Til Tuesday?

Happy March 31st!

 I started this challenge because so many of my colleagues were writing and I hoped they would be pleasantly surprised if I joined. It's motivating to have people read my writing and sometimes commenting on it. Some days it was hard to find something to write about, but I was always happy when I finished it. 

About halfway through the month, I told my brother about it and he asked for the link. This was interesting, because, what if I wanted to write about him? 

"You have so many great stories to tell," he said encouragingly, "You should keep going after the month is up."

I'm not sure how I feel about that idea. I do have stories to tell. But, I'm not going to lie, I'm looking forward to not having to worry about what I'm going to write tomorrow.

I like the idea of Tuesdays always being an option. Maybe I'll see you guys on a Tuesday.

On The Road Again

 "We do road trips right," I told Tracey on our way home from Buffalo. 

"You think so?" Tracey asked.

"Yep," I nodded, "I've thought about this a lot."

What makes a road trip great? Heidi's criteria.

• Plan Your Stops

"Are you ready to stop?" Tracey asked me about 2 hours into the trip.  

"Well, I think Lucy would like to get out." I replied, 

"Then let's go a little further," Tracey thought for a minute, "I know of a better stop for Lucy." 

Of course, she was right. 

• Good Snacks

"Hand me some of that leftover cheesecake from your mom's dinner party." Tracey said, "I cut it in small squares so we can eat it without a fork." 

"Sweet!" I replied, "But I'm gonna eat the vegetables and dip because my blood sugar is too high for me to eat cheesecake right now."

• Good Games/Playlists/Podcasts/Books

"Can we be finished with Name that Tune and listen to the book for a while?" I asked, "It's gonna be a bit before I can play another game after the beat down you gave me in Name that Tune and Yitch Yitch." 

"Sure, let's listen for a while." Tracey paused, "But first, let's do a recap about where the story stopped."

• Good Company

There is no better company to my mind than Tracey and Lucy. 

 

Party Post-Mortem

"What did you think of the party? Was it a good one?"I asked my brother this morning about my mom's 80th birthday party that we hosted last night.

"Well... there were no problems," he noted. "That was a good sign,"

"What kind of problems are we talking about? Like snafus in the running of it? Or like mom fighting someone?" I inquired. I think those are two different criteria.

"Either," he said.

"Hmmm," I thought. "He was NOT everywhere."

What does make a party great?

According to Bunny Holmes, The 5 Core Elements of a Great Party are:

•  Attended by Good People: 

"Oh, you put the compost directly into the garden bed?" my cousin Jacque (Dad's side) asked my cousin Sandy (mom's side). "Do you use all of your food scraps?"

"Well, we have pet pig, so all of our food is repurposed," Sandy replied. 

"You have a pet pig?" Jacque asked, "Is it potty trained?" she seemed skeptical about this. 

"Oh sure, she lets you know when she had to go outside AND when she wants to be covered by her  

 blanket." Sandy answered with a smile and a smirk.   

• Beautiful/Appeals to the Senses. 

The scent in the party room was roses (from the flowers bought for the birthday girl) with an        underlay of cooked beef.  I found it a little nauseating, but everyone else seemed to think it smelled really great in there.

"Those flower smell amazing... and is that prime rib I smell?" asked my Aunt Kathy when I greeted her at the doorway.

 "Yes and yes," I replied with a wide smile.      

            

•  Grants you permission. 

We played two games of BINGO with prizes! CASHOLA! My brother was the BINGO caller and my cousin Kristin had no trouble letting him know how he was doing.

 "Next number: N 57, N 57," my brother called out loudly.

"You're doing it wrong," Kristin yelled at him, "You're supposed to say N 57, N 5-7," she                reprimanded him.

"My apologies." Mark replied, rolling his eyes.

        .            

•  Dangerous/ Exciting. 

I believe any party with several participants over the ag of 75 is dangerous.

"Did you just take my picture?" my mother asked my cousin Denis. "DON'T EVER do that again. I don't want that to end up on the internet!" she yelled a little shrilly.

"It's just going in Tracey's album not online," he tried to tell her placatingly.

"Well I don't believe you, they always end up on the internet." she retorted with a serious side eye "I don't like that!"

"I promise, Aunt Louise."

        

• Makes a Good Story. 

          Recap:

✅ Attended by Good People.       

✅ Beautiful/ Appeals to the Senses 

✅ Grants You Permission 

✅ Dangerous/Exciting 

✅ Makes for a Good Story 

I rest my case.  

Trendy

Here in Buffalo, there is a coffee place called the 7Brew. It's a drive through coffee place and it's wacky. This place is so trendy and popular that they have a guy who has to direct traffic. He has to make sure all the cars turn in form the same lane... no cheating coming from the other direction. You have to go to the end of the line and take the next spot.

"Start the stopwatch!" Tracey said once we were in line behind about 100 cars waiting to give their order.

This place reminds me of long ago, drive in fast food places, circa 1950. Once you are waiting in line in your car, the waitress comes to your window to take your order. In our case, we had two people, one was in training. The trainer was carrying some suspicious jug full of clear liquid. The label on the bottle said it was mocha flavoring but it was clear! SUS!

I'm not sure why the trainer was carrying the jug around. In my head, he was going to clock the trainee with it, or pour it over her head, or maybe shake it violently at rowdy customers?

