Humility Should Remain in My Bag of Tricks

My son is three and beginning to really push his boundaries. There are moments when I'm not sure his actions are that of a learning child and need to be corrected in a patient way or if he's just being a little pain and choosing to misbehave in which case discipline is necessary. So when days roll around where things are consistently going well, I tend to get too comfortable in my abilities to parent flawlessly.
Today's scheduled started off at a birthday party. I already had the swimming gear packed since the invite said there would be a pool available for the kids. Ten points to me. We were the first family to arrive, so my son was able to hang with the birthday girl for a little bit before being bombarded by six or seven other children. Another ten points since my son tends to act shy if too many kids are around causing a ruckus. No fights with other children. No incidents requiring medical attention. No accidents in the swim trunks. Let's just hand over another 50 points because it was an incredibly successful party experience:

After a rather successful nap (there's another set of points), we headed to the opening of a new, local library. The goal: getting my son his first library card. Again, objective achieved:

And since I'm promoting literacy with my kid, I was feeling like the best mom on the face of the planet. I actually even believed I was being rewarded for all the awesome parenting I was doing when my husband and son were interviewed for the local news station regarding the library. (I'd like to put the link in to the video if I ever find it.) That's right. I was all sorts of patting myself on the back. I had even intended taking pics of my son using his card to check out his books.

It was at this moment of smug satisfaction that I totally nailed down this parenting thing that my son walked up to me with the front of his shorts drenched in pee. Yep, the gods don't like hubris my friends. My child was so excited and distracted with all the festivity at the library that his bladder rebelled and we had our first public accident. That ended our library visit, we were about to leave anyway, and caused a new problem: how NOT to get urine all over my husband's new car's seats in order to get home.

Many people might ask why I didn't keep a change of clothes with me, and up until VERY recently I always had. This time I was convinced I had this parenting thing down, and my instinct told me extra clothes were not necessary for our quick trip to the new library.

Even though I still consider today a large success and tons of fun, lesson learned.

Ever the Optimist

I often respond to "Sounding Off" in our local newspaper regarding the topic of education. This was the most current prompt:

Tell us about something new your school did this year that worked. Where can your school build on some momentum and success from this year? What did your children learn this year that surprised you? What did you see on campus that gives you hope?

At first I wasn't going to respond, but ended up sending this in. It far exceeds the maximum word limit and will probably not be printed. So I decided to post it here, and if it ends up being printed then great!

Many people ask if I enjoy teaching, and my response is always, “I cannot imagine doing anything else and wouldn’t want to.” However, this year truly tested my mettle because I had 10 and 11 graders preparing for TAKS (as usual), 9 graders gearing up for STAAR, and advanced 11 graders taking AP Language at the end of the year. That tripled the normal stress load of standardized testing I normally endure in a school year. Therefore, when asked what my students learned that surprised me or gave me hope I almost cried because it was so difficult to see the silver lining through a rather difficult year. Then I remembered that my own philosophy is not to teach kids how to pass a test but how to become functioning members of society by building critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. That led me to my end of the year exams.

Instead of a cumulative, multiple choice test of 100 questions requiring the students to conjure up names of characters throughout the school year, I simply ask them to choose one thing we read, discussed, thought about or experienced during the year and tell me how it shaped them as an individual. The kids think they’re getting off with an easy exam but fail to realize how much thinking is actually going into their essays especially since I only allow them one sheet of notebook paper to write it. Here are some of my favorite responses:

An on-level student who learned the hard way I do enforce my no late work policy: “One of the things I learned this year was how to respect my grade in this class. Mrs. X didn’t beg us to turn something in, if we didn’t turn it in we got a zero. Knowing this it helped me think about my responsibility as a student to know a deadline and meet it.”

A gifted and talented student regarding Fahrenheit 451 in comparison to The Things They Carried and the many controversies over the Vietnam War: “…I felt an overwhelming and conflicting argument spring up in my head over censorship. I couldn’t fathom the thought of our free nation tainted with absolutism philosophy…”

A monitored English Language Learner discussing To Kill a Mockingbird particularly looking at the courtroom chapters: “…what I learn here was that we should speak with the truth. Because the truth is going to come out in any moment and time.”

A special education student: “My favorite was Machiavelli. I love how it shows you rules about being a leader and who you should trust and shouldn’t.” (We compared “Morals of a Prince” to Julius Caesar in terms of what kind of leader Caesar might have been and whether or not that merited his assassination. This particular student was also one of the few who was able to fly through Shakespeare without difficulty.)

Just like most public school teachers, I simply had to grab a few essays to see this wide range of topics and learning levels. Overall, I see tremendous hope just within these responses. These are the lessons that go with my students when they leave my room, and I much prefer this to be my legacy than having that allusive 100% pass rate on any standardized test.

Did somebody say BANANAS?

As a parent of a young child, I figured I would be subjected to many a ridiculous kids' show that involved overacting and quaint story lines teaching perfunctory moral lessons. However, when my son fell in love with The Fresh Beat Band I had hoped their focus on music would make the show bearable. (I do have to give them credit for encouraging the love of music that my husband and I try to instill in our son.) Attempting to enjoy the show turned out to be more of an obstacle than I thought. The production was a little less than okay, and the characters were borderline caricature and down right irritating.

Why did I continue to watch? It's almost like rubber necking on the highway. I know I shouldn't do it, but enough ambulances and cop cars and I just can't help myself. Since my son was going to watch the show regardless, I forced myself to sit patiently and endure. Then something happened.

It started simply as an ad for the new season when my husband noticed the change from Shayna Rose to Tara Perry, "Hey, that's not the same Marina!" (Was it a little disturbing that my husband realized and my son didn't? Yes.)  After that we watched as the production for the show seemed more professional and the story lines more entertaining. It was like someone decided that good parents would be watching what their kids watched and needed something more than a bunch of drumming monkeys (seriously, little toy monkeys that were a staple for a lot of the first couple of seasons). I actually started looking forward to the new episodes.

One of my favorite musical numbers from the new season:

THEN The Fresh Beats did something absolutely crazy: they went on a live concert tour. We decided that The Fresh Beats would be a great first concert for our son. I figured the idea that the 3 to 7-year-old target audience would make it easier to wrangle my son during the show. Tickets were purchased and we started the countdown. Yesterday was the big day.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. The good news was that with hundreds of children in attendance, I didn't have to be self-conscious about my son wanting to run around in the lobby or making noise during the show or having to get up to go to the bathroom multiple times because EVERYONE'S kids were doing the same thing.

It's when The Fresh Beats took the stage that I realized why parents will trudge through silly kids' shows for their children. When the REAL Fresh Beats (I applaud them for touring themselves and not having "actors" portray them on tour.) came out and started to play, my son stomped his feet, shook his hands, giggled, screamed, and had a smile on his face that was priceless. If he had been on the floor instead of standing up, someone might have mistaken his spazzing out for a seizure. All I could think at that moment was, "Yeah, this is TOTALLY worth it."

There were plenty of over zealous parents dragging their children around dressed as members of the band trying to get them to dance in the aisles. I was content to watch my son's attention focus only on what was happening on stage. There were some tears shed when he realized that our seats were too far away from the stage and he couldn't dance closer to the band, but overall he seemed to enjoy his first concert experience. My husband even got him an official multi-color Fresh Beat glow stick! (20 years from now I'm going to enjoy taking that out and telling this story.)

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted in a very content way. And yet, I couldn't get this blasted song out of my head for the rest of the evening (no, that's not my husband talking in the background-I found this particular recording on YouTube):

May the 4th Be With You!

And with that I welcome Star Wars Day 2012! I'm not exactly sure when my love affair with Star Wars began. What I do remember is being 12-years-old and watching A New Hope on television one weekend (we didn't own the VHS tape). My mother noticed my rapt attention and said, "You have always loved that movie, even when you were little. You know there's two more movies that go with it?" At that moment my world shifted and within the half hour we had been to Blockbuster and returned with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Life after that was never the same.

