touch children's lives, not actual children

my saturday morning started way to early by my alarm going off at 7...(because I was stupid and didnt need to set it until 7:30) and then I had to drag myself out of bed to go to a workshop about preventing child sexual abuse for work. this is all fine and good, except that the whole work shop was geared towards parents and what parents can do to protect their children.

and this is a workshop that all teachers, volunteers, employees, cleregy, or any individuals in any other capacity that are in a position associated with the catholic church have to attend. this is a nobel effort and I think an important topic, I just think the angle could have been more useful.

like when I worked at girl scout camp and we went through training about signs to look for in case our campers were coming to us from unsafe home situations, what to do if we suspected something, what to do if our campers confided in us. this would be much more useful then how to monitor who my children (wait I dont have children) are hanging out with.

I was pretending i was abraham lincoln

its funny what randomly pops into your brain. like tonight. when I remembered this little tale.

first let me set the stage: winter 2002, our power is flickering in and out thanks to good old kc ice storms, the family is all sitting around the family room in the dark, and I'm attempting to melt white chocolate over a candle flame so I can finish my bribery gift for my french teacher, and my dad begins:

"this is like when I was little and I used to do my homework on the back of a shovel with a piece of charcoal by candle light."

"what??????"

"yeah after dark, since we didnt have electricity, we had to use candles."

"you were born in 1948, you lived in st louis, there always was electricity"

"oh yeah I was pretending I was abraham lincoln"

wanted: working morning brain

yesterday morning wake up, go to car, covered with snow, open door, drop in bag, realize I'm purseless, brush snow off half of car, return inside to get purse, drive to school.

arrive at school, drop keys in purse on passenger seat, open door, push lock, close door, walk around to passenger door to get stuff and click. doors lock. purse, with keys, and phone (as well as backpack, lunch, school plans, non-slop shoes) sitting in the seat, looking back at me through the window.

finally organized to have my mom bring the extra key my dad had on his key chain and my mentor teacher drove me to meet my mom and my keys. In the process of organizing this, I called a stranger twice (this is what happens when I dont have my phone with people's phone numbers) tried to call nick, but of course is phone just rang and rang since he turns off his alarm by turning down his phone ringer.

this morning, get to car, driving to school, make a wrong turn to the middle of nowhere.

where is the working brain.

they said "Bonus" on NPR

I was listening to NPR on my drive home from work today par my usual. apparently I think the hour I spend listening to the news while driving to and from work makes me a better more informed citizen. (that and the CD player in my car likes to get messed up and requires opening the trunk to fix and well basically I hate morning radio and I always forget my ipod)

my afternoon drives are normally a mix between talking with my mom and listening to NPR so I hear the headlines but miss the minute details. today however my mom was at the art institute and thus too cool to talk with me so I was fully tuned into the stories.

they were talking about enhancing traffic reports using the GPS features in peoples' phones and eventually that could branch into advertising and spam as you walked by a store and the reporter says "so imagine you're walking down the road and you pass a snow cone stand and get a data message coupon that says $2 off a snow cone. you get this message and think $2 off a snow cone. bonus."

personal language mediocrities validated.

now if only he had said "coups" instead of coupons and if they could slip "truth" in there in response to a question...

they sure don't make music like they used to

I was reminded again yesterday afternoon why the only radio station I listened to until I was in 6th grade was oldies 95.

my mom and I went to see Jersey Boys, a fabulous musical chronicling the history of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons the band responsible for the catchy melodies of the 1960s and 70s including Sherri, Rag Doll, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like a Man, Let's Hang On, Will You Love me Tomorrow, December, 1963 ( Oh What a Night), and My Eyes Adored You.

if any one of the above songs are not recognizable to you I recommend you head straight to your local record store, buy a CD and appreciate good music.

the show was fabulous. the Acting and singing and dancing (all choreographed from TV footage of the real Four Seasons) and phenomenal. And it has an open ended engagement in Chi-town...so if anyone wants a friend to go see it with. I am there.

where'd my weekend go?

while last week tuesday night felt like sunday, this week sunday night feels like friday.

my weekends normally consist of a bunch of laying on the couch, playing rock band, pretending to lesson plan, napping, watching movies, cleaning, sunday morning grocery shopping, actually lesson planning (about 8 pm sunday), and more napping. this weekend however there was none of that, except for the real lesson planning which started about 9 pm sunday night.

