Well it has been longer than 3 days and she is still at it and even acing college quizzes. She has trouble when all is not perfect, refusing to accept that just because it isn't exactly the way it was planned it must not count. That perfectionism can be scary!

I didn't plan on perfectionism as a topic and cannot decide if continuing is the right decision at this time... must think.

In The Beginning...

The start of a new school year is always exciting for me. Over the summer, I'm so enthusiastic about making up new schedules and actually doing everything this year.

And then it starts great! And I'm rocking it! And my schedule is working! And I'm doing everything! And it's working!

For three days.

And then... I start deteriorating. I start getting frustrated because I don't understand the schoolwork I'm doing, and then I start procrastinating because I'm so frustrated and then I'm stressing out because I need to get all this done because I'm never getting into college and...

so, not much happens.

But this year is gonna be different (HA!). I'm taking a class at the local community college, I'm taking a few classes at other people's houses and I've only really got to do science and math by myself.

Looking realistically at my schedule as well, I think I'm going to have time to actually be working, at least a little bit during the week. I may not have as much free time as I'd like, but that gives me less time to freak out about everything, so we'll see.

I've got new books, new teachers, new attitude.

So how is this school year gonna work out?

I Fixed It

SO THERE, MA.

Environmental Waste

She didn't get rid of the video box yet, we don't even know where it came from because we don't use photobucket, so if anyone knows how to delete the darn thing please tell me as it is taking my daughter too long.

I feel a rant coming on, not about the daughter, she really is wonderful, but about negligent and irresponsible parents in bookstores. I know it isn't just bookstores but they offer the freshest stories. There has been an eight year old molested in the store, in the children's department. Predators know where to find them. This lovely young lady had only been left alone for about 10 minutes, and mom was just over looking at the sports books...it only takes a minute. Now we don't really publicize this event, we want people to feel safe, but I also want people to watch their kids. Remember this is a public place and anyone is welcome until they give us a reason to throw them out but that could be too late for your child. So if you wouldn't leave your kid alone at the Ohare Airport then don't leave them alone at the bookstore.

On any given weekend we have to dispose of hundreds of dollars of damaged merchandise, items that were mishandled, chewed on, colored in, opened, and used by children with and without parental supervision. All you green minded folks this is just unnecessary environmental waste, and directly increases consumer costs. I remember the days when children were expected to keep their hands in their pockets while shopping and merchandise that was broken was immediately purchased by the offending child's parent. I don't really expect children to keep their hands in their pockets but I do expect them to respect other people's property, and until a purchase transpires, that stuff in the store belongs to someone else. They need to be taught to touch and handle merchandise carefully, to return it to its proper place after looking it over, is that too much to ask?

I know it is, because the biggest offenders aren't really the children it's the adults.

Misquotes

Some of my favorite stories are those of title confusion. I don't correct adults when they mispronounce a book title or author but I have enough maturity to correct the youth who mangle the names of literature's finest and really don't embarrass them. It wasn't me but another women in the store who did one of the fastest accurate guesses I ever heard. A father comes up to the information counter and tells the clerk he needs "Cranberry Story" for his son for school. Our diligent clerk enters the supposed title into the computer and gibberish comes up, nothing that resembles school required reading. She stops for a minute, looking at the screen, and asks the gentleman, "Did you mean the Canterbury Tales?"

" Yeah!! that's it," he exclaims.

Just one more, this actually happened just yesterday. We live in a very culturally diverse area, which is a good thing but it can make communication a challenge at times. A middle aged gentleman with a very strong accent, which I could not accurately identify, approached the help desk. "I would like 'you're not unfrozen freedom', that is the title" I was sure my ancient ears were deceiving me so I asked him to repeat himself.

"You're not unfrozen, freedom, that is the author"

I tried the computer but knew GiGo was in effect, and worked for clarification. "You're, like You Are?"

"Here let me write it for you" he said, and I thanked God.

Jono_ton Frozen Freedom is what he wrote and pointed out that "Freedom" was the actual title. Had I been a regular reader of adult books I most likely would have gotten it at this point, but I read kid books, so I continued my search and discovered a new soon to be published "Freedom" by Jonathan Frazen, success.

What We Call You

If you are a regular shopper at certain stores, you have a name. Besides your regular one, this is one created by the employees of your preferred store. Every retail outlet has its regulars, and employee turnover in retail is notorious. So even regular customer's names get lost in the shuffle.

It begins when someone spots you and needs to tell another employee something they have observed about you. Gossip goes on every where, a sales floor is no exception, we are often petty, sarcastic, politically incorrect, and in need of diversion from the mundane. Conversations and the names that emerge aren't meant to be cruel just accurate. One I remember went something like this:

"Did you see those three girls again, you know the ones with the dark hair."

"Which ones?"

"You know the ones who weekend here because of the free childcare."

"I don't think I know who you are talking about..."

"You know the young ones, they take all the teen magazines and spend hours pouring over them back in Kids"

"I don't think I've ever seen them."

"I know you've seen them, two are extremely pretty and they all dress like hookers."

"Oh, I know who you mean!"

Thus was born "The Three Little Hookers" they came to the store for over 5 years and were often identified by their collective name.

We try to learn and remember names as we chat with regular customers, but are at a distinct disadvantage. We wear name tags and folks can quickly check those and remember who WE are but I have yet to have a customer come in properly labeled. And after you have chatted with someone for months you reach a point where it seems too late for introductions. Even when a customer orders something and you actually get to type their name into a computer, you forget, because you have done this same data entry for 40 other folks that same day and all the names begin to blend.

So we have Crazy Asian Lady, The Math Guy, The Cafe Doctors, Mr. Beatles, Smoke, The Woman with Two First Names, and The Guy Who Does Laps just to name a few. Even the security guys get dubbed something as they are undercover which make introductions to employees on the sales floor hard to accomplish . We had Lurch, Muscle Man, and Mr. Useless, until we finally exchanged names. So this is just fair warning watch what you do at your regular haunts, and remember you are creating a name for yourself.

In the Meantime, Books

Somehow I have to get rid of the missing image box but I don't know where it came from or how to obliterate the darn thing. Must ask the daughter.

So since we can't argue I will muse a bit on books, what I do in my spare time is sell books at the local gynormous book retailer. This happened when a need for some extra cash, a discount on books and respite from homeschooling children all merged. After having twins my passion for reading was being trampled, I didn't have time to finish a book, when a moment to spare with a good book appeared I really just wanted to sleep instead, and often did. So reaching the end of an adult novel didn't happen. But Harry Potter was hot, my oldest had moved into chapter books, and I started reading juvenile literature she brought home from the library, halleluia! I was saved. I could finish a kid's book in an evening or two and along the way discovered I prefer kid's books. At the bookstore I was gladly sent to the children's department and my addiction was fueled to a frenzy. I force myself to read one adult title a month, this is for my grown-up book group, but do it only to assuage my guilt, and find that I infrequently enjoy the titles.

I do lead two mother daughter book groups and have for the past 8 years, we (well mostly daughter #1) are putting together a website to provide help for others who wish to start mother/daughter book groups. It is a tedious process with 12 years worth of material to organize and make pretty and functional. Hopefully we will be up and running some time during the next school year. We usually begin a new book club year with a school story and our younger group will be doing just that with The View From Saturday by Konigsburg. Big girls are already leaving me behind, they are all High School age and we actually read a lot of adult books, if I wasn't the leader, I might quit. Our September selection for group one is Snowflower and the Secret Fan. An adult novel I did enjoy.

If you are interested in amazing school stories for yourself or your children, check out The Wednesday Wars by Schmidt. This book truly has everything. Historical fiction, Vietnam war in the background, family challenges, baseball, track, Shakespeare, camping, a little romance, bigotry, corruption, commentary on standardized testing, bus accidents, two large rats that wreak havoc at various turns, heros in abundance, and Mrs Baker-one amazing teacher. The first time I read this book I was about a third of the way through and this incredible incidence takes place I laughed out loud, cried tears of joy, and looked at the book in my hand, it could have ended for me right there and I would have cheered, but 150 pages remained. I couldn't imagine it getting any better, but you know what it did. This one is a crowd pleaser.

For younger kids get your girls to read The Year of Miss Agnes by Hill, an often overlooked gem, and for boys check out Frindle by Clements really anything by Andrew Clements will do, he has the 7-13 yo range covered and writes mostly school stories. His characters are well developed and his adults are functional, believable, and really care about kids. Very different from the inane, absent, caricatures of adults that appear in some popular children's books. A couple of other not to be missed school stories include Sahara Special by Codell, Ida B by Hannigan, Jennifer Hecate MacBeth William McKinley and Me Elizabeth by Konigsburg, and even though it's out of print check out the library for The Chicken Doesn't Skate by Korman a good boy book that should cause a chuckle or two. The younger set should take a peek at Shredderman by VanDrannen and older kids Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by Lubar. There are lots more but that would be a good start for the school year.