Update...

It seems I have been neglecting my blog this week. I last posted on Thursday, which is almost a week ago. This is one of those life cycle things I was talking about recently - for a while I'm posting every day, then life intervenes and I forget about it for a while.

When I opened up Firefox just now, I had one of those automatic updates happen. I was quite happy with how it looked before - now I have to get used to the changes - sigh!

Let's see, why have I been away from the computer? Well, the weather's been pretty good, and I have been spending some time outside , catching the rays. Not much knitting, I'm afraid. A fair amount of cleaning - I have set myself a schedule of blitzing each room, one a week. It'll only take three months! I did the utility room this week. It really needed it, especially around the washer and dryer - lots of dust and lint and grime behind and underneath the machines. We have a lot of shelving in there for tools and sports equipment and cycle helmets and stuff, and they were cleared off and dusted. Some things were thrown out. It looks way better now.

The last three mornings, I've woken up with a really stiff neck. I assume that this is just another symptom of my emotional state, so I'm not worried about it. Maybe some more EFT will do the trick. It's surprising how this simple method of tapping on certain points on your face and body helps to release blocked emotions. Sometimes I find myself crying when I'm doing it and that's when I know I've identified the emotion that's causing the problem.

I still made it to Taekwondo classes, and Ninja Boy and I have started learning the second and third patterns that we have to learn at First Dan level. The first, Gae Baek, we know pretty well now, and performed at the tournament. Now we have to learn Kwang Gae and Po Eun. All patterns seem really hard when the instructor first demonstrates them, but I know that after doing them a few times they start to stick and get easier. However, the real challenge is to remember the previous patterns at the same time!

Another thing that's been taking up more of my time is that I am doing some schooly stuff with the younger boys. In a fit of enthusiasm, I used the last of Lego Nut's reimbursement money to buy 6 grades of math workbook - grades 3 to 8. Math in our house has mostly been a life-learning thing, with the boys earning and spending money, working out the tax on their purchases etc. However, remembering the words of Raymond and Dorothy Moore, who wrote Better Late than Early, I know the boys are ready for academic learning. They are 10 and 12 and if anything the 10 year old has shown more ability in math than his older brother. I wish Computer Geek would join us, starting with the basics and working up, but at this point he's not interested. I make sure that they do their work in the morning before they get on the computer.

We've started reading Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. This is a four volume series all about history, written for children in a very understandable way. It starts with the early nomads 6000 years ago and works its way, in date order, up to modern times. We have already supplemented it with reading from our Usborne book collection, and today we will be camping out (like the nomads) and making clay tablets with picture writing (like the Sumerians). I also plan to dust off our paper-making kit and try making paper out of plant material from the garden (our previous paper-making adventures just used torn up paper).

Our little Festiva, which has been sitting unused in our carport for the last couple of months, has finally gone to the automotive workshop in the hope it can be made well again. They'll be running some tests, but we're expecting it to need an engine rebuild. Not sure how much it'll cost yet - maybe $1500 to $2000 - but that will still be less than buying another car. We've had that one since 1995, and it was about a year old when we bought it. When it's back on the road, I think I will treat it to some new seat covers!

I was cleaning the Aerostar yesterday (our 7 seater van) and I think it's in excellent condition for its age. We bought it new in 1994, two days after we emigrated to Canada. I washed it, vacuumed it, cleaned the windows and dashboard, and cleared out the accumulated clutter, and it's like driving a new car! The front of it was really gross - on the drive back from the tournament in Vernon, we drove through a swarm of bees. I wasn't sure that they were bees until later, when I found lots of little bee bodies stuck in the front grille, but maybe the yellow guck on the windshield should have been a clue! Probably lots of pollen in there.

I think that gets you up to date. Hopefully you won't have to wait another week to hear my news.