eternally chaotic

We have a new kind of clarity in the house now.  Jacob started wearing glasses this week at both home and school.  He was having trouble seeing more than a few feet in front of himself and was often found within inches of the television.  After a visit to the optometrist it was determined that he needed glasses.

Well the glasses arrived on Friday and he was able to wear them to school for the first time on Monday.  He was apprehensive about getting made fun of, or called names, but Carol and I have been reassuring him that the opinions of others don’t matter – take it in stride – tell them to mind their own business – etc.  The glasses actually look great on him.  Hopefully he will grow out of the farsightedness, but until that time the frames look good and are tough and flexible.  Now we just have to get him used to taking care of them – extra chores won’t pay for replacements.

A special treat this weekend.  Stone Mountain Park was hosting the 10th annual Indian Festival and Pow-Wow.  An interesting assortment of Indian cultures and traditions.  Right inside the gate we walked into a show getting ready to start called “East vs. West”.  Two Indians, one from the eastern tribes and one from the western Sioux tribes, compared and contrasted the lifestyles and traditions of their ancestors.  Seems the eastern Indians were more civilized, happy to barter and trade to make life easier, while the western ones, the Sioux in particular, raided and pillaged to get what they wanted, or to advance their lifestyle.  I am sure this is a gross over exaggeration about the differences but it was neat to hear what they had to say and see the difference in the everyday tools used by each.

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Last night though, Carol and I booted up the xbox, ready for another episode of Dr. Who, when were greeted with a message saying that the console had been banned from xbox live for violations of the terms of service.  Destroying any hopes of fixing the problem the last sentence of the message clearly stated “there is no recourse for a banned console” meaning – enjoy your brick, thanks for playing, have a nice day, oh and by the way why don’t you hop on down to the store and purchase a new one. Needless to say the discovery was frustrating.  Talking to a friend about the ban it looks like I wasn’t alone.  Other friends have had the same luck, others have not, but are waiting patiently for their turn at exile.

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With a high level of excitement and glee, Jacob and Isaac, got to go shopping.  They each received a gift card from their Grandma Donna.  We gave them the option of saving it for later, surprisingly an option they have taken in the past, or using it now.  They opted for the latter so we headed out toy shopping.  With a figure in their head, limiting how much they could spend, they rummaged through the toys at Walmart for thirty minutes.  The decision was complex of course.  The selection had to be just right.  Had to feel perfect.  Jacob went patiently from one item to the next, meticulously inspecting its value, Nerf Swords, to G.I. Joe, to H.A.L.O to Lego.  He finally settled on a pair of Lego sets that complimented each other.  Isaac on the other hand created a moderate sized collection of his choices in the middle of an isle (wish I would have taken a picture) and mulled over the ultimate choice.  Back and forth went the decision with the price climbing in to the hundreds of dollars and then back down into teens.  With twenty-five dollars to spend it was a hard choice: does he get one larger toy that is “cool” or get a few smaller ones that offer more opportunity for play.  At the end, with the clock ticking, he panicked and left his gathered assortment of mix matched items and narrowed his focus between Lego and a selection of Star Wars characters.  Opting for the Star Wars route after some counseling from his clock watching oppressors.

Thank you Grandma Donna.  Jacob and Isaac had a great time getting to shop for their gifts.

Halloween has come and gone.  The loot has been categorized into various zip lock bags and put into deep freeze for behavior based distribution.  The kids had a month of various Halloween activities: Netflix provided movies, Carol provided the arts and crafts and I provided labor for scooping out pumpkin guts.  Costume selection happened about a month ago and the kids are already planning what they want to be for next year.  The costumes were fun.  Jacob was Ninja, Isaac was a Special Ops Soldier, Piper was Silvermist and Violet was Ariel.  The all looked great and the got to pick their own costumes – thank you Internet Gods for not making us drive all over creation looking for the perfect costume.

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