Having fun

Jay took the girls up to the IX center again this year right before camp. They had fun. Jay won them both stuffed animals. They named them Sweetie and Archie. They went last year, too. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day.

Camp

Camp- ah what do I say? It was not my thing. But the girls had fun, when they weren't fighting or complaining. They stayed up way too late each night and are a crabby mess now. I put them on the bus this morning wondering if they'll make it through the day. They went to bed at a normal time last night but are on one heck of a sleep deficit.

At camp, the latrine down the lane made for some interesting situations. The fire that kept refusing to light made even me cold and I never get cold. I had to rush home to wash bedding and rush back because of a "wee" problem with Tara and the sleeping bag. There were hikes in the muck, up hill both ways. I know that sounds just like a cliche, but it really was magically up hill both ways! The sound of my daughters fighting like cats and dogs at camp was irritating to everyone. They decided that this was the time to become enemies.

I could go on and on with my sunshine but I'll stop now. I know there were good parts. I just can't think of them right now.

New Easter dresses and shoes

They don't know what's good

The girls and I went to get a ham for Easter dinner.

"I hate ham," Emily says over and over in the parking lot.

Tara chimes in. "I hate ham, too."

I ask them to try a piece. Oh, not on your life mom! Just try a little piece.

"Ok, ham isn't terrible but I still hate it," says Emily through bites of ham.

"I hate it too!" Tara munches on a piece.

I put it in the trunk and get in the car.

Emily asks, "Can I have another piece?"

Tara responds, "Can I have some more, too?"

Hmmmm. Closet ham lovers. :)

Science teaching at Brownies

adorable girl doing my homemade crystal switchboard

eating rock candy and doing the switchboard

making the rock candy and using the microscope

Part of my college science class requires me to tutor a group of kiddos three times. So tonight I taught my daughters' brownie troop for the first tutoring. We learned about crystals. I made a crystal switchboard, brought in Emily's microscope to see salt and sugar magnified and we made rock candy. It was fun. Em and Tara liked that their mom was teaching. The brownie troop leader was concerned with counting cookie money so she welcomed the timing for my teaching.

I overestimated what the kids could do. I thought knot tieing wouldn't be too tough. None of the nine little girls could do it. But I had some WONDERFUL older Girls Scouts that stayed after their meeting to help me. I had them helping with the knots, ladeling sugar water into jars, labeling the jars with a label maker, and various other jobs. What complete sweet hearts they were. I hope Em and Tara grow up to be like those girls.

I wanted to show the finished product of the rock candy we made since the one they made has to sit for up to a couple of weeks to grow the crystals. So I went on a two hour hunt for rock candy. I went to IGA, nope. Dollar General, Hallmark, Rite Aid even Harrod's Chocolate- no luck. Then Jay came home from work for his break and suggested Cracker Barrel. Success! I cleaned them out of all their rock candy. The girls liked it.

But they really enjoyed the microscope, which I initially brought as an afterthought. They lined up to see the salt and sugar crystals at different lighting and magnification. It was fun to watch their little faces get excited. Even the troop leader came over for a looksy. :)

I was too busy to take many pictures but I got a few. You know me, can't go anywhere without picture documentation!

Anyway, it went well and now it's off to camp in a couple of weeks. This time I'm going as a parent helper. It should be fun, albeit a bit cold. :)

Good night my blog buddies. I hope you had a good day today, too.

Test anxiety in two generations

Three midterms in the last two days.... I think my brain might explode.

I also had two other classes. But I did get some good news. I got an 89% on my math midterm taken last week. I studied the most for that one. That class is a constant reminder of what I don't know about math. It gets draining. What I will do, is take my humiliations and learn from them.

Spring Break starts.... NOW. Although I have project after project and an HOUR presentation to give the week I get back, today I am just resting. Many people don't get completely restful days so I am grateful.

Tara just came home from school and told me that she had a math test today and didn't understand any of it. It's safe to say that I can empathize. She said she asked for help, but didn't understand her teacher's help and then went back to her seat and answered "no" on every problem. This is not typical of her. She's an excellent student. It must have been so frustrating to not know what the heck to do on a test even in the first grade.

Tara and I will lick our wounds this weekend and play webkinz. Retail therapy anyone? :)

Jaytalking

Hi everyone! Jay here. Joann is kind enough to let me use her blog as a sounding board when I need it, since I am far too lazy to set up or maintain a blog of my own.

First of all, thank you for your kind notes about my head/nose injury. I still have a nasty cut on my nose, but the swelling/goose-egg has gone down. I am just glad I didn't pass out in the street and get run over. My vision did fade to black for a second or so, and I thought I saw a long tunnel with a light at the end (with harp music), but I refused to go into the light, and instead returned to Ohio.

And I still got groceries, so we know I'm gonna be okay. A boy's gotta eat you know.

Anyway, I wanted to share something that made me smile. It's not very Christian of me to be smiling at it though. Because it's one of those schadenfreude moments, which of course is that German word meaning pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune.

The story starts in the 80's, as most stories of mine do. Every male was being told they shouldn't feel good about themselves, since they could never acquire all the cool toys in The Sharper Image catalog:

And no one was riding higher than the company's own founder: that unholy high priest of materialism, Richard Thalheimer:

Richard opened the company with his famous statement "men are bad shoppers". Cute, but also asinine. You see, a thing called the internet came along, which was succeeded by comparison-shopping sights, online auction sites, and the like. Meanwhile, Richard was clinging to 1989, acting like his $1000 CD player was the only game in town.

In 2004, Sharper Image stock was enjoying a lofty price of $32.74 a share. Hmmmm. Wonder what would have happened if you had plunked down $1000 as an investor? Well, if you take a looksie at the stock today, you'll see it's now at a moribund 22 cents a share. Your $1000 would have turned into $6.72.

Nice.Going.Richard. BWAHAHAHA!

But there's hope, right? After all, they have remaining mall stores (you can locate them by listening for sounds of dying breath-gasps). But they filed for bankruptcy last month. This is where it gets better: They announced that their gift certificates (of which they had sold $42.6 million worth of) are now WORTHLESS. Yes, that's right, for the first time in the history of the world, a retail store will not take its own certificates. BWAHAHAHA!

After customers formed a raging mob that would make Mutiny On The Bounty look like a walk in a sunny park, the store back-pedaled and said the certificates may be used but only on purchases for more than double the certificate's value. Cold comfort.

So is there hope? Nope. As of today, the company has $804,000 remaining in cash, and $68 million in debt. Oops.

As for Richard, his own company chased him out of there in May, 2007. So what's he doing? At the age of 60, he is trying to start over. Kind of heartwarming, as we know stories like those of Colonel Sanders or Mae West, whose careers didn't even take off until after 60. He is running a new business entirely by himself, appropriately called RichardSolo. But there's a problem: he sells ugly watches that range in price from $395 to $945. Sound familiar? It should. The Sharper Image's first product was a shock-proof jogger's watch. Has Richard heard the phrase "History repeats itself"? Doesn't seem like it. Maybe he has, but he is forgetting what happens in the second-half of the story.

Men ARE good shoppers, Richard, and your greed and selective-memory are going to take your last dime. Again.

Sorry, I can't hold it in. Just one more time.... BWAHAHAHA!