Always Remember That

The dreaded Social Studies test? She made a 99 Whew.

Mallory has a big Social Studies test today. She’s not doing well in Social Studies, this year. When I asked her why her grades were so low, she said, “I don’t like Social Studies. Besides, no one can be good at everything .” I thought this was a fair point, but let her know that it was not acceptable for her to do quite so poorly, whether she liked it or not. We studied for hours for this test. We read the chapter twice, summarized main points, went over vocabulary words, filled in blanks and did true/false quizzes. There were moments when I despaired – as when I asked, “The villages of the Cherokee people came together to form a...” and she said, “Um...bison?” But I think she knows the material pretty well; honestly I’m not even sure what else we could have done to get her prepared. I told her we would like for her to get at least a B. I know she’s nervous. I’m nervous for her. I slept poorly all night. But, I also know more than I really wanted to know about the early peoples...

Yesterday the girls and I went to a pumpkin farm -- it was "Scout Day" so the girls got in free. (I paid $12) (The pumpkin was not included) This was, in fact, more than just a pumpkin farm -- it used to be a tobacco plantation, but ten or so years ago its owners decided to diversify into organic produce and "agritourism." So they grow strawberries and blueberries, and cabbages and carrots, and they sell their produce at farmer's markets and through CSAs. And they do school tours and scout events and they turned the back 40 acres of their farm into a huge playground. I love this place. Every time I visit I think how fun it would be to run such a place myself. (I know. Please. I grew up on a farm and I know it's really not that fun at all.) But it's all so wholesome and pretty and nice. And I learn something new every time I go. For example, did you know that asparagus in the field looks like this: It's that weedy-looking stuff in the foreground...

Whoooo wanted to buy my items at the craft show last weekend? Nobody, apparently. Which is okay, I wasn't counting on sales to pay the bills. Mallory also made a craft: ...and got her hair sprayed pink: ...and ate lots of cotton candy: Phoebe, ditto: Then we spent a loooong time in line to get their faces painted, but they were very pleased with the results: It was a lovely day, in spite of being not-profitable.

Not to sound like a commercial, but we switched to Vonage for our phone service. We considered dropping our land line completely but that just seemed too daring. Anyway, you can set up your voicemail to automatically forward transcripts of any messages to your email account. With hilarious results! For example, yesterday we got this message from the town council, which makes all kinds of robocalls to announce exciting town happenings: This message is from the town of Xville and it's not an emergency. We are calling to let you know about our babies and microchip pet clinic on Saturday At Main Street, Park the park which is at 200 South Main Street. A babies clinic! Ha! When it's really a rabies clinic! So I'm getting entertained on top of saving on my phone bill. What a deal. Speaking of money, I'm going to be (attempting to) sell my crocheted wares at a craft show this weekend. I have no idea what to charge for my products; I have even less of an idea if anyone...

Seeing these pictures on the October page of my 2011 Shutterfly calendar: