Category Archives: A Little of Everything

fluff to spin

This day I said I wanted to do an entry with a bunny and a pile of fluff, then some pictures of that fluff being spun. I plucked my bunny and took pictures all the while. I even started to spin the fluff off of my bunny, but the software for downloading photos is on Barry’s computer. That means that he has to be home so that I can download pictures on his computer and send them to this computer. Anyway, I got SOME of the pictures I wanted on this computer:

PA020007_1.jpg


Here’s me plucking Sally. I just grab some wool and pull. Comes out just like that. It takes me forever. I used to just sit on the couch with her on my lap, but a couple of my maternity shirts have holes chewed in the belly!! It is much easier on this table that Barry built!

PA280041.jpg


So, here’s all the fluff. It is like a big cloud. Can you tell how soft it feels from the picture?

PA280046.jpg

And now I’m starting to spin it. This is my first attempt spinning angora on my spinning wheel. It is much harder than sheep’s wool or alpaca. It has to be spun thin with a lot of twist in it to keep it from breaking and it is so slippery it takes some fancy finger work. It’s much easier for me to do it on a drop spindle, but that is a lot slower. I think I’m getting the hang of it though.

Anyway Mom, here are the pictures. They were never here, so that’s why you couldn’t find them.

…with pain in the neck and shoulders

I don’t let my kids watch much TV. We don’t have cable, so of the 3 or 4 channels that come in clearly, the only thing ever worth looking at is PBS. On a good day they get to watch a half our episode of ZOOM or Sagwa. Anyway, sometimes I watch Oprah–when the contents of the show won’t emotionally scar my kids for life. You know, shows about how dad’s rape and beat their wives and children then go on to find new wives and children to destroy, or shows about how wonderful Sex in the City is. I don’t watch those. But if it is something about moms making millions working from home or feeding African children I’ll watch it.

And with Oprah comes comercials.

Brenna remembers everything she hears. And commercials are so convincing. Last winter she mentioned daily how she needed a certain lotion because she had “winter itch.”

On Saturday we ran around from store to store getting stuff together to make Halloween costumes and more wood for me to make spindles and other errands. I had already sat through a 3 hour meeting that morning and was just feeling tired. My neck hurt, my jaw hurt, my shoulders hurt…so I told Barry. Brenna overheard and said,

“You have a tension headache–you know, with pain in the neck and shoulders. You need Excedrin Tension Headache medicine. It’s for tension headaches, with pain in the neck and shoulders.”

Now, I’m sure you’ve seen the tension headache comercials. Who wrote those? Who directs those? Who, in real life talks like that? You can see the commas when those poor actors plagued with tension headaches are looking piercingly into the camera. They annoy me and I laugh at them.

But they’ve got Brenna convinced!

Let’s see if I’ve got this right…

I have started my study of child psychology and educational theory today by reading Erik Erikson. He was an artist who moved to Vienna and was trained in psychoannalysis. He study Freud and worked closely with his daughter Anne Freud. They ran a little school and studied the children and how they learned.

Anyway, I wish I had a background in Freud for reading Erikson. I need to figure out exactly what the ‘ego’ and ‘super-ego’ are. From what I’ve read today, the ‘ego’ is a person’s innate self-love, and the ‘super-ego’ is what we call a conscience. But, a child isn’t born with a conscience. The ‘super-ego’ develops within a child in response to their need for adult approval. The conscience is a created authority inside the child’s head that defines right and wrong the way he thinks adults would do it. This mechanism keeps his behaviour in check because the need for adult love is so strong.

I don’t think I agree with that.

I guess it’s a question of nature vs. nurture. Is conscience something we’re born with, or is it learned? There are clearly people that don’t have much of a conscience–is it because it was never nurtured into them, or that it was nurtured out of them?

A pretty good day

We had fun today. We just got our Usborne books from the party I had, so we explored our Children’s Encyclopedia for school. Each page has a website with links relating to the topic, so after reading and real school stuff I let Brenna pick a page and we found the links. She explored deep sea fish and was mezmerized. Tonight she made up her own fish called a Ribbon-Bow fish that woul kind of be a sea serpent like an Oarfish and have bioluminescent markings and spots on its tummy that looked like eyes to trick other fish. It’s stomach would be able to stretch so it coul eat fish bigger than itself, and it woul tie itself in knots. It was basically a mixture of all the fish wer read about today. She went on and on 100 miles an hour talking about it. It was cute. She is certainly an animal lover, especially fish. Maybe we should get her one of her own…

Anyway, I also got a bunch of the Usborne Easy Words to Read books. They are the cutest thing ever. I’ve hidden them so I can just get one new one out every once in awhile. Today we got Hen’s Pens out and Brenna can read the whole thing. That’s fun.

I’ve been at my wits end with trying to negotiate bed-making and getting dressed in the mornings (and Jonah’s naps–but that’s a whole other can of worms) so I devised a plan. We have a popcorn jar now, so when anyone does something good they get to put a scoop of seeds in the jar, and when its full we can get a movie and have a popcorn party. Also, if Brenna decides she wants me to make her bed or get her dressed, then she’ll take scoops of seeds out of the jar. I hope this reduces the “Brenna, I’m ready to go downstairs and you’re still not dressed. You can’t come down ’til you’re dressed and your bed is made and you say your prayers, okay?” “But I need company!! You always do this to me. I’m tired of these consequences. I don’t like these bad consequences and you just make them up and do this to me. (blood curdling scream and running after me to latch onto my leg) I can’t be alone, don’t leave, don’t leave!!!!!!!” “Brenna, it’s 9:00! You’ve been playing for an hour and a half while I kept reminding you that I would be going downstair without you. I’m hungry. I NEED to go downstairs and eat breakfast before I pass out. You can come down when you do you morning routine…” and the negotiations continue and the drama drags out. I can’t adequately describe the drama, the drama. So I pray the popcorn jar will work and give her some inspirtation to get dressed before 9:00, for heaven’s sake!!!