Unfortunately, I wasn't born early enough to appreciate the original releases in theaters when they were cutting edge and cool. Therefore, I felt alone in my geek love for the Republic and, at first, Luke Skywalker (naturally as I got older Han Solo became the only man worth admiring in a galaxy far, far away). None of my friends seemed interested in these films if they had heard of them at all. I know very few of my crowd were as eager to see the re-releases as I during my high school years. And it seemed like no one I knew felt or understood the crushing disappointment of The Phantom Menace.

Now, I have found my niche! It seems as if all the nerds and geeks who spent years immersed in Star Wars lore are the popular guys. Some of my favorite actors/comedians proudly voice their admiration for the original trilogy (and their dismay at the newer episodes). It's like an alternate world of cool has sprung from all the folks who love Obi Wan and Yoda and Chewy and Leia, etc. It doesn't bother me that the few people left on the planet who refuse to acknowledge the greatness of Star Wars still tease me because I KNOW I am not alone.

I am determined that my own children will proudly fly their Star Wars colors. My 3-year-old already owns toy light sabres and can declare himself Master Yoda. And if I don't talk to my kid about Star Wars, what will he learn on the street?



Since tomorrow is the official Star Wars day; my husband, son, and I have shirts ready to go. But like many Star Wars fans I know, I never take my fanaticism too seriously. So, I will end with a video that makes me laugh every time, and I will never forget: "There's only one return my friend, and it's not of the king, it's of the Jedi." Randall Clerks II

3 is the Magic Number

My son will be 3 years old tomorrow. Considering the circumstances of his birth, that is a true miracle. However, what is marking this particular birthday in a unique way is that it will be last one where he is an only child. I'm due in August; therefore, every birthday my boy has from here on out will include his little brother. Becoming an older sibling will change my son (I hope in all the right ways) and our parenting tactics. In honor of my last year as the mother of an only child, I'd like to reflect on what parenting has taught me.

Babies cry. There's no way to avoid it. The idea that I would have to run and pick up my son every single time he made a peep is ridiculous. When would I ever get a break? And what am I teaching my child? In the end, he would simply train me to cater to his whim instead of me training him to be a little judicious when he chooses to cry. Not that my husband and I were cruel. 10-20 minutes is what we would wait to see if our son quit crying. I know that can seem like an eternity with the noise level some kids reach, but 9 times out of 10 our boy was silent after 5 minutes. He learned that there are times he had to go to sleep and there are times mommy and daddy are busy around the house, so he had to entertain himself. The benefit to this was that when he did continue to cry, we knew something was genuinely wrong and were able to help him. In a small way, I also think this helped make him a bit more sociable because he didn't expect us to coddle him in new surroundings or with new people.

Cribs are where babies sleep and the master bed is where I sleep. My son has slept in bed with my husband and me TWICE in his three years on this planet. And both those times he was very sick. As a baby, I always made sure my son slept in his crib. I wanted him to understand that we each have our own space to relax and get rest, and it has worked. To this day my son prefers to sleep in his "big boy bed" rather than in our bed. He might hop in bed with us to watch television, but as soon as it's time to sleep he says his good nights and heads to his room. When he does ask to sleep with us we remind him that he has to start in his bed and if he is still awake when we check on him, he can come to bed with us. Every time he is either asleep when we check on him OR he tells us he wants to stay in his bed. Transitioning from crib to bed was a breeze, and we don't have to "trap" him in his room to make him sleep in his own bed.

There's a full serving of vegetables in a can of Manwich. I did choose to breast feed my son. It had nothing to do with any type of moral high ground. I just thought it was cool that I could provide for my kid in a way no one else could (of course the BEST part was seeing a dear friend's face when she opened the freezer looking for something). Never do I judge the mother who chooses not to breast feed. I read somewhere once that "breast is best but formula isn't poison." Absolutely true. Besides, some women discover that breast feeding isn't an option for them due to physical limitations or sickness, and what message would that send if I sneered at them and said something caddy like, "But wouldn't you want the best for your child?" (Yes someone actually said that to me once.) This just launches into my son's current diet. Should his meals properly represent the entire food pyramid? Probably. Do they always? Nope. Do I feel guilty about his? Puh-leeze. I promise my son gets what he needs even if it isn't organic. He's pretty good about eating anything we put in front of him (except pork-he always asks for "real" meat when we try to feed him pork), so I don't worry about much else.

Kids get dirty. One of the first mottos I adopted after the birth of my son was "everything's washable...even me." To expect a kid to stay clean is like expecting a baby not to cry. It will only lead to insanity. I once watched a mother clean her kid's hands after every bite the little girl took while eating. Wow. Is that child ever going to be allowed outside to play? If I'm not scrubbing dirt off my kid at the end of the day, then I'm doing something wrong. Kids need to explore the world around them. Including the messy stuff. As for germ regulation, I never really was too concerned mostly because I figured a tougher immune system wouldn't hurt. I was right. My kid only gets sick once a year.

Be grateful for a healthy, happy child. There are some moms who seem to WANT something to be wrong with their child. They actually look for symptoms and get angry when no one else finds anything there. Why can't we just be content with our children? In actuality there should probably be a delay of some sort in my son because he was so premature; however, I fight very hard to keep people from knowing about his early entrance into the world because I don't want it to become a crutch. I've taught kids with legitimate needs, and my son does not have any special circumstances. It would embarrass me greatly if he tried to blame irresponsibility or a poor choice on the 11 week "developmental delay" he supposedly had the first year and a half of his life.

There isn't one right way to parent a child. I don't believe in reading books on parenting because they just make me mad. All I've seen them do is turn perfectly normal people into complete parenting lunatics. These expert books just create paranoia about meeting milestones and second guessing decisions regarding the kid's best interest. Who needs that? I keep one book. It is the American Academy of Pediatrics resource guide for kids birth to five years. I like it because if I have a question, I just look up the age range of my son and what should be going on with him. It usually goes something like this: "Your kid should be doing blah-dee-blah, but he's probably doing this-that-the other. He's fine." Since it is put together by the AAP, I know I can trust these experts and I never feel like a parenting fail after I read it.

I'm sure there is a ton more I could say especially since I am a working mom (another great sin according to some). It all comes down to the fact my son is loving, friendly, happy, and entertaining. As long as this is true, I know I'm going in the right direction with this parenting thing. I've thoroughly enjoyed these first three years and await the adventures two bright boys will bring.

The Not-So-Hunger Games

First-The Hunger Games is a fine movie. It isn't the disaster that Twilight is, and it wasn't horribly made. It is nice knowing that Suzanne Collins helped with the screenplay. This post isn't going to totally blast it out of the water, so if you are insisting that it was the best movie you've ever seen, just hear me out before you shoot an arrow through this post.

Being a high school English teacher means I've read the books multiple times and love them. However, I like to think I have realistic expectations when books are transferred to film. Therefore, I approached the movie theater with cautious excitement. I also had the benefit of seeing this film with my husband who has yet to (and probably won't) read the books. That brought an interesting perspective that actually reinforced my own.

The main issue with the film is that the movie makers assumed that everyone seeing it has read the books. I get that a majority of people have, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea to leave out significant character development or symbols.

Looking at character development first, I realize that there are quite a few characters throughout the book and eliminating some of them is necessary if the movie is to stay under five hours long. I can live with no Madge and barely glimpsing at the prep team. What I cannot live with is the lack of relationship development between Katniss and Rue and the underdevelopment of Haymitch. Like my husband said, "Why do I care that Rue dies?" I know why he should care because it broke my heart when I read it in the book. As a first time watcher though, it just seems like Katniss and Rue ate a quick meal together and then there's a riot in District 11? Hmmm...there's a gap there.

