New Story

Every so often, morbid inspiration strikes me. Did yesterday. New story here.

Election Blues

I have studiously avoided all network television for months, in part so I don't have to watch campaign ads. I've hung up politely on all the people who've been calling to solicit money or votes for various causes or candidates. I've restrained myself from pulling over and shaking the "Yes on Prop 8" ladies who have been stationing themselves near Target. I have placed in the recycling bin all 9--count 'em, 9--separate fliers our household received in the mail today trying to tell us what, or whom to vote for.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!

Hubby and I have already mailed in our ballots. Now everyone else needs to get off their butts and vote, and then the campaign people can LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!!

I feel better now.

Happy Birthday Ruthie!

Thing 1 isn't the only October birthday girl around here--Ruthie turned 10 on Friday! I tried to get a pic of her, but she was more interested in sitting on my feet. Thus, this crappy portrait:

You'll have to take my word for it that she looks very pretty, having been groomed on Monday. Ten is a pretty ripe old age for a Saint, but, other than arthritis in one hind leg, she's doing well. And, happily, Ruthie did not request a slumber party for her birthday (although she sure did enjoy Thing 1's).

I'm finding it hard to believe it's nearly Halloween. It's been in the mid 80's, so the kids are still running around in shorts, and we had dinner tonight on the back patio. Not that I'm complaining. One year when we lived in Nebraska, the mayor of Lincoln cancelled Halloween because there was a blizzard!

I spent the day grading mid-terms. You have no idea how many wrong ways there are to spell catharsis.

Disnification

We had a good time at Disneyland. October's a great time to visit--lines were short and the weather was perfect. And they redo the Haunted Mansion in a whole Nightmare before Christmas theme which is pretty cool. We rode all our favorite rides. I like Tower of Terror best, personally. I also enjoyed people watching. I love how Disney turns everyone--young, old, tough guys, hipsters, cool dudes...just everyone--into goofy Disneyfied people. I say heavily tattooed, muscle-bound guys in Mickey ears. My favorite was the one totally gangster-looking man who was patiently waiting for his wife and kids outside Space Mountain, sporting his daughter's pink, flowered backpack. We made good time on the road, too, and arrived back home at 1am today. Today it was back to the real Mickey Mouse world of work.

Here are the Things and me with some villians. I always like the villians best.

Oh, and the remarkably observant among you might notice that I'm now sort of a redhead. I asked my hairdresser to do something different.

I finished something!

Look!! An actual FO!

If you can't tell from the pic, this is a funky wall pocket thingy. I quite like it. And here's a secret. See those oh-so-artistic-looking cracks? Those weren't intentional. Apparently this batch of clay tended to crack a lot in the kiln for some reason. But that's okay, because I think the thingy actually looks better with the cracks than without. Serendipity, I guess.

We're off to Disneyland in the morning. It's a little over 300 miles from here. We're hoping that this time of year the lines will be short.

We survived!

Thing 1 turned 9 on Friday and celebrated with a slumber party last night. She had 5 guests, but only 3 actually spent the night. Which is good, because the small group we did have made plenty of noise and stayed up till nearly 4 am. They had fun.

But I need to rant about parents. Several didn't RSVP at all. One kid's parents (whom we've never met before) not only failed to RSVP, but showed up to drop the kid off 2 hours early yesterday, and then picked her up nearly 2 hours late today. The girl actually is very sweet and I like her a lot (when Thing 2 was crying about having to go to bed and "miss all the fun," this girl read her a bedtime story). But what are these parents thinking??

Next weekend we're off to Disneyland, which was our present to T1.

Thanks for the feedback on my Poland trip. I'm excited about it! Knatolee, there is no excuse for my having never visited The Great White North. We're considering a drive up the west coast to BC (with stops in Portland and Seattle) as our major family vacation next year, though. Although certain members of the family have been lobbying heavily for Hawaii instead.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I've started watching True Blood on HBO. I'm still really enjoying it. And it has what I personally think is the best ever opening credits sequence. Perfect music, even.

Poland

I just bought my tickets to Warsaw. This follows several days of agonizing, because there actually aren't many convenient ways to get from San Francisco to Warsaw. I wanted to avoid any plane changes in the US, because the weather in January in places like Detroit and Chicago and Newark can be iffy, and if I'm going to get stuck somewhere due to a storm, I'd prefer for it to be a tad more exotic than Newark. On top of that, the flight costs have been swinging up and down by as much as $200/day, so deciding when to buy is like playing the stock market.

So...I'm flying via British Airways, which means connections at Heathrow. I don't get to spend any extra time in Europe because Hubby needs me back here, but I do end up with one night in London, probably somewhere thrilling like the Heathrow Sheraton. I'd hoped for Paris, where I've never been outside the airport, but c'est la vie. On the plus side, BA lets you choose from a long list of interesting titles to call yourself, so if you've ever fancied yourself a viscountess or marquise, this would be your chance to declare it.

You know, my trip to Poland will mean that I've made a pretty decent circuit of central and eastern Europe, but I've never been to Canada, and my one trip to Mexico consisted of a few hours in Tijuana when I was 3. Strange.

Yesterday I got an issue in the mail of Verena Knitting, "Europe's top knit magazine." I dunno why. I subscribe to a few US knit magazines, and I assume that has something to do with it. I'm never one to look a gift magazine in the mouth, anyway.

More bragging

In my last post, I bragged on T1 and my students. Here's two more brags.

Today the director of T2's school mentioned that T2 is reading at a 3rd grade level. She's two months into kindergarten. The advanced reading is currently just great, because she's at a Montessori school, where kids sorta go at their own speeds. But it should be interesting next Fall, when T2 attends public 1st grade. I hope her teacher can keep her gainfully occupied, because a bored T2 is a dangerous T2.

Last night, I sent Hubby to the store with the Things to get two items: shoelaces for T2, and ginger ale for me, because that's what I like to drink when I'm sick. He came home with shoelaces, ice cream, cookies, potato chips, and a mop. No ginger ale. So then--without my making a fuss or asking him to do so--he went back to the store and got ginger ale (and Reese's Pieces for him, but nobody's perfect).

Wednesday

T1 did very well in the spelling bee; only about 6 kids remained after her. And considering that she was up against 5th and 6th graders, that's really good. She bombed out on indebted. I took her out for ice cream after.

Still have that stupid cold. Yesterday a student emailed to ask for an exam grade, which I couldn't give her because I was at home and the grades were at work. Look at this sweet message she sent back:

YES! I know how you feel. Hope you feel much better. Remember home is just one
call away. You should stay home for a while and visit your family. Get well soon.
See you on Thursday. :)

At least she and the other students in my Intro class will be pleased tomorrow when they get their tests back. They kicked butt. Average was 85, and two students got perfect scores. Yay! I've taught them something!

One thing I hate about parenting is the amount of pimping for fundraisers you get stuck doing. A few weeks ago T1 was selling wrapping paper for her school. Now T2 is selling frozen cookie dough for her school, while T1 is selling magazines, candy, and nuts for Girl Scouts. And we're still nowhere near Girl Scout cookie time yet. Anyone need magazine subscriptions? Sich.