This is the room we’ve all been waiting for. Well I have, at least. For years. One of my many favorite things about our house in Florida is that we have a completely dedicated homeschool room. That of course doesn’t mean that nothing happens in the room outside of our couple of formal homeschool hours each day (after all, homeschool=life, right?). But it does mean that I don’t have to go running around the house looking for supplies and books before we start, or have to contend with dozens of distracting toys sitting right next to us as we try to concentrate.… Read more
daily life
Welcome Home, Part 2: The Dining Room
Well, I finally got around to taking pictures of another room in our house. And I do have another decorating problem to share with you. But first, a few photos.
Here’s our dining room:
Isn’t our bar-height table fun? I feel like a little kid sitting at it with my feet dangling. We got it when Axa was a toddler, partly because we loved the fact that she couldn’t reach onto the table and pull the dishes off. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good photo of the picture behind it, which is one of my favorite pictures ever. In fact, I tried to convince Tony that we should recreate it for our engagement picture.… Read more
A Clean Kitchen is a Happy Kitchen
The title of this post was the sign my college roommate posted in the kitchen of our six-person apartment my freshman year. It was made even funnier by the fact that her last name was Kitchen. I adored my roommate, but I’m afraid I was one of the offenders. Between my untidy housekeeping and the fact that I was always coming home at odd hours having forgotten my key, and knocking on our bedroom window to be let in, I was lucky we were such good friends. I guess maybe she figured I would grow up someday.
And maybe I have.… Read more
Welcome Home, Part 1: The Living Room
Now that the spiders are gone (hurrah for my non-squeamish husband), I’d like to invite you all to visit. You’ve been dying to come to Disneyworld for ages anyway, right?
Since we’ve had no immediate takers in the visitor department, here’s the first installment in my little virtual home tour.
First of all, I can’t even begin to say how in love I am with our new house. This may be partially a result of the fact that we haven’t lived in our own house with our own stuff for two whole years. Oh, and there’s the little matter that this is move number twenty of our eight-year marriage (you do the math). … Read more
More Florida Wildlife (Not for the Squeamish)
Like Axa, I’m O.K. with snakes. Lizards don’t bother me, even if they’re crawling on me. I can pick up snails, and I have even petted a slug at (Axa’s request, of course). But arthropods. Oh, arthropods. I do not do arthropods.
Due to nature study, and my commitment to helping my children say “ohhhh!” not “ewwww!” when they see an insect, I can now get on tolerably well with ants, ladybugs, crabs, praying mantises, and even beetles (and by “getting on” I mean literally letting them get on me and not freaking out). This has been a long and painful process, and I’m still working on the occasional flare up of internal anti-insect sentiment.… Read more
First Impressions of Florida
I don’t know that I’ve ever moved somewhere I couldn’t find lots of things to like. But Florida seems to have more than its share of fun and beautiful things. First of all is the scenery. Maybe it’s just that we’re coming straight from tumbleweed country, but Florida feels like a jungle. All I can see out my back window is trees. Out of the front window I see my neighbors across the street, and then more trees.
We spent Axa’s birthday at Daytona Beach, which according to itself is “The Most Famous Beach in the World.” It was certainly the widest beach I’d ever seen–wider even than L.A.… Read more
Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
Well, we’ve already accomplished our New Year’s resolution — a new job. It took us a little farther away than we anticipated, but we’re always up for that. So we have a new home too. And we’ve finally unpacked all our furniture and belongings and books!
It’s certainly not our farthest move ever–a mere 2500 miles. As I write from my long-neglected roll-top desk, it’s a balmy 75 degrees outside. Axa has already caught a number of frogs and lizards. The beach is a half hour away. And just as a bonus, we don’t have to decipher rental contracts or public transportation systems in a foreign language.… Read more
Our Ninth Honeymoon
During these past eight years that we have been married, Tony and I have occasionally reflected on the difficulties of having an anniversary two days after Christmas. In fact, getting married on December 27th was inconvenient from the start. On the Christmas day before our wedding, we had to drive to the regional FedEx office to pick up several dozen black roses, which had been misdirected in the Christmas rush.
Since then, we’ve encountered various obstacles to celebrating our anniversary. First of all, after planning and executing Christmas, we’re always a little burnt out. It’s extra work (of which Tony always does the lion’s share) to plan a special event for the two of us.… Read more
Tooth Fairy, Meet Santa Claus
My little girl is growing up. She lost her first tooth yesterday!
After this picture, she promptly lost the tooth again, this time literally. Even Grammy’s thorough sweep of the kitchen floor failed to unearth it. So I gave her a pearl to substitute for the tooth under her pillow. And I suggested lamely (how could I not?) that she write a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining the reason for the substitution. She laughed.
“Mommy, that would just be writing a letter to you!”
True. I confess that I try no harder to perpetuate belief in the Tooth Fairy than in Santa Claus.… Read more
He Asked Me Out!
I love going on dates. There is nothing better than leaving it all behind to spend a few hours of exclusive, romantic quality time with my favorite person.
When Tony and I met, he was under the impression that a successful date mandatorily had to be ingenious, elaborate, and expensive. Just to give you an idea, our second date was a 12-hour extravaganza involving a trip to San Francisco, a picnic, ultimate frisbee, a walk on the beach, a tour of the Japanese tea garden, and dinner at a Thai restaurant. He had originally planned to take me to a movie as well, but ultimately ran out of time.… Read more