Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Card Pics, "Take nine!"

Every year, I take the girls to Portrait Innovations for pictures at Christmas time, for several reasons.  First, the photographers are great and willing to put up the with Princess and Pirate's antics.  Second, it means I've gotten "official" photos of the girls at least once that year (just don't ask if I've ever gotten the photos scrapbooked, okay?).  And third, it is an easy way to get some Christmas cards made, and the relatives we don't see often enough can see how much the kids have grown since last year, blah, blah, blah.  I find most portraits rather boring, to be honest, so I try to come up with something to make the pictures a little more entertaining...

One year, the Princess was "reading" to the Pirate, and their expressions were what made it so cute.  One year they wore angel wings, another year they spelled out JOY with huge 3-D cardboard letters, a year later I had the Princess standing with a star on her head and the Pirate in a gift bag on the ground next to her.   This year, I stuck ribbon bows all over the Pirate, tied the Princess up with more ribbon, and handed the loose end to the Pirate, who was FAR too pleased with this captured sister... so the Princess decided to put her foot down... 

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Leftover Turkey Nummy

I couldn't face making another turkey soup today, but I didn't want to waste the bird, so here is what I did...
Mix equal amounts of cream cheese and cranberry/horseradish sauce (you can take your cranberry relish and add prepared horseradish til the sting pleases you, if you have no sauce in the pantry.  You might want to add a bit of sugar, too).  Smear this on a cracker. (I used Pecan Nut-Thins because they are gluten-free).  Finely chop (1/4" cubes is good enough) leftover roast turkey.   Drop this on the stuff on the cracker.  Munch.
The Princess had seconds.  The Pirate wouldn't try it because she doesn't do horseradish.  I'll have to make more before El Jefe gets home, because someone else ate the rest.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Tooth Is a Pig, not a Snake; too bad he is not a Deer in my Freezer

okay, so someone decided the snake looked hungry or something, and tossed two hoppers in his cage, and apparently they were the gourmet size, because he ate them both in less than ten minutes.  S'up with that?  He lets one live in his cage for a week, then snarfs two in just minutes? 

And speaking of food, I still haven't gotten a deer this season.  I had to watch a big ten-point trot away from me yesterday at 8AM, and didn't see anything else that day, then this morning I had to watch one tear through through the field going west, then five minutes later watch six does come tearing back the same way going east, while I sat unmoving (except for shivering) in my tree.

I'm not going out at all tomorrow, but will cut kickboxing class on Tuesday morning in one last ditch effort to get some meat in the freezer.  I hope it works.  I wonder how mad the family would be if I skipped Thanksgiving Day in favor of hanging out in my tree...

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Tooth is spoiled by the Pirate

Okay, so I get back from my massage (yea!) and then the kids get back from the movie and ice cream and the pet store.  Yes, they stopped at the pet store and the Pirate bought a mouse less than half the size of the behemoth living in Tooth's cage.  She puts him in with Tooth, and five minutes and a short chase around the cage later and the mini-mouse is gone.  The Pirate was none too happy about this, because mini-mouse was "so cute."  The very fact that the snake found and snarfed mini-mouse so quickly is evidence of his hunger.  It also explains why he was so cranky.  I get like that when my blood sugar drops, too.  El Jefe will be dealing with the behemoth tonight.  Yuck.   I'm not hungry now.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Picky Snake Will Not Get Dessert

Tooth, like the Pirate Princess, is apparently a picky eater.  He has let the latest mouse live in his cage unmolested since Monday.  I do not like this, Sam-I-Am.  I cannot rescue this mouse, because Despereaux is a boy mouse, and will fight with any other boy mouse I put in his cage.  Also, rescuing any more mice sets a bad precedent;  I didn't want the pets we have, and don't want any more.  So nameless boy mouse #2 must be dinner for Tooth no matter how long it takes.  The problem is nameless boy mouse #2 is growing (I did have to feed him, lest he die of starvation) faster than Tooth, and I am wondering just how wide Tooth can unhinge his jaws to snarf up a mouse now rather larger than any hopper has a right to be.  I wish Tooth would stop chasing his food and just eat it, because it is making his cage smell of mouse, and honestly, eau de serpent is better.  I think I will go eat another gluten free pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, because I am not so picky.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

To drill or not to drill? Not another ANWAR rant

Having just heard about the non-existent gunman at Glenn Research Center, I have a few thoughts with which I will likely annoy you.  The alert was caused by a misdirected phone message from a different NASA facility, which was conducting a known drill yesterday.  Everyone at the other facility where the drill was supposed to take place apparently knew that it was a drill.  So please, rethink the "How COULD they scare us like that?" reaction.  It wasn't done intentionally.  NASA has duly apologized for your "trauma."  You weren't hurt. 

