Memorial Day

A gray day.  Overcast with a slight chill in the air, but it's shaping up to be a fine day by my account.  No hard and fast plans, just a lazy day with the family.  There are few cases I should read before tomorrow's T&E class but they can wait.  First, there is a foot race, a festival, and a nice, long strenuous hike up a nearby trail.  Then, grilled meats and vegetables and smores created over the backyard firepit. 

The Last Paper

My semester is over but finals aren't really over for me because I still need to submit my seminar paper.  It's due tomorrow by 5pm.  I had good intentions of submitting it prior to leaving town last weekend but I didn't do it.  Then, I planned on working on it yesterday, but my mother-in-law was still in town, and I didn't want to be rude, so she and I went to the museum and then out to lunch with Madhubby.  I briefly looked over my rough draft last night before curling up on the sofa with Madhubby and a glass of wine. But today, I putzed around on the internet (researching consumption taxes) and took a nap with Bubba.  

I've been working on it this evening while Madhubby reviews Algebra with Lizzie and helps Olie write a poem for school.  I keep thinking I really should go for a run but it's 80 degrees and a cold beer sounds better.  And, now, I'm blogging.  But, I think I will take a beer, a slice of key lime pie and my seminar paper down to the basement where it's cooler and where I can be further distracted by the insanity of Hell's Kitchen and pretend to do some work before heading to bed.   

**I finished the paper and e-mailed it to my professor.  I'm pretty sure it's the worst piece of crap I've ever written.  Even my first year trial brief was better than this.  Oh, well.  It's done! Now I can enjoy four days of freedom before summer term starts.  

Stumped

For the past few months, I have been walking the kids to school. Well, sort of. Their schools are located in a neighborhood ten miles from ours, so usually what I do is drive to the neighborhood, park my car along a popular walk route, and meet up with other families in the neighborhood.  This arrangement has been working out great for us because I squeeze in some morning exercise and the kids and I get to be sociable with people who will be our neighbors this time next year.  We also get to know the parents and their kiddos.  

Some of the parents are real jerks with whom Madhubby and I definitely do not want to be friends.  Other couples are strange conundrums and challenge my people watching skills.  But there is one couple we really like and, thankfully, our kids get along great.  We plan to have lots of play dates and barbecues with them once we move.  We'll call them the Millers.  

Last week, Dave, the husband, asked me in the kindest, most non-threatening way: What kind of tax structure do you support? I mumbled something coherent but I'm pretty sure I sounded like an idiot (this is what I get for announcing that I'm a Republican). Dave promptly pronounced me "politically confused" and "somewhere between an Anarchist and a Libertarian."  I immediately declared myself apolitical because obviously his political knowledge dwarfs mine.  I think he's written the whole conversation off, but now I'm determined to learn everything there is to know about U.S. tax structure so that next time Dave and I have that conversation I don't sound like flippin' idiot.    

I told Madhubby I've got to kick it up a notch because these are no ordinary parents.  He thinks learning the tax system is not worth it and that I should just avoid talking politics or taxation with Dave. Avoiding politics with Dave cannot be done so I may as well just suck it up and sharpen my game.  So far: the capital gains tax rate benefits people whose income is derived from investments.  But, AMT? I have no friggin' clue.  I think it's bad if you're wealthy (like the Millers) but doesn't even apply if you're middle class (like us), but I don't really know. Obviously, I've got more sharpening to do before I take on Dave again.  

Scenes From the Weekend

 

Honesty

Posting has been light because I'm in a blogging funk mostly because this blogging thing has not really turned out as I had hoped. I feel as though a lot of people in the blogosphere, myself included, sugarcoat a lot of their lives and instead present themselves as super happy, competent people who are capable of balancing It All and then some. Woe is the commenter who calls them on it.  And the whole "work club" thing where bloggers refuse to talk about their jobs is really not very helpful for other people who have genuine questions about balancing family and law firm life.  How are people supposed to know whether law firms are flexible if nobody ever freakin' talks about it?!

I know I haven't talked about the nitty-gritty difficulties of being a mom in law school: the rampant competition, the guilt I have when I spend too little or, rarely, too much time studying, the frustration of no longer being an "A" student, and the sick feeling I have because I know how much grades really do matter (no matter what people tell you), the social and academic fall-out that comes from opting out of study groups and, of course, the loneliness. 

