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Grizzly Mama

There's a Grizzly who has escaped the City of Brotherly Love..(and she's going back to homeschooling!!)

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Location: Out of Philly, Pennsylvania, United States

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." Aristotle - Greek Philosopher.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Stag and the Vine

A Stag, pursued by huntsmen, concealed himself under cover of a thick Vine. The hunters lost track of him and passed by his hiding place without being aware that he was anywhere near.

Supposing all danger to be over, he presently began to browse on the leaves of the Vine. The movement drew the attention of the returning huntsmen, and one of them, supposing some animal to be hidden there, shot an arrow into the foliage.

The unlucky Stag was pierced to the heart. As he expired he said, "I deserve my fate for my treachery in feeding upon the leaves of my protector."

Moral of the story: Ingratitude sometimes brings its own punishment.


Time Trials

The girls had their time trials for swim team today. My oldest's freestyle stroke is just beautiful. Perfect, really. The youngest did well for her first time, except for the fact that she stopped half-way down her lane to wave to me while the timer was running. Everyone laughed. The little kids are a scream to watch - they're adorable in there flailing around trying to make their arms and legs work properly. God bless 'em. They do get it after a bit.

Painting

Troll and I did it - we painted the kitchen, dining room and living room. Walls, ceilings and woodwork. Grizzly Mama does the prep, Troll does the cutting and rolling on the walls and ceilings. I also get to do most of the woodwork. I DESPISE painting. I am too impatient. It's something that needs to be done slowly and carefully. I also usually end up tripping into the paintpan atleast once. The bathroom is being finished up by Good Neighbor Leftist and then this puppy is going on the market. Oh! I forgot! The radiators need to be touched up as well. That will be my job.

Clutter Control

It's called Throw It Out. I managed to get a HUGE bit of it done before we painted. Many, many lawn and leaf bags full of crap were taken with the bulk trash pickup. The school materials and the doll furniture are in the storage bin. The house looks so large! I have a lot of work left to do though. I'm tired thinking of it. The bedrooms and the basement/garage must be cleared out and de-cluttered as well as the closets. The girls' rooms are a fright and they never want to throw ANYTHING away.

Happy Fathers Day to whom the wish may apply!

16 Comments:

Blogger City Troll said...

and the hunter took the meat from the buck and fed his family and friends and they reveled in thier bounty enjoying the natural order of things....

shoot Bambi he's good eatin mmmmmmmm

16 June, 2007 12:04  
Blogger Alan said...

Troll,

Venison - that's another thing we agree on! My oh my, two things in one day!

Monica,

Thank you for the Father's Day wish. I will spend it at the lake with 2 of my 5.

16 June, 2007 13:33  
Blogger Abouna said...

After Liturgy tomorrow, I shall spend Father's Day enjoying a Vietnamese style cook-out with my sons, grandchildren and friends.

There will be plenty of chicken, beef, pork & shrimp, but unfortunately, no venison.

16 June, 2007 13:54  
Blogger Kate said...

Clutter control - I LOVE it! Can I come over?!! ;) Good luck with it all and find a little time this weekend to put your feet up. You deserve it!

16 June, 2007 14:09  
Blogger tweetey30 said...

I was just going to say anything you dont need for home schooling can always be sent my way. LOL... Yes take a break sometime this weekend to set your feet up and I also need to e-mail you about something later.

16 June, 2007 23:30  
Blogger tshsmom said...

Having the whole house de-cluttered at the same time is a daunting task!! It's necessary when putting your house on the market though. You must make future buyers think the house is bigger than it is.
I don't envy you at all! I hate painting and packing!! :(

17 June, 2007 10:51  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cubed here (not Ann, in case Blogger renames me again)

Victims of the "Revenge of the Animals" lie in Coronary Intensive Care Units all over the country!

Monica, I don't envy you your task! We were in the Navy for nearly 30 years, and they used to say that one move was the equivalent of a housefire! We retired about 10 years ago, but even after so many, many "fires," it's amazing how much stuff we managed to hang on to. Even after building a 22 X 16 foot storage shed and filling it, we are still stuffed to the gills.

Thank goodness for the inspiration of some of those HGTV shows - little by little, we are getting rid of stuff, and when we do, we will paint, inside and out! Given our climate (rain for nine months out of the year - very depressing!), we have chosen a lovely, sunny yellow! Sort of pale lemon, not a bright canary.

Have fun, and as they say on "Designed to Sell," go and make lots of money towards your next house!

