Mentally and physically spent

This week has been tiring. Between trying to stay awake writing a proposal I knew nothing about and grade papers so my students would have the comment prior to their papers due today, I'm tired.

Then, I've had a few students in my office. One student stopped by to pick up her paper, I wasn't quite done, but I invited her to wait a few minutes so I could finish. While I finished, we chatted. This student isn't comfortable coming and talking to faculty members. One thing I have taken as my role is to aid students in their transition from high school and college. That includes keeping myself available and open to conversations with them.

This student "J" came by to talk to me about an issue related to her paper last week. She admitted that coming over was a big step. So, as we chatted, I inquired about her major. She didn't know this, but I am friends with her advisor and his wife. One day "A" mentioned to me that this student wasn't doing well in most of her classes. I didn't mention this, but wasn't surprised to hear that she wasn't sure she wanted to stay in her major. She liked being outside, so she was thinking about changing to forestry.

I suggested she talk to her advisor to see if there was a way the program at our university could meet her interests. She didn't want to change majors because she wasn't interested in the subject, just the way it's taught here.

I'm hoping she does talk before she changes. I think that she needs a better understanding of why she is leaving and what she is changing to before she jumps ship.

Unfortunately, I start to feel responsible for my students as if they are my own kids. I know I only see them for a few short weeks, but I like to see them succeed. If I can play a role in this, then as tiring as it is to decide the best way to help them, I know they will gain skills to succeed later.

Back to the Future: Way Back Wednesday

Once again, it's Way Back Wednesday brought to us by the lovely Kept Woman. Since we did "70's" Style last week, we may as well do "80's" Style this week because Hell, if you lived in the 70s, then you were around for the 80s too!

I discovered that I'm boring. My dress has always been conservative (owe to the fact that I never felt thin enough to wear anything too mainstream)- sweaters, button down shirts, etc. Also, I am a photographer by nature, therefore I take pictures of others. Most pictures of me were thing my friends probably have stashed in their closet. But, here are a few:



This is me and my sister in December 1987. Dana became a fashion merchandising major in college. Thanks to her, I always looked good.




Here is my group of friends in college during Spring Fest. I loved my little t-shirt dress and 2nd hand store cardigan sweater. I still miss that dress. This would have been spring 1987.



And because I love Shannon's pants (She's the one drinking). I'm not sure about the guy on the far left's choice of shorts. Without seeing his face, I think that was Brett. This was on my 21st birthday and was still one of my all-time favorite birthday's. Our annual Frisbee Golf landed on this day - we had a blast.

Shannon is still one of my closets friends and Sarah's godmother. I'm blaming her for Sarah's love of flip flops.

Did you play?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, I have to share my success in last night's class. Last night we held a class discussion about if we are ready to go to an openly gay military (as most NATO countries hold). The class divided into 3 groups based on their opinion: We are ready, stay with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and we need to go back to Ask and you must tell.

For 40 minutes, the class discussed this with almost no input from me. I was really impressed. I didn't have to pull teeth. When things settled down, I'd ask someone who didn't say much what they thought and the conversation would roll again.

Driving home, I wondered if it was because they understood their own opinion. I speculated if I should move this topic earlier in the semester. But, I realized quickly (and my husband echoed my thoughts) that part of the reason it worked was that they trusted each other with their personal opinions. This was a more private topic. Holding this discussion before they knew each other would not have worked as well.

As they were moving back to their normal seats, one girl said "that was a fun discussion." My professional pride beamed!

P.S. Paper's still aren't graded. Sorry Danielle - I'm just a prof with good intentions. They will have them tomorrow.

not today

Desperately trying to grade papers for tonight's class and finish a proposal due today.

I'll blog tomorrow - should be a WBW!

Spring Training & still soliciting camera advice

Sarah has wanted to play t-ball for the past few years. Last year was the first year she was old enough. But, I was hesitant to sign her up because I learned that t-ball is 2 nights and a Sat in our league. I don't know if that is normal for 5 and 6 year olds, but it seems a bit much. A woman at work said her DD played one year and by the end of the 6 weeks, all the kids on the team just looked too tired.

Half the season will be during school. Sarah, when she is too tired, throws alot of tantrums. As much as she wants to play, am I being fair to her and our family by letting her play. We haven't mention this to her, but we need to make a decision soon. I hate being the parent sometime.

