Exam Jitters

Do you remember that super nervous feeling you used to get when you took exams?  That weird feeling in the pit of your stomach plus the heightened awareness?  (Or, was that just me??)  When was the last time you felt those jitters?  It had been quite a while for me, but in keeping with the A-type personality that I am, I got completely and overly nervous for my lacrosse written exam that I took yesterday.  Fortunately, I didn't get so nervous that I lost my head.  You know, like the time that I accidentally threw away my college ID right before the chemistry final which led to the temporary course failure and temporary loss of college scholarship (ha-ha, that was a fun one, right Dad??).  

Among other lacrosse umpiring requirements, you have to take an annual written examination.  Normally, the stakes for this exam are pretty low.  If you're a "Local" rated official (i.e., high school umpire) you only have to get an 80% or something in order to maintain your good standing.  And, if you don't pass the test you can try again.  The exam is open book so you can check the rules as you take the test. And, you get to take the exam in the comforts of your own home via the Internet.  (As an aside, it seems a little ridiculous to me to allow a person that only understands 4 out of 5 rules with rulebook in hand to be in charge of a game.  Maybe some of the coach and spectator angst is a wee bit justified??).

BUT, this year I am going to be going to try to earn my "District" rating, which means that I could officiate Division III College games.  Cool, right?  Well, among other requirements you have to get a 90% on the written test which includes PIAA rules and NCAA rules since there are some college and high school rule differences.  A 90% on the first try.

Fortunately the exam is still open book, which turned out to be a good thing because there are always a few finer rule points that I haven't noticed before.  Some of the points are procedural, for example it's illegal to change the color of the ball during the game (good to know).  Other points are about penalty administration, which could affect the outcome of the game.

So, what was the result???  PASS! 94% on PIAA test and 100% on NCAA test.  Onto the field rating next....definitely more jitters to come......lock up my purse before that one!

Clean House

Ben completely cracked me up today.  We had been reading books in his room for a while after lunch.  I was hoping that he would start getting sleepy and take a nap.  Unfortuantely, I was the one only getting sleepy.  So, I thought maybe if I sat with my eyes shut for a few minutes, Ben would shut his eyes too and we could nap together on the rocking chair.

Instead Ben blurted out in his best Niecy Nash impression, "Mom, take off your blindfold and open your eyes!"   I laughed out loud.  (Then we repeated the joke 17 more times.)

Of course, this is only funny if you watch the show Clean House on Style channel.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that our Friday evening family tradition is to sit down as a family and watch a pre-recorded episode of Clean House.  On this show, they take a family with a hopelessly cluttered home, sell most of the junk at a yard sale, and then use the yard sale proceeds to fix up the house.  Along the way, the designer gifts some furniture, the host has a little therapy session with the home occupants, and there is some campy humor by the Go-To Guy Carpenter and Yard Sale Diva. 

I don't know why but all three kids love watching this show with us.  I didn't realize that Ben was actually paying attention until his comment today.  (I have been secretly hoping that watching the cleaning show on TV will motivate the kids to clean up their toys.  No luck with that yet.)

**Please note that the photo of Niecy Nash was copied from the mystyle.com website's bio page for the show.

Hamster Wheels for Kids?

Do you know what I think would be a great invention?  Kid-Sized Hamster Wheels.  Seriously. 

Our old house was laid out in a line, all the rooms connected in a straight line.  Although the kids would sometimes run back and forth, the doors weren't lined up and the stairwell jutted out into the track, so in-house running wasn't that popular.  Even if I had said, "Sure kids, please feel free to run around the house as fast as you can. Enjoy yourselves!"  The kids couldn't really have come up to speed and there was just too much zig-zagging.  Not good.

Our new house, however, has an apparently marvelous loop track (entryway to living room to hallway to entryway).   The most popular exercise time is after dinner when Scott and I are still chatting at the table and the kids have been excused.  They just start going and going, round and round and round.   I didn't have an indoor loop track growing up, so I'm not sure what exactly the attraction is, but clearly all 3 of the kids can't get enough.  Generally, the running is coupled with scaring the wits out of each other,  numerous costume changes, and/or Star Wars sound effects.

While I guess I'm ok with this activity, provided no doors or tackling is involved (it is exercise after all), I think it's a shame we can't put them on a Kids Hamster Wheel or something.  The kid's wheel could even be wired into the power grid, like a solar panel.  Then, the kids could power a few light bulbs on their after dinner zips.  Just a thought....


 

Dust Off Your Whistles...

....because lacrosse season is just around the corner.  Tonight is the annual PIAA lacrosse interpretation meeting where all the high school lacrosse officials find out about this year's rule changes.  I'm not going to lie, this annual meeting is Tedious. BUT -- it's worth it because this means in just a few weeks (mid-March), lacrosse season will be starting!  It's really, really (really!) hard to imagine that the snow covered fields will ever give way to grass or turf covered fields that will be dry enough to play on, but surely it will happen.  Right??  Spring must be coming, at some point.

I love lacrosse officiating for many reasons.  One of my very favorites, though, is that first time when I blow my whistle and all 24 players on the field have to come to a dead stop. Or else.  It's really quite a thrill that first whistle blow.  After a winter couped up inside with my children bouncing off the walls, sometimes literally, all those girls actually do my bidding each and every time I blow my whistle.  What power!  What spectacle!  After typing those last two sentences, I think I now understand why we are required to officiate a few scrimages prior to the start of the season.  Those games give all the moms a chance to knock the winter crazys out of their system.

