Teach Your Children Well

Can you hear and do you care and 
Can’t you see we must be free to 
Teach your children what you believe in… 

It’s that time of year! School is starting. I love the ‘new’ associated with school. There’s smiling, polished faces dressed in their new clothes carrying new backpacks filled with wonderful new supplies. It’s a new year, most likely with a new teacher. It’s time to renew old friendships and begin new ones. It’s time to learn.

For the first time in a long while we had a new first grader at the house. She was excited because we were excited. And she couldn’t believe the bus would come all the way up to the house to pick her up!

First day waiting for the bus!

All of the Littles except George are in school now. It’s bittersweet. I love that they are growing and learning but I also long for the time when they were babies, no worries or cares, wanting to sit in my lap. We could do nothing together and have a good time. We still enjoy each others company, when we have a chance to be together. But schedules, both mine and theirs, activities and life in general make those meetings few and far between.

Now we have one in Kindergarten, two in first and one in fourth grade Time seems to pass so quickly.

I asked each of them about school this year. Starr, moving into a new state, besides a new school, has some cultural factors to overcome. In Texas, where Spanish is a common second language, she’s hearing words she’s never experienced before! The morning of her second day, before she was ready to get on the bus, I asked her what her teacher’s name was. She thought for a while and finally said, “Mrs. Tomato”. I laughed because I thought she was playing. She was serious. But when you’ve never heard Maldonado before, Tomato is pretty close!

She's really paying attention!

Belle is our kindergartner. She’s 5 going on 20! Her mother says she’s a lot like me because we have common interests: shoes, clothes, pedicures! One day last year when Callye was getting her ready for pre-school she burst out crying. “What’s wrong?” Callye asked. Belle, between sobs, told her the problem. “I don’t have any diamonds on my jeans!”

When I talked to her the other day, in her grown up Belle speak she told me she’d already gotten in trouble. “Oh no,” I said, “What happened?” “A girl was shaking me in the bathroom and I shaked her back and it got me in the OOPS can!” she said breathlessly. “Did the other girl get in the OOPS can too?” “Yes, she did!” she said. And without remorse I said, “Well good!”

Caleb is our little dinosaur expert. Except the other day he was Spock. He’s got varied interests which he seems to have inherited from his uncles. He can recite information and whether it’s correct or not, convince you! He is comfortable playing with a group of kids or he is perfectly content being alone. When his mom asked him last year what his favorite thing about school was he said the cafeteria! She told me he rubbed his belly and said he really liked that place! He also had a crush on his teacher last year. He liked her so much he was going to marry her! He didn’t have a lot to say about school so far this year. All he told me was that his new teacher was pretty! Hmmm…I wonder if she’s going to replace last year’s crush!

 

Evan is a big kid now. He’s into listening to his music, dancing and just being a cool kid. He’s getting to the age where he can throw a little attitude to and fro, much to his mother’s chagrin! She had an interesting conversation with him when he came home from his first day of school. “Mom,” he said, “My teacher is old fashioned. She called earbuds headphones.” She said, “Well that's what we called them when we were young.” And he, in his fourth grade superiority voice says, “I can't believe they had earbuds when you were young.”

I figured out their graduation years. That was an eye opening experience! Evan will be the class of 2022. Caleb and Starr will share the distinction of being in the class of 2025. And Belle will graduate exactly 50 years after I did. WHAT?? She’ll be the class of 2026. And they’d better watch out!

And feed them on your dreams 
The one they picked, the one you'll know by. 

Here’s the Quaker Yarn Stretcher blocking.

It really grew with the blocking!

 

I liked it so well I'm making another with this yarn. It’s almost finished! 

Fun with Brenda’s handspun yarn!

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, 
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Mercedes Benz

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ? 
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends. 

It was the end of a special weekend. Alan had to present at a conference in Lubbock so we decided to go a couple of days early. It would be a good trip for one of the grands. Evan had been feeling neglected so he went with us.

He’d had a great time, swimming, watching movies, eating from the vending machine and sleeping in until he was ready to wake up. He got to pick where we went, what we did and where we ate. He was getting the royal treatment! The presentation was Monday morning so Evan was planning to lounge around, take one last swim and generally milk Mamye all he could before he had to go back home and be a regular kid.

