Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Friday, January 08, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
A dog and his Snuggie
to work and school. And, so that you know, he is Most Definitely Not
Allowed on the Couch. See how that works?!
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Onward, ho!
I am celebrating today in a sweatshirt. This is not just any sweatshirt; it is one that was bought on deep discount in June from the school where I was working on my Master's degree, in part because it was on deep discount and in part because the air conditioning in the lecture room could not be turned off and we were all blue with cold. How far away that day is now, in the coldest, darkest part of winter at a cool 9 degrees Fahrenheit, my Master's degree all completed, and the heat keeping us all toasting warm despite the weather. This is also not an ordinary sweatshirt because it is the sweatshirt I search out when I want a comfortable, cozy, happy day. That is the reason it is on today. I have come to love this sweatshirt and the way it feels. I searched out this sweatshirt with this exact feeling in mind.
This is significant because tomorrow I go back to work. There have been stressful times there, Internet, and it has little to do with the 175 teenagers I see every day. Hard to believe, isn't it? While every job has its stresses, we have gone through budget cuts, layoffs, pay cuts, new administration, extended hours and increased class sizes - all of this since the school year began. So, even though I love what I do, it is hard to get up some days and face it with a smile. Tomorrow, 5:30 will come all too early. However, always moving forward.
My husband has started putting walls up in the basement in an effort to organize some of our space. I am inordinately happy about this progress, and in a few days he has managed to close in a storage area, a place for a bathroom, and his workroom. We are storing some things for a family member and all of those things filled up the bathroom to be, which got them out of the main area and made me, well, inordinately happy. Anyhow, the bathroom is not going to be finished off in short order so I am happy it works out to hold the other things. A few pieces of drywall and I won't even know there are things stored downstairs!!! So, as the new year begins, I am thrilled that we are moving forward with some basement organization.
My daughters are plowing ahead. Mary is 5 and got a loose tooth for Christmas. She is thrilled! Emma, in an odd coincidence, discovered (on Christmas day, no less!) her adult tooth poking through to begin filling in the large gap she has right in front of her mouth. With the New Year, Emma's 7th birthday is right around the corner. Every day she looks more and more like someone else's kid and less and less like the baby I once had. It looks like saying goodbye too 2009 is akin to accepting the changes and challenges that are inherent in moving forward.
Today, for a minute, I am going to enjoy the last day of vacation. Sure, I've left some lesson plans to the last day - who wouldn't?? And yes, I have to go out into the freezing tundra to do some grocery shopping for the week. Tomorrow I will be glad to see my students and hear their stories about sleeping in and family meals and other fabulous tales of what we enjoy most about time off. I will be glad to laugh with my colleagues at the copier and in the hallway. I will smile to see my girls get off of the bus and recount what all of their friends got for Christmas. I will be happy to chat over dinner with the family about things that happened during the day while we were all at our separate lives. I will even be glad to put on my work clothes; the smooth dress pants, the fitted button down shirts, the pretty necklaces and matching earrings, and even the cute little heels that click on the tile floors. The Concordia sweatshirt from today will be relegated to the closet shelf for another, different kind of day. Tomorrow, I will need to be moving forward.
Welcome, 2010!
This is significant because tomorrow I go back to work. There have been stressful times there, Internet, and it has little to do with the 175 teenagers I see every day. Hard to believe, isn't it? While every job has its stresses, we have gone through budget cuts, layoffs, pay cuts, new administration, extended hours and increased class sizes - all of this since the school year began. So, even though I love what I do, it is hard to get up some days and face it with a smile. Tomorrow, 5:30 will come all too early. However, always moving forward.
My husband has started putting walls up in the basement in an effort to organize some of our space. I am inordinately happy about this progress, and in a few days he has managed to close in a storage area, a place for a bathroom, and his workroom. We are storing some things for a family member and all of those things filled up the bathroom to be, which got them out of the main area and made me, well, inordinately happy. Anyhow, the bathroom is not going to be finished off in short order so I am happy it works out to hold the other things. A few pieces of drywall and I won't even know there are things stored downstairs!!! So, as the new year begins, I am thrilled that we are moving forward with some basement organization.
My daughters are plowing ahead. Mary is 5 and got a loose tooth for Christmas. She is thrilled! Emma, in an odd coincidence, discovered (on Christmas day, no less!) her adult tooth poking through to begin filling in the large gap she has right in front of her mouth. With the New Year, Emma's 7th birthday is right around the corner. Every day she looks more and more like someone else's kid and less and less like the baby I once had. It looks like saying goodbye too 2009 is akin to accepting the changes and challenges that are inherent in moving forward.
