="0" /></a><br />Then, as we were getting ready, Aleks decided he wanted to be the White Rabbit. I had said we would dress up, but I figured we'd just wear whatever, not necessarily dress as characters from the books/movies. Besides, I didn't have Alice in Wonderland costumes. Then I went digging and came up with some. We made Aleks' ears out of quilt batting. Bastian's knight tunic fit nicely as a playing card.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HIk4dYHKXizT28EuT7Ntx7e2tF7yo-OWgVkChZkm3cWCvhcvYgihCgv_MW5i3IPzCsjmbNHVVtygpMKakKe95kz7SWH-VeO2IKT8T6ZcgRYuQxWHG_ASnTaNuBLU-SGBsxzxlkMRmoc/s1600/161.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HIk4dYHKXizT28EuT7Ntx7e2tF7yo-OWgVkChZkm3cWCvhcvYgihCgv_MW5i3IPzCsjmbNHVVtygpMKakKe95kz7SWH-VeO2IKT8T6ZcgRYuQxWHG_ASnTaNuBLU-SGBsxzxlkMRmoc/s400/161.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684296003253645970" border="0" /></a>I knew that the neighbors' parents had been the Mad Hatter and Alice for Halloween last year, so I called her up and told her to pull out the costumes. Melody was the Mad Hatter.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBj85eRJ4Nj04hnSarG2lO0rhSHRE25_az1aLv0fMcOM-f7kiUwHjdIyANCYaPSq6mWWCkSR3N67ydaeGwrbGRV08gr5X4HBawftI9U9Dm2TgJkbOmBxb887UFg8SERnqGfOixgFDS0EY/s1600/hatter.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBj85eRJ4Nj04hnSarG2lO0rhSHRE25_az1aLv0fMcOM-f7kiUwHjdIyANCYaPSq6mWWCkSR3N67ydaeGwrbGRV08gr5X4HBawftI9U9Dm2TgJkbOmBxb887UFg8SERnqGfOixgFDS0EY/s400/hatter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684295987835914114" border="0" /></a>Kallie was Alice.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqebQVyuaKza7I3N4RhywF-kJ9GM3Iw16MEgUGjn9XPCK3DTnbrId4OWhZ_z6CFgCJYDSF4d0z9Yu7419kqXwpkWdHeHMN7xaEDEWx3sAsDTvtY1ZBYtGVdByBdcSJRa5afxcBnrHh1I/s1600/192.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqebQVyuaKza7I3N4RhywF-kJ9GM3Iw16MEgUGjn9XPCK3DTnbrId4OWhZ_z6CFgCJYDSF4d0z9Yu7419kqXwpkWdHeHMN7xaEDEWx3sAsDTvtY1ZBYtGVdByBdcSJRa5afxcBnrHh1I/s400/192.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684295333935301954" border="0" /></a>I think I'm going to get Aleks into some of the theatre courses in our co-ops. He's really naturally inclined toward imitation.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhG7p8VIe9d6U2NAM9pth7Eu2Afa3NRv6EqiVLyXb5A_Q6IBdULQLbTH_9D2fzHHsgc7jM5KWVvBiceE5O5quNkp4hzwbc1KQ0MwJLx_EWtsJ7lrHo-u9h6Ie5NZDopjOKahrgLNgJ8rY/s1600/rabbit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhG7p8VIe9d6U2NAM9pth7Eu2Afa3NRv6EqiVLyXb5A_Q6IBdULQLbTH_9D2fzHHsgc7jM5KWVvBiceE5O5quNkp4hzwbc1KQ0MwJLx_EWtsJ7lrHo-u9h6Ie5NZDopjOKahrgLNgJ8rY/s400/rabbit.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684295341670249842" border="0" /></a>Kallie and Bastian went digging for one of the cats' mice toys to put in a tea pot on the table, but couldn't find any. We have a mouse-themed matroska set though.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOyO_r77v0Vol3IZ80HeJ5CmyRVSCPRL6tuDKkYBJeW0Yb6bdIYbdmfFw26JPrrH6SeSqK3FZ3E6q06hh1_quhxFBn8Gbs9IPdBaccnBIS3TELGRTObuNQ4HkoREGPjQMPbShd54Nxyw/s1600/mouse.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOyO_r77v0Vol3IZ80HeJ5CmyRVSCPRL6tuDKkYBJeW0Yb6bdIYbdmfFw26JPrrH6SeSqK3FZ3E6q06hh1_quhxFBn8Gbs9IPdBaccnBIS3TELGRTObuNQ4HkoREGPjQMPbShd54Nxyw/s400/mouse.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684295334436367058" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyZqyUYd88ZySV1hKwBh_5cAjMMHQZlOYwdB4ofLF4MPesQw5NWzIpdRd7GiTZ784Bhg1WIP7bMbxE6dJ_C0YgmOgaYQoHhnvyR8PoyNB3W3lDOT6r4rx2IEBRyQxdGh8t7VHLY5CiI0/s1600/mouse2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyZqyUYd88ZySV1hKwBh_5cAjMMHQZlOYwdB4ofLF4MPesQw5NWzIpdRd7GiTZ784Bhg1WIP7bMbxE6dJ_C0YgmOgaYQoHhnvyR8PoyNB3W3lDOT6r4rx2IEBRyQxdGh8t7VHLY5CiI0/s400/mouse2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684295320729516402" border="0" /></a>The Queen of Hearts is quite lonely when she's had everyone's head chopped off.