We Should Probably Post Something...

so here are some random thoughts and updates...

Sergio is going to make an appearance in court tomorrow. As a lawyer. In case there was any confusion.

A student shook my soda today and my first thought was that a wet willy would do this kid some good. I did not act on that thought. Instead I told him his apology wasn't worth anything and broke his spirit. Job well done.

Eliot loves his carrot. A lot. SQUEEK!

If you want to see the rest of our pictures from spring break, or the new car, we loaded them into flickr. Link on the side of the page.

Wild Dogs. Burned Out Pre-teens. Same Difference.

To choose to become a teacher is to choose to count down to summer for the rest of your life. I have realized over the last couple of weeks that even if you know you aren't going to be having a kid-like summer vacation, you will still look forward to that last day of school like a giddy ten year old. And if you wonder why, let me have you imagine what it is like to try to harness 28 to 33 raging hyenas on a daily basis and make them learn about medieval Europe. Not possible and a bit dangerous.

Just over two and a half weeks to go...
unless you go by just school days because then it is 13 and half days...
but I have to miss two days for a wedding in Georgia so...11 1/2...
and I forgot about memorial day so now we are down to 10 1/2...
which means just 84 hours.

and I think I can deal with that.

Jumanji: I'll Yell It Three Times If You Don't Read This

Dawn's next 25:

1. Get to a point in my life where I never have to take another math test ever again. And I really mean never again this time.
2. Own a horse
3. Beat Sergio at the game of Risk
4. Play golf well enough not to wonder why people play golf
5. Vacation on a sail boat
6. Really take up photography as a hobby
7. Go to a costume party
8. Have my teeth professionally whitened on a regular basis
9. Have both medical and dental insurance
10. Read the Little House On the Prairie Series to my kids
11. Conquer my fear of the telephone
12. Host a dinner party
13. Go to a spa
14. Eat at a Michelin rated restaurant
15. Sit on a porch swing and watch a storm...as often as possible
16. Kayak
17. Have an old-fashioned photo made with Sergio (like in Branson!)
18. Scuba dive
19. Ride in a hot air balloon that is not still tethered to the ground
20. Research my family history
21. Love my child as much as we love Eliot
22. Not have to wear contacts/glasses anymore
23. Paint my home obnoxious colors just because I can
24. Take one change of clothes on a vacation and buy a new wardrobe along the way
25. Have one home/town in which my children are raised

Sergio's Next 25
1. Climb a fourteener
2. Write a book
3. Fly fish
4. Move Cattle
5. Adopt a child
6. Close my eyes in a field in Montana
7. Cook a meal for my parents and my in-laws, at the same time
8. Help my niece learn spanish
9. Help my niece remember me
10. Get to know my nephew
11. Get to know my next niece
12. Brew my own beer
13. Pray for everyone but myself
14. Enjoy a wheat beer while standing in direct sunlight
15. Gawk at my wife, again
16. Hug Eliot, again
17. Enjoy a pilsner while standing in direct sunlight
18. Explain 1984 to a child
19. Play in the world series of poker
20. Explain football to a child
21. Lose the world series of poker before I get cocky and think I could do that for a living
22. Stop moving
23. Wear a bow tie and suspenders with a vest
24. Get my hair cut once a week
25. Win a Criminal Trial

Some Like It Hot. Just Not Us.

It has been hot here since Thursday. Really hot. Since it so rarely gets hot in Portland none of the apartments have air conditioning. The best thing you can do in these situations is to leave home and find things to do in either shaded areas, the car, or air conditioned buildings. None of that is a problem for Sergio and me. If we get hot we go. Eliot, on the other hand, isn't welcome to that many public places and is also covered in heavy black fur. He has been visibly miserable for days. Panting, moving from linoleum surface to rock surface to linoleum surface, and draining his iced water over and over again. The few times he has tried to sit with us on a hot couch or bed he immediately rolls onto his back in front of a fan and whines. Good times. Yesterday, Sergio and I took action to help him out. We gave him a terrible haircut to give him some relief around his head, rode around in the car with the air conditioning on full blast and stopped by PetSmart. He chose a toy all by himself despite our best efforts at getting him interested in cooler things. Yup, it's a carrot. It squeaks.

Sergio and I decided to take advantage of the weather and go for a bike ride at Sauvie Island. It has this really popular 12 mile loop that is almost perfectly flat the whole way. If you come to Portland in the spring or summer it is worth going around the loop. It is almost like stepping back in time. Very agricultural, one school, one community church, a general store. Most of the rest of the island is a wildlife preserve. It would have been just lovely if we hadn't gotten lost. Instead of doing a nice little 12 mile loop we managed to do a 24 mile out and back. This might not be a big deal for someone else, but for a girl who has used every excuse she could since starting grad school to let herself get mostly out of shape and is still coming off of a chest congestion cold...it was pretty darn hard. Now that I am no longer on the bike I think I can admit that it was mostly fun.

Eight

Eight sounds very much like an adult on the phone, has sleepovers for her birthday party, and feels ready to ride a roller coaster that goes upside down...maybe.

We Wuv You, Moms

Is this how it was when we were growing up?

Movie Reviews

Sweeney Todd ♣♣
We didn't like it at all, but I think it did exactly what it was supposed to do so it gets a full two points. I suppose if you liked the story you would also like the movie.
I am Legend ♣♣♣
If you want to feel alternately nervous and sad for two hours then this is the movie for you.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall ♣♣♣½
Another Apatow and Crew creation. Pretty much always a recipe to make us happy.

And Like The Sands of Time So Are Our Law School Years

I finished my environmental law final this evening, and with it my second year of law school. I happy.

Whiney McWhinerson

So, I should be in class tonight. Instead I am surrounded by used tissues on my couch. I managed to catch this cold Friday morning just before I had to go to a class entitled Visual Metaphor that lasted all through the weekend. It turns out that it isn't a smart move to choose a class based solely on the date it is offered without reading the details.
Had I read the details I might have realized Visual Methaphor means "acting out fairy tales and fables in funny handmade masks." It also meant lots of work with scissors and construction paper, as well as, "Now everybody stand in a circle, squat, growl like a bear and stomp around the room." And then we acted like frogs. And then like royalty. And then my soul died.
Let me just say that there was no part of this class that made me happy except that it only lasted three days. The fact that every time I growled like a bear I then coughed and hacked for a good ten minutes only made it more awesome. I spent yesterday trying to sleep off this cold, but between you and me, I think I needed some of that time to recover from my weekend.

Picture below: This is the mask I made in class by smearing vaseline all over my head and then having cold, wet plaster stuck to my face. After that I added more plaster to the nose, cheeks, eyebrows, chin, and jowls to make it look like a grumpy old man. I think I succeeded at making it look like an old woman two weeks dead.Edited to add: This was a class I took for grad school credit with other adults, not something I did with my seventh graders. There was some confusion on that point.

Review of the Gospel

I'm so fully engrossed in my finals this week that I managed to finish this book today. A short review is in order. I liked it, not because it was a good book, but because it was about an interesting topic, the religion of the founding fathers and by proxy our country. How's that for short, anyways it's worth a read, if your interested.

Memorable quote
"As in so many things, the wise American president can learn much from Lincoln, who once told some visiting ministers that he did not worry whether God was on his side or not, 'for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right.' It was, Lincoln said, 'my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."

My Administrative Law Final is Over

Two down, one to go. Meanwhile Dawn made a paper mache face mask today. She also learned to do improv, and if you know Dawn you realize how much worse her day was than mine.