Final Scores Are Here!

Whaaaaaa-hooooooo!!!

Three hundred's and a 98! Semester averages 100, 100, 100 and 96!

I should note for the record that the language arts test was 23 pages long and included a written, 3-paragraph composition.

. . .A score of 98 is absolutely outstanding!

EXHALE!

Things that make me smile

Here's the first in a series of things that make me smile. This one never fails, regardless of mood. Even just the song has the same effect now. I downloaded it to my iPod and always smile - maybe even chuckle a little - every time I hear it.

Buried Treasure!

Well, not really. But it's always fun to anticipate what I might find during a cleaning extravaganza.

So far I've found:

one very dead, very dry, shriveled up lizard.

a baby pacifier (we called them "suckers." Ah, memories)

an unopened package of Coconut m&m's which I kindly shared.

a perfectly unopened can of Strawberry Crush which I hid in the fridge and have *zero* plans to kindly share.

**The perfect place for Stetson's water and food bowls. Why have I never (in almost 4 years!) thought of putting them out of the way, under the kitchen desk?

(added 7/27) an entire canister of coffee grounds we all forgot about. Had been stored there since last year's Great Transformation. Apparently I promptly forgot that I had reorganized them.

(added 8/4) MarioKart 64 for the DS! Jon was sure happy!

-----

I'm sure it'll get more interesting as I go along.

The kitchen is looking good. Fridge, windows, floors and baseboards are on the agenda for tomorrow ~ then the real trick will be figuring out how not to cook anything for the rest of the summer ;-)

Passing the time

Not that I don't have a ton of stuff to do, but I always feel like if I sit and wait in front of my computer, the scores will show up faster. I know this isn't true, so I've sent the kids upstairs while I listen to really loud music and clean house. This is a massive undertaking and should serve as a sufficient distraction.

(My faithful dog sits at my feet as I type even though the music is blaring in here).

"The way to let me know you want to volunteer is to come downstairs."

Every now and then somebody hangs their head over the railing and shouts a question about when am I going to be finished or can they have a snack, but no volunteers yet. Bummer.

So another day has gone by. Still inhaling and exhaling. . . The first two exams are marked "received." Probably the others won't be received until Monday . . .and the professor has five business days from "received" to grade them, so I can at least be grateful I probably won't have to wait through a second weekend for the scores.

Please reference last year's before and after pictures of the house and imagine it about twice as bad as it was then. If there's anything I love, though, it's a challenge I can throw my whole heart into. . . so this should be good.

. . .And so begins this summer's overture of The Great Transformation!

Summer is finally here (for Ashley and me)!

Due to a mix-up with the mailing of Ashley's exams. . . and also a VERY inconveniently timed trip to go pick up my truck from Oklahoma City, Ashley couldn't take her final exams until this week.

Her first two finals (Science and Social Studies) were on Monday, and I prayed that she would have joy and peace and confidence. . .and BOY were those prayers answered with crystal clarity! She was so happy she could hardly finish answering a question before she started telling another funny story to the proctor (who, BTW was AWESOME! A proper description with words escapes me, but I just couldn't have asked for a nicer, smarter, more caring teacher to give these exams. If you're local to Austin, look no further than PflugerTutor for educational support).

. . .Tuesday was the Math test and the composition portion of the Language Arts exam. . . we finished up today with the reading, grammar and spelling portions. Official scores will be posted online next week (inhale. . . exhale. . . inhale. . . exhale) but I believe she did well.

Anyway, other than worrying about the exams while they're in transit. . . and waiting, waiting, waiting for the final scores to be posted. . . WE'RE DONE! Wah-Hoo!!!

Happy summer everybody!

Father's Day

I've been moderately sick for the past several days. It started as a cold that I recovered from pretty quickly, but then it started to feel like it was turning into a sinus infection. I spent a few days feeling dizzy and massively "thick" in my head (thank goodness that's over!). I'd had something strange going on digestive-wise all this time, but comparatively it was nothing to complain about. . . until today. I've been eating saltines and drinking as little as possible (yes, I know this isn't what the AMA recommends, but I gotta go with my gut on this one).

I've spent a lot of time sleeping on the couch this week. Karlon worked downstairs most of the week and kept an eye and ear on the kids while he worked (I am loving this whole deal about having a husband who telecommutes and kids who are old enough to practically take care of themselves).

I was vaguely aware of floating back up into consciousness when I overheard Karlon ask Jon what he was watching in my office. He said he was watching a youtube video called Dum Bass Luigi. (all one word). This brought me to full consciousness. Then he said, "Next I'm going to watch Dum Bass Luigi 2 and there's also one called Dum Bass Mario." I'm so glad my little Kindergarten graduate wasn't aware of a certain silent B.

Of course I had to watch the video for myself to make sure there wasn't anything alarming to address. It was mostly harmless, especially for a single viewing. Definitely going on the banned video list, though.

So, does Karlon watch the kids as closely as I do? No. Men just weren't built with that kind of surveillance equipment. BUT, for being a man. . . he's quite good. He actually did intercept this video which had nothing but mario-type music for sound, -- without any visual clues -- AND with it being about thirty feet behind him.

And since it's only about two hours past Father's Day and since I seem to have something against going to bed at all any more, I'll just go ahead and say that Karlon is an excellent dad.

1. He's always here.

2. He has no temper.

3. He's always ready to help.

4. He knows a lot.

5. He's a good friend.

Ashley and I are studying generalizations for language arts. I guess those snippets above were my details. My generalization would be that everybody ought to have a dad like Karlon.

And I just can't go without writing about my own wonderful Dad. I'll never forget all the trips to the park, flying kites, road-trips, funny songs we made up about all kinds of things. . . hours and hours and hours of algebra with me at the desk and you standing in front of the white board.

Even now that I'm all grown-up, you're still, "my friend, daddy."

One week down

Okay, I could get used to this sleeping in thing. And I don't think I've left home since last Friday. It's been wonderful. It's sad when staying home for a whole week becomes a novelty.

Ashley isn't quite finished with her schoolwork for the year, so she and I are still working. Teaching only one kid. . . let me just say it literally feels like I have time to breathe!

We've done some interesting project-type things this week. There was a pretty broad hint in one of the study guides that Ashley will need to know how to interpret a library subject search on the final. Even as an adult, I looked at the information on the page and thought "Huh?" for a couple of the questions. I decided it would be easier for Ashley to know where to find the information if she was the one who put it there in the first place, so we made our own card catalog / subject search using books from our own home library. It's getting really lengthy now, and since we have to cut them out anyway to put them in ABC order, I thought it would be fun to tape them to the wall and have a huge subject-search wall from ceiling to floor.

One thing that's really been easy about teaching Ashley is that she thinks and retains information the same way I do. So I can tell her "colony . . .check out the base word and the prefix: CO LONE -- they're together, but alone. A settlement ruled by another country." And we're done with that one. Forever.

Anyway, having time to do the fun projects and be creative is just what I needed. It feels like summer camp (Ashley doesn't completely agree since her brothers have nothing better to do than to watch SpongeBob and play video games).

But we'll be finished soon. And then it'll be on to house-cleaning and painting and decorating! Can't wait!