So, Tuesday I went to pick up the girl.
She comes flying out of the classroom and my heart melts. "Awwwww... she's so happy to see me," I mentally ooze.
"Mom! Mom! Guess what!?" She says as if she had just come back from a trip to the moon.
"What is it, Punkie?" I ask her. I, of course, expect to hear that she missed me or made me an awesome picture to put on the door.
"Nadia threw up all over her book! There were bits of food everywhere! And it came out of her NOSE!"
Mrs Drysdale came to the door to let us all know that a third of the class was missing due to the "tummy bug" that was running rampant. Suddenly, I had the feeling that the rest of my week wasn't going to get much better than this.
Sure enough, within the hour, the kid had a fever and was looking pale.
In an unusual turn of events, she actually let her medicate her. This was NOT boding well for my night time slumbers. I was resigned. Let the barfing begin.
She ate a light dinner. (Less to barf up later, I hoped.) Seemed relatively cheerful. Took a nice and relaxing bath (her, not me) and off she went to bed. I actually went to bed on the early side with the resolve that I would be up at some point in the darkest hours with a heaving child.
Amazingly, the night passed without interruption (though I barely slept while waiting for what I feared was the inevitable moan for Mom) and in the morning, the kid crawled into bed with me. I think that we would find scientific evidence indicating that the interior temperatures of an active volcano are cooler than her body at that point.
After submissively partaking of her ibuprophen, she settled back into my bed and fell sound asleep. Jeff and I looked at each other. Should we call an ambulance? Medi-vac? While even in the worst of circumstances she was not a good medicine taker, the returning to bed and falling asleep thing was.... unheard of.
He wished me luck and practically ran out the door.
Great.
Two hours later, she was up and ready for food.
Food.
Great.
A bowl of cereal and two slices of toast and a glass of apple juice later, she asked for more.
More?
Did she think I was crazy? It was bad enough that with each mouthful that disappeared down her gullet all I could do was picture what it was going to look like on the way back. No way.
I convinced her to give this food a chance to settle and then she could have some more.
And in two hours time, she wanted more.
Kate proceeded to snack her way through the entire day. The fever went down and up depending on how much medication was in her system. She complained sporadically of a head ache. She played all day without pausing to catch her breath. (Eat food? Yes. Breathe? No.)
Dad checked in periodically to see how we were getting on. How kind.
Wednesday was also parent conference night at school. They have child care available at the school so both parents can attend. (Creche facilities, they call them.) I had scheduled a 7:30pm appointment so that both Mom and Dad could attend. So much for the two equally involved parents approach to her education.
Dad stepped through the door at 7:00pm (ish)... I gave last minute bedtime instructions, put on shoes and coat and bolted for the door. Freedom and the promise of a conversation with another adult (or even two!) without the presence of Little Miss Ears (and mouth) beckoned. I headed into the fading light with with eager step and joyful heart.
And promptly tripped on the sidewalk.
It was the kind of trip that once it begins you know will only end in disaster.
It seemed to happen in slow motion. The stumble. The sickening lurch forward, knowing that I was about to become very intimate with the feel and texture of the concrete. In an irrational and perhaps misplaced hope, I flung myself towards the nearest parked car, hoping to be able to catch myself on it and thwart my fated fall.
Well, it sounded like a good idea in my head.
Instead, I managed to bounce off the car while scrabbling for any kind of handhold and landed on the street (instead of the sidewalk) in a crumpled heap.
Oh, the pain. (And the indignity.)
Yet, all I could do was sit there (once I had rolled myself into a position that less resembled subservience) and laugh at the absurdity of the events.
"Click," I chuckled to myself.
Click?
Let me explain.
My brother Geoff and I have always had a very.... weird... relationship. We've always been connected by this odd sense of humour. In our more adult years, we were perfectly happy to spend evenings playing video games or watching Godzilla movies (if it's not the man in the rubber suit, we don't want to see it) or worse.... Beevis and Butthead. (Zip 'im back up, he still sucks.)
This actually began when we were much younger. The details are a bit hazy, but the basic facts remain the same.
It's a summer day and we (Alice and I) have a pack of the kids up at Riverview Park Elementary School playing on the ... well, playground equipment. I think we were all getting ready to go and Geoff and I were ambling along when at the concrete base of a fenced area of the playground (designed to keep primary school students from falling 10 feet to their gruesome demise) ran... a mouse.
He appeared to be the kind of mouse who appreciated order and probably rules and ran in a very straight line along the wall. The kind of line that brought to mind a car respectfully staying on it's side of the road. "Look," one of us pointed out. "Two way mouse traffic!"
