Just another unexpected pretty Spring day

Now that I had to change seed day in science (L wanted to do "inside a seed"), I don't feel like it pulls the kids in the way it used to. If I change it, then I worry about leaving Kim out of something good.
The book I read to them was a bit long for the less mature, but all the information was great and laid out well. One of those treasures I found at Reader's Guide. It's titled, "Busy Seeds", by Simonton-Black & Quakenbush. When I finished reading, we planted pole bean seeds in plastic cups. The beans are slid in between the side of the cup and a cut-to-fit piece of black construction paper. Then we stuff the middle of the cup with scrunched up paper towels. The paper towels hold the water and keep the seeds pressed against the side of the cups. Allowing an excellent view of a seed sending down it's tiny white root and sending up it's light green shoot. Each group helped put together one cup with a seed from each child. We keep the cups in the room to observe. One year, the beans grew from the science table up a 6 foot piece of string to the top of our one tall window. Pretty impressive considering they didn't have dirt!
My pic was published in the online district newsletter today. My face wasn't quite as red as I feared.
F and I, made a trip to Costco to pick-up a prescription and some other needed groceries. She was pretty wiped all day yesterday after her first full hour of PT on Monday.
I best go eat, since she worked so hard on dinner.
Later

Silly, stupid, little, muffin pan!! :>P

Sorry! Just put dishes away and my worn out muffin pan keeps falling out of the "thin pan" cupboard. I thought I'd hang onto it for when we make corn muffins for our Harvest Feasts at school. I may change my mind in a month.
Today was a hurry and wait day. I went in for my mammo this morning. I was in and out of the clinic in 20 minutes. They have digital scanning equipment now. Which means you don't have to hang out while they check the films. I imagine they can do several more mammos a day, as a result.
I came home and made a couple of phone calls, vacuumed and fed the girl before heading to Dr. Pitchford's office. F took two tests while she was there. One of the tests was 350 questions long. After 2 and a half hours, I realized that it was time to head to her next appointment. We asked Elaine, the receptionist, if she could complete the last 100 questions after her physical therapy. "They really like you to get it done all in one sitting, so you don't lose your momentum." So F raced through to the end. I wonder how that affects the outcome?
We made it to her PT appointment only 5 minutes late. And that's where I finished my Newsweek.

We drove to Freddy's to buy eggs, apples and onions. Then drove on home.

I've been trying to decide what to do with the poetry blog. Should I turn it into one big Jansen family thing? I think I like the idea of adding another blog that's open to all of Dad's family and keeping Dad's blog separate. But then where to put G'ma Weeks' poems as they arrive? Maybe I can mess with the template and see if it's possible to make different areas for Mom and Dad. Rather than keep their stuff in two different places.
Thanks for listening.

There and back in 24 hours

Merry Christmas to us! :>)
We cashed in our Capitol Steps tickets last night. {Which reminds me- we really, really need to make plans to cash in our River Grill gift card :>O. I'm so sorry, sister!} We laughed ourselves silly during Cap Steps. The Larry Craig song/skit was gut splitting. As well as the majority of the others. I looove Lirty Dies, as usual! It's good to laugh out loud.

