Pieces of Randomness

My house is sort of clean, yea, verily, I attest that it is so! I vacuumed and mopped last evening, thanks to DH, who kept the kids preoccupied outside in the yard with their new super duper yard toys from Target. (Best $60 I ever spent, and the weather is only starting to be nice...) SO, since I am a Chief Procrastinator Extraordinaire and have no desire to commence grading lab reports or finish my Bible study homework, I am blogging.

The first item of interest to circulate in my consciousness this morning is the news that the changes in the FICO scoring system mean that my student loan debt will be counted toward my credit score. This does not make me happy. I have a large student loan, which will not be going away anytime soon...my latest off-the-cuff calculations of debt repayment tells me that we won't even get to the student loan on the snowball for FIVE YEARS...which is a long time to have my credit score be depressed from its existence. I have to do more research into this and how exactly it is likely to affect us. Since we have no plans to refinance our mortgage, or buy anything requiring financing, nor sell our house and buy another one in the next five years or so, it's not that big a deal...but who knows what the horizon holds? Yet another stick to incentivize us to be focused on debt paydown.

In other financial LBYM news, our car balance is now reduced still further with a large principal payment from our tax refund. Huzzah! Six and a half months of car payments left if we do nothing else, but you can bet your bottom dollar we are going to be doing something else, namely throwing all extra cash at that loan until it's gone, gone, GONE! My personal goal is to have it paid off by the time we go on vacation to Ireland, which means I have to find at least 2 months of car payments somewhere. I am hoping I get to teach again next quarter, and that would throw another 3 payments into the mix. Fingers crossed...it's still too early for predictions about class load next term, so I'm just hoping there are an extra 15 students needing to take chemistry. I cannot express how tempting it is to take the vacation airfare money and throw that at the car loan too, but that would result in charging airfare, and we have vowed to do away with charging anything. So as tempting as it is to get that quick fix gratification of paying off the car loan, I am going to leave the airfare money where it is.

Speaking of airfare, I am not quite certain what we are going to end up paying for this little jaunt of ours to visit DH's family. So far, the peak time when we want to go, is the most expensive time, to the tune of $1600 more than we have budgeted. If we go earlier, say end of May, then we could squeak in just $400 above our budget. However, this would definitely mean I could not teach for the spring quarter, as the quarter would still be ongoing at that time. So we are sort of on a limb here--I really need to find out what the likelihood is of me teaching next term, because I don't want to book our vacation and then be told, "Oh yeah, could you teach for us, and oh by the way could you teach TWO sections this summer ($3k+)?" *Snort* We want to go see DH's family, but we don't want to throw out several thousand bucks to do it! I am keeping an eye on farecast.com and all the travel websites, but it remains to be seen when is the best time to go, and if we can AFFORD to go.

And, we finally cut DD's hair. It was time--she is 3. I did it myself, and since her hair is curly I wasn't too preoccupied with making sure it was exactly, perfectly even. She did very well once she realized it didn't hurt to have her hair cut. DH snapped pics of the whole process and I have my curl of hair for her scrapbook. *sniff* However, she LOVES her new do, and has been primping in the mirror in advance of school today, eager to show off her new haircut.

Lastly, it is not too difficult to make an Easter bunny face out of paper plates and make-up cotton circles. When your 3 year old wants to do a craft while her brother naps, you make do with what you've got (and it's very LBYM, I might add). Ears were traced and cut out of 2 paper plates, and a third was designated the "face" plate. DD started coloring all three and I finished (as usual). I did not have any big googly eyes so I had to draw a cute pair of eyes with a Sharpie. She got to use pom-poms as a nose & cheeks, and she glued 2 makeup pads on each ear. I cut up another pad to fill in the gaps between the two circles, for a very fluffy couple of ears. (Hey, I don't wear makeup, so they might as well get some good use.) I colored some scrap bits of paper plate black and cut them into thin strips to use as whiskers, and she glued those on top of the pom-pom cheeks. I drew a mouth & big front teeth, and she glued on some scrap ribbon tied into a bow for his necktie. I think he turned out pretty well! DD wants to take him to show & tell at school today. Not bad for a last minute craft! And yes, I am patting myself on the back...tsk tsk. Don't worry, I'm sure my lack of grading and procrastination on my Bible study homework will more than make up for any self-congratulatory impulses I am feeling now.

