Energy Like a Cow

So, I know that kids are tweaked…all of them. It’s just their nature.  I have one especially super tweaker kid, but they are all their share of tweaked.

My super tweaker (not mentioning any names and I bet none of you can guess, right?  Right!!)  is a really loud, crazy, odd, darling, funny, talented, child who makes weird noises constantly (I think I need to write Julian Smith’s mom and ask if she was worried when he was young…..the answer probably won’t make me feel any better, but might help me prepare emotionally for the future).  He was being unusually loud(er) and I was holding my head saying stop, stop, stop you’re driving me crazy.  And he said “I can’t mom, I have the energy of a cow”.  Hm.  Oh…..yeah……I get it….no, I don’t.…  Here ‘s his explanation:  “Cows are moving, moving, moving their mouths all day long…chew, chew, chew.  They never stop moving their mouths…..they have lots of energy…..just like me”.  Okay.  Yep, I get the mouth thing. – boy do I.  And be assured that this wisdom was offered about 40 decibels above normal in a squeaky, cartoon character voice.  Tweaker.   Did I mention that he plays the drums?  Figures, huh?

Last night, we were talking about everyone getting older and Josiah being out of the house in the next few years most likely (and I am getting sad), and the tweaker blurts out, without even a second to contemplate – natural as anything….”Yeah, and I’ll move out with him.  I still won’t have to pay rent and he will have good recording equipment then and a way better drum kit than I have now”……huh.  And so we were thrown off in a mere instant for better gear.  I see how this works.  The rest of us laughed really hard, but he was serious.  

PaperBack Swap

If you haven’t signed up for PaperBack Swap (PBS), you ought to check it out.  We LOVE it.  You “buy” books from other members with points that you earn by posting your own books.  By posting your first 10 books, you earn a point, and then you earn a point for each additional book that someone requests from your posted list (after you send it).  Each regular book “costs” one point.  No money passes hands, but you do have to pay to ship a book that a member requests from you.  When you request a book from another member, they pay the shipping.  

One of my favorite features is that you can create a wish list.  When the books on your list are posted by another member, you are notified via email so that you can accept the book.  We have gotten some of our favorites that way. 

All books are not paperbacks, either.  We got the audiobook for 100 Cupboards a couple of years ago - that was quite a score.  And I regularly receive hardback books.  Just thought you'd want to know.  

Some of my most recent amazing finds from our wish list are:

Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini

Three Hardback Jane Austen books – Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and

            Prejudice….none of them look like they have ever been read – woot, woot!!

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

If you tell them that kriggsy sent you (or Karen Dunham) I will get a credit for spreading the news after you post your first 10 books.  Or, you can click the link in my sidebar and that will do the trick too.

Music Appreciation Week #2

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the Music Appreciation going on here at our home academy.  I can agree with Roling Stone’s assessment of Sgt. Pepper’s being the number one album……EVER.  But, I don’t quite see their number 2 pick.  The Beach Boys Pet Sounds earns the prestigious title. 

Rolling Stone says the following in their review:

With its vivid orchestration, lyrical ambition, elegant pacing and thematic coherence, Pet Sounds invented – and in some sense perfected – the idea that an album could be more than the sum of its parts. When Wilson sang, "Wouldn't it be nice if we were older?" on the magnificent opener, he wasn't just imagining a love that could evolve past high school; he was suggesting a new grown-up identity for rock & roll music itself.

Vivid orchestration??  Thematic coherence?  Wow….some serious praise.  We listened and quite honestly, I don’t get it.  Yes, it did break them out of the very narrow category of surf music that they were in, but second best album of ALL TIME???  I do really like the iconic “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and who hasn’t heard “Sloop John B” about a zillion times?  No one here was too impressed – they all lost interest quickly.  However, I am hearing Sgt. Pepper’s pop up on people’s playlists. 

Music Appreciation Class

I have been meaning to do music appreciation in our home for the past two years - it just makes sense.  Last week, we started with THE biggest/greatest album of all time (that’s kind of the direction we are going….best albums of all time, best songs of all time – according to the ‘professionals’).  So, just what is the “best album of all time”?   The Beatles, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band of course.  I can understand and concur with that title.  It was so random and experimental and interesting and eclectic...... and incredible!  I mean, who the heck is Billy Shears??  And “Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite” – what was that all about?  While listening to “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” (such a nice little children’s song!), Elisha said, “Wow, sounds like somebody had a sleep over and at around 1:00 am when they were really tired after drinking WAY too much Mountain Dew they wrote that song and laughed themselves silly”.  Josiah piped up and said, “I am pretty sure it wasn’t Mt Dew that they were drinking”.  Um, yeah, probably not.  

I had forgotten how crazy that album is and how much I loved it.  
There are lots of interesting things that helped earn the album its prestigious title.  Did you know that Sgt. Peppers was the first rock album to include complete lyrics to the songs in its design?  Also, The Beatles transformed studio recording on "A Day in the Life"; it was the first eight-track recording produced in Britain.  Rolling Stone claims that the album “is simply the best of everything the Beatles ever did as musicians, pioneers and pop stars, all in one place”.

