My classical education

Most of you know that I homeschooled Michael for Grades 4 and 5. It was a wonderful experience that I recommend to anyone with the desire, opportunity, and energy. Not only great for the student, but I learned a lot about myself that I didn't know before.

One of those things is that I actually like history. I have lived for a long time believing that I hated history. I didn't think I had a good memory, and it all seemed so dry. Well, my memory isn't good for lists of facts or disconnected stuff, but I have found that I actually like learning history, and that has opened up the vast realms of historical literature that I have in the past ignored.

I followed a classical approach to homeschooling as outlined in The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I can't go in to the details about the program in this post, but essentially you do a four year cycle, roughly covering Ancients (5000 BC-AD400), Medieval-Early Renaissance (400-1600), Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850), and Modern (16850-present). You do it three times, which takes you through 12 school years (grades). Each time, you look deeper into the period and read more complex literature. We did the first two years, using age-appropriate history resources and coordinating novels/literature.

I have decided to embark on some self-study, roughly following the high school recommendations. I am going to start with the Ancients and plan to read:

• Bible: The Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy: dates btw. 1850 and 700 BC)
• Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2500 BC)
• Homer, Iliad or Odyssey (not sure which one yet) (c. 850 BC)
• Sophocles, Oedipus the King (490 BC)
• Euripides, Medea ( 431 BC)
• Aristotle, On Poetics (350 BC)
• Bible : Book of Daniel (c. 165 BC)
• Virgil, Aeneid (c. 30 BC)
• Ovid, Metamophoses (c. AD 5)
• Bible: Corinthians 1 and 2 (c. AD 58)
• Josephus, The Great Roman-Jewish War (c. AD 68)
• Athanasius, On the Incarnation (c. AD 300)

There are more possibilities in the book but I've picked out readings which either I already own or were easily available to me. I will be using Spielvogel's Western Civilization as my history text book and am still awaiting it's arrival from Alibris as I managed to score a good used copy to keep my costs down.

I'm almost finished the Pentateuch and used the reading guides in my New American Bible Study Edition to give me some background, as well as A Catholic Guide to the Bible by Fr. Oscar Lukefahr that I got from Paperback Swap a year ago and hadn't cracked.

I've also been listening to a podcast from UC Berkeley that I found on iTunes. The course is called History 4A: The Ancient Mediterranean World and it's free. The first three lectures are missing (I think she decided to record the lectures at that point) and unfortunately, I missed the discussion of the Sumerians which will be useful for the Epic of Gilgamesh. The drawback of these podcasts is that I can't see any of her slides. And she's slightly disorganized, which makes listening a bit of a chore when I can't see what's happening in the classroom. As I said, it's free and interesting, and kills time in the car.

There are a ton of online (and offline) study guides for the works I plan to read, but I'm going to try to go without, at least somewhat, and let the works sink in to my brain on their own.

Sigh...TTC is on strike

Last night at midnight, our transit workers here in TO went on strike after rejecting the agreement that had been negotiated last week.

I don't know enough about the working conditions or the agreement to have an educated opinion about this labour action. But the strike was called with no notice, contrary to union promises of 48 hours, stranding hundreds of people in downtown Toronto last night.

So far today, I've spent quite a bit of the time in the car. I drove Michael to Japanese class downtown first thing this morning, and then picked him up at noon and drove him to Karate. Then picked him up after Karate and drove him to buy a glove for softball at school this week and then home. Normally, one of us drives him either to Japanese or to a subway station, and then he gets to karate and home on public transit.

There is talk that the city government will order workers back to work in a special sitting of the provincial legislature scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. That would put drivers back on the road for the weekday commute which, frankly and from a completely selfish point of view, would be nice. We have a great, if aging, transit system in the city and it is one of the main reasons we chose to downsize our house (and upsize our mortgage) to live in-town.

I do NOT want to schlepp my boys to school in grid-lock on Monday....

My classical education

Most of you know that I homeschooled Michael for Grades 4 and 5. It was a wonderful experience that I recommend to anyone with the desire, opportunity, and energy. Not only great for the student, but I learned a lot about myself that I didn't know before.