What did they do to Haymitch, glorious Haymitch? Although well played by Woody Harrelson, the depth of that character is revealed so much through his relationship with Katniss in the book but not in the movie. He may be her greatest antagonist, but they understand each other on a whole other level. I can't even put into words my disappointment in the non-relationship between Cinna and Katniss. I adore Cinna, but it's hard to feel that way about a character who shows up for three minutes in the film.

Then there's Peeta's stalker response of how he watched Katniss walk home every day. Uh, okay creeper. I LOVE PEETA! I fell for that boy the very first time I read the book (Gale is a child killing jerk). Peeta's innocent love that builds in the cave that Katniss has to pretend to reciprocate makes my heart ache when he realizes at the end that it is all a show for her. Not to mention that not having Katniss narrate this story leaves out all the conflict she truly feels about killing Peeta and then the betrayal when she sees him with the Career Tributes. These are the kind of details that make the story worth telling but are left out of the film.

Need I mention they completely neglect to explain the significance of the Mockingyjay?! How do you let that go Suzanne? 

 The cinematography is definitely something to note. The costuming and set design is phenomenal. Yet, I really wanted someone to invest in a damn tripod. I get the rough, hand-held camera bit at the cornucopia so that the violence feels more chaotic and you can't really see it happening. But to keep using that method while running through the woods or just standing still mostly gave me a headache.

In the end I decided the book is a quicker read than the first half of the film. And even though the movie started to pick up and get really good towards the end, the absence of a lot of detail and character development leaves The Hunger Games lacking. Will I own it? Probably. Will I see Catching Fire? Of course. No matter where the movie makers failed, one thing's for certain: Jennifer Lawrence is one hell of an actress!

Big Brother Isn't Interested, I Promise

My absence in posting is credited to a number of things. For starters, November through January had me in the first trimester of my second pregnancy. The exhaustion alone was a beat down not to mention the nausea and hormone insanity. Then there was my deep contemplation of the purpose in bothering to post on social media sites because my life isn't that fascinating and I know how irritating the "over-share" has become with regards to Facebook, Twitter, and some blogs. Finally, I had to determine if I actually had anything worth posting. There are far more entertaining bloggers out there (KHam and Grouchy Muffin being two of my favorites). Then a friend of mine on Facebook declared his desire to leave the site because of the useless postings made by thousands daily.

As it is many people, including my mother, refuse to embrace Facebook because they believe if I was truly interested in my "friends'" lives, I would pick up the phone and call. The reality is that life happens and most of the time I simply cannot spare the 10-15 minutes for the a phone call that could have the potential to become an hour long. I'd rather check in on my close friends' pages, and when we finally find time to meet up, we can take all the time we want to chat in person about the goings-on we've either posted about or have happened since the last time we met. 

All the things I love about Facebook are quickly being outweighed by the things I find the most annoying. For starters, I am determined to keep my friends under 300 which I still find to be a number too large to call them all "friends." Therefore, knowing some people have 1, 000+ friends is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard. There is no way one person has an interest in that many people. It is a shallow statement of how friendship is now regarded. (And an accelerated path to digital voyeurism that's been affectionately labeled "Facebook stalking.") Next is the information being shared by my friends that is beginning to become inappropriate.

Facebook isn't the place to unleash an uneducated/unresearched political opinion. Just because a video exists on YouTube doesn't mean it needs to also go viral on Facebook (think recent Kony2012 nonsense). Also, the annoyingly long posts proclaiming that if I love my husband/brother/son/mother/soldier/Christ I will repost are out of control. Really? Not reposting means I have no care or concern for these people? How absurd.

Then there is the disturbingly candid looks into the more intimate parts of peoples' lives. I was one of them. When I finally became pregnant with my son, William, I did it all. I posted the news to Facebook with a picture of my first sonogram containing my son's eerily alien-like profile. I am sure I even updated my condition during the pregnancy more than many of my "friends" deemed necessary. Even now, I see so many posts that expose those parts of life that really have no business being permanently (nothing EVER leaves cyberspace) shared like the amount or color of bodily fluids exiting someone's child while ill or a quick poll about the best type of birth control for a relationship or a person's own personal battle with unidentified body oddities (I itch just thinking about it). To me, there are just some things that I don't need to learn about while simply scrolling through daily posts. How is it these people are so comfortable about sharing such personal problems?

All of this is what led me to keeping my posts shut about my newest pregnancy. I am overjoyed that I am even able to get pregnant a second time, but this time I wanted to keep this to me. This is MY pregnancy. It doesn't belong to people who check in on me once a month. I also wanted to give Baby Ben some of his own privacy rather than upload his first "picture" like I had his brother. I actually did call/text/e-mail my family about the news and allowed that grapevine to circulate before really talking about it openly. I wanted this to be truly joyous news and not more noise in the Facebook over-share chaos.

I am hoping this is more the direction people choose to take with Facebook. I love seeing pictures of families (especially kids) growing and changing. I do enjoy witty posts from some of my more entertaining friends. I have also invested so much time into maintaining a Facebook that people CAN and WANT to check that I shudder at the thought of deleting it all. (Maybe I should give that Google+ thing a try?)

All Things Felty

It's not that my life has been dull for the past two months (Fair Day, my birthday, on-going sewing adventures, etc.),  I have just been too distracted to actually sit down and write. Now, I cannot let the incredible experience of The Muppets, Jason Segel's revival of a beloved institution, pass by without commenting on it.

To say I love all things Jim Henson is such an understatement that I'm not sure there is a word that adequately describes my passion. Therefore, I always approach a new Muppet project with a skeptical eye. (Actually, I'm more disappointed that Disney fought so hard to acquire the Muppets and then essentially did nothing with them.) Enter Jason Segel and his own adoration for the Muppets. I have been anticipating this movie for at least a year when I first heard buzz that it was in the works.

The beauty behind the film is that the Muppets have fallen into obscurity and need to get back together. We get to see what happened to all our beloved faves once the world began to spin in technological circles. CGI has invaded our brains and many children no longer appreciate the skill and wonder in making a puppet ride a bicycle. How would this adventure fare?

We arrived in plenty of time for our midnight showing which was sold out:)! We got the best seats in the house and settled in for good ole fashioned chuckles. I was not disappointed! Segel knew exactly how to bring the Muppets back in a big way. 

The jokes were perfect! My favorite scene involved Jack Black, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Beaker, and an axe. That was followed closely by a cameo from Jim Parsons, a chicken rendition of C-Lo Green's "F*** You," and traveling by map.  It seemed simple enough in concept, but so much more sophisticated when I thought about all the past Muppet humor that brought out the "ha-has." For instance, the Muppets stopping Charles Grodin from nabbing the infamous Baseball Diamond and a ball game breaking out (The Great Muppet Caper). Hilarious! Or Fozzie declaring, "I don't know how to thank you guys" and Kermit responding "I don't know why to thank you guys" after the Electric Mayhem "camouflages" a Studebaker to protect the travelers from Doc Hopper (The Muppet Movie).

There were also moments when The Muppets made mention of the fact they were making a movie (Fozzie commenting on the cost of the explosion of Gonzo's plumbing business) that matched a scene from The Great Muppet Caper where Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg) begins a long rant about her worthless brother Nicky and when asked why she does this says, "It's plot exposition. It has to go somewhere." Genius! Even the villain, Tex Richman, was on par with Doc Hopper when it came to his nasty-not-niceness. It was like Segel took all that was brilliant and good about the Muppets and gave those of us continuing to praise the vision of Henson an early Christmas present! (I am currently putting together a Thank You/fan letter to Segel.)

Some of my friends argued that they took their kids and were not impressed. First problem: THE MUPPETS WERE NEVER MEANT FOR CHILDREN. Henson, at one point, was even dismayed that so many people only associated him with Sesame Street which hindered his more complex comedic side he tried to showcase during the first season of SNL and throughout The Muppet Show. He fully intended to create a variety show with his Muppets that focused on humor for adults. That's more proof of the master creator Henson was because the older I get, the funnier the Muppets are. Sure my two-year-old loves Sesame Street and Kermit's banjo playing, but he won't truly appreciate the ingenuity behind the jokes until he is old. However, I believe you must train them when they are young. Otherwise, you live a very bleak, Muppetless existence, and that's just sad.

