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Whooped 2008-10-30 05:50:43 Halloween has taken us completely by surprise this year. I don't know what happened, but we're just not as ready as we have been in the past. Last year by this time we had carved the pumpkins, made our toasted pumpkin seeds, eaten our toasted pumpkin seeds, completely decorated the house and yard, and bought our candy for the trick-or-treaters. This year we have the pumpkins, but we haven't carved
Bag of tricks: the classroom survival edition 2008-10-28 05:53:56 Around this time of the semester, I start to morph into a different person in the classroom. I spend weeks at the beginning of the semester trying to lay the groundwork to help my students have a successful semester. We go over classroom strategies, fill out calendars, talk about study skills. I do all this because I hope they will build on these skills and that, come midterm, it wi Read more:survival
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Me, my body, my self 2008-10-27 06:02:16 Last week, when I was waiting outside T.’s school for the doors to click open so I could go inside, a mom ran up, breathless, dressed in a snazzy work-out outfit.
“Are the doors open yet?” she asked me.
“Nope.” I said.
“Whew.” She fanned herself with her hand. “I didn’t have time to shower after working out. I tell you—looking like I did before I had kids is HARD work.”read
Perfect pressure 2008-10-24 17:34:09 In my quest to find the “now” in things, I’m discovering that (for me) any anxiety or stress that I feel is often rooted in the (self-appointed?) pressure to be great. The pressure to be perfect. Whether it's the pressure of being the perfect boss, the perfect dad, or even the perfect blogger, this pressure comes internally and, if I think I’ve missed perfection, it manifests itself in way Read more:Perfect
You know those days 2008-10-24 06:09:02 I couldn't get a column up yesterday because it was, frankly, One of Those Days. You know those ones, where you fully intend to get x, y, and z done, but maybe only z gets done, or x and y, but not all three, and certainly not in the order you wanted. One thing I didn't really realize about parenting when I was a younger, more naive parent, is how much mental energy it takes. When you are the pare
It's me, on a soapbox today 2008-10-21 06:56:23 I have been hearing from more and more parents of kindergarteners about how rigid and, frankly, unrealistic the expectations placed on five-year-olds are becoming. Maybe it's just my county and state, but I hear a familiar lament every time I talk with a parent in the walk-up line, or talk about school with the parent of a kindergartener. I have to say my memory of kindergarten is foggy, but
Balance 2008-10-20 06:15:19 This weekend was a long and difficult one, because we spent much of it doing the dirty work of parenting: enforcing consequences (also known as punishment). L. did hardly any work at school last week, and his teacher sent it all home ("Who's being punished here?" Scott wanted to know, which was a pretty good question), and we had to exact consequences on L. for a moment of extreme folly last week Read more:Balance
A lesson and a recipe 2008-10-17 06:33:11 I’m not normally a jealous person. I’ve learned, over the years, that jealousy is a pretty fruitless emotion, and it makes you feel bad, too, which is never good. But yesterday I stood in the sweltering heat (86 degrees! It’s October, remember?) at the walk-up line at L.’s school. My shoes were too hot, my pants too hot, my shirt too hot, my hair too hot. Leaves trickled down from the tree Read more:lesson
Autism and the environment 2008-11-18 11:26:26 The link between vaccines and autism has been a controversial issue for some time, but now doctors and researchers are looking at the environment as a possible cause. A friend passed along an article about autism linked to rainfall. It reports that children in the wet, northwest areas of the U.S. are more likely to have autism.read more Read more:Autism
Back on the (meal planning) wagon 2008-11-18 05:53:36 I'm getting really tired of how much we've been spending on groceries lately. Every week I feel like we're hemorrhaging money at the store, only to have us back where we started in six or seven days. Is this just us, or does this happen to you, too? I admit, we've gotten lazy/busy these past few weeks, and I haven't been able to meal-plan as carefully as I have in the past.read more Read more:planning
A public decision: The First Family's school choice 2008-11-17 12:05:44 President-elect Obama and his wife are in the process of choosing a school for their two young daughters to attend once they make the move to Washington. Part of their decision
is whether to send them to public or private school.read more Read more:Family
, First
Keeping the spirit, taming the trouble 2008-11-17 06:06:17 This past weekend my parents and sister visited, and on Saturday, after a visit to the local art museum, we came home and ordered Chinese take-out. T. finished hers in record time and disappeared from the table. About five minutes later there was a crashing sound, a dreaded splashing sound, and then silence. Thirty seconds later we heard T. crying--not in the I've been hurt way, but in the oh my g Read more:spirit
Storytelling 2008-11-14 06:05:25 Apparently November is not only the month to write a novel, and a blog post/day (I've got that pretty much covered), but it's also Family Stories Month--the month you're supposed to focus extra hard on sharing the family stories that make up your rich family history, past and present. I love family stories.read more
