It's Friday - how can the day be bad? Well, wait - don't answer that. I am not one who enjoys tempting the Fates.
But today was, at the very least, NOT a bad day, and that is something. I think it helped that I took a 1/2 day off.
I had two meetings today, rather BIG ones, about some students and am pleased that they both went well. I had prepared well, had all my ducks in a row if you will, and cranked through them. Both meetings were productive; one student who desperately needs an attitude adjustment (as well as a behavior plan) got it, and we got the blessing from a parent to seek out alternative placements for her son who is smart enough to be successful but is performing at astonishingly low levels. He basically is gathering nothing at all from school, and as I put it to the mom, it is not as much that he is failing school as it is that school is failing him. We've tried it; its broke. Time to fix it. I was anticipating at the least hesitation, but she was fully on board, and I believe finding an alternative place for this student will go SO far in allowing him to reach his potential. So - good day at work.
I was able to be home early enough for the boys when they walked through the door on an early release day. I hate the thought of them being home until I get home from work, since it can be as much as a 3 hour wait for them. My house hates it too; yesterday I came home to a complete disaster, ala category 2 hurricane. They went to a neighbors not long after getting home, and this allowed me to go on a nice long bike ride. (Ok, it felt longer than it was - 30 minutes.) I went to the office supply store, purchased resume paper, hit the bookstore, and then went to get Squirt. Always the highlight of my day is walking into the school cafeteria where they have "Kids Klub" afterschool, to see him running toward me, grinning widely, arms outstretched with my greeting..."Mooommmeeeeeeeee". Melts my heart and puts all the garbage that I may have endured during the day into startling perspective.
We found out yesterday that Parker was selected to play in the Majors for Little League this year. If you are a LL mom, you get that - HUGE deal for a 10 year old, and he is both terrified and terrifically excited all wrapped up into one. His team is the Red Sox, and you KNOW that makes this momma pleased as punch.
Then there is Matthew... So here's the deal with this kiddo.. he is amazingly bright. He walks around here (and school) like the absent minded professor, but he has understanding of things and insights that no 9yr old should possess. His teacher and I laugh, because he is reading at nearly a 7th grade level, but he HATES to read and NEVER meets his reading goal for the quarter. We've had the 'talk' about how he is wasting the gifts he as been given if he is not reading and just wait, something will spark your interest.. nearly everything but standing on our head, to get him to read.
Nothing. Nada. No thanks, Not interested.
He did express interest in seeing the new Percy Jackson movie coming out, and he knows my rule - if there is a movie that was made from a book, we read the book first. The Lightening Thief is long. L.O.N.G, long. He showed a kernel of interest, then abruptly lost it again at the size of the book. But then, I had an AHA moment - AudioBook!!
After debating with Steve as to the virtues vs. the 'cheat' factor of audiobooks, we decided to try it. Matthew has the book, and is listening to is as he reads. I figure, his eyes are still reading the words, and he can read a lot faster at this stage having a professional reader read it to him, and he does not have to stop and try to pronounce words he does not know... a win-win for Matthew...
He has it all planned out - its a 10 hour audio book; he can 'read' for an hour or two each day and will have the whole thing finished in about 2 weeks.
Most newsworthy of it all... he LOVES the book!! YaaaHooo - I think we may finally have found the HOOK to get him reading!!!
Friday, February 05, 2010
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Becoming Zen
I had a much needed massage this weekend. It began with a headache that lasted for 5 days, and a desperate call into the massage place. "Sweedish, or therapeutic?" Duh - therapeutic.. bring on the ball-peen hammers and rolling pins, we've got some serious knots to work out!!
It is 2 days later. The headache is back, and is now joined by extremely sore shoulders, which is apparently where I hold ALL my stress. I thought a couple of times that I was going to crawl through the table, it hurt so much, but I can turn my head from side to side with ease now, something I had not realized that I was no longer able to do...
