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Recommended reading for today: Well, I haven’t read this yet, I just heard about it today. But it sure sounds interesting! Our local public radio station produces a daily show called Forum. Today’s guest was Richard Muller, talking about his new book called The Instant Physicist: An Illustrated Guide.
The above image and the publisher’s synopsis below are taken from Powell’s Books website:
Richard A. Muller demonstrated in his recent bestseller, Physics for Future Presidents, that he has a unique talent for delivering the aha moment—making difficult topics accessible. In The Instant Physicist he shows his ability to entertain, too, by presenting the best of the scientific curiosities he has assembled over his distinguished career. Assisted by award-winning cartoonist Joey Manfre, who has created an original color cartoon for each physics bite, Muller will have readers chuckling while they’re absorbing more science than they ever thought possible. From the surprising (chocolate has more energy in it than TNT) to the scary (even kids can make a bomb), this book contains a revelation on every page. Once finished with this page-turner, readers will be the stars of their next cocktail party. The book consists of a color cartoon on each right-hand page and explanatory text on the left.
Sounds awesome, no? I hope to pick up this book sometime this weekend, in between our 6 soccer games and two end-of-season soccer parties. Let me know if you get it too!
What are you reading right now?
~ 2 ~
On Wednesday morning, I was chatting with one of Little T’s preschool teachers, who sweetly called my daughter “delightful,” and I told her that Little T is very proud of herself that she has never gotten in trouble at school. Well, that was the kiss of death. Five short hours later, she can no longer claim that distinction. Right before lunch, she locked herself in the bathroom, preventing several short people—short people in urgent need, no less—from coming in. She proceeded to bang on the walls for no apparent reason, and she stayed in there, despite the teacher’s repeated demands that she open the door.
When she finally came out, she was given a stern talking to and placed in a five minute time out. These were the longest, hardest five minutes of the day for all of the boys at the school, who rely on Little T to chase them around while pretending to be a vampire. They were at a loss without her.
The teacher was laughing about the whole thing by the time I picked up my little Fang Girl at 2pm, but thus endeth any good behavior bragging rights for her.
Those of you with preschoolers who have no such bragging rights, what’d your kid do to get in trouble?
~ 3 ~
Chalk up another trip to the ER for the AIRY-5 Family! Why do things always happen to us on weekends and holidays? This time, Veteran’s Day, so our peds office was closed. Anyway, this trip was for severe poison oak. You might think that a seasoned mom like me wouldn’t make a trip to the ER for something like poison oak. I thought so too, until yesterday.
My 10 year old gets poison oak really badly, and has had it more times than I can count. We’ve always just soldiered through it, with various over the counter remedies. We’ve ended up relying mostly on Benadryl and ice packs for relief, and just gritting our teeth until it clears up. (Yes, “our” teeth. While suffering from poison oak is a terrible, miserable experience, being the mother of a kid with poison oak is almost equally miserable.) We also recently learned about Sticky Monkeyflower as a prophylactic, and since we have tons of this native plant in our garden, we’ve tried it a few times. I think last time he got it, the monkeyflower helped it go away faster than it ever had before. Unfortunately, he didn’t eat any this past Monday before he went hiking for 5.5 hours.
And this time, he got it on his face so badly that both of his eyes and his mouth were swollen and there wasn’t a single unaffected spot anywhere on his face or neck. It was worse than I have ever seen it. On Wednesday, I finally decided to go the steroid route, which I had heretofore opposed. One day in to the dose, he was still going mad with itching. His pediatrician, who I reached by phone even though the office was closed, thought it should have been helping by now and suggested we give him a shot to get him faster relief.
So, off to the ER for us. As it turns out, the doc on duty was a poison oak expert, and she talked me out of the shot. She suggested Zyrtec, A&D ointment, and patience. And to keep taking the steroid prescription we started on Wednesday. The A&D gave him immediate, lasting relief, and finally the steroid seems to be working, as his face is clearer today than it has been since Tuesday.
Poor guy.
What was your last ER trip for? And does anyone out there have a unique poison oak remedy?
~ 4 ~
Never say never. I’ve been thinking about things I let my kids do that I’m sure I thought I never would. Maybe we could start a little “True Confessions” segment, where we admit to one tiny (or not so tiny) parenting choice that we are both surprised we’ve made and maybe a little less than proud of. I’ll go first.
I let my kids – all of my kids – stay up on Monday and Tuesday nights to watch Dancing with the Stars. I am not a big TV fan. I am even less of a reality TV fan. I’m naturally suspicious of popular culture, on aesthetic more than moral grounds. And yet, I let them. Never thought I’d do that, but there ya’ go. What? You think that’s no big deal? Did you think I was going to start off with the big guns? Um, no.
How about you? What will you admit to?
~ 5 ~
What is UP with American Girl Dolls? Why are they so expensive? We have a girl lobbying for one for Christmas. (I curse the catalog that found its way to my mailbox unbidden.) She is also lobbying for a skateboard. She has varied interests.
Someone tell me why I should shell out an insane amount of money for one of those dolls? Are they lined in gold? Do they clean a girl’s bedroom? Do they pay the bills? Do they possess the answer to the meaning of Life Itself? What is UP?
~ 6 ~
A friend of mine posted a question on her Facebook wall recently: What would you attempt to do if you knew you wouldn’t fail? I answered professional competitive dirt biking.
When I was in college, I submitted something to the literary magazine. The editor asked me for a little blurb bio for the contributors’ pages. I told him I couldn’t think of anything and he could put something in for me. Shortly after the magazine came out, people started coming up to me on campus and asking how my dirt biking career was going. Funny guy, that editor.
I’m not serious about the dirt biking, but I have been thinking about what fear of failure might be keeping me from. Writing ranks up there, for sure.
How about you? What would you attempt, if failure were not an issue?
~ 7 ~
Do you spend too much time on the Internet? I do. What’s that all about?
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2 comments:
Love the preschool story. Mine has also lost bragging rights, but there's not really an interesting story to go with it. She thinks sitting down is underrated and that she is better suited to be the teacher than a lowly student.
I bought an American Girl doll used and had her hair done at the AG store, so I spent $30. The friend's used doll came with a stack of clothes. Whoopee! We've found other clothes on EBAY for dirt cheap. I suggest this route because they don't play with them forever, and you can get a doll that's looks brand new with a lot more clothes that way.
Have you read all the historic dolls' stories? They are at the library for free and they are truly enjoyable. We discovered AG through the books, not the dolls.
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