EVERY time our two older children have gone to visit at a friend's house, we inevitably hear the same comment upon homecoming:
"Their house is so CLEAN!"
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
When life gives you lemons...
Or, here in Minnesota, when life gives you snow at Easter, make snowmen!
In the midst of housecleaning and food preparation for tomorrow's Easter celebration, Maren came and asked me if I'd go outside and make a snowman with her. I didn't really want to go out, I had a million things to do, and, as I explained to her, the snowman would just melt by tomorrow.
And Maren replied, "But it's fun."
And so she and I went outside and made a whole family of snowpeople, with appropriate holiday embellishments. Lacking a digital camera (yes, I know, we're still straddling the technology innovations that will eventually pull us into the 21st century) I asked Maren, our artist in residence, to document our afternoon in her own delightful style. I hoped to scan the picture into my blog, but... see comment above about straddling the technology innovations.
In the midst of housecleaning and food preparation for tomorrow's Easter celebration, Maren came and asked me if I'd go outside and make a snowman with her. I didn't really want to go out, I had a million things to do, and, as I explained to her, the snowman would just melt by tomorrow.
And Maren replied, "But it's fun."
And so she and I went outside and made a whole family of snowpeople, with appropriate holiday embellishments. Lacking a digital camera (yes, I know, we're still straddling the technology innovations that will eventually pull us into the 21st century) I asked Maren, our artist in residence, to document our afternoon in her own delightful style. I hoped to scan the picture into my blog, but... see comment above about straddling the technology innovations.
Friday, March 21, 2008
This and that and the other
This: today we welcomed spring Minnesota style, with four inches of new snow. The weather people are all but promising it will be melted by Sunday. I shoveled the driveway just in case they're wrong.
That: I'm sick. Jeff's sick. I have a cold. I thought Jeff did, too, but he told me he was dying. 'Course, I've heard that line before, the last time he had a cold. And he didn't die.
The Other: I went to my "six month" audiological eval on Thursday to check my progress with my cochlear implant. It's actually been more than six months since my implant was activated, but I cancelled a few appointments in the interim that got me off schedule. The news was all good, and I'm solidly above average in all the performance areas. Last time I was tested, I did some of my testing with my hearing aid on, and that seemed to boost my discrimination. This time Dianna, my audiologist, wanted to test me with only my processor on, because my scores were already good before with the boost from the hearing aid. We did four tests with just my cochlear implant:
Sentence test 1: the male voice uses speech that isn't too fast and prefaces each sentence with "ready." The sentences are different lengths: "Good morning." "She looked out the window and saw a dog running in the yard." I correctly repeated 95% of the words... an A+!
Sentence test 2: the male voice uses faster-paced speech, sentences that are all the same length, and doesn't signal me with "ready." I scored 84% on this test.
Single word discrimination: single-syllable words in isolation, which are harder without the context of a sentence. The last time I did this with only my processor, I had about about 45% right. This time I had 64% right.
Sentence test in noise: a male voicing sentences in the presence of background noise. This definitely is supposed to be harder than anything I've done so far. I correctly repeated 70% of the words, and my audiologist was duly impressed.
Afterwards we talked about my wanting to get a second implant, which I'd like to schedule for the spring of 2009. It may be a more lengthy process to get insurance approval for a second implant, so I'll want to start sooner rather than later if I want to schedule the surgery on my timetable. A second implant is supposed to be most advantageous for hearing in noise and also for localizing sounds. While I would appreciate those advantages, the real reason I want to get a second implant is because my hearing is so unbalanced. The difference between hearing with the implant and hearing with the hearing aid is incredible. I can only shake my head in wonder that I ever managed with only the hearing aids.
