9 Things I am Looking Forward to Doing When I No Longer Live in a House That is for Sale

Composting
Gardening
Baking
Hennaing my hair
Crafting with the kids
Letting the kids play with all of their toys at once.
Frying food.
Leaving my clothes on the floor.
Spending the entire day reading or sewing and not caring what the kids are doing to the house.

Saturday Night Cinema

This week: Room for One More
Starring: Cary Grant and Betsy Drake also George Winslow
Director: Norman Taurog
Date: 1952

This movie was hard to find, I have been hoping to see it for years. Luckily it was released on DVD last year and my library got a copy of it early this year which was great news for me because I loved it. "Delightful" is an appropriate adjective for this movie. I am thinking about purchasing this movie I because I want my kids to internalize the messages.

"Room for One More" is saccharine sweet but Cary Grant manages to balance it out with his characteristic delivery. The youngest child "Teenie" is played by George Winslow, the ordinary looking little boy with the "froggy bass voice."
Betsy Drake was married to Cary Grant at the time so it is interesting to watch their interaction.

This movie exemplifies 1952 America. I am surprised that there wasn't an apple pie served.

Anne Rose has a big heart and is always taking in strays, one day the "stray" is a troubled girl from the orphanage, then it is a handicapped boy. Anne and "Poppy" show incredible patience and insight and help these two children become well adjusted young people as well as continue to raise their own three children.

What I loved about this is that they were not afraid to let the children fail.

There is an unabashed plug for the Foster care system as well as what might have well been an advertisement for the Boy Scouts of America including an Eagle Scout Court of Honor.

Cary Grant explains the birds and the bees to "Jimmy John" in a scene that explains everything and nothing all at once and another scene where a litter of kittens is actually being born.

There is another scene which I can't mention here because this is a family blog but when you watch the movie you will get it but the kids won't. Hilarious.

Based on the foster care and Boy Scouts of America I have a feeling that my Hanna friends are going to give this a huge thumbs up.

As for me I give it 6 out of 7 thimbles which is very, very good.

Swordplay

The wooden swords we purchased years ago wore out this summer. I headed over to Etsy and found someone who was selling swords. The kids designed their own swords and I sent the specifications to Chubbas 'n Boop and he set to work making

Battlefront and Lightning Strike,
and a "princess" sword for Nutmeg.
Once they arrived I purchased jewels and leather to embellish the hiltsAnd my dad spent hours one night before Christmas trying to make holes to set the jewels into (they are made of HARD wood.) He did a great job and they looked stunning underneath the tree on Christmas Eve.
They have been banished as outside toys already as they are very heavy. They will not be wearing out or breaking before my grandchildren are done with them. The children will learn to be quick and I will have to remake straps for their shields.

Show Off Week - Little Kitchen

It started out as a T.V. stand that was passed along through various college residences, our rental home and all three bedrooms in our current home at one time or another. One day I decided to turn it into a kitchen for Boba Fett who was three and in the play kitchen phase. I got out some black paint and painted black circles on the top and screwed in these wooden car wheels for oven knobs. Several months later I found this nightstand, added a shelf and it moved in as a refrigerator.
A couple of years later Boba Fett started begging me ceaselessly to paint his kitchen purple.
A trip to Costco convinced me that I was not interested in that kitchen (it was cute but too small which turns out is a good thing because my friend Sarah bought one and putting it together about drove her crazy.) I liked my recycled kitchen better. So we went to Michael's and bought silver and purple spray paint. I painted the entire thing purple and then taped it off and sprayed on the silver details. Still it wasn't quite right. I had always planned to put in a sink and finally this spring during my trip to the rebuilding center I picked up a faucet as well as some real stove knobs.
Moose cut a circle out of the top and we inserted a stainless steel bowl. Some holes drilled with much cursing into a spray painted 2x4 and we had a finished kitchen. Well almost. We would very much like a door on the top of the fridge for a microwave. Also the real oven knobs have NOT been added. An oven door would be perfect if unlikely.
If any handy people who love us would like to sign up for microwave and oven door duty it would TOTALLY count as a Christmas/Birthday present.

