homecoming

As much as I sometimes want to punch my brother in the mouth (he's a staunch libertarian, I'm very left-wing liberal), I still love him... Kind of.

And today, he is starting his journey home from serving in Afghanistan!! I'm so happy for him and his family. I know it's been rough for his wife and three kids; hopefully he's done with deployments. As for me, I know I'll be sleeping easier at night, knowing he's not having bullets whizzing by his head (Once heard from my mom that he said "It's just like TV, you're running and you can see the bullets hitting the ground" OMG!)

A bit of good news as an early Xmas present. :)

city museum

I made plans several weeks ago to go to St. Louis and talk to UMSL about their teaching program. And because I've been to St. Louis many times for school field trips, I know that there are quite a few fun things to do. About a week before we went, Camden and I sat down at the computer and looked at pictures and videos of the different places I knew: the science center, the magic house, the zoo, and the city museum.

From pictures and videos, the city museum was the obvious choice. Tunnels to crawl through, slides to slide down, gorgeous artwork, a bus perched precariously on the rooftop, etc etc! The city museum is a cross between a museum and a GIANT indoor playground. (Almost) Everything is hands on.

Of course, the week before we went, Camden came down with the pox. I was really worried that he wouldn't be able to go... Thankfully, however, he was deemed contagious no longer! So off we went!

My trip to UMSL was a waste, because it turns out that everything they had to tell me I could have found online. (Just want to say that when I called, the person I talked to said it was very hard to explain over the phone, and I should schedule an appointment to come in and talk. Thanks, person!)

Then on to the city museum! (And lucky for us, rooftop access was FREE that day. YES!)






A slide made of rollers (like rolling pins). Very bumpy and very uncomfortable! Camden loved it, though.



The fossil, bug, and skeleton room. The walls were covered with tons of displays of pinned insects. There was a nifty diorama of dinosaurs and a jungle area. And there were skeletons, including a cat skeleton, which was both cool and kind of creepy.



If it wasn't for all the other fun and awesome stuff, I'm fairly certain Camden would have stayed in this room much longer than he did.



They also had a room of architecture elements (I'm assuming they were pulled from buildings about to be torn down). Camden was not nearly as enamored with this room as my mother or I.



This column is in the food court area. Cam has a thing for frilled lizards, so he absolutely loved it. It hovered over us as we sat and had some snacks (we were planning on lunch, but the food was ridiculously over priced... What can I say? I'm cheap!)



The roof! See the school bus? The front end is hanging over the side of the building... 11 stories up. Have I mentioned I'm terrified of heights?



Oh, there's also a giant sculpture of a praying mantis. Why? I have no idea!



Do you see me? I crawled up the tiny stairs into the wire cage, which is perched on the roof. Again, I'm not good with heights, so I was pretty shaky the entire time. LOL It was fun anyway!

joys of the pox

Camden has chicken pox (as we well know). Since we'd be visiting my parents next weekend anyway, I decided that to save both my (and Camden's) sanity, we'd just extend the trip by a weekfew days. In the Ville, it was just me and Camden. And since he was ordered by the doctor and the woman from the health department to remain at home, no exceptions, we were both stuck at home. (I failed to ask them how I was supposed to buy groceries for the week if I, as a single parent, couldn't a) take him into the store with me, b) take him with me and leave him in the car, or c) leave him home (alone). But I digress.)

But at my parents, there would be three adults available for Camden-watching. Huzzah! Not to mention the acres of people-less land that Camden can enjoy, even if he is poxed up. So away we went!

Fun that we've had so far:

-Purging my room at my parents' of junk and old stuff

-Wading in my dad's new pond (he just built it a month or so ago, so it only has about a foot of water in the bottom of it. We need some rain so it'll get some water in it!) and throwing mud balls at each other

-Playing with Cat and my parents' dogs

-Making a mess in the living room with trains and monster trucks! (Camden's fun)

I'm planning another doctor's visit for Cam on Wednesday, to (hopefully) get the go ahead to take him in public. We've been planning a trip to St. Louis on Thursday for a few weeks now, and I know he'll be super disappointed if he doesn't get to go. I've once again marked his belly spots with marker (orange this time, so I guess he's fire belly, with his red spots and orange circles) to keep track of new spots. Praying and hoping for no new ones. If we go 24 hours without any new ones, he ought to be in the all clear! (But we'll still get the doctor's okay, I think. I REFUSE to be responsible for someone getting the pox.)

