Well, Duh.

Oops! I should have previewed that post! I actually mean to say this:

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Funky Friday

I love casual Friday.



I am still hacking things up. This morning I had to do a pretty close inspection to determine whether it was yellow or green. I think yellow. But I went to bed pretty early after ER last night with a sinus headache.



But we had pretty close to a perfect date night last night (except for the sinus headache): we ordered Mexican food, and while they were preparing it, zipped up to the store for tequila so we could make margaritas. Then we settled in with our yummy food and our TV shows (Joey, Will and Grace, and ER). Bliss!



Sam's class is having a "read in" today-- they earn points for doing their work on time, so today they get to read. All. Day. I wish I was in that class! I talked to Sam last night and he said that they are allowed to bring snacks and I asked him what he was bringing. "Nothing." Now. I don't think Mark is so much of a jerk that he wouldn't let Sam take one-- I think Sam just sometimes doesn't like to ask us, and the only explanation I have for that is that he is his mother's son. Sometimes I was a bit of a martyr too, ridiculously. So, I pressed him to see if I could bring a snack. He finally asked for hot cocoa in a thermos, which I delivered this morning.

The first thing I noticed in the classroom was that all the kids were spread out all over the floor and *every single kid* except mine had a blanket and pillow. SAM!!! I am sure that he could have asked Mark and Mark would have provided because Mark would have been horrified to have his kid be the only one without a blanket. He is very concerned about appearing to be a good parent. So, I ran home, got Sam's sleeping bag and pillow and returned, and Sam said, "You didn't put milk in the hot cocoa did you?" I shook my head. "It scalded my tongue."



I kissed him and went on my merry way, reflecting that Sam didn't realize that I went to extra effort to come to his school twice that morning, but that also I was happy that he took it for granted-- because I was happy to do it, and I want him secure enough to take those things for granted. So, why can't he just ask for simple things like snacks and blankets when apparently every other kid in class can? These things, and the fact that Christian has no friends (and Sam few) at school bother me, particularly when I'm in the shower, or tired, or have a cold-- like this morning.



But then I just shrug it off and keep going because I can't sit around and cry at work.



I have two meetings today, and that is actually good, because it will make the day go faster.



I think tonight we might go to a movie and tomorrow is a Hanukkah party, and my neck hurts and I have a cold, and I don't really want to do anything-- I think that I am in danger of becoming a girl who only wants to sit in bed with a book about Orthodoxy, rather than living, and that is not what I want from my life. I want to engage in it and to have fun with Dereck and appreciate him and appreciate OUR alone time this weekend, not simply MY time without kids.



I had a really vivid bad dream last night that Mark was jerking me around about taking the kids to Pennsylvania for Christmas and when we could leave, etc. and my lawyer told me to call his bluff and just go and that would teach me how to respond to empty threats. In my dream, I was crying and crying on the phone with my lawyer. And in my dream, the kids were all sleeping in a room with the answering machine right above their heads, and Mark kept calling at 5:00 a.m. and waking them up, and finally I heard and went in to them, and got on the phone with him and ended up screaming at him (very realistic because it has happened before, though not that early in the morning) and slamming the phone down.



Whenever I dream, I dream of cavernous houses that have rooms without end. I am always discovering new ones, and in this dream, I discovered a little room that we weren't using ,and decided to use it for storage, to get some of the clutter out of the living room. Houses in dreams are supposed to be your psyche-- so I wonder what that means... Interesting...



I'll have to ask Dereck about these dreams-- he is good at dream interpretation.

*

















This Morning was a protracted continuation of last night. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, despite the Hy-Vee knock off brand of Ny-Quil, and so I slept in this morning (that needs to STOP) and when I got up this morning, I coughed up all kinds of nifty things, none of which were green, so here I am at work.



Started the tub, said good morning to Sam in the bathroom, and woke up the younger two.



Christian: "So, are dementors real?"

Tommy (with covers over head): "I am NOT going to school!"



Go into kitchen to make coffee, and Christian appears very quickly.



Christian: "So, when Harry Potter sees the Grim at the Quidditch Game, that means he is going to die in two seconds?"



Me: "Well, did he die?"



Christian: "No, but the Grim means he is ABOUT to die, right?"



Me: "Well, that's just the opinion of that one teacher. But she just thinks it's a Grim, when it's really Serius Black, because he is an animagus. That means he can turn himself into the dog."



