1. Did you know there is a National Day of pretty much everything in the universe? February 23 happens to be National Inconvenience Yourself Day...when was the last time you were inconvenienced?
Two weeks ago we all had just gotten up and were doing the daily ritual of breakfast ("Which cereal do you want? No, we don't have any Cheerios mixed with Lucky Charms... (the only way my children get "sugar cereal")... Why did you just spill milk on the floor? Why are you flicking Cheerios at your sister? Is my coffee ready YET??")
My eldest C was walking out the door to get on the bus when he ran in and informed me that instead, I would have to drive him to school because he needed to check out video equipment from the school for the weekend and I had to be there to fill out the forms, and no, it couldn't be taken care of after school because the teacher was only there for the first three periods. I turned around to see my DH, dressed in uniform, walking out the door - shoot, there go my plans to have him stay with the younger children while I took Big C to school and got his video equipment.
Cue "Flight of the Bumblebee" Song...
Other two children got dressed in record time, we threw everyone in the car, drove to the jr high, got a visitor's pass from the office, tracked down the video teacher, signed the appropriate paperwork, collected the video equipment, said goodbye to Big C and got back in the car. Only 30 minutes left before Middle C had to be at school - not worth it to go all the way home, so lets go to Walmart and do a return and bribe the youngsters with Lunchables get something wonderfully nutritious for their lunch and a doughnut Fiber bar for being so good.
Leave Walmart, driving younger Cs to school, get pulled over for going 32 in a 25 zone. I'm not joking. Successfully play the "Wow, we're still getting to know the silly speed limits in this town..." excuse... never mind that we have lived here a year... I'm never ever ever ever ever going to understand why in the world on a 4 lane street through the middle of town the speed limit goes from 35 to 25 to 20 to 35 then to 45. Good grief.
And it wasn't even 8:00 in the morning yet.
2. When a room in your house needs painting who does the job?
Usually me, and usually when my husband is deployed or TDY... for some reason I find it therapeutic. It's almost like he leaves and all of a sudden I am sitting on the couch and think "Hey, I really really dislike the color of these walls... why didn't I notice that before? They need to be Burgundy Red... right NOW!"
Its an illness...
3. Are you friends with your cousins?
Most of them, yes. There are three that I grew up with and enjoy special friendships with, and they in turn love telling my children embarrassing stories about me as a child. Just wait until they have children... bwahahahaha...
I have two cousins from the other side of the family that I knew pretty well when I was young, but then a huge family fight split the family, and sadly I didn't see either of them for about ten years or so. And the family member that caused the huge fight still tries to separate her side of the family from ours. That still saddens me.
4. Do you use an alarm clock? If yes-is it an actual alarm, music, or something else?
I use my I-Phone as my alarm, and it is set to a gentle ascending piano tone... isn't as alarming as an actual ALARM but not soothing enough to simply meld into my dream and not really wake me up, which would be beside the point.
5. What do you put ketchup on?
OK this is a really weird question. (Sorry Joyce) But, since you asked...... hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, meatloaf...
But no mustard... yick... unless it's deli mustard on a bratwurst. Because you just can't have brats without deli mustard and a dark German beer. Pretty sure that would be. Just. Wrong.
6. What smells make you nostalgic?
As a child, our house was stuck in a perpetual remodeling project for several years. Consequently, the smells of a hardware store - fresh cut wood especially - immediately have a nostalgic smell for me. So does the smell of machine oil - my dad owned his own shop, and we spent a lot of time there, and on Saturdays he would pay my brother and I $1.00 if we would sort metal parts while we watched Saturday morning cartoons. He obviously knew the value of cheap labor. Also, gardenias - we had a gardenia bush right by our front door, so the smell of gardenias always reminds me of home and Southern California.
7. Have you heard about the high school English teacher recently suspended as a result of some things she wrote in her personal blog? You can read the story here but in a nutshell she vented a lot of frustration onto her blog. She didn't mention individual students by name but she did make some harsh comments about kids in general and their parents.
What are your thoughts-If you're a parent is your child's teacher online and are you 'friend' or 'follower' there? If you're a teacher are you on facebook and do you accept or friend students on fb? How about their parents? If you're a student are you friends with your current or former teachers online? Do any of them have blogs you read? If you're a teacher or a parent do you ever use your blog as a place to vent your frustrations with our educational system? So much to discuss...
Honestly, if you are going to have a blog, or Facebook account, you need to be constantly aware of who is reading your material. If you feel the need to vent, buy a journal. Don't put it out there in Cyberspace. Now, I think that suspending that teacher may have been extreme... but she really should have known better.
I have been friends with my children's teachers on Facebook, but honestly, they don't usually share much about their schooling or frustrations about their jobs...
8. Insert your own random thought here.
So, perhaps here is where I should be eloquent and humorous? Nope... not happening yet... you see, my DH is getting ready to deploy soon. So right now, a lot of our time together is undermined with the constant "This is the last time we'll be doing this for a long long time" thoughts. In fact, I just looked over at the kitchen table and teared up as I watched my DH sitting with my Eldest C, helping him with his algebra homework. And my heart broke... because not only does my eldest C need his dad here for moral support, and just DAD stuff... but sadly, algebra does not make any more sense now than it did when I was in algebra (all three times) years ago... and he needs his Dad to help him with his algebra homework... and soon he won't have him here to help him. And it just made me sad.
Nope... no eloquence... no humor... just reality right now. Sorry folks...
2 comments:
Prayers being sent your way as your husband gets ready to deploy.
Your #1 sounds exhausting. My girls are young adults now but I flashbacked to their middle school days...or the forgetful years as I like to call them.
Military life is not for the faint of heart, is it? I am the daughter of a career Marine and I remember. Praying God gives you that extra measure of grace you need to cope and a friend who excels at Algebra too : )
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