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Time

 I don't know where the time goes.  I have finished my student teaching.  I have managed to keep my family healthy and happy.  I managed to get this evil predator out of my chicken coop.  I managed to make Otto feel bad by telling him 'the rest of the United States knows more about his life than his own neighbors'.  Now he is calling me daily.  I keep getting Marina to go to school.  I have the only middle school aged son who wants his mother to come and spend two hours a day doing math with him at school.  And so, I go to the middle school and relive my middle school experience with him as he has the experience for himself.  I substitute teach and Vince goes to Soldotna and we carry on.

I haven't taken a picture in a month.  There has been a lot of excitement, of course.  But, the kids are old enough now to not want their lives broadcast.  And I am busy enough now to be able to resist the urge.

Be assured that we are happy, healthy and active.  Send me an email if you want details!

Summer Shots

Growing up 

Iris's birthday

Refinished the Pedley's dining room set

Falcom sang the National Anthem for the Governor

Chickens!

Fishing

Boat Rides

Bradley Lake

And a Regular Tuesday visit with Irene

This summer has been amazing...sunny, busy, active and wild.  It will end as quickly as it arrived.  Rest assured we have been loving it!  

Yearly Lupine Pictures

  

  Falcom. 14

 Marina. 10

Jubilee Auditions

 The thing I love about this time of year is that there is fresh music around:  fresh, live, invigorating, beautiful music.  Falcom, Brian and Maygen are trying out their "Dolly Parton Mashup" which includes two of our favorite songs "Jolene" and "9 to 5".

The Girl Scouts are doing a parody of Katy Perry's 'California Girls' called "Alaska Girls".  I really love how they turned the song from being about looking under dressed and brainless to Wild Organic Natural Alaskan.  Imagine this:  There are girls in the world who are proud to be fierce and fun without daisy dukes and stilettos?  Oh my goodness!  Girls can be wild and wonderful without being slutty!  Can you imagine that?  Girls who are affiliated with me can...

Everyone was nervous to get up in front of the judges.  Well, everyone except for Falcom and Maygen.  I don't know if it is because they have done this so many times or because they are both self confident.  I wish all of the kids could feel the way they feel.

 

 

 

Regardless of how everyone felt on the inside, on the outside they all looked great!  They all performed great!  Even when I poorly set up the music for the Girl Scouts and they had to sing their song unaccompanied.  I don't have pictures of them because I was busy organizing everything and one of my great GS moms has the pictures.  Anyway...

No one thought they would be able to wait for the outcome.  Falcom was anxious to find out if he made it.  He was reminded while auditioning how much he loves performing.  Marina and the troop, well, they felt that they were a long shot.  A parody of empowerment?  It is not the typical talent show act.  Also, the dorky mom who, when the chips were on the line, could not get the music to play right.  UG!   We were all on pins and needles.

 

The outcome is:  We are all in the show!  We all made it!  The rest of the week is devoted to rehearsals and then on Friday is the show!  We are all very excited.

 

 

Up Next:

 

Falcom gets a solo for his Mass Choir performance.  Did he tell us about this?  Does he know what time the show is to start?  Does he know what clothes to pack for the performance?  Does he realize this is my Birthday?

My Reality Show

This month I have decided that my reality show is better than nearly any other reality show on television.  (The only one better is the one I look down upon from my princess couch, but that is another story.)  I have all of the drama and humor of a first rate reality show, without commercial interruption or the annoying replay of the same visual clips over and over in order to build up tension.  Sometimes, I wish I were a second rate show, so that I could believe that some of this was fabricated for dramatic effect, but alas....

In the CNN Entertainment article dated October, 2011, the author Pamela Burger states,  "If you took physics in high school, you may remember the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. It states, "The more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be controlled, determined or known." 

Apparently, the more I, or anyone else in this family tries to control what the outcomes of certain situations will be, the less we seem to know what is going to happen. For instance, Vince and I were offered this espresso machine for  use in fundraising events (and home use).  What a great idea!  Girl Scouts, Arts Council, Homer Animal Friends, you name it!  This could be a fundraising bonanza!  It hadn't been used in a couple of years and required a little tune up.  Vince has been tinkering with it for over a month now.  We have taken it to the shop in Anchorage.  We have poured shot after shot.   The thing is still not quite right.

