Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Summing things up...

I decided not to send out an annual letter this year. I sent out Christmas cards to folks who sent me one so I didn't even have to look up any addresses. I ordered 10 Christmas cards with a collage of images and then I was asked by Erika to change the picture so that she could use them as well. I ordered 10 more. That was it, I sent maybe 15 total, just photo cards, no long summery. I mentioned to my husband that if he wanted the task, I would mail out whatever he wrote-- carte blanche. I heard him chuckling once at his computer and I thought he was working on the letter, but he gave up. This was all he came up with:

Though I’m a homebody, I’ve made a few outings in 2011.  In April I ran a half marathon in St. Louis on my birthday and was able to visit a couple of friends.  In May I went to Atlanta for a week of Army leadership training and was able to catch a Braves game.  In the early summer, I walked through groves of redwoods and sequoias in Northern California with a couple of friends. On the heels of the California trip I went to Kentucky for two weeks of annual Army training with my unit.  Personal achievements include qualifying as sharpshooter once again on the 9mm pistol in October, ran three half marathons, became a company commander, and got a new teaching job at a state university.

My wife and three daughters, accompanied by our new dog Balt, made a road trip to California this summer, visiting San Francisco and Yosemite before meeting up with grandparents for camping on the beach in Ventura.  Erika is continuing to get good grades at Madison College and is planning to transfer to the state university.  Jessika has been playing varsity track, basketball, and swimming.  She went to state as a swimmer.  Monika plays varsity tennis, JV soccer, and made class president. Jessika and Monika recently took the ACT in a trial run for next year.  Teri made an ardent stand at the capital to recall our satanic governor.  She also joined the think tank for the school district.

We decided not to bother to send this out. It wasn't particularly interesting or entertaining. I'm not sure if this means we won't ever do it again. I just didn't have it in me this year. Anyone who wants to know what we are up to can catch up with us on our blogs. My husband's blog is irregular and smattered with falsehoods and particularly weird musings. Mine on the other hand is very regular, as honest as allowed and quite mundane.

The Last Day of this Year

It's not quite a winter wonderland, but it's nice to see white on the landscape for a change. Balt loves it. Jessi had an early practice so we were all up at 7am. I dropped Jess off and went walking with Balt. Going to bed at 2am and getting up by 7am is starting to wear on me (darkening the bags under my eyes) but I'm up for one more night of it.

Other than yoga and a couple of Balt walks, the only other thing I wanted to accomplish was scrapbooking and that's what's been keeping me up so late. I hope to finish the whole year of images for a book by tomorrow. 

Ladies Day Out

Melissa and I wanted a splurg day together-- movie, pedicures, shopping, dinner & fun. We invited a few other fun teachers and made it an event. We went to see a matinee; Young Adult (2011) with Charlize Theron. It was good but kind of depressing-- thoughtfully so. We then rushed out to get our nails done, enjoying the time to chat and catch up. We walked up and down the mall for an hour or so and then met up with a few friends for happy hour at Granite City. It was a great day. To make the day even more perfect I took Balt to daycare. The weather was wet with slush and I knew he would not get any attention. So we both had a grand day!

I came home to a quiet house, built a fire and watched several episodes of My So Called Life with Jessi with I worked on an electronic scrapbook for 2011. I'm going to give it a try and then see how much the family complains after. I shopped around for the most economical 12x12 book-- Shutterfly wins. I used Picabo in the past for wedding albums I had done, but for the size I wanted it was couple hundred dollars!  I'm up late again. I'm not going to keep up this schedule for another week. No way.

Game Day

As vacation progresses, I am staying up later but Balt keeps getting me up early. So I'm actually sleeping less. I've been staying up late watching shows, mostly with Monika. Every night this week we have stayed up watching a season of something. It's kind of fun, but exhausting when you can't sleep in until 2pm.  Jessi seems to be the one getting the most sleep, but she's also the only one still connected to a schedule of sorts. 

