The Doin's Here

Hey all! Best Namma Ever! is back from France. After settling in at home for a few days, she jetted up here to catch up with the Urban Kids. And since this blog is my deeeeep, daaaark secret from most real-life people, and because the computer is in the room where she stays, bloggy-time has been rare.

It was good fun, as always. Spanish class had "Bring a Parent Day," which was perfectly timed. BNE!, Urban Kid 2 and I attended. And it is ALWAYS lovely to have another set of hands when trying to attend something with UK2. Of course, UK2 needed to leave the class and wander. Thankfully, 1.) there were empty classrooms to explore and 2.) this still left UK1 with a grown-up to show off.

Also, BNE! attended soccer with us today. This was nice because I FINALLY got to see UK1 play soccer for the first time in eons. Usually, she plays with her class in the gym while I'm out in the hallways entertaining, chasing, feeding and/or changing UK2. I'm usually glancing at my watch for the last 10-15 minutes in a near-OCD fashion. Perhaps if I keep looking, it will make time go faster.... Umm, no. But UK1 loves it, so what the hell. Anywhoooo, with BNE! there, we could switch off.

Urban Dad is swamped lately. For some bizarre reason, he collected essays from all five of his classes at the same time. He has two sections of Advanced Placement kids, and the AP test is coming up, so there's that to concentrate on. Also, he meandered off the beaten path for a while with his freshies. Now he has to consider the departmental final exam that he has to give. So it's time to "teach the test."

And to add to it, he will stop into a visitation on Thursday evening. Sadly, at a school the size of Great Big Urban High School, a student is often lost during the course of the year. Last Friday, one of U-Dad's AP juniors from last year was one of two people killed in a freak accident when a semi slammed into a CTA train station and kept going part-way up the escalator. The young lady -- a straight-A student and cheerleader -- was on the escalator. One of her friends remains in the hospital. The driver, of course, was unharmed. There's more here.

All of this means that it's me and the UK's for the next several evenings. And most of the weekend.

Don't get me wrong. I loooooove the UK's. But boy is it nice when the U-Dad comes 'round, and I get to come up for air. My hat's off to 1.)the single moms and 2.)those with lots of kids.

And yeah, if that's the extent of my problems today, I'm doin' alright!

So that's the world here for now. More interesting developments to come soon.... I'm gettin' me some Bionic Eyes soon!

Tag!!

Tiffany tagged me. So here goes!

Here are the rules:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 years ago:
I was working in TV Production at a Great Big Ad Agency in downtown Chicago. I lived in the same apartment building as Urban Dad, and I think that I had just begun night and weekend classes to get my teaching certification.

Five Snacks I enjoy:
1. cheese and crackers
2. a bowl of cereal
3. yogurt
4. tall skim chai
5. granola bars

In the real world:
1. I'm excited about travelling with the kids.
2. I'm completely different from my sister (Pink Power Ranger), but we're still close.
3. I have days when the Urban Kids drive me batty.
4. Urban Dad spoils me rotten.
5. I think this homeschooling thing just might work out!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Take the Urban Kids everywhere in the world -- and always be where it is NOT winter!
2. Maybe even take the Pink Power Ranger and Best Namma Ever! with us.
3. Have someone to run the household -- handle the groceries, cooking, cleaning, etc.
4. Make sure that PPR and BNE! are set up to be comfortable for life.
5. Start some sort of private school that does not charge tuition. Make the public schools compete!!!

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Associate Producer at previously mentioned agency
2. Asst Director of the 6am news at the NBC affiliate in Peoria
3. Tutor at Huntington Learning Center
4. Cadre (aka: daily sub) at Urban Dad's Great Big Urban High School; I mostly covered maternity leaves, including Urban Dad's!
5. Waitress at a Pizza Hut

Three of my habits:
1. I try to get up earlier than the kids so that I can have a huge cup of tea, a bite to eat and watch a bit of TV before they get up.
2. I tend to leave the last load of laundry in the dryer and forget about it.
3. I fidget a lot.

Five place I have lived:
1. North County of St. Louis
2. Peoria
3. shiny high-rise in downtown Chicago
4. 1920's 6-floor apt building in Lincoln Park, Chicago
5. 2-flat in Lakeview (aka: Boys' Town), Chicago

What do you want others to get from your blog:
I think I hope to show that we city-slickers are homeschooling too, that it is now a mainstream, perhaps even "critical mass" choice that people are making. But it isn't just about homeschooling -- it's also about getting a glimpse into a variety of people's lives and perhaps sharing a bit in return.

Okay that is it! Wasn't that fun?

Now I have to tag 5 of you.
1.Maria
2.Jenni
3.Amy
4.Melissa
5.Laura

My TV Boyfriend

I'd like to introduce you to my TV Boyfriend. We get together every week, usually on Wednesday evenings, but if I'm busy, he patiently waits in my DVR until I have time for him. He's ever-so-smart, outwitting terrorists nearly every week and saving zillions of lives. He's also charming, sophisticated and is utterly devourable when kicking the hell out of bad guys.

Lest you be too shocked by my torrid TV affair, rest assured that Urban Dad is understanding and has allowed for this "arrangement." Being a modern gal, I even offered to allow him a TV Girlfriend and promised to not be the slightest bit jealous. Ever gallant, he declined. He's happy to see me happy.

