My friend and I.

One would think that I am talking about the Eagle being my friend... did you look into the eyeball of the second picture... ? this guy was no friend. Actually.... I was talking of my friend over at Ms. L's, and she told me how she posted some Eagle pics... which reminded me that I had photos in my camera from last weeks adventures with the PIP. This guy was so not interested to see us that he positioned that hiney to shoot great things from it. I was later told that that means something great. OK.. ouch not thinking the same thing.

No confirmation needed!

I went to a meeting yesterday .... five teachery types.

I felt outnumbered.... I should have a representative at my side... or something.

It was just me and my new dark hair.

They had complete confirmation as to how the boy has come to be... I think it might have been meeting of the round table just to confirm the fact that the boy truly does have a clearly psycho mother.

I know I came away with an A+ in that department.

That's alright... at least my hair looked good.

It's a new day.. it's a new ...

COLOUR!

Referring to my hair of course.

The sister came over yesterday, just as I had my hair gunk on my head....she even came coffeeless. Which was OK, because I had coffee... just no cream... the sadness of it all.

Anyways...the PIPPY was curled up in our bed, busily being sick (bad cold), and so we chatted, and chatted, and chatted... and then I said to the sister.. I think my hair is going to fall out... I forgot that I had colour on my head... now you would think... "how the hell can one forget about the colour on their head....?" Well, I speak the truth....I wondered that fact myself... in the end... the hair is actually looking fine, and I even made an honest attempt at finding the grey that hides just around the ears. OK.. so when I was colouring my hair... I think the whole front of my head is grey... because I didn't see much colour attached to the hair follicles. Rats.... I better be careful, and keep colouring my hair... someone might mistake me for an ancient grain.. and I might end up in a loaf of bread!

OK.. must fly....

bad hair goes for a drive

That boy of mine must be growing.... again.

His back his sore, and he tells me is grumpy.... and he is very very tired.

I drove him to school this morning... otherwise I do not think I would have been able to get him their. He was happy for a warm chariot on this fine morning...

In other things not fine... that hair of mine is up to it's usual tricks... looking hideous, all the time.
I must colour it, and cut it... immediately....

Before I do that ... I decided that I needed a coffee... and since there is a starbucks drive-thru... I counted out my twenty dimes, and off I went. It's nice having bad hair, and having drive thru's... you still get what you want (more or less), even when you are looking the dowdiest of all.

The PIP is still home today with a nasty cold. I very much dislike not sending them... but I also KNOW how greatful I would be, if parents would think to do the same. Just yesterday someone said to me.. send her to school, that is probably where she got the cold in the first place... BINGO.. she was probably right... but it doesn't make it right to do the same.

Well.... must go do little housely things.... whatever that is......AND my other junk that I do.. because I am going to have an implosion in the brainspace if I do not get done, what I know I have to do today!

Oh my....

Polar Bear: "I come in Peace"

If you don't already think animals are far more spiritually advanced than we humans,
think again. Stuart Brown describes Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild
polar bear coming upon tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada 's Hudson Bay .

My friend sent me this email... and I had to cut and paste it... I am sure the world has seen it THREE times around, but this is my first time... and as all you readers out there know... I have a certain fascination with these furry beasts.

One of these things is not like....

The other....

AND.. has anyone seen my three hole punch?

And... because he is as sweet....

Here's the little "Bobe-Dee" (as we used to call him, and some days still do...) with Phil the bear.

This is the former live wired loving evil queen known as Cicely... can't you see the love bursting from her.... in the form of fireballs.... ? She tolerated the smallish type of humans that inhabited the home, and got in the way of HER toys.

Where the hair all started....

The PIP....

What do I call her now?

Still smiling....

Even as she wound herself around, cutting off the ponytails... the PIP was still smiling!

10 inches

All two years worth of growing... going to Cuts for Cancer!

I did it!

So I went from this... (which had a black enclosure....)

To this...without doing ANY kind of comparison shopping I bought the one below. I wasn't spending another SECOND thinking about a coffee machine... so I THINK I might be happy with my decision... after all... I am drinking a cup right now... and it is just as tasty as before. AND you wil notice above, that the NOW EXTINCT coffee pot is empty, while the new one (below) is full. Now that is some form of weird observation...

What's going down...

In my town.....

I've been to the dentist this morning, for my quarterly cleaning. I like the gal that cleans my teeth, she uses the watery wand... and I like that ten thousand more times than the 'inside-the-head-screaming-scraper'. Yes, yes I do. She will be leaving on maternity leave at the end of April... and then gone for a year... (Yes all of my American readers... a whole year.... for maternity leave.......)

