Chris²

Adventures in Infertility

2010-10-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to have a little baby of my own by now, if everything had gone to the plans we neatly made, but God has His own plans. While I watch all my peers pop them out, I am left wondering what God has up His all-knowing sleeve.

The definition of infertility, according to the packet Kaiser sends to you, is when “couples... have not been able to conceive after 12 months of having regular sexual intercourse without using any form of birth control.” What we have also learned is that its pretty normal, happening in one in six couples.
After six unsuccessful months of what the doctors and nurses call “unprotected sex,” I wasn't too worried because Before Your Pregnancy, which I read three months before going off of the Pill, stated that most get preggers after a year of trying. I think it was around the 6-month mark when I invested in an ovulation test kit, which is a bunch of strips you dip in your own urine to see when you ovulate. This was a bit gross and Chris complained that the strips were laid out were where he put his toothbrush. That and the fact that the strips never changed color or showed a line made me give up. In August, exactly one year of baby-making (ironic, isn't it?), I did get my ovaries massaged by an old Latina deep in EPA. $75 later, all that got me was a substantial scrape on my car.
I think telling people that your trying without success is the most amusing. Like when getting that kit, the rather ugly clerk lady told me that I have to put my legs in the air after sex. That's what the ladies in her family had done, oh, and don't think about it. After I tell people my age, the usual response is, “Oh your YOUNG, pphhtttt... don't worry about it.” Some have stories of women doing everything from acupuncture to taking antibiotics and POOF they conceived. If one more person tells me to “stop trying” or “stop thinking about it,” or “think positive,” I think I'll punch them in the face. During one conversation with my family, after answering Mom's usual “Do you have any news for us?” Mike, my brother, said, “Well, I've heard sex can help.”
At a recent women's retreat a charismatic lady had a prophecy for me, through the Holy Spirit, that I will get good news around Christmas time. Without really getting to know me, she and a few others told me that I lacked Faith, which I found insulting. I know God knows the desire of my heart, but His ways are not my ways. And doesn't Proverbs 3 say, “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.” He has a plan, I just don't know what it is yet.
Obviously this process isn't without its inner angst, or I wouldn't be writing this right now. At first, when I would miss a period, but then get it two months later, that would be hard. The heaviest emotion is baby or pregnancy envy or maybe that can go without saying. For close friends who are pregnant for the first time and who confide in us personally, it's so exciting and I love being hopeful with them. This wasn't the case when at work and with the help of Facebook, I literally found out four close friends were pregnant all within twenty minutes. Lately, with the help of my over-active mind, Facebook is often Babybook. It must be the age to have offspring. As I was picking up some lab slips from the nurse's station at my OBGYN a few days ago (they all know me by name now), I was relieved to be alone in the waiting area. Next thing I knew a handsome couple came in whispering to each other. The man murmured, “I guess this is the real deal,” and she replied, “It sure is.” To my annoyance they even pulled out what seemed to be their first ultrasound picture. It was very sweet how he pondered aloud, “We can surprise Dad and put this under his dinner plate.” I was more than relived to be called in to talk to the nurses about paperwork and other ink tests. At that time, a part of me wished there was a separate office for those people who cannot conceive.
Next steps for us is to undergo infertility testing, or rather, fertility testing – however you want to view it. Minimum cost under my health insurance is going to be around $300. It is so much more cost effective to have your own children naturally, because I have also asked friends who have adopted how much it cost them. From what information I have gathered the mean price is $30,000 for a baby. Another interesting twist is the fact that 99% of the women on my father's side of the family had a little condition called endometriosis and infertility problems. Now, I would never have thought I would have problems, but another lunchtime conversation with a Sister in Christ at the women's retreat, peaked my curiosity. I mentioned that I had terribly irregular cycles and couldn't get pregnant and she said she had the same exact symptoms and was diagnosed with endometriosis. I told her that I don't have any pain, which I thought was a primary symptom of the ailment. This woman had seen a specialist, had a surgery and now has a few children of her own. Interesting...
In fact Google Health also says,
Note: Often there are no symptoms. In fact, some women with severe cases of endometriosis have no pain at all, whereas some women with mild endometriosis have severe pain.

In all of this, there are up-sides, like not getting a regular period means a lack of mood swings. Prenatal vitamins have extra iron, so I don't have to get extra iron pills. I'd much rather be infertile than any number of other conditions. Chris has also been very supportive and loving. I have faith that we will have a family, somehow. When talking to Chris, I asked him if he saw himself not having any children at all and we both agreed that that didn't suit us. As my good friend Sharon said, “There are many ways to make a family.” I have faith in that.

Ode to burritos

2010-09-30T00:34:00.000-07:00

Burrito
Yo!
So neato
Ho!
I eato mo burritooooo

Back into California!

2010-09-25T13:13:00.001-07:00

Back home in California! It's been one of the best trips I've ever had; dear family, good food and drink, fun experiences.... what more could you ask for?

Above is Mount Shasta.

Ruth and Tom Cootsona. We were able to stay at the Cootsona's place for a few days and Tom and Ruth surprised us Saturday afternoon. So, we asked if they'd like to come to the BBQ that evening with everyone. I'm so glad they did!

Maia wearing someone's flipflops.

Awww... father and daughter swim time. Luke and Maia.

Baby Wiley and me! He's so cute.

Tom and I - he looks great!

Dear Beth and Wiley.

Katie and Chris looking at the birthday Belgium beer! Happy Birthday Christoph!

Visiting Dave and Inga in Portland (an adult's playground)

2010-09-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

These are sort of in reverse order, but oh well! Below is one of the oddly delicious donuts from Voodoo Donuts in Downtown Portland, Oregon. This one was the Maple Bacon donut. Let's just say it was one of the most tasty donuts I've ever had and wish I could have another right now!

Chris, Dave and Inga looking at the vast selection of beers.

Cheers! Thanks for letting us visit Dave and Inga!

To Sandpoint - the farthest North we got on our trip!

2010-09-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

Fun times in Sandpoint, Idaho with the Sangers, who really made us feel like long, lost family members. Here's Mya and Morgan.
Jack and Kit!

Riding with the littlest cousins - love this picture!

Classic picture incorporating Mount Schweitzer and Lake Pend Oreille. No wonder Lake Tahoe doesn't have much draw for the Sangers! They have mountains and lake all in their own neighborhood.

What a life. Hanging out at the free City Beach.

Mya

Look how close we got to Canada! We would have tried to have gone, but we forgot our passports.

Eat your hearts out Rice cousins - Mya let us toot around in her Mini!

Keep Missoula Weird

2010-09-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Missoula is where Aunt Marci, and Adair live - good times! Here is the late Toby. He was a lovely cat.

And don't forget Maizy!

Mother and Daughter - Adair and Maizy.

Big Girl Cousins: Mya and Christy at the Kettle House Brewery.

And the Big Boy Cousins: Chris and Kit.

This was right after Kit ran the Missoula Marathon! Go Kit!

Uncle Fred at the University's radio station.

Hiking to the "M."

The Gang: Chris, Adair, Aunt Marci, and Christy.

Before Fred there was the deer in the road...

2010-07-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

So after Yellowstone, Ann, Dom, Chris and I stayed a night at Chico Hot Springs (and wished we stayed for a few more nights)! It was lovely. Ann and Dom went horseback riding and we all had a lovely dinner at their restaurant.

On our way to Fred's house in Helena (this should have gone before the last post) we found out why hunting isn't so bad.

Going North on the 540 we hit a deer, leaving our poor Corrolla in this state. The deer was still mindlessly leaping across the road when we looked back. We called our insurance and saw a body shop guy and got the front end aligned. Good to go for the rest of the road trip!

This was a little snake we found in Chico's garden...

Helena with Uncle Fred

2010-07-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

We ate here two mornings - it was that good!

Marly the dog who happens to live with Uncle Fred in Helena, a very nice town in Montana.

Christy and Uncle Fred.

Reeding Alley - preserved buildings in Helena. Pretty cool!

Fred showing Chris how to Fly fish.

Yello Yellowstone !

2010-07-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

Ann, Christy and Dom at one of the many Geysers.

Giant Calderas are dangerous!

Old faithful was a little tardy on our visit.

Hot spring - the colors are due to temperature, bacteria and EGGS,EGGS.

A very, very tiny bear.

Excited Christy!

Mammoth hot springs

More Mammoth - a very cool water feature indeed!

300 foot high Lower Falls. Reached via 300 steel grate steps, many of them damaged by falling rocks!

Are you sure Grand Tetons mean big boobies?

2010-07-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

So this is our third summer road trip and maybe our longest, Lord willing; 17 days. We will be traversing 5 states and have 5 major stops. A successful road-trip for us contains an equal mix of open road, landmarks, and friendly visits, often of the Rice-family sort.

The first leg took us through the entirety of Nevada via Highway 80. Honestly, there isn't much to see on that route. The salt flats near the Nevada-Utah border, where they break land-speed records, were pretty cool looking, with vast white plains and rock mirages.

We hooked up around the bottom of the Great Salt Lake to get to Layton, Utah in order to see my cousin, Emily and her husband, Michael. That first night after dinner we went on a hike and it was nice to stretch our legs after about a 12-hour drive. It was equally nice to catch up with Emily on all the latest family gossip.

Saturday was jam-packed with breakfast at Sil's Cafe, where we were forced to try their “scones,” a version of pastry that was like a large crispy, soft bready-dough. It reminded me of a sweeter pizza crust. They served it with honey butter, which we used as sort of a syrup. Oh, and cousin Katie and her friend Dani joined us for our adventures that day.

Then there was a patriotic parade we watched until we couldn't bear it any longer and decided to go swimming in the Great Salt Lake! I have always wanted to go swimming in that lake ever since I saw it in my science book with a lady smiling broadly as she seemingly enjoyed how well she floated in its dense waters. I don't remember if my science book told about the brine shrimp, mud and the biting gnats. Michael, Katie and Dani enthusiastically waded out into its murky waters while Emily, Chris and I took our time and talked about how we needed water shoes. Sure-enough, those waters were super easy to float in. Sit back and you were indeed buoyant. In fact floating like a human buoy was almost all you could do because, due to the viscosity, swimming was difficult. While crocodile walking back to shore I couldn't help, but feel like I was skimming for dead gnats, and God-knows-what debris was in those waters, with my swimsuit. We all were covered in a layer of salt and couldn't wait to shower back at Emily's.

That really tired us out, but we still wanted to go out for Indian food. “Taste of India” in Layton was one of the better Indian food establishments in our opinion. Later we would take our stuffed-selves to meet up with Michael's family and watch fireworks. Boy, did we sleep well both Friday and Saturday night.

Right now we are driving through Yellowstone, as suggested by Michael. We were excited at first, but after the 5^th and 6^th hour of driving, nothing is novel anymore (that is until a buffalo passes over the road!). Still we are looking forward to getting to One Horse in West Yellowstone to rest, eat and down a cold one.

Halloween and Emily's Wedding

2009-11-08T20:21:00.001-08:00

Emily and Michael got married October 17th and we all got to go out! Loved it! I always love family gatherings. Mike, Christy and Chris.

A sampling of Rice cousins.

Father and mother of the bride! They did a great job.

The happy couple!

Hope you all had a great Halloween! The Wednesday before we had a carving (and eating) party with our neighbors, Liz and Ian. Below are our pumpkins all together.

We took our carved creations to Mom's where we hung out and gave out trick-or-treats to numerous trick-or-treaters. Mom's neighborhood always gets a ton and they are so cute!

Year Numero Dos...

2009-11-08T19:48:00.001-08:00

Mid-year is approaching fast and I am in disbelief that I am well-into my second year as a special educator. The year began much more smoothly, as I came up with a stress-free, and hence, better way of arranging service times by way of Post-its. This allowed schedule changes, which happened a lot in the beginning of the year, to be a simple re-positioning of those fantastic sticky-note inventions. Post-its and Expo markers are some of my very favorite, and most-hoarded, office supplies.

I added this picture comparison because look at the left side - that was me at the beginning of last year and then there is this year - I feel like I look way older! It was a stressful first year. I knew the ease that I started the year with would end as soon as SFSU credentialing classes commenced once again. The institution of Level 2's Special Education credentialing proves to be a perpetual thorn in my side; with ever-increasing tuition costs, and a lack of required classes offered. When in one of my two three hour classes after 8 hours of teaching, I fantasise about writing, "These classes are a huge intrusion to the beginning of my teaching career. I would be a better, more sane, teacher without them," on my end of semester evaluation. Rumor has it that SpEd Level Two's will be changing their format to resemble BTSA, which I also have been a part, since I am working on clearing my General Ed credential. I'm hoping and praying that I will have my clear credentials by this next Spring, so that rumor does nothing for me.

Chris is still unemployed, so he's been a great husband and has been taking care of our house more. I come home and everything is done! When he was first out of work, I told one of my fifth graders who said we should have kids now so Chris could stay at home and take care of them. That very student, in whom I poured a lot of effort, never came back this year. Very sad. I was told his father got out of jail and had to be deported. My student was deported with him.

Good morning!

2009-10-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

We found a friendly neighborhood black widow near our doorstep this morning - fortunately for us it looked like it had given up the ghost. Smally flicked it around a little to give us the official confirmation of its passing. This is our second run in with the Widow family. When we initially moved to Chico our landlady visited us and smooshed a black widow that was living in our mail box. "I forgot to get that last time I was here" she mentioned in passing, as if it was no big deal. Not scary at all...

Day 12 - Moorpark

2009-07-13T21:14:00.001-07:00

Fun with the Burkhardts and Krista!

Day 11 - San Clemente to LA

2009-07-12T23:14:00.001-07:00

New Baby at the Hunts!!! Welcome Elijah! We were lucky to score a visit when Wendy just had the little bugger Tuesday.

