Flower Fashion

Emma has taken to wearing flowers in her hair over the last few weeks. A daffodil worked very well one day, as did grape hyacinth, then a yellow tulip was kind of a disaster --it opened up flat, and was way too big. Yesterday she chose a hot pink hyacinth to go with her black outfit. 

She's also wearing a necklace she made last summer from an old electric company metal disk that used to be stuck to our electric pole, and bat earrings she made when she got two of the same bat necklace from ordering two different Vampire Sisters books from Scholastic. Her sense of style is a little odd. Which I like, of course :-)

Professional Development

Huh.  

Do you guys have to do this for your jobs? Write up a report of self-promotion and call it a "professional development report"?

Perhaps I shouldn't resent this, but I do. In fact, I hate it. For one thing, I'm just not the kind of person who keeps a file of every little picky thing I do that I consider part of my job. Letters of recommendation, student counseling, curriculum development . . . these things all happen naturally over the course of a semester. Some of them have formal outcomes, like a recommendation, but others are just a natural part of getting to know your students, informal conversations, thinking "hmm . . .  this batch of students could use a little extra work with this particular subject", so you whip up an exercise that forces them to work with the material, hoping this will allow them to hold onto it until at least the next exam.

But I can never remember to document these things so I can trot them out once a year on paper. And I hate the way some people can take a couple of little projects and expand them to death until they have a 10 page "I'm so fabulous" report. We had a total failure of an IT director at the college a few years ago, and he could spin the reverse of progress into an impenetrable document illustrating the staggering benefit of having him on staff. We have one faculty member who documents every time he comments online on a local newspaper story and then pastes a printout to his office door. I'm sorry folks, I'm just not wired that way.

So, I do these really brief reports. "Modified and developed new assignments for all classes." That covers it, right? Last year my Associate Dean wanted me to list what I worked on as part of a committee. What, I should just attach the minutes? Stupid busy work.

It's due Friday.

Sprouting

I've been growing sprouts now for a couple of years. It's incredibly easy, and they're an easy way to add some nutrients to Rob's food. He loves sandwiches, especially with sprouts. The man eats the same sandwich every work morning --mesquite-smoked turkey, Swiss cheese, honey mustard and mayo, and sprouts. Rob is not a morning person, so he gets up as late as possible, and I make him this sandwich for "lunch". But he actually eats it on his way in to campus sometime between 9 and 10 a.m., depending on the semester's schedule. I learned how, and bought my supplies, from Sprout People. They have videos --so easy to follow!

Lately I've also been growing bean sprouts to add to salads --crunchy and tasty, and again, lots of nutrition. And so pretty! Here they are soaking: 

And here they are, beginning to sprout.

One side benefit: I use the soaking water to feed my Christmas cactus. It never fails to bloom after getting one of these nutrition-packed drinks. In fact, it's been blooming now for most of this year.

Now, I want to know why I've gotten sick three times in the last two months, even though I started exercising and eating better!

Flowering Quince

I grew up with several plants that I now have quite a sentimental attachment to. They're all pretty common, but I really love having them in my garden. One of them is the pink bleeding heart --I've planted one every place I've lived --even back in college as a grad student, sharing a house with other students. When I moved to this area for my teaching job, I lived in a ground floor apartment in a big complex with a patio. I asked if I could plant some flowers, and I left a bleeding heart there too, when Rob and I moved to this house. Sometimes I wonder if it's still there. I now have three pink and two white bleeding hearts in the various gardens around the house.

Another plant I really love from childhood is the flowering quince. I tried to find it at nurseries and online, without any luck. Then a friend here, who has a horticultural degree and did landscaping work for a while (she's now running her own farmette, raising mostly chickens and vegetables) mentioned that her neighbor had a flowering quince that kept creeping into her yard. She brought me a stick she dug up from one of these encroachments five or six years ago, and it is now firmly established. With our amazingly warm spring, it is bursting with buds, and looks fabulous.

Do any of you have plants in your garden because of a former attachment?

Spring Break

Well, spring break week has been and almost gone. The last time we had a spring break with actual spring weather was about 12 years ago, before I was pregnant with Emma. I remember this because Rob and I spent the entire week clearing underbrush from wooded areas of our property. Then we had Emma and for a few years, all that outside work seemed to grind to a halt. 

But this week has been glorious. Really, a bit too warm for my taste --I prefer working in the garden in the 50's and 60's, rather than 70's and 80's, but I'd be a fool to complain :-) Even though I started spring break with a zinger of a head cold, by Tuesday I was human again. 

