The Chemist at Bradford Academy

I am on a mission to find something that does not exist. The technology is readily available, but not in the form I seek. I need a big mp3 player. That’s not too much to ask is it? Well it seems like it is.

My father-in-law is 84 years old and newly blind. He has mobility issues and a loss of fine motor skills. He is computer and technologically illiterate. He could not operate a DVD player before he lost his sight. He loved to read. Now he can’t. He is depressed. I would love to load up an mp3 player with audiobooks to keep him company, but that seems more like a dream than a reality at this point.

I am running into several issues:

1. Technology is getting smaller. This is a most difficult issue. Small buttons, small screens, small device to get lost in the furniture.
2. The market for the blind is very small and very specialized. Blind friendly is not necessarily elderly friendly. Most elderly people are not going to learn Braille.
3. Products for the blind are ridiculously expensive. The companies assume some type of insurance or government assistance. It takes time to apply and qualify and receive (up to a year) and even then the product may not be suitable. We are working on this, but I would like to get him something sooner.
4. Children’s products have big buttons but small storage capabilities. Thirty minutes to an hour of playtime is not enough.

What I want is one (really big) button operation with automatic bookmarking. It needs to turn on and start playing where it left off. We had hoped that he could use a Sansa Clip. It turns on and plays where it left off, but the slide that turns it on is tiny. He couldn’t work it. If only there was one with a big button.

I posted my search on every message board that I belong to. I have some suggestions. Next stop is the Apple Store since they specialize in finding solutions.

The Crafter and Wild Thing take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills next week. Yearly testing is required in our state beginning at age seven. It will be Wild Thing’s first time.

We work through a test prep book each year to prepare. We always find interesting holes in the children’s educations. For example, this year Wild Thing had to complete the poem “I was walking by the lake. There I saw a black and yellow __________.” His choices were a picture of a duck, a picture of a rabbit, and a picture of a snake. Poor Wild Thing was so confused. He asked if the duck was male or female. He was thinking drake. I said that my instructions didn’t say anything about the duck and to go with the one that he knew. Sigh.

The Crafter needs to brush up on her emoticons. I kid you not. She was supposed to identify the one for being bored. On a serious note she also needs review her literary terms and some basic government.

Next week shall tell the tale of how my homeschooled scholars measure up against the rest of the country. They may not do so well in “social studies”, but I know the real story, and my son knows what a drake is.

I’ve been battling insomnia and it’s ugly friend fatigue for the past couple of weeks. I tried to keep up and continue to cook balanced, nutritious meals for my family. Today the tiredness caught up with me. I wimped out and succumbed to the temptation of an easy meal.

Inevitably the question came: “Mama, what’s for supper?” The answer brought cheers of joy and dancing. What delightful morsel could cause such bliss?

I will try to not think of this as criticism of my cooking abilities.

I accept the fact that I am science and math oriented.  Writing does not come easily to me.  Literary analysis is a chore.  Poetry strikes fear in my heart.  The thought of writing a research paper would leave me curled in the fetal position for several hours.  As the bumper sticker says, “I are a scientist, not an English major.”

I am not a grammar snob.  I’ve been known to comma splice and split infinitives nary a thought.  Double negatives have a place in my conversation.  I live in the south, so ain’t works for me. I do however know a few things that it seems most Americans do not.

I know that a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.  It has a subject and a predicate.  A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, a question mark, or, in rare cases, an exclamation point.

I know that your is a possessive pronoun and you’re is a contraction formed by the words you and are.

I know that their is a possessive pronoun, they’re is a contraction formed by the words they and are, and there is an adverb.

I know that its is another possessive pronoun, while it’s is a contraction of it and is.

I know that a lot is 2 words.  I recently discovered that alot is a creature of many and varied talents.

I know that cuz is not a word.  Perhaps in certain company it may be a term of endearment for one’s cousin. Cuz is not a substitute for because.

