The Back-to-School Dillema

It is not safe to send our children to school. Full stop.

I understand how privileged I am to be able to keep my son in a virtual learning program if schools decide to hold in-person classes. I also understand how for many parents this is not an option because they do not have the flexibility with their jobs to stay home with their child/children. I believe one factor of schools holding in-person classes is that there are not other childcare option for parents who need to work. I believe another factor is to force the defunding public education and move towards for-profit education.

I understand some parents have to make the impossible choice of sending their child to school because they have no other option, and I cannot blame them. This will hurt women and communities of color the most. Women are more likely to be the parent to stay home if school is remote or if they have the choice of remote learning. Because of systemic racism, BIPOC are more likely to be working low paying jobs with no benefits and are more likely to live in communities where schools are underfunded and lacking in resources.

If we want our children IN school, we need to demand our government fund public education equally across the country, to make sure schools have the PPE and modifications set up to ensure students' safety if they are going to force in-person learning, provide adequate testing for teachers, staff, and students and their families, AND provide access to the technology needed for successful remote learning.

I understand many people do not have a choice. That is why we need to change the system. Our state and federal governments (with a few exceptions - Go Gretch!) have butchered the response to this pandemic. They cannot even provide enough PPE for essential workers. There is not a universal mask mandate. They push business as usual because it is good for them despite the surge of new cases and the astounding number of PREVENTABLE deaths. They refuse to provide stimulus funds for citizens of this country so they can stay home and safe and for small businesses so that citizens have work to go back to.

The system we have has failed. Only in the US would we consider sending children to school with the highest case count, still rising, of Covid-19 in the world.

Find your elected officials here

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Writing as a means of exploration.

I'm back.  Maybe.

I took a little break to focus on my other blog, The Littlest Lesko, which was supposed to act as a journal of my pregnancy (check) and a baby book for Gus (fail).  I had a very traumatic birth experience and a difficult transition into motherhood, and that blog fell to the wayside.  So, 4 years later (holy shit), here I am, back and ready to write about all kinds of different things.

I will not be writing about my birth experience, so don't ask.  It wasn't pretty.  But, if you buy me lots of wine (I'm really into New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs right now) and ask me halfway through the bottle, I'll tell you more than you ever wanted to know.

So,what's changed?

Uh, well, I have a kid now.  His name is Gus, and he's THREE.  Basically, he's going to college next week, so I'm scrambling to find myself and some purpose before he goes and I'm left all by my lonesome.

Still married.  Woohoo!

I don't walk dogs anymore.  I couldn't make the time when Gus was tiny, and now, while I could probably make the time, I'd rather be doing other things.  I still hold those days and those dogs dear in my heart, so don't think I'm brushing that off.

Still work at the same place.  Do stuff a little different.  Last time we talked, I was managing the peony garden, bonsai, orchids, and bomeliads.  Now, I do the bonsai, orchids, medicinal garden, and Gateway Garden. I'll show you some pictures sometime.  3 days a week - so I can be home with Gus.  Good balance.  Usually.

My "r" key keeps sticking because I'm on the same computer I was 4 years ago.  I'm amazed it's still alive, though I've accessorized with some duct tape and crumbs.

I drink a LOT more coffee now.

So, what should you expect?

I'm not really sure, honestly.  I've been feeling kind of at an impasse in my life, and I'm going to use writing to explore it.  I have some project ideas brewing, so we'll see.  I wanted to come back to this blog instead of starting a new one because I always start new ones and then lose all the old stuff and never finish anything I start.  I definitely feel like I've outgrown most of what I've written about, but isn't that what always happens?  I'm trying something new and leaving it here where I can see it and where you can see it instead of hiding it or walking away from it.  There's some good stuff in there.  Probably.  I haven't gone back to read it, but you can if you want.

Things I've done so far in 2012...

Remember this?  Well, here's an update on how I've been doing so far...

1. Go to Disney World - CHECK!  We went to Disney World in February and it was AMAZING!  It probably would have been more amazing if I hadn't come down with a sinus infection halfway through, but what are you gonna do?

2. Get a haircut - CHECK!  I cut 10 inches off my hair last month.  I intend to donate it to Locks for Love, but it's still sitting in a bag in my closet... oops.  I am loving the short hair, though.

3. Buy a new (used) car - CHECK!  I purchased a 2010 Ford Escape last month, and I LOVE it!

4. Get a tattoo - nope, not yet, and probably not this year.

5. Read a book a month - Big fail!  I've read a number of books, but not one a month.  Maybe I could start reading 2 a month from now til New Years and call it good?

