Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Next Tuesday is the first day of school. The kids are very excited.

I am not excited about Kindergarten. I went to orientation, and realized, there won't really be a point to sending my daughter to Kindergarten. I had though that it was supposed to be a social event, but when I realized it would just be play time for 3 hours a day, less than actually, I started to get angry.

She reads, writes, can do math, count by 10's, knows everything almost through the first grade curriculum. She's social with other little girls, but they're all older than her too. So I spoke to the Vice Principal, who said to me, knowing my son, that he understood my concerns and thought we should look at the options and testing within the first few weeks of school.

There are many schools of thought on this. Every kid needs social skills. If my kid is bored, I'm afraid of the behavior, or thinking that she/he doesn't have to try and stops excelling simply because its too easy. We accepted this as a problem for our son, who we knew needed to stay with his peers as his emotional maturity would need to catch up with his brain.

Now, we're going to have to decide, should the assessments prove what the pediatrician observed, if we let her skip Kindergarten. This would also mean, she would graduate when she is 16, almost 17. As it is, if she stays at her level, she will graduate when she is 17 almost 18.

So what does the peanut gallery think of this 'advancement' option as opposed to what we did with my son, which was just advanced programs and let him do 'alternate' work within his class - which led to a few problems - but over all was best for him.

Drastic measures? Not really..

Are you Half Nekkid yet?

So, I swore I was growing it out, but I'm totally cutting it all off again. So this week's HNT (was still in Cleveland and without chess for over a week, but I WILL get back to it... soon) is all about the hair. Tomorrow it will be cut shorter, and will feel 1,000,000 times better! I realize, it's not all that long, but I really enjoy the short and simple hair recently!

So, this is the back, and yes I realize, it's still short..

And here is the top.. with my awful roots!

And from the front lately looks like this.. and is now my profile pic..

Granted, usually I'm not in sepia, but I like playing with the settings..

Happy HNT!! Check in tomorrow afternoon for results, unless they're just awful, then it will be a paper bag!

The Remains of the Day...

There is no actual skin in this HNT. This is a half-naked last glimpse of the 'cleaning up' after the passing of my Mother's husband. He spend most of his time either in his office or in his garage...

~

Obligation.

Responsibility.

Is it conformity when ones perceptions of these words change into satisfaction and peace of mind? I was always thinking that reaching for the stars meant no compromise, and for lack of a better phrasing, 'balls to the walls' gusto. There is also the mind set I had that having to do something always meant I would resent it.

The little rebel in me hasn't had her last hurrah, to be sure, she'll always be there. I just find a sort of gratification in a job well done when helping my Mother through this. All at once, I feel as if I am duty-bound yet completely cheerful about it all. Please don't misunderstand, the situation is nothing to feel joy over, but rather taking the burden does not lend me towards feeling put upon in any way shape or form. I don't believe in selflessness either though, because any satisfaction I derive or good feeling in helping completely ruins any sort of sanctimonious moments I could have. I'm not pious nor am I selfless.

So, here is my HNT this week. A sort of 'before and after' of the sorting of grief.















What you can't see, and will have to imagine, is that this 'before' photo, is actually a lot cleaner than when I started - and the two cabinets where completely packed, along with another wall of shelving with just crap. This doesn't even cover the storage unit, or the garage - which I am also including a picture of what I'm going to start tackling tomorrow. Speaking of which, do you know anyone in the Cleveland area who is interested in purchasing a drill press??

Presenting - the task for tomorrow...





















Happy HNT Everyone!