Basketball

With the elite team Isaak's on, he struggles to be at the top. The team lost all the games last season, and are winning all their games this season. Isaak gets nervous whenever they play.

On his school team he made 8 points one game, got a free throw point another game, and shot a side shot at yesterday's game. He's passed the ball more, and is more aggressive with a game face on.

I don't know if he needs to change teams altogether with his elite team? It's like watching a different kid play when he's playing with his classmates.

Random Tid Bits

1. Isaak came home from school with a 15 page packet of homework. This time it was all his fault. He got it last week. He said it just showed up on his desk. He didn't know how to do one of the pages, so he didn't do it. He was unclear on when it was due. All this I believe, but he should have taken it home. I told him if he gets stuck on something he needs to move on, and ask for help with the thing he's stuck on. Little bugger got talked to by us. He was in tears. Then he stayed up until 9:30 working on it. I'm still annoyed with him! How is he ever going to do middle school?  


2. I was swamped yesterday with reviews. At the school I work for we have pro reviews, where other teachers look at the projects to bump up the standard. The students had a review of their portfolios and their theatrical posters. I was beat by the end of the day. Secretly I kind of like it that busy. Do you like to stay busy?


3. One of Travis' Aunts put on FB: How's 63? I know she meant the road conditions.
   
   I was in a smart ass mood, so I wrote, Well when you minus it from 100, it equals 37. It's the age Robin WIlliams died. It follows 62, and is preceded by the number 64. There are 63 Tractates in the Mishna, the compilation of Jewish Law. There are 63 Saints (popularly known as Nayanmars) in South Indian Shaivism, particularly in Tamil Nadu, India. In 1963 the assassination of the US President Kennedy happened. 63 seems like an important number.
   
   She's the same Aunt that always asks me how I get things to review. The first two times she asked I said, I've been writing a blog, since Isaak was born. Companies ask me to review things from time to time. It's a lot of work because I have to photograph the things, write about them, and share them on many social media channels. She responded with, I don't think I can do all that. She keeps asking me over and over again how I get things to review. I don't answer her anymore. Maybe I should just respond with, Items magically appear in my mailbox. 


4. I texted Travis over lunch yesterday: Since we have Isaak's basketball game, and Mica's conferences should I stop and get Subway sandwiches for dinner? He texted: Sure, but don't give me condiments. I texted back: Ok. I'll make sure they give you a lot of condiments.
   
   I'm a punk ass. Really I didn't have them put any condiments on his sandwich.

Travis digs condiments on burgers, brats, and hotdogs. For some reason he doesn't like them on Subway sandwiches. Mica never cares for any condiments. I wonder sometimes if Mica's really my child. LOL! Then he's crazy goofy, and I'm like yep he's mine.


5. Mica's the brains in our family. He's certainly not a worker. It took him 2 hours to shovel our driveway when it snowed, and we don't have sidewalks. He kept needing a break!
   
   This is what the sink looks like after he brushes his teeth:
   
   
   

WW: Mica's Awards

I've been having a hard time getting back into blogging after Christmas. I have so many pictures, and things I could be sharing. I got sick for a few weeks, and just was slow with everything.

Travis, my husband has had quite a few studio visits, which is great, but his studio is the basement of our home. Lots of cleaning up.

Isaak's needed help with school work. More so than other years. He's just never connected with his teacher at all. He's also in a lot of basketball, so we run here and there for him.

I have a different teaching schedule this semester. It's doable. Just hard to get used to.

Now that I've given you the rundown, let's get started...

Mica's quite the character. He gets for the most part A's in school, he wins a lot of things, but if you ask him to do a task a home it's so very frustrating. Isaak, which is 2 years younger than Mica can move circles with chores around Mica. Mica's a great kid, just kind of lazy at home. We joke about how he uses most of his brain power at school.

Recently Mica was picked by his teachers to leave school to merge up with other middle schoolers, for a fun challenging day. They participated in something called Think Tank. I'm not sure what it all involves. I do know they put kids in random groups. They are not placed with kids from their school. They get a problem of sorts, and have to think how to solve it. Mica's group got 2nd place! He came home with a trophy and dog tags.

He also found out that he won 1st place for his Science Fair Project! That's a pretty big deal considering the school he goes to is a Science Magnet School. We thought his board would go on to the next level up, but I guess they went by ribbons. He gets a special ceremony at school. His project was on how long it takes to bleach different colors of hair. True fact: It took longer to bleach the red head's hair than it did the brown head's hair.

