Today started with an egg hunt. I put together some brunch munchies for the adults and hid a boatload of eggs for the kids, and then we waited... The kids were raring to go at about 9:50, but we had said we'd wait for the other kids to come at ten. When we finally released them, it was madness. Fun madness, though. I watched as some kids found eggs, then placed them in others' baskets. Some kids took eggs out of others' baskets. Some kids had to be led to eggs. Some kids thought hard-boiled ones were perfect for throwing. And then we all sat around and ate junk food and chatted. And it was a little melancholy, because some neighbors whom we really like had news today: they sold their house. We knew they were listing it, but it seemed like it was really up in the air, because they needed to make a certain amount to move. But they got an offer, countered, and it was accepted, so they are in escrow now. I'm happy for them, because it will cut down on something like six hours of commute time per week, but I'm sad for us, because their son was really Zadie's first friend and playmate, and because I just really like them.
We cleaned up, had some down time, tried to take a nap (failed), and then went to the park to kill some time before dinner. The park was surprisingly crowded. I guess having a barbecue on Easter is a thing. Anyway, the playground was mobbed, and I usually don't step into Zadie's social stuff, but there was a crowd of bigger kids playing really rough, pushing, cussing, and she was just obliviously hanging out right behind them. I suggested she play elsewhere. Anyway, after that, she almost fell BIG-TIME. She was on a bridge that's about 5 feet off the ground. She was wearing sandals, and as she stepped onto the bridge, she slipped. Well, in the moment that it happened, I thought she was just going to land on her ass, but then she kind of twitched sideways and started to slide right off the play structure. She reached out her hand, grabbed the rail, and DID fall, but was hanging on so tightly with her hand that she just hung there. I was very close, so that probably lasted only a second or so, but in that time I saw that her body had sort of pulled her arm around into an odd angle. She was crying, but didn't seem to be hurt. She wanted to play again after a minute, so I let her.
Then we were playing in the sand. Several other kids were there when we walked over, and there was a little kerfuffle going on. A kid who was maybe almost 4 was yelling "It's OURS! It's OURS!" Another boy I had seen earlier with his mom was holding a toy shovel and looking confused. A small girl tried to yank the shovel from him, and he pulled back. She yelled at him, too, and the first boy yelled "Man, we hate people!" I looked around to see who was with these kids, and it didn't seem that anyone was. There were actually about five kids, all between three and six years old, yelling at the kid with the shovel. There was a little more pushing and pulling. No one stepped in, so finally I said to the main antagonist, "That's your shovel? You want it back? Why don't you try saying 'May I have the shovel back, please?'" She tried it, he dropped the shovel, and that was the end of it. The shovel boy's mom had been fairly nearby (she was preoccupied with a younger girl), and had only seen him pushing back, so she made him apologize. He had really been ganged up on, though.
Anyway, there was yet more playground drama! A few moments later, I heard a thunk (kids had been dropping off the bars) and then some crying. It didn't stop, and it sounded like pretty traumatized crying, so I looked. The girl was sitting on the ground and didn't seem to want to get up. I asked where her mom was, and she said she wasn't here. I asked who was with her, and she said her grandma. I asked her to point to her grandma so I could get her, but she wasn't on the playground. She was "way over there." She pointed across the park. Did I mention the park was packed? So I asked if any of the other kids on the playground were her cousins or anything, but they weren't. She was alone. Hopefully, I asked whether maybe she was better and wanted to go back to playing, but she didn't. I told her to wait, and I grabbed Z and we went off to look for her grandma. I knew the girl's name and the grandma's name, and I asked EVERY group of people in that park, but no one knew her. I ran into the other mom (shovel-boy's mom) on the way back, and she had gone counter-clockwise doing the same thing, to no avail. A woman whom I had talked to came to the playground and asked if we'd found the grandmother. She said she knew that sometimes people dropped their kids off when the playground was crowded, leaving them alone and hoping no one would notice. I wondered whether we should call the police, an ambulance, child protective services... I didn't think her elbow or arm were broken, but she was still cradling it and sniffling. I'd been gone a long time, and when I came back she was still sitting in the same spot; she couldn't get up because she couldn't put any weight on her arm.
Shovel-boy's mom asked the girl's mom's phone number, then called. It went to voice mail, so she left a message.
It turned out that two other mothers had also gone out looking for the grandmother, and finally someone found her (in an area I SWEAR I looked and asked around). Just then, the mother called back, but she spoke only Spanish, so the phone was passed off to a younger man (an uncle, I'd guess). They picked her up and walked her back to their barbecue. I'd say the girl was four or five.
I'm glad for a happy ending, but my gosh -- a five year old should really not be left unsupervised far from her family. After they left, three of us admitted to our fears about even helping -- one of my first thoughts was to help the girl up and walk her to her family, but what if someone saw me walking with this girl, and we happened to be heading in the wrong direction? And what if she HAD been really hurt? How long did she have to wait before getting help? Why did she have to rely on strangers?
I try not to be a "helicopter mom," and I let Zadie play. It was only out of sheer luck that I was so close by when she fell -- not long before that I'd been sitting on a bench. But I have a hard time imagining letting such a young child out of my sight -- out of ANYONE'S sight -- for so long. Would I trust her with a family member, even an older child? Sure. But I want, most of the time, someone there who's looking out for her welfare. To young Miss A with the hurt elbow, I hope today was an aberration. I hope your family loves you as much as you deserve to be loved.
Sigh. Okay, so then we came home and got ready to go to Mom's. We had a lovely dinner, and it was especially nice to see them, as they've been gone for a week, and Zadie usually sees them almost every day. I made rolls (which got a little dry, boo!), and pie (which came out great, yay!). There was asparagus, salad, and scalloped potatoes, so I was in heaven. Obviously, it was nice to see the rest of my family on that side, too.
And now we are home and the house is quiet, and the egg mess is mostly cleaned up, and I have to go back to work tomorrow, and I think I need to stop taking my allergy medicine, because I simply can't get up in the morning when I take it, and there you are. I hope you had a lovely Easter, or as we like to call it, Zombie Jesus Day.