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8c8JY3GFPHDUcLQZnhg_hr96sHyaobielWi3qr5jzEyBrqaJDJ1xjO47y5X2oG_Kb2vFyOkBvwJTc98n72D_6QA27BWQyoOSW7KxpqIIss9FbjI_jBs4Dop7qqlvpTM5is9TJPcV2_Y/s1600/queen.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8c8JY3GFPHDUcLQZnhg_hr96sHyaobielWi3qr5jzEyBrqaJDJ1xjO47y5X2oG_Kb2vFyOkBvwJTc98n72D_6QA27BWQyoOSW7KxpqIIss9FbjI_jBs4Dop7qqlvpTM5is9TJPcV2_Y/s400/queen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684295316787872978" border="0" /></a>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-18130706895865606152011-12-07T18:27:00.005-05:002011-12-07T19:54:31.904-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 7<blockquote>December 7 - Make paper garlands.</blockquote>We've made paper garlands before. But not like this. I've actually been planning this project for about three years, which is when I saw garlands like these in an Anthropology. So I ripped it off, but it's still super cool and whatever artist created these is amazing and deserves credit. I bought books to destroy just for this project at a garage sale at about that time as well. They were super overpriced for being something no one would read, if I remember correctly. One is some lame self-help book.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeaeY_wgi_XG7L72sj3Usr753FFjJpl_DOZ5PfqtAZkUCQ3sA_DCES0vHuR_pEf0tZaPkeBoh2s1at6lJN2RhAoHLPR1rbugEOvgEPUDZr23NgH3aF1Yj__OSMmpJNRnsF-NBrUUL6VaU/s640/blogger-image-376963035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeaeY_wgi_XG7L72sj3Usr753FFjJpl_DOZ5PfqtAZkUCQ3sA_DCES0vHuR_pEf0tZaPkeBoh2s1at6lJN2RhAoHLPR1rbugEOvgEPUDZr23NgH3aF1Yj__OSMmpJNRnsF-NBrUUL6VaU/s640/blogger-image-376963035.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br />I guess the kids didn't really much participate in this activity, come to think of it. Bastian sat with me and plugged the hot glue in and watched and played on his iPod. Aleks was sleeping. Whatever, they're cool. Aleks is currently writing his letter to Santa for yesterday's activity and Bastian is whining about being hungry.<br /><br />Once we'd started these, I had to take a break to get a chicken to roast in the oven. Before I could do that, I had an idea that I'd like to rub the breast down with some butter and that I'd like to make butter from scratch using the Snowville whipping cream I bought a half gallon of having only needed a cup or so for pumpkin soup earlier in the week. So I poured some cream in a jar, screwed on the lid and handed it to Bastian.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinDEXZLKoWGbDHOBclRz1LfAt8_lMUn3KZIysHU51y8y3iuJZfDVOSQ1nyzivoP-tExNc37fmF61YkYXAaHQvoflsfl0JbytxVheoqVV2xZJRPVsWjL_xOJkjJJuP0K1Y5QnmsDcRPqmg/s640/blogger-image-858576550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinDEXZLKoWGbDHOBclRz1LfAt8_lMUn3KZIysHU51y8y3iuJZfDVOSQ1nyzivoP-tExNc37fmF61YkYXAaHQvoflsfl0JbytxVheoqVV2xZJRPVsWjL_xOJkjJJuP0K1Y5QnmsDcRPqmg/s640/blogger-image-858576550.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br />It took us a bit longer than the standard ten minutes to create butter, but we did do it. Then I rubbed it with thyme from our garden on one of the pastured chickens my friend Lynn raised and slaughtered. I put more butter and bay leaves under the skin and crushed several cloves of garlic that we planted last December, a pear I'd sliced that no one was eating, and more butter inside the carcass. Then I chopped some of the wilting vegetables left from our holiday share of City Fresh with more butter and some drizzled olive oil in the bottom of our doufeu and placed the bird on top. It's now roasting on its bed of turnips, carrots, daikon radishes, and Princess Buttercup squash. I feel very fancy having said all that. Now I'm running downtown to deliver roasted root vegetables to Occupy Cleveland.<br /><br />Quite the productive day given my intense puttering earlier today.anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-54006339708617990512011-12-07T15:13:00.000-05:002011-12-09T19:40:08.203-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 6December 6 - Write letters to Santa.<br /><br />Aleks took a long nap in the middle of the evening and opted out of doing the activity for December 6. Bastian and I discussed what he wanted to tell Santa, but we haven't yet made a letter. <br /><br />Aleks wrote his letter on the 7th instead. I put it in one of the map envelopes I made for our holiday cards. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMNUl50ZtACqmFpu-34yIdXa_kjir78bwmTOKMy7oEqH94DjkoWu_5Na0n3L7SXATF2yeD6OLscKwYRFG5qQpfzQSekijrdG06lth-gL0W4iC0wa_2iy4jh6YXaT5e5ILukDUnLJLbAI8/s640/blogger-image-1873580148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMNUl50ZtACqmFpu-34yIdXa_kjir78bwmTOKMy7oEqH94DjkoWu_5Na0n3L7SXATF2yeD6OLscKwYRFG5qQpfzQSekijrdG06lth-gL0W4iC0wa_2iy4jh6YXaT5e5ILukDUnLJLbAI8/s640/blogger-image-1873580148.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieEAMabNbPE115eJcXSvsXT4KKh9ohh_JPgGb7hOl_DfoD_l9B5Wp-V7Tz0N2BYr4CWHnpQBjQWWwXxGkwgMX-6HhB7ahP-f8VuunGvQQJOgrERGZoQx3avgxH6_VJ6TFXlxAEHdTSvr8/s640/blogger-image-49171054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieEAMabNbPE115eJcXSvsXT4KKh9ohh_JPgGb7hOl_DfoD_l9B5Wp-V7Tz0N2BYr4CWHnpQBjQWWwXxGkwgMX-6HhB7ahP-f8VuunGvQQJOgrERGZoQx3avgxH6_VJ6TFXlxAEHdTSvr8/s640/blogger-image-49171054.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-25429746628995670362011-12-07T15:09:00.000-05:002011-12-09T19:39:44.544-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 5December 5 - Make presents for friends and family.<br /><br />Aleks and I discussed options for making presents for friends and family. We considered what we had, what I could get inexpensively, and what he was interested in actually making. He decided on two different projects. This is one of them. I don't want to say too much, lest a family member read this, though I don't think they will. <br /><br />Bastian ignored all discussion. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggl_IpQhzflm2sFrWkfx2ogu1ZCHMq-5gH0OKXeLii0OC9kJvHewv4hs5rZdnl7_PvMwuE4xsItcZeAZM8zJd7-Vgiov2muGwTDiAInrrW9Kn0qJdau4-ng9lwUF8kv4jIfYizojMES8w/s640/blogger-image-508250745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggl_IpQhzflm2sFrWkfx2ogu1ZCHMq-5gH0OKXeLii0OC9kJvHewv4hs5rZdnl7_PvMwuE4xsItcZeAZM8zJd7-Vgiov2muGwTDiAInrrW9Kn0qJdau4-ng9lwUF8kv4jIfYizojMES8w/s640/blogger-image-508250745.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-91600414558537428652011-12-05T10:48:00.001-05:002011-12-05T10:48:45.825-05:00ChristmasingMy sister had that great idea to make bats for her walls at Halloween, so we followed suit. When it came time to take Halloween decorations down, however, I liked the bats too much to part with them. So they stayed. Then Christmas Time rolled around. I still didn't want to take them down. Mostly because I'm lazy and I didn't want to stand on a ladder merely to UNdecorate. So we found the most logical solution: make 47 tiny Santa hats with real cotton trim to transform them to Christmas bats. Duh. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lEh_nwRt5fY9_Bto5mPtvc6K7aFSYZsg37vVuX1yZ7PlAVU4cr5VCZTRjOs40UsTVf-2tHNyhV0fzfkasTNWt0t9lHxYUY-_K2UJn7cDVtLuT88Ir0CZy0KSzthQicJfsl8-TckhccA/s640/blogger-image--963088512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lEh_nwRt5fY9_Bto5mPtvc6K7aFSYZsg37vVuX1yZ7PlAVU4cr5VCZTRjOs40UsTVf-2tHNyhV0fzfkasTNWt0t9lHxYUY-_K2UJn7cDVtLuT88Ir0CZy0KSzthQicJfsl8-TckhccA/s640/blogger-image--963088512.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbe7GqYcl8E1HF6wvZXn2c9Pj2Tt3C0fA049oW7TPdOvkiB4SiNSf-sB6nuJAueGCzcoMBjWnUM9-nyswUACo19EpUQYV63QpOhRQU0WgLWPTZInFWyi7uldlOtqH-dItf_St-8_MnSo/s640/blogger-image-571249902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbe7GqYcl8E1HF6wvZXn2c9Pj2Tt3C0fA049oW7TPdOvkiB4SiNSf-sB6nuJAueGCzcoMBjWnUM9-nyswUACo19EpUQYV63QpOhRQU0WgLWPTZInFWyi7uldlOtqH-dItf_St-8_MnSo/s640/blogger-image-571249902.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-30206413580370791372011-12-04T23:22:00.002-05:002011-12-07T18:39:54.302-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 4<blockquote>December 4 - Start borax snowflakes.</blockquote>Instead of making more borax snowflakes since we still have ones from two years ago, we started rock candy. We used a heavily saturated solution. So much so that the strings in two of the jars refuse to sink. We'll see how it turns out. Last time we tried sugar, it didn't work at all. <br /><br />Jack joined us for our activity once again. 'Twas a sticky endeavor. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_NmK97ZdFG95ao8JhpFWmkNXWI8_fwTT4AW_wFAbVsQAgL48bbs1gDaC-YjlJAVHE5tW8fEClkWlb0j5l4f1wu1EJrxsbxXJUQWOpY8RVGsEXb0xMjyUxuH8UmkfFUe8wWtRlRJ89tCw/s640/blogger-image-1358177955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_NmK97ZdFG95ao8JhpFWmkNXWI8_fwTT4AW_wFAbVsQAgL48bbs1gDaC-YjlJAVHE5tW8fEClkWlb0j5l4f1wu1EJrxsbxXJUQWOpY8RVGsEXb0xMjyUxuH8UmkfFUe8wWtRlRJ89tCw/s640/blogger-image-1358177955.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-3618593075144975532011-12-04T17:03:00.003-05:002011-12-04T17:07:01.764-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 3<blockquote>December 3 - String popcorn and listen to Christmas music.</blockquote> Papa helped us string all our popcorn. We borrowed an air popper from our neighbor and bought special jumbo popcorn for stringing since what we had for eating produces tiny un-stringable kernels. Everybody pitched in and the process went much faster than usual. Then the boys watched <span style="font-style:italic;">Despicable Me </span>for bedtime. <br /><br /><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-nvgDcopjubYPQiI19RWch3VWj2pf-_CgdaXFYMDfQ403nYjjX7fDYbSLXMSF0bLDRo6sL7QVqZDz7PdJaNn9ghXUL1T_QLLrQVRk0rtxFfhLzrOTZapTBAsLNZcLNhQEcJt5Xnvzqo/s640/blogger-image--1928187054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-nvgDcopjubYPQiI19RWch3VWj2pf-_CgdaXFYMDfQ403nYjjX7fDYbSLXMSF0bLDRo6sL7QVqZDz7PdJaNn9ghXUL1T_QLLrQVRk0rtxFfhLzrOTZapTBAsLNZcLNhQEcJt5Xnvzqo/s640/blogger-image--1928187054.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-30016406848034950462011-12-04T17:01:00.004-05:002011-12-04T17:07:16.710-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 2<blockquote>December 2 - Decorate the Tree.</blockquote> Done. Woot. Our friends Becca and Jack helped. Mice had eaten some of our salt dough ornaments and I was afraid to open the box when I saw it had been chewed. Knowing that we'd trapped several grown-up mice last winter, I didn't want to find any abandoned nests with fetal corpses amongst my Christmas things. Sweet baby Jesus, no I did not. <br /><br /><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioSBUvaSXhozHsNSGOGNNxoi4pGQhxyp3K8kXvoGrLEUvrNwOK1k2k7EwD0xMsB59GOfb4x2g7zoS-1D1KCoG_VjhZkVlaV6_O6p71nGgvLoChdc9saZ8joZly3ErlTl-NfBimAoHhCF4/s640/blogger-image--1457255181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioSBUvaSXhozHsNSGOGNNxoi4pGQhxyp3K8kXvoGrLEUvrNwOK1k2k7EwD0xMsB59GOfb4x2g7zoS-1D1KCoG_VjhZkVlaV6_O6p71nGgvLoChdc9saZ8joZly3ErlTl-NfBimAoHhCF4/s640/blogger-image--1457255181.