Lettuce!

I don't really like lettuce salads, and never eat them in the summer. But every January, like clockwork, I start craving leafy greens! They're so beautiful!

My body must not photosynthesize very well in the winter, so it craves those greens. My mom gave me a crock of fabulous blue cheese for Christmas, so today for lunch I cracked that open, mixed up some oil and vinegar, and enjoyed a lettuce salad. I bought tomatoes to put on it, but I was so focused on those greens, I forgot to add them!

When is spring again?

The Friday Weekly Round-Up

On Wednesday I spent the entire day on the couch, starting at 4:30 a.m., periodically emptying a bucket my daughter was throwing up in.  Yes, it sometimes amazes me the things we do with no qualms at all for our kids. She didn't eat anything the entire day --just some sips of water. She was just throwing up stomach acid and having dry heaves for most of the day. It's now Friday, and I still can't get her to eat anything more than a couple of sips of milk. I'm starting to threaten her with the hospital and IV's.

We might actually have a contract to vote on soon. It won't be great --three years of a pay-freeze-- but the stress of negotiations might at least be over. That or we'll be striking. Kind of amazing really --the college where I teach has the lowest salaries in the state, and has the largest class sizes. That's just the kind of "we value education" city I live in.

I wish I could vote in Wisconsin. I can walk there in 15 minutes, you'd think they'd make an exception.

I got up this morning to find flowers on the kitchen table. This is why Valentines is just not a big deal around here --Rob doesn't need a hallmark-sponsored day to make sweet gesture. I think the flowers are his way of saying "thank you" for the millions of loads of laundry I've done since Wednesday to try to keep us from getting the bug that took Emma down. 

Before Emma got sick, she started us down the road of making polymer clay beads. It's addicting. If she ever gets better, we'll make some more.

Thanks to Bloggers

Having Andrea from Meanderingthemaze comment on my blog with the Liebster Award made me start to think about how all this reading started.

I had been writing a garden blog for over a year before reading blogs, but it wasn't really intended as a blog; rather it was just an easier way to keep a gardening journal --I could add pictures, and type, rather than using a paper journal. Somehow I got started reading blogs that had to do with food: School lunches, the politics of food and big agri-business. But after reading the food blogs, it occurred to me that there must be other gardeners writing blogs, and I searched for some in my general part of the country. At the same time, one of the school food blogs I was reading pointed me toward a now-extinct blog by Kathy, who currently writes saltycrunchybitterfresh. I found her blog fun to read, and then I started to explore the blogs of people who commented on her blog, which I think lead me to Jen on the Edge.  Comments on her blog lead me to Green Girl's blog, and then off to even more blogs. It's sort of an exponential explosion. In this explosion I connected with a few other bloggers, like the Common Household Mom, Prairie Rose's Garden, 21st Century Housewife, Spinning My Plates, and Suburban Matron, although I can't necessarily remember how the connections happened. I now have a long list of blogs in my Google Reader, some who write almost every day, some like me, who write intermittently. (Most of the blogs I read don't have hundreds of commenters. While I have come across a few really good blogs like that, I find that experience less personal --it doesn't seem worthwhile to be the 123rd comment on a blog, and I don't tend to return to those blogs as often.)

One of the great things about this exponential growth is that it has lead me to discover some really excellent writers. Bloggers who not only have interesting things to say, but write about them in ways that make me laugh, or touch me in some other way. How cool that there are so many people out in the world who enjoy writing as an art form, even if they are not pursuing any formal publication. It seems to me that blogging has something in common with the long letters people used to write almost daily about the course of their lives, before faster forms of communication became cheaper and more prevalent. Letters weren't just written to notify distant friends and relations of important events; they were mostly written to share small daily aspects of the writer's life and sometimes trivial musings. And some of them were worth preserving because of the skill of the writer.

In addition to discovering clever writers, I've also found that connecting with bloggers is sort of like having neighbors. I don't actually have any neighbors, something I've always missed out here in the boonies. Consistently reading certain blogs is like having casual conversations over coffee in the afternoon, or reading daily letters from more distant friends.