By the way -- I'm starting a new blog. I'll link up soon, but it's a cooking blog aimed at the novice home cook who wants to be a great home cook. I think I have some good ideas.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
New music challenge!
It's movie music! Yeah, I'm excited. I can't decide which direction to go. I could start with musicals...
Actually, as much as I like "America," I just searched for and started listening to "A Boy Like That." It's one of the most passionate scenes in that whole film. "No, Anita, no!"
Or I could go with great movie scores...
Or music that was integral to the movie...
(Ugh, there's something in my eye.)
Go with a mockumentary theme for fun...
And there are so many soundtracks I used to love: Doom Generation, Tank Girl, Pump up the Volume, The Crow, Cool World, Natural Born Killers... It's hard to know which direction to take. And right after I post this and crawl in bed, I fully expect to have my brain go "Hey dummy! What about Rushmore? What about The Royal Tenenbaums? What about The Wedding Singer?"
And so forth.
Actually, as much as I like "America," I just searched for and started listening to "A Boy Like That." It's one of the most passionate scenes in that whole film. "No, Anita, no!"
Or I could go with great movie scores...
Or music that was integral to the movie...
(Ugh, there's something in my eye.)
Go with a mockumentary theme for fun...
And there are so many soundtracks I used to love: Doom Generation, Tank Girl, Pump up the Volume, The Crow, Cool World, Natural Born Killers... It's hard to know which direction to take. And right after I post this and crawl in bed, I fully expect to have my brain go "Hey dummy! What about Rushmore? What about The Royal Tenenbaums? What about The Wedding Singer?"
And so forth.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Blogging under the influence
Just upfront: I took a prescription allergy pill twenty minutes ago (at 8:10), so if this gets weird toward the end (or weirder than usual), you'll know why. My doctor recommended taking them right before bed, because they make you super-groggy, but I find that I'm way too tired in the morning to get up and go to the gym, so we're going to try this.
Monday we didn't do a heckuva lot, but we did go visit my grandma, and got a Granny Bonanza! Not only did I get some vintage clothes that were the stated purpose of the visit, but she mentioned she had kumquats. Sweetie and I both love them, so I said I'd take some off her hands and make marmalade. Well, when she heard that she asked if I wanted jars, too. She had a box-and-a-half of canning jars! Jars are one of the most expensive parts of the canning process (I mean, unless you're canning Goldberries or something), so that was a boon. And she ended up giving us 8.5 pounds of kumquats! I'm going to have to use them fast.
We spent most of Monday morning at Bertha Henschel park, which was nice as there were about 20 other kids there to play with. It was lovely weather.
I have been on a cooking spree. I did make one batch of kumquat marmalade, and I made another of strawberry marmalade. I also made a kiwi jam. They're all good in different ways. The kumquat marmalade didn't gel much, so it's more like a syrup -- but the world's best syrup.
I also made pancakes this morning, Portuguese chickpea soup Monday, bread Sunday, dough for more bread today, cookie dough for Easter sugar cookies today, and enough pie dough for four crusts. I'l be making rolls and pie for Easter dinner, so I'm doing a little prep work.
Yesterday we did something a bit odd. I took Z to Harbin Hot Springs, which sounds just fine and dandy until you realize that it's clothing-optional, and most people opt out. I warned her ahead of time that there would be adult strangers there without clothes on, and asked if it would be okay with her. She said, "Oh yeah... I'll make friends with the adult strangers." If you're familiar with the old Bob Newhart show, you can imagine his voice coming out of me as I said, "That... th... that was not the.. the message I wanted you to take away."
Anyway, there's a pool that's kids-only, so of course we were in there and didn't really run into many other adults. We soaked a bit, then sunned a bit, then got into hiking clothes (a skirt for her, naturally) and went for a walk.
(There's something I love about the confidence of her stride.)
We saw deer. For about a minute, I got her to crouch quietly next to me as they approached. At one point, she took a deep breath and reared back, probably to yell "HEY DEER!" I shushed her, and she stayed quiet. But then she couldn't help trying to get closer. They let her for several paces, then started to scatter.
We also saw a lizard and a dead snake, plus three semi-squished centipedes (huge ones!), but Zadie's favorite thing that we saw was a pop-up camper van.
You're not supposed to take pictures there, but no one was around at this little spot.
Then we went and had lunch at the little market. I am sure people's tastes vary, but I am not thrilled with the food selection in the market or the little cafe, and the restaurant isn't open for lunch. The Poolside Cafe is AWESOME, but is only open during the summer months. Finally we went and soaked a bit more, then went to rest on one of the sun decks. As we sat, a man with long hair approached. I saw him first, and as he passed, Zadie noticed.
"That girl doesn't have hair on her butt yet."
"Shh. We don't talk about people's bodies."
"Or maybe it's a boy."
"I think it is a boy, but we don't talk about other people's bodies."
"Yeah, I think it is a boy, because I saw his penis."
Good mom for letting her see a range of natural body types and not being freaked out by human nudity, or bad mom for letting her see a stranger's penis? Only time and therapy will tell.
She fell asleep the instant we got in the car, so we didn't stop at Taylor's Refresher (more's the pity), but I promised her Burr's after dinner, and so we went.
Harbin was a fun day, and she keeps asking to go back, but for $45 (not including lunch and gas), it was a pretty expensive pool dip/nature hike. We could just go to Sutter's Landing park and the gym and be ahead $50.
Today was less spectacular, but actually a lot of fun. I made pancakes, which she ate her weight in, and then we got ready for a playdate. I follow a blog for neighborhood parents, and there was a free thing at a new "dance academy." Zadie always talks about dance, but ballet wasn't really a good fit for her, at least last year, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to check the place out. It was funny -- the woman was sickly sweet, the tunes were Disney, the place was largely lavender, and Zadie LOVED IT. But you know, I can put aside my... whatever... because she loved it so much. There was a tiny bit of hip-hop, a lot of props, a chasse or two, some stretching, but she kept it constantly moving, really had the kids involved, made it fun, and had great control over the classroom. Zadie actually paid WAY more attention than she ever did at either ballet or soccer, and was involved and following instructions pretty much for the whole hour, which is stellar for her. I might suck it up and pay for classes, as there is one on Saturday mornings that's similar to the playdate class today.