In fact, be grateful.  Maybe you just received a message from God...  If you are living your life in a fashion that would not allow you to leave this life without regrets, then you need to fix that.  If you left your house this morning without hugging your family and telling them you love them, then you are an idiot.  You have no way of knowing, ANY DAY, if you will ever see your loved ones again. 

It's so much more likely that you (or they) will be killed in a car accident than by a gunman, that you have learned to ignore the greater likelihood of a traffic fatality, and instead focus irrationally on the far rarer armed lunatic. Do you hate vehicles because drunk drivers use them to commit vehicular homicide?  Does that sound irrational and a bit silly?  Now apply that same logic to hating guns because armed lunatics use them to commit homicide (far, far less often, I must add). 

Please don't tell me I don't understand how you feel about this incident, since the robber shot the Brinks guy fifteen yards from my bookstore door.  That was not a drill.  It was a wakeup call that said that I have employees who need to know what to do if this happens again, and the company has no guidelines for this.

Let's recognize that drills are a mostly minor inconvenience.  We have fire and tornado drills for a reason...  because the Gov't knows that very few people show both the sense and the self-discipline to look for the nearest exit or safest room in every building they enter, nor do they bother to read those handy "Where To Go" signs, if they can even figure out the maps.  How many of you enter a public room and sit with your back to a wall where you can see the door?  How many of you look around that room/building to find ALL the emergency exits?  How many of you look for the bathrooms unless you are going there?  You need that info in cases of fire, tornado, and lunatic.  Since the Government thinks you are too stupid to get that info yourself, it makes laws requiring you to drill.  And when drills aren't done and a dreaded disaster inevitably occurs, people (having been taught that they are not personally responsible for their own safety) sue and lay the blame for casualties on anyone but themselves: the company for not doing (enough) drills,  the Gov't for not requiring drills for that particular situation,  God for allowing it to happen.  Rare is the person who recognizes his responsibility for his own safety.


Imagine... if everyone took responsibility for his/her own safety...  the Gov't could stop wasting our hard earned money and resources on drills and silly emergency preparedness pamphlets full of what ought to be common sense...  and spend it on actually PREVENTING these problems in the first place... with the end result of a safer environment for everyone...   So sayeth the Queen of Efficiency in a utopian daydream...

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Despereaux Moves Up

to a bigger, more secure home... he now inhabits a 10 gallon aquarium, with all his toys and stuff from the old cage.  Danged expensive rodent.  I do need to post some pics...

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I VOTED...

because, as I explained to my children on the way out of the polls, it is one of the duties and responsibilities of being a citizen of this nation.  They thought I did it for the sticker.

Just KIDDING!  And aren't you glad we get the rest of the day off from political ads, before they start up again tomorrow for the 2012 elections...


 and we all WISH I was kidding about that, don't we?

Air Rifle scores for the day...

The Princess is highly pleased to announce that her scores for the day (in order) were 88, 90 (2x), and 92(3x).  These are her best yet.  She needs scores consistently in the nineties in order to move up to the competition size targets.  She is almost there!

The Pirate is excited (of course, being extremely excitable) that she got a perfect 50 on one of her targets.  And she got to shoot the bird (target, people, don't get excited too), and knocked him off his line with all four shots.  In between targets, she sneaked out of class (twice) to look at her book about milk snakes.  Now if I could get her to READ it, instead of looking at all the pretty pictures...

Snakesssssskin

Tooth shed his skin last night, all in one impressively long piece.  Miss Pirate is thrilled.  She has a collection of them (there are lots of snakes in our backyard) and is glad to now have her own personal supplier.  What does one DO with a shed snakeskin, aside from tossing them on every bookshelf one owns?  Suggestions are welcome...

Monday, November 1, 2010

American Jane Quilt Kit Arrived

My quilt kit arrived on Saturday, while I was Appleseeding, and no one thought to mention it - I discovered it this morning.  The fabric is a richer color than the little pic online shows.  I want to figure out how to import the pic into this blog, but it isn't working at the moment.   Also, it came in a big tin, which will make a great giftwrap for someone this Christmas!  I like the pattern, but I may screw with it anyway, just because.  I mess with recipes, too.  There is no sense in making anything the same way twice. 