Speaking of which, I really ought to get going on one of those things...hmmmmmmmm....

The Choice

Like most people in America, I had some passing interest in the Oscars last night. All right, more specifically, in the Oscar fashions on display on the red carpet. I love the elegant formalwear and jewels and beautiful clutches and Grace Kelly-esque gowns. I didn't really give a toss about the awards themselves--I haven't seen any of the movies nominated, and am still holding a grudge against the Oscars in general for the egregious snub of Cate Blanchett for Best Actress in "Elizabeth" in lieu of Gwyneth Paltrow in "Shakespeare in Love"--an egregious slight because Hollywood is so nepotistic and Gwyneth, as cute as her performances are, did not give a performance on the same level as Cate. Sorry, but she got that award because her father, Bruce Paltrow, was sick with cancer and in nepotistic and dynastic Hollywood, they wanted to make the family feel better. JMHO and all... *sniff, sniff* Yes, yes, I know Cate won for "The Aviator", but a snub is still a snub, peeps!

ANYWHO, my attention was snagged by a comment from Heidi Klum about how their (as in her & Seal's) kids were at home "with the nannies" so they could enjoy their evening. (Another digression...I have to say that "Project Runway" is my new guilty TV fave. So drama queen and insular fashionista, it's like high school popularity contests without most of the teen angst.) And I thought, well, that must be nice for them. They can let the nannies take care of the kiddos while they go about their jobs or hobbies or whatnot, without worry. They probably also have housekeepers who do all the ordinary cleaning, laundry, and tidying; as well as gardeners and probably a cook too.

You know, I don't have those luxuries, and I'm betting you don't either. When I choose to play with my kids instead of doing the laundry or housework (like I did today) I don't have magic hired hands to fill the gaps and get everything done. I come back inside and find the sink is still overflowing with dirty dishes, the clean dishes haven't been put away from the dishwasher, and there are still the remnants of last night's dinner on the table. The kids' toys are still all over the place, and the laundry is still stuffed into two overflowing baskets, awaiting folding and disposition in the appropriate closets and drawers. Dirty laundry is still piled up and waiting its turn in the washing machine, and I'm hoping I remember exactly what needs stain pretreatment before I throw it all in. It's yet another reminder for me that celebrities are totally removed from the Real World ™, which makes it all the more puzzling that vast numbers of people actually listen to them when it comes to forming opinions about important world events and societal problems. Just like the movies they star in, they are totally irrelevant to my daily existence, so why would I pay the slightest attention to their views on anything remotely relevant to my life?

Anyway, I had a good time playing with the kids today. I took them to Target and we bought some summer toys, while they are actually in stock. Living in a part of the country where nice weather is limited to the summer months, we found out the hard way last year that about the time you think you should get your kids some fun yard toys and water toys, they are all sold out in the local stores. So this year I set aside some tax refund dollars as a Toy Fund, and we bought some fun (and cheap) toys for exclusive use in the yard. I was persuaded to set up the "Island Adventure Water Table" when we got home, and the kids had a blast and got thoroughly soaked playing with it outside. And that precipitated an unusual daytime bath, and a quickie lunch of reheated mac & cheese, followed by a blissful (if short) period of mommy time wherein I actually read two sections of the newspaper without having little hands pull down the paper or interrupt me with wailing and gnashing of teeth over some infraction by one sibling on the other. And it was my choice to ignore the dishes, and the laundry, and the dirty tablecloth and the floors that need to be mopped. You see, I live in the Real World™, and I don't have a nanny or housekeeper. And frankly, I find it makes the playtime all the sweeter to know I have paid the price for it.

