And I was only there for half of it.

Whew. As has always been my comic book convention experience, the weekend was exhausting but sooo much fun. That it fell on this particular weekend was a bummer, though, because a bunch of my girlfriends were at an entirely different conference on the other side of the country, and I (sob) could not be in two places at once.

Looking at all the beautiful pictures from the FCL Conference gave me such a smile, because talk about a study in contrasts! Here’s what their weekend looked like.

Here’s what mine looked like.

Scott ...

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Last night was, as I mentioned, the first night of Comic Con, and Scott didn’t get home until after 10 p.m. Shakespeare Club didn’t happen yesterday because a number of the kids were out of town or had relatives visiting, but my gang and I had a busy afternoon nonetheless. Them: running through sprinklers. Me: plugging away at the decluttering project. More progress, woohoo! But I have decided that clothes storage, as in the handmedowns I’m saving for the next younguns in line, is the bane of my existence. Just so you know.

Around 7:30 in the evening I was folding ...

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Last Friday Jane and her friends had the great fun of making blankets together for a service project headed by my sweet and generous friend Katie. All the volunteers were sent home with giant bags of fabric, fleece and cotton, to be used in making more blankets for the pro-life center and anything else the girls want to tackle for themselves or their families. Jane spent the weekend making fleece blankets and pillows, some knotted, some hand-sewn. I promised to work on making a space for her to have easy access to the sewing machine: all three big girls very ...

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• Homeschool Changes in California - ISPs are now PSPs « Just Enough, and Nothing More - Doesn't affect me since I file as a private school myself, but FYI for those who use ISPs. "The groups are recommending that California homeschoolers make a change from using the descriptive phrase “Private School Independent Study Program” (and its v

• Chocolate Cake In 5 Minutes! | Dizzy Dee - HT: Chris O'Donnell

Originally posted in June 2006.

Wonderboy’s hearing loss came as a shock to us. Sure, we knew he’d failed the newborn hearing test. Three times. But those rounds of testing were administered in the NICU where there is always a humming and beeping of background noise, and the tech had told us that ambient noise could skew the test results. We had more pressing things to worry about: his (minor) heart defect; his recovery from omphalocele repair surgery; the genetic testing necessary to determine whether he had a potentially serious chromosomal syndrome; the fact that he was going home on oxygen. ...

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• Mariposario: Guess I’m a renegade parent - Deb Ross’s followup post to the math article I linked below.”It’s been obvious to the folks at RIT for a while that the math that kids need to succeed in math and science in college is not what kids are currently being taught by the New York State Standards.”
  
  UPDATED: Deb’s husband, a math professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, adds his commentary on the CNN Math Wars article in a second post.




• Top 10 food scenes in children’s literature | Top 10s | guardian.co.uk Books -

• Frustrated parents sneak ‘old math’ to kids - CNN.com - “They call it the Math Wars: The debate, at times acrimonious, over which way is best to teach kids math. In its most black-and-white form, it pits schools hoping to prepare kids for a new world against reluctant parents who feel that the traditional way is best and that their kids are being shortchanged.” (See comments for a link to a very interesting blog post on this topic.)
• The Yale Law Journal - “Home Schooling” in California - Yale Law Journal report on CA homeschooling case: "The views expressed above are ...
  
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Rilla’s speech has rocketed forward into adorably articulated complete sentences. The other night, when Scott walked in the door after work with a grocery bag in his hand, she announced authoritatively: “Mommy! Daddy bringit you more choc’wat!”

And indeed he had, a whole sackful of my beloved Ritter Sport bars (dark chocolate with marzipan). Mmm. Two or three squares of this around three o’clock in the afternoon is better than a nap.

As Lilting House readers will remember, Scott goes to great lengths to keep me supplied, but nine bars all at once? Such superfluity of treasure! What on earth?

Turns out there ...

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Scott’s on the patio, and I hear him sputter.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Oh, it’s just…your children,” he says.

My children. This oughta be good.

“What is it?” I ask, bracing myself.

“I don’t want to tell you,” he says, “because I screwed up.”

This is getting better and better.

“How?” I ask.

“Um. You know how you asked me to fix the spray-nozzle thingie on the hose?”

Oh, sure I remember that. I couldn’t get it screwed on right, and water kept squirting out at the connection and getting Jane or me all wet whenever we tried to water the plants. At last, in exasperation, I took the ...

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Me: Ja-ane!

Jane: Coming!

