When I have to drop off Little Man at preschool, I have to park the car and walk him into the classroom every morning. Which means the car is parked either on the street, or in a parking lot across from the street. The parking lot is tucked away behind a wall of trees, so it's secluded and quiet. Though it takes me between 5-10 minutes to drop off Little Man at school, I always take my purse with me when I park the car. I think that's just common sense, why leave valuables in the car even for a short period of time? It's like you are tempting fate, looking for trouble, eager for a throw down with a potential smash and grab robber. Yet at least 3-4 times during the school year I'll get an email from that Passive Aggressive Director about another mom's car being broken into and her purse stolen.
Seriously women, why would you leave your purse in the car? Are you so deluded that you think you live in a bubble and no crime will happen here in Satellite Village? Let alone crime will touch your gilded lifestyle? And what gets me is that after the initial email, usually in September of the school year, these women STILL leave their purses in their cars while they walk their kids to school. Come on, we all know which mom got robbed, we see the police cruiser/motorcycle on the side of the street with the officer taking down their information. Yet some brilliant woman decides to still leave her purse in the car to tempt fate. Do you think you're immune? That bad things will never happen to you in the same location and time as the previous incident? And you leave your purse in the front passenger seat, not even trying to hide it under the seat of in the trunk of the car. What is with these women? How many times do you have to get an email saying another car was smashed and a purse stolen? You think the robber doesn't know that a lot of stupid ass moms leave their cars full of possessions in order to drop off their kids at school? Having the common sense to take your purse with you is a good thing. Having the development of common sense after getting emails about robberies is also a good thing. But ignoring them all and continuing to leave your purse in a car is just plain stupid and maddening for me.
So when another smash and grab is reported and the upteenth email is sent warning us about leaving purses in cars, I'm just exasperated by the total stupidity and ignorance of these women. And to tell you the truth, I have no sympathy for you and your stolen purse. I think, good riddance. Maybe this will knock some sense into that bleached head of yours, past the silicon bobbing along in your bloodstream, and make your realize that you're no better than anyone else. That taking your purse with you, even for 5 minutes, is worth the trouble. And maybe you'll be an example for your children, teaching them to be safe when in public, and to not tempt potential criminals with laziness and small mindedness. Until that time, I'm betting that I'll get another email soon, before the school year is up, about another smash and grab. Seriously, if I was a criminal I'd be all over this area with the easy pickings. People just don't seem to learn from other's mistakes, or they are just too idiotic to care.
Okay, I did get another email from the Passive Aggressive stating another four cars had been broken into. At this point I'm almost wishing for more break-ins because people don't seem to understand the concept taking valuables with you instead of leaving them on the seat of the car!!! Stupid...just stupid.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
DIY Means I Have Too Much Time on My Hands
I like to be busy, not frenetic busy and stressed, but I like to have something to show for at the end of the day. Maybe it's just a product of working for all those years, but I like to be productive. For a while, after we moved here, I felt adrift and lost. I didn't know what to do with my time. There weren't any museums or parks to explore with the kids. And the shopping was definitely depressing, plus how many times can you go to the local mall a week? So after we purchased the house, I started working on the house.
First I painted the interiors. I did all but two rooms and the baths. I would drive to Lowe's or Home Depot at least twice a week with Little Miss. I'd buy all sorts of paint and drop cloths and brushes. I also changed the locks in the house. I switched out electrical switches and outlets and some plumbing fixtures. I did landscaping and mulching. I did all I could with a baby at home, which basically meant no real demolition or serious home improvement. Maybe when she starts school I'll have the opportunity to switch out sinks and vanities in the bathrooms. So I did all I could do on the house with my limited time and with Little Miss.
Next I decided to take on some cooking. I started out making things I missed from NY. I made rainbow cookies and black and whites. I made my own bagels (which I discovered I need a more powerful Kitchenaid since the dough is too stiff for my Kitchenaid) and pretzels. Than I started tackling macarons and cream puffs and gougeres. I made spicy bacon caramel corn (yum, who doesn't like bacon?) and NY Style Crumb Cake. I made chocolate soufflés and florentine lace cookies. Than I started getting fat and decided I need to take a break from all the sweets.
