After a year and a half, if not more, of being without a dog in our family, we have rectified that situation. Daisy was a luv, and we waited a long time to bring a new dog into the house, with no regrets over the amount of time.

So it’s with great joy that I introduce “Whisky Tango Foxterror” who has a perpetual surprised expression when he’s not passed out.

Monday night after finishing the first day of our second week of school, and everyone else having that day as their back to school day, I took Calvin and we went puppy shopping.  I didn’t expect to bring such a sweetheart home that day, but WTF picked us out, and I decided that after spending 6 months plus on the process of chosing our new dog and looking everywhere (yes we did actually look at the Shelters around here, but everything is as the ACO puts it ‘either Marmaduke or a fighting pit.’ not what I need here) we contacted several breeders and brokers until we found one with puppies in the breeds we were interested in.

A Toy Fox Terrier was not on our list initially, and my game plan for Monday night was actually to go walking on the High School Track with Sunny and then to hammer out online lesson plans as the Diva’s been slacking a little on her math.

So I have to say – it’s just been two full days, but I think that it was serendipity as a Toy Fox Terrier seems to have been the perfect match for us all.  If you are considering this breed – I say go for it.

ahhh what a crazy week for me.

Tuesday I ventured the farthest from home I’ve been all summer since getting sick, and did the most walking since then too.  My daughter’s godfather (my friend Sunnys husband who is a local Police Officer and works the third shift) planned on taking his little boy to the Mystic Aquarium and did the kids and I want to come along.

It just so happened that he texted me this after 1am, and thanks the the wonders of a little boy working on growing in some molars, I caught it and responded with a rousting Yessssss!

It was just awesome to be honest, while a cooler and misty/drizzley day, the air was still fantastic for my asthma (Zoiks! I could breathe without difficulty) and the Mystic Aquarium was a perfect add on to what the Diva has had added to her home school curriculum for first grade science lessons, and we had a grand time looking at the bull frogs and discussing amphibians – a particular lesson she has loved.

The beluga whales, penguins, jellyfish, sharks, and of course the Cow-nosed Rays were a big hit and she had to make sure she could try to pet the Rays… they were a bit tired by end of day however and didn’t seem to be as social as they were earlier in the day.  This didn’t stop the Diva from reaching into the petting tank as far as she could and then telling me “Mommy they are slippery!”

Yep  Science lessons in action.  Gotta love Homeschooling – field trips on the second day of the school year.  Depending on what my work schedule looks like next week we may be either heading back to the shore to the beach or north towards the Berkshire Mountains.  Its nice not being restricted from travel after all this time.

Speaking of homeschooling – we did start Calvin this week too.  He’s become a bit of a junkie for his Time4Learning PreK1 and I love that he begs to do his schoolwork.  He will play the learning games with as much enthusiasm as he shows when he’s playing at the park. And this little boy loves his time at the park.

Wednesday I started my prep for a colonoscopy and my youngest sister in law magically appeared out of the blue, just hours before I was about to start my sit in at my bathroom, and asked to take the kids overnight.  While it was a schoolnight, I wasn’t going to argue on this one, as it allowed me to prep for this test that would either clear me to return to work, or show that I needed the resection my Colorectal specialist had threatened me with in July.  I have played down my concern both here and everywhere else in my life over it, but my late father was facing this, and I’ve had at least one uncle who had a resection, plus there is a history of ugly diverticulitis on both sides of my family. It’s really not been something I’ve been happy about.

This morning after getting maybe an hours sleep in my bed, vs the couch and being less than 10 feet from the bathroom all night, I had that colonoscopy and am glad to say it’s all good and I don’t have to go through that again for another decade.  None of my worst case scenarios were presented to me today, and I am greatly relieved.

Aside from sleeping away most of today I got my last  test submitted for my Doula Certification, and I am hoping tomorrow morning I will get an email back telling me “Congratulations, you are a certified Doula!”

Tomorrow I’ll be back to working on spinning, getting business cards made up for my Doula Services,  and working on my home office organization. I have to get my trade name registration filed as well with the city and see what other business licensing I need to get within the town… I am going to be putting things together and need to see what office supplies I have and what I need, and there is this desk at Office Depot that I’ve so been jonesing for… *sigh*  I’ll have to look and see where I am before I go spending any more money there but I do need the desk space.  Not sharing it with the homeschooling station is greatly appealing.

This weekend is the Terryville Faire, I’ve not been there with the kids for a couple of years, and I am hoping to make it for Saturday Afternoon.  I’m contemplating contacting Sunny and seeing if she wants to come with us with the little man as her man in blue is going to be working.

and on that note – it’s time to go back to sleep, as I think if I lay my head back down for a nap I’ll wake up by 10am tomorrow… the meds from the procedure seem to be slow to leave the system.

