Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

Brought to you entirely by Mr. C, who did all the work by himself!

Halloween Costumes

I think our theme this year is film: silver and small screen. No, I didn't actually give the kids a theme. They just both ended up being characters. In case you aren't up on pop culture and don't immediately recognize who they are, M is Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter and Mr. C is Earl from My Name Is Earl. Pretty elaborate, eh? Did anyone else watch The Middle last night? I loved Brick as the Scottish WWI hero and I especially loved the neighbor who knew who that war hero was. What a funny show about crazy Hoosiers!
Last night was Trunk or Treat at church. That is why the kids were dressed up early. There really isn't any traditional trick-or-treating around here. You have to go to a church to get candy. I don't have a picture of S. She dressed as a Chick-fil-a worker and got money instead of candy (haha--she had to work last night!).

Grandma Jones

I was making chicken pot pie for supper last night and it reminded me of Grandma Jones. I'm sure some of you reading this have your own memories of Grandma Jones. Here are a few of mine.

We went to visit my Great Grandma Jones every Sunday. She always had a wonderful lunch, including dessert. My favorite was pumpkin pie, no matter what time of the year. Grandma told us how she would get up at 4am to make her pies. Delicious!

I also remember the glass candy dish with the glass top. It was impossible to open and close it silently. Each week I chose two pieces of Brach's candy out of that dish. Maple was my favorite. I'm not sure if I've had any Brach's candy in 25 years. Now the candy dish sits in my dining room, shut away in the sideboard so it won't be broken. Too precious for my children, but when I'm a grandma I'll get it out to spoil the grandkiddies with.

There were coloring books and crayons under the TV which sat on a cart in the dining room. (Grandma spent most time in the dining room, kitchen, and bedroom--the rest of the house was mostly unused.) She never got new books or crayons, but the old ones were never used up. The crayons were those fat ones that you couldn't color small spaces with. I hated them. The coloring books had pictures of adventure stories like Gulliver's Travels. I loved them.

The elementary school, with it's playground, was on the next block. I spent several hours swinging and climbing on the equipment by myself. And for some reason I spent a lot of time just jumping down the steps of Grandma's back walkway. In the summer I would climb the magnolia tree next to the sidewalk. With a book, I could sit up there all afternoon reading.

Mostly I remember Grandma Jones sitting in her rocking chair in the dining room, with an afghan across her lap. She was constantly crocheting. She usually had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and it wasn't uncommon to hear a "goddamn it" escape her lips. She was definitely a character. Aren't we blessed, those of us who were able to know her even for a little while?

Babies Around the World

I watched this documentary called Babies. It follows 4 babies from different parts of the world through their first year of life. It was very interesting to me to see the differences in childrearing and yet the similarities of experiences the babies go through. I highly recommend the movie, but be aware that there is nudity, especially in the family from Namibia.

One thing I didn't like was the American family. I didn't think they were a very good representative of an average American family. They were from San Francisco, in their 40s, and only had the one child. They were major "yuppies". I can tell you that they didn't raise their child the same way I raised any of my children. For example, they went to a class where they sat around on the floor singing about Mother Earth taking care of us, the mom swam with the baby outside in the hot tub naked (both of them)during daylight(?!), and there was never any noise at their house. When the girl got upset with her mom and smacked her in the face, the mom pulled a book off the shelf, titled Bad Hitting, and reminded the girl (about 9 months old) that she was not to hit.

The other babies were from Tokyo, Namibia, and Mongolia. The Mongolian boy had a big brother (about 18 months old) who always hit him until he cried. One day he put him in his stroller, rolled him out to where the cows were, and left him. It reminded me of when M was tiny and I was holding her on my lap. S brought over the bouncy chair, patted it, and said "Put Baby here." Just goes to show how those relationships are the same the world over.

Homecoming Floats

When we first moved here it was homecoming time. S got involved working on her classes float and I expected a homecoming parade to see it in. I was surprised to find out that the floats here are stationary. The kids build them on platforms and then you can drive by and see them. Here are the four classes' entries from this year. By the way, our mascot is a Panther and we played the Tigers (and lost in the last 18 seconds of the game).

Freshman: Tame the Tigers

Sophomores: Torch the Tigers

Juniors: Tigers This is Your Final Destination

Seniors: Forget the Tigers! We're Grrreat!

After the votes were in, the Sophomore class won first place. S was upset, and of course M was happy. M made all those little flames at the bottom of the float. S was one of about 5 seniors who showed up to work on their float. What class spirit!

National Elementary Honor Society

Mr. C was inducted into the National Elementary Honor Society today. It was a nice, formal ceremony. There were 35 kids who joined. To be invited you had to have a 90+ average for 4th grade and the first grading period of 5th grade. Enjoy the pictures.