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-82616800534832350862011-12-04T16:51:00.003-05:002011-12-04T17:07:30.603-05:00Holiday Countdown Day 1<blockquote>December 1 - Family Movie Night: Watch <span style="font-style: italic;">A Christmas Story</span> with root beer floats.</blockquote>Well, no root beer floats, as it turned out. We just had tea and popcorn. I'm pretty sure root beer floats will happen at a later date. We're into it. We also love watching movies together this time of year. <br /><br />The movie was funny as ever. Maybe funnier this year to me for some reason. I worked on holiday cards and laughed my head off. We made jokes about how Bastian is just like Randy. We looked at Aleks as though he had "lobsters crawling out of his ears." <br /><br />Most importantly, I realized something significant: Scut Farkus is the original hipster*. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_G2Ugh1y_F7u9ZaDltCKj22hmRpdH9-AaL2Sx0S5DoW8ElsLs55MHY39q55En6bWjawAQZiJ-fxTkj22WghiE_zIjw7nTUJb-LneGGs5yFMhJiADStbOregMf5ASrpb81cxRYIIuOhE/s1600/images.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 273px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_G2Ugh1y_F7u9ZaDltCKj22hmRpdH9-AaL2Sx0S5DoW8ElsLs55MHY39q55En6bWjawAQZiJ-fxTkj22WghiE_zIjw7nTUJb-LneGGs5yFMhJiADStbOregMf5ASrpb81cxRYIIuOhE/s400/images.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682394914259421410" /></a><br /><br />*At least until I decide someone else was the original hipster.anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-23438463878336346402011-12-01T19:00:00.005-05:002011-12-01T19:38:53.427-05:00Holiday Countdown, 2011For the holiday season each year, we do a countdown to Christmas. Instead of chocolate in a cardboard advent calendar, however, we do a little activity each day. The kids love it. I feel like a good mom. Everyone wins.<br /><br />In years past, I made <a href="http://sugarboot.blogspot.com/2008/11/christmas-countdown.html">individual envelopes</a> for each day. In 2009, I got really ambitious and made <a href="http://sugarboot.blogspot.com/2009/11/countdown-day-one-november-27.html">30-some-odd paper cranes</a>, each holding a little scroll with the day's activity. Last year, I'm not even sure we did the holiday countdown. I don't really remember what happened last year. It's all one big blur and a lot of not blogging about it, whatever it was.<br /><br />This year, I again sort of have my stuff together. Emphasis on "sort of." While out shopping for holiday card-making items at the craft store, I happened upon the sweetest wooden Gingerbread house-looking advent calendar marked 50% off (because it was overpriced to begin with). I have a "teacher's" discount, however, which got me another 10% off and that seemed worth it. So now I never have to make another countdown envelope again.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMlWrjK-NzAXaHcefCO_6xpt-mgtuTwfn08jA-N8ddeHhyhfXSPLeuTZtYUU3nQBzEwclW58SHKecbPNahAQFWGJiKayv0wV1PFS6r-gA2X7BYczeNvymk2HBOii1qTQf5IQPHd_2mBY/s1600/035.