Today is a red letter day for the Diva.  She has her first Solo today… she is performing a Ballet to Shakira’s “Gypsy”.  In and amongst all of her eclectic homeschooling, Dance has figured prominently. She hasn’t followed a typical school year, and as a result is still in her Kindergarten curriculum from Time4Learning.

Needless to say she’s close to finishing that up, just in time for first grade to start.  Figuring out a good path for secular homeschooling her seems to have literally fallen into place for us, and I am thankful that she has such a drive, determination and love for learning.  We add all sorts of supplements into what she is studying, making it a rather holistic learning process, but if it weren’t for Time4Learning and the core curriculum there, I’d probably be out a whole lot more financially than I am in just costume and tuition and shoes… as with two kids homeschooling now (and dancing this fall as Calvin is starting at Nutmeg Performing Arts Center in September) it’s always an adventure in finding how I’m covering things financially or just physically being there.

As I type this she is napping, with her legs stretched out on my leg.  I am torn about waking her as we have to get moving soon – but she so needs her rest.  Our running about this afternoon consists of a trip to the bank,  picking up a pair of new tights for her as during dress rehearsal she had a hole open up in hers behind of all places the knee, snacks for backstage, buying hair gel for keeping her hair from going wild and of course more bobby pins.  I hand made her costume for her solo, and I’m really proud of it, she looks just brilliant in it.

Working with that fabric was not fun, and it had to be handmade as the fabric has rhinestones embedded in the whole thing, but all in all it was worth it don’t you think?

ok – time to go wake the sleeping Diva and go get ready for her 6:30pm Curtain.

Never did I ever imagine I’d be a stage mom.  But then I never imagined I’d have such an amazing daughter…

Some people think that life is owed to them… whether it’s a house they’ve never paid a dime on and someone else worked their whole life for, to a place on a stage, where they have the spotlight, no matter what their performance is or how terribly they phone it in.

This last few months I’ve dealt with both.

From another little girl who told the Diva that dancing wasn’t it wasn’t about having fun but about personally showing the Diva up – when the girl attended not as many classes as she should and really didn’t seem interested in performing, to a cousin who’s been taking advantage of a situation that has the rest of the family/cousins spitting mad.

Anyhow – in the face of all this a ray of sunshine came in to our lives.

I’ve written of how the Diva has spent many hours in dance classes and rehearsals this summer, sometimes upwards to 11 hours a week at one point… which is a lot for a 5 year old.

She performed her solo dance for the Director of her regular class on Tuesday. We had dropped in to see if the DVD’s of her June recital were in yet and were dissapointed to find out they weren’t, and happened to see the Director of the school while there. The Diva was dressed in her tutu and tights as we’d run errands after her afternoon Ballet class, and she had her little Fisher Price iXL which also has a MP3 player in it, and she played the cut for the Director… who asked her if she would show her the dance.

She happily ran out to the van and got her dance bag which held her dance shoes, already showing scuffs from hard work over the summer, yet only two months in her possession. Slipping into them, she followed us to the smaller studio and handed me her little handheld unit and told me how to start her music, and then got into position to start.

She of course aced the dance. Things that I have a video of her doing ok on just three weeks ago, she now had polished and was performing with a grace that most 5 year olds just don’t have.

After performing for the Director, she was asked to show a few ballet poses… her Passe, her Tendu, an Arabesque, a Glissade… and she received praise for them.

I was asked if I wanted her to do a solo class this year which would have her doing a solo in the next June recital, and if she would be able to attend the workshop she’s two years too young for.  The Diva has obligations that will not allow her to attend the workshop this week  (another 10 hours of dance added to this week alone) but if she didn’t have them, we’d jump at it.

I was floored.

but smart. I told the Director that it was Tessa’s call.

When asked, my little Diva lit up like a Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Her answer was a resounding YESSSSSSSS!!!

(I really put some thought here as to how much of this I wanted to reveal here on the public blog, as this is a big thing for a her and I don’t want potential jealousy issues from other little girls that she deals with, nor their mothers.)

All her hard work is paying off. The satisfaction from this just can’t be conveyed, and won’t be understood by those who feel they are entitled to things by virtue of birth or money.

She has been sending invitations and announcements for her recital on Tuesday that she performs her solo in… and she just has me in awe. I know I was a gutsy kid, but she’s got me beat and I wanna be her when I grow up.

