[An Abecedary of Cape-Wearing] D is for Donatello--One Smart Turtle

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

To support my Math-Love theme (click here and here), I have picked a fellow math-lover to continue my Abecedary of Cape-Wearing. 

I remember when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made their appearance. My brothers were just the right age to think they were amazing. As a freshman in high school, I decided that they were silly (of course), but that their creator was either an idiot or a marketing genius. It turns out his idea was way more genius than silly. 

And the smartest turtle?  Donatello. Donatello is considered a technological genius and inventor. Some of his best work, in my opinion, is the Turtle Blimp. Donatello is the plan-maker, the risk-taker, and consequently the main mistake-maker.  He is constantly working on the next best solution to whatever predicament the other TMNTs dig up. Of course his solutions don't always work--not all solutions do!

And here we are... circling the valuable life-lesson I've assigned to this super turtle. Here it is.


Are you ready?


How about now?


Wait for it....


Wait


for


it....

Make mistakes! Lots of them!

That's it. Go out and try it on. Struggle through a possible solution. Throw it in the garbage when it doesn't work. Try something else. Iterate and reiterate.Model this process for your students and provide them a place to feel safe in doing so. Celebrate the Turtle Blimp--or something equally fabulous.

And, just saying... Donatello has an awesome shell--which is like a cape. 

[SOLSC] Ineffability

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

Part of my new-found love for math centers around it's elegance and ineffability. Last weekend at the 69th Annual ASCD Conference, Sir Ken Robinson mentioned that a doctoral study in "Pure Math" would include work that is both innovative and elegant. That struck me and I've been stewing on it ever since. I like elegant things. I respect simple beauty. I'm impressed with the elegance of nature and even more impressed with mathematical concepts found in nature.

Image Citation

I also have a deep respect for ineffability. Ideas of concepts that can not, or should not, be expressed in words. What a gorgeous idea. An idea that ought not be said aloud. A Lord Voldemort of philosophy. I would love to have an idea so inexplicably elegant that I can't even say it out loud. What a hallmark of genius that would be!

If math is both elegant and ineffable, then I may have found something to love--a way in. 

Here is a list of 11 Beautiful Math Equations from LiveScience.com:

General Relativity 

Standard Model 

Calculus 

Pythagorean Theorem 

1=0.99999999.... 

Special Relativity 

Euler's Equation 

Euler–Lagrange Equations and Noether's Theorem 

Callan-Symanzik Equation 

Minimal Surface Equation 

The Euler Line

Here are my first thoughts--from the lens of a newbie mathematician...

This Euler fellow seems to know a thing or two.
I like that there is a general relativity and a special relativity.
My mind is shattering at the idea that 1=0.99999..., but since I remember Calculus also shattering my mind, I'm not surprised.

How about you, what are your first thoughts about these 11 elegant-but-not-quite-ineffable ideas?

[SOLSC] Math Love

It is my work right now to find a love for math. I need to love math and the teaching of math as much as I love the teaching of writing. 
Well...  okay,  let's not get all crazy now. 

I do need to love it though. I need to embrace new learning around math,  absorb the concepts of the new math standards,  and share that with teams of people. 

I took the step of befriending math already this year.  I forgave it for the homework and failed tests and the tears. We talked it over and realized it wasn't math's fault.  Misplaced blame and recriminations didn't work for either of us. We shook on it.

I realized today though that a begrudging agreement isn't enough.  I have to believe in math.  I have to find beauty in its structure  its use,  and it's elegance. I have to seek to understand and apply the lessons math can teach me. I need to love math

So here goes. 

Math...  No matter what happens.  I have decided to love you.

[SOLSC] My New Favorite Things Friday #3

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

My New Favorites Things are coming fast and furious these days...



New Favorite Quote: 
"The bon-bon is squishy."

The Bon-Bon (A.K.A The Turbo Marshmallow, AKA the new FIAT)

After being rear-ended, pushed into the car in front of me, and bouncing out of the whole deal with only a spilled coffee and a tiny paint scratch, I am happy to report the turbo bon-bon is, indeed, squishy.



