What's new with you? I want to know.

With me?

My sister Beth and her husband Alfredo welcomed a delightful new addition, baby Isaac, into their family at the beginning of the month. Yay!

Esther came to visit from England for about two weeks. We went to New York City. We went to Chicago. We turned 32. We ate and ate and ate. We laughed almost non-stop. I was sad to say goodbye.

Traffic Jam

My classes are kicking my butt, but in a good way; kicking me into shape intellectually. I feel as if I am slowly being shaped into a better scholar and a better thinker. With the exception of one class which is fairly dull, I am being challenged and pushed. As part of my undergraduate research training scholarship I am working with a faculty member who looks at teachers who become sexually involved with their students. I am delving into Shakespeare more deeply than ever before. I am researching medieval drama. I am learning data analysis and research methodology. I am soaking up brilliant literature and finding that my Current Political Ideologies class, in which we discuss philosophy and psychology more than we do politics, is really just inexpensive therapy. I love it all. This kind of stuff makes me love being a student.

Love it so much, apparently, that I am studying (in theory -- certainly not in practice) for the GRE so that I can -- with luck -- get accepted into the Master's program that I'm eyeing.

I am also, for the fifth time, teaching a class for gifted students through Purdue's Gifted Education Research Institute.

No matter how busy I am, my little ones -- as enchanting as ever -- still need me just as much. They also need those pesky quotidian necessities such as food, clean clothes, rides to activities and friends' houses, and someone to listen to the stories of their day. I'm not going to lie: finding a balance is hard. Fortunately, my little world is full of very supportive people and I am not afraid to admit to my limitations. I can call my mother-in-law, tell her I need help, and know that she will be willing to get on a plane and take over the reins at home for a while. She arrives in about two weeks.

Photos of Esther's visit to follow. In the meantime, here's a taste of NYC.

Lady Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

Angel

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

 

.

This is the boy I just cheered on as he ran his heart out at a cross country meet.

 

 

.

 

This is the boy whose English composition free writing begins "I'm annoyed that it takes the Senate so long to get things done. The proposed deadline for the bills was August, yet two of the five committees don't have their bills ready." (And so it goes on. Don't ask me; he knows a hell of a lot more about current events than I do.)

 

 

.

 

This is the little individual who is, as I type, writing a book report on Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and who has written in conclusion "that success is largely based on uncontrollable facts and no matter how hard you work, you need opportunity." (The child is clearly brilliant, and not just because he chooses books like Outliers for his book report. And only partly because I created him :)

 

This is the human being who makes me question whether I am a successful mother or a complete failure.

 

.

 

 

This is the boy who is heading into those tricky teenage years as the same superlative person that he's always been.

This is the person who taught me to be selfless and showed me that the love a parent has for a child transcends all.

 

.

Basically, I adore him.

I love seeing him every single day. I wouldn't wish a minute of it away. (Yes, even those minutes at 11pm when I'm helping him finish homework due tomorrow...)

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

• My camera is gathering dust on the dining room floor
• My for-pleasure reading has given up hope of so much as even a glance in its direction
• When I accomplish one thing, get something under my belt, I move immediately onto the next most pressing item and it just doesn't end.

But, I am staying pretty on top of school work and house work and being a good mother (thus far), and can't even remember the last time I threatened a nervous breakdown. That must be progress.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

.

When I was in England I ate heavenly cupcakes from Marks & Spencers.

Raspberry and white chocolate, and lemon meringue.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that I have thought about them every. single. day.  since.

Who says I'm an obsessive person?

.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

as long as they're in it.

