Spring Surprises!

Okay, so I've been trying to cut down on internet/phone time, and since that date I think I've increased my online time instead. BUT...somehow by trying to avoid technology I have been getting other stuff done. Today after work I managed to move a raised bed, go to Home Depot (again), cook dinner, and write a long letter to Stammtisch about upcoming event ideas (without spending hours distracted surfing the web). All in all, a pretty productive day!



The highlight of the day was definitely working in the garden. It's so nice to be able to go outside and not see snow! While outside I discovered some spring surprises. First, I discovered that a plant I assumed was dead last winter actually grew despite the snow. I have a neglected Brussels Sprouts plant! Okay, I don't anymore because it looked like it was done in, but it DID have a handful of harvestable sprouts!!! YUM!!!



Grandpa's garlic is starting to pop through the soil so I spent a little time fending off the grass. Since carrots were in the same bed I came up with a few leftovers. Last week I found bigger examples, but we ate them before pictures were taken (they were crisp and wonderful!).



Of course the hunt for live plants was on from there. I discovered the Rhubarb was starting to sprout, and one leftover scallion is growing. In one of the pots I discovered some kind of bulb growing, but I have no idea what kind of plant it is, or even if it's edible or not. One of the flowers in my decorative section is starting to show a little color, but I also don't know what it is!

Not The Way It Goes

I was going to get up this morning (early) and start blasting some cleaning music. The house desperately (and I do mean desperately) needs to be cleaned. Like, cleaned after some major construction work cleaned.

I even downloaded some of the music from my childhood to help motivate me. I don't know what other people listened to when they were going up, by my household was entirely contemporary Christian. I had Evie, and Amy Grant, Twila Paris, and Joni Earikson Tada (who I was surprised to find had recently battled breast cancer). This collection of songs might sound like odd choice of accompaniment to cleaning for some, but whenever cleaning day came around (less frequently than it probably should have) the music went on high and we would dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, scour, and tidy until the house was once again spotless.

It was while searching for all this old music that I finally remembered what I read growing up. One of my friends and I were talking about young adult literature, and how I hadn't read Roal Dahl growing up, or many other well known YA authors either. I knew I'd read a lot growing up, but I couldn't remember what. Now I do. I read Christian contemporary authors. Jeanette Oak, the Mandy Series (boy did I love those books!), I read Ruth, and Easter (the fictional stories), and I did read some non-Christian literature like James Michner Books, Alaska and Texas. I also read Clan of the Cave Bear, Madeline L'Engle, and CS Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which could count as Christian).

I typically wanted my books thick and my characters interesting. I didn't really turn away from Christian fiction until I read one bad book, still can't remember the name, in which God gave up on someone. I put the book down, half unread and never picked up another Christian book again. I did something similar with Danielle Steele a while later, she described, in detail, an abortion. I read a part, then put down the book unfinished and never read another book of hers again. Weird.

But none of this helps with the cleaning, or the cooking (which is actually way more important). I want to cook for the week and I haven't even made it to the store yet. I slept 12 hours last night and then later took another 3 hour nap (who knows if I'll sleep at all tonight). Either this is the medicine or I just really, really needed to catch up on sleep. Since I haven't been sleeping well for a while, I'm hoping this is just a one shot deal, and that tomorrow I'll wake up ready for vigorous activity.

Rashing on Teachers

Naturally, as a teacher, I'm not completely immune to the current atmosphere surrounding education. There seems to be a movement, if I can call it that, that tends to believe that the problem with today's schools is most likely to do with a failure of the teachers. Test scores, it is said, will demonstrate effective teachers and ineffective ones. The corporate world operates with goals and benchmarks, so why then can't education?

Well, let me tell you.

First of all, we need to look at schools that function. Yes, some of those schools are in the United States. Some are public, some are private, and some are charter (the miracle drug for the "union problem"). Regardless of WHERE these schools are, if they're effective, you have a community that supports, respects, and believes in the teachers, administrators, and staff of each effective school.

Do new teachers exist in these schools? Sometimes. Are all teachers at their absolute best everyday? No, even experienced teachers have rough days. But in these schools we have support for newer, or struggling teachers, and faith in administrators to educate, mentor, and otherwise lift up all stakeholders in the school. In the best schools in the world you will find a supportive system for teachers and students alike.

Now the common viewpoint on public schools is that a) they're union, and therefore bad teachers can't be fired, b) better teachers leave for better schools so the schools that need the most work have the least effective teachers, and c) if we had more effective teachers in poor schools we would see student's test scores rise.

A) Teachers can be fired. In New Mexico there are schools where the union is pretty strong (perhaps stronger than it should be) but even there, bad teachers CAN get fired with proper documentation. Somehow, however, in NM bad teachers drift from one school district to another. How is it that administrators hire someone who isn't an effective teacher? THAT is a practice that needs to be looked into.

You know, before moving to Massachusetts, where teachers seem to be a dime a dozen (for my long term sub job I was chosen from 300 applicants), I'd never demo taught a lesson before being hired before. As horrible as the experience of demo teaching was for me, I think it's a valuable exercise (you have to put A LOT of effort in to get hired around here). It gives an administrator an idea of what kind of teacher you can be. Perhaps we shouldn't focus on firing people, but on making sure that we're hiring people who really are the best fit for the school?

B) The only reason better teachers leave bad schools is because bad schools are typically overrun with unresolved socioeconomic problems. It is literally exhausting going to work on a daily basis, and in addition to teaching curriculum, you have to deal with students recovering from drive by shootings, rape, teen pregnancy, homelessness, abuse...well, you get the idea. We are not counselors. In most schools these students have a social worker who is supposed to help students through the worst things in their lives, but in reality the teacher gets the brunt end of all the stuff that's going on in their students lives (not in terms of opening up usually, but in bad moods, withdrawn moods, etc.). IF by some miracle, we could really help students who need help, we might see a more effective classroom. If we had better classes, we'd have teachers stick to poor classrooms. It's not like teachers go into teaching for money, power or fame. They get involved because they're helpers (if you think it's for the summers off, many teachers end up getting a part time job in the summer to support themselves).

C) Test scores are a reflection of curriculum. The richer the curriculum, the more critical thinking skills a student will have, and the better they will perform. Analyzing test scores is a tool, not an answer to our problems. If you want a good education you offer deep, meaningful instruction. The more we focus on tests, the less we focus on teaching. The less we focus on teaching the worse off we will actually be. The corporate world takes managers and gives them benchmarks. They say to the manager that his or her employees must produce so much work by a certain time and they're rewarded when their goals are met. Their employees are already trained and can be fired if they don't perform. Students are not trained, they are being trained, and they are legally required to stay in school. The system does NOT work for schools.

In districts where there is poverty, schools are not going to get better until society is fixed.

As a GED teacher I get the students who were unable to get through the current system, and I ask myself what could have worked differently in their favor. Would a better teacher have made a difference? On average, my high school drop-outs left school around 10th grade (usually after having a child or being kicked out of their house). They have a reading level of approximately a 4th or 5th grader, although some students score 8th grade or higher, and math skills anywhere between 3rd grade and 8th grade. In my, not so professional opinion, there's not much a different teacher could have done for them. They need smaller classes, more attention, and an extreme amount of support. They simply were not in a (mental) place where they could learn before, and there was no place they could go to be removed from the class to make it a better place for other students to learn.

So, here's my platform. My reform movement so to speak.