Quote for the Day
"Life is too short to make the same quilt more than once..."

Have a happy, healthy week!

Tooth Gets Hungry

Yesterday, we finally got a hopper for the picky snake.  He ate it this morning for breakfast.  It was an interesting visual to go with my morning tea.  He used his coils  and the cage walls to push the mouse into his mouth.  This took  a minute.  Then it took about 10 seconds for the mouse to get halfway down the snake's body, where it made a small bulge.  I didn't expect that to happen so fast.  Then Tooth gave a GREAT yawn (I'm assuming to get his jaws relocated?) - then he crawled back into his water dish, because moving his 3' long body all of 3" to catch a mouse is apparently all the work he is doing today.

Despereaux Escapes...

but fortunately El Jefe captures him at 8AM eating pumpkin seeds on the countertop.  Sigh.  I knew the little runt was going to be trouble.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Despereaux is Saved...

and we have another pet.  At least until the snake is big enough to eat full size mice, or Despereaux  dies of old age (which will be sooner than a mouse bred to be a pet, as opposed to a mouse bred to be et).  No one in town has hoppers (live) and the snake is a snooty food critic and won't eat frozen, so he will have to settle for a pinkie until next week.  That's what happens here when you are picky.  Mama says, "Eat what I put on the table, or go hungry."   (Actually, I just tell anyone unhappy with dinner to make themselves a PB&J and hush).  How did I come to this?  I think I'll blame my parents  for not letting me have furry beasts when I was little...

Thursday, October 28, 2010

At what point should I rescue Despereaux?

Last night we tossed a runt feeder mouse, supposedly (according to the pet store) smaller than the hopper mice the snake is used to, in with Tooth.  Tooth slithered out of his bowl, followed the mouse around once, slithered back into his bowl, and remains there, chillin'.  The mouse figured out how to climb onto the shelves at the back, and proceeded to chew a burrow into one (they are made of cork).  This "burrow" only covers his(?) head.  He was still there this morning.  I fed him a carrot, which he ate, and sprayed water on his perch, since I didn't think he'd come down to drink from the bowl Tooth was in.  I wonder how long this will go on...
 

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Whooee!  I just won a quilt kit from Hancock's of Paducah.  And last week I won two tickets to Cirque de la Symphonie from the credit union (which we gave away, since we already had tickets, and it was a great show).  I NEVER win drawings.   I mean if there are a hundred names, and ninety-nine prizes, my name will be the one left in the hat at the end.  It's one of the reasons I don't play the lottery.  But I'm wondering if I shouldn't go out and buy a Powerball ticket today... or find the nearest Friends of the NRA Dinner or something...

Xa Lynn

Friday, October 22, 2010

Princess' Reaction to the Sight of Snake

"Maybe having a snake isn't so bad after all."

She thinks Tooth is kind of pretty.  He is a 3 foot long, 14 month old, captive bred Nelson Pueblo Milk Snake, which means he is striped red, black, white, black, repeat.  He likes to hang out in his water dish, which seems weird to me.  He is living on the counter between the dining room and the kitchen, which is NOT where I wanted him, but it will do until I can find a table long enough to support the larger aquarium he will need next year.  The Pirate is enchanted, having already drawn Tooth's picture and written a label she put on his cage that includes everything she knows about him - this from a child that generally hates to write, so I'm happy about that if nothing else.  So... this blog is now the Adventures of el Jefe, the Princess, the Pirate, the Samurai-who-smells-of-Sunflowers, Tooth the Snake, and... me, Xa Lynn. 

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Princess' Reaction to the Concept of Snake

The Princess, in discussion with the receptionist at the dentist's office..

"If she (the Pirate) gets a snake, I will NEVER SLEEP AGAIN."

The receptionist, ever helpful, says, "Neither would I."

Laugh or cry, that IS the question for the day...

Bribe vs. Reward

Something is a bribe if it is given PRIOR to the desired action... basically, if I gave the Princess a piece of candy to get her to be quiet, that would be a bribe.  Something is a reward if it is given AFTER the desired behavior.  Therefore, telling the Pirate that she could have a snake for a pet if she would let the nice dentist give her two MORE novocaine  shots without kicking him and then let him extract two of her remaining baby teeth, that is a REWARD.  Somehow I don't think I am going to get the Mommy of the Year Award for this...  I think I am going to call the snake "Toothless," no matter what she names it.