I got all of my scrapbook stuff out today and started catching up. I'm questioning the old fashioned way I'm doing this now that all of my pictures are digital. I mentioned finishing last year's album (I'm a year behind) and then starting fresh in 2011 in a new technology-- having my images printed for me on books that I would order. I got no support from my family. Everyone seems to like me ordering prints, cutting them out and decorating pages for them. It's a long process that never ends.  I may need to order one first so everyone can see that it might be even better. I'm always eager to move on to newer technology when it's available. Making a photo album on my computer may take the same time as the whole cut out process at my kitchen table. BUT I can guarentee it won't be as messy.

On Vacation...

Today was a near perfect vacation day. Only the weather was dissappointing-- it's too cold. If it's going to be cold and winter, snow would be nice, only because it's pretty. BUT for a perfect vacation day, it would need to be 70 degrees at least. Oh well. I started my day with a quick Balt walk and then coffee with a friend at Starbucks. I ran a few errands and then went to yoga with Erika and her boyfriend. I did a bit of housecleaning, dropped Jessi off to swim and then took Balt for a long walk. My husband offered to take me out to dinner and a movie, but I preferred staying home by the fire with a pizza. Being on vacation is nice.

Cleaning up Christmas

I got up early this morning to get Jessi to basketball practice. I decided to wait until it got a bit warmer for Balt's walk. I sent him outside, while I cleaned up Christmas. One of my favorite things to do when cleaning up the christmas tree is to burn bits of it. I've learned that it is dangerous business and should not be done by amateurs. I bring in all my rubbermaid bins in and bush clippers when I start clean up. The ornaments get put away delicately, since most are hand-made. There's a big bin just for lights and another just for baskets. The baskets were not set out this year to keep them safe from Balt. Several ornaments were damaged this year, I tossed the un-sentimental ones into the fire. 

By the time Jessi called to be picked up, I had almost everything cleaned, so I bundled up and took Balt for his walk. Although it was 37 degrees, the wind made it feel colder. The chillier it is, the faster I want to go. I'm thinking I will need to wear running shoes soon.

The rest of the afternoon I spent on the computer, tweeking the newspaper draft and finishing up a recommendation. I met up with my husband at Starbucks to work for a while with him. It was crazy busy there. Their registers stopped working when we ordered our drinks and because of the long lines they just gave our drinks to us. Then someone took my drink so they had to make me another. We were given coupons for future free drinks after that. Boy, was it it our lucky Starbucks day.

The gift I keep giving...

There was no sleeping in for me. By 7:30am I was out with Balt running around. As much fun as he is to have around, he's a pain in the butt too. While I'd like to feel sorry for myself at times, especially as everyone else in the family get to sleep in, I know that getting up and out is good for me. Even though Balt was Jessi's Christmas gift, she does very little to help me. Occasionally, Balt gets too naughty for me to deal with and that's when I make Jessi suffer. He's has learned to ignore me when he doesn't want to come in. He also loves to chew stuff up. When he chewed up Monika's Christmas ornament that I made in 2005, I got a little creative. Luckily, Balt chewed up Jessi's brand new 2011 hand-made ornament.

The rest of the day was spent taking stuff back. The stores were all suprisingly calm. We got started while Jessi was at basketball practice. Once she was done, the four of us girls enjoyed some quality shopping time. Erika and I ended the afternoon in a hot yoga class that was over crowded and thus overheated. Erika survived. I was very proud of her for staying in the room. I remember those first hot classes. It kind of makes you feel crazy. Monika worked on the January issue of the student newspaper, while I cleaned. The two of us ended up hooked on a netflix, staying up way too late.

