Keep My Head High

I really wasn't planning a blog hiatus, but the past couple of weeks have been crazy busy.  Most of the crazy had to do with our rental house.  I'll go into details about the rental house later.  Right now I just need to catch up.

I'm still dealing with shin splints, however the soreness isn't as bad as it was just a couple of weeks ago.  I've only run once in the past two weeks, twice if we count the Run Fit class at RU last night, but that was not continuous running -- We did circuit training.  I've also  made a discovery that the custom orthotic for my left shoe is most likely a contributor to making my shins splints worse than they needed to be.  I took the orthotic out of my left shoe and replaced it with the original insole that the shoe came with.  Guess what?  I had little to no discomfort in my shin.   At the Run Fit class I was able to SPRINT for the first time since about August, and there's no next day overwhelming soreness or pain. *WHEW* I must add that I still can't do a lot of side to side movements, but when I run it's not side to side -- it's forward.  I like moving forward, and not just with running.

My dad left for for a Mediterranean cruise last week.  I'm not sure of all the ports, but Morocco and the Egyptian Pyramids are on the itinerary.  It's the perfect trip for him.  He's traveling with a group from his church.

The same day my dad left for his cruise was the same day my cousin came up from Ensenada, Baja California - Mexico.  The plan was for her to stay at my dad's house while he was away, but he forgot to leave the keys with us.  My cousin had a lot of business to take care of while she was here and she ended up staying with us until we could have a set of keys sent down from Fremont, CA where my brother lives. It was great catching up with my cousin, but she needed a lot of assistance with looking for particular businesses and agencies.  It's a long story, but her purse was stolen with all of her identifications in it, including her Military ID, California Driver's License, her Mexican residence ID, and so on.  She was planning to stay with us only one or two days until the keys arrived, but it turned into four since a couple of agencies required long waits in line, such as the DMV.  The advantage to my cousin's stay with us is that we were able to catch up on all of the relatives happenings and  incidental gossip in addition to a lot of thought provoking conversations about spirituality.

My cousin is a veterinarian.  It was funny that my cats and dog seemed to know she was an animal person.  My cat, Lumpy, would not leave hear alone at all. 

Computer companion

Since just before the end of September we were dealing with our rental house.  A friend of ours had lived there for over three years, but work was about an hour drive one way.  He decided to move closer to work.  He kept telling us that he was working on cleaning the house and getting it ready for the next renter.  Hubs and I figured all we needed to do was  paint and shampoo the carpets, plus some small repairs and a little yard work.  We were wrong.  So many things were broken or dirty beyond cleaning.  We were shocked.  Our friend hired a cleaning company to help him out, but it was so dirty that even the cleaning company charged him extra... and it was still not up to par when the cleaning company left.  Trash and rotten food were left behind in the driveway.  Some personal items were left behind, even though our friend said he took everything and that other stuff was ours.  In all fairness, we did keep a few things in the garage, but mostly Hubs' drafting equipment, a desk, a dresser, rolled up blueprints, and a few toys from when the kids were little, but that's all. These items were all off to the side and out of the way.   Our friend's kid's photo album, some of his furniture, bird care supplies and clothing items were definitely not ours.  We have a long list of things that were broken and needed to be replaced such as entire closet doors.  We really did not expect this since he rented another house from Hubs folks a few years back and everything was fine.  Our friend was expecting his security deposit back, but the cost of getting everything fixed and cleaned exceeded that dollar amount.  Needless to say, our friend is a bit miffed with us, but mostly with Hubs since they handled the agreement together. I'm not sure what will happen with this relationship, and I hope we can get past this mess.    

Hubs and my son worked at the house every singe day for the past two weeks painting and doing repairs.  My cousin even helped us a few hours hauling trash and cleaning cupboards.  I sanded and varnished the kitchen floor and part of the living room floor.  I also spent time scrubbing various things like greasy drawer pulls in the kitchen, the mold off of the ice and water dispenser on the refrigerator door, and the fireplace that was left full of soot, ashes, and wood.*  Since we didn't rent a dumpster, we put trash in receptacles where ever we could, which meant hauling bags of garbage to our house, my inlaw's house,  my sister-in-law's house, a neighbors house (she offered) and  my dad's house.  New carpet has been installed and everything is beyond ready for the renter, who should have moved in when our friend moved out.

