Ten on Tuesday

* I'm going to take a midterm and have another class in a few hours. Cramming will take place in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
* Aunt Dee sent the girls Halloween cards, stickers and money. The kids are happier than Jay when he organizes his Magic decks. (That's REALLY happy!)
* Rachel took pictures of us all at the Gorge on Saturday. Jay and I were self-conscious but Rachel is so warm that we got over ourselves. hee hee. The girls loved it. They're such hams. Thanks Rachel. I can't wait to see them.
*I am getting over a really croupy cough.
*We got Tara's seed project done.
* Tara was a turtle in blankets all of last night. I love that she's still little.
* Emily is making an alarmingly expensive list for Santa. Santa better get busy.
* I want to have a party but can't get my butt in gear. I miss all my friends from UPC.
*Jay loves to walk around the house yelling silly things. It's a bit disconcerting but cute. That's my Jay.
*Oh yeah, back to the real world of studying....

Yesterday my mom and dad came over to visit after having gone to the market. It's nice to have them so near. For many years they either lived in Connecticut or England and seeing them was a once a year event at best.
Tara placed herself at the foot of my mom's wheelchair and began to read to her. Mom listened attentively. Tara has a special love for her grandma. A love that sees the wheelchair, but takes the time to see the person in it, too. Sometimes I will come in the room to find my mom covered in a mound of toys that Tara has brought to her. My mom good naturedly tries to hold 30 toys on her lap, while listening to all of Tara's stories.

My mom has a box of stuffed animals at her house that the girls like to play with. People like to give my mom stuffed animals as gifts. Since she has a lot of limitations, it's sometimes hard to know what else to buy her. Tara assumes, in her child mind, that my mom is a child, too. So having toys is normal. We have explained that she is an adult and she raised me, but that concept is lost on Tara. Sometimes she asks my mom if she knows how to read or if she is allowed to do something. It's sweet and sad. Sad because she doesn't know my mom like I know her. But it is what it is. And Tara doesn't shy away from her and, I hope will always have a soft spot for the disabled, knowing they may be a bit like her grandma.

Brownies

Costumes abound!

Last night Jay measured my arm with paper and glued hay to it and it's on the table drying. That's love. I bought a straw hat at Good Will yesterday. The kids laugh at me when I wear it. I guess that's the point. I have straw for my shoes, too. I'm ready to be a scarecrow for my college class.

Then the girls and I looked at Good Will, Target and Walmart for Halloween costumes. Em wanted to be a witch or maybe if she had to a cat. I saw the most adorable hand made M&M's costumes. I pushed those real hard. They were a "no go" with the kids. So Tara found a princess dress and we bought the Tiara and wand and jewelry that has already broken. Emily held out for the witch and we compromised and she is now a good witch, thanks to Missy and S. Thanks so much for giving me advice. Emily looks like a princess with a pointy hat and streamers. I can totally live with that.

Then last night I remembered that their Brownies starts tonight and I hadn't ironed on/stiched the vests up yet! So this morning I was very busy doing that. I think I am more excited about them starting scouts than they are. I just remember it was so much fun and such a good learning experience about team work etc.. much like a sport.

Fun comparison

Here is a picture of me as a Girl Scout and Emily trying on the very same uniform last year. She's taller now, so it may fit better now.

Just some Friday stuff...

For our project, my college group decided to be characters from The Wizard of Oz describing NCLB, inclusion, teacher's surveys, etc. I am the scarecrow. Now I have to figure out how to make a costume and a script for Wednesday. It seems kind of dumb (no pun intended) to me but I'm trying to roll with it. :) I'm just getting through this year of school... Thanks again for those who responded to the surveys. They were immensely helpful.

Emily wants to be a witch for Halloween. I told her that I am uncomfortable with that because they are perceived as evil. Am I just overreacting? She doesn't want to be anything else, of course.

I signed the girls up for Brownies. Several trips to the Council store later, they have their uniforms. I didn't even buy the shirts and the bill came to $112! I bought some white shirts at Walmart. I still have my sash from Brownies and a bag, but the girls wear vests today. I have my entire Girl Scout uniform from when I was a kid. I will post a picture of me in it as a kid and Em trying it on later. We look very similar. Emily will be a Junior Girl Scout next year.

Stuck in the elevator

My classes are like the proverbial squeaky wheel. One starts squealing (assignment is due) and the others get mildly neglected. Then the other classes get jealous of all the attention one is getting and they give a test or project. This is fine until all the the classes start "squeaking" at once. Right now they are all squeaking.

Now the building itself is attacking me. I got stuck in the elevator tonight. There was a power outage and guess who was alone in the elevator? Me.
I found myself getting that panicky feeling of, how long will this last, will they know I'm in here? I started pushing the buttons and then the elevator lurched and stopped. The only thing keeping me from freaking was that I had my cell phone with me and the optimism that this wasn't really happening. But it was happening. Finally after probably 3 minutes that seemed like 20 the elevator moved again and stopped at the second floor dinged and still didn't open. I was losing a bit of my optimism. Finally, the doors opened as the elevator crawled to the third floor and I got out went,straight to the bathroom and stood in stunned silence until I could have a semblance of composure. Well, at least I didn't start screaming. ha ha.