The stuffing of the eggs.

514 plastic eggs to be exact.  K is on spring break this week and she asked if we could stuff eggs on Thursday.  Okay.  I'm happy to have the help!

The egg stuffer.  :)  Don't worry.  I helped stuff!

All stuffed!

The "basket pick" basket.

Since the kids are getting older, we opted for some things that the older kids might appreciate.  We're not going to cut them off from hunting for eggs.  Believe me, let's keep kids kids for as long as possible.  What's in the pick basket?  Pencils, glue sticks, erasers, crazy straws, book covers, a pack of stickers, crayons, tracing strips (a lot of them!), pens, book covers and noise makers.

The giant heart is our "not golden golden egg."  The kid who finds it has a special prize inside.  This year, it is 4 packs of gum and little heart papers that you can plant & will grow into flowers.

We have our family hunt at my sister's house.  They are out in the country and she has 5 acres.  Her man goes around and hides the eggs with whatever other man (this year it's my brother Dumpy) and then the kids take off.  They spread out everywhere!  For whatever it is worth, they tend to find eggs into August.  They return them to me for filling the following year.

My part of the family Easter Egg Hunt is complete.  Are you and your peeps hunting?

Clearing, moving, fevering, sneezing, soccer and Coca Cola free.

1.  Clearing.  I managed to get all of my flower beds cleared, including the garden, during the delightful 77 degree weather we had yesterday.  My tree lawn is littered with twined piles of butterfly bush limbs, the wild clematis bail that I cut back to about a 4" stub and the oak sapling that had to go due to being too close to the fence and more concerning-- the top had a major lean because of winds. As it grew, it leaned more and more.  The butterfly bushes number 3 and the tallest gets to about 11' tall.  The smallest gets only about 5' tall, but dies back completely.  It is so much easier to clear the deadness from the beds when things aren't coming up yet.

2. Moving.   The cup flower needed moved since it and the asters were not playing nicely.  It was early enough since it hadn't started up yet.  Last year I tried to split the asters and it was too late.  The split and move were not successful.

3.  Fevering.  2 hours into spring break and K was running a low-grade fever.  She's had a touch of a cold and the fever only lasted about 8 hours.  She stayed in all day Saturday while I was the Gardening Goddess.  She watched unlimited movies on the tiny TV (portable DVD player) and had a jammie day.  It was what she needed.  At one point she told me that she was 54% better.  Okay then.

4.  Sneezing.  Pollen.  My car is covered.  Allegra can only do so much.  We won't turn the air on yet and the pollen is too bad to open the windows.  The house is 77, but we're using ceiling fans.  We'll all survive.

5.  Soccer.  Today was the first day back to soccer for the season.  I tell you, I love i9 and the fact that it is only on Sunday.  K is just not that kid who can do 3 practices during the week with a game on the weekend.  I know that there are family members who suggest otherwise, but school comes first and that is how it has to be with a kiddo who requires a bit more studying time than perhaps others.

6.  Coca Cola.  I'd say I miss it, but I don't.  I'm kind of shocked.  I went cold turkey about a week and a half ago.  Now, I only drank a can a day.  I drank it at the beginning of the day.  I thought it helped focus the ADD, but I think it just made my head feel fuzzy.  I've accomplished a lot more and have been a lot more clear without it.  I'll have green tea or water with lemon.  I think it was more of a want for flavor.

K is feeling better.  We have Easter cupcakes and cookies that we've baked.  We're looking to a nice week off.  :)

Why I watched 12 Years a Slave with my 10 year old.

Photo from Wikipedia

Last weekend I borrowed a few movies from the library.  12 Years a Slave was on the 3 day loan shelf and I wanted to see it.  I watched it Friday night by myself.  Hubs wasn't so digging it.  K had her archery banquet on Saturday morning and as we were enjoying breakfast all together, I was telling Kay and my sister what I watched the evening before.  

"Mom, I'd like to watch that with you.  We're doing a section on slavery in Social Studies."

"Okay."

After we went about our morning business, we landed back home in the early afternoon and set to watching the movie.

"K, I have to fast forward over 3 parts.  There will be nudity, but nothing that is any different than what you've seen in art museums you have visited all of your life.  There will also be language that is most definitely inappropriate for today."

"Okay, Mom."

And so we watched it.  She watched a free man be sold into slavery, smuggled, beaten and whipped.

She saw how the slaves were on display much like items in a store, left unclothed to be fully viewed as people milled around and were offered hors d' oeuvres while they shopped for humans.

She said, "Mom, there is dust coming up off of his clothes."

"Baby, that isn't dust."  Later, they showed how she could see that it wasn't that.

She watched men be hanged.

She asked questions.  She took it all in.  I then emailed her Social Studies teacher so that she knew.

Ms. K-,

Just wanted to give you a heads up that yes, I did watch 12 Years A Slave with K this weekend.

