Bouquets of Newly Sharpened Pencils (GIVEAWAY)

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." - (You've Got Mail, 1998)

I don't know about you but I love back to school shopping for school supplies.  I do...I love it!  Yes, this is one time I am not being sarcastic.   Maybe it's because I am a teacher or maybe it's because I loved to color as a young girl and I get truly excited about a pack of new crayons. 

 

I realize sometimes the lists of things requested can seem a little over the top, but I promise you...there is a rhyme and reason behind every item and 90% of teachers will put them all to good use. 

To the mom in Wal-mart the other night:  I wasn't eavesdropping (you were just being a little loud and dramatic), but I overheard some of your complaints.  I would ask that you re-read my preceding paragraph...rhyme and reason, mam...rhyme and reason.  The pencils requested will last much longer than the cheap ones...they sharpen easier and have much softer and more supple erasers for better clean-up.  Ditto on the Fiskars.  Few things are more irritating to a child than to be attempting to cut something with scissors that won't cut.  Go ahead.  Splurge.  Get the Fiskars.  Your child will appreciate this.  Finally, a box of Kleenex and a tub of antibacterial wipes may just keep your child (and others) from getting sick.  $5 for the both of them is much cheaper than the going rate for a visit to the doctor.  Finally, madame, I understood from your comment this is your first foray into being a school mom, as you mentioned to someone your daughter is entering kindergarten (this is when you remarked something to the effect of "Gah...you mean I have twelve more years of this?").  Try to chill a bit.  Enjoy.  Cherish.  These next thirteen years will go by in the blink of an eye.  I promise you that. 

Myself?  Sometimes, I get a little too carried away with the process and end up with a lot of stuff not on my child's list.  This year, though, I have been sooo good (so far, at least).  At Target the other night, I almost succumbed to all the cute Dr. Seuss items in the $1 bins, but I resisted.  After all, I teach at the middle school level and my son is entering the 3rd grade.  He's an adult now, you know.

A GIVEAWAY...

One week from today, folks in my district will be returning to school.  Yikes!  Can it really be the end of our summer break?  In celebration of going back-to-school I thought it would be fun to have a little giveaway.  Anyone may enter and entering is easy.  You have three chances to win...1.  Leave a comment here and share with us your favorite school supply or back to school memory  -mine still has to be a box of new crayons- and 2.  Follow my little blog and leave a comment letting me know that you do.  3.  Share my Facebook post about this and leave a comment letting me know that you did.

And just what will you win?  Well, I'm not exactly sure yet...but I'm leaning toward a goodie bag packed with back-to-school fun (with a gift card or two thrown in for good measure)!!!  You will love it!  Your kids will love it!

The contest will end at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 3.  A winner will be picked at random and annouced the following Monday.

P.S.  You do not need a Google account to leave a comment.  Just use the anonymous option and make sure to leave your name (and perhaps email address) in the comment...just some way for me to contact you should you win.

P.S.S.  If you do have a Google account and want to follow, just look on the right of the screen under "Wanna follow?".

Our Summer at the Movies

Who doesn't love going to the movies during the summer?  Here at the Tire Swings hacienda we are big movie buffs, though John and I have not been able to go out and see them as much as we'd like (unless you count the times we were accompanying an eight-year-old to a "Disneyish" movie on Discount Tuesdays).  Ren, it seems, has lived there.  I think this last one she saw just the other night (The Conjuring) did a number on her.  After seeing it and dropping a friend off at his house (who, by the way, called his mom and asked that she turn on the porch light and meet him at the door), she called us every few minutes as she was enroute home to give an update on her location.  Me thinks she just wanted a person to talk to in order to keep her mind off what she had just seen. 

One of the best decisions we made when building our house was to create a media room upstairs by partitioning off one end of the bonus room.  Our media room - or "movie room" as John-Heath calls it - is not a large or fancy one (and is actually still somewhat a work in progress even after six years), but it is one of our favorite spots in the house. 

During the school year we don't have time to use it very often, but we certainly make up for it in the summer.  This summer we've run the projector so often, I cringe each time we turn it on for fear the bulb just might blow.

A couple years ago Ren requested a book as a present called 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.  The edition begins with A Trip to the Moon (1902) and ends with Atonement (2007).  As she read through it she began to make a check mark on each page featuring a movie she had already seen.  Then the rest of us took turns doing somewhat the same.  I sign my first name and John adds his initials.  John-Heath has even written his name here and there.    It's fun (albeit in a can-our-life-get-anymore-insipid kinda way) to mark off newly watched movies. 