So, what has been causing all this stress, you may ask. Between the house, work, the kids, the economy, its hard to imagine what I could possibly have to be stressed about... (Insert horribly sarcastic tone here).
Then last night, it sort of hit me... there are things I cannot change (The economy), there are things I am trying to change (the house) and there are things that, while I try to change, I really am powerless over them (work). Sounds a bit like that old Serenity Prayer.. maybe its got a good message or two for us all...
Last week, one of the major sources of stress was a coworker. I could go into all her horrible sins against me and humanity in general, but that would only raise my blood pressure again, and we don't really need to go there. Let's just leave it that I was completely pissed off, and felt completely in the right in this given situation. I stewed all weekend. I plotted by carefully worded email over and over again. As the assistant Principal said to me on Friday when I went to go talk to her about it "Sam, someone is going to get pissed off - where is it written that it has to be YOU?" I am not generally one who enjoys stepping on someone's toes, but when someone steps on mine without provocation, well, that sort of sets me off...
Then last night, something switched off (or on??) in my brain. Will this matter in a year? Really? Will having my say and getting an apology change my life in any way 12 months from now, or 5 years from now?
No? So why sweat it?
If it does not really matter, in the whole cosmic scheme of things, why am I going to allow it to affect my health or steal another moment from my life. No doubt, there are things which require my attention, and my passion. Proving myself right to someone who already thinks SHE is right should not be one of them.
Someone remind me of this the next time she pisses me off?
It is 2 days later. The headache is back, and is now joined by extremely sore shoulders, which is apparently where I hold ALL my stress. I thought a couple of times that I was going to crawl through the table, it hurt so much, but I can turn my head from side to side with ease now, something I had not realized that I was no longer able to do...
So, what has been causing all this stress, you may ask. Between the house, work, the kids, the economy, its hard to imagine what I could possibly have to be stressed about... (Insert horribly sarcastic tone here).
Then last night, it sort of hit me... there are things I cannot change (The economy), there are things I am trying to change (the house) and there are things that, while I try to change, I really am powerless over them (work). Sounds a bit like that old Serenity Prayer.. maybe its got a good message or two for us all...
Last week, one of the major sources of stress was a coworker. I could go into all her horrible sins against me and humanity in general, but that would only raise my blood pressure again, and we don't really need to go there. Let's just leave it that I was completely pissed off, and felt completely in the right in this given situation. I stewed all weekend. I plotted by carefully worded email over and over again. As the assistant Principal said to me on Friday when I went to go talk to her about it "Sam, someone is going to get pissed off - where is it written that it has to be YOU?" I am not generally one who enjoys stepping on someone's toes, but when someone steps on mine without provocation, well, that sort of sets me off...
Then last night, something switched off (or on??) in my brain. Will this matter in a year? Really? Will having my say and getting an apology change my life in any way 12 months from now, or 5 years from now?
No? So why sweat it?
If it does not really matter, in the whole cosmic scheme of things, why am I going to allow it to affect my health or steal another moment from my life. No doubt, there are things which require my attention, and my passion. Proving myself right to someone who already thinks SHE is right should not be one of them.
Someone remind me of this the next time she pisses me off?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Creating a "more perfect" union - or at least classroom
Today I made it through the first nine hours of a 45 hour class on SEI training. I am sitting through these classes, paying my own way through them, just in order to KEEP my job. Not advance, not get paid more, not change careers or even try for a different position within the same comapny. No, the way things are set up is that I am considered Highly Qualified to teach my students today, but as of April 3, if I do not finish this class, I will no longer be qualified to teach them and risk being pulled from the classroom.
As if this one series of classes, strewn with techniques and strategies that the instrucutor said point-blank are taken from SPECIAL EDCUATION teachings, will make me a better teacher on April 4th.
But I digress... One of the topics that came up today is the need for us to create an environment within our schools and class rooms in which students who are learning english will feel safe enough to learn. We discussed ways in which we can make that happen. We discussed the notion of celebrating our similarities as well as embracing our differences.