Bleach Pens

Family Fun is the only secular magazine we subscribe to. We just love all of the fun ideas that we find in the pages. I give Commander C each copy to flip through and find things he would like to do.
This month he chose to decorate t-shirts. We didn't have any plain tees to decorate so we went to Target and snagged some shirts and a bleach pen. Here are the results.Commander C's trademark snowman
Boba Fett's Baby Dragon
Nutmeg's Ballerina (thanks to Degas for the inspiration.)

Into the Wild

This afternoon I head out to the Cascade "wilderness" for 4 days of Outdoor School with my kids. There will be fire, dirt, bugs, sunshine and more rain. I am not bringing Moose, he has to work. Moose says that I am "very, very brave." I can't figure this out because this is not different that when he leaves me for business trips except that when he goes away on business trips I don't have the novelty of 50 other kids, the woods and fire to keep them distracted, lots of moms for me to chat with and no housework.

The things I am worried about are the garden, will Moose remember to leave out the milk bottles, will the house be cleaner than will I left it and will Moose decide to do something crazy to the house while I am gone?

Mother's Day at Council Crest

Unlike many, I love Mother's Day. I think it is lovely to remember all the things that mothers do for us, I find it a fulfilling and gratifying day not a day that makes me feel like I don't measure up. Look on the bright side ladies!
In the past many of the ladies have worn corsages to church on Mother's Day and I used to feel left out. Sunday morning I made my own, but this year the ladies who wear corsages are no longer in my ward and there were only two of us sporting fresh flowers and I felt a little odd. Six other mothers and I sang a lovely song in sacrament meeting called "Keeping Sheep" about being mothers in a world that doesn't value our work and the primary sang "The Family is of God" which is such a neat song.Thankfully, my neighbors had a garage sale this weekend so my children could afford to get me some mother's day gifts. I am actually kind of excited about the gold Christmas ornaments. I think it is sweet that they thought about me enough to buy me gifts.
We had our traditional Mother's Day picnic up at Council Crest Park. Council Crest is the highest point in Portland and logically it has the best view in town. You can see Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, Mount Jefferson and Mount St. Helens from the top as well as the entire city and most of the suburbs.Council Crest used to be an amusement park and (according to this card) "The Dreamland of Portland, Oregon." Now it is just a nice calm park with a great view, It is an off-leash park which is not so great for picnickers but fantastic if you have dogs. We have had many canine visitors at our Mother's Day Picnics over the years. This year there was some construction going on and the west side of the park was fenced off.
One of the reasons I choose Council Crest for my mother's day picnic is because of the statue of a mother and child near the entrance to the park. It was stolen in 1990 but found years later and returned.

Here you can see how the park is encircled with blossoming plum trees. I love how the petals look like pink confetti on the ground.

The mother's day photo - I love how the kids look terrified underneath their smiles.

Boba Fett pretending he was "a bad man drinking wine." (I don't make these things up.)

My family running away from me.

A Lesson in Civics

Yesterday, I rounded up my small band and drove them down to the Salem for Homeschool Apple Pie Day at the Capitol. Homeschool Apple Pie day is when homeschooling families from across the state descend upon our legislators to let them know we appreciate that we have the freedom to homeschool and give a face to the the term "homeschoolers" in the hope that they will have kind thoughts about us the next time they pass the Homeschool Freedom bill and the Governor vetoes it again (because he sits firmly in the pocket of the teacher's union.) We give the representatives apple pies.
My illustrious Representative, Mitch Greenlick, (yes, remember how he ran almost unopposed last election) refused to accept his pie. His office claimed he was on weight watchers. He is getting chubby so he refuses our annual gesture of peace??? He didn't have to actually eat it himself. Mitch and I have traded e-mails about homeschooling and we do not see eye to eye. Please someone run against him next time!

