Northern Noise

Children make me laugh. At work, and at home. Today my soon to be 9th grader and her buddy came to school with me with the task of moving LOTS of books, and LOTS of bookshelves. Not a fun job, especially with heat and smoke and no interior fans blowing. Not only did they work incredibly hard, but they THANKED me when they were done. Fancy that?? They were that excited to come to high school that they actually thought moving books was cool cuz they were in the school getting "special" treatment. How I wish all 9th graders were so excited. And then there's the boys. My 6 year old and his 9 year old buddy. They've fought, played, cried, hugged....and they're funny. We've got a pool going - how many times will the word "dude" be uttered in the next 24 hours?? If you've got a bet, send me $10 and I'll put you down on the spreadsheet. Trust me - I'll let you know if you win. I guess that's why I'm a teacher. Where else do y

Does trouble really come in bunches? Last winter, I swore it did. This summer seems to be confirming the theory. My summer has been either extremely smooth, easy, and relaxed or not. All is well and then, bang bang bang - back goes out, one car dies, fridge stops working. Now back is better, fridge is chillin', car is still questionable. I don't know which way is worse - a life of extremes or trouble in moderation? The question is extremely relevant right now because soon (too soon, perhaps) I'll be heading back to work. Dead cars and days of trippin' on prescription drugs are not a problem in the summer. My kids are old enough to basically care for themselves, and when I'm out of commission my son turns his mind over to the television and is well cared for (though losing IQ points). If these things happened during the school year, I would be doubly damned by real trouble and extreme stress. I wonder how other people's lives work? Do they manage broke

It's amazing how easy it is to waste time, that is, if time can really be "wasted." I agree that time can be spent in meaningless, unproductive ways and that it's often easier to do something easy (even boring) and lazy instead of getting up and doing more important things. Lately, I've been trying to compromise. I get up early and do "work" kinds of things like washing dishes, putting away laundry, straightening up the house. This morning I even got started on my course outlines for my new classes this fall. Then....... I snuggled up next to my kid, took some mindless Facebook quizzes, answered some email, looked up tattoo designs. I guess in most circles that would be considered wasting time. So what SHOULD I have been doing? Well, I could have driven to town and had my friend show me how to thread the damn sewing machine so I could come home and sew curtains for Bob's office. I could have dusted the house, cleaned out the refrigerator, alp

It's been too damn hot outside. It sucks all of my energy, all of my will, and any good humor that might be lurking inside me. I want to go outside and work in the yard, week the flower beds, finish working on the rockwork, but it's just too damn hot. I think I need a vodka tonic. With lemon. Days like today make me grumpy because all of my good intentions, my healthy habits, my productivity is gone. Even writing, which has been a good renewal in my life the past few months is a lot of effort on days like this. How do people in warm places survive? I'm whiny after 3 days; how do people farm, play, work when this sort of environment lasts for months, and is often much worse? I keep thinking about the big fight scene in Romeo & Juliet. All of the young people are grouchy, short tempered. I can imagine lounging about the town square, fully dressed in the formal finery required of young noblemen, feeling miserable and not having relief in sight. It's no wonder