Weather Update

At 8:00 this morning when Nicco was still not out of bed, I went to his room to gently nudge him. I didn't want him to miss the snow, and knowing that it would likely be gone by lunch time (who's laughing now, suckers!) I whispered in his ear "I want to show you something." He sat up and I opened the blind on his window. He squealed "SNOW!!" and jumped up, put on shoes and socks and a jacket, and we hustled on outside.

"I guess it does snow in Tucson," he said. "Like Littleton a long, long, time ago. It could be Christmas, you know."

"I can make a snowball and we can have a snowball fight. How do you make snowballs again?"

The greatest accumulation of snow was on the hammock. Nicco didn't quite know what to do with all that snow...where to start!

He threw a couple of snowballs and made a handprint.

His hands got cold, so he attempted throwing snowballs with his hands in his pockets. "That didn't work so well," he observed. 

After about 5 minutes in the white stuff, Nicco was ready to go inside for some hot cocoa. I turned up the heat and we snuggled up in blankies.

And sure enough, by lunch time, all that remained of our "storm" was a dusting on the mountaintop.

And it is supposed to be 85 next weekend.

So there.

Seriously?

I just want to know what we did to deserve this. (Stop laughing, jerks!)

If it isn't all melted by the time Nicco wakes up, he will be thrilled!

Kindergarten Round Up; AKA Let the Indoctrination Begin!

*Disclaimer*

My sisters and I went to public schools and were successful and happy. All my nieces and nephews go to public schools and are successful and happy. I was a public school teacher, daughter and grand-daughter of public school teachers. I believe that teaching is a noble profession. I believe that public schools are mostly fine. I fully expect Nicco to have a happy and fulfilling experience in his school, both educationally and socially. I also believe that there are some inherently wicked practices in the public school system, which is why parents must be attentive, involved, and prepared to counter propaganda with truth.

Today was kindergarten registration. Holy cow, when did my kid get old enough for kindergarten? We had a doctor appointment before the registration extravaganza, and on the road between appointments I told Nicco we were going to his new school to sign up. He said he didn't want to go to a new school because he would miss his old one. Nicco is pretty easy going and adaptable, but that doesn't necessarily make change easy.  He was listing all the reasons why he should stay in his old school, until we pulled up at the new school and he saw the big open field and the exciting, new playground. We read books in the office lobby and filled out forms on the computer. We had cookies and juice in the library and walked through the courtyard from one room to another. Once we finished up and headed out, Nicco said "I want to start my new school now!" I guess he will be okay with the transition after all.

I was amused at the efforts of all the different staff members along the way to push full day kindergarten. If I were a working mom and needed day care, it is a pretty inexpensive option. But on a pure and direct comparison between full and half day, full day is not remotely worth the extra money.

They had this flier posted up in at least 3 places, plus it was enlarged and set up on a couple of easels, in addition to its prominence on the website:

What is the Difference Between Full Day and Half Day Kindergarten?

Full Day vs. Half Day

* Full: 50 minutes of art, music, and P.E. per week * Half: 25 minutes of art, music, and P.E. per week (I'm thinking the park, riding bikes around the neighborhood, swim lessons, coloring, singing in the car...)

* Full: 50-80 minutes of computer time per week * Half: 25 minutes of computer time per week (Nicco has WAY more than 80 minutes of computer time per week. I'm such a good mom.)

* Full: lunch with recess at school * Half: no lunch or lunchtime recess at school (Again, park, bike, play dates, and I'll skip Michelle Antoinette's approved lunch, thank you very much!)
* Full: all school assemblies * Half: limited school assemblies (Okay, so there's not much I can replace assemblies with at home, but I'll go ahead and skip the school spirit/cult love fest)
* Full: overall Painted Sky school awareness and confidence * Half: limited Painted Sky school awareness and confidence (Painted Sky school awareness and confidence? I'll take God, Country, Family, and Personal awareness and confidence.)
* Full: multiple field trips *Half: one walking field trip (We do our own field trips. Regularly. Added bonus: one on one attention! Stay as long as we want! Leave when we're ready!)
* Full: afternoon recess, snack, and social opportunities (Starting to sound redundant here...park, bike, play dates, I'll approve and provide my own snacks, thanks.)
*Full: interaction with other kindergarten classes (Not worth $1300)
*Full: buddy class activities (we have pen-pals in Colorado)
*Full: opportunities for repeated academic skill practice (AKA time fillers, my bet is on worksheets.)
*Full: increased instructional time (Really? Looks like half day kids miss a lot of food and recess and computer time to me.)
*Full: morning Reading Club 20 minutes per day (How about Mommy and Daddy reading stories before bed?)

*Full: afternoon reading intervention opportunities (What if my kid doesn't need intervention? I guess that is where the "opportunities for repeated academic skill practice" come in.)