Funny tid bit: The girl Mica likes doesn't like him at all. Her parents walked over, Mica shook their hands, started explaining his board. Her Dad said to his daughter, "See this boy has his stuff together!" Ha! We all had a laugh about that at home.

Other things I don't have photos of: 

Mica was picked to participate in the Geography Bee at school, for the second year in a row. He didn't win. It's still a big deal he was picked at all to participate. 

He's really into an extra thing called Quiz Bowl. It's kind of like Jepardy, only there's no answering with a question. There are meets every other week. Mica's school group got 2nd place last Saturday! The school gets that trophy. There's tons of smarty pants kids that participate in Quiz Bowl, so it's pretty cool his school got that far! 

He was selected to take his ACT's, and does that this upcoming Saturday. We signed him up for the science selection. It will be interesting to see how he does.

#returntoniobrara Play Review

It was really great to visit The Rose Theater again! I like when we can get out to see something that's for older children.

Right now they are showing Return to Niobrara. It's for ages 8 and up or 4th grade to 10th grande. Perfect for my 10 and 13 year olds.

I really can't see smaller kids understanding the true meaning of the play. Even Isaak asked me questions. They had some future tense happening at the same time as past tense. We thought it was really interesting, but for young kids it could be confusing. I know Mica was happy to have a play that was more advanced to go to.

The set design was fairly simple, yet the symbol changed throughout the play.

For this production they didn't have a live orchestra. BUT they had live instruments playing like flutes, and other similar instruments.

About Return to Niobrara: 

There was two stories that went on in one play. The two stories came together at times.

140 years ago, Steven's great-great grandfather Chief Standing Bear stood up in court and demanded that a federal Judge recognize that Indians are "persons" under the law.

Today, following an altercation where Steven is bullied at school on account of his long hair, Steven must follow in his grandfather's footsteps and speak out against his school's attempt to force him to cut his hair, and ultimately, to erase his identity.

 

Steven has dreams about his Grandfather. His dreams made him understand who he really is.

When Steven stands up for himself, it was difficult to know what part of the constitution the school was violating. His hair was a part of his culture. The school wanted him to cut his hair. Was the school breaking freedom of speech, or were they breaking freedom of religion? Steven was a Christian, but being a Native American is more than being a Christian. It was interesting to see how everything worked its way out.

In the end the school realized they were wrong. Steven learned so much about himself.

Our family loves Native American culture, so we of course got into this play a lot. The whole message was so important!

Show Dates:

The show is at The Rose Theater in Omaha, Nebraska from January 25 - February 10, 2019.

February 8 at 7 | February 9 at 2 and 5 | February 10 at 2

Members can receive 4 free tickets, non members pay $20 per ticket.

Call: 402.345.4849 for tickets.

Lobby doors open 45 minutes prior to the show starting. I certainly would get there early to get a seat.

Cast and Crew:

Steven/Bear Shield – Kenneth Ramos
Betsy/Prairie Flower/Bright Eyes – Nathalie Standingcloud
Tom/Thomas Henry Tibbles – Dan Chevalier
Principal McGovern/General Crook – Nils Haaland
Mom/Susette Primeau – Allison Hicks*
Dad/Chief Standing Bear – Albert (Abby) Ybarra*
Jack/A.J. Poppleton – Kevin Ehrhart
Bob/Genio Lambertson – Christopher Violett
Chorus 1 – Zach Kloppenborg
Chorus 2 – Kyle Summers
Musician – Michael Murphy
* The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Artistic/Production Credits
Playwright – Mary Kathryn Nagle
Director – Roxanne Wach
Assistant Director – Meganne Horrocks
Scenic Designer – Kathy Voecks
Projection Designer – Brittany Merenda
Lighting & Sound Designer – Craig S. Moxon
Costume Designer – Sherri Geerdes
Hair & Makeup Designer – Erin Bragg
Production Stage Manager – Lisa Krabbenhoft
Director of Production – Erin M. Solemsaas
Technical Director – Greg Rishoi
Props Mistress – Devon Denn-Young
Assistant Projection Designer – Alex Pinchin
Scenic Charge Artist – Savannah Savick
Master Carpenter – Jackson Curtright
Lighting Apprentice – Elton Bradley
Scenic Apprentice/Run Crew – Austin Watson
Stage Management Apprentice – Kali Coates
Assistant Sound Designer – Christy Hernandez
Stitchers – Sherri Geerdes, Erin Bragg, Audio Helkuik, Jill Maenner
Ponca Consultants – Louis Headman and Randy Ross
Ponca Language Translation – Louis Headman
Fight Choreographer – Kevin Barratt
Special thanks to Allyson Currin, Louis Headman, Dwight Howe, Deirdre Lavrakas, Kim Peter Kovac, Randy Ross, Barbara Salvatore, Laurie Smith Camp, Steve Tamayo, Diana Vallier

The End of the Show:

They had a question and answer session. I liked that one of the main stars was there to answer questions. Then there was an autograph signing as well.

