Just call me “Grace”

I never thought I would be thankful for the wild, wet, Washington winter weather.  (Whew!)  Here’s why.  Yesterday, I dropped a folding chair on my foot.  Nothing is broken, but it still hurt like a m-fer and is turning beautiful shades of blue and purple and swelling.  The only shoes that I can fit into and don’t cause anymore pain are my wellies.  (As Flynn is modeling here:)

Mommy's little fashion victim plate

Wellies are only acceptable if it is pouring outside or if your job requires you to step in squishy stuff, this necessitating the need for such footwear. Otherwise, you are just a fashion don’t. I am already in this category, and I don’t need anything else to drag me down further.

I still need to run some errands today and pick up the boys. Oh, crap. The sun is coming out. Curse you, nature!

Hello, Ladies!

Two little girls are now attending Miss Tracy's with the boys.  D and F have been stuck there together since September.  The other boy who was there with D moved on to kindergarten, leaving D alone with his brother.  This should be very interesting.  One girl is D's age; the other is not quite 1, but is crawling up a storm.

When we arrived this morning, the wee one was near the door.  F was all smiles.  He immediately began gathering up some toys to give to the girls.  He is already trying to win their affections through shiny objects.



This is for you.  Let's be friends!



End of Quarter

The boys are sleeping in for once, and I thought I would get a jump start on grading the final essay that was due yesterday.  I log in to the school site, and ALL OF MY CLASSES ARE GONE!  Holy sh!t!  Panic sets in as I whisper a string of obscenities. (I don't want to wake the little dudes, or teach them any new vocabulary words.)  I fire off a panic-y e-mail to tech support.  Within two minutes, all of my classes are restored.  Andy Duckworth is the greatest tech support guru ever!!!!

Now that I have access again to my courses, I have an e-mail waiting for me from a student.  She is concerned because she received a D on her first essay and has a really good excuse why it is late.  My late policy is very simple:  full points for on time; 75% max for anything up to a week late; 0 after that.  It's not that I don't care about my students; it's... no wait, I don't care.  It's none of my business what happens outside of the class.  Life gets in the way, and unless it involves me phoning the police on your behalf, it's your private life.  Anyway, back to Beggy McBegsalot.  I took a look at her overall grade.  She is missing 33 points for the entire quarter.  Unless she completely f***s up this last essay, she will be getting an A.  An A is an A. Whether it is 94% or 100%, it shows up the transcript the same.  Stop nickling and diming me, people.

And those are my rambling, incoherent thoughts at the end of the quarter.  Hooray for Winter Break!

The Santa Experience

We have not had much luck in the "visit with Santa" department.  I was hoping this year would be better.  We went early yesterday, to beat the crowds.  Only three other kids were in line ahead of us.  (All of them were waiting patiently, as my boys were running around, screaming like banshees.)  The two girls who worked there were not every interested in getting things going.  The velvet ropes are fine; my kid is losing his mind.  Let's get a move on!

Finally, it was our turn.  D hung back a bit, but F ran right up to Santa and gave him a big hug.  He sat on Santa's lap and was quite content.  D finally joined the party.  Within those 15 seconds, F went from happy kid to "what am I doing here, who are you" fear and panic.  And then the tears started.  This was the best we could do.

I am quite proud of Drake.  He wasn't greedy talking to Santa.  In fact, I don't believe he mentioned at all what he wanted.  (He told me the night before: slippers.  They arrived in the mail today.)  He talked to Santa about how we dress up on Christmas, which is, according to D, tomorrow.

A word about the racket that is the photo with Santa.  I do not need the 18 wallet sized photos along with the flashing photo frame and key chain.  I just want a simple picture.  ($25, BTW)  Remember when all we got was a simple Polaroid?  That's all I really want.  Plus, you are not allowed to use your own camera anywhere near the magic chair.  I am in the wrong business.

Grief is a sneaky bastard

I had a dentist appointment today.  (I know, really exciting stuff!)  Anyway, the dentist's office is a couple of blocks from my Grandma Maria's house.  Let me amend that-- a couple of blocks from the house where Maria lived.  It's no longer her house; the house closed on Monday and now belongs to someone else.

Driving to said appointment, I found myself purposely going a different route so I wouldn't have to drive by the house.  Intellectually, this is silly and I feel a tad foolish.  It's just a house; she isn't there anymore.  But emotionally... emotionally, I wasn't ready for it.  So many memories are locked up in that house.

This will be our first Christmas without her.  She always loved this time of year: all of the baking, the buying of too many presents, the overabundance of tape to be sure the box was closed under the wrapping paper.  (Seriously, one year she used duct tape to guarantee the box would remain sealed.) 

You think you are doing fine and are healing from the loss.  And then something stupid and trivial, like the driving route to an appointment, will set you off again.  Bloody hell.

Christmas traditions

I'm a pretty low-key person when it comes to celebrating stuff (birthdays, holidays, and the like).  I believe this stems from my inherent laziness.  There is one tradition, however, that I was sad to lose for myself but am happy to pass on to my children: the German advent calendar.  This is no ordinary countdown to Christmas with a lame picture behind every door.  It's a piece of chocolate!  One for every day until the holiday.  It's a very German thing: you may have a treat, but in an overly disciplined, structured sort of way. (As kids, my brother and I figured out how to get all of the chocolate out at once without opening all the doors.) The rule in the family is you may have your own calendar every year, until you have children, then they get the calendar. 

The boys LOVE it.  Flynn threw a massive hissy fit today (including rolling on the floor, screaming, and refusing to eat his breakfast) because he only got one piece of chocolate.  Drake is showing signs of restraint this year; he was only mildly annoyed for only getting one piece of chocolate.



Oh sweet structured goodness!



DonorsChoose.org

I normally don't promote any type of charity.  I feel this is a personal decision.  But, lately, I have been getting really annoyed by most charities.  I believe the majority of the planet is "aware" of breast cancer; how about we try to cure it?  I'm just saying.  Also, most of us have no idea if the money goes to actually help a person in need.  Some charities have administrative costs of 75%.  Holy cow!  Is the charity helping people or itself?  See my frustration.

I didn't know about this charity until I attended the Rally to Restore Sanity (Seattle satellite).  The organizers raised funds to hold the rally, and let all of us know that any extra money would be donated to Donors Choose.  It piqued my interest, so I went to the site and checked it out.  Awesome.  The charity is designed to get specific materials into specific classroom.  Teachers post their classroom needs to this site, explaining how the materials will be used.  The complete cost of the project is given (and verified) included product cost, shipping, tax, and an optional(!) 15% contribution for administrative costs.  Those wishing to make a donation can search by city, content area, or immediate need. 

I decided to do a search by Washington and Language Arts (together).  I found a teacher who wanted to purchase green pens for her fourth grade class to help teach them the process and importance of editing and revising.  (Awesome!)  Her classroom is in Seattle in a high poverty area (info provided on Donors Choose).  I wasn't able to give much, but I gave.  Her project ended up being completely funded, and afterwards, I received a very nice thank you note.

It is sad that teachers are not given the resources that would be the most effective in the classroom.  (That is another rant for another day.)  But, here is an opportunity for teachers to ask for what they need and for us to give it to them, without bureaucracy (tax deductible, of course).