It all sounded warm and fuzzy and you could feel the room collectively think "YES!! We must find a way to make this happen!"
But there is a problem! (Isn't there always a problem? If there were not a problem, what on earth would I have to spew about?) As I pointed out today, in my classroom, as much as I curse it, I am really blessed to be able to do pretty much what I want to do in there with little to no interference. My students are "the forgotten ones" and people are just so pleased they are not in THEIR rooms when they are with me, that they nearly don't care what I do with them.
Perhaps I exagerate. Maybe not..
But the point I made was this - while I have time and resources to do this in MY room, the vast majority of teachers in today's schools have NO TIME to create warm and fuzzy climates in their rooms. There are standards, and performance objectives and standardized tests to worry about. There are numbers and pages of data and meetings and threats to be sure your numbers stay up or go higher. There are, in our 3rd grade math curriculum, for instance, 210 performance objectives that students are supposed to meet within a 180 day school year. That is only MATH... add Language Arts, Science Social Studies, Art, Music, PE and the 12 school days wasted on TESTING all these objectives and you can quickly understand how students are not learning about the Famous People You Should Know, or understanding the differences or embracing similarities between and among them. There is simply NO TIME.
So what is the answer? Arizona ranks 45th out of 51 states (DC counts) in terms of education. We in SUSD have adopted EveryDay Math as our Math program. I think, personally, this is indicitive of the problem - EDM takes a "paint with a broad brush" approach to teaching math concepts. Sure, my 1st grader was learning about permieter and area, and sure he was introduced to fractions and decimals, but what we should be asking is 'can he add? does he know his math facts"? The broad brush approach is fine if you want to produce "Jacks of all trades, masters of none" - but is that what we want?
As if this one series of classes, strewn with techniques and strategies that the instrucutor said point-blank are taken from SPECIAL EDCUATION teachings, will make me a better teacher on April 4th.
But I digress... One of the topics that came up today is the need for us to create an environment within our schools and class rooms in which students who are learning english will feel safe enough to learn. We discussed ways in which we can make that happen. We discussed the notion of celebrating our similarities as well as embracing our differences.
It all sounded warm and fuzzy and you could feel the room collectively think "YES!! We must find a way to make this happen!"
But there is a problem! (Isn't there always a problem? If there were not a problem, what on earth would I have to spew about?) As I pointed out today, in my classroom, as much as I curse it, I am really blessed to be able to do pretty much what I want to do in there with little to no interference. My students are "the forgotten ones" and people are just so pleased they are not in THEIR rooms when they are with me, that they nearly don't care what I do with them.
Perhaps I exagerate. Maybe not..
But the point I made was this - while I have time and resources to do this in MY room, the vast majority of teachers in today's schools have NO TIME to create warm and fuzzy climates in their rooms. There are standards, and performance objectives and standardized tests to worry about. There are numbers and pages of data and meetings and threats to be sure your numbers stay up or go higher. There are, in our 3rd grade math curriculum, for instance, 210 performance objectives that students are supposed to meet within a 180 day school year. That is only MATH... add Language Arts, Science Social Studies, Art, Music, PE and the 12 school days wasted on TESTING all these objectives and you can quickly understand how students are not learning about the Famous People You Should Know, or understanding the differences or embracing similarities between and among them. There is simply NO TIME.
So what is the answer? Arizona ranks 45th out of 51 states (DC counts) in terms of education. We in SUSD have adopted EveryDay Math as our Math program. I think, personally, this is indicitive of the problem - EDM takes a "paint with a broad brush" approach to teaching math concepts. Sure, my 1st grader was learning about permieter and area, and sure he was introduced to fractions and decimals, but what we should be asking is 'can he add? does he know his math facts"? The broad brush approach is fine if you want to produce "Jacks of all trades, masters of none" - but is that what we want?
- Lower the performance objective count.
