Things I learned

During Spring Break, I decided it was finally time to have the septic tank pumped. I'd heard that you were supposed to do it every four or five years or so, and we're going on 7.5 years in this house. We've never had it pumped.

I couldn't find the paperwork for the people who came out to do it last time, so I just opened the phone book and looked to see who was licensed and bonded, and then called the first number I found.  I asked if there was any way I could get it done that same week, and the nice man I was talking to said he had an opening on Wednesday.  Little did I know what an enlightening experience I was about to have.

Here's what I learned:

1.  I learned where my septic tank is. I had an idea, but now I know.

2.  I learned that I could have found my tank myself instead of paying them to find it.  I thought they had special equipment to find it, though, so I figured I'd let the experts.

3.  I learned that the "special" equipment they had was a stick. That's right. A long skinny piece of metal with handles on it that they poked in the ground in the general area where the tank was supposed to be.

4.  I learned it costs $95/hour for someone else to dig up my septic tank.

5.  I learned I should just get my own stick.

6.  I learned my septic tank is about two feet deeper than normal, and that I should have dug it up myself.  (Refer to #1...I didn't know where it was before, but now I do. Next time? I'm digging it up myself.  And by digging it up myself I mean that J will be digging it up.)

7.  I learned that for $70ish I can buy cement "risers" to bring the lid of my septic tank up to a normal depth so we don't have to dig so much. (And by "I can buy" I mean J can buy. This chore definitely falls under his job description as the man of the house.)

8.  I learned that our septic tank is OLD.  Which means it only has one compartment. "New" septic tanks (those built after 1977) have two compartments.  One for the solids and one for the liquids.

9.  I learned that you should not use the garbage disposal if you have a septic tank. Because "the *&^% eats itself up, but food just floats on top." (**I didn't want the visual, either, but if I had to suffer, you can share the burden with me.)

10. I learned that we were "definitely overdue (for a tank pumping) but not in a bad situation yet. You could have probably gone another year before the *&^% backed up into your shower."

11.  I learned that when we have kids, even though some diaper wipes say they are septic tank friendly, they are not.  And they "clog up my machinery and that's irritating."

12.  I learned that our septic tank guy, though crude, is somewhat thoughtful.  When I invited him to step inside as I wrote the check (because I had to close the door so the cats wouldn't get outside), he told me he would stay on the front porch because he didn't want to "get *&^% all over your house - and I'm covered in it."

13.  And last, but not least, I learned that my septic tank was clean and clear and J and I could "*&^% our brains out."

Every day is a learning opportunity, and on that day, I learned a lot.

More knowing me, knowing you

Here are the questions I missed from October…two years ago…man, I took a LONG break, didn’t I?  I’ll try not to do that again. (But I’m not making any promises.)

1.  Crunchy peanut butter or smooth?

Well, it depends on how I’m eating it! I like both crunchy and creamy, but it has to be Jif.  If I’m eating a sandwich, it must be creamy, and I like it with strawberry or grape jelly – COLD. I will make it and then put it in the freezer for twenty minutes or so to make it very chilly.  I also like creamy with my apple slices. If I’m having toast, however, I can go either way, but I prefer chunky. I like the way the peanut butter sort of melts from the heat of the toast, and then the crunchy peanut bits are left. Yum.

2. Do you do any volunteer work? (No judgment, just curious. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to get involved…like I have time for more stuff.)

Well, not really.  Every once in awhile I get an opportunity, but I don’t really do it very often. Jess and I walked dogs a few times for the Humane Society, but then they made it difficult to volunteer so we didn’t go back anymore.  I do all kinds of stuff at school, though, that I don’t get paid for. Does that count? Jess and I just chaperoned the Sadie’s dance a few weeks ago. We gave up a Saturday night to go stand around the high school cafeteria.  And there are always different fundraisers and projects kids are working on that we support.  I did a post about Adopt-a-family awhile back.  I guess the short answer is: I volunteer through the school, but not really on my own.

3. What is your favorite cold weather drink?

I don’t like hot beverages – I only like lukewarm beverages.  But I’ve been obsessed all winter with the caramel apple spice from Starbucks.  I also like hot chocolate (Land o’Lakes packets from Costco are AMAZING!) and vanilla chai. But recently my favorite has been the caramel apple spice. Jess even bought caramel syrup so he could make me caramel apple cider at home. It’s not quite the same as Starbucks, but it’s far cheaper!

4. What is your favorite holiday?

Oh, man, I can’t choose.  I used to love Christmas the most, but to be 100% frank, for the last few years it hasn’t been all that great.  We live far from our families, and we have to do a LOT of traveling from house to house all around the state in really crappy weather. It’s been stressful.  Really stressful.  Thanksgiving is the same way.  I think I like the Fourth of July – it’s really low key around here, but we usually get together with friends either at our house or someone else’s, and grill.  Then Jess and I have gone down the road to Clover Island and sat in the back of his pickup to watch the fireworks.  Or maybe New Year’s Eve. That’s really low key – it’s just the two of us and our cats. We make a bunch of finger food / appetizers and watch movies or play games, then watch the ball drop on television.  I love any reason to get together with friends or family, but for the last few years the holidays have been way more stressful than fun.