The Big Apple of My Eye

Sadly, we returned from NYC days ago, but I haven't written because it also happens to be the last day of the six weeks. Therefore, I've been grading papers like a madwoman trying to get grades complete before report cards go out.

The rest of the trip went something like this:

Ground Zero was a total bust! Both hubby and I were under the impression that the fountains were complete and open to the public. As I mentioned in my last post, I was anticipating a very intimate moment with a place that held so much emotion and memories because the last time I was in that location, I was at the top of the World Trade Center. It turns out that you have to have advance passes before being aloud to go around the construction fence to see anything. Since no one told us this, here is all we got to see:

Now there was a wall across the street with a huge metal plaque that people were trying to get photos of, but that was such a mess that it wasn't worth the effort to push my way through. Talk about incredibly disappointing.

We weren't sure what to do at this point since we had anticipated spending some time here. Fortunately, it was lunchtime and there was an Artichoke's Pizza nearby. A dear friend recommended giving them a try, so that's what we did. IT WAS AMAZING! They gave us a slice of their Artichoke pizza and Margherita Pizza. The Margherita was the best I've every tasted, and the Artichoke was like taking artichoke/spinach dip and just slathering it all over a pizza crust! Dear God! It was delicious. I completely understand why someone would crave that pizza:).

We still had some time to kill before dinner and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, so we went to one of my favorite museums anywhere: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. That place is so huge, one could visit it every day of the week and never get to see everything. Since we had a limited amount of time, we took a one hour "everything" tour which really meant seeing about 8 major pieces within a specific section, and then we saw a special exhibit on satire in art. I REALLY wanted to see the shoe exhibit in the fashion section, but it was closed and all that remained were shoe exhibit themed gifts in the Museum shop. Boo. I did at least get to see one of my favorite spots in Manhattan.

We have some Tiffany glass at the DMA, but it isn't a beautiful as this!

It was finally time to get ready for the show! We cleaned ourselves up and headed out to grab a taxi to a restaurant in the Theater District. Apparently, a cab driver can decline to take you where you want to go. FIVE cabs refused to take us to the Theater District, so we started walking AND sweating in our nice clothes. We got a few blocks in and met a pedicab guy who was willing to take us. He turned out to be a great guy and suggested that we go to Orso instead of the restaurant we were heading to. Hubby was suspicious that the guy was getting a little kick back for recommending Orso, but it turns out that wasn't the case at all. The guy Google voiced the number for the restaurant and got us in! He even told us that famous people tended to eat there.

Orso was pretty dang awesome. The Lemon Drop I had was super yummy, and I had quail for the first time ever. Then who should go walking out the door (and right past our table): JEFF GOLDBLUM! Hubby didn't see anything but his back, but I got a perfect view and made eye contact and smiled:). It was pretty neat!

The show itself was entertaining, upbeat, and fun. There was a surreal moment when it occurred to me that Harry Potter was acting, singing, and dancing on stage with a pretty darn good American accent. Then the thought was gone, and all I saw was Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette putting in a fabulous performance. In the end, this is as close to Mr. Radcliffe as I got:

I begged to wait around after the show to see him up close, but the metal barricades and police tape restraining 100+ teenage girls was a major deterrent for my husband.

Sunday was THE big day. We were headed to Queens to see The Museum of the Moving Image. I planned to dedicate an entire post to pictures of my Jim Henson exhibit experience, but alas, photography was forbidden. Out of respect for the Henson Legacy, I obeyed. 

It was an INCREDIBLE exhibit! There were actual Muppets (Kermit, Miss Piggy, Bert, Ernie, Mahna Mahna and his crew, and more), many of Henson's sketches and ideas posted around the exhibit, costumes and items from Dark Crystal, and videos chalk full of biographical information. The Museum was pretty cool itself. Since it focused on the "moving image," there was all sorts of film stuff. I was able to play with sound effects and voice overs. There was information on the evolution of the movie industry, costumes, make-up and prosthesis from various films, etc. It was all interactive as well. 

In the end, one moment remained the day's crowning glory:

I'm pretty sure my face says it all.

We ended our trip with dinner out with a former student of mine who is currently attending NYU. He's living the New York life and loving it! It was great to see him and a perfect way to end a perfect weekend.

Wait Just a New York Minute

Being a proud Catholic, sometimes it surprises me that I would cling so steadfastly to a Hindu idea like Karma. Deep down I truly believe that the universe will right itself. If I send out negative, hateful vibes; not only will it send them back but balancing that negativity with a more optimistic outcome will eventually happen. If I was responsible for the negativity, I have to be responsible for some positivity before the cosmos will grant me that. In turn, I must be incredibly grateful when fortuitous circumstances come my way in order to avoid (or at least cope with) the not so fortunate that will inevitably follow.

My proof that this works? It isn't a stretch to consider myself a good person. Perfect? Definitely not. But being an idealistic over-achiever has its rewards: lots and lots of good karma. Both my professional and personal lives stand witness to this idea. The fact that teaching is my true calling means I get to love what I do AND be good at it. The miracle birth of my son is also testament that a lot of faith and optimism goes a LONG way. Meeting my husband was also a great moment of good Karma showing some favor.

Even with our typical married couple problems (we call it "The Divorce Log" knowing neither of us will ever really use it...or would we-he he he...), there is no doubt that we belong together. This brings me to my 6th anniversary present: A TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY!

A passion, zealousness if you will, for The Big Apple houses itself deep inside my heart. Before this trip, I had been to New York as both a freshman and senior in high school. I squeal inside at the blocks and blocks of architectural giants. I giggle a bit when using the subway (even the mama/germaphobe inside of me melts away). I appreciate the grid like layout making it enjoyable and easy to navigate the five Burroughs. If cost wasn't an option, I would move here without any regrets or second thoughts.

My husband knows this. He also knows that the Museum of the Moving Image is currently showcasing Jim Henson's Fantastic World (Henson's birthday-September 24 just happens to be our wedding anniversary-intentional?). Aside from Manhattan, another obsession of mine is all things Jim Henson. Again, my hubby knows this which is why is taking me to the museum while in New York where we'll get to meet Kevin Clash, Henson's protege! As if this weren't enough, tonight we are seeing How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe! Everyone knows how I feel about all things Harry Potter. So what I have here is the perfect storm of an ideal anniversary present! All that preparation and hard work at the beginning of the school year (a different approach for me since I usually fly by the seat of my pants) must have stored away a treasure trove of good Karma:).

Yet the beginning of this trip has left much to be desired. New York has not disappointed. That's not even possible. The trouble started brewing at DFW Airport with the incompetent company American Airlines. Here's how it goes: it cost to take luggage, so everyone tries to fit it all in one suitcase to save money, then the suitcase is too heavy, so everyone has to open his suitcase at the weigh station to remove items. See, American did this to themselves the idiots. So even though hubby and I arrived at the airport long before our flight took off, we waiting in line to be checked in an absurdly long amount of time because E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y had to open and remove things from suitcases. The lady behind us was participating in a "bitch-till-you-drop-a-thon." All we heard about was how she was about to miss her flight because of how slow everything was. Finally we just told her to go ahead of us (clearly her intention) just to shut her up! I wasn't too upset because being kind to her just racked up a bit of good Karma for us.

We finally checked-in and the American Airlines lady told us we almost missed our check in time (another ridiculous concept since we still had about 40 minutes till our flight). Hubby very bluntly asked, "Well who's fault is that?" Uh-oh. Bad Karma. We got on the plane and wouldn't you know, our seats were the very last row waaaaaaaaaaay in the back. When I opened the window shade to at least take in our view, I only saw airplane. But then the flight attendant noticed they had two seats open up further up in the plane. Would we like them? Yes! Ding, ding, ding! Good Karma stopping by for helping that insane-o lady.