--I was able to clean up several garden beds, cutting back last years seed heads and exposing new green growth to the sunlight. Things are moving way too fast (the crocuses were up and finished in two days, exhausted from the unbelievably warm March weather). I hope we'll cool off a bit so the spring bulbs will last a bit longer.

--I was able to clean myself up --I desperately needed a haircut, and after that I needed to color back in those two inches of gray roots showing. My students might not recognize me when I step back into the classroom on Monday.

--I was able to clean the house up. Between the stomach flu and this head cold, it had been several weeks since I was able to do even the routine cleaning. I don't worry about housework too much, but I do think vacuuming should be done more often than twice a month. We now have clean bathrooms, clean clothes, and clean floors.

--I was able to clean my car. It was completely crusted over with salt, so I took it on a little ride. Car wash and oil change both completed, and Emma's seat has been thoroughly vacuumed for crumbs.

--I was able to order Emma some shorts. This weather did take us by surprise, and thank goodness Emma had one pair of cut-off jeans from summer that still (barely) fit.  I'm sure the new ones will show up just as more normal March temperatures return.

My dad had a bad week, but at least I had time to talk to my mom on the phone, to offer whatever support I could from afar. He had a nose bleed that just wouldn't stop --they tried cauterizing, packing, and after the third middle-of-the-night trip to the ER, he's been admitted and they're going to try surgery. My mom was okay on the phone, and while we talked I ordered her some new bath towels (she said my dad has bled into most of theirs) and some chocolate (she relies on him to do any shopping, since she can't really walk anymore and said she really needed chocolate --that's a need I can relate to!). Both will take a few days to arrive, but at least then she won't have to worry about going somewhere to buy them herself. My brother (who lives near them) has been really helpful, so my plan is to get something for him too, but I haven't figured out what that should be yet.

It's going to be so weird to go back to school Monday! This weather makes it feel like summer, and I'm just not mentally in the semester anymore. I guess Monday will be quite a wake-up call.

Christmas Presents

One of my Christmas gifts from Rob was an AeroGarden. I'd talked about having one for a few years, but what with all the kid clutter in our house, I never made a move. This has six spots for plants, and along with the hardware, he bought a set of herbs for it. It took me quite a while to set it up --clutter really paralyzes me, and Christmas produces so much of it. It's not permanent clutter, but it always takes us a while to find permanent homes for new things, and until that time they sit on the various surfaces --the kitchen island, the kitchen table, the end tables in the living room, etc. 

Once all those things were put away, and then some more time had passed, I finally read the directions. Then it took another week for me to remember to pick up distilled water (you can't use well-water in this contraption). Finally, on February 12, I got my seed pods, water, and nutrients in and turned it on. It makes more noise than either of us had expected (that's the "aero" part, I think), and it took us a while to get the lights timed right so they weren't keeping us up at night, but soon the seeds sprouted. Here's one.

They started to grow.

They continued to grow.

In about one month, they grew into a jungle.

I have lemon basil, globe basil, Genovese basil, thyme, and mint. (Along with a Squishy pencil topper monkey, hiding out --that clutter never really goes away.) I did a little research, and it looks as if hydroponically grown plants can be transplanted into soil, so these guys will be potted up in a month or so and put outside. Then I'll have to figure out what else I want to grow --maybe cherry tomatoes?

Another present Rob gave me is an old-fashioned barometer. I'm an extreme weather geek, and I've wanted something like this for a long time too. However, he found the coolest one I've ever seen --it has the Earth etched into the glass. And it works fabulously!

Since we put this together, we were able to use food coloring to choose the color we wanted, and somehow a medium blue seemed right with the etching of the Earth --in the second picture, you can see north America. I keep it on our mantle, and when the pressure is low the arm is completely filled with blue water, and on high pressure days, the arm almost completely empties. I love its simple and elegant design. 

It's kind of fun to be enjoying and sharing these presents long after Christmas.

Spies

It's all Jen's fault, but Emma is convinced the spy life is for her. It started by watching Chuck, and becoming enamored with Sarah. Then she was introduced to the Gallagher Girls books by a friend at school. Desperate for more spy books once she finished those, we trolled the internets and found The Specialists and The Squad. She's loving them all. 

She found a compatriot in her class, a classmate she's only gotten to know this year. Add in another friend willing to play, and I have three 11-year old girls running around outside with an iPod camera, mirrors for looking around corners, and small binoculars for looking in windows. (We live out in the boonies, so they're only peeking into our windows, luckily.)

