Bridgewater Soccer Mom's view of the world

Central Park at 72nd Street Spent a few hours roaming NYC with my sis-in-law. I hadn't seen her in 3 years but it felt like 3 weeks. It was soooooooooooooo nice. She is so easy going and pleasant. As the "local" I lead her around. We had no agenda, just pleasant conversation and no stress. Kind of like this picture. New York wasn't awash with tourists. Or, if it was, we didn't see them. No crowds anywhere. We window shopped, and ate lunch.

Sometimes you say things you wish you hadn't. Othertimes your thoughts change over time. Flip flop, flip flop. Sometimes it's not really a flip flop, just a nuance. Sometimes you just aren't sure what you mean. Lying at the chiropractor's I pondered the morning's blog. I remembered several of my kids' teachers. They go way beyond their contract. Some of them LOVE my kids. How do you compensate that? The truth is that you can't. Caring teachers - the kind my kids will remember far into their adulthood - are a goldmine. My blog below doesn't take into account two things. Many teachers teach more than HS teachers mentioned below. My kids' teachers regularly e-mail me at all hours of the week and weekend. They have met with me before school, during and after school and recently a teacher called for an impromptu 8pm teleconference that lasted about 45 minutes. Far beyond her contract! No matter where I bump into a teacher, they always ask about my kid...

"It's been a stressful week in Lake Woebegone , my hometown..." Or so Garrison Keillor might say if he were to describe my life on his radio show. Not only have I been juggling falling balls, my nose hasn't stopped running (and I haven't been running enough to prepare for my half marathon next month, so I'm stressed about that too). One of the "falling balls" are my allergies. I've tried it all: multiple medicines, nose spray, eye drops, a  neti pot , extra sleep, spicy food and even wine. I've tried staying indoors, I've tried fresh air. I've tried walking, and running, and extra showers. Extra sleep seems to help my state of mind, but hasn't done much for my sinuses. Now I'm at the acceptance stage of this battle: pollen is the stronger force. I'm just going to have to grin and bear it. I'm also knitting. Life reflected in a dress I've started to knit for myself. I keep starting, ripping out what I'...

Beyond the beautiful day.... I am loving this weather. Really loving it. High 60s/Low 70s and sun here in Bridgewater. Yesterday I ran (alone) for more than an hour in 70F and sun. Today I walked with a friend, and wished we could have walked for hours. Now I feel it. My eyes are burning, my nose vacillates between burning and itching. Like Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs you can find where I am by following used tissues. Both C and I awoke convinced we'd both contracted pink eye. Nope. Diagnosis: "Allergy eyes".  $25 co-pay for the visit, and $50 co-pay for eye drops (I think a $50 bottle of wine would work better for me). At those prices and with those results I didn't bother checking my doctor. At $50 for the teeniest, tiniest bottle of drops - I can't imagine what they put in them at these prices- I think C and I can risk co-contamination and share the drops. I'll wash my hands and roll the dice. I feel like the entire day has been half-finish...

I have a lot on my plate - who doesn't on this Monday? List day. Today I look over what needs to "get done" this week. It's always a combination of actual tasks with "other things". Some weeks I'm focused on work. Some weeks I am focused on district issues. Last week I spent a lot of time putting together and organizing my new office. This week I will have to continue clearing out the parts of the house that the new office is supposed to relieve from paperwork, and focus on work. View from the lift. The snow is fake but the air is fresh. But it's the "I wants" that I am drawn to now. I don't want to think about the business right now. I don't want to think about the laundry or sorting closets. I don't want to think about groceries. And I definitely don't want to think about taxes. I don't want to bathe the dog. Yesterday I spent six blissful hours on the slopes of Big Boulder . I didn't mind the slushy cond...