Christian: "How did Serius Black survive all those years in prison without food and water?"



Me: "Well, even when you're in prison, you still get food and water."



Christian: "Who brought Serius Black the food and water?"



Me: "I don't know. Tommy get UP. Maybe a guard did."



Christian: "Maybe it was one of the dementors."



Sam: "Can I have a quesadilla for breakfast?"



Me: "Sure. Can you go make it? Tommy, we need to do your homework."



Christian: "Why did Hagrid tell them they couldn't be seen?"



Me: "Because he didn't want Dumbledore to know they were going to see Buckbeak get killed. Come on, Tommy, let's read your books. Christian, you need to get dressed."



Christian: "Or maybe it was because it was about to get dark and the dementors would get them."



Sam: "It wasn't dark yet."



Me: "But it was going to get dark. Okay, Christian, you get dressed, and Tommy, you need to read your book to me."



[Tommy stumbles over a word and SHOUTS in outrage, and Mommy yells at Tommy, Tommy cries, Mommy consoles, they finish the book and go get hot cocoa and breakfast.]



Christian: "What is a specter?"



Me: "A ghost?"



Christian: "So, maybe the Grim is really a specter?"



Me: "Well, except it isn't really a Grim. It's really Serius Black because he can turn himself into a dog."



Christian: "I bet, what's that Professor who can turn into a werewolf?"



Me: "Lupin."



Christian: "I bet the werewolf could beat one of those dementors."



Me: "Probably."



Christian: "Why does Snape frighten all?"



Me: "Well, because he is just kind of a mean guy."



Christian: "And maybe because he makes them do a lot of hard work."



And so on and so on and so on.



This morning, I need cigarettes and beer.



Raise your hand if you think Mommy actually yelled at Tommy because she wanted to yell at Christian, and raise your hand if you agree that this is not conducive to Tommy wanting to learn how to read?

*

















Out of the Mouths...



At 9:00 tonight, there was a knock on the back door and it was Liza, but for a moment, I thought our sitter had forgotten we cancelled her because I was sick, and if it had been our sitter, I would have grabbed her by her shirt and begged her to stay.



I told Liza that I had just been talked at for four hours straight. And it was true.



My oldest can talk. Boy can he. And my father will read this and laugh and say, "What are YOU talking about, Miss Motormouth?"



But honestly. You get it back in spades.



And tonight, it wasn't me, and it wasn't my oldest. It was Christian, the middle.



First, I got them fast food for dinner because Dereck had a Religion dinner to go to (he is in the Religion Discipline-- it was for work, not some Religious thing he was doing), and then Christian did his homework and Sam worked out, and Christian talked at me the entire time. And he talked at me as I tried to download some kind of media flashplug for this computer for Tommy, and then while I tried to get the DVD on the other computer to work, before I suggested that we could watch Harry Potter in the living room while I worked out.



(I just went to check on the lovely tub I'm filling, and discovered, to my absolute horror, that I didn't plug the drain!!! You can see that my nerves are raw, can't you?).



And that child talked during the entire movie. If the captions hadn't been on, I wouldn't have been able to watch it, and even as it was, I was out of breath by the end not from my work out, but from being made to answer questions throughout the movie. And I think he has a much better grasp on the entire movie now.



I am not usually so indulgent with the kids talking through movies, but tonight it seemed like the thing to do, though I did tell them at bedtime, "I am NOT lying down with you tonight. I need a break. I need to go read my book. And if I hear anything in this room..."



"Your hand will be on my bottom?" Tommy asked.



"That's right!" I told them.



Actually, I told Dereck that I needed a break and asked him to go in if there were any noise, but the little darlings actually went to sleep quietly, despite a barking dog, whom I escorted unceremoniously OUT.



While Christian and I were in the bathroom and he was brushing his teeth, he said, "Harry's aunt and uncle sure were wicked, weren't they?"



And I said, "I don't know if they are wicked so much as mean and stupid."



Christian: "Maybe they just needed more sleep."



Me, nodding: "Could be."



Christian: "Or maybe they just needed to have more beer."



And then, with barely a pause he continued: "Maybe YOU just need to have more beer."



Indeed.

*

















Has This Ever Happened to You?



