Never Forget, Again.

***This is a repost from last year. There really is nothing more to say. Every year that goes by more changes, and yet so much more stays the same.***

A few months ago Gunnar and I watched a Nova program about 9/11. This was the first time he’s ever really gotten to see the extent of what happened that horrid day so many years ago. He was just a little boy of 7 when it actually happened. He and the other kids were too young to understand so Dave and I tried to shield them from as much of the media coverage as we could.

But this day, a few months ago, he saw it all. He was very quiet as he watched. At one point during the program they show a single firefighter standing on a giant pile of rubble. The sky was grey from all the dust and this firefighter stood on what was once a building, but was now just a pile of cement and debris. It was as if he was standing on the moon. There was no background noise, which is strange for New York. No cabs driving, no people talking, no horns honking, there was only one sound. An erie, high pitched sound that I didn’t recognize.



Gunnar looked up at me and said “That sound is the alarms on the SCBA tanks the Fireman wear.” That firefighter was standing on who knows how many bodies of his fallen brothers. Their alarms still ringing, and there was nothing he could do but stand and listen.

It made me cry. It still makes me cry just to think of it. It was the most haunting thing I’ve seen in my lifetime.

President Obama, and all other presidents who follow, please, we can NEVER forget. We can never forget, in the name of tolerance, that there is an entire group of zealots out there that wish us all dead. They’d happily give up their own lives to see America destroyed.

Let’s not put politics over America’s safety. Over my children’s safety. I don’t ever want it to be my sons who are standing on a pile of rubble listening to the sounds of their fallen brothers.

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children. “
- President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

Year 15.

One week into the school year and I can see it’s going to be an interesting one. It’s been a little like Grand Central Station here at Hilltop Academy. Bryce the College Boy is taking EMT classes Monday and Wednesdays, and then he works all day for a Construction Company Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (and sometimes even Saturday).

Gunnar has classes at the local community college for duel credit on Tuesday and Thursday and he has afternoon co op classes on Thursday. He also works every afternoon (except Thursday when he’s at co op) for a local auto shop. He also runs his own landscaping business which he works on, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. (When does he do his homework, you might ask? Excellent question!)

Evelyn has classes on Tuesday and Thursday at our co op, and she does not drive, so I am up at the church where the co op meets twice a week this year.

So far nothing for Annika, but she’s really pushing for voice lessons which will be another thing to add to our calendar. Seriously, I need charts and graphs to keep up with everyone’s whereabouts!

I always feel like a terrible mother when someone asks me where Gunnar is and I have NO idea. He is still under 18. I really should have some idea of where he is. I usually have to think about what day it is and what his normal schedule is and guess. Good thing he’s a good, responsible kid!

I guess this is what homeschooling looks like it the upper grades. No more sitting on the couch together reading books. Or sitting around the table with our paper and pencils. Now our education takes place here, there and everywhere!

I think this new school year, our 15th, is going to be a crazy one. Good. But crazy!

Using My Powers For Good

Social media is a blessing and a curse. One of the benefits of social media is that the regular guy has a voice. A powerful one. We can put out there, in Cyber Land, a complaint about something and have a real impact on their sales or enact a change in policy. For instance, I have stated several times how chapped I am that the City of Dallas has lowered trash pick up to only once a week. Do you think my bill was cut in half? Um that would be a NO. And when I asked them about getting another can because ours is ALWAYS overflowing now, they said that would be an extra $10 charge. So I'm still on the Bad City Of Dallas bandwagon.

The problem is, often we get wonderful customer service and we don't say anything. We get a company that goes above and beyond and we just move on to the next thing in our day. But I don't think that's fair. If we're going to put our complaints out there in Cyber Land, then we should put our compliments too.



Back in May, I bought this from Christian Book Distributors to help me teach Annika math this year. I bought it back in May because that is when Saxon has their big sale. Once I got it, I stuck it in a box with the rest of the stuff for the next school year and didn't think about it again.

