Promises

Promises are not always easy to keep, no matter how good the intentions were at the time you made the promise. This is a hard lesson for children, especially when they connect breaking a promise to a person as breaking a promise to God. Recently, Kate learned in a religious lesson at school that breaking a promise to a person is like breaking a promise to God. At least that is how she understood the lesson. Around that time, she made a very unrealistic promise to a friend in her class. I'll call this friend Michelle for the sake of privacy.

I am unsure what lead up to the promise, but Kate said she would give Michelle $126.00 for the book fair this week at school.

She asks to speak with me privately the night before her class is to visit the book fair. She is literally wringing her hands and is so nervous, but she manages the courage to ask me if she can take $126.00 out of her savings. For an 8-year-old to ask for this amount of money with this amount of apprehension is somewhat mind-blowing for a parent. I cannot describe what was going through my mind. With tears forming in her eyes, more wringing of her hands, I manage to get out of her why she needs this money. With relief, I restrain from laughing because she is still just at the end of her world.

We talked about how such promises are over-promises and that parents need to be consulted for these type of promises. I explained that even if I let her have the money that Michelle's parents would never be happy that Michelle accepted that kind of money no matter how many jobs they were working to make end meet.

Now we have an understanding of over-promises and that God would look at her intentions rather than the "breaking a promise" on judgment day! Her concerns turn to Michelle teasing her, being mad at her and/or telling the teacher. Kate really can get worried over a teacher giving her a detention (3rd grade, remind you)! We go over and over plans on how to explain things to Michelle and how to inform the teacher. Kate wants me there while she talks with the teacher. All night, she complained of a stomach ache from the nervous butterflies. She couldn't sleep. She continued to pull me aside discuss the plan and other options.

We finally get to school, I walk to the class room with Kate. Michelle and Kate have known each other since Kindergarten. Michelle excitedly waves to Kate and me. Kate turns to me and says, "That's ok, Mom, you can go."!

weak (for) coffee

I've tried. I cannot make coffee, so I invest in Tim Horton's! I have even tried other places, but Tim makes it just the way I like for $1.55 a day. Unfortunately, I add a muffin or bagel because I don't make time for breakfast before leaving in the morning. This increases the cost to an average of $3.00 a day, not to mention all the carbs!

One of my favorite blogs is Simple Mom. Her post on a six-month emergency plan got me thinking of how much I spend on coffee and lunch. I'll crunch the numbers to make a goal, but

• I will eat breakfast at home
• I will pack my lunch 3 times a week

Notice, I didn't give up the coffee for $1.55 a day. :-)

Simple Ways You Can Start Enjoying Today | On Simplicity

Today, my 7-year old asked if I was anxious to grow up when I was her age. She said she will like being an adult to do as she pleases: come & go, make decisions, etc. No, she wasn't upset about anything in particular; just a casual conversation. How ironic that later as I decompress from being an adult, late in the evening, I run across: Simple Ways You Can Start Enjoying Today On Simplicity: "Remember how badly you wanted to be an adult so that you could live life by your own rules? Enjoy the fact that, for the most part, you get to make your own decisions today."

Is adulthood really that different than childhood? Instead of school, it's work. If I do not go to work, it's a lack of a paycheck instead of truancy. Oh, I don't get an allowance for my household chores anymore. I suppose that if I were a child at this moment I would be asleep for school, instead of choosing to stay up late, blogging this, while laughing at a stupid joke on David Letterman. Adults have choices and make choices for children in the hope of developing their good habits. Time for me to do my parents proud and go to sleep for work.

Acts of Kindness

At the store this evening, Kate and I witnessed a kindness that was inspiring. After shopping, we unloaded our groceries onto the conveyor belt not paying much attention to what was happening in that line. It was the only open line other than the 20 items or less. Once the cart was empty I began to pay closer attention and realized that the cashier had a dilemma. His customer was short money to pay for the already bagged groceries. Her already confused state gave way to panic. She didn't understand how she spent so much and she became even more confused of what to have removed. The removal was complicated by the fact that the cost was split between food stamps and cash. She was too paranoid to inform the cashier how much money she did have, so he could help her remove items. The bagger bailed on the cashier. The poor cashier couldn't get his manager's attention for help and his line was growing. I was at a loss of how to help; my attempts were feeble at best. The customers behind me mimicked "It's ok" along with me to the apologies from the cashier and the befuddled customer.

