It's 8:59 and I'm having a day.
It started so long ago.
I've rushed around here, I've rushed around there.
I've barely had time to wash my frizzy hair.
It's 8:59 and I'm having a day.
I'm exhausted, burnt out, spent.
Forgot to call the dentist, forgot to run the dishwasher.
Forgot to feed the gerbil or water the plants.
It's 8:59 and I'm having a day.
The papers on my desk have spilled onto the floor.
The clutter in the closet has crept out.
There's schoolwork to be graded and attendance to be logged,
And our houseguest for the week is a stomach-sick dog.
----------------------------------
And cut. I started that on Friday night. Got interrupted by a Little Guy who had been nicely tucked into bed who later decided "My still hungry Mommy. Mommy, my still hungry. My playing with doggy and my forgot my ice cream."
And the doggie isn't stomach sick anymore. She's just fine.
And the weekend was great.
So basically my little pity party poem doesn't apply anymore. But I'm posting it anyway.
Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Bike helmets, not just a product of runaway lawsuits
Friday was a beautiful day. We've had a lot of beautiful days recently, and Friday was one of them. And it was a Friday...so that made it doubly beautiful. Hello lamppost, how's it going? I've come to watch your flowers growing. That sort of beautiful.
So we ditched school in the afternoon and decided to take the bikes and go to a park. Sweetling is still...wait...Sweetling *was* still working on mastering the two wheeler thing. The problem being that the sidewalks are a bit too narrow. Nevermind that they are three to four feet wide. The grass edges kept sneaking up on her and making her lose her balance. So a park trip, to a place with a big empty parking lot, was totally in order.
Load up bikes, load up waterbottles, load up kids, load up bike helmets.
A word on my previous attitude about bike helmets. Since the invention of the bicycle in the 1800's, no child has worn a helmet to ride a bike. Helmets were reserved for motorcycles, when they came out, and people who were doing things like putting both wheels of their bike above their heads on a regular basis. Good old 'hop on your bike and ride down the street' never needed a helmet. Even if it was, hop on your bike, ride down the street, and over the bike ramp you and your friends have made in the neighbors driveway out of cinderblocks and a old piece of half-rotted plywood you dragged up from the woods. No one wore helmets. Ever. And a never knew, met, or even heard of anyone who had a serious head injury from lack of bike helmet. But you know, we also made long car trips in the back of station wagons without seatbelts, so what did we know?
Anyway, enter the 1990s. Its now popular to drop your 6wk infant off at daycare for nine hours a day...but by jimminy, you better get him a bike helmet for his tricycle when he's old enough. (And you'll know when that time is, because the daycare workers who are raising him will let you know when he starts mastering petalling the bikes in the large motor room). Otherwise people might think you weren't a very attentive parent.
So bike helmets.
Sweetling, of course, had a helmet when she got her two-wheeler with the training wheels and her scooter....but it wasn't because Mommy was really concerned about this whole helmet thing. It was because she had watched PBS, and so she *knew* that she was *supposed* to have a helmet. And Sweetling doesn't do anything unless she can do it the way its *supposed* to be done. Blame the Jedi for that. She certainly didn't inherit that from *me*.
Now, here we are in the van on our way to the park. (Little Guy has a helmet too...I couldn't very well have Sweetling in a helmet and not Little Guy. Its a paranoid mom thing, you know?) We get to the park, helmets get strapped on, bikes get taken out. "Don't ride past this point" speeches get made. And we're ready. Little Guy takes off. Sweetling gets a pep talk and a promise that I'm not going to suddenly let go of her. (She could tell, months ago, that I might be the sort of parent to try that stunt.)
So I run beside and behind the Sweetling and after a few passes back and forth across the parking lot...she's got it!!!! There was one other family at the park that day, and the mom there was clapping and cheering for the Sweetling too. :)
I continue running along beside the Sweetling, just in case. And we tell Little Guy that Sweetling is not a target. We are not playing bumper cars here. And then Sweetling is doing great, so I chase Little Guy on his bike. (Little Guys favorite bike games are...race me...and 'oh no, big scary monster going to get me!') And after a while of doing both those activities in ninety degrees, full sunshine, on a blacktop, in the afternoon...Mommy was tired. So I went to stand beside the van, drink my waterbottle, and watch and encourage from a distance.
