Vogon went to sleep around 0830 so I let him be and went to the ACE portfolio sharing lunch. The kids had made Powerpoint presentations and each had a laptop to share it on, so I watched Laurel's and a couple of her classmates while noshing on school lunch tacos. When we get a copy of her presentation on CD, I will extract the photos so you can see some of the projects she's done this year and the awesome Bessie Coleman puppet from the biography section that was this quarter's project.

Among the requisite paperwork sent home with the parents is a packet on the Duke TIP program, which has a 4th/5th grade program that is wholly new to me. I've been planning to start saving in case she wants to do CTY in middle school, but Duke TIP already? My PEGlets are still so young to me! I'm going to sit in a corner and feel old now.

I told him to go get some sun so he doesn't get rickets from staying inside with the blinds closed, so he's out with Laurel at the pool for a bit.

In late February, I mentioned Laurel's science fair project observing Squeaky's sense of smell and determining his preferred treat flavor. Her project was awarded second place and she brought home the ribbon a few weeks ago, but kept forgetting the display board. It finally came home so I took a photo of it for her to enjoy when she's older.

( Laurel's project 'How Well Can A Cat Smell?', 181 kb .jpg )

I haven't posted anything interesting in awhile so here's something to tide y'all over before I think about someone's flaming underwear again. (They're still lucky an accelerant-stained laundry bag didn't self-ignite while they weren't home. Not that I know anything about setting anything ablaze, but I practice responsible trouble-making. Except for that one time... and that other time. And that time we grilled bacon-wrapped meat. Never mind.)

Things I have been doing:

- lots of French knots


- lots of backstitching (soon to be followed by lots of French knots)


- trying to remember that spring is coming even though it's unreasonably cold outside now


- appeasing a quadripedal benevolent dictator


Things I have not done:
- taken Christmas decorations to storage
- listed a bunch of lap quilts, tools and patterns on Etsy
- mailed bacon salt to Michigan, a screaming monkey to Boston, a quilt to Florida, a box of yarn and stuff to Ohio, and some fridge art to El Paso

The latter two items will be taken care of after I venture into the near-frozen outdoors to deposit a paper check, go to the post office, and write some sales copy.

If her display board comes home today, I'll post a picture of Laurel with her honorable-mention-winning science fair project. Otherwise it will be sometime after next week, because we have spring break then and I will sleep more if it doesn't warm up. (Weather: warm up!)

Between everyone being sick here, I just noticed it is just a touch above freezing outside and the rain is looking suspiciously like a wintry mix. We need the rain but cold not so much.

I'm not sure what is going on with Laurel except that she's under the weather too. She slept slept most of Monday after being sick overnight. Felt better Tuesday and went back to school, but she frequently put her head down on the table after lunch and later fell asleep on the reading chair. I suggested a nap when we got home and down she went, sleeping with only a few breaks to get a drink of water or use the restroom. I got her awake for about ten minutes this morning to have her eat and she started falling asleep about two bites into one of her favorite foods. No temperature, stomach upset (since early Mon morning), or complaints.

Thank goodness next week is spring break.

Well, now we know that Vogon's contract is unlikely to be extended; $_COMPANY is closing the site he's been working at. It's not a big surprise, as the site was already pretty quiet as a former manufacturing site scaled back to a lot of empty space.

...

[earlier this morning]
Me: What kind of dreams did you have last night?
Laurel: [mumbles]
Me: Nude dreams? What?
Laurel: WEIRD dreams.
Vogon: She spent most of the night sleeping on the couch with me.
Me: Well, then it's no wonder she had weird dreams.

I'd been snoozing on the couch with the squeakinator when Vogon remembered he needed to buy some C cell batteries to try out the PediPaws. (I am dubious of the device, but he bought it.)

Five minutes after he left, Squeaky began meowing piteously because he noticed Daddy had left. I told him "If you're going to make that noise, we can always take a shower together!" He quieted down, but a drowsy Laurel in the other room said "I'd rather take a shower by myself, thanks."

My headache came back. I think my brain is melting. Grragh.

Laurel thinks skirts over pants are "FASH-ion" and that I am a mean mother to reply "no, that's extra laundry until you start doing your own, kiddo."

I have some things to finish for Christmas gifts and realized that I leave for Colorado a week from today, so I'd better get them done this weekend. Also, I have to whip up a couple more zipper pouches to hold stethoscopes in the jump bags, find a couple of 1/2 inch D-rings (if we have any) for making Squeaky some seasonal collars, and put on my big girl pants to cut fearlessly into the 40-yard roll of batting (thanks, trshtwns01, for sending me a link to that one-day sale!).

I am going to make pumpkin bread today (minus the nuts) as muffins.

I saw someone mention watching The Banana Splits as a kid and wanted to note that the Cartoon Network sister station Boomerang currently airs it. I watched back to back episodes at 10 AM Mountain on weekday mornings this summer, but their current schedule has that block at 7 AM Eastern on weekend mornings.

Random interesting things that have happened in the past few days:

- Laurel's best friend from kindergarten and first grade has moved back to the area and lives in an apartment complex across the street. We had a last-minute play date on Friday afternoon. Kept her until 9 PM with her mother's blessing. Since the VogonDad came by that evening, she joined us for dinner, which leads to the next point...

- Los Lupes has a new Addison location in the former Joe's Crab Shack on Belt Line. They have mariachi night on Fridays; if you go, take earplugs.

- We got Squeaky a soft-sided carrier that's machine washable. The latter attribute was used almost immediately, as he christened it as soon as the car started moving to head home from PetsMart. He was fine riding loose in the car there and happily rode around in the cart, where he enjoyed eyeing little dogs in other carts and watching the birds.

- A second grader 'sang' the Star Wars Imperial March to me in meows yesterday while I was sitting in the school lobby filling out after-school program paperwork. He was waiting for his mom, who picked him up late following car trouble. Kid's probably a smart cookie, he has the same second-grade teacher as Laurel had.

- saarlander got the luv & bass (a bunch of DJ Rap singles, the reissue of A Propa History, podcasts and her free mailing list tracks from this year) I mailed to Iraq and left me the sweetest voicemail message. I think he says "thank you" in it four times in barely 30 seconds. I would be totally envious of his wife if he wasn't my best friend.

The brokerage called yesterday to confirm I wanted to sell my treasury bonds. They get a gold star for dragging stuff out (they've had my required documents since Friday noon), but I will not miss dealing with them after this transaction is done with and my account closed out. I wrongly assumed that when a broker suggested I overnight those documents last week that the brokerage would treat them with equal urgency once they arrived.

Laurel is on a mini delinquent streak between her first half-day time out in the office (the teacher was apologetic when she told me but it wasn't necessary, Laurel chose to do what she did and she knows the consequences) and losing a school library book. She wants to take her piggybank to school and tell the librarian to take what she needs, but she needs to tell the librarian she cannot find the book and would like to know how much the book costs so she can pay for it.

Taking pictures of Squeaky with his eyes open is proving tricky. He sees the orange light on the front of my camera and closes his eyes. Until I figure out how to turn off that feature, getting photos with his eyes open requires either minimal focusing or tempting him with my dangling wrist strap.

I have a bunch of photos to process and post or e-mail, but I didn't get to them last night as planned. I missed the new Pushing Daisies too, instead dealing with interesting things in the fridge (hot curry sauce molds -- who knew?) and finishing up paper bag rocks. In a few hours I'll be setting up the mural and if my brain doesn't check out from a night of fitful sleep, I'll get to photos after I return home.

I finally wibbled toward not attending Worldcon this year, although the Fluorospherian party was ridiculously tempting. johno, we'll meet at some con in the future.

I will be in Denver on the 23rd to pick up Laurel and return to Dallas. I'm not planning on doing anything wild and crazy while I'm there. I will take more pictures of my niece, because I have been rubbing it in that we share our first three initials and that she is quiet when I hold her. She fusses when my mom holds her. This is a rip in the space irony continuum, although I am unsure of how to repair it.

