A Different Kind of Day
High school students are fascinating! I spend most of my time with young children, but today I was a substitute teacher at a local high school. It started out great- the light bulb blew out immediately on the overhead projector, which caused some students to think that we were not going to have class. No such luck, dear teenagers- just work on your projects. I was in art class; I don't really know anything about art- my main concern was to make sure that no one left the room with an exacto knife- mission accomplished!
After I announced the assignments for the day I heard-
"I'm bored."
Ah, the back corner of the room- the boy slouching in his chair with his arms crossed. He was the one who had said "Who's that?" when I walked into the room, as if I couldn't hear him. I calmly told him to work on his shading or his sketchbook- of course, he had neither one with him....right. Well.....
"Find something to do."
"O.k. I'll read," and he picked up his Aquafina bottle and proceeded to "read".
I moved to a small math class for 4th hour, where I was promptly named "Miss G." because my name sounded too complicated to pronounce.
After lunch it was back to art class- more shading figures and another back row boy with nothing to do. He was enjoying his Ipod. At my prompting he retrieved his project. He then came and asked me if I knew how to draw- I laughed. I was not very helpful. Then he informed me that I smelled good. "You really do".......and he returned to his seat.
Well, I guess it's always nice to know whether you smell good or not.
Oh, here's a fashion tip from an observer of high school students:
Anything goes. If you want to wear shorts in November, go ahead. If you want to wear a black and white striped shirt with brown plaid pants, be my guest. Maybe a pair of furry pink boots- with a very miny denim skirt, of course. And you can do or not do your hair- it really doesn't matter.
I guess I must have just appeared to be an older person. There is obviously no such thing as "normal".
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
I try not to say stupid things in public. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen. I'm sure that many of my friends can think of particular instances when I've really messed up. In fact, at this moment 2 particular instances come to my mind, but I will refrain from writing about them. I will leave those moments to the people who experienced them with me.
But sometimes I hear other people say things and I wonder why they just can't think for a microsecond before speaking-especially when it's a complete stranger they are talking to.
When I'm out in public, I often have a child with me- it's part of my job. I take Nils to the grocery store or the pet store or the mall. We might be running an errand or just taking a field trip. But more than likely, someone is going to stop me and talk to me about whatever child I have with me and automatically assume that the child is mine. It happens all the time.
Sometimes I just go with the flow.
"Oh, what a cute son you have, " directed to me,
OR, "You sure must keep your mommy busy, " directed to the child.
I smile and keep walking. It's not really any of their business if the child is mine or not.
I remember once I was with Annika or Marta somewhere and somebody commented on how much they looked like me, which I thought was really odd because they do NOT even remotely look like me. I am not blond and not Swedish- I think the person had eye trouble or something.
Anyway, the other day Nils and I were at the mall. I took him to get his haircut, which was an experience in itself. Anyone walking by the salon probably wondered about the girl holding the very squirmy child still, as the child was loudly proclaiming, "You have to be still, you have to be still," and trying his hardest to get out of the chair. Just thinking about it makes me laugh- I really love that boy!
After the haircut, he was rewarded with a carousel ride at the Food Court. As he was finishing his ride, the lady said to me,
"Where on earth did you put him? You're so tiny."
I guess a comment like that should be taken as a compliment, but first of all, I was never actually pregnant- at any time- ever! O.k., so she was assuming that he was mine. But was she also assuming that he had just been born? Seriously, I wanted to say, "He didn't come out that way." He is 5 years old.
And who asks questions like that anyway- especially to a complete stranger?
Maybe it's not that weird, but it just seemed really weird to me.
But sometimes I hear other people say things and I wonder why they just can't think for a microsecond before speaking-especially when it's a complete stranger they are talking to.
When I'm out in public, I often have a child with me- it's part of my job. I take Nils to the grocery store or the pet store or the mall. We might be running an errand or just taking a field trip. But more than likely, someone is going to stop me and talk to me about whatever child I have with me and automatically assume that the child is mine. It happens all the time.
Sometimes I just go with the flow.
"Oh, what a cute son you have, " directed to me,
OR, "You sure must keep your mommy busy, " directed to the child.
I smile and keep walking. It's not really any of their business if the child is mine or not.