I am Santa Claus

Our family traditions have morphed through the years-- I take care of all the gifts while my husband fills the stockings. He's added gift cards to the mix now that the girls are older, which makes the stockings alone quite the Christmas gift. I have learned in order to avoid disappointments, to ask for a Christmas list.  I learned that the hard way. There were no disappointments this morning. I will never be able to top last year. In giving Balt to Jessi, I gave a gift I keep giving. This morning I got up to make coffee, got the turkey in the oven and took Balt for a quick walk while the girls enjoyed their stockings. We had a grand morning opening lots of gifts. I went with quantity over quality-- lots of clothes, shoes, underwear, books and music. I counted the gifts up last night to make sure Jessi had the most. 

Erika made us all breakfast, which was a first. There was lots of clean up to do. The day was quite mild so at 1pm I talked my husband into joining me at Indian Lake so that Balt could have an extra romp for Christmas-- he was thrilled! I came home to make dinner. We eat as a family and then sat to watch the Harry Potter movies with our new blu-ray players. While the optics are amazing, now I need better sound.

The night before Christmas...

The morning started with a early walk with Balt and a beginning yoga class with Erika. Because Erika had been invited to spend Christmas Eve with her boyfriend's family, we decided to have a Christmas Eve family breakfast, instead of dinner. I love tamales for breakfast with scrabbled eggs!

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. I didn't have a lot to do today, just wrap all the stuff I'd purchased for the girls in the last month and put under the tree before bed. I didn't really want to stay up late but I needed some privacy, which is sometimes difficult. I took over the dining room and told everyone to stay out. My husband enjoyed watching a couple of movies with the girls while I did all the wrapping. It took me nearly 5 hours. Balt will have to be crated tonight, just to be safe. 

At last!

The teacher theme today was "Badgers!" Anyone out there that would like to see the Wisconsin Football experience should watch this >video<. The Badgers going to Pasedena is a big deal to a lot of Madisonians. I'd love to go to Pasedena this winter break, but I have to admit, I wouldn't really be interested in watching the game. 

The day went well and didn't get crazy until 7th hour-- even Santa showed up. Yes, a student dressed up for the whole day as Santa Clause. I could tell by the end of the day, some kids were tripping on sugar-highs. There were plenty of parties and movie watching BUT there were a lot of tests. I presented my final exam projects in my photo classes and had regular work days for the rest of the day-- no big party. I did offer hot chocolate to my metals classes. By the time it was time to go, I had eaten too much and felt completely burnt out.

Monika had some shopping to do for a party tonight, Jessi had basketball practice and then a boys swim meet to time for. After getting Monika where she needed to be, I took care of Balt. Walking in 27 degree flurries, wasn't fun, but it had to be done. I ran a few errands and finally made it home to relax. At last!!

The day before the day before...

... the day before! Oh, I can't believe Christmas is in 3 days! We woke up to snow and Balt was so happy. It wasn't a lot but enough to feel very Christmassy. At school there was a big solstice breakfast and our annual holiday sale. I did not have a lot to do with this year's sale, instead I stayed after school with students working on the paper. We had a holiday dinner catered by Qdoba.

I ran to pick up Balt from daycare (see him asleep in the car above!) and then went back to work the girls basketball game. It was a tough game (another loss). Jessi started again but fouled out in the 4th quarter. She's a strong player who typically guards the tallest girl on the other team. There are two girls out with concussions on her team-- there's a lot rough contact, more than soccer. She got banged around a lot this game, and went to bed with a bad head-ache... so I hoping no concussion. 

It's not Christmas...

...until I'm listening to the Waitress' 1981 song, "Christmas Wrapping." I remember driving from our house to my grandma's every year listening to the radio (KROQ) waiting to hear the song. Somehow, every year they played it during that ride! Maybe they played it every hour or maybe I was just that lucky? The song still makes me very happy-- it reminds of so many happy, sunny car rides with my family to see more family. 

Today was Hawaiian day for teachers, but I don't have a Hawaiian shirt, so I went African. It made the day more interesting. It was a very mellow day in general. My afternoon metals & glass class are fusing and I love how excited they get when they see stuff come out of the kiln. I'd say it was the best part of the day. After school I took Balt for a long walk and then went to Costco to get him dog food and a Christmas turkey.  I picked up Jessi from bb and took Monika to her last driver's ed class. I did a bit of shopping for a few last things. I think I only have one more gift to buy. I can't wait to spend my Saturday girft wrapping and listening to Christmas music by the fire! Oooh, only two more days!