In the mean time we’ve been working on just playing with our homeschooling.  I go in and look some of the games over and play them my self to see what I think the Diva’s reactions will be… I found some fun riddle games that make me giggle and I will be sitting with the Diva later today after rehearsal and playing them with her.  For Calvin however – it’s educational animal games and videos.  Perfect for a very boyish little boy.

Once this all is over (can’t believe the recital is next week) we get a short vacation from all these dance classes.  I will be working on the dance school’s website as well and have a deadline of 2 weeks or so to get it in shape, and of course still resting from being sick.  Believe it or not – for me this is slowing down.

On the spinning front – Calvin has asked to learn how to spin on a drop spindle, so we may be doing some of that soon, and they love their new fisher price iXL’s so we’ll be getting in lots of home schooling in the oddest of places. I’ll share those as they come along, but for now leave you wishing you a very good day!

One thing I can tell you about homeschooling a pair of very bright and articulate children is that finding ways to keep them engaged.

Mine are no exception to that.  There is Dance for the Diva, but Calvin being only three years old is harder to find things that aren’t lightning McQueen or Bakugon… and while I can use Cars for teaching some things (basic physics…) I don’t know enough about Bakugon to save my life.

Bright as they are, it’s a mother’s perrogative to say that her kids might grow up to be Doctors, Lawyers, or maybe even the President.

Enter online education and my being thankful for it… makes teaching the Diva much easier when I can just link to US president / women in history games and see what I can engage her with there.

When I was in DC in May I brought her back a pink Tshirt that read Future President of the USA.   I’d like someday, very much, to be able to say that her education and our flexibility to think out of the box and find alternate means of getting her as far ahead as we could, was precisely what wrought her success.

That and of course her brains.  Studying with an online history program of course helps, but without her drive, determination and of course those brains, well all the advantages I could give her wouldn’t matter.    There’s that saying you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink… well between dancing and online education, my kids are trying to guzzle all the water in the basin of knowledge.  It makes me proud of course, and glad we’ve made the choices we have made, as they are flourishing and pretty darn good kids.

The Diva’s dance intensive workshop is done, and now it’s just M-F with one to two classes a day vs M-F with two to three classes a day… less driving and it’s giving me time to work on more spinning.  I still haven’t figured out the espinner for reverse, but am going to hold off on doing plying for a bit anyhow.  I have a nibble on the HitchHiker, and if it works out and I can figure out what I’m selling it for then I’ll have the expense of the espinner covered at least.  In the mean time I’m spinning like a fool and putting the new spinner through it’s paces.  I’ve gotten about a mile of yarn spun and will need to get another swift soon to be able to put it into skeins properly so it can be measured and dyed.

I have to get my craft room cleaned up – it’s a mess right now as it’s become a storage room from hell.  I have a dance costume to make for the Diva, as well as setting up space for drying yarn and getting a general workshop in order.    I have a carpeted floor in there and am considering getting some roll out carpets to lay atop for a couple of reasons, protecting the base carpet, insulation in the winter – the flooring really ins’t that well insulated in that room and it’s open to the elements in a bit of a garage/shed underneath and gets down right frigid there in the winter.  Of course the weather is perfect for doing that today but I feel like crud due to allergies so I’m going to let the benedryl take me away for a while before I go back to anything productive.

Then – probably back to spinning so I can get through the rest of this bump of Ramboullet and cake it up to let the twist set.  I find that when I’ve caked it to set, I have better control anyhow when it’s being plied.  I still have so many bags of wool to spin that are just waiting for me, not to mention the dyed superwash that it’s almost a little intimidating and makes the spinning for relaxation not as relaxing as it should be.  Once I get through the custom order then I’ll be good.

The best thing I’ve discovered is I can read while spinning thanks to my Nook, who’d have thought that Ebooks could be so fantastic?  I’m not as big a fan of audio books, as I prefer to be able to put my own stamp on the voices of the characters vs someone else version of them.

I have read over 13 books in less than a month, and as I can get my hands on them, I plan on reading many many more – currently I’m in a Jim Butcher phase having read all the Diana Gabaldon I had in my e-reader.  The Gutenberg Project is a fantastic site filled with free ebooks, and I’m finding some of the Science Fiction I read when the library was just a tiny tiny closet of the community center in Black Canyon City, Arizona as a teen… Once I get done with the Dresden novels by Butcher, I’ll be starting of course with Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper.

I fell in love with the series when I was a kid, and the town I lived in at that time was predominately a retirement town, so my options for escape were limited.  I chose into books and have never regretted it.  I am delighted that I can pass this love to my children, and that I’ve found texts that I can read to Calvin and the Diva that encourage that love as well.

