So Frustrated

Ugh. Hannah. Hannah and her friends are always planning little get togethers, and I made a big mess of today's plan. Yesterday, after volleyball, when I picked up Hannah and our neighbor Kate, they wanted to ride the bus to the library with their friend, Beth, instead of coming home with me. I said - Not today, maybe another time, when Kate has a chance to talk to her mom.

When they got home from school Kate talked to her mom, and she said they could ride to the library after school with Beth on Friday (today,) then sleep over at Kate's house. So Hannah and I scrounged around for a dollar in change so that she could ride the bus, and I asked her - Who is bringing you home? I am the afternoon driver in our carpool, but I didn't know if Beth's mom would bring them home because she works near there and that is why Beth rides the bus there after school, or if Kate's mom would bring them home because she is hosting the sleep-over and this library trip seemed to be part of the sleep-over. Hannah didn't know what the plan was, but she said she thought Kate's mom would be picking them up. I gave Hannah change and told her to talk to Kate's mom in the morning, and call me if I was supposed to pick them up. Is that too confusing? Apparently.

Part of the problem here is that I didn't know what time they would be at the library. So I worried about it a little, and I thought the library closed at 5pm on Fridays. I decided to go check at the library at about 4:45 to see if they were still there and if they needed a ride home - I also had a movie, Bend it Like Beckam, on hold. I took John, and we walked up to the Youth Section and looked all around. I did not see the girls, so I checked out the movie - which turned out to be a book based on the screen play? Frustrating! (The librarian special ordered that for me - how did we end up with a fake book?)

John walked on the cement boarder at the front of the library for a while before we left. Since I was out and about, I decided I had better pick up milk and eggs, so we headed to Sam's Club.

I got home just after 6pm and Nathan was leaving. I drove up the street after him and he was MAD! He asked if I had the girls - no. He asked where I was...the girls waited for a half hour in front of the library for me, and then started calling moms, who started calling Nathan. Nathan just told them that I was headed to the library to pick up the girls. But I did not pick them up, and the moms kept calling him. Poor Nathan.

Beth has a cell phone and called her mom. Apparently her mom had no idea that the girls were heading to the library (though her daughter goes there after school each day) she thought I was picking them up from school. Kate's mom also thought I was picking up the girls from the library.

Why am I such a loser? Now all these mom's know how scatterbrained and crazy I am. Why did I think Hannah was capable of discussing this with Kate's mom? I don't know why the girls didn't call me on the cell phone or on the pay phone. I don't know where the girls were waiting, but it was not at the front of the library. I am really upset with Hannah, but it isn't really her fault. Nathan is upset with me, but I don't think it was really my fault either. ieeeeee.

When I came in with the groceries there was a message from Kate's mom that they were home and going to run an errand. Beth's mom picked them up and took them to Courtney's house.

Why didn't Hannah come home to gather her things? Kate lives just behind us. I am still frustrated and typing about this hasn't made me feel any better. I think maybe no more adventures and no more sleep-overs for a while.

Hannah's last failed adventure was the day she and Kate rode their bikes to school. Hannah crashed as she was leaving the school and hurt her hand badly. Kate was told to go ahead and go home, but Kate didn't really know the way, and got lost. Kate and Hannah are not a very good team.

*Update - talked to the other moms, sounds like there was mass confusion and frustration all the way around. The girls are safe and at Kate's house. Hopefully I have learned my lesson about talking to parents rather than relying on the girls. The more I think about this saga, the more grateful I am that they are home and safe - what was I thinking allowing Hannah to ride the bus with no experience? - it is a small miracle that they made it to the library.

Frost

We had our first frost last night. The grass was crisp this morning, and I needed hat during my morning jog. Hurray! Autumn is here.


John is sick, sick, sick. I wonder who will be next... I have been wiping down door knobs and walls and bathrooms with lysol, so hopefully we can stop this yucky germ.


Emily loves when I read to her, but she especially loves when she can read along. We have a few Rebus stories, and she was so excited to see that this month's friend has a rebus story, too. Enchanted learning has lots of rebus rhymes, too.

Grandma and Grandpa made it and we have been having fun going to see the sights. John was so excited to see grandpa that he ran right up to him as they came in the door, and gave him a big hug. Emily has been a little confused about which grandparents these guys are. She told grandpa, "You look different than the last time I saw you, when we were camping with Abby." And it's no wonder:


Who is that Hombre?

