Surviving and Even Thriving

I survived the first week of classes. The experience was a combination of exhiliration from doing what I love (teaching) and frustration/sadness/guilt of having to repeatedly tell students that the class is full but I'd be happy to put them on a waiting list. The stories that students come up with to encourage you to add them to the class are sooooooooo guilt inducing. I gently, but firmly, reiterate to them that my hands are tied, there are limits placed by the "higher ups" that are completely out of my control and that if an opening occurs I'll contact them. This is what the beginning of the week was like. Then as each day passed, I slowly saw students begin to drop the class, I contacted the students on the waiting list, the students then inform me that they have found another class to take and no longer "urgently" need my class....but wait a minute...what happened to your empassioned plea about if you don't get into my class that you won't be able to graduate or your great aunt Tilly will die?????!!!! I've been played. I wasted all my guilt on someone who is less than deserving. This semester is worse than any other I've experienced. With the budget cuts there are fewer classes available to serve the same amount of students, which results in these pressure induced interactions with students. All I can say is thank goodness that part of the week is over.

Last night Mona and Mary took me out for my birthday dinner (my birthday was over a month ago and very well celebrated). I swear, this birthday has been the birthday with no end. Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to take me out, buy me a wonderful dinner, and give me a present, I'm all in. They took me to my favorite restaurant, Fifth Street Steakhouse. Dinner was great as usual. We were able to get caught up with Mary, because she has been out of town so much visiting her new granddaughter in Wisconsin. Mary gave me a beautiful shawl and pin. I loved both. I'm a lucky girl to have such great friends.

I went to the department office today to sign my contract for the semester and was pleased when I saw, for the first time, the words "full-time" instead of "part-time" on my contract. This may seem like a minor point, but it isn't. The way in which contracts are written up are dictated by union contract, so procedures are very specific. Therefore, once a full-time contact has been given, they are contractually obligated to give full-time contracts first crack at available courses. Bottom line this means that I moved one notch up the "food chain." It means that I have just a smidgen more job security and that's always a good thing.

Neck Ache

You know I've really tried to give our new president a chance. I'm trying to have an open mind. However, have you noticed that every other day he is making a speech? I do not remember a new president ever making this many speeches at the beginning of his administration. Quite frankly he's beginning to get on my last nerve.

The other observation I've made is that he seems to be signing a lot of executive orders. I don't remember a new president ever signing this many. I'm beginning wonder who elected him king?

Finally, as I hear his plans for the recovery of our economy and his plans for the environment I believe that my predictions regarding his desire to turn us into a socialist nation are going to be realized. I'm amazed how many people are willing to give up their freedoms in order to get a free hand out from the government. I'm also amazed how many people actually think the government is the answer to our problems. Have these people been to the DMV lately?

Since the adminstration has taken over I seem to be constantly shaking my head. I've been shaking my head so much that I'm beginning to get a neck ache.

Wishing for Warm and Fuzzy

What's on my mind today?

The saying: "No good deed goes unpunished."

I'd rather not elaborate on why this is on my mind, but I will say that the thought does not exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Maybe looking at this picture for a while will make that warm and fuzzy feeling return.

Missed Opportunity

News reports state that approximately $160 million is being spent on this inauguration. That's a lot of money; money that this country doesn't have. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if Obama had chosen to lead by example and said, "Let's cut back. I think that considering the dire economic crisis that is facing our country that it would be a good idea to scale things back a bit." A true leader leads by deed not word. What a missed opportunity! I hope this does not foreshadow the kind of leadership that is to come. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask that our leaders make the same sacrifices that we are having to make. File this under "Give me a break!"

Blogs Galore

Lately I find myself exploring and finding new blogs to enjoy. I hate to admit how much time I spend reading blogs. The fact that the Weblog 2008 awards voting has been open for the past few weeks really facilitates the discovery of new blogs. One of my new favorite blogs was nominated for the Best Humor blog is written by a conservative with a wonderful sense of humor. I've found myself laughing out loud more than once. Another blog that was nominated as Best Humor blog is written by a Korean American who shares the funny things that her mother, and sometimes her father, says.