When I pulled that box out to organize and prepare to start school on Monday I realized that Christian Book Distributors had sent me the wrong thing. They sent this...



It had been WAY past their 30 day return policy. I no longer had the paperwork that went with this order. I only had the order # that I got by getting online and going to 'My Account'. This was an expensive item and I really didn't want to buy it twice. How did I not notice 3 months ago it was the wrong product? UGH!

I called CBD and told them they had sent me the wrong product...back in May. The lady I spoke to asked for the order # and told me it would be no problem, they'd send the correct product right out, and I could just stick the wrong product back in the box, affix the return postage sticker to it and send it back. No charge. AND she even asked me when we were starting school and how soon I needed the product so she could be sure to choose the proper shipping to ensure I had it when I needed it.

WOW.

I was so terribly impressed with CBD.

I just thought you all should know.

Oh, and one other little known secret when dealing with CBD. Often if you call them and ask them if they have any coupon codes available currently, they will give you a one time, free shipping code. I've done that several times.

So there you have it. Today I chose to use my social media powers for good. Now if I could just get the City of Dallas to give me another trash can...

Today I Point You Elsewhere

I posted some homeschool stuff at my homeschool blog today. Because that's what it's for, after all.

GO. Check it out. It's riveting.

The Homeschooling Review

Annnndddd here we go.

I am getting off the sauce. Yep, I have an addiction, a terrible one. I started drinking when I was very little and it quickly became a 2 or 3 a day habit.

Yep, you guessed it. I am addicted to Diet Coke. Actually, to be more precise, Coke Zero is my drink of choice, but Diet Coke will do in a pinch.

I have known for a while that it was time to quit, but I was avoiding it. I don't think Diet Coke is evil or anything, I just think I was drinking too much of it, and not enough of anything else healthy. Not to mention, I read some things that concerned me about theories on Diet drinks leaching out Vitamin D and Calcium. EVERY time I go to the Doctor I am told I am very low on Vitamin D. It's odd because I take a boat load of Vitamin D and I try to get some sun every day. And yet...low. It makes me wonder if it's the Diet Coke.

Today is day 3 of no soda. I started with the headaches last night. I didn't expect the headaches because I'm not going off caffeine, just the diet drinks. I had a cup of tea instead. It did nothing for the headache. So this should be super fun.

Hi, my name is Tricia and I have a problem...

Finding Joy in the Small Things

I had to go get a few new keys made last week. Now that all the kids have such busy social lives, I really need for all of them to have a key to the house. No one wants to be locked out when it's 107 outside!

I went to Walmart to do this chore, and I saw this.



It was $4 instead of the .87¢ you pay for a regular key. I bought 3 regular keys and the green one for $4. I love green. Green makes me happy. I spent an extra $3.13 to have a little happy hanging on my keychain.

It makes me smile every time I have to use my keys. I think it was well worth it.

Letting Them Grow Up

I like that title. It implies that we have a choice. That if we don’t like it, we can somehow stop it. Today is one of those days that I realized that my little boys are not little boys anymore, but men. And pretty darn amazing ones at that.

We got word last night that a missionary family that is good friends of ours was having a problem. Their 3rd son was visiting their 1st son, who is married and living in Alabama. On his way home, 3rd Son’s car died in Eastern LA, about 300 miles away from home. The family has one car already down and does not currently have the funds to fix it. The Wife and Son #4 were planning to drive the 5 hours to go get Son #3 and tow back the broken car on a car dolly attached to their Toyota minivan (currently their only working car).

I told this to Sir D and his immediate response was “Call them and tell them to take the Excursion.” My Excursion is a diesel and is made for towing. A little Toyota minivan is not.

I then called Gunnar. I told him of the situation and he said, “No prob, Mom. Tell Mrs. Missionary that Son #4 and I can do it.”