Next on the ticket was seeing our good friends, the Mehls!

Here's Harper and Addison being adorable as usual.

Addison likes cool shoes - Chris found this particularly picture-worthy.

The Mehls sans Harper.

Harper only wanted to hold Chris' hand on the way to get ice-cream AND on the way back.

Day 10 - San Clemente

2009-07-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

We walked from San Clemente Beach to Del Mar and back.

Surfin' Chicken was one of our favorite places to eat.

Here is our hotel - Holiday Inn Express. It was totally renovated and really nice.

We also visited the place we got married: Rancho Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano.

Day 9 & 10 - San Clemente

2009-07-09T11:26:00.001-07:00

We regretfully forgot to take pictures of our double date with Francesca we had Wednesday evening. We were nannies together in Switzerland.

Day 8 - Arizona

2009-07-09T11:09:00.001-07:00

What is not featured in these pictures is the fact that we also:

- Ran errands for Chris' birthday, which would be a Mexican food feast. Thank you Katie for the pre-dinner 7-layer dip! We are all not very hungry for dinner after that tasty treat. And the Price Domestic Goddesses made a killer apple pie, especially for Chris.

- Made a new flower arrangement for the dining room.

- Christy and Kelsey went to see Jodie at her place of work and went to Target. Weeee!!

That evening Aunt Louise, Jodie and I had a water aerobic session - refreshing and invigorating!

Day 7 - In Arizona with the Prices

2009-07-08T23:40:00.001-07:00

Even in extreme heat, we drove to the Cardinal's Stadium (Chris' favorite team), visited the disorientating Botanical Gardens (do not do that in summer - everything is closed inside, like the butterfly exibit and cafes), and then played games with the Price cousins!

Road Trip Day 6 - Grand Canyon Hike and Meteor Crater

2009-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

-The trail down!

-Strata changes on the way down into the canyon.

-Barringer Meteor Crater, Arizona. A very big hole made to look small by following our Grand Canyon visit.

Road Trip Day 5 - Las Vegas to Grand Canyon

2009-07-06T11:25:00.001-07:00

Thunderstorms in the Grand Canyon.

We entered into Arizona, crossed the Hoover Dam (which, I believe was in Transformers 1, right?). We were lucky to be followed by the desert thunderstorms, which cooled things off and provided some shade on our drive. Arriving to the Grand Canyon, is truely breathtaking. I think we would like to return there to hike down to the bottom for a few days. Chris will hopefully post pictures from his hike a few miles into the Canyon. It was on a trail shared by the guided mule rides.

Road Trip Day 4 - Las Vegas

2009-07-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Chris at CircusCircus, a conflict in values, pirate ships, and one lioness at MGM.

Las Vegas was a lot bigger than we were expecting. Finally pulling into MGM Grands' parking structure was like going to the airport. No bell hops or getting registered first before parking - we felt sort of like cattle, cash cows more like. So for the first couple of hours we were not impressed, even though our hotel room was very nice at the MGM.

So we decided to play the slots, the penny slots that is! We figured out that you are offered complimentary drinks whilst playing. With a $1 tip and $1 on the slots, that's a $2 drink - pretty nice! I (Christy) personally liked the pool area, which I didn't get to until around 4pm on Thursday because we walked the Strip for about 3 or 4 hours. This place definitely is a party all the time with tons of people, music playing at all hours. If you want peace and quiet you have to go to your room. Even on my lounge poolside, there was DJ music and I didn't get much reading done. Oh well!

Our favorite slot game was Village People Party! Probably super annoying to the neighboring players, but it you got "Village," "People," "Party" to line up then you got to play another game for bonus points, with little dancing Macho Men!

MGM Grand is huge! All the Casinos were like small cities in the Strip.

The Venetian and Paris looked super cool. I also liked the look of New York, New York with, I think was, the Brooklyn Bridge replica.

Road Trip Day 3 - Death Valley to Las Vegas

2009-07-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

This is all I can do right now because we have to hit the road! 1. Chris in Golden Canyon, Death Valley, 2. Badwater walkway, 3. Scenic lookout with a bench that looks like barely anyone has sit in it.

Day Two - Yosemite to Death Valley

2009-07-02T22:58:00.000-07:00

So I tried to upload these in cronological order. We left Yosemite and took Tioga Pass, shistine! Ni-nite time! These pictyres are: 1. rock 2. mono lake 3. hot 4. more hot 5. coyote puply 6. sand dunes in def valley.

Road Trip Day 1 - Yosemite

2009-06-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hello All, We (Chris and I) started on our 5th anniversary adventure May 29th from San Mateo, where we went straight to the Yosemite Rose. A picture of that wonderful B&B will be posted on the next post. We finally have Internet because we paid for it in Las Vegas (where it is actually day 4 on the trip, but OH WELL). Whilst in Yosemite we had points of interest, compared with our original honeymoon. This trip we went to see Bridalveil Falls, containing a short walk someone in their later stages of life could attempt, and so, Chris thought it would be good for me. It was delightful - not the misty walk it sometimes is called, but nice and with a wonderful brook to dip your swollen, pink feet in. Hearkening back to the Yosemite Rose, where we were treated like a King and Queen compared to other accommodations we have visited afterwards, we stayed in our original room from our honeymoon (awwwwww....). When we got there, Katherine the lady who runs the beautiful home with her husband, told us a tale; Since we stayed there, a gentleman who was morbidly obese stayed in the room and could not fit in the shower stall. Hence they expanded the bathroom to include a full-size shower and Jacuzzi tub - to use a Las Vegas term: Jackpot! What a lovely surprise and treat! I know what I will ask for for Christmas - a bath with jets!

Going back to Yosemite - it was immense and gorgeous. They were doing controlled burns, but we got to see a bear! Whoo hoo! We saw the little red-furred guy when we visited Glacier Point.

Over prepare then go with the flow...

2009-05-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else. 20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Say YES to NO by Dr. Greg Cootsona

2009-03-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

But I know him as Uncle Egg. Or the uncle who played with me the most as a child. Well, Uncle Greg and Aunt Lo (Laura) both were dynamic playmates. All children love it when adults play with them. They even wanted to have Mike and I over for sleepovers a few times and planned Easter egg scavenger hunts. Mike was better at those things, but nevertheless, it was cool and unforgettable. Uncle Greg was the uncle who taught me how to tie my shoes and married me to my husband of almost 5 years! So, now as I plug his book - of course I'm advertising his book - I am genuinely excited for him. Check it out, Say YES to NO!

I am borrowing a copy of the book from Mike, but the release date is tomorrow and so far it's a great read! Here is the Reverend Cootsona officiating our wedding in San Juan Capistrano.

The drop date is March 3rd! Check out Say Yes to No!

The Moon and Venus - 27th Feb

2009-02-28T22:11:00.001-08:00

It's not funny...

2009-02-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hello Aunt Louise,

How are you doing? I'm stressed out with school and work. I've entered into a whole new level of credentialing where I'm working fulltime as a new educator and then have to take grad classes and I'm also going through BTSA (where you meet and are observed by a mentor regularly who also encourages you to do extra things). Yesterday I saw my mentor and after the observation we had our meeting during my lunch. When she said, "So, what should our next steps be?" I wanted to say, Nothing, I'm just trying not to fall apart. It has been hellish and it has been effecting my sleep (you know it's bad when a Rice can't sleep!) which in turn just compounds my stress level. So, yesterday I was so frazzled all day and came home and was rotten. I just wanted to eat, and sleep - I needed a break. But it's hard because I'm behind on my homework and feel like I should be at least reading. Today I got to school just to burst into tears at my desk just as I was supposed to see my first student. When I got to that class and discovered that the target student was absent, the teacher looked at my face and asked how I was doing. I was thinking about lying and saying I had allergies, but, since I'm a teacher, I have a hard time with deception. I told her I was having a hard morning and, of course, my bottom lip started to shake, my face grew hot and I started to cry. I don't like to cry, especially in front of children. I told her I has stressed out and she asked if I had been exercising, which I said I was. She offered to take a walk with me during her lunch, and I said that sounded good, but I was just trying to quickly get back to Room 4, my office. I was trying to cover the lower half of my face to shield any unsuspecting passerby's from my obvious distress. At that moment one of my para educators was on his way to his class and asked if I was okay. I nodded and quickened my step.
Even looking back on this morning and yesterday - it's not funny to me. I don't mind being stressed, but now I cannot separate it from my work. And I need to be on the ball, calm and collected at work. Not a mess. So, in short, you can pray for me. I need it because this is just the beginning.

What I Have Had Time to Write About

2009-02-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

Christine B. Malone
2/10/09
SPED 824 – Post
Article Critique #1
Horner, R., Sugai, G., Lewis-Palmer, T., & Todd, A. (2001). Teaching School-Wide Behavioral Expectations. Emotional & Behavioral Disorders in Youth. Fall, 77-79, 93-97.

Horner, et al, presented a very straight-forward and almost refreshingly obvious argument about, not only setting up behavioral norms in schools, but explicitly teaching those expectations to all students. Some of their data, especially the “Tertiary Intervention” graph (pp. 78), resonated with my own experience as a teacher and what I have witnessed in the front office of my school site. Simply making clear who needs the most behavioral resources, helps a school know where to start intervention. Most importantly, all children need to be taught, along with phonics, algebra and topic sentences, the school's expectations of them in their everyday school lives. As educators we can only complain for so long about how our students are not parented correctly or how they are a product of their environments (pp. 78). We have to take action and be proactive about teaching them what it is to be a caring individual and citizen in our global society.
Considering we have the attention of our student body for at least 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, we should be able to teach them how to behave as a part of a well-rounded education. As I read this article I continually thought about my current school site, which contains an elementary and junior high. Our principals are fantastic about, first, creating open relationships with all students. They do not just sit in their office, but are visible and available to teachers and students. At the beginning of the year they encouraged that all teachers repeated activities like lining up or transitions until students learned to do it respectively and quietly. This also included a lot of students being given referrals in the first month. As a result, our student body is pretty much “under control,” but I think the students still need understand exactly why they need to behave.
Soul Cafe was a regular assembly provided by a contracted company for the San Bruno School District and I attended a few while I was a student teacher. When I talked to my Mentor Teacher about the reasoning behind the intervention, she said that for a lot of San Bruno's children, there seemed to be a lot of violence and adverse behavior. Soul Cafe clearly outlined certain positive attributes and through role-play and skits students were given the language to describe their feelings, good and bad. They provided “I Messages” cards that all students used to resolve their own problems with each other and teachers even used the lexicon when talking about their own feelings to reinforce the program around school. I could see how giving the students the chance to learn about what is expected behaviorally and the words to help them to resolve issues, was key to a more respectful student body.
At my current situation, I believe the students know what is expected of them because the staff all seems to be on the same page, but they do not understand the reasoning. On the other hand, all the students with IEPs are completely integrated into the general education classrooms. With that, they are treated like all the other students and, for the most part, are expected to behave the same as the other students. In this scenario, as compared to my experience in a Special Day Class, there is less behavior from these target students. In fact, most of the students that frequent the principals' office are mostly students without special needs (even though we know every student has their own “special” needs).
All the same, the whole student body needs direct instruction on exactly how they need to act, in all areas on the school (IE: the playground, cafeteria, and hallways. pp.77). Since we have older students, they could even be involved in an Expectation Campaign and make posters for all the different areas of school. At the moment, especially since my school is a charter that prides itself on it's test scores, most of the day is spent on reading, writing, and mathematics. This takes well-behaved classrooms to achieve high levels of instruction. In all of this “rigor” I sincerely believe we are loosing site of our responsibility to teach children to be a whole person, including how to be a caring, respectable, and sincere human being (not to mention the lack of instruction in the arts). If the teachers are not teaching the core curriculum, they are planning with their team about what they are teaching next, or comparing data from regular rounds of assessments. The staff meetings are mostly about talking about data and professional development days have never been about what we, as a school, want to teach our student about positive attributes. Our school motto is “Everyone goes to College,” but a whole lot of people who attend college still do not embody the people skills to be a balanced individual, that cares not only out themselves, but others. This article provides sound and simplistic reasoning why we need to take the lesson time to help our students learn to be well-behaved on a school-wide level.

Random Pictures

2008-11-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

Christy got very excited about our new bed set.

View of the river Cam, from Chris' punting expedition in Cambridge.

Content Smally in Tahoe.

Saturday - Sweet and Salty

2008-11-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

First I wanted to make pancakes, but then I remembered the sliced sourdough sitting on the kitchen counter. Perfect for French - freggin - toast! That got me out of bed before 9am, but before I did that I offered to talk on the phone with my mom-in-law and put on a pot of coffee. You won't see any pictures on this post because the frawnch toast was eaten lightning-fast. Off the skillet into our tummies. Chris was even trying to be "good," whatever the hell that means, and succumbed to the power of my new and improved Eggy Toast (as they say in the UK).

French Toast (in memory of Grandma Boots)

Ingredients:

A loaf of sliced sourdough - a day or two old
1 egg & 1 egg white - beaten
A dash of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
Butter for greasing the pan/skillet
SNOW - Grandma Rice's code-word for powdered sugar served on the side in a crystal or glass bowl.
Maple Syrup

On the stove, heat the greased skillet at medium-high while you whisk/mix the eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and milk. Now bathe one of those bread slices in the sultry batter until it is saturated. Throw it on that skillet. Cook until cooked - I don't know, until it looks tasty.

You know, you could put the oven on low and cook all the slices you want, putting them into the oven to stay yummy warm. When they are done, serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar AND syrup. Let me know how it goes, Folks!

