Burford Designs

A Convenient Learning Lesson

What are you passing along?

 

Growing up in California, Mendocino County to be exact, I was inundated with a very liberal ideology at school that was a direct contrast to my home life where my father was (and is) a staunch Republican (and Mommy can be, depending on the issue).  This lead to three very different stances amongst us children… other brother is very much to the right, Baby Boy is on the other side pretty far on the left and I fall a little more in between.  I’m not highly political, I take a stand when I need to, but I also allow other’s to have their viewpoints and I enjoy listening to someone else’s beliefs and having discussions, sometimes lively discussions.  (That’s one thing I loved about college.)  And I have never minded playing devil’s advocate in order to get others to think.

 

When I taught that was one of the things I would do… I would throw out a controversial idea and see what the students came up with.  I didn’t put my own views out there, being impartial is paramount to this form of teaching, and allowed the students to figure things out for themselves.  My rules were always the same (and they still are) if it’s your opinion state so, if you’re going to label it as fact then have the proof and never go into an argument without something to back you up… things aren’t what they are just because “they just are”.

This past weekend I spoke with my nephew Boo Boo.  He was telling me that his class (he’s in sixth grade) is studying the Earth and that his teacher showed Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in one class and brought in “the hippie mayor” to talk to the class.  I asked what he thought about all of it and he stated that “it’s all lies and why should I care about it, I let future generations deal with it.”  I could hear other brother ideas and words coming out of Boo Boo’s mouth (well, minus the foul language and expletives normally uttered every few words when other brother talks).  I asked Boo Boo if that’s what he really thought or if that was just his father talking… he thought a moment and said that it was what he heard his dad say.  Knowing his love of hunting, camping and just being outdoors I asked him if he thought that the places where he participates in those activities would still be as nice as they are without someone taking care of them?  If he knew how there is still land around today where you can hike, hunt and camp?   And since he really enjoys history I asked if he knew that Teddy Roosevelt was a major land conservationist?

 

Boo Boo was very interested in the questions I brought up and I just finished with telling him that he needs to start getting the facts and listening to all sides with an open mind and not merely parrot what he hears from others.  And there is no need to be disrespectful simply because you don’t agree with their ideology.

Boo Boo’s Hair

I never thought that my occasional viewing of television shows such as iCarly and Ned’s Declassified would come in handy.  I have caught these shows completely unaware (sometimes when I work at night I tune the TV to Nick @ Nite and watch reruns of “The Nanny”, “Malcolm in the Middle” and/ or “George Lopez”… so the next day when I turn the TV on it tends to be one of Nick’s pre-teen to teenage shows like iCarly.  It has become a guilty pleasure, not that I really feel the need to explain myself. *grin*

 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, being in the loop about what teens (and pre-teens) watch has been beneficial to my nephew Boo Boo.  When Mommy was visiting them (Older Brother and his family) in California she snapped some shots of Boo Boo and commented to me later about his long hair. 

 

I explained that his hair really wouldn’t be considered long to most people and it was really en vogue if she saw the teen heartthrobs like Zac Efron and Chace Crawford (or anyone on the CW, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, etc).

Now I hear that it is all gone and that he has a buzz cut, high and tight, ahhh Gibbs would be proud (in reference to Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS).  

A little catching up...

It was a long and wonderful week.  Baby Boy's visit was very nice, however most household things were neglected so that is what I am doing for the next couple of days - dusting, vacuuming, laundering...and hopefully creating.

Baby Boy is very creative and loves photography.  I had him show me some things about Mommy's camera and have been taking better photos because of it.  Here's one of Baby Boy's pictures with his Holga camera:

Another update:

We finally found out why Bubba got his black belt and BooBoo didn't.  Apparently BooBoo had a baseball game and didn't go to karate that day.  Bubba went to karate that day but didn't know he would be testing; both boys were supposed to test for their black belts in June.  While Bubba was there 9th degree black belt Master Echi Ota came to visit and asked if anyone was prepared to test for their black belts and Master Ota was told that Bubba was ready, much to Bubba's surprise.  He tested and of course got it.  BooBoo wasn't too happy to have missed that day but to him baseball is more important and he'll still be able to test in June.  It's so much better when we get the whole story.

There's so much to tell you all about and to share so I will go and get the house a little cleaner and organize my thoughts and get items ready to share.

Happy Monday!!

Congrats!!

Bubba, my eleven year old nephew, tested for and received his black belt this past weekend.  He is very excited about it and I am very happy for him.  However this makes him think that he is the next Jet Li.

I'm unsure about BooBoo though.  Either he didn't test or he tested and didn't get it...not very good for these very competitive brothers.

Anyhoot, congratulations Bubba!!!

As Promised

Promises are important...especially the ones you keep.  I try not to make promises.  I do this because I understand the importance of keeping my word and I value that.  Here's a little story with regards to this:

I have two nephews: Bubba and BooBoo.  BooBoo is VERY literal.  We used to live in the same town and I got to see them all the time and do tons of fun things like color Easter eggs, go to the pumpkin patch, take them to the fair, etc.  Although there were many meltdowns, as those of you with kids know, I was able to experience all the fun and joy of having kids without some of the day-to-day messiness.

Mommy (Nana to the boys) and I loved taking the boys whenever we could, which was most of the time, and making things for them.  BooBoo loved, no loves, to dress up.  He is an all-American boy.  He also loves history, asking questions and winning.  When he was little he would proclaim "I'm the winner!" whether he was or not and sometimes he wasn't even a player in the game.   And as a side note BooBoo's daddy is a good ol' Southern pride rebel boy and that makes this story even better in my eyes.

BooBoo became fascinated with the Civil War and wanted to be able to play dress up as a soldier...a Union soldier.  His dad tried to change that but to no avail.  BooBoo was a Union soldier because they won.  I encouraged it so much so that I told BooBoo that I would make him some items for dress up if he wanted.  A couple of months later I moved away.

Fast forward a couple more months and it's October.  One afternoon I receive a call from Mommy and she tells me that she had the boys over after school and they were talking about Halloween costumes and what they wanted to be.  Bubba didn't know and BooBoo said that he was going to be a Union Soldier.  Mommy asked if he already had a costume and he told her, "No, Aunt Missy's making me one."  She pressed further about it and about a possible back up plan in case I didn't do it.  BooBoo was adamant, "No, Aunt Missy said she was going to make me one and she will." 

I was shocked, I knew that I would do it (although I didn't know it would be for Halloween) but that he had so much faith in me (especially because he didn't have that faith in others) was amazing.  Let's just say that was the kick I needed to get me going.  I pulled out my sewing machine and went to work.

  I covered a baseball cap to make the kepi and remade the jacket, belt and belt buckle.  One of these days I may go into more detail because I was a good girl and took lots of pictures of the process. 

I think my parents also got a picture of BooBoo dressed up along with Bubba the viking.  I'll have to look for that and see if I can't get it posted as well.

I purchased a white dress shirt at a local thrift store and changed to collar to make it look more like shirt from that time.

There was lots of cutting and re-doing.  Can I just tell you how difficult it is to make an outfit without having the person there to try things on...it also doesn't help that I couldn't get measurements out of anyone for him...so I went to one of my sewing books and looked up average sizes and went off of that, luckily it worked and he was adorable and pleased.

It was a lot of fun to do and a big hit.  It was also a great lesson.

I could just keep on writing but it's difficult to type single-handed.  More on that at a later date.

Hope you day was a good one!