Blizzard of '08

So the Blizzard of '08 has arrived, and it's a doozy. Here are some pics so far...

Here's a pic from yesterday, notice the fire hydrant in the background to the left of Taipan's head. And then notice the fire hydrant in the close up. That much snow fell in about a day, and it's still coming down as I type this.



When I ventured out earlier today, this is what greeted me after opening the garage door... about a foot of snow.


There's a park bench buried in between the trees.


Here's our front yard and driveway. Honest

.

Yes! Baby fish!

It seems as if a couple of the baby fish survived. They can hide really well. They're growing very fast, and Yuta is able to spot them most of the time. I have trouble. He caught a picture of one of them (look at the bottom of the plant):










And it looks like one of our other fish has eggs, though we're not sure yet.

Baby fish

So, when we chose our fish yesterday, all of the Mickey Mouse platys we had to choose from were female. I specifically asked if they would be able to tell if they were pregnant. The woman said, "Oh, yes! Their bellies are super big when they're pregnant. It's really obvious." Apparently it's not all that obvious. We have at least five baby fish today. They're cute. Hopefully they'll fare well in our tank. I actually thought that the fish that turned out to be pregnant wasn't acclimating very well, because she's been very still and not swimming around or eating as much as the other fish. Turns out she was just in labor!

Kalahari & Moving

Last week we had planned to spend a week at Kalahari in Sandusky, the world's (or maybe the country's) largest indoor waterpark, as part of the first annual Unschooler's Winter Waterpark Gathering (UWWG).

We went last Monday, and before we even got there Taipan wanted to come home. He changed his mind for a bit after we got there and he got excited about some of the things to do there. There's a huge arcade and a great climbing/play structure, and candy and ice cream, and UWWG had a craft room set up. He was not interested in the waterpark. And he always came back to me saying he wanted to go home.

Our original plans were to stay until Friday. We came home early Wednesday morning - it seemed to be what Taipan needed, and I figured I could help Yuta with packing and moving. Yuta got so much moving done early last week that we decided to move to our new house last Saturday, instead of waiting until Feb 2nd, which was our original plan.

We're living amongst a bunch of boxes still, but we're settled in fairly well given that we've only been here a few days. Our painter is finishing up the laundry room right now, then he'll just have minor touch ups and he'll be done. I love love love some of the colors we picked. My favorites are a color called Serape, which we put in my office and a color called Aqua-Sphere, which we put in our laundry room.

Our goal is to have the house in shape enough for us to feel comfortable hosting a small get together on Feb 9th. We'll be celebrating Taisim's 2nd birthday and our new house!

Gabrielle's Gift

I didn't want this to get lost in the last post, so I'm calling it out separately. A friend of mine is starting an organization called Gabrielle's Gift, inspired by the daughter of a friend of ours. Our friend's daughter, Gabrielle, has been diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C Disease.

NP-C is a genetic, pediatric, neurodegenerative disorder. It is responsible for the build-up of cholesterol in cells, resulting in eventual damage to the nervous system. This metabolic disorder leads to a series of neurological problems that are ultimately fatal.

Yuta and I have offered to help out with a website - Gabrielle's Gift. Right now the web pages are just a simple blog. As things progress, we may move to something more robust.

Check out the site - it's still under development. Some links aren't working. Some content is missing. Eventually we'll be selling bracelets to raise money to support Gabrielle's family and fund research for Niemann-Pick. Janet is working on getting the non-profit status, and we'll need that before bracelets can be sold. Stay tuned for details.

Pennsylvania

I'm not feeling real good about Pennsylvania this morning (even though we know some great people that live there). First, I've heard that it's difficult to homeschool there - I've never had the need to read up on the law myself, so I don't really know firsthand, but from what I hear it is one of the most rigid places to homeschool (lots of testing and requirements and oversight).

And then just this morning I came across a website that is working to save homebirth in Pennsylvania. The state has ordered a homebirth midwife to “cease and desist from the practice of medicine and midwifery.” Folks think that this is a test case for the state to begin cracking down on all homebirth midwives.

For those of you who don't know, I had Taisim at home, and homebirth is a great option, and one that should be available to everyone.

Here are some facts that I pulled from the PA savehomebirth.com site:

• The U.S. ranks 27th for infant mortality in the industrialized world, below Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
• A newborn is 3 times as likely to die in the U.S. as in Japan.
• Planned homebirths have infant mortality rates equal to Japan's, which are the lowest in the world. (see below)
• Homebirth midwives are specialists in homebirth.
• Certified nurse midwives are not required to attend homebirths as a part of their training.
• The U.S. ranks below 20 other countries in rates of maternal deaths
• Countries in which homebirth attended by midwives is widely available have lower infant mortality rates and lower maternal mortality rates than the U.S.

On the up side, you can get raw dairy without any problems in Pennsylvania...whereas in most states it is illegal to buy raw dairy. Here is Ohio you have to own part of a cow to get raw dairy.