5. Okay, quick, you gotta hop a plane right now, to anywhere with anyone – where do you go and with who?

My first response is: I go to England with Jess.  Or Croatia, again with Jess.  I’ve joked about going to the summer 2012 Olympics, but I really, really want to go to England.  Though I think I would do it the way my dad and step-mom did and take a cruise to England.  I just finished reading Romeo and Juliet with my freshmen and my seniors start Hamlet when we get back to school on Monday.  I have Shakespeare on the brain, which is why I think England came to mind.  One of these days, though, I am going to make it to Croatia.  It is the “land of my people” you know, and apparently a hot vacation destination.  I just have this desire to see where my grandparents came from while soaking up the sun on some white sandy beaches in the Adriatic!  I have my passport, and so does Jess…we just need to win the lottery, then we’re going to both places! 

Let's get reacquainted, shall we?

Well, since I took such a long hiatus from blogging, I’d say it’s time for us to reacquaint ourselves, isn’t it?  Because I can’t think of a single thing to blog about, I’d say the best way for us to get reacquainted is to catch up on all of Shan’s “Knowing Me, Knowing You” interview questions.  I’ve missed a few months…

So today’s post is catching up on the questions from September 2009.

1. What is your favorite smell?

Hmm…this is an interesting question for me. I have such allergy issues that I’m very sensitive to smells.  Though I would say either fresh laundry (real fresh laundry – NOT the fake smells in a can or candle) that’s been laundered with Tide soap and dried with Bounce dryer sheets, or baked goods / fruits. I have a pretty extensive candle collection, and an even more extensive Scentsy collection. If you go through the drawers where I store it all, you’ll find all kinds of bakery scents like blueberry cheesecake, cherry pie, apple pie, etc.  There’s also lots of fruit scents like cherry almond, lemon, marionberry, and strawberry. 

2.  Did you / would you / are you co-sleep(ing)?

This is another tough question as we don’t have kids yet. (But we’re trying! Our homestudy is all approved and we’re just waiting to be matched with a birthmom right now!)  I’m going to say no for now, but leave it open to change my mind. I have no strong feelings on this one way or the other, actually.  I don’t think you should do it nightly until the kid is 8, but when they are still in the infant / toddler stages?  I don’t know.

3.   Fall fair season is upon us (or it was when Shan originally posted this!), so what’s your favorite fair food?

I honestly don’t really like going to the fair anymore.  It’s just lost some of it’s magic for me.  Especially since I used to go to the Puyallup Fair, and let me let you in on a secret: the Benton-Franklin County Fair is NOTHING compare to the Puyallup.  Nothing.  But when I was younger and we did go to the Puyallup, my favorite food was the raspberry scone!  Even now, no matter what the flavor, when I eat a scone, I always think about the fair.

4.   Thinking about Christmas shopping yet?

Well, not quite yet. Last year I started really early, though, and it was wonderful not to have a ton of bills at Christmas time and very little stress.  I had stuff wrapped by Thanksgiving, even.  It was so nice, I plan to start early this year, too.

5.  What’s your favorite color?

Hands down, no questions asked: blue. I love all colors, especially deep, rich, saturated colors, but blue has long been my favorite. When I was young, I used to like green a lot. In fact, I called everything that was special to me “green.”  My blankie (which had very little green on it) was my “green blankie” and my mom’s mom was “Green Grandma.”  She was very special to me, and I was much closer to her than to my other grandmother, but I still can’t believe I called her Green Grandma to her face.  She did live near Green Lake in Seattle, so maybe that’s how it all started? Maybe I didn’t love green so much but my parents thought I did because I called things green? Who knows? But for a long time now, blue has been my absolute favorite color.

More tomorrow...

Mrs. H 1, Student T 0

My freshmen were writing an essay this week. It's about Romeo and Juliet. From what I've seen of them, these essays are not going to be fun to grade. Not fun at all. Even less fun will be the three extra days I've decided we are going to spend revisiting these essays when we get back from Spring Break.

Ick.

I'm not sure why these essays are so bad, but they are. It might be because it's the week before Spring Break and none of my kids wants to be writing an essay right now. Well, it's too bad they don't want to, because that's the lesson plan.

And we don't deviate from the lesson plan.

Actually, sometimes we do. But when we do it's because I want to, not because they want to. It's AWESOME to be the one in charge! I don't think it ever gets old, does it?

But, I digress. (I do that a lot, don't I?)

On Tuesday, students were supposed to come to class with a completed first draft. Those who did were dismissed to the computer lab right outside my door to type their essays. Those who didn't have a complete draft were not allowed to leave the room. They had to stay in the classroom and finish their drafts (for half credit, by the way - if I say it's due on Tuesday, I mean it's due on Tuesday!).

I spent the hour moving between the computer lab and classroom monitoring students. One boy, who was stuck in the classroom because he wasn't prepared, was not very happy with me. When I ventured back into the classroom with C to look up his grades on the computer for him, T loudly complained.

He said, "Mrs. H! I DON'T want to write this essay!"

Without thinking I responded, "T! I didn't want to hear you complain today. I guess we both lose, don't we?"

Oh, man. One day my mouth is going to get me into trouble.

The kids thought I was being funny, though, especially C. He said, "OH! Mrs. H 1, T 0!"