While I was stuffing sweet morsels of french toast into my gob, Chris said aloud that he wished to go to the beach. I seconded that motion and, after we did the dishes (what good little wives we are!) and showered, we hopped in our Corolla and took of, eh. To Half Moon Bay or more precisely, Montara State Beach. I imagined a windy, relaxing walk from one end to the other. Our fellow beach-lovers were out, sunbathing, skin-surfing, regular-surfing, boogie boarding, dog wrangling and the like. For November it was in the high 70's and I felt that the sun was not only warming my pink skin, but burning it. It felt nice. Chris noticed that the surf was coming in a lot farther than usual as we meandered along.

Since I am a California native and took a college-level course on OCEANS, I feel the need to help Chris understand the ins and outs of the beach's flora and fauna. I crouched down to prod some poor dead jelly fish, it was the size of a dollar coin, but rounder. I turned it over with a little bit of washed up wood. "Do you see that?" I said to Chris,"See the opening?" There was a wiggly little pink line that was around the opening on the creature's sack-like, opaque body. Suddenly Chris yelled,"Watch out!"Luckily, I am as spry as a monkey because I hoped up and ran the opposite way of an incoming wave. I am continually amazed by human instinct. Feeling so stupidly surprised, I giggled as I escaped a salt-water soaking.

A few hundred yards further on we noticed the waves would wash clear up to the cliffs. A few times we had to make a run for it, so as not to get a salt-water bath. Near the end of the walk, we both just stood, reflecting on the greatness and beauty of the California coast. By then we had compromised with the high-tide and rolled up our pants, and removed our shoes. There was a small grouping of seal heads poking out of the water, swaying out beyond the large waves and I pined for binoculars, but reflected that junk sometimes gets in the way of enjoying life. Then we were both woken up as water washed up to our knees. That was when Chris decided it was a good time to walk back to the car.

At one section there was not very much dry land, and we were already jogging along trying to escape the shoreline. Poor planning led to a wave totally enveloping us up to our chests. Chris and I both either yelped or squealed. When the water was at it's highest, breaking off the cliff's wall washing back onto us, he held on to me for stability and for moment I thought we were totally going to fall into the water. We didn't, but we were just as wet. Chris in rolled up jeans and a white t-shirt and me in draw-string pants and a stripped shirt, we were both drenched, but kept running now not to repeat what just happened. We reached a break in the waves where the bluffs were not connected, providing a dry section. There stood a family of adults, dressed in their J.Crew best for a day at the beach. Sensing we looked ridiculously unprepared for our wet encounter I announced that the waves were high and I recommending running. So we all ran and ran until we reached a wider portion of land. Their father-figure didn't run fast enough and got it up to his thighs.

We had a funny, pant-less ride home. And we did not go out for lunch in Half Moon Bay's downtown for obvious slightly under-dressed reasons. But it was a good silly adventure for two over-worked people.

Booties, Booties, booties, Rockin' Everywhere!

2008-09-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hello to those of you who read this blog! How's it going? Well, I thought I would post about how I finished some projects other then scarves. The lastest are these red booties that would be perfect for a baby elf. They were made for a baby who was just born yesterday (Welcome Alice!). She decided to come the same day we were going to go to her baby shower!

A while ago, I decided I needed a long-term project while I was in grad-school, and that is how the Knitted Quilt came about.

And then there is our ever-evolving garden of potted plants. Here is an aster I planted as a seed. Chris and I were both very proud with how it came out. As for my career as a Special Educator, it isn't always so simple, but then I always knew it wasn't going to be. I did "win" a little "battle" and the district allowed us to have our school's Fall break for the next too weeks. It's a long story, but I am happy that common sense won in this case. It will benefit all involved, especially the students. I just don't really trust that it is true and am waiting for it to be in writing. Always have it in writing, Girls and Boys.

Oh, and I'm happy to announce that I don't look like a Special Education teacher. Friday evening over a few beers with Chris, my coworker and her boyfriend, I informed him I was the SpEd teacher, and he responded with a shocked, "Really?" I guess Special Education teachers have stereotypes of their own. :)

I Am Job...

2008-08-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

Literally the day after we got back from our Northwestern road trip, where we visited friends and family, I was placed at a school site in East Palo Alto or Ravenswood City School District. Oh, and in this school district we are not Special Education Teachers, but Teachers of Integrated Services. Their entire school district has all their students with IEP's (Individualized Education Plans) placed in general education classrooms. So most of their teachers, who would be Special Education teachers are Resource Specialist in a big way. I like to call myself an Inclusion Specialist. All these fancy long names still haven't solved the chaos that is Ravenswood and its Special education department. But, literally, the only way is up and I know my hard work and perseverance will make a difference.
At times I feel completely paralyzed in the paperwork and ritualized process that is supposed to be helping our students with special needs. What I call the "real" part of the job, or actually teaching them, planning out what they need according to their IEP's, is basically put on the back burner. We are scrambling to catch up with "past due's," pending IEP's and angry parents.
What I would love is someone to deal with the paper trail, basically a secretary, so I can really start implementing the crap out of all those IEP's. I have about 18 students and each one has a different IEP. Each one needs something different and we have been in school 4 weeks and I still don't feel like I'm where I need to be.
The cool part of my job is the school I am a part of and that I get to work with Kindergartners to 6th graders. And my supervisor is a ball-buster, so I'm hoping we can clean things up, so everything runs well year after year.

Batman

2008-08-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

Don't have a good healthcare plan?
Better not mess with Batman

Did you pay for that flan?
Better not lie to Batman

Beaten up, thrown in the can?
Prolly cause of Batman

Too much sun, bad tan?
Nothing to do with Batman

Oregon and Washington Road Trip

2008-08-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

A gorge somewhere in Oregon.

The Seattle Amphibious tour. Drive through the streets and then into the bay! Cool!!! Children equipped with quakers for the duration = not cool!!!

Portland beer Festival - good beer, good people.

Mount St Helens - Mr Chris wet himself in excitment. He is still sitting in his pee pee pants.

A tourist trap disguised as a tree!

Crater lake!

We have arrived.

Childrens Art - Levitating Helmet Christy

2008-08-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Sweet with the Sour

2008-08-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm teaching for profit, it is officially my first "real" teaching job and it is in East Palo Alto. Putting out fires is part of the job and let me tell you there are a lot of fires. But the pictures included here are from the breath of fresh air I earned this summer vacation.
The first picture is blackmail. Just kidding - it's my cousins and one cousin-in-law. From left to right there is Keri, Bri-guy, me and Mel. I made sure to visit Chico to see my family there plus my friend, Beth with her new baby, Maia.

There they are! Maia, being the incredibly cute baby that she is, had the most beautiful smile, but when I tried to capture it on film she would get the surprised look pictured here.

We enjoyed our time in Tahoe and had a visit from my school friends, Megan and the love of her life, York and Amy. We also got some more visits from Trebeca with her little girls, Talia and Taylor. We also had dinner at their new HOME in Dayton, Nevada! So cool - go Trebeca and Jesse!

And this is Chris in his sun hat on the deck at the Cabin doing one of his two favorite things in Tahoe: Reading on the deck or going hiking.

At the moment we are a two-income family and proud of it. But it doesn't come without the occasional headache, like how SFSU's computer registration system doesn't think I am a student any more because I got a Master's in May. Yeah, that's great (please note the sarcasm). For those of you who haven't been "in the loop" I have to remain a teacher credentialing student in order to complete my special education credential and earn my Level 2's. Joy to the world, is all I have to say. It's not like my new job is without stress. Well, it definitely is without resources, but I'm sure I'll have more to say about that later. Cheers!

Honest to blog?

2008-05-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

After two years of agonizing course work, I now have my two credentials and a masters in Special Education. Weee!!!

So, at first I thought a spa day with Chris would be a nice graduation reward, but after our weekend in Jackson with Joy and Brian, a weekend away sounded so much better. Get me outta the Bay Area!

So Carmel here we come! Luckily we were able to go two whole nights and stayed at the Carmel Valley Lodge - an accommodation I gave kudos to on Yelp.com. Great, quiet and cozy location. Upside was that they bumped us to a room or rooms (the place was bigger then our half of the duplex) with a fireplace. Most other guests brought their multiple pure-bred dogs making the place seem like a sort of dog show. My favorite was the long-haired dachshund named Lulu. The long-haired variety is said to be more friendly, so-said her owner lady. If you are wondering and I'm sure you are, I failed the Constitution Test for a third time. So I asked to meet the Dean of the university that the test was given, hoping to strike a deal since I missed the cut-off by two points. The Thursday I was meant to meet the Dean was also Open House at my student teaching placement, so I came in my teacher's best business clothing. Complete with kitten heels - watch out! When I sat down with the woman, I explained that I could not see how I missed so many when I felt I studied so hard. I also mentioned that I thought there were a few questions whose content was not provided in the study guide that they supplied. Even so, she stood by the results saying that her hands were tied and that the exam was standardized and no strings could be pulled. When she said she could introduce me to the test-prep person, I started crying and had to excuse myself for a few minutes. I did not want to sit yet another exam. When I emerged from the restroom, red-faced, I went back into the Dean's office and told her I was ready to meet this other test-prep individual. By that point, I felt hopeless - so what was a few more minutes of my precious time? Sure, let's go and see how horribly I had studied the test booklet and how inept I am at making flashcards.

After a short walk down the outside corridor we went in to see another middle-aged lady surrounded by piles of books and "Achieve your Dreams" posters. That was when the Dean said introduced me as a very intelligent new teaching candidate who only needed to pass this Constitution test in order to finished. She then looked at me and said, "What does your schedule look like because I thought you could study with So-and-so here then retake the first page of the test so you can make up those two points." I was so happy and of course finally passed. When the Dean corrected the test that morning and announced I had passed, everyone in the office cheered. I couldn't help but give the Dean a hug.

We spent most of the day in Big Sur on Sunday mostly at Chris' desire. Here is Chris in front of the Henry Miller Library which is actually an old house of Henry's friend, Emil. Chris wants you to know in reading this post that Henry Miller did not solely write sexually explicit novels, but pieces about living life simply and about doing what you love. Mr. Miller loved women, art, writing and France. I cracked up at a poster mounted on the door to the bathroom that had a picture of Henry in a lounging position and the words asked, "Freedom, is French?"

Here we are, skin-cancer wary and enjoying our time away from the hustle and bustle. At Pfeiffer Beach there were some beautiful rock formations, to Chris's delight, and tide pools, and a little more tourists that we cared for. But how else would we have gotten our picture taken without other people?The tide pools had a colony of little hermit crabs, crawling happily here and there. They looked so much more active and content in there than any other captive hermit crabs I have met.

That evening we met up with Mom and her boyfriend, Chris (that is not a typo) and had a lovely meal at Il Fornaio. We also made sure to partake of Barnardus wines in their tasting room the first day we arrived, only after going to Jeffrey's for breakfast. We definitely have our favorite eateries in Carmel.

Next on the "To Do" list is to apply for my teaching credentials (the pieces of paper that state you are recognized by the state of California that you are, indeed, a teacher), and apply to different special education positions. Just today I was asked to come in for an interview Friday morning. That interview will be for a Special Day Class for KINDERGARTEN! Love it!

Ok- since we just had a vacation we thought it was time for another. We go to Tahoe this weekend. Wish us luck!

Hills and Valleys

2008-04-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Gardening is a pastime I took on after we had an enclosure behind our duplex and a pretty front porch. I view it as experimental; the seeds I plant can either flourish and thrive or not. If I view it as such, it isn't too disappointing when pretty flowers don't emerge. But, I have to say I find so much pleasure when my flowers bloom and stay healthy.

Like my hydrangea (the green, leafy plant in the front pot pictured above), which I purchased at Trader Joe's in plant form, withered away during the winter. So I pruned the dead growth right above the tiny green buds, that were beginning to emerge. Now it has come back with abundance and I can see the beginnings of the large flowers it will hopefully develop.

This previous fall, I wanted to plant some tulips and the garden center, across the street, sold them by the dozen. So I bought a variety in all different colors and shapes. I know, boorrrring, but as they have bloomed it has been somewhat exciting to see who they will become. The tulip here on the left was gorgeous and I loved its more rose-like petals.

This last weekend I was invited to Joy's baby shower in Jackson and, essentially, asked if Chris and I could come and visit for the whole weekend. I hadn't been out to the Sutters Creek area since Joy and Brian got married around five years ago. It was only two hours away, but it felt as if we were in another state. Rolling green hills and livestock was a welcome contrast to the Bay Area's cramped conditions and pollution.
As you can see below, Joy and Brian's newly built home is in the middle of a large plot of land, or really, a ranch. Another rancher leases the land for his cows, horses, and miniature donkeys. It was truly lovely and I hope we visit often, even if when we go back out there there will be a fussy baby to break up the lowing of the cows and stillness. When we have our own kids, it will be fun to go to Joy and Brian's "Ranch."

As you can see, the boys had fun with Brian's guns, using the ground squirrels as target practice and going turkey hunting (unsuccessfully) Sunday morning. While Joy and I were getting ready, putting together a friend's house for the shower, the boys also panned for gold in the property's natural spring .

In other news, I am in the last weeks of my course. May 16 is my graduation date and I will earn a Special Education Credential, a Multiple Subject Credential and an additional Master's degree. Right now I'm putting out yet another "fire" because I haven't passed the US Constitution test for a second time. This is very disappointing and coming at a time where my time is best spent doing my other studies. I.E.: My master's creative works (like a thesis). It is almost insulting that I have not passed because I know I am smarter than this exam. I passed the RICA the first time around, and that was awfully hard. First of all, this "hoop" is the most frivolous and asinine, in my opinion. I have had four semesters of student teaching and feel very competent in being able to man my own class, but I won't be able to apply for my two credentials without this requirement being fulfilled. So pray that I can pass the next scheduled test. I can't afford to not pass it.

