I went back to work this week. I'm just not ready for summer to end. It's too soon! I really do enjoy this time of year... The possibilities are still endless. The realities haven't set in. I haven't met my students and become disillusioned. Just kidding. Sort of. I love my job and am excited to get back to it... the part I dread is trying to juggle it all with the rest of my life. Doing the daily dance of getting the kids up and out the door in the mornings, trying to get dinner at night and get to all the places everyone needs to be, keeping up with household chores, getting enough sleep.... Not looking forward to that part. But... Like Tuti and Blaire taught us back in the day... You take the good you take the bad you take em both and there you have the facts of life. I got you singing it now, too, didn't I? Have no idea why that just popped into my head.
Sean and I had a nice little getaway last weekend to Wendover. I have a lot of fun going down there. It's just nice to get out of town and go somewhere with only adults. I work with kids, I live with kids.... sometimes I really like to get away from kids. And there is great people-watching potential there. And the bright lights and the sound of money mesmerize me. :) I'm sad to report that we didn't win any jackpots. Before we left we decided to stop at the Rainbow and play a few dollars and Sean asked me if we should just stand at the door and throw our money at them or actually go and play. We decided to play, but the result was the same.
Courtney finished her last clinical yesterday. Now all she has to do is pass the state test and she'll have her CNA. It amazes me that she is able to do this stuff at her age and that she seems to enjoy it. I would never have wanted to then, and I don't think I could do it now even if I had to. She got a kick out of the old people... one of the old guys told her, "You're a very nice girl, but I think you're too young for me." She was like, "Ya think??"
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Family
My family came over to hang out the other night. It's been so fun having everyone living close by this summer!
Lisa swimming
Emily jumping
Lexi running around
Scott and Eric
I read this article in the Trib last week. It's written by a retired public school teacher and aspiring writer. Here is an excerpt:
"Personal blogging is the technical phenomenon I have the hardest time getting my brain around. I don't care how people spend their free time or what they're angry about. Very few of these opinionated ramblings are interesting or important. The whole concept seems incredibly narcissistic. If it's the 21st century version of a diary, then it misses the point: Diaries are private."
Obviously, this guy was not an English teacher, because he totally doesn't get irony. Here's a guy who is not an expert in his subject, he's just a regular Joe, puts his "opinionated ramblings" about modern technology down on paper and sends it in to the newspaper for everyone to read. And yet, he thinks that other people who do THE EXACT SAME THING, just on their own personal web page instead of for the newspaper, are narcissistic and he isn't interested in reading it. Guess what! I feel the same way about some opinion pieces in the newspaper. If I don't care about the topic, I don't read it. That doesn't make the author a narcissist for writing it and sending it in. The beauty is, we only have to read what we want to. I happen to enjoy reading my friends' blogs, thankyouverymuch. And yah, blogging is somewhat narcissistic. So what? So are a lot of things we do. It's not like bloggers are out there bugging everyone they know to read their ramblings... you read if you want to, you don't if you don't. The other reason I know he wasn't an English teacher is because any writing teacher will tell you that people need an avenue to publish their work. Sure, some things that you write are meant to remain private. But, by and large, there's something artificial about writing for no audience. That's probably the reason that many people who don't enjoy writing in a diary or a journal do enjoy writing a blog. It's not that you necessarily care whether anyone reads it... it's the fact that it's out there. It's "published". It *can be read.
Here is an excerpt from an article from last Tuesday's Trib about the high caloric content of restaurant kids' meals.
"America's chain restaurants are setting parents up to fail," said the center's nutrition policy director, Margo Wootan. "McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and other chains are conditioning kids to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, French fries, macaroni and cheese, and soda at almost every lunch and dinner."
Ummmm... no.... their PARENTS are conditioning them to expect junk food at every lunch and dinner. It's not like Burger King and KFC are coming to their homes and feeding their kids. If you go out to eat a few times a month or once a week, and then eat nutritious foods the rest of the meals, how will your kids be conditioned to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, etc at every lunch and dinner? Take some responsibility, people! Sure it would be helpful to have some extra nutritional info about what's in kids' meals, and it's great for restaurants to offer some healthy choices. But none of that is better than just limiting the food in the first place. Common sense. Personal responsibility. Are those really such foreign concepts?