He slept in that morning, too late to swim. Instead he decided he wanted to go to Olive Garden for lunch. That sounded fine to me. He showered, dressed and we packed. He changed his mind and wanted to go to Golden Corral instead, which wasn’t as fine to me, but what the heck. It was his weekend.

As we gathered the last of our belongings to take down to the car I had him search, once again, just to make sure no treasures were left behind. He picked up the hotel pen and put it on the table. I asked, “Do you want that?” thinking it would be a little souvenir he would remember the weekend by.

The last of the parcels in the trunk, seatbelts fastened, preparing to take off, Evan tells me, “This pen doesn’t work. I’m throwing it away”. As I look over at him in the passenger seat I see an ink mark by the arm rest. “Evan, be more careful please”, I tell him. I got the hand sanitizer (because I vaguely remembered that alcohol might take off ink) and leaned across him to wipe the stain. He moved over and I saw another mark by his leg on the seat. Exasperated I put the car in park and tell him to get out so I can clean up the mess.

He did as he was told and my heart went to my throat. (I actually googled to make sure I was relaying the right emotion. To have one’s heart in the throat means to be full of apprehension, excitement, or fear. To have one’s heart in their boots or feet means to be depressed or down-hearted. I can truly say, from the bottom of my heart, that my internal organ traveled the gamut!) There on the seat behind him was a HUGE ink blob.

I was sick. Truly, I felt like throwing up. This was my new car. It’s the car on which I faithfully make mammoth monthly payments. It’s the car with light colored leather seats, now decorated with ink blots that would make Rorschach proud.

Miraculously, I stayed calm. I tried the hand sanitizer again, and removed a small amount of ink. But it was obvious there was so much it wasn’t going to work. I beseeched my sweet little car’s GPS system (which is NOT very good by the way), and found an auto part store not too far away. My thoughts were to quickly find some kind of cleaner that might work. I went in and asked the two experienced men at the counter if they had anything that could help. They didn’t. We traveled to another store I saw. This man didn’t know of anything either. He did, very kindly I might add, spray some product onto a rag for me to try. I gave it a shot and when it didn’t work, was thankful that he let me try before I had to buy. He told me to stop by the Mercedes Benz dealer, a few blocks away, and ask for Craig in parts to see if he might know of something. When Evan got back into the car I noticed another large spot. He had ink on his arm and it had rubbed onto the seat. Frantic, I thanked the man and drove to the dealership.

I didn’t see a parts department but did see the service department as I pulled up and parked. I went in, explained my dilemma and asked for Craig. Craig wasn’t available but a very nice man, armed with a can of Mercedes seat cleaner came to the parking lot with me.

He was so considerate. Here he is, in the parking lot of an elite automobile dealership scrubbing the seat, not of my Mercedes, but of my Honda Accord! I couldn't help but see the humor! He sprayed the cleaner and although the ink seemed to be smearing it was getting lighter. But it was definitely still there. When he’d done all he could I thanked him and he went back inside. We headed to Walmart for more hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, hairspray and a towel. Did I tell you I was desperate? I tried them all but to no avail. The ink was there. Resigned, I covered the seat with the towel.

The spot on the side from his arm, after cleaning.

The main spot after cleaning.

A week or so later the towel fell down. I glanced over at the blemished seat and the stain seemed to be lighter. Could it be? It was probably just the angle. I pulled the towel back up and tried to block it from my mind! Another week went by and the towel again fell down. The stain was definitely lighter. A few days later I looked and one of the stains was gone. The other was faded quite a bit.

It’s been almost a month since the traumatic event. I have no idea what’s in that Mercedes cleaner but the ink is faded and the last spot is almost gone. It’s a miracle! I wish I’d gotten the name of the nice man who helped me. I’d write him a thank you letter.

Was it disappearing ink??

It's almost gone. What's up with that?

I’ll probably never get the chance to own a Mercedes. But if I do I’ll buy it at Alderson Mercedes in Lubbock.

Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends, 
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ? 

I have some beautiful handspun yarn from my friend Brenda.

Yarn my friend Brenda spun.