Babies, Babies, Everywhere

2008-03-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

I thought I would blog about how some of my closest friends are being blessed by little human beings. Here are my dear friends, Luke and Beth and their little baby girl, Maia! Yay, Maia (pronounced Mya or Maya). She was born March 11th to two very excited parents who will be amazing.

Chris also has a good friend, Josh, who has his own little Maya. Who is going to turn one at the end of the month. This month included, all our invites have been to baby-related events. I love it, but I'm sure it makes Chris nervous.

Another great friend, Lara, just had a little girl (and now her and Scott have a girl and a boy) and you can see their pictures at their family website here. I wanted to post a picture Lara put up on their January 2008 album of her two days before she gave birth to Addison and I thought she looked so big and beautiful with her pregnant belly.

Here's me, Trebeca and Talia, visiting in Tahoe. We get to see Trebeca and her husband, Jesse, when we vacation in Tahoe because they live near there. She is precious to me and I am excited to meet her second baby who is coming this May.

Here are Nikki's precious little girls, Layla and Isabelle, who are some of the cutest little girls in my world. I met Nikki because she was the little sister of my boss, when I was a nanny. I love this picture because you can see Layla talking to her sister - too cute!

So now, along with waiting for Trebeca's baby in May, my other friend, Joy is expecting. This little baby is a little bit of a surprise for her, but God doesn't make mistakes. I hope and pray her baby girl will bless their family.

Look at these two - aren't they too cute? I think they will have a lovely child. I'm invited to her shower in April, so Chris and I are going to try to make it out there. It is always nice to have a little getaway (it's three hours away).

Babies, babies, everywhere... God be with you, my dear friends! Hugs and Kisses. I'll have to try and visit in the summer before I start teaching.

Let's not forget my family's new additions! Here on the left is Thomas, Gabriella and Liam. I made Thomas a red baby blanket when we were eagerly awaiting his arrival. To the above right is my cousin, Mya's family. Their youngest, Morgan, was born around the same time as Thomas, and it said to be even more adventurous than her big brother, Jack. We are surrounded by the babies! Love you all!

It is coming together...at least today.

2008-03-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

As my previous blog entries have demonstrated, being a graduate student and earning your teaching credentials is, at times, very stressful. So it is nice when you have a day where the hard work feels like it is paying off.
Today I had, what people in the teaching field call, a Solo Day. This is where the student teacher (that would be me.) plans for the entire day, even the minute details. Like how many copies to make for a certain activity or, exactly who I would like to call on for an answer, finds its way onto my plans. I planed for three whole school days and it seemed to take forever Friday and Saturday - making me stamp my feet and pull my hair a little bit. But all that planning, once it was done and printed out with all the other prep-work done, allowed me to sleep soundly on Sunday and have a smooth day today. Thank you God.
I know Mondays are usually brutal and not-so-fun, especially after “Springing forward” this last weekend, but I am on point the first day of the week. It is Wednesdays and Thursdays I find my energy waning and my caffeine addiction intruding into my thoughts. “Maybe I can get to a Starbucks during lunch recess…”
But today I was on top of it: I had my plans and I was teaching and things felt like they were coming together.
So maybe all those tears cried over homework were worth it? I am not so sure about crying over homework, but I do feel like Student Teaching has been a valuable time of learning for me. Thank to my five-week computer class, that all credentialing students have to take at State, I have taken the Multiple Intelligences online assessment. It showed that I mainly learn by “doing” or kinesthetically. Possibly I’m a boy, like I always thought I was, or the world has come to grasp that girls, too, like to learn via hands-on activities. For example, in my samba class the instructor was yelling at me to turn right and since that didn’t compute, I shouted back to him, “Show me!”
I am a very competent copier. Watching then being able to practice is the best way to learn for me. And I thought I learned best through silliness. My intelligence is being ridiculous. Well, at least that is how I like to see it.
Chris also surprised me with bedside tables today! Today was a really good day. It is incredible how grown up you feel when you get bedside tables. And they are matching. Before these two wonderfully crafted tables we had been using two wooden folding chairs, who did their jobs great, except they were slightly tilted. I could not have a glass of water next to my side of the bed and that was not cool in the flu season. The story behind those previous bedside tables, I mean, chairs, was that were some of our first furniture -- ever. In our first rental, a little 1907 detached cottage in Chico, with a slanted kitchen floor and no insulation, we lived out of our suitcases for a while. Some friends of Aunt Lo and Uncle Greg let us borrow a blow-up bed, meant to make camping experiences pleasant, for what had to be 6 months. We eventually popped it, not due to any newlywed activities, but because Chris was trying to make it as firm as possible. So it blew a seam, giving it a hump in the middle.
You cannot imagine all the goo-ing and gaa-ing sounds that have come from my mouth since we brought these bedside tables in. We are getting there and making our duplex a “home.” Those bedside tables were definitely a figurative “piece” of my home “puzzle.” Like you never knew what you wanted until it is sitting there next to your side of the bed and you are arranging your bedside books, oh, and finally have somewhere to put your alarm clock. Things are coming together, for sure.

And before I forget, here I am with Beth at her baby shower (she should be in labor or holding a cute little baby by now). I made her this blanket. Super fun because she taught me how to knit in the first place. So, sorry to all my other pregnant friends. I would love to knit everyone's new bundle of joy a blankie ala Christy, but they take 4-6 months.

My Dad (Blow Me Down)

2008-02-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

Chris and I were watching Gone, Baby, Gone and for some reason the last scene reminded of all those tender times I sat next to my dad on the couch in the comfort of my childhood living room. The story line to the movie has nothing to do with my dad or family in anyway, but lately I have been trying to accentuate the positive and remember all those warm, fuzzy moments. Especially, since my parents divorced not so well, and the bile seems to come up every so often and I have seen each of my grandparents buried (not to mention seeing them in some form of death, when I’ve never seen any dead person before) in the past three months or so. Those moments that bring joy and thankful thoughts and fill me up with happiness carry me through some dark times. Not that I don’t lose it and cry at random times and scrawl “You are okay” in my day-minder because things get very clinical, but I try to maintain with these aforementioned happy little thoughts.
Dad was a big bear of a man, in a small child’s perspective and he still is, but has turned into Santa instead. If you are a fan of the live-action Popeye movie in the 80s, featuring Robin Williams, then you will know what my dad looks like because he looks a lot like Popeye. No, just kidding. He looks just like Bluto, the villain. You know, “I’m mean, he’s mean, he’s mean, he’s mean. You know what I mean,” as the song went in the movie and he stomped forward with a menacing look, bent on smashing Popeye’s or whoever’s face in. That’s my dad! He was your polo and Dockers wearing dad that could silence you with a stern look. But what I have been remembering lately are the memories I have from early childhood. They happy years of Laddie our incredibly short-legged Scottish-terrier, Father-Daughter square dances and before the stressful house add-on.

I know he doesn’t have the affinity with younger children like I do, or maybe he pretends he doesn’t, but I know he tried or at least did a great job with Mike, my bother, and I.
Sitting on the couch does not sound like a great memory, but sitting smushed up beside my dad was special to me. I remember I was not very old and I fit right in next to his big belly under his heavy arm. And as we both spaced out, watching the television, I would listen to his breathing and his heartbeat. Soon enough my breaths would match his and we would breath in and out together. My dad’s side was one of the safest places to me as a little girl.
Going swimming with Dad at the Cabana Club was a rare treat. Looking back at it (don’t hate me Dad!) it was like bringing Bigfoot to the pool. I’m sure the joy of having a parent actually going swimming with you, versus just enjoying Adult Swim while you kick your feet on the wall, can resonate with some of you. It was pure joy when Dad got in. Dad would slowly walk into the pool and center himself in the middle of the 5-foot deep end. It was like having our own personal, hair-covered island! We used him like a jungle gym and it gets better, he was very strong. So with not too much begging and badgering, he would “launch” us into the air and we would fly for a few seconds before slashing down into the pool water. I’m sure the lifeguards loved us.
While life can get particularly complicated with growing up, new family members, death, and masters degrees, but those old memories only get sweeter in hindsight. Thanks Dad!

Winter Limbo

2008-01-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

We were very lucky and spent 10 glorious days in Tahoe for Christmas and New Years. It was fabulous and I loved being in the mountains, cozy in the Rice family cabin. One thing it could use is a treadmill, but who is going to pay for that? I think we got in one good walk to the Hyatt, down the street, but after that the walking path was super icy. I didn't feel like getting injured or having a bruised bottom (I always have good luck and fall on my gluts, but after a while it gets sore.). Chris had fun, taking Smally out for walks in the snow (she is more privileged then a lot of people!), skiing, and shoveling snow. Chris and I watched 95% of the Lost series and I got a lot of knitting done.

Sorry to say, I came down with a Sinus Infection and, no thanks to Bluecross, we found a doctor that wasn't hours away. Medication is very good when you cannot sleep.

Christmas: Imagine sitting on a couch with your family surrounded by gifts while a toasty fire crackles in the fireplace. We practiced all our family traditions, such as yelling up the chimney to Santa Christmas Eve, and reading the story of Christ's birth from the Book of Luke. It was unbelievably relaxing. After all the death and drama that followed that it was nice to have Tahoe and Christmas to look forward to.

I invented a new tradition with a gift from Chris. Amy Grant's old Christmas album with "Eeeemmmannuuelll, Emmanuel!" Well, I think the track that sounds remarkably like the Manhattan Steam Rollers is great, so improvized an entire dance to it. There is no greater joy, but to dance while everyone just laughs at you, not to mention that your sweats are pulled up to your breasts.

So, as you can imagine, coming back to the Bay Area and reality can be gruesome and ugly. We get grumpy and don't like life. At least Chris does not because he works regularly. I scrounge for work these days. At my aerobics class I announced to whoever was left (like five sweaty middle-aged ladies) that I babysit, house-sit, pet-sit, what ever you need legally. For some reason one of the ladies translated that as I was a life coach and asked me to help her to focus her life. And another talked to me about organizing her garage. Luckily, no one has followed up on those needs.

Now, I have about two weeks before grad-school invades my existence again, so I feel like I should be doing something, if it's not contributing to society. So I'm reading Opting Out by Pamela Stone - very well written and researched. I also need to read the file full of articles I have on my hard drive about Mother's Rights! Yay! This next semester will be my last. Oh wait - Special Ed teachers are kept on a short lease and we have to go back for our "Level Twos." I think it is a conspiracy to keep us in school and paying tuition - mfs! It's really hard to see a motivating light at the end of this school tunnel because of all the red tape that keeps tripping me up.

After "graduation," I hope to return to Tahoe with my cohorts to party hardy! TGTT = Thank God There's Tahoe! Save the Rice Cabin!

Crying Crazy in Kansas

2007-11-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

Let’s bring you all up to date, shall we? This last weekend was great. Friday we buried Grandma Rice in her plot right next to Grandpa Rice and his parents. Not to sound old, but the weather was lovely and sunny. We waited for everyone to show up at the cemetery’s lounge area and at first it wasn’t so bad with a few family members, but then a few friends (non-family) showed. For some reason, that’s when I realized we were there to bury my grandma and the tears started to roll down my cheeks. I spoke at the burial and so did most of the people there. The Price family rolled up to the plot in their 100 passenger van, we were there, Aunt Sue, and a few close family friends.
Saturday Chris and I went to Carmel Valley early to eat at the Baja Cantina, a restaurant we were regulars at with Grandma. After having a few hours to get ready in our room at the Carmel Valley Lodge (Very nice…) we headed over to Grandma’s church for her memorial. Each of Grandma’s five children spoke of her fondly. Aunt Louise had a lovely quote, something about how you might have treasure and gold, but my mother read to me. That was totally Grandma – she would even volunteer to read to school children when she could still drive and spoke well. Shortly afterwards we (well, at least I) drank our sorrows away and ate very well at Jefferies (a fabulous breakfast place in Carmel Valley). It was a great time to catch up friends and family.
At the Carmel Valley Lodge we were neighbors to Aunt Sue and got to have a good talk or talks while we stayed there. Sunday morning we stopped by the beach before heading home. We wanted some time to unwind before driving to Mom’s for dinner with the Price family. When we finally returned home that evening I made a to-do list for my day off (Veteran’s Day) and got to sleep feeling satisfied with my emotions about losing Grandma and feeling good about the time spent with family.
Monday morning I was on my way to the gym when my family called me to tell me about bad state Grandma Bates was in. The rest of the day I wondered if I should go out to Kansas to be with her in her last moments. Calling the home she was in didn’t help because they just said something like, “God only knows when He’ll take her home.” Maybe she thought I was being too practical as a Christian, but then I should have explained I was coming from California and wanted their best death estimate. I was mostly trying not to cry on the phone. After googling bereavement flights, I found a good flight going out Tuesday morning. Just before going to bed I talked to my dad who said Grandma was non-responsive and would not even know I was there, but I believed that she would sense someone in the room (It is said that hearing is one of the last senses to go). She still deserved to be surrounded by loved ones. Aunt Barb, my dad’s only sister, told me that the nurse said Grandma’s knees were molding, a sign that her body was shutting down. A friend of mine, Nikki, talked to be a bit online before I finally shut off my computer Monday night and said I should follow my heart to be with her in Kansas.
Tuesday morning I was getting ready for student teaching when Aunt Barb called telling me Grandma had died. I forgot about going to teach and started making plans to fly out to be with Grandpa. So I am here and didn’t hit any major bumps along the way. While I was waiting for a shuttle for the hotel Tuesday night, a van pulled up with a familiar-looking gentleman. I’m sure I had a huge smile on my face as I told the guy next to me, “There’s my dad!” and I excitedly ran-walked towards the van saying, “Hey, Dad!” When he got out I realized it was just a man that looked a lot like my dad and that he was driving a taxi. I haven’t seen my own Dad in a few years, which explains the mix up. The guy next to me, who looked like Tom Cruise and also hitching a ride to the hotel, thought it was the funniest thing he’s seen in a while. So funny, that he told the shuttle driver and hotel clerk about it. Were I kept saying, “That was a little silly.” And shrugging the mistake off.

