Meme from Denise

My old friend Denise (old, as in since I was eleven) sent me this as an email chain. And then I saw it at Dawn's as a meme. So, I htink I'll give it a go.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:40 exactly.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Not much of either.  I love my pear-shaped diamond engagment ring and my grandmother's pearls. But they are all about the heart and not about the bling.

3. What was the last film you saw at the theater? Shalll I date myself and reveal how much I dislike movie theaters?  In the past sixteen years, I have seen Beauty and the Beast, The Prince of Egypt and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  That's all. Really.

4. What is your favorite TV show?  The West Wing

5. What did you have for breakfast? Tea and an egg.

6. What is your middle name? Ann

7. What is your favorite cuisine?  To cook: Italian, especially homemade pesto and perfect fresh mozarella, tomato and basil salad.

Eating out: Thai.

8. What foods do you dislike? Liver

9. What are your favorite chips? Chocolate ones, preferably Ghirardelli.

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Steven Curtis Chapman All About Love and Faith Hill Fireflies (sings SUMMER to me--great for cleaning binges). 
11. What kind of car do you drive? A giant Ford 250 extended conversion van that seats nine and gives me anxiety every time I have to park.

12. Favorite sandwich? I can't eat bread, so that pretty much eliminates sandwiches, but the above fresh mozarella and tomato salad works for me!

13. What are characteristics you can't stand? Arrogance that prevents people from really listening and seeking to understand. Also, loudness.  Believe it or not, I like things quiet (even with nine kids here all day).

14. What are your favorite clothes? True confessions: my favorite clothes in the whole world are well broken-in, super soft jeans and a reverse-weave hoodie. Not terribly feminine or modest or anything, but you didn't ask that. If I have to actually be seen in said clothing, I love a knit skirt, low heeled boots and a cashmere sweater.

15. If you could go anywhere on vacation where would you go? Rome. I'd like to go with Mike (we never got that honeymoon). but I'd also love to go with Michael because he's the guide to art and architecture. Closer to home, I want a month at a lakeside cabin in Maine or a seaside cottage on the outer Outer Banks.

16. One random fact about myself: I clean when I'm stressed.

17. Where would you want to retire? On a small farm where my grandchildren will come frequently to visit.

18. Favorite time of day? Morning. I love quiet. I love dawn. And I love that Nicholas wakes up first and needs me to snuggle and talk and ease into the day.

19. Where were you born? Quonset Point, Rhode Island

20. What is your favorite sport to watch? Anything being played by my children.

21. Coke or Pepsi? Neither. Yuck.

22. Beavers or ducks? Ducks.

23. Are you a morning person or a night owl? I have always been a morning person; I took 8:00 classes all through college by choice.

24. Pedicure or manicure? Pedicure. A manicure lasts about three hours and then it's messed up.

25. What did you want to be when you were little? A mother and a writer. :)

26. What is your best childhood memory? Playing Little House in the woods in Chesapeake behind the Wheatons house.  Playing Barbies for hours on end at Denise's house.

27. Ever been to Africa? No, but Denise brought Africa home to her when she adopted Melvin.
28. Ever been toilet papering? Yes, with someone who grew up to bring Africa home to her;-)

29. Been in a car accident? Yes. 

30. Favorite day of the week? The Sundays when Mike is home.

31. Favorite restaurant? You mean there are choices in restaurants and I could have a preference? I don't know; I haven't had the occasion to think about it recently:-)

32. Favorite flower? Virginia bluebells (see the blog banner to understand why).

33. Favorite ice-cream? Starbucks Espresso Chip.

34. Favorite fast food restaurant? The Pho restaurant down the street.

35. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Once.

36. From whom did you get your last e-mail? 4Real Forums

37. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Pottery Barn and the Container Store. I would be clean and matching and organized.

38. Last person you went to dinner with? My husband and kids after the soccer tournament in Richmond last weekend.

39. What are you listening to right now? Hey, Julie! and Sweet Caroline. After Karoline was born, Michael made a playlist and Hey, Julie came right after Sweet Caroline (to which he made linked slideshow). Whenever she got fussy, he or Christian would pick her up and dance to that playlist. Now, whenever she's cranky, Hey, Julie quiets her. With Nicholas, it was Mozart; with Karoline, it's Fountains of Wayne. I wonder sometimes what teenage brothers are doing to her brain.