I feel a bit like those weekend dads you used to hear about, who felt so guilty for not spending time with their kids that when they did, they tried to make it really spectacular time, like Disneyland. I know I could spend this week just going to the park, reading books, and taking walks around the block and she'd be happy, but I feel so awful for seeing her for only a few hours a day most days that I really feel like I want to make this time off special. So anyway, don't be surprised if there are zoo pictures or something. You can count on egg-dying and cookie-making.
Monday we didn't do a heckuva lot, but we did go visit my grandma, and got a Granny Bonanza! Not only did I get some vintage clothes that were the stated purpose of the visit, but she mentioned she had kumquats. Sweetie and I both love them, so I said I'd take some off her hands and make marmalade. Well, when she heard that she asked if I wanted jars, too. She had a box-and-a-half of canning jars! Jars are one of the most expensive parts of the canning process (I mean, unless you're canning Goldberries or something), so that was a boon. And she ended up giving us 8.5 pounds of kumquats! I'm going to have to use them fast.
We spent most of Monday morning at Bertha Henschel park, which was nice as there were about 20 other kids there to play with. It was lovely weather.
I have been on a cooking spree. I did make one batch of kumquat marmalade, and I made another of strawberry marmalade. I also made a kiwi jam. They're all good in different ways. The kumquat marmalade didn't gel much, so it's more like a syrup -- but the world's best syrup.
I also made pancakes this morning, Portuguese chickpea soup Monday, bread Sunday, dough for more bread today, cookie dough for Easter sugar cookies today, and enough pie dough for four crusts. I'l be making rolls and pie for Easter dinner, so I'm doing a little prep work.
Yesterday we did something a bit odd. I took Z to Harbin Hot Springs, which sounds just fine and dandy until you realize that it's clothing-optional, and most people opt out. I warned her ahead of time that there would be adult strangers there without clothes on, and asked if it would be okay with her. She said, "Oh yeah... I'll make friends with the adult strangers." If you're familiar with the old Bob Newhart show, you can imagine his voice coming out of me as I said, "That... th... that was not the.. the message I wanted you to take away."
Anyway, there's a pool that's kids-only, so of course we were in there and didn't really run into many other adults. We soaked a bit, then sunned a bit, then got into hiking clothes (a skirt for her, naturally) and went for a walk.
(There's something I love about the confidence of her stride.)
We saw deer. For about a minute, I got her to crouch quietly next to me as they approached. At one point, she took a deep breath and reared back, probably to yell "HEY DEER!" I shushed her, and she stayed quiet. But then she couldn't help trying to get closer. They let her for several paces, then started to scatter.
We also saw a lizard and a dead snake, plus three semi-squished centipedes (huge ones!), but Zadie's favorite thing that we saw was a pop-up camper van.
You're not supposed to take pictures there, but no one was around at this little spot.
Then we went and had lunch at the little market. I am sure people's tastes vary, but I am not thrilled with the food selection in the market or the little cafe, and the restaurant isn't open for lunch. The Poolside Cafe is AWESOME, but is only open during the summer months. Finally we went and soaked a bit more, then went to rest on one of the sun decks. As we sat, a man with long hair approached. I saw him first, and as he passed, Zadie noticed.
"That girl doesn't have hair on her butt yet."
"Shh. We don't talk about people's bodies."
"Or maybe it's a boy."
"I think it is a boy, but we don't talk about other people's bodies."
"Yeah, I think it is a boy, because I saw his penis."
Good mom for letting her see a range of natural body types and not being freaked out by human nudity, or bad mom for letting her see a stranger's penis? Only time and therapy will tell.
She fell asleep the instant we got in the car, so we didn't stop at Taylor's Refresher (more's the pity), but I promised her Burr's after dinner, and so we went.
Harbin was a fun day, and she keeps asking to go back, but for $45 (not including lunch and gas), it was a pretty expensive pool dip/nature hike. We could just go to Sutter's Landing park and the gym and be ahead $50.
Today was less spectacular, but actually a lot of fun. I made pancakes, which she ate her weight in, and then we got ready for a playdate. I follow a blog for neighborhood parents, and there was a free thing at a new "dance academy." Zadie always talks about dance, but ballet wasn't really a good fit for her, at least last year, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to check the place out. It was funny -- the woman was sickly sweet, the tunes were Disney, the place was largely lavender, and Zadie LOVED IT. But you know, I can put aside my... whatever... because she loved it so much. There was a tiny bit of hip-hop, a lot of props, a chasse or two, some stretching, but she kept it constantly moving, really had the kids involved, made it fun, and had great control over the classroom. Zadie actually paid WAY more attention than she ever did at either ballet or soccer, and was involved and following instructions pretty much for the whole hour, which is stellar for her. I might suck it up and pay for classes, as there is one on Saturday mornings that's similar to the playdate class today.
I feel a bit like those weekend dads you used to hear about, who felt so guilty for not spending time with their kids that when they did, they tried to make it really spectacular time, like Disneyland. I know I could spend this week just going to the park, reading books, and taking walks around the block and she'd be happy, but I feel so awful for seeing her for only a few hours a day most days that I really feel like I want to make this time off special. So anyway, don't be surprised if there are zoo pictures or something. You can count on egg-dying and cookie-making.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Bem-vindo a Portugal!
That's right; it's been about a month since Ireland week, and we're moving on to Portugal. This may actually prove to be one of our most challenging countries/cultures, as almost everything else we've studied has a restaurant, a cultural center, or something else to go see and do here. Not Portugal. Despite there being a fairly large Portuguese population in the Delta, most of what I found online is crab feeds and fundraising dinners, and it kind of looks like you have to already be a member.