(Written Thursday, published Friday) Til alle mine fantastisk flotte kvinnelige fjesbogvenner - HIPP HURRA FOR OSS PÅ KVINNEDAGEN! (To all my fantastic female facebook friends - HURRAH FOR US ON WOMEN'S DAY) Gratulerer til alle medsøstre med dagen i dag, 8. mars! ♥ (Best wishes to my sisters on our day, March 8th) Gratulerer med dagen til alle jenter/damer/kvinner! :-) (Happy Int'l Women's Day to all girls/ladies/women!) Ihanaa päivää teille rakkaat ihanat naiset! ♥ Olkoon päiväsi täynnä iloa, onnea ja rakkau tta! ♥ (Happy day to all the dear, lovely women May your day be filled with joy, happiness and love!) And my mother-in-law sent me a message with a quote from Pippi Longstocking: "I haven't tried that before, so I know I can do it!" This morning my facebook page was filled with many such wishes from my friends in Europe.  While it may be a day to celebrate around the world, here in America I don't feel like c...

Just heard an interesting Webinar about adding volunteerism to your resume. Very interesting stuff. So many of us do professional tasks in our unpaid and/or non-profit ventures and, as I learned, it certainly has a place on the paper used to market yourself. I've had the chance to try many different things by volunteering, both in and out of the school district. It's also a great way to network and get to know your community. Most of it I never even considered "relevant experience" but of course it is! Last fall I organized a book fair that sold over $11K of books in 6 days.... (organizational skills, managing people, finances and (minor) marketing). That's just one example. I'm sure you have many. For now, however, the shining sun beckons, and I am about to "get to know my community" in a different way... by going for a long run. Whatever you do, or where ever you are, if your weather is as nice as in Bridgewater I encourage you to turn off th...

When I'm done with this, I'm off to Amazon dot com to order Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.  After 18 years of co-habitation with my darling husband, I have a room of my own. Many people falsely assume that the entire house is mine, or perhaps that the kitchen is mine, or the master bedroom. But not here. I have many friends who decorate at whim - the only pre-purchase consult being their bank account. Not me. My husband is actually very aware of how we decorate, and with a few exceptions he and I have equal say. The basement is his man-cave, nicer than most grown-up's apartments. And now I have an office. My hope is to make it 50% office, 50% refuge. A work space surrounded by things I love. Although there is a bit more work to be done this morning I moved myself in and after I hit publish, I'll put together an invoice. Great way to use the space, I'd say! I have a new-found sense of self. New vigor to take on my start-up company's challenge...

Bread is done! I love to bake bread. If it didn't leave the kitchen such a mess I'd bake bread every day. Bread requires patience. It takes time, and it needs someone who is willing to clean the mess. That doesn't sound like me. Yes, I sound about 100 years old. Who knew when I was 17 that I'd actually enjoy domestic tasks like baking and knitting. There is something visceral in kneading dough. Turning four boring ingredients (flour, water, salt and yeast) into something that rises, warming the senses and filling the house with a tempting aroma, makes me feel a sense of accomplishment like little else. Who doesn't love fresh bread? But bread-making isn't in my nature - I hate the clean up. Flour and water = sticky mess. It finds its way everywhere. In every crevice of my hand. Underneath my finger nails, then in my hair. The mess diminishes the enjoyment. It's been a long week in Lake Woebegone-Bridgewater. School shootings in other states don'...

I'm not going to be lonely today. I have both kids home sick. Nothing life-threatening. Stomach bugs - one serious, one not. If last week we were nomads, today it's the opposite. I'm housebound, while an electrician is finishing loose ends. Of course - the weather is fabulous - so I am yearning to go outside and run. C had a great day yesterday: the BR Middle School cheer squad won their only competition this season. The girls won easily. You could see it in their faces - they weren't very nervous so they did pretty well This fall the stakes were so high that girls were puking from the stress both before and during the routine. Yesterday everyone was relaxed and just looking to have a good time. As a parent I preferred the low-stress competitive environment. I posted a picture/video on Facebook and said I was bragging. One of my friends reminded me that it's a good thing to brag about your children. I forget that sometimes. I find it hard to compliment myself ...