Thank God Tracey had enough sense to make everyone pick out what they wanted before we drove there.

With 4 drinks to order, we had a big gap between us and the car ahead of us. 

"Let's move up," the trainer suggested.

"Should we try to drive at your pace?" Tracey asked.

"Yep," he replied. I really wanted Tracey to go fast, then stop, then slow, then fast.. just to see if the waiters would try to stay with us. But she did a nice job of keeping a slow steady pace they could mimic and walk along beside us.

By the time we received our orders and were on the way back to my mom's, the stopwatch said, 25 minutes. The coffee was fine, but not sure it was worth the wait. I never did get any clarification about the jug of mysterious liquid either.

Functional

Before we got Lucy, I was mesmerized by zoo and aquarium trainers using tricks and treats to teach their animals to get used to the way they had to be touched or manipulated to conduct an exam. This seemed genius to me, so while I was teaching Lucy the usual tricks (sit, give a paw, lay down, roll over), I was also trying my hand at "useful" tricks.

For example, Lucy's curly hair soaks up water and gathers snow on her legs like a runaway snowball going downhill, so it usually takes wrestling and "Twister" like antics to get her back paws wiped. One day it finally hit me: I could teach her to give me her back paws just like I taught to give me her front paws! Easier said than done. There was quite a bit of kicking going on during that learning process.

Next, I saw videos of orangutans and chimpanzees showing their teeth so they can get brushed. Of course, I thought, "Lucy should do that! Dogs mouth hygiene is just as important as humans, right?" We must have gone through at least 3 tubes of beef, peanut butter and mint flavored dog toothpaste. Lucy is NOT a fan of the mint flavored; noted by the way she spit it out and slammed her mouth shut whenever the tube came out.

I used to babysit a friends toddler. When she would see me eating something, she would come over to me and say "Ah." and wait with her mouth open. I thought "Eureka!" Lucy takes several pills depending on the season of the year. The best functional trick I ever taught Lucy is to say "AH".  

When Lucy needs to take a pill, we used to have to hold her mouth open and try to shove the pill as far down her throat as possible. Which caused much gagging and puking or simply spitting the pill out. Now I give the command: "Say Ah" and she opens her mouth wide. 

Next up: she has GOT to learn to pick up after herself and I know just what to do!

Yitch and a Ride

"Horses on my side!" Tracey pointed out "Yitch Yitch! 20 points!"

"Yep, you're killin' it," I responded. 

"Oh no! Not another cemetery on your side!" Tracey said with snicker, "You're back to zero."

We were in the car, on a road trip to Buffalo. We had already gone around the dial a few times in Name that tune. Victor unclear (ok - it was Tracey, it's always Tracey - it's the early 70's tunes knowledge).

Yitch Yitch was another game we were playing. I'm not really sure of the rules. It's a game Tracey's father made up for her family when they were on a road trip. The rules seem awfully flexible to me. I mean, what the hell is "Yitch yitch," anyways?

"I think broken out windows should be minus 20 points," Tracey stated, she was practically rubbing her hands together in anticipation of the slaughter coming my way. There were several on both sides of the road. "And, there is a log cabin on my side, too! That's another 20 points!"

"Well I think broken down houses should be minus 50 points!" I exclaimed, pointing at one on her side.

"Ok," Tracey agreed. We drove along, chatting, eating popcorn and talking about my family drama.

"Oof - is that two broken down houses on your side?" Tracey winced. 

"Yep, game over, I admit defeat." I gave her a chocolate covered caramel for her conquest.

Read Aloud

 One of my students is reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for the 8th grade dystopian unit. This is a student who has some significant focus issues, so one strategy we use to address the issue is to read it aloud together. We take turns: I read, he reads. This approach has been working really well until today. Today he decided he wanted to read it with character voices.

His Katniss voice is very "sex kitten": breathy, a little high and when he reads it, she pauses in very disturbing places. Imagine it: ' So...I'll be in a ...coal miners outfit? I ask...hoping it won't be... indecent.' I was waiting for him to wink and leer at me after that reading. But I don't think that's how he meant it; he just doesn't have too many "girl voices" in his head. Which somehow makes it more creepy and unsettling.

"How do you like my Katniss voice?" He asks.

"Umm... It's not really how I hear her voice in my head," I replied carefully.

"What?!? Why? It's a great girl voice!" he insisted, his voice raised indignantly.

"Well, I don't know. She's a strong girl; she feeds her family by hunting food and trading it - she's tough. The voice you use doesn't sound all that tough to me," I tried to explain.

As we continued reading the book, it became apparent that he was so engrossed in his voices that he wasn't actually comprehending what he was reading. When I told him so, he was very perturbed about this observation.

"You are so worked up about the character voices that you aren't paying attention to what you are reading," I informed him. 

"Not true! I AM paying attention!" he exclaimed.

"Really? What did Cinna do to Katniss' costume for the opening ceremony?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um... I'm not sure." he said sheepishly.

"They LIT her on Fire!" I said, stunned, "How did you miss that?" I shook my head, trying to clear it.

"Look, I know you like using the voices. When we finish the book and finish the assignments, you can reread the book and record yourself. It can be as if you are performing it for an audio book. You can listen to it over and over if you want." I was really trying to sell this idea so we could continue reading the book for class.

"Oooh! That's a great idea! I'll do it!" he said excitedly.

Mission accomplished.