Praise and thanks be to the Yvil Sister

Mission San Francisco de Solano, front

Mission San Francisco de Solano, back

L-Boy is in fourth grade, which in California means a California Mission Project (CMP). The Y-vil sister went to the craft store and bought stuff—a styrofoam do-it-yourself model, a bunch of cute plastic thingies, some peat moss and a bag of sand. Then she had three making the CMP dates with L. I don't know who had the better time. Yvil was like a little kid in an art class, L was serious, yet happy, and I was out of a dreaded task.

Yvil delegated the procurement of the cross and the CMP fact card to me. Two things. You think I could have excelled. But as we all know in addition to being more fun than mom, aunties are also more efficient.

Although I looked very thoroughly in all of my normal [cheap] stores, the only cross I found that was the right size and not firmly attached to an angel was a chocolate one. I got it, but Yvil had already given up on me and had carved one out of leftover styrofoam. Thus did L gain a snack.

Then Mr. L and I nearly came to blows over the CMP facts card last night. In the end, the card came out looking great. L and I had a big long snuggle to make up for the grumping. Still I was emotionally spent; just imagine if Yvil hadn't taken care of the hard part. I owe her. Big time.

Great job, L.  I love you. 

Square Root Day?

3/3/9 

Hm. Well 3 x 3 = 9.  So the square root of nine would be three. But it's a bit of a stretch to call it Square Root Day. After all, the year is two thousand and nine A.D. 

If Hallmark comes out with a card, I'm going to begin an international protest. But as long as Hallmark stays out of it, I'm as willing to celebrate a fake holiday as the next person. Behold "my" creation!

And in the spirit of the day I'll even do a little advance planning for a year that is actually a square number: 2025 (square root = 45). Let's all get excited on the 45th day of 2025. OK, friends, pencil it in. February 14, 2025. And I've found the perfect location for our celebration. Bring your sweetheart! Who's in?

Just a few tidbits today.

As always, my miscellany contains some of the most insightful and fascinating tidbits to be found on the web. 

1. I took the "Which Hogwarts' House Do You Belong To?" quiz on facebook, and I'm a Hufflepuff. What?!? I'm brave. I'm smart. Hufflepuff? What a disappointment. Yeah, yeah, I make a great friend. Whatever.

2. Last weekend, I had an adventure. I went somewhere. Friday night and ALL day Saturday. Woo-hoo! The Yvil Sister and I went to Heidi Ashworth's book signing down in the East Bay. As expected, Heidi was a delight, her family and friends too. I had a fantastic time, and Yvil, the blog-hater, was a good sport.


Here's the one and only picture my sister took of the two of us. Yes, we are arm wrestling.  At Applebee's. I won. Easily. Only to be expected given my weight advantage.


3. Having closely examined the above picture, I have made a surprising discovery. I need to lose some weight. 140 is a nice even number. Roughly half of me. And yet...

My car is currently stuffed with them, all waiting to be delivered to our cookie-loving neighbors, tempting me. (Oh, how they tempt me!) I am not good with temptation. (She types, munching a Samoa/Carmel Delight.) It may be time to attempt a second fake gastric bypass.

4. Do not buy the Daisy Go Round Girl Scout cookies. You have been warned.

5. I am getting an unholy amount of money from my tax return. Hate to give TMI, but for those of you who question the socialist nature of our government, ponder this:

My husband made roughly $24,000 last year.  They took out $2,700 in federal income tax, a purposeful over-withholding. Our income tax return should be $2,700, what we paid. But no. The Earned Income Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit are both "refundable." In other words, if the tax credits are more than the taxes owed by a family, the family receives the difference added as a freebie to their tax return. To the tune of $6,000 additional dollars in the case of our family. That's $8,700 all together.


Wow, you say? Wow, indeed. Don't get me wrong; I'll spend it. It just doesn't seem especially fair to have you all support my family in this way. Yeah, I know you like me (I am a Hufflepuff, after all), but would you hand me the money out of your family's funds? Especially if I didn't even ask. Or say thank you. Anyhow...thank you. Sorry I didn't ask. I'll try to use better manners next year.

Dang It!

It's not over. People are still waving signs and flipping out about Prop 8 AND my Internet is still down. :( :( :(

BUT I do have a limerick winner. :) My mail carrier, Wendy the Wonderful, has chosen. Melanie J--YOU are the winner of a fine triangular chocolate bar for the delightful limerick:

There once was a cute mommy blogger

With a stroller, Snugli, and jogger

Who let them all rust

Or at least collect dust

She got blog addicted, so let's flog her!

Please email me and I will get you your Toblerone in this calander year!

Also here is a link to Thora's delightful blog. She is the winner of the name that country contest.

Love to you all. I miss you so, but Mr. MEANIE Internet won't let me visit.