(Written Thursday, published Friday) Duality today. Mother nature playing tricks on the trees - Blossoms in February! It's my brother's birthday. There are few people on planet earth that I respect more than him. He's so accomplished, so smart, has excellent taste ... but most of all he is warm and loving. The antithesis to machismo. His family is Boise is lucky to have him - since it's a big loss for us East Coasters. Today is also one year since my friend died. And no matter how much Feburary 23rd is my brother's day, it's El's day too.  A while before she died, we sat on her open-aired screen porch and looked at the forest that surrounds her home. She talked about how much she missed hiking. At that point she could walk but very unsteadily. She seemed so weak, who knew it would get so much worse? I didn't want to tell her I had been running that day, but when she found out, she encouraged me, basically telling me to embrace exercise ...

Mind map (done Sun pm) Last night the DH and I discussed paying for college. I wanted to make an outline using  mind mapping  to see if I can make sense of my options and obligations, and the general big picture.  I still need to do this - plus exercise. I pulled a muscle and am not sure how I am going to stay on track for my half marathon in April... but where there's a will there's a way. And then... there's taxes. Just the word puts me in a cold sweat! But instead of facing my demons, I spent the morning making coffee, listening to NPR and surfing the net and texting a friend. Somehow I got the "brilliant idea" of trying out my new wax. If you know me in person, you probably have seen my goat beard from time to time. Something like a Ukrainian Grandmother. I saw a "natural" wax from a company at the mall last week and I bought myself a tub on sale. Guess why it's on sale? Because it will RUIN YOUR DAY! In my test run I managed to get the...

Bags of food ready to go My kids' youth group volunteered today at a church in Somerville where Somerset County distributes food bank items (mostly edible) to the needy. It is a humbling reminder that so many people need help right here in Somerville. I learned that I need to think smarter when I donate. Often I'll donate items we wouldn't have eaten. I should do the opposite in the future - give what we WOULD eat. Most likely the people who need extra help also prefer the same foods as my picky family. We helped more than sixty families before someone took the "white chocolate-flavored sparkling water". Maybe that would be good in a mixed drink, but that's not the help these families need. Toilet paper was given one roll per family. How much TP do I buy without even thinking about the cost (beyond the general "the more rolls in the pack, the cheaper it becomes)? You can also call the food bank as they have a list of what they need. Teens bagg...

I haven't written much this week. I can hardly believe it's Friday night. It's the usual for me: Drive The Girl to the movies and let The Boy have a friend sleep over. Make something for dinner (should have started earlier) and put on my PJs. Maybe I'll stay awake late enough to watch Bill Maher. As my regular readers know, I'm very interested in women's access to contraception, abortion and.. well, um everything. I could start a complete blog on this, but well, I don't want the house to get Fire Bombed, so I'll just say I'm looking forward to some liberal humor tonight. I know some of you are wondering about Tuesday's Board of Ed meeting. If you are, you probably already read the Courier's articles here and here and/or the Patch here and here . My take: The redistricting committee made its presentation. I thought it went without a hitch. However, I wish more BOE members had read through the report more thoroughly so that they were prepa...

Happy Valentines Day to Ingrid. She made something like this for me. I used to stress out about Valentines Day. Would something magical happen that day? Would some boy admit his yet-unstated love for me? Clearly I had seen too many sappy movies. And of course I was disappointed by my own inflated/unrealistic teenage expectations. Fast forward thirty years and I spent early Valentine's morning coaxing a somewhat unwilling son to finish an essay. Even earlier I made my daughter hot cocoa to enjoy on the way to school which she had to refuse. Apparently alcohol is a problem and students are no longer allowed to bring coffee mugs on the bus... not a very romantic thought. She's in Middle School and cocoa is a no no! Then I half-ran, half-hobbled the streets of Bridgewater with KK, my Tuesday running partner. She is the perfect person to bounce off an idea. Full of warmth and humor and smarts, time with her is well-spent. I love our conversations. The rest of the daytime h...

