Where are you Christmas? Why Can't I Find You?

Every year Christmas gets harder. I feel more like a scrooge every year and I don't know why! Maybe it's the substitute teaching. Right at the time when most people are taking days off to shop and get ready, I am getting called in. Not that I can complain, of course I am glad to have seemingly gotten into the good graces of the new sub caller so quickly. I am working in the morning tomorrow and a half day on Tuesday, which is the last day before the break.

But it's the outside lights, and the decorations, and the shopping - the stores are so crowded!, and everyone wants some money and I feel badly choosing one over another so I try to do as much as I possibly can. I do the giving trees at the Y, and you just never know if the kids liked what they got, the presents might as well have been tossed into the river for all the feedback you get. I don't even know how to know if they legitimately reached their destination.

Then of course there are the garbage men, the newspaper delivery woman, and the cleaning lady. And what about the mailman? You're not supposed to give him anything, but how do you NOT? Anyway, the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow, so that is my first priority right now.

Yesterday we spent the day up in Madison at Brian's meet. The parking situation was awful and the meet was poorly run. We didn't get home until 8, and Megan's friends had left without her for a party she wanted to go to. She had to wait two hours for us to get home to take her. And E's friends had completely forsaken her, but it worked out OK because she stayed in and finished a school project.

Today I am trying to get caught up on laundry, and Brian has a friend over. I am distraught because when I heard him speak, I heard a deep voice! I asked if he was sick, but I don't actually think that's it. I guess it is about time, he was 14 a few weeks ago, but still! He's been Brian's friend since first grade! I can't stand it!

In other news, I am trying to wrap up wrapping, preparations and food shopping for the onslaught of the holiday festivities. This coming week will be hectic, as it turns out, James flies in quite late on Tuesday night, Kevin has to work on Wednesday, and the Doll suggested he pick James up at the airport. This is impossible as we welcome the cousins earlier that day and are invited to a party that evening, but he did agree to pick James up at the shuttle drop at midnight. (!) George?

disclaimer: post not proofread

Stupidity Reigns Supreme

I am stupid. I have always known it, but sometimes my stupidity amazes even me. I wrote before about the cat puke on the xmas card debacle, and how it cost me dearly because I was no longer able to just consolidate my list and send the cards I had to only the important people. Well, as I was straightening up the kitchen, I discovered what I had seen but not registered the other day: the OTHER pack of envelopes. Yes, folks that is correct. I had only addressed half the envelopes before I threw up my hands in despair at my perceived shortfall.

So now I will have 25 cards arriving today (weather permitting) and an additional bunch at home. I did have to cull quite a few because of the puking, but most were salvageable. Yet another expensive lesson on the pitfalls of disorganization.

Anyway, last night I took Brian to a meeting of a local chiari support group. I had met the guy who runs it through a posting I saw online for a fund raising walk back in the fall. I happened to be down there at the start of it, picking Megan up from her beach swim training. I introduced myself and we have become Facebook friends, and I was included in the group. I hesitated to take Brian, because the topics they discuss really don't apply to him: pain, medication, degeneration, etc. We hope that they never will, but at this point I like to be armed with all the information; in case I ever have to make decisions, I want to have all the facts ahead of time, unlike the initial period of diagnosis.

So it was interesting, we sat there for about an hour listening to people talk, all but one were adults and had lots of issues with pain, instability, and doctors who just can't help them anymore. The other child was recently operated on and is doing better but still having some problems. I thought I had made a mistake in bringing Brian, a couple of people were in wheelchairs, and one had a cane. But on the way home, he said that he had learned from it, and he wanted to know some more details about his own condition, such as which vertebrae were involved. I guess he never pays attention when we study the MRIs or when we looked at the model skeleton. So I guess it was a good thing for him after all, and he would like to go back. I think I'll choose selectively, depending on the topic. Obviously kids are going to have different issues than adults.

The 'storm' has just begun. At first it was sleet and ice was sticking to the deck. Now it sounds pretty heavy, like rain. I have to work this afternoon, I wish it had been morning because I start later than my kids go in, but when I work afternoons, they get out before I do and have to get home from the bus stop. It isn't far, just a quarter mile, but I worry when the roads are slippery. They usually manage to find rides, but I don't like them being moochers, as it seems I work more days than not lately. I told them if they want they can stay at school the extra 30-45 minutes and I will get them on my way home. I don't know if we'll get any snow, we're still in the line between snow and rain. The heavy snow is north of us. But slush can be even worse to drive in, while it's coming down.

Anyway, that's about it. In other news, tomorrow Brian has physical therapy in the morning, which he is thoroughly enjoying, I wish I had thought of this years ago. It will be interesting to see if it helps him with strength and flexibility. The balance might be a little more difficult, but as they said, the brain is very good at adapting and learning new tricks, so perhaps they can help him, even if it won't turn him into a big-time sk8r dude. Cats continue to ransack the tree and drink all of its water, which I just try not to think about while I hear the lapping come from under the tree. As I write this, Rusty is working on pulling an ornament off, working from underneath the branches. I also just hung the stockings, I bought one for E but don't have glitter to put her name on it, so I had been putting it off. I finally just gave up and hung them. It was time.

That Darn Cat

The old 'be careful what you wish for' has sort of become a good way to describe my life these days. Since making the phone call requesting the one school and announcing my availability, I have been called nearly every day to work, including the days on which I said I was unavailable. So I worked all day today, then came home to run around some more.

The other day my Christmas cards arrived and I addressed all the envelopes, only to find that I hadn't ordered quite enough! So I left them out on the table while I considered how I should manage this quandary. Wrong thing to do. I came home, went to check the envelopes to see which ones I might be able to skip this year (ie: Kevin's friends heh heh) only to discover all of them sitting in a giant wet hairball yack!!! So several were destroyed, which only solidified the need to order more, only this time at greater expense, because I had to order them with 2-day shipping this time!

And then the phone rang again. I'm being sent to another school (yuck) tomorrow but back to my favorite for Monday morning and a half day on Tuesday. But that's OK because after that there are no more days to be worked for the year! (alas) So that will be a meager paycheck, but at least it will be a paycheck. And Thursday and Friday still remain open, which is likely to change at the rate I'm going anyway.

We finally got our tree trimmed last night but the outside lights sort of look, um, pathetic. I kept missing my warm day opportunities to get things up, then Kevin went and did it, and E asked when we would put the lights on the "bottom of the tree" (hedge). This is because on each of the four hedges, there is one square of netting lights just draped across the top, in a line. A couple of weeks ago, I saw that one of the neighbors had hird a company to hang their outside lights on their house and in their trees. Not a bad idea. Our other issue is power sources. We don't have any that are connected to switches, so they have to be physically plugged and unplugged, and I can tell you that the novelty of that wears off pretty quickly.

In other news, Brian had his second PT session tonight, and then I took him and Megan to the swim team holiday party. They seemed to enjoy themselves, it has turned into a big gift exchange. Megan is having a few days off from practice, she goes back Thursday, to recover from the debacle of this weekend's meet. It's SO easy to get used to not having to run around with her - not that I am able to keep from running around, though, somehow. And E was lucky - the snow caused cancellation of her basketball scrimmage this afternoon. She was probably praying that that would happen when the first flake fell!

Back from the Wet Side

The weekend is over! It was a very mixed bag at the swim meet all weekend, beginning with Friday. Megan didn't really get any best times on Friday, although she did swim the 200 free fairly well and at least got a national qualifying time at night, when her coach let her swim the relay lead-off for an official time. Alas, though, not a personal best time for her. She also swam somewhat surprisingly slower than her time in the 1000.

Saturday was even worse, it seemed. Her coach got confused and almost missed her 500, in fact he missed most of it, and she was already off on such a slow pace, between her mood that day and the fact that she was by far the slowest in the heat, and stuck in an outside lane. She missed that time, too, by seven seconds.

But then I left and she got a best time in the 100 back, and then came home and we relaxed for the afternoon. I took E to the mall to shop for a while, then had Kevin take Brian to a party which turned out to be today instead. I had rushed around to get a gift and bake a quick cake, and then they got there and the hosts were on their way out the door of their dark and empty house! But it was fine, they left the cake and gift there and I got Brian back in time for the party tonight.

Today was quite a bit better at the meet - at least in the beginning. Megan swam the 200 back for a best time by milliseconds, then announced she hadn't really tried. This wasn't a surprise, because she had the 100 free coming up with a good shot of making another qualifying time. Kids were qualifying left and right for nationals, whether because of the new suits, or training, or just luck. So finally she was up, and she became the third on her team to qualify in that event today! Now she has three events for Nationals this year: the 100, 200 and 500 freestyles.

Then she swam the 1650 terribly. I was not too upset about that because that's a grueling race. You sit there and hope for them to do well and then wonder why in the world they are doing this awful race in the first place! But it was odd, we've always thought of her as more of a distance swimmer, but this weekend she definitely performed in direct correlation to the length of the race: the longer it got, the worse she swam it.

Overall it was a good result and she didn't end up having to go back tonight to swim in the relay, somehow something went wrong and her relay was scratched, which was just great for us to hear. Instead, she helped E color her hair!! I was out, and have yet to see the end result.

In other news, I cannot believe the big holiday is just a week plus away. I am not ready, not ready at all. I am working tomorrow but so far have no other days booked for the week. I feel my stomach expanding from all the restaurant food this weekend, and I don't know how I'll even fit into clothes over the holidays! E is struggling with the basketball team at school, not enjoying it so much, but not yet ready to give up, so we'll see how that turns out. Of course, it is easier for me if she doesn't do it, but I also want her to be involved in things with school. That's what the program is supposed to be all about.

