we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams
Do you know what this is – aside from my cat photo bombing my shot?
Tonight I discovered that my son’s stupid fish had babies.
For the second time!
The two stupid fish that we bought a few months ago apparently are the most fertile little shits on the planet.
They’ve had 18 babies! 18 freaking babies!
I’ve got my own little Duggar aquarium.
Now, what the hell am I supposed to do with all these fish stuck in a 5 gallon tank? Seriously, I’m asking.
Do I flush them? Buy another fish tank? Wait for TLC to option the aquatic version of my own little “18 Fish and Counting” program?
Help me out here because I can’t work on my dissertation until I solve the damn fish problem. My brain can’t handle both.
p.s. This whole debacle is going to force me to have the “sex” talk with Jake because, despite all these babies appearing, he swears every single fish in that tank is a boy. And, I really can’t deal with my dissertation if I have to strategize for that talk!
I’m busy comforting my son who got out of bed crying because he desperately misses the stick he found and hid at the state park today after the space derby for boy scouts.
Yes. I said stick.
Apparently it was very special.
yes, this is my life.
I have been sitting in my Friday night class for almost two hours and I’m not sure I’ve heard a word anyone has said. At all.
I’ve looked around the room, judged a few fashion choices and hair styles *snort – I’m one to talk considering I came to class without remembering to put a shirt on under my sweater* I’ve played on Pinterest, eaten about 7 cough drops, thought about all the restaurants I might enjoy stopping at for take out, and debated if I should actually get up and leave so I can pee.
All the folks in this room are super academic (with the exception of about 2 and those people I like). They’re all talking journal publication and job hunting and hoop jumping and how to ask a thousand different versions of the same question so they get the exact answer they want to their personal issue despite the fact that the rest of the class is really fucking bored and doesn’t care about your weird APA concern for you weird source that nobody else will have to deal with ever.
I was pretty sure before that I’m not an academic. Now I’m convinced.
I think I’ll try overdosing on my cough drops now just to make the boredom stop.
I had a thought today. Charlotte was sitting with me on the couch while I tried to work on editing a paper for an upcoming qualitative research class. She brought Stella Luna with her – her favorite book. She asked if she could read to me. ”Of course,” I said.
She began to flip through the pages telling her own story that had absolutely nothing to do with the words on the page. It was at that moment that I realized that once we learn to read the words on a page we can never go back to not seeing them.
There is only a short window of our lives where we don’t see the words on a page for what they are, but rather what we imagine them to be – where we don’t realize that the letters make sounds, the sounds make words, and the words form sentences filled with ideas and perspectives and adventure.
But once we learn to read the words on that page we can never go back to a time when we didn’t see them – when we couldn’t pronounce them or understand them. They take on a whole new meaning and open their own new world of reading pleasure.
It won’t be long before she’s no longer the 3 year old that doesn’t understand the words on the page. It won’t be long before she’ll “see” those words for the rest of her life.
For now, though, I happen to enjoy Charlotte’s “reading” much more than anything the book actually says.
I tried this a few years back – before I was ever crazy enough to go back to school for a PhD. I’m going to try it again – only because a blogging buddy (and former high school pal!) came up with a theme of “why I can’t write” for NABLOPOMO and that about sums up my life right now. So, instead of coming up with something clever of my own I’m stealing her idea (with permission of course!) and I’m going to explore exactly what is keeping me from writing anything and everything this month. The irony of it all is that it actually produces writing. Clever, huh?!
So I actually blogged yesterday with the obligatory Halloween post. Day One in the bag *fist pumps*
But, today? Today I’m lacking in writing substance because I’m still fairly sick thanks to the bronchitis turning its evil self into a head cold that has forced me to google a thousand different ways to make ears pop without causing damage. (Note: gum=fail) Or the fact that I took some Sudafed this morning and it makes me all stabby which is something I thought only my children can do. Or the fact that I have to take Charlotte to dance class tonight and sit for an hour in the overheated studio sweating my nonexistent balls off rather than take of my sweater and be forced with the possibility of answering questions about the psoriasis on my elbows and how I’m not contagious or a leper or diseased as part of my skin flakes off. I suppose I could just sit in the car during her class but every time I do that she ends up having to pee and the poor girl is notorious for peeing all over her leotard if nobody is there to help her wiggle out of the thing.
Um, okay. Day two in the bag. *fist pumps, again*
It seems like the next phase of childhood is approaching and about to take over our lives. I am talking about a phase that will hit most parents at some point or anther. I’m referring to the extracurricular activities phase!
