80's and 90's music lyric quiz. Obviously 90's music sucked.

Got a 65.5 Apparently I was too busy watching my little pony or being born or something like that. Good 80's quiz though.



You would think that the decade that you spent in jr. high and high school would have music that would stick with you. Nope. I was too busy with showtunes and practicing for district 7 band. :-) Time not wasted, but I had no clue - NONE - on most of these. And several I got right only because I remembered hearing them in Weird Al polka versions. A trophy to my Nerdiness:

What I do when I'm bored.

Spring Break Wrap-Up

Friday 3-21: Took Maddie to have her first Haircut at Kids Kuts. They did an ok job, didn't take credit/debit cards, didn't post this fact clearly, and pissed me off. But at least the girl had straight bangs for Easter. Went grocery shopping. Felt like ass all evening, went to bed at 8:00.

Saturday 3-22: Sick all morning, must be this flu that Bob had, it's been going around all winter, worse than usual. Resolved to get my butt out of bed and went w/ family to a cousin's 4th birthday party. Actually felt better once I ate something, so maybe it wasn't flu (because everybody I know who had it threw everything up). Gave Maddie her Easter present early, because it would just be cruel to give her the drum & instruments Easter morning and then say, "Sorry, you have to leave the coolest toy in the world now and by the way, we'll be gone ALL day."

Sunday 3-23: Easter! Looooong day. Get everybody dressed to the nines and out the door by 7:45, early service with handbells & Maddie in the nursery, did Easter breakfast at Nana & Pop's, went to Grandmom & Grandpop's, went to Aunt Cyndee's for dinner & egg hunt & the ridiculousness that was their 3-step sunken family/dining room. Wood steps onto ceramic tile, a jarring fall for any 1 year-old. No gates. And this was the house that was preferable for the little kids' Easter egg hunt because...? Actually, the swing and trampoline outside was a nice diversion.

Monday 3-24: Took Maddie to her grandparents', Bob and I spent the day cleaning out the back yard. Raked and raked and raked leaves, sticks, rocks, dog poop, you name it. I raked every inch of our back yard. And we have a big back yard. Huge by suburban NJ standards. And I'm not saying this to brag. I'm saying this to whine. My back still hurts. Picked Maddie up, had take-out at Bob's parents' house.

Tuesday 3-25: Bought Maddie her first swing set. She falls down a lot, wants to climb up the slide and sit on the rock-climbing thing, but she likes it. Cleaned out the guest room (that's the room where we dump stuff we don't know what to do with), sorted stuff, and Bob talked me into going out for dinner to Don Pablo's - mmm, Tex-Mex, baby! Fabulous fajitas. Maddie loved the place this time, unlike my birthday dinner, where she apparently got indigestion from the decor.

Wednesday 3-26: Ikea junkie! Got a new dining set. See previous post. Love it. Love the rocking toy, "ee-kee-ya" as Maddie calls the rocker, and its place of origin. Plus, it was the first time we bought her a kids' meal. 99-cent mac & cheese w/ drink. Yay Ikea.

Thursday 3-27: Gymboree! Music class was fun. Free trial class. Maddie was into the other kids some, but mostly she just wanted to run around the room dancing or play on the low window-ledge. Then they got out the instruments and she was VERY into that. Talked to the teacher, mentioned that Bob & I are music teachers and she got all bright-eyed and said they needed teachers there for summer. Hmmm...but can I stand other people's kids all summer, too? Put away the snowman collection that was taking over one of the beds in the guest room. Put away the 9-12 month clothes of the girl's. Yes, she's 16 months old. Shut up.

Friday 3-28: More Gymboree - did the gym class, which also involved music. The guy running it is an '06 grad of E-town college, right down the road from our dear old alma mater. Pretty good class. Maddie had fun. It's $216 for 12 sessions of class. Bob and I have to decide if that' really worth the money. I'm leaning towards NO, and hoping to just get her together with some teacher friend's kids once a week or so for playground or mall socialization. Went grocery shopping. Put more stuff away. Cleaned more stuff. Went shopping for Maddie for some spring clothes. You know, long-sleeved, light weight shirts and pants, maybe a jacket or two. Hah. Problem is, it's already July in the stores. There was hardly any short-sleeved things (all sleeveless tanks and whatnot) let alone nice spring-weight clothes. Bought her a pair of capri-length pants, sweats, and a hoodie. I figure she's wearing whatever I've got for her, and if it's cold, boom, hoodie. My poor child. Mamma didn't know to shop for spring in January.