Average Exiting Skills in full vs. half day:

* Full: 50-80 sight words * Half: 25-30 sight words (Check.)

* Full: reading level 3-5 *Half: reading level 2-3 (Good enough for a kindergartener, I'd say. Also, I'll make bets that Nicco will manage to reach level 3-5 without extra lunch and recess time at school)

*Full: writes 3-4 multiple related sentences *Half: writes one simple sentence (Taking bets?)

*Full: fluent recognition of numbers 1-100 *Half: fluent recognition of numbers 1-20 (Nicco can already recognize, write, and name numbers fluently up to the thousands. He's brilliant, I tell ya.)

*Full: extended and enriched science and social studies *Half: basic introduction to science and social studies concepts(Redundancy alert: I'll skip the indoctrination, thanks.)

*Full: addition and subtraction including mental math facts *Half: introduction to concepts of addition and subtraction with manipulatives (That's what M&M math is for!)

When I went to check out the school a few months ago, the ladies in the office had the audacity to tell me that full day kindergarten "is just better for the kids." Look in the mirror, tilt your head to the side, look your reflection right in the eyes and put on your most condescending, self-important, know-it-all tone and repeat "it's just better for the kids." and you'll see what I saw. My response was "Well, at $1300 per kid, it's certainly better for the school."

We are entering the brainwashing machine known as public education. Public education doesn't know what it's in for.

Presidents' Day

*Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

*Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.

*Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth.

*Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master

*If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.

*Be courteous to all but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence; true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation

*To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.

*Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

*America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

*Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

*As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

*Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

*Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

*I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.

*If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? Five? No, calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.

*Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

*Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.

*My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for:
*defunding Obamacare
*defunding Planned Parenthood
*defunding the Czars
*Governor Walker of Wisconsin (stand strong!)

It's just the beginning, patriots, but it is a good one.

In Which I Brag About My Brilliant Son

Okay, maybe not so much brag as mark a *milestone.

Some time last year, Nicco started sounding out words on signs and around and about his environment. So being the absolutely magnificent mother that I am, I decided to go ahead and capitalize on that interest and nurture some learning with the book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." (It's fantastic, by the way. Very easy, very logical, smooth transitions from simple sounds to more complicated blends and basic sentences to full page "stories." So even if you aren't a Magnificent Mom like me, you can teach your kid to read.) We have just a few more lessons to go to reach 100, at which point we will go Tango with the Rango in theaters March 11th as a reward for hard work and accomplishing a goal. (and to get Mama's Johnny Depp fix, albeit in cartoon form.)

Nicco continues to read street signs and supermarket signs as we go about our business. A few weeks ago on our way to swim we passed Ace Hardware. You all know what their logo looks like, right? Nicco was a little baffled when he read "Triangle-ceh? That's a weird word."

Also a couple weeks ago, Nicco wanted to stay in bed and read stories instead of getting up and watching TV (see, I am a Magnificent Mom!) I pulled one of my childhood favorites, Little Gorilla, off the shelf and Nicco read the first page, just as naturally as could be. Then he read the second page and his eyes got wide and he exclaimed "I can read!" I already knew that, of course, because he's been reading his lessons for several weeks. I think he only thought he could read from his lessons, not real books.

This morning, he brought Green Eggs and Ham in the car with him on the way to school and instead of listening to his Phineas and Ferb soundtrack or morning talk radio, I listened to the boy read a whole book to me. He even fluctuated the tone in his voice, reading with expression. It was delightful. He was proud and pleased, and so was I.

*Guess what! I know that some kids read earlier than others, some before kindergarten, most during, some later. I recognize that my brilliant son is not so much brilliant as normal. Probably above average, but still well within the VERY BROAD spectrum of what is normal at this age. That said, Yay for Nicco!

Happy Times Day!

(Thanks, Grandma!)

We have dinner reservations at the fanciest restaurant in town, Patrice bought me a dozen beautiful red roses and a box of chocolates. Now I know he loves me!

Kidding. We don't fall for the scam that is Valentine's Day. We are so rebellious.

For those of you who do, may it be a happy one and may all your loved ones know you love them today.

Keeping Cool

It's getting close to hot again...80-ish out on the patio. Nicco took a little bike ride twice around the block then put on his new hat to cool off.

It has a little solar panel on top that powers a mini fan in the visor. I don't know how effective it is at cooling down the wearer, but it is effective entertainment for the boy.

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

In honor of Family/Personal History Month, and because my uncle happened to send this picture today, I am sharing a vignette from my family's past.

This is my dad's cute little mom, his cute little sister Carol, and my cute little mom sometime in the 70s, I'm guessing, based on the likely relative ages and attire of the ladies. Someone in my family can correct me if I'm wrong. I love the fuzzy slippers they are all wearing!

