Wrapping it up

I must confess a failure of mine that I believe I have passed on to my children:  I am unable to wrap gifts.  I confess this today after wrapping Christmas presents.   You may be thinking: just watch the many tutorials on wrapping on you tube and you'll figure it out.--been there, done that.    It's like those videos of how to fold fitted sheets into neat squares; it looks so easy when someone else does it.  I think this year's wrapping projects are actually my best yet, but I still haven't unlocked the secret.  All my wrapped boxes have the paper pattern right side up, most of them have square edges, none of the paper is torn at the edges, and best of all: I didn't give up!  Or, maybe you wonder how I can blog about such a mundane topic.  I'm pretty sure I can fill at least 5 paragraphs explaining and expounding on this particular weakness that I've lived with all my life.

I love wrapping paper because it has so many colors and designs.  I search for sturdy paper that won't tear easily and that has some kind of grid or geometric pattern that will give me guide lines so that when I cut the paper it will be somewhat straight (that's another problem I have that may be related to this one; I can't draw a straight line very well so I don't cut straight, either).  This year I found a huge roll of heavy wrapping paper at Costco that is reversible!  How cool is that?  And I decided that I would wrap the girls' gifts in one pattern and the boys' gifts in the reverse pattern.  Since this post is confessional I will admit that I already messed up that plan by wrapping a gift for Aaron with the wrong pattern.  But I fixed it:  I wrapped the outside of the wrapped box with a strip from the reverse-boy pattern.  Problem solved.

I love wrapping paper but I also get excited about wrapping gifts.  Basically, I approach every gift wrapping opportunity with hope and optimism:  this gift will be my best wrapping yet.  This year I got smart and kept lots of amazon boxes so that all my gifts could go in a box first.  You're probably saying to yourself: of course, who would wrap a strangely-shaped gift without putting it into a square or rectangular box first anyway?  But that kind of question is what separates true gift wrappers from people like me.  Just like the assumption that watching people on you tube wrap gifts means that I will become proficient at wrapping like they are.

So, I have beautiful wrapping paper, square or rectangular boxes, tape, and scissors.  I have my large cutting board as my surface so I don't cut crooked or pull the boxes onto my lap at some point. The stage is set for an easy gift wrapping session.  I can see in my mind what I need to do; cut some paper off the roll and begin.  This I believe is where everything starts to go wrong.  And I think this is why the you tube videos are useless.  They don't explain how much paper I should use.  If someone would just give me a rule or procedure for cutting the right size of paper for the box I am wrapping, I think I could actually become an expert gift wrapper (see the eternal, hopeful optimism?).

Wrapping becomes a full-body experience with tape sticking to fingers, the gift in my lap so I can hold a corner flap down while I twist around to locate the scissors that have ended up just out of reach to cut extra paper that I didn't know I would have and don't know what to do with on the end flaps.  Effort and care goes into every gift I wrap even if it may not seem so by looking at the finished product.

I wrote at the beginning of this post that I fear I have passed on my poor wrapping skills to my children.  As I sit here writing I look across the room at a very large box that has upside down snowmen on it.  I also see a cowboy boot wrapped mostly in a penguin pattern--I say 'mostly' because the toe of the boot has the reverse pattern of snowmen.  Beside the boot is a wrapped 2-liter soda bottle.  Do you see why my use of boxes this year is inspiring?

This brings me to another confession: we have in the past wrapped gifts in pillowcases, towels, blankets, socks, brown paper bags or store bags.   NOT Christmas gifts, usually, but birthday gifts don't always get the same time and care in presentation.  Sometimes it seems too time-consuming and expensive to go out and buy birthday wrapping paper and wrap a gift for just one child who will tear it apart in a few seconds anyway.  And since I pointed out the wrapped cowboy boot that is being used to hold a gift, I must also confess the odd-shaped gift that has a stapler sitting on top of it underneath the wrapping.  The offspring of mine who did this said it was because she doesn't want the recipient to guess what the gift is.  I guess it didn't occur to her to use a box to disguise the gift's shape and weight.

I don't know if anyone outside of my immediate family has problems with gift wrapping, but I do feel better admitting my inadequacies.  My gift wrapping failures offer a valuable and practical lesson similar to the adage: don't judge a book by its cover.  Not every thing or everyone has external beauty.  We must look beyond the external wrappings; it's what's on the inside that counts.  That is the real gift.

We begin again

We start another school year on Monday--2015-2016--a final year of high school for my son--a final year of middle school for my daughter.  I haven't done a whole lot of prep work yet besides thinking about the year and pulling lists of books from our curriculum guide.  I haven't even planned in my head how the days of week will go or what our daily or weekly schedule will look like.  I know what I want to implement that has been lacking in previous years, but  I also know how busy the days and weeks quickly become.  I want to really study this year, even if that means not using every resource that is planned, as long as the ones we do use serve us well.

