Haiku Friday: Boo!

Ms Frizzle will take
this year off from Halloween;
it's a new girl's turn ...

She lived with her Pa
and Ma and fam'ly out West
back in the wild days ...

One bad thing about
Laura Ingalls Wilder is
her name's not a good haiku ...

that, and I had to
make husband color my hair
to get out the grays!

Happy Haiku Friday and Happy Halloween to all!


Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 5-7-5. More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON'T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will carry on the esteemed tradition of deleting any links without haiku!

My First Giveaway: 6 Tickets to Bronx Zoo!

I love Halloween, and I've always wanted to go to the Bronx Zoo's "Boo at the Zoo" event but we haven't made it yet.

This year, I've got tickets to give away, and I'm putting it on the calendar for us on Sunday--we may even take DB's friend who's coming for a playdate.

It sounds even more fun than what I thought I knew -- there's a hay ride, hay maze, batty theater, "Haunted Safari Adventure," magic, pumpkin carving demos, and of course crafts. Kids in wildlife costume get in free. DuckyBoy's Transformers outfit doesn't counts as wildlife (how about if he was a DinoBot, I wonder?), but I do know other kids whose interests run more to the animal kingdom. (Oh, and there's a photo contest for best wildlife costume that has a whole boatload of tickets as the prize.) The Aquarium has fun stuff for the weekend too.

Anyway, the giveaway! Courtesy of the Bronx Zoo, I have 6 tickets that can be split up any way we want. Two were for me and Db but since we've got a membership I'm adding them to the giveaway!

So we can do 3 and 3 or 4 and 2 all 6 together. (I already know somebody who'd love 3!)

Here's the catch, you've got to use them Saturday.

If you want an alternative to daytime trick-or-treating on Saturday, or something seasonal to do while you wait for an evening candy roundup, just leave a comment below and tell me what your kid(s) are going to be this year for Halloween, and how many tickets you'd like. Thursday night at 10 pm ET, I'll use a random-number generator to pick a winner, and then another if they're not all gone!

I've got the tickets at my place in Queens, and will make sure you get them by Saturday or Sunday.

Good luck and BOO!

Haiku Friday: Time Slips Away

Tink, I know you like
to do your 'ku quite early,
for 2 weeks I'm late!

Sorry about that!


Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 5-7-5. More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON'T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will carry on the esteemed tradition of deleting any links without haiku!

Haiku Friday: Better Late Than Never

Many wins this week
DB dealt with the downs, too ...
they were hard on me! :)

DuckyBoy did great this week! I made him wait to get a toy until he got 2 stickers at school -- they have a reward system where you get one warning, on the 2nd thing you lose your sticker for that half of the day, and the 3rd time they ahve to speak to you (same or different offense) you have to write a consequence report.

When you get 10 stickers you get a prize. And at Back-to-School night, I noticed DB had the fewest stickers by half, literally.

So this week when we found one of the Transfomers he wants, he's out of spending money so I bought it, then had the idea to make him earn it by having a 2-sticker day.

At first he thought that was impossible! But he has had them before, at least once or twice, so I assured him he could (plus I emailed his teachers a heads-up, not so they'd go easy on him but so they'd know).

The very next day, he almost did it -- but had different teachers (who also know him well but didn't know "the plan," but it's fine) in the afternoon and acted out a bit right at the end of the day ... and was devastated that he didn't win his toy!

Whined and pleaded the whole way home, and got angry, adn tried sugegsting all kinds of things he would do at home if he could earn it that way.

It was really hard, but held firm.

And the following day? He got it.

He also lost his beloved Sigg bottle last week and found it on his own this week -- under one of the big freezers in the cafeteria, he thought to look there. A nice win!

Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 5-7-5. More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON'T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will carry on the esteemed tradition of deleting any links without haiku!

I Do Care About The Earth

I decided to participate in one of my first blog "things," which is Blog Action Day on the subject of Global Warming.

It's amazing how organized the, uh, organizers are, suggesting angles and topics to write about, tips to give, links to more reading. SOme of the links I'm too scared by the thought of globals warming's effects to even click trhough to, but others -- like a Scientific American post from late 2007 on "10 Solutions for Climate Change" are more my speed.

I like the idea of the site Kids V. Global Warming also, though it'll be a tough sell right now to DuckyBoy that one of the things you can do is things like have less stuff and use less electronic media! The boy on the home page is like a teen, so maybe I should just give him a few years. But keep preaching now.

The idea behind 350.org is also intriguing, but the more I consider participating in this type of Blogger preaching, the more hypocritical I feel.

I drive almost everywhere.
I have an apartment much bigger than I need.
I leave my computer on overnight.
I fill the bathtub with hot water for DB's baths (though they're not as frequent as they once were...).
I throw food out uneaten (but only when it goes bad before I get to it or after I forget about it).
I eat at fast-food restaurants.
I buy prepackaged, processed foods.
I wash my hair with chemicals that go down the drain.
I forgot to turn my lights off for Earth hour.

Well, that's enough "true confession" for now (which by the way is something we strongly advise our clients not to do!).