My New Favorite Perseveration:

Color-coded planning calendars. I feel like my next six months are more clear and manageable.

My New Favorite Dessert Store:

Azucar in Ocean Beach, CA has Cuban-style desserts that are Uh. May. Zing. 



My New Favorite Dinner Date:
My Dad is visiting. Dinners and chats each evening are a treat.

[SOLSC], Tweet Speak

Writing a post in 140 character segments. @Dad wonders if severe  word limits diminish communication.  #solvingworldproblemsoverdinner

He suggests brevity isn't always preferred. I say synthesis is a higher order thinking skill.  #dadsfirstfishtaco #macandcheeseforme

Language is an act of negotiating meaning,  he says. I wonder, isn't that what we do here? Negotiate meaning in a small space. #doesgrammarcount

Maybe so,  says dad.  I'm just not sure it's what we want their language to be. Maybe yes maybe no,  but it's language #wewantlangauge

He pays for the tapas and beer,  I choose the Cuban desserts to share.  one has gold sparkles. #dessertwithneighbors.

World's problems solved.  Glad we could solve them together #meandmypopsathebeach

[SOLSC] Lost

I lost a day.  I must have put it down somewhere and forgot where I left it.  I bet I was holding on to it when I got the mail or switched over the laundry or took out the garbage. Maybe I did that thing where you put the milk in the cereal cupboard,  the cereal in the fridge the day in the...?  Where would I have put that day?  Did I knock it off the side of the arm of the couch?  Is it hanging out with all of those socks that disappear in the dryer? Did Ruby skulk off with it and chew it to bits?

Where do lost days go?

[SOLSC] Mistake-making

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

I am not a good mistake-maker. It isn't that I don't do it well. I'm not exactly certain how to measure a mistake on a scale, and what that scale would include, but I'm fairly certain that any mistake could be considered "done well" if it is done at all. 

I struggle with the after-effects of mistake-making. I struggle to embrace the mistake-making and instead try to wish it away. I want to have not made it, to undo the events that caused it, and to go back to imagining myself to be a non-mistake-maker.

And before you tell me to stop worrying about it, to let it go, to not be so hard on myself. I will tell you that I I will do and have done all of the above. It has been let go. It will be fixed. I have moved on.

I don't make excuses. I own my errors. I fix them the best way I can. I know mistakes happen, and I can put them in perspective. There were those minutes though, where I wished mightily that it hadn't been made in the first place.  That's just the truth of it. 

How do you truly feel about mistakes?

[SOLSC] Things I Wonder

The general session key note speaker to day was Dr. Russell  Quaglia.  At the end of his session he lists many things he wonders.  I shall do so as well. I don't need the answers right now, though I'm sure I'll look them up soon enough.

Things I wonder a la Russell Quaglia:

Do folks that present on technology keep up on the needs to their audience?

Why aren't there good cotton dresses at the stores right now?

Why does my left eye shut when I'm tired?

Why am I watching the Lifetime channel?

How are macaroons made?

With that,  I shall leave you   ...

[SOLSC] Chips

Yes, you read that correctly.  I titled this post "chips."  While I just spent the day at the 69th Annual ASCD Conference, ended it by learning from the fab Sir Ken Robinson (one of three people I would follow to an ashram anywhere), and then had a lovely blue beverage at the ASCD "Tweet-up" with new Twitter friends, I'm still going to write about chips today.

I had a short dream about chips and Whoopers candies and I couldn't shake it all day. Now I am watching the Food Network on the hotel room TV with a bag of chips and a box of Whoppers. It is wrong in so many ways, but still quite right for the moment.

This is a true Slice of Life--TV, chips, whoppers, and blogging to end of day of learning and tweeting.

How was your day?

[SOLSC] New Favorite Things Friday #2

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

It's already Friday again!

My New Favorite Things this week are:

Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book

My new terabyte-sized hard drive.

The team of testing coordinators that are working so diligently this month. I love working with dedicated professionals.




Driving the turbo marshmallow on a sunny day (even if there is traffic).

Looking toward a weekend of learning at ASCD.


Black coffee

How about you?

[SOLSC] I Can See Clearly Now

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

My first pair of spectacles (as my pops called them) were gray, thick-framed, bifocals that turned my 6-year-old world into a visual Dr. Suess book. The once-familiar sidewalks became staggered and uneven. I walked with high steps only to realize the ground was lower or higher than I had planned. The edges of my vision were shadowed by the frames themselves which would slide down my nose at the slightest provocation. At first I pushed them back up with my whole hand--fingerprints abounded. Then my pops showed me how to use my index finger on the bridge of the frame to push them up. I resorted to wiggling my nose and contorting my face to keep them up. Not my best look, I'm sure.

Prior to receiving my glasses, school was a wild and confusing place for me. I was an early reader with a strong sense of empathy. Dick and Jane struck me as terminally dull and recess games hurt my heart on a daily basis. I often looked exactly like this:

After my glasses, while recess still horrified me and the social dramas of my classmates would pull on my heart strings for years to come, I seem to have developed a wry sense of acceptance. Maybe because reading was easier and a better escape. Maybe because the frames were like a barrier to what was in front of me. 

I wore spectacles steadily until 8th grade--at which point I started keeping them in my pocket until they were mangled enough that my parents noticed. My vision was tested and pronounced acceptable--I've been glass-free since then.

Until this week.

Last Friday was prescribed a pair of what I imagine are modern bifocals--progressive lenses. As I started to try on various frames I was reminded of the years my mom took me to the local eye-glass store. She tried specs on me, adjusted them, cajoled me into accepting them, and celebrated their style/flair/functionality as we left the store--quietly paying for them without a grimace.

Last week I tried on multiple pair, sorted through the choices as she used to do and then paid for them with a much more obvious grimace. I left the store with an odd mix of feelings. I felt like a kid, like a grown-up, like a smarty-pants, like a poser.

And this week, I picked up my new specs. I am much less willing to have my photo taken by a school picture guy who calls me Bubbles (Yes--Bubbles.  Every year for 8 years). And much less willing to plaster my visage on the interwebs without some artistic editing, but here they are...

[An Abecedary of Cape-Wearing] C is for the Captain

In my continued effort to provide y'all with a complete abecedary of cape-wearing amazingness (click here for letters A and B), I've chosen this next one carefully.  So carefully in fact, that it took me two months to get to it. That is precision work if I ever did see it.

Here is what happened. I didn't want to pick Catwoman, because other than being slick, cool, and a tough lady with a cool ride I couldn't find a link to teaching. I didn't want to pick Captain America because... well. I find him boring. I apologize now to any Captain A fans. I'm open-minded about it, he's just so... straight-laced!

And then my super hero trainer (you know who you are) told me about Captain Marvel. Neither of us could believe I didn't already know about him, I was promptly assigned to watch this show, and I did.

And I LOVE Captain Marvel! LOVE!  How did I know know there was a superhero who says (as Billy Batson):

"My parents told me that if you do good, good will come."

A young boy who shows resilience and character even when he is handed the power of the whole. entire. universe.

A kiddo who, before he was given the power of Shazam (more on that amazingness in a minute), was told:

"No protector, you say? And yet despite enduring countless tragedies and hardships, you've somehow managed to protect your perfect heart."

And best yet? A superhero who, in order to access his super powers (have I mentioned that this is the power of the entire bleeping universe?), need only say the word "Shazaam." Really? I LOVE it. 

In education we work to "protect our perfect hearts" while sharing our whole selves each day for our students, fellow teachers, and coworkers. We have the "power of the universe" up in front of those kiddos each day and we wield that power gently and with utmost care. 

Thank you to Billy Batson for becoming Captain Marvel so I could be reminded of that lesson. 

