Sunday, September 26, 2010

Nature vs. Nurture



I, by nature, am not a gardener. I have no green thumb and have routinely killed most green things that have the unfortunate experience of inhabiting our home. However, I can nurture an entire classroom of 8 year olds and motivate their minds through the wonderful world of reading and writing. How does this relate to James, you may ask?

On Friday, I picked James up from preschool and he proudly showed off his latest class project, a green bean sprouting from a paper cup. The mature adult in us would think, "yeah, yeah... so what?" But, to the mind of a three year old, it's "This is the coolest thing ever! You start with something hard and tiny and then this green leafy thing grows up and up and up! Amazing!" Yep, those were pretty much James' thoughts verbatim. And, he was determined to take very good care of his plant! For example, he wisely rolled down the car window and held it out in the sun on the way home because "plants need sunlight, mommy." Then, I caught him trying to pour water out of his sippy cup into the plant cup because "plants need water, mommy." And if that's not enough to convince of you of my child's green thumb, he later informed me that "plants need seeds." Mind you, he was telling me this as he tearing apart the sprouted bean plant in search of seeds to put back into the dirt. So, he got the right concept, but his execution needs some work. Hmmm..... maybe he does take after me in the Nature department after all!
On the homefront, we had a very relaxing and productive weekend. Can you really have both, you ask? Why, yes you can!

Friday night we hit up the clubhouse for sunset happy hour. We got a sitter for James and really enjoyed getting to have real conversation for the first time all week. It makes for a happy mommy and daddy!

Saturday was chore day. Grocery shopping, cleaning house, laundry. You know, the fun stuff! Then we got to enjoy the rest of the afternoon by the pool. Dinner was grilled shrimp and chicken, followed by more family pool and hot tub time. After we got James to bed, it was movie night complements of Netflix (best thing ever!)


Sunday was more laundry and then tackling our garage. We had TONS of stuff to clean out, but I think we are now able to definitely fit one vehicle in there and maybe two if we're lucky!


Before:

After:


While cleaning out said garage, I found two pictures that I had bought over two months ago with the intentions of hanging, and well... you see where they ended up. After much discussion and searching around the house, we decided that the back hallway could use some brightening up. Success!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

My Week

My Week was....
~A full week of teaching, which included mentoring my level 3 intern
~Monday: Grad class until 9 PM! The class is on Epistemology, so we have to complete all of these fascinating (not!) readings by Descartes, Stroud and Moore, who were basically a bunch of men with PLENTY of time on their hands to sit around a ponder/discuss/reflect/argue the essential questions like, "How do you prove that two human hands exist?" Seriously????
~ Tuesday: after teaching all day, I came home, made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, started laundry and promptly fell asleep at 8:00 pm.
~ Wednesday: Grad class until 9 PM! (again!) This class is on Cross Cultural Diversity. Here, two white, male principals attempt to teach Diversity to a class of all white females. Anyone else see the irony here?
~ Thursday: Gym time after school, then home for dinner, playing with James, bath time, books and bedtime.
~ Friday: oh! Glorious friday! Here at last! Here at last! I came home from school with a migraine, so Will took over with James for a while (maybe a hour). After we got James to bed, we got to enjoy Movie date night compliments of Netflix. Bring on the True Blood extravaganza!
~ Saturday: School work in the morning, followed by a trip to Sweetbay for some groceries. Then, Will and I are heading over to some coworkers of his for a "housewarming" party/cookout. I'm looking forward to the downtime!
~ Sunday: A day of rest????? I hope so!

As I'm typing this, James is running in circles around the house "like a rocket!" This boy has SO much energy. He is literally running in a circle, while twirling around in circles. Last night, he insisted that we call him "puppy" as he was no longer "James." Then, he proceeded to try and lick our faces and only responded to us in barks. Yes, we think he's highly talented and gifted, too. (insert sarcastic laugh here)
Either way, I'm looking forward to my weekend with my "three" dogs and the hubs! Hope all of you out there are having a great weekend!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The irony

So I'm sitting here, watching a Netflix movie on the couch with James (Fly Me to the Moon) and thinking of the irony of my Life.
Let me explain....
Last week, there was a certain event that I had planned for and looked forward to ALL summer long. It was to be FUN, relaxing, romantic, entertaining and inspiring. (I don't expect much, do I?)
And, it turned out to be the exact opposite. Oh well. Sometimes Life deals you a raw deal. I'll live, right?
Then, late Friday night, I throw together some plans with a fellow teacher/friend from grad school. Plans included meeting up with some people, boating out to a nearby island and partying for the day. Turns out... it was one of the best days the hubs and I have had in a while. Our favorite sitter was available for the entire day, I packed the cooler with drinks, water and Publix sandwiches. I applied a heavy dose of 50 sunblock, we donned our bathing suits and drove ten minutes to the boat ramp.
Our saturday included...
-waiting for an hour and a half for everyone else to show up at the boat lift (we chose to stay in the air conditioned car, open up a few drinks and enjoyed having conversation with no interruptions for juice, potty, trains, etc.)
-yummy pina coladas
-bright sunshine
-a boat ride
-fun picture-posing with drift wood along the beach
-cuddling in the warm Gulf water
-a walk around the island, complete with hand-holding and smooching
-lots and lots of laughs at stuff that I can't really remember right now
-a "private" acoustic guitar concert from our new friend Pablo featuring the ever-romantic music of Tenacious D
-roasted hot dogs on the fire
-making new friends
-a relaxing day filled with fun, friends and each other!

I hope everyone else is enjoying their impromptu Labor Day plans!