Drawing the Line

We have a neighbor girl (about a year older than Lauren and two years younger than Sarah) who frequently comes over to play with Sarah. She only plays with Lauren because she "has" to. To give her credit, sometimes she is nice and encouraging to Lauren, and Lauren has more than her share of the whines. But she's frequently bratty & manipulative. She threatens to go home, or not be friends any more, and pouts when she doesn't get her way.

I'm torn between how much involvement I should have. I'm a firm believer in letting kids work stuff out themselves, without a lot of "fixing" from parents. In spite of that, I tend to remind her (and sometimes the other kids who come over to play) that they have to play nicely. Heh, Jeff is more likely to just kick her out. He has a lot less patience for her.

Once it warms up this summer, I anticipate more activity over here. I got this yesterday:
I'm picturing myself, sitting on the back porch (with a book, probably) every time we have kids over, insisting that they play decently. I'm torn between letting them deal with it themselves or saying "No Brattiness Allowed." Do I want to be the neighborhood hard ass, the Enforcer? Yeah, I'm already on my way to that--last week, I had to say, "No back flips from the top of the fence, guys."

Time to dig

It looks like it's almost time to start digging. Digging in the garden, and digging out the summer clothes.

It's only 71 right now, and supposed to go back to a more April-ish 50's & 60's for the rest of the week, but I'm thinking spring. I'm thinking about planting tomatoes and green beans. I'm thinking about those denim skirts for the girls. I'm thinking about garage sales and going to the zoo. I'm thinking about walks after dinner. And I think I see a lot of trees putting out green leaves!

My Downfall

I am going to waste sooooo much time at these places.

The Newspaper Clipping Generator

The Movie Clapper Board Generator

Wanted Poster Generator

Dollar Bill, Hollywood Sign, many others

I am already planning to use the first one to write a "review" of the dance recital in a couple months, to put in the annual album.

Guess the Show

You know the drill--which shows are these, based on their IMDB keywords?

1. Sexual Tension/FBI/Conspiracy
2. Mountain/Medical/Surreal
3. Cooking/Food History/Science
4. Comedy/Mystery/Best Friends
5. Japanese/Cheerleader/New York City
6. Detective/Strong Woman/Quirky (I had to make these up--IMDB lists no keywords for this show!)
7. White Trash/Flashback/Mustache
8. Model/Judge/Fashion
9. Father Son Relationship/Survival/Beach
10. Backstage/Sketch Comedy/Spoof

Don Imus

I don't listen to Don Imus. I don't listen to Howard Stern. I listen to locals Drew & Mike about once a year, but only if the kids aren't in the car, and even then I usually only make it about five minutes before I can't roll my eyes at their idiocy any more and look for something else.

I admit it. I'm not edgy. I thought that comment betrayed what an asshole he was, but I'm pretty sure he made that apparent long ago.

If Imus had called a bunch of California women's basketball players "bleached-blonde hos," would there have been any comment?

While listening to the radio last night, I heard a commenter call this a "cash veto," which I thought was very apt. If people don't like what they hear or see, they can choose to not support it. Money goes away, support goes away.

New Dinner

I try to find new meals (particularly new things to make with ground beef or boneless pork chops), on a fairly regular basis. Last night, I saw African Safari Pilaf and decided to give it a try. It came out ok. The kids said they liked it, but then didn't really eat that much of it. Jeff & I thought it was ok, but I have to admit, it didn't look all that appetizing. With the peanut butter & curry powder, it looked a little . . . "sludgy." Anyway, it was different, but I doubt it will make it into the standard rotation here.

Now, what to make tonight . . .

Quote of the Day

Actually from Monday morning . . .

"Mom, I don't like peace and quiet."
- Sarah, said on the way to pick Lauren up from her solo sleepover at Gran'mama & Gran'papa's house on Sunday night.

