Déjà vu

Well, we’re at it again. It’s Monday, and I’m down. It’s been months since I had one of these episodes, and I’d almost say this is more like a virus, except that I have no fever. Hmmm… I was outside working at the baseball fields Saturday, in the raging cedar pollen (still), so maybe that did it. Whatever it is, I’m achy and feel yucky. Thankfully, though, Honey saved the day. Not only did he stay home and take care of needy me all day, he actually schooled the kids. And you know what makes me even sicker? They all sat quietly, didn’t fight, didn’t moan and complain, didn’t run around the living room or get up without asking and disappear somewhere before they were finished. Oh, no. They just sat calmly in their desks, did whatever he told them without complaining, and were model students. Now, where’s the fairness in that? It makes my usually-hectic job look simple and enjoyable! Heh! I am glad they were good for him, and I helped out with a few things, but he did most of it, and did an awfully good job. He’s also a very good caretaker, fulfilling all my very specific wants and needs, like roasting a head of garlic and baking a potato for my dinner tonight. There’s no opening a can of chicken noodle soup here! At least I didn’t ask him to make the standard Thai coconut soup that I usually prescribe for sickness. Mmm… that sounds good. Maybe I SHOULD ask for some. When he starts getting annoyed with all my requests and ‘needs,’ I just stick out my bottom lip and look pitiful, and he can’t do anything but laugh and concede. It’s quite useful. Manipulative, you say? No, no… he loves it. Apparently, when a man is married to an, ahem, ‘independent’ woman like myself, he likes to feel needed. And appreciated, of course.

I’ll go ahead and use this opportunity to brag on the Honey a bit. I think he gets a little jealous when he sees the posts people make on Facebook about having the ‘best husband ever’ and that sort of gibberish, ggl. It’s not really gibberish, as we should all feel our husband is the best. God designed us to complement each other so well that we ‘complete’ one another, and it’s a beautiful thing when we follow his plan for marriage and let that natural dependence and partnership occur. It’s rare today, though. It’s just that I don’t feel the need to air it to the world via a social network. Most wives would be full of bitter envy if they knew about Honey, after all, and I wouldn’t want to evoke that from any one of my friends. Now is my chance, though. Honey really is such an excellent, thoughtful, attentive husband. He is constantly taking care of me when I don’t feel great, which is often, even when I’m perfectly capable of caring for myself. He’s very sensitive to my needs, and thinks about what he can do to make things better for me. He comes home from work and helps me finish what needs to be done at home, while also spending time with the kids and taking over the parenting that has exhausted me all day. I’m very thankful for him! (Can you tell that acts of service are my love language?) Now, should I go pull him away from his movie to draw me a bath…? Ah, ggl, I’m just kidding. I’ll get Jake to do it. I am sick, after all. (signal bottom lip)

School has been quite fun lately, mostly because of that new Human Anatomy book, which I love. My childhood dream was always to become an obstetrician, and I was very interested in health care. I was the only high school kid I knew that had my own Mosby’s Medical Dictionary at home, ggl. I still have it. So, that is definitely more interesting to me than Astronomy, Botany, or Zoology. Hm, maybe it hasn’t been any more fun for the kids… that hadn’t occurred to me until just now, but I’m enjoying it! No, it will be fun for everyone, I’m sure. Especially when I stab their fingers for the blood typing lab, muhahaha! Oh, sorry. I meant, they’ll surely enjoy the jello and candy cell model we’re supposed to make tomorrow.

So, anyway, we’ve been doing some interesting things. Today, Jake had to do a report on an inventor, so he chose Thomas Edison. Well, that led him to Nikola Tesla, on whom there was much more interesting information. He ended up watching videos of the singing Tesla coils and being very intrigued. There’s a group in Austin called Arc Attack that does musical shows with Tesla coils, so I’m going to watch their schedule for one nearby. If you saw The Sorcerer’s Apprentice movie, he used Tesla coils to make music. It’s pretty cool. He ended up doing the report on Edison, since there was less information through which he had to read, but now he has something new to talk about, ggl.

Jake also had to do a report on diamonds, for which he got most of the information online, and did a fabulous job. However, we took a field trip to our jeweler, who gave us a cool hands-on look at diamonds, how they are graded, and how their value is determined. It was fun.





This is a 3-carat, colorless diamond that he brought out to show us. He handed it to Jake, who proceeded to turn it over and around, checking out every angle, until I, terrified that he would drop the $25,000 stone on the carpet, where we would all end up on our hands and knees searching for it, unable to leave until it was found, insisted that he give it back. I think my concern was warranted.



It was a very informative trip, and I am thankful for business owners and experts in our community that are willing to help educate and assist homeschoolers. As they say, it takes a village…