A New Year's Meme

This is a New Year's meme I picked up from... I'm so embarassed - I can't remember where. Last week, before Christmas, I found this and I thought it was cool, so I took note of it, but now I can't remember from whence it came. Aren't I terrible?

This is the first sentence of my first post of every month this year. I started my blog in April, so here it goes...

1 - April - My kids are watching Saturday morning cartoons.

2 - May - Soccer season has begun.

3 - June - Main Man has been freelancing at home for the last couple of years.

4 - July - I bought "light BUTTER" microwave popcorn the other day.

5 - August - I've always had a place in my heart that hates the month of August.

6 - September - I am a clutter queen.

7 - October - The subtitle of this book could be "Everything Your Child Didn't Realize He Didn't Know about Money and Didn't Think to Ask".

8 - November - I know it's Thursday.

9 - December - I cannot believe that it's been over a week since I posted.

Actually, when you put them all together, they look rather comical. Hope you enjoyed them...

And may 2007 be your best one yet!

And the Happiest of Holidays to All of You

School is out. Now I can do my shopping.

That isn't really true. I've done quite a bit already, but now the power shopping begins!

I was determined to take it easy this season - to take more pause to truly enjoy the holiday. And I did.

I haven't sent any Christmas cards yet (they will have to be holiday cards next week).

I bought my baking at a bake sale.

I put blogging on hold for a short while.

And I did have a chance to take pleasure in the little things: enjoying the children's smiles and antics at the Christmas concerts, making harried store clerks smile as I joked with them, smiling at strangers as I moseyed through the stores (I'm sure many of them were wondering what I was up to!).

I hope you all will have the opportunity during this busy time to marvel at the magic of the season.

I will be around to many of your sites to wish you blessings and joy, but, on the off chance that I have some readers of whom I am unaware, I wish all of you the pure joy that one feels upon seeing a child gaze in wonder at the gifts beneath the tree, or a senior beam at being surrounded by family and friends, or a couple share a tender moment under the mistletoe.

May the magic of Christmas surround you in a blanket of comfort, joy, and love.

Christmas Cards

I usually love getting Christmas cards.

Reading about people's goings-on, seeing photos of their children as they grow a year taller, knowing that our friends are thinking of us, all of that makes opening the mailbox on my way home from work at this time of year a little more exciting.

Main Man gets corporate and political cards full of generic wishes. I'm not big on those. But they do add colour and visual interest to our card display.

Yesterday, though, we got a Christmas greeting that made me shake my head. It was from a family who used to be our neighbours. Their children attended the same daycare as ours, and we occasionally visited back and forth when they lived in our neighbourhood. Four or five years ago, they moved on to greener pastures, also known as that area of the city with huge new houses dwarfing tiny trees. We've basically lost touch. I often muse that they feel that they have "outgrown" us.

The card - and I use the term loosely - consisted of a photo of their family on what appears to be a private yacht in some tropical clime. There was no letter, no greeting even, just a signature on the photo.....

The Johnson's

(real name withheld to protect the innocent)

Even a "Merry Christmas" would have been nice.

Under the Mistletoe

My fifth grade class is performing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" for our Christmas concert next week. We are having a blast getting it ready!

In addition to singing the song, we have a bit of air band and some dancing in the show.

I've paired up four "couples" in the class to do a bit of a swing dance during an instrumental bit in the middle. They are adorable as they jive and twirl. Of course, they are in Grade Five, so they are awkward and self-conscious, but that just makes it all the cuter.

One of the jiving boys is the son of our kindergarten teacher here at the school. She said to me at lunch today, "So, I heard last night all about your little dancing performance."

I asked how he was feeling about it.

She replied that he seemed pretty nervous.

With a smile, I told her that I had purposely paired him with one of the cutest girls in the class.

"That's the problem, " was the response. "He thinks so too!"

Double the Fun

We will be travelling to my father's farm on Christmas Eve, and we will stay there for two or three days. We will be staying there alone, but family will be just a short drive away. We will all have Christmas dinner together at my niece's house.

The boys are quite anxious that we have a tree at the farm. My first inclination was that we would cope without one; why put up a tree for just two or three days?

A few days ago, though, I finally figured out why it was so important to them. #3 especially is very worried that, if we don't have a tree, Santa will have no place to leave presents.

So yes - definitely - we will have a tree.

Last night as we sat at the kitchen table - me marking Spelling books and #3 colouring Christmas pictures - I think he reached the height of Christmas greediness, as all children are apt to do this time of year.

"Mom," he asked offhandedly,"if we have a tree at home and another one at Grandpa's, will Santa leave me two presents?"

Hey - it's worth a try!

Back from the Dead

This will be a rather mundane post after such a dramatic title.

I'm just fine. I'm sorry if I worried any of you.

We are in the midst of a veritable hurricane of holiday plans, home renovations and - oh right - day to day life (ie: teaching, laundry, homework, guitar practice, Cubs, Beavers, blah, blah, blah...).

I think causing the biggest turmoil in my life right now is the upheaval of home renovations. It's killing me that we're already into the double digits of December and I have no Christmas decorations up. There was really no point, though, before we got the hardwood refinished (finally finished this past weekend).

Therefore, now that the wood is finished and we can gradually put the furniture back in place, now I can begin to decorate.... But I can't tonight, because I have marking to catch up on.... And I can't tomorrow night because it's the boys' school Christmas concert... And I can't the next night because......

See?

Still, it's a different kind of busy from report cards and parent-teacher interviews. This is candy cane - pine tree - Christmas bells - surrounded by family kinda busy - the best kind, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm hoping this entry finds all of you in the same frame of mind.

Busted!

Main Man and I went out to our favourite Irish pub last night. I am so enjoying having a life once again.

Anyway, we ran into a girl who grew up in my hometown and used to attend my dad's church. She's attending a residential private school here in our city now.

I had had a couple of glasses of wine when I went over to talk to her.

She is still in high school.

I figure she and I were probably thinking much the same thing as we were chatting.

She was probably thinking, "Please don't let it get back to my parents that I was at a bar!"

I was thinking, "Please don't let it get back to my dad that I was (just a little) drunk!"

Earning Tranquility

I cannot believe that it's been over a week since I posted.

And what a week it was!

I spent the vast majority of last weekend completing my report cards. I had to make sure that each i was dotted and every t crossed. One of my most looming fears is that I will spell something wrong on a report card, especially on a comment informing parents that their son or daughter should take more care in their daily written work!

Then the school week began.

In addition to Monday's report cards and Wednesday's and Thursday's parent-teacher conferences, there was also Monday to Thursday's Book Fair. I hadn't written much about the book fair ahead of time because I wasn't anticipating it being a stressor - not relatively speaking, anyway.

And it wasn't really a huge stressor; but it was a definite time-stealer.

Book Fair is basically a book sale, set up in the library and - pretty much goes without saying - run by the librarian and her assistant, AKA Library Mama and her trusty sidekick.

A company (in this case Scholastic Canada) sends piles and cartons and mountains of new books to us, we arrange it attractively in the library, and we sell them to the students and their parents. Oh - and they also send junky things like cutesy troll pencils and erasers that resemble licorice sticks, and we also sell those, lots and lots and lots of those.

Anyway, a schedule is created and each class attends the book fair and browses or shops. Book fair is also open before school and during recess breaks. Parents come and shop when their children's class attends or during the breaks or when they are at the school in the evening for their parent-teacher conference. Oh - did I forget to mention that the book fair is open in the evenings as well?

In amongst all of this, I also taught regular classes.

And winter arrived this week. We have experienced temperatures in the -20s (Celsius) and we've received over 15 cm of snow (that's over 6 inches for my American friends).

This morning I am sitting at my sorely neglected computer in my plaid pyjama bottoms and souvenir T-shirt from a trip to California we took almost 10 years ago, savouring a cup of strong coffee. The drone of cartoons is in the background, and the little boys are curled up in the livingroom, enjoying their own teachers' professional development day. Main Man has left for work, and #1 is still fast asleep.

