Domestic Psychology

food – past

// July 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Family, food

Decoration Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Christmas memories from my childhood are connected to the extended family gatherings that happened with each holiday.It didn’t matter if it was at my great-grandparents’ house in Natchez Trace, the nearby State Park or my Great-Uncle’s in Martin, the event was about people and food.

Relatives who were round and relatives who were built like Jack Skellington ate the buffet of food. None of the children had food allergies. Even though the women were always on a “diet,” they still ate the same food that everyone else there ate.

The food didn’t magically arrive on our plates. It grew on family farms. It came from local livestock and game. It was cooked in home kitchens. Many of the dishes would make today’s nutritionists frown and shake their heads. We didn’t count calories or judge ingredients. Food was love and our stomachs were full.

We can’t reproduce those days. Or the food.

laundry quickies

// July 27th, 2010 // No Comments » // Family, life

Two things to move me toward my unintentional evolution into a laundry blogger:

First, I would like my spouse and children to be admitted into the Justice League based on their ability to dematerialize and materialize at will. Evidence of this power is the daily pile of “Night of the Comet” clothing with no evidence of deliberate removal. Socks and undergarments are in the exact location inside the exterior garments that they were when on their bodies. There is no scrunching or rolling, just a neat pile that could only have occurred by the wearer dematerializing. I guess they could be transmutating, but I think that would leave evidence behind, so I’m sticking with the original super power estimation. Just have Superman contact me and we’ll work out details about their admission.

Second, there are now three adult sized males in this house. I have no trouble telling the individuals apart, but their clothing is becoming increasingly indistinguishable. Do you know what makes males act like pre-adolescent girls? Putting the wrong person’s clothing in their closet. “This isn’t mine! Why couldn’t you tell whose it is? Eww, gross. I can’t wear someone else’s socks/pajamas/shirts.” Comparing them to pre-adolescent girls was a bad example, because girls have no problem swapping/sharing clothing. Apparently males consider the possibility of wearing someone else’s clothing an insult. Maybe they’re just worried that their clothing went to another person. I don’t know. I don’t understand either. In my next life, we will have one clothing closet and everything will be sorted by size instead of person. It will make things much easier.

Evan says:

// July 23rd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // kid quotes

Evan: “Drive over the wheels of the car in front of you so we can go faster.”
Me: “That would cause an accident and we would not go faster.”
Amy: “I saw the mailman have an accident.”
Evan: “The mailman peed in his pants?!?”

local elections – school board version (pt 2)

// July 23rd, 2010 // 3 Comments » // politics, school

If you live in the 9th district, your School Board choice can be narrowed down to one simple question. If you want to continue with the representation you have now, Bratton is your candidate. If you want something different, Trainor is your candidate. If you live in a cave and don’t know that both of your candidates are well-known figures in the Knox County education community whose careers speak for themselves, then consider the candidates’ responses to the following question.

Should school foundations be allowed to fund specific classes? Bratton’s response was that it wouldn’t be fair to allow that, because it would create have and have not schools. In other words, if we can’t have it, nobody can have it. Trainor stated that if foundations can help schools keep from losing classes, they should be able to do so.

Neither candidate stated that the current funding already gives disproportionately to schools from lower SES communities to balance the communities that can afford to provide more themselves. Why would you cripple the schools that are getting less government resources from using the community resources that eliminate them from additional government funding? That’s like shooting yourself in the foot because shoes don’t fit on your hands. Moreover, why wouldn’t any School Board member have the maturity and intelligence to allow each and every school to be the best that it can be?

The 9th district needs a School Board representative who cares about all schools and all students. That representative needs to be Trainor.

local elections – school board version

// July 22nd, 2010 // No Comments » // politics, school

If you live in Knox County’s seventh district, your choice for School Board is Sepesi or Warwick. Both seem like good people with sincere motives. Because of their career histories, both are going to be clear and quick thinkers if there is a crisis. If you want to save vo-tech programs, Warwick is your candidate. If you think your district is getting the budgetary short straw, Sepesi is your candidate.

Based on their responses at the most recent forum, both candidates are facing a steep learning curve. The “Race to the Top” money is not what they think it is. It is going to be like rain in the desert that evaporates before it touches your skin. No volume of weather reporters saying that it rained is going to change the fact that you are still thirsty.

