I have never done a Wordless Wednesday, mostly because I don't actually know how to be wordless, and a teeny bit because I fear that perhaps I am supposed to sign up somewhere in order to do this and if I don't the blogging police will be pounding on my... um, firewall.  But mostly the first reason.

Still, since I have started uploading more of my pics to Photobucket, a Wordless Wednesday post seems like a great way to make a nice post when I don't actually have time to write.

Unless, of course, I go to Photobucket and find that I have not yet uploaded the pic I wanted to post.  That being the case, I'll post these.  Like the one I had planned to post, these were taken LAST summer and are hereby presented in honor of The Boy Who Is Soon To Turn Teenager.  Although in these pics, he was not yet twelve and his hair is short.  Relatively speaking.

You KNEW it wasn't actually going to be wordless, didn't you?

And a couple more...

Ahhh... two-and-a-half lovely days of R & R.  It was nice while it lasted.  Now we are back to the busyness and conflicts of everyday life.

An hour before we left town for our mini-vacation, we found out that Spaz' football practice schedule had been moved up a week.  It starts tomorrow.  Yes, that's a very last-minute change, one that our association fought but had no control over.  And it made a big problem for us.  Now that we are back in town, we have been scrambling to get it all figured out.

Here's how our evening schedule this week was supposed to go:

Monday night, Spaz' youth leaders over for dinner.  Tuesday night, Spaz & Huz on a long-anticipated date to the Off-Road Derby at our local fairgrounds.  Wednesday night, Spaz & his cousin to Grandma's for an overnighter.  Thursday night, friends over for hamburgs & card games.  And Friday afternoon thru Saturday morning, Spaz' 13th birthday party.

Here's how it has to go instead:

Monday night, football practice for Spaz.  Tuesday night, football practice for Spaz.  Wednesday night, Spaz & Huz to the Derby (fortunately there is a 2nd night, but unfortunately, my friend's son will not be racing on this night).  Thursday night, football practice for Spaz and friends over for the rest of us.  And Friday night, football practice for Spaz.

Which leaves the youth leaders and the cousin in the lurch, not to mention... the birthday party.

Yes, he could skip football practice Friday night, with his coach's blessing, since the party was already planned.  But two of his party guests are on his football team and it is the first night of "full pads and hitting" and we really don't want to make them have to miss practice as well.

And yes I know, that is what happens when kids get involved in sports and other such things; they take over life for a time.  But football has been really really good for Spaz, and we love the Christian organization for which he plays.  The schedule change was not their decision; it was the decision of the league which our organization has joined.  And Spaz is not very happy about it.

My kids get a "friends party" every three years, and this is the year for Spaz.  So it isn't just any birthday party; it's the "special" party.  Fortunately, his original guest list of 14 (Spaz is a very sociable kid) was whittled down to 6-8 at parental request, and then voluntarily whittled to five, and of those five, three were able to come.  So it is not a big party and we did not have 8 phone calls to make, and that is a blessing.  We're waiting on one more callback, and I think we will be able to work out an alternative day.  But it is still a pain.

Isn't this just too American: I sign my kids up for activities and plan parties and then complain about the busyness and the schedule conflicts.  All the while knowing that there are people out there with real crises.

And speaking of signing kids up for activities...  With all this frustration and dilemma coming right on the heels of vacation, Spaz now wants to back out of auditions for our local homeschool theatre group's Jungle Book musical.  I had finally talked him and Fuzz into trying out (they are great at drama but need some parental push to actually do it) and they are all registered for tomorrow morning's auditions.  Now Spaz says he doesn't feel ready and can't get ready and can't get excited about it, and I can understand.  But I hate to see him back out now, because I think that he would love doing it if he is selected-- and rehearsal doesn't even interfere with football practice; imagine that.  (Although doing both will make for a very busy boy this fall.  Fortunately, he has a nice Mom who will cut back a bit on the non-essential schoolwork if he makes it into the musical.)

Anyway, tomorrow is a new day and hopefully with some sleep, he'll feel differently.

Well, that's enough of my rambling for now.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.  Hopefully, renewed enthusiasm for Jungle Book auditions as well as a solution to the birthday party dilemma.

Where I am:  At the school table in the basement, because that's where my laptop is parked at the moment.  I did a little school planning a little eBay curriculum hunting down here today.  I have never bid on curriculum on eBay before; it's rather exciting.

