What's Up?

Our computer was down, and we finally got it back. The word processing seems to be jacked up now.  It randomly moves the cursor on me while I'm typing.  It never used to do this before.  Stupid thing. I have all kinds of projects that I started before it crashed that I now need to finish.  Starting with my taxes.  Yuck.

I sat in an IEP meeting recently where the school psychologist told the student that end-of-level tests are for the teachers and it doesn't matter if you fail them.  He seriously said that.  Then he was like, "Those tests aren't for you to worry about.  We worry about them because they make us look good."   And then he seemed to be looking to me to back him up, and I'm positive he could see that I wanted to strangle him with his own tie.  Are you kidding me?  End of level tests are used by the state to determine a school's report card, and the results are published for the community.  There is a bill before the legislature, which I'm sure will pass, that will make end of level test scores public by teacher name.  The next step within the next several years will then be to tie teacher salaries to those test results.  But please, feel free to tell my students that the test doesn't matter and they can fail it with no consequences to themselves.

Lexi finally got a haircut.  This is a big deal.  The first and last time she got a haircut, when she was like 2, she cried the whole time and wouldn't let the stylist even finish.  So I had to cut her hair at home ever since then, and it wasn't pretty.  But yesterday she finally let me take her to a salon, and she got a cute little haircut.

I got my hair done too, and I went darker this time.  Eh.  It's fine.  It'll do.

My back had been hurting really, really bad the end of last week.  I could barely walk.  Thursday I was contemplating crawling out of the building after work.    I went in to see the chiropractor that afternoon out of desperation.  I went back in today to have them tell me about the x-rays and to find out what treatment they proposed.  Almost $1000 worth of treatment, that's what.  Nope, not going to happen.  I just paid almost $1000 for Josh's braces.  I'm done spending money.  So what now?  That's the question.

It was nice to have a holiday last Monday, but it was counteracted by parent-teacher conferences.   That night lasted for a hundred hours.  It wasn't very busy, so I had a ton of time to get some things done, but every time I would look at the clock it was only 5 minutes later.  I read a book on argumentation and took some notes that I now need to transcribe into a handout for my students.  I needed to have that done today.  Didn't happen.  Stress.

I got to go up to Weber State for English Quest last Friday.  That's always fun times.  Judged lots of cute kids doing Reader's Theater, and got to know the drama teacher better.  She's from Albuquerque, too.  Got to ride the smelly school bus.  That's always a bonus.

I read an article about public breastfeeding the other day that got me all kinds of pissed off.  Some people were arguing that women shouldn't breastfeed without a cover over them, no matter how skilled at concealing it they are, because someone might glimpse a little skin.  First, don't look!  Second, you can see that much skin at a swimming pool any day of the week.  Third, don't look!  Seriously.  How hard is it to avert your eyes.  The argument was being made by many that women breastfeeding without a cover in Sacrament meeting at church are forcing the poor horny deacons (and the men in the church) to look at boobs.  Seriously?  You know how hard it is to really even see what anyone else is doing in Sacrament meeting?  You'd have to crane and strain to even see anything, let alone a little square of boob. The deacons are sitting up front with their backs to the congregation half the time, and the other half they are playing on their phones or staring at their shoes, not trying to see what moms with babies are doing halfway across the chapel.  The men can just not look.  The argument was made that it's a distraction.  Yes, many things are a distraction.  Little kids, bad comb overs, people with lettuce in their teeth, people who sing off-key... but we don't make any of them feel unwelcome.  Leave the nursing moms alone, whether they cover or don't.  They're just trying to feed their babies.

Courtney and I checked out a caterer on Saturday.  We liked the food, but didn't like the price.  Still looking.

We went to mom's house for dinner and to celebrate Eric's birthday on Sunday night.  It was fun to visit with my family, and mom made some great soup and brownies.  Katie made Superman cupcakes that were super cute.  My family rocks.  I have the cutest nieces and nephews.

