Friday Leftovers (March 19)

Word Association

Play along here.

1. Children :: Kids
2. Saddlebags :: Horse
3. Restraint :: Constraint
4. Awake :: Early
5. Blood :: Oil
6. Shutter :: Fly
7. Posted :: Up
8. Corn cob :: Elote
9. Flagrant :: Foul
10. Fart :: in the Wind

Explanations: Yeah, I awake early every day. It's funny how your body gets adjusted to it. Usually I beat our alarm by about 10-15 minutes. Our alarm is set for 4:44 a.m., and sometimes I roll over and it's 4:38, other times 4:41 or 4:35. Those ones I remember from recently. The worst one recently was the 4:41. I rolled over, grabbed the blanket and was just about to settle back into a warm cocoon when I though 'Let me look at the clock first.' I saw 4:41 and instantly wanted to scream. A great moment, spoiled. Now, I don't have to get up that early necessarily but Mrs. LB does in order to get on the freeway before morning rush hour. So I get up with her every morning. Sometimes I'd rather just sleep through the alarm but I like spending time with her so I get up with her.

What's This?

When I went to Seattle in November, I picked up some things at the Pike Place Market. Not a whole lot, since I didn't have a whole lot of time. But still got a few things.

One of the things I got was this... well, it's actually two things but you get the point.

liquid stuff

I'm not sure what it is.

It's one of those things where your eyes are bigger than your stomach. I thought that it would be cool to get this stuff and experiment with it, but so far it's just sat in my cupboard for all these months.

I figure I may as well try and use this, if I can figure out what it is.

I thought it was some sort of extract type stuff, since it's a liquid and it kind of has a potent smell. But I'm not sure. I suppose I should just get adventurous and test it out - what have I got to lose? But before I do, just wanted to see if anyone had an inkling of what this is and how I should go about using it.

Thursday's Missive

My post yesterday was an instant reaction. I usually try to leave the house in order to be at school 30 minutes before the bell. The earlier the better, because there is less traffic and thus fewer morons breaking the rules. But every day this week, Yvie's gotten up late because of the time change so we've been leaving later than usual. And of course that means long lines, dozens of drivers doing the wrong thing and one very frustrated LB. So I was enthused when I saw some CHP officers out there. I had nothing to worry about since I'm among the responsible drivers, but obviously there has been a bit of an issue if the CHP is out there.

I hadn't had a rough morning necessarily but I wasn't feeling great. I woke up, needing about another hour of sleep to recover from a hectic Wednesday, and was pretty busy in the wee hours of Thursday morning. But those CHPs out there got my heart going! I got home and fired that "letter" off. Tickets for the masses! I hope that will keep people from breaking the rules at will. It probably won't but we can all hope.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

I was looking for a song to put up as a song of the week and came across another song that would so not fit that category.

The song I was looking for is called Dragon Puncher, by James Kochalka Superstar. I searched on you tube and came across another song by James Kochalka Superstar and, uh, well, it's not a children's song. At all.

I have to say that I thought the song was funny and catchy and I actually have come to like it, but I can't really sing it in front of the girls. I'll swap out a word and sing "You've got to wash your hands" instead.

What's the song? Here's a link to it. Just be forewarned, it'd kinda crude... or it could be a bit of a PSA. No nudity or bad language or anything, it's not that bad. Just nothing the girls should listen to for a decade or two.

Incidentally, that Dragon Puncher song is not anything like this. That one we actually bought on iTunes and the girls like it. Well, we all like it, except for Mrs. LB.

Last Hurrah

This is the last and final week I'll give a shout out to children's music. I just feel like dedicating this space to something else... what that something else is, I'm not sure. There are some obscure (well, maybe obscure is too strong of a word) movies that I really like so I might share them here. Or maybe I'll just put songs in here that I'm into or listening to at the moment, or maybe none of that. Who knows? I just wanted to mix things up a bit.

And before the song, if you ever have a question about children's music, feel free to let me know.

This last song isn't really a children's song specifically but it's played all the time on Sirius 116, the children's music channel.

It's called The Saga Begins by Weird Al Yankovic, and it's about Star Wars. I think it's a cool song but it seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it song. Either you like it or you hate it, there's no in between.