The real world impact of my improved hearing with the implant still continues to unfold. I don't think I've really taken advantage of what I can hear now, other than to surprise my kids when they think I'm not hearing what they say under their breath or when they argue out of my sightline. I think my lack of using my hearing is now partly a listening problem rather than a hearing problem - I'm just not used to paying attention to what is being said because I'm so used to not hearing without being able to see the speaker. On the way home from my audiology appointment, I turned on the radio and switched through the stations until I came to a talk show. I figured if I could hear such a great percentage of the sentences in the audiology booth, I should be able to hear something on the radio. And to my surprise, I did hear something. A woman was being interviewed and she was discussing her experiences, I believe as a political figure. She had traveled all over the world and met all kinds of famous people, and was talking about the war in Iraq and how the US could fix the mess it made there, and she also talked about growing up in Michigan. I didn't hear everything, but it was more than I'd ever heard on the radio that I could remember, and I was... amazed. It still takes a great deal of concentration for me to hear and understand something like that, but it's doable in a way that it was never doable before.
There are still barriers, of course. Besides background noise, which is ever-present in the real world, I still struggle with certain voices and speech patterns. The woman who was talking on the radio was very clear and easy to understand, but I couldn't understand anything said by the man who was interviewing her. It makes me think of a time I was sitting with one of my students at school and there was an announcement over the PA system. My student also has a cochlear implant, and asked me what was said in the announcment. I said, "You tell me! You've had your implant longer than I have." And he said, "But it sounds sloppy." And, for me, that describes the problem perfectly: too many people have sloppy speech. It's time for me to stop being defensive about not being able to hear. Instead, I'll go on the offensive, telling people that I'll understand them just fine if they just speak clearly!
That: I'm sick. Jeff's sick. I have a cold. I thought Jeff did, too, but he told me he was dying. 'Course, I've heard that line before, the last time he had a cold. And he didn't die.
The Other: I went to my "six month" audiological eval on Thursday to check my progress with my cochlear implant. It's actually been more than six months since my implant was activated, but I cancelled a few appointments in the interim that got me off schedule. The news was all good, and I'm solidly above average in all the performance areas. Last time I was tested, I did some of my testing with my hearing aid on, and that seemed to boost my discrimination. This time Dianna, my audiologist, wanted to test me with only my processor on, because my scores were already good before with the boost from the hearing aid. We did four tests with just my cochlear implant:
Sentence test 1: the male voice uses speech that isn't too fast and prefaces each sentence with "ready." The sentences are different lengths: "Good morning." "She looked out the window and saw a dog running in the yard." I correctly repeated 95% of the words... an A+!
Sentence test 2: the male voice uses faster-paced speech, sentences that are all the same length, and doesn't signal me with "ready." I scored 84% on this test.
Single word discrimination: single-syllable words in isolation, which are harder without the context of a sentence. The last time I did this with only my processor, I had about about 45% right. This time I had 64% right.
Sentence test in noise: a male voicing sentences in the presence of background noise. This definitely is supposed to be harder than anything I've done so far. I correctly repeated 70% of the words, and my audiologist was duly impressed.
Afterwards we talked about my wanting to get a second implant, which I'd like to schedule for the spring of 2009. It may be a more lengthy process to get insurance approval for a second implant, so I'll want to start sooner rather than later if I want to schedule the surgery on my timetable. A second implant is supposed to be most advantageous for hearing in noise and also for localizing sounds. While I would appreciate those advantages, the real reason I want to get a second implant is because my hearing is so unbalanced. The difference between hearing with the implant and hearing with the hearing aid is incredible. I can only shake my head in wonder that I ever managed with only the hearing aids.
The real world impact of my improved hearing with the implant still continues to unfold. I don't think I've really taken advantage of what I can hear now, other than to surprise my kids when they think I'm not hearing what they say under their breath or when they argue out of my sightline. I think my lack of using my hearing is now partly a listening problem rather than a hearing problem - I'm just not used to paying attention to what is being said because I'm so used to not hearing without being able to see the speaker. On the way home from my audiology appointment, I turned on the radio and switched through the stations until I came to a talk show. I figured if I could hear such a great percentage of the sentences in the audiology booth, I should be able to hear something on the radio. And to my surprise, I did hear something. A woman was being interviewed and she was discussing her experiences, I believe as a political figure. She had traveled all over the world and met all kinds of famous people, and was talking about the war in Iraq and how the US could fix the mess it made there, and she also talked about growing up in Michigan. I didn't hear everything, but it was more than I'd ever heard on the radio that I could remember, and I was... amazed. It still takes a great deal of concentration for me to hear and understand something like that, but it's doable in a way that it was never doable before.