Lisa swimming
Emily jumping
Lexi running around
Scott and Eric
I read this article in the Trib last week. It's written by a retired public school teacher and aspiring writer. Here is an excerpt:
"Personal blogging is the technical phenomenon I have the hardest time getting my brain around. I don't care how people spend their free time or what they're angry about. Very few of these opinionated ramblings are interesting or important. The whole concept seems incredibly narcissistic. If it's the 21st century version of a diary, then it misses the point: Diaries are private."
Obviously, this guy was not an English teacher, because he totally doesn't get irony. Here's a guy who is not an expert in his subject, he's just a regular Joe, puts his "opinionated ramblings" about modern technology down on paper and sends it in to the newspaper for everyone to read. And yet, he thinks that other people who do THE EXACT SAME THING, just on their own personal web page instead of for the newspaper, are narcissistic and he isn't interested in reading it. Guess what! I feel the same way about some opinion pieces in the newspaper. If I don't care about the topic, I don't read it. That doesn't make the author a narcissist for writing it and sending it in. The beauty is, we only have to read what we want to. I happen to enjoy reading my friends' blogs, thankyouverymuch. And yah, blogging is somewhat narcissistic. So what? So are a lot of things we do. It's not like bloggers are out there bugging everyone they know to read their ramblings... you read if you want to, you don't if you don't. The other reason I know he wasn't an English teacher is because any writing teacher will tell you that people need an avenue to publish their work. Sure, some things that you write are meant to remain private. But, by and large, there's something artificial about writing for no audience. That's probably the reason that many people who don't enjoy writing in a diary or a journal do enjoy writing a blog. It's not that you necessarily care whether anyone reads it... it's the fact that it's out there. It's "published". It *can be read.
Here is an excerpt from an article from last Tuesday's Trib about the high caloric content of restaurant kids' meals.
"America's chain restaurants are setting parents up to fail," said the center's nutrition policy director, Margo Wootan. "McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and other chains are conditioning kids to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, French fries, macaroni and cheese, and soda at almost every lunch and dinner."
Ummmm... no.... their PARENTS are conditioning them to expect junk food at every lunch and dinner. It's not like Burger King and KFC are coming to their homes and feeding their kids. If you go out to eat a few times a month or once a week, and then eat nutritious foods the rest of the meals, how will your kids be conditioned to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, etc at every lunch and dinner? Take some responsibility, people! Sure it would be helpful to have some extra nutritional info about what's in kids' meals, and it's great for restaurants to offer some healthy choices. But none of that is better than just limiting the food in the first place. Common sense. Personal responsibility. Are those really such foreign concepts?
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Parade
Here are pictures from the parade last week.
Between my family and Sean's, we had family fun every day for like a week straight and now I'm having withdrawls. I went camping, to the parade and fireworks, out to eat, had Heather and Pete over for a BBQ, swimming, saw The Dark Knight with Sean and Steve and Curtis, took care of some family business with my family and then went out to lunch and had a nice visit.... It's a bummer having to go back to regular life. And mine's been just so difficult... playing in the pool, working on the kids' memory books, watching Judge Judy... A real hardship, I tell ya.
I've been going a little crazy without a car for a few days now while mine is in the shop, but I'm trying to keep reminding myself how much gas money I'm saving. The worst thing is that I couldn't get to Salt Lake yesterday for American Idol auditions. I was all set to sing Lady Marmalade for Simon and Paula, and I was going to rock it, man. If you've ever heard me sing (which you haven't, because I never ever sing in public) you know that I totally would have made it onto those audition episodes they do at the beginning, where all those really cool and talented people like me somehow get rejected. Bummer. Anyway, as soon as Sean gets home from work, Courtney takes the car to get to her night class. Every night at like 9:30 pm when she gets home I'm running for the car like an inmate trying to break out of the asylum.
Well, that's about it for here. Sean's mom is driving him to work tomorrow (Hallelujah and thank you Marilyn) so I have the car. I need to go to the library, the grocery store, take the kids school clothes shopping, take myself work clothes shopping, go to the post office, Wal-Mart for pool supplies, run up to do some business with the water utility people, and buy a birthday present. Hmmmmm.... it's about midnight... maybe I should start right now.
Between my family and Sean's, we had family fun every day for like a week straight and now I'm having withdrawls. I went camping, to the parade and fireworks, out to eat, had Heather and Pete over for a BBQ, swimming, saw The Dark Knight with Sean and Steve and Curtis, took care of some family business with my family and then went out to lunch and had a nice visit.... It's a bummer having to go back to regular life. And mine's been just so difficult... playing in the pool, working on the kids' memory books, watching Judge Judy... A real hardship, I tell ya.