Sari

Libby modeling a sari at last weekend's Globelfest

Runner

Jesse, after setting a 3K PB today

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

We have five versions of Trivial Pursuit.  I remember a time when Todd and I used to play Trivial Pursuit every. single. day. We had a brand-new baby and a toddler. Todd was finishing his Bachelor's degree and that was our entertainment. Good times. I miss sitting cross-legged on our bedroom floor, board in between us, after the kids had gone down for the night. Ah, nostalgia. Of course, the way I remember it is that I always won. (Actually, what would really happen would be that we would both have all of our pie pieces except the Sports one. We knew from experience that we'd be there a month of Sundays trying to answer a sports question correctly so we'd call it a draw. That's why if you ever team up for Trivial Pursuit you should try to finagle the sports buff onto your team.)

No Googling. That's just cheating.

EDIT: Correct answers in red

Card #1: Pop Culture edition

Movies: What fictional college is the setting for Revenge of the Nerds?

TV: According to Chuck Woolery, how long until Love Connection would be back from a commercial break? Two and two

Music: What was the stage name of the Dead Kennedys' lead singer?

Sports & Games: What heavyweight champ enlisted in the Marines in 1997, only to drop out 11 days later?

Buzz: Which of the actors that played James Bond once competed in a Mr. Universe contest? Sean Connery 

Fads: Which former heavyweight boxing champ now boasts the top-selling home grill? George Foreman

Card # 2: Book Lovers edition

Children's Books: What siblings have solved more than 70 mysteries since 1904, in such exotic locales as Pilgrim Rock, Eskimo Land and Whitesail Harbor?

Classics: What Frenchman's 1898 novel Le Superbe Orinoque was not published in English until 2003? Jules Verne

Non-Fiction: What writer spiced up his travel books with exotic titles like Jaguars Ripped My Flesh and A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg?

Book Club: What novel did Graham Greene write four years before The Third Man, but print 37 years after it?

Authors: What cousin of the Duke of Wellington published Jumping the Queue, the first of her racy romances, at age 70?

Book Bag: What is child tactician Andrew Wiggin's better-known nickname, in Orson Scott Card's novels? Ender

Card #3: Family edition

People & Places: What side dish do residents of Quebec smother in cheese curds and gravy, and call poutine? French fries

Entertainment: Who did Bette Midler introduce at Philadelphia Live Aid as: "A woman who pulled herself up by her bra-straps"? Madonna

History: What Asian city suffered a 84-mile-long traffic jam in 1990? Tokyo

Wild Card: What African-American writer lost sight in one eye when a brother shot her with a B.B. gun? Alice Walker

Science & Nature: What does the average koala do for twenty-two hours of the day? Sleep

Sports & Leisure: Which 2000 Olympic event included eight beautifully made-up twins among the forty-eight competitors in its pairs event? Synchronized swimming

Card #4: Genus IV edition

People & Places: What two Hungarian towns on either side of the Danube merged in 1872? Buda and Pest

Art & Entertainment: What calypso singer founded the USA For Africa charity that recorded We Are the World? Harry Belafonte

History: What nation's 90-man army is the world's oldest, dating back to 1506? Vatican City

Science & Nature: What word was coined when a trapped moth caused an early computer to crash? Bug

Sports & Leisure: What gymnastics guru did author Joan Ryan call "the high priest of insensitivity"? Bela Karolyi

Wild Card: What beautiful young man was a personal favorite of Aphrodite and Persephone? Adonis

Card # 5: Genus V edition

People & Places: What Southeastern state leads the U.S. in obese people per capita, according to the CDC? Mississippi

Art & Entertainment: Who had a hankerin' for Clarice Starling, in a 1988 novel? Hannibal Lecter

History: What future First Lady was the first to make a Spanish-language ad to score the Latino vote for her hubby? Jackie Kennedy

Science & Nature: What's the largest single crop in the U.S., measured in raw acreage?

Sports & Leisure: What golf course had the "only dogleg par 3 in the world" until additional cliff land was purchased in the 1990s? Pebble Beach

Wild Card: Who did Allen Ginsberg call "a French Canadian Hinayana Buddist Beat Catholic Savant"? Jack Kerouac 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I need to update my blog simply so that I don't see a photograph of my feet every time I sit down in front of my computer.