The No Power Hour

We lost all our power for over an hour last night! It was weird, we were sitting around and the lights dimmed but came back, then a minute later all went black. E got a text that power was out in the next town to the north, and then Megan texted that they were outside the Y in the next town south. That was huge. It was scary to not know why this was happening, Kevin was on the bus but didn't find anything out either. I put the car radio on because I couldn't find D batteries, but the announcer was just mocking the situation, saying "flesh will become food; homes will become caves; it's neighbor vs. neighbor with a baseball bat" so that wasn't much help. Anyway, then my battery abruptly died and we lost even that.

Eventually we learned that it was just a fire at a huge transformer that caused all the little stations to trip. Ours came back on just as we were pondering the setup of the generator. I took out the chicken I had been planning to cook and found that one of the packs smelled rancid. I had four good pieces, so I cut them up and we all had a smaller portion of food. This morning all is right in the world, except that Megan's practice got cancelled, and rescheduled for tonight, when she won't be able to go. She has to be at school for Spanish Honor Society. We emailed the coach twice last night but haven't heard back. The timing just stinks.

I had to turn down a job for today! I have to get Brian to school now, start a crock pot roast, take Molly for her bath, get the house ready for the cleaner tomorrow, and then pick up Brian at school to get him to the PT evaluation by 3. And somehow find out what time Megan can get to the Y and swim, hopefully before the induction ceremony, since we don't know what time she will get out, but it could be as late as 9.

I have work tomorrow, not the job I thought, I guess she hadn't called it in yet, but at least I have work. Then there will be Friday, when we head up to the big meet. But more to follow on that after the weekend.

In other news, big rain is in the forecast for today. It's already warm like a spring day, and they said it could get up to 70! That will make it hard for me to stay focused. I have so much clutter to get rid of, and I know I will be very easily distracted after being on my feet in uncomfortable shoes all day yesterday. Brian is stalking me to take him to the bus now, so I will cut this short without proofing. Disclaimer.

Back in the Saddle (for now)

My strategy paid off. I called the new sub caller yesterday afternoon, and told her that I can't work Wednesday and Friday but that I am free and would like to work the rest of the week; I also mentioned my fondness for my usual school. She called last night and gave me a morning there and then later in the evening also added an afternoon. It was perfect.

At school, I had two teachers tell me they had requested me and gotten someone else, and three asked if I would work for them this week. This never happens in those random schools they've been sending me to. I had to tell one no, but the others should book me for tomorrow (which she did) and Thursday (still waiting on that one). For some twisted fateful reason, I seem to have bad luck with actually connecting with this sub caller on the phone. But since I keep calling and leaving her messages, I think she is beginning to understand that this is circumstantial and does not correlate with reliability! At least I hope so.

So tomorrow I am doing art class all day. Should be fun. Those classes are always loud and fairly out of control. But the day also goes reasonably quickly. A lot of kids are sick, and a lot of teachers are having to stay home to care for their kids. I'm not even sure if the one I covered this afternoon might have to be out again, she had left because her son was not feeling well today.

I forget if I mentioned Molly and her giant mutton leg hot spot. I finally gave in and took her to the vet the other night because she was trashing her leg so badly. He shaved off a bunch more hair and although she looks ridiculous, she seems to have gotten some relief at last. All she needs now is the bath she is scheduled to have on Wenesday, and she will be set for the holidays!

In other news, we're gearing up for the meet this weekend. Megan continues to cough, but I continue to keep my fingers crossed that it won't progress. The suit is going to make the meet interesting, as any suit that takes half an hour to put on (dry) will do. One of the coaches was mentioning that despite the high price tag, this suit is not the most durable, and it may be wise to have a friend stand at the edge of the pool with a cover-up at the end of each race, you know, just in case. Brian has the orthodontist tomorrow and physical therapy evaluation on Wednesday, although I made the PT appointment for Tuesday, and wrote it on the calendar for Wednesday. They called today to confirm for tomorrow and I felt like the biggest idiot, which I probably am. But more on that another day.

Blog Neglect

Well, I guess I have been neglecting the blog. Things haven't been too exciting, which I suppose is a good thing. School for the kids, work for Kevin, and infrequent and last minute work days for me with this yet another new sub caller. This one has only sent me twice (albeit in one week but they were only half days) to a school that I have been to only three times in seven years, now I have been there three times in a couple of weeks and I miss my old school and the familiarity. I feel like I just take up space at this other one, teachers don't leave me with anything of substance to do, as a sub, and I end up babysitting a bunch of kids who don't always behave.

Swimming chugs along, we're getting ready for the big meet in the special suit on Friday. Megan's cold, or whatever it is, is creeping back day by day, and I'm just hoping it's a new one that will pass by the weekend and not the sinus infection rearing its head again because it wasn't treated long enough the first time. If she is worse by Tuesday I'll take her back in, that's the day the regular doctor is in the office, I think.

Someone mentioned Brian's hand tremor to me the other day and I was particularly sensitive because it was the five year anniversary of that first visit to the neurologist, where we found out that he was going to be tested for strange and mysterious ailments of the brain and spinal cord. So I stopped in at a local physical therapy place to inquire about helping him build some upper body strength, scheduled an evaluation for Wednesday, and later found that insurance will cover him for unlimited sessions, as long as they 'precert' after every five visits. So he's going to to have that done, and hopefully this can help him to put on some muscle. The swimming has helped him a lot with his legs and overall endurance, but he still needs something more for strength and flexibility, and I can't let him lift weights at a gym. His pediatrician wrote out a script for him, so I don't even have to bother the neurologist in between regular visits.

E has stuck with basketball so far, and they had their first scrimmage yesterday, so we went to watch. She has missed a few practices, so she wasn't put in the game for a while, and just as she was about to go in, the ref got involved and we realized she wasn't allowed to go on the court with this little fabric wristband that she never takes off! I knew she would never cut if off to play for 2 minutes in a JV scrimmage, and she sat back down. They have to find some creative way to cover it up in future games. It's her link to home right now, and I'm sure she won't cut it off, which is the only way it can be removed.

In other news, we went to another exchange student party last night, so that was interesting. There were quite a few that we hadn't met before, and their siblings as well. But we got there late, a couple left early, and then it started to snow and we had to leave before the roads got really scary. But we made it home. Also yesterday, we went and had the tree cut down that we had picked out last Sunday in the rain. So that's on the deck now, covered in snow. I don't know when we'll bring it in. Next weekend is going to be hectic with the swim meet. Finally, our school football team lost by one touchdown, even by an interception, in the state finals last night. But it was good for them that they made it there. The other team was 10-0, and they did give it a good run. They have a ways to go to make it back to what they were three or four years ago when they had a bunch of headliner superstars. Maybe next year.

and the Black Cloud lingers...

Sometimes things just don't go my way. This was one of those days. My cell phone was dying so I turned it off last night while I was out, to conserve battery for when I needed it. I turned it on around 8:15, got a call from Brian and went to get him at the Y. When I got home, I found a message from the new sub caller. I called her back, but already two hours had passed, so I wasn't surprised to not hear back. E had texted me, but the text didn't come through until after I got home.

This morning, of course, is when I did get the call. So I accepted a half day assignment teaching health, and then the series of unfortunate events began. First, my schedule was wrong, so I initially appeared in the wrong classroom and had to go find out the correct schedule from the principal.

Immediately upon entering the correct classroom, I was told that I needed to call an extension. I didn't know what this might be, but they said it was the sub caller and she wanted me to go to another school in the afternoon. But I thought E was staying after school, and I had to come home and pick up Megan's swimming things to take to her meet so I could get her over to her Y practice in time. There was no way I could do that if I worked till 3:15 on the opposite end of town, so I had to turn it down. I felt bad, but it just couldn't be helped. I really hate when they ask me to stay an extra half day. I would rather be called at home and asked to come in for an afternoon.

I survived the first class, and went to the next. This was a restless and difficult class, and as is par for the course these days, I made a child cry by writing down his name. These kids are always perfectly happy to act up and annoy ME, but all I have to do is write their name down, and I become the cruelest person in the universe. Anyway, towards the end of this class, again the phone sqauwked for me. They wanted to know if I had called, I guess the sub caller had called the school twice looking for me, but they didn't know where I was, because I was missing. So, I felt even worse.

I managed to get through the rest of the morning with my head pounding, and came home to find that Molly had puked up the fur she ripped off her thigh yesterday. Her hot spot has grown to about an 8" diameter, and she spends all her free time with her red helmet on. I nearly lost it myself while cleaning up this particularly disgusting mess, and now the dog stinks like death. I made her an appointment for next week to be groomed, and put some frontline on her in case she's being bitten by fleas. If I can't get a handle on this, she'll have to go to the vet yet again. My dog is emo, she self-mutilates.

Oh, and so today was the first high school meet of the season, but the other team was just really not good. The only individual event Megan swam was the 200 IM and although one girl thought she had a chance in the butterfly, once the rest of the strokes rolled around that hope went out the window for her. I'm sure we won, but I had to take her out early, as I said before. Then when I got her to the Y, we realized that neither one of us had brought her swim bag, each thinking the other had done it. So I had to drive home and pick it up, again in heavy local traffic.

The only consolation was that, while stuck at the omnipresent railroad blockade, I saw our former landscaper and rip-off artist get pulled over by a state trooper. I'm not sure what he did, but I suspect an illegal turn when the no right turn light was illuminated. :-) The trooper was on my side of the gates, and when they went up, he crossed into the other lane, held up his hand, and made the truck turn into the parking lot where he had his trooper SUV. That's when I realized who it was and felt that small sense of justice that the day provided.

