Too Much Running Around

We were too busy today.
This morning we had a tour with our hs group of the Harris saddle making factory. Our neighbor works there, and gave Ed directions, which he passed on to me, but I got lost anyway. This time it wasn't my fault. The directions were really bad. I guess that is what happens when you ask someone who has lived in a place forever how to get to a place he goes every day. He mentioned a street, so we thought it was the street we were supposed to turn onto. But it wasn't. And he didn't mention the name of the street we were supposed to turn onto. Fortunately, we weren't the only ones arriving late, and the tour didn't start until after we got there. It was really very interesting (K. didn't think so.). They make custom western saddles for show horse people who spend the cost of a car on a saddle (cars still cost $13,000, right?), and the leather and silver work on the saddles, bridles, etc. was beautiful. We got to walk through and see all the various stages of construction, and the silver being hammered and carved (?). I had no idea that ostrich skin was used in saddles and boots. Somehow, I think of bird skin as being delicate, but apparently it isn't.

We always have a hard time getting to work on school when it isn't our first thing, and today was no exception. T. dawdled. K., however, was a keen math student today, finishing off page after page in her Earlybird workbook. She made me laugh but made T. insecure when she answered my question about how many more beads I'd have to add to ten to make fourteen with, "Well, isn't it obvious Mommy? Four!" When she is in one of her "I love school and learning" moods, T. gets worried that she will zip through several grades in a matter of months and soon be ahead of him. Fortunately for him (though not for me), she is a whimsical creature, and her passions for learning quickly pass. In fact, she burned out right after math today and never did reading or writing at all.

The mother of one of T.'s friends called me this afternoon to tell me about a meeting for signing up for Cub scouts. Ed and I have thought it would be good for T. to be involved in scouting, and T. said he would be willing (not eager, but willing) if his friend were doing it. The meeting was an hour before ballet and Tai Kwon Do (which used to be Jiu Jitzu), so we all went. Another friend of T.'s was also there signing up, so T. is now quite happy about scouting. Learning that the group (den?) meets once a week made me a little less keen, but I guess that is the way these things work. The young man explaining things said that fourth grade is the perfect time to start cub scouts, since it gives the boys enough time to earn the right badges. Ed was never a boy scout, and I don't know anything about it, so we may be in trouble. I thought the boys would build bird houses and tie knots. Maybe once I get hold of the manual, the whole badge earning thing won't seem so intimidating. I like manuals.