- Reduce the number of benchmarks on which you measure failure (It should be success, but we know they are looking at failure, not success)
- Ensure mastery of the POs you DO have before allowing the students to progress - in other words, make sure they know what they are doing first before you introduce something new. Do NOT assume "They will get it eventually" because many of them DON"T!
- Push all students to excel at their ability.
- Assess students at their ability level.. do not assume a student who entered the states in September can take a high-stakes test in English in April, or, if you are functioning at a 2nd grade reading level in 6th grade because you have a learning disability, allow that child to test where he/she is functiong. Putting a 6th grade reading test in front of them is like asking me to go back and re-read L'Etranger in French - I may recognize some words, but will miss the whole point of the novel.
- And maybe, MAYBE, then you will have time to teach them how to be citizens of the world.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Insanity is heriditary; you get it from your kids.
This saying always made me laugh. My mother had one of those little embroidered pillows with this saying on it that she kept in her bedroom. It was not until I had children of my own that I realized just how true those words are!
I ask myself frequently, why am I completely exhausted by the time I get to work. I go through my morning step by step; Coffee? Check.. Shower? Check. Dressed? Check. Kids up? Check. Matthew's lunch count? Check. Beds made? Check. I manage to somehow get it all done, but why am I always rushing around like a madman on speed? I get up at 6am, we don't have to leave until 7:55, so surely two hours is plenty of time, right?
Here is why I can not make it out of the house either on time, or with my sanity in tact. Two days ago, I walk down to the kitchen after getting myself ready for school/work to find the following: Christopher still eating his breakfast, Parker dressed and watching TV, Matthew in his underwear, eating. He needs to get dressed, and cover for his breakfast, and find his shoes, and locate his back pack, and gather up what ever homework has been strewed all over the family room, and Chris still needs shoes and a jacket.
We have FOUR minutes until we need to leave the house. FOUR. The boys were all up at 7am. We are inches away from YOUMUSTBEREADYTOLEAVETHEHOUSENOW time, and only 1/3 of my children has the necessary tasks complete.
This is why I am crazy. This is why I am considered a "bad witch" by the time I get to school. It is heriditary. I get it from THEM!
I ask myself frequently, why am I completely exhausted by the time I get to work. I go through my morning step by step; Coffee? Check.. Shower? Check. Dressed? Check. Kids up? Check. Matthew's lunch count? Check. Beds made? Check. I manage to somehow get it all done, but why am I always rushing around like a madman on speed? I get up at 6am, we don't have to leave until 7:55, so surely two hours is plenty of time, right?
Here is why I can not make it out of the house either on time, or with my sanity in tact. Two days ago, I walk down to the kitchen after getting myself ready for school/work to find the following: Christopher still eating his breakfast, Parker dressed and watching TV, Matthew in his underwear, eating. He needs to get dressed, and cover for his breakfast, and find his shoes, and locate his back pack, and gather up what ever homework has been strewed all over the family room, and Chris still needs shoes and a jacket.
We have FOUR minutes until we need to leave the house. FOUR. The boys were all up at 7am. We are inches away from YOUMUSTBEREADYTOLEAVETHEHOUSENOW time, and only 1/3 of my children has the necessary tasks complete.
This is why I am crazy. This is why I am considered a "bad witch" by the time I get to school. It is heriditary. I get it from THEM!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Concessions to "the list"
After debate and dialogue, I have added six athletes to "the list", which is now 205 people long. All of you who mentioned Jackie Robinson were right, there is no way that I could, in good conscious toward civil rights as well as the integrity of baseball, leave out Jackie Robinson.
He is joined by Arthur Ashe, Billy Jean King, Lou Gehrig, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Babe Ruth.
As always, open for suggestions for this grouping. So far, my students seem to have bought into it and are anxiously looking up their people. The first "reports" will be presented on Friday. I will keep you posted!
He is joined by Arthur Ashe, Billy Jean King, Lou Gehrig, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Babe Ruth.
