...is knowing that your pre-kindergartner acts out at home because she knows that her parents will not reject her, no matter how much of a twerp she is. Or how much they yell.
...is delighting in said pre-kindergartner's strange little ways and sayings, such as, "I'm the most popular kid in my school, shiny like a movie star," while keeping a (mostly) straight face.
...is doing everything in one's power to help your fourth-grader find her missing essay, up to and including emailing various school officials to see if she left it in the library or the music room... and making her face the consequences herself if it can't be found.
...is supporting said fourth-grader by showing her how to work within safety rules and still sell lots of girl scout cookies.
...is when your mom takes you in to have a flu shot because she thinks it's important. And you're 44 years old.
...is when that same mom, having taken care of your physical well-being with the flu vaccine, hands you twenty dollars and says, "Take this. Take your husband out to lunch. You've had a rough week and I know you'll have a job by this time next week and you'll miss your lunch dates."
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
School Daze
Under three months until I have completed my Associate of Arts in Communications. I am reminded because all three of my advisors - financial, academic, and general - called me within minutes of each other yesterday. Good news on that front; my student loans are approved for the next quarter (they always are, but it's nice to get the call).
But mostly I wanted to talk about Lizzy's school. Like most children, she behaves differently for other adults than she does for parents; overall her behavior is better there (or possibly simply more appropriate for the setting; it is child-centric after all). She's also smart as a whip, a bit scattered, and very, very busy. In my experience as her mother. And her teachers seem to agree, although there are some skills she uses at school but not at home, and vice-versa.
Scissors, for instance. I am very uncomfortable with her using scissors at home, even the little school scissors. She uses them every day at school, however, and according to her teachers, she uses them very well for her age. She's in the early stages of reading (and like most children, recognizes half the words she reads by the typeface - so she reads dozens of logos and only twenty or so words), and is working steadily on addition, with little forays into subtraction. She apparently has impressive fine motor skills with a crayon, a pencil, and flatware.
She gets along well with other kids, she is well-spoken in things like show-and-tell, and (like her sister Abby and her mother and her mother before her) never shuts up in the classroom. Her diction is improving; the Elmer-Fudd-itis is now usually restricted to the letter R in the middle of words, when paired with another consonant (example: she says the Rs in berry, but the R in straw is still a W - giving us stwawberry). She's willing to tackle any subject, her teachers tell me, from insects to Doctor Who (the latter of which is getting a workout this week, as they are studying the solar system). She is insistent that Pluto is still a planet, by the way, but a small one. Take that!
She has "a scientific bent" (we knew that; she is her father's daughter (and her engineer grandfather's granddaughter) in many ways), is always happy in the art room or when given an instrument to play for music time. She occasionally has to be reminded to take turns nicely (she's five), or to sit down and listen (ditto). So in general, my little perpetual motion machine is likewise one at school, gets along well with others, is right on track or maybe a little ahead in academics for pre-K, and is apparently enjoyable to have in class. A parent can't really ask for more.
But mostly I wanted to talk about Lizzy's school. Like most children, she behaves differently for other adults than she does for parents; overall her behavior is better there (or possibly simply more appropriate for the setting; it is child-centric after all). She's also smart as a whip, a bit scattered, and very, very busy. In my experience as her mother. And her teachers seem to agree, although there are some skills she uses at school but not at home, and vice-versa.
Scissors, for instance. I am very uncomfortable with her using scissors at home, even the little school scissors. She uses them every day at school, however, and according to her teachers, she uses them very well for her age. She's in the early stages of reading (and like most children, recognizes half the words she reads by the typeface - so she reads dozens of logos and only twenty or so words), and is working steadily on addition, with little forays into subtraction. She apparently has impressive fine motor skills with a crayon, a pencil, and flatware.