We woke early, knowing that if we went back to snooze mode we'd never make it to breakfast with the folks on time. And so I popped into the shower and chatted with b.i.l. K, while sis and N got ready. We even had time to watch the Texas slide show before leaving to eat.
Wow, the last time I remember being at the Columbia Inn was in the mid-seventies. Thank heavens it's been updated! Gone are the big, eerie, plastic dolls, coffee cup collection and Elvis memorabilia that used to line a continuous shelf near the ceiling. I also have a vague recollection of busy carpet, dark curtains and a cavernous dining area. All gone, along with the stinky cigarette smoke.
We had a fun breakfast courtesy of Ma & Pa and also with K & K - full of chatting and sharing and laughing. I was glad Uncle K was there to see and hug. Good planning on someone's part? The short people are going to LOVE the Botswana agates. Thank you, Ma & Pa!!
After hugging and kissing everyone goodbye, we drove south on the freeway. We stopped at Ikea to buy a duvet that truly fits the new duvet cover. Then we did another quick stop at Trader Joe's to pick the girl up some more chocolate covered espresso beans and meringue cookies.
Once we arrived back in town, we stopped to buy; a male paradise fish to replace the nighttime jumper, 2 new headlight bulbs and to have a chat with LaZy Boy to let them know we weren't happy about the extra, extra long delay in the delivery of our chair. We expect a phone call on Monday. Most likely offering a loaner chair, while waiting for ours. I know, I know, we should ask for our money back and go elsewhere, but the chair is so comfy and the fabric is such a good match.
F is feeding us leftovers of asparagus & mushroom risotto with steamed artichokes for dinner. She must've gone all out for the boy last night.
I huffed and puffed once we came in the house - picking up dirty dishes and cleaning a sticky floor.
Breathe in, breathe out . . . Stop and take a look around. Well, okay, the boy did wash the dinner dishes, fed the cat, tended the girl. I should and will let it go. Bad Karmen!!
On the way home, N and I wondered why we didn't think to take all of our pictures with the folk's new cell phone for our phone number display. {sigh}
Hopefully, N and I can stay awake to watch Seabiscuit tonight . . .

STILL searching for the perfect foam glider . . .

I did the final science unit on flight today with the short people. Every year I look for gliders to give them - that will at least hold up during our science flying time. This year, I decided to check Ebay, after getting tired of finding the same old options in the same old places. I searched and found a good deal on just the right amount of brightly colored dinosaur gliders. The photo the Ebay seller had posted made the gliders look sturdier than the usual ones I buy. And that was the selling point. In the past, I've hesitated buying the dinosaur gliders. Only because I wanted the kids to have "airplanes" NOT dinos. I opened the box when it arrived, put one together and flew it around the house. Not only did it a glide high and smoothly, but the foam really was thicker. Kim did science before our class this week and told me the disappointing news the following day. By the end of each science group, she had put at least two pieces of tape on every glider. And so I had a volunteer parent tape ours up for reinforcement. The first group's gliders were breaking just like Kim's, even with the preventative taping. I tried adding more tape to another spot and that helped a little. I don't know if the gliders were old and brittle or what, but it's darned disappointing. The short people took it well and had fun regardless.
F and I, made a veggie run to Freddy's after work today. For the first time ever, I sat in the car to avoid an old little league parent/coach, who I knew would ask all kinds of questions about F being in a wheelchair. I just didn't feel like doing it for the umpteenth time. She wanted to know why I wasn't getting out of the car and once the explanation was out of my mouth I wished it back. Her feelings weren't hurt. She understood, but I still felt bad for saying it out loud.

Done, done at last!

Well, except for one classroom . . .
She meant well, but I do begin to lose patience (even with a saint like W) when someone repeats the same action expecting different results. I suppose we all do it everyday. BUT when you try to email someone a file and they tell you what they received wasn't what you meant to send and to feel free to hand them a paper copy . . . AND did I mention we work in the same building? This is one of the times I feel slightly annoyed.
It "only" took 3.5 hours this evening, but I made corrections and printed out 2 sets of art labels for 20 classrooms. I know there will be more corrections. People don't always thoroughly check their rough drafts, but the main bit is done and I feel good.
Especially after the delicious dinner of chicken meat balls in a tasty marinara sauce, F made us. She used the rosemary she swiped from Dr. Pitchford's flower bed. If I'm pushing the wheelchair of the thief, does that make me an accomplice?
I let one of our teachers (one of my favs) vent to me this afternoon. I'm glad she's going to do something about this event. She sent down a group of her students to the library to do a research project on global warming, only to have the aide tell them, "there's no such thing as global warming.". And then she scuttled them off to the computer lab to amuse themselves. She did tell them all the whys and wherefores she learned from Bill O'Rielly and friends. :>O Excuse me? There's a code that librarians must follow (or anyone who works in a library, I would think). And this definitely broke that code. The feeling I had after she told me, was the shock someone must feel after a holy place has been violated.
Well, that's how I feel about libraries.
I would've liked to have been a librarian.
There I said it.

