Marsia's Diary
- Thread starter Marsia
- Start date
Thanks Llama and Liza! I'm so lucky - I have the best lawyers and amazing therapist, and I agree, C can't be too weird to me now that I have my therapist helping. They work in the same building and all the therapists know each other. C ok'ed my request to reschedule, so we're all set for a while.
We took it easy today and made tea that we took with us as we wandered around the yard looking at the flowering wisteria climbing up the pine trees, the swamp which is full of rainwater, and we were just enjoying spring. K wrote a really amazing paper on the symbolism in Ishiguru's Buried Giant book, but her proofing skills are so bad that I had to take some off for that. She really didn't learn some surprisingly basic skills in school. I need to have her do some proofing exercises. Anyway, we were so exhausted today that we really took it easy. I set the alarm for early so I can get some yard work done tomorrow before it gets muggy.
We took it easy today and made tea that we took with us as we wandered around the yard looking at the flowering wisteria climbing up the pine trees, the swamp which is full of rainwater, and we were just enjoying spring. K wrote a really amazing paper on the symbolism in Ishiguru's Buried Giant book, but her proofing skills are so bad that I had to take some off for that. She really didn't learn some surprisingly basic skills in school. I need to have her do some proofing exercises. Anyway, we were so exhausted today that we really took it easy. I set the alarm for early so I can get some yard work done tomorrow before it gets muggy.
Llama
Well-known member
What Cate said. Also: terrible grammar and punctuation seem to be the norm in schools. Very few kids read "formal" texts for pleasure and even magazines and newspapers are often full of mistakes so where would they learn? Knowing the rules and repeating them in a couple of exercises won't change years-long habits unless they have a vested interest in changing. I'm just waiting to see if we're moving toward everyone using Grammarly to avoid having to think about the rules or if it'll be a language free-for-all like we had before the widespread use of the printing press.
Thanks Cate! We actually took another day for a break and just did minimal school. It was rainy and we just had a nice day in. I think we're exhausted from just too much drama. I don't have it in me to get upset anymore - I just get tired and fall asleep now, which is a nice change. I need to get my veggies in the ground in the next few days though. Repotting sounds nice!
I agree Llama. Even in published books I find so many typos now! We are both a bit dyslexic, too, so I am going to try teaching her to read Korean characters. You have to slow down and stop reading whole words and actually sound out every character. That helped me immensely so I am not as dyslexic, and also helped with proofing so I could carefully scan slowly for mistakes. She knows most of the grammar rules, she just misses them because of going on automatic when proofing, I think. I was just shocked because proofing papers was a part of our curriculum in school. We proofed each other's papers, then the teacher would catch the things we didn't catch, and it was alarming at first, but then we improved dramatically at it.
We really love our yard. There are so many interesting birds in the marsh and it's just such a peaceful place.
Thank Em! I am really relieved to have my therapist on my side. I was getting furious with C, and that would have made a big mess if I'd acted on that. Thank goodness for such intelligent, articulate people being on our side! We're still a little beat up around the edges, but I think we'll be back to normal in a few days. I hope that's the last of the drama.
Not much new. I ate a bunch of sugar yesterday and dropped 2 pounds, funnily enough. We're enjoying doing the web design class. K has a really fun homepage designed and learned a ton about design and a bit of coding. I am psyching myself up to go into home improvement mode. I think in a few days I'll be ready, just need to get my energy levels up again.
Cate
Long term member
I'm glad you are giving yourself a break when you need one. I'm going to do some more repotting today I think. It's so therapeutic.
I was horrified with our older son's schoolwork at primary school as there were so many grammatical errors. He kept telling me that his teacher said they don't matter & it's the ideas that are more important. When he got to high school he had to do remedial English. G is a lousy speller & asks me how to spell things every day. I say the word out loud, like in the spelling bee movie & often laugh at myself. I also usually sound the word out as it's spelled, rather than how it's pronounced. My older sister & mother always corrected me & I am grateful.
Hope you get those energy levels up enough to work your way through what needs to be done, M xo
Thanks Cate, I really needed to hit reset and start over! K had similar experiences in school, except hers were more that she never did any creative writing, so never learned that writing can be fun and interesting (but we fixed that last year and she loves it now), and she never learned to spell either. I like that your spelling bee way of answering G cracks you up! We sometimes come across a word that K spelled so wrong that we can't figure out what she was trying to say - her spelling often leads to a lot of good natured belly laughs for both of us.
