Photos for a Tuesday Afternoon

The sun shines after our very brief storm:


Picture of me house:

Waiting for Baby

I finished knitting the baby blanket for the shower. Well, it is not exactly what you would call a "blanket" as it is way too small. So I am starting again. I will give my sister the first one for a burp cloth.

I can hardly believe there will be another baby in the family soon. I don't let myself think about it too much because I get too excited. I have already volunteered to be her night nurse, since I can't sleep until the sun comes up anyway. I could sit with the baby and feed him and then read after he's asleep like I used to do with my own.

I tried to vote at the weblog awards, but I messed up and submitted my ballot before I voted! I am distraught...

Homeschool and Socialization-Part 2

My inner sociology major can no longer keep silent. I have been reading more on homeschooling and socialization, and it is clear to me that there is some confusion about what socialization means.

When we talk about socialization in relation to homeschooling, we are not talking about socializing in the sense of "chatting with a group of friends." We are talking about the process by which a child learns the norms and values of the society in which they live. This link offers a more in-depth explanation, if you are interested.

There. I feel better now.

Nice Way to Start the Day

I woke up this morning to the sound of the dogs whining in their crate. Their crate is downstairs, and I have a sound machine to drown out noise, but their piercing cries still pulled me out of a sound sleep. I go downstairs to let them out and feel a wet tail on my leg. I see one of them has urinated in the crate for the first time ever. It is now all over the floor.

I quickly wipe it up with a paper towel and rush back to bed. I have been feverish and need all of my sleep. I lie in bed thinking about how I just wiped up the urine with a paper towel and didn't sanitize the floor. I decide it's okay and try to sleep. I picture my little ones waking up and padding in their bare feet to the fridge to get some milk and getting dog urine germs on their feet. What kind of mother am I? Then I decide that it is probably no worse than everything else on the floor and bury my head in the covers.

Then I start thinking about everything else on the floor and how dirty it is because the dogs ate the doormats, so we can't wipe our feet. And when was the last time I cleaned the toilets? What kind of mother am I?

So I get up to clean the floor.

Tim and the kids watched the movie Polly last night, while I attempted to knit baby booties. I wouldn't recommend the film for little ones as I heard quite a bit of language coming from that parrot. I think the voice of the parrot was Buddy Hackett, and it was very annoying.

The booties did not happen. I probably shouldn't try to learn something at night while a movie is on, so I will try once more today. If I can't get it today, I will have to make a blanket instead, because the baby shower is only two weeks away.

I used to give up on things all the time, but these days, I am determined. When I give up on something, it nags at me until I go back and do it. So I will probably figure out the booties. And I want to make socks.

Birthdays Without Pressure

I just read an article about the website Birthdays Without Pressure. It really cracked me up, because for my son's last birthday (6 days after Christmas) I was so tired that I didn't plan anything at all. We stopped off at the grocery store and bought a cake on our way to Grandma's house. The kids all played football in the street with the neighborhood children. And at the end of the day, my son said it was a great party.

During the day, I had a few pangs of guilt that I didn't try harder to make it a "special" day, but it turned out better than any of the parties that I worked so hard on in the past. The only major stress of the day was taking the wrapper off of the cake.

Anyway, I like the trend away from extravagant parties.