Sweet sound of snoring

F's sound asleep and CSI is playing on the telly. She's been zonked out ever since she finished making us a big dinner of coconut curry vegetable stir fry and ginger fried rice (also with vegetables). I keep worrying I'll forget to put a patch on her. Every 3 days is tougher than everyday. Why is that?
N and I, went to buy a new keyboard tonight. Several choices and yet . . . not. I had the feeling there were only 3 different keyboards, but they were each dressed up 4 different ways. I even replaced the well worn video tape we've used for the past 3-4 years. I'm sure those magnetic particles are all barely hanging on to the plastic tape.
I want to put Veronica on tonight, but but but no one else is ready. :>(

Hmmm, which shirt to wear with red face??

Last night, I was trying to figure out if I dreamt a Desperate Housewives scene where Mike chased Orson in a parking lot after recognizing him as the man who ran him down. Seems like Orson jumped from the parking structure (?) and broke his leg. Maybe it was something I put together in my head from another encounter the two of them had.
Wow, this keyboard needs to find a new home. Maybe in keyboard heaven? It has survived 3 cups of coffee being spilled on/into it over a 3 year period. AND having it's spacebar pried off and then jimmied back into place. Poor poor abused keyboard! (K decides to show sympathy, rather than throwing the sticky keyed piece of junk onto the floor and jumping on it - like the gorilla in the Samsonite commercial.)
When I checked my work email this morning, there was a message from the editor(?) of our district newsletter congratulating me on being nominated for a "Going the Distance" award. Perhaps he was mistaken. "Are you sure you don't mean Darla M. instead??" He wanted to come out and take a photo. I chose to have him come out today (hate to wait and fret) and take photos while I read to the PM short people. I don't usually have a problem with spectators. If anything I tend to do the Mike Mulligan thing and read a little louder and with more expression. :>D It must've been the camera, but I'm sure if the photos are in color (and I'm sure they are) that my glowing face will be clashing with my orangie reddish shirt.
I took F out to run some errands after school today. We stopped at Break Point to order the office people's lunch for tomorrow. Had to buy a mocha for the girl, of course. Then off to Costco to see if Dr. Weeks answered the fax about a refill. (YAY! She DID!)
I better get moving, so I don't miss, "How I Met Your Mother". Such things are important, ya know.

Extreme Aquarium Makeover movie

Aquarium residents:
6 Scissor-tail Rasbora
6 Harlequin Rasbora
2 Paradise Fish
2 Plecostamous
3 Kuhli Loaches

Background noises:
microwave buzzer
F making dinner
KINK
Me scolding Zuzu as she insisted on loudly purring and nudging the camera.

I wish sleep to all those who seek it

F must've had a sleepless night. She's been snoozing since N and I have been up. The two of us ate and showered-up to be ready to take her around today. N would be out working on installing the new trellis (what's the plural of that?? trellisi? hahaha), if it wasn't snowing big sloppy flakes. And so we surf . . .
I do have a couple of computer projects i could dig into today - labels for Evening of the Arts. The teachers decided they wanted a couple of changes made to the labels this year. Makes the project a bit more time intensive. I'd like to start working on a new design I was thinking about yesterday, too. Oh, and there's the science certificates. Maybe I should make a calendar for organizing my work at home. Otherwise, I tend to piddle away my time on the computer.
I'm so ready to be finished with the book I've been reading. It's interesting enough that I don't want to give up on it and just boring enough that I only read a few pages a night.
I saw that Ann Patchett has a new book out. Not a novel, but an essay. Her publisher talked her into taking a speech she gave at Sarah Lawrence College graduation and expanding on it.
UPDATE:
The girl did wake around 1 or 1:30. She said she woke up at midnight and was unable to go back to sleep. :>( A couple hours later, after she'd eaten and was ready, we went to Costco to pick-up one of her prescriptions and shopped for awhile. Then we drove out to Borders to let her browse. Our last stop was Freddie's to buy lunch stuff and a few things for the chili she made us for dinner.
We watched our Netflix movie, Transamerica. Good story and great acting! Creeped us out a bit at first - Lynette from Desperate Housewives playing a transsexual man well on his way to becoming a woman. They did such a good job crafting the story, that we soon forgot.

