Just sharing our 4th with ya via photos. 

Hope you enjoyed yours.

Somehow, I managed to run out of space on my disk, so I missed the awesome messy face afterwards (Garrett in a pie eating contest)!  Phooey!  It may have been just as well though, as he said he was feeling sick from the whip cream - so he was rushed to the bathroom.

Having had such good success with questions related to Physics (cough, splutter, spit!) our 16 yo, Drew, decided to wax philosophical.

“Mom, if you could think of one word to describe you, what would it be?”

. . .and these would be my immediate thoughts. . .

One word!?  Is he nuts?!  I don’t know that my vocabulary is large enough to narrow it down to one word. 

(look at clock)  Oh, where has the day gone?!

Darn, can’t use “Mom” because that’s too cliche and he doesn’t realize the full meaning of that word yet.

(looking back down at the to-do list in front of me) Awww man, I’m not even 1/2 done.

(thinking of all the other things I want to do with the kids — fun and exciting things)  I wanted to make cookies!

Man, I’m behind in my personal studying. . .for. . .oh, gee, isn’t it wonderful that the calendar was invented before my lifetime so I could know exactly how far behind I am?

Bummer, still don’t know what to make for dinner.  Of course, if I had done a menu, like I should, I would know these things.

Son is looking at me expectantly.  Why is he doing that?  Oh, that’s right, he asked a question and wants an answer. . .and the question was. . .

*think*think* think* (insert best Pooh imitation here)

 

“Lacking”

(looking back at clock)  It’s only been about 1 minute.  Felt like a lifetime.

“Yep, I would have to say, that if I were to use one word to describe me it would be, ‘lacking’.”

“Wow, Mom, generally when you ask that question to people they take forever to answer.  I was thinking it was because they felt too “big” of themselves and were trying to come up with a word that wouldn’t make them seem so pompous.”

He starts leaving the room. . .

“Hey!  What one word would you say describes you?”

a pause

“I don’t know yet.  I haven’t finished reading the dictionary.”

movement toward the door again. . .then another pause. . .

“Oh, and Mom?”

“Yes, honey?”

“You should probably work on that “lacking” bit.  I can’t imagine it’s a positive thing.”

He vanishes from the room as I manage weakly, “Yes, dear.”

I am left looking at the half done to-do list, and the clock that says I only have a few hours left in the day.

“Hey, kids!  Who wants to help Mommy make some cookies?”

 

Oh, I’ve hit a horribly quandry in the process of doing my LibraryThing catalog!

So, I’m tagging all of you to help me. . .with determining how to do my, er, “tags”.

“What are “tags”?” you may be asking.  Well, they are what (could possibly) save you a lot of time and grief.  If you have a smallish library, don’t care, and a fantastic memory, you probably wouldn’t need them.

However, if you have a largish library, a horrible memory, and it’s terribly important to you, that tags could save your life.

For example, let’s say I have a Saxon Algebra 1 book in front of me.  My “tag” would be, “Math Instruction”.  easy-peasy  Later on, when I can’t recall what I have for the little guys, I can plug in “math instruction” and I’ll not only pull up Saxon Algebra 1, but all the other books I put under that tag as well.

Handy, right?

Okay, now let’s say I have in front of me, The World of Capt. John Smith.

This falls definately under the “history” category, of which I have (at least) 5 tags:

• Ancient History (→ 400AD)
• Medieval History (400 → 1600 AD)
• Renaissance History (1600 → 1850 AD)
• Modern History (1850 AD →)
• “American” History (??)  See, I’m having fits with this tag, but I’ll go into that in a bit.

The aforementioned book covers the years 1580-1631.  So, I would place it under Medieval, Renaissance, and “American” History.  Seems easy enough right?  Well, should I add another tag, like “biography”?  or possibly “England”.  And, this is technically a world history of that time period, so I could put a number of countries and people.  I mean I could get terribly specific, I suppose, but there is a point where being too specific is counterproductive.  And this is where I’m asking for your help.

But before we get to that, I need help with the whole “American History” tag.  See, I originally came up with “American” because of the fact that for our history of the US I plan to include stuff that happened before the US came into being.  Thus, deciding against the “US History” tag.  But, technically “America” is, well, rather “vague” given that you could claim 2 continents and innumerable countries under that heading.  So, I don’t quite know how to define it. . . the name or the date.  So, I need help with that too.  Maybe go with “US History” but back up the date to include all the stuff that happened to “create” the US?

And then there are books like this:

Exactly what tag would you put that under? 

Or Frankenstein?  Gone With the Wind?  Red Badge of Courage?  All Quiet On the Western Front?  (Literature?  History? Both?)

And I have a number of books on very specific time periods, like the American Revolution.  Should I make another heading specifically for that?

As you can see, it’s truly a quandry!  This is why I’m asking for help.  And also the reason I only got 2 books inputted yesterday. . .Well, that and the fact that all the boys wanted to get on the computer for one reason or the other yesterday and kept me from it.

Arrrrgh!  Please help!

PS.  Ha!  Now, I can’t even decide what “tag” to file this bloomin’ blog post under!  (family?  Personal?  homeschool?  Possibly create a new one entitled “Insanity”?)