Knitting Zeal

Public schools and our kids in Pennsylvania

Public education has been part of my life since I started kindergarten at a Philadelphia public school way back in the mid 1970s.  I completed 13 years in public school, kindergarten through 12th grade.  During that time I had the opportunity to spend a year, in fifth grade, learning some Latin, learning how to play flute and violin in third and fifth grade respectively, help out in the library as an aid in sixth grade (and further develop my love of books and the dewey decimal system,) learn some French and Spanish in seventh grade and then continue to study French in 8th through 12th grades and develop my interest in all things French!  

I had gym class every year.   I remember when my elementary school installed a new trampoline in the gym and we all got to take turns on it.  I remember participating in a "jump rope-a-thon" in the gym in elementary school.  I had the best art teacher in elementary school, Mrs. Horshack.  I wanted her job.  I still remember exactly how she pronounced "orange," as she was a native New Yorker.  I remember taking a special art club program with her after school.  All of these "electives" helped me grow as a student and as a person, contributing to my understanding and learning.

Today, many school districts in Pennsylvania are facing enourmous budget cuts due to Governor Corbett's severe funding slashing to public eduction.  That means that kids in school today may not be able to have the opportunity to have "elective" classes.  (I use quotations because I do not consider art, gym, music, language or library science elective, but essential; the schools are forced to classify them as such.) My son is still in preschool, but I study what happens in our local public school system to see what opportunities he will, or maybe will not have when he goes there in 2013.  My husband and I are prepared that we might have to supplement our son's education as needed with private lessons in music or other arts.  It isn't fair to today's students that they might loose out on the chance to experience learning opportunities that will contribute to their futures.  

I learned recently that a neighboring school district, Upper Darby School District, is only able to balance their school budget by eliminating art, music, gym and library classes in elementary schools and eliminating language and technology classes at the middle schools.  Those cuts include many teachers losing their jobs.  This school district, according to PSEA, is facing an almost $6 million budget cut since the 2010-2011 school year. This is a disservice to the children that will have a profound consequence on their future.  It is also a disservice to the teachers who worked so hard to establish their curriculums and own studies to be exemplary teachers.  And is is a disservice to the community, who will now have children growing up through their school district with an educational disadvantage, affecting the community's future. 

Balancing the budget for a school district is an enourmous task that appears to be compounded by antiquidated PA laws.  There is no simple answer, except maybe the powers that be ought to focus on solutions to this crisis by engaging with educational professionals who understand the problem enough to brainstorm a solution.  People need to talk about this problem so that it stays a trending topic in the media and under the noses of the elected officials. 

#HeyTomCorbett

Thanks to Stephanie of Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom for enlightening me on this topic.  Check out her blog for her post and links to others who are concerned about the budget cuts to public education in Pennsylvania.

Happy Halloween!

2010 in pictures, a year end review

January, 2010...cleaning up with his new dyson.

February 2010 brought lots of snow!

March 2010 brought indoor bike riding with a new backpack (which has since gone missing!)

  And a visit to the Philly Flower show!

April 2010 brought spring flowers and cousins over to celebrate Easter!

May 2010 brought a visit to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival!!  What a fun day!

May led into June, filled with fresh picked strawberries from Solly Bros. Farm.

Father's Day 2010, a lesson in baseball.

July 2010 included a trip to visit dear friends in Deal Island, Maryland where we checked out the bay and picked blueberries!  We have about a handful left of them in the freezer for our pancakes tomorrow!

August 2010, a trip to Lancaster, PA and Dutch Wonderland.

September 2010 included a trip to the Crayola Factory and...

...the first day of preschool!!  (Someone turned three too!)

October 2010 gave an chance to pick apples and dress up as a mailman for Halloween!

  November 2010 let us enjoy a visit with the "real" Thomas the tank engine!

In December 2010, specifically Christmas day, our monkey boy got his first real digital camera.  He proceeded to take these fun shots...I took the last one of him and his dad enjoying a Homer snuggie!

