Sam, Bangs and Moonshine

This is a children's picture book that I think won the Caldecott Award at some point. It's about a little girl who has an overactive imagination. Which is to say- she lies. Her name is Samantha (Sam). Her father calls her lies "moonshine." Bangs is her cat. I would love to have written this book. The illustrations are lovely and the story pretty flawless. I bring this up for ONE reason, and one reason only: I now have BANGS! It was a difficult step, but I felt it was the right one. Scott likes them. I think they look all right. I liked the woman who cut my hair and will go back to her, though, a little more personality would have been nice. I like my hairdressers to be eccentric with an edge. She was pretty normal, but I made another appointment with her anyway. You really can't beat the price. Brig found some Asian lady outside of Atlanta in a place called the Hair Clinic (um, a little shady...) who does a fantastic job on her hair. This isn't that good of a deal, but no one finds bargains like Brigette. It's in her genes. The hair stylist (this is her preferred title) did talk me into getting some fancy lip gloss. My lips are now apricot which is most likely a terrible mistake with my coloring. Oh well. I feel like I make more money than I do when I put it on. This is a GOOD thing.

So, the weekend. It's GONE and I'm pretty depressed about that. I decided that I only want to work 2 days a week at most. Will I always be like this? Will I ever like my job? Will I ever not be lazy? Hopefully, when I have my master's and start actually teaching I will like it. But what if I don't? Ugh. I can't even think about that. If I didn't have to work I would do good things for my family, for the community and for the world. I promise. Someone just give me a chance. Pay me to stay at home and I will show you how great I can be. I'm like this every Monday, but today feels worse. I don't know. It's because I'm tired. Hawkins crazy ass kid that he is woke up at 4am wanting to play and didn't go back to bed til 5:30. It was godawful. On top of that he's teething and has this new 5 year old girl screech that he does constantly. It got to the point this weekend that Scott and I would just laugh hysterically at him because if we didn't laugh, we would cry and we couldn't have that. He's just so loud. Scott and I are pretty quiet and peaceful folks. It's hard to believe we made something so damn loud. I'm glad I already love him. This screeching thing really could have tipped the scales the other way had I still been working on it. Hawkins is also sitting up on his own now which looks so very grown up on him. It's adorable and heartbreaking. I feel like he's starting college or something!

So, in my mind-numbing, brain-vicing math class we had to read this article about different ways of teaching regrouping in subtraction. I won't get into the actual procedures, but the article really illuminates some disturbing trends in American schools. After much careful research, this study showed that 84% of American teachers place more emphasis on procedural learning than conceptual learning. Other countries teach concepts first and then formulas or processes based on the concepts so that children know why they do what they do. In further studying this cultural difference, researchers figured out that many American teachers cannot teach conceptually because they themselves do not grasp the core concepts of the ideas they are teaching.

I remember those light bulb moments in school when a teacher explained something and I saw like a connect the dots diagram how ideas were related and how they grew from one another and became more and more complex. That continuum, that knowledge "group" so to speak was really exciting to perceive. Even now, it is exciting to see. The Da Vinci Code was one of the bestselling books of all time. I can think of many books far better and worth your while, but anyway, that's not the point. As a reading culture, people were fascinated by the slow uncovering of these symbols and codes that built upon each other. People loved this book. Trust me. I know. I worked in a public library and it's all anyone talked about. The mind yearns for these types of analytical and exploratory thought patterns. So, why the heck aren't we teaching are kids to think this way? It's more fun! And it provides a deeper understanding of the material. This metaphor with the book didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to, but still... Learning is much more interesting and easier when one sees a series of patterns present in the knowledge that is gained. This puts some real pressure on me. There are so many things a good teacher has to cover. Ugh. I hope I don't completely screw up a generation of children.

Someone just walked into the office and gave me the following compliment... "Wow. Did you do something different with your hair? Like bangs? I can't pull them off. Not many people can. NO.... they look good on you!..." Yeah right. Were the bangs a mistake? When I told my mom over the phone she said, "Hmmmm... I don't remember ever seeing you with bangs." People aren't really inspiring my confidence here.

Speaking of Mama D... She arrives on Tuesday. It's going to be a long visit, because she's watching the kid while the babysitter goes on vacation. I'll just say, "It should be interesting." and leave it at that. Last time she watched him for a week, she lost 8 lbs. He's heavier now.

Scott and I watched Parenthood this weekend and like a total sap, idiot I had tears in my eyes the whole time. That movie really stands the test of time. I love Diane Wiest. I wish she were my aunt or something.

Every week the office buys a lottery ticket together. Since my allowance has been cut to $12/week, I can no longer participate. I hope I get my coffee maker soon. It will make this budgeting thing so much easier!

So, this weekend, I get to see a whole bunch of people at Molly's wedding. I am particularly looking forward to high school and college friends coming in town. Brig comes in on Thursday and we're kicking off the festivities with a pedicure. I get to leave work early!!! So, really, I just have to get through Wednesday of this week and then it all turns fun. Yay!