April 2007 Archives

So I was driving the boys home from school today, listening to NPR's Marketwatch program. They had a segment on how some plant growers are trying to come up with recyclable versions of the plastic containers that nursery plants are sold in, mentioning one made of rice hulls in particular. Later in the segment, they described how manufacturers are also looking into recycling other biodegradable materials for plant pots, mentioning discarded chicken feathers as a possibility.

It put me in mind of how difficult it is for me to throw away things that are potentially useful, though I loathe the clutter that follows this mindset. I know that the inability to throw things away is not just in me, its pretty universal to some degree. I'm thinking that on some level we humans should have been paying attention to that inclination. It is definitely simpler to just devise simple ways to generate whatever you need out of new raw materials, than it is to transmogrify something into something else. I can see how in times past a person would have been thought insane to recycle chicken feathers into a pot when you could mold a plastic one using considerably less effort. That economy of effort seems to be what has got us into the environmental pickle we're currently facing. Perhaps we should all look more closely at what we're throwing away, intentionally and unintentionally.

One of the points the nursery person made was that the price of rice hull pots and the price of plastic pots was slowly converging. Once the monetary price is the same, it will be a no brainer as to which kind of pot to use. I hope this is a trend that spreads throughout all of commerce. Before the modern age, people were forced to use every bit if whatever raw materials they had at hand. It sounds grim, but it was at least difficult to be thoughtless of what was wasted. Just a thought.

New stuff is nice, I agree. I'd rather that my children feel confident enough in the future of our planet to provide me with grandchildren, though. I try to project the life of something before I buy it, with the hope of avoiding adding needlessly to the landfill. Sometimes, everything seems needless.

Time to knit.

Well, I took last week off because of spring break and the whole kids with me constantly I can't think when will this be over thing. That's over now. Of course, it is Thursday of the following week, so it took me a while to recover. And there are still no photos. I am aware of this, deeply aware, and somewhat regretting the choice to use a more DIY blogger that causes me to have to actually really think about putting photos in. Thinking is not really on the agenda, despite my rich fantasy life where I do lots of it and solve the world's problems. Which I have done, I just don't have time to tell you.

Anyway, this has been a really bummer week news wise, what with the crazy people and the guns. There are some really huge, horrible things happening in the world. But there are also some really great wonderful things happening, too. They just get no air time. So I am refusing to be sucked into the negativity of the "terrorist" menace, the nut job menace, and the government menace.

I'm going to concentrate on problems closer to home. Incredibly stupid problems. Oh crap, I feel a tirade coming on. Yep, that's what it is. So, we have this really cool park in my little old burg of Unremarkable, CA, that no one has heard of but the missionaries. This park is threatened with eradication because it is an old insurance menace.

The fact that it is picturesque and imagination-provoking, that it has actual dragons, dinosaurs and the opportunity to slide out of a whale's mouth is immaterial. These things are made out of—heaven help us—cement! What we really need are more hyper-designed, ultra-safe modular, tubular, cognitively enhanced play areas for our darling wee tots to continue their lives unencumbered by any corporeal self-preservation skills whatsoever. (Don't even get me started on the horror of the splinter-inducing wood chip substrates under these new marvels. Those are definitely the product of a fetishist cabal to ensure mommies don't wear open-toed shoes at the park.)

I know this has happened in lots of places, but why? It really shouldn't. I am not in favor of kids getting seriously injured, and I know that shit happens, but seriously, the kids are more likely to get maimed or gravely injured in a fender bender on the way to the park. I can't possibly be the only one who reads insurance statistics?

I have to admit I wasn't all up in arms about this (well, I had calmed down about it anyway), but my sister, who lives in Unremarkable, IL, (Like Mayberry, only more cosmopolitan) told me that her town's picturesque mid-century modern cement climbing structures were under scrutiny now, too. And they are the coolest things ever, the kids love them, and they don't even have teeth or fins!

Is there some kind of lobby by the people that make the big tubular structures that I don't know about? Parks in this country are starting to look like McDonald's everywhere: exactly the same reliable old thing. Oh gee, another tubular climbing structure. Whee.

Just for a change of pace. So I'm working on a sleeveless pullover/shift kind of thing out of sock yarn. Its probably not the best idea ever, I think the sock yarn might end up being a mite itchy, but I've been thinking of doing it for a while, and accumulating sock yarn like its going out of style (which it most assuredly is not). I know, um, where are some photos? Well, it is spring break, so this evening Sysguy and I will chat about that. He has done his part providing me access, now I just have to figure it out. Ergh. I made a couple of lace rectangles from some sock yarn a year or so ago, and I have been scheming how to integrate them into a garment ever since. I think they will end up being the sleeves/upper bodice of the pullover. The current bits are the front and back which are done in another more eyelet lace pattern, with purl ribs between repeats. I've decreased the width of the purl ribs going up from the hem, to shape for my, um, curves. At the top of the front and back I have omitted the yo's but kept the twists that were the dec stitches, so now I have very tiny cables for the bosom area. This is really nonsensical without photos. I'll be back.