Only 3 Days Left

I did my best to make it through today. At least Balt was happy today-- he loves going to daycare. I did grading all through my morning classes and then ran a bunch of errands during my prep. I came home for a quick tamale for lunch and to get Jessi (who was too exhausted from staying up all night working on a project) to school. I wore tie-dye but was not feeling hip. A couple of projects were stolen from my 7th hour students and I did my best to track down a lead on that situation. Both students had planned to give the projects to their parents as gifts, so they were livid. My kids are working on mosaic vases. Theft is always a frustrating situation. It certainly did not help my mood. The day seemed exhausting and never ending. I zipped back and forth between basketball practice, orchestra concerts and secret santa gift shopping. I can only hope tomorrow will be easier.
 

Getting through it...

There's a math teacher at school that organizes fun. He sends out emails asking teachers to meet monthly for drinks and/or dinner. This week he asked for teacher dress up days and today was monochromatic day. Both Melissa and Josh were in all black (which doesn't really count as a color but at least they participated), Geof was in blue and of course, I chose red. I wanted to go out and buy red shoes-- it was the perfect excuse-- but I refrained. It was a great way to kick off the festivities of the week. Tomorrow is tie day, but I'm going tye-die. While it's hard to be at work this week, I'm glad we're at work this week and not the first week of January. It's better this way, I think.

All three girls are stressed out of their minds with studying and homework. It makes it hard to feel any festiveness at home. I set about making tamales tonight. I set it all up and prepared for interuptions. I took Balt with me everytime I left the house. He ate Jessi's gingerbread house last night, so he's slightly out of control these days. I did not give him breakfast and made sure to crate him all day. I took him for a quick walk before settling into the kitchen. I just finished and now will steam them most of the night.

Thin Ice

It seems this was a weekend for near misses. During our walk today, Balt fell through the ice on a river that lead into Indian Lake. The lake looked quite solid ice, but the river, I guess was not so solid. I had feared this would happen and I had to help him out. I weigh a good 100 pounds more then Balt, so of course I too fell through the ice. Only one of my legs got submerged to my hip but I got pretty wet dragging him out and I was mad. We had to cut our walk short of course as I couldn't continue all wet, whereas Balt could and seemed very unapologetic about the whole situation. 

I had planned to make tamales today, but Monika had planned to make gingerbread men and a house. I went shoppping hoping that on my return we could switch. I had also hoped to get a family photo, but my husband would not comply. I asked for the girls to pose for me this afternoon but it wasn't easy. Everyone is so busy all the time and stressed out too. It meant my refusing to feed anyone until a photo could be taken. Once I got my pictures I went to yoga and then hoped to get to tamales. Instead, the kitchen was a huge mess and still in use. Jessi had joined in the gingerbread house making and I decided tomorrow would work out better. Most schools get out on Wednesday, but we go until Friday. It's not going to be easy.
 

Date Night

We woke up to snow today. I never Balt so happy to go outside! He was dancing around, rubbing his nose in the snow in glee. I took him to the dog park early after dropping Jess off for basketball practice. I took a wrong turn on the way to the park and found myself rolling down a hill unable to stop on the ice, headed right into a highway with a snowplow headed my way. It was very much an "oh shit" moment. My life didn't flash before me, instead it was just like in the Sherlock Holmes movie when they slow the action down and you can see all the details (I love that). In real life, I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop at the T-intersection, so I had three options and all three involved the possibility of hitting the snow plow coming at me from the far lane. To go straight would involve flying over the embankment into the field in front of me. Turning left would put in front of the plow, turning right would most likely involve a wide turn or a slide into the plow with the driver's side most at risk. I had enough time to think through each option and chose. I went with the right turn. It went wide and luckily the plow saw me and swerved off the road to his right. When I was able to stop, I pulled off the road to let my heart calm down and offer a great deal of thanks to God. When I shared my story to my husband, he was pretty sure I would have survived no matter what I had decided. I'm not sure how Balt would have fared and I can guarantee the Nissan would have been totalled. But not even a scratch and I will now be going grandma speeds for the winter.

