Loosely related Sunday night thoughts

I love the holidays, but the pace can make me a little nuts. It feels like I've spent the last two weeks cooking, cleaning, and decorating. Each of those activities is fulfilling, in a limited way.

I gather the most pleasure from cooking. One look at my figure would tell anyone that. As I mentioned over at maryb's place, I love the communal nature of cooking. I hate cooking alone. I try to get Hugh to help me, but he always feels a bit reticent in the kitchen. I had a blast making the dill pickle soup and pyrohys (Ukrainian spelling for pierogies) on Christmas Eve. Just as soon as someone e-mail's me the pictures, I'll put them up.

I hate to clean, but I always feel good about myself after I've completed some truly awful cleaning job (like the hairball the awaits me in the basement).

Decorating for Christmas is always fun. It's the only time I allow really kitschy items to be seen in my house. Luckily, after Christmas, I'll get to do some real decorating. We will finally start to paint and my mother-in-law offered to buy us drapes for the living room and dining room. I guess she got sick of looking at those ugly Venetian blinds.

Cookie Exchange

Since last Saturday, I've been baking, and subsequently, eating cookies. On top of that, Andrew has fallen victim to pink eye. I'm thrilled to not be working. No papers to grade so I can just relax and enjoy the vacation that my boys will have. I thought that I would put up a cookie exchange to see what your favorite recipes are. I think that the best cookies we made this year were my mom's M&M Cookies.

1 cup of butter - softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups M7Ms (divided)

Blend the butter and both sugars. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Sift remaining dry ingredients together and add to the sugar/egg mixture. Mix well. Stir in 1/2 cup of M&Ms, reserving 1 cup to decorate cookies prior to baking. Drop a teaspoon of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate unbaked cookies with remaining M&Ms.

Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes.

My oven runs hot, so eight minutes is perfect. Also, do not overload with M&Ms. The cookies will come out too crisp and crumbly.

Share your cookies here.

The Power of Fiction

Th other day, I ended a post about Santa with a brief comment about the power of fiction in our lives. It seemed like a topic that could generate some interesting conversation, so I've raised the issue again.

As an English teacher, I experience fiction everyday of my life. Sometimes it's the fictional excuse of why someone didn't complete an assignment and other times, it's the fiction of Twain, Hurston, or Steinbeck. Whatever kind of fiction, it seems that humans are drawn to it.

Andrew is four and has not experienced any serious lies, aside from Santa. Yet, from the time he could speak, he partook in small "untruths" about random things. The funniest were when he was still wearing a diaper and Hugh or I would catch the distinct odor of #2. We would ask him if was was pooping and he frequently said no. To make sure that he wasn't simply having a massive gas attack, one of us would dutifully check the diaper, only to find out that he was lying. Now, perhaps he was still learning how language worked and used the wrong word. Except, he will now still do the same thing when he is dancing and grabbing himself - a sure sign of needing to go to the bathroom. Why does he resort to fiction, especially when it deeply upsets him to have an accident?

The other type of fiction is just as powerful. Not all of my students like the books we read, but I guarantee that they all have a movie or a television show that they love. It is our connection to characters in fiction that must have the power. For me, there are are several fictional characters I love. I love Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. I have always been touched by the character Franny and her search for some sort of spiritual grounding. I first read that book when I ended a serious long-term relationship and I think I felt like Franny was a kindred spirit.

Another fictional character I have grown to love is Huck Finn. That is such a typical English teacher answer, but I can't help myself. He shows such growth by the end of the book and Twain puts some beautiful descriptive passages in his mouth, that I almost want to cry sometimes.

Not all of the books/stories I teach have the same effect on my. While I like The Crucible, I don't feel much empathy for the characters. The same with the characters in The Great Gatsby.

Right now, I am reading literature that I plan on teaching for the AP class. I have re-read Oedipus and Antigone. Both are much shorter than I remember. I've just started 1984 and I sense that after eight years of Bush, Rove, and Cheney that I'll have a strong reaction.