I also recycle.
I return my cans and bottles (or try to toss 'em where someone else can).
I reuse lots of old stuff for fun with DuckyBoy.
My consumption of new clothes and shoes, and accessories for self and home, is way below the American average.
I buy used.
I resell or give away instead of tossing things out.
I turn out lights.
We keep our radiator knobs off so our apartment's not too hot and hopefully the people at the edgse of the building can get enough heat.
I wash my hair less often now that it's long.
I eat the carbohydrates in the fridge instead of throwing them out, because good food shouldn't be wasted.
I try to teach DuckyBoy why these things matter to me.

OK, I feel a little better now! I think it's time to turn off the computer, and get in bed.

Hamster Comments, Please!

DuckyBoy would love for people to comment on the cute online hamsters we added to his blog. You can play with them and they don't smell or nip!! Enjoy!

PS, I visited Supergirl today for a minute, she was busy rutzing around in her bedding but I still said hello so she'll remember my voice.

Of course I wanted her to run up to the top level of her cage and squeak, "Take me home!" but she didn't.

Which bodes well for her as an adaptable little animal. (I'll get over it.)

I also felt really good about myself today, the school librarian had several crafty projects lined up for me, and me especially! I've basically decorated the entire library for the present time. (I do the frameworks that the kids' artwork gets displayed with.)

If I'da had my camera I'd have taken a picture of my paper-collage Border collie; next week, if I remember!

Haiku Friday: Who Am I Again?

Women on the web,
words on a screen to connect
the flow of our thoughts.

A big issue is
the time when the kids are gone...
what to do with it?

Not quite empty nest,
it's more like empty hours.
Who will I become?

Brain filled with "to-do's,"
I've forgotten who I was
before motherhood.

Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 5-7-5. More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON'T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will carry on the esteemed tradition of deleting any links without haiku.

Supergirl's Tale

Supergirl was last year's class pet in DuckyBoy's first grade class. She is a Chinese drawf hamster, light brown with a darker stripe running down the center of her back. At fast glance, she looks like a mouse. Only up closer do you notice the stripe and her short, nonmouselike tail.



Her first week in the classroom, before she had been named, she bent the bars of her wire cage (which was supposed to be safe for small animals of course) and, on a Friday morning, escaped.

When the teachers and children arrived, they had to be very still and look for her in their second-floor (this matters later on) room. But she did not appear!

So the day went on.

Later in the morning, one of the kindergarten teachers on the first floor called maintenance: She had seen a mouse!

Fortunately, the science teacher who was in charge of the search for the missing hamster got wind of this, and arrived in the classroom to find the kindergarten teacher ready to throw a book at, not a mouse, but the hamster!

With the help of a pile of sunflower seeds and a small cage, the science teacher capture the hamster and returned her to her classroom -- first in a large aquarium tank, and then by Monday she'd returned the wire cage in favor of a safer plastic cage.

Interestingly enough, the male hamster in the cage did not escape, and presumably slept through it all.

On Monday it was time to pick names. The boy was named "Brian," and the name "Supergirl" won hands-down for the girl.

And that is how Supergirl got her name!

In the spring, she had babies. They were tiny and bald and blind and slept in a muddle in the corner of the cage. The mommy and babies were removed from the main cage for a while, until the babies were bigger.

When the little family was reunited with Brian the daddy hamster, he apparently went after the babies, whereupon Supergirl went after him.

He was promptly removed and never seen again. (The story is he was returned to the pet store. I don't even wanna know if that's a euphemism or not, but I'm sure the science teacher wouldn't hurt him.)

When summer came the science teacher asked for volunteers to take al the class pets home over the summer. Supergirl came home with us and, as is my wont, we promptly spoiled her with fluff, felt, and tubes to run through and sleep in. Oh, and watermelon seeds and a big play area for when we cleaned her cage. And an exercise ball to run around the house in (supervised, of course).

Guess what! I took her back today, and DuckyBoy will soon start to earn a hamster of his very own. I thought it would be one of Supergirl's babies from last spring, but he's already in a classroom -- so once DuckyBoy earns her with enough good-behavior stickers, we will get Supergirl back for good! [Edited from earlier when I said we might get her or her baby -- guess the science teacher decided this would be best all around!]

I'm so excited.

Haiku Friday: Supergirl Goes Back to School

I'll miss Supergirl,
she gets a class tomorrow --
Take good care of her!

Trying not to show
how sad I am about it
for DuckyBoy's sake.

So far, he's OK,
one class he hopes she's not in:
a kid from the bus.

She's mouselike and caged;
my affection surprised me
for one such as this.

Supergirl is the Chinese Dwarf Hamster we've had for the summer from DuckyBoy's class last year.

We're planning to get one of her babies from last spring as our very own hamster to keep; but his school team and I have cooked up a plan for him to EARN the hammie with good behavior. I hope he earns it soon!


Would you like to haiku today? To participate in Haiku Friday, just follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. It or they can be part or all of your post, but your post must include a haiku. What's a haiku, you ask? Hint: 5-7-5. More info: Click here. Or here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON'T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Please leave a comment after linking, thanks! (Eventually the Mr Linky links go away, I think, so they only way we'll find you in the future is via your comment.)

4. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top of this post.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will carry on the esteemed tradition of deleting any links without haiku!