On the other hand, she will now have to do her chores, in order to earn the money to buy the crickets and pinks for the snake to eat.  There is a cool economics lesson in there... somewhere.   I'm going to go beat my head against a wall now.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Child's Concept of Time

Yesterday, we asked the Princess, "When did Columbus discover America?"
She replied, "Tomorrow."
My brother drove me nuts when he used to ask (constantly) "Is it tomorrow yet?"
Yes, folks, it is tomorrow.  Happy Columbus Day!
I'll save the discussion about the Fall of Constantinople and the Reconquest of Spain making possible Columbus' voyages for later...

Friday, October 8, 2010

Christmas, or the Great Secular Shopping Day...

Is there anyone else who remembers the Sears' and Penney's Christmas catalogs arriving between Halloween and Thanksgiving?  That always signaled the start of the holiday season for me.  Nowadays, the kids start asking as soon as they see Christmas displays in stores.  (Oh, wait, many of the stores have chucked Christmas in favor of generic "holidays" - which is baloney, because we all know they aren't selling that junk for Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever the closest Muslim holiday is).   ANYWAY, the Princess & the Pirate have started asking me 'how many more weeks 'til Christmas', and telling me everything they would like to add to their "list."

Aside: I have used the birthday and Christmas "lists" for years as a way to head off the whiny want-its in stores - or anywhere else .  If I'm not buying it at that moment I just tell the kids, "Add it to your list," and they know if they whine about it after that, they have ZERO chance of getting it, 'cause Santa doesn't like whiners, and neither does their Mama.   

This year's lists seem to be comprised of American Girl dolls...long lists of American Girl dolls in order of preference/acquisition.  The Princess wants Molly first, then Felicity.  The Pirate wants Felicity, then Kaya (because they both have horses; the Pirate could not care less what the dolls look like).  The problem is that Felicity is being "retired" at the end of this year.  So, we must get Felicity this year, or not at all.  Has anyone else choked at the price for these toys?  $95 per doll + shipping (which is still cheaper than my driving to Chicago - home of the nearest American Girl store).  And that's just the doll & paperback book, no accessories.  Add $20 for "accessories."  I'm thinking the doll is ALL, and I'll be sewing some 18" doll clothes between now and then, with scraps from my stash.  And if any of their relatives ask what the girls would like for Christmas, we'll tell them AG accessories and 18" doll clothes.  (At least that's clear and fairly easy to find.  Getting clothes the right size in styles the girls like is always problematic when they are bought by people who don't see them that often).   The only redeeming factor in all of this consumerism is the historical education some marketing wizard added to the whole doll concept when designing the American Girl dolls.  I can design (or otherwise obtain) an entire unit study on the American Revolution based on Felicity, and one for WW2 written around Molly's experiences growing up in the 1940's.

Now I'm wondering if they have a Victorian era doll I can turn into Little Miss Steampunk.  And maybe I should just stop there... all I want for Christmas is a good pressure canner, in case anyone is wondering.   

In reality, I'd prefer the whole concept of exchanging gifts at Christmas to just go away.  It takes away from the actual holy-day.  It was never about what we gave/give/will give to each other, much less what we got/get/will get.  It's about what God gave for us.  I wish we could have a secular gift-giving "holiday" at some other time of year.  Then the hypocrisy of atheists exchanging Christmas gifts wouldn't exist.  (I don't know why I care, but that does bug me).  And we wouldn't have marketing nuts trying to warp other religions' holidays to fit the current consumptive* Christmas mold.  I'd resent that, if I followed one of those religious traditions.  And we wouldn't have people all a-twitter that some store told its employees they could not wish anyone a Merry Christmas, but had to tell all shoppers "Happy Holidays!" instead.  They could say "Merry Christmas!" on Dec 24/5, and "Happy shopping!" or some other inanity on the Great Secular Shopping Day.  Yes, I'm thinking I have a great idea here.  We could remove all the consumerism from the Christian holy day, and instead have a ginormous secular consumerist frenzy during a different week.   We could ALL wish each other "Happy Shopping!" or "Good Giving!" or "Rake it in!" whenever it is.  I'm thinking April 16.  Or maybe two weeks later - so the government has time to print the money it has to give back in tax refunds. 


