No more boring posts

Yes, ladies (and possibly gentlemen) I have finally gotten the pictures on cd! So I thought I'd share a few pics of the new house. I won't show you the front of the house but here are some pics that show-Safiya and Zahra's pink and purple bedroom (alternated walls, when time permits the girls and I will paint free hand hearts in pink and purple on the walls) sorry it's sideways, the much used wood stove, the very large deck and backyard, in reverse order.

A bit of irony from a talking head

First, I'd like to say my thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by the VA Tech shootings. I have a feeling the shootings came as a shock to the family of the shooters as it did to everyone else, especially with everything they've said lately about the privacy issues and not informing the family about any of what is going on. I've seen other kids who are/were similar to what the descriptions of this guy have been. I can't help but think if only someone had reached out to him early on-freshman or sophomore year. One or two good friends can make a big difference. One of the guys I knew tried everything to fit in in high school, even becoming the quarterback, but ppl just won't let him get past his previous "geeky" image. I was somewhat friends with him but then moved away. I was told by other friends that he had attempted suicide the year after I moved. No really close friends and no one to talk to can cause teens and college students to internalize so much of what they are going through and think that they are the only ones. Some snap and act out against themselves and unfortunately in cases like Va Tech, they direct their anger at others in a twisted attempt to feel more in control of their social standing. I'm in no way justifying his actions, there is no justification for them, but like most others I can't help wondering, "what if". It's just that sometimes befriending an "outsider" can make a real difference for that person.

During all of the early news coverage of this incident, I was struck by how insistant people were that the school should have let everyone know sooner about the first incident. I think this is really a reflection of how saturated we've become with information and feel an entitlement to know everything "right now!" No one could have predicted that one early morning shooting would lead to the slaughter that took place 2 hours later. It's not fair to insist that they should have known.

And we've become so skewed in our preceptions of how long it takes to evaluate information that we can't stand to wait longer than a 30 second sound bite. At least, one parent has complained that it took until late in the evening to be told about her son's death. I know it must have been excruciating for her to sit and wait but there were 32 people to identify, at least some, probably many without any id on them (Understandably, personal belongs where scattered all over the building.) If he was on of the victims in a hallway it would be difficult to even figure out which class he was supposed to be in, which I'm guessing is how they figured out who some of the victims were. After he was identified then the school would have to pull of the family contact information which would have to be passed on to the local officials and then would in turn have to contact authorities in the family's city. Life is not an hour long crime drama.

All of that is so not what I intended to blog about when I started this post. Here's what I struck me as ironic while listening to the talking heads on Tuesday. One "expert" on campus crime rates was talking about all of the violent crimes and deaths that take place every year on college campuses and he said "We need to socialize our students." Why is this ironic? Those outside the homeschooling community might not find it that ironic but this is one of the main reoccuring assertions about the benefits of public school over homeschooling. "What about socialization?" This questions assumes that kids can only be socialized in a public school setting, while this guy was insisting on the need to socialize predominately public school students. Now I have to agree with him. As a society, over a fair short period of time, we've managed to devalue the role of families, reduce the value of women to sexual object (Look at the label of nearly any female recording artist and compare it to the cover of a male artist. Who's nude or nearly nude? Look at the clothing of male and female runway models. How many men do you see on the beach in a speedo? How many women/girls are in itty bitty bikinis? Women who dress conservatively are lampooned by make-over artists as not being sexy enough. And this thinking filters all they way down to clothing for toddlers. Sexy= female beauty and power.) and we've completely confused the role men should play in relationships and in society at large. How macho is too macho? How sensitive is too much? One group will complain if a man holds a door open and another will complain if he doesn't? I've been as guilty of this as anyone else. Add to this the increasing isolation of individuals and an increasing focus on self and predominate drive for personal satisfaction over any thoughts of the greater good within a family or society. It's no wonder that things have becoming so confused that few people know how to behave socially anymore.

Fortunately, as a homeschooler, I can counter some of these messages. I can "socialize" my children to treat themselves and others with respect and kindness regardless of their age or social background. Now, if only public schools and society could figure out how to answer the question "What about socialization?"

Hello to all who pop in

I'm sure you've noticed the little map on the sidebar with red dots on it. I decided to put it on here a couple of months ago because I was beginning to believe that only one or two people were reading my blog and I was considering just shutting down. Boy was I surprised to see little dots popping up all over. Since I don't get many comments, without that map I'd never know you dropped by.