Me: Hey, will you grab my tea on your way? It’s on the counter.

Jane arrives, hands me my iced tea.

Me: Thanks. That’s all I wanted.

Jane: (blinks)

Gosh it’s nice to have my big girls back.

They were so excited to see that our pumpkin turned orange while they were gone.

And that I didn’t totally kill the flowers, even if the nasturtiums did get a little crisped while my waterers were away.

However, Rilla has strong opinions about who owns Beanie’s baby now. Possession is nine-tenths of the law and all that.

Ditto Rose’s umbrella.

Perhaps if she moves fast enough, Rose won’t notice she’s got it.

Hiding is another good tactic. What umbrella? Nobody here but us…um…mushrooms. Yeah.

• Washington Times - McCain adviser talks of ‘mental recession’ - I take it back–a 2nd link to Wash Times in one week. Phil Gramm says we’re a nation of whiners and fears about the economy are all in our heads/ the media’s fault. HT: Red Cardigan
• EzraKlein Archive | The American Prospect - “Folks are, rightfully, worried about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which are tanking so rapidly that there’s talk of a federal bailout.”
• StumbleVideo - Beautiful Minds: Stephen Wiltshire - Amazing artist draws stunningly accurate aerial view of Rome after viewing only once by helicopter. HT: the Grimms.

Word has it that a juvenile court judge has terminated the court’s jurisdiction over the two children involved in the In re Rachel L case that made the news last spring. As you’ll recall, the children’s court-appointed attorneys had petitioned the court to require the homeschooled children to be enrolled in public school. A lower court denied the request, but the appellate court overturned the decision with a sweeping statement about the legality of homeschooling in CA without a teacher’s credential. The court later vacated that ruling and re-heard arguments for the case last month. We’ve all been waiting with ...

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Some days you’re just too tired to make it all the way onto the sofa.

(Or, apparently, to wash your feet.)

This photo could be called “Like Mother, Like Daughter,” because the fatigue displayed by my lass here matches exactly how I’ve been feeling lately. Utterly wiped out. Which is to say: the pregnancy is proceeding exactly as it should. I’m 15+ weeks now, so I should be climbing out of the nausea soon. SOON, you hear me?

One of these days, I might even be up to giving Rilla a bath.

Scott’s in ...

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• Westfield Comics: What Does a Comic Book Editor Do? - "Dick Giordano once told me that he thought that editing comic books is one of the most difficult editing jobs in existence. Not only do you have to be good at knowing everything that a good prose or text editor knows, you also have to understand art and
• Celebrity neighbors Begley, Nye carry eco-grudge - Yahoo! News - Bill Nye and Ed Begley are having a friendly showdown to see whose carbon footprint can be smallest.

• the scent of green bananas: and now for a different kind of fish food. - Well, that's one way to get rid of your dry skin. :::shudder:::
• Senate approves wiretap bill pushed by Hatch - Salt Lake Tribune - I am sick about this.

• Cabaret Brewed Chocolate - Questions & Answers - "And contrary to some popular belief, cocoa beans contain only small amounts of caffeine. Instead, they are very high in theobromine, a cousin of caffiene with significantly different effects. Theobromine is a gentler, longer-lasting stimulant that lacks
• Foster child denied shot at new liver - 07/08/2008 - MiamiHerald.com -

• Washington Times - “Want some torture with your peanuts?” by Aviation Security - This may be the only time you will ever see me link to the Washington Times. Creepiest thing I've read in a year of creepy news. HT: Daily KOS.

Dear Big Sister,

Don’t worry—I’m taking very good care of your monkeys while you’re away.

Love,

Rilla

P.S. I can’t promise you’ll be getting them back.

• Ragamuffin Studies: Declaration! The Crimes of the King - Food for thought on Independence Day

So far:

A trip to the pool with their beloved cousin.

Kitty cats to cuddle.

Grandma’s home cooking—believe me, there is nothing better in this world.

Three days in the mountains!

The Continental Divide.

Wildflowers.

Alpine sliding.

Horseback riding.

Roller skating.

Stepping in snow for the first time since leaving Virginia.

Making crafts at the YMCA camp.

Tour of alpaca farm. Baby llamas up close. Wool to take home.

More crafting!

A trip to a lake? The phone was cutting out at this point so I’m fuzzy on the details.

And from the sound of it, numerous gift shop excursions. “I got a hat, and a tiny horse with bridle, and…”

Are these children ever going ...

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