[SOLSC] Phone Note--"good store ration city"

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that

Message 3:
"good store ration city"

Translation: New store in National City

There is a new store near-ish my school district that was reported as the first health-food focused grocery store in the area. I thought that was worth noting, but now I can't find the article. I'm pretty sure it was called Big Ben and is in National City, CA.  I support the effort. If you're around, you might could too.

Message 4: 
"no writing on essay teeth"

Translation: No writing on SAT

It looks like they're taking the writing off of the SAT (or making it optional?). Two things about the segment were especially interesting.  First, that the writing portion was graded in such a way that with some quotes and some fancy words--even if they didn't go with the topic, a tester could score remarkably high. I found this an excellent example for when I am trying desperately to convince folks that we have over-proceduralized (not a word?) the teaching of writing. I am not one to focus on the negative or the could-have-beens and I won't do that here. I will use it as an example to support positive change though.

The second thing I noticed was the College Board is talking about aligning the SAT with the Common Core State Standards. Critics of this change don't want to see college entrance exams aligned with high school curriculum. It made me think two things--why not? and the CCSS aren't "curriculum."

Thought?

[SOLSC] Phone Note--"ship in the news art snow"

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that

As I've shared the last two days, I loves me some NPR and keep what one might loosely call "notes" on my phone to remind me of interesting tidbits. I am currently working on translating a few from last week.

Message 2:
"ship in the news art snow"

Translation: Ship in the woods--art show

This one isn't so far off once you see what it really is. Here is a summary and photos from the website:

  

In the fall of 2010, a group of artists and creative professionals sought out residency in a mid-century home in the hills of Del Mar, CA with the notion of creating an environment for critical dialogues in art and culture. Set on an acre of densely vegetated land, the house presented an opportunity to have these discussions in a unique setting and after a substantial renovation project, the property was transformed into a venue worthy of displaying world-class works from both established and up-and-coming artists. 

The house was originally built as a summer home for the actor George Brent. It then served as a satellite to the North County Repertory Theatre company, offering lodging to visiting actors and performers. After decades spent quietly as a domestic dwelling, the property was purchased and it's structures scheduled for eventual demolition. It was with this inevitable future already in place that a new collection of individuals would move in to conceive of the house's final iteration and initiate its' last life as A SHIP IN THE WOODS.

Pretty cool, huh?  My only hesitation in popping over there right this minute is that other folks probably heard it on NPR, too and they might also be popping on over.  I think I'll wait an appropriately cool amount of time.

Do you have any similar places in your neck of the "woods?"  See what I did there?  Woods?  As in Ship-in-the? 

[SOLSC] Phone Note--"New girl same--note on transaction"

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

As I mentioned yesterday, the notes on my phone are difficult to decipher at best. They're worth it though. Typically, if I'm willing to come to fisticuffs with my phone for the sake of an NPR segment, it has to be good.

Message #1
"New girl same--note on transaction."

Translation: New Carl Sagan--quote on education

No joke. "New girl same" is actually "new Carl Sagan". There is a new Carl Sagan, but I thought saying his name would cause the speech-to-text some confusion. Heh. Maybe I should have just said Neil deGrasse Tyson.

So, Neil deGrasse Tyson is the new Carl Sagan.  Though, I imagine he would prefer to be called by his own name. He struck me as quite... cocky, but perhaps a well-earned cockiness. There was an interview on NPR's Here and Now that was fascinating. Mr. Tyson has some thought-provoking opinions on science education that deserves its own post. It's actually his opinions on education in general that had me drafting a letter to him as I drove.  Here are some quotes (from a different blog, but aligned with what I heard):

"You learn, and they test you, and you need a high score on the test, and the teacher only likes the kids who get the high score and the kids who are quiet while they're teaching, because they're the well-behaved ones. What are we promoting in society? Well-behaved automatons that spew back what they learned in a book. That's not science. You can get a parrot to do that. Give me somebody who sees — now this could get dangerous, right? Somebody who sees a wall outlet and wants to stick a wire into it to find out what happens. So you don't want kids dying from their experiments, so yes, there's a certain oversight as a parent you have to exercise. But any sensible parent would know what those limits are. I would claim that those limits are much higher than what are normally granted the behavior of children."