Current Thoughts

. . . about the pool vs. swings.
Jeff's mom made a couple good comments yesterday. She said that she thought the novelty of swings in our own back yard would wear off fairly quickly. I could see that. She also mentioned that when they had a pool when Jeff & his brother were kids, she made it a rule that if kids came over to swim, a parent had to be with them, and stay in the yard while the kid was in the pool. I think that is a great rule, although I bet it would deter a lot of kids from coming over (or parents from letting their kids come over). Part of me would really like to have the backyard that is always full of kids. Part of me realizes that wouldn't necessarily be so idyllic.

. . . about sewing.
I heard that Hancock Fabrics is closing all their MI stores.
This is bad, because I won't have a fabric store nearby anymore.
This is good, because they'll be having big sales.
This is bad, because I neither need nor can afford to buy more fabric right now.

I currently have three sewing projects in the works: Christmas pajamas (yes, from Christmas '06, shut up), napkins, and ruffly jeans skirts (have to go back to Katie's tutorial for a refresher).

The Easter dresses turned out cute. I love patterns that only use 4 pieces. Next year, I'd like to do something with a chiffon overlay. I think I finally "get" putting in zippers.

I really need to sign up for that Serger class this summer.

Swings vs. Pool

Jeff & I have been talking about putting up a swingset for a couple years, but (like so many things) never got to it. This year, I'm trying to kick us into gear.

My Dad keeps telling us that we should get a quickset pool instead. Our neighbor has one, and the girls went over frequently last summer, but the parents supervise them from inside the house, and that doesn't cut it for me, so every time they went over, I went over unless I knew they would be outside with the kids. I was more concerned for Lauren, because Sarah can swim reasonably well, and she's tall enough to have her head and shoulders above the water. Lauren was barely tall enough to touch the bottom comfortably.

Anyway, my Dad tells us that a swingset will only get about 4 more years of use before Sarah gets too old to play on it, and that it costs easily twice as much. Related to that, my stepsister said that her oldest son, who will be 10 in August, has already started to lose interest in their swingset, and that she wishes they'd gotten something bigger.

My counterpoint is that a pool can only be used three months of the year. Also, you have to mess with chemicals & such. True, it would be a great way to cool off in the summer, but I don't think it's as practical.

At this point, I'm not even sure we'll put anything in the backyard. Any money we spend would probably be better spent on landscaping the front or something.

The View in My Backyard

When we first looked at this house, I loved that the back yard was like a private meadow. On all three sides, there were so many plants that you couldn't see the neighbors at all. Since then, the people behind us cut down all the scrub trees that had grown up along their side of the fence. The neighbors on our right pulled out all the overgrowth from their back yard as well (their entire yard was jungle). So then we could see to the street on one side, and to the pool & house behind us.

This week, the neighbors on the right had their huge oak tree taken down, as well as a few other, smaller trees along the fence. We had the same guys take down our dead ash as well, at a reasonable price. Then the neighbor on the left decided he wanted his oak down, too. They also took out all the lilacs along the back of the fence.

My back yard is going to get a lot more sun this summer. Jeff keeps telling me it's going to be great for the garden, but I know he's happiest that there are going to be so many fewer leaves to rake now. I'm going to miss the lilacs, but they'd gotten badly overgrown, and didn't bloom much anyway.

We're trying to decide if we want to put some kind of kid-themed contraption in the back yard, but I'll write about that tomorrow.

Of course, the real reason the view in my backyard is different right now is because there is SNOW in it.

Library Time

Sadly, Story Time is done for right now, so although we still go to the library every week, Lauren spends most of her time looking at the movies. Then, right before we leave, she grabs one of the mini Beatrix Potter books, insists on checking it out herself. She looks at it in the car on the way home, then ignores it.

Since I've discovered the joys of managing my library account online, and can place holds on books from my computer, I usually have at least 15 books to pick up each time we go, from various local libraries. They're books for Sarah to quiz on, cookbooks, resources for school, and books for me to read. It's a gazillion times more efficient, and I don't have to limit myself to book in our local library. The main drawbacks are that I now spend less time browsing in the stacks (although if the kids are hungry, that isn't so much a drawback), and that sometimes we get books that I realize won't work for us after all.