I showed the photo to Nicco and he said "Your mommy doesn't look exactly the same as she does now." Funnily enough, I kind of think she does. I bet my dad thinks she does too. I'm guessing, based on how he looks at her and how he talks to and about her, that he still sees her exactly as this silly, smiling, beautiful young lady he fell in love with. (Again, go ahead and correct me if I'm wrong) 

Black History Month

February is black history month. Did you know that? Guess what...we're opting out. In this interview with Mike Wallace in 2009, Morgan Freeman wrote every black history assignment Nicco will ever need in his upcoming years in the public school system. (And it isn't plagiarism if he credits the source.)

"Black History Month you find....
"Ridiculous. You want to relegate my history to a month? What do you do with yours? Which month is white history month? Come on. Tell me."
"Well...uh...heh heh...I'm Jewish."
"Okay, which month is Jewish history month?"
"There isn't one."
"Oh, Oh. Why not? Would you want one?"
"No."
"Why not? I don't either. I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history."
"How are we going to get rid of racism?"
"Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace, you know me as Morgan Freeman."

Irony/hypocrisy alert: The race baiting hustlers/propagandists/brainwashers in the government, media, and education system want to feel good about being tolerant and inclusive and equal, so they set aside a whole month to focus on ONE race, EXCLUDING everyone else. Do blacks deserve a special month because of the shame and disgrace and suffering of slavery? They might want to ask the Jews about suffering and slavery. I think they can relate. So, when IS Jewish history month? Oh yeah. There isn't one. When is Scandinavian history month? French history month? Oh. Right.

Some animals are more equal than others. (George Orwell, Animal Farm)

P.S. I propose Family History Month. That way, it really would be all inclusive. And more meaningful, by the way.

Super Sunday

This is what happened the last time I watched the Super Bowl and cared...

So those of you who aren't still basking in the former glory of John Elway, enjoy the game.

Hippity Hop

Nicco has recently rediscovered the hippity-hop he got for his birthday a couple years ago. He's been having fun bouncing up and down the hallway and all around. It was especially nice for him the past couple days when it was too cold outside for running-bouncing fun. Not quite as nice for me. Or Frankie. Poor Frankie.

We made cookies this afternoon and while I was putting a new batch in the oven, he came walking up to me with the hippity-hop between his legs, then turned half around and asked me, "Does this make my bum look big?"

Why yes, yes it does. And, where on earth did you hear that?

Winter

I've been hearing from friends and relatives, mostly in Colorado and Utah, who are freezing and cold and tired of winter and ready for spring and sunshine. I just wanted to let you all know that I hear ya! It's cold:

(Tucson, 9:00 a.m.)

I have to wear socks, for heaven's sake!

Gitmo for Scorpions

When Patrice's parents were here, some time in late November I believe, we went with a couple other friends to the restaurant where he proposed to me. It was a lovely dinner and a pleasant trip down memory lane. Our delightful evening ended when we returned home and I found a scorpion in the kitchen. I captured it in a jar and sealed it up. We watched it for a few days, and each day we were surprised to see it kicking around, deprived of air, food, and water.

A few weeks later, we had a Christmas dinner party at our house with the other employees of Patrice's working house. I put the jar away in the laundry closet because there were some kids coming too, and I heard that at least one of the kids is a handful and I didn't want one of them to accidentally break the jar, releasing the scorpion among our guests.  I didn't throw the jar away at that point because it wasn't Friday and I didn't want the jar to break in our garbage can and allow the scorpion to escape into our yard. Then I forgot about it.

A couple more weeks went by and I had to refill one of my cleaning bottles and I rediscovered the trapped scorpion, still alive. It was still alive when my in-laws left two and a half weeks ago, and it was still alive yesterday when I was telling Diana (and Duncan in the background) that it was still moving after several weeks of being trapped and deprived of all needful things for survival. Not only was it deprived of food, air, and water, but whatever moisture was in the jar from the air and whatever substance may have been expelled from the scorpion's body was starting to mold. Also, it looked like the scorpion's tail was in the beginning stages of decomposition.

I kept a dead scorpion in a jar for a while this summer to let Nicco watch it, and when I finally decided to throw it away, the stench from the jar was overpowering and disgusting. I think I was on the phone with Diana when I opened it and started gagging and dry heaving into the phone. Poor Di. So, I can imagine the putrid stench currently trapped inside the jar. I don't plan to open it.

Today is Thursday, so I went about the house gathering trash to put out for collection tomorrow. I decided that I'll finally give up and throw out my science experiment scorpion. I shook the jar to see if it was still moving and alas, the small monster died sometime in the last 24 hours.

Diana expressed a small amount of pity when I told her about my prisoner. She said she would kill it and throw it away, not keep and torture the poor thing! Pfft, I say. Poor thing...scorpions in my territory will be starved, dehydrated, and forced to eat their own bodily excretions and rotting flesh if they hope to survive. Let this be a warning to all scorpions who come in my house. (and can read and work a computer)

Local H.O.G.

