Honk if you love Apple

I bet no one else has ever taken a picture similar to this. Heh.

Returning...

It's been busy! The first post back is always hard. I'm going to cheat and make it a list-y post.

1. School started. We love all our teachers. More soon.

2. My brother visited. Great visit. Some day I'll write more about my brothers.

3. School Volunteering is starting up. I'll be working on a project for the library and in each of the classes.

4. Still trying to determine if I should stay working 1/2 time or if I should change it to the more flexible status. More soon.

5. oNe has read HP 6 and is starting 7. twoK wants to read 5 and I'm trying to hold her off.

6. I am very sad about SJ (Steve Jobs) resigning from Apple.

7. Tomorrow is a party with Moms I knew from the first Mom's group when oNe was born. I'm excited to see everyone.


Today I want to:

1. Make a new recipe for dinner. I've fallen into a rut and never seem to know what to make anymore. (This will also mean a trip to the store. Not sure if I'll have time. I'll try.)

2. Write something for a project I dislike.

3. Write something for a project I like (CL).

4. Do a little more work on my class.

5. Do some laundry... (Yea, I like washing clothes... I dislike putting them away, but MWH does it so I'm lucky! He and I make a great team.)

They are actually listening...

I've been threatening (for a while) that if we don't give away some of the toys that we've outgrown that we won't get any new ones. When twoK, oNe, and I were shopping for Three-a's birthday present, I asked if they wanted to give her a toy and they reminded me that they couldn't because they hadn't yet given toys away. We chose something else... (Dress-up clothes don't count as toys in their mind and we went with Harry Potter stuff.)

In related news, twoK did agree that we could pack up the toys they've outgrown and keep them in storage in the attic. Woo! (I'm sure at some point, she'll agree to give them away.) We'll start packing up toys this weekend, I hope. We should have a new wood floor going in downstairs, soon. I need to get things straightened and organized for that.

Aurito

I had an aura, today, at work. It was just a little one, hence the name of this post. Then I had a little headache--hopefully not a migrito.

My head still feels slightly off, but I didn't take anything. I had a teeny bit of coffee and a cup of tea, but no tylenol or advil.

The good news is it's been over a year since I've had an aura (according to the blog). Like the last one I had, it was on the right side.... Who knows why my aura's changed sides! Crazy.

What do I think caused it? I think I was slightly dehydrated, stressed because I am excited about school starting for the girls, this is positive, but I'm still stressed, and I got less sleep than usual. I couldn't go to sleep last night because I was so excited about school. I found out who their teachers were last night... (shhhhh! I found out early from one of my teacher friends. I didn't tell the girls. I let them find out this afternoon with everyone else.) I'm absolutely thrilled about their teachers! It's going to be a fun year! Now, I just need to go to sleep.

This one is just for MWH

Because he is MWH. I am the luckiest wife around and the girls have the best dad. Short, but sweet. I could go on and on, but I try not to gush here, too much. I love you, MWH.

A new vegetable...

I didn't know there were new vegetables to try, but I found one the other night (a month ago, a couple months ago? I'm not sure, my life is a blur!). It's called tat soi. It's yum and a nice change from spinach, chard, and kale.

How'd I make it? I sauteed it with onions, garlic, and a little soy sauce. You can eat it over rice, on a tortilla, on noodles (if you add them in to the mixture it becomes very good like stir-fried noodles--well, 'cause it is).

At our Whole Foods, they have organic girl greens and the tat soi I got came all ready to use, I just had to throw it in the pan and cook it. I'll look for it at other places, now.


You can read about it how another person made it here. (And you can read about more new vegetables! I really want to try mizuna.)

Green is fun!

paper airplanes, pancakes, and brooms

Today, Three-a and I made paper airplanes. We watched a video on YouTube to learn how to make the planes.

twoK and I are going to try a new pancake recipe we found on the web. Then we're baking brownies for my brother also a recipe from the web.

I'd be so bored without my little girls and the web.

(oNe is making brooms and playing with her cat.) (She makes brooms for all to ride so they can play Quidditch. As far as I know, she didn't use the web to find out how to make brooms. She's pretty creative.)

Completely random

Last night, I had a dream where I invented the world's tastiest low carbohydrate and high protein pizza crust. Plus, it somehow helped you delete spam emails in a single keystroke. Now, that's a good pizza crust!




On a different note, when I was pregnant with Three-a, she'd dig her toes into my uterus and push. It felt so weird. At the time, I didn't know what she was doing, but when she came out, she kept doing it and I figured out what the movement was.