40. What is your favorite color? Pink.

41. How many tattoos do you have? Ten. Really. Got your attention didn't I?

Before I was radiated to treat Hodgkin's Disease, the doctor gave me ten different reference point tattoos with which to poistion the lead shields. Ten. Elizabeth Foss has ten tattoos. (They're pretty tiny dots that look a little like freckles;-)

42. How many people are you sending this to? I'll never know because I never check my stats!

43. What time did you finish this blog entry? Lunchtime. And yes, Molly, I just got majorly diverted from the task at hand.

44. Favorite magazine: I gave up magazines in favor blogs.

45. Coffee or tea? Tea, and lots of it.

46. Do you tan easily or burn easily? Tan.

47. Do you color your hair? Nope.

48. What was the first car you ever purchased without the help of your parents?  An absolute lemon of a Renault Encore.

49. What is your most dreaded household chore? Cleaning AROUND the toilet. Yuck! (moms of boys get it;)

Bring on the Food!

" Hmmm...she made applesauce. Smells good. Wonder why she put it in that tiny little bowl?  Who in the world would only eat a tiny little bit of applesauce?"

"Why does a crowd watch every move I make? I sense something big is about to happen..."

"Me?  For me?  I get to eat--for real?"

"I can do this all by myself! What took y'all so long to introduce me to this wonderful experience?"

The Wedding Meme

1. Where/How did you meet? Freshman year in high school.  His twin sister introduced us.

2. How long have you known each other? 28 years.

3. How long after you met did you start dating? Oh, good grief, this question will totally crack up anyone who knew us then. I have know idea, when we stopped fighting with each other and started "dating!" We're not fighting now; are we dating yet?

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?  We knew each other 7 years.

5. How long was your engagement? 11 months

6. How long have you been married? 19 1/2 years

7. What is your anniversary? September 12, 1987

8. How many people came to your wedding reception?  150

9. What kind of cake did you serve? A butter cake homemade by my mother's dear friend Edith, iced in white with pink roses.

10. Where was your wedding?  at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Alexandria, VA

11. What did you serve for your meal? I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't remember. It was a sit down lunch and we had peach melba for dessert but I have no idea what was for dinner. I don't think I ate.

12. How many people were in your wedding party? 8 groomsmen, 5 bridesmaids, and a flower girl.

13. Are you still friends with them all? Some of them. Four of them are godparents to our children.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? He was a grinning fool.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day? Hearing Mike say his vows.

16. Any funny moments? The best man missed the toast because he was out decorating the car. Someone pinch-hit for him. Then, my father toasted for so long that the best man was back and then he toasted. It was a very long pre-dinner toast.

17. Any big disasters? His brothers were late to the wedding because they went to the wrong church.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We didn't have a honeymoon. We spent the day after the wedding at the National Gallery of Art. 

19. How long were you gone? Not.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? I'd invite more children and I'd worry less about formalities. I would visit the Blessed Mother and consecrate our marriage to her (our priest told us that wasn't done anymore). I'd have listened to my mother about that stray piece of hair she wanted to fix.  It's out of place in so many pictures;-)

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?: Currently, I sleep on the left because we're in baby mode and the co-sleeper is there. When I'm pregnant, I sleep on the right.

22. What size is your bed? King.

23. Greatest strength as a couple? Communication.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple? Maintaining closeness despite frequent travel.

25. Who literally pays the bills? He does

26. What is your song? Hmmm...The Stuff That Dreams are Made Of by Carly Simon; and everything on Steven Curtis Chapman's All About Love album

27. What did you dance your first dance to? I Owe You, by Lee Greenwood.

28. Describe your wedding dress: High necked with pearls and alencon lace and a great train that bustled.

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? white roses and freesia

30. Are your wedding bands engraved? Yes. His says, "Once upon a time & forever." My says, "My life, my love." When I told the jeweler what I wanted for Mike's he told me I couldn't write a novel on a wedding band. Thankfully, he has pretty big fingers and I could!