I don't wanna

Nathan's parents are on their way to our house, they should get here tonight. They are bringing Grandma and our nephew Matt. I am really excited to see everyone, but I am grouchy and I do not feel like cleaning. It is 11am and the kitchen is clean, the sheets are out hanging on the line and the library books are all stacked and ready to head back this afternoon. I still need to dust, vacuum, window/mirror clean, and do more laundry. But I just don't want to. Waaaaaa. The house doesn't look bad, and those few little chores will take less than an hour (if you don't count the laundry - which is never ending.) I am avoiding my work by blogging instead.

Okay.
Get to work.
Get off the computer.
Stop thinking about a nap.

Here's what I'm going to do. I am going to post this, then I am going to set my timer and work for 30 minutes, then I will fix lunch, then check back here to see if any *elephants are hanging out at the water cooler. *Emily and I saw 2 elephants at the pond this morning!

Elephants walking along the trails
Are holding hands by holding tails

Trunks and tails are handy things
When elephants walk in circus rings

Elephants work and elephants play
And elephants walk and feel so gay.

And when they walk, it never fails,
They're holding hands by holding tails.
- Lenore M. Link

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There has been a big stir over at the WTM message boards about Pete's Pond - a livecam set up at a pond in Botswana. The camera is sponsored by National Geographic, and any time during day or night you can see animals coming and going around the pond.

I hear you can see elephants and zebras and monkeys, but I have been watching off and on for a few days and only saw a bird or two and some bugs flying at night. As I am typing this message it is evening at Pete's Pond and I have seen an ostrich and two deer-like animals. So cool.

I'll be watching for those elephants today..

Found

All summer I have been looking for two items: my favorite black slip, and my new black polo shirt. I haven't been actively searching for them, but I have thought about them occasionally, such as on a Sunday morning when I was trying to decide if I should wear the black button down dress. I had to say no, because I could not find the black slip, and the button dress must have a black slip under it for when the buttons gap a little. That day I looked all around my closet with no success. I have thought about the new black polo everytime I have had to wear the old faded black polo, and though I looked through my shirt stacks, I could not find it.

This Sunday I decided to wear a black dress that I haven't worn all summer because it requires tights and dress shoes, rather than bare legs and sandals. When I pulled the dress out of my closet I found my favorite black slip hanging on the hanger with the dress. Hurray! Then I had to pull out my box of put-away things to find my tights, and oddly enough, there was my black polo surrounded by black and tan and off-white tights. Double hurray! It was nice to start my Sunday on a happy note.

Over at MFS she posed a challenge to list your top ten books. I thought it would be fun to write about my list here.

Okay, so this is supposed to be a list of books that are "me", not just my favorites, right? I am not that interesting, it turns out, and as I have tried to make a list I have had a hard time remembering favorite books that have shaped me and made me who I am. This is not new. As I read other blogs and articles I find that I am not much of a thinker. I like to read, but I just don't take the time to think about things very much. I am going to put that on my to-do list: Start Thinking. But here's what I could come up with, from my childhood to now:

Harry and the Terrible Whatzit, by Dick Glackenbach - I remember Mom reading this to us and I loved it. Luckily we did not have a basement. I have mom's copy of this, and though it is yellow and falling apart, Emily enjoyed it just the other day. I also loved this one book about a mom and son who decide to open an Inn, but a witch lives upstairs in their new (old) house. The witch ends up baking blueberry pancakes? Do you remember the name of that book? Anyone?

Miss Nelson is Missing - I have mom's copy of this one, too. Sorry guys.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe - I read this series over and over from about 3rd grade until 6th grade. Laurie had the boxed set on her bookshelf, but The Magician's Nephew was missing, so I had read the other books a couple of times before I finally read it. I reread the books with Hannah our first homeschooling year. We would check out one a week from the library in Pensacola and then steal them out of each other's rooms. We read the Magician's Nephew last as well, and I highly recommend reading the series in that order, even though the Magician's Nephew is #1 in the new boxed sets. Sydney and I have read 2 of the books....

Anne of Green Gables (and the rest of the series esp. Rilla of Ingleside) 7th grade. Brenda Rasmussen. Love em. One of my favorite things about Nathan is that he knows who Gilbert Blythe is.

