Tuesday, November 29, 2005
A milestone!
Cam has a loose tooth! FINALLY! I was just thinking how few of the "growing up" milestones there are once they get past the first day of school, and here's another! We were out at dinner last night and he bit into a cookie and immediately complained that one of his teeth was coming loose. Yeah, right. I've heard that before, and besides, there's no way in HELL that I'm sticking my finger in his mouth after he just took a bite of an Oreo. Blar! We went shopping afterward, and he mentioned it again-TJ reached in and found it-it's on the bottom, to his right of the front teeth. Looks like he won't be going to college with his baby teeth after all!
posted by Jen @ 8:53 AM   2 comments
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Get out of my head!
Cam and I have spent the entire day together today, alone. Just the two of us. We went to see Harry Potter-he's been dying to see it since before it came out, and especially since the grown-ups went to see it last weekend. We came out in that post-movie daze; fat from all the movie theater food, dazed by the remarkably drab, cloudy day (still brighter than in the theater), and with our behinds still asleep. We both yawned most of the way home, and I was thinking what my odds were of sneaking in a nap once we got home... Cam looked at me and goes, "You're going to take a nap?" ...sigh...not anymore.
So we get home, and we're playing games. He was talking about getting Twister out-no way, buddy. My brain was blindly groping for any other game he might have-Candyland, Operation, Memory, ANYTHING but Twister! He goes, "Oh, that's a better idea, I'll get Candyland!" and scuttles off to get the game.
There was another one, but I don't remember it now. He's done that before, but never more than once a day. Just goes to show you what a little togetherness will do. At least this didn't involve lewd and lascivious thoughts toward an especially good-looking restaurant employee. "But Mom, you're not going to bed right now, are you?" Doh!
posted by Jen @ 8:57 PM   0 comments
Friday, November 25, 2005
Oh! I almost forgot!
On a completley unrelated note, I just bought the full version of a program I've been using to code html for the past 3 years. I've been using the stripped down freeware version and have FINALLY outgrown it. It was like Christmas (heh, see previous post) when I was going through all the functions. "Ooh-lookit the clipboard! OH! A thesarus! Oh-OH! A new outlining function!" I'm hoping to finally wrap my brain around CSS and such...wish me luck!
posted by Jen @ 12:31 PM   0 comments
I'm trying....really!
I have NO desire to do anything Christmas-ey. None. The thought of getting out the decorations usually gets me all giddy...but now? It's more like, "...sigh... We have to drive to storage, move stuff around, find all the Christmas and Yule stuff, pull it out, get it home...." How pathetic is that? I'm hoping it's just a temporary hormone thing-some people have back labor, *I* have back cramps. I'm just special that way. Maybe that's why I'm so hum-bug-my back really, REALLY aches right now. I forced myself to listen to holiday music today at work-there's a subchannel of AccuHolidays with ALL old stuff-Mel Torme, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Deano, etc. It was running really low most of the time-loud enough to block out the player piano up front doing Broadway's Greatest Hits all day, but not loud enough to make me holler. Eh. I don't feel any more festive, but I am thinking about digging out the Christmas CDs...I guess that's a start!
posted by Jen @ 12:24 PM   0 comments
Friday, November 11, 2005
Self-sufficient...but only because I had no choice
Everyone here at home left to go hiking/camping Wednesday. I was supposed to meet them today-I am obviously not in the woods roughing it now, but that's a story for another day. Right now I want to tell you about what happened to me at exactly 3:33 Thursday morning.

Set the scene: home alone, and totally sleeping with the bathroom light on. I hear the sounds of a dangerous jungle cat stalking its prey...or a fat house cat chasing a bug-depends on whose point of view we're using. Chakra was apparently not satisfied with the lizard she had killed and eaten (well, not entirely-she left bits that needed to be removed) the day before and was chasing what I assumed to be another big, nasty bug. Once I know there's a bug in the room, I can not sleep until that bug is dead. I know the bug isn't going to hurt me, but I'll be so busy thinking, "Where's the bug? Is it on the bed? It might be on my pillow!" to do anything remotely resembling sleep.

