Almost May 1st

May 1st is a big day for many colleges, and for many potential college students. It is the date many colleges use as the deadline to pay your deposit as a new student to hold your place in the class and in housing. It is the indication that you the student really do intend to attend that college.

This has been a stressful spring recruiting season for a lot of colleges. The economy is wreaking havoc on our numbers. More than ever families are evaluating the value of the education the student will be receiving at any given college. We are seeing a lot of cross applications with state colleges, because for the price you get a pretty good product. In the state of Massachusetts, if you score over a certain amount on the state MCAS tests, you can qualify for free tuition at a state college. If that same student is eligible for a federal Pell grant, the cost to attend a state college is minimal. You SHOULD go there. We want you here, but it will still cost that student thousands of dollars out of pocket or through a loan to come to my college vs. going to a state college.

I am happy about a few of the consequences of the current economic situation. I am UNHAPPY that the Bob remains unemployed. But that aside, I think it is good that people are thinking longer and harder about how they spend their money. I think it is good that rampant consumerism might be curtailed a bit. It is good that both on a personal level people but also companies have to evaluate how they do business and scale back on expenses, to a certain extent.

For too long this country has focused on more, bigger, more, bigger. It is not a bad thing that we are being forced to really evaluate how we spend our money and what we really NEED. There will always be those who don't care about that. One of the people on my Facebook friends list put out a status update saying she was thinking that an income of $250,000 really wasn't that much for a two person household. I bust out laughing. I would be THRILLED with that kind of income. She clarified that she thought that it wasn't a lot if you wanted to own a home in New England and have some kids. I laughed again. I own a home, I live in New England, and have a kid. And when Bob was working our combined income was considerably less than that. I think people EXPECT a lot in this life. They WANT a lot. But what do we really NEED?

Most students don't need a private college education. It is a luxury in this country that we have such wide access to higher education. We are a very fortunate and rich country in so many ways. I hope that as we work our way out of this stupid economic situation, created much in part by greed and lack of respect for people, the environment and for doing what is right, I hope that we find some integrity and common sense.

In the meantime, because of my role at this college, I also hope that at least 500 new students decide they really do want to be and can afford to be students here. So my boss doesn't lose her ever loving mind. Because that kind of crazy doesn't stay contained to one person. She likes to share the insanity.

Farmazoolapalooza

This has been BUSY, animal filled weekend. Saturday found Cooper and I at the farm, again, visiting all of our now very familiar friends, and making one new one - Truffle, a black cow who let us scratch her ears and nose. She is a very short, stocky cow. She is the kind of cow I imagine I would be if I was a cow. I am not a tall person, only 5'4" and I kind of liked Truffle's look. Short, compact, and appreciative of a good ear scratch.

Today we checked out the Franklin Park Zoo. We have quite a few zoos in this area to choose from. This has officially been deemed the Summer of the Zoo. We will try to check them all out. Franklin Park has many of the traditional animals you hope to find at a zoo if you are a small person obsessed with the movie Madagascar: lions, tigers, zebras, giraffs, and LEMURS. It also has a nice selection of primates, which Cooper was quite interestingly unimpressed by. There are 6 gorillas there, and at one point you can be as up close and personal with them as being separated by a giant reinforced pane of glass will allow, and yet, Cooper was all "Yeah, nice, LION?"

I am not a big fan of zoos, what with all the imprisoned animals and all, but this is a pretty nice facility with very "realistic" and open air enclosures. If by realistic we mean in almost downtown Boston. How close to being in Africa is it in January in Boston? Whatever. The animals seemed comfortable. There are two Bactarian Camels. I am not sure how these differ from any other camel, but I was surprised to see that their humps were floppy. Since I have very little experience with camels, I don't know if this is normal or a sign of something like being old. Flumpy humps aside, they were impressive.

In other news, we went to a birthday party yesterday held at our local YMCA. There was a bouncy house. This was Cooper's first experience with a bouncy house. It took a solid 15 minutes before he was convinced going inside was okay, and then once in there, he never actually BOUNCED. He walked, ran, laid down, but never jumped up and down. He loved it, as long as he wasn't on the receiving end of any of the punches and elbows being thrown by a kid who is soon to be on the Rangers roster to replace Sean Avery after he gets his butt suspended permanently one day. That kid needs some Cesar Milan style pre-schooler whispering. He was downright hostile. His mother was on his case the entire time, but short of removing him from the gathering, there didn't seem to be any stopping him.