Anyone remember the Peter Frampton/ Bee Gees/ Steve Martin movie of the same name with remakes of the songs?  I saw it three times in the theatres AND had the soundtrack.  Loved it….well, I was a Peter Frampton groupie at the time, so I loved him – in 7^th grade.  Dork.

I had forgotten how much I listened to the Beatles in my younger days and that they really were one of my favorites.  All the kids liked the album and that’s good because the Beatles have 5 out of the top ten albums so we will be hearing a lot from them in the coming months.  And you’ll never believe what the #2 album is!  Really!  More about that later this week.

Birthday dinner with the Burkes 

Isaiah is my very favorite 14 year old. He stepped into the position yesterday on his birthday.  14?  14!!!!!  Wow.  This year, he wandered around in those size 12 jeans for about a week and then settled into the 14s.  At the end of each meal he asks me what’s for the next one; we are thinking that he must have little side pouches somewhere, like hamsters have in their cheeks, where he hoards food because we can’t figure what the heck he’s doing with it.  No one could eat that often and stay so skinny.  And of all the kids this year, he has changed the most physically – it’s just that time!  I’m not sure how it got here but KABOOM – he’s a young man.

homemade warrior of some kind helmet

 Isaiah is a great kid and a blessing.  Something that has always been evident in Isaiah is how thankful he is. One of our favorite Christmas home videos features him when he was four.  We all crack up, because every single thing he gets (and I mean EVERY SINGLE THING….toothbrush and toothpaste in his stocking, a little Matchbox car,  a kazoo, you name it) he gets all excited, jumps up and shouts “YES!  I’ve been looking for that!!!” like he just got a new puppy.  He requested pecan pie for his birthday yesterday so pecan pie it was.  He thanked me three different times for making them and thanked Elisha just as many for making the crusts.  The Burkes got him a book light and an iTunes card and he was beside himself – he thanked them over and over and was so excited.  I was just really blessed to see such sweetness in him at 14.  

Isaiah is also super motivated, not easily discouraged, and cheerful most of the time.  I know that when I ask him to do something it is as good as done.   Because Isaiah is finished with his work and responsibilities so quickly he often gets more work than the other kids.  I really have to work at not taking advantage of that, because what a bummer it is to get more work for being diligent!  Hm. 

I am so grateful for and proud of my young man.  We are looking forward to the things that are to come with him.  We cannot be more thankful that the Lord has entrusted him to us to raise and love and that he loves us back.  Happy Birthday, Isaiah.  I love you more than you will ever know – my life is infinitely richer because of you.  

Favorites Addendum

I knew I'd forget someone.....Samestate.  Another Skull Church offering.  We bought their album and even though we started out really liking them, they have even grown on us more.  They are in the CD tray rotation a lot lately.  I was feeling very un-loyal leaving them out, so now I feel better.  Thank you for listening.

New Favs

The past two years have been very fun musically.  I was involved in the music/talent industry for a number of years, but once kids started arriving and life became sort of blurry around the edges for a few years, my music repertoire was reduced to the likes of Judy Rogers, Silly Songs with Larry, Go Fish, and Classical Kids (all of which we enjoy!).  About two years ago, with the help of one certain teenager who happens to live here and who lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps (actually, he doesn't do much of that!) music I was happily escorted back to that musical thing that I had been missing.  I am so happy to be home.  It has been a wonderful year of discovering some new musical favorites.  It really started last year at the Crown of the Continent Guitar Workhsop here in the Flathead Valley.  Josiah received a scholarship and we were introduced to Joe Bonamassa....oh my.  Gotta love him.  At the workshop, he played his acoustic and quite honestly, we totally prefer that to his electric stuff.  Amazing.  Then, our lives were changed forever on that fateful Skull Church night in March when Eisley was the guest.  Oh, Eisley, Eisley...it's always an Eisley day in my world.  I love all their songs, all their albums, and everything about them....even Sherry's pink hair! Eisley is a 4 sibling + 1 cousin band who is way beyond creative and talented (and they toured with Switchfoot for a time....that's worth about 400,000 bonus points).  At the dentist's office this year, we discovered Dave Barnes and he makes me oh so happy!  The two albums of his that are my favs, "What We Need, What We Get" and "Stories to Tell" contain not even one un-great song.  Love them all.  Some other favorite discoveries this year include - Down Here (awesome lyrically, musically, performacely - I know, not a word - don't care),  Drew Holcombe and the Neighbors (no idea how we found them, but we are glad that we did!), Needtobreathe (gotta love them), and Ben Rector.  And, I know I probably don't need to mention this, but a Favs list wouldn't be complete without Switchfoot.  I know they aren't a new fav, but every time I see or hear them, their favoriteness is renewed.....again.....weekly......daily.....hourly.  We love their music, their lyrics, who these guys are and what they are doing - what's not to love???  So, there you have it.  There are others, but these are our/my current top picks.  I have been spending all of my Swagbucks Amazon gift certificates on music this year....gotta love free music!!