The Ten Minute Gap

Here I am, with ten minutes to fill before I have to wake up DS, pick up DD from school, and make it through what used to be called the Cocktail Hour in the '50s. (I know why they called it the Cocktail Hour, btw...it's because Mommy was at her wits end and needed a little help from Mr. Gin or Miss Vodka to make it through the last hour before Daddy came home...and to show her caring, she'd leave some in the shaker for him, too!) Tonight will be another frenetic Thursday: I'm off to my Bible study group after a three week absence, and have completed a week's worth of homework in an hour so that I feel somewhat prepared.

As usual, I am face to face with my own inadequacies as I stare around my humble house. The floors need a good mopping. Toys are everywhere. The dining room table is covered in bits of paper and projects and the camera, and a clean tablecloth is folded and waiting patiently to be put on the table when I get it all cleared off. DS' highchair needs to be wiped down, the straps need to be taken out and washed, and I know there are 2 loads of clothes that need to be dried and folded and put away. I did this week's Bible study homework, sure, but the previous two weeks are blank--a casualty of a life lived on fast forward and not 0.5x reverse! I skipped systematic theology again yesterday, as DH had to go into work instead of working from home. Not to worry, though--I'm 30 pages behind on that, too.

And yet, right when I was tempted to despair, and to think I should just forget about these classes, and how could I possibly participate tonight when I haven't put as much thought or care into this as I should, I was reminded of the verse, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:3). And, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matt. 5:6) It is precisely because there is not enough "me" at the end of my day, that I crave time with God. God has promised to provide what I don't have. When I don't have the patience to play Lil People with my daughter for the bazillionth time, God gives me that patience. When I don't have the understanding to see why it's important to her to have the monsters in her room blown away, or to be tucked back in again for the third time so she can really and truly go to sleep...well, God gives me the strength and kindness to get it done. I get tapped out. A lot! And I'm not a nice person when I've exhausted all of my "me" reserves. But the truth is, I'm a better mom, a better wife, and a better person when I just throw my hands up from the beginning in helplessness and say, "Okay, God, you take this one!" And He does. And it works out better for everyone when I do. Why, oh why, don't I do that more often?

Easier & Simpler Parenting

It's far easier to parent a baby than a preschooler, isn't it? I'm enjoying some one on one time with DS, and it struck me how much simpler it is to please a 13 month old than a 3 year old. I can play peekaboo over my newspaper and DS is happy. DD wants me to forget reading the newspaper and come and play with her and her animals or Lil People. DS likes to just sway back and forth to the music from one of his musical books. DD wants me to get up and do a full aerobic workout, finishing with chasing around the house. DS is happy with some smiles and timely diaper changes...DD wants me to celebrate and help with every visit to the potty, plus provide stickers or some other incentive for whatever other good behavior she is demonstrating. And of course, DD knows the difference between good and bad behavior, so I have to discipline her when she's naughty--something neither of us relishes but we both need.

It's a funny thing, because DD is so much more interactive in some ways, but she's also far more demanding. I suppose that is the way it always goes with parenting--just when you are really digging a particular stage, they grow some more and move on to something else! DS is figuring out how things work, including how to talk. He's still doing gibberish but occasionally comes out with a new word and we are trying to encourage more talking by repeating words he says, and saying the word for all the things we touch every day. He's figured out how to get into the dishwasher, and we are going to have to buy an oven lock because pretty soon he's going to turn around and think, I wonder if this thing works the same way... So it is stressful in some sense because he doesn't understand the whole DANGER! concept yet, and I know we will be pulling our hair out in about six months as we try to teach him what STOP means. But overall he's a pretty undemanding little dude, happy to share the same orbit that we are flying in, and along for the ride.