For me, the bouncy house looked like one giant germ fest. I can't help it. I looked at this thing and thought "How much spit, sweat, snot and gunk is on the floor of this thing that my kids' face has just been rolling on." Heebie Jeebies. It didn't cause me to stop him from going in there, but ugh. Tubby time could not come fast enough. And now I keep hearing about how the swine flu has surfaced in Mexico, killing 60+ people, and how people are coming back from their vacations sick - helloooo anyone else notice this is SPRING BREAK and SCHOOL VACATION time - and you just know this is not over yet.

I know it seems contradictory that I don't mind if Cooper pets a cow but I am grossed out by a bouncy house. I know how that cow has been raised on that organic farm. I don't have the same level of confidence in the cleaniness standards for everyone who has been in that bouncy house. Let's just hope none of them have been to Mexico recently.

What clock are you on?

Two days ago I had a chance to speak to my mother who shared a story in which a certain neice of mine was late for school because she fell asleep again after taking a shower and no one in her house checked on her or woke her up again.

The rest of the story is inconsequential. The funny part of this is Bob's reaction to that part of the story. Since hearing it, randomly out of nowhere Bob will say "I am sorry, but I don't understand how that happens" or "How do you do that? How do you get up, take a shower and then go back to bed? The day has started. Places to go, things to do. GET UP."

Bob is a morning person. So am I for that matter. And Cooper. It works out well for us. If even one of us was more of a night person we would have problems. But I am well aware that my brother and his daughter are wired a little differently. Their prime functioning time is probably from 3pm to 2am. It is very hard for them to function on what our society has deemed the normal business day, from 9 - 5. Or in the case of high school, it can be as early as 7am. Throughout our childhood I devised many ways, some cruel, for getting my dear sibling out of bed and mostly on schedule. Sheets were yanked, singing loudly and obnoxiously, even a sprinkling of cold water now and then. When we attended the same college there were a few times I would call him in the morning, have an entire conversation with him about meeting for breakfast and he would not only go back to sleep, but not remember the conversation at all.

At this point in our lives, we can do 6 things in one morning because we have the energizer bunny living in our house. This weekend we will undoubtedly visit the farm and see the cows etc. and play in the sandbox and walk the neighborhood several times. Before noon. But that is just how we roll. We will try not to make too much noise in case you are one of those still sleeping...

Just like Oprah, without the burden of wealth and fame...

In my blog roll you will find Baby Squared a fun blog written by Jane Roper about the joys and trials of being a mom to twin toddler girls. Jane lives in the Boston area and is trying to get a book published and has made the top 100 in the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel competition. Now she is in the running to try and be one of the final three.

So, to help the cause and get her more exposure - i.e. get the five or so people who read this blog who are also not Oz Spies because she already knows about the competition to read the excerpt, I am giving you the link to download it, for free, at Amazon.com here.

I have downloaded and read it and LOVED it. I can't wait to be able to read more. It takes place in a fictitious town in Maine, but it might as well be Friendship, ME where I spend time each summer. The smells and the sounds were right there in my mind as I was reading the excerpt.

Sometimes I don't connect with an author's voice. When I attempted to read "A Confederacy of Dunces" or "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" I completely did NOT connect with the writing. Nothing about either book grabbed my interest and I stopped reading. In fact I stopped reading anything that Oprah suggests to her "book club" because whenever I read something she recommended, I hated it. Oprah and I apparently have very different sensibilities. Go figure. Oprah - fabulous wealth and her own empire; me - picking up dog poop in the backyard while wearing my pajamas because Cooper insists on being in the sandbox at 7am.

Anywho, it may help that by reading Jane's blog I have become familiar with her style, but a blog about your real life is a very different animal from writing a work of fiction. There is character development and creating a world with details and depth and it is HARD. I truly feel Jane has talent and while she feels she is a long shot for getting into the top three, I am hopeful that she eventually gets it published so we can all read the rest of the tale.

