So I broke down and bought Twilight in paperback on Saturday.
And New Moon Sunday.
Now I am jonesing, but I swear I won't buy Eclipse until Friday so I'm not tempted to skip work to finish. Or completely ignore the children. For the love of god, they need a bath.
So yeah, I'm hooked.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
More on Kitten
So, I kinda glossed over the Kitten thing. Part of the reason I don't really like to talk about it is the abject fear.
Apparently, when our generation went to school, if you failed your kindergarten screening they just held you back a year. I have heard this comment from a couple of people, you know, trying to be helpful. "Oh it's no big deal, that happened to my kid and I just held him/her back a year."
This strikes terror in my heart. Not that I am opposed to doing it on principle, but I happen to have another kid coming up behind this one in the very next grade and holding my first one back would either mean my kids are in the same grade but are 15 months apart (potentially embarrassing for the older one) or that I have to hold the other one back a year too. I think the other one will be more than ready when it's time and it's more than a little selfish that I want to get them both in school sooner rather than later so I can stop spending the money on daycare.
It doesn't seem like holding kids back is really what they do anymore, though (it sounds like they just used to hold them back and cross their fingers that it was enough for kids to be "ready"). All of the appointments are more geared toward finding out where, if any, the deficiencies are and determining if there are any learning disabilities or special ed needs so they can take care of those as soon as possible. They want to get kids on a plan to catch them up as quickly as possible, which is why they screen kids so early now.
It also seems like Kitten is doing just fine. There may be a few deficiencies, but I don't think anything is really too far outside of scope. Even the daycare lady today said she thought Kitten was doing just fine with the teacher today at their session and that she would pass for sure (she was one who held a kid back).
So I'm much less scared of the process now than I was (I was even tearing up on Monday when I was being interviewed). I think we're doing okay and hopefully we will come out of it with some things to work on and we've already started on some of their requests.
Apparently, when our generation went to school, if you failed your kindergarten screening they just held you back a year. I have heard this comment from a couple of people, you know, trying to be helpful. "Oh it's no big deal, that happened to my kid and I just held him/her back a year."
This strikes terror in my heart. Not that I am opposed to doing it on principle, but I happen to have another kid coming up behind this one in the very next grade and holding my first one back would either mean my kids are in the same grade but are 15 months apart (potentially embarrassing for the older one) or that I have to hold the other one back a year too. I think the other one will be more than ready when it's time and it's more than a little selfish that I want to get them both in school sooner rather than later so I can stop spending the money on daycare.
It doesn't seem like holding kids back is really what they do anymore, though (it sounds like they just used to hold them back and cross their fingers that it was enough for kids to be "ready"). All of the appointments are more geared toward finding out where, if any, the deficiencies are and determining if there are any learning disabilities or special ed needs so they can take care of those as soon as possible. They want to get kids on a plan to catch them up as quickly as possible, which is why they screen kids so early now.
It also seems like Kitten is doing just fine. There may be a few deficiencies, but I don't think anything is really too far outside of scope. Even the daycare lady today said she thought Kitten was doing just fine with the teacher today at their session and that she would pass for sure (she was one who held a kid back).
So I'm much less scared of the process now than I was (I was even tearing up on Monday when I was being interviewed). I think we're doing okay and hopefully we will come out of it with some things to work on and we've already started on some of their requests.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
News around el Casa del Pants
We have had far fewer colds around here this year, but the stomach bugs seem to have hit us much harder. We are in our third one this year. Kitten threw up this weekend in the middle of the night and we just talked her back into her bed tonight. She has been sleeping on the floor because she was afraid her bed was going to make her throw up again.
Back in January, Kitten failed her kindergarten screening. I was heartbroken and embarrassed and angry and never mentioned it. Well, Kitten had her first appointment Monday for her special education referral. They will come to daycare tomorrow to watch her play with the kids and talk to her a little bit more and Pants will take her in on Friday for what I think is her last appointment. But the paperwork I have had to fill out, I tell you, nothing can make you feel so horrible as these questionnaires. Part of it is because the questions are meant for kids all the way up to 5, but you don't know that when you're filling in the ovals. Some of it is because there are a few things you don't ask your kids to do in front of you, like hop on one leg at least twice. I don't know if she can do that! The rest is the realization of where we should be at with some things are aren't because we don't make Kitten do them. Apparently she should be completely dressing and undressing herself by now. I tend to just do it for her because it's faster in the morning. So yeah, we have some work to do.
