Fun With Felt: Flower Barrettes Tutorial

Secunda and I were brainstorming the other day, trying to figure out gift ideas that she could make for her friends for Christmas. An initial perusal of some kids' craft books showed me that most of those crafts are a bit below her skill level, so I headed over to Pinterest to find something more in keeping with our skill set. What we decided on was making felt hair accessories, and here is the tutorial for our first project, felt flowers!

Step 1 - This is all you'll need: six (6) small circles of felt (I used a glucose test strip bottle to trace the first one, then used it as a template to cut the others out), thread in a complementary colour, needle and scissors.

A Bump in the Road

So, we've now experienced the first bump on Tertius' academic road...
When I dropped him off at Kindergarten today, there were no parents milling about outside the drop-off location. I found that odd, and assumed that we were later than I thought. I hurried Tertius and his little sister inside, and down to his classroom. All of the parents were stuffed into the room, as well as all the kids, two teachers, at least one EA and the vice-principal. It was chaotic in there, with so many bodies crammed into a space designed for no more than a couple dozen.

Once it seemed that everyone had arrived, the vice-principal thanked everyone for staying and began to explain why he was there. He announced that since the school had had lower than expected enrollment at the primary level, the district had decided to cut a teaching position at the school. As the newest teacher on staff, that meant that Tertius' teacher was being let go. If enrollment had been high enough in the other primary grades, they could have moved her around to another grade. BC teachers are all certified for K-12; they do try to place teachers in settings that they took specific training for, such as middle years or secondary, but they can teach any grade. Unfortunately, at our school, the numbers just weren't there.

My first, and most important question was to find out about Kindergarten enrollment. I had concerns, because I know that there is a hard cap of 22 students for Kindergarten. Still, I had visions of the school having to stuff 55 Kindy students into two classrooms as a result of this decision. The vice-principal assured me that they only have 43 Kindergarten students, so they're just barely under the class size limits for two classes. The VP also said that the school admin had gone to bat for her, but the district had final say. He encouraged parents to contact the district if they had any questions or concerns.

It was clear to me that Ms. M. was visibly upset, but she did a remarkable job of holding it together for her students. She can't have had more that 24 hours' notice of this. I asked the parents assembled to please give Ms M. a round of applause, and I hope that it communicated to her how much we appreciate how well she had prepared our children for school already, and how much we dislike the decision of the school district. I've written up a thank you card for her, and will be giving her a scarf that I made as a farewell gift when I pick Andrew up this afternoon. I'm actually in tears as I type this, and I'm not sure if I'm more upset for my son, or for his teacher.


Now Ms. M. is a DIT (District Initiated Transfer). She is owed a job by the district; if there is no job, she is placed on the TOC (Teacher on Call) list as a priority TOC, which means that she will be one of the first teachers called every day, as the district has to pay her, regardless of whether she works or not. I imagine that the district will want her TOCing as many days as possible, to avoid being out of pocket for a teacher who is being paid, but not working.

This creates a trickle-down effect for every other teacher on the TOC list. Teachers all get bumped further down on the list when there is a DIT on the TOC roster; DITs get first dibs on call-outs, and there are going to be new teachers who will have a harder time making ends meet until she is in a contract position. I know how this works – my husband did his time in the TOC trenches. In fact, while he has Continuing status, he does not yet have his own contract, and this is his seventh year in this district. Our school district is one of a handful that have been consistently showing modest growth over the last decade, but with districts having to stretch the insufficient government funding as far as it can go, classes get filled to their limits, staff get shuffled around within the schools, and that doesn't necessarily translate into more teaching jobs.


But for today, I can't concern myself with the larger picture. Today, I am the mother of a little boy whose school world just got turned upside down. By the time I pick him up after lunch, Tertius will have had to move to a different classroom, acquaint himself with a new environment, learn different routines and spend some time building rapport with a new teacher, along with 20 other kids.

What seems like a small change to the adults making the decisions is actually a monumental adjustment that they are expecting 4 and 5 year old children to just take in stride. I foresee some tears and confusion, and a lot of time comforting and explaining in the near future. And I don't know how long it will be before he can start to feel settled in school.

That's a lot to put on a little boy.

Blogging In A Public Venue

As if blogging itself weren't putting your thoughts out there for public consumption, I've been accepted as a contributing blogger for Huffington Post. I'm posting there under my real name, so I won't be putting a link here. I like this site to remain somewhat anonymous, as I talk about deeply personal things here, and I would like to preserve some measure of privacy for me, Hubby, and the Hobbitses.

The teachers' strike really stirred up the activist in me, though, and I felt like I had a lot to say on the matter. HuffPost put out a call for parent voices, so I started writing, unsure of whether I'd have the courage to submit it. I was profoundly inspired by so many people during that time, not the least of which were two other HuffPost contributors, L.F. and C.G.; their words motivated me to submit my first entry, on the off-chance that they felt that this parent's voice was worth sharing with a wider audience.

It has been tremendously gratifying to know that the editor does feel that I have something to share with the world, and it spurs me to write more. I find that I am really liking the process, and feel like it is truly honing my skills as a communicator.

I'll still post here, and share a bit of my life with you all, but if you know me in real life, please look for me on HuffPost, too.

Thanks!

Summer Retrospective, Part One

As families prepare for the possible return to school, I am inspired to sit down and write out my own reflections of this past summer. In countless movies, we see children, hard at work on their first day of classes, writing out their first essay of the school year. And so, I take a page from that to bring you...

What I Did On My Last Day of School, by Busy Little Bee

To begin with, this year ended abruptly. There was no year-end party in the classes, no wind-down, no closure for anyone in that school. It just felt wrong.

As the wife of a BC Public school teacher, I was in a unique position. I knew that I needed to pay close attention to the BCTF website on June 16th; when the announcement was made, I did a few things to end the year right:

- I had purchased the teacher's gifts at least a week before, so I made sure to wrap them up that night
- I tucked two fabric shopping bags into each child's backpack, to pack up their desk
- I stuffed a dozen plastic shopping bags into two other bags to take to the school for the end of the day
- I sat my school-age children down to explain to them what was happening, and to prepare them to say goodbye to their teachers and friends for the summer
- I gave them cards to write in to accompany the gifts
- I checked our pantry shelves and freezer to take stock of what food we had
- I prayed for fiscal responsibility, to successfully get us through to July 15th, when Hubby's summer payroll savings would kick in. And I prayed for strength.
- I prepared to call our landlord, to ask him not to cash our rent cheque for July

What do you mean, this doesn't look like your summer preparation list? Normally, it doesn't look like mine, either. But this year was different. I can't say special, because there was nothing exciting about it, nothing to look forward to but financial uncertainty and enormous stress and anxiety.

