Formal Raking

Steve raked leaves today, leaves that have been buried under snow the last 5 months and I just think it's fabulous that he wore a tie for the occasion.

Best of INXS

On Sunday, yes, Easter, I just couldn't pass up a deal for a Best of INXS cd for only $7.99. We put it on in the car and I felt like a teenager again, hanging out with my best friend at the time, Crissy Ciliberti. Sometimes Crissy and I would drive around and listen to INXS or we'd hang out in her bedroom for hours, as I think only teenage girls can do. Crissy had a poster of INXS on her wall and her mom pronounced the band's name "Inks," which made us roll our eyes and snicker...such ignorance, ha. Those were the days when I would spend all my hard-earned money from my afterschool job going to concerts in Philadelphia: Duran Duran, Faith No More, Depeche Mode, The Cure...taking the train into Philadelphia was an adventure in itself.

Now I have my own eye-rolling child and yet it amazes me how a smell, a picture or a song can transport me back in time and I feel like that 16-year old again. I would never want to relive that time period, but it's nice to know I can retain some of that excitement for adventure and that feeling that anything can happen.

Sophie's pick from The Best of INXS? "Original Sin," which she sings along to, piping in when she knows the scattered lyrics. It's nice to have a break from her favorite Phish song, which is the most hardcore song they have, and it cracks me up, because Sophie seems like such a quiet, introspective child....sometimes.

Grumped Out

It was a beautiful day today and Soph enjoyed using this jumping toy, you spin it around your leg and jump. I've been grumpy today, I hate it, and have not wanted to be around people. Steve and Soph are at the neighbor's right now, while I'm hiding out...about to finish watching "August Rush."

I did go to Global Village today and pick up some Easter gifts for Soph. Global Village is like Ten Thousand Villages, the items are made by artists in other countries and the money is returned to their country. It's my favorite store in Logan. Above are the gifts I got for Soph. The chocolates are fair trade, the bear bag was made in Guatemala, by Ruth and Nehomi, and the cross was made in El Salvador. I've written about not being religious, but I want to explain to Soph that Jesus means all-kindness to us, as depicted on this cross. The bell was made in India and I'm going to hang it in my office.

Friday

Today I got my first 2 t-shirts in the mail: University of Maine and Southern Connecticut State University. I am so excited to wear both of them, but I think the one from SCSU will grab more of the students' attention, because we're the owls too.

I just think it is really cool for universities and colleges to take the time to send me a t-shirt and to support our students. Today I wore the Princeton shirt our friend, Keith, gave us, which is getting quite worn...time for a new one.

Soph and her friend had a snack stand today and sold really old candy and fruit snacks to people (very reasonably priced though) and my favorite was when the couple visiting from Georgia pulled up. I loved their southern accents, though I have a tendency to start imitating people and then I think they think I'm making fun of them...and I'm not! I want to have an accent so bad!

I went out to dinner with friends from work and it is such a hoot (continuing the owl theme here) to share stories about our work. They are really great women and we can have differences of opinions on things and still get along, such a nice concept!

I keep forgetting that Sunday is Easter. Religiously, it doesn't mean a lot to us, but I'd like to celebrate the newness of spring and maybe come up with our own ritual. We hide the eggs and candy and now make cascarones (really big in San Antonio), but we're simply duplicating what our parents did., minus the cascarones. I think we need to find meaning in the holidays and celebrate in a way that corresponds with our beliefs...I just feel so lazy!

Quest for T-shirts

Steve and I have a pretty good collection of college t-shirts, so I decided to start wearing a different one every Friday at our elementary school, which is a Title I institution. I sent out some emails over the weekend to various university presidents and I got my first response today. Dr. Cheryl Norton, at Southern Connecticut State University, emailed that she would be "pleased and proud" to do this. Yea! The other cool thing is that their mascot is the same as our mascot, the owl.

Also, Dr. Keith Pecor from The College of New Jersey has agreed to send a t-shirt, but we sort of have an in with him...he's Steve's former office mate and best friend from the University of Michigan. Thanks Keith! Keith has also increased our collection with t-shirts from Princeton, Rhodes College and University of Memphis.

My goal is to increase our students' awareness of the options they have in higher education and to make college part of their vocabulary. I am so happy that my first response was so positive. It's great that universities want to help our students out.

Also, Loteria Night was Friday Night and with over 220 people there I think it was quite a success. I had a lot of fun, when I wasn't stressed about how many prizes we had left.