Today we plan to have a snowball fight and decorate a gingerbread house.

I think I've earned it.

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful...

...for new lino in our kitchen and our bathroom. It looks fantastic! I wasn't exactly sure if I loved it when we picked it out, but it suits our house perfectly.

...for soft tissues, hot lemon cold relief and this amazing effervescent vitaminy cold-fighting stuff we discovered at the local pharmacy.

...that I have a cold this week instead of next, when I have to do those long evening parent-teacher interviews. I hope I can shed it before then.

...for the financial ability to take our kids out for supper two nights in a row because we didn't have the use of our stove while the lino-installer guy was here.

...for #1's volleyball coach and team and all that goes along with it. His season is now finished - all except for the pizza lunch wind-up - and he's a little sad about it. He loved being part of a team.

...for #2's Cub leader and troop and for #3's Beaver leader and troop. Tuesday was the investiture. It was just the cutest thing ever, especially the little Beavers. They were told that they were passing from Kit Beavers to Eager Beavers. One of them (there's always at least one know-it-all) shouted out during that part of the ceremony, "A kit is a baby beaver!"

...for colleagues who, even after more years of teaching experience than I have, still are harried during this glorious season of report cards, making me feel a little better that I feel so harried.

...for Diet Coke and light popcorn.

...for my mom's Christmas china, sitting in my china cabinet, awaiting the holiday season.

...for my American friends, especially my American blog friends, as the celebrate the season of gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I may not have time for Thankful Thursday next week, as it's one of my long days, but believe me, I'll be grateful when all of my interviews are over and done with, shortly after 8:00 Thursday evening.

The Classic Canadian T-shirt

I gotta get me one o' these!

I Honestly Can't Think of a Title for This

I hesitate to write yet another "it-sucks-to-be-a-teacher" post after my encounter with Hippo on my last post, but I have to let you in on these "if I didn't laugh, I'd cry" occurences.

Our administration decided to deal with the parent-teacher conference dilemma by allowing the staff to vote on the issue. I appreciated that. Surprisingly, our staff voted 60% - 40% in favour of all evening interviews. At least, that's what we were told. I have no idea who voted in favour; I could only find two out of 25 of us, but what do I know?

Anyway, we sent a note home to parents asking them which evening - Wednesday or Thursday - they would prefer for their conference, in order to help us with our scheduling.

Some of the comments were received back were:

- I work evenings that week. Could we meet before 2:00 some day? (Ummmm, no, I'll be teaching then....)

- We have commitments those two evenings. I am available on the afternoon of Dec. 1. Let me know what time. (Ummmmmm, no, I have that afternoon off because I'm giving up two of my evenings for these friggin' interviews.)

- I am only available between the hours of 4:30 and 6:00 on Wednesday. I wish to see all six of my son's teachers at that time. (Ummmm, no. Because you submitted your preferences two days late, the schedule is already set, and we are not redoing the whole schedule just for you.)

By the way, rest assured that all three of these parents will be on the phone yelling at the secretary next week because their demands cannot be met.

The Brutal Truth

One of my teaching colleagues had a terrible accident.

She was thrown from her horse. Either on the way down or once she was already down, the horse kicked her.

She has three broken ribs, a broken arm, and she may have injured her spleen.

She is in the hospital. Because we have such a tight-knit group, she has actually asked us not to visit. You see, if she didn't say that, we'd all be up there, and I think she wants to take the time to heal.

She has a best friend on staff who did go up to see her last night, and today she reported back that things are looking quite good.

She also related a humorous story back to us.

On the day after my colleague's fall, she was lamenting to her husband how terrible she looked.

He replied, "Oh Honey, you don't look as bad as you do after a day of teaching."

Doesn't that just tell all about our profession?!

Victory

#1's volleyball team (quite unexpectedly) won their playoff game today.

#1 ran over to us after the game.

#1: We're in the semi-finals! We're in the semi-finals!

#3: We're in the semi-finals! We're in the semi-finals!

#2 (to #3): Do you even know what semi-finals are?

#3: No..... but we're in the semi-finals!

I'm Fine

Thought I should get something down to let you all know that I'm fine. It was a full weekend, with moments of high joy and moments of deep sadness.

Yesterday, I started an entry about my friend's memorial service, but time caught up with me and I couldn't finish it. The unfinished entry lays there like a load of laundry waiting to be washed, but I don't want to finish it out of duty. I will wait until I feel ready in every sense of the word to say good-bye.

Also yesterday, I took my class on a field trip. We went to see a live theatre matinee of Just So, a musical based on Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. It was a wonderful experience all 'round. The play was phenomenal and the students were very well behaved. Two of my students were unable to attend due to illness, so I was able to arrange for Main Man to bring #2 down to the theatre to use one of the empty seats. It was great to share it with him. He's a year younger than my students, but he fit in very nicely.

Report cards and parent-teacher conferences are fast approaching, so my blog entries may continue to be a little sparse over the next couple of weeks.

Don't worry, though. I'm fine.

The Next Roger Ebert

We take our boys to lots of movies. We also rent quite a few movies and watch good ones when they come on TV.

Consequently, they seem to understand - and occasionally quote - some fairly obscure movie references.

I didn't realize how well-versed they were, though, until today.

#2 was looking at the label of some hummus I was nibbling at. He asked, "Is that pronounced hu-mus or hum-mus?"

#3 (He's six years old, remember?) starts to laugh and shouts out, "Soylent green is hu-mus!"

Wow!

Remembrance

Today is Remembrance Day in our country.

I have always felt the gravity of this day. Every year I work hard to help my students and my own children appreciate how important it is to honour those who have fought for our safety, our freedom, our country and our world.

Today though, as fundamental as today's honours are, I know that I will find my mind wandering periodically from thoughts of our veterans and our soldiers to memories of a special person who is now at peace.

Rest well, my friend.....

A Tale for the Teachers

Tonight we played a family game of Urban Myth. A story is read, and everyone indicates on a card whether they think the story is true or a myth.

I won.

#1 and #2 declared the game unfair. Their reasoning?

"But Mom, you're a teacher. You're trained to be smarter than the rest of us!"

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday once again, and I'm feeling particularly thankful today.

This week, I am thankful...

...for teacher work days. Today is a professional development day, but, unlike many where we have to go to "some other place" to listen to "some expert" who has no clue what our day to day job entails, today is a work day - a catch-up day, which means that I just may have the opportunity to spend my Saturday with my own children this weekend instead of in my empty classroom. (How's that for a lengthy sentence?)

...for staff get-togethers. Last night a bunch of us and many of our significant others met at a favourite watering hole and let loose. (Okay - I know - "let loose" in the vernacular of elementary school teachers is slightly different from that of most others, but we still had fun.)

...for Christmas Concerts. Plans are brewing for my concert at work and for #2's and #3's concert at school. I know lots of teachers loathe them, and I can understand why, so I keep my own excitement under my hat.

...for four-day weekends. This weekend both my boys and I have Friday and Monday off.

...for phenomenal colleagues, who are always willing to supply help, support, a listening ear, an open mind, and a soft shoulder.

...for blue raspberry Children's Advil - the only OTC medicine #2 will take without a fuss. He's had a sore throat this week, and, although he's had some antibiotics, he has still needed painkiller to get him through the day a few times.

Well, I am now in my classroom, enjoying my "work day", so I guess I better start working.

Have a great week, everybody!

Flags of our Fathers

Main Man and I had a date night Saturday night.

We were planning to see The Prestige, but when we arrived at the theatre, the line-up was bizarrely lengthy, so we had to change our plans.

Main Man wanted to see Flags of our Fathers, and, although I had absolutely no interest, I wanted him to be happy, so I agreed to it.