On the last day of school, I went in early for pick-up. Tertius and Quarta were with me, and we gave the bags full of bags to their siblings and sent them back to their teachers with offers to help deconstruct their classrooms. See, we knew they were only being given 45 minutes by the government before they would be locked out of their classrooms, or their schools, and I noted that most teachers had elected to park in the church parking lot just off the school property in anticipation of that deadline. Tell me, how exactly are teachers expected to clean out their classroom properly in 45 minutes? The quick answer is that they can't. I knew that when I walked into Secunda's classroom and asked, "What can I help with?". The look on her teacher's face was an odd mix of panic, sadness and mirth. She smiled wryly, and said, "Well, everything's got to be cleared out of the cloakroom. Can you stay to help with that?" I told her that we would stay the full 45 minutes, and it looked like she was about to burst into tears. I know she's not one for emotional outbursts, so I quietly took the kids out of the room and began work. We stayed as long as she had work for us, and at some point, she looked around the room, sighed, and said, "I think that's all we can do. The rest will just have to be done in September." That afternoon, I cried.

I cried for my children, who didn't get the chance to say a proper goodbye to their friends in the schoolyard, because unlike past years, people didn't stick around. Children were scooped up and whisked off school property like there was an outbreak of leprosy. I cried for their teachers, likewise denied the chance to give their students that important sense of closure, to give them one last supportive gesture to send them on their way. I cried for the other kids, who had come to school wholly unprepared for that day. Not in the, “Gee, sorry you forgot to bring a bag to clean your desk with” kind of way, but real grief for the confusion and hurt they might be feeling, the sense of disconnectedness, and the uncertainty about the following school year. I cried for my husband, who went through the same thing as the other 41,000 teachers in this province. He couldn't leave anything behind; his contract was only for that year, and we still didn't know where he would be teaching in September, if at all. I cried for a lot of reasons that day. And I did it while hiding in the bathroom, because I knew that I had to present a brave face for my kids, and a strong one for my husband, should he feel the need to cry.



I don't ever want to have a last day of school like that again. And as a citizen who has been fully awakened to the realities of public education in BC, I know I won't.

Cautiously Optimistic

I couldn't sleep on Monday night. Twice, I ran the battery down on my phone, checking for updates on the bargaining between the BCTF and BCPSEA. I had been experiencing some stomach discomfort, but I chalked it up to too much garlic in our dinner. Then the excruciatingly painful cramps started and I knew I was in the grips of a full-on colitis attack.This doesn't happen too often for me, thankfully. It is only in times of major stress that it rears its ugly head and renders me a whimpering blob of flesh, rocking incessantly back and forth, trying to self-soothe. 

And then the song starts. 

I blame it all on Amaz-Aine (name bungled to protect the individual). See, she made me a CD a few years back, and its my kids' favourite thing to listen to in the car. The first half of the album is Great Big Sea songs, but it's the second half of the album that has them so captivated. She knows me so well, and gave me a bunch of Arrogant Worms songs to enjoy. On this particular disc is a catchy little jazz number, called "IBS" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc6m0fqUzds&index=4&list=PLgX4Lji6mCw8OzgBrFJykd-ysqRikMw-t). Yes, whenever I have a colitis attack, I now have to suffer the further indignity of having this ear-worm stuck in my head until the colitis has worked through my system, typically, 24 hours or so. I suppose it helps to pass the time...

Anyway, all of this is to illustrate for you, dear reader, what the government's strike against teachers is doing to people. I'm not even a teacher, but I am married to one, and the stress of not knowing where rent was going to come from, combined with trying to be the taskmaster for the kids (teachers have earned even MORE of my respect for their phenomenal classroom management skills), keeping up with the housework and being a support to Hubby have taken their toll. And Monday night, I hit the wall.

And so it was that I was up in the middle of the night, in the throes of another round of "ohpleaseletmejustdiesothispainwillstop" when I refreshed my phone's Facebook app and saw that a tentative deal had been reached.

Colour me cautiously optimistic.

I knew that the BCTF would not let E80 stay in the language of the agreement, so I figured it was probably a good deal, or at least, as good a deal as the BCTF were ever going to get out of this government. And while I forsee this being ratified, I don't for a moment think that the BC Liberals have backed down from their plan to dismantle public education in BC.

As the wife of a teacher, and the friend of so many others, I can assure you that teachers want to be in the classroom as soon as is feasible.

This strike was not about pay raises, as the government would have you believe; it was about something far more fundamental - it has been about protecting the constitutional rights of teachers, and the charter freedoms of children. It was about preserving public education to prevent the ever-growing chasm of haves and have-nots. Teachers took an enormous financial hit to stand up for the right of BC children to receive the education that the Charter of Rights promises them. And it took an immeasurable emotional and mental toll on them all to do it.

I expect that these excellent men and women will need continued understanding and support, even encouragement, to move past such a fractious time and refocus their considerable energies on what they truly love: educating our children. So when you have the opportunity, hug a teacher and say thank you. I know I will.

What Class Size and Composition Issues Mean To My Family

We are now at the beginning of our third week of strike action in September. Exploratory discussions collapsed just over two weeks ago, with the mediator declaring that the two sides were too far apart for mediation. While they are once again holed up at a hotel in Richmond, discussing things, I'm not holding my breath for a satisfactory resolution. And so, it's time for me to talk about how the real sticking point for the government affects a real family.


I'm neither a teacher nor an EA. I am the stay-at-home parent of four, two of which (so far) have been designated gifted. I have watched as year after year, I sit in IEP meetings to set up goals for my children, only to have the year-end IEP print-out say "Insufficient progress to meet goals". This is not the fault of the teacher, who is forced to perform triage in the classroom daily; this is not the fault of the student, who would self-direct if only the resources were made available. This is the fault of the government who has sought to systematically underfund public education for over a decade. If my children's classrooms were funded properly, there would be an EA present to assist the struggling students, and the teacher would have enough time to implement the strategies put in place to augment my kids' educational experience.  

Time for The Tide To Turn

I was so heartened the other day to see an open letter from a Port Coquitlam school administrator to school parents, detailing the increasing fiscal constraints placed on the public school system here in BC by the BC Liberal party. Their school annual budget plummeted 87% between 2002 and 2014, from $181,000 down to a paltry $23,000 This is a district that had 30,000 students when Hubby worked there in 2007. Were he still working there, he would have been laid off this year, along with the 800 other teachers that had less than 8 years' experience in their district. To put it into perspective, that would be the equivalent of laying off EVERY SINGLE TEACHER in our community of 70,000 people.

This government is not putting families first. It is systematically destroying public education, attempting to break the teachers' union, and using shock doctrine tactics to prime the voting public for a privatized education system that creates a larger divide between the "haves" and "have-nots", and removes choice for children whose families cannot afford the private system.