I remember once I was with Annika or Marta somewhere and somebody commented on how much they looked like me, which I thought was really odd because they do NOT even remotely look like me. I am not blond and not Swedish- I think the person had eye trouble or something.
Anyway, the other day Nils and I were at the mall. I took him to get his haircut, which was an experience in itself. Anyone walking by the salon probably wondered about the girl holding the very squirmy child still, as the child was loudly proclaiming, "You have to be still, you have to be still," and trying his hardest to get out of the chair. Just thinking about it makes me laugh- I really love that boy!
After the haircut, he was rewarded with a carousel ride at the Food Court. As he was finishing his ride, the lady said to me,
"Where on earth did you put him? You're so tiny."
I guess a comment like that should be taken as a compliment, but first of all, I was never actually pregnant- at any time- ever! O.k., so she was assuming that he was mine. But was she also assuming that he had just been born? Seriously, I wanted to say, "He didn't come out that way." He is 5 years old.
And who asks questions like that anyway- especially to a complete stranger?
Maybe it's not that weird, but it just seemed really weird to me.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Another Pumpkin Day
Well, last night Annika and I made a plan. It was time once again to make Pumpkin Cookies. We did it last year- mixed the dough, rolled it out, cut it with the big pumpkin cookie cutter- yum! So, today I went to work with the cookie cutter and some ingredients, and we prepared to make our cookies. Nils was even excited. These, of course, would be gluten free, casein free cookies so that everybody could eat them!
I took out the bowl and Annika helped me with the sugar, shortening and oil. She was standing on a chair by the counter and "reading" the cookbook to me- so cute! Then I went to grab 2 eggs- oops! There were no eggs in the fridge. Leave it to me to start the recipe without checking to make sure we had all the ingredients. Well, luckily for us, Mommy was at the grocery store, so we just had to wait for awhile to finish our project. We set the dough aside- out of the reach of little hands- and went upstairs. Annika still needed to get dressed for the day. We were in her room when I heard a little noise from downstairs. It sounded like somebody was going through a plastic bag. I knew right away that Nils must be in the kitchen messing with my bag of ingredients. Annika beat me down the stairs and quickly announced that Nils did not have our cookie mix. True, that was safe; and when I looked over at my bag of stuff, all appeared to be well. Nils was not in view. I walked through the kitchen and dining room, and then I saw him: he was in the sun room with my empty bag of xanthan gum ( a necessary ingredient for gluten free baking). The floor was covered with the powder-like substance, and he was rubbing it around with his hands - and smiling.
I walked over and grabbed him by the hand with a very displeased look on my face. Annika went and grabbed the hand vac and started cleaning up. I retrieved the second hand vac from the t.v. room and made Nils help her, and of course, gave him a lecture on not messing with things. By this time, Mommy was coming home with the eggs, but it was time for Annika to go to music class. So Nils and I went to the Pumpkin Patch to kill some time.
As soon as we returned, Annika was ready to finish the cookies. We finished mixing everything together, rolled out the dough, cut out beautiful pumpkin shapes, and put them in the oven. How exciting! We just had to wait for them to bake, frost them and eat them. I was craving a sugar cookie, and the kids were definitely ready for them.
As I was cleaning off the table, I turned and saw smoke pouring out of the oven. I grabbed a potholder and started fanning the smoke, wondering where the smoke detector was and how soon it would go off. Mommy had said that something had spilled in the oven, so I assumed that was the problem. (It happens to me all the time.) She came into the kitchen and looked at the dial on the oven, which happened to be set on BROIL. We instantly knew that a young boy named Nils had managed to change the dial without anybody noticing. He likes to push buttons and turn knobs. Our next problem was a stuck oven door. I had locked the oven so that Nils would not try to open it- unfortunately, no one could get it open. The oven was off, smoke was still pouring out of it, and the poor little pumpkins were dying inside.
We opened all the doors to let the smoke out. Daddy went to look for the instructions to the oven, Mommy went on kid patrol outside, and I helplessly stood in the kitchen, still waving the potholder. I really did not know what else to do at that point. I knew that something like this could only happen to me, and I so badly wanted a cookie, and to top it all off, every single cookie was in the oven! There was no more dough, and I was not about to make anymore.