We both giggled our way home and for months/years/decades would randomly say, "Two way mouse traffic" in order to make the other one (at the very least) smile.
Oh, right. I was explaining "click."
So, at Mom's house is a set of stairs going to the second floor. (As most stairs do tend to go someplace higher or lower than the elevation you are currently at.) Even better... this particular set of stairs has a light switch at the bottom AND the top of the stairs.
Well, Geoff used to lurk around the stairs for various reasons (I won't talk about his superhero ideas... today.) but one of them involved waiting for me to travel upstairs on some mission (usually involving the bathroom) and then... when I was making my descent.... he'd flick the lights off. Then I would go flick the light on and try to dash to his position. He'd flick it off. I'd flick it on. You get the picture. (And so did Fritz Freleng... and probably Looney Tunes via Daffy and Bugs.)
Well, at some point during one of our many "flick" wars, we were happily flicking away when one of us (and I'm going to give him the credit because I don't really think it was me....) simply said, "CLICK." And the other person (presumably me) flicked the light switch.
Well, after nearly peeing our pants and laughing until our sides hurt and tears streamed down our faces, it has been another one of our many one word inside jokes. (Though perhaps not so inside any more....)
"Click" is now something I think or say when I've done something that borders on the absurd and is the first thing that popped into my head while sitting by the side of the road, clutching my hand. The second thing was whether or not I was going to see myself on YouTube.
Though I was a few feet from my door, I decided I was in good enough shape to continue to the appointment and so off I went. (The hand (by the way) is fine. When I got into the classroom, Mrs. Downey and Mrs. Drysdale looked at me as if I had been in a fist fight and when I explained, they got me an ice pack. There was some swelling, but now it's just a lovely shade of yellow.)
Oh, and Kate is just fine. They constantly talked about how kind and caring she is in the classroom and eager to help. (HA! They tell good jokes!) She's where she is supposed to be in most things, a little behind socially (but fine for an only child), her handwriting is a bit behind (but I've been assured that will come along without me stressing about it.) and her numeracy is just spot on.
She was home sick again on Thursday since the fever was still hanging around. Talk about drive me crazy! She was fine besides the internal furnace set to "incinerate." Chattered away all day. Jumped all over me. Allowed me to get less than nothing done.
When I called her off school that morning, the receptionist said, "Oh, I hope Kate feels better soon!"
"So, do I," I said. My tone of voice must have contained high levels of exasperation, because she promptly burst out laughing.
I didn't care what her temperature was... she was going to school Friday or I was going to move out. Luckily for both of us, Friday came and she was as cool as a cucumber... and back to school. All was well once more.
Click.
Friday, 27 March 2009
Thursday, 19 March 2009
The Week that Was - March 14, 2009
Wow.
And what a week it was!
A little background first.
As you may or may not be aware, since Kate has started school full-time, I’ve been giving more time to the church. Two of the major things that I’m involved in are:
The Seasoning: Which is a publication that comes out 3 times a year (harvest, Christmas, and Easter) and is distributed to every home in the Parish. I help to organize it and do some writing for it.
WOW!: This stands for Worship on Wednesday and is an after school initiative that we’ve developed for children (age 5- 11) and their parents or carers. The program is about an hour long (it starts right after school and lasts until 4:30pm.) and is designed as a community outreach (which is a rather big theme in our church mission). Basically, the kids come in and have a snack and a bit of time to play and unwind then we get them settled, give them a taster of what the theme for the day is (known as God Slot 1) then there is a fun activity (dance, art, drama, circus skills, etc) and then they come back together for a more worshipful time (God Slot 2). Within God Slot 2, is a “music” slot and somehow, I managed to get put in the lead position there.
It’s a lot of work and a lot of fun, but it is very time consuming at times. The response has been tremendous. Most weeks we’ve have between 50 and 70 children attending. (Though this week was only…. 33-ish. To be fair, this was the first REALLY nice day we’ve had on a Wednesday and if I was just a parent (as opposed to a dedicated volunteer), I probably would have taken Kate to the park.) Needless to say, it’s been a bit overwhelming.
Anyhow… this past week.
Usually the articles for The Seasoning are decided and assigned with plenty of advance notice. Somehow, I looked at my calendar and was looking ahead (believe me, this doesn’t happen often…. My calendar is usually a freight train that I am just barely keeping ahead of.) and noticed that… oh, look! The Seasoning deadlines are… NEXT WEEK!
Cue the Vicar and a conversation.
So, the deadline WAS Monday the 9th. I had two article to write, one of which was an interview with a very busy gentleman. Article One (which was about WOW!) was written by Monday, but the interview didn’t happen until Tuesday. So, now I’m already late and stressed.