They gave me a good tip though. Put a black dot on the inside heel of each shoe so they can get them on the right feet by themselves. They really want them to be able to get dressed completely independently. It works, though.
I've been in a cooking frenzy this week: pot roast, chicken alfredo (cheated from a box), chicken and corn stew, barbecue beef in the slow cooker. Mmmmm.
Back in January, Kitten failed her kindergarten screening. I was heartbroken and embarrassed and angry and never mentioned it. Well, Kitten had her first appointment Monday for her special education referral. They will come to daycare tomorrow to watch her play with the kids and talk to her a little bit more and Pants will take her in on Friday for what I think is her last appointment. But the paperwork I have had to fill out, I tell you, nothing can make you feel so horrible as these questionnaires. Part of it is because the questions are meant for kids all the way up to 5, but you don't know that when you're filling in the ovals. Some of it is because there are a few things you don't ask your kids to do in front of you, like hop on one leg at least twice. I don't know if she can do that! The rest is the realization of where we should be at with some things are aren't because we don't make Kitten do them. Apparently she should be completely dressing and undressing herself by now. I tend to just do it for her because it's faster in the morning. So yeah, we have some work to do.
They gave me a good tip though. Put a black dot on the inside heel of each shoe so they can get them on the right feet by themselves. They really want them to be able to get dressed completely independently. It works, though.
I've been in a cooking frenzy this week: pot roast, chicken alfredo (cheated from a box), chicken and corn stew, barbecue beef in the slow cooker. Mmmmm.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Crazy Talk
I've been considering the concept that I might be what is known in some circles as "Soft Bipolar". It means that, although my depression and mania aren't as strong as classic bipolar diagnoses require, I'm still cycling through small manias and depressive episodes and am not being helped enough by a regular antidepressant.
I have always eschewed the idea of bipolar, saying I'm too lazy to have mania. Looking back, though, I can pinpoint periods of short episodes that I think are manic.
Like this one.
Or this one, which, if my own blog is to be believed, lasted several days.
So, although they are few and far between and -never lead to me shaving my head (ok, well, that once), I might be having manic episodes.
I have always eschewed the idea of bipolar, saying I'm too lazy to have mania. Looking back, though, I can pinpoint periods of short episodes that I think are manic.
Like this one.
Or this one, which, if my own blog is to be believed, lasted several days.
So, although they are few and far between and -never lead to me shaving my head (ok, well, that once), I might be having manic episodes.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Mad Love
So, I've been on Facebook lately. I got into Flair, which is just little buttons you can add to your corkboard. You can make your own or pull them off of the website.
The Flair is overwhelmingly "Twilight" related, but there's also lots of religious Flair, Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift, emo Flair, and a whole subset of Chuck Norris flair (Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird; Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer, too bad he doesn't cry).
There is also a new market in anti-Obama flair.
"I'll keep my guns, my money, my freedom, you keep the change."
"I hope I have some change left in 4 years."
And my new favorite:
"You didn't respect my president, why should I respect yours?"
Ok, fair enough. I had no respect for George Bush and dogged him at every turn. In all fairness, although I hated him the whole time, he did end up with a 30% approval rating, so I certainly wasn't the only one. But ok, I didn't give your president respect just because he was the president and you don't have to respect Obama.
But. Obama does have a 60-80% approval rating (depending on who you read) so he's not just my president. So I'm thinking the anger and disrespect is coming from a pretty small percentage of the population.
Maybe he's a love-him-or-hate-him president. If his approval is 60%, maybe 40% of the population loathes him, they're not just blase or intellectually against him.
I don't know. I don't care. I have nothing but respect for him and what he's done so far. I wish he would reach across the aisle a bit more, but I'm not sure it would help - it seems the republicans have decided to make a stand against him, although they don't have the political capital to change anything. Makes them look like spoiled children.