So now I'm in the beginning of my latest obsessions - skin care. For a while I wanted to see a dermatologist, but it seemed that a lot of the ones I checked out on the internet were big proponents of botox and fillers. I don't need to see a derm for him to make me feel worse about my skin and push products on me that I don't even want to consider. So I really resisted my need to see a derm. For a while in the past I was an avid user of Tazarac cream which I loved, and I'm seriously considering getting back on for what little vanity I have left. So I thought I should first explore vitamin C serums, and happened across a website called skincaretalk.com. Holy crap, talk about hardcore women who concoct all sorts of potions and creams for their faces. All based on organic and holistic ingredients. I'm no hippie but I try to buy organic and recycle when I can. But I'm not hardcore. So when I saw a DIY recipe for vitamin c serum, I knew I had to try it. I also saw a DIY recipe for Rodin's Olio Lusso. Now I was also contemplating Darphin's 8 Flower Nectar Oil, since my skin is so dry out here I need more moisture, and Olio Lusso seemed relatively similar in composition. So I decided to try to make some of that as well.
I spent about two weeks researching oils and websites, trying to figure out what I wanted and where to buy them. So between three different websites, I purchased about $350 worth of oils (essential and carrier) and bottles to start mixing up my new fangled potions. I started out with a simple vitamin c serum, which is nothing more than lactic acid, glycerin, distilled rose water and a few drops of jojoba and vitamin e. It's a bit thin, but I can feel the tingle and who knows if it's really working or not. But in order to make it more of a "serum", I bought some ferulic acid, sclerotium gum, and phenoxyethanol. As for my DIY oil, it actually seems pretty good. I realized I don't need to wear my old standby La Mer anymore since the oil is moisturizing enough at night. Maybe I'm mixing too many essential oils in, I got a couple more that I'm going to toss in. So far my little foray into DIY skin care seems to be working. It was a pretty big initial investment, but with all the oils I purchased I can make enough to last me for a couple of years. Plus I'm going to make some for when my friend comes to visit me in May. She'll get to experience my DIY skills. Hopefully she won't break out as a result.
Anyway, I guess the point is I'm constantly looking for ways to occupy my time during the day. I hate feeling like I wasted a day, and when Little Man has play dates and Little Miss is napping, and I like to be productive. I started looking into DIY shampoos, but that seems a little too hardcore for me now. I'll just stick with my serum and oils and see what I look like 2 months from now. Maybe some of those "freckles", aka age spots, will fade away. Than I'll move on to something else to DIY.
First I painted the interiors. I did all but two rooms and the baths. I would drive to Lowe's or Home Depot at least twice a week with Little Miss. I'd buy all sorts of paint and drop cloths and brushes. I also changed the locks in the house. I switched out electrical switches and outlets and some plumbing fixtures. I did landscaping and mulching. I did all I could with a baby at home, which basically meant no real demolition or serious home improvement. Maybe when she starts school I'll have the opportunity to switch out sinks and vanities in the bathrooms. So I did all I could do on the house with my limited time and with Little Miss.
Next I decided to take on some cooking. I started out making things I missed from NY. I made rainbow cookies and black and whites. I made my own bagels (which I discovered I need a more powerful Kitchenaid since the dough is too stiff for my Kitchenaid) and pretzels. Than I started tackling macarons and cream puffs and gougeres. I made spicy bacon caramel corn (yum, who doesn't like bacon?) and NY Style Crumb Cake. I made chocolate soufflés and florentine lace cookies. Than I started getting fat and decided I need to take a break from all the sweets.