After a long morning walk with Balt, I spent the day cooking and cleaning. I went to yoga and then on a date with my spouse. We both enjoyed the movie Sherlock Holmes (2011). My husband enjoys the subtle historical references. I enjoy watching Robert Downey Jr. This movie is basically just a big-budget- big-guns action flick with time period costumes-- pure entertainment.

What a day!

Both Jessi and Monika had early meetings at school this morning. After finding Balt had eaten half of my cupcakes, I made sure to get going out early so he could get a good morning walk. I dropped off the cupcakes Balk didn't eat and looked at all the other cupcakes-- so many good ones. I popped in on the judges so I could taste a few. I have a student making a movie about the Smackdown. I'll be sure to post it when it's down. 

After school, I ran Balt to his walking fields for a long one and then came home for a quick nap. Jessi had a basketball game in Verona. They are ranked 8th in the state, so I knew it was going to be difficult game. Jessi was pretty sure she was starting. I want to be supportive, so I have gone to all of her games. I haven't always had the best of attitudes. Tonight they were down, 70-19 with less than a minute. I had been cheering for the team to get to 20 with no regard to the other team's score. Jessi came in and made a basket. It was so exciting! She's a tough player, playing against all odds.

How it all went down...

My grand idea of putting bownies inside pots with flower cookies sticking out all went awry when after leaving them in the oven with oreos on top (each oreo had been drilled with a hole for the cookie pops) to go to the hockey game. When Monika and I came home we found things weren't working as hoped. The deep pots were cooked on top but raw at the bottom. We took the partically cooked bownie cupcakes and put them in the blender with a cup of milk, a cup of flour and baking soda. I thought that if they ended up tasting amazing we would have just invented a great recipe. Well, twice baked brownies don't taste great, but their not bad. We knew at that point we weren't going to win so the rest of the night was just trying to get something respectable together. At midnight Monika washed her hands of the situation and said she didn't want her name on the entry at all. I continued with the sole motivation of not wanting to waiste all the funds I had put into the endeavor. The Cupcake smack down has changed the landscape of the GSA at our school. It's a grand fundraiser for a club that had been semi-invisiable and now is out of the closet and kind of cool. 

Anyway, this morning when I woke up,I went down to let Balt out and I intuitively knew to check on the cupcakes. At least I took a picture of the dozen because I was left with 6, The rest were gone. Only 6 sticks were left on the floor with a lot of chocolate crumbs. I knew it didn't matter. We weren't going to win, so I'd donate the 6 and be done. Balt wasn't up for breakfast this morning and Jessi was concerned the chocolate would make him sick. I am pretty sure he won't die and as long as he doesn't vomit in my house, he'll survive. Here's a few cupcakes that were succesful ... more pictures tonight.

Late Failure

It's almost 2am and I've ruined any chance of winning the cupcake contest. I'm disoriented and crazy tired. The day was so long because cupcake making was left until after school, after walking Balt, after the boys basketball and hockey games. I had to work hockey, Monika volunteered to work basketball. I got some work done before the games but when we got home and found what we started was a disaster, we did not give up. We continued to flounder around until we finished with edible cupcakes. We won't win, but at least we have a submission that is edible. Monika is too embarrassed to have our entry be associated with her. Perhaps I'll enter them in Jessi's name? Jess can't even make mac n' cheese.

We'll have a "happy" ol' time!