6. Wait in line to see the very first showing of the Hobbit, most likely in full costume - This hasn't happened yet, but I intend to make it happen!

7. Clean out my car (if you could see my car you'd realize how big of a deal this is) - CHECK!  I had to do this before I bought the new (used) car.  It was a pain in the butt.

8. Dress up and go to the Renaissance Festival (I do this every year, but whatever) - Soon!!!!

9. Move - planning to move in November!

10. Learn to preserve at least one fruit or vegetable - I've got bags of beans in the freezer, and I intend to can some at some point.

11. Go back to yoga and maybe learn a headstand - CHECK!  I can almost do a headstand away from the wall.  I can do it on the wall pretty well.  I'm super excited about this.

12. Blog more - Biggest fail ever.  Oh well, the year's not over!!!

Weekend in Review

Can I just tell you a little bit about the amazing weekend I had?  Good.

Saturday:  I met my sister-in-law, Sandy, for Vinyasa at 9:15.  It was an amazingly challenging class.  I stinking love Saturday morning yoga!  It is a great way to start the weekend.  Then, I came home and slept for like 4 hours.  At 4, I went to the shelter to do my weekly dog-walking and fell in love with this little guy...

Sunday:  I cleaned like I've never cleaned before!  OK, not really.  I cleaned the apartment really well, though! Then, around 2, my parents and brother and sister-in-law came over to celebrate my birthday a week and a day early.  WOO!  Can you guess why I cleaned?  

We were going to go kayaking, but the wait was like an hour.  After deciding against waiting, we bummed around by the river for a few minutes, and I spotted a baby soft shelled turtle!  It was maybe 3 inches across... maybe.  I totally scooped it up and held it.  It was so cute!  When it got back into the water, it threw sand on itself to hide.  Camouflage fail.

We went to the Peony Garden to see all the glorious blooms, and we walked down to the river.  People were getting their boats stuck in the "Heart of Jesus" left and right.  Nobody tipped, though, darn.  I saw a fellow dog-walker and her foster, Steve!

We headed over to the Jolly Pumpkin for food - then Stucchi's for ice cream.  I received lovely gifts - a hand moisturizing kit and gift certificate for a pedicure from Mom and Dad (yay!) and an awesome yoga top from Pete and Sandy!  

We finished off the night by watching part of "The Shadow" starring Alec Baldwin.  It's a terrible movie.  I highly recommend you watch it.

Monday:  Nia in the morning with Sandy!  It was an awesome class.  Ana was in rare form!  After Nia, I made a smoothie and put some pork in the slow cooker.  Then, I crashed for like 4 hours - again.  I woke up, finished making the pulled pork and cole slaw (thank you skinnytaste.com), and ate dinner with Lou.  Then, we went to the garden to weed and finish putting in the veggies.

Tuesday:  Today, I ran lots of errands - cashed checks, took pants in to be hemmed, picked up prescriptions, went shopping...  OK, so shopping was unnecessary but very fulfilling :)  I hung out at Bigby for a while and did some reading.  Now, I'm just hanging out at home.

Dear weekend, why must you end?

Dog of the Week: Hagrid

This week's Dog of the Week is a little different.  Hagrid has already been adopted.  However, this dog truly moved me in the time I was able to spend with him.  So, let's meet Hagrid!

Louie and I have a thing for gigantic, fluffy animals.  If you haven't already caught on to this, please take a moment to study example A: Morganna and example B: Auggie

As you can see, we enjoy a good amount of fluff in our day-to-day lives.  When I first saw Hagrid in dog-holding, my heart melted and immediately began scheming to make him mine.  However, we are at our maximum for pets in our tiny, one-bedroom apartment, and Hagrid needed a home without cats.  So, I had to get ginormous dog fix by visiting with him at the shelter.

I will admit, I was pretty intimidated by his size!  Hagrid weighs 157 lbs.  I was uncertain if I would be able to manage him on a walk.  However, all the dog-walker notes stated that he actually had trouble walking.  He would mostly just stand.  Apparently, in his former home, he was an outside dog that got very little human/dog interaction.  He didn't know how to walk.

So, I braved it!  We made it to the sidewalk, and he stopped.  I coaxed him a little further, and he stopped.  We stood there.  Stuck.  Now, I hadn't really considered what would happen if I couldn't get him to walk!  Yikes!  Luckily, another dog-walker, Frank, was around, and he joined me and Hagrid.  We thought since Hagrid wasn't much of a walker, it would be good to get him in the play-yard so he could get some exercise.  Alas, we didn't quite make it.  Instead, we stood 10 ft. from the play-yard gate playing a low-key game of "pick the ball up with your mouth" and "eat snow".  At least he was out and about.  It was a big deal that he made it this far!

On the way back to the kennel, Hagrid decided the best thing to do would be to lay down.  So, he did.  He laid on the sidewalk a good 5 minutes before I could manage to get him moving again!  Our 20 minute walk turned into 45 minutes of bribing a gigantic fur-ball to move.  It was a blast :-)

I worried about Hagrid constantly.  He wasn't getting enough exercise.  He seemed sad in his kennel.  I wanted to give him more love.  I wanted someone who would understand him to take him and give him the life he deserved.

Well, folks, someone did!!!  I am completely over-joyed that Hagrid is happy and thriving!  This dog touched my heart in a way it hasn't been touched in a while.  Read Hagrid's Happy Tail!

12 Awesome Things I'm Going To Do In 2012

1. Go to Disney World
2. Get a haircut (it may just be a trim, but I'm not even sure I got a trim in 2011)
3. Buy a new (used) car
4. Get a tattoo (probably not)
5. Read a book a month
6. Wait in line to see the very first showing of the Hobbit, most likely in full costume
7. Clean out my car (if you could see my car you'd realize how big of a deal this is)
8. Dress up and go to the Renaissance Festival (I do this every year, but whatever)
9. Move
10. Learn to preserve at least one fruit or vegetable
11. Go back to yoga and maybe learn a headstand
12. Blog more

What awesome stuff will YOU do?

The English Inn

For our wedding, Louie's co-workers gave us an "Ultimate Getaway Package" from the English Inn in Eaton Rapids, Michigan.  This weekend, we FINALLY went there, and it was wonderful!  Thank you!!!

We arrived just in time for our dinner reservation.  We were seated right next to the fire (ahhhh) and given a bottle of champagne.  Our meal included one appetizer, house salads, two entrees, and dessert.  We split mushroom caps stuffed with Swiss cheese, watercress, onion, and bacon for our appetizer.  The house salads were amazing!  They were topped with this awesome olive tapenade - yum!  I had a stuffed quail with a mushroom farce, Madeira cream, green beans, and whipped potato.  It was SO rich!  They managed to de-bone the entire quail except for it's wings and little legs that were sticking up in the air (hehe).  Lou had the pork gratinee which was a grilled bone in chop with carmelized onions, gruyere cheese, port wine reduction, green beans, and crisp polenta cakes.  It was also delicious.  Then came dessert.  I had a mango white chocolate mousse (oh my gosh!), and Louie had this fudgy chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sauce.  I have never had such a fancy dinner!  It was delicious!  

Then, we headed over to the Ivy Cottage.  The Ivy Cottage used to be the estates milking barn, but now it's this cute little cottage complete with Jacuzzi, fireplace, and deck.  The views were lovely!  We could see down the hillside to the river.

Breakfast the next morning was just as impressive as dinner.  We started with coffee, a muffin, and a fruit cup.  I had poached eggs over a potato cake with a side of bacon.  I cannot even begin to describe to you how delicious this was!  The potatoes had this excellent herb flavor, and the eggs went with it perfectly.  The chef even apologized for breaking one of the yolks.  Seriously, I have never been to a place fancy enough for someone to care if a yolk is broken!  Totally not a big deal.  It was amazing.  Lou had pancakes with an apple chutney and a side of bacon.  Unfortunately, the pancakes left a little to be desired, but the chutney (and bacon, of course) was amazing!

Then, we took a walk around the property...

We checked out around 11 am and headed over to the Potter Park Zoo.  Amazingly, it was entirely free!  This, my friends, is why you must go to zoos in the off season.  Not only do you avoid annoying crowds and get to see the animals actually moving, but it's cheap!

Momma tiger (I think), and the babies!  They were so sleepy!

Mr. Lion was sleepy, too!

Even though the big kitties were pretty tired, we got to see lots of animals playing around including the river otters, snow leopard, camels, lots of the monkeys and lemurs, and the birds in the aviary were having an awesome time playing with their toys.  The kookaburra even sang for us!

We had an awesome weekend!  It was so nice to escape the craziness of everyday life and just get away with Louie for a while.  The food was amazing, and I really love visiting zoos, so that really topped everything off.  Thanks to everyone who made this weekend possible!