Georgia Aquarium

Camden, my mother, and I drove down to Atlanta, Georgia Thursday/Friday to visit my sister. I hadn't seen her since Christmas and she asked earlier this summer if I'd visit her. And to celebrate, Red bought us all tickets to visit the Georgia Aquarium. I've been to the aquarium in Chicago, so I was excited, but Camden has only been to zoos, so he was super excited. Plus, he's in love with sharks and octopuses and squid.





My sister, rather like myself, likes to get to things on time. And by on time, I obviously mean early. So we ended up getting to the aquarium about 30 minutes before it actually opened. Luckily, there was still fun stuff to peruse outside, like these dolphin statues. Cam's favourites were the super hero dolphin (when he saw it, he said "What!?" in the tone of WTF is going on here) and the "Bob the Builder" dolphin, as we called it.



They had five or six that were roped off and not readily available for posing with, but Camden really liked the "Peace" dolphin.



Flash wasn't allowed in most (read: any) of the aquarium, so my pictures of the animals all came out very poorly. Except the penguins here. Guess something made them all hold still for the five secondstime it takes my camera to open and close the lens.



This is another one that held still. He was in Camden's favourite tank-the ray and shark tank. They said it was around 100 yards long. There were two viewing windows on either end, then a big tunnel that you could go through to watch the fishes swim over you.



Cam's favourite part of the whole thing was the divers in the shark tank. I think this guy had a sense of humour, no?

my weekend in pictures

Cam and I spent the weekend with my parents. And despite some serious drama caused by my dad's ex, it was a good weekend. Cam and I took off Saturday morning to visit Haha Tonka State Park, which has the most beautiful views.




The rest of the weekend was spent playing with the hose, building fires, playing with fireworks (including mining out cicada holes with bottle rockets), and enjoying a thunderstorm. We left last night to take advantage of the cooler night temperatures. Glad we did, because I got to snap this picture of the clouds and moon, which looks like (to me) a bear trying to snatch the moon.



Happy Fourth, ya'll.

My Dad's Parents

I never really got to know my dad's parents. Papa died when I was only three months old. Nanny died when I was in the sixth grade, but I don't really remember spending that much time with her. I loved her and I loved her cooking, but when we went to visit her, I was always playing in the hallways or the elevators or the stairwells of her apartment building with my brother, sister, and/or cousins. I loved Papa, too. Still love him, though I've never met the man, at least not to remember. I love to hear stories of him: how he cheated at Uno is the only one coming to mind at the moment. And the story I love most of all: him claiming me as his baby. My Papa was not the type of man to hold newborn babies. Ever. But I was three days old when I was "introduced" to the family and he said "Give me my baby." My mom thinks it was because he knew his end was close (though I don't think he was sick or anything... I should find that out) and he knew he wouldn't be around to know me when I was older.

I cry every time I think of this story, this little bit of my history. I cry because I am overwhelmed that I, out of his millionsseveral grandchildren, and the youngest of those at that, was held as a newborn when he wasn't a baby person. I cry because I never got the chance to know this man who claimed me as his baby.

Why bring it up? My aunt has been posting old pictures of Papa and Nanny up on FB, and all these thoughts surge to the surface.


After a coyote hunt with two friends



A close up of him.



Papa and Nanny on their wedding day.



Picture of Nanny. She was absolutely beautiful, no?

