thi s is my last day with chloe and sophie.  scuse me gotta go cry now!

 of course Chloe accessorizes  her princess gown with pirate sword!

 short hair o ni

  silly hat day at elementary school :)

masks

chloe made a queen and sophie made a "hip man"

HAPPY TANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hi guys!  Things are going pretty well out in Oni-Land, in spite of being way-laid by my monthly nemesis for a bit.  Been doing lots of love things with the wee ones, like visiting Mrs. Roth's first grade for the Thankful Feast (they don't call it thanksgiving because I think maybe it is considered too volatile a holiday with the Native Americans having been violently divested of their lands, lifestyle and lives.)  The school is very diverse and we had empanadas, kotafi, arroz y frijoles, lo-mein, gyoza, sweet potatoes, roasted carrots and parsnips with thyme, salad, borekas, burek, cranberry sauce and turkey. It was super fun, and the children read aloud from their "thankful" books, and at the very last page of Ava's she had drawn me and said she was thankful for the best babysitter ever!  I love that girl :)

Yesterday we had another one and one day and I was pretty miserable with cramps, but she still made me smile.  When we got to her apartment I asked shall we do some drawing and what would she like to draw and she said "BOY GEORGE!" which made me bust out laughing and asking her questions and then I was like nah let's just do this.

She is awesome and weird.



now i have to get ready for work.  going upstate for thanksgiving tomorrow, will visit ya'll for a extra thankful Things ILove Thursdays

Ava is awesome and weird.

Things I Love Thursdays

i'm sick so this is gonna be a brief one.

-getting mobile blogger to work again (see previous posts made from my 1990's style flip phone)

-getting back into my verizon wireless picture messaging account

 pretending to drive uncle bobby's sweeeet car while he's in the rest stop

calves

-censored booty magazine covers at the newstand on the platform at 125th and Lexington


-getting some advertising back on my blog.

-my job

 

bronx zoo

my fridge died today

long live my fridge.  well when i go get one in the morning.  i filled the mostly-dead fridge with ice to save my foods.  maybe it will work.  who knows?

today my little charges started school.  kindergarten for the 5 y.o. and third grade for the 8 y.o.  they did alright.  chloe likes her teacher and has a friend in her class.  soph's nervous about geometry, even though she has nothing to worry about.  she knows about rhombuses and nonagons and such.  glad we watched out TMBG Here Comes the Science videos this summer :)


i'm a really, really good nanny.  last night i watched a new charge named carmella.  she's two and pretty awesome.  she is pretty decent at using the potty which impressed me, and knows her shapes fairly well.  gonna have to do more work with colors because she guesses everything is lellow or pink.  i like lellow.  her mom was very impressed with how i integrate learning activities into fun and active play, which made me happy.  of course i learned this over time.  it is boring to just play with kids, it is better to play with them and teach them stuff.  and if you just teach them stuff they get bored and frustrated, so it is much better to mix it up into a game, and to break those games up with physical activities.

um what else.  i'm getting a new kid.  her name's ava and she lives in the same building with sophie and chloe and she goes to the same school.  three days a week i'm picking her up and hanging out.  bonus for me on the financial side and also in the job-not-being-boring department.

today i saw my friend andrushka and his mom at the library.  he is pretty cool.  he's in first grade now and he likes rockets and space and stuff and he is trilingual which is just amazing and i'm wishing i was even bilingual!  he speaks English and Georgian and Russian.  he also had bright red hair which i like because it reminds me of my niece Annika who is like the light of my life.

henry came to visit me lots this week because he was home from iraq to go to a wedding.  i like him lots.  he is coming back for a long while in about a month so we shall see what's what.

i decided what i am going to school for, specifically. i want to do a master's of science in early childhood education but that job market is the pits right now.   and i am so tired of being desperately poor.  so instead i am going to do a master's in TESOL.
probably at CUNY hunter.

ok time to go to sleep i have to get up early to go to the used appliance store.  and i have to have my wits about me because they don't speak English over there just Spanglish and i don't want to get anything mixed up, especially not features or prices.  i should probably ask the guy to write stuff down in spanish, that's what i did last time and it worked because translating writing is much easier for me than fast speech.

in closing i want to wish everyone a happy rosh hashanah!

master to-do list!

