Wednesday, September 30, 2015

My Writing Life is a Grasping Octopus--

Always searching and scanning.

Maybe it's like a scanner- like a security camera.

That's how I operate in the world.  I'm built to scan for writing topics.

That was honed when I was an English major, searching for topics, and also for my column and article topics.

I always made my life into topics: Nathan and eye contact.  The first graders.  Placentas.

Always alert.  I am an always alert person.  I'm on high alert for topics.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Good Read Alouds

Very short, good for Pre-K
Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Bark, George!

Kindergarden
Interrupting Chicken
Bark, George! (How about the genus kid in Q's class who was like, "He ate the vet!"  I had never thought of that.  Geez.  This is why you need to listen to kids.  In many ways, their brains work better than ours!)

More 1st grade-y
Rude Giants

Great books to share but maybe not as good read alouds, or good read alouds but then give kids a chance to re-read on their own to see the visual aspects.  
Officer Buckle and Gloria
The Library Card (first story "Mongoose")

Favorite but has a pistol in it:
Custard the Dragon- Ogden Nash

Other favorites not everyone might approve of:
The Tushy Book

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Absurd Moments with Your Dog

When Duffy was a puppy, he escaped the house and ended up in the neighbor's yard barking frantically at the Virgin Mary statue.

He escaped another time and raced into the road to chase a large truck that was attempting to turn the corner near our house.  "STOP!" I shouted to the truck as my little black dog trotted up to it. I caught up to Duffy and he ran from me.  Then in the middle of the intersection (another car had stopped by this point), he and I faced off.  He wanted to get past me to the truck.  He went left- I went left.  It was much like a cow-pony cuts a cow from the herd, then competes to see if he can keep the cow out.  (See video here if you don't know what I mean.)  After a couple more feints left and right, I dove on him in the middle of the road.
Photo by Wild Fillies Photography
The man who was stepping out of his truck to help me me cheered for me and said, "Impressive!"

I was chasing after the dog in rain boots- not the best for running, pivoting and diving, but...

This isn't the first time I've held up traffic.  Once, when I was shakily rollerblading toward an intersection... well, here is the story how I previously blogged about it:

The rollerblading incident: I’m not a good rollerblader, so I left my street to cross an intersection to another neighborhood with hardly any traffic. I rolled up to the 3 way stop between at the end of my neighborhood, which is pretty busy as the offices nearby let out. As I roll up, so do three other cars. Well, I can’t stop, so I hold out my arms in a grand “STOP PLEASE, COMING THROUGH” gesture. I take maybe three strides, then hit some gravel and TOTALLY WIPE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION, landing right on my back. Well, the cars can’t very well drive over me, so they have to wait while I look up at the sky for a moment, carefully pick myself up, and roll away. This wasn’t one of those “when you look back on it, it’s really funny” incidents. It was really, really funny at the time.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The Magical Obsessiveness of Tidying Up

I just read the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing on my Kindle, and this is what it has brought me to.

First photo: the girl's top drawer with shirts, undies, socks, and pants.  The book even tells you HOW TO FOLD THINGS, and I also watched a video on Youtube about it.

And the second photo: the boy's middle drawer of jammies, socks, a row of undies, and his swim stuff on the right.

I have to admit, I'm really enjoying folding stuff, and the boy has even tried it.  For the past few weeks he's demanded to help fold with our MiracleFold Junior Size Clothes Folder, but now he sees me folding without it and has tried to fold free-style as well.

(Now that, my less positive self says, is a child who is desperate to spend time with his mother.)

Friday, January 2, 2015

Fashion Advice from Lane

Turn your pants inside out, pull your Hello Kitty socks on, and step into your plastic Sofia heels.
Then strike a pose with candy canes.