Thursday, November 7, 2019

He he he - Too funny Diane :)

149.0

Ann- sounds like you are solidly "settled home" in mind and spirit as well as body. It's nice being home.

We are looking at the same forecast here as you. Last night a front came through and the wind just howled all night. A good 10 degrees colder than yesterday. I hear that the Midwest is loosing it's seasons- longer winters and longer and hotter summers. Seems true.

Played in the kitchen this morning with DH- Ham and multiple bean soup and home made bread. Soup turned out wonderfully- trying to stay out of the bread. Yogurt incubating. Time for hot tea and some desk work.

Shirl, is this sort of what your pie maker looks like? Never heard of them before- but totally brings out the kitchen gadget-lusting-***** in me. Where to put it? Hmmmm

Off to cyber-lust......

Yup thats the beast - I have a small one at both my City House and Farm house. I find them great for making a bunch of pies from leftovers etc etc. Also have a full size one and a deeper one between the houses. Works well when feeding our whippet thin kids and their partners and my mum also enjoys a pie too. Though the boys will easily eat 2-3 of the smaller ones in a second.

The smaller size is much better for my portion size .....

Greetings All

Hopefully I am a bit more alert than when I put the coffee cone on a wine glass and didn't realize the mistake until I went to add cream. In fairness, my coffee mugs are clear and look like cut glass (some kind of pyrex) and my every day wine glasses are also a cheapo version of chunky looking cut glass. so they sort of look alike. Note to self: new glasses.

I once was playing Yahtzee and threw the dice into a glass or orange juice. No drinking involved.

So a good friend is quite sick and called for some help. I am making steamed rice and scrambled eggs to take over. She talks so much I finally had to tell her I could not start the rice until I got off the phone! But its going to take up the day but is the least I can do. I remember when I lived alone and was sick. There is no help.

New shoes Ann! They look cool. I am also of the gunboat species being not tall but size 9 shoes. I am having some orthotics made to help my painful feet and I know I will have to go get bigger shoes.

Speaking of shoes, remember years ago height and weight charts used to say women in two inch heels? I always figured that would have made me 5'6" and I could weigh 20 more pounds. Right?

BB hope the procedure goes well and nothing icky is found. And I vote for bland food. I would bring you rice and scrambled eggs too if I were not 1500 miles away.

And Ann, you are so organized. you are doing all the stuff I need to do. Instead, I will play internet scrabble while the rice cooks.

Peps, I have been thinking about the sugar monster. I am more frequently visited by the nuts and cheese monster. Both come from food hell. I need to look back at my old food diaries to see what the hell I ate (or didn't ) to lose 125 lbs. Hey I think they make egg white protein powder which might be easier on you than the whey.

Let it snow let it snow.....LOL it hardly ever snows here. Diane S

Well, actually ... somehow I always forget to mention the many, many crossword puzzles I am doing nearly constantly. I do crosswords from The NYTimes, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker Magazine, and even sometimes some private crossword sites I belong to (she said that last bit in a really, really high voice, realizing finally that there might be the germ of a problem here).

Plus Sudoku on my cell phone.

And Spider Solitaire on my iPad.

Oh, dear!

Good Morning All

Woken to rain at the farm which is most welcome. The radar images show it will finish soon but we will take what we can get. The cows are wandering around the paddocks munching. I have stripped mums bedding and its in the wash. Will do the caravan one shortly. There has been 2 cups of tea and Im thinking on a third....

Got a late text from DIL yesterday our little grandson (2 mths old) is in hospital with bronchitis. Has a feeding tube in as well. They are hopeful that he will be well enough to leave hospital today. I will call once its a decent hour and see what I can do to help. Terrible when little ones get sick. There is so much going around at the moment....

Today will be work and packing/cleaning at the farm house before I head back to the city with my mum. DH and I are supposed to have DD and her partner for lunch tommorrow but I may be over helping DS and his partner with the kids - so will have to see. We are back up at the farm Saturday night - as we need to move a barren cow over to BIL as shes going to the saleyards on Monday. I will be glad to see the back of her as shes a nasty one. Will put her head down and try to ram you given an opportunity. Weird how that works out - the rest all come when called and are gentle and placid. Never nice when you have 1000+ lbs coming at you in an aggressive manner..... Shes best gone in my books

I have finished my antibotics but the infection seems to be still lingering. I have another drs apt tommorrow at 9.10 so will likely end up with more pills then. The wound on my leg has dried out and Im not as itchy which Im thankful for.