I did see my very first official (ha-ha!) sign of spring yesterday at Grandma and Grandad's house.  Believe it or not, there were tiny bulbs starting to poke out of the ground where the snow was melting away from the side of their house.  And yet there was still sufficient snow yesterday to spent a very pleasant part of the day sledding (great touch snowblowing the path out to the hill yesterday Grandad!).  No bulbs here yet.  Actually not too much grass yet here eitther.  But soon, I think.  Meanwhile, I'm going to go dust off my whistle.  Maybe I'll even yellow card the kids during dinner for any manners violation.  Just for practice.   

Snow Bears

We made some snow bears this weekend (reportedly more lovable than a typical snowman).  The snow is still pretty deep for Ben, so he mostly watched the process.  His main contribution was to walk up to the middle snowbear and take a giant bite out of the carrot nose.  Snow bears can also be tasty!

Book Review: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

I just finished reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.  Wow. This was definitely not light reading, but it was excellent.  (In the interest of full disclosure, Mrs. Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors, perhaps even my very favorite author, so I'm probably a little biased here.)

(Stock photo)

Rather than typical prose, the novel is written in the form of diaries, news clippings, and letters of a fellow named Harrison Shepherd, who is born in the US, grew up in Mexico, and then returns to the US as an adult.  Harrison Shepherd's life starts quite modestly and yet he ends up working for the painter Diego Rivera, the painter Frida Kahlo, and then later for the exiled revolutionist Lev Trotsky.  His life is shaped by the people he meets, history, and public opinion. 

The characters and imagery in this book are amazing. The language is elevated and thoughtful.  I was even reaching for my dictionary in a few instances (e.g., amanuensis).  This book intertwines the fiction of HS's life with American history (30s and 40s) and Mexican archaeology.  Along the way, Kingsolver asks some profound questions, such as which civilization is greater, the one who lives in a forest for 1000 years without a trace or the one who is able to erect a monument that outlasts the civilization itself.  Also, there is a lot of American history in here, particularly the post WWII anticommunism era, that should not be forgotten.

I probably wouldn't have selected this book if it weren't written by Kingsolver and I was basing my decision solely on the description on the book jacket.  I should also note that it was a bit of a slow start.  But, once Harrison discovered the Lacuna (no hints about that from me!), I was hooked.  Overall, very good!

 

Follow-Up Observations

1) Robins - The 100+ robins are still happily gorging on the holly berries at my house.  The holly tree is almost completely stripped of berries. Consequently, the robins are very, very plump now.  Plump and complacent.  The robins used to scatter when we'd open a door or Ben would scream at them from the window.  Now, they're so plump they just sit on the ground and continue to eat berries, nary a glance in our direction.  I'm not sure if they are too full to move or intoxicated.  I did a little research on roosts of robins, and it's been reported that robins can actually get a little tipsy on fermented berries.  Perhaps they aren't full, but drunk?  I haven't seen any flying crooked or tipping over or anything yet....

2) Robins Part 2 - Unfortunately, what goes in must come out. The unpleasant reality of having 100s of robins at the house is that our driveway, cars, sidewalks, and front yard are covered in droppings.  I don't mean a splash here or there, but literally covered.  I've gotten hit myself once (ew!), and Scott now runs for the car.  It's just plain gross, and I have a pretty high tolerance for gross.  The top of the car looks like it has brown, seedy icing on it.  Quite disgusting, and I will spare you a photo.  I have tremendously enjoyed the robins' visit, but at this point I'm ready for them to find another tree and the minivan needs to hit the carwash. 

3) Food Dye  -  Lastly, and most importantly, my food dye experiment results.  You might remember a previous post I wrote about my experiment of removing food dyes, especially Red 40, from Caroline's diet to see if there was a behavioral/emotional improvement.  I was very skeptical about this experiment.  Skeptical, but hopeful. 

Wow, though, what a difference!  Caroline's behavior has improved.  Really improved.  No more 20 minute tantrums.  None.  I can reason with her and keep her from getting upset when she is on the brink of going over the edge.  She is better able to deal with daily schedule disruptions, etc.  Sure, she gets mad/sad/jealous (insert emotion here), but the emotions are at a more reasonable level. I thought perhaps this was just wishful thinking from me, but the grandparents corroborated my feelings this weekend.

I was worried about how the classroom Valentine's Day party would go, since all Valentine's candy is red.  She came home from school with a whole bag full of things I'd rather her not eat since they all contain Red 40:  red lollipops, conversation hearts, red fruit chewies, candy bracelets, etc. I explained to her that she could not eat them, but suggested that we walk to Wawa and we could pick out 2 chocolate bars to trade for the red candy and she could have small pieces of the chocolates after dinner.  Caroline's reaction? She cried for a little while, not angry crying but sad crying.  Then, said, "OK mom let's go to Wawa."  What?  That's ok?  She likes being a "good girl Caroline now" (her words).  

There's no way to really know if the food dye is the problem without putting it back into her diet and seeing how she behaves.  Maybe we just started treating her differently.  Regardless, we're on such a good roll now, I don't think I'm going to change anything.  At some point I'm sure she'll get some food dye outside the house and we'll see what happens then.