Photo Tag

Thanks Joe...I'm supposed to be grading...


The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)



This is Parker's first bottle in the NICU. I am clearly struggling with the burp cloth. I look like one of those snoody waiters opening your napkin for you.

I'm tagging Krysten, Andrea, Lauren O. and Kristin K. (who's blogs I often stalk).

Proofreading humor

Since I've been drowning under a deluge of grading these last few weeks (or maybe it's a month by now). There hasn't really been time for blogging, and there probably won't be for at least another week. However, I did come across this on the internet the other day, and I think it's frickin' hysterical. Of course my enjoyment of it maybe slightly skewed by the fact that I've actually read this type of paper.

The man on the left is Taylor Mali, an English teacher and award winning slam poet. the man on the right is Billy Collins, former US poet laureate, who I actually had the chance to introduce when he read at Butler.

It's a bit crude at times, but enjoy!

Untitled draft of something...

So I do this quasi-performance-art-exchange-of-narratives-club-thing at school. We call ourselves the Rubber Duckies - don't ask, there isn't a story behind it - and we craft these performances for various assemblies and events for the school. Anyway, here's the piece I did last Friday.

Seven. In case you are wondering. It’s seven. The number of times I can say the Lord’s Prayer in one minute. Seven.

Why do I know this?

Because I’m stuck here. In a hallway surrounded by what appear to be very large vending machines filled with medical supplies like intubator kits and IV bags, forceps and sterile gauze, waiting. For her to be prepped for surgery. And from here it seems, I can do nothing, but watch the clock. And pray.

It’s not a big surgery. Not one of those moments from a primetime TV drama where some renegade, but likable, doctor is going to swoop in at the last second with some absolutely genius way of removing a live hand grenade from a man’s chest cavity.

No.

It’s a planned c-section. One decided on in a small room, in a calm and rational manner without threat to either the mother or my daughter.

My daughter – that’s odd to say. Don’t get me wrong, I really wanted to have kids, but to be a parent, that’s something I’m still not sure I’m ready for.

Huh.

It’s funny, you know, because here. In this hallway. Legally. Technically. She isn’t my daughter yet at all.

But here I am, trapped between triage rooms and pre-sterilized scalpels, praying. For something that isn’t even born.


Just thought I'd share it here since I'm apparently too uninspired to actually blog.

Things that have happened since my last post

If you've been following Suellen's blog, you mostly know what has been happening with us, but I thought I'd throw in a few additional things that have happened to us over the last few weeks.

In no particular order....

1. I got caught up with my grading in time to write academic updates. This is actually a very big deal. I'm a big supporter of more writing yields better writing, which of course means more grading. And considering that I still had papers that were turned in when I was out with the baby, I was pretty pleased that I managed to get them all - over 500 pages - marked so that I could write my narrative comments for each of my 79 students.

2. Suellen got severe head cold, which was painful for all of us since she needed her rest and couldn't take the lead on normal nighttime baby duties on school nights (she has been extremely good at letting me sleep as much as possible when I have work the next day). Parker, thankfully, is not at risk to catch the cold since she's already receiving the anti-bodies Suellen is producing through the breast milk. Who knew? (well, actually all you blog-stalking moms probably did).

3. I got a severe head cold. No anti-bodies for me, but I did get to miss school today. Guess I should have been breast feeding. Actually, that's quite gross.

4. I managed to spill coffee all over a shelf of books, a stack of student papers, the carpet and an armchair while attempting to get up to attend to a screaming baby. Fun times.

5. I am now again woefully behind on my grading. Thank you head cold.

6. We surprised my mom by driving up to Chicago and bringing Parker to her school. She celebrated her first overnight trip by making a giant stinky green poo right in the middle of Greenwood Elementary.

7. We took Parker to get pumpkins and I carried her around in a Baby Bjorn complete with dangling orange pacifier attached to it. That brought my dorkiness to a new level.

And I think that's about it. Sleeping, grading, pooping, eating, fussing, drooling, sleeping, repeat. All of us doing all of that over and over again. That's my life. Awesome.

Friday Fill-ins

1. Picking pumpkins, changing leaves, slightly frost weather and FALL BREAK are some of the things I'm most looking forward to in October.

2. Sometimes I am amazed at Parker, and at the fact that it's been 15 days and I haven't severely damaged her yet. Whew!

3. When I spent almost a year collecting urine and watching government employees and suspected drug users pee in a cup, I was convinced I'd never find a job I liked. But now I haveand that's why there is a saying, "never say never"!

4. When I'm down, I I like to either read while listening to music or watch really superfluous movies (like X-men) over and over.

5. At school is where you'll find me most often. It sucks a good deal of my time.

6. A rainy day is good for napping on the couch!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting up with Parker every 3 hours since I no longer have the excuse of needing to work tomorrow (there's sarcasm for you), tomorrow my plans include napping while a friend comes over to sit with Parker and going with Suellen to the grocery store and Sunday, I want to do so much grade that my hand cramps up and falls off!

13 - well 11 - Songs I've Changed the Lyrics to When Singing to Parker

1. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep Parker baby. You are tired and s'are your moms, and we all need to sleep. (to the tune of 'Lullaby and Goodnight')

2. Hush little Parker, it's time to go to sleep. Your mommy's getting crabby and she really needs some sleep. (to 'hush little baby, don't say a word)...are you noticing the sleep-related theme?

3. Uh! I don't want no chubs. A chub is a baby who has too much to eat. (TLC's 'Scrubs')

4. P Baby can you hear me? P Baby can you see me? P baby can you please go to sleep? (to 'Papa Can you Hear Me from Barbara Streisand's Yentl)

5. No wonder, you're fussy, you won't go to sleep ('No Wonder He Loves Her' also from Yentl...it was on TV last night)...I realize these are lost on you if you haven't seen Yentl, but at 10:00 when you are sleep deprived - it's hysterical!

6. All my friends wear a little diaper. Hook: Poop a little bit. Poop a little bit. Poop a little bit with me. (Low Rider)

7. Don'cha wish your baby was cute like me. (from the Pussy Cat Dolls)

8. Oops, I did it again. I pooped on myself, and cried and I screamed (Brittney Spears)

9. Baby P is not a fuser. She's just a girl who needs to e-eat right now. Because the ki-id is a chub (Billie Jean by Michael Jackson)

10. Because I'm Chubs. I'm Chubs. You know it! (Either 'Bad' by Michael Jackson, or 'Fat' by Weird Al - either is appropriate)...no, I'm not trying to give her an eating disorder.