There are still barriers, of course. Besides background noise, which is ever-present in the real world, I still struggle with certain voices and speech patterns. The woman who was talking on the radio was very clear and easy to understand, but I couldn't understand anything said by the man who was interviewing her. It makes me think of a time I was sitting with one of my students at school and there was an announcement over the PA system. My student also has a cochlear implant, and asked me what was said in the announcment. I said, "You tell me! You've had your implant longer than I have." And he said, "But it sounds sloppy." And, for me, that describes the problem perfectly: too many people have sloppy speech. It's time for me to stop being defensive about not being able to hear. Instead, I'll go on the offensive, telling people that I'll understand them just fine if they just speak clearly!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Why I Work
Two days into my child-free spring break, I've come to a profound realization about why I work outside the home:
To stay awake.
I've always wondered, with just a bit of scorn, what stay-at-home moms do all day when their kids are in school, and now I know. Although I had great plans to be very productive and finish a million projects around the house, the most I've accomplished is three long naps and a dent in the laundry pile. Oh, and I've also made progress in diminishing the dark circles that permanently adorn my eyes during the school year. So this is why Mom looked so much more youthful at my age than I do!
I simply cannot help myself. After dropping Chase off at preschool yesterday, I came home and drank a big cup of coffee, then promptly fell asleep on the recliner for a good hour or two. I woke up long enough to eat lunch, then sprawled on the couch for another snooze, and later found myself dozing at the computer but unwilling to relinquish my place to Caleb. Today, after refreshing myself with a morning nap, I managed to stay upright for the afternoon and get some laundry done, but that's about it. I've always recognized that I'm more organized and efficient with my time when I work, and I'm starting to come to terms with the idea that most of those projects I wanted to get done without distraction during my break will probably be relegated to some weekend in the future. Oh well. At least there will be plenty of weekends to get my work done: studies show that people who take naps live longer than people who don't.
And by the time I finally do die, my road to heck will be well-paved with all those good intentions.
To stay awake.
I've always wondered, with just a bit of scorn, what stay-at-home moms do all day when their kids are in school, and now I know. Although I had great plans to be very productive and finish a million projects around the house, the most I've accomplished is three long naps and a dent in the laundry pile. Oh, and I've also made progress in diminishing the dark circles that permanently adorn my eyes during the school year. So this is why Mom looked so much more youthful at my age than I do!
I simply cannot help myself. After dropping Chase off at preschool yesterday, I came home and drank a big cup of coffee, then promptly fell asleep on the recliner for a good hour or two. I woke up long enough to eat lunch, then sprawled on the couch for another snooze, and later found myself dozing at the computer but unwilling to relinquish my place to Caleb. Today, after refreshing myself with a morning nap, I managed to stay upright for the afternoon and get some laundry done, but that's about it. I've always recognized that I'm more organized and efficient with my time when I work, and I'm starting to come to terms with the idea that most of those projects I wanted to get done without distraction during my break will probably be relegated to some weekend in the future. Oh well. At least there will be plenty of weekends to get my work done: studies show that people who take naps live longer than people who don't.
And by the time I finally do die, my road to heck will be well-paved with all those good intentions.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Top Ten from the coach's wife
Yeah, yeah, I know all of you are sick of having us rub the whole basketball thing in your faces. But I just can't resist sharing a few factoids about this year's team.
10. Last year's B team was barely .500 in their win-loss record. This year's B team was .932 (41-3).
9. Only five players from last year's B team were on this year's B team.
8. Of the top 32 6th grade teams in last weekend's state tournament, only Woodbury and Champlin Park were represented by two teams. The Woodbury A team finished second in the top AAAAAA bracket, behind Champlin Park (with their 6'4" giant). Champlin Park's B team lost two of their three games in the AAAAA bracket and were finished after the first day of play.
