I ran out of gas yesterday on the side of a highway about 50 feet from a gas station. It was quite the adventure to cross the highway with the girls and figure it out. I guess when the gas gauge stops counting miles left and just says "low fuel" you really do need to fill up. It was quite an adventure.
On another note....yesterday a guy came to look at why the master shower is leaking a little. So, after he looked, he came downstairs and said, "Ma-am, that wah-ter is a-spillin' over the lip of the base and I reckon I done figure out the prob-lem, but I need some tow-els. Do ya-all think ya-all have some tow-els?" I was like, "Oh, sure! Follow me." So we went into the laundry room and I handed him some rolled up towels that we keep in there for swim team. He was kind of confused and then said, "Ma-am, tow-els, not tow-els." And I was like, "Towels???" And he said, "Ya know? Tow-els? Like maybe there are matching ones in the attic with the paint that the builders left?" Me: "OH, TILES!!!!!" Him: "Yes! Tow-els!!!!"
I've lived in the South for almost ten years, and I still get confused sometimes.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
The Hank Effect
Hank's sad eyes. He's never really sad though; I think he just wanted a treat.
So, I haven't always been the world's biggest dog fan. I was kind of afraid of them as a kid, and then just never really loved them. Then this thing happened...his name is HANK. Well, actually there were these two kids who happen to belong to me who are head over heels in LOVE with dogs, and with no more babies on the way (ever) and two kids old enough to help with a dog, Dave and I decided to adopt one. That's when we found THE ONE.
He was a rescue mutt. He is part everything and might be the sweetest thing ever. I mean, he's super annoying; he jumps up on people, has two totally different ears, runs sideways, attacks the door at the slightest knock, digs holes in the backyard and jumps in our pond, BUT I love him.
So, now for the Hank Effect.... I find myself judging (yes, judging, I will admit) every person who comes in my house by how they treat my dog. He barks initially and is absolutely annoying, but he just wants you to say hi, pet him a little and that's it. I love when people get that. So, when the dude came today to fix something and he said, "You need to keep your dog away while I work." I was instantly skeptical of him. I'll admit. Even my kids were like, "Mom, that guy is weird."
I had a friend come over recently who didn't even say hi to me and instead knelt on the floor and started petting Hank, and I was like, "I like her...she's one awesome gal." So, there you have it.
It makes me wonder what people thought of me all these years that I've walked into houses and never even greeted their dog. I kind of hope they were judging me with the same Hank Effect that I use, because I deserved it.
And when Amelia got home from the tonsil stuff, this is who she wanted to hang out with...in his bed.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
All is Fair in Love and Dance?
Such a sensitive subject, but I have to write to get it off my chest. I can't even try to make up for my lack of blogging effort in the last couple years, but as y'all know, my dance stuff has been going awesome, and my 70 dancers kind of rock the house. Sooooo....this year I had ANY kid between K-5th grade who wanted to audition for the elementary talent show get together and get started. All I did was cut the music for them (the rules stated less than 2 minutes) and get another mom to make a jail, oh and show up when they practiced to make sure they didn't knock each other out doing cartwheels on top of each other and whatever.
I was really adamant about the kids doing it themselves since it was after all an elementary talent show they were preparing for. So, these 14 kids started practicing in February every Sunday afternoon for 1-2 hours. They worked together to do their own choreography, the big kids helped the little kids, they learned new skills and perfected old ones. They really developed their TALENT.
They made the show of course, and did a great job and were so proud of themselves....the problem is, all these other kids were allowed to be in the show that did NOT practice, went WAY over two minutes, and most of them were singers (as in singing "Love Story" with Taylor Swift louder than they are in the background). So, I shouldn't really care, EXCEPT for I found out my 4th grade neighbor boy didn't even make the show with his MEMORIZED Beethoven piece on the piano (which seems to show a little more talent and effort than the aforementioned act). But once again, kids who have pushy parents or who they feel sorry for or are "underprivilged" make the show, at the expense of kids who really have a talent to share. So, with 60 acts (at least), they start cutting kids off 2 minutes into their songs (that was supposed to be the limit anyway), but these poor kids didn't know how to end it at 2 minutes since they had been allowed to go on and on and on at auditions and the dress rehearsal, so they are just getting to that non-nervous point in their act and the music just stopped. Why didn't they just choose enough kids doing real talent in the allotted time instead of allowing too many, most of which were totally lame, and then cutting them off? It was almost like the Gong Show.
Okay, so I digress, so my dancers are in the "group category" in the 3rd-5th grade for who wins the talent show. They were competing against about 10 other duets, dances, hula hoopers, whatever talent had 2 or more kids. They did awesome, I mean, they weren't going to like be the next hip hop group on Disney, but they held their own, had props and costumes and without a doubt were the best group.