So now I'm in the beginning of my latest obsessions - skin care. For a while I wanted to see a dermatologist, but it seemed that a lot of the ones I checked out on the internet were big proponents of botox and fillers. I don't need to see a derm for him to make me feel worse about my skin and push products on me that I don't even want to consider. So I really resisted my need to see a derm. For a while in the past I was an avid user of Tazarac cream which I loved, and I'm seriously considering getting back on for what little vanity I have left. So I thought I should first explore vitamin C serums, and happened across a website called skincaretalk.com. Holy crap, talk about hardcore women who concoct all sorts of potions and creams for their faces. All based on organic and holistic ingredients. I'm no hippie but I try to buy organic and recycle when I can. But I'm not hardcore. So when I saw a DIY recipe for vitamin c serum, I knew I had to try it. I also saw a DIY recipe for Rodin's Olio Lusso. Now I was also contemplating Darphin's 8 Flower Nectar Oil, since my skin is so dry out here I need more moisture, and Olio Lusso seemed relatively similar in composition. So I decided to try to make some of that as well.
I spent about two weeks researching oils and websites, trying to figure out what I wanted and where to buy them. So between three different websites, I purchased about $350 worth of oils (essential and carrier) and bottles to start mixing up my new fangled potions. I started out with a simple vitamin c serum, which is nothing more than lactic acid, glycerin, distilled rose water and a few drops of jojoba and vitamin e. It's a bit thin, but I can feel the tingle and who knows if it's really working or not. But in order to make it more of a "serum", I bought some ferulic acid, sclerotium gum, and phenoxyethanol. As for my DIY oil, it actually seems pretty good. I realized I don't need to wear my old standby La Mer anymore since the oil is moisturizing enough at night. Maybe I'm mixing too many essential oils in, I got a couple more that I'm going to toss in. So far my little foray into DIY skin care seems to be working. It was a pretty big initial investment, but with all the oils I purchased I can make enough to last me for a couple of years. Plus I'm going to make some for when my friend comes to visit me in May. She'll get to experience my DIY skills. Hopefully she won't break out as a result.
Anyway, I guess the point is I'm constantly looking for ways to occupy my time during the day. I hate feeling like I wasted a day, and when Little Man has play dates and Little Miss is napping, and I like to be productive. I started looking into DIY shampoos, but that seems a little too hardcore for me now. I'll just stick with my serum and oils and see what I look like 2 months from now. Maybe some of those "freckles", aka age spots, will fade away. Than I'll move on to something else to DIY.
Preschool Semantics for Adults
For me and the Big Man, our children are important and their schooling is the one thing we constantly thought about in our search for a house. One of the paramount reasons why we settled in Satellite Village was because of the "Blue Ribbon" schools here. First of all, every school we've driven by touts itself as a Blue Ribbon school, so I don't know how prestigious this moniker is. But supposedly our Unified School District ("USD") is in some top percentage in the state, not sure what but all the realtors would spout off some figure which I can't seem to substantiate. Maybe the USD is just average and I got duped. Coming from NY and believing up until a couple of years ago that I would be spending the next 20 years applying to private schools and filling out multiple applications for preschool/kindergarten/elementary/middle/high school, I was somewhat relieved about a good reputable public school. After all, I was a product of the public school system and I think for the most part I turned out okay.
Satellite Village's USD seemed relatively benign. Nothing to really complain about, yet nothing to really extoll to my friend's back home in NY who had kids. For what it's worth, it's probably a good USD considering the parental brain power here to start. So the first September we were here I enrolled Little Man in the local preschool, which is located on the grounds of our designated elementary school. Maybe I was being naive, or just lazy because this was public school. I admit I didn't do my due diligence about the preschool, but it seemed like a relatively nice school. Granted, it's no Kidville (where Little Man took early childhood classes while in NY) or the Ethical Culture School (where I was going to apply for Little Man if we stayed in NY), but it seemed adequate.
The preschool, like I stated earlier, is located on the same grounds as the elementary school. It touts itself as a touchy feely school where they allow kids to develop at their own pace in a "nurturing" environment, similar to a Montessori but not quite. Art plays a big part in the curriculum, which is somewhat useless for my Little Man since he's not an artsy fartsy type of child. But he enjoys a random project every once in a while. So to make up for the lack of academic rigor I had enrolled Little Man in Kumon classes when he was three and a half. He was reading and doing math before he was four. Though we stopped Kumon after a year (Big Man thought it would burn the Little Man out before he went to kindergarten), I continued to give him homework at home so he would be challenged and ahead of the state's minimum academic requirements. Like I stated earlier, I have big plans for my Little Man. And those plans don't include some UC Blah Blah Blah I've never heard of, or any state school. God forbid he goes to a junior/community/vocational school. He's smart enough to get into a private 4 year institution in the New England area.
