Howler

We are catching up on all the old Harry Potter movies before going and seeing the most recent. In one episode, Harry has to cast a spell in front of his human cousin to save both of their lives. Spells in front of humans is strictly prohibited, and he receives a "howler" in the mail. For those non Harry Potter fans, that is a letter, which usually comes in a red envelope and it screams at you for what ever misdeed you have committed.

Well about three weeks ago I was driving down Woodstock and I was flashed by a traffic camera, the kind they move about. I looked down and was going about 38. Turns out the speed limit in that area is 35, so I will be surprised to get a ticket for going less than 5 over the limit, but who knows. Anyhow, I have heard from reliable sources that the tickets take about a month to get to you, so I am thinking any day now. I keep having this vision of the ticket arriving in a red envelope and screaming at me before requiring me to fork over 150 bucks or so.

Chores

There is an article in this week Time magazine about how the time spent on paid and unpaid work has equalized between men and women in the house. In other words, most men are stepping up. I put a link to a summary below, Time only allows subscribers to read, but I have the full article if you are interested.

In our house this article is correct. During the summer, between yard work, household projects, and tending the garden, I am certain Mark puts in substantially more hours that I do. So why do I still feel irritated about the chore load at times?

I spent this week thinking about this and I think I got down to the crux of the matter. The end results are visible and dramatic. The new cabinets in the kitchen, the landscaping, even the garden have plenty of opportunities of feedback "Wow, you have done such a great job" "Amazing". My primary chores are the mundane, ferrying Jason back and forth, laundry, cleaning, and shopping. You just don't get much feedback when the laundry is clean, and no one ever runs out of toilet papers.

I have started doing more scratch cooking, and maybe the reason I am enjoying it is because I get to be a little creative, and get some feedback. Now if I can just make a spaghetti sauce or re-fried beans that Jason will prefer over Trader Joe's versions.

Brief synopsis of Time article
http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2011/07/26/20038/chore-wars-myth-of-the-slacker-dad-debunked

Sick

Well, I know I am sick when I don't want to drink wine for three days straight. I woke up July 4th at 4 a.m. with a horrible sore throat and I will spare you all from the gory details but it was a nasty sinus thing. Three days where swallowing anything was pure torture, add to that a bout of nausea, and plugged ears. I am usually the one in the house that doesn't get sick, or if I catch the crud I get the mildest case. Not this time. Luckily, Mark was very sympathetic, did the entire drive home from Montana (631 miles) while I dozed in and out of conscience. I am feeling human again, and it's the 8th, still not myself, but not miserable.

Makes me appreciate my general health and perhaps next time I will be a little easier on Mark when he gets a man cold.

Adventure!

It is funny how we like to envision ourselves. However, sometimes my vision and reality crash together and it's ugly. When Mark and I met we did some hiking and I even ventured out on a few backpacking treks. Having a baby put adventure on the back burner for quite awhile, but I still saw myself as the person who is always ready to conquer the wilderness. I am not put off by a little dirt in my food, no makeup, and not washing my hair for several days. Now that Jason is getting older, we are getting out more, we have been trying to get out for at least a few hikes each month, hiking further and on more difficult terrain. Last weekend we tried a new spot, it was supposed to be a 6 mile moderate hike. It started easy enough, and then got pretty technical. It was obvious the trail had not been maintained much, but I got into the spirit of the adventure. We crossed creeks, balancing on rocks and logs, we carefully waked on washed out trails bordering steep ravines, we went over and under fallen logs, stopped a few times to try and locate the trail after it suddenly disappeared. All was good until the walk through the open grass. I felt a little something and lifted my shirt, what I first thought was piece of plant stuck to my stomach , was latched on tightly when I tried to remove it. This is where my vision and reality crashed, it was a tick. Then I pulled another off my back. I went from good spirited to just down right pissed off that some creature would dare to latch on to me, not to mention being totally grossed out. So not quite the adventure woman, keep away those ticks, mosquito, and leeches, please.

Glasses

Last week I went and picked out a pair of prescription glasses. The need is due to age, pure and simple, no way of getting around it. The eye doctor said I made it longer than most people, thanks I guess. By the way, my eye doctor is adorable and looks like she is 15. Danielle saw her picture and agreed, so I am not exaggerating. I remember when doctors were always older than me. I digress, anyhow she said my need is very small and I could actually get away with the reading glasses you buy at the drugstore. I need 1.25 to be specific. I tried that, one they are all ugly, two I get nauseated when I am lesson planning, going from my computer, to writing, and such. So, I drug Danielle with me so I didn't make any fashion mistakes and found an adorable pair by Juicy Couture. The woman who helped me said if I was using a computer I should get them glare resistant, okay. They are also progressive, (aka expensive bifocals). that is supposed to help with nausea. Then the bill, 279 out of pocket, covering the 700 + glasses, that are close to ones I could by at Walgreen's for less than 10. Oh vanity! But they are cute!

LOL

I think of myself as kind of a hater of the LOL , it is overused and misused. An example taken from FaceBook "just watched The Experiment..what a psychological disturbing movie lol" Why did the writer add the laugh out loud? I have not seen the movie but I found this "Rated R for strong disturbing violence including a rape, language, some sexual content and nudity." LOL, really? I also saw another FB thread recently and I swear there had to at least 8 LOLs distributed through the comments, and really nothing seemed funny.

Today my husband sent me a text, and it actually made me laugh out loud, possibly qualified as laughing my ass off, LMAO. It is such a wonderful feeling to have a laugh escape uncontrollably, to catch the giggles and not be able to stop. So here is to laughing out loud and meaning it!

Friends

Wednesday while teaching my Upper Beginning Reading and Writing class one of my students, a young woman from Russia, asked me about the word "friend". She said that friend has a different meaning in Russian, it means someone you are close to and know what is going on in their life. I said, that it was the same in English. Then she told me an anecdote of an American neighbor that had introduced her to another friend. A few weeks later my student asked her neighbor how the friend was doing. The neighbor replied, "I don't know, we really don't know each other well." Hmmm, I replied. Maybe she was right, as I thought of my FaceBook "friends" many (most) are really not people I would consider friends. She said in Russia they use the word acquaintance. I said, yes, we have that word too.

I know language is ever evolving unless it is a dying language. I wonder if social media will change the definition of "friend", replacing acquaintance (or someone I met once on a beach when I was drunk. )Will we develop new words for different levels of friends, or perhaps just add adjectives, best, true, quasi? Or perhaps we could define friends by what we know about them. Categories such as people whose birthday I know, whose birthday month I know, I (think)know which season they were born in, and I have no fucking idea, nor do I care.