Why you ask, well my parents were (well technically still are) in town, and I'm really not good at not attempting to show people a good time when they visit my fair city.

friday night nick and I caught a purple line express and met up with my 'rents at their hotel with a little effort, they had told us to go up to their room, we went, knocked on the door, no answer. found out they were in the lobby tried to get there, but got lost in the mess of elevators that is the palmer house, eventually went up to go down and found them. drinks were bought by one of my dad's mooched off individuals, a fabulous german dinner---weiner schnitzel and spatzel---was finally eaten around 8 at Bergoffs, and nick and i got back to evanston at 11. just in time for a couple of hours of sleep before day 2.

saturday morning I woke, and headed downtown to meet my mom. I found her standing in line for cheap tickets to see a show and after promising that I wasnt going to take any of the 40 available tickets finally managed to squeeze in out of the cold. we hit up some state street shopping, scored some deals, then headed for our matinee performance of Jersey Boys, a fabulous musical about the four seasons.

if you like good quaity oldies you'll love this show. how i wish they still wrote music like that. we had front row seats which sounds wonderful...except that the stage was 2 feet in front of us and raised 4 feet off the ground, so while we were sitting you couldnt see anything that happened less then a couple of feet off the ground or at the back of the stage. fortuantly, most of the action happed up front so we could see the sweat glistening on the actors' forheads.

after the show we met up with my dad, tried to mooch some more drinks, then headed to evanston for dinner. needless to say my dad is not one for cold weather so this was an adventure since it was about 4 degrees outside, and we had to do a little walking from the el stop to my place, and from the parking garage to the restaurant. and it took a little while to warm up once we got inside.

sunday I didnt make it down town till 11 since I needed at least some lazy of a weekend. my mom and I headed to michigan ave and water tower place for this days adventures. we of course went to a borders and both bought big books early on in the journey thanks to some unfortuante planing. but I did score more deals ($80 pants for $10) at the limited thanks to our luck of hitting the "one day only half our our sale prices sale" one day only that had been extended for several days I believe since my cashier asked my mom's cashier "are we still doing 50% off?" and the other cashier replying "yep it's all in the computer" I then followed up wih a trip to dunkin doughnuts...my mom's favorite and they dont have them in KC. yummy apple fritter to end the day.

I headed home tonight with windburned cheeks around 6 so I could get a little work done and hopefully log a decent amount of sleep...before the adventures with the 'rents part 4 begins tomorrow.

it feels like sunday

often these entries are random highlights of small little funny moments or things...I thought I'd try to start including some entries that actually tell what is going on in my life for those folks who aren't here to experience it all for themselves.

it feels like a sunday here after a 5 day weekend...friday we woke to temps around -18 with wind chills nearing -30. I believe it maxxed out that day at -1. (it hasnt been this cold in chicago since the early 90s) and they decided to call school despite the fact that it had been just as cold the day before, then the typical weekend, MLK day monday and inauguration day today (our school decided to give the girls the day off, but to give them assignments for each class relating to obama's speech....he is from chicago afterall)

we had no snow to go along with the cold temps, just the remains of the foot left from the previous weekend. but that was ok. nick and I went outside that sunday afternoon (the 11th) to dig my car out. it took us 45 min, and the loan of a nice stranger's shovel but we eventually got it out. pre-shovel I was standing bent over, legs apart digging in the snow like a dog does in the yard. I wish I had had my camera but I couldnt leave nick out side digging out my car while I went on a camera retrieving mission. I went a bought a shovel the next time I was out like my dad had suggested months ago, and it hasn't really snowed since.

