Outside the Nest

My babes, right before school began this fall.

The first time I ever sent my boy on the bus all by himself I felt a tremor of trepidation. Every time he or his sister have gone off into the world, into social situations which I couldn’t monitor in me there was an undercurrent of tension and elation. They both are so much more social than I, so I was happy for them to have that need and desire for companionship fulfilled. At the same time, I was tense with concern about how they would behave with others and in turn, how they would be treated.  I’m sure many of us had less-than-pleasant experiences in our childhood interactions with our peers.  Oh, how I wish I could shield my babes from this! 

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I’m not Pregnant, Pocohantas, and I’m Trying not to be Pissed

Why?  Because apparently I look like the first two in the dress I worked on yesterday which makes me feel the third.  But here it is, on me, for you all to see, and maybe give a little feedback.

Hmmm, not too bad, right?

Hey wait–she just said she’s not pregnant!

Look at all that extra fabric floating around the midline.

Where’s my bu*t?

Come here, Jasper. What, you can’t see me as I hide in my personal tent?!?

I think I have figured out what the dress needs– waist shaping.  I was planning on wearing it out to dinner tomorrow night, but that might not happen if I don’t have it “fixed” in time.  I’ve left the dress unhemmed so that I can modify the sides without having to worry about the bottom.  And if all else fails I make it into something else.  Goodness knows that skirt has enough fabric in it!

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Making It Our Everyday

How many of you out there are excited about all of the “green” and “eco-friendly” we see mainstreamed today?  Anybody have any negative feelings about it? Sometimes I do. . .

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Are You Sure?

A student asked me that tonight as I was trying to answer her question.  I was telling her about some research in relation to her question and she looked at me all skeptical-like and said, “Are you sure? Because I scored a 3 on the scale in this other class. . . ”  augh.  I was so taken aback by the skepticism, totally taking it as a personal attack, that I couldn’t formulate a response to the “because I scored” part.  If I had been in top teacher mode then I would have been able to use it as a teaching moment against using one instance as proof that something is totally wrong.  But I wasn’t, and it threw me off, doubting myself and my knowledge.  I felt off for the remainder of the class.  Obviously I’m still reeling from it a bit if I’m writing about it here.  Don’t get me wrong–I love my students to think and ask questions.  If I can’t answer it I’ll tell them that I don’t know and that I’ll find an answer.  And I do.  But this was totally out of my realm of experience.  I haven’t had someone question my response in such a way before.  I’m already working on finding a better response to her question, including checking in with someone else about it.  I’m going to work hard not to feel all jittery when looking at her now or to respond to her any differently than I did in the past.

Have any of had a similar experience (not necessarily with teaching)?  If so, how have you handled it?  Or not. . .  *sigh*  I really need to learn not to take things so personally.

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I Am NOT Your Friend

I shuddered everytime Sen McCain said, “my friends.”

Any memorable moments for you from this debate?  I didn’t enjoy this debate as much as the other two so far.

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Priceless Lines

* * * WARNING * * *

This post is political in nature.  I tried to get these quotes as they were being said, but they may not be entirely exact.  Forgive that, and if you don’t want to get into politics, don’t keep reading!

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Drill Baby, Drill?!?!

That was one of the chants shouted last night at the Republican National Convention. I sat there in shock. L1 and I were watching it because we wanted to be more well-informed before the debates this fall. It was so frustrating. As Giuliani was discussing how McCain would help with our energy crisis and dependence on foreign oil, he said triumphantly something like, “And yes, John McCain will make sure we do off shore drilling.” The crowd cheered and shouted, “Drill baby, drill” and Giuliani laughed at it. Yes, let’s drill away for oil that we won’t see on the market for years and that won’t make much more than a few cents difference in gas prices. That isn’t going to help us NOW. Between that and the chants, “zero” referring to Obama’s “zero experience” leading, it was hard to watch. But we plan on listening to McCain’s acceptance speech, so there’s more to come.