As a pragmatic to a fault girl, I find myself in a quandary with sizing. I like to imagine that I will at some point be a smaller person, and I am loathe to spend too much time and $ knitting up something that my imaginary svelte self will be unable to wear. Of course, the opposite is happening, and I am finding I need to create knitted things that can only exist in a fantasy dimension. Hence the expanding/contracting hemline of the above described pullover. Sigh. It doesn't help that knitting is not exactly aerobic, but I require it for reasons of sanity.

Well, the excitement has been building for a couple of weeks now, it was at a fever pitch this week at the school and at our house: Spring break! The kids are squirrelly with excitement. As at Winter break this year, the big excitement of Easter happens in the first couple of days, leaving the entire rest of the break to be filled with diminishing expectations. So, its a break from school where we all realize that school is in fact, pretty cool. Until June, when it looks boring again. We're not doing anything exciting. SysGuy will be continuing apace with the gainful employment thing he's got going to keep us warm and dry (thanks honey!). I plan to try to paint the boys' room as part of the incremental process of eradicating the pale mauve paint that was slathered over the interior of the house when we bought it. I'm thinking of letting the boys help with one wall of many colors. We'll see how patient I'm feeling when the time comes. There is a flower farm in Carlsbad that has a sweet pea maze. I'd like to take them there on Tuesday, 'cause I'd like to see it, we're suckers for mazes here. At the end of the week we might pop (!) up to Sacramento to visit relatives. Like I said, not too exciting. And that's how I like it. We are not a religious family, but Sysguy and I are open to season change celebrations just to fit in. So the boys have been dreaming out loud of what the Easter Bunny will bring. When did Easter become a mini Christmas? It never was when I was a kid, and it has never been for our kids. The pervasive advertising of Easter crap seems to have given them the idea that there is the possibility that there will be toys. There won't be toys. It is a purely sugar driven holiday here chez kmbrknits. I hope they won't be too disappointed, but I feel that as a parent it is my job to help them learn how to deal with disappointment. Its hard. I hate to disappoint the kids. It would be much easier to just give them everything they want and see them super happy for 30 second bursts. I worry about those 30 second bursts of excitement. The thrill of new stuff is addictive meth that keeps you from being able to appreciate the pleasures of old stuff (or just life) after a while. You just wander around hoping for the next hit. I prefer them to cannibalize their old toys to make new things. Its fun to see what they come up with. For all of us. Happy Spring Everyone!

Ok, after the long winded tirade yesterday (that was cathartic!), I would like to add that the most exciting thing happened at my jobette this week! (If it was full-time, it would be a job; part-time=jobette, just in case anyone was going to get their knickers in a twist) So, I run the computer lab at the elementary school my kids attend, about which you now know way more than you wanted to if you read yesterday's post. One of my goals is to matriculate 5th graders who can type like the wind, without even thinking about it. There are lots of things they can learn on the computers, but in elementary school, I think the most useful thing they can learn during my time with them is how to type with speed and accuracy, so they don't have to deal with typing issues as they get older and use the computers for more intellectual pursuits. So I look for web sites that have free (public school, we're all about free) and fun typing programs. One of which has this cute game called Spacebar Invaders, which is basically what you imagine, only with typing instead of torpedoes. I set it up so that whoever could beat my score (96,750) was entitled to a lab period of playing a popular non-educational computer game while the balance of their class toiled away at the usual school work. After four weeks, I got a winner!!!! A fifth grade kid blew past me to score 108,750, which is pretty darn respectable, even for an adult. I am so psyched to have had enough enthusiasm behind the deal to get someone to actually beat me! Yay! I am fairly certain I was more excited than the kid was. I know there are people who are opposed to "play" time during learning time, but if its good enough for the air force, its good enough for me. My standard line with the kids is that if they can map the nintendo/gameboy/Xbox/ playstation/whatever interface to their fingertips, they might as well do the keyboard. Take advantage of the neural plasticity while you've got it, I say! Which reminds me, I totally screwed up my atomic analogy the other day (thanks Dad). That's what I get for blogging so long after science classes wore off. You all got the idea.

Well, that's not what my street is called, but it might as well be. Sheesh.

Sevenish years ago, Darling Sysguy and I with wee bairn Thing 1 began a life of genteel poverty in this house we afforded by the skin of our teeth, in order to be in the best possible school area we could. Because at the time, that is what mattered—if you don't know an area at all, the school scores seem as reasonable a measure as any of potential compatibility. I don't think that's true anymore, but we'll get to that later.