Waiting to get started

Lighting his candle

All the lit candles. Three 5th grade teacher to the left of the table, principal at the table, guidance counselor at the podium

2010-2011 National Elementary Honor Society

Mom is so proud of you!

A New Job

Yesterday morning when I was dropping Mr. C off at school his principal stopped me. She asked if I'd like a job. Let's see...Why yes I would. Nothing is final yet. I'm going to go observe the class next week and decide if it's something I want to do. But I can't imagine it could be so bad that I would turn it down.
The job is just a temporary sub position while a teacher is on maternity leave. She has decided to take the second semester off. So starting after Christmas break I'll be teaching 4th grade. Yeah for me!

Homecoming Ceremony

S with D at the homecoming ceremony

Today was the homecoming ceremony. Each of the girls were introduced and walked out on stage. Then from those on the court there were 5 seniors announced who are now "maids" who are running for queen. S didn't make it past this cut, but she was happy just to be on the court.  The flash made it impossible to take pictures of them on the stage.  This is a picture of S with her "friend" who she is trying to decide if she wants to be dating. She's a very cautious girl.

M in the crowd--it is hippie dress-up day

Weekend Cocktail

We had a gorgeous weekend! Football fills up most of the weekends in the fall. High school on Friday, college on Saturday, and NFL on Sunday. S went to their high school game on Friday. It was away so M stayed home. They both went to Fifth Quarter at church after the game. Fifth Quarter is something our church just started doing this year. Every Friday they have high schoolers (no matter what high school or church) get together from 10-12 after the football games. This Friday they had a bonfire. Quite a few kids show up and it's a great alternative to what they might otherwise be getting into.

Saturday Hubby and M helped a family from our church move. About a month ago there was a family (Dad and 4 kids) who went to the Gulf Coast for the weekend. The dad and 11 year old son were caught in a rip current. The 19 year old daughter got the boy out, but couldn't save the dad. Four kids lost their dad on vacation. I can't stand to think about it. The 11 year old is one of Mr. C's good friends from school. Anyway the grandma goes to our church and is now raising the kids. Hubby and M were helping to move the kids' things out of their house and into grandma's. (If you're wondering where the mom is, she passed away last year from cancer.)

Back to football. Auburn and LSU both won and are the only undefeated teams left in the SEC. M goes for LSU and S goes for Auburn. They play each other next weekend. In the NFL the Colts won! We don't always get to see the Colts on TV, but we did get this game. I hope they have a chance to heal up over the next two weeks and get more of their starting players back on the field. They haven't looked right this year.

Hubby, Mr. C, and I got out and walked the nature trail in town on Sunday. We saw lots of great egrets, turtles, and a few blue herons. I forgot to take the camera so you'll have to use your imagination. Overall we had a good weekend.

Marvelous Joins a Club



Marvelous recieves her rose

I went to what was supposed to be a pinning ceremony for M's club she was asked to join. The pins hadn't arrived so the girls each got a rose instead. This is a service oriented club just for girls. They had to be nominated by a teacher and then all their teachers had to fill out a questionnaire before they could be invited into the club. So it's an honor just to be part of it.

M and some of her friends

They had the ceremony at a local restaurant. I was the only parent. I told M I could drop her and her friend off if she didn't want me to stay, but she didn't mind. So I sat with the girls, talked with them through dinner, and even took a few pictures. It was a nice time. I'm glad that my kids haven't entered that whole "drop me off two blocks away so I don't have to be seen with you" phase. I hope we skip it altogether.

Smarty Had A Great Day

I saw Smarty for all of about 10 minutes yesterday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are very busy with fencing lessons after school. Mr. C and I leave around 3:30 and don't get home until after 7:00. So I don't get to see the girls much on those days.

During the few minutes I did see her, Smarty announced: she made homecoming court, she was voted "kindest" in her class, she's getting a 98 in AP Biology, and wasn't there something else? Oh, yeah, she was accepted at Auburn! What a great day!

At bedtime, M talked back to me (quelle surprise) and rather than ignore it I took her phone for the rest of the night. Later S brought M's phone charger to me and stated how much she approved of me taking away the phone. The icing on her perfect day was her little sister getting in trouble.

If I was into child psychology I would probably recognize that M is frustrated from always living in her big sister's shadow, and as a result acts out. But as it is, I'm not about to take her smart mouth for whatever reason. Lest you think I don't give M equal time and attention, I'm going to her pinning ceremony after school today. It is for a club that she belongs to but S doesn't. Apparently you have to be invited to join. So there!

Usually the girls get along. But there are just some of those days.

