"Monday, Monday, can't trust that day..."*

I am rereading Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and enjoying it far more than I recall enjoying it the first time round. I am not much of a scifi person, so perhaps that why it didn’t do it for me as a child. But it’s very good. I love Aunt Beast, and want to marry Calvin. I am pleased I am liking it, as my reread of The Small Rain was disappointing. I found it a tad on the histrionic side, and spent much of the novel wanting to slap Katherine Forrester upside her head. Which of course didn’t stop me from putting A Severed Wasp on the reread pile as well.

I had a really – not lousy – it wasn’t BAD – it was just….not GOOD day. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear I was premenstrual. You know, stupid little things like ordering a black iced tea and the lady making me a green tea and then arguing with me when I questioned her. That kind of stupidity. Nothing awful. But I am very ready for the boys to go to bed and leave me in some peace. I did manage to cook a scrummy dinner – mini penne in alfredo sauce with sautéed-in-olive-oil sliced red peppers and arugula, and topped with toasted pine nuts. The boys’ mac-and-cheese was made with heavy cream because I forgot to buy milk at the grocery store. (See, that kind of day. But with penne alfredo-with-yummies for dinner, I can’t complain…)

A legit gripe: Primo tested into the gifted program at school this year (am I permitted to call it that, or is there some other more politically correct name?) This means that one day a week he rides a bus to the Gifted Center to do extra-special advanced math and science. Also, this year, there is a full-time on-site gifted programming teacher who works with the kids during the rest of the week which pleased me and H very much because it means that their gifted programming is not limited to six hours once a week. Primo picked “You Be the Author” since his other gifted stuff is math and science. They get pulled out of their usual class to do this program. The Author program meets twice – once on the day that the gifted kids go to the Gifted Center. Am I insane that this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me? The parents of some of the kids involved in the on-site program have chosen not to have their child tested for the out-of-school program, but it seems really unfair to me that my child is going to miss one of his on-site sessions. This seems like very very poor planning. Shit. And this school year was going so well so far. Off I go to peruse private school websites and suburban real estate. Per my usual panicked response. Sigh.

Oh, and the inappropriate book? A YA novel by Mary Steele called The Life (and death) of Sarah Elizabeth Howard which may or may not be a very fine book, but regardless, just not appropriate for a sensitive eight-year-old.


*"Monday Monday," The Mamas & the Papas