Mindy's Non-Adventures

Yesterday was one of those days. I was fed up with my tetris apartment, especially since I'd lost the game of fitting the computer somewhere normal. Like, NOT in a place where we walk. I was tired, defeated, and generally unhappy with my lot in life. In other words, I was acting like a teenage girl. Blech. So of course this morning one of the first things I read is about cities of people living on giant landfills in Honduras. They dig through the trash daily looking for food and plastic. If they find enough plastic (50 lbs), they can sell it. For a DOLLAR. And I was so proud of myself last night for pushing through and not ordering the Papa John's pizza. I'd made out the order and everything. I just had to push "Order" on my phone, and it would have been done. But I didn't. So it was a major victory in my mind at the time. I don't know why I have days like that. Days where I know that I'm being completely irrational, but I just...can't. Days wh...

The circles. I'm sure every culture since the beginning on mankind has had circles. I'm sure I can't claim them as a southern invention, but since that's my experience, that's what I'm going with. When I was a kid, I went to these small, country churches. Between Sunday school and the service, then again after church, the men would congregate outside in a loose circle and talk. It's just what they did. There was always an opening for someone else to join, but everyone knew instinctively how close to stand to each other.  I remember how they stood. They all had the same posture, the same laid-back stance. I always thought it was fascinating to see them. The same thing would happen at family gatherings. My dad had 3 brothers. My grandfather had 4 brothers. The men would always find themselves in the circle. Multiple conversations would be going on at once, and they'd jump in and out of all of them. So if I'm ever sitting near you and suddenly jump into...

After months and months of hobbling through life without a computer, we've finally come back to the sweet life. We bought a shiny, new computer last week. The struggle of doing everything through a smartphone is real, ya'll. Real. So I've been tracking through my goals for the year of getting back to basics, and the past few weeks have led me to goal number 3: homeschool. First, homeschooling is HARD. The information isn't hard. The information is easy. Anyone that thinks they can't homeschool because they're not smart enough clearly has no idea what homeschooling is about. The books tell you everything you need to know if you don't already know it. I've got nouns, earthquakes, and fractions down. That's easy. What's not easy is the drudgery. The day in, day out life of getting the work done. It's the hardcore parenting. There's no break. There's no village to help out. Nope. I've taken the challenge of preparing my children for...