*SIGH* 

 If that weren't enough, someone rear ended the back bumper of Hubs' car while he was idling at a stoplight after a trip to Home Depot, buying items to finish fixing up the rental.  No one was hurt, just the bumper.  Hubs had to laugh because it has been a draining past couple of weeks -- then the car gets bumped.  At some point you just have to laugh because it's so ridiculous.

If there's an upside, sanding and varnishing floors is a really good workout.

Now that we have some momentum going, we need to get back to caring for the house we live in.  I need to sand and refinish parts of the dining room floor where the dog likes to hang out.

My boss turned 60 last week.  She looks amazing for 60.  If you met her you would never guess that she's even close to 60.  There's something to be said about healthy living. Her family arranged a surprise party and had a small gathering.  I was quite touched to be included since I haven't been summoned to the office in several months due to a very stable staff. One of my former co-workers flew in from Texas to be here for the occasion.  It was so good to see her again.  This birthday event was somewhat like a family reunion, even though it was people I have worked with.  I guess it's a good thing when you can consider people you work with as family.   I thought Hubs brought a camera, but he didn't use it.  My boss was given a toga, crown and gold tone asps to wear at her party.  It was great.  I must explain that my boss is notorious for pranks, and you know what they say about payback.  It was awesome.

Good news.  My daughter finally got into San Diego State University.  SDSU was being a bit stingy with admissions, but recently let more students in. SDSU is only a 15 minute drive down the interstate, but it will take much longer just to find parking.

Saturday, October 16, is my daughter's 27th birthday.  Since she has a gig working behind the scenes at a college play on Saturday evening, we'll be taking her out for lunch.  She has plans to spend next  weekend  in Las Vegas to celebrate.
 

1983

2010

There's plenty of blog fodder ruminating in my head, but there's so much that it would quality as the longest blog post ever if I were to write it all down.  Two extremely busy and emotional weeks will fill a head.  I'll spare you all.  Besides, there's too much fodder to even process.  I'm exhausted.

Song from 9/29/2010:
It Happens - Sugarland

PEACE


*My cousin kept calling me "Cinderella."

Be True To Your School

Monday's  Song:
Bulletproof - La Roux

PEACE

Good Vibrations

While I was not blogging, here are just a few of the activities I participated in:

An excuse to party.
My brother came into town for a few days, joined us for a track club run (which just about killed him because he was *ahem* showing off and went out too fast.) The next day we had an impromptu barbecue, otherwise ALL of you would have been invited. My dad, in true retirement mode, brought a case of beer, his Jack La Lane juicer, a ton of fruit and a Costco sized bottle of rum. A good time was had by all.

My bro donning the SDTC shirt that I made him buy.

Dad chillin' with a brew.

Erik and Sam jammin'.

Sam taught me how to play this instrument.

Spending time with the kid.

It's all about getting to lick the spatula after mixing up the chocolate chip cookie dough. Yes, we baked in the heat of the summer, no air conditioner.

Downloading about 900 photos from Evan's Fisher-Price camera. No kidding. 900+. MANY of the pictures were like this one:

Wonder what he was eating prior to this picture?

Making a discovery...

Fake toenails! I had no clue there were such things!

Dragging my husband to the beach at the crack of dawn on Labor day to boogie board, just so we wouldn't have to deal with the crowds. It was awesome.

See? 7 AM on Labor Day at Mission Beach!


Surf's up!

The fake toenails looked good at the beach. My big toenails are not grown out from when I lost them during marathon training back in April.

Cleaning out some closets and drawers. My husband got rid of a bunch of old and beat up cotton race t shirts, amongst other clothing items. I got rid of a bunch of old work blouses, tops and these:

I did three back to back twelve week Body For Life challenges in 2000 and 2001, lost 30 pounds, got my body fat down to 16%, and all's I got were these lousy t-shirts. By the way, I'm only 5'3" and the t shirts they sent me were XL. I think I wore them as a night shirt a few times, then they ended up at the bottom of the drawer. The program itself is good, and once I figured out how to make it work for me, then it was great. Would I recommend BFL to everyone? Yes and no. It's not the end all in workouts and each person has to find whatever workout plan works best for them. Just about any reputable workout plan is good. The trick is that you just have to do it. There is a lot of work involved. PS... I'd love to be back at 16% body fat, but it's more work than I want to do right now.

Because everyone's a winner!

"Where the surf meets the turf at Del Mar."

No race pics. I was too busy not betting. LOL.

Signing up for the Shelter Island 5k on November 8, 2009, you know, the race that has a full on champagne brunch afterward? Yeah, THAT one! AND I plunked down the cash for the Silver Strand Half Marathon on November 15, 2009, the run that goes from Coronado to Imperial beach and is mostly FLAT.

Wanna join me?

WATCHING AS THE KID RETURNED TO SCHOOL AS A FIRST GRADER!

The obligatory first day of school photo op.

Yesterday's song:
Reason To Believe - Rod Stewart, The Youngbloods

PEACE

No Time

A super-duper cropped sunset /avocado tree photo taken from my back yard, sometimes last week. It's a challenge to shoot between power lines and have the shot look good. The cropping CAN be a good thing.

Until I can get back in on a regular schedule, perhaps in the middle of next week, I won't be blogging much, unless everyone in my house (besides me) decides to be gone all day. I'm babysitting the grand kid this week because his mom began college classes this week and his school begins next Tuesday. This 6 year old boy has so much to say and wants to do everything like play with cars, play in the dirt, ride bikes and bake cookies.

I'm still running.

Thursday's song:
Penny For Your Thoughts - Peter Frampton


PEACE

Random Thoughts

One of the things I decided not to do this year is Blog365, which was Blogging every day for a year. I participated last year because there were several blogger friends who were participating and encouraged me to do the same. Even with the injury and being out, I tried to keep it up, but I ran out of steam. I even became bored with my own blog posts...

Go Chargers!

I did something to my back yesterday. I did run yesterday, about 3.8 miles, but that wasn't what threw my back out. Bending the wrong way and asthma may have caused my back some discomfort. I see my chiropractor next Wednesday. Yay.

I am *justthisclose* to home schooling my grandson for the rest of his kindergarten year. I don't want to get into details, but he's missing out on so much. He's a smart kid and is not given the opportunity to excel. 'Nuf said.

My siblings and a couple of nieces will be in town over the weekend for my dad's 80th birthday. I'm half way looking forward to the weekend, only because everyone has their own ideas on how the weekend should go. (It will be fine... It will be fine... It will be fine...)

I'll be hosting dinner for my entire family tonight. I decided to do a wine tasting party/dinner. (I found some great organic wines so that I could participate.) I figured if I hosted the first night, no one could complain about "what are we doing, where are we going, how will we get there, and did anyone think to ask dad if he would like that?" *sigh*

I'll be missing the first long run with the track club on Saturday. We'll probably do our own run, later.

See you all next week!


Wednesday's song:
I know - Drake Bell

PEACE

Heat Wave

We had received a pre-recorded phone call tonight from my grandson's school Principal. The weather forecast calls for more hot, dry weather, and the Principal suggested that each child wear sunscreen and bring bottled water to school. It was in the 90s today. It normally doesn't get that hot in our little costal micro climate. Tomorrow it will be more of the same. I gotta give the school Principal credit, though, for being somewhat proactive and doing what he can do. A lot of the older schools here are not air conditioned, and this district NEVER dismisses school if it does get too hot. We used to live more inland where it was warmer, between two school districts, and my son's middle school was never dismissed for a heat day (100 degrees +). The school just less than a mile away (in a different district) was always dismissed.

Yesterday's song:
Where Are You Going? - Dave Matthews Band - Be A Good One

PEACE

Where Are You Going?

I have nothing workout or walking/running related to blog about this week, unless it's about something I've read elsewhere. I'm taking this week off from any physical activity, such as working out or walking. Last weekend I think I just pushed myself too hard and paid for it last week. This week isn't so bad, but the hip is still feeling sore. I also have physical therapy this week AND one more lab test to deal with.

So... What else is there to discuss??? There's plenty.

Here's a few items of discussion:

Do you think it's appropriate for churches to put political information (which has nothing to do with church or religion) in their weekly bulletin? They did this at our church the past two weeks. What about separation of church and state? (I usually try not to get overly political or discuss religion here, but I'm perplexed.)

Vista or Mac? I've read somewhere (perhaps another blog) that having Vista is like installing a garbage disposal on your aquarium. Yes, it looks all nice and pretty right out of the box , but then you have to install it and turn it on...

I've been through the elementary school years with my kids. Now my grandson is there, in the California (San Diego) public school system. Honestly, not much has changed since my kids were there, and I'm a little disappointed. I know each school, whether public or private, has their pros and cons. I've had both of my kids in private schools (Montessori, Catholic, Lutheran, and smaller private educational), a magnet public school (AKA: voluntary integration), and regular neighborhood public school, so I have a somewhat of a decent grasp of what's out there. I'm trying to talk my husband into helping our daughter with financing so we can put our grandson in a smaller private school, perhaps Montessori or Waldorf. This will mean doing without certain house repairs or a few frivolities, but as of right now, I feel like they're wanting him to conform to what a cookie cutter average kid is. He understands his math and reading concepts, and everything else you're supposed to know in Kindergarten, but once done with his task at hand, he's DONE. And bored. And antsy. Antsy equals fidgety, and that leads to time outs. He needs more than they can offer him. Just to make sure I wasn't overreacting, I asked my friend with the degrees in child psychology and elementary education what she thought about my grandson's situation, and she agreed with me. The kid is bored. My daughter is also looking into other extracurricular activities (for the kid) like martial arts and music lessons.

We've installed a reverse osmosis system in our kitchen this weekend. It was somewhat expensive but the idea is to not buy bottled water and reduce waste. We've also looked at the numbers of what it costs yearly to purchase bottled water, and this system should save us some cash over the long haul.

Dry and warm Santa Ana winds are predicted this week, which means the risks for fires are high. I just hope this weather passes through quickly and without incident. Last year was pretty scary, especially when we flew home after the 2007 Nike Women's Half Marathon. We could see the smoke from fires up and down the California coast. We know several people who lost their homes.

How's that for not blogging about anything fitness/running/walking related?

Yesterday's song:
The Mob Rules - Black Sabbath

PEACE

Walking On Sunshine

Thursday is half day at the elementary school and my day to pick up the grand kid. Since it was a gorgeous day, I decided it would be worth the extra effort to walk. The school really isn't that far, not quite 3/4ths of a mile. I figured I could do an out and back walk, and it wouldn't be too far for the grand kid, either. I know he can walk further than 3/4ths of a mile at one time. As we were walking home he kept questioning "how are we going to get home?" I just told him that we were walking. As we walked and turned down a street he commented, "my mommy doesn't go this way, she goes THAT way!" As we approached our house, he exclaimed "we made it!" Perhaps in the eyes of a 5 year old that is a long walk, especially since Disneyland or Sea World isn't involved. As for my walk, my stats looked like this:

Activity:	Walk
Date:	09/18/08 12:26 PM
Distance:	1.44 miles
Time:	0:27:37
Speed:	3.1 mph
Pace:	19' 21 min/mile
Calories:	136

The walking is getting a wee bit faster, but I wasn't going for speed since I had some time on my hands. It took less than 10 minutes to walk to the school, and longer to walk back with the grand kid in hand.

I've finally received some news about my DEXA or bone density test. My numbers are in the normal range for my age. I've also been referred to an endocrinologist. His assistant called me today and asked a zillion questions about my health and running history. She had my file and the basic information that I'm a marathon runner and was injured, perhaps while training. She also added that the doctor found my case interesting since I'm younger than most hip fracture patients, healthy, watch my nutrition and workout. You know what that means? More tests! (It's about time!) As soon as I could, I went down to the lab today and they took blood for more tests. The tests are varied, from thyroid tests, tests for wheat/gluten allergies, hormone levels, and so on. It feels good to finally deal with someone who can look specifically at my issues with a plethora of tests, and not just second guess. It's true that these tests could also be inconclusive, but the fact that they're finally testing me makes me somewhat happy.

By the way, I slept well last night!

Yesterday's song:
Hello Moonglow - Heart


PEACE

Hello Moonglow

It's already Wednesday, but just barely. I can't sleep at all. It's weird because all day yesterday I kept feeling like I wanted to crash, but I couldn't, due to having tons of miscellaneous things to do. Now I just can't ease into sleep. I have my Ipod plugged into my head so I don't disturb anyone. My mind just won't shut off and I can't relax. I'm even drinking a cup of Sleepy Time Tea. It's not working.

Tuesday evening I went to an estate sale. One of my friends asked me to go with her, and I obliged. The home is in my neighborhood and we didn't have that far to go. The sale wasn't exactly open at the time but the owner was just anxious to let go of whatever she could sell, so she opened the house to my friend. This was agreed upon earlier in the day, since my friend couldn't stay at the estate sale at the earlier times. As we were looking around at the stuff and some passive conversation with the owner, I found out that the owner and her family knew my grandparents, my father and his siblings. This house she now owns originally belong to her grandparents. Her grandparents were best friends with mine. I remembered their last name, but just vaguely. She remembered attending a holiday dinner at my grandparent's house and how big of a deal it was. I don't remember her, but my grandparents were always inviting various friends to our family holiday dinners. She remembered my uncles and my father very well. Oh, and to top things off, my friend was a student of my uncle. It's such a small world. As for the sale, I purchased a couple of yards of fabric for $5.00. My friend bought a bunch of stuff and spent way more than I did. I already have plenty of junk, er, stuff of my own that I should get rid of.

There's plenty of random thoughts going around in my head, keeping me from sleeping. These thoughts are not earth shattering, I just have plenty to think about.


Yesterday's song:
Just Because - Jane's Addiction

PEACE

Good Morining

I kept meaning to post something yesterday, but I ran out of steam early. I feel like I'm fighting off a flu bug or something. I was thinking it was allergies, but it isn't. Even a trip to Costco did me in. I've been hearing others talk about how tired they feel, as well, so it's not just me. I suppose it's the start of cold and flu season, especially now that school is in.

My grandson's best friend is Jacob and it's a popular name for that age group. I'm still not sure why Evan decided he wanted to be called Jacob that day. I still think it's kind of funny.

I went with my daughter to drop off Evan at his school this morning. I haven't been to an elementary school since my son attended one. Amazingly, not much has changed for the morning routine, and I suppose that's a good thing. Parents were dropping off their children, the crossing guards were out at each corner, teachers were outside their classrooms prior to the bell ringing, students were gathering for the morning assembly, and so on. It was an amazingly pleasant morning. Instead of being driven back home, I walked. It's only a 3/4 mile walk back home. It would have been nice to say that I ran home, but I'm still not up to that. I took my phone with the GPS to track my walk, but I forgot to turn it on. I guess I was caught up in the being back at an elementary school thing.


Tuesday's song:
Kindergarten - Faith No More - Barbie2be

PEACE

Kindergarten

Backpack with lunch ready to go?
Check.

New sneakers?
Check.

Favorite t-shirt with the Chevy on it?
Check.

Teeth brushed?
Check.

Obligatory first day of school picture?
Check.

Introducing yourself to your teacher and new classmates?
Check. No, wait... un-check that...


Today was the first day of Kindergarten for the grand kid. Everything went well except one thing. He told everyone that his name is Jacob. His name is actually Evan. I'm not sure what's up with the name thing, but it was kind of funny. He even had the teacher calling him Jacob. Luckily Mommy set the record straight.

Yesterday's song:
Stranger in Paradise - Tony Bennett

PEACE

Earthquake Weather

Activity: Run
Date: 09/05/07 09:28 AM
Distance: 3.58 miles
Time: 0:35:51
Speed: 6.0 mph
Pace: 10' 00 min/mile
Calories: 341

The weather has cooled down but the humidity seems higher. I was pretty well drenched after my run today. I felt good about my run, but since summer vacation is over for most people, the streets seemed busier more car traffic, and I had to slow or stop a few times to yield the right-of-way. This was one of those runs that I had to be very aware of everything around me, so there was no way I could get lost in my thoughts... It was just too busy. I ran in my neighborhood, but avoided "the hill." I'll take on that hill again, soon. I can't avoid hills in my neighborhood, so I did have my share today, just not THAT one.

Yesterday was my grandson's first day of school, ever. He's been to a home daycare since he was a baby, so this was a big day for him. He handled the first day well, so well that he wanted to stay and it was hard for my daughter to pry him off the playground equipment when it was time to go home. As with all family traditions, as we did with my children, here's his first day of school picture:



He came home so exhausted, and fought falling asleep all afternoon, but was deep asleep even before his usual bed time.

If you live in San Diego, CA, did you feel it? Yesterday, there was a smallish earthquake off the coast, about 4 miles out. It was in the 4.0 range. If you've never experienced a small earthquake before, this one felt like a large dump-truck just went by and shook the house enough to make a few things rattle. The only thing I check to see if it actually was an earthquake, is to look at one of my hanging lights - like the one pictured to the right - to see if they're swaying, and that's usually a good indicator... Granted, swaying hanging lights are not very scientific, but that's what I look at if the house should rattle... Of course, the local news had to play it up until they had more serious matters to report on. The earthquake wasn't that serious, but but it's enough to get the geologists excited.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Peace

Everyday I Write The Book

No workout today. Went into work for training, but the piece of equpment I needed training on was down, so I did some lab work and left early.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled happy blog post...

Women Who Have Shaped My Life - #3

In the 8th grade we finally had teachers who were not Catholic Nuns from Spain, but regular folk, men and women. The whole concept in grades 7 and 8 was to prepare us for the high school years, so we had different teachers for each subject and went into different class rooms as well. For English, Art and Music, we had Ms. R... Ms. R was probably in her early 30's, petite, quirky, smoked cigarettes at break time, and was amazingly able to deal with unruly adolescents. I looked forward to her classes because it got me out of the classes with some of the stricter nuns that made all of our lives miserable.

In music class, she actually showed us how to use tone, harmony, rhythm, etc. Prior to that, music class consisted of learning church songs, well, except for once in Mrs. L's class, we learned "I Am a Rock, I Am an Island" by Simon and Garfunkle... My entire class enjoyed Ms. R's music lessons tremendously -- we would sing and harmonize so loud that teachers from the other classrooms would ask her to "tone it down." In English class, we did the required vocabulary tests and various book report assignments. In addition to those assignments, she introduced us to "creative writing." Because we had the nuns from Spain, we had no clue that writing could be creative, and that we were allowed to be free with our writing. What a concept! Our class had great fun with this creative writing thing. Several of us just lit fire with this type of writing because it was fun. Ms. R would have each of us read back what we had written, to the class. It amazed me that my class mates would ask to have the stories re-read because they were so interesting and fun. Words had became colorful and had texture, and meant something to us. Ms. R also introduced us to journaling, where there are no rules, and this, again, was new to most of us in my class. Art classes were the same. She came up with the most fun and unusual assignments and we just took off with it. This was the same year I actually tried out for the school newspaper and got in. I never really tried out for any sports or other activities at school before. While on the school newspaper "team" the most I did was a paragraph about "kite day" and drew a picture to go with it... The newspaper came out sporadically, so my article and picture was "published" in the last paper of the school year... The music class that we had in Ms. R's class helped in high school. I didn't know how to play any musical instruments, but I was given a flute to use and told to figure out how to play it. Really. (And no, I didn't attend band camp... LOL) Ms. R's lessons in tone and rhythm really helped, so I wasn't completely clueless. I figured out how to play the flute in no time.

Soon after we got into 9th grade in High School, we found out that the principal (the head nun) let Ms. R go. Perhaps they had different ideas about teaching? I do know that the principal didn't care for Ms. R on a personal level. I don't know what happened to Ms. R after that, but I sure would have liked to at least gone back to the school to visit her, and to thank her for making Catholic school a little bit more interesting. I had fun learning.

Thanks Ms. R!


Peace

Teacher, Teacher

Today's run = hills in the neighborhood. 2.13 miles in 21:25, 10:03 pace, included waiting for traffic to pass.

Women Who Have Shaped My Life - #2

Ever since I blogged about my mom, I've been thinking about other "dynamic" women who have shaped my life, positive and negative. The task was to write about 5 women who have shaped my life. Well, for #2, my thoughts keep going back to my childhood -- more specifically, my childhood at Catholic school...

