At least it’s something

If you don’t update more than once a month or so, does anyone manage to come back and figure out that you have updated (granted, that only applies to the six people that were reading this on a consistent basis anyway, but still) or do you just get the random bypassers who happen to be reading random posts at the time you hit publish?

Not exactly a question for the ages, but still something to type.

*****

Hmm.  Haven’t posted since the beginning of school.  That seems like forever ago.

Of course, all’s well that ends well and all it took was one day of screaming and physical restrainment by the second grade teacher down the hall (and the follow-up email to the teacher to mkae sure that my child wasn’t sedated down in the nurses’ office.  Hello???  Given the situation, is it so hard to have someone follow up and let me know that things are fine???) and the Bits was just fine being dropped off.

Took a couple more weeks of me walking her to her class, but now that we are in the midst of imminent (and premature) winter and doing the dump and run from the car castle, she’s just fine.

And all I have to do is figure out what the school needs to do to motivate her and attend to her needs.  (Mr. Boo, too.  Although not nearly at the level of the conference survey from the Bits’ class.)  Seriously, I Hate these things.  You’re the ones that see my child on a daily basis.  You’re the ones that can see what she’s excelling in and what her interests are.  Me telling you that she colors well (since her response of ‘doing somersaults under water’ didn’t exactly answer the question specific to school of “What do you do well?”) isn’t really going to let me know that You see that she has a propensity to write her Chinese characters quite well.

Can’t we fill these out During the conference, after you tell me how she’s doing and we agree as to what it may be important to work on?

Because if you ask Me, I want her to be able to read, write, think logically, know who wrote the Declaration of Independence and not be a Mean Girl.  Isn’t that the purpose of our public schools and why should the fact that I want her to learn Chinese negate the fact that first and foremost, she needs to know how to read, write and do arithmetic?

Wow.

Totally didn’t see That direction coming.

*****

Work is a bit frightening again.

We’re all assuming that the lights will go out shortly, but we keep getting the ‘we’ll have an answer tomorrow’ response.  Which, to me, brings along false hope.  But I guess that limping along is better than coming in to a locked door.

However, it’s a lot more stressful this time around.

*****

I am back on the min-workout train (um, except this morning, of course.  Was exceptionally tired, heard strong winds that made me think cold, and am somewhat frustrated that I have gained almost eight pounds since I came back to working full-time, hrmpf.) and am somewhat concerned that old age is finally catching up with me, since I haven’t been able to graduate to running, I feel really weak and I haven’t been able to get my flexibility back, either.

I’m doing my best to take it slowly.  Yesterday, I only walked for half the time and spent the remainder stretching and lifting my ten pound weight.

I’m pretty sure that I don’t like this whole getting old thing.  Must work to combat.

All I’m sayin’.

*****

I think this is why there are no more updates.  There’s just so much stuff running through my head that ends up getting sifted and censored and that then just makes me tired and moves me outside the realm of typing anything and everything that enters my mind.

I can’t decide if that’s a loss or not.

*****

And also, even though the amount of work to do is getting smaller and smaller, I still have an issue of sitting here and typing out a couple hundred words with folks around me wondering what I could possibly be working on that includes that much typing.  Guilt is such a motivator.

So, I’ve managed to fritter away the morning with this and chatting with Blonde-woman and Mrs. Bossie-poo about the state of drinking at universities and the state of our public education system and I suppose that means it’s time for lunch. 

I’m ready for some more rain…

ak

Me and my separation anxiety

Oh heavens, am I in trouble.

I have created a monster in my daughter by not dumping and running when dropping her off at kindergarten.

I will definitely take the responsibility, however, I am putting some of the onus on the teacher and school, too.

Day one went swimmingly.  Day two went swimmingly.  (Until I heard from another mom at church on Sunday that the Bits had cried.  Um.  Oh.  Thanks for Someone letting me know.)

Monday?  Not so much.   I ended up taking her to the school nurse’s office at the direction of the teacher a half hour into the school day..  Yesterday?  Snuck out at 8:20 after telling her I was going to talk to Mr. Boo and would be right back.  Don’t judge…you would have, too.

So, here’s the deal.

It’s Chinese.  And the big, fat, hairy deal about the teacher we Wanted is coming to fruition.

I know that I need to drop off and bolt.  This is not a problem.  I have no issues letting other people handle my problems.

However, this teacher is not doing much to help me out.  Not doing much more than trying to direct the Bits with what she needs to do.  Not trying to ‘take her away’ from me.  Not trying to make sure she won’t cling to me.

And because I know my Bits, (or think I do), I can say that this is what needs to be done.

 Because, as I explained to the co-workers yesterday, I am not about to leave my child, who does Not want to be there, in a room with a teacher who won’t be able to stop her from leaving.

