All I've got to say is, good for him.
"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a real artist. Or maybe a Mama who shops for Pop-Tarts." - Kayla
What is it about buying a new purse that makes the whole world just a little more tolerable? I got a boring, tan, sensible purse at 30% off today from Shopko, and even that just put a smile on my face. Now I'm on the prowl for a good apple scrub. Might have to hit up the Bath and Body Works next time I'm at the mall.
I'm sure Michael Moore is very proud of himself.
I'm teaching an online class (of sorts) about shaker titles. Hence, the last layout. Here's my next class sample.
Today I was hired as a part-time employee for Adaptive Strategy, the same company Mike works for. I'm really excited about it - there will be some new technical challenges for me, and a chance to work on a team (which I've really missed, in some ways). The work should be interesting and different from what I'm doing now, at least to start. After a little while, I might be doing some work like that I've done before on QuiltIndex. It's all sort of fluid and open right now. I'll be reporting directly to Mike, at least in the immediate, since he's project manager on the project I'm starting with.
I think I'm mostly looking forward to getting a little sexual harrassment. ;-)
Life continues to busily march on and on. Today was the last weigh-in before my birthday. I had hoped to get my weight down to 220 before my birthday on Thursday. I fell 5 pounds short of that, but I'm still down 24 pounds, which I figure is still nothing to sneeze at. And I'll get there... hopefully before the end of the month. My exercise lately has consisted mostly of working on the chicken coop, since we're losing more and more of them to predators who are finding the holes in the coop's roof and sagging doors. I'm building new doors for both entrances into the coop, as well as new half-doors that let the chickens out to their pen. Next will be to fix the fence in the big scratch pen and build a new gate, then tramp down all of the brush that's accumulated this year while that area was vacant.
None of this is helped by my back twinging today. Dammit.
I'm still learning more C# and ASP.net. I'm using my QuiltIndex website to practice and learn new things. It's been a lot of fun! I think even Mike has learned a couple of things teaching me to do all that I need to do in the new language. It will be a big improvement, I believe. I'm planning a complete overhaul, with new graphics, new features, etc.
I'm back to working on the Double Wedding Ring quilt I started about three years ago. It's still months and months away from being done, but I'm trying to get a little done on it each day. I hope to SOMEDAY be able to take that frame down and reclaim the space. There is a LOT to be said for machine quilting!!
Around all of that, I try to scrapbook when I can. Here's my latest layout, which I finished today.
Mike is still working at Adaptive Strategy, as well as some other freelance work. He's been under crazy deadline pressure for a long time now, which is why you've probably noticed it's been awhile since he did a diary update. All I can say is he'll get to it when he gets to it. I check his site every day, too. ;)
Kids, in reverse order:
Lindsey is crawling - CRAWLING - everywhere. She sort of does the commando crawl thing, but still - it gets her where she wants to go. She's begun eating a few solids, but still can't be trusted with, say, Cheerios. So far, her favorite is couscous, followed closely by cheddar cheese Club crackers. She's deep into "Mommy only" need, which is wearing for everybody. She spends some happy time on the floor, but there is a big, big chunk of the day where she only wants to be held, and only by me. All of the other kids went through the same thing, so I know that this, too, shall pass.
Thomas has suddenly and inexplicably become something of a picky eater. For the longest time, he was our human garbage disposal - anything you set in front of him was sure to go down his gullet. Now, more and more, his lunch is being left on his plate, unfinished. Again, that happened with both of the preceding kids, but not this early, as I recall. His vocabulary has exploded, and he now often tells us things like, "You're trying my patience!" Monkey see, monkey do.
Kayla is a little Sybil. Sweet as candy one minute, and an argumentative little brat the next. A passing phase, I'm sure, but trying while it's going on. She still does Math every weekday morning and reading every weekday afternoon, and often participates in some of Adam's classes (music, art, sometimes cooking, and "Extras", which will be explained later.)
Adam spends a lot of his free time on his computer. He's learned to download and install kids' programs on his own, and frequents sites like Nick.com and Lego.com. He's still doing his homeschooling classes (we don't take summers off). We have some core classes that he does all the time (multiplication drill, language, history, a couple of others), and we follow his interests on other things (he's currently studying China, because he wants to know about it). A new class I introduced a couple of weeks ago is called "Extras." This is just a randomly-drawn activity. I keep an eye open for things that I think will be fun and/or educational. I write them on slips of paper, and put them in a little can. Each day, after he's finished his other classes, he chooses an activity from the can. It can be anything from "play the boardgame of your choice" to "conduct the experiment on page 32 of the Big Book of Experiments about expansion and contraction." Sometimes, we just play games like red light/green light. He loves the mystery factor of choosing an activity, and I've tried to make all of the activities themselves interesting and fun. So far, it's worked well!
I guess that's about all the news that's fit to print. Both Adam and I have birthdays in the coming week, so we're both pretty excited about that. I get just as excited about birthdays as the kids do. :)
Now, I'm off to do a little more C# work before dinner.
I "lifted" this layout from the June/July 2006 issue of Scrapbook Answers. Love that magazine!!
Thomas: *wahhhhhhh* I gotta bonk!
Mama: Awww, did you get a bonk?
Thomas: Yes!
Mama: Poor baby. Where did you get the bonk?
Thomas: *pointing over his shoulder* On my backwards!