Now, at almost six, she still likes to put her feet on me, dig her toes in and push. It's so odd. (I may have mentioned the digging her toes in and pushing thing before, but who knew she'd still be doing it at 6. I wonder if she'll do it when she's grown up. Not necessarily to me, but maybe to her spouse?)


Happy Sunday. My brother is here. We had a fun day, yesterday. Today, I need to get a little work done before we play, so I'm going to go do that, now.

Last week off

We're in our final days before school starts. I'm sad as I love the flexibility in the summer, but I do need more time at work, so it will be good for me.

On another note, I started a post yesterday and it DISAPPEARED ON ME. It was witty, and poignant; I'm not happy. Alas. Here's some of it, not written nearly as well, and some other stuff*.

Yesterday, oNe did a "Mother's Helper Gig." She did a great job. I can't believe my first born is old enough to help little kids. She got paid for it, too. She decided she wanted to donate the money she made to a foundation researching the disease that twoK's kitty had. Yes, I am proud. No, I don't feel worthy to be her mother. But then, she gets loud and sassy and I realize that she does still NEED me. :-)

We're cleaning out the guest room in honor of my brother's visit (tomorrow!). MWH took 6+ bags to donate morning. As I was packing up the things I'd stowed in there, I decided to keep "the dress that started it all." This was a dress I wore on one of my first dates with MWH. The dress was slightly low-cut and loose around the top so MWH enjoyed his view during our dinner. This dress inspired him to want to get to know me, ehem, a little better.

I don't love the dress, I'm not sure why I wore it on one of our first dates, and I haven't worn it in years, but he and I were both feeling sentimental about that dress, so I kept it. If I don't wear it on or near our anniversary this year, I'll need to give it away. It gets a second chance, for now.

I'm working to get to know my students for this year better. They are going to be GREAT. I'm embracing them and all they will bring to the class.

In completely different news, we're getting a hardwood floor put in on our first level of the house. We're getting rid of our UGLY carpet. I.am.so.excited! I got an email that our wood is going to be delivered in this month!! I'm not trying to be vague, I just got a cryptic message from the place where we ordered the wood that said they expect the wood to be leaving the warehouse between 8/18 and 8/24. We'll have it sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I imagine, the process of getting the wood installed will be painful; we'll be restricted to only one level of our house for ~3-6 weeks. Deep sigh, it will be worth it.

I say 3-6 weeks because after the wood is installed, it has to sit on the floor for 2 weeks before it gets sanded and finished. The sanding and finishing process will take 3-4 days. Our floor guy only works nights and weekends, 'cause he has a different day job, so it could drag out a little. I'm hoping it will occur and be done in October, but we'll see.

We'll move the girls' beds upstairs, and some of the toys and we'll hope we can get this done quickly and while the weather is still nice. I view the time when we're out of the first floor as an opportunity for cleaning and tossing, too. By the end of this year, I could have a much less cluttered house! Woo!

In the last 2 days, I've been getting the girls' brains going again. We've been doing math. I printed off lots of worksheets. oNe needs to really memorize her multiplication tables and remember how to re-group. twoK HATES math... she drags her feet and it's really sad. She's not bad, but she is not motivated at all.

What else... There's lots more about summer that I'd like to say, but I should get back to work. I have a babysitter for 4 hours and I should be productive.








*Heh

Not going to let me forget....

Three-a's birthday is coming soon. She's not going to let me forget. This morning, at breakfast, she gave me a list of things she wanted to happen.

She wants a:

1. Reading Light
2. Nimbus 2000
3. Horseback Riding (party/lesson)
4. A chocolate cake with ice cream and whipped cream

There will be more demands, I'm sure. I think this list will be what I stick with doing. I've taken care of ordering #2. I'll let you know about the rest.

Countdown.....

Okay, we have just one full week off for the summer, and then school starts the following week. YIKES. I don't think I did my usual, OMG, HOW DID IT GET TO BE AUGUST, at the beginning of this month. So, there you go. Also, OMG, WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?????

This week has been crazy and busy, but when isn't it? I went to meet the students for the Fall class. So far, so good. One will be, um, lots of fun. But, I have figured some stuff out to help (me and the student) and I think it will be okay. I'll keep you posted, don't worry.

Last night, MWH and I got to go see Harry Potter #7 (Part 2) with our dear friends. It was good. Some of it was better than I expected, and some of it could have been more exciting, me thinks. I'm so glad I've read all the books. I think the books are better, but I understand why it all can't make it in the movie.... sort of. I personally would be happy to sit through 3-4 parts of each book so they could get it all into the movies, but perhaps other people wouldn't.

oNe has finished HP #5 and twoK has almost finished HP #4. Three-a is still reading HP #1. Crazy! and Love!

