It's NOT My Fault!

Well, maybe it is. But it hardly seems fair. First of all, I got shin splints during my morning walks and had to go off of my walking routine for two weeks. Then I spent last Monday night puking my guts out, and was slightly nauseated for three days after that. But then, I must admit, that even when I felt all better I was not very careful. (Like my eating about a half-dozen applesauce cookies yesterday.) So maybe going up by only .4 lbs. is actually a great triumph! ;-)

Twilight

After hearing so many people rave about it, I finally read Twlilight by Stephenie Meyer. I believe I am about to express an unpopular opinion: I think Twilight is rather drivelly. I know everyone loves the Twilight series; I can definitely see the appeal to teenage girls. But I don't understand why so many grown-up women are so excited by it. I found the book disappointing.

To be sure you understand me, I'll say that Ms. Meyer writes well enough to keep me wanting to read more; I was interested enough to finish the book—and even finish it in one day. I kind of enjoyed it—except that I was unable to completely suspend my disbelief. In plain English: I found it less believable than your average story about a vampire and a normal, human girl falling in love. But as I thought about the characters and situation after I finished reading it, I became even more dissatisfied.

I really couldn't see why Edward would fall in love with Bella; she was kind of a whiny teenager. Yes, they say that she is grown-up for her age; but you know . . . Edward, although he appears to be seventeen, is over 100 years old. I'm only 41 and, even though teenagers are nice enough, I can't imagine falling in love with one now. Our life experiences are too completely different; we don't see things in the same way at all. I don't even see things in the same way that I saw them as a teenager. But factor in the idea that Edward, besides being a century older, is also a vampire—their life experiences are completely, totally, vastly different. As far as I can tell, he is simply intrigued by this pretty girl whose mind he is unable to read. Edward even tells us (through Bella) that he is unfamiliar with and unable to understand human emotions. Why would he fall in love with her?

As for Bella, all I could see on her side is that Edward is the most unbelievably gorgeous boy she (or anyone else in the world) has ever seen: He wasn't nice to her; in fact at first he seems to be repelled by her—maybe even hate her—with no provocation on her part. Granted, he did save her from a tragic car accident; but she can't figure out why he saved her since he so obviously dislikes her (which is, in itself, weird. Why wouldn't anyone step in to save her, if they could?). Bella gives us no reason that she would fall in love with him except that he's soooo gorgeous. It seems more a matter of lust than love to me.

OK. So much for credibility. How about content?

I'd have to say that a good thirty percent of this book is spent by Bella telling us how totally gorgeous Edward is, from his perfect, rock-hard figure to his amazing smile and melt-you-into-a-puddle voice. I think I really understood that after the first few tellings. Another ten percent of the book is spent by her saying that she's going to be in love with him no matter what he does to discourage her (which is, basically, him saying, "You shouldn't like me."). And another ten percent is Edward telling her that it's really a bad idea for her to fall in love with him. * bored sigh *

Besides all that, they all take themselves sooooo seriously. It's like, "I love you, dang-it. And this is serious stuff!" She did attempt to lighten it up a little bit with a vampire baseball game, but that event was quickly broken up by the evil, bad-guy vampire. Oh well.

However, I admit, I did read it all the way through to the happy ending. And I cared about it enough to find out what will happen next. I asked Michael, who's read through the third book, and that's enough for me.

My overall rating? I'd have to agree with a (40-year old, married, male) friend of ours, who said: "Those Twilight books really bring out the twelve-year-old girl in all of us."

School, part 2

Well, that was over swiftly. The law states: A board may enroll children in school who are at least five years of age before September 2 of the year in which admission is sought. Period. The end. They will make no exceptions. The lady at the department of education said that I could contact my representative and seek to have that law changed or amended. When I pointed out that this wouldn't help Jessica, she said that it might help someone else down the road. I don't exactly take that philanthropic point of view.

Everyone—the state people; the school—seems to think this is about me wanting Jessica to be a year ahead in school. They have all assured me that she could test out of Kindergarten next year and go directly to first grade (which, yes, we will probably do). But that is not the real issue. The real problem is disappointing my little girl who really wants to be in school. Maybe I should contact my representative and have him explain to Jessica why she can't go to school this year. Why should I have to be the villain?

Well, anyway, we will try to make the best of this. I don't mind having Jessica around. :-) And I will get her back into Nicole's Preschool; Nicole is a friend of mine, and she is wonderful with the kids. Also, Jessica will get her own library card soon. She will like to get books and Bruce and I will work on reading with her. Next year she will be in first grade.

School

I was going to write a nice story about how all my kids are in school now, even Jessica. My older Entheos kids started last Wednesday, but Michael didn't start at AMES until yesterday (Monday, Aug. 25). Jessica went in for her Kindergarten pre-assessment last Friday, but yesterday was also her first official day of school. She was so excited to go to school with all of her brothers and sisters! And she has loved her first two days. She goes to morning Kindergarten, and when we pick her up in the afternoon she chatters all the way home about her class and her teacher. It's very cute.

Jessica's birthday is September 6, but the cut-off date for Kindergarten is September 1. As school was wrapping up last year I just figured that Jessica wouldn't be going this year. So when they sent us registration materials I was pretty surprised, but also excited for her--she has really wanted to go to school. I have no doubt that she's ready for it; she knows her alphabet, upper and lower case; she knows most of her alphabet sounds; she knows her colors and some numbers; she can write her name. We took her to the "Kindergarten Round-Up" last May, where she got to meet her teacher and see the classroom, etc; and then we spent the summer with her, looking forward to the beginning of school. And she has been so excited to go.

Well, today I got a call from the school saying that Jessica can't go to Kindergarten this year. Apparently there was a mistake when they sent us the registration stuff. I can understand that--human error, you know; so I'm not really upset with anyone at the school. I also understand that there has to be a cut-off date some time; September 1 is as good as any other arbitrary date.

None of this would be a problem if we had never planned on her going this year at all. But I'm very unhappy that now, after we've spent the summer getting her built up for school, and she's gone and loved it for two days, we are being told she can't go. It's state law. The state won't pay for her schooling because of her birth date.

I called the state department of education this afternoon. The secretary who answered the phone seemed surprised that they wouldn't allow her to keep going to school now that she's already started. That gives me some hope. But the lady I really needed to talk to wasn't in. I left her a message, and I'm going to call her again tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how this all works out.

Oh Noooooo!

I've gone up .6 this week. Oh noooo!