Bugs, Natural and Virtual

Mr. C took some pictures of a Mama Spider and her Babies in our driveway last night. He wanted to print one out and take it to his science teacher today. I tried to connect the camera to the big computer and then Hubby tried to get it to work. After much fiddling and cursing, Hubby came to the realization that something is wrong with the USB card in the computer (???don't ask me). He was confused because the mouse and keyboard still worked and they apparently are plugged in through the same thing. This morning I went to try the picture print again, and couldn't get the computer to wake up by wiggling the mouse or hitting the keyboard. So I guess that USB thing is completely dead. I hope it is a cheap fix. We really can't afford a new computer right now.

I hope you enjoy the spider picture! The shiny spots on her back are more babies, hitching a ride. Isn't it cool how the flash reflects in the spiders' eyes?

A Peek Into My Inbox

Usually I ignore the emails that are forwarded, instructing me to pass them along to 10 friends or the world will end. But about a week ago I got one that I thought I would send along to Smarty, Marvelous, and Mr. Creativity. Since they rarely check their email I didn't expect them to get it for awhile. Today I got a response from S. Following is the message and reply.

Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.
It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with them..

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

The reply I received from Smarty: I love you!~smarty~

The Cotton Harvest

A cotton field ready to be harvested

This is the earliest I've seen the cotton in. We had a really hot streak toward the end of summer--the first week of school it was over 100 every day when I picked up Mr. C. The heat seemed to scorch the cotton plants and I thought they were ruined. But even though the leaves turned brown early, the cotton bolls just seemed to explode. By the end of August the fields were white.

A cotton bale--the red truck in back is what harvests the plants

The green truck is what smashes the cotton into a tight bale--see the yellow mechanism on top that pushes the cotton down.

The bales sometimes sit for a couple of days before they are loaded onto a semi and taken to a mill. I don't know if you can see it in the pictures, but there is quite a bit of cotton left on the ground. It eventually just blows away. Before machines did the harvesting, these would have been hand-picked and not gone to waste. But who wants to get their hands all bloody picking cotton when there is a perfectly good machine to do it for you? Hope you enjoyed a taste of our southern agriculture.

Walk to School Day

Today is International Walk to School Day in the USA. I'm not sure if that means that only people in the USA are to walk to school, or people all over the world are to walk to school, or if Americans who may be going to school anywhere in the world are to walk to school.

Mr. C's school participated in the event. Since we live about 8 miles from his school (over a bridge and down a 5 lane highway) I drove him to the church parking lot that is 4 blocks from school and he walked the rest of the way. Most parents were dropping their kids off in the same parking lot. I'm not sure that really constitutes walking to school. There are no sidewalks in the neighborhood either, so everyone was walking in the street. Fortunately the police arrived to direct traffic.

When I was in elementary school everyone walked to school. We had neighborhood schools and of course I grew up in town. Hubby always rode the bus to school because he was a country boy. There are hardly any neighborhood schools left now. Everything is consolidated and encompasses such a huge area. I'm sure in some ways it saves money to have larger, and fewer, schools but I miss living in a neighborhood with sidewalks and kids walking to and from school. I must be getting old and nostalgic.

What are the girls up to? Here is a link to what's happening at their school. You might recognize one of the students mentioned under "Announcements". What you won't see is any reference to the big drug bust they had this week. One of them was the quarterback, who was expelled and arrested as an adult. I asked S if she knew any of the kids. She said No, she doesn't hang around any of those kind of people. Mostly the girls hang out with their friends from church. Yeah!!!

A Fall Fire

The weather is changing. This morning it was 49 when I drove Mr. C to school. Brrr!

On Saturday night we had a fire and burned up a bunch of branches we had trimmed. The fire died down to ashes and went out. Or so we thought.

On Sunday, Mr. C went out and poked around the ashes and blew on them and after 45 minutes of this he got the fire from the day before going again. He was so proud of himself. He insisted we take a picture of him with his fire, which he used to make s'mores. "C'mon, blog about me Mommy!" he told me. How can I resist that? When he finished his s'more (& I finished mine!) he used the hose to properly put out the fire.

By the way, no one here reads my blog. They all know I have one and occasionally I say things like, "I put that picture on my blog," or "I blogged about us doing that." But for the most part it's just my private little journal.

You Can't Drink and Drive, But You Can Drink and Control Alabama's Finances

It's almost that time again. Election day. I'm not sure it is ever not election time, or at least campaign time. I don't have much to say about this candidate personally, but what about that name? Can't you just hear the old guys sitting around the checkerboard at the general store: "What the hell's the matter with this here economy?" "Well, what do you expect with that Young Boozer in charge of the money?"

You can Bing this guy and see he's a serious candidate, and this is his real name.