Still, we do our best, right? Today I made a chickpea soup that was surprisingly simple, and the family really liked it. Zadie heaped on the praise, actually, and Sweetie, who has in the past eschewed chickpeas, suggested I make it again. It was just a broth with chickpeas, and then you add a mix of mint, parsley, garlic and olive oil. We also had some veggie chorizo, as I read that although it's not as popular linguica, it is nevertheless widely available in Portugal. Not the Mexican kind (where you squeeze the sausage out of the casing), but the Spanish kind (which is more like a Bratwurst).
I'll probably also print some coloring pages again, make a couple more dishes (sweet bread, figs with chocolate and almonds, and a bean and rice dish), and find some music to listen to.
Oh, and for the first time, I tried something just for myself -- a Portuguese wine called Vinho Verde. It's pleasant. Very summery.
Today was pretty lovely. We slept in (Zadie until almost 8!), then went to Orphan for breakfast, where I had the nicest poppyseed, raspberry, and meyer lemon curd pancakes. Then we went to the farmer's market, swam for a while at the gym, and came home for lunch and a long nap. I made that dinner, and then made strawberry marmalade. I think it will be good, but quite sweet. Plus, the lemon rind in it is surprisingly tough. It seems that usually the rind is marmalade is toothsome, but not super-chewy.
Of course, sometimes those long maps lead to trouble getting to sleep, and this is one of those nights. It is now ten minutes to ten, and she is still periodically calling for me, asking me to adjust the lighting, whatever. Still, it was nice to have a nap.
Still, we do our best, right? Today I made a chickpea soup that was surprisingly simple, and the family really liked it. Zadie heaped on the praise, actually, and Sweetie, who has in the past eschewed chickpeas, suggested I make it again. It was just a broth with chickpeas, and then you add a mix of mint, parsley, garlic and olive oil. We also had some veggie chorizo, as I read that although it's not as popular linguica, it is nevertheless widely available in Portugal. Not the Mexican kind (where you squeeze the sausage out of the casing), but the Spanish kind (which is more like a Bratwurst).
I'll probably also print some coloring pages again, make a couple more dishes (sweet bread, figs with chocolate and almonds, and a bean and rice dish), and find some music to listen to.
Oh, and for the first time, I tried something just for myself -- a Portuguese wine called Vinho Verde. It's pleasant. Very summery.
Today was pretty lovely. We slept in (Zadie until almost 8!), then went to Orphan for breakfast, where I had the nicest poppyseed, raspberry, and meyer lemon curd pancakes. Then we went to the farmer's market, swam for a while at the gym, and came home for lunch and a long nap. I made that dinner, and then made strawberry marmalade. I think it will be good, but quite sweet. Plus, the lemon rind in it is surprisingly tough. It seems that usually the rind is marmalade is toothsome, but not super-chewy.
Of course, sometimes those long maps lead to trouble getting to sleep, and this is one of those nights. It is now ten minutes to ten, and she is still periodically calling for me, asking me to adjust the lighting, whatever. Still, it was nice to have a nap.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
With the curtains up
IMG_3040
Originally uploaded by Mrs. Piggs
I also removed a big toy chest that had outlived its usefulness (it was really deep, so worked great for me to pull stuffed animals out of, but now that she's into smaller stuff and is more interested in getting it herself, I put the toys in shallow drawers in her closet). I like how it looks now, although ultimately, I'd like to get rid of the metal bins, too (one is a laundry hamper, the other's strictly for diapers).
Make me one with everything.*
So, what have I been up to? A little of everything.
Monday: I observed the election ballot-counting of my union. It was educational. I think last year there was a huge concern about malfeasance on the part of the elections committee, but in fact, it seems that a lot of the problems lie with people who just can't figure out the rules and do stuff wrong.
Tuesday: Sweetie got an award! I flew over to his place of employment from work and enjoyed watching his introduction and his speech. He really deserves it, y'all -- it was for service to the institution, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find people who put more work into that. Then I flew back to school for Open House. Very few of my parents came (I have seniors -- the parents are pretty much done by that point), but it was still nice to be there with everyone.
Wednesday: nothing after school, but I did finish reading, proofreading, suggesting edits and responding to ALL my seniors' first drafts of their senior project research essay. Biggest common issue? They don't realize how obvious it is that they're plagiarizing. (Okay, actually, it's that I'm not sure they even realize they're plagiarizing, but whatever.)
Thursday: Union meeting. Surprisingly, this was the least-contentious and least-stressful one I've been to in a while.
Friday: This was the day of our school's annual edu-fun festival. Normally we study a culture, but this year we made it an environmental festival. There was some dissent as to whether we should be celebrating and studying the current conservationist movement or the history of counter-culture (i.e., hippies). I was for the former, but the guy who does most of the work was for the latter, so we went with it. He is learning to delegate (and he should), but I got delegated the task of arranging speakers. Now, I have probably never mentioned, because I don't usually brag here (at least I hope not!) that I scored hecka high on the logic portion of the GRE. Higher even than I scored in English, and I wasn't too shabby there, either. (For balance, I proved myself utterly inept at math.) Anyway, the questions are always like, "There's a flower show. Daisies are never available on Wednesdays, and Tuesdays must be roses unless tulips are shown on the prior day. Sunflowers must follow orchids." And so on, and you have to figure out what you can make work. Well, arranging speakers for 15 teachers, some of whom move from classroom to classroom, some of whom are on prep one of the three periods, some of whom never respond to their goddamn emails, etc. is rather like one of those logic problems, except that instead of assuming you have the daisies to begin with, you have to cold-call SMUD to beg them for some (er, speakers, that is). Good thing I'm good at it, I guess.
It was funny, because I did end up having to make a few last minute adjustments, run (twice) across campus to try to get a camera, text one teacher to tell her to change the location of her class and stuff like that, but it more or less went off without a hitch. I scheduled the boringest-sounding guy for my room, and instead he was incredibly engaging, and I feel like I understand nuclear reactors way better than I did a couple days ago.