We celebrated the countdown to noon at the Please Touch Museum today!  It was a lot of fun with lots of confetti and streamers, along with learning numbers!  Happy New Year!!  Can't believe another year has flown by!  2011 should be just as exciting!

Rosie Pink Packages for moms with breast cancer

October is breast cancer awareness month and coincidently, I recently learned of two young mom's nearby who are currently battling breast cancer; one just finished treatment and is doing well, the other is in stage 4 and has approximately 18 months left to live, leaving behind a husband and three little ones.  There are at least three women from my HS class that I've learned are breast cancer survivors.  To hear about more and more young mom's being diagnosed with cancer is frightening.  

Recently I learned about a non-profit organization that focuses specifically on moms with breast cancer and supports them and their children by providing a special package to help. The Rosie Pink Package is a bundle of creative items that help a mother and her children explore their feelings about mom's diagnosis and to increase the bond between them through art, music, reading and pretend play.  The Rosie Pink Package can be purchased as a gift for a mom who is dealing with breast cancer to use with her children to provide comfort.  Each package features (as per the website:)

Stuffed Rosie Hippo -- Warm snuggly comfort for moms and kids, this soft plush Rosie is available stuffed with French lavender and natural wheat grains from England --- or stuffed with wheat grains only. Rosie can be popped into the microwave for 30 seconds to provide soothing warmth, or put into the freezer and used as a cold pack. Rosie comes with a special backpack that is perfect for leaving loving notes for a child to cherish.

“Me & My Mom” Art Journal & Crayon Rocks -- To help moms and kids create colorful memories together and to enable children to share their thoughts and feelings with their moms!

“Rosie Moments” Art Journal -- A journal for moms to record the positive moments in their lives during this difficult time.

“Rosie Thoughts” Note Box -- A box for a mom and child to share special secrets!

“Only One You” by Linda Kranz -- A wonderful book for a mother and child to share that provides an opportunity to reaffirm how special and unique we all are…and how special the relationship is between a parent and a child!

CD:” I’m Me” by Charlie Hope -- This CD is a treasure. Charlie Hope’s music is sweet, refreshing, and so engaging. Her voice is beautiful --- pure and angelic --- and the songs are catchy and easy to sing along to.

Rosie Tote -- To carry all that love and activity! 

The hippo is just adorable and I like how it uses aromatherapy to soothe.  Utilizing creativity is very therapeutic, so I think this type of product can be so useful in healing from the stress of illness.  The items can also be purchased separately or a mini-package is available. 

The Rosie Pink Package non-profit foundation was started by a mom who is also a breast cancer survivor.  Kimberly Bloom wanted to provide support and comfort to other mothers who were dealing with a diagnosis.  The proceeds of the products sold by the foundation go towards covering the cost of Rosie Pink Packages for low-income mothers and their children.  Ms. Bloom also is the owner and CEO of Rosie Hippo, Inc., an online retailer of natural, earth-friendly toys.  Five percent of the proceeds of toys sold at Rosie Hippo, Inc, is donated to Rosie Pink Packages.  

I have no affiliation with Rosie Pink Packages and have not received anything in exchange for this blog post.  I was just so touched by this non-profit that I wanted to share this information.  

Are you a LOST fan?

So there are only a few more episodes left of LOST and I am starting to feel like I've wasted the last six or so years watching this ridiculous program.  When it premiered in the fall of 2004 I was not sure what exactly the show was...at one point I think I thought it was another reality show.  My husband and I have faithfully watched every episode since the premier, sometimes twice.  It is the only show that we both watch together regularly and like.  It has given us material to discuss during stressful times (like bad job situations and sleepless nights with an infant) and it has been entertaining.  When I worked, each week the day after the new episode was the "Lost Club" in which we would gather and theorize about the show and what was occurring in each episode.  That was one of the few things I actually missed about my job when I left!  However, I am frustrated with the way the show is concluding.  It is taking too long!  Each week the producers/writers seem to be dragging out the story into minute detail and the commercials seem to be more frequent. There are only a few episodes left, so I'll be sticking through until the end.     