I would love the year to be simple and straightforward.  I would love to not feel rushed, to have time to think and talk and write about what we are learning, to absorb beauty and knowledge in each of our disciplines of study.  I sound like I'm the student, not the teacher!  I would love for my students to experience the year in this way.  Quality not quantity.

There are always loopholes in our educational journey.  In the past I've fretted over missing some of the richness offered in literature or language study or poetry, art, nature studies.  I remind myself at the beginning of each year that we are learning how to learn just as much as learning the content itself.   We are learning to love to learn I should say; the desire to know, to delve, to seek information, to seek beauty, to understand the world and all that is in it to the best of our ability at any one time in our life.  And to exercise that desire to learn all throughout our life, not just when we are in 'school'.

There is still some trepidation as I wonder how the year will unfold in reality rather than in theory (or in my head).  But I am still excited about beginning again.

The Usual Suspects

I attended the first concert of Aaron's band, The Usual Suspects, last night and was blown away.  Of course I am biased, but I thought the amount of raw talent in the room was amazing.  Almost all the band members learned their instruments within the last 6 months, with the exception of Patrick on keyboard and Aaron on guitar.   Several of the band members taught other band members how to play and all of them worked up their skills to play all their pieces from memory.  They played 17 rock n roll cover songs from various artists.

They were modest in touting their abilities, but it was clear that each one of them had worked hard over the last 6 months to hone their talent.   No, they aren't ready to make a CD or anything, but they really enjoyed the fruit of all their hard work and long practice sessions.  With each piece of music, you could see them getting into their groove and simply enjoying the music and having fun.

The audience, made up of parents, friends, and a row of teenage girls, loved their energy and talent.  I was proud of my son's behind-the-scenes work ( he wrote out piano music for the keyboards, helped teach guitar riffs, kept the rhythm and beat, and worked long and hard on his own instrumentals and vocals) and his stage presence was great.  All the guys were relaxed and were naturals on stage.

I know the time commitment was crazy at times, but the passion each of the boys brought to their music was evident.  I know they won't ever forget the experience.  They really are a 'garage rock' band (they practiced in a garage most of the time) and they should be proud of their accomplishments.

We're done!

Our 2014-2015 School year is closed--we are finished.  Well, not completely. But I have declared that our year is done.  It feels good.  It is a weight off my shoulders--and my mind. I feel a sense of accomplishment and completion--no more guilt or worry or persistence to get those last few things done. No more cajoling, persuading, commanding, bribing.  No more patience, graciousness, firmness, mental acuity, calmness, kindness, biting my tongue. No more angry outbursts, tired eyes, headaches, interruptions of house work, interruptions of school work, waiting around for students, searching for books, pencils, paper, calculators, etc. Yay--let's celebrate!

Of course, we still have to read a few more chapters in Mark Twain's Joan of Arc.  And we are working through SAT/ACT prep books throughout the next 2 months.  And I still have to finish recording grades, finish out the semester assignments on Home School Tracker, begin the new school year on HST, start planning 2015-2016 school year. And there's always our foreign languages that we try to work on more in the summer because we have more time. 

But otherwise, we're done! And not a moment too soon--actually we're done when I thought we would be, even though we tried to finish earlier.  It didn't work.  But at least these last two weeks (after a two--make that three week break) were not as intense because we were already mostly done. 

Now on to the summer projects!  

  

It's Inevitable

It was inevitable.

I picked up soiled tissues all week long.  

I hung around people who were coughing and sneezing.

I slept in the same bed as an infected person.

The germs were bombarding me all week long and my body seemed to be resisting.

Today I went to church feeling ok.  I was very cold, though, and my knees hurt.

When I got home I felt a little 'off'. 

After eating, I had a heavy, tired feeling and my throat and my bones were achy.

I went to bed for the afternoon.

But I was chilled and achy all afternoon and only slept a little here and there.

Now I am home alone while everyone else is at church.

I hope that resting this evening will cause this virus to be less durable in me than it's been in the others.

I can spare one day, tomorrow, but after that, I will have commitments that I cannot avoid easily.

I pray that my body will not be as battered by this virus as the rest of my family has been.

I don't know why I think I can avoid the pain and aches, even the length of time these germs germinate.

But I want to avoid it; I've been hoping to avoid it as I've watched each family member succumb.

Knowing the inevitable, or thinking I do, as I sit here resting, is not a comfort.