It was a great movie - on a massive level, it was a movie to be seen - truly fine cinema. (For a genuinely intelligent and thought-provoking review of the movie, see what Main Man has to say about it.)

Still, I spent a major part of this fine film with my hands in front of my eyes.

Saturday night was the first time I watched a war movie through a mother's eyes. I think #1 was three or four years old when I saw Saving Private Ryan, probably the last war movie I saw. I watched it through a wife's eyes. Who thinks of their son going off to war when he's a pre-schooler?

#1 is now taller than I am, though, and is seriously discussing which college he plans to attend. I could see him as one of those boys in the movie. There were times when I felt physical pain as I watched those young men face the horrors of war.

For those of you unfamiliar with the general plot, Flags of our Fathers is the story of the young men who were photographed planting the American flag on Iwo Jima. Only three of them made it home alive.

I should have known the movie would be difficult for me when I was moved by a short scene near the beginning. A simple country woman picks up her newspaper and announces to her son that his brother's picture is on the front page. The teenage boy replies, "You can't even see his face; how do you know that's Harlan?"

The mother replies, "I powdered and diapered that bottom for years. I know that's your brother!"

I'm sure the scene was meant as a bit of comedy relief, but I found the scene rather poignant.

Each one of the young men, when they came home - no matter how they came home - came home to their mothers. None of them were married yet. These really were boys.

On another topic, this movie presents a fascinating look at the subject of heroes. The boys who return home are serenaded by brass bands, adorably harmonizing babettes, and the shouts of fawning admirers. These boys are considered heroes; they are lauded for being the special young men who raised that very famous flag. For one of them, this is just too much. He is horrified by his memories of battle, and considers himself anything but a hero.

Upon considering my thoughts of heroism, I realize that this movie has helped them gel. In my mind, in order to be a hero, one must not feel like a hero. The moment one begins to believe the hype and hoop-la, one immediately stops being a hero.

Tomorrow, our school will be holding its annual Remembrance Day Assembly. It will be a solemn time for the students to take time to think about war, and about how lucky we are to live in peace here at home. Every year, I walk that fine line between trying to help the students understand the horrors of war and making sure I don't scare them. Yesterday, I spoke to them about this movie and about heroes. I hope I helped them understand a bit better what this movie helped me understand a bit better.

Priorities?

There's a tempest brewing at work.

Parent-Student-Teacher conferences are fast approaching.

In the distant past, conferences were held on a "non-student" day. This simply meant that the kids got the day off school, except for the 15 minutes they were sitting in the hotseat, being grilled by - oh, I mean, showing their work to - their parents and their teacher.

As a rule, this was a Friday. Conferences were held from 9:00 to 3:30. An average class had 28 students, give or take, and, at 15 minutes a conference and a half hour off for lunch, this constituted the length of a regular school day.

(This previous paragraph does not take into account, of course, the hours of preparation for the conferences, but that doesn't really pertain to this particular tempest.)

About seven years ago, the powers-that-be decided that this particular schedule did not cater enough to our clients - that in many families, both parents work outside the home and are unable to leave work to meet with their children's teacher. The schedule changed to Thursday evening and Friday morning. In lieu of working Thursday evening, we were given Friday afternoon off.

At the time, I was livid. Completing four hours of conferences after teaching a full day exhausted me. And why would I want to work through an evening when I could be spending time with my own children? I already spent a couple of hours every evening doing homework - why would I want to make it worse? Oh, and my reward was an afternoon off when my own kids were in school. Whoopee!

Well - you guessed it. Now they want to have conferences on a Wednesday evening and a Thursday evening, with all day Friday off in lieu.

That's right- two whole twelve hour days in a row, two evenings missed with my own family, with a day off when my own children are not at home.

Oh - and I haven't told you the reason behind this new push.

Evidently, when the hockey coaches in the community learned that there was "no school" on the particular Friday in question, they booked more ice time. Now, it's inconvenient for the families to attend their Parent-Student-Teacher conferences on Friday morning because "Little Johnny has hockey practice" and we all know that hockey practice is sacred in these parts.

I'm really getting fed up with everything else being more important than their child's education. And I'm getting even more fed up with the fact that, in the short term, it always seems to be the teachers who pay for this warped sense of priorities. Of course in the long term, it's the kids themselves who pay.

Somedays I feel as if I've just fallen in the rabbit hole. If I could just find my way out, I could find the sane world that existed before all this craziness.

Debatable

Okay - I'm out of my funk.

Thank you all for your encouraging words.

The tournament has past. As I said to one of the parents after she inquired as to whether or not we were ready, "This tournament is a bit like Christmas; it will come whether we are ready or not."

I will say one thing; I teach in the ultimate environment. Although the pre-planning was up to my partner coach and me, we received a mountain of help from our friends in the actual execution of the plan. Six of our colleagues stayed to help. Some of them stayed and helped for 6 whole hours. Now, that's support!

Every time I started to do something, someone would miraculously appear to ask,"What can I do?" I hardly had to finish anything. I would turn around, and someone would be well on the way to finishing what I had started. Because of all of the help, the tournament was a great success.

The tournament was also a family affair. Main Man helped judge, #1 filled the role of moderator, #2 acted as a time-keeper, and #3 held the door open for the lady who delivered the supper pizza. Everyone pitched in, and I am grateful to my clan for all of their help.

Our team did quite well. In both age categories participating in the tournament, one of our kids got the gold medal for top speaker. In the beginner category, one of our teams got second, and in the intermediate category , we placed second and third.

It still amazes me how brave these kids are. Most of our kids are in the fifth grade, and I think it's marvelous that they can stand in front of strangers and assert themselves in such an organized, poised manner.

It's debatable whether I could do the same.

Thoughtful Thursday

I know it's Thursday.

I know I should be thankful.

I know it would be good for me right now to analyze all of the good things in my life.

But I just can't. It would take too much mental energy at the moment.

I'm exhausted.

School is busy, as always.

Busier than usual, actually ... because not only am I preparing my debate team for a tournament this Friday, but I am preparing the tournament.

Our school is hosting the tournament, and there is a lot to think about.

And I'm tired of Halloween. And I'm tired of the days (especially the school days) after Halloween. I'm tired of the candy wrappers and the hyperactivity and the tempting candy calling to me from my own cupboard at home.

Oh - and I'm tired of being told by my husband that after 18 years of teaching, I should have better coping skills than I do.

So, I'm sorry to my readers who look forward to Thankful Thursday. I'm afraid you're getting the opposite this morning. Hopefully my coping skills will kick in before next Thursday.

"Man of the Year"

Tuesday evening my "movie buddy" from work and I went to see the movie Man of the Year. I really enjoyed it.

I haven't always been a huge fan of Robin Williams. I mean - he's okay - but I'm not into over-the-top hard-to-keep-up-with silliness. Same reason I really dislike Jim Carrey's brand of humour.

Man of the Year showed me a side of Williams that I really enjoyed, though. He made Tom Dobbs into a really likable character who just happens to also be a really funny guy.

Tom Dobbs is one of those night-time comedians from which we are often told Americans choose to get their news. He's a fictional version of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or Bill Maher. One evening an audience member suggests that Dobbs run for President, and the idea takes hold. The internet becomes abuzz with the idea. Dobbs decides to swim with the current and announces his candidacy.

The kicker is - he wins...sort of.

Laura Linney (I've never seen her in a movie I didn't like.) plays Eleanor Green, a woman who knows a secret and is trying desperately to do the right thing. Shades of gray exist, though, and she begins to doubt what exactly is the right thing.

One interesting observation I noticed about this movie is that the incumbent President is played by a Canadian actor. Is that even legal?
I recommend this movie. It has laughs, but it also provides a message that gives you pause for thought. And that can only be good.

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful...

... for a working furnace.

... for the right to vote.

... that Red Convertible Guy didn't get elected.

... for the ladies who work at #3's daycare and the TLC they provide every day.