This normally wouldn’t be a big deal. My college career was littered with deadlines that I just barely made (or in some cases, didn’t make). What was further complicating my life was the addition of WOW!
A normal week, it wouldn’t have been a problem. (But when is my life really normal?) This particular week the Vicar and the other gentleman who spends a lot of time in the spotlight was gone…. And I was running a creative drama session for the main activity. (Very abbreviated, of course.) There had been some discrepancy of what the theme for the week REALLY was. So, it’s Monday and though in my head I know what I’m doing…. On paper I’m nowhere.
Monday. WOW! Meeting in the morning. Afternoon, write article one.
Tuesday. Interview in the morning. Afternoon: Hmmmm….. do I work on the article… or work on WOW!?
Well, WOW! It was. I had to write a short, age appropriate script regarding Jesus calming the storm and do the cue cards and group notes. (6 groups). So, that took the rest of the afternoon. (Once Kate is home, I don’t stand a chance of getting anything done.)
Wednesday: Went to my Wednesday morning Women’s Group. (9:30am – 11:30am) It’s a group of women from not only St Luke’s (my church) but a few other churches. It’s a nice morning. Coffee, tea, baked goods. We do some bible study or prayer, but the biggest benefit I get out of it is that we’re all women, all mothers, and all seem to have the same stresses and problems. We’re there to build each other up and support each other and it is just a really NICE time. Though I considered skipping it in order to get my WOW! work done, I’m glad I didn’t.
Wednesday is always a wash out for me. Between Women’s Group and WOW! nothing else gets done. I have to throw dinner in the slow cooker so the family has something to eat. I get a whole two hour window between Women’s Group and WOW! set up.
Long story short. I got the script and the various other tasks done just in time for WOW! and it all went just fine.
Thursday was spent writing up the interview. It was very interesting! Pete Winmill works for Prospects (http://www.prospects.org.uk/) which is a Christian voluntary organisation which values and supports people with learning disabilities so that they live their lives to the full. The main part that he works with is in helping churches to set up programs for these people to have access to church groups in a way that is comfortable and comprehensive to them.
Now, the woman who does the layout for The Seasoning is also on the WOW! team and her children go to the same school that Kate is at, so it is convenient that I did see her earlier in the week, we discussed the problems with the current issue of The Seasoning, and she concluded that with her time schedule, she would be doing the layout on Friday morning. So, I did have some breathing room.
No blog post would be complete without at least a mention of Kate. (I’m sure she’ll get more screen time further down… if there is a further down.) Thursday was also Kate’s first day of “Mini-Strikers.” It meets after school for a half-hour. (Thursday only, term time only) I hadn’t signed her up for it earlier in the year because Thursday is usually Gran-Day. (But Gran isn’t coming up at the moment because she has a Thursday night commitment.) Also, going to school full-time has been a big adjustment for her and she has been just so tired after school.
Since Thursdays are her “early day” anyway (2:30 dismissal) she’s still getting home before she normally would.
What are Mini-Strikers? Oh, sorry. Mini-Strikers is for Nursery to Year 1 (4-6 yr olds) and is a half hour session where they learn the basics of football. (Soccer for all my American friends and family.)
She also didn’t want to go earlier in the year because it was ALL BOYS. No girls. Well, a few other mothers were talking about their girls wanting to go, but were put off by the boys. This, combined with my desire to help Kate learn to relate to the boys (or more like the boys learn to relate to Kate), prompted me to get the Girl involved.
Like I said, she had her first session last week and she really seemed to like it. Coach Chris is young and very good with them. (I, being the overly paranoid and protective mother I am, arrived early to see how she was making out. The verdict: Very well.)
Now, I forgot to mention in the Wednesday section that when I dropped Kate off at school, she went into the classroom and then came TEARING back out yelling, “MOM! MOM! I need MONEY!” (Oh, it’s begun already….)
It was the big Comic Relief drive here in the UK on Friday. It only happens every two years and is just a HUGE fund raising event which benefits various charities and volunteer organizations both here and internationally. Like it’s US counterpart, it’s filled with stars, comics, and celebrities and takes over the TV for an evening. (In this case, Friday night.)
Back to the money. Kate needed money to buy a red nose for Friday. They were selling them at the school and then they could take them home and decorate them for Friday.
Lucky for the Kid, I had my wallet with me. Gave her money and off she went. Red nose was procured and brought home Wednesday night.
Now… let’s see…. Wednesday…. Thursday mini-strikers…. Oh yes, red nose and Thursday night.
