My two weeks of working full time started today. Of course I was late. I forgot to take a sweater and the office was freezing, and I'm living through one of the worst haircuts I have ever got. My hair is growing out, but still looks bad. Lee is probably grumpy because I had to leave today before I could put his contacts in. He is wearing his glasses which he hates. How all of these things can add up to a great dayI don't know, but I am feeling very cheerfull.
There is a bottle of Moscato D'Asti in my fridge. It has been chilling out in there for over a month waiting for me to drink it. I have a freind on call waiting to drink it with me, but we never can coordinate our schedules. If I have time she is working or babysitting her granddaughters. If she has time I am doing goodness knows what, but it's always something.
Last night Princess kept every one up way past their bedtime. She had walked into a room where here little sister was watching a movie. It was a scary movie aimed at children. She was only in there for about five minutes. Lee was sensitive to scary movies as a child, but he would run out of a room if one was on. Princess has to be physically turned away from the television. She would not go to sleep for fear of having a bad dream. Finally whe was calmed down and we all slept and no bad dreams.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Natural building and business
You may have noticed by the amount of times I have mentioned cob that I am in love with cob building. This morning I found it thrilling to see that same love reflected back in the eyes of teenagers. The high school business teacher invited me in to help with a project on natural building. They are on the business ethics chapter and she wanted them to think about ways businesses could help the environment. We built a model size cob house together and had so much fun. Since I have only thought of cob building as it applies to housing the challenging part was trying to think of ways this could apply to business.
One point we think businesses should consider is that many consumers are looking at a companies track record before we spend our money with them. If they considered the environment before they built their buildings consumers would feel more comfortable buying from them. If by putting on a living roof, which could help filter rain water and reduce the heat put off by the building, they could give their employees a better work environment it would be a win/win situation. Natural building is also cheaper, which would help their bottom line. I am an optimist and believe we are moving forward in our treatment of the Earth. Someday we will live a better life because of it.
One point we think businesses should consider is that many consumers are looking at a companies track record before we spend our money with them. If they considered the environment before they built their buildings consumers would feel more comfortable buying from them. If by putting on a living roof, which could help filter rain water and reduce the heat put off by the building, they could give their employees a better work environment it would be a win/win situation. Natural building is also cheaper, which would help their bottom line. I am an optimist and believe we are moving forward in our treatment of the Earth. Someday we will live a better life because of it.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Fall
It has turned cold suddenly. Fall is my favorite season. Okay, I know I say that about every season when it is here, but I mean it this time. This one is special. Really, she's not like the rest. I have heard others say fall is a melancholy season;a time to say goodbye to summer and get ready for winter. For me it is a time to pull out my comfy old sweaters;to make soups;to think about Christmas gifts. Every morning I peek out to see if this was the night all the leaves fell into my yard. This is a precursor to the mornings I will peak out and see if it is snowing. This morning is a hot oatmeal morning.
While loving the act of staying warm I try to remember this shouldn't be a luxury. Every person should be able to protect themselves against the elements. Find someone to give all of your unused coats to. We need more projects like habitat for humanity to conquer one of society's ills, homelessness.
Last Friday I took Lee back to the doctor for his hard cast. We leave a little disappointed. It seems we had drove ninety minutes to have another x-ray taken and be told to bring him back in ten more days. On Monday they called and asked if I can bring him up the next day. They take his half cast off and send him down for x-rays. The minute we see his hand we know something isn't quite right. They put him in a wrist brace and send us home. He will have surgery the next day.
During his surgery I finally started War and Peace. I am still only sixty pages into it, but am enjoying it. I have also cleaned out two closets since I made my list. Not really that much progress on the list, but it's something. Oh, I also hung the curtains in my bedroom. Yea!
While loving the act of staying warm I try to remember this shouldn't be a luxury. Every person should be able to protect themselves against the elements. Find someone to give all of your unused coats to. We need more projects like habitat for humanity to conquer one of society's ills, homelessness.
Last Friday I took Lee back to the doctor for his hard cast. We leave a little disappointed. It seems we had drove ninety minutes to have another x-ray taken and be told to bring him back in ten more days. On Monday they called and asked if I can bring him up the next day. They take his half cast off and send him down for x-rays. The minute we see his hand we know something isn't quite right. They put him in a wrist brace and send us home. He will have surgery the next day.