Under normal circumstances, I wake up the testosterone-laden person asleep next to me and sic HIM on the bug. Hmm...nobody to pass this particular buck to, so it's up to me. ...sigh... I get up and turn on the light, and decide that there's no point in going after my glasses-all I need is a shoe. Chakra is obsessed with my butterfly wings-they're sitting in front of the dysfunctional fireplace in my bedroom-so I figured that's where the bug was. I was half right-the critter was there, but it was NOT a bug. It was some kind of tree frog-you know, one of those little sucky-toads that hangs on the window with its little suction cup toes? Only this one looked like a tree frog had cross bred with a TOAD. It was between 3 and 4 inches in diameter-a BIG damn tree frog. We came eye-to-eye with about 6 inches between us, and he just stared at me, totally cool, like, "Hey. Wassup?" He was covered in carpet fuzzies and/or lint-I'm not exactly sure what.

I didn't exactly SHRIEK...it was more of a yip. I climbed back onto the bed, and realized there was no way-NO WAY-that I'd be able to sleep with that monster loose in my room. Again, I know it won't HURT me, but my brain would hurt me with all the "where's the frog" games it would play. I am my own worst enemy...

So, think think think...how to get the frog out of there, without TOUCHING it, of course. I ran out into the kitchen and got this Olive Garden clear plastic container, with grand plans of catching the monster frog inside and releasing it away from the viscous predator that had treed it (er, winged it?) in my room. All this ruckus woke up the other cats, so I had an audience for my grand moment.

I snuck up on the beast, and stood still for a moment, staring at him. The small portion of my brain that was functioning in "normal" finally pipes up and goes, "You might as well do SOMETHING-staring at him is getting nothing done." So I offered a quick prayer to the god(s?) of frog-catching-so-I-can-go-back-to-sleep, and slapped that bowl and lid over the end of the wing the enormous frog was perched on. There was a brief, dreadful moment in which I was positive I had missed him, and he had fled to parts unknown, to torment me for the rest of that night and possibly many more...then I heard a "THUNK." I looked down to see the frog dashing his brains out against the inside of the bowl. That's when I realized that I had caught a very special frog indeed-sometime between the bowl-fetching and frog-catching (heh...) the giant frog had SHRUNK! This was not the giant monster I had come eye-to-eye with earlier! This was just a little frog! Granted, he was still just about 3-4 inches in diameter, but it looks much smaller when there's a protective barrier between us.

I was very proud of myself-I caught the frog! All by myself! (insert goofy PJ-wearing, frog-enclosed bowl-holding, proud of myself dance here) I escort the frog outside and put the bowl in the grass...he hops out and away, and then a black streak FLIES by me after him-it's our inside/outside cat. All the noise woke him up and he came to see what was going on. I'm pretty sure he caught the damn frog, but I didn't stick around to see. I was pooped. I went back to bed and slept VERY soundly for the next 2 hours.

My pride was tempered somewhat the next morning as I realized that while I had taken care of the problem all on my own it was only because there was nobody there to do it FOR me. Does that make the victory less amazing? Eh, slightly. I know TJ just rolled his eyes when I told him about it, but that's not an unusual reaction. Billy seemed proud, though...of course, he was the one that cleaned up what was left of the lizard Chakra killed the day before...

Anyway, I'm still pretty proud, and think that I just won't bother to mention the "only because I was the only person in the house" thing next time I tell the tale...it's more impressive that way.
posted by Jen @ 9:11 PM   5 comments
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Embarrassing Teacher Moments
This morning Resa posted a very funny story about her day teaching. Well, funny to me, and certainly funny-to-her-later, but not so much now. I countered with an embarrassing story of my own, and figured I might as well post it here for all to see. Where's the fun in making an ass of yourself if you can't share it with your friends?

A couple weeks ago (when it was actually COLD out) the temperature in the band room was still set somewhere between "Hang Meat" and "Arctic Plain." We have two boxes on the wall that LOOK like thermostats, but are little more than decoration as they don't do ANYTHING temperature related besides tell us how cold it is. There's a little black box in the bowels of the school somewhere that controls it, and we are forgotten. Often. Anyway, suffice it to say that it was friggin COLD in there. I was conducting the kids through the half-time show music, and while conducting keeps ones arms busy, the hands are just sort of waving around in the cold-very little hand/finger action going on. My poor fingers were FROZEN.