Anyway, the other night Ren and I were talking about some of our favorite movies and I thought it would be cool to compile a list of such.  Again, we lead simple lives, people. 

 



Some Tire Swings Favorites

 

REN

(at the moment, at least)

Million Dollar Baby
(her absolute favorite)
Gangster Squad

The Help

Gone With the Wind

Remember the Titans
Sex and the City - both 1 & 2
(for the fashion)
The Devil Wears Prada
(again...the fashion)
Blazing Saddles
Psycho
(the original)
Star Wars
(the whole franchise)
Troy
Les Miserables
 

JOHN

Tombstone
Cool Hand Luke
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Glory
Empire Strikes Back
Last of the Mohicans
Zulu Dawn
Indiana Jones Series
Movies set in the South
Out of Africa
Old W.C. Fields movies and Marx Brothers movies
Vacation and Christmas Vacation
 

JOHN-HEATH

Oz - the Great and Powerful
The Little Rascals
Star Wars
The Goosebumps Series
Indiana Jones
(all of them)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Despicable Me 1 & 2
Glory
Band of Brothers
(I tried to explain that BoB was a mini-series, but he insisted I include it in his list)
Madagascar (all of them)

MOI

Gone With the Wind, The Help, etc. 
(pretty much any and all Southern flicks)

Made of Honor
Out of Africa
Tombstone
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Sneakers
I Dreamed of Africa
(even though I am terrified of snakes)
Absolute Power
(I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan, and who doesn't love Laura Linney?)
What Lies Beneath
(I love the movie and the set.
  I would leave my home and move to Vermont this very day
if I could have the house and lot from WLB.  Sadly, the house was built for the movie and then torn down when filming wrapped.)
All the Vacation movies
(MINUS European Vacation)
Sense and Sensibility
 

Did you recognize any of your favorites?



P.S.  How could I forget Billy:  The Early Years...Ren's first "job" in a real movie (albeit as an extra).  If you'll look really, really close you'll see her approaching the tent in the tent revival scene.  She is wearing a white hat, with a dark shawl around her shoulders and passes in front of a mule.  You can also see the side of her head in the bonus features.  When we see Armie Hammer (now starring as the Lone Ranger) in ads, she loves to joke that she was once his "co-star."

P.S.S.  I have now seen The Conjuring.  It was very good.  I had to sleep with the lights on and hold my bladder til morning.  That is all I am willing to say about it, out of fear I will scare myself even more.

 

Image via

Signed, the Girl With the Lisp.

Another school year will soon be starting.  I know, I know...don't remind you.  One thing many schools will be focusing on this year (in addition to the curriculum, data, standardized tests, data, close readings, data, PLCs and PBLs, data, etc.) is the topic of bullying.  I have several thoughts on the topic - some even conflicting - and may one day write a better post about it.  Today, however, I thought I would share with you one that I wrote as a parent at the end of this past April.  It is one I came across the other night while going back through old posts and drafts.  Reader beware:  It is somewhat of an angry mom letter, which is really not like me at all (for the most part, I want my writings to be light-hearted).  You see, even being the child of teachers does not make one immune from mockery .  So, to keep from going to jail this past spring and losing my job - and my house - and the ability to eat out more than I cook - I wrote to rid myself of anger.  I wrote, re-wrote, wrote even more, revised it, cooled down somewhat and removed the R-rated content until I was left with the ramblings you will read below.  And there it remained - a draft - until today.  It may seem a little like beating a dead horse - after all, Ren is now out of high school and excited about college and a new, wonderful life before her - but the issue was/is too important to me as a mom to be kept forever as a draft. 

April 2013
Growing up, my mother would often say to me, "I can read you like a book."  I always hated that expression, as it was usually used when I was doing a subpar job of hiding something from her...bad grades, an admission of guilt for something, the fact that I had already eaten a candy bar before supper...you get the idea.  Now, when I hear those words...I can read you like a book...they are produced in my mouth, spoken in my voice.  I have become my mother. 

I haven't "read" my daughter as often as my mom "read" me, but when I have, especially in the past year or two, hurt feelings are usually at the root of it.  I miss the days of hidden stains, failed tests, and candy wrappers.  Why must it be so hard to be a teen today? 