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMlWrjK-NzAXaHcefCO_6xpt-mgtuTwfn08jA-N8ddeHhyhfXSPLeuTZtYUU3nQBzEwclW58SHKecbPNahAQFWGJiKayv0wV1PFS6r-gA2X7BYczeNvymk2HBOii1qTQf5IQPHd_2mBY/s400/035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681317782244073026" border="0" /></a>Except that when I started filling up all the little doors and windows today with two Hershey kisses and a little slip of paper with the designated activity on it, I discovered the conspicuous absence of Day 19. I stuck Day 19 in Day 20 and figured I need to buy more Hershey kisses anyway. Oh well.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_x411AG8nETD0DsxG59mG2K9FCaCCspsiRs_NM8sbFNf5QTxZ-Qs5YRfzRWXhD2-e1hSA-qCpBeLdObQcB_duxwX81_hUaurI5FYafoMu-r449xPUYiuVHgwfr0ahQs1IYLQtCO89FkE/s1600/041.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_x411AG8nETD0DsxG59mG2K9FCaCCspsiRs_NM8sbFNf5QTxZ-Qs5YRfzRWXhD2-e1hSA-qCpBeLdObQcB_duxwX81_hUaurI5FYafoMu-r449xPUYiuVHgwfr0ahQs1IYLQtCO89FkE/s400/041.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681318607641691954" border="0" /></a><br />Our activities for this year:<br />December 1 - Family Movie Night: Watch <span style="font-style: italic;">A Christmas Story</span> with root beer floats.<br />December 2 - Decorate the tree.<br />December 3 - String popcorn and listen to Christmas music.<br />December 4 - Start borax snowflakes.<br />December 5 - Make presents for friends and family.<br />December 6 - Write letters to Santa.<br />December 7 - Make paper garlands.<br />December 8 - Go on a walk in the woods, gather bits for the nature tray.<br />December 9 - Have a fancy dinner with china, silver, candlelight, and guests.<br />December 10 - Have a Mad Hatter tea party with friends. Read aloud from <span style="font-style: italic;">Alice in Wonderland</span>.<br />December 11 - Build a gingerbread house (or rice crispy tree house, as the case may be).<br />December 12 - Go to the Botanical Gardens to see the gingerbread houses.<br />December 13 - Make <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-gummies-easy-and-delicious/">gummies</a> (Aleks' idea).<br />December 14 - Make Lego snowmen (and maybe other types of snowmen as well). (Also Aleks' idea).<br />December 15 - Buy a gift for someone in need. We usually buy something from <a href="http://heifer.org/">Heifer International</a>.<br />December 16 - Family Game Night.<br />December 17 - Make or buy an ornament for each family member related to a significant experience from the past year.<br />December 18 - Drive around to look at Christmas lights.<br />December 19 - Go visit Santa Claus.<br />December 20 - Read <span style="font-style: italic;">Polar Express</span> while drinking hot cocoa.<br />December 21 - Decorate winter table.<br />December 22 - Bake cookies. Leave some out for the Solstice fairies.<br />December 23 - Take a food-colored, candlelit bubble bath.<br />December 24 - It's Christmas Eve! Open one gift (of mom's choosing because she's mean).<br />December 25 - It's Christmas Day! Enjoy the company of friends and family. Be grateful for all we have.anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-91019569899284907482011-10-27T17:23:00.001-04:002011-10-27T17:23:13.793-04:00HalloweenieWe're getting ready for Halloween. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoh9i3H3DjseVM8z_VeqYT-RMqZpNKFPnYp1pmdkvE8J5RG7HnXWkbCf806MN_ADRtUdKJEM7Y5V_Y1yzL8YouDXgPb_KNCRbpNX73sgV8rOLGef1bRqaatwdlxuDgSNCCKv7oqZhx4qc/s640/blogger-image-72626632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoh9i3H3DjseVM8z_VeqYT-RMqZpNKFPnYp1pmdkvE8J5RG7HnXWkbCf806MN_ADRtUdKJEM7Y5V_Y1yzL8YouDXgPb_KNCRbpNX73sgV8rOLGef1bRqaatwdlxuDgSNCCKv7oqZhx4qc/s640/blogger-image-72626632.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjszp8yfHXrJxAGOR9FRwqAYgMl4JSzeD9qFAOxvrNyzB4LlYIEimq0KEfexnnbA6v52wwKOjAqM-C-jWOf4jw3JLs2eKM1Z9X3uVOot9RmVLR06tMBFMJq61qRAATOxV1Iq7XIqDDzUs/s640/blogger-image--840130775.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjszp8yfHXrJxAGOR9FRwqAYgMl4JSzeD9qFAOxvrNyzB4LlYIEimq0KEfexnnbA6v52wwKOjAqM-C-jWOf4jw3JLs2eKM1Z9X3uVOot9RmVLR06tMBFMJq61qRAATOxV1Iq7XIqDDzUs/s640/blogger-image--840130775.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-59626632495831106192011-10-19T21:23:00.001-04:002011-10-19T21:23:50.217-04:00Aleks Informs me of the Health Benefits of Chicken Soup and Talks About