So, "Hello" to whoever you are from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, England, Denmark, the Slovak Republic, the US and wherever else you might hail from. Thanks for dropping in.

Looking for new authors?

I found this interesting link at a blog called Throwing Marshmallows. You type in an author's name and the site generates a group of other authors that are similar to the first. The closer the name appears to the original, the more their styles have in common.
www.literature-map.com

Enjoy.

Yippy! I'm Back!

It figures! Now that I created a new gmail account this morning straight from the Goggle site bypassing Blogger, Blogger didn't make me give a gmail account address! Whatever!

Ok, for all of those who have been following my not so entertaining life. We are completely moved in now. We absolutely love our new house. There's something for everyone. Plenty of yard for kids to play, long driveway for bike riding, covered deck with locking gate so that if the kids are outside playing I can let Reza play on the deck while I wash dishes or fix food in the kitchen. A wood stove has become a new toy for dh, keeping us nice and toasty when the temps dropped. The neighborhood is so quiet, sometimes I wonder if we even have neighbors.

We've started putting up bookshelves (much needed in this biblophile-rich family) and we scored 2 picnic tables with 2 benches each for a total of $200 at Ikea. One set will be used outside but the other is going to be our dining table. It may not be some people's ideal dining table but the benches are big enough to accomodate all of us plus room for a few more people and I couldn't come close to matching that price anywhere else.

Patty had asked in a comment to my last post whether or not being tired had any special reason. Well, as a matter of fact it does. I'm expecting our fifth baby, due mid-October. But the cooler news is that my best friend from college is expecting for the first time and it's TWINS! She and her husband have been trying for some time to conceive and I couldn't be happier for her. Not only that but her twin sister is pregnant as well! How cool is that! So now I'm sending all my pregnancy vibes to my best friend in TX who is also struggling with infertility. I have renewed hope that good things will happen for her as well!

Sadly still no pictures. I've taken them. I just keep forgetting to take them to be developed! I hope to get it done this week now that things are settling down.

Sheets of white

Well, as with much of the east, we've got plenty of white outside our windows. No, not snow. It's ice. Our area got about 4 inches of sleet rather than double that in snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. The kids and I had fun playing in the snow/sleet mix on Tuesday as the sleet was falling. Fortunately, the temps weren't too bad so it was quite enjoyable. Then Wednesday, DH stayed home and he and the kids shoveled a path through the ice (three rows wide enough for the tires) out of our garage for our two cars and then he took the kids out to sled some more. The kids had a blast because the ice had made the hill super slippery and much faster than the day before. Now, we have bitter cold temps and layers of ice. A kid just stomped across the ice in the common area behind our house and it sounded like someone was hammering. (He also slipped and fell on his backside.) Mustafa noticed one of our neighbors using a hammer this morning to try and break through the ice around his car. The car hadn't been moved since the snow started to fall and they hadn't even tried to shovel anything before now. I really feel for the guy. The schools here have all been shut down since early Tuesday afternoon because so many of the sidewalks are still iced over.

As for me, I'm enjoying the excuse to stay inside because I've been feeling quite tired lately. I prefer to enjoy winter scenes from inside a nice cozy house. I'll definitely be happy when Spring arrives.

The new camera is not cooperating and won't allow me to take any still shots so I've decided that as soon as the new carpet is in, I'll fill up a roll of good old fashion film with house and kid pics and have them put on CD so that I can share. My blogs gotten very boring looking without pictures.

Our house

We've been really busy here this last week. We closed on our house and got right to work picking paint colors, cleaning up, prepping and painting 2 rooms over the weekend. We still need to paint the master bedroom, kitchen and bathrooms, but the master br is first priority since that needs to be done before we put new carpet in. I also started teaching a small group of homeschoolers and their moms how to quilt last week which I will continue today. Needless to say I've been kept on my toes for awhile and there's still plenty to do until we move in. To add to the fun, we had our landlord go ahead and put the for rent sign back up on this house so I get the added fun of having to keep the house show ready just in case. (Although with the temperatures we're having right now, I doubt there are many people out house hunting.) I can't wait until we get everything finished. I've felt very much in transit for the last several months and it will be nice to feel settled again.