I had had big hopes to be productive this weekend, but the first thing I thought when my phone rang telling me I didnt have school was that my textbooks for my classes were sitting on my desk. locked away under both key and alarm. we did go to the library saturday afternoon and get a different edition of my book so i could work, but the motivation had just been lost entirely. so I'm in the same condition I've been in all year....frantically looking for ideas the night before, and sometimes deciding what I am going to do that day on my drive into school.

but we did take a lot of cute piccolo pics...here is another for your enjoyment. I like to call this, "why I dont iron" and will use it as an excuse for when my clothes are wrinkled, but my cat is smooth in the future.

what arrr ye doin' right now?

what is it about pirates and pirate speak that has the general population enamored? this I dont know but i do appreciate the option to have my facebook page language set to English (Pirate) it makes the hours of my life wasted there all the more enjoyable, and adds a little challenge for translation.
my new vitals:
Fleets:
Notre Dame Crew o' 2007
Kansas City, MO
Missouri Grad Crew o' 2008
First Set Sail:
That Thar seventh month 2, 1984
Anchored in:
Evanston, IL

I be much there enjoying this.

I cant find that one on the map.

watching the news this morning (something I dont normally have time to do) the traffic report came on, reminding me of my daily confusion as I drive to school listening to NPR and the flurry of highway names. and by names I mean nicknames. nicknames that aren't printed on many maps, dont appear on many road signs, and I believe exist purely to confuse outsiders.

hearing a traffic report when I was in the vicinity of my computer I thought now would be the perect time to get to the bottom of this. much to my dismay a quick google search for "chicago highway names" does not bring up what would actually be helpful. apparently it it too dificult to create an image that labels these roads. instead I get a verbal discription of where these roads start and stop, making reference to landmarks or roads nicknamed roads, which again need a key to decode. well, that and a lot of message boards where people like me have posted their confusion.

perhaps the lack of pictures is a cover-up for the real truth. that no one knows exactly where one nicknamed road ends and another begins.

to go or not to go

that is the question.

the question that faces those of us to go and visit others on a regular basis. where is the line in the relationship status that makes it ok to poo/dump/go number 2/write the constitution/fill in your euphemism of choice at the home of another.

for some this line is only crossed under extreme circumstances. aka periods of multiple days with no other opportunities presenting themselves. for others, they blatantly disregard posted signs


and perhaps, as it has been suggested, even schedule visits to extend into their regularly scheduled bathroom visit just to take advantage of the super flush

snuggle cat!

5 day weekends mean one thing...CRAFT TIME!

craft time means finally getting a chance to finish piccolo's christmas presents. (within the month..totally counts, especially for a pet)

finished presents, but chilly apartment, means picture time!



adorable, but still not as cute as when she fell asleep with me yesterday. but hard to take pics while I am sleeping so this must do

snow I mean COLD DAY!

5:31 am phone rings. no school due to extreme cold temperatures.

let the 5 day weekend begin.

except that I brought nothing home since I was productive yesterday and I decided to give myself the night off.

oops

and my stupid school doesn't give teachers keys so I cant even go and get anything.

fortunately the evanston public library has the 10th edition available. (we'll forget that my girls use the 3rd)

so I can be productive!