The problem? There is this thing that happens all the time at our school where there is almost a reverse bias. I know it sounds like I'm making excuses for them not winning the talent show, but I'm not. If they didn't deserve it, I wouldn't care, but every time a couple of these teachers see this group of kids from my neighborhood, with their supportive parents setting up the backdrop for their performance, leaving work to be there to watch, and following all rules on timing, costumes, preparation, etc., it kind of seems to piss them off. It's just weird. Before the show had even ended and way before the winner was announced, I actually turned to a mom and said, "I hope I'm wrong, but the parents should not have set up the backdrop, we should have made them do it themselves, so the judges think that these poor kids don't have any parental support. And they should not have included the name of our neighborhood as their group name." (I had actually told the kids to come up with a new name a month before because I just know that this $#%$ happens all the time at this school.) So my dancers got beat by two boys in the 4th grade. One was rapping a song in muddled words off key standing way too close to the microphone and unrehearsed while the other boy did some rhythm on the drums behind him. And they won.
But my rant is still not over....the day before at the dress rehearsal it was these same two boys that won who were making fun of a little girl doing a cheer routine in another act (who BTW was talented). Mikayla (still feisty as ever when it comes to standing up for her friends) stood up to those older boys and kind of got in a fight with them. Then they called her a bitch and she started crying and came and found me in the bleachers. I went down there and sat with my dancers so those two "talented" upstanding young men who won the show would leave them alone. Life isn't fair, and I guess it's not too early to learn, but for whatever reason at this school we're in now, stuff like this happens ALL the time. Underprivileged kids need extra boosts, but not at the expense of the other kids. It's got to be fair, especially when it comes to kids.
I was really adamant about the kids doing it themselves since it was after all an elementary talent show they were preparing for. So, these 14 kids started practicing in February every Sunday afternoon for 1-2 hours. They worked together to do their own choreography, the big kids helped the little kids, they learned new skills and perfected old ones. They really developed their TALENT.
They made the show of course, and did a great job and were so proud of themselves....the problem is, all these other kids were allowed to be in the show that did NOT practice, went WAY over two minutes, and most of them were singers (as in singing "Love Story" with Taylor Swift louder than they are in the background). So, I shouldn't really care, EXCEPT for I found out my 4th grade neighbor boy didn't even make the show with his MEMORIZED Beethoven piece on the piano (which seems to show a little more talent and effort than the aforementioned act). But once again, kids who have pushy parents or who they feel sorry for or are "underprivilged" make the show, at the expense of kids who really have a talent to share. So, with 60 acts (at least), they start cutting kids off 2 minutes into their songs (that was supposed to be the limit anyway), but these poor kids didn't know how to end it at 2 minutes since they had been allowed to go on and on and on at auditions and the dress rehearsal, so they are just getting to that non-nervous point in their act and the music just stopped. Why didn't they just choose enough kids doing real talent in the allotted time instead of allowing too many, most of which were totally lame, and then cutting them off? It was almost like the Gong Show.
Okay, so I digress, so my dancers are in the "group category" in the 3rd-5th grade for who wins the talent show. They were competing against about 10 other duets, dances, hula hoopers, whatever talent had 2 or more kids. They did awesome, I mean, they weren't going to like be the next hip hop group on Disney, but they held their own, had props and costumes and without a doubt were the best group.
The problem? There is this thing that happens all the time at our school where there is almost a reverse bias. I know it sounds like I'm making excuses for them not winning the talent show, but I'm not. If they didn't deserve it, I wouldn't care, but every time a couple of these teachers see this group of kids from my neighborhood, with their supportive parents setting up the backdrop for their performance, leaving work to be there to watch, and following all rules on timing, costumes, preparation, etc., it kind of seems to piss them off. It's just weird. Before the show had even ended and way before the winner was announced, I actually turned to a mom and said, "I hope I'm wrong, but the parents should not have set up the backdrop, we should have made them do it themselves, so the judges think that these poor kids don't have any parental support. And they should not have included the name of our neighborhood as their group name." (I had actually told the kids to come up with a new name a month before because I just know that this $#%$ happens all the time at this school.) So my dancers got beat by two boys in the 4th grade. One was rapping a song in muddled words off key standing way too close to the microphone and unrehearsed while the other boy did some rhythm on the drums behind him. And they won.
But my rant is still not over....the day before at the dress rehearsal it was these same two boys that won who were making fun of a little girl doing a cheer routine in another act (who BTW was talented). Mikayla (still feisty as ever when it comes to standing up for her friends) stood up to those older boys and kind of got in a fight with them. Then they called her a bitch and she started crying and came and found me in the bleachers. I went down there and sat with my dancers so those two "talented" upstanding young men who won the show would leave them alone. Life isn't fair, and I guess it's not too early to learn, but for whatever reason at this school we're in now, stuff like this happens ALL the time. Underprivileged kids need extra boosts, but not at the expense of the other kids. It's got to be fair, especially when it comes to kids.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sweet Girl
I just walked in Amelia's room (it's about 7:30 a.m. on Friday) and Amelia was just quietly laying there. I went and layed down by her and asked her what she was thinking about. She said, "I was just talking to Grandma." I asked her what she was talking about and she said, "Oh, I had two questions for her. What is her house made of? Like is it chocolate? and I was wondering if she wanted to come get her nails done with me and Olivia today."