I really love reading you guys. I do most of my on-campus work in the mornings, and look forward to reading through my favorite blogs on the couch in the afternoon with a cup of coffee.

Thanks for keeping me company :-)

Titles Always Defeat Me

Well, the semester is rolling. We'll see if it rolls up hill, or down hill. The Board and our team are back to meeting, which begs the question --why did they declare an impasse right before Christmas? To F#$*@ us over. Yeah, I'm pretty angry with those people.

This morning I met with my hybrid class. This is a class where the lecture is online, but we still meet once a week on campus for lab. In the course schedule, this class looks like such a deal --the section number doesn't indicate that it is a hybrid class, and it's a 4 credit hour lab class that only meets once a week for 2 hours and 40 minutes! What's not to like? So I end up with a room full of students who don't realize they're in a hybrid class. (Yeah, I've tried to get the college to change the section number so students know what they're signing up for, but that's gone nowhere quickly.) So, there was one female student sitting right in the front this morning. I spent about a half hour talking, with the class website projected on a screen, showing the students what they'd need to do online for the class. During the first 25 minutes she had this very dubious, slightly annoyed, look on her face. It projected "This is so unfair --I didn't sign up for this." Somehow, over those 25 minutes, I convinced her that this class was going to be a good thing, because in those last 5 minutes her expression changed to a smile. Although I can't articulate why, it just really made my day.

We have a winter storm warning starting at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. It's supposed to snow all day, and we could get either 4 inches, or 8 inches. Those are very different outcomes, and I'm hoping for 4. Emma is hoping for 8.  I don't meet any classes on campus tomorrow, so instead of working in my office, I'll have to bring my latte home and work here. That way my car can be parked in the garage and I won't have to clean any snow off it. Such a tough life :-)

Okay, I'm leaving you with a photo I grabbed off a news site. I find the photo really scary, but also really eye-opening. This is a photo of a plus-size model embracing a regular runway model. Auschwitz comes to mind. And I am not being flippant.

Winter

It finally snowed.  This is the first time since I've lived here (17 or 18 years, I can't keep track) that we had autumn weather up until January 12th. But it has now snowed, 5 or 6 inches, I think, very fluffy.

Gwen, our cat, keeps going from door to door, hoping one of them will open into summer. When that doesn't happen, she looks at us and meows. Cats always have such a knowing look. She is fully aware that it's our fault that white cold stuff is blowing into her face, and she's letting us know we're not fooling her one little bit.

Emma took her sled out to her slide, and rode down several times. The sled, already cracked from last year, didn't last long. Now she says her butt hurts so much she can hardly walk.

However, I just sent her upstairs to take her shower, and she's got Del Amitri blasting from the stereo in the bathroom. So somehow she managed to get up there and find the CD and play it. I think her butt is probably okay.

So, now that winter has started so late, I wonder if it will run over into spring. More than usual, that is.

Women and Photos

So, before the holidays, Jen from Jen On The Edge suggested that we all try hard to actually be in some of the family photos taken over the holidays. Well, I failed miserably. There are all of two photos of me (with Emma, of course) taken over the holidays, both taken the same evening. I'm in my coat, and most of me is hidden either by the dark, or by Emma :-)

We were visiting the Janesville, WI Arboretum's light show, which was absolutely spectacular. Inside they had a wonderful train set up, and outside they had lots of lights along the paths. They also had a local choir and hot chocolate to enjoy after walking around outside. This was a wonderful evening that Rob surprised us with --he wouldn't tell us where we were going, just to make sure we didn't have plans for this particular evening.

I took some cool video, which I've posted here too, because I was just so impressed with the light show.

 

Unfortunately, it was this same evening, after we got home, that we found out the college Board had voted for an impasse, ending contract negotiations. I think we spent the rest of our holiday break feeling sucker-punched and depressed. I don't think we took the camera out again over the holidays.

Buying F*&#$ing Jeans, Excuse My French

I don't understand why this has to be so hard. 