Some people associate the word hog with Harley Davidson because they think that Hog is just a nickname Harley owners have given their bikes. This is an accurate association in the sense that H.O.G. stands for Harley Owners Group. Another thing people associate with Harleys is their special sound. These are two things I know from my association with Harley owners. Years ago, Patrice rode around on a Honda Shadow. He liked that bike. It served his purposes. He said that while he would like to one day own a Harley, he didn't feel compelled to get one. His bike was good enough.

Then, he got a Harley. I remember him asking me one day what I thought about the revving and rumble of that engine. I probably said something totally vague and non-descriptive like "it's nice." He smiled and got a certain look on his face...a look I imagine I have on those special days when he brings home a chocolate mousse he made for a party or something. When my response was insufficient for the depth of emotion fitting the roar of a Harley motor, he said something like "What is the ONE thing people think of when they think of Harley-Davidson?" I think I shrugged my shoulders and said something like "live to ride, ride to live?" Patrice rolled his eyes and said "The noise, baby, the noise." Okay. Sure. The noise. Of course.

Which brings me to this afternoon. I was driving Nicco home from swim lessons and we pulled up at a stop light next to a (non-Harley) motorcycle. The bike was yellow-ish sparkly gold and Nicco oohed and ahhed and said "I wish Daddy's bike was like that, it's really pretty." I imagined Patrice cringing. Nicco immediately redeemed himself by saying, "but it doesn't even have the same sound."

This and That

I'm glad that my husband and I are friends, and that when he asked me to spend my life with him, it didn't come with the condition that I get medication.

I'm glad that "cold" is 65 degrees.

I'm glad that Patrice brought a harmonica home for Nicco the other day. It's awesome. ("Awesome" is open to interpretation.)

Of Cats and Scorpions

When our scorpion invasion began last spring, Patrice's landscaping friend (also the provider of the heavy duty industrial strength scorpion killing poison) said "get a cat." I asked if cats hunt and kill scorpions and he said they hunt them and catch them, so we can kill them. I remember watching my cat hunt and "catch" a mouse once...she tossed that little critter back and forth and up and down all over. I immediately replaced that memory with an image of Frankie doing the same thing...tossing and batting a scorpion about the house. Umm, no thanks! I would not want to be present (or let my kid be present) when the cat tosses a scorpion into the air.

Our friend also said that cats are immune to scorpion stings. That sounded good...if she will hunt the little buggers and corner them so I can kill them with no danger to herself, she'll earn her keep. I did a little research of my own. Turns out, cats are not, in fact, immune to scorpion venom, they just have a natural instinct that guides them to catch, dismember, and kill the nasty little buggers, all the while avoiding the tail (and hence the stinger and the venom.) I read several testimonials from people who live in scorpion country, all of whom confirmed the fact that cats are mighty and effective hunters of scorpions. On the few occasions when the cats were stung, it was generally due to human interference (read: screaming like a little girl, thereby distracting the cat and providing the scorpion an opportunity to strike.) I watched several videos on youtube of domestic cats killing scorpions and wild cats killing snakes. They use the same methods, clever kitties.

All the people I read about said they would not live in the desert without a cat, period. One woman said that her cat cornered a scorpion and it went into its freeze defense. She captured the scorpion and let it go in the desert. What the what? That's way too nice. I captured two scorpions when we had a heat wave in December. I sealed them both in canning jars. I sprayed our bug killer into one jar, hoping to see my prisoner writhe and convulse in its final death throes. To my great disappointment, it just seemed to fade away into non-existence over night. I kept the other one and have been observing it ever since. Without air, water, or food, that nasty little critter is still alive. So not only do I think that re-releasing the monsters in the desert is way too nice, I have kept and tortured the ones (mwah ha ha) that crossed the line.

Also, watching the kitties catch, torture, dismember, and kill scorpions is the best argument against declawing that I've come across yet.

Fin

In Praise of Laziness

I was very excited to see an e-mail from my newly reelected Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, saying that she was holding a public reception at the Safeway nearby. I was excited and interested to see what she had to say and how the crowd might respond to her in her first meeting with her constituents. I was planning to go, considering that my in-laws are here and could watch the kid while I went out for an hour or two.

When the actual moment came for me to put on my shoes and gather up my stuff, I changed my mind. I was just too lazy to get off my little tush this morning. At the town-hall type meet and greet, Ms. Giffords and others were shot at. Apparently, she was shot in the head and so far they are saying 12 others were hurt. At this point, details about who the shooter is and his motivation for this horrific act have not been released.

This morning, I am grateful for my character flaw. Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness. I'm so glad I was not there.

Fun Fact

"If we had a mole, it would eat up all our flowers."