Oooh, Sparkly....

My daughter, Miss Serious is 8 years old, and from about the time she could talk, she has loved anything that is sparkly.  The more eye-catching the better, and if she could, she would have something that sparkles on everything she owns, from bathing suits to shoes.  I'm hoping she can tone down her preferences a bit as she gets older, or she is going to be one fantabulous fifty-year-old.

So, when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I told her I wanted glitter, she commented that I sounded just like Miss Serious.  But, I very kindly received a sparkly package of all the colors of glitter I could stand on Christmas, and I finally got to try some out yesterday.

I must say, black glitter is really cool.  I originally put it on this card because I tried to just write the word "thanks."  Unfortunately, my handwriting leaves much to be desired, and I thought maybe if I made it sparkle it would look better (because, as my daughter often comments, "Everything looks better with glitter...").  After that, Miss Serious (of course) suggested that I make the tree sparkle, and we were off to the races!  I'm not sure if all the glitter will fall off onto the recipient's lap, (sort of negating the whole "thank you" thing), but who said opening cards was for the faint of heart?

Is Subbing our Favorite?

No, subbing is not our favorite.  Quite a few years ago I had a little boy in my class with autism.  He was a really interesting little guy who had a particular aversion to gym.  When I would walk the class down the hall for gym, he would keep his eyes closed, I believe on the premise that if he couldn't see us, we couldn't see him, and therefore wouldn't make him go to gym.  Also, on the walk down the hall, he would repeat over and over, "Is P.E. our favorite?   No, P.E. is not our favorite." I think of this phrase often when I'm confronted with a distasteful task...

I got back on that subbing horse today, and it was actually a pleasant day.  I was in first grade, the class was amazingly well-behaved, and there was a bonus assembly which took up a block of time in the morning.

Even though the day went well, I'm still not a fan.  And here are some reasons why:

1.  Sub pay is excruciatingly low
2.  You get phone calls at 5:00 AM to ask you to come work that day
3.  You never know if there will be plans left for you (my personal favorite is that empty desk when you walk in, and an entire day with 25 little kids that you need to figure out in 15 minutes or less)
4.  I think the main problem is that I'm just not a change-on-the fly kind of gal - I like going to bed knowing what I'll be doing the next day, and flexibility has never been one of my finer characteristics

Good things about subbing:

1.  If you don't want to/can't work, you just tell the computer not to contact you
2.  No lesson planning
3.  No parent conferences
4.  If the class is horrible, you only have one day with them, and don't have to go back

And, of course, the fact that nobody pays me at all when I stay home, so I could do worse than a class of cute little first graders....

2000 what???

I had to write my first couple of checks of the New Year this week, and it's always a struggle.  I'm amazed at how fast the years seem to flip these days.  (And, I'm disturbed to hear myself saying things like that.  Soon it will be "In my day....")  All in all, 2009 was a good year, with ups and downs like any other.

We got a new dog, I got (and finished) a leave replacement job, the kids successfully moved on to their new grades, The Professor hooked up our church with a soup kitchen and has done fabulous work arranging (and hauling) food deliveries, and I think everyone has generally been pretty happy. I even got some knitting done (although I didn't take pictures of all the Christmas knitting I did before I sent it on its way..duhhh). 

It's been an interesting year.  Sadly, this was the year I had planned to re-enter the full-time work force, just about the time that all the schools started laying off teachers, and people put off retirement because their 401K's tanked. As in many things, my timing was impeccable... I know I'm in a better boat than many, because we have been living off one income for many years (while I've been home with the kids), so nobody's losing their house or anything.  It's just that I had always assumed that when I was ready to go back to work, work would be ready for me.  Staying home with the kids was a huge transition for me, as I've worked since I hit high school.  I finally got into the groove with that, but, as kids do, they kept growing and ended up in school!  Ahh, outsourcing. 

Now I find myself having to write essays entitled "Describe a challenge that you had to overcome in your academic or professional career" and taking tests with 22 year olds.  While age has given me (I hope!) wisdom, it's also made me more tired (and way more intolerant, but that's a whole other post...).  Now, off to write 500 words on that challenging experience - do you think they'll accept an essay about potty training?

The Never Ending Battle....

and I think I'm losing!  I had a commenter who asked about how we store the kids' toys in a small space.  We live in a 2-bedroom apartment (I think it's under 1000 sq. ft.), and it's a constant struggle to keep the amount of stuff down to an acceptable level.  Now, my acceptable level may be higher than yours, but I do what I can.