Saturday 3-29: Holy cow, when did it get hard to get out of the house? Forgot to wrap presents for birthday part #2 (for my friend's 2 year-old twins) barely got out of the house by the time the party actually started. Very fun. Lots of kids, tons of toys, Maddie did beautifully, plus they have a giant play room full of toys and a big-fenced in front yard full of my toys, and did I mention the toys? Dang. Plus my gym teacher friend swears he walked into the bathroom to find two older female family members of the hostess kissing - like, KISSING, kissing. So Monday's lunchtime conversation should be titillating. Had Bob's folks over to dinner to dine on our new lovely set, plus Bob makes this fabulous rigatoni dish with red peppers and sun-dried tomato sauce and shrimp.... mmm.

Sunday 3-30: That's today. Today we're getting the house straightened up, getting ready to go back to school - ugh - spending time with the girl, and counting how many school days are left so we can put giant count-downs in our classrooms when we get in tomorrow morning. Actually, the worst part of the school year for me is done. The long haul from Christmas to Easter is always drag-out, gray, boring and troublesome. Observations. PIP reports due. Concert prep. Ick. Of course, now it's crunch time. Yearbook, concert, church, everything. Again, I say ick. And tomorrow, we're back.

Too damn early. In the morning, that is. I know we had 10 days off, and they were a very sweet 10 days. My daughter learned new words every day, we took her places, tried new things, and had a ball. (And none of the places we took her involved the Caribbean, unlike most of my students' spring break activities. Must be nice to be rich.) We enjoyed mornings of sleeping till 8, unhurried breakfasts together, much playtime, walks, and romping the back yard, shopping, ordering out a little more often, and finishing stuff that we'd been meaning to finish. Good stuff.

And now we've just got to get through 81 days, 2, hours and 33 minutes till summer. There are weekends in there. And Memorial Day. We can make it. Right?

The junkie gets a new dining room.

The has struck again. :-)

It was time. The kitchen/dining room table was 3rd generation and the chairs were wedding presents. But unfortunately we picked them out before we realized that chairs are supposed to last more than a year, so we picked out and registered for the kind that fall about in about 6 months. Our bad.

In Celebration!

I've added a little ticker at the left. You see them on reflux support websites, celebrating the owner's children's success stories. Yesterday was Maddie's first day without reflux meds. Yes, we'd been on them that long. About a year ago was when she really started to get bad, peaking in June - when I pretty much lost it and demanded a second (third, really) opinion from a specialist and a friend helped us get Maddie into CHOP. Wow, those days were awful at times. I remember colleagues at school asking me why I looked so concerned. I remember lots of supportive friends, and few ignoramuses who claimed that reflux was an over-blown ailment thought up by parents who don't understand that 'babies just cry and spit up sometimes'. Ha ha. Worrying about whether my baby was eating while I was away. Worrying whether she was going to throw up whatever we could get into her while on her back and choke or get spit-up in her eyes and nose. Worrying if she was getting deaf from the white-noise blasting - hey she ate when we blasted it, it calmed her. Feeding her Pedialyte by syringe on Fathers' Day because that was the only food she'd take. She spent so much time being fed that I felt like that was all we did with her. Several nights I remember getting home, attempting to feed her till dinner, letting her play during dinner, attempting to feed her till bed, and putting her to bed with maybe 3 oz. in her stomach. What a great life for a baby. Not to mention her parents. But her doctors (grrrr...) said she absolutely must have 25 oz. a day. Again, ha ha.