Law school is incredibly lonely for me.  Very few of the people I know have children and those who do have a spouse who stays home with them.  That's great for them, but not for me.  I want to do well in school and not miss a moment of my children's lives either.  But it is not possible for me to be both a good mother and a good student.  I don't blame the "Mommy Wars," or whatever you want to call it.  I just don't want my children raised by someone else.  I am their mother and I firmly believe it does matter whether it's me or a nanny who takes them to school. 

Other bloggers think its perfectly fine to have other people raise their children.  One mother even shuttled her baby between three different babysitters so she could attend class. C'mon, is class really that important?  I think it is incredibly selfish on her part but, wait (!), bloggers aren't allowed to be judgmental especially when they are in the same blogging "clique." And that makes blogging this stupid, polite game where everyone minds their manners.  Sorry, but that's not real life.     

So from now on, I'm going to be more candid with you because you deserve it. Now, if you will excuse me, I must pack for my weekend in the mountains where Madhubby and I will drink wine, go hiking, watch porn, have lots of sex and celebrate eight years of semi-blissful marriage. 

Science Matters

We spent all day in a nearby town participating in the Junior Solar Sprint and Fuel Cell Competition where Lizzie's team did very well racing their Hydrogen car.  It was great fun spending time with other families from across our state who were just as stoked about giving up their Saturday for a nerdy, scientific event.  The kids had lots of fun and were all really good sports despite the long day spent inside a high school gym.  I also think it's pretty cool that Lizzie now has an itsy-bitsy resume bullet and she's only eleven years old!  Plus, she got a really cool t-shirt and a fun heat-activated pencil.  All fun and interesting stuff for her mom who is newly interested in Renewable Energy and such.  

I feel so lucky to be a part of our public school system!  I am constantly amazed by the excellent education my children receive and I am so thankful for our middle school staff because they are really committed to providing excellent educational opportunities to students and creating a genuinely inclusive school community.  Only one other middle school from our town participated in the competition, which means a lot of those other kids probably aren't even studying renewable energy in their schools.  It could be a funding issue, but our projects were grant funded so the money is out there for those other kids, too.  

Oh, and my evidence final went ok.  I have no idea how I did but the main thing is it's over and I am pretty sure I didn't fail.  On to Enviro Law and my relatively compact (eleven pages), but nearly complete, seminar paper.  Then, one week of break before summer term starts.  

Distractions

First, it was the "scientific" caffeine test.  Tonight, I am being sucked in by the Time Life Soft Rock infomercial.  Yes, it's cheesy and kind of embarassing that I know all the songs, but anything is better than studying the intricacies of Evidence law. Well, maybe not that one guy who sings "Kiss You All Over."  Ew.  

Study Break

What's that, you say?  I should be studying for finals.  Pshaw.  It's not my fault a blog I read has a cool quiz that "scientifically" measures my caffeine level.  Really, how could I resist?  It's a quiz that combines both caffeine and science!  

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The Obligatory Finals Post

I have two exams and two papers this finals period.  Both papers have been written - one will be submitted today - and I am awaiting "extensive comments" from my professor before submitting the final draft of another paper; I have two weeks after receiving comments to submit my final draft to complete my upper-level-writing requirement.  

Environmental Law and Evidence are both exam classes.  Enviro is complicated, but regulatory so it's simply matter of studying the regulations, Cooperative Federalism, and the evolution of Environmental Law.  If I get the same grade on the final exam that I got on the midterm, then I will do just fine. 

Evidence is tricky flat-out sucks.  So this weekend, my Evidence E&E and I are going to find a well-lit room, with no internet access, and get to know each other.  It should be an awesome time.  

 

Dry Sheets

It is almost too good to be true, and to write it here may render it a complete fiction by this afternoon, but I'm going to type it anyway: Bubba is completely toilet trained.  He has been completely dry the past three mornings and two nap times!  I am still not quite ready to put him in underwear at bedtime (he wears skivvies for naps), but we are nearly there after only 38 months of life and one year of relaxed toilet learning.  

Honestly, I was getting very frustrated with him, and the whole toilet learning/potty training process, because this fall, when Bubba is at a real preschool and not at the crappy, generic franchise place down the street where staffing changes on a daily basis, he has to be "toilet independent." Basically, no pull-ups or diapers allowed. 

Nap time was our last big hurdle to independence and we've nearly got it whipped. I think when we run out of overnight underwear this time around, we'll just play it by ear, and hope for dry sheets.