Unfortunately, three of the books we turned in last week still show as being checked out to me. I know I returned them--Sarah & I went through them as we stuffed them in the bag before we left the house. They've done shelf searches, but no luck. I've renewed them (again, online), so I'll have more time to work out an option, but I'm worried that I'm on the hook for these books; if they don't find them, I have to pay for them.

The book I'm reading right now is Looking for God in Harry Potter. My mom said once that she wouldn't read the HP books and thought they were anti-Christian, because they showed witchcraft & the occult in a positive light. Well, yeah, some of the witches & wizards are good guys, so I can't much argue with her on that point. I don't know her views on Lewis & Tolkien, although I know a lot of fundamentalist Christians have fewer problems with them than with Rowling.

At any rate, I've just started this new book, and it's interesting, though so full of stuff that makes me think that I can't read it for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time. After that, I find myself putting it down and wandering around the house, letting it all ferment in my head for a little while.

Miss Emotional

Poor Lauren--she's been really emotional lately. At choir practice yesterday, she was practically in tears because she got the plain wooden sandpaper blocks (cool noise) instead of the blue ones. "But blue's my favorite color!" The choir director told me it was kind of funny/cute, because the song they were singing started with the words, "Why me?" She really looked the part (pathos), but by the time they sang during church, she was fine.

More interesting is that she's started crying at happy endings of movies. I got home from work one night about a week ago, and Jeff said that she'd cried at the end of 101 Dalmations (live action version). "What? Why? None of the dogs died, did they?" He told me that all she would say was that she was happy. Last night, we watched Spirited Away. Although Lauren left the room during one rather intense part (we read a book in my room for a few minutes), she came back for the end and again, cried, because it all turned out OK.

The interesting thing is that although I can certainly sympathize (I'm also a big sappy crybaby), I didn't expect this from her, at least not at this age. She's never seemed that invested in things like this before. I wonder if she saw either of those again, if she'd have the same reaction, or be more "prepared."

For the record, when she was younger, Sarah cried at Stuart Little when Stuart was being taken away from his human family, and at Lilo & Stitch when Lilo was being taken by the big bad alien guy. She seems to have matured past that, though.

There is no way we're going to watch Charlotte's Web for a long, long time.

To Garage Sale or Not?

That is the question.

I didn't make a whole lot of $ on last year's sale, but in the end, I was up a couple hundred bucks, and down a whole bunch of crap in my house. That's a pretty good deal.

But now I don't have as much left to sell. No more furniture, for example. I do have a lot of toys, but many of them are things that Lauren still plays with occasionally (a Cozy Coupe car, tons o' Fisher-Price Little People). I could probably make a real killing if I waited until next year. But I'd like to get rid of the treadmill ASAP (I'd rather just go for walks, and I have other things I'd like to put in that space in the bedroom).

Another drawback to a garage sale is our neighbor. He apparently has Alzheimer's, and is constantly over, asking the same questions, telling the same "jokes." I feel sorry for him, but he actually walked into my house unannounced last year. He thought he was helping (by bringing some stuff in), but it doesn't change that it was over the line.

Hmm . . . maybe Craigslist.com is a better solution for the treadmill . . .

Renewed Enthusiasm

Last week was the end of my morning class, and although I know that the cutback in income with hurt, I am so happy to have my mornings again! Well, most of my morning. I do have my ESL student this Friday, but that's only a couple hours.

Yesterday and today, I've had a big upswing in enthusiasm for getting things done. I'm making inroads on the laundry, which really got out of hand, and I've got a budget in place for next month. I want us to eat more fish and vegetarian meals. If anyone complains, I'm going to blame it on the doctor. "Dr. Singhi told me to make salmon for dinner." It's kind of true; she told Jeff he had to get his cholesterol down . . .

