Joyce Aldrich

UPDATE:
It was my teacher! Is that the coolest thing ever?



Those of you who know me well, know that I had an all time favorite teacher named Joyce Aldrich. It seems she may have found me. She left me a comment and asked me to respond via my posts.

Here you go!!

Ms. Aldrich taught me grammar in 11th grade at good old WHS. On the first day of class, she told us to bring a notebook to class and that we were going to fill it with grammar rules. She also told us to keep it because it would come in handy. (I had mine until it disappeared sometime after I got married.) The very first thing we wrote in that notebook was this:

Each, either, neither, and the body and one words are singular.
Some, any, none, most, and all are plural.

I am thrilled to think that she may have found my blog!! I'm giddy with excitement! I absolutely loved her! I loved her class. I loved the way she taught. She was fair. She was just the best!! It is because of Joyce that I help out in my son's English class. It is because of Joyce, that I can edit papers, letters, and essays. My friends and family call on me to "fix" their papers. It is all because of that Grammar and Usage class I took. I don't know if she ever knew what an influence she had on me... She probably does after reading this, though, huh??

Joyce was very stylish, too. She wore the most fabulous clothes - my fave outfit was her leather skirt! OMG! I remember sitting in the front row thinking, "I want to dress like Joyce when I grow up!!" Heck... I still want to dress like Joyce!

So, Joyce... If it's really you... Please, please, please email me at ladybugxing at gmail dot com.

More Snow!

We got another 10 inches of snow on Sunday.
Our snowblower isn't blowing snow... The auger isn't turning. No, it's not the shear bolt. I think it might be the belt. I haven't checked it. It's been too snowy and cold. Maybe later today - it's supposed to be 50 degrees.

LLB was the first one out there in the snow with Zebbie right behind her. She made a fort - complete with exit tunnel. It was very cool! The snow wasn't sledding snow, it was snowman snow. LLB did make a snowman - he was leaning against a tree enjoying the view. Sorry no picture...

Mr. and #1 shoveled the driveway. All 2/10 of a mile of it. We have a pusher shovel from Canada that works great. They did a terrific job! As a matter of fact, Mr. finished our driveway before the guy across the street finished his with a plow attached to his ATV. So much for horse power...

Yesterday #1 had an 8am ortho appointment and we had no school. Well, my children had no school, but the private school where I teach had school. Oh yippee. I had to go in. LLB felt bad for me and came with me. Isn't that sweet? She's a great kid!

Today the children have a 2 hour delay.
#1 says,"Are you sure we have a 2 hour delay?"
"Yes, I got an email from the school."
"Are you sure it's a real email?"
Deliver me...

We all have 10:30 dentist appointments - don't worry it's just for cleanings.
#1 is NOT happy.
His comment, "Why couldn't we have gone yesterday?"
"Because your appointment is today."
"Why didn't you change it?"
I'm rolling my eyes... I'm biting my tongue...

My ebay stuff is doing well. If you are interested in my Hanna stuff, get your bids in fast - today is the last day on most of it. I've got a lot of people watching...

Plan? What Plan?

Did you ever plan out a Saturday and then find out that your plan is not going to work?

I had planned to take the children to their Jazz lesson, then continue on to town and have #1 fitted for his tux. While #1 was getting fitted, I was going to look for a ball gown for LLB. After that, I had planned on a quick stop at the local Wmart for a couple stupid things.

You know what I'm doing now?
I'm dropping the children at Jazz and continuing on to town by myself. I'm stopping in at the local Wmart to pick up my couple stupid things and a gift card. If I have time, I'm stopping at the formalwear shop to see if they have any clearance gowns for LLB. (I'm umm... frugal, remember?). I'll run back to Jazz to get the cherubs. On the way home, I'll drop #1 at his friend's house for a birthday party. I'll bring LLB home, she'll eat and change. I'll drive her to her friend's house for the afternoon.

Do you see a tux fitting in there anywhere? No... Me neither... I'll have to do that this week - before Wednesday. Why before Wednesday? The coupon expires on Wednesday. (I told you I was frugal... okay cheap!)

Homework

I hate homework.

LLB had a science progress report come home this week. I got this from the teacher in the afternoon via email.

All of Mrs. W's science students will be coming home with a progress report. Please sign and have your child return it to school tomorrow.

If the work is shown a missing they may NOT make it up. All the students have been given the chance to correct or make up all the work. They did not taken advantage of that option.

Hmmm... This can't be good. They are all on her sh*t list for something. When I picked her up from school, LLB was upset and angry.
"Mom, she gave me a D and told me that this assignment was incomplete. I did it, though."
"What do you mean? You got a D in science?" (I knew she couldn't have gotten a D. She got A's on her tests.)
"No, just one home homework assignment. I got a 93.5 for my grade. But that D gave me a B for a grade and it's not fair. Look, here's my paper. The second sheet is missing. The staple is still in the corner, but the second page is gone. The substitute took it apart. We told him not to do that, but..." She was pracitcally sobbing - more from frustration than anything else.

