The Hair Cut From... You Know

The words "hair cut" sends Dallas into a frenzy.

See, the game plan the first time I cut Dallas' hair (back before he turned one) was me holding him down while my sister ran the clippers over his head. There was lots of screaming and crying... and not just by Dallas... After that I cut his hair with scissors and it took a long time. So we started moving back to the clippers, but decided to have someone else do it. That didn't work so well either. Now he associated "hair cut" with pin-downed-while-a-vibrating-horror-moves-across-my-head.

Two days ago he got gum in his hair. He really likes to chew and normally he is very good with keeping the gum where it should be, just not that day. Luckily it was on the back of his neck so I just cut it out with scissors; but I decided to do the rest to match. Dallas screamed and cried when I said "hair cut" and strapped him into a booster seat in front of the TV. He cried when I sprayed his hair down. He kept crying as I started combing and cutting his hair.

By the time I finished the back of his head he had calmed down and had no problem with me finishing. He said "Mom all done!" in a very happy voice prematurely a half dozen times so he is obviously not completely OK with hair cutting, but I think I may be moving back to comb and scissor cuts to reduce the trauma on that poor boy...

It Is All Worth It

Have you ever heard something like, "Yeah so-and-so wanted to major in such-and-such, but I talked them out of it. It just doesn't make enough money."? Too many people shy away from what they are passionate in, in search of a more lucrative career.

And some people do just the opposite. I had been majoring in electrical engineering when I first started at BYU. After a year I changed to math education. I really like teaching and tutoring; and I loved math. Now-a-days I sometimes wonder why I did that. Ok, so the circuits class gave my panic attacks whenever I thought about re-taking it, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have gotten over it. And now instead of making money I am in a field that (in this area) recently rifted a chunk of their new employees due to budget cuts. Now I am tutoring on a fairly small hourly wage.

Often I don't have time to bemoan my fate, I am just having too much fun. I love going to a job where I often look at the clock and say, "Wow, I can't have been here for 3 hours already!" Or have the occasional student prefer to sit with me or even volunteer, "You are my favorite tutor." You never know how to take that from a student in elementary or secondary school. After comments like that, I have to re-evaluate myself: are they working harder with me than with any other tutor? am I challenging them enough? or do they like me because I am a push-over with them?

With adult students, it is different. I was tutoring someone back in December who was starting the 2nd part of calculus in January. He had taken the first part of calculus over four years ago and needed a crash-course refresher. After working with him the first day I was overwhelmed at all the calculus I didn't remember. I pulled out my old calculus book, and searched the internet re-learning many concepts so I could explain them to him. He was sharp and a hard worker. Unlike some high school students who bring the work to you without trying it on their own and expect you to give them all the answers; he had tried and brought very specific questions.

I only tutored him for a month, but I thought about him as his quarter progressed, hoping he was doing ok. The quarter ended last week and yesterday he came back to thank me for all I had done. He insisted he learned more from me in those few weeks than from his professor during the quarter. He appreciated my passion for math and teaching and that I was the reason he passed the course. I wished he could write me a letter of recommendation!

I guess teachers teach for moments like that. I may not be making lots of money, but I feel like I am making a difference.

In the Last Week

Subbing for 4 days this week, totaling 20 hours, I have worked for about a quarter of the hours I pull per month tutoring/managing at Mathnasium.

The clincher? I have made almost half of my regular Mathnasium paycheck.

I wish we could work out a schedule so I could substitute more often and not just when Cam is on break (which won't happen again until the end of the school year).

But don't get me wrong I am thankful for having the job at Mathnasium (the stability and the experience it gives)... I am just very thankful for when I can substitute too.

Taxes = Candy

Dallas does not take kindly to my spending time on the computer when he wants some mommy attention. Today, however, my computer time was not devoted to WoW - I was trying to do taxes.

Occasionally, Dallas would walk over to me and pat my lap and demand ask, "Sit with you, mommy." I was trying to explain how important taxes were, so I put in prespective.

"Dallas I have to do the taxes so we can get money. Do you know what we can get with money?"

"Umm, candy?"

"Yes Dallas, Mommy needs to do the taxes so we can get candy."

Sometimes Sims Is Like Real Life

Cam and I enjoy playing Sims. It is like real life, only better. We like making ourselves and reliving those great moments like marriage, the birth of the first child, achieving world domination...

Sometimes Sims even gets the details right like Dallas being born before Chelane, giving the kiddos blue eyes, or making Cam a famous painter... wait...

Other times it makes me wonder if it is showing us what is in store for the future. Cam made most of my family and had Karma and I rooming together at college before his character and mine met. For some reason when I moved out, Karma came along and cozied up in our basement. Cam didn't have the heart to kick her out, so there she stayed. And from our innocuous basement she progressed along to her life-long goal of world domination as the Evil Emperor.

Sometime I worry about Karma...