The Santa Card

I have something shameful to admit. I played the Santa card the other day. Andrew often does a terrible (even by a four year old's standards) job brushing his teeth. His job often consists of sucking the water out of the toothbrush and saying he's done. Well, the other day I lost it. I told him that Santa watches how you brush your teeth and if a child does a poor job of brushing, he will bring only a toothbrush and no toys.

I couldn't believe it. When we became parents, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to perpetuate the whole Santa Claus myth. Yet, in a moment of weakness, I pulled Santa out of my back pocket in order to obtain a desired behavior. I told my husband, Hugh, and he chuckled.

The whole incident reminded us of something that happened in Hugh's class a few years ago. He taught Junior Kindergarten (Andrew's current grade) for 11 years. For a large portion of that time, he worked with a very sweet paraprofessional. Well, a few years ago, he had a group of completely feral children. It was a few days before the Christmas break (not called that) and the students were just bouncing off the walls. His assistant had a moment and shouted that she was calling Santa that night to report all the naughty behavior. Oddly enough, the kids got the message and calmed down.

If I really want to be philosophical, it's amazing the power that fiction has in our lives. One fat, old guy in a funny red suit and kids will straighten up their behavior.

Organizing CDs

Every so often, our large (over 200) CD collection gets out of control and we can't find anything. To be completely honest, our CDs have been in a messy pile for a while. I have decided that this week's task would be to rein in that mess. Currently, all of our CDs are at my feet, by the computer. I am trying to make the critical decision - how to organize all of them.

As an English teacher, the alphabetical system is appealing. It will be equally easy to find The Clash and Benny Goodman. On the other hand, if I am looking for a classical CD and I don't know the composer's name, alphabetical does not help. In that case, an organizational system based on genre would be the most efficient. Of course, I could organize by time. We have a little music from most decades of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Whatever I do, I have to make sure that I have buy-in from my husband. He often disregards any organizational system I set up. I try not to nag, but is it really so difficult to put the frying pans back with the other frying pans, in a manner that won't cause all of them to tip over as soon as someone touches them?

Sorry.

How do you organize your "stuff"?

Warm and toasty

At least that’s how I hope my house will feel after today. About a month ago, we signed a contract to have insulation installed in our 1929 house. At the moment we are completely broke, Christmas is looking a little dim, and it appears that I may have to get a part-time job. How then, can we afford insulation? This is when I say Buddha, baby Jesus, Mohammed, and Yahweh praise socialism.

Living in Canada, we pay higher taxes. Often, I can see the benefits in these higher tax rates in real programs. Socialized medicine is one example. Another is the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant.This grant comes from both the federal and provincial governments. Anyone in the country is eligible for up to $5,000 dollars in grant money for improving the energy efficiency of his/her home.

The first step was to commission an Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report to determine the current efficiency rating. This was a sad bit of information to us; on a scale of 0-100, our house rated a whopping 36 on the efficiency scale. Our furnace is about 20 years old. It turns out that, essentially, we had no insulation in the house. That’s zip, zero, nada. Also, all of our very old windows are very leaky. As a matter of fact, the test to determine how much air leaks out of the house was a very cool test.

The certified energy advisor opened the front screen door and installed a nylon screen with a large circular hole at the bottom. In that hole, he put a fan and then connected the fan to a monitor. When he turned on the fan, he basically activated every draft part of the house. He and I ran around and found which windows leaked the most profusely. He also showed me spots in the basement that leaked air, usually right at the spot where the foundation and the ground met. We could even see daylight through those spots. He gave me a lot of cheap, quick fixes we could implement, like sprayable expanding foam for those parts in the basement.

At 7:00 on the dot this morning, the installation crew showed up. Since then, there has been the constant din of drills and foam being sprayed into the walls from the outside. Later this afternoon, someone will have to crawl into a closet upstairs to drill a hole to finish the job. The temperature is going up to 40 today, but I’m actually looking forward to the next cold day to feel if there is a difference in the house.

