my life

Elizabeth's World

Andrew's World

Susie's World

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benicetobears

Wednesday, January 16, 2002 07:09 p.m.
As you may have noticed, my entries have been super long lately. I apologize for everyone with short attention spans. Especially since my entries are not all that interesting. So I'll keep this one shorter.

I had a happy day at work today. Isn't it nice when the only feeling you can recall from a day at work is happiness? I know that my day wasn't entirely happy, but I'm left with that feeling and I like it.

Part of the reason for the happiness is that we rearranged Tim's classroom yesterday afternoon. There are four kids in a small room and the way things were arranged made very little logical sense. But now the room is nicely balanced and it looks so much nicer. Maybe there is something to this feng-shui stuff. The atmosphere of the room is just so different. An added bonus is that now Tim can't see any of the other four kids when he's sitting at his table, so he doesn't get so distracted in the middle of work sessions. :)

So I think I'm really going to start looking for an apartment for myself. I know I've been saying that since I decided to stay in Maine, but I think it's time now. Reason: because I have a kitten (who is still nameless by the way) who tried to fall asleep on my lap last night, but I couldn't let her because it was too cold for me to sit outside where she has to stay because my other two cats hate her. So if I have a home of my own, she can come inside. Plus I'll have a home of my own, which will be kind of nice.

I think I might name my kitten Mouse.

Sunday, January 13, 2002 11:33 a.m.
I too happened to catch the beginning of "Up Close and Personal" last night, but since it was already 11 and I had been watching tv since 3, I decided not to watch it. However, that movie keeps coming up in conversations I have with Elizabeth as a movie that we both really liked when we saw it in the theater, but neither one of us ever saw again. So I taped it. So Elizabeth, now whenever we want to, we can watch "Up Close and Personal".

I took Jack to the vet's yesterday for his shots and my yearly chewing out about how fat my cat is. Every year I try to explain to the vet that, like any normal animal, Jack puts on weight in the winter and loses it in the summer and they just have to take my word for it since they only see Jack in the winter. But they never listen to me, and yesterday they told me that I should put both of my cats on a diet.

But that's not the point of this story. The point is that when I got to the clinic yesterday the receptionist person asked me to fill out some form. So I did while I was waiting for the vet tech to come and get us. In order to do this, I had to set Jack down next to me on the bench. Some background information here: Jack hates cat carriers, and while normally a very placid and friendly cat, he turns into a holy terror when I try to put him in one and since he's such a big cat it's nearly impossible to physically force him into a carrier. So I don't bother. I just put him in the car and carry him around, which I know Susie will tell me is a bad idea, but I invite her to try and get my monster cat into a carrier. So anyway, I sat down in the waiting room yesterday to fill out this form and put Jack down beside me. Normally he's so terrified that he doesn't move, but yesterday he got up to look for a dark corner to hide in. There weren't any other animals in the waiting room at the time and I figured there wasn't really anywhere he could go that he could get into trouble, so I let him wander. I figured wrong. It turns out that the bench that I was sitting on is hollow. Reason: there is a huge fish tank on top of it and the bench houses the motor that runs the filter and the heater and everything. It also turns out that there is a door in the bench so that you can get to the motor. And it turns out that someone had left the door open. And it turns out that Jack had discovered this door and had climbed in, all the way to the far end of the bench, and he had no intention of coming out. So, to make a long story short(er), the result was that the motor and the filter had to be disassembled (causing a flood) and taken out of the bench so that one of the vet techs could crawl in (among cobwebs and dirt and dust) and grab my 14-pound cat and drag him out. I felt really bad about causing so much trouble.

I felt a little better, and a little less guilty, when a vet tech told me later that they've had cats crawl in there before but "usually they just sit in the doorway" so they can be pulled right out. Now, maybe my cats are weird, but I can't imagine them ever voluntarily sitting in an easily accessible location when they have the option of going into a darker, harder-to-get-to hiding place, especially when they're someplace scary like the vet's office. So I partially blame the people at the clinic for leaving the door open.

It's snowing!! I'm so happy. I love snow. I kind of wish it snowed in the summer, because snow is so much fun. But I'd want it to be warm still. So it would have to be a different kind of snow that didn't melt in warm weather. I don't know where to get any of that.

Saturday, January 12, 2002 10:32 a.m.
I agree with Jim. Pitas has been miserably slow lately. As evidence, it looks like i haven't blogged all week, but actually I have, but I haven't had the patience to wait for pitas to process my elaborately concocted and thoroughly thought out entries, so I always quit before it finished, and so now I have nothing to show for my work. So excuse the length of this entry - I have lots to tell all of you.

