Here's a top ten list of prioritized goals for 2008:
1. Hug Hubby a lot more.
2. Restructure the end of the debts to minimize number of payments and interest rates.
3. Do all bill paying and budgeting online so I can keep track of exactly where my money is going.
4. File the bills as soon as they are taken care of.
5. Put away money each month toward birthdays and Christmas expenses.
6. Set aside cash each month for fun stuff.
7. Take kids to at least one free event every month at the library/park/whatever.
8. Bring my lunch at least 4x a week to minimize $ spent there.
9. Eat more vegetables.
10. Figure out how to work some exercise time into my week.
Obviously time with Hubby is the most important thing I can add to this year. It's hard with two jobs, two kids, our crazy extended family, and the seemingly 9 billion things we have to do every month, but I want to make sure he feels loved and taken care of. He's been last on the list many times before (especially when the kids were babies), and he deserves a lot more.
You can tell that paying off debts and managing the budget are two big priorities also. I've never been very confident with managing money or doing budgets, but now that I'm using the online bill paying service and watching my accounts online, I can tell a lot more easily what's going on with the bills and the bank. Not that I'm ever going to be any kind of raging genius when it comes to this stuff, but I at least don't feel like I'm a totally incompetent moron.
Seems like we spend most of our weekends cleaning the house and doing laundry rather than getting out and doing fun stuff as a family, so I'd like to do more of that. Not sure how that's going to work with the laundry schedule, but we'll live. Last on the priorities is basically improving my eating and exercise habits as always... I do okay on those for a while but not consistently. The exercise one is my biggest bugaboo. Maybe someday the basement will be finished, the toys and a tv down there, and we can get an elliptical machine. More good ideas -- but Hubby's got to put those Home Depot cards to work buying the materials to finish off the basement first.
The only thing I haven't put on the list is trying to figure out what kind of spiritual time I want to have in my life. I think that's going to end up being some kind of separate list for the coming year. I've been sorely lacking in that department, and I do want the kids to participate in some kind of spiritual activities. I've been extremely offended by the kinds of shenanigans that have been going on in the local Catholic and Episcopal churches here -- am thinking about making a trip to the neighborhood Lutheran church with Miss Emma next door. We'll see.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
End of 2007
It's been an eventful last couple weeks.
The one possible date I had to go over to The Boy's school and do an official lunch duty with his class -- I left my school, crossed the street, slipped on the fucking wet leaves and did a total face plant in the road (chipped a front tooth, bit through lower lip, general mess and mayhem). I walked back into the office where my principal didn't even recognize me for all the bloody mess, spit chunks of my lip into the nurse's sink, and ended up in the dentist's office and the oral surgeon's office (read -- drop a grand and wait for insurance to reimburse). This with the Drama Queen in tow, whose teachers thought she had symptoms of pinkeye (she didn't have it) which necessitated pickup immediately after naptime and just before dentist appointment, because Daddy was in Florida and wasn't due back until midnight, and Pop-pop was in St. Marten with his GF -- which left me with UM as the only other person on all the emergency forms, so had to call him and see if he could take an early train home and pick up the boy at the Y for me since I had no idea how long I would be getting stitched up. Fortunately DQ had an amazing afternoon and was quite happy to sit with a coloring book, a cute receptionist, and a juice box while I was having needles etc jabbed in my face.
The worst part? My teeth hurt so much drinking wasn't really an option, with or without a straw for a couple DAYS and they gave me NOTHING. Tylenol and Advil on alternating 2 hours put a decent dent in it, though. Went back to the oral surgeon at the end of the week, and he said he was impressed at how well it had healed since "it looked like hamburger on Monday." Lovely. I pretty much had no other options -- get the fuck well was it. Welcome to motherhood. If this shit doesn't work in your book, then don't bother getting knocked up.
Next up on the hit parade we have UM's court date, which fortunately went well for him. Apparently the Murphinator's lawyer is about as unorganized as she is, and according to UM the judge was less than impressed with the histrionics and drama being offered up. Once that and the Mouth Trauma were both over we set the date for doing the final Christmas shopping for FIL as he announced he didn't want to do it this year.
That turned out to be the date of FIL's combo colonoscopy/endoscopy which discovered a large and needs-to-be-removed weird mass in his colon. Therefore -- surgery the day after said evening shopping trip in which UM and I rationalized everything but our emotional reactions to FIL being in the hospital for major surgery. Needless to say, surgery went well given the nonsense at the hospital, but reactions by all were less than good. GF didn't call from the hospital for hours, snowstorm/icestorm prevented the rest of us being there, and basically communication broke down and no one handled it well.
Just before Christmas Eve, we have FIL asking GF to marry him with giant diamond ring (I'm guessing at least 6 carats on the center stone, the thing is as big as my fingernail). She of course said yes, but there's no date set as they have a lot to work out in terms of their businesses and such. UM was okay with it. Hubby was not, but at least he was polite. He wouldn't be okay with this if they'd done it five years from now, though... sigh. RainMan he is, and there's nothing going to change that. Christmas Eve other than that was fun with the kids. The Fantastic Four were quite happy with all the gifts and stuff.
Lastly, Hubby's beloved and favorite cat Chester went down for the count two days ago, so FIL took him to the vet. They ended up putting him to sleep that night. Hubby had gone to the animal shelter with his mother 17 years ago and the two of them had picked out two kittens from the same litter -- Chester and Madeline. So it was more than a little sad for him to lose Chester.
Hopefully 2008 will be somewhat more manageable. Guess we'll find out!
The one possible date I had to go over to The Boy's school and do an official lunch duty with his class -- I left my school, crossed the street, slipped on the fucking wet leaves and did a total face plant in the road (chipped a front tooth, bit through lower lip, general mess and mayhem). I walked back into the office where my principal didn't even recognize me for all the bloody mess, spit chunks of my lip into the nurse's sink, and ended up in the dentist's office and the oral surgeon's office (read -- drop a grand and wait for insurance to reimburse). This with the Drama Queen in tow, whose teachers thought she had symptoms of pinkeye (she didn't have it) which necessitated pickup immediately after naptime and just before dentist appointment, because Daddy was in Florida and wasn't due back until midnight, and Pop-pop was in St. Marten with his GF -- which left me with UM as the only other person on all the emergency forms, so had to call him and see if he could take an early train home and pick up the boy at the Y for me since I had no idea how long I would be getting stitched up. Fortunately DQ had an amazing afternoon and was quite happy to sit with a coloring book, a cute receptionist, and a juice box while I was having needles etc jabbed in my face.
The worst part? My teeth hurt so much drinking wasn't really an option, with or without a straw for a couple DAYS and they gave me NOTHING. Tylenol and Advil on alternating 2 hours put a decent dent in it, though. Went back to the oral surgeon at the end of the week, and he said he was impressed at how well it had healed since "it looked like hamburger on Monday." Lovely. I pretty much had no other options -- get the fuck well was it. Welcome to motherhood. If this shit doesn't work in your book, then don't bother getting knocked up.
Next up on the hit parade we have UM's court date, which fortunately went well for him. Apparently the Murphinator's lawyer is about as unorganized as she is, and according to UM the judge was less than impressed with the histrionics and drama being offered up. Once that and the Mouth Trauma were both over we set the date for doing the final Christmas shopping for FIL as he announced he didn't want to do it this year.
That turned out to be the date of FIL's combo colonoscopy/endoscopy which discovered a large and needs-to-be-removed weird mass in his colon. Therefore -- surgery the day after said evening shopping trip in which UM and I rationalized everything but our emotional reactions to FIL being in the hospital for major surgery. Needless to say, surgery went well given the nonsense at the hospital, but reactions by all were less than good. GF didn't call from the hospital for hours, snowstorm/icestorm prevented the rest of us being there, and basically communication broke down and no one handled it well.
Just before Christmas Eve, we have FIL asking GF to marry him with giant diamond ring (I'm guessing at least 6 carats on the center stone, the thing is as big as my fingernail). She of course said yes, but there's no date set as they have a lot to work out in terms of their businesses and such. UM was okay with it. Hubby was not, but at least he was polite. He wouldn't be okay with this if they'd done it five years from now, though... sigh. RainMan he is, and there's nothing going to change that. Christmas Eve other than that was fun with the kids. The Fantastic Four were quite happy with all the gifts and stuff.
Lastly, Hubby's beloved and favorite cat Chester went down for the count two days ago, so FIL took him to the vet. They ended up putting him to sleep that night. Hubby had gone to the animal shelter with his mother 17 years ago and the two of them had picked out two kittens from the same litter -- Chester and Madeline. So it was more than a little sad for him to lose Chester.
Hopefully 2008 will be somewhat more manageable. Guess we'll find out!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Halfway Through My YA Lit Religious Experience
I went into NYC today to attend the ALAN workshop, "Helping Teens Discover a Sense of Self and Place Through Young Adult Literature." When I walked into the Marriott Times Square and went up to the 5th floor ballroom area to check in, they forked over a good-size cardboard box full of books -- hardcover, paperback, both brand new titles and older titles, and even some pre-pub reviewer copies of the newest books. All told it looks like about $250-300 worth of books! What a great "thanks for coming" gift! There were different book combinations in every box, so you weren't guaranteed to get any particular authors or books, but everyone got enough to get autographs from the authors who were there. (I got a bunch!)
Talk about heaven!
I sat with a couple hundred other English teachers, librarians and media specialists to hear a host of YA authors talk about their books and what they see as important with kids and reading. There were some new authors I wasn't familiar with, like the keynote speaker, Sherman Alexie. He was hilarious and a phenomenal speaker. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him. His book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was awarded the National Book Award for the YA category last night. Chris Crutcher came up next, and had me in tears one minute and cheering like hell the next. All day, we had Brian Selznick, Peter Sis, Christopher Myers, Jacqueline Woodson, Patricia McCormick, Ben Mikaelson, Gloria Whelan, Holly Black, Lauren Myracle, Helen Frost, T.A. Barron, David Lubar (who came to speak even though today is his 30th anniversary -- he has quite the understanding wife!), Pete Hautman, and many other new authors, poets and playwrights. It was an amazing, exhausting day, and I loved it. And tomorrow is equally promising (but will be less exhausting as I will only be hauling in the books for the authors who are speaking tomorrow). Tons of notes, lots of great quotes on reading and writing. The ALAN presenters were also great -- went to a breakout session on encouraging reluctant readers that was a lot of fun.
Time to go crash... it's back on the train and the subway tomorrow. This is one of those things that is fun for a day or two but If I had to make that trip every day I would be miserable. Glad I don't have to!
Talk about heaven!
I sat with a couple hundred other English teachers, librarians and media specialists to hear a host of YA authors talk about their books and what they see as important with kids and reading. There were some new authors I wasn't familiar with, like the keynote speaker, Sherman Alexie. He was hilarious and a phenomenal speaker. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him. His book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was awarded the National Book Award for the YA category last night. Chris Crutcher came up next, and had me in tears one minute and cheering like hell the next. All day, we had Brian Selznick, Peter Sis, Christopher Myers, Jacqueline Woodson, Patricia McCormick, Ben Mikaelson, Gloria Whelan, Holly Black, Lauren Myracle, Helen Frost, T.A. Barron, David Lubar (who came to speak even though today is his 30th anniversary -- he has quite the understanding wife!), Pete Hautman, and many other new authors, poets and playwrights. It was an amazing, exhausting day, and I loved it. And tomorrow is equally promising (but will be less exhausting as I will only be hauling in the books for the authors who are speaking tomorrow). Tons of notes, lots of great quotes on reading and writing. The ALAN presenters were also great -- went to a breakout session on encouraging reluctant readers that was a lot of fun.
Time to go crash... it's back on the train and the subway tomorrow. This is one of those things that is fun for a day or two but If I had to make that trip every day I would be miserable. Glad I don't have to!
Friday, November 16, 2007
The Drama Queen and the Shopping Deity
Drama Queen is still sick today -- worse than yesterday, so I was glad I took the day off to stay home with her. The Boy's class went to the bookfair today, and I had promised him earlier in the week that I would come and meet him there, so as DQ seemed to be perking up a bit, we bundled into Big Bertha and off we went to the bookfair. She was good for about 20 minutes there, and then we came home, where she had a few sips of warm apple cider and promptly passed out on the sofa for a couple hours (definitely not normal at 10:30 am). While she was sleeping, I was twelve feet away, doing over a grand's worth of damage to FIL's Mastercard. Or, should I say, earning him all kinds of gambling bonus points by using his card... Figuring out what went with what to create outfits for the kids was the most pain in the ass part, beyond the fact that they had no pink snowpants to go with Beloved Niece's jacket so had to get her cream ones (jacket is pink and cream colored). Why in the hell does ANYONE make white or off-white snowpants for kids??? Ridiculous, but nothing else came even close to coordinating.
Anyway, the Fantastic Four are taken care of for outwear and clothes and pjs for Christmas, and all but two of the rest are taken care of (didn't hear back about sizes for the twins yet, so that's on hold). All that's left are stocking stuffers and toys for the girls, but UM and I will head off to KidMecca (aka Toys R Us) one weeknight sometime soon and get that squared away.
Anyway, the Fantastic Four are taken care of for outwear and clothes and pjs for Christmas, and all but two of the rest are taken care of (didn't hear back about sizes for the twins yet, so that's on hold). All that's left are stocking stuffers and toys for the girls, but UM and I will head off to KidMecca (aka Toys R Us) one weeknight sometime soon and get that squared away.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Christmas Is Coming, The Mama's Getting Fat
Well, maybe not technically fat yet, but I'm getting the "let's hibernate for the winter" vibe from my innards. Thank God for sweaters.
The annual physical is coming up the week after Thanksgiving. Have to remember to schedule that business for July next time -- having a cholesterol test five days after Thanksgiving is probably one of my stupider moves. Jimmy's going to harass me about going on Lipitor for sure now. That'll be a fun conversation.
Started the Christmas shopping with a pajama binge for the Fantastic Four. UM says he has the "boy" gifts taken care of but needs help with the "girl" gifts. FIL announced he does not want to shop at all this year and has dumped it in our laps, along with his MasterCard. I am officially in charge of all clothing gifts, stocking stuffers, and gifts for the grandkids of the four closest friends and relations (there are 14 in that category). Thats quite the arsenal of online orders -- Lands End is going to make a small fortune off this project.
We haven't discussed grownup gifts yet this year -- not sure how that's going to go.
Drama Queen is battling a cold and stayed home with Daddy today, but she was better tonight. Hopefully she will be okay in the morning and I can go to work... left sub plans just in case, though.
The annual physical is coming up the week after Thanksgiving. Have to remember to schedule that business for July next time -- having a cholesterol test five days after Thanksgiving is probably one of my stupider moves. Jimmy's going to harass me about going on Lipitor for sure now. That'll be a fun conversation.
Started the Christmas shopping with a pajama binge for the Fantastic Four. UM says he has the "boy" gifts taken care of but needs help with the "girl" gifts. FIL announced he does not want to shop at all this year and has dumped it in our laps, along with his MasterCard. I am officially in charge of all clothing gifts, stocking stuffers, and gifts for the grandkids of the four closest friends and relations (there are 14 in that category). Thats quite the arsenal of online orders -- Lands End is going to make a small fortune off this project.
We haven't discussed grownup gifts yet this year -- not sure how that's going to go.
Drama Queen is battling a cold and stayed home with Daddy today, but she was better tonight. Hopefully she will be okay in the morning and I can go to work... left sub plans just in case, though.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Last day of the first marking period, so far I have one set of psychotic parents and one student who didn't fall far from the tree, a mild sinus infection, a half-day of staff development that I seem to be fully responsible for (for the building) coming up on Tuesday, and Hubby doesn't seem to think he needs to take the day off then (when we have no child care for both children and it's been on the calendar for three months).
I would very much like to go drive off a cliff right now.
No, really.