DD thinks that she has the right to choose the orbit, time, and speed for our lives, and is quite put out when she's told otherwise! She wants to do everything her way, NOW, and that wears on us quite a bit some days. But then she turns around and does the sweetest things, and you just think, Awwwwwww. She wanted to wrap a present the other day, and decided to pick out a DVD from our shelf, then proceeded to wrap it with DH in two layers of construction paper, complete with a construction paper bow that DH crafted. She cut out some shapes and wrote on the "tag", and then I was presented with this wonderful prize, and she couldn't wait to see me open it! ("Popeye and Friends", in case you were wondering...) She was just so pleased to be offering a present--memories from birthdays and Christmas are clearly ensconced and getting a present or surprise in the mail is a pretty big deal in her world. And there is no finer dining establishment than Red Robin--who wants Olive Garden when you can go to Red Robin? Thus is the reasoning of a three year old.

Maybe it just comes easier to me to entertain DS because I've already been there with him, whereas we are breaking new ground with DD. Any made up craft I can cobble together is a surefire hit. She would do crafts all day, every day if she could. Gluing things is a special new favorite, although her persistent creation of confetti with her scissors makes me reluctant to haul those out very often. She is just a curious little creature, a mix of the droll and capricious. Very engaging in her own way, if sometimes a pain in the butt!! And I'm sure that is the point...less me, more them. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

The Hot Spot

Well, we finally did it. We kicked DS out of our room. It only took us 13 months, but we got there in the end. In the process, we dismantled our only guest room, taking the twin beds apart and storing them and their mattresses in our cottage for future deployment when it's transformed from "That Place Where We Store Stuff" to "The Guest Cottage". Which, *ahem*, should happen by Christmas, seeing as we have visitors scheduled, and otherwise we will be offering our poor quality sleeper sofa and an air mattress.

The funny thing is, I was less prepared for this transition than DS apparently was. DH & I worked throughout the day on Monday to get it ready, and I had great fun vacuuming, and hanging pictures, and tidying away his toys into their designated spots, safely ensconced in his room and thus more easily defended from his grabby sister. Both of the kids enjoyed the chaos as we set everything up, and swirled around us as we argued over how to arrange the track for the ceiling fixture (more proof that DIY = fighting, as if any were needed), and where to set the dresser, etc. Finally it was all done and DS surveyed his new kingdom with a quiet kind of pleasure; while I finally realized that he was really going to start SLEEPING in there and not in our bedroom.

DH has been anxiously awaiting this day. While he is totally supportive of co-sleeping and has had no trouble sharing our room and our bed with our little guy, once they start sleeping diagonally across the bed and taking up half of it, he gets a little antsy to get the baby out of the room. And needless to say it does nothing for one's sex life to have a little person in bed with you. And there are the countless other small pleasures that are lost: watching a DVD together in bed, reading together in bed, having dessert in bed, talking before going to sleep, etc. It's a bit much at times, and it's not easy when you wake up in the middle of the night wide awake either. It's with some trepidation that either of us decides to sit up in bed and turn on a miniscule light to read or do puzzles when we have insomnia, and always alert for the sound of a little person waking up.

No, I am not going to miss any of that. However, I was surprised at the depth of my 'mourning', if you will, at not having my little guy snoozing away in our room. Eventually he will not wake up in the middle of the night in his crib, and will just snooze away the whole night in his own bedroom. I know this is the point, I know that is exactly what we have been working toward and aiming for...and certainly the fact that DS has embraced his room as his own little kingdom and enjoys spending time in there is a testament to his readiness to embrace independent sleeping. Hooray! Now if only I could stop myself from sniffling a little bit, because my baby is already showing signs that he's not my baby any more. DH is already on the alert for the Broodiness Factor®, looking out for little drugstore bags holding suspicious pencil-shaped objects, ready for deployment in the bathroom early in the morning. He needn't worry...DS is still enough of a baby to satisfy me for now. But in another six months, all bets are off! *sniff*