Then, upon leaving the little parking lot, I turned right, and then left, and then left again, drove through another parking lot, turned right, and drove home. The lineup inside Starbucks was too long. I could have just turned left out of the parking lot from the dentist... but you know.. I needed a detour. What a moron. Not 15 minutes later I had made myself a lovely eggwhite scrambled egg sandwich, with just a touch of old cheese on wholewheat toast. I was giddy with excitement. But then I needed to make coffee.

I am stuck on this at the moment...

Should I: just go buy a new freakng coffee machine from Cost.co? (which would free up the actually machine part to give to my sister, who says their machine doesn't heat the water very well).

or~

Order a coffee pot from some place (definitely NOT OSTER... because they do not supply glass coffee pots... oh no they do not.....), but they have to order it to. I forgot to ask the guy yesterday about how long they take to order....hey.. I will call this second...ok, thirty dollars + taxes for the coffee pot, and then still extra if I get it shipped to me. OR... just drive 5 minutes away, pick out a coffee maker bring it home, make coffee, stop fussing.

Hmm.... what's obvious here?

Moving on....

That boy of mine is going to do me in. I was quickly hissing and flailing at him the other day when he walked through the front door of our home:... as he walked home in the bitter cold, in the snow/rain, in a track jacket. He has a perfectly good rain/winter jacket... that Oooopppss... yet again he has left lying in his classroom.... yes, in the classroom, and not his locker.... a perfect opportunity for it to grow legs... hence the hissiness from me. I told him in that instant since he was not responsible, he wasn't going to have his x.box. It's quite simple, or so it seemed..... Him and his friend bee-lined into his room... and after several moments of chatter he came flying out of his room, and barged his way into the livingroom. With a face as serious as a 1940's mobster he started practicing his piano. His big song on the go right now is Bohemian Rhapsody.... (and since he doesn't spend a lot of time practicing, but rather just letting his fingers dance along the keyboard, and find 50 other things to play.....) he decided that he should practice.... and SING. The first words out of his mouth.... MaMA!..... and then he made the words up as he went along... he didn't mean to forget his jacket, and please don't ground him right now... he will bring it home tomorrow... Imagine if you will this crazy boy...playing his Queen music, singing me an apology...., since I like this boy of mine, I am a pushover. Just to make him practice a little more, I told him to sing me the apology again... which he did... which bought him his xbox xtravaganza fun filled hour back....happiness for both of us. He did remember to bring his jacket home yesterday... we wouldn't want another close call like we had on Tuesday to repeat itself.

And finally....

The non-work-a-holic-girl that I am just might be coming after me.... after all. Yes people, believe it or not....I may have just had a job finally drop in my lap.

I. KID. YOU. NOT!

I am happy that my nonworkaholic self has slowly ridden that slow long scenic route... but I think the train is finally going to make it to the station and offer up it's load: Another job! Just what a woman that has no brain wants... another paying job, on top of the two she already maintains, and the 1o zillion that herself, and the rest of the mothers/wives out in the world already have.... but I will take this third paying job.... as it is the ONE that I have been riding the rails for, for a great long time.

Well... I am off to go coffee pot shopping now....

Unless

Unless by Carol Shields

This was an interesting read. It seemed to me a lot of chatter about a character, that was about a character who had a daughter that needed help. Of course it was important to get to the end of the book, because I figured that eventually it would come out as to what happened to the daughter. In the meantime there was a lot of chatter that kept you turning the pages.

At least this book was worthy of page turning, unlike the last book. I met a book club friend, and she gave up reading the previous book... so on that thought... I must be completely crazy.

Evil mother's club...

I feel quite evil..... at this very moment.

I sent the chicklets off to school... to walk in the dusting of snow that is falling. I am not sure why I feel evil about it... but I do.

There is a lovely layer of snow to walk in, and it is pleasantly falling about. The weather-guessers have suggested that we will get maybe 5 - 10 cm... and I see no harm in walking through the dusting of snow.

This all seems weird... especially since yesterday I drove the chicklets, when it was blue skies & a bright sunny morning... except that it was into the minuses, and these fair weathered children aren't used to the cold, and I really didn't want to send popsicle pete and the banana blond into the great depths of the deep freeze. Which I know isn't really a deepfreeze....

Even though it is snowing out, it is warmer this morning than yesterday, and it's not everyday that you can walk in the snow. I am sure by this afternoon we will either have three feet of snow that has fallen, or it will be pouring outside...

Either way... I am still an evil mother... even though the chicklets didn't call me that.... but I am certain one child did... but it wasn't my child.....