Easter Weekend

After having spent last weekend with my parents at my place, I can't say I was too terribly excited to go visit them at their place this weekend. (Not that I don't love my parents, but seeing too much of them just annoys the hell out of me.) But it was Easter, and I haven't been home since before it was too cold to do any outside stuff. So off we went. And I have to say, it's much more springy in Southern MO. There are more dogwoods, which from 20+ years of exposure to during the beginnings of spring, just shout "Spring is here!!!" And there is a decided lack of dogwoods here in the north, for whatever reason. (Maybe if I went to a more wooded area than the actual town of Kirksville, I would see some.)

Of course, thunder storms also come with spring, and there was an average of 3 a day all weekend. Luckily, Camden had his rain boots (and it was warm enough for me to go without shoes!) so we got to splash around in the mud and puddles and grass. We caught two toads, which were put into the toad house we made last spring; one left fairly quickly, the other stayed for most of the afternoon. (We tried to feed the second one some earthworms, but I think he was rather pissed off with us and not interested in eating.)

All in all, it wasn't a bad weekend. My dad made Camden a slingshot from a hickory stick, inner tube, and a piece cut from a leather work glove (whose partner is MIA). I also heard some news about my brother, although I think I would have rather not heard. (He called the parentals and was telling them that "it's just like the movies. You're running and you can see the bullets hitting the ground around your feet." Uh, no, I don't want to hear about people shooting at him. Four months and he's home for good, though.) And while Easter was cold and rainy, Camden still got an egg hunt (inside, in the living room) and a TON of candy, along with a Transformers backpack.

Spring Break

We went to visit my parents over my Spring Break. And while it was raining and/or FREEZING COLD most of the time we were there, on Saturday, it was quite warm, so we got in some kite flying and wandering about.



Flying a kite



Getting said kite out of a tree. Oops!



Swings!



Just a swingin'!



Just a swing... wait, what's that?



It's behind you!



Oh, it's just Hannibal, the neighborhood mule.




Even mules are deserving of love.



A mysterious fort! (Actually a blind set up by hunters.)



I have a feeling this will be home to at least a few picnics over the summer

Bowling!!!

My parents came to visit Cam and I earlier this week, and I managed to convince them to take us bowling. And it was SO MUCH FUN! I hadn't been in years, and the last time I went, I did very poorly. So it was nice to go and have fun and do well. (I bowled a 128, which is pretty average, right?) Camden had a fun time, also, and has already started bugging me to go back. hehe Silly kid. :)

Happy Week!

So I meant to post this sooner... as is usually the case. lol

Sunday was my birthday. While not a bad day, it wasn't terribly exciting either. Most of the day was spent looking forward to dinner and dessert. Spiced porkchops, potatoes au gratin, and green beans. And dessert: birthday pie! Apple pie, to be exact. Birthday cake is overrated (and is too time consuming to decorate), and apple pie is DELICIOUS. So that's what I had.

Tuesday, as we all know was the Solstice. As well as a full moon and lunar eclipse. I missed the lunar eclipse; I slept right through it! Although, I don't think I'd would have been able to see it anyway, due to cloud cover. Camden and I did, however, go out to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see that, either. Cloud cover, again! It was too thick to actually see the sun break the horizon, which was really disappointing. I was really excited about it, because this was our first Yule at home. Typically we've always been at my parents' for Yule, and, therefore, missed any celebration of it so we (I) didn't make the parentals uncomfortable. Ah, well... There is always next year!

And now we have Christams Eve, and Christmas is tomorrow. More presents (Camden got a TAG reading system for Yule), more food, more family. I'm excited because I'll get to see my sister for the first time since Spring... Or maybe even longer than that. And I'll get to see my brother before he deploys. Not to mention the time Camden (and I, of course) get to spend with my parents.

So, happy Yule (a few days ago) and happy Christmas. Happy holidays. :)

Not-Movie Night!

(Photo not mine)

Our normal after school routine usually consists of coming home, turning on the TV and chillin.

And I'm sick of it! The TV is on CONSTANTLY until Camden goes to bed. He has no chance to work on speaking, because he's only sitting there listening to the TV talk. His toys are pretty much forgotten. I doubt he would have missed them if I threw them out!

