To-Do List

OK, so it'll be very useful if I make a to-do list to help me with the crazy next two weeks:
I will probably edit it later, and try to cross-out items
 
Trip related:
- Buy extra suitcases, and stuff that people asked me to take to Brazil;
- buy items needed for trip;
- Pack luggage;
- plan trip to airport (where to leave car); 

Teaching related:
- order books for next semester's lit class online in Brazil
- finish elaborating final exams
- administer and grade last tests and exams
- administer oral exams & final and grade them
- enter final grades

House related:
- arrange with people to take care of cats while we're gone;

Same old, same old. Travel is so extremely stressful! I think the stress is proportionate to the fun we're going to have on the trip, unfortunately! :-(

I'll keep you posted of our progress!

Crazy Two Weeks and a Half!

I have less than two weeks and a half (less than 18 days) to prepare for our trip to Brazil.

And these trips will be the most intense of this semester. Exams, oral and written, final exams (TONS of grading), trips back and forth. Packing. Children's year-end activities. Christmas live, outdoor "theater" event with church.

CRAZY! And I want to help my mother-in-law to make two special photo books for the great-grandmothers (hence the photos of the previous post).

Sigh... I don't know if these books will get made, which will be pretty sad, but we'll see! Wish me luck! Thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

The Missing Grandparent

My mother-in-law took photos of some old pictures of her mother, so we were able to have a rare glimpse of my MIL's dad, who died in a tragic car accident when she was only 10 years old, back in 1961 or 62.

Here he is:

I think my husband looks quite a bit like him. It is sad to have such a gaping hole in a family's past! Maybe sometime I will share more of K's family history.

P.S. I was a minute late for this post, so I'm adjusting the date of this and the next two posts. ;-)

Four posts in four minutes?

I wanted to write 30 posts in November, but in order to do that I need to write 4 posts in the next few minutes... we'll see about that. :)

Thanksgiving 2013 -- 11 Years with BIL's Family...

... and maybe the last year for a while.

In 2002 & 2003, our first two Thanksgiving Days together, K2 technically didn't have a family, it was just him and D, but in 2004 two little boys, our own L, and their little D joined the family (and made them a family).

In addition, for three years in a row, 2002-2004, we drove all the way to Michigan (from Massachusetts twice and once from Pennsylvania) to be with K2 & D. Thankfully they moved closer to us and in 2005 we had the first of two Thanksgiving celebrations at our house in PA (I posted recipes in 2006).

From 2007 on (nice photos here, as well as a holiday recap), the celebrations were held at their house, for seven years in a row! 2008 was the seventh year, and 2009 was the last year with my in-laws living here, too bad we had a Thanksgiving "Grinch" for a neighbor! :(

2010 was the only year we "cheated" and went to Florida for Thanksgiving, but we came back to spend time with family over the weekend. The following year was spent with another family visiting K3's house and in 2012 the holiday was low key, but still nice.

This year was great! We had great food (maybe more on that later), 14 people, since K4, the youngest brother, drove from Montreal, and it was lovely to spend this day with those we love. We will miss them A LOT, particularly on Thanksgiving, when they move to Egypt, but I'm sure they will have a good experience there!

I'm falling asleep on the computer, so I have to go to bed. I'm glad I decided not to do any more shopping on "Black Friday" (or Thursday night) -- I only went to one store briefly this evening with my eldest son.

How was your Thanksgiving this year? 

(Almost) Home for the Holidays

started on Wednesday 11/27
As I was driving yesterday evening, I wrote multiple blog posts in my head,* but this is the one I planned to write as soon as I got home -- too bad I didn't have time to do it!

When I finally arrived past 6 pm and I unloaded the car in pouring rain** by myself (I had gone shopping) K had arrived from his conference already (YAY!), but I couldn't sit down and enjoy a cozy home because had to cook some soup for our family, his parents & my nephews.

So... now that they've left for K2's house (my husband's younger brother), we are enjoying some relaxation, in spite of the fact that I still have a lot to cook for tomorrow.

continued on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday 11/28
I titled the post "almost home" for two reasons, I was arriving home (on Tuesday evening), but we weren't going to spend the holiday home, but going to my brother-in-law's house (we drove this morning). If K4 (K's youngest brother) and family weren't coming from Canada, we would have spent Thanksgiving at our house, but they are (we're still waiting for their arrival).

We're more than happy to come to their house, though, because this is likely to be the last of our eleven Thanksgivings together (except for 2010 when we arrived from Florida to spend the weekend). We even made a video to celebrate all these years, but we haven't showed it to them yet. Let me know if you want to see it. :)

* most full of job-related angst -- I'll probably write them sooner or later.
** because of that, the storm door ended up staying propped open all night. :( Not good for the heating bill!

Kind of sad

But not really much... (And I was going to write "kinda" & thought it wouldn't be vey proper... Sigh...)

I'm missing my kids' Thanksging program right now, but I should actually be happy & relieved that my in-laws made it! With my nephews too! And I am, but I feel kind of sad that as long as I work here I won't be able to attend... :-( 

I miss K as well, but he'll be back tomorrow night,3 days isn't long...

My latest worry is the leaves in the backyard & the foul weather that's coming... I did plant the bulbs late afternoon on Saturday!!!!

But now I have to concentrate on the drive back (I'm walking to the car) & I need to decide what to do about the fact I haven't yet eaten today... Sigh...

120 Minutes Driving, 100 Minutes Teaching

That's My life, every Monday and Friday! On Wednesdays I have office hours to add to he mix. :-(

All I wanted was to stay home and to plant bulbs!

But I had to drive to work instead... :-(

I don't have any free time during the day to do anything out in the yard and that's really bothering me. 

A least in the Spring I will have Tu/Th mornings till 2 pm if I want! The problem is that if I want to see more of these:

I need to plant the bulbs I purchased NOW!

Maybe his afternoon I can try to do as much as possible before it gets dark. I'll keep you posted!

Four Boys from Liverpool

I'm not very familiar with the Beatles (though I do enjoy the music I know*), but I have known for a while that my mom wanted to own some of their "Ballads" and I want to surprise her with them for Christmas. I think that she wants to be brought back to her teen years and I'm more than happy to help her! (My parents don't own a lot of music, just some classical and religious stuff).

How could I figure out which are their "ballads" as opposed to their other songs when I'm not very familiar with their catalog, though? So with the help of Wikipedia I looked at the tracklist of this double compilation album, listened to part of all the tracks on YouTube. Then I bought the 1 CD (used, with free shipping for 4 bucks!) because it had four of the "ballads" plus many other big hits. Then I bought six other tracks on iTunes - links to YouTube videos if you feel like listening to these ("Across the Universe", "All My Loving", "And I Love Her", "Michelle", "Here, There and Everywhere", "Here comes the Sun"), so hopefully I'm all set!

I'm just wondering whether it will be possible to burn the iTunes tracks onto a CD so my mom can play them?? Is anyone familiar with that? (I may need to ask my sister- & brother-in-law). I've googled it and didn't get a clear answer. I hope it works! One thing we should probably give my mom is an iPad or at least an iPod. If I can't burn a CD I can at least download iTunes and teach her to use it in her computer.

I LOVE to plan and to buy presents for people! (at least for people I'm close to and know what to give ;-) I already bought gifts for my brother's wife, my nephew & my mom and I'm planning what to buy for my brother. For my dad it's harder, we'll see about that.

* Not so much the one album I own, Love, a compilation prepared for the Cirque Du Soléil spectacle of the same name which K brought for me from London back in 2008 -- he wanted to buy something with "local flavor." :)

Interestingly, the best introduction to the Beatles that I've had/heard (apart from being tired of listening the standards "Yesterday," "Hey Jude" and others) is an album by a Brazilian singer/songwriter named Rita Lee. The album (Aqui, Ali em Qualquer lugar in Portuguese) was weirdly titled Bossa N Beatles)

Doctors & Lunch Date! (with Bonus Nap!!)

Today I had not one, but TWO doctor's appointments with teaching at U#2 in between (Hello Daily 152 mile commute! NPR had a piece on mega-commuters & political engagement yesterday -- K was saying that they forgot to mention poor but highly educated people as a category ;-)

Because of the second appointment at 3 pm (first was at 8:45) I cancelled my office hours and then drove as fast as I could so K & I could go! on! a! RARE! Lunch date! I know, annoying exclamation marks... It's just that such a rare event leaves me almost giddy with excitement! ;-)

During the lovely Indian buffet lunch we had a good idea that may help our in-laws next week. We offered to host the Thanksgiving meal since they are busy working and trying to get ready for their life-changing upcoming move to Egypt. (They still don't have a date, but are preparing because a container will be shipped with their stuff).

The doctors' visits were quick and objective. The first one was with a plastic surgeon (crazy, huh? yes, I know!) so he could take a look at this cyst that is growing on my left palm. Since it doesn't hurt, the best course of action is to leave it alone. The second visit was with a nurse practitioner (I think! or a brand new doctor) with a GI tract/colon practice. We talked about my IBS and when I should have another colonoscopy (next year), given a family history of colon troubles. That was it!

K & I felt tempted to go see a movie and just leave our youngest son with a friend for a couple of hours instead of just a few minutes, but we decided against it & went to pick him up and come home.

So... it was a nice day!

I probably won't be at the boys' Thanksgiving event next Monday anymore (NH actually offered to teach the classes for me, that was nice of hir!) and it's kind of sad to have to teach Monday and Tuesday, but it's my job, I'm being paid to do it and I shouldn't complain! ;-)

Edited to add: we were sooo tired when we got home, so K & I took a nap. He got up after about 20 minutes (he is going to a conference from Sunday to Tuesday and has to prepare his presentation), but I slept from about 4-6 pm!! It was a GLORIOUS relaxing nap! And I'm so absolutely thankful and happy I had it and I can't remember how long it'd been since my last nap... (probably a couple of months)

If only I didn't have to drive 152 miles tomorrow and Friday again! Sigh... This morning I had to stop at a rest area to relax for about 15 minutes (I never fell asleep) before I continued my drive to teach.

Nothing Like a Day After the Other!

We were all very frustrated yesterday, but today was much better!

Kelv had a GREAT time in his field trip as we knew he would and came home in good spirits.*

My in-laws changed their reservation to an earlier flight and will probably be able to make it to the Thanksgiving Banquet. 

We still don't know what the problem with the car is, but it was towed (for 50 bucks) to our mechanic. Keep your fingers crossed it won't be a truly expensive repair! In any case, K was oh, soooo thankful that the car broke last night instead of breaking during the field trip. PHEW!

In addition today was a good day in other ways, but I'll save that for the next post (I need to get caught up with NaBloPoMo &  my goal of posting more than last year!).

* He's been a moody guy from babyhood, prone to saying extreme things that go from "today was the best day ever! This is the best food ever!" to "my day was horrible, this completely spoiled everything, etc..." I'm deathly afraid of what hormones will do to him and his moods in a year or two!! :(

When Everything Goes Wrong (On the Same Day)

Sigh...

Everything that matters is well, but today a few unexpected things went positively very wrong -- particularly for our boys.

First, the car broke. It was the minivan and I wasn't driving it (PHEW!). It broke in the elementary school's parking lot when K was picking up our oldest son from his bell choir practice at 5 pm. After the car failed to start even with a jump start, a classmate's father gave K & Kel a ride home.

The car is still sitting in the school's parking lot because we don't have any type of roadside assistance!* I know we'll figure out what to do to get the car to our mechanic (only 6 miles way) and hopefully the car can be fixed, but it's a huge inconvenience not to have the car for who knows how many days. (I can drop K off at U#1, go to work at U#2 and pick him up on the way back, but Tuesdays & Thursdays are complicated!)

The worst thing, however, is that Kelvin has a field trip tomorrow and K was driving him and some classmates and now K can't go anymore (no room & no need for more chaperones). Kel is devastated because he's been complaining for months that in the past two years we haven't been to any of his field trips, but have gone with his brother. (mostly true) :(

The second problem is that months ago when I found out that my in-laws were going to be here for Thanksgiving I invited them for the Thanksgiving Banquet that the elementary school prepares for all the seniors in the community. The boys were ecstatic because they were going to be with their grandparents for the very first time (most kids have theirs attend). It was a big deal for the boys particularly because it is going to be Kelvin's very first bell-choir public performance!

You know where this is going, right? We told my in-laws which day the banquet would be, but when they asked my husband to confirm the date last week, he said that it was a "Thanksgiving Dinner" and they assumed that it would take place in the evening. So they bought a ticket to go to Massachusetts & scheduled the return flight for 9 am so they can't be here on time for the banquet.

K is on the phone with them right now and they are checking their options (it was a 60 dollar non-refundable ticket to Providence which cannot be changed)... so maybe there's a slim chance they could still come.

When I walked into the house this evening after K called me to share the double bad news I went into damage control mode immediately! I told the boys I would cancel my class to come to the banquet and see them perform. Poor Kelvin said that it was the only good news all day... Sigh... I have emailed NH to ask whether it would be OK to cancel classes for that day or whether I would need to find someone to come show a movie or something. I haven't heard back from hir yet...

Sigh... Wish us luck!

P.S. yesterday I was less than 10 minutes late to class!

P.S.II Somehow these misunderstandings feel like a "bad omen" regarding our end of the year trip. I hope not!

* Ha! I keep telling K to do something about this! With two very old cars it's a pressing need! We always had it through our car insurance, BTW, but now we have the cheapest insurance for car+ home in the world and it doesn't include it.

The Mystery of the Missing Photos - Part II

The mystery continues, now with an interesting twist!

I wrote on the previous post about the mystery of November 2008's photos and then I read some of my posts of that period and I was reminded that it was part of the "dark days" when I was "teaching" an online class for University of Phoenix's affiliate Axia College -- the most horrible job I've ever had in my life!

So I reasoned that I had probably forgotten to take our camera when we went to my brother-in-law's house for Thanksgiving. Then I visited them this weekend and looked through their computer to copy photos of times and events that I was missing.

Look what I found!

Photographic proof that I was photographing that weekend. Sigh...

So the mystery continues! I doubt that I will ever find those photos and I'm OK with that. I suppose these crazy things happen, even with the most organized photographers. (I think I'm pretty organized). In fact, it was pretty interesting to come across this photo!

Super Stupid me! Stuck on traffic

Before we left the house, my husband told me that he had heard on the radio there had been an accident on the highway close to university number two. I assured him that I knew the parallel roads and all the exits I could take and that I would be okay.

There were also signs on the highway telling where the accident was And warning is that the right lane was closed. 

However, I was talking on the phone with my mom and when the exit right before the exit where the accident exit was came, traffic was just running fine and I just drove straight ahead. 

Ha Hah Hah

Alas! Now I am stuck in a 7 mile long traffic jam and I have to teach in 35 minutes. 

How dumb is that?

Have you ever driven a standard shift car in a traffic jam?

Huge sigh…

In any case, I don't regret the phone conversation, I really enjoy talking to my parents while on these long drives and I was using earbuds as well.  Talking on the phone while on long drives is a lifesaver for me and my husband, because it keeps us awake.

I bitterly regret missing the exit because I was so engrossed in our conversation.

Well, rant over. 

now I have to go write an email to my students, wish me luck!

Quick Scheduling Update

I was going to post this yesterday (or Wednesday night?), but I forgot. Here it goes.
 
Yes, I can definitely teach Monday through Thursday!! No more worries about that for now.

Two of my classes will still meet two class periods more than a regular class while I am being paid the same, but hopefully that will change, wish me luck!

Sigh... will I have to endure this life of "contingent labor" forever? I think it's pretty likely. I'm getting to old go get a "real" job. It would be possible only, perhaps, at U#1, but the way things are going with academic positions, I don't have much hope. Sigh...

At least I'm striving to "ameliorate" my own working conditions, right? :)

L's Bot

HA!
That is really funny!

I hadn't done a "Meme" in a really long time, but this (What Would I Say?) is positively HILARIOUS! It's an app that scans your fb account and comes up with possible status updates that sound like you.

Thanks for the heads up, Jamie! (I was so tickled to find the many references to breastfeeding in your Bot updates!). I have a couple in Portuguese and it's so interesting to see lots of things that I've really said jumbled up together! (I'm alternating "quotation style" with plain, I hope it looks goo!)

we've moved to the street finished it with us in New Zealand, he had a business trip goes smoothly, including security at the airport, my nephew who just so we have a fifth nephew or, finally, a niece.
-L'sBot

I'm very relieved and thankful that made the semester Two exams next week, a delay of over seven years ago yesterday 03/09...
-L'sBot

I'm very relieved and thankful that while the boys will be working to fully empty the day teaching earlier update, but on my update, but it with his four sons and SIX years away from the HUGE parties we've thrown in Providence, RI for five days.
-L'sBot

mas vai embora com as letras do seu nome com e 9 meses, então tá ok, né?
-L'sBot

My aunt was optimistic when she talked on the proper equipment, it would be just so nice to see you that detect, I guess the tables were in Brazil, so we don't want everybody else to be our first significant snow this to Portuguese [class]. Last, but I cannot bring myself to be moving to [New State] K[] will be online, my sons and a split second, there...
-L'sBot

mas vai pra fazer um abraço! Depois dos metais fazerem a introducao! A gente conversa mais, tenho q ir preparar prova, desculpe. ;
-L'sBot

You guys have yet And see my hopes up.
-L'sBot

I have a little today.
-L'sBot

I really like the next to last one. Yeah, hope, I love hope! ;-)

Almost On Track for NaBloPoMo

This is my 13th post this month and today was the 13th day (I know that technically it's the 14th already, whatever! ;-) So I'm basically on track.

I do enjoy posting every day or more often, so this is actually very easy for me -- for once in life I give myself "permission" to blog with abandon. YAY!

Hope

After last week's meeting I'd been a bit worried about next Fall's schedule.

As usual, I'm beyond exhausted by all the driving and all of the teaching and just thinking I'd have to keep on commuting 5 days a week next year was pretty upsetting. (sigh...)

Well, this afternoon, NH stopped by my office and at the end of our brief conversation he had the idea to suggest a mixed schedule: M/W mixed with Tu/Th. That way the class would still meet for 5 class periods a week over 4 days and I wouldn't have to teach on Fridays.

I talked to the department secretary who deals with scheduling and we brainstormed a bit. She also called the registrar's office and they said that such a thing would be possible, but I'd be teaching in two different classrooms (M/W & Tu/Th).

So... I'm hopeful, BUT, I still need to ask them to pay more for these two classes, they've been literally exploiting me these past two years (last Fall and this Fall) with me teaching a 5 day a week class and being paid the same as for a class that meets three days! I wish they could compensate me retroactively because this is NOT fair. (and the meeting with the chair totally confirmed the unfairness!).

I'll keep you posted!

The Mystery of the Missing Photos

I'm indulging in my favorite obsession these days (OK, last Friday and tonight): dealing with our thousands and thousands of photos! I began to do this because I decided to compile photos from the past 11 Thanksgivings, given that this may be our last one with K's brother's family (they will probably soon move).

I am very close to having all of our photos in one place -- an external hard drive that I bought last year. However, in the process of trying to transfer all the photos, I found that some months were incomplete or even nonexistent!

After looking for back-up CDs and DVDs from 2003, I finally figured out where some of the files were stored -- in an extra hard-drive inside our old desktop computer, one that isn't even connected to the internet!

So since I started writing this post I already recovered some photos I thought were lost, i.e. November 2003 and 2005.

November 2008 remains a mystery, though, I cannot find photos of that Thanksgiving anywhere! :(

Dealing with photos is a great "mental hygiene" for me as we say in Portuguese (it means relaxing activities and it totally does NOT have that meaning in English! NYC actually has a department of health and mental hygiene, which I gather should mean "mental health! :-)

In any case, apart from the small frustrations associated with the missing photos mystery, I'm enjoying a lot my "mental hygiene"! ;-)

P.S. This has got nothing to do with anything, but I thought I'd mention that toilet paper is actually called hygienic paper in Portuguese! (papel higiênico) This is totally the kind of comment that I abundantly make in my language classes -- random word association language tidbits. Particularly when a word has an "inappropriate" usage. Hihihi! (no examples of that sort here, though! This is a respectable blog. My classroom is respectable too, except when I go on these random digressive teaching jags!) :-D