"Look at me! No Wheels!"

Today was a very special day. Big D took Noahkeem's training wheels off of his bicycle. I thought that he would be wobbly without them and would have no clue how to stop safely. Much to my surprise, my little Noahkeem took off down the cul-de-sac as if he were Tony Hawk himself. He rode so nicely-and fast I might add. My heart just melted. Just to think this little guy was my smallest baby (5lbs, 11oz), and there he was just riding and riding down the street as if he had never had training wheels before. As I stood there in admiration, my little boy did not seem so little anymore.

And the Purge goes on

Homeschooling affords you the wonderful opportunity to accumulate tons of paper. I can safely say that we have probably housed one small forest in the form of school papers over the last 7 years. (Have I been homeschooling that long? Wow!)

I rarely work on Sundays but yesterday afternoon for whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to re organize the previously organized shelf in the hallway. The bottom shelf had tons of what I like to call archivals aka portfolios waiting to happen. So what I did was begin the sort and purge process. I made a pile of books that I probably would not use-ever and I pile of old papers that needed a new home in a landfill somewhere. To make a long story short I managed to overstuff a 13 gallon kitchen garbage bag with papers, had Dolly and Noahkeem shred a number of unnecessaries for me and managed to find a CD that someone burned for Cookie about 6 years ago.

I was certain that I would find an unspent dollar bill mixed in with the archives but, no such luck; and so, the purge goes on.

Surprised "it" happened?

I don't think that Freedom of Speech means say the first thing that comes to your mind. Yet in this country that's what we do I guess. And whatever is in the heart comes out one way or another in some form or another. At this point in life, little surprises me. I am not surprised by the possibility that "it"- whatever "it" is at the time could happen. So when I read Sarah Palin's Tweet was I shocked? I admit I did a double take. Am I surprised? Not at all. I'm done.

The "N" word?

Of course I have to comment on Dr. Laura's attention in the media as of late. First I have to say I have enjoyed her books "In praise of Stay at Home Moms" and "The proper care and feeding of Husbands". I have been a long time listener of her talk show yet missed the broadcast when she let her colors show.

I read the transcript of the conversation. Been to her blog to see her side of things and all I have to say is this: The woman who was calling into the show was looking for advise about her in laws in respect to their insensitivity about her skin color. (She married a white man, she is black). Apparently the in laws throw around the "N" word amongst other things. She was calling for advise on what to do. Dr. Laura then went on and on about how when black people say the "N" word, it's fine (which I disagree and I am black and in an interracial relationship) but, when white people say it it's not. Then she made it a point of saying over and over during the conversation. I'm sure this was good for her ratings. The bottom line is, it's hard to advise on certain things when you have no clue about them.. If no one has ever called you a Nigger, or if a police officer never followed you for no apparent reason except that you were driving a Mercedes, you are black and not in your part of town, or if store personnel have never asked you not to try on their clothes because well, your black, then you sure as heck have no clue how to advise about the ignorance and blatant disrespect of this chicks in-laws. (and Yes all of the above incidents have happened to me).

It is never okay for blacks to call each other Nigger, Nigga , Nig or the like. I resent people that think so. And to think that all black people think that its okay to do so is stupid on the part of the person making the accusation.

To tell the girl she should not have married into a white family if she didn't want the flack is like telling a quadriplegic that they should not have gotten married to an able bodied person if she didn't want the in laws calling her gimp. Get real!!! Her comments and the way she handled the call was lets face it, blatantly racially insensitive. I know plenty of people who don't agree with interracial marriage but, that's the culture we live in. People marry outside of their race everyday.
I don't consider myself a pessimist but, I do not believe that their will come a day when any one people will stop saying Nigger or calling someone a Nigger or getting angry to the point where it just "slips" out. And as much as people both black and white would love to think that racism does not exist because we have a bi-racial president in office who is married to a black woman, they're mistaken. It does exist. It's felt more in different parts of the country and felt less in others. It's felt more in some families and less in others. Some because of the color of their skin never feel it- to them its so far removed and virtually does not exist because it does not touch their world and probably never will.

Decluttering the stuff

Given that everyone wants their own "puter" time, It's been hard for me -once again to keep up with my posts. Although I did find myself shopping the aisles of itunes for a long time yesterday.

I have been throwing out tons of papers and getting rid of things not pertinent to my life and let me tell you, the more I get rid of, the more I see to get rid of.

The biggest thing to declutter are erroneous mindsets that have become such a part of life that it appears as that is the only way to go. As children we are taught not to question authority but, why not? I only assume it's because as adults we don't always have the answers and don't always know why we believe what we believe and will consider it grave disrespect if a child asks "why" in respect to our belief system. So what do we do with all this mind clutter? It has to be disassembled, cell at a time.

I'm back and and already busy.

After about 1 year , I finally have my own computer. Yipee!!!! So now I can make more of my confessions public. Its only been a whopping 4 days with my new computer who I have named Providence- only because that is the name of the store where she was created and I'm still getting used to having a new little piece of technology at my fingertips. Since her arrival, my crew has spent more time with her than I have. Already I have had to shut her down and make the dreaded announcement that no one ever wants to hear: "NO COMPUTER TIME!" But that's life. There are always consequences for something or another.

I am proud to say we have got all of our school shopping done. The bulk of it was done at Rainbowresource.com. I spent the last 48 hours filling out forms for 3 out of the 4 rising scholars that I home educate. Registration forms for various sports, enrichment programs, and activities, medical release forms, mailing list forms, commitment forms, volunteer forms, envelopes, checks all the while planning Big D's big Gigantic Milestone Birthday surprise.

Noahkeem starts Kindergarten and he is excited to learn how to read and the to learn the ins and outs of math. I guess I must have had some kind of overwhelmed look on my face the other day because he looked at me and said, "I'll come to homeschool every day Mommy. I'll come to school everyday". The uniqueness of schooling at home is that you rarely can skip class unless you're sick or the administrators take a day off. I guess you could be creative and hide when it's school time or go outside and ride your bike down the street while you're being summons to the school room/area/table.

With all the stuff that will be going on this school year, I will not just be living at home I will also be living in the car, carting everybody all over the city to their different activities. I guess it would make sense for me to keep a cooler in the car complete with granola bars, fruit, and bottled water so that I can keep up my energy level for all the transporting I will be doing. In addition to keeping my gym back packed, I guess it would make sense for me to pack my neck pillow and the current book I'm reading given all the time I'll be in the car. After all I will need something to do after I'm done snacking. Oh! I can't forget the DVD player! I can catch up on movies that I didn't see in the theatre that have gone to DVD before I had a chance to plan a date night. I can feel the business of the season already around the corner, waiting to embrace me and then let me go at the end of June 2011. But I'm okay with that. I have my planner on my desk-somewhere, where I am "planning out"(in pencil) the school year, holidays and scheduled breaks and timeouts- for me to refresh and rejuvenate.