Introspection

Happy hour is over and so is our yummy dinner. I swear, I've never eaten as many vegetables in my entire lifetime as I have in the past year. Life changing? Perhaps. Time will tell.
All was good in short people land today. :>) We had good help in the morning and I was in the swing of things by afternoon. We logged in a couple of laps on the track, too. So many good, sweet children ( both 5th grade buddies and the short people)!
Next week is (what they used to call it in the old days) secretary's week. The kindergarten group decided to buy the office people lunch. Hopefully, that doesn't mess up the rest of C kiva's plans. I gave the office crew a "Break Point" menu to browse and asked the three of them which day they'd prefer. Please don't let us forget to call it in Monday!
Tomorrow, I should do the right thing and go to the auntie's memorial service, but we told F we'd take her to Saturday Market to buy herb plants and to an Obama rally on the capitol steps. F is our priority right now.
We haven't decided if we'll watch Veronica Mars or the netflix movie tonight. I don't think I'll fall asleep
- don't quote me on that.

The birds and the bees

The birds aren't eating as much or as often as they were in March, but the bees are all over the cherry blossoms. This afternoon, I saw one bumble that was so big I thought he was a hummingbird.

The day turned out fairly nice. To the point of being able to remove my fleece mid-afternoon.
I took F to her PT appointment during the best part of the day. Seems like I've been seeing the PM short people every other day lately. It works out best for L, but I hate to miss out on the sweet ones.
F pushed herself (probably too hard) and made dinner in time for N to eat before leaving. She said she combined a tabouli and fritata recipe. Seemed more like a veggie pilaf with quinoa to me. Whatever it was called, it was delicious.
She's been snoozing ever since. I wonder if the last patch did get damaged when she was getting ready for her CAT scan in Portland.

www.cafepress.com/

Have I mentioned that I've sold 30 items from my luvkinder2, heavyequipment and tubasrule shops - in April? Makes me want to work on new ideas. :>)
woo hoo!

Working it?

Ever since F first began this nightmare of constant abdominal pain, we've had problems with getting pain prescriptions refilled. We don't know specifically where or who the weak link is, but we do know it's at the clinic. Somewhere between the fax machine and the door home, F's requests for refills often get lost or misplaced.
Since Dr. Weeks doesn't return her phone calls until 5 - 6 PM, we're left with no resources when she fails to call. (It's against federal law for an on-call doctor to approve a refill for a narcotic.) And so, we had to learn the hard way which days Dr. Weeks works half a day or not at all - as well as planning far in advance of the deadline.
The sure fire method, when we're at the end of the time-line, is to drive to the clinic, fill out a 'question for the doctor form' and wait - even when they urge us to go home and wait for the phone call. That's what had to be done this afternoon. As soon as F was done with her Dr. Pitchford appointment, N drove over to Salem Clinic and the two of them waited. It never takes long and then it's DONE.
What compounded the anxiety, was having the OHSU Pain Clinic fail to let us know they would no longer be handling F's Effexor prescription. How hard is it to post a message on her "My Charts" or have someone call and leave a message? Almost makes a person want to post something mean and nasty in a public place . . . ;> I'll leave the complete "OHSU Comprehensive Pain Center" rant for another post.
Lucky me "gets" to go back and see Dr. Huun mid-May for a pap redo. I think this makes the third time in the past 6-7 years. At least I don't fret over it anymore. When he called to tell me yesterday, he said he was still working on finding out about whether one of the doctors will take a transfer patient at the clinic.

Seemed like old times, OHSU elevators and hallways . . .

Okay, so my words have too many syllables! It almost worked . . .