Commitment Phobe

<grouse>I understand now why some people are commitment phobes. Oh, not in relation to marriage or relationships, but referring to family commitments and involvement. Frankly, it's just plain easier to say no to extracurricular activities, classes/studies/hobbies for the parents, and I'm beginning to think it's cheaper! And this whole school thing is waaaaaay overrated...you never read about all the viruses and nasty bugs that get passed around with the cutesy crafts and circle times in preschool brochures, do ya? </grouse>

In case you hadn't guessed, yes we DID have a sleepless night, and our DD is still sick this morning. In fact she greeted DH at about 4:45 AM with vomit all over herself and her bed, when he went in to her room (again) to see what she needed when she started crying for the twentieth time in what felt like the span of twenty minutes. This was after we had actually woken the child up twice in the middle of the night to administer rotating doses of Motrin and Tylenol on the advice of our pediatrician, who said there is a nasty virus going around that causes high fevers, and to call and bring her in tomorrow (today) if she wasn't doing better. Yep-per, a 104.3F fever in a three year old is no fun, even if part of us secretly enjoyed the fact that all she wanted to do was lie on the couch huddled under a blanket and watch TV, instead of pestering us to play endless ridiculous scenarios with her Lil People, Elmo, Dragon, and cardboard bricks that masquerade as doctor's tables and dentist's chairs in her active imagination. (I mean, really, only a three year old could imagine that EVERY time one of her Lil People has to go to the doctor or dentist, the caregiver is always asleep for a few minutes first.) Unfortunately that part was far outweighed by the concerned parents who didn't like seeing their active little girl so down and totally unlike her normal self.

And last night DS decided that the only time he would actually sleep was when he was nursing. After uncounted hours of tossing and turning DS firmly snuggled in and attached, I decided the only way I was going to sleep properly was to kick him out to his crib...something that I finally did about, oh, five nanoseconds before DD started her two hour wake-up kick with assorted requests (water, stories, etc) at some ridiculous hour of the morning, culminating in the vomit episode and DS being woken up for the third time from his crib.

It was not fun. I am still not awake. DH let me sleep in until 8:15 (hallelujah for work from home days!), when I finally responded to DS pounding on our bedroom door. DH wisely made leaded coffee, which I desperately need. And I had to email and guiltily cancel systematic theology AGAIN, making it the second week in a row that I have ditched class. Thank goodness I don't have Bible study tomorrow, due to the Hallmark holiday (which we don't celebrate...homemade valentines with crayons and construction paper is right up our alley in this house).

The thing is, we are totally, utterly MAXED OUT in our commitments as a family. DH is doing a mens Bible study. I am doing a womens Bible study. I am also doing the systematic theology class. And we are both co-facilitators of a new financial class at church, Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. (As another aside, I know there are parts of Dave's teachings that contradict, to some degree, prevailing wisdom regarding investments and such, but DH is more risk averse than I so we are crafting a middle ground for ourselves...right after we finish that Debt Snowball.) DD has preschool twice a week, and then I'm teaching one day per week, such that DD comes with me to campus daycare. A babysitter takes care of DS, which means the house has to stay presentable. Normally housework is what I let slide when things go totally wild on us, as we are quite capable of Living in Filth™. However, this option is not available given that we have someone else who has to deal with our house cleanliness (or lack thereof), thus I have to make it a priority, too, along with finding money and time for procuring new clothes (when the heck did DD sprout up two inches and outgrow everything in her wardrobe?) and new shoes (ditto DS' feet?).

I truly understand why people just say no to doing lots of stuff now. Because when the sh!t hits the fan, you get really, really behind on, oh, everything, and that's really stressful. As if I needed more environmental factors to make me susceptible to all those colds DD is bringing home. Yeesh! Off to chug more OJ now, thanks.