We were unofficially expected to dress in church clothes. I wore a nice skirt and so did Nutmeg but I could not see my boys putting on their ties for this event. I chose my battle and asked only that they wore their nice jeans (without holes) and their nice long sleeved red shirts and the Heeleys were not allowed. I forgot to put on my boots before we left so my ensemble was topped off with tennis shoes. I was so worried that I was going to look like a weirdo. No worries, no one noticed my shoes because as I forget living in the super cool homeschool metropolis that I do, a lot of homeschoolers are of the type where the women dress like pioneers and have really long hair with those gravity defying rolls where the bangs should be. My feet were really low on the out of place scale. Our little group of Mormons looked downright secular.

We had a tour of the Oregon Supreme Court, watched the opening of the senate and said the pledge with the senate (tears.) We went to the House of Representatives where we heard the passing 2 bills that are a complete waste of government resources. The final arguments of the "Honest Pint" bill were being discussed and Oregonians, your representatives are a bunch of clowns. They had a lot of fun thinking up clever ways to show their enthusiasm about a full 16 oz of beer. Finally one man stood up to speak, he pointed out that this voluntary program was a strain on the already over-worked health inspectors and a completely unnecessary function of government. Besides it is voluntary so the people who aren't serving honest pints don't have to participate. Matt and I were so pleased with him that we started clapping which is not allowed. We were chastised by the speaker but we were on our way out so we didn't get in trouble.

A complete waste of government time in a state with 12% unemployment. I am so glad my children witnessed THAT.
The kids behaved better than expected but not as well as hoped. What is evident is that they need more education about how government works but they are 3, 5 and 9 so I have a few years yet. Nutmeg played in the puddles, Commander C had a bad attitude and Boba Fett thought about only one thing the picnic planned for after we were done. It was pouring rain when we were done so we had our picnic in the van.

Blythe Manor

There has been a lot of decorating around here. Samurai Mom has ruined a good pair of yoga pants with paint. I have been decorating the doll house that we have been making for the Blythes. The kids have been ecstatic with the house. This morning they drug down our measly doll furniture collection and were trying to play house, I suggested that we use some blocks to make temporary furniture - they went wild. Many of these ideas were theirs. I particularly like Commander C's bank of 3 beds and the bathtub. I also love the bubbles in the bathtub, the sinks, toilet and washer dryer. Who know block with holes could be so handy? So would you like a tour of the house?

Janie is deciding on paint colors and wallpapers.

The nearly finished house ( I still need to glue down the carpet and paint trims)

Penelope (in the foyer) explains that the mural won't be painted for a few weeks.Janie, Penelope, and Betsy watch the old TV while they wait for the flatscreen to be delivered.

Betsy and Janie are the Kitchen enjoying Sushi.

Greta climbs the ladder Commander C invented for going up stairsGreta enjoys a bubble bath while Betsy powders her nose.

Penelope talks to Greta and Betsy before they lie down for a nap in the bank of beds.

Snow White listens to some fly tunes on the phonograph.

Janie sews some bedding (because those block beds are kind of firm)

in between loads of laundry.

Next, we need to paint the outside of the house and have the roof installed.
Thanks for checking out the house!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Afton wanted to know what the deal was with my Disneyland remark on yesterday's Sabbath Leaves. It is complicated and has a lot to do with me being selfish, sounds like a good blog post...

We are having a family reunion at Disneyland this Thanksgiving. I am not excited. I have never really had a desire to go to Disneyland. I mean as a kid I wouldn't have said "No" to an offer but I never dreamed of Disneyland.

Reasons why I don't want to go:
The commercialism of it all. Yuck it just makes me want to gag. Disney everything all for sale! Don't even get me started on how ticked I am at Disney for getting copyrights for everything extended just so they could hold on to vintage Mickey.