... for the sounds of happy children at a birthday party.
children + happy + celebration = affirmation of life

... for the ability to comfort a frightened child.

... for people like my sister-in-law who put a lot of thought into the gifts they give.

... for the excitement of Halloween.

... for teaching in the same school for 17 years, and for the relationships I've been able to build because of the stability.

... for the freedom that working in the library gives me to team-teach with others.

... for payday.

Election Day

Today is civic election day in our fair province. All across the province, people will be voting for their local representatives and for school board members.

It's been an interesting race in our community. A fellow from down the street is running for city councillor. Quite a few of our neighbours have signs up supporting him. We don't. Frankly, I've never met him. I don't know - if your neighbour was running in an election, wouldn't you expect him to knock on your door and introduce himself?

Our next door neighbour told us a funny story. He was out in his front yard one day a few weeks ago, when someone in a red convertible Mercedes scoots up and parks in front of his yard (on the wrong side of the street, incidentally). Turns out, it was Campaign Guy from down the street. Without getting out of his fancy schmancy car, he shouts out to our neighbour,"Hey, wanna put up a sign for me?" Like me, our neighbour had never met the guy, and it took a few moments to clue in to what he meant. Once he did clue in, though, he politely declined.

Two nights ago, one of the candidates (not my neighbour) rang my doorbell, shook my hand, and spoke to me. He is a retired teacher and administrator who has lived in our ward since he was a child. He told me how he has wanted to run for office for a long time, but did not feel he could do a good job while he was working full time and raising a family. Now that he is retired and his children are older, he feels that he can devote the required time and energy to his civic responsibilities. The man has my vote.

And yesterday, when I got home from work, I noticed that our next door neighbour had Mr. Doorknocker's sign on their lawn.

Whew - What a Weekend!

As I kissed the boys goodnight last night, I said to them, "I'll be glad to go back to work after this weekend so I can get a little rest."

Because Friday was the actual day of #3's birthday, we went out for supper to celebrate. He chose a fairly new place in town that is basically a huge indoor playground with a little cafe on the side. We all ate supper, but the highlight, especially for #1 and #2, was the structure/ballpit/2 or 3 storey slide.

Saturday morning it was up-and-at-'em to get ready for the BIG PARTY. There were tons of preparations left to complete. My most daunting task was to fashion 6 Christmas stockings, 6 broom handles, and a selection of foamie craft materials into 6 wild mustang horses. And you know, I think I did pretty well!

In the midst of all the preparations, I also had to get #1 to his first curling lesson and #2 to his guitar lesson. Oh - and remember to pick them up, as well.

Then, at 3:30, it was SHOWTIME! For more info on the event itself, see Main Man's version. It's pretty close to the real thing. (By the way, don't forget to notice the extra-cool horses the kids are riding.)

As we cleaned up and packed up to go home (we had held the party in our church hall), we were pretty tired, but we had to shake it off, because that evening, we had a friend's 40th birthday party to attend. That was lots of fun, but we had to make it a fairly early night, because of our big day.

Sunday morning, I taught Sunday School. Then, #2 was off to a friend's birthday party for most of the afternoon (the son of the fellow whose 40th we attended the night before) while the rest of us blitzed the house, because we were having #3's family birthday supper that evening. We were expecting Main Man's mother and his brother and sister-in-law to join us.

He had ordered lasagne, garlic toast and Caesar salad, so it was fairly easy to prepare, but the house really did need some attention, so it was another busy day.

Suffice it to say that I got NO homework done this weekend, so I'm starting the week off WAY behind, but it's not the first time, so I'm sure I'll cope.

Brace Yourself

#1 had an orthodontist appointment yesterday.

Braces are in his not-so-distant future.

He's being so positive about it; I'm so proud of him. He'll wear them for about two years, we've been told. Main Man, who took him to his appointment, said that the first words out of #1's mouth once he left the office were,"I'll have straight teeth for high school."

I think I'll have to take him to his next appointment; Main Man tells me that I will probably think that the orthodontist is some kind of Hunk Stunkleton. Young, handsome, good bedside manner - hmmmm.......

#1 related a funny story to me about the waiting room. As they were waiting, #1 was reading his "Series of Unfortunate Events" book (the last one - released last Friday). Main Man noticed there was an X-Box over in the corner of the room. He showed it to #1, who opted to continue reading.

When the receptionist came to get #1, she found him reading, and she asked, "Did your dad come?"

"Oh yeah - he's over in the corner, playing X-Box."

Now, which one is the twelve-year-old?

Birthday Money

I must preface this story with a brief bit of exposition. Main Man's father passed away about a year and a half ago. My dad is in his early 80s and lives a little over three hours away.

#3 received a birthday card from my father with a 20 dollar bill enclosed. He was very excited.

He met Main Man at the door as he arrived home from work. #3 was jumping up and down and he shouted out, "I got $100! I got $100!"

"Oh really?" Main Man queried. "Who from?"

"From Grandpa," was the excited reply. "But not the one who died."

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful....

.... that Grandparents' Day is over and done with. It went well, but those special days wear me out. Why can't we just teach?

... that #2 returned from Cub Camp in one piece and filled with wonderful boy-type stories of adventure.

... that #1 persists with volleyball even though the coach seldom plays him.

... for #3 who turns six years old tomorrow. I can hardly believe it!

... that Main Man lives for the boys' birthday parties. He has a huge production planned for #3, based on the Wild West. #1 and #2 are the outlaws who steal the birthday presents, and the little boys have to go to cowboy/sheriff school, where they will learn horsemanship, cattle roping, and marksmanship. I get to be Miz Suzy, the saloon girl. (?)

... for good friends. Saturday evening we will be attending the fortieth birthday of just such a friend. We've been enjoying helping "behind the scenes" so it could stay a surprise. (Oops - hope he doesn't read this!)

Hope everybody has a great week.

Our Respected Elders

This week is Grandparents' Week at our school.

Basically, it's a P.R. exercise. Our administration feels that the grandparents of the students we teach are influential people. If they spend an afternoon in a modern classroom with the kiddies, they will develop a good feeling about the education system. They will convey that opiniol to one and all, aiding public opinion regarding education.

This afternoon, our kindergarten class hosted their grandparents. The teacher had spent a substantial amount of her time planning four different activities for the students to do with their guests. The activities were arranged in stations around the room, and the plan was for the students and the grandparents to circulate throughout the activities, spending about 15 minutes at each one.

One of the activities - evidently the most popular - was to make a finger puppet. Mrs. N. had the instructions posted for six different puppets, but there were sufficient materials (and time) for each student to make only one puppet. Each student would have to choose which style to make with their guest.

Well, one grandpa in particular seemed to enjoy making finger puppets, for, as Mrs. N. circulated around the room, she spied him working on his third puppet. With what we in education circles call a "primary smile", she reminded everyone at the table, "Please remember, only one puppet each - or someone won't get a chance to make one."

Thinking she had done her job, she continued to circulate.

A short time later as she was again making the circuit, she returned to the puppet-making table just in time to see Grandpa start a fifth puppet. Evidently, he was hoping to have the whole set.

She began to gather up the materials and place them away from the man who was quickly becoming her "favourite" grandparent. She looked him in the eye and pointedly told him it was time for him and his grandson to try another activity.

As Grandpa returned her look and continued work on finger puppet #5, he replied, "I don't think so."

After the fact, Mrs. N. told me that she had absolutely no reply to that. In fact, after stewing about it for over an hour, she still hadn't formulated a response in her mind. This man was her elder, the kind of person, she told me, that her parents had brought her up to treat with respect. How do you reply to complete disrespect with respect?

And just what is this man teaching his grandson? That if you don't want to do what the teacher says, you just don't do it. In fact, you look her in the eye and tell her that you have no intention of doing it. So there.

