Midweek

ART PROJECTS: We owe some people some thank yous, so resident artist Annabelle came up with a couple of cards yesterday. This one is headed to a family member who gifted a ton of fabric and other crafty supplies to us recently. I love Annabelle's details on this one.

Speaking of crafting, today we needed our glue gun and it was absolutely buried in the craft closet. That led to a few bad words before I realized it was actually an 'opportunity' to declutter and reorganize. I hadn't planned on that today, so we didn't have time to finish the whole thing, but three of the six shelves are ever-so-much better, so yay for that.

One of the reasons we were needing craft supplies is we were trying to make a Souper Man. 

"What's that?" you ask? Well, it's just a little table top attention-getter for an event we're helping host in a couple of weeks. We need folks to bring soup to share to the gathering. I'm of the opinion that putting an 8.5x11 flyer on a wall at a school where nearly every wall is covered in some sort of display is kind of a lost cause. So, I'm always trying to think of ways to literally  stand out - something 3D to hopefully catch attention. Enter Souper Man. ;)

I think he's pretty cute. Now, I just hope that some random 5-year-old that also thinks he's cute doesn't rip an arm off him or something. ...

Decidedly less artsy but oh-so-satisfying, I did manage to finish painting the hallway ceiling downstairs today, while the kids were studying Japanese. (Sadly, at this point, I'm of little use to them when it comes to that.)

Out with the old nicotine 'colored' ceiling and in with Casper, a crisp white from Miller Paint.

IN TRANSIT: Mark your calendars next Monday (Nov. 11) for a rare chance to see a solar system spectacle. Mercury will be transiting our sun that day. This won't happen again for 13 years, so it's kind of a big deal.

According to timeanddate.com, weather permitting, the transit will be visible for 2 hours and 56 minutes, from 7:08 to 10:04 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Time to dust off the solar eclipse glasses, cross our fingers, and try to check it out then.

Sites to See

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD: Annabelle got to spend a few days in Las Vegas last week. She had a great time, of course. On her last day there, she went to the Shark Reef Aquarium.

As you might have guessed, she saw some sharks there. 

She also saw some not sharks.

Annabelle and her two oldest brothers also hit the Pinball Hall of Fame, a really neat-o arcade that includes a bunch of vintage machines we've never seen before. One example is this Star Trek Voyager game.

There was also a vintage "Toy Factory" machine. This thing took 4 bucks and a half minute to spit out "your own Walt Disney" characters. 

According to a Volo Auto Museum website video I found, the machine was invented for the 1964 World's Fair.

Sound like it's super rare. I hope to get to see it on my next visit to Vegas.

Here are a couple of short videos of Annabelle getting her game on.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: Saturday morning, CJ shared with me that he received an email from his college with some startling news. It read ...

‌Dear  Christian (CJ) ,
We want you to get the classes you need at the times you want next quarter and noticed that there is a block on your student record that prevents you from registering for classes. 
To resolve the issue as quickly as possible, please call, email, or make an appointment with the Registration Office at your campus.

Registration starts next week, so don't wait!
Sincerely,Your Student Success team‌ 

What's this? A block on his record? He can't register for winter classes (registration started today/Monday, Nov. 4)?! And they email this alarming notice on a Saturday morning, when we can't call, email or make an appointment per their advice? The subject line of the email literally read:  "Oh no! You may not be able to register for classes ..."

Fantastic. Sigh. 

We went on his college site and poked around, trying to find anything out outstanding fees or tuition or any other red flag, but we couldn't find anything amiss.

So, we got in our car this morning and were on campus when the registration office opened. Within two minutes we learned that the message was sent because he's a Running Start (early enrolled) student and needs to register in person. Which we already knew. Why in the WORLD didn't that email just say that?! SO lame. 

Anyway, we're glad that it was OK, and CJ is now signed up for winter quarter. He'll be taking World Civilizations II (a continuation of a class he's in now), Japanese II (likewise, a continuation), and English 101, which had to happen sooner or later, and we figured sooner would be better.