1) Create a community in which learners have the social, emotional, and educational support necessary for them to focus on school instead of outside pressures.
2) Hire good teachers and then revere them. In some countries being a teacher is one of the most respected positions a person can hold. Support teachers who need help, they're not much different from their students and will improve if given the right opportunities.
3) Focus on rich curriculum, not on tests. Not only will this allow bright students to excel, it will draw on a student's natural instinct to learn.
4) Figure out, as a society, what we want for students who aren't going to go into white collar jobs. Since we've shipped away so many manufacturing jobs we've got a whole bunch of people, in and out of school that we don't know what to do with.
5) Feed students real food. Seriously, have you seen what kids are eating these days? Even the official school food is mostly filler with very little whole grain and is so processed there's not much nutrition left. Sure it'd be great if parents would feed their children well, but remember, the students who need schools to provide food are the ones sending their kids to school with a sticky bun and mountain dew as breakfast (so the sugar wears off right around math class).

The DO NOT list includes:

1) Don't destroy (or avoid) unions. Teachers don't make that much and they need to feel secure in their jobs to take the risk to grow and improve. If they don't have secured benefits, they do have other choices in careers.
2) Don't blame teachers for society's ills. It is not the teacher's fault that some student's don't want, or can't learn. The brain simply can't function as well when it is stressed. Students are stressed, and not learning. When teachers are stressed, they also will not learn.
3) Don't make a teacher's day longer. If you want to add sports or art or whatever else needs to be added to a student's day, great! Do so! But don't add it to the responsibilities of the teacher. The teacher needs to teach and plan, and they'll do their best when given enough time and space to do so. In fact, I think every student should have 2 hours of extracurricular stuff built in during the day, but taught by someone other than the regular ed teacher. (I call it the boarding school model because that's how fancy schools do it).

Okay, that's my soapbox. It's probably similar to every other post I've written on education, but I just had to get that off of my chest.

Shots

So far I think I've done a pretty good job being as normal as I could, considering the daily dose of hormones I've been taking. Today was not the best day though.

When we started out doing the bathroom we just wanted to get the basics done. I wanted the pipes repaired or replaced, and moved. The electricity was already done, but we needed the plugs put in and a switch for the light over the vanity. We also wanted the floor leveled. The idea was that with a few things done, we could pretty much do the rest by ourselves.

Problem? Of course. We really love the carpenter we hired. He's done work for us in the past, and at this point it's almost like he's a part of the family. The plumber however. The plumber is NOT someone we would ever, EVER recommend.

Still, I think it was hormones, not PTSD, not normal PMS, or even just a moody day, that caused me to loose it when we realized the plumber had made a serious mistake when moving one of the pipes.

Can the problem be corrected, sure. Without undoing a wall of tile, no.

I'm still pretty sure I should have been kinder, or at least less loud. I'm blaming it on the shots. Trouble is, they're only going to get worse. Starting Saturday I start doubling my medicine.

Lenten Home Renovation

My Lenten sacrifice was supposed to be spending. I figured if people around the country could have a no-buy month, I could do the same for Lent, right?

Well, except that I already had a vacation scheduled for March, and the fact that we're putting in a bathroom.

No-buy for me wouldn't be a huge problem if it wasn't for food. We eat out way more that we should. Up until vacation (like, a whole week) I managed to make meals only from what we had in the kitchen already. I also had dinner figured out for today (I was thawing the homemade soup I'd put in the freezer a few weeks ago) but got derailed by a lack of white flour. I have a "no-fail" bread recipe that is perfect, but only if you use regular flour. Soup without bread is like peanut butter without jelly. But did I just go buy some bread? No, we ordered pizza because both of us were starving and Gerd wanted to get started on the bathroom tiles.

He's in there now, mortaring away. Since he's a perfectionist it's taking a while, but I know it will come out great. I've got my own bathroom assignment. The pull on our master bath has stopped switching from bath to shower, so I decided to fix it. After an expensive trip to Home Depot (more stuff purchased for the new bathroom too), I had everything I needed to fix our bath. Gerd did have to use brute strength to pull off the first bath attachment, but I did manage to replace the bath nozzle myself.

Finally I got to take a good long shower after my trip. It was beautiful and warm, and way too short. I'm not sure my friend that I drug along with me had a perfect time, but I pretty much did. And I didn't have to be around as Gerd began learning how to lay tile. (When I returned he said to me, "I didn't realize how messy putting down tile would be"..Hah!)

