Friday
Miss J's class spent the week learning how to classify bugs. Insects have X body parts and Y legs. Arachnids have X body parts and Y legs. And so on. I don't remember covering this much in depth information until sixth grade, but that might be faulty memory. Yesterday was spider day. In typical fashion, they expanded classroom learning into practical application. They transformed the entire playground into a gigantic spiderweb and let each child play the role of spider. The "spider" was blindfolded and had to catch the other insects "caught" in the web using the vibrations of the web guidelines. What fun, a non-moving game of tag. Of course, they covered many other subjects during the week, but this is the one that captured my imagination.
The classrooms are filled with various animals: birds, fish, reptiles, etc. Mr. Moo, an adorable guinea pig, is the 1st - 3rd grade mascot. He goes home with a different child each weekend, and we finally signed up to host Mr. Moo this week. In addition to tending to his care, the responsibility also involves writing in a journal about the adventures of the weekend. We've already taken over a dozen pictures of Johnna and Mr. Moo, and she wants to post them all in the paper journal. I believe she thinks posting photos will somehow get her out of writing about the weekend. If so, she'll be sorely disappointed.
After class yesterday, the professor walked as far as the elevator with a group of us lowly students. This is the same history professor who causes such great anxiety when writing for, the one who taught at an Ivy League institution before coming down to Georgia. I forget how it came up, but I expressed this anxiety when writing for him. He stopped short and said, Angel, I've seen your writing and it's very, very good. I almost fell over. Did I just hear him say that???? Hmmm, maybe he was experiencing a weak moment. Regardless, my week was made.
Although I didn't fall over at the moment, it was only a matter of time. I took Johnna to an auto parts store to select a birthday present Martin had expressed interest in receiving. We don't get very far into the store until Miss J isn't watching where she's walking and slams into an aisle display case. One of the protruding metal arms scratches her arm, leaves a red welt, but doesn't break the skin. An employee asks if we need help and takes us to point out the item, on the bottom shelf. I squat down to look at all the choices and retrieve one from the shelf. I'm looking to see if this fits our car and have to look over the top of my glasses to do so (ultra-fine print, listing every model and year) The clerk offers a magnifying glass. I have to reach up and around to grab the glass - while squatting on the floor. Johnna stands so close behind me her knees are pressed into my back. The twisting move unstabilizes me, I begin to teeter, have both hands occupied, and can't put either down on the floor because I'll crush Johnna's foot. Only choice left? Butt hits the floor. It gets worse. Since I must stop the backward momemtum so as not take out Johnna, the legs pop forward. I'm laughing, Johnna's laughing and the clerk, an older gentleman, looks mortified, but helps me up. (He probably realizes the mistake he made forcing me to twist around to accept his offer.) It's fairly certain the staff was happy to see the two walking disasters exit the store.
The day Martin was laid off he called all our creditors to make arrangements for payments. With the exception of one credit card creditor, they all either deferred or reduced payments for a specified period of time. The exception to this also carries the highest monthly payment, and sure enough, the account fell behind. It was tough, but a couple of weeks ago I managed to bring the account current. They sent a special congratulatory letter. In it they mentioed all the extra accumulated fees would be re-adjusted and/or dropped, which irritates me because they could have done this to begin with. Oh, but how the times have changed when creditors write letters congradulating people for fulfilling their obligations. Next, they'll begin sending separate monthly thank you notes. I think the credit card companies are hurting. Maybe this would be an excellent time to place calls with the bunch of them to negotiate better interest rates.
Fun Fridays!
The classrooms are filled with various animals: birds, fish, reptiles, etc. Mr. Moo, an adorable guinea pig, is the 1st - 3rd grade mascot. He goes home with a different child each weekend, and we finally signed up to host Mr. Moo this week. In addition to tending to his care, the responsibility also involves writing in a journal about the adventures of the weekend. We've already taken over a dozen pictures of Johnna and Mr. Moo, and she wants to post them all in the paper journal. I believe she thinks posting photos will somehow get her out of writing about the weekend. If so, she'll be sorely disappointed.
After class yesterday, the professor walked as far as the elevator with a group of us lowly students. This is the same history professor who causes such great anxiety when writing for, the one who taught at an Ivy League institution before coming down to Georgia. I forget how it came up, but I expressed this anxiety when writing for him. He stopped short and said, Angel, I've seen your writing and it's very, very good. I almost fell over. Did I just hear him say that???? Hmmm, maybe he was experiencing a weak moment. Regardless, my week was made.
Although I didn't fall over at the moment, it was only a matter of time. I took Johnna to an auto parts store to select a birthday present Martin had expressed interest in receiving. We don't get very far into the store until Miss J isn't watching where she's walking and slams into an aisle display case. One of the protruding metal arms scratches her arm, leaves a red welt, but doesn't break the skin. An employee asks if we need help and takes us to point out the item, on the bottom shelf. I squat down to look at all the choices and retrieve one from the shelf. I'm looking to see if this fits our car and have to look over the top of my glasses to do so (ultra-fine print, listing every model and year) The clerk offers a magnifying glass. I have to reach up and around to grab the glass - while squatting on the floor. Johnna stands so close behind me her knees are pressed into my back. The twisting move unstabilizes me, I begin to teeter, have both hands occupied, and can't put either down on the floor because I'll crush Johnna's foot. Only choice left? Butt hits the floor. It gets worse. Since I must stop the backward momemtum so as not take out Johnna, the legs pop forward. I'm laughing, Johnna's laughing and the clerk, an older gentleman, looks mortified, but helps me up. (He probably realizes the mistake he made forcing me to twist around to accept his offer.) It's fairly certain the staff was happy to see the two walking disasters exit the store.
The day Martin was laid off he called all our creditors to make arrangements for payments. With the exception of one credit card creditor, they all either deferred or reduced payments for a specified period of time. The exception to this also carries the highest monthly payment, and sure enough, the account fell behind. It was tough, but a couple of weeks ago I managed to bring the account current. They sent a special congratulatory letter. In it they mentioed all the extra accumulated fees would be re-adjusted and/or dropped, which irritates me because they could have done this to begin with. Oh, but how the times have changed when creditors write letters congradulating people for fulfilling their obligations. Next, they'll begin sending separate monthly thank you notes. I think the credit card companies are hurting. Maybe this would be an excellent time to place calls with the bunch of them to negotiate better interest rates.
Fun Fridays!