Anyway, in other news, Megan got her PSAT scores and she did pretty well. About average-high I would say. There are three sections now, and she scored highest on the writing, which isn't writing but more of sentence structure. She scored lowest on critical reading skills aka comprehension; no surprise there. haha. Also, 'tis the season. I have taken two tags off the giving trees at the Y and one of them seemed so simple: a dora playhouse. Well, come to find out there is no simple thing, only an $80 doll house! But I felt bad, so I got it and the furniture kit to go inside. To ease the pain, I opened a credit card with amazon to save $30. I hope this little girl will get good use out of it. I have to work a day and a half to pay for her present!

Lazamania

And there it is, folks. The suit you've all been waiting for. With a modest price tag (snort), no doubt, this suit is one for the record books regardless of how well it performs, or those who wear it perform due to its mythical effects. Stay tuned in two weeks, and we'll let you know.

Medieval Times was fun as well, I have to scan in the photos and post those too. There was a lot more pepper on the chicken than I remember from my previous visit, but it was still good. Our knight didn't win the tournament, in fact he was the first one to die trying. I guess he isn't senior enough. He did quite well in the preliminary rounds, and always made it to the winners' circle. He put up a good fight, too, but in the end his sword just wasn't fast enough.

We went today in the pouring rain and tagged a Christmas tree. Someone last year told me about this place, and said they had only paid $25 for theirs, which was beautiful. Of course, it was actually around $50, but that's still half what we've sort of gotten used to paying, and we have to cut it down by December 6, so it will be fresh and hopefully last through New Years this time. Most of the trees were very small or growing too close to other trees to develop a perfect shape, but there were a couple that would work. They did have some precut trees as well, but I wanted to give this a try.

I can't believe that there are now three full weeks of school. That's more than we have had since October with all the holidays and convention days and early dismissals! I can only hope I get some work out of it, but it's hard to say, because the new sub caller was supposed to start this week. I guess I will soon find that out as well.

In other news, Kevin is watching the Jet game, the girls are upstairs, presumably doing homework, and Brian is at a friend's house for dinner. Kevin, Brian and I went to church this morning and then we had to go get the suit for Megan. The rain is heavy, which makes it not fun to do much of anything. I'm not ready to put up the Christmas decorations but I did get a couple of pictures of the three kids last night, so maybe I can photoshop in some holiday cheer and make a card out of it!

Black Friday

So we are through Thanksgiving now. It was a nice mellow day, as usual, the turkey came out just fine, as did all the trimmings. The high school football game was a bit chilly and very crowded, there's a lot more room at our home field than at the other one. But our team did win again, despite rumors that they would perhaps lose, since they're also resting up for States next weekend. I had to leave at halftime to start the turkey, but even with their JV team playing at the end, they still way outplayed the other team, on the latter's brand new field.

During dinner last night, we uncovered the cause of Brian's B in computers. There was a PowerPoint assignment, which Brian did, and the instruction was to omit any animation from the titles/headings of each slide. So Brian had them all come flipping in from the side, or sliding in from the top, or appearing from a central spot. He lost three points for each slide because of this. However, he was baffled. He had understood the instructions to mean that he wasn't allowed to use cartoons in his headings!

So today he is home, and just milling around. He half-heartedly tried to find something to do, but as the neighborhood boys are ostracizing him again, and he wasn't able to get anyone else to hang out, he's outside having a catch with Kevin. He'll go to his practice later this afternoon and then probably waste the evening away. Tomorrow night we're going to Medieval Times for Kevin's birthday. I want to see E have to eat with her hands!

Megan is off to swim so she can be free tonight for Homecoming. She's just going with her girlfriends this year after last year's debacle when she had a date, and her date asked her to be his girlfriend, and she said no, and he hasn't spoken to her since! So I think she will have less pressure this year. E will go with her friends, but she's a little confused because she does have a date, and he is not friends with her friends. So we'll see. Meanwhile, she has basketball tryouts today. They already went from 9-12 today, but she has to be back at 3:15 for another couple of hours. At least she said it wasn't too hard, but she was disappointed because she was grouped with the JV team, and everyone she knows is in the varsity group, although the teams haven't officially been posted yet. But this should keep her busy, anyway, and out of trouble for the next couple of months. I hope.

Kevin and I were out this morning. We had to go to Costco to get some things for a food table we're running tomorrow morning to raise money for Nationals. I was afraid to go, but it was surprisingly uncrowded, I guess because Costco's deals are pretty much the same every day. Afterwards we stopped at one of the local shopping centers, and even that seemed no worse than an average shopping day. Unlike the Valley Stream Wal-Mart, which should be so ashamed of itself for allowing their worked to be trampled to death by a bunch of maniacs created by this whole Quick-Save frenzy that's created by all the retailers... I just don't understand how saving even a couple of hundred dollars is worth it to endure a deadly crowd as a shopper - let alone the poor employees who have no choice but to be subjected to the insanity. It's disgusting.

In other news, tomorrow is Kevin's birthday. E's is coming up as well, on Friday, and on Saturday we have our exchange student Christmas party at the rep's house. The students are supposed to make a dish from their home country, and they are responsible for buying all the ingredients and cooking the dish themselves. I should probably remin her, I don't think she realizes that it's next weekend. Not much else goes on day-to-day, which is good. Report cards finally came on Wednesday, and Megan had all A's and A+'s except fort he blemish caused by the B+ from her chemistry teacher. Brian has two of everything from B through A and then one A+. The two B's were a bit of s surprise, the computer B as told above, and the science B seemingly caused by a lab notebook issue, although I can't get a clear answer from either Brian or the teacher. He missed high honor roll by 3 points. But at least he made honor roll this time. And E's report card was also very respectable.

Here Comes the Sun!

We awoke to darkness so convincing that Molly didn't even think it was morning until 10 or 11 AM. Brian is now sick, as Megan continues her recovery. Yesterday morning he had a sore throat so I kept him home, thinking it might be strep. But as the day progressed it became obvious that it was just a harbinger of a whopping cold, and so I packed him up and sent him off grumpy to school this morning. I gave him some benadryl and told him to see the nurse if he needed motrin; he informed me he would not only get the motrin, but would also lie down in her office for a while! He is "that sick."

Anyway, the sun is out as I type this, and blazing away as the garbage man rides by in his yellow poncho, clinging to the back of the garbage truck.

But apparently work was not in the stars for me today after all, despite having been asked by the teacher to cover her morning. I don't know if they called someone else or if she got out of having to go to the meeting, which I know she would have preferred. I wonder if they'll call me for tomorrow, I was also asked to work then, but by a different teacher. I never can tell these days.

Yesterday, I managed to get all the fixings for the turkey dinner on Thursday, but after I purchased a monstrous bird for $30 at Shoprite, I found nearly the same at Costco for $17. It didn't occur to me that they would have actual whole turkeys there. I must remember that for next year. Of course, I wasn't going to fight the crowds and embarass the poor thing by hauling him back in and pronouncing him overpriced, so I just sucked it up and we'll eat him after all.

The Doll called this morning all upset because the one school Brian is looking at apparently has gotten word to her that he won't be able to use a laptop. I'm pretty sure this is going to be the deal-breaker for us anyway, even if he does get in, not to mention the fact that the tuition is outrageous and perhaps not necessarily worth the benefit. That would leave him with the two Catholic school options, one of which he hasn't actually applied to just yet, and the public school. So we'll see. Things have been ::knock wood:: going OK for him lately. I expect report cards and PSAT scores to come today.

In other news, I have accomplished very little today, although I did finish New Moon and now feel the overpowering urge to go out and get the third book in the series. I cheated a little and read wiki on the whol series and ruined one aspect of it for myself. I googled "does Bella become a vampire". Oh well. I won't tell here.

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

Well, now that I have finished Twilight, I'm anxious to see the movie, although I don't expect it to compare to what I would hope after reading the book. It's hard to portray perfection as 'Edward' is described.

However, after the (imaginary) blood and gore in last night's rendition of Sweeney Todd, I'm ready to wait on seeing anything that might be even remotely disarming. Instead, I have started reading the second book in the series, New Moon. Equally riveting so far.

Yesterday turned out to be "one of those days" at first. I had a terrible headache, then realized I hadn't eaten lunch and it was 2pm. I asked too late if anyone wanted to come with me to the craft fair at the middle school, and E took quite a while to get ready so I thought we would be rushed, Megan and I, as Megan had to be at school for the bus to try-outs at 1pm. But with my pounding head, I didn't really mind only having a little time, the place was so crowded, and despite an established ban, I passed three baby strollers, as well as a woman in a motorized scooter, and another woman who had what appeared to be some sort of shopping cart to tote around her purchases.

Really too much for me even on a good day, so I burned through about $50 and got out of there. I bought a sign for house with the house number on it; I am tired of watching people drive around in circles because they don't see the painted numbers on the curb or the lighted sign by the lamppost. Even the fire department couldn't find the right house when they accidentally were called after our smoke detector went off; and it doesn't help that the address is wrong in MapQuest and GPS systems. The only place I've ever seen it right is the township tax map - speaking of which, we got our revaluation letter yesterday. The value about doubled. But no mention of the "new" tax rate - there had better be one!

