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I had the house to myself, all to myself, until 1pm today.  So I did lots and lots of recording!  I did 5 more sections of the poetry book, the Conclusion to Wives and Daughters, one of the Balzac letters, the Weekly Poem, and The Boar’s Head Carol.
Whew!  None of them are actually ready to upload yet.  Still need to run the 10-band EQ, the compressor, chop out the errors, and proof-listen for swallowing sounds, lip smacks, and pauses that are too long or short.  Encode to mp3, and then put in the proper ID3 tags.  It’s quite a process. But I can do all that stuff when the house is noisy.
Also did three loads of laundry, which is not easy because our elderly washer gets unbalanced if there’s a gram more wet laundry on one side than the other, and requires constant babysitting and re-arranging.  And sometimes it gives up entirely unless you sit on it to keep it steady. And our elderly dryer doesn’t get very hot so it take about 2 hours to dry one medium-sized load. Usually I hang things to dry outside but it was cloudy today. I discovered, though, that because of the powerful personal server that lives in our walk-in closet I can put the wooden drying rack in there and things dry really fast!  So the delicates go in the closet to dry.

And in the afternoon, when Henry got home, we did some math together on aleks.com!  Fun.  He finished up the level-3 Place Value slice of the pie, and did a bit of work with fractions.  And we went over the 7-times table (because neither of us was comfy above 7×4, heheh).  And then we played some WoW — took Zinny and Animala back to Ferelas and killed water elementals and yetis, and Henry helped me do the Robot Chicken escort quest.

Star-Spangled Blooper

I did, eventually, manage to read the whole thing without giggling :)

Dan read a funny word in some German spam today. He didn’t know exactly what it meant but he asked me and I told him it means what it sounds like, heheh. It’s a truly hilarious word. We’ve been saying it to each other all night. I need to immortalize it, here, so I don’t forget, but I’ll disguise it a bit to avoid offense to those who speak German, and to prevent innocent children from running about, shouting it: “T….nspr.tz.”! Lol.

Bah. Other than that, I dealt with various forms of tech support all day; giving it, yet (mostly) not receiving it. Tired. TV time. I think Sabrina (the old one, thank you very much, Audrey Hepburn, William Powell, and the unlikely romantic lead, Humphrey Bogart) is in the TiVo.

math at aleks.com
blog post
grocery shopping
karate

034 – How Blondel Found the King

033 – Richard Couer de Lion

Karate (helping the little kids) in the morning. When we got home I recorded two sections of the poetry book and Henry kept me company and drew his comic. We found a great book at the library, Superhero Explosion, which has easy step-by-step lessons on how to draw Superheros! Well, you can imagine how inspirational that is for Henry :)

He felt crummy, suddenly, for a while so we planned to skip his classes today, but then an hour later he perked up again so we got there in time for the last half of Mythology and all of Musical Theater. The kids were assigned roles for their production of High School Musical (which we still haven’t seen yet but the music is truly dreadful). Henry plays the leader of the skateboard group :)

Helped Dan a bit with music stuff tonight. Nice to know I can still easily identify the degrees of a scale, even when half-asleep. Thanks, David Chase and Billy Hawkins, for pounding solfege into my head so thoroughly.

Karate (Tiny Tigers)
Mythology
Musical Theater
subtraction
The Dark is Rising

Science club — scientific classification of pastries and examining different kinds of goop

Worked on his comic (handwriting/art)
karate
Dark is Rising

Tired tired tired. Not enough sleep and I think maybe I’m getting sick. We’ll see. It was a good day anyway. First to the dentist to get some help cranking Henry’s appliances, then home. Did chores and called the garbage company to ask for a new huge wheelie trashcan (we rent it from them for $18/year. Ours disappeared recently). Was astonished that the customer service woman I spoke to actually… SERVED me! She was nice! She was polite! She was helpful! They’re going to replace our wheelie can at no charge — she said, “It’s not your fault it was stolen!” What a concept.

Then played WoW with Henry — four trips to the Battlegrounds. I think I’m getting the hang of the Battlegrounds. Henry coaches me and encourages me :) Warsong Gulch was most fun, though we lost two out of three times. Arathi basin was just frustrating because every time our team took a base they all ran off to take another, instead of sensibly assigning some players to GUARD the newly-taken base against the other team. Henry and I tried to guard but the Horde was too much for just the two of us. The Battleground system is much better than it used to be, now that the Battlegrounds are cross-server. We never had to wait even a full minute to be let in.

