POLL: What Color Is This Bowl?

This little plastic storage bowl is one of the first items that Dustin and I owned together. We were living in our apartment up the hill from East Mission Beach in San Diego, and had nothing store our leftovers in. So this quick pick up at whatever store was closest, and in walking distance, was our first fridge storage bowl. It used to have a twin, but that one is gone. It does, however, have its 9 x13 companion, and they each still have their lids.

What they don't have, is a color to call their own.

Since the beginning, we have NEVER agreed on the color of this bowl, which has, in some cases, led to confusion.
"Hand me that blue bowl, please?"
"What blue bowl?"
"The blue bowl to put this food into the fridge."
"What blue bowl? We don't have a blue bowl."
"Fine, I'll get it myself."
"That?! That's green, not blue. If I knew what you were talking about I would have gotten it for you."
"This bowl is clearly blue. It's not even close to green."
"No, it's green."

Fast forward 15 years; we have had similar conversations to that one MANY times! And our children have been brought into it as well. We have a child who insists it is one color, while another agrees with the other parent. Sad, right?

We finally took the debate to the streets, literally. As Allie delivered her Thank You cards from her birthday party, we joined her, bowl and clipboards in hand, to poll the neighbors. (Probably there is some etiquette rule about having another agenda while giving Thanks, but ... oh well.)

So, what color is this bowl? Vote in the comments, tell me in person, vote in the poll on the right of the screen. Send all your friends over to vote.

Behold...the bowl!

So as not to influence your perspective, you can vote now. If you'd like to see the bowl in comparison to some of our items around the home, feel free to keep scrolling down.

While only one person in the neighborhood poll suggested "white" (yes, a young child who may or may not know his colors, or care about saying the correct one) the general leaning was blue. Well, it was heavily "blue". Although one voter was clearly reluctant to stick to blue or green and would have rather voted "aqua." Some were more specific, "ocean blue" "light sky robin's egg blue" And while we insisted on recording the first impression vote, two of the VERY few green votes changed their vote to blue.

Water Quality (aka Car "Trouble" follow-up)

When we built our house, we installed this Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration system under the kitchen sink. It takes up a lot of space, but allows us to use RO water directly from our kitchen sink. (The white tank in the back and the 4 filters on the left.)

This is our kitchen sink, with 3 faucets, not 1. The faucet on the left is for RO water, the one in the middle is for regular water, for washing dishes, hands, etc, the faucet on the far right is insta-hot, which is RO filtered. While not a necessity, that one comes in handy. The RO faucet, however, is pretty necessary. Drinks of water and water for cooking are out of this faucet because our city water fails to meet regulations.

Our monthly water bill (and yearly water standard notice) reminds us that the 4.8 MG/L of Fluoride and 30 UG/L of Arsenic exceed the allowance for city drinking water. The city is required to provide a means of getting reduced fluoride and arsenic water to the public. (That's the red notice in the bottom left corner.)

This is the Water Station, located next to City Hall. BYOC (container) and you now have RO water for home use. (Which we should use more often, because clearly, our bill could be reduced by using the free water from their RO filter, rather than the water we pay for through ours. LOL)

Notice posted at the Water Station

Yes, I am aware that my child is up on the counter, directly under the sign that says, "No sitting or standing on counter." (That's what you get when you take pictures instead of watch children.)
So, the majority of the city uses 5 gallon containers for their water coolers, either filled for free at city hall, or for 29cents/gallon at other RO treated filling stations around the city. Although the containers are reusable, the lids aren't always in tact.

This kind is one of the best, because the center just breaks away. The bottles that have solid lids are actually really messy when placed onto the cooler, so they aren't our fav. Most water trips are uneventful...solid lid for transport, Glad Press & Seal, or brand new bottle (already filled) make for totally dry trips. It's only when you take a bottle without something sealing the center hole, arrive at home, chaos takes over, then you go on more errands without remembering that the bottle is back there and don't drive as "carefully," do you end up with spilled water (usually).

The lid did keep some of the water in, so we had about 2 gallons for use before heading back to the water station.

Car "Trouble"

When you store your magnetic letters close to the car...

...you might need to clean it off before heading out.

(I was told that it says "time to go to the park")

This bit of trouble was NOT the same day, thankfully. We were insistent on having a plastic liner in the back of the van when we bought it. Thank GOODNESS!!

(wider view)

(close up)

You may be left wondering WHY anyone would have that much water in the back of their car. (I scooped out 4 of those big bowls, with the aid of the smaller bowl, and then soaked up 2 very large towels completely.) Well, in Andrews, it's actually not uncommon to have a bunch of water in your car...picture and explanation to follow.

End of School Means Awards and Presentations

Despite all his PAP classes, and 4.8 GPA, we enjoyed this end of the year award ceremony for the High School for Alex to receive a Perfect Attendance award. Granted, he was one of only a handful, but we thought for sure, he'd be getting an academic award. Also, this only pic is blurry because they had a lovely little set-up on stage, complete with school colors, an awesome Mustang statue (their mascot), and an award-presentation archway and podium. We were prepared to take the pictures there, but it became clear in the beginning that was all just for atmosphere. ALL awards were given in this spot with nothing cool in the background...weird.