We just got back from the library (19 books checked out, including two heart-healthy cookbooks), and the produce market, where--for $18, I got:

• a quarter of a watermelon
• 1 pound of strawberries
• a head of garlic
• some roasted peanuts in the shells*
• parsley
• red leaf lettuce
• two containers of yogurt*
• 3 pounds of Golden Delicious apples
• an Asian pear (this is our new thing to try)
• 2 Honey Tangarines
• 3 navel oranges
• an avocado
• a loaf of wheat bread
• a loaf of Calabrese bread (think of a big oval loaf, sliced--good for sandwiches or toast)
• a package of Greek pita bread* (no pockets)
• a package of bow tie pasta (dinner tonight, along with some shrimp from the freezer, some broccoli, and a whole bunch of lemon, garlic, & parsley)
• a red pepper
• a bag of lemons
• a pound of carrots*
  

I passed on the coconut, because I just didn't want to deal with it. I love going there, because I can get so much for relatively little. I wish I could find the same situation with a butcher.

*Indicates currently being consumed by children for lunch.

Even More Reason to Go for a Walk

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17662246/site/newsweek/

Exercise does more than build muscles and help prevent heart disease. New science shows that it also boosts brainpower—and may offer hope in the battle against Alzheimer's.

Toward the end of the article, it also mentions the link between exercise for kids and greater learning potential. So why are so many schools cutting PE and recess?

Anyway, I've been planning to start getting out for more walks. Like, half hour walks with the kids every day before lunch, and whole family walks after dinner, if I'm not working. It's good for Jeff's cholesterol, good for my weight and stress levels, and good for all of us in general.

One of the past impediments is that a "half hour walk" frequently turns into an hour and a half production. Finding shoes takes forever. We meet someone and chat once we're out and about. I give in to pleas that we stop at the playground. That eats up a big chunk of the day, and on days that I work or that we have other stuff going on (dance, library, etc.), I don't always want to take up that time. In spite of all that, I need to make it happen.

Now, if it would just stop snowing . . .

Fangirl Happiness

A few days ago, I heard that George RR Martin's fantasy series, A Song of Fire and Ice, is being developed as a series for HBO. I really like those books so far, and think HBO will do the best job of it. They plan to for each book to be one season, which is awesome. It gives them plenty of time to develop the story lines, and room in the budget for kick-ass production values. I was worried that Sci-Fi would get its mitts on it, and butcher it like they did A Wizard of Earthsea. So I'm optimistic. It's enough to make me think about getting HBO, because waiting for DVDs would probably kill me.

Then today I heard that The Talisman is going to be a miniseries on TNT or TBS in the summer of 2008, and might become a full-fledged series after that. That's one of my favorite Stephen King books, although the follow up, Black House, didn't do much for me.

Let the fantasy casting begin!

Incompatible

Most of my cooking and grocery shopping lately has been geared toward

• saving money
• food that can go in the freezer or be finished easily by Jeff while I'm at work

This equates to lots of ground beef, but not a lot of particularly healthy stuff.

But.

We just got Jeff's latest cholesterol numbers. As soon as he got off the phone with the doc, I yelled from the other room, "Someone's going to start eating oatmeal for breakfast!" He agrees that he's going to work on a healthier plan (good for all of us), and we're going to walk in the evenings after dinner whenever we can.

I canceled the holds I had on the Barefoot Contessa & Freezer Cooking cookbooks, and instead have holds for "Low Cholesterol Cooking for Dummies" and and a couple cookbooks from the American Heart Association. Salmon, tuna, and vegetarian, here we come!

Thoughts in a Whirl

(I almost titled this "Brain in a Blender," because that's more how I feel, and isn't alliteration pretty? But also, sometimes, nauseating.)

I feel like I'm on the Til-A-Whirl. Gawd, I loved that ride as a kid. The spinning, wheeeee!