I shared a power point in my 2nd hour class today basically for one student who used the word "gay" on his facebook status. I threw the power point together pretty quickly, but I wanted the kid to understand why it offends people. I used the word all the time in the 80's and I know kids don't understand how different the climate is for gay kids at our school compared to how it was back when I was in high school. I don't think a lot of kids really get how different it is for gay kids in more consertative rural places TODAY. Believing homosexuality is wrong is not even the issue at hand. It's about respecting kids who are not like you and it's about saying what you mean. I so rarely get on soapboxes, so today was kind of special.

Jessi was home sick and Monika was swamped. I took Balt out for his morning walk around the block instead of his big walking field because it was raining. After school I took him to his big field even though it was wet. I knew he'd need to run. I put a bike light on him in the evening now and I love watching the light dance across the field when he runs. I dropped Monika at driving school and then I went to bookclub. I thought it was funny how other teachers were complaining about the crazy day when all was perfect in the art department. Oh, a kid accidently hit the fire alarm and sent everyone outside in the rain, but that happened during my prep, so it was all good for me. As lively as my classes are, I am pretty spoiled and often refer the art department as my ivory tower.We talked about our book, "Bossypants" for about 5 minutes out of the 2 hours we were together. We have a lot of fun.

 

My Intention

A couple of weeks ago I thought I would need a day off before vacation. I was thinking today would be a good one to take since it was a bit over half way. I scheduled a massage during my lunch hour and figured I could go either way. Well, I decided to go to school but there were quite a few other teachers out today. I was glad I made it in. The lunch time massage certainly made the day a lot more relaxing. It's pretty therapeutic for my feet since the pain in my heel and arch causes alot of cramping all the way up my legs. The therapists seem a bit surprised by the tightness I have as they work it out. 

I started drinking diet coke again this month and not surprisingly, my eye started twitching today. So after my massage, I got an iced green tea instead and started thinking about detox. During one of my classes, a student asked me about purpose in life. I told him he had to find his and then he asked me mine. Wow. Actually, I really need to re-focus on my purpose. I told him I felt life was about relationships, the ones we have here and now. I shared I used to be very focused on the future in my youth, then at some point I made shift to concentrating on the present. I have asked myself what if this is all there is? What if we only live this life and then we are done? I was clear that that's not what I want to be true; what I want is to have eternity in heaven with God. It was a quick interaction and several kids were listening. If only it were as easy as asking a magic 8 ball.

My intention is to live a life that is loving, honest and healthy. As I sweat buckets in my yoga class I held my hands in prayer and asked to be reminded of my purpose more often. I offered my intention, raised my hands to the sky and continued my yoga practice, glad of the free evening to bask in the heat. As the countdown continues, I think the days just get busier from here on.

Taped Up!

Our 2nd Annual Toys for Tots Fundraiser was today. Backyards paid $25 for a roll a tape and individuals could buy yard long peices for a dollar. We raised over a grand to buy toys to donate. The kids have fun and I think the staff do too. Last year Joe didn't get enough tape on him to float on the wall. This year the kids did a better job of getting more tape on the wall than on the teachers (that's the trick). 

During PCT we talked about Mel-Con paragraphs we had our students write in our art classes. I enjoyed spending the hour with my four favorite teachers at Memorial. After school I rushed Balt out to our walking field to get a walk in before I had to take Jessi to basketball practice. I then made my way to JoAnne Fabric gathering supplies for Monika who is planning on creating a dozen cupcakes for the 2nd Annual Cupcake Smackdown. We came up with a great idea (top secret). I was so sore from yesterday's yoga class I decided to stay home and start on some of the prep for Friday's cupcake craziness. It's going to be so fun!

Sunday Fire

The weather warmed up today above freezing and Jessi said it felt like the 60's but it was only in the 40's. I enjoyed the morning sorting socks by the fire with Balt. I waited until it was above freezing and then took Balt to the dog park. We had a wonderful late morning. He gets a lot of complements still. People say his coat is pretty, comment on how beautiful he is or how well behaved he is. It's nice. He got a lot of complements this weekend.