Okay, maybe that's just another pipe dream to make me feel momentarily better, but I'M STILL HAVING IT, GODDAMMMIT.
Oh, and add that my FIL's girlfriend had surgery yesterday, he called to tell us she was doing okay, and then last night he went to the hospital with chest pains. WTF. According to the ER doc in Jersey, he has indigestion. I talked to him today and told him he WOULD be going to the cardiologist when he got home. He argued with me about that (actually made me feel better -- if he had agreed to it immediately I would have driven down there tonight), but one way or the other he will get in and get that done and go see his GP also.
I hate being the uber-mama in this family some days. Today qualifies.
I would very much like to go drive off a cliff right now.
No, really.
Okay, maybe that's just another pipe dream to make me feel momentarily better, but I'M STILL HAVING IT, GODDAMMMIT.
Oh, and add that my FIL's girlfriend had surgery yesterday, he called to tell us she was doing okay, and then last night he went to the hospital with chest pains. WTF. According to the ER doc in Jersey, he has indigestion. I talked to him today and told him he WOULD be going to the cardiologist when he got home. He argued with me about that (actually made me feel better -- if he had agreed to it immediately I would have driven down there tonight), but one way or the other he will get in and get that done and go see his GP also.
I hate being the uber-mama in this family some days. Today qualifies.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Rabbit Hill #1
Went to the Rabbit Hill Literature Festival Author Dinner tonight at the Red Barn restaurant. The travel was nasty -- dark, rainy, horrendous traffic (took me an hour and ten minutes to get there instead of a half hour). However, upon arrival, I sat down with the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, and had a lovely bit of conversation before Eeyore showed up. Our table was graced for the evening by none other than Neal Shusterman, author of my fave twisted fairy tales/myth series (Red Rider's Hood, Dreadlocks), The Schwa, and Everlost. He lives in southern California, so we discussed the fires there (his house is fine, the ones I lived in in Poway and Escondido are gone), families, life of an author, his newest book that is just out. I think we are going to try to get him to come for a visit late this year -- there is someone from NY (around Rye) working on doing that, so if we can dovetail into that we're golden. We might be able to split him for a day with Central, and get Just Books in on it also.
His new book, Unwind, sounds incredible. I can't wait to read it! A second civil war has happened (over the issue of abortion among things). The civilization that has survived has decreed that there are to be no abortions -- life at conception IS. However, between the ages of 13-17, children can legally be terminated by their parents. What a dilemma -- the Drama Queen is three and frankly I am dreading 13 like it's going to be the start of an incarceration for me. I can see why this would be a question an author would want to write about!
Neal said that he wanted to address the issue of abortion, but do it in a way that had not been done before, and do it in a way that would present both sides with an opportunity to discuss. What a thought -- delve into a violently divisive issue and give both sides a piece to argue for and against using fiction as the vehicle. His intended audience is high school, so I will be interested to read it. He said he expects it to be on the Banned Books list!
I didn't get around to the other tables to schmooze with the other authors, but hopefully I will see a couple tomorrow. Met the director of the Westport public library, and an editor for Simon and Schuster also -- will revise post tomorrow later with their names which are on a card with the book on CD that we got as a dinner gift tonight (Gail Carson Levine). :)
Lovely, lovely time. I should have gotten my favorite princess and Wonder Woman to come... maybe next year!
His new book, Unwind, sounds incredible. I can't wait to read it! A second civil war has happened (over the issue of abortion among things). The civilization that has survived has decreed that there are to be no abortions -- life at conception IS. However, between the ages of 13-17, children can legally be terminated by their parents. What a dilemma -- the Drama Queen is three and frankly I am dreading 13 like it's going to be the start of an incarceration for me. I can see why this would be a question an author would want to write about!
Neal said that he wanted to address the issue of abortion, but do it in a way that had not been done before, and do it in a way that would present both sides with an opportunity to discuss. What a thought -- delve into a violently divisive issue and give both sides a piece to argue for and against using fiction as the vehicle. His intended audience is high school, so I will be interested to read it. He said he expects it to be on the Banned Books list!
I didn't get around to the other tables to schmooze with the other authors, but hopefully I will see a couple tomorrow. Met the director of the Westport public library, and an editor for Simon and Schuster also -- will revise post tomorrow later with their names which are on a card with the book on CD that we got as a dinner gift tonight (Gail Carson Levine). :)
Lovely, lovely time. I should have gotten my favorite princess and Wonder Woman to come... maybe next year!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
13th Tale Update
Second note to WW and my favorite Princess: You should have threatened me with shovels, shotguns, whatever you could get your hands on to make me read this!! Thirteenth Tale is amazing, I loveitloveitloveit -- and of course wish I'd started it sooner. Damn real life -- it gets in the way of so many good books.
I have two booktalks tomorrow so don't know if I will finish tonight, if not then definitely this weekend. I'll post when I'm done. :)
I have two booktalks tomorrow so don't know if I will finish tonight, if not then definitely this weekend. I'll post when I'm done. :)
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Note to Wonder Woman
WW,
I have FINALLY brought home Thirteenth Tale. If my children don't absolutely drag me under tonight, I will start reading. Unfortunately the Dallas/Buffalo game kept me up late last night (yes, occasionally I do put myself through the football paces), so looks like passout time will come earlier than usual. Promise I'll get moving on it, though!
The Hundred Acre Wood was relatively calm today. Scheduled a bunch of booktalks through the rest of the month, and got my paperwork done for the two big conferences this month and next. I'm headed to Hartford for the annual CECA tech/education conference late this month, and then off to NYC next month for a two day authors and reading workshop in conjunction with the NCTE annual conference. FL told me today that I am getting expensive -- told him I am worth every nickel and he knows it! Turned in my annual TEP plan for him to approve today. Changed my description titles (the what are you going to do parts) from last year's very simple "Weed, Feed and Learn" to this year's "Duck and Chuck, Spend the Money Honey, and On to the Fun Stuff". That's basically to see if 1. anyone actually reads this, and 2. if they do, did they notice? We'll see. Not a big deal if I get told to change it -- I don't care. I just get so bloody bored with doing things the straitlaced way.
I have FINALLY brought home Thirteenth Tale. If my children don't absolutely drag me under tonight, I will start reading. Unfortunately the Dallas/Buffalo game kept me up late last night (yes, occasionally I do put myself through the football paces), so looks like passout time will come earlier than usual. Promise I'll get moving on it, though!
The Hundred Acre Wood was relatively calm today. Scheduled a bunch of booktalks through the rest of the month, and got my paperwork done for the two big conferences this month and next. I'm headed to Hartford for the annual CECA tech/education conference late this month, and then off to NYC next month for a two day authors and reading workshop in conjunction with the NCTE annual conference. FL told me today that I am getting expensive -- told him I am worth every nickel and he knows it! Turned in my annual TEP plan for him to approve today. Changed my description titles (the what are you going to do parts) from last year's very simple "Weed, Feed and Learn" to this year's "Duck and Chuck, Spend the Money Honey, and On to the Fun Stuff". That's basically to see if 1. anyone actually reads this, and 2. if they do, did they notice? We'll see. Not a big deal if I get told to change it -- I don't care. I just get so bloody bored with doing things the straitlaced way.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
and a good time was had by all...
What a weekend! The Boy and I had a wonderful time hitting the road together. The drive down on Friday was great (perfect timing in terms of traffic, except we did miss a turn in Baltimore and ended up driving around backtracking for a half hour), the weather was fantastic, and he was a trooper about walking everywhere. Friday afternoon we went to the Natural History museum (dinosaurs and meteorites were on the agenda) and we walked around the mall and the Capitol grounds a little. The brick grotto with the fountain was open and renovated this year, and he thought that was cool. Dinner was at the hotel (overpriced but convenient), and he passed out very quickly afterwards. We're definitely staying elsewhere next year -- they put us in a room facing NJ Ave and there's a fire station directly across the street. Nice for safety, but I was up every hour or so with the fire trucks wailing away. The Boy, of course, sleeps like a rock, so he didn't notice. Time to find a less expensive option sitting on or very near a Metro station!!Saturday we got up early, had the included breakfast buffet (which was a deal given the amount The Boy ate), and then we went to the Washington Monument. Claustrophobia in check for a few hours, we did the 9:30 tour, and he enjoyed it very much. I was definitely glad to be out of there, though. We found the 15th St public restrooms where the fire alarm was going off for no particular reason and the park service employees were having their coffee in a golf cart nearby. Apparently fire alarms are not enough reason to reschedule a coffee break.
The book festival got going at 10 am, so we were there just after it started. We stopped in and bought books early (not a big line yet), then made our way to the PBS Kids tent, Magic School Bus, Target tent and the information tent. Good thing we hit the giveaways early -- they were running out of a lot of things by noon as the place was mobbed with people later! We got posters and bags, polaroids of The Boy with various cartoon characters (costumed folks), a Magic School Bus book from the Scholastic people, two stuffed parrots from the PBS people, and various coloring books and activity books from other companies. The Target people were giving away what they called reading mats, but were really nice, thick, heavy vinyl-coated bags. One side of the bag has a checkerboard layout, and inside the inner zip pocket of the bag is a set of red and white plastic checkers! We had a good couple games under the trees just across from the children's authors' presentation tent while we listened to David Wiesner, Rosemary Wells, and Judy Schachner talk about their books. I was a little disappointed this year that the lines were so long to get books signed -- I gave up even considering trying since most of the authors were scheduled for only one-hour stints at the book signing stations. The Boy is patient, but he is not that patient. We wandered around the pavilions listening to various authors, though, and that was fun. Most of the pavilions were wall-to-wall people, some standing 8-10 deep around the edge of the chairs. We got to hear part of Terry Pratchett's presentation, and some of Holly Black's, Patricia MacLachlan's, and a few others. It was hard to get to hear complete presentations, not only because of the crowds and distance between pavilions, but because of the schedule! We tried getting from one pavilion to another quickly to hear one author or another, but invariably we missed chunks of the presentations. The LOC was recording all of the sessions, though, so hopefully they will finish the video podcasts soon and we can see what we missed, and I can recommend appropriate ones to teachers.
Met dear family friend BabyBeckie (who is now working in DC), and she wandered the festival with us all afternoon. We went back to the hotel to drop off the stuff (camera, book fest bags o'freebies, and what then felt like 85 pounds of books), and we went to Union Station. We had dinner at one of the nice restaurants there (not NEARLY as expensive as the hotel option!), and we caught the 7pm Old Town Trolley evening monuments tour. The Boy had been very excited about staying up late and seeing the monuments lit up at night, but after walking all day and dinner with ice cream, he passed out on the trolley around 8:45! He missed the FDR memorial, woke up to walk over to the Korean War memorial with me, then I piggybacked him over to the Lincoln Memorial so he could see the Capitol, Washington Monument and WWII all lit up. He liked that a lot, but he was so tired he passed right out again as soon as we got back on, so he missed Iwo Jima. Our driver/tour guide was "Mr. Map" and I highly recommend him as a guide. He was extremely knowledgeable, cracked decent jokes, and asked all of us about ourselves (and remembered it all later when he would point things out and refer to us). BabyBeckie had never seen the monuments at night either, and some of them she hadn't seen at all yet, so we both had a good time on the tour (even with the Boy passed out across my lap).
I think that next year we will 1. stay at a different hotel and avail ourselves of the Metro, 2. get a couple books for different authors who will be there ahead of time and make lists of questions on stickies for the books, and 3. just try to see those few authors' presentations and not worry about going near the signing tents. We're definitely arriving early again next year, though, as that seemed to be key for the fun stuff and freebies. The food choices were limited at best. We had ice cream more than once! I don't know if I can talk Hubby into coming with us next year (so DQ can come too), or if this is going to be a Mom-and-Boy activity for another year. We'll see. I'll be interested in attendance estimates for the festival -- it was definitely more crowded than last year.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Yes, Eeyore did the "why wasn't I invited" shit. Am going to tell FL to either invite her officially or tell her no because she is not the goddamn department head with the requisite ass on the line.
Pretty much guarantees her coming to the meeting -- not completely a bad thing, but she gets lost easily and doesn't get the jokes. So I'm annoyed afterward, and given that it's a 9:30 meeting, I can't ameliorate that easily. Maybe I'll see about scheduling my cholesterol test the same day. If I'm going to be underfed, undercaffeinated and pissed, I might as well get to take it out there.
Of course, the sensible thing would be to gently note to FL that avoidance of the issue is as easy as a reschedule to a time during her class. That would get him off the hook nonconfrontationally.
I do notice that he tends to like to notice that shit on his own, however.
So it looks like I'm screwed.
Where's Jimmy's number for the cholesterol screening appt??????
Pretty much guarantees her coming to the meeting -- not completely a bad thing, but she gets lost easily and doesn't get the jokes. So I'm annoyed afterward, and given that it's a 9:30 meeting, I can't ameliorate that easily. Maybe I'll see about scheduling my cholesterol test the same day. If I'm going to be underfed, undercaffeinated and pissed, I might as well get to take it out there.
Of course, the sensible thing would be to gently note to FL that avoidance of the issue is as easy as a reschedule to a time during her class. That would get him off the hook nonconfrontationally.
I do notice that he tends to like to notice that shit on his own, however.
So it looks like I'm screwed.
Where's Jimmy's number for the cholesterol screening appt??????
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Hundred Acre Wood Update
I miss Wonderland. Not the place necessarily, but my favorite characters, most of whom I went out to dinner with tonight. I had more fun .. need to do that more to ameliorate everything else in my life. Went to the Mirage Cafe in Port Chester, and it was absolutely delightful! The chocolate mousse and the bread pudding were SINFULLY good ... I should have just gotten one or both of those. I had a fish special that was out of this world, though. Next stop will be Coyote Flaco with the DR2B, the Dormouse and the Princess-- should ask them if we can invite Wonder Woman; miss her too. Have to attempt to get them for a Wednesday night since I don't have to teach on Thurs. so therefore a trip to margaritaville wouldn't be so bad. Either that or aim for a weekend -- Hubby has been out with the fellas so it would be a bit of equalization. Like the song says, "Girlfriends kick ass!"
The Hundred Acre Wood is coming along reasonably well given the structural roadblocks that have been thrown in our way by the district (ie budget cuts that mean we have ancient carpet for another year or more, and everything else will have to be held together with bubble gum and baling wire). The kids enjoy coming after school, and I think it's nice to have them chirping away doing homework and talking over things together for a while after school. Kanga gets a kick out of them too -- Eeyore gets a little more bent if the noise goes up and she doesn't think they are doing homework, but they don't seem to mind much when she goes off.
Fearless Leader Round 1: asked me yesterday to present to the two 6th grade parent coffees today. Not a big deal, but it sent Eeyore around the bend last night because she couldn't remember if she had to set anything up for first thing in the morning (no, I set it all up, but it took over 10 minutes to get her off the phone last night when I was trying to get the kids to bed).
FL Round 2: told me he was putting me on ShIT committee (School Improvement Team). Last time I got stuck with that I discovered that it was basically a forum for hyperinvolved parents to bitch and moan. Has it changed? Who knows -- guess I will find out. He OWES me. Like he doesn't already!
FL Round 3 will be the budget meeting next week where we ballpark what we need for next year. That should be fun given we've got a lowball amount for book $ recommendation from the district and I'll have to hit one out of the park to get more on that. I'm sure Eeyore will go ballistic and do the "why wasn't I invited to this?" crap again.
The Boy is very,very,very excited about going to Washington with me this weekend. The Dormouse is getting me the camera so we can take decent pictures from a distance of authors etc at the Book Festival, and we have a couple picked out to go listen to/see etc. We'll see what we accomplish! Actually, I think he is just excited to have room service in his near future. :)
The Hundred Acre Wood is coming along reasonably well given the structural roadblocks that have been thrown in our way by the district (ie budget cuts that mean we have ancient carpet for another year or more, and everything else will have to be held together with bubble gum and baling wire). The kids enjoy coming after school, and I think it's nice to have them chirping away doing homework and talking over things together for a while after school. Kanga gets a kick out of them too -- Eeyore gets a little more bent if the noise goes up and she doesn't think they are doing homework, but they don't seem to mind much when she goes off.
