Archive for December, 2008

We Have Achieved Internet!

Thursday, December 25th, 2008

Yesterday it warmed up enough that the ice melted off the reciever, so now we have internet access again.  This is a Good Thing(tm).  Of course, it dropped back to the low teens last night, so all those melted puddles refroze into a skating rink, but I have the equivalent of snow tires that I’ve attached to my boots (YakTraks, for the curious) and it’s only about a mile to cleared routes.  So all is back to what passes for normal at House Entropy, Boone Grove branch.

The tales of the past week or so will wait until I’m inclined to sit still, but at least I’ll get my e-mail and such before the second of Never.

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Not To Worry

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

We came through the ice storm just fine.  The power did go out for a few hours, but even then we stayed warm, because our wonderful landlady set us up with a generator to run the furnace.  Didn’t run anything else, but that was ok; water is available in bottles.  Our landlady lives just round the corner, but they’re on a different power company than we, so they were still without power on Saturday morning.  We’re all going to have tree limbs to clear up, some the size of small trees themselves, but that can wait for thaw and drying.

But aside from this, typed at a public site, you won’t be hearing from me by blog or e-mail or anything else at least until we get a warm day.  Our internet is via wireless, and our receiver has half an inch of ice on it.  So we have no reception, and won’t at least until we get a day above freezing so that it can melt off.  Then, assuming the weight hasn’t shifted the thing out of line, we’ll be back.  Right now we’re expecting that about next Wednesday, but this is Indiana, so who knows?

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Who’d Have Thought It?

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

I have found that I have an effective bribe reward to make the ninth graders behave.

Music.

Somewhere or other, they figured out that I sing, that I’m pretty good, and that I’m vulnerable in the vanity for it.  Now of course the first thing they thought of was that perhaps, just perhaps, they could distract me from teaching them Algebra (or Social Studies or Composition) by pestering me to sing.  Didn’t work.

So a couple of weeks ago when I was subbing for the algebra teacher, they started this shtick.  In order to shut down the begging without yelling about it, I told them that if they behaved, if they were quiet and attentive and did their work and didn’t get up out of their chairs every other minute (requiring increasingly sharp reminders to sit down) and didn’t call across the room to each other or poke each other or grab the next kid’s pencil or otherwise behave in ways the kids in kindergarten know they shouldn’t, then when there were 5 minutes left to the period, I would sing.

They weren’t perfect, but they were far more cooperative than they’d ever been before, so I sang.  I don’t know current music, so I sang the first thing I thought of.  It was from Pippin, and they were delighted.  Next hour the same thing happened; the kids from 4th period Algebra told the kids in 5th period, so the whole thing got repeated.  Okay, then.  Once-lucky.

But evidently it wasn’t.  The first thing that happened when I walked into Algebra today was that a kid saw that I was the sub, and asked me to sing a Christmas song.  Same deal.  They behave, I sing.  Except that that first class didn’t behave.  Five minutes before the end of class, I heard “Will you sing now?”  And I told them no; that they had made me spend the whole period reminding them what they were supposed to be doing, and so there would be no reward.

You should have heard them on the way out the door.  They didn’t try to argue with me, but they were coming down hard on the worst offenders “because now Mrs. C. didn’t sing!”  Next class behaved like absolute angels, and they got their song – Gloria In Excelsis Deo. Nor was the adventure over; a couple of the Freshmen stopped me on my way out at day’s end to say they were sorry, and ask if I would please sing for them next time I was in, “if we’re good”.

I’ve always tried to find rewards instead of using threats; if nothing else, it sets me apart and makes my version of discipline more memorable.  (It also works.)  I’ve been trying to find something for these kids since they were in 7th grade, and I have been failing.  I’ve finally found it, and it’s a thing I never would have thought of.  That’s okay.  Not only do I have it now, but it’s an easy thing to do and I will use it shamelessly.

Posted in Tales Out of School | No Comments »

Cat Glossary

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Being owned by cats has brought home to me that standard vocabulary is sadly lacking in regard to feline activity and nomenclature.  It’s time to begin to remedy that.  To that end, I propose the following list.  Please bear in mind that this is only a preliminary attempt at creating a glossary for cats.