Hoops and, now, a Sinkhole

2007-11-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

Shoulda, woulda, coulda... I feel quite frustrated and sad at the moment because my sweet Grandma Rice has passed. She was everything a grandchild could have asked for in a grandparent. My Grandpa Rice died after a second massive stroke when I was 16 and that was sad, but I have always been closer to my grandmothers than my grandfathers. So losing Grandma Rice (or Boots was her preferred name) has torn my heart open. I feel numb and usually have tears at the corners of my eyes. So, even with buckets of grad school coursework sitting on my shoulders, I don't have the energy to think critically or think about perfect pedegogy. In fact, screw school at least for this time while I collect my thoughts, which have gone back and forth between seeing my dead grandmother and my immense collection of happy Grandma memories.

Let's deal with the bitter end. I was called when Grandma was literally in her last moment. She had been in assisted living for 18 months, which were not very happy times for her and I visited her pretty often. Mom called while I sat in the dentist's parking lot and I agreed to meet her at Grandma's. Through wet tears I drove to pick up Chris a ways away in San Mateo before meeting Mom at the Forum. We got there and I didn't think of what we might encounter; Grandma dying. We stepped in as the Chaplin called the time of death and there was Grandma laying in her bed by the window that faced out to the green hills and a bird feeder. Mom was crouching over her, putting a cell phone up to her ear as my aunt on the other end said her good-byes. I cried and cried and cried. I rubbed Mom's back and then stepped up to touch Grandma's face and hair. Words couldn't come out of my mouth, but I told her I loved her and that I would miss her and good-bye. The Chaplin said Grandma's Spirit was in transition as long as her heart was warm. I don't know if I believed that, but I did know that Grandma was dead in front of me. This was the end of a long and joyful book. Grandma was a sweet, sensitive, loving, tolerant, and fun-loving main-character.

After about twenty minutes Mom came back into the room from having been on her cellphone getting the word out to siblings and said, "Doesn't she look peaceful?" I replied under my breath as respectfully as I could, "Mom, she looks dead." I did not stay when the mortuary came to pick her up, but Mike, my brother did.

On the other hand life is ripping right along even with me in slow motion. There is always a text book to read, a lesson plan to prepare or an essay to write, but for now I don't want to do those things. I want to grieve. Stop the life/gradschool/real-world train because I need to get off. I don't know what I do want to do, but I don't want to preform at a grad school level right now. I'm not feeling competitive at the moment. I don't want to run this race. I need a break.

I will also leave you with some happy parts: Our search for Halloween Pumpkins, Chris's successful tomato harvest, and that I have jumped the enormous hoops and applied for

graduation. That was before now and I'm glad. I also had fun with my friend Becca while we prepared a whole bunch of food for Monday's snack.

But right now it's hard to get excited over much. 99.9% of my extended family are now planning to make the trip to the Bay Area for the burial and memorial. Well, I guess it is sad and happy at the same time. I feel like I'm in one of life's sinkholes. Stuck for the moment.

One free hotdog!

2007-09-19T20:12:00.001-07:00

September 10th was a home game between the San Francisco 49ers and Chris's favorite team, the Cardinals. Monday night football gets him starry-eyed and we bought tickets from a mild-mannered season ticket holder through the wonders of Craigslist. On Mondays I have graduate classes all day from nine in the morning to seven at night and one thought that kept me going was getting a hotdog at the football game. Chris picked me up after classes and we worked our way through San Francisco's messed-up highway system to get to the high-class Bayshore area where Monster Park has landed. He missed the first quarter and parked about a half mile out in a dusty field they try to call a parking lot.
At the game we had pretty close seats and I pulled out The Second Shift (Hochschild, 2003). Watching the game in our section was like being at Catholic Mass; up and down, up and down. I find this team spirit activity futile because when I stand I'm still too short to see. So I volunteer to buy our dinner and let Chris enjoy the game.
A lot of people had the same idea and I stood behind a line with about ten people in it already. I talked to some Arizona natives and ended up waiting about 20 minutes just to order. I recieved the garlic fries awfully fast, but was told the dogs were coming in ten to fifteen. Minutes?
I stood there with a large, grey van-dick wearing father with his twelve-year-old son while we heard the half-time fireworks go off. They were dedicating the field to Bill Walsh that night. Of course, I started joking with the father about the wait and then he said he didn't want a hotdog anymore. So, being the diplomate I try to be sometimes, I said, "Well, I'm sure if you ask for your money back, they will understand. You have been waiting a while."
He took my advice and asked the young hotdog stand lady for his money back. That young lady went in the back, probably to see if there were any hotdogs; one last-ditch effort to please the customer. While she was in the back her 50-something woman supervisor stepped up to the window and said to the father, "Don't you ever talk to my girls like that!" And as I stood there I felt I had sort of caused the power-play and my beanie got itchier on my hot forehead as these two adults verbally had it out. He got his money and took his son back to the stands.
After so much tension I put a cheesy smile on my big face and said I still wanted a hotdog, please. The boss-lady with a tight smile turns to another worker carrying a box of hotdogs, grabbed two and put them in front of me. I thanked her, took the dogs and fries and quickly got back to Chris.
When I get back to Chris after what seemed to be an hour, I whispered that I got a free hotdog. It wasn't until a ride home from the gym a few days later, where he heard exactly how that "free" hotdog came to be. Maybe I felt a little guity about the hotdog or the sad display of disrespect at the hotdog stand.
The Cardinals lost and it was an great last quarter because the Niners came back with five minutes on the clock. I just love the sportsmanship at these sporting events. Go humanity!

Working It Out

2007-09-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

So, I have been on a mission, Nano in hand or in the waist of my tight pants, to try to make exercise a more regular part of my life. Obviously, my diet needed to change a little bit which in a nutshell, I needed to be physically, tummy-rumbling hungry, before consuming each meal. Also, since I was not working or attending school this summer I made sure we cooked for ourselves most evenings. That helped with our portion control and with what exactly was going into our bodies.
This summer I found a great class Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays that suited my style perfectly. Eric was the instructor and had a fun, flamboyant personality. Even after showing us the basic move he would do, what I would called a “Stewart” moment, and spasm into a crazy bit of personal choreography. Having a background as a drill sergeant or exercise leader in the Marines, but also working for a ballet company really influenced his teaching methods. Mondays and Fridays was a modern dance, tai chi, free-style, free-spirit class that I loved. Tuesdays and Thursdays was a functional weightlifting class; instead of your regular bicep curls and lunges, we would use weighted bars to “row a boat” or “chop wood.” Getting fit for those house chores!
But now I have other priorities and I go to the gym when I can, having to be more self-motivatedeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww (sorry, that was Smally stepping on the keyboard). A true Gym Rat trying to ignore all the other gym-members with my ear-buds in my ears. Supposedly, there is construction happening to the Gold’s Gym a few towns over and that is why our gym is so crowded. I do know that it drives Chris craaaaazzzzzy. As long as I can get on my favorite cardio machines, I’m cool, but if I have my personal space invaded by another person, besides my husband, Chris, that drive me craaaaaazzzy. "What?!? I'm working out here!"
Case in point, in Eric’s aerobics classes tightly-dressed Baby Boomers get in my way regularly. I think to myself, “Don’t they know, when I do a turn in the air, they might be back-handed?”
There is another issue I have has to do with my beloved Nano: I will be just beginning to run and both ear-buds will do a suicide leap from my ears. No amount of extra padding or pleading keeps them in. I don't think it is proper form to run with my fingers in my ears, so I have given up the fight. My “Running Mix” playlist is wasted on my speed walking and other cardio activities. Anyone else have that problem with their ear-buds? Ear-duds more like it!
Today I was going around and working my lower body (that’s the polite way of saying, my ghetto bootie and thunder thighs). I was on what I call the Lower Back Apparatus, which I use to continually squeeze my butt-cheeks together, and noticed my keys were elsewhere. As I apologetically moved them away from the exercise area of another member, she chose to be friendly and said something to me.
First of all, I had my music on and at a level where I do not want to hear anything else but that music. Second, I had been working out for a while and was enjoying being "in the zone" or a Spacecase. So I removed a sweaty ear-bud and politely said, “Excuse me?” But even when she repeated herself, her words, “Those keys look like you have a nice car,” were not comprehended in my brain-fog. So I just smiled and nodded. Since I’m a manners-freak, I should have said, “Thank you.” I’m officially a rude worker-outer!  But, I believe the hard work is paying off as I have lost a third of the weight I want to lose.
The next class I want to try is their Belly Dancing one. I have got enough hips for it and enough belly! Cannot wait to strap some of those bells on.

Life's Ridiculous Again

2007-08-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hello one and all,
I hope you are enjoying life lately. I'm back into school, whole-hog, as they say. Taking credentialing courses and student teaching at a very cute elementary school in San Bruno. One more year of excessive writing and reading and then hopefully I will be finished with school for a long time. Fridays I have made sure to keep clear for job possibilities, such as substitute teaching. At 7:20am this morning, sure enough, I was called about some job offers. I took one starting at 8am and ran through the house to shower, make coffee, communicate with Chris, who was a God-send when it came to getting directions and making me a fast sandwich. En route to my first assignment as a Jr High PE teacher, I was called and re-routed to an elementary school. Once I got there I saw the sign said, "International." Oh, boy, this was a real adventure. I was told it was a forth grade class and it ended up being a 2nd grade class - much more my style. Needless to say, I got a lot of Espanol practice in today with the kids. Damn, they were good. I read them a story, something called, Froggy's First Beso, and it was written in Spanish. I sounded like a beginning reader and the kids loved it because they got to show me their mastery and correct my mistakes. That was super fun.
Right now I'm crying over the death of a misunderstood giant gorilla (who's not even real!) in King Kong. I got the movie in the library and I'm glad I did because it's oddly good. Some of the CG is a bit shoddy, but whatever. Then there's me crying over the mythical creature - I always cry over abused animals, but still like to watch shows like Animal Cops on Animal Planet when I can. Even if I'm running, full-tilt on the treadmill at the gym, I will cry over whatever sappiness is on cable. Don't ever try welling up in front of me, especially if your male, because I will quickly join you with my own tears. Why am I saying this? I guess crying comes more often when I'm stressed out. So watch out world! I just might cry in public and make people feel awkward.
Like the apple with the cozy? I thank Cute Overload for a daily dose of simple cuteness. It also highlights the wonders of knitting. My knitting has been focused on a quilt-like project where I have been stitching together different colored squares. These seed-stitched squares will be sewn together to form a bed spread, but since the yarn was a bit pricey it will be more of a small blanket.
Funny how house chores, such as doing the ever-dirty dishes, or crafting is alluring when there's graduate work to be done. :)You'd be surprised how fun watering flowers can be in lu of writing a 10-pager. The laundry has to be done right away and friends need to be sent random emails now. If it's a particularly anxious time, I might cry whilst doing the cooking. :) And then you would really know I have a lot of school work sitting on my figurative shoulders.

Smally Goes to Tahoe

2007-08-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

Another "Keeper"

2007-08-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

Before I get back to my house chores, I thought I would tell you how much My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, surprised me. At first I was skeptical because I thought it started out a little cheesy, but it got me in the end! I heard about it when my professor, Dr. Rossi, said he could not put it down. Now, I see why he might have enjoyed the piece of fiction because it is about a 13 year old taking her parents to court to gain medical emancipation. You see, this young lady was genetically engineered to be a perfect donor for her sister who suffers from a rare form of leukemia. That’s all I am going to say because the plot is great and so is the topic. As you read it, it only gets better. So hit that library or borrow it from a friend, as I did (Thanks, Katie!).

Hell = Taking the RICA

2007-08-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse then the CSET (check out my post about that experience under May 2006) I had the lovely privilege of registering for, paying the $130 and taking the RICA. RICA stands for Reading Instruction Competence Assessment and it is mandatory for teachers in California.
I believe teaching is more of an art then a science. But the government does not share my views. No wonder there is a shortage of driven and qualified teachers with all this red tape and expensive tests to take for a less then ideal working situation. Tests do not teach – this is one of the lessons I have learned in my teaching course work at SFSU. It is bad pedagogy to only test. A test is a tool for the teacher to see if they have been teaching effectively. I would be willing to take something as annoyingly focused as the RICA if those who want us to know all that information would go over our scores with us afterwards. If I’m found incompetent in my knowledge of reading, writing and spelling, I want to know why.
I do believe if I went to Hell that it would be an eternity of taking the RICA. First of all, it was in a building that was the picture of dilapidation, with the feeling of a depressing institution. Cloud Hall had dreary, unending halls and the bathroom’s stalls had splintered wooden doors that looked like they were made by primates. After we were in our assigned classrooms by our given numbers (we might as well have been robots or a cattle) we got to take our tests on these desk-chair things, where the slab of wood meant for us to write on, was no more then a foot-square. I ended up having to sit at an angle during the test to try to utilize my lack of space.
Then there was the test* itself. The first section had 70 multiple choice (or so they say) questions. 70 questions on the same topic (yaaaawwwnnnn). At least the CSET changed subjects every forty questions or so. An example* of a question is as follows:

If you are a kindergarten teacher and you have five English Learners, how would you teach them reading?
a. You teach them the alphabet.
b. You read to them.
c. You are nice to them.
d. You let them practice writing the alphabet.