Fearless Leader Round 1: asked me yesterday to present to the two 6th grade parent coffees today. Not a big deal, but it sent Eeyore around the bend last night because she couldn't remember if she had to set anything up for first thing in the morning (no, I set it all up, but it took over 10 minutes to get her off the phone last night when I was trying to get the kids to bed).
FL Round 2: told me he was putting me on ShIT committee (School Improvement Team). Last time I got stuck with that I discovered that it was basically a forum for hyperinvolved parents to bitch and moan. Has it changed? Who knows -- guess I will find out. He OWES me. Like he doesn't already!
FL Round 3 will be the budget meeting next week where we ballpark what we need for next year. That should be fun given we've got a lowball amount for book $ recommendation from the district and I'll have to hit one out of the park to get more on that. I'm sure Eeyore will go ballistic and do the "why wasn't I invited to this?" crap again.
The Boy is very,very,very excited about going to Washington with me this weekend. The Dormouse is getting me the camera so we can take decent pictures from a distance of authors etc at the Book Festival, and we have a couple picked out to go listen to/see etc. We'll see what we accomplish! Actually, I think he is just excited to have room service in his near future. :)
Sunday, September 23, 2007
It's that time of year again...
Yes, that would be "obnoxious fundraisers for all the schools the kids are in" time. The preschool sells overpriced candles that you cannot order online, and therefore have to keep track of the order form and the booklet and the checks... needless to say, I lost all of the paperwork twice before I got over to FIL's to tell him to buy some strong candles to cover up the catpee stench in his back stairwell where the elderly kitties occasionally lose control before making it to the basement. He blew $200 on candles and tchotchkes, mostly because his GF went shopping through the catalog and couldn't decide which scent he'd like best -- so she bought a bunch. Whatever floats her boat. Not like he's not going to eat this week because of that! Then there's the wrapping paper/tchotchke sale going on at The Boy's elementary school (same one the other grandkids have going on, and FIL blew $80 on wrapping paper for them). So we ordered some and UJ ordered some. That you can do online thankfully, so the mild guilt trip emails have been sent to Granny, Mame, etc. They'll help. Fortunately the magazine drive is over where I work, but I always order our magazines that way. They gave us the faculty discount, but it only applied to certain magazines, so some I ordered at full price (National Geographic). Anyway, I hate these sales because you get pressured at every turn to sell stuff to other people you may or may not like (both the stuff and the people), and I've always been annoyed by that. I'd really like a PTA option: if you don't want to participate in the sellfest, then give us $40 (or whatever the average order take for the school would be). I'll write you another fucking check just to not have to deal with all of the paperwork and guilt trips!
The Boy is doing quite well with reading, and still adores his new teacher. We went to Open House this past week, and she was quite excited and energetic. She announced to the parents that she will be running her first NY Marathon in Nov, so that was neat. Another reason for a marathon party! She has the kids running their own "Morning Meeting" every day, everyone has a job to do, and they all have bought into her behavior management/positive reinforcement plan (they each have a monkey and their monkeys have a couple bananas -- if you do something wrong, your monkey loses a banana and you have to earn it back). She calls it "No Monkeying Around!" Very cute, but effective so far. The Boy is writing all the time now (he has very interesting spelling, but he has a much better grasp of phonics than some of the kids in his class by the looks of his spelling) and he is whizzing along through the math for grade 1. He got extra worksheets this past week for "enrichment" homework and I'm not sure if that's a sign that he is getting bored (he could do them all easily). Have to talk to her about that.
Drama Queen has been phenomenally dramatic lately -- and stubborn and pissy and whiny and look-right-at-you-and-do-what-you-just-said-no-to kind of rotten child. Must be a phase. I'm thinking of locking her in the basement until this one passes (mornings have been really difficult), but that's one of those lovely mother fantasies. I know I will have to bear the brunt of this until she's gotten through it. I have a feeling that part of this is that all of her friends except one are in the downstairs class, and she misses them. She sees them on the playground, but I think that's about it. Doesn't matter if I gripe about it or express concern or handle it any other way -- they won't switch her simply because they have no room in any class, so I'm thinking that's pretty pointless.
The Hundred Acre Wood will have to wait a while -- it's been up and down lately and I'm too tired to go on about that one just now.
The Boy is doing quite well with reading, and still adores his new teacher. We went to Open House this past week, and she was quite excited and energetic. She announced to the parents that she will be running her first NY Marathon in Nov, so that was neat. Another reason for a marathon party! She has the kids running their own "Morning Meeting" every day, everyone has a job to do, and they all have bought into her behavior management/positive reinforcement plan (they each have a monkey and their monkeys have a couple bananas -- if you do something wrong, your monkey loses a banana and you have to earn it back). She calls it "No Monkeying Around!" Very cute, but effective so far. The Boy is writing all the time now (he has very interesting spelling, but he has a much better grasp of phonics than some of the kids in his class by the looks of his spelling) and he is whizzing along through the math for grade 1. He got extra worksheets this past week for "enrichment" homework and I'm not sure if that's a sign that he is getting bored (he could do them all easily). Have to talk to her about that.
Drama Queen has been phenomenally dramatic lately -- and stubborn and pissy and whiny and look-right-at-you-and-do-what-you-just-said-no-to kind of rotten child. Must be a phase. I'm thinking of locking her in the basement until this one passes (mornings have been really difficult), but that's one of those lovely mother fantasies. I know I will have to bear the brunt of this until she's gotten through it. I have a feeling that part of this is that all of her friends except one are in the downstairs class, and she misses them. She sees them on the playground, but I think that's about it. Doesn't matter if I gripe about it or express concern or handle it any other way -- they won't switch her simply because they have no room in any class, so I'm thinking that's pretty pointless.
The Hundred Acre Wood will have to wait a while -- it's been up and down lately and I'm too tired to go on about that one just now.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Holy Crap, Batgirl -- You're Published!
We've been having quite the stink here as our school board wants to institute a merit pay system. We are currently in binding arbitration between the teachers' union and the town, and the entire state will be watching as no one else has merit pay in the state. Thus, the decision here will either slam the door shut on this for a while or it will fling it wide.
After going to the school board meeting last week, and hearing everyone else speak on the subject, I read our local state representative's (spoon-fed, rah-rah, this-is-great from the board) opinion supporting merit pay in the local weekly paper, the Greenwich Citizen. I got pissed and wrote the following:
Dear Mr. Harrison, (editor of the Citizen)
I would like to respond to Dolly Powers' article supporting merit pay in Greenwich.
I am a Greenwich homeowner, taxpayer, voter, parent of a first grader and a 3-year-old, and also a teacher. I am starting my thirteenth year working for Greenwich Public Schools (nine non-consecutive years at EMS, four at CMS). Having looked at the board's evaluation plan design and merit pay ideas, I think they are fundamentally flawed.
Let me tell you about my first year teaching. I was hired by Ben Davenport to teach sixth grade language arts and social studies at Eastern Middle School. I walked in with all of the materials I had collected and created in my college classes, hoping that there would be enough there to at least get me started in my new classroom. That concern evaporated almost immediately, as I was taken into the collective fold of the sixth grade team and the EMS faculty as a whole. Joanne Zammit, Jeanne Fachner, Jini Martens, Stacey Goodnow, and many others handed me lessons, resources, and even whole unit folders, saying, "What do you need? Let's see what you can use!" Their doors were always open for any question, whether it was classroom management ideas, curriculum, staff development, paperwork, scheduling, or the myriad other issues that arise daily at school. I have always felt indebted to them for all of the assistance they freely gave me that first year... and for the fact that they have never stopped being willing to help me or any other teacher. I found that environment as well when I moved to Central Middle School in 2002 to become a media specialist, particularly with Judy Peterson, Justine Domuracki, Kevin Krois, and Jo Frame. Even as a seasoned teacher, moving into a new curriculum meant that I needed support from my colleagues and an open, collaborative environment in order to give my students the best experience possible. I have made a conscious effort to be a teacher who is willing to offer to help other teachers as much as I possibly can, because of those formative experiences in my teaching career.
My students through the years did not learn and succeed at school because of me alone. They succeeded because of the efforts of the entire team of teachers that they had at school. That's not just the academic teachers, but also the art teachers who asked them to think critically and creatively, the music and gym teachers who constantly encouraged them, the media specialists who gave them interesting books and taught them computer skills, the Consumer Science (Home Economics) teachers who had them use math and reading skills for directions, recipes and other activities, and all of the other staff who provided them with a well-rounded middle school experience. We have always worked together for the students' benefit.
This is what concerns me about merit pay. I have seen the evaluation plan the board is pushing, and it comes across as a selfish, overly complicated and divisive device. There is no place in the evaluation for noting effective collaboration and cooperation -- it is all about financial incentives for singular personal achievement measured by administrator evaluations and student test scores. The days of new teachers being welcomed and helped the way I was are desperately numbered with this plan. Placing financial incentives in front of teachers for their best lesson plans and ideas means that those lessons and ideas won't be shared with other teachers. That hurts two groups most: our new teachers who need support and nurturing to develop real-world skills and an arsenal of options for all situations in the classroom, and most importantly, this hurts the students of the Greenwich Public Schools. My first-grader has a new teacher at Riverside. I want her to have the support of the Riverside faculty and the other teachers in the district so that she can find the best ways to nurture and challenge him and his classmates. I want all of his future teachers to have that as well -- because I want the absolute best for him. Without collaboration and a system that encourages sharing, this kind of support will wither away as teachers discover that in order to succeed financially they must deny their colleagues access to their ideas and materials. It amazes me that the board thinks that developing this sort of cutthroat atmosphere in our schools is way to attract and retain teachers, and help student scores go up.
Although Dolly Powers wrote about how merit pay has been successful elsewhere, I wonder how that success has been measured in her eyes. Did she also find and read about the districts where merit pay failed (and there are a multitude of those) or did she just take the positive spin from Bill Kelly and the board? I found the most interesting fact in her article to be the amount the federal government has given out to states where there are districts with merit pay ($80 million). I've been wondering what the board's underlying agenda was, and I can't help but think getting a piece of the federal pie would be quite the incentive to them. I've noticed that there are an awful lot more highly paid (non-curriculum-related) administrators down at the Havemeyer building now than there were ten years ago, and yet Dr. Sternberg and the board were lambasted at the most recent board meeting about their refusal to hire more teachers for overcrowded elementary classrooms, where our children need them most.
What do I want? As a taxpayer, I want the board to be judicious and careful stewards of the resources allocated to them by the town. As a teacher, I want to be constructively criticized, fairly evaluated and equitably paid for the work I do at my school with my students, and the work I do for the district. At this point, that's already happening, so I don't see a problem keeping the current system. I want my colleagues to believe that it is in everyone's best interest (students and faculty alike) to share ideas, materials and resources, and I want them to feel encouraged to share, cooperate as teams, and collaborate to create the best learning experiences possible for our students. Our opening day speaker, Ken Kay, made it very clear that those are exactly the skills that our students must have in order to succeed in the 21st century. How will we teach those if we cannot actually set the examples and demonstrate how to do that successfully ourselves? The board is setting teachers up to fail, and that makes me angry as a parent. When the board acts in that manner, they ultimately hurt the students whose interests the board should be acting to protect. And that includes my kids -- my biological ones and the ones who show up in my classroom and the EMS media center every day.
He wrote back and let me know that he was going to publish it in today's paper. I was shocked to see that he didn't cut anything -- he published it as it was written and gave me **half a page** in the paper. And thus I am a published person. Not a novel or anything lengthy, but yet a piece I feel strongly about and one that I hope will cause people to think about how this issue will affect our schools. There are a few people on the board that I really really hope I pissed off by speaking my mind, but my real aim was to simply speak -- exercise my First Amendment rights to my opinion, and in doing so present another side of the issue.
After going to the school board meeting last week, and hearing everyone else speak on the subject, I read our local state representative's (spoon-fed, rah-rah, this-is-great from the board) opinion supporting merit pay in the local weekly paper, the Greenwich Citizen. I got pissed and wrote the following:
Dear Mr. Harrison, (editor of the Citizen)
I would like to respond to Dolly Powers' article supporting merit pay in Greenwich.
I am a Greenwich homeowner, taxpayer, voter, parent of a first grader and a 3-year-old, and also a teacher. I am starting my thirteenth year working for Greenwich Public Schools (nine non-consecutive years at EMS, four at CMS). Having looked at the board's evaluation plan design and merit pay ideas, I think they are fundamentally flawed.
Let me tell you about my first year teaching. I was hired by Ben Davenport to teach sixth grade language arts and social studies at Eastern Middle School. I walked in with all of the materials I had collected and created in my college classes, hoping that there would be enough there to at least get me started in my new classroom. That concern evaporated almost immediately, as I was taken into the collective fold of the sixth grade team and the EMS faculty as a whole. Joanne Zammit, Jeanne Fachner, Jini Martens, Stacey Goodnow, and many others handed me lessons, resources, and even whole unit folders, saying, "What do you need? Let's see what you can use!" Their doors were always open for any question, whether it was classroom management ideas, curriculum, staff development, paperwork, scheduling, or the myriad other issues that arise daily at school. I have always felt indebted to them for all of the assistance they freely gave me that first year... and for the fact that they have never stopped being willing to help me or any other teacher. I found that environment as well when I moved to Central Middle School in 2002 to become a media specialist, particularly with Judy Peterson, Justine Domuracki, Kevin Krois, and Jo Frame. Even as a seasoned teacher, moving into a new curriculum meant that I needed support from my colleagues and an open, collaborative environment in order to give my students the best experience possible. I have made a conscious effort to be a teacher who is willing to offer to help other teachers as much as I possibly can, because of those formative experiences in my teaching career.
My students through the years did not learn and succeed at school because of me alone. They succeeded because of the efforts of the entire team of teachers that they had at school. That's not just the academic teachers, but also the art teachers who asked them to think critically and creatively, the music and gym teachers who constantly encouraged them, the media specialists who gave them interesting books and taught them computer skills, the Consumer Science (Home Economics) teachers who had them use math and reading skills for directions, recipes and other activities, and all of the other staff who provided them with a well-rounded middle school experience. We have always worked together for the students' benefit.
This is what concerns me about merit pay. I have seen the evaluation plan the board is pushing, and it comes across as a selfish, overly complicated and divisive device. There is no place in the evaluation for noting effective collaboration and cooperation -- it is all about financial incentives for singular personal achievement measured by administrator evaluations and student test scores. The days of new teachers being welcomed and helped the way I was are desperately numbered with this plan. Placing financial incentives in front of teachers for their best lesson plans and ideas means that those lessons and ideas won't be shared with other teachers. That hurts two groups most: our new teachers who need support and nurturing to develop real-world skills and an arsenal of options for all situations in the classroom, and most importantly, this hurts the students of the Greenwich Public Schools. My first-grader has a new teacher at Riverside. I want her to have the support of the Riverside faculty and the other teachers in the district so that she can find the best ways to nurture and challenge him and his classmates. I want all of his future teachers to have that as well -- because I want the absolute best for him. Without collaboration and a system that encourages sharing, this kind of support will wither away as teachers discover that in order to succeed financially they must deny their colleagues access to their ideas and materials. It amazes me that the board thinks that developing this sort of cutthroat atmosphere in our schools is way to attract and retain teachers, and help student scores go up.
