31 October, 2023

...shareables...



Just a quick pop-in from over here at Crafter's Chaos,
where last minute Costume Catastrophes
have this mami running around like a headless chicken!

Over on the margin, you'll find that the "shareables" have been updated with this year's
"Spooky Poem Lunchnotes" 
(the step-children edition!)
so give it a look and be inspired!

Hope you are all enjoying your Halloween festivities, and that the weather complies with Us All for a frightfully fantastic night of Trick-or-Treating!




 

...Happy Halloween...


 

08 October, 2023

...25 (in days gone by)...

 In Days Gone By:
 8.October.2022

Tap tap tap.
Fingers on keyboards.
Across the table.

Am reminded, just now, of sitting across the table from Johannes (a different table, with different tech) as he worked on homework and I worked on work (editing) in companionable silence. Chat windows popping up on both screens occasionally, as we politely interrupted one another. The scent of herbal tea steaming into the air around us.

Now we work in silence, together.
Both logged into the same doc.
His cursor kicking mine out of the way.
Occasionally, one or the other of us breaks the silence to "read aloud" (the best editing tool!) and we stop to take a sip and crack those finger joints.

This.
More than I knew to hope for.


03 October, 2023

...October : The List...

Rain, rain, go away...and take September with you!

We're a few gorgeous days into October and thank goodness for that!
Delayed by rain...then illness...we're finally getting back in the game.

The month ahead is already filling up with 'big things' that must be done,
so, I'm all the more eager to find little pockets of fun and adventure.

Mid-month, we'll be heading out on the road for a long car trip to Ohio.  It's a trip fraught with emotion, even this far in advance.  A goodbye, and a hello, and a...'oh, I remember you' all wrapped up in one.  And it will be Henri's first long car trip...so, I've planning to do for sufficient breaks.

Homeschooling has been chewing up the majority of my time...if I'm not actively in teacher-mode, then I'm trying to create resources and recycle thrift finds into unit-themed activities.  Henri is flourishing in these early days and for as often as I may feel defeated by the things that went undone, I am buoyed right back up by his love for learning and challenge.

You'll note the final item...  So long overdue...


29 September, 2023

...24 (in days gone by)...

In Days Gone By:
 29.September.2018

Swing in our doorway any evening and you might find J-bug on the cello or keyboard. You might find him sanding down prototypes or making resin molds or painting his custom creations. You might even find him drying the dishes...ha!

But, more likely than not, you'll find him in "his corner".
Ensconced in his chair in the corner of the livingroom, tea mug close at hand steaming into the lamplight. He'll be hunched over his laptop, earbuds dangling, frantically typing away with a crease in his brow.

He has...thoughts. Big ones. Little ones. Thoughts that "must come out"!

Last night on our way in to my work, we stopped by T.J. Maxx (as we do) where he waited on a bench while I tried a few things on. He refused to try on the shirts he had found. Fine. No problem. I eyeballed them and acquiesced. At any rate, I dashed in and dashed out, handing over my discards to the fitting room attendant and retrieving my bench-warmer.

"You okay?", I asked.
"Yup." Small grin. "I was thinking. Most of the time. And then I figured it out."
"Figured what out?", I asked.
"Well, I was thinking about God. And Science. And then I figured out the Science behind God. I found a way to scientifically proved that God exists."

Me. Stopped...mid-stride.

"So...how's that work?"

*less than five minutes, peeps...
less than three minutes more likely in the fitting room,
and this is what I come back out to?!?*

"Well, I have to type it out.", he says.
"What do you mean? Explain it.", I respond.
"No", he says. "No, I can't just talk it out. I have to write it down. I can't organize it right in spoken words, not even to you."

So when we came home, I made the tea and he typed his thoughts. I prepped dinner, and his fingers dance across the keyboard at lightning speed. I rang the dinner bell (yes, literal bell. Tiny little silver bell I keep on the top shelf.) and he shook his head. A few more clicks, then done.
My phone chimed. An email alert. I swiped down and saw it was from him.
Invitation to edit in Google Docs.

This. Is. My. Life.
This is normal.
He communicates with me via Google Docs.
Sharing ideas and thoughts and hypotheses.

The email came with a caveat: "I don't have time to write it all out...this is my outline, Mami. What do you think? I'm hungry!"

~~~

"We all believe in some version of how humans came to be . . . but what if all of them were accurate?

Science tells us that homo sapiens came about as an evolutionary adaptation. Religion tells us that humans were based in God’s image.

But let’s start somewhere else. There is a common urban myth that humans use 10% of their brain. This isn’t entirely true, seeing as the human brain is involuntarily used for different things such as music and emotions. Still, though, we only use a fraction of our brains consciously. What if we were able to willingly use more of it? The idea of utilizing an advanced level of intelligence and general understanding has always had its appeal to many, but in reality, it seems fictional. However, there have been examples of more usage, such as unexplained phenomena during medical testing, or major intuition, or even just that extended sense of deja vu, where you perfectly predict what someone will say or do.

Let’s take a look at another interesting fact. Astronauts have proven that your location can affect your age. A person in space will not age as fast as the person on earth, thus proving gravity affects time. And what is gravity, but waves created by miniscule vibrations in matter?

String Theory. That well-founded idea (that still has not been disproven) suggesting that the smallest particles are merely super-symmetrical vibrations forming patterns to create larger particles, which in turn form atoms. This by extension also suggests that all matter (and some forms of energy) gives off a gravitational field based upon the mass and size of the object at hand. Hence why there is practically no pull between humans, but there is one between planets.

Quantum-Based Temporal Manipulation Theory, by yours truly. This idea I came up with, suggest that if one could manipulate the quantum particles, they could manipulate time itself to a degree.
Let’s get back to that idea of using one’s brain. If we were conscious of our own abilities, then we would be able to manipulate time and matter. What if God was human but simply had a full level of consciousness? Theoretically, he could have been an early human, not homo sapien, and forced the evolution of the homo sapiens. Given humans are social beings, that would also explain his understanding people. This is just some food for thought. A feast if you will...

This is what happens when I have free-time. I need more coffee now..."

~~~

Oh yes, people. This is my life. Isn't it awesome?
~One super lucky Mami

(This was Johannes, at 15)