I think there was a point in history where most kids didn’t get involved in extra curricular activities until well into their school years. It was an occasional after school piano lesson, or little league a couple nights a week. It certainly isn’t like that anymore. Kids and parents are starting activities sooner, younger, and with more force. Maybe it is because more is available to our kids. Maybe it is out of this need to be competitive with other parents and their ‘active’ children. Maybe it is because apparently a zillion studies keep telling us that if we don’t feed our kids bran, turn off the TV, make them take origami, and socialize them before they can smile they’ll all end up stupid and unproductive members of society. Okay, that may be a little dramatic…but you know exactly what I’m talking about!
I’m not sure I’m necessarily dreading this phase of activities. I’m certainly not one of the extreme parents that has their kids involved in every possible thing under the sun. I am actually kind of excited to see what talents and passions my kids will develop as they try different things. One activity at a time…
We have decided to sign Mia up for swim lessons. As important as it is for her to learn water safety and how to swim, we want her to find an activity that she really loves. We talked about it the other night and realized that our daughter is the happiest when she’s busy. I think she gets that from me. While I do my best to engage her and her siblings during the day, she tends to get bored with what is available to her. So we decided to try an activity. We think swimming is a good place to start. Not too competitive, not too expensive, and close by. This is important considering when we asked Mia the other day what you do when someone takes the ball from you in soccer she replied with: “You push them down, take it back, and run!” I’m not sure she’s ready for competitive sports quite yet. She can be rather competitive for a four year old. Swimming might just be our safest route.
It seems like the next phase of childhood is approaching and about to take over our lives. I am talking about a phase that will hit most parents at some point or anther. I’m referring to the extracurricular activities phase!
I think there was a point in history where most kids didn’t get involved in extra curricular activities until well into their school years. It was an occasional after school piano lesson, or little league a couple nights a week. It certainly isn’t like that anymore. Kids and parents are starting activities sooner, younger, and with more force. Maybe it is because more is available to our kids. Maybe it is out of this need to be competitive with other parents and their ‘active’ children. Maybe it is because apparently a zillion studies keep telling us that if we don’t feed our kids bran, turn off the TV, make them take origami, and socialize them before they can smile they’ll all end up stupid and unproductive members of society. Okay, that may be a little dramatic…but you know exactly what I’m talking about!
I’m not sure I’m necessarily dreading this phase of activities. I’m certainly not one of the extreme parents that has their kids involved in every possible thing under the sun. I am actually kind of excited to see what talents and passions my kids will develop as they try different things. One activity at a time…
We have decided to sign Mia up for swim lessons. As important as it is for her to learn water safety and how to swim, we want her to find an activity that she really loves. We talked about it the other night and realized that our daughter is the happiest when she’s busy. I think she gets that from me. While I do my best to engage her and her siblings during the day, she tends to get bored with what is available to her. So we decided to try an activity. We think swimming is a good place to start. Not too competitive, not too expensive, and close by. This is important considering when we asked Mia the other day what you do when someone takes the ball from you in soccer she replied with: “You push them down, take it back, and run!” I’m not sure she’s ready for competitive sports quite yet. She can be rather competitive for a four year old. Swimming might just be our safest route.
Today I came to the hard realization that even when you’re uber-organized some stuff is just a pain in the arse!!
I got a bill in the mail today from the kids’ dentist visit back in February. It claimed that we were over 60 days late paying the bill. HA! I emphasize the laughter because I have never paid a bill late….it’s that weird mother OCD thing. Anyway, I had to dig out the proof that I did, in fact, pay that bill at the beginning of March. I found it easily, but then had to call and get records faxed, return calls to make sure stuff was received, etc.
In the end they found proof of my payment, apologized for the nasty-gram bill, and told me to have a nice day. I should have wished them better organization.
On the down side, I don’t envy my kids when they have to clean out my files when I die. They will certainly be able to find anything they need, but I can already imagine the eyes that will roll when they discover that I still have copies of my phone bills back when I used to live in a dorm in college…pre-turn of the century! At least they are all labeled and filed accordingly.
Man, I’m sick…
Today I came to the hard realization that even when you’re uber-organized some stuff is just a pain in the arse!!
I got a bill in the mail today from the kids’ dentist visit back in February. It claimed that we were over 60 days late paying the bill. HA! I emphasize the laughter because I have never paid a bill late….it’s that weird mother OCD thing. Anyway, I had to dig out the proof that I did, in fact, pay that bill at the beginning of March. I found it easily, but then had to call and get records faxed, return calls to make sure stuff was received, etc.
In the end they found proof of my payment, apologized for the nasty-gram bill, and told me to have a nice day. I should have wished them better organization.
On the down side, I don’t envy my kids when they have to clean out my files when I die. They will certainly be able to find anything they need, but I can already imagine the eyes that will roll when they discover that I still have copies of my phone bills back when I used to live in a dorm in college…pre-turn of the century! At least they are all labeled and filed accordingly.
Man, I’m sick…