Which is when we get to the point of this story. Turning on a two wheeler is still tricky. So, Sweetling, heading towards a line of bushes at the end of the parking lot made a couple attempts at turning her bike, but they made her wobbly, so she kept going straight. Mommy, way too far away to get there even at a dead run, is yelling "Stop! Stop! Put your feet down!" Sweetling says she was screaming too loud to hear. Sweetling panics, takes her feet off the petals, and her hands off the handlebars, and hits the bushes at full tilt. I saw her little hands make one frantic grab to hang on to the bushes as the bike went in, and she went off the back of the bike.
From across the parking lot, I heard the crack as her helmet hit the black asphalt. By the time I got to her, she was struggling to her feet, and spitting out the leaves that her open, screaming mouth had nearly injested. Her bike was wedged several feet into the bushes. After reassuring myself and the Sweetling that she was all right, I had to crawl into the bushes to grab the seat of her bike and drag it backwards to get it out.
The helmet had a huge gouge out of the styrofoam where it had taken the impact in place of her skull.
So, safety helmets. Not just a result of yuppy lifestyles.
Sweetling, by the way, did a great job of getting back on her bike and riding it again. Little Guy, who thought that this was all very funny, rode his bike into the bushes on purpose twice before Mommy could convince him not to do that.
All in all, a great Friday outing.
So we ditched school in the afternoon and decided to take the bikes and go to a park. Sweetling is still...wait...Sweetling *was* still working on mastering the two wheeler thing. The problem being that the sidewalks are a bit too narrow. Nevermind that they are three to four feet wide. The grass edges kept sneaking up on her and making her lose her balance. So a park trip, to a place with a big empty parking lot, was totally in order.
Load up bikes, load up waterbottles, load up kids, load up bike helmets.
A word on my previous attitude about bike helmets. Since the invention of the bicycle in the 1800's, no child has worn a helmet to ride a bike. Helmets were reserved for motorcycles, when they came out, and people who were doing things like putting both wheels of their bike above their heads on a regular basis. Good old 'hop on your bike and ride down the street' never needed a helmet. Even if it was, hop on your bike, ride down the street, and over the bike ramp you and your friends have made in the neighbors driveway out of cinderblocks and a old piece of half-rotted plywood you dragged up from the woods. No one wore helmets. Ever. And a never knew, met, or even heard of anyone who had a serious head injury from lack of bike helmet. But you know, we also made long car trips in the back of station wagons without seatbelts, so what did we know?
Anyway, enter the 1990s. Its now popular to drop your 6wk infant off at daycare for nine hours a day...but by jimminy, you better get him a bike helmet for his tricycle when he's old enough. (And you'll know when that time is, because the daycare workers who are raising him will let you know when he starts mastering petalling the bikes in the large motor room). Otherwise people might think you weren't a very attentive parent.
So bike helmets.
Sweetling, of course, had a helmet when she got her two-wheeler with the training wheels and her scooter....but it wasn't because Mommy was really concerned about this whole helmet thing. It was because she had watched PBS, and so she *knew* that she was *supposed* to have a helmet. And Sweetling doesn't do anything unless she can do it the way its *supposed* to be done. Blame the Jedi for that. She certainly didn't inherit that from *me*.
Now, here we are in the van on our way to the park. (Little Guy has a helmet too...I couldn't very well have Sweetling in a helmet and not Little Guy. Its a paranoid mom thing, you know?) We get to the park, helmets get strapped on, bikes get taken out. "Don't ride past this point" speeches get made. And we're ready. Little Guy takes off. Sweetling gets a pep talk and a promise that I'm not going to suddenly let go of her. (She could tell, months ago, that I might be the sort of parent to try that stunt.)
