Blog entries

Because it is Almost Summer Vacation

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:32:12 +0100

The school year will be over in a few weeks. Suddenly, I am going to have A LOT more time on my hands.

Well, except for the part where I have to start preparing to homeschool on my own next year.

Oh, and the garden. That takes a good chunk of my time during the summer. Especially when I have to start canning it all.

And then there's the big house purge that needs to be done if I'm ever going to get organized.

It is almost summer. And I might have a minute Read More...

Stepping Off the Cliff

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:35:48 +0100

I just did something. Something BIG. Something scary. Something I hope won't end up scarring my children for life.

I just informed the online school that we won't be returning next year.

As of this moment, we are an official, 100% independent homeschooling family.

Gah!

Of course, I thought about doing it last year. Ultimately, I stayed with the online school so I would have a paper trail saying that Wyatt started school this year. A couple of months ago, Read More...

Cause and Effect

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Thu, 06 May 2010 04:23:27 +0100

Every year, as Spring arrives and the weather gets warmer and wetter, we develop a mud pit at the bottom of the steps to our deck. This is especially troublesome since on our deck is a door that leads into my kitchen. And that door includes the doggy door that my dogs (and, at times, my kids) enter and exit my house through. This means that I spend months fighting (and giving up fighting) the constant muddy footprints leading through my kitchen.

This year, Sean got a brightRead More...

If He Could See Me Now

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Saturdays are always a little bit frustrating for me. I start out with a clear idea of what I want to get done and the belief that I should have plenty of time in which to do it.

And I should.

If I didn't have a family to feed, kids to chase around, unexpected visitors, unexpected errands, and a husband who wanted to put new brakes on his car (the nerve!).

So, by 7:00 Saturday evening, I felt like I had been running all day long and had barely even scratched the surfacRead More...

A Birthday (But Not a Parable)

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:52:25 +0100

Seven years ago today, I sat in my office for the last time. I tried in vain to find meaningful things to do to occupy my mind. Instead, I thought about a young woman three hours away who was being induced with her first child. I wondered how her labor was going. I wondered if the baby had been born yet.

Most of all, I wondered if she would change her mind. I wondered if, on that day, I would become a mother, too.

Tonight, as my family drove an hour to the closest IHOP so NoRead More...

Apparently, Sex Education IS a Laughing Matter

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:47:49 +0100

Today, I enter day four of sick baby/massive teething fever/maybe it's an earache/I don't know what the heck is going on so I guess I will take her to the doctor's today.

What I'm saying is, there hasn't been a lot of sleeping going on around here this week. Which is why I felt like I should have been going to bed earlier than 11:00 last night. Nevertheless, there I was at 11:00, surfing channels to find something on the television worth falling asleep to.

Wait, have I told you that I faRead More...

The Easter Bunny's Revenge

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:10:06 +0100

This weekend, the toilet in the kids' bathroom became clogged. I know, what else is new, right? Except one thing...No amount of plunging could fix it. Nor could vinegar, bleach, or toilet bowl cleaner.

I know a lot of things that can break down toilet clogs. The wisdom of experience.

Yesterday, I finally called Sean at work and told him that the toilet situation needed to be put at the top of the "To Do" list. I mean, I've kept my mouth shut about the fact that he hadn't replaced the waxRead More...

My Homeschooling Dream

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:31:30 +0100

As I slog on towards the end of the school year, I am once again faced with the dilemma of whether or not to stick with the (free) online school that we have used for the last two years. I went through this debate last year and truly struggled with the decision...Stick with what I know, or go for what I would love to accomplish?

Honestly, the curriculum through K12 is impressive. My kindergartner knows his continents. My first grader is studying Greek gods. Last week, we learned aRead More...

Never, EVER, Get Them Wet

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:52:09 +0100

People who spend a lot of time around us become aware, sooner or later, of the fact taht my husband thinks that I am a bit, um, Twitchy? High strung? Overly-cautious? Oh, wait, I know what he calls it...NEUROTIC. My husband thinks that I'm neurotic when it comes to the living things under my care. I tend to see most of my "neurosis" less as a negative thing and more as, oh, common sense*. (This is the part where I remind anyone who cares to listen that none of our children has ever lostRead More...

The Cutest Present I Never Wanted

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:44:22 +0100

Last week was my birthday. I am now thirty-three years old.

Let's start with my feelings on that.

First, I have given it much thought, and I have come to the conclusion that I still qualify as being in my EARLY thirties. This is because when you first turn 30, you are THIRTY. Just thirty. No early, mid, or late thing going on. From there, the rest of the decade is separated into groups of three: 31-33 are EARLY thirties, 34-36 are MID-thirties, and 37-39 are LATE thirties. SRead More...