*Yes, I know, but the computer failed "consumeristic" and I liked the diseased flavor of consumptive.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

What I've Read Lately and Why I Am Here

I just finished Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky, who also wrote Here Comes Everybody, which I will now have to find and read as well... yes, my taste in reading material took a sharp turn into non-fiction a few years back when I began to feel like I'd read every story ever written and all possible variations thereof... I'm back to reading a bit of fiction, mostly steampunk novels, but the vast majority of my current word candy is real, rather than imaginary.  Anyway...


Shirky writes about the current abundance of intellect, energy, and time that he calls "cognitive surplus," and he gets into our means, motive and opportunity to use it in ways I have never considered, from silliness like LOLcats, to (how should I describe is?) Wikipedia, to more efficient charity (see the chapter on the Grobanites) to lifesaving uses like Ushahidi.com, which allows Kenyans to sidestep gov't censorship and to report acts of violence in real time.  He is more optimistic that I, predicting a reduction in creative quality on average but increased innovation, greater transparency throughout society, and a dramatic rise in productivity and generosity (that I sincerely hope is an accurate prognostication).


I enjoyed it - or I wouldn't have finished it, since anything that can't grab and keep my attention in the first 50 pages goes back to the library immediately, because life is too short to slog through anything I could have written better myself - and I found it motivating me to get off my duff and take advantage of what this lovely Mac will do.  And what my camera will do.  And maybe even my iPod.  But not my cell phone.  I still hate that thing.


Mr. Shirky doesn't seem to have a particularly good opinion of bloggers, or the uses of blogs, however.  They rank only slightly above LOLcats.  I can understand that - blogs are a temptation to bloviation.  Shoot, I've indulged my tendency toward verbosity enough to recognize that.  But that isn't really why I'm here.  I'm blogging along for several reasons that have nothing to do with the Joy of S- -peaking in Print.  (You thought I couldn't fit that in, didn't you?)

I'm here because this is the quickest, easiest way to record the silly things my children do, and to share them with their relatives (so we can all blackmail the kiddies later), because I forget that sort of thing so easily and so often.  I'm here because every once in awhile I find it necessary to say something without reducing it to the comprehension level of those same children, or without censoring it out of existence for their benefit.  I'm here because writing forces me to clarify my thinking, rather than mindlessly going with my emotion of the moment (It irritates me greatly when others do that, so I refuse to allow myself to do it, out of either fairness or arrogance - you can choose!).  And I'm here because eventually, I'd like to hear from my family and friends and anyone else who reads it, exactly what they think about whatever topic has caught my interest enough to bother blogging on it.


The next book will be What Women Want: The Global Market Turns Female Friendly by Paco Underhill, which indirectly explains why el Jefe and I both enjoy anything STEAMPUNK.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Flies, ick

Miss Pirate, annoyed by the flies that have gotten into the house, asks, "When will I swat a fly?  I've never swatted a fly.  I'm going to swat a fly.  It will be fun."

Two minutes and several smacking noises later, "I swatted a fly!  I swatted a fly!  I GOT one!  I will get another!"  I hope she gets the last two, too.

Tales from the Firing Line

The girls had their air rifle class this morning.  Miss Princess proned out next to her friend G, and the two of them proceeded to ding the tiny steel animal targets with gleeful abandon - with commentary -
"I hit the pig!" 
"You have bacon for breakfast!" 
"I hit the chicken!" 
"Drumsticks for dinner!" 

Meanwhile Miss Pirate was getting frustrated due to her lack of bullseyes and "DIIIINNNNG!" noises.  Her wonderful instructor, Keith, suggested she explain to her friend Little Bear (the stuffed animal Gramu loaned her, which she takes everywhere, even the range) each step to firing the shot... "First you build your position, Little Bear... slowly squeeeeeze the trigger..."  I find it hysterically funny that her shooting improved immensely at that point, she continued to talk Little Bear through each shot, and she shot well enough to please herself for the last hour of class.  Perhaps I should have brought my bear to the Appleseed this past weekend and improved my shooting, too...

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I'm Risking Miss Pirate's Life

...at least, I'm risking it according to HER.  Miss Pirate informed her Gramu (Miss Pirate is nothing if not "funetik") that her Mama was risking her life and she shouldn't be doing that.  Apparently, every time Miss Pirate is sent to her room for an attitude adjustment, she gets so mad she wants to jump out the window, but she cannot because the ground is too hard where she would land, and so Mama should buy Miss Pirate a trampoline to land in and stop risking her little girl's life.   I am only surprised she didn't hit up Gramu for the trampoline...