I haven't gotten much of my own stuff done lately. It'll all just have to wait until things settle down a bit more. The kids are doing well with the school work and both Mustafa and Safiya have finished most of their lessons for their respective grades since about July. Their working so quickly that I had to spend a good bit of time over the last couple of weeks researching and ordering new books for them. I ended up spending quite a bit more than I'm used to but most of the books can be used for all of the kids so I'm looking at them as a long term investment and it's a whole lot cheaper than private school! It's probably even cheaper than public school when you add in all of the little misc. stuff that comes up over a school year like fund raisers, gym clothes and supplies for projects.

Sorry I still don't have any pictures I can post. We got a new video camera when my dad was here and dh says it has photo capability but I just haven't had a chance to figure it out yet. Hopefully soon.

Snowing

Well, after spending much of the winter so far with way above average temps, like the rest of the country, winter has finally arrived.

It's snowing for the first time this winter and the kids couldn't be happier. Safiya is giving me updates on the progress every 10 min. or so. You'd think the kid had never seen snow before! From the window it looks like it will be a powdery snow, not much good for snow balls but the kids will still enjoy. We're only expecting about an inch, which is a good amount. Enough to keep both parents and kids happy.

I had a wonderful visit with my dad and learned lots about our family history on this side. We have an amazing mix of ancestors including a great, great-grandmother who was Iroquois and had 24 children with her French-Canadian trapper husband to a suffragette who was raised by Jewish adoptive parents because her own parents were murdered (most likely because they were a mixed race couple). There are German and British ancestors as well from his side.

Just think of all the stories those that came before us could tell.

Enjoy your day.

New movie recommendation: A South Korean movie called "The Way Home". It's a very simple movie with a nice message.

Odds and Ends

I've been busy with my dad lately so I haven't had a chance to post much but I figured I'd sneak a few minutes in.

First, I wish I had my camera because Cathy sent me a lovely "Valentine-ish" block ornament. Thank you Cathy. I'll post a picture whenever I eventually get my camera back.

Second, someone had asked in the comments section of the last post what co-sleeping is. Co-sleeping is when your baby sleeps in the same bed as you. There is also the option of having a small railed bed that is open on one side that butts up against your bed where the baby sleeps. As long as mom and dad are not very overweight, smokers, drinkers or drug users and you don't pile the blankets and pillows on the bed, this arrangement is prefectly safe for sleeping arrangement. With the baby in bed with you, you become very sensitive to the rhythms of their breathing and sleeping and some research suggests that it may also reduce the risk of SIDS since the mother's breathing helps the baby regulate its breathing. As a point of reference, this is a practice that women have done around the globe for thousands of years. The practice of segregating an infant in a separate bed and usually a different room is fairly new historically speaking.

Sorry that my last post was so long. It probably should be two separate posts. I just didn't realize I had rambled so much. Although, given the nature of the post, I really do feel that sharing these money savers may help others and I'll likely post more tips from time to time.

Once my dad leaves tomorrow I'll try and get around to everyone's blogs again. I've poked my head in from time to time but haven't had a chance to comment yet.

Money saving tips

A lot of blogs have posted tips on saving money and this is something that I've been meaning to do for awhile now.

I tend to be really frugal on alot of things.
I've never paid for cable or satelite TV. Local free programming and videos/dvds are just fine, thank you.
I don't like to pay more than $10 for a pair of pants for me or any article of clothing for that matter.
When I'm out shopping or running around, I resist buying from vending machines or fast food. Why should I pay $1 for 20-oz soda when I can get 12 -12-oz cans for $2.50 or less? More than $3 for a slice of pizza? No way! 75 cents for a candy bar? Not when I can get 10-12 oz. bags of candy on clearance post holidays for $1.25 or less. (Scored Reese's peanut butter cups for 80 cents a bag last week.)
I own 3 pairs of shoes. One pair of sneakers I bought on sale 2 years ago, one pair of mules that were given to me and one pair of loafers that I got free when I had to buy the kids new shoes 2 years ago. I wore out one pair of shoes while we were in Iran, but I had had them for 4 years.

I think you get the drift.

I splurge on Netflix for about $18/mo. but I average 3-4 rentals/week so each disk is only about $1.50 to rent. I don't go to the movies and I usually don't buy any dvds for myself or dh so I figure it's a reasonable entertainment expediture for the month.