Well, we finally were able to get the oven open. The black cookies were thrown outside, and when I left the house, the doors were still all wide open. Amazingly enough, the smoke alarm never did go off- probably because I am a fantastic "waver of the potholder". I told Annika we would make cookies another day. Thankfully, I was given the rest of the day off.
Well, last night Annika and I made a plan. It was time once again to make Pumpkin Cookies. We did it last year- mixed the dough, rolled it out, cut it with the big pumpkin cookie cutter- yum! So, today I went to work with the cookie cutter and some ingredients, and we prepared to make our cookies. Nils was even excited. These, of course, would be gluten free, casein free cookies so that everybody could eat them!
I took out the bowl and Annika helped me with the sugar, shortening and oil. She was standing on a chair by the counter and "reading" the cookbook to me- so cute! Then I went to grab 2 eggs- oops! There were no eggs in the fridge. Leave it to me to start the recipe without checking to make sure we had all the ingredients. Well, luckily for us, Mommy was at the grocery store, so we just had to wait for awhile to finish our project. We set the dough aside- out of the reach of little hands- and went upstairs. Annika still needed to get dressed for the day. We were in her room when I heard a little noise from downstairs. It sounded like somebody was going through a plastic bag. I knew right away that Nils must be in the kitchen messing with my bag of ingredients. Annika beat me down the stairs and quickly announced that Nils did not have our cookie mix. True, that was safe; and when I looked over at my bag of stuff, all appeared to be well. Nils was not in view. I walked through the kitchen and dining room, and then I saw him: he was in the sun room with my empty bag of xanthan gum ( a necessary ingredient for gluten free baking). The floor was covered with the powder-like substance, and he was rubbing it around with his hands - and smiling.
I walked over and grabbed him by the hand with a very displeased look on my face. Annika went and grabbed the hand vac and started cleaning up. I retrieved the second hand vac from the t.v. room and made Nils help her, and of course, gave him a lecture on not messing with things. By this time, Mommy was coming home with the eggs, but it was time for Annika to go to music class. So Nils and I went to the Pumpkin Patch to kill some time.
As soon as we returned, Annika was ready to finish the cookies. We finished mixing everything together, rolled out the dough, cut out beautiful pumpkin shapes, and put them in the oven. How exciting! We just had to wait for them to bake, frost them and eat them. I was craving a sugar cookie, and the kids were definitely ready for them.
As I was cleaning off the table, I turned and saw smoke pouring out of the oven. I grabbed a potholder and started fanning the smoke, wondering where the smoke detector was and how soon it would go off. Mommy had said that something had spilled in the oven, so I assumed that was the problem. (It happens to me all the time.) She came into the kitchen and looked at the dial on the oven, which happened to be set on BROIL. We instantly knew that a young boy named Nils had managed to change the dial without anybody noticing. He likes to push buttons and turn knobs. Our next problem was a stuck oven door. I had locked the oven so that Nils would not try to open it- unfortunately, no one could get it open. The oven was off, smoke was still pouring out of it, and the poor little pumpkins were dying inside.
We opened all the doors to let the smoke out. Daddy went to look for the instructions to the oven, Mommy went on kid patrol outside, and I helplessly stood in the kitchen, still waving the potholder. I really did not know what else to do at that point. I knew that something like this could only happen to me, and I so badly wanted a cookie, and to top it all off, every single cookie was in the oven! There was no more dough, and I was not about to make anymore.
Well, we finally were able to get the oven open. The black cookies were thrown outside, and when I left the house, the doors were still all wide open. Amazingly enough, the smoke alarm never did go off- probably because I am a fantastic "waver of the potholder". I told Annika we would make cookies another day. Thankfully, I was given the rest of the day off.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
The Pumpkin Patch
I made my annual trek to the Pumpkin Patch last Saturday with Nils and my brother, Will. Nils absolutely loved it! I think his favorite thing was the "big mouth". He ran in and out of it many times! We even went through the Haunted Shed, and he did great. It's a pretty scary walk for a little kid- I ended up carrying him, mainly because I was afraid I'd lose him otherwise. We had a great time , and I'm sure we'll be going back again soon!
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