One of those things is that I actually like history. I have lived for a long time believing that I hated history. I didn't think I had a good memory, and it all seemed so dry. Well, my memory isn't good for lists of facts or disconnected stuff, but I have found that I actually like learning history, and that has opened up the vast realms of historical literature that I have in the past ignored.

I followed a classical approach to homeschooling as outlined in The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I can't go in to the details about the program in this post, but essentially you do a four year cycle, roughly covering Ancients (5000 BC-AD400), Medieval-Early Renaissance (400-1600), Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850), and Modern (16850-present). You do it three times, which takes you through 12 school years (grades). Each time, you look deeper into the period and read more complex literature. We did the first two years, using age-appropriate history resources and coordinating novels/literature.

I have decided to embark on some self-study, roughly following the high school recommendations. I am going to start with the Ancients and plan to read:

• Bible: The Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy: dates btw. 1850 and 700 BC)
• Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2500 BC)
• Homer, Iliad or Odyssey (not sure which one yet) (c. 850 BC)
• Sophocles, Oedipus the King (490 BC)
• Euripides, Medea ( 431 BC)
• Aristotle, On Poetics (350 BC)
• Bible : Book of Daniel (c. 165 BC)
• Virgil, Aeneid (c. 30 BC)
• Ovid, Metamophoses (c. AD 5)
• Bible: Corinthians 1 and 2 (c. AD 58)
• Josephus, The Great Roman-Jewish War (c. AD 68)
• Athanasius, On the Incarnation (c. AD 300)

There are more possibilities in the book but I've picked out readings which either I already own or were easily available to me. I will be using Spielvogel's Western Civilization as my history text book and am still awaiting it's arrival from Alibris as I managed to score a good used copy to keep my costs down.

I'm almost finished the Pentateuch and used the reading guides in my New American Bible Study Edition to give me some background, as well as A Catholic Guide to the Bible by Fr. Oscar Lukefahr that I got from Paperback Swap a year ago and hadn't cracked.

I've also been listening to a podcast from UC Berkeley that I found on iTunes. The course is called History 4A: The Ancient Mediterranean World and it's free. The first three lectures are missing (I think she decided to record the lectures at that point) and unfortunately, I missed the discussion of the Sumerians which will be useful for the Epic of Gilgamesh. The drawback of these podcasts is that I can't see any of her slides. And she's slightly disorganized, which makes listening a bit of a chore when I can't see what's happening in the classroom. As I said, it's free and interesting, and kills time in the car.

There are a ton of online (and offline) study guides for the works I plan to read, but I'm going to try to go without, at least somewhat, and let the works sink in to my brain on their own.

Sigh...TTC is on strike

Last night at midnight, our transit workers here in TO went on strike after rejecting the agreement that had been negotiated last week.

I don't know enough about the working conditions or the agreement to have an educated opinion about this labour action. But the strike was called with no notice, contrary to union promises of 48 hours, stranding hundreds of people in downtown Toronto last night.

So far today, I've spent quite a bit of the time in the car. I drove Michael to Japanese class downtown first thing this morning, and then picked him up at noon and drove him to Karate. Then picked him up after Karate and drove him to buy a glove for softball at school this week and then home. Normally, one of us drives him either to Japanese or to a subway station, and then he gets to karate and home on public transit.

There is talk that the city government will order workers back to work in a special sitting of the provincial legislature scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. That would put drivers back on the road for the weekday commute which, frankly and from a completely selfish point of view, would be nice. We have a great, if aging, transit system in the city and it is one of the main reasons we chose to downsize our house (and upsize our mortgage) to live in-town.

I do NOT want to schlepp my boys to school in grid-lock on Monday....

A bit of pomp

I had a lovely day yesterday, visiting with an old friend and her mother. Karen invited me to an event at her church. The Lieutenant Governor David Onley and his wife Ruth-Ann are members there and they had been invited to speak yesterday morning.

He has an inspiring story but talked mainly about the time around his appointment last summer and what it had meant for him and his family. His wife is a Christian gospel singer and she also spoke briefly and sang a few numbers.