By the way, once other grandparents noticed what this man was doing, they also began to make more than one puppet. And just a little later, Mrs. N. saw two grandmas put some of the craft supplies in their purse - for later.

I don't often use these letters because of what they symbolize, but tonight, regarding this situation, I've just got to write them: WTF?!

By the way - wish me luck.

Tomorrow is my class's Grandparents' Day.

Hurray, hurray!


(Wow - ending with rhyming couplets! I'm a poet and I didn't know it.)

Misleading Appearances

I won't call this a movie review, because that's too much pressure. It's just li'l ol' me writing about another movie I saw this weekend.

We rented The Family Stone Saturday night. I remember my father saw this movie a few months ago and he said he didn't really like it much. I figured it was because my dad isn't a fan of silly humour. He enjoys a good laugh, but slapstick and unnecessary swearing or bathroom humour has never really done it for him.

Although this movie has its share of those things , now that I've seen it, I don't think that's why my dad disliked it. I think that, like me, he was thrown by the total out-of-the-blue sledgehammer of sadness that is thrown at the audience.

From the trailers and commercials, I expected a fish-out-of-water, meet-the-new-inlaws ha-ha kind of experience, and that is sort of the way it begins. Sarah Jessica Parker makes her way to spend Christmas with her boyfriend's (Dermot Mulroney's) family. They've never met before, and are, for all intents and purposes, completely opposite. They are a large, demonstratively affectionate, open, fairly left-wing family. She is an uptight, stiff upper lip, rules-oriented kind of gal who has tendencies to be slightly bigoted and judgemental.

Tensions mount and she ends up inviting her sister (Claire Danes) for moral support. Turns out, the family likes the sister better than the girlfriend. Blah, blah, blah.

Then, little hints begin to be dropped about a family secret, and the movie causes your emotions to take a U-turn.

I'll stop there, but consider yourself warned.

The Family Stone would never have been a movie at which I would have grabbed extra napkins with my popcorn "just in case I end up spouting waterworks". Good thing I didn't see it in the theatre.

Too Many Movies, Too Little Time

Sometimes I worry about how much I love to read and go to movies.

I seem happy enough with my life; why do both of my favourite pastimes involve escaping into the lives of others?

Oh well, maybe a little too deep for a lazy Saturday morning.

..................................................................

I've seen two movies in the last week - both movies chosen to please others, but both movies that I enjoyed.

Tuesday evening (my regular "movie night" - Main Man and I alternate Tuesday evenings out to the show with friends. Tuesdays are written in stone - sacred.), my "movie buddy" from work and I went to Stormbreaker. My friend wanted to see it, and I felt I maybe should see it, as it it based on the popular young adult book by Anthony Horowitz, featuring reluctant teen spy Alex Rider. The kids - especially the boys - in my class are lapping up these books, and the timing of the movie couldn't be better.

Anyway, Stormbreaker was actually pretty good, and I'm glad I saw it. I know my boys will love it. Basically, Alex Rider is a fourteen-year-old James Bond, complete with gadgetry and even an ever-so-subtle Bond girl. Warning: as you might expect, there is a certain amount of violence, such as explosions, car crashes, martial arts sequences, and shootings.

Commercial break: We have discovered a great website that rates movies on sex/nudity, violence/gore, and profanity for kids. It breaks movies down to the bare bones in these categories and describes exactly what your kids will be watching in the movie. It also give a rating out of ten in each category. If you are a parent who has ever stood at the video store, wondering, wondering, wondering if a certain movie would be appropriate or not, you have to bookmark Kids in Mind. And now, back to our regular programming......

I read on IMDB that the role of Alex Rider in Stormbreaker was one of the most physically demanding roles ever created for a teenager, and I believe it. As I watched some of the fight scenes, I remember thinking, "Yeah, right, no fourteen-year-old kid would have muscles like that!" But it turns out, Alex Pettyfer (the actor) is sixteen years old, so I guess it's almost possible.

Last night, we rented Stick It, on the request of #1. I was wary, thinking he just wanted to see the girls in gymnastic leotards, but it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.

It's the story of Haley Graham, a girl whose life seems to be falling apart: she's devastated by her parents' divorce, she's literally walked away from a promising gymnastics career, and she's having run-ins with the law.

She is "sentenced" to attend a gymnastics training school, and, of course, turns out to be the rebel without a cause. Eventually, though, she finds a cause, and I found the indictment of several aspects of high-level gymnastic competition enlightening.

Nothing seems sacred in this movie except the competitors. On the chopping block are over-ambitious coaches, meddling stage-mothers, and ridiculous judging rules.

Comedy breaks work well, too, as two of Haley's friends from her "wrong side of the law" days visit her at the gym school and inject their own interesting perspective.

Not half bad for a Friday night family video.

Thankful Thursday

Oops - almost forgot what today is!

This week, I am thankful...

... for winter coats and boots that keep us warm when the temperature drops 18 degrees overnight.

... that the winter coats and boots that I dug up from the basement (miraculously) still fit the boys.

... for #2's excitement and anticipation of this weekend's Cub Camp.

... for #1's excitement and anticipation of the release of the last Lemony Snicket book tomorrow.

... for #3's excitement for life in general.

... for the unbridled exuberance my class showed when they were asked to rake and bag leaves in the schoolyard. They were too cute!

... for fifth graders in general. They are independent without being attitudinal.

... that I got to watch #1 play volleyball yesterday. He was so nervous!

... for the wonderful time we had Saturday evening at our neighbours' house. They had invited #3 to their son's birthday party in the afternoon. Then, they spontaneously invited our whole family to supper with their extended family. It was an evening full of laughs and fun.

... for long weekends and short weeks.

... that Main Man is starting to feel better after a brutal cold.

... for Main Man's great debut on Contrast Podcast. It made me very happy, happy, filled with joy, joy.

There's always so much to be thankful for.

Have a great week, everybody!

The Network

I went to a teacher-librarian "networking" meeting yesterday afternoon.

You know, sometimes our school division takes us out of the classroom for the weirdest workshops on the strangest things, and I come away with nothing I could possibly use in my classroom or my library.

This was not one of those workshops.

I have to admit - the whole "networking" thing made me a little wary. It was a great afternoon, though.

First, one brave soul from our midst who had found a useful resource to help kids from kindergarten to grade twelve organize their research presented to all of us.

Then, we had an "expert" speak to us about copyright issues, and more specifically about the copyright license governing our school division.

Then, we had a small group time. We were grouped with other teacher-librarians from the division whose libraries were similar to our own - in size, clientele, things like that. We were told to choose a topic from a list we were given and share our ideas.

It was one of the most useful professional development afternoons I've ever had.

Why can't they all be like this?

Mom's Out of It.....Again

I forgot to tell a funny anecdote from the concert.

I phoned home to check on the boys about half way through the warm-up act.

While chatting with #1, he asked who the warm-up was.

I had never heard of the band before (Guess I'm out o' the loop.), so I wasn't even sure I had the name right. "Three Days Grace?"

"What?" #1 exclaimed. "Three Days Grace is playing Regina?" He couldn't contain his excitement.

The Rolling Stones meant nothing to him, but he would have loved to have seen the warm-up band.

BTW - our next door neighbour works security at the airport, and he came over yesterday with autographs of two of the members of Three Days Grace for #1. He'd passed the band through security on their way out of town.

The Stones didn't have to go through security.

The Concert

Thought I would ruminate on the whole concert thing for a day or so before I posted.

Well, actually, I was so busy running children to and fro from lessons, activities and birthday parties yesterday that I didn't have a chance to post.

Unfortunately, that gave Main Man a chance to butcher my ethereal, romantic thoughts about the concert itself, but that's okay. There was more to the evening than his pragmatic, cynical eye could capture.

There was something surreal about the experience, as if I were watching it on television instead of in person. Our seats weren't terrible, but it was a stadium filled with some 45,000+ people; without the Jumbotron, we wouldn't have seen a thing. Technically, I suppose I was watching it on television.