I'm really glad we were able to go! Everyone enjoyed it!

Disclaimer: I got tickets from The Rose Theater to help write this review. The Rose Theater did not tell me what to write. All opinions are my own. 

#Bamboo Sheets and Duvet Cover Review

There's nothing better than getting something new. I particularly love getting new bedding! 

Bamboo Tranquility sent me a Classic Collection of Bamboo Queen Sheets with two Pillow Cases: 

Sizes Their Bedding Comes in: 

Twin | Queen | King | California King

Colors: 

Steel Grey | White | True Ivory

We got Steel Grey. They didn't ask what color I'd like, but that is the color I'd pick. When I put it on our bed my husband said, "Wow that's the color I'd pick!" A win win on the color!

I also like tan and light green bedding. Possibly if their company continues to go they could add more color options.

Other Features: 

• You sleep cooler. Wonderful for my husband that sweats in his sleep.
• It's eco friendly, which is great for me that has allergies and asthma! 
• Softer than 1000 thread count. I didn't know that was even possible. They are super soft!

Cost:

$109, for the set.

Overall Thoughts:

I'm so happy with them.

They didn't wrinkle up, which is nice. They are super soft!

They haven't slipped off the bed. I've had sets that slip off the corners of the mattress. I've been sick with something for two weeks, so I've been sleeping more than usual. They certainly have been put through the test.

I thought when I read that you sleep cooler it would bother me. I'm not going to lie, I like it warm on winter nights. Especially on -15 windchill nights. I've slept really well ever since I've gotten this set! The coolness must not bother me. The sheets adjust to your body temperature. It satisfies my husband that has night sweats, for sure. I know we'll love these on hot summer nights!

They also sent me a Bamboo Linen Duvet Cover with two Pillow Cases:

I love the bag it came in. It could practically be used as a laundry bag. 

Sizes Their Bedding Comes in: 

Queen/Full | King/California King

Colors: 

Stone Grey | Pure White

We got Stone Grey. I think grey goes with everything. We need bedding that's neutral. Our walls are red-orange.

You can see I've been hanging a little too much in my room. It's hard not to when I'm sick, and the bedding is so comfortable.

Cost:

$139, for the set. Remember it comes with 2 pillowcases!

Features:

It too is soft and breathable. It's made with a Natural Flax Linen mixed with the Bamboo Linen that their sheets are made of. The Duvet Cover is allergy safe. 

The material is wrinkle-free, but I found that the pillow cases were a bit wrinkly. I also have an old dryer.

I do kind of wish the set came with a bed skirt. Our previous bedding had a shirt that was brown. I feel like that needs to go. 

It was easy to put together to make the bed. 

I'd like to get a new Duvet. Does anyone have any recommendations? 

Wash and Dry:

All the bedding washed up really well! I just washed it all in cold.

I don't use fabric softener. I heard from a friend to not use it with bamboo fabrics. I do however use wool dryer balls. Added to one of the wool balls is always a squirt of essential oils to give my clothes, towels, or bedding a scent. This time I used lemon.

The dryer lent trap was so soft! That seems like an odd thing to bring up, but I knew we would sleep good with the bedding!

Making My Bed:

I added a blanket for the -15 windchill we have in Nebraska. Oh joy!

The bedding looks great!

My little model did not say, "No!" to getting his picture taken when I said he could lay down in our bed.

Do you get excited with new bedding?

Disclaimer: I received all the products mentioned above to help with my review. All opinions are my own. 

Savory Scone Recipe

My boys have always loved my Cranberry Scone Recipe. It's a healthier recipe than most.

This morning I made a new kind of Scone. I always thought scones had to be sweet. Not true! They can be savory too.

I usually make a double batch of the Cranberry Scone Recipe. I like to make a lot during the weekends, so it will last for a few breakfasts during the weekdays. I do the same thing with other meals. Today I made one batch of the Cranberry Scone Recipe, and one batch of the Savory Scone Recipe.