11. My baby don't mess around because she wants to eat and this I know fo sure. (whatever that Outkast song was)

.......and I know I've done way more, but I've had to get up too many times while writing this post to think of them.

Thirteen Stories from Parker's First Week

Our little baby P is already one week old. She's growing up so fast (tear!). Well, maybe not that fast, but Suellen's doctor did joke that she'll be walking by the end of the week since she's so friggin' huge. Any way, here are 13 little P stories from her first week of life.

1. Parker was so big after her birth that the NICU nurses had to hunt around for size 1 diapers just to cover her big 'ole booty.

2. She's as big on the top as she is on the bottom. The standard issue hospital hats were too small as well, so Parker got a funky little knitted hat to keep her noggin warm.

3. For the first few days, Parker would only open her eyes in the presence of her uncles. If Eric or Stu wasn't there, we weren't getting any eye open time.

4. We purchased this cute little outfit with matching hat, onsie, mittens, booties, the whole shabang to take her home in. When we dressed her up on Monday and finally put the hat on, she gave Suellen and I the most disgusted look ever. It was like "What the hell is this crap?" She is totally our daughter.

5. On two separate occasions, Parker has put her hand to her mouth, removed her pacifier and held it up in the air. I know that's really random movement, but I like to thing it's the beginnings of genius.

6. Keeping with the hands theme, occasionally P will put her pinky finger up to her mouth in a very Dr. Evil way.

7. She also randomly throws her arms up above her head. We can't decide whether she's thinking "Hallejuah" or "Touch Down". Of course if she's really a Bears fan, it's probably both simultaneously.

8. The first time we took her into the nursery was to change her diaper. I was talking to her and narrating all the decorating we'd done, and as soon as I said something about the cute frog cover on her changing table, she peed all over it.

9. After the pee incident, we put her in her bouncy seat. About an hour later, she pooped all over that. When we took her into the nursery to clean her up, she got poop all over the changing table. Within six hours of being home, we were already on our last changing table cover!

10. She goes from sleeping to ravenously hungry in about 60 seconds. When she gets frustrated, she face plants into your sternum. Suellen and I call this 'looking for the mythical 3rd boob'. Clearly that's where all the milk is.

11. In fact, she was so hungry the other day, that as I was rubbing her cheek, she turned and latched on to my finger. She's got some really suction going on because I had to use my other hand to pry her off.

12. She makes the most horrid smelling farts ever. Ever.

13. I don't know if i's gas or what, but when you talk about her and you say something stupid, she lifts her one eyebrow at you. It's like she's already got a BS detector. You go P.

Wordless Wednesday Parker Pics

Update

Thank you to all for the congrats and good thoughts.

Parker is in our room now and doing fine.  She was released from the NICU around 2:00 pm yesterday.  The final diagnosis was transient tachypnea of the newborn - not pneumonia - it's a wet lung disease that happens in about 1% of babies, most commonly in c-sections (which she was).  

We had a fairly decent first night.  Parker is a champion sleeper, partly because she's still recovering from all of the uncomfortableness of tubes.  Of course we completely flipped out with every noise she made; so at about 5:00 am we finally sent her to the nursery so we could sleep.  We didn't want to do it sooner because we were just thrilled to have her.  

Both Mommy and baby will be discharged tomorrow, and we're glad will get a few days here with her to work out all the feeding issues.  Suellen is trying to nurse and we are making slow progress.  I'll spare you the details.

The wireless at the hospital won't let me post pictures for some reason, but I'll try to get them up soon.  

Thanks to all who have called, texted, visited and sent love.  We appreciate it!

Introducing...

Parker Alyse LaMagdeleine Sharp
Born Thursday, Sept. 11 at 9:16 pm
9lbs 11oz, 21 inches

She has curly reddish brown hair (a lot like Suellen's) and hasn't opened her eyes yet so I don't know the color. Parker was delviered by c-section. It was not an emergency, but Suellen's labor was not progressing after 14 hours, and Parker is moose, so the doctor didn't want to mess around. Parker was taken from delivery to the NICU because her oxygen levels were low. She was screaming when they pulled her out, so she most like inhaled a bit of fluid. She was started on oxygen through a CPAP (or something close to that, it's the tubes you see in her nose in the one photo). She was weened off the CPAP this morning and is being monitored without. All seems to be well, but she has to stay in the NICU until at least Saturday night. We'll know more then.


Thanks for all the good thoughts. Keep them coming!

Alicia, Suellen and Parker

Current Problem

We need to have this baby. I cannot focus.

I do okay when I'm actually talking and teaching during class, but when I ask a question, and a student starts to answer, and I should be listening, here's what happens in my head:

babybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybabybaby.

Then they finish, and I say 'OK, and what do you think?' pointing to yet another child and beginning the process again.

TGIF

It's been the world's most hectic week. Monday, we took the cats to the vet because they had been puking for about a week. Now they had stopped by Monday, but we still thought it warranted an appointment. The vet told us it was probably because we had recently changed food. She said we should switch back. Well, we aren't switching back. At least not just yet since apparently they've adjusted.

Anyway, I caught the stomach bug on Tuesday and spent all night in bed. Wednesday, I managed to pull myself out of bed and come to school because I felt I really needed to be here for Back to School Night. I've been secretly hoping that Suellen would go into labor prior to Back to School so I wouldn't have to attend, but no such luck. It went well, but it was a long night.

Last night was an equally long night, but for better reasons. I got offered a free seat in the 15th row on the 50 yard line at the Colts game. Now, the game pretty much sucked because it was the preseason, and I don't even really like the Colts but the new stadium is pretty awesome, and the seats were amazing so I couldn't pass it up. If you are thinking I'm horrible for leaving Suellen alone, she wasn't alone. She got to hang out with Amy, and she even gave me permission to go; so, I'm choosing to not feel guilty about it.

And now I'm tired and very thankful that it's the end of the day.

Very Quick Update

Suellen is 36.5 weeks along.

The baby already weighs 8lbs 10oz.

This is causing Suellen's back to spasm repeatedly.

I am now fully into a back to school head cold.

Both our cats are stressing out and puking non-stop.

In an hour and half the women doing our adoption home study is coming to decide whether or not I can have legal rights to the baby that's already going to live here anyway.

Awesome!

Friday Fill Ins

1. Dancing to the radio while being completely goofy because I haven't slept in 4 days makes me happy.

2. The last time I went to the doctor with Suellen I nearly fainted. At 36 weeks our baby weighs 8lbs 10oz!

3. When I drive I sing to stay awake, and I swear...a lot.

4. I saw zero moose standing anywhere in New Hampshire. For the whole year we were there, everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - said we'd see moose. We didn't see any the whole time. We even spent our last night there in the car in the woods waiting and nothing! Last night Suellen and I found this particularly funny since now she is apparently going to birth a moose.