Sure enough. I recognized the stupid homework assignment. She'd forgotten her book and had to stay up late to research the answers. I told her I'd take care of it.

I sent a note attached to the progress report and the offending homework. I told the teacher that LLB had indeed done those "missing" questions and also related the story about her forgotten book. I also requested that LLB be allowed to use a homework pass for that homework assignment. (A homework pass is earned. LLB has them stacked up from Sept. and has never ever used one. She always just does the homework.) The teacher's response, "No. I will not allow homework passes to be used."

Fine, but it still wasn't acceptable. She'd done the work. I sent another note.

LLB got in the car last night and told us that her science teacher had instructed her to re-do that missing paper - 6 rotten questions.

Great. We arrive home after ballet. I tell her to get her science book out and answer those questions. She says, "I forgot my book."

Good GOD! We have to research the answers on the internet AGAIN? I sigh. I breathe deeply. It doesn't work. I rant. She agrees. She has got to get organized.

We finish looking all this stuff up. She writes her answers out. I type them on the computer and print out the paper. I hand it to her. (We are typing everything for this class to be sure that we have a copy so we don't have to re-do any more assignments...)

"I'm sorry, Mom. It won't happen again."
"Really? That's what you said when you did this assignment the first time."
"Oh yeah... But, I'm really sorry."

This morning I make her lunch. I ask her where I should put it so she doesn't forget it. "Hang it on the door to the garage." Guess what she almost forgot? The lunchbox. The child would forget her head if weren't attached to her body!

This is the child who wants to fly airplanes for the Navy... Let's hope she remembers where she parked her plane!

She's a Zero

I took LLB to get some pants with legs long enough to go past her ankles. It was a sorry sight around here for a while! Those poor little scrawny ankles peeking out from the bottom of her jeans. They were calling to me, "Ladybug, please, it's cold! Get this child some new pants!! We're turning blue down here!!"

I originally thought she'd make it to the warm weather and I could hold off purchasing new jeans/pants until fall. Those blue ankles got to me. I couldn't take it!

We went to our neighborhood Kohls and hit the sale rack. Hmmm... what size? Grambug suggested 0 and 1. They looked about right. Grambug and I found every size 0 and 1 and piled it on top of a cart. LLB kept saying, "That's enough... No more... Really, that's enough." We didn't listen to her, we just kept piling. When we were sure she couldn't see over the top of the cart - or around it for that matter, we told her she could go try it all on.

Yes, we are cruel.
Yes, we helped her.
She must have tried on 25 pair of pants in sizes 0 - 3.

I never knew who wore a size 0. Now I do. LLB wears a size 0. She has no butt, no hips and legs up to her neck. Women who tell you they wear a zero - they lie - they have erased the 1 in front of the 0. There is no way anyone who has any curves whatsoever, could squeeze themselves into those pants!

But I digress...

We walked away with 4 pair of pants, 2 blazers, and 4 or 5 turtleneck sweaters for her, 2 pair of cords for the Mr., and 4 pair of jeans for the boy - oh and a pair of pants for me for less than $150. I think we did okay.

When I went to put her things in her closet I noticed that it was pretty full. I went through it and removed all the things that don't fit anymore. I have started listing the good stuff on ebay if any of you are interested. You can check it out here.

I've got so much stuff that I'll be listing some more today and tomorrow as well... Most of it is LLB's Hanna Andersson stuff. I'm so sad to see it go, but... she's growing up. I'll have to put on my big girl panties and deal, I guess...

Friends

Leanne over at Intricate Art talked about friends today and it got me thinking about a particular friend of mine. I call people like her my high maintenance friends...

Here's the scoop:
I met this girl at church. She told me that her kids were in boarding school in Europe and that she was lonely. I told her that I would be her friend. We chatted the next day and decided to have lunch. She was sweet and nice, but there was something rumbling just under the surface. 20/20 hindsight tells me it was my gut telling me to RUN!

We went shopping, we went for walks, we had fun. Then one day she called and asked me if I'd ride with her to her husband's office to drop off a suit or something. I said sure. The next day it was something else - I declined. I have a very busy volunteer schedule with the school and I was excersizing as well. I needed time at home for laundry and such. I hadn't started blogging yet, but if I had, you all would have heard about her before.