So now that I know a no-spending lent has been less than ideal, I'm trying to figure out another way to enrich my life over the next few weeks. Next year I think I'll give up technology (cell phone, computer, TV, heck, maybe even the mixer) but that doesn't help me now. I need something that would be meaningful for two weeks. Any ideas?

Ca Va? Ca Va

Sometimes marriage is a pain (I mean that in the most loving of ways) and other times it's a life saver. Marrying late in life (okay I'm not ancient, but mid 30's is not exactly early either) I've become used to fending for myself, and never needing to think about a second person's concerns. So marriage makes life harder sometimes, BUT sometimes it makes life so much easier.

Like today, the work day from hell. Real food sounded great for dinner but so did crashing on the couch. (By real food I mean something I know where it came from, and has been cooked from the original source of food.) My husband came home, saw the browbeaten expression on my face, and fixed dinner. Pork chops from a local farm and potatoes from our box of Boston Organics. He even did the dishes (although that was actually a broken rule...he who cooks must not do the dishes). Without my husband I probably would have ended up eating ramen noodles or a bowl of cereal before crawling into bed for the night.

Thank goodness for husbands.

Sometimes a Run Is JUST What I Need

Somehow I don't seem to be able to do things at a normal pace. Life is either ON or OFF. Right now it's ON at full speed.

The bathroom is coming along pretty quickly, although my husband is grumpy, which makes me grumpy. He wanted to do the tile work around the bath, AFTER tiling the floor (so he could practice). The problem? Our toilet is sitting in the hallway, our vanity is laid out in the basement, and we have a bathroom full of tools. Oh, and Gerd's taking off for the Ukraine, which means he can't even start on the floor until April...IF he can get it started, and finished, before his trip to Europe for Easter. Our contractor wants to build the shower enclosure and needs to have an idea of how high to build the wall, so the tile has to be done now, if we want the construction of the bathroom to finish soon, and our house to go back to looking normal.

We can't do much about the Ukraine trip, except perhaps reschedule it, but the Ukraine part of his job is what's keeping his job alive in the company. He could do it later, along with the other Europe trip, but that would make him gone for 3 straight weeks while I go through hormone treatment alone, transfer alone, and find out the results of said treatment...alone. So we can't really win. If we wait until May or June for treatment we run into other plans, and Gerd will still be required to go back and forth to the Ukraine until he finds another job. Is he looking yet, no.

My work day wasn't much better today. Between having to redo my lesson plans 15 minutes before the school day (since the computer lab was down) and the counselor being away (in Hong Kong) for a week, it wasn't much of a Monday. Add to that a call from the pharmacy that said our medicine would be $2500 if we couldn't clear it through our insurance (we did, but it required a different billing code and a transfer to another pharmacy).

So a run to reduce stress was just about the best way I could spend my afternoon. Now I'm off to look up paneling for the bathroom, a storage shed for the backyard, and an arbor for the grapes that will now get here while Gerd is gone.

Welcome Millie

My cousin and his wife have welcomed their first child to the world yesterday. I found out a little late since my mom *forgot* to tell me, but I managed to call both cousin and wife and offer congratulations soon enough that I didn't appear uninterested in their lives. I really want them to know how happy I am for them, and for them to be able to share openly all of their baby joy.

Babies are a bittersweet topic for me right now. Of course I'm thrilled for anyone having a child (even my unprepared teenage students) but also want a baby of my own so badly that it hurts. I start hormone shots next week and I'm pretty excited about the possibility of it actually working this time. Still, I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high.

In the mean time I'm trying to keep my mind off of children. In the end I really don't have any control over what happens, so I might as well not think about it. I'd rather focus on finishing our bathroom and building the laundry room, and getting ready for my garden. Have I mentioned that I've ordered grape vines and peach and cherry bushes, and even a plum tree? Fedco should send them in less than a month.

