My muse for today....
Wow, the school year is finally over. Graduation ceremonies were yesterday and the school sent out another group of future High School prep schoolers. It seemed like a great group of students. There were the usual standout performers. Extra smart, extra talented, ultra pretty in the group. It was just like something you would read about in one of those fantasy prep school novels.
It was a curious thing when 15% of the class got 100% of the awards. Four of these achievers got 4 or 5 awards each! Another curious thing was that they were all girls. Couldn't they find a boy to give an award to?? It would have been nice to spread things around a bit. This is after all a co-ed school.
I suppose, if your good at everything, that makes you eligible for every prize. The school could have saved us all a whole lot of time and just had these 5 girls stay up there the whole time and read their name and give a listing of the prizes. Picture this, give an award, girl goes and gets the award and sits back down. Then call the next award for the next over achiever, then it's time for the first girl to get back up, etc. It went on like this for about 25 minutes.
There were a few of us parents that were getting bored. Jealousy? Perhaps. But maybe it is because it seems silly to not spread things out just a little bit more. I find it hard to believe that there were no worthy boys in the entire graduating class. Seems like a bit of favoritism going on here. What do you think?
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Finally - The school year is almost over
My muse for the day.....
Wow, another school year has just about finished up. The last final for my daughter is tomorrow morning. The final month of school has been a whirlwind of activities. Dances, outings, tests, projects, placement seminars, class elections, community service events, parties, and gobs of homework! I am amazed she has time to sleep anymore.
We should never forget about the homework monkey. It seems to follow us around constantly. Hours every night and on the weekends too. Then the projects on top of the homework. When I was a young girl (lol couldn't resist) we never had this much homework. Yeah, occasionally we did projects or had an hour or so of homework, but 3 to 4 hours per night - no way. For me, homework ruins a good day. It is frustrating to see your kid work and work and work just to get finished. No free time, no time to really enjoy a nice walk or ride on the bike. Just homework.
I am so happy that we will be free of the homework monkey for a few months. It's time to have a bit of fun intertwined with secondary school essays. At least she can work at her own pace.
Vacation here we come......
Wow, another school year has just about finished up. The last final for my daughter is tomorrow morning. The final month of school has been a whirlwind of activities. Dances, outings, tests, projects, placement seminars, class elections, community service events, parties, and gobs of homework! I am amazed she has time to sleep anymore.
We should never forget about the homework monkey. It seems to follow us around constantly. Hours every night and on the weekends too. Then the projects on top of the homework. When I was a young girl (lol couldn't resist) we never had this much homework. Yeah, occasionally we did projects or had an hour or so of homework, but 3 to 4 hours per night - no way. For me, homework ruins a good day. It is frustrating to see your kid work and work and work just to get finished. No free time, no time to really enjoy a nice walk or ride on the bike. Just homework.
I am so happy that we will be free of the homework monkey for a few months. It's time to have a bit of fun intertwined with secondary school essays. At least she can work at her own pace.
Vacation here we come......
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Random Happy Thoughts
My muse for today....
I really enjoyed the opportunity to list 6 random things that make me happy. I decided to do an encore run.
Flowers - all kinds, never met one I didn't like.
Ice cream - my very favorite is malted moo crunch. It is a special ice cream made only at a local ice cream stand.
Family - None of my family lives close by, so it is nice to see one of them. It usually involves travelling but it is worth the time and effort.
Golf - Yes! A good day is going golfing. A bad round of golf is better than a good day working.
Playing Pogo games with my sister and other family members. It is fun to do something recreational with a family member even if it is only on-line.
Sudoku puzzles. - I find these puzzles enjoyable. It keeps my mind engaged trying to logically figure out what number goes where. A great way to spend time on an airplane.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to list 6 random things that make me happy. I decided to do an encore run.
Flowers - all kinds, never met one I didn't like.
Ice cream - my very favorite is malted moo crunch. It is a special ice cream made only at a local ice cream stand.
Family - None of my family lives close by, so it is nice to see one of them. It usually involves travelling but it is worth the time and effort.
Golf - Yes! A good day is going golfing. A bad round of golf is better than a good day working.
Playing Pogo games with my sister and other family members. It is fun to do something recreational with a family member even if it is only on-line.
Sudoku puzzles. - I find these puzzles enjoyable. It keeps my mind engaged trying to logically figure out what number goes where. A great way to spend time on an airplane.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Family Genealogy
My muse at the moment....