In fact, although this post was supposed to be about Obama, maybe it's really about the Republican party. Congress and Senate Republicans have stood, almost without exception, against everything Obama has sent to them. They have said it's because he has not reached out to them. They have come forward with rhetoric and sacrificial poster-children to explain why they are not voting for the bills. The issues they have brought forward have been blown far out of proportion and constitute the smallest portion of the bill.
And they are doing these things, things that they have been doing for 10 years, as if they still have the political capital for it to work. They pick out one item from a bill and vilify it when the balance of the money hardly matters and as if they have never stuck pork into a congressional bill. They use rhetoric to expose a worst-case-scenario or make a piece of funding sound ridiculous (money for field mice? it was funding for some California refuge thing).
And I would like to say to the Republican party that these tactics worked for years. From the age of Newt Gingrich through the first 4 Bush years, this stuff worked. America has started to grow weary, however, and the Obama election should have been a clear message that America is tired of the bull and vitriol. You might be energizing your very core 10%, but you're turning off everyone else. And you don't have the numbers in Congress to have it work.
So just as Gingrich recreated the Republican party into what it has been, so must the current party recreate themselves to function in the new political climate. I believe we are seeing the first part of that recreation right now on the floors of Congress as each bill comes through and that it will continue through the next 18 months until the mid-term elections. The mid-terms will determine if they have successful.
The Flair is overwhelmingly "Twilight" related, but there's also lots of religious Flair, Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift, emo Flair, and a whole subset of Chuck Norris flair (Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird; Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer, too bad he doesn't cry).
There is also a new market in anti-Obama flair.
"I'll keep my guns, my money, my freedom, you keep the change."
"I hope I have some change left in 4 years."
And my new favorite:
"You didn't respect my president, why should I respect yours?"
Ok, fair enough. I had no respect for George Bush and dogged him at every turn. In all fairness, although I hated him the whole time, he did end up with a 30% approval rating, so I certainly wasn't the only one. But ok, I didn't give your president respect just because he was the president and you don't have to respect Obama.
But. Obama does have a 60-80% approval rating (depending on who you read) so he's not just my president. So I'm thinking the anger and disrespect is coming from a pretty small percentage of the population.
Maybe he's a love-him-or-hate-him president. If his approval is 60%, maybe 40% of the population loathes him, they're not just blase or intellectually against him.
I don't know. I don't care. I have nothing but respect for him and what he's done so far. I wish he would reach across the aisle a bit more, but I'm not sure it would help - it seems the republicans have decided to make a stand against him, although they don't have the political capital to change anything. Makes them look like spoiled children.
In fact, although this post was supposed to be about Obama, maybe it's really about the Republican party. Congress and Senate Republicans have stood, almost without exception, against everything Obama has sent to them. They have said it's because he has not reached out to them. They have come forward with rhetoric and sacrificial poster-children to explain why they are not voting for the bills. The issues they have brought forward have been blown far out of proportion and constitute the smallest portion of the bill.
And they are doing these things, things that they have been doing for 10 years, as if they still have the political capital for it to work. They pick out one item from a bill and vilify it when the balance of the money hardly matters and as if they have never stuck pork into a congressional bill. They use rhetoric to expose a worst-case-scenario or make a piece of funding sound ridiculous (money for field mice? it was funding for some California refuge thing).
And I would like to say to the Republican party that these tactics worked for years. From the age of Newt Gingrich through the first 4 Bush years, this stuff worked. America has started to grow weary, however, and the Obama election should have been a clear message that America is tired of the bull and vitriol. You might be energizing your very core 10%, but you're turning off everyone else. And you don't have the numbers in Congress to have it work.
So just as Gingrich recreated the Republican party into what it has been, so must the current party recreate themselves to function in the new political climate. I believe we are seeing the first part of that recreation right now on the floors of Congress as each bill comes through and that it will continue through the next 18 months until the mid-term elections. The mid-terms will determine if they have successful.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Boy don't make passes...
So I ordered my new glasses this evening. He tweaked my prescription a tad for far distance and said I wouldn't notice any difference up close.
I went a little daring and picked out kind of a funky retro pair of glasses, a bit of a departure from the barely there glasses I normally wear. It's hard to tell with my vision if the glasses I picked will be cute or a huge mistake, but it's a done deal now.