Is this schedule normal for this age? Does our league have too much? I wonder if we could just show up 1 night and Sat and skip the extra night. I may inquire.


NOW, in other questions - Sat I posted a question about digial cameras. I'm still looking for advice:

I have wanted to buy a digital camera for a while, but since I started blogging the pull to go digital has become stronger. I'm so jealous of those who don't have to wait 5 days to post a picture.

So, I ask you this - what do you look for in a camera? What do you currently use? What do you like/hate about your current camera? What is your dream camera?

Lurkers, chime in too please!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

On March 24, 1979, my Dad (ok, step-dad) married us (my mom, sister and I). My parents added a Quaker Wedding Covenant to their ceremony, having all the guests sign in support of their marriage. It was something my DH and I did for our wedding. It hangs in our living room as a visible reminder of the promise we made, much as it has for my parents. As we were looking for words to add to our own covenant, we could find none that expressed our feelings as well as the words my parents used.

"I am married to you in Truth, Compassion, Faith, and Love. I will be true to you. I will honor and cherish you. We will work for each other. We will protect and support and provide all that is necessary for our sustenance, even as it becomes all human beings to do. To love somebody is not just a strong feeling--it is a decision, a judgment, a promise."

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Thanks for being a great role model for me of how to fight for your marriage over the year and how important it is to not give up.

Kirsten

Sunday Six - Vacation!

"Sunday Six!" is a game where Kelly asks us to have six questions answered. Remember, the idea is to post answers to the following six question, but the trick is to get your kids to answer them! If you don't have kids, use your imagination... Your pet, your neighbor, your elderly family member, your roommate, etc. Did you play? Let me and Kelly know.

Today I was able to ask Sarah (SB - age 6 yrs 2 mos) and Sydney (SK - age 3 yrs 2 mos) the Sunday 6. I asked Sydney first so she was not influenced by her big sister's answers. Here they are:

1. What is a sleep over?

SK: You get your blanket and pillow

SB: You go to someone's house and bring a pillow, blanket and sleeping bag.

2. What do you take with you to a sleep over?

SK: Your blanket and pillow and sleeping bag (and I have other things too - I'm waiting for my sister to tell me).

SB: Blanket, pillow and sleeping bag and your teddy bear, toothbrush and toothpaste

3. What is vacation?

SK: NO, I want to do the sleeping one.

SB: you go someplace and stay for a night and bring toothbrush and teddy bear.

4. What do you do on vacation?

SK: No, I want to do the sleeping one.

SB: You go someplace and you get to stay there for a little bit.

5. What do you do after a sleep over?

SK: I don't know - go home. I say go home too.

SB: You go home and you clean up the house some more and keep cleaning up, repeat.

6. Do you like vacation?

SK: No I like the sleeping over.

SB: Yes. Cause you get to go visit someone or see someone or go to a different place.

Sydney was a little obsessed about question #2. She wanted to go back and add more after Sarah's answers!

Enjoy your day!

Need advice on Digital Cameras

I have wanted to buy a digital camera for a while, but since I started blogging the pull to go digital has become stronger. I'm so jealous of those who don't have to wait 5 days to post a picture.

So, I ask you this - what do you look for in a camera? What do you currently use? What do you like/hate about your current camera? What is your dream camera?

Lurkers, chime in too please!!

Happy Sat.

I'm back to writing the proposal I have to finish today for work. I need my boss to have it in time to re-write it this weekend.

Oh the words I want to say

I'm in a foul mood. More about that another day, I need to think about it first.

But, my mood was NOT improved when I woke up the AM to find 2 inches of snow on the ground. Remember my picture from yesterday (scroll down if you don't). My yard has looked like this since January. I've not seen green grass since December. I'm sooooo tired of this. I hate that my life has become remote car starters and clearing snow off cars. It's almost APRIL, I want sunshine, I want to wear a light jacket rather than freezing my arse off in 24 degree weather. I want to swing rather than think about sledding and snow shoeing.

I WANT SPRING!!

My lovely front yard - edited!

Just wanted to share how my yard looks on March 23.