Buidling Traditions

I kept my son home from school on Thursday. Living in Canada means that American Thanksgiving is just another day, so if he is going to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, he will have to be absent.

As I teacher and a mom, I'm okay with parents keeping children home for family traditions. I should add that the days missed should be minimal. Much can be learned attending special events with loved. I don't mean learning in an academic sense, but an emotional sense. Andrew and I (along with a friend who is like a sister) sat on the sidewalk along Woodward Avenue for two hours, in awe of each new spectacle. All around us were families, some with younger children and some with ...teenagers and all seemed to be smiling and bonding. I cuddled and giggled with my son, a gift to both of us. My poor husband missed all the fun because he had to work (parent/teacher conferences - he really couldn't miss). Today, Andrew and I drew pictures of floats and balloons.

Growing up, my family never attended the parade or the fireworks. We did not take regular summer vacations. We had fun and had our own traditions, such as playing Trivial Pursuit at dinner. I always wished, however, that we had done some of those other things. I have determined that my own family will have traditions of going places and seeing things outside of our everyday world. I plan on dragging Andrew to that parade, even if he grows into a snarly teenager.

New jeans

I am afraid that the following is going to be a very superficial rant (with an intro like that, who wouldn't stick around).

I desperately needed a new pair of jeans. I have but one pair that does not have holey knees. I have always found that Calvin Klein jeans fit very nicely, so off I went to the mall for what I thought would be a simple purchase.

I asked a sales clerk where I could find the Calvin Klein jeans and she kindly walked me to the section. Sadly, my pleasant experience stopped there. I was surrounded by hip-hugging pants that looked like they fell directly out of the late 70s ior early 80s. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. The back pockets have fancy swoops or curly-q's. I couldn't believe that there was not one pair of simple, plain jeans.

I asked another clerk, whose hair weighed more that she did, and she told me that this is all the company had bought from Calvin Klein, but that there were Lee's in another part of the store. Luckily, that leads to a happy ending. I found a pair of normal jeans, for $40 less that the CK "jeans." That left enough money to buy a sweater and a pair of earrings.

Now I just have to do something about making sure I buy smaller jeans next time.

Finally, AP classes

It only took the 11 years that I spent complaining. My school is going finally to offer Advanced Placement classes and I will teach AP Literature and Composition next fall when I return.

For those of you who do not speak educationalese, AP classes are for highly motivated students who are willing to work at an accelerated rate. It is really more like a college class than a high school class. In May, the College Board (the AP and SAT people) offer nationwide tests based on the AP courses. If a student performs well enough (usually a 3, 4, or 5), universities will generally give that student free college credit.

It has been my contention for my whole career that our students, who are mostly poor, should have at least the opportunity to earn free college credit. For 11 years, colleagues told me that it would never happen. I chose not to believe them and acted more shrilly with each passing year.

Over the past several years, we have found that perhaps 10-20 students each year go to high schools that offer AP courses. This year, my school lost 200 students. That loss isn't entirely due to the lack of high level classes, but it didn't help. The superintendent asked for volunteers and I put word in that I was interested.

This past Tuesday, I spent the day at an AP training seminar. Since then, my head has been spinning. Based on the Michigan Merit Curriculum, I have chosen four themes (all connected to leadership qualities): 1. Who's in charge? 2. Tradition 3. Breaking the mould. 4. Power and Fear. My next task is to create a list of poems, short stories, plays, and novels to teach the class. The literature must range from classical to modern (post-colonial and late 20th/early 21st century).

This task is both enthralling and frightening. Enthralling because I have always wanted to teach an AP class. I am, however, scared to death because I fear that my shallow intellect will be painfully revealed. I'm worried that the College Board will reject the syllabus that I create (they must approve it). Finally, I'm completely terrified of the time I'll have to spend grading papers.

Unlike the other potential AP teachers in my building, at least I'll have the opportunity to create this syllabus with nothing else to do.