I've just finished the Quaker Yarn Stretcher on Ravelry. All that’s left is the blocking!

Quaker Yarn Stretcher designed to use your handspun yarn.

So oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ? 
That's it!

Good Morning Starshine

The earth says hello… 

It’s 7:00 am on a Sunday. What the heck am I doing up? It’s the weekend and my chance to sleep a little later. And I blew it.

I am definitely not a morning person. It’s not that I don’t like morning. I just don’t like to get up. There’s no particular reason. There’s just something about early morning and staying under the warm covers that seems to encourage my best sleep. I’m really a night owl, not caring to go to bed early. I’d much rather stay up until midnight or so then sleep in until I wake up. Unfortunately, like most people nowadays, I have to work and work starts in the morning; extremely early in the morning.

Snooooze

After I’m up it’s not so bad. But not immediately. I need time. I’m not one of those cheerful, full of conversation, smiling morning people. I more resemble Oscar, as in the Grouch, not the hotdog. Talk to me and I may answer with a grunt or something unintelligible. I move slowly and long for caffeine. After a cup of coffee or a Coke even, my blood starts to circulate and I slowly wake up and return to civility.

A long time ago when aerobics was the dance exercise of choice, an early morning class was offered. It sounded great because it would work perfectly with my schedule, allowing me to go to class and then come home and get myself and everyone else ready for the day. The first class came and I was ready. I had worn my sweats to bed so I could sleep a little later so I was set when I woke up. I headed out the door with great anticipation. I arrived to see a bunch of Barbies, decked out with full makeup and color coordinated fashionable exercise attire. What the heck? I quickly moved to the back row to find a fellow teacher, a male, in sweats, bleary eyed, messy hair, like me. After I warned him not to look at me and explained what the consequences would be if he uttered one word about my appearance at school, we began the routine. I was immediately a beat behind and if they went left I was going right. I stayed in that class for about a month until, secretly relieved, I realized early morning exercise was not for me.

Aerobics in the early morning is just a blur...

I still wait until the last minute to get up, pressing the snooze button however many times I can get away with it. I get ready and head out the door for the hour long trek to work. Maneuvering the road I’ve witnessed the sun rise many times. In the winter the sky is pitch black when I leave and the sun may or may not be coming up by the end of the drive. In the spring and summer though, it’s lighter when I leave and I see the sun peeking over the horizon the entire trip. The colors are amazing. Oftentimes the moon is on one side of the road while the sun is on the other.

Holding my phone up in the car. Notice the mirror?

Morning is a great time to reflect and plan the day. For some people that is. Me? I’ll stay up and decide what I’ll wear and what I want to do for the next day the night before. I’ll watch re-runs or a movie without interruption or work on a project. I’ll quietly slide into bed beside the morning person I married. When the alarm goes off I’ll squeeze every minute of time I can at daybreak, staying in bed under the covers before I have to get up and face the day.

Early morning singing song… 

I finished the Sassymetrical! I didn’t have enough of the beautiful handspun yarn but I managed to blend in some different skeins I had, pretty well if I do say so myself, and the average person won’t be able to notice. It’s way too hot to wear it right now, but in a couple of months it will be just right. I’m ready for fall already!

Front of Sassymetrical

Back of Sassymetrical

Up close with pin

The first light color is where I started adding different yarn

I haven’t had much time lately but I did finish an easy read mystery. Surprise! There were a lot of giveaway books at the library where our family reunion was held this summer so I picked some up. They are older, but they were free!

“Caught in the Shadows” is about a computer hacker who, while doing her job, stumbles upon some secrets of her own past. It’s full of twists and turns making you wonder about the true identity of the ‘bad guy’ all the way to the end. I’m reading another, “A Window Over the Sink”, and it’s funny and nostalgic but it hasn’t grabbed me yet. I’ll finish it, because that’s just something I do but it may take a while. And I might squeeze in a couple of others in the meantime.

A lot of good it did me to get up at 7:00 except that I was able to catch up on a couple of shows I like that I’d missed and I got to knit some on my ‘secret’ project. But I’m rested, just like I would have been if I’d just stayed in bed. So all is well. Good morning!

Good morning Starshine. 

So happy to be…