Fresh Air

The visit is over! After all that, it was nothing much. The woman was very nice, she greeted Molly and tolerated the horror of Rusty marching across the kitchen table while we sat there. I filled in one long form and then Kevin arrived and filled in a short one. I finished and filled in the short one as well. We were asked to provide a "professional" reference as well as a few personal ones, and we were not expecting that, so we went with the swim team coach. Hopefully, after the banquet book debacle, he will still paint us in a favorable light! I made sure I cleaned up the house as much as possible just in case. Good thing I decided to portray us in a realistic rather than idealistic light, since she just came right into the kitchen and never even ventured beyond.

On an aside, I had asked Megan, while upstairs, to clean the downstairs bathroom. She made some grumblings about it, but then agreed. I came downstairs and heard her banging around in the basement. I asked Brian why she was in the basement, when I had asked her to clean the bathroom. Then she came up with a bag of trash and asked where she should put it. It wasn't until the Fresh Air lady had left that I realized Megan had taken me quite literally and had cleaned the BASEMENT bathroom instead of the one on the main level. Thankfully, the woman never asked to use one. I would have been horrified to have had her see the state of the one that I thought had been cleaned, when it hadn't!

Anyway, I was still somewhat wishy washy with regards to the preferences for the child. In the end, I put 11/12 as my first age preference, and 9/10 as the second. The first choice gender was boy, but I would rather have an 11/12 girl than a 9/10 boy. Too many variables! I also had to try to figure out which week and whether or not I would try to have this child included in the camp with Brian, if the guy who runs it will agree to it. And, come to find out they may not let us know until a couple of weeks before the time whether or not we are getting a child, and what the age and gender of the child will be!

They actually start their trips in June, but they send them all over the place, to much farther and more glamorous destinations than Monmouth County, New Jersey. So they go through the applications, and they place the kids for the earlier trips first. Brian, who is beside himself with excitement, actually couldn't think of one thing to say. I feel a little badly that we are not getting a girl for Megan to entertain. I figure if all goes well this year, maybe we can do two next year, and take a girl and a boy at that time. So, that is the latest Fresh Air Update. Now I am having internal conflict as to the age/gender, and if I should call the woman and change it. Please offer any input if you like.

And in other news, Kevin had two ugly moles removed today, so he is carrying on. He just told me that when he left the house this morning, he felt like he might never return. The doctor said that although they look awful to the naked eye, when he looks through the microscope he doesn't think they will turn out to be bad. But he sent them out, and should have the results back in about a week. So this is our current patient to worry about. As for me, I worked today with the resource room fourth graders. They did writing with their class, so I didn't have much to do, but then I had to try to teach area of a rectangle to two of them. This wasn't so bad until the shapes became irregular, sort of like two overlapping rectangles, or only part of a whole, as in the layout of a house. Then another sub came in and tried to help, but she was almost worse than the kids, and confused the poor little girl she was trying to help. I sure hope that isn't how I am! I'll be with these kids for the next three days while their teacher administers the state testing to the fifth graders in their group.