By the time we landed, we were hungry and ready to start our metropolistic adventure. Wouldn't you know, our suitcase somehow didn't make it on our flight and would be arriving with the 9:40 P.M. plane. Did I mentioned we landed at 2 P.M.? I couldn't be shaken from the high I started to feel just knowing I was in New York City! Well sort of. We had to take the train from Newark to Penn Station to Grand Central and then walk about 10 blocks to the hotel. People who know me would assume this would cause my delicate nature to rear its prissy head and insist on taking a cab for the journey. NOT IN NEW YORK CITY! If it wasn't made obvious before, I LIVE for the kind of city life that includes well oiled public transit (a major reason London is also a perfect city). However, this kind of foot travel doesn't bode well for people with 50 pound luggage. Therefore, it turns out that having our suitcase delayed was a blessing because the airport would deliver it to the hotel for us! There's that universe doing its thing and achieving balance:).

Of course the suitcase wouldn't be officially delivered until 2:00 A.M., so we just settled in for 100 Most Shocking Moments in Music on VH1, spent $104 on room service, and crashed in our clothes around midnight. Now we are up and ready to start our day. The irritating delay in receiving our luggage has reinforced in me the idea that something phenomenal will be happening to us today or tomorrow. Since I am meeting a least one of my obsessions, I hope the phenomenon is a powerfully positive one.

We're off to Ground Zero. The last time I was here, I actually looked out from the top floor of the World Trade Center. It will be a surreal experience for sure.

Lean On Me While I Stand and Deliver to these Dangerous Minds in this Blackboard Jungle*

Tomorrow will wrap up the first week of the 2011-2012 school year. This school year is my 7th teaching, and I often wonder just how far I've come in the classroom. I know that in many ways I still lack the wisdom and experience of those noble enough to stick to this for 20+ years, but I have managed to shake off the "newbie" feel and trust myself more to do what is best for my students.

I was so well prepared for this week that I have felt zero stress. Lesson plans were completed, copies were made, the classroom is sporting a brand new white board and bulletin board and hardwood stage. Much to my surprise, I even received two new computer carts filled with brand spankin' new MacBooks. Maybe 7 is the lucky number? Or maybe I've racked up a ton of Good Teacher Karma?

Teaching is truly my passion. Believers say that God has a vocation in mind for each of us and we only need to pay attention to find what that is. Well, I'm a believer and there is no doubt that the talents God gave me are meant for the classroom. When I was 8 and in the first grade, I dressed as a teacher for Career Day. Who does that? ME! I L-O-V-E everything about teaching high school (I've even come to tolerate the insane amount of paperwork)!

Perhaps this is why I shudder when I pass a classroom that is eerily silent or where the teacher is yelling at the students for not having a proper notebook organized in a desired way. I understand that sometimes "sit and get" is a necessary way to educate, but if we ever expect kids to start thinking on their own we've got to allow them to take ownership in their learning. Otherwise all they'll know is how to absorb information but never process it. Honestly, as long as a kid can produce his necessary work/supplies, I'm okay if he doesn't keep a three-ringed binder with dividers. I hated being forced to do that in high school because my brain doesn't think like that. You want to teach me organization? Let me misplace something important once, express your disappointment in me and how I've let you down, then watch as I find my own way to keep up with my work. The kids who don't care whether or not they disappointed the teacher are the same ones who aren't going to keep a notebook anyway.

What's the point? Well, I don't think anyone should be allowed into a classroom unless s/he takes great joy in helping those students reach their potentials. Only doing it for the summers off? Get the hell out because I hate you. Only doing it because you didn't get into med/law school (actual profession of choice)? Get the hell out because I hate you. Only doing it because you're lazy and figured any organization that advertises with a billboard reading: "Want to teach? When can you start?" must be promoting a job a wind-up monkey could do? Get the hell out and pray to God you never run into me in a dark alley.

Please don't misunderstand. I know that sometimes the above reasons are how people stumble into teaching and realize that they found their true calling. I am an alternative cert teacher because my major in college was not in Education (I'm a believer in secondary educators majoring in their subject matter). My beef is with the ones sticking it out for the above reasons. Life is too short and all they're doing is screwing up students. Many of my friends are passionate, hard working educators who always fight for what's best for their students (especially when the state continues to pass absurd regulations because the politicians making the decisions have zero  classroom experience). It's an insult to them and to me to have to work along side people who clearly despise their job or couldn't care less about the well fare of the kids.

So in honor of my superhero teaching crew, I give you Taylor Mali. Many of you have seen this before, but please feel free to enjoy it again:



I'll continue to fight the good fight because I know I'm not alone.







*This post is dedicated to the students who are like my husband. A man who was punished in middle school for attempting to "incite a riot" with the following song:


You are the type of student that keeps me lovin' my job!

Finite Incantatum

And just like that, it's over.

I actually just woke up 45 minutes ago after taking a 3 hour nap upon returning home from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Over a decade of dedication and study. Now what am I supposed to do? What new adventure must I immerse myself in? For now...

YOU GOT IT: SPOILER ALERT!  IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINAL FILM YET (WHAT KIND OF FAN ARE YOU) YOU MAY WANT TO WAIT ON READING THIS.

I am so glad they decided to chop up the last film in order to really cover this epic finale. The first time I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 I felt exhausted mostly because they covered 500 pages in one film. That would be like squeezing books one and two into a single film. It wasn't until the second and subsequent times was I really able to relax and take in the whole movie. I am quite happy with the result of Part 1. As mentioned in earlier posts, they never really built Dobby like they should have so his death was a hard blow only because I remembered how I felt when it happened in the novel. All his devotion to Harry outweighed his fear regarding returning to Malfoy Manor to rescue Potter and the others. It is more a slap in the face that Dobby had to die for it (at least that's how I felt). Everything else really fell into place and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they told the story of the "Three Brothers" in Part 1. It is only because they were making two movies from one book were they able to do this I'm sure.

So this morning at 10:00 A.M. I took my seat in anticipation of the final piece in the Harry Potter puzzle. I don't think in 2001 I really acknowledged that this would all come to an end some day. I definitely did not realize how involved I would be with all the characters. Yes, I cried A LOT during this film and even threw my hands up and cheered multiple times. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 did it's best to give me the final installment I so anxiously awaited. The only real rub I had was Harry breaking the Elder Wand in two (which does NOT happen in the book). Now, I would have been fine if they had him do this after he repaired his original wand like he is supposed to, but they didn't. That irks me because the act of repairing his own wand and reburying the Elder Wand with Dumbledore (which IS what happens in the book) shows how mature and humble he is acting in not accepting the Elder Wand as his own therefore avoiding any temptation of greed/power. However, I can live with that since it is the only real problem I had.

Everything else went well. They didn't cover Dumbledore's life and family secrets or his relationship with Grindenwald, but really it was an okay subplot to avoid. They did keep the scene at King's Cross, and the major points were covered. They sort of blew over the death of Fred which I'm okay with because that particular scene in the novel D-E-V-A-S-T-A-T-E-D me! (Percy redeems himself a mere second before his brother is killed! WTH? Percy should have died because no one likes him anyway!) My heart broke mostly for George who would never have his twin with him again. As sad as I was about Tonks and Lupin, I think they handled that well (except for the random comment Lupin makes about his son when Harry uses the Resurrection Stone-since they didn't build that subplot up properly it was a weird comment to make in the film).

I think I cried the hardest at Snape's incredibly violent death and then his crying (like with his tears) out his memories to Harry. Honestly, I always routed for Snape even when it seemed like he had done his worst by killing Dumbledore. I was so relieved when I read the seventh book to discover that my faith in Snape was rewarded. In the novel his memories are sad in that he causes Lily to cut off their friendship after calling her a Mudblood (it would be like Ron calling Hermione one) to look tough while being bullied by James and Sirius. In the film they made it seem like their first year in Hogwarts Lily just seemed to take a shine to James over Snape. I'm okay with it but would have like to see them all as teens since that's when Snape's heart is broken for the first time. Yet, I LOVE how they show Snape discovering Lily's body after Voldemort murders her. I was a sobbing mess!

