Castle in the Clouds

Millington High School Graduates. On their first day of Kindergarten we laughed about how many Open Houses we would have in the family come 2019.   We'd count off the names on our fingers: Gage, Keagan, Gavin, Trevor, Olivia, and Zach.  Five cousins and one honorary cousin that has been part of our lives since the day he was born. Fast forward through thirteen years of schooling and the day has finally arrived.  Our babies have graduated high school and are heading off to college, the trades, or the workforce.  They are leaving behind their childhoods and officially beginning their adult lives.  Sure, some, perhaps all of them, will continue to live at home as they start laying the foundation for the lives they hope to build for themselves.  But that doesn't change the fact that each of them is planning for a future that hopefully includes homes and families of their own that don't involve living in mom and dad's basement. These are smar...

Last night was the Snowcoming Dance at my son's high school.  I think other schools may refer to it as the Winter Formal or some such thing, but in our little town it's called Snowcoming.  No, I don't know why.. Lucky for us, Gage had most of his outfit already in his closet.  He had gotten new shoes, pants, and a reversible belt for Homecoming.  The shirt was also hanging in his closet as he had worn it to a wedding last summer.  The only thing he really needed?  The tie. Things were a little chaotic around the time I would normally have taken him shopping.  I was spending a lot of time up at the hospital keeping my dad company before his big surgery.  Luckily, his girlfriend's mom was kind enough to let him tag along on one of their shopping trips and she helped pick out his tie.  He was supposed to pay for it and have me reimburse him.  Well, because we always pick up the flowers and they pay us for his boutonniere, she offered ...

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been busy working around the house.  Well, I should clarify, Ken and the boys have been busy stripping and re-staining the front porch and back deck, tearing up flower beds and reloading them with more workable soil, and, finally, planting or transplanting flowers and a tree. Meanwhile, in the house, I've been working on a slideshow and scrapbooks.  I know there's no way I will get the scrapbook done in time, but I hope I can at least come close.  I have this weekend and all of next week to work on these two rather time-consuming projects.   Why the rush?  Well, KC's graduation party (a.k.a. open house) is quickly approaching.  Yes, that's right.  We're throwing the boy a party because he graduated high school!   It wasn't always an easy road to travel.  KC had his fair share of struggles, some legitimate and some manufactured by his own inattention to detail.  I can't tell yo...

So far this year my little sixth grader has created two science videos, both set to music.  In case you're unable to make sense of the first video, the boys had to work in the elements of the water cycle into their lyrics. Although they had their lyrics mostly put together before they arrived at my house, it took them nearly a hour and a half to finalize their song and start recording.  I remember being slightly out of patience with them.  Okay, maybe more than slightly.  I think I may have even pulled out the "I'm-not-messing-around-anymore" voice in order to get them focused on the task at hand.   If you're wondering, my little guy is the one in the sideways hat.  Don't ask.  I don't know.  Apparently he was trying to be gangsta.  Heh.  For the record, my irritation with their ADHD-like behavior evaporated when I was finally able to view the video.  I mean, really, how cute are they?  Not to mention I was ...

I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I had to drop my creative writing class this semester and register for something that better fit my schedule.  I ended up in a British Literature to 1800: Medieval Women and Literature course.  While there's a teeny, tiny part of me that is excited to learn more about this particular era, there's a much larger part of me that is freaking out over the amount of reading I'm going have to do over the next fourteen weeks. To start with I had to purchase nine books.   As you can see, there's some variety here.  We have fiction, non-fiction, theory, and history. Our first week has started out with The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women's Medicine , a chapter from The Judith Butler Reader , and a scholarly article in PDF form.  Since I was not technically enrolled until Tuesday, I had very little time to get this reading done before our first class session,...