Hmmmm…. Let me think…. What? Those were my thoughts during most of the test. The written section did not bestow any more confidence in my teaching abilities either. Oh, and did I mention that for our room full of female test-takers there was only one bathroom pass? Who did that math?
At least I was no alone in this cruel world of over-assessment. My friends Amy, Kelsey, Blair were all there in the same deteriorating classroom. We also studied together. Blair and I shared a more angry outlook on the whole situation (F-it all!), where the rest studied their fears of failure away. Lord willing, we will all pass and, in time, it will be just a bad dream. Tests do not teach!

*DISCLAIMER: I’m not giving away real content OR answers to the RICA, so don’t sue me!

Life Is Too Short

2007-08-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

A truly fantastic human being, experienced teacher, mother, wife and best friend was lost when, Scott’s mom, Pattie succumbed to the complications of her cancer, this last Sunday. My friend, who was also my Matron of Honor, Lara, called last night around 9:30pm and I knew something was not right. A few weeks ago I emailed her telling her that I would be happy to meet her if her little family ever came up to visit Scott’s family in Northern California. At this time she requested that they could focus on quality time with Pattie and immediate family and I understood.
Cancer is a term that involves so many vile afflictions that can strike almost any part of the body. Grandma and Grandpa’s skin cancer, caused by sun-worshipping, resulted in Grandpa’s ears looking like they had been bar-b-qued. But they both luckily had no other complications. Laddie, our Scottish terrier, died when his bone cancer left him in so much pain that he could not leave his little dog bed. Right around the time I was forced into womanhood, my mother was going through a hysterectomy because she had an orange-sized cyst on her ovary. That procedure was followed by hormone therapy and the sudden emotional roller-coaster of menopause that we had to cope with as a family.
When I heard that Pattie was diagnosed a year or two ago, I prayed for a miracle and hoped that it would be a successful battle. I prayed that she would pull through because she had such a rich life. She recently remarried herself before watching two of her boys get hitched. The last couple of years also saw the birth of a few healthy grandchildren. At the wedding slash baby shower held at Pattie’s warm home, the house was packed with friends and family. I got the pleasure to sit next to Grandma Pattie (that is the picture I included above). That was a year ago and I believe she was quickly diagnosed with cancer after that.
When Lara called last night we talked and kept it business-like, no crying. I found out about the funeral and expressed how sorry I am. I could tell she had been crying because she sniffed a lot. Last night I had a hard time sleeping and that is very unusual for me because that is one thing I do well. I had a mental image consisting of rows after rows of people walking together on this expansive highway. Every so often someone collapses or the ground gives way and swallows a few more people. Every one keeps walking, but seem shocked by their fellow walkers disappearances.
Death is sometimes sudden and life is short. When I was tossing and turning in bed I thought about how I would need tissue at the funeral and in a dream I found an individual pack in a random purse. I was bummed when I woke up to find that that, in fact, I have no Kleenex. I guess this is one of those bridges that you have to cross when you come to it. I pray that God is taking care of Pattie now in Heaven. Maybe she was such a treasure here on earth that He wanted to have her close to Him. But we will miss her here.

Simpsonizederised

2007-08-01T20:40:00.001-07:00

Yo! We both got Simpsonederizeded - rock, rock on!

Cheers to Three Years

2007-08-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, Chris and I have been married a wonderful and interesting three years. We have been through four moves, many job changes and I'm still in the process of changing my career via grad-school. I noted in Chris' card that the difference between the last two year's anniversaries and this years, was that I am growing more comfortable. Chris is still the person I would most likely want to hang out with. We are currently trying to get rid of our Newlywed Nine (mine is more like fifteen!) Fortunately we have each other to help promote (and cheat on) good habits. :)

So, for this year, since Chris was starting a new job a short commute away, I wanted to have a celebration at home. I hand-picked apples, savory sausage, fresh-baked french bread and fondue cheese. We also invested in some Mumm's Napa champagne, which we had at our wedding, and that was perfect. The reason we had fondue was because we dated in Switzerland where they are fondue perfectionists. Our wedding DVD, that Uncle Spence recorded (good job Uncle Spence!) played while we dined at our coffee-table. Cheers!

Cousin Bri-guy and Keri's Wedding

2007-08-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

July 20th, 2007 was the day Brian and Keri joined their lives in marriage! I love weddings and love seeing family more. Chris and I drove the two hours to be with our extended family at the Sacramento Mormon Temple. The Price Family, minus Emily and Brian, drove to Santa Clara to stay with Mom the previous Wednesday evening. Chris and I got to spend time with them for dinner. On the Friday we met at the Temple for photos, but then drove into Old Town Folsom for a Mexican Food Luncheon. I helped Mike and Uncle Greg with a rap in honor of the recently married. Mike even custom-made beat for it!
Chris and I had planned to stay in Chico for the rest of the weekend and were invited to a BBQ at Aunt Lo's house. More great family time and slidding down their slide into the cool pool!
Our dear friends, the Reid's, let us sleep in their side of the duplex that we once lived in, while they were away. It was great to stay in a place we were so familiar with. Luckily, Chico was not as hot as it could have been. We visited eatries we loved like Sin of Cortez for breakfast and Christian Michael's for dinner/happy hour. Besides stuffing our fat faces, we also walked around the quaint downtown and had an after-dinner walk we used to have every night. We were a little sweaty after that walk and decided to go for a night swim at the Cootsona's. Before going back to the house we had to walk to Shubert's for some ice cream. You must think we are 300 pounds each, but we just love some of Chico's finest restaurants and had been planning this trip for a while. :)
Sunday we went to Bidwell Presbyterian Church where Uncle Greg was teaching that morning. Aunt Lo wanted to go get some Peet's after the service so we had an hour chat and sat outside the shop, sipping half-caf coffee in real mugs. It was great to have some one-on-one with someone who's older and wiser. On our drive home we took the 99 South to Yuba City (Taste of India is our all-time favorite Indian food place!) and then to Sac-Town for shopping.
We had an excellent weekend. Chris and I were surprised how relaxed we were because while we had lived there we were not always so stress-free. Looking back to that time of our lives we had a hard time finding consistant work for both of us and that was really hard. But Chico does have a draw and we thought almost just as relaxing as Tahoe. Gasp!

The best preparation for the RICA

2007-06-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

So, I am in summer school, woop te do. I'm just as excited about it as you are reading about it. I sometimes feel like I'm held hostage by my hormones (the very ones controlling my fluctuating moods, appetite, and energy levels) and my future career educational needs. Neither one I can get away from. You cannot opt out of a 15 page research proposal when the horribly boring thing makes up 90% of your grade and you need that grade to get a Masters degree. That Masters degree will hopefully give you a bit more job security. So my life is so fun with all these exciting motivators.
So tonight I let myself have some ice cream. That is a big deal because I usually try to save dessert as a treat on weekends. Weekdays mean vegetables, fruits and sensibility. This is easy when you don't have much of an appetite, but guess what? IT CAME BACK! Funny how that happens. One bowl of chili does not satisfy anymore. This isn't anything new. In fact these appetite levels have a lot to do with my womanly cycles. I don't really want to get into it.
What I really wanted to write about is the book I accidentally got in the mail. I kindly asked Amazon for a used book on preparing for the RICA. Yes another test to see if I have enough brains to teach small children to read. A undergraduate degree, two teaching credentials and a masters degree won't reflect that I can do that, only some expensive test. It's $240. Again, I cannot opt out of that one, neither.
So back to the book. Instead of receiving 'Ready For RICA', I got a brand new copy of 'Energy Addict, 101 Physical, Mental, & Spiritual Ways to Energize Your Life.' Is God trying to tell me something? The packing slip says I got the RICA book so it is their mistake and I plan to return it, but the funny thing is I feel that 'Energy Addict' will help me with my over-all state of being much better then prepping for the stupid RICA. Don't you? On the back it boasts with bullets saying, "Take an Energy Audit to determine where your energy comes from -- and where you're losing it." Sounds good to me! I would like to have more options then sleeping. "Start every morning with a 10-minute 'thank-you' walk." Makes sense, but I'm a little afraid of my neighborhood and the pollution from the freeway next to my house. "Eat breakfast like a king...and dinner like a pauper." When I read this my husband asked what a pauper was, but then he thought I said Papa. Those were the only points that made sense. If I didn't have other fantastically boring text books to peruse then I would read the little self-help book and then return it to its rightful owner.
My advice? Hug someone today, especially if they are a teacher or student. Or at least pray for them. Hugs and kisses to all of your lucky work and play people!

French women don't what?

2007-05-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, you have read it correctly, the book is entitled, French Women Don't Get Fat and written with wit and wisdom by Mireille Guiliano. I mean, the woman is going into her eighth decade of life, so she has the right to make such outrageous claims. Myself, having lived and visited in Europe a few times, have noticed how I trimmed down at least when traveling in France and Switzerland - so I was intrigued. When friends saw the title they mentioned that of course French women are svelte, they do nothing but smoke and drink coffee. On the contrary, in Guiliano's book she encourages water, not coffee, and wine during dinner. But, this French philosophy of eating, wants the readers to be conscience in every activity, whether it be eating or taking a walk.
If anything, this book is a refreshing read and NOT a do-this and you'll loose weight fast kind of book. It is a memior, cookbook and how-to book all in one read. Skim the chapter on vegetables (she really enjoys her fruits as well) because the whole book is worth a read. She pushes moderation rather then opting for the protein-dominate approach. Also, there were recipes, which I wanted to write about. I tried the baguette recipe, which I will not include here as not to get sued. It was so fun even if I scared Chris out of the kitchen (I was a bit too authoritative for his liking). When Grandma Bates used to visit or when I flew out to Kansas to see her we would bake and bake and bake. So, greasing my hands, removing my rings, and preparing my large cutting board with flour seemed natural. I have to confess, I wished I had my Grandma to help me when the doe was getting too sticky and a little annoying. After all the raising and needing and wrestling with the doe, four flat loaves were achieved. :) Mike was over for dinner (oh yeah, it was the same day we went to see Bjork!) that evening and we all had fresh baked bread with our beans and wieners. All in all, it's a book advising living simply and I am all for that!

Create Your Own Currency!

2007-05-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

Crash Boom Bang! Yes, we went to see the infamous Bjork last night. What a great show! She is so unique and the audience was positive.
The last live concert I went to was the AquaBats with Mr. Mike Bates. I thought the crowd there would be friendly, but someone proved me wrong with flipping off the band and there were children present! Outrageous. No decency whatsoever!
Anyways back to Bjork - every time she would thank the audience with a cute, little Icelandic voice we would giggle. She sounded exactly the way we thought she would. She even said, "Mucha Gracias" even if she said it wrong it was still very adorable. We were trying to figure out if she actually addressed the crowd with "Hello Bay Areas!" Bay Areas??? Who cares, it's BJORK! The audience ranged in style; geek chic to hippy to raver style. Muy interestante!
Well, it was good to have something to look forward to and since I had to cancel my birthday party, it was sort of a delayed birthday gift. Chris and I had a good time holding hands and trying to stay warm together. Mike and his friend came along, which is always entertaining. Outings with Mike always turn into compulsive giggling, strange voices and physical comedy while whoever is not Mike or I try to act like they are not there. Chris knows to leave us alone when we start the hilarity because it is quite odd. For example, Mike would do the little Bjork voice, saying, "Don't let them do that to you!!!" and I would start with the penguin-like dance move Bjork performed for us on stage. I guess you would have to be there to appreciate it. If you have the chance to see Bjork live, do it! She is fab-u-lous!
Bye!!!

End of the Term Crazy

2007-05-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hello People who read this blog! People like two friends, my dad and my brother! Thanks for the support!
So, as the title reads it is "end of the term crazy" time. Yes, I feel like I don't have enough time to feel sorry for myself because there is too much to do with 21 units. 21 units = Dropped-on-your-head-crazy! Yeah, who signed me up for that many hours? Oh, wait, twas I. I'm trying to fit in my masters classes while carrying a full-time schedule for my credential program. I'm not the only one sucked into this weird panicked, feeling like we have to get a masters or die feeling. There are way to many over-educated people in America.
In the meanwhile, real-life has reared its ugly head. My grandma had another large stroke making her progress in her right side disappear. She now is more affected in her physical abilities and her mental capabilities. I got the family duty of wandering the halls after it initially happened - sucked, but she's my grandma. We walked, stopped to cry here and there and then finally she fell asleep. A week after that I visited again and she looks so much better. Praise the Lord. Getting old must be rough.

You must be taking 21 units if:
1. The dark circles under your eyes get so bad that the bartender stops asking for ID.
2. You can symphathize with people who take crack cocaine.
3. You find yourself neglecting plucking your facial hair.
4. You're tired of hearing yourself complain about how much homework you have to do.
5. Every time you do a Number 1 it smells like coffee.
6. You hope your spouse or friend picks you up late for a date so you can do more homework.
7. You have To Do lists on the backs of both of your hands.
8. You really wish their was more hours in the day or you could suspend time like Evie in "Out of This World."
9. You gain 21 pounds. Just Kidding - I've only gained 5.

Right now, I'm allowing myself a little blogging and Small is getting in the way of my typping. Sometimes she'll walk on the keybord or now her head i s resting ont he board. Gotta go - bye! xoox

Bat Country

2007-04-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you Hunter S. Thompson.

Fun little surveys - I'm an adventurer!

2007-04-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids,
Here I am, online and wasting time. I got caught up in www.blogthings.com with their mindless surveys. I have already added "What Kind of Californian are You?" (San Diego) and "What Kind of Pinup are You?" (Betty Grable) to my Myspace profile, but I felt like this one described both Chris and I.

Your Travel Personality Is: The Adventurer

For you, travel is how you learn about the world. And you like to learn the stuff that's not in guidebooks.You truly have wanderlust. When you're not traveling, you're dreaming about where you'll go next.And your travels are truly legendary - they leave you with stories you'll be telling for the rest of your life!