Here are some of my suggestions for saving money, in no particular order. (Some of these I posted as comments on Echo from Green Hills.

Shop clearance clothes racks and try different store locations. One Target here has great deals on clearance clothing. I've gotten dress shirts for less than $4, adult t-shirts for $2 and kids' t-shirts for $1.25. The Target closest to me now has lousy clothing clearance but great prices on linen clearance. I went to Macy's last week and bought 3 pairs of pants on clearance for just over $25. Regular price would have been over $100. If you've got kids, it almost never hurts to buy ahead for next year. I've found clothes from Target and Macy's last better than from anywhere else.

I never bought a changing table. A couple of good changing pads work well anywhere. (You'll need at least 2 if your kids are anything like mine since accidents or extra messy diapers will happen.) I bought a crib for my 1st and kept it through the 3rd but rarely used it after we got used to co-sleeping except for times I needed to keep them safely away from older siblings while I took care of something in another room. A playpen probably would have worked just as well and likely would have been cheaper.

More expensive is not a guarantee of better quality for children's products. Our carseats have been among the cheaper brands but had very good safety ratings. Consumer reports just gave failing grades for safety to 2 of the higher priced carseats on the market.

Detachable infant carseats also make a good seat for early solid food feedings.

Two great sources for used books are library book sales and yard sales. Kids' books are often as little as 10-25 cents. Adult books are usually less than $2. Even better-get and USE a library card. We go to the library about every 2-3 weeks and check out up to 40 books (and a few videos) at a time. We would never be able to buy this many books nor have anywhere to put them. And let's be honest, most books you won't read more than once. I still buy a good number of used books but mostly for reference material, crafts, or from authors that I really enjoy.

If you insist on new books, check out Amazon.com's used listings. Often there will be wholesalers or bookstores selling new copies at a steep discount.

Save plastic food containers like yogurt cups or whipped topping tubs. These are endlessly useful. They can be used for snack cups, water cups for painting, stacking "blocks". The lids make good paint trays as well as excellent frisbees. Keep a small stash on hand and you'll be amazed what your kids will come up with.

Old t-shirts make great bibs or painting smocks.

A cheap shower curtain liner is perfect for putting under a high chair to catch messes. Just cut a few inches out on each side and a foot or so out from the front. At about $1 or 2, this is much cheaper than what you'll find in baby stores but just as durable and effective as long as you don't cut it too small. A vinyl table cloth would work as well and can sometimes be found for the same price.

Here's another trick to coupon use. Combine the coupon with sales. If you have a coupon for $1 off 2 boxes of cereal, if you can, wait for a week when the store has it on sale, say $2/box. $1.50 a box sure beats $3-5.

For picky breakfast eaters, try muffins. Depending on what you add to them, they are very economical and with a bit of practice take less than 10 min. to prep and 20 to bake. We make them with dried fruit, fresh fruit, whole wheat, pumpkin, chocolate chip (1 Tbsp. of mini chips for the batch. This makes a fun add-in to pancakes as well.). Use your imagination and what's on hand. Add dry stuff like whole wheat flour, cocoa or wheat germ with the flour and for everything else just add it in at the end.

Basic mix: Combine 1 2/3 c. flour, 2/3 c. sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder and a dash of salt. Add 1 egg, 1/4 oil and 1 c. milk. Stir just until combined (will be lumpy). Pour into muffin tins. Bake at 350 F for 17-20 min.

Don't buy ready made gift baskets. I've put together several gift baskets with more and better items for far less than what comes pre-packaged. Generally, it only takes an extra 10 mins. or so of shopping and an ability to look at things in a new light. A wastepaper basket or laundry basket filled with snacks is great for someone heading off to college. Line a small basket with a napkin, add a pretty tea cup, some tea, coffee or hot cocoa and a small package of cookies and you have a great gift for a lady. Hit the dollar store for gift basket items as well. A wicker laundry basket lined with a receiving blanket and filled with washcloths, soap, shampoo and lotion make a nice baby shower gift.

Think about the errands you have to run before you go. If I have multiple places to go, then I try to think about making a circle rather than zigzagging around. A little pre-planning can save you gas and time stuck in traffic.