Hardly Glamorous

I suspect part of what drives SAHMs crazy sometimes is the fact that most of the work we do is hardly glamorous. I mean, really, what is so glam about wiping snotty noses or making mac & cheese, or vacuuming or folding laundry? Nothing. I suspect this is why women's lib caught on--it was far more exciting and glam to be a flight attendant, or a CPA, or Rosie the Riveter. Far better than trading tips on darning stockings or what to do when your cake doesn't rise. And while a lot of women do wear makeup and enjoy it, there are a fair few of us out there who wear makeup maybe twice a year, and when they do are hoping that what they already have isn't caked up or dried out, because heaven help us if we have to navigate the damn drugstore cosmetics aisle again.

A case in point: my day today. I spent my early part of the morning putting away dishes, a fairly ho-hum job with the slight amusement factor that comes from keeping DS out of the dishwasher while I attempt to unload it and reload it. And let's not forget cleaning out the coffee pot and coffee filter, and attempts to ensure that the cheap coffee filters, which are a smidge shorter than the expensive ones, don't cause the coffee grounds to overflow and clog the drain thingy (that's the technical term, dontchaknow).

Then I had the uber-glam job of cleaning my vacuum cleaner, after cleaning the birdcage, of course. My Dyson has never been cleaner, thanks to extensive rinsing of the filter, plus cleaning all the plastic bits inside the chamber. I did not know that I actually COULD clean all those bits! Those of you familiar with Dysons will forgive my ignorance, as I climb down the ignorance hill of former bag-vacuum owners. The idea that the insides of my canister could be, well, CLEAN, is astonishing. Now it looks nearly as clean as the day we bought it. Hopefully it will perform better after this salubrious treatment, too.

On the downside, my DD is sick, again. This morning she was lying around on the couch, so I knew she was not feeling good. Sure enough, the thermometer indicated a fever, so she didn't get to go to school, and now she's got a higher fever and the chills. Hmmmmmm. This worries me. This whole school thing is great, but it seems like she's doomed to come down with a new cold each week! I am hoping she is better in time for Thursday's Valentine's party with her class. Poor kiddo. Let's hope it's just a 24 hour bug. I sincerely hope we aren't up for another sleepless night. Spring had better be just around the corner!

The Sugar Revolution

For Lent I decided to give up refined sugar. Please note that I am not a Catholic, but the vague, I need to change something for the healthier notions I had at the New Year have not manifested in much more than the occasional dance-out with the kids, which while somewhat aerobic really does not do much for regaining Ye Olde College Weight. Thus when my Catholic ILs were discussing Lent and it occurred to DH & I that it was Pancake (Shrove) Tuesday, I thought perhaps it would be a good timeframe to try out a change for the better as regards my sweet tooth and sugar in general. My SIL gave up refined sugar and non-whole grains for about six months and lost a ton of weight and felt better, so I thought I could handle a small step toward a healthier life by saying goodbye to refined sugar.

Now, for the purposes of my Lenten fast, I have defined refined sugar to be any sugar that is processed in any way beyond being crushed out of the cane (or beets, but all the sugar beet sugar is refined so it's out). Thus I am okay with stuff that has been left to dry after being crushed out of the sugarcane (i.e. sucanat) but not okay with brown sugar or organic sugar. Unfortunately high fructose corn syrup is out too, because well, it's highly refined sugar, even if it's not sucrose (table sugar).

Big deal, you say, you don't have sugar in your coffee and you use Splenda in baked goods. Ah, but there is the rub. Do you know how many baked goods contain sugar? Well, let me tell you--a LOT! Fortunately for me we had just made the switch to an eight grain bread with no high fructose corn syrup, but it's pretty tough to find baked goods sans sugar. That also means I cannot eat any of the ice cream, candy, or cookies we have in the house. If we had any Splenda ice cream I could eat that, but I won't let myself buy more ice cream until what we have is eaten, because it would be wasteful; and thus I am stuck until DH and DD manage to consume about a gallon of ice cream...something that I doubt will happen until near the end of Lent.