We were fairly close to the B-stage, and, a little more than half way into the concert, part of the main stage broke away and made its way on rails down closer to us. Main Man leaned over and said to me, "Now it's real," as we could almost start to make out those famous Micklips as he approached us. It still didn't seem quite real to me.

The music was great, of course: Jumpin' Jack Flash, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman, Sympathy for the Devil, and many more. They missed my ultimate favourite - Paint it Black - but that's the way it goes. I was lucky enough to be able to experience one of my almost-favourites - Get Off of My Cloud - when they were close to us on the B-stage. That was cool.

The stage show, complete with everything you would expect - lights, cameras, action, fireworks, pyrotechnics, huge inflatable lips and tongue - was a once in a lifetime experience.

We had seen a Stones concert on IMAX about 15 years ago, and I remember then marvelling at Mick Jagger's energy. Then again, I rationalized, this is on film. I'm sure they cut out the parts where he snuck backstage and revitalized.

Well, Friday night was not on film, and he snuck backstage twice that I could see in the over-two hour concert, and only once was it for the full length of a song. The man ran a marathon that night - back and forth across the stage, upstairs to the second level of the stage, and, at one point near the end of the concert, he ran out to the B-stage. The security guys flanking him as he ran, easily half his age, were having a tough time keeping up. Mick is 63 years old. I want some of what he's havin'.

During one of these brief rest periods, Keith Richards took to the stage and treated us to couple of songs. This portion of the evening perhaps made the biggest impression on me. Over the years Richards has become a caricature, a parody, and I was ready to make a quick trip to the washroom as soon as he approached centre stage. I'm really glad I didn't, though. His guitar skills are phenomenal, and he actually doesn't have a half-bad singing voice. Whodathunkit?

Weirdly enough, two of the things that I will remember most about this decidedly preternatural evening are two things provided by nature herself. The temperature on this early October evening was 10 - 15 degrees higher than usual. The sky was cloudless. I had been concerned about sitting outside for hours in our unpredictable weather. I needn't have been.

Even more remarkable was the full moon. A huge orb of lunar perfection hung suspended over the stage throughout the concert. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought it was part of the light show. As the evening progressed, it shifted ever so slightly across the sky, as if the Man in the Moon wanted to have a better view of the stage.

I couldn't blame him if that were the case. It was quite a show!

Thankful Thursday

This week, I am thankful for...

... birthdays.

... being able to take a sick day when my annual fall cold hits.

... barbecue chicken piping hot from the grocery store on an evening when I have no idea what to serve for supper.

... kids who eat the barbecue chicken from the grocery store but tell me that it's not as good as my home-made roast chicken.

... Thanksgiving weekend in October. (American Thanksgiving still seems so far away!)

... the receptionist at my dentist's office, who is always cheerful and unflappable.

... the television in the ceiling at my dentist's office, where I can watch soap operas and game shows while I get my teeth cleaned.

... good check-ups.

... #2's Cub leaders and #3's Beaver leaders.

... #1's volleyball coach.

... Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronny Wood, and Charlie Watts, who arrived in our little city early this afternoon. (Rumour has it that they were hanging out in the pub Main Man and I go to almost every Friday night. Could be true - it's just down the street from their hotel.)

Have a great week, everybody!

New on the Idiot Box

I don't have a lot of extra time to watch TV, but when the new season starts, I like to try one or two of the promising new shows. I've found two this fall that I enjoy.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is Aaron Sorkin's newest offering. I used to love The West Wing when he wrote it. It started going downhill the millisecond he left. I don't think Studio is quite the calibre of The West Wing, but I'm still enjoying it.

The other show striking a chord with me is Brothers and Sisters. Any show gutsy enough to kill off one of the lead characters before the end of the pilot is okay with me. The only problem is that it's on Sunday evening, which is often the time of week my family keeps in touch. I missed half of the first episode because my sister phoned me, and I missed half the second episode because my brother called me. I kid you not; I missed Brothers and Sisters because of my sister and brother! Hah!

Any new shows out there look good to you?

Book Review: Money, Money, Money

The subtitle of this book could be "Everything Your Child Didn't Realize He Didn't Know about Money and Didn't Think to Ask".

Money, Money, Money by Eve Drobot is a veritable smorgasbord of information regarding our monetary system, how it came to be, and how it has evolved over the years.

Written in a nifty magazine style, with informative sidebars and eye-catching graphics, this book taught even me some things about currency, credit, and cold hard cash.

For younger readers, there is practical advice about things they may be just beginning to experience: do's and don'ts of ATM cards, how cheques actually work, and the differences between debit cards and credit cards.

Because of its magazine style, this book does not need to be read cover to cover (although I did). This feature may make it attractive to reluctant readers, as they can spin through the book, reading snippets of information here and there. Magazine style is never as daunting as page upon page of nothing but print.

This is a great book - and you can take that advice to the bank!

Just Which Ones Are the Turkeys?

I just returned from our church fall supper. I have enough turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin pie in my body to last me for - hmm - a week, I guess, since next weekend is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada.

Not only is our fall supper a delicious event, it is a testimony to teamwork. Just about everyone at the church does something toward the event. I donated food, and both #1 and #2 helped clear tables. There are three sittings for about a hundred people each. It is a huge event, and it generates quite a bit of money to help with church expenses through the year.

When people arrive with their tickets, the organizers have them wait in the main church until the tables are ready in the hall. Then they have people enter about twenty at a time in order to maintain fluid crowd movement.

I was sitting in the church, reading a book to #3 as we waited, when a group of adults, perhaps a family, sat behind us. I had never seen them before. To my knowledge, they weren't members of our church. They were talking loudly enough that I had no trouble hearing them. In fact, their conversation distracted me from our book.

Then I zeroed in our the meaning of their words.

They were saying things like,"Well, if you make dinner tickets cost $9.50, at least you could have some quarters in the cashbox!" and, "She didn't even know how much to charge me. She asked me how much it added up to. Now, that's clever - to put someone who can't do math at the ticket table!"

The lady at the ticket table was one of my best friends. Not only does she attend the same church I do, she teaches with me at my school. My boys call her "Auntie M".

Before I knew what was happening, my body was turning around all on its own, and suddenly words were pouring out of my mouth.

"These people are volunteers, and they are doing the very best they can."

There was a moment of silence as the people tried to process what I had said.

Then I turned back to my seat and continued my story with #3, still not quite believing I had done that. I hate conflict.

I heard murmurs after that about "eavesdropping" and "self-righteous Christians", and my heart beat a little faster for quite a while, but I still don't regret my outburst.

Frankly, I'm still having a hard time fully comprehending that it happened at all.

Bus-ted

We're encountering some transportation problems in our family. Too many activities - not enough rides to get to them. Main Man wondered aloud at supper tonight whether we should teach the older boys, especially #1, how to use the city bus.

I'm ashamed to say that I've never used our city public transit, so I replied, "I'm not sure I know how to use the city bus!"

#3, who has ridden the city bus to numerous daycare fieldtrip destinations, helpfully blurted out, "It's easy, Mommy. You just get on and sit down!"

Thankful Thursday

This week, I am thankful for...

... my teaching assistant. I have one special needs student, and my assistant helps with him and the whole class. I don't have her help full time, but every bit I can get, I am grateful for.

... my debate team. We have our first tournament after school today, and, what they lack in experience, they make up for with their enthusiasm. This year, the powers-that-be decided to allow fifth graders to enter. We have eight of them, ready to take on the world! This is the fourth year I've coached, and I feel like I'm finally starting to get the hang of it.

... picture day at my boys' school. We are not picture takers, Main Man and I, so we are grateful that society provides a means for people like us to have photographic proof that we have children. ;-)

... #3's kindergarten teacher. I met her in the grocery store after work yesterday, and when I said that I hoped he was behaving for her, she called him "interesting". (Okay, okay, I'm a teacher; I know the code. Think I should try to give her a call today, and find out exactly how "interesting" he's been.)