During his surgery I finally started War and Peace. I am still only sixty pages into it, but am enjoying it. I have also cleaned out two closets since I made my list. Not really that much progress on the list, but it's something. Oh, I also hung the curtains in my bedroom. Yea!
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Catching up
My head is full of untyped posts again. What are the chances I get them all out? First let's back up to how Lee broke his wrist. He was at football practice, I was cooking meal for the Rec. Board. The pager goes off. The ambulance is needed at the practice field. Dh is a first responder so he is scrambling to get out the door. We both look at each other and know it is Lee. Throwing myself into the pie crust I am making I try to keep the idea of head injuries off of my mind. It is not working. I call the school. Of course no one is in the office at this time. As soon as I hang up the phone it rings. It is just a broken wrist. Wrists are no big deal. I return to my crust. From the pager the story unfolds. They are taking him by ambulance to the hospital (seventeen miles). This is a quirk of small towns, any excuse to drive that thing is a good reason. We drive him in our van to Garden City for the surgery they think he will need. The doctor thinks a closed reduction will work. Of course Lee had to sit in the waiting room for an hour without any pain medication. That broke his mother's heart. I am ecstatic about them not having to cut him open, but a little surprised. The emergency room doctor at the last hospital was sure they would put a plate in.
Since then I have been told the drill they were doing, bull in a ring, is an illegal drill. I haven't really looked into it and have mixed feelings. Football is a rough sport, practices should be rough too, but he was hit from behind in this drill and hitting in the back isn't encouraged in high school football. I see it as a gray area, but if the drill is illegal the school could be sued if the wrong child is hurt.
We were supposed to go up and bring Drama Queen and all of her stuff home the next day. We weren't released in time and couldn't make it up to get her until Wednesday of the next week. All weekend I kept trying to think of a way to squeeze in the time to go get her early, but it just didn't make sense to make a trip for her and an extra one for her stuff. The phone rings at 3:45 A.M. Tuesday morning. My groping hand finds the phone after dh has already answered the other handset. Drama queen crying. She is telling him she is starving and hasn't ate in three day. I hang up, since he is handling this call. She has no car and quit working the week before, since we were already supposed to have her out of there. I know she may be exaggerating, but I don't know anyone who can not be moved by the sound of their baby sister crying. How can I get her food? I lay in bed and worry for thirty minutes before the answer hits me. How such a simple answer took so long to come to me I don't know. To feel like I'm doing something I get out of bed and get on the computer. I look up the numbers of several restaurants in her area that deliver and write down their numbers, even though I know I can't call any of them until later in the morning. I return to bed.
While I lay there my life circles around me. It seems so fake, a charade. I pretend to have control, but at any moment I'm going to drop it all. Out loud I say "I am a failure." It is one of those moments of clarity. I realize that when I do drop it and my life spins out of control my children will be the ones who are hurt. There stable childhood will evaporate in seconds. What will they think of me then? Who will save them? The sane voice keeps trying. "Look at all the people who love you." "Only because they don't really know me." I respond. I cry uncontrollably until it is almost time to get up. The alarm wakes me fifteen minutes later. My eyes are puffy all day. Fortunately every one chalked it up to my allergies. Curly Top and I do a good job of staying busy doing substantial things all morning. We turn the compost and plant garlic.
That afternoon dh calls. His truck has broke down. There is no way it will be ready to go get Drama Queen in the morning. We decide to try pulling a trailer behind our van.
This trailer hasn't been moved in a year. There is a brace missing in the front, so walking across it I can feel it is very squashy. We aren't even sure if our van can pull it fully loaded. The tags are expired. We are going to do it anyway. We check the mail, the new tags are here. One problem is solved. We don't wait until morning. Four hours later we are in Wichita. The big furniture items are loaded. It becomes very obvious we are going to have to make two trips. We drive home and unload it into a storage unit, eat, dh takes a nap, while I get everything ready to be gone another night. We drive back to Wichita. As we are packing up the last odds and ends we are all three getting a bit silly. It is three in the morning. Dh is throwing the things from the freezer into a garbage bag and comes across a bag of shrimp.
