2010

Welcome.
It was just a few weeks ago I realized that baby XY will be born in 2010. For some reason that seems special to me. I like multiples of five, and multiples of ten make things so convenient.

I'm not feeling very New Year's Eve-y tonight. I have been in a not so good mood for the past 2 days and it is still going strong. No particular reason, I just am.

So, thoughts on how things have changed for me since Y2K?
Then I was

• about a year out of college
  
• married to someone else
• in the middle of my first year of teaching
• living about 6 blocks from my parents
• just beginning to realize I couldn't stay married

Since then I

• traveled to Europe
• bought two houses
• got divorced
• went through a ton of therapy
• got my master's degree
  
• fell in love
• got married
• have had 6 different teaching jobs at 4 different schools
• have been laid off 4 times
• started a business
• closed a business
  
• had a lovely little girl
• started growing a wonderful little boy

I never could have predicted all of this, some of it I'd hoped for, some of it I struggled through, and for all of it I am grateful. What do I want for the next 10 years? Must think about that, but not too hard, because, goodness knows "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" -John Lennon

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Horrified.

While doing a bit of end of the year office cleaning at work, I came across a stack of envelopes. Addressed, stamped envelopes. Envelopes that should have been in the mail a good 4 months ago.

Relia's birthday thank yous. (plus a check that was to be deposited!)

I feel so ashamed. You can expect them in the next few days.

If you aren't FB friends with my SIL, I want to save/share this conversation

Conversation with my niece on Christmas Day.
Relia: "I eat rocks"
Me: "what did you say?"
Relia: "I eat rocks please?" she hands me a pecan and I realize rocks = nuts.
Me: "ok, I can help you with that. First we break the shell."
Relia: "Ok we break the shell." I it crack open and hand her the nut.
Relia: "Thank you, I eat seeds now"

This sounds a little more my speed...

NOON Year's Eve

You can all relax,

I got a new phone today. -Now I just need everyone to send me their phone numbers :P

I guess I didn't mention it here, but I managed to break both my phone and my ipod within 10 minutes of each other on Christmas eve. (Relia helped me break the iPod by chewing on it). So I have been cell phone-less for FOUR WHOLE DAYS. Can you believe I managed to survive?

I had a long to do list all ready to go this morning. Then, I realized that, in our merryment this weekend, we forgot to shovel out the driveway on Friday or Saturday. I quickly realized there was no way I'll be able to get my car out, unless I could find a way to chisel through the ice barrier the plow left.

Fortunately, there was plenty on the list that could be accomplished at home (organize files & clothing, transfer some VHS to DVDs, laundry, etc.) and my wonderful mother agreed to pick up Relia after daycare. Not only that, but she took me to Chipotle for lunch. It was so nice to have a quiet toddler-free lunch with her. We've been overdue for a good private talk.

FP came home early and with the help of my, also wonderful, father and an ice chipper, they dug out a path for my car. Then FP and I headed to the MOA to find a replacement for my, and possibly his, phone. the Sprint guy made the best offer, and we both got shiny new phones in different colors (mine is RED!). A nice plus, because our last pair were identical and I wound up painting mine with nail polish just so we could tell them apart.

The Scene: Relia is jabbering away in the back of the car

Me: Relia, you are so articulate
Relia: I'm not tikle at.
Me: Yes you are, that means you say things very well.
Relia: No I'm not. I'm Relia.

Can someone explain

How I can feel great from 5pm to 11pm, but as soon as I get ready to head to bed, my torso expands to an unacceptable, uncomfortable size, making it impossible to sleep?