Kids and gun safety 2008-11-13 10:58:09 There was a story in the news recently about an eight-year-old kid who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi at a gun range, under the supervision of an instructor and his father. In the wake of a tragedy like this, there's always a lot of finger-pointing as the old arguments flare up. It just proves what we've been saying along, say the gun owners and the gun opponents both. read more
Lessons to play by 2008-11-13 05:52:41 Yesterday afternoon I ate lunch with L. and then stood on the blacktop watching the kids race around the play structure, all of them engaged in various chaotic forms of organized play. As I watched them I realized that not only is it hard to see your own kids grow up, but it's also actually kind of hard to watch other people's kids grow up.read more Read more:Lessons
Quirks 2008-11-12 06:09:32 If you are involved in the world of blogging for any length of time, sooner or later you will be invited to participate in a meme. A meme, according to the trusty source Wikipedia, is any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation. In the blogging world, you can pass along fun challenges, quizzes, and "getting to know you" questions as a way of fostering fur
Home cooking 2008-11-11 05:56:18 The particularly difficult week L. had at school last week, combined with my husband's stomach virus this past weekend, and the cold snap that swept through on Saturday evening, made my thoughts turn to the warm comforts of home. I remembered bad days I'd had at school when I was younger--unbearable days when no one seemed my friend, or the world seemed against me, or when I'd had a brush with a j Read more:cooking
A different kind of soapbox 2008-11-10 06:07:30 A type of strange stomach virus hit our household this weekend. My husband, who almost never gets sick, came down with it first. While this virus doesn't make you have to spend all day in the bathroom, it does swoop down and leave you feeling weak and tired and queasy and achy--all unpleasant things for a weekend. read more Read more:different
Gifts from the Kitchen, 2.0 2008-12-12 12:44:27 After yesterday's post are you not convinced that canning can be simple and easy? Then this "canning" gift is right up your alley.read more Read more:Gifts
, Kitchen
The 161 Million Dollar Man 2008-12-12 08:15:47 In these times of economic uncertainty for so many families, with workers losing their jobs, homeowners defaulting on their mortgages, and consumer confidence in the basement, it's good to know that professional athletes are still being taken care of. The New York Yankees this week inked pitcher C.C. Sabathia to a deal worth an astonishing $161,000,000 over 7 years. Apparently, this is one industr Read more:Dollar
, Million Dollar
Three things I learned about gingerbread houses 2008-12-12 06:07:45 Yesterday afternoon T. and I snuck in a quick trip to the grocery store before we picked L. up from school. During final exams week, our house not only falls into a state of messiness and clutter (who can clean when you're knee-deep in grading?), but we tend to run out of necessities like food. While we were trying to find some bakery bread for L.'s lunch, T. spied a gingerbread house making kit.
Read more:houses
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Gifts from the Kitchen 2008-12-11 13:42:33 If the word “canning” conjures up images of your grandma in a steamy-windowed kitchen all day mixing chemistry and culinary arts, I am about to challenge your notion of it.
Up until last year I was weary of canning, as I thought it would require a whole bunch of equipment and items that I didn’t want cluttering up my kitchen. Low and behold, canning can be done with normal, every day i Read more:Gifts
, Kitchen
Deck Your Plates with Bundles of Broccoli 2008-12-10 09:41:37 Last week we were having broccoli with some Chicken Parmesan and a side of pasta. Broccoli
is one of my least favorite vegetables, but for some reason it seems like a lot of children eat it. My theory is that children, especially young children, have an innate sense of creativity with their food, and eating “trees” of food is intrinsically fun.
read more Read more:Plates
Bag of tricks: the giving edition 2008-12-10 05:44:46 I'm knee-deep in final exams this week. Last night I was up until 11:45 calculating grades, and when I went to bed and closed my eyes, I saw small numbers and percentages and class participation points, instead of visions of sugar plums. This is the time of the semester when I get a type of tunnel vision: All I want to do is make it through the next exam, the next batch of exam grading, and the ne Read more:tricks
Red and Green Mexican Lasagna 2008-12-09 13:48:11 We’re feeling so festive at Chez Sweet Pea, even our dinner is cooking up red and green. I created this version of Mexican
lasagna for a holiday dish that fits in perfectly with your schedule this time of year: It's easy, versatile (you can alter it to your taste or to use the items you have on hand), fairly quick to assemble and can be made ahead of time. Oh, and did Read more:Green
, Lasagna
We wish you an economic holiday 2008-12-09 10:57:39 I remember that when I turned 12 years old, my mother announced that we would be celebrating a "grown-up Christmas" from now on. The big Christmas Eve feast was replaced with hors d'oeuvres, the cookies for Santa were forgotten, and other "more mature" modifications were made.read more
Exercise and the holidays 2008-12-09 07:49:11 At the risk of sounding repetitive in my posts, this time of year always brings me back to thinking about my old (and still part-time) job of personal training.
We all know the holidays can be hectic. With the shopping, the baking, the parties...you barely have time to breathe, let alone find time to go to the gym for a workout! You'll always hear that one person saying, "Just 20 minutes is Read more:Exercise
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