She gets along well with other kids, she is well-spoken in things like show-and-tell, and (like her sister Abby and her mother and her mother before her) never shuts up in the classroom. Her diction is improving; the Elmer-Fudd-itis is now usually restricted to the letter R in the middle of words, when paired with another consonant (example: she says the Rs in berry, but the R in straw is still a W - giving us stwawberry). She's willing to tackle any subject, her teachers tell me, from insects to Doctor Who (the latter of which is getting a workout this week, as they are studying the solar system). She is insistent that Pluto is still a planet, by the way, but a small one. Take that!
She has "a scientific bent" (we knew that; she is her father's daughter (and her engineer grandfather's granddaughter) in many ways), is always happy in the art room or when given an instrument to play for music time. She occasionally has to be reminded to take turns nicely (she's five), or to sit down and listen (ditto). So in general, my little perpetual motion machine is likewise one at school, gets along well with others, is right on track or maybe a little ahead in academics for pre-K, and is apparently enjoyable to have in class. A parent can't really ask for more.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Take a Deep Breath
I'm done whining for now. Although I still won't object if you choose to share those last two posts; I think it needs to be said as far and wide as possible, and I simply don't have the readership. I love my readers, but to get political posts to go viral like that you have to be - well - a bitch.
And I don't want to.
I think that right now, in order to avoid jobless-depression and the like, I need to do. To think positive and not fret so much. And provided that the unemployment people come through (which they always do; I love them. It's their bosses in our federal legislative branch I'm having trouble with), the biggest of the money issues will be resolved Tuesday or Wednesday. The only issue there will be if they consider my one day in the entirely unsuitable-for-me field of collections as a Bad Thing. And here I go again with the slightly-bitter. Must watch that.
Anyway.
Doing. Busy week planned. Back in school after holiday break. A job interview on Monday (and oh boy, do I want this one; it's pretty much the Dream Job from the sounds of it, and the boss-people sound congenial and it's the sort of job where communication between team members is... cherished. Unlike the one-day... wait. Stop, Jenn, no dwelling on the unpleasant). Endless laundry of course. With no children here during the day there will be time for school and laundry and reading and writing and cleaning house and so forth. And three more weeks until I am on my last nine-week session to get my AA in Communications, and after that I start my BS in Intercultural Communication. I'm actually pretty thrilled, although in the day-to-day it's sometimes hard to see.
So (and I take a deep breath)...
Onwards!
And I don't want to.
I think that right now, in order to avoid jobless-depression and the like, I need to do. To think positive and not fret so much. And provided that the unemployment people come through (which they always do; I love them. It's their bosses in our federal legislative branch I'm having trouble with), the biggest of the money issues will be resolved Tuesday or Wednesday. The only issue there will be if they consider my one day in the entirely unsuitable-for-me field of collections as a Bad Thing. And here I go again with the slightly-bitter. Must watch that.
Anyway.
Doing. Busy week planned. Back in school after holiday break. A job interview on Monday (and oh boy, do I want this one; it's pretty much the Dream Job from the sounds of it, and the boss-people sound congenial and it's the sort of job where communication between team members is... cherished. Unlike the one-day... wait. Stop, Jenn, no dwelling on the unpleasant). Endless laundry of course. With no children here during the day there will be time for school and laundry and reading and writing and cleaning house and so forth. And three more weeks until I am on my last nine-week session to get my AA in Communications, and after that I start my BS in Intercultural Communication. I'm actually pretty thrilled, although in the day-to-day it's sometimes hard to see.
So (and I take a deep breath)...
Onwards!
Friday, January 4, 2013
An Open Letter to the U.S. Congress
I hesitate to write two politically charged posts in a row, because I don't write them very often, and this feels like whining. It's not, at least not solely.
It's an attempt to understand why my government (allegedly working for me) seems to think that winning points against each other is more important than taking care of its citizens. Because many members of Congress never learned to share or to compromise as children, millions of Americans - already having trouble meeting their bills - are having that much harder a time this week than last. And that does not even include those poor souls who have been the victims of disaster, natural or otherwise.
But I can only really speak for myself; I'm not arrogant enough to speak for my fellow citizens, as though I know them and their needs better than they do.
