Sake

I had my first "intentional" sake last evening. When a group of us went a couple of years ago, the performing chefs squirted some in our wide open mouths with a squeeze bottle. Hell, could have been water they were squirting at us for all I know.

I liked the immediate "punch" feeling that it gave me. The atmosphere was right. I was with other women from work. I had an empty stomach. The air was full of friendship, laughter and gossip. The first little tiny cup of sake went down quickly and "bang", I was buzzed.

As with all alcohol, after you eat a meal - that same little cup of sake has no effect. Or not near as much. I long remember the days where I had to keep that buzz going and food was forfeited and in return I was blessed with a long, painful hangover the next morning. Ah, those were the days. (NOT!)

Just a "J"

I am on a tech list serve and today the entire list received a message with just the letter "J" in it. Well, most of them did, anyway.

Do folks who use Outlook (Express) even realize that their smiley icons show up as just the letter "J" if the receiver does not use their brand of e-mail application?

I have received several "J"s in my e-mails.  ☺

Enuresis

So there I am working on the network equipment in a little elementary building. I am sitting in the nurses' office because that is where the equipment is. There is a little desk with a telephone that the teachers use to call parents, etc..

While working along I hear an irate teacher. She is screaming and she is dragging a little boy into the nurses office and dialing the telephone. I don't give it much notice but with being only a couple of  feet away I can hear everything.

The first thing that catches my attention is the teacher screaming at the little boy (my best guess is 8 years old) that she is going to call Mrs. Somebody and tell her what he did. She never did say "his mother" so I don't know what was up with that.

She proceeded to dial a number and scream into the phone "Johnny did 'you-know-what' in his pants again today!" And on and on she went. She tried to force the kid to speak into the phone himself , I guess because I heard her say "Well, he doesn't want to say what he did on the machine.."  So I am thinking she got an answering machine.

I did hear her say that "Johnny was too busy playing to take the time to go to the bathroom, again!"

She sure did a lot of yelling and she sure wasn't shy about it. Here I am - a complete stranger to her and she was quite brutal in my opinion. The principal was not at her office, but the teacher sure did try to drag him in there. The regular secretary was at lunch, so there was a teacher from another classroom covering for her.

She made the boy sit in the office for the rest of the recess and screamed at him that he was to sit in the office for the rest of the week during recess.

Well, I at least hope they let the poor boy go to the bathroom during his time out.

I managed a peek at the boy later and he did not seem to be the least disturbed by the event. He was squirming in his chair and when I caught his eye, there was no shame. Just a little boy who wanted to be somewhere else.

I brought the subject up with some of the women I work with and some thought perhaps the boy may be on the edge of the spectrum, which is referring to Asbrgr's syndrome or Aut!sm. The other teacher heard this teacher and later this teacher told the regular secretary why the boy was there. Nobody questioned the boy or the teacher. The principal didn't even seem to notice.

We wonder.

Crush

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Heck, I may as well make this my family photo album blog. I have been negligent lately. I have stories, but just have not put them into the blog.

The boy is the son of my nephew's wife from another relationship. He has Asbrgr syndrome. (Vowels omitted on purpose).  I need to be careful when teasing him (I like to tease children in good fun). He is so wonderful and special.

And, he is clearly smitten with this girl in the photo. She seems to know he is following her and is playing the flirt card very well.

Minion Me

The theme this year was Despicable Me 2. My great nephew turned four this week. My camera was in the car when he made his grand entrance to his birthday party in full Minion garb and goggles. The goggles did not say on long at all. So cute.

Little Girls

My family's cup runneth over. We are in the midst of a baby boom. To me this is a good thing. I love babies and small children. I do very well with school-age children but to me - the pre-schoolers are the most fun.

The above wee one? Sometimes she lets me hold her and sometimes she won't let me within 3 feet of her before she begins to pucker up. She is probably afraid I will try to hold her. I back away quickly and give her the space she needs. I can't stand those adults who grab the baby anyway and act like it is the baby's fault they are crying.

"What's wrong with you?!" 

"Nothing is wrong with me lady, I just don't know you very well and you are kind of freaking me out!"

Oh, but when they smile. Sweet sunshine!

This and That

Saturday we had two birthday parties to attend. The above little girl turned one, is my sister 1956's only grandchild. My sister is staying with me, now.

The other birthday was for a four year old boy - sister 1944's second grandchild. She has three boy grandchildren. They dressed him as a minion from Despicable Me 2. I did not get a photo of him in full costume (goggles) and all. To get an idea you only need to search for the word "minion" in Google, and then click images. He was adorable. We watched the movie while waiting for another nephew from out of town to arrive with his family. They showed me all the little extra things that go on in the background that are just as funny as the movie. Things only somebody who has had to watch a show dozens of times would see.

Twisted my neck (slept wrong, I guess) on Saturday night and still feeling the after effects.

I hate changing time - my inside clock gets all messed up. Was up at 2:30 yesterday and 2:00 a.m. today. Starting to feel groggy. After two cups of coffee I will crash in my TV chair until the alarm rings (cell phone) and probably re-twist my neck.

Work is going to get crazy.

Been reading. Missing planes, shooting through bathroom doors, quakes in CA, quakes in OH, airplane hitting a skydiver, mamas driving into the ocean, and landmines. My head spins.

I have to sign off now because soon I won't be making any sense at all. Must sleep.

Road trip!

My little road trip yesterday. Same thing today. Sa!t F0rk lodge.

Pink decorations

I took this photo while working at a school a week or so ago. The secretary told me that they had already taken down a lot of the decorations. I just think it is amazing that somebody can do this and actually get the decorations to stay attached.

I've never had much luck with decorating.

Note: I am NOT a creepy little school kid creeper. Well, not much. I do get the urge to cuddle, pinch, hug some little ones from time to time but I must resist the urge as I am a stranger.

A while back I was working at a school with the door to the tech room open when a line of little ones marched by. I smiled and waved. I heard one say to the other "Is that your grandmother?"

Wha...?!!!

Dejected

When I asked the other worker at the pizza shop for a photo of his hair, I noticed the other worker duck back into the kitchen looking dejected.

Before I left, I told him "Come on, I want a picture of your hair, too."  He was so pleased. He said "Did you get the curls?"  I said,   "I got those beautiful curls!"