It’s hard to go from being quiet in the country to living la vida loca with ur peeps in the city for a blowout birthday bash. Forget about go back to the quiet! It’s tough juggling two opposing lives. I suffered major culture shock coming back and was depressed because I missed my like minded peeps.
October 29, 2010
April 19, 2009
The Joys and Struggles of living in the Country
Let’s start with the immense joys of living in the country. First, I have room to grow. I have beautiful trees, flowers and plants that were planted in another lifetime that all have meaning. Many times, my yard is where I get my fresh foliage to decorate the inside of my country cottage. Just yesterday I took advantage of the beautiful weather and the clothes line that has been between two trees for my whole life, and hung my clothing out to dry. I discovered I need to use liquid fabric softener next time. I dream of having a mini amusment part of sorts…a camp so to speak with mini golf, croquet, basketball, well, you get the picture. I’d love for this to become a destination for friends and their families. I also dream of having my siblings on the property with their own houses and covered walkways. Being in “my country” allows for big dreams and bottomless possibilities.
Now for the struggles…maintaining a house…maintaining a yard…and being somewhat isolated can make projects a bit daunting at times.
It looks like my joys outweigh my struggles! Hooray!!!
February 17, 2009
There is a little superhero in all of us…
Gurldynamyte here with my opinions looking for yours…
February 16, 2009
A fun President’s Day
So I live in a “small town” but I have found my haven.
I don’t remember when I first happened on this family owned gem but I know it was back in the day when I could be a “walk-in”. It is a family owned nail salon but its more than that. Everyone is young, hip and related. They play the newest music without you realizing it. All of a sudden, you are sitting in the pedicure chair jammin’ or trying to sing along like you’re home. If you catch these girls on a Friday evening- there may be a party going on. Only some customers are told to come be the last customer. The girl talk and gossip is delicious. They are up on facebook, the latest fashion, music and gossip…not just the silly stuff either. Seriously, I have spend hours here…getting all of my grooming needs met AND feeding my face. You see, this is a Vietnamese owned nail salon AND they own the restaurant next door. If you don’t want to eat on your knees, just hop next door in your slippers and let your toes dry while you enjoy the freshest food I ever tasted. You can taste the love in the food.
The ladies know all of their clients and if they don;t they get to know them before they walk out. It is a very warm, spiritual feeling place and I am so blessed to have found this gem in my small town.
Education
I was watching cnn over the all star weekend. The commentators were interviewing basketball players about Obama. Magic talked abput the state of affairs today and one problem being that our children are not being educated. I’ve been hot ever since. I teach. I am on the front lines everyday jumping thru hoops for kids who are totally spoiled and easily “bored”. If I said I was bored when I was young I’d get “the look” and told to go read a book. I usually did go read a book since I listen to pretty much everything my father says. Tell a kid today to read a book and THEY CAN’T READ. Why? because the parents are young, didn’t finish highschool themselves and are perpetuating a cycle. Another reason I see students not acheiving is because material things are thrown at them to make up for something they are lacking. Like having a drug addicted mother or a father locked up, or being from a fammily that continues to have babies when the first 5 all have learning and/or emotional disabilities. What happens when I assign homework and the student 1) leaves it on his desk or 2) doesn’t bother to do it? I;m doing my part; giving them a free appropriate education but I am not their parents! Teachers are always made to feel that if there is failure, then it MUST be something we are not doing. Ok, so we remediate after school, tutor during our planning periods AND lunch and my favorite…staying in CONSTANT communication with parents. So I get in touch, tell them about their child’s behavior and the very next day, the same drama happens. Most things are all about CYA. I have to take my precious planning time calling and emailing and bending over backwards all for the same result. We do it because we hope that there will be just one that we can reach but I wonder…when are parents going to take some responsibility? If parents are struggling financially, emotionally or whatever, there are so many services for them to take advantage of but I think the most important would be for them to wake up and get to a parenting class, come in to school to meet their child’s teachers…and do their part as as a team member. We all go around saying it takes a village well some people are not pulling their weight. Because of these socio- economic issues and the disintegration of the family unit, students are a handful. They come to us with a plethora of issues we have not seen before nor are we ready to deal with in our ever growing classrooms of 22-30.
November 24, 2008
Amazing Parties
I have this one friend who has become a great hostess. I went to spend a weekend and felt so at home and relaxed. Friday night they had a dinner party with some friends. Saturday morning we girls headed to the Spa for a much needed salt scrub then back home for a cooking and wine party. It was really an excuse to see old friends and meet new ones. The night lingered on and we hated to part but what little time I had with them was invigorating to say the least. Good friends are hard to find. If you’ve got’em, work to keep’em.
The 20 year HS Reunion…
My advice? Go to your 20 year high school reunion! I recently went to mine and I have to say, I had more fun than I had expected. At first I was a bit apprehensive, but once all of us were hooked up on facebook, things took a different turn. I enjoyed mine so much because I had shared many moments with many of my classmates that I could only realize after 20 years. For me, my friends were everything like many teenagers. We shared most of our “frists” together along with some trying experiences. My high school friends were there for me in ways that I can never explain to anyone other than those who were present. It was great to see that all of us have gone on to become successful, productive members of the world. It also helped me to realize how special my education was being that I went to a Quaker school in Philly. Everyone came together and we put old pictures of ourselves into a slide show and had laugh upon laugh.
Highschool is a special time in our lives. It would a shame to not relive it!
