So Much Fun!

I kind of had a bad day.  I was thinking, as I sat through lunch proctoring standardized testing for stragglers, that I really should have stayed home.  The virus is not giving up, and I feel like that ball of dust bunny under my couch - muffled, confused, and cranky.  (Hey, I think dust bunnies are cranky - they probably don't want to be stuck under the couch and shouldn't be there anyway). 

My last period class cheered me up, though.  They did an amazing job at their monologues, told me repeatedly how much fun they were having (can we do this EVERY WEEK?!) I told them I'd wanted them to prepare a poem for discussion next week (something they usually like to do - the discussion part, at least - so they like to think of questions to stump the crowd), but instead I wanted them to tell me what it is like, or say something profound, about being a teenager in 2014.  The catch was - they had 25 minutes to plan, act/film, and vine or instagram their 6 second story.  I told them to go outside and surprise us. 

It was so much fun.  I learned that teenagers like to sleep, eat, text, talk about the opposite gender, and that they stress about school.  I learned that teenaged boys have too much energy and sometimes just have to act dumb. 

I already knew those things, but it was still a total blast.  What a great way to end the week.  My room looked trashed - desks everywhere, scripts everywhere, but I said, "Hey. we've got one minute before the bell - can you put the desks in order and clean up?"  And it was done, like magic.  Too bad that doesn't work at home. 

Darned Cold

Not the winter kind of cold, the virus kind of cold.  I never catch colds, really, I don't, but I have a doozy this time.  I guess all those kids sneezing and hacking away finally got to me.  I am a big baby when I have a cold, too. 

I did do a lot of my National Board stuff yesterday and a little today, and I went to see my son Pole Vault at the track meet. (He did well, a personal best!)  I whimpered and hacked and sniffled through all of it, though.  Such a whiner, I freely admit it.

I am hoping I feel better tomorrow.  I have a gigantic (free) ham I got from the save a tape promotion at the local food store, and I want to dig up some sweet potatoes and use some of those baby greens out in the greenhouse to make a nice Easter dinner.  We are hoping to go to the 7 am Mass - I love the sunrise Mass the best on Easter - but it will mean leaving home by 6 am.  That's going to be a tough sell for our kids. 

I see two Saanen goat kids on Craigslist.  I am tempted to call; I know the people that own the dairy, and they take good care of their goats.  I want milk goats in the worst way, but they don't say whether the goats are doelings or bucklings - and at the price they're asking, I am betting the latter.  There are also Aussie-Heeler-Catahoula pups....It's dangerous for me to go on Craigslist.  It really is.  It's just that one of my favorite dogs in my life was Aussie-Heeler.  My husband would kill me if I brought home a puppy, because he would be the one who would have to deal with it, since I am gone 6 days a week.  They are soooo cute, though. 

It must be Spring - I want ducklings and goat kids and puppies.  I already gave into my craving for chicks;  you know how chicks go, though.  Now they are just small chickens - lovely but in no way cute and cuddly. 

Blood Moon

It was pretty cool.  I wish I'd thought to grab my camera, but on the other hand, I know from experience my camera doesn't take good pictures of the moon - kind of diminishes her to a small point of light. 

I was just shocked we could see anything - it's always (always!) cloudy at our house.  It's particularly always cloudy when there is something cool to see in the sky, it seems.  Last night we got lucky right up until the actual moment. It rained in town, I hear, so many of the kids came to school fairly sad about that. 

It looked red - like a red disc was eating away at the moon, which went through a month's worth of phases over the time of the eclipse. 

It was actually windy and a bit nippy, so my daughter and I ran out a few times, said, "Wow! cool!" and then ran back inside. 

At least we have something to talk about today. 

13 Straight Days of Work

Because I have been incredibly fortunate to get a couple of extra work opportunities, I am working for 13 straight days.  I teach SAT classes on Sunday afternoons, and this weekend, I am working on Summer School prep for both days of the weekend.  I really am so very grateful for the opportunities, but I am feeling slightly daunted facing all these days in a row with no breaks!  I think it is because I am not feeling that well today (Day 2).  I seem to have picked up the cold all the kids are snotting around the school.  Time to just focus on the positive! 

I took advantage of the late track meet on Saturday (a Saturday morning at home - what a concept!) to try a new homemade grout cleaner.  It didn't work as well as I wanted it to, but it worked some.  It used lemon juice, baking soda, and vinegar - so I had some lemon peels left over.  I scraped them and soaked them in vinegar for the two week soak.  It's the best cleaner for my floors and counters (and no driving in traffic!)  I was pretty happy to not have any waste - even though waste of food isn't a problem between feeding dogs, chickens, and making compost - but it still felt good to be able to get double use out of the lemons. 

Chicken update: the chick I thought might be a cockerel - I am 99% sure I am right that he is indeed a he.  So now I have to decide whether an extra rooster is a prudent safeguard against the loss of the first or a terrible idea.  We need to move them outside soon - they're quite large for the tack room pen.  It's always a little dicey when you introduce the young ones to the established flock.  The Barred Rocks are active little hoppers, so we'll need to fence them off in the night pen with a double and of chicken wire until they all feel like they're one flock.