“What makes you think she’ll leave?” asks the Blonde Friend.

Well….TODAY.

I try to do the same thing I did yesterday and sneak out when I have her engaged at group time.

And I make it around the corner, down the hall and had opened the door to the outside when I hear something behind me, and there is the Bits, running down the hallway after me, crying hysterically.  The teacher is following her, but stops when she sees me.

And here is the issue.

What happens when I am not there?  The teacher cannot leave her class alone, right?  So WHO is going to stop my child from not only running down the hall, but running Right Out Of The School?  (The Blonde Friend asks “What makes you think she’ll run out of the building?”  To which I, the Ba AND the counselor all agree…Yep.  She’s a smart girl.  Who doesn’t want to be in school.  If she sees a door and it will take her Out of the school, she’s Out.  Do I know this?  No.  But given that she ran out of the classroom and no one could stop her, I’m fairly confident in making this statement.)

So, my dilemma.

I can’t get the teacher to take her under her wing (as there are four other children who sit at their desks and Sob when they are dropped off.), nor can I guarantee that she will keep an eye on her once I leave.  I take her to the school nurse who, for whatever reason, wasn’t nearly as accomodating today in taking the Bits away from me (am I really that much of a Mama Bear in people thinking I don’t want them to take my child?  Take her!!! Let me leave!!!) and it took them an additional ten minutes before they called the counselor to help.

We have the principal, who informed me that the Bits is fine once I leave.  We have the counselor who told me that actually, she had to come get the Bits yesterday afternoon.  We have a 2nd grade teacher who kindly offered to help with the drop-off…”Come see me when you’re done.”  I thought I was going to be severly reprimanded, which I kind of was, but I have made it very clear to these people that I am totally willing to dump and run as long as they are going to make sure that my child isn’t wandering around the village at 10am trying to find her way home.  He said that he would be happy to help.  As will the counselor, if she continues with this behavior.

Which I won’t know.

Because the Ba is officially in charge of drop-off for the immediate future.

We’re hoping that this will nip this thing in the bud.

In the meantime, I will be trying to sort out whether to take the full responsibility or whether to put the blame on everyone else but me.

ak

The day before I have to go back to work

The minutes are ticking down until I am done with my very long vacation and my very long part-time status at work.

Last week I didn’t want a vacation.

Today, I am close to weepy that I have to go back to work.

It took a full two weeks for me to finally get that place out of my hair.

And now that it’s shiny and full of body, I’m not quite ready for all the split ends to return.

*sigh*

*****

I have been very busy over the long holiday weekend and first week of school.

We tackled The Fair on Friday.  By first dropping The Ba off in St. Paul, sitting and playing Uno in the car whilst watching to see whether we needed to feed the meter and then got the call from The Ba that although he thought he’d be able to sneak out quickly, alas, this was not to be so he would cab it and meet us at The Fair.

And, to make a long story short….This

is where my alternator gave out and I managed to pull over to the side of the road by coasting after driving for I don’t know how far freaking out at the bells and whistles going off in the car castle and Mr. Boo trying to calm me down and tell me everything was going to be ok.

So, after being suckered by the tow truck driver with a 10% discount on parts and labor ploy (and telling me they’d come pick us up from The Fair…in My Car), we added an overpriced alternator to the debt load which now includes a nifty kitchen and new appliances.

I finally got over the panic attack sometime Saturday afternoon.  (Seriously.  Other than a drink of the urchins’ all-you-can-drink milk, I had NOTHING at The Fair.  NO. THING.  Yes, I am bat-shit, thankyouverymuch.)

The rest of the weekend was spent with some of our best white trash friends at the Island (although Mr. Boo finally got to be buddies with a boy in a boat we have often parked by for the past couple of years.  That was fun.) and Sunday hob-nobbing at the Lafayette Club for the Makes The Fair Seem Cheap Labor Day firework celebration.

I have obviously been out of the social scene for way too long, because as much as I hate the proliferation of white trash at the Island, I am vastly more uncomfortable around Rich People.  (I’m going to capitalize that, because the interesting thing about Rich People is that it’s sometimes hard to tell people who have a ton of money from the people who try to Show that they have a lot of money.)

But they are very, very different worlds, that “I can buy a boat” crowd and the “Me and my Very Expensive Shoes and Very Expensive Handbag and Very Expensive White Outfit and Perfectly Dressed in White Perfect Children Scoff at your Silly Little 40ft cigarette boat” crowd.

It was an amazing show, but I am so very uncomfortable around Those People, even as I am jealous, as I would not necessarily like to Be Those People, but just be more Comfortable around Those People.

/shrug.

(I’m quite sure that Logic will have something to slap me upside the head with about that one.)

*****

What else?

Mr. Boo started school.  And both he and the Bits seem happy about it.  Which, of course, makes me happy.