Now, we've been blessed with a wonderfully healthy child. Besides being strong and developmentally healthy, she has had but one real cold her whole life, and she's 16 months old this week. (I give credit to the high level 'antibodies' my house must build up in her!) But those reflux days...wow. I've never worried, laid awake at night, or agonized over anything like that in my life. I had just gone back to work around this time last year - talk about guilt layered on top of guilt - and I honestly don't remember much of what I was teaching, because that's just not where my mind was all day. I do remember guiltily enjoying some days just before my spring concert, because I at least HAD to focus on something other than reflux worry for a few hours. My friends tell me I'm so much more laid back and content now - well after worrying like that, nothing else really seems like that big a deal. Moms, you know what I'm talking about. That combined with the whole unexpectedly-natural birth, and I'm pretty sure I could tackle anything. And, thank God, in the grand scheme of things, our issues were nothing compared to what some parents have to worry about. Still...*whew* I do NOT want to go back there.

I have to admit I was a little nervous yesterday morning, not giving her any acid medicine at all. Of course I know she's fine, and probably could have been weaned off these meds a few months ago, she's been so healthy. But still, those few months were bad enough that I just gave a little 'gulp' as I put the medicine droppers away.

But hey - now we're done. So here's to no more reflux meds for my girlie! I'm so proud of you, Maddie! Every now and then, when she shovels pieces of cheese, chicken nugget, and green beans into her mouth - all at once - and then chug-a-lugs from her sippy, I remember that it used to be an awful battle to convince her to drink an ounce of liquid. And I'm beyond grateful for how it is now.

Late 20's?

No, 27 is not late 20's. 27 is still mid-20's.
And so is 29. And 32.

Lord I'm old.

Bob's mom brought Maddie in for lunch w/ me at school on my birthday. :-) So fun to show my girl off. She waltzed right up to a 2nd grade boy and tried to climb up him. And I must say that I'm now quite a fan of cute little girl dresses, now that she can walk. This is going to be a fun spring/summer. Damn she looks cute in dresses.Oh well. Feminists, sue me. She was SO adorable.
She caused such a distraction in one classroom when we walked by that the teacher asked us to come back in and let Maddie walk around - and give the kids a subject for their journal entry of the day, "What's Maddie Up To?" Cute cute cute. Later we went out for Mexican, gorged on nachos, and other combinations of tortillas with cheese, meat, and vegetables (that's really all Mexi places are, face it!) and threw cheerios all over the floor. Bob, like any smart husband, got me jewelry. And a DVD.

Bob's mom said 'officially' that she's on board for watching the kiddos. (Maddie plus sibling.) So we started talking about when this sibling is coming. And we started realizing that if we want this kiddo while Maddie is 2, we gotta start seriously thinking about this kiddo soon. No, not SOON, but earlier than I thought. These things just creep up on you. I feel like I just got done being pregnant. It wasn't particularly fun, beyond the extra cutesy-futesy attention and excuse to get lots of gifts. Blood sugar testing sucks. Sleeping on your sqashed left side constantly sucks. Not being able to tie your shoes sucks. Babies rock though, so they're worth it. But Maddie's birth, hospital time, and first few weeks were not exactly easy, and I'm a little scared of repeating them. Who knows if it will be the same, but I'm naturally a little apprehensive. *sigh* But on the other hand it will be SO awesome to have 2 kids. Well, I don't have to consider it JUST yet.

Well, my 5th graders are looking slightly less on-task. Time to go to work. They're writing rhythm compositions in rondo form. This is loud, but fun. Probably should have picked a quieter activity for the week of the NJ ASK testing. Oops. The kids need to cut lose and have a looser assignment this week, I think.

And they're gone. I like this altered schedule, I actually have 10 minutes in between classes to set up! Imagine!
Well, 1st is on their way. We're having a ridiculously easy week. I'm doing individual assessments while they watch a movie. I call them back one by one and have them do a rhythm and pitch assessment at my desk, then they get to go back and watch a MOVIE (treat of treats, they don't get that joy in my room much) and it's a very easy period for all of us. Which if fortunate, because grades are due next week and I'm about to be buried in them with all the evals I'm doing this and next week. What fun.

Oh My God...

Don't Talk Politics...

Blink it!

