As of now, I don't text. This is careful thinking - I rarely use my phone as a phone, mostly for email/Facebook, and to be available if the school needs to call me. The person I get the most phone calls from? The superintendent's Alert Now system, and I'd rather that didn't come via text - a text doesn't wake me up at 6 AM to tell me to turn off my alarm clock. (Now, if the phone call could somehow automatically turn off my alarm clock without my having to wake up, that would be something ....)
But in general, I find texting to be much like online chatting - too immediate, and thus too stressful. Talking with people is difficult enough for me, but having to conduct a conversation in real time online is even more so. Emails can be carefully crafted, gone over, and reviewed before sending (which is why I tend to be more comfortable and a better conversationalist online), but there's no time for that in a text. And I'm pedantic enough to feel a real distaste at the idea of using textspeak.
And of course, there's the famed AutoCorrect, which would drive me nuts. I get that people don't think they can use language without an electronic corrector, and I also get that people would rather be able to blame their mistakes on AutoCorrect than having to admit they can't spell whatever word they would misspell, but I couldn't take having an automatic 'corrector' that screws up my words.
I know my text-free life is coming to an end - sometime in the next three years the kids will start getting cell phones, and hello, texting. But for now, I can do without.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
school hour
Since my young'uns are getting older, helping them retain some of their education over the summer seems like a good idea. So I'm instituting an hour of various school- (and learning-) related tasks every day that we're home this summer.
So far (on the first day), we had a fairly successful hour. The boys worked on math and on tying their shoes, and Veronica and I worked on letters. Good news, she knows them all. Bad news, only when they're in order. She can't name them out of order. Have to give that one some thought.
So far (on the first day), we had a fairly successful hour. The boys worked on math and on tying their shoes, and Veronica and I worked on letters. Good news, she knows them all. Bad news, only when they're in order. She can't name them out of order. Have to give that one some thought.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
5 things I like about summer vacation
Second full day of summer vacation - no plans today!
1. No alarm clock! I hate that thing, despite the efficiency with which it does its work, and I wake up so much better rested when I don't have to use it.
2. 100% unscheduled days. No drop-offs, no pick-ups, no need to be anywhere or do anything at any specific time. I could actually go a whole day without looking at a clock!
3. Kids who play together. I'm blessed with three kids who can actually play on their own and together with a minimum of fighting. Yes, there's some, but I rarely hear anyone whine that they're bored, and they're fairly easy to redirect away from whatever causes the issues.
4. Hot sunny days. (This one is wishful thinking today, which is cold and rainy. But I hold out hope for better!)
5. Have I mentioned no alarm clock? Oh, how I love not waking up to that thing!
1. No alarm clock! I hate that thing, despite the efficiency with which it does its work, and I wake up so much better rested when I don't have to use it.
2. 100% unscheduled days. No drop-offs, no pick-ups, no need to be anywhere or do anything at any specific time. I could actually go a whole day without looking at a clock!
3. Kids who play together. I'm blessed with three kids who can actually play on their own and together with a minimum of fighting. Yes, there's some, but I rarely hear anyone whine that they're bored, and they're fairly easy to redirect away from whatever causes the issues.
4. Hot sunny days. (This one is wishful thinking today, which is cold and rainy. But I hold out hope for better!)
5. Have I mentioned no alarm clock? Oh, how I love not waking up to that thing!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
just barely made it
So today is the last day of the school year - a school year during which I was very pleased to be able to say that no one in my house had vomited. Sadly, I won't be able to say the same about the summer. Oh, stomach flu, you wily coyote! But at least we had the school year. *sigh*
Friday, June 17, 2011
new questions
A new meme that was sent to my by email. No, I was lazy and didn't forward/send it back, but I'm putting it on the blog. Does that count?
1. What color are your socks right now? No socks - it's sandal weather!
1. What color are your socks right now? No socks - it's sandal weather!
2. What are you listening to right now? iPod - Ricky Nelson's "Travelin' Man"
3. What was the last thing you ate? Cheerios
4. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Lou
5. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes
6. How old are you today? 36
7.What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Football
8.What is your favorite drink? Tea/coffee
9.Have you ever dyed your hair? Yup. Might do it again.