Today, for a minute, I am going to enjoy the last day of vacation. Sure, I've left some lesson plans to the last day - who wouldn't?? And yes, I have to go out into the freezing tundra to do some grocery shopping for the week. Tomorrow I will be glad to see my students and hear their stories about sleeping in and family meals and other fabulous tales of what we enjoy most about time off. I will be glad to laugh with my colleagues at the copier and in the hallway. I will smile to see my girls get off of the bus and recount what all of their friends got for Christmas. I will be happy to chat over dinner with the family about things that happened during the day while we were all at our separate lives. I will even be glad to put on my work clothes; the smooth dress pants, the fitted button down shirts, the pretty necklaces and matching earrings, and even the cute little heels that click on the tile floors. The Concordia sweatshirt from today will be relegated to the closet shelf for another, different kind of day. Tomorrow, I will need to be moving forward.
Welcome, 2010!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
And Then There Were None,,,
Today I unexpectedly took down my Christmas trees, stairway, mantle and hallway garland, and any vestigial decor that was put up with Christmas in mind. Unexpectedly, you say? I was more than willing to leave the mass of it up until the end of January, but in the end opportunity presented itself in the form of additional help and so we dove in. While I am immensely glad for the renewed space and cleaner look, I am also sad to see it go. This is new, Internet! I have never, EVER been sad to see it go! I am always just twitching around the edges to be able to vacuum in this corner and dust that mantle... so what is different?
It is my girls, my friends.
Emma is suddenly a little girl. Well, she has ALWAYS been a little Girl, but now she is a completely separate personality - becoming her own person, so to speak. Mary, too, is blazing her own path into autonomy. And suddenly, like no other time, I want everything to come to a screeching HALT. Taking down decorations only means that a New Year is starting. That bgets more birthdays and further subtle changes in the baby faces I once cherished. Oh! Those babies!!! That soft skin and gleam in their eyes! And yes, the poopy diapers and sleepless nights.. but those are nearly a blur now, here at 5 and 6 years old. I have forgotten the dragging and sludging through the baby and toddler years. Or maybe I am just afraid of the years to come. A bit nostalgic, a bit afraid. That is what makes up regret at moving forward.
But either way - here I am. The decorations are piled in the basement (labeled neatly and clearly, of course!), the cookies are all eaten (although I am determined to make just one more batch!), and the snow is falling lightly, erasing the traces of today and bringing us a clean slate on which to move forward. It's the letting go of today that is the hard part...
It is my girls, my friends.
Emma is suddenly a little girl. Well, she has ALWAYS been a little Girl, but now she is a completely separate personality - becoming her own person, so to speak. Mary, too, is blazing her own path into autonomy. And suddenly, like no other time, I want everything to come to a screeching HALT. Taking down decorations only means that a New Year is starting. That bgets more birthdays and further subtle changes in the baby faces I once cherished. Oh! Those babies!!! That soft skin and gleam in their eyes! And yes, the poopy diapers and sleepless nights.. but those are nearly a blur now, here at 5 and 6 years old. I have forgotten the dragging and sludging through the baby and toddler years. Or maybe I am just afraid of the years to come. A bit nostalgic, a bit afraid. That is what makes up regret at moving forward.
But either way - here I am. The decorations are piled in the basement (labeled neatly and clearly, of course!), the cookies are all eaten (although I am determined to make just one more batch!), and the snow is falling lightly, erasing the traces of today and bringing us a clean slate on which to move forward. It's the letting go of today that is the hard part...
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Because Science is AWESOME, no matter where you do it!
There are things about me you may or may not know. Things like, I used to hate all forms of pink, but now I will wear it just because I get so many compliments. Or, I've always wanted to play the violin because one of my best friends in High School played it and later I discovered that my grandparents met BECAUSE of the violin! Lastly, that same High School friend is the most brilliant person I know and does fabulous Homeschooling things with her children. Once a year, she calls on that old friendship forged over cafeteria lunches, boy issues, and 9th grade biology class to do a bit of lip service to the incredible people who support her in her quest to educate the young with her bare hands. So, read on, Internet, to discover more about these intrepid businesses that are willing to give a hand to homeschoolers! And here is what Lydia wrote:
Thank you to the following homeschool-friendly businesses for supporting the GUESS Homeschool Science Fair and the young scientists of Hampton Roads!