However, to satisfy my sweet tooth I have been doing a whole lotta baking. I have purchased sucanat and brown rice syrup and Splenda. (I am still on the fence about the brown rice syrup--is it really refined if it's a syrup? Ditto maple syrup...for my purposes I am considering them unrefined as there is no separation of extraneous stuff other than extra water from the sugar molecules, but I digress...) My first foray into baking sans real sugar involved brown rice syrup, Splenda, and maple syrup. I used Splenda to bake a banana cake, then found a vegan caramel sauce recipe and made some of that, and sweetened some whipped cream with the brown rice syrup. It made for a lovely riff on banoffi and we even served it to guests, who raved about it. The cake was bit dense for my taste, due to the use of whole wheat flour, but overall it was a hit.

We finished off the banoffi cake yesterday, and I was stuck without a dessert option or any option (other than a teaspoonfull of leftover caramel sauce) for my sweet tooth today. I thought cupcakes would be nice, and since I'd had luck with the vegan recipe I googled more vegan recipes. I should have known better when I couldn't find a vegan cupcake recipe that sounded palatable, but I figured I could work something out and set out to bake with sucanat and vegan margarine instead of butter. Why not go whole hog, I thought, although I did pull back at the last minute and used real eggs instead of tofu. And for kicks I used up the rest of the potato flour I had in the pantry--2 cups, plus about a 1/2 cup of wheat flour. Wholesome, nutritious, good, right?

Wrong. I have experienced my first complete and utter baking disaster in twenty years. TWENTY YEARS! I have ruined a twenty year record of delectable baked goods! These burnt shells holding puffy raw dough are about the worst thing I have baked, EVER. I could have cried...there was just nothing salvageable about these wastes of ingredients. The travesties are sitting on my kitchen counter right now, DH having tried one and insisting they are sort of like mini vegan brown breads...except with egg...and they would probably be delicious cut in half and toasted and buttered. He is being kind--they are terrible. I think their likely destination in the morning is the trashcan, DH having convinced me to leave them overnight and decide in the morning.

I have no dessert. Well, I was going to have no dessert, but I was so shaken by my utter baking failure that I HAD to bake something else with sucanat, just to prove that I could make something, ANYTHING that tastes good with it. So I made the recipe from the package, a Marilu Henner jobbie that is supposed to be brownies. I did change it slightly--used some cocoa powder, used real butter (not soy), and used a bit more all purpose flour and some baking powder to make it more cakey. I have 22 more cupcakes in the oven, and they are rising and looking good. The batter even tasted good. I have high hopes for this batch. Now if only the Tofutti fake cream cheese icing turns out well...

Household Observations

First, my children's reactions to the vacuum cleaner is a testament to how very different they are. DD has always hated the vacuum since infancy, and now when I vacuum her strategy is to go to her room and play with her toys while I vacuum, being sure that if she has to venture out from the safety of our room, to give the vacuum a wide berth. Fortunately for us she no longer cries when the vacuum is on, which drove us just that little bit nuts for the first 18 months of her life.

DS, on the other hand, LOVES the vacuum cleaner! Even when it's not on, he is trying to get into the laundry room (where it lives) to see it and to pull off the on-board attachments so that he can wave them around victoriously like trophies and chew on them (we discourage this one strongly) and sort of treat them as a lovey. When I am vacuuming I usually have to incarcerate him in his exersaucer, because he will follow me around as I vacuum, patting the vacuum and attempting to dance with it. It is very cute but he gets all tangled up in the cord and stands right in front of it (so he can see it in all its glory, one presumes), and eventually I get sick of it and plop him into his exersaucer so I can finish in peace.

Ditto the hairdryer. DD hates it, DS loves it. And the shower--he loves it, she hates it. Just completely opposite in personalities. I imagine we will see more of this as DS gets older.