The Bits starts tomorrow and is quite excited, so that is all good.

I emailed a friend of mine who is an elementary school principal and she confirmed that the whole ‘placement’ thing is a Huge undertaking and it does come down to individual students And the parents And the teachers and how all of them interact.  So until I hear from the principal (or address it with his teacher at his first conference), I’m not going to sweat it.  (Although he is in a cluster of desks with two girls, so I do believe that he has been tagged as ‘keep him away from other boys that he will fight/fool around with’.  ahem.)

*****

And The Bits started dance last night.

And love, love, LOVES it.

So far, she’s not the most talented dancer I’ve ever seen.

But I’m so happy that she’s excited about it.

Remind me of that when the bill comes in for the recital outfits.

Good thing soccer clinics start Saturday. 

*****

I think that’s it.

I needed to document how really quite sad I am to be going back to work.

As my Blonde Friend informed me on her way back from Florida, have a glass of wine and just deal with it.

A good point.

I’m sure that in a week or so, I’ll have totally forgotten what it was like to take six months and only work three days a week and I won’t have to worry about two weeks off again for a year.  (Unless I get sneaky and jump on the Christmas holiday bandwagon…we’ll see…)

There are some decent opportunities on the horizon, which may or may not subsidize the whole company, but at least it’s new business and that’s certainly better than what we’ve been dealing with so far this year.

Pay some bills and maybe in a couple years I can go back to the life of a country club wife (as the Ba has deemed me the past couple weeks.  I told him I’d gladly trade places and he can do all the urchin and house crap.)

But in the meantime, it’s time to finish straightening up the house, put the dishes away and decide whether it’s gumbo or jambalaya.

ak

A damn expensive pot of coffee

So.

The weekend went along and we busted out the last few things that needed to be done…hanging the hooks for the urchins coats and backpacks, hanging stuff in the kitchen, caulking the tub.  (FINALLY.)

And Saturday night came and I talked the Ba out of spending a gabillion dollars on Famous Dave’s and he brought home pasta and proceeded to heat up every burner and the oven.  And there was the smell of something burning (which there often is in a home with two children and two cats, one of whom has, in the past, used the stove as a way of Telling. Us.  Telling us What, I’ve never figured out, but there’s nothing quite like heating up a stove before you realize that a cat has decided to Tell You Something.)

And it didn’t seem like any big deal, but the next thing I know, the Ba is telling me that Nothing is working.

No burners.  No oven.  Nothing.

And I am trying to come to terms with what could possibly have happened and how, after spending twice what I had planned on a refrigerator I wasn’t planning on buying in the first place, I was going to rationalize a new stove.  Which we wanted and kind of needed (seeing as how we went basement cheap on a Roper–ever heard of a Roper???  Generic Maytag.  Uh-huh. before the urchins were born) because it looked kind of silly with all the new stuff.

So I go online and figure what I can allow us to spend without losing my mind and we prepare to head back to Sears for another appliance purchase.

And Sunday, we pack everyone in and head back to Sears and find the same salesman (whom I have decided I love and if you ever need an appliance, let me know and I will tell you his name because he is Awesome.  He lets you upsell yourself!  ahem.) and only spend about $400 more than I had planned, but got a really nice gas, self-cleaning oven, warming drawer, bells and whistles model.

And then, we had to have a gas line run from the basement (seeing as how we had an electric stove) and I began to lament whether this was the wisest idea, spending additional money that we really don’t have.  But the salesman and the Ba figured it would be a couple hundred dollars and, silly me, I knew better, but tried to believe them in order to not hyperventilate at our ‘cheap’ facelift on the kitchen.

Yet I forgot the rest of Saturday.

We stopped to get food to grill (so we didn’t have to have sandwiches) and head back to the car castle and….it wouldn’t start.  SERIOUSLY???

We called everyone in the family, got no one and ended up having to call a cab to take us home.

But!

The Ba asked the cab driver if he knew anything about cars and he said, “A little,” and proceeded to tell us about some radio program he had listened to and that our problem could be as easy as needing a new battery.

And I talked the Ba into trying to avoid a tow and repair job and running out to get a new battery which he did right as the auto parts store was closing and he proceeded to finish “The Most White Trash Day Ever” (as he called it, heh) by heading back to SuperTarget and replacing the battery.

And I must have prayed hard enough because…It. Worked.

So other than the $400-more-than-I-had-planned (on a not-at-all-planned) refrigerator and the $300-more-than-I-had-planned (on a number I had hoped against anyway) gas hookup, I now have the most fabulous kitchen that I could imagine (for less than $50K, of course).

And it’s all because of This:

As the delivery guys were taking out the old stove (and I am holding the door open for them) I hear one of them say, “Hey there’s liquid coming out of this.”

Huh?

