You may be of age, but I'm still responsible

As some of you know, I teach a class to freshman. As a result, I feel responsible for the content of information I force them to read or view.

One of the segments we study is the impact the business culture of Enron played a role in it's implosion. Since we don't have time to read the entire book, we watch the documentary about Enron and read a chapter. Unfortunately, the director's of the documentary decided that it was a great idea to put about 2 minutes of film footage of a strip club as they talk about the interest one of the CEO of a division in Enron held. The information is relevant to the story, but the footage isn't really necessary and take the movie from a PG/PG-13 to a R rating.

So, I block that portion of the video out when showing it to my class.

Inevitably, I have students who remind me that *they* are of age and can watch an R movie. I remind them that if they want to view the 2 minutes, they can rent the DVD from blockbuster but that *I* can't be in a position that I have forced someone to watch something they might feel is inappropriate. It's also not fair for me to poll the class as someone might not feel comfortable indicating that they are not interested in watching those 2 minutes.

So, I set my computer up so I could jump over that segment while we watch it. Unfortunately, I could not get the audio to work so I had to show the movie through the DVD player. I knew I had 28 minutes to figure out how to work around this.

Thankfully, after 20 minutes, the solution presented itself. The projector in the classroom has 2 settings, one to project video, one to project computer images. So, when the segment came, I switched to computer and we watched a blue screen while listening to the commentary. It worked even better than the plan on my computer since we were able to hear the two minutes of talk rather than jumping over the stories about this man.

I'm not willing to risk my job over a two minute visit to a strip club - even if it is a movie.

Score one more for the wildlife

Yesterday AM I had to wake DH to remove the squirrel that had broken into wandered into our house. It was just a little guy.

I saw something bigger than a mouse run through the living room, but had no idea what it was. I went to the office to tell the girls that something was in the house. A few minutes later they told me that he had just climbed the blinds and was now sitting on the couch.

So, girls out of the office, close door, hope squirrel didn't run under the door and wake up DH.

DH got squirrel out.

So, we are now at:
inside:
Mice
Squirrels - both flying and domestic
Baby Raccoon
Bat

outside:
Deer
Bear
various socially acceptable backyard animals

The Energizer Sydney

At 6:40, I hear "Mommy, I can't find my blue blankie"

And so the day begins. She gets up, she poops, she starts to play. My job, is to keep her quiet enough that she doesn't wake her big sister. Hard to do with a child who doesn't understand whisper. Who doesn't walk anywhere but runs.

So, right now we are playing tea party (actually, she has us drinking coffee). Sydney has added a sound effect to the tea pot, sugar, and creamer. She has dictacted how many of each sound you must make as you add them to the cup.

I'm not sure what she is doing now, but all that is required of me is to make the appropriate noises as she asks questions.

I do love my early morning time with Sydney. When she has free run of the toys and no sister to fight with for them.

Yesterday we had family portraits taken at Walmart. I love the girl we use there, she works so hard to get a good picture of the girls. I found her when I was talking to Sarah's kindergarten teacher last year and discovered that her neice was the new manager at the new photo place at Walmart. She has lots of experience taking pictures of kids and works hard at finding creative ways to position kids when she is required to take pictures of kids on a table - no floor shots.

I have a great shot for Christmas cards.

I'm not as thrilled with our family portrait, but grateful that DH didn't complain once, he just got dressed and smiled.

I can't wait to get them back.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Had a lovely Thanksgiving with my friend Amanda and her family. The kids actually played well together and Amanda took over some of my cooking so I could dash a shower before we sat to eat.

Somehow I got all the food cooked at the same time. Amanda was impressed with this. I think I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner - or some part of it - for most of the about 7 of the last 9 years. I decided to get a Butterball Turkey rather than the organic that I could brine. It was wonderful. I think I'll stick with it as I've not been thrilled with our organic that last two years.

Amanda's pumpkin and first apple pie were wonderful.

Just as we sat to dinner, Sarah wandered over and said "We should go around and say what we are thankful for. Sarah started with "family, friends, and good food" It was very sweet.

Today started with our normal tradition (started when I was young) and the ceremonial moving of the TV into the kitchen and starting the chex mix. Then while watching the Macy's Day Parade, I started the stuffing and the day went from there. It was a long cooking day. My girls would run in and watch part of the parade when their favorite floats or balloons were on.

I wandered into the living room and found the girls sitting together. As I walked back in with my camera, I found Sarah leaning over Sydney and whispering in her ear about all the balloons they would see in the parade.

Here they are watching the parade together.


My legs were really tired last night from standing all day, but it was so nice.

Today we are heading to Walmart for pictures of the girls for Christmas cards. I think I may take the package deal as a family portrait since we've not done one in years. I'm not sure we've had one done since Sarah was 1 or 2 (and well, Sydney wasn't here).