The event was hosted by the church's pastor, and the morning opened with some gorgeous music by the HiMiG Gospel singers, a group from the Philippines who call this congregation their home base and act as the church's choir. The event wrapped up with a delicious hot lunch for 150 prepared by the pastor's wife.

A bit of pomp

I had a lovely day yesterday, visiting with an old friend and her mother. Karen invited me to an event at her church. The Lieutenant Governor David Onley and his wife Ruth-Ann are members there and they had been invited to speak yesterday morning.

He has an inspiring story but talked mainly about the time around his appointment last summer and what it had meant for him and his family. His wife is a Christian gospel singer and she also spoke briefly and sang a few numbers.

The event was hosted by the church's pastor, and the morning opened with some gorgeous music by the HiMiG Gospel singers, a group from the Philippines who call this congregation their home base and act as the church's choir. The event wrapped up with a delicious hot lunch for 150 prepared by the pastor's wife.

Food for Benedict

Lovely piece over at Bettnet.com on three meals served to the Holy Father. If you're a Catholic (or not) and love food, go and read (and salivate).

Food for Benedict

Lovely piece over at Bettnet.com on three meals served to the Holy Father. If you're a Catholic (or not) and love food, go and read (and salivate).

Commanded to love.

From the Jewish World Review: the answer to a question I've never asked is here.

Commanded to love.

From the Jewish World Review: the answer to a question I've never asked is here.

Like buttah....

We had a beautiful beef tenderloin for supper tonight. As I've posted before, my local grocer carries pastured beef from Beretta Organic Farms, and I can't say enough about our experience with this meat. When I purchased the tenderloin on Friday, the butcher said that this would be the best meat I'd ever eaten.

He was right.

I am not usually happy with meat prepped at home. In the past, I don't think that quality meat was (in general) made available to home cooks. My local grocer has rebranded itself as Loblaw Great Food and have made a number of changes in store layout and selection, including organic deli, butcher and dairy products, as well as lots of packaged organic stuff, interleaved with regular non-organic (i.e., not in a separate section of the store). I have been uniformly happy with everything I've purchased from the butcher, including beef, pork, lamb, chicken (whole and part) and bacon. The same farm also makes deli meat that I buy for lunches, usually Italian turkey breast and beef salami.

Back to the beef. I larded it with butter and put a couple of sprigs of rosemary under the string tie. As per The Joy of Cooking (Julia Child was mum on beef tenderloin), I preheated the oven to 500F and then reduced it to 350 as the beef went into the oven. Cooked to 120F. It rested for 10 minutes before we sat down.

The beef was incredibly tender and tasty. Dinner also included mashed potatoes, shelled spring peas, and broccoli, plus gravy made from the pan drippings. Mmmmm.

Z proposed banana splits for dessert, so while I passed on that, it was a delish finale to another great Sunday dinner.

Amazing Grace...a little history.

Amen.

Like buttah....

We had a beautiful beef tenderloin for supper tonight. As I've posted before, my local grocer carries pastured beef from Beretta Organic Farms, and I can't say enough about our experience with this meat. When I purchased the tenderloin on Friday, the butcher said that this would be the best meat I'd ever eaten.

He was right.

I am not usually happy with meat prepped at home. In the past, I don't think that quality meat was (in general) made available to home cooks. My local grocer has rebranded itself as Loblaw Great Food and have made a number of changes in store layout and selection, including organic deli, butcher and dairy products, as well as lots of packaged organic stuff, interleaved with regular non-organic (i.e., not in a separate section of the store). I have been uniformly happy with everything I've purchased from the butcher, including beef, pork, lamb, chicken (whole and part) and bacon. The same farm also makes deli meat that I buy for lunches, usually Italian turkey breast and beef salami.

Back to the beef. I larded it with butter and put a couple of sprigs of rosemary under the string tie. As per The Joy of Cooking (Julia Child was mum on beef tenderloin), I preheated the oven to 500F and then reduced it to 350 as the beef went into the oven. Cooked to 120F. It rested for 10 minutes before we sat down.

The beef was incredibly tender and tasty. Dinner also included mashed potatoes, shelled spring peas, and broccoli, plus gravy made from the pan drippings. Mmmmm.