I had also suggested a vegetarian lunch because of the lower carbon footprint, and the kids were skeptical. But on the occasion, they LOVED it. Several spontaneously came into my room with a Boca burger and asked, "Have you had one of these? They're delicious!" We also had veggie skewers, fruit kebabs, and a salad bar. It ended up being the best lunch we've done. And the feedback I got on the rest of the speakers was that they were all really successful and engaging.
So in short, it's been a motherfucking busy week. All three of us took a nap yesterday afternoon, and I felt refreshed and relieved as I haven't in weeks when I awoke.
I finally hung those infernal curtains. I think they're crooked, but you can't tell unless you're really looking. I finally called my grandma. I finally put in some plants (18 of them). I have stuff I want to do this week, but not that much, really. Perhaps a brunch date. Make a couple pies. Host an Easter egg hunt for the kids on the block. But it's all fun stuff, not stressful. Of course, you know how I am -- my Easter egg hunt has already, in my head, turned into "Maybe I can have prizes! Maybe I should bake Easter cookies! Maybe I'll have mimosas out for the adults! That would be a good morning to make Portuguese sweet bread! Or pecan sticky rolls! Or both!"
I'm breaking out in hives again. Oddly, it's almost the exact same time of year and situation as last year: I had just used up one jar of moisturizer and bought a second. I'm thinking maybe it isn't the moisturizer at all, but something seasonal. I wouldn't mention it but they itch like crazy! I'm trying not to scratch because it makes it worse, so if you see me walking around gently slapping my own cheeks like a crackhead, you'll know why.
As if to out-do me, Z has enormous hives, about the size of a quarter each, on her arm and leg. We've all been outdoors a lot gardening and enjoying the nice weather, so I'm not sure what it is, but we're both taking allergy medicine.
The title of today's post is based on a silly joke. What did the Buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor? It appealed to me, because if you asked what I'd been doing this week, the only real appropriate answer might be "a little of everything."
I hope you're all well. Zadie said to me tonight, "I'm glad you're my mom, and I'm glad you don't have to go to work." That pretty much sums it up for me, too.
Monday: I observed the election ballot-counting of my union. It was educational. I think last year there was a huge concern about malfeasance on the part of the elections committee, but in fact, it seems that a lot of the problems lie with people who just can't figure out the rules and do stuff wrong.
Tuesday: Sweetie got an award! I flew over to his place of employment from work and enjoyed watching his introduction and his speech. He really deserves it, y'all -- it was for service to the institution, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find people who put more work into that. Then I flew back to school for Open House. Very few of my parents came (I have seniors -- the parents are pretty much done by that point), but it was still nice to be there with everyone.
Wednesday: nothing after school, but I did finish reading, proofreading, suggesting edits and responding to ALL my seniors' first drafts of their senior project research essay. Biggest common issue? They don't realize how obvious it is that they're plagiarizing. (Okay, actually, it's that I'm not sure they even realize they're plagiarizing, but whatever.)
Thursday: Union meeting. Surprisingly, this was the least-contentious and least-stressful one I've been to in a while.
Friday: This was the day of our school's annual edu-fun festival. Normally we study a culture, but this year we made it an environmental festival. There was some dissent as to whether we should be celebrating and studying the current conservationist movement or the history of counter-culture (i.e., hippies). I was for the former, but the guy who does most of the work was for the latter, so we went with it. He is learning to delegate (and he should), but I got delegated the task of arranging speakers. Now, I have probably never mentioned, because I don't usually brag here (at least I hope not!) that I scored hecka high on the logic portion of the GRE. Higher even than I scored in English, and I wasn't too shabby there, either. (For balance, I proved myself utterly inept at math.) Anyway, the questions are always like, "There's a flower show. Daisies are never available on Wednesdays, and Tuesdays must be roses unless tulips are shown on the prior day. Sunflowers must follow orchids." And so on, and you have to figure out what you can make work. Well, arranging speakers for 15 teachers, some of whom move from classroom to classroom, some of whom are on prep one of the three periods, some of whom never respond to their goddamn emails, etc. is rather like one of those logic problems, except that instead of assuming you have the daisies to begin with, you have to cold-call SMUD to beg them for some (er, speakers, that is). Good thing I'm good at it, I guess.
It was funny, because I did end up having to make a few last minute adjustments, run (twice) across campus to try to get a camera, text one teacher to tell her to change the location of her class and stuff like that, but it more or less went off without a hitch. I scheduled the boringest-sounding guy for my room, and instead he was incredibly engaging, and I feel like I understand nuclear reactors way better than I did a couple days ago.
I had also suggested a vegetarian lunch because of the lower carbon footprint, and the kids were skeptical. But on the occasion, they LOVED it. Several spontaneously came into my room with a Boca burger and asked, "Have you had one of these? They're delicious!" We also had veggie skewers, fruit kebabs, and a salad bar. It ended up being the best lunch we've done. And the feedback I got on the rest of the speakers was that they were all really successful and engaging.
So in short, it's been a motherfucking busy week. All three of us took a nap yesterday afternoon, and I felt refreshed and relieved as I haven't in weeks when I awoke.
I finally hung those infernal curtains. I think they're crooked, but you can't tell unless you're really looking. I finally called my grandma. I finally put in some plants (18 of them). I have stuff I want to do this week, but not that much, really. Perhaps a brunch date. Make a couple pies. Host an Easter egg hunt for the kids on the block. But it's all fun stuff, not stressful. Of course, you know how I am -- my Easter egg hunt has already, in my head, turned into "Maybe I can have prizes! Maybe I should bake Easter cookies! Maybe I'll have mimosas out for the adults! That would be a good morning to make Portuguese sweet bread! Or pecan sticky rolls! Or both!"