Unfortunately, just one week into the semester I am operating purely in survival mode. In survival mode, only the bare minimum needs to be done to be considered adequate. It's a good job I don't feel the need to prove myself to anybody. Except my professors of course.

I am taking a few graduate-level classes this semester which is interesting in ways I don't want to express on a public blog. My load is comprised of four English classes (Black Women Writers, American Women Poets, Shakespeare, Medieval Drama), two Political Science classes (Rich and Poor Nations and Current Political Ideologies) and one research methodology class.

I have to say that although I anticipate this semester being demanding, I am so glad to be using my brain again. Reading during the summer just doesn't cut it, doesn't challenge me or make me work for knowledge. School is hard work but I have way too much potential to not be doing what I'm doing.

Now, if I could just remember that at 5:30 every morning...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Summer feet

Goodbye Chaco tan lines.

Goodbye summer days.

Tomorrow I'm back at uni, with a 21-credit, seven class course load to boot.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I think quite often about the poem that I posted last summer. Sometimes I have to consciously take stock during the day and realize that though my day might be unexceptional, that doesn't mean it isn't a perfectly wonderful "well-adjusted" day. In fact, it probably means it is. Memorable days are not always desirable.

 

Yesterday I got up at 5:30 to run three miles before the kids woke up. We ate breakfast together, they made lunches, packed bags, got ready for school.

 

 

The traipse to school

 

At 7:30, Jacques and I walked Libby to school. This is a new school for Libby; her other school required the crossing of too many main streets to walk. She is not particularly thrilled at the thought of walking there and back but I explained that with school just over a mile away, in no other country would they even consider putting students on a bus for that distance.  The great thing is that by walking with Libby, I clock an additional four miles a day, Libby two.

 

Libby safely deposited in her classroom, I went on a walk with a friend -- just to catch up -- and then drove to the amphitheatre to throw a tennis ball for Jacquie. This is his favourite place on earth and no day is complete for him until he's run his little heart out chasing a YFB (Yellow Fuzzy Ball).

 

 

He doesn't look so cute when he's wet and rat-like

 

Home. Phone call to Esther. Trip to library to research for my upcoming lesson plans. This will be the fourth semester that I teach a course through Purdue's gifted research institute. It's a Saturday enrichment class designed to meet the needs of gifted students. Lesson plans are the bane of my existence.

 

Shhhhhhh! People are trying to read!

 

 

I was supposed to be helping a friend with her housework and laundry but she had to go to the doctor. Unfortunately, that meant that I had no excuse not to clean my own house. Damn.

 

 

.

Fortunately, I have discovered a recipe for such a fantastic homemade cleaner, that it's a veritable joy to spritz it around the place pretending to be Mary Poppins.

 

Oh, and Bar Keepers Friend? Where have you been all my (married) life? How did I manage to pass over you as you sat on the supermarket shelf? Love this stuff.

 

Jacques and I picked Libby up from school

 

 

Picking up Libby, with much better hair

then hit the Farmers Market for the best tomatoes EVER, cucumbers, melon, pork, and various other organic produce that weighed a ton and made my arms almost drop off.

 

 

Fresh eggs

Sunny flowers

 

Picked Jesse up from cross country practice before scooting off back to the school for the junior high open house.

 

Jr. High

This was cut short -- sadly only ten minutes short; I'd already been there for nearly two hours -- by the tornado warning sirens going off. I got home before the storm hit but when it did, it was insane. Sheets of rain, thunder that shook the (all-brick) house, crashes of lightening. I loved every minute of it.

 

We spent the rest of the evening warm and snug inside --  Jesse slaving over homework, Libs working on a puzzle.

 

 

homework that never ends

British Isles puzzle...my favourite

 

Really, it might not be an exciting existence but  -- and I don't say this glibly -- it's a sweet life I've got here.

 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend