And... now I have an almond problem.
I have been a fan of neutered baked goods only and really only allowed peanuts but sometime recently I got brave and tried mixed nuts. I could handle different varieties only when mixed together, interestingly. Okay, I found it interesting. But the ones I kept picking out were almonds so at Winco maybe a month ago I asked Chris for almonds and he asked me if I wanted the salted ones.
Deep breath. "No." I figured it would be much healthier if I could learn to love the unsalted ones so I was super brave. I've been eating nuts for two reasons: helping to knock the nighttime pills down without having to take a shot to eat and providing a little bedtime snack with protein. Tonight I realized I loved the unsalted almonds so much that I got up to pack some for lunch tomorrow. It is exciting to find something I enjoy that might actually be healthy. My idea of healthy is a ham and cheese sandwich. Did I finally find something that doesn't have a but other than the obvious "but don't eat too many?"
And speaking of things I didn't think I would enjoy, I started reading the assigned novel for the upcoming Children's Literature class. I would really like to go back to reading that now, but I wanted to briefly mention the conversations that Ant and I had today. I may have to explain the phone situation more in depth later, but the short version is that he's apparently not done yet with taking things that don't belong to him and now he's afraid he's going to juvie. He really didn't do anything he could seriously get in trouble for but he certainly didn't do the right thing. Yeah, I'll have to explain this more later but for the time being, I'm letting him be worried. I need this one to sink in so that no amount of desire or peer pressure will allow him to make another judgement call as piss poor as this one. I think this may be the first time that he has confessed without me figuring it out first. He was convinced that every dark car he saw was an undercover cop and that we were being tailed to the laundromat. When we stopped for milk at 7-11 he informed me that a cop had driven by while I was inside. Back when I was a candy thief, I got caught once and dragged back into the store. That was the last time I stole, and for years when I heard sirens I was sure they were coming for me. I will not let the worry carry on forever, but right now he understands that this situation is different than the trouble he's been in before.
I will explain more later, I promise.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Where did that come from?
I just barfed. That sucked.
My proposal writing classmate said she just got a nastygram from the teacher- her project was also deemed insufficient. Hmm. Anyone else sensing some faulty communication? If a student turned in 1/6 of a rough draft, wouldn't that set off alarm bells? Wouldn't you, as the teacher, say something clear and warning like, "Where is the rest of it?" Or "You do know this needs to be 5-7 pages, right?" Telling me you didn't bother to use my rubric tells me... that you didn't use my rubric. I wonder what coded message she gave my classmate, if any. Jeez, what gives?
It is snowing in Reno today. I am kind of thrilled by this, but I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm to a minimum since no one else finds this awesome.
My proposal writing classmate said she just got a nastygram from the teacher- her project was also deemed insufficient. Hmm. Anyone else sensing some faulty communication? If a student turned in 1/6 of a rough draft, wouldn't that set off alarm bells? Wouldn't you, as the teacher, say something clear and warning like, "Where is the rest of it?" Or "You do know this needs to be 5-7 pages, right?" Telling me you didn't bother to use my rubric tells me... that you didn't use my rubric. I wonder what coded message she gave my classmate, if any. Jeez, what gives?
It is snowing in Reno today. I am kind of thrilled by this, but I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm to a minimum since no one else finds this awesome.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Appropriately on Mother's Day
Oh, Ant.
Ant's friend's dad did something stupid and is likely going to prison. Ant is pretty upset that he will likely lose his friend, but also very upset because he knows what it's like to be taken away from your family and sent to foster care. Ant actually has no idea how lucky he was to get such great foster parents and to only be there a week before being able to go live with his other parent. He doesn't know that it doesn't normally work like this. He said he feels bad for his friend because he doesn't miss his mom that much but he thinks about his sisters all the time. Then he started to cry.
I think he misses his mom but he rarely talks to her, almost never sees her, and I'm filling in that role. I would hate for her to see this and be sad because I know he does miss her- but he has me. There's a big gap where siblings used to be.
I hugged and comforted him and we talked for a while. He cried for his friend and his own loss. I don't want him to forget what it's like to be a kid on the receiving end of irresponsible decisions made by parents, so I told him that while he may not be able to help his friend, he can be a good friend. And when he becomes a teenager- not that far from now- he can make more careful choices and not do this to his own kid.
I told him how proud I was of him today and how much Grandma liked his homemade card. It was so cute. He was so tired from the overnight skating party that he lost all spelling skills. The front of the card said:
HAPPY MOTHER'S
Inside said:
Love, Ant
DAY!