Who is with me:  Two of my children are down here playing the piano.  Two different songs on two different pianos.  Loudly, at the same time, right next to each other.  Right next to me.  At least they play well.

(Yes, we have two pianos.  One is our trusty digital that we've had for 11 years; the other is the acoustic that Cheez begged us for several years to get.  I figure having two pianos sorta makes up for having two TVs.)

What I am watching:  Beach volleyball, sort of, because that's what's on.

Why I am not watching it upstairs:  Because Fuzz is watching "Lyle the Kindly Viking".  Correction: was.  Apparently, the video has just ended.

Why we haven't picked up our current family read-aloud in nearly a week:  Because Huz & the kids were out of town, and Then There Were The Olympics.

What has changed in the ten minutes since I began this post:  Cheez and Spaz have stopped playing the pianos and wandered upstairs, while Fuzz has come down here and is loudly playing around with the foosball table.  And beach volleyball has been replaced by (what else) a Michael Phelps semi-final.

What I just figured out:  It is breast-stroke that looks so funny, not butterfly.  Although the latter is a bit odd-looking as well.

Why I am writing all this:  Because I wouldn't possibly be able to concentrate on writing anything of substance.  Would you?

How on earth I was able to do school planning this afternoon:  Everyone was gone for a couple hours.

...I mean, while watching a multitude of commercials interspersed with occasional snippets of Olympic coverage.

I might have to stop saying that, because actually, the commercial-to-coverage ratio is a lot better this year than it has been in some previous years.

I was really good and did not watch any Olympics during my school planning weekend.  Because I knew that if I turned the TV on, I wouldn't get any planning done.  But I showed remarkable self-restraint, thankyouverymuch, and we won't talk about how many times I ventured into blogland when I was supposed to be planning.  I didn't watch Olympics and that's significant, and now I am indulging to make up for it.

I like the Olympics.  The Olympics are about the only thing I watch on TV besides American Idol.  I cannot fathom why we did not think about the Olympics when we scheduled a mini-vacation to a friend's TV-less cabin for later this week.  Usually I consider a TV-free vacation to be ideal.  Usually.  Almost always.  But not when Olympics are on.  I'm a little annoyed by the timing here.  Why have we never bought a DVR?

Anyway...

*Synchronized diving is just totally amazing.  How do they do that?

*Speedos are so ugly.

*(And no, potential burglars, don't even think about it.  The shop employee and the dog will bite you.)

*Is anyone besides me tired of hearing about Michael Phelps?

*So funny that the US diving coach is Chinese.  Of course, so is my sister-in-law.  (Yes, I know that was highly irrelevant.)

*I mentioned to Huz that I much prefer watching diving to watching swimming.  Not him, says he;  he likes the speed and excitement.  Not me, says I.  I like the artistry.  Although that does not explain why my favorite winter Olympics sport is... short-track.

*I wish NBC would not show raunchy and violent commercials during the Olympics.  It is unbelievable what comes across the airwaves even at 8:30 pm, when HELLO, children are watching!  Do they not care?

*Beach volleyball.  I remember watching Olympics beach volleyball for the first time back in 1988, when today's players were little kids and Karch Kiraly was on the sand instead of in the announcer's booth.  The Olympics were in Seoul and we were in our apartment in southeast Grand Rapids.  We didn't own a TV, so we borrowed a tiny little one from the in-laws and rigged up some aluminum foil as a makeshift antenna.  While we watched, little BizzyBiz toddled around practicing his own newfound Olympic skill of walking.  Memmm-reeees....

*The nice thing about winter Olympics is that the athletes wear more clothes.

*Oh, my.  The one-touch recovery commercial is hilarious.  "Sorry that you lost your files, hoo hah..."  HA, HA, HA!  Sorry.  I don't get out much.

*Award for stupidest commercial definitely goes to the McDonald's chicken sandwich ad.  I think the only thing that could make it stupider would be if all the pseudo-athletes were wearing speedos.

*I can't believe that Huz & the kids have decided to watch Anne of Green Gables on the other TV tonight when the Olympics are on.  Who introduced these people to great stories like Anne of Green Gables?  Me, that's who!  And now they want to watch the movie while I'm trying to watch Olympics?  (Yes, we've watched it before, several times.  But last time was about 5 years ago.)  All the stupid movies they like to watch, and they pick this one when Olympics are on?  I don't think it's fair to make me choose between Anne and Olympics.

