Head Tale

A Few Random Thoughts on Pace’s Final Day of Grade One

At the beginning of the year, the teacher said that any kid who read 300 books would get a prize at the end of the year. Pace ended up reading around 400 books (and probably more that we didn’t always remember to write in his reading log), got a pretty cool “Thunder Maker” toy as his prize and came in second behind a girl who read over 500 books. He was cool with this as he pointed out “First the worst, second the best.” Can’t argue with that logic. I’m cool with it too as it reminded me of one classmate who always beat me in any English-related contest – I went on to be a librarian but she went on to be a PhD English prof so again, “First the worst, second the best!” 😉
With that much reading, it’s been amazing to see his reading, writing and comprehension explode through the year. A highlight was when we left him reading in his bed the other night and he told Shea, “Hey mom! I can read without talking out loud now!”
His teacher told us Pace didn’t get in trouble, not even once, all year. Funny – that brought back a still vivid memory of one specific time I got in trouble when I was in Grade One which was fairly rare for myself too.
Pace has a much more diverse school experience than I ever had and he’ll be all the better for it – lots of First Nations classmates and neighbours, new immigrants from everywhere from the former Yugoslavia to Pakistan to various African countries and more.
With Shea being on maternity leave, she was able to help out as a volunteer on many occasions, pick up Pace from school regularly and Sasha even got a few previews of her future school!
One difference with my new job is that I have some evening and weekend work. The good thing about that is I have occasional Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays off when I can pick Pace up from school. Nothing more exciting than hearing the bell ring and watching the kids charge out the door plus the look on Pace’s face when I’m there to pick him up.
I think Shea and I are really excited for summer holidays too – two whole months without needing to have nightly rushes to make lunches, do homework, sign agenda books, do any required paperwork, etc.

¶ Posted 26 June 2014 § Library § MemoryLane § Pace § Shea ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: education

After One Year As a Parent, One Thing is Certain…

(full comic available here and worth the click)

¶ Posted 25 June 2014 § Baby § Family § Humour § Infographic § MemoryLane § Pace § Sasha § Shea § Wisdom ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: cute

Snow in Regina in June?

Sure looks like it…

¶ Posted 24 June 2014 § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) °

Music Monday – “I got no car and it’s breaking my heart/But I’ve found a driver and that’s a start”

“Drive My Car” – Beatles

¶ Posted 23 June 2014 § MusicMonday § PopCulture § UK § Video ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: music

Saturday Snap – “I Don’t Know!”

Our new favourite Sasha trick is saying “Sasha…I don’t know” then watching her make this cute face…

¶ Posted 21 June 2014 § Family § Humour § Photo § Sasha § SaturdaySnap ‡ Comments (0) °

Friday Fun Link – You’re Getting Old

Great site to show you a bunch of details and trivia based on how old you are.

¶ Posted 20 June 2014 § FridayFunLink § Randomness § Wisdom ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: cool, history

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – Full Circle (November 2007)

This is a picture of me sitting at the circulation desk of the Indian Head branch library that I grew up with and ended up as supervisor for in my first job after doing my Master of Library Science degree.

Jason at Indian Head Public Library

¶ Posted 19 June 2014 § Library § LibrarySchool § MemoryLane § Photo § Saskatchewan § ThrowbackThursday ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: saskatchewan

In One Or Two Sentences, Why Are You An Atheist?

Recently Reddit’s /r/atheism sub-reddit had a question asking users for a one or two sentence explanation for why they’re atheists.

I’ve got a lot of reasons but my own two-sentence answer would be something like this:

When I was a kid, my friend and I were really into Greek mythology. He pointed out that the Greeks believed in their gods as much as people today believe in the Bible’s god. But as far as he was concerned, people just moved Mount Olympus higher into the sky.

¶ Posted 18 June 2014 § MemoryLane § Wisdom ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: atheism, history, language, philosophy

Feels Like A Pretty Monumental Day

Shea and I finally dropped our landline and will only be using our smartphones going forward. Some risks and downsides of course but overall, we were basically paying $40/month for calls to and from both sets of parents (which we can still do with our smartphones) and otherwise, 90% of our calls were spammers, surveys, or spammy surveys.

Next step will be cutting the cable cord although that one might be a bit tougher as I’m still pretty attached to the cable (and then satellite) television I grew up on. Hell, I paid part of my way through college selling cable TV subscriptions for Image Cable Systems in rural Saskatchewan. They say you can’t sell something you don’t believe in and I helped Image win National Marketing Awards for the campaigns I was involved in. So yeah, cable TV means a lot to me and getting rid of that will be a much bigger leap to make! 😉

Anyhow, if you need to reach Shea or I, call our cells…