Kiss Me I'm Irish

      Growing up, if you asked me what my family's heritage was I would say that I was mostly Irish and German, but my last name (maiden) was Danish.  Family lore told of the young woman who came over from Ireland with two candle sticks and got married in her petticoat (the only white thing she owned).  Having Irish nuns as teachers only cemented my Irish identity.

     In 6th grade I remember reading in my very new science book that scientists were currently mapping the human genome and were hoping to complete it in the next 10 years!   Enter the second decade of the 21st Century.  Home DNA kits are readily available. I was curious about what secrets my DNA might hold, but I'm also someone who has trouble spending money on things for myself that seem unnecessary.
   
     I learned my mother and sister both had been in the possession of 23andMe kits for over a year, but had not gone ahead and taken the test.  My sister was worried about misuse of data.  While she would never admit it, I'm pretty sure my mother was worried she would learn she wasn't Irish or only the slightest amount.  Fear of losing her entire identity kept her from learning about herself.  Worries about the misuse of my personal information did concern me, but since the test allows you to dictate how it is shared -- used as part of a larger study, submitted for further health diagnostics -- I felt I was ready to take the chance.  Since I have not committed any crimes, I'm not worried about my DNA being used to convict me.
   
      I put a 23andMe kit on my Christmas list.  My older sister got it for me.  I wasted no time taking a sample.  I maniacally cackled, telling my mother she would now learn the bitter truth.  She's not Irish.  I know.  I'm evil. 

      Of course things never go as planned for me.  While extremely uncommon, my first sample did not provide enough DNA.  The company kindly sent me a free replacement kit.  The second time it all went through very quickly.  It only took about 3 weeks for me to learn the truth of myself.

      And the DNA says.....I'm Irish.  Phew.  My mother can rest easy now.  The results were not what I expected.

• I'm very Irish.  I had figured I was maybe 25% Irish.  Nope.  Try 75.8% 
• It actually says Irish and British Isles but then it breaks down into counties and strength within counties.
• It's very strong in the Irish counties of Mayo, Donegal, and Dublin.
• 8.5% Danish.  I guess it wasn't just the name.
• 7.1 % Swiss and German.  More surprising is that it's Swiss.  There is only the slightest evidence of Germany.
• 8.3% Broadly Northwestern European

    Other interesting tidbits?  I'm 86% less Neanderthal than other 23andMe customers.  This means I lack markers for things like straight hair and less back hair.  My maternal haplogroup is the same as Marie Antoinette.  

    So there you have it.  I am very white.  I've been living a lie. I'm barely (if at all) German.  I'm really surprised by the lack of Eastern European and Mediterranean countries.  

    The whole thing is crazy fascinating.  It's amazing what your DNA can tell you.  I opted against doing any of the medical screenings.  I do believe there is such a thing as too much information.  The next steps?  Convincing my parents to both do a DNA kit.  Maybe now that my mom has some assurance of her Irish heritage, she will finally got through with it.  I'd love to go to Europe some day, but I think I will skip meeting very distant relatives.

    So this St. Paddy's day I will revel a little deeper.  If my dark curly hair (okay, it used to be dark but now I'm letting it go gray), pale white skin, and green eyes weren't enough to convince people I was Irish, I've now got the papers to prove it.  Slainte!

Can't Stop. Won't Stop. Snowing.

In case you were unaware, Washington state has been experiencing the most snow since 1923.  Puget Sound is not accustomed to large amounts of snow.  This problematic snow situation is exacerbated by the 2nd hilliest metropolitan area in the country, lack of infrastructure (severe lack of plows, sand, salt), and wet snow with lots of layers of compact snow and ice on the road.  Basically, Puget Sound has shut down.

My hats off to the meteorologists who have been uncannily accurate in the predictions.  The snow started a week ago Sunday.  Monday was a snow day.  Hooray!  Tuesday was a snow day weird but cool.  Wednesday was late start for school.  Thursday was normal.  Friday was early dismissal due to snow.  The forecast predicted a 2 pm storm start.  Instead snow began falling right at noon as students left.  I jammed as much instruction as I could into those few days, giving all my students everything they could possibly want to study for tests and hoped for the best. 

The snow never really melted from that first snow storm.  It's usually rare for it to snow during the day in the lowlands.  Normally, it snows at night.  You wake up to snow and then it rains and everything goes away.  Nope.  Not this time.  It was cold and the snow stayed around.  Thursday I went grocery shopping with the rest of the population.  Store shelves were cleared.  No milk, no bread, no eggs.  Lines all the way to the back of the store. Then Friday it started snowing and didn't stop.  It snowed all Friday and through midday Saturday.  There was more Sunday, a lot more.  It just kept coming.  It snowed so much that even Dave's work closed!  Monday it snowed all.day.long. 

Linus took the opportunity to relax.

Dave and the kids spent a lot of time building/engineering in his workshop.  Eileen came up with the idea of making her own snow boots.  She saw where the weather was headed early on.  Eileen drilled her own holes, but Dave helped with securing the ropes.

 This pic is obviously before the Friday storm hit.

During the first storm, the kids and Dave built a fort. The miracle of snow is that it has the ability to turn siblings into playmates.