I have issues with Disney movies, fun movies and all. I am a huge fan of the art in Sleeping Beauty and used to be obsessed with Snow White but the way they twist the original fairy tales really bugs me. It isn't the fact that they do it but the fact that after one of their movies is out it becomes synonymous with the fairy tale and the original is lost to the public knowledge. How many people know that the Little Mermaid really dies, that Beauty from Beauty and the beast had sisters, that the witch tricked Snow White with a poisoned comb, and tight corset strings before the apple, that Sleeping Beauty lay asleep for 100 years and many princes died trying to reach her?

I have problems with the values Disney teaches through their movies. Fairy tales by their very nature are made to teach virtue to children.
In the Disney version of The Little Mermaid Ariel disobeys her father, runs away, sells her soul to the sea witch and wins the prince in the end. In the original she dies because she did not listen to her father. Which would you rather your children learn that by disobeying they could be in mortal danger or that by disobeying and selling your soul you will win happiness?

There is also the universal theme of true love conquers all in their movies, and you know what sometimes true love isn't enough. Sometimes love at first sight isn't love. Often the Disney Characters think that they know better than their parents or caregivers.

And then there are the crowds. We are going in November so it probably won't be as bad as it could be but I hate crowds of tourists. I try to avoid them at all costs. I like to go to the Children's Museum on days when there will not be any field trips so we can have room to enjoy the experience and not be worried about losing people.

There is the whole carnival aspect of it. I can't shake the foreboding feeling that it will be like a big expensive carnival, hot, dusty and sticky.

Which brings me to the expense. The whole things seems to me like a gigantic HUGE waste of money. I can't fathom how much we will spend and couldn't that money be better used for practical things or many small, economical family vacations?

I am betting dollars to doughnuts that the costumes will not meet my exacting standards and that will annoy me.

And this whole "Happiest Place on Earth Thing" Really? I am pretty sure I will have sore feet, a headache and a hungry belly combined with cranky over tired children. I will be worried about kids running off. There will also be the family reunion stress of making sure 17 people are happy and getting to what they want to do. How exactly will this be happy? I think that seeing a happy Cinderella and Jasmine walking down the street will really tick me of in these moments.

And so in preparation for our family reunion I am striving to get a better attitude about Disneyland. Do you think they sell those in the gift shops?

Samurai Mom's Child Development: Wherein I scare you about the dark ages of Childhood. If you can make it to 5 years you might survive.

I have shall now layout the different stages of child development and my feelings thereon;

Newborn- 2 months
Best age ever, they just sleep, nurse and pee and you can just hold them, love them and kiss them. Poop does not stink.

3-4 months - this age is ho-hum. They are still adorable babies that sleep on you but they need a little more activity and they are a little blobby. By blobby I mean, they can't sit up yet, they are rather oval shaped. It is impossible to get a cute picture at this age. This is a fantastic age to put the baby on your back and go on walks. They smile now. Poop still does not stink.

5-8 months - my favorite baby age after newborn. These babies are sitting up and interacting with you, they are chubby and kissable and munchable. Hugging these babies is divine. They love mom and fun faces and play with anything you give them. They light up when you walk in the room and flap their arms like they are trying to get to you. Laughing, baby laughs priceless..

9-12 months - these are ok times but baby doesn't look so babyish anymore. Eating solid foods now. They are crawling, cruising and thinking about walking. They go through potty pauses like crazy and you are so busy picking things up and keeping them out of trouble you are exhausted. Poop starts stinking but hopefully they are fairly reliable on the potty now.

12-13 months - learning to walk OY! And you have that lovely heartbreaking milestone - baby's first birthday. Stock up on the chocolate. Church is impossible, you spend the whole time shhh-ing baby and hanging in the hall.

14 months- I don't know why but I am always tempted to stop nursing around 14 months. I think they start biting then.

15-18 months - Church is really impossible. But in the end - you finally get to put them in nursery.

