Saturday, March 8, 2008

Thar She Blows

Oh my gosh! I can barely see across the street. It is so snowy and blowing it is obscuring my view out the window. This isn't a pretty snow. This is dangerous snow. This is not snow angel snow or snowman snow. I know because this morning we were out in it. I know, I know. What were we thinking?? Well, we were thinking we would like to eat for the rest of the weekend. We were thinking we should do our usual walk so we don't get any fatter. We were thinking we shouldn't break a date with our son for breakfast in downtown Willoughby. I was thinking I wouldn't have to drive. Kevin was thinking"Goody,goody,gumdrops."
Remember that old expression? We heard it the other day on the show, Mad Men. We just looked at each other and said, Remember that??" And started laughing! Kevin thinks it started on the Jackie Gleason show but I'm not so sure.
I remember kids in elementary school saying it. It was supposed to be an expression of joy but it turned into one of those sarcastic things you say to show how bored or sophisticated you were.(in the third grade!?!) Some kids could say it so snotty that it sounded like an insult. It is so old fashioned sounding I am thinking of starting using it again. See if anybody picks up on it and starts saying it.
Did you ever notice how if a friend uses an expression you start using it too? My sister started calling a certain fabric "boing-boing" and my daughter and I do the same to this day. You know the stuff-that polyester fabric that has alot of stretch to it? My daughter's dress for her first homecoming dance was made out of it and had sparkly roses on it. They make a lot of seperates out of it now. I remember thinking that if Meg twirled to much when she was dancing she might put on quite a show!
When you work with someone, you do the same thing. I know I picked up expressions from my teaching partner and she did from me. Sometimes when she was addressing a child, she sounded just like me. I know I sounded just like her a lot of the time too.
It is really funny when your kids do it. I love hearing my kids use an expression I use. I wonder if they hate it and think they sound just like their mother.I remember when I thought I sounded just like my mother. Sometimes it was fine but most of the time it just made me feel old!!!!
Anyway, the weather people are predicting that the storm will be over by tomorrow and the sun is even going to shine. Goody, goody, gumdrops!

Friday, March 7, 2008

What's the Matter with Kids Today?

Why is it that every time a school system makes cuts, they always cut the human element first? Too many teachers, older kids don't need a classroom aide,psychological testing can't begin because there aren't enough school psychologists to administer the tests but
they will change a textbook every year, spend on new programs, send administrators and teachers to all kinds of workshops and conferences. There is always money for that.
I bet if you asked any teacher they would rather have another pair of capable hands in their classroom than a new text. They would give up workshops too. Children need the human touch. It amazes me how willing we are to let kids be on their own.
Government testing wants our children to be masters of their own learning by the time they are nine years old. How many of those politicians were proficient at that age? I, for one, would love to see the school records of some of those men especially.
Historically speaking it is not that long ago that children were considered possessions. They had no status. Many children died of causes we can't even fathom today. We still don't respect childhood. Studies show that children learn best at play especially when they are young. We have taken the time for play or enjoyment out of the classroom in favor of readying children to take a test.
So they can play at home, right? Well, no. Many children don't get picked up from daycare until 6 p.m. Other children have so many extra activities planned by their parents that play time has pretty much disappeared. The weekends, you say? Well, no. There are the rounds of chores and errands that working families have to do. Also organized sports and activities fill the weekend days.
We need to cultivate a society that respects childhood. We need to give kids time to grow and play and use their imaginations. We need to supply them with the means to make discoveries on their own and under the tutelage of caring adults. We need to stop forcing kids to do higher level thinking before they are ready. We need to teach kids how to be part of a valuable team that recognizes the strengths of others.
Children know something is wrong. Look at their behavior. They are overtired and overworked so they have tantrums in public places. They are mean to other kids to appear cool. They speak in those insolent ways that mimic children on television who we see as precocious-- who are really just rude. Children don't turn to adults for help because no kid on television ever needs a grown up, not really. The grown ups are often portrayed as less mature and knowledgeable than the kids.
Adults-all of us, parents or not-need to step up to the plate. Insist that the politicians let teachers teach children and not just train them. Build relationships with the children in your extended family. It is never too late.
If you see a child misbehaving in public, don't criticize them or their parent. Think of how hard their lives are. Smile instead. Once, we were in Sam's Club and there was a long line at the food counter. We were waiting to get a card or something so I was watching that line. A little baby of about a year or so started fussing. Mom was completely distracted by the length of the line. I knew that kid was going to pitch a fit...so I looked right at her and blinked by eyes rapidly 3 times. She looked so I did it again...she started to calm down so I did it again and again and pretty soon she smiled and then sheBLINKED back at me! She never cried or threw that fit and Mom never knew how close she came.
I didn't step out of societal rules and talk to the child or parent. I respected both of them.
I do it all the time now. You know how babies stare at you sometimes? In line at the grocery or a discount store? It works every time. Even if they aren't upset it fully engages them and gives Mom or Dad a few seconds of a break--even if they don't know it. Real little ones stare(they must think What the heck????) Sometimes older ones play along.
Try it sometime. It may work for you too. Respect the children. Someday they will respect us for it.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Dairy Queen Head