Rob decided to spend the day building a wall in the basement, and has been back and forth from the barn, with wooden planks, measuring tapes, and saws. The girls are having a grand time keeping an eye on him and sometimes sneaking off to play hide and seek. They've created elaborate plans for excuses to be in the basement momentarily, to plant the iPod and then retrieve it. There's plenty of whispering and giggling, and luckily lots of sunshine outside.

Add in triple-chocolate donuts and it is a grand day. Now, I have to click publish and close this page so they don't read it over my shoulder while pretending to do something innocent behind me.

The Social Lives of Children

I recently read the book Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding The Social Lives of Children, by Michael Thompson and Catherine O'Neill Grace.

I heard about it through the newsletter for Emma's school: the staff is reading it, and encouraging parents to read it, and they're going to host a discussion. Given the experiences we went through last year with Emma and her social life, I figured I should probably read it. I'm really glad I did --it is well worth the read. I was going to blog about it anyway, but Green Girl's post about bullying made me want to get it done.

The book is not about bullying specifically, although it does spend part of a chapter discussing bullying. However, the book takes a more holistic view of our children's social lives, and I found it both enlightening and reassuring.

Emma's experience with relational aggression last year was really tough on us. I almost put her in therapy --she was having a lot of trouble falling asleep at night, and she was crying each time I dropped her off at school. A meeting with the teachers had no affect; in fact, her teachers denied that this bullying was happening. Her life became all about dealing with this one situation, and the semester this happened was a waste academically. Luckily, summer break happened before she reached her breaking point. I read a good book about this too, last year, called Little Girls Can Be Mean. Also an excellent book and one I'm going to recommend to the school --I think they need it.

This year, without the bully, has been significantly better, but not a walk in the park. However the problems that have occurred this year are all in the normal range of social behaviors for kids. A good friend started deciding she was going to play one day with Emma, and the next day with another mutual friend, and wouldn't "allow" them to hang out as a threesome (Emma and I had a long talk about attachment disorder and how it affects the way some children try to control their relationships). Another friend asked her what boy she liked and then unkindly laughed and said "never gonna happen". This same friend wants to have a BYOB party --"bring your own boy"! Emma didn't know how to react to that. And although Emma is in a multi-age classroom, there is total stratification --the 2nd years exclude the 1st years and make it quite clear that they're lower on the social ladder. (Our experience last year, and this year, have made me really question the benefits of multi-age classrooms.)

We've had conversations about these things, and this book helped me to understand the best ways to help her navigate through these social situations, and also helped me understand which situations I needed to worry about and which I could just let ride out. Like all kids her age, she'll be very unhappy with a friend one day, and back to very close to the girl the next day. Best for me not to meddle, but it helps her if I can listen and be supportive.

One of the important things I learned from this book has to do with group dynamics. There are a lot of things that happen in groups that would never happen if the situation involved just two or three kids. Additionally, the need to "belong" to a group is a very strong motivating force for even the nicest kids. In groups, nice kids will do bad things. What happens in groups is often a lot more complex than we see just looking at the actions. Belonging to a group, which most kids yearn for, is definitely a place for parents to keep close watch.

One of the best things about this book is that you hear from the children themselves. It's rather enlightening to see social situations through the eyes of the kids --they do not see them the same way we do, which makes sense since they are at a different developmental stage. But the anecdotes and research from the authors work at schools allows you to really step into the kids shoes, and shines a light on how much emotional and mental development still has to take place for them. There are some situations which to us seem many-layered, but to them are still very singular. I think it's our job as parents and teachers to help them understand the layers, but it's easier for us to do that if we first realize that they don't naturally see those layers.

I would really recommend this book for any parent or teacher. Are there any other books on this topic that you have found useful and would recommend?

"Tainted Spice"

Today I read an article about "tainted spice". I clicked on the article because the link between kidney failure and tainted spice seemed like something I should be aware of. I cook with spices, and if one of them could be tainted, I should be informed. 

This experience reminded me of trying hard to understand how I would distinguish between bath salts and "bath salts". Could I accidentally bring home "bath salts" instead of bath salts, all unknowing?! 

The tainted "spice" is apparently a synthetic marijuana, and "bath salts" are . . . well, to be perfectly honest, I still don't know what the heck they are. I've read several articles relating to them, and at first I thought people were doing something strange with the same bath salts I use in a bath. I don't think that's the case, but I'm not 100% clear on this.

I think there should be a law against changing the meaning of words that us old fogeys think we understand.

Early Mornings!

Whoa --two days in a row I've gotten on to the bike before my morning really started. I wonder if I can keep it up?

I stole a couple of pictures from the web. One is how I feel, one is how I most likely look :-)