A bit of background: I grew up in a mostly blue collar town, a suburb of Peoria, IL, if you will. My dad was in middleish management at Caterpillar, and he felt it would be silly to move to a "better" neighborhood once he could afford it. I don't think he was wrong, but I was hoping to "buy" my kids way out of having to associate with the twits I went to school with (by twits, I mean the future barflies that threw lit matches at the the more ambitious types while waiting for the bus. Good times.) Boy, was I misguided. Not only did I not manage to elude the rougher element (Lord of the Flies for the toddler set, who knew? Boys will be boys you know!) in peers for my kids, we're smack in the middle of Entitlement Land!

I am aware of how ridiculously spoiled we are here, how hideously expensive it is to live in SoCal, especially in the style to which I am accustomed. (See the post about the disney annual passes. Spoiled.) Anyway, in addition to the idiotic toddler mom, the neighborhood we had such high hopes for with the spate of babies the same age as ours has turned out to be a hotbed of education snobs, too! Yay! What, this crap couldn't wait till College? Our local elementary school has scores within 50 points (just a stab, I don't care enough to look it up) of nearby SnobSea schools. SnobSea regularly has the top public school in the state. And well they should, because if an annual $1 million endowment from the local education fund doesn't buy your hamlet school district top scores, baby, nothing will. I won't even mention the totally stressful "All studying, All the time!" ethos of the town, but lets just say its a little more competitive than I want my kids to deal with. Ever.

That, and the fact that there is no way in hell Thing 1 and Thing 2 will be coming into a BMW coupe for their 16th birthday, and I don't want them to associate with kids who have that to look forward to. I have limits. I will grant you, SnobSea is pretty, I like living near it, driving through it, and not having to pay my property taxes there. And the Starbucks is convenient. However, my wack neighbors have A) Sent their kids to private catholic school (all the better in that case). B) Sold their house to rent in SnobSea until the prices go down enough for them to buy, to get their kids in the district. C) LAUSD teacher is thinking of sending her kids to SnobSea (how, I do not know) because her kid won't get into the GATE* program in 1st grade at my local school. Um, because the GATE program doesn't start till the end of third grade, when the coaching by hopeful parents pales and innate brilliance shines through. (If your kid is a genius before then, by all means, get him some appropriate help, just don't expect the school to bow before his intellect. They're busy with all the mainstreaming they have to do.)

Its getting to the point where the principal just looks at me and says "Hey, I heard from another one of YOUR neighbors today". I feel so special, and not in a good way. Its never a social exchange with the school, my nieghbors always want something for nothing, or they stomp off and put their $ and volunteer time (if any) elsewhere. Because why would you waste time volunteering at the public school when you can buy a prestigious education elsewhere? I guess I'm a crazy loser who thinks I can make a difference there, and set a good example of community service for my kids. Duh.

Wee bairn Thing 1 is now in second grade. Thing 2, who did not exist back then, is in kindergarten. They are thoroughly, happily, average. If they were above average, I wouldn't tell them because I expect them to work for their successes, not assume they'll have them through talent. The school is delightful, with a very high percentage of parent involvement in which I participate and thoroughly enjoy. In fact, the thing I dislike about the school is the constant pressure to up the damn scores that drew me in in the first place. Nothing says "cash please" to Sacramento like a slightly higher score every year. Because children are exactly like widgets, and they come out better, faster, prettier, more streamlined every year! Lets push them!

So the kindergarten of yore, frought with fingerpainting, cooperative tee-pee building, and lovely naps, is now the meat-grinder in which our shiny new offspring are introduced to the treadmill of American Work Life. ABCs, colors, numbers to 30, and sight reading of at least 30 busy words is expected by the end of the year. If your kid can't cut it, get thee to a better preschool, or hold him back! The poor kindergarten teachers are expected to work this alchemy in a mere 3 hours per day! That's right folks, none of that all-day kindergarten required, we can ram the widgets through in half the time! I am feeling grateful that we had children early enough to miss the mandatory kindergarten algebra.

The kicker to this for me is, if anything extra happens at the school, anything at all, a bus to a field trip for instance, the PTA pays for it. The realtor failed to mention that, lo these 7 years past. Our fundraisers have fundraisers with twee little feverishly high pitched fundraisers on them. Because this is the only school in the district that does not qualify for Title I grants, too wealthy. So, we're all mortgaged to the hilt to get into the good school, and then we're expected to pay for individual paper clips, too. As Calvin would say, AAAaaaauuuug!

My computer lab jobette, and the librarian? Paid for out of a special grant intended for extras. Because those ARE extras, right? Did YOUR elementary school have a library? I don't like sounding as though I don't appreciate people who truly love to excell, or do so innately. I do. I just don't think you can force it on someone and expect them to have a happy life, or condemn them to certain failure for not wanting to participate at that level. I see burnt out and hopeless 4th and 5th graders. Why? For scores that keep the property values up so more kids can come in and improve the scores? Who benefits in the end? End of Rant.

I'm going to watch House and knit. Hugh Laurie is much cuter as a crank than he was as a fop, don't you think?

 *Gifted And TalentEd: can be synonymous with "mom and dad are so desperate to have created genius I have no idea if I actually am one".