Off the air...but will be back June 7th

The blog will be up and running after June 7th. Until then I am swamped with the duties of a special education teacher finishing up the year and the responsibilites of a mother getting through the end of two school years with my boys.

I have some great pictures I want to share with you but am not able to put them on at work (which is where I am writing from most of the time). I have also misplaced my camera...eeeek! I know it is SOMEWHERE - had it this past weekend in Lanesboro. I have awesome pictures from my biking adventures along the southernly trails of MN - so...as soon as I find my camera and school ends, I will share them with you.

Please stay tuned for your regularly scheduled program!

Already THURSDAY?!!

My week has flown by in terms of blogging. In terms of working - this has been the LONGEST damn week in history! I keep waking up later and later every day to get to work. Today, I woke up at 6:30 am and needed to be out the door by 6:45. Can you believe that I was out the door at 6:50 loading plants, shovels and gardening tools into my car to take to school so my students could work in our outdoor flower garden? Yep.


I can tell that I am ready for June 6th to be here (last day of school for teachers) because I am avoiding all the things I should be doing. I feel maxed out, tired and everyday that the sun shines, I just want to sit and bask in it like a lizard.


This time of year is a time of re-birth. It can also be stressful in my house. We are looking at options for the teenager for new schools for next year. He has not been successful at his current school and we are NOT impressed with the administrative or teaching efforts. With the youngest one at a Waldorf school, we expect more from a school and we expect an environment where our children can feel safe and be themselves. This is not happening in the public school that the teenager goes to.


Spring is also a time for cleaning and getting out those winter webs. I've been working in the yard and have parts done but am not finished yet. The nice thing about this spring is that I spent a good part of November (while at times it was snowing) spreading 15 yards of mulch to create paths around my gardens, having to avoid mowing one side of my yard! I am not a fan of turf. I don't like to spread chemicals and since I don't, the grass becomes a mixture of crab grass and creeping charlie.

I did swim twice this week and am closer to my goal!



We are sure to have a busy weekend. The teenager turns 15 and we will be doing all kinds of celebrating starting with a dinner of his choice (pizza) and a movie on Friday. Then, he is having friends over to go to the skatepark and do one of the things he loves best - skateboard. After we will BBQ in the yard and enjoy the spring sunshine (hopefully).

Hope you all have a great weekend!

One mile closer... the weekend and clean teeth

Wednesday I swam one more mile. It was harder this time. The first couple of times it seemed effortless but this time I had to mentally push myself.





I will go to the pool on Saturday again for the second mile of the week.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. I am getting my hair done after work today, that is always fun. I might do something a bit different, like bangs. I'm going to a plant sale with my sister after that. Saturday, both my children have sleepovers to go to and The Professor and I will be home alone. Now THAT is always fun!!

I had my semi-annual teeth cleaning yesterday. Many people dislike the dentist but I don't mind it and after I am finished with my cleaning, I run my tongue across my front teeth and enjoy the smooth feeling of a good cleaning. Don't laugh!! I know many of you have done the same thing.

Have a good one!

Swimming again

I took swimming lessons all through my youth. My mom never learned to swim very well. When she was very young her older brother drown in a lake when he about 10 years old. As a result, she enrolled her oldest daughter in swimming lessons year after year for as long as I can remember. I LOVED it! Sometimes I would re-take a class that I had already passed just so I could swim. When I got to Jr. High we were able to join the high school swim team. I swam all through high school and in college as well. After college, it became easier to run than to try and find a pool to swim in so I abandoned my first love.

At 41, my knees and back have taken a beating and although I don't want to say that I will NEVER run again, I do want to be able to walk at 60. So, water, here I come!

Coming back to swimming is like riding a bike; the hardest part is getting in that cold water! Once in though, I go and go and go. Last Wednesday was the first day I decided to actually go a distance to see if I could. I thought, I'll go 40 lengths and see how I feel. Well, I did 40 and felt fine. So, then I thought, I could probably go mile...66 lengths, so I did! I did it again on Saturday and was amazed that I could go a mile and it didn't take me that long. I mean, I like to work out but I don't want to spend 2 hours doing it, I have other things to do. It takes me about a half an hour to do a mile.

Part of the pool is open swim space and while I'm doing laps, the little man is practicing his water skills and getting more comfortable holding his breath under water. The teenager likes to swim as well and has been on the swimming and diving team for the last 2 years. He likes the adventure of diving a bit more than the monotony of swimming laps but joins us anyway and has fun with his brother.

My goal is to swim 2 miles each week for 2 months. I'm not going to stress out over this. I want a goal that I can achieve and I think this is do-able. Wish me luck!!

Tired of the gang bangers

I'm SICK and TIRED and SICK of violence in my neighborhood! This incident occurred a block away from my house. My children were playing outside and had to run to the neighbor's house because they heard gunshots. The people involved are NOT from my neighborhood but are drawn to it by the annual Cinco de Mayo (I like to call it Cino de Capitalism) event which draws the scum of the earth to one central impoverished location.

Years ago I organized a block club which still meets. We are able to do some good but the amount of rental properties and properties that are unkept outnumber the houses that are owned and cared for. It is unfortunate but I can't see turning our side of the hood around. I have lived in this neighborhood all my life and it is all about location. The location of my house sits in an area that unless is bulldozed will never draw people with money who can care for their homes properly. It is also about values. The values of people who are in these types of altercations differ greatly from my values. I don't want to get in to a big sociological debate but it just makes me think about all that is going on in the world AND this is is just MY little piece of it.

Two wounded in shootings in St. Paul

May 4, 2008

A 19-year old man and a 14-year old boy were shot Saturday evening in St. Paul in separate incidents and two teenagers are in custody following the attacks that took place on the city's West Side at about 6:40 p.m.

Police said that the 14-year old is in critical condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul after being shot in the back. The man was shot in the leg as is in stable condition. (I have a 14 year old son! Thank GOD he was home. I don't even let him go East from our house alone. RIDICULOUS!)

The shootings took place within a one-block area, authorities said. Police said they could not confirm whether the shootings were related.

Authorities did say that they didn't believe the attacks were related to any activities held during the Cinco de Mayo celebration that had taken place nearby. They said that the festival ended about 45 minutes before the shootings. (Of course authorities would say this. How could they say that shootings were RELATED to the event activities unless they actually held a "drive-by" event. Stupid! Yet, every teenager knows that THAT is what goes on at Cinco.)

The department's gang unit is involved in the investigation of what motives may have led to the shootings, a police spokesman said.

Police stopped a suspicious car about 20 minutes after the shootings and reportedly recovered a gun believed used in the shootings. The two teenagers taken into custody for questioning were in the car at the time it was stopped, police said.

PAUL MCENROE