Although Dolly Powers wrote about how merit pay has been successful elsewhere, I wonder how that success has been measured in her eyes. Did she also find and read about the districts where merit pay failed (and there are a multitude of those) or did she just take the positive spin from Bill Kelly and the board? I found the most interesting fact in her article to be the amount the federal government has given out to states where there are districts with merit pay ($80 million). I've been wondering what the board's underlying agenda was, and I can't help but think getting a piece of the federal pie would be quite the incentive to them. I've noticed that there are an awful lot more highly paid (non-curriculum-related) administrators down at the Havemeyer building now than there were ten years ago, and yet Dr. Sternberg and the board were lambasted at the most recent board meeting about their refusal to hire more teachers for overcrowded elementary classrooms, where our children need them most.
What do I want? As a taxpayer, I want the board to be judicious and careful stewards of the resources allocated to them by the town. As a teacher, I want to be constructively criticized, fairly evaluated and equitably paid for the work I do at my school with my students, and the work I do for the district. At this point, that's already happening, so I don't see a problem keeping the current system. I want my colleagues to believe that it is in everyone's best interest (students and faculty alike) to share ideas, materials and resources, and I want them to feel encouraged to share, cooperate as teams, and collaborate to create the best learning experiences possible for our students. Our opening day speaker, Ken Kay, made it very clear that those are exactly the skills that our students must have in order to succeed in the 21st century. How will we teach those if we cannot actually set the examples and demonstrate how to do that successfully ourselves? The board is setting teachers up to fail, and that makes me angry as a parent. When the board acts in that manner, they ultimately hurt the students whose interests the board should be acting to protect. And that includes my kids -- my biological ones and the ones who show up in my classroom and the EMS media center every day.
He wrote back and let me know that he was going to publish it in today's paper. I was shocked to see that he didn't cut anything -- he published it as it was written and gave me **half a page** in the paper. And thus I am a published person. Not a novel or anything lengthy, but yet a piece I feel strongly about and one that I hope will cause people to think about how this issue will affect our schools. There are a few people on the board that I really really hope I pissed off by speaking my mind, but my real aim was to simply speak -- exercise my First Amendment rights to my opinion, and in doing so present another side of the issue.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to hell we go...
Well, not literally, but tonight IS the last night of the summer, and it's back to work and time to go into Cuisinart mode tomorrow. Lots of crap on the drawing table coming up, as well as the usual start of year nonsense with schedules and where's-my-shit, and then I have to plan a couple presentations for parents and faculty. The Hundred Acre Wood is looking pretty good (that's relative, given the decrepit shape it's been in). Wall's down, carpet's patched and cleaned, not too much crap everywhere, the book orders came in, and so far only two computers didn't survive the summer. Bad sign: opened my file drawer in my desk and a VERY healthy-looking roach crawled across the tops of my files. EEEUUUUUWWWWWW. Asked the custodians to pleasepleaseplease do something about that. Hopefully they did. Kanga's been in a good mood, Owl has been working hard and has also been in a good mood. Eeyore's son is now in 6th grade and will be (ahem) in one of my classes at some point this year. THAT should be interesting.
The Boy had a birthday party today for one of the boys who was in his K class and will also be in his 1st grade class. They had a wonderful time, and I am really hoping that they will become good friends this year. We were invited over for a get-to-know-you party on Tues (same family, they are hosting a party for all the kids in the new class and the moms) so I am hoping that OFL will let me off for a couple hours to do that with The Boy. He should -- still owes me about 10 hours from last year, and I didn't even mention the time I came in and spent over the summer. Got a letter from The Boy's new teacher (brand new as of about a week ago or so) and he seems to be looking forward to this year. Sea change from last year-- he vehemently announced that "We don't have to talk about her any more" in reference to his K teacher, the Irish Nazi. I'll be making an appointment to see Miss 1st in the first couple weeks of school to talk things over with her.
Granny is here, and The Boy is loving it. DQ is occasionally standoffish, and I have had to get much firmer with both of them in the last month. Don't know if that's a factor of me leaving them in Austin for a couple days or just the stages they are going through. Whatever. Hope it ends soon, as I hate having to haul out "Mean Mommy" and chew them out for being rude or obnoxious every day. On the good side, Granny will let us have a couple dates before she leaves, so that will be the grand sum total of my social life for the next couple months.
Vegas and Austin were great -- more about that later.
The Boy had a birthday party today for one of the boys who was in his K class and will also be in his 1st grade class. They had a wonderful time, and I am really hoping that they will become good friends this year. We were invited over for a get-to-know-you party on Tues (same family, they are hosting a party for all the kids in the new class and the moms) so I am hoping that OFL will let me off for a couple hours to do that with The Boy. He should -- still owes me about 10 hours from last year, and I didn't even mention the time I came in and spent over the summer. Got a letter from The Boy's new teacher (brand new as of about a week ago or so) and he seems to be looking forward to this year. Sea change from last year-- he vehemently announced that "We don't have to talk about her any more" in reference to his K teacher, the Irish Nazi. I'll be making an appointment to see Miss 1st in the first couple weeks of school to talk things over with her.
Granny is here, and The Boy is loving it. DQ is occasionally standoffish, and I have had to get much firmer with both of them in the last month. Don't know if that's a factor of me leaving them in Austin for a couple days or just the stages they are going through. Whatever. Hope it ends soon, as I hate having to haul out "Mean Mommy" and chew them out for being rude or obnoxious every day. On the good side, Granny will let us have a couple dates before she leaves, so that will be the grand sum total of my social life for the next couple months.
Vegas and Austin were great -- more about that later.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
off and running tomorrow morning
The kids and I are off to Austin (and then Vegas for me and Hubby) in the morning. Spent today packing, and even with light packing we are still taking the big suitcase and the rolling carryon to check, and then we each have a backpack to carry on. Drama Queen has a surprise in hers -- bought her her own Leapster so she wouldn't have to harass her brother about taking turns with his. Hopefully between that and the seatback individual tv screens on Jetblue, we'll be set for the flight. Have munchies packed in the bags, and I promised them Dunkin Donuts at the airport )egg sandwich first, then a donut).
Just Books was sold out of Eclipse (!) so I am hoping to find it at the airport. We'll see -- one way or another I will locate a copy on the trip. Ordered a signed copy from an Arizona bookstore near where Stephenie Meyer lives, so hopefully that will come relatively soon and I can give the unsigned one to the library.
No word yet from Wome and Mame about whether they located a booster seat for DQ. If not, we'll hit Walmart or Target on the way back from the airport in Austin.
Cheers to a great trip!
Just Books was sold out of Eclipse (!) so I am hoping to find it at the airport. We'll see -- one way or another I will locate a copy on the trip. Ordered a signed copy from an Arizona bookstore near where Stephenie Meyer lives, so hopefully that will come relatively soon and I can give the unsigned one to the library.
No word yet from Wome and Mame about whether they located a booster seat for DQ. If not, we'll hit Walmart or Target on the way back from the airport in Austin.
Cheers to a great trip!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Hot, hot, hot...
Welcome to the heat wave. I feel a little guilty labeling weather like this as a heat wave, as I don't think we've even passed 95 yet, and in Oklahoma that's barely a reason to start sweating.. Real heat waves involve temperatures over 100 for days and days on end (and humidity over 90% if you want to nitpick). But this is Connecticut, where the standards and tolerances are much lower, and we've had enough mildly hot days in a row that it qualifies for the announcement. To be fair, those of us who have to hundred-year-old houses with no central air and only window units have to decide how much we want the electric bill to be, and that makes a difference. I've had the kids over at FIL's in the pool and central air for part of most of these days.
Four more days, and then we are officially off to Texas to see Auntie Mame and Uncle Wome. The kids are excited, and I think I will pack relatively light for them (definitely for me as I'm sending a separate suitcase to Vegas with Hubby so I don't have to haul it to Texas and then on to Vegas). Eclipse comes out just before the trip, so I will be schlepping that one along for the ride, and I have to throw some more in the Vegas suitcase.
Went through the toys and shipped two boxes off to Mame for her to tuck into the closet for the kids to have once we arrive (and hopefully keep at her house). Hope the tea set makes it through the trip unscathed. I sent the white ironstone set... it's cute but also big enough to have a "real" teaparty and has a few dings and cracks, so them abusing it won't be a huge deal.
Had a very enlightening discussion with UM regarding the Murphinator. Last week I sent her flowers for her birthday from FIL and me. FIL at least got a terse thank you note. I got nothing. She sent UM an email saying his entire family had "written [her] out of their lives" and she was completely alone and ignored. Right... that was immediately after we had the Happy birthday flowers delivered. She announced a week or so ago that she wants to take their kids to Italy for Christmas, and she wanted him to pay for the trip. He agree to pay for one, so that he is funding half the travel expenses for the kids. Fair -- he says he thinks this is a great opportunity for them and doesn't want them to miss it. I thought that was nice, but something was gnawing at me and it took me a quiet evening doing something else before I realized why that bothered me so much. M has been announcing left and right that she has no money. (and he pays all bills for the house and gives her $2500 a month) She told UM that he had to buy the kids their backpacks for school because she couldn't afford to do it. In January when I went to lunch with her she was going on and on about how she had no money to pay for a lawyer. Three years ago in the aftermath of The Incident, she was at my house in tears for four days going on about how she had no money and no way out... so I gave her an envelope of cash (an amount that was basically 1/6 of my checking account, not much in Greenwich terms but in terms of what I had it was substantial). So how does someone who has no money take two kids to Italy at Christmas??? I asked UM that. His answer: she has multiple savings accounts in her name only totaling six figures, not counting the hundred grand she put into buying the house. She can, according to him, lay hands on five figures in cash any time she wants, as part of the money is in retirement type accounts, but the rest is in regular savings. Apparently the funds came mostly from inheritances from her aunt, mother and grandmother, but that only tells me that she's had that money quite a while. Hmm. Kind of hard to play the abused neglected cashless wife whose husband withholds all money when you have a shitload of money in the bank. I am so pissed at myself for getting played like that. I knew all three of those women had died and I knew she had inheritances, but I never asked how much or whatever because I thought it was a crass topic to bring up. Hell, my grandmothers died and my mother bought us plane tickets for the funerals. Welcome to the grand sum total of my inheritances. Apparently nothing we do (like sending her flowers for her birthday) counts, and she can moan about being broke while having six figures sitting in the bank. Well, fuck her and the horse she rode in on. I told him I am now absolutely done with her. I hope UM can get the divorce wheels moving -- he says his lawyer thinks they can be done in 4-6 months. If he had any sense he made copies of all of her account statements so she can't conveniently forget they exist and not give those over to the court with all of the other financial info they have to provide. I didn't ask whether he had or not -- I don't want to know. But I really hope he did.
Four more days, and then we are officially off to Texas to see Auntie Mame and Uncle Wome. The kids are excited, and I think I will pack relatively light for them (definitely for me as I'm sending a separate suitcase to Vegas with Hubby so I don't have to haul it to Texas and then on to Vegas). Eclipse comes out just before the trip, so I will be schlepping that one along for the ride, and I have to throw some more in the Vegas suitcase.
Went through the toys and shipped two boxes off to Mame for her to tuck into the closet for the kids to have once we arrive (and hopefully keep at her house). Hope the tea set makes it through the trip unscathed. I sent the white ironstone set... it's cute but also big enough to have a "real" teaparty and has a few dings and cracks, so them abusing it won't be a huge deal.
Had a very enlightening discussion with UM regarding the Murphinator. Last week I sent her flowers for her birthday from FIL and me. FIL at least got a terse thank you note. I got nothing. She sent UM an email saying his entire family had "written [her] out of their lives" and she was completely alone and ignored. Right... that was immediately after we had the Happy birthday flowers delivered. She announced a week or so ago that she wants to take their kids to Italy for Christmas, and she wanted him to pay for the trip. He agree to pay for one, so that he is funding half the travel expenses for the kids. Fair -- he says he thinks this is a great opportunity for them and doesn't want them to miss it. I thought that was nice, but something was gnawing at me and it took me a quiet evening doing something else before I realized why that bothered me so much. M has been announcing left and right that she has no money. (and he pays all bills for the house and gives her $2500 a month) She told UM that he had to buy the kids their backpacks for school because she couldn't afford to do it. In January when I went to lunch with her she was going on and on about how she had no money to pay for a lawyer. Three years ago in the aftermath of The Incident, she was at my house in tears for four days going on about how she had no money and no way out... so I gave her an envelope of cash (an amount that was basically 1/6 of my checking account, not much in Greenwich terms but in terms of what I had it was substantial). So how does someone who has no money take two kids to Italy at Christmas??? I asked UM that. His answer: she has multiple savings accounts in her name only totaling six figures, not counting the hundred grand she put into buying the house. She can, according to him, lay hands on five figures in cash any time she wants, as part of the money is in retirement type accounts, but the rest is in regular savings. Apparently the funds came mostly from inheritances from her aunt, mother and grandmother, but that only tells me that she's had that money quite a while. Hmm. Kind of hard to play the abused neglected cashless wife whose husband withholds all money when you have a shitload of money in the bank. I am so pissed at myself for getting played like that. I knew all three of those women had died and I knew she had inheritances, but I never asked how much or whatever because I thought it was a crass topic to bring up. Hell, my grandmothers died and my mother bought us plane tickets for the funerals. Welcome to the grand sum total of my inheritances. Apparently nothing we do (like sending her flowers for her birthday) counts, and she can moan about being broke while having six figures sitting in the bank. Well, fuck her and the horse she rode in on. I told him I am now absolutely done with her. I hope UM can get the divorce wheels moving -- he says his lawyer thinks they can be done in 4-6 months. If he had any sense he made copies of all of her account statements so she can't conveniently forget they exist and not give those over to the court with all of the other financial info they have to provide. I didn't ask whether he had or not -- I don't want to know. But I really hope he did.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Thank you, J.K.R.
Amazon delivered my Deathly Hallows copy yesterday just before noon, and I knew I couldn't open the box until AFTER I'd taken DQ to her friend Noah's birthday party and after we had returned to have dinner with FIL, GF, UM and kids. I finally opened the box and got started reading after the kids were in bed (around 8pm -- I've never started a Harry book so late!) I was up reading until 2am, alternately cheering and sobbing quietly in the living room so I wouldn't wake anyone. My favorite redheaded LitQueen called to tell me she was done as I was 53 pages into the book -- and she too was shocked that I was just getting started! We have yet to have our post-book discussion. Anyway -- today is recovery day, as I am obviously an old fart not used to staying up into the wee hours. :) I loved the book, and I know I will be rereading parts for quite a while. Well done, J.K.R.!
Friday, July 20, 2007
almost there....
Last day of both kids in camp/daycare for the summer - The Boy is done. Drama Queen has a bit more than a week left. Went into work today and did the second coat on the shelving unit behind the circ desk. Didn't get to paint the removable shelves as Zinicoma and Co. were getting started cleaning the carpet and they didn't want anything on the floor in their way. The carpet guys came and put a nice large new rectangle of carpet where the wall used to be. These guys too said "We'll put the new carpet down, but you know it won't match, right?" Did my best fake shock look and said to Ralph, "Did you KNOW that???" Then I laughed my ass off and told them I didn't care if they matched the carpet to the duct tape -- the ancient rug in there is so trashed and so many different colors of blue it doesn't matter WHAT they put down. Anyway, will go back next week or the week after and do the shelves in two days -- one side one day then flip them the next day and do the other side. The Boy can help with that. The Hundred Acre Wood is improving slowly.
Went to our beloved head secretary's non-retirement luncheon (she didn't want a fuss and a bunch of nonsense) Monday. Kanga and Eeyore were there. K was lots of fun as usual, E was... well, E. I did some studious avoiding but didn't pull it off for the entire party. She cornered me toward the end, but I left soon after.
House is getting better -- piles of crap are greatly dimished, still need to pack up or throw out some stuff in the basement, and need to paint my bedroom and makeover the curtain panels. All in all I've gotten a lot done in the last few weeks at home, and I didn't go hellforleather and do it every day (probably should have though).
Harry #7 arrives tomorrow morning (thank you Amazon special delivery) so not much else is getting done this weekend!