7. Woodbury 6B beat the 4th and 16th seeds (Minneapolis South and Centennial) of the top bracket during regular season play, and lost to the 5th seed (Prior Lake) by a basket in the final seconds of another game. These little details goad Jeff into endless speculation on how his team would have performed in the top bracket.
6. You can play some of the players most of the time, but you can't play any of the players all of the time. The 6B team had probably the most equalized amount of playing time for all of its players throughout the season than any other team they played against. While many teams had a few players that were out on the court nearly the entire game, 6B usually played its entire bench, substituting freely and often. They had GREAT depth.
5. At the coaches' seeding meeting for the state tournament several weeks ago, Jeff didn't lobby to be seeded at any particular level. The Woodbury 6B was nominated into the second highest bracket by an Eden Prairie coach, whose team Woodbury beat twice in the regular season. He wanted Woodbury moved up out of their bracket where Woodbury was originally slotted to play. The move made the EP team the number one seed in their bracket.
4. The EP team noted in 5 (above) finished fourth in their bracket (insert smirk here).
3. Enroute to their first place finish, Woodbury beat #4 Eastview, #2 Wayzata, and #1 Eden Prairie (a different EP team than the one previously mentioned).
2. Exchange allegedly overheard between coaches from #1 EP and #2 Wayzata after the first day of play: "We'll see you in championship game." Maybe what they meant was, "We'll see you (lose to Woodbury) in the championship game."
And now, the most amazing factoid:
1. Jeff was not the designated head coach of the team.
Yep, it's true. Despite plannning and executing all the practices, strategizing all the plays for the games, and basically devoting himself to developing each of these players to be the best they could be, Jeff was not officially recognized by the Woodbury Athletic Association as the head coach of the team. When he interviewed for the job, Jeff had two years of coaching experience to offer, in addition to his years of playing high school and college basketball. Plus, he has a job that gets him home every night and every weekend, making him available for every practice and every game. But for reasons unknown, WAA instead offered the position to another parent who had no coaching experience and had only played high school basketball. This parent acknowledged that his job took him out of town frequently and he would need a co-coach. Jeff became the de facto coach, but was not the one designated by WAA.
Maybe next year they'll get a clue.
10. Last year's B team was barely .500 in their win-loss record. This year's B team was .932 (41-3).
9. Only five players from last year's B team were on this year's B team.
8. Of the top 32 6th grade teams in last weekend's state tournament, only Woodbury and Champlin Park were represented by two teams. The Woodbury A team finished second in the top AAAAAA bracket, behind Champlin Park (with their 6'4" giant). Champlin Park's B team lost two of their three games in the AAAAA bracket and were finished after the first day of play.
7. Woodbury 6B beat the 4th and 16th seeds (Minneapolis South and Centennial) of the top bracket during regular season play, and lost to the 5th seed (Prior Lake) by a basket in the final seconds of another game. These little details goad Jeff into endless speculation on how his team would have performed in the top bracket.
6. You can play some of the players most of the time, but you can't play any of the players all of the time. The 6B team had probably the most equalized amount of playing time for all of its players throughout the season than any other team they played against. While many teams had a few players that were out on the court nearly the entire game, 6B usually played its entire bench, substituting freely and often. They had GREAT depth.
5. At the coaches' seeding meeting for the state tournament several weeks ago, Jeff didn't lobby to be seeded at any particular level. The Woodbury 6B was nominated into the second highest bracket by an Eden Prairie coach, whose team Woodbury beat twice in the regular season. He wanted Woodbury moved up out of their bracket where Woodbury was originally slotted to play. The move made the EP team the number one seed in their bracket.
4. The EP team noted in 5 (above) finished fourth in their bracket (insert smirk here).
3. Enroute to their first place finish, Woodbury beat #4 Eastview, #2 Wayzata, and #1 Eden Prairie (a different EP team than the one previously mentioned).
