April 13

The ancient hero Hercules proved his strength by singlehandedly cleaning up some notoriously filthy stables. What is your claim to fame in the annals of cleaning? What monumental cleaning task did you take part in? What impossible stain did you expunge? What epic mess did you clean up? This week's theme is dirty and clean.


Monumental cleaning tasks...  besides my kid's playroom?  :)  


When I was in college I went on a Habitat for Humanity service trip to Camden New Jersey. It was an amazing week, in so many ways.  We were rehabbing crumbling townhouses-- pouring concrete for soffitts, rebuilding brick walls... and cleaning.  Taking out the debris of decades, boards and nails and dust dust dust.  Glowing through the dust was the promise of new life-- for the people who worked side by side with us toward their dream of a home-- and for the house itself.  For those beautiful old bones still standing tall, for those arched windows with their proud proportions, narrow rooms and the way the light slanted in.  Sweeping those floors, I fell in love with the intoxicating promise of renovation, vision of glory rising out of the decay.  I've never looked at old houses the same way since. 

August 9 and 10

Which would suit you better: working in a place where everything is perfectly clean and tidy, or working in a place where making a mess is accepted or even part of the job? This week's theme is dirty and clean.

I love working in a place of cleanliess and order, surrounded by peaceful clear surfaces, bright colors, filtered sunlight and modern design.  

That said, I am sadly not a tidy person.  I am piler and a procrastinator and I can barely keep my desk clean for a moment.  I would probably do well in a place where a mess is part of the job, particularly is the space is designed for such messes.  An art studio, for instance.  My classroom, sadly, is not one of those spaces.  And so I will continue to strive, and rearrange my piles, seeking order. 

What the dirtiest or messiest room in your home right now? And what's the cleanest or tidiest room? This week's theme is dirty and clean.

Right now??? After two trips to IKEA in one weekend (don't ask)??  This is a tough question.

Right now the cleanest room is the living room, as long as you don't look toward the foyer where we've gathered the detris of a lot of furniture assembly.  We've very recently moved, removed, assembled, moved, removed, and reassembled a number of couches here, and so the floor has had a chance to be swept and mopped in places it didn't know existed.  The new couch, finally happy in its spot, is raised on legs with a space underneath to showcase future dustbunnies for all the world to see.  Somehow, I am imagining that this will keep the room cleaner...?

DIrtiest place?  As always and usual, the basement.  I still harbor a secret dream of just backfilling the entire basement with concrete.  A slab foundation would be preferable to the pit of doom we currently have under our house.  Barring that drastic measure, I also dream of a day wherein I remove every nonessential item that is not stored neatly in a rubbermaid, and paint all the walls and the floor a uniform glossy grey.  Somehow, I am imagining that this would keep the basement cleaner....

A girl can dream.

April 8

Tell us a story about a time long ago when you helped plant something, such as a vegetable crop, a tree, or flowers. Who were you with? What did you plant? And were you around later to watch it grow?


An appropriate question for this Easter day, in this season of new life and growing things. 


I am thinking of the day last summer, at the Botanical Gardens with the kids... in the magical Hershey's children's garden.  There was a potting bench set up, with young plants and seedlings in soft pots, and a bed of turned earth nearby, all child height.  A chalkboard proclaimed in whimsical lettering that we were to plant, or pot; leave, or take.  We dug and placed and watered, sunk our fingers into dark rich soil, side by side with other  polite and lovely young ones, each so very excited to dig up a plant and put in in a pot, to cradle the roots and water them, to gather them and choose them and even take them home.


We didn't take our plants.  We left them to continue their back and forth journey, to bring light into children's eyes.

April 5

We always prefer to avoid frustration — or do we? There are many puzzles, games, and sports challenges that are deliberately packed full of obstacles, and we enjoy them all the more. What are some "frustrating" forms of recreation that you enjoy? And what's the difference that makes some experiences aggravations and others entertainment?