Finally, the epilogue was perfect! Now I am an adamant believer that Rowling NEVER needs to write about any of this ever again. She did a lovely job of tying up everything and showing how life goes on in her epilogue. I don't need to know what Harry's children do at Hogwarts. I don't need to see what happens directly after the fall of Lord Voldemort (The Harry Potter Lexicon is a wonderful site if anyone wants to know what happened post Voldemort). I am quite content where she's left us. My sister had commented that she wished they had put wizard pictures of the Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione weddings and their lives on the sides of the credits. That would have been cool, but really I'm happy. I did register at Pottermore where it looks like Rowling will be posting all her notes and back stories, etc. but that doesn't mean I want her to actually publish this stuff. I fear that if she does, she'll "jump the shark" and the original seven stories will lose their magic (no pun intended).

So good-bye for now Harry Potter at least until my super-duper mega Blu-Ray boxed set of all the films is available:). (Damn it. I'm choking up again just typing this!)

Let the Harry Potter Movie Marathon Begin!

Instead of writing last night over all the movies, I decided to make it an ongoing observation while I watched all the films today leading up to seeing the final Harry Potter movie tomorrow morning. My goal will be to use five sentences or less for each film. I want to cover how I feel about the movie version of each novel and what they should have or have not done. Here we go:

AGAIN SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ OR SEEN ANYTHING HARRY POTTER (GET OUT FROM UNDER THE ROCK YOU MUST BE WEDGED UNDER) BE WARNED THAT I DISCUSS IT ALL IN HERE.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-this was pretty easy to translate to the big screen. I don't mean to belittle the difficulty in making the movie; I mean that it is the smallest novel so most of the story made it into the movie with a few minor details that were okay to live without. However, they placed Ron in the Forbidden Forrest when it was in fact Neville who had to accompany Harry, Hermione, and Malfoy on detention. This seems innocent enough, BUT it is a vital piece when thinking about Neville's roll later in the series. It definitely makes his courage at standing up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione a little less urgent than it actually was since in the novel he had to suffer the consequences of their negative actions.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-Again, the novel is small enough that nothing was really altered too much in the film. I do love Kenneth Branagh as arrogant and incompetent Gilderoy Lockhart. Yet in the end this is my least favorite book and movie. Therefore, I watch it more out of my obsession since I can't just skip it. I do wish they had showed a little more about Ginny's feelings for Harry because it would have tied in nicely in later films.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-My favorite film (not book). Cuaron managed to completely recreate Hogwarts by giving it a more sophisticated look and allowing the "students" to dress like actual teenagers. The cinematography is unmatched in any other film, and the Dementors are truly frightening. Of course I'm disappointed they aren't more forthcoming about who actually created the Marauder's Map (James, Sirius, Lupin, Pettigrew), but I'm okay with Harry getting his Firebolt at the end of the film instead of the middle. What I wouldn't give for a Time Turner!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-Here's where we start running into trouble. The novel is much larger than its predecessors; therefore, there must be decisions made for the movie. I think they did pretty well by making sure the Triwizard Tournament was enticing, but they chose to leave out a few bits I felt needed to make the cut.* Ludo Bagman would have been a great comical character to add a little dimension to wizards in general showing that they too are susceptible to something as minor as addiction. They should have DEFINITELY included Winky and the story behind Barty Crouch Jr.'s escape from Azkaban, Hermione's obsession with liberating house elves (S.P.E.W.), and it should have stayed Dobby and not been changed to Neville giving Harry the gillyweed.
*I will go into greater detail about vital story lines that were left underdeveloped at the bottom.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-This is the most disappointing of all the films because they cut out incredibly vital information. Naturally, I was a little more critical since this was my favorite novel, but I don't think my disappointment is unjustified. Although this film's take on the fascist-like regime of the Ministry of Magic is intriguing, I would have preferred to see St. Mungo's and the lifetime ban from Quidditch that Harry receives allowing Ginny to start forming as a solid character. This will be sentence five; therefore, I'll save my corrections that should be made for my extended explanation at the bottom.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-My biggest beef with this film is how they add things that don't even exist in the novel at the expense of omitting some key elements. How about instead of blowing up the Burrow we show the relationship of Fleur and Bill? Or instead of Harry watching the tube cars at the beginning we actually show Harry spending his summer with the Weasleys and getting to know Ginny a little better so that we don't have to fabricate a relationship that seems based solely on inappropriate sexual tension instead of a firmly built friendship?! I am glad they have the memories of Tom Riddle, but the really good back story (the Gaunts) they don't include. The comedy in this film was also pretty good especially the scenes after Harry takes the Felix Felicis.

Here is where I will stop examining each movie since I'd like to tackle both installments of the final film after seeing it tomorrow. Below is a quick list of things the movies didn't cover that I feel cheats the viewer and angers those of us that love the stories:

1. Neville is poorly set up in the earlier movies (remember he was left out of the forbidden forest scene), and they also neglect to show his depth at St. Mungos in movie five. Because of this, his bravery at destroying the final Horcrux (although awesome I'm sure) will be missing some of its greatness.
2. Dobby disappears after movie two and doesn't reappear until the first part of film seven. Dobby is a constant aid and support for Harry throughout the stories (Dobby gives the gillyweed, discovers the Room of Requirement, follows Malfoy around to see if he's a Death Eater, and encourages Hermione's obsession with S.P.E.W.) and isn't given his proper due. Therefore, his death in the seventh film, though sad, isn't nearly as devastating as it was when I read it. Not to mention the importance of Harry carving "Here Lies Dobby: A Free Elf" on Dobby's tombstone is completely ignored.
3. Harry and Ginny's relationship is a ridiculous and awkward one because they are trying to cram a whole bunch of feelings into inappropriate moments (bending down to tie Harry's shoe, snogging in the Room of Requirement-for some reason they gave Ron and Lavendar Harry and Ginny's kissing scene, zipping up dresses where clearly no bra is being worn). Ginny gradually rises as a strong and independent character throughout books five and six. She takes over as Seeker when Harry receives a lifetime ban on Quidditch in book five proving her athletic ability. She also becomes a key member of Dumbledore's Army showing she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty and is a powerful witch. All of these things make her a sharp contrast to the other girls in Potter's world who are focused on the lovey-dovey girly things of adolescence. Harry doesn't have time for this kind of nonsense since his whole wizarding life has pitted him against pure evil. Ginny gets that hence making her the perfect partner for Harry.
4. They should have had some form of Quidditch in movie five in order to lead to the lifetime ban to lead to Ginny's character development. They should have showed Ron and Hermione becoming Prefects and not Harry in order to show that Harry isn't always the Chosen One and how he handles that (not very well actually). They should have shown St. Mungo's in order to see the broader world of witches and wizards AND how Neville handles being the son of demented aurors. They should have made the prophecy more clear in that it only states a child born near the end of July and not specifically Harry Potter because Neville was also born near the end of July and could have been the Chosen One. However, Lord Voldemort decided Harry (the one who's ancestry was only half-wizard like his own instead of the pureblooded Longbottom) would be his equal. It's all so necessary! They should have shown Harry destroying Dumbledore's office at the end because Harry's a teenager who's been expected to act as a savior on multiple occasions and just lost the last living member of his family. He needed a catharsis and this would have shown it. Ahhh!

Regardless of my "issues," I never miss a chance to watch these films. I love when ABC Family has a Harry Potter weekend. I own most of them on DVD and have already informed my husband that I will be purchasing the super-duper mega extras included blu-ray complete set once they are all out. I just love this magical world and will relive it as often as possible.