If you know someone in college or on their way, encourage them to get their books used rather than from the college books store. College texts are expensive but there are alot of really good sources for used books. Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble (bn.com), Half.com just to name a few. All they have to do is go to the bookstore and write down the title and ISBN for all of the required books then hit the internet. For English classes in particular, they should also consider borrowing from the library. Most books will only be used for a few weeks at most in an English course anyway. Don't rely on the school library though, someone else on campus probably has the same idea. Try the community library instead.

These are just some of the things I've done or still do to save money and they all really do pay off. What's the saying? "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."

Must See-Go rent Hotel Rwanda!

I've just finished watching this movie and I really have to say I think everyone should see this.

Just as some background: This is a movie about a group of people caught in the violence at the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda.

This movie is so important because it puts a face to the numbers and it is brutally honest about western views towards Africans. Extend that and it highlights just how little concern for people around the world who are not like us. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are as common place now as they have ever been. Isn't that such a sad statement about us as humans!

Genetically we are not so very different. Behaviorly we are not so very different. Even physically we are not so very different. Most people on Earth are born with 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 arms, 2 legs. We all eat, sleep, and poop. We all have the capacity to love and be loved as much as we have the capacity to hate and seek revenge. The differences are essentially superficial yet we give them so much value.

Nearly 1 million people were killed in Rwanda. Nearly half a million have been killed in Sudan so far. By some estimates say more than 655,000 Iraqis have died in the past few years with the numbers rising as more than 1000 attacks occur daily around the country. As of last year more than 160,000 people have died in Chechnya. Anywhere from 100,000-260,000 people died in Bosnia. (Statistics on many more countries around the world both past and present can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_toll#Genocide_and_democide .)

So many dead, but what do a bunch of numbers really mean. Watch Hotel Rwanda and read this article at National Geographic http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0601/feature2/index.html and you will begin to see some of the human faces behind the numbers.

Honestly, I have no idea how to help or stop such violence around the world. All I can do is try to remind myself and my family that we are all so very much alike. And that God made us individuals with slight superficial differences so that we could celebrate our diversity and take pleasure in them. Imagine a garden filled with only one kind of flower in one color only. Now imagine that same garden filled with the variety and uniqueness of a 100 different kinds of flowers in a rainbow of colors. Where would you rather to spend a day?

Please pass these recommendations on to everyone you know so that maybe, just maybe we can all learn to be a bit more accepting of and more open to the variety that God has blessed us with.

Computer woes

Sorry I haven't posted or commented lately. It seems my computer caught a virus or worm and over about a week's time, slowed to a halt. DH had to go through and redo everything. I've only just had time to get back on-line.

The news for this week. I can't remember if I've posted this yet but our contract was accepted and if all goes well, we'll close the end of Jan. We're giving ourselves all of Feb. to paint and get new carpet installed. We'll do the painting ourselves, which should be pretty interesting with 4 kids. 3 of them I'm sure can help to the best of their abilities while I'm sure number 4 will be happy to provide the chaos factor. :)

My Dad is coming to visit in a few weeks. This is great news since he hasn't seen the kids since Mustafa was 2. We can't wait for him to get here.

Other than that all is calm.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a Merry one.

Happenings

So much has been going on in the last couple of weeks.

I went to my first, ever quilters meeting and really enjoyed myself. Even though we won't be in this area much longer (2-3 more months), I plan on joining the group. It's a very nice group of ladies, who made me feel very welcome.

The kids' and I joined a homeschoolers sewing group this week where they learned (and I relearned) how to knit. Next week, I'll begin teaching the girls and moms how to quilt.

We are in final negotiations for a house. It's the nice one on one acre I mentioned previously. Not very close to dh's work but we think the house is worth the extra commute time, especially as it puts us closer to friends and the masjid/mosque we attend.

Quilting is going slowly as I have little time and three projects going at once but they'll all get finished one of these days. ;)

Still no pictures yet. DH's uncle isn't due back from visiting his daughter and brothers in Iran for a couple of more weeks. He hasn't seen them in 3 or 4 years, during which time his mother died, so he's spending a bit of extra time there.