It may have seemed like old times today, but it definitely was NOT "still a thrill". Although . . . there can be different kinds of thrills, right? Vicarious, frightening, hair raising, once in a lifetime - time to stop?
We made it there on time and didn't get lost once. Dr. Oleg Kouskov, the Fellow we saw in the hospital, was in charge of F's pulmonary check-back appointment. He's very sweet and very thorough. The receptionist laughed over how long we spent with him. Let's be clear, we didn't spend the entire 4 hours with him. He sent F down to have another CAT scan, when we first arrived. Her lungs look much better, although you can still see some of the damage/scar tissue that is present. All of the air that was over her heart and elsewhere in her chest cavity, is gone. They gave her a lung test that showed her lungs are now 60% of what a healthy 23 year old female should be. An improvement from where she was, but low enough that they want to see her back again in 3 months. Dr. Kouskov, said the next appointment will be more intensive. He set her up for a consultation with a surgeon (for a second opinion on her abdominal pain) - Dr. Brett Sheppard. He assured us that he's careful and thoughtful, not eager to cut.
We stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home. Who cares if it was rush hour?! I needed my B-Complex replenished! Did I mention that we shopped when we were hungry? In a place where they have many tasty items? So much chocolate and all evening to enjoy! :>D

Sunday night dreams

I had a "my little town" dream last night. Most of it played out in a couch and sunlight filled composite of living rooms I've known. I was hanging out with a group (can't tell you much about that group now), doing cooperative tasks; like making dinner or folding clothes. A group of adolescent acquaintances dropped by and wanted to know who I thought I was showing up in their town.
I woke up while I was formulating my reply. The slightly disturbing quality of the dream has worn off after taking my shower and walking on the treadmill. I assume it's related to one of my aunties being in the hospital.

Let's hear it for FRIDAYS!!

Busy, busy day, but it did go well. We did math game rotations, buddies and walked on the track.
I nearly forgot I had a hair appointment at 4. Around 3:45, it popped into my head - Karyn!! And I grabbed my stuff, said good-bye and dashed out to the car. Amazingly, I only hit a couple of red lights on the long trek downtown. I called to let her know I'd be a couple minutes late, but turns out it didn't matter. She was still busy with her son's hair.
She cut and cut and cut on my hair and we chattered and chattered about all kinds of things. What a gift to have found a stylist with such great heart, who loves to talk and share! Thank you again, Jenny. :>)
F thinks she's beginning to feel the effects of the patch - the sleepy part. Right now, she's up on her kitchen stool making us dinner.
It's Friday, we're at home cooking and all is good. :>)

"This Is a Song About Colors"

s o v e r y t i r e d . . . . {plops onto floor}

We had a hectic morning, but that's not unusual. Contributing issues; having a sub, no parent helper, extra aide in a meeting with principal and a disciplinary problem with a student. Thank goodness for the PMers!
I went out for a fun dinner with TJ - we talked and talked and talked. Then I picked up the fentanyl patches from Freddy's. The pharmacist wanted to be sure he was thorough in giving me all the necessary information. And that's a good thing.
We watched two episodes of Veronica Mars last night and the night before. It's getting to the point in the season where it's hard to stop watching. "Uh, do we HAVE to go to work tomorrow??"

Whiz bang day

Whew! Where's my drink??
Oh! Thank you, N!
That kinda sums up how I feel after today.
TJ subbed today (and will Thursday and Friday, as well). I like knowing that all will be in control, but it helps to have EVERYthing we need ready to go and written out. I wasn't confident enough to keep the math plan that was scheduled. I never saw the short people learn to play that particular game. AND pandemonium is a bad thing when there's a sub . . . or anytime. It didn't help that we couldn't find all the parts we needed either. Thank you TJ for being flexible enough to let me make that change. Lil Tee had a bad day and I don't know if it was due to the change in leadership and schedule, but there she was crawling around on the floor and under the tables. Thank goodness we had two parents to help us out in the AM.
I imagine the PM went super. Since TJ had her first run through and had sweet, super Kimmy subbing for me.
F and I, went to see Dr. Weeks. She said something good - "I've been avoiding putting F on narcotics, but this pain isn't going away, is it? Let's try this Fentanyl patch. It's supposed to deliver pain relief at a steady rate." We're ready. Only drawback is having to go to a different pharmacy, as Costco doesn't like to deal with drugs with a quick expiration date. Plus we have to wait for the weekend. It's necessary to monitor for the first 12 hours. F had hysterics (later in the car, of course) over Dr. Weeks asking me if I was familiar with being around someone who was stoned. I'm oh so glad she waited.
We went directly from Salem Clinic to Dr. Pitchford's office. F seemed pleased after her first visit. Good golly Miss Molly, that calendar is starting to look like the old Little League days of yore!
We stopped at Costco to gas up, get some groceries and pick-up MY prescription. We're both wiped, but F still took the time to make us dinner.