Too close for comfort

The other night, we noticed a fire truck going down our street. We would not have noticed the siren-less truck if it hadn't been for our truck obsessed son who heard the distinctive rumble of the engine and ran to the door. We looked down the street and saw a couple of police cars in addition to the fire truck. Wanting to stay out of the way, we stayed indoors.

I opened up our local paper today and discovered what the commotion was. Apparently, there was a home invasion. This happened in the early evening hours, pre-dinner maybe. Two guys kicked in someone's door, told them to get on the floor, and stole a few small items. Luckily for the victim, there was someone in another room who called the police. The two bad guys were caught.

I am not one to frighten easily. I have, unfortunately, been close to some very violent fights at my school. I usually feel more frustration and anger than fear. This little event down the street doesn't frighten me, but it does have me feeling a little wary. The town in which I live is probably on the verge of an economic depression, as is Michigan just across the river. As more people fall into poverty due to a loss of jobs, I do worry about an increase in crime. I realize that the community needs people who are more economically secure to do more to mitigate some of the hurt for the poor. My husband and I, while we don't have a lot, do have fairly secure jobs. It is time for us to step up somehow.

Eight Long Years

I have been waiting for this moment for eight years. I know that I am not the only one. One week from today, we will be done with the Bush/Cheney administration. Yes, the inauguration takes place in January, but Tuesday, November 4 signals the end of the worst President in the history of the United States.

I remember being stunned at the results in the 2000 election. In an unusual move, I allowed my first hour class to watch Channel One to follow the Florida recount. My parents live in Florida, so the whole spectacle gave me reason to tease them endlessly. Finally the Supreme Court stopped the counting and we were stuck with Bush and Darth. At that time, I thought that Bush was a fool who had one term written all over him. Little did I know that I was the real fool.

Jump ahead to the 2004 election and I plunged into a deep depression. I simply could not believe that GWB was re-elected. I remember distinctly watching the events of the Orange Revolution unfold in the Ukraine and wondering why I wasn't in the streets protesting our election results.

Next Tuesday represents the most important election of my lifetime. The choices are clear and distinct. We, as a nation, could choose a doddering old man who has spun a narrative of fear and xenophobia around his opponent and decide that we do not trust those who have funny names. This choice would lead us to further, more bitter division.

On the other hand, we, as a nation, could choose a hope-filled man who speaks of bridging the fissures that have arisen since (in my opinion) President Clinton took office. This candidate seems unafraid to look for the tough solutions to the problems we face today. I may not agree with all of his stances (particularly in the area of foreign policy), but I at least feel that this candidate will be more intellectually curious and willing to act based on principal.

Please - vote for Barack Obama next Tuesday. Let's piss off the Klan and send a signal to the world that the United States has found its moral backbone.

Careless

Perhaps I am not the most detailed oriented person in the world. That fact should probably disqualify me as the PAC chair for my union, but no one else wants the job, so....

I am working on the report right now and I have just realized that I have made a fairly large mistake and will have to start all over. It is a monotonous report to complete and I need to pay better attention. I'm just really bothered that I set myself back about an hour and a half.

I'm just glad that I don't have to complete entries for a make-up artist to the tune of $22,000.

Read the label

Several months ago, I was baking something ( I don't remember what exactly) and using cinnamon. I must have been taking a break when I decided to read the cinnamon box. I glanced at the ingredients and saw that besides the cinnamon, the company, McCormick's, had also included hydrogenated oil, maybe cottonseed oil. I was completely dumbstruck and decided to purchase organic cinnamon instead.

I was making my last batch of applesauce for canning last night and I noticed that I would have to buy more cinnamon today. I decided to read the label on McCormick's cinnamon again to see if there was still oil listed in the ingredients. Sadly there was, so I again purchased the organic cinnamon.