I know that apostrophes are used to show possession.  The are not used to make plurals.  Remember the quote “A kitten dies every time you use an apostrophe to pluralize.”

I feel better now.  Maybe I can get back to grading those lab reports.

My friend died on Sunday.  The cancer moved so fast.  She only found out in November.

Her death brings out the human in me. I’m angry that she’s gone. Tears come at awkward times. I want to know why.  Why her?  Why now? Her children need their mother.  Her husband needs his wife.  Her mother needs her daughter. She did everything right.  She ate clean and exercised.  She served the Lord diligently with her time and talents.  She was young and healthy.

I believe there is a reason, though it is not mine to know.  I believe, no I KNOW, that she is in the arms of her Redeemer. She will not suffer anymore. And I will see her again.

I will pray for her family, especially the children.  Their sorrow is unimaginable.  I will hold my loved ones a little closer and a little tighter. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

Death has been swallowed up in victory!  I Cor 15:54

January is our busiest month.  We started off the new year with the Historian’s family Christmas.  We were supposed to leave the next day for our annual trip to Myrtle Beach, but the hotel’s pool was closed for maintenance.  I am grateful that they contacted us.  We ended up going the next week.

The Historian decided that we needed to join a co-op.  (I am not sure that co-op should be hyphenated, but whenever I see coop, I think chickens.)  He scrambled to get the paperwork in on time only to discover that the church where it meets is 25 minutes further away that he thought.  The word Chapel instead of church makes all the difference.  I wanted to just pull out and let the fees count as a donation.  I do not want to drive an hour for an early morning activity.  He wants to make it work.  We shall see.

I am only teaching one chemistry lab this semester.  The college isn’t offering organic chemistry this semester because of lack of interest.  (Where is a shocked, open-mouthed smiley when I need it?)  Canceling organic left 6 open classroom hours for full time faculty, so I’m teaching less.  We’ll miss the money.

We finally made it to Myrtle Beach the second week of January–just ahead of the great southern ice storm.  We didn’t leave the hotel the entire time we were there.  An indoor heated pool provided hours of entertainment.  When we left there was ice in the palmettos.

The Crafter’s CYT (Christian Youth Theater) practices started full force when we got back from out trip.  The final two weeks of rehearsals are grueling.  We are in the midst of them now.  The director always says to not judge CYT by the final two weeks.  CYT is worth it.  It is a wonderful ministry.  The play is next week.  If you are in the Raleigh area, click here for information.

Now my blog is officially updated.

There were four of us.  Couples that is.  We were part of a small group from our church.  We were all married about the same time.  Several of us were finishing degrees.  We were just starting out.  We shared so much together.  We helped each other move, sometimes more than once.  We ate together.  We prayed together.  We studied the Bible and sought God’s will for our lives.  We bought homes.  We all wanted to start families.  We all suffered from infertility to some degree.  We rejoiced as God gave each of us a child during the following years.

After all of this, it came time for us to go our separate ways.  The Historian and I were led to a church much closer to home.  The other couples moved on as well.  We drifted apart despite promises to keep in touch.  Life and distance have a way of doing that.

As I type this there are tears pouring down my face.  I just received an email from my friend.  She is in her early 40s.  Her son is 6 months younger than the Crafter and her daughter is 6 months younger than Wild Thing.  She has cancer.  She had no symptoms other than some abdominal pain and bloating.  When she had a CT scan, there were masses on her liver and colon.  She’s had an ileostomy .  She’s having chemotherapy.  Her oncologist’s name is Hope.  She’s asked for prayer.

Dear God please spare your daughter.  Heal her body.  Encourage her spirit.  Hold her in Your arms.  Comfort her husband and children.  You are able.  Amen.

I need to hug my babies now.

