so apparently the whole world knows about ferrah and michael dying except us magazine. there was a blip in there about ferrah getting ready to wed and at the end was a whole page on michael wearing womens clothing. i just thought it was kind of weird that a magazine that specializes in basically spying on celebrities wouldnt know they were dead. ok, so i realize the mag was probably mailed out the day they died but what are the chances they would decide to have these 2 particular people in their magazine the week they died? next week they will probably have some crazy thing on how much they loved michael and the tragedy that ferrah didnt get to wed...

got a book on cd from the library yesterday for my trip. i already read it but i found that listening to a book on cd keeps me more alert than music. the key is to start listening before i am already drowsy. gonna make julian an mp3 player just for his music so he can listen to what he wants. now i am gonna browse the library for more books on cd.

well, its official. either i am easily impressed or my boyfriend is a poo. have youse guyses ever checked out www.pandora.com ? it is super cool beause i type in a song or artist i like and based on that it plays a variety of similar music. maybe i am easily impressed by this "music genome" thing but damn. you can look up the factors that make the song similar, it has the lyrics and you can give a song a thumbs up or down if you want. he was not so thrilled. he said "is that all you wanted to show me?" yeah, isn't it cool? in my world it is.

4 weeks to WI

just when i was thinking i could get a good nights sleep and have a do nothing day off, i had to spend the night camped out in the living room holding julians head over the puke bucket all night. the joy of kids. try explaining to a thirsty dehydrated 4 year old why he cant just have a huge drink of ice cold water. (in case you're wondering- it creates instant puke) he finally stopped at about 530 this morning. and then started with "i'm thirsty!" so then he had to sip something every 5 minutes and try to sleep in between. i was snoozing on the floor when i heard from the bathroom "mama! I pbbblllbbbted!" meaning it was now coming out the other end. so much for the do nothing day off. i didn't realize such a small body could hold so much vomit. most of it came out in the initial incident all over the bed. i never even knew until he came out covered in it. grossed out yet? sorry. had to share

schools

so i (through my sister) found a school i want to send julian to. it addresses all the issues i have had with public schools
1.) it teaches in dual language from day 1 of kindergarten. the kids get 50 % of instruction time in english and 50% in spanish
2.) they wear uniforms. i believe uniforms level the playing field since teachers and other students can't make assumptions (and therefore self fulfilling prophecies) based on how a student is dressed
3.) they have a longer school day and year. this allows for not only enough time to get what they need in acedemically but allows for time for other ventures. they dont have a formalized schedule yet but according to the director, the day would be acedemic in the morning, rest then enrichment in the afternoon. i am not sure what exactly they mean by enrichment but i have an idea it is art, music, "wellness" cultural and service type stuff.
4.) all of their kids pass the state tests. the 8th graders had a 100% pass rate. that in its self is amazing but they also had more than half the kids getting comendable scores.
5.) the parents and student have to sign a commitment to the school and to do well. i am not sure what age this starts but at least by 5th grade, maybe sooner. parents have to be involved.

this is really just the beginning of the list. the only catch is getting in. they have an open enrollment period then they throw all the names in a bucket and pick which students get in. the rest of the names go on a waiting list if space becomes available. the first kidergarten class start in 2010 when julian would be starting kindergarten. they tenatively will have 100 students with 5 classes. and a 1:10 student teacher ratio.

thanks to sister for telling me about this. hopefully i can encourage miss m to go as well. she needs it.

off to make banana bread

sometimes i open my computer to do actual work- pay the bills, do some stuff for work, whatever... but i have this pattern, check e mail, check blogs. and this is where i have an issue. i get distracted from the original mission by reading blogs and then i start doing something else completely unrelated like reading "news of the weird" or watching susan boyle and the next thing i know, it is like 2 hours later and my child has shriveled up for lack of attention and my bills still arent paid. thanks blog spot, i love you too.

huh?

i love back handed compliments. i got a great one the other day. "your hair looks great! like you actually had to do something to it instead of just rushing!" huh? thanks, i think...i mean, i have no illusions where my hair is concerned. it is what it is - which is crazy with a mind of its own. but really? sheesh.