fanbloomingtastic

Back to School - past & present (and ninja brownies)

Ah, do you remember the days when back to school meant going to the uniform shop in the local village and kitting the kids out in sweatshirts you assured them they'd "grow into to".

Then popping to Woolworths and buying some new felt tips (translation: markers) and a new pencil case because last year's Lilo and Stitch one wasn't trendy anymore.

And sending them off to school looking like this....

This is Goth Child on her first day at school in 2001. Cute eh? Then she started growing up ;)

And then we came to America, where the uniforms were still there-ish, but different now:

Goth Child in her High School Freshman t-shirt and one of the ROTC uniforms she had to wear once a week....if she was unlucky it was skirt and pantyhose week, if she was lucky it was BDUs and army boots. 

Melchett was cute going to school through the years too:

Ahhh, the lovely days when they'd wait across from the house in England for the school bus together:

So cute the pair of them:

And then we came to America, and they didn't have to wear 'uniforms' every day (and uniforms here are basically class t-shirts worn on a Friday.....unless like Goth Child you sign up for ROTC to avoid doing PE):

And now we've just 3 days and a weekend away from back to school 2012 stylee. Look at them now:

Yep, Goth Child is making the most of dropping ROTC in her Sophomore year by now having blue hair. And Melchett? Please don't ask about her hair or clothes, she styled herself this morning.....I have to keep nudging GC to stop her saying exactly what she thinks of what Melchey looks like. Kids eh!

So it's that time again....time to buy the back to school stationery on the required lists (and resign yourself to their arguments that they really don't have tons of felt tips (translation: markers) already at home, and they've honestly lost their pencil sharper/calculator etc):

And buy Melchett yet another pair of trainers (translation: tennis shoes) because her enormous feet have grown AGAIN!

And do the last bake of school hols.....though this time, we're baking ninja brownies:

OK, sssh now, ninja brownies need to disappear into my stomach....

I'm having to do PE....at 44 (psst, it's not too bad though)

Let me explain, I've just done a 2 hour-ish PE lesson. But this was my view for most of the time:

And this:

No way are you getting pics of my bowling :P

They never had this in my day.

Goth Child wants to do Choir as one of her electives in High School next year. But to do this, she has to get a half credit in PE/Physical Education before the start of year (at the end of July).

There were 2 main ways she could do this:

1. summer school (4 hours per day of 'traditional' PE, where I'd have to be present as a chaperone, in our 104-115F temps....nah, not for us that one, especially as I'd probably have to bring Melchett along each day to be bored and hot too.
2. 'online' - a range of courses to choose from including aerobics, running, tennis and our choice, bowling (each course has online and on paper lessons to work through, online tests to take to be marked, a final online exam and for bowling, Goth Child has to submit print-outs of her best 15 games verified by the front desk staff at our bowling alley).

So we could do the minimum of 15 games and just submit those, or we could do more and submit the best scores from just 15 to get a better grade. 30% of her final grade is based on the average score from these 15 games.

She started off bowling around 66-68. Her top score so far is 101, though session by session she's gradually improving, probably averaging mid-70s/low-80s at the moment. I think this is a C-ish. That's cool, to be honest, all she really has to do is pass.

What I do like though, is she's taking it seriously. She reading the coursework and trying to apply it. 

But she's also learning about bowling etiquette, sportsman-like behaviour (not gloating about her score whilst her 9 year sister gets a fair amount of gutterballs) and I'm making her do things like going up and asking for print-outs and shoes etc, rather than simply being 'Mum' and doing this stuff for her.

And Melchett's learning too. She's learning that although she's probably the most sporty person in our family, the one who can comparatively run faster, swim longer and jump higher than the rest of us.....she's not always going to find everything easy.....sometimes you have to work at things to get better at them, and you can't throw a mini-tantrum when you roll your 5th gutterball of the day.

And me?

I'm doing PE for the first time proper (I did 2 extra 'O' levels to get out of it at school....though we were talking hockey and lacrosse on icy/drizzly Northern English playing fields), I'm getting to spend quality time with my two wonderful kids away from the computer (that goes for all 3 of us)....

...and I scored a 118 today ;)

Competitive Mum strikes again! In your face, losers! ....................is what I obviously wouldn't say......well, out loud ;)

Are we nearly there yet?

Do you see this?

 

 

Goth Child took this pic as part of her 'Food Photos' week for Photography near the start of December and since then I've been begging her to take some pics of our Christmas decs. However, today and tomorrow she has 'Final Exams'.....except they're not 'Final'.

I'm still only getting my head around this American school system. At the moment she does 7 subjects at High School - English, Accelerated Math(s), History, Honours Biology, Mandarin, Photography and AFJROTC (Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps). And we're at the end of the 2nd quarter of 4 quarters (derr, sorry, it's still only half 6....I'm never totally awake this early). The marks from today's and tomorrow's exams go are weighted and added to her first two quarters class averages to get her grades and half credits in each subject. Is that as clear as mud? Yeah, me too.

I have to say I am incredibly proud and impressed with her. I'm sure she's working way harder than I ever did at school. In the first quarter she was a straight A student. As we speak before exams start (although her first one started just over 15 minutes ago at 6.25am.....yes, you read that right, 6.25am!! and Goth Child is the last person on earth you'd call a morning person) she has 3 As and 4 Bs where she's hovering under the magic 90% on a 86.55, 85.75, 89.37 and 89.75.....but hopefully she'll be able to nudge a couple or maybe all of these over into the As with the exam results.

And all of this revision whilst we've all been battling a seriously yukky cold. Goth Child had 3 days off school with it the week before last...that's unheard of, she's the last one of all 4 of us ever to be ill. Melchett had a day off, I took it easy for a couple of days when my throat blew up making me look like Jabba the Hut and Mr D. has had the most hacking cough for a few weeks now.....plus he's jet-lagged, as per usual.

So at 12.05pm tomorrow we'll be done with getting up at stupid o'clock for 2 weeks! And we can finally do Christmas properly, as a whole family, with no worries about having to break off to go and do more revision/homework etc.

Huzzah!

Before then I've got one last volunteering session at Melchett's school, marshalling for a run, which makes a change from all the art work I've been doing with her class, including a gift thing that I allowed the kids to 'hypnotise' me to forget as I need it to be a complete surprise when Melchett brings it home as a present tomorrow. (Psst, don't tell them I know but it's a calendar of their drawings and a piece of poetry for each month of the year that they've been writing and creating since December 1st.....but obviously I don't know that, I know nothing, where am I and what's my name?)

Other than that we're pretty set to have a jolly old time.....decorations have been hung, cards have been sent, presents have been wrapped, Christmas baking supplies bought in ready to do some serious baking with Melchett (and Goth Child when she wants to get out of bed), we even have in the fridge what Melchett calls "our ham that's a turkey" (it is indeed a turkey). We've been to all our favourite speciality shops to buy British provisions - we have our Bisto gravy, Paxo sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts, Christmas pudding, rum sauce, mince pies, Quality Street, After 8s, Matchmakers.....and courtesy of a lovely lady in the UK, a Christmas Radio Times is winging its way to us via airmail.....I seriously hope the USPS (United States Postal Service) get it to us on time so I can be pathetic and highlight my desired viewing with a highlighter. Though let's be honest, we all know the only show I'll kill to see is EastEnders (I SERIOUSLY need to see Yusef get his come uppance, for some reason I've found his and Zainab's story far more harrowing than Denise and Lucas's....and not looking forward to one of my faves popping her clogs, but at least it's not Dot....if/when Dot ever leaves or dies I'm going to need therapy again).

Aaaaaaaanyway....

I hope your last minute rushes aren't too hectic....and I promise I'll have some house tour photos on here in the near future, if I can get Goth Child out of bed at all once school breaks up.

General Fakery

Oh hello there! Sorry can't stop today - I've got Goth Child off school with a sickness bug (and have spent the early part of the morning scanning and emailing in homeworks to her teachers because she's desperate not to drop any of her grades or have too much to do when she gets back), the 'builders' are back to fix my sprinkler valves (5th time they've come to fix them....I'm beginning to think they don't know how to do it either) and I've got to prep for the Art Masterpiece class I'm teaching tomorrow.

So in the meantime, I've been putting together a compilation of faked photos for the Trophy Room (guest loo) so you can have a look at some of these and give me advice on the last one:

 

Yep, that's our cat Luca Brasi - one of her favourite things is to come in and lie down on whatever you're trying to work on, be it homework, sewing (she is TERRIBLE for lying on pattern pieces I'm trying to cut out), ironing etc. So I figured if she happened to be at Buckingham Palace on the day of the Royal Wedding, without a doubt she'd make it into the photos somewhere and that beautiful silk train would be too much to resist.

Btw I know these photos aren't photoshopped very well, I'm still saving up to buy myself a PhotoShop Elements and in the meantime I'm using the online free version of Photoshop Express, Picnik and a freebie piece of software that came with my camera. The flaws with the photoshopping are much more evident on a computer screen than on a 6x4 print behind glass. Honest ;) I get enough grief from Goth Child about them not being 'perfect' but then she's an artist and I'm just having a little fun. She wants to have a go giving Luca some shadows to make this look more realistic. I might have to let her just to shut her up.

 

Well, what do you expect? I had pics of Mr Devyne in a wet suit.....obviously the next logical step is to photoshop one of them in a photo of the Loch Ness Monster! (At some point, I'm going to go back to this and have him in the middle of the pic holding a stick with a cut-out Nessie on it, but that's a project for another day as there'll be lots of water ripples to deal with).

Now, here's the one I need your help with. Which is better, this one?

 

 

Or this one, with Goth Child in black and white?

 

 

I can't decide. I suppose the total black and white one makes it look more as if she was actually there (nah, I know, not really) but her in colour stands out more. As I say, I honestly can't decide at the mo.

But there you go, somethings silly for you to look at :) Right, I'd better get cracking on my art masterpiece prep.....tomorrow we're doing "When I Grow Up....." and then next lesson we're learning about Victor Vasarely and Op-Art. Should be fun!

Being a teenager is blooming hard

(Different but the same - me and Goth Child at 14 years old) 

 

One of the problems about my cyclothymia discovered when I was going through CBT and counselling is I've either blanked out or blocked huge swathes of memories in my life. Lots of people do this a bit, I've subconsciously made it an art.

I can't remember a lot of my teenage years. I remember being depressed a lot during them, but I also know my head concentrates on the negatives, the failures, the embarrassments and forgets good times.

For a while in counselling we tried to rebuild some of these memories, but the painful destructive stuff kept taking over. So I now I've given up on looking back and try to divert my energies to making NOW good, fun and happy. And trying to make the passing through the valley of teenage as painless as possible for my kids.

The dreaded teenage years have hit Goth Child like a meteorite crashing into earth....and the huge crater it's created is raw and open. 

Luckily for Goth Child, the many ways in which she's similar to me are matched by plenty of dissimilarities. But I feel so much for the poor thing. Her body is changing in all the predictable ways and the hormones and growth spurts have left her exhausted and not in control of her moods or emotions. I'd totally forgotten how tired you get in your early teens....and yet this is the time when we pile more pressures on our youngsters.

In addition to the emotional upheaval we dumped on her moving her to another continent (which I have to say I'm sure she coped with far better than I ever would at that age) she's just moved from Junior High to High School and boy, do they work them hard here in the States!

For safety's sake I'm not going to tell you what time she starts school, but let's just say it's 2-3 hours earlier than most UK schools or even workplaces start each morning.

I don't know how many studies I've seen over the years ('benefit' of being a journalist) about teenagers functioning best with later starts in the morning, but that's not the Arizona way. In fairness to the school district, the extremely early morning start is justified by it meaning kids can get out of school in the early afternoon, so avoiding walking or biking home in the highest heat of the day. But still. 

And Goth Child is the last person on earth you'd call a morning person.

I keep telling her that it will get better.

I keep trying to find ways to make each day a little easier, supporting her in any choices she makes.

I keep giving her hugs when she gets so tired and frustrated all she can do is cry.

I keep trying to tell her that things don't have to be perfect, there are always second/third/seven hundred and twenty-second chances....this seems to be the hardest thing for her to take in - she thinks she HAS TO make the right subject choices NOW as it WILL affect her whole life, she thinks she HAS TO get that perfect shot for her school photography project because THIS rainstorm might NEVER happen again - I suppose this is just one of those things she's going to have to work out for herself.....and with her being so much like me, it could be another twenty years before the penny drops.

Teenagers eh?! Who'd 'ave 'em?

Me, that's who :)