Well...since you've decided to hang around, I suppose I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I am the proud wife of John Snyder for twenty-five years, and the mother of six wonderful children, Emily, John, Julie, and Peter - little Pat and little Robin are our saints in Heaven.

This year, I've begun homeschooling our third grader and our tenth grader - and am astounded at how wonderful this is! I've been greatly supported in this endeavor by my family, and also by the wonderful homeschooling ladies whom I've met through Catholocity, a site run and maintained by Bud McFarlane, Jr., a notable author. We've been using an eclectic mix of curriculums - our math from Math-U-See (which has done wonders for both kids), English from original sources (both kids love reading the classics), and some great books from Kolbe and Seton. I'm only sorry that I didn't consider homeschooling an option before!

In the nonce I am an e-mail junkie with the corresponding result of becoming an essayist. Who would have thought that this average student would have become a wordaholic! Enjoy!

In Weird Al's movie "UHF", a simple-minded janitor is obsessed with his mop. He just loves that thing and is in anguish when it goes missing. As he's abducted by gangsters, in danger of loosing his life, he spies his lost mop across the room. Breaking free of his bonds, he slugs the thugs, all the while joyfully crying out, "My MOP, my MOP!!! It's my MOP! I had it since I was in first grade. It's my MOP! I found my MOP!!!".

(scene shifts)

Several times I'd been told by my 87 year old Mother that she'd mislaid her scarf, her nice red scarf, her nice red silk scarf. The one she really likes to wear to keep her neck warm in this oh so cold winter.

As she and I were preparing for a trek to the grocery store, she again bemoaned the whereabouts of her nice red silk scarf. "Oh dear, I wish I had my scarf," she said. Glancing down at her front hall oriental carpet while she put on her boots, something caught my eye (and you know how painful THAT can be?a Weird Al'ism here, sorry). "Is this it," I asked picking up a piece of red silk in the shadows of her chair.

She gleefully took it from my hands, oh joy, oh rapture, oh my?my?"My scarf, my scarf!!! It's my scarf!". Kissing it, hugging it, no piece of neckware was ever so loved.

Laughing I said, "Mom, I've just got to tell you about a funny thing in our family that we say when we find something that was missing. You see there's this movie with a janitor?."

Well, as she still hugged and kissed her scarf, I told her the story. Then we both got laughing and saying, "My MOP, my MOP, I found my MOP." And as I strolled past her in the frozen foods, she uttered again, "My MOP, my MOP!!"

For a tribute to Bartholemeu Dias, the Explorer, please click here.

For a classical homeschooling reading list, please click here.

To find out who Weird Al is, click here.

Last updated 17 June, 2000.

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