Few people like being the recipient of undue attention, and high school - at times -can be a breeding ground for just this very thing.  I have never understood how some people feel they have license to highlight the inadequacies of others, even thrive on doing so, while being far from perfect themselves. 

My daughter is an outgoing, talented, confident, beautiful girl.  She does quite well in pageants, has been approached on more than one occasion by Nashville-area talent/modeling agencies and, by all appearances, leads a pretty charmed life.  Yes, she's a teen and, yes, she's far from perfect  -  I have to remind her quite often to clean her room and there are times she can cop a sassy mouth and attitude, mostly towards her father or me - but she's a good girl.  She is also a strong girl, one who doesn't like for others to see her as weak or, heaven forbid, pity her.  I think she would rather eat glass than have someone see her cry.  But I'm a mom - and moms know when their children are hurting.  This year, I have had about all of it I can take.

What's that quote...sometimes the strongest people are the ones who love beyond all faults, cry behind closed doors and fight battles that nobody knows about.  Everyone has a weakness, a vulnerability they would prefer go unnoticed.  Ren's achilles heel comes in the form of a lisp - a lateral lisp to be more precise  - of the 's' sound.  When she was about 6 we were told it was the second hardest impediment to correct.

Today, it is not as noticeable as it was then.  I don't think a lot of people she meets for the first time notice anything at all out of the ordinary and most people she's known for a long time pay little attention to it. 

Of course, there are always those two or three who, for whatever reason, keep some sort of internal file on the people they know.  These people, it would appear, take a sick delight in tormenting others.  Why else would someone act like a parrot and mimick each and every word coming from my daughter's mouth (adding a lispy 's' to all her words - not just the ones with an 's' in them) or team up to hijack a reading rehearsal of the school play and call her out on the word "sweetheart" - getting in her face to pronounce it correctly. 

To you that did this...has making fun of her made you less fat? Are you suddenly not from a dysfunctional family?  Has your own speech impediment been reversed?  Was there a little more swag in your step that day?  And when you found that note in your truck...you know...the one telling you how you hurt her and asking why...the one she signed "the girl with the lisp"...did you even feel an ounce of remorse?  If you did, you have yet apologize. 

Do you know that she left school early each of those days because she couldn't face seeing you all again somewhere?  Or that when she came home she cried for hours in her room?  And that when she finally came down she begged to be sent for speech therapy (she had googled local therapists and prepared a list)? That she spent more time watching You Tube videos of how to correct her speech than you did practicing your lines for the play (and by the way, it showed)? Or that she asked that we talk to the drama teacher to see if he would be mad if she quit the play, a play she had waited four years to perform?  Luckily, her confidence (or determination) returned and she did not quit.  Do you think because of who she is she is immune to pain? 

You know what, though...that's okay.  My daughter will be okay.  I firmly believe in Karma, and I only hope I am still around to witness your dance with it.

Posted with my daughter's permission

A Yummy Delivery

Despite how it must look, this is not a Christmas in July post.  Actually, I was going through some older posts (this one being from 2011 I think) and I came across this, which was showing up as only a draft.  I decided to hit "publish", thinking it would keep it within its original placement, and what do you know...it was moved to the front of the pack.  Oh, well...enjoy.

Sooo...a couple weeks back I signed up to receive some samples of gelato and sorberro from the Roba Dolce company. We here at Tire Swings consider ourselves ice-cream connoisseurs and were eager to jump on the gelato bandwagon.

Thursday evening I thought I would take my camera outside and snap a few pics of the day's new snowfall. It's a good thing it had snowed or it may have been days before I ventured onto the porch. Anyway, a lovely parcel was waiting for me there and I knew instantly what it was.

When I first signed up for the giveaway I thought the samples would come in small, personal size cups - like those kids buy in the school cafeteria with the little wooden spoons.  Wrong!  We got an assortment of flavors in an assortment of sizes.  There are certainly perks to this blogging adventure!

Naturally, the kids wanted to try out some of the chocolate as soon as it was unpacked. 

If you ever see any of the Roba Dolce products in the store, you might just want to give them a whirl.  You won't be sorry.  They are Y.U.M.M.Y!!!

The Perks of Growing Old

Old age, schmold age.  Who cares about crow's feet, receding hairlines, and forgetting where you put the car keys when you get such great gifts in the mail? 