Z proposed banana splits for dessert, so while I passed on that, it was a delish finale to another great Sunday dinner.

Amazing Grace...a little history.

Amen.

Grid-lock

[Update: Just heard that a tentative agreement was reached minutes ago...transit will be running at least for tomorrow.]

The Toronto Transit Commission has until 4 pm today to reach an agreement with workers. Or else the city's public transit will be out tomorrow.

The lads take bus/subway/streetcar to school and back each day, and so this will mean that I will need to get them to school tomorrow, in the midst of thousands of other in the same boat. We're not going into the heart of downtown, nor do we live in the suburbs, so the pain will be less than for many, but I do not look forward to venturing south in my car. I will likely drive them part way and then turn north towards home, and they can walk the rest of the way.

Z drives to the 'burbs for work so he should be against traffic, although I suppose all bets are off in this case. He needs to get to the airport tomorrow afternoon which will likely be much more of a problem. He has a limo booked, but needs to consider moving up the pickup time to allow for congestion.

This is a big city that relies heavily on our fairly decent transit system. There are some significant issues on the bargaining table (and some less-than-significant) but I can't help but feel selfish about it all at this point.

Grid-lock

[Update: Just heard that a tentative agreement was reached minutes ago...transit will be running at least for tomorrow.]

The Toronto Transit Commission has until 4 pm today to reach an agreement with workers. Or else the city's public transit will be out tomorrow.

The lads take bus/subway/streetcar to school and back each day, and so this will mean that I will need to get them to school tomorrow, in the midst of thousands of other in the same boat. We're not going into the heart of downtown, nor do we live in the suburbs, so the pain will be less than for many, but I do not look forward to venturing south in my car. I will likely drive them part way and then turn north towards home, and they can walk the rest of the way.

Z drives to the 'burbs for work so he should be against traffic, although I suppose all bets are off in this case. He needs to get to the airport tomorrow afternoon which will likely be much more of a problem. He has a limo booked, but needs to consider moving up the pickup time to allow for congestion.

This is a big city that relies heavily on our fairly decent transit system. There are some significant issues on the bargaining table (and some less-than-significant) but I can't help but feel selfish about it all at this point.

Liturgy and the Papal Mass

The blogosphere is reeling with discussion about the Papal mass in DC. I found Fr. Rob Johansen's piece excellent. A little exerpt:

We live in the age, as Mark Shea has coined the term, of "Generation Narcissus". Our collective motto as a society is "It's all about me." In liturgical terms, this translates to the "Self-Actualized Community Celebrating Itself in Its Okayness". In our pride and self-centeredness, we want to turn the liturgy around to focus on ourselves. As a priest I have encountered this in many ways. This attitude commonly rears its head in weddings. When, from time to time, I have had to say "no" to the unreasonable liturgical demands of some bride, I have heard the reply "but this is my wedding". To which my response is, "yes, it is, but it's not about you. At confirmation, graduation, and other special Masses, frequently the organizers try, in ways verging upon the silly, to concoct ways to "involve" all the confirmands or graduates, to give them all something to "do" in the liturgy, because it's "about" them.

Head over and read the whole thing.

Liturgy and the Papal Mass

The blogosphere is reeling with discussion about the Papal mass in DC. I found Fr. Rob Johansen's piece excellent. A little exerpt:

We live in the age, as Mark Shea has coined the term, of "Generation Narcissus". Our collective motto as a society is "It's all about me." In liturgical terms, this translates to the "Self-Actualized Community Celebrating Itself in Its Okayness". In our pride and self-centeredness, we want to turn the liturgy around to focus on ourselves. As a priest I have encountered this in many ways. This attitude commonly rears its head in weddings. When, from time to time, I have had to say "no" to the unreasonable liturgical demands of some bride, I have heard the reply "but this is my wedding". To which my response is, "yes, it is, but it's not about you. At confirmation, graduation, and other special Masses, frequently the organizers try, in ways verging upon the silly, to concoct ways to "involve" all the confirmands or graduates, to give them all something to "do" in the liturgy, because it's "about" them.