I think the biggest battle with living in a small space is keeping things from coming in.  I'm pretty good at going through old/outgrown toys and clothes and sending them on their way.  What is really hard is the constant stream of things that come in (the holidays are especially painful, although as the kids get older, their toys are getting smaller).

My kids share a room, and it's a decent sized space.  They have bunkbeds, and their room has quite a large closet in it (which is used by all of us, because the two closets in our bedroom are split up so you can't hang anything long in them - the previous owner was a man, and I think forgot that half the world might want to hang a dress....).

A couple years back, I got this for the kids room from IKEA.  I really like IKEA - I'm Swedish, so I'm amused by all the silly names on the furniture, and for something the kids are going to be banging on every day, the furniture is cheap enough that it won't break my heart if it doesn't last forever.  This unit is big (almost 5' X 5'), and I got the square drawers for the bottom squares - they each have a row, and they are supposed to use the cubes to organize (i.e. Barbies, cars, dinosaurs, etc.).  The top 2 rows have some tubs of things like Legos, and stacks of games.  It's worked out pretty well, although getting it up the stairs was a trick - the boxes were REALLY heavy, as The Professor can attest.  It also bolts to the wall, so I don't have to worry about anyone toppling it over on themselves.  It has a flat top, so all the pottery creations the kids keep bringing home (and can't bear to part with) have a place to live other than on my kitchen counter.

Dealing with "stuff" is definitely an uphill battle, but I've found some pretty good motivation - catch "Hoarders" on A&E - I've been watching it on the computer (being a cheapie, I don't have this channel on the actual television) and it always gets me going to clean out a nook or two!

Fa La La La La....

'Twas the night after Christmas, and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

And, of course, Big Trouble calling me because he had just thrown up in the bathroom.

Actually, to be more specific, I should probably say that he threw up on the bathroom.  I'm not sure of the chain of events, but it actually looked like he had executed some sort of spin in the process of losing his meals of the day.  He claims to have no memory of the actual event, so he's no help at all.

I always enjoy the moment when I'm standing and staring at the aftermath of such an event; my newly-awakened eyes are blinking in the shockingly bright light, and I have to get my semi-functional brain to figure out how to clean this particular disaster up.  At one point during the cleanup, I felt like one of those CSI people trying to piece together the crime based on spatter patterns, but I decided that this was neither helpful nor kind to my own stomach.

Luckily, he did manage to make it to the bathroom, so the bed was unscathed - a Christmas Miracle after all!

Otherwise, Christmas #1 (we have a couple others coming in the next couple of days with various relatives) was a big success, and we hope yours was as well.

Sometimes They Tell The Truth

I like to make things, and I have to say, I love the way the internet helps you learn how to do just about anything, from baking cookies to taping your drywall.  However, even though steps are given, and the author swears that the task is easy peasy, some things go better than others (cookies - excellent; drywall taping - less so...).

So, I was hunting on-line for some things to make for Christmas, and I came across about a jillion videos on YouTube (love YouTube) about how to stamp on candles:
1.  Stamp image on tissue paper
2.  Cut out image and place on candle
3.  Wrap a piece of wax paper around candle long enough that you can hold it in the back
4.  Use your heat gun (I bet a hair dryer would work dandy) to melt image onto candle.

Now, I've made quite a few items in my day, but these were probably some of the quickest and they really worked as advertised.  If you want to see a video, YouTube would take good care of you.

Saved by the L

Well, we're finally back in the land of DSL.  About 3 weeks ago our internet service starting getting a little wonky, and only working sporadically.  So, since I'm home these days, I dutifully got on the phone with our provider, who told me it was the power cord, and they would send me out another one, which would arrive in 3-5 business days. 

And in the meantime?  Oh yes, I was cheerfully told, you can go back to your dial-up connection.  Ahhh, the old days.  So, since everything takes about eleven times as long to work with the dial-up (and my cheapie self doesn't want to pay by the minute for the phone connection it requires), I have been skipping the internet for a while.  Luckily, the cord came in the mail yesterday, and we are back in business.

Luckily, not too much has been happening around Chez Necessity, but the other day Big Trouble was making Lego creations and bringing them out of his room to show them to us.  They were all combinations of 2 different things put together, and he created a name for them accordingly (i.e. he made a dird (dragon + bird), and trog (truck + dog)). 

Finally, he came out of his room with his last creation, and announced that it was a combination of a flower and a duck. 

He called it a "Fluck" and saved me from what would have been a wildly inappropriate fit of the giggles.