In case anyone wondered how I ended up voting on Super Tuesday, way back when, I went for Obama. Yes, Hill was my girl, but I gotta be a sell-out and claim that Barak is simply more electable, and I ain't messin' around this time. We CANNOT do another 4 years like this, people! What it came down to, really: When the candidates were asked about the "No Child Left Behind" laws and what they'd do about them (since they very clearly aren't working, as proven in black and white by these past 7 years of testing...) only BARAK OBAMA came out said he plans to get rid of the whole initiative, because focusing on test scores and teaching only to the tests does not produce educated, well-rounded students who are ready for real life. They will know only how to take standardized tests, and that is all. Clinton said she'd reorganize it and fund it better...but she failed to recognize that it's fundamentally WRONG in the first place, and needs to go.
So, sorry Hillary, you couldn't promise me what Barak could. So now I'm..





because...

I Always Knew I Should Have Started My Own Religion

If you founded a religion...
Created by EvilAuthor on Memegen.net

The Unobstrusive Worshippers of the 300-foot Glass Cathedral Down The Street From City Hall

Your followers are friendly and welcoming people,

who work for a living just like everybody else,

who are free and fun loving,

and who are encouraged to achieve greater spiritual enlightenment by questioning their own beliefs.

Your followers wear whatever they want.

Your followers are

a massive movement (over 7,000,000),

and they don't interfere with the beliefs of outsiders.

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

Who would be able to join your religion?

Only the Chosen People (as chosen by YOU!) Only those who meet our standards of merit or morality. Anyone. Only those who are willing to make lifestyle sacrifices and commit themselves to the faith. Only the Chosen People (selected on the basis of blood/genetics) Only those who can contribute to the growth of the organisation, financially or through hard work.

A Chance to Blog

How nice. Of course, I really should finish the laundry, wash the floors, yadda yadda yadda.
But I just discovered that dear sis Cait left series 3 of "The Vicar of Dibley" for me in my series 1 case (yes, dear, it took me that long to find it. That's life!) and while my hubby is out running the sound board at church this morning, I'm enjoying the bawdy situational comedy of a 'randy' rural vicar on the BBC. Hey, it has religious themes. Gotta love Sunday.
*that crack of thunder you just heard was me being struck from above, heathen that I am*

Life is pretty good. Been sick for weeks, it seems. 2nd round of antibiotics seems to be taking effect nicely, and I'm starting a nasal spray soon. Not that you needed to know that, but hey, YOU checked my blog, YOU asked for it. School is nice, starting up spring chorus, planned out all my lessons till the end of the year so I feel like I've got a nice handle on it. My classroom is MESSY as hell...just random stuff needs to find a home. Handbells Enrichement class starts Wednesday, and amazingly enough I've already written and marked the first piece! Imagine, I'm prepared! Maddie's good - she learns new words pretty much daily...let's see, she says: Hi, shoe, tree, mamma, daddy, nana, choo-choo, night-night, up, no, yes, knee, doggie, max, um...oh, and PACI! This is quite an interesting development, since she can now ask for the paci, which she loves so dearly. She is not allowed to have it except for sleep. (Although I'm sure she and Nana break that rule from time to time, I often find the paci out in the living room, etc., but hey, when we ditch them, we pitch them, so when they're gone, they're gone.) She's awesome, entertaining, and she has a pretty easy routine. She's still very healthy (had one cold, knock wood). She's taken a few steps independently, and walks pushing toys and holding onto your finger, but she's made up her mind that crawling is faster. Oh, and she still has no teeth. According to child development sites, she's still within normal development range as far as this goes. Of course, this doesn't stop female friends of mine from gasping and suggesting I take her to the doctor when they hear that she's not cut a tooth yet. Other women suck, they're just there to make you worry.

Super Tuesday is almost upon us, and I actually find myself undecided, still. I'm hovering between Obama and Clinton. Duh. Either way, the world will be a better place...I just have to decide whether I care more about education reform or healthcare reform, at the time I actually go and vote. Cause I like Hill's healthcare, it's more inclusive. But Barak has come right out and said that teaching to the test does not a well-rounded student make, and he will fix No Child Left Behind. (Or at least fund the damn thing?!?! Hello!) I also have to see if I think people will be more likely to vote for a "white black guy" or a "ball-busting bitch". Bigots abound, you have to predict how they'll vote. Cause we will NOT have McCain, dang it. None of that, please!