5. Give me lower gas prices, give me more time to read and write , give me a good night's sleep.

6. Next week I am looking forward to potentially having the world's largest baby.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to cleaning in preparation for our adoption home study, tomorrow my plans include our adoption home study and Sunday, I want to nap and grade and prepare to have the world's largest baby!

Confession

I've been in a funk lately. If I've seen you lately, I've probably expressed my extreme desire for Suellen to have this baby soon since neither of us has been sleeping now that she's entered the uber-pregnant stage. That, combined with the start of school, has left me really drained. We did go to the doctor today (visit 2 of 3 this week) and Suellen got some pain meds for her lower back spasms so hopefully I'll get some sleep this evening.

But lack of sleep is not what's bumming me out.

I'm pissed because I can't find this poem I wrote when my cousin died. I've been looking for it ever since Kate passed away for no real reason other than I just feel the need to have it. But, it appears to be no where. In searching for it, I re-read a bunch of stuff I'd written in grad school. Then I got more pissed because: A. I haven't written much of anything since grad school, and B. I haven't been able to really access the feelings I'm having lately because of it.

And now I can tell you that pain meds are not solving our sleep problem. Better go try to help.

Thirteen observations about the start of school

Yes...we started school this week. So, here it goes...

1. When I drink a lot of coffee, I pee a lot. I wasn't really drinking coffee over the summer because I was reasonably well rested and the coffee isn't good for my heart. Now that I'm back to school, my trusty cup of Joe is constantly by my side. We were only about 3 hours into the first day when Amy asked if I was going to continue peeing every 5 minutes. Yes. I apparently am.

2. It is dark at 5:45 in the morning. I'm sad about returning to the time of year when it is dark when I go to school and dark when I come home. At least there is still sun for the evening commute right now.

3. It has been over a year since we moved into our new $8 million building, and the roof still leaks when it rains. Right over my desk! How's that for symbolism!

4. I need to control my potty mouth. Now, I do teach in a pretty relaxed environment, and I do teach mostly upperclassmen, but I need to reign it in. It's not like 'driving in Chicago traffic swearing' (which if you've ever ridden with me, you understand) but it's creeping there.

5. Teaching multiple sections of the same class is kind of boring. Now, I am finally in a position of luxury this year in that I am actually teaching some of the same classes twice a day (instead of having to make a completely separate plan for EVERY PERIOD). I'm probably sniffing a gift fish here, but I'm already sick of saying the same things.

6. I can actually get a fair amount of work done at work. I'm trying to keep control of my work better so that I don't get swamped this year and so that I spend more time at home with our family. I guess in previous years, I spent more time than I thought goofing off. Granted, I'm also not on 5000 committees for the first time in a long time, but I'm actually being productive. Who would have thunk it?

7. Though I am getting a lot done, I have serious ADD. I can't seem to do something for more than 10 minutes without needing to get up and do something else. I guess its good that I have to pee so often.

8. I heart Amy Pfanschmidt. She may hate all our clapping and crazy scheduling, but I'm glad she's at University, even if she did volunteer to sponsor the prom and quit all in the same faculty meeting.

9. Our building is either freezing cold or smelling like feet. I wish they had built it with windows that could open.

10. Seventy-five new students in a school of two hundred is a large amount. I used to be able to recognize everyone's face pretty much in the first week. That's not going to happen this year.

11. Having your baby shower announced at the opening assembly is odd. I turned red. I'm not sure I've done that very often before.

12. Witty sarcasm will save anything. That's about it for that one.

13. My school community is really really good at taking care of what matters. If you haven't heard, one of our recent graduates passed away last week. It was hard on a lot of us, but the community really came together, and it's good to get back to a sense of normalcy again.

Friday Fill-ins

1. You know you're old when sleeping in 'late' means 8:30.

2. My heart is divided between my devotion to my family and wanting to do a good job at work.

3. A good night's sleep is what I need RIGHT NOW!

4. I have felt the wind on my face in the Alps, I have known the depths of the deep end of pool of the Willowbrook Swim Club.

5. Gah, won't these people stop with the forms. Adoption is a lot of paperwork

6. Sleep as soon as you can!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to free pizza for teachers, tomorrow my plans include errands and schoolwork and Sunday, I want to eat casserole at the UHS pitch-in!

One Word Distraction

It has been a hard day for me and my UHS family. I'm trying to keep my mind off of things and working on a plethora of distractions.

USING ONLY ONE WORD.....
1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Your significant other? preggo
3. Your hair? blonde
4. Your mother? worried
5. Your father? sick
6. Your favorite thing? books
7. Your dreams last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? diet
9. Your dream/goal? stability
10. What room you are in? living
11. Your hobby? sleep
12. Your fear? spiders
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? basement
14. Where were you last night? band
15. Something that you aren't? fit
16. Muffins? no
17. Wish list item? house
18. Where you grew up? 'hood
19. Last thing you did? facebook
20. What are you wearing? jeans
21. Your TV? on
22. Your pets? lathargic
23. Friends? amazing
24. Your life? tiring
25. Your mood? sad
26. Missing someone? yes
27. Your car? dirty
28. Something you're not wearing? dress
29. Your favorite store? Borders
32. Your favorite color? blue
33. When is the last time you laughed? Fogo
34. Last time you cried? today

A) Four places that I go to over and over: school, home, Kroger, gas
B) Four people who email me regularly: Amy, Carolyn, Vicky, Facebook
C) My favorite four places to eat: Palomino, Bistro, Aesop's, Bucca
D) Four places I would like to go right now: bed, Leeland, East, England
E) Four TV shows I watch all the time? Scrubs, Runway, Shear, Will

What You Will...

Adapting Twelfth Night for high schoolers in two days when you were supposed to have spent the summer on it is hard.

'Nuff said.

"If music be the food of love, play on!"

Friday Fill-ins

1. If I could travel back in time, I'd go to the late 50s and early 60s, spend sometime in New York at the peak of the beat movement, live mostly in poverty, and witness the significant cultural changes of the period.

2. Give me more time to cook or give me cheaper, healthier fast food. It's no real secret that I need to lose a few pounds, but we've been pulled in so many directions lately that most of our meals have been on the run. I'm hoping that the school year will regulate us a bit. Baby carrots here I come.