Can we afford the BC Liberals?

Tertius explains his sign to the art teacher at his big brother's new middle school

Fighting Despair

We are fully in support of the teachers in the current labour dispute and government lockout. And we are going broke to do it.

And I'm sure we're not the only ones.

We were lucky; because Hubby had the foresight to sign up for payroll savings, 12% of his paycheques from Sept to June were banked, to be paid out over the summer months. Thank God for that. Even so, with no paycheque at the end of June, I had to get creative to keep us from going broke then - literally.

I have a unique skill set. Our family plays in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a not-for-profit society devoted to the research and re-creation of the Middle Ages. As such, I have developed the cross stitch I learned from my mother into pretty competent blackwork embroidery

I've also learned how to do tablet weaving, to make trim for Hubby's 10th century Norse persona.

Other people seem to want to buy my work.

I've made just over $500 selling trim, and it has gone either directly to the grocery store to feed us, or to the dairy for milk, or into our gas tank, or into our savings account, trying to set enough aside to keep a roof over our heads in October. I feel like I can't weave fast enough, because we're running out of time, and money.

And that strikes fear in my heart.

The hobbitses can see the strain Hubby and I are under, and I know that it's affecting them, too. Not being able to attend school is taking its toll. So I've developed some study units for them, and will try to implement them while trying to weave as long as my tendonitis will allow. Primus has been experiencing some insomnia this past week, and I know it's due to stress. I just wish I could make it better for him, but he was already given to feeling anxious about starting middle school; now we have to throw the uncertainty of an unknown start date and no orientation into the mix. Secunda is mostly just wanting to find out who her teacher will be - Ms C or Ms H - and is digging in to the material I've worked up for her. Tertius asks almost daily when he will be able to start Kindergarten; he seems to take the delay in stride, but I know he'd rather be at school. Quarta seems to be least affected by it, and I started her on printing practice and letter recognition today.

And it appears that my colitis has resurfaced.

The roiling, gurgling and excruciating pain assault me at night. I stay awake, hoping one more trip to the bathroom will settle it, and then I tell Hubby that I have insomnia instead of telling him that my guts are trying to turn themselves inside out so that he won't worry.

We have been fortunate in that we have received amazing support from people. Our church family gave us a gift card that has fed us when nothing else could. Our union local had a $50 grocery card to hand out to us. Friends have dropped by with vegetables and fruit, pasta and sauce, tea and sympathy, and one friend from over 8 hours' drive away is express-posting a grocery card as I write this. Other teachers in better financial situations have gifted us with money, and opportunities to work for money. All of this is appreciated more than I could adequately express. But I still don't know how I'll keep the power and heat on, how I'll keep the phones or internet running; how I'll keep the water flowing.

I am beginning to despair, and I am looking for something to hold onto.

The Price Of The Labour Dispute In My House

Here we are, teetering on the precipice of a new school year, and for the first time, I dread what is to come.

Normally, I eagerly await the beginning of school, buying school supplies (I always pick up a few office supplies for myself, because a compulsive list-maker needs notepads), finding a new outfit for each child, and spending time sorting out snacks, re-setting sleep schedules and returning our home to an oasis of relative calm from the usual summer chaos.

But not this year.

Instead, I have purchased the barest minimum of school supplies to get my kids started off for the year, and I am left wondering when that will be. I have not bought any new clothes, because whatever money we have has to last us until this dispute ends. Back-to-school shopping has been replaced with food stockpiling; Secunda needs a new bike, but we need to make sure we can pay rent and utilities to keep a roof over our heads in the face of being virtually penniless by September 15^th. Why do I sound so alarmist? It's simple: I am the wife of a BC public school teacher.

We are still working to re-pay 11 years of student loans for Hubby's three degrees. There is no nest egg, no rainy day fund. We live simply; we don't have cable, we eschewed a landline to reduce our phone expenses, we don't go to the movies unless it's at the second-run theatre, and even then, only on cheap Tuesday. Our kids have handheld devices thanks to the largesse of grandparents, when they upgraded their own phones. Our home is filled with second-hand furniture and electronics, and our big expenditure this year was a $70 splash pool so that we wouldn't be paying out of pocket to take the kids to the rec centre. We buy our gas and dairy south of the line, because that's how we can afford gas and dairy. We cancelled the kids' martial arts lessons, and they have not been replaced with other activities. Secunda would dearly love to take piano lessons, but I just can't justify the expense right now.

We are members of a hobby group and have had to significantly curtail our activities in it, even though up until the lockout, we played very active roles. This is a hobby that has been a great source of enjoyment for our family for a number of years, and serves as a stress release for me and Hubby. The unofficial motto of our group is “Real life comes first”, and we have really put that to the test this year, forgoing events and delegating responsibilities at them because it just wasn't financially responsible to go.

We are careful with our money. I have a calendar where I write down every bill, every due date, every time money comes into our house, and painstakingly monitor when each gets paid to ensure that we are never at risk of having our power cut off, or of getting an angry call from the landlord.

These past three months have been an exercise in spinning plates, deciding what bills must be paid now and which can sit for a month; making those excruciatingly embarrassing phone calls to utility companies to ask for extensions, explaining our circumstances and hoping for an understanding and lenient person on the other end of the phone.

I can't help but shake my head, because shouldn't teachers with their professional training be able to make ends meet better than this? Should we still be living hand to mouth 8 years post-grad?

We have four children. The oldest is 12 and will enter middle school this year; the youngest is not yet four and is at home for another year. The agreement we made was that while the kids were small and at home, one of us would be at home with them. Hubby's earning potential is higher, so it was a no-brainer. Even so, this summer, I have secured some very part-time work, and I am earning some money doing commission crafts. I have also made a preliminary inquiry about a job that would give more hours, and hopefully, keep the wolves from the door for long enough to see a resolution to the dispute. Hubby would already be out there, doing something else, but no employer in his right mind would hire someone who would leave as soon as the labour dispute ended.

I have watched him throughout this whole thing; I have seen him run the full gamut of emotions. Many days, I have seen him bring home a bag weighed down to the breaking point with marking. I have watched him formulate letters to parents and segregate himself from his family to make phone calls home, and I have watched him organize strike shifts; I have seen his face light up when reading a student's essay, and I have seen him despair in the face of the government's contempt for his profession. It breaks my heart to see that a government that is supposed to be representative of the people of BC would vilify the very people who educate our children and bring forth generation after generation of critical thinkers, decision makers, artists, athletes, and public servants. To watch as they seek to dismantle one of the best education systems in the world in order to churn out worker drones for their pet projects.

I have lost all faith in the provincial government. I have no belief that they have any interest whatsoever in resolving this. I see my children being denied their right to an education while the BC Liberals wait out the appeal of Justice Griffin's decision in October.

