(1) Frederick Douglass - escaped slavery, learned to read and much, much more
(2) Caroline Ingalls - followed that crazy man everywhere and still found time to tint the butter
(3) Nelson Mandela - works for peace even after decades in prison
(4) Dalai Lama - works for peace even after decades of exile
(5) Helen Keller - learned to read and much, much more
(6) Rusty Schumacher - best seventh grade English teacher ever
(7) Abe Lincoln - learned to read and much, much more
(8) Jane Austen - figured out human nature from the parlour
(9) Beethoven - composed masterpieces even after going deaf
(10) Uh...
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Lucky
"Mom, whenever I get sick, you start saying how lucky we are!"
Sam, the kid who never gets sick, has been through it these last few weeks. First, difficulty breathing at night; now he takes allergy meds every night. Next, his eyes become so inflamed he looks like Linda Blair; weeks of antihistime eyedrops followed by steroids finally clear it up. The final straw, severe abdominal pain in the middle of the night, the on-call nurse mentions surgery and suddenly everything is scary ... until we find out it's "only" constipation caused by dehydration. Five days later, he's fine.
So why are we lucky? We're lucky my sister could come over in the middle of the night so I didn't have to wake Emma Jane to go to the hospital. We're lucky to have health insurance to pay for the thousands of dollars in medical treatments we've received. We're lucky Rich was planning to take this week off anyway to spend with the kids. We're lucky to have jobs where we can legitimately take sick time to care for a child. We're lucky Sam wasn't born 150 years ago, in which case he would likely be blind or dead by now. And, we're lucky not to be among the several families we saw in the emergency room, whose babies are in surgery or receiving morphine drips at 1 a.m. on a Thursday night.
So no, Sam, I'm not glad you haven't been feeling so great lately. I'm sorry about that. But yes, I do feel lucky.
Sam, the kid who never gets sick, has been through it these last few weeks. First, difficulty breathing at night; now he takes allergy meds every night. Next, his eyes become so inflamed he looks like Linda Blair; weeks of antihistime eyedrops followed by steroids finally clear it up. The final straw, severe abdominal pain in the middle of the night, the on-call nurse mentions surgery and suddenly everything is scary ... until we find out it's "only" constipation caused by dehydration. Five days later, he's fine.
So why are we lucky? We're lucky my sister could come over in the middle of the night so I didn't have to wake Emma Jane to go to the hospital. We're lucky to have health insurance to pay for the thousands of dollars in medical treatments we've received. We're lucky Rich was planning to take this week off anyway to spend with the kids. We're lucky to have jobs where we can legitimately take sick time to care for a child. We're lucky Sam wasn't born 150 years ago, in which case he would likely be blind or dead by now. And, we're lucky not to be among the several families we saw in the emergency room, whose babies are in surgery or receiving morphine drips at 1 a.m. on a Thursday night.
So no, Sam, I'm not glad you haven't been feeling so great lately. I'm sorry about that. But yes, I do feel lucky.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
69, Dudes!
Remember when Bill and Ted run into copies of each other in the time loop? One set says "Hey, dudes, how do we know it's really us? What number are we thinking of?" and the other set says "69 Dudes!" Well, we watched it the other night and the kids loved it.
At their age, they only get part of the joke. So, night after night at the dinner table, with much hilarity, we hear, over and over, "69, Dudes!"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Price of Underpants
Somehow it doesn't seem right that our all-new closet cost the same as the eight pairs of underpants I bought at JC Penneys on the "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" rack. I'm turning into a walking advertisement for ClosetMaid.
The whole point of the project is to turn Sam's room from a 9x9 large closet to a 9x12 normal kid's room. To do this, I need to tear out the add-on closet in our room, build a new wall where the closet door used to be, and convert the strange small room that leads to our bedroom into a closet. Plus a lot of little details, like shoe molding and wall painting, along the way.
So far, so good. I've removed the carpet and carpet tack from Sam's room, removed the closet hardware from the old closet, and installed new closet hardware in the new closet room. The wrinkles:
(1) the linoleum glue (possibly containing asbestos) that is all over Sam's floor, underneath the wall-to-wall carpet;
(2) the giant holes in the plaster I created when I tried to use molly bolts in lathe (wish I had pictures)
See my entry from August 5 of last year to make your judgment as to the wisdom of this project.
