The Sleeping Bag

There's not much to report. I have to write fast and FORCE MYSELF to stop writing in a minute and balance my checkbook, which is woefully unbalanced and it MUST be done. I'm going to wear my IPod while I do it, too - it will make the task less painful, I hope.

I ordered Michael a sleeping bag because he is going to camp in July and the information I got says he needs a sleeping bag. He had never seen or heard of one before. He was so excited to see how it worked. He insisted on sleeping in it last night. This morning he complained bitterly - "I was too HOT. The zipper kept unzipping!" blah blah blah. I should have "Buddy, when I was small we didn't have sleeping bags. We had scratchy old army blankets from the Korean War, and THOSE suckers were not fun!" I didn't think of that until just now, though...

Alesia's English project had a deadline of turning in photos last Monday, and she still had not done them as of yesterday. Last night, she comes in and tells me she told her teacher she would turn in the photos today. "What?" I yelped. "So we have to run around taking the photos now, and get them developed TONIGHT?!" Well, yes, I guess, she mumbled. Grrr...

The project is on Ethnography, as I think I mentioned the other day. I took photo of Alesia reading a Russian book, looking at her post placement reports, eating pilmeni, etc. We got them developed and some of them were pretty good. I wanted to use my digital camera but all the other kids were using disposable 35 mm's so I stuck to that. I am going to have to spend some time this weekend helping her complete it.

We had yet another talk about how she can do better in school next year. I am still concerned about it.

We started watching The Golden Compass last night. I remember when it was released in theatres recently that there was an outcry amongst religious conservatives that it's anti-Christian. I can see how one could make that argument, but my kids didn't view it that way. To them, it's an adventure. They didn't view The Chronicles of Narnia as pro-Christian, either. I find it irritating that grownups put their own spin on things and forget that kids come to movies without pre-conceived ideas or the sort of critical analysis that adults like to play around with. A story is a story - good guys, bad guys. That's it. They accept the story they are given.

When I was in grad school I was not too popular because I got very tired, very quickly, of all the over-analyzing of every story, poem, book and play I had to read. I grew to hate words like "textual" "allegory" and "fallacy." I was vocal about my disdain. I couldn't fathom how grownups could spend their lives obsessively studying any particular writer or work of literature. I'm a bit more forgiving now that I'm older, but I am still puzzled by a lot of the esoteric knowledge one must aquire in order to get a master's or Ph.D. What actual difference does it make in the world? How will any of it solve problems like pollution, economic recession, children who are starving? Good thing I'm not going back for any more degrees. LOL

Better go balance my checkbook. That's something nobody taught me. I figured it out on my own, after my father tried to teach me and finally realized I would have to figure out my own way. It's a faulty way, but it's my way, nonetheless. [cue Sinatra song here]

Comments

[Amy (Alex's Mommy)]

Alex sleeps on top of his sleeping bag w/a blanket..it makes for a soft squishy sleeping experience. He also has to sleep with a nighlight and have me stay in the room until he falls asleep. This is a dang site better than when he would play the "Run in and out of my bedroom after Mommie puts me to bed" game when I would read him a book and leave the room.

Who knew it would all be so challenging? But after a bad marriage I find the state of Motherhood SO MUCH MORE fulfilling!