As always, open for suggestions for this grouping. So far, my students seem to have bought into it and are anxiously looking up their people. The first "reports" will be presented on Friday. I will keep you posted!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Shocked and appalled, once again
Last week I decided to change things up a bit in my classroom. I am sick and tired of hearing kids call each other Racist or Bigot, and then hurl racial slurs themselves. They have no idea what some of those terms mean to folks older, and when you get down to it, they are not even using the terms correctly in the first place, which bothers me greatly, too.
So we spent a week on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. That was when I noticed something that was shocking and truly bothersome. The students all knew who MLK was, most had heard of Rosa Parks, but none knew Malcom X, or Mother Theresa, they all know Michael Jackson and Michael Jordon, but could not say why they knew Benjamin Franklin. They had heard of Thomas Jefferson, but not Thomas Hooker, or Thomas Paine.
I thought we had a little work to do... so I devised a plan, one that I hope to use, going forward, with all my classes. If you are a teacher and you like this idea, please feel free to steal it and make it your own! What I am doing is this: I am building a list. The list is by no means comprehensive in nature, and I hope it never stops growing. Every week, each student will pick 1 person from that list, and answer 5 questions about that person: When did they live, Where are they from, What did they do, Why should we care, and What impact did their actions have on society. They each will give a 2 minute presentation on their Famous Person. My goal is two fold.. they will meet those all important Content Standards in research, historical figures, and speaking in public, and hopefully have a greater sense of the world. Perhaps my goals are lofty, too lofty for a group of middle school special ed kids, but hopefully not.
I asked some of my students for help compiling the list. It started out with about 80 names and now has over 180!! I am going to attempt to post the list here, and if you can think of folks we have left off, please let me know! (Note, please, very few entertainers, musicians made the list for a reason. Absolutely no athletes.)
Adolf Hitler Al Gore Albert Einstein Alexander Graham Bell Alexander the Great
Alfred Nobel Amelia Earheart Andrew Carnegie Andy Warhol Anne Frank
Annie Oakley Annie Sullivan Anwar Sadat Aristotle Attila the Hun Ayatollah Khomeini Barry Goldwater Ben Franklin Ben Verene Benito Mussilini Betsy Ross Bill Gates
Bing Crosby Bishop Desmond Tutu Bob Hope Bobby Kennedy Booker "T" Washington Buddah Buffalo Soldiers Buzz Aldrin Carl Jung Ceasar Chavez Charles Darwin
Charles Manson Christa MacAuliffe Chuck Yeager Cleopatra Confucius Dali Lama
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev Dr. Ruth Simmons Duke Ellington E. B White Easy Company" Ed Sullivan Edgar Cayce Eleanor Roosevelt Eli Whitney Elizabeth Blackwell
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Emmet Till Eunice Kennedy Shriver Fidel Castro Florence Nightingale Frank Sinatra Frank Zamboni Fredrick Douglass Galileo Genghis Khan
George Washington Carver Georgia O'Keeffe Geronimo Ghandi Gloria Steinem Golda Meir Hannibal Harriet Beecher Stowe Harry Belefonte Harry Houdini Hellen Keller