How long must my children wait for their rights to be protected? How long must my husband be denied his livelihood? How long must we all suffer at the hands of people who have no thought for the people they purport to serve?

How long are you willing to wait?

10 Day Writing Challenge - Day 8

This month has truly been a blur. I've been working my tail off preparing for our church's VBS (Vacation Bible School) this last week. As a result of this, my blog fell into disrepair, which I aim to remedy now. 

VBS involved a lot of painting on cardboard and styrofoam, a lot of thinking outside the box, a lot of creative ideas for how turn our Sunday School classrooms into different habitats for the Weird Animals we introduced (I got the underwater room, which I felt was the most thought-out and the coolest, though not in temperature, as the windows couldn't be opened), and admittedly, a lot of time perusing Pinterest for inspiration. It took a lot of hours on a lot of days, and the week leading up to it was close to 8 hour work days. The camp itself was a blast, but I found myself mentally exhausted afterwards. I needed a few days to recover. We broke it all down this morning, and two months' work was dismantled and re-located to storage and the recycling bin in a matter of two hours.

Now that I've had a rest, slept in on at least one day, and spent some time recharging my mental batteries, I'm ready to finish off the writing challenge. So, without further ado, here we go...


Day Eight: Three turn-ons

1) Intelligence. Nothing is hotter to me than an engaged brain. While I felt that Hubby cut a nice figure in the first photo I saw of him, it was his mind that really attracted me to him; the way he spoke, his thought process, it all made me fall deeply in love with him before I ever set eyes on him in person.

2) Kindness. My heart melts when I see the man I love being kind and considerate to someone.

3) Confidence. Not that annoying full-of-yourself, "aren't I such a prince among men" kind of confidence. True confidence doesn't boast; it is quiet and sure, it does not seek to build itself up at the expense of anyone else. A person that possesses that quiet self-assurance is a person that draws others in, in a way that those drawn in don't even notice.

Stay tuned for Challenge Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now (I will be substituting two emotions for the smileys, as I feel that emoticons are woefully inadequate for conveying mood).

Letter to the School Board, dated July 20th

Here follows the letter that I sent to the local school district office regarding the absence of their voice publicly on this issue:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I write today as a parent of two school-age children attending schools in
School District X (number redacted for privacy), with another poised to begin Kindergarten in September.

I have very closely followed the path of the ongoing labour dispute between
BCPSEA and the BCTF; I have read press releases from both parties; blog
entries by invested individuals, parents, students, and teachers; news
reports from a wide array of news sources. My children and I have stood on
the picket lines with teachers, and I have personally spoken to many friends
who work in this district as teachers and support staff. I have also read
open letters sent to the Premier and Minister Fassbender from several school
districts, including the one sent by Trustee #1 (names redacted) and Trustee #2 from this
district dated June 30 of this year.

I find it both curious and frustrating that this school district and this
Board of Education has been silent on the issue of class size and
composition, and the court rulings by Justice Susan Griffin.

Some vague mention was made of the impact this dispute has had on students,
staff and families in (our town, name redacted for privacy), but it is very distressing that this
district has utterly failed to address the BC Liberals' unwillingness to
comply with Supreme Court decisions instructing the government to restore
working conditions to pre-2002 standards, and to properly fund public
education to make provisions for optimum learning conditions for all
students.

Can you please explain to me how it is that while you are responsible for the
allocation of funding to the public schools in (our town), you have said
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this matter publicly? Your silence implies that you
have absolved yourselves of your duty of care to the children of your
district, to fight to secure sufficient funding to properly educate our
children to the standard that they have the right to receive. In so doing,
you have blithely laid the burden of negotiating work conditions at the feet
of the teachers' union.

Shame on you for your silence; it is deplorable that the BCTF not only has to
negotiate for wages and benefits, as is right to do, but also has to
undertake negotiations for their working conditions. No other union in BC is
forced to negotiate for working conditions; that is YOUR job to advocate for
teachers and support staff.

I am the parent of two gifted children; they are unique in that the system is
not failing them as much as their peers - YET. I am able to augment their
education experience at home, and they are self-motivated enough to initiate
activities that help to fulfill their IEP objectives. But I should not have
to do that; they should not have to do that. Their teachers know that my
children, intelligent as they are, are still falling between the cracks; they
see it and they talk with me about it, but we both know that they are
helpless to do anything but perform triage in their classrooms with the
limited resources made available to them. BC teachers are stretched too thin,
dealing with too many category children with nowhere near enough support.

As a parent, a tax-payer and a product of a BC public school education, I
charge you to step up to the forefront of this fight for our children. Take a
public stand on teachers' working conditions; publicly castigate the
government for their flagrant disregard for the rule of law; do your job and
advocate for the funding required to return class size and composition to
their previous state, so that we can move forward instead of sitting idly by
while the BC Liberals systematically dismantle public education to serve
their two-tiered agenda.

Step up and do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Busy Little Bee (name redacted), parent

10 Day Writing Challenge - Day 7

Day Seven: Four turn offs

1) Disrespect. A lack of respect for yourself or others is an immense turn-off for me. This manifests as poor self-image/running yourself down, making jokes at other people's expense, etc.

2) Bad breath. This is mostly in combination with a lack of oral care (brushing of one's teeth, regular dental care). I am hyper-vigilant about my own, so as not to offend others.

3) Arrogance. I understand about having a good sense of one's own worth; it's when that becomes overblown that it makes someone less attractive to me.


4) Poor health. If you're not taking care of yourself, you are showing me that you don't make yourself a priority in life, that you don't matter. You do matter - make yourself a priority.

Stay tuned for Challenge Day Eight: Three turn ons

10 Day Writing Challenge: Day 6

Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
 
1) Mum. You gave me enough freedom to make my own mistakes, but were always there to comfort me, encourage me and lift me up again. You taught me that I matter. You were strict, but I am so grateful for that.

2) Mom. You're just what I needed in my life. I am so glad to have the relationship that we do, because I treasure it. When things with my own mother were strained, it was a great comfort to me to know that you were just a phone call away. Your help without judgement is appreciated more than you know.

3) Hubby. There is no way that I can adequately express here how very much you need to me. For me, you are God's grace personified; you found me at my lowest, and have helped me to soar higher than I thought possible. Thank you for leading me when I need it, following when I ask it, and being at my side for everything that is to come.

4) BioDad (BD). Thank you for giving me Primus and Secunda. Although I messed things up horribly, you were merciful and forgiving, and I feel that we have moved beyond it to a better place where I can say with absolute conviction that I'm glad that we shared a part of our lives together, and I'm glad that Primus and Secunda have a growing relationship with you.