The Perfection of the Morning

Wowsers!!! What a book... I don't recommend it in the slightest.... sorry Sharon. This was a complete bore.... (for me...) I did try to like it, and perhaps every third line I liked some of the words in the sentence, but beyond that... I painfully turned the pages. Luckily it was only 217 pages... but holy smokes it was like sucking on lemons, and somewhere in the mix knowing that it really does taste good, but really doesn't.

I'm glad I am done... moving on to the next book before Wednesday... ( I will see how far I get... but I have to admit.. I am fairly tempted by my next EXCITING book....!!! (?)... and I will have to tempt you with that little tidbit... to keep you coming back!

Because I am crazy file # 768

I would really like to come up with something fairly decent to write... but some days that is just impossible with me.

So, for your reading pleasure.... here are some excerpts of emails & anecdotes written to others on this day in "Deanna History":

The girl refused to go to school today.
Down.Right.Refused.
End of story.

There are some days as a parent that you absolutely can not argue, or even attempt to have your child listen to you. They will not hear it. I am not a pushover, or wishy-washy. I believe in listening to what my children are saying to me... (unless of course they are rambling at me about nothing... and then I quit listening...., but this wasn't one of those times)....so the girl refused. And guess what... she isn't a little wimp of a thing... so how does one forcibly make a child go to school when you can not make them budge. Well... you don't... and you have to understand that they have come to this path in their road because there were steps that lead them to it.

Yesterday the girl bitterly complained about her beloved teacher. More than anything she was overcome by his reactions to her. Rolling his eyes, long pauses, a large sigh, repeated instruction that she must stay in the class for math, once again reading a note in the planner from the parent. The girl isn't an idiot, and is more than astute in judging someone's reactions, and I think had really had enough of him. She decided that she wasn't facing him at school today, and refused to go.... but only until lunch... because after lunch she would not have to see him, not today, or tomorrow, and of course not over the weekend... which in her mind, was a good enough break for her.

I was slightly furious. Slightly furious that she refused to go to school. Slightly furious that her observations of his behaviour impacted her behaviour, and slightly furious that I still had to call the school and tell them that she would be missing, not sick, but not able to attend... so I wrote him this:
Pippy will not be in your class this morning, as she has completely refused to go.

It boils down to a number of things:

Pippy can not find "the book" that somehow got misplaced from yesterday. I do remember her with it yesterday morning, and beyond that I am not sure where it has been misplaced. I guess there are not any extras, until the misplaced book is found.

Pippy was not successful in retrieving the spelling words. She hunted through the recycling bin, and asked other students, but they were not able to accommodate her requests. I queried that certainly the teacher could have given the words to write down, even if you didn't have another copy.

She is terrified to have me write you another note, as she has reported to me that you do appreciate notes left in the planner. Whether you wish to believe it or not, there are circumstances in life that prevent people from doing as they are expected.

Pippy did not appreciate breaking down in tears yesterday in class, and wishes not to do so again, so has made the decision that she will not return today until after lunch.

So, for this morning she is completely avoiding your responses & reactions to her, in an effort to regain some composure.

As a parent I wished for her to come in and face you, but she is adamant about this. I have never faced this situation before in her complete refusal to go to school, and am frustrated with YOU and HER, that it has come to this.

So where in this do I mention MATH....???? Is that evil four letter word in the above letter? I can not visualize it.... anywhere.... I think that his generalization of "not getting her work done" is a common theme that he uses. He has complained about this before, and when I wanted to know exactly what the assignments were, I was not given any further info, or even better... she was suddenly caught up. (OMG... he would have HATED HATED HATED the Hamsterson in his class....., in fact, I would probably still be notices that the boy hadn't handed things in from last year.....)

His response:


I am sorry that Pippy is upset.
I do not appreciate being blamed for how she is feeling though. I was in no way angry with her. I simply told her that the expectations are that she has her work completed on time. Lately she has been falling behind. If not, simply come to me before school, after school or during a break (Nutrition Break or Lunch), but not just before the class and say, "I'm not done." I understand that life sometimes gets in the way. Pippy seems to be falling behind though, and my expectations are the same for all students. I think that expecting students to have work done on time, and be in class to learn is reasonable. She has missed a lot of class discussion and interaction with her peers in Math as she is going to Mr. Math Resourse Teacher to complete her homework. As for misplaced sheets etc. I would gladly give them to her if she were to ask. I have to do this daily with a lot of other students.I hope this clears up your misunderstanding.


Because I do not have enough to do... or wait... because I am slightly off my rocker, my response to that:

I am not blaming you, I am stating what I have observed, and her interpretation was in fact that you were angry with her. I will let her read your response to ensure that you were not.