Christmas

Relia woke up about 6:30, almost sleeping late for her. We brought her in to hang out in our bed for a few minutes. told her about her brother (that may take a while to sink in ) and then went downstairs. She noticed her full stocking right away,

I guess she couldn't wait for me to peel her tangerine


Then we packed up and headed to Nana & Grandpa's for a yummy waffle breakfast and opening gifts with my family. The road conditions weren't too bad. Like driving in frosting, but hey, we're Minnesotans. It wasn't anything we couldn't handle. FP pretty much had to plow through the ridge the plows left, to get the car parked.
After lots of fun, merryment and sugar, it was time to head for Grandma D's. Once Uncle Ry helped us push the car away from the curb, we made good time on the freeways -unfortunate, because the only nap Relia got yesterday was riding in the car. We had a lovely meal and opened gifts from relatives near and far.
I forgot to bring our camera to My parents' and Donna's so all I have is stocking photos. Hopefully I can get some more from the grandparents later.

Merry Christmas!

Snow Day

How nice is it to not have to be anywhere on a day when you get inches & inches of snow?

How I spent My Christmas Vacation.

Monday I finally had a bit of energy. Got a list together and had a lot of success in the gift shopping area. I only had to go to a few stores and most of what I had planned to get was on sale. That night I got to go downtown with my mom, daughter and MIL to see Dayton's 8th floor display (before Macy's completely kills that tradition, as they seem to be trying to do).




Tuesday I spent the morning working on decluttering the second floor with Relia. We had fun for a while, about 11:00 I was overcome and fell half asleep on the couch while Relia played in the kitchen. She took the opportunity to give all of her Little People a bath in the kitty water. :)
Later I dropped her off with my mom to finish up my shopping. I went to the MOA and actually waked out of a store because there were 3 employees bitching about customers. Not one of them acknowledged my presence, as the 3 stood around talking about how they were too busy to do what a customer had asked for. I drove to Southdale and had the exact opposite experience in the same store there. They were overly helpful. My dad said that if I went to a 3rd store the service would be "just right". The rest of my afternoon was spent on the living room floor wrapping presents and watching garbage TV. So nice!

Today I slept all the way to 7:30 (yay!) and met my friends Ellen & Pam at a thrift store. There, I all but assured that we are having a boy by finding an adorable pair of baby shoes with butterflies on them. I had to buy them, I had no choice. We had some lunch and then I hit the grocery store to join the thousands preparing for the impending Snowmageddon 2009™ in stocking up on supplies. I hope that everyone can stay safe and be with their families/fulfill their plans, but I am a little excited at a Christmas Eve snow dump. Peder did a little shopping of his own after work today, to complete our Christmas gift buying. (double yay!)

And that is how I spent my Christmas vacation.
The end

By

No Miracle on 8th St

(picture stolen from Donna's blog)
Relia looks a lot more comfortable and jolly than Mr. Claus does.

He made absolutely no effort to interact with her. Of course, it was really all about the 5x7 photo which they were selling for $13, not a bringing a child's idea of Santa Claus to life, right?

Sleep, cuteness and my big strong guy

I have spent most of this weekend sleeping, or wishing I were. I felt so frustrated because I have a ton of things I want to get done over break, and in my mind that started Friday night. FP says my body is just taking full advantage of the rest time. He's probably right.

MARCO!


After sleeping for about 20 hours over the course of Saturday & Sunday, I finally felt ready to do some things this afternoon. FP & I moved our old futon down from the 3rd floor and out into the snow. Then hauled the new one (from my mom & dad) up to the third floor. He did much of the heavy lifting.

We (Relia & I) also moved her room around and switched her mattress from the big regular spring twin, to the thinner IKEA one. Now I can get out of her bed after stories by sitting up, rather than having to roll my big self out.
The most fortunate part is that I needed something that was 13" wide and 19" tall to fit in the gap at the bottom of the bed. I went down to the basement and measured the bench I got from my grandparents' farm and it was absolutely perfect!

She now has access to the cubby hole under the bed. She has had a lot of fun "hiding" in there because she is "little and momma is big & can't go in it."

Whooo Hoooo!

Done done done!
Two weeks of no school. I'm so looking forward to a couple of days to myself. (Relia is still going to daycare on Monday & Wednesday)

Relia & I celebrated by having pizza at Divanni's while I corrected tests. Do we know how to party, or what?

Well that is one way to make some money...

Check out the subhead on the Strib's front page:



These people are being PAID to write, correct?

"It's Fractions! From Santa!"

