For as much time as I spend on the internet each day, it’s amazing to me how very little I actually travel around.
It’s basically email, Facebook, and TWoP. I totally miss out on friends who impart important tidbits like them being a full year cancer-free and the fact that they are Not moving to New York City. (/eyeroll. Some on-line friend I am. Sheesh.) Time gets all freaky weird as you get older. And if you happen to be unemployed, (and working hard on nothing), you Really lose sight of time.
Like the fact that Valentine’s Day is Monday and I thought that the subsequent school party that I volunteered for was on Monday, but Mr. Boo has informed me that it’s actually Friday. And I’ve offered to help with the last second arrival of Chinese books for the book fair and Chinese New Year’s celebration on Thursday. Actually, the helping is Thursday. The CNY celebration is Friday. This is why I don’t volunteer for more stuff. I get all freaked out that I’m going to forget about stuff or double-book or possibly get a conflicting interview? (Yeah. Not that last one.)
I’m also trying to get the urchins on board to go visit the Mom the weekend of the 18th. Even promised to take them out of school (I’m trying to come to terms with what they’re actually learning, but more on that in a second.) on Friday so that we’ll have two full days there to combat the two full days of driving. Mr. Boo is not having any of it. It’s just too darned long for three days (luckily, he hasn’t actually looked to realize it’s only two days we’ll actually have there and I’m not about to bring that up.) The Mom gets back from the latest travel adventure today and I haven’t brought it up to her, either. It’s hard enough having one whiny child. I can’t handle two effectively. So we’ll see where this progresses.
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Back to the school thing.
Is it just me, or is there just very little learning going on anymore? I seem to remember the filmstrip days, class party days, et. being few and far between. (But remember…I’m OLD.) It seems like there are so many ‘parents come in to read’, holiday partys, “We watched “Polar Express” in Chinese today!” days, not to mention holidays, early releases and late starts, that I’m trying to figure out where the actual Learning is.
We found out late Sunday night that the Bits’ teacher was going to be gone because her father was coming here for the Chinese New Year for the first time in ten years. For two weeks.
And then I remembered that she grew up in California. And she did say there were some additional ‘family matters to attend to’.
But two weeks?
One of the dad’s cornered me at pick-up yesterday and asked me if I was concerned about the absence. I personally feel this teacher is flighty to begin with, so, really, I’m not. (And because I’m not a great parent and the Bits seems pretty adaptable, I don’t believe it’s an issue in the middle of the second semester.) But he brought up that she has also been gone a lot so far this year, eight days I think he said, which I didn’t realize. (That darned Bits tells me Nothing!)
So now I have to rethink whether this is a big deal or not. I still think that for first graders, it’s just not that much of an issue.
Of course, what do I know?
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What else do I know?
I have to trek back to Best Buy, as the $89.99 I spent (Which is minus the 10% Geek Squad discount I get, Plus the fact that I brought in my own external back up??) was apparently not enough to ensure that the data from the ruined laptop actually got tranferred. When I went online, I noticed that they state that back ups started at $59.99. I think when I go back, they get to transfer all the data onto something of their own rather than on my external. And I’ll probably bring up the fact that the website says $59.99. (Trust me. I totally get the fact that “Starting At” is their way out of such silly things, but it’s always worth a try.)
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It’s interesting having three cats again.
Back in the day, the basement was such a disaster, what with the evil rat-mutt defecating everywhere, that I never really paid attention to the fact that I can fill a Target bag half-full with poo in two days time. Either these cats have extremely active bowels, I give them much more food and water than the other cats, it’s winter so they’re not using the world as their litter box, or I’ve actually grown to the point that I’ve realized there Is something I can do to keep my entire house from smelling like I have three cats. Amazing how you can find time to take care of things like that when you aren’t trying to take care of two small urchins. Crazy, dat.
However, again I must say that when I decide on my own particular brand of ‘old crazy’, I’m pretty much set on the crazy cat lady thing. Watching Mr. Boo’s cat walk around the house with his red shoelace in an effort to engage the kitten in tug of war?
Totally melts my crabby old heart.
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And in other animal tales…Mr. Boo had a sleepover at one of the Soccer Mom’s children’s house on Saturday.
When I picked him up Sunday morning, I find out that one of their four dogs has bitten Mr. Boo in the leg. The same damn dog that bit the Bits last summer.
*sigh*
Good friend who has gone through (and is going through) a hell that I can only partially understand at this point.
I try not to freak out about such things and I know that she’s in a pretty precarious situation and was so apologetic.
But geez, girlfriend.
Maybe it’s time to keep that dog locked up when people outside your family are in the house.
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I suppose it’s time to contemplate getting on the treadmill.
I avoided it yesterday under the guise of cleaning the house. Or at least going insane by sweeping, then vacuuming, then Swiffering, then mopping the living room/dining room. (I HATE Swiffers. I appreciate them, but why is mopping my floors with a pad that sucks up water and dirt and then continues to spread it all over the floor any better than using a mop that you can at least rinse out all of the dirt water from??) I keep looking at those steam cleaners and that new Mint(?) Roomba-like thingy. But we have hundred year old floors and I’m worried about all the comments on ‘unsealed wood floors’. (Although the fact that I’m spraying solution on the floors doesn’t exactly seem like it’s that much different than putting steam on them.)
And I dusted. And I managed to clean the stove top. And brush my teeth. (Albeit at 4:30.)
I think all of that gives me a pass on the workout. (Um. It does take five hours to do all of that, right? In between Skyping with the Mom from Buenos Aries and the occasional Cubis break.)
Oh, and a shower, too.
Motivation is an interesting thing.
ak