But it was hurry up and wait. Megan and I arrived at the school only to find the doors locked and all the swimmers waiting in the parking lot in cars for a bus that never showed up. So in the end, she missed her Y meet for nothing. But I suppose that was for the best, because if I had tried to have her do both, if she didn't have this cough (which is improving, I think) I would have driven up to Ridgewood, a minimum of an hour away, and taken her early directly to Asbury Park, only to find that no team had shown up. I just hope they're getting credit for showing up, because they have to attend those mandatory six practices.

After that things got a little better. I ate and took advil, and my head pain subsided. I took Megan and E to the mall, so E could return an ill-chosen Halloween dress and search for that elusive perfect winter coat, and then we had dinner and went to the play. This morning we took it easy, dropped off Brian at church school but picked him up afterwards, skipping the service so I could hit the grocery store before the pre-Thanksgiving crowds hit. Megan had her usual 6:30am practice, but she came home and fell asleep after her shower. Now Kevin has taken her up to order her LAZR suit! She wore one at practice the other night and said it felt very strange. Let's see if it has any effect on her times at the meet in three weeks.

In other news, Brian has a friend coming over (thought he would have been here by now, though) and E has gone up to start some homework. I am doing a little laundry and babysitting some simmering tomato sauce with meatballs and sausages. Kevin is going to stop by the Doll's and hang some curtains for her, on his way back from ordering the suit, and Puff is sitting behind me, enjoying a brief moment of quiet. This is obviously a short week coming up, and I have no work yet although I was asked to work both Tuesday and Wednesday. But as always, I believe it when I get that call from the sub caller, whoever she may be this week. And Friday is the homecoming dance at the high school. E has a date for it, but Megan most likely does not; she'll go with her girlfriends, I assume, in a red dress.

The Deep Freeze

OK, so it turns out the jump-start of the propeller plane was not true. I don't know if the plane was even really stalled. But Kevin made it home from Arkansas the other night, at nearly midnight. The following morning I got another 6am call, so I went in and covered for the art teacher. It wasn't so bad, because the elementary schools are having early dismissal for teacher conferences, so I only had to work till 1:30 but got paid for a full day. Each class was only half an hour long, and I only had five, three 5th grades and two 1sts.

But who turned off the heat? I've been parking my Explorer in the garage because it's easier to back up (it beeps when it senses something behind it) and then driving the Honda once the frost melts off of its windshields. It's been below freezing in the mornings, and windy and cold all day long. Last night the high school was in the playoffs, and they won by only 3 points, so now they'll get to play in the state championships. But it was so cold that none of us went, not even E, although she did drive by trying to catch the end. Her dad was in town and stopped by on his way to a business trip; and it looks pretty definite now that she will not be returning home after this school year, but rather to her new home in the US. So that was some welcome news for her, and it was nice for us all to meet.

Megan, meanwhile, still has her cough, only now she has attacks in the middle of the night where she can barely catch her breath for all the hacking. During the day it seems like the antibiotic might be working, she did start taking it, but after swimming, she coughs a lot more. Hopefully it will stop because there is new concern that competitive swimmers are at risk for airway/lung damage from the concentrations of chlorine gas that accumulate at the surface of the water when they practice hard and in large groups. Then each time they turn their heads for a breath, they breathe in the gas and it burns their airways. So I hope that's not what's going on with her, but I'll ride out the ten days on biaxin and reevaluate with someone who knows what they're talking about, who won't tell me it's "allergies". I almost want to break out an inhaler and see if that helps her. Actually, I have a peak flow monitor, I should have her do that when she coughs and see how far she can get the little pin to go. Just thought of that now.

So I emailed the coach for her saying that she wasn't going to be able to come to the meet today because she has to go to her high school tryout. I suppose she could make it, if I drove up to Ridgewood and then brought her to Asbury Park, leaving early. But she would have to be at the Y by 9:30, and with all this coughing, it just wasn't something I thought was a good idea. She would need to be at Asbury by 2. But I also included in the email that she won't be at practice, or she will be late, on Tuesday.

So when he saw her last night, he read her the riot act, saying,"you missed your high school practice because you were sick, and now your problems become my problems..!" So she was mad at me because ACTUALLY she missed her high school practice to GO to his practice, but I didn't say that in the mail. I guess I gave too much of the wrong information and not enough of the right. Wait till he hears she has to miss another Tuesday to go to her first HS meet. Good thing I failed to mention that. Also good thing she went to practice last night. We went back and forth on it, because it seemed wrong for all of us to go to dinner with E's dad, and without Megan.

This is another usual weekend for us - Megan will skip that Ridgewood meet, which is a little unfortunate, but she has to go to Asbury and she still is not quite well. Brian has a meet down by Princeton, and then tonight they both want to go see Megan's friend Emily in her play at the other high school. I think E is also going. And tomorrow will be the usual, practice and then who knows ... maybe we'll go to see Twilight. I'm reading it now, and it is addictive. I should finish it by the end of today, it's hard to put down once I start reading.

In other news, Brian seems to be expecting a very good report card this marking period. I don't know if something has clicked, if he has better (or easier) teachers, or if he just put in extra effort because he knows he screwed up last year's report card and this is his last chance to look good when he applies to the other high schools. But he has nothing lower than a B+, according to him, and there are even a couple of A's and one A+ (in Spanish, of all the things, the class they didn't even want to place him in after his sixth grade Language Arts performance). Hopefully he will maintain this level of scholarship all year, or even throughout high school! Megan's perfect streak of A's since sixth grade will be broken by a B+ in chemistry, but she is lucky to be getting that from this guy. I don't know if she knows any of her other grades yet, but the report cards come on Tuesday.

MidWeek Blues

So I forget if I mentioned that the new sub caller quit already and we have one now who is filling in temporarily. She seems to prefer the morning calls, and she called again this morning, but the job was from 12-3, so I agreed to go. It wasn't really fun. I had to cover a Spanish class and they were supposed to work independently. The fifth grade class was fine, but the first graders were enough to make me want to just walk out of the room and find a new career. I think I had three or four of them in tears because I wrote their names down, or said the class was horrible, or whatever I did or didn't do.

I was so glad to see them go, although I felt bad for their teacher. I know they got in trouble. One of them actually said to me, "were we good?" WHAT? My salvation was a special ed class they sent me into for the last 45 minutes. They were all well behaved and there were three good paras in the classroom as well. This wasn't at my regular school, which also makes me feel more incompetent. Every school has a slightly different way of doing things.

Megan is still coughing, and she said she feels pressure between her eyes now, so I filled the prescription for the biaxin that we got at the doctor. Hopefully this will knock out the cough. My doctor mom instincts tell me this is not allergies at all, and is a sinus infection from being run down and catching a cold then swimming right through it. She has to do her mandatory six practices with the high school team this week too, so she can't afford to be weak and sickly.

Kevin, meanwhile, is in some flying go-kart somewhere over Kentucky, an hour after he texted me that they couldn't start the plane and they were going to have to jump start it. Someone was outside the window manually rotating the propellers in an effort to get the thing to start. Of course, at that moment the Doll called so now she will worry about it too!

In other news, E is going to a concert tomorrow night, some strangely named group I have never heard of, and then on Friday afternoon she will have a special visitor in the evening. Megan is going to see her friend in the other high school's play across town on Saturday and some of us may accompany her. She has a swim meet on Saturday but won't be going, because she has to make that mandatory practice for the high school team that day. she skipped yesterday because of her sickness and her other practice at the Y.

Weekend Update

Well, I took Megan and E to the premium outlets today. It was a bit of a disappointment for me, the traffic was UNREAL. Unreal. I have never driven in anything like that to just shop. It was like traffic for an event, with backups stretching for miles on all roads that approached the shopping center. Once there, of course there wasn't a spot to be found, so you had to stalk walkers in the parking lot and just be lucky enough to find one, which we were.

The shops themselves were fairly crowded, but not what I would have expected given the number of cars in the lot. Two stores, Ugg and Juicy Couture, actually made shoppers wait on lines just to browse inside the store. I waited on the line for Ugg, and was sorry to find they didn't have the Tasmans that I wanted, so I looked around a little and then left. There were no lines at the register despite the throngs of shoppers. It did look like Juicy had a good line going inside as well as out, but I didn't go into that one :-) Some other stores had some good sales, but it wasn't like I would have hoped, with bargains at every turn. It will be interesting to see how their opening weekend sales compare to their projections. If it's always going to be that much of a hassle to shop there, I'll be happy just to go to the mall and hit Macy's on a sale day.

Yesterday was a wet one. Brian said the test at SJV was a lot easier than the one he took two weeks ago. We'll hear from both of the schools in January, so now it's a waiting game, although we are first waiting to see the report card, which is due to arrive on November 25. Now he is leaning again towards SJV, because he felt the school seemed more modern on the inside, and he can't wait to get his hands on the laptops they use in their program. Afterwards, M & B both had meets, but neither was remarkable. Megan and E went to a party last night, and Kevin, Brian and I tried a new restaurant, CJ Montana's. I don't think we'll be going back there. Most of the staff was friendly enough, but my food, a pricey entree from the specials menu, was drowned in pepper, to the point where I couldn't even taste the food.

Still no work on the horizon for me. I am not going to complain for a day or two, I'll have some time to get myself back together from having had all the steady days of work and business on the weekends, but as a few more days go by, I may become agitated without the prospect of income so close to Christmas time. I guess I'll just have to put in a call and request work if I don't hear anything in a day or two. So we'll see.

In other news, this will be a full week of school, the first in several weeks in NJ, and the last before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm hoping to get to the gym a time or two, and also to cook some actual nutritious meals. I have been slacking off on that lately. I'm trying to plan some activities, including a trip to Medieval Times at the end of the month; we also have another exchange student party to attend in early December, which should be interesting as some new students have joined the group since last we met.

