Did you think I was going to be writing another Shakespearean poem for you today? I will spare you from that anguish. :)
I guess I am a fairly visual person and have been anxious to put up some pictures on the blog. It has been a long time since I have done so. My computer is actually plugged in but isn't within range of the wireless router so the photos that I have downloaded onto it won't do anyone a bit of good. Mike and I set up our desks on opposite sides of the house, masterminds that we are. Mike has the router in his office with excellent range so I am typing at you from his computer as we speak. I could download photos onto his iMac except that I am Mac illiterate. So the photos will just have to wait.
Yep, the black squirrel, the tree frog climbing up my side door in the dark of night, the pumpkins, the mantel all decorated for autumn, the vibrant yellow and red leaves out the window, the blurry shot of the antlered buck running through the woods behind the house... all imprisoned in my PC. But you can picture them all in your mind, can't you? :)
Anyhow, my photo-less rambling continues below for anyone so inclined to read.
Around here, in addition to unpacking the schoolroom and figuring out curtains for all the windows, we are getting ready for the weekend ahead.
Halloween should be easy this year because we have an excess of cardboard from all of those moving boxes. Our costumes will be largely cardboard-based. Ben and Mary are going to be M & M's. The ease of cutting out two cardboard circles, painting them and placing them over their shoulders has me giddy. Christopher, when asked to choose a costume that could be made out of cardboard, decided to be a candlestick. He is sort of tall and thin like a candle so that should be fairly simple. Annie really wants to be a cat. Like, a real one. Can't really help her with that but I can provide some sort of consolatory costume. I am sort of used to my kids wanting to be animals. Each one has told me right around the age of 3 or 4 that they want to grow up to be an animal. Mary is still waiting to become a guinea pig in her sleep. Some days, I think she would be much easier to care for if she were a guinea pig. :)
Kim and I were talking about costumes and she recommended working a sweat suit into a cat costume with felt ears and tail, then pencilling in whiskers on Annie's face. She is my kind of gal. I have turned a good many sweatsuits into costumes over the years. We have had the grey sweatsuit turned elephant (just add ears, trunk and tail), the green sweatsuit turned turtle (just add cardboard shell and green painted face), the yellow sweatsuit turned bumblebee (black felt stripes, wings and antennae finish it off). So, I am off to Wal Mart for a cheap sweatsuit tonight. Trouble is that Annie wants to be a black cat. I don't think they make black sweatsuits for two year olds, do they? Seems kind of macabre.
Saturday is All Saints' and we have no plans this year. I toyed around with attending our local homeschooling group's roller All Saint's roller skating party a week ago but it seemed a bit anticlimactic to celebrate it before Halloween. Plus a number of kids have been going without costumes which sometimes makes those in costumes feel like a bunch of goofballs. Imagine being a twelve year old boy, wearing a St. Francis costume complete with bird on your shoulder and having your friends show up in their hooded sweatshirts and blue jeans. Kind of makes one want to crawl under a rock at that age.
So, I think we are going to hang out at home on All Saints', read some good saint stories and perhaps have an impromptu costume contest. It should be fun to see what the kids come up with on their own. I will add some sort of baked sweets and that will be it.
All Soul's is normally the day our family visits all the deceased relatives' graves in the various cemeteries around town. The children are accustomed to that tradition, to pray for the dead. We each try to choose someone different to pray for and to have any indulgences applied. I also think they enjoy it because I allow each of them a turn driving around the cemetery on my lap. The cemetery roads are all but deserted. When I was sixteen, my mother taught me to drive at the cemetery because she said that I couldn't kill anyone there. :)
Well, this is a long post about nothing and I thank you for reading it in all of its rambling-ness. It has been some time since I last posted and there were many tidbits that I wanted to share with you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead with your family.
Love, Rebecca