8.What is your favorite drink? Tea/coffee
9.Have you ever dyed your hair? Yup. Might do it again.
10.Favorite food ? Steak. Or dessert!
11.What is the last movie you watched? The Butcher's Wife
12.Favorite day of the year? My birthday, natch!
13.How do you vent? Talk to friends/husband
14.What was your favorite toy as a child? paper dolls
14.What was your favorite toy as a child? paper dolls
15.What is your favorite season? summer
16.Cherries or Blueberries? cherries
17.Living situation? house full of kids!
18.When was the last time you cried? really cried? sometime in January, I think
19.What did you do last night? games and writing
20.What are you most afraid of? going blind
21.Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? plain, sometimes cheese, better with bacon!
21.Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? plain, sometimes cheese, better with bacon!
22.Favorite dog breed? big ones - Newfoundland/St. Bernard
23.Favorite day of the week? Thursday
23.Favorite day of the week? Thursday
24.How many states (list) have you lived in? 8: TN, OH, TX, MI, NY, VA, NC, MA
Thursday, June 16, 2011
counting the hours
Until summer vacation! It's a five things kind of day - five things I look forward to about summer break.
1) No alarm clock. Hate that thing, despite its usefulness. Just knowing I have to be up at a certain point that's earlier than I would naturally get up keeps me from getting a restful night's sleep.
2) Kids home! Yes, in August this will be on my '5 reasons I'm glad school is starting soon' list. But right now it's June, and I look forward to getting to spend time with my kids, and having them home enough that I can get some individual time in with each of them.
3) Heat. Egad I'm sick of cold.
4) Opportunity for more playdates. The end of the year is bad for playtime, what with end-of-school stuff and baseball, etc. So once summer starts it's easier to get together with people.
5) Lack of schedule. No need to be anywhere in particular, no drop-offs, no pick-ups, no nothin'. Just long stress-free blocks of time. Ahhhh....
1) No alarm clock. Hate that thing, despite its usefulness. Just knowing I have to be up at a certain point that's earlier than I would naturally get up keeps me from getting a restful night's sleep.
2) Kids home! Yes, in August this will be on my '5 reasons I'm glad school is starting soon' list. But right now it's June, and I look forward to getting to spend time with my kids, and having them home enough that I can get some individual time in with each of them.
3) Heat. Egad I'm sick of cold.
4) Opportunity for more playdates. The end of the year is bad for playtime, what with end-of-school stuff and baseball, etc. So once summer starts it's easier to get together with people.
5) Lack of schedule. No need to be anywhere in particular, no drop-offs, no pick-ups, no nothin'. Just long stress-free blocks of time. Ahhhh....
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
end of an era
Tomorrow, my last baby has her last day of preschool. This is the end of six solid years of preschool, each child completing theirs and moving on while the next one came forward. All three went to different schools ... but each school was in the basement of a church; each had some teachers who were difficult to relate to and some who were easy; each child came out prepared just as well for kindergarten as the others.
Next year, I'll put all three kids on the same bus and send them off to the same building, for the first time. No more splitting my attention between schools, no more juggling who gets picked up and who dropped off and where. (At least, not for a couple of years!) No more paying for school for the foreseeable future, other than the gouge that is my property tax. My schedule will be the same every weekday, meaning I can really try to organize my time and get some things accomplished.
Granted, it's only half-day kindergarten - she'll be home well before noon every day. But it's a start, and the personal relief of no more drop-offs where I have to be 'on' before 9 am; no more crafts; no more strange preschool teacher issues that I've never figured out how to deal with. (Although to be fair, this year's teacher had none of those, and was hands down the best any of my kids ever had, which was a nice way to go out.)
Very excited!!
Next year, I'll put all three kids on the same bus and send them off to the same building, for the first time. No more splitting my attention between schools, no more juggling who gets picked up and who dropped off and where. (At least, not for a couple of years!) No more paying for school for the foreseeable future, other than the gouge that is my property tax. My schedule will be the same every weekday, meaning I can really try to organize my time and get some things accomplished.
Granted, it's only half-day kindergarten - she'll be home well before noon every day. But it's a start, and the personal relief of no more drop-offs where I have to be 'on' before 9 am; no more crafts; no more strange preschool teacher issues that I've never figured out how to deal with. (Although to be fair, this year's teacher had none of those, and was hands down the best any of my kids ever had, which was a nice way to go out.)