At last, we extracted that she had $50 and her bill was $45 (after the removal of a few items). Relief on the cashier's face was short lived. She explained that this was all the money she had to live on for a few weeks. The mother and early twenty-something daughter behind me pulled out their credit card without hesitation and paid for the groceries. As the mother paid and gave continued reassurance to this woman, I told the daughter how thoughtful this was. The daughter explained that it was a sign of the times, that they had a 3-income family and they could help.

I have thought of this act of kindness all evening and cannot begin to explain how touching this was to me.

Zoo Adventure - Wildlights 2008

In the spirit of starting a new tradition for Kate and I, we went to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium this evening. It was extremely cold; single digits and windy. We were surprised to see the active cougars and wolves. They were playing and enjoying the cold weather.

The lights were beautiful but I didn’t take as many pictures of them because I was just too cold to stop long enough. We kept our heads buried as we hurried off to the nearest building to get warm again. I took a lot of pictures, with my new digital camera, in the reptile house. The reptile house ended badly because a hurt turtle was being attacked by other turtles. Needless to say that we did alert zookeepers and I will not be posting that video that I inadvertently recorded. It was a bit upsetting to Kate and a few other children.

In the Manatee exhibit, Kate demonstrated her steel trap mind and informed me how creatures living underwater were really drinking their own urine. There were a few giggles around me. The nearest Manatee kindly demonstrated Kate’s point not but a few seconds later, which again Kate pointed out.

Kate wanted to try ice skating, but only got two feet on the ice before saying she changed her mind. She rode the Carousel and told Santa of all the American Girl gifts she wanted. Kate noticed that Mrs. Claus was fake because she was wearing a wig, but “you could tell that Santa wasn’t fake.” As we concluded our new traditional adventure, Kate and I agreed that next year we would go in November when it would be warmer.

Pictures: Zoo Adventures 1 and Zoo Adventures 2

Web2.0 and Learn2.0

Oh, grow up.
This article discusses the possible death of blogging because of the excessive number of bloggers and the challenge of keeping fresh, up to date content.

On a personal level, I have begun to enjoy getting in touch with old friends or getting to know co-workers that I only see a few times a year. Facebook and Twitter give that opportunity, but those only offer quick snippets and fun activities. Blogging offers a look into the challenges and wonders of the writer's life. This connection can bring people together through commonalities.

On a professional level, blogging offers insight into CML's leaders to provide guidance and offer another medium of communication. It is fundamental for an organization to provide communication to operate, although the greater challenge is for the audience. The audience can go into 'information overload". These social networking avenues provide the reader with the opportunity to extract the information they want within their limits leaving other communication mediums for more mission critical news.

Learn and Play as given us ideas for blogging and social networking. How can we use this virtual avenue of communication to save money for library?

HOW WE CAN FACE UP TO THE CHALLENGES OF 'LEARNING 2.0.'.
This article discusses the importance of collaborative learning sharing expertise and letting go of the top-down mindset. This will be second nature to the next generation coming into the workforce. Learning professional will need to keep up and embrace this or face being pushed aside.

Technology is growing fast and the expectation to keep up is great. To compete in today's world, one must be able to show their learning flexibility.

Selling SCRIP

Kate's school uses SCRIP to raise money for the school. The great thing is that the 70% of percentage given by the company goes directly towards Kate's tuition. If anyone is interested in purchasing cards for the holidays or any other time, please let me know. Here is a list of what cards are for sell Cards for Sale (Scrip). Please e-mail me at annette.whalen@gmail.com with your order, I can get the order started while you get payment to me. Thanks in advance!