We were at K's archery banquet and I mentioned to my sister and Kay that I had watched it the night before.  K said, "You know Mom, we're talking about slavery in school.  I'd like to watch that with you."  Since I watched it the night before, I knew that there were 3 scenes that I wanted to skip past (the sexual scenes), but the rest would be okay for her to watch.  I explained that there would be nudity, but that it was no different than anything that she's seen at the art museums that she has been in and out of all of her life.  I explained that there would be language that she wouldn't be used to, but that was definitely improper to use today.

You see, we don't shelter K from social tragedies such as the history of slavery, the battle for gay rights and so forth.  We waited until she was old enough and took her to Gettysburg about a year and a half ago.  She read the signs on the wall and was in tears that people were bought and sold.  I bought her the American Girl "Addy" book and she read it on the way home.  "MOM!  ADDY'S DAD AND BROTHER ARE GONE AND SHE MIGHT NOT SEE THEM AGAIN!"  Truly, an important thing for her to know.  For her presidential report, I explained about "Don't ask, don't tell."  She was so beside herself with DADT that she wanted it to be a part of her oral report, but not wanting to offend people, I told her that we'd just discuss it at home for now.  (She was incredibly passionate about it.  The gentlemen across the street are gay and love on K as only they can.  She has discussed their life arrangement with me and was mortified to hear that even though they love each other very much, they are denied the right to marry.  I was afraid if I let her go in about DADT that Mr. B and Mrs. S would get more calls that they bargained for!)

She talked with me as we watched the movie.  It flashes a little back and forth, so I explained that.  As they whipped them, I told her that wasn't dust flying in the air.  She watched scenes of people being hanged.  She saw the injustice.

We want her to learn from history.  We don't want to shelter her from it.  After all, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" -- yes?

Amy

Her thoughts?  She thought that it was awesome that I did watch it with her.  History isn't there to be ignored.  It's just not.  It may need some explanation and sometimes, there isn't a explanation for it.  Still, we need to continue to learn from mistakes of the past.   We're all humans and deserve to be treated as such.

The beds are free of flannel which means that it will probably snow 12".

Last week, K's bed was freed from her cozy penguin flannel sheets.  She was sad to have to change to regular sheets, but did as mama asked.  This week was my week to free the bed of flannel.  The polar vortex seems to have moved northward, at least for now, and I wanted to move forth into spring with lighter sheets.

That probably just gave The Weather Channel the green light to name another storm a name often found on some model of vehicle.  Don't worry.  I haven't been brave enough to put the snow shovel away-- yet.  That usually comes right after tax day.

The Multimedia Extravaganza

That's what my husband calls it.  Tonight is the night that I set the school newsletter.  This evening I have had all of the following going simultaneously:

1.  Bounced between Fugazi and Minor Threat on iTunes and finally settled on Ten Club Radio online, listening to the Pearl Jam's Sydney, Australia Big Day Out concert on 1/26/14.

2.  Answered the phone a few times.

3.  Sent and received texts to get a few of those phone calls.

4.  Typeset the incredibly tiny notes that the recording secretary gave to me, all the while having a conversation on the phone.  When K saw the size of the handwriting, she offered me a magnifying glass.

5.  Listened to the news, Big Bang and now I think Arsenio is on.  And yes, this was while I was listening to the concert online.

6.  Typeset the entire newsletter while bouncing between Word, e-mail and the Scholastic Book Fairs Toolkit.

It drives my husband crazy.  He says that he doesn't know how I do it.

Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns now plays.  It's quiet and a tribute to Mother Love Bone.  I shall shut off my multimedia extravaganza and start to wind down.

'Night!

Music that makes me happy.

Glen Hansard and Eddie Vedder are singing "Drive All Night" to me on Ten Club Radio.  Though I had heard of him and Eddie working collaboratively, I hadn't heard Glen Hansard's music until now.  It's delightful music that is making me happy.

 

What is large and loud enough to rattle the pans on the pot rack and drowns out Temple of the Dog?

This:

After texting Rachael to ask the kind man in her life what it is, he confirmed her initial thought-- an Osprey.  Now, when she said, "Osprey" to me, I thought she meant the bird.  My husband is a park naturalist.  Osprey to us means bird.  Osprey to the Household of A Monkey, A Bit and A Bean means military aircraft.  

It's pretty spiffy!  When we went for our walk, it was out (because it is so loud that there is no way that you could miss it aside being deaf) and the motors were turned like airplane props.  It was so cool!  I thought it was neat, but apparently my people were already aware of it's transformer abilities from their viewing of G.I. Joe.  

I'm glad that this is only flying over for daytime exercises of take off and landings at the little airport up the street.  I'd hate to have something like this flying over in war.  It isn't tiny.  It was flying over our house for hours.  If it was wartime, it definitely wouldn't be labeled as "neat."