5) Me. I struggled with who to put here. And even as recently as a year ago,  I wouldn't have put me on this list. But a lot of introspection has happened for me since then, and I have come to realise that in order for anyone else to see my value, I have to first see it in myself. So thank you for having the strength to endure an abusive teacher, to withstand the years of bullying, to not let rape define me; thank you for getting up each time I got knocked down, for opening up to others even when it was scary, for learning to stand up to others, for responding with kindness rather than in kind, for walking away from what wasn't healthy or nurturing, and for your faith that there was a better, more profound life waiting for me.



Stay tuned for Day Seven: Four turn offs.

Reflections on a Marriage

A day late, but that's because we were busy :)

My beloved and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday, and our 7th anniversary together. I sit here, trying to encapsulate my feelings into some pithy remark about the day, and find that words utterly fail me. This incredible man that has chosen to spend his life with me, to raise a family with me, to love, honour and cherish me, to challenge me, to lift me up and to bring me back down to earth when I need it - how can I distill all of what he means to me into a sentence or two? Well, the easy answer is that I can't.

I met Hubby when I was just coming out of the lowest point in my adult life. A failed marriage under my belt, followed by a failed relationship with someone who was very much wrong for me. I had two small kids, had just left a crap job and just started another one. I lived with my parents. I felt disconnected from most of my friends, disconnected from my family, and disconnected from God.

And literally, in the space of one day, I went from resigning myself to life without love or passion, to getting everything I ever dreamed of.

My life since that day has not always been smooth; we've still had our share of bumps in the road. but it has been made easier to bear knowing that I will not be on this path alone. Because of Hubby, I have renewed faith. Because of him I have a loving father that is present both physically and emotionally for our children. Because of him, I have passion in my life. Because of him, I am able to be at home with our youngest two, preparing them for life. Because of him, I feel loved every day.

Thank you, my love, for everything.

Christmas decorating with Hubby and the hobbitses

10 Day Writing Challenge: Day 5

Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done

1) I wish I had never accepted that offer. My life would have still followed the same trajectory, but it would have been a more honourable path.

2) I wish I hadn't left university when I did. I'd have a graduate degree by now if I had stayed.

3) I wish I'd never believed him when he invited me over.

4) I wish I'd gone out to my car instead of staying.

5) That pretty much sums up my regrets. And if I can only come up with four things I wish I'd never done, that's pretty good in my book.

Stay tuned for Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)

10 Day Writing Challenge - Day 4

Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot

1) How do I juggle the bills without getting some utility cut off?

2) Whether we are ever going to crawl out from under this student loan/consumer debt

3) How can I help Primus navigate adolescence without feeling like I'm smothering him or cramping his style?

4) Will Quarta EVER stop screeching when she's mad?

5) How do I lift up Secunda on these many, many days that she seems to feel down?

6) How do I best show Hubby how much I love and support him?

7) Am I doing okay as a wife and parent, or am I screwing them all up irreparably?








Stay tuned for the next Challenge post -  Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.

10 Day Writing Challenge - Day 3

Day Three: 8 Ways to Win My Heart

1) Give me flowers for no reason

2) Foot rubs :)


3) Be romantic

4) Hugs

5) Let me eat chocolate when I need to without judging.

6) Wash the hand dishes so I don't have to.

7) Plan a whole evening together for us

8) Neck/shoulder rubs

10 Day Writing Challenge: Day 2

Day 2: Nine Things About Yourself

1) I am left-handed, but consider myself mostly ambidextrous. I pretty much only use my left hand for using a fork and general writing.

2) I'm smarter than most people think I am.

3) I feel enormous self-doubt most days.

4) I worry every month when I go off the Pill for the week that I might be pregnant.

5) Eight years ago, doctors removed a softball-sized lump of hardened fat (panniculitis) from my right butt cheek, but my butt never got any less fat. I feel a little cheated about that. Frankenbutt, indeed.

6) People in the SCA seem to think that I can do calligraphy, and ask me to do on-site scribal duties. I can't do that. I've taught myself how to copy exemplars, and do so competently but laboriously at home when I have enough time. But I'm a left-handed scribe who has learned how to do calligraphy right-handed, and I just don't do enough of it to be any good at it.

7) There are days that I could drop being in the SCA entirely and not miss it. But I know how unhappy that would make Hubby, so I don't. Money has been tight, a lot, of late, and I know that not eventing would save us a decent amount of money. But I also have to balance the benefits of seeing my friends and engaging in something that interests me with  cost savings. Be frugal, yes. But also have a life.

8) I've finally learned how to take a compliment from my husband.

9) Writing this post took me two weeks, because I didn't think there would be 9 things interesting enough to share here.

Picture Day?

So, Hubby and I are relaxing in the living room, watching Lost on Netflix and trying not to melt after a long and enjoyable Canada Day celebration.  Tertius and Quarta have been having trouble settling down to sleep lately, and Tertius came upstairs from his sleepover with Primus to stick his patriotically painted fingernails in my face and declare,

"Can you get the nail polish remover? Because this *brandishing nails at me* will not look good for picture day."

Having not quite heard him, I asked him to repeat himself, which he did. Then it clicked for us; he was thinking about school! I assured him that tomorrow was not picture day, promised that I would remove the polish in the morning, and sent him back to bed. In talking about it, Hubby and I surmise that he was having a dream about school, woke up, and came directly upstairs to talk to us about it.

Cute kid I got there...

What I've been up to

So, I've been pretty quiet for two weeks now. Here's what's kept me so busy, in no particular order:

- standing on the picket line at Hubby's school

- trying to keep the kids engaged during the strike

- picking up a part-time job (2 hours, twice a month)

- picking up a paid serving gig

- making LOTS AND LOTS of card woven trim. I'm doing this to help raise money to take care of our family during the strike, as there is no money to pay the teachers for being on strike.

Here are some example of the last item...

Oh, and also a couple of these:

Gotta go now, I have another warp of trim to work on :)

10 Day Writing Challenge: Day One

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.

1: It is precisely because of children like yours that my husband is fighting so hard for better conditions in the school. Open your eyes and see, and for the love of all that is good, stop vilifying the people who are trying to help you.

2: You can get through this. You have already shown everyone your strength and resilience; you amaze me with your ability to carry on in the face of such challenges.

3: You are my hero.

4: I know you're angry and full of hate right now. But shutting it all inside isn't going to help you. Talk to someone - anyone - about how you're feeling. I wish there was more I could do to help you, because seeing you hurting like this breaks my heart.

5: I've come to realise that how we each viewed our friendship was very different, indeed. I guess that's why it got so broken when your assumptions about me were proven to be not altogether what you believed. I still want there to be healing, but I know it will never be what it was, and that makes me profoundly sad.

6: At some point, you will have to make a decision about this situation, and actually stick with it. Stop waffling, because you are damaging everyone involved.

