Okay, so we were lazy yesterday and decided to run to Jimmy John’s for lunch rather than scrounge around the house for something to eat. We gathered up the orders and hopped in the car leaving the kids behind.
“Oh, you’re going to this Jimmy John’s. I thought you would want to go to the other one.”
“I still might if I can’t find a parking space downtown.”
And then it materialized. A space about a block and a half away from our destination. I pulled in rather than backing into the space to parallel park the correct way but there was plenty of room when I backed up.
“Look at that! A space and there’s even time left on the meter.” She reached into her purse.
“Don’t worry about it. We can make it in ten minutes, no problem.”
“Oookaay,” she responded with disbelief.
The air was brisk and she reminded me that we would have to walk uphill to get back to the car. The I saw her, dressed in official blue, carrying her handheld device for printing tickets and walking back toward our car.
“Uh-oh. I hope I’m right.”
“Look! Two more empty spaces right in front of Jimmy John’s.”
“Yeah, but they don’t have money on the meter. Plus we got some exercise.”
“Wouldn’t that be funny if you ended up having to pay for a ticket because you didn’t want to put more money in the meter.”
“Yeah,” I said with no cheer in my voice.
We placed our orders and I shifted from one foot to the other as they made our order.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
“I guess my competitive spirit woke up. I want to beat her back to the car.”
I grabbed the sandwiches under my arm with a quick “thank you”and rushed out the door. I saw the light change at the corner and realized we’d at least have to wait for traffic to clear. I hoped it wouldn’t take too long. As we approached a couple of cars went through, but we hit the crosswalk in stride, breathing a little heavier in the crisp air.
And there she was. She had turned on the side street and was just finishing with a ticket for another car.
“We’re safe now,” I announced.
“Why?”
“She’s behind us, on the other street,” I answered as I looked back over my shoulder to see her following.
“And with two minutes to spare on the meter. I told you so.”
I don’t know how I did it before I had summers off or maybe I really didn’t do it.
The end of the school year had an extra day tacked on for teachers to make up for too many snow days. Our data retreat was the next day and then a half day summer school meeting on Friday led right into the beginning of five weeks of summer school on Monday. By the time it was over I was burnt out!
And now the first full week of my summer vacation has come and gone and I feel even further behind. One side of the house has two new coats of paint and a second side is 95% scraped and primed. Two more weeks worth of work in my online grad course are finished but I’m less than halfway through.
Time to take a deep breath, relax and realize it won’t all get done tomorrow, but it will eventualy get done.
I must confess that I use Yahoo! for most of my web searches and that may be why I didn’t know Google for Educators existed but I thought I’d give it a try to complete an online grad class assignment. I don’t like to waste my time with idle work when I do something for a grad class and hoped I could find something to use in the classroom so I started exploring. I nerdily checked out the purpose of the site then Tools for your classroom and moved to the Google for Educators Book Search.
I’m pretty good with search engines and had been trying to find the text and illustrations from Maurice Sendak’s Chicken Soup with Rice online. I had used the months of January and February for a poetry lesson with my second graders as we work together on reading fluently. As I explored their background knowledge I found that few of them had actually ever consumed chicken soup with rice and that none of them were familiar with the book. I remember the book as part of my childhood and my wife and older children have even memorized the poems for each month (I even had the kids in my classroom memorize the February poem to recite for Mrs. N. when she visited us one day). Unfortunately I had not been able to locate both the text and illustrations in my previous searches and therefore had the library copy of the book in my teacher bag to scan the pages at home. I planned to show the pages on the “big screen” using our media cart and do a group reading of the full poem with the class. I then hoped to make up for their lack of prior experience by making a very basic chicken soup with rice in the classroom and serving it in Dixie cups as part of our snack that very same day.
My latest search found several links for Sendak’s book and I checked out a few of them but none were exactly what my somewhat obsessive self wanted. I tried the Advanced Search link adding the author and “my snowman’s anniversary” to narrow my results and retrieve the full poem. Though not completely successful I came across a portion of the text of Really Rosie, a musical collaboration of Sendak and Carole King. Pretty neat I thought. Maybe something I could use if I ever directed an elementary school play or taught fifth or sixth grade. I could write this up for my grad class and be home free.
Did I mention I was somewhat obsessive? Seeing the musical reminded me that I had seen links to Carole King’s song “Chicken Soup with Rice” in my previous attempts but I had never heard it. So another search, this time in my old friend Yahoo!, for “chicken soup with rice Carole King” (I won’t tell you that I spelled Carole wrong the first time and had to correct it before letting myself more forward). I clicked on the first YouTube video I saw, a link to a cartoon version of Really Rosie, cranked the speakers on the laptop and listened for the first time.
