Category Archives: Kids

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Progress

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I was happy to read in the Luverne paper this week that construction has started on a 7.5 million dollar child care center in town.

A couple of years ago, residents expressed concern about dwindling child care options, and the city responded by securing funding for a municipal child care center to serve over 100 children ages birth to 12. The city just had to secure a $1,000,000 city match from community members. Well, that took only six months, and they exceeded the goal.

In Dickinson, child care is getting harder and harder to find, especially for infants. We recenly lost a terrific mental health tech because she had no daycare for her infant daughter. It is so good to hear the progress in Luverne, and I only wish Dickinson would follow suit.

What progressive things are happening in your community? Did you ever have babysitters, either when you were a child or for your own children ?

2024, Family, Food, Gatherings, Kids, Travel, Uncategorized

How Do You Know

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Husband and I don’t travel very much. Twice a year I have to go to a conference in various destinations in the US or Canada as part of my work on a regulatory board, and Husband sometimes goes along. If I didn’t have to attend the conferences we wouldn’t travel as much. We are just too busy with work, gardens, and family pets to leave home very often.

This week we are visiting our daughter in Tacoma, WA. It is so nice to travel without an agenda or meetings to attend.. Wednesday we drove to Gig Harbor to a wonderful bagel shop and cooking store that Daughter loves, and walked around in the marina. We also saw a very strange tree.

We then had a lovely evening with Daughter and two of her dear friends, a married couple, at a wonderful Italian restaurant. Of course, we had to have a sampling of Washington wines masterfully curated by the friend’s husband.

My Husband asked this morning “How do you know you are on vacation?” To him, it means that someone else is letting the dog out, or else he is by a large body of water. To me, it means that I have no access to work emails, and someone else does the driving. Daughter has curated our trip nicely, planning visits to lovely restaurants and time with her friends, along with some great sightseeing. Yesterday we drove north of Seattle, stopping off at the Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, then driving farther north and west to Anacortes, where where we got the ferry to Orcas Island and a B and B way in the middle of nowhere.

We were advised to travel there in the daylight, as the road there had so many switchbacks. It is a beautiful place. This is the view from the front room.

Today we go whale watching. By Saturday we will be back in Tacoma for more luncheons with Daughter’s friends, and an appointment at a candle making studio. Monday we go home.

How do you know that you are on vacation? What are the best and worst vacations you ever had?

2024, education, Family, Food, Kids, Technology, Travel

Where in the World is XDFBen?

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A rhetorical question really. The photos will give it away. But I hardly ever get to say this so couldn’t pass it up.

A college sponsored vacation? Well, sure! At least for me. Kelly and daughter are the bonus on the trip.

Thirty four years ago we came here on our honeymoon. A year ago when I knew this event would be here, I said we couldn’t pass it up. And now I keep asking, do you recognize anything? Nope. Even the famous places, I know we were there, but not much recollection. And that’s ok. The weather was beautiful Sunday – Tuesday.  Wednesday was cloudy and Thursday It rained in the evening.

One day we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. Standing on the deck watching the water, it was just beautiful. I tried to get that to be an indelible memory. I made a comment to Kelly that I thought it was pretty cool go back to an island we had been at 34 years ago and she pointed out we were on Whidbey Island, not Bainbridge Island. Damn. I don’t know where I got Bainbridge from. Well, I’m a writer, time to change the narrative! From now on, we went to Bainbridge Island as part of our Honeymoon. Wasn’t much to see there, it’s 55 minutes between returning ferries, and we were back to the dock in time to catch the next one returning to the mainland.  We all enjoyed the boat ride.

Tuesday we rode the Ferris wheel, we went to the aquarium, and we visited three used bookstores. Everything’s expensive here, but some of the food has really been good.

We hit some of the other tourist attractions, and got to watch them toss some fish.

Wednesday was the first day of the USITT conference, the United States Institute of Theatre Technology, and I am now a certified MEWP operator. Mobile Elevated Work Platform. Scissor lift, genie lift, all those big bucket things you see at construction sites or theaters. It was a good class.

Thursday I attended a soldering workshop and wired up a little LED strip,

got my hearing tested for free, saw a famous Broadway lighting designer and listened to her speak: Dawn Chiang.

Friday was a class on organizing your shop, which I’m hoping will be useful for home, as well as a class titled “the psychology of stupidity”. I’ll fill you in on that next week.

The convention Center: Two buildings, 6 floors. Getting my steps in. Not to mention how far UP HILL it is from the wharf to downtown. We were never lost, but I went the wrong direction multiple times. 

We rode the light rail and monorail, we met some friends here and had supper at their house, I made a couple new friends, and more surprising was the fact we three survived all being in one hotel room together for a week!

The people watching has been great!

March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day. 3,21, because down syndrome comes from the fact those kids have three copies of the 21st chromosome as opposed to two. That’s why it’s also called trisomy 21. Daughter is a pretty interesting kid. Lots of people will smile at her and make conversation with her, she says hello to a lot of people, and animals just love her. She’s kind of fun to hang out with.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE CERTIFIED IN?

2024, Kids, Media, Words

My Word!

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I subscribe to my hometown paper The Rock County Star Herald, and was tickled to see the recent news that English students at the Luverne High School recently were named State Champions in the Minnesota Fall 2023 Vocabulary Bowl.

This competition was new to me. It is done on-line. Every two months, students are given access to 15,000 vocabulary words from various subjects, and study the words and take tests through definition, context, spelling, etc., also learning the words in specific pieces of literature they read in their English classes. After a certain number of correct answers, they are considered to have mastered the words. 100 Junior and Senior students at Luverne mastered 11,000 words from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. They are on their way to another championship for Feb.1 through March 31.

I would have loved such a challenge. I was in every musical competition and speech tournament there was, but this would have been extremely fun! I would love to know if this expands their working vocabulary and if they use the words they are learning in their everyday conversations!

What extracurricular activities were you involved in during high school? What new or interesting words have you heard lately? Got any favorite words?

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized, work

Tease

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My children love to characterize me as being really rigid and fussy. I’m really not that fussy and particular, but they exaggerate as a way of gentle teasing. My post last week about Saying “No” gave us some some fun discussion about my parenting. I didn’t realize that they both read the blog on a regular basis. Son sent me the following You Tube video, which I find hilarious. He likes to refer to me as “Meine lieblings Mutti”.

I like their teasing, as it is gentle and done in good humor. My father was a terrible tease but he wasn’t malicious. There is a fine line between good teasing and bullying, though. We don’t have bullies in our family.

I have been teased at work by my coworkers the past few weeks for my smudging of our building and the sheer amount of smoke that I filled the building with. That has been fun teasing, too. I imagine it got tiresome for a former coworker to have it brought up on a regular basis that she had been caught speeding in a State vehicle by the governor. She always accepted it with grace and humor.

What do people tease you about? Know any mothers like the one in the video?

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Sled!

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At the back of my grandson’s elementary school is a good sized hill that the children can play on. I suppose in the fall and spring they roll down it. Now that they have enough snow, our son went to Lowe’s and bought a sled, and they had a great time on Saturday sledding down the school hill.

The sled is blue and green and made of PET plastic. It is long and narrow. Son had a similar sled when he was growing up. We called it the Black Blaster. Husband loved taking the kids to the butte two blocks from our house that had perfect slopes for sledding. It was a great way to wear out active kids.

I had a wooden sled with metal runners that you were supposed to be able to steer, but I was never very successful at it. Luverne didn’t have may hills at all, and the opportunities for sledding were pretty limited. The best places for sledding were the piles of snow at the elementary school that were from clearing the play ground. When I was in Grade 6 that wasn’t even an option as the school administration banned all snow pile play after someone broke their arm in a vigorous game of King of Mountain.

I am really glad our grandson has a good place to sled. Son said there were lots of happy yells as he descended the hill. I will have to find out if the sled has a name.

What are your sledding and winter play memories? Ever ride on a toboggan?

2024, Family, home, Kids

Saying “No”

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I have never really had trouble saying “No” to people. I was a pretty strict parent, and I don’t often find myself doing things with or for people that I don’t want to. Husband is pretty different, as he is the oldest child in his family and since he has been small has catered to others. When his younger sister was still in a play pen, he took it as his job to retrieve all the toys she threw out of her play pen. It became quite a game for her, I understand. He just kept retrieving the toys, though.