I'm behind on child care and preschool payments, and I paid just over half my rent yesterday. Because Congress refused to play nicely with the other branches of government, I'm back in the late-fee cycle. I did not get the unemployment check I expected when I expected it. I should get the rest next week, but that doesn't help me now, does it?
I'm not fancy. I don't buy clothes often, or get my hair done, or sit around eating bonbons because I'm unemployed. My kids are clothed from second-hand shops and garage sales. Our holiday was funded by gift cards. We don't have cable. We are not spending irresponsibly here.
I take responsibility (isn't personal responsibility that catch phrase of those parts of my government that believe I'm a deadbeat?) for my bad choices in the past. I should have finished college back in 1988 for instance, instead of going straight into the work force. I probably should have moved back home with my small daughter after the divorce from my first husband. I acknowledge these things.
Is political face really so important that millions of people like me are put into an even tighter bind than they were before? Just so you can save some of that face? And again, I'm just one citizen with a normal hard-luck story. Imagine all the people in similar circumstance who are then battered by hurricanes or school shooters, or other devastating events. What of them?
If you truly believe, my Congress, that your jobs or your political posturing is worth more than your fellow citizens, then shame on you.
Jennifer Kirkland
U.S. Citizen
P.S. This open letter is intended for Congress in general; I have no beef with my own representatives to the House or the Senate.
ETA: Yeah, so the balance of the rent is still late. And I'm still waiting on the rest of that unemployment check; everything gets delayed when the federal government is busy infighting, so also an NSF check or two. Way to go, Congress.
It's an attempt to understand why my government (allegedly working for me) seems to think that winning points against each other is more important than taking care of its citizens. Because many members of Congress never learned to share or to compromise as children, millions of Americans - already having trouble meeting their bills - are having that much harder a time this week than last. And that does not even include those poor souls who have been the victims of disaster, natural or otherwise.
But I can only really speak for myself; I'm not arrogant enough to speak for my fellow citizens, as though I know them and their needs better than they do.
I'm behind on child care and preschool payments, and I paid just over half my rent yesterday. Because Congress refused to play nicely with the other branches of government, I'm back in the late-fee cycle. I did not get the unemployment check I expected when I expected it. I should get the rest next week, but that doesn't help me now, does it?
I'm not fancy. I don't buy clothes often, or get my hair done, or sit around eating bonbons because I'm unemployed. My kids are clothed from second-hand shops and garage sales. Our holiday was funded by gift cards. We don't have cable. We are not spending irresponsibly here.
I take responsibility (isn't personal responsibility that catch phrase of those parts of my government that believe I'm a deadbeat?) for my bad choices in the past. I should have finished college back in 1988 for instance, instead of going straight into the work force. I probably should have moved back home with my small daughter after the divorce from my first husband. I acknowledge these things.
Is political face really so important that millions of people like me are put into an even tighter bind than they were before? Just so you can save some of that face? And again, I'm just one citizen with a normal hard-luck story. Imagine all the people in similar circumstance who are then battered by hurricanes or school shooters, or other devastating events. What of them?
If you truly believe, my Congress, that your jobs or your political posturing is worth more than your fellow citizens, then shame on you.
Jennifer Kirkland
U.S. Citizen
P.S. This open letter is intended for Congress in general; I have no beef with my own representatives to the House or the Senate.
ETA: Yeah, so the balance of the rent is still late. And I'm still waiting on the rest of that unemployment check; everything gets delayed when the federal government is busy infighting, so also an NSF check or two. Way to go, Congress.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Political Bitterness and Unemployment
If Congress would do their jobs (in a timely manner rather than as an eleventh hour save), maybe I could get back to doing mine.
I heard on the radio today that the reason they didn't want to extend unemployment pay is because they believe that unemployment checks make the unemployed stop looking for work. Let me just assure you right now that this is not the case. At least not for anyone I know, including myself.
I lasted one day in collections. Apparently I'm "too timid" (as though I have ever been accused of timidity!). No, I am not timid. I'm nice (although I am sure there are some people who would disagree with me, including my kids over this holiday break). But having been out of work for almost two years (less ten weeks last fall), I am simply not cynical enough to assume that everyone who has not paid their bills is a deadbeat who doesn't want to.