Went to our beloved head secretary's non-retirement luncheon (she didn't want a fuss and a bunch of nonsense) Monday. Kanga and Eeyore were there. K was lots of fun as usual, E was... well, E. I did some studious avoiding but didn't pull it off for the entire party. She cornered me toward the end, but I left soon after.
House is getting better -- piles of crap are greatly dimished, still need to pack up or throw out some stuff in the basement, and need to paint my bedroom and makeover the curtain panels. All in all I've gotten a lot done in the last few weeks at home, and I didn't go hellforleather and do it every day (probably should have though).
Harry #7 arrives tomorrow morning (thank you Amazon special delivery) so not much else is getting done this weekend!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
I'm Just Wild About Harry...
Went to see Harry Potter 5 (Order of the Phoenix) this afternoon with Beloved Blonde and family. Excellent movie overall! There were whole chunks of the book missing, but if they had tried to shove more in it would have come off piecemeal and rushed, so I'm glad they pruned as they did. Very impressed with the battle in the Dept of Mysteries scene -- extremely well done overall, but missed the statues getting in on Dumbledore's rescue act. Loved the first view of the outside of Azkaban also -- never imagined it quite that way but it made sense and impressed me. No Howler for Aunt Petunia, no Quidditch, no Ron and Hermione as prefects (and all the attendant pissing and moaning from Harry was missing), no visit to St. Mungo's to see Arthur and finding Neville and his vulture-hatted Gran visiting parents, no replacement of Professor Trelawney with Firenze (missed that one -- that would have been good special effects), no swamp in the front hall of the castle, and no disastrous lesson of Hagrid's with the thestrals. Excellent choices of actors for Dolores Umbridge, and for Luna Lovegood's part especially -- she came off with exactly the right intelligent spaciness. Harry was somewhat whiny but it was much more understandable in the amounts they put in the movie -- I didn't have the same "want to slap him into next week" reaction I did when I read the book. Dumbledore's Army was betrayed by Cho (who got grilled by Umbridge with truth serum in her office). In the book it was her friend. This sets up some interesting dilemmas, as Snape reveals she did it under duress, and therefore Harry could conceivably forgive her (doesn't get her out of the way for Ginny). The Half-Blood Prince movie will have to deal with that issue.
This is not in any way a stand-alone movie. It's one where you really have to have seen the other ones for it to make sense, and it does a solid job of setting up the continuing escalation of the conflict in the wizarding world. Can't wait to see what they do with Half-Blood Prince (which now I have to reread to get ready for next weekend's delivery of Deathly Hallows).
After the movie we went to the Mirage Cafe in Port Chester. It's like Piero's in that it is very small, but phenomenal quality. Excellent, excellent food and drink. I was very impressed -- have to take Hubby, FIL and GF there sometime just for fun.
One more day of LA dept curric work, which hopefully will mercifully end early. Today was righteous deadly as 12 English teachers debated the exact language they would use to describe curriculum tasks (do you say writing? editing? revising? composing? do we use nouns or verbs for this?) I ended up finalizing the summer book orders just so I'd feel like I'd done something worth getting paid for today.
Frankenstein came back with a carpet guy who took a sample, and they will be coming to patch the place in the rug where they removed the half wall behind the media desk. Hurray and hallelujah. Apparently Eeyore did not ever give Kanga final info on ordering encyclopedias so that didn't get done, nor did she do anything about ordering coffee tables/ottomans or sharing final info on bookfair. Big surprises all. Guess we'll see what happens in August but my guess is that the usual answer will appear: "I didn't know I was supposed to do that." Fearless Leader said this afternoon that Eeyore and I had both been officially transferred over to him for evaluation next year and his one comment was "she's not going to like it." Hmmmm. Guess we wait to see what that actually means.
This is not in any way a stand-alone movie. It's one where you really have to have seen the other ones for it to make sense, and it does a solid job of setting up the continuing escalation of the conflict in the wizarding world. Can't wait to see what they do with Half-Blood Prince (which now I have to reread to get ready for next weekend's delivery of Deathly Hallows).
After the movie we went to the Mirage Cafe in Port Chester. It's like Piero's in that it is very small, but phenomenal quality. Excellent, excellent food and drink. I was very impressed -- have to take Hubby, FIL and GF there sometime just for fun.
One more day of LA dept curric work, which hopefully will mercifully end early. Today was righteous deadly as 12 English teachers debated the exact language they would use to describe curriculum tasks (do you say writing? editing? revising? composing? do we use nouns or verbs for this?) I ended up finalizing the summer book orders just so I'd feel like I'd done something worth getting paid for today.
Frankenstein came back with a carpet guy who took a sample, and they will be coming to patch the place in the rug where they removed the half wall behind the media desk. Hurray and hallelujah. Apparently Eeyore did not ever give Kanga final info on ordering encyclopedias so that didn't get done, nor did she do anything about ordering coffee tables/ottomans or sharing final info on bookfair. Big surprises all. Guess we'll see what happens in August but my guess is that the usual answer will appear: "I didn't know I was supposed to do that." Fearless Leader said this afternoon that Eeyore and I had both been officially transferred over to him for evaluation next year and his one comment was "she's not going to like it." Hmmmm. Guess we wait to see what that actually means.
Monday, July 09, 2007
And I got paid how much for this?
First day of curriculum work: I did three booktalks, made a few general comments, and listened to the 7th grade teachers discuss their books. I forget what the daily staff work pay is, but even after taxes come out, those were damned expensive booktalks.
I am not seeing a guiding vision of where we're going here -- feels like we are stumbling around in the dark. Also got a lovely tidbit: apparently our kids tanked district-wide in the state reading assessment scores for "reader response" (ie the open-ended questions like "Explain how this applies to your life" or "Briefly describe how this would have altered your existence"). Okay, those are not exactly accurate question examples, but it's all of the short answer, non-multiple choice options. This is going to make things exponentially more complicated, given the fact that all of the media district-level department meetings will be joint with LA this coming year. Why? The amount of CYA that is sure to follow the townwide shitstorm of finger-pointing and blame when the school board has to deal with the test scores publicly. Like that will make any difference in whether or not these kids learn how to deal with questions like those.
Saw the curriculum mapping software again, and heard one of the "real" reasons we are going to have to do this -- the coordinators will be able to track what units and objectives are being taught when and see which objectives and state standards are being addressed "enough". Big Brother, thy name is School Board. They'll be able to tell which books are being taught when (as teachers will be asked to use the software to map out everything chronologically through the year). No doubt this will bring some new statistics and information to the glut, but my question is what will become of those? How useful will those be in terms of moving the district to change successfully? I don't mind doing this if it will help students learn better, or give new teachers more resources, but if the bottom line is that this is a way to watchdog the staff, then I object.
Like that's going to make an ant's left nut cheek of difference in the long run.
I am not seeing a guiding vision of where we're going here -- feels like we are stumbling around in the dark. Also got a lovely tidbit: apparently our kids tanked district-wide in the state reading assessment scores for "reader response" (ie the open-ended questions like "Explain how this applies to your life" or "Briefly describe how this would have altered your existence"). Okay, those are not exactly accurate question examples, but it's all of the short answer, non-multiple choice options. This is going to make things exponentially more complicated, given the fact that all of the media district-level department meetings will be joint with LA this coming year. Why? The amount of CYA that is sure to follow the townwide shitstorm of finger-pointing and blame when the school board has to deal with the test scores publicly. Like that will make any difference in whether or not these kids learn how to deal with questions like those.
Saw the curriculum mapping software again, and heard one of the "real" reasons we are going to have to do this -- the coordinators will be able to track what units and objectives are being taught when and see which objectives and state standards are being addressed "enough". Big Brother, thy name is School Board. They'll be able to tell which books are being taught when (as teachers will be asked to use the software to map out everything chronologically through the year). No doubt this will bring some new statistics and information to the glut, but my question is what will become of those? How useful will those be in terms of moving the district to change successfully? I don't mind doing this if it will help students learn better, or give new teachers more resources, but if the bottom line is that this is a way to watchdog the staff, then I object.
Like that's going to make an ant's left nut cheek of difference in the long run.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Harry Week #1 and Curriculum Nonsense
It's curriculum work week -- so Mon-Thurs I go in to work to discuss books and such with the LA dept. I am still foggy on what we exactly need to get done despite multiple emails from Boss Lady and the LA Lady. Curtains arrived, needing cleaning and sunning. That might happen this week, might not. We'll see. Painting did not happen, scheduled loosely for this coming weekend. Computer desk is much improved, have list going for this week into next as to what else should get done. We'll see -- this week will either be most productive or a total tank.
Order of the Phoenix starts showing (at reasonable hours) Wed, so have a date with the girls for dinner and movie that evening. :) Something to look forward to!
Order of the Phoenix starts showing (at reasonable hours) Wed, so have a date with the girls for dinner and movie that evening. :) Something to look forward to!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Tuesday the 3rd
Yesterday I did most of the attic, and it looks much better. Tackled part of the basement -- under the pool table is cleaned out and over by the stairs is cleaned out also. I used the shopvac to clean up the floor. Very noisy but it did a good job.Took a truckload of bags of clothes to the dropoff bin, and threw out about 8 bags of garbage, so I feel like I did a lot. This morning was ironing morning, and I am going to finish the dining room corner off. Maybe take care of the counter in the kitchen next to the back door and or the computer desk mess if I have enough time (have to go see Dr. Devine at 1:30).
Unforeseen benefit to all this cleanout -- it actually makes me feel lighter, like I am getting rid of the monkey on my back piece by piece (kind of a sick way of looking at it). I feel pretty good so far. I like being productive and seeing a difference in my house. Elizabeth is coming Thursday, so I am going to get out of her way and go in to work and run errands that day.
Might get to paint this weekend... maybe.
Unforeseen benefit to all this cleanout -- it actually makes me feel lighter, like I am getting rid of the monkey on my back piece by piece (kind of a sick way of looking at it). I feel pretty good so far. I like being productive and seeing a difference in my house. Elizabeth is coming Thursday, so I am going to get out of her way and go in to work and run errands that day.
Might get to paint this weekend... maybe.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
"The List" = The Hydra
You know, that list of stuff that you want to get done around the house... the list that's got to have been the inspiration for the legend of the Hydra. Can't you just see some Greek wife in ancient times giving her writer husband the never ending litany of honey-do crap... and his imagination taking flight as he's stuck slaving away (on the roof, in the attic, cleaning the basement,whatever). One thing gets done and suddenly she's got eight more thankless ballbusting jobs on the list.
Anyway, I've managed to whack a head off my Hydra -- the Drama Queen has a freshly painted room that looks pretty damned good. Her room is now a nice warm pink with white trim. Hubby didn't seem to think I would do a good job -- no comment other than "You have a lot of work ahead of you" when I started, and a bemused "Oh, you did a good job!"when I finished. Nice that he has such confidence in me. The only part I couldn't do was the ceiling. I'm not tall enough, and the only step ladder we have in the house isn't stable enough for me to do that (I have to be too far up the ladder). So Hubby will have to tackle that at some point. I also took a stab at the mess in the dining room and tossed three bags of crap. I'm not quite done in there -- that was a naptime project that had to stop before I was done, and I haven't made it back to finish. This week the kids are in camp/daycare all week (except Wed) so I am hoping to get some major work done. I'd like to get the other bedroom painted, but I still have to negotiate that with Hubby as that will involve us not sleeping in there for at least one or two nights while the paint fumes air out, and he might rather do that on the weekend. If that project has to wait, then it's either attic or basement (attic first if the weather is cooler). Either way I have to remember to tip the garbagemen this week!
Harry Marathon tomorrow - have to get ready for Order of the Phoenix coming out on the 13th!
Anyway, I've managed to whack a head off my Hydra -- the Drama Queen has a freshly painted room that looks pretty damned good. Her room is now a nice warm pink with white trim. Hubby didn't seem to think I would do a good job -- no comment other than "You have a lot of work ahead of you" when I started, and a bemused "Oh, you did a good job!"when I finished. Nice that he has such confidence in me. The only part I couldn't do was the ceiling. I'm not tall enough, and the only step ladder we have in the house isn't stable enough for me to do that (I have to be too far up the ladder). So Hubby will have to tackle that at some point. I also took a stab at the mess in the dining room and tossed three bags of crap. I'm not quite done in there -- that was a naptime project that had to stop before I was done, and I haven't made it back to finish. This week the kids are in camp/daycare all week (except Wed) so I am hoping to get some major work done. I'd like to get the other bedroom painted, but I still have to negotiate that with Hubby as that will involve us not sleeping in there for at least one or two nights while the paint fumes air out, and he might rather do that on the weekend. If that project has to wait, then it's either attic or basement (attic first if the weather is cooler). Either way I have to remember to tip the garbagemen this week!
Harry Marathon tomorrow - have to get ready for Order of the Phoenix coming out on the 13th!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Hoowah -- Harrison Ford still looks good as Indy! Found this one online and am I happy to hear they are shooting #4. Still love the hat. :)
Summer's Here
...and the living is, well, easier at the moment, at least on the home front. The Murphinator is recently on the guilt trip rampage. I got three emails this weekend laying blame on me for abandoning her and "cutting [her] off". Interesting, as I can count on one hand the number of emails and phone calls I've gotten from her in the last five months (including this weekend), and two of those were just "are you coming to the birthday party". I gave up emailing her to ask if she wanted to get the kids together, go to the movies or go out to lunch because I never got a response. Whenever I called I got the answering machine and no response later-- so I gave that up too. Figured she didn't want to talk to me. Apparently in her world that means "call me more! offer to do more things with me!" and I was just too dumb to get that. I called her guilt trip on all points and made it pretty clear that I wasn't the one doing the cutting off, and that I wasn't going to put up with any more rude behavior (like at the Nephew's birthday party last month). I have a feeling that that will be the end of things, though I am not terribly torn up about that.
Hmmm...this divorce business doesn't make much sense to me. She has been knashing teeth and moaning that she needs to get out of this marriage for over 2 years, and that she doesn't want him in the house, yet when he left she announced he had abandoned her and the kids. Abandonment is pretty lucrative apparently: he has continued to pay ALL her bills PLUS give her $2500 a month spending money since he moved out. She's been saying for the same two years that she needs to get a job to have some security, and actually had several opportunities (interviews and all) to get jobs and refused to take any of them. The last one was because if she continued to be unemployed she "could screw him for more money in the divorce" (announced that to me at lunch in January). And yet she continues to whine that she has no security and that she has no job. She is now whining that no one invites her to any of the family occasions -- where her soon-to-be-ex-husband will be, the one person she has announced she wants nothing to do with socially anymore. Hmmm -- how do we invite her to come to an event where he will also be because he is part of this family??? Does she want an invitation just so she can say "Drop dead, I would never come to anything with him there."??? And since we have these functions on the weekends when we are all off work and he has the kids anyway, why would we invite her to come intrude on his time with the kids? She is rude to me, rude to FIL, and awful to her nearly-ex-husband. There is nothing amicable about this and yet she apparently wants the rest of us to act like it's perfectly friendly... and let her shit all over us. I know, it's divorce, she has a lot to be angry about ... but at least recognize that. Put on the goddamn big girl panties, do what it takes to secure your kids' future, and get the fuck ON with your life. I hope she finds someone soon who meets her needs as a friend or whatever else, as I am not that person.