Thank you, AARP!!!  I didn't think it was possible for my stylish, good-looking husband to get any sexier. 

Would You Like That Water With Crickets or Without?

Like a near-Exodus invasion, the outside of our garage door has been covered lately with tiny green crickets.  Well, actually I think they are grasshoppers because crickets are nocturnal and our visitors are always here during the day.  Anywhooo...John-Heath has just been in awe of how many there have been and has, like any dutiful, juvenile member of the male race, been trying to do his part to rid us of our fine fiddling friends.  Then his father gave him the idea of catching some to use as fish bait. 

Enter one of my double wall plastic tumblers with the screw on lids.  John-Heath proceeded to catch and secure several of the tiny grasshoppers in one of these cups.  Then, for added measure, he placed about five more lids on top - just in case.

Set atop a kitchen counter, the grasshoppers waited patiently for a meeting with some fish at the pond.  Instead, they became a garnish when a hot, sweaty girl -thirsty from a morning workout and run- reached for the nearest cup and filled it full of ice and then water before she headed up the stairs to her room.

I always thought grasshoppers received their nickname because of their color and the fact they hop around in the grass.  Turns out, I have it on good authority that another reason they are so named is that they are actually the same texture and taste of grass - or, at least, their legs are.

Image via

And Suddenly, the Sky Turned Yellow

Looking westward from my front yard

 

Wednesday evening, the kids and I were watching a movie upstairs - an older version of the sci-fi/horror film The Thing.  At some point, John-Heath decided to look out the window to see if John was home. When he pulled the curtain back it revealed a really beautiful - and equally creepy - sunset, so the three of us put the movie on pause and headed out to get a better view.  We ambled around outside, looking upward like the people you see in alien movies.  It had been a hot day and rained a little in the afternoon and we were left with this.  I'm glad I grabbed my camera on the way out, because within ten minutes it was gone and darkness arrived.  Take a look.

Beautiful and ominous all at the same time.

Looking south/southwest from my back porch

 

A westward shot from the back porch

 

Looking from the front porch through the river birch and crepe myrtle trees and the laurel shrubs

(which all need a good trim)

 

A northern view

 

A final look at the house. 

There's something about this shot that makes us of think of some kind of Alfred Hitchcock house.

What do you think?

 

 

 

Being Hacked

I have two children.  Ren (newly graduated from high school) and John-Heath (8).  The first was planned.  The second was like winning the lottery, minus the money.  Like all siblings, they have their good moments and bad moments.  They love, they laugh and yes, they fight.  Quite the norm. I once heard someone say how her children never fought and were just loving and kind toward each other all the time.  I almost asked where she bought her rose-colored glasses.

With children, life is never dull, that's for sure.  Naturally, due to his age, most of the excitement in our home is generated by my son.  Ren, for the most part, has aged out of providing the built-in entertainment, though she often finds herself smack dab in the middle of the action and reminds us that she had asked for a puppy, not a little brother.

Here is an example of such that happened to take place last night.

Ren:  John-Heath, do you have my iPhone?

 

J-H:  (playing a game on the computer and ignoring her hovering presence over his shoulder) No.

 

Ren:  Uh-huh (as she takes back her phone which was hiding behind the computer).

A few moments later, Ren received a Facebook notification.  One of her good guy friends had sent her the message...my car's in the garage.   Perplexed, she looked at what had preceded his comment.  She couldn't help but laugh (and then issue an apologetic text to her friend). 

 

12:54 p.m.

 

*Ren:  Hey!

 

Friend:  Hey!  What's up?

 

*Ren:  I love you.

 

Friend:  What?

 

Friend:  What?  LOL 

 

Friend:  Are you kidding?

 

 

1:09 p.m.

(as a private message on Facebook)

 

Friend:  Hey!

 

*Ren:  Your car is on fire.

 

 

 

* John-Heath

 



Another Take-Our-Kid-Who-Is-About-to-Enter-3rd-Grade-to-Washington, D.C.Trip...

...aka "Ren's graduation trip".  A few months back when planning a summer trip we told Ren the decision of where we would go would be hers.  Within reason, we left it up to her...a cruise, Hawaii, road trip out west.  Her pick was to return to our nation's capital.  I love DC but I was a bit perplexed about her pick, given some of the other options, but hey, it was her choice.  It also allowed us to take John-Heath on his first trip to Washington at the same age Ren was when we first took her (the summer before their 3rd grade year).

