jueves, 28 de agosto de 2014

The Things I Can Get Away With Here . . .

Clara´s homework the other day was for her to bring in some vowel flashcards.  No problem.

I cut the cardboard, wrote the vowels, and after a grand total of 5 minutes, we were set!

Then, I noticed the box that I cut the cardboard from.  I don´t know that I´d be able to send those letters with her to school if we lived in the US!


However, as we don´t, I didn´t think twice about it.

miércoles, 27 de agosto de 2014

I Knew It Was a Great Idea!

Ten years ago, I worked at a children´s home.  A very large children´s home.  I helped take care of 25 first and second grade girls.  Now, for those of you who have also taken care of school-age children, lice is simply a fact of life.  Rather like chicken pox.

Except that we can get lice more than once.  That´s a real bummer.

Our girls were no exception to this fact of life.  And because they all lived together in close quarters (and we didn´t have great access to lice shampoo that year) everyone spent at least a couple of weeks out of the year with lice.

As I was the most mature and among the more patient of the women who took care of these girls, I was the designated lice-picker.

Surprisingly, though, the more I did it, the more I enjoyed it.  It was mindless work, but I could be seated fairly comfortably.  (Can´t say the same for my lice-infested counterpart, but . . . them´s the shakes.)  It was quiet work and no one was hanging on me or whining at me (unless it was the kid whose head I was picking at, but again . . . too bad for them!)   I actually looked forward to lice-picking hour.

And then it dawned on me--I could sell out my amazing nit-picking services!  If lice-infested kids aren´t allowed to go to school, how much time can working parents really take off to pick the lice out of their kids´ heads?  Would some even be willing to PAY me to do it?

Turns out, somebody beat me to that punch!

If you´ve got a lice-y kid in Saltillo, send them to Piki-Piki, downtown on Salazar, just south of the Alameda.