18 June, 2007 09:53  
Blogger Zendo Deb said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

18 June, 2007 22:57  
Blogger Zendo Deb said...

Completely off topic, but you might be interested in this post

http://willtoexist.com/2007/06/17/literacy-rates/

About the crisis in the American public education system.

18 June, 2007 22:59  
Blogger Skye said...

Happy (belated) Father's Day!


So....anyone up for a hike to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro next year?

Monica, I imagine we need to apply some 'clutter control' to our Congress in 08.

18 June, 2007 23:47  
Blogger Ca... said...

I shuddered when I read a certain part of this post of yours. Luckily, mi espousa, La Donna de' Lee (a little Mex lingo there) never reads your blog (or anyone else's) so she won't see the part about you..'shudder'..painting your kitchen. Lucky me! She has been after me to do ours ever since we moved into this place. I contended it doesn't need to be ..'retch'..painted yet as we can still tell what the original color was..-er.- is. Please apologize now by writing something lazy so us others can read it comfortably. Signed, a true American retired man. 'chuckle'

19 June, 2007 09:42  
Blogger Zendo Deb said...

So where are you moving to, if not New Jersey?

I take you are staying somewhere in the immediate vicinity.

19 June, 2007 17:15  
Blogger Grizzly Mama said...

Alan and Troll - I do not like venison! Only when Troll does up some jerky, then I'll eat it. I hope you enjoyed your fathers day, Alan! Sounds wonderful.

Abouna - I hope that you had a wonderful day. Love Vietnamese food!

Thanks Kate! Yes you can come over. I need to be encouraged - these kids won't let go of anything. Troll is worse!

Thanks Tweetey! I might have a few things to send you - however I packed all school things up and it's in the storage locker. If I run across anything I'll send it.

Tshsmom, it's making me whine and whimper. It has to be done, though. Even with all of this preliminary sorting and discarding of stuff, moving day is going to be hell.

Thank you, Cubed. It's been 10 years for us too. Ten years of crap piling up. Troll won't even throw broken stuff away - so I sneak it out into the bulk trash and then pretend I have no idea what he's talking about when he asks for stuff that is gone. I have to get rid of it or we will have no room to move! I'm into a minimalist thing now. I don't want clutter around me - it makes me feel blue. You will love that coat of paint, Cubed. It makes such a difference!

Deb - thanks so much for that link! Fascinating article that 'Will to Exist' linked. Lots of food for thought. Also - we have definitely ruled Jersey out. The gun laws totally suck - plus there are so many other things that just totally suck about New Jersey. We're checking Delaware out and also Berks, Bucks, and Lancaster counties in PA. Some neighborhood kids (newcomers) apparently have no parental supervision whatsoever and they managed to break three windshields in the last 2 weeks. Oh! I've been like a maniac out there screaming at rotten kids. The thing is - most of those bad kids? I like them. They need to be watched though, and noboday seems to care what they're doing. It's a shame but they're going down a bad road and no one is there to guide them.

Skye - yes. It seems to be a good a time as any to do some sweeping in Congress! Troll had a nice day, thank you.

CA - LOL! I know why painters charge so much money to do the job. I hate it! But - the big 'but' is - you'll feel so much better in beautiful surroundings. That's the best I can do to encourage you - - if it were up to me I would just pay someone else to do it. ;-)

19 June, 2007 23:41  
Blogger tweetey30 said...

Ok. I also e-mailed you sometime this week. I know you have been busy cleaning and getting the place ready to go. I understand that one. Things are pretty good here. I have an update on my blog on whats up. Also it doesnt have to be soon for those things if you have anything. We have three months before we start thinking bout school again anyway. I have some storiest to tell everyone tomorrow maybe for a good post for the weekend. Catch you later. N.

21 June, 2007 17:01  
Blogger Grizzly Mama said...

Got your email, Tweetey, and responded!

21 June, 2007 23:39  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cubed here.

"Troll won't even throw broken stuff away - so I sneak it out into the bulk trash and then pretend I have no idea what he's talking about when he asks for stuff that is gone."

Have you been talking to my Number Two Daughter? Her husband can't throw away ANYTHING, not even - I'm not exaggerating here - RECEIPTS! He has receipts going back for years! The whole family gets together to whisper about his "problem" when he's out of the room!

Numbers One and Two are going to send him off to some sort of meeting in August and descend upon the crap. Bonfires, garage sales, runs to the dump - you name it! They have just decided to risk the consequences!

02 July, 2007 19:30  

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