Ten Things Tuesday

Good morning!

A little too sunny on the salutation? I’m compensating for the truly dreary outside environment at the moment. Please to bear with me.

1. Yesterday, Boo and I spend entirely too long at the local Toyota dealership, getting Bob’s car’s oil changed, etc. What they (frenzied, harried techs and customer service people) failed to do, what the etc. SHOULD have included was a state inspection, which they oopsed. It took them TWO hours to change the oil and air filter and I am finding myself absolutely disinclined to return to said dealership to endure yet more waiting room tedium - I’m heading to Jiffy Lube.

2. Some of the lovely people who gifted my daughter with money for her Bat Mitzvah and her future gave in Canadian funds, written on Canadian banks. My bank was happy to exchange the funds - for a small $30 fee PER transaction. Enter TD Banknorth, a predominantly Canadian bank giant (Toronto Dominion) taking over the Northeast , which was happy to change our money for no fee.

3. Anne Taylor Loft, a clothing chain located entirely TOO close to me and my lack of restraint, has really great sales. After the dealership, daughter number one and I spent some time there and discovered their new sizing scheme: no longer is 0 the smallest size! No, now there is 00 petite, and XXS! Clearly, this is an attempt to attract the teen crowd and Boo was no displeased to find a few (crazily reduced) items in just that perfect size for her.

4. This past Sunday, our Temple held a book signing for Bob’s children’s book. After we did a reading, we sold about 15 books and got some great feedback. My job after my teaching gig dies out, is to get the word out about this exciting book; I have been reclaiming some of the habits I had while I was an assistant editor at a small publishing house - call, write, network, network, network and am pleased to report we will soon have a glowing review in one of Canada’s largest Jewish newspapers.

5. As this may well be my terminal semester - the word seems apropos, given the terminal nature of the college academic future - I intend to up the ante in my classes: in my comp class, I will be assigning a blog project, aimed at publishing with some of the students’ best work and am working on a guest speaker to come in and focus discussion on personal narratives; in my speech class, I will do what I have been intending to and SHOW them how to write a persuasive speech by demonstrating my own process and by delivering my speech for their critique. I think I may tackle sustainable/organic  farming practices - shocking, eh?

From here on, randomness predominates.

6. On a completely left fieldish kind of topic change, I love striped socks. Upstairs in my bedroom is a laundry basket FULL of mismatched socks, many off them sock orphans of carefully collected socky weirdness, victims of exuberant daughters and their bad sock habits. I’ve matched many but some are still missing, so a household sock hunt will soon occur and then, unless these poor habits change, my socks are hands and feet off!

7.  Whispering so the weather gods can’t hear… there are GROWING things outside in weather-traumatized New England!  Is it time yet??  I’m ITCHING to get out there and plant sunflower seeds because I am determined to outdo last year’s sunflower crop. I have EIGHT different kinds of sunflower seeds sitting on my desk nudging me, so I may be out there planting as soon as the glaciers entirely retreat.

8. LOTR: the Two Towers has infiltrated my consciousness; I watched the super duper extended  and yet STILL not too long version with an extra nearly two hours of footage spliced in and have the story running in a loop in my head.  I’ve made plans to watch the ROTK on Thursday and I hope to relegate the action about to happen to the back of my head so I can be in the slightest bit useful.  How do you deal with such infiltration problems??

9. Boo received tremendously thoughtful gifts and has been working on making each thank you note a carefully considered expression of thanks. She worries her handwriting isn’t beautiful enough to reflect the gifts and has begged to be allowed to type them. While I understand her reluctance, I’ve insisted she use this as a chance to practice her handwriting and that she understand the personal nature of something handwritten.  I think she feels embarrassed that so many people gave her gifts - she has said she “feel bad” that people she knows well and those she barely knows went to any trouble for her, so this is also an opportunity to discuss gratitude and how much joy there is in giving.

10. I think this is the summer for dog breeding.  Maybe I’m nuts… (maybe?), but we are now seriously discussing the whole enterprise.  I’ve begun a whole lot of research on that’s involved so my decision - I’m the one who’ll do most of everything - is wholly informed.  My little wenchface is due for her next heat in July, so we shall see.

Happy Tuesday!