I've been going a little crazy without a car for a few days now while mine is in the shop, but I'm trying to keep reminding myself how much gas money I'm saving. The worst thing is that I couldn't get to Salt Lake yesterday for American Idol auditions. I was all set to sing Lady Marmalade for Simon and Paula, and I was going to rock it, man. If you've ever heard me sing (which you haven't, because I never ever sing in public) you know that I totally would have made it onto those audition episodes they do at the beginning, where all those really cool and talented people like me somehow get rejected. Bummer. Anyway, as soon as Sean gets home from work, Courtney takes the car to get to her night class. Every night at like 9:30 pm when she gets home I'm running for the car like an inmate trying to break out of the asylum.
Well, that's about it for here. Sean's mom is driving him to work tomorrow (Hallelujah and thank you Marilyn) so I have the car. I need to go to the library, the grocery store, take the kids school clothes shopping, take myself work clothes shopping, go to the post office, Wal-Mart for pool supplies, run up to do some business with the water utility people, and buy a birthday present. Hmmmmm.... it's about midnight... maybe I should start right now.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Camping
We had a great time camping with Sean's family last weekend. I wish we were going again this weekend.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Late Night Insane Rambling
OK so I really don't have anything exciting to blog about, but I have got to get that goofy picture of me making a dork face off the top of the page. And the caption that says... Look how skinny I was... that was supposed to be Courtney-the-baby talking there... everyone got that, right? I wasn't saying that about myself because... no. Just no. Anyway... Moving on.
Soooo... Let's see. Courtney had a party here last night. I survived, all is well. We went boating Thursday night, had a nice time. Poor Courtney started a night class last week, so she is having to miss out on fun things this summer. Every time we plan something on a weeknight I feel bad, but I can't cancel plans for everyone, so I guess that's just part of the whole older teen stuff.
And in other exciting news, here are 3 things that I read about today that bug me:
*Everything is so bloody expensive. Magazines and newspapers write these inane articles on how to save money, and I know the articles will be stupid, yet I read them anyway in a desperate attempt to find the secret to escaping the grocery store without having to sell my firstborn or a kidney to pay the bill. So. The Parade magazine in the Sunday paper had a thing today telling you how America's thrifty families save money, and of course all of it was stupid stuff that either you already know and already do, or that you already know and don't do because it's lame. Some examples. They only let the kids buy Cocoa Crispies when they're on sale. Wow, I'm glad they wrote that in an article or I never would have figured out to buy stuff on sale. And side note. I don't let the kids buy Cocoa Crispies ever, because they're not healthy and they're nasty. Go me. And the mom, get this, shops for stuff on the clearance racks to save money! Who woulda thought? I read an article sitting in a waiting room the other day about how to save at the grocery store... here were their big tips: Try the store brand. Use coupons. Buy what's on sale. Really? Those are your big tips? Argh.
*Merit pay for teachers. They're bound and determined to do it, so fine. Let's do it. I do good work. If I meet the criteria, great, I'll get some extra cash. If I don't meet the criteria, fine, I'll still keep doing good work. The first problem I have with it is that I'm not confident that they'll find a good way to assess teachers. Test scores alone doesn't cut it. The second problem is that the proposals some districts are submitting involve spreading the money around to the whole school. No. In my opinion it should be a way to reward the teachers that go above and beyond and show marked improvement. Not just a way to give the A.P. and Honors teachers extra money because their kids test higher. Not just a way to give the whole school a few hundred extra dollars if test scores improve. On a related note, can we find a way to do merit pay for legislators? That would really make me happy.
*Gay marriage ammendment in CA. I don't live in CA. Therefore, I am so tired of reading about this in the newspaper. Look. Here's my opinion. Civil marriage is a contract extending legal rights to people, and it shouldn't be discriminatory based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. Aside from that, though, I have to laugh when I read these letters to the editor about how allowing gay people to marry will somehow devalue or degrade the institution of marriage. Um... us straight folks have done that all on our own. Gay people couldn't possibly mess it up any worse. My neighbor, a good upstanding LDS guy, has been married 3 times in the four years we've known him, and he had at least one other wife before we met him. But gay people are going to be the downfall of the institution of marriage? All I'm saying is they couldn't do any worse than the straight folks are.