Lessons From Haiti: Corruption in International Adoption Isn't About Adoption

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 04:39:04 +0100

I am a mother through domestic adoption. I am also an aunt through international adoption. When I first became a blogger, I was surprised at the negative attitudes I frequently encountered about adoption. And I was completely shocked by the vocal advocacy of some bloggers against adoption altogether. The case against adoption was usually summed up in one word: CORRUPTION. And while there were certainly plenty of people with things to say against domestic adoption, the most heinous accusRead More...

How to Lose a Patient in 10 Minutes

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:25:26 +0100

About three weeks ago, my two youngest kiddos became very sick. VERY SICK. This was evidenced by the fact that I finally, after several days, decided to take them to the doctor. I almost never take my kids to the doctor unless they are going in for a scheduled check up. Or someone's toe is about to fall off. But since they both had barely eaten in days and neither could stand up on their own (OK, that's normal for Violet at six months old, but not so much for Eli), I finally called the Read More...

Child Trafficking in Haiti

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:42:48 +0100

Over the past two weeks, there has been much discussion about the ten Baptist missionaries in Haiti who were caught trying to smuggle thirty-three Haitian "orphans" (it is now known that most of them do have living parents) into the Dominican Republic. Some have hailed them as would-be saviors with the noblest of intentions. Others have condemned them as child traffickers whose egos have led them to believe that they can go above the law to take children out of their own culture and have them adRead More...

Ommmm...

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:23:25 +0100

About a month ago, I was asked if I would teach a couple of half-hour yoga classes for an activity at church on February 2nd.

Now, let me explain why that, in and of itself, was a humorous sentence.

I used to teach a yoga class at a local women's gym. I was never TRAINED or CERTIFIED to be a yoga instructor. As a matter of fact, I had never done yoga until I started doing that very class at the gym. I just did it long enough that when the other teacher decided she didn't want to teach iRead More...

Five Minutes. Flat.

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:02:37 +0100

Sometimes, I am astounded by just how quickly the world can fall apart around me.

Violet, while showing slight improvement, is still quite sick (although still completely adorable).

By the time she woke up this morning (after a very fitful night of what we will REFER to as "sleep" on the couch with me), her poor little face was crusted in snot. And as she waRead More...

Life as the Canvas for Snot Art

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:44:16 +0100

You know how you can usually tell how a person's day is going just by looking at their face? Forget my face...you can read my week by looking at my shirt.

People, black cotton is an amazing canvas for six-month-old snot. (That would be snot FROM a six-month-old, as opposed to snot that has lived on my shirt for six months. I'm behind in my housecleaning, but not THAT behind.)

My children are sick. All five of them. It started with Caleb, who has been sick for almost a week now. He didn'tRead More...

In His Head

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:26:03 +0100

One of the most rewarding parts of being a parent is watching your children develop sophistication and maturity. But that's not nearly as fun as watching them develop a sense of humor. And after countless painful attempts at crafting "knock, knock" jokes, ("Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Pineapple." "Pineapple who?" "Pineapple unintelligible muttering that leaves me wanting to claw my eyes out." And that was one of the better ones.) Noah has finally found a form of humor that works for him. PRead More...

Mondays have Nothing on Tuesday

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:23:04 +0100

Tuesdays are hard days.

Every other day of the week, Sean wakes up with the kids, gets them breakfast, then gets me up so I can shower while they eat. But Tuesdays? On Tuesdays, he leaves by 6:45 to be at a networking meeting.

I normally don't get up until 7:30. And I don't like it even then.

Some Tuesdays, though, are worse than others.

6:20: Eli comes into the bedroom looking for Sean. I tell him to lay in our bed until Daddy finishes showering. Then he will be aRead More...

Happiness is a Fabric Sale

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Today, I am thankful for:

AWESOME deal on fleece at the fabric store. Only $2.99 per yard instead of $9.99! My kids have wanted Snuggies for quite awhile now. I am going to make them their own for Christmas. And since the fleece was so cheap, I got some to make them for Sean and I, too. I bought sixteen yards of fleece, which should have been $160. By the time all of the discounts were done, I was out the door for $45. Woo Hoo!Finally finding a suitable fabric to make the overcoat for VioRead More...

Dear Santa

Katie@GrimmRealities.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Tonight before bed, Noah sat down and wrote a letter to Santa:

i wunt to get you a tom tom for my Dad

the tom tom is a gps

OK, so he got a couple of words out of order and it is missing punctuation. Only one word was misspelled, though.

The important part, of course, is the incredible thoughtfulness. If you remember, almost five months ago, Sean’s car was broken into and his GPS was stolen. We still haven’t replaced it. We haven’t even been discussing repRead More...