Apparently, I am really serious about avoiding frustration.  No seriously.  I am having a hard time thinking of any of those "puzzles, games and sports challenges" that I actively enjoy. Perhaps its simply that I  Sports of choice?  Solitary, things I'm good at, smooth.  Swimming, biking, running (but not too far), skiing (no moguls, thank you very much....)  I don't like games; though I'll play them now, especially at my son's behest, I wouldn't choose a competitive game on my own accord.  Video games, puzzles, logic games, brain teasers-- all well and good as long as there's no penalty for just "taking a break" when frustration kicks in.Being around other people?  Lovely as long as they all agree with me and don't frustrate me with banality or offensive comments...  I prefer to stick to activities, conversations, jobs, hobbies that come easily to me, smooth sailing, obstacle free, firmly in my own control.


That's the secret to it all, isn't it?  Turns out maybe I'm not an introverted perfectionist after all..


I just have frustration-phobia.

April 4

What is one thing other people find enormously frustrating that you can tolerate with no problem? Do you sometimes do this particular thing as a favor for other people, in order to spare them frustration?




I really don't mind cleaning the bathroom.  In fact, I get rather an inordinate amount of satisfaction from a clean toilet, and keeping up with it myself is a lot easier than waiting for it to happen on its own.  To tell the truth, I am not sure that other people find this task "frustrating", per se (other people, in this case, mainly being Nat)-- but I do hear that people find it to be distasteful.  I'd certainly take this chore over cleaning a litterbox, that is for sure.


I am perfectly fine with paperwork.  I even enjoy writing IEP's and progress reports and data summaries and evaluations (provided, of course, that I have the time to focus on them.I enjoy crafting the words, capturing ideas and strengths and the very essence of a child succinctly and with respect.   I'd love to help other people with their paperwork if time allowed, actually... a full time job writing IEP's, with occasional moments of teaching reading 1-1 with students.... sigh....


Working with my students.  I have heard other people say they couldn't do it, they don't have the patience, etc.... I am not sure I've got all that much patience myself-- but somehow I get more of it when I am teaching my kids.  Somehow that element of being truly needed kicks in and it almost doesn't matter what they throw at me, I can handle it and figure it out.  The frustrations come after.  Or because of adults.  But rarely because of my kids.  I suppose, in a way, I am doing the school a favor by creating a haven for these children so that frustrations can be lessened, just a tiny bit, for the other teachers at the school.  Anything I can do!  Personally I think I've got the best gig going....

April 3

Today's question:

Was there a period of your life that had a slow, maddening progress, a time that you were just counting the days until it was over? What was impeding you, and how did it end?


Waiting in lines. I feel there is an incredible injustice to waiting in lines. No one should have to spend such a significant portion of their lives just... waiting.  


Beyond that?  


Slogging my way through the online course I took on behavior modification.  Interminable.  It could have been that I was also dealing with a 4 month old baby and a 3 year old boy and teaching, all while trying to listen to lectures given by a video-taped man who strongly resembled a frog.  But it was among the driest material I have ever spent time learning, and it seemed a long, long time before I finished that class...

A new month....

Well, March was a bit of a wash.

It's difficult to go to bed early when the weather is so delicious, you know?

And it's difficult to stick to a diet when on vacation with two small children.  So there.  I have excuses.

But, it is April!

And I have just now, just this very minute, decided on a 30 day challenge.  I follow a blog, Ten Thousand Questions, which is updated daily by its very dedicated author, who poses interesting questions based on a weekly theme.  So, there at the top of my blogroll, every day, is a new question.

For the month of April, I am going to answer them.

I am looking forward to the focused act of writing that this will bring on, as well as the chance to explore unexpected topics beyond my usual sphere of home and school and children...

Today's question: 

What are some otherwise worthwhile things that you avoid because of the likelihood of running into difficulties and frustrations? This week's theme is frustrations. 

Frustrations!  An appropriate theme as frustrations come every minute some days...  This evening I avoided any further shopping at Target due to the likelihood of being frustrated by my exceedingly whiny children... but I am not sure that counts as "otherwise worthwhile"....

But here are things I do avoid:

Washing the windows
Painting the trim of the house
Getting the playroom organized
Applying for new jobs
Committing to a program of study (any one!) to further my future
Attempting to finish/publish any completed piece of writing