Emma is 11. Granted, she's tall, and beginning to get hips and a butt, but she's still slender. She started wearing jeans in size 12 at the beginning of the school year, mostly for length, with that inner elastic waist cinched up good. On Monday this week I found her struggling to button some size 12 jeans after a shower. I swear, there was a 5 inch gap she needed to close, and that can't be comfortable, even if you manage to get the things buttoned. I found some size 14 jeans (Levi's with the adjustable inner waist band) in her closet that I'd bought during the summer (cheap, on eBay) and she put those on instead and they were fine. They're what is now called "pre-owned", but I still think of as "used", which means they'd been through someone else's wash multiple times and had shrunk a bit. Perfect.

However, a few days earlier I had just ordered her two new size 12 pairs of Levi's jeggings. When they arrived, I put them straight back into the mail as a return and ordered the same things in size 14. The first pair arrived yesterday, and I got it washed and ready for this morning. Oh. My. God. Watching her try to get this pair of pants on this morning reminded me of this post by Jen. Sausage casings indeed. She could hardly get the tight bottoms over her heels with my help, and she had to jump up and down to get the pants up near her waist. And then, when she crouched down, she had a nice plumber's butt showing. 

These are size 14 on an 11 year old girl!! I'm seriously hoping that Levi's has simply mis-sized all these pants.

So I peeled them off of her and found a pair of Union Bay size 12 jeans that still fit just barely, but are becoming high-waters (is that term still used?) as all her pants do eventually. That too-short look is worse now that all the jeans (that aren't jeggings) are flared like we're living back in the 1970's.  Flared and short has a rather unfortunate clownish effect. Luckily, Emma hasn't really noticed this yet.

So, those of you who have girls, have you encountered this problem too? Are there any brands of jeans that you've found work consistently? And should I be okay with paying $20 plus $10 in shipping for used jeans on eBay?

Job-Hunting

So, I'm going to write a resume. This is something I haven't needed since 1995, so it'll take a little doing. Of course, the fact that I've had the same full time job since 1995 will actually make my resume kind of simple, I think.

The college's final proposal has been made public. Their plan is to give us a $1,700/yr raise, but more than wipe it out by doing two things: first, they would remove existing pay for certain things we already do, and second, they want to change the way we pay for our healthcare. 

We currently pay a percentage of salary. This means that the lower your salary is, the less you pay for healthcare --a good way to attract new faculty and keep their healthcare costs low, while their salaries are still entry-level and they have young children. Those of us who have been here a while and climbed the salary schedule pay more. In a sense, senior faculty subsidize healthcare for newer faculty. And we actually like doing it.

The college wants to change to a system where we will pay a percentage of premium. Unfortunately, the way they want to implement this means that newer faculty with young families will get hit with the highest increases. Our negotiating team has been fighting this by proposing other ways to apply the increase in cost. Absolutely not going to happen, according to the BoT.

Between their proposed changes in working conditions (taking away pay for things we currently do, which is a pay cut but they don't have to call it that), and the increased amount we'd pay for healthcare, my salary would be cut by about $3,000 a year. This decrease is including the pay increase they're proposing. Because Rob and I both teach at the college and have comparable salaries, his salary would be cut by the same amount. That's a $6,000 cut in income for us, but no change in job responsibilities.

So, I'm looking to supplement the money they're cutting, and the easiest way to do that is by teaching online at some of the for-profit colleges. I don't like them, but I also can't afford a pay cut. Luckily, along with my Ph.D., I also have a Master of Online Teaching Certificate from The University of Illinois. I earned the certificate while teaching at the college, taking online classes each semester. I did that because I actually liked the classes, and love teaching online, but now I'm really grateful that I ended up with an official certificate for that work. I imagine it will be quite helpful on my resume.

So, here's a question: on my resume, do I use my full name (Cassiopeia) or just Cassi?  Cassi seems kind of barbie-ish, but Cassiopeia seems kind of weird.

