Soaking in a tepid pool of my own anger...

I'm angry a lot lately.  I'm trying not to be...but as I get older, I get more patience for my kids and less patience for the world around me.

It seems I am constantly dealing with stupid people. Stupid is a really strong word, isn't it? Tomorrow I will be sorry that I said that, so I will take a second to think of a word that would be more appropriate:  hmm...let's go with selfish. Selfish people at work: people who are mean to me and mean to the doctors, the same doctors that stay after closing and don't go home to their families because they need to deal with these petty jerks. The same people I have to be nice to the next time they call to make an appointment. Selfish people who lie to me about my child's education when it's all about money and the educator's place in the system...the selfish people my husband deals with during the day and tells me about when he comes home at night. After he bends over backwards to help someone, the next claim he deals with is some asshole who thinks he won the insurance lottery when hail hit his house and will not take no for an answer. Because he didn't have coverage in the first place, but "that's what insurance is for!". And then when everyone has to pay more for next year's policies because of the multitude of these jerks in the world, my husband will  take the brunt of the anger.

How on earth am I supposed to raise thoughtful, respectful people when the world is filled with selfish people? It's like the zombie plague: if you're not careful, you'll get bit by one of them and turn into a selfish ass just like they are. Every night at the dinner table, the kids regale us with stories of their day, stories of how awful the kids in this world are to each other and I have to remind my kids to see the good points in these rotten brats. The next day, one of those rotten brats does something stupid and the conversations start all over again.

Is it just because I'm getting old? Is my ability to give a shit withering away over time? 

I wish I could stop thinking about it and just be as selfish as everyone else.

I'm going to go clean something...get my mind off this crap.

This is what Homeschooling would look like in our house.

This morning before school, Jacob asked me to help him study for his Social Studies test. Today's test is on Canada's physiological regions, which I remember as being one of those things that you learn in Grade 5 and then never touch on again for the rest of your life.

I tried to find a map to show you as an example, but Google found me over a million maps and no two were the same. Why would you force a child to memorize regions that even adults can't agree on what they should be named? How stupid. Anyway...for your enjoyment, a map that I edited to show what we were dealing with this morning:

Of course, the Arctic was no problem to identify. That's where penguins and inukshuks are, everyone knows that. We deduced that he needed to memorize the remaining regions: Cordillera, Interior Plains, Canadian Shield, Great Lakes, Atlantic...and then we came up with a plan. Take the first letter of each region in order and come up with a rhyme to help you remember.

Remember this?

(read: Jacob asking me to buy ice cream)

Yeah. Jake's rhyme is:

Can I cut Grover's Ass?

...I did what I thought I should do and asked him to think of another word on the way to school, but honestly: whatever works. I asked him just to please not say his chosen rhyme in front of his teachers. Or his friends.

But it works! I quizzed him as he walked out the door today and he got every region correct, in order.

Silly kid :)

Baking with the Boy

Today, Jake and I made brownies...not just any brownies, but Smartie brownies. He is taking them to school tomorrow to share with his class, because it's his birthday. My baby boy is turning 10 years old!! Where did the time go?

If there's one thing I've figured out about this boy in the last 10 years, it's that he hates anything that resembles school work. Reading/writing/math?? Forget it!

One thing he likes to do, though: baking. He just read a recipe, doubled fractions so that we could make a bigger pan-full, and wrote the recipe down in a binder because the printer was out of ink (or was it??).

But it's not school work, so it was fun. Silly boy.

Jake (age 2) and Kylie (age 5)

My 10 year old boy

Big party this weekend for the birthday boy. Wish me luck haha.

Tuesday.

I don't have any imagination lately...and I can't be bothered to come up with a great post title, to tell you the truth.

It's cold here! Well, it's not winter yet so I shouldn't be complaining but it's chilly enough. I think it's 12C today, and darnit, that's cold enough for me in this old house.

Took the 2 youngest kids to the doctor this morning, and even though we had an appointment for 10:30, we didn't get to see the doctor until after an hour past that. I told Jacob that he didn't have to go to school this afternoon because we would be really late and miss the bell, but can you believe that he begged me to take him to school?!? Weird kid. I don't think I'll ever understand him lol.

His birthday is coming up soon and he didn't want me to make invitations this year. But I absolutely will not call a stranger, and personally, I appreciate having a paper invitation to stick up on the calendar as a reminder. I promised him that the invitations would be as plain as they could get...and they are. How boring.

The front:

...and the inside:

I know white cardstock would have been better than the white paper that I used, but I didn't have any.

I haaaaate boy parties. Boys are noisy and messy and their parents never pick them up on time. Last year we had a kid sit here for over an hour before his mother finally phoned to say that she would be late. I told her, that's fine...I have to go to work right away, which is why we asked for a 4:00 pickup time (she called at 5).  "I'll just stick him on the doorstep and you can come for him whenever. I'm taking my kids to my mom's now". Funny, she was there 10 minutes later.

One more pic:

It's a dream catcher that Kylie made in her native art class and I just love it. I was particularly impressed by the weaving in the middle, it looks like a really cool spider web. I know the picture is sideways, Blogger is stupid and forever shall be.

Well, I'm off to make some fried rice. Kylie wants to make bannock when she comes home, and I think we will have that and some soup for supper on this chilly fall day. Scott is working late so I will have to try and save him some.