Quotable Wednesday

It is absurd to divide people 
into good and bad.

People are either charming or tedious.

Oscar Wilde

I'b Sick

Summertime cold.

Bummer.

I blame it on the pizza buffet I took my kids to on their last day of school.  ugh

Someone Bring Me a Margarita

Off to the school pool party . . .

I'm sure it will be a ball. 

Nothing-to-Say Day

My new friend, Jabacue at Ocean Breezes has done me a great service and shown me just how to handle that "nothing to say" mood today. If you haven't checked out his relatively new blog, you should. It is warm and soothing and enjoyable. Say hi to Sophie if you do visit.

So, since I have nothing to say today, I'll just talk about my day as it happened. . .

It was a half-day for my kids. (One more half day left and then they're all mine.)

They bickered all the way home, but they bonded over the decision of what to have for lunch. I told them I would cook nothing until they came to a consensus on their choice. I hereby nominate Chef Boyardee for a peace prize. ;)

After lunch, we colored. I love to color and so does my daughter. My son? Not so much. And his handwriting shows it; his lack of artistic patience is evident. So I did what any understanding mother would do. I forced him.

My daughter colored a lovely picture of a giant yo-yo. She took many risks with her color palette and was rewarded with a bold image of neon pink and forest green with red highlights. It sorta strobes if you look at it too long. 

I colored a picture of a little bear painting the word, "NOEL", on the page . . . I got "stuck" with the Christmas coloring book. (Cry no tears. Secretly, that's the one I wanted and I played it just right. ;) I took great care in selecting predictable colors for the letters and surprising pastels for the bear's hat and scarf.  Quite daring.

My son, begrudgingly, took on a picture of two giraffes. He went with a very uninspired three-color palette and less than careful technique to preserve the contrast in the giraffes coats, I thought. In fact, the second giraffe was colored in all brown, except for the strawberry pink ears. He was finished -- and snacking -- in 5 minutes flat. You can bring art to the kid, but you cannot bring the kid to art. Oh well, I tried.

I am now the proud owner of the highly desirable plastic dog from my kids PlayMobil set. Ongoing bickering brings me lots of goodies. Said dog is now resting next to the giant rubber ball with a pig in the middle on my kitchen windowsill. Said ball was confiscated over a year ago. Unfortunately for its previous owner, I like it and it goes with my kitchen.

Not surprisingly, the confiscation of this prized possession brought on bonding between my two lovely children. I am the common enemy and the one thing they seem to share in common this afternoon. That's a deal I will take any day.

Now that they've played out every policeman/bad guy scenario, they have commandeered my television. Rather than the financial news show I usually have on at this time, it is now tuned to The Electric Company. If anything important happens, someone email me, because after The Electric Company comes Arthur.

And to think summer hasn't even begun yet.

Family Schools?

Today is the first day of the last week of school.  Quite the event. 

It is to be a week filled with class parties, teacher gifts, pool parties, and more parties, hugs, kisses, and tearful goodbyes from the teachers. 

Somehow, when I was a kid, I don't remember the last week of school being so packed with festivities. 

I remember one day devoted to cleaning up the classroom and cleaning out our desks.  (I remember the year I found a birthday card I was supposed to mail on the way to school.  Wups.  I wonder what Auntie Judy thought she had done to be ignored that way.)  

And I remember the obligatory class trip to the zoo.  Always the zoo. 

And then we were free . . . and the fun began.  And we couldn't wait.

What fun?  Nothing, really.  Just a summer of kicking around the house, spending more time with my parents,  and hanging around the neighborhood with our friends.  No extravaganzas, but we were home and fun was just an organic byproduct of summer.   

I gotta tell ya, after this week of fun and frolic at school, I don't know if life at home can measure up for my kids.  Sometimes I think schools have gotten so far out of being schools, and have endeavored to be a second family to kids, that it is detrimental to families. 

I would like to be the one to take my kids to the pool for the first time this summer, thank you, but the school has arranged that honor for themselves. 

 This afternoon, the "teachers' party," complete with cake and punch and scrapbooks and gifts from the kids much resembles a grandma's birthday party. 

And speaking of birthday parties, is it really good for the kids to walk around in a crown all day at school on their birthdays?  Is it fair to the families when the child is, basically, "de-crowned" just before they have to leave school and go home to their ordinary lives? 

They go trick-or-treating at school, the Friday before Halloween . . .

And Santa comes for breakfast . . . at school . . .

And the loot they receive at school when they lose a tooth?  Even the tooth fairy cannot compete with that. 

And what about movie night?  My school never had movie night.  Watching a movie with our parents was a rare treat and a family event.  Now schools put on movie nights as fundraisers.  Parents are not invited, and kids are encouraged to wear their pajamas and bring their teddy bears. 

Am I the only one having a problem with all of this?

My daughter suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder, so this is an especially challenging issue for us.  Basically, she rejects the parental relationship at every turn.  She repels an emotional bond with anyone.  It is taking an enormous amount of therapy, dedication, and hard work on our part to get her to a healthy emotional state.  But all this "school as family" stuff really, really confuses and even harms our daughter. 

And it's gotten me to thinking, wondering whether it is really good for any family.  Personally, I don't think it is.  I long for the days when school was for teaching and families were for everything else.   

 Thanks for listening,

Saturday 9

As you might have noticed, I've been a little short on things to say lately.  So my thanks to Sam at the Saturday 9 for a good prompt:

1. Are you handy with tools?  Handy?  I'd say I'm competent if I'm directed . . . but I'm not one to break out the power tools on my own. 

2. What was the best thing that happened to you this week?  Many things, actually.  A good friend sent me flowers . . . just because.  A new friend sent me something she thought I needed, and I did.  My husband soothed me when I awoke in the middle of the night with an anxiety attack, and then stayed up 30 minutes longer than I to make sure I was soundly asleep . . . at 3am.  And my husband and I both had a change of heart at almost exactly the same time . . . I think God did it. 
 
3. What was the worst thing that happened to you this week?  I pulled a muscle in my thigh and now it won't stop twitching.

4. Do you think you act your age?  Yes, certainly not younger.  I have been accused of walking around as if the weight of the world is on my shoulders.  (But I do have bouts of momentary immaturity reference the sandal flinging contest with the kids the other night.)

5. Describe an item of clothing that has definitely seen better days but that you refuse to dispose of and still wear. Why won't you toss it?  I have a pink fleece pullover that was my mother-in-law's.  It's all pilly now.  I never wear it; never have worn it, but when I look at it, I can see her in it and hear her voice and feel good, as if I'm with her again.  I keep it among my every day wearables so that I see it often.  I'll never part with it. 

6. What is your favorite summertime beverage?  Fresh lemonade.

7. Have you ever lied about your age?  When I met my future husband and he was drinking age and I was not yet.  (All I wanted was a wine cooler at Summerfest!)

8. What was the most memorable birthday party you've attended?  My own when I turned 8.  My first and only "friend birthday party."  Pink babydoll cake, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, new dress -- it was all so lovely and perfect.  And my son's first birthday -- he took his first steps and said his first word on his first birthday!

9. What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life?  Driving on ice.  I was in a car accident when the car in front of me began to spin out (despite going only 30 mph), forcing me to brake which led to me spinning, and then another car, unable to stop, plowed into me and totaled my car.  All I know is one minute everyone was fine and under control, and the next minute everyone was spinning.  I never, ever feel safe driving in any kind of winter conditions anymore.


Wishing you all peace and happiness this week,