Because I have nothing else to do, I called McCormick's went I got home from the store. The customer service representative let out a surprised laugh when I asked her for an explanation. She told me that if the company receives a shipment of "high quality" cinnamon that happens to come from the upper branches of the tree, it will be drier due to having less natural oils. When that cinnamon is processed, a very small amount of oil is sprayed on the grinder so that the cinnamon does not go all poof in the air. Apparently, according to the woman on the phone, a customer could purchase cinnamon six months from now and not see oil listed on the box.

I know that you're smart out there, if for no other reason that you are reading my blog :) Please be sure to always peek at the labels before you buy anything. You never know what companies will try to slip past you.

Friday Night and the Great Debate

Well, it seems that Obama will have a debate partner tonight. That's good. However, I don't know if I can watch. From a practical perspective, we have about a dozen people coming over for an old-fashioned dinner party on Saturday night. I've got to bake a cake and clean this house. Secondly, I am completely scared. I just cannot stand another minute of this election and I am chewing my fingernails down to stubs waiting for the election. I've been trying to stay active; I've been calling Americans who live in Canada to remind them to register to vote. That has not been enough to fight off my anxiety about this election. I am sure that I will peek in on the debate a couple of times. I won't last long however. The second McSame spouts some lie, I'll start screaming at the t.v. and storm out of the room. So, for my sanity and my husband's, I'll stay far away.

I've Heard the News Today

I cannot wrap my brain around how much $700 billion is. Sorry for poor grammar. The more I hear about this bailout, the angrier I get. I've called both Senator Levin and Senator Stabenow and told their staffers how much I am against a blank check bailout. That did not make me feel any better.

Because I am home all day, I've been listening to NPR and the many "experts" talk about this bailout. By the end of yesterday, I was agitated to the point of distraction. There was one comment that left me very distraught. A financial reporter from the New York Times said on "Fresh Air"something about hundreds of banking lobbyists descending on Washington to insure that regulations placed would be minimal. Then she said that the tax payers have no lobbyists and would without a doubt get screwed (not verbatim, I'll grab the link a little later). I was floored by the simple truth of her comment.

I have this crazy idea. Americans need to take to the streets and march in front of their elected officials offices urging no blank check bailout. We need to be in groups of 15, 20 (bigger) all over the country, showing these fat cats we mean business. I don't know that we'll do just that, but I'll put it out there to see if anyone takes it up. In the meantime, I will check to see if there is already a movement afoot to do just that.

But I'm supposed to have more time!

A few years ago, pre-Andrew (p.A.), my husband and I were walking through the neighborhood. At the time, we were renting the bottom half of a duplex, one block from our current house. We were pointing out features that we liked on houses. As were were chatting and walking, a guy doing some work in his garage overheard us and shouted, "Don't do it! Once you own a house, the work never stops." We thanked him for his sincere (not to mention unsolicited)advice and carried on our merry way. Within the year, we had purchased our home.

As I have stated before, we have really let the upkeep of our house get away from us. Hurricane Andrew is one reason. A never-ending pile of papers to grade has been another. Finally, with my year off, we are addressing some of the house issues that we have been avoiding.

We have finally agreed to paint for the living room and dining room. That sounds lame even as I write it! Anyway, this venture, thus far, has taken up more of my time than I would have like, and we haven't even started to paint. It will be nice when it's done, but that guy was right, the work never ends.

One goal accomplished!

I told myself that when I spent this school year on leave, that I would achieve certain goals. One of those goals is done. I actually wrote a children's book! It needs some tweaking; I need to revisit and revise some word choices and I need illustrations. Next week I will start researching publishers and researching how to get this thing published.

I also have one chapter roughly written for my novel!

To celebrate, I toast myself with a small glass of Bailey's!

Do you know anyone’s name?

Today was Andrew’s second day of Junior Kindergarten. He attends school everyday for a half-day. So far, so good. He has looked pretty dazed both days as I pick him up.

That dazed look, while normal I am sure, always worries me. Since we have brought him home from China, his only playmates have been us. We have no family with small cousins. We have a number of still single and childless friends, and our street has been devoid of little guys his age. The children we do know live an hour or two away.

