of mice and men.....and boys and books.....

so as a "good mom" I try to keep up with what is happening in school so I can help the boys out with their homework. J is a great dad and very helpful, but R passed him in math skills in 5th grade or so. I will even admit to having R call Auntie Misty earlier this year. we can still handle D's math, thank goodness! science is completely beyond me. I won't tell you what I did to pass science in high school.

but when it comes to english and history, I am spot on! and as R has started reading what I would consider "classics" I have read along with, or ahead of, him so that we can discuss the points of the stories. I have read most, if not all, of them before, but it has been a couple of years (ha!) and some of the more minor details have escaped me. I am sure I will have to read them again in 2 years to go through the same thing with D. I like talking about books with the boys, especially books like "Of Mice and Men" and this year's earlier assignment "To Kill A Mockingbird."

so my purpose for blogging about this: I am glad that the schools haven't been so beaten by political correctness that they don't teach our kids the mistakes of the past so that they can grow up to not repeat them. I realize these books are fiction, but within them are the kernels of society. I want the boys to know that things weren't always fair and that people don't all live and feel like we do. I hope it will make them grow up to be open minded, thoughtful, and appreciative. all the things we want from an education!

I am a reader not a writer.........

Yeah, been awhile...

In fact, I think that is how I started the last post I made!

Anyway, I realized that I would much prefer to read what other people write than write myself. I like seeing people's updates on FB, receiving their Tweets, and checking their blogs instead of doing my own. I do a decent job of updating FB but that is quick and easy through Twitter and my phone. Heck, if I remember correctly, this will post to FB for me.

I guess I have always been like this. But, if only for myself, I think I might try to do a better job at those! Afterall, what a better resource for if/when I get back to scrapbooking?

here is a story....

Yeah, so it has been over 3 months since my last post. I try to think about posting. I have even taken my 12 of 12 pics (except for 1 month) with the thought of getting those posted. Oh well! In fact I probably wouldn't be posting now if my phone had Word on it so I could do some journaling . Instead I will do it here...

The year we moved down from Alaska we lived across the street from the Race family. The oldest son, Doug, had his birthday a few days before my mom. That year they played a trick on him and decorated a styrofoam cake and hid a present inside the hollowed out "cake." Well my mom's favorite dessert was peach pie. And since we were now in California and could get GOOD peach pie, dad decided to play a trick on mom. He borrowed the fake cake and put the pie under it. I am pretty sure that T and I didn't know what was going on. Anyway, mom cut into the cake......and kept cutting!! Instead of the cake just lifting off the pie like it had for Doug, the cake stuck and mom had almost cut out her entire piece before figuring out it wasn't real! Lol!!

Now don't you think it was worth the wait? I am hoping I can find a photo somewhere of that birthday. We were only in that house one year so hopefully it shouldn't be too hard to find.....I hope!

and here I thought it was too SMALL!!

I have this coat. beautiful black wool trench coat. I bought it before R was born. in fact, I must have just been newly pregnant with R because I remember the lady I took it to for alterations saying that it would hang a bit different after I had the baby. well..... since I wasn't THAT pg yet and was still wearing my normal clothes, I wasn't worried about it. she hemmed the sleeves and the bottom and that was it.

I wore it that winter and then not much again. off and on. but around here you really don't NEED a thick winter coat and when you do it isn't like you need one that dressy. but with my current position, I need a coat that works with my business attire so it is getting quite a bit of use. well I noticed that the sleeves are too short. it was actually rather confusing. when my arms are down at my side they are the correct length, but when I bring them up to do something or hold something all of a sudden they are way too short. shirts and sweaters stick out the end and it looks really weird. I couldn't figure out that my arms had grown so I thought I must be wider around the chest and back and am pulling the arms up.

yesterday, I figured it out. the coat is actually too BIG and when I bring my arms up, I am cinching the sleeves back to put the arm holes where they belong which makes the sleeves too short. so instead of needing someone to lengthen the sleeves I actually need someone to take in the body of the coat.

I think I might just buy a new one. that can't be cheap.

is it a bad sign.....

when you wake up on your birthday with "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" streaming through your head?!?!?

if you can get past that L-O-V-E-L-Y family portrait to the right.....

please scroll down a bit and check out the Pound for Pound Challenge!! they will donate a pound of groceries for every pound I lose between January 1st and May 15th! how much more awesome can you get than that? so for every donut, cookie, or horribly unhealthy food choice I pass on, someone else will get some well needed food! AND the donations will be made to local food banks!

so.....check it out! if you have a resolution to lose weight, why not gain good karma at the same time?

obligations........

I don't want to get too specific........ ah, heck I do!

in the past 2 weeks, 2 different chaperones have had to drop out of R's school field trip. I don't know why the second person dropped out. and as much as I don't want to wish something bad to happen to someone, I sure hope something bad happened for them to flake on 115 kids!

the first person, however, is the one I would truly like to smack upside the head. everyone was told back in August that they would need to get fingerprinted. State law, District law, whatever! it used to be you only needed to get fingerprinted for overnight trips but a couple years ago it changed to do ANYTHING with the students you had to get fingerprinted. the process takes about 20 minutes at one of about a dozen police stations in the greater Sacto area. then they do the background check stuff. they tell you it takes about 90 days. don't have a clue WHY..... but it does!

anyway, back to the first flake. guess what they never "found time" to do?!??! oh you got it! so with less than a month until the trip they are short a chaperone...... one who had an econo van that they were going to transport 9 kids.......and a trailer for lots of gear. so, yeah, what a pickle!

so what I want to know is: how do you look your kid in the face and explain to them that you can't do something you committed to because you couldn't get your act together and get fingerprinted? and if kids can't go because there aren't enough chaperones how can you show your face at any school function ever? and really, what kind of parent or role model can you be if you, as a grown-up, can't meet your commitments? how can you hold your own child accountable if you can't do something as simple as find the time sometime in 6 months to go get fingerprinted?

(aaaah....... now who did I borrow this soap box from?)