Last weekend we went to the National Aquarium which the kids always love. Each year the Aquarium sets aside one weekend where admission for everyone is just $1. Since we first found out about this event we've tried to make it an annual event. The discount is major since with parking the trip would have cost us $100 this year. I appreciate that they have major expenses in their operation but that's just way more than I can see spending for just 2 or 3 hours of fish sights. But it is tons of fun to go.

I just found out this morning that my dad is going to come for a visit in about a month, God willing. This is wonderful news since he hasn't seen any of the kids since Mustafa's 2nd birthday. Mustafa's now 8. Dad had moved to CA and is now in Arizona so it wasn't exactly easy to go see him. Combine the distance with the cost and logistics of travelling with small children along with the fact that I was finishing my B.A. for the 2 1/2 years prior to going to Iran and you might understand how we never managed a trip out to see him. Keep you fingers crossed for us that nothing goes wrong to keep this trip from happening.

Time to go get busy with all of the other stuff that has to get done today. I hope to get in a bit of quilting time today. I owe Patty a Pay It Forward project. ;)

Update

Things have been busy here lately. We lost out on the red house we are looking at. (A bid was excepted the day we decided to submit a final bid at the sellers counter offer.) So, we've spent at least one day each week driving around to look at other properties or neighborhoods and lots of time online looking. We have a few we are considering. One is nice and a decent size but far out and potentially problematic for DH getting to work. Another is very large and close to a train line dh could take but the house itself didn't appeal to us as much (It seemed to dark and cluttered.) and it's more expensive. A third option is an older house that needs cosmetic work and some updating but it's a bit closer to dh's work near where we used to live.

Fortunately, since this is a buyers market and low season as well, we should have a little time to really consider each of these options as well as any others we come across. I'm drawn to the first house which was very nice, well cared for and had just about a perfect backyard but I'm afraid the commute would be too hard on dh. Even with the closer in house he would be commuting roughly 1 1/2 hours each way. This house would likely add anywhere from 15-30 min. to the commute time. He works from home 2 days a week, so he would only be commuting 3 days/wk but I think that might prove to be too much. Commuting is one of the major challenges of living in this area. DH's commute time is pretty typical since this area covers so many suburbs. DH has even known co-workers who drive from Pennsylvania down to D.C.!

I have started on the leaf quilt. I did the chain piecing of the hsts last night and this morning now I just have to cut and press. Which is what I should be doing now since Reza's asleep and I hate to iron when he's awake. Oh, well. I have a headache and ironing is not exactly my favorite thing to do anyway so I think my progress is pretty much done for the day.

Besides blogging, I also came on-line to submit an application for scoring essays from home. I think this will help me keep my English skills up and give us a cushion if we have to go to the upper end of the mortgage spectrum. If not, then maybe we'll plan a few educational trips with the extra $$. Mustafa wants to go to Egypt, DH wants to go to Malaysia and I have a whole list of places I'd like to visit. It's a good thing we homeschool. This way we have a lot more flexibility for when and where we go. I don't know when I'd find out about the job so keep you fingers crossed for me.

That's about it for now. Time to go make lunch and defrost some meat for kebab tonight.

Random Stuff Meme

A MEME (for those of you who have "nothing" to blog about.)

STUFF: I got this off of Mama Koch's Oklacookiemaker Quilts site but it's floating around everywhere. So, since I don't have much to report, here goes.

1. Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say? It's Homeschooling More Than One Child by Carren Joye. This page is a list page on how to cover different subjects. "Drama. If your city has a community theatre, volunteer backstage. If tickets are cost-prohibitive, check on free or low-cost dress rehearsals." (These tips are good for anyone. When I was in college, I volunteered to usher so that I could see "Oklahoma" free.)

2. If you stretch out your left arm - as far as possible, what are you touching? The bedroom wall and window next to it.

3. What's the last program you watched on tv? Good Morning America

4. Without looking, guess what time it is. 12:15 Actual time 12:17.

5. Except the computer, what can you hear right now? Overall buttons scraping the inside of the dryer as they spin around, "The Road to El Dorado" video the kids are watching downstairs and the ticking of two clocks.

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do? Around 5 p.m. yesterday to get the mail.

7. What are you wearing? blue cotton pants and a yellow t-shirt

8. Did you dream last night? I was so tired I don't really remember any dreams from last night but probably something that would fit right in with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" since that was what I was watching right before I finally dragged myself to bed at 3 a.m.