2. Exchange allegedly overheard between coaches from #1 EP and #2 Wayzata after the first day of play: "We'll see you in championship game." Maybe what they meant was, "We'll see you (lose to Woodbury) in the championship game."
And now, the most amazing factoid:
1. Jeff was not the designated head coach of the team.
Yep, it's true. Despite plannning and executing all the practices, strategizing all the plays for the games, and basically devoting himself to developing each of these players to be the best they could be, Jeff was not officially recognized by the Woodbury Athletic Association as the head coach of the team. When he interviewed for the job, Jeff had two years of coaching experience to offer, in addition to his years of playing high school and college basketball. Plus, he has a job that gets him home every night and every weekend, making him available for every practice and every game. But for reasons unknown, WAA instead offered the position to another parent who had no coaching experience and had only played high school basketball. This parent acknowledged that his job took him out of town frequently and he would need a co-coach. Jeff became the de facto coach, but was not the one designated by WAA.
Maybe next year they'll get a clue.
Friday, March 14, 2008
And now, a word from our future president
Below is a pronouncement from future president Maren Blodgett, in all its invented-spelling glory:
If I Were President
If I was president I would make sher nowan would start a arme and evrey oen would wrok to gethr. If somebody stol something thay would have to go to jall for about thre yera's then thay would lren a lesn.
If I Were President
If I was president I would make sher nowan would start a arme and evrey oen would wrok to gethr. If somebody stol something thay would have to go to jall for about thre yera's then thay would lren a lesn.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Uh, thanks, sweetie... I think.
Maren and I were snuggling on the couch in front of the TV (okay, ALL our couches are in front of a TV in our house) when a commercial for "The Biggest Loser" came on. My dear daughter turned to me and said brightly, "You should volunteer for that show, Mom! You could probably win!"
Sunday, March 9, 2008
2008 MSF 6th Grade Division A Boys Basketball State Champion
That is what WE did this weekend, in a total of five playoff games:
Game 1: Woodbury 43, Shakopee 41
Game 2: Woodbury 55, Blaine 46
Game 3: Woodbury 43, Delano 18
Game 4: Woodbury 54, Lakeville South 43
Game 5: Woodbury 44, Moundsview 33 State Tournament Final
All in all, it was a very good weekend.
Up next: MYAS State Tournament in Fridley, March 15-16
Oh, and a little plus for Coach Jeff: personal congratulations and a handshake from Randy Shaver, the KARE 11 sports god and coach of the 6th grade Division AA powerhouse Benilde. Shaver's team was in the final that took place after ours - no doubt they won. The players at that level are truly elite for their age.
Game 1: Woodbury 43, Shakopee 41
Game 2: Woodbury 55, Blaine 46
Game 3: Woodbury 43, Delano 18
Game 4: Woodbury 54, Lakeville South 43
Game 5: Woodbury 44, Moundsview 33 State Tournament Final
All in all, it was a very good weekend.
Up next: MYAS State Tournament in Fridley, March 15-16
Oh, and a little plus for Coach Jeff: personal congratulations and a handshake from Randy Shaver, the KARE 11 sports god and coach of the 6th grade Division AA powerhouse Benilde. Shaver's team was in the final that took place after ours - no doubt they won. The players at that level are truly elite for their age.
Monday, March 3, 2008
What you don't want to hear when you drop your child off at preschool
Mondays and show and tell are just not a good mix for our family. Last week, Chase was in tears on the way to school because he couldn't find the toy he wanted to bring. So last night and this morning, I reminded him that he needed to have his show and tell item in his backpack and ready to go. While I was brushing his teeth this morning, Chase assured me he was all set. Good, good, we have to go, get in the car, I have a meeting, etc. etc. I'm stressed because I have a conference early in the morning. I drop the two older kids off at school, drive to St. Andrews, and get Chase down to his classroom. As I'm herding him to the room where the kids play until school starts, Chase makes his announcement:
"I brought a gun for show and tell!"
"I brought a gun for show and tell!"
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