I'm breaking out in hives again. Oddly, it's almost the exact same time of year and situation as last year: I had just used up one jar of moisturizer and bought a second. I'm thinking maybe it isn't the moisturizer at all, but something seasonal. I wouldn't mention it but they itch like crazy! I'm trying not to scratch because it makes it worse, so if you see me walking around gently slapping my own cheeks like a crackhead, you'll know why.
As if to out-do me, Z has enormous hives, about the size of a quarter each, on her arm and leg. We've all been outdoors a lot gardening and enjoying the nice weather, so I'm not sure what it is, but we're both taking allergy medicine.
The title of today's post is based on a silly joke. What did the Buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor? It appealed to me, because if you asked what I'd been doing this week, the only real appropriate answer might be "a little of everything."
I hope you're all well. Zadie said to me tonight, "I'm glad you're my mom, and I'm glad you don't have to go to work." That pretty much sums it up for me, too.
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Catch-up
Hi all,
Well, I never really told you how I was after my Tuesday (?) freak-out. I'm fine. I suspect that if you know me well, you could have figured that out. I did have some chocolate and a glass of wine and I did some reading and some writing. Then I rescheduled a thing, changed my mind about a thing, decided to let a thing or two go and brush a thing or two off, and here we are.
I could be at Prom right now, but that's a thing I brushed off, so instead I'm baking cookies. Can I just tell you that I don't mean this in a pompous way, but I think the cookies I make are better than 99% of the other cookies I have ever tasted anywhere? I'm looking at you, Pacific Cookie Company... I mean really, I know that part of it is nostalgia (I make a lot of cookies that my mom used to make when I was a kid) and some of it is that I make what I like (no linzer whatevers here), and another part of it is that they're hot and fresh from the oven, but EVEN SO, I really think I make the second best cookies in the world, next to my mom.
This has been a pretty awesome* Saturday. I slept until 6:30, and was not awakened by the kid (it doesn't sound like much, but that's an hour later than usual). Then I had a brilliant cup of coffee and a breakfast of homemade whole wheat bread with homemade nectarine-plum jam and a slice of cheese from the farmer's market. Soon, I got down to the business of cleaning, and after that, went to get my eyebrows waxed, at which time I also got a mini-facial.
Once home, we had a little lunch, then I went outside and invited the family to join me. I cleaned off our patio furniture, took out the winter garden, removed a horrid little tree stub, picked lemons, turned compost and dreamed a little of what I want to do back there. Sweetie helped a lot and Z mostly played.
I came inside and finally hung those curtains I've had for... 2 months? Anyway, the panels themselves still need to be hemmed, but I got the rods installed, so that's a start.
Then we went grocery shopping and to Target**, and then home for dinner. We had veggie burgers and sweet potato fries.
Saturdays are awesome. Ach!
Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much. I even briefly considered doing another blog-a-day month for April, but honestly, I've just got my mind in a different place right now. I'm trying hard to not let the house get too untidy, so I'm folding laundry at least a couple nights a week, which is not a multi-tasking activity. Also, since I joined my writing group, I feel like if I show up I HAVE to have something new, so I'm trying to set aside at least a few nights a week for writing. It's going pretty well. I mean, I don't see anything I've written headed for the pages of the New Yorker, but I'm happy with quite a bit of it, and I'm exploring the idea of having some minor ambitions.
You know how some people seem to pride themselves on how little sleep they get/need? I'm not one of those people. If I had no obligations or interruptions, I would definitely sleep for 9 hours every night. And since I've been getting up at 5:30, I need to make a concerted effort to get to bed by 10. Even when I do, I often find myself reading until 10:30, and 7 hours is just not really enough for me. So I'm not staying up late to blog because, well, I need my sleep!
Okay, other stuff from this week: I changed up my bread recipe, and it was better than ever. I'm going to make even more changes to see whether I can make it exactly how I like it -- light and airy, with a crunchy, chewy crust.
It was spirit week at school, so I went ahead and did crazy hair day, twins day (quints, actually - we found four other teachers all willing to wear the same thing), beauty and the geek day (I wore my Tetris earrings), little kid day (Saltwater sandals and a bracelet I've had since I was a kid -- I tried), and pink for girls/black for boys day. I wore the pinkest thing I could find, a salwar kameez in Pepto pink, so I was covered from neck to ankle and wrist with BRIGHT pink.
Zadie decided she likes Debbie Harry. I couldn't be prouder of the girl who is destined to be a social reject in school.
*I discovered some web sites*** that will turn your blog entries into word clouds with your most-used words biggest, and now I am always self-conscious that they might have "I" "Me" and "AWESOME" in 36 point font.
**Yes, I am still boycotting Target... mostly. But we got two of the same outfit for Zadie's birthday, so I returned it, and while we were there... I bought stuff. Ugh, I hate myself, but also they have cute clothes.
***One is Wordle. Today's post's biggest words are thing, make, got, and cookies. Really is also fairly big. This does not serve to make me feel like an interesting, unique writer.
Well, I never really told you how I was after my Tuesday (?) freak-out. I'm fine. I suspect that if you know me well, you could have figured that out. I did have some chocolate and a glass of wine and I did some reading and some writing. Then I rescheduled a thing, changed my mind about a thing, decided to let a thing or two go and brush a thing or two off, and here we are.
I could be at Prom right now, but that's a thing I brushed off, so instead I'm baking cookies. Can I just tell you that I don't mean this in a pompous way, but I think the cookies I make are better than 99% of the other cookies I have ever tasted anywhere? I'm looking at you, Pacific Cookie Company... I mean really, I know that part of it is nostalgia (I make a lot of cookies that my mom used to make when I was a kid) and some of it is that I make what I like (no linzer whatevers here), and another part of it is that they're hot and fresh from the oven, but EVEN SO, I really think I make the second best cookies in the world, next to my mom.
This has been a pretty awesome* Saturday. I slept until 6:30, and was not awakened by the kid (it doesn't sound like much, but that's an hour later than usual). Then I had a brilliant cup of coffee and a breakfast of homemade whole wheat bread with homemade nectarine-plum jam and a slice of cheese from the farmer's market. Soon, I got down to the business of cleaning, and after that, went to get my eyebrows waxed, at which time I also got a mini-facial.