I want to pay my bills. I want a job. Preferably one that does not make me feel like I'm kicking people while they're down (metaphorically speaking) at the end of the day.
I think the big problem is that to most politicians, unemployment is theory. They are simply clueless as to the real world problems of living paycheck to paycheck, much less UI check to UI check.
Oh sure, +Laston Kirkland makes decent money. We don't have cable TV. We live in a two-bedroom apartment when we really need more space. We buy Christmas gifts with gift cards instead of cash. You'd think - or Congress would - that we're fine, we're just mismanaging. And some of it has been mismanagement.
But not most of it. Most of it is the reality of three kids and a world where the powers that be think I'm a deadbeat, and would rather not help me become less of one. I suppose because they're the cynical ones.
I heard on the radio today that the reason they didn't want to extend unemployment pay is because they believe that unemployment checks make the unemployed stop looking for work. Let me just assure you right now that this is not the case. At least not for anyone I know, including myself.
I lasted one day in collections. Apparently I'm "too timid" (as though I have ever been accused of timidity!). No, I am not timid. I'm nice (although I am sure there are some people who would disagree with me, including my kids over this holiday break). But having been out of work for almost two years (less ten weeks last fall), I am simply not cynical enough to assume that everyone who has not paid their bills is a deadbeat who doesn't want to.
I want to pay my bills. I want a job. Preferably one that does not make me feel like I'm kicking people while they're down (metaphorically speaking) at the end of the day.
I think the big problem is that to most politicians, unemployment is theory. They are simply clueless as to the real world problems of living paycheck to paycheck, much less UI check to UI check.
Oh sure, +Laston Kirkland makes decent money. We don't have cable TV. We live in a two-bedroom apartment when we really need more space. We buy Christmas gifts with gift cards instead of cash. You'd think - or Congress would - that we're fine, we're just mismanaging. And some of it has been mismanagement.
But not most of it. Most of it is the reality of three kids and a world where the powers that be think I'm a deadbeat, and would rather not help me become less of one. I suppose because they're the cynical ones.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Pork
Any pork allegedly cut by Congress with the fiscal cliff nonsense (if they manage to finish it) has apparently made its way to my kitchen.
For breakfast this New Years' Day, +Laston Kirkland had his traditional Hoppin' John (although his version is black-eyed peas, spinach, and ham). I ate a bite of it before putting the rest in his lunches for the week. And speaking of his lunches, this week's version is pork roast (chunked), Hoppin' John, tomato with chiles, beans, and mixed veggies.
Tonight's dinner is in the crock-pot - Asian pork. That is to say pork roast, orange-ginger-sesame marinade, mandarin oranges, and sliced water chestnuts. I'll serve it with rice.
And we had bacon and apple-cinnamon pancakes for breakfast.
Unfortunately, this high-pork sort of day is also a fairly high-sodium sort of day, so I'm doing what I can to mitigate that. The bacon is lower-sodium, and I didn't use much of the ginger marinade (it has a lot of soy sauce).
Tasty though.
For breakfast this New Years' Day, +Laston Kirkland had his traditional Hoppin' John (although his version is black-eyed peas, spinach, and ham). I ate a bite of it before putting the rest in his lunches for the week. And speaking of his lunches, this week's version is pork roast (chunked), Hoppin' John, tomato with chiles, beans, and mixed veggies.
Tonight's dinner is in the crock-pot - Asian pork. That is to say pork roast, orange-ginger-sesame marinade, mandarin oranges, and sliced water chestnuts. I'll serve it with rice.
And we had bacon and apple-cinnamon pancakes for breakfast.
Unfortunately, this high-pork sort of day is also a fairly high-sodium sort of day, so I'm doing what I can to mitigate that. The bacon is lower-sodium, and I didn't use much of the ginger marinade (it has a lot of soy sauce).
Tasty though.
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