Good morning! Thank you for letting me asleep on your arm last night. I had delightful dreams.
Ahhhhhwwwwrr! I love a morning stretch.
You will shower today, yes? I will await on the bathmat until you are finished then I will lick your feet and stand in your way. An enchanting morning ritual!
What is that you are aflushing down the toilet? Lemme see lemme see lemme see!!!!
What is this now? You have aplaced these socks here for me to chew? Marvelous.
Whaaaat! You are putting them on your feet? Surely then, you have aplaced this brazier here for me to chew? No? But all I have left to grind between my lonely teeth is your pillow and this measly blanket. OUTRAGE! Now take me outside to poop and then congratulate me with a carrot THIS INSTANT!
I feel there was a cat in the yard recently. This upsets me. Let us go back upstairs so I may arifle through your laundry, chew a roll of toilet paper and ultimately stare at you while you dry your hair with that beastly contraption that at once intrigues and haunts me.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Holy good lord
That cold me knocked me OUT! Admittedly, not as bad as last year's, but still lame.
When I get sick, I get a man cold. Both man-sized and in terms of how I deal with it - as in not well. I am a super sissy when it comes to being sick. I believe I said to someone last Thursday that I would take a head cold for a week over a sore throat for a day. I got both (I'm shaking my fist at you immune system). Kris noticed the apothecary I set up beside the couch, which included such items as: Tylenol DT Cold, Tylenol Extra Strength, Robitussin, Buckley's, Ricola Honey & Lemon lozenges, Cepacol cherry lozenges, and Chloraseptic throat spray (cherry flavour, but really it tastes like band aids and ozonol). Also a box of kleenex, lip balm (until the dog ate it while I was in the shower) and hand lotion. Add to that my crochet supplies (yarn, hooks, books etc) and I had basically everything I needed to survive.
Except a bathroom. Here's why:
The bathroom on the main floor is in the addition. We discovered some weeks ago a slow leak in the basement coming from the direction of this bathroom's pipes. We stopped using it until we could figure out where the leak was coming from, testing by running the sink but not flushing the toilet, then flushing the toilet (just the water) and not running the sink. When we concluded that it was the toilet leaking (disgusting), Kris decided on changing the wax ring as a first attempt at a solution. So, Sunday he went out and got a new wax ring, came home and dismantled the toilet, where we promptly discovered the source of the leak. How can I explain this? Essentially, the drainage pipe is not flush (ha! I didn't even mean to do that) with the hole intended to hold the pipe - about 1-2 cm gap. When the previous owners installed a new toilet, they did not ensure this proper alignment. Thus, when the toilet is flushed some of the contents are in fact going down the outside of the pipe, rather than inside it. Think about THAT. Blegh.
I'd like to note that this is the fourth problem we've found with the DIY geniuses who owned our house previously:
1. Paper towel stuffed up inside the hose of a leaky release valve on the water heater, which came shooting out when the water heater drained onto our floor. Now fixed by a professional.
2. Improperly (as in didn't) stripping the wire for light fixture, causing the plastic to melt and shorting the fixture altogether. Replaced by Kris who is an expert at minor electrical tasks like outlets, switches and light fixtures.
3. Exposed wiring taped together with scotch tape
4. The toilet fiasco. Trying to seal it first - if that fails we'll need a plumber and floor guy and may unexpectedly reno our main floor bathroom.
I can't wait to find out what's waiting for us when we tear up the deck next summer.
Jerks.
When I get sick, I get a man cold. Both man-sized and in terms of how I deal with it - as in not well. I am a super sissy when it comes to being sick. I believe I said to someone last Thursday that I would take a head cold for a week over a sore throat for a day. I got both (I'm shaking my fist at you immune system). Kris noticed the apothecary I set up beside the couch, which included such items as: Tylenol DT Cold, Tylenol Extra Strength, Robitussin, Buckley's, Ricola Honey & Lemon lozenges, Cepacol cherry lozenges, and Chloraseptic throat spray (cherry flavour, but really it tastes like band aids and ozonol). Also a box of kleenex, lip balm (until the dog ate it while I was in the shower) and hand lotion. Add to that my crochet supplies (yarn, hooks, books etc) and I had basically everything I needed to survive.
Except a bathroom. Here's why:
The bathroom on the main floor is in the addition. We discovered some weeks ago a slow leak in the basement coming from the direction of this bathroom's pipes. We stopped using it until we could figure out where the leak was coming from, testing by running the sink but not flushing the toilet, then flushing the toilet (just the water) and not running the sink. When we concluded that it was the toilet leaking (disgusting), Kris decided on changing the wax ring as a first attempt at a solution. So, Sunday he went out and got a new wax ring, came home and dismantled the toilet, where we promptly discovered the source of the leak. How can I explain this? Essentially, the drainage pipe is not flush (ha! I didn't even mean to do that) with the hole intended to hold the pipe - about 1-2 cm gap. When the previous owners installed a new toilet, they did not ensure this proper alignment. Thus, when the toilet is flushed some of the contents are in fact going down the outside of the pipe, rather than inside it. Think about THAT. Blegh.
I'd like to note that this is the fourth problem we've found with the DIY geniuses who owned our house previously:
1. Paper towel stuffed up inside the hose of a leaky release valve on the water heater, which came shooting out when the water heater drained onto our floor. Now fixed by a professional.
2. Improperly (as in didn't) stripping the wire for light fixture, causing the plastic to melt and shorting the fixture altogether. Replaced by Kris who is an expert at minor electrical tasks like outlets, switches and light fixtures.
3. Exposed wiring taped together with scotch tape
4. The toilet fiasco. Trying to seal it first - if that fails we'll need a plumber and floor guy and may unexpectedly reno our main floor bathroom.
I can't wait to find out what's waiting for us when we tear up the deck next summer.
Jerks.
Friday, October 1, 2010
A follow up
School officials clarify policy on plagiarism
The School Board is attempting to clarify public perception of their new report card system. I read this article in the Star Phoenix this morning and I'm not sure it clarified much. But, I can appreciate how difficult it is to try and defend against misinformation / misrepresentation of information.
On some level, I understand separating behaviour from aptitude, but I'm not a trained educator so that understanding is limited. I guess what concerns me most is that attitude and behaviour are intimately linked to success at all points outside of high school. It's kind of shocking when you leave high school and realize that every decision you make might have significant consequences at some point in your future. It's critical for kids to learn that you can't just not do something or not show up, because the world won't give you a bunch of chances to make it up. Your failings will follow you around and show up in places like your personnel file.
I don't envy teachers. They get a raw deal and get shit on more often than praised. I try to imagine having to take care of someone else's kids for 40 hours a week 10 months a year, while also trying in inculcate acceptable values and a sense of morality AND teach them to analyze King Lear or cut apart a dead pig. Sounds rotten to me. Ultimately, it's the teachers that spend the time with their students, that build relationships and trust with their students, and that are responsible for evaluating their success. I'd be really interested to hear what they have to say about the best way to evaluate their students.
The School Board is attempting to clarify public perception of their new report card system. I read this article in the Star Phoenix this morning and I'm not sure it clarified much. But, I can appreciate how difficult it is to try and defend against misinformation / misrepresentation of information.
On some level, I understand separating behaviour from aptitude, but I'm not a trained educator so that understanding is limited. I guess what concerns me most is that attitude and behaviour are intimately linked to success at all points outside of high school. It's kind of shocking when you leave high school and realize that every decision you make might have significant consequences at some point in your future. It's critical for kids to learn that you can't just not do something or not show up, because the world won't give you a bunch of chances to make it up. Your failings will follow you around and show up in places like your personnel file.
I don't envy teachers. They get a raw deal and get shit on more often than praised. I try to imagine having to take care of someone else's kids for 40 hours a week 10 months a year, while also trying in inculcate acceptable values and a sense of morality AND teach them to analyze King Lear or cut apart a dead pig. Sounds rotten to me. Ultimately, it's the teachers that spend the time with their students, that build relationships and trust with their students, and that are responsible for evaluating their success. I'd be really interested to hear what they have to say about the best way to evaluate their students.
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