But right now, my brain keeps running in circles, and I can't get it to slow down or focus very well. So here, for your confusion and entertainment, is some of the stream of consciousness that's been rolling around lately . . .

my student didn't show up for her makeup session, again, but she's out of luck now; we'll have a big review when we do the next part of the lesson; it's an extra $20 for me, but I'd rather have stayed home for the extra hour

Lauren's sick, but not much; "out of sorts," my Dad said, and she took a nap; I put it down to the time change and all the extra exercise & fresh air lately, but she had a little fever this afternoon; I don't like being gone if I don't have to

my morning class is done next week, and I'm sorry to see the $ go, but glad to have my mornings back

if I want to get an 8-week German session to finish by Memorial Day, I have to advertise for students yesterday; do I need just business cards, or a flyer? is it unethical to list myself as a certified teacher? I was certified, but it was in '92, and not in this state; I need to get my lessons ALL planned out NOW; flashcards; make audio CDs for practice; wish I could put more stuff on hold through the library, just to see if I like it; I wonder if Germany's Amazon.de will ship to me? I'd love to have Toy Story or Finding Nemo in German.

As it turns out, my student did show up for her make up, just late. Teaching pulls my head around and focuses me like nothing else--now I can't even remember all the stuff that was jumbling around while I was in the car. I am still spending a lot of time thinking about trying to get German classes rolling, like now, on top of everything else.

A Tale of Two (Potential) Businesses

My current teaching jobs are very sporadic. I'm working a lot right now, but when these classes are done, there's no way to predict if I'll have any more. It drives me crazy that I don't have a reliable income. I've looked at other jobs, but they either A) pay half of what I'm used to B) want full time work C) want someone with a Master's Degree.

I really like doing my digital photo albums, and I've had people tell me I should turn it into a business. I love teaching, and I've done that as a side business before (reading tutor). This time, I'm thinking about German, geared to home schoolers (I think I kicked this idea around a few years ago, too, but never went anywhere with it). Both ideas have pros and cons.

Photo Album Business Pros/Cons

• Pros: Fun, creative, potentially lucrative, most of the work could be done at home on my own.
• Cons: higher start up costs (a lap top and flatbed scanner would be nice, but at the very least, I'd need sample books, brochures, advertising), dealing with picky clients who have a different "style" than I do (Bridezillas, eek!), finding those clients in first place and selling them on my product. I'm not so much a salesman. Also, creating those images can be very time consuming, which cuts into the profit margin.

German Tutoring Pros/Cons

• Pros: Fun, creative (in totally different ways from above), potentially lucrative, most of the work done at home, much lower start up costs (business cards & flyers but mostly word of mouth advertising), I already have lots of materials created.
• Cons: If I had classes here at the house, the house would have to be immaculate all the time (Jeff would say that's a pro, heh). I don't know if I could get enough students on a consistent basis. Dealing with groups of kids can sometimes be frustrating. Also, do the parents drop off and come back later or what? I'd want to get a babysitter to watch my kids while I had classes (although I'd pay a bit less per hour, since I'd still be home).
  

Both ventures would require me to keep very good records. I can do that. I'm not good at keeping the house tidy, but if it's part of a job, I can be very anal.

One of our neighbors is a homeschooling mom who teaches music--in fact, Sarah's probably going to start taking recorder lessons from her, because I can't do much more with her. I could get some input from her on how she sets her stuff up, if she worries about liability insurance, etc.

Right now, I'm spending more time thinking about how to make the German classes work than the photo albums. I think I'd still do albums for spare cash if I knew someone that wanted them, but I think I'm going with what I know, and what I know I can do, at this point. Wish me luck!

The Lottery Game

You've all played this, right? The "What would I do if I won a million dollars" fantasy? No, I don't play the lottery, but that has no effect on playing the game. Jeff & I especially like the game when we're on long car rides. What charity would we give to, where would our second house be, etc.

Sometimes I play an abbreviated version--what would I do if I won $5K, for example. This generally involved the more prosaic things, like getting the car & shower fixed, having a professional do some landscaping, putting a swing set in the backyard, etc.

I've also been thinking about how much $ it would take to start a small business (more about that in another post). I was thinking that a spare $5K would be plenty to get me rolling. Then I realized that even if I had a spare $5K, it would go to the home things before anything else.

So apparently, I need to win $10K in the lottery that I never play instead of $5K.