Cattitude:  Feline conviction that the cat is always right, and that humans exist for the sole purpose of serving cats.

Catloaf:  Feline mediation pose bearing strong resemblance to a furry meatloaf with pointy ears.

Catscade (aka catalanche):  The cascade of papers, folded laundry, or similar items that results when a cat jumps onto a surface that appears solid but is not.  Feline approach to redecorating human living space.

Chair-surfing:  The act of jumping toward the back of a chair, missing, knocking the chair over and riding it down.  Usually immediately followed by “I meant to do that” bathing.

Kittenize:  Scattering and/ or knocking down assorted small objects and generally creating chaos just for the joy of seeing things fall and skitter about.

Purrball:  Cat cuddling position in which the cat curls into a ball in the space between her human’s arm and lap and purrs loudly enough to vibrate the book her human was trying to read.

Purr Collar:  Portable cat cuddling position, in which cat drapes herself around the back of her human’s neck with front paws down one shoulder, back paws down in front of the other shoulder, and head next to human ear.  Warm, soft and purring – what’s not to enjoy?

Feline Follies (aka Kung-fu Kitties):  Boxing with either one’s shadow or another cat, and/ or racing through the human’s living space at top speed without apparent reason or regard for gravity, inertia or other laws of physics.  Contrary to the name, only one cat is required.

Octo-puss:  Two-feline version of Kung-fu Kitties, this conformation appears when racing or boxing cats get tangled with each other, such that it appears to be a single mass of fur with 8 legs radiating at various angles.  Usually accompanied by a variety of weird noises.

Fabricat:  Feline sewing assistant, who helps by holding down fabric and assuring that it does not escape, chasing down attacking thread spools, and trapping fluttering pattern pieces.  Also referred to as “calico cat” for the habit of sleeping on folded cotton calico and quilting projects.

This is only an introductory list.  Feel free to suggest additional terms and definitions.  I’ve only been a cat-mother for a couple of years; I’m quite certain my girls have not seen fit to disclose all their secrets to me yet.

Posted in Cat Tails | 3 Comments »

Oh, Yeah; That’s Why.

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

Over the past several years, I’ve taken to doing increasing amounts of my shopping online.  I’ve never liked malls.  I managed to live less than 5 miles from Castleton Mall in Indianapolis for 10 years and walk in half a dozen times at most.  I went to the nearby fabric store; I went (occasionally) to the Best Buy across the parking lot, but I did not go inside the mall.

But yesterday I got a phone call that something I’d lost over a year ago had been hiding in a corner of the safe at Toys R Us, where it was finally spotted by an alert employee.  So I went to pick it up, and figured while I was there I’d get gifts for my youngest niecelet and nephew.  That plan lasted about 5 minutes past the time I walked into the store.

On a weekday morning, it was a total zoo.  I didn’t have a cart to maneuver, and still had a hard time getting through the aisles.  It wasn’t quite to the level of saying “excuse me” with an elbow, but it was close, and I think the only cure for the sort of “holiday spirit” I was seeing would have been a shot of holiday spirits.  (Just because I don’t drink much doesn’t mean I don’t know when most people would say they need one.)

I persevered long enough to determine that they didn’t have what I wanted at all, and then fled.  The fabric store (next stop) and grocery were much saner.  I told my mother-in-law at Thanksgiving that I wouldn’t be going to a “big box” store until January.  I just reminded myself why.  And when I got home, I ordered what I’d been looking for.  It will be delivered to my door; no gas, no driving, no hunting, no crowd and no aggravation.  That’s worth the shipping fee any day.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Personal Note

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

For anyone who is expecting a phone call from me, it will be a day or so.  I just had a wisdom tooth deleted from the set this afternoon, and talking isn’t particularly comfortable.

And no, I’m not going down to Indy this weekend.  Sorry, Mom.  Possibly next weekend, but not this one.

