25 Random things about me

1. I hate cleaning my house. I love a clean house but hate cleaning. I am a pack rat, as is my husband so we really need to have someone else clean our house. I decided that it was worth it to me to have cleaners. Every other Wednesday life is good at our house.
2. I totally got roped into being a Cub Scout leader. I was Ella’s Brownie troop leader for 3 years and I thought that covered all my good scouting karma, but alas…Somehow when other people bowed out I got the short straw and I am now the Tiger Cub Den Mom. Shoot.
3. I think I may be addicted to facebook. It totally plays into my voyeuristic tendencies and, heck, they put those pictures up there, right? It’s kind of like in high school when we tried to sneak in a quick trip to the Rufus Clark Caukins room before “all school” meeting so I could catch up on the news that happened while I was sleeping. I hate going to sleep while people are still up because I MIGHT MISS SOMETHING. Biggest fear of mine. I spent 2 weeks in Italy with my book group and I was consistently the last person up because I just didn’t want to miss anything. Facebook and my addiction are a really bad mix.
4. I love playing Luxor II. It a silly game that Tracie got me hooked on and now I play it far too often. I made the mistake of letting my husband play and he’s addicted too. Dang, that means less time for me on the game! Wallow of the Hippo Gods is the hardest friggin thing I have ever done in my gaming life. If you want to save hours, do not go and try the free sample up on line, really bad idea.
5. Sometimes I’d sell my kids. Mostly I love them so much it hurts. I see them performing up on stage, skiing down a slope or talking really nicely to a friend who is kind of a weirdo and I just want to grab them and kiss them. I cant walk by them without reaching out, touching their back or hair or saying “Have I told you I love you today?” Then, there are other days, days I’d sell them. Days when we driving five hours away and 10 minutes into the trip they are arguing about how much air space is theirs in the back seat or whether Q-ball gets to put his foot on the middle or Ella. Or they pound on doors screaming “I hate you!!” Yeah, I understand why some kids are forced into hard labor and sold to creeps in New Hampshire. I’d never do it, but if my kids go missing, please have them put me through the lie detector.
6. I cannot be in charge of waking up my husband any more. I am the only one in my family who will actually wake up when the alarm goes off. I get up every day at 5:45 am and I hate it. My body would normally wake up about 8:30 and go from there. If I have to wake up Hubby, it takes 2 nudges, 3 huge screams and sometimes cold water that “falls” on him. I spend the rest of my morning being pissed at him for not waking up and taking so much of my time. That’s not really healthy for a relationship. So, I decided that he is in charge of himself. I don’t have to get angry and if he’s late, so be it. He works for himself, so that’s a plus.
7. I can’t write a quick note about anything. I always take a short story and make it longer.
8. I just started downhill skiing again. It’s a lot more fun than I remember …and expensive, drat!
9. I am much more of a dog person than a cat person. Please don’t tell my cat Zephyr she might take offense. Kira knows in her heart that I love her best, but luckily she can’t talk.
10. I’m a thinker, not a feeler. I did some Meyers Briggs Personality Inventory and I totally did not score well on thinking about how other people feel. It’s not that I don’t care; it’s that I just didn’t even consider it in my decision. I know this is a big weakness of mine, so I’ve learned some coping skills. I try to run my ideas past people who are feelers. When I’m really pissed, I also ask them to read my e-mails before I send them.
11. I get kind of bored with things quickly and 25 seems like forever!! Should I keep going?
12. I like beer, margaritas and I should stay away from Lemoncella. I am sprinter more than a “slow and steady wins the race” in this department. It gets me in trouble some times.
13. I have to bring a Sudoku to faculty meetings or I talk too much. I still listen but I don’t feel the need to answer every question that gets asked. I can do the easy and medium Sudokus during a meeting but I save the difficult and evil ones for later when I can focus more.
14. I love Mytown, VT. I have totally great neighbors, friends and community here and I can borrow anything I need until such time as I can go to store to buy it. We are a totally great small VT community. Everyone goes skating on Gillette Pond and someone always starts a fire for warming up, we all pitch in for shoveling the snow and our kids all know each other. In the summer we run into each other in the river or at the playground. We have a circus, a winter fest and a wicked fun day that rival any small town gathering.
15. Me: Knock knock! You: who’s there? Me: Control Freak~now is the time when you say Control Freak who!
16. I love snow tires. I have my bad girl steel rims and I can get where I need to go.
17. Coffee is the best thing in the world at 5:45 am. I need to have at least one cup before I can talk to family members.
18. I have 2 brothers who I wish lived closer to me. We have such a great time when we’re together and I laugh laugh laugh. I miss seeing their kids grow up and I hope they get a sense of “cousins” they way I had growing up. Cousins were like my brothers but way cooler.
19. I love to travel. Anywhere, any time, I just wish I had the cash to support this habit more fully. I think traveling helps so much in understanding how the rest of the world lives and your place in it. I want my kids to travel.
20. When I grew up in Vermont, I wanted to get out so bad!! I was never going to live here. It was so absurdly backward and cold. Turns out, it’s the best place in the world and where I want to raise my children.
21. My husband is a lot nicer than I am. We get invited to all these great parties and I know it’s because Hubby is so kind, but I go anyway.
22. We actually never give parties. It’s a curse. See number 1 again. Sometimes if people just show up it looks like we’re having a party, but we never plan it.
23. I went boarding school but I firmly believe in public education.
24. I can find a joke in just about any situation. I try to be judicious in my decision to actually tell them, but I usually err on saying it.
25. It’s easier to apologize than to ask permission.

Last year, a parent came into my office and handed me a letter requesting an evaluation. The mom was upset, yelling and telling me the school really needed to do this big evaluation on her kid. I was trying to talk to her and get her to calm down but to no avail. Finally I just stopped engaging with the mom and instead started reading the letter. Her first line, I kid you not, was "I want the school to evaluate my daughter for Attention Defecate Disorder". I had to bite my tongue not to say "You are sh*tting me!"

I teach a class on Social Thinking to 3 kiddos with Asperger's Syndrome. The kiddos are extremely literal and very earnest in their social awkwardness. Most days, they are the highlight of my day. In November, as part of the election in our school, every child got to vote for President, Governor and then they got to vote for a charity to donate all our collected pennies (over $270~go figure!).

I was meeting with my guys and I thought I would help them get ready to vote. I explained the whole penny/charity thing and told them that their choices for the charity were: the Humane Society, the Refugee Resettlement Program, or the Willisburg Food Shelf. So I ask the first kiddo "Which one do you think you'll vote for?"

"Well...(about 5 minutes go by while he thinks) I think I really care about animals and I think that I will vote for the Humane society"

"That's awesome social thinking; you are really thinking about the things you care about and how to match this charity with things you care about, nice job" I turn and ask the other kiddo "What do you think you'll vote for?"

"Umm, I think the Shaw's in Willisburg. You know, the one with the Hebrew National hot dogs and the triskets" He replied looking quite pleased with himself.

I just kind of stared at him....what the hell was this kid talking about? Then it dawned on me. I called it "the Food Shelf". He was voting for his favorite shelf, you know the one with hot dogs and triskets.