Ann - You have been super industrious ! Doesnt it give you a great sense of achievement to get it all ticked off the list. I know it does for me

BB - Hope your procedure goes well - rest up

Diane S - You are kind - cooking for your friend when shes sick.

Diane O - how are you travelling? Miss your voice and you are in my thoughts lots

Peps - Miss your voice too - how are things. Is Miss Ella showing much yet - I cant wait to see puppy pictures - nothing cutier

Miss150 - Happy Cyber shopping - Let me know if you decide to invest in a pie maker - I use mine a lot. Even poach eggs in it :) Make Hash browns too. Some ppl make mini cakes but Im not a big sweets baker so havent ventured down that path

Cec - Hope NZ is filling you with wonder at its beauty. And Australia looks forward to welcoming you

DD - Hello and hope you have had a good day

Leap - Thinking of you lots. As my knee gives me more and more pain - I am slowly resolving that I will need to do my knee sooner than later. I think it will be next year sometime... Will see what the Orth surgeon says when I see him again in December but with this infection there has been a marked increase in pain and swelling - uggg

Hello to anyone else I have missed. I best continue to tackle my work to do list. Hope you all have a nice afternoon/evening x

S

So I went to a training today called Social Justice 101, put on by Teaching Tolerance run by the Southern Poverty Law Center. First, I was so so happy when they did not have cookies, donuts, or candy. Second, they had chairs on wheels so it was easy to flip around to look at different white boards. Why aren't all conference venues equipped this way. Third, what a pleasure to be in a "bubble" so to speak, of people with commitment to equity. And... What the heck, there was a woman at our table who kept saying inappropriate things, like mocking a parent for getting a class time wrong and then, saying well she named her kid x which explains it all. X being a name that sounded definitely not white European. And starting a story, get this, and then telling us something about a family with two mommies, while she did air quotes around mommies. Or, how hard she struggled to learn the name of an African immigrant, and then another teacher gave the kid a nickname, and why didn't she think of that? I had varying feelings, did someone tell her she needed to take this training, if she's on a journey towards anti bias teaching where on earth did she start, is she a plant to help us learn how to speak up? So I did have the opportunity to use some of the speak up strategies they were teaching us. That aside, it was a good opportunity to reflect on where I'm at, and what changes I can make in my classroom and practice. Wading into some of this with students can be scary, but in my experience, if they think you're trying, they will usually forgive your missteps.

DD, you learn some cool stuff.

What are some speak-up strategies?

I assume that "Bless Your Heart" is not one.

1. Interrupt: ex: I'm not okay with that. Please stop. It surprised me you would say that. Bleed your heart would probably work too!
2. Question: What do you mean? Why did you say that? Tell me more. Questions like that might help someone see their blind spot when forced to explain more, or, it could give you more time to decide how to further respond.
3. Educate. Sometimes people are expressing ignorance about issues, not hatred. You still don't want to ignore it, but maybe more info or perspective is needed.
4. Echo. Not the inappropriate statement, back up anyone who speaks against bias. So you are told a racist joke, Julie says, I'm not okay with that, you say, I agree, or something similar.

The speaker also said that we often put the responsibility of speaking up on the targeted person. The more power or privilege we have in the situation, the more we need to speak up first.

That's actually a tactic I've used when kids are being bullied. I will walk over to the student doing it, and say, that's not okay with me. We're all going to call Joe by his name, which is, Joe. They'll often say, he doesn't care, or we're friends, or he said it's okay, or its just a joke to which I say, I didn't ask you if (it was funny, he said it's okay etc. I am telling you that it is not okay with me, and it won't be happening anymore. I can do that, because in my classroom, I have a lot of the power, it wouldn't work in every setting. And interestingly enough, no kid who was being called a name has ever come to me to clarify that it was indeed a joke, okay with him, friendly etc.

Thank you, DD.

Those are clear and simple.

A.