This does not mean that I am not having a great time with it.  Yes, I am keeping my buzz on.



Apparently, a good reality show has a plan.  The characters will start at point A and then develop and end at point B.  This is all planned out for budgeting and marketing.  Mema decided to have three surgeries in a month.  These included the removal of a cyst from the inside of her tibia and two cataract removals.  Things mostly went according to plan, except a few unmentionable things, and with a bit of rest, help and card playing she is up and moving.  She made it to point B.

 

 

"Kevin Williams, executive producer for such programs as "What Chilli Wants" and "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency," has the same sentiment and believes colleagues must know the cast inside and out to allow them to be their authentic selves."

Girl Scout Troop 584 has been displaying their truly amazing authentic selves to me and my camera crew.  In the above picture, we are visiting the veterinary clinic.  Only two girls nearly passed out when confronted by 'surgical outcomes' (for lack of better terminology.)

 

 

 

Why teach a troop how to cook tepid bland simple dishes when it is possible to create foods using dozens of spices and ingredients?  That is right!  Why make Americanized Mexican food when we can make authentic Sri Lankan food?  Why do something easy for International Food Night when we can do something really hard?

The girls did basic math and discovered that they needed to sell way more cookies than they did to reach their financial goals.  So we ordered twice as many cookies as we sold and took the rest to the gas station in the middle of town and the girls sold cookies to people as they were pumping their gasoline.  Nothing like getting out of your car thinking you are only buying gas and going home with some thin mints and samoas!

 

 

"It's the small, intimate moments that are also unexpected that every episode needs."

 

Women of Science day found my girls looking as my flatulent bowls through an ultrasound scanner.  The radiologist asked, "How can this information can be used?"  Marina said, "Well, we will know when not to ride in the car with my fart machine mother!"  She also put a cast on her friend and learned to suture with the help of a banana.

 

We spent a morning with Iris at her school, Jeanne's Learning Yurt, to help with science workshops.  Falcom helped teach robotics, Marina led the students on archaeological digs she created in plaster of Paris and I showed them x-rays of pregnant dogs and strange human feet .  The best was this unscripted moment wen I found Iris drying her hands with Falcom's Otter Beach School hand towel.  The circle continues.

"Reality television is often shot in controlled chaos situations, whether that be a party, a bar or a competition set and those situations are also loud, with minimal resources covering all participants. So suffice it to say, you don't always have all the moments to tell a complete story."





 

For many years we asked the boys if they wanted to work with Vince to finish the basement.  Well... Now that they are gone and there is this big space just sitting under our feet, we have begun working on it.  Vince would not let me photograph or document the wall raising, the fan installing, the water pipe installation, and so...   But the basement is coming together slowly and it is healing for me to witness.

 

"For every producer, camera person, editor and network executive, emotion is the gold we wait for and rely on to propel the story forward. Whether it's extreme excitement, sadness or amped up craziness -- strong, real emotions are what captivates an audience and create a great story."

 

 

A visit from Craig...

Who has the habit of capturing on film some of our classier moments.

 

Easter.  With its sugar and color filled lunacy...

 

Where else in the country are children post holing in rotten snow for their Easter treats?

 

These are the days, we remember...

 

Or finally saying goodbye to a backpack that first took me across Europe in 1985.  After continuous use scouring the globe, it finally completely broke and I was forced to bid it farewell.  I did remove my lucky quarter from it first.

 

"And to be entertained, a careful balance must be struck. It begins with the understanding that the best reality is unscripted and captures real people showcasing real emotions."

 

 

There is no script.  There is no definitive plan on how we are getting from point A to point B.  The only plan continues to be love and togetherness.

 

 

 

Update:

 

Our Chester clone found his way home.  His name is Camo (because of his cute little spots on his ears) and his very worried 25 year old fisherman owner has probably bought him a much more sturdy chain to keep this 10 month old home while he is out fishing.

 

 

In The Next Episode:

The Greear Family prepares for Jubilee Auditions!



And drinks more coffee...