So, it’s Thursday and we have to decorate her red nose for the next day. I’m thinking…. Clown. Just some silly stuff.
“Kate, how should we decorate your red nose?”
“I want it to be a vulture.”
A vulture.
A vulture.
She seriously thought I could turn a foam rubber nose into a vulture in an evening.
Do I have to tell you that did NOT happen? With a little more forethought, I could have swung it… even now I still mentally work it out as to what materials I would have needed.
But back to reality….
Kate and Daddy have been playing a pirate game on the Playstation 2 and she’s been very into the whole pirate theme of late….
So, I said, “Kate…why don’t we make it a pirate?”
So, a pirate it was.
No, she can’t see, but I didn’t expect her to keep it on very long anyway… her wittle nose just wasn’t big enough to hold it on even without the decorations.
Friday was a riot. Got Kate to school. Dad was going on a Men’s weekend with the men from church and Gran was coming up to have dinner and stay the night. (We were having a girls’ night in since Dad was gone.)
As per usual, he left most if not all his packing and organizing until that day and was in a mad rush most of the day. (He’s old enough to pack for himself. I’m not his mom, I shouldn’t have to do it…. I just made sure he had clean clothes.)
Finally, he was gone. Gran was here and the rest of the weekend was much calmer.
We watched Memoirs of a Geisha (finally… had the movie for over a year waiting for a girls’ night.). I’ve also hesitated watching it because I had read and absolutely ADORED the book. Though fiction, it was one of those books that had such brilliantly painted characters, I forgot they weren’t real. I practically mourned the end of the book when I remembered that this woman was not real. I was really afraid that the movie just wouldn’t do it justice.
Luckily, enough time had passed since I had last read it and watching the film. I thought it was VERY well done and even if they may have missed some of the finer nuances to the world and the people, it was a beautiful film in many ways.
If you watch it, the scene of the Geisha drama is just breathtakingly filmed. It has some of the lovely artistic features that I’ve only been able to find in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the films of Yimou Zhang such as House of Flying Daggers and Hero without the violence and blood shed. (Though to be fair, it is so stylized that it is not as repulsive as I usually find it. No, I don’t particularly care for most of the Tarantino films, though Kill Bill was mostly palatable.)
Saturday it was off to gymnastics, then Kate and Gran and I had lunch in town at Wagamama’s. (Japanese style noodle bar-ish place… Kate LOVES it.) Then back home and Gran left for her place after dinner. Me? After the kid was securely in bed… I stayed up until almost midnight quickly cooking a take along dish for the shared lunch (translation: Pot Luck.) which was after the service on Sunday.
Sunday, Kate and I toddled off to church. I had to do a short drama on prayer with another woman for the opening liturgy and then it was the shared lunch. (Very nice. Kate was brilliant as usual.) Home around 2pm.
Daddy came home around 5pm and then life returned to normal.
And now we’re all recovering.
And that was the week that was… ending March 14, 2009. (Though technically… it is the 15th since I took it through to Sunday.)
Until next time!
Oh.... and in the end... the interview article came out very well and was sent to the graphic artist at 12:29am on Friday. Plenty of time.
And what a week it was!
A little background first.
As you may or may not be aware, since Kate has started school full-time, I’ve been giving more time to the church. Two of the major things that I’m involved in are:
The Seasoning: Which is a publication that comes out 3 times a year (harvest, Christmas, and Easter) and is distributed to every home in the Parish. I help to organize it and do some writing for it.
WOW!: This stands for Worship on Wednesday and is an after school initiative that we’ve developed for children (age 5- 11) and their parents or carers. The program is about an hour long (it starts right after school and lasts until 4:30pm.) and is designed as a community outreach (which is a rather big theme in our church mission). Basically, the kids come in and have a snack and a bit of time to play and unwind then we get them settled, give them a taster of what the theme for the day is (known as God Slot 1) then there is a fun activity (dance, art, drama, circus skills, etc) and then they come back together for a more worshipful time (God Slot 2). Within God Slot 2, is a “music” slot and somehow, I managed to get put in the lead position there.
It’s a lot of work and a lot of fun, but it is very time consuming at times. The response has been tremendous. Most weeks we’ve have between 50 and 70 children attending. (Though this week was only…. 33-ish. To be fair, this was the first REALLY nice day we’ve had on a Wednesday and if I was just a parent (as opposed to a dedicated volunteer), I probably would have taken Kate to the park.) Needless to say, it’s been a bit overwhelming.
Anyhow… this past week.
Usually the articles for The Seasoning are decided and assigned with plenty of advance notice. Somehow, I looked at my calendar and was looking ahead (believe me, this doesn’t happen often…. My calendar is usually a freight train that I am just barely keeping ahead of.) and noticed that… oh, look! The Seasoning deadlines are… NEXT WEEK!