Yesterday, though, I put an end to it. I decided to take the more difficult road. (Because it is just SO MUCH EASIER to turn the TV on for him while I'm trying to get a moment alone, or cook, or do homework, or hang out with/talk to David.) We had a not-movie night. And you know what?

We didn't die! Haha! We were close a time or two, but we made it through the night. I even managed to keep myself away from the computer. I think for now, we'll just keep it to one night a week, and slowly add more days until the weekdays are all not-movie nights. (Unless we get one from Netflix that we absolutely CAN'T wait to watch).

Wish us luck!

Heritage

Like any good American, I'm a full-blooded mutt. :) I have German and Scottish blood in my from my mother's side (prolly others too), and Welsh blood from my dad's side (and others!) I think I also had ancestors from Norway, although I could just be making stuff up. lol

While my mom and sister have done some work on building a family tree, I've never really cared that much. It was enough for me to know where my roots are. However, learning the stories of how my roots moved from Europe to the US are fascinating. For example:

Four brothers came to the US from Germany looking for, what else, opportunity and the American Dream. However, for one reason or another, they chose to go their separate ways. Each took a different spelling of their name (my line is Stoll) and went off to settle in different parts of the United States.

That is my family history. Other people may have stories of what happened in the civil war or underground railroad or even Revolutionary War. But I don't have any stories like that, not that I've been told, anyway. However, I think the story I do have is AMAZING! I know that when my mom is looking up family members for the family tree, she's tracking down those missing brothers. And sometimes I can't help but wonder, how many other people are our there with this same history, this story of four brothers coming from der Mutterland and going their separate ways with different names?

Backlash

So, if you've read my last post, you know that I told one of my (Christian) relatives that it's not nice to ask God to kill people. And, ohmygoddess, has there been a lot of backlash. She responded by saying it was a joke. Then she set her status to say something along the lines of "why do people get mad at jokes? I thought it was funny, so I reposted," to which a lot of her friend responded. Saying that only Republicans have a sense of humor. That they thought it was funny too. That "only one person was upset over it, everyone else seemed to think it was funny. I did!" (Reminder: All I said was "You shouldn't ask God to kill people. It really isn't very nice.") And the one that really put me in a bad mood (my sister too, when she read it) was one fellow who said "If i'm not mistaken, the person who got upset about it is young, and in a few years she'll be laughing her ass off."

Excuse me? ...Excuse me? Either he's assuming that people who are liberals as young'ns suddenly become conservatives the moment they hit a certain age, or that even as a liberal, I'll come to hate Obama as much as they do. But, thinking back on it, the joke isn't funny for more than political reasons. Why would you ask the Divine to kill anyone, whoever they might be? Especially if you follow the teachings of Jesus, who says love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, and all that. At what point is it okay to go, "well, I've nothing against this man personally, I mean, he hasn't killed my babies or anything like that, he's just trying to do a really hard job and I don't like the way he's doing it, so, God, could you, uh, you know, step in and knock him off for me? Thanks." Oh, there isn't such a point? Okay, then.

Yesterday was not a good day for me. Not for any particular reason. But I couldn't focus and just felt really down in a way that I haven't for years. I think part of it might just have been all this negativity my wonderful family member managed to direct towards me with the help of her friends. I've felt it somewhat today, also, though not nearly as badly. So I've decided to avoid all her passive aggressive FB statuses by de-friending her, and hopefully she and her friends will forget about this episode and stop sending those negative vibes my way.

Liberal in a conservative family

Why, oh why, do I have to be one of the few (i.e. two) liberals in a conservative family? This message has been posted by both my cousin and my sister-in-law on Facebook:

DEAR LORD, THIS YEAR YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTOR, PATRICK SWAYZIE. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTRESS, FARAH FAWCETT. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE SINGER, MICHAEL JACKSON. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW, MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT IS BARACK OBAMA. AMEN.