*I can't believe what I just yelled up the stairs.  I have been banished to the downstairs TV, which is bigger and nicer, but it has this odd object called a cable box hooked to it and, um, I don't really know how to watch TV on this.  The upstairs TV is nice because it's old and the remote is long dead and to find the channel you want, you just stand in front of the TV and push the button until you get there.  Simple.  Anyway, what I yelled up the stairs was, "What channel is channel 8 down here?"

*See, I have been typing about Gables and Cables while Americans are winning gold medals in swimming.  Because it's not as fascinating as watching diving and gymnastics.  Although did you know that Michael Phelps trains in Ann Arbor, MI?  Oh, sorry, I forgot that I am tired of hearing about him.

*I'm sorry.  The butterfly stroke always looks so funny.

*Finally, more men's gymnastics.  I enjoy watching men's gymnastics so much more than women's.  Still rings routines are amazing.  Parallel bar routines are amazing.  High bar routines are amazing.  Those biceps are...  Sorry, I'm being redundant.

*Zou Kai, Chinese gymnast.  So cute-looking, in a little boy sort of way.  I can say that about a 20-year-old, because I have a little boy who's 21.

*I'm so glad gymnasts don't wear speedos.

*Anne Shirley may be charming, but she can't do a high-bar routine.  That's why I'm down here instead of upstairs.

*Ads for men's beach volleyball tomorrow.  See?  The men wear clothes.  Why do the women wear swimwear?

*Back to the men in tights.  Of course I'm rooting for the US team.  But it's kinda hard not to root for the Chinese, too.  Although it would really be nice to see some teams besides China, Japan, and the US.  I do understand that they can't show everyone and there is medal contention and all.

*Remember when men's gymnastics were dominated by Russia and Ukraine?  I haven't seen any Russian or Ukraine gymnasts tonight.

*I want to see that one-touch recovery commercial again.

*It's Monday, but the events I am watching right now are occuring on Tuesday.

*So these three guys doing the pommel horse are of Chinese, Indian (I think), and Russian descent.  And they're all Americans.  Gotta love it.

*Oh my.  The Artemov dude came through.  Yay for him.  Gotta love that, too.

*So his teammates call Zou Kai the "little kid", too.  It's not just me.  Oh, he's such a cute little guy.  How cool to be the last performer for Chinese gold.  I do hope they show the medal ceremony.  I like to hear anthems other than just ours.

*Actually, my favorite medal ceremonies of all are the ones in which an athlete from some small, underdog country wins a rare medal for his nation.  Those are really cool moments.  Maybe we'll see one of those this Olympics.

*It had better not happen while we are gone.  Why didn't I get Huz a Tivo for his birthday?

*Meteor shower.  There is supposed to be a meteor shower tonight?  Who scheduled that for Olympics week?

Edited Tuesday to add:  I  did not see any meteors, but I DID get to see one of those cool Olympic moments!  Although my intention is to only watch Olympics in the evening (otherwise I'd get nothing done), my son had them on for a short while early this afternoon.  I watched with him just long enough to see a guy from Togo win a bronze medal in whitewater kayaking-- which Spaz says is Togo's first Olympic medal ever.  Too cool!  The crowd was so pumped, and of course the Togoan (?) kayaker was, too.  I love seeing athletes so happy just to win a bronze.  They did not show the medal ceremony, but I hope they will show it tonight during prime time.  Or maybe I can find it online.  Later, of course.

The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

Am I spirtually mature, or what?!!!

Oops, maybe better work on that last one.

The Natural Speller gives word lists, spelling rules, and activities that you can use to create a customized spelling program for your students in grades 1-8.  I bought it in 1994 and have used it for 3 kids at all grade levels.  I never needed to buy anything else... until now. 

  I love this program; it takes such a logical and sensible approach to spelling. And yes, of course I tweak it. I tweak everything.

  

'Twould be nice if the icons would just line up horizontally for me instead of having to arrange themselves in a column.  Anyway, I thought the books were just "okay", but the kids loved them, and that's a good thing. 

I updated the previous post with another idea.  I added a few more pics and many more words.  Many many many...  So humor me and go give another opinion.