Back to the preschool. The teachers in his classroom are wonderful. I will have to admit that they are kind well meaning women who really care about the kids. And I like them as people, they are just nice women. But the Director of the school...ugh...talk about a bad copy of a Passive Aggressive Stereotype. First of all, this woman comes across as a fake person. She always has a plastic smile slapped on her face and she never comes out and just says something to you. It's always in a form of a question. How are you today? Did you remember to bring snack today? Is Little Man signed up for Early Care? Did you park in the fire zone? All these questions when she's either watching me carry snack into the class, policing the Early Care room, or standing by the fire zone watching us all park to drop our kids off. If you know the answers, than just come out and tell me not to park there. I'm a big girl, I can take a directive. What I don't appreciate is this passive aggressive nonsense you like to spout off. I don't know how long she's been here as a Director of the preschool, but some other people have told me that she used to be really fat and lost a lot a weight. Ummm, what do I care? And what difference does that make? Bully for her, but that doesn't mean she's a better person. Oh, and that she goes to some local church every week. Yeah, well there are a lot of evil people who believe in God and go to Church. Being a practicing Christian doesn't automatically make you a better person. Seriously, are people here so small minded that going to church and getting gastric bypass is a free pass for bad behavior? Anyway, she's just a bad pill for me to swallow twice a day when I pick and drop off Little Man at school.
Because I wanted continuity for Little Man, I had to suck it up and deal with this farce of a human being for two years. Otherwise I would have just switched preschools to another place that treated me as an adult instead of a mentally challenged two year old that needs constant nagging for the simplest of tasks. I swear, this woman makes me rue each check I have to write out every month for preschool. That I'm supporting her and paying for the food that goes into her already distended belly just makes me resentful for all the nasty comments to me and the mis-identification I had to deal with for the first six months. Oh, I forgot to mention that she didn't know who I was for the first six months we attended this preschool. She kept thinking I was another mom, and would approach me and talk to me for a few minutes before I noticed her glazed expression showed confusion over my face. And she would also tell other moms I was someone else. They would correct her, and she would question them over the veracity of my identity. Basically, she is clueless and could do no right in my mind.
Every day at school I have to navigate fake pleasantries with her, when all I want to do is her to bug off and leave me alone so I can have a somewhat pleasant day without her mug in my face. It's bad enough I'm cutting you a check for several hundred a month, at least give me the courtesy of leaving me alone. I don't need to feel pandered to by you giving me a fake greeting every morning. Ugh, it's all I can do to just be civil to her. If there is one thing I can't stand is being fake. I won't be fake to you, either I like you or I don't like you (or I'm indifferent, which just means I'll ignore you since I have no feeling toward you at all). All I know is that when Little Miss starts preschool we will be going to another school. Though I love the teachers, I can't stand having to deal with this passive aggressive director twice a day. So I'd much rather find another school (preferably a Montessori) and send her there. I'll be sad to say goodbye to the teachers here, but I can't wait to never see this hag of a director again. I just hope I don't run into her anywhere in Satellite Village. I'm also counting down to June when Little Man is done with this place too. Than I'll never have to deal with this idiot again.
Satellite Village's USD seemed relatively benign. Nothing to really complain about, yet nothing to really extoll to my friend's back home in NY who had kids. For what it's worth, it's probably a good USD considering the parental brain power here to start. So the first September we were here I enrolled Little Man in the local preschool, which is located on the grounds of our designated elementary school. Maybe I was being naive, or just lazy because this was public school. I admit I didn't do my due diligence about the preschool, but it seemed like a relatively nice school. Granted, it's no Kidville (where Little Man took early childhood classes while in NY) or the Ethical Culture School (where I was going to apply for Little Man if we stayed in NY), but it seemed adequate.