The kids started back up with swim lessons this week, and Josh is getting his braces on tomorrow.  I have the opportunity to judge at a debate tournament, but I think I will pass on it.  February is almost over.  Bring on March!

February Goals:
Weight loss: fail
Bedtime: fail
Finances: mostly win

March Goals:
Be healthier (do health challenge at work)
Stick to the budget again
Have a March party

The Ides of February

Lexi and Josh both came home today with tons of candy.  Valentine's Day has sure evolved since I was a kid.  Way more candy, and some really fancy stuff with homemade cards affixed to the treat with ribbon, bottles of soda, custom valentines with the kid's picture on them, goody bags, etc.

Lexi laid in the middle of the floor and crashed after school.  Josh keeps walking by and asking me if I'm sure she's not dead.  I'm starting to worry, too.  That was at about 4:00 and it's now 7:00 and she still isn't awake.  That's really not uncommon for her, though.  She gets exhausted and there's no waking her up when she's like that.  Until bedtime.  Then she's wide awake.

Today was unremarkable bordering on grinchy, until Sean came home from work with flowers and Hawaiian food from Mo Bettah for dinner.  Mmmmm... kalua pig and macaroni salad.  He definitely saved the day.

 I'm working on our taxes.  For the first year ever, I would consider taking them to a professional.  It's not that they're all that complicated... it's just that I have a few questions that I can't seem to find a good answer on.  I spent two hours on the phone with the IRS Tuesday night trying to get an answer.  I was on hold for an hour before I finally got to the front of the line, and then it turns out they had routed me to the wrong department, so I spent another half hour on hold, then spent a half hour on the line with the representative.  I'm still not sure if I got a good answer.

I didn't watch the State of the Union for the first time in several years.  I read the highlights, and I think I agree with most things.  I disagree with him on raising the minimum wage, and I'm only cautiously on board with the gun restrictions.  I agree with increased background checks and a ban on assault weapons/large capacity magazines, but I do get nervous about gun restriction legislation.  I like his focus on manufacturing jobs and climate change, and agree with his immigration policy, I think.  I like the DREAM Act.

As I was leaving work today, the ROTC cadets were taking the flag down.  I love watching them take it down and put it up.  Watching them stand at attention.  It's moving.  I don't know why.  It just is.

I want to go on a road trip with the ultimate destination being an Eric Church concert.  That would be so fun.  Should I go to Denver, Dallas, Seattle, or Anaheim?  How can I make this happen?

There is a bill before the Utah State Legislature right now to require the state school board to develop a sex education curriculum for parents to use in teaching their kids and put it online, and it gives them no money to do so.  The bill's sponsor felt that they wouldn't need any money to do this project.  Apparently they believe that there are idle employees at the state school board just sitting around waiting for a giant project to come along?  From what I can tell, the eventual idea is to phase sex ed out of our schools altogether.  Once they get some resources developed for parents to use, they'll say that's good enough.  It makes me so angry.  Our kids deserve better.  Human anatomy and biology and reproductive systems should be a basic part of the school curriculum.  They deserve up to date and correct information, taught by professionals, hopefully supplemented by their own parents' teachings and beliefs.

My lovely cousin Katie brought up one of my favorite topics to rant about: modesty.  She brought up the oxymoron of the "sexy modest" lingerie store. Ha!  I'm with you, Katie.  The first time I saw one of those I was scratching my head.  Here's the thing... Modesty is not about covering up body parts.  Modesty is about humility and not having to be the center of attention.  It's about being appropriate to the situation.  Sometimes, many times, it is appropriate to the situation to cover up your body parts.  But showing your shoulders is not automatically immodest.  Otherwise swimsuits wouldn't be modest.  Showing your upper thighs is not immodest.  Otherwise most sports uniforms would be immodest.  Swimsuits and sports uniforms and tank tops for informal occasions in the summer and fancy sleeveless/spaghetti strapped evening gowns are some situations where showing shoulders is perfectly acceptable to the situation in my opinion.  Funerals and court appearances and church and school are situations where sleeveless shirts are not so appropriate.  Anyway, I'm not really sure how any lingerie can be immodest, and I'm not sure how you can be sexy without calling attention to yourself.   Meaning, it is appropriate for one to the be center of attention in the bedroom, and there really isn't a whole lot you could wear in your own bedroom that would be inappropriate.  So what exactly is "sexy modest" lingerie?   Same with "modest wedding gowns."  That always makes me laugh.  The bride is supposed to be the center of attention on her wedding day.  She is supposed to stand out.  Why should she have to be modest?  It's all about her.  She may choose to cover her shoulders or have sleeves or no sleeves or show off some cleavage or not... but a sleeveless dress is every bit as "appropriate to the situation" as a dress with sleeves.   To me, a modest bridal gown conjures up an image of just a plain white dress that doesn't call attention to itself in any way.  OK lecture over.