***Spoiler Alert***

If you haven't watched last week's episode, stop reading now!

So last week three main characters were "killed off."  Two of the characters were a couple on the show who had a young daughter.  The husband refused to leave his trapped wife to die alone, so he drowned along with her.  Very sad, yes.  Tragically romantic, maybe.  They left a little girl an orphan, though, which was very irresponsible parenting in my opinion.  (I know it's just a TV show, but that discrepancy annoyed me.)  The male character could have saved himself for the sake of his child.  Wouldn't most parents choose their child over love?  Even if it was a horrible choice?  

So tonight is another "final" episode, leading to the real "final" episode, which recently has been extended by another thirty minutes because "there is so much story left to tell."  I'm starting to wonder if there really won't be a logical conclusion and I'll still be "lost" in the end.  At this point I'm waiting for a storyline including aliens to be thrown in just for the hell of it.  

Phanatic at the museum

The toddler and I went to the Please Touch Museum today for a rainy day activity.  I had been telling him I would take him last week, but I wasn't feeling great and kept putting it off.  He has spring fever and needs to run around, so going to the museum was a perfect place to burn off some energy.  

I am not a sports fan and don't really follow local sports, so I wasn't aware that today was Phillie Phanatic day at the museum.  There was a grand unveiling of 20 Phanatic statues that were designed/painted but 20 different artists.  Each artist was present during a small ceremony and got to unveil their statue.  There were "ball girls" on hand giving out Phillies towels/large wash clothes and their own baseball cards.  The actual baseball players were not there--they are in Florida for training, but the Phanatic did make an appearance.  I am not sure why, but today was part of "Paint the town Red" week, so instead of being a crazy shade of green he was all red.  Andrew and I stood patiently waiting for the introduction of the Phanatic.  Andrew does not know who or what the Phanatic is, so he really wasn't all that interested in hanging out there.  I thought it might be fun, but it was utter chaos.  

The interesting thing that I noticed was that many of the kids, especially the younger ones, were in the same mind as Andrew.  They were there at the museum to play, not listen to grown ups give speeches or look at funny looking statues.  Who was creating the pandemonium?  The parents, and other adults (there was an abundance of old men in baseball clothing without kids!)  There was a father standing next to me with a stroller holding an 18 month old boy and a three year old boy next to him.  The dad was SO EXCITED that the Phanatic was there.  He kept running over my foot with the stroller and stepping on me.  It wasn't that crowded, but he apparently thought I had a better view (I didn't.)  This dad was so disappointed when his kids refused to take on a volunteer job to help unveil a statue because it scared them.  Once the Phanatic was out in the crowd, this dad practically stalked him until he got a photo of his kids with the red monster.  Crazy stuff.  

 

What was the highlight of Andrew's day?  Going inside the tree structure without me.  They have a temporary exhibit on trees at the museum, including a life size tree that has a tunnel in the center with climbing ropes and a slide.  To get to the slide, kids have to climb up a series of ropes to get to the top, go through a little tunnel and then to the slide.  Andrew was too small for it, but a big girl helped give him a boost with the rope climbing, so he was able to slide down.  He even did it twice.  This was big for him, as he often refuses to do anything without me being right there.  I was proud of how brave he was.  He had a blast!  He fell sound asleep on the ride home.  

 

Flowers, flowers, everywhere

On Saturday my mom and I ventured into Philadelphia via the train to see the Philadelphia International Flower Show.  I had not gone to the show since prior to being pregnant, so this was a nice treat.  It was beautiful seeing and smelling so many flowers and sucking in the energy of SPRING!  We arrived early, but it quickly became really crowded.  It was the second to last day of the show and a weekend, so I guess everyone had the same idea. The theme this year featured different countries of the world, so it gave the show a nice international feel.  I think my favorite display was a simple one of spring bulbs: lilies, hyacinths, and amaryllis.  The hyacinths smelled so wonderfully like spring.  

