school daze

This afternoon I stopped in to Charlie's class. I was on my way home from errands, and it was just easier to swing by school and get him; rather than drive home, bundle up, and walk three blocks to the bus stop. Even though it is no longer arctic, it isn't exactly shorts weather.

The whole class was diligently working away (how does she get them to do that 5 minutes before they leave? I would have been tapping my foot, waiting for the cue to bolt from the room). So I walked in and sat in the corner. I love to watch Amy teach. She is SO incredible. She will be the feature subject in posts to come, as just a few sentences cannot begin to describe what she is doing for every single child in that classroom. How lucky we are to have her in our lives this year!

She had them get out their planners, and she was talking to them about what they were going to work on tonight. What they should focus on, how much time they should think about spending on it. I see Charlie raise his hand, and he says "This is going to be FUN. Writing memoirs is even more fun than playing video games!" The mom I was sitting next to looks at me, eyebrows raised, as in 'did you hear what your kid just said?' And Amy is BEAMING, that she has a student who can't wait to go home and do his homework. And I am thinking, 'is this MY kid?'

They are wrapping things up, and I walk up behind Charlie, and he freaks out. "Mom, what are you doing here?" He hadn't even seen me walk in, so then I realized what he said to the teacher was from the heart, not just trying to impress his mother. And Amy comes over and says "Do you see why I just love your kid?"

He excused himself from the dinner table, before Mike and I were even finished, as he wanted to get going on his memoir. He happily worked away, and proudly read it to us when he was done. It was that moment every parent wants to have, every once in a while. When a kid realizes that homework isn't always just a chore, a hurry-up-and-finish-so-I-can-do-something-fun ordeal, that thing that your parents harp on you to take care of every night.

So today, again, life is good. At least for right now. Perhaps I should save this post in a file for his college applications...

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Did you ever notice that meteorologists really seem to relish reporting how cold it is going to get? I swear, there was positive glee in Bel's voice last night, when she told us that there was a 51 degree temperature shift from 10 pm the previous evening. And wind chills could be 45 below in the morning.

Seeing how it was going to be a cold night-and my upstairs windows are so crummy it is like having them open with the screens on in the summer, I donned my velour jammies, with socks, and turned on the electric blanket. And snuggled down into my flannel sheets. At 4 am, I woke up so hot and sweaty I thought the combination of things was going to make me spontaneously combust. To prevent such a catastrophe, I took off my socks and walked around on my wood floors for a bit, and I was chilled to the bone in no time.

Thank goodness for old, drafty houses. I heard on the news that if you live in an old, drafty house, your chances of getting carbon monoxide poisoning are almost non-existent, unless of course you are sleeping right next to the defective furnace...which I'm not, because my basement is too yucky to sleep in. So thank goodness for life's blessings.

Save a Memory (it COULD be your own)

I found this great idea, in all of my blog/newspaper/magazine reading. Don't remember where I saw it (that whole middle aged memory loss thing) but I really like it. The thought is to take 12 pictures, every month, on the 12th. And then take those pictures and turn them into a scrapbook. I love it! Well, since it is already Jan. 29th, I guess I will have to do 12 on the 30th. Which doesn't sound quite as catchy. But I will be diligent about doing it on the 12th the rest of the months. or not.

But the idea is, that those 12 pictures are just about life. Dirty laundry, what you are cooking for dinner, the cat eating your flowers, the stack of mail you got that day, the book you are reading, what music is playing on your Ipod. Because we do a pretty good job documenting "events" and vacations and things like that. But when our kids are our age, won't it be fun for them to look at that album and remember what their everyday life was like? I am thinking that it will just be one page per month, or maybe two. And maybe I won't use all 12 pictures, maybe I will. The less rules, the better, I think.

I am SO EXCITED to get started on it. I will just pretend that the pictures I am taking tomorrow were taken on the twelfth...

Childhood, revisited (or, can food save you?)

Charlie had a really bad day at school: creative differences with his group in science over their advertising project, a friend promising to come over after school, then backing out to play with someone else, and forgetting all of his homework at school. My first instinct, of course, was to feed him. Just like mom used to do. Doesn't it still work?

But I refrained, and encouraged him to go scrape some ice off the driveway instead.

I just remember that feeling, that Monday feeling, when it's gloomy, and gray out, and everything seems to go wrong. It really did start in childhood, didn't it? 'Cause I kind of feel the same way right now. As Scarlett O'Hara said, "...tomorrow is, another day..."

Too bad I didn't plan tater tot hot dish for dinner, with brownies for dessert....

Finally

I have been meaning to do this forever, and there was a wonderful article in the

paper about saving your memories, with info on how to set up a blog, so here I

go. I have set this up so that only the people I invite can see this, and right now

it is just you. Until I get the swing of things, and decide if I want my other

friends to know what a nut I am.


One thing I feel is really missing from my life is keeping track of things that

happen, the funny things Charlie says, the goals and dreams I have for myself.

Every journal, diary, or blank book that I have started never lasts more than a

week or two. Maybe this will give me the kick in the pants I need. And dadgum,

we all need a kick in the pants now and then.


Mike and Charlie are off skiing, so I have the whole day to myself. In true

Hanson girl fashion, I have already cleaned the whole house, finished up some

projects that have been staring at me the last few weeks, and finished the

laundry. So now I can do something just for me, without feeling horribly guilty.

Wonder how much therapy it would require for me to let THAT go? So what

better way to celebrate my me time, than starting a blog.


I have tons of topics and ideas running through my head, and things I want to

put on here. Recipes, pictures, comments, and of course, a large amount of top

ten lists.


It was hard to come up with a title. Believe it or not, Fishin' Girl was already

taken. Honestly. But I knew no one would have Oh fer Cute.


Okay, deep breath, I feel like I have a fresh start here. I am feeling inspired to

go and whip up some Valentines for my girlfriends, while I watch the Men's

skating final. Since god forbid I could watch TV and do NOTHING...