First Car Service

I've been told my car needs to be serviced every 5000 miles or every 6 months. It used to be 3ooo, so it feels a bit uncomfortable for me to wait that long. I'm kind of glad I reached the 6 month mark while still in the 3000 mile range, not only because it feels better to get my car serviced with fewer miles, but also because it means I'm meeting my self imposed 7000 mile annual limit. Since I live only 3 miles away from where I work, technically I should only need to drive 30 miles a week, which would put me far below 2000 miles a year, but we use my car all the time. It's small enough that we can usually find a small parking spot, even when people are double parked along our street. It's in a Yaris spot now, as a matter of fact.

In order to get my car serviced, I'm going to need to remaster the public transportation system. I don't trust the Boston Toyota dealer after some shady dealing with them earlier, so I'm headed out to Danvers where I ended up buying my car. I know tons of people who say you shouldn't use the dealership service department because it's a waste of money, but I like keeping my car records all together if I can. The only problem is getting there, and getting to work.

So tomorrow I'll get up at 6am so I can make it there by 7am and be dropped off at the commuter rail station. From the commuter rail I'll take the subway to a bus station, and then take a bus to work, arriving around 9am. All in all it will take me 2 1/2 hours to get to work tomorrow. Leaving work it'll be longer, because I'll get stuck in rush hour traffic returning from the dealership. Living in the city isn't easy at times, and I frequently find that I need to get out of the city to get the kind of service, or attention, that I like.

Can you tell that I love my Toyota? Or perhaps that I'm displaying a lot of faith in the Danvers dealership? Or maybe that I'm not much of a city girl after all?

The Future of Food Review

I love a good documentary, but I'm also easily disappointed by a mediocre one. After watching The Future of Food, I'm still ruminating. Was is good, mediocre, bad? Somehow, despite some key points made for the food movement, something fell flat. The key points made about the states' agriculture system included genetically modified foods and their dangers, and how corporations have bought out our government.

I think the problem with the movie isn't necessarily the facts, but the very narrow focus on genetically modified foods. According to the movie only 25% of food is genetically modified in the states, but our problems are MUCH bigger than that. Food, Inc. did a much better job discussing problems with regulation of all farms, including large farms that don't use GMA seed.

But I think it's an important movie to see, if only for the clear explanation of how foods can be genetically altered. Still, it's not the first food documentary to see. I'd still recommend Food, Inc. and then possibly King Corn if you want a clear picture of the problems with agriculture in America. Dirt, the Movie, while not wholly focused on food is another must see. All four can be viewed via Netflix in their Watch Instantly section. If you have a smart phone the Netflix app will stream Watch Instantly films on the 3G network if you don't mind a little screen (which I don't) and even save your spot if you watch in 10 minute increments (which I tend to do).

However you get your hands on these documentaries, they're bound to make you think about your dinner. It's just what I needed to give myself a kick in the butt to plan out my meals better. When I don't plan ahead we end up either eating out or eating some quick processed food that's easy to make, but of unknown origin. I always knew I wanted to know my food a little better, but sometimes it takes a documentary to remind me why.

Baking Bread

Its been a while since I baked bread. We killed our (second) sourdough starter over Christmas and haven't tried to make a starter since. I think my regular dry yeast has gone bad because my one and only attempt to bake since Christmas was a failure. A huge failure really because I used regular old white flour.

I bought into a grain share, and would like to justify doing the same for next year, but I haven't been using my grain. I'm about to try again, but I've had very little success with home ground flour. Ideally I'd use home ground flour for a sourdough loaf, but I'm open to yeast. After all, what's the benefit of finding out I'm not intolerant to gluten and then never eating gluten?

So I'm scouring the internet for a recipe that will work with thicker flour, that DOESN'T involve mixing 10 different types of flour. I do have xanthum gum, but I'm hoping for something that doesn't need additional thickening agents. So if you know a recipe for stone ground (or just home ground, ie thick) flour I'd love to hear it.