Friday after the Diva’s multitude of Dance classes, we had a girls night out.

Have you ever had a girls night out with a five year old? You never know what you are going to do or eat …  in this case she wanted Sushi, and I was thankful that it wasn’t McDonalds that she had requested as she’s on a growth spurt and I really would rather she get protein without garbage and carbs without preservatives, not to mention that her vegetables be green and not coated in oil and salt.

So with that in mind we went to a place called Tokyo Sushi in Southington CT, and got a couple of Salmon Nigiri for her, and an Alaska roll for me.  They started us out with a lovely salad with crab and cucumbers and we enjoyed our sushi and salad and made it out with time to spare to pick up flowers for her teacher who was in a performance of Chicago that night.  While the content is a bit mature, she really loved the show and was just absorbed and entranced with the singing and dancing.

… it helps that she adores her teacher Miss Marissa and listens to her as if she was the deepest authority on subjects most important in life, which I suppose to the Diva, her dance teachers may just be that.

She had a relatively quiet weekend, and we’re back to the grind today…

• 

  a blur of motion, or how I see the Diva during the week

  Monday – Ballet here in our town, and then Ballet and Tap in the next town over

• Tuesday – Tap, Ballet Solo – both in our town, and then Jazz and Hip Hop dance in the next town over
• Wednesday – See Monday’s Schedule
• Thursday – See Tuesday’s Schedule
• Friday – Ballet here in town, and then Acro and Musical Theater in the next town over.

Next week we cut out the classes in the next town over and I can start seriously working on her costume for the dance recital.  We purchased a chiffon fabric that has crystals embedded in it… and a matching darker chiffon – still translucent like the first fabric and some beaded trim to make her costume out of.  The teacher has cut a special version of her song for the recital making it only a minute and fifteen seconds long, but those will be the proudest 75 seconds in the world for those who love her you know…

I look forward to September when she will return to Home school four days a week and Dance only one day a week.  This running around is exhausting and I’m presently running on low to begin with.

I did find something interesting to introduce her to though – online math flash cards!
Cool eh?  It keeps the whole theme we have going on – she is convinced, as is Calvin, that they really aren’t going to school, that they are playing computer games, which they can not get enough of and their father and I have to pry them off the computer.  I can see this interactive math program being used for a long while in our family, and I’m tickled pink that my Cousin Dee has decided that she will be introducing her little man to Time4Learning in the near future as well.  She also will be doing some guest posts here soon and I’ll do some in her blog too – something we’ve both toyed with for a while and it’s a chance to get some of my readers exposed to her work and vice versa… all two of you

I’ve been working hard at spinning when I am not knocked out by my antibiotics or driving miss Diva… I have over 1000 yards of Ramboullet spun up right now, and will be working on learning plying on my e-spinner next, and then going on to dye this.  I may exchange this fiber for the one I was going to use for the custom order as it’s spinning easier and will be a guaranteed volume to meet the order.  It’s really coming along nice, and I am happy with the results I’m seeing.  Once it’s done it will go into the dyepot en masse to guarantee a uniform dye job.

During classes I have been reading.  I have a Nook from Barnes and Noble that I love to pieces.

Originally purchased with the intent of using it for my Doula studies as it has highlight and note features, it also has a functioning MP3 player and with it’s beta web browser and built in 3g access, I have net (albeit basic with no flash and in black and white only) anywhere I go to.  I love my little Nook and have read so much in the past three weeks of owning it that I have managed to get the Diva interested in reading at a level that she needs to be, vs just trying to read whatever Mom is typing at the time.  I grew up with a love of books, and it was troubling me that she wasn’t getting to see that outside of me sitting on the laptop, but in no short time she has adopted my fervor for reading, and we’ve got kids ebooks on my nook too.  I read so fast that I’ve been reading a lot of the public domain books and online fiction as my book habit can be pretty pricey!

I considered the Kindle, but I have really fallen for my Nook, and would be very upset if it were damaged, stolen, etc…  Barnes and Nobles did a great job, and I’ve already got the memory card I bought for it as auxiliary memory filled with my favorite authors, and books on herbalism etc.  I will probably be scanning and converting some of my notes from classes I’ve taken into PDF format so I can reference them here as well.  It’s darn useful I tell you.

To that effect I have to say I’ve been reading Diana Gabaldon‘s Outlander series.  It’s darn addictive I tell you… I woke up in the middle of the night the other night and hadn’t realized it but my bathroom trip had me carrying my Nook.  Between ease of reading and my choice of reading material, I’ve just not put the thing down.

