Uncategorized – Adventures of an Earthborn Alien

Mixing some homeschooling with our unschooling.

This year we’re adding some structured learning on weekdays. Both boys have notebooks to record their progress this year. They both have math and writing in their notebooks. Aiden being able to vote in 18 months, we’re studying science with a college professor on The Great Courses Plus and reading together Robert Reich’s new memoirContinue reading “Mixing some homeschooling with our unschooling.”

Painting Break

The last couple of days I have been working on my gouache painting skills. I’m celebrating finishing a painting, despite it’s flaws. Gouache is hard because it dries darker. The water makes it brighter, so you think you are painting crimson, but it dries like blood. lol

Turn of the century memoirs, “Five Boyhoods”

Five Boyhoods, published in 1962, is five short memoirs written by men who grew up in sequential decades starting in the 1880s and ending in the 1940s with John Updike. The short memoirs give fascinating insights to what it was like to grow up a boy in America a century ago. The first one revealsContinue reading “Turn of the century memoirs, “Five Boyhoods””

Letting go of resentment and Studying the Bible

I’ve been listening to my frustrated thoughts about MAGA, and decided to turn them on myself. They are ignorant; I am ignorant. I want them to educate themselves, so I’m educating myself. I was raised Buddhist, so I didn’t grow up in the church, and I only read the Bible from a historical perspective inContinue reading “Letting go of resentment and Studying the Bible”

Digging Deeper with Brene Brown

I’m reading The Gifts of Imperfection for the first time in several years. In the first chapter she talks about her “dig deep” button. The inner will to push through and carry on. Which leads to burn out. So she came up with an acronym. Deliberate – pray, meditate, or state intentions. Inspired – getContinue reading “Digging Deeper with Brene Brown”

Violet hair, reflecting on changes since 1999

My son’s best friend is in beauty school, and did my hair yesterday. First the bleach, then a trim, then lime crime “genie.” When I was 18, the beauty school was a movie theater, one I used to walk to. They played music from my teen years, like Spice Girls. It’s crazy to sit inContinue reading “Violet hair, reflecting on changes since 1999”

Legoland in brief

It took a day to recover from our day at Legoland, but we had a blast. They reopened the kid slide area at the water park, and both my sons got to play on it together. They have such a great relationship, especially for being 8 years apart. Anti-depressants cause heat sensitivity, and I gotContinue reading “Legoland in brief”

Understanding Crazy

When someone complained to me about the mystifying behavior of people she didn’t like, I would at first try to explain. Eventually, I realized she wasn’t complaining to understand. And I started saying, “You can’t understand crazy unless you are the same kind of crazy.” She didn’t think she needed her meds, and I trustedContinue reading “Understanding Crazy”

Dogs, meds, mental health, politics, goals, et merde

Our youngest is turning 8 on Thursday, and we’re taking him to Legoland to celebrate. This morning Lil Bit and I met the dogsitter and his dog, in preparation for staying the day with them. I learned that huskies and australian shepherds have special fur that is double insulated – meaning it keeps them coolContinue reading “Dogs, meds, mental health, politics, goals, et merde”

Recommitment

It’s been over a year, and I want to commit to writing in this blog weekly. When I wrote my first book, I had teachers doing all the executive functioning and motivating for me. I had to have my work in, people were waiting on me, I needed to earn at least a B toContinue reading “Recommitment”