With all myhert hearet love
At the Mother's Day brunch at Topaz Lodge, Ant was still exhausted and started leaning on Chris. Chris got a bowl of ice cream and they shared it. Chris started messing with Ant, trying to feed him but swerving the spoon into Ant's cheek, his forehead... Ant smacked the spoon away which attracted a warning look from me.
"We are still in a restaurant," I said.
Elaine added, "Yeah, Christopher." and Ant goes, "Yeah, I'm not the only one with a mom here, Daddy."
It was hysterical for the best of reasons.
So Ant and I giggled about the card and he assured me that he can normally spell heart, just not that night. I was glad to send him to bed in a better mood.
"I'm going to grab a Snoopy Peanut book," he said. This is what he calls them, which is why his email is snoopypeanut. Then he recited his email password.
"I know it from the back of my head."
Ant's friend's dad did something stupid and is likely going to prison. Ant is pretty upset that he will likely lose his friend, but also very upset because he knows what it's like to be taken away from your family and sent to foster care. Ant actually has no idea how lucky he was to get such great foster parents and to only be there a week before being able to go live with his other parent. He doesn't know that it doesn't normally work like this. He said he feels bad for his friend because he doesn't miss his mom that much but he thinks about his sisters all the time. Then he started to cry.
I think he misses his mom but he rarely talks to her, almost never sees her, and I'm filling in that role. I would hate for her to see this and be sad because I know he does miss her- but he has me. There's a big gap where siblings used to be.
I hugged and comforted him and we talked for a while. He cried for his friend and his own loss. I don't want him to forget what it's like to be a kid on the receiving end of irresponsible decisions made by parents, so I told him that while he may not be able to help his friend, he can be a good friend. And when he becomes a teenager- not that far from now- he can make more careful choices and not do this to his own kid.
I told him how proud I was of him today and how much Grandma liked his homemade card. It was so cute. He was so tired from the overnight skating party that he lost all spelling skills. The front of the card said:
HAPPY MOTHER'S
Inside said:
Love, Ant
DAY!
With all my
At the Mother's Day brunch at Topaz Lodge, Ant was still exhausted and started leaning on Chris. Chris got a bowl of ice cream and they shared it. Chris started messing with Ant, trying to feed him but swerving the spoon into Ant's cheek, his forehead... Ant smacked the spoon away which attracted a warning look from me.
"We are still in a restaurant," I said.
Elaine added, "Yeah, Christopher." and Ant goes, "Yeah, I'm not the only one with a mom here, Daddy."
It was hysterical for the best of reasons.
So Ant and I giggled about the card and he assured me that he can normally spell heart, just not that night. I was glad to send him to bed in a better mood.
"I'm going to grab a Snoopy Peanut book," he said. This is what he calls them, which is why his email is snoopypeanut. Then he recited his email password.
"I know it from the back of my head."
Quidam
Chris and I just got back from our first Cirque du Soleil show, Quidam.
When I realized Cirque was on tour I was confused. "Why in the world would they come to Reno?" I asked myself. Then I started getting my hopes up. There are tons of acrobatic shows that come to Reno and I'm always saying to Chris that we should go, just so I can see something cool here instead of all the bands I don't care about or, god forbid, Thunder from Down Under. When I saw the dates I knew we would be low on money by then and tried to wrestle my hopes back.
As it got closer I thought about it more and more and finally sent two texts. I asked Dad how much he paid for his Cirque tickets and I asked Tracy if I NEEDED to go. She confirmed that it was indeed something I could not afford to miss and asked if there wasn't a student discount. OHHHH... so I finally went online and checked the prices. Dad's tickets- in the nosebleed section, with a huge discount- were twice what nosebleed tickets here were. He advised me to grab them.
I am so glad I did. I also stand by my decision not to bring Ant. I felt guilty but it was already more than we could really afford to spend and I had been waiting at least 10 years to see a Cirque show. I figured there would be future opportunities to take him to great shows when I am earning money and there's more padding. There were many kids at the show and I started feeling like an asshole but the little girls to my left were noisy and the very little girl behind me had running commentary through the whole thing. This is not to say that Ant would have behaved poorly- he is angelic at performances. I really didn't consider this to be a show for kids and my experience confirmed that. Plus I got to hear what they were most impressed by, and that was the jump rope act. Out of everything. I think this show was like a rich dessert, perhaps best appreciated by those who have developed some taste buds. They thought it was great, but I wondered how much they would remember and Chris thought they liked the jump roping best because it was something they could relate to. I felt like the extreme nature of most of the acts went right over their heads. I know Ant would have loved this show. He would have been well behaved and blown away but I think I'd like to reserve something like this until he's seen other acrobats, other "amazing feats." Right now he's pretty easily impressed and I think that's right where he should be. I would hate to set the bar so high that anything under it would be unimpressive. I still feel bad for not taking him but I do think it was a good decision, if that makes any sense.