Then after we played a while I glanced at the clock and realized we had to leave in ten minutes for the first meeting of the new homeschoolers’ math/science club that the amazing Lyndy is running. Threw some lunch in the backpack, grabbed my book and knitting and dashed off. Got there nice and early. This first meeting was a science meeting, and the boys (they’re all boys!) got to analyze and describe pastries and play with different kinds of goop. Henry loved every minute of it! He enjoyed playing with Lyndy’s son, Jason, after the meeting while Lyndy packed up and I read. Then we had to race home for my piano students. Got here just in the nick of time — we’ll leave the park earlier next week to avoid stress.

Then it was off to karate. I called Dan and asked if he could pick up H after karate and he said he would, yay, so I came home to rest and start dinner. And I managed to record a couple of tiny sections of the poetry book too. Spinach salad and quesadillas with sliced avocado and sour cream for dinner, quick and easy.

Then bedtime story for Henry (the second half of the rather long chapter of The Dark is Rising that we started last night). While i read he worked on the comic that he’s been drawing. Now I think I’ll read my book (another by Joanna Trollope!) for a few minutes before I fall asleep.

It’s Sunday night now. I’m really tired, but I had a great weekend! Henry stayed with us all weekend, which was really nice. Yesterday we played quite a bit of WoW together, questing in Ferelas, and cleaned up the back yard too. I took a dustpan and scooped up all of Sally’s dog’s disgusting cow-bones. UGH. And we swept up and threw away trash and all kinds of junk. It was nice to have the energy to do that! And I finished “Second Honeymoon”. So good, so good. Last night I made chicken parmesan for dinner, which both guys love like crazy. Here’s how:

Put one slice of dry bread in the blender and make it into crumbs. You can do this with fresh bread if you didn’t plan ahead. Mix the crumbs with a few spoonfuls of parmesan cheese, some salt and pepper and whatever good herbs you have around. I usually throw in some basil and oregano. Mince a couple of cloves of garlic and mix with some olive oil in a different bowl. Dip chicken breasts in the olive oil/garlic and then coat with the crumbs/cheese mixture. Put the chicken in a baking pan and dump the leftover crumb mixture on top. Lay some slices of cheese on top — munster is nice — or a couple handfuls of grated mozerella. Or both. Dump a jar of good spaghetti sauce on top. Bake at, um, 375 for about 45 minutes. Make sure the chicken is done before you serve it. Cook some pasta (I like Trader Joe’s spinach & chive fettucini) and serve the chicken and sauce on top. Even Henry asks for seconds!

Today I got lots of librivox work done and even some recording. Hugh pointed us to http://dailylit.com and while I was poking around there I discovered a book called “Poems Every Child Should Know” and signed up to have it delivered into my inbox in tiny sections each day (which is what dailylit does). Then I realized that those ready-made tiny sections would be ever so convenient for recording. So I recorded a few of the sections, enjoyed them ever so much, and decided to read the whole book as a solo project. Got five sections done already (they’re only 5-6 minutes long). Fae is proof-listening for me. (You can get a sneak preview here) And I also recorded chapter 4 of Wives and Daughters while Henry and Dan were out getting the car washed. They took Henry’s handwriting book along and Dan helped him with it.
Henry and I dashed to the library when they opened this afternoon at 1 and I found another book by Susan Phillips and another by Joanna Trollope. I was happy to see about 6 Trollope books on the shelf but I only took one, gotta space them out so I don’t run out too soon.

Now Dan and I are on the couch watching The Odd Couple (movie, not sitcom). But it’s 9 already so we’ll probably go to bed soon. Yawn.

Dan helped Henry with his handwriting
Henry finished his two-volume Deltora book
Read chapter 6 of The Dark is Rising (our bedtime story)

Ok, a few days ago i went to the library and grabbed two books off the “New Books” shelf.  I read “Match me if you Can” first, and enjoyed it very much.  You can read about it in a previous post.

Yesterday I started “Second Honeymoon” by Johanna Trollope.  I’ve been reading it at every possible moment since I started it. So good. Dan asked me if it was “chick lit” and I said, no, “Match Me if You Can” was “chick lit” (not that there’s anything wrong with it) – this is REAL LIT! Second Honeymoon has one of those wonderful plots about an ordinary family and the things that happen to them.  Lots of wonderful details, believeable characters and situations.  All the little undercurrents that outsiders don’t notice.  Wonderful wonderful.  I’m sure to finish tonight, more’s the pity, and I only hope the library has more of her books.

“Match Me If You Can” was yummy candy.  “Second Honeymoon” is a delicious, warm, homemade dinner with mashed potatoes.

Henry and I played World of Warcraft in the morning, as soon as chores were done. We took Animala and Zinny to Feralas. Did the Lord Shalzaru quest and the Zapped Giants, and part of the Water Elemental Core one. Lots of fun, Henry’s a great teammate.

We went out to run a couple of errands, including Barnes and Noble for Henry to spend some of his birthday money on the next two Dragon Quest books (both together in one hardbound edition). He a good shopper — called ahead of time to ask them to set the book aside.

Whyen we got home he made himself a “reading shrine” on the side of the hill and sat on a towel and read for hours, while I did two recordings — section 8 of This Side of Paradise, and chapter 3 of Wives and Daughters. The Fitzgerald chapter was disappointingly dull, compared with the other two sections of that book I recorded already, but W&D was lovely.

Oh, also we tried out the demo at http://aleks.com/ , which Henry actually enjoyed. He took the placement test and was so proud of his personalized pie-chart that we asked Dan print it out in color at work. And I wrote some letters nice and large on the whiteboard for him to trace over. I think maybe if we work in very large scale, it’ll be easier for him to form nice letters.

Did free trial placement test at http://aleks.com/ . Henry enjoyed it so we’ll ask Karen to sign us up.
Worked on handwriting a bit on the big whiteboard.
Henry read his Dragon Quest book for hours and hours.
Baked oatmeal-rasin cookies.

032 – Conquest of Ireland

Henry’s dad dropped him off after his early-morning dental appointment so Henry and Sally could go bicycling together. They ran off to Guajome Park for an adventure, and I recorded the chorus of The Furies. Eventually, a few other women will read the Chorus too, and then a clever editor will overdub us so we sound like a proper Greek chorus. Neato! Henry went back to his dad’s house in the afternoon, and we played WoW together. Took our Tauren Hunters to Silverpine.

I had a bowl of mushy apples hanging around, so I baked an Apple Cake for dinner, and it turned out great. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com, Amazing Apple Cake, but here it is again:

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 5 1/2 cups chopped apples

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla, mix well. Add the nuts and apple, mix until all of the apples are evenly coated. Pour into a 9×9 inch pan.
3. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve warm or cool.

I baked mine at 300 degrees for about 65 minutes, because I used a glass pan. Also I skipped the nuts. Nuts are yuck. The batter is shockingly dry, so dry it doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to incorporate the apples, but just work at it a bit. The finished cake is moist and yummy! We’ve already eaten half of it.

Tonight Dan and I watched last night’s South Park episode, which featured the boys playing World of Warcraft and eventually defeating an in-game bully. They used screenshots of real WoW characters and locations. It was hilarious, the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long long time. Hearing Cartman’s and Kyle’s and Stan’s and Kenny’s voices coming out of WoW characters was marvelous. Good job, Matt and Trey! Oh there was a mention on boingboing, here.

Omg here you can watch it online, until it gets yanked down: http://www.younewb.com/index.php/2006/10/05/full-video-of-new-wow-south-park-episode/

So good, so good.

Subtraction practice
grocery shopping
karate
The Dark is Rising

Lots of reading
park day (balloon animals)
karate

I’m sitting in Dan’s Fortress of Solitude right now, editing Book 20 of The Odyssey, which I recorded today, while he plays his new Tauren Druid in WoW. Busy day, let’s see… Henry and I went out first thing, bought a toothbrush for Dan, some flour, and TP at Stater Brothers. Then we went to the library to pick up the Henry’s book, which was sent from the other branch (one of the Deltora books that he loves so much), then to the mailbox place to pick up a fistful of bills and our new laser printer toner cartridge. Then to Trader Joe’s for many many groceries. Then home, and Henry hauled everything up the stairs for me and I put it all away and started some mushroom/barley soup in the crockpit. (Which turned out kind of gluey. Too much barley.)

Um, then what… Oh yeah I installed the new toner cartridge, we did some general housework together, and then I recorded Book 20 of The Odyssey and then we zipped off to Park Day out on the far side of Vista. Henry played and rode his bike and made balloon animals, and I read my book, Match Me If You Can, and played a bit of Harvest Moon. I took a plateful of leftover homemade burritos from last night’s dinner in case we got hungry, which we did.

Zipped home again, Henry had a snack and a drink and a shower, then off to karate where I finished my book (wonderfully entertaining!) and played a bit more Harvest Moon. Bought the Kitchen and planted a bunch of summer crops.

Henry’s dad picked him up from karate to spend the night, and I came home. Dan and I ate gluey soup and french bread with herbed cheese. Went downstairs to watch the episode of House that we wrongly assumed had been recorded on the TiVo last night. Guess stupid baseball preempted him. So we watched a Venture Brothers episode instead, and a VH1 interview with Neil Peart. And now here we are doing computery things together before bed. A very nice day. Soon I will eat a nice bowl of yogurt. A bowl of plain yogurt with granola or flax seed meal mixed in, eaten right before bed, seems to help me sleep.