We stopped for a quick lunch at DiBrunno Bros, who had a few sandwich stands in the convention center.  I had a great Brie and turkey sandwich with caramelized onions and chutney on a multi-grain baguette.  YUM. Plus, I could eat it without a small toddler asking for a million things.  I had seriously considered taking Andrew to the show, but after lots of deliberation, decided against it.  Mainly because it was expensive for admission, but also because he would have a hard time seeing things with the crowd.  It was a good decision.  The crowds got on my nerves after a while!  

Many more photos are on my flickr page.    

Oatmeal in a water bath on a cold morning

So with impending snowicane/snow-nado/snow-quake fore-casted, I thought a pot of oatmeal was in order for breakfast, especially since the three of us would be home.  (Chris can telecommute for work on bad-weather days.)  I had picked up a container of steel cut oats, or Irish oatmeal a few weeks ago but was disappointed with how long it took to cook on the stove.  I did a search for some slow-cooker recipes and found a really unique one that involved a water bath in the crock pot, making clean up easier.  I found the recipe/directions for what I did here, which was described beautifully.  I will have to admit that I was skeptical of using my crock pot as a bain-marie, but it worked out perfectly.  I had been thinking that making oatmeal in my big crock pot would be a.) messy and b.) making a huge quantity considering the minimal amount of liquid/food in the crock pot for it to work well.  This method turned out great and I would definitely make oatmeal this way again.  It will be especially easy for those mornings when Chris is up and out of here earlier than us because the crock pot has a stay warm feature. 

I started out with a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup filled with four cups of water.  I added one cup of steel cut oats, a pinch of kosher salt, and a handful or two of raisins.  I gently mixed it all together and placed the Pyrex cup into my slow cooker/crock pot.  I then filled the crock pot with water so that the level was close to the top of the liquid of the oat mixture.  I put the lid on the pot and set the timer for 8.5 hours on low.     I was estimating the time based upon when I thought we might be ready for breakfast.  I think I could have done just 8 hours or possibly 7, since the oatmeal stays in the crock pot covered until I'm ready, and therefore continues to cook in the warm water.  The raisins more than plumped up overnight and practically dissolved in my mouth when eating.  Next time I may wait until morning to add them so that they plump without disintegrating.  Some of the oatmeal escaped the Pyrex cup, but not too much.     A larger, more shallow baking dish may work better, but the measuring cup seemed to fit the best inside my crock pot.  Clean up was super easy--no scraping up dried out oatmeal!  Andrew is not a huge fan of oatmeal, so he only ate a little bit.  I flavored his with some maple syrup.  Chris got a nice spoonful of peanut butter in his and I added a little cinnamon, brown sugar and maple syrup to mine--reminiscent of the old Quaker instant maple and brown sugar flavor, one of my favorites from childhood, second only to apples and cinnamon!  I think the next time I make this recipe I'll add apples and cinnamon to the mix and let that cook overnight.  Definitely a nice hearty and warm breakfast on a cold morning.  Of course the snow was a no-show for the most part!

It is snowing here, but it's been mostly flurries all day.  The roads were clear this morning, and still are, so I am really surprised at all of the school closings in the area.  I really wish the media/TV weather folks would be more realistic with their predictions and not freak everyone out.  Of course it could all change tonight, but I think it is ridiculous.  I watched a few minutes of a news program last night, one I normally do not watch but it was on after the Olympic coverage, and the weatherman actually had a graphic on the screen rating the storm today in a similar fashion to the way hurricanes are rated.  Today's flurries was rated a category five--EXTREME!   Seriously.  They were showing local stores with people in a panic over not being able to find any more shovels.  

