I had forgotten one more thing I learned last weekend.
7. If you see a piece of brightly colored clay on the floor and pick it up, throw it out immediately. Do not put it on the kitchen table to be thrown out later. You may go back to it later and think it is a Nerd (candy) and try eating it.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
MY SOMEWHAT EVIL SCIENTIST HUSBAND
My husband may be somewhat of an evil scientist. Oh yeah, that was just Thomas's dream. On the way to school he told me his dream.
He started with:
"Dad was a scientist that was sort of evil but not a lot. "
Thomas continued to explain the dream:
Tom had invented a remote control airplane that was controlled by his mind. He apparently was sort of losing his mind because he crashed the plane into our neighbor's house (Thomas didn't say the part about Tom losing his mind I just thought that was funny). He tried to keep the fact that it was his plane a secret so our neighbor wouldn't be mad that he had crashed it into his house. It didn't matter because our neighbor was having a party to celebrate the plane debris that was in his yard. He had invited a bunch of obese three year olds. There was a little more less exciting stuff and then I woke him to get ready for school.
I love the weirdness of dreams!
He started with:
"Dad was a scientist that was sort of evil but not a lot. "
Thomas continued to explain the dream:
Tom had invented a remote control airplane that was controlled by his mind. He apparently was sort of losing his mind because he crashed the plane into our neighbor's house (Thomas didn't say the part about Tom losing his mind I just thought that was funny). He tried to keep the fact that it was his plane a secret so our neighbor wouldn't be mad that he had crashed it into his house. It didn't matter because our neighbor was having a party to celebrate the plane debris that was in his yard. He had invited a bunch of obese three year olds. There was a little more less exciting stuff and then I woke him to get ready for school.
I love the weirdness of dreams!
THINGS i LEARNED THIS WEEKEND
1. If your tractor runs fine while plowing snow through a snowstorm and then suddenly stops running so well, thaw it out. Once everything melts off from it, it will work fine.
2. Tell your daughter that she shouldn't carry an almost brand new $1,100 violin at the same time as a music book and while trying to open a door. She may drop it and break it. Sigh.
3. Do not post comments to blogs that you read unless the person writes something like "comments welcome". You may annoy someone. I'm not sure why this is so but it is.
4. A memory stick is waterproof. Or at least the one I washed in the laundry was.
5. Having a thyroid problem isn't really why you are overweight, its from eating too much food.
6. If you switch to the new blogger, nothing bad will happen...I think.
And something that I just learned. When you hit the caps lock key, you have to watch out for things that you would normally hit the shift key to capitalize - such as the word "I" (see title above).
Now I feel so smart!
2. Tell your daughter that she shouldn't carry an almost brand new $1,100 violin at the same time as a music book and while trying to open a door. She may drop it and break it. Sigh.
3. Do not post comments to blogs that you read unless the person writes something like "comments welcome". You may annoy someone. I'm not sure why this is so but it is.
4. A memory stick is waterproof. Or at least the one I washed in the laundry was.
5. Having a thyroid problem isn't really why you are overweight, its from eating too much food.
6. If you switch to the new blogger, nothing bad will happen...I think.
And something that I just learned. When you hit the caps lock key, you have to watch out for things that you would normally hit the shift key to capitalize - such as the word "I" (see title above).
Now I feel so smart!
Friday, February 09, 2007
MATH COUNTS
Math Counts is the name of a national math competition. It starts in the middle school where they form a math club. From the members of the club they form a team of four of the best "mathletes". This team along with the next four best mathletes attend the district level competition. Our district is the Northeast Pennsylvania district. Thomas went as a member of the team and Erin went as an individual. Our team came in second this year. They lost by half a point! Last year they came in first place and they were able to go onto the state level competition. This year Thomas placed second in the "individual" competition and then during a "countdown" round (need to be first to sound a buzzer to answer questions) moved up to become the top mathlete for the northeast district. Hooray for Thomas! He will get to go onto the state level competition. The top 4 mathletes from that competition will go on to the national competition in Fort Worth, Texas. I am equally proud of Erin who worked really hard to be one of the individuals going to the competition. Fortunately, the coach takes into account dedication and effort. It was a close call between a few students for that last spot on the team but Erin was the only one who went to every practice and had a really great attitude. I'm glad he recognized that fact. Both Erin and Thomas were excited the night before and the day of the competition. Overall it was a really great experience. At the district level the competition is not super intense. It gets a bit more serious at the state level and I'm sure that the national level is probably overwhelming. I doubt Thomas would make it that far because he is really in it for the joy of math and not for winning. You can see that the winners at the state level are really out to beat everyone. I'm sure a lot of tedious memorizing is involved. Erin was in it for the challenge and the fun time. Fortunately, their coach allowed them to have fun!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
ARCTIC FREEZE
Its been so cold, you know that kind where the boogers freeze in your nose?!?! Every morning below zero. Even though I bundle up to go out it takes my breath away and feels hard to breath. I'm glad I don't have a job where I need to be out for long periods of time. Regardless of the deep freeze we are in I'm able to appreciate the small things. The cold came right on the heels of a small snowstorm so the snow has stayed around. I love the look of white cleaness. I am really ecstatic that our pipes have not frozen. We have a crawl space and sometimes some of the pipes freeze when it gets really cold. I guess we haven't had enough wind for that to happen. When it finally warms up we will still have enough ice for iceskating!
One thing I love about February is that if you pay attention you will see and hear the signs of spring. The birds don't seem to care that the temperatures scream winter. They know, somehow they know. I open the door to let Beau out in the morning and I hear the birds. Their voice has changed to one heralding spring. A little snippet of things to come. The sun feels different. Stronger, warming me to the bones. Well, maybe not to the bones, but once this weather breaks it will! Soon there will be those patches of dried grass that the sun has warmed. I love to find a small hill where this has happened and sit for awhile soaking in the sun's rays. Watching the last of the snow melt away. I hope we do get at least one big snow storm before the spring meltdown. I love those little rivulets of water and the mud.
Spring, spring!
Don't get me wrong, I do have a fondness for winter, its just that I like the change of seasons. That's why I could never live in Florida or California. The changes make me feel like I live in four different places. Each special in its own way.
One thing I love about February is that if you pay attention you will see and hear the signs of spring. The birds don't seem to care that the temperatures scream winter. They know, somehow they know. I open the door to let Beau out in the morning and I hear the birds. Their voice has changed to one heralding spring. A little snippet of things to come. The sun feels different. Stronger, warming me to the bones. Well, maybe not to the bones, but once this weather breaks it will! Soon there will be those patches of dried grass that the sun has warmed. I love to find a small hill where this has happened and sit for awhile soaking in the sun's rays. Watching the last of the snow melt away. I hope we do get at least one big snow storm before the spring meltdown. I love those little rivulets of water and the mud.
Spring, spring!
Don't get me wrong, I do have a fondness for winter, its just that I like the change of seasons. That's why I could never live in Florida or California. The changes make me feel like I live in four different places. Each special in its own way.
Monday, January 29, 2007
NO, I'M NOT TOO OLD FOR ICE SKATING
A couple weeks ago our lake was not frozen at all but now we have 7 inches of relatively smooth ice. Thomas and Erin got new skates for Christmas and Sarah was ready to try real skates instead of the old double runner skates she had been using. I laced up MY new skates and we all headed out yesterday for what ended up being a great time.
Tom had gone down the day before with Thomas and his cordless drill to check the thickness. He sampled quite a few spots just to make sure we'd be safe. When he came home he said the only problem was that the ice was black. I didn't need to wonder why that was a problem because he immediately let me know black ice is "eerie". Ever the joker, I said "like Lake Erie?" He must have been sufficiently creeped out because after we put our skates on and skated down the lake, he yelled after us "I didn't check that area!" We all laughed heartily and skated on. Forced into risking his life on the eerie ice, he followed.
He eventually overcame his hesitation and zipped around like crazy. I on the other hand am a relatively slow skater. It didn't help a whole lot when the point of my skate caught on a crack and I took a nose dive. Or rather a knee dive blended in with a nose dive. After whacking my knee on the ice and putting my hands out to help break my fall, my hands continued sliding until I was stretched out completely on the ice. I continued rocketing acrossed the ice long enough for me to think how silly I must look. In my mind I've always thought I am a thin, funky looking chick but in reality I am a somewhat plump, middle-aged housewife. So picture a plump, middle-aged housewife sliding headfirst acrossed an eerie looking lake.... Although I couldn't see myself, Thomas was skating behind me and confirmed that it did indeed look quite funny. I hope someone was watching from their window and was able to get a laugh. If I cheered someone up, it would be worth my aching knee.
So we all lived and had one heck of a time! To think, I hadn't really wanted to venture out, I'm glad I did!
Tom had gone down the day before with Thomas and his cordless drill to check the thickness. He sampled quite a few spots just to make sure we'd be safe. When he came home he said the only problem was that the ice was black. I didn't need to wonder why that was a problem because he immediately let me know black ice is "eerie". Ever the joker, I said "like Lake Erie?" He must have been sufficiently creeped out because after we put our skates on and skated down the lake, he yelled after us "I didn't check that area!" We all laughed heartily and skated on. Forced into risking his life on the eerie ice, he followed.
He eventually overcame his hesitation and zipped around like crazy. I on the other hand am a relatively slow skater. It didn't help a whole lot when the point of my skate caught on a crack and I took a nose dive. Or rather a knee dive blended in with a nose dive. After whacking my knee on the ice and putting my hands out to help break my fall, my hands continued sliding until I was stretched out completely on the ice. I continued rocketing acrossed the ice long enough for me to think how silly I must look. In my mind I've always thought I am a thin, funky looking chick but in reality I am a somewhat plump, middle-aged housewife. So picture a plump, middle-aged housewife sliding headfirst acrossed an eerie looking lake.... Although I couldn't see myself, Thomas was skating behind me and confirmed that it did indeed look quite funny. I hope someone was watching from their window and was able to get a laugh. If I cheered someone up, it would be worth my aching knee.
So we all lived and had one heck of a time! To think, I hadn't really wanted to venture out, I'm glad I did!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
I MISS THE SNOW!!!
I sit by my window looking at the flakes falling. I know that they will not amount to anything. I miss the snow! About a week ago we got a light dusting and while walking Beau I soaked in the sound of the snow crunching under my feet. I began weaving back and forth acrossed the dirt road so I could hear the sound more. I glanced over my shoulder wondering if anyone was watching and what they would think. I know I am somewhat childlike in my desire for a good snowstorm. As an adult I am supposed to complain that snow is on the way instead of lamenting when its not. I like to watch the snow from the comfort of my warm house as well as lay down in it to make a snow angel. I haven't been sledding once this year or "sliding" as we called it in NH. Boo hoo! SNOW WHERE ART THOU?!?!
SOME THINGS JUST AREN'T VERY EFFECTIVE
I like to tell people that although teachers generally love my kids, the school system will curse the day that they were introduced to me. It started out when my son was registered for kindergarten and I was one of the few parents who spoke up with a question. "Will there be some sort of person on the bus besides the bus driver because I think they may have to hold my son on there?" Yes, I was serious. No, they did not have anyone there. Yes, he stayed on the bus and went quite happily to school.
So now I have been sending my kids off to school for almost 9 years and it seems that I have some sort of "serious" issue come up at least once a year. I can see how this may be contrued as me being a problem parent. In my humble opinion I am not being difficult at all. Most times that I am unhappy with something I let it slide. Its only occasionally I really get my dander up. I usually ask myself three questions. What is the other side of the story and is it possibly justified? How is this affecting my child? Is it possible that by presenting my point of view that things could change for the better?
My general mode of communication is a letter sent to the appropriate person. I have only gone above a teacher directly to the principal once. This was when the teacher (a substitute math teacher) was not capable of teaching the material and I just couldn't imagine how I would tell them that. I usually wait some time before I write the letter so I am able to formulate my thoughts and opinions. I write a rough draft and change it many times. I try to make sure my letter is not attacking the person who reads it. There is no hope for change if the person feels defensive.
As Dr. Phil would say "How's that working for you?" Well, I would say my success ratio is VERY low. Actually, I can think of only once or twice that something changed for the better. The first time is when my son's first grade teacher was a screamer and I called her on it and she definitely toned it down. The second time was when my daughter (in fifth grade) was not allowed to bring a bottle of water to school because it was against the school policy. The principal very condensendingly told me some one could slip a drug into the bottle. Please note that the thermos of soup she often brought was never a problem. I was told that I needed to write a letter giving permission for her to bring one. I wrote the letter although the policy was not changed. Other than that I am not very successful.
My most recent letter was sent in yesterday to Thomas's eighth grade math teacher. In a nutshell she paired the students with partners, had them study together and warned them that they'd better make sure that their partner knew the material because when they each took their test, the grades would be averaged together to come up with their final test grade. Thomas got a 105% (answered a bonus question right) and his partner got a 62%. So Thomas's grade went down more than 20% and his partner's went up more than 20%. This is so obviously wrong, I felt I had no choice when Thomas presented the problem to me. I had to write a letter. I tried as gently as I could to present my opinion, but its a little rough to tell a teacher "you are wrong". I am still waiting to hear from the teacher and its possible that I never will.
So what am I doing wrong? Why don't I see more change? It's possible that I am being too gentle and if I was more aggressive I would get my way. I am not agressive unless I think that my kids future will be changed in a seriously negative way. I still think my way of striving for change is the way I'll go even if it so rarely works. I feel as if parents and teachers should be in a partnership to educate kids. I'm hoping that one day I will meet a teacher that has the confidence to not get defensive and really consider my requests. On the other hand, it is always hard to hear when we are wrong and even more difficult to admit and fix our mistakes. I put my self in the teachers shoes and cringe. I wonder how open minded I would be.
So now I have been sending my kids off to school for almost 9 years and it seems that I have some sort of "serious" issue come up at least once a year. I can see how this may be contrued as me being a problem parent. In my humble opinion I am not being difficult at all. Most times that I am unhappy with something I let it slide. Its only occasionally I really get my dander up. I usually ask myself three questions. What is the other side of the story and is it possibly justified? How is this affecting my child? Is it possible that by presenting my point of view that things could change for the better?
My general mode of communication is a letter sent to the appropriate person. I have only gone above a teacher directly to the principal once. This was when the teacher (a substitute math teacher) was not capable of teaching the material and I just couldn't imagine how I would tell them that. I usually wait some time before I write the letter so I am able to formulate my thoughts and opinions. I write a rough draft and change it many times. I try to make sure my letter is not attacking the person who reads it. There is no hope for change if the person feels defensive.
As Dr. Phil would say "How's that working for you?" Well, I would say my success ratio is VERY low. Actually, I can think of only once or twice that something changed for the better. The first time is when my son's first grade teacher was a screamer and I called her on it and she definitely toned it down. The second time was when my daughter (in fifth grade) was not allowed to bring a bottle of water to school because it was against the school policy. The principal very condensendingly told me some one could slip a drug into the bottle. Please note that the thermos of soup she often brought was never a problem. I was told that I needed to write a letter giving permission for her to bring one. I wrote the letter although the policy was not changed. Other than that I am not very successful.
My most recent letter was sent in yesterday to Thomas's eighth grade math teacher. In a nutshell she paired the students with partners, had them study together and warned them that they'd better make sure that their partner knew the material because when they each took their test, the grades would be averaged together to come up with their final test grade. Thomas got a 105% (answered a bonus question right) and his partner got a 62%. So Thomas's grade went down more than 20% and his partner's went up more than 20%. This is so obviously wrong, I felt I had no choice when Thomas presented the problem to me. I had to write a letter. I tried as gently as I could to present my opinion, but its a little rough to tell a teacher "you are wrong". I am still waiting to hear from the teacher and its possible that I never will.
So what am I doing wrong? Why don't I see more change? It's possible that I am being too gentle and if I was more aggressive I would get my way. I am not agressive unless I think that my kids future will be changed in a seriously negative way. I still think my way of striving for change is the way I'll go even if it so rarely works. I feel as if parents and teachers should be in a partnership to educate kids. I'm hoping that one day I will meet a teacher that has the confidence to not get defensive and really consider my requests. On the other hand, it is always hard to hear when we are wrong and even more difficult to admit and fix our mistakes. I put my self in the teachers shoes and cringe. I wonder how open minded I would be.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
WHO I WANT TO BE PART 2
And another thing....
Often when I've made a dumb mistake I turn it into a joke. Its not uncommon for me to let people know how stupid I've been. On the one hand I do think my mistakes are funny, but on the other hand I think I should be aware how this makes other people see me. I realize that some people see me as flakey. Therefore, they treat me as flakey and probably spread the word that I am flakey. I'm really not an airhead, I just see humor in a lot of things.
Here's an example. Recently, I asked the girls ballet teacher how much it would cost for the girls to attend dance class. She told me $75 (per month) and I knew I should write it down because with everything else I have to remember it might slip my mind. Sure enough, by the next week I wasn't sure how much she had said so I asked Erin if she remembered. Erin guessed $72 while I thought $75. On the way to ballet I thought of how I was going to ask her how much I owed her. In my mind I began with a joke about how of course I forgot like I always do. I'm so old. I no longer have a brain. Then I stopped myself. Why not just say I forgot how much it would be, could she please tell me again. I realized that my joking was a subtle put down of myself. Continually doing this, is only going to give the impression that although I may be nice enough, I'm a little off my rocker. Certain people will always understand who I really am but the general population only knows me for how I project myself in these little snippets of daily life. A joke here and there is harmless but I think I should be a little more mindful of what I say.
Often when I've made a dumb mistake I turn it into a joke. Its not uncommon for me to let people know how stupid I've been. On the one hand I do think my mistakes are funny, but on the other hand I think I should be aware how this makes other people see me. I realize that some people see me as flakey. Therefore, they treat me as flakey and probably spread the word that I am flakey. I'm really not an airhead, I just see humor in a lot of things.
Here's an example. Recently, I asked the girls ballet teacher how much it would cost for the girls to attend dance class. She told me $75 (per month) and I knew I should write it down because with everything else I have to remember it might slip my mind. Sure enough, by the next week I wasn't sure how much she had said so I asked Erin if she remembered. Erin guessed $72 while I thought $75. On the way to ballet I thought of how I was going to ask her how much I owed her. In my mind I began with a joke about how of course I forgot like I always do. I'm so old. I no longer have a brain. Then I stopped myself. Why not just say I forgot how much it would be, could she please tell me again. I realized that my joking was a subtle put down of myself. Continually doing this, is only going to give the impression that although I may be nice enough, I'm a little off my rocker. Certain people will always understand who I really am but the general population only knows me for how I project myself in these little snippets of daily life. A joke here and there is harmless but I think I should be a little more mindful of what I say.
WHO I WANT TO BE
I am the kind of person who tends to react emotionally. For example, when my sister-in-law's dog bit me on Thanksgiving day, I laughed it off. Inside I was quite ruffled but instead of calming my emotions down, I reacted with laughter. It was not really funny but I felt as if my only options were to make light of the situation or let anger get the best of me. Its sort of a fight or flight scenario. The option that I seemed unable to exercise was being calm but truthful. This is the kind of person I wish I could be. Unfortunately, the situations that I most want to practice this in are those in which I'm in a state of shock. Its only after something like this has happened that I look back and wish I could have calmed down first and then reacted. Changing this particular aspect of my personality would probably not change the outcome in a positive way but would change how I feel about myself. I don't really want to react with anger to people, but I also don't want to laugh inappropriately. It bothers me that I have somehow made them think that I feel its no big deal that their dog bit me. The truth is that this dog should be locked in another room when people are around. I could have easily said "Wow, that hurt, I'm bleeding. The next time we visit, could you please make sure the dog isn't around me or the kids". If my in-laws knew that I felt this way, I'm sure that they still wouldn't lock the dog up because it would bark and they can't stand to think the dog is unhappy. I'm sure however, that they would be upset with me for thinking bad thoughts about their dog. It would put an incredible strain on our relationship. I guess the problem is that the truth hurts even if its said in a calm way. I don't really want that kind of conflict. Yet, by avoiding conflict I am not being true to myself. I really wish I hadn't laughed, even if I had just said and done nothing.
My post wasn't supposed to be about me getting bit by a dog. I'm really looking at a bigger picture of wanting to be more thoughtful in life. I have wisdom and wish I could use it more often when I'm under pressure. Its true that people treat you how you let them treat you. I wish I could reap the benefits of interacting with people in a more calm way.
My post wasn't supposed to be about me getting bit by a dog. I'm really looking at a bigger picture of wanting to be more thoughtful in life. I have wisdom and wish I could use it more often when I'm under pressure. Its true that people treat you how you let them treat you. I wish I could reap the benefits of interacting with people in a more calm way.
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