TGIF

So, another week down. Why is it that the longest weeks are always the short weeks? When there's a holiday mid-week, I always anticipate a fast week, but it always seems to drag by. This has just been a long week for some reason. Today I only have to work a half day in the afternoon, standard Friday for me, it seems.

The other night I got a call from yet another sub caller. It seems the replacement for the original has had enough. She quit already. So I finally got 'in' with her where she was calling because she knew I'd go in and cause her no trouble (well, except for the time she didn't put me on the list when I was supposed to be there) and now I don't know what will happen, and with the holidays often being so busy, I don't even know where to call to let them know I want to work! So for now, today is the last day I have lined up. At least I have a good couple of weeks of pay coming in, in time for Christmas shopping.

The big news in town is the opening of a new premium outlet center. E is most excited and keeps begging me to take her. I told her we would go on Sunday, but she's afraid everything will be sold before she gets there. As a joke, this morning in the car I offered to drop her off tomorrow at 11 am before Megan's swim meet and then pick her up at 6, after Brian's. She didn't really laugh. I think it seemed perfectly logical to her. I don't doubt that she could use that time, and was only half-joking, in fact. I am also excited to go. I'm just afraid it's going to be really crowded there this weekend. The economic downturn doesn't seem to have hit our area so much just yet.

Meanwhile, Brian received a postcard with his room assignment for the Catholic Schools Entrance Exam that he is taking tomorrow. Or should I say, 'Brianne' received her card. I'm wavering on this school because I've heard a couple of things that lead me to believe it may not be much different from the public school in terms of cliques and drugs/drinking. A stupid mistake like that one also makes me think they have incompetent staffers. I'll probably run an application over to the smaller school today, just so they will have it on file before he takes the test. I already missed their deadline of November 7, but I don't think it will matter. They take up to 125 freshmen, and I have a feeling they don't usually get that many applicants per year.

Our meeting with his guidance counselor went pretty well, I don't think I posted on that. We told him about how he gets picked on, about the blackout episode, and about the gum in the hood. The counselor was sympathetic and agreed that in Brian's case, a fresh start might do him good. He actually wanted to intervene but we said no, Brian doesn't want to name any names and that wouldn't help him in the long run anyway. We just wanted him to understand why we have all these applications in for the other schools. Yesterday was the last day of the marking period, so grades will be due in a week or two and report cards come out on the 25th. After that, they submit the grades to all the high schools. At that point, we'll have a better idea if Brian actually is improving in school or if it's been a smoke-and-mirrors act up till now.

In other news, Megan and E both have a big chemistry test today and neither one of them studied much. They are both confident, but that worries me. This seems like the type of teacher who lulls them into a false sense of security and then writes a test to trip them up at the last minute. But I guess we will find out soon enough. I have finally gotten rid of those 637 directories, but the post office made a mistake and undercharged, which has resulted in a comedy of errors and another project that won't quite go away. Oh, and I received an email that the Fresh Air Fund was looking for local area volunteers, and I sent an reply and may be taking that on in the spring. It sounds like a fun and good thing to do, but I am nervous about having to go into people's houses alone to interview them as prospective host families. I have little faith in humanity, I guess. I'm afraid.

Taking a Moment

Another quick update on not much of anything. I managed to finish off my directories today, but now I have to go and pick up the form that I need to mail them, and I have to figure out how and if I'm supposed to sort them. I got all 637 labels and sealers stuck on, working through a throbbing headache. Thankfully, after lunch, more advil and coke, and the eventual completion of the task, the head has improved.

I have now completed my stretch of three days for one teacher, three days for another. Aside from one kid yakking on his desk the first day, and then my leaving a girl in the bathroom and taking the other 22 outside for recess (they told me that they were all there when I got back from lunch, and that the count of 23 included their teacher), I have survived the days. I am off tomorrow, but plan to go in to see the guidance counselor to perhaps get some, er, guidance on the high school front. Then I have a different assignment on Thursday.

Kevin took the girls and Brian to play golf this morning. I'm not so sure E was terribly excited about it, but she went along anyway. Megan has swimming this afternoon and I have a few more errands to run and things to do, so I can get these stupid pink directories mailed out by tomorrow.

In other news, I also have to get my hair color fixed. I put these things off because I hate doing them, and now I have to go again, one week later. I had to get my hair colored on Tuesday and cut on Thursday because I didn't make the appointment in time, but the girl was rushed and either mixed the color wrong or didn't leave it on long enough, and she only did the roots. So I am like a badger, with a lighter stripe right along the part. I also had a one inch border around my hairline from where she left the dye on my head afterwards, and that's still slightly obvious; now it will only become darker tomorrow. But I can't go around looking like a badger any longer.

Quick Update

Just a very quick entry. Not much going on today, Kevin took Brian out to play golf, Megan went to see the Favorite Boy, and I had to work on my directories for school. I went through and marked off the labels that have to be affixed, and in so doing discovered a multitude of mis-alphabetizements. Also two kids who have different last names than their guardians but I failed to list this in their cases. I guess I should have marked up the labels before having 660 copies of the book printed, but ... sigh. Too late now. Hopefully everyone will be able to find their friends' names anyway! Most people use cell phones these days even in middle school. I hope.

Oh, and I had some help while I was doing the work, too.



Otherwise, one more day off from school, which will be Tuesday, and then we go straight through till Thanksgiving! That will be nearly a full two and half weeks, by the way!

But right now, in other news, Megan is rewriting her essay for English because after she wrote it and I edited it three times, she found out that she had answered the wrong question. Lucky she found out tonight and not tomorrow, but now she is having to do the whole thing over again. I am about to go up and catch the end of Desperate Housewives while Kevin watches the Giants and the Iggles play. I am afraid to look, last time I even talked about it the lead switched from Philadelphia to New York.

Long Silence

It's been a few days without an update! My apologies. We've been going through some 'stuff' that I had to deal with, plus, Megan and I have caught colds, I was working, Kevin was off to Europe, and I had to make sure my cars had their oils changed and feathers preened.

Nothing much is going on, given all the days off from school. I had hoped to perhaps get into NYC today, but when I took the Explorer for an oil change yesterday, I was told it needs four new tires. I took it back to the place today that gave me the tires, and they told me that I have more time left. So I will wait a while. If the car keeps sliding around, I'll get new ones. But they put some more air in the tires, and hopefully that will do it. But I had to get the oil changed in the Honda just in case I needed to drive that instead. I have a free oil change coupon book but if you miss the mileage, it's invalid.

Tomorrow is a meet weekend, but Brian is going to skip his to come with me to Philadelphia. Megan can't, of course, she will be in trouble if she does, even though she only swam one event and one 'B' relay at the last dual meet. E is also going to come with us, hopefully happily. I wish the weather forecast would be better. I have to plan an interesting day, maybe I'll just do the constitution center and then Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and head up for lunch.

So, that is about all that's been happening for now. In other news, Brian and E are both at the high school football game, and Megan is at practice. She's not coming with us tomorrow, but then she has a party after swimming tomorrow night. We also have Tuesday off from school, but then that will be it except for Thanksgiving break, which of course comes just before the big Christmas holiday. Where does time go?

And the meet goes on ...

The meet goes on. Today will be Day 2, with Megan and me heading out to Princeton instead of Kevin and Megan. He will head for Finland after taking Brian to church for his 'pilgrimage meeting' where they will try to determine if there will be a pilgrimage, and if the pilgrimage will be again to Northern England, or if it will be someplace else. Sorry I will miss this. The last one was interesting.

Of course, some of this depends on Brian's final choice of high school. If he chooses one of the Catholic high schools, I'm not sure he'd even do a youth group at church, aside from what he will need to do next year for his confirmation. But that's separate, as we learned last year with Megan, and participation in this group he's in now is not linked to those classes.

Yesterday's test was apparently quite difficult. Although I loved the walk through the neighbor's yard (we were there in about two minutes), he reported that there was so much on the test that he had never seen before, so I am not optimistic. He said this was the case in both math and vocabulary. There is also a form to be filled in by the guidance counselor (in whom I have very little faith) stating whether or not he recommends Brian for that school. In no place does it ask for teacher recommendation. Only guidance. So we'll see how that goes. They also ask if the student has any limitations, and what are they...this makes me very nervous, as it seems to be discrimination under cover. The last sentence says all responses will be kept confidential. So when they find out about the 504, they might use all his weaknesses and reject him based on that; when in fact they just don't want to deal with anyone with any special needs.

The final cause for concern, he told me as we walked Molly at the park, is an essay question which I hadn't been able to prep him for. They had three choices: faith, integrity, or achievement. He chose a seventh grade science project and write about that as an achievement. I'm not so sure this was quite the broad spectrum answer they're looking for. I try to coach him to use the chiari to his advantage in times like these, but he's not usually insightful enough to figure out how to do this on his own. This is his weakest area, and probably the cause of most of the problems he has had in school.

Otherwise, Megan had a good meet yesterday. She came in 6th in her first event, and swam well enough in the other two. Today she has the 500 and she's seeded 4th, but that hardly means anything, especially at this time of year. You don't know who is swimming at what level just yet, this meet is more for practice than major achievement, although of course everyone welcomes a best time at any meet.

In other news, I attended the 'murder mystery' at our church last night with a friend. It was entertaining. They're trying to do more activities to raise funds, but they really should try thinking of them as ways to foster community in the church. Our church can be so boring. It's nothing but hour and a half long Sunday services and a bunch of groups that meet during the week. There is nothing 'fun'; it's all spiritual. But then, perhaps that's the wrong gripe to have with a church? Except that I can't be the only one with the gripe. The murder mystery was supposed to be taking place at a class reunion, the class of 1957. And I would have to say, that was about the average age of most of those in attendance.

