1st Place Sparring
It’s Not All About The Hardware
Sunday, 28 September 2008 at 3:51 pm (Taekwondo)
ATA Tournament This Weekend
Friday, 26 September 2008 at 1:49 pm (Taekwondo)
We’re off to the tournament in Columbia this weekend. This is the first time we’ve been there, and we’re really looking forward to it. Hopefully, we’ll have some hardware in the trunk for the trip home! Stay tuned!!
The Cornell Note Taking System
Thursday, 25 September 2008 at 9:32 am (Classical Education)
The Cornell Note Taking System, developed by Walter Pauk, isn’t new, but it’s new to me. I just discovered it yesterday and — wow! This sure would have come in handy when I was retyping and outlining all those study notes! It’s recommended for, and was designed for, lecture notes, but we’re using it for reading, too.
Let The Games Begin!
Tuesday, 23 September 2008 at 11:00 pm (Taekwondo)
Our school has a class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for camo belt and above. They do all kinds of different things, including working on lower rank forms, but the main focus is sparring.
I met one lady who couldn’t wait to get her camo belt because she wanted to spar. She had her equipment months before she tested for that belt and couldn’t wait. I admired her immensely, but didn’t share her enthusiasm, not at bit of it! As a matter of fact, I have dreaded the thought of sparring from the beginning, and was determined not to do it at all. Who wants to voluntarily wrap themselves in hot, sweaty vinyl and spend 45 minutes getting beat up? I’m fat, I’m slow, and I’m clueless! What other outcome could there be?!
I thought diabetes was hard to figure out!
Monday, 22 September 2008 at 11:12 am (ADD/ADHD, Diabetes)
Good grief!
I started digging around trying to find information on ADD/ADHD Saturday afternoon. I might go into why later — not sure yet. Gotta protect that personal space! 
It’s no wonder this is such a controversial topic. What a mess! After, literally, spending the whole weekend Googling and reading, I’m more confused now than when I started. One of my main lines of attack on any topic is to find a good newsgroup. The good news is there are several that address this topic. The bad news is, they seem to have been overrun by trolls and are basically useless. That is really too bad, because it’s the alt.support.diabetes newsgroup that helped me get on track controlling T2. No such luck with ADD/ADHD — it just couldn’t be that easy, could it?
Bug Bites
Saturday, 20 September 2008 at 12:55 pm (101 Things To Do With Baking Soda)
You can’t go outside around here without being bitten by something. Sometimes, you can’t walk through your house without something taking a chunk out of you, too! Just last night, I was sitting here, minding my own business, when I felt something on my neck.
Why do they always go for the throat?
Burned Pots
Friday, 19 September 2008 at 6:33 pm (101 Things To Do With Vinegar)
My mother told me about this one. Used to be, if I burned something into a pot badly enough, I just threw the pot away. That was when I was rich and stupid. Now that I’m poor and smart, I try to save the pot.
This little trick has become more and more useful now that my son is spending more time in the kitchen. Well, actually, if he was spending enough time in the kitchen, things wouldn’t get burned! But he hasn’t quite wrapped his mind around the fact that you can’t just put something on high heat and go immerse yourself in whatever that is he’s listening to — I don’t know what it is, I just know it’s loud. 
So, anyway —
First Latin Study Assignment
Friday, 19 September 2008 at 9:36 am (Classical Education, Latin)
My first chapter assignment has been sent in — how about you? This is a big milestone for me! I’ve never sent one in before! I always chickened out, afraid I might send in some wrong answers. Well, we’re jumping into the deep end here, folks! It’s off into cyberspace and come Saturday, we’ll all know which ones were wrong! 
If you’ve missed this week’s assignment, never fear. You can start the group at any time. And David Meadows is starting up a faster paced group in a couple of weeks, too, so you can go for that one.