When our children were young and were home and bored, Husband couldn’t stand it if they looked unhappy, and was always rescuing them from their boredom and devising things for them to do. This used to drive me crazy, as I was worried they would never learn to entertain themselves. I guess that is due to my experiences as an only child, since I always had to entertain myself.

Our Cesky Terrier, Kyrill, is a lovely and affectionate boy who is really spoiled. He has pegged Husband as an easy mark for constant play and cossetting. Kyrill goes up to Husband and sits at his feet and whines. Husband can’t standi it, and finds things for the dog to do, or else gets him a snack of ice cubes. The dog loves ice cubes. The dog knows better than to try it with me. I have to admit, though, that no matter how often I tell Kyrill that I am done tugging with him, I invariably end up tugging with him again. After that I say “Go to Daddy”, and the dog takes his tug over to Husband and they tug. It is nice to have a partner who takes care of me, too, although I think I am taking advantage of Husband’s weaknesses!

What creature(s) do have trouble setting limits with? How do you and your siblings get along these days?

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Making Funny Noises

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Last April when our 5 year old grandson was stranded at our house for three weeks due to the weather, I took it upon myself to teach him some very important life skills, namely, how to make funny noises.

I don’t know why I think these are important skills, but he has really enjoyed trying to perfect them. When we visited him and his parents after Christmas this year, he proudly showed me how he could snap his fingers. He also learned how to make the loud popping noise you can make with your little finger on the inside of your mouth and lips. He is starting to whistle. He has yet to figure out how to make the trilling/purring noise that sounds like a motor by vibrating your tongue against your front teeth. 

My father loved making funny noises, especially bird noises to confuse small children and pets, making them think there was a small bird in the vicinity. I don’t know if noise making is encouraged in other families, but it sure is important in my family.

What important things did you learn from grandparents or other older relatives? What funny noises are you proficient making?

2024, Kids, Mysteries, News, Uncategorized

Alarming Trends

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I have noticed over the past year or so a really alarming trend for people to back into parking paces in parking lots. At the grocery store, it means that if you have a van or you put your groceries in the trunk that it is hard to access the rear of your vehicle. I guess people do this so that they have better visibility when they leave their parking space. I think it is really dumb. It takes longer to park, makes it harder to park, and also makes it quicker for someone to steal your vehicle since they can just drive off instead of having to take time to back out.

People at my agency also noticed over the past year a trend for Middle School and High School female students to try to convince us that they have Dissociative Identity Disorder aka Multiple Personality Disorder, and watch TikTok videos to practice the symptoms and the shifting into the other personalities. They are so disappointed when we dismiss the symptoms.

If you haven’t noticed, I wrote this when I was really crabby. That is usually not a trend for me, but this has been an annoying week. I will be alarmed if my crabby trend continues.

What has made you crabby this week? What were the passing fads when you were in Middle School and High School.

2024, Art, Gatherings, Kids, Movies

Blinding Lights

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YA came home from work yesterday asking if I had watched the Golden Globe ceremonies.  When I looked at her blankly she asked if I had “heard” about them.

I actually don’t really know what the Golden Globes are.  I mean, I know it’s yet another way for the over-paid and over-glamorized folks in Hollywood to pump up their egos, but other than that I don’t know what differentiates it from the Oscars.

One of my friends always makes a point of seeing all the movies that are up for the best picture Oscar.  I’m pretty much 0 for 5 every year for the past 10 years.  I did see Shape of Water on Christmas Day 2018 – I didn’t know anything about it at the time, just that it was showing at a good time for us.  I didn’t actually like it very much so was surprised to find out a few weeks later than it was an Oscar contender.

Apparently the Oscar nominations are due out on January 25 although there are lots of websites trying to predict who will be on the leaderboard.  Since the only movie I’ve been to in the last year is “Migration” (an animated film), I’m pretty sure I’m continuing my streak.

I’m fairly certain that none of my favorite movies have ever even been nominated for a big award, much less won one:  To Catch a Thief, Moonstruck, Princess Bride, People Will Talk, Sneakers, Murder on the Orient Express (1974 version only), American Dreamer, Dial M for Murder…. 

Do you follow the Globes/Oscars/Sundances/Cannes, etc???   Do you have a favorite movie?