What we got at our district meeting this week. That isn't sarcasm. I am really excited to get these.

Who in their right mind

Schedules their observation/evaluation for the week before winter break?

Me.

They gave me the opportunity to push it off until January, but I wanted to get it out of the way. I also volunteered to have this be my one required unannounced observation, where they give me a two week window of time in which they will come in. Not as much of a big deal, since I only teach 2 hours a day.

I wasn't worried. I know I'm a good math teacher. I know there are things I can work on, and I like talking with other teachers about how I can improve my practice. Big picture, I look forward to my 3 evaluations a year. Small picture, knowing they are coming causes a little bit of nervousness. Nothing I can't handle.

Monday: No observation, Good lesson
Tuesday: No observation, GREAT lesson
Wednesday: No observation, Good lesson, but their work shows they had difficulty applying the concept.
Thursday:
Confident today is the day because I know they won't do it on the last day before break. But, must scrap planned lesson and reteach yesterday's concept.
Observation, TURD of a lesson.

Not really. I couldn't have planned it any differently, (I would now, but I couldn't have really anticipated the kind of misunderstandings they had) But it was a dragged out lesson where I could feel the kids on the edge of understanding at several points, and didn't want to let go of the conversation. So we just talked about ways to compare fractions for 40 minutes, and barely got anywhere. Not an impressive lesson to watch.

I trust my evaluator, and I got to talk to him a little afterward where we discussed the difficulties the kids had. I'm not concerned, I'm just bummed it couldn't have been one of the other "successful" lessons I had taught this week.

Feeling overwhelmed

It has happened. The thing I try to avoid most this time of year. Feeling like I "have to" do/get/make things for my family & friends instead of I "want" to do things for them. That bites, and isn't the point.

I need to get centered and create some real "spirit of the season" for myself.

That might not happen until this weekend.

But that is okay.

One word answers

Where is your cell phone? coat?

Significant other? football

Your hair? ratty

Your mother? BFF

Your father? chef

Your favorite thing? snuggling
Your dream last night? nonexistent
Your favorite drink? peach
What room are you in? Living
Your hobby? blogging
Your fear? disability

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Secure
Where were you last night? bed

Something that you aren't? fancy

Muffins? warm
Wish list item? flip

Last thing you did? storytime

What are you wearing? hoodie

TV? on

Your pets? naughty
Friends? few

Your life? Good
Your mood? tired
Missing someone? nope

Drinking? forbidden

Your car? dirty

Something you're not wearing? shoes
Your favorite store? thrift

Your favorite color? red

When is the last time you cried? days
Who will repost this? Carrie
Where do you go to over and over? daycare

My favorite place to eat? parents

Favorite place I'd like to be at right now? beach

Everything is more fun with a cape

Chocolate Sunday

Sunday started with a late sleeping toddler (yay!) and a trip to the MOA for some walking.
Some of us like to walk funnier than others.

We got there about 8:30, usually long before any stores open on a Sunday, but not today. Almost everything was open. That turned out to be good for us because we managed to get started on a little bit of Christmas shopping. I have been completely uninspired this year and thus have been dreading starting what seemed a monumental task.

Then, my parents came over to continue our annual tradition of dipping everything we can find, in melted chocolate. We made chocolate covered marshmallows, pretzels, cherries, graham crackers, toasted coconut, bananas, and, for the first time this year, strawberries. We had a close call when we realized our decade's old candy supply company had closed last winter, but Google brought us to Lynn's Cake & Candy Supplies, which thankfully, had extended holiday hours. We used at least 3 pounds of chocolate coating, 4 jars of cherries, a bag and a half of pretzels (after we picked out the broken ones), a full bag of shredded coconut, and only a single bag of large marshmallows. After a few experiments, I ended up with several bundles of treats for my coworkers, plus a bunch for us.

MMMMMMMM.