My daughter has a project in history class where she has to do a genealogy chart. I was quite taken aback by how much I don't know about my family. I couldn't even remember my grandmothers maiden name. Wow. For some reason this hit me kinda hard. What's up with the fact I don't know even this much about my grandparents? Granted, no one really talked about themselves, but still, it seems strange to me now. My parents are both gone as well so there is no asking them. Then I had the realization there is not even one cousin I still speak to or see on my father's side of the family. What is going on there? It is not that I wouldn't speak to them or don't want to speak to them, I have never made an effort. Hmmmm... I should do something about this situation.
My husband breezed through his genealogy chart in just a few minutes. He pulled the information out of his memory banks. No need to refer to very large family tree diagram that he has stored in his desk. He can trace his family tree back as far as 1617 in Germany. Wow, I can't even do the 20th century. He even started spouting out where a lot of them are buried. Oh boy, I am woefully behind. It is really kind of embarassing. I have sent out an email to my siblings in the hopes that they are not as ignorant on the subject as me.
I think its time to start learning about more of my family!
My daughter has a project in history class where she has to do a genealogy chart. I was quite taken aback by how much I don't know about my family. I couldn't even remember my grandmothers maiden name. Wow. For some reason this hit me kinda hard. What's up with the fact I don't know even this much about my grandparents? Granted, no one really talked about themselves, but still, it seems strange to me now. My parents are both gone as well so there is no asking them. Then I had the realization there is not even one cousin I still speak to or see on my father's side of the family. What is going on there? It is not that I wouldn't speak to them or don't want to speak to them, I have never made an effort. Hmmmm... I should do something about this situation.
My husband breezed through his genealogy chart in just a few minutes. He pulled the information out of his memory banks. No need to refer to very large family tree diagram that he has stored in his desk. He can trace his family tree back as far as 1617 in Germany. Wow, I can't even do the 20th century. He even started spouting out where a lot of them are buried. Oh boy, I am woefully behind. It is really kind of embarassing. I have sent out an email to my siblings in the hopes that they are not as ignorant on the subject as me.
I think its time to start learning about more of my family!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Six Random Things That Make Me Happy
Hi there,
My sister Pouty Baby has tagged me, I am now suppose to come up with 6 random things that make me happy and then go and tag others. Finding others might be the difficult part.
Here goes:
#1 - Golfing, I need to golf more. It puts a smile on my face and reminds me that I am not as athletically challenged as I think. I have a great country club to play and a very nice group of ladies who check up on me because I rarely show up anymore. Golfing makes me smile - so I guess I need to get back to the course.
#2 - I like talking about my daughter. She finds this embarrassing. Is it my fault she is talented? No. When she won a swimming medal at finals and I talked about this phenomenal achievement given her shoulder disability, she was annoyed. When I told someone else that she won the school science fair, she was mad. But hey - if I stop talking about her she might get the idea I am not interested. My mom told me once that I was her least favorite child. Oh gee thanks Mom, don't think I haven't thought about this for the last 40 years. No way this is going to happen with my kid, I make sure to tell her how much I love her and how great she is. We shall not have her saying I was hurtful for the next 40 years.
#3 - Going for an antique car ride. We have a couple of antique cars that actually run. There are no windows, one of them doesn't even have any doors, and no seat belts. It can be a bit scary at times, but the wind in your hair and face is exhilarating. Good thing there is a windshield so no bugs get squished on the face! We like to go to ice cream and bring the old car. It is a magnet for meeting new people. It's nice to share some of the cars' history with others. Ever here of a 1911 Knox car made in Springfield Mass? Well, its old and looks like the Beverly Hillbilly's car. Someone painted varnish on it in the 40's and it turned a nice shade of olive.
#4 - Going shopping with my daughter. This is the case when we don't spend more than 1 1/2 hrs shopping. Otherwise I tend to get tired and bored. It seems that I don't find much for myself. Every now and then I splurge on her and let her get something on the extravagant side. After all, what teenager doesn't need a real Marc Jacobs bag, or a nice pair of Tory Burch shoes? Her daddy likes to buy her stuff at Tiffany's. I suppose there is an inequality there since he has never purchased me anything from there. But no matter, it makes me smile when he does something nice for her.
#5 - My yearly holiday cookie swap. This a bit obscure seeings how it is not the holidays. But this is the one holiday thing I look forward to each year. Usually 10 of us ladies make 5 dozen cookies each and then swamp 6 cookies a piece so we have a great variety. There are always cookies I would never think of making. The great part is having dinner and a martini. We have done this at the Country Club or at my house. One year we got a foot of snow the morning of the party, but 6 of us intrepid bakers still made it. Later they said the holiday's would not be the same without the cookies. (Ok Pouty - are you coming to the cookie swap?) It is a not to be missed event.