18 months to 2 years- Depending on the child you know spend all your time in nursery trying to sneak away from your baby or feeling a little bit sad that they don't seem to need you anymore. Talking now or not. Sign language is awesome at this stage you can know what they want and avoid tantrums and learn what they are thinking about. If you have a super EC kid like Nutmeg potty accidents are almost done!

2 years - Who came up with the terrible two's? Two is not terrible, THREE is terrible. (more on three later) I like to call them the terrific two's. They are so curious, settling into their personalities, fully interacting and developing relationships with people, discovering pretend play. Two year olds like picking up and "helping."Two is awesome. Sure there is some stubbornness, you can't distract them just by waving a cool toy in front of their eyes anymore. They do not play well with others, but they can take naps still. They are more work but I think the good outweighs the bad in the Terrific Two's.

3 years - Three is really tough naps are impossible, they had a full vocabulary and aren't afraid to use it. Three year olds want to you entertain them all the time. Like, full on interaction. Three year olds want to "help" when you don't want them to and won't help when you want them to. They can open doors and take off their clothes but not put them on. They think they can do anything but they can't. Inexcusable tantrums begin at three. Three is also loud. They may or may not play well with other kids. My three year old is also constantly hungry. Three can not be reasoned with. Three year old are little sponges - sponges that suck you dry and fill you with guilt. Oh and the questions begin at three.

4 years- I try to block out four. It is that bad, you still have the challenges of three, non stop questions, thinking they are big kids, demanding attention, can't put on their clothes very well. But you have the added challenge of you can barely pick them up, they are even more stubborn than before and above all they think they can reason with you but you can not reason with them. They start being picky about food. Four year olds can not, no, will not do chores and they WILL whine endlessly about them.

5 years - Five is nice. At five they can get themselves dressed even if it is in questionable taste. They are into dress up but not in an annoying way. They understand TIME, they can get some food by themselves. They are really curious about reading and learning. Sometimes five year olds do chores without complaining but by this time you have pretty much given up on chores and make the older kids do the chores or do it by yourself.
Five year olds, while not big kids yet, can play with the big kids for relatively long periods of time. Five is, to quote Laura Dominguez "Super good."
If you are the kind that like to deliver your children into the hands of the socialist humanists this is now the time to begin the brainwashing and get your self 3-6 hours of kid free time a day paid for by the taxpayer. Either way, five is good.

I don't think I have enough experience with the older ages. I can say though that 8 is really nice, Commander C can finally do chores and he is really nice to be around - except when he isn't.

Hide and Seek

New game around here, hide and seek. My hiding place in the corner behind the coat tree, no one ever finds me. Tee hee hee hee. I'm so sneaky,

Evidence That I Have Given Up

A few days ago I posted in on my Facebook status that I had given up. I received many friendly admonitions to keep holding on and to eat some ice cream. I don't know what my friends thought I was giving up on but I was referring to my kids. I am just going to let them run the show from now on. I gave a valiant effort for 8 1/2 years, but now I give up.
As evidence, yesterday I sent Moose out to the store just to buy corn dogs for dinner. We NEVER buy corn dogs, I think they are the junkiest food you can have. Yet, there I was telling my husband to go buy a box.
As further evidence, the children have had corn dogs for 3 meals in a row now. I mean really compared to sugary cereal corn dogs are the healthy breakfast choice, right?

Temporal Prime Directive be Hanged!

I generally stick to the "I wouldn't want to change anything" comment when asked what I would change if I had a time machine. But I have finally, finally changed my mind. If I had a time machine I would go back to my self 6 or 7 years ago a la Janeway in the last episode of Voyager and tell my self to institute a policy in our household that only adults get to carve pumpkins and children must wait for the day when they are deemed old enough to carve a pumpkin at around 10 or 12.
- Don't worry, they were those pumpkin carving knives that are not even as sharp as a butter knife.