Well, off to the laundry room I go. I actually got all ours done on Saturday.

OH! And CHEERS to my darling husband who did our taxes and squeezed out every little deduction possible and found us enough $ to entirely pay off our credit card. Take that, Visa.

I was going to be the one on the left...

Happy New Year!

Ah, what a year. Amazing. Last year while we were watching the New YEar's festivities in NY, we had a sweet little baby, who, after some major fussiness, was sleeping like a newborn upstairs, with not a tooth in her mouth. This year...um, yeah, we have the same. But not for long.

Whoo-hoo! (This is a sarcastic 'whoo-hoo', btw.) The girl is teething. (We're pretty sure.) And she may or may not have a runny nose cold type-thing. She woke up with a lovely crust over her nose. So pleasant. Don't know if it's a genuine cold (she was passing around the sippy cups w/ my friend's 20 month-old twins at Friday night's party, and they apparently woke up with nasty cold the next day.) Or, "unexplained" sniffles can be a sign of teething. Either way, we see something popping through there, and please noticed the new blinkie:



Yeah, had to break out the infant Motrin, and we heard quite a bit of yelling before she finally consented to be put to sleep. I of course had to sneak in later and check her. Poor kid. Happy New Year, she'll wae up to crusty nostrils.

Eh, whatever, there's worse things.

We went out to Red Lobster - damn them and their Cheddar Bay biscuits, they had me at hello! - and rented The Simpsons Movie and hung out, munching on our Christmas leftover goodies. The doggie is quite happy we're home. Now we're heckling the Home Shopping Network actors, and wondering why our hick neighbors have been setting off fireworks 12 minutes early. It's very nice here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Cheers for Actually Showing the Tears

Although LOOONG overdue (but when do I have time to watch prime-time TV?) I want to say a big CHEERS to "Scrubs". I just started watching the 6th season on DVD (Thanks Dad!) and within the first few episodes, there's a very happily expected birth. One of the main female characters, Carla, gives birth, and for once the event doesn't include cute little huffs and puffs followed by a perfectly clean, healthy pink (aprox. 3 month-old) bundle being passed around while mommy sits back and glows, her lipstick still looking fresh. Carla instead labors for hours only to be given a C-section - a little nod to the harsh reality that the act of birthing NEVER goes the way you wish and plan for it to go.

In later episodes the male characters gradually piece together that Carla is showing signs of early postpartum depression. It's the big kicker at the end of a particularly great episode - remember, this a commedy - but as a woman watching the episode, a MOMMY, that is, I was practically yelling at the screen "Carla has PPD, duh!"

And it's not just cute little baby-blues sniffles. She's bawling uncontrollably. She's sobbing because she can't get her baby to latch on (Oh! What's this? Breastfeeding isn't perfectly easy and natural? But it looks so easy on TV! When they actually dare to mention it on TV, that is...) She's a depressed, panicked, sleep-deprived, desperate mess. She feels like she can't do it, has to get a break from the baby, isn't a fit mother. She was lying in bed holding a tiny, beautiful newborn, sobbing her brains out.

And I watched this silly-stupid sitcom that usually could make me snort coffee through my nose, and said, "oh my God...that was me."

It is awful, it's never the same mommy to mommy, and of course, it does eventually go away, and life seems absolutely beautiful a year later. I think I was lucky. But yeah, I remember it well.

Cheers to for showing that sad, scary-ass side of new mommyhood.

My New Year's Resolution:

"A mother who radiates
self-love and self-acceptance
vaccinates her daughter against
low self-esteem."

~Naomi Wolf


PS - I also resolve to take more walks, particularly with my girl, in her little red wagon.

Are you absolutely and totally bollicking crazy?

"Well, I can't believe I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and the stuff I can't believe is not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter are not butter, and I believe that they both just might in fact be butter, but in cunning disguises, and in fact there's a lot more butter out there than we believe."