7: You don't have to blindly parrot what your partner says. You are clearly the more intelligent of the two of you, and to see you subjugate your own views in order to give the appearance of support makes me very sad for you. I'd much rather hear what YOU think and feel.

8: Stop spending so much time reading what the "experts" say, and start trusting your own instincts. You're doing fine.

9: I miss what our friendship was like. But I know what happened has forever changed that. I wish it hadn't happened, because I think the cost was too great.

10: You are smarter, more beautiful and more talented than you believe you are. Stop being afraid of your own greatness. Embrace it, and use it to improve the lives of those around you.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Greetings, friends.

This past week and a half has been a blur of dealing with Hubby's work situation. With a full strike vote looming tomorrow, we are more unsure than ever how we will make ends meet in the face of the government hold-back of 10% of his wages, ostensibly for unwillingness to perform 100% of their job (yet they are still working Every. Single. Minute. that they are permitted to be at the school, but that is another post entirely). So, I've spent the last couple of days figuring out how I can generate income for our family. I have a home-based business, so there's always that, but I'm also a crafter/artisan, so I have hung out my shingle and am now working on three commissions for weaving and embroidery, as well as creating embroidered pieces that I feel might sell to my desired niche market. If I can maintain momentum with that, I can make a meaningful contribution to the household finances throughout the year. But it's time to give the embroidery a rest for a few minutes, and introduce a writing exercise that I hope will get me back into the habit of writing. So, with thanks to my friend Lisa, here it is:

The 10 Day Writing Challenge

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now (I will be substituting two emotions for the smileys, as I feel that emoticons are woefully inadequate for conveying mood).
Day Ten: One confession.

There you have it. If I get time, I'll start tonight. I make no promises that I will write every day. C'mon, I've got four kids here...

Wading Into Uncharted Waters

Secunda is nine, and more and more frequently, I am noticing that she seems downcast and quiet; withdrawn, even. And I hate to admit this, but I'm a bit at a loss in how to help her deal with it.

See, when I was nine, I was in my third school in as many years, thrust into an academic pilot program designed to separate out the top 24 students in the school district, place them all in one classroom and watch as the magic ostensibly happened. I was also two years out from being physically and mentally abused by my Grade 2 teacher, and fresh out of a year of bullying at the hands of my classroom peers. So I really don't have the personal frame of reference for this.

When Hubby was nine, he and his family were moving cross-country while his parents changed career paths. Big changes there. Likewise, he was going to his third school in as many years. Adding to that the fact that he is not in possession of a uterus, and it gets difficult to relate.

What I do have is a deep and abiding love for my child, and a strong desire to help her successfully navigate her way through adolescence.


Now, our daughter has a lot going for her. She is loving, caring and considerate, she has many friends (and one best friend), she is highly intelligent (designated gifted at school, but remains in her regular classroom, as they found the pilot project didn't work out so well). She is attractive and well-spoken. She has a lot of potential to have a good and relatively easy life, surrounded by friends and loved ones. The world really is her oyster.

And still, she is unsure of herself, shy, anxious at times, and sometimes seems to be on the verge of tears for no discernible reason. And I'm fumbling, and feel like I'm failing her.

This was not in the manual.

What I'm trying to do is to cultivate an environment of total acceptance and safety, a place where she feels comfortable telling us what's on her mind. I want so much for us to have the close relationship that I enjoyed with my own mother at that age, and I think I'm doing okay with that part of it. But I don't know how to deal with mood swings/fluctuations that aren't due to some external stressor at that age.

Tonight, we had her up after the others had gone to bed, and I had the chance to just sit on the couch and have a snuggle with her, to ask her how she's feeling, and to share with her my observation that I could tell that something was going on for her emotionally, even if she didn't quite know what it was, or how to talk about it. I guessed that since she couldn't pinpoint an initial event that might have sparked feeling low, it might be due to hormonal fluctuations. And we have prepared her. We have talked, and we were lent a wonderful book that covers the basics of what to expect in the next few years, and this book sparked a number of really great talks. And we felt it was important that Secunda have the information she is asking for, and in an age-appropriate way. After all, I was 10 when I had my first cycle; my mother was 8. So, we knew this might be coming, and really, any day. Well, *that* hasn't begun yet, but it makes sense to me that the hormones precede the body function by a number of months before we have to worry about the logistics of getting into the bathroom with what you need before you're old enough to carry a purse at school. I don't even remember how I did that...

I suppose all of this rambling is just me thinking out loud, so to speak. Maybe I was hoping that by typing it all out, I could better determine if I was meeting her needs, or if there was a gap somewhere.

God, I hope I'm doing this right.

What It Means To Me When You Support Teachers

Today, I experienced two things with respect to the current teachers' job action and resulting lockout by the employers' organization, and I want to share them here. 

First, I got to sit at my children's parent-participation preschool, quietly embroidering and listening to several mothers voicing their support for teachers, and frustration with the government for their refusal to "step up and do right by our kids". Now, I did wonder if I should speak up and add my voice to the conversation, but I held back, because I didn't want to influence what they said in light of the knowledge that I'm a teacher's wife. So I just sat there, watching my kids play and keeping an ear open to hear what the climate is among parents. It was so heartening to hear positive comments, not just about their kids' teachers, but also the union's position, and how they understand that what teachers are trying to bargain for is reasonable work conditions and fair compensation for the years of education and professional training teachers undergo, and continue to undergo in order to best serve the children entrusted to their care.

The second was a gesture of such unwavering support and generosity as to make me weep. We had purchased an item from a friend, and were in the process of repaying the debt when that debt was wiped clear along with a simple, beautiful statement of encouragement. I cried when I tried to tell Hubby about it; I could hear him crying over the phone, too. In fact, I'm having trouble seeing the keyboard through the tears flowing freely down my face again as I type this. Our benefactor understands what teachers do, and this gift means as much to us in terms of the support it shows as it does in the financial relief it provides.


As the wife of a BC public school teacher, I hear a lot of comments, both positive and negative about this issue. Let me be clear - I'm not saying that I don't want to hear dissenting opinions; I am happy to converse with people in a civil manner on any number of topics, so long as we keep it polite. I try to receive the negative without returning fire or responding with anger, because I feel that this is not worth damaging personal relationships. In the case of online/social media comments, I conduct myself with temperance. In the face of willful ignorance or just plain hatred, I have simply not responded, or, if the individual in question simply cannot be respectful or civil, I have blocked them from my newsfeed until this is resolved, because the stress and anxiety it creates for me is more than I really need to have on my plate right now. I have not yet had to resort to blocking a person entirely.

The last time teachers went out, there was far more enmity directed at teachers than I have seen thus far. That alone is an encouragement to me. So what does it mean to me when you say or do something that shows you support teachers?

Let me tell you...