I did a big Costco shopping run and a late grocery run where I purchased all the items I need to make tamales. My goal is to have them made by Saturday. I got to my favorite yoga class and had a great time. I suppose yoga has in many ways replaced church for me. After reading a NY times peice on Americans and God, I read there is a rise in Americans leaving the ranks of the religious (especially with the youth) and some believe it is because of politics. Interesting. I ceased to struggle with organized religion in my life-- opting out completely for now. As for God? Occassionally He points His finger in my face and says, "See, I told you." While other times He's very quiet. I try to listen regardless. 

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...

I waited as long as I could to take Balt out. It was so cold this morning-- fully winter, just no snow. Jess and Moni both took the ACT this morning so I dropped them off at school early and started housework until the temps got into the 20's.  We went out to Indian Lake and he was so happy but a bit confused by the lake. He tried digging into the ice by the shore and kept looking around wondering why he couldn't swim. It was super cute. We got back in time to pick the girls up and take them out to breakfast. 

Jessi had her third game of the season against West this afternoon. It ruined my yoga schedule, but I was glad I went. She played a lot. It was a better match, but still a loss. West is currently #1 in the conference and Memorial continues to lag behind in last place. After the game I went and got pizza for the family and built a fire. All five of us were home, but no one wanted to take a family photo. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get a Christmas card out with a family photo when no one will pose. I couldn't pull it off last year and I'm going to be pretty upset if another year goes by with everyone saying they won't take a picture. 
 

A Spirit of Generosity

The New York Times has an interesting post about marriage and generosity. Happy marriages are connected to how generous couples are. It makes sense to me. Communication is the one you hear about but now it seems generousity may have more to do with marital success. For every 1 negative interactions, a couple should have 5 positive ones in order to have a successful relationship. If this is true for marriage, I believe it to be true for most all relationships; friendships, parental, etc. It's not always easy being generous. I must say there are some days it comes natural to me and others when it's near impossible. 

I was kind of in a bad mood today. I'm not sure why, I was out of it and certainly glad it was Friday. I had to run a few errands, buy tape for student government and lunch for the girls. Being a teacher and mom 24/7 means constantly giving. It's the spirit of generousity that makes the difference. I felt rushed today. At one point during the day, a student asked me to walk with her to get something instead of just taking a pass. I could have easily just stayed put but I took that walk and somehow it changed my mood. For some reason dropping all the things I was doing, leaving my classroom to walk across the school with young girl to get something on the other side of the building reminded me why I was there in the first place. It's about relationships-- always relationships.

It was a crazy busy day. I rushed home afterschool to get Balt his walk. Monika had friends over to make chocolate covered pretzels to sell at the boys basketball game tonight, then went to a tennis tournament. Jessi had bb practice then a boys swim meet to go to. I cleaned up the chocolate mess and then went to sell the pretzels at the game since Monika couldn't. I left the game exhausted and hungry. Eventually we all ended up home. I had a fire going. It was nice. 

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

I had a head-ache today. I don't often them and I'm glad of that. I'm not sure what's going on but I'm sure a vacation would help. 11 school days left. I had an early meeting that complicated my morning. At the last minute I sent Balt to daycare since there was no time for a morning walk. He had a great day. The highlight of my day was making it into the pool for 25 minutes of kicking hard.

I missed an afternoon meeting in order to be with my girls. I picked up Balt and took Jessi to her game at East High. She asked me not to talk about the game. In the end my goal is always just to get a good picture. It isn't supposed to matter if they win or lose. I just need a minute of playing time to get a picture because in 20 years no one will care who won or who started. We'll just want to see the picture of participation and the better that picture looks, the more impressed we will be. 
 

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

I came home from work today to find a couple of Netflix DVD's in the mailbox and we all got excited about Crazy, Stupid, Love with Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling. Monika watched it first while Jessi was at basketball practice and then Jessi watched it while Monika was at driver's ed. I got to watch bits and peices here and there during both showings and then watched the end again alone after both girls went to their rooms to do their homework. Having watched the Notebook about a dozen times, Ryan Gosling is a favorite romantic character and of course Steve Carell from the Office is a comedic favorite. The two of them together make a wonderful romantic comedit full of hoaky but wonderful speaches of soul mates and true love while acknowledging the failure of romance. I loved it. It was the perfect diversion...