Cue the Vicar and a conversation.
So, the deadline WAS Monday the 9th. I had two article to write, one of which was an interview with a very busy gentleman. Article One (which was about WOW!) was written by Monday, but the interview didn’t happen until Tuesday. So, now I’m already late and stressed.
This normally wouldn’t be a big deal. My college career was littered with deadlines that I just barely made (or in some cases, didn’t make). What was further complicating my life was the addition of WOW!
A normal week, it wouldn’t have been a problem. (But when is my life really normal?) This particular week the Vicar and the other gentleman who spends a lot of time in the spotlight was gone…. And I was running a creative drama session for the main activity. (Very abbreviated, of course.) There had been some discrepancy of what the theme for the week REALLY was. So, it’s Monday and though in my head I know what I’m doing…. On paper I’m nowhere.
Monday. WOW! Meeting in the morning. Afternoon, write article one.
Tuesday. Interview in the morning. Afternoon: Hmmmm….. do I work on the article… or work on WOW!?
Well, WOW! It was. I had to write a short, age appropriate script regarding Jesus calming the storm and do the cue cards and group notes. (6 groups). So, that took the rest of the afternoon. (Once Kate is home, I don’t stand a chance of getting anything done.)
Wednesday: Went to my Wednesday morning Women’s Group. (9:30am – 11:30am) It’s a group of women from not only St Luke’s (my church) but a few other churches. It’s a nice morning. Coffee, tea, baked goods. We do some bible study or prayer, but the biggest benefit I get out of it is that we’re all women, all mothers, and all seem to have the same stresses and problems. We’re there to build each other up and support each other and it is just a really NICE time. Though I considered skipping it in order to get my WOW! work done, I’m glad I didn’t.
Wednesday is always a wash out for me. Between Women’s Group and WOW! nothing else gets done. I have to throw dinner in the slow cooker so the family has something to eat. I get a whole two hour window between Women’s Group and WOW! set up.
Long story short. I got the script and the various other tasks done just in time for WOW! and it all went just fine.
Thursday was spent writing up the interview. It was very interesting! Pete Winmill works for Prospects (http://www.prospects.org.uk/) which is a Christian voluntary organisation which values and supports people with learning disabilities so that they live their lives to the full. The main part that he works with is in helping churches to set up programs for these people to have access to church groups in a way that is comfortable and comprehensive to them.
Now, the woman who does the layout for The Seasoning is also on the WOW! team and her children go to the same school that Kate is at, so it is convenient that I did see her earlier in the week, we discussed the problems with the current issue of The Seasoning, and she concluded that with her time schedule, she would be doing the layout on Friday morning. So, I did have some breathing room.
No blog post would be complete without at least a mention of Kate. (I’m sure she’ll get more screen time further down… if there is a further down.) Thursday was also Kate’s first day of “Mini-Strikers.” It meets after school for a half-hour. (Thursday only, term time only) I hadn’t signed her up for it earlier in the year because Thursday is usually Gran-Day. (But Gran isn’t coming up at the moment because she has a Thursday night commitment.) Also, going to school full-time has been a big adjustment for her and she has been just so tired after school.
Since Thursdays are her “early day” anyway (2:30 dismissal) she’s still getting home before she normally would.
What are Mini-Strikers? Oh, sorry. Mini-Strikers is for Nursery to Year 1 (4-6 yr olds) and is a half hour session where they learn the basics of football. (Soccer for all my American friends and family.)
She also didn’t want to go earlier in the year because it was ALL BOYS. No girls. Well, a few other mothers were talking about their girls wanting to go, but were put off by the boys. This, combined with my desire to help Kate learn to relate to the boys (or more like the boys learn to relate to Kate), prompted me to get the Girl involved.
Like I said, she had her first session last week and she really seemed to like it. Coach Chris is young and very good with them. (I, being the overly paranoid and protective mother I am, arrived early to see how she was making out. The verdict: Very well.)
Now, I forgot to mention in the Wednesday section that when I dropped Kate off at school, she went into the classroom and then came TEARING back out yelling, “MOM! MOM! I need MONEY!” (Oh, it’s begun already….)
It was the big Comic Relief drive here in the UK on Friday. It only happens every two years and is just a HUGE fund raising event which benefits various charities and volunteer organizations both here and internationally. Like it’s US counterpart, it’s filled with stars, comics, and celebrities and takes over the TV for an evening. (In this case, Friday night.)