The Big Lie

I've subscribed to The Daily Groove for over a year now. It's an email that I get daily from M-F and it's all about parenting and enjoying it. The one that Scott sent today is one of my favorites - it sums up what I've personally been actively working on for the past few months. I'm definitely not there yet (unconditional joy), but I feel like I'm getting closer.

edited to add: Yes, I have control issues... but now I'm going to think of myself in terms of being passionate intelligent & creative, thanks to Scott.

THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle
www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove

:: The Big Lie ::

Do you have "control issues"?

The good news is that being a "controller" is a symptom of being intelligent, creative, and
passionate... AND duped into believing the Big Lie of our culture: *conditionality*

The Big Lie is that you can't be happy or feel worthy except under certain conditions. If you've bought into it, then naturally you will use your personal strengths to try and control those conditions.

For example, if you believe your children have to behave a certain way in order for you to feel good
(about them or about yourself), then of course you will try to control their behavior.

Once you realize the purpose of the Big Lie -- to control *you* -- you'll stop believing it.

Practicing the Art of Unconditionality dissolves the Big Lie (and the "need" to control conditions) by
affirming the Ultimate Truth: that you have the power to focus your mind in ways that feel good...
under *any* conditions.

Try it!

http://dailygroove.net/big-lie

Feel free to forward this message to your friends!
(Please include this paragraph and everything above.)
Copyright (c) 2007 by Scott Noelle

Alfie Kohn article

So, I had no idea yesterday was talk like a pirate day, and Yuta didn't even bother telling me until the end of the day. Fortunately, it didn't take long for me to exhaust my pirate vocabulary (ahoy! arrr! shiver me timbers!) and I felt like I participated.

You might be inclined to say, "Good job, Karen!" But don't. Here's why: Five Reasons to Stop Saying Good Job, an article by Alfie Kohn, whose writing has inspired me in a lot of ways. He's got a lot of other great articles, but I just re-read this one today and thought I'd share.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Avast me hearties, tis International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so get ye some grog and talk like a pirate!

ARRRRRRRR!

Going on vacation

We're leaving for Florida tomorrow - we're all pretty excited. It'll be an early morning, but worth it once we're sitting on the beach tomorrow afternoon.

I'm taking my computer to check in on work stuff, and I may blog a big, we'll have to see. If not, I'll post full updates when we get back home!

Pictures added below

Hiya.... Yuta added some pictures from Chicago and the 4th of July, so scroll down to see some pics.

IKEA!!!

We spent our Memorial Day driving to Michigan to go to Ikea. Since our tv wasn't working, we decided to get it out of the house, get rid of the entertainment center we had (thank you, craigslist.com), rearrange our living room, and buy a desk to hold a new monitor and computer that will be our media center, and where Yuta can play the Wii and watch DVDs.

I found everything we were looking for in a desk at Ikea. The problem was that it wasn't available for online ordering. So I looked around to see if I could find something else that would fit the bill, and couldn't find anything that was in our price range that we liked. We originally planned to get it in Pittsburgh - it was in stock there on Friday, but not on Sunday - which is about a 2 hour drive. The next closest Ikea is in Canton, Michigan, which is about 3 hours away, west of Detroit. So off we went.

We left home at 11:30am, and didn't get back until 9:30pm. We loved it. The kids did okay - Taipan wasn't pleased on the drive there, and Taisim complained a bit on the way home (which resulted in an hour-long stop at a service plaza). They both had a good time playing at Ikea, and they both loved the Swedish meatballs that they sell at the Ikea cafe (and we ended up bringing home two bags of frozen meatballs).

We also got a cool table for the kids to use as a computer table/craft table with a couple of chairs (in red) - I acutally worked at it a bit this morning and it's nice. I got a few other odds and ends, but showed great restraint and didn't get much that wasn't on our shopping list.

Yuta put together the kids table last night, and the bottom portion of his desk this morning. I am really happy with the choices. Taisim had a good time helping Papa with the tools and screws last night. I was too tired to get the camera, but you can use your imagination :-)

For the Florida folks - your Ikea opens in the fall of 2007 at the Mall at Millenia.

So it begins....

After deliberating for a while, I've decided to take the plunge and start a blog. Why? Well, a few reasons..... I want to be able to keep in touch with friends in family back in Florida (and other places), I want a place to journal all the cool things the kids are doing, and sometimes a feel like I need a sounding board and a place to get my thoughts on paper and sort through things.

So, now that I'm working FT I'll have more time in front of the computer. I figure now's the perfect time to start a blog, so I can write about all the things that I'm not doing with the kids. Ok, so I still do lots of things with the kids, but so does Yuta, so maybe he'll pipe in from time to time.

Of course I have a lot to learn - I don't know how to post pictures yet, not sure how to notify people that it's been updated, blah blah blah. And I don't even know if blogspot is the best place to host this. Maybe I'll change to myspace someday. Who knows.

So, check this out from time to time. Mostly you'll see blurbs about the kids. I'll try to post a cute story from last night later on in the day. Sometimes you'll see my ramblings about what's going on inside my head, but feel free to ignore those parts.

That's it for now.... off to see if I can learn how to customize my blog a bit more!