Loop planes, loop planes, lovely, lovely, loop planes!

Today was our last science day to make something that floats or glides or spins in the air. It was my favorite, "Loop Plane", that I found in one of my first children's science books years ago. We use a straw, 2 - 1" strips of laminated paper (one 5.5" & one 8.5" in length). We use transparent tape to attach a strip at each end of the straw - perpendicular to the straw, but parallel to each other. Two more pieces of tape are needed to bend and secure each strip into a loop, with the straw inside each loop. Two past students, 5th graders now, came by while we were putting our planes together and commented on how they still have theirs.
"Really?", I asked.
And Austin replied, "yeah, you can tape those strips over and over again."
Nice to get that kind of warm, fuzzy, feedback on a day when the short people have been on the grumpy and noisy side.
F has been particularly tired the past several days, but she was up again today to make us dinner. Tonight she made gluten-free pizza crust and heaped asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, chicken sausage, pesto and cheese on top. Very tasty, indeed.

unloading

My morning appointment with Dr. Huun went well. The first thing he uttered was an explanation for why he didn't take F as a patient. Okay, I'll accept that, makes sense since I've been discussing her case with him - patient confidentiality and all that. Then he stated how there should be another doctor that could take her on at the clinic. I told him that we'd been told that none of the doctors will take transfer patients, "what? that's not right. let me check into this for you.". :>) I told him why we had suffered a lack of confidence with Dr. Weeks and he was noticeably concerned. Too bad they didn't take my blood pressure again at the end of the appointment. It would've been much improved. I called and scheduled her first rehab appointment for next week. The calendar is beginning to stack up again. Just about time to head in for the PMers. :>)

Recovered from the week before and heading into the new one.

We spent our weekend recharging the old "battrees". I completed all the chores I put on my mental list, except for one.
Not bad, not bad.
Yesterday, we spent most of our day on our "Extreme Aquarium Makeover". Ever since we've had this aquarium, it's had a big problem with nasty brown algae that grows in sheets and covers things so quickly. Smells nasty, too! I thought it had something to do with the salt someone told us to add when we bought the first batch of fish for this aquarium. Hard to say, but now we have new gravel, new fake plants, a new decorative feature AND all is scrubbed and shiny clean. We were looking at fish while at the pet store. The big fish look like a tempting idea. We thought perhaps they'd make a more stunning statement than the wee ones we usually get. F, was totally weirded out when we mentioned the possibility of her sharing the living room with a 5 to 8 inch fish or two. She thinks a puppy sounds much better. :>D
N and I, went and had a nice relaxing early dinner at Boone's Treasury yesterday. Since we so rarely go out to dinner anymore, we don't get a chance to talk one on one like we should.
We came home, and N put the aquarium back together. Then we took F out for an excursion to Freddy's.

Pink popcorn OR cherry blossoms??

Yesterday was one of those days where things just seemed to happen and as Dillon described it, "it was the fun-est day EVER!".
Turned out that the date that was scheduled for the fire department to bring their truck didn't get written on the calendar. So about 30 minutes into our day, the office called to notify us that "there's a firetruck here for your class". It was windy and cold, but we didn't care. They gave us a tour of the firetruck and a reporter followed us around writing notes about this valuable, community, education program that is about to be cut from the fire department budget. Fireman Bill gave us ice cream treats for bringing back our form stating that we checked our smoke alarms. We went back to our classroom, just in time to make planes with our buddies. We flew them outside for a little while, said goodbye to our buddies and then went back outside to eat our treats. After that it was time to say goodbye for the week. The afternoon was pretty much the same, except we knew the fire department was coming and a photographer came instead of a reporter.
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080405/NEWS/804050324/1001/NEWS
F and I, grabbed a mocha and then drove out to World Market and Bed Bath & Beyond to dink around for a couple of hours. I was tired, but it's good to get the girl out of the house.
I put leftovers in the microwave, made happy hour and then F's friend Kasey stopped by for a bit. The rest of the night I messed around on Sierra Trading Post's site and then dozed in front of the TV. "I'm such good company!", she said sarcastically.
This morning, Shirley and I, met at Sassy Onion for her belated birthday breakfast. Such a gift to sit and visit with her for a couple of hours. Hours that never seem 60 minutes long.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood . . .

Geez, N! Stop teasing me! He brought home a www.PBOwner.com brochure with the house across the street from Dan & Shirley. How great would that be - to live across the street from two of my favorite people? Such a beautiful setting, too. Room to enjoy the kids' company - you know, when we're all together and we're prepping dinner, drinking wine and sharing stories in the kitchen? Hmmm, sounds like a TV series, doesn't it? Guess I better get my hair cut like Sally Fields while I'm dreaming.
It was a busy, but nice day with the short people. They do so enrich my daily existence. Yesterday, we were working on opposites. When I checked a completed paper, I would quiz each student on a couple of opposites not on the worksheet. I asked bright Layla, "what's the opposite of bare feet?".
She grinned and replied, "people feet!".
I was hoping to come home and take F shopping after work today, but she hasn't been sleeping very well and wasn't ready for that level of activity. I sat down and made a list of what I needed for tonight. N left for band practice and F's friend, Kasey, wanted to spend time with her. So, I rearranged my expectations/plans for the evening. I washed the girl's hair to get ready to spend an evening with Kasey (Sweeney Todd and strawberries) and then left to buy groceries on my own.
I came home and prepared the vegetables and their marinade I signed up to bring for the funeral of a co-worker's mother. Hopefully, I won't leave them behind tomorrow morning.

Wee Willie Winkie Day

We celebrated the letter "w", by having Wee Willie Winkie Day at school. Which means we dressed in our PJs and ate waffles. :>) The kids love it of course and there's nothing like going to the dentist mid-day in your PJs - not to mention the grocery store. If people were curious, I just told them I escaped. :>D
F made some more hummus for us and now she's prepping dinner.

Nothing but blue skies . . .

Okay, so maybe I didn't eat as well in the 24 hour period prior to my fasting blood draw as I had planned, BUT I did remember not to put food in my mouth from dinner until the needle. Ah, the tall mug'o coffee sitting in the cup holder of the Fyundai . . . waiting for me . . . filling the car with that lovely, rich, smell that makes my breath repel even the strongest, small person. Despite the fairly long line of people waiting, it only took 25 minutes from the time I walked in the clinic's door.
Today in science, I made parachutes with small groups in the tiled area. This is the first time I've used squares made from cut apart plastic, storage bags. The school garbage bags were so flimsy, but worked well. I must've decided to change, because of the ease of cutting the bags apart compared with cutting slidey garbage bags into squares. It used to be quite the production, but I always finished with that satisfied, thrifty glow. I was ready to go back to the old way, after the first small group this morning. The masking tape wasn't sticking to the plastic - complete disaster. You can't fashion a proper parachute if the strings refuse to stay attached. So, I retrieved the transparent tape from the classroom - nearly as bad. bleh, bleh, double bleh
Luckily, I thought to grab 5 home type dispensers when I traveled home to feed F lunch. Once again, the PMers have all the luck! :>)
UPDATE: F and I, took an after school trip to Costco to pick-up a prescription and do some grocery shopping. Since our list held more than her lap ever could, we decided to try the cart that attaches to the front of a wheel chair. Sweet Sue, at the front, tried to talk her into a motorized cart instead. We explained that she's more comfortable in her own chair. While the WC cart doesn't hold even half what their regular carts can, it worked very well. At first, I thought the turning radius was going to be a major problem. It can be difficult enough to maneuver around Salem shoppers. Eye contact is such an unspoken taboo around here and eye contact is so helpful in negotiating between and around other shoppers. But it was just fine and I feel like I had a nice workout. ;>)
After all that, she's making dinner for us now. Me? I'm enjoying happy hour with you. Yes, my ear is tuned to help out (she is beginning to tire waay out). I'm not completely numb . . . yet.