At work, a wonderful summer intern left, this week. Sigh. We will miss him, but we will continue to work together. Maybe, we'll even go visit. He lives in a great place, Hawaii.

Oh! My brother is coming to visit next Friday. He just let me know Thursday. Nice notice. I now have to clean out the guest bedroom in a week (actually less than a week, now). Our guest bedroom becomes the dumping ground for all the girls' clothes as they out grow them. Our last guest use of the room was in May, but it's piled pretty high and deep right now. MWH or I will be making (possibly multiple) trips to donate clothes.

I guess, the week before school starts is a good time to clean out their old clothes and get things all ready for the coming school year. Let's see if I can get things organized and manage to work a full week of time at work. That's my goal for the week. I've been eating up a lot of vacation time hanging with the girls. It's been super fun, and I haven't stressed about it (too much), but I would like to have some vacation left when I start teaching.

Okay, I could continue to ramble about little things, but I think that's enough for now.

Tact...

Three-a needs to learn some tact. Of all the girls, she's embarrassed me the most with her lack of tact. All things considered, iIt hasn't been too bad, but I feel at almost 6 (OMG, she's almost 6... HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???) she should have a better understanding of what is appropriate to say, and what isn't. Her latest embarrassing questions...

Scene: Grocery store line

Three-a: Mom, is that woman Chinese? (pointing to a woman in line a couple of people in front of us.)

Me: I can't tell, she's not looking at us. (bending down and saying it quietly and telling her shhhhh....)

Three-a: (perhaps a notch louder) She has REALLY dark black hair. She's probably Chinese. Or maybe she dyes her hair. It's REALLY BLACK. It has to be one of those things.

Me: (Bending down and hoping the woman was engaged in conversation with the checker).... Um, look, honey, there's chocolate over here....let's pick out some chocolate.

We get back to the car and I explain why she shouldn't do that and if she has questions about people how they should wait until we are alone. We re-iterated these concepts tonight at dinner. I'm hoping she learns quickly.

Learning and memory

Tonight, the girls learned about crucifixion and amnesia. They learned over dinner* (crucifixion) and then from a Tom and Jerry episode (amnesia). Someday, maybe, they'll read this and have a lightbulb memory flash** to this night. Both topics probably made quite an impression, not to mention some new schema (organizers) in their little heads. twoK's face was especially horrified as I explained crucifixion. I wasn't trying to be graphic, I was doing "just the facts, Ma'am," but I may have added a little too much detail for her (twoK). MWH told them about amnesia, I missed that discussion.



*Also, they got reprimanded for always being smart alec-y when we're trying to tell them something. Thank goodness, they don't do that at school. Hopefully, we can get them to stop doing this at home. It's really annoying.


**Lighbulb memories are very salient or strong memories. Many people have them to different events. Those who were around when the Challenger crashed, or 9/11 often have flashes of everything around them (like in a picture) when they remember those events. I have flashes to both.

My Challenger one was in high school and G.M. told me about it after he'd run home (or come in late) that morning. He'd watched it on t.v.

My 9/11 one is in my house (on the mountain), standing in my kitchen (green counter and white and green kitchen floor) listening to the answering machine (in the corner of the kitchen by the laundry machines--white washer and dryer) as my brother left me a message on the answering machine. He said something about the World Trade Center being blown up. With that brother, I often can't tell if he's joking or not. I woke MWH and ran for my computer to Google. MWH turned on the t.v. We were glued there for hours. I was pregnant with oNe and she went crazy kicking that day (from all my stress hormones).

Losing it... (what is IT, anyway? I've forgotten)

I'm losing it... I couldn't remember a friend's name, I could remember details about her but not her name, and I had to look them up by searching on terms (in my email) that I knew we'd discussed before I could email her. Granted, I don't email her very often, and I haven't actually seen her for ~3 years, but GEEZ, embarrassing. I'm not actually 80. However, my brain is overworked.

In all fairness, I've been reading a lot of technical papers... Like 4-6 a day to determine the absolute BEST 2-3 papers on each specific concept I'm covering in my class. My brain is exhausted. (These are not light/easy reading papers... For each paper I read, I also look up 2-3 other papers to refresh specific concepts and read portions of those. I'm teaching doctoral students, so I have to get all the details in MY head because they will ask me a LOT OF TOUGH QUESTIONS. But, yes, I love it.)