The Promise, by Chaim Potok - Some time in Jr High I read this book and any other book written by him. Around the same time I was invited to a friend, Elise Rosenberg’s Bat Mitzvah? Cindy Ross and I went together. That is the only time I have ever been to a Synagogue. We attended an evening service, a very fancy reception the next day, then another service and a dance that night. I remember her grandparents and older aunts and uncles dancing and singing. Elise wore a taffeta skirt. A teacher that I hadn't seen since Sonoma Elementary School was there and stood when those who were mourning (I think) were asked to stand, and I wondered if it was her husband or son or parent who had died.

Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card - Laurie gave this book to Mom for Christmas, I think the first year she was away at BYU. I borrowed it from mom on Christmas day, and I'm not sure that she ever had a chance to read it. I leant it to our cousin Brandon and never got it back.

The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas - This was one of the first "real" "classic" books that I read for an English class. And I loved it. Great book.

Mother Goose Rhymes - when Hannah was a baby I spent most of my time on the ground reading to her. She would bring me the Mother Goose book to read when she was just crawling. I have two favorites that I read to John, now. The rhythm of those poems are my strongest memory of being a young mom, and learning how to take care of a baby. Just typing that takes me back to that little one bedroom apartment with the brown textured carpet, and Dana Brinton, and the red brick chapel, and the Audi.

The Midwife's Apprentice, Karen Cushman. Laurie gave this book to Hannah, and we read it when Nathan's cousin was staying with us and getting ready to have her baby at our house. "she learned that midwifery was as much about hard work and good sense and comfrey tonic as spells and magic."

Citizen Soldiers, Ambrose - read this last year, loved it, have read as many books by Ambrose as our library holds, and have continued reading about WWII. I am currently reading Frauen - German Women Recall the Third Reich, by Alison Owings. very interesting interviews with regular wives and mothers. There is so much written about the war. I wonder how we could have let it happen, and did we really learn from it, why didn't regular people put a stop to it, and are we letting it happen today.


hey wait, I think I found 11, and I can think of a few more..... The Good Earth, Frog and Toad, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Anna karenina, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.....

1st Day of School

The excitement level around our house has been pretty high as we headed into the first day of school. We went back-to-school shopping and found just the perfect first-day-of school outfits as well as all the items on the school supply lists. We loaded backpacks and made lunches. We went to bed early, got up early, and sent Hannah into the wild world of middle school. Yikes. She has survived 3 days and has only locked herself out of her locker one time. She says changing classes is fun, and likes all of her teachers. Sydney found her line-up spot just fine, and was only a little scared. She really likes her new teacher, and says she reminds her of Grammy. Today she could not find her lunch box, and after checking all around the school, she found it near last year's classroom. Whoops.

Last Friday, we decided that riding bikes to school would be a great way to conserve fuel. Hannah rode off with a neighbor in her grade, and I jogged with Sydney as she rode her bike to school. That was a nice morning jog. Then, in the afternoon, I had to jog back to school and jog home with her. That may have been more jogging than I was interested in. The school is nearly 2 miles away.

So as I was jogging home with Sydney on Friday, I was expecting Hannah to pass us. When we got home, there was a message from the school, she had fallen and hurt her hand. Poor Hannah. Her tire got caught in the bit of dirt between the grass and the sidewalk, just in front of the school. Her had swelled and bruised immediately. It is just a bad sprain, but it looks terrible, even her palm is bruised. Maybe riding bikes is not such a good idea.

Hannah caught a ride with the neighbor girl this morning, but Sydney rode her bike again, and I jogged. Sydney's best friend rode her bike to school, too, and her mom jogged with her, so we jogged home together. It was very fun. I hope the weather stays nice for a while so that we can keep this up.

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We have been watching and reading about the hurricane. I just cannot believe the destruction and suffering. It has seemed far from here, but some time this week about 600 survivors will be coming to Rapid City. They will be housed (for a start) at Camp Rapid - a National Guard base. Camp Rapid is right next door to our chapel. So it is close to home, now. There will be about 1000 all together housed here in SD. I wonder what they think about coming to South Dakota. South seems to connotate southern, warm, less North. But South Dakota is just one state away from Canada. It gets really cold here. There is often snow before Halloween.

I haven't heard about volunteer opportunities, but I would like to do something. Are you doing anything to help where you are?