Master to-do list, updated in real-time :)

STUFF I NEED TO DO ASAP! 

a) put handwash items in laundry bucket to soak
b) put regular items in the washer.
c) do the dishes
d)check to see if documents pertaining to FS Re-Certification have arrived i now have one of two
e)switch the wash into the dryers and agitate handwash items
f) go to the gym and run three miles
g)rinse and hang handwash items to dry 
h)put away clean laundry 

i) locate materials for previous applications to graduate school and inventory for essentials such as:

•           1. sealed transcripts from undergrad
•           2. GRE scores order form
•           3. Letters of recommendation
•           4. et. cetera

j)go visit Hunter College
k) go to spinning at 6:30 pm on friday or else lift (arms and abs or back and chest) for at least an hour.

l) re-write query letter according to workshop responses

m) dye your hair

AND STUFF I NEED TO DO VERY SOON!
 
uno) collect all documents pertaining to FS re-cert and photocopy and hand deliver and get an itemized receipt. (deadline in september 25th but do this asap as they suck!!)
dos) clean your room it is disgusting in there
tres) go to the library or your gonna end up with overdues. 
tres y medio) also email emily to let her know which books the girls have overdue, and go online and renew them as well.
quatro) FILL PRESCRIPTIONS
cinco) begin assemblage of documents pertaining to Hunter Application and request necessary letters of recommendation from:

•                    Synthia at Riverdale Nannies
•                    Veronika A. pertaining to nannying AND tutoring
•                    Someone at the New School

sies) acquire passwords and other necessary materials to begin agent search

siete) compile list of possible agents (excel spreadsheet?) and what they request in submissions.  if i don't have excel then make a g-d chart with a ruler and a marker on a big piece of paper.  or see if brian has excel.  someone does.

ocho) send very first query letter to get the g-d ball rolling on this project
nueve) WRITE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE for grad school (500 words)




in the column of really good stuff I already did: 
-request necessary support documents pertaining to FS re-certification
-PAY OFF ACCUMULATED INTEREST OF STUDENT LOANS CURRENTLY UNDER POVERTY DEFERMENT! WOOT GOOD JOB!!!'
sweep the kitchen
  make a really boss to-do list 
send mirmir her medicine

Rosebud Girls GO HARD!!

beeee-yoot-ifull

beachday yesterday after gym and errands. V. Nice. Swam a mile or so. Weekdays are the best, no crowds. Today im back @ work. Feeling mighty sleepy.

fun @ work

we designed accessories for barbie

we had some fun with photobooth too!

Miss the girls!

we be sittin'

today was super nice!  i had breakfast with a friend, then a bit of shopping at rite aid and trader joes, then headed up to home.  made a super yum burrito and had a shower.  then i went to the beach with brian.  the bay was really dirty and seaweed-y so that kind of sucked.  probably because there were a million people there yesterday and today but that was kind of gross.  now i am babysitting sawyer, who is sleeping.  CENTRAL AIR ON BLAST!  playing with jackson (puppy) and getting ready to do some work.  hitting ten pages a day lately.  jackson is on the kitchen counter!!  lemme go spray him.  BRAHAHAHa i am the mistress of the squirt bottle of doom!  he's contrite.  ok time to get some work done :)  oh~! i also made a super awesome dinner tonight.  i used bagel thins (thomas) I love them they are only 110 calories with great bagel flavor.  I put on marinara (Classico) and mozzarella (don't remember which brand) and tomatoes, oregano and basil from my garden.  IT was fantastic.  jackson just licked my shoulder.  what a weirdo.

Babysitting sleeping babies is easy.

hardest part of tonight is trying to get some work done when the options for entertainment abound...  cable television, a really fun novel, and superfast internet, plus jackson, who is ridiculously cute and fun puppy dog.  i have work to do!!!

listening to:

Symphony No. 3 In E Flat Major ("Eroica"), Op. 55: IV. Finale, Allegro Molto

performed by: Roger Norrington 

 

on pandora :) unresistingly beautiful.

here's some interesting things i looked at on the internet today:

an HIV testing machine the size of an Ipod for testing in rural communities, article from popularscience

also from popsci check out this gallery from the 2010 toy fair

i remember a book i used to read today, in the night kitchen by maurice sendak

i want a copy of it, very much!

let me close with a silly joke i like.  my mum is a broke doctor, and my father  well off lawyer:

 

 

So, a doctor and a lawyer meet at a party…

Their conversation was interrupted repeatedly by guests asking the doctor for medical advice. Finally, the exasperated doctor turned to the lawyer and said, “Tell me, what do you do to stop people from asking you for legal advice when you’re out of the office?”
“When they ask, I give them advice”, replied the lawyer, “and then I send them a bill in the morning.”
The doctor decided to take the lawyer’s advice and for the rest of the evening wrote down the names and addresses of everyone who approached him for advice. The next morning he took out the list, just as his secretary walked into his office and handed him a bill from the lawyer.