Tomorrow's a big day, and I must prepare for it!

Magical Me

In three days I will see the final installment of the Harry Potter movies. This will bring to a close over a decade of adoration and adventure with a beloved book series that has been created into an (almost) equally captivating movie series. Since anyone who knows me is aware of my ability to "geek-out" when it comes to Harry Potter, I've decided to dedicate two posts to this cultural phenomenon. Tonight: the books!

SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE ANY INTENTION OF READING THE NOVELS (AS YOU SHOULD) I DISCUSS A FEW OF THEM HERE.

As an English teacher, it is no wonder that my heart will always favor the novels. Rowling's work manages to envelop me every time I pour through the pages to experience the tale of the boy wizard. I fell in love with these during college in 2000, and continuously kicked myself for not noticing them sooner. Perhaps the reason they stayed off my radar is the same reason so many (unfortunate) people have yet to run through the barrier at King's Cross Station onto Platform 9 3/4: they have incredibly negative pre-conceived notions about who Harry Potter is.

It is not just young adult fiction. It is not just fantasy fiction. This is actual literature. Rowling manages to lay out the entire Hero's Journey across all seven novels. Archetypes pop up throughout the entire series with Potter being the Scapegoat Hero in the end. The writing advances with each book earning them upper level reading lexiles. This is genius in that the books are meant to grow with the reader. Even as an adult who reads the whole series on a regular basis (at least once a year), I try to get through the first three as quickly as possible because they are a bit juvenile They reflect the life of a 11//12/13-year-old, but by Order of the Phoenix I've escaped back into Harry's world because the much larger themes of humanity, loyalty, friendship, integrity, love, death, etc. are all present and just as meaningful to a 30-year-old as they would be to a 15-year-old reading them for the first time.

As soon as I was hooked, I made it a point to be at every midnight release for books 4-7. I did stay up through the night devouring Rowling's words much to the teasing of some of my friends. I just had to know what happened to Harry! I have a vested interest every time I read because I love the characters and feel their pain, happiness, anger, fear. Harry grows page after page and I remember being a teenager and what that entailed (two points: Harry was born in 1980 which would make him MY age and even though I was never expected to bring the downfall of an evil regime, I still had to make my way from awkward teen to responsible adult like Harry does).

One of the most beautiful aspects about Rowling's writing is her ability to weave the stories across each other. Everything has a purpose. Nothing is superfluous. If she mentions in one book that two characters have birthdays around the same time of the year, it will be important later (it could have been Neville Longbottom and the Sorcerer's Stone). That is also why re-reading them is just as entertaining and awesome as reading them for the first time. In Order of the Phoenix, Petunia makes a reference to Dementors that "that boy" told Lily about. Well naturally the reader is to assume Petunia is speaking about James. It isn't until Deathly Hallows that we learn it is actually Snape! Brilliant!

I know I keep referencing Order of the Phoenix. It's my favorite, and I'm okay knowing that I'm in the minority in that. Here is where Rowling really shows her eloquent grasp on what it means to be human especially a human teen. Harry is arrogant and angry and agitating. He has already saved his own skin multiple times and feels entitled to leadership rolls including being a full fledged member of Dumbledore's "good guys" club. As an adult, I know that Harry still has much to learn about himself and the world (I'm sure my friends in their 40s and 50s would say I still have much to learn about myself and the world). Naturally, I like watching Harry be knocked back a few pegs by not being selected as a Prefect. He may be the "Chosen One," but he's still only 15. (I teach 15-year-olds and wouldn't trust them to take down Voldemort.) He must learn to deal with not being "chosen" for once, and it is difficult for him. Everyone deals with "failure" at some point.

One of my favorite places we are introduced to is St. Mungo's Hospital where witches and wizards are taken care of by Healers when they are ill. I love that we see this side of the magical realm. Even with their abilities, they are still human and flawed. They can still be hurt and die. It also shows the wide range of careers witches and wizards enjoy (this includes all the things going on in the Ministry of Magic which we also get to know in book 5). They are people with 9 to 5 jobs and families to feed. In doing this, Rowling only makes her world and the characters within in it so much more believable. Perhaps the most poignant event is Neville visiting his parents. This gives him a dimension we have yet to see, and we understand a little more about the pressure his Gran places upon him to become the great warrior for good his parents were.

Order's greatest antagonist is not Voldemort this time, but rather a toad faced witch: Dolores Umbridge. She is the personification of all that is wrong with bureaucracy and the education system. As a teacher in a system that I feel is sometimes beyond help, Umbridge's declaration that passing tests is what school is all about solidifies my distaste and hatred for her and those/the system like her. She's the worst kind of evil because she truly believes she is doing what is right and has the powers in control supporting her!

Then there's the death of Sirius Black. He's the best link to Harry's past since he is Harry's godfather and James' best friend. My hopes where set on Harry and Sirius being a family when all was said and done. For three novels Rowling had me believe in it. It's just so upsetting I'm not even sure I can even continue writing about this...

All the books are timeless and the bottom line is these books are so much more than paper and ink! One of my dear friends loathes to read the written word, but she managed to read this entire series. I think that says a lot. I cannot wait until my son is old enough for me to begin reading to him the tale of the boy who lived!

Thicker Than Water

I love this song by the Laurie Berkner Band. It's a nice sentiment, isn't it? "If you're in my heart, you're in my family..." Yet I've learned that it is so much more complicated than that. I wish it were as simple as choosing who to keep in my heart therefore creating my family. That would make it incredibly easy to surround myself with "yes" relatives. Never again would I have to listen to a point-of-view that didn't coincide with my own!

Fortunately, God knows better than I and saw fit to place me in a family that is going to do what is best for me regardless of what I want to hear, see, or do. Actually, they have saved me from making a few HUGE mistakes in my life while also teaching me to step back and really look at a situation before I allow my hopeless romantic tendencies to shoot me in ridiculous directions. I can't really complain when I look at my life now and see how great it truly is. Even though it was key I make some minor mistakes while growing, saving me from the negative life changing ones is an important job for family. In the end I know that I learn from ALL members of my family whether or not I am in the mood to keep them in my heart.

If I didn't already make it clear in earlier posts, my husband's grandmother "gave" us a set of dishes that I didn't want or need. By gave I mean she conned us into paying $100 for them to get them off her hands. This angered me greatly and when they arrived it took everything in me not to kick the UPS boxes down the street. Deep down I know that marrying my husband meant the joining of our families, and if I expect him to respect my family, I should show his the same courtesy. (People can argue with me all they want, but I believe that you marry more than that one person. It's a package deal, so if the future in-laws are pains in the ass before the wedding it is probably wise NOT to get married.) I was due for Reconciliation anyway (I go once a month), so I figured I should ask for some help in handling the anger I felt towards the grandmother-in-law (GIL).

No, the priest did not guilt me into keeping the dishes. Actually, he had me laughing so hard I sort of wondered if I could be heard outside the Confessional. My favorite part was when he told me it would have been instantly gratifying to go skeet shooting with the dishes and when GIL asked how the dishes were working I could say they were a blast! However, in the long run he knew I would feel bad, since the dishes are really nice, if an occasion arose where the dishes actually came in handy. He reminded me how important it was to look at these situations in various ways and helpful if I could find a way to turn the frustration and anger into humor (he also referenced Everybody Loves Raymond in there somewhere). When I started to think about it, it was $100 that we didn't have to pay on the room where we stayed or on admission to museums or food since hubby's dad paid for pretty much everything. Do I like that I was bamboozled? Of course not, but GIL will be gone some day and those dishes might be a fond memory for my hubby if only for him to shake his head and smile/smirk about his grandmother.

Soooooo....

