Life is awfully good here. Truly. :)
Still. I find myself with a bit of a wish list today...things that have been on my mind lately...
1. Stall doors that swing outward. Would it really be so difficult for bathroom stall doors to uniformly swing outward rather than inward? I'm tired of straddling the toilet to open the door, kwim?
2. A thermostat that's smart. Maybe it does exist already and I just don't have it, but is it too much to ask that my thermostat be smart enough to know whether I need heat or cold? Why can't I just set a specific temperature and have the system recognize whether we're below that or above that without me having to manually change from one to the other? I live here in Colorado, for crying out loud. The temperatures are crazy inconsistent. ;)
3. Way to harness kid calorie burn. If I could convert Asher and Micah's calorie burn to be my own, wouldn't that be freakin' awesome?! I could burn more calories and they could burn less so that they might actually bulk up a bit, lol.
4. A way to send Seattle's weather back to them. Um. I very deliberately chose not to live in Seattle because I can't handle the weather. I NEED the sunshine. This overcast, drizzly, wet weather we're having here this week is messing with my head. Ugh. (I'm trying to look on the bright side and be thankful that we haven't much had to water our yard yet this year, but still.)
5. An explanation of standardized testing. Noah's at his second full day of standardized testing this year right now. It's not the end of the world or anything and, fortunately, he handles tests just fine. But. What the heck? I recognize that this is my first year dealing with it since we've only just started public school, but can someone explain what the point is? Specifically, Noah's school's testing (and I'm unclear as to whether this is what's happening in all Colorado schools) requires testing at 75% and 90% of the way through the school year...which means that he had testing just before spring break and now again (with just six weeks of instruction between the two). How is that supposed to show anything? Further, the testing this time around is happening the week before finals...with classes still in session such that students are being expected to make up class time lost when they go to testing during this time...finals prep time. (And the testing has caused disruption to class spaces, too...for instance, Noah's computer programming class basically can't operate this week during testing, as they don't have access to the school computers. Awesome.) Seriously, how much sense does that make? Sigh.
(For what it's worth, I know that Noah's school isn't thrilled about the requirements either. At all. But it's a state requirement, so they're unhappily complying. It just makes me sad all around for everyone involved.)
6. A parent's guide to teenagers. Okay, this is the big one. As we're now in this realm of having a teenager, I often find myself wishing for a handbook. There are all sorts of books about how to raise a baby...where's my guide on things like how to deal with moodiness and how to keep them fed enough and where to find clothes that fit and, most importantly right now, how to navigate the drivers license process? :) Really, I think I've mostly figured out that last one now...as we're gearing up to tackle drivers ed this summer...but it wasn't easy. I didn't find any one source that just laid it all out. Why is that?
So. That's my list at the moment. I'm sure there are more. What's on your list?
Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 05:13PM 