So as I was taking the latest pics, I had a thought and a revelation.  OK, I had more than one thought, but only one was actually interesting.  It came as I was moving toys out of the way so I could spread the curtains out, and it went something like this:

One would think that when one's youngest son is nearly thirteen years old, one would have long ago ceased to be stepping on these...

One would think.

That wooden thing in the pics, by the way, is a big ramp that Huz built when Biz was 11 months old.  It was originally made for the wooden cars that Huz had also made for Biz, but within a couple years, it had turned into a Hotwheels ramp.  I don't think we'd ever have dreamed that it'd still be in use twenty years later.

OK, back to the present.  The Revelation, which was totally irrelevant to The Thought, came a few minutes later and went something like this:

Oh!  This explains how the curtains got so messed up while I was away last night.

Someone's been stalking the butterflies and dragonflies and frogs.  Of course, every time I tried to get a picture of her stalking or pouncing, she'd stop doing it.  I kid you not, she'd see me with the camera and either walk away or pose herself pretty and look at me.

It's those terrible two's.

And as long as I'm taking pictures of Things That Are Taking Over The Basement Floor, here's Cheez' Project In Progress.  Or Lack Thereof, as the case may be.

She's sewing together rugs to make, um, bigger rugs.  One for her floor, and one to serve as a closet curtain, because we yanked her bi-folds out, too.  Personally, I think a curtain made of rugs is going to be awfully heavy and impractical.  But what do I know?

Here's something I know:  My curtain project is more important than hers.  Because it's my blog.  So now that you have finished reading the Post That Didn't Say Anything But Had a Cute Picture of a Cat, go back to the last one, scroll down to the Update, read, click on "comment", and say something.

And hurry.  I need to get those curtains done.  Because soon I will have to turn this Project And Hotwheels Room back into a Schoolroom.

Updated with the latest idea-- scroll down a bit.  Quite a bit.

I need YOUR opinion, even if you don't think it's worth much, and I need it ASAP!  I'd like to finish these today.  (I really wish I had posted this last night, but we were gone in the evening and afterward, I fell asleep at the computer while downloading the pics.)

Anyway.  Here's an in-progress pic of the curtains I am making for the opening of Fuzz' closet.  (These will replace the bi-fold doors that I yanked out because Huz & I loathe bi-folds.)  This is my own design.  The cute froggies are already sewn on, but the butterflies are merely pinned on at this point.

After I arranged the butterflies, I called Huz down to get his opinion.  Now I want yours.  Here's a closer look at the butterflies.

Huz said he liked the arrangement except for one thing that really bothered him.  Don't scroll down or read any further before you mentally answer these questions:  What is your first impression of the butterfly design?  Do you love it?  Like it?  Or is there something about it that bothers you?  If so, what?

Don't go any further until you have considered and answered (to yourself) the above questions.

Have you done that?  If so, continue.  If not, stop.  What did you not understand about, "Don't go any further until..."?  Because, see, I don't want Huz' opinion to influence yours.

OK.  Here's what bothers Huz:

The blue oval with the butterfly cut-out.  He thinks it looks out of place, like "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong..."

However, he says that if I like it and Fuzz likes it, that's what matters.  I do like it, kind of.  I'm not sure.  Fuzz likes it except that she wants the blue to be a more organic shape rather than a precise oval.  I made it because I wanted a butterfly the same color as the curtains.  We both like the way it sort of makes a "shadow" (as Fuzz puts it) or a "ghost image" of the butterfly next to it.

A friend stopped by just in time to give an opinion, but wouldn't give one until I told her what bothered Huz.  That's cheating.  Anyway, she said the blue cut-out butterfly looked like something that was leftover from cutting out a butterfly and that I just decided to stick it on there.  That is not the case!  I cut that out for the express purpose of having a "reverse" butterfly as shown-- and used up the remainder of my precious blue material in the process.

So, if I decide not to keep it as shown, there are three alternatives I am considering.  (1)  Cut the oval into a more organic shape, as Fuzz desires.  (2)  Cut the oval into a butterfly shape, so the green butterfly has a wide blue outline.  (3)  Use the cut-out as a stencil and trace the butterfly directly onto the green fabric, and then stitch it in either blue or green thread.  This still gives a "ghost image", but it is a bit more subtle.

I actually think Alternative #3 would be really cool.  But doing that would mean "wasting" that lovely blue oval which was made of the last of my blue material.  Which really should not be a big deal.

