Happy Easter!

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Originally uploaded by Dorian Speed

Hello and thanks for all the "just checking" comments.

Things are okay. I am having a rough time with this pregnancy and the accompanying MIGRAINES, which are curiously much more of an issue this time around. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the extant two small children and the full-time job and the small but significant part-time job.

Speaking of which, anyone want to be a theology teacher? I can hook you up.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that there are eight more weeks until my full-time job becomes Growing A Person and not Molding The Future.

So - blogging will probably be light, but thanks again, and any prayers on my behalf to the patron saint of crazy would be much appreciated.

Supersonic

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Originally uploaded by Dorian Speed

The S is for Super and the U is for UNIQUE

The P is for Perfection and you KNOW that we are freaks

The E is for Exotic and the R is for RAPS

So tell those nosy people just to stay the (redacted) BACK

In case you have not been to a Sating Parde since 1988, I am happy to report that the music and decor remain unchanged. The only novelty comes from teetering over to the concessions bar with a 3-year-old on one leg and a 6-year-old on the other, neither of whom have prior skating experience. Couple this with a wee hint of nausea and some balance issues, and you have yourself a parde.

30 minutes = 1/3 lap around the rink.

Sure, the parde actually started an hour beforehand, but sometimes a mother relies upon her foggy memory instead of the phone book and takes you to where the skating rink was in 1988. But the event was at the OTHER skating rink, the one on the east side. The westSIDE! one is now a Pump It Up.

I think this means they get to go with Daddy next time.

Sign of Poor Catechesis at Home

"Mom, I heard Pope Benedict's name on the announcements this morning."

"Really?"

"Is he our UPS man?"

Sign that the salesman lied when using the term, "Fashion Forward."

"So, are those like, maternity shoes? That's cool."

Cut a mother some slack.

The thing about Christmas and the first trimester is, you can exploit the one in order to survive the other.

Sometimes cleanliness must be sacrificed for the greater good of person-growing, in other words. I'd estimate your average Speed child lasted about .75 hours each morning happily dumping Microscopic Components (beads, Batman legos, Nativity scene players) in various locations before finally poking the Sleeper. "We needtoeat BREAKFASTD NOW."

Pinkpants, on point, initiated her brother into the secret protocols of motherwaking.

Trotting down the hallway, she stopped him upon the threshold.

Whisper.

"If you do this, the eyes open."

Tiptoes.

As promised, the eyes do open when you BREATHE DIRECTLY ON MY EYELIDS. She stepped back to allow her brother a place in my limited field of vision.

"I need help to build Poison Ivy's castle."

Five more minutes, honey. Bring Mommy her alarm clock.

Filler

Insert boilerplate "All I Did Over Winter Holiday Break Was Sleep And Hide From Toys" post here, acknowledging slumpage.

Jingle Bell Rock

Jingle Bell Rock
Originally uploaded by Dorian Speed

Merry Christmas!

T minus

2 days. Really, one day, because we have two half-days.

(I know you hate me, if you are a teacher who gets out next week sometime. I understand the hate. But I do have extenuating circumstances of a tired and tortilla-soup-craving variety).

In years past, the strategery has been the all-nighter preceding Grade Turn-In Time, which is at 1300 hours on 14 December. The all-nighter is the perfect answer when the question is, "how on earth did I amass so many assignments to grade before I can even begin grading the exams?" or "do I suffer from some kind of genetic defect that makes me incapable of eschewing essay tests?" Or even, "how is it that I have so many of their Challenges of the Early Church and How We Overcame Them papers still being turned in, when the due date was originally two weeks ago?"

In this post, I will discuss the following topics: grumbling about my job responsibilities, looking gift cavalry in the mouth, procrastinating through bloggery, and oblique references to the only really exciting thing going on around here. There were many interesting topics in the early blog period and I will discuss them in this post.

So, the good thing is that this means only two more days of Threatcon Level: Radioluminescent when we are referring to Godiva Gift Basket exposure in the break room. I loooooooove my job. Yeti-sized bowl of chocolate covered chocolate, right next to the copier. Which keeps breaking, allowing for more snarfage as we check paper feed at A by opening each panel, slamming it shut, and cursing.

Anyway...I would write more, but I'm just really tired. And a little absent-minded?

Foreshadowing music

Gosh, I've just been so tired lately.

The house looks like Racoon Fraternity Party Shack.

Exams are next week.

I'm just really, really tired, you know?

I am glad I have this blog

even though I never seem capable of writing anything, of late.

Anyway - tomorrow, we are doing this crazy bishop vs. Gnosticism simulation, and I couldn't remember how exactly it went two years ago, so - I am glad I wrote about it in April 2006.

I am somehow behind in each of my classes despite the fact that I am working far more effectively and consistently at staying on top of things. It isn't really as much of a help as I had hoped that I taught two of my three preps once before, as I am doing the scripture class completely differently and the Church History class with a new set of books. I am, however, proudish to report that I have not yet resorted to use of the textbook in the Scripture class and have instead had them read, you know, the Bible. And I'm telling myself that the reason we are just finishing up with the Patriarchs is that we stopped to spend a week on All Saints' Day stuff and a week on retreat follow-up and a week on gosh-this-is-a-three-day-week, when you counth the teacher workday and the retreat.

So, once again, the Hebrew Scriptures class will leak into the New Testament class in the spring, which is okay since I have the same students, I guess, but it sure would be nice to be further ahead.

I'm aiming to be ready to kick off January with the Royal Kingdom.

This concludes my update.