The whole point of the project is to turn Sam's room from a 9x9 large closet to a 9x12 normal kid's room. To do this, I need to tear out the add-on closet in our room, build a new wall where the closet door used to be, and convert the strange small room that leads to our bedroom into a closet. Plus a lot of little details, like shoe molding and wall painting, along the way.
So far, so good. I've removed the carpet and carpet tack from Sam's room, removed the closet hardware from the old closet, and installed new closet hardware in the new closet room. The wrinkles:
(1) the linoleum glue (possibly containing asbestos) that is all over Sam's floor, underneath the wall-to-wall carpet;
(2) the giant holes in the plaster I created when I tried to use molly bolts in lathe (wish I had pictures)
See my entry from August 5 of last year to make your judgment as to the wisdom of this project.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Email from Rich, Sent During My Weekend in Boulder
Subject: This Morning
I didn't set my alarm today, so I awoke about 6:50 to bustling about the house. When I went downstairs, Emma Jane had already made her and Sammy's lunch, fed Chester, and was standing by the toaster waiting for her breakfast to pop up. I told her last night to pretend that she was Wendy, and that me, Sammy, and Chester were 'The Lost Boys.' I think she is taking that role to heart.
She did absolutely everything without being asked or reminded, and was out the door at 7:45! She asked if she could go to synchro today for some extra practice before the meet tomorrow. I said yes, and we are going to pick up a new black bathing suit after practice, come home, eat pizza, and watch Spiderman 3. Sammy got up at 7:45, cuddled with me, asked, "What are Nazis?", ate breakfast, got ready, danced to Talking Heads' Mr. Jones, and left at 8:30. They really seem to be growing up!
How was the Denver Bot Garden? Having a good time?
Love you,
Rr
I didn't set my alarm today, so I awoke about 6:50 to bustling about the house. When I went downstairs, Emma Jane had already made her and Sammy's lunch, fed Chester, and was standing by the toaster waiting for her breakfast to pop up. I told her last night to pretend that she was Wendy, and that me, Sammy, and Chester were 'The Lost Boys.' I think she is taking that role to heart.
She did absolutely everything without being asked or reminded, and was out the door at 7:45! She asked if she could go to synchro today for some extra practice before the meet tomorrow. I said yes, and we are going to pick up a new black bathing suit after practice, come home, eat pizza, and watch Spiderman 3. Sammy got up at 7:45, cuddled with me, asked, "What are Nazis?", ate breakfast, got ready, danced to Talking Heads' Mr. Jones, and left at 8:30.
How was the Denver Bot Garden? Having a good time?
Love you,
Rr
Monday, November 5, 2007
Dog People
My father's new dog, Buddy, peed on Abby's shoe at family dinner.
The world, and my family, is divided into "dog people" and "not dog people." My sister-in-law Abby, along with my husband and my mother, fit into the "not" category.
Why was Buddy hanging around Rich and Abby at the dinnertable? Was he trying to win them over? Was he trying to annoy them? Does he, like many dogs, live in a world of sublime oblivion, where everyone is lovable and everyone loves him? Or - most likely - was it that Abby and Rich were still eating, possibly dropping table scraps?
Buddy actually was standing about five feet away from Abby when the urge to pee struck. He rushed over to her, lifted his leg, and let go, right on the rubber toe of her Chuck Taylor's.
At least they're washable.
The world, and my family, is divided into "dog people" and "not dog people." My sister-in-law Abby, along with my husband and my mother, fit into the "not" category.
Why was Buddy hanging around Rich and Abby at the dinnertable? Was he trying to win them over? Was he trying to annoy them? Does he, like many dogs, live in a world of sublime oblivion, where everyone is lovable and everyone loves him? Or - most likely - was it that Abby and Rich were still eating, possibly dropping table scraps?
Buddy actually was standing about five feet away from Abby when the urge to pee struck. He rushed over to her, lifted his leg, and let go, right on the rubber toe of her Chuck Taylor's.
At least they're washable.
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