Saving the vo-tech programs is admirable, but highly unlikely. Realistically, profit and non-profit groups are the future of vocational training. Getting more money into your district is admirable, but skip the politics of board member vs board member and work to get new business in your district and existing businesses in your schools.

Elect either one. The results will be nearly identical.

Amy says:

// July 19th, 2010 // No Comments » // kid quotes, pets

Amy: “Mom! Dharma ate a whole jar of peanut butter. How did she do that?”
Me: “Dharma ate the lid off the peanut butter jar?”
Amy: “Well, I might have accidentally left the lid off the jar.”
Me: “Dharma took the jar of peanut butter off the shelf?”
Amy: “Well, I might have accidentally left the jar on the floor.”
Me: “Dharma took the peanut butter off the kitchen floor?”
Amy: “Well, I might have accidentally left it on the floor in my room.”
Me: “It certainly is a mystery how Dharma was able to eat a jar of peanut butter.”
Amy: “Dharma must be magic.”

driving while distracted

// July 18th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Doug, flickr

need more Calgon

// July 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // parenting, teenagers

We have a pile of old, rusty paint cans that have too much leftover paint to waste. After seeing it day after day for several years, I decided to find a purpose for the paint. This week, the leftover paint from 2002′s staircase railing project became the new color of some kitchen shelves that have stored my food since before Tommy was born. That’s a long way of saying that I painted some shelves.

Covered in splatters of paint and with hands aching from gripping a paint roller for hours, I indulged in a hot bath. I leaned back to relax in the steamy water as the dogs curled up against each other for a nap on the cool bathroom floor. The heartsick teen walked in and sat down between the dogs. Then, the middle child and the two littles squeezed into the crowded room.

“<- sob -> Well, I don’t have anything to lose, so I’m just going to do what I want. I’m not a child any more. I’m seventeen! <- sniffle, sob ->
“You just got yourself grounded. Noah! Please come get this spider.”
“What? What spider?”
“There’s a spider above the bathtub. Please get it before it falls in the water.”
“<- sniffle -> I’ll never give up. You can’t hold me back any more.”
“I hold you back? You hold yourself back by eliminating every single college in the state of Tennessee. Noah, please don’t just grab it. You know it will jump and fall and then there will be spider legs floating in my bath, so put your other hand under the spider.”
“You want me stuck in Tennessee forever!”
<- badeep, badoop ... badeep, badoop ->
“No. You can leave the state once you are 18. It’s in the water! Get it out! Get it out!”
<- badeep, badoop ... badeep, badoop ->
“I hear a phone ringing! Can I answer it?”
“Get what out? What’s in the water?”
<- badeep, badoop ... badeep, badoop ->
“I dropped a spider in the bathtub.”
“A spider? I wanna hold it!”
“Eeeeeverybody thinks you are being completely irrational. <-sob ->”
<- badeep, badoop ... badeep, badoop ->
“The spider is dead. You can’t hold it.”
“Everybody is not your parent. I am. Ew, yuck! There’s a spider leg in here! Everybody needs to clear out of this room so I can get dressed.”

<- badeep, badoop ... badeep, badoop ->
“Hello.”
“D and W have been trying to call you. Why didn’t you answer the phone?”

I painted a door.

// July 4th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // home, kid quotes

Evan: “Awesome! I want to paint too.”
Amy: “Cool! Paint my door next.”
Noah: “When I have my own place, I’m gonna paint ALL the doors and walls with chalkboard paint.”
Sarah: “Sooooo, WHY did you paint Evan’s door black?”
Tommy: “Where’s Evan’s door?”

everybody likes the UPS truck

// July 2nd, 2010 // 3 Comments » // children, preschoolers

Mail, FedEx and UPS drivers understand small children excitedly competing to be the person who “gets” the mail or package. Whenever possible, they thoughtfully divide the delivery among the small outstretched hands. Today, the “UPS store,” as my children call it, brought two small packages. The driver handed one to each 5-year-old. Evan raced in the house to deliver the package. The other 5-year-old, ran to HIS house with a package. A package addressed to me. A package from Victoria’s Secret. I’ll give the neighbors milk, sugar and eggs, but I really don’t think they need my underwear.