Happy Halloween?

So I have complained about the kids that live in this neighborhood, and the way they treat Brian. One in particular will decide that Brian isn't worthy of his company, and he will purposely leave him out, and his cronies will follow suit. Then suddenly he'll come over and invite Brian to play, and help himself to two or three cans of iced tea from the garage, and a half dozen poptarts, under the guise of friendship, giving Brian false hope, only to knock him down again.

Today, Brian thought he would trick or treat with these kids. Apparently they discussed it on the bus, or he thought they had. Brian texted the main kid, and asked if he was leaving. Kid texted back that he was not. Then he proceeded to leave and walk right by our house. Then he had the nerve to come up to my door with his troupe, half of them not even in costume. At the age of nearly 14, that is just disgusting. I'm pretty sure they did the same thing either last year or the year before.

For some reason, Brian refuses to turn his back on this treatment and repeatedly takes it. If there was ever any doubt that the gum ended up in his hood at the hands of this particular crowd, that's pretty much been erased by what I experienced today. One has to wonder what it is to make a kid so nasty and yet so blatantly in-your-face about himself. Not to take him is one thing ... maybe they don't like him, and that's fine. But why come to my house? It's not like the neighborhood is small.

Anyway, Megan is at the Y swimming and so far the trick or treaters have been only the ditchers, and then Brian and his group. His group is sort of a motely crew, but they are also a crew with whom you always know where you stand, unlike the ditchers.

E is up to the usual. Sleeping over somewhere, doesn't know where, going somewhere, doesn't know where. I haven't heard and if history is any indicator, don't expect to. Perhaps in fact the difficulties I experienced back in May with Dr. NoCallBack were the fates' attempt to intervene.

But in other news, this will be a busy weekend between the two-day swim meet, the placement test tomorrow, and all the usual goings-on of the weekend. We have a lot of days off from school in the next couple of weeks, with elections, teachers conventions and Veteran's Day. And the next thing we know, it will be Thankgsiving, and then Christmas. And then Nationals. And then the school year will end! I can't believe it has flown by already. :-)

On second thought, I hate all kids. The doorbell just rang (no idea who this group was) and I gave them each two pieces of candy. Not one said thank you, but one said, "oh wonderful" when he saw what I was putting in his bag!! I really believe there should be a program like the Fresh Air Fund in reverse, where suburban kids have to go and live in the South Bronx for ten days. (amendment.. the first girls just came and they were friendly and polite; the previous statement applies to only boys!)

False Alarm

So I have written about our hyperreactive smoke detector before, I believe. And tonight, it struck again. Brian was in the shower (of course it would be Brian) and when he came out, again the alarm sounded. This is the first time with Kevin being home, so of course he flew into dork mode and snapped at all of us. I tried to reset the alarm from the keypad, and he tried to push the button on the ceiling. In my panic, I did the automatic keycode and hit .. the wrong button. The big red one that says 'FIRE' in it. :-/ But we were able to cut it off, and told the ADT folks that all was well.

I sat down to finish some surfing, when all of a sudden some flashing lights flew past the window. (Note to self: invest in reflective house numbers ASAP) I ran outside to avert further embarassment but it was too late. So, two huge fire trucks, several pick-axe wielding fireman and two police officers later, our excitement has died down. I guess that because this time it took us longer to shut down the alarm, ADT had to call in the fire alarm.

Meanwhile, I can almost feel sorry for Tampa Bay and that area roughly between first and second base that seems to be cursed for them. But of course, the night is young. I'm just glad the Phillies get to be up four times to Tampa Bay's three. A one run lead is not much of a cushion. (Edit: a tie is no cushion at all, I don't feel sorry for anyone anymore)

In other news, my three days of full day working are over. I am working tomorrow, now only in the afternoon, and I have been called to work Friday morning as well, but at a different school. Which is OK. I am ready for a break! Sometimes it's hard to go to the same school so many days in a row. People start making comments like, "well, you're a regular fixture here" or "you might as well take up permanent residence" which sort of serves simply to remind me that I DON'T really work there.

Otherwise, Brian seems to be still doing well following his alleged blackout after his fall the other day. After I spoke to the pediatrician, I did check with the neurologist and both said that he will be OK, even if he has had a concussion, so just to watch him and keep him out of contact sports for three weeks. He doesn't have gym this marking period, so that won't be a problem anyway. I am still concerned that nobody knows or seems to care what happened or why he fell. The only witnesses were kids, and nobody is asking them what happened, and if Brian knows, he ain't tellin'

Unlucky Monday

At least it is if you're Brian. I was at work, and the phone was making sounds like they were trying to call the room, but they never said anything. A few minutes later they beeped in and asked me to pick up. When I did, they told me the middle school nurse had called. Turns out Brian "fell" and hit his head on the wall at school, hard enough that he now claims amnesia directly surrounding the incident. He remembers walking, and he remembers getting up. But he doesn't seem to understand why he fell. Falling over someone's foot seems very suspicious to me. Especially for someone who came home from school and put up his hood to find that a criminal had put a wad of gum in it, and their prank had been successful, and the gum had entangled itself in his hair. I worked on it for half an hour, and managed to get it all out with barely any hair loss, so the villains won't know of their success.

(Phillies score one!)

So I am at a loss as to how to proceed. Do I let it go and assume it was truly an accident, or do I contact the school and let them know that I am unsure of the circumstances surrounding the fall? Did someone think it would be funny to trip him up, but then feel bad when he fell harder than they expected? I know middle school is an awful, horrible place, but this is just ridiculous. Is it coincidence that this would happen on the day before they are set to visit the public high school for their tour? I think someone tries to send a message to me, this is what it must be.

Anyway, my day was OK. The kids are cute and one of my most favorite students in the entire school is in the class. The day goes so fast because there is just so much to be done, and there are a few aides and a resource teacher in and out of the room throughout the day so I never have to wonder what is going on for long. And by the end of Wednesday, hopefully I will have it down to a science. Just in time to be done :-) Another teacher asked me if I can work for her Monday, Wednesday, and the following Monday, which are the next three school days for our district. We're off Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and then the next Tuesday as well. So maybe I will be able to foot the food bills after all.

(Phillies score another!!!)

Otherwise, nothing of excitement to report. The only other news is that Halloween is Friday and Megan and Brian have no idea what they will be. E has an ever-evolving costume, which ranged from a 20's girl to various pop icons of the 20s through today, set partially in motion by the discovery of an old dress I let her try on, complete with shoulder pads. That created a costume idea, which she has since recreated to include everything BUT the dress. But she may be the only one with anywhere to go anyway. Megan will have practice, and I just don't know what Brian has in mind. Now I am off to the Phillies.

School Pictures

Lucky 13

We have a birthday in the house today! It's Molly's 13th birthday, although she seems unaware of her advancing age. I got her an edible Nylabone, which I made her take outside because it smelled so bad, and also a stuffed chipmunk, so she can feel like she is keeping up with the cats. I took her for a long walk and then brushed her. Now she is asleep on the rug under Kevin's feet.

We split up for two swim meets today, the girls won 110-108 and the boys won 109-108. Megan swam OK, not too exciting for her, being a distance freestyle swimmer, the shorter events at the dual meets are not her best, nor are the stroke events. The shortest freestyle race in this meet was 100 yards, and she swam it and came in third. Not a big deal, she looked fine. Just a little boring as a spectator! Later in the season the race will turn to a 200 and that will be better for her. But the meet itself was exciting. We had a couple of ties, and some of the relays were so close that the screaming was deafening. That's when the meets are really fun to watch.

So my career is picking up a little. I worked my scheduled half days on Wednesday and Friday but also was called in for Thursday, and that teacher called me at home yesterday to see if I would work for her Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all day. The only problem was that she was trying to call in to the sub line, and she was having trouble getting through to the voice mailbox. So she was going to keep trying and is supposed to get back to me before the end of the weekend. But that would be helpful, three full days in a row. Megan doesn't have spinning this week, so I don't have to be back to drive to swimming until 4:30 instead of 2:55.

I am a little over in my spending, and I can't believe how much things cost these days. At Target today, I noticed that all the laundry supplies have gone up by $1-$2 per item! And of course, I had to replace my hair straightener. I got a deal, though. It was on sale for $99 and I got it for 20% off that price!

I also got called yesterday morning, already scheduled for a half day of work. They somehow had not gotten a sub for the Spanish teacher so they asked me to come in a little early and cover her classes for the morning. I watched the first 40 minutes of The Lion King three times, in Spanish. I understood about three words in the entire thing. Yesterday was a tiring sub day, though, the afternoon was a little challenging; and the morning was a bit slow with the Spanish SEEEEMMBA.

In other news, this week will be Halloween. Megan tells me she will be Count Chocula, but I don't understand how that will happen. And she has a swim meet all weekend at Princeton, so she won't be able to have any fun anyway. Brian hasn't even mentioned a costume, but I don't know what he has in mind if anything. He actually has one of the high school entrance exams on Saturday morning; not that he would be out late celebrating anyway. I am trying to plan a costume for Molly. I'm afraid I may be turning into a Halloween shrew. I have a strong desire to turn off all the lights and pretend to have left for Disney World.