Laurel is looking forward to starting 3rd grade and seeing the chartreuse LL Bean bookbag I procured in the hunt for a yellow bookbag. Naturally the survival backpacks in last week's haul of using-up-the-FSA spending turned out to be a nice bright yellow, but those are not being turned into bookbags.

I am PMS'ing and thinking too much about hating my birthday. (Not the getting older part, which I rather like, but the actual day.) I'll be back to normal next week.

Dear Laurel,

Eight years ago today, you were born. In that time, you have more than doubled in height and septupled in weight, developed your own sense of style, and made it abundantly clear that you would like a daybed. (We are working on that last item, but you'll see that when you come home from summer vacation.)

( Read more... )

Laurel's artwork has been chosen for inclusion in a student art exhibit on display 17-28 March at the Chase bank in Farmers Branch (12875 Josey Lane, Google Maps).

We'll make a trip down there once it's up to take photos.

Gearing up for birthday week is fun. My latest Amazon.com order arrived yesterday, so I gave Vogon part of his gift early: a copy of Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe [review in Physics World].

I'm digging into Richard Lavoie's The Motivation Breakthrough with a pack of post-it flags and a notebook. So far there's a bit of overlap with his It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend, but it's mostly in reiterating that adolescence is a period of trying to avoid embarrassment. Lots of references to Levine and Coloroso, as I expected, and nicely called out suggestions for classroom teachers. I might buy a few more copies to donate to our local gifted and talented association's library.

...

The Unifix cubes arrived and we've already put them to use in drilling for math computation. I'm not sure whether we'll use the Invicta attribute blocks yet, but the lot included a quart-sized bag full of pattern tiles so we have another incentive for completing a sheet of practice work. Unlearning years of Saxon habits is going to be a slow process for me.

One negative to growing up on Saxon math: I have helped Laurel build a great fact base, but she's struggling with explaining the concepts.

We're putting her on a growth plan to deal with this gap in her math skills, the only issue she's had with the district-level program. It's understandable since she went from first-grade math last year to third- and fourth-grade math this year. We need to reinforce some basic concepts that become automatic with repetition: remembering to use tally marks when regrouping and quickly identifying in word problems what operation to do and how to do it.

Laurel really likes the Unifix blocks they use at school so I'm seriously considering buying two 100-packs of blocks, an operational grid and blocks marked with place values. The downside is that will cost about $60 new, so I'm sitting on an eBay auction for ~250 gently used blocks and I'll buy the operational grid and place value blocks later. Think good thoughts for my eBay mojo.

In the meanwhile, I'm going to cut up some of the 35 mil azure blue vinyl I scored from American Science & Surplus earlier this month to make simple manipulative tiles to hold her over until the acquisition of Unifix blocks. The vinyl is a great deal for $3.50 -- it's about 40x24", acid resistant and flame retardant. I suggest you buy some.

A few days ago, the mail included a big envelope from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). I guessed that it might be Laurel's 2006-2007 Reflections entry, which had been displayed in the state exhibit.

I was surprised to find the envelope contained two copies of the 2007-2008 TEA Events Calendar accompanied by a letter informing us that Laurel's artwork was featured in the calendar along with that of other students from throughout the state. Opened it up, skimmed through the introductory pages and found her Reflections entry photo as the August 2007 calendar page image. Now the entire state can see my behind! Whee.

( Laurel holding the calendar open to the page with her art, 63.3 kb .jpg )

In the Evergreen area today? If you pick up a copy of today's News or Post, you can see Laurel on the cover of the YourHub.com print section.

She's wearing a propeller beanie for the Fourth of July in the first and second photos here: http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Stories/Holidays/Independence-Day/Story~330415.aspx

Dear Laurel,

( Seven years ago today, you were born. )

I got back home safely yesterday, just later than planned after a late departure since Frontier held the plane at the gate to accommodate passengers coming from a connecting flight that arrived late, then waiting in the shuttle at the airport afterward for another passenger heading in my direction on the shared shuttle service I booked to get home. (Last week and early this week are crunch time for Vogon at work.) I got a lot of backstitching done on New World Discovery during the wait.