“Never seen that before.”

Huh?

So they bring it past me and I hear the stove Sloshing.  And as they take it down the stairs, there is stuff pouring out of it.

And then it hits me.

Before I went down to Mizzou-rah land for my high school reunion, I made a Huge pot of coffee.  (For us.  It was about ten cups.)  And occasionally, but not recently, the coffee pot goes haywire and the coffee does not drain into the carafe, but all over the counter.  I came back to find about a cup of coffee on the counter and freaked out because I had made so much coffee.  And there was so little on the counter.

So I moved the stove, expecting to find a huge pool on the floor.  But found…Nothing.  Not even a drip down the side of the wall in between the cabinets and the stove.  So I pushed the stove back in, cleaned up the coffee on the counter and that was that.

Except, apparently Somehow, this eight or so cups of coffee managed to seep into my stove and we were extremely lucky that the thing didn’t catch on fire or electrocute us, or Whatever.  But that must have somehow been the smell that we smelled.  And I will continue to tell myself that by the time we paid someone to fix the wiring or elements or whatever it was going to take, it would have made more sense to buy a new one to replace this old, cheap one anyway.

But I still have No idea How this coffee got into this stove, nor Where the hell is Was.  I lifted up the top and looked at the area underneath the heating coils and it looked dry.  There didn’t seem to be any sign of evaporated liquid.  And, although I don’t know if we had used the oven since then, there was Nothing in the storage drawer underneath the oven.  So where the Hell Was all that liquid???

And that, my friends, is what happens when you have a damn expensive pot of coffee.  (But a very enjoyable kitchen.)

ak

At least one urchin available to a good home

I am absolutely going to lose my shit with my son.

He is being absolutely horrid as of late, talking back, being snotty, disrespectful and generally obnoxious…  And I feel like it’s too late to do anything about it, as it seems the behavior is second nature.

I have spent the last 24 hours yelling, turning off the tv and taking him to his room for time-outs.  (Except it’s more like a mini grounding, as time-outs have never seemed to work with him.

Part of the issue is that I’m trying to get too much stuff accomplished (including just relaxing, bad me) to spend time and/or direct activities.

But I really do think that they need to learn how to amuse themselves with something Other than the tv.

Which the Bits does know how to do, and generally does.  But Mr. Boo seems to have a bit more trouble finding things other than the tv to keep him occupied for any period of time.  Again, my bad and I really must do a better job of trying to get him focused.

It just makes me really cranky that I can’t sit around and do nothing. 

****

This is the kind of day I really dislike.

Started out raining.  Then sun.  Then clouds.  Then totally cloudy.  Now it’s sunny again.

I’m not very good at constantly changing weather.

Maybe because it’s just not a good beach day.  However, it would be a pretty good day to attack the last weeding of the season.

Except, again.  This puts a big ol’ monkey wrench in my ‘do nothing’ day.

*****

So, yesterday.

Target.  With me trying yet again to get across to my evil children that stores are Not a place for them to run rampant, fight, and generally act crazy, thus causing their mother to get thrown in jail for child abuse.  That was fun!

Bought yet another little storage cabinet for the den to try to attempt ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’.  The Ba informed me it’s a problem to get more storage and have it be entirely full with stuff.  At least we now have all the coloring books, crayons, markers and computer cords behind closed doors And a cubby for lunch boxes and winter gear.

It’s cheap stuff and doesn’t all match, but for minimal money, what does one want?

After putting the cabinet together, putting as much stuff away as I could and doing a ridiculous amount of dishes, we took Mr. Boo to a birthday party and then the Bits and I came home to find The Princess Bride. (Shout-out, Lap!)  She really liked it (DUH.) and was upset we had to leave in the middle of it to go pick up Mr. Boo.  (Just as I had anticipated.)

But the Ba came home as we were leaving, so we all went to pick up Mr. Boo together and then ended up at the little Mexican place in Chanhassen for dinner and when we got home, bikes were procured to go watch softball.  Except it was concert night at the commons and so instead, we went and partook in the big dance-fest that went along with the reggae/carnivale band that was playing (and lamenting the fact that so few people we up dancing…hello?  The average age is 65 and they’re used to big band and orchestral music.  This is a bit hard for them and their wheelchairs to handle.)  I was a sweating mess, but it was a ton of fun watching the Bits wiggle her hips and Mr. Boo ride his bike like a madman around the Commons.

Then we headed back home and watched the end of Mannequin 2.

Seriously.

I didn’t realize the early 90’s were still so entrenched in the bad late ’80’s.

What an ugly time capsule That little movie is.

And now, the fighting has stopped for a brief moment as we play Littlest Pet Shop and I can contemplate whether to work on school supplies or weeding or cleaning the grout around the tub so the Ba can recaulk it (mold behind be damned!), or if I should just sit and play Cubis until the guilt becomes overwhelming. 