Pack Rats Need Love, Too
Thursday, 18 September 2008 at 10:00 am (Babblings)
Do you envy your friends with spotless homes? Well, I sorta do — but only a little bit. I like to have a nice house, but I like to have all my “stuff,” too. It’s the “stuff” that’s the problem — I’ll confess my biggest problems are books, magazines, and books. One day, everything is nice and neat and clean and spotless and you can actually see the beautiful wood pattern on the dining room table. Next thing I know, you can’t even tell there is a dining room table. Well, that’s not quite true — if it wasn’t there, all that stuff would be on the floor.
What I can’t figure out is why, when I was working and going to school full time, my house wasn’t too bad. Now that I’m home, it’s pathetic. Fortunately, being the anti-social sort that I am, I don’t have to worry about the nice neighbor ladies stopping by for coffee. Maybe if I had friends, the house would be cleaner! But — I digress —
OpenOffice.org
Wednesday, 17 September 2008 at 5:57 am (Babblings)
Are you looking for an affordable office suite? Can’t get much better than this — OpenOffice.org is free. Yup, it’s free. Comparable to Microsoft Word and WordPerfect Office, but without the stroke-inducing price tag — it’s open source.
Well, I’m Still Loving This Weather, But . . .
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 at 1:47 am (Babblings)
Good grief! Texas didn’t work the nastiness out of Ike before he came calling up here! Our power is now back on after being out for two days, and there are still people in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana that have no electricity. What a monster storm that was.
As usual, we could get nothing local on the news. And it didn’t have anything to do with Texas getting all the press, though they’ve certainly earned it. No, our local “source for news and information” was busy at the local gym, giving away pizza and helping them celebrate their second anniversary in business. I tuned in for news, and maybe some inkling as to when the power would be back on, and got a five minute commercial. Thank goodness they were waiving the sign-up fees! Now that’s news.
This “positive thinking” stuff is a lot of work.
Battling My Hair
Saturday, 13 September 2008 at 2:52 pm (101 Things To Do With Vinegar)
I’m a tall girl. Okay, woman. Well, I’m tall. But I have very fine, dark hair. All my hairdressers have told me I have a lot of hair — but it’s so fine, the only ones who would know that are the people who cut it.
So I’ve been trying to force my hair into submission for most of my life — perms, coloring, hot rollers, blow dryers, mousse, curling irons. Any hair torture device ever invented was part of my War on Hair. And after I got it close to where I wanted it, Aqua Net sealed the deal. It probably would have been cheaper to use Elmer’s glue — and I think the effect would have been the same.
I had a little “spider clip” in my hair at the office one day, and one of the other ladies asked me in amazement how I could get all of my hair in that little, tiny clip. “Because I have little, tiny hair” of course!
Chapter One Flashcards
Friday, 12 September 2008 at 12:11 pm (Classical Education, Latin)
I made up a template for my flashcards. I was going to buy them, but I thought it might help with the memorization if I typed them up myself. I admit, it’s kind of a pain, since I still need to learn how to make special characters with the keyboard. Using the character map is so tedious! But, the flashcards for chapter one are finished, they’re a great tool, and I thought I’d go ahead and share them.
Please let me know if you find any errors, or if you have any suggestions!
English Grammar for Students of Latin
Thursday, 11 September 2008 at 1:43 pm (Classical Education, Latin)
I’ve started working through the first chapter of Wheelock’s Latin. The first assignment in the new study group is due by 20 September, and I want to get a good head start. I don’t want to get behind — again! — right off the bat.
If you’ve been out of school for awhile — and no, I’m not going to tell you how long it’s been for me! — your grammar might be a bit lacking when you start to study Latin. I picked up English Grammar for Students of Latin so long ago, I don’t remember where the recommendation came from, but I’ve already pulled it out for a refresher.
I’m Loving This Weather!