It means that you validate the 11 years my husband spent in university learning what he did in order to impart that to his students; it means that the professional certification he worked to attain means something to you, that you feel his hard work to get, keep and improve upon this certification is worth what he gets paid. It means that you might feel a touch of the pride I do in him; it means that you think that he and his colleagues are worthy of the trust you place in them when you entrust your children to their care. It means that your children's future matters to you, and that you want them to get the most out of their high school years as is possible. It means that this crazy-haired, medieval clothes-wearing, Old English-speaking dude is worth investing your tax dollars in, because he's the guy that your kids are going to be talking about 20 years from now as the teacher that inspired them to go into teaching themselves, or to let their geek flag fly, or to be themselves and to hell with what other people think of them.

I am grateful for every single positive comment and expression of support, mostly because this whole process wears down the best and most positive of people, and those little things are what keep us going some days.






 To those of you who support the teachers in their support of the children of BC, I cannot thank you enough for that. It means more than you know.



 

Why My Husband Is My Hero, Part One

Disclaimer: I am the wife of a public school teacher. As such, I have very strong views on teachers in general, and the teachers I know, love and greatly respect. The views here are my own, and any resemblance to the views espoused by others is purely coincidence (or similarity of political leaning).

Why My Husband Is My Hero

Busy Little Bee's Poetry Corner - The Sound of Salsa

Today in Busy Little Bee's Poetry Corner, we revisit one of my favourite filks. But first, an explanation of the word "filk":

To my reckoning, a filk is a song where one takes an existing melody and makes up new lyrics for it. This was in practice even in medieval times, but really gained popularity (and it's name) in the 20th century in Sci-Fi culture. Wikipedia has this to say on the topic. When trying to explain it to others, I generally end up saying, "You know, like what 'Weird Al' does." Clear as mud? Great.

And now, without delay, is the filk that Hubby and I wrote in about 5-10 minutes in March 2008. I give you...

Trying To Reign In The Chaos

Life can get pretty chaotic around here.

We've got four kids, ranging in age from 3½  to 12, and while they're not currently enrolled in any extra-curriculars, it was pretty busy up until about a month ago. That's around the same time that my father gave me the coolest thing.

Overheard in the Van...

While waiting at a stop sign, we saw a Papa John's delivery car drive by. Then I heard this:

"Look, Daddy - a pizza taxi!"

Pizza Taxi. I love it. This needs to be a thing. Tertius comes up with some pretty good stuff

Mother's Day, or Can I Go Back To Bed Now?

So, yesterday was Mother's Day here in Canada. By the end of the day, I was asking for a do-over.

Why?

Well, let's start with my expectations:

- I expect that I can go to the bathroom without an audience
- I expect that my children will wish me Happy Mother's Day without my dragging it out of them
- I expect that the children will do something thoughtful/nice for me
- I expect that there will be minimal squabbling amongst my children
- I expect that I will not have to do the usual housework that I do every other day


That's pretty much it. This year, Mother's Day falls right *before* payday, so we knew in advance that we would be doing any gift-giving the following weekend. I'm okay with that, and I really don't need much in the way of gifts or cards. I really like handmade things, and gifts of time. In fact, this year, I specifically asked to not get cards, but rather, that we start a new tradition. This would involve getting a hardcover journal and having Hubby and the hobbitses write, draw, scrapbook or what have you on the pages of it. To me, this is better, because it gives me something to keep for years that won't get lost or relegated to the recycling bin after a few days. And that costs money, so I know that waits for a bit.

There's also the birthday thing.

Tertius and the Coupon Book of Awesome!

It is Tertius' 5th birthday today! It hardly seems like this much time has passed, but here we are, with a little boy who attended his kindergarten orientation today (which he *loved* by the way).

When family members asked what he wanted in the way of gifts, we ended up giving them all of our ideas, so Hubby and I were pondering a cool, fun, meaningful gift for our young man. Trust Hubby to come to the rescue with this brainchild:

He suggested that what Tertius really wants is for us to spend quality time with him. And he's right; as a middle child, he really does crave that one-on-one time between parent and child. I mean, do you know any 5 year old that *doesn't* enjoy being the center of attention?

So the two of us sat down and brainstormed ideas. We came up with 10 things that we felt he would really appreciate, and with that list in hand, we figured out a colour scheme and dove into my scrapbooking materials.

Three hours later, we had a product we were really happy with. We made a booklet of coupons that measures 4" x 6". Our pages were held together by punching a hole in the top left of each page and threading ribbon through to create a half-hitch knot.

Here is a list of the tools and materials we used:

- Card stock in various colours and patterns (I did a large portion of this by raiding my scrap paper folder)
- Paper cutter (mine is a $10 Cricut paper slicer from Wal-Mart)
- Glue stick (I had run out of my tape runner, so I kicked it old school, yo)
- Round paper punch
- various corner punches
- small, sharp scissors
- Xyron sticker maker
- stickers
- alphabet stickers
- ribbon
- computer and printer

Cost for this project:

 - absolutely nothing.

I had everything we needed in my scrapbooking stash. So this was a great project on three counts: it gave our son an amazing gift that he can cash in on throughout the year, it used up items we already had lying around (or tucked into my craft supplies, as the case may be), and it provided me with the focus for 10 really great and personal scrapbook spreads to put into Tertius' book in the future. And now, without further delay, here is what we made!

The Power of One - New Month, New Habits

Greetings, friends!

It is now May, and as such, it is time to explore what new good habits I will engage in, as well as what bad ones I will drop.

So far, I've been doing pretty well with eating five times a day, drinking more water, and removing white bread from my diet (I've had one "white bread" sandwich in the last month, and one that was whole grain white). I'm finding that I really don't miss white bread, even for my PB&J. So now, it's time to add a new habit.

May's good habit is brushing my teeth first thing in the morning. Let's be clear - I brush my teeth, at least twice a day. But I will often wait until I've eaten breakfast to do it in the morning. It's all part and parcel of my mild (self-diagnosed) OCD; why brush your teeth if you're just going t get them dirty right away? So while this one isn't necessarily a health habit, it is a wellness one. By brushing my teeth when I first get up, I am making sure that Hubby's first kiss of the morning is as nice as it can be. I mean, who enjoys morning breath, amiright?

The habit I'm dropping is cutting out snacking after 10 PM. Hubby and I are in a terrible habit of late-night snacking, mostly carb-based (crackers and Boursin cheese, anyone?), and definitely not good for me. So, from today, I will stop eating by 10 PM each night.

I'll be checking in with updates throughout the month :)

Journeys to the Emerald City, Part Three

Part the Third: (Cowardly) Lions and Daleks and Scares, Oh My!