Totally Frivolous Post

I used a cotton swab this morning, not a Q-Tip, but a generic cotton swab and I was assured again that sometimes it is worth the extra $1 - $2 to get the name brand...ouch. This doesn't mean in every case the name brand is better. I actually prefer the store brand of instant oatmeal to the name brand and the store brand of 2-bite brownies, they are decadent. Maybe it's with products of the personal hygiene nature that one should not skimp: toilet paper, band-aids, soap; although, I buy face cleanser that is generic and find it equally smelly and eye-stinging as the name brand!

I do not really come from discriminating tastes...my father would take us to the local diner over any 5-star restaurant anyday, not that there were any 5-star restaurants in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin, but if there were, we'd still dine at the Machikanee Cafe. My mother also drove a very loud and vibrating red station wagon that still had hay in it from the previous owners and told us to pour soda in the engine when it stopped working...generic soda, of course. Perhaps if we'd used Diet Coke that car would still be running!

Face Cards

My previous post was about the "evils of face cards," but I deleted most of it after feeling I was giving a false representation of the local culture. What I wrote was that I took some cards to school for the students to use after their spelling tests and was told that the face cards (jack, queen, king) had to be taken out because some people considered them evil. I was baffled.

I spoke with the principal yesterday and found out that no, the cards are not forbidden at the school and yes, there may be some parents who do not want their kids playing with the face cards. I can go along with that. I also found out from a good friend that although some people may have forbidden their children to use cards, most families use them and playing card games is not considered evil. Sounds like the situation in any area of the world, there are those who go over the top, those who disregard every rule and most of the population resides somewhere in between.

The rest of my post was about growing up and being forbidden to use any devices that predicted the future, such as a Magic 8 Ball and to this day I want one, but just can't bring myself to purchase one. I've been to fortune tellers, palm readers, tarot card readers and have played with a Ouija board, but I do not put faith in those things, they're just good fun.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Steve and I were looking at old photos today and this is one of my favorites, because not only is the image of Soph looking in the toilet priceless, but it appears that the bathroom was actually clean!

Play-Doh, Pen Twirling and Loteria

I have been making Loteria cards for over a week now for our Loteria Night at Adams. Loteria is like Bingo, but uses images instead of numbers and it is in Spanish. I found a kid-friendly Loteria game online, so printed off the 64 images and have been cutting them and gluing them to cardstock. I'm sure there's a faster way to do this task, but all the time I spend on it counts toward my Americorps hours and since I came late to the Americorps game, I'm in desperate need of filling my hours.

I wasn't feeling well today, so instead of making Sophie and her friend playdough, I purchased Play-Doh and Soph and her friend seemed to have a great time. Thanks Aunt Teresa, for all the cool cookie cutters...we've had them since Soph was 3! I did have to sniff the Play-Doh...ahhh, totally therapeutic. I also think making playdough is therapeutic, because it goes from being a gloppy mess to instant solidification and it is really cool.

Pen Twirling is what I heard about on NPR on my way home from a meeting. It is now considered a sport and there is a world competition, which I would love to see. The competitor featured on the show was talking about the tricks they do and the lingo sounded like that of the snowboarder culture, which my husband was a part of years ago. Pen twirling, playdough playing...maybe Sophie could get a scholarship in the latter someday!

Wisconsin vs. Utah

Sophie asked for a story today, one from when I was little. I told her about getting our allowance on Saturday morning and heading out to buy candy...at the liquor store. Steve thinks that's the funniest thing, that my siblings and I would head on down and amongst the beer and vodka we'd find our Jawbreakers and Wacky Wafers. That was life in Wisconsin, more bars than people, haha.

In Utah things are slightly different. The big articles in the Sunday paper are about some small town deciding to sell beer on Sundays and for weeks after, people write in voicing their opinion on such a controversial matter. Afterall, in Utah there are more churches than people, haha.

Growing up I wasn't aware of the "bar culture," my parents didn't take us to bars and other than the occasional glass of wine with dinner, they weren't big drinkers. I wonder what Sophie's perception of her childhood in Utah will be. We aren't part of the dominant culture, but it doesn't seem to affect her daily life. If I had stayed in Wisconsin, in the small town where everyone turned out for the Friday night football games, would I have the same interests I do now? Neither of my parents were from Wisconsin, and was that a bigger factor than my environment? I know it's both, I'm just dying to fast forward 10 years from now and hear Sophie's take on her childhood in Utah. One thing I know, she won't be sharing stories with her kids about buying candy at the liquor store.