Honoring My Father

Dad is standing in the gangway.

This is taken in Laramie, Wyoming. I don't know the date except that it was in the 1960s. My dad is on the far right. Our neighbor, Bob Davis, a man very kind to me as a child, is second from the left. I don't know the other men. This photo was taken because it was the very last run of the Portland Rose out of Laramie. The Portland Rose was a Union Pacific passenger train that ran between Chicago and Portland that started in the 1920s.

That's dad sticking his head out the window waving hello. Taken in Laramie, Wyoming in the '60s.

Dad mad copies of these photos for Thomas. They arrived in the mail today. I don't know who loved them more, Thomas or I. I get kind of weepy looking at them. I'm very nostalgic. I wish there were more photos of dad at work. Because Thomas and I love all things train, these photos are very special indeed.

Sorry they're blurry, dad had them enlarged and they're a little grainy. I think they're fantastic nonetheless.

He thinks he's SOO funny

When will this phase end? It seems unending.

For Mama B -- Gila Window Films

Mama B, at Home Depot I bought Gila Glare Control Smoke colored window film. It was $11 and some change for each roll. It took one roll for each window (with some left over). Each window is about 24 by 52 inches. I pieced the remnants to cover a third window, but that looks really tacky.

Our kitchen faces east and the films make a huge difference in the morning. I installed them on the inside -- a no-no if you have thermal pane or dual pane windows, which I do have. Our windows are so old, that I didn't think it could damage them. We went through below-zero temps with the clings above the kitchen sink and the windows are fine. But I wouldn't do that on new, good windows.

The room did get darker. It's still light enough to sit at the kitchen table and read a book, though.

The best thing about these films for me is the privacy factor. These are not their privacy films, but they do a fantastic job of affording us privacy. At dusk I went outside to look in. All the lights were on. I had Thomas stand by the window and wave and I could not see him. I loved that! We can see out just fine.

So just a cheap fix for us but one that makes me very happy. Next time I hit the big city I plan to buy three more rolls (there goes that money again) and do our living room.

Tuesday, blues day

Well, it's a blues day for two reason. First, it was overcast all day. I do like gray days because I have blue eyes and the bright sun hurts my eyes, but gray days aren't very cheery. (My eye doctor claims the sun hurts my eyes because they're blue. lol)

It's a blues day also because I just paid bills. Aaargh! Where does our money go? Ugh, ugh, ugh.

We've been very "on" with school yesterday and today. I just love it when that happens. Thomas has been very well behaved and eager -- yes, eager to learn.

A few weeks ago I ordered Power Basics Physics from Rainbow Resources for Thomas. (Where DOES all our money go? d'uh) At any rate, I couldn't be more pleased. Thomas is doing well. Maybe that's because dad is teaching physics at night as opposed to me. Thomas and I are both taking the class. Thomas is whippin' my you-know-what, too.

That same Rainbow order also included World History the Easy Way. I just didn't like History Odyssey. We had been pecking away at it and Thomas didn't have a good sense of history. He knew bits and pieces about bits and pieces. It didn't have a good order to it, either. It just wasn't very cohesive.

I couldn't be more impressed with World History the Easy Way. Thomas likes it, too. When we got the book, Thomas actually looked at it -- I nearly fainted. He asked to start at the beginning rather than trying to start with the middle ages. Oh brother, that messed up my plans, but I agreed. We have really been enjoying the book. I read each chapter in two days, we listen to a correlating Story of the World chapter, and then I read the correlating chapter from Van Loon's Story of Mankind. I've printed out maps, too. We then do the questions at the end of the chapter in WHTEW. If I get the time to sit down and do some planning, I just might incorporate some projects as well. Otherwise, we just read and discuss. Thomas retains very well.

I was so happy with this purchase that when we were in the big city the other day at Barnes and Noble, I bought American History the Easy Way. I really like Barron's Easy Way series. I am even more impressed with the American history book.

So everything is going well here, knock on wood. I had been searching for those history books since we started homeschooling -- I am so happy to find them.

I continue to feel better every day. That was a rather nasty spell I had. I'm picking up the pieces, getting caught up on things, and making good progress. Yeah.