At one very emotional part, the baton goes FLYING out of my hand, and the whole world suddenly goes slo-mo. I see it flying, point first, of COURSE, toward the clarinet players in the front row. Luckily I have dreadful aim and it flew between two of them at about head-level. They looked up at me wide-eyed. In the meantime, I had completely stopped conducting, and was staring, aghast, at what I had nearly done. The kids that had actually been WATCHING me (hey, it happens from time to time) had lost it and were laughing. The kids that were NOT watching were just now realizing that they were the only ones still playing, and when they finally stopped nobody could talk to tell them what happened. Everyone was hysterical. When I finally regained my composure, I stood up, help up my hands, and bowed deeply. The clarinet players returned my baton to me, we all decided that it would be best for everyone (especially those in the front row) for me not to use the baton if it's less than 40 degrees in the bandroom. One of the trombone players asked me if I did it on purpose, and I told him that if I were going to throw my baton at ANYONE in the room, it would be the low brass, so NO, it was an accident.

So now when I'm hollering at someone, one of the kids in first period will toss out, "Yeah, and if you don't do what she says, she'll THROW something at you!" Har! I'll never live that one down.
posted by Jen @ 6:38 PM  
To walk, or not to walk...
I got a notice in the mail today from PJC saying that I could go buy a cap and gown from the school bookstore (gotta get that last little bit of money out of me SOMEHOW) and walk in the graduation ceremony this December. It's exciting and all-I thought I missed my chance over the summer, but apparently summer grads just walk in December with everyone else. Who knew? Anyway, here's the situation...remember when Resa graduated? I had all my classes finished, passed, etc. by then. I had one small, tiny, little problem...a library fine. Well, that and a class my counselor and I were contesting. Same class, different title, changed catalog, etc. Anyway, I got some graduation money from folks then, as I had finished all my classes. I didn't have my degree, though. So then I went back this summer to see exactly what hoops needed jumping through to get my degree, as the school district might be able to pay me a little more if I showed them the pretty piece of paper that said I'd spent endless hours and countless dollars sitting in classrooms doing (no!! don't say it!!) GROUP PROJECTS. So it turns out that whole contested class thing had resolved itself, and the only thing standing between me and that pretty piece of paper was an idiotic library fine. So...I paid the fine, registered for graduation over the summer, and was so busy with summer band that I didn't even consider walking. I got my pretty piece of paper and got myself hooked up with the County...look at me, I'm a REAL teacher! Well, mostly. So once I got my actual, honest-to-god diploma, I got graduation cards. So here I am, having celebrated said graduation twice already, trying to decide whether or not to walk. I mean, I'm certainly not sending out announcements or anything-people will assume I have my Master's or Doctorate by now. "Look, Jenni's graduated! Again?" I dunno...I'll think about it a little more.
posted by Jen @ 6:28 PM   1 comments
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
My name is not June!!!
Bah! I answer the phone at work like this, "Dollarhides Music, this is Jen, can I help you?" If the person on the other end of the line is not a frequent caller, most times I'll get "Hi, June, I hope so" or "Hey June! I need to know..." or "June, could you connect me to..." Now don't go telling me I have an accent and THAT is the cause...I KNOW I have an accent. My accent tends to turn "Jen" into "Jean," not "June." At the last big family get-together (at a buffet place, imagine that) I realized that 90% of my family calls me "Jeannie."

In a stroke of irony, I was just typing that I ought to just change my phone-answering speil...something like, "Dollarhides Music, Jennifer speaking, can I help you?" And then the phone rang, and I automatically said, "Dollarhides Music, this is Jen, can I help you?" This is going to be harder than I thought.
posted by Jen @ 12:07 PM  
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
All that food talk? Yeah...
Remember back over the summer when I was actually dieting? All that food journaling to try to decipher what I was eating that was making me break out and all itchy? TJ switched fabric softeners a month or two ago, and we just now realized that I haven't had a rash in many, many weeks. Hmm. Of course, the "natural" stuff we're buying (Bounce, I think, but don't quote me on it-I just stuff it in the dryer and try to forget that I'm doing laundry as quickly as possible) costs twice as much as what we used before, but hey; my skin is worth it. That, and the sanity of everyone that has to live with me. :)
posted by Jen @ 11:17 AM   1 comments
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