They had a deal going for $59 for an additional pair of glasses so I also chose one of the clearance pairs off the rack for sunglasses, since none of my clips will probably fit the pair of glasses I chose.
They also fixed the pair I have so I don't get a headache tomorrow from my glasses being all kitty-wompus and messing with my astigmatism. I know, you wish you were hot like me. You know it's awesome when the optometrist makes a comment about how bad you're prescription is and recommends that you keep your current pair as a backup.
Cuz you won't be able to go anywhere or do anything without a pair of glasses.
I went a little daring and picked out kind of a funky retro pair of glasses, a bit of a departure from the barely there glasses I normally wear. It's hard to tell with my vision if the glasses I picked will be cute or a huge mistake, but it's a done deal now.
They had a deal going for $59 for an additional pair of glasses so I also chose one of the clearance pairs off the rack for sunglasses, since none of my clips will probably fit the pair of glasses I chose.
They also fixed the pair I have so I don't get a headache tomorrow from my glasses being all kitty-wompus and messing with my astigmatism. I know, you wish you were hot like me. You know it's awesome when the optometrist makes a comment about how bad you're prescription is and recommends that you keep your current pair as a backup.
Cuz you won't be able to go anywhere or do anything without a pair of glasses.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Random Thoughts
I have 2 new-ish novels and am looking to trade for something else. Maybe Twilight? Hate being out of the loop.
We were contacted yesterday about some possible fraudulent charges on one of our credit cards and it turned out they were. Oddly enough, though, whoever used the card only charged about $60. Hmmm. We haven't received any more notices, but we'll be watching. In the meantime, we both went onto our Amazon accounts and deleted our stored payment options. Two of the charges were to them. The other three were $1.44 charges to New York Times Digital. Daily paper anyone?
Awesome. London has started to put in shoe vending machines around nightclub districts. You know, for women who are dying to take off their heels at the end of the night.
Damn, I think I'm getting athlete's foot again.
For my out-of-state audience, MN still only has one senator. Franken is up by 225 votes, but Coleman is dragging the issue out in court. This is the one reason the Dems don't have a 60 seat majority. No idea on when we might seat a second senator...
I have an appointment to get new glasses tomorrow. The pair I have (which I hate) popped the nose-piece out again and the screw disappeared. I could try to get them fixed, but it's been two years and I probably need a new pair. Cheap glasses don't really last more than 2 years, and quite frankly, this pair was barely good for 6 months. I'm torn on whether I should just go to Target, though, or if I should take my older Titanium pair that I loved and wore for 5 years to a more expensive place and just have the prescription updated. It will most certainly cost me around $50 at Target. Not sure what the cost will be at the other place, but may call them tomorrow.
- The Spellman Files - Lisa Lutz - this was a fun read, but offbeat enough to be interesting.
- In the Woods - Tana French - one of the best books I've read in many years. I was hooked in the first paragraph and it kept me through the whole thing.
We were contacted yesterday about some possible fraudulent charges on one of our credit cards and it turned out they were. Oddly enough, though, whoever used the card only charged about $60. Hmmm. We haven't received any more notices, but we'll be watching. In the meantime, we both went onto our Amazon accounts and deleted our stored payment options. Two of the charges were to them. The other three were $1.44 charges to New York Times Digital. Daily paper anyone?
Awesome. London has started to put in shoe vending machines around nightclub districts. You know, for women who are dying to take off their heels at the end of the night.
Damn, I think I'm getting athlete's foot again.
For my out-of-state audience, MN still only has one senator. Franken is up by 225 votes, but Coleman is dragging the issue out in court. This is the one reason the Dems don't have a 60 seat majority. No idea on when we might seat a second senator...
I have an appointment to get new glasses tomorrow. The pair I have (which I hate) popped the nose-piece out again and the screw disappeared. I could try to get them fixed, but it's been two years and I probably need a new pair. Cheap glasses don't really last more than 2 years, and quite frankly, this pair was barely good for 6 months. I'm torn on whether I should just go to Target, though, or if I should take my older Titanium pair that I loved and wore for 5 years to a more expensive place and just have the prescription updated. It will most certainly cost me around $50 at Target. Not sure what the cost will be at the other place, but may call them tomorrow.
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