Wednesday, 10 September 2008 at 1:40 pm (Babblings)
The heat and humidity kicked into high gear in May this year and it’s been a hot, miserable summer. I’ll never adjust to this humidity. It is some small consolation that it’s good for my hair and my skin — but I really hate running around all wet and drippy and sticky all the time. The other ladies who live here always look so fresh! And I look live I’ve run a marathon, and they dumped the drink cups on my head.
Our Little Brown Birds
Tuesday, 09 September 2008 at 12:11 pm (Babblings)
Dad had to call in the big guns to identify this little guy. This is a better picture than the one he had to work with. The head guy of their birding club says it’s a chipping sparrow — that’s all it could be. And so, it is.
We don’t have as many of these as the yellow birds, and they don’t share very well, either. The yellow birds came first, and then a few of these chipping sparrows.
All of them seem to be used to me, now, though, and it’s a lot easier to get pictures of them — they don’t seem to mind anymore. But initially it was tough. All I had to do was think about getting the camera out and they took off.
Our Little Yellow Birds
Monday, 08 September 2008 at 8:59 pm (Babblings)
First off, I am not the birder in the family. My Dad is. I just take the pictures — he is the one to tell me what kinds of birds we have.
There aren’t many of them out there right now. As a matter of fact, I had my feeder for weeks before these American Goldfinches even found it. I finally went outside and threw bird seed all over the place. I don’t know if it made a difference, but a few days after that, they started coming around.
Isn’t this little guy precious?
Taekwondo
Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 2:33 am (Taekwondo)
I just tested yesterday for my camo belt. I passed, but that’s all I can say about it. I wasn’t pleased or proud of my performance, but I did get out there and I did do it. So we will be happy with that for now.
Just How Cool Is This Theme?
Saturday, 06 September 2008 at 12:47 pm (Babblings)
I love it. beccary.com seems to be having server issues right now, but I can’t wait to see what else she’s been doing.
Pessimists Are Never Disappointed
Friday, 05 September 2008 at 11:06 pm (Babblings)
I said that to a lady a couple of weeks ago, and she thought it was quite profound. I don’t think so — I just think it’s true!
I had to get a mailbox. I didn’t want a mailbox. We’ve lived on this road for ten years, quite happily, without a mailbox. I make my trip to town, once a week, and when I’m there I pick up my mail. I didn’t ask anyone else to pick up my mail for me, I was quite content to do it myself.
The state government, however, thinks we need a mailbox. Apparently, if you don’t have a mailbox, you are a terrorist.
You Have To Start Somewhere
Thursday, 04 September 2008 at 1:38 pm (Classical Education, Current Read)
I’ve always been a reader. I don’t know why I love books so passionately. No one in my immediate family devours books as enthusiastically as I do. And I have piles of them to prove it. Right now, I’m in desperate need of another bookcase, two would be better, and there isn’t a chair or table in the house that doesn’t have a couple (or three or four) books within easy reach.
Nightmares
Wednesday, 03 September 2008 at 5:46 pm (Babblings)
I’m not generally prone to nightmares, or even bad dreams, but four nights in a row, I had some pretty strange ones. The settings were different, and the people were different, but the main theme was the same–someone I knew from my past grabbed me from behind, wrapping their arms around me, and took me off to do “bad things.” One involved an ex who locked me in an old car and tried to kill me with a bug bomb! Isn’t it funny how silly these things sound when you bring them out of your head and speak or type the words?
Election Day Can’t Come Soon Enough
Tuesday, 02 September 2008 at 3:52 pm (Babblings)
I know I’m not alone, and that does make me feel better, but only just a bit. I realize that, for some people, this is their Super Bowl. They live for it. Politics is their “thing.”
Well, it’s not my “thing.”
New Latin Study Group
Monday, 01 September 2008 at 1:27 am (Classical Education, Latin)
A new LatinStudy group for Wheelock’s Latin is starting this month. It will proceed at a pace of one chapter every two weeks, with the exception of the first two chapters, which will each take one week. The first assignment will be published on the mailing list by 13 September and will be due before 20 September.