Otherwise I will have to stalk her and make her tell me the rest. Like I have time for that. Good luck Jane! And since the excerpt is free to download, tell three friends, and tell them to tell three friends...

Introducing a great new book by a great person

One of the things I love about my neighborhood and by extension living in our town is the diversity of people I have gotten to know. Not just ethnic diversity, although that is certainly true, but the diversity of ages, experiences and interests.

One of the moms I have gotten to know in our neighborhood is Meena Kothandaraman who is the mother of two children, a vegetarian and daily yoga practitioner and is a seriously creative person. She just self published a children's book that she has been very devoted to writing for awhile now, which is available for purchase through Amazon.

Can You Say My Name is a story for everyone who has ever had a name that is difficult to pronounce. It is a children's book, but as someone who grew up with an unusual last name and who has moved quite a few times as both a child and an adult, I have spent a lot of time pronouncing and spelling my name in my lifetime. This book spoke to me.

The book focuses on the anxiety of a little girl who is getting ready to go to her first day of school and is worried that people won't be able to say her name. She finds out that she is not the only one in the class to have an unusual name, and by sharing each of their names the students and teacher learn more about each other.

Meena has felt for a long time that there is a big gap in children's literature in terms of stories that focus on Indian culture and more specifically, growing up bicultural. Her children are not biracial, both of their parents are Indian, but they are being raised with a deep awareness both of their American culture as well as their Indian culture. Meena decided to try her hand at filling that gap with this first effort. If things go well, she may write others.

I encourage you to check it out, and even purchase a copy. It is well written and beautifully illustrated. I will be getting several copies myself, and sharing a few copies with Cooper's day care center.

The week is almost over...

Another ridiculously busy week is almost at an end. I am taking tomorrow off, and because I work at a college on the Boston Marathon route, we don't have school on Monday. Whoohoo!

This week we watched Dancing with the Stars and Steve O and his dancing partner were eliminated. Steve O is "famous" for being one of the Jack Ass guys. If you can be famous for lighting yourself on fire while jumping off a cliff into a pile of poop. Or something equally stupid. Anyway, Bob was sad they were eliminated. I asked if it was because he liked Lacey, the professional dance partner. "Um, she is wearing her UNDERWEAR." Which of course explains why Bob tolerates watching this show at all. Professional ballroom dancing mavens in skimpy outfits doing the rumba.

In other news, Cooper spent the ride to school today pretend sneezing. "Aaaah, aaaaah, aaaaah CHOO!" and then hysterically laughing. That's entertainment.

Alfred Hitchock has nothing on us

We are being stalked. By a robin. I first noticed a robin attacking our neighbor's front window. Robins do this in the spring. I think they think the reflection is another bird and that they need to defend their territory. Later that same day there was this robin sitting on the window sill of our living room window. Then it was pecking at the window. Attaching itself to the screen and pecking. Sitting in the bush outside the window and staring in with one of it's beady little eyes. Pecking some more.

Then on Saturday Bob said "Hey, that robin is over here trying to get in the side door" which is on the opposite side of the house from the living room window. Now Bob swears he will look outside and see the robin sitting on the line or the grass across the street, staring at our house. Planning its next assault.

Last spring we had a robins' nest in the bush outside this window. And the day after the babies flew the coop, I had to wrestle one dead baby robin out of one of my dogs' mouth. Bob thinks the robin is the mother and she is back for Gus.

I honestly think if we left the window open it would fly in the house. It has pecked at the front windows a bit too, but mostly it focuses its efforts on the side window. It gets a bit freaky, especially when it just sits there on the sill, with one or the other little birdy eye staring in at you. "One day, I will get in. You will forget about me, and leave the window open on a warm afternoon, and then I will get in. And then it is ON."

In other news, on Friday the cable line got torn off the house by the recycling truck. So when I got home, Cooper got to see a real life Bob the Builder in action. What more could a boy ask for but a guy with a hard hat, tool belt and a ladder working at his house? And we had Easter dinner with Alex, Bob's oldest son and his girlfriend. I have seen Alex a total of 7 times in the 7 years I have known Bob. So it was unusual, but pleasant. Cooper totally dug having him here and shared every tool he has AND put on a brief musical concert with the ukulele and harmonica. That kid knows how to wow the crowd.