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Iron Jawed Frustration

I just finished watching one of my favorite movies, “Iron Jawed Angels” in honor of the 88th anniversary of the 19th amendment. It’s amazing to me that our fore bearers had to fight so hard and so long for a liberty that so many today choose to ignore. When I watch this movie I feel uplifted and frustrated at the same time. It’s amazing to see what those women (and men) went through so that today I have the right to walk into a booth, pull a curtain and cast my vote. It frustrates me when I hear about situations like that which has arisen from the Democratic primaries, where there are people who are so angered by Senator Clinton’s loss of the Democratic Nomination that they want to be sure Senator Obama doesn’t win, including wanting to vote for Senator McCain as a sign of protest! I recognize their right to vote, but am so frustrated by the reasoning! To vote for a candidate whose record and statements are frequently in opposition to those of the candidate for whom you were supporting just seems ignorant (ex: Clinton = strong pro-choice record, McCain = strong anti-choice record, including public statements saying he would overturn Roe v. Wade). I support your right to vote for a candidate because you support their positions and ideas for how to run our country, but to vote for someone out of spite, regardless of their positions on issues? What a waste of your voice! I’m sure there are those of you out there who would disagree with me, and that’s fine too. That’s the beauty of our country, right? To be able to express ourselves? So it’s my blog and I’ll rant if I want to–but I am also interested in hearing your views, too. We can all show respect around here, yes?

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Carbon Belch Day?!?!

Check out this link about Carbon Belch Day.  I just read about it on Ravelry’s Greencraft board and was utterly dismayed and annoyed and and…  WTH?!?!  After taking a quick browse of the group responsible for sponsoring this “day of action,” grassfire.org, I was shocked.  Call me ignorant, but I couldn’t believe what I read about there.  It’s like the antithesis of moveon.org.

Seriously now, even if you are skeptical about global warming and other environmental problems, why would you waste energy in such a way?  It’s not like it’s free–it costs you an ever-increasing portion of income.  But I suppose our country isn’t known for fiscal responsibility.  (And I am part of the problem–I haven’t been as responsible with my finances in the past as I should have been, and now we’re trying to climb away from that irresponsibility, but it’s going to be a long haul.)

So, what do you think of Carbon Belch Day?

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My Grocery Store Has Let Me Down

As many of you know, I LOVE our local grocery store, Wegmans. Though it isn’t just located in Rochester, NY anymore, to me it is still a local store. I love the selection of goods, the local farms produce in the appropriate seasons (complete with pictures of the family farmers, sometimes!), its child care services while grocery shopping (once your child is 3 and potty trained!!), and the fact that it doesn’t feel like I’m walking into a sterile hospital to purchase my food.  I also like that they have been rated a top place to work for both part-time and full-time employees for the past decade.

Like many retailers today, the store is selling its own grocery totes (ugly, but hey, they’re trying), has a great bottle return center in the front of the store, and no one has even blinked at our own produce bags rather than using the plastic ones.  In fact, you can read here about what they have been doing to reduce their environmental impact.  In order to take our own plastic consumption down a step further, L1 talked to someone at the deli, where we get sliced cheese, a couple of weeks ago about using containers other than their plastic zip bags.  The person with whom Mr. L spoke told him he hadn’t been asked that before, that it was a great question, and then told him that the cheese could be weighed and then given a sticker and handed to us and we could then put it in a container of our choosing.  Great news!  However, when L1 went to get our cheese today he was told differently.  Apparently several people have asked the same question since L1 did, and the question was put forth to the higher-ups.  They responded that the deli items had to be put in the plastic bags for food safety!  They said they didn’t know what was in the container before and therefore couldn’t hand over the food to us.  L1 challenged this by saying, “But we handle our produce in our own bags!”  The man was sympathetic and thought it was strange, too, but his hands were tied.

We were very disgruntled, to say the least.  The man at the deli did tell L1 that in the future he would put all of our order in one bag for us and put all the stickers on one bag.  An improvement, to be sure, but not the one for which we were hoping.  Now we have to decide what to do instead.  Boycott our cheese?  Write a letter?  Both?  *sigh*  It’s not like we can get cheese not in plastic elsewhere.  I suppose I’ll have to add local cheese to my local eggs search, now.

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