What's" Your Travel Personality?

sucked into myspace, kids

2007-03-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest blog on myspace (don't tell anyone!!!). If you'd like to be my "friend" (*cringe*) look me up! Check it out (just go to www.myspace.com and 'search' for my name):

Educate Yourself

Current mood: contemplative
Category: News and Politics

Hello! I was recommended the following website to view by one of my professors at SFSU:

http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/index#

The shorts are all about 6 minutes long and full of knowledge. If you want to know what is going on that may not be in the 10 o'clock news, go and see what these filmmakers have to say. :) I viewed all of them and 90% rock.

As the bumper sticker says, "If you're not outraged you're not paying attention."

Peace!

Currently reading : Jubilee By Margaret Walker Release date: By 21 January, 1999

Jesus Land - Could not put it down!

2007-03-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

Hello People! I am taking 21 units this crazy semester, but I still love to read for pleasure. I picked up Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres because, 1. The cover was a cute, retro photo of a blond, blue eyed girl, next to a smiling little black boy, 2. The title. When I read the back I found out it was a memior about these kids (the little boy was adopted by the little girl's parents) in the Mid-west. I'm always interested in people's stories and this sounded like it would be a very telling one. Boy, was it EVER!!! It's a hefty 300 pages or so and I busted that b- out in a week and we are in midterms! Click on 'Julia' and it will take you to her personal webpage. Please pick up a copy at your bookstore or, better yet, borrow it from your local library!

Teach Teacher Teach

2007-03-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

Kids are fun, kids are silly, and sometimes inappropriate. The kids I work with as a Student Teacher are in a Special Day Class (SDC). This is the Mild to Moderate group. You know, Mild to Moderate Disability ranging from Learning Disabilities (LD), to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) and emerging Emotionally Disturbed (ED). Are you starting to catch on to the prominent use of abbreviations?
So, let me rephrase that: I'm a ST working in a SDC with a Mild to moderate group of students diagnosed with LD's and/or ADHD, and some with the beginning stages of ED.
So Johnny (pseudonym) is really quiet and you often have to get on his level and constantly check to see that he hasn't gone into his own world. But this isn't an easy feat when Sam, Mike and Joe have ADHD and are up and down out of their seats and continually talking out of turn; hence drawing negative attention to themselves. For example, Mike starts making farting sounds in the corner and turn to him and say, "Be quiet, Mike! Points off for you (as I walk up to his desk chart and write, minus 10.)!" Oh, they are all on a point system, which I have mixed feelings about. At grad school we are taking Positive Support Systems. It is really Behavior Modification for Special Education populations. Focus on the positive, etc...
So I have been learning to use the "Speak to the Hand" method of settling these Talk-out-of-turners. Let's go back to Mike making toileting sounds during reading and I'm trying to get Johnny to comprehend that he needs to focus. I have been told to put up my hand in Mike's direction, not to make eye contact and say, "You are interrupting and it's Johnny's turn; you need to raise your hand to make comments." The ones that are in the lower grades (3rd) usually want to please and raise their hands. I just think it's funny that I get to use the "Speak to the Hand" method in my everyday work. :) Just imagine if you used that with your Dad. "Dad, you are interrupting right now, I'll talk to you in a minute." If your dad's anything like mine that would mean trouble with a capital T!

Those Inappropriate Robots!

2007-02-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

Lions and tigers and robots, oh my! Have you seen the hoopla about the menacing Nite-Brite robots posted through out some of the Nation's largest cities?

Bomb squads were brought in and press conferences given because they feared these random, blinking robots might mean an impending terrorist attack. Yes, that is the very first thing I think of, too, when I see a brightly lit picture of a robot looking angry and using his middle finger. (I mean it is not the fault of the robot that he is being rude, he might have been made with only one finger.) Is our local government and police that on-edge and paranoid to not only get pissed off about it, but have every robot removed costing Boston a Lot O Money. What is weird about all of this is that they quickly found who was responsible and were still arresting individuals for placing the placards. Also I would like to know why they arrested those men when they knew, very well, the company responsible (the Cartoon Network)? Wouldn't you think after testing the first robot to see, if indeed it was dangerous, and finding it was just a board with flashing lights bulbs in the shape of a robot they would have re-grouped.
I find news stories like this disconcerting because it shows how crazy and paranoid people are becoming. But do you remember, about a decade ago, where the pie sign, like the one you need to find the radius of a circle, was found all around places like New York City. It was in sticker form, if I remember correctly, and didn’t have a convenient explanation for passersby’s to reference. The sign was quietly placed all over public property as a way to advertise an up-coming movie. This was very clever, and cool to those in-the-know. So why, I wonder, is an obvious, non-violent way of advertising (I.E.: with funny looking robots) so threatening? Maybe I should stop watching films like “The Blue Kite,” a Chinese film about Communism gone bad and “V for Vendetta.” Portrayed in those fictional (?) movies the hunt for terrorists turn into mindless witch-hunts. Thank the Lord, at this day and age, we can all be reasonable and never jump to conclusions about silly robot signs. Oh wait...

Good bye Stinky City

2007-01-31T17:32:00.000-08:00

I know people love San Francisco. Probably those people who don’t have very high expectations. Living in SF was the first step into working and living in the Yay Area – more jobs = good thing. But living in a highly populated city like San Fran you have to lower your standards, unless you have oodles upon boodles of money. Bums are everywhere (will someone open, or reopen an insane asylum already?) = milk jugs of pee and human doo on the side walk. Or if you are lucky like Chris and I, poo doo right in front of the car door. I guess we were lucky it wasn’t smeared on our car, eh?
Trash is everywhere. And you have to move your car at certain times for “Street Cleaning.” If you don’t, they’ll fine you around $40 and they only succeed at pushing the trash around, not picking it up. The city is so crazy about cleaning streets they even stop traffic on the freeway to “clean” it. Weirdos.
The streets just smell, if not due to the reason stated above, it is odors wafting from the sewers – mmmmm, yummy! We temporarily discontinued our nightly walks because of the people on the streets of our neighborhood. Homeless asking for money, poo doo, druggies – it was less stressful staying in-doors. Well, our apartment wasn’t a cake-walk either, but haven’t I complained enough for one posting?
Being the Child-of-the-suburbs that I am, we have happily relocated to a nearby bed-room community. Not a bum in sight! God really answers prayers. With Chris’s new job he finally has health insurance – we are living the American Dream. I love paying rent. Sorry for the sarcasm. We will be moving twice in a month to a rental that is, hopefully, going to fulfill all our desires. And I’m back in school – back to ruining my eyesight reading a million pages a week.

DE - FENSE

2006-12-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas was yesterday and it was very chill and pleasant. On Christmas Eve we went to Monster Park to check out the 49ers get beat by the Cardinals. Chris is actually a Cardinals fan and it was a little tricky being their fan in 49er Land. Those Niner fans are ANNOYING (can we say, Ghetto?)! This one guy behind us had no concept of consideration. He actually told, no, shouted at people to sit down if they were making their way to the stairs during a play. If I wasn't a passive aggressive person I would have told him to simmer down. Don't worry, we moved to a less verbally aggressive area. I just don't know why people feel the need to shout "DEFENSE", "OFFENSE", "BLOCK HIM, DUMMY!", when there are people hired to coach those millionaires running around on the field. My favorite moment with that problematic Niner's fan was when the main ref-guy had to check the monitor for a questionable play. The guy behind me went on and on about how it was a waste of time (mainly because it was a play against the success of the 49ers) and that the ref was a moron. I wanted so badly to turn around and say obnoxiously, "I love it because it builds anticipation." Chris and I silently high-fived each other every time the Cardinals scored or the ball was intercepted in their favor. Go Cardinals! Clearly, the better team won, but we would have been happy either way.

More Coffee at Christmas

2006-12-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone -
'Tis the season to think about Christ's birth and eat baked goods shaped like green Christmas trees. Right now I'm on break from grad school - time to blog! It's 1:30pm, I'm still in my PJ's and robe. You can say I'm in my own little domestic world right now. A world that does not really look at the time or worry about appearance. I just put on a second pot of coffee (I hope heaven's like this) and maybe I'll have the cat sit on my lap.
A few minutes ago I finished baking my homemade-from-scratch banana bread:

Christy's Banana Bread

Objective: To learn the sequence it takes to successfully bake bread from scratch.
To eat something banana-y.
Materials Needed: Listed ingredients, a large glass, plastic, or metal bowl for mixing, large spatula, oven set at 350 degrees F, oven Mitts, and a cup of coffee for encouragement.

Makes 1 loaf

Recipe:
2/3 over-ripe banana's (the spotted black ones you don't want to eat)
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder (carefully read the labels - there is a difference between soda and powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt (or just shake some in)
1 stick of butter melted (it's just easier melted)
1 1/2 tablespoon milk
*Optional: 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix wet then dry ingredients. Mix until most of the lumps are gone. Pour into baking loaf pan. Bake for about 50 minutes.

So, while I prepared the bread I was listening to two of my favorite CD's right now:
"Rocking the Suburbs" by Ben Folds (shout out to Jenna for burning me a copy yesterday while we had our knitting party where I learned how to knit around with circular needles!).
AND our (the Chris's) newest musical flavor: Theivery Corp. Super awesome, jazzy CD. A little cheesy at first, but after you make yourself listen to the whole thing, then you'll see why we think it's pretty dope.

Are You My Mother?

2006-11-12T21:46:00.000-08:00

Maybe I have lost control of some of my basic characteristics since I have been a full time student or something. I have not been thinking critically about things and doing slap 'n' dash jobs of others. Case in point: My moldy toothbrush. How does one toothbrush get moldy? I clean the handle twice a day after I use the utensil. The mold not only lives in the toothbrush holder now, but in the crevices of the rubber handle. I just noticed this new feature a few days ago when it must have been developing for at least a week. How did that happen? Or more so, how did I let this happen? Well, I thought leaving my ritualistically device out in the open would air it out, but I guess mold is more prevalent in SF and this proves it. Instead of dipping the brush in some antiseptic, I opt for simply buying a new one. A new one that will most likely get moldy in my damp SF apartment as well.
Another situation made me wonder where my thought process has been lately. Chris and I were are Barnes & Noble and I was wandering around the book shelves a little drunk. We spend a good half hour picking out what we wanted; for myself a historical book on Marie Antoinette and Running with Scissors. Chris was saving his money for another time. When we reached the register I made my purchase, which went well eventhough my capabilities were a touch compromised. I noticed there where books with specially made tags. One had "BOY, AGE 5," another "GIRL, AGE 7" and so on. Putting two and two together my mind figured out that there might be a charity activity going on. I questioned the very patient young clerk about the books and indeed he said that these books could be bought and then they were put aside to be taken to orphans in local orphanages. Awesome, I thought, and I asked Chris if we could splurge on a book and he agreed. So I leapt at the chance to buy one of the books for a boy of five years. Are You My Mother? was a favorite of mine growing up, but I did not realize my ironic mistake until Chris and I were driving home. A young boy will be crying himself to sleep on Christmas because of my lack of forethought. Thinking optimistically, maybe he won't and he will love the book and cherish it as his caretakers will look on, shaking their heads disapprovingly. How could they give and orphan a book entitled, Are You My Mother? -a book about a baby bird who temporarily loses his mother, but then happily is reunited with her once again. Well, maybe one day that young boy will find his mother or a mother, who knows.
--- Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Christmas shopping!

de Young or Grad Ditch Day

2006-10-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to Chris to the second power! I thought I would share my adventure with you. My friend Beth was driving to the City for a fieldtrip with her Spanish club students. So I emailed my professor to see if I could ditch out on class Wednesday and tag along. :) It was very fun. And, yes, indeed I'm in school again (fun and torture at the same time) getting two credentials. One in Special Ed and the other is a regular multiple subject.
So, we all went to the Chicano Exhibit at the de Young Museum. Very interesting. You have to go if you can. It was funny - Most of the paintings were from Cheech Marin's private collection. But the thing was these pieces are HUGE. He must have a big living room or something. Another cool thing was that these students spoke Spanish so I got some pracitce. We also took the Muni into Union Square and did a little shopping - that was fun hanging out with Beth. Oh, her husband came, too! Luke! The two pictures are of Beth and I and Chris next to the Naked Roman Soldier. Chris also took a pic of the soldiers "peepee," but I thought that would be a little much to post. Maybe he'll post it many ways. :)

Smally's Second Life

2006-09-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the great and fearless (or stupid) kitty cat, Smalls.

Today she stayed out all day and didn't come in to eat.

We were worried and thought that it wasn't like Smally not to want some treats.

By the end of the day we called for her and walked around that block looking.

We even made LOST CAT posters and printed them out.

Just then, Mr. Chris thought to hop the fence and look in the abanboned house next door.

Sure enough, she came limping out and didn't even want to be held.

At least she's safe at home now and resting up, Poor Kitty.

My Raccoon Visitor

2006-09-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here is our friendly nieghborhood raccoon at my side window (that, as you see, looks out to a fence about 10 inches away).

It was a Tuesday night and I was with my Stitch 'N Bitch friends in the living room when I heard some scratching at the back door. Smally was outside, so I thought it was her wanting to get inside, but there was no little cat waiting. Again I heard the scratching and flicked the lights on and saw Mr. Raccoon staring at me in the window.
I have never seen a raccoon that up close before and touched the window with my fingers. He placed his little raccoon hand on mine - too cute!

Merry Christmas

2006-09-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

Christmas is not far off...