Soooo... Let's see. Courtney had a party here last night. I survived, all is well. We went boating Thursday night, had a nice time. Poor Courtney started a night class last week, so she is having to miss out on fun things this summer. Every time we plan something on a weeknight I feel bad, but I can't cancel plans for everyone, so I guess that's just part of the whole older teen stuff.
And in other exciting news, here are 3 things that I read about today that bug me:
*Everything is so bloody expensive. Magazines and newspapers write these inane articles on how to save money, and I know the articles will be stupid, yet I read them anyway in a desperate attempt to find the secret to escaping the grocery store without having to sell my firstborn or a kidney to pay the bill. So. The Parade magazine in the Sunday paper had a thing today telling you how America's thrifty families save money, and of course all of it was stupid stuff that either you already know and already do, or that you already know and don't do because it's lame. Some examples. They only let the kids buy Cocoa Crispies when they're on sale. Wow, I'm glad they wrote that in an article or I never would have figured out to buy stuff on sale. And side note. I don't let the kids buy Cocoa Crispies ever, because they're not healthy and they're nasty. Go me. And the mom, get this, shops for stuff on the clearance racks to save money! Who woulda thought? I read an article sitting in a waiting room the other day about how to save at the grocery store... here were their big tips: Try the store brand. Use coupons. Buy what's on sale. Really? Those are your big tips? Argh.
*Merit pay for teachers. They're bound and determined to do it, so fine. Let's do it. I do good work. If I meet the criteria, great, I'll get some extra cash. If I don't meet the criteria, fine, I'll still keep doing good work. The first problem I have with it is that I'm not confident that they'll find a good way to assess teachers. Test scores alone doesn't cut it. The second problem is that the proposals some districts are submitting involve spreading the money around to the whole school. No. In my opinion it should be a way to reward the teachers that go above and beyond and show marked improvement. Not just a way to give the A.P. and Honors teachers extra money because their kids test higher. Not just a way to give the whole school a few hundred extra dollars if test scores improve. On a related note, can we find a way to do merit pay for legislators? That would really make me happy.
*Gay marriage ammendment in CA. I don't live in CA. Therefore, I am so tired of reading about this in the newspaper. Look. Here's my opinion. Civil marriage is a contract extending legal rights to people, and it shouldn't be discriminatory based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. Aside from that, though, I have to laugh when I read these letters to the editor about how allowing gay people to marry will somehow devalue or degrade the institution of marriage. Um... us straight folks have done that all on our own. Gay people couldn't possibly mess it up any worse. My neighbor, a good upstanding LDS guy, has been married 3 times in the four years we've known him, and he had at least one other wife before we met him. But gay people are going to be the downfall of the institution of marriage? All I'm saying is they couldn't do any worse than the straight folks are.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Sweet Sixteen
Look what a skinny little thing I was! Hurry and feed me mommy!
Looking stylin' with my grandpa...
Always a smile on my face.
Always being silly.
16 years later...
Still smiling....
Still silly....
I have a few other baby pics I had wanted to post, but I can't find them in my mess, and I'm not allowed to lift the boxes to look, so these will have to do. :)
Courtney's birthday was Sunday. The big 16. It's hard to believe she could be that grown up. She started out as a scrawny little thing... 5 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long... We measured her height today and she is 5'10". She was such a cute and happy baby, always with a huge smile on her face, and now she's a cute and happy teenager, almost always with a smile on her face. She does have to stop smiling once in a while to roll her eyes at her nerdy mom, but not too often. She is very hard working, helpful, has a good head on her shoulders, and we love her tons.
We went today to get her driver's license, and she's already taken Brittney and Lexi to the library and for ice cream and taken Brittney to the movies. Both places are within a few blocks of home, so not too far away at all, but still a little weird feeling to give her that freedom. It feels like it's going by so fast... I wish time could just slow down, but it doesn't.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Boating and Swimming
We took the boat out the other day and ran it around to make sure everything was working. It was just a short trip, not the most fun kind, but it was nice just to go up there. Now we're ready for some serious playtime. I'm not allowed to do any waterskiing or anything too exciting this year, but just getting my toes in the sand sounds like heaven.
Sean and the kids have been swimming every day. I'm not quite up for that yet, but soon I'll be out there too.
Sean and the kids have been swimming every day. I'm not quite up for that yet, but soon I'll be out there too.
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