Henry Ford Herbert Hoover Hideki Tojo Hiro Hito Hmong Idi Amin Imelda Marcos
Indira Ghandi J. Edgar Hoover J. Robert Oppenheimer Jack the Ripper Jacqueline Kennedy
James Earl Ray Jane Addams Jim Crow Joan of Arc Johan Sebastian Bach
John D Rockefeller John F. Kennedy John Hancock John Muir John Wilkes Booth
Johnny "Appleseed"Chapman Johnny Carson Jonas Salk Joseph Stalin Julius Ceasar
Karl Marx Laura Ingalls Wilder Lee Harvey Olswold Leonardo DiVinci
Lief Erickson Louis Armstrong Louis Farrakhan Louissa May Alcott
Ludvig Von Beethoven Madame Curie Malcom X Mao Tse Tung Marc Antony
Marco Polo Margaret Thatcher Marie Antoinette Mark Twain Martin Luther
Martin Luther King, JR Mary Queen of Scots Mary Todd Lincoln Medgar Evers
Million Man March" Moses Mother Theresa Napoleon Boneparte Neil Armstrong
Nelson Mandela Nero Ceasar Agustus Noah Porter Noah Webster Orville & Wilbur Wright
Oskar Schindler Pablo Picasso Pancho Villa Patrick Henry Patty Hearst Paul Revere
Percy Shelley Pierre-August Renoir Plato Pol Pot Princess Diana Spencer
Queen Elizabeth I Queen Victoria Raymond Albert Kroc Richard Nixon
Robert E Lee Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sacajewea Saddam Huessein Sally Hemmings
Sally Kristen Ride Salvador Dali Samuel Adams Samuel de Champlain
Sandra Day O'Connor Shirley Chisolm Sigmund Freud Sir Alexander Flemming
Sir Issac Newton Sirhan Sirhan Sojourner Truth Sonia Sotomayor Spartacus
Steve Jobs Susan B. Anthony Ted Bundy The Brother's Grimm The Reverend Moon
Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Edison Thomas Hooker Thomas Paine Thurgood Marshall
Toni Morrison Tony Blair Tuskagee Airmen Typhoid Mary Uylesses S. Grant
Vincent Van Goh Vladimir Lenin W. E. B. DuBois Walter Cronkite
William Faulkner Winston Churchill Woodward & Bernstien
So we spent a week on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. That was when I noticed something that was shocking and truly bothersome. The students all knew who MLK was, most had heard of Rosa Parks, but none knew Malcom X, or Mother Theresa, they all know Michael Jackson and Michael Jordon, but could not say why they knew Benjamin Franklin. They had heard of Thomas Jefferson, but not Thomas Hooker, or Thomas Paine.
I thought we had a little work to do... so I devised a plan, one that I hope to use, going forward, with all my classes. If you are a teacher and you like this idea, please feel free to steal it and make it your own! What I am doing is this: I am building a list. The list is by no means comprehensive in nature, and I hope it never stops growing. Every week, each student will pick 1 person from that list, and answer 5 questions about that person: When did they live, Where are they from, What did they do, Why should we care, and What impact did their actions have on society. They each will give a 2 minute presentation on their Famous Person. My goal is two fold.. they will meet those all important Content Standards in research, historical figures, and speaking in public, and hopefully have a greater sense of the world. Perhaps my goals are lofty, too lofty for a group of middle school special ed kids, but hopefully not.
I asked some of my students for help compiling the list. It started out with about 80 names and now has over 180!! I am going to attempt to post the list here, and if you can think of folks we have left off, please let me know! (Note, please, very few entertainers, musicians made the list for a reason. Absolutely no athletes.)