I bet you think I am going to write about my addiction to that creamy confection but you would be wrong. Every morning when I get up my hair looks like a dairy queen ice cream cone. That's right a little swirl on the top and everything. You might reckon it to a Kewpie doll or Bob's Big Boy. I'm sure you are getting a mental image even as you read this. Not a pretty sight to be sure but I have come to terms with the whole thing. Some days I can tame that baby back into the usual style but some mornings it just has to be washed and fussed over. This morning was one of those mornings when the cone would just not be tamed!
Now washing my hair is not a real big deal. It is short and dries in a hot minute if you will forgive the pun. It is shiny and flat as a pancake until I use product. What did we ever do without product?? I have used it to flatten my hair, puff up my hair, curl my hair, straighten my hair, spike my hair, fluff my hair.......need I say more?? Remember when we only had hairspray? It used to turn your hair into a real helmet. Well at least it did for everyone else I knew. Hairspray always gave me a lovely helmet of perfect hair for about 5 minutes and then it was just flat and helmety(is that a word??) Or how about if you got caught out in the rain? Or had swimming class first period?(oh wait, that was in high school)
Now product saves the day If it gets wet you just fluff it back up with a blowdryer and Ta-Da you are back to your sparkling self. Did you love it when we finally got blowdryers? Remember how they were such a new invention? Well, guess what? They weren't! I read Shirley Temple's autobiography(I know, I know) and didn't she write about how they blow dried those cute little ringlets of hers--that was the THIRTIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wonder what those women in Hollywood have now that we regular gals will get in thirty years from now!?!
It takes a long time to come to terms with one's hair. Girls with curly hair want straight hair. Girls with straight hair want curly hair. You know what I mean. I love my hair now. It is silver and shiny and easy to style. Do you like how I call it silver instead of grey?? Much better connotation. It only has to get cut once a month and only washed every few days.(See above)
However, there is the dairy queen head problem.... oh, well, they probably have a product for that OUT IN HOLLYWOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Weather Or Not