#6 - Going to my weekly lunch date with my husband. Yes, it sounds a bit cheesy doesn't it? But I really like going to lunch with him. The week is very hectic and there is no time to go out for dinner and fully enjoy ourselves. Every school day brings about 4 hrs of homework and there is more on the weekend. Yucky. So, we usually go to one of your favorite Thai restaurants and occasionally a fish restaurant. My husband has ordered the same thing for the last 3 years at the Thai place. They just put the order in when they see him. So, this is a fun time to have a bit of a date and break up the week. I always look forward to our next time.
My sister Pouty Baby has tagged me, I am now suppose to come up with 6 random things that make me happy and then go and tag others. Finding others might be the difficult part.
Here goes:
#1 - Golfing, I need to golf more. It puts a smile on my face and reminds me that I am not as athletically challenged as I think. I have a great country club to play and a very nice group of ladies who check up on me because I rarely show up anymore. Golfing makes me smile - so I guess I need to get back to the course.
#2 - I like talking about my daughter. She finds this embarrassing. Is it my fault she is talented? No. When she won a swimming medal at finals and I talked about this phenomenal achievement given her shoulder disability, she was annoyed. When I told someone else that she won the school science fair, she was mad. But hey - if I stop talking about her she might get the idea I am not interested. My mom told me once that I was her least favorite child. Oh gee thanks Mom, don't think I haven't thought about this for the last 40 years. No way this is going to happen with my kid, I make sure to tell her how much I love her and how great she is. We shall not have her saying I was hurtful for the next 40 years.
#3 - Going for an antique car ride. We have a couple of antique cars that actually run. There are no windows, one of them doesn't even have any doors, and no seat belts. It can be a bit scary at times, but the wind in your hair and face is exhilarating. Good thing there is a windshield so no bugs get squished on the face! We like to go to ice cream and bring the old car. It is a magnet for meeting new people. It's nice to share some of the cars' history with others. Ever here of a 1911 Knox car made in Springfield Mass? Well, its old and looks like the Beverly Hillbilly's car. Someone painted varnish on it in the 40's and it turned a nice shade of olive.
#4 - Going shopping with my daughter. This is the case when we don't spend more than 1 1/2 hrs shopping. Otherwise I tend to get tired and bored. It seems that I don't find much for myself. Every now and then I splurge on her and let her get something on the extravagant side. After all, what teenager doesn't need a real Marc Jacobs bag, or a nice pair of Tory Burch shoes? Her daddy likes to buy her stuff at Tiffany's. I suppose there is an inequality there since he has never purchased me anything from there. But no matter, it makes me smile when he does something nice for her.
#5 - My yearly holiday cookie swap. This a bit obscure seeings how it is not the holidays. But this is the one holiday thing I look forward to each year. Usually 10 of us ladies make 5 dozen cookies each and then swamp 6 cookies a piece so we have a great variety. There are always cookies I would never think of making. The great part is having dinner and a martini. We have done this at the Country Club or at my house. One year we got a foot of snow the morning of the party, but 6 of us intrepid bakers still made it. Later they said the holiday's would not be the same without the cookies. (Ok Pouty - are you coming to the cookie swap?) It is a not to be missed event.
#6 - Going to my weekly lunch date with my husband. Yes, it sounds a bit cheesy doesn't it? But I really like going to lunch with him. The week is very hectic and there is no time to go out for dinner and fully enjoy ourselves. Every school day brings about 4 hrs of homework and there is more on the weekend. Yucky. So, we usually go to one of your favorite Thai restaurants and occasionally a fish restaurant. My husband has ordered the same thing for the last 3 years at the Thai place. They just put the order in when they see him. So, this is a fun time to have a bit of a date and break up the week. I always look forward to our next time.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Who Me - Win??
Musing about raffles today.....
This past weekend our local hospital had a charity raffle as part of their fundraising gala. It was a huge raffle with 39 different prizes. I thought about not buying any tickets but decided that I could afford to lose a certain amount of money and not have any regrets. About 500 people were in attendance and everyone seemed to have their hands stuffed with tickets. This was the type of raffle where you had to choose which prize to drop your ticket.