2011 in Books

Some of the books I read in 2011: An Annotated List

(I don't remember all the books I read, but these are all on my Kindle, except for Whipped, Not Beaten.)

Non-Fiction (in no particular order)

I don’t read a lot of non-fiction. The first in this list was light and funny, and the next two were instructive.

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace

   By Ayelet Waldman

Little Girls Can Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-proof Girls in the Early Grades

   By Michelle Anthony, Ph.D. and Reyna Lindert, Ph.D.

Good Girls Don’t Get Fat

   By Robyn Sliverman

Fiction (in alphabetical order by author)

The Vital Principle   By Amy Corwin

A mystery, but I wouldn’t seek out others by this author. The writing was fine, but mysteries set during this time period (1800’s) don’t tend to hold my interest.

The Stuff That Never Happened  By Maddie Dawson

An okay read, I reviewed it here.

Dead Before Morning  By Geraldine Evans  (edited)

A mystery that was just okay.

I Still Dream About You  By Fannie Flagg  (edited)

This book, about a woman who had decided to kill herself but has to keep postponing the act, seemed to go on for a long time. I wouldn’t look for others by this author, although she wrote the book that became one of my favorite movies: Fried Green Tomatoes. However, I didn’t even know that movie was based on a book, and I’ve never read it.

What Alice Forgot

Three Wishes

The Last Anniversary

   All by Liane Moriarty

These books are definitely fluff, but I really loved them. The character development was really well done for fluffy books, and I found myself caring for and laughing at the characters. Fast, fun reads and I will be waiting for more from this author. I reviewed What Alice Forgot.

The Forgotten Garden

The Distant Hours

The House at Riverton

   All by Kate Morton

These books are delightfully involved, with wonderfully intricate plot lines and great character development. I will be waiting for more from this author.

The Charming Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (7)

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (8)

   Both by Alexander McCall Smith

I have really enjoyed both this series and the Ladies No.1 Detective series from McCall Smith. However, these last two were not my favorites of this series.

The Year We Left Home   By Jean Thompson

I really enjoyed this book, and picked it up initially because of a review by Green Girl in Wisconsin.

Close Your Eyes: A Novel

Sleep Toward Heaven

How to be Lost

   All by Amanda Eyre Ward

Great books, and I’ll be waiting for more from this author.

Fly Away Home

Best Friends Forever

   Both by Jennifer Weiner

This author is so uneven. I’ve now read three of her books, and parts are well written and other parts are boring, or just seem really poorly developed. These fall in the fluff category, but the writing is not good enough to recommend.

Whipped, Not Beaten   By Melissa Westemeier

A very fun read –I’ll be looking for more from this author too :-)

Books I started but didn’t finish (in no particular order)

Prep: A Novel   By Curtis Sittenfeld

I was bored by the second chapter and didn’t see any reason to keep reading.

The Girl in the Gatehouse   By Julie Klassen

I think the time-setting for this book is a problem for me. I got about half way through it, but when something more interesting came along, I moved on. I haven’t been interested enough to go back and pick it up again.

Book I’m currently reading (and so will straddle the two years)

Death Comes to Pemberly    By P.D. James

I've never been able to read Jane Austen --the times I've tried, the books seem to consist just of dialog. I love that dialog in the movies, but it doesn't work for me as a book. I've read all of the Adam Dagliesh books, so I'm hoping James's writing style will pull me into this time period.  

Happy New Year's Day!

I love New Year's Day. Especially the morning, when I first get up to a clean house with Christmas put away for another year. I have a cup of coffee and spend some time looking out the windows at the gardens and yard. I don't really make resolutions, but there is something so clean and new about January 1st. It feels like a clean slate. Even when, like today, we have no snow, gray skies, falling temperatures, and wind gusts of 35 miles per hour. It's the beginning of a new semester with a new batch of students to teach, and we've gained a few minutes of daylight since the solstice. I've never been one to make hard and firm resolutions, but today always feels like the day to re-evaluate life, and take a good look at how I might change for the better.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Day!!