In looking back through my pictures it is clear that...
1.  I have become a lousy photographer - and should I ever win the lottery I will hire a professional photog to travel around with us on future trips and special occasions.
2.  I took many more pics of JH than Ren.  This was not intentionally done.  Rather, it was because I was with the younger of the two all the time, whereas Ren is old enough to tour around some on her own (or with Megan).
3.  It is much easier to maneuver around DC alone or as a couple than it is as a larger group - and we were just a group of seven.  How do the Duggar's do it?

Without too much commentary, here are a few pics from our trip.

If needed, click on individual pictures to enlarge.

On the way...

Always imaginative, John-Heath can spot anything - like a giant lego piece

(which was actually a large air-condiitoning unit)

Ask John-Heath to tell his favorite part of the trip and he will say "the subway".  I always loved taking the Metro around DC until this trip.  Speeding trains, open tracks, crowded platforms, knowing there are crazy people in the world, and one curious, hyper 8-year-old make for a rather nervous momma.

The first of many museums

Mr. President

Every other Sunday or so we eat lunch at this little meat&3 in a neighboring town after church, and every time we visit the owner will always say to John-Heath, "Well, here's a future president of the United States."  He likes to gab a lot with people and is possibly a politician at heart.  Heaven help us.

Looking at "Lucky Lindy's" Spirit of St. Louis at the Air and Space Museum

Time to tour the Capitol

The Library of Congress.  Another beautiful building. 

The director of the library is called the Librarian of Congress.  Maybe I should apply for that when I retire from being librarian at our middle school.

There are more than 22 million books in the LoC, one of which happens to be co-authored by my husband. 

Who's the fashionista completely uninterested in her surroundings?  Oh, yeah.  That would be my daughter.  Actually, she had already "seen everything" and was upset she couldn't go into the part of the library seen in the movie National Treasure.  Instead, she had to settle for looking at it through windows.

Outside the LoC with the Capitol in the background.  As with many of the buildings and offices in DC, these two are connected via an underground tunnel.

Ford's Theatre - standing below the box in which President Lincoln was shot

Waiting to view the Declaration of Independence at the Archives. 

Sorry, no pics from inside. A very big no-no. 

Museum of Natural History

Arlington

At the Lincoln Memorial. 

See those two people sitting between the first and second columns on the left?  That's where John-Heath took a tumble right of the ledge. Luckily, the drop wasn't too far.  And was grassed.

Inside the LM

T-minus 20 seconds until the fall.  You should have seen his eyes (and mine) as he fell backwards off the ledge.

A sibling moment

Our hotel was in Alexandria and just down the road

from TC Williams High School. 

Ever the football fan, Ren had to get a picture.

Remember the Titans!

I don't want them to gain another yard! You blitz... all... night! If they cross the line of scrimmage, I'm gonna take every last one of you out! You make sure they remember, forever, the night they played the Titans!

Back home.  John-Heath looking all presidential - a la 1860s

Okay, I lied.  That was more than a few pics.  If you made it all the way trough, thanks for sticking around.  :)  Have a great Friday, friends!

A Soggy Fourth

Belated 4th of July wishes to you all.  I hope yours was better than ours.  Here in our part of this great country it rained all day.  All.  Day.  There was not one time that I looked out a door or window and failed to see rain.  This must be what it was like for Noah, or Ms. Noah, give or take thirty-nine more days or so. 

As holidays go, this one was a bust, but I have to say I do love a rainy day every now and again.  One can take a nap at three o'clock in the afternoon on such a day without guilt and shame.  Just saying.

I've been making myself pretty scarce in the blogosphere these past few months.  It's not because life has been dull - quite the opposite, actually.  Busy.  Very, very busy.  So busy that time is just flying right on by.  Today, I was doing a little mental calculation of the remainder of my summer break and realized it is fast coming to a close, when you factor in professional development days, etc.  In the past, for me at least, June departed about as fast as molasses from a jar (for those of you unfamiliar with molasses, that means very slowly) and July was the fast month.  If the rate at which this June passed is any indication for the rest of the summer, I will probably be back in school by Monday.  June was just a blur.  And where did the first three days of July go?  Did we skip them?

Unless I wake up to find myself already late for school or something tomorrow, I'll post some pics from our little family vaca to D.C.  We had a great time and made it to and from safely, with my nerves mostly intact (thanks to the Metro and my curious, hyper son).