Man, this weather just kills me. On Monday, you didn't really even need a coat. The promise of spring was in the air. A pleasant breeze kicked up to a gale at times but who cared? It was warm outside!
On Tuesday, they said it was going to be an awful ice storm. I cancelled a lunch date because of it. I stayed in all day. Well, it came all right...at night!!! And it is still coming now. First the ice they promised now covered in a layer of snow. Oh swell, more snow. Just what I dreamed of.
It is picturesque but driving will be a challenge if I want to get out of the house.
I have an ongoing affair with snow. Sometimes I love it. Last week the snow was so beautiful that the trees around our house were breathtaking. They looked like something out of a movie or a picture book. I was snug and cozy inside the house. It stayed like that for a couple of days.
Sometimes I hate it. I always hate it when I have to drive. Add ice to the mix and I am a total wreck. You never know when a patch of ice could be hiding and you start sliding. You never know when an innocent turn is going to become a slide. Stopping at a light could mean slipping into the intersection. I know the rules about steering into the slide. I learned that a while back the hard way. One time on my way home from school I was turning onto Babbit Road and the car started slipping...panic clutched my chest. It had never happened to me before. So I turned the wheel into the slide... except not. I turned the wheel the wrong way as I was sliding and the car spun completely around and was facing the other direction after crossing three lanes of traffic. Lucky for me, the other drivers were safe and paying attention. Once I realized the car was steady, I continued on (in the wrong direction now) as if I had planned it all along. I was just so grateful the kids weren't with me. They would have been terrified. So that is how I learned what turning into the slide really meant.
When I was little I loved the snow. I remember when we missed school for a whole week when I was in Kindergarten. In my little head, I thought we were home for a month. It was the kind of snow we don't get anymore. Deep and fluffy--the kind you wanted to eat with a spoon! I know I could go out and walk in the piles Daddy had shoveled so he could get out of the driveway. I made snow angels too. I can still feel the cold stinging my cheeks and the rough scarf against my mouth. It is one of the few things I remember from way back then.
Now I hate being out in the snow. It might be all those years that Brian was a paperboy and he and I had to drive through the snow (no matter what) to deliver the paper. We got stuck in banks and it took us forever to deliver those things. I can remember rocking the station wagon back and forth to get free just down at the end of the street. And it was so cold and windy the snow was whipping all around us. So near and yet so far!!
I think the reason I don't like winter and the snow anymore is because it rules our lives. If it is too cold or too snowy I stay put. That doesn't happen the rest of the year. In fall, spring, and summer I rule not the weather!!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Here we Vote again

Voting at 6:30AM So I just hopped out of bed and got dressed and went to vote with Kevin since it is supposed to be so bad out today. First, not that bad outside, which was a good sign. Ice was all over the car but that was no big deal to Kevin and he scraped it right up and we were off.Not many people were there at that hour but those who were looked surprisingly awake. Nobody was carrying one of those gallon size cups of coffee or anything. I felt surprisingly awake myself!This was all too good to be true. So the girl who was ahead of me and one other woman had changed her address and her last name. Uh-oh! The worker looked a little confused and her confusion grew as the kid kept saying it might be under my old name and the worker kept saying oh no honey. She called the Board of Elections after a bit of a go around and then explained to them 4 or 5 times that this young woman needed to vote but changed her address and name. Finally she got the go ahead. In the meantime, the woman in front of me has steam coming out of her ears! I could feel the anger wafting off of her and I was getting a little nervous. I hate conflict and dont want it to happen right in front of me. The woman turns around and now I am really worried cause I think she is going to drag me into it to...and it is the young woman's mother. They were the spitting image of each other. So now I'm trying not to laugh. I don't know what I thought would happen but I didnt expect twins of different age groups. She was mad as a hornet but thankfully she said nothing.Speaking of twins, our neighbors, the twin sisters were voting. Haven't seen them in years. Boy, they got old!(heehee) like we didn't. They probably didn't even recognize us! Anyway, I like the touch screen we have now. It is easy and quick. I got to vote as a Democrat for the first time and I'm not telling who I chose yet. Maybe in another post.So I came home and went right back to bed and didnt get up until now. The clock will probably say some ungodly hour that I typed this but it is almost 10am and I just got up. How lazy can you get?? I'll probably do this again when it is time to vote for President. Get up early, I mean. Oh, and vote too.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Getting Up

