Randomness

Today I took the kids to get haircuts. The Love Magnet climbed up onto the chair, smiled sweetly at the stylist, and announced "I want a mohawk."

(no, of course I didn't let her get one.)

**********************************************************************************

Yesterday was parent teacher conference.

The Love Magnet: At grade level in reading, thankyouverymuch. As I was talking with her teacher and the head of Extended Resource about it, I got teary. What an incredible blessing. My daughter can sound out new words. She can take spelling tests with her class. She gets more confused in writing paragraphs (because she wants to write as fast as her classmates and thoughts get jumbled before they get on paper) and math is difficult (hands on blocks are great, writing math with just numbers is hard).

Thirdborn: Still struggling in reading, writing and math (darn that dyslexia and dysgraphia!) But he got great grades for effort and attitude. Best of all he got a great grade in science. And, his teacher noted, that he does great in language when the books are read to him. He participates in class. And he is a very sensitive, sweetly endearing kid. (I already knew that but it was still great to hear him praised by others).

Secondborn: This kid does A work. But he suddenly became a teen.......every single one of his teachers said he talks too much. Really? My kid? My kid? Wait, didn't my mom hear the same thing about me? Yeah, I guess he is my kid. Darn it all. That was a trait I did not want passed down the gene pool.

Firstborn: He started out rocky but caught up and is doing much better. His teachers are please with his efforts and how respectful he is. We went to the seminary and met his seminary teacher. He participates, knows his scriptures, and is really loved over there. I got a bit teary. God bless the seminary teachers. God bless ALL the teachers. Every single one of them want to see my children succeed.
**********************************************************************************

Halloween was a riot. The Love Magnet lasted for about ten houses. She hates anything remotely scary or evil looking. All the blood makes her very concerned that somebody needs to go to the hospital. She'd rather have chicken noodle soup and hand out candy to the cute kids and pet the dogs wearing costumes.

That being said, it was funny to watch: when the neighbors saw her coming, suddenly everyone who could remove scary parts of their costume, did. Weapons were hidden. Masks were taken off. One kid who couldn't take off his exposed ribcage costume was so sweet and made sure that my daughter understood it wasn't real. She told him "You look gross" and wouldn't have anything to do with him. It made him feel bad.

**********************************************************************************

Last night was cub scout pack meeting and I took Thirdborn by myself. The theme was heroes. A lieutenant from the Sheriff’s department let the boys ask him questions. There were the usual “Do you get to shoot your gun?” and “Are you ever scared?” Then Thirdborn raised his hand and asked “How do you deploy your spike strips to catch a criminal in a police chase?” Everyone did a double take (including me).

***********************************************************************************
The latest Rachael Ray mag had a blurb about a website you could use. This website would let you send emails that would self destruct after being read or if they weren't opened for awhile. The mag said it would be great for sending gossip without getting caught. This really bugged me. Gossip is malicious. Why are people promoting it? Obviously, if you want it to self destruct, you know you are doing something hurtful and wrong.

Is it just me? My mom taught me not to gossip.

Another Rachael Ray moment: Julie Andrews was on the show. She is one of my all time favorite actresses. Julie and Rachael talked about an magazine interview Julie did where she was asked "Which virtue is overrated?"

Julie answered, "Chastity".

My heart was sad. As they joked about it I kept telling myself that not everyone believes as I do. Everyone has their own moral agency.

I believe in chastity. I teach my kids that it is not overrated, but highly valued. Enough said.
**********************************************************************************