It's almost that lovely time of year when it might not be uncommon to see our little white Malibu chasing down the road after the bus the kids just missed.  Yes, that's right!  School is almost back in session. Let the frustration and anxiety begin! Oh, wait.  I'm supposed to be going for upbeat and positive in this post.  Let me try again.. It's almost that time of year when the kids will jump out of bed eager to eat a nutritious breakfast and slip on their spiffy new clothes.  Mom and Dad won't even have to ask them to brush their hair and teeth.  Mom and Dad will also not have to ask them if their homework actually made into the backpack because, of course, it did!  The bus will arrive right on time and the children will wave happily out of the windows as they're whisked away to their favorite place on earth. What?  A little to "Leave it Beaver"? Yeah, I think so, too. That being said, the kids really do begin school on Tuesday....

That's where I'm at right now: I've got three out of four assignments completed. Just one more and the semester is officially over! Last night I finished reading the fourth and final Dickens book. While I must admit I have some issues with his treatment of the feminine, he's an amazing writer. Relatively easy to read for a Victorian author. As I read David Copperfield, Hard Times , Little Dorrit , and Our Mutual Friend it was easy to understand how he could be considered the father of the modern novel. In all truth, and at the risk of getting rotten tomatoes thrown at me, I can't tell you the number of times I thought his stories had been retold in so many of the historical romance books I've read over the years. In other words, I'm positive I've read these stories as genre fiction, which I'm sure many view as the antithesis of great Literature. Now, don't get me wrong. Dickens as a Victorian writer could never get away with going where ...

It's too late to put much effort into this right now. In fact, I'm about twenty minutes past my bedtime. So, in brief, I miss writing. I'm so ready for school to be done. Not just this semester, but altogether done. I want to graduate and get my life back. Get my creative groove back. Okay. That's the end of the pity party.

I can tell it's nearing the end of the semester. Homework is a struggle. While I've been pretty good about staying on top of my reading, I'm starting to daydream about all the books waiting for me on my to-be-read shelf. Not that I haven't been able to squeeze in a couple of fun reads over the last few weeks. I have. A few weeks ago I read A Wrinkle in Time and, a week or so later, The Sea of Monsters in the Percy Jackson series. This weekend I not only finished my weekly reading assignment in Our Mutual Friend and a few scholarly articles on Dickens's treatment of the feminine, but I also managed to finish off Seduced by Sin . Those three books were easy, quick reads. I purposely picked them because I know that I can't afford to get drawn into any of the more complex novels sitting on my TBR shelf. Young adult novels don't require a lot of brain power or thoughtful reflection. The same goes for historical romances. Not that I'm knocking them...

So, I've mentioned that I'm enrolled in two classes this semester, haven't I? There's the Dickens class that meets every week and then there's the online Kazakh-American Reading Group that I'm participating in as an Independent Study course. The first course is going well. I've managed to stay on top of the reading. Done well on both the first presentation and the small paper. As of today, I'm about halfway through the last book, Our Mutual Friend, and beginning to work on my final paper. Things I have complete control over. What I don't have control over? My Kazakh-American Reading Group. Participation has been a bit sketchy. We only had a handful of Kazakh women participating and all of them were doing it because they wanted to, not because they were in any way required to. On the other side of that equation, there were the handful of graduate students who are absolutely required to participate if they want a good grade at the end of the s...

As much as we've been dreading the beginning of the school year, I must admit the first day went well. The boys got up with minimal moans and groans. Since their clothes and backpacks had been prepared the night before, getting ready was a snap. I even remembered to take pictures! Of course, this is the only picture of them smiling. The rest of them looked more like this... ..and this... After school (and a crazy busy day of work), the boys had football practice. While they were gone, I spent the first hour and a half at home filling out paperwork and checking homework. The joys of a new school year!