JesusAleks is on his third bowl of chicken & dumpling soup. He started explaining to me that chicken soup is good for colds (though he doesn't have one right now) and that the vitamin A in the carrots is good for eyesight. <br />
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Then he started talking about Jesus getting killed. He asked if they shot him or stabbed him and I had to explain several times that there weren't explosives in Jesus' time. So I told him they nailed him to a cross. Then he asked about what he did to deserve that. He figured that Jesus was causing the government a lot of extra work with protests & riots & such (he said protests & riots, not I). I said that if he'd continued they wouldn't have been the government anymore. <br />
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Then he talked more about chicken soup, watched carefully as the broth spilled slowly into the spoon if he held it just at the surface, and finally wrapped up dinner with a comparison of the size of a megalodon to our house. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFMrg1Zw7lNxnayEs5W-k0wFIzIT17Q5VwKS-Scb0wXfXsEdRZ7THFXOP7jd1_MLQiam9XDP2Jf8iPM21RIyC2tcVW8HTyk55H5GreGStfn2FKFV_BIAkSUzavPJQY2AtTKUz0oHN3w1U/s640/blogger-image--1837687701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFMrg1Zw7lNxnayEs5W-k0wFIzIT17Q5VwKS-Scb0wXfXsEdRZ7THFXOP7jd1_MLQiam9XDP2Jf8iPM21RIyC2tcVW8HTyk55H5GreGStfn2FKFV_BIAkSUzavPJQY2AtTKUz0oHN3w1U/s640/blogger-image--1837687701.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-73199090866306983052011-10-03T22:58:00.001-04:002011-10-03T22:59:54.126-04:00Bastian DrawsBastian has never drawn on his own before. He's only ever drawn pictures with assistance. Tonight at bedtime, he asked to draw in bed like Aleks was. This is the face he drew. I'm very proud. <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4AsUGNVT26_apxDmLbRc4RG8IQbc9c3XETHiq3EdVIXrjKTnbW3L99o506ItGENrwUozBljM3WnMlqFGDUqFpdN4TwsMd__vXSSHPA6K1vFkDGaj05bKdx0kSGABNcUIrtRhDYqta3Q0/s640/blogger-image--1109581439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4AsUGNVT26_apxDmLbRc4RG8IQbc9c3XETHiq3EdVIXrjKTnbW3L99o506ItGENrwUozBljM3WnMlqFGDUqFpdN4TwsMd__vXSSHPA6K1vFkDGaj05bKdx0kSGABNcUIrtRhDYqta3Q0/s640/blogger-image--1109581439.jpg" /></a></div>anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598504158046451738.post-15629632595770934412011-09-08T13:00:00.001-04:002011-09-08T13:00:45.256-04:00Sick Day<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ5qhmiYjb_LTg3IRuOfSu29mDTE3drLC8Luq3X-g33BZ2cQmKWScmiBtpiXPCZcCWhIydtcHCO38a-hQDkQRnmLxrdD-Q0jhGBWAmCKN4AjN0vG6LAgQ2ljkNatdiOsfXEgwE19TlX8k/s1600/photo-745257.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ5qhmiYjb_LTg3IRuOfSu29mDTE3drLC8Luq3X-g33BZ2cQmKWScmiBtpiXPCZcCWhIydtcHCO38a-hQDkQRnmLxrdD-Q0jhGBWAmCKN4AjN0vG6LAgQ2ljkNatdiOsfXEgwE19TlX8k/s320/photo-745257.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650034828142352738" /></a></p>The boys both have a cold with an icky cough, so I've been making infinite cups of peach tea. At least I have plenty of time to knit now.anna kisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14004735915443652720noreply@blogger.com0