Head over and read the whole thing.

Catholics Come Home: Via CWN

Lovely piece....

Catholics Come Home: Via CWN

Lovely piece....

My poor second child.

I really feel sometimes that Michael gets short shrift in our family. I have come to understand that he is not a whiner, and tends to politely ask for things numerous times and then gives up. Unlike his older brother.

Part of this came to me when I realised that he had nary a complaint after his braces went on three weeks ago. He asked me for an Advil on the second day, and other than that, nada. No whining about the inside of his mouth. No complaining about what he can't eat. Nothing.

He has been asking to take Karate for months. Since before we moved to Toronto last summer. (Okay, so it's probably over a year.) On Saturday, we finally took him to the local dojo and got the deets. Yesterday, he went for his introductory session and first class, and loved it!

The place is great...clean and bright (even though it's in a basement) with viewing area for parents, four classroom areas, and a small closed off studio and a kitchen. Plus two offices and a reception area. All the staff were extremely enthusiastic and kind, and he is very keen to go the max of three times per week. We will probably sign him up for Monday and Wednesday evenings ... he can get to class on his bike when we're unable to take him. On Saturday afternoons, he can get there directly on public transit from his Japanese class downtown.

This will be great for his posture and stamina, and good exercise for this child who is not really in to team sports.

My poor second child.

I really feel sometimes that Michael gets short shrift in our family. I have come to understand that he is not a whiner, and tends to politely ask for things numerous times and then gives up. Unlike his older brother.

Part of this came to me when I realised that he had nary a complaint after his braces went on three weeks ago. He asked me for an Advil on the second day, and other than that, nada. No whining about the inside of his mouth. No complaining about what he can't eat. Nothing.

He has been asking to take Karate for months. Since before we moved to Toronto last summer. (Okay, so it's probably over a year.) On Saturday, we finally took him to the local dojo and got the deets. Yesterday, he went for his introductory session and first class, and loved it!

The place is great...clean and bright (even though it's in a basement) with viewing area for parents, four classroom areas, and a small closed off studio and a kitchen. Plus two offices and a reception area. All the staff were extremely enthusiastic and kind, and he is very keen to go the max of three times per week. We will probably sign him up for Monday and Wednesday evenings ... he can get to class on his bike when we're unable to take him. On Saturday afternoons, he can get there directly on public transit from his Japanese class downtown.

This will be great for his posture and stamina, and good exercise for this child who is not really in to team sports.

My Canada includes the CBC Radio Orchestra!

Go here to get informed.

Kathleen Rudolph, principal flute of the Orchestra, is a fellow alto in our parish choir. This morning, during our pre-mass rehearsal, she passed this link on to us as the main source for info and resources to mobilize classical music lovers in this country and abroad. She also made a speech at the Toronto rally on Friday.

My Canada includes the CBC Radio Orchestra!

Go here to get informed.

Kathleen Rudolph, principal flute of the Orchestra, is a fellow alto in our parish choir. This morning, during our pre-mass rehearsal, she passed this link on to us as the main source for info and resources to mobilize classical music lovers in this country and abroad. She also made a speech at the Toronto rally on Friday.

Music and Life - Alan Watts

Michael sent this to me. Too true. How did he figure this out at age 13?

Who're you gonna call?

Bark Busters!

Really. I can't believe that after one three-hour training session, there have been huge changes in our dear Wilson and his level of anxiety (read, barking).

The trainer came over Tuesday afternoon for our first session. The teaching (of me) part was short because their philosophy and methods are very close to that of Cesar Millan aka The Dog Whisperer, and I have watched pretty much all his shows. So I get the pack thing, the dog psychology stuff, and the notion of teaching by voice and action, not treats or physical discipline.

We started by working on getting Wilson to understand that he needs to be submissive to me. Then we dealt with knocking at the door and the doorbell. We did some outside work on walking and dealing with other animals he meets outside (lotsa work left to do here....Jana the trainer will bring one of her dogs in the future to help here). Then we did "distance training" which is teaching him to stay by my side even when he is distracted by things.