3. I am listening to reruns of Will and Grace. They are great to nap to.

4. Somewhere, someone is thinking 'I wonder if LaMags will notice that I didn't do my summer reading'. Every year I have kids try to fake it. Sorry Charlie, I'm not that dumb.

5. I'll always be tired, but I really don't mind it - except for the headaches - because it means I'm doing things and mostly being a productive member of society.

6. My idea of a good time includes a good meal and a good movie.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to Suellen's family coming into town and lawn mowing (can you hear Julie Andrews singing 'My Favorite Things' - I can't), tomorrow my plans include baby errands and Sunday, I want to try to forget that I need to finish an adaptation of Twelfth Night before school starts (I haven't really started that yet)!

Daycare Dilemmas

So we - or rather I - have been slightly MIA lately due to a number of factors: more small home improvement projects, the fact that I start school on MONDAY (holy crap), a baby shower in Chicago, and what has sucked up most of our time - a daycare search.

If you are out of the loop in our saga, part of the original plan was that if we were really surviving on just my salary (which paper calculations say we can) then Suellen was just going to extend her leave for the entire next year, as opposed to returning in June. Well, last week Suellen found out that IPS is going to transition her in to a new Elementary position in 09-10 (a position she's wanted for two years); so, now she pretty much needs to return in January in order to secure that spot. Thus, we've begun looking for daycares.

Now, what I didn't realize is that to get decent infant care, you pretty much need to look for day care spots before you ever get pregnant. Most places have been laughing in our faces when we say we need care in January. Great. We've got a few leads, but nothing we are completely sold on and nothing that's really garaunteed, but I'm going to list our narrow options with the hopes that all you blog stalkers can lend some advice.

Option 1 - The Goddard School in Brownsburg. We have friends who sent their son to a Goddard (not this one) and loved it. He is literally the smartest 5 year old I've ever met (of course his parents are also two of the smartest people I've ever met). Anyway, we liked it. The kids were engaged; the staff was friendly; the place was bright and cheerful. They weren't optimistic about an opening, but they didn't laugh, so we are on their waitlist. They are probably our first choice, but they aren't cheap (around $900/mo.)

Option 2 - A woman who runs daycare out of her home that three of the teachers at my school use. She has an assistant and there aren't any more than 12 kids in the house at a time. She seemed really nice and on top of things, but it is pretty much a one woman show. She may have an opening (and should know soon), but we don't know how we feel about the in-home idea. She is the cheapest at $600/mo.

Option 3 - A larger, privately owned and operated center that is literally right on my way to work. Things here were a little more chaotic then the Goddard school, but it felt like more of a family atmosphere. The staff was much younger than the other centers we looked at, and the woman running it has less education (just a CDA as opposed to a 4 year degree) than a director at a corporate managed center would have. I know that schooling doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it does give me a bit of pause. There is no oversight (beyond state licensing) than what she provides, and the fact that it's the largest center (twice the size of anything else we've looked at), I'm worried that the management might not always be on top of what is going on. This is the most expensive center ($1024/mo.), but it's biggest draw is that they HAVE a spot for January that I can gaurentee today if I prepay the first month. Tempting.

So there it is. Any thoughts?

Crawling out from the dust

If you regularly blog-stalk Suellen or I, you've probably noticed that we've been a bit silent lately. It's because we've been trapped in home improvement land, which is otherwise known as the nesting phase of pregnancy. It appears as though we've replaced sleeping and puking with hammering and painting. Oh Joy!

Here are a few shots - though I took them at night with the flash so some of the color is off.



This is the crib all sheeted and bumpered and what not. While I enjoy our crib, standard attachments don't exactly fit it well. Notice the semi-janky mobile.




This is a shot of the new window valence and 'heavy-duty-light-blocking shade'. Since the sun rises on that side of the house, we wanted to make sure that the baby could sleep as much as possible. The large empty space in the corner will be filled by a glider (hopefully).





And this would be the other side of the room. We're a little bummed that the changing table doesn't match the dresser as well as we'd hoped. But it was about $75cheaper than the poorly reviewed one that came with the set, so it's not all bad. We do have wall decorations, including some shelves to flank the windows, but those are still in the painting stage.




Speaking of shelves, this is the additional shelf we installed in the laundry room to hold all the things we displaced when we clean out P's closet. I'm pretty impressed that we actually got it in level.




And here's the big project - our new wood laminant floors! This is a shot of our living room. We were going to wait to get a rug, but we found this one on sale at the Lowes on one of our many trips there for extra 'fill in the blank' (trim, sealant, whatever).




This is the opposite view of the living room. The wood continues around to the front door, and if you look closely near the glowing eyes of Kitty Maxx, you'll see that we kept the carpet in the study. There was no way we were moving the world's largest book case.





And this is a final shot of the kitchen. All in all, I think it looks really nice. And at least now you know we weren't just sitting around picking our noses. Ewww. We were actually doing stuff!

Update Haiku

haven't been blogging
in-laws in town laying floor
much dust needs settling

they brought the dog too
both cats living in our bedroom
litter smell fills air

shower was days ago
we are thankful for friends
rainbow without storm

too tried for poem
sleep now
bye.

Friday Fill-ins

Here we go...

1. Oh, I can't wait until I have a a baby. Duh!

2. Milk is the first thing I see when I open my refrigerator. It's normally old and moldy things in tupperware, but I've cleaned the fridge recently so now it's just milk, which Suellen drinks by the tanker truck load.

3. I never leave home without my phone and a pen.

4. If I were a condiment, I would be either light mayo or ranch dressing because you are what you eat, and I eat a lot of those.

5. Tardiness is really high up on my list of pet peeves. It hate things that start late.

6. The last thing I thought of before I went to bed was why am I forcing myself to stay awake just to watch bad television. I do this a lot. I'll crawl into bed and turn on something completely mind-numbing to help me fall asleep. It works, I start getting sleepy, but then I refuse to actually go to sleep before the current show ends.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finishing a few more P related projects, tomorrow my plans include enjoying a baby shower with all our Butler friends and Sunday, I want to hang out with friends who are still in town and nap, so I can prepare for the floor installation that is happening next week!

Thirteen Preps for P

It's been a busy day today. We spent a lot of time running errands and completing things we need to get done before school starts and P joins us. In that spirit, I'm listing off thirteen things we've already done to prep for her arrival.

1. Repainted. We did two rooms (one of which will be hers) and the hallway. See a previous post for more details.

2. Installed window treatment in nursery. Our crib set came with a valence so we bought a heavy duty rolling shade to block our the light. It might not be the most stylish choice, but the sun rises on that sight of the house and we wanted to keep the room as dark as possible.