Once home, we had a little lunch, then I went outside and invited the family to join me. I cleaned off our patio furniture, took out the winter garden, removed a horrid little tree stub, picked lemons, turned compost and dreamed a little of what I want to do back there. Sweetie helped a lot and Z mostly played.
I came inside and finally hung those curtains I've had for... 2 months? Anyway, the panels themselves still need to be hemmed, but I got the rods installed, so that's a start.
Then we went grocery shopping and to Target**, and then home for dinner. We had veggie burgers and sweet potato fries.
Saturdays are awesome. Ach!
Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much. I even briefly considered doing another blog-a-day month for April, but honestly, I've just got my mind in a different place right now. I'm trying hard to not let the house get too untidy, so I'm folding laundry at least a couple nights a week, which is not a multi-tasking activity. Also, since I joined my writing group, I feel like if I show up I HAVE to have something new, so I'm trying to set aside at least a few nights a week for writing. It's going pretty well. I mean, I don't see anything I've written headed for the pages of the New Yorker, but I'm happy with quite a bit of it, and I'm exploring the idea of having some minor ambitions.
You know how some people seem to pride themselves on how little sleep they get/need? I'm not one of those people. If I had no obligations or interruptions, I would definitely sleep for 9 hours every night. And since I've been getting up at 5:30, I need to make a concerted effort to get to bed by 10. Even when I do, I often find myself reading until 10:30, and 7 hours is just not really enough for me. So I'm not staying up late to blog because, well, I need my sleep!
Okay, other stuff from this week: I changed up my bread recipe, and it was better than ever. I'm going to make even more changes to see whether I can make it exactly how I like it -- light and airy, with a crunchy, chewy crust.
It was spirit week at school, so I went ahead and did crazy hair day, twins day (quints, actually - we found four other teachers all willing to wear the same thing), beauty and the geek day (I wore my Tetris earrings), little kid day (Saltwater sandals and a bracelet I've had since I was a kid -- I tried), and pink for girls/black for boys day. I wore the pinkest thing I could find, a salwar kameez in Pepto pink, so I was covered from neck to ankle and wrist with BRIGHT pink.
Zadie decided she likes Debbie Harry. I couldn't be prouder of the girl who is destined to be a social reject in school.
*I discovered some web sites*** that will turn your blog entries into word clouds with your most-used words biggest, and now I am always self-conscious that they might have "I" "Me" and "AWESOME" in 36 point font.
**Yes, I am still boycotting Target... mostly. But we got two of the same outfit for Zadie's birthday, so I returned it, and while we were there... I bought stuff. Ugh, I hate myself, but also they have cute clothes.
***One is Wordle. Today's post's biggest words are thing, make, got, and cookies. Really is also fairly big. This does not serve to make me feel like an interesting, unique writer.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
A vent, as brief as I can make it.
Senior project sucks. Also, can't get computers about 2 days a week. Not much to do without them.
IB exams are coming. You can never have prepared the kids enough. Scores reflect on me.
Spring festival is next week. Last Fall, like a dummy, I agreed to arrange all the guest speakers. Why?
Senior project comes with another planning nightmare -- presentation night. All I have to do is file a building permit, get all the kids' projects online, arrange judges, invite families, have a social get-together beforehand, arrange juniors to attend and help, copy the judging forms, hold a meeting for judges... what am I missing?
I've been having the IB kids write papers once a week. There are 35 students. I'm up to my ass in papers to grade.
It's union elections week, and though I hemmed and hawed about whether I'd agree to watch over the ballot-counting, the person who asked me announced that I'd do it.
Oh yeah, and I'm holding the elections at lunchtime all week.
If it wasn't just being busy and having work stuff sort of overwhelm me, I might be fine. But I'm also having a lot of emotional/social stuff going on.
One of my friends and colleagues has gone from pleasantly enthusiastic to hyper-manic over the course of the last few years. I need to talk to him. I think something's really wrong. Also, there is a possibility that I have some baggage about manic behavior.
I offended someone last week over a missed communication, and it was totally my fault. I apologized and explained but her reply was still terse.
I am navigating a social situation that's not entirely mine. A few people don't like another person much, and I try to stand up for the latter person. I'm friends with the few, and the latter had been left out of a couple events. One of the few had said she would communicate with the latter about it, but she hadn't. I reminded her that she said she would, and she apparently did, today. Whatever transpired between them left the latter clearly hurt and upset, and she left a handwritten note of apology on my desk for being "a nuisance," "inappropriate," putting me on the spot, pressuring me, and being "a bother, hassle, or source of discomfort." Also, for "intrusions and interferences with [my] world or disruptions of peace." I have never been anything but kind, straightforward, and honest with her, but you can tell from the excerpts there that it was a big deal to her, that something got communicated wrong, and that I was part of the authorship of her hurt feelings. Also, it sure sounds possible that someone I like and count among my friends was mean.
In the last four days, I've also been told really nice things by three different co-workers, but it's hard to believe when I keep messing things up.
I think the social stuff kind of puts me over the stress edge partly because I'm usually really good at it. I don't generally annoy or offend people, I make friends easily, I don't get into fights with people... In fact, two of the compliments I got were of that nature -- that I'm so approachable, good with people, and easy to get along with. It's when you suck at the things you're supposed to be good at that it really gets to you, right?
Oh yeah, and I have a very sore throat.
A bicycle ride may be in order tonight. Also, chocolate.
IB exams are coming. You can never have prepared the kids enough. Scores reflect on me.
Spring festival is next week. Last Fall, like a dummy, I agreed to arrange all the guest speakers. Why?
Senior project comes with another planning nightmare -- presentation night. All I have to do is file a building permit, get all the kids' projects online, arrange judges, invite families, have a social get-together beforehand, arrange juniors to attend and help, copy the judging forms, hold a meeting for judges... what am I missing?
I've been having the IB kids write papers once a week. There are 35 students. I'm up to my ass in papers to grade.
