graceful like an elephant
So last night at the gym, I weighed myself in the little room directly across from all the cardio equipment. (treadmills, bikes etc..) I was really excited when I came out because I had gone down another 1.5-2 pounds, with a fully belly and sneakers on too.
I bounced out and took a hard left, and my foot hit a wet patch and slid right out from under me.
Quickly, I stumbled around and caught my footing. I glanced up to see I was directly infront of two guys on bikes, so I quickly did a half-step extra and went, “TADA!” so I could get over myself and not die of embarrasement.
Well.
One guy was trying his hardest Not To Look, and the other guy was trying his best not to burst out laughing. About 15 minutes later, one of the employees came over and said, “Hey, Guy on a Bike (not his real name) said you did a little dance earlier. Was there a wet spot or something?” and added a big sparkling grin. I felt like saying something along the lines of “Do your job and keep the floor dry,” but I didn’t. Instead I mumbled incoherently and gave a weak smile to show I could laugh at myself. Besides, I was leg-pressing 100 pounds, so it was a little hard to carry on a conversation.
When I was finished, I sat on a stool at the counter, trying to recover, and joked about about my “I’m blogging this.” t-shirt with the employee (let’s call him Smiley.) So to tie in the whole blogging experience, and admittedly trying to recover my self-esteem a bit, I suggested maybe I could write a funny story about this.
Then one of the regular gals came over, you know the ones: killer abs, more muscle tone than any woman ever had, and cute to boot. “Ohmigod!” she said as she sat on a stool next to me, “That was hysterical! I just LOL, and I turned right at the perfect time to see you do your little dance, and I just DIED! I was DYING! I was looking to see if you caught my eye, I wouldn’t want you to think I was laughing AT you!” Oh no, not that, and I explained how I stuck on the dance at the end to not look like a *total* idiot.
Yes, she actually *said* LOL instead of laugh out loud. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be quite popular at the gym this week. However, my plan to be a graceful, lithe member of the in-crowd has just been shot to heck.
maybe a sign I know what I’m doing
So, below in the comment somewhere, someone suggested I check out A THOMAS JEFFERSON EDUCATION: Teaching a generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century. Well, I found a web site that had a Classics List for Children and Youth, and 100 Classics Lists – One Hundred Selections from the George Wythe College Required Classics List
Going down the list, I realized we actually *own* most of the books, especially the children’s list. In fact, a good number off that list is on their own shelf, invisibly labelled “read these books before you leave home.”
Obviously, some books on the list I have similar Canadian selections. 
good kids can be better
Ugh. We’re having some “fun” with Addison as he makes the transistion from teen to adult. My, that’s a mature way to explain it. I know I have good kids, at least my a lot of people’s standards.
They don’t do a lot of the typical things teens seem to do, like dress odd. Which, frankly, wouldn’t bother me at all, because I’d be all, “Wow, that green in your hair is wicked cool!” My luck, theyd rebel in their dress by looking like preppies. AHH! I digress.
One of the up sides from being at home all day, is you can give your kids more reponsibilities (so they can act responsible) and treat them like an adult (even when they don’t act like one) within the confines of a saftey net, so when they screw it up (which they will, because, hey, they’re *not* an adult) you are right there to pick them up and turn them around.
(cue heavy sigh)
It is really frustrating when your kids do something that is just not cool, and others are saying things like, “Well it could be worse, don’t be so hard on them!” Sorry, but if I’m not hard on them, who else is going to do it? Isn’t it *my* job? And if the average young adult these days is one step up from a total loser, I don’t think it is very supportive to tell me it’s okay if one of my kids winds up only two steps up. I really want my kids to be shining examples of humanity, not just okay ones.
Besides, even when you get to “typical” teen behaviour like lying and trying to hide things or behaviours, that is just so not cool. I don’t care how well-behaved they are the rest of the time, or how unimportant a thing it was over. Lying sucks, even for grown-ups.
(whoa, this coincidentaly ties in a bit with Tulip Girl.)
I mean, when I was their age, my mom rode my ass. Daily. She was tough and nagged and stuff, and I rolled my eyes and sighed heavy sighs back at her. But you know what? Overall, it done me good, as they say. Heck, I even had it pretty good. But I’m tougher than her, I have a Mean Mommy title to uphold. (besides, she’s the grandma, if she’s not gonna spoil ‘em, who will?)
Haven’t been posting
I realized a couple days ago I hadn’t posted in a while. It is actually less time than I thought. The last couple weeks have been all about getting things marked while starting a new term a couple weeks later than usual. But I am also waiting to hear back officially from the assessment. There have been lots of things on my mind but most of them feel as though they would be better saved until after I have a go at the assessment report.
AHHH!
One of my articles below was accepted! ACK! now I have to write a bio, you know, that little tagline at the bottom that says all about me. How’s this”
“Andrea Rennick is a stay-at-homeschooling mom of four wonderful children who try to outwit her daily. See who is winning today by visiting her website: http://www.atypicalife.net .”
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