Much more my style.

*****

I’m still ready for a good old fashioned rain day.  Those are still my best lazy days.  When there’s a hint of sun, I still get the overwhelming feeling I should be Doing stuff.

Like outside stuff…park, beach, Arboretum (which got a big thumbs down from the urchins, and Really, since when do I care what They want to do??), something Other than just sitting inside.

But again, at least the tv is off and that is a start to the day that I will continue to enforce for as long as I possibly can.

*****

And on that note, it’s time to at least contemplate some more the things that I Should be doing and figure out if I can dig deep to find the motivation to actually Do some of them.

Plenty of daylight ahead…

ak

Heading for fall

Wow.

You know you’ve been gone too long when they change the entire look of the site since you were here last.

Well, not that that couldn’t have been done yesterday (or this morning), but between that and the cobwebs, I know it’s been a while.

I’ve had fairly good intentions, as well as a ton of stuff to drivel on about.

But when it gets right down to it, I guess that Cubis and general malaise tend to win.  Bummer, that.

So.

The summer, she is basically over.

And we did…Nothing.

I had Thursdays and Fridays off the entire summer.  And hated most every minute of it.

Which isn’t exactly true, but with all that time to Do Stuff…we didn’t do much of anything.

The weather wasn’t always cooperative.  There were groceries to be purchased, the house to be cleaned, work to be checked on.  (Seriously.  Not much happens on Thursdays and Fridays when I’m actually working, but I swear a ton of stuff has popped up on those two days since I’ve had them off.  Sheesh.)

Because of the generosity and general coolness of tptb, I get to go back up to full time (at 20% less salary, which is more than the part-time, 50% less salary I have been dealing with since February) beginning Sept. 10.  There’s a basic heaping of sarcasm there, just in case you didn’t catch it.

I’ve actually made my peace with the full-time thing, as I haven’t been the Super-Mom that I was hoping for…teaching more math and reading and going to museums and general Make My Children Brilliant behaviors.  You shouldn’t be surprised.

However, I am pissed that after telling tptb that I really would prefer to keep my ’school hours’ part-time status for the school year and having them say they’d get back to me and knowing full well that they wouldn’t and so I made my own decision that it makes more sense to work 40 hours a week at 20% less than full salary as opposed to 30 hours a week at 50% less than full salary….Whatever.

Thankfully, even though there isn’t enough business to keep the company afloat, there are some opportunities for the beginning of next year that make me think that this little cockroach may just continue crawling along.

Lord knows I can’t get myself to actually look for something else, knowing I’d have to start all over again and may or may not be able to do the leaving for school stuff that I do now.  (And God forbid that I’d actually Try, in order to find out if I could negotiate for something like that.  Damn old dog.)

So, I have the next however many days it is until September 10th (it just seems like a Really Long Time) to go to the Fair and…that’s about all I can come up with.  I need to clean the house and maybe get some stuff ready to actually take Out of the house  (darned cousin who is pregnant and won’t find out the sex of the baby so I can purge the rest, hrmpf.)

I’ve signed the kids up for fall soccer clinics, the Bits for dance and need to check out karate for Mr. Boo.  So we can try to get some discipline into that little body.  So I can stop screaming at him.  And beating him.  Ahem.

School starts after Labor Day here in the Nortland, so all of you crazy southern folks who have a month under your belts already can just shake your heads as I give the ‘back-to-school’ updates.

Out of Mr. Boo’s class last year, there are now three other kids from his class that will be in his new class.  That means that there are ten from the old class who will all be together.  (And a few who haven’t weighed in yet.)  I’m somewhat concerned about this, but only because I’m in the ‘there are only four from the old class’ class.  What’s the criteria?  Wouldn’t it make more sense, if you weren’t going to keep the entire class together, to split if more evenly?  Is my child a problem child?  Or is he so well-adjusted, or smart, or great at Chinese that he can emotionally handle being separated like that?

I haven’t told him the class mix-up.  I figure that will happen at this afternoon’s b-day party, when a bunch of his friends are together.  And then I’ll have to come up with some good spin so he doesn’t get upset.

In other news, I had fired off an email to the principal a month or so ago requesting that the Bits get Mr. Boo’s teacher from last year, as we love her so.  The principal came back saying that shouldn’t be a problem, as they hadn’t done class lists for kindergarten yet.

Except when the teacher selection showed up last weekend, the Bits got the other teacher.

If I send you an email, this gives you the opportunity to be elusive.  If you have no intention of agreeing to my request, you can either say so, or be politically correct and tell me that you can’t guarantee anything, but will do your best.

So.  Is the principal evil?  Was it an oversight?  Does the teacher, who I thought we had a great rapport with, actually Dislike our family?  Am I paranoid?  ahem.