3. Cleaned out the closet in the nursery. This closet was previously home to the Suellen M. Sharp Memorial Empty Box Collection. Seriously, we must have had 30-40 boxes just hanging around. There was a short mourning period, but I think Suellen will live with out them. I should also confess that we still have a tiny bit more to do on this one, but I'm counting it done for now.

4. Installed an additional shelf in the laundry room to hold all the stuff we wanted to keep from the nursery closet. This consists mostly of all the new games we've acquired since we started hanging out with Amy and Ben so much.

5. Purchased a new digital camera and rewired the computer desk so that we could actually removed the pictures from it and print them off. This was actually much harder than it may sound since the computer desk is very small and for whatever reason all of our electronics have cords at least 6 feet long.

6. Enrolled in class taught by Crazy Jane. Again, see below.

7. Completed a full scale cleaning - down to toothbrush grout scrubbing - of each bathroom. I'm not sure what this had to do with the baby exactly, but we were on a nesting roll so we just kept it going.

8. Begun collecting diapers. Every time there's a coupon, we buy a pack. It's not like they're going to go bad.

9. Went to a lawyer and set up wills, co-parenting agreements, powers of attorney (both for money and to make medical decisions), a domestic partnership agreement and second-parent adoption papers. Basically we had to spend a great deal of time and money to do what getting married does for your automatically. And, there's still no guarantee that whoever is in power will recognize our wishes.

10. Started filing out P's baby book. Suellen's mom got us one that's a 3-ring binder style in stead of a bound book. It came with an extra "About My Mommy" page so that we could customize it for us. (Note to all you stalkers out there - the book is pink, and I am tolerating it.)

11. Cleaned out a drawer for bibs. This really wasn't that momentus since it actually used to be full of towels but they were all dirty. What will be more momentus is finding cabinet space for bottles and food.

12. Designated specific areas in each room for baby things. I know that we will eventually succumb to baby toy sprawl, It's inevitable. But we have a small house with hardly any storage (no basement, no real attic), and I'm hoping that if we start with a plan, we'll have a better chance of sticking to it.

13. Picked out and purchased an outfit for P to wear on her homecoming day. This was probably the cutest thing we've done. We've been blessed by so many gifts that we haven't really bought anything for her on our own yet (aside from some furniture), so it was nice to pick out some special clothes together.

I think that's it. I was originally going to list the 13 things we had left to do, but that became too negative. As crazy Jane told us yesterday: you need to think of excitement, power and progress (as opposed to fear, tension and pain). And who wouldn't list to a dirty old woman?

Crazy Old Women Should Not Teach Birthing Classes

Let me introduce you to Jane.

Jane teaches our Childbirth Preparation. She teaches three sessions a week for two hours as session.

She has been teaching these classes since 1977, before Suellen and I were born.

Jane is also a retired nurse. She assisted with her first delivery in 1947, the year my mother was born. My mother is 61 years old. I'm guessing that this makes Jane somewhere in her mid-eighties.

Jane talks a lot. I think she's afraid of silence. I think she thinks she's making people feel comfortable. She's not. I'm pretty sure every one thinks she's crazy.

While sitting in Jane's class tonight I thought of a poem by W.B. Yeats called "Crazy Jane Talks With the Bishop". I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the class thinking that. Here's the poem:

"Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop"

1933

I met the Bishop on the road
And much said he and I.
"Those breasts are flat and fallen now,
Those veins must soon be dry;
Live in a heavenly mansion,
Not in some foul sty."

"Fair and foul are near of kin,
And fair needs foul," I cried.
"My friends are gone, but that's a truth
Nor grave nor bed denied,
Learned in bodily lowliness
And in the heart's pride.

"A woman can be proud and stiff
When on love intent;
But Love has pitched his mansion in
The place of excrement;
For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not be rent."

Now, admittedly, I didn't really remember much beyond the title while sitting in class, but I did remember it was about some crazy chick named Jane. However, when I looked up the poem at home, I found it even more fitting.

As you may notice in the poem the bishop warns Jane that perhaps she hasn't been living the most pure or chaste existence, and perhaps she should start thinking about the fate of her soul. Jane, having a sorted sexual past, is quick to retort that the very acts the bishop is reprimanding her for are in fact the culminating point of a love between two people. Without boring you with an English lesson, it's a poem about sex.

Which is good. Because sex is all retired nurse turned childbirth educator Jane wants to talk about.

Allow me to give you a few choice Jane quotes:

"Mothers you must know about spreading your legs apart. It's how you got pregnant in the first place."

"Dads don't you worry about her being as big as the Grand Canyon forever. It'll change back. I know it's a concern."

"If you are doing dishes, you can still practice the pelvic tilt (here is when she begins thrusting against the table). Just do what got you pregnant in the first place."

Eww. And I have three more weeks of this.

More stuff for Baby P

I'm not doing particularly well with my blogging every day goal. This is mostly due to the fact I blew out my back last week. If you've read the other posts, you know that I was trying very hard to avoid going to the doctor; however, I did go yesterday. She's pretty certain I tore one of the ligaments that holds the muscle on to your pelvis. Fun times! So now I'm one more muscle relaxers and some large pink pain pill that's kind of like generic Vicodin. All of this is making me feel much better, but it also makes me semi-catatonic. I've spent a lot of time sleeping on the couch.

I did, however, venture out with Suellen today to go to Babies R Us to pick out some gifts for the other pregnant folk in our lives and bought a few things for baby P while we were at it. Most of you who have children already know this, but kids apparently require a lot of stuff. When we painted last weekend, we stuffed all of P's accumulated gifts into her closet and I think things are now spilling out the door. And we've only hit 2 of the 5 baby showers being thrown for us! Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the gifts, but I have not idea where we are going to put everything.

Fortunately, P's dresser was waiting on the porch when we got home. It looks very nice (pictures will come later), and only took three hours to assemble! Of course, part of that time was spent unscrewing all the pieces I screwed the wrong screws into, a mistake I made during not one, but two separate steps. Seriously, why do you need to have 13 different types of screws? I mean there must have been three separate styles of 3/4" screw. Why not stream line that? I'm sure spending three hours hunched on the floor screwing, unscrewing and rescrewing screws into 'oak-like' pressboard was not what the doctor order for my back, but hopefully we can get better organized now.

Mission Accomplished...kind of

If you've been to our house recently, you know that there is a large 'master summer to do list' hanging on our fridge. It contains basically everything we need to do before P arrives. While neither Suellen nor I actaully did much of the work this past weeked, we did accomplish repainting the office/guest room, the baby's room and the hallway, all thanks to Suellen's sister Stacy. Here are some shots, but both rooms are still in progress (i.e. we haven't rehung things or decorated yet).