"And that's what the school system tends to cherish, not only in the curriculum, but in who learns it. That's why you have kids with their straight-A averages embossed on their jackets, and you're supposed to be impressed that they got A's. And no one seems to ask, "Well, tell us your insights about world affairs. Tell us your deepest thoughts about the nature of mathematics." "Oh, we didn't learn that in school." That's the reply. "

So, before I "spew" my thoughts.  What are yours? 

[SOLSC] Notes From My Phone #2

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

I go through stages in my radio-listening preferences. NPR is on the rotation (as is Al Nation and Lithium on Sirius radio). Lately NPR has been good to me. In order to remember what I want to look up or share later I try to leave notes on my phone. This is problematic because I don't want to text while driving. Here is what I get when I leave myself voice-to-text messages:

Message 1: 
"New Girl Same--note on transaction"

Message 2:
"ship in the news art snow"

Message 3:
"good store ration city"

Message 4:
"no writing on essay teeth"

So there you have it. In my attempt to remain informed while staying safe, I have more information than I need about art snow, ration city, and essay teeth. Just what I needed...?

Stay tuned throughout the weekend for translations and my thoughts on what these actually meant.

[SOLSC] New Favorite Things Friday

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

With a nod to the "What I'm Loving" posts I appreciate in blogs like this and this, a reference to my My-New-Favorite-Thing posts, and an attempt to focus my SOLSC posts more on educational cape-wearing, welcome to...

My New Favorite Things Friday (Not in complete sentences, but with periods.  Just because.)


My new portable power source for all things digital--allowing me more time to look up the Common Core Standards on my phone app, respond to Smarter Balanced Testing emails, and keep track of my ever-loving calendar.

A work day having accomplished big-ticket items, remembered important emails, and laughed with co-workers.

The slightly worrisome joy I felt in creating a template full of minute details, and the even more worrisome eagerness with which I will do it again--maybe even on Saturday.

The chance to utilize a program that seems to "get" what we are doing in education and how important it is.

Leadership in my school district that not only "gets" what needs to be done, but then does it with grace, integrity, and a dose of reality.

An opportunity to expand my own learning and coaching experience working with caped teachers and technology.

The NPR segments this week on SAT Writing, The Ship in the Woods and the new Carl Sagan (more on that tomorrow).

Isabel's comment on my previous post.

The way the clouds swept up and away with sun-tinged edges on my way home.

Ruby Lavender's earnest puppy-dog face and Stella Q's lamb-like bouncing around after work.

Raindrops on roses.

That joke I just made, right up there... in that last line.

Friday evenings.

Happy Friday Y'all.  Cape on.

[SOLSC] Throwback Thursday--Snow Day

On this day I got to wear my plaid coat with the furry collar, a super-great red hat, and... I made a snow ball. You can't quite see it, but it's there in my hand. It's possible I carried it too far and it... got smaller.

I don't know if this photo is from the San Diego years or the early Washington State years.  Either way, snow was hard to come by. In Washington, it was usually rain or ice. In San Diego, sun and... sun.*  A snow ball is a snow ball though, and my excitement is evident.

At least the hat is still pretty rockin'.



*My dad swears that San Diego isn't as sunny as everyone says It is true May and June are cloudier in the morning than one might expect, but the sun does show up most days. Truly. It does.

[SOLSC] Schmutz

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

I have schmutz on my shirt. I often have schmutz on my shirt, on my pants, on my face. I am, what you might call schmutzy--which I didn't think was a word and am extremely happy to learn is, indeed, a word.

schmutz·y
  [shmoot-see]  Show IPA
adjective, schmutz·i·er, schmutz·i·est.
Slang. dirty; grimy.
Also, schmutz·ig  [shmoot-sik, -sig]  Show IPA .
Origin: 
1965–70; schmutz + -y1 , as translation of Yiddish shmutsik  or German schmutz

Even better, there is a book called The Schmutzy Family by Madelyn Rosenberg that I simply must read.

