Misc. stuff

Right, it's the boring family stuff.

Several years ago, while I was browsing through a garden shop clearance bin, I found a half dead stick that was labeled "Rose--Chrysler Imperial." Well, as it happens, Mr. Cameron fixes Chryslers, and I'd read about Chrysler Imperials and knew they smelled all rosy and were a lovely red, and so of course I grabbed it up and spent, oh, maybe a dollar or two, and then dug it into the front yard.

It really was too late to do roses. That first year it sent up one hopeful green shoot just as winter arrived. I figured that was all I'd get for my dollar, but the next spring I got another shoot and a bud that never bloomed. The next couple of years I got one single Chrysler Imperial rose.

This year, I have five. And they do indeed smell lovely, and they are indeed a lovely dark red.

( Unfortunately I am not much of a photograper. )

And also, videos. There was a violin recital last weekend, and both of the Paidhi Kids played. The recitals are always nice--you get to hear the other kids, for one thing, and how far they've come, which is really neat. But they're usually in a church that has windows up behind the sanctuary--terrible for photos or videos, especially on nice sunny days.

Paidhi Girl played the Gavotte from book 2--I asked her who it was by and she shrugged and said, "I don't know." Partway through, the teacher (who was accompanying) lost her place and Paidhi Girl stopped and that's me whispering an instruction I know perfectly well she can't hear. Afterwards Paidhi Girl said that even though she knew you should keep going if you or anyone you were playing with made a mistake, she felt like it would be unfair or rude for her to keep going and leave the teacher trying to catch up.

Paidhi Boy is still in book one, and he played Andantino, which I know is by Suzuki. The teacher asked for a re-do pretty quickly, but everything went more or less well after that.

I had intended to go out for ice cream after, but my mom was there and took us out to supper. Paidhi Girl split a plate of salmon with a younger cousin and Paidhi Boy did the chicken fingers and fries thing. The place turned out to have a pinball machine, too, so it was a good time all around.

The out-of-home work year is drawing to a close. Almost two weeks ago the manager at one of the smaller schools in the district up and quit, and they tossed me over there to fill in. Which is nerve-wracking, since I have very little training and am doing a lot of the reports and stuff (or not doing them, as the case may be) by the seat of my pants. It would actually be very nice--it's the same school where I subbed earlier in the year and the children were so adorable--but. Let me just say. As a supervisor? A co-worker who does whatever the heck she wants unless one is explicitly ordering her in every case, each and every day, to actually do what she's supposed to do (as opposed to something entirely different that she is convinced is a much better idea than what we're actually supposed to be doing) is not good for my mood. Oh, and it's not just that I have to tell her to please follow procedures. She argues with me, every time, because her way is so much better. The fact that her way would get us dinged by the health department, or possibly written up or fired if the uber-manager knew about it, or leave us with nothing to serve a bunch of small, hungry children on the last day, means nothing to her. If the inspector or the big boss isn't around, their rules are meaningless, and "there's plenty" of everything even though when I ask "how many, how much exactly?" of everything she doesn't know the answer, she just waves her hand and says, "there's plenty." But I've counted everything, and by now I know how many kids order which menu choices every day, and I'm trying to plan things with that data, not some vague impression that there's a pile of food in the storage room, cause at this point there isn't. And I'm sick of arguing about it every single day.

Well. Anyway. I shouldn't rant this early in the day.

Today I pack and run errands, and tomorrow I'm off to Wiscon. Hooray!!!

Misc. stuff

Right, it's the boring family stuff.

Several years ago, while I was browsing through a garden shop clearance bin, I found a half dead stick that was labeled "Rose--Chrysler Imperial." Well, as it happens, Mr. Cameron fixes Chryslers, and I'd read about Chrysler Imperials and knew they smelled all rosy and were a lovely red, and so of course I grabbed it up and spent, oh, maybe a dollar or two, and then dug it into the front yard.

It really was too late to do roses. That first year it sent up one hopeful green shoot just as winter arrived. I figured that was all I'd get for my dollar, but the next spring I got another shoot and a bud that never bloomed. The next couple of years I got one single Chrysler Imperial rose.

This year, I have five. And they do indeed smell lovely, and they are indeed a lovely dark red.

( Unfortunately I am not much of a photograper. )

And also, videos. There was a violin recital last weekend, and both of the Paidhi Kids played. The recitals are always nice--you get to hear the other kids, for one thing, and how far they've come, which is really neat. But they're usually in a church that has windows up behind the sanctuary--terrible for photos or videos, especially on nice sunny days.

Paidhi Girl played the Gavotte from book 2--I asked her who it was by and she shrugged and said, "I don't know." Partway through, the teacher (who was accompanying) lost her place and Paidhi Girl stopped and that's me whispering an instruction I know perfectly well she can't hear. Afterwards Paidhi Girl said that even though she knew you should keep going if you or anyone you were playing with made a mistake, she felt like it would be unfair or rude for her to keep going and leave the teacher trying to catch up.

Paidhi Boy is still in book one, and he played Andantino, which I know is by Suzuki. The teacher asked for a re-do pretty quickly, but everything went more or less well after that.

I had intended to go out for ice cream after, but my mom was there and took us out to supper. Paidhi Girl split a plate of salmon with a younger cousin and Paidhi Boy did the chicken fingers and fries thing. The place turned out to have a pinball machine, too, so it was a good time all around.

The out-of-home work year is drawing to a close. Almost two weeks ago the manager at one of the smaller schools in the district up and quit, and they tossed me over there to fill in. Which is nerve-wracking, since I have very little training and am doing a lot of the reports and stuff (or not doing them, as the case may be) by the seat of my pants. It would actually be very nice--it's the same school where I subbed earlier in the year and the children were so adorable--but. Let me just say. As a supervisor? A co-worker who does whatever the heck she wants unless one is explicitly ordering her in every case, each and every day, to actually do what she's supposed to do (as opposed to something entirely different that she is convinced is a much better idea than what we're actually supposed to be doing) is not good for my mood. Oh, and it's not just that I have to tell her to please follow procedures. She argues with me, every time, because her way is so much better. The fact that her way would get us dinged by the health department, or possibly written up or fired if the uber-manager knew about it, or leave us with nothing to serve a bunch of small, hungry children on the last day, means nothing to her. If the inspector or the big boss isn't around, their rules are meaningless, and "there's plenty" of everything even though when I ask "how many, how much exactly?" of everything she doesn't know the answer, she just waves her hand and says, "there's plenty." But I've counted everything, and by now I know how many kids order which menu choices every day, and I'm trying to plan things with that data, not some vague impression that there's a pile of food in the storage room, cause at this point there isn't. And I'm sick of arguing about it every single day.

Well. Anyway. I shouldn't rant this early in the day.

Today I pack and run errands, and tomorrow I'm off to Wiscon. Hooray!!!