My eyes just fell to a piece of paper by the keyboard that had red scrawls all over it and I felt a vague sense of dread, because red scrawls mean that I need to fix something... I looked at the paper a couple of times. It took several times before I realized that it was MY handwriting on the page. I had made the corrections. But for the longest time, I didn't look at it as anything that I had ever seen before.



Boy, how out of it was I yesterday?

*









Law and Order



By 5:00 yesterday, maybe a little before, I had crawled into bed with a book, having almost swooned twice when walking around. I forgot my gatorade, so I was just kind of lying there, half asleep, pathetic, when Dereck walked in. I felt like crap. We took my temperature, and it was normal, possibly due to Tylenol I had just taken-- because I had chills, aches, the whole nine yards.



It was feeling this way and not thinking that I could handle a 40 minute round trip drive plus wrestling three energetic boys into bed that caused me to decide to call their father and ask if he would keep them overnight. He agreed, and I talked to each of them who expressed sympathies that I was sick.



I had forgotten, though, that he teaches at 7:30 a.m., so he would be bringing the boys by here for me to take to school anyway. Great. Still no sleeping in.



I am feeling a bit better today-- the cold seems to moving upward to my nose rather than south to my chest. And my neck doesn't ache terribly today.



So, last night after we agreed I was in for the night, Dereck brought me some leftover stew and bread machine bread and we ate dinner in bed and watched Law and Order. And then, you will not believe what happened: another episode started on TNT immediately, and it was a 4-part episode!!!! We couldn't believe it. It was the best thing ever. Was it four or three parts? Four doesn't seem right, given what time we finished, but anyway, we ended up watching Law and Order all night. And somehow, that made being sick a little better.



My children just walked in! I got kisses and concern from older two and some kind of stony-face from youngest, so let me to see what that is all about.



Aha-- maybe if he doesn't kiss me hello, I won't notice he has gone to watch television...



And now I am making hot cocoa. Hope your Tuesday is great.

Sore Throats and Mondays...







I am home sick today.



I should have known it last night when I was drifting off to sleep with the little boys, and could feel my nasal passages draining into my throat, and Tommy kept yelling at me that I was snoring (which I never noticed).



I went to sleep essentially at 9:00 p.m. and was draggy all day yesterday, but I thought I was just feeling blue. Well, apparently, I was also fighting off a cold.



I have a sore throat. I am choking on my own mucous.



It did not take me very long this morning to figure out that going to work was a baaaad idea, so I took the boys to school, came home, and went back to bed (after notifying work, of course).



I got some much needed sleep, and I am wondering how much more I can get away with without risking my sleep this evening.



I would like to work out, get those bodily fluids moving, but just now when I moved from the couch to the computer, I felt a little woozy. Yes, I have eaten today. I probably need to push more fluids though. Too bad coffee doesn't count.



I suppose I could always return to the couch.



Yesterday, we put up our little, fake, 3-foot tree with miniature ornaments that we got this year so we could still have a festive house, even though we are going out of town (gulp, in two weeks!).



The boys were so awesome. We put in some Christmas music, and they really got into it. There was no criticism of the little tree, only the tenderest of care and cooperation as they decorated it. I am not being saracastic-- they were really amazing. They love their little tree, and Tommy kept saying, "We have the most beautifulest tree in the whole neighborhood."



I am glad I didn't attempt a trip to Columbia yesterday, now that I am sick anyway. I took Sam with me to Mass yesterday, and except for him looking the entire time like somebody kicked him hard where it counts, it was fine. I asked him about it-- did he feel like it was weird? Did he not know what to do? And he said, "Sometimes when something doesn't really grab my interest, I feel bored."



Well. Too bad. I can be sympathetic to discomfort, but not to boredom. I even let him bring a book which he was too embarrassed to read (not his father, who takes books and reads everywhere, including and especially at the boys' soccer games, prompting other parents to wonder why he even bothers to come).



I went to afternoon Vespers later with Carol and that was very cozy and nice.



All in all, a nice weekend, even getting haircuts at the Beauty Academy for the boys (which was great-- they have to do exactly what you tell them to do! Tommy got the best haircut of his life because he actually let him use the razor on him!) and running errands.



On Friday night, we all watched Willow together, and they loved it. It was great, because I love that movie, and to see my boys love a movie that I have so long loved-- well, it was just magical.



How are you this wet, cold, dreary Monday? How was your weekend?