And a dish called "Schmutzy Fries" that I am fairly certain I will love and with which I will get appropriately messy. 

What a happy day it is to find a word exists that should exist, a book that supports its existence, and a food item that celebrates it.  I consider this day a roaring success. 

[SOLSC] My New Favorite Thing

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

I have many "New Favorite Things" and I feel completely comfortble rotating them out as needed. Typically, I wear my favorite thing-ness like a badge. I tell everyone, share links, retell the same people, and sigh in  mooney-eyed delight at whatever it might be. Tonight I realized that my new favorite thing is kind of... embarrasing? Pedestrian? Uncool? 

Because right this minute I am enamored with my...Large-Technology-Company TV Casting Device (better not to advertise?). I am not a television fanatic. I don't have cable and haven't felt the need to purchase cable services for much of my adult life. I like to watch a show or two after a long day, but can go days with the TV peacefully dark. Even considering all of that, I am simply in love with my Large-Technology-Company TV Casting Device. It does what it says it will do (cast TV or music apps on to your TV), if costs what it says it will cost (less than a dinner out), and it is small and not cluttery. What isn't to love?

I'm publicly admiting my love, but also sort of hoping the crush passes soon and my next New Favorite Thing is fun, off-the-wall and a symbol of my unending cool factor.  A girl can hope, right?

[SOLSC] Whelming Tide

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

Every once inwhile all of the things that don't matter on any other day start to matter. For a second or a minute, all of the moments that you've passed off as "not worth getting upset over," the items on your to do list that didn't get checked off, the minor irrtations that scratch at your patience--they all decide to take up space in your mind at the same moment. They crowd over each other, push to the front, pop up from the back row and demand to be seen or heard or accounted for. And at that moment, it is too much. There are too many things to do, to remember, to fix, to take care of. A whelming tide.

Then it's over.

The tide goes back down. The to do list comes back in to focus, the forgotten things get remembered, and the irritations slide back in to their hiding spots behind your brain. You are once again able and willing and on track.

[SOLSC] Word Clouds

I am taking part in the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

Last night I had the opportunity to sit in an emergency room for a few hours (no worries--the friend is doing well). The late-night shift was on duty, and they were a sassy crowd. I settled my head onto my arms and listened to the "word cloud" of their conversations. With the curtain drawn, I had few faces to match with the voices, and my imagination filled in what was missing.

I listened to their voices, their whispers, their conversations as they moved from social chats to patient conversations. I heard caring in some and duty in others. I heard everything from sassy gossip to tentative flirting to supportive conversation among them. I could tell who was new to the shift and who had been together in those late hours before.

Those hard-working folks became a TV show in my mind through the words I could hear. They took on characters that may or may not have looked anything like them with imagined lives most likely far from the real thing.

I felt like thanking them as I left in the tiny hours of the night--my friend tucked in and safe under their care. I smiled at them widely as I walked out, but I quickly realized I wasn't in their mental TV show that day--I was just the lady sitting in the chair in room D2 with her head down.

[SOLSC] When I Wake

Today is Day 1 of the Slice of Life Story Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. For this challenge I will be attempting to write a "Slice of Life" post each day in the month of March and each Tuesday after that.

When I Wake

It's 6:00 A.M. on Saturday morning. I had a long week of short nights. But here I am. Awake. Up even. I am awake before six every day. Every. Single. Day. I might be tempted to complain--in fact I sometimes do, but it's impossible to stay irritated for long because this is my alarm clock:

Ruby "Danger" Lavender is named after the main character in the book Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles.  There is a line where Ruby's mother asks, exasperated, "What am I going to do with you?" and Ruby Lavender answers "Love me to pieces?" And that's exactly how it is.

Stella Q. Clementine is there too, but she is happy to sleep in. 

Ruby is simply too excited for the day to begin to wait much past 6:00. And so here I sit, with my alarm clocks curled up on the couch next to me, quite satisfied with my morning routine