What prompted my musing about blogs today is a new blog that I stumbled upon through one of my "favorite's list" and this blog stopped me short. The title of her posting today is "Hospice." She is fighting ovarian cancer for the third time and she has made the decision to stop chemotherapy and to spend her remaining time at home with her husband and two children. This is not your garden-variety posting. It made me pause and wonder, what goes into making a decision like this? Is she scared? I'm sure she is, but her posting seemed very calm and like she was at peace with her decision. What kind of challenges do you have to face to bring you to a point of acceptance and peace with this decision? My heart immediately went out to the woman who I didn't even know existed just moments before. I wonder how I would handle fighting cancer. Would I be a warrior? I'd like to think so. One thing I do know with certainty is that one never knows how one will react to any given situation until one is actually facing it. I pray that I won't have to face a terminal illness until my children are raised and living on their own. This woman has two children who still have a lot of growing to do. My thoughts and prayers are with her.

The Silence is Deafening

I have a total of 47 students this intersession. I have 10 Thao's, 4 Vang's, and 4 Yang's. That's right, 18 of my 47 students are Hmong. They are lovely students; very conscientious, studious, attentive, and hardworking, but they just won't enter into the class discussion. I've tried everything to get them to participate, but I just get averted eyes and no response. I understand it is a cultural thing, but I sure would like to hear what they have to say. I believe it would really enrich the conversation.

This and that

It's been a hectic week with the commencement of intersession; I'm teaching this intersession. It's a whirlwind. We covered 7 weeks of information in 5 days, but I far prefer this rapid and concentrated approach. I think students do far better devoting a block of time focusing on course content without the usual interruptions and interference from other courses disrupting their ability to internalize course concepts.

Chelsea has finished 4 of the required 6 hours of driver's training. It's a bit unnerving thinking of my daughter driving on the freeway or parallel parking, but she has been doing very well. Her teacher says that she tends to make turns going too fast, but otherwise her performance has been awesome (his words not mine). The next real test is allowing her to drive my precious BMW. I've very fond of it and would like it to remain intact.

Cody is officially as tall as I am, yet another unnerving turn of events. I can't say that I feel particularly authoritative looking eye to eye with my son when I'm trying to reprimand him.

I started Atkins this Monday because I've gained so much weight that I have to do something about it before I develop health issues. I've lost 4 1/2 pounds. I'm not getting too excited because the first week is always easier; it gets difficult when the weight loss slows down to a snails pace. That's the time when one's "staying power" is tested. I'm hoping to have "staying power."

A good start to a New Year

I just arrived home from our 2 day adventure to Mendocino with our best friends, Greg and Mona. We had to take a bit of a detour on our return as we found out prior to leaving for Mendocino that Dan's Uncle Clyde had passed away and so I dropped Dan off at the Sacramento Airport so that he could join his siblings in flying to Oklahoma City for the funeral tomorrow, before heading home to the kids.

As I stated previously, this was the first time we left the kids on their own for a couple of nights, but in spite of some slight nervousness I knew that they were ready. We met Greg and Mona at 6 am at Morning Thunder Cafe for breakfast. Then it was time to hit the road for the long trip over the coastal range to their beautiful cliffside home in Mendocino. It was very foggy in the valley, but once we climbed the mountains we found ourselves above the fog and were greeted with wonderful sunshine. We arrived at their home somewhere around 12:30 pm. After settling in we heated up the soup that I brought from our Christmas Eve celebration as well as Great Harvest Breads. Then, without saying a word, Mona and I found ourselves sitting in our favorite spot, right in front of the roaring fire in the brick fireplace with books in hand.
We both love to read and see our time at the coast as a wonderful opportunity to get caught up on our reading. Unfortunately we also got caught up on way too much unnecessary eating and drinking. The eating was, of course, rationalized by our resolve to get back on diets on Monday.

Have I ever said how much I love my friend Mona? Well I do. She's the best friend a girl could ask for. We, as usual had great "girl talk" while Dan and Greg catered to our every wish and whim. We were both so tired after all of the Christmas celebration that all we wanted to do was sit around, read, cozy up in front of the fire, eat a little something, drink a little something, all the while reading and talking. It was the best New Year's Eve I've had in a while. We were supposed to fix a nice dinner, but when it came time all of us agreed that we didn't much feel like eating a big dinner and opted to continue grazing on high calorie, high fat foods.