I'm going to be coaching the debate team at my school starting next year, and the more I find out about what's involved, the more  I wonder what I've gotten myself into.  I love debate, and I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but it's very time intensive, and that's something I've avoided the last few years.  The season goes all the way from fall to spring, and there are tournaments all the time, all over the state.  But I'm going to keep things as simple as possible while still making sure they have the opportunities they need.  

Well, time for Valentine sugar cookies, again courtesy of Sean.  This day definitely took a turn for the better.  

Song of the Day

This song makes me feel better when I feel like crap.  Except I really don't want the world to know my name.

Debbie Downer

Josh does not like school.  Except for recess maybe.  But he never has liked it, and it doesn't come easy for him.  Which is usually why kids don't like it.  Anyway, I was quizzing him on his multiplication tables, and here are some of the answers I got to "what's 4x6" and "what's 7x3", etc:

• Why?
• Oh, you want to know that?
• Are we still doing that?
• Fart noise

It's so hard struggling through homework with him and watching him get so frustrated.  It takes him longer to memorize things than the typical kid.  I've noticed this ever since preschool and kindergarten.  He has a hard time concentrating, too.  

I've never much cared for the Boy Scouts program.  I guess it wasn't so much the program itself that I disliked, but more the discrepancy between the Scouting budget for the boys and the YW's budget for the girls, and the fact that the boys got to do really cool stuff and call it "Scout Camp" and "High Adventure" while we learned to cook and had modest fashion shows. (Gag.)  Then there's the fact that it seems Boy Scouts around here are constantly getting lost in the wilderness or starting the forest on fire, so it always scared me to have Josh join.  But Josh really needs to make some new friends in the neighborhood, so I have found myself in the strange position of trying to talk him into going, and he has finally consented to give it a try.  It helps immensely that it's Pinewood Derby time.  In light of all the recent discussion about the Boy Scouts allowing gay people into their ranks, here is what I don't understand.  What have the wards been doing all this time with gay young men if they aren't allowed to join Scouts?  Do the gay guys all go inactive?  Are they just not "out" at church?  If a gay guy shows up to YM activity night and they're working on merit badges or whatever, do they just turn him away?  Say, "You can stay and hang out with us but you can't participate"?  Say, "You can participate, but sorry, you don't get the badge"?   How depressing.  I mean, from what I understand a gay young man can be a member of the LDS Church in good standing, can hold callings within his quorum, can attend church activities... except for Scouts?  How does that work?   Especially when the YM program revolves so heavily around Scouts.  Don't we want to teach our children to be inclusive and to be, you know, Christ-like?  To include everyone?  Isn't this the goal?   I cannot even fathom what it would be like to be a gay teen and be taught that you have to be celibate for the rest of your life.... that you cannot have a family, a spouse, a significant other, no one to hug or kiss... how could you imagine a future for yourself like that as a young teenager?

I started working on our taxes last night.  I got Brittney's done because hers are easy, but I didn't get very far with ours.  That's a job I'm always happy to have done.

I've been feeling down lately (for the last 21 years?) because I just can't ever seem to get it together.  It all boils down to not enough energy, that's the big one, and then lack of money, and finally lack of time.  If I had the energy, I could make time for most of what I'd like to accomplish.  And if I had money I wouldn't have to put as much energy into certain things, because money makes many jobs easier.  There's time in the day to get more done, I think.  There's just not energy.

