Last Day of Preschool

Today was O's last day of preschool - until the two summer sessions that I await with baited breath. There was much planned, including a trip to the Dairy Bar for ice cream. This field trip was strategically timed so that they would return to the school hopped up on sugar with about 90 minutes left. Of course, this was also O's day to bring a snack (or just "snack" as I have discovered the proper preschool term is), so just as the ice cream sugar high was wearing off, we pulled out my awesome Jackrabbit cookies to replenish the sugar fix. Yes, yes, you are very welcome parents. Now, in all fairness, I did stay and help out in the classroom for over 2 hours and I went on the field trip, so I did get the full force of 20 children hopped up on HFCS and my sugar cookies. It was insane. I'm not sure how the teachers do it every day. I have a hard enough time with college kids.

Thanks, Miss Kami!

Thanks, Miss Dusty!

The problem with praising mediocrity

I know some of you will think I am a cynical, mean mom, but I know I'm not the only one. Monday night was O's preschool "graduation." There was a ceremony and a party. They wore caps and gowns and each child received a diploma. To me, graduation should be something earned, worked for - it's not an automatic (or shouldn't be, anyway) - and preschool is certainly not one of these earned occasions. The same goes for kindergarten, too. I think kids need to understand what it means to work hard for something, and the fact that we so easily praise automatics explains much about the entitlement attitude I see far too often today.

So, needless to say, we did not go to the ceremony. O would have refused to get up on the stage anyway. His teachers were a bit sad he wasn't there, and I do feel a little bad about that. They've done a great job with O's class this year. So yesterday when we picked O up from preschool, I let his teacher put the cap on his head and we snapped a picture. We picked up his diploma. Ah, praise for mediocrity (not that O is mediocre). It's a cute picture, though.

Front Deck is Stained

Matt stained the front deck yesterday - yay! It looks great. Too bad he didn't start until the afternoon - he had the full late afternoon sun on him and almost passed out twice. It hit 90 here yesterday. I'm sure the oil fumes didn't help. either. But it looks great! We still have to tackle the screen porch and it's three times the size...

Lake Poinsett

Last Friday was the first of many summer day trips. O will be home with us all day until he starts K in August - no daycare! - so we have to find various ways to entertain the kiddo. Driving around the county visiting lakes, state parks, small towns seems like a good plan, yes? Anyway, O LOVED going to the lake. He loved throwing rocks in the lake. For three hours. He almost cried when we left. I think we need to get this kid out more often. We are terrible parents...

We purchased a state park pass, so I plan on putting it to good use. Now if I could only get M to go camping...

Good Lord, I forgot how good this was...

So I stopped in at my fave (and only) crunchy, organic coffeehouse in town to get some lunch. I ordered a bowl of chicken and wild rice soup and a hot cup of white tip Earl Grey tea. They're out of the Earl Grey, so I take a look at what else they've got. Holy crap, I see a tin of Lapsang Souchong sitting in the case. I haven't had this tea in ages, and had basically forgotten about it. Colin Hey (yes, that Colin Hey, the dude from Men At Work - his solo work is wonderful) has a very nice song that mentions it,



but I digress...

So I order it. OMG. AWESOMENESS in a cup. I had forgotten. It's not for everyone - it's smoky and smells like a campfire, but it's sooooo comforting to me and went really well with my soup. Now I need to order me some.

Apparently, college is for losers

I guess I need to rethink my career path. Lynzee makes some excellent points here, for sure. Well crap, now what was my backup plan?

Just because I need a laugh today...

more animals

More Songs - Blue Monday

Wow, 7 weeks goes by fast when you don't post. One person is reading this blog (Hi, Moni!) so I feel like I owe it to her to keep blogging :)

Anyway, I'll jump right back in to the music posts. Today's band is New Order. The song, "Blue Monday."

When I was 14, I went with Katie Schempp to see New Order at The Felt Forum (now the Paramount) in NYC. My mom drove us in and we waited all day in line so we could get close to the stage (the FF was general admission). I remember being totally mortified that after my mom left us, she went down the street to McDonald's and brought back lunch for us. Katie and I were two 15-year-old suburbanites from Jersey and there were a bunch of really cool kids there - how dare my mom embarrass me like that! Bringing lunch and all!! Sorry, mom...I was young and teenager-y.

Anyway, The show was great (August 1, 1985). I don't recall who opened, but they got in a fight with New Order at some point during the night and NO just stopped playing - lights came up, they were done. I seem to recall NO only played about 6 songs, but this concert site had 12 songs listed.

New Order is one of my favorite bands. Not only were they important to my emotionally charged teenage years, but I remember listening to their Greatest Hits on my 30th birthday as I drove from Iowa City to Dubuque to interview a female Vietnam veteran for my dissertation. I remember dancing to them at the many awesome dance parties at Kate and Tom's (also in Iowa City), and just last night, I danced with my 4-1/2-year-old to "Blue Monday" in our living room. Totally adorable and schmaltzy as I just kept thinking, "I hope I get to dance with O at his wedding/commitment ceremony/whatever-he-chooses-to-do." I know, I am getting sappy in my almost-mid-life-age.

Here's the video for "Blue Monday," complete with William Wegman's weimaraner, Fay Ray (I had forgotten this!). Enjoy :)

Colds suck.

I am battling a nasty cold, so I haven't had the energy to use my brain as I should - hence no blog posts for a week. Instead, I've been working on my syllabi for the upcoming semester from my home office on the couch, knitting O a scarf, and providing my brain with mindless pop culture before I have to dive into the semester, by watching the first three seasons of Heroes via Netflix's awesome "watch instantly" feature. I had never seen an episode of Heroes until last week. It's okay, nothing great (I'm told I should reserve that adjective for the new Battlestar Galactica or the original British version of The Office - my money is on The Office, athough I do love me some good Sci-Fi) and there are a few interesting characters. I'm on episode nine of season three - I'm guessing this is the season where the show jumped the shark. I'll stick it out to see what happens. Plus, it's something to do while I knit and feel miserable from this damn cold.

Here's to hoping the Sooners can hang on and find some more offense. I am not a Florida fan. Dagnabbit, Florida is about to score. Someone remind me to write about the annoying conflict between most academics I know and sports. I've had people assume the worst of me because I enjoy college sports. Silly, silly people. You can read Habermas, go to obscure documentaries AND enjoy a good college basketball game (or the BCS National Championship). It is possible.

It's 2009...yay.

I'm not a big New Years Eve person. I used to be, but no longer. I think if I lived in a more exciting city and could walk everywhere or take public transportation, I would enjoy NYE much more. I'm not a fan of drunk drivers on icy roads. I'm really hoping 2009 brings some good things my way. The past three years have not exactly been stellar. I had major health issues last year that I am hoping stay away for good. I'll be stepping up the exercise and overall health-consciousness to help speed that along.

My Hawkeyes beat the pants off South Carolina today, so I suppose my 2009 is off to a good start. I have about 2 weeks to knit, read and relax before the semester starts back up again and I plan to take full advantage of that. On Tuesday, I visited the library and picked up When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and Under a Green Sky by Peter Ward. One should make me laugh (I hope), the other will probably depress or scare the hell of out me.

I'm not feeling super-inspired tonight, musically. I might wait until tomorrow to post another 80s gem. I'm a cheery loser, eh?