Again, pretty cool, maybe even something the kids could learn and sing along to. It would probably help them to memorize his classic. Out of the corner of my eye though, in the list of Related Videos, a 1×1 cm image caught my attention. Here was Maurice Sendak’s illustration for July with text beside it! I quickly clicked over and found myself listening to the entire poem sung by Carole King as I followed along with all the words in this book-like format.
Then I turned down the volume and read aloud. My seventeen-year-old daughter walked into the room and immediately shrieked, “Hey, that’s Chicken Soup with Rice!” Excited, I shared my realized lesson plans with her to which she responded, “Can I have you as a teacher?”
I’ll need to confirm the link isn’t blocked at school by my district’s filtering software on Monday but if any of my kids are reading, get ready for some chicken soup with rice next week Tuesday when I lead our poetry lesson once again.
It’s not that I’m against Thanksgiving Day. I’m just afraid that we are not as thankful as we need to be on a daily basis. Setting aside a single day to say “thank you” for this and “thank you” for that doesn’t quite do it for me.
I tried to teach my second graders a little bit about thankfulness today. Today was the end of our week and we did what we normally do at the end of the week, write letters home. Instead of writing about our week though, the kids wrote thank you letters to their parents. In order to truly say “thank you” I told them we need to also tell why we are thankful. I am thankful for my house because it protects me and my family from the elements and because it is the symbol of the love that resides there. I compared only saying “thank you” to saying “I’m sorry” without saying what you are sorry for and without trying to make amends. Not all of them got it but hopefully a seed was planted.
I also hate what happens at church on Thanksgiving. I suffered through another Thanksgiving “service” tonight. Parts from here and there were thrown together to produce a celebration of a Creator so generic that anybody from any faith could basically say the same. Except for how we show our thankfulness. For that the pastor was much more specific. We show our thankfulness to this God of all religions by giving more money to the church. Then he’ll know we’re thankful, especially if we have enough money to let him really know how we feel. Service to our neighbor just doesn’t cut it. Aarrgh!
So please excuse me if I’m not the most reflective, thankful person for the rest of today or tomorrow. You’ll just need to track me down next week if you want to talk to me about it more.
That probably sounds a little funny from a teacher who has been out of school since mid-June but I need a vacation. Correction, we need a vacation. Amy and I are looking forward to a full week together with no work. If it’s anything like the week we spent together at Christmas we won’t ever want to go back to work.
I had no idea that my first summer off as a teacher would be so busy. Last summer I got my first teaching job but had to work until school began. In fact, I worked two jobs running from summer school to my customer service job. I thought with all my extra time I would be able to do some of the things I wanted to do including working more on this blog. Now it’s two weeks until teachers report (okay, a little less than three weeks) and I’m wondering where the summer went.
I taught summer school again in the morning for the first five weeks. The afternoons were spent running errands for the most part including going to the chiropractor for the first time. Over the July 4 weekend we deconstructed and reconstructed the half bath on our main floor. You’ll find the story of that tiling adventure on Amy’s blog–I’ve teased her that I get to do the work and she gets to blog about it.
Once summer school ended I went to work on our basement project–I think she’s going to blog about that too. Now instead of running errands in the afternoon, I’m running them in the morning. The afternoons have been dedicated to making our mjbasement room into a more comfortable living space. The grid for the ceiling tiles went up today but the tiles are waiting for Uncle Jon to get the new lighting in. Carpeting (or carpet squares) and some trim will finish the project. The project has been a lot of work but Amy keeps telling me how great the space will be when we’re done.
But for now, I need a vacation and even though we won’t be away for all of it, we will both take time away from our work and enjoy the days surrounding our 21st anniversary.
Hopefully we’ll see more of you again when we get back.
I came across an interesting tidbit in our school newsletter.
Did you know that May is…
National Asparagus Month
National Barbecue Month
National Egg Month
National Hamburger Month
National Salad Month
National Salsa Month
National Strawberry Month
Why is this important? Because it constitutes the shopping list anytime I’m not sure what to make for dinner. And why is that important? Because May also happens to be the month to celebrate Amy’s birthday.
I’ve long maintained that a person’s favorite season of the year is closely tied to the month he was born in. I was born in November and my favorite season is winter. Amy was born in May and her favorite season is summer. The same correlation seems to hold for our children as well.