Saturday night just before falling asleep, my husband suggested we go into the city with the kids on Sunday. Sunday morning he didn't remember the offer, but we went anyway. (I think he thought I was manipulating him... who me?) It was a great idea and a great day. We drove into the village - parked at the corner of 6th Avenue and Bleeker Street. On street parking that was easy to parallel park in and out of. What luck! First: pizza. Cheap and yummy. In the first store we entered (near NYU) we found a dress for my daughter for a "prom" at Hershey (fodder for another blog when I tell you what I think of this). It looked fabulous on her and she will meet her goal: having a dress that no one else will be wearing. We were all happy with her purchase. It was cold, so we needed cocoa.... very easy to find in that neighborhood! More yummy! We walked through Washington Square and ended up in NYU's bookstore. N was thrilled. He found lots of hard cover books abou...

Imagination's the limit It's a clean slate, and I love it. My Christmas present from T: an office. He took out the furniture, painted he walls light grey (which I picked because it represents silver). A white curtain that I bought from IKEA seven or eight years ago has finally found a destination, and only needs a rod. A new ceiling fan to keep me cool in the summer. I've been using pinterest to gather my thoughts on the space's design. I find while in the stores I'm drawn to darker furniture, but when I look at images, I crave the lighter side. It would allow the colors to stand out. From yarn. From pictures. From books. From whatever I want. One book I plan to buy specifically for this room: Virginia Woolf's   A Room of One's Own .  Now that I am married, have two kids and a big house, I realize that what I missing is a little piece of real estate that is for me. I share a room, and while the kitchen is mostly my domain, it is certainly shared sp...

You know the saying: Last week I treated myself to flowers No good deed goes unpunished. It's one of my favorites and I use it often. But this week it's quite the opposite. I'm suffering from NOT doing my good deeds for myself and others. I haven't cooked anything since Friday. I haven't exercised in a week. Instead of helping my son, I berated him for not having his homework organized. I drove my Dad home (who treated me to a FANTASTIC MEAL at Charlie's ) but I didn't actually help him. Normally I clean out the fridge or organize something. This time? Nada. I guess I have done "one good deed". I offered to be part of a committee. It's been a huge time commitment - and I have missed at least 2 meetings. No good deed goes unpunished: instead of catching up on my favorite shows, I'm trying to rid a presentation of passive sentences.... Why did I offer to do this???? I don't know, I guess I'm just a link in a chain.... ...

At 86, giving a medical lecture sans notes It's been a couple of years since my last time in a lecture. And I've been to a medical lecture before, but today I am wondering why not. It was very interesting to listen to a description of pathology, disease and cancer. And the lecturer, of course, was my Dad. He's been teaching the Radiology Technicians at the local hospital for about 25 years. I guess that he should know it pretty well, but at 86 he still has the ability to teach without notes, for two hours (with a 5 minute break).  My father is an inspiration to many. At 86 he keeps in shape by walking and swimming laps, eating healthy and doing crossword puzzles. Actually he thoughtfully copied several in the library today for both of us. I'm not much of a crossword person - but as the NY Times crossword puzzle gets progressively harder, and today is Monday, I actually have a chance to solve some answers. I have to admit that I've always been a little jealou...

My old sneaks - currently resting Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. This week I feel like an object at rest. My butt hasn't been in gear for anything. I should be running nearly daily to prepare for the Rutgers Half Marathon in April. It's a beautiful day - I should take advantage of the warm temps and the sun. I should be doing more to build my business. There is incredibly much to do. I sooooo should be doing about 5,000 other things. I could even be doing something fun - planning our next vacation. But somehow my computer is like a magnet this week. This morning I wasted several hours surfing the net. Looking and repinning images to Pinterest . I'm wasting my precious time. I never regret exercising, so why is so hard to begin? I slept relatively well. I need the fresh air. I've had breakfast and coffee and now I finished T's Lindt chocolate. All good reasons to hit the road. Yesterday I went skiing. I had no problem getting myself r...