So then, considering all of that, what did I do?  I volunteered to take on a big job at school that takes a ton of time.  Smart, Shannon!

I've started compiling my students' Six Word Memoirs into our book.  I'm so excited.  I hope it turns out the way I want it to.  Again, it's taking up a ton of time (and energy).  But I hope they like seeing the end result.  I really struggled with whether I should make them take ownership of this project and do it themselves, and I probably should, but I'm pretty much glad I didn't.  It would be a good experience for them, but even more work for me.  It's easier just to do it myself.

I want to go somewhere overnight President's Day weekend.  Preferably somewhere warm, but anywhere with air that isn't the equivalent of smoking two packs a day would be OK with me.  I wish it were warm enough to go camping.  Soon, though.

A Little Bit of Everything

Some people separate their blog posts neatly into different topics.  I am too lazy.  I just write a big hodge podge of things that don't go together in any way.  It makes writing a title a challenge.

So it's been snowing here this winter.  A lot.  And everywhere I turn someone is complaining about it. And it IS a big giant pain.  But...  I just want to say... First of all, this is Utah.  Get over it.  And second... Yes, everything was so much better when it was 12 degrees outside and the air was a toxic cocktail of nastiness such that we were being warned to stay inside and we hadn't seen the sun in two weeks.  Please.  I'll take the snow over that any day.   As soon as these storms pass through, we'll be back to that gunk.  Blah.

Lexi cut her hair again the other day.  Just decided the front was too long and took some random chunks off.  Oh my gosh, I do not even know what to do with that child.  She is a special little spirit.

My blog somehow translated itself into Arabic the other day.  Not the content, but all of the links and tools.  It took me forever to figure out how to change it back because, um, everything was in Arabic!  So I couldn't figure out which links linked to what.  I could push on random links, but then the stuff that came up was in Arabic.  That was fun times.

Sometimes I really hate people.  I was reading an article on ksl.com about how the BSA is probably going to allow individual troops to decide whether they want to admit gay boys and gay leaders.  Big deal.  They aren't going to force all their troops to do it; they just aren't going to prohibit it anymore.  But the comments on ksl, oh my goodness.  Tons of people saying they are going to send their Eagle Scout awards and badges back.  People saying that homosexual people can't be "morally straight" as the Scout oath requires, and then identifying themselves as LDS, when the LDS church has a very clear stance that homosexuals most certainly can be "morally straight."  People equating homosexuals with pedophiles.  Goodness.

Josh's teeth are all messed up, so I made an appointment with the orthodontist.  Yay!  Something else to spend money on!

We had a fun birthday party for Katie at mom's house last night.  It was good to see everyone and visit and the food was really good.  I would like to start back up doing a "family night" once a month with my family.  That was fun when we used to do that.  Sean's family said they wanted to do that, too, a while ago, but I don't think it ever happened.  Hmmm...

January Goals: 

• I gained 2 lbs, so that's a big fat no.
• We stuck to our budget!  Woo hoo! 
• We're doing a little better at bedtime, maybe, sometimes, but not for lack of effort on my part.

February Goals:
Well, let's stick with it and keep trying, shall we?

• Lose 2 lbs
• Stick to the budget
• Keep working on bedtime

 

Rodeo, Jazz Game, and Beautiful Music

I'm always wanting to update my blog, but there just isn't much going on to write about.  There are always a bunch of crazy topics taking up space in my brain, but it always takes too much effort to write coherently about them.  I feel like I need to write a blog post from time to time that's just my unpolished thoughts on various topics.  I'll just title it "Notes" and not worry if it's nonsensical or needs editing or further thought development, and anyone who reads my blog can know to skip that one.