Today was a pretty good day at work... stuff got done. Both Jessi and Monika seem swamped and frustrated a lot. There doesn't seem like I can do much for them, nor do they want me doing a whole lot, except to buy them food, take them places or make them cookies. I'm glad I have a dog-- he's always happy to see me... I think he's the only one really happy to see me most of the time. Funny how that it is with pets. They do make life a bit more fun, as well more complicated. In between all the coming and going I made sure to get in Balt's walk. It was freezing cold, 27 degrees, but Balt doesn't seemed the least bit bothered by the cold. I really need to buy better winter pants.

Still counting...

Yeah, there's 13 school days left until break, but who's counting? We all are. It was a pretty low key day- nothing special. I got into the pool today. I picked up the last of the "I AM JMM" posters finally. Tomorrow I hope to frame them and get them posted by the end of the week-- almost 2 months after the kids started finishing them. I wish I could get stuff done a bit more timely, but at least I'm getting stuff done.

Balt had daycare today and was a very good boy--nothing negative on his report card. I have them bathe him once a month now as well. He came home and crashed.  It's funny, because the two things he cares the most about; "Treats and snoozing, snoozing and treats, that's it!" (<if you haven't seen Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, watch it.) He was so sleepy that Jessi had to pick him up to take him upstairs to sleep. She's the only one that can still pick him up.

I promise the week will get more exciting. Things to forward to: Jessi's BB team is scrimmaging a bunch of boys on a rec team tomorrow and then plays the girls at East on Thursday, Monika's selling chocolate covered prezels at the boys BB game to raise money for her Europe trip this summer, and both girls take the ACT exam on Saturday.

14 Now!

The Christmas tree is up and blinking so it's starting to feel like the holidays, but no snow in the forecast. We had a few flurries today, but nothing substantial. It certainly cold enough for snow though. I wrote on the board at school 25 work days left. That's it, until the end of the semester-- the half way mark of the school year. Sometimes it feels like it can't come soon enough and other times, it's all flying by so fast. It was a PCT/Backyard day, so the day went by fast with a mellow art department meeting at the close. 

All three girls have a lot of projects and homework. Erika is working on a speach and she decided to have me be her subject-- it's a eulogy. She asked me to take a picture of my office (shown here) so she could use it in her speach. I should've straightened things up a bit before taking the pic, but I didn't see the mess until after when I was looking at the picture! Does this represent who I am? I rarely sit in this space actually. It's just the only place in the school that is only mine. I share everyother space. 

Monika's working on a couple of videos for her art class. I don't think I ever posted her very first project for the class- a self portrait. I didn't take video of the kids when they were little-- lots of pictures though. I gave her one of the few of her that was taken with my old Sony Mavika. It used big floppy discs. One disc would hold 5 images or a very short video. I know my mom will enjoy this... and yes, I know. It's too short!

Snuggle up

The days continue to get chillier. The next 10 days we can look forward to an average high of 32 degrees. I was quite tempted to build a big fire and snuggle all day with my cats, only Balt would not have any of that. He got me out in the weather of course. I called a friend and met her with her dog to go to Indian Lake. Balt loved the walk and I survived the cold.

Monika had her first indoor soccer game at the same time as my yoga class, so I couldn't go to yoga. I enjoyed visiting with other soccer moms and Monika had a fun time playing soccer for the first time in a while. After we came home and waited for my husband to get back from Milwaukee so we could all have dinner together and get our Christmas tree. We went to the hardware store to gather up a few decorations and a tree. Jessi did most of the work in decorating and then Balt did his best to pull the ornaments off to chew on. It was cute, but kind of annoying. I think we will only have stuff on the top half of our tree this year.