Back to the money. Kate needed money to buy a red nose for Friday. They were selling them at the school and then they could take them home and decorate them for Friday.
Lucky for the Kid, I had my wallet with me. Gave her money and off she went. Red nose was procured and brought home Wednesday night.
Now… let’s see…. Wednesday…. Thursday mini-strikers…. Oh yes, red nose and Thursday night.
So, it’s Thursday and we have to decorate her red nose for the next day. I’m thinking…. Clown. Just some silly stuff.
“Kate, how should we decorate your red nose?”
“I want it to be a vulture.”
A vulture.
A vulture.
She seriously thought I could turn a foam rubber nose into a vulture in an evening.
Do I have to tell you that did NOT happen? With a little more forethought, I could have swung it… even now I still mentally work it out as to what materials I would have needed.
But back to reality….
Kate and Daddy have been playing a pirate game on the Playstation 2 and she’s been very into the whole pirate theme of late….
So, I said, “Kate…why don’t we make it a pirate?”
So, a pirate it was.
No, she can’t see, but I didn’t expect her to keep it on very long anyway… her wittle nose just wasn’t big enough to hold it on even without the decorations.
Friday was a riot. Got Kate to school. Dad was going on a Men’s weekend with the men from church and Gran was coming up to have dinner and stay the night. (We were having a girls’ night in since Dad was gone.)
As per usual, he left most if not all his packing and organizing until that day and was in a mad rush most of the day. (He’s old enough to pack for himself. I’m not his mom, I shouldn’t have to do it…. I just made sure he had clean clothes.)
Finally, he was gone. Gran was here and the rest of the weekend was much calmer.
We watched Memoirs of a Geisha (finally… had the movie for over a year waiting for a girls’ night.). I’ve also hesitated watching it because I had read and absolutely ADORED the book. Though fiction, it was one of those books that had such brilliantly painted characters, I forgot they weren’t real. I practically mourned the end of the book when I remembered that this woman was not real. I was really afraid that the movie just wouldn’t do it justice.
Luckily, enough time had passed since I had last read it and watching the film. I thought it was VERY well done and even if they may have missed some of the finer nuances to the world and the people, it was a beautiful film in many ways.
If you watch it, the scene of the Geisha drama is just breathtakingly filmed. It has some of the lovely artistic features that I’ve only been able to find in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the films of Yimou Zhang such as House of Flying Daggers and Hero without the violence and blood shed. (Though to be fair, it is so stylized that it is not as repulsive as I usually find it. No, I don’t particularly care for most of the Tarantino films, though Kill Bill was mostly palatable.)
Saturday it was off to gymnastics, then Kate and Gran and I had lunch in town at Wagamama’s. (Japanese style noodle bar-ish place… Kate LOVES it.) Then back home and Gran left for her place after dinner. Me? After the kid was securely in bed… I stayed up until almost midnight quickly cooking a take along dish for the shared lunch (translation: Pot Luck.) which was after the service on Sunday.
Sunday, Kate and I toddled off to church. I had to do a short drama on prayer with another woman for the opening liturgy and then it was the shared lunch. (Very nice. Kate was brilliant as usual.) Home around 2pm.
Daddy came home around 5pm and then life returned to normal.
And now we’re all recovering.
And that was the week that was… ending March 14, 2009. (Though technically… it is the 15th since I took it through to Sunday.)
Until next time!
Oh.... and in the end... the interview article came out very well and was sent to the graphic artist at 12:29am on Friday. Plenty of time.
Friday, 6 February 2009
Snow.... WEEK???
Unheard of!
Now, I am assuming that the more Northern areas of England/Scotland know how to deal with this white stuff, but where we are.... is laughable. Not that I can honestly blame them. You don't purchase and maintain snow plows for something that *might* happen once every 20 years. It's just not fiscally responsible.
The councils (local government) are running out of ... wait for it.... grit. Grit is the equivilent to our salt. Instead of salt trucks, they have.... gritters. It's just been that kind of winter!
However... it gets better. There seem to be no ordinances requiring people to clear their sidewalks and walkways..... so, they don't. (Not that many people actually OWN a snow shovel here....) So, the sidewalks currently have a good 3 inches of very slippery and slushy ice on them.
So.... here's how the week shook out...
Sunday night- Monday: Snow. 8-10 inches. No school.
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: School as normal
Thursday: 1 -2 inches overnight/turned to rain in morning. Late start: 10:30am
Friday: 1-2 inches overnight. School closed.
I guess I'll have to see if they have to make this time up or not. It certainly is a learning process!