... our Stones tickets!

... my sister. She and her husband will also be going to the Stones concert, and will be staying overnight at our place that night. They live about 4 hours away, so I'm very excited to see her. I've only seen her once, for a brief lunch, since Christmas.

I know there is much more I should be thankful for, but must stop for now.

Have a great week everybody!

Satisfaction

Oh, by the way, there are some good things happening in my life.....

Main Man and I have tickets to see the Stones in concert next Friday - and we got them for half price!

Is that Broad Still Complaining?

I really hate to follow one complaining post with another, but I'm afraid that's just my life right now. I feel a little overwhelmed with everything. It seems life is just one rush after another. If I'm not rushing to work, I'm rushing to get the kids to lessons or other activities, or I'm rushing to church or to a meeting.

When I do finally stop for a brief moment, I open my eyes and I'm surrounded by dirty laundry and dirty dishes that need to be dealt with.

Anyway - that isn't really what this post is supposed to be about.

Remember my complaints about the weekend? Well, I left out one other fairly major bummer part of the weekend.

After school Thursday (there was no school for students on Friday - Professional Development Day for staff), I received a phone call from a parent, telling me that her daughter was "quite upset" that her map was not up on the bulletin board with all of the others on Open House night. The daughter knew that she had handed it in, and the mother could vouch that it was completed, as she, the mother, had put it in the daughter's backpack herself after she had completed it. Together, the two of them had searched the daughter's desk the evening of Open House, and it most definitely was not there. (Basically, without even veiling the accusation, she was accusing me of losing it.) I promised that I would search for it on the weekend (because, as you all know, I'm sure, that's just the sort of thing teacher's live to do on the weekends!) and get back to her on Monday.

I was out at the school Saturday, doing some catch-up work, and I did spend some time (about an hour, actually) looking for this map. I looked through many of the cupboards in my classroom, and I turned my library office (not the tidiest place in the world, as a rule) upside down.

Because nothing turned up, I actually lost sleep over it. I woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday, and tossed, turned, and stewed because I would have to make a phone call to this high maintenance parent on Monday morning and inform her that I had no idea where the map was.

Well, I didn't have to make that phone call after all, because the aforementioned parent walked into my room to follow up 15 minutes before classes began Monday morning. Had I found the map?

No, I told her. I informed her that I had been out at the school Saturday looking for it, and that I had looked everywhere. I said that I would mark her daughter absent for the assignment, thereby disregarding the project and neither improving or lowering her grade. Unlike the mother, I placed no blame; I simply sought a compromise.

The mother said she would check her daughter's desk one more time.

Well, lo and behold, guess what was found folded up and tucked into the girl's Social Studies duo-tang? Come on - try to guess. Yes - you, my blog friends are so smart - there was a beautifully coloured map of Canada!

But that's not even the end of the story. The most tell-tale part is yet to come.

Although the mother looked a little sheepish, no apology issued from her lips.

Not a word from the daughter, either. If fact, when I casually said to the girl, "Oh, I'm so glad your map showed up!" her reply was simple....

"Oh, yeah."

The Weekend That Was

This weekend started okay - but something happened along the way to alter the universe.

Friday evening was an ideal evening. The weather had been cold and dreary all day, so I made a beef stew for supper. It was the perfect comfort food, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, so I was pleased. Unfortunately, Main Man got a hold of the hot sauce, so it was ever-so-spicey for my liking, but I could live with it.

Main Man went monitor-shopping after supper. (He found a great one, by the way. All of my blogfriends seem larger than life now!) The boys were amazing! I think everyone was just so happy not to be rushing off to some sort of meeting or activity (including me). #1 sat in his bedroom, playing his guitar and reading. #2 and #3 played a very elaborate game involving action figures, hills and valleys in their comforters, and their imaginations. It was phenomenal that they played in the bedroom they share for over an hour and a half without one temper flare from either of them. I couldn't believe it! I, in turn, got a chance to get a head start on my weekend marking.

Saturday morning started off rather well also. I cleaned the bathroom (fairly) thoroughly before I even got dressed. Then, I cleaned out the fridge (because we were expecting a repairman sometime after 10:30 a.m. to repair a fridge leak). Then, because repairmen never arrive on time, I did come more marking as I waited for him to arrive. The repair didn't take long, and, although it cost us about $150, it's nice not to step in a puddle every morning when we walk into the kitchen.

This next paragraph is when the weekend took a turn for the worse.

#2 was very excited to start his group guitar lessons. His first lesson was to be held just after lunch on Saturday. As we didn't know exactly which room they would be meeting in, we arrived at the conservatory building a bit early. As we walked in, there was a sign informing people which rooms to find their classes in. No sign of #2's class on the list. We found a security guard and asked his help. He was an older man - a dear one at that - and, although he had no idea where to send us, he insisted on helping us find the room. He took us to every studio in the building, up and down many flights of stairs. Finally, twenty minutes after the scheduled start of class, we had to give up. I drove home, a despondent nine-year-old in the back seat. Main Man got on the phone and, after a few hours, got a hold of the teacher. The class had to be cancelled - insufficient registrants - and the teacher thought the conservatory office would inform us. Evidently, the conservatory office thought the teacher would inform us.

Later, Main Man and I went linoleum shopping. The cuts and nicks in the kitchen linoleum we've had since we moved in over ten years ago are finally getting to us. I have such a tough time with a job like this. I hate shopping - for anything. When it comes to something like linoleum, everything looks the same after a couple of hours. And, although he vehemently denies it, it doesn't really matter what I like; Main Man will end up talking me into whatever he chooses anyway, so what's the point of spending my valuable time "browsing"?

Anyway, I just have to tell you a story about our shopping trip. At one point, I felt very thirsty, so I said I would like to stop and buy a bottle of water or a Diet Coke. Main Man said, "What you need is an energy drink." I said, "No, I don't like energy drinks. I would like some water or some Diet Coke." Well, you guessed it - he walked out of the convenience store with a Rock Star Energy Drink. It tasted like medicine. I couldn't get past the fourth sip. His comment? "Awww, come on - you're just determined to mope today, aren't you? Drink it up. You'll thank me later."

Huh?

Sunday morning didn't fare much better. I was determined not to stress myself out getting ready for church. More often than not, I spend most of Sunday morning barking at my children to hurry up or they'll make me late.

(A little bit of background here: I am a Sunday School teacher. We have a co-ordinator who guides us and usually leads the opening, teaches the kids new songs, makes announcements, things like that. Unfortunately, she has many environmental allergies, and, because of some painting that was done in the church over the summer, she cannot enter the church for several months. Somehow, I have become chief cook and bottle washer on Sunday mornings.

And now - back to our regularly scheduled programming...)

As a result of my efforts, we managed to maintain some sanity in our Sunday morning, but we arrived slightly later than we usually do. Sunday School begins at 10:30; we arrived at about 10:18. I still felt I had time to set up, but I would be a bit rushed. As we started upstairs to the Sunday School rooms, a young mom and her daughter were just coming down. The mom's comment, "Oh, someone's here now." And I felt it was a bit of a snippy tone. I almost lost it - maybe it was just because I had been reining in my temper all morning - but I just about told that lady she could run the Sunday School for a few months. (I know, I know - not a very Christian sentiment.)

Anyway, it feels good just venting.

I will try to be a little more positive in my next entry. To all of you who lasted to the end of this diatribe, I salute you!

All that Jazz

Many thoughts in my head this morning. This will have to be a bit of a "stream of consciousness" entry. The thoughts are fighting to be first to burst through from my brain to the keyboard.