Both of whom are "Christians." I said nothing when my sister-in-law posted it, because we were on the outs several years ago and that was fun for no one, particularly my brother. And, being a good sister, I'm trying to avoid passing any sort of judgement on my sister-in-law that could possibly lead to that situation again. However. When my cousin posted this, I could not resist, and commented:

Glad you're basically asking God to kill people. Just so you know, that's not really nice

Um. Yeah. I get that some people may not like Obama. Personally, I don't have a problem with him. People can bitch (pardon my French) about the economy all they want, but it was like this before he got into office. And to be uber-political: I like the idea that the poor lady down the street who has no job because of disability might one day be able to get in to see a doctor and get some medicine that she needs at an affordable price thanks to a nation-wide health plan. Excuse me for loving my neighbor.

Don't they realise they are negating everything they supposedly believe in (democracy, religion, the Bible, government of the people, for the people, by the people) by publicly announcing this nonsense?

I suppose this is one of those things I shall never understand.

Edited to add my current Facebook status:

I may not agree with your beliefs. I may not agree with your politics. I may not even like you very much. But at least I won't ask for the Divine to come down and kill you. Amen.

Happy Easter

First off: Happy Easter! Second off: We had a pretty awesome weekend in Kansas City!

We got to my sister's Friday night, and she and Camden looked for the Spring basket the Bunny left for him there. (It was not in the oven, bathtub, or under the sink. Finally found it in the coat closet.) Saturday morning, we went to a couple of thrift stores and then made our way to a some-what poorly organised Egg Hunt. The idea: (Easter bunny + helicopter + a whole bunch of eggs)/(field + children)= way awesome. However, in the field we were in (there were four, divided by age group), no one we talked to had any clue what was happening or when. So when the helicopter flew over and the Easter bunny started dropping eggs, there was a mad rush of toddlers to grab what they could. Some were able to stuff their baskets full, while others didn't get any. I managed to get some nifty pictures, but my camera has gone MIA since we left Kansas City... I think it's hiding out in the car.

This morning we went to Crown Center and played on escalators. We went with the intent of visiting the Fairy Tale village exhibit, but it was closed for Easter, so we had to take our fun where it could be found. After we wore ourselves out, we went to the Plaza and played on the statues. We got some good pictures of ourselves on various statues (elephant, camel, lion, kangaroo, bunnies) on my sister's camera... But they're stuck there, because she doesn't know where the cord for connecting it to the computer is!

During the weekend, we also managed to hit JoAnn's, where Camden got some tool stickers, Half Price Books, where Cam bought a Thomas the Tank-Engine book and a Scooby-Doo book, and I bought a book on Celtic fairy tales and one called "Magic House" (more on this later), and Chik-fil-A, where we had dinner Saturday night and Camden played in the play-place for about 45 minutes before we were able to drag him out.

All in all, it was a horribly exciting weekend, but I'm glad to be back home.

Acceptance

It's always a good feeling to know that some people accept both me and my beliefs fully, without reservation. My parents, while they love me, are somewhat reticent about my beliefs. I remember last year when I told my mom I was thinking of converting to Christianity, joy entered her voice and she said "I'm proud of you." Perhaps that was when I experienced my first hesitation. Well, I had made the decision that I was converting, but hearing her say that and how she said it was an absolutely horrifying and eye-opening experience. Forget that she amended: "I mean, I was proud of you before." What does it mean when I'm loved more if I follow one path, than if I follow another? When I told her that the Christian path was not working for me, that I was "going back" to being a Pagan, she told me to think about it. Take some time. ... Thanks mom.

I understand that she just doesn't get it. And I'm thankful that she's come such a long way from the outright fear and hatred and loathing she expressed when I first became interested in Wicca. But it's still disappointing to see her eyes glaze over when I talk about the Ostara bunny or anything else related to my holidays. I try to forget that she thinks "witch" is an entirely suitable replacement for "bitch."

And then there's my sister, who Camden and I will be going to see this weekend. She decided she wanted to put together an Easter basket for him and sent me a text saying "The Ostara bunny is planning a trip to Auntie Red's." And all I could do was smile. While it's good to have people about who are willing to accept that I don't necessarily believe what they believe, it's a million times better to have people about who whole-heartedly embrace me and my beliefs, different or not.