Later this spring, we will do a real family portrait with a photographer I like. Her preference is to do pictures on the beach. She has a business similar to Mrs. DallasKs'

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday.

Sunday Six - Thanksgiving

"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 so we can visit you. Today I was able to ask Sarah (SB - age 6) and Sydney (SK - age 3) the questions.

1. Do you like to eat Turkey?

SK: Uh uh - NO, No I don't mama.

SB: No way.

2. Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?

SK: I don't know.

SB: Because the pilgrims came across the Atlantic Ocean from England and they found land and they called it Plymouth and most didn't live through winter and when spring came they planted food and the indians taught them lots of stuff. And when summer came they picked a lot of food for the long winter. In fall, they had a feast with the Indians. The reason I got all this information is because Mrs. Petersen (her 1st grade teacher) read this book to us and we learned what they did when they didn't have any food our houses.

3. What other foods do you eat at Thanksgiving?

SK: I don't know.

SB: What do we eat mommy? (mom: well, traditionally we eat turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, green beans and pumpkin pie.)

4. Which would you rather be, a pilgrim or an Indian? (why?)

SK: I don't know.

SB: Pilgrim, actually I'd rather be an Indian. Because they taught the pilgrim's stuff.

5. Where do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

SK: At houseys

SB: At our house.

6. Do you have a special tradition for Thanksgiving, if so, what is it?

SK: Uh uh.

SB: I don't know.

Mom: Actually we do have one special tradition - for breakfast we have Chex mix while watching the parade.

SB: Oh yea, I like the parade. You usually take your TV from your room and put it in the kitchen and then we can watch the parade while in the kitchen.

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

I'm a bit bummed. Yesterday I got a letter in the mail that I didn't get the job I applied for. I can handle not getting the job, but I thought for sure I'd make it to the 2nd round. After all, this is essentially taking 1/2 my current tasks and performing them on a larger scale. I know I'm qualified. UGH.

I had some neat sucesses with students in my class, but I'll write about them later.

Walking the line of fair and learning

Last night for class - I kicked half of them out. I knew I was going to experience this.

For class, they had to do a reading. It was on library reserve and it was a tough one. To help, my plan was to review the writing in class to help answer questions they had. In order for this to work, they had to read it.

The excuses were pathetic - I had to study for exams, etc. OK, not completely pathetic - I probably need to rethink what we work on the week before Thanksgiving break for next semester - but well, . . .

So, last night I worked with the group who had read the assignment. Thursday, the other half will come in. The entire class will have to do their peer review on the paper due after break, but then those who were kicked out of class Tuesday will have to stay to review the reading.

I tried to think about what would be fair to those who read the assignment vs. those who didn't. When should you continue to teach those unprepared rather than leave them uneducated in a skill they need. When do you give them a second chance?

It's hard. I struggled a bit with just kicking them out and leaving them with nothing vs. giving them the opportunity to learn what they need to know. I finally settled on those who didn't do the assignment could come back to learn what they need - although it will probably take a bit longer than scheduled class time - but they will have to write short paper.

*shakes head* Sometimes I don't like being in charge.

Back in the 80s

Saturday night I went to the best party. Two of my friends were turning 40. So, with two 40s you of course have an 80s party.

It was so much fun. We all had to dress in our 80s best outfits and bring 80s introduced snack food. I was able to get some bigger hair. In fact, Sarah asked me if I did something different to my hair. When I confirmed that I had she announced to my ILs "Mommy did something to her hair so she would look like a different person." It was too cute.

My friends put together some 80s mix music and we ended up in a circle of women dancing - much as I did in college - with the occasional husband wandering in to join us. My friends were impressed that I could manage to dance in 3 in heels. I did trade them in for my other shoes after an hour or so.

We are thinking about having another decade party for New Years.

The funniest part was that we started at 6:00 and left around 9:30 or 10:00. *shakes head* I"ve become a party lightweight.

Earlier that day, I drove to the next town over that had shopping (90 miles away). I didn't have as much fun as I would have normally as I had a lovely 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 spins on some ice. I managed to keep the car from hitting anything (thank goodness there were no cars near me). I thankfully got an idea that I'm OK with winter driving.

I didn't have as much fun shopping as I was more worried about the weather. But, my MIL did talk me into buying the Kitchen Aid stand mixer I've been drooling over for 2 years. I have had a hard time justifying spending the money on something that isn't used constantly. I've already made bread with it.

I can't wait to make gingerbread this holiday season!

Voting

I voted already! Sometimes I really like living where I do because voting doesn't take too long. I remember living in the DC area and standing in line for 2 hours to vote in a presidential election.

I was also proud of myself because while I was in a hurry, I didn't vote straight party. Part of the reason was that there was an incumbent from the other party who I thought was doing a good job. She deserved to keep it. That's not to say that the other candidate might not have done an equal job - but I didn't see any reason to vote her out on party lines.