This semester I've been wading through some pretty intense essays on theory. I'd say Lit Theory, but the truth is most of the excerpts we've read have very little to say about literature and a lot to say about things like language construction, signs, economy, culture, and gender. Applying said theories to literature is never really demonstrated. As you may well imagine, these theories are easier to discuss than they are to read. Although, without our guide, someone who is already familiar with the hills, valleys, swamps and rivers of this intimidating landscape, I'm not so sure I could discuss them intelligently. And that's still up for debate. The truth is there have been many nights when I've read every dreadful word and not comprehended a single thing. I've been forced to wait on our instructor's explanations and clarifications. It's funny how his simplified language makes the laborious seem evident. Luckily, I don't feel as if I...

Tonight my grad class meets for the first time. I'm sure I've probably mentioned it before, but just in case you missed it, it's a Lit Theory class. I can only imagine the amount of reading that will be required outside of the listed textbooks, of which there are seven. I'm sure in addition to a hefty anthology and a significantly slimmer theory textbook, there will also be journal articles or book excerpts. Not to mention these little lovelies: King Lear (Shakespeare) Complete Poems 1927 -1979 (Elizabeth Bishop) Friend of My Youth (Alice Munro) Aspern Papers (Henry James) The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison) Because of the sheer amount of reading I expect to do for this class, I really wanted to get the last little bit of pleasure reading in that I could. Since I really hate holding onto books that I've borrowed from friends and family, I decided to select a book from somewhere other than my ever-expanding to-be-read shelves. This meant instead of reading Joely Sue ...

While the school year may be half over, for us there will be new beginnings. Ken and I met with the oldest boy's principal this morning to discuss his 504 Plan. Although the plan has been in place since late 2008, we've been very hesitant to put it into action because we really do want the boy to take responsibility for his own actions. However, there are times when ideals pale in the face of reality. Just before the holiday break we received the boy's progress report card. While most of the grades were reasonable (there was even an A in Geography!) , his Language Arts grade was, well, dismal. As reading and writing have always been one of his major obstacles, we're accustomed to mediocre grades, so when I say dismal you must understand that I mean "failing". I immediately sent an e-mail to teacher. While I was disappointed that she didn't think to try to contact us prior to the progress report card coming home, I really didn't (and still don...

Wait. That can't be right. Surely they've been back in school for more than two whole days! I mean, what's the odds that on the second day of class the oldest would come home and start puking? Slim, right? Well, not as slim as I'd like them to be! While I drove Gage up to the practice fields, KC curled up on the couch. What a great start to our school year! The good news is that he seems to have recovered already. I'm hoping this means he simply ate something that didn't agree with his stomach and he's purged himself of it. The alternative is that sometime in the middle of the night, when I'm nearly comatose, he'll wake me up with a retching serenade. So, yes, I'm really, really hoping it was just some bad kool-aid or after school treat. I guess only the next 12 hours or so will tell.

I have wedding pictures to share, but since today was the boys' first day of the new school year, I think I'll just treat you to the snapshots I took this morning while they were waiting for the bus. I know they don't look it here, but I think they were happy to go back school, even if it was only to see their friends again. Skulls are apparently the new "in" item with the younger crowd. And by younger, I mean elementary and Jr. High kids. The older boy spotted this one and was happy. Of course, Mom would have liked for it to come in a somewhat sturdier make and model. I have a feeling this bag isn't going to last through the year.

Last night we took the boys shopping for school shoes and football cleats. We ran to the Outlet Mall and ended up visiting three stores before finally settling on soccer cleats instead of football cleats. That's right. Neither Nike, Reebok, nor Adidas carry football cleats for anyone with a foot under a size 9. And, to be fair, only Nike carried those. The other two stores only had soccer and baseball cleats on their shelves. Craziness! We'd have been better off driving into the city and visiting Dunham's . While we were there looking for football cleats, we decided to get the boys their school shoes, too. We spent more on three pairs of shoes than I did on eight pairs of jeans. I can't imagine how much the bill would have come to if we hadn't insisted on buying sale-priced merchandise. With their jeans and shoes out of the way that leaves backpacks, lunch boxes, shirts, underwear, and socks. I'm hoping if I wait until the weekend before they head back...