9. When was the last time you laughed? Last night while watching "Buffy"

10. What's on the walls, in the room you're in right now? Nothing, just plain white walls since this is a rental

11. Have you seen anything strange lately? Not really, life's been pretty boring.

12. What do you think about this meme? It's fun. I like finding out random things about people.

13. What's the last film you saw?On TV or at the cinema? "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" on DVD from Netflix. Very good movie and not a bad film translation from the book.

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money? There are several charities that I'd give at least half of the money to; particularly those helping women and children. I would set up college funds for each of my kids and nieces and nephews. A big slurge would be buying a house where I could have an indoor pool or an outdoor pool that can be enclosed for privacy. A personal splurge would be taking college classes just because I'm interested in the material. (I'll probably do this one without the millions once the kids get a little older.)

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know. I'm constantly worried about not measuring up to other people's expectations. I'm also very much a people watcher. I love sitting back and watching others go about their lives. I suppose that's why I like blogs.

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt - what would it be? Economic differences or at least over-indulgent self-centered spending. There's no excuse for million dollar weddings or the over abundance of million dollar houses where there are so many people on this planet that live on next to nothing or people going into debt to try and imitate the lifestyles they see on tv.

17. Do you like dancing? I love to dance. I even took a swing class years ago with my dad.

18. Last crafty endeavour? I spent time last night cutting background squares for the fall leaves quilt so that I can get started sewing today.

19. What do you want your children’s names to be, girl/boy? Well we already have 4 names used-Mustafa, Safiya, Zahra and Reza. If by chance we were to have more the options include Majid, Morteza, and Yousef for boys and Alinah and Naseem for girls. I also like the names Laila(one possible meaning is old wine), Parvaneh (butterfly in Farsi), Farishteh (fairy in Farsi) but probably wouldn't use them because of their meanings.

20. What amused you recently? My kids are always good for a laugh.

Feel free to consider yourself tagged if you are so inclined.

Slow progress

I made my first wonky house. I'm not terribly pleased with the results but I'll use it as a learning experience to try again. Sad to say but I'm STILL cutting out the fabric for my leaf quilt. It's going slowly since I can only really cut when Reza is asleep and he only naps for a little while once a day and I usually need that time to do stuff around the house. But, it will get done one of these days. ;) I'm using a lot of different prints for the leaves and keeping the wider scraps which I think will make a really cool border.

Cathi at Crazed Quilter passed along the idea of a pay it forward kind of swap which is bouncing around the web so I thought I'd join in. The first 5 people to contact me either through comments or by e-mail will receive a little hand-made mini wall hanging, pot holder, trivet, whatever you want it to be. Your end of the deal is that you pass along something you've made to 5 others. Since I know not everyone that reads this quilts, I think it works to say as long as you make it, pass it on. Any takers?

On the housing front, we had found another house closer to dh's work but smaller in size but with a decent backyard which we bid lower on and were turned down. So we sent a low bid to the owners of the red house I previously mentioned, deciding that the worst they could do is say "no". Well, instead of rejecting our offer outright they gave us a counter offer which we've just countered again. So, fingers crossed, we might actually be able to get this house and not starve trying to make the payments. ;)

I just noticed that my last two post titles say "slow". It's that whole winter hibernation mode kicking in I guess.

Slowing down

After the last month or so of activity, it seems life is now at the point that we can slow down a bit. Of course, this is all relative. Slowing down in a house with 4 kids looks a lot different than slowing down in a house of empty nesters or singles.

I've done most of the essential shopping for the house minus most furniture, which we're waiting to get until we buy a house. It's astonishing just how much little stuff there is that we don't really give much thought to but are, if not completely necessary, then exceedingly helpful for daily life. Then there are all of the little luxuries that we allow ourselves. They don't seem like much but they can sure add up. And I don't even consider myself a big spender, but when you restock a house in month there's quite a bit of sticker shock. Not to mention buying more clothes for the kids since they had outgrown so much. I was getting a bit sick of shopping but now I can just sit back and relax for awhile.