Sarah did well at the dentist. Because of the location of the cavity, they could use this special tool to vibrate the area to clean it out instead of drilling - i.e., no novicane shot! Plus, they have a TV in the room so she could watch CBC.

It is very hard dealing with Sarah sometimes because she is both a very sensitive kid and one who is very uncertain. If she isn't sure the outcome of something, she worries until it's over. She also falls into baby talk when she is scared. We have been working on her at home about the baby talk. We allow her to be sad, scared and uncertain, but we don't allow the baby talk. One of her friends and another kid in child care hurt her feelings this morning when they were calling her a baby. I tried to gently tell her that when she is feeling scared, she sometimes falls back on baby talk and that she needs to make sure she is using her normal voice and sentences to express herself.

It's tough being parents.

Opps and kid cavities

Last night, I pulled out my old photos to try to play WBW. I don't have a digital camera, so that knocks me out of most of the rest. I set the pictures aside to scan them at work (no scanner at home either), but they are still there.

You will have to wait until another day.

Tomorrow, my 6 y.o. has to have her first cavity filled. If anyone can share their kids experiences and what to expect, I'd really appreciate it. She's a bit nervous - Sarah has a tendency to not like anything when she doesn't know what to expect.

Thanks.

What we learn in the shower

In class tonight, I was laying the groundwork for next weeks lecture. We are going to debate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." I was trying to give the kids enough information to complete their paper while keep them from debating the issue before they completed their reading.

One guy (this is relevant) mentioned that he would know if he was showering with someone who was gay. I asked him if the person would have a tattoo on them.

He commented that if he were to walk into a women's shower, the women would know that he were attracted to women.

I do believe next week should be interesting.

I hate it when a plan falls apart

I remember my life sans kids - actually it was sans spouse too. I used to get up three mornings a week at 5:30 and would be in the pool swimming by 6:00 am. I would run at lunch every day (the gym was on the first floor of my office) and I would do aerobics after work. I loved my life as a gym rat. But, exercise had a goal as I would do sprint triathalons.

Today, I tried to get up at 6:00 to spend 1/2 hour exercising before I had to take my shower. The girls have to be woken up at 7:00 so they can get ready. If I want to get in any exercise, it has to be before they wake up.

So, the first one woke up at 5:55, the second at 6:05. It took me until 6:20 to finish getting drinks and breakfast for the girls so I could start to exercise. I did manage my exercise, but it was with an audience.

Unfortunately, DH is going to have tired girls tonight while I teach class. Not a good mix.

Well, no wonder

Yesterday, I was in charge of coffee hour at church. Knowing I would be there late cleaning up, I arranged for my DH to pick up Sydney so she could get some much needed rest.

Fast forward to last night:

Sydney wasn't falling asleep. I suspect part of it was that DH put her to bed too early. I discovered while he was on travel that 8:30 was the best time to go to bed, not the usual 7:45. Well, at 9:00, she was screaming from her room that she was hungry. She wandered out and all of a sudden I look at DH and say, "Did she have lunch?" Well, the answer was no.

One peanut butter and jelly sandwich later (yes Spikey , I used the same knife for peanut butter and jelly and I don't wash it off between - a swipe on the bread is good enough), she was fast asleep.

Sunday Six - Spring???

"Sunday Six!" is a game where Kelly asks us to have six questions answered. Remember, the idea is to post answers to the following six question, but the trick is to get your kids to answer them! If you don't have kids, use your imagination... Your pet, your neighbor, your elderly family member, your roommate, etc. Did you play? Let me and Kelly know.


Today I was able to ask Sarah (SB - age 6 yrs 2 mos) and Sydney (SK - age 3 yrs 2 mos) the Sunday 6. I asked Sydney first so she was not influenced by her big sister's answers. Here they are:


1. Are you ready for Spring?

SK: Yes.

SB: Oh Yes!

2. What do you like most about Spring?

SK: Making a snowman.

SB: That means summer is on it's way.

3. Do you think you need to do some Spring Cleaning?

SK: Yes.

SB: No.

4. What is Spring?

SK: It's the snow.

SB: The sunshine shines more and the flowers grow.

5. What does it mean to have Spring Fever?

SK: Cause it do.

SB: You get sick in spring.

6. What is Spring Break?

SK: I don't know.