She recommended that we get a crate for him to use as a den when he wants to relax, so we picked one up yesterday and are just starting to get him interested in using it. That will take a while, but we're not needing to potty train or anything...it's more for his comfort and relaxation.

I have some practice stuff to do at home, and we'll do another training session with Jana in a few weeks. But it's freakin' unbelieveable how much of a difference this has made so far.

Music and Life - Alan Watts

Michael sent this to me. Too true. How did he figure this out at age 13?

Who're you gonna call?

Bark Busters!

Really. I can't believe that after one three-hour training session, there have been huge changes in our dear Wilson and his level of anxiety (read, barking).

The trainer came over Tuesday afternoon for our first session. The teaching (of me) part was short because their philosophy and methods are very close to that of Cesar Millan aka The Dog Whisperer, and I have watched pretty much all his shows. So I get the pack thing, the dog psychology stuff, and the notion of teaching by voice and action, not treats or physical discipline.

We started by working on getting Wilson to understand that he needs to be submissive to me. Then we dealt with knocking at the door and the doorbell. We did some outside work on walking and dealing with other animals he meets outside (lotsa work left to do here....Jana the trainer will bring one of her dogs in the future to help here). Then we did "distance training" which is teaching him to stay by my side even when he is distracted by things.

She recommended that we get a crate for him to use as a den when he wants to relax, so we picked one up yesterday and are just starting to get him interested in using it. That will take a while, but we're not needing to potty train or anything...it's more for his comfort and relaxation.

I have some practice stuff to do at home, and we'll do another training session with Jana in a few weeks. But it's freakin' unbelieveable how much of a difference this has made so far.

A good weekend isn't necessarily a productive one....

....but in this case, it was.

We've turned our basement bedroom, formerly my (virually unused) craft room, into an office for Z. So he no longer will have the bay window in our bedroom stuffed with a folding table, zillions of cables, books, papers, and other work detritus. I've suggested that he also move the exercise bench and free-weights into that room. Two steps closer to a spa-like bedroom!

Alex got some tutoring in Saturday morning, and he and Z made a chicken casserole for our parish ministry so he's feeling a little better about his Christian service hours.

Saturday night, Z, Michael and I went to see 21. While predictable in many ways, it was high energy and enjoyable. The fact that it's been #1 at the box office for two weeks suggests that the current movie pickings are pretty slim.

Sunday was choir practice and mass. We started rehearsing a simply divine work by Monteverdi called Stabat virgo Maria. Originally a madrigal, the sacred text was added later by Aquilino Coppini. It was like singing velvet and I plan to purchase it from iTunes today so that I can enjoy it further.

Sunday evening I roasted a chicken from Beretta Farms and enjoyed lots of our organic produce from our GEO box We had pureed parsnips and carrots, boiled potatoes, and cucumbers. Today I'll make some chicken stock with the remains for a hearty lentil soup this evening.

A good weekend isn't necessarily a productive one....

....but in this case, it was.

We've turned our basement bedroom, formerly my (virually unused) craft room, into an office for Z. So he no longer will have the bay window in our bedroom stuffed with a folding table, zillions of cables, books, papers, and other work detritus. I've suggested that he also move the exercise bench and free-weights into that room. Two steps closer to a spa-like bedroom!

Alex got some tutoring in Saturday morning, and he and Z made a chicken casserole for our parish ministry so he's feeling a little better about his Christian service hours.

Saturday night, Z, Michael and I went to see 21. While predictable in many ways, it was high energy and enjoyable. The fact that it's been #1 at the box office for two weeks suggests that the current movie pickings are pretty slim.

Sunday was choir practice and mass. We started rehearsing a simply divine work by Monteverdi called Stabat virgo Maria. Originally a madrigal, the sacred text was added later by Aquilino Coppini. It was like singing velvet and I plan to purchase it from iTunes today so that I can enjoy it further.

Sunday evening I roasted a chicken from Beretta Farms and enjoyed lots of our organic produce from our GEO box We had pureed parsnips and carrots, boiled potatoes, and cucumbers. Today I'll make some chicken stock with the remains for a hearty lentil soup this evening.

Loose ends are getting gathered.