Word To The Irresponsible

Dear Fellow Elementary School Parent:

We would all like to teach our children how to be responsible, to follow the rules and to have a sense of order. I realize this is a difficult concept for you, particularly the part about following the rules. After all, I see you every morning not following the rules, parking along the red-colored curb to wait for your child after school, or simply blocking traffic to let your child in or out, with no regard to the people behind you.

However, I feel I must reach out to you at this time for your child's sake. See, if you teach your children that it is okay to break basic traffic laws for your own convenience, then that is a lesson they will learn and apply in other parts of their life. This is school and they do learn things at school, but those things are not limited to what happens inside the classroom.

I know we are already 115 days into the school year (or so my daughter tells me) and that the 2009-2010 school year is running out, but now would be as good a time as any to start following the rules.

Here are some suggestions to things I would like for you to stop doing:

* A red curb means that you can't stop there for any reason, particularly the one that leads into the entrance of the school's parking lot. God forbid, but if something were to happen and an ambulance needed to get to somewhere quickly, chances are they'd need to stop there since it is right in front of the school and all. Anyway, as long as you continue to park there, I'm going to continue taking my time in entering the school at your inconvenience. Yeah, I could probably have scooted my truck up a little to let you out the other day, but I didn't. I would apologize for it but I'm not sorry about it at all.

* When there is a line of cars behind you, don't stop in the middle of the street to let your children out. Oh, you are in a hurry? Well, I guess since none of us behind you are in any more of a hurry it's okay... actually, I take that back. I don't care if your house is burning down. Do you know how dangerous it is for your children to get out like that, especially that little girl who looked smaller than my four-year-old?

* Just because there are a lot of cars lined up to go inside the parking lot doesn't give you the right to zoom past the line of cars, particularly after school. Children aren't always the most aware, and they tend to dart out into the street sometimes.

* We're both pulling into the same parking lot, cars coming in from the other direction. No need to cut me off, and don't give me a dirty look either. It's called taking turns.

In closing, I hope you - the irresponsible parent - were not too upset that the California Highway Patrol had two units out there in front of the school this morning, particularly you, Mrs. Ford Explorer. Oooh, I would NOT have liked to have been you. That officer did not look very happy when he was pointing at you, and the flashing lights and siren and all on his motorcycle, well, that must have just made things more uncomfortable for you, much like the money you will have to fork over for your moment of impatience.

I don't feel sorry for you, though, and none of the other similarly irresponsible parents who were ticketed this morning. After all, if you didn't break the fucking rules in the first place, none of that would have happened.

Sincerely,

A Safe Driver

Yvie's First Day

It seemed like it was a long summer and for the most part it was. We got to do so many awesome trips, both as a family and just Mrs. LB and I. But today our summer is officially over.

Yvie is now a first-grader.

(I did her hair!)

Of course, First Day of School 2009 was not quite as strange as First Day of School 2008, when we didn't know what to expect. She was happy to seem of her classmates from last year and we were happy that she is with some familiar faces.

Yvie has been excited about school for quite a while now. She's still in the Dual Immersion program but this year instead of 90 percent Spanish and 10 percent English like she had in Kindergarten, it went to 80 percent Spanish and 20 percent English. She'll get more English-language instruction which is good but she's already such a strong reader in English.

I might get more into this as the school year progresses but Yvie can read in both English and Spanish. She first learned to read in Spanish at school and then sort of figured out English on her own. We specifically didn't teach her to read in English because we didn't want to mess her up with whatever they were teaching her in school, but she did just fine on her own. She actually reads better in English but now she'll be exposed to more Spanish and it will be interesting to see how she improves in that aspect.

While I think she'll do fine with first grade, I think her only problem might be adjusting to the long days, and that goes for her as well as us. School starts at about 8 and gets out at about 2:30. Last year, she got out at 11:25, so that's an extra three hours for all of us.

Kennedy for one found something to entertain herself with.

That would be Kennedy holding a lizard tail.

After posing with the lizard tail for a few pictures, I put on some music. She moved the tail around in her hand and said "Look, the lizard tail is dancing."

As my mom likes to say "Aye, aye, aye, la Kenna."