And speaking of vacuum cleaners, I have a surefire recipe for killing every type of vacuum cleaner sold on earth. We are on our third vacuum cleaner in about six years, and this last time we sprung for the BAD BOY of vacuum cleaners, that exorbitantly expensive but oh-so-gratifying-cleaning-power, the Dyson Animal. This is a $550 jobbie. Ouch. Yes, the frugal among my reading audience will be writhing in pain right about now. But now, about 18 months into ownership, our Dyson is mysteriously flagging in suction power. I will clean the filter again, but I suspect the pattern of dying vacuums is linked to a constant force in our household. No, not children. No, not ever-present dust bunnies or hair. I think it's the bird.

Yes, the bird. I think our African grey parrot's cage, feathers, and dander are too much for our Dyson. I use it to clean the birdcage, and I think it just can't handle the type and volume of cleaning required for a birdcage. I suspect all those cute and soft fluff feathers are clogging it up, and all the fine powdery dander is killing the 'lifetime' filter. I am going to have to phone the Dyson folks, because they do guarantee this machine for life. So I did not cough up $550 in vain, oh no. Instead I am going to call Dyson so often they are going to grumble when they see my number and tag me as "That Parrot Lady". Expect to see a new name for this machine in the future--the Dyson Cat & Dog. Yep, they didn't know what they were getting in for, tagging it with the generic "Animal" name. And I think our little African grey is going to make them regret it. Stay tuned.

If I Could Teach Just One Thing...

...to my students, it would be to ASK when they have a problem! Ask if you don't understand some calculations! Ask if you don't understand the concept! Ask for help if you have personal or work issues that prevented you from turning an assignment in on time! Ask, ask, ASK!!

I know this is something that causes teachers everywhere to bang their heads on their desks in vain, but there is SO MUCH WIGGLE ROOM at the community college level for students who are brave enough to just ASK for help. I am astounded at how many of my students have just not turned in an assignment without a peep to me about why or asking for help with something they didn't understand. I just don't get it. I've told them all, and tell them every week, to ASK me if they need help, and they have my email address and a voicemail number. I check them both regularly and the only astonishing thing (to me) is how little they use them!

If that is one thing I wish I could drill into college students' heads, it's that they gain nothing but not asking the professor for help, and gain a ton when they do. Most professors are so willing to be accommodating, but we can't accommodate you if we don't know what's going on! So just suck it up and ask for help, peeps, that's all I'm sayin'.

The House of Illness

That would be us. For about two weeks. I'm kind of tired of it, frankly. There needs to be a better way to evict stubborn microorganisms which don't belong there from one's body, or the bodies of one's children or spouse. Something that has a cathartic feel to it, like a big glowing button with a digital sign output and perhaps the noise of rushing wind, something like that. So that you feel like you're actually DOING something productive, because endlessly wiping noses and administering breathing treatments and medication in little cups and syringes somehow just doesn't have the same productive feeling.

I'm going stir-crazy here. DS has pneumonia, and just when I thought DD and DH were getting over their colds, a new variant showed up. Because, you know, it's not enough to deal with one week of non-stop runny noses and whining, why not add a second week for kicks? This time with a nasty phlegmmy cough, so you can try to explain to a three year old why she should cough up and spit out all that nasty tasting mucus instead of just swallowing it and not tasting it. Because THAT is soooo productive, as three year olds are reknowned for their comprehension of such things. And speaking of comprehension, how about the continuing exile from school and church, which has led to her begging for DH or I to play with her? The poor kid was just getting used to the fun of crafts and playtime with peers, and scarcely a month later she is yanked out for almost two weeks due to a cold. She just doesn't understand, frankly..."But maybe today, Mommy, I can go to school if I don't cough?" *sigh*

Yep, I am tired of it. Especially so since I also got the nasty cold, and have been expelling my own fair share of mucus. But somehow that doesn't matter when I have to teach, grade, keep up with the laundry, groceries, etc...there is no break from running the household! Now that DS is feeling a bit better, he is getting into everything, but still whiney because he still doesn't feel 100%. THAT is a fun place to be, let me tell ya...yep-per, we're having a GREAT time here...

When is my vacation, exactly??