Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Conveniently its the Wednesday Hodgepodge-Vol 15

Welcome to this week's edition of Wednesday Hodgepodge.
Link your post at the bottom of this one and then add the button or a link back here to your own blog so the party goers can find us.
Here we go-


1. Did you know there is a national day of pretty much everything in the universe? Feb 23rd happens to be National Inconvenience Yourself Day...when was the last time you were inconvenienced?

My answer is long and it will inconvenience you to read it but you should read it anyway-

Two weekends ago hubs and I purchased a floor lamp in a mall just over half an hour from our house. We got it all the way home and knew right away it was wrong for the space. Why don't I carry pictures of my house on my phone? Hubs wants to know the answer to that too. Anyway, I had to return it and and the box was heavy and awkward and that much too long and that much too wide so I couldn't carry it under my arm. I lugged it thru the parking lot and down a set of stairs and then pushed it thru the mall for what felt like miles. Upon arriving at the shop I realized I didn't have the card we'd used to pay so I had to call hubs who was not answering his mobile. This meant I had to phone him at work to get the card number but for some reason I had his UK office number in my phone instead of his NJ office. Why??? Who knows? Maybe its because I'm so organized and on top of things.

Anyway, I phoned Daughter1 who didn't answer and then phoned Daughter2 who had to hang up and look in her phone and in the end it didn't matter because when I finally dialed hubs office he of course he was in a meeting and wasn't answering. The saleslady proceeded to give me a store credit but just as she finished entering all the info and swiping a gift card hubs got one of my fifteen messages and called me back. His first words were-'Are you okay?' I think my inconvenience was showing. At this point the very nice sales lady tore up the store credit and put it on our card as we originally wanted and alls well that ends well, right?

2. When a room in your house needs painting, who does the job?

We've used professional painters here and there thru the years but few are the perfectionist type that my hubs is...which explains why he is my painter of choice. Sadly he does not enjoy painting.

Maybe he should not be so good at it.

3. Are you friends with your cousins?

I think of them with much fondness but I've really never lived close enough to any of my cousins for us to be the kind of friends who hang out and do things together. I have happy memories of earlier days and times spent with cousins on my grandparents Colorado farm.


This picture is screaming for a caption, don't you think?

I'm the one on the right wearing red tennis shoes and a pout and that's my baby sister, front and center. My brother is behind me and the other two boys are honest to goodness cousins. The two men in the photo are my Grandpa the farmer and one of my uncles. Not sure why he has his shirt unbuttoned but maybe it was hot? Or maybe he was cool? Ha.

This past year one of my cousins 'found me' on facebook and I've loved catching up on her life and her sibling's lives too. We've all been so spread out as adults but it would be fun to have a family get together and reconnect everyone. In this sense facebook has been a blessing.

4. Do you use an alarm clock-if yes, is it an actual alarm, music or something else?

Yes and its set to music. Although I'm pretty much always awake by 5 or 6 we still set an alarm. The paranoid side of me knows the day I don't will be the day I sleep til noon.

5. What do you put ketchup on?

Not much. I like it combined with brown sugar on top of meatloaf. Sometimes I'll dunk a fry in ketchup, but not always. And of course fries are on the do not indulge list so that doesn't happen often. I'll eat a hamburger with ketchup on it but I don't put ketchup on mine if given the choice. Here is something people find odd...when I was a girl my sisters and I used to put ketchup on white rice. Was that odd? I guess maybe it was.

6. What smells make you nostalgic?

Lots of them but the first ones that come to mind are the smells I associate with summer camp. I can be walking thru the woods, smell a fire burning, or catch the salty Chesapeake Bay on a breeze and I am taken back to the days I spent as camper and counselor in a quiet Maryland town. Those scents conjure up some of the happiest memories I have of my growing up years ( I wrote about them here).

7. Did you hear about the high school English teacher recently suspended for some things she wrote on her personal blog? You can read the story here but in a nutshell she vented a lot of frustration onto her blog. She didn't mention individual students by name but she did make some harsh comments about kids in general and their parents.

What are your thoughts-if you're a parent is your child's teacher online and are you a 'friend' or 'follower' there? If you're a teacher are you on facebook and do you accept or friend students there? How about their parents? If you're a student are you friends with your current or former teachers online? Do any of them have blogs you read? If you're a teacher or a parent do you ever use your blog as a place to vent your frustrations with our educational system? So much to discuss....

I think much of what she is saying is true but I'm not sure a blog is the place to put that out there, anonymously or not. If she were my child's teacher I'd be upset, even if she's not talking about my kid. I've been a teacher and I know it's often a frustrating job. Still, I want my children's teachers to think they can make a difference in spite of everything. Parents hold the master key but good teachers can certainly unlock doors that make a difference in a child's life...a difference that might not be seen or felt until years later. I want my children's teachers to believe that.

I am friends with some my daughter's former teachers on fb and a few even read my blog. That makes me happy. Two of these ladies rank right up there in the 'favorites' category as far as my girls are concerned and I've enjoyed connecting with them in a new way. When I taught school Mark Zukerberg was still more than a few years away from attending Harvard and creating facebook so friending/un-friending/ignoring wasn't an issue.

Ranting on a blog about your workplace, any workplace, is risky in my opinion.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I've used up more than my share of words today so I'm going with this-
I'd like to see American Idol drop the group night. It gives me a headache.

22 comments:

  1. Thanks for hosting and hope you have a great week!

    Yoli :)

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  2. Oh, you are so right about that picture needing a caption! I'm thinking "Misplaced Beverly Hillbillies."

    Loved your answers. The lamp story was funny. I think you were supposed to keep that lamp, Joyce!! It doesn't sound like it wanted to go back to the store!

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  3. Hi, this is the first time I have joined your hop. Donna, from House on the Corner, suggested I give it a try. I had a great time and thanks for hosting.

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  4. I must thank you for the laugh... I laughed so hard reading the answer to your first question and no I wasn't inconvenienced by it either, quite amused actually. *giggles*

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  5. I hate returning things without The Hubby. And don't they seem to be in meetings at the most inappropriate time? :) You're up at 5 or 6 A.M. ?!?! Oh. My.

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  6. #1 made my day! Thanks for the first laugh of the morning. What a day you had. I'm up early as well and like you the alarm is set but never really needed. Oh well - such is the life of the early bird!

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  7. Laughed at your inconvenience story and enjoyed your other answers too. Ketchup on rice? Yeah, that's a little odd (in my humble opinion) haha

    Have a great day!

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  8. That was really an inconvenience, so glad it all worked out in the end. Love the picture of you from Colorado when you were young. I think your uncle was trying to look cool! Thanks again for the questions and hosting each week.

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  9. Ketchup on rice? Not weird at all. My daughter puts it on tuna fish. Try mixing it with mayo. Out west they call it "fry sauce" and it is yummy!

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  10. Joyce, your posts never fail to make me laugh or at least crack a big smile!

    Loved the farm photo :)

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  11. I'm a Maryland gal near the Chesapeake Bay, so of course I'm very curious: Where were you a camp couselor, in what little town?

    Your lamp story made me laugh. I can just picture the lugging and slugging up, down, and through every inconvenient place imaginable. Kudoes to the lady for going to extra pains to do your return the way you preferred in the end.

    I'm going to answer these questions soon.

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  12. I love the photo of you with your cousins as children. A holiday on a farm sounds fantastic! Thanks for your good luck message about weekend. No doubt I'll be posting with a grin or a sulk next Monday :)

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  13. Nr. 1 was really very inconvenient, wasn´t it? LOL. Sorry, but so funny. Sounds like me!
    I don´t use ketchup much either. It´s always amazing how kids these days put ketchup on everything!

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  14. When I was growing up we put soy sauce on the brown rice my mom made. Ketchup isn't that odd--I have a little boy who would probably try it for the ketchup if nothing else. Bruiser would eat ketchup out of the bottle if I let him. He licks the plate clean as it is.

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  15. Joyce,

    I follow your blog, have never done a Wednesday Hodgepodge, but I want to address the question about Natalie Munroe.

    I was under the misapprehension that she simply stated extremely rude things about her students without stating names. This, to me, was a little on the unprofessional side. And while I would probably avoid the garbage man comments (that she wanted to place on progress reports), I have used my blog as an outlet for things that frustrate me in the classroom.

    LIke Munroe, I've found myself flabbergasted by the number of students who do believe things should be handed to them. I'm shocked by the number of parents who teach them that the world will hand them everything they ever wanted. Sometimes I'm blown over by the things they believe they can say to me in the classroom.

    A few of my posts, like the one in parentheses,(http://alifeinordinary.blogspot.com/2011/01/hello-captain-obvious.html) deal with the frustration I feel when students aren't held accountable.

    This one dealt with my feelings regarding education in the United States (http://alifeinordinary.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-have-finger-for-nclb.html).

    And this one dealt with the way I feel about SOME parents (http://alifeinordinary.blogspot.com/2010/02/because-i-apparently-expect-too-much.html).

    And I wonder...would those statements (true or untrue) be enough to get me suspended? Particularly given that the majority of my posts regarding education are positive? Given that I like my job? Given that I (mostly) enjoy my students? Those are the questions this article made me ask. And now that I've written this statement, I realize maybe I should've just made it a blog post ;)

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  16. Good questions this week. I really had to think and ponder!

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  17. This was such fun...it was a first for me to participate and I'm glad I did! I am now a follower of yours! You inconvenience story had me laughing! I needed that!

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  18. Thanks for hosting!

    I agree with you about group night on American Idol. It makes me uncomfortable.
    BUT, you do get a glimpse of undesirable personalities!
    My thought about it was they needed to see if the people could do the opening numbers of the show, ALSO not my favorite part.

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  19. I am so glad your inconvenience story worked out for the best. It brought a smile to my face.

    Ketchup on rice...hmmm
    My oldest son puts ketchup and hot sauce on most everything, except ice cream.

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  20. What's worse is having to return something the Hubby purchased when I told him to wait until I know for sure what I want! Ugh.
    And why is it if they don't really like to paint they won't just hire it out? Hmmm? I hate to ask my Hubs when his spare time is so precious but he doesn't want to pay to have it done either and I don't really think he trusts me to do it on my own. Ha. Oh well.

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  21. Sorry I did not join in this week, just to many things going on. We have company coming so trying to get some last minute things taken care of.
    I do have to say I have 3 cousins that I am very close with and 2 of the 3 we are the bestest of friends, still are. Love facebook that is how we stay in contact.
    Enjoyed your answers by the way!
    until next time... nel

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