How I Spent My Saturday...

. . .fighting for my job. Mostly behind the camera, where I am increasingly more comfortable. My mom, my picketing partner in crime, did snap one pic of me. It's included on the bottom to prove that I was there.

As for the rally itself, this was a gathering orchestrated by the VEA, the Orange County chapter I believe. The Commonwealth is looking to make some significant cuts in education- to the tune of 1 in 6 teachers being laid off.

Hard to swallow. Hope we were able to make a difference. We're not going to take it anymore! Forget the whales, Save the Teachers!*

(Above: one of the many reasons I love my mother.)

*Please keep saving the whales; I was just trying to make a point.

Resting, resting, rested

Ahhh... another three day weekend. This time, no snow was involved. Thank you all Presidents present and past; thank you thinking that an extra day home with my adorable baby muffin is patriotic. I loved this weekend, luuuuuuv'd it.

Aside from all of the kisses and snuggling and Olympic games watching, there was some reality.

Didn't touch my school work until nap time today, but I crunched four hours of work into two. Planning for three grade levels and three different subject areas is really taking a toll. With our major testing (NCLB driven) rapidly approaching, I am losing sleep at night. The stress is ridiculous.

After I hammered out my weekly plans, I headed to the dentist. My mouth is still too sore to eat Chex; that's telling you something. Cleaning went well, that's until the floss appeared! Dun-dun-dun. My teeth are tight, super, super tight. I have to use specialty floss. Scout's honor. However, the hygienist didn't believe me, and she just powered through. Amazingly, my watering eyes and rupturing gums weren't clue enough. Oh- and I gave her a heads up before she started. Just like I posted on facebook... next time, I am establishing a "safe word" before the cleaning starts.

But school woes and achy gums aside, I am super rested right now. Two naps snagged over the weekend. Slept in late. It was much needed.

The Green Shoes Film Festival

Eat your heart out Robert Redford; Sundance has nothing on the Green Shoes Film Festival. I am expecting to hear from IFC any day now. Just Kidding, but if you e-mail me a video related to the this topic, I will post it if the clip is family friendly!

Lovin' Spoonful

(Bill Cosby would be proud of all of this Jell-O product placement. Frazzle-snazzle!)

Good thing Miles can walk on his own now; Jesse refused to carry him to the bath tub. Oddly enough, Miles is not the only one with some sensory/ tactile issues in our house. Dada has some major reservations about gooey substances, i.e. pudding, finger paint, lotion, etc. Think I might develop a sensory diet for the elder one, too. Obviously, Miles is making major progress in this department. What you don't see is kiddo rocking out in the rice box during his therapy session. This week, my kitchen floor looked like an impromptu wedding was held there. A wedding where rice was used instead of birdseed. Maybe I could do some subversive techniques with Jesse, like hiding rice in his gloves. Hmmm.... maybe I am onto something, surprise therapy! Wait, isn't that called an intervention?

Regardless, Miles is turning into a spoon master. He's much chiller when he's calling the culinary shots, and I am more than happy to indulge him in this department.

And, on an unrelated note, in one month and one day, Miles will be 2 years old! Woo-hoo!

Still our favorite jamz

Tonight's pre-bath dance performance.

Expanding my horizons

I'm now adding some of my nature goodies to Weather Underground. Click here to see my first posting. My mom had the suggestion, and I had the free time (snow day #2) to upload. Hopefully, I will keep this one up unlike Flicr, Twitter, Picnik...

Funny thing about Twitter- it's been so long since I last tweeted that I have completely forgotten my user id and log-in info. Even funnier, people (absolute strangers at this point) are still signing up to follow me. Ha! And I've got nothing to tweet about, in that I never got the point of following randomness. Don't get me wrong, I love a good blog, but I don't need micro-updates. That's just a little too much virtual reality on my plate. Clearly, I am lacking in cool points in the technology-age department, but I did ask the birthday genie to put my name on the iPad list.

Doggy time, mommy time, wasting time

So, I am supposed to be finishing up my lesson plans right now. However, I am so distracting by wanting to know if tomorrow is another free day from school. Yes, I know that the Great Cosmic Magnet will only swing my way if I am over-prepared and get my lessons done before lunch, before the phone tree sets into motion. But dang it, the kids are all playing outside; the sounds of their racing sleds make putting together my plans near impossible. This is a classic case of the tortoise and the hare, in that the tortoise is moving as such a slow pace he's now frozen to the road, and the hare has just raced past all the kids outside, knocked them down, hi-jacked their sled and is having a blast on the massive hill, which is also called my street! Ugh...

Anyways, some final goodies from Winter White Stuff Blast-Out 2010. Bet I could score a job at the Weather Channel with such talent for naming "storms." Enjoy.

Rajah employs a sneak attack when Liloo is otherwise occupied. Cheap shot, Raj.

Rajah, asking nicely to come inside.

King of our Backyard Winter Wonderland.

Woo-hoo, let's hear it for snow days!

He's as squeeze-able as he looks. No false advertising here!