I'd almost like to do two, #3 plus one of the other options, but I'm not going to.  I think the number of butterflies I have right now is perfect, especially since it's always best to have an odd number.  Besides, to have two "reverse" or "ghost" images, albeit different, would still be too much.  "Less is more."  One ghost image is just right.  The question is, which one?

SO... even if you don't think your opinion is worth much, it is to me.  Please comment and let me know:

(1) What was your first impression, before I told you Huz' opinion?  Did you like it, or did something bother you?

(2) What did you think AFTER I told you Huz' opinion?  Did you agree with him, or not?

(3)  Which do you think I should do?  The oval, a more organic shape, a wide blue butterfly outline, or a stitched butterfly with no blue around it?  Or do you have another idea?

And here's a bonus question:  I'm not sure I like the dragonflies.  Do you?

I am going to work on sewing the other butterflies.  After piano lessons this afternoon, I will come back and check comments.

In the time it took me to upload pics & post this, I coulda had 5 or 6 of those butterflies sticthced on.  Oh well.

*****************************************UPDATE****************************************

OK, I've had enough opinions about the oval to warrant changing it, which was rather my inclination anyway.  I actually cut the oval into a more organic shape before I even read any comments.  Even so, it still looked out of place.

After piano lessons, I picked up a shower curtain rod (on clearance, yay) as per my plan for hanging the closet curtains.  I installed it and decided to hang up the unfinished curtains to see how they looked in their proper place.  Since all the butterflies but one were yet unsewed and merely hanging by pins, I had to use my imagination a bit.  Still, something about seeing them vertical inspired another idea regarding that poor, under-appreciated cutout butterfly.  Whether or not it's a good idea, I have yet to decide.

See, I stuck him at the "beginning" of the progression (far right).  Not sure if I like him there.  Do you?

Here's a "horizontal" view.

I may move Mr Cutout-Butterfly-Within-Blue-Organic-Shape slightly higher.  At any rate, if I do put him in that vicinity, I'll need to spread out the other three a bit more.  Unfortunately, my options here are now rather limited due to the fact that, after posting this morning, I went and sewed on Mr Great-Big-Spotted-Butterfly because "I need to work on this and I know I won't end up moving this one."  Hmmph.  I was interrupted for the long term before I could stitch any others on, which may be a good thing.

So if I can't satsifactorily spread those guys out, I'll have to add another butterfly to the spot where Mr Cutout used to be.  It will probably have to be green spotted, since I don't want anymore striped ones and I have no more blue.  (Unless I cut a butterfly out of the blue window curtain and sew a green spotted one in its place.  Hmmm...)  I will then move the smaller butterflies on the other curtain ever-so-slightly closer together and stitch a small "phantom butterfly" (as per my beloved Idea #3 above) at the end.  And then I suppose I shall have to move one of the dragonflies to the other curtain.  Got to keep the odd number, you know.

See?  It's simple.  Like Watergate.

And in case seeing the pinned butterflies flopping on the hung curtain made you think that perhaps I should make them double-sided and sew just the center, letting the wings hang free, well, that occured to me as well.  Obviously.  Of course there's the pesky problem of having no more blue material, along with the even peskier problem of having already sewn the BigGuy, wings and all.  But I have ideas for getting around those things...

Oh, and my bloggy friend Bev suggested in her comment that I make flies for the frogs.  I kinda like that idea.  I'll do it after I get all the flutterbies on.

You know, I really really really admire people who just DO things instead of agonizing over the perfect way to do them.  Because they, you know, actually GET THINGS DONE.  And in a timely manner, to boot.  I started making these curtains over a week ago, but I bet most of you would have finished them in day or two.

And don't ask me why I don't just sketch out my ideas on paper and decide that way.  For one thing, sketches don't really do the trick.  For another, if you think I'm anal now, you should see me when I start drawing things out.  And don't even suggest I doctor up the photos to get an idea of the finished product.  Poor Fuzz would never get her curtains.

*Sigh*

OK, more opinions, please.  Stop rolling your eyes and just humor me, alright?  And if you think I should just lose the #$%*@ cut-out anyway, tell me.  I can handle it.  I keep a therapist on standby for all my projects.

Not really.  But I probably should.

Tomorrow morning, I will check comments.  Then I shall stash my computer in a far-off cabinet and chain myself to my sewing machine until the closet curtains are finished.

After I displace the Guard Cat.