Category Archives: family life

>It can’t be August already. Turn that calendar back.

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I haven’t accomplished all I should have in June and July. I didn’t take Amigo to the orthodontist yet, I didn’t write my first novel, I didn’t use the new lipreading software I bought, in fact, I haven’t loaded it yet. And it’s August!

That’s a problem with being a teacher. In my line of work (elementary classroom), we put our hearts and souls into our work from mid-August until mid-June, and then expect to pack in a year’s work of leisure time in 8-10 weeks. No wonder I’m getting this feeling of failure!

But if I look away from the to-do list and focus on the Ta-Da! side, it looks better. Really.

  • I packed up and moved all of my personal/professional classroom materials to another school during the last week of school in June. It filled one and a half minivans and took three large cart-trips to get it all in the building. Most of that? Boxes of books.
  • I cleaned out my current room and handed in the keys. Oh, that took more out of me than I thought. Handing over the key after seven years was a toughie.
  • I’ve taken at least one bus trip each week with Amigo. He needs to learn public transportation because he will not be able to drive, and we sure have fun riding downtown to the library or to have lunch.
  • I sat with a pet rabbit as he died, and comforted the daughter who loved him so much.
  • I helped Amigo pack for camp, and picked him up, sweaty and happy, a week later.
  • I spent a weekend in Chicago. (No, not BlogHer, darn, but it was really fun.)
  • I planted, watered, weeded the garden, and the results are showing. We’re eating fresh tomatoes on every salad, and I’ve cooked fresh green beans in the steamer. The bunnies are getting fresh lettuce and parsley, too. Mmmm.

Okay, there’s more, but I feel better now. There are many miscellaneous list items I didn’t accomplish, but there are enough important pieces on my “Ta-da!” list that I can feel good about my summer. I think I can slowly start working on getting ready for school. S-l-o-w-l-y.

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>Ten signs you might be a Harry Potter fanatic

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>You might be too much of a Harry Potter fanatic if:

  1. You mutter Alohamora as you turn a key.
  2. Your daughter frequently asks, “So, Mom, who dies this time?” whenever you pick up the book.
  3. You get irritated when the family wants supper because you don’t want to stop reading.
  4. You’re nervous leaving the house without a wand. After all, there’s a war on!
  5. You think Lumos as you flick a light switch.
  6. You find yourself quoting Albus Dumbledore at the strangest times. “Nitwit. Oddment. Blubber. Tweak.”
  7. You watch the movie The Patriot and wonder when Lucius Malfoy dyed his hair black.
  8. You go to cash a check and wonder why no one else notices that the goblins have the day off at the bank.
  9. You try to find 4 Privet Drive and 12 Grimmauld Place on Mapquest.
  10. The waiter looks at you strangely when you order “elf-made wine”.

Ah, now it is time to join my youngest wizard and continue reading. We’re in the fifth volume out of ten (in the Braille version) of Book Seven, The Deathly Hallows. So, as my idol Albus Dumbledore once said, “…now, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.”

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>Another top ten list

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>After I wrote my list of ten about Amigo, I promised La Petite I’d write about her, too. She responded, with her voice positively gooey and dripping, “Ooo, I feel so special.”

1. We share a talent for sarcasm.
2. We enjoy shoes. She loves her Converse All-Stars, and I actually enjoy taking her shopping for them because it’s so much fun.
3. We’ve seen all the Harry Potter movies together. I’ve read the books, too; she prefers the movies. Sometimes we chat afterwards, and I can fill in the back stories that the movies have to skip to save time.
4. We love our bunnies. In fact, our crazy bunny Peanut loves us best. He isn’t very fond of the men in the family.
5. We don’t mind getting dirt under our nails. she is good with flowers; I take charge of the vegetable garden.
6. We could watch the movie The Blues Brothers over and over again. We quote lines from the movie when they seem appropriate, and we know all the trivia. (Yes, Carrie Fischer’s salon is the “Curl up and Dye.”)
7. We can share a box of mixed chocolates without conflict. She likes the milk chocolate, while I prefer the dark.
8. We like fresh tomatoes and fresh green beans, right off the vine. Mmmm.
9. We enjoy our caffeine. She lives on Mt. Dew, and I love my coffee.
10. Green Bay Packer Football. ‘Nuff said.

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>Christmas in July

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>I admitted this in another post; I shop almost year round for Christmas and birthdays. My sister-in-law sent me to this site, and I found some really unique treasures. In fact, that’s the name of the site; Evelyn’s Treasures.

I give practical gifts sometimes, and sometimes I’d rather give fun. Let’s see; La Petite might like this. My garden would look nice with this addition. I enjoy windchimes, and Evelyn offers several different types. Clicking on the home/office section will help you find some gorgeous bookends and other office supplies with pizazz. I like the Chinese sword letter opener for something both cool and useful.
Even though I like to pick on my younger brother, I would probably give him this. Cute, eh?

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>Thanks, Mom — Group Writing Project

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>”Thanks, mom” is the theme for MommaBlogga’s latest group writing project. My entry is squeaking in under the wire for deadline, but you can still go here for more entries and more information on Jordan, the head MommaBlogga herself. Here is my entry.