Adolf Hitler Al Gore Albert Einstein Alexander Graham Bell Alexander the Great
Alfred Nobel Amelia Earheart Andrew Carnegie Andy Warhol Anne Frank
Annie Oakley Annie Sullivan Anwar Sadat Aristotle Attila the Hun Ayatollah Khomeini Barry Goldwater Ben Franklin Ben Verene Benito Mussilini Betsy Ross Bill Gates
Bing Crosby Bishop Desmond Tutu Bob Hope Bobby Kennedy Booker "T" Washington Buddah Buffalo Soldiers Buzz Aldrin Carl Jung Ceasar Chavez Charles Darwin
Charles Manson Christa MacAuliffe Chuck Yeager Cleopatra Confucius Dali Lama
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev Dr. Ruth Simmons Duke Ellington E. B White Easy Company" Ed Sullivan Edgar Cayce Eleanor Roosevelt Eli Whitney Elizabeth Blackwell
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Emmet Till Eunice Kennedy Shriver Fidel Castro Florence Nightingale Frank Sinatra Frank Zamboni Fredrick Douglass Galileo Genghis Khan
George Washington Carver Georgia O'Keeffe Geronimo Ghandi Gloria Steinem Golda Meir Hannibal Harriet Beecher Stowe Harry Belefonte Harry Houdini Hellen Keller
Henry Ford Herbert Hoover Hideki Tojo Hiro Hito Hmong Idi Amin Imelda Marcos
Indira Ghandi J. Edgar Hoover J. Robert Oppenheimer Jack the Ripper Jacqueline Kennedy
James Earl Ray Jane Addams Jim Crow Joan of Arc Johan Sebastian Bach
John D Rockefeller John F. Kennedy John Hancock John Muir John Wilkes Booth
Johnny "Appleseed"Chapman Johnny Carson Jonas Salk Joseph Stalin Julius Ceasar
Karl Marx Laura Ingalls Wilder Lee Harvey Olswold Leonardo DiVinci
Lief Erickson Louis Armstrong Louis Farrakhan Louissa May Alcott
Ludvig Von Beethoven Madame Curie Malcom X Mao Tse Tung Marc Antony
Marco Polo Margaret Thatcher Marie Antoinette Mark Twain Martin Luther
Martin Luther King, JR Mary Queen of Scots Mary Todd Lincoln Medgar Evers
Million Man March" Moses Mother Theresa Napoleon Boneparte Neil Armstrong
Nelson Mandela Nero Ceasar Agustus Noah Porter Noah Webster Orville & Wilbur Wright
Oskar Schindler Pablo Picasso Pancho Villa Patrick Henry Patty Hearst Paul Revere
Percy Shelley Pierre-August Renoir Plato Pol Pot Princess Diana Spencer
Queen Elizabeth I Queen Victoria Raymond Albert Kroc Richard Nixon
Robert E Lee Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sacajewea Saddam Huessein Sally Hemmings
Sally Kristen Ride Salvador Dali Samuel Adams Samuel de Champlain
Sandra Day O'Connor Shirley Chisolm Sigmund Freud Sir Alexander Flemming
Sir Issac Newton Sirhan Sirhan Sojourner Truth Sonia Sotomayor Spartacus
Steve Jobs Susan B. Anthony Ted Bundy The Brother's Grimm The Reverend Moon
Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Edison Thomas Hooker Thomas Paine Thurgood Marshall
Toni Morrison Tony Blair Tuskagee Airmen Typhoid Mary Uylesses S. Grant
Vincent Van Goh Vladimir Lenin W. E. B. DuBois Walter Cronkite
William Faulkner Winston Churchill Woodward & Bernstien
Friday, January 15, 2010
Is it too much to ask?
Is it too much to ask that the Realtor show up when they make the appointment? (And we knock ourselves out cleaning the house?)
Is it too much to ask that they call when they can't make it? Or if their client changes their mind?
Is it too much to ask that my children do what I've asked them to do, every day, repeatedly, without me having to yell?
Is it too much to ask that my two older children brush their teeth without needing to be reminded every single day?
Is it too much to ask that there be a time frame of more than a few hours between the "zits" and "wrinkles" phase of life, or that they at least not happen simultaneously?
Is it too much to ask of my sons' feet that they at least wait a month before outgrowing their brand new shoes?
I suppose the answer to all of these questions is "yes"....
Is it too much to ask that they call when they can't make it? Or if their client changes their mind?
Is it too much to ask that my children do what I've asked them to do, every day, repeatedly, without me having to yell?
Is it too much to ask that my two older children brush their teeth without needing to be reminded every single day?
Is it too much to ask that there be a time frame of more than a few hours between the "zits" and "wrinkles" phase of life, or that they at least not happen simultaneously?
Is it too much to ask of my sons' feet that they at least wait a month before outgrowing their brand new shoes?
I suppose the answer to all of these questions is "yes"....
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