We have put him in classes and sent him to Montessori to interact with other children. Yet, he still makes us as his first choice playmates. I teach teenagers, so I know that I should relish this as long as I can. I still wish that he could tell me the name of at least one classmate.

I guess that I have first week jitters that I am sure will pass.

Getting serious about writing

I am a slacker! Maybe not world class (ahem…FM), but I am one, none the less! I started this blog three months ago and then I basically abandoned it.

Oh sure, I could make excuses. For example, I could plead that I spent the whole summer having fun with my hubby and son. We went to free events in town and took a short road trip. Or,I could explain that I spent a large portion of my summer trying (with mixed results) to get the house in order. Not Pottery Barn order, mind you. I just didn’t want my house to have that special homeless look.

But, what’s the point of excuses. I don’t feel any better after making them. All I can say is that I, henceforth, will put energy into writing now that everyone (husband and son) is in school.

Gossipy books

The great thing about a teacher’s summer vacation is the fact that, if we plan our time wisely, we have time to read as much as we like. That’s what I am doing with part of my time anyway.

In the month since school has ended, I’ve gotten through two books and I’ve started a third. The first was a goofy book titled The Secret Lives of Great Authors by Robert Schnakenberg. The second was a far more serious piece of non fiction by Ishmael Beah called A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. The third book is a small book that might be familiar to you, Anna Karenina by some guy named Leo Tolstoy. For fun, I will occasionally review the books I’ve read.

I’ll start with The Secret Lives of Great Authors by Robert Schnakenberg. A co-worker loaned it to me for the summer and swore that I would love it. I’m not sure love is a good description. This book is kind of like People for literature geeks. It’s not particularly well-written (not unlike this blog) but it has a handful of juicy little tidbits about many of the authors whom I admire. Some of the “revelations” were not really that shocking. For example, the anecdote revealing that Walt Whitman kissed Oscar Wilde squarely on the lips is not very surprising. Actually, I had quite a chuckle when I read it. Walt was 63 at the time while Oscar was a mere 28! I say bully for Walt! On the other hand, I found it all together disturbing that Gertrude Stein was friends with a Nazi collaborator in the Vichy government.

All of this brings me to a larger question – why do so many people read or watch celebrity “news”? I know that some of it can’t be avoided, especially when some of it (the Pitt-Jolie birthing event) shows up in serious news outlets. I’m thinking more about those shows or magazines dedicated wholly to lives of the rich and famous. What do people get out of reading those? Fess up, which one of the grocery store line magazines do you pick up and thumb through while waiting?

Boy, this is a lot of work

I did not realize that toilet training would be so tiring. We started with my son last week and it is all we have been doing. At first, he would scream and cry and whine that he did not want to sit on the toilet. Luckily for us, we had the right combination of bribes for the boy - small trucks and cars!

I am ashamed to admit that we bribed our son, but we did it. To be honest, it has worked out quite nicely for us. Within a seven day period, he has gone from screams to now telling us when he has to go to the bathroom. So far, he is making to the toilet on time - we haven't had an accident since Saturday.

What is a little vexing for me is that we could have gone with a much cheaper bribe. We have run out of dinky cars and have purchased all that are available at our local toy store. We are now using stickers and I'll be damned if he isn't just as happy with stickers. Oh well, as my husband has been saying, if someone had told him that for $35 (the amount we have spent on cars), our son would be toilet trained in a week, we would have thought it was a bargain.

Finally - a contract!

I am a member of my local's negotiating team. We started negotiating last spring and did not wrap up until two weeks ago. It has been a long haul. The teacher's union and the district argued over small things like the number of staff meetings allowed and big items like how many sick days can be banked for purposes of payout at the time of retirement. The time spent at the bargaining table and at planning sessions was more than I had anticipated. I ended up being very far behind on grading papers and helping out on housework. My husband has a tremendous amount of patience and I truly appreciate it.

In the end, we got a small pay increase, a big increase in the amount of bankable days for retirement severance (at the expense of new hirees) , and most importantly, no concessions on health care co-pays.