So I run beside and behind the Sweetling and after a few passes back and forth across the parking lot...she's got it!!!! There was one other family at the park that day, and the mom there was clapping and cheering for the Sweetling too. :)
I continue running along beside the Sweetling, just in case. And we tell Little Guy that Sweetling is not a target. We are not playing bumper cars here. And then Sweetling is doing great, so I chase Little Guy on his bike. (Little Guys favorite bike games are...race me...and 'oh no, big scary monster going to get me!') And after a while of doing both those activities in ninety degrees, full sunshine, on a blacktop, in the afternoon...Mommy was tired. So I went to stand beside the van, drink my waterbottle, and watch and encourage from a distance.
Which is when we get to the point of this story. Turning on a two wheeler is still tricky. So, Sweetling, heading towards a line of bushes at the end of the parking lot made a couple attempts at turning her bike, but they made her wobbly, so she kept going straight. Mommy, way too far away to get there even at a dead run, is yelling "Stop! Stop! Put your feet down!" Sweetling says she was screaming too loud to hear. Sweetling panics, takes her feet off the petals, and her hands off the handlebars, and hits the bushes at full tilt. I saw her little hands make one frantic grab to hang on to the bushes as the bike went in, and she went off the back of the bike.
From across the parking lot, I heard the crack as her helmet hit the black asphalt. By the time I got to her, she was struggling to her feet, and spitting out the leaves that her open, screaming mouth had nearly injested. Her bike was wedged several feet into the bushes. After reassuring myself and the Sweetling that she was all right, I had to crawl into the bushes to grab the seat of her bike and drag it backwards to get it out.
The helmet had a huge gouge out of the styrofoam where it had taken the impact in place of her skull.
So, safety helmets. Not just a result of yuppy lifestyles.
Sweetling, by the way, did a great job of getting back on her bike and riding it again. Little Guy, who thought that this was all very funny, rode his bike into the bushes on purpose twice before Mommy could convince him not to do that.
All in all, a great Friday outing.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Robin Hood and St. George
Sweetling and I are doing school. Her literature assignment is to write a two paragraph essay comparing and contrasting Robin Hood and St. George (using the short stories "St. George and the Dragon" by J. Berg Esenwien and Marietta Stockard, and "Robin Hood and Allin-a-Dale" by James Baldwin). We're doing this together as a nice example of how to write a short academic essay. Sweetling wanted to post in on my blog.
Here's our outline:
1. same
a. care for poor
b. brave
2. different
a. St George would have given his own money to the poor, Robin Hood took from the rich
b. St. George helps people solve their problems by getting rid of the problem by murder, Robin Hood would solve their problem in a non-lethal way
Here's our essay:
Here's our outline:
1. same
a. care for poor
b. brave
2. different
a. St George would have given his own money to the poor, Robin Hood took from the rich
b. St. George helps people solve their problems by getting rid of the problem by murder, Robin Hood would solve their problem in a non-lethal way
Here's our essay:
St. George and Robin Hood are both brave heros who care for the poor. After all the trouble in St. George's city was gone, he went out to see what else he could do. He didn't just lay around and do nothing. Robin Hood was willing to rob from others to give it to the poor.
St. George is a knight whose job is to uphold the law, but Robin Hood is an outlaw who breaks the rules. If St. George wanted to give money to the poor, he would have given his own money, but Robin Hood took it from others. St. George solved everyone's problems by killing whatever was causing the problem, for example he killed the dragon that was threatening the city. But, Robin Hood would solve their problems in a non-lethal way. For example when Alin-a-Dale came to him with the problem that his fiance was marrying someone else, Robin Hood didn't kill that woman or the person she was marrying.
Monday, September 03, 2007
demented and sad, but social
I was feeling slightly bummed about my list, but that quickly changed when I won my cash cow trophy. Here is my Phoebe standing beside her trophy. I also made chocolate chip cookies. Those things are sort of related. Reach for it.
three day weekend
All weekends should come with three days in them. Unless, of course, they had four days in them.