Now, I am assuming that the more Northern areas of England/Scotland know how to deal with this white stuff, but where we are.... is laughable. Not that I can honestly blame them. You don't purchase and maintain snow plows for something that *might* happen once every 20 years. It's just not fiscally responsible.
The councils (local government) are running out of ... wait for it.... grit. Grit is the equivilent to our salt. Instead of salt trucks, they have.... gritters. It's just been that kind of winter!
However... it gets better. There seem to be no ordinances requiring people to clear their sidewalks and walkways..... so, they don't. (Not that many people actually OWN a snow shovel here....) So, the sidewalks currently have a good 3 inches of very slippery and slushy ice on them.
So.... here's how the week shook out...
Sunday night- Monday: Snow. 8-10 inches. No school.
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: School as normal
Thursday: 1 -2 inches overnight/turned to rain in morning. Late start: 10:30am
Friday: 1-2 inches overnight. School closed.
I guess I'll have to see if they have to make this time up or not. It certainly is a learning process!
Monday, 2 February 2009
Snow Day!
Well, we've gotten 6-8 inches of snow overnight and London appears to have shut down.
No school for Kate. She's sitting in her pajamas playing a computer game at the moment. (I must also note that she woke up at 5:30 this morning to check to see if it snowed... then ran into my room and shouted at me to tell me that it had.)
Trains are running (we think) occasionally. According to our sources in the city, there is no bus service and the underground is running... well, they say it is not good.
Jeff doesn't have to go to work either.
Yay me.
No school for Kate. She's sitting in her pajamas playing a computer game at the moment. (I must also note that she woke up at 5:30 this morning to check to see if it snowed... then ran into my room and shouted at me to tell me that it had.)
Trains are running (we think) occasionally. According to our sources in the city, there is no bus service and the underground is running... well, they say it is not good.
Jeff doesn't have to go to work either.
Yay me.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
SOS
Could someone please tell my family that I've not disappeared, but that my email is REALLY REALLY broken at the moment. (I've just received word that it is bouncing emails back to people now.)
Will have new email address to send from by Monday morning.
Am also mourning the passing of John Updike.
Will have new email address to send from by Monday morning.
Am also mourning the passing of John Updike.
GO STEELERS!!!
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Kate's Nativity Play - Rising Star?
A few videos of Kate in the school nativity play. (Literally took me all afternoon to upload them!) She was "the star" amongst the stars....
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Take 1)
Three Wise Men
Twinkle Twinkle (pt 1)
Twinkle Twinkle (pt 2)
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (with bows)
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Take 1)
Three Wise Men
Twinkle Twinkle (pt 1)
Twinkle Twinkle (pt 2)
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (with bows)
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Rainy day. School Day. Mom's Got the Blues Day.
Well, yesterday was the first day of school for Kate.
Background and reminders. Kate went to school last year. Half days, five days a week. She LOVED school. She loved her friends, the extra stimulation, her teachers, pretty much everything there was about school, she liked. (Well, the singing of Happy Birthday and the performing in front of the whole school thing? Not so much.)
As the summer progressed, I was starting to get the feeling that Kate wasn't all that thrilled by the idea of going back to school. She wasn't coming out and saying it. Wasn't telling me, "NO! I'm not going!" Just a weird lack of enthusiasm that I was detecting. We talked about school. I didn't want her to forget that she was going to go back. We had play dates with her school friends so she could look forward to seeing them more often.
And then the big day came yesterday. She got up, no problem. Got dressed..... unenthusiastically. (Given that some days Kate would probably live in her nightgown if she could. It didn't strike me as being anything out of the ordinary.) The dressing, the brushing of teeth and hair and washing of face, the going downstairs, the eating of breakfast.... it all had a feeling of dragging feet.
The walk to school was decidedly morose. It didn't help that it was overcast and chilly. Raining periodically. She went willingly enough, but there was a silence about the journey that was unsettling. She's normally a chatterbox. (For example, we recently had a long conversation on what your veins ("these green things" as she calls them) and by association your blood actually do in your body. She just loves to talk.
We went past the door that she normally would go in. The only way she could have gone any slower would have been if she had gone backwards. And then she spotted the playground.
Basically, all the kids in the school EXCEPT the nursery kids (Kate last year) gather on the playground every morning and line up in their class lines. Their teachers then lead them into the school at the appropriate time.
So, Kate turned the corner and saw this MASS of people standing around. She just froze. I tried to point out her friends to her and other kids that she knows and plays with, but she just didn't see past the crowd. Like other parents with semi-shy children, I walked with her and the class to the little rainbow gate that leads to her classroom. (Reception class has their own private entrance.)
It was all down hill from there.