Thanks Llama! The rain has been so soothing and perfect. I think spring is my favorite because of the rains alone!
I know, I try so hard to eat well, and lose when I eat sugar - go figure!
Today we did some errands and studied while we were out and came home and had nice corned beef and cabbage dinner. I'm clearing out the screen house getting it ready to repair the screens on the roof that my cat walked on and made come loose (she was really heavy). I hauled off some piles of logs around the garden that I had planned to use for hugelkulture, and had to work around a toad and 2 blue tailed skinks. I'll really miss all my happy reptiles and amphibians. I decided to just do a little per day so my arm doesn't get re-injured, so I think I'll do a little masking inside to get ready to paint some walls next.
We made a nice list of things we want to accomplish each day and rough dates to finish important things like school and put the lists on a white board where we'll see it every day. K has been feeling a little depressed again, so we'll try getting more aerobic exercise so hopefully she won't have to ask the psychiatrist to up her medicine. I'll give it a week or so and see how she's doing. It feels so good not having any looming stressful stuff to do. I like just getting the yard and house nice. I've been meditating mornings again, and that helps so, so much. Did yoga last night, too, and wow, I need to do that every day or two or I get so stiff. My arm is not as flexible as it was, so I need to keep up with the yoga. Now that I don't have to deal with any more weirdness for a while, I am going to concentrate on our health and happiness while getting stuff done slowly and ploddingly.
Cate
Long term member
Good-natured belly laughs, soothing rain, corned beef & cabbage (yum!), happy reptiles and amphibians, getting jobs done & this-
"Now that I don't have to deal with any more weirdness for a while, I am going to concentrate on our health and happiness while getting stuff done slowly and ploddingly."
This all sounds so good, M xoxo
"Now that I don't have to deal with any more weirdness for a while, I am going to concentrate on our health and happiness while getting stuff done slowly and ploddingly."
This all sounds so good, M xoxo
So cool! I had to google the blue tailed skinks! It really does sound like you have lovely wildlife around there!
That list idea sounds great. i always love it when I feel more organized and can see what I should do when.
Thanks Cate! It's so nice to concentrate on positive things and take a break from the stressful stuff!
The skinks are so fun. They like to spy on us when we garden! Making the list really helped my motivation. It's really good to have things written out so I remember how to prioritize.
It's been amazing seeing so many different kinds and seeing how they can have fun personalities, too. I didn't expect that. I wish I could see a live armadillo while we are here, too.
I hope so, Em! I feel a lot better about things now that I'm getting something substantial done every day. It just takes a lot longer to do things than I usually expect, so I am going back and appreciating the things I finish so I acknowledge that this is a good plan that I can stick to!
I just went to the compost and found a bunch of peppers coming up and some nice tomato plants, right after I bought some from the nursery, of course! There are pumpkins and other winter squash coming up in the compost, too. So my plan is to finish mending the screen porch mesh (luckily I found more in the garage) and then heap up my organic soil in the beds in there and plant nice compost plants and some seeds that will be my spring salad stuff. Yesterday I dug out a bunch of crab grass from a flower bed, and it was slow going. It hasn't been weeded for a year, and it covered in the stuff, so it's really good upper body exercise getting it out. Tomorrow some friends come over so I need to clean house quick. First day of Nutbush dance!
That's great! I hope there's room for everyone, but I'm sure there would be people happy to get some plants if you now have too many...
I love that kind of work that is nice and physical and so satisfying to look back on seeing the beautiful results.
Thanks Cate, we did have a nice day with friends. It's another mom and daughter from the kids' writing group we used to go to and my friend N and her daughter. We had a great time talking and took a long walk down the beach and the kids waded in the tide pools. I'm very sunburnt. Winter is definitely over and I need to remember sun screen from now on!
Hi Liza! I gave some of my sprouted sweet potatoes away today. I will put the rest in the screen house, but didn't want to put too many and have them take over the place. I think I'll keep the compost veggies. I especially love peppers, tomatoes, and winter squash! I really enjoy after you weed a particularly densely weedy place, and seeing how much nicer it looks afterward. I didn't get to any more weeding because I got too much sun already today, but did go admire our work.
Hi Llama! Day 2 of Nutbush - K joined me and was even worse at keeping up with the people in the video, which was fun and chaotic. Dancing just instantly puts us in a good mood!