"You hadn't ate in three days and you had shrimp?" He asks her.
"I hate shrimp that is for the girls." She replies. He pulls out a package of hot dogs. "Now I would have ate those if I would have known they were in there." She says. He finishes up the freezer, checks on the pool to make sure it is still draining, moves on to the fridge. He pulls out a bottle.
"Look you have a whole bottle of ketchup."
"You expected me to drink ketchup?" she asks him
I but in with "You could have put it on a fuckin' hot dog."
It is nice to have her home safe and sound. It is really nice to be done with the moving. Although dh and I both agree that the thought of two four hour trips (one-way) is a lot worse than actually doing it.
This blog is nowhere near caught up, but I'm going to take a break for sleep.
Since then I have been told the drill they were doing, bull in a ring, is an illegal drill. I haven't really looked into it and have mixed feelings. Football is a rough sport, practices should be rough too, but he was hit from behind in this drill and hitting in the back isn't encouraged in high school football. I see it as a gray area, but if the drill is illegal the school could be sued if the wrong child is hurt.
We were supposed to go up and bring Drama Queen and all of her stuff home the next day. We weren't released in time and couldn't make it up to get her until Wednesday of the next week. All weekend I kept trying to think of a way to squeeze in the time to go get her early, but it just didn't make sense to make a trip for her and an extra one for her stuff. The phone rings at 3:45 A.M. Tuesday morning. My groping hand finds the phone after dh has already answered the other handset. Drama queen crying. She is telling him she is starving and hasn't ate in three day. I hang up, since he is handling this call. She has no car and quit working the week before, since we were already supposed to have her out of there. I know she may be exaggerating, but I don't know anyone who can not be moved by the sound of their baby sister crying. How can I get her food? I lay in bed and worry for thirty minutes before the answer hits me. How such a simple answer took so long to come to me I don't know. To feel like I'm doing something I get out of bed and get on the computer. I look up the numbers of several restaurants in her area that deliver and write down their numbers, even though I know I can't call any of them until later in the morning. I return to bed.
While I lay there my life circles around me. It seems so fake, a charade. I pretend to have control, but at any moment I'm going to drop it all. Out loud I say "I am a failure." It is one of those moments of clarity. I realize that when I do drop it and my life spins out of control my children will be the ones who are hurt. There stable childhood will evaporate in seconds. What will they think of me then? Who will save them? The sane voice keeps trying. "Look at all the people who love you." "Only because they don't really know me." I respond. I cry uncontrollably until it is almost time to get up. The alarm wakes me fifteen minutes later. My eyes are puffy all day. Fortunately every one chalked it up to my allergies. Curly Top and I do a good job of staying busy doing substantial things all morning. We turn the compost and plant garlic.
That afternoon dh calls. His truck has broke down. There is no way it will be ready to go get Drama Queen in the morning. We decide to try pulling a trailer behind our van.
This trailer hasn't been moved in a year. There is a brace missing in the front, so walking across it I can feel it is very squashy. We aren't even sure if our van can pull it fully loaded. The tags are expired. We are going to do it anyway. We check the mail, the new tags are here. One problem is solved. We don't wait until morning. Four hours later we are in Wichita. The big furniture items are loaded. It becomes very obvious we are going to have to make two trips. We drive home and unload it into a storage unit, eat, dh takes a nap, while I get everything ready to be gone another night. We drive back to Wichita. As we are packing up the last odds and ends we are all three getting a bit silly. It is three in the morning. Dh is throwing the things from the freezer into a garbage bag and comes across a bag of shrimp.
"You hadn't ate in three days and you had shrimp?" He asks her.
"I hate shrimp that is for the girls." She replies. He pulls out a package of hot dogs. "Now I would have ate those if I would have known they were in there." She says. He finishes up the freezer, checks on the pool to make sure it is still draining, moves on to the fridge. He pulls out a bottle.
"Look you have a whole bottle of ketchup."
"You expected me to drink ketchup?" she asks him
I but in with "You could have put it on a fuckin' hot dog."
It is nice to have her home safe and sound. It is really nice to be done with the moving. Although dh and I both agree that the thought of two four hour trips (one-way) is a lot worse than actually doing it.
This blog is nowhere near caught up, but I'm going to take a break for sleep.
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