No Average Mom

I was reading statistics this week about the various cyber charter schools in my state. I realize that the students that are drawn to these types of schools are often quite different from those who attend traditional public school. I admit to being a bit shocked when I read the statistics about how few children who graduate from cyber schools go on to attend college in our state. I realize that there are a number of children who end up in these schools because they just can’t make it in traditional schools. On the other hand I think there are a large number of students who choose cyber schools because they need to be more challenged. Our school allows students to move ahead at their own pace. It is conceivable in our school to graduate high school with both an associates degree and a high school diploma. I really hope that our state cyber schools do more to encourage students to attend college and dream bigger dreams beyond high school. I think they need to spend more time on guiding children to realize what it will take to achieve their life goals. For example there aren’t many jobs in healthcare that don’t require a college degree. It bothersome to think that these schools are churning out students who aren’t driven to further themselves in life beyond having a high school diploma. On the other hand you have to wonder how much their home environments are factoring into this?

I just took a turkey out of the oven. No, it is not Thanksgiving. I likely will stick another turkey in the oven tomorrow and every few days for the coming week. The reason is because I went just a wee bit overboard buying turkeys last year. The prices were so low that I convinced myself we would eat one a month and have lots of leftovers for other meals. The truth is that I now have half a cow coming and need the freezer space. I am going to cook these turkeys and can the meat for soups and casseroles. I am determined to get all six of these turkeys cooked and canned in the next two weeks. My children do not understand why I am cooking a turkey and there is not going to be a huge family meal to go along with it. One year ago I had that intention but today I just want to empty my freezer and get it ready for beef. Hopefully, the plan to eat grass fed beef goes better than the plan to eat turkeys.

This morning I had a few errands to run. One of them required me to go to a local store and pick up some random items. While I was checking out a young boy bumped in line ahead of me. I didn’t say anything because I tend to give children and people who don’t know any better a free pass. When the boy got up to the cashier he started quizzing her about several items he was searching for. As he asked her where the iphone accessories were located I began to realize that I truly am a bit out of touch. I have never seen an one of these phones. The truth is that I don’t even own a cell phone right now. There was a part of me that wondered exactly what a young child could need with this type of technology? On the other hand just about every kid I see walking past my house is either texting or talking on the phone. I guess I am just turning into an old fogy.

Each weekend my husband takes our older son out for the day. I have decided to call these outings their “Man Day”. I love that my husband does these things because I feel it is really important for our son to spend alone time with his father. Our older son is getting ever so close to being a teenager. My gut tells me that the closer our bond is with him now the better chance we stand of all getting through those trying teenage years in one piece. I also appreciate having some time alone with our younger son. He needs one on one time and a chance to do special things. Because both children are home all the time I sometimes feel like our little guy doesn’t get as much of that special time little people need as our older son did. After a day alone with a parent you can just see the light in their eyes and a sense of being special. All kids are special but I think this somehow escapes them in the midst of a busy family life. Having a day to themselves allows them to be the center of attention. Don’t we all need a little of that at times?

As I type the rain is pouring down. This is a much needed break in the weather in our area. I will gladly slip on my rain boots if it means cooler weather. The temperature inside my house has hovered around 85 degrees for the last several weeks. It has been almost unbearable at times. Tomorrow we should be able to relax for the first time in quite a while. I intend to make use of the cooler temperature to work outside and complete some projects that have been on hold due to the heat. My children need to get outside and play. They are cranky and fighting with each other because of all this pent of energy they have. When the temperatures are this high no one wants to be outside and being cooped up just makes them irritable. I cannot convey how much I am looking forward to potentially needing to wear a sweater when I head out in the morning to run my errands.

The gardening season is just about done here in the northeast. It is now time for me to start planning next years garden and to reflect on this year of gardening. I consider this year to be a part of my learning curve when it comes to gardening. There are several things that we grew that were tremendously successful and a few things that were complete failures. For next year we intend to double our garden size and yet reduce the variety of crops we try to grow. I attempted way too many things this year that were a waste of time to grow. It is all well and good to grow broccoli if your family eats it but mine does not and growing it made no sense. I have decided to focus on a few types of things that my family loved and grow more of those items next year. For example we love carrots and I found out that I didn’t plant nearly enough of them. There were other things that I planted that we loved but just didn’t produce enough food to justify space in my small garden. I can cheaply buy organic peppers in bulk at the farmer’s market. Buying the plants at my local greenhouse and only getting a couple of peppers per plant just isn’t worth the expense. Tomatoes on the other hand grew really well in my garden but I didn’t plant enough of them. Next year I will double or triple my tomato plantings.

For a very long time I have always felt that my husband looked a good 10 years younger than he really is. Yesterday for the first time I have to say I think he is starting to look closer to being the 40 year old man that he is. Around his eyes I am beginning to see a few creases. I would never tell him that he needs to use eye cream but it looks like a little bit wouldn’t hurt. I love him no matter how he looks and find him as handsome as the day I married him. It is comforting to know that at long last we look closer to the same age. I am quite sure many people, who didn’t know we are the same age, have thought I married a younger man. The older I get the more I believe that men really do age better than women. Time just isn’t as kind to us as it is to them. I for one will be making use of every lotion and potion I can get my hands on to beat back the effects of time on my face.

Yesterday my mother came to my house to use my stove. She has a newer stove that does not allow her to use a pressure canner to can food. My stove is older and I offered her the use of my kitchen. My mom has canned food her entire life. What has become evident to me, in my short time, canning is that the rules for canning today are not the same as they were when my mother learned to can. I have tried repeatedly to gently tell her what things are recommended today to ensure that canned food is safe to eat and she refuses to listen. I finally has to exit the kitchen and leave her to her work because I couldn’t watch it any longer. I have to wonder if all of the various flu like illnesses that she and my father get over the year are not is some part the result of the canned food they consume. Food poisoning mimics the flu to a person who is not familiar with the differences between food poisoning and a true flu infection. I warned my husband not to consume any canned tomato products while at my parents since observing her canning practices.