Mona and Greg's sweet dog, Casey, was also part of the fun. Receiving lots of love from Mona and I, with Dan and Greg including him in on their walks and wood gathering expeditions. Finally, the guys decided that they wanted to watch The Prestige and took off for a video store in Fort Bragg. They also picked up a few items at the grocery store so that Mona and I didn't have to disturb our reading/girl talk session in front of the fire.

Upon arriving home and before beginning the movie, the guys opened a bottle of port (their favorite) to enjoy while they popped corn for the movie. Dan and I have seen The Prestige before and Dan couldn't resist "explaining" the movie to Greg and Mona with me constanting shushing him or ploring him to not ruin it for him. As is typical of Greg, about 1/2 hour into the movie we began to hear a soft snoring coming from his vicinity. We had to keep arousing him so that he wouldn't miss the movie. Like the old farts we are fast becoming, we all ended up going to bed after the movie was over, before it was midnight!!!! Here's the sad part. No one protested. We all happily went to bed and fell asleep before the stroke of midnight.

The next morning we decided to go to The Little River Inn for breakfast. It is set in the most idyllic location. I simply had to take our pics from the porch in front of the restaurant with the coast line in the background.

Mona was the one who suggested we go to The Little River Inn because she said they had the best pancakes ever. She hates pancakes, so if she likes theirs, they had to be good. It turns out that they were Swedish Pancakes and were as yummy as she said they would be.

We then drove up to Fort Bragg to see if there were any shops open, but there was only one, so we decided to head back home for round 2 of sitting by the fire and reading. The guys continued to cater to our every wish and whim. The guys also rented, Don't Mess with the Zohan, which Mona and I simply could not sit through, but the laughter coming from the living room clearly indicated the guys were loving The Zohan.

We decided that we would make the big dinner we had planned to make on New Years Eve that night. I use the term "we" very loosely because I didn't do very much to help. I washed the asparagus and cut the ends off. That's about it. Mona commenced to make her famous Honey Dijon Mustard Chicken.

Greg is famous for making very strange food combination. I don't know if he does it because he likes the attention or if he really just likes weird taste combinations. I'm leaning toward the later. Greg is the kind of guy that, more often then not, thinks outside the box. In fact, it is unusual for him to think inside the box. Anyway, he was telling us about his latest discovery; asparagus and whipped cream. We reacted with our usual, What???!!!! This only eggs Greg on, so he commenced to concoct his latest weird taste combination.

When the guys were at the video store they purchased chocolate Neccos. So, Greg took the wonderful french bread that we had been snacking on all afternoon, put a little butter on it and then place a Necco on it. Here is his latest creation.

Here's his reaction to his latest creation. He clearly is quite pleased with the result. Dan tried it and, of course, said it was wonderful. I refused to eat it and Mona just kept on cooking.

And cooking, and cooking, while I sat there drinking and eating.

While Mona was cooking the guys, without any prompting from us, decided to set the table. They put all manner of candles on the table and set to lighting them. Note the can of whipped cream on the table. This, of course, is for the asparagus. I did try this combination. Let's just say it wasn't bad. I think I'll stick with mayonaise.

As Mona put the finishing touches on her Honey Dijon Mustard Chicken, Casey waited patiently because he knew that he too would get some chicken. He knows his mother so well and she is definitely into spoiling him.

Here's the final result. That's pineapple that she topped the chicken dish off with. It was one of the best chicken dishes that I've tasted.

We finished off our day with a little more reading by the fire, while the guys did all the dishes. I didn't even clear my dish! They treated Mona and I like we were queens the entire time. We are so lucky to be married to such wonderful and thoughtful ment! Then it was off to be because we had to get up early in order to make Dan's 1pm flight to Oklahoma City, so it was with much reluctance that we bade our dear friends good-bye and headed for the airport. Based on these first few days, 2009 is looking pretty darn good.