Many things are finally coming together.

• My new laptop arrived yesterday and I've transferred most of my data over from my old one. It's a lovely thing, with green satin lid, large glossy screen, and Windows Vista which doesn't seem as bad as all the reports and, frankly, is not that much different from XP, at least in terms of the interface.
  I can't find my CD copy of Quicken though. I purchased it last summer when we arrived in Toronto and were living in the condo. I simply cannot lay my hands on it and I need it to transfer all our financial files to my new machine. I will do a detailed scour of the house today to try to locate it.
  
• I have been in touch with a behavioural therapist/trainer for Wilson. He's a doll in many ways, but he's got a lot of anxiety and is dangerously prey driven. That includes people, other dogs, small animals, and anything that deigns to come onto our property. Jana will come out Tuesday afternoon for 4 hours of training and we'll see how it goes. She's with Bark Busters and the organization has been recommended to us by multiple people. I just need to be able to have a plumber over without Wilson barking his head off for two hours.
• My car is scheduled for repair starting on Monday. The total (including rental) is about $1300....I've learned not to be surprised at how expensive it is to have a few scratches and dents taken out of a car. But that's why we have insurance. Because I wasn't at fault and got to the car to the Collision Reporting Centre within 24 hours, I don't even have to pay the deductible.
• I'm back on track with my cleaning schedule. I've flipped between Flylady and the Motivated Moms planner, and am on the latter these days. I like her system because it's slow and steady. A little bit every day and pretty soon the house is looking fine.
• Alex was all in a tizzy because he is behind in his community service hours for school, specifically for Religion class. He is a peer tutor for math and science but he hasn't had much business so doesn't have the requisite 20 hours. I have lined him up some tutoring with one of his cousins who's in Grade 9 and having trouble with math, and he'll start that tomorrow. He and his father are also going to make some casseroles as part of a ministry that our parish has, making meals for the Good Shepherd Centre. The parish provides the recipe and large aluminum foil casserole pans. Parish members make the casseroles and then drop them into the freezer at the parish on an on-going basis.
  

Loose ends are getting gathered.

Many things are finally coming together.

• My new laptop arrived yesterday and I've transferred most of my data over from my old one. It's a lovely thing, with green satin lid, large glossy screen, and Windows Vista which doesn't seem as bad as all the reports and, frankly, is not that much different from XP, at least in terms of the interface.
  I can't find my CD copy of Quicken though. I purchased it last summer when we arrived in Toronto and were living in the condo. I simply cannot lay my hands on it and I need it to transfer all our financial files to my new machine. I will do a detailed scour of the house today to try to locate it.
  
• I have been in touch with a behavioural therapist/trainer for Wilson. He's a doll in many ways, but he's got a lot of anxiety and is dangerously prey driven. That includes people, other dogs, small animals, and anything that deigns to come onto our property. Jana will come out Tuesday afternoon for 4 hours of training and we'll see how it goes. She's with Bark Busters and the organization has been recommended to us by multiple people. I just need to be able to have a plumber over without Wilson barking his head off for two hours.
• My car is scheduled for repair starting on Monday. The total (including rental) is about $1300....I've learned not to be surprised at how expensive it is to have a few scratches and dents taken out of a car. But that's why we have insurance. Because I wasn't at fault and got to the car to the Collision Reporting Centre within 24 hours, I don't even have to pay the deductible.
• I'm back on track with my cleaning schedule. I've flipped between Flylady and the Motivated Moms planner, and am on the latter these days. I like her system because it's slow and steady. A little bit every day and pretty soon the house is looking fine.
• Alex was all in a tizzy because he is behind in his community service hours for school, specifically for Religion class. He is a peer tutor for math and science but he hasn't had much business so doesn't have the requisite 20 hours. I have lined him up some tutoring with one of his cousins who's in Grade 9 and having trouble with math, and he'll start that tomorrow. He and his father are also going to make some casseroles as part of a ministry that our parish has, making meals for the Good Shepherd Centre. The parish provides the recipe and large aluminum foil casserole pans. Parish members make the casseroles and then drop them into the freezer at the parish on an on-going basis.