This is the new green (officially called 'Summer Rapture') in P's room.







This is the room formerly known as 'orange' (if you've been to our house in the last two years, you know what that means). We squeezed the twin bed in here with the computer. It does take up a good deal of space, but it's the only place we had for it.



And this is the new hallway color, albeit it's not much different than the old color. We made the drastic move from 'cream' to 'beige' (or 'Baked Brie" as Lowes would call it).



I think that's all for now. My back is feeling better thanks to some leftover muscle relaxors from a previous injury and a good dose of ibuprofen. It still flares up a bit everytime I do something for more than 10 or so minutes, but I'm getting kind of bored laying around. Perhaps I soon feel good enough to tackle another project of the list.

Oww!

No post yesterday, partly because we had the modem disconnected while painting and partly because my back is still wrenched and I am in a good deal of pain. I know I should go to the doctor, but I'm going to spend another day convincing myself it will go away. Then I'll give up and go in. Great logic huh?

Thirteen Irrational Fears

So in the spirit of my blogging friends who do these things, I'm doing a Thursday Thirteen. Granted, I'm not really sure what a Thursday Thirteen is officially, but I've gleaned that it's just a list of thirteen somethings. I mean it's not rocket science.

Anyway, here thirteen irrational fears I have about the baby. I figured it would be good to vent them.

1. That the baby will actually be a boy.
2. That the baby will not be healthy.
3. That the baby will be ugly (Suellen has caused this fear because she's certain our ultrasound pictures showed a hooked nose).
4. That the baby will be a unhealthy, ugly boy. This is kind of the trifecta of the first three fears.
5. That the baby won't love me.
6. That the baby will love me, but will then grow up and start following some cultish religion that teaches her she can't love me causing her to stop loving me.
7. That the baby will like pink girly things. Barf-o!
8. That the baby will cause us to become even more broke than we are (which will probably happen), and that I will have a massive panic attack as a result (also a good chance of this).
9. That the baby will get pregnant while still in high school. This is a new one that suddenly came to me in the car last night.
10. That something extraordinarily crazy (tornado, plague, sci-fi like virus epidemic a la Michael Crichton) will hurt the baby and I won't be able to stop it.
11. That the baby will suck up my entire life (again, this will probably happen).
12. That the baby will suck up my entire life, and, despite my best efforts, I will come to resent her for it (I hope to God this doesn't happen).
13. That I will do something stupid that results in hurting the baby, like mistakenly feeding her poisoned plants or bad cheese or something close to that.

Ok. I feel better now. Well, spiritually and mentally at least. Physically, I'm in a great deal of pain because I managed to pull my back, get this, throwing out a toothbrush. I know that's not the real reason - the real reason is that I spent all morning on my hands and knees cleaning the bathroom, including scrubbing the hard to reach places with said toothbrush. So, the garage didn't get cleaned today like anticipated, and we are a little more behind getting ready for Paintfest 2008, which is how we are spending our 4th. But, Suellen's sister Stacy is due to arrive soon, and she's a hoss; so, hopefully she can help me finish moving the furniture. Woo Hoo!

Our very first P-Day

So the memory that's been on my mind a lot lately is the very first time we went in to try for P (which is what we are calling the baby right now).

Sidebar - I was apparently confused about whether or not we were telling people the name Suellen and I have picked out. I thought we were, but we are not. This has landed me in a bit of hot water; so, if you want to know any other name hints, talk to Suellen. I'm not saying anything any more.

Anyway, we first started trying back in June of 2007, which for us really meant a lot of meetings. And interestingly enough, a large discussion about whether or not Suellen was immune to Rubella (blood tests were taken, screwed up, taken again, shots were given, it was not a fun time). So, we had finally arrived at June and were ready to give it a go. We had picked out a donor. He was a dancer with blond hair and blues eyes (like me - the hair and eyes, not the dancing) and didn't have any family health issues. Of course, we had picked him, had him shipped on ice, and then decided we didn't like the fact that he was short and skinny. But, we figured we'd try (you can't really return it), and if it worked then it was meant to be, and if it didn't, then God was giving us a chance to change. None of this really has anything to do with the story.

So, it's June. The nurse comes out into the waiting room and calls us back. Suellen has to double check and sign that the vials match what she order, and then it happens. The nurse hands me the vial of baby juice to 'keep warm'. Eww. While I am pleased to be part of the process as 'baby juice warmer', this completely weirds me out. But we keep walking down the hallway and arrive at the exam room, all the while I am holding this little vial of pink-dish-soap-looking baby juice in a vice grip for fear that it might suddenly get a chill. The nurse ushers us in to where Dr. DHM has readied several instruments that look more painful than I want to think about, including some that light up, and leaves.

So here I am, holding the baby juice, squinting at it, trying desperately to decipher whether or not the swimmers are even in there while Suellen gets on the table, feeling quite squeamish and very nervous. Then Dr. DHM comes in. There is a small amount of explaining of the procedure, none of which I actually understand, I hand over the juice and pick up Suellen's hand, and Dr. DHM starts to do her thing.

Then this little thing clicks in my head. I am scared shitless.

Don't get me wrong, I'm being supportive. I'm standing there, telling Suellen it will all work out. But in my head, I'm doing one of those slow motion movie moments where the hero leaps across the table screaming 'Noooooooooooooooooooo' and knocks the world-ending device out of the villian's hand. Yeah. That's me. In my head, crazy light up torture devices are flying everywhere.

Of course, I'm really doing nothing but standing next to Suellen, holding her hand and looking awkwardly at the floor.

Needless to say, we did not get pregnant that try, which means we will not have a freakishly small dancer baby. (hahaha - "Tiny Dancer Baby" - oh Elton John how I love you). And, I was not nearly as scared for the other attempts. In hindsight, it's probably better that I had a little extra time to get mentally ready.

Now I need more time to get physically ready. Tomorrow's to do list involves, cleaning the bathrooms, moving furniture for painting, buying the paint so that Suellen's sister can help us this weekend, and cleaning out the garage. Yikes!

Write about the baby

I was on the phone with my boss yesterday (who is also a friend and who still believes in the illusion that I am in fact a writer despite the fact that I really haven't written anything since teaching absorbed every spare moment of my life), and he asked if I've written anything about the baby.

Well, I haven't, but it's not because I haven't wanted to.

It's because I'm nervous and excited and scared and busying myself with five million things to get ready for the baby so that I don't have to think about the actual baby, and all of that leaves my very tired and generally 'uncreative'.