Between the delay and the rainy weather, I skipped the staffed setup time for Cub Scout day camp on Saturday. We drove over this afternoon to assemble the shade gazebo top and stake it down so we only have to put it up on its poles tomorrow. While we were out there, we ran into the district executive and he remembered me. I'm impressed; he's either got a great memory or made a really good guess based on my pack t-shirt.

I came home to a few surprises, like a dishwasher full of clean dishes and a note in Laurel's bathroom that maintenance had come in to fix the AC condensation line after our downstairs neighbor called in to report it was leaking. The holy grail of Vogon's china pattern that I had bought on eBay for a song arrived safe and sound in my absence as well. The piece goes for $170 on replacements.com and frequently sells in the $100-120 range on eBay; I scored mine for the opening bid. Some days my fu is strong.

Laurel is having a great time at my parents'. She went to the rodeo parade with my brother and younger sister after I left for the airport and loved it, as well as loving her new pink cowboy boots. I talked to her this afternoon and encouraged her to enter the mutton bustin' competition at the rodeo. She leaves for a few days in Los Angeles with my dad and sister tomorrow, tagging along on Sarah's college visits there and whatever else they'll be doing. She's looking forward to riding the carousel on the Santa Monica Pier again and proudly told me so. I do not like carousels as an interior decorating motif, but the history and workmanship have a soft place in my heart.

I'm going to be running full tilt with day camp this week in its "evening" 1500-2000 session and have to pick up a network cable so my laptop can reach the Intarwebs until we deal with the wireless router (Vogon thinks the A/C adapter is dead), so don't expect to see me commenting regularly until next weekend.

I'll be returning to Dallas on Saturday. My frozen toes are glad since the snow line briefly came down to 8000 feet a few nights ago, but I still haven't cracked the stored stuff I meant to get a dent in paring back on during this trip. iconoplast, let me know when you'd like to pick up toddler stuff; I'll call you if I don't hear from you by Tuesday or so.

My nephew is unbelievably cute and observant, though it's not like we'd expect any less (re observant, not the cuteness) in my family. I wanted to buy him a set of toy tools after I replaced tens of sockets as he systematically removed them from a tool case the other day, but he already has a great toy tool set. Maybe I'll buy him a drum to go with the copy of Go Baby Go! I'm getting him for his upcoming birthday. He loved the track "Ten Little Monkeys" when I played it for him from my laptop. I just like the point about two and a half minutes into the song when the lyrics go "Mama called the doctor and the doctor said / 'What are y'all doing in that bedroom?'".

Laurel has whipped through the math workbooks we bought last week at Beyond the Blackboard and is a few cards from finishing all 40 that come with the junior version of Rush Hour, so it's time to get her the regular game and the expansion decks. I also should order the workbooks recommended by the school district to reinforce what we're already doing to get her squared away to be at the level for the program she'll be in when school starts.

In my typical obliviousness to scheduling flights, my DEN-DFW flight on Saturday will be boarding at the same time the Evergreen Rodeo parade starts. I still have my fingers crossed for my brother's girlfriend to be named rodeo queen; last year she came close, so we hope this year is her year.

On my list of to-do items for this week:
- hitting the farmer's market for a bottle of blackberry balsamic vinegar since I missed it (the vinegar, not the farmer's market) last week,
- staining the ginormous wooden swingset* that will replace the wooden swingset that held court in my parents' backyard through Laurel's early years; it was great for a "free - you haul" find but reached the end of its useful life,
- munging together a short video-collage of photos and video clips from the helicopter discovery flight my brother took last week, complete with obnoxious audio samples and the M*A*S*H theme song, and
- not admitting that after staging a laptop bag intervention with my older sister, she has a new sleek bag that only holds work-related items, my younger sister has her treasured lime green-accented bag back, and I still haven't gotten off my duff to get even a protective sleeve for my laptop. -1 to my geek cred.


* I'm not kidding when I use the modifier "ginormous". This is one of the product photos:
( 64kb.jpg image )