The Bits, in a surprise move, adamantly declared that she did NOT want Mr. Boo’s teacher when I asked her if it would be ok if she did not get Mr. Boo’s teacher. Hmmm.  And a little friend from Sunday School will be in her class with her.

So.

I assume that the lake area is pretty intent on keeping their high status for education and wouldn’t hire crappy teachers and that it would be great for the Bits to have a teacher that she ‘knew’ and was wonderful but wouldn’t get to communicate with her until December, as she won’t be able to understand a darned word she says, OR, she can have a friend that she knows in a very unknown situation who she Can understand and deal with.

I’m not rocking the boat.  /shrug.

*****

The Ba finally managed to finish (with some hired help…recession?  What stinkin’ recession??) the kitchen while I went to my 25th high school reunion.  It’s so fabulous that I don’t even know what to do, other than spend time keeping it somewhat clean.

It’s no high-falutin’ remodel deal, but some new paint and hardware and flooring and a new refrigerator (which makes the non-replaced countertops and stove look horrid), but it’s no longer crappy looking.  And that makes it awesome.

And even though deep down I miss the evil rat-mutt, I am So happy to not have the evil rat-mutt…  No more cleaning up pee and poo, I can go for over a week without mopping and my house doesn’t look embarrassing, and we don’t have to get bowled over when we race home to let the dog out.

I’m still on my five year plan for no dog and quite honestly, I can probably go for the rest of my life without a dog.  Cats are perfectly fine.

*****

What else?

That’s probably enough for now.

I still have this issue with updating from work, but with full-time status and not-so-much full-time workload, maybe we can figure something out.

But in the meantime, we’ll see if we can’t try to check in before we get all muddled up in the fall schedule.

We’ll see…

ak

Do I really have to Do Something?

It’s Thursday again, which means that I am currently sitting here, frying bacon for peanut butter and bacon sammiches (yay, heart disease!) and watching the clouds dissipate, which means that instead of sitting around all day in my jammies, I may actually have to Do. Something.

Damn sunny days.

I seriously need to move to Seattle.  I Love cloudy days.  Love. Them.

Because I don’t feel the need to go out and Do Things To Enjoy The Weather.

I never said I was anything remotely like sane.

*****

My summer officially starts tomorrow.

Well, actually Sunday, as we have the last soccer blitz on Saturday, but the last soccer game of the actual season is tonight.

I have no idea what I’m going to do with myself now.

Remember all the craziness I talked about in May and how I didn’t know how I was going to survive?

Huh.

I survived.  (And am Stronger, dammit!)  oi.

But now that I have Nothing on the calendar, I’m trying to figure out what I will do with myself and the urchins.

Hopefully force them to bed again at 8:00.

The Bits had a royal melt-down every day this week at school.  Including yesterday, when I had to accompany her to breakfast so she wouldn’t explode into a massive fountain of tears.  I know that I should have bolted immediately, but I’m not used to this behavior and it’s really the first time she’s done it and I really didn’t want to get to work, anyway.

So I’m blaming it on the ‘I’m not tired!!!’ and us actually letting her stay up past 9:00 every night, combined with soccer and fireworks and on and on.

Sleep is good for the children, boys and girls.

*****

The Pyrotechnic Extravaganza was another success.

With the exception of seven people who had told us they were coming not showing up and another six-to-nine who I tried to force into showing up to eat all the extra food not showing up either.  Luckily, a number of teenagers ended up bringing friends so we did fairly well.

But there is so much crap leftover, I have no idea what to do.  (Except crazily offering to have the end-of-the-year soccer party at our house in order to get rid of the hot dogs and beverages.  Really??)

There were over fifty people at the party.  There were 36 buns in a bag from Sam’s.  So of course, you can’t just get one.

Except we didn’t even go through one full bag of buns.

REALLY?

People don’t eat side dishes or buns anymore, apparently.

And so many people drink so many different things that I may also give up on buying beer, seeing as how I only bought two cases and I’m fairly certain we have a case and a half left.

It’s all just really odd to me and I have no idea how to plan this thing any more.

I just hope that if we do have the soccer party at my house, I can keep myself from going out for ’supplemental fill-ins’.  Which will, of course, defeat the whole purpose for us hosting in the first place.

*****

What else do I have?

The job is winding down and I’m not quite sure how we are going to survive much longer.

The Mentor is out on her normal two-week vacation and will be back next week, so I’m going to have to have a talk to find out if I’m still expected to go back to full time in September.

My bigger concern is whether I will have a job at that point, not exactly whether I will be working 8-2.

But whatever.

I’m going to let Logic get that whole new career thing figured out so I can copy her and we’ll Twitter all day about our transcribing processes.