31. How old were you when you got married? 21

How Cool is This?

Okay, that is not a rhetorical question.  I just watched the video for the CM organizer and I'm hyper-ventilating at the thought of all it promises.  But please, tell me, is it really as amazing as it seems to be?

Dictating Narrations

Over at Faithful Over Little Things, there have been some questions about narration at my house. We are a hybrid narration household, not a strict Charlotte Mason household. I hear lots and lots of oral narrations, most of them in the kitchen. But I also record many narrations, particularly for young children. As early as three or four, I help my children create narrated notebooks and lapbooks. It's tedious and time intensive and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I frequently record my children's narrations for them. It's not a Charlotte Mason habit; I'm quite sure it's a University Virginia Education School habit. It might even belong to the "Whole Language" school of thought. I remember doing it as a student teacher. I remember a whole bunch of parent volunteers scheduled to make it happen in my classroom (the second year--the first year there were no parent volunteers; I'm not even sure there were parents).

I've always stressed to children (mine and others) that real authors are people who have their thoughts written down. When my kids are little, I write or type for them in order for them to see that print is speech in writing. I've never had a child initimidated by the writing process. They think that writing is as natural as breathing. And they know that we write only on days that we eat.

They watch me write. They see my writing appear in the newspaper or on this blog. They watch Daddy write and the script is read on television.  We are a print-intensive household. The first child's career aspirations? Print journalist. The second child? Novelist. The third wants to be a professional soccer player and the fourth wants to be Melissa Wiley.

Before they are ten, we have a balance of narrations and stories that I have heard and keyboarded and stories that they write using invented spelling. Just last weekend, Nicholas took a blank Waldorf book and colored pencils in the car with him while we drove two hours to Richmond (and four hours back ). He wrote a story about a girl named "Bee" and her adventures all over the world.  He asked us to spell some words and he spelled the others as best he could. Today, I'll ask him to narrate about his trip to Richmond for his private blog. I'll spell everything correctly and we'll use that entry for reading practice.

Is it certified Charlotte Mason? No. Does it work? Well, it's worked for the first six children. They are all prolific writers. And they love to write. And that wouldn't be all too interesting except that the second child has learning disabilities that defy being able to compose like that. The specialist who tested him insisted he shouldn't be able to write. But write he does.

So, am I glued to the computer all day?  Sometimes. What miraculous machines that can take my words and make them look so beautiful. I can even find a picture there with which to illustrate (or I can take one myself and put that into the machine, too). When Mommy prints it for me and I put it in my book, I have the satsifaction of knowing that what I've said is worth publishing--real publishing. And I know I will be read. That's why God made Grandmas.

Usually, I shoot for two or three recorded narrations a week for each child under ten. I do the narration writing always if the child is under ten. The only compositions they write are things they have chosen to write. After ten, I can usually tell if it's the keyboarding is getting in the way of what the want to say. Then, I bear the burden for them. By twelve, I require a great deal of written narration. Most of it handwritten or keyboarded by the child.

If we're all working on a notebook project that requires written narrations, it does feel as if I'm in this computer chair all day. Like so many things, I know these days are numbered. Right now, I have more children ten and under than over ten. Right now, I record for them much more than they keyboard themselves.  But there is change in the wind. My ten-year-old set up the blogs for her younger siblings entirely on her own. She often records their journal entries and then calls me to proofread. I'm fairly certain that the book entitled Bee's Adventures was her idea. Big brothers oblige little ones at the computer, proud if they can keyboard quickly enough to keep up with the storyteller. And pictures?  Oh , the photography explosion in our household is remarkable! Words and pictures are family culture. So, I have a sense that my time-intensive days are numbered.

I know the pattern now.  First, only I feed them all the time, then we gradually move to little bits of solid food that any patient person can spoon into them. Then, before you know it, no one needs me to so much as cut his meat. They are all writing. And they're writing things that entertain me and amuse me and make me think. The days of hours of keyboarded narrations will be distant memories, just like all those dinners when I cut steak for a toddler and two pre-schoolers while nursing an infant.