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May. 1st, 2012 06:55 pmDelia lost her coat on Friday. She took it off on the playground and forgot about it. It wasn't in the lost and found Friday afternoon. We have no idea where it was. Fortunately, it turned up Saturday morning, and the gym teacher spotted it and put it aside to give to Delia on Monday morning. Of course, on Monday, Delia did the same thing with her jacket. I was really annoyed. That was in the lost and found when we looked so there was no real harm done. I just wish she'd remember her coat/jacket and not leave it on the playground.
Saturday was cold and wet. It didn't actually rain during Delia's soccer game, but it looked like it might. We were fortunate to have the game at ten because it did rain later in the day (and Rec & Ed kept the games going because there wasn't lightning and the ground was still solid).
Saturday afternoon, Scott went to Briarwood to get glasses. This is the second time he's filled this prescription. They progressive lenses, and the first pair were off in terms of where his left eye actually focuses. Fortunately, Lenscrafters did the second pair for free. (There was, unfortunately, a lot of fuss over the whole thing. He had to go to Lenscrafters to get the glasses checked to be sure they were the right prescription, then go to the eye doctor to make sure the glasses were right, then go back to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked again to make sure the prescription was right. The eye doctor finally figured out the problem.) He's not dreadfully happy with the progressive lenses. They're giving him real trouble at work where he needs to be able to do stuff close in.
On Sunday, we had a meeting with other parents to discuss the Science Olympiad and try to figure out how to do it better next year. Scott and I didn't have a lot to say, but some other parents did. The consensus was that, to win, the kids have to work really hard. We didn't come up with any ideas for making the process fun.
We did discuss trying to recruit more kids for next year by talking up the Science Olympiad early in the year and doing a demonstration of sorts at the first hockey night (the PTO sponsors a night of floor hockey about once a month. It's $5 to play. If you don't want to play, there's a free movie in the cafeteria. There's always food on sale, too. The money goes to help pay for fifth grade camp). Each kid that participates has to bring along an adult volunteer, someone to coach, organize or just help run things the day of the Olympiad. Since lack of coaches is also a limiting factor for our school, more parent volunteers would be a good thing.
Lack of coaches does explain why I keep getting tapped to coach. I'm not very good at it. I'm better than nothing, but I really have no idea how to teach the kids what they need to know (or even how to figure out what they need to know). With Estimania, I think the kids would have been better served by a lot more (and more varied) practice problems. The problem was I have no idea how to design such problems.
The meeting took place at another family's house. The family's younger daughter is a friend of Delia's, so Delia was happy enough to go. The biggest hitch was that the family has three big dogs. Delia wasn't willing to be in the same space with the dogs. I wasn't enthusiastic either. I don't like how dogs smell, and I don't like being licked or jumped on.
After the meeting, we went to the library. We'd forgotten our library cards, but the staff let us check out books anyway. I had to show a picture i.d. Delia just said who she is. (They might have let me get away without i.d. They've let Scott check out holds on my card when I've forgotten to give him my card, and he doesn't even share a last name with me.) From there, we went to Big Boy for lunch.
When we got home, Scott got out the shovel and uprooted some plants from the raised beds. I decided that all of the big plants had to go. The rue was taking over the beds. I like that it repels insects. I don't like that it seeds like crazy. The sage plants were several years old and very overgrown. It was hard to get past them to the spigot for the hose, and I don't have the physical strength to prune plants that well established. I need to plan better when I replant these beds.
I also need to spend a few hours pulling up all of the smaller plants that I don't want. I think the only thing in the biggest raised bed that I want is the winter savory, and that's easily replaced if I have to. The biggest problems are going to be the catnip that somehow got into the biggest raised bed and the ajuga that I planted in the medium sized bed. The ajuga is pretty, but it's crowding out everything else. The catnip is all over our yard (and a big reason that the outdoor cats in the neighborhood like hanging out in our yard), but I'm determined to keep it out of my raised beds. I'm told that, if you keep on top of it and keep pulling it out, eventually, the roots die.