*****

I desperately need more coffee, but I don’t see any reason to make a new pot for the one cup that I’ll probably end up drinking.

Decisions on days off are Very difficult.

*****
I suppose it’s time to get Mr. Boo started on the thank you notes for birthday presents and then figure out whether to go to the beach. 

It’s pretty cool today, so I’d really rather go to the Arboretum, but that also seems like a lot of work.

I told you about those decisions…

ak

Avoidance and procrastination R Me

I am very effectively putting off all the things I need to do today.

Luckily(?!) I was awakened before 5am this morning and could not manage to go back to sleep.

Luckily, it’s Still cloudy, which erases all need to ‘not’ get things accomplished in order to ‘enjoy the weather’.

And, Luckily, it’s only 8-ish am, so the day is still ahead of me.

Kind of.

*****

I need to get my world ready for The Pyrotechnic Extravaganza that is a mere two days away.

Which includes, but is more than likely not limited to the following:

CLEAN.  The house is, as per normal, a disaster.  I learned last year that there’s really no need to clean deeply, as most people are only in my house to use the bathroom.  However, there is clutter and a month’s worth of dust and just general disaray of having two urchins.  So there should be dusting, straightening and really, an honest attempt to pawn off old toys and clothes on the Toy-Girls, who have a new baby girl to bring to the party (and make sense of pawning off of more toys).

REFRIGERATOR. I have managed to buy a ton of fruit and crap for urchins’ lunches.  However, my refrigerator is oddly Full and cluttered.  Which is a problem because…

SHOP.  Food and beverages are needed for the aforementioned Pyrotechnic Extravaganza party.  And I really thought today was a good day to shop to avoid what I am thinking will be crowds tomorrow, given it’s a ‘holiday’ for most.  Except that means my full and cluttered refrigerator will in no way hold all the food that will need to be stored for two days.  And will the Sam’s bulk fruit not go crazy-fuzzy if stored for two days????  ARGH.

Um.

Not that these aren’t monumental things that need to be taken care of but is that it?  Is that All I’m avoiding???

I do need to weed the garden.  Not that I have more than three ‘real’ plants, but people don’t need to be reminded that weeds are not exactly what I am trying to grow in my garden.  Luckily, I managed to attack the pasta (hosta to those of you unfamiliar folks) garden in the front last weekend and it will be sufficient for our purposes this weekend.

Other than the whole shopping/how am I going to fit stuff in this house issue, it’s the cleaning that is probably my biggest bane, but if I can somehow get The Mom to help me motivate the urchins to help, we really could bust through this relatively painlessly.

We’ll see how that goes, as I’m sure that as soon as I get myself up and running, the sun will come out and the beach will call.

It’s so not easy, boys and girls.

*****

My house is somewhat cleaner due to the lack of an un-taken-care-of-via-brushing evil rat-mutt.

The whole thing was so horrid and I am truly the worst mom Ever.

From the date, you can see that I couldn’t bear to put him down last Thursday, either and he received his last pardon.  We really had every intention of probably putting him down this week, but when he is able to come out and try to steal food from the bbq, one puts out of one’s mind the issues that are going on invisibly inside.

Friday night, he was a bit erratic, but as I said, he was out going from person to person on the patio looking for food.

Saturday, he couldn’t stand up.

*sigh*

His front legs worked, but his back legs wouldn’t hold him, no matter how we tried to stand him up.  Don’t know if he had a stroke, or what.

By that evening, things were not good.

By 10:00 things were Bad.  His breathing was very labored and very fast.

By 11:15-ish, the Ba came in and woke me up and showed me how he was convulsing and really couldn’t get air.  He wondered if we should take him to urgent care, but the thought of a couple hundred dollar bill IF we could get him there in time worried me as much as ‘WHY didn’t I just do this Thursday???’

I went back to bed and right before midnight I heard a yelp and ran out to be with him for his last few minutes.

There’s a very small part of me that is glad he was at home, rather than taken to a very sterile room and injected with something.

The rest of me is so sad that I didn’t have the strength to end his life before he had to go through whatever it was that he went through.  The whole point was to Avoid that, and even though I hope and hope and hope that it wasn’t painful or horrible for him…

I skipped church Sunday and the Ba dug a grave in the side woods before anyone could see us and give us any slack for what we were doing.  I had no problem watching my dad be buried (although I guess I didn’t actually watch the dirt being put over the casket, but it still seems very different to me.  Why, I wonder?), but it was hard for me to put the evil rat-mutt in a hole and watch the Ba put the dirt back over him.  It’s still hard for me to walk by, but the Ba did put a ‘headstone’ there and that helps for some unknown reason.

It’s so odd the feelings, given that I never took the best care of him, and yet all the early years of running and going to the beach and all the later years of cleaning up countless accidents makes me think that maybe I did like him more than I thought of him as a big ol’ pain in my butt.