I got the recipe from King Arthur Flour. The recipe is below. There are a few things I edited: I didn't have green onions, so I chopped 1/2 a white onion to put into it. Green onions sure do sound good, but the scone I made was delicious. I included both as options in the recipe I typed up. I didn't have any heavy whipping cream, and used plain Greek Yogurt with a bit of 2% milk. It worked great! It's healthier too!

Savory Scone by on Scribd

What do you like to eat for breakfast?

Extra Strength #Turmeric Curcumin with Ginger & BioPerine Review

Asthma Sufferers:

We started having cold, snowy, icy weather on Friday. As soon as the temperature dropped, my asthma picked up. I was hoping my nose surgery would have helped my symptoms. No such luck. I can just breathe out my nose now. That's a win.

I drink a ton of water, and typically a wellness drink full of ginger, turmeric, and other anti inflammatory things. It helps! As soon as I drink the wellness blend I get chest congestion up. I do get sick of always have ginger breath. 

I'm glad to now have pills I can take. 

Muscle and Joint Pain:

Travis is glad we have these as well. He has back problems. He works on large sculptures at home. He's lifting things that are too heavy for him to lift. What choice does he have, if he has to get the work done. Turmeric & Ginger help with muscle and joint pain as well. 

Pills:

The pills are a standard sized. When I take them, it isn't like I'm taking a horse pill. Yay!

I liked that they filled the pills all the way to the top of the bottle! It annoys me so much when a plastic bottle is only filled 1/2 full. 

It came with a cover on the bottle, and the lid had a strip of plastic on it.

There are 90 capsules per bottle. 

This product is made in the USA!

Where to Get it:

You can get Nature's Branch Turmeric & Ginger with BioPerine Black Pepper on Amazon for $10 here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L1BY4PW

Are you staying well this winter?

Disclaimer: I got this product for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Random Tid Bits

1. Yesterday I was distracted in the office because boss man and a building next door were have loud words exchanged. I was sneaky, and wanted to listen in on what was going on. I could hear loud voices, but everything was muffled because of walls and distance. When I went to move closer to hear, and pretend to look at books. Get this...his wife was doing the same thing. Ha! She wanted to know what was going on too. I went back to my office.
   
   This isn't the first time they've exchanged loud words. The fight is aways the same. They are arguing about the parking lot.
   
   Restore is a nonprofit that helps destroy things people don't want, and sells those things for cheap. The problem is, is that they drive their big ass trucks through our parking lot very fast. Our concrete surface has gotten destroyed on more than one occasion. It gets fixed, and gets destroyed again within a few weeks.
   
   Our school has fixed it, then they asked to share the price to fix it a 2nd time, then boss man blocked off the area to make them go the other way. Restore didn't like that! Boss man said he blocked it off to protect our students because they drive fast around the school. True, but it's not really the reason he blocked them off. Well after a few fights about it being blocked off, boss man I believe sent them the bill to fit the concrete. In boss man's defense we're not driving big trucks around the building EVER. Then Restore brought up that our students and staff park in their lot space. We're having them move.
   
   What's one to do in this type of situation? I hear about neighbors fighting over trees, or retaining walls. This is kind of a similar situation. Yes I could fight over trees and a retaining wall with a neighbor as well. We haven't, but we could.


2. We have a ton of junk food left over from New Years in the deep freezer. I said, "Pull out some pizza rolls. We can have them as a snack. Travis said, "Careful the pizza rolls are hot. They just came out of the oven." I said, "No worries." I grab one to eat it. He said, "You're going to burn yourself!" I said, "No you just need to learn to eat them right. You nibble the long edge off. Then you open it up like an old 80s money clip/holder, and blow on it before eating it all." It took him a minute to know what I was talking about. Hey I never burn myself with this method of eating a pizza roll.





3. We had a follow-up meeting with Mr. Principal last night. I went in saying, "Well it's good news, we now have an index card of things going wrong, verses a full letter page." It did go better!
   
   We found out that the biggest reason why Isaak got a C in Social Studies. It was because he went to go meet with his teacher and councilor on his own accord; then when he got back the Librarian didn't tell him what they worked on. She wanted him to ask his partner, which she did nothing the whole time, and had no clue. Isaak didn't understand what to do. Most of his packet was blank. He actually answered more questions than his partner that was there the whole time.
   
   Now he has to follow up from the packet he half did with a PowerPoint. Mr. Principal is going to have him work on the packet instead of some reading assignments he finds aren't making him grow. That's helpful! 