WAHOO!

It's over! It's over! It's over! (Well except for the whining and complaining and lawsuits and all that other post-election joy.) Even better news: we have a WINNER.

I know you all love to know the scientific method used to determine my random winner. Well...first I eliminated all of my family members, then I eliminated all those who never actually put the word Switzerland in your entry, then I wrote all of your names down, and THEN I told J-Teen (mathematical genius) to pick a number between one and eleven. He picked TEN...Thora! You are the lucky winner of a lovely Toblerone! Please email me. And I shall send you the glorious prize post haste!

My judge for the limerick contest is still out on the verdict, but SOON we will have the winner of the second Toblerone as well.

[Still no internet, but we've looped a cord out of the window and into the outside phone box and have phone service. You know, right around now the inside wire repair plan looks like it would have been a good choice.]

Toblerone Bars are made in Switzerland

November 4th at 8pm Pacific Time we will have the drawing for the TOBLERONE. So if you haven't entered yet, do so by leaving a comment with the name of the country in which Toblerones are made.

The LIMERICK contest is also coming to an end on the 4th. Go ahead. Enter that one too! Just submit your clean limerick as a comment. You could win a SECOND Toblerone!

[Hint: In order for your entry to be valid, you must have the word Switzerland in your comment. And that is it. I am not giving any more hints. If you can't get it from this hint you must buy your own Toblerone!]

Time to Put a Little Sweetness Back into Life

You know what? I am so tired of all the negative thinking that everyone has been indulging in this Fall. Aren't you? Let's DO something about it! Tomorrow night, I am going to tip the cosmic scales towards sweet joy. I am going to give EVERYONE who comes to my door chocolate and I'll compliment each visitor's outfit as well. I urge all of you to join me! Bring love and joy to the world, give chocolate and kindness to all!

Two Toblerone Chocolate Bars Need Homes

First, a reminder about the Toblerone Giveaway. Enter to win chocolate by correctly guessing the name of this politically neutral country which I attempted to use as a joking symbol of my staying out of Californian politics this year. Of course, I've recently declared my definitive stance as a flip-flopper, but I'm still giving away the amazingly yummy Swiss chocolate bar. I know it's hard, but go ahead, take a guess. You know you want to win this exquisite chocolate crafted in Switzerland.

I shall be holding a drawing from all the correct answers on November 4th as the polls close here in California.

Second, Alison (whose blog is well worth a read) voiced a fondness for limericks, SO in her honor I announce the

Win a Toblerone Limerick Contest!

Yes, that's right! A second Toblerone will be awarded to the writer of the best limerick!

(Just to give you courage, I'll go first.)

There once was a blogger named Jami
whose contest was silly and lame-y!
November 4th it ended
because it felt splendid
to be done with smeary, dumb blame-y.

P.S. Keep it clean.
PPS. Enough with the eye-rolling. Lame-y, Blame-y and Jami DO TOO ryhme.

Math? Who Knew?

I went to school with a guy who my sister and I called Perfect Steve. He could write, act, ballroom dance, play two musical instruments, sing, do advanced mathematics and science. He was wise, kind, funny, spiritual, and didn't look like a troll. I would have fallen in love with him except he was several years younger than I was. He graduated from high school early and headed off to college where he majored in math of all things.

I was chatting with him during his sophomore year and asked him how he could stand it. Why in the world had he chosen Math when he could have studied anything? What is there to even learn after calculus?

My questions sent Perfect Steve into an enthusiastic description of the joys of mathematics, the orderliness, the questions, the answers, all truth turned into neat little proofs. He began describing the sheer exhilaration of being able to mathematically turn a sphere inside out.

At least that is what I was able to gather. He lost me pretty quickly. I stopped him and told him I would just have to believe him. I knew that it would take me years of studying math (of all things) before I could understand anything he said. Sorry. Love ya, Steve. Still hated math.

So last week I promised to return with a report about my experience at my homeschool training last week. What in the name of all long-windedness does Perfect Steve's sphere have to do with my LEMI (Leadership Education Mentoring Institute) training? The LEMI trainers have finally given me the vision that Steve was trying to share.

Math is cool!

I want to know how to turn a sphere inside-out mathematically! I want to know enough that I'm willing to work hard for the knowledge. Years, if necessary. I want to thrill my kids and students with the sheer exhilaration that is to be found in asking questions, finding and analyzing patterns, in math. Of all things.

Thanks for trying, Steve. Thanks, LEMI: I needed that.

For the fun of it, here's a picture of a sphere turning inside-out.

[For you TJed/LEMI=a cult folks—I'm running the final blood tests now, but preliminary testing shows that no mind-altering drugs were administered to create a delusional epiphany. Other than chocolate, of course.]