This morning I received an email from my local yarn shop, the Tangled Web, advertising a one day only snow sale.  If you mentioned the email today when shopping, you received 20% off your total purchase.  Not too shabby!  Of course I do not need anything from any yarn store, but I did need to get out of the house, so Andrew got his little snow boots on and we set out in the "storm" in the jeep to check out the fibery goodness.  I did check on the yarn requirements of the pattern I want to knit for Andrew for next winter before we left, so I let him help pick out yarn for his wallaby sweater.  He picked out a lovely dark pink at first, and said it was red, but eventually we narrowed it down to a heathered tan or a gray-blue shade.  I decided upon the gray-blue, since I thought it might not show dirt quite as much as the lighter color.  I went with Encore worsted acrylic/wool bend since it will be a garment that will need to be tough and very washable.  Plus, he'll probably only get one season's worth of wearing out of it, so it isn't worth it to me to invest in more expensive superwash wool.  It was Andrew's first trip to a real yarn shop and he was so good.  He only touched some of the yarn and was content to just check everything out.  He even helped pick up some skeins another shopper had knocked off the shelf and walked away from without noticing.  

I'll end with a photo of the Category Five storm:  
See all that snow--it was left over from the storm two weeks ago.  What is new is the snow on the trees and the rooftop of the barn.  So far, it isn't even shovel-worthy.  Hopefully it stays that way! 

It's the season that never ends: WINTER

While technically it is still winter, at least according to the calendar, I am ready for spring.  I keep hesitating to stick the egg-covered spring wreath on the door, since it really isn't time quite yet.  This winter had been downright mean to us here in the east coast.  Really bully-like mean.  According the latest weather forecast we are expecting a, get this, "Snowicane" tomorrow.  I am convinced that the weather folks are determined to scare the crapola out of the viewers by making up new weather words.  Starting with more rain overnight and into tomorrow, turning to snow (8-12 inches) and gusting winds up to 65 miles per hour.  I hope that our house will survive it.  The wind does scare me since our house is surrounded by many old, tall trees.  One in our back yard is estimated to be over 300 years old.  It's an oak, so I hope that the roots are long enough to reach the core of the earth so that it stays upright.   

So despite the forecast I did not go to the market to buy snow foods.  I did actually go to the store and park, but by the time I got there the toddler had fallen sound asleep, so I just headed home.  We are stocked on milk, the most important supply for our dairy addicted child, but I did have a bit of anxiety at only having seven eggs in the house.  (Ridiculous anxiety.)  

The idea of being snowbound for another day does make me a bit crazed.  I stopped watching the news for the most part, so when planning our week I did not count on having to be home all day Thursday because I hadn't seen the forecast.  Andrew and I had plans to go with buddies to the aquarium tomorrow.  In the winter I get a mild case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) from being in the dark too much and not getting outside as often as the rest of the year.  With all of the snow, we can't even go to the local playground--the snow has been taller than Andrew!  To make up for the cold weather I try to plan an out-of-the-house activity almost every day, even if it is only to run around the mall, Target, bookstore, or library.  Three days each week we have regular activities:  tumbling class, music class and play group.  Today was play group day, thankfully, and we had a wonderful time.  Andrew loves his little buddies and it helps me to have other moms to spend time with chatting about anything.  We stayed for lunch today and the kids got a few extra hours of playtime.  It was definitely needed, considering it looks like we might not make it anywhere again until Saturday.  I have a pile of craft projects for the toddler and lots of books and toys, so he will be entertained.

So for now I will be dreaming of warmer, spring weather, waiting for the tulips and daffodils to start blooming, and thinking about the beach.

Baby, it's cold inside

So I just discovered that the reason I feel so cold is because the heater is not firing.  Great.  Waiting for service tech to arrive...let's hope it's something easy and inexpensive to fix!

In the meantime I have the fireplace cranked and Andrew is covered in six blankets for his nap.  I still feel cold, though, but it may be psychological.  I'm going to try knitting to warm up.

Update***  Petro came and fixed a coupler--now all is well, or warm.  Thankfully we have a service contract, so it was covered!