If you'd like to meet my TV Boyfriend yourself, check out "MI-5" on Wednesdays on BBC America (in the UK, the show is called "Spooks"). He used to be on A&E, but they foolishly dropped him for some reason. Before A&E dropped the show, TVB's wife tragically died in the line of duty. BBC America is currently showing episodes from before this, so I'm patiently waiting to catch up.

Ooooo, so now he's brooding. It's more than I can stand! Poor thing probably needs comforting, don't you think?

And you know what's so great about Urban Dad? There's the fact that he has similarly dreamy blue eyes. And although perhaps a mite shorter than TVB, he has a similarly yummy build. But what's great is when I look over at him during the show and ask, "can you muster up an English accent?," he smiles a little when he says "no." And when I look over at him again and ask, "can we put some highlights in your hair?," he smiles a little bigger when he says, "no." And it's the kind of smile a guy gets when he knows that he's about to get....

........Hey wait, I think I know why UD is okay with this.............

Show and Tell Tuesday

It's that time again!

Recently, Urban Kid 1 learned about Paul Cezanne at Art class. The specific piece they looked at was Still Life With Apples.
They then took orange and apples halves and used them as stamps for their own creations:

Then they had a snack....

(KIDDING! I'M KIDDING!)

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Weekend Update

We visited some friends this morning, Friend Couple A from previous posts, who we haven't seen in way-too-long. The Mom and I giggled like little kids at Christmas as we sat on their porch watching Urban Kid 2 play. "Can you believe that Spring is here? Can you believe that Winter is finally OVER!?" UK2 kept bringing us little gifts, a pebble from here, a leaf from there, then she would go out of the gate, wander the sidewalk a bit, then come back in the gate. Over and over and over again. Soak up that sunshine and fresh air, my babylove!


UK2 is soundly zonked out right now. Urban Dad took Urban Kid 1 out on her bicycle for a bit. I'm running some long-overdue scans of the computer. Hum Drum.


UK1 has a busy week this week. The goal from this point forward is to make the schedule lighter. But swimming kicks in this week. However, piano wraps up, and we're taking the summer off of that. In a few weeks, Spanish wraps up. We'll take the summer off of that, as well (we bought Rosetta Stone recently; to make up for some of that expense, we're not doing Spanish classes over the summer). We might do Art until Urban Dad is finished at Great Big Urban High School for the summer. Our only summertime activity will be Soccer, which is outdoors at Waveland Park, right on the Lake.
We're kicking around travel plans for the Summer. This is the part where it's especially good to be married to a teacher.


Blissfully content today. Hope you are too!

Reunited and It Feels So...... Whatever

When the Urban Kids and I were in St. Louis a few weeks ago, I was directed by a friend to a high school alumni website. Seems that this page is like MySpace, but just for folks who graduated from our school. So I clicked over and found some familiar faces.

As with any new cyber-experience, it turned into a giant time-suck. Seriously, I wasted way too much time! But it WAS interesting! It was like a cyber-reunion, which was just my speed. I posted my own info and traded a few pleasant notes. Seems that several of us are doing well, happy and healthy, and a bunch are even in the Chicago and Chicagoland area. One is in Germany, another in Puerto Rico, several out West, others down South... so several of us also blew the cocoon of North St. Louis County and went on to other things. Guess I wasn't the only one needing a new scene!

And one of us is a grandparent already. UGH! That one smarted.

And now I know that I don't need to attend the 20-year reunion this year. (yes, i just gave away my age!) I didn't go to the 10-year either. I was a busy kid in high school -- captain of two varsity teams, NHS member, an editor of the paper and yearbook. And while I was the kid who was friendly with just about all of the various groups, I was underwhelmed with the high school experience. I just outgrew it all really fast. I also had a lot of personal baggage at that time in life. If I could go back, I would choose the adults in my life more carefully. I would be less needy and nervous. Less angry too. It's a hard age -- you learn some of the tougher realities of adulthood and that sometimes right does not overcome wrong.

So why go back? Those that I wanted to maintain contact with... I have. But when the time came to head off to college, I went to one where NO ONE from my class went. There was one person on the entire campus that went to my high school. I liked it that way. I had been with essentially the same group of people since the first grade. I figured we could all wish each other well and head into the world to find our ways.

I guess I just don't understand the reunion thing. Especially in an internet-connected world. Until now, I rarely even thought about these people. Not because I wish anyone any ill feelings. I'm genuinely happy that they're happy. But I'm SUCH a different person than I was then. Why go back and re-visit that scene for too long?

So as you might tell, I spent a bunch of time on the site thinking, "ooo, this is interesting." Then when I was finished, I thought, "why the heck did I spend so much time on THAT?" It was ultimately pretty anti-climactic and deflating.

Kind of like high school itself.........

Show and Tell Tuesday on Wednesday

Ok, so maybe that doesn't make much sense. But hey, it's my blog. I don't have to make perfect sense all of the time, right?

Urban Kid 1's last trip to art class had her studying Monet. Considering the lovely collection of Monet's at The Art Institute, it makes sense that Chicago kids should be very familiar with him. They used Water Lillies as their example:

Urban Kid 1's take on it:

The Paintbrush is getting a write-up in Crain's Chicago Business; I'm so psyched for them!

Happy Wednesday to all!