Last night was "Open House" at the school where I teach. Although on one hand, the idea seems all fuzzy and warm, on another hand, it's all quite bizarre. I spent most of the day yesterday hanging things up on the wall to impress our "company". Heck, after school, I was on one of the highest ladders our caretaker owns, just to hang art projects on the highest part of the wall because all the other wall space was already occupied. I don't even teach art! Maybe it's just the school where I teach, but there is tremendous pressure to have lots of "stuff" to show at Open House. And if you don't have a lot, you mustn't be worth your salt in the teaching department.

Anyway, it all went well. The parents seemed pleased. I had the computer on, so parents could view our classroom blog. I know some parents already visit it regularly, but some of them had never taken the time to visit, and I think some of them were impressed. I use it mostly for teacher/parent communication at this point. After school each day I write up homework, school announcements, that sort of thing. Eventually, I would like to use it to display some of the kids' work.

Our monitor here at home is slowly dieing. When it first became ill, everything had this pretty lavender tinge. Now everything is a dull orangey-gray. Guess we'll have to go monitor shopping on the weekend.

The night before last was #2's first Cub meeting of the season, and #3's first Beaver meeting in his life. Some confusion occurred, because our own troop, who used to meet across the street at our elementary school, has disbanded, so we had to drive to a new location and our boys only knew one or two of the boys in the new troop. So, we arrive, and the first meeting is basically to deliver flyers to residents informing them of the bottle drive, to be held tomorrow. Yup, the first two meetings our boys attend, they don't get a chance to meet and get to know their troopmates; instead, they get to deliver flyers and collect bottles. I completely understand the need to do the bottle drive. I just wish they could have waited a week or two to let the new kids get to know other kids first. I mean, some of the little Beavers are as young as 4; how 'bout a little fun before the work?

In the middle of typing that last paragraph, I realized that it's Thursday. Oops - I'll have to take a few minutes later in the day to do a Thankful Thursday post.

Well, there are more thoughts fighting to get out, but I should start to get ready for work. Hope everyone out there is well and happy.

And the Madness of Adolescence Begins

#1 got a phone call from a girl on Sunday.

No, I'm not talking a girl from his class, wondering about a homework assignment.

This was a real live girl whom he had met at camp. She called long distance to speak to him about nothing in particular.

It was the call I longed to make when I was that age, but my father would never let me phone boys. "It just wasn't proper."

I hate to think of how much courage it must have taken her to punch his number onto the phone keypad. And the sad thing is, when she phoned, no one answered. I was in the middle of fixing Sunday dinner, and the call-display on the phone indicated a number I didn't know, so I let the answering service pick it up.

#1 was out at a movie anyway, so maybe it was easier for her to talk to a recording than the mother.

When I picked him up after the movie and gave him the news, he got a bit of a silly grin on his face.

He put off returning the call, though. I finally made him call back a little after 8:00. I think his nerves were beyond a-twitter. Still, I told him, it was only good manners to return the call.

They talked for over 20 minutes. I finally shut it down.

He looked relieved to have survived it.

I'm relieved I survived it too.

Life at the End of the Tunnel

When I became Library Mama, I made a vow to myself that I would post each day. It was simply about discipline. And with a husband, three active boys and a hyperactive dog at home, and a multitude of stories at work, not to mention a myriad of material to read and review, surely I could come up with enough blogger fodder to post every 24 hours.

I had forgotten about something very important.

Life.

Yes, especially now that school is up and running once more, now that I have 27 Spelling notebooks and 27 Spelling tests to correct every week, now that I have thirty lessons to plan every week, now that I have three boys to help with homework every evening, Life is getting in the way of blogging.

And really, isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

I haven't been keeping my vow lately. And I've given myself permission to take a day off once in a while - sometimes two or three - because Life is what I'm meant to do.

Thank you to those of you patient enough to continue to check in. I so appreciate your presence and your comments.

And I'm so sorry I'm not visiting you as often as I would like. I'll be there as soon as I can - as soon as Life lets me.

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for...

... Main Man's garden. It isn't huge, but we've had our fair share of bounty. Tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers - all of them are "hanging around" our kitchen, trying to find a home. Eventually they'll be safe and sound in somebody's tummy!

... our little dog Ruffy. He is a very important part of our family. No one loves me as much as he does. I saw a bumper sticker over the summer that summed it up perfectly: "May I someday become the person my dog thinks I am".

... our neighbourhood. It's like a small town in the middle of a city. We live across the street from the boys' elementary school. The daycare the boys used to attend is in the basement of the school. We are within walking distance of our church and the high school the boys will attend. When we attend school functions, we encounter people we've known for years from daycare, church, and from around the neighbourhood. We are also within walking distance of a university, which fills our community with interesting, intelligent people. Several of the boys' friends have professors or lecturers for parents.

... Main Man's recent pat on the back from his boss. The magazine that he's been editting for the last few issues is at deadline right now. In Main Man's boss's last readover before it was off to the printer, she scratched out her own name as editor-in-chief and wrote in Main Man's name. It's official. He passed his "trial period".

... #1 making it onto the volleyball team at school. He worked so hard, and was so nervous! It seems he's a fixture on the team now, though. He's been up and at it, ready for 7:30 a.m. practices three days this week. And, if you knew him, you would know that that's saying something. I'm afraid he hates mornings even more than his mother does!

There's much more I am thankful for, but I'm also thankful for my job, and I can't afford to be late, so it's time I signed off for today.

Have a great week, everybody!

Good Morning

I hate mornings.

I hate waking up naturally about 20 minutes before the alarm is due to ring. I hate wondering if I should go back to sleep or if I should get up. I hate that I usually go back to sleep. I hate that, 20 minutes later when my alarm goes off, I wish I had gotten up when I had awoken earlier.

I hate the sound my alarm makes as it jolts me awake. I hate the way the snooze button feels as I push it down. I hate the fact that my snooze alarm works.

I hate that it is beginning to be darker and darker outside when my alarm goes off.

I hate that foggy feeling I have for the first half hour of every day.

I hate that I used to love mornings. I hate that, as a teenager, I was often showered and dressed before my parents were out of bed. I hate that I'm not still like that.

I hate that, for my own sanity, I must be up and showered, dressed, and breakfasted before anyone else in my family arises. I hate that I get no time to myself otherwise.

I hate that #1 now has volleyball practice at 7:30 every morning. I hate that I love to sit down with him and share stories over breakfast. I hate that it cuts into my blogging time.

I hate that, because of our varying schedules and the fact that I have a longer commute, Main Man is often still in his bathrobe when I leave for work.

I hate that our dog cries when I leave for work. I hate that no one else cries when I leave for work ( anymore). I hate that I think like that.

I hate mornings.

Oh - right - good morning.

Update: Actually, #3 woke up in a terrible mood just as I was leaving after I wrote this. He did cry when I left for work. I won't wish for that again.

Butt You'll Love This One

#1 and #2 and I were working on homework at the kitchen table last night, when all of a sudden, we heard a terrible crash.

I'm not sure what #3 was trying to reach, but he had fallen on his back while climbing up the coats in our closet.

He had had the wind knocked out of him, and he couldn't really move yet. Slowly, though, he regained his breath and his motion, so I knew he wasn't hurt too badly.

I carried him to the couch, turned him over, and investigated his back. Turns out, he had landed on his tailbone.

I sent #2 for some ice, and when he returned, he had a can of frozen orange juice in his hand. It was the first thing he could grab from the freezer.

Being a flexible woman (What mom isn't?), I placed the can gingerly on the red mark at the base of #3's spine.

At this point, the older boys began to cheer #3 up with jokes about his situation. #1 commented on what a Hallmark moment it was - all of us sitting around comforting #3 while his bare butt pointed up in the middle of us all.

Still, #1 had to admit that his little brother was a tough one. It was obvious that he was in pain, and he still hadn't shed a tear.

Half sincerely, half for a laugh, #1 leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on #3's tailbone.

#2, never short of a witty remark, quipped, "Does it taste like orange juice?"