Why is it so darn hard to get up in the morning? I consider myself a morning person but getting out of that bed seems to be a mighty big challenge. Maybe it's because the bed is so cozy and comfy. I love the feeling of being wrapped up in the quilt and blanket like a butterfly in its cocoon.
I also love dreaming. My favorite is a flying dream. I haven't had one of those for a while but I love the floating feeling. I never fly like Superman. More like a bird. I can feel my arms outstretched and the wind pushing past me and my hair blowing in the breeze. I can see the earth below and swoop down to enjoy a lovely sight or to chase a villain.
I used to dream about school a lot. Not teaching so much(although I admit to those too) Mostly I dream about being late for a test I never studied for or going to gym after cutting for a long time and feeling the dread that I couldn't find my locker. For a while I kept dreaming about this old house that was in a not so good neighborhood but Kevin and I bought it anyway. We fixed it up--one dream at a time. There was a pool and if you walked through the back yard you would come to some dunes and crossing over them there was a beach. Inside the house the living room was sunken and had a grand piano. Last I knew we were stripping wall paper in the dining room. Then I never dreamt of it again. Isn't that funny? I must have had ten dreams about that house and I haven't dreamt of it in over two years now. I don't really have nightmares very often. I have learned to turn my dream around if it starts to happen. If I get that dreadful feeling I can often turn over in my sleep and it will stop. Sometimes I just change my reaction in the dream and that works. I read that somewhere.
I used to be quite the day dreamer in my younger days. I don't do that anymore. I don't know why. I sure have enough time on my hands to daydream. Maybe it's because I'm living the dream(Oh Right!) No, I think it is just I have too many other things to do. Just daydreaming seems like a waste of time.. not that I don't still have dreams. I still want to travel and do things that are of service to others. I want to work at Universal Studios in Seussland. I want to live in Florida and vacation in New Mexico. I want to take up drawing again. I want to learn to knit. I want to take classes at the local community college. I want to study my genealogy. That is just the short list.
Anyway now I'm fully awake so it's time to get going. I have work to do and hopefully a little shopping too. It's going to be a great day.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Call Me

So Kevin is on call this weekend. That means every time the phone rings or his pager goes off our life is on hold. I know this is a necessary part of his job but I do hate it. Once a month the whole weekend is blown. Just the anticipation of the calls rules our life. Can't go to the movies, can't shop, can't make any plans, sometimes we can't even go to the mall to walk! And that pager!! I could cheerfully toss that into the nearest dump(after I stomp on it vigorously and jump up and down on it). The worst part is that it goes off even if he isn't on call. Then it is a real pain because he always looks! He pretends not to but he does--every time. I refuse to take it on vacation and I know he wishes he could. Now I thought I was the only one who felt this way but a random conversation with the nurse at the doctor's office demonstrated that you are never really alone. We discovered that we were both going on vacation at the same time. And Sue(she is named Sue too--as was every tenth girl in our generation) says to me "And no way is he taking his beeper and his phone!! It is always going off and I just hate it. It's bad enough that he'll call the office every day if I don't stop him." His beeper will be next to Kevin's in the dump someday!
I really don't like the phone. All those OUT OF AREA calls are such a pain. I don't even answer them. I used to and most of the time it was silence or a computer. What a waste. Hate those telemarketers too. I know they have to make a living but REALLY? If you say no thanks they should have to hang up right away. My daughter tried to be a telemarketer at one time and she just couldn't do it. She was let go after she talked an old woman out of buying the magazines she was selling. The old lady was on a fixed income...she just couldn't go through with it.
I don't like talking on the phone much either. I like email. It is succinct and to the point. Some people don't like email at all. I always thought the phone left too much to interpretation. No one can see your facial expression over the phone but now one email you can add one of those little faces or LOL or whatever and then the other person knows.
That is not to say that I won't talk on the phone. Ask my sister and my daughter. In two days I logged over three hours on the phone with them. The phone is my daughter's and my life line. She calls me every day on her way to work(Well, almost every day) and gives me a rundown of her life. Sometimes we talk philosophically and sometimes we just chat.
Anyway this is getting kinda rambly and I don't want to be a rambler so I will sign off for now. Oh, crap, Kevin just got paged again!!!! And I want to go to Target(imagine that crying smiley face here). LOL!