Enduring the CSET

2006-05-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

First of all, test taking requires skill and I do not think it is the best way to assess one’s academic ability and knowledge, let alone their professional demeanor. I want to be an elementary school teacher. I feel I am smart enough (hello, I have a college degree – those do not grow on trees!), I also have the intuition and patience it takes to commandeer mass amounts of students at one time. From talking to different people, that is not innate to most adult, college educated individuals. Most people find other people’s kids annoying and would rather lose an arm then be stuck with 30 of them for 6 hours a day.
So why take these review tests? I mean, you should have had a grasp of general education when you graduated high school. Not only do I want to teach, and have to take the tests, (the CBEST as well!) I have to pay fees for each of them! What craziness! My family already paid my tuition and I graduated with honors – wasn’t that enough? The CSET cost over $200! It’s like I’m paying to be tortured by snobby Academics. Someone is making money off the fact that California needs teachers and taking it from poor grad-school hopefuls, like myself.
Okay – enough of being on my prissy soap box. This morning started at 6am. I made sure to have eggs and coffee and a shower. I was out the door with plenty of time to get to SFSU dressed in the recommended layers and soft-soled shoes. I go by SFSU’s exit on the 280 south everyday on my commute to work, but today I chose to follow NES’s driving directions. BAD IDEA! So I stayed on the 101 south and never found the 19 Avenue Exit and ended up in Burlingame! I was beyond mortified. I needed to be there at 7:30am on the dot. So I get off at one exit and could not find the 280 north only the 280 south. On the freeway still going south and agitated I call Chris, who wakes up to talk to me, now in tears. The next exit leads me to magically find North and I get to the campus right at 7:30! So I am running to the parking ticket machine to pay for my spot and one machine spits out my fiver, but, thank the LORD, the other machine takes it just fine.
Off to the races – now I am running around SFSU trying to find the HH building on my printed out map. When I get there there is no evidence of the CSET taking place. Looking at my test ticket thingy I totally misread the building and now running for building HSS.
Praise God, they let me in and I think the only people annoyed was everyone taking the test. I am usually one of those organized early birds looking down on the late, messed up life, kind of people. J Today I was a messed up person, but I got there and took the test!
The test in and of itself was complete “bollocks” (or “waste of time” for children under the age of 18 – my husband is polluting my vocabulary with British swear words!). I think I understood most of the questions. But the last written answer on Subtest II totally threw me and I thought the chart was not clearly marked. At first I wrote the NES test correctors a piece of my angered mind as my answer! And then after I calmed down while taking Subtest III, I had plenty of time to go back, erase my original “answear” and give the problem a shot. I hope they give credit for intelligent almost-the-right answers because I had forgotten the formula for probability. Bummer. But I was glad I could erase my previous written tirade about their ridiculous test and give it an intelligent try
Man, I hope the five hours of headache inducing test taking gains me a career in teaching other people’s kids.

Sun in the City

2006-05-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! Happy spring time - I thought it would never get here. The spring brought many events, such as the fact that I got my butt in gear and applied to SFSU's Graduate school. I hope to get my multiple subject/special education teaching credentials together in one program! I get excited just writing about. We have decided to stay in San Francisco at the apartment we first rented. Chris still does not like that place too much - too many moths.
Also, Grandma Boots suffered a large stroke in her left frontal lobe and is now temporarily in a healthcare facility. Plans are in the works to find her a more familiar home to receive 24 hour care - maybe even in Mom's house!
May 6th was my birthday and we had a little party in Grandma's room and I think my favorite part was watching Grandma sing "Happy Birthday" to me! You have to understand that her speaking ability has greatly diminished even before this stroke. She cannot put whole sentences together and she was able to sing that whole song. This picture was taken this last Thanksgiving hosted in her Carmel home. We love you Gramma!
What does 26 supposed to feel like - well a lot like 25, I guess. No big thang except it is "my" day for a day. Chris did very well at spoiling me and I went out with Mom and Mike as well.
Talking about "birth" days - Lara had her baby, yay! Little baby Harper is doing just fine and was born weighing 8lbs. 4ozs. Visit their website for some awesome pics and videos!

Big Brudda

2006-02-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, but I cannot take credit for the title because it comes from homestarrunner.com and the Strongbad email about "Lil' Brudda." Let me know if you find the exact email that it's on.
About "brudda's" - I have one and he's pretty cool, so before I forget again or life gets in the way; here is his personal blog. Mike is the best ol' brudda around! He is an animator and a pretty good one. Here is his production blog for Time and Time Again, his latest and greatest project! Yay!

Mike is cool and Mike is great
When dinner is made he's never late
He likes his latte's and his capachinos, too
When it comes to makin' coffee's he ain't be no FOO!
Love you Micheal!

Isn't Work Fun?

2006-02-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone! Here is Mr. Chris hard at work. I (Christy) have this week off and it has been less than fun. My car's in the shop again (play those violins darn-it!), and I have this funky flu thing, but other than that I'm just bored. I know it's childish to be bored, but I can't do a whole lot without tranportation and living in the suburbs.
On to other positive things: Chris wears goggles - can you see the lines on his face in this picture?
Also, I have a few favorite things to share. Number #1 is Cute Overload. A blog devoted to all things adorable. This has been recommended to me by Brother Mike. And even guy approved. I stick to showing Mr. Chris the pictures of the cats and kittens exclusively.
For your laugh-out-loud reading enjoyment I highly recommend David Sedaris' many memoirs. My favorite so far is Me Talk Pretty One Day.
For those SNL fans or just people who like funny music, please check this rap link out - The Chronic (What?) cles of Narnia!
About our Christmas trip to Cambridge - it rocked. We had a shopping day in London, and adventure in Wales (Did you know they have this crazy language? It was like visiting another country with all their signs in another language.) We also got some good Mum time in and some relaxation. On Christmas day we sent some time with the family and played hours of video games with the nieces and nephews (I wanted to type cousins because all my cousins are their age.).

A new Malone family member!

2006-01-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

We're very happy to announce that there is finally going to be a new member of the Malone family! Drumroll... It's Smally! Christy very bravely asked our neighbours if we could adopt their cat and they agreed!

Pumpkin Update

2005-11-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

Here's what happened to our Half Moon Bay Pumpkins. High Five!

Wookie

2005-10-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

I spotted this wookie on our porch the other morning. 'WRAGH!' in wookie means 'I have just regurgitated some saliva/grass stuff onto you porch'.

Half Moon Bay

2005-10-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

We went to Half Moon bay to visit a pumpkin patch last weekend. Word has it that local celebrities 50 Cent, Ja Rule and the gay one out of Will and Grace all buy their pumpkins at the patch we visited. Apparently 50 Cent enjoys making pumpkin pie for his homies after he's finished 'carving out a phat dope new stankin pumpkin style in da club'. Go 50 in the house indeed!!!

Hey! Think you can see really well? Do you?! Well try and spot Christy in the picture if you're so good at seeing (click it and zoom in). If you do spot her can you see her eyes are all funny? (Not like you with your clever eyes). We laughed when we saw how funny her eyes looked, maybe you will too! Or maybe not.

At about this time I would like to quote a few lines from 50 Cents latest release ' I love @#$%*&@ pumpkins' :

Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go

Pumpkins are fresh, but don't mess with mines
In da club rhyming, I sometimes forget my lines
I lost my watch, excuse me but whats da times?
What's his name outta Will and Grace better not touch my behinds

In da patch yo, I'm in da patch
I'm in da patch yo, in da patch
I'm in da patch yo, in da patch
Gonna go home and bake a fresh pumpkin pie batch

Maybe next year we will see you at the pumpkin patch, you never know who you may see there... (I would bet either Christy in between some pumpkins or 50 Cent).

Baby Nation

2005-09-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

Is another Baby-boom happening or is it just my imagination? Maybe in rural California there’s nothing better to do than copulate. Or family rearing is the newest hobby of most of the people I work around and have as friends. To give you a few examples: I’m presently knitting a baby’s blanket for my sister-in-law, Kirsty, who is due shortly. Trebeca, a close friend, just had a healthy baby girl – Go Talia!!!

At the elementary school I work at you’d think you can catch pregnancy like the common cold the way those mom’s pop out those kids! Like, this one little first grader, his mom had a 12-pounder three weeks ago! Armed with a adorable photo, this boy told the whole class how they had to “rip him out!” This explanation came complete with hand motions, making me laugh out loud, yet cringe at the same time. I mean, think about it folks, having a 12 pound baby is like giving birth to two babies at one time. Ouch.
I have to say it is a very beautiful baby; complete with chubby cheeks and thunder thighs (I mean it looks like it’s 3 months old!).
Chris did do something for the first time yesterday; HE was the one pointing out a baby to ME in Safeway and not the other way around. This baby was exceptionally cute and had ears that stuck out, so Chris felt they had a connection; Monkey ears.
The kicker in this baby-based blog is that TODAY my best friend Lara called and told me she was preggers, too! Something has to be in the water. She claims a romantic trip to Italy did the trick.
All I have to say is that I’ll never be out of a job as long as it’s working with the little people, ah, I mean the kids. Love, Christy

2005-07-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

17 mile drive beach

2005-07-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

Mums/moms in the city

And then came Mum

2005-07-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the trip we took both the M.I.L's to the City and did the tourist thing. That was nice. My mom is a very cheerful and talkative - making a great hostess. Chris' mom also was taken to the Wincester Mystery House and then we made the drive to Carmel to visit Grandmama.
On the second week of her visit, Chris and I took Heather back to our home in Chico. Our "duplers," Luke and Beth, were away on vacation, so Heather had their place all to herself. It was nice being back in our own house as well. Chris did do most of the tourist things with his mum while I had to continue on with my swim instructing and tutoring. We had fun time seeing a Circus and at Lassen Park. Life goes on with hot weather, looking for more work, and just having a blast with Mr. Chris (he's a bestest!).

Volcano

2005-04-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

We took a drive to Lassen Volcanic Park today, which is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Lassens ancestral stratovolcano Mount Tehama was envisioned to be some 11 miles wide at its base before collapsing. It's a shame its caldera was breached and no lake formed, but thats bloody Plate Tectonics for you.

We got very excited because there was snow there (check the pics below), they also had some cool hot springs(!), which were releasing a strong smell of sulphur into the air (or maybe that was from last nights curry).

2005-04-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Mrs Chris gets excited

2005-04-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Mr Chris gets excited

Jedi Knight

2005-04-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

If I were a Jedi knight
And somebody started a fight
I'd laugh and say alright
Then Jedi mind trick them 'I don't want to fight'

If I were a Jedi knight
And it was late at night
And somebody mocked my height
I'd jedi mind trick them 'this jedi is not small, I've made an oversight'

If I were a Jedi knight
And I booked an international flight (economy class)
But when I sat down in those small seats my pants were to tight
I'd alter them to make them more comfortable by using my sabre-light

If I were a Jedi knight
And I lost my voting right (Due to having moved to a different county to that in which I normally voted, and then having waited to long to register an out of county vote)
I'd get very uptight
And not be very polite (until I realised it was my own silly fault, then I'd apologise just like Yoda would have taught me)

If I were a Jedi Knight
And got a mosquito bite
Whilst fixing my ultraviolet light (for wiping Eproms)
I'd go crazy nuts on that mosquito, then feel a little contrite (not the Jedi way)

Smally - The neighbourhood cat

2005-04-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

This cat visits us on the regular. When it rains she likes to collect as many worms as possible and put them on our doorstep - er thanks Smally.

For the love of reading!

2005-04-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

Books are lovely and if you read a lot of intellegent books your vocabulary grows! Some of Mrs. Chris' book picks are as follows:

Not Much Just Chillin': the hidden lives of middle schoolers by Linda Perlstein
->Fanastic look inside today's tweenie-culture. Fact is always more interesting than fiction!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
-> A great gift from Grandma Rice! I could not put down this piece of fiction about a boy with autism (it never actually labels him with the disorder in the book).

Jane Eyre by Charolette Bronte
-> A truely classic love story that I read in spite of my college course work.

Happy reading!

Wedding Photographs

2005-03-31T17:02:00.000-08:00

Yes! You now can view some of our fabulous wedding photographs online:

Dancing Barefoot Photography

Bloody fantastic!

Chocolate

2005-03-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

An ode to chocolate:

I like chocolate
In my tum
I like chocolate
Yum yum yum
I like chocolate
Give me some
I like chocolate
Its my chum

Green Card Interview

2005-03-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Tuesday, March 1st, Chris and I drove down to good 'ol Sack-O-Tomato's and went to our (or his, I should say) Green Card interview. We envisioned being separated and interagated by immigration officials. In reality we both were invited in by a middle-aged woman who used to live in Chico. With that I just chatted away about our Chico life and other little bits of info that might solidify the authentisity of our wedded union. Chris and I joked about bringing in our camera into the interview so we could take a group pic of Chris, the interviewer, and I. We could have added to our Newlywed scrapbook (yet to be started, BTW). Note: You are actually not allowed cameras and not even a camera cell phone in the Immigration building. :)
Another interesting insight into my world is that I am now treating a second case of an Urinary Tract Infection due to the fact that I was resistant to the first antibiotics perscribed to me last week. And so, in the wee hours of the morning yesterday, I was woken up by this painful ailment and was one of the first people at Immediate Care. Hopefully, I will be 100% in a week with new treatment. Lucky me had to drive an hour and a half to Sacramento with a UTI - what irony.

I hope all is well with you,
Mrs. C

Venice Beach

2005-02-19T23:14:00.000-08:00

Chris and Chris at Venice Beach, LA - 12 Feb 05.

Our first blog

2005-02-19T22:44:00.000-08:00

Hey! Now you family and friends can see what's going on with the Malone's through the fabulous technology of the internet! Yay! blog-on! Here's some of the latest (for reals):

Hopefully some time very soon, Chris won't be plagued by "So, what do you do?" questions and will have a position at a local tech company. Bol!
Christy is still a one-on-one aide at Sierra View - her fav joblette! Go kindergarten!
We have secured a fab rental just blocks away from Downtown. It's the smaller half of duplex - a lot of character and neighborhood cats to spare!
Keep logging on for wedding pics, and other weird facts about being newly-wed!

love you!