We spent Sunday hearing dogs barking and stopping ourselves from yelling at him to hush and looking around with the ‘Oh, crap! He’s gone again…did he wander off/is he eating garbage/pooping in the neighbors’ yards/being picked up by the police?”

I still get home, expecting him to bowl over the urchins to go to the bathroom when we get home, or thinking we need to get home from wherever so we can let him out.

Darned evil rat-mutt.

*****

So.

It’s now mid-8-ish, so I suppose it’s Time.

Must get as much accomplished as possible, as I am camping out with Logic and Lap tonight.

I’m not sure how long the ‘has this strip mall restaurant really been there for 20 years and we’re just now going to it’ is open, but I have the feeling that we’ll be closing the joint.

Or finding someplace to continue once it closes and we’re not done.

Hurrah for friends!

ak

R. I. P.

Bogart

aka  Bogie

aka  Evil Rat-Mutt

aka  Evil Rat-Dog

aka  Booger-Stink

aka  Stinkerdoodle

aka  Stinky

December 14, 1997 – Midnight, June 27, 2009

Hot Hot Hot!

The heat index is going to be 105 today.

We broke down and turned on the air last night.

And then watched the urchins run through the sprinkler.

And then went to the beach.

There’s something oddly decadent about going to the beach at 7:45pm on a weeknight.

And stoopid, as the urchins have been staying up Way too late this summer and the Bits, especially, has a heck of a time getting up in the morning, so we have cranky kids at night and cranky kids in the morning.  Hurrah.

But tell me if we don’t have the wrong situation:  The urchins are in the summer program through the school system.  Last week was the first week and they had a dance party/ice cream social last Wednesday.  Yesterday, Mr. Boo had Chinese Club.  (For an extra fee.)  Today?  They get to go to the beach.  (Bussed.  Because it’s so hot.  Um.  Ok.  And the Bits is sad, as she’s not old enough to go to the beach, but they do get sprinklers and the like at school.)  And they have art class today.  (For an extra fee.)  Tomorrow?  Piano lessons.  (Mr. Boo’s in Chinese.  And for an extra fee.)  And?  Ice cream.  Which will be a weekly thing that they can bring money from home for, but for tomorrow, will be a treat from the program.  (Like, Really.   What parent is going to NOT give their kids ice cream money when you know Every Other Kid is getting ice cream?  It’s an Evil Plot, people!)

So.  Seriously.

The beach?  Ice cream?  Field trips?

Sign. Me. Up.

*****

I took the evil rat-mutt in to be put to sleep yesterday.

He went blind out of nowhere about two weeks ago.

And yesterday morning, he looked like he had a stroke and I couldn’t bear to have him lay around the house all day and Theen take him in, so I made a 9:30 appointment.

And that damn evil rat-mutt, who wouldn’t even walk past the end of the alley and seemed to be laboring with every breath was so damned excited to be in the car and perky at the vet and God dammit if I couldn’t do it.

But I made an appointment for Thursday morning.

Which I don’t know if I can keep, either.

Took him to the beach with us last night and he went in the water and seemed quite fine.

As I was rescheduling yesterday I asked the receptionist if a lot of people did what I was doing and couldn’t go through with it.

“No, not really.”

Thanks, receptionist-lady.  Make me feel like a total tool.

I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing.  I know that whatever has been eating at him for the past year is really beginning to take its toll, but is he bad enough that I have to put him down?  Is he ready?

Fricken-fracken.

Drives me nuts.

*****

I have not talked about the Bits and her soccer prowess.

Because most of the other kindergarten girls don’t have a soccer background (ie–brothers or sisters who play), she routinely scores at least two goals per game.  And in her very first game, we stopped counting at eight.  A couple games later, the score was 14-4.  And the Bits scored nine.

The players on her team mostly suck.  The coach is a dad who stepped up at the last minute and really hasn’t taught them much of anything.  (Could it be because there are maybe five or six girls who actually show up for practice each week?)  So, now that other girls are figuring out how to play, she’s not learning any new skills to fend them off and isn’t dominating as she was and since she’s not scoring as many goals, she’s not quite as motivated.

Fricken-fracken.

I keep thinking I have to pay my niece to come over and play with her to teach her some more skills.

College isn’t going to pay for itself, people!

*****

So, yes.  My summer is almost over.

Last baseball game was last Saturday.

So now we only have two soccer games and two soccer practices a week.  And nothing on the weekends.

It’s so crazy, I almost don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.

*****

I got the urgent bat-signal request for a girls’ night from one Logic woman, and now I’ve heard Nothing.

Sheesh.

I realize that the whole soccer thing is crazy, but we all know that the urgent bat-signal for a girls’ night trumps All.

Let’s make it happen, people!

ak