Scary Fairy Tales

My kids seem to enjoy Hansel and Gretel. It is a great tale about sibling love, and why not to eat houses made of candy, a cautionary tale about the wisdom of using bread crumbs as trail markers. My children seem concerned about how long it takes the witch to arrive in the story. The names Hansel and Gretel are adorable. But this story really disturbs me, I think it is the scariest fairy tale of the lot.
In many fairy tales the children are parent-less - father and or mother are dead and the person left in charge of them isn't really related them and then leaves them unprotected in some manner. But not in Hansel and Gretel. They have two parents. (In some versions it is a step-mother but honestly I think those revisionists feel the same way about this story and want to soften the blow a little bit.)
So here is the scary part:
The MOTHER tells the FATHER that the children are dragging them down and they will all starve and convinces the FATHER to ABANDON them in the woods TWICE.
How does this not give every child a complex to think that parents will abandon them in the woods to likely be eaten by beasts, die from exposure or starvation if the going gets tough?
What kind of mother would let her children die to save herself?
What kind of father allows himself to be persuaded to abandon his children to certain death?

Scary stuff, scary stuff.

Boo!

Tonight was the 2nd Annual Spooky Story and Caramel Apple Night here at Samurai Mom's house. It started innocently last year when I gave in to weeks of pleas for caramel apples. Our friend happened to be over and we ate caramel apples told tales in a dark living room with only the glow of the fire and a flashlight.
The friend has been asking all year long when we are going to do it again. So last week I decreed it would happen tonight. This year we served bite sized apples by taking a melon baller to the apples and sticking them on tooth picks. It is the perfect apple to caramel ratio and you don't have wasted apples or sticky faces. We had trouble with the caramel sticking to the wax paper though.
This year we invited a few more friends and I think people were scared because everyone was holding on to someone else and there were a lot of scared squeals.
The boys told tales involving chopped off body parts, Nutmeg declared that everything was "Not scary, just a story about skeletons." I told the ever popular cautionary tale of the Owl Witch. I WANTED to tell this story. The Old Nurse's Story a gothic story by Elizabeth Gaskell. But it was too long and having only read it once I couldn't condense it easily. HERE is a link to the Librivox recording if you want to have it read to you, in the dark, with the sound of the wind howling outside.

Odds and Ends

Today I lay on the couch attempting to rest listening to Looney Tunes which had been left playing on the TV. Boba Fett and Nutmeg were trying to coax their dad out of bed. I watched as they ran, then crawled, then crept and skipped in and out of the bedroom which is at the top of the stairs from the hallway on the other side of the stairs. First Boba Fett and then Nutmeg in the same manner. It was so funny, it was just like in cartoons when characters chase each other back and forth across the screen in and out of doors, and don't forget Looney Tunes was playing on the TV so I had the soundtrack. All I needed was to add the foot step sound effects "do-do-do-do-do." Moose later informed me that Boba Fett was trying to sneak up on him but it was pretty tough since Moose was lying in bed looking at the door.
Commander C the Rock Star

We tease around here. This evening as Boba Fett was deciding wether or not to partake of the salad he aked what salad was made of. Moose replied "Just lettuce..and monkey brains." Before Boba Fett could insert his enlarged eyes and open mouth expression Commander C piped in without missing a beat and in the perfect tone "Yeah, that's the purple stuff."(red oak leaf lettuce) It was flawless. Moose and I looked at one another and said "He has learned well."

I stayed home from church today since I was sick. I was feeling like I should use the quiet Sunday time to do something with Nutmeg who rarely gets my undivided attention. So I offered to play with the Blythe dolls with her. She eagerly agreed and we had a great time "playing dolls." Betsy gave Janie and Greta goodbye and hello kisses as she went to school. I can't wait until we get her doll house made.

Silhouettes

We were watching the original "The Manchurian Candidate" the other night when I noticed in the background of one scene tiny little silhouettes. I have been contemplating silhouettes since I saw them on The Nie Nie Dialogues but I did not like them big. The tiny ones were just the ticket.
I was planning on hanging them on the wall at the top of the stairs, but I think I like them on the mantle. Don't you?