SB: You get to stay home and play.

Now, if Kodak had not made a mistake and forgotten to send my photo CD, I'd post pictures of my front yard and you would see why my 3 year old thinks spring is a time to make snowmen. I'll scan it at work tomorrow and share.

This little piggy had roast beef

It's approaching sandal weather. I've always hated my toes. My baby toe has no nail to speak of, so it looks funny polished.

My youngest child has a toe that wants to hide behind the other. I don't' know the proper name, so I've identified it as the toe that wants Roast Beef. It tries to hide behind the toe that stays home. According to Sydney's doctor, it's hereditary. I've never seen it on anyone in my family, so I'm guessing it's from Joe's (although his mom doesn't know of anyone). I will admit, I've never inspected my family's toes.

But, after causing me to birth really big babies (Sarah was 8 lbs 5 oz and Sydney was 9 lbs 4 oz), I blame any imperfection on my husband's family. My family has small babies (all in the 7 lbs range). DH and his siblings were all 8 and 9 lbs. So, I know where those genetics come from.

I just hope that Syndey doesn't hate her unique toes as she grows older. I will admit, I rarely wear sandals because I have never made peace with my toes.

Am I giving away the farm

One of the hardest thing as a teacher is deciding how to meet the needs of the individual student. My life as a parent has helped with this. After all, daily I am trying to balance the needs of the family with the needs of the individual child.

Today, I had to make the decision of how to help a student succeed while still being fair to my other students. He is an international student and has struggled in my class. There were several things with his paper that needed help. I made the executive decision to give him a few days extra for the assignment if he would use the writing center to improve his paper.

He had turned in his paper a couple of days early and I knew that he had a few major mistakes that were going to cost him a good grade.

I really want to see my kids succeed. I can't do the work for them, but I try to give them the guidance and tools they need to succeed. If they chose not to use them, it is their choice.

I hope in this case I did the right thing. I worry that by giving him additional time, I'm not being fair to the class. Or, that he will start to expect that he will always receive extras. I just have to remind myself that he didn't ask for special treatment.

I hope I've made the right choice.

edited to say: I had an email from the student thanking me.

Pioneer Woman, Hear me Roar!

When faced with 24-32 inches of snow (reported, not sure what we got at home but it was at least 24 inches) and a DH on travel (his plane is in the air), I found that I had to give myself a crash lesson in using one of these:




Thankfully the directions were on the snow blower itself. I figured it out, and blew enough snow yesterday afternoon for my friend to drop off my child and this morning for me to get out and the mail to get in.

WOW that thing is hard to use! I did cancel class tonight. It was unclear if DH's plane would be able to land as we are due more snow today/tonight and this week.

I could have sworn the calendar said March.

[DH seemed duly impressed that I was able to get the blower to work and even offered to let me take over the snow blowing duties on a regular basis. He offered this once before, but that time he wanted to trade breast feeding a newborn for snow blowing. I don't mind clearing snow from a roof, but not big on snow blowing.]

Spring - COME BACK!

Yep, March 13. Eight days until spring (according to the calendar).

SO, can someone explain why I had to pick my child up from school for a 1/2 day due to snow?

If I had a digital camera, I'd take a picture. It's a little unbelievable.

Out of a warm cozy bed

This morning, with swirling snow outside, I forced myself out of bed to exercise. It wasn't a lot time wise (as my body needs to ease into this Pilates DVD else I can't move for 5 days) , but when faced with 15 minutes of sleep or 15 minutes of exercise, I forced myself out of bed.

Now, if I can manage to do this 300 more times in the next 12 mos, I just might accomplish something. They say the first 21 days are the worst.

Sunday Six - Lucky Charms

"Sunday Six!" is a game where Kelly asks us to have six questions answered. Remember, the idea is to post answers to the following six question, but the trick is to get your kids to answer them! If you don't have kids, use your imagination... Your pet, your neighbor, your elderly family member, your roommate, etc. Did you play? Let me and Kelly know.


Today I was able to ask Sarah (SB - age 6) and Sydney (SK - age 3) the Sunday 6. I asked Sydney first so she was not influenced by her big sister's answers. Here they are:

1. What is a Shamrock?

SK: I don't know. Said softly while laying in her chair

SB: I don't know.