After a lot of thought, I have started a blog at http://bradfordchemist.blogspot.com/ .  I do not do this lightly.  I love the community feeling here.  I appreciate the relative safety of this site compared to others out there.   I have three years of memories stored here.  However, my friends have disappeared from my blog and no one can leave comments.  I am not tech savvy enough to figure out how to fix it.  I will continue to check in and maybe I’ll be back if I can get things working properly.

I’ve been tired for years.  It seems strange to write that, but it’s the truth.  I haven’t blogged about it before.  I don’t know why.  Maybe I didn’t want to put my weaknesses “out there” for all to see.

Whenever I mentioned being tired, I was patted on the hand and told “Of course you are tired.  You have a baby or you have a toddler or you are homeschooling or you are have so much going on.”  Take your pick.  But it was more than regular tired.  This was weary tired.  This was you get up because you have no choice tired.  I was also having more trouble during that time of the month.

About three and half years ago, I first mentioned my symptoms to a doctor.  I was told that I was getting older.  Hmm, I was 34.  I knew 70 year olds that had more get up and go.  Maybe I should put the kids in school so I could rest.  Here’s a prescription for antidepressants.  By the way, your blood work was normal.

I really didn’t feel depressed.  I felt tired.  But I tried the antidepressants anyway, and they made me more tired.  I quit taking them.  Then two years ago I saw a different doctor.   He said that I was getting older and suggested yoga and B6 and if that didn’t work he would give me a prescription for different antidepressants.

Time marched on.  I did what needed to be done–just barely.  Sometimes I would be in tears because I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do because I was just too tired.  I was hating the thought of spending my children’s growing up years too tired to enjoy them.   I had become short tempered and sometimes down right mean.  My life was about survival.

I was disillusioned with asking another doctor for help, but my friend suggested that I see her boss.  She had recently started working for a nurse practitioner at an Osteopath’s office.  This was a big change for me.  First you filled out 9 pages of questions about medical history, symptoms, sleep habits, and monthly issues.   Then the appointment was to take 40 minutes.  She asked questions and listened and made notes about what I said.  She gave me the usual uncomfortable exam.  Then she said she was ordering some detailed blood work.  Turns out that I’m low on Vitamin D, progesterone, and my iron stores aren’t what they should be.

I now have a long list of supplements including fish oil and molasses.  I also have a prescription for progesterone.   I feel guilty for the expense.  Nothing that I am taking will even go towards our insurance deductible.  I am hopeful that this is the beginning of feeling better.

The Historian mentioned that I hadn’t updated in a while.   What can I say?  Life happens.

Anyway, Joelle at Homeschooling for His Glory tagged me.  It was a while back.  I’m sorry it took so long.  Well, here goes.

1. What is the one thing you find the most difficult about homeschooling?  Juggling everything and feeling like I am always on duty.

2. What is the one thing in your children (or one of your children) that you have the hardest time to deal with or manage?
Wild Thing and Princess Pink bicker constantly.  They both seem to think that their sole purpose on this earth is to annoy the other one.  I continually have to discipline and separate, and it starts over again.  Going out is exhausting because of their behavior.

3. What is the most amazing place you have ever visited? The Rocky Mountains in Colorado

4. What do you like to do when you are alone?  Read, hike, draw, clean the house without the demolition crew following behind…

5. How many days of the week (on average) does your scheduling gets followed?  Never.  I gave up formal scheduling long ago.  It depressed me too much.  I guess you could say we do a loop  schedule.  I had always called it “do the next thing”, but the Well Trained Mind forum gave it a name.  Put simply, you list the subjects you want to do and start.  You work for ever how long you have to work.  The next day you pick up where you left off.  That way you get to everything.

6.  Are you the kind that lets the folded laundry sit awhile before putting away, or it gets put away right away? What????  I’m supposed to fold and put away the laundry?

7. Do you plan the Christmas season out?  No.  The our family members have to work during the Christmas season.  The Historian and my mother only get Christmas Day off.  My father has to work on Christmas every other year.  We pretty much keep doing school.  If there’s an activity or party, we do it.  We have our long  break in January.