(apparently work as gotten to me...when I get upset that i cant do work for 5 days and I go out of my way to find alternatives)

how to survive the winter

my girls are notoriously bad at dressing for the weather. for example they come into my room in a skirt and a short sleeve polo and think it is then ok for them to complain that my room is cold. when I saw that it was supposed to be -7 with a windchill of -25 at 7 am tomorrow and the temps were supposed to max out at -1 I knew it was time for my second role as a teacher, the role of preparing my students for life outside the classroom, to take hold and we had a how to dress for the cold lesson complete with visuals.

allow me to share.
step 1. before putting on coat add as many layers as possible. large hooded sweatshirts are perfect for this process because they allow for many layers underneath. trust no area to a single layer.


step 2. add the outer layers. opt for the warmest coat possible. the longest scarf possible to allow for multiple wrappings, and remember at least 2 layers everywhere.
step 3. pretend you are one of the following characters:
a. a zombie
b. the stay puff marshmallow man.

sometimes daddies do know best

the conversation in early december after the first snowfall went something like this:

Dad: you should get a little shovel to keep in your trunk in case you ever get stuck in snow
Me: Why would i need a shovel. I don't have a sidewalk to shovel and they plow the streets.

fast forward a month and a half to mid january.

yeah they do plow the streets. they plow the streets right into your car so that in order to move your car out of the spot you had to stop and kick snow out of the way to get into you somehow have to climb over a 2 foot pile smooshed up against the side of your car.

needless to say my car lacks the helicopter functionality and so this scene unfolded on sunday afternoon. me bent over kicking snow up with my hand in a way similar to how a dog digs in the dirt. nick kicking snow onto a piece of cardboard and carrying it off to the side of the road. one of the many moments that I wish I had my camera in hand but couldn't bring myself to leave nick digging out my car while I ran upstairs to get my camera. thank goodness for the nice neighbor who sat in his car while we borrowed his shovel till my car could move.

but now I am the proud owner of my very own shovel.


not the "cute little shovel" my dad had picked out

but it does fit in my trunk and can lift more snow than my hands!

chicago snow adventure take 1

I've been scoffing at the severe lack of snow. and then it came. and now it scoffs at me


6:30 am I venture out for the first time. dig off the first 6 inches that had fallen successfully maneuver out of my spot because well the snow plows hadnt been through yet to build the barricade.

drive to school...knowing the instant I cross city limits based on their snow plowing efficiency.

and more snow falls. another 3 inches in the 5 hours I was at school...snow scraping take 2.

drive home, again knowing as I drive through various cities. (future post will critique...must make sure i've got the right cities in the right order first)

then try to park my car.

I had to get out and shovel snow with my foot just to park.


but at least I'm not this guy.


and a pretty picture to leave you with

sometimes I rock the side pony

new favorite waste of time/new motivator to get work done: rock band.

maybe we have a band.

maybe it's called Yam Yops.

maybe when designing my character and I saw hairstyle: side pony i was like BAM bitches done.

maybe when I play I put my hair in a side pony to channel my character because maybe this makes me play better.

maybe I finished my class 15 min early one day this week because I wanted to play rather than add slides to my powerpoint the night before.

maybe.

year end re-cap

clearing out my camera I found lots of pics that were take purely for the sake of bloggity-blogging and then never did. So here's a recap of what was missed because my life got too busy.

when I was taking my car to have its oil changed I went to whole foods and wandered around. and remembered how much I love annie's line of organic food products. for one they are yummy. for another, they all come in adorable little bunny shapes. needless to say when eating (aka playing with) my bunny fruit snacks pictures had to be taken.



and here were the massive amount of turkey cupcakes I made for my homeroom for thanksgiving. there was going to be some warm wishes of a happy thanksgiving given to all.


and here a cake made by one of my students...ahhh she loves physics. this I think was going to illustrate a top ten list of good things about teaching.


and here...nick and I went to italy while on a christmas shopping trip. this are the things that we do here in chicago land.


and these pictures were going to go with a witty commentary on the house of blues in chicago. more comonly known as the the house of poos. concert ok, but venue stupid. taking our cameras, making us pay to check them because of their stupid rules. (and on that experience we learned an imporant life lesson, never attempt to do a museum AND a concert in the same night, especially in snow boots) this was going to tie along with our need to establish a no dumping sign for when a certain individual comes to visit.


hopefully next year will lead to more current and witty blog posts....