There were various other requests and sometimes I could do it and sometimes I couldn't. She often got snippy when I couldn't/wouldn't help her out. One day she called and wanted my husband to take her car someplace. My thought, "Excuse me, Lady. You have a husband. Get him to do it." My words, "I'm sorry, Mr. isn't home. He's out. He won't be back for quite a while." (He was here, but really!) The last straw for me was when she basically tackled me on Christmas Eve at church two years ago. She wanted me to bring LLB to her house on Christmas Day so that LLB could play with her young cousin. Oh and I could chat with the mother of this girl. Oh and she wanted us at NOON. Umm...NO. I told her that it WAS Christmas and that we had company - The Grandbugs were in town. Christmas is a family day in our family. I told her that we might be able to slip away around 4pm. She told me that was not acceptable. I told her that I was sorry, but that was the best I could do. We didn't go. LLB didn't want to go. She wanted to stay home and play with her toys. I didn't blame her. I wanted to stay home, too.

The girl is still mad.

I don't much care.

I prefer real friends like MommaK and my friends W, S and J. You see them or not. You chat on the phone once a week or less. You run into each other or not. But, when you do have time to really sit and chat, it's like no time has passed. We share news of our families. We laugh. We chat. No one is offended because someone hasn't called. Believe you me - if any of those girls ever needed my help - I'm so there! I'd drop everything and run for any one of them.

Real friends are important.

Monday Memories

Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you About The Hair Monster? When #1 was little, I decided that he needed his hair cut. It was long - too long for a boy aged 14 months. He looked like a girl! I took him to a local salon. I was armed with toys, snacks, camera and the regular stuff in the diaper bag. The lady suggested he sit on my lap. She chatted with him and he seemed to be enjoying the show. He was fine until she started to cut his hair. Then, my friends, it was all over. He cried. He fussed. He moved. He got his hair cut, but it was not a fun time for anyone. I paid the lady and gave her a large tip. As I was on my way out the door, I heard a low mumble, "Don't ever let her bring him back here, puhleese." No fear... I'd never get him in there again, anyway. By the time #1 and I pulled out of our parking spot, I was a sweaty mess and he was asleep in his car seat. The next time he needed a haircut, I took him to a different place. You would have thought I was taking him to the guillotine. He cried through the whole haircut - which lasted approximately 2.5 minutes. He really didn't have much hair. I paid the lady and gave her a big tip. When I left there, I was a dribble and #1 had a few hairs cut and a lollipop for my troubles. Well, that's another salon I can't ever enter again... This scenario went on for months. I was running out of places to take him... Mr. kept telling me he was too little for the barber shop. I can't say I blame him for not wanting to take on the hair monster... Finally, I found a stylist, T, who I loved. I'd gone to elementary and high school with her. She was an absolute peach!! She was cutting my hair and I was telling her about the bad experiences #1 had had. She told me to bring him in the next day at 4pm. T told me that #1 would be fine and that even if he acted up she would not be offended. We could try again another day. It took some convincing, but I finally agreed. I got #1 up in the morning and explained that I had a friend, Miss T, who was going to cut his hair that afternoon. #1 is the kind of child that needs the schedule for the day set at breakfast (BTW - he still does!). I told him many times that morning that after nap, we would go to the hair dresser and Miss T would cut his hair. He got up from his nap and hopped into the car. I brought some snacks and some small toys. We arrived at the salon. When we walked in, Miss T came right over, got down on his level and introduced herself. He was immediately enthralled with her. I think this may have been the beginning of his first crush. She had him sit in the chair by himself, because "You are 2 and boys that are 2 are big boys". I held my breath. She told him that her squirt bottle only squirted water on hair - but only if he was perfectly still. He sat. He did not move. She showed him her "magic scissors". She let him touch the handles. He was falling for her hard!! She had him!! She snipped his hair and gave him the best haircut he'd ever had. (Not that he'd ever had a great haircut!) When she was done with the scissors she asked him if she could use the buzzer. He wasn't sure. Tears started to well in his eyes. (He was very afraid of the buzzer.) She showed it to him. She turned it on. "No tankyou Miff T.", he sniffed around his ever present binky. "Okay. Maybe another day we'll try that." He was amazed. She didn't make him endure the noise of that scary buzzer thing. When we left, he stood about 10 feet tall. He was very proud of himself. He kept saying, "Momma, I a big boy. I sit in the chair by mysewf. I get my hair cut wif Miss T. I yike her. I go back to see Miss T, k?" After that, no one but Miss T. cut #1's hair. She cut his hair until he was about 5. He was ready to move on to the barber and she was going to stay home with her first baby. Mr. was worried about #1's first visit to the barber. I decided to stay home. I'm not stupid! I'd done 4 years of haircuts - the last 3 were pretty good, but still. He prepped #1. "Only big kids get to go to the barber." "Okay, Dad. I'm big, right?" "You need to sit very still." "Yup." "The buzzer is the same kind Miss T. used on your hair. It's just a little noisier." "Ummm... okay." I waved goodbye. I hoped this would work out... There were only two barbers in town... When they returned, I had 2 well coiffed men. Both were laughing. #1 had lollipops - one in his mouth and one for his sister. We had finally tamed the hair monster!! LadyBug Click here for the Monday Memories Code, Blogroll, Graphics, & Other Information View More Monday Memories Participants Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!