Hmmm...this divorce business doesn't make much sense to me. She has been knashing teeth and moaning that she needs to get out of this marriage for over 2 years, and that she doesn't want him in the house, yet when he left she announced he had abandoned her and the kids. Abandonment is pretty lucrative apparently: he has continued to pay ALL her bills PLUS give her $2500 a month spending money since he moved out. She's been saying for the same two years that she needs to get a job to have some security, and actually had several opportunities (interviews and all) to get jobs and refused to take any of them. The last one was because if she continued to be unemployed she "could screw him for more money in the divorce" (announced that to me at lunch in January). And yet she continues to whine that she has no security and that she has no job. She is now whining that no one invites her to any of the family occasions -- where her soon-to-be-ex-husband will be, the one person she has announced she wants nothing to do with socially anymore. Hmmm -- how do we invite her to come to an event where he will also be because he is part of this family??? Does she want an invitation just so she can say "Drop dead, I would never come to anything with him there."??? And since we have these functions on the weekends when we are all off work and he has the kids anyway, why would we invite her to come intrude on his time with the kids? She is rude to me, rude to FIL, and awful to her nearly-ex-husband. There is nothing amicable about this and yet she apparently wants the rest of us to act like it's perfectly friendly... and let her shit all over us. I know, it's divorce, she has a lot to be angry about ... but at least recognize that. Put on the goddamn big girl panties, do what it takes to secure your kids' future, and get the fuck ON with your life. I hope she finds someone soon who meets her needs as a friend or whatever else, as I am not that person.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Happy Father's Day
Happy Father's Day to Hubby, FIL, Curmudgeon, and UM ... along with all of our friends who are fathers or are going to become fathers.
We have 40-50 people coming to FIL's house this afternoon for a party, most of whom are GF's family whom we've never met. She assures me that they are just as dysfunctional as we are, therefore everyone should get along fine. Should be a hoot. FIL and GF were here for cocktails/dinner last night, and GF and I had mojitos. Yum.
Got some really good fruit at Costco yesterday, and when Hubby returns from errands (and brings me the butter and eggs I thought we had) I will make the pound cake to go with the berries for today. He smoked 18 pounds of pork yesterday, so we should have enough for a small army.
The last classes are done, the "student guide" website is finished, and Eeyore actually decided to pitch in and help with inventory by shelf reading for a couple hours in the afternoon, and holy crap! she actually threw out some ancient books from the stacks. I thought Kanga was going to fall over. I'm hoping to finish inventory Monday, run the reports and be done with it. I'm buying lunch on Tuesday for Beloved Blonde and the staff of the Hundred Acre Woods (sigh...and Eeyore too) as a thank you for all their hard work this year. Aux Delice is going to make money off me on Tuesday! I'm going to bake Monday night though -- something yummy, maybe another pound cake with fruit. I think I'm going to have to do something for Jake's teacher, too. If I get flowers for the lunch on Tues. maybe I'll just send him with some of those.
We have 40-50 people coming to FIL's house this afternoon for a party, most of whom are GF's family whom we've never met. She assures me that they are just as dysfunctional as we are, therefore everyone should get along fine. Should be a hoot. FIL and GF were here for cocktails/dinner last night, and GF and I had mojitos. Yum.
Got some really good fruit at Costco yesterday, and when Hubby returns from errands (and brings me the butter and eggs I thought we had) I will make the pound cake to go with the berries for today. He smoked 18 pounds of pork yesterday, so we should have enough for a small army.
The last classes are done, the "student guide" website is finished, and Eeyore actually decided to pitch in and help with inventory by shelf reading for a couple hours in the afternoon, and holy crap! she actually threw out some ancient books from the stacks. I thought Kanga was going to fall over. I'm hoping to finish inventory Monday, run the reports and be done with it. I'm buying lunch on Tuesday for Beloved Blonde and the staff of the Hundred Acre Woods (sigh...and Eeyore too) as a thank you for all their hard work this year. Aux Delice is going to make money off me on Tuesday! I'm going to bake Monday night though -- something yummy, maybe another pound cake with fruit. I think I'm going to have to do something for Jake's teacher, too. If I get flowers for the lunch on Tues. maybe I'll just send him with some of those.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Commencing Countdown to Commencement
Well, sort of. Two more days of teaching classes. Six more (work) days with kids (only the last one doesn't really count since it's 8th grade graduation and I don't have a seat in the sweatbox for that). 8 more total days until The Boy's done with kindergarten and our Beloved Blonde graduates. 11 more total days until I'm completely done with this year.
6 more days until UM's first official divorce hearing. I am more and more relieved that I had the sense to force my hubby to change the child custody arrangements outlined in our wills the summer the Drama Queen was born. It was an offer he couldn't refuse -- after "The Incident" either UM could be the godfather in church (which he had already announced to everyone) OR they could be the custodians in the will -- but not both. Hubby chose the save face option and let his brother stand up in church as godfather. And the wills were quietly changed to Mame and Wome as custodians. Being no connosseiuer of divorce proceedings, I have no idea what exactly will go on at this hearing, but perhaps they will have better boundaries to function in and there will be less taking advantage. I don't think the amount of asshole behavior will cease ... not for a long time,, or at least until the Murphinator does some serious growing up. As in "you have been demanding this be over for two years, you don't have a lot of right to be mad that it's now ending."
Bookfair was all right -- not spectacular, but workable. Shelf reading and inventory are the next big projects (along with finalizing the bookfair accounting and numbers).
6 more days until UM's first official divorce hearing. I am more and more relieved that I had the sense to force my hubby to change the child custody arrangements outlined in our wills the summer the Drama Queen was born. It was an offer he couldn't refuse -- after "The Incident" either UM could be the godfather in church (which he had already announced to everyone) OR they could be the custodians in the will -- but not both. Hubby chose the save face option and let his brother stand up in church as godfather. And the wills were quietly changed to Mame and Wome as custodians. Being no connosseiuer of divorce proceedings, I have no idea what exactly will go on at this hearing, but perhaps they will have better boundaries to function in and there will be less taking advantage. I don't think the amount of asshole behavior will cease ... not for a long time,, or at least until the Murphinator does some serious growing up. As in "you have been demanding this be over for two years, you don't have a lot of right to be mad that it's now ending."
Bookfair was all right -- not spectacular, but workable. Shelf reading and inventory are the next big projects (along with finalizing the bookfair accounting and numbers).
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Memorial Day Weekend
Saturday: the wedding/arraignment. This actually went beautifully once we got there. The traffic on 95 was a raging nightmare (not accidents, just stop-and-go for no apparent reason). So we were about 15 minutes late for the church service (FIL and GF were about a half hour late). Getting to the Italian Center reception was no problem, though, and it was very nice. This week, the bridesmaids were appropriately dressed (no poles needed, unlike last week's wedding with the girls poured into and falling out of their dresses and obvious total lack of undergarments of any kind), and the reception was lots of fun. Danced my ass off with UJ, and that was hilarious. He probably couldn't move today. He was announcing that his knees were trouble on the dance floor, but he was still going. There was a candy bar (6-8 different kinds you could come up and put into little take-home bags) at the end, and the last dance was the "Jackrabbit Slims twist contest" track from Pulp Fiction, which was really fun. I ended up dancing the last one with the Don, who was bombed and adorable.
Took The Boy and the Drama Queen to see Shrek 3 today, and we had a wonderful time. First thing in the morning on the weekend is a good time to see a flick. They both enjoyed it a lot, as did I. After that we went to North St to see the cousins and swim. DQ had a nap, and hubby took The Boy to the Don's for the post-wedding shindig. I stayed at the house, had daquiris all day and had dinner with UM and the little girls as the O-Man had to go back with his mother for part of the day to go play with friends. Since I was in the pool most of the day it was pretty relaxing. UM and I neither one cares about having anything fancy -- it's "what's in the fridge? Should we check the freezer? can we throw it on the grill and not get anything dirty?" Makes things very easy.
Have to get up tomorrow to make pie for dessert. Found one more bag of cherries from last year in the garage, so that will make FIL happy. Have to make something beyond that, though.
Finished reading Terry Trueman's 7 Days at the Hot Corner and Jerry Spinelli's Eggs. Both awesome books, but for different levels and very different reasons. 7 Days will be fab for the 8th grade. Have to craft a very particular booktalk for that one, as it deals with homophobia and an HIV test -- but in a way that's very realistic and not sexual. Eggs is going to be wonderful for 6th and 7th grade, esp for alternative family situations and dealing with breakdowns of traditional family. I loved it because it shows how resilient kids can be even when they don't want or mean to be.
Took The Boy and the Drama Queen to see Shrek 3 today, and we had a wonderful time. First thing in the morning on the weekend is a good time to see a flick. They both enjoyed it a lot, as did I. After that we went to North St to see the cousins and swim. DQ had a nap, and hubby took The Boy to the Don's for the post-wedding shindig. I stayed at the house, had daquiris all day and had dinner with UM and the little girls as the O-Man had to go back with his mother for part of the day to go play with friends. Since I was in the pool most of the day it was pretty relaxing. UM and I neither one cares about having anything fancy -- it's "what's in the fridge? Should we check the freezer? can we throw it on the grill and not get anything dirty?" Makes things very easy.
Have to get up tomorrow to make pie for dessert. Found one more bag of cherries from last year in the garage, so that will make FIL happy. Have to make something beyond that, though.
Finished reading Terry Trueman's 7 Days at the Hot Corner and Jerry Spinelli's Eggs. Both awesome books, but for different levels and very different reasons. 7 Days will be fab for the 8th grade. Have to craft a very particular booktalk for that one, as it deals with homophobia and an HIV test -- but in a way that's very realistic and not sexual. Eggs is going to be wonderful for 6th and 7th grade, esp for alternative family situations and dealing with breakdowns of traditional family. I loved it because it shows how resilient kids can be even when they don't want or mean to be.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Join the Club, Honey
That's what I told me dear retiring evaluator and OFL in the meeting when they shut the door and said, "We wish things were working better with you and Eeyore." This was after ten minutes of me going through the stats of the media center for the year, improvements, successes, plans for next year, OFL poking fun at me for what I wrote, etc. All THAT went well.
And then we had to deal with the elephant in the room: what do we do with that limp noodle of mostly-but-not-quite-enough incompetence? After a few more stellar examples from this week and me saying "Help me. I am not going to scream and yell. I am not going to turn into Marvaline the Wonder Bitch. What am I supposed to DO about this? How do I motivate her to do a better job?"
General plan for next year is that
Eeyore had her year-end eval also. Friday morning she casually said, "You know, I have my meeting with ___ today. I don't even know what time it is, and I haven't prepared anything. Oh well." I didn't say anything. Just stared at her. Frankly, I was a bit shocked, especially since Eeyore was working on getting tenure this year. For someone who exhibits paranoid tendencies on a regular basis, you would think she would have made some effort to prepare for that. Apparently it ranks right up there with reading books, figuring out what should go on the website and preparing for classes and teacher projects. None of that shit gets done either.
I saw her after school, and I said I had to go pick up The Boy at 3:10. Eeyore decided it would be a good idea to try to start a serious conversation about how "I want this to work. I know we had a disagreement a few months ago [hmmm...you think?] but I think if we divide responsibilities it will be fine.....blah blah repeat and rinse [I look at the clock, it's now 3:08, crap] and I stopped her to say "Why don't we have coffee on Tuesday morning before your first class and discuss that? We have a lot of work to do here -- now and next year." Told her I had to leave and ran off before she could drag that out any more. Don't know exactly what was said at the meeting she had, but it couldn't have been all peaches and cream the way she was talking and blabbering on.
This weekend we have the Stamford wedding/arraignment, then two days of family time. Hopefully things will go well across the board. It's getting WARM!
And then we had to deal with the elephant in the room: what do we do with that limp noodle of mostly-but-not-quite-enough incompetence? After a few more stellar examples from this week and me saying "Help me. I am not going to scream and yell. I am not going to turn into Marvaline the Wonder Bitch. What am I supposed to DO about this? How do I motivate her to do a better job?"
General plan for next year is that
- OFL will take over evaluating, and
- He will also attend media staff meetings (yes to monthly, maybe to more than monthly if needed). If we have more than monthly and OFL cannot attend the extras he will get the minutes.
- Divide and conquer duties and make those divisions public and recordable on the monthly reports and meeting minutes. That's going to involve some alterations to the monthly reports so that what's actually happening and who's responsible for what are both clearly visible.
Eeyore had her year-end eval also. Friday morning she casually said, "You know, I have my meeting with ___ today. I don't even know what time it is, and I haven't prepared anything. Oh well." I didn't say anything. Just stared at her. Frankly, I was a bit shocked, especially since Eeyore was working on getting tenure this year. For someone who exhibits paranoid tendencies on a regular basis, you would think she would have made some effort to prepare for that. Apparently it ranks right up there with reading books, figuring out what should go on the website and preparing for classes and teacher projects. None of that shit gets done either.
I saw her after school, and I said I had to go pick up The Boy at 3:10. Eeyore decided it would be a good idea to try to start a serious conversation about how "I want this to work. I know we had a disagreement a few months ago [hmmm...you think?] but I think if we divide responsibilities it will be fine.....blah blah repeat and rinse [I look at the clock, it's now 3:08, crap] and I stopped her to say "Why don't we have coffee on Tuesday morning before your first class and discuss that? We have a lot of work to do here -- now and next year." Told her I had to leave and ran off before she could drag that out any more. Don't know exactly what was said at the meeting she had, but it couldn't have been all peaches and cream the way she was talking and blabbering on.
This weekend we have the Stamford wedding/arraignment, then two days of family time. Hopefully things will go well across the board. It's getting WARM!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
and what WILL tomorrow bring??
All set for the meeting tomorrow... finished my end of the year eval paperwork to take in, and this year I started with a top ten things that were great this year and top ten things that sucked about this year. That didn't quite work -- too many on each list. Switched "sucked" to "drove me crazy" just so the drones at personnel wouldn't redflag me right off the bat (as if that doesn't happen every year given what I write). I don't care. I'm tenured. Even though they had a lawyer come in to tell us how easy it is for the district to fire us (what a great staff development presentation THAT was), the reality is that people in my field with my experience, degrees and credentials are pretty damned hard to find. I have no problem saying exactly what I think -- because I know they won't fire me unless I steal shit, murder someone, or tell the superintendent to go fuck herself in nine kinds of graphic detail. Even then they'd probably decide I was ill and send me off to SilverHill for a nice couple months therapeutic vacation. Well, maybe not if it was theft, but I wouldn't do that. Mouthy, yes, larcenous, no. We'll see how the meeting goes.
There was homemade chocolate cake in the office today ... it was goooooooooooooooood. I skipped lunch yesterday so I rationalized it as part of my week. Let me hear a rousing, "riiiiiiiight."
There was homemade chocolate cake in the office today ... it was goooooooooooooooood. I skipped lunch yesterday so I rationalized it as part of my week. Let me hear a rousing, "riiiiiiiight."
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
End of the Year stats
It's May, and I have my end-of-the-year meeting with my evaluator this Thurs, and a scheduled meeting with OFL and The BossLady downtown on the 5th to discuss progress this year and budget items/plans for summer and next year. I spent four periods today crunching numbers and sorting through data to get a comprehensive picture of what was accomplished this year.
If I could figure out what she could do well, I'd ask her to just focus on that. She does okay with the 6th grade classes, but loses the 8th grade classes on a regular basis. Booktalks are a disaster and she doesn't read. I get complaints from the teachers on a regular basis that she is boring and that she doesn't do what they need her to do. We had a teacher this week doing research and Eeyore flatout refused to help her introduce the books to the kids -- even though that was what she had done last semester for her. Bizarre. I asked her to take the book orders we got this year and figure out what we didn't receive so we could look at percentages and reordering canceled items, and nothing has ever come of that. I need to make sure that whatever she is responsible for doing goes on the monthly reports -- so it's obvious to OFL and BossLady who's doing what and who's not doing what.
Is is June yet????
- The average age of the library as a whole has dropped from 22 years to 16 years
- Circulation is up to over 7600 (from 6900). If I did the math correctly we're up almost 11% over last year.
- We spent $15,000 from the budget on books and resources for the library
- We spent $2,120 on new furnishings from the bookfair account (our comfy Costco chairs)
- We spent about another $2,000 on books from our local bookstores
- We had two major authors visit: Stephenie Meyer in September and Peter Abrahams in March
- Out of 68 booktalks this year, I did 59 solo. I did three tandem with Eeyore (that does NOT work) and the other six she did herself. Given that those were with three teachers who have all specifically said they do not want her doing booktalks with their classes again, we're going to run into problems next year.