I attended Catholic school from grades 1 through 12. The high school years were fine, not overwhelmingly great but pretty decent by all accounts. It was those formative grade school years that scarred, um, impacted my life forever... Most of the teachers were nuns from an order in Spain. I thought they looked scary in those full on black habits, where only their face and hands were the only skin visible. Not one had a decent grasp on the English language, so it was a nightmare learning the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. I don't think the kids I went through that school with actually learned the proper words until we got into about the 7th grade, and even then the words were sketchy. There were a couple of the nuns who were actually very nice and kind hearted, such as the nuns I had in grades 1,2,4, and 5. It was the ladies in grades 3,6,7 and 8 that made my life miserable. I went through life in grades 1 and 2 thinking that these nuns in the scary black get-ups weren't so bad after all. Then 3rd grade came along. I swear, this witch, um, I mean nun had something against me from day one, and I never knew what it was - perhaps it was my cute, pink, horned rimmed glasses? After all, they weren't military issue black plastic frames. I dunno. My favorite subjects at the time were reading and art. She very rarely called on me for reading, and when it came time to pass out the art supplies, she skipped right past me and I sadly watched my peers delve into their bright paints and Play-dough. I soon brought in my own art supplies and pulled them out when she passed over me. She noticed my art supplies but never said anything. One time I left my homework folder in the classroom over the weekend. On Saturdays the classroom would be occupied by other kids for Catechism classes - the kids who attended public school but needed to come to class for their weekly dose of Catholic doctrine. One of the kids who sat at my desk drew a picture of a naked man and woman and placed it in my homework folder. Come Monday morning I saw this piece of "art" but I didn't have time to covertly remove it. The teacher looked through my homework folder, saw the naked drawing and hit me upside the head, hard. Damn, that hurt! I just sat there stunned. I didn't give her the satisfaction of crying. I held back. That following Wednesday, the day our class went to church for confessions, this same nun pulled me aside and told me to confess my evil sin of what was in my folder. Of course, I didn't do that, but told her I did, just to get her off my case. Finally, Friday arrives and my mother comes to pick me up from school that day, since my brother was home sick and couldn't walk home with me. This teacher is eager to talk to my mom to tell her about my big "sin" of the drawing of the naked man and woman in my folder and how she told me to confess my sin. My mom let this nun "have it;" first of all, for hitting me, second, she reminded the nun about Adam and Eve (in the BIBLE) and that an innocent 3rd grader probably drew the picture because of the BIBLE story of Adam and Eve. Then my mom asked to see the picture. The nun said she threw it away. After that chat, my mom just told me to not leave my folder at school anymore and to make sure there's only pictures and drawings of flowers, houses, and cute animals in it. I was so confused. Heck, I was only a 3rd grader and my biggest problem was getting home in time to roller-skate with my best friend in the driveway. What did I know about censorship? It wasn't even my drawing that caused this bizarre situation.

Years later, in the 1980's, I'm attending San Diego State University and I'm an Art major with a Journalism minor. It occurred to me (while I was working up a sweat -- sketching furiously on a huge sheet of news print with charcoal at my life drawing class, where my subjects happened to be a real live nude couple) that I was once was punished for having a drawing of what I'm now attending classes of higher education for. Perhaps the 3rd grade nun's negativity shaped me to do the things I was denied? Maybe I was going to follow that college path, anyway? Was this my "making lemonade out of lemons?" I'm not quiet sure, but that 3rd grade year impacted me greatly. If those same set of circumstances happened now, mostly the getting hit part, I'm just about sure that it would have made news. It was the late 1960's when I was in the 3rd grade, and I guess teachers could get away with corporal punishment at that time. After all, a nun was supposed to be all holy. If they hit you it was supposed to be for your own good. Um, I don't think so.

Now that I have my own kids and have been through the grade school and high school years, I realize that it's just not Catholic school nuns that can cause grief for a kid. In all fairness, my kids have had their share teachers that really should not be teaching, and teachers who should be given the very highest praise. There have been wonderful, WONDERFUL teachers in my life, and next time I'll blog about one of them.



Peace