Pinky Woes

Well, Megan's finger is injured. Some time last week she came home, saying she had been kicked in the little finger by a finned foot. Her little finger was all black and blue, and someone had taped it to the one next to it. She insisted it was not broken, because she could move it, and said it was jammed and had been cared for. So I never called the doctor.

Now here we are and it looks sort of like a tree branch, or a little twig. It comes up, goes out, and then comes back to the center again. It still hurts. It's white from being taped all the time. It is, of course, her left hand, the one she uses to write. So now I don't know what to do. At this point, it's set the way it is. Will it straighten out on its own? I don't know. I guess I'll have to have it checked out.

And so Kevin is somewhere across the Great Blue Sea. Last I heard he was in Copenhagen, but he was waiting for a flight to Oslo, and that was 7 hours ago. I guess those are long flights. I am off to a morning of covering for child study meetings, hopefully some well scheduled ones. There is no day more wasted than one in which I have to work all morning for one meeting. I end up having to roam the school in search of work to keep me busy.

The alarm at the house across the street continues to go off sporadically, but the authorities seem to understand now that it is malfunctioning, and it's been confirmed that the homeowners are on vacation. As long as those firetrucks don't keep pulling up at 7am and midnight, I won't complain. I can't hear the alarm unless I am out in the back of the house.

I guess things are a little boring at the moment, or all that I would care to pen in cyberspace, at least. This weekend we'll have a couple of swim meets and that's it. Next weekend is a big meet for Megan, at Princeton, but not one of the biggest of the year. That's in December at Rutgers. Then we have the high school meets in January and February, and Nationals in April. Look at the year flying by.

In other news, E has decided she should cut her hair short and dye it. This is to take place on Friday, so let's see if she keeps up the nerve that long. We had our monthly check-in with the agency rep, and she told me that she's having a little gathering of all the students in December. So that should provide us with some entertainment. As far as that goes, I am still trying to find the balance between what's right and wrong as far as freedom goes where she is concerned. Some of the places she wants to go are not places that Megan would ever go, and they are certainly places I would never LET Brian go. So I find myself in a difficult spot. But that's all I can say on that topic in this venue. (Disclaimer: clock strikes 8. Post not proofread)

School Selection

As Kevin attended his Mickey Mouse meeting down in Orlando today, I awoke to the sound of a fireman on a two-way radio, saying, "...and nobody's answering the phone ..." when I remembered OUR malfunctioning fire alarm and wondered if it had gone off and cut the phone line, without my hearing the perpetual shriek. I jumped out of bed and noticed that they were actually at the house across the street, which appears to have noone home. They didn't stay long to investigate, but left the house with its own alarm perpetually shrieking indoors. I'm pretty sure it's still going on now. They are a retired couple, so they could be anywhere. Even in Florida.

Anyway, once I ascertained that this was not another humiliation served up by my own over-active monitoring system, Brian and I headed out for the final school under consideration. I will call this school MD. The grounds are very nice and serene, something like 32 acres of mostly playing fields and a beautiful huge new church that the parish just completed last year. This is actually the church where Brian was baptized, but since he has moved toward heathenism by joining an Episcopal church, he can't be a Catholic without undergoing some sort of ritual. But it doesn't matter. They'll still take our money.

So the school has the same laptop program as the one we visited last week, which is nice (call it SJV). However, when the students changed classes, we saw many of them moving through the halls with large textbooks in hand. I didn't think they needed to carry them, SJV did not, but this is still something that can be worked out under the 504 plan if he does choose MD. The problem that I am seeing is that his first choice school is morphing into whatever school he has most recently seen. So today it's MD. Last week it was SJV, and before that, the all-boys one.

The advantage of MD would be its size - they aim for 125 students per class, and there are only about 400 in the entire school. SJV has about 1000, as does the public school, and the all-boys Catholic school as well. I don't think MD generally has gotten there yet, they have not got the best reputation in town in some ways, although they seem to be doing better at reaching their goal. I know of several very selective parents who have sent their children here and are happy. The school is neat, clean, and bright. Even if they did just do this for the open house yesterday, the other two didn't look that way at THEIR open houses. Interestingly, MD has three levels: low, mid, and honors. SJV has mid, honors, and AP. They won't take the lower ones, I guess. This is the reason for the negative perception of MD. On the other hand, it gives certain kids the opportunity to be big fish in a small pond.

And one to go - the public school. Next week, on the 28th, Brian will visit the public school with his middle school. He would also like to spend a day as a student at MD; they offer that as part of their admissions process. Then, on November 1, he takes the test at the all-boys school, and on November 15, he takes it at SJV. This test will serve as a placement test for either of the two co-ed Catholic schools. He'll have to complete an MD application and pay for that as well; although he's already paid up for SJV. Confused? I am. My current front-runner is still SJV, plus it is the 'cheapest' of all. I think he hears from all of them in January. and of course, don't rule out public just yet.

When we got home, we found Megan sitting in front of the TV. Apparently E had woken her to tell her she was going out to lunch, and then couldn't lock the front door, so Megan had to come down and do that. This was five hours ago, and still no sign of her or word from her. Kevin is in Orlando and at last check was frantically speeding towards the airport. Come to think of it, he suddenly stopped texting me back (he was not the driver) so hopefully that meant they reached their destination and he is too busy checking in and finding the gate to text me back again.

Megan is exhausted from the swim workouts. The hayride she went on the other night wore her out because it turned out to be a highly popular touristy place and they were waiting on lines for hours for the attractions. She didn't get home till nearly midnight, after having been up early for the PSAT. Then the swim meet yesterday was long, and her finger is injured from a collision in the pool. Add to that her cold (which at least seems to be improving) and her flaring up eczema, and, well, she is falling apart. Good thing there was no school today, but I do hate that these days are always spent recuperating instead of taking little trips or doing little activities.

And in other news, I am working, so far, two half days this week. I guess that's better than nothing. I just got my social security report (which I get every year, ironically, and Kevin never gets one) and I made more money in 2007 than I have made since I stopped really working, in 1999. I made over $6000!!!! In ONE year!! Amazing. This year I am already up to 5, so I am challenging that amount. Of course, at this rate, I'll never make it. It's only that high because of the 07-08 school year, anyway. I've made about $400 so far this school year. Gross pay. No pun intended.

Solitude on Saturday

So we made it to another weekend. Right now it's all quiet in the house, just a dog at my feet, a cat on the arm of the love seat, and another taking a bath on the windowsill. The girls are at the school, taking the PSATs, Brian is sleeping, and Kevin is off somewhere taking a recertification class for his officials credentials for the Y.

Today is a hodge-podge day, practices at the Y, Brian has baseball at 5:30-ish in East Brunswick, which is a bit of a haul, and Megan won't be done practice until 6 or so. Tomorrow Brian and I are supposed to be at church for various reasons, and then there's an all afternoon swim meet at the Y. Also that other Catholic school open house which I would like to try to attend, to leave Monday open, and then Megan is hoping to be able to go to FrightFest at Six Flags with some friends on Sunday night, since they're off on Monday. So we will see.

For some strange reason our fire alarm has gone off twice, resulting in a call from the monitoring station and my embarassment. It seems to have something to do with showers and hair dryers, but I can't realy pinpoint the cause. The unit going off is a hardwired detector mounted just outside the bathroom. Simultaneously, I hit the code and 'enter' on the keypad and E pushes a button on the ceiling unit, and it stops, so I don't know which of us is actually responsible for turning it off. But then they call and I have to tell them my password and name, and assure them that all is well.

In other news, the weather is finally turning cooler. After packing up all the warm-weather clothing, I didn't much appreciate that return to summer-like temperatures. All the leaves are starting to turn color and drop. It gives Rusty something to watch for hours from his window perch.

Friday Eve

Well, it is the eve of Friday, what a big Friday it is, our schools have a three day weekend. We are just back tonight from the open house at the other local Catholic high school, which in Brian's eyes eclipsed the first one by a landslide. This school had a very nice feel, although at first I didn't think it would. It's as large as the public high school (about 1000 students, a bit more even), and the building is old. However, as we went through on the tour, which was pretty well run and everyone was nice and well-spoken and just, well, normal, we got more and more comfortable.

One thing that particularly appealed to us in light of Brian's chiari issues is that the entire school is on a laptop program. Every student has a laptop and the entire building is wireless. Notes can be taken on the laptop, either typed in or written as if it were a tablet; all assignments are turned in electronically. All teachers report grades via 'parent connect' which is something I have heard quite a bit, but for some reason our public schools don't do. There are no textbooks to be toted around, they stay in school and are usually available to be viewed online at home.

Of course, this comes with a price tag. Our next visit is Sunday or Monday to one more school, and then Brian will visit the public school on the 28th with his middle school. Oh, and the school we went to today is also on "block scheduling" meaning that they have four classes in the fall, and four classes in the spring semester. Classes run for 70+ minutes, and they all have an hour for lunch in the middle of the day, which is also when a lot of clubs meet.

Progress reports also finally arrived, although Megan's did not. I called her guidance counselor and he read it to me, so it was all positive, the worst being the B she is getting from the chemistry teacher who feels it is his job to break the A students in to failure (not that a B is failure, but the 65 on her last quiz practically was). She has another quiz tomorrow. I always panic when she has a quiz in there after a particularly long day of swimming, because she's tired and has less time to prepare. And she's been not feeling so great the past couple of days.

Brian's was pretty good as well, the worst on his being that he is talkative in MATH class!!! The math class is taught in a strange way, though, and may lend itself to non-attentiveness. I thought at back to school night that it didn't sound optimal. Hopefully he's learning. He also has a test tomorrow; in that class and one in science. And then today, I got a call and an email from his social studies teacher, just to let me know that he has been doing very well in that class! So that was nice.