I bought my 10 tickets and then my husband went and bought ten tickets. We laughed how we both had them not knowing that the other one was also doing the same thing. Before I approached the various items, I thought about how I never win and why was I bothering. But then another thought crept in and said - why not you? So right there and then, I changed my attitude and decided that I had at least one winner. As my perspective changed I zeroed in the red sox tickets, a clothing shopping spree, dining certificates and various items I thought would be fun to win. I happily dropped my tickets into the containers.
At the end of the night when the results were posted, guess what? I actually won the red sox tickets and the clothing shopping spree. Yahooo, people were congratulating me on winning, not once but twice. I was shocked, and said, who me - win? How exciting!
This past weekend our local hospital had a charity raffle as part of their fundraising gala. It was a huge raffle with 39 different prizes. I thought about not buying any tickets but decided that I could afford to lose a certain amount of money and not have any regrets. About 500 people were in attendance and everyone seemed to have their hands stuffed with tickets. This was the type of raffle where you had to choose which prize to drop your ticket.
I bought my 10 tickets and then my husband went and bought ten tickets. We laughed how we both had them not knowing that the other one was also doing the same thing. Before I approached the various items, I thought about how I never win and why was I bothering. But then another thought crept in and said - why not you? So right there and then, I changed my attitude and decided that I had at least one winner. As my perspective changed I zeroed in the red sox tickets, a clothing shopping spree, dining certificates and various items I thought would be fun to win. I happily dropped my tickets into the containers.
At the end of the night when the results were posted, guess what? I actually won the red sox tickets and the clothing shopping spree. Yahooo, people were congratulating me on winning, not once but twice. I was shocked, and said, who me - win? How exciting!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Swap Off Drop Off Day
Hi Everyone,
Today the town is having their twice a year - swap off drop off day. There is one in the Spring and Fall. Without a doubt it is one of the more social days in town. Our local Dept of Public Works hosts this event along with the town recycling group. The event has become a massive opportunity to do some spring cleaning and take things to the recycling center for proper disposal and disassembly. They take old computers, old electronics, tv's, mattresses, cardboard, foam, furniture, styrofoam, paint, etc. About 100 volunteers work the event.
I will try to paint you a mental picture of the scene downtown. There are people everywhere, traffic jams, pedestrians, drop off lines, people pushing old lawn mowers down the sidewalks, the place is swarming with people and cars. This is organized chaos at its' best. In the center of this giant drop off loop is a swap off drop off area where people take things they hate to throw away. You can find all kinds of items in this circle, all free for the taking. Furniture, bikes, lawn mowers, books, paint, lumber, tools, and more. There is a temporary fence surrounding the area and only town people can enter before noon. The police watch the entrance but they aren't rigid about checking identifications. You can sit in a car and observe people try to strategize how to get into the swap off arena with the town citizens and slip in undetected. It's kind a comical. After noon, all of the surrounding towns can come in and take what's left. Can you imagine how many out of towners are lined up outside the gate waiting for their chance to get good stuff for free?
Well, I think its time for me to go and get my front row seat and watch the fun. This is free entertainment at its best - people watching! I'm going to stop at the local coffee shop and bring a portable coffee carafe to provide coffee to my friends!
Today the town is having their twice a year - swap off drop off day. There is one in the Spring and Fall. Without a doubt it is one of the more social days in town. Our local Dept of Public Works hosts this event along with the town recycling group. The event has become a massive opportunity to do some spring cleaning and take things to the recycling center for proper disposal and disassembly. They take old computers, old electronics, tv's, mattresses, cardboard, foam, furniture, styrofoam, paint, etc. About 100 volunteers work the event.
I will try to paint you a mental picture of the scene downtown. There are people everywhere, traffic jams, pedestrians, drop off lines, people pushing old lawn mowers down the sidewalks, the place is swarming with people and cars. This is organized chaos at its' best. In the center of this giant drop off loop is a swap off drop off area where people take things they hate to throw away. You can find all kinds of items in this circle, all free for the taking. Furniture, bikes, lawn mowers, books, paint, lumber, tools, and more. There is a temporary fence surrounding the area and only town people can enter before noon. The police watch the entrance but they aren't rigid about checking identifications. You can sit in a car and observe people try to strategize how to get into the swap off arena with the town citizens and slip in undetected. It's kind a comical. After noon, all of the surrounding towns can come in and take what's left. Can you imagine how many out of towners are lined up outside the gate waiting for their chance to get good stuff for free?
Well, I think its time for me to go and get my front row seat and watch the fun. This is free entertainment at its best - people watching! I'm going to stop at the local coffee shop and bring a portable coffee carafe to provide coffee to my friends!
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