Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Round-up

I had the honor of attending a kindergarten roundup this afternoon. The word 'roundup' conjured up images of our principal in western garb, and the counselor square-dancing, but thankfully, we had none of that. No offense if Mrs. J likes wearing wranglers or Miss Anderson likes to do-si-do, but I was a little nervous about being party to it all.
No worries, the roundup was simply a clearinghouse to get all of the kindergarten kids entered into the School District with their shot records, medical info, proof of residency, blaablaablaa... I also found out that pig latin and double dutch are not true second languages, so we are a primarily English-speaking family. All-day kindergarten, which is mandatory in many states now, is still optional in Colorado School Districts. Optional is a code word for EXPENSIVE. We have to enter our kids into a lottery, pray, do a rain dance, and cross our fingers that they get into all-day kindergarten. That they get in so that we can pay an arm and a leg for them to get what is required in other stated. Go figure.
I did ask Mrs J. if a caramel chocolate covered apple would help with the whole lottery thing, and her reply was "couldn't hurt."

Posted by everydayjill at 20:59:21 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Random streams...

Random stream of consciousness coming on... SORRY!

So I am taking a psych class, which I always find very interesting. Anything that can make me realize how screwed up everyone else is (but not me, said the girl suffering from delusions of self grandeur...) is a great class, but something is truly annoying the heck out of me. I HATE writing in MLA or APA style. It drives me absolutely bonkers to write in such a tight little square of a style, with every word, font and punctuation needing to be carefully obsessed over. If we spoke in that 'style', the world would be a much quieter place- everyone would shut up rather than obsess over every single syllable.

Blech.

I think that I may have broken fourteen or fifteen rules in the above paragraph, and I apologize for any offense that an audience member might have taken (I won't use you, because that is capital B-breaking rules of writing!).  The rebel in me might start writing in the style of  "No Country for Old Men", which used no punctuation at all. According to my psych text, that might just show a hint of antisocial behavior- uh-oh...

Not much else has been going on in our little neck of the woods. School, work, ice, snow, school, work, ice, snow... G is neck deep in a space project that involves paint, plastic monkey figurines, and using anything silver that might resemble a rocket. I have learned not to ask, just to nag.

N is N, running around, driving his sister nuts, wearing capes, brandishing swords, shrieking like a deranged monkey, and only eating three or four foods. Drew and I went to a local concert last night, and had a new babysitter. Cute cute kid, very nice, but when she told me my kids were good (believable) and very calm ( NOT believable), I had to question her further. Calm is not a word that I would normally use for either of my precious babies. Not unless they have been sedated with Benadryl and are snoring in their beds. Even then, I am sure that there would be thrashing about, sleep-talking, drooling, or something very UN-calm going on.
Posted by everydayjill at 20:06:44 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Life does NOT take Visa

"Life takes Visa."

"What did you say?"

"Life takes Visa, Mom."

Whoa, buddy, you have been watching way too much nickjr. or cartoon network. I know that I have been busy working and studying but we have gotta cut back on the TV. This is what N told me the other day as we walked through a bookstore, and he saw something that he wanted. If my five-year-old can recite that off the cuff, think of the millions of other kids that must say the same thing to their parents. Whoever thought of that ad campaign for Visa must be the go-to guy at Visa right now- responsible for millions of future little credit card users making billions of dollars for Visa.
So anyway, less TV time in the household this week is my goal. Life does not take Visa, and American Idol is NOT reality. G is supposed to be learning about the capitals of the United States, not five hundred facts about Hannah Montana. N is supposed to be learning his letters and telling time, not counting the minutes until Scooby Doo comes on. I feel more sleepless nights coming on, as I study late, instead of using the TV as a babysitter.
Posted by everydayjill at 16:49:02 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Sleep

Sleep has been winning out over blogging the past few days. Although the sleep thing has not been going too well either, so maybe I should've been blogging the entire time. Whether I have been coughing or cleaning or studying, there has been far too little sleep for this girl lately. When G was a baby, she NEVER slept. She would only sleep if she was physically touching you or curled up against you, and even then she might be wide-eyed and bushy-tailed at two in the morning. Definitely awake by five or so, every morning, giggly and ready to go. We always said that her motto was "Sleep is for the weak," and I think about that often. Maybe that is the tattoo that I will get, Mom. Kidding- only kidding.

Posted by everydayjill at 21:05:17 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Holiday lesson

So I was talking to N about Valentine's Day, and talking about how great the candy could be (Shame, shame!), when he set me straight.

"It's not about the candy, Mom. Christmas and Easter are about God, Halloween is about LOOOOOOOVE, and Halloween is about the candy."

He might as well have just gone ahead and said "Duh, Mom." It is about the love tomorrow. But if you throw in a little candy, I bet N would not refuse!
Posted by everydayjill at 23:57:30 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, January 31, 2008

CRAZYBUSY

Whew- time flies whether you are having fun or not! We have been so CRAZYBUSY-yes, I know that should be two words but today I feel like it is one word (so there!!)- that I feel like my head is just spinning. School (I am actually doing okay with this whole bio-chem combo class, believe it or not, and the psych class is muy interesante), new job at the B&E (yummy and fun- what more could you ask for in the restaurant world?), more volunteer work at G's school (actually interacting with the rugrats, which I love!), and I just signed up to do open houses for this cool new company named Uppercase Living (words and art that you can put directly on surfaces for a custom finish- very very cool stuff!), working out even though my body still aches (STUPID snowboarder), playing lots of games with N (he is so into Candyland that it makes my teeth ache, and do not even get me started on Go Fish...), and trying to finish the cool paint job that I started in his room two weeks ago. I think that it is starting to give Drew a nervous twitch, looking at N's 3/4 done room- OOPS!
So, needless to say, I have been sorely neglecting my blog, my friends (Sorry that I have not emailed yet, Leah :-)), and family (I know my answering machine is full, Mom ;-)). I will try to do better, but I just also love this little thing called sleep. I should really get over that, huh?
Also in our world, lots of snow. The fun kind with big wet snowflakes- a miracle to witness it fall! And my transmission went out. Poor baby is at our wonderful mechanic's shop right now, and I miss her. Crazy, but I love love love my four-runner like she is an old friend. I guess that she is in a weird way. Someone suggested that a transmission going out is the beginning of the end and that we should get a new car- I think the daggers I shot him told him what I thought of tossing a dear friend out like that.
I also got the coolest email today. Actually, it was one of those 'cute baby photos with lots of goofy captions' emails that we have all gotten. Tagged on at the end was this quote "Be kinder than necessary because we are all fighting private battles." I love those words. We all get so caught up in our own stuff- be it transmissions going out, the real estate market TANKING, being busy or in a hurry or whatever. I know that I forget to be gentle in my thoughts towards other people, so when I read that quote at the very bottom of this email, it really got to me.
Kinder than necessary- good to remember in all of the CRAZYBUSY.
Posted by everydayjill at 22:48:20 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |