Mr. Negativity Meets His Soul-Mate
Social studies this year has been an ongoing saga for our young son, Connor, who is in 7th grade at a school that shall remain nameless in order to protect the innocent. First off, his original social studies teacher was reassigned to a different role right at the beginning of the year, so they had to go searching for a part-time person to replace him, which – as you may or may not be aware – isn’t the easiest thing to do. So they had a series of subs that led to a long-term sub for the first couple of months of school. This, as you might imagine, isn’t ideal because there’s not a whole lot of continuity when the subs are switching off, plus the class tends to take advantage of situations like this, and the whole thing was kind of chaotic. Then, finally, they managed to find someone to take the job. Unfortunately, this has turned out to be even more of an issue than what existed before. Now if you know Connor, or have heard us tell tales about him, you might be aware that he isn’t exactly the world’s most positive person. So when he came home and started talking about how negative his new social studies teacher was, I have to admit that a part of me was thrilled by this. My son had actually met someone that he considered to be negative – how great is that? For the past few weeks, he has continued to come home with all kinds of stories about the crazy things his social studies teacher has said or done. Here are just a few examples:
•She’s mad that she doesn’t have her own classroom, so she had the kids write letters to the principal complaining about it and requesting that she be given another teacher’s extra room (yes, there is a teacher there who has two rooms).
•She’s mad at the kids and how they behave during class, so she’s making tapes of them that she’s planning on sharing with parents (not sure when/how that’s going to happen, but I’m looking forward to hearing more)
•She’s mad at the entire school and everyone who works there, so she’s writing a book to expose the whole sordid mess, and she’s going to sell copies to parents and make a whole bunch of money (no, I’m not planning on purchasing a copy – though I would love to take a look at it for free).
So it’s all kind of crazy (side note: this is someone who apparently won some kind of award for being a great teacher before she came here) but I have to admit that I’m not all that up-in-arms about the whole fiasco, because even though Connor isn’t learning anything related to the official social studies “curriculum” I actually think he’s learning more in this situation then he’s ever learned before. And he has some mildly amusing stories to tell.
Let the Destruction Begin
As mentioned earlier, we bought a new dishwasher several weeks ago, which led to the discovery that we had a leak under our sink, which led to the discovery that we had some mold growing in the walls and cabinets, which led to us calling the insurance company, which led to us deciding to just go ahead and redo the entire kitchen. So now we’re starting to stick our toes in the pool of renovation. The mold is now gone, but so is half of the kitchen, including the sink, stove, dishwasher, and half the cabinets/counter. Yesterday, we finalized our layout plan, and we’ve now ordered new cabinets and counters, figured out gas lines for a new stove, made a plan for the electricity that will include lots of outlets and new lighting, and made the first of several alarmingly large payments. Next step will be to destroy the rest of the kitchen (as well as the ceiling in the adjoining room so Katie can finally be rid of the dreaded “popcorn”), and then start putting all the lines and wires and pipes where they need to go. And it’s all because of a dishwasher. I’m pretty sure there’s a lesson to be learned in here somewhere – though I’m just not exactly sure what it is – something about new dishwashers, or checking under your sink, or something like that. All I really know for sure is that I really, really miss having a kitchen sink (which is now sitting in the entry hall) – and it’s going to be awhile before we have one again.
More on the Kitchen
Most people would probably agree that having choices is a good thing, but after visiting the kitchen showroom and going through the whole decision-making process with this kitchen project, there’s also a part of me that feels completely overwhelmed by all the choices we had to make about colors, styles, moldings, backsplashes, trims, hardware, drawer pulls, fixtures, voltage, wattage, amperage, 60/40 or 50/50, left or right, single or double, rack or shelf, single or double-barrel trash pullout, how to handle the soffit (up until about a week ago, I didn’t even know what a soffit was let alone that we had not one, but two of them in our kitchen), what kind of lighting, where to put fixtures and switches, dimmers, popcorn or plain, directional or fixed, check or credit card, itemized or complete, 2 cm or 3 cm, melamine or ply, and on and on and on. It’s almost as bad as going to the store and trying to buy some toothpaste (sometimes, I just stand in the toothpaste aisle for several minutes, my mind a complete blank and my heart sinking as I scan all the different types of toothpaste).
That’s all for this edition, so until next time, may your lessons be learned, may your kitchen remain dry, and may your choices remain clear and unfettered.
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