Well this week is rehearsals, spinning, dyeing, spinning, dyeing, and more dance classes than you can shake a stick at.  Once it’s over we’ll just be down to the three classes until her Recital on Aug 10, and then I get a blissful few weeks of not driving her hither and yon, and may try to get the little man out to the train that runs down the Naugatuck River as a treat for not getting as much Mama time as his sister has gotten.  His time will come too, and I expect that he will be dancing as much as his sister….

]]> http://woolwytch.com/?feed=rss2&p=840 15 http://woolwytch.com/?p=817 http://woolwytch.com/?p=817#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:13:31 +0000 WoolWytch http://woolwytch.com/?p=817

This week is a crazy one, I’m on formal Short term Disability from my full time job due to severe Diverticulitis (until the end of August,) which really really hurts, and the medication is strong and puts me to sleep… and I have to get some forms in so my disability is processed right.  In the midst of this I am also the head of Mom’s Taxi co…  the Diva has 4 different dance classes… Ballet, Tap, Solo Ballet for recital, and the Petite Team 10 day Workshop she is taking in the next town over.  Three of those classes happen TODAY, two of them yesterday, Add a playdate or two, a visit to Grandma’s and Homeschooling into the mix and it’s enough to drive a person batty.  Wednesday I repeat the cycle all over again with two classes and thurs three classes, and homeschooling mushed into the works.  I manage the medicine when I know I can pass out and not drive and then am good to go later.  Who thought that Antibiotics could be so rough on a person’s body?

Speaking of homeschooling, Calvin is trying hard to learn to read, which is where  Time4Learning is coming in handy.  Finding a preschool reading program for us was easy as the Diva already was working with Time4Learning and loves their curriculum.  He’s just following along and loving every minute as she does her studies, so I really have to get him enrolled formally too.  For her this week we’re going to try something new;  Contraction games.  She’s a little advanced for your average five year old and we’re going to try to keep her engaged.  Using these resources to teach contractions I’m hoping she’ll latch on to the notion quick.  She’s a smartie…

I spun up a couple ounces of Alpaca and Corriedale wool this weekend, I need to do more but am still learning that E-spinner.  I don’t have the hang of the darn thing for reverse, and that’s gonna drive me batty.  It will happen, because I have a buildup of plying to do soon.  I also am starting to think that I can pull out some of the fiber dyed for the custom order and continue in that.  I may have all the singles done up before I get the plying done.

alright – time to go get more spinning done and send an email to the tooth fairy on behalf of the Diva… seems someone was playing with it and it fell out, and she now she is unhappy that her summer recital will be with one less tooth in her head.  Poor Diva… while she’s getting in her 6 year old molar she is not satisfied with that as compensation.  Can’t say as I blame her – her Tap number has her smiling widely and showing off her teeth… whoops!

This is the forecast for today’s weather from Weather.com – it is much more conservative than the local station would say…

At 9am the Diva will be in Tap class.  At 2:30 she will be in her one on one ballet class preparing for her solo.  I get to sit in the hot building, or the van while she’s in both.  She is not getting to wear what she thinks she’s getting to wear for dance tomorrow, as I’d like to not have her parboil herself… her favorite outfit consists of the bubble wrap, extra fluffy tutu over a body suit, tights, and legwarmers.  That to me is a recipe for overheating if I ever saw it.

I think we will be bringing her bottled ice water for both classes, and when we get home, I’ll plop her down for homeschooling via  Time4Learning on the desktop in front of the air conditioner, or I might introduce her to “Hangmouse” at Spellingcity.com – provided of course she’s not feeling “Icky” still as she was yesterday. Ceiling fans will be on, and the air conditioners will be at full roar… obviously if I am doing laundry – it’s happening at night, nor during the day or we might  blow a fuse, not to mention contribute to a brown out.

Me – I will be spinning as much as I can and breaking out some Alpaca I have before I get into that custom order – and maybe drive up to In Sheeps Clothing in Torrington for a new drive band for my Kiwi (although that could wait for Thursday and being medically cleared to drive the distance, I’m paying for driving up to Northampton Mass on Saturday still, and my body is very upset with me.)
I don’t want to screw up the custom order when working with the new spinner, and am having fun with it.  I already have one bobbin full with Ramboullet.  That will get taken off and set in cake form to rest tomorrow, before I try to figure out how to reverse the spin on that sucker so I can ply.

When all else fails I still have this site and the dance school website to do some tweaks to or of course the Netbook restore to install…

Keep watching for updates, and hey – share your ways you stay cool with me!  I look forward to reading your notes on how you beat the heat!