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Drama Camp
I've spent a busy week before school starts Monday teaching drama camp to 4-12 year olds. Since that is a HUGE age difference, I try to enlighten the older kids in the group while keeping the 4 year olds from getting paint on the walls while running around the room backwards. So, I happened to mention famous poets and playwrites of all time to all three of them that I THOUGHT were listening. However, I found out last night, that maybe more of them are HEARING, but not quite UNDERSTANDING this former 9th grade drama teacher.
This was the conversation that happened on the way to gymnastics last night:
Mikayla: So Mom, who is this Jake Spears?
Me: Jake Spears, what in the world are you talking about?
Mikayla: You know, Jake Spears, that you talked about in drama.
Me: SHAKESPEARE????
Mikayla: Yes, Jake Spears.
Amelia: Mikayla, Mom was talking about Jake Spears, who is Brittney Spears brother.
Me: GIRLS, I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT ANYONE NAMED JAKE SPEARES, WHO IS NOT EVEN A REAL PERSON. I'M TALKING ABOUT SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. (I then proceeded with a lengthy lesson on the fabulousness of Shakespeare from the front seat of my car that I won't bore you with here and probably went right over my girls' heads, but it ended with a synopsis of Romeo and Juliet.)
Amelia: I get it!!! So this Shake Speares is friends with Taylor Swift and they write about Romeo and Juliet together.
I give up....
Wish me luck teaching drama camp tomorrow!!!!
This was the conversation that happened on the way to gymnastics last night:
Mikayla: So Mom, who is this Jake Spears?
Me: Jake Spears, what in the world are you talking about?
Mikayla: You know, Jake Spears, that you talked about in drama.
Me: SHAKESPEARE????
Mikayla: Yes, Jake Spears.
Amelia: Mikayla, Mom was talking about Jake Spears, who is Brittney Spears brother.
Me: GIRLS, I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT ANYONE NAMED JAKE SPEARES, WHO IS NOT EVEN A REAL PERSON. I'M TALKING ABOUT SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. (I then proceeded with a lengthy lesson on the fabulousness of Shakespeare from the front seat of my car that I won't bore you with here and probably went right over my girls' heads, but it ended with a synopsis of Romeo and Juliet.)
Amelia: I get it!!! So this Shake Speares is friends with Taylor Swift and they write about Romeo and Juliet together.
I give up....
Wish me luck teaching drama camp tomorrow!!!!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Learnin' in South Carolina
As all ten of you that are invited to read my blog know, my girls are one year apart in school. When I used to blog regularly, there was something that bothered me so much one day when Amelia brought home her first grade reading book. Then, I stopped blogging and didn't think about it again...until this last year when Mikayla was in first grade and came home with the same story in her reading book.
It reminded me that I really wanted to blog about it back then, so I'll do it now!
Most children here know NOTHING about the Western part of the United States. I would even dare say that most will never even visit the west in their lifetime...so when I saw how it was depicted in their first grade reading book, I was shocked! Amelia had already PROUDLY announced to the class that she is FROM Utah, even though she only lived there until three days after her second birthday. Well, the kids remembered that, and had LOTS of questions for her when this reading came up:
So now it's official: every kid in Indian Land, SC (ironic name, I know) officially believes that everyone in New Mexico and Utah lives in clay homes and hogons. And the craziest part about it is that my dear grandparents have a hogon much like this in front of their Red Canyon Indian Store (for fun), so Amelia got confused by it all and finally just told them that yes, they do indeed have hogons in Utah, and yes, people live in them.
I don't know why I don' t have a picture of it, but when they showed Las Vegas, it was a picture of a pink trailer with a hot pink flamingo in the front yard. However, when they showed homes in the South, they were beautiful colonial homes...too funny.
It reminded me that I really wanted to blog about it back then, so I'll do it now!
Most children here know NOTHING about the Western part of the United States. I would even dare say that most will never even visit the west in their lifetime...so when I saw how it was depicted in their first grade reading book, I was shocked! Amelia had already PROUDLY announced to the class that she is FROM Utah, even though she only lived there until three days after her second birthday. Well, the kids remembered that, and had LOTS of questions for her when this reading came up:
So now it's official: every kid in Indian Land, SC (ironic name, I know) officially believes that everyone in New Mexico and Utah lives in clay homes and hogons. And the craziest part about it is that my dear grandparents have a hogon much like this in front of their Red Canyon Indian Store (for fun), so Amelia got confused by it all and finally just told them that yes, they do indeed have hogons in Utah, and yes, people live in them.
I don't know why I don' t have a picture of it, but when they showed Las Vegas, it was a picture of a pink trailer with a hot pink flamingo in the front yard. However, when they showed homes in the South, they were beautiful colonial homes...too funny.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Fish out of Water
Isn't it great when your kids pick up on a sport that the parents didn't participate in? I think swim team is fabulous for the Marsh fam. The girls are great and get better and better....but do you know what I like best????
When a random dad from the team catches the girls with SMILES like this!!!!
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