It's union elections week, and though I hemmed and hawed about whether I'd agree to watch over the ballot-counting, the person who asked me announced that I'd do it.
Oh yeah, and I'm holding the elections at lunchtime all week.
If it wasn't just being busy and having work stuff sort of overwhelm me, I might be fine. But I'm also having a lot of emotional/social stuff going on.
One of my friends and colleagues has gone from pleasantly enthusiastic to hyper-manic over the course of the last few years. I need to talk to him. I think something's really wrong. Also, there is a possibility that I have some baggage about manic behavior.
I offended someone last week over a missed communication, and it was totally my fault. I apologized and explained but her reply was still terse.
I am navigating a social situation that's not entirely mine. A few people don't like another person much, and I try to stand up for the latter person. I'm friends with the few, and the latter had been left out of a couple events. One of the few had said she would communicate with the latter about it, but she hadn't. I reminded her that she said she would, and she apparently did, today. Whatever transpired between them left the latter clearly hurt and upset, and she left a handwritten note of apology on my desk for being "a nuisance," "inappropriate," putting me on the spot, pressuring me, and being "a bother, hassle, or source of discomfort." Also, for "intrusions and interferences with [my] world or disruptions of peace." I have never been anything but kind, straightforward, and honest with her, but you can tell from the excerpts there that it was a big deal to her, that something got communicated wrong, and that I was part of the authorship of her hurt feelings. Also, it sure sounds possible that someone I like and count among my friends was mean.
In the last four days, I've also been told really nice things by three different co-workers, but it's hard to believe when I keep messing things up.
I think the social stuff kind of puts me over the stress edge partly because I'm usually really good at it. I don't generally annoy or offend people, I make friends easily, I don't get into fights with people... In fact, two of the compliments I got were of that nature -- that I'm so approachable, good with people, and easy to get along with. It's when you suck at the things you're supposed to be good at that it really gets to you, right?
Oh yeah, and I have a very sore throat.
A bicycle ride may be in order tonight. Also, chocolate.
Friday, April 01, 2011
The fight I didn't prevent
Yesterday I left my classroom between periods to go to the restroom. I hadn't gone very far when I saw a young lady in a white shirt walk up to another girl.
She smiled.
It was a weird smile.
By that I mean that she was smiling, but there was something about it that seemed tense or fake. I stopped and watched her. She had braces, and I noted that, as sometimes people's lips take on an odd shape due to braces.
She said, "So, what's going on?"
There was something odd about that, too. She was still smiling tightly. I looked around to get a feel for the crowd. The other girl did not appear scared or intimidated. No one was gathered. There was no posse of back-up girls waiting to see what happened. No one else was even looking.
Her tone of voice made me think she was rehearsing lines for a play. I don't know what I mean by that other than that it was insincere. It didn't at all sound like someone who was speaking naturally. It was too bright, too high. It reminded me of the worst actress in one of our high school plays, who used upspeak every time she introduced herself. Chipper: "I'm AnnaBeth Morton?" We were, in fact, only two doors down from a drama classroom.
I judged the crowd again. Only seconds had passed, but still, no one else seemed to notice.
I walked on.
When I came back a couple minutes later, there was an unnerving geometry to the crowd. There were clear arcs -- the outline of a circle. I looked around, and there was a campus monitor holding the other girl, whom I didn't at first recognize. He pointed. "I need HER. In the white shirt." I went to her, but another teacher already had her. There was blood all around her mouth. There was blood on her teeth around her braces. We took her into my room and had her get a drink of water.
The other teacher asked, "What happened?"
"I heard she was talking shit, so I confronted her."
"And she hit you?"
"No, I hit her."
"So you confronted her with your fist?"
Afterwards, I told my class (many of whom had seen the fight) that I thought something was wrong, but I didn't stop it. One student said he had even noticed me stop and watch the girls. They assured me that it didn't start until I had been gone for a minute. The other teacher told me I couldn't have or shouldn't have intervened because someone was "smiling weird." "What were you going to say? -- 'Come here, you have a weird smile?'"
But I could have, I think. My instincts were right. I should have followed them.
She smiled.
It was a weird smile.
By that I mean that she was smiling, but there was something about it that seemed tense or fake. I stopped and watched her. She had braces, and I noted that, as sometimes people's lips take on an odd shape due to braces.
She said, "So, what's going on?"
There was something odd about that, too. She was still smiling tightly. I looked around to get a feel for the crowd. The other girl did not appear scared or intimidated. No one was gathered. There was no posse of back-up girls waiting to see what happened. No one else was even looking.
Her tone of voice made me think she was rehearsing lines for a play. I don't know what I mean by that other than that it was insincere. It didn't at all sound like someone who was speaking naturally. It was too bright, too high. It reminded me of the worst actress in one of our high school plays, who used upspeak every time she introduced herself. Chipper: "I'm AnnaBeth Morton?" We were, in fact, only two doors down from a drama classroom.
I judged the crowd again. Only seconds had passed, but still, no one else seemed to notice.
I walked on.
When I came back a couple minutes later, there was an unnerving geometry to the crowd. There were clear arcs -- the outline of a circle. I looked around, and there was a campus monitor holding the other girl, whom I didn't at first recognize. He pointed. "I need HER. In the white shirt." I went to her, but another teacher already had her. There was blood all around her mouth. There was blood on her teeth around her braces. We took her into my room and had her get a drink of water.
The other teacher asked, "What happened?"
"I heard she was talking shit, so I confronted her."
"And she hit you?"
"No, I hit her."
"So you confronted her with your fist?"
Afterwards, I told my class (many of whom had seen the fight) that I thought something was wrong, but I didn't stop it. One student said he had even noticed me stop and watch the girls. They assured me that it didn't start until I had been gone for a minute. The other teacher told me I couldn't have or shouldn't have intervened because someone was "smiling weird." "What were you going to say? -- 'Come here, you have a weird smile?'"
But I could have, I think. My instincts were right. I should have followed them.
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