I just needed diapers

But the Target parking lot was packed. I forget how crazy it gets on the weekends before Christmas. At least I got to listen to my favorite Christmas songs as I circled the parking lot. As I was running through the playlist on my iPod, I realized that when I'm alone in the car, I tend to skip over happy, upbeat songs in favor of the sadder ones:

Song For A Winter's Night
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (the original Judy Garland version from Meet Me in St Louis -Saddest Christmas song EVER)
Bells Are Ringing
River
A Christmas Song -this one makes me tear up almost every time.

Oddly enough, I cannot stand "Blue Christmas"

When I am with other people, It is nothing but Mister Grinch, Winter Wonderland, Jingle Bells, the Most Wonderful time of the Year, Sleigh Ride, Holly Jolly Christmas, and my personal favorite, Good King Wenceslas.

Fun with sound waves

We had our ultrasound this morning. Everything looks great. Happy Baby was his/her regular wriggly self. this kid moves a lot more than Relia did. A sign of future personality?

Poor Peder, keeping an eye on Relia made it hard for him to see anything. I kind of feel a little let down, or heavy, I don't know exactly what it is, but I don't feel excited. The tech figured out the sex, and we asked her write it down for us and put it in an envelope. This will be our big present to open on Christmas. Maybe I will feel more excited then.

We didn't get any adorable profile shots like Relia's.

Happy Baby's face (based on this, I'll bet the tech wrote down "Predator"

Happy Baby's foot:

All is right with the world

Now things are the way they should be.

If it isn't going to be even remotely warm, then we should at least have some beautiful snow to look at.

Martha Stewart, I ain't

I have had a hankerin' for Christmas sugar cookies lately. I think it got triggered when Relia picked out some cookie cutters at Value Village a couple of weeks ago. I started having pre-nostalgic visions of Christmas baking with my daughter. I must be weird, because I hate the store bought sugar cookies. They are always way too thick and soft for my tastes. I prefer them paper thin and crispy. The only solution to this problem is to make our own.

Unfortunately, it has been a long time since I have attempted to do this. I used my mom's recipe, but something happened that made my dough a crumbly mess. Twice.
It just fell apart, no matter what I did. We managed to roll out a little, and I let Relia play with it for a while. She knew exactly what to do with a rolling pin, and even yelled at me when I wasn't using the handles right. (Grandma D, did you teach her?) We had a lot of fun just rolling out, cutting, and mashing up the dough over and over.





Relia being sick and the dough being iffy, I just tossed it out. I tried again yesterday, but the dough turned out the same. My mom came over this evening to try to CSI it and figure out how I screwed up. Seems like too much flour to me, but I used the exact same measurements she does.

I'll let you know when the forensic report comes in.

Slowly coming back

We are making progress toward a healthy household. Relia seems to be almost 100% (She is getting a molar on top of everything else, so that throws us off a little). I am down to a cough that rears it's ugly head right around bed time. FP is the picture of health.

I had a ton of energy on Saturday, but have been dragging all day today. I have a few photos to post, but I'm too tired right now. Check back tomorrow.

With a name like medicine, it has to be good

Relia has croup.
I've heard of it, but never had cause to find out what it is.

she has had really rough sounding breathing for the last couple of days and it finally got bad enough that we decided to see if we could get her into the doctor this evening. (I LOVE that our pediatrician's office has Saturday and evening hours) Yes, we could, but not until 8:45. UGH.

So we sat around listening to her breathe until it was time to leave. She did beautifully at the doctor's, and then we had to go pick up a prescription. The Ped. Warned us that the medicine does not taste very good, and if you try to give it all at once, kids usually just spit it out. We were advised to give it a bit at a time.

By the time we got the meds, and got home, it was 10:00. Relia was fast asleep, and we still needed to get this gunk in her. We got her slightly awake and told her we had to give her medicine, and she completely cooperated. She sucked it all down. She didn't even want juice afterward.

We think we know why. The intriguing, yet forbidden "medicine" was finally hers.
FP and I have been highly dependent on cough drops the last few days and we have told Relia that it is our medicine, and that she couldn't have it until she was bigger. So now she often tells us she wants to get bigger.

Happy December

Only 2.5 weeks of school left this year. Man this one has gone by quick.