I've always been kind of a gestational writer. I tend to mull ideas and lines over and over (and over and over) in my head before I write them down. This is probably one of the reasons poetry suits me well - if I tried to write books, I'd never remember all the lines. But, it's time to actually get thoughts on paper before I forget everything I've been thinking about; so, I'm going to set myself a goal of writing each day this month. I probably won't be as diligent as Amy, but I'm going try. And, we should be home for most of this month, which will help things.

Look for feeble insights to come later, blog stalkers. For now, it's off to grocery store!

And we're back

For those of you that stalk Suellen's blog, you may have noticed that we've spend a good deal of time out of town recently. Well, we're back, and none of the crazy family time managed to kill us (nor did my mowing of our hugely overgrown lawn when we returned - though the lawn mower did go on strike for about 4 hours in the middle).

Anyway here goes...

1. A smile is sometimes hard to do on command. I'm not a good 'on command' smiler. I always look stupid. This made the baby shower particularly painful.
2. Life Boat is my favorite board or card game, though I usually end up dying.
3. I would love to have more time to read in my life and less work related stress.
4. When I think of the Summer Solstice, I think man it's getting hot outside. Where did we buy this house, on the sun?
5. I just remembered I need to figure out how much mulch to buy tomorrow.
6. One of my favorite song lyrics goes like this:
you'll fight and you'll make it through
You'll fake it if you have to
And you'll show up for work with a smile
And you'll be better
You'll be smarter
More grown up and a better daughter or son
And a real good friend. - Rilo Kiley
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to going to ComedySportz to celebrate my birthday (yea oldness!), tomorrow my plans include moving furniture and remulching (yea sore back!) and Sunday, I want to remember what it was like to be young and not have a bad back!

Almost Done!

I'm squeezing this in on my last Friday of work before summer. Yippie!

1. Idle hands are...wait....I don't think I know what those are.
2. I love standing half-asleep in the shower. It's a great way to wake up
3. My favorite time of the day is when everything is done. Unfortunately, that's about 30 seconds before I fall asleep.
4. The last tea I drank was yuck I hate tea.
5. I like to sit on our deck in the Summer. It's my new favorite place.
6. My mother always said be sure to say 'I love you' before you hang up the phone with someone you care about. Ok, well, she didn't actually ever say that, but she always did it.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to shopping for graduation gifts, tomorrow my plans include University's graduation and a tour of parties and Sunday, I want to sleep, but I'll probably have to mow the lawn!

Tornado Ridden Friday

Before beginning the pleasantries of the Friday Fill-ins, let me say this: I HATE SEVERE WEATHER. I don't know what it is, but I am terrified of big storms and possible tornados. In fact, I am sitting in the closet under a pile of pillows with my whole family - Suellen, soon-to-be-baby P, and both cats - as I type this. I only hope I can finish soon seeing as there is no outlet in our closet and my battery is dying.

1. For me nothing is the opposite of creativity. I really do think that you can be creative at anything (cliched as that may sound). You just have to find a different way to approach it.
2. The Undercover Economist was the last excellent book I read (except, I'm still actually reading it, and have been for 6 months - it's hard to read during school).
3. I like fill-ins because they make me write and think about something other than school for a change.
4. In nature I like looking at small mammals or corn fields. It's a toss up.
5. A Democrat should win the US elections.
6. The last time I laughed with all my belly was in AP English on Wednesday when a student asked me how much size mattered. He meant in terms of his essay, but none of us could keep it in.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hopefully not dying in a tornado related incident, tomorrow my plans include grading and whacking down the chest high grass on our easement that I now found out I have to mow and Sunday, I want to sleep, but I have to drive to French Lick to play for a friend's commitment ceremony!

No Tag Backs

So Amy tagged me to this task, and since I feel the need to make up for not posting on Friday (and since Amy guilted me on her blog), I'm going to give it a try.

What were you doing five years ago?
Five years ago I was finishing my graduate coursework, and we were getting ready to move back from New Hampshire. Suellen packed up the apartment and moved early in the summer while I finished my final actual classes; so I spent a month sleeping on the floor, eating take out, and taking care of our cat Maxx who had recently broken his ear.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?
1. get up a butt-crack of dawn and go to Suellen's school (already accomplished as I am sitting in her office right now)
2. 'chaperone' IPS All-City Marching Band in the 500 parade (see previous post)
3. grade the monstrous pile of work that has stacked up over the week while 'chaperoning' the 500 Parade
4. set up our new grill which my parents are finally bringing down from Chicago today
5. visit with my parents while enjoying our new grill and deck



What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Nachos, of any kind, from virtually anywhere
2. Sour cream and onion potato chips
3. Cheese and crackers (or really cheese and almost anything)
4. Cheezy-weenies (a LaMagdeleine, and now Sharp, holiday gathering food, which while extremely yummy, I've never managed to make cosmetically appealing)
5. Carmel sudaes with whipped cream, nuts and a cherry

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1. buy a bigger house with a basement closer to work
2. buy my grandparent's old farm for my Mom to retire to and to take the baby to in the summers
3. reserve donor 5668 to have another baby
4. pay off our college debt and start a college fund for the babies
5. set up a foundation to support education initiatives for low to middle class families to attend different schools if their public systems aren't meeting their needs.

What are five of your bad habits?
1. bitting my fingernails
2. compulsively checking my email
3. not responding to email (or other messages), which is odd because I compulsively check them
4. losing my temper too quickly
5. stressing out when I shouldn't

What are five places you have lived?
1. South Holland, IL
2. Butler (and various surrounding crappy apartments)
3. Dover, NH
4. Behind the WalMart on 86th (won't be doing that ever again)
5. Brownsburg, IN (well, it's not technically Brownsburg - it's a Brownsburg-Clermont-Indianapolis hybrid no-mans land of suburban sprawl)

What are five jobs you've had?
1. Andy's Hot Dogs
2. Jo-Anne Fabrics
3. Butler Campus Operator
4. Toxicology Collection Scheduler (a.k.a. pee collector)
5. teacher at UHS (by far the best of the group)

What five people do you want to tag?
Alright, I'm copping out on this one, because I'm not sure anyone actually reads (or stalks) my blog since I post so infrequently; however, if you read this, consider yourself tagged.

