Day in Pictures

Becca making dandelion cookies:



Contrast from the sunlight:





The new desk:



Using the new desk:




Much to my surprise, Toddlerness was able to thread this whole strand by herself (she did complete it, but decided to put the beads back before I could get a picture).

Wednesday Fun

That was my Toddlerness, 5 minutes after leaving ~l~'s house yesterday. Yah, I was driving, not the best pic ever, but you get the idea. Crash city. Even after being generously dosed with sugar - because ~l~ is truly evil: she gave my children two purple peeps each as they entered the van. Luckily the little purple peeple eaters had so much fun at her house that they dropped like flies in a freezer - the car starts, and eyelids start drooping, and before you know it, I'm driving along with nobody but the radio for company. By the time we got home, the older two were in a great mood, but Toddlerness had decided that she would DIE ON THE SPOT if she didn't get nummies in bed (maynownies - short for "lay-down-have-nummies"), peep stickiness and backyard grime and all. It was an unpleasant bath but um, no girlie. She still sleeps in my bed. I don't think so.

Toddlerness learned about fair trades. ~l~'s toddler is now in very proud posession of a pair of pink Dora boots, and my Toddlerness can hardly believe her luck, as she came home with the covetted green froggy rainboots.

In other news, this morning, Boyness found the condom stash and decided that they would be fun to play with. No open packaging, he just used them as frisbees...oh the fun I'm having finding them scattered around the living room. Tell me again why the packages are shiny? At least it's handy when you're searching for them amidst the kid art supply mess.

Beany Addendum

DH has decided that dried beans are MUCH better in chili than canned ones. Went all raving about it.

So, add another meal to the list of meals I need to plan IN ADVANCE. Why does "good" have to be such a PITA!? Yes, I hear you now, dried-bean-lovers, "it's not so much work." The point isn't the volume of work, it's the fact it needs to be planned and I'm plan phobic.

Mmmmm, Beany

So I didn't fuck up beans. The chili came out great, the kids love it (bonus, they helped sort the beans and Toddlerness is now reminiscing as she eats them...with enthusiasm).

We went to IKEA today and the kids nearly got into a fist fight about what color their new desk would be. And I nearly strangled Toddlerness after about the (oh, let's seee...) 500th or some-odd iteration of "sit DOWN [Toddlerness]". It was not the most relaxing trip to IKEA that has ever been taken. But we got what we needed.

I spent most of the afternoon putting all the due dates for the quarter on one of those desk-sized calendars that I've always wondered WTF could possibly be used for...apparently, for stuff like this. First quarter I kept everything online and it got frustrating turning back and forth and wondering which version was correct. Second quarter I put it all in a binder and never used it. So gigantic calendar it is. I am really liking it so far. Guess how long it took Toddlerness to scribble on it? Yeah, I had only finished writing in the dates for one course.

Incidentally, I have a massive set of Learning Objectives (individualized assignments) due on the 7th. About subject material we're supposed to cover starting the 9th. Tell me again how this is supposed to make sense? How I'm supposed to hang on to my sanity? Um, no, it isn't working. First day of the quarter and I'm confused already.

Fuck.

Oh, wait, let's end this post on a good note. I've got planty-type things growing in my living room. On purpose. In egg cartons. They're doing nicely. I should have given the broccoli more room, as ALL of it is sprouting and growing nicely but I'm going to have to thin it down a LOT. And I need to move the tomato plants on up to something with a little more growing room. But yes, having them actually GROW is a nice turn of events after the too-late planting fiasco that occured last year.

Break - Over

So tomorrow (Monday) marks the start of another quarter. And how would I *really* know this, except that one textbook failed to arrive, one textbook failed to SHIP (that's what I get for buying used through Amazon, eh?), and one class book list updated too late to buy the frigging thing in time anyway.

We celebrated the end of break in style at the D.Family house (I need to come up with a nickname for you guys...) with kid crafts, rotisserie chicken, movies, and strawberry shortcake. Ah, fun.

But I'm tired just THINKING about starting another school cycle. *Sigh* and I don't even have a practicum site set up yet (waiting on the school).

In other news, I am going to try, for the first time EVER, to cook using dried beans. Getting them ready to make chili tomorrow. I'm skeert. This sounds like the kind of easy thing I could fuck up and not know why...ever. Like how some people just *can't* make bread, no matter how *right* they seem to make it (I can, incidentally, make bread just fine...but am scared of beans forsomeoddreason).