Aimee didn't invite us to her awards, but she did bring home an award from her shop class, of all places. She was a little hesitant in the beginning because there was so much measuring and straight lines, and learning to do exact straight text, etc. These precision things are tasks that challenged her patience. She endured and have fun making a gumball/candy machine, some game boards, cd shelves, etc. Fun shop class.

For April, and Earth Day, the children in the Elementary schools took part in a city-wide poster contest. Allie was awarded the "Honorable Mention" for 1st graders, which in this contest was 4th place. She was in good company in the winner circle, as her friend, and our neighbor, was 1st place in the 1st grade division, and 3rd place for over-all city wide. The 2nd place winner was one of Allie's fellow G/T classmates. (If you click the pic, it should expand and you can see the detail of her seedlings being planted.) Great artwork, Allie!

This is her classroom for the first 1/2 hour of the day. In the Gifted and Talented program (G/T), the children are given more "student-directed" time to explore and research. The first semester they did a wonderful animal unit, and the last semester was Meteorology. Allie liked studying animals better than weather, but enjoyed learning, either way. (need input...more input) This presentation, they were dressed as news reporters and presented their research papers on a particular type of weather that each of them chose. There are 3 other children in the class with her and they all had great reports. Allie told us about clouds and the weather they bring, leading into storms and floods.

Mrs. Mason was Allie's G/T teacher who did a good job of motivating them to stay focused on the different aspects of their research.

Allie on the "A" Honor Roll

In Andrews, we have grade-level campuses, so all of the 1st graders attend the same school. The honor roll for all of the 1st grade was actually 3 times this size, but was divided into 3 groups for the purpose of "good pictures". (teehee)

After a VERY long awards presentation (1 hour!!!), the children finally got to sing their songs for the parents. Songs about octopi, sharks, and other sea animals...complete with hula actions.

(not really scared...i actually have no idea why he is wearing this expression)

Last Day of School! Woo Hoo!

Maybe I'm supposed to be the *grown-up* here, but I absolutely LOVE the last day of school.

Am I worried about keeping kids busy over the summer? NOPE
Am I mourning my kid-free time? NOPE
Am I dreading 'I'm bored' whines? NOPE (not yet)

I LOVE SUMMER Break!!!

I don't have to drag kids (and self) out of bed in the dark.
I don't have to fight with them to go to sleep even when it's light outside (well, I might have to do that a little).
I don't have to rush around all afternoon picking children up from various schools and taking them to various lessons and activities.
I'm overjoyed.
My kids have changed so much this school year. I can hardly believe how much they've grown (we've gone through a few different clothing sizes this year) and we're all ready to take on the summer fun. Beginning of the year photos: click here.

Last day of school...May 27, 2010!!!

"Little Miss Apprehensive Allie" at the beginning of the year didn't want to stay at school. Every year seems to begin this way, and she loves her class and her teacher in the end. This year, she didn't have her *best* buds in her class, but she quickly found new besties. She loves them. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Duzan (and said so in her card to her at the end of the year.)

Miss Aimee almost ran us out of house and home for the sake of shoes this year. She started this year in a shoe size 4 and went up one size, then another, then another....her feet are now a size 8...and those are my shoes she's wearing to the last day of school.

Aidan became a star at Allie's school. Despite the fact that she likes school, and likes her teacher, she liked us to walk her in ... every day. So, we did. Aidan and I walked the path from our car to the classroom, waited while Allie put her things away in her locker and turned in her homework, then walked her to her other class (1/2 hour of gifted and talented class). It was fun, and we got another few minutes to talk about the day, and every minute counts.
Aidan showed up at school *almost* every day in his pajamas and boot. Some days, he got dressed, some days he wore his spiderman sandals, but most days it was pajamas and boots. These boots rock. They're supposed to be fireman boots, but they're red and black, so most of the time, they're referred to as Spiderman boots. At the beginning of the year, we got a lot of comments like "oh is it going to rain?" "hey, nice boots" "are you heading to fight the fire today?" But in the end, the teachers in the halls that we frequented expected to see Aidan in his boots and LOVED it. LOL
As spring arrived, Aidan has taken up the habit of taking off his clothes. He used to wear his boots with his batman or spiderman costume, but spring got hot, and it became boots and superhero underwear. Standard spring uniform at our house...well, for the 3 year old at least.

Okay, this isn't actually Alex on the last day of school.
This is Alex 5 minutes ago. (almost a week after the end of school and 11:15pm)
BUT.
Alex didn't actually have to go to school on time on the last day of school.
The last week of school they were on "testing" schedule, so they just had to show up to check in at 11am, or for their final in a class, whichever was sooner. The last day of school, Alex wasn't up when I was taking pictures. Alex, like Aimee, used the phrase "I don't have any other jeans to wear" a few times this year, since he got new clothes and then grew out of them, or wore holes in them (and his school doesn't allow ANY holes). He's taller than I, wears a much bigger shoe, and gave his hand-me-down T's to me (some of them).

Aimee's Elective Choices

Paperwork for school...Obviously not English class.