Naming the Mother
In the Ugandan tradition, children are named not just at birth, but throughout their lives according to their characteristics and significant events.

The only girl.
She of thoughtful eyes that needed strong glasses.
She who shared a room with her brother.
The one who took to the piano and the organ like a duck to water.
The one who earned A‘s without breaking a sweat.
The child with the near photographic memory.
The first generation in the family to attend college.

The mom.
She of carpools and babysitters.
She who attended concerts, talent shows, conferences, and open houses galore.
The one who welcomed our friends and significant others.
The one who set another plate on the table whenever our special someone visited.
She who sent us to college, even though we took a little extra time to graduate.
The grandmother.
The one who read the first four Harry Potter books to her grandson.
The one who helped her granddaughter make skirts out of jeans.
Call on the phone grandma.
Email the whole family grandma.
She who faced breast cancer with courage and humor.
She who laughs until she wheezes.
She who keeps up the old traditions and creates new ones, too.
The mom I can only hope to equal someday.

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>Oh, brother.

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>It could fit into the category of adventure. It could be creative problem solving. A more accurate label might be dangerous choices, activities for which you are too old, fun things to do unless you get arrested, or ways to make your mother laugh until she wheezes because she can’t believe what you’ve done.

My younger brother just gave me yet another item worthy of big-sisterly teasing that fits at least one of the above categories; I just can’t decide which one.

My brother and his wife were staying at my mom’s apartment in the senior living complex. Mom left for a morning appointment. Shortly after that, her husband got a phone call for an appointment of his own saying, “We’ve had a cancellation. Can you come now?” He left, too. Brother and sister-in-law were gathering their things and putting their shoes on to drive across town to my house when they realized they would have to leave the apartment unlocked because there were only two keys, and both keys had left with their respective owners. Er, renters. But my ever-creative brother thought of another solution.

He locked the door from the inside and climbed out of their balcony. On. The. Third. Floor.

His route to the ground took him over the balcony, past the apartment below, down one floor to a mildly slanted roof, and from there to a nice, solid wall surrounding the dumpsters. He jumped down from the wall to where his wife was waiting for him. I didn’t see this happen, but I’m sure she was at least grinning, if not laughing out loud. They hopped in the car and came over to visit.

The plot thickens. We went back to the senior living community and had lunch in its little cafe. The downstairs neighbors were eating there, too. They didn’t seem to recognize Brother, so we decided he had escaped the adventure without being seen, despite smiling and waving at the other table.

So, folks, what do you think? Here are a few category options.

  • Adventure
  • Creative thinking
  • Cognitively guided problem solving
  • Things you should have learned in school (or not) had you been paying attention
  • Reasons to build your upper arm strength
  • Are you really smarter than a fifth grader?
  • I can do anything, I’m a liberal arts graduate!

Yes, our mother was surprised. And she really did laugh until she wheezed.

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>10 Common Traits

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Ten things I have in common with my son, Amigo

1. We’re both disabled. He is vision impaired and has Asperger’s Syndrome. I am hearing impaired. Since he’s a teenager, he would insist that just being a mom is an impairment in itself.
2. We like to go out for lunches and brunches, especially in the summer. this year we’ve tried out several new (new to us) restaurants and diners. We’ll remember those that had Braille menus for him!
3. Both of us have a tendency to get anxious in new and difficult situations.
4. We bond over Trivia. We watch Jeopardy as a family each night. At 15, Amigo can hold his own. He has an excellent memory.
5. Green Bay Packer football! He is a cheesehead through and through.
6. We both love Christmas, even the shopping and wrapping parts, but especially the music.
7. We enjoy the public library. He checks out books on tape/CD, and I pick up whatever strikes my fancy. In the summer we go at least once a week.
8. We like to bake. Okay, I like to bake cookies and he likes to eat them. It works, doesn’t it?
9. Reading. Reading together. ‘Nuff said.
10. I admit it; we share a sense of humor.

He reads my blog, so I’m sure he’ll have to say something about it — when he gets away from Youtube and gets around to reading it, that is. 🙂

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Reduce, reuse, and recycle: the chair project

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Take two white molded plastic chairs, dirty and grungy beyond description.
Scrub chairs to remove dirt.
Coat with plastic primer to make sure paint will stick.
Paint selected portions of chairs (or have your daughter do it).
Let paint dry completely.

Attach removable rummage sale stickers to chair in random pattern. Paint chairs thoroughly with main color. Let dry. When chairs are dry, carefully remove stickers.


The result: the formerly old and junky chair becomes a simple polka-dotted accent piece for the deck. Bring out the cappuccino!

There’s a table to match, but I don’t have the heart to take it away from the bunny just yet.

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>More on the first apartment…

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>The carpet is plain and indestructible.
The bathroom is, well, unique.
Did I mention the lights?


The lights all have longlasting energy efficient bulbs. They stick out of the fixtures because the fixtures are old (it’s a college apartment!). The light fixtures themselves are decorated with — mallard ducks. Why? I’m sure we’ll never know. Maybe the owners or builders got a good deal on a large flock, er, quantity of these.

I just hope the wildlife on the overhead lights is not an indication of the wild life yet to come between these well-worn walls.

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