Very excited!!
Thursday, June 09, 2011
book reviews
Margaret Sidney, Five Little Peppers Grown Up. I love the Peppers. They're all so earnest and so sweet and oh, so very good. They're also a bit over-dramatic - the smallest thing is the end of the world. And Phronsie (the youngest) at 13 acts very much the same way Phronsie did at 3. But once you've acccepted that, it's nice to make a visit to such lovely, innocent people.
Mrs. Molesworth, The Cuckoo Clock. Another piece of classic children's literature. But unlike the charmingly over-sweet Peppers, Mrs. Molesworth's Griselda is sulky, demanding, obtuse, and petulant pretty much all through the book, and with no reason, obvious or otherwise, to justify such behavior. And since there's no reason for the original flaws, there's no lesson to be learned when she finally (on the last page) learns to conquer them.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Midnight Harvest. Sadly, Saint-Germain simply doesn't translate to the modern era. The elaborateness of his ruses to disguise his vampiric identity, the separation of his various holdings ... it just doesn't hold up in the more connected world of the mid-20th century. Nor, frankly, does his Old World courtly manner. And with those gone, so is much of the character's magic.
Louis L'Amour, Comstock Lode. I tend to like L'Amour's longer books slightly less than I do the shorter ones, and this was no exception. But there was a lot of interesting mining detail in this one, a fairly complex plot with a decent payoff, and the characters were solid L'Amours.
Mrs. Molesworth, The Cuckoo Clock. Another piece of classic children's literature. But unlike the charmingly over-sweet Peppers, Mrs. Molesworth's Griselda is sulky, demanding, obtuse, and petulant pretty much all through the book, and with no reason, obvious or otherwise, to justify such behavior. And since there's no reason for the original flaws, there's no lesson to be learned when she finally (on the last page) learns to conquer them.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Midnight Harvest. Sadly, Saint-Germain simply doesn't translate to the modern era. The elaborateness of his ruses to disguise his vampiric identity, the separation of his various holdings ... it just doesn't hold up in the more connected world of the mid-20th century. Nor, frankly, does his Old World courtly manner. And with those gone, so is much of the character's magic.
Louis L'Amour, Comstock Lode. I tend to like L'Amour's longer books slightly less than I do the shorter ones, and this was no exception. But there was a lot of interesting mining detail in this one, a fairly complex plot with a decent payoff, and the characters were solid L'Amours.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
movies revisited?
I'm thinking it may be time to revisit my favorite movies list, posted here several years ago. It would be interesting to see what kinds of shake-ups have occurred ... and even more interesting to see if I can come up with a full list of all the loved movies I don't have on DVD right now.
Yes, in this digital age it's passe to own DVDs. But I love mine - I like to look at them all lined up on the shelf, and I like to know that if various digital storage systems collapse, I still have my movies.
Currently, I'm rewatching The Butcher's Wife. Demi Moore's accent is pretty laughable, but it's a sweet movie, filled with love, and it's one of the movies that made me want to move to New York back in the day.
Yes, in this digital age it's passe to own DVDs. But I love mine - I like to look at them all lined up on the shelf, and I like to know that if various digital storage systems collapse, I still have my movies.
Currently, I'm rewatching The Butcher's Wife. Demi Moore's accent is pretty laughable, but it's a sweet movie, filled with love, and it's one of the movies that made me want to move to New York back in the day.
Monday, June 06, 2011
last meal
Don't ask me why I was thinking of this, but I got to thinking about my last meal, were I to order one.
I would choose a lovely rare steak, a couple of fried chicken drumsticks, and a big fluffy biscuit, with black coffee. And for dessert, a carton of Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar crunch, a bowl of Brigham's peppermint stick ice cream, and a perfectly prepared cappuccino.
Yep, I think that covers it.
I would choose a lovely rare steak, a couple of fried chicken drumsticks, and a big fluffy biscuit, with black coffee. And for dessert, a carton of Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar crunch, a bowl of Brigham's peppermint stick ice cream, and a perfectly prepared cappuccino.
Yep, I think that covers it.
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