First of all, Elizabeth's and Jim's latest entries both amused me greatly. I now have an image of Jim driving up 95 tugging on a piece of electrical tape trying to see through the rain. It reminds me of another funny episode involving broken windshield wipers, a long trip home, and Epping, NH. The solution to that story wasn't quite as ingenious, but just as funny.
And Elizabeth, I'm glad you've finally had the encounter you've dreaded ever since moving back here. I assume she didn't recognize you? And you didn't make your identity known? Aren't you glad you got out of that mess when you did? :) Especially now that you know he collects Nintendo magazines (which he doesn't even buy himself!).

Earlier this week I had written that I do really like the picture Andrew has up of me. Reason: not only did he manage to crop out the beer bottle (thank you Andrew), he also cropped the picture in a way that, if you don't think about it too hard, kind of makes me look like I'm naked, since you can't really make out the straps of the dress. I'm not being sarcastic - I actually like that. So Andrew, don't mess with the picture. I like it the way it is. :)

I went to Abby's track meet last night at USM. Susie and Aunt Nancy and Uncle Joe came too, which was nice of them. Abby really likes her fans, even if she doesn't say so very often. :) Abby came in 2nd in the 55m, 3rd in the 200m, and 2nd in the long jump. She also ran the anchor leg of the 4x200m relay and pulled her team up from 6th to 4th place.

WARNING!! If anybody's not interested in reading about the NYA track team, stop right here, since that's what's coming up. :)
The NYA track team is a really interesting mix of kids. They're a fun bunch, and Abby really gets along well with them. Aside from Abby and a girl who is a truly standout shotputter, the girls are mostly mediocre as far as high school track runners go - they all run the 200 and come in like 17th or something, but they all seem to really enjoy it. Oh, and there's one other girl who runs the 800 and the mile, and she does pretty well. The boys are mostly cross country runners who had so much fun this past fall, when they won the Class C State Championship, that they decided to keep running through the winter. So they all run the mile and the 2 mile. Matt Fortin, who tends to win both those races, is really fun to watch (which is good, because those are tough races to watch - the 2 mile is 16 laps around the track - if its not an exciting race it's really really boring). He's super competitive and is good at leading from the start of the race and just not letting anybody pass him. But he can also run from a ways back because he has this amazing sprint at the end of the race that most distance runners can't pull off. I'd actually be willing to bet that his final lap is a relatively competitive 200m time. Another cool thing about watching Matt race is that there's another guy on the team to tends to run just behind Matt and push him along. During the state cross country meet actually, Matt cramped up early on and Sam talked him through the rest of the race and they both ended up finishing in the top 10. I love watching them. :) As a footnote, the guys also have a really awesome 200m runner who's fun to watch too.

Well, I hope you've all enjoyed this descent into one of my odder obsessions - high school running sports! My next entry will be of broader appeal, I hope.

Thursday, January 10, 2002 09:07 p.m.
I'm still sick. I hate being sick. This is the downside to working with children. They are always sick and making me sick. On the plus side, I only have a nasty cold, which, while truly annoying and exhausting, doesn't actually do anything bad to your body like the flu does. Half of the rest of the staff has the flu. Knock on wood, I don't have it yet. I really like the picture of me on Andrew's blog. I like the way that it's cropped so that not only is the beer bottle missing, but I kind of look like I'm naked too. I like that. For anyone who's wondering, of course I'm not naked - I'm wearing my wonderful maid-of-honor dress, and I'm sure that if you look closely enough you'll be able to to see the straps. But I like that at first glance it looks like I'm naked. Is that a bad thing? :) I'm looking for suggestions for what to name my new kitten. I need to take her (I'm reasonably sure its a her, but I'm not that good at sexing cats) to the vet, but they'll make me tell them her name, and she doesn't have a name yet. For those of you who have met Jack, our giant black and white cat, she looks just like him, only about a third the size. And her face is uglier because it's not symmetrical like Jack's and her nose is pink instead of black, so she kind of looks like she has scars on her face. The only name I can come up with is Button and that's because that was Jack's sister's name and she had the same sort of asymmetrical face. (I think this kitten might actually be Button's granddaughter, in the crazy world of the cat family of Centre Rd, Wales.) So if anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way so I can get this kitten to the vet.

