Foggy Ideas

A fog descended Halloween night and has yet to retreat. It has either been drizzling, raining, and/or clouding the entire 10 days. This is fairly typical for the transitional weather between fall and winter here in Spokane. It has something to do with the topography of the Columbia Basin in eastern Washington.  I really enjoy the first few weeks that the sun begins to take its hiatus (3 minutes lost every day). I can easily rationalize staying home and curling up with a book. I feel a little lazy and I am ok with it. The in-house activities that I have been stowing away for rainy days are fresh and exciting. It is an unexplicably comforting experience when the upper atmosphere descends and nestles itself by our front door....similar to being wrapped in a warm blanket of dry ice.  I love dry ice.  My muddy afternoon strolls though our woods are filled with a surreal romanticism mixed with a touch of terror considering I can't see that far ahead of me and I have heard a few rogue gunshots lately (During the election, I grew fond of the word rogue).    

So what have we been doing with our extra time indoors?

We spent almost an entire day building and flying paper airplanes. Ansel quickly dubbed his favorite, The Ninja, and I found the way that he curls his tongue above his upper lip when he is launching 'The Ninja' to be completely irresistible.

Ansel has stashed his Halloween candy in nooks and crannies throughout the house. He says "I am saving it for winter." Every day he asks me if it is winter yet. I don't think he has partaken of even one piece.

I am hoping that our spacious great room with the huge windows will spare us from the severe cases of claustrophobic stir-craziness that afflict many of us living at 47 degrees N. latitude  during the long winter months. Corey just purchased a snow-blower (our gravel drive-way is a quarter of a mile long...we are justified, right?). I am still hopeful that there will be a few snowy days that we will be completely trapped in our house.

I don't know if there has ever been a "Fantastic" school picture in the history of school pictures. There have been many horrible school photos. I think the results for 2008 are "acceptably cute"

Emmy keeps her candy in this bag by her bed. She eats one piece a day. From Where Where Where did these self-disciplined children come? My Halloween candy was always gone in two days. In all fairness, my father did take half of it due to potential "poison and razor blades."

Due to her incredible amount of focus and ability, Emmy has forced her teacher to design new math tests to personally suit her cerebral needs. While volunteering in the classroom, I have noticed that the teacher has positioned Emmy to be her personal teacher's aid. Emmy says that she doesn't mind this role, but I am not so sure that this is an ideal situation. Any suggestions?

Savanna--5th grade 2008

Vanessa.....5th grade 1982

5th grade doesn't seem that long ago to me and in some ways, I still feel like a 5th grader.  I see a small resemblance between the two of us. Unfortunately, Savanna is lacking the luscious long bangs, the over sized pink sweater with bits of silver flair laced throughout, and best of all, the feather barrette purchased at the local flea market with hard-earned paper route money.

Savanna's class recently traveled back to the year 1621 and demonstrated what Pilgrim life was like living with 6 other people in a 12 foot by 12 foot thatched one-room house and sharing a piece of bread for breakfast. I have a hard time believing that cat's cradle and marbles were enough to keep these people from killing each other.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Savanna recently won the Wilson Elementary t-shirt logo design contest. Here it is. I can't wait to take a family photo in our matching shirts. The shirts may not last forever, but Savanna's beaming face when she told me she had won will hang in my permanent gallery of memories. And a banner with the logo will hang in Wilson's main hall until the end of time.

Food tastes so much better when:

1. It is cold and wet outside

2. I am not the one doing the cooking

We have been having some great meals.  I sing Glory Halleluiah when Corey will cook dinner and I have been singing quite frequently the past few weeks.  It is still in debate as to whether or not I fell in love with him or his salsa.  I haven't tasted a fresher Pad Thai (above) and he recently added this amazing Tomato Basil Soup to his "menu of meals I would consider trading my children for." 

This is the book with which I  have doing the recent curling. It has been a rough relationship. I haven't struggled this much with a book since the 3rd and last time I tried to read Moby Dick. I can't understand why I hate it so much when it has been critically acclaimed and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment was one of my favorite novels. This book is just too much work. I am hoping that I am just not in the mood for a Russian 19th century novel about a severely dysfunctional family at this particular lazy moment in my life. I am really hoping that I am not just plain too dumb. Last night, I decided to put it on hold for a while and began reading the biography of Gandhi.