But oh, this show.
Before the show started Chris warned me not to talk all the way through it, and then spent the whole show whispering to me about where the spotlight guys were hidden in the trusses, what each piece of equipment in the racks was for, how the sounds were being made. At intermission he said he liked it, it was awesome, which of course made me crazy because I wanted to talk about it! He did not disappoint on the way home, though. At Topaz this morning Chris was apparently reading up on Cirque de Soleil and after the show he filled me in on the company, Quidam's history, and how advancements in technology allowed them to take this show on the road.
I LOVED the German Wheel. It was the first act and I was immediately convinced that I would love nothing nearly as much but there were some very close contenders. You're right, Tracy, those aerial acts are amazing- every one of them. I'm not sure I could pick a favorite but I will say the girl who does the Cloud Swing needs her head examined. Banquine kept me gasping. We were arguing over how young those performers had to be. The Juggler's balance was hard to believe and I'm ready to pitch a fit now because WHERE WAS STATUE? I bet that would have been my favorite part because I adore that shit.
Quidam Show Acts
I left the arena, walked down stairs, climbed up stairs, and drove home with my jaw hanging. I think I remember renting this show on DVD at some point and about all I remember is the girl in the hat. Now I understand that it is absolutely USELESS to watch this any way but in person. Absolutely stunning.
When I realized Cirque was on tour I was confused. "Why in the world would they come to Reno?" I asked myself. Then I started getting my hopes up. There are tons of acrobatic shows that come to Reno and I'm always saying to Chris that we should go, just so I can see something cool here instead of all the bands I don't care about or, god forbid, Thunder from Down Under. When I saw the dates I knew we would be low on money by then and tried to wrestle my hopes back.
As it got closer I thought about it more and more and finally sent two texts. I asked Dad how much he paid for his Cirque tickets and I asked Tracy if I NEEDED to go. She confirmed that it was indeed something I could not afford to miss and asked if there wasn't a student discount. OHHHH... so I finally went online and checked the prices. Dad's tickets- in the nosebleed section, with a huge discount- were twice what nosebleed tickets here were. He advised me to grab them.
I am so glad I did. I also stand by my decision not to bring Ant. I felt guilty but it was already more than we could really afford to spend and I had been waiting at least 10 years to see a Cirque show. I figured there would be future opportunities to take him to great shows when I am earning money and there's more padding. There were many kids at the show and I started feeling like an asshole but the little girls to my left were noisy and the very little girl behind me had running commentary through the whole thing. This is not to say that Ant would have behaved poorly- he is angelic at performances. I really didn't consider this to be a show for kids and my experience confirmed that. Plus I got to hear what they were most impressed by, and that was the jump rope act. Out of everything. I think this show was like a rich dessert, perhaps best appreciated by those who have developed some taste buds. They thought it was great, but I wondered how much they would remember and Chris thought they liked the jump roping best because it was something they could relate to. I felt like the extreme nature of most of the acts went right over their heads. I know Ant would have loved this show. He would have been well behaved and blown away but I think I'd like to reserve something like this until he's seen other acrobats, other "amazing feats." Right now he's pretty easily impressed and I think that's right where he should be. I would hate to set the bar so high that anything under it would be unimpressive. I still feel bad for not taking him but I do think it was a good decision, if that makes any sense.
But oh, this show.
Before the show started Chris warned me not to talk all the way through it, and then spent the whole show whispering to me about where the spotlight guys were hidden in the trusses, what each piece of equipment in the racks was for, how the sounds were being made. At intermission he said he liked it, it was awesome, which of course made me crazy because I wanted to talk about it! He did not disappoint on the way home, though. At Topaz this morning Chris was apparently reading up on Cirque de Soleil and after the show he filled me in on the company, Quidam's history, and how advancements in technology allowed them to take this show on the road.
I LOVED the German Wheel. It was the first act and I was immediately convinced that I would love nothing nearly as much but there were some very close contenders. You're right, Tracy, those aerial acts are amazing- every one of them. I'm not sure I could pick a favorite but I will say the girl who does the Cloud Swing needs her head examined. Banquine kept me gasping. We were arguing over how young those performers had to be. The Juggler's balance was hard to believe and I'm ready to pitch a fit now because WHERE WAS STATUE? I bet that would have been my favorite part because I adore that shit.
Quidam Show Acts
I left the arena, walked down stairs, climbed up stairs, and drove home with my jaw hanging. I think I remember renting this show on DVD at some point and about all I remember is the girl in the hat. Now I understand that it is absolutely USELESS to watch this any way but in person. Absolutely stunning.
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