4. It's getting ready to snow good in Nebraska. All the elementary, middle and high schools got off school. It didn't happen much until the 1/2 half of the day. The kids all have Martin Luther King's Day off as well. Yay for a 4 day weekend. Have you had any snow where you live?


5. I'm a little nervous to drive home. It's a sheet of ice out there! 

SOFT Style Guide

My sister facetimed her boys, while they stayed with us. That means I got to facetime with her as well.

I asked how her convention in St Louis was going. She said she needed a Style Guide, for a logo I created for the SOFT organization.

I have my students make a style guide. It takes all semester. In my mind I was like - Really, while I'm watching 3 of your boy, you're going to ask me to do this? I know she didn't know all she was asking. I think she thought I just needed a page saying the font and colors. BUT that's not all a style guide is. It's also used to show how not to use a logo. It also gets into the spacing around a logo. That can't be done with measurements. A logo can be used for something small - like a business card, and something big - like a billboard. You have to show the spacing with a letter or graphic in the logo.

I started working on it this week. Two weeks after she asked me.

I went in thinking I could do it on a page, but that expended to a mini book. Usually a Style Guide is a mini book.

If I've seemed absent from blogging it's because of helping Isaak with school, taking Isaak to basketball practices, and working on things like this SOFT Style Guide.

Soft Style Guide by on Scribd

Do you have any big projects you've been working on?

5 Boys!

A few weeks ago I watched 3 of my nephews along with my own kids.

A House Full of Boys!

I had Edison (age 4 1/2), Isaak (age 10 1/2), Elijah (age 10 1/2), Mica (age 13), and Evan (age 13 1/2). A house full of boys! My sister and brother in law went to St Louis  to a conference for Emerson (age 6) who has Trisomy 18.

I wasn't very on top of my picture taking game. It's hard when most of the boys don't want their photos taken. I'm also just bad about taking pictures when it winter time, for the most part. It's dark out, and difficult to get good lighting.

Nap Time

I took that Friday off. We ran errands and washed the car before my nephews got there.

The nephews came, they played outside, then came in. Travis got home from work. He asked me to have them keep it down, so he could take a nap. I said, "Ya right! You really think you're going to get a nap in the living room with 5 boys in the house?"

Nap time never really happened for him.

Game Time

The boys like this game called Pandemic. It's a survival game. Different wide spread illnesses occur, and you have to try and keep them under control. The game is team based. Everyone has to work together to win or loose.

They lost. It still was fun!

Sleep Time:

The youngest one - Edison goes to bed at 7! It kind of dampened the fun we could have had. Our house isn't big enough to put him in one wing of the house, while the rest of us hung out. We have 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen with a kitchenet, and a bathroom. Downstairs is an art studio, a laundry area, and a storage room. 

Edison was excited to sleep over! 

Isaak read to him. I always did say that Isaak would be a better big brother than Mica. He's empathetic, and will stand up for people.  He also is a people person. Mica is more independent, bookworm, and goes with the flow - to not piss people off.

Edison said, "Aunt Wissy (Lissy) I have my Whitening (Lightening) McQueen sweeping (sleeping) bag. I’m spending the night for 2 nights here with my brothers." I said, "Yes you are! I think we’ll put the bigger boys outside under the stars though." He looked at me so odd.

We watched Incredibles 2 before bed. Thankfully I won that movie, and it went in Isaak's stocking.

Everything went great as long as Elijah and Isaak were together (10 year olds), and Mica and Evan were together (13 year olds). When they all get mixed up Isaak sometimes gets picked on because he's the younger one in the big kid group. Then he gets sensitive. It helped that the boys had their new and old Kindles. They could share them.

Breakfast:

I made snowman pancakes for breakfast. I knew Edison would appreciate my creativeness. I wanted to do more, but Travis was breathing down my back about spending too long on something we were going to eat anyway.

Basketball Games:

Elijah was supposed to have 2 games, and Isaak 1 on Saturday! I felt a bit like we were going to live at basketball games that day. How do people do it will lots of kids?! My parents were going to help. Then the schedule got switched to just Isaak having a game on Saturday, and Elijah having his games on Sunday. 

We did find out Isaak's team was in too high of a league, for just coming from the Y. We're now lower, and winning games! It's so good to not have that negativity in our lives. The balance of winning some, and losing others is important. 

13 Year Olds:

I am so glad that we could leave the 13 year olds home alone. They got to hang out. We couldn't fit them all in our Subaru. 

What do you like to do if/when you have a house full of kids?