Posted in Randomness | No Comments »

What My Son Deals With

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

A friend of mine forwarded an article on autism research to me.  The article itself, which says that autistic children process sound more slowly than neurotypical children, would be fasicnating even if I didn’t have so personal an interest.  But there was a comment afterwards about what it’s like to be autistic that just stunned me.  The writer, who calls himself “Captain Obvious”, said:

It’s … like trying to discern a current, while standing under a tons/second waterfall: it isn’t so much “scrambled”, as it is “snowing-out one’s ability to perceive/know clearly”.

I have thought for years that my son’s issues arose from a lack of mental “filters”, but this is such an overwhelmingly vivid, visceral description of just what that means.

Posted in Parenthood, Ruminations and ramblings | No Comments »

A Good Thanksgiving; Now Llama Go Home

Monday, December 1st, 2008

This was a good holiday weekend, but it did suffer a number of visitations from the Drama Llama.  Before any of my gentle readers worry, this time none of the drama was mine.  I was involved, but as support, not dramatis personae, as it were.

It began on Wednesday with a phone call from K.  Her nephew, aged 17 months, had climbed a chair for the first time and fallen off on his head.  He was dazed, so his parents took him to the E.R. to get checked.  The E.R. staff, in turn, called child protection.  They came, they saw, and they did not permit the parents to take the baby home…not because the child’s condition was suspicious or not consistent with the parent’s account, but because, so they said, it was standard procedure for a head injury.  At least they let his grandmother take him, but K. was scared and called asking for the names of attorneys who might be able to help if CPS didn’t drop their investigation.

Half an hour later another friend called.  Her husband’s grandfather had just left this earth, and while it was not the least unexpected, (he had cancer and was 91) it was still a shock.  They were hosting us and some other friends for Thanksgiving dinner.  Her husband decided he wanted to go ahead with that, and it was wonderful – one of the best such gatherings I’ve been at, including the ones I’ve hosted.  Among the highlights was watching my son play Munchkin with three adults, holding his own in both the game and the banter.  He asked me at dinner what I was thankful for.  I looked around the table at the chosen family, and the first thing I thought of was “This.  These people, together because they treasure each other, who include us.”

My husband drew the short straw and had to work Friday, so he went home Thursday night.  Friday our son had a sleepover for his best friend’s birthday, so that morning I took our boychick to see my folks, and then took him home, going directly to best friend’s house.  But M’s grandfather’s memorial was Saturday in Louisville, so I had dinner with my much-loved and very tolerant husband and headed back south.

Saturday found me, as soon as I woke up and showered, heading down to Kentucky.  Drama-llama visitation number 2.  It was expected, but watching it unfold was still kind of like watching a train wreck; you couldn’t stop watching even knowing that the results were going to have a serious case of the uglies.  L. and I went down together in her car, meeting M. and his cousin (another attorney and licensed in the relevant state) at Starbucks to discuss setting up the estate.  We had a mission – heading off the already-developing drama with a nameless relative.  She wants her inheritance, and she wants it now.  She’s been so totally horrid to everyone involved that her sister has blocked her phone number and her son has told her “next time you need a truck, don’t call me.”  She has great social skills; she can alienate anyone in under 5 minutes without trying.  L. said her great regret was that she didn’t get the opportunity to tell the woman to moderate her tone before a nice girl from Kansas dropped a house on her and stole her shoes.  We got through the memorial, though, and had a lovely dinner with M’s family.  They really are fabulous people.

Sunday was mostly a day to relax and recover, but brought the third visit from that blasted Andean beast, again in the form of a phone call.  It seems the current spouse of the ex-husband of one of my “kids” had called her to say that she (current spouse) was at her best friend’s house with the 2 year old, that ex-husband was drunk and “acting stupid” (a thing at which he excels), and not to take the teenager who lives with her dad home from her visitation weekend.  So the teen’s mom was checking to see what kind of trouble she might be buying for herself if she didn’t take the child back.   Dealt with that.

I’m glad I know how to deal with the sorts of things people bring me.  I’m glad to be supportive.  I did, tremendously, enjoy the holiday.  But y’know?  That drama-llama can just go back from whence it came.

Posted in Life as I know it | 4 Comments »