Green Olive Tree is an internet company based in Portsmouth, Virginia and owned and operated by a homeschooling family. They offer a broad range of internet services, from reliable web hosting to corporate infrastructure solutions and server administration.
SKS Science supplies homeschoolers and other educators with all the science supplies you need to turn your dining room table into a proper laboratory. Browse their site for test tubes, bottles, face masks and other lab supplies and books.
Book Exchange is the largest used bookstore in Eastern Virginia. Unlike most musty and confusing used stores, this one is clean, bright, inviting, and has a huge selection of used homeschool books. There's always an interesting curriculum find on these shelves!
Folkmanis Puppets makes the most delightful animal puppets available outside Santa's workshop. Meet their most unusual creations like llamas, Chinese dragons, ostriches, flying squirrels. Unusual materials create realistic textures, and they all move in very realistic ways. Irresistible.
The Happy Scientist, Robert Krampf, hosts an online wonderland for budding scientists. With online science lessons, experiments to try at home, a science photo of the day, and new content added all the time, you'll love setting your kids loose on this site.
Mad Science is Hampton Roads' premier provider of science enrichment classes for children. Summer classes include "Crazy Chemistry" and a space camp developed with NASA! New homeschool science classes are being offered in Norfolk and VA Beach, with more planned for fall.
Moore Expressions is a homeschool bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA. They sell used and new homeschooling curriculum, host a support group, and publish a newsletter called the Bayith Educator. They are the premier source for homeschooling books in the Hampton Roads area.
Norfolk Karate Academy offers classes in Tang Soo Do (Korean karate) and Gracie Jiu Jitsu (Brazilian grappling and self-defense). With classes for children, teens, and adults, it's a great way for anyone to get in shape and kick things in a socially acceptable way!
Brooks Systems offers standalone software and web applications that check legal compliance in all municipalities in all fifty states, and create truth-in-lending documents for residential lenders. Using Brooks for your automated mortgage compliance, you can be sure your loans are safe.
Virginia Air and Space Center was host to the homeschool science fair this year, and delivered awesome science classes for homeschoolers from their education department. The VASC is the educator resource center for the NASA Langley Research Center.
Thank you to the following homeschool-friendly businesses for supporting the GUESS Homeschool Science Fair and the young scientists of Hampton Roads!
Green Olive Tree is an internet company based in Portsmouth, Virginia and owned and operated by a homeschooling family. They offer a broad range of internet services, from reliable web hosting to corporate infrastructure solutions and server administration.
SKS Science supplies homeschoolers and other educators with all the science supplies you need to turn your dining room table into a proper laboratory. Browse their site for test tubes, bottles, face masks and other lab supplies and books.
Book Exchange is the largest used bookstore in Eastern Virginia. Unlike most musty and confusing used stores, this one is clean, bright, inviting, and has a huge selection of used homeschool books. There's always an interesting curriculum find on these shelves!
Folkmanis Puppets makes the most delightful animal puppets available outside Santa's workshop. Meet their most unusual creations like llamas, Chinese dragons, ostriches, flying squirrels. Unusual materials create realistic textures, and they all move in very realistic ways. Irresistible.
The Happy Scientist, Robert Krampf, hosts an online wonderland for budding scientists. With online science lessons, experiments to try at home, a science photo of the day, and new content added all the time, you'll love setting your kids loose on this site.
Mad Science is Hampton Roads' premier provider of science enrichment classes for children. Summer classes include "Crazy Chemistry" and a space camp developed with NASA! New homeschool science classes are being offered in Norfolk and VA Beach, with more planned for fall.
Moore Expressions is a homeschool bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA. They sell used and new homeschooling curriculum, host a support group, and publish a newsletter called the Bayith Educator. They are the premier source for homeschooling books in the Hampton Roads area.
Norfolk Karate Academy offers classes in Tang Soo Do (Korean karate) and Gracie Jiu Jitsu (Brazilian grappling and self-defense). With classes for children, teens, and adults, it's a great way for anyone to get in shape and kick things in a socially acceptable way!
Brooks Systems offers standalone software and web applications that check legal compliance in all municipalities in all fifty states, and create truth-in-lending documents for residential lenders. Using Brooks for your automated mortgage compliance, you can be sure your loans are safe.
Virginia Air and Space Center was host to the homeschool science fair this year, and delivered awesome science classes for homeschoolers from their education department. The VASC is the educator resource center for the NASA Langley Research Center.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday, September 05, 2009
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