- We have a top ten books checked out of the media center list, and a top series checked out of the media center list. I'll post those later -- they're still on my desk at work.
- I met with the 8th grade team, Eeyore met with the 6th grade team, and we are both supposed to meet with the 7th grade team Thurs to get feedback and requests for next year.
- I figured out that I reviewed or recommended almost 60 books online, and I read over 200 more this year. That's pretty good given the load of shit I had to deal with.
- I have a working website for my teaching materials, a book reviews page, I rebuilt the middle school summer reading website for GPS, and I've been recommending books to the Language Arts Dept for possible inclusion in the curriculum work this summer.
- I learned to use social bookmarks through del.icio.us, have a bloglines account to handle all my rss feeds, and am going to post the scenic Washington photos I took on Flickr.
If I could figure out what she could do well, I'd ask her to just focus on that. She does okay with the 6th grade classes, but loses the 8th grade classes on a regular basis. Booktalks are a disaster and she doesn't read. I get complaints from the teachers on a regular basis that she is boring and that she doesn't do what they need her to do. We had a teacher this week doing research and Eeyore flatout refused to help her introduce the books to the kids -- even though that was what she had done last semester for her. Bizarre. I asked her to take the book orders we got this year and figure out what we didn't receive so we could look at percentages and reordering canceled items, and nothing has ever come of that. I need to make sure that whatever she is responsible for doing goes on the monthly reports -- so it's obvious to OFL and BossLady who's doing what and who's not doing what.
Is is June yet????
Thursday, May 17, 2007
What's Worse -- Terminal Indecision or Common Incompetence?
I blew a gasket yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't fire the salvos in the appropriate direction at Eeyore; I had the yoga mantra going of "have to spend every day with her for the next five weeks" and so I went down to the office and had my nuclear meltdown with OFL and his compadres. I went out to go collect The Boy and our Beloved Blonde as it was getting dark and stormy, and by the time I made it back I realized that Eeyore was completely incapable of correcting the mess she had made (of our school's online public face). So I sat down, googled the home page and printed the cache of it so I would get it right. And then I spent 45 minutes FIXING IT FOR HER. And I (and our Beloved Patient Blonde) missed Rick Riordan's presentation to do it. Eeyore was at my elbow for the first fifteen minutes or so until I gave her the job of fixing the original page she had meant to update when she screwed up the main one... and that (what should have taken three to five minutes copy and paste max) took her until I was nearly done rebuilding and relinking the entire front page from scratch. Eeyore suffers from terminal indecision -- she is virtually incapable of making a clear decision and then acting upon it. And thus anything left to her gets mired in an absolute miasma of waiting for someone else to get sick of waiting for her to do it -- and then do it for her. I had thought upon taking the job that this was partially because of the "my way or the highway and get the fuck OUT of my way" atmosphere of last year. Unfortunately, it appears I was drastically mistaken. There is a lot of announcing that things should change and that things are wrong -- but no follow-through, no action, no effort to DO anything other than moan and whine and point out ways that everyone else should do things. I have been kicking myself all day today thinking that I should have left her to stew in her own fetid mess yesterday (which would have gone very publicly into today). It might have been better long-term for me to have left her to deal with it and have to admit she fucked it up and couldn't fix it on her own. I just couldn't stand the utter incompetence ... and I really felt that it made everyone (including me) look bad. Thinking it through, I'm pretty certain of two things: one, this will happen again, and two, next time I will suddenly have many, MANY important things to do which will prevent me from bailing her ass out of whatever publicly leaky boat she has blown holes in.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
225 of Them, 19 of Us ... I Survived DC
Got back last night miraculously around 8:30 pm. We had a great trip, especially on the ride home. We left DC a little after 2pm after the buses loaded, and we were expecting a hellride home with Friday traffic. Our drivers heard that both 95 and the Baltimore Washington pike were parking lots all the way through Delaware, so they found Route 301 north to take us up to Wilmington, NJ and the Jersey turnpike. It was probably a slightly longer route, but there was no traffic and we made good time. Our driver, Bob, told us that 301 is closer to the coast than the two major highways, and is more rural, so few people take it. Lots of farmland and woods ... very nice!
By the time we got to NJ and made two pitstops for restroom break and dinner, the really bad traffic was mostly gone, and we didn't get stuck anywhere. I think that was probably the easiest ride home ever.
DC was great. When we got in, we went to the memorials: WW II, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korea, Jefferson. We saw the Einstein statue -- that was fun! We went to the Pentagon City mall for dinner, and it was nice to let the kids run around some. Wednesday we went to the Capitol VERY early to meet Chris Shays and get a "before it opens" tour. It was really nice to not have to wait in a long line for that. His staff took a couple big group pics, and he spoke to the kids for a few minutes before our tours started. Our group went to the Holocaust museum before meeting everyone for lunch at the Old Post Office. After lunch we went out to Mount Vernon for the tour. They have a really cool movie experience describing some of the important battles and strategies Washington used in the Revolutionary War -- seats shake during cannon blasts, soap bubble "Snow" falls during the crossing of the Delaware scene, and fog rolls out at some point. They have some kind of vineyard there, so I got Steve a bottle of their red table vino. Have no clue how good it is, but I thought he would think that was a fun souvenir for him. We got to go back to the hotel (Best Western, not too bad) to change and rest a bit before dinner (Phillips seafood restaurant, buffet with some things that were safe for me to eat). After dinner we went to the Kennedy Center to see "Shear Madness" which was hilarious! The Kennedy Center was beautiful, especially at night. The kids were not quite tired enough after everything, but such is life. Thursday we went to Arlington to see the Kennedy graves, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a wreath laying ceremony. We saw the Womens' Memorial building there, where they have the Faces of the Fallen exhibit. Artists (professional and amateur) take photos of the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and create a portrait of the fallen soldier as a memorial. The portraits are displayed along one long wall, and people have left mementos next to the portraits. Some were heartbreaking -- wedding pictures, notes from the soldier's children or parents... the one that said "Merry Christmas Daddy, we love you" just shattered me. The kids behaved pretty well. We went to see the Marine War Memorial (Iwo Jima) and I got some great shots there. The optical illusion of the flag raising is amazing!
We went to the Air and Space museum for lunch, and that was a raging disaster. The museum was phenomenally crowded with school groups, and the food court area was so jammed my claustrophobia kicked in and I had to get out. I went outside and got a hot dog and a pretzel from one of the vendors and didn't bother with my lunch coupon. When the kids met us outside, we divvied up, and I took a group of about 10 to the National Archives to see if we could get in. The line was about 300 people long and it didn't budge at all, so we ditched that and went across the street to see the sculpture garden. The kids had a great time there! After that we met up with the rest of the group at the museum of Natural History for about an hour (in which we lost one kid for about 20 minutes, but she had enough sense to go to the security office and wait for us to find her). Back to the hotel again and we got changed for the dinner cruise on the Spirit of Washington. The buffet was decent, the kids were great, but the damn boat kept going in circles on the Potomac! I got mildly nauseous several times -- never bad enough to hurl, but I had to go out and get air a lot. They had a couple dance contests, and the kids were pretty funny. I managed to avoid the chaperone dance contest, which was won hands down by Senora Sam Juliano. The next morning we went to the Washington monument (again, avoided that one because I knew the claustrophobia would make me miserable). I had a ton of fun taking pics of the kids outside the monument, though. We went to the FDR memorial (kids misbehaved some and pissed off some old people, which was embarrassing), and then we went out to Hain's Point and saw The Awakening sculpture. Lunch was at Pentagon City mall again, and then we got on the buses to go home. The weather was great all week. The one really cool morning turned out to be the Arlington morning, so it was nice to walk all over and not sweat to death.
Memorable moments: the kid who earned himself the nickname "Captain Underpants" when he took a flying leap off the Jefferson Memorial steps and his shorts ended up around his ankles. He also managed to accidentally knock over a wreath in the Women's Memorial building in Arlington. Then there was the group at the WWII Memorial lying on the ground attempting to take shots of the Washington Monument appearing out of their crotches. I went over and used Jo Frame's infamous line: "You WISH!" before I told them that every grownup at the memorial knew what they were doing and it wasn't appropriate behavior for a memorial -- so get up. We played the Dating Game and Rumor Patrol on the bus, and virtually every movie the kids brought to watch on the bus was inappropriate (they actually brought Borat!). We ended up with Rush Hour and season one of Family Guy on the way home, which worked out well. Then there was the infamous bathroom incident on our bus -- one of the boys was in the (unlocked) bathroom on his cell phone, and I went back thinking there was no one in there and I could use the bathroom. Although he was fully dressed, he was convinced I thought he was in there jerking off! This of course was something the other kids found to be the height of hilarity.
We had some phenomenally immature behavior from some of the newer teachers... stuff I both didn't expect and was absolutely bowled over by (ie conniption fits over "but there's no seat saved for me!" at dinner etc). I put a muzzle on and didn't say it, but I was thinking "Put on your big girl panties and get the fuck over it." I'd definitely like to go again, though I really do hope that it will be with more of the 8th grade teachers and less of the *problematic* ones.
By the time we got to NJ and made two pitstops for restroom break and dinner, the really bad traffic was mostly gone, and we didn't get stuck anywhere. I think that was probably the easiest ride home ever.
DC was great. When we got in, we went to the memorials: WW II, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korea, Jefferson. We saw the Einstein statue -- that was fun! We went to the Pentagon City mall for dinner, and it was nice to let the kids run around some. Wednesday we went to the Capitol VERY early to meet Chris Shays and get a "before it opens" tour. It was really nice to not have to wait in a long line for that. His staff took a couple big group pics, and he spoke to the kids for a few minutes before our tours started. Our group went to the Holocaust museum before meeting everyone for lunch at the Old Post Office. After lunch we went out to Mount Vernon for the tour. They have a really cool movie experience describing some of the important battles and strategies Washington used in the Revolutionary War -- seats shake during cannon blasts, soap bubble "Snow" falls during the crossing of the Delaware scene, and fog rolls out at some point. They have some kind of vineyard there, so I got Steve a bottle of their red table vino. Have no clue how good it is, but I thought he would think that was a fun souvenir for him. We got to go back to the hotel (Best Western, not too bad) to change and rest a bit before dinner (Phillips seafood restaurant, buffet with some things that were safe for me to eat). After dinner we went to the Kennedy Center to see "Shear Madness" which was hilarious! The Kennedy Center was beautiful, especially at night. The kids were not quite tired enough after everything, but such is life. Thursday we went to Arlington to see the Kennedy graves, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a wreath laying ceremony. We saw the Womens' Memorial building there, where they have the Faces of the Fallen exhibit. Artists (professional and amateur) take photos of the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and create a portrait of the fallen soldier as a memorial. The portraits are displayed along one long wall, and people have left mementos next to the portraits. Some were heartbreaking -- wedding pictures, notes from the soldier's children or parents... the one that said "Merry Christmas Daddy, we love you" just shattered me. The kids behaved pretty well. We went to see the Marine War Memorial (Iwo Jima) and I got some great shots there. The optical illusion of the flag raising is amazing!
We went to the Air and Space museum for lunch, and that was a raging disaster. The museum was phenomenally crowded with school groups, and the food court area was so jammed my claustrophobia kicked in and I had to get out. I went outside and got a hot dog and a pretzel from one of the vendors and didn't bother with my lunch coupon. When the kids met us outside, we divvied up, and I took a group of about 10 to the National Archives to see if we could get in. The line was about 300 people long and it didn't budge at all, so we ditched that and went across the street to see the sculpture garden. The kids had a great time there! After that we met up with the rest of the group at the museum of Natural History for about an hour (in which we lost one kid for about 20 minutes, but she had enough sense to go to the security office and wait for us to find her). Back to the hotel again and we got changed for the dinner cruise on the Spirit of Washington. The buffet was decent, the kids were great, but the damn boat kept going in circles on the Potomac! I got mildly nauseous several times -- never bad enough to hurl, but I had to go out and get air a lot. They had a couple dance contests, and the kids were pretty funny. I managed to avoid the chaperone dance contest, which was won hands down by Senora Sam Juliano. The next morning we went to the Washington monument (again, avoided that one because I knew the claustrophobia would make me miserable). I had a ton of fun taking pics of the kids outside the monument, though. We went to the FDR memorial (kids misbehaved some and pissed off some old people, which was embarrassing), and then we went out to Hain's Point and saw The Awakening sculpture. Lunch was at Pentagon City mall again, and then we got on the buses to go home. The weather was great all week. The one really cool morning turned out to be the Arlington morning, so it was nice to walk all over and not sweat to death.
Memorable moments: the kid who earned himself the nickname "Captain Underpants" when he took a flying leap off the Jefferson Memorial steps and his shorts ended up around his ankles. He also managed to accidentally knock over a wreath in the Women's Memorial building in Arlington. Then there was the group at the WWII Memorial lying on the ground attempting to take shots of the Washington Monument appearing out of their crotches. I went over and used Jo Frame's infamous line: "You WISH!" before I told them that every grownup at the memorial knew what they were doing and it wasn't appropriate behavior for a memorial -- so get up. We played the Dating Game and Rumor Patrol on the bus, and virtually every movie the kids brought to watch on the bus was inappropriate (they actually brought Borat!). We ended up with Rush Hour and season one of Family Guy on the way home, which worked out well. Then there was the infamous bathroom incident on our bus -- one of the boys was in the (unlocked) bathroom on his cell phone, and I went back thinking there was no one in there and I could use the bathroom. Although he was fully dressed, he was convinced I thought he was in there jerking off! This of course was something the other kids found to be the height of hilarity.
We had some phenomenally immature behavior from some of the newer teachers... stuff I both didn't expect and was absolutely bowled over by (ie conniption fits over "but there's no seat saved for me!" at dinner etc). I put a muzzle on and didn't say it, but I was thinking "Put on your big girl panties and get the fuck over it." I'd definitely like to go again, though I really do hope that it will be with more of the 8th grade teachers and less of the *problematic* ones.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Packing Up and Getting Out Of Dodge
Looks like we are almost set -- the ipod's loaded with audiobooks for Jake, have headphones for the Leapster, need to pack the on-plane bag (extra clothes and snacks). We're taking a monster-big can of Italian olive oil from Arthur Ave to Kristen and Danny, along with Kristen's birthday presents. Louisiana should be lots of fun! Hopefully the flight tomorrow morning takes off okay and we get through DFW all right... biggest concern is LaGuardia at this point.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Happy Frigid Easter
The kids had a good time. The kids had a good time. The kids had a good time.
Helluva mantra to get me through the weekend.
I really don't like the matriarch of the family job. Really. REALLY. REALLY.
Helluva mantra to get me through the weekend.
I really don't like the matriarch of the family job. Really. REALLY. REALLY.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Open Letter to the Driver Who Almost Ran Us Over
To the thoughtless and reckless woman in the light blue minivan, CT license plate 427 TNJ, on Riverside Avenue at 5:25 pm today,
I looked you straight in the eye, and you refused to stop. I was dead center in the middle of the crosswalk, and you drove right on through. If it had been a different day for my boy, he would have been bouncing out just ahead of me, holding onto my hand and pulling me along ... and you would have rammed your 4,000 pounds of metal and plastic right into him. Fortunately for all of us he was tired today and staying close to me -- so you just rolled past my right side as I turned to protect him. Fortunately for us, we encountered you on the way into the daycare facility where my also active almost-3 daughter is. Had I met up with you trying to use the crosswalk with her in one hand and him in the other God knows how many of us you would have sent to the hospital or the morgue. Yes, it was raining -- but we were wearing bright raincoats, the other cars had stopped, and you met me eye to eye and kept right on going. You knew EXACTLY what you were doing.