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A Few of the Reasons Why We Homeschool

We homeschool for a  number of reasons.  The problem when telling anyone who asks exactly what those reasons are is that they are inevitably offended by one or more of them. 

But here goes...

I want more of GOD in my children's lives than they will get in public school.  Public schools are not friendly to the very idea of God, no matter whose, but they are particularly unfriendly to Christianity.  This is my opinion, based on personal experience as a product of the public schools, and as a professional teaching in them.  You don't have to agree.   I am not attacking anyone else's decision to send their children to school.  I don't think that makes you a bad parent.  God gave you YOUR children to raise as you see fit.  He gave me MINE to raise as I see fit.  I'm not insulted by your decisions.  If you ARE insulted by mine, perhaps you need to examine why you feel that way.

I want a better education for my children than they can get in public schools - by that, I mean one that is tailored to their particular learning styles, that does not waste years of time in pointless repetition and mindless regurgitation.  It is not my experience that public schools teach children how to think.  They are taught to accept what they are told as fact without testing or researching for themselves.  Independent thought is only rarely encouraged.  More often, it is actively discouraged.  This is a function of the teacher:student ratio, not a slam on teachers' abilities or intent.  No teacher will ever tell you that s/he can teach more to a larger group than to a smaller one.  Certain behaviors and questions and rabbit trails simply cannot be tolerated in larger classes, or the learning objectives will not be met.  My class has a 1:2 ratio.  We have time for more than anyone in a 1:30 class ratio ever will. 

About those learning objectives... every lesson needs them, but it is not the duty of the state to define them.  My children are individuals, growing and learning at their own pace, not to be frustrated by goals either too easy or too difficult for their particular stage of development.  My children are not to be defined by their age in years, but rather by their maturity of mind and body and spirit.

I want my children to have the opportunity to BE children - to go outside and play EVERY day, to develop their imaginations, to tell stories and act them out, to investigate whatever interests them at that moment (yes, even if it means scouring the neighborhood for worms and toads and snakes, Miss L). 

I DON'T want my children's interests in ANYTHING to be discouraged.  That means if my youngest daughter wants to be a herpetologist, she doesn't have 15 other little girls telling her "Only boys do that!" and "That's icky!)

There are other reasons, but those are the ones that come to mind right now...

Xa Lynn

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

What Bothers Me

It has bothered me for some time that the same people who insist that everything in the Bible should be interpreted literally have this penchant for insisting that Jesus turned the water into non-alcoholic grape juice at the wedding in Cana.  Excuse me?  The Book says WINE.  If you are going to tell me that God created the universe in six 24-hour days, then at least avoid the hypocrisy of changing the definition of "wine" to suit your personal preferences.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Archer takes out homcidal tree

Yes, that time of year has rolled around again.  I haven't drawn my bow in two years, but El Jefe thought it would be fun to take the girls to the range where we could ALL practice.  Miss Pirate was mad when her arrow bounced off the target (at least she HIT the target!), the Princess had a meltdown when she lost an arrow OVER the target (we recovered it - but the foreshadowing of the emotional hissy fits of puberty was frightening).   And I, well... I managed to murder a tree.  El Jefe said I should tell everyone the tree had ripped itself from the forest floor and was chasing us down to kill us all, when I spun around and put an arrow in its heart.  In reality, it's been two years, and I've had Lasik and no longer wear glasses, and I just plain forgot to use the peep sight with my right eye, instead lining up the target, the pin, and my left eye - resulting in a hit accurate on the vertical plane, but four feet to the left on the horizontal, impaling a tree with a diameter barely twice that of my arrow shaft.  We took pics on El Jefe's phone to prove it.  I'll have to figure out how to download and post them here...

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Changeling Child

Miss Pirate has been stolen by fairies and replaced with a changeling that does not whine, even about homeschool.  I have no idea what to do about this (besides rejoicing!).  The Princess is mildly annoyed and wants her lullaby ten minutes ago, so I will be going now...

OPSEC

Xa Lynn isn't my real name, but those of you who know me will understand.  Rule #3 is "Nothing is secure" and that includes info on the internet.  Therefore, all the names in this blog are amusing (to me) ripoffs or nicknames.  This paragraph is a test.  Let's see how well this blog works... what do you know, it actually did!