Even with a solid 8 hours of sleep, we still had trouble dragging our butts out of bed. We managed to get ready and mostly packed in time to get down to breakfast by 8:30, and once again filled up on the fabulous offerings. I ensured that each child had some form of protein, so we could delay lunch if we had to. A quick trip back up to the room, and Hubby, Primus and Secunda started taking our things down to the vehicle while I contained Tertius and Quarta in the room, and did a final sweep of it to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything (this included another thorough search for Primus' joy buzzer, as mentioned in Part Two). It was already heating up for the day, but I had told the kids to put their jackets on, because it would make carrying their things down so much easier. We were *sweltering* by the time Hubby and the two bigguns got back upstairs! It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day, and we had planned an entirely indoor activity. Ah, Washington weather, I see what you did there...

We all went downstairs to check out, and to use up the rest of our $20 in convenience store credit. Armed with drinks, chocolate bars and Twizzlers, we were ready for our last day of adventure in the Emerald City.

We set out on the half-hour journey into Seattle proper once again (next time, I'll look into non-toll routes), and once again, our GPS totally failed us. The road construction really threw a wrench in our otherwise seamless commute, and we ended up taking a very circuitous route to find the parkade for the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi Museum. Can I just say, thank goodness we put money on our credit card before leaving home! I knew what parking would cost ( I do my homework, OCD planner that I am), but didn't know that the kiosk only took coins or credit cards. Not being in possession of $10.25 in coins, I had to whip out the plastic. That done, we had a very short walk to the entrance. I would totally park there again, but I'll remember about the credit card thing :)

 

 

The spring sunshine brightens up the exterior of the EMP/Sci-Fi Museum

When we got up to the counter, the person helping us told us that an annual family membership was literally $1 LESS than a day's admission. Hubby and I figured that this was a GREAT bargain, so we said, "SIGN US UP!". Once the paperwork was filled out, she told us the cost - $95. Whoa. Hold up there - how is $95 one dollar more than the $68 one day's admission is supposed to be?! Turns out, she didn't hear me when I said, "One 11 year old, one 9 year old, one 4 year old and one 3 year old." They shouldn't have charged us for children under 5, and I'm assuming that the young lady does not have children of her own, or else she would have noticed that there was absolutely NO way that Tertius and Quarta are school-age. Honestly, my children aren't that tall. After the initial sticker shock (remember, we were doing this on a tight budget), Hubby and I agreed that since we were returning to Seattle the following month, and planning to pop down at least once during the summer, and the paperwork was already filled out, it was worth the investment. Again, SO glad we'd put money on the credit card. I think it cried a little when I pulled it out of my wallet.

Money paid and stickers acquired, we began our jaunt through the museum, bypassing all of the music stuff, because we were, after all, on a geek pilgrimage.

Hubby and the hobbitses at the entrance to the purpose for our visit: Icons of Science Fiction

Oh, did we geek out.

Primus is a hard-core Whovian - who are we kidding, most of us in this house are - and he was SO stoked to see the Dalek. We were pleasantly surprised to see that they also had an original Cyberman, too!

Primus, expressing his opinion on Daleks

We got to play with a green screen exhibit, turning Tertius into a nameless Red Shirt, fending off the attack of the giant plastic lizard figurine :) Secunda picked the most glittery costume (of course), and Primus refused to try it until the very last second, when another group had already descended on it. Maybe on our next visit *sigh*

We spent a good chunk of time poring over the notes accompanying the items on display, remembering dialogue from our favourite Sci-Fi films, and learning that up close, a lot of the stuff looks pretty crappy, but it looks great on screen. Makes me wonder why I spent so much time trying to get my stitches perfect on the capes I embroidered for Red Riding Hood. In that case, it looked great up close, but mediocre to unnoticeable on-screen. Oh well. It was still really cool to see some of the props, costumes and miniatures used in movies such as Superman, Alien, The Matrix, and other favourite movies and TV series.

Our next stop was another travelling exhibit:

Right this way...

Fantasy: Legends of Myth and Magic

I was very much looking forward to this one, as they had the Wicked Witch of the West's hat - The Wizard of Oz is one of my all-time favourite films! What a treat this exhibit was; not only did they have cool stuff to look at, but they had spent so much time and energy creating an environment in which to view the displays that truly immersed the visitor in another realm.

This great huge tree was smack-dab in the middle of the exhibit!

Even the lighting was cool! The area was filled with little nooks, crannies and wee rooms, offering a taste of different flavours of fantasy.

Neat signpost detailing the different archetypes found in Fantasy

Each display had a nifty little card-shaped sign with it, explaining how it fit within the framework of the archetypes of the fantasy genre. So not only were they entertaining us, but they were educating us, too. Very cool.

Here are a few of what I felt were the highlights of the exhibit:

Quarta checks out costumes from another family favourite - The Princess Bride

A page from George R.R. Martin's manuscript for Game of Thrones

Second printing of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardobe

Best. Display. Ever. How else would one display an Invisibility Cloak?

"I'll get you my pretty; you and your little dog, too!"

Upon leaving this exhibit, we hit the nerd store, aka the gift shop at EMP, and promptly lightened our wallets considerably. Looking at our watches, we realized that it was time for a late lunch, so we headed outside to enjoy the sunshine.

We stayed just outside the building, at Seattle Center, and found this lovely spot to stop and eat our brown bag lunch:

Beautiful view, and perfect shield for the direct sunlight!

PB&J consumed, Cherry Coke downed, and innumerable Cool Ranch chips later, and it was time to head back in.

Heading back to EMP with full bellies

 We discovered upon leaving that there was another entrance we could utilize, and being members now, we could totally bypass the lines! We got back in, looked longingly at all the geek shirts we couldn't afford this time, and headed over to the last travelling exhibit we were looking forward to - Block by Block: Inventing Amazing Architecture.

They had recreations of many iconic buildings the world over, and each had a description of where the building was, when it was built, how many stories high, and how many Lego™ bricks it took to re-create it. Our resident Lego fiends were mightily impressed.

So many cool buildings!

I think the best part of this exhibit was the play area. They had buckets of bricks, trees, doors and windows, and you could spend as long as you liked building something to install in their Lego™ cityscape. They also had an area for non-buildings, and a small kids' Mega Bloks™ area, too! I think we spent about 40 minutes just in the building area.

Nice rendition of a Tardis!

Primus built a yellow robot, which sits in the center of the display

By the time we were finished in this exhibit, it was time for us to head north of the border again. Hubby's parents had invited us for dinner, so we hoofed it back over to the vehicle, and started the drive home. We really appreciated having a dinner that we didn't have to cook that night, and the time spent with family is always treasured. The hobbitses regaled their grandparents with stories from our trip, and they had to endure our impromptu "slide show" on the cell phones. We left with full bellies, hugs, and rolled into the driveway with enough time to get a decent night's sleep to prepare us for the return to school.

What an excellent family vacation!

Coming soon - Once More, With Feeling