We have a new set of dishes:

Have Tot Will Travel

There are a few things I came to grips with while traveling with my tiny tot. Naturally, my anxiety level shot through the roof when my hubby proclaimed we were taking a 5 day vacation out of state because that meant we would be on an airplane for hours (I don't do road trips). I remembered the days of being on an airplane with someone's kid screaming or bludgeoning the chair in front of him with a foot (I usually was in said chair as it happened). Then there was all the stuff I didn't want to forget to pack. Small children require a ludicrous amount of luggage especially if they are not potty trained yet. Since we made it back to Texas a happy family, I did a little reflection and decided to offer up some useful tidbits:

1. ALWAYS pack the stroller. Even if you have to check it at the plane. Even if your hubby says it's for lazy parents because two parents should be able to tag team and watch one kid. Even if it will cost a small fee. Just take the damn stroller. There will come a point when your little one will refuse to do any more walking (which-chances are-you already knew as an intelligent mother hence arguing with your hubby about whether or not to take it) and will need to be carried. At 30ish pounds, that little stinker can get heavy.
2. Don't worry about being judged. It finally occurred to me on the way home that the only people judging my parenting skills if my son lost it on the plane would be the ones who have NEVER had kids or been around them. Everyone else either had children my son's age or older children who were once my son's age, so they were more empathic than irritated whenever my son reared his terrifying terrible two head. (So all those people who were hacked during that less than a quarter of the flight my son cried can go do something inappropriately diabolical to themselves. He's two! He's never flown before! He was a perfect angel on the flight home.)
3. Don't pack "baby" items that you can buy at a local store. My son already required a ton of packing, so we didn't pack diapers. We had a few to keep in the carry-on for the traveling, but then hit up the Golden Eagle to buy a package of them once we got to Slippery Rock. That saved suitcase space and weight. If my son was still itty-bitty, I probably would have done the same with formula.
4. Allow others to watch your child. I'm sure somewhere someone will think I was just being lazy. However, whenever we were near family everyone else wanted to play with or watch my son. I would have simply added to the old adage "too many chiefs... ." Therefore, I sat back and let the great-grandparents and grandfather walk around and entertain my son. I felt bad the first 10 minutes but figured "oh well-they wanted to meet him so they can get to know him while I enjoy my vacay."
5. Over book the activities (but make sure to rank them in case you can't do them all). I knew that one day would be a complete family day, but that still left roughly 3 days to entertain my son and myself. I made sure to have a list of places to go and see. It turned out that my list came in handy since we did everything I suggested. The one day we didn't plan anything other than family time turned out to be a disaster.
6. Make sure all activities are appealing to you and your child. We had a blast at the Children's Museum, and my son actually enjoyed the Museums of Natural History and Art (we "rented" a stroller for that one). The zoo was the only iffy activity, but it still worked out okay for us. Nothing we did was entirely for adults or entirely for children (not even the Children's Museum).
7. Be grateful that ketchup is classified as a vegetable. I bet most mothers are concerned about making sure their children eat as balanced a meal as possible. Unfortunately, vacation means eatin' on the fly most of the time or going to restaurants that don't necessarily cater to stuffing kids full of vitamins and minerals. My son lived off of hot dogs, grilled cheese, and cheeseburgers. Most of these didn't come with a side of broccoli, so fries and ketchup it was. I figure that five days of that won't kill him.
8. Be understanding if your hubby gets a little edgy toward the end of the trip because the two of you were sharing one room with your kid. I don't think I need to explain that one any further.

I would like this list to be an even 10, but alas it looks like 8 is where it must stop. However, feel free to comment any other tips or tricks you've learned while going on holiday will the kiddos.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love You Tomorrow

There's a small part of me that is sad to see Pennsylvania go. It might have something to do with the fact I actually had a pretty good time this week, but mostly I think it is because the low at night has been around 50 and the high each day has only reached 75. As much as I love Texas, I do NOT love the humidity that awaits my return (neither does my hair).

Today's trip took us all to the zoo/aquarium. I don't think my two-year-old is quite ready for a zoo because he seemed more entertained by the playground within the zoo than the actual animals. Hmmm. I'll give it another go in a few weeks with the zoo back home.

This vacation has really caught up with me, so the rest of this post will be a short photo journal of my day; however, I am already compiling a "things I learned while traveling with a two-year-old" entry for tomorrow:

No, no, no Grampy! Don't feed me to the tigers!

Waitin' for the tram and eatin' Cheerios.

 Wow! The animals actually come out during the day at this zoo because it is ungodly hot.

No slide to big for this boy.

Holy cow! I've never seen a sign that designated someone be short.

This has nothing to do with the zoo, but I figured I should document my son's redneck tendencies.

It's a Will-o-saurus

It is safe to say that today was infinitely better than yesterday. I believe the Cosmos had some balancing to do (or maybe I racked up a ton of positive Karma by maintaining civility towards GIL yesterday). Whatever the reason I'm incredibly grateful.

The father-in-law (we'll call him Pops) spent the day with us on our journey to the Carnegie Museums of Natural History and Art. Pops' rule is that the hubby and I pay for NOTHING while he's in town. Done and done. Trust me, I will not argue. Honestly, I think Pops sincerely enjoys having us here. He's really hit it off with my young William (then again, my son is too adorable not to love). He's even treating us to the zoo/aquarium tomorrow.

The recap for today's adventure with ole Carnegie is pretty brief because a museum is a museum. We walked around the dinosaur exhibit in the morning and then walked the few blocks to Primanti Brothers for lunch. Yum-o. If you've never had a Primanti Brothers sandwich, you are an unfortunate soul. You pick a type of sandwich (I'm a pastrami and cheese girl), and that is placed on the bottom piece of bread. Then they proceed to stack french fries and coleslaw on top of that! Heaven on Earth? Why yes it is. I have yet to be able to lift one though. I use a fork:

I know you can't tell, but there is meat and cheese at the bottom. It's a multi-course meal in between two pieces of bread! Genius!

After lunch we strolled through the Art museum, and I was actually impressed with the contemporary section (except for the piece titled "Drain"-it truly is too stupid to even explain-it was just a drain mounted in the wall). The way the museum was set-up made it easy to snake through time periods. I loved it. Pops even bought be a book of Andrey Avinoff's work because I was so mesmerized by it in the exhibit. Avinoff worked mostly with water color and charcoal, and I love it when my sister uses these mediums. I guess that is why I was drawn to him (as always-pun intended):

Iridescence courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Art

We headed back and after a bit of relaxing (hubby was in desperate need of a nap) joined Pops for dinner. Now, mother-in-law (we'll call her Patience because he has had to put up with GIL for a significant amount of time longer than I) made a simple request that we bring her some Butler BlueSox gear back. The BlueSox are the prospect baseball team for her hometown. Naturally we couldn't just walk into JC Penney and find BlueSox paraphernalia, but hubby found out that the BlueSox would be playing the Slippery Rock Sliders (a few streets over from where we're staying) this evening. Figuring it would be worth a try, we packed up the Bugster and Pops and headed to the game. The bad news is that they were only selling Slider gear, but never fear dear Patience because hubby got the direct number to the BlueSox owner and will be calling him tomorrow. Apparently all the BlueSox stuff is locked in his law office for safe keeping. Hubby fully intends to swing buy and purchase some.

A quick shout-out to my kick ass hubby because he's been so encouraging when dealing with GIL and so accommodating in managing the Bugster AND a model son to a dad he sees every few years or so.

One more day down, and one more day closer to returning home. 

 Left: Hubby loves the triceratops Right: the biggest turtle EVER

Brushing up on fossil finding skills

I know this is incredibly morbid, but this is EXACTLY how they had all the birds set up in the aviary section. Depressing isn't it? They couldn't be flying through the air or at least up right? My husband suggested I find a way to photoshop this poor fellow onto his tummy and put him in ridiculous backgrounds as if he were "planking." The humor helped lift the tone a bit. Also, according to their chart, I would be a Kiwi, hubby would be an Ibis, and Willster would be a Puffin based on our personalities.

This sign is in the parking lot of the ball field. I suppose prospect baseball can be dangerous.