Ok - I'm behind

Blame Suellen and the Manual High School Band

1. On my laziest day I like to go out to a late breakfast, read and watch a movie with Suellen!
2. Making lists of things I've really already mostly accomplished and then crossing them off makes me feel like I'm being productive.
3. I love little old fashion glass bottles of pop and big beds.
4. This summer I want to get everything set up for the baby before school starts.Yikes!
5. The desire to pretend to be a writer again made me start my blog. You can see that I'm doing so well at it.
6. Red Starbursts and orange circus peanuts are two candies I hate.
7. And as for the weekend, last night I played at the Manual High School graduation, today my plans include loitering at various places while 'chaperoning' the IPS All-City Band in the 500 parade eventhough I'm not allowed to walk with them through the parade or stand in the staging and demarshalling areas, and Sunday, I want to grill!

Friday thoughts

1. There is absolutely NO way you can get me to kill a spider! I am deathly afraid of them.
2. Squirrely students remind me that summer is almost here!
3. I cannot live without my blue jeans.
4. Snorkling and living abroad are two things I'd like to try.
5. When life hands you lemons you eat them down to the rind. Or at least my brother did.
6. My brother being born is my favorite childhood memory.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to University Prom!, tomorrow my plans include eating cake in honor of Suellen and Sunday, I want to grade things! Yippie!

On time

I'm giving myself big props for doing this on Friday.

1. The pasta had an extra secret ingredient; it was cheese! Those are pretty much the two staples of my diet.
2. Looking out through my window, I think how the hell can the grass grow so fast in the back yard when it's dying in the front yard!
3. Right now, I need June.
4. The Manual High School band concert is where I went Thursday night; it was a great way to remind myself how good of a teacher Suellen is. And a great way to kill time. I assumed myself by touching every button on the light board.
5. Why do migranes hurt so much?
6. All I can think of is the baby!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to possibly a cookout with Barb and Kathy, tomorrow my plans include baby stuff and house cleaning and Sunday, I want to nap!

Getting closer...

Ok - It's Saturday this time, so that's a whole day closer to my new goal of posting on Friday.

1. Two of my favorite ingredients in a drink are...well my previous answer would have been skim milk and splenda in my coffee, but since too much coffee and too much stress have reeked havoc on my stomach lately, I'm not drinking coffee any more; so, I guess it's whatever two ingredients make up diet coke.
2. Quiet often amazes me. One, because it happens so rarely. Two, because it can be quite profound.
3. You can keep doing that forever, the dog is...not here!?! We don't have one.
4. Lay it all out, mix it all together and voila! You have the giant mess I create each weekend when I try to get my grading done.
5. If I had a yard with a garden, I would love to grow fresh herbs.
6. Pets are best au naturel. I hate animals in clothing.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to playing Once Upon a Mattress, tomorrow my plans include the Kahl's baby shower and playing Once Upon a Mattress and Sunday, I want to not play Once Upon and Mattress, which is good because I don't have to!

Let's pretend...

I know it's not Friday, but I'm going to pretend it is. And I'll pretend that I was able to keep up my New Year's resolution formore than eight days.

I'm stealing this from Amy..

1. When I fell in love I also fell down - because I'm horribly clumsy. Lucky Suellen was standing next to me.
2. I have to start mowing again when the flowers bloom and it heats up outside!
3. Oh no! The internet connection is down, how will I ever procrastnate while trying to school work!
4. LOST is the craziest tv show ever. I'm completely hooked on something that ISN'T trashy reality.
5. Cheese and nearly anything makes a great meal!. (Sorry Amy -not anything!)
6. I wish someone would put a garden in our back yard, and then come in and care for it regularly since we never seem to be able to keep plants alive.
7. And as for the weekend, I'll be 'on the mattress' at UHS all week. Then sleeping after.

Five Things I Love About Teaching Writing

Many of you know that my school is a tinsy-bit different, and right now we are in the middle of our J-term which means that I'm spending my entire day teaching 12 kids about the New Yorker Magazine. That's the whole day straight for 14 days, and it's really pretty cool to see how much they can grow in such a little time when they really get working. It makes me happy - which is very good because if I wasn't happy, I'd be tired.

5 - Writing is nothing more than speaking on paper. Most students won't write much when they get out of school, but all of them will speak - probably a lot. Spending all day honing in on their writing skills has actually helped my students speak better. They think faster, they think on a deeper level, and they've stopped saying 'like' (I hate 'like').

4 - Writing is not math. No offense to people who like math (I was once a high school mathlete, so I kind of get it), but math pretty much always works the same way. Writing rarely gives you a straight consistent answer. I like that.

3 - Writing is not life or death. Some people are just designed to life or death decisions all the time. They become doctors, or EMTs or nuclear war button pushers. I'm not. If the writing sucks today, nobody dies. It will just get better tomorrow.

2 - Writing can feel like life or death. As much as it doesn't matter whether or not you chose to use or abuse the serial comma, writing does matter when you put yourself behind it. Writing is taking a risk to say what you believe. If people don't respect your opinion (respect is not agreement), then I think that is like dying. And that matters.

1 - Writings is all about telling stories. Stories are all about life (I mean it's pretty hard to write a story about something that doesn't ever do anything or have anything done to it). That's why we tell so many stories to children. So they know how to live their lives. What's not to like about that?

Post New Year's stuff

So after getting blasted for requesting more frequent blog posts by my friends while never actually posting on my own, I feel as though it's time to give regular blogging more of an effort. I also read a very cheesy article in the "Living" section of the Indy Star about blogging and how you should develop a distinctive blog style - something like making every post a list of 5 things or being a huge snark (the paper did actually use the word 'snark'). I figure I'm a reasonably intelligent person. Certainly I can come up with 5 things to say each day.

To that end, we had a guest speaker in class today, and one of the things he said was that he is someone who is never bored. That struck a chord with me. I get bored a lot, or at least I think I do. What I really probably get though is lazy. So without further ado, here's a list of 5 things I'm going to try doing to stop being lazy. Consider it a late New Year's resolution.

5 - Take a short nap every now and then. As most know, there is nothing better than a nap. Maybe they will keep me rested so that I am less inclined to plop in front of the TV when I too tired to do anything else. And at least when I'm sleeping, I won't be bored.

4 - Blog more. See above.

3 - Read more. If you've been to my house, you know that the number of books I own is a highly contested point in my relationship. The fact that I haven't actually read most of them makes Suellen even more upset. I figure since I've got a wealth of knowledge sitting on shelves that I keep lobbying to keep, I better read them.

2 - Play more games. This is a recently acquired geeky trait I've gotten from Amy and Ben, but I figure that if I'm playing a game, I'm not zoning out in front of the TV, allowing myself to slowly die in the wake of its pale glow.

1 - Maybe - just maybe - I'll write poems again. I'm actually hoping that this will be a result of the 'bullocks to laziness plan'. We'll see how it goes.