FYI to you -- I called the police, and they have your vehicle description and your license plate number. They sent an officer to my house to take the information after I spoke to dispatch. If you ever cause any kind of accident or God forbid run down someone else, THEY WILL KNOW. You have a history of being reckless and stupid, and IT'S ON RECORD. They can't give you a ticket today, but if you ever get caught doing this again they won't give you a warning. They will nail your ass to the wall. I will be taking time off work tomorrow to pay the traffic division a personal visit, to make sure they know who you are and that they damn well better watch out for your sorry ass, as well as do a better job of policing and ticketing on Riverside Avenue.
With my luck, you're a parent at my boy's school or worse, at my school. I have gone past the point of actually giving a shit about that, though -- I let the other incidents with other drivers slide including that shit-for-brains woman on her cell phone in the black SUV who flipped me off for attempting to cross the street (same crosswalk but just me and no kids that time). Not this time. When it's assholes against me, that's one thing. You seriously endanger my kid, and I will do what I can to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The director of my daycare facility told me that the only way the town would act to better mark the crosswalk or calm the traffic would be if someone got hurt. Is this what it takes? How many near-misses do we have to have? What child has to go into intensive care over this idiocy? What parent has to put themselves in physical or mortal danger to pick up a child at school?
The bigger question would be why do people in this town feel that the rules apply to everyone else -- except them?
Lord knows no one who doesn't have kids drives a minivan -- so you must have kids.
Lady, if it was your kid in the crosswalk, I'm sure you would expect every vehicle on the street to stop. So why wouldn't you stop for me and my kid?
And this is the clean version of what I have to say about this bullshit.
I looked you straight in the eye, and you refused to stop. I was dead center in the middle of the crosswalk, and you drove right on through. If it had been a different day for my boy, he would have been bouncing out just ahead of me, holding onto my hand and pulling me along ... and you would have rammed your 4,000 pounds of metal and plastic right into him. Fortunately for all of us he was tired today and staying close to me -- so you just rolled past my right side as I turned to protect him. Fortunately for us, we encountered you on the way into the daycare facility where my also active almost-3 daughter is. Had I met up with you trying to use the crosswalk with her in one hand and him in the other God knows how many of us you would have sent to the hospital or the morgue. Yes, it was raining -- but we were wearing bright raincoats, the other cars had stopped, and you met me eye to eye and kept right on going. You knew EXACTLY what you were doing.
FYI to you -- I called the police, and they have your vehicle description and your license plate number. They sent an officer to my house to take the information after I spoke to dispatch. If you ever cause any kind of accident or God forbid run down someone else, THEY WILL KNOW. You have a history of being reckless and stupid, and IT'S ON RECORD. They can't give you a ticket today, but if you ever get caught doing this again they won't give you a warning. They will nail your ass to the wall. I will be taking time off work tomorrow to pay the traffic division a personal visit, to make sure they know who you are and that they damn well better watch out for your sorry ass, as well as do a better job of policing and ticketing on Riverside Avenue.
With my luck, you're a parent at my boy's school or worse, at my school. I have gone past the point of actually giving a shit about that, though -- I let the other incidents with other drivers slide including that shit-for-brains woman on her cell phone in the black SUV who flipped me off for attempting to cross the street (same crosswalk but just me and no kids that time). Not this time. When it's assholes against me, that's one thing. You seriously endanger my kid, and I will do what I can to make sure it doesn't happen again.
The director of my daycare facility told me that the only way the town would act to better mark the crosswalk or calm the traffic would be if someone got hurt. Is this what it takes? How many near-misses do we have to have? What child has to go into intensive care over this idiocy? What parent has to put themselves in physical or mortal danger to pick up a child at school?
The bigger question would be why do people in this town feel that the rules apply to everyone else -- except them?
Lord knows no one who doesn't have kids drives a minivan -- so you must have kids.
Lady, if it was your kid in the crosswalk, I'm sure you would expect every vehicle on the street to stop. So why wouldn't you stop for me and my kid?
And this is the clean version of what I have to say about this bullshit.
Friday, March 23, 2007
and the winner is...
Definitely exhaustion.
I've been to bed by 8 pm twice this week and I still don't feel like I've caught up. Doesn't help that the Drama Queen has been waking up and wailing at 4am the last couple nights consistently. She was a total pain in the ass today at daycare too -- Tasha's never been that detailed in all the jackass things she's done all day. I got in DQ's face about that immediately and told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to behave that way ever, and if she did I was going to tell Tasha to call me at work and that I would come HELP her behave. Made me feel like the boss with the hat in Cool Hand Luke ("You got your mind RIGHT there boy?") -- which of course made me feel like shit, but she can't get away with acting like that. She may be channeling my mother-in-law, but damned if I have to let her get off scot free for it.
I haven't been feeling right for a couple weeks, but it seems to be getting worse. Not sleeping right, feeling exhausted and at the end of my rope most of the time... I'm wondering if this is temporary or if I should consider going back on the meds. I can't think of anything specific that ought to be sending me over the edge, but maybe it's a lot of little things that I'm not giving enough credit to. Sure sign something's up -- not looking forward to my birthday in the least, and I would be more than happy to ignore the occasion completely. I usually want at least a couple nice cards and a nice dinner to look forward to, and the family always makes sure to send a couple nice gifts ... but I just don't care about any of that at all this year. It's strange to feel this way again (happened last year when we were constantly in crisis over the MOL), but this time without the impending doom and absolute focus on everything else going on.
Maybe I just need some peace.
That's been sorely lacking for a long time. We haven't had one holiday in the last few years that wasn't overtaken by the raging internal family dramas.
Maybe I just need some quiet time to recharge.
That's mostly what I had in Vegas last year (good thing -- if it hadn't been for that trip I would have been a complete disaster when it counted). Doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon though. Maybe I will get some peace in Louisiana ... taking the kids out in the kayak to see the dolphins in the mornings and evenings ... there's hope.
I've been to bed by 8 pm twice this week and I still don't feel like I've caught up. Doesn't help that the Drama Queen has been waking up and wailing at 4am the last couple nights consistently. She was a total pain in the ass today at daycare too -- Tasha's never been that detailed in all the jackass things she's done all day. I got in DQ's face about that immediately and told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to behave that way ever, and if she did I was going to tell Tasha to call me at work and that I would come HELP her behave. Made me feel like the boss with the hat in Cool Hand Luke ("You got your mind RIGHT there boy?") -- which of course made me feel like shit, but she can't get away with acting like that. She may be channeling my mother-in-law, but damned if I have to let her get off scot free for it.
I haven't been feeling right for a couple weeks, but it seems to be getting worse. Not sleeping right, feeling exhausted and at the end of my rope most of the time... I'm wondering if this is temporary or if I should consider going back on the meds. I can't think of anything specific that ought to be sending me over the edge, but maybe it's a lot of little things that I'm not giving enough credit to. Sure sign something's up -- not looking forward to my birthday in the least, and I would be more than happy to ignore the occasion completely. I usually want at least a couple nice cards and a nice dinner to look forward to, and the family always makes sure to send a couple nice gifts ... but I just don't care about any of that at all this year. It's strange to feel this way again (happened last year when we were constantly in crisis over the MOL), but this time without the impending doom and absolute focus on everything else going on.
Maybe I just need some peace.
That's been sorely lacking for a long time. We haven't had one holiday in the last few years that wasn't overtaken by the raging internal family dramas.
Maybe I just need some quiet time to recharge.
That's mostly what I had in Vegas last year (good thing -- if it hadn't been for that trip I would have been a complete disaster when it counted). Doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon though. Maybe I will get some peace in Louisiana ... taking the kids out in the kayak to see the dolphins in the mornings and evenings ... there's hope.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Are We Done With the Damn Snow Yet?
Bitch, bitch, bitch. I don't mind the snow, really -- I mind the rain, sleet and sneet that compacted that nice fluffy powder into the glacial ice pack that has been my driveway for the last couple days. Hubby broke a shovel handle and gouged both hands before switching to the heavy-duty metal garden shovel (and then giving up soon after). The sun is starting to take care of it but it looks like we might get more frigid crap tonight. Good thing Big Bertha is as heavy as she is or I'd never get her wide load ass out of the driveway. Hope this is the last big winter storm.
We took the kids sledding over in Byram park yesterday, and had a blast. We went all the way down the big hill over and over -- what wild rides! The Drama Queen was busy channeling Danica Patrick, and The Boy was thrilled too. The weather yesterday was wonderful, just warm enough to be comfortable outside without turning everything into a slushy mess on the hill.
Our St. Patrick's Day was full of family, godparents and birthday cake for The Boy. He has been having so much fun with the lightsabers and his Harry Potter getup ... and we keep switching between the Star Wars dvds and the Harry Potter ones. I'm almost afraid he's going to start asking what Obi Wan teaches at Hogwarts.
Auntie Mame's visit went very well. Picked her up at the airport, and she came for dinner and saw the kids. The Boy went running and jumping into her arms! The Drama Queen gave her a bit of the stink-eye before she warmed up, but we taught her to say "Uncle Wome is in I-Wack," and she got a little smiley. It was so nice to have Mamie here... and it was physically painful to watch her leave. I miss her much more than I'm willing to admit to myself most of the time. I am looking forward to going south to visit the Redneck Relations next month. It'll be the first big family trip since we went to Mexico for Wome and Mame's wedding, so we'll see how we do as a traveling circus.
One more weekend of birthday hoohah (Charlie and The Boy both on Saturday, then Hubby on Monday). Then we can breathe. Once again, I feel like I just don't give a rat's left asscheek about my birthday this year (38? So what???). We'll be down south for it, and I already told Auntie JurisD that I don't give a shit and we can skip my birthday entirely ... I'm just happy to be somewhere different. We'll see if she listens. I don't have much hope of that, as she doesn't have a history of doing that unless things are completely removed from her control, and since we're going to HER house, that's pretty much an impossibility.
Work sucks. What else is new. We got a bunch of new books (Spend the money! Don't let them take it back!!!), and that is going to keep me occupied for a while.
We took the kids sledding over in Byram park yesterday, and had a blast. We went all the way down the big hill over and over -- what wild rides! The Drama Queen was busy channeling Danica Patrick, and The Boy was thrilled too. The weather yesterday was wonderful, just warm enough to be comfortable outside without turning everything into a slushy mess on the hill.
Our St. Patrick's Day was full of family, godparents and birthday cake for The Boy. He has been having so much fun with the lightsabers and his Harry Potter getup ... and we keep switching between the Star Wars dvds and the Harry Potter ones. I'm almost afraid he's going to start asking what Obi Wan teaches at Hogwarts.
Auntie Mame's visit went very well. Picked her up at the airport, and she came for dinner and saw the kids. The Boy went running and jumping into her arms! The Drama Queen gave her a bit of the stink-eye before she warmed up, but we taught her to say "Uncle Wome is in I-Wack," and she got a little smiley. It was so nice to have Mamie here... and it was physically painful to watch her leave. I miss her much more than I'm willing to admit to myself most of the time. I am looking forward to going south to visit the Redneck Relations next month. It'll be the first big family trip since we went to Mexico for Wome and Mame's wedding, so we'll see how we do as a traveling circus.
One more weekend of birthday hoohah (Charlie and The Boy both on Saturday, then Hubby on Monday). Then we can breathe. Once again, I feel like I just don't give a rat's left asscheek about my birthday this year (38? So what???). We'll be down south for it, and I already told Auntie JurisD that I don't give a shit and we can skip my birthday entirely ... I'm just happy to be somewhere different. We'll see if she listens. I don't have much hope of that, as she doesn't have a history of doing that unless things are completely removed from her control, and since we're going to HER house, that's pretty much an impossibility.
Work sucks. What else is new. We got a bunch of new books (Spend the money! Don't let them take it back!!!), and that is going to keep me occupied for a while.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Random Updates
Auntie Mame is coming Monday for a brief dinnertime stopover, as she's coming from Austin up to Hartford for a 1-day job, then on to Toronto. The Boy and the Drama Queen are pretty excited! If the weather's decent we'll grill steaks, if it's lousy we'll get takeout.
The Boy's birthday is next weekend, and we're having a family party (read: have the cousins over and play and have cupcakes), then the "real" party is the following weekend. For some reason, Hubby thought it was a good idea to book a music party (fine) in Wilton (????). I have no idea if people will actually be willing to go that far for a birthday party. Guess we'll find out.
Went to the show-and-tell for the Other School. Lots of good info on class sizes, curriculum and staffing, and I think The Boy would do well there. Hubby was predictably racist and stubborn: "I don't want him going to school with a bunch of blacks and Puerto Ricans." We're still battling this one out. We'll see if he gets in and then we'll have the showdown. I think if we did send him there, it would change Hubby's mind (at least to some degree). He's got what he remembers from high school in his head -- when the kids there were the lowest performing and least able students, and also the most troublesome. The school is very different now than it was then, esp with the new principal. She's one tough, organized lady.
I'm done with the first draft of the district summer reading website, and am updating author lists and working on the brochure version as suggestions come in. Got a couple new banners done for the genre pages, and they look better than the old ones. Still waiting to get final copy from the LA dept on the intro letter and assignment. Eeyore was annoying about that. Everything I do she comes up and announces she will do it too. I told her flat out no on the summer reading business -- I probably would have given her the brochure part of it had I not been so aggravated that she had assumed that she could do half my booktalks this entire week. I let that go this week, but we are going to have to have a sit-down this coming week and discuss division of responsibilities because this "if you're doing it I should get to do part of it too" crap is annoying the shit out of me. I'm not a particularly territorial person, but I feel like Eeyore is up my ass most of the time and my patience is coming to the end.
I also volunteered for one session of summer work, helping the LA dept revise and update the core books/reading lists. That will be difficult to say the least. Trying to get that group to agree on anything new is usually like stopping the earth from rotating. Hopefully there will be enough younger teachers on the committee who are willing to look at newer stuff. There are a few teachers (mostly from Wonderland) who would be total stick-in-the-muds about everything. Maybe they'll be on vacation.
The Boy's birthday is next weekend, and we're having a family party (read: have the cousins over and play and have cupcakes), then the "real" party is the following weekend. For some reason, Hubby thought it was a good idea to book a music party (fine) in Wilton (????). I have no idea if people will actually be willing to go that far for a birthday party. Guess we'll find out.
Went to the show-and-tell for the Other School. Lots of good info on class sizes, curriculum and staffing, and I think The Boy would do well there. Hubby was predictably racist and stubborn: "I don't want him going to school with a bunch of blacks and Puerto Ricans." We're still battling this one out. We'll see if he gets in and then we'll have the showdown. I think if we did send him there, it would change Hubby's mind (at least to some degree). He's got what he remembers from high school in his head -- when the kids there were the lowest performing and least able students, and also the most troublesome. The school is very different now than it was then, esp with the new principal. She's one tough, organized lady.
I'm done with the first draft of the district summer reading website, and am updating author lists and working on the brochure version as suggestions come in. Got a couple new banners done for the genre pages, and they look better than the old ones. Still waiting to get final copy from the LA dept on the intro letter and assignment. Eeyore was annoying about that. Everything I do she comes up and announces she will do it too. I told her flat out no on the summer reading business -- I probably would have given her the brochure part of it had I not been so aggravated that she had assumed that she could do half my booktalks this entire week. I let that go this week, but we are going to have to have a sit-down this coming week and discuss division of responsibilities because this "if you're doing it I should get to do part of it too" crap is annoying the shit out of me. I'm not a particularly territorial person, but I feel like Eeyore is up my ass most of the time and my patience is coming to the end.
I also volunteered for one session of summer work, helping the LA dept revise and update the core books/reading lists. That will be difficult to say the least. Trying to get that group to agree on anything new is usually like stopping the earth from rotating. Hopefully there will be enough younger teachers on the committee who are willing to look at newer stuff. There are a few teachers (mostly from Wonderland) who would be total stick-in-the-muds about everything. Maybe they'll be on vacation.
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