things that make you go 'uh-oh!'

Cardo was just trying to send me into a mini-panic earlier by asking me when I was going to find out how much it would cost to fix my teeth, which implies that I have to actually go to the dentist several times and have my teeth worked on. I've never had nice teeth and I've never really enjoyed (or felt indifferent about) dentist office visits.

So, here I was, flossing my teeth for the second or third time today and I'm pretty sure I just yanked a piece of my tooth out. I'm afraid to look at it in the mirror.

Oy with the poodles already!

a little look at language

I went to a movie today. In an actual theatre. A first-run movie.

So, anyhow, there was a nice long stretch of trailers before the film started and a great many of them had a little disclaimer pointing out that "The following preview has been approved for appropriate audiences." Well, thanks for the incredibly vague notice. Perhaps it's a guessing game: Whoever figures out who the "appropriate audience" is wins!

Anyhow, the rest of the outing was cut short, but will be picked up again in a few days.

musical monday: go the whole wide world

"Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric"

One of my favorite cinematic gestures is when Harold gives Ana (or, Ms Pascal, as he calls her), a baker, a dozen flours. Love it!

a reality show i would watch

I saw the following on Mrs Q's Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project [I'm figuring it's okay to repost in full because it isn't her own writing, but something that had been floating around the interweb...I'm including the link to her site because I still feel I should give credit.]



Next Season on Survivor...
Have you heard about the next planned Survivor show?

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for one school year. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district's curriculum, and a class of 25 students, no aide.

Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.H.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least three days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.

In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and the drills for shooting attacks each month. They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the tests. If they are sick or having a bad day, they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times. If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.

Lunch will be limited to twenty minutes, which is not counted as part of the work day. The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.
If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.

The winner of this Season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their old job.

Pass this to your friends who think teaching is easy, and to the ones that know it is hard...

let me direct your attention elsewhere

This cartoon about paper margins, font size, superfluous language and last-minute paper-writing makes me laugh.

And, yes, I do know when the margins are over an inch. ;)

solstice-morning baking

So, what to do on solstice morning, when I was up around six and had a wee guest in the house? Among other things (deep clean the cat pan, wash dishes, take out the recyclables, sweep, put away some books and puzzles), I did this:



Moosewood's Vegan Chocolate Cake, which is super simple to make and wonderfully moist and nice with a bit of powdered sugar sifted on top.

(And, can I now say that every time I sift powdered sugar onto a dessert, I think of that scene in Flowers in the Attic (movie version) when the grandmother is sifting rat poison (or something) onto the cookies before serving them to her grandchildren? Yes. Also, at one point, my mom stopped letting me watch that movie because I was so freaked out by the mother and grandmother in that family. For me, there was that same idea of people stopping to stare at a car accident.)

Anyhow...Happy Summer, all!

screens and sleep, not the best of friends

We've been spending much less time in front of screens lately, especially in the evening. (In fact, I'm about to be signing off here shortly.) This has made getting to sleep at night somewhat easier, but it has made it much more difficult for me to visit this space. Especially because when I do enter the ether, I want to check out other people's blogs before I start working on my own.

So, I'll be slowly working on how to work visiting into this space into my daily rhythm. I am thinking that will mean much more writing by hand and transcribing (or whatever the typing equivalent of that is) later. For now, I'll be sharing little bits here and there, although I have a lot of thoughts for longer posts mulling in my head.

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A bit of conversation from the other night:

I was telling Pic that the backs of my knees hurt (reason: sunburn...ouch). She told me, "My legs hurt, too. It hurts my craps."

I asked her, ignoring that I had no idea what "it" was, "Your what?"

"My craps."

"What?"

"Craps."

Insert my thoughtful pause here. Pic points at her leg and asks, "What are these?"

"Oh! Your calves!"

Never a dull moment.