The X Factor

Thirteen years ago my husband and I were working and living in Brazil.  We stayed a short 181 days, but I learned a lot.  A blog I read titled Uganda makes me want to leave the United States again.  Every U.S. citizen should live in another country for a while.  Yeah, I said it.  Being an expatriate puts life in perspective.  I am glad I don't know what it's like to live in a country where violence is something "you'll get used to."  I am also glad the Uganda blogger is such a good writer!  I found myself reading and agreeing and loving his insights.  I also found myself wondering if eloquence is something you can learn. 

Well, I don't know if we'd be allowed to take my four children as far as Uganda or Brazil (or the Philippines--RO is half Filipino, after all).  But if it's for a few short months, maybe our parents will forgive us.  Maybe?  It would be quite a shock to my system to have expats for kids.   I would love to see how being expats would change their views of the world, of consumerism, and other ideas.  If the boys' desire to play computer games and be entertained were to vanish, I'd start packing right now.

And if I could avoid all future encounters with the boy scout program?  BONUS. No, it's not about the Pinewood Derby this time.  My oldest child is on his first scout campout tonight.

and

We aren't there. 

and 

It's no fair.

and

I miss him.

A cell phone pic of my boy who better come back alive and intact, ya hear me, scout leaders?

Breaking the Law is Fun to Do

Is it really breaking the law if you are volunteering?  I hope not, because I broke the law like 200 times.

As if renovating the kitchen, loads of job hunting, packing for a vacation, teaching Father's Day songs, juggling a household with opposite schedules (Ben's back to working nights again) and being a mother just isn't enough, Friday mornings I volunteer with the school district.  I teach a 4th grade math group, then a 5th grade writing group.  Then I drive over to the Community Connections Center (CCC) to help there for an hour.  So one day, a CCC teacher hands me the Teacher's Edition of a pre-algebra book and asked me to make a booklet of teachers' answers for the practice pages.  I don't know if you've seen TEs, but they'll often have microscopic answers for the worksheets in the margins.  This was the case with this book. 

I enlarged the margins and xeroxed my way through each section of each chapter of the whole entire book.  The teacher who handed me the book and led me to my xerox machine accomplice did justify the whole thing by saying "A solutions manual is available for purchase, but there's no money in the budget to order it."

Ohhh!

Well! 

In that case. . .

Bring on the criminal activity!

I believe I'm more excited this is the last week of school than my kids are.  Any suggestions for legal summer activities are greatly appreciated.