I am thrilled that I will not be negotiating during my leave. I can focus on my goals, my family, and myself. I am glad, however, that I was a part of the bargaining team. I learned a lot and the opportunity gave me concrete issues to think about as I contemplate my future in teaching and in the union. You see, when this contract expires we will elect new officers. I am already the secretary, a job that I have enjoyed. But, our president has more than suggested that this was the last contract that he will negotiate. Many people are looking to me to step into that position. It is my own fault. I have never been shy about expressing my interest in the president's spot. I believe that I can do a good job. I cannot logically tell you why I believe so. The district is not healthy and it doesn't look like administration has any clue on how to cure the many problems. The economy in the state of Michigan is awful and I don't expect it to get better anytime soon. NCLB is a terrible law that is driving education into privatize hands. Yet, I am delusional enough to believe that I can ride in on a white horse and help the union and the district.

Hopefully, the next year allows to examine this issue a little more in depth and a little more dispassionately than I normally do.

A Delicious Tradition

My part of Southern Ontario is the southern most point of Canada, which generally means shorter winters (shorter than Thunder Bay) and fairly warm summers. Here in the Windsor area, the weather is pretty much the same as the Detroit area. Hot, humid summers are the norm.

This weather gives us an abundance of fresh produce. A few years ago, a girl friend and I decided that we would try our hand at canning fresh tomatoes. Her garden was over flowing and Leamington (about 45 minutes from here) is the tomato capital of Canada. We had no clue what we were doing, but we are both fairly literate and can follow simple directions from a recipe. The endeavor turned out perfectly, the jars sealed, and we celebrated the sealed jars with a toast of whatever wine she had leftover in the fridge. The fresh canned tomatoes provided homemade pasta sauce all winter long. Since then, we have preserved a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Today, we continued the tradition and made strawberry jam and strawberry-rhubarb jam. We started with eight quarts of locally grown strawberries and fresh rhubarb from her garden and ended up with over 20 pints of homemade jam. Later this week, we'll tackle cherry jam for the first time. Plus, we'll experiment just a little. She had purchased a jar of "black forest jam" from a street fair and it was quite delicious. We'll try our own version by adding and ounce of dark chocolate per quart of cherries. I'll let you know how it turns out.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Here it is, my first week of maintaining my own personal blog and I am already passe. According to an article on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org/story/89439/) too many blogs are nothing more than personal diaries, all too often fit only for grandparents and far-flung relatives.

First of all, I think that I would rather vote Republican than have my parents read this site... Okay, that's a little harsh. But, I certainly do not want this to become some insipid mommy blog with overly sentimental screeds about Andrew's every move (full disclosure - I will weep uncontrollably after dropping him off for his first day of junior kindergarten). I promise to post pictures of the world's cutest boy from time to time.

I want to explore a world of other themes and ideas that have been simmering in my brain for the last 11 years. For that time period, I have had so little personal time, that I feel as though I have lost little bits of my authentic self. Grading papers, poor relationships with idiotic bosses, Student Council, and union duties. In a way, I guess that all of these represent parts of my real self. I'll likely delve into those themes at some point. But, the fact of the matter is that I never have time to read books that are not related to teaching. I have lost touch with my Canon AE-1. I haven't been to a political rally in eons. I love doing those things and I hope that I will be able to reconnect with those issues in the next year.

I've already read two books since starting my leave two weeks ago and I'll share my thoughts about those this weekend. Right now, I'll take suggestions as to books I should read while on my leave. My goal is 40 books in 62 1/2 weeks.

Welcome

I have been trying to figure out what I will do for the next year while I take a personal leave from my job. I am not sure that I want to find a small part-time job. I don't want to sit around and watch television everyday. I know that I want to write, so I started my own blog. It will give me a chance to write and work out my thoughts about the choices I have to make in the next year. I won't get into all of that today. The place isn't completely decorated, but that will all get done. I just want to roll out the welcome mat and see who shows up.