Love Vicar of Dibley

Good to know, considering I teach over 200 of 'em a year...

14

I'm kind of disappointed, I thought I'd be geekier.

33% Geek

Well, I always did have to have an "A"

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - incorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

And a Merry Non-denominational Holiday to You!

After receiving an email forward of a report that rated major retailers in America based on how they addressed Christmas in their stores and advertisements, I pretty much got pissed off.

Old Navy, for instance, was on this report's BAD list, as one of the stores that "censors Christmas" because it lists its sales as "Holiday Sales" and has a "Holiday Gift-Giving Guide".

I'm sorry, WHAT? American stores should alienate everyone in the country who doesn't celebrate a particular holiday? Am I wrong, or was this country not first settled by people in search of religious freedom? And now we're all supposed to be Christian, or go stick our heads in the sand during the entire month of December? GRRRR...

I whole-heartedly love Christmas. I have no problem with business putting up trees or mentioning Christmas. It's kind of why most people are at the mall in the first place. BUT some people are there Hanukkah shopping. Or getting food for a Kwanzaa or Divali celebration. We should punish retailers for opening their doors to these people? What, they don't get to shop too?

(I have a feeling that these are the same people who think we shouldn't allow any more immigrants into the country, legal or otherwise, forgetting that most likely somebody let their ancestors in!)

I guess I'm a bad evangelist. I really, really object to the idea that I'm supposed to make sure everybody knows I'm right and they're wrong and they'd better hurry up and be whatever religion I am. Live & let live. I'd be pissy if somebody tried to push "Hanukkah Only" sales on retailers. And I hate the policitcally correct, sensitized version of school programs and curriculums that completely pretend there isn't a major holiday in many major religions this time of year. If we don't teach this stuff, we're just widening the cultural gap. It's big enough. So the second I could, I put Hanukkah, Christmas, and yes, even Kwanzaa into my winter concert. (Kwanzaa is nice, and I do teach it, but let's face it, it's a very newly created holiday that doesn't carry near the weight of the other big two...plus I have to first cover Ramadan and Divali. I'm a busy girl here. Plus, NONE of the students at my school celebrate it. African-American or not. And I have dozens of Muslim and Indian kids. Gotta teach to your own population, I say.)

I should really add that the main reason I was filled with the pissy spirit upon receiving this forward (any many like it, I might add) is that the sender just assumed that I felt the same way as she, that I would actually read and follow the report's guidelines, and that I actually think that we should pretend that everybody whole-heartedly celebrates Christmas as the birthday of Jesus. They don't. Yes, I'm sure the majority of the country celebrates Christmas. But I don't think they should HAVE to, nor should they be given the cold shoulder by retailers in their native country, because they happen to celebrate other things. So I am going to continue to shop at Old Navy, Lane Bryant, and Lowe's, and perhaps go to them first because they at least acknowledge the fact that not everybody in the country is a dear little W. A. S. P. (Said the W. A. S. P.!)

On a more festive note, I'm celebrating big-time this year. I think I'm more excited about Christmas this year than I've been since I was a kid. One reason, I'm sure, is because I actually have a kid, and although she doesn't have a clue about the whole Santa thing yet, we do, and we're psyched that Santa's coming to our house again. But another reason I'm totally embracing Christmas and all its little traditions is that last year I really didn't get one. Up all night with a newborn, nursing had failed, and the baby blues hormones were raging. I barely noticed what day it was. I don't remember much of it, except the part about my kid having major gas and having to be on soy formula for tummy troubles. Soy formula stinks to high heaven, btw. I was not in the spirit. And now life is busy and crazy, but pretty darn sweet. SO Merry Christmas. I will be baking cookies and singing carols from here on out. And "Christmas on Sesame Street" is currently in the VCR. (Yes, I'm watching it while my kid's in bed. Deal with it. I love Big Bird.)

So, in conclusion: Do I think everybody should have to bow down and surrender to the Christmas tree? Hell no. Free country. But as for me, I go downstairs just to smell it sometimes. I'm looking forward to Christmas - and winter break - like crazy.

'Tis the Season To be Jolly...