As the snow fell in earnest, I couldn't help but think of that song, "It's a marshmallow road."  Eventually all evidence of play disappeared, bushes and trees collapsed.   There was well over a foot of snow on the ground in places.  You can seem that the porch no longer looks multi-leveled and the snow is almost up to the bench. 

With everyone home due to snow on Monday, we decided to make the best of it and go sledding at an old school nearby (Aldercrest). I snagged the last three sleds at Big 5.  It wasn't too crowded and was great sledding.

One sled did not survive the experience.  I still consider it $7.50 well spent. Eileen and I decided to walk home (a little over a mile).

Yes, the snow has been magical.  Yes, we've watched movies, played board games, drunk hot cocoa in front of the fire while our clothes dried.  Today alone we did five 100 piece puzzles, one 200 piece, and a ridiculously hard 500 piece is on the kitchen table now.  We've baked cookies, made a dump cake, and read books.  I finally organized my binder of recipes.  I've updated my classroom website, sent emails to parents, and worked on my next unit for science.  The laundry is folded.  The bedding is washed.  The kids have built forts of all kinds.

But to be clear.  I AM OVER IT!!!!!

The fighting, the making annoying sounds until someone screams, the whining, the begging for more screens, the whining, the refusal to follow directions, the whining, and did I mention the fighting? 

It's not like summer break, where I can at least leave the house.  No.  First I have to dig the car out.  Then I have to hope the roads are clear (lots of fallen trees).  Everyone I would want to visit lives on hills that are in no way safe to attempt.  It's not like the kids want to go anywhere.  That might interfere with getting additional screentime.

Our garbage has now missed two weeks of pickups.  Our snow shovel is broken (but technically usable) and all stores are sold out of shovels.  I have now shoveled the driveway twice.  Dave has done it once.  The driveway is made worse by the fact that our road gets plowed so all the snow from the street is sent flying onto our driveway.  My body aches so badly from all the shoveling.

Today is Tuesday.  There is no school tomorrow due to snow.  Thursday is Valentine's Day and was already scheduled to be a half day.  I just want normalcy.  I want give my students their math and science tests and move on.  I have things to teach!  I feel bad for the teacher tasked with putting on the school musical in a week when there has been no school....

Snow is fun.  A snow day, singular, as in one snow day is cool.  Snow weeks are not. I'm sure the kids will look back on this time fondly.  Dave has been awesome at helping them engineer different things.  Even Robin has been busy building.  I no longer have to feel guilty for not taking the kids sledding in the mountains. I haven't even gotten the kids chocolates or anything for Valentines Day.  Whoops. 

I have faith that someday the snow will melt.  The pile of snow in front of my house is several feet deep so it may be with us for a while as a testament to our survival of the Seattle Snowpocalypse 2019.  Tomorrow I will wear cozy clothes, drink coffee, read a book, take lots of ibuprofen for my aching body, finish the owl puzzle, and hide from my children.  Because tomorrow is a snow day.

Love, Scorpio, and Communication

I am not generally someone who puts a lot of stock in astrology and zodiac signs.  However, recently I've been plagued by mommy guilt.  Like many parents, I feel like I spend a lot of time in loud disagreements with my kids.  It's like one of those bad relationships when you automatically fall into those well worn paths.  I got to thinking.  What am I doing wrong?  Why do I struggle to communicate my two oldest?

Looking for insights, I starting thinking about personalities.  I do think at times that Linus and I are way too similar which is why we frustrate each other.  Giving credit where credit is due, Linus has been nothing short of fantastic and amazing the last few weeks --seriously stellar human being.  Anyhow....I suddenly realized that both my big kids are Scorpios.  I knew this, but had never thought much about it.  As a Libra,  Scorpios are my least compatible!  According to all the information, we will struggle most in communication.  One website wrote that as a Libra, being in relationship with a Scorpio is a serious roller coaster ride.  No kidding.

The first step is to recognize that just because we have vary different personalities/ways of communicating, it doesn't mean we are doomed to a life of misery.  I fully intend to read the book, "How to Talk so your kids will listen, and listen so your kids will talk."  As the kids get older, I need to do a better job of listening.

Step 2.  Take a step back and love them for who they are.  Done!

Eileen loves animals, but recently she has been showing increased interest in her cousin, Cedric.  She still needs to work a bit on her technique, but they were both clearly happy.

Eileen and I have been struggling a lot recently with communicating.  Despite this, when Eileen woke up inexplicably at 5 am, her first thought was to make me a card.  You haven't known love, until you have been loved by Eileen.

Eileen's love language is acts of kindness. She loves to draw pictures, make cards, write personalized books, make awards, etc for the people she cares about.  I've never felt as loved or guilty as when Eileen made me this card.  How cute is this card?  A mama bird feeding 3 baby birds? C'mon!

Today in an effort to spend a little quality time with Eileen, I indulged her. After her shower, I put sun-in in her hair, blow dried, and then curled her hair.  She even picked out a special barette to wear.

This afternoon it started snowing.  As I worked in the kitchen, I marveled as she played by herself in the backyard (the boys were laid up on the couch).  I took time to watch and appreciate Eileen.  She made me pull my hair out several times today, but I still love her.  She is worth learning to communicate with better.