The preschool, like I stated earlier, is located on the same grounds as the elementary school. It touts itself as a touchy feely school where they allow kids to develop at their own pace in a "nurturing" environment, similar to a Montessori but not quite. Art plays a big part in the curriculum, which is somewhat useless for my Little Man since he's not an artsy fartsy type of child. But he enjoys a random project every once in a while. So to make up for the lack of academic rigor I had enrolled Little Man in Kumon classes when he was three and a half. He was reading and doing math before he was four. Though we stopped Kumon after a year (Big Man thought it would burn the Little Man out before he went to kindergarten), I continued to give him homework at home so he would be challenged and ahead of the state's minimum academic requirements. Like I stated earlier, I have big plans for my Little Man. And those plans don't include some UC Blah Blah Blah I've never heard of, or any state school. God forbid he goes to a junior/community/vocational school. He's smart enough to get into a private 4 year institution in the New England area.
Back to the preschool. The teachers in his classroom are wonderful. I will have to admit that they are kind well meaning women who really care about the kids. And I like them as people, they are just nice women. But the Director of the school...ugh...talk about a bad copy of a Passive Aggressive Stereotype. First of all, this woman comes across as a fake person. She always has a plastic smile slapped on her face and she never comes out and just says something to you. It's always in a form of a question. How are you today? Did you remember to bring snack today? Is Little Man signed up for Early Care? Did you park in the fire zone? All these questions when she's either watching me carry snack into the class, policing the Early Care room, or standing by the fire zone watching us all park to drop our kids off. If you know the answers, than just come out and tell me not to park there. I'm a big girl, I can take a directive. What I don't appreciate is this passive aggressive nonsense you like to spout off. I don't know how long she's been here as a Director of the preschool, but some other people have told me that she used to be really fat and lost a lot a weight. Ummm, what do I care? And what difference does that make? Bully for her, but that doesn't mean she's a better person. Oh, and that she goes to some local church every week. Yeah, well there are a lot of evil people who believe in God and go to Church. Being a practicing Christian doesn't automatically make you a better person. Seriously, are people here so small minded that going to church and getting gastric bypass is a free pass for bad behavior? Anyway, she's just a bad pill for me to swallow twice a day when I pick and drop off Little Man at school.
Because I wanted continuity for Little Man, I had to suck it up and deal with this farce of a human being for two years. Otherwise I would have just switched preschools to another place that treated me as an adult instead of a mentally challenged two year old that needs constant nagging for the simplest of tasks. I swear, this woman makes me rue each check I have to write out every month for preschool. That I'm supporting her and paying for the food that goes into her already distended belly just makes me resentful for all the nasty comments to me and the mis-identification I had to deal with for the first six months. Oh, I forgot to mention that she didn't know who I was for the first six months we attended this preschool. She kept thinking I was another mom, and would approach me and talk to me for a few minutes before I noticed her glazed expression showed confusion over my face. And she would also tell other moms I was someone else. They would correct her, and she would question them over the veracity of my identity. Basically, she is clueless and could do no right in my mind.
Every day at school I have to navigate fake pleasantries with her, when all I want to do is her to bug off and leave me alone so I can have a somewhat pleasant day without her mug in my face. It's bad enough I'm cutting you a check for several hundred a month, at least give me the courtesy of leaving me alone. I don't need to feel pandered to by you giving me a fake greeting every morning. Ugh, it's all I can do to just be civil to her. If there is one thing I can't stand is being fake. I won't be fake to you, either I like you or I don't like you (or I'm indifferent, which just means I'll ignore you since I have no feeling toward you at all). All I know is that when Little Miss starts preschool we will be going to another school. Though I love the teachers, I can't stand having to deal with this passive aggressive director twice a day. So I'd much rather find another school (preferably a Montessori) and send her there. I'll be sad to say goodbye to the teachers here, but I can't wait to never see this hag of a director again. I just hope I don't run into her anywhere in Satellite Village. I'm also counting down to June when Little Man is done with this place too. Than I'll never have to deal with this idiot again.
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