What does slowing down look like for me? Well, right now it entails lots of house hunting. I search the web for possibilities, then we all go out together and scope the neighborhoods and if there's anything we'd like to take a closer look at, we call our agent to go take a peek. So far, we've only taken a closer look at 2 properties and one we are seriously considering but despite being on the market for more than a year and having dropped in price by $150k, it's still overpriced and out of our mortgage comfort zone unless they'd be willing to take about $100-150k less. (You can check it out here if you're so inclined.) So, it's back on-line to look for other options. I'm so thankful that this is a much more relax process than it would have been even 10 or 15 years ago thanks to the internet. We get to scope out lots of different areas and price ranges without wasting a lot of gas or time.

I'm also homeschooling the kids. As usual, we keeping that fairly relaxed with a few workbook pages to do each day and then whatever they want to work on after that. Thanks to 2 library book sales, we've now got about 2 1/2-3 boxes of books for the kids to explore, all for less than $60. Between those and our biweekly library trips, the kids have plenty to keep their minds busy. Now it's time to start helping Zahra learn to read. She was really excited a couple of months ago to work on it but I just didn't have time then to work with her because of the move. I hope she hasn't lost interest. It's still a bit early for her. She turns 5 next week so there's no big rush.

And finally, with all of my spare time, I pulled fabric to make Judy's October Hour a day Leaf quilt top and a few wonky houses to start the wonky house growth chart for the kids. DH's aunt's hubby is now in Iran visiting his dd, brothers and various other relatives after not seeing them for at least three years and hopefully, he'll be able to bring our errant camera back to us. When and if that happens, I'll be able to decorate the blog again with pretty pictures. Until then you'll just have to take my word for it that, the kids are growing and as goofy as ever and I am in fact getting back to work on my quilting. ;)

Time to get back to work.

Unbelievable!

The world is going nuts! There was a brief little news piece in the newspaper this week about toy stores in Britain having to pull a product from their shelves. And what is that product? A "how-to" pole dancing set for kids!! (In case you've never hear of pole dancing, that's what strippers do.) How insane is this?!?! According to the article, the set comes with extendable pole, how-to DVD and lingerie costume. And if it's being sold in Britain, you know someone in the US is selling them as well. I find this just such a sad statement about what girls are being taught these days regarding what value they have and what they have to offer society.

Score!

I went to a hospital rummage sale and scored some great deals this morning. I got 100 spools of thread, a little basket and two packages of iron-on cross stitch transfers for $1.50. Most of the thread was wooden spools and some hadn't even been used. (I was only going to buy a few but when the lovely worker offered to give me the whole lot for less than one spool of thread would cost me now, how could I pass that up?) I also got some great deals on things for the kids like music boxes for each of the girls for only 50 cents a piece. I saw lots of lovely vintage linens many hand-made and thought of all those out there in blogger land that collect such lovely items. But I was under orders not to buy a lot of "STUFF" since we'll just have to move it all again in the near future. :) I had lots of fun and the setting couldn't have been nicer. It was held on the grounds of an equestrian center surrounded by beautiful fall folliage. It was so much fun, maybe I'll go back tomorrow. ;)

I'm Back!

Well, we arrived safe and sound, relatively unscathed from our journey. We managed to forget our camera at DH's friend's house during our layover in Tehran but DBIL travelled to Tehran with us and had picked it up moments before DH called him from Amsterdam to let him know we left it. It is now safe in the hands of his mom and sisters and waiting for the next world-traveling relative to make their way back to the states to bring it back to us. Consequently, I won't be able to post any photos for awhile. We brought our computer back with us but something happened to it during the trip and it wouldn't work so dh has had to spend a good bit of time with it to get us back up and running. Everything on the hard drives may be gone including photos but we'll just have to wait and see.

The only other excitement of the trip is that Reza HATED the planes. The child has flown without any problems 3 times before but started crying as soon as we boarded the plane to Tehran and cried frequently on each of the three flights. The master nurser all but quit for the duration of our travels except while we were in Tehran and absolutely hated being strapped into a carseat and screamed the entire trip from the airport to our new townhouse. It's a good thing we didn't have to go far. ;) But, I'm glad to report that as soon as he was released from the carseat and allowed to run around inside the house, he was as happy as can be and wasted no time learning to climb the many stairs here. (And he's back to nursing constantly.)

We're settling in nicely and I'll write more when I get a chance. In the meantime, I found a great book recently called "The Quilt That Walked to Golden" by Sandra Dallas. Thanks for all of the well wishes. I'll post more later but Reza's in active toddler mode right now.