2. Why do we wear green on St. Patrick's Day?

SK: I don't know. Said softly while laying in her chair

SB: Or else the elves will get you.

3. Are you Irish?

SK: No.

SB: I don't know.
If we are, it's barely

4. What happens if you don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day?

SK: I don't know. Said softly while laying in her chair

SB: The elves will get you.

5. What does "Erin Go Bragh" mean?

SK: I don't know. Said softly while laying in her chair

SB: I don't know.
Neither do I

6. What is a Lucky Charm?

SK: Shapes and Sizes. Said enthusiastically as she sits up

SB: Shapes and Sizes.
Shapes and Sizes is Sydney's name for Lucky Charms cereal.

Snow - part two

Since blogger will let me post this picture now, this is one of the machines (with front end loaders and snow plows) that we used to remove snow.

The snow blower knife area is 9 feet.



Before moving here, I never knew such a thing existed.

Sometimes it's nice to hear you made a difference

Tonight, I took the girls to their favorite diner for dinner. Our waitress looked familiar, and I discovered just before we left that she was in my class (ok, I asked her if she had a relative named T and she said, no that's me.) But, I dirgress.

She mentioned that she's been watching the Enron coverage now because she understands some of it as a result of what we discussed in class.

I'm so thrilled that I touched one kids life and expanded her world a little.

Edited to correct Enron. Thanks Spikey.

This is just wrong

I consider myself a feminist. I believe it is the responsibility of women to support each other. I believe in equal pay for equal work. I believe that women should be alowed to chose if they want to stay home or work outside the home. I believe that no matter which choice we make, we should support each other.

This Marriage Contract is just wrong.


As much as I believe women should be able to chose, I truely believe that this man is more interested in a play thing than a partner.

Who knew snow could be this much fun

Normally by now, I'm tired of snow. We get an average of 200 inches of snow a year. Snow removal takes front end loader and dump trucks. We also use these mega snowblowers (think front end loader sized snow blowers) [I tried to upload a picture, but blogger won't let me]. So, these mega snowblowers or front end loaders will load snow into dumptrucks to haul it away.

So, after spending months hauling snow out of the town, what would inspire the crews to haul the snow back to the streets? Creating a one night only street sledding run of course!

So, after dinner tonight we packed the kids up with the sleds and went sledding down the street of our town. As Sarah and I had just finished a run, I hear "the next person to walk up to me and say "I have achy bones" will get a gift certificate for a free massage." It didn't take me long to drag Sarah to the local radio personality to claim my prize. Sarah even got to talk on the radio (she's pretty pumped about this).

So, several runs down the street and a prize later, we took the kids home and proclaimed the evening lots of fun.

This was done in celebration of the Junior Olympics happening this week, but we really hopes it becomes an annual event.

Sorry, no pictures. I was too busy sledding.

Sunday Six - Games

"Sunday Six!" is a game where Kelly asks us to have six questions answered. Remember, the idea is to post answers to the following six question, but the trick is to get your kids to answer them! If you don't have kids, use your imagination... Your pet, your neighbor, your elderly family member, your roommate, etc. Did you play? Let me and Kelly know.


Today I was able to ask Sarah (SB - age 6) and Sydney (SK - age 3) the Sunday 6. I asked Sydney first so she was not influenced by her big sister's answers. Here they are:


1. When you play a game, do you like to win or lose?

SK: win
SB: win

2. Do you cheat (when you play a game?)

SK: Yes
SB: No

3. What is your favorite game?

SK: Playing the duck game (pick the ducks up out of a pretend river).
SB: Trouble

4. Do you like games with dice, balls or spinners?

SK: Yeah
SB: Yes

5. What do you say if you win the game?

SK: Go.
SB: Um, Yea.

6. Why do we have rules for a game?

SK: I the baby (Sydney has gone back to playing her other game and lost interest in answering questions)
SB: To play the game right.

Kids Olympics

This morning, I did something that Meritt our local Coffee House Mom would never do - it took me over an hour to make my coffee. During this time, I made kids breakfast, snacked on something myself, worked on cleaning the hotspots in my kitchen, scanned some blogs . . . all the while telling my kids to wait while I make my coffee. It was once I got to Meritt's blog that I realized she would never put cleaning before coffee.

So, stopped immediately and made my coffee before I worked on cleaning some more.

I'm taking a minute to tell you about yesterday's Olympics before I get ready to leave for the day.

I had a lot of fun playing with the kindergarten class yesterday. I brought along another mom. She is from Mexico and only speaks Spanish. My Spanish is 20 years old and was never very good. It's pretty much down to what I've learned from Dora the Explorer.

So, I looked up some basic Spanish phrases on-line so we could communicate during the day. I know I would want someone to try to communicate with me. You could tell she appreciated my efforts. I know her son appreciated my bringing her to class. She is a bit of an introvert.

First we had a torch relay to the gym, then played 3 games - skiing, skeleton, and tumbling. OK, tumbling is part of the summer Olympics, but we knew the kids would enjoy it. Then, afterwards we had a medal ceremony and snack.

The kids loved it, Sarah's teacher enjoyed it. I'm very glad I took the time to teach the kids about something different. I'm grateful that our school system allows different to be taught during the year, and I'm grateful that Sarah's teacher is open to parents teaching things.

I told her teacher that anytime she wants to do team teaching, even if I don't have a kid in her class, to give me a call. She told me that she loves my openness to modify what I'm teaching to the kid's mood that day.

I do this a bit with my college students too. I'm willing to modify to their interests, what is capturing the interest of that section or group of students. My own struggles with learning have helped me know that not everyone has the same learning style. It's one of the things that intimidates me if I end up teaching this class for the business school. I won't have quite the same flexibility with my lesson plans.

I've turned in my teaching statement this week. Now I wait to see if they will offer the job to me. My boss is concerned that I'm getting in over my head. I'm concerned about trying to teach a class that will require me to develop a semester long class section again this summer.

But, until the job is offered, there is no reason to decide if I will take the job.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I might need more coffee!

My favorite sweatshirt

Today, I was getting dressed for a very casual day - meaning a sweatshirt. I have many sweatshirts. They tell the story of where I have worked or gone to school. Each one tells a story of my life. I must admit, I have a hard time letting go of the ones that are my favorites.

But, like my kids, I have a hard time choosing my favorites.

I suppose with my attachment to my sweatshirt, I should not be surprised that my daughter is attached to her socks. I discovered last night that she was wearing a pair of socks with her toes hanging out of both pairs. Granted she was way overthrew when we had this conversation, but as I told her that she needed to throw her socks away, she was traumatized. This morning she tried to wear socks that had a hole in the heel.

Today we are having the kids Olympics at Sarah's school. One of the events is to speed skate (stick with me, I might have a point). For this, the kids are going to skate with on the gym floor with their socks. Sarah was making sure she wore socks that didn't have nibby things on the bottom. I was talking to her teacher this morning and found out that yesterday her teacher was telling everyone to wear nibby-free socks at school for today. Imagine my shock when I discovered that Sarah, in an attempt to show her classmates what nibby things they didn't want to wear, she took off her shoes (exposing her toes) during class.

I'm not sure I have much of a point today, but I've been thinking about attachment to things and my horror of looking like a bad mom now that my child is dressing herself.

Oh, and if I had a digital camera, I'd show you my Canadian maple leaf birth mark.

20 pairs of shocked eyes

Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to my Flag,

and (to*) the Republic for which it stands:

one Nation indivisible,

With Liberty and Justice for all.

By: Mr. Francis Bellamy of Rome, New York
Columbus Day October 1892

When I asked my students to read the Pledge of Allegiance last night in class, they all looked at my quizically. After all, what I had on screen was not the Pledge - or so they thought.

What they had not known until last night was that the original Pledge has been modified 3 times.

Last week we had a lesson on separation of Church and State (and the First Amendment). I was hoping to generate some class discussion using an example that they could relate to. This lesson worked better than I could have imagined. They were energenic, active, and seemed to enjoy class.

Many were surprised to discover that the words "under God" had been added to the Pledge only in the 1950s. Many felt the pledge should remain untouched, some were unsure if it should change (including one student who is Hindu and mentioned that he has 12 Gods). One felt it should change.

On inventive student thought we should make God lower case (i.e, under god), thereby generalizing the word. Nobody had a good answer for the Aethists.

Teaching can be fun!