just for fun

 

Art that will mess with your head 11 SHIPS OR 3 SHIPS & 8 ARCHES? DO YOU SEE FACES OR ALL HOUSES ? How many horses in this picture? Should find 5 r PEOPLE OR FACES ? A PICTURE PUZZLE! HOW MANY PEOPLE ? SEE MORE THAN ONE DEER? Look at the middle column. Where does it end? DO YOU SEE FOUR PEOPLE? Who is the tallest? A face? Or, the word 'liar' ? NEXT: What do you see here? Do you see the word 'LIFT'? Or, a bunch of black splotches ? GIRLS ARE ABLE TO SPOT THE WORD 'LIFT' EASILY. MEN FIND IT DIFFICULT TO SEE THE WORD 'LIFT'!!! NEXT? FIND THE FACES: If you can't see the baby in the picture, don't give up. It's really cool when it actually appears. This is not a joke and ~ NO ~ Nothing is going to jump out at you! You have to have an open mind. Don't look for a Baby, and you will see the Baby! Once you see it, you won't see anything else!! This so cool. Do you see the baby? THE LAST ONE: THIS WAS COOL!!! PASS IT ON......

 

 

 

reading

Well, I took a week off work (I won't call it a vacation because I was still at home, had housework to do, and no one cooked for me:P) and expected to make some progress on reading, but alas, sleep and housework robbed me of my time. I did manage to finish
55. World Without End by Ken Follett and enjoyed it a lot. It was very similar to Pillars of the Earth with multiple plot lines all intersecting at various points. I hated the Wulfric and Gwenda plot line because it was emotionally draining. And I didn't see the point about Thomas's past, except as a way to tie history into the plot and it was a very weak tie-in.

Read to Gman
G156. Veronica by Roger Duvoisin
G157. Veronica on Petunia's Farm by Roger Duvoisin
56. Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - this wasn't as good as the first book. Obviously there's a lot of suspension of disbelief that needs to take place. I could do that with the starstuff (although I did think they could have come up with a better name for it), but had real difficulty with "Lord Ombra". I didn't feel there was a satisfying answer to what exactly he was and I disliked the notion that his ilk would be in future books. I like how certain elements were thrown in for the entertainment of pre-adolescent boys - the escape from the tower comes to mind. The ending did seem a bit sudden for some reason. I don't know why. There was a lot of build up and some really great suspense scenes, but then all of a sudden it was over. I can't put my finger on why I felt this way, unless because there was so much build up - too much anticipation and not enough delivery. I did cheat, however. I was supposed to be reading this to Gman and finished it without him. I'm still reading it to him at night, but once he fell asleep, I had to find out how it ended. Perhaps when I reread it to him I'll be able to better identify why I felt the ending was so sudden or perhaps will realize that it wasn't.

what's going on around here

The Holy Twins by Kathleen Norris - read to G while finishing making dinner.  He enjoyed it and stayed for the whole book, which was a picture book, but not short.  He really enjoyed saying "Scholastica".  Lately he has spent most of his time "trilling" his tongue - loudly and often.  And I don't discourage it because while somewhat annoying, he obviously is enjoying the sensations it brings and I know this whole experimenting with sounds won't last too long.  But hearing "Scholastica" said over and over with emphasis on the siblants was a nice relaxing break.

 

Dad leaves today for hunting week.  Gman and I are going to miss him.  Gman is somewhat jealous that Dad gets to go spend a week with the hunting buddies without him, but since we're going to work on the Christmas list this weekend and maybe take a few jaunts to some fun places, not to mention the joy of getting to sleep in Mom and Dad's bed [which rarely happens and usually he has to share it with Mom AND Dad - and we've been informed that we're fat and take up too much room] is making up for his disappointment somewhat.  Dad on the other hand is a bit disconsolate.  He really misses his boy when he leaves him for any length of time.  He misses me too, but I'm a grown up, know he'll be back shortly, and can entertain myself.  The boy, on the other hand, keeps telling his dad how much he's going to miss him and asking him if Gman can't go too.  Makes it hard for a Da-Da to leave his baby.  But we'll all survive and the boys will enjoy talking to each other by phone and discussing if Dad saw or killed any deer.  There may even be a long-distance lullaby or two.

G-ism

After playing a quick game of chase with Gman he informed me....

"You run pretty quick for a chubby, old gal."

Gman and his toys

Joel and Jethro were a Troll by Bill Peet - so I spent $10 on a children's book.  Is that crazy?  He enjoyed it so much and I enjoyed reading it to him so much that I just had to buy it.  I think one of the reasons he loves it so much is that one of his best friends is named Joel.  Sometimes I call Gman Jethro or switch the name Jethro when I'm reading to Gman, just to tease him.  He pretends to be annoyed, but I can tell he loves it.  The sly little grin gives it away every time.  I love Amazon's option to buy used books.  I think this was about $26 (at least) new. 