And in other news, I am still unemployed but will not be tomorrow. I awaited a call this morning to see if I would work today or tomorrow, but it turned out to be neither. But later, I got another call and have a pretty good assignment, I daresay. It's from about 10-1, so that should be great. Kevin has just informed me that there are TWO munks on the back porch, and all this without any cats being let out at all today! I got mad because yesterday I let Wren out, and she spent hours out there, and then came in, and went straight to the litterbox and left a big dump in there, didn't even bury it! Oh, and the house is clean. Today was a cleaning day. That's always noteworthy.

Wednesday Morning

Here it is, Hump Day, and I am not motivated. I am unemployed yet again. I checked last year's schedule and noticed that I was really quite busy, but I was also working as a substitute para, and that seemed to bring in a lot of my hours, this time last year. However, I did have a day or two of work each week as a teacher sub as well. Last night, the new caller tried to call. I had Kevin on the other line, and he wouldn't stop talking. By the time I got to her, she had hung up. I called her immediately back, first she picked up and put the phone down, and then I called again and left a message, but the call was never returned. I'll call her again today, because I can't work in the afternoon tomorrow, so I'll request a morning, and a job for Friday, and see what happens. After 7 years, I am in my 8th, I have gone to being a nobody again. By the way, that is longer than I ever stayed at any of my other jobs.

I have to finish work on the directory for the middle school anyway, but all I have to do is delete a few names and print it out for proofing, and that won't take long. Otherwise I have laundry to finish up and I have to get the house straightened for the cleaning lady, who comes tomorrow. (yay) Maybe I'll go for a bike ride or take Molly for a walk. It's supposed to reach close to 80 degrees again!

After school today, Brian has swimming followed by baseball. Megan has nothing but a swim meeting at school and a Spanish Honor Society meeting. This is good, because she isn't feeling well. I have to go and get her some drugs; it's her usual November affliction of stuffiness. She also jammed her finger on someone's finned foot at practice the other day. Swimming CAN be dangerous!

Tomorrow is the next open house at one of the Catholic high schools. There's another on Sunday, but we have to be at the Y, so I may call the school and see about going another time. They do 'open tours' and also allow the students to experience the school for a day, which is a great idea. We have a lot of days off that they don't, including this coming Monday, so that might work out. Anyway, the school is far from being a first choice.

Meanwhile, I started letting Buddy and Wren out from time to time while the weather has been nice. It cuts down on litterbox cleaning, and they don't go far. However, Wren has become quite the chipmunk hunter. But she doesn't kill them. She brings them home to keep as pets. She meows while they're still hanging, terrified, in her jaw, and she brings them to the back slider and tries to get in! Yesterday, Brian saved one by chasing Wren around the yard until she finally dropped it and it escaped. But she's out now. She busted out when I was checking on the car.

In other news, STILL no progress reports. Maybe today. I was pretty sure they had gone out yesterday. And I definitely will get paid, thankfully, because I have no more money and there is no more food in the house. Having to budget not just money but how much food to buy is proving to be more challenging than I had expected, with another mouth to feed. And a big night tonight! First, the Phillies in a win-win situation. If they win, they go to the World Series. If they lose, they get to come home and win the pennant on their own turf (because of course, they will win). Second, the final debate, and being held at the renowned Hofstra University. How much more excitement can be packed into one night? I can hardly stand it.

Sandy Hook and Molly's Bath

Weekend Update

This was a fast weekend! The busy ones don't last long enough, and Kevin was off today, making the weekend a three day one for him, anyway. Also for me, because I never work. So I kind of have a 365 day weekend since we got this new sub caller.

So on Thursday I cut my pinky on a garden trimmer. I was pruning a shrub that looked like Sigmund the Sea Monster, and my little finger got in the way. I panicked, because of course there was dirt, and there was rust, on the trimmers, but I ran in and squeezed it to get it bleeding, then washed it out with soap and water and put some antibiotic ointment on it. It looked like a little papercut, but I was alarmed by it nonetheless because of its source. I managed to ascertain that it's been over 30 years since my last recorded tetanus booster, so I set myself off on a flurry of internet tetanus research. What I was able to learn is that tetanus is a very rare, but very awful illness that most often strikes older people who have allowed their vaccine series to wear off, at least in the developed world.

So began the quandary of what to do - get the shot? Don't get the shot? I called the doctor who said I would probably be OK because I had washed it out right away, but that I could have one if I wanted. So I decided I'd go today. But then when I thought about it, I didn't want my arm to hurt for a week, and I worried about degenerative neurological reactions. So in the end, I have still put it off, at least till tomorrow, and maybe beyond. the cut has healed to the point where it can barely be seen already. One study that I read recommended that all adults be vaccinated one time in adulthood at the age of 50, rather than every ten years. apparently the initial interval was every year, then every five, and now it is every ten. I wish they would just run titers instead of randomly vaccinating people. I guess the drug companies make more money on vaccines than on lab testing. Or maybe there is no titer. What do I know? I just don't want a shot. Not that I want tetanus. I think I'll stay out of the garden.

Oh, the weekend. Right. Brian played well in his baseball game, they lost 10-8. I had to go sell some food for the national team at the Y before the meet, so I didn't see the game at all. Brian swam well for himself, although he panicked about having to do a 100 yard backstroke, and they switched him down to a 50, although there is no such event at his age. Megan won the freestyle and says she got third place in the backstroke, but I thought her backstroke looked a little ::er:: choppy. But it was a good day, just a LONG meet. It felt like it might never end, but at least it did. Then Megan and E (who had stayed home because she had a lot of work piled up) went to a concert with some of Megan's beach club friends.

Yesterday we rode in the bike ride down at Sandy Hook, which was fun. It was a beautiful day, and we ended up there from 9 until nealy 2. Again, E stayed home. We ended up riding ten miles even though the route was 8; it just didn't feel like enough, and we weren't ready to turn around. We didn't win any of the many prizes, but there are a couple of good photos of Brian on the website (and a few awful ones of me! Holy cow).

(look at DSC#3593 through 3597 and DSC-3810) http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/gallery.jsp?gid=768a5498ce7d6c03d877

This is the link to ALL the photos. The first few are in album #3 and the last one is album #6. I can't link to the individual photos. But I can add my own - I'll do that next. (done :-) )

After we got back, Kevin and I took Molly to a nearby county park so she could swim in the lake. She encountered some fishing lines, some kayaks, and a horse. Also a crazy old man who gave her a tennis ball and then called Kevin a fool for throwing it over her head so she couldn't get to it, because she was tethered by her leash. Finally we let her off, and she had a great time swimming. She needed a good bath when she got home.

And that's about it. In other news, progress reports should really come this week. Brian is overscheduled this week, which I don't like, but he'll have to miss an activity here and there to manage it. There's another open house later in the week. Well, I must go because E is having a very bad headache and I have to make sure it isn't something other than tension.

disclaimer ... post not proofread ...

Big Weekend Begins

And I worked today. The new caller called and tried to send me to some random school for the whole day, so I lied and said I had to pick my kids up at school and it was too far away. So she sent me to another one for the morning instead, equally far, but at least I like the school. It's the same one where I did the half day stint last Friday afternoon.

(Incidentally, the upstairs bedroom is creaking, so if this post is suddenly cut short, please release this information to the proper authorities. Maybe it is the wind or a dog or cat, but just in case, thought I'd mention it)

Anyway, back to the day. I was floating for meetings again and I found that most of my day was spent in a classroom with a para whom I know very well, so it was a good day. I also sat through two shows of the 'space bubble' or whatever they call it, star dome, I don't remember. It's an inflatable planetarium with a funny guy doing a running monologue with a brief overview of all the planets, several stars and constellations, and finally an overview of the night sky. Very fun.

Brian is recovered from his mystery ailment and has returned to school. I was mistaken about the progress reports, however, they will be issued, I believe, NEXT Tuesday. So, stay tuned. Otherwise, here is the weekend: tonight: flexible, except for Megan, who of course has swimming. Saturday: Brian has baseball and then there's a big swim meet at the Y for the whole team, where they split them into two and have them race each other to evaluate them all for spots on the dual meet teams. I'm pretty sure we'll be Girls A and Boys B, but at this point, it doesn't mean much which dual team Megan is on. It's all about the big meets at this point in her swimming life.

On Sunday, we are participating in the bike ride to raise funds for pediatric brain cancer research, held down at Sandy Hook. We did this last year and it was very fun. E is supposed to be doing it with us, but she only cost an extra $5 and as she seems less than thrilled, I will certainly offer her the right to back out. We have to borrow her a bike, if she is going to do it.

Meanwhile, Megan is supposed to acolyte at church at the same time, and I am trying to find someone to switch with her. It's one of those Murphy's Law things - nobody will be able to switch with her, but last time she came to church to work her PAID job in the nursery, they pulled her out of the nursery and put her on the altar, and gave a younger girl the nursery job instead. Maybe .. it is ..GOD'S WILL?!?! Anyway, she won't be going. If I have to call them and just flat out say, she can't go - that is what I will have to do.

But now my laptop battery is dying, a sure signal that I must get up and be productive. In other news, the dog stinks, our mutual funds are in the gutter, and college is two years away. Today I considered moving to one of those states, like Florida or North Carolina, where the tuition is so much lower for in-state residents. I'm sure I could get a little residence there for a year or so ahead of time, just so she could go to college there for less money. Or do you actually have to attend school while you allegedly live there? Hmm. Why does it matter, anyway? Phht.