Unfortunately, my stamina sucks, and I can only manage about ten minutes of gardening at a time. It's going to take a couple of weeks of good weather to get the two bigger raised beds cleared (I'm not even thinking about the smallest one. That likely needs Scott and the shovel). I need to pick plants that can survive neglect and partial shade. The only certainty about what I'll plant is that I'll plant a lot of dill. Delia likes to eat it. She doesn't care for it on food, but she likes eating it fresh from the plant.
Saturday was cold and wet. It didn't actually rain during Delia's soccer game, but it looked like it might. We were fortunate to have the game at ten because it did rain later in the day (and Rec & Ed kept the games going because there wasn't lightning and the ground was still solid).
Saturday afternoon, Scott went to Briarwood to get glasses. This is the second time he's filled this prescription. They progressive lenses, and the first pair were off in terms of where his left eye actually focuses. Fortunately, Lenscrafters did the second pair for free. (There was, unfortunately, a lot of fuss over the whole thing. He had to go to Lenscrafters to get the glasses checked to be sure they were the right prescription, then go to the eye doctor to make sure the glasses were right, then go back to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked again to make sure the prescription was right. The eye doctor finally figured out the problem.) He's not dreadfully happy with the progressive lenses. They're giving him real trouble at work where he needs to be able to do stuff close in.
On Sunday, we had a meeting with other parents to discuss the Science Olympiad and try to figure out how to do it better next year. Scott and I didn't have a lot to say, but some other parents did. The consensus was that, to win, the kids have to work really hard. We didn't come up with any ideas for making the process fun.
We did discuss trying to recruit more kids for next year by talking up the Science Olympiad early in the year and doing a demonstration of sorts at the first hockey night (the PTO sponsors a night of floor hockey about once a month. It's $5 to play. If you don't want to play, there's a free movie in the cafeteria. There's always food on sale, too. The money goes to help pay for fifth grade camp). Each kid that participates has to bring along an adult volunteer, someone to coach, organize or just help run things the day of the Olympiad. Since lack of coaches is also a limiting factor for our school, more parent volunteers would be a good thing.
Lack of coaches does explain why I keep getting tapped to coach. I'm not very good at it. I'm better than nothing, but I really have no idea how to teach the kids what they need to know (or even how to figure out what they need to know). With Estimania, I think the kids would have been better served by a lot more (and more varied) practice problems. The problem was I have no idea how to design such problems.
The meeting took place at another family's house. The family's younger daughter is a friend of Delia's, so Delia was happy enough to go. The biggest hitch was that the family has three big dogs. Delia wasn't willing to be in the same space with the dogs. I wasn't enthusiastic either. I don't like how dogs smell, and I don't like being licked or jumped on.
After the meeting, we went to the library. We'd forgotten our library cards, but the staff let us check out books anyway. I had to show a picture i.d. Delia just said who she is. (They might have let me get away without i.d. They've let Scott check out holds on my card when I've forgotten to give him my card, and he doesn't even share a last name with me.) From there, we went to Big Boy for lunch.
When we got home, Scott got out the shovel and uprooted some plants from the raised beds. I decided that all of the big plants had to go. The rue was taking over the beds. I like that it repels insects. I don't like that it seeds like crazy. The sage plants were several years old and very overgrown. It was hard to get past them to the spigot for the hose, and I don't have the physical strength to prune plants that well established. I need to plan better when I replant these beds.
I also need to spend a few hours pulling up all of the smaller plants that I don't want. I think the only thing in the biggest raised bed that I want is the winter savory, and that's easily replaced if I have to. The biggest problems are going to be the catnip that somehow got into the biggest raised bed and the ajuga that I planted in the medium sized bed. The ajuga is pretty, but it's crowding out everything else. The catnip is all over our yard (and a big reason that the outdoor cats in the neighborhood like hanging out in our yard), but I'm determined to keep it out of my raised beds. I'm told that, if you keep on top of it and keep pulling it out, eventually, the roots die.
Unfortunately, my stamina sucks, and I can only manage about ten minutes of gardening at a time. It's going to take a couple of weeks of good weather to get the two bigger raised beds cleared (I'm not even thinking about the smallest one. That likely needs Scott and the shovel). I need to pick plants that can survive neglect and partial shade. The only certainty about what I'll plant is that I'll plant a lot of dill. Delia likes to eat it. She doesn't care for it on food, but she likes eating it fresh from the plant.