Mrs Downy was a teaching assistant in her classroom last year and Kate absolutely adored her. She is now an assistant in Kate's classroom this year. She was there and Kate was having NOTHING to do with her or anyone else. She just grabbed my leg/coat/whatever she could hold onto and would not let go.
They literally had to pry her off of me and carry her into the classroom. And when I say "carry," I don't mean the nice comforting carry. I mean they had to carry her in like a log. She was not going into that classroom.
The last image I had of her as she disappeared was her arms outstretched towards me, calling my name.
So, yes. I have the blues.
When I picked her up, it was as if nothing happened. In the past, she has been known to cry when seeing me because she is so relieved/happy to see me. On this occasion, I simply got a... "Hi, Mummy! I'm starving to death! Let's go home and have lunch!"
I could have killed her.
Today was better. She needed a little guidance about the whole line thing, but she was much chirpier and went in without a speck of trouble.
So. Here she is .... the obligatory first day of school shot. Before it all went so so wrong....
And that is all I'm writing about that subject. I'm definitely much more traumatized over it than she is.
I'll get over it.
Someday.
Maybe.
Talk to you again soon!
For those interested:
Kate's Schedule
This week: Tues - Fri 9-12
Next week: Mon - Wed 9 - 1 (she'll eat lunch there)
Thurs 9 - 2:30 (they get out at 2:30 every Thursday)
Fri 9 - 3:20
Background and reminders. Kate went to school last year. Half days, five days a week. She LOVED school. She loved her friends, the extra stimulation, her teachers, pretty much everything there was about school, she liked. (Well, the singing of Happy Birthday and the performing in front of the whole school thing? Not so much.)
As the summer progressed, I was starting to get the feeling that Kate wasn't all that thrilled by the idea of going back to school. She wasn't coming out and saying it. Wasn't telling me, "NO! I'm not going!" Just a weird lack of enthusiasm that I was detecting. We talked about school. I didn't want her to forget that she was going to go back. We had play dates with her school friends so she could look forward to seeing them more often.
And then the big day came yesterday. She got up, no problem. Got dressed..... unenthusiastically. (Given that some days Kate would probably live in her nightgown if she could. It didn't strike me as being anything out of the ordinary.) The dressing, the brushing of teeth and hair and washing of face, the going downstairs, the eating of breakfast.... it all had a feeling of dragging feet.
The walk to school was decidedly morose. It didn't help that it was overcast and chilly. Raining periodically. She went willingly enough, but there was a silence about the journey that was unsettling. She's normally a chatterbox. (For example, we recently had a long conversation on what your veins ("these green things" as she calls them) and by association your blood actually do in your body. She just loves to talk.
We went past the door that she normally would go in. The only way she could have gone any slower would have been if she had gone backwards. And then she spotted the playground.
Basically, all the kids in the school EXCEPT the nursery kids (Kate last year) gather on the playground every morning and line up in their class lines. Their teachers then lead them into the school at the appropriate time.
So, Kate turned the corner and saw this MASS of people standing around. She just froze. I tried to point out her friends to her and other kids that she knows and plays with, but she just didn't see past the crowd. Like other parents with semi-shy children, I walked with her and the class to the little rainbow gate that leads to her classroom. (Reception class has their own private entrance.)
It was all down hill from there.
Mrs Downy was a teaching assistant in her classroom last year and Kate absolutely adored her. She is now an assistant in Kate's classroom this year. She was there and Kate was having NOTHING to do with her or anyone else. She just grabbed my leg/coat/whatever she could hold onto and would not let go.
They literally had to pry her off of me and carry her into the classroom. And when I say "carry," I don't mean the nice comforting carry. I mean they had to carry her in like a log. She was not going into that classroom.
The last image I had of her as she disappeared was her arms outstretched towards me, calling my name.
So, yes. I have the blues.
When I picked her up, it was as if nothing happened. In the past, she has been known to cry when seeing me because she is so relieved/happy to see me. On this occasion, I simply got a... "Hi, Mummy! I'm starving to death! Let's go home and have lunch!"
I could have killed her.
Today was better. She needed a little guidance about the whole line thing, but she was much chirpier and went in without a speck of trouble.
So. Here she is .... the obligatory first day of school shot. Before it all went so so wrong....
And that is all I'm writing about that subject. I'm definitely much more traumatized over it than she is.
I'll get over it.
Someday.
Maybe.
Talk to you again soon!
For those interested:
Kate's Schedule
This week: Tues - Fri 9-12
Next week: Mon - Wed 9 - 1 (she'll eat lunch there)
Thurs 9 - 2:30 (they get out at 2:30 every Thursday)
Fri 9 - 3:20
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