We are one of the states who is voting for a new Govenor. It's been an interesting battle. Our economy is shaken and unemployment is high. I'm not sure that the Govenor is completely to blame. After all, our legislative branch is dominated by the opposing party. They have almost decided that they would sit back and do minimal work until the Gov. was blamed and voted out of office. It's close to happening - and might if the opposing candidate was more appealing.

But, the truth is that the Gov can't make laws any more than the president. They can suggest, they can veto, but they can't make them. Our legislature hasn't proposed laws to help attract business, they have submitted the budgets, etc. But, the Gov is being blamed.

In my mind, the only way the Gov is completely to blame is if the legislature has been submitting bills that the Gov is vetoing. Then the legislature can claim that they Gov is holding up progress.

But, when the legislature isn't doing anything - then they need to accept some of the blame.

In our case, we can also blame business for the state of our economy and unemployment. Our state is dependent on one industry. It's not the current Gov fault - it's been decades in the making. But, the decisions of these companies has directly impacted their demise.

So, should we be investing in the skills of our students so they are seen as being able to do more types of jobs so we attract more companies, should we try to attract other industries and hope they will find our skill set attractive enough without bringing their own employees without hiring our citizens - I don't know.

I just know that we can't lay the entire blame at the feet of the Gov and if we feel that we need a party change in the Gov. Mansion, we probably need one in the legislature too as they have also failed us.

Join me, and Vote!

Sunday Six - Family

"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 so we can visit you. Today I was able to ask Sarah (SB - age 6) and Sydney (SK - age 3) the questions. DH wandered in and wanted to answer too - so you have a DH bonus answers.

1. What is a family?

SK: I don't want to tell you.

SB: It someone who lives with you.

DH: It's not two gay people living together, that's for sure. (Sarah laughs and Sydney says: That was funny Daddy. DH: You don't know how funny it was Sydney) [DH is a democrat]

2. How big is your family?

SK: 4 people.

SB: 4 people in it.

DH: I have two families - 1 has five people and 1 has 4 people (His parents and siblings are 5, our group, is 4).

3. Who is the leader of the family?

SK: Mommy

SB: I don't know. Who do you think it is? (Kirsten: This is your answer) Mommy.

DH: Sarah.

4. Who is the youngest in the family?

SK: I am, because I'm bigger than all of you (and a little confused w/ her words)

SB: Sydney (Sydney: you are right Sarah).

DH: Sydney, or Uncle Jim. It depends.

5. What do you do as a family?

SK: Play!!

SB: We clean up the house!

DH: We go on vacations.

6. What do you love most about your family?

SK: Play with you (points to mommy)

SB: They love me. (Sydney: yea, we love you.)

DH: That they are all so silly!

Under God

I pledge allegiance to my Flag,
and (to*) the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.

This was the original pledge as written by Mr. Frances Bellamy of Rome, New York
Columbus Day October 1892

This week in my class, we discussed the Separation of Church and State and the First Amendment.

The First Amendment was changed three times. The first was in 1923, when the words "the flag of the United States" were substituted for "my flag." In 1924, "of America" was added to reduce confusion over which United States. Mr. Bellamy protested these changes, but his opinion was ignored. On Flag Day June 14, 1954, the words "under God" were added.

If you notice, this was initiated during McCarthyism when there were blacklists for people suspected of Communism activity.

According to President Eisenhower, as he authorized the change, "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."

Essentially, we wanted to ensure that no Communist could pledge to our flag because they didn't believe in God. But, this still only represented those faithful members of the American Society who believed in God. As we know, there are many religions in the United States - even in the 1950s who don't believe in God. Not to mention those who atheistiest.

We talked a bit about if having "under God" in the pledge was appropriate. Some were pretty much on the fence, some felt strongly it should not be removed. I played Devil's advocate and took the position that it should be removed. One student,atheistiest, joined me in the role.

I felt that I made quite a breakthrough when I asked one student, who is very open about her faith, if Christianity was the minority, and the pledge stated "under Allah" instead - would the pledge lose it's power? Could she say the words "under Allah" if she believed in God? It was fun watching the wheels turn in her head as she admitted that it would lose something for her, and she could not do this. Earlier she held the position that it shouldn't be modified for those who didn't believe in God.

I don't think that I convinced her that it should change, but I did get her to consider that it's something more than just words when you don't believe.

Trick or Treat

Last night, I managed to squeeze Trick or Treating in before heading to class. I didn't have time to shower before class, so I put on a ball cap, my oversized Sports Illustrated fleece and called myself a "Sports Fan." It worked.

I had fun in Sarah's and Sydney's classes yesterday - as did they. I got there a little early so I was able to read a story to Sarah's class.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday. I didn't manage to get a picture of the girls last night dressed in there warm coats (it was about 33 degrees and windy), but we had fun. Sydney (3) greeted all with a "Happy Trick or Treat" as we got to each house. Too cute.

OK, blogger won't let me upload photos. They will come later.