He also wanted How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head but we ran out of time.  He asked for it again this morning as we were getting dressed, so I promised it to him tonight and so did his dad.  I'm going to suggest to him that we go through and read all his books in his bookcase (he has TONS) and get rid of those he hates and save the ones he likes.  We're remodeling a room in our house to turn it into a family room complete with bookcases in an alcove.  Once it's complete I'm going to move the majority of his toys downstairs.  He hates playing upstairs when everyone is down so his toys don't get played with as much as they should - too much TV watching because it's where everyone else is.  So now he will have a room downstairs with most of his toys and the majority of his books.  That way he can grab stuff to play with while I am cooking dinner.  I may even move his little desk downstairs so he can sit at it and play "school".

our weekend

Went hunting/camping this weekend.  Not LOADS of fun, but not bad.  We left Friday morning [took Gman out of school with teacher permission] and drove 2 1/2 hours to the Land.  The Land is inhabited by one camper that sleeps 2 people, a 1950s city bus stripped of the interior attached by a doorway to a second camper - sleeps 4 - 6 depending, a third camper that doesn't belong to us, 2 outhouses, a shower shed [rubbermaid shed with a special camping shower] and a work shed.  I call it the Dent County Davidian compound.  It looks like something you'd expect to see in Deliverance.  We stayed in the original camper that has sturdier beds.  Truthfully, though, I hate staying in the camper.  Everytime we go there I have to sweep the beds free of mouse poop.  It totally grosses me out.  We put these great fluffy camping mattresses on top of the beds so we never come in contact with the mouse poop, but even knowing it was there is ick.  I also worry that the boy will get a disease of some sort because I obviously can't get all the mouse poop.  There's tons of it [a bit of an exaggeration] and it's all over the place.  I'd prefer to stay in a nice clean tent.  But that isn't as secure or safe from the elements, so I have to tough out the mouse poop.

When we got to camp, Dad unloaded a couple tons of gravel [no exaggeration] and I swept the mouse poop, while the boy twirled with delight to be again at the hunting camp.  Throughout the day he and I read Peter and the Starcatchers while Dad did some camp maintainence.  Gman misunderstood and thought that he was going to go deer hunting with his little Cricket Rifle [bolt action that only holds 1 bullet at a time and is impossible for Gman to shoot without help from me or dad - he doesn't have the finger strenght to pull back the safety].  After lunch the boy and I shot his Cricket and I shot my .38 while Dad got camo'd up to go bow hunting.  Then the boy got camo'd up and they left.  I was right on about estimating how long they'd be gone.  I got about an hour nap out of the whole thing.  We started a fire and the boy played in it [poking it with a long stick].  I was supervising but he managed to heft some burning embers onto his shoulder and proceeded to burn his hands trying to get it off himself.  Very minor burns [no blisters and no red spots even] but it made him wary of the fire so I was thankful in the end.  Lesson learned with very minor damage - if any - and now he is cautious around fire.  After dinner he had fun peeing outside, gathering leaves and twigs to throw in the fire pit [it's 5 feet in diameter], and playing with the flashlights.  He got tired around 7:45 so we washed up and went to bed.  We read a few chapters of his book and he was out.  All that outdoor play really tired him out.  Dad and I returned to the fire to have one last drink.  We marveled at the stars - millions of them clearly seen - and at the people in the early centuries who figured out all the stuff about them and listened to the owls hoot.  No coyotes this time unfortunately as it is really cool to hear them sing.  We did hear a few cows lowing, but it's not the same.  We went to sleep without turning on the heater and it was a bit nippy.  Fortunately for me, I slept with Gman as Dad got up at 4:30 to go hunting again and I didn't want him waking up the baby.  The baby is a great little furnace however.  He exudes heat and kept me warm since he's also a cuddle monkey and cannot sleep in the same bed with someone without taking over the whole thing.  It was like having a little electric blanket pressed to my back.  Once Dad left to go hunting the boy and I went back to sleep and slept until 8 AM [he woke up at 6 something with the sun but I told him there was no way I was getting up with the sun and he'd do better to get a little more sleep because I'd be a much more pleasant mother later in the morning.  He listened].  We laid around, read more from our book, and played make believe.  We got up around 9 - 9:30 and went outside.  I made a fire and made some breakfast.  We read more of our book while he ate his breakfast.  When Dad got back we shot our guns again.  The neighbors came up about noon while we were eating PB and crackers with their dog Rocky.  Gman really attached himself to Mrs. Neighbor.  They were throwing things in the fire together and then he showed her his rifle and let her shoot it.  Once they headed home for their own lunch we started packing up.  We left about 4 something and Gman - exhausted from all the outdoor play and excitement - slept for about an hour of the 2 hour drive home.

So really, except for the mice poop, we had a really nice time. 

Camping

We're going camping/hunting this weekend.  Archery season started and Dad wants to teach Gman about hunting.  Gman is all into it already, but doesn't understand the part about sitting quietly in a tree.  He's okay with the killing of animals as he understands that's how we get our meat and he's also okay with his dad killing stuff as he's helped skin deer and rabbits.  I'm not sure how he'll do sitting in a tree for long periods as last time he went out in a blind and his dad read him stories while they sat in a hunting blind and then he fell asleep.  I give it about an hour from the time they leave camp, walk to the tree, climb it, sit for 15 minutes, have to climb down and walk back to camp.  If he has to pee in the pee jug, well, then I give it an extra 15 minutes for the joy of peeing outside and into something unusual.  But the whole family is going so I will tend the fire and read a book while they are gone.  I think I may bring my DVD player and watch the 2nd season of GLEE.  I think I deserve something nice because I'm going to have to get up with the Sun on my one day a week I get to sleep past 6 AM.  And as we all know, sleep is very important to me.  I don't give it up lightly.  But Gman got his first progress report from school yesterday and had straight As in all his subjects, behavior, and effort.  He deserves a treat as well.