Now let’s extend that theory to food. Assuming that these foods are assigned to the month of May because of their availability at that time of year, it makes sense that they would be among Amy’s favorites.
I quite simply can’t strike out when I bring home a bag of groceries loaded with the necessities for hamburgers on the grill, sauteed asparagus, and sliced strawberries. And she certainly wouldn’t reject the addition of a fresh salad or chips and salsa to her meal (margarita optional). My dinner entertainment is her at my side doing a happy dance in her chair. She makes me want to cook like this for her every night. When Mama is happy, everybody’s happy!
I’m sitting here on the couch beside the love of my life as she nurses our nineteen-month-old. She leans over and sings to me, “I have a baby!” and cuddles him even closer.
It was a busy day. We began it with three children and finished with six.
I got Z-Man dressed and ready and she changed Little Guy out of his diaper and into his church clothes. Each of them fought for his turn on her lap during the sermon.
Jo-Bear was away at a camp-out Friday night and Saturday. He met us after church smelling of the woods and campfire. She sent him to the shower as soon as we got him home. Later when he complained about an upset stomach she knew that he was over tired and just needed a nap.
Angel Face lost her sunglasses at the band festival yesterday. Mom made sure we got out to the mall to replace them in time for next weekend’s trip to Chicago. She gave her all the time she needed to pick out a pair that looked as good as the old ones.
College Boy drove up at supper time. He’s home for the summer with all his belongings. Tears came to her eyes as she watched him fill our living room with all his junk. “My baby’s home,” she whispered. An hour later he was off to his friend’s house.
Princess walked into an already chaotic house. Mom hugged her and welcomed her back despite all that was going on. Princess couldn’t wait to share everything about last night’s prom and sleepover.
I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mom for my children. I don’t know how she does it but she does. She brings us all together into a home. She gives me greater respect for mom’s everywhere. Happy Mother’s Day!
Is it okay to start a blog post with a primal scream? How about a primal groan? Or maybe a primal cry of agony?
With all due respect to Charlie Brown, ARRRRGGGHHHHH!
Maybe it wasn’t that bad and maybe it’s really too early to complain because the accountant hasn’t finished our return yet, but on Monday (April 7) I finally decided to get our tax information together. Decided is probably too strong a word. More like I had the dreaded surprise realization that I had to get it together.
Despite a week of Spring break and another day and a half tacked on for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, I hadn’t even started to complete the nice little packet the accountant sent us in January. And I had finally procrastinated long enough that I figured I could file for an extension and procrastinate even longer–even as I read this, I really still like this plan. So at 6AM Monday morning I went out to the IRS website to figure out how to file an extension and had one of those AHA! moments. I was screwed! With Amy’s in-home family childcare and web based business I would have had to do as much work to file the extension as I would to have the accountant put the return together. Time to drop everything and crunch some numbers!
And it really wasn’t all that bad. Sure I didn’t scour all the uncategorized payments in Quicken to get every last penny of business expenses or itemized deductions, but with very little effort, I did come up with more than I had the previous year. I stopped by last night on my way to grad class to give him the envelope and we’ll see just how good our tax preparer really is. Throw in our economic stimulus payment and I’ll be happy if we break even but I’m sure Uncle Sam will have something to say about that!
My class and I just finished a writing unit looking at other authors as mentors. Here is the personal narrative I wrote for myself and the kids:
The car was covered with white. Snow trapped! I cleared a little from the window with a shovel. I hacked at the ice on the door and pried it open. I turned the key. It started on the first try! Whew!
I let it warm up a little then backed up slowly. I couldn’t see very well and was afraid I might run into the house. I drove forward a little. I turned the steering wheel and backed up again.
I heard the snow against the other side… the car stopped. I tried going forward… I tried going backward. The car wouldn’t move. Snow trapped!
I tried to get out but the door was broke. I tried the other side but it only opened a little. Snow trapped!
I honked the horn. BEEP… BEEEEP… I hope someone hears…
I was about to honk the horn again. Wait! Did I see something move outside my door? I peeked through the small part of my window not covered with ice. Just then, Amy opened the door and asked, “Need any help?”
“Yes, I’m stuck!” Snow trapped! “Can you get in and I’ll try to push you out?”
She got in. I tried pushing the car forward. I tried pushing it backward. It still didn’t move.
“Nevermind,” I said. “I’ll just have to try and get it out after school.”
It stayed there all day. I could only think about how to get that snow trapped car unstuck.