I agree with your expectations that work should be completed in a timely manner. Please tell me what assignments are not completed, so that we can use utilize this weekend to get her all caught up.

Math, the constant sore spot. At the end of the day, I wish to see success. Whether it is in a classroom discussion setting or with Mr. RT, as long as the end result is that she is learning the concepts and understanding them, that is the real importance. I do remember in previous discussion with you, that you wish to teach the class as a whole, and for most kids, I get this. It may just be that Pippy isn't one of those kids, and if she uses Mr. RT to get her homework done, then she is one step ahead of herself, as she understands what works for her.

I think she realized just yesterday that she didn't have the spelling words, and tried going out on her own to find them. She had said that you were at basketball, and tried to problem solve on her own.

~~~~

I am still waiting for the work that she has not completed to make it to my inbox. Oh wait... that would be because she doesn't have any.....

So that is just one grey hair element for the day....

Onto the next... which is a bit funnier... as my friend was complaining.. ( I guess it is a complaint, or stating about her children and homework....)



Oh L..... what is with you....Are you new to this or what...Don't you know that there isn't any time to do homework afterschool as there are television shows to watch, and games to play, and friends to talk to, and much much facebooking to accomplish... all in an effort to get to bed at the totally decent time of 10:30 at night... (on a good night?).

Have you been stuck in traffic that long....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK... I SO SO SO SO hear you in the homework department. Nothing makes my hair turn grey even faster than the repulsive excuse that they didn't have time.... now that THEY do not have TKD, or dance lessons, or swimming, or art classes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We could just forget it all, and know that they will succeed even though they fail, as they are not allowed to fail in the public school system, and yes, there might be a phone call home once in a while in the form of a complaint... but you know... who cares... because you and I will be out shooting off our big assed cameras taking pictures of "things", only to scrapbook them in another 7 years... but hey... all of that will save our heads now when we can't and already don't have a lot of input into how our children invest their time. They will achieve.... someway somehow.... we just need to think about preservation!

OH... and I went to sign in at the bottom.. and the jumbled letters were in the form of "scru - u" today.How interesting is that!

So that my friends is todays post.....

PIPPY come home!

So that PIP of ours is doing some cat sitting... AND cat sitting she is! I can not believe how much time she has taken to go and SIT with cats. She is a true cat lady in the making.

Yesterday she took her cell phone to document the cat behaviour... and today she has brought over her PINK camera to continue the trend. I did call her on her phone... and asked her when she was coming home... I felt very much like her ... when I try and go out... that phone of mine rings and she wonders when I am coming back....

Well... seven minutes to american idol...I just hope that I have someone to watch it with!

Happy looky louing.

the PIP called me from school today to come and pick her up. That PIP!

We went for a drive up the mountain... so we could see sunshine again. We found it at the top of the mountain... and out from underneath us was the FOG that we left behind. It was quite beautiful really.... and soothing to see the blue sky once again.

We headed over to the other rather large mountain, and drove way up into the scalped countryside with it's thousands of homes. We made our way down one street, where it was STILL single lane traffic, and about three feet of snow left on their front lawns. The piles of snow that were sitting at the end of their driveways were about 10 feet high. WOW.. the price you pay for living on top of an expensive mountain.

I did bring all my camera gear with me... but being the TRES picky picture girl that I am ... didn't find the right LOOK that I was after... hence the NON picture. Perhaps tomorrow.

Well that was cool!

History in the making this morning....

The PIP and I watched Barack Obama become the 44th president of the United States.

Anybody that knows me would note that I am least political person in the world.... but today people.... now this was history!

The always centered and highly sensible husbandman left for work mumbling away about the fact that children shouldn't miss school because of another countries politics.... go away little man with the big ideas about... NOTHING.....

This kind of stuff is important.... it doesn't matter what you think!

I dropped her off at school, just after NUTbreak.... where she was excited to go ... as it was "open shop Tuesday".... this is where she goes to make her stuff in the woodworking room... she made sure that she was wearing pink as well.

Now... next for the excitement of the day... (well I have already been grocery shopping, put everything away... and ate my peanut butter and jam sandwhich on superseeded bread...) now I am out to the great outdoors... where I am wishing to RAKE up ten million branches and twigs... in FULL ON sunshine! I will mix laundry loads between the raking loads.... because you know.. I like to spice it up a little...

ONTO things that I would rather be doing....

I have a beautiful lense that needs some attention.... I am hoping that I can give it some... sometime soon... now that the fog has temporarily moved on.... and the rainclouds haven't hit us again....

Can't wait for that!