So my Gunnar, and Son #4 (who is a lifelong friend of Gunnar’s) drove off at 4am to go pick up Son #3 and his car and tow it back home.

The amazing thing to me about this is that Gunnar didn’t hesitate for a second. Even though today is the day he makes the most $. He handed his mowing work off to a friend, and he is missing an afternoon at work at the Auto Shop (the boss was okay with it). All tolled, I think he’s missing out on making about $100 today. $100 he really needs to get his motorbike up and running again and various other things. But he didn’t blink. His friend was in need and he jumped at the chance to help even though it meant lost wages and getting up a 4 am to drive for 10 hours.

It makes a momma proud.

Back to Reality: Or At Least Thinking About Getting Back To Reality

I just spent a ton of money on books and curriculum. I thought having the kids grow up and start taking classes outside of the house would be less expensive. I don't know why I thought that. I must be delusional.

Two of my kids are taking college classes. DO NOT get me started on the college textbook racket! Last year Gunnar was required to buy a brand new, just published, book for his English 1302 class. They did not crack the spine of that book all year. Not once. Then when we went to sell it back to the bookstore they said they were no longer using that book and would not buy it back. It was like flushing $80 down the toilet! Okay, sorry, I got started.

I also have my Evelyn taking most of her academic classes at the co op so she needs several books. At least they are not college books.

Not to mention my own homeschool curriculum. YIKES!

I two more weeks before school starts around here. Two more weeks.

Goodbye summer.

Colorado, the End

The last place we stayed in CO was near Creede. I have been forbidden from giving out the actual location of our camping spot by Sir D. He found it by some fluke. I think someone at work told him about it. To say it’s off the beaten path would be an understatement. This is apparently proprietary information that I am not allowed to reveal, lest people start showing up in droves and destroy the solitude.

This was our first foray into “rough camping”. Now to some of you, “rough camping” might mean a tent and sleeping bags and cooking over an open fire. To me, “rough camping” means we have no electricity, and no water or sewer hook ups, and we have to use our generator. I know. I live a charmed life.

Rough camping is a bit tricky when you are used to RVing. You have to really think about what you are going to cook. You can’t really use the crock pot unless you are going to have the generator running all day. We did a fair bit of grilling and I could cook over the stove as it is propane operated.

We can really only go for 3 days “rough camping” because we run out of water in the tanks. But for those 3 days, it is glorious.

This was the road that lead us deep into the mountains to the spot where we camped. I had to get out and take a photo of this sign.



We came from Texas. In Texas if you through a cigarette out of your window, you will start a huge conflagration that could burn down an entire city, it is SO dry. So this made me laugh. It rained at least a few minutes every single day we were in CO. When I took this photo, the sky was full of rain clouds, the ground was wet and muddy, oh yeah, and it was raining! But the fire danger was ‘HIGH’. Methinks they might need to revamp their system for determining the fire threat.

We drove down this road for a while. A very long while. It was muddy in spots, it was bouncy, it was curvy and also a bit scary.

But this is what we saw…




And this was our campsite. It was so beautiful it was almost hard to take it in!

(Yes, that is Violet the Dog in a chair. She has her own camping chair. Violet the Dog also leads a charmed life.)



Seriously, this was the view form the door of the RV. What more could you ask for?



The river that ran through the area was right our our site. You could hear the rushing water all night long.






We had an amazing time at this camping spot. There was no WiFi, no 3G service, and no electricity. We played cards, we talked, we laughed. It was just wonderful. This is a place we will definitely be going back too. I could post about 20 more photos of hte beauty we saw there, but a photo just really does not do it justice.

One morning, I woke up early for some reason (VERY not like me) and went outside. I stoked up the fire (because it was gloriously COLD!) and I sat outside watching the sun coming up over the mountains, listening to the river rush through the campsite and reading my bible.



Wow.

A Little Pretty

Evelyn made me this for my birthday. She' is a very talented artist. I love it when she creates me a gift.