Monday, January 7, 2002 04:40 p.m.
How great are snow days? Especially when you wake up in the morning feeling like crap and come to the conclusion that not even an act of God is going to get you out of bed. And then you watch StormCenter and it tells you that you don't have school, you don't have to go to work, you can stay in bed for as long as you like! Snow days in my opinion are the single greatest benefit to working in the school system. It's so cool to have an unexpected day off every now and then just because the weather gods decree it. Now that I've discovered this secret of schools, I really hope I never have to leave them to get a real job. I mean, I've wanted to work in the schools forever, but what a great added bonus. :)

And in other news....how cool is it that the Pats are #2 and have a bye week! Of course, I can't help feeling bad for the Panthers. Who wants to go down in history as being part of the only NFL team ever to lose 15 straight? And did you see Chris Weinke? I think he was about to cry. Suz, I hope you got to watch the end of the Jets game. Not that I usually have much good to say about the Jets, but it was a pretty good game, and they won, so all is good in New England.

Saturday, January 5, 2002 11:00 p.m.
Nobody likes me, everybody hates me. Guess I'll go eat worms.

Do you ever get the feeling that only your cats like you, and that's only because you feed them?

Abby and my mom and I tried to go see "A Beautiful Mind" tonight, but when we got to the theater there was a line half way across the parking lot, and we decided that it wasn't worth that much to us. So instead we rented movies and made popcorn on our own. :) Abby and I watched "crazy/beautiful", which, if you aren't familiar with the movie is one of those high school romance/coming of age movies. Abby and I love them. The only problem with them is that I always half believe that life should work like that (all the angst and problems solved, you're going to the college of your dreams, your parents are cool, and you get the hot, wonderful guy in the bargain) and so I end up feeling a little depressed and like my high school experience was definitely lacking something. "crazy/beautiful" worked out something like that. But I really enjoyed the movie. It's not the best of the genre (you really can't beat "Save the Last Dance") but it's one worth investing in at some future date. :)

In other news, Aly has departed. My verdict: she's nice enough, and Ethan seems to like her, so at least I don't have to hate her like the last girlfriend. However, if it looks like she's gonna be a sister-in-law, she's gonna have to develop a little more personality and quit with the simpering giggle. Other than that, she's great.

I'm really looking forward to watching the game with Susie tomorrow. I hope she'll be here for the whole game. Andrew, if you want to watch it with us, see if you can bum a ride!

Thursday, January 3, 2002 05:07 p.m.
The most exciting thing happened at work today!! :) Tim, my 6-year-old, came over to me and asked me to read a book!!

This may not sound like the most amazing thing in the world to you, but to me, it is. Let me tell you the whole story. :) I've been working on getting Tim to say "Karen, read book." because first of all, it's verbalization, which is his major weakness, and second of all, it lets me know when he would like me to read to him rather than looking at the book by himself (Tim LOVES books, and will look at them forever). Tim's only functional sentence is still "I want__", so he says "I want book" when he wants to me to read to him, which isn't really an understandable request to anyone who doesn't know him. So anyway, back to today. Usually the way I get him to say the sentence is to prompt him: he'll be sitting on my lap with a book, so he already has the environmental cues, and I say "Karen..." and he'll say "Karen, read book." That's pretty cool, and I've been excited about that. But this morning, he not only asked me without a prompt, he walked across the room to me with a book in his hand and shoved it in my face!!!! He initiated a social interaction!! I was so excited I almost forgot to read him the book! (Initiating social interaction is something that comes naturally to most people but is very hard to teach to people with autism. Tim is pretty good at it, but it's still super cool when he does it.)

That's pretty much all the excitement for today. My other boy slept all afternoon, so I don't have any cool stories about him. And now I'm home and I'm hungry, so I'd better find something to eat.

Tuesday, January 1, 2002 08:44 p.m.
Okay, so I guess I can say a little more now. It was a lovely party at the Sarazins' last night, although I think I may have encouraged Elizabeth to buy a little too much cheese, due to my unbearable hunger while in the grocery store.

A bit of an update on my brother's living situation for next year (which I know everyone has been dying to hear about): it seems that Ethan is going to be living in an apartment slightly less savory than the one we all know so well from Annapolis last year. It is probably more of a fire trap. On the plus side though, aparently there is a lovely "modern art" display outside his front door, consisting entirely of rusting hubcaps.

Well, back to work tomorrow. One of my New Year's resolutions is to try and remember to be happy about going to work in the morning because there are many people who are less fortunate than I am and don't have a job to go to. (It's kind of a long story how this thought process came about, but suffice it to say it involves a children's sermon at church last week.) It's really not so hard to remember, since I love my kids, but at the end of a vacation it's always hard to think about going back to work. Especially since I will probably have to start all over again teaching my boys my name, since they will have forgotten it over the past week. Sigh. But I do miss them, so it will be nice to be back.

Monday, December 31, 2001 11:39 p.m.
Welcome to my World.

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