In no particular order I--
--sat on a blanket in the shade of a tree and read a Star Trek novel while Sweetling, Little Guy, and the Jedi rode bikes in the church parking lot.
--spent several hours trying to win a trophy for Cash Cow on Webkinz.
--lost splendidly at a game of Age of Empires.
--tried to convince Little Guy that mommy didn't forget to pour juice in his cup...the juice was just *invisible*.
--watched videos of Sweetling when she was a baby. Laid on the couch and cried after she had gone to bed because she didn't *need* me anymore
--wished there was a cookie fairy to bring homebaked chocolate chip cookies to good little girls like me.
--got a nifty new tablet PC cause the Jedi loves me. Played with it, but didnt save any of the doodles.
--went $50 over budget at the grocery store on Friday
--learned from another mom with preschool boys that needing to clean the bathroom at least once a day was totally normal.
--tried to convince the Jedi that every child drinks their hot chocolate with a spoon. That's just how its *done*
--gave up on my cash cow trophy and rearranged my Webkinz yard instead. (I gave up on my real yard back in May of this year. I just had no time or energy to put into failing at gardening this year.)
--went overboard in printing out cute little graphics for little know special days to put on the september calendar. our calendar now has playdoh day, talk like a pirate day, and elephant appreciation day.
--did NOT join a new online rp. But oh the temptation.
--did NOT watch Angel. I'm on a critical episode and I can't get the disk to play either in the laptop or on the media center pc. Boo hoo.
--watched another episode of the States with the Jedi. Saw more places that I'd love to visit "someday"
--did not have to clean house or cook dinner for guests from the international sales offices at the Jedi's work. I love having them to dinner, because they have such great stories (and the guy from Belgium brings chocolate). But I'm in a lazy three day weekend mode.
--avoided getting involved in the tickle wars between children and the Jedi
--ate the very last of the Chinese leftovers from our anniversary on Wednesday
--ate many spoonfuls of Heggy's fudge straight from the container
This list is a little less eclectic than I would like it to be. What can I do to change that?
In no particular order I--
--sat on a blanket in the shade of a tree and read a Star Trek novel while Sweetling, Little Guy, and the Jedi rode bikes in the church parking lot.
--spent several hours trying to win a trophy for Cash Cow on Webkinz.
--lost splendidly at a game of Age of Empires.
--tried to convince Little Guy that mommy didn't forget to pour juice in his cup...the juice was just *invisible*.
--watched videos of Sweetling when she was a baby. Laid on the couch and cried after she had gone to bed because she didn't *need* me anymore
--wished there was a cookie fairy to bring homebaked chocolate chip cookies to good little girls like me.
--got a nifty new tablet PC cause the Jedi loves me. Played with it, but didnt save any of the doodles.
--went $50 over budget at the grocery store on Friday
--learned from another mom with preschool boys that needing to clean the bathroom at least once a day was totally normal.
--tried to convince the Jedi that every child drinks their hot chocolate with a spoon. That's just how its *done*
--gave up on my cash cow trophy and rearranged my Webkinz yard instead. (I gave up on my real yard back in May of this year. I just had no time or energy to put into failing at gardening this year.)
--went overboard in printing out cute little graphics for little know special days to put on the september calendar. our calendar now has playdoh day, talk like a pirate day, and elephant appreciation day.
--did NOT join a new online rp. But oh the temptation.
--did NOT watch Angel. I'm on a critical episode and I can't get the disk to play either in the laptop or on the media center pc. Boo hoo.
--watched another episode of the States with the Jedi. Saw more places that I'd love to visit "someday"
--did not have to clean house or cook dinner for guests from the international sales offices at the Jedi's work. I love having them to dinner, because they have such great stories (and the guy from Belgium brings chocolate). But I'm in a lazy three day weekend mode.
--avoided getting involved in the tickle wars between children and the Jedi
--ate the very last of the Chinese leftovers from our anniversary on Wednesday
--ate many spoonfuls of Heggy's fudge straight from the container
This list is a little less eclectic than I would like it to be. What can I do to change that?
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