Lexi, Brittney, her best friend Kylie, and I went to the rodeo Saturday night.  I just love the rodeo.  What's not to love?  Beautiful horses, cowboys, corny jokes, bulls and bucking broncs.  My favorite event is always the barrel racers, followed by the bull riders.   The kids lucked out.  I tried to get a picture of them doing the "Cha-Cha Slide" and discovered my camera batteries were dead.  

Courtney and Curtis got Josh a ticket to a Jazz game for Christmas, and the game was Saturday night.  The three of them went out to dinner and then to the game.

My cute kids

Josh is wearing Courtney's jacket because he was freezing.  

I would have loved to be at the Presidential Inauguration today.  It would have been amazing.  I thought this was so, so lovely.

And of course I loved Kelly Clarkson.

Such beautiful voices and beautiful patriotic songs.  I love this country and everything that it stands for.  Faults and all.

Josh has been working so hard on his multiplication facts.  It doesn't come easy for him, and I feel bad about how frustrated he gets.  I think that school will always be a battle.  He is a builder.  He likes to create and build and he likes things with plans he can follow, and he likes to come up with ways to do things on his own.  He likes nonfiction better than fiction.  His mind works completely differently than any of my other kids.  He has a difficult time memorizing things, or possibly, accessing certain types of things from his memory.

Today was a teacher work day at the end of Term 2.  It's shocking to think that the school year is half over.  I feel like the second half always goes faster than the first, especially once February is over.  Then it just flies.

I made Pineview reservations last week.  I cannot wait for summer and camping, and Pineview with the Chamberlain family is always a highlight.  It's been way too cold around here lately, and the air is nasty.  I'm ready for something different.

Winter Break

I can't remember when I've been so excited for a weekend.  I'm so tired, and it feels so good to just be able to relax knowing I don't have to wake up early tomorrow.  I can't get to sleep early after a break, so I've only been getting a few hours of sleep a night.  Hopefully I can slowly start to go to bed a little earlier each night, but I'm not holding my breath.  Then there's Lexi.  That little girl.  She is a night owl, but she gets really tired earlier, so she falls asleep and is impossible to wake, which just makes it all worse when it's time to go to bed.  I've got to do something about this.  But she's been this way since the day she was born.  I can remember trying to wake her up to eat and she just wouldn't.  I'd try everything.  I'd strip her down and give her a bath, figuring that would wake her up.  No deal. Little turkey.

My camera is in the process of self-destructing, so only about half of my Christmas pictures even turned out.  I need to look at getting a new one, but that's an expense for down the road a little ways.

Christmas Eve with the Chamberlain family over at the McQuiston's house was fun, as always.  We had great food and fun times.

Lexi with her best friend Jennica

We had a fun Christmas morning, opening presents and having a big breakfast.  Everyone played with their toys and hung out until it was time to go to Grandma Saundra's with the Rasmussens for the evening.

Courtney had to work through a lot of the festivities, but she was with us for Christmas morning, and that was really great.

New Year's Eve I wanted to hang out at home and try making some Hawaiian plate lunch-type food.  Sean and I made rice, macaroni salad, kalua pig, teriyaki chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and beef skewers. Mindi's family, Cami's family, Dennis, Marilyn, and Scott's family all came over to play games and hang out.  I had so much fun with them all.  We played white elephant BINGO, and the kids were really cute.

Sean had some vacation time he needed to use, so he took off the whole break with us.  We just stayed at home and relaxed and didn't do a whole lot of anything.  Sean won a popcorn maker in a raffle, so we had Popcorn Party every night and watched DVDs and TV.

Now we're back to the routine.  Josh and Lexi are off track next week, so that throws a few kinks in the works, but so far it's worked out.  I still haven't put down my Christmas tree.  I planned to do it last weekend, but then I got busy with something else.  I guess that's one of my jobs for tomorrow.  Sean took the break off from both of his jobs, so now he's scheduled the whole weekend at AutoZone.

Courtney and I are going to hit up the Wedding Expo at the Salt Palace tomorrow, too.  We need to get a few ideas, make some plans.

January Goals:

• Stick to my budget
• Lose 2 lbs
• Get Lexi to go to bed at a sane hour