where does the time go

Here it is, the eve of the eve of the end of a decade. It seems like just yesterday that Brian put as his Facebook status "16 days off," and it seems like not a day has gone by since where he has not spent hours in his room, presumably doing prep work for his midterms. He has a bit more biology to finish, and then he has math, and then his 20 slide presentation on WWII, and then he will be free to ... go back to school and get more homework! But I'm hoping all of this will help him to study for the midterms, and that they will NOT pile on more work next week. But we'll see. Work is what this school is all about. I hope it pays off in the end!

And obviously I made it to PA and back on Monday. Traffic was a little gnarly on the way home, but I jumped off the turnpike an exit early and found my way to 195. I always get so mad when I decide to take the NJTP instead of one of the free roads, and then come round the bend only to see bumper-to-bumper traffic. Are they going to charge me less in tolls for this inconvenience? Of course not! The more traffic the roads seem to attract, the higher the tolls go. Welcome to New Jersey. Now slow down and pay up!

Kevin and I spent today running around in that lemon I call my Explorer. Two problems now. One is not the car's fault, at least I doubt it. The side view mirror is loose and bounces around, especially at high speeds. That can be fixed, but the question is whether or not the entire assembly needs to be replaced, or just the glass of the mirror. The body shop said the whole thing, and the dealer said it "looks like" just the glass needs to be replaced. The glass alone is $40 but the entire assembly is $240, which is $80 more than it would be if we got it from the body shop.

The dealership experience was bizarre. You go in, and you talk to the man-who-can't-be-bothered, and he gets someone else to come out and look at it. Then he tells the man-who-can't-be-bothered and he tells you the labor charge, but then adds, plus parts. You have to go to parts and ask (yourself) "how much is this part going to be?" Then the nice man in parts will tell you that most people who just replace the glass end up replacing the whole assembly. So Kevin called someone we know from swim team, and he was able to get the part for $100, the whole assembly. And if Kevin can't change it himself, supposedly he has a friend who can.

But the other problem is more annoying. I have peeling paint on the hood. Come to find out through my internet search skills that this is a common problem on many Fords produced during this time period. Apparently they used aluminum to make the hoods so the vehicles would be lighter, and the paint didn't adhere as well. So for years it's been puckering but I never did anything about it. Typically, now that it is a year out of warranty for this type of defect (although I doubt they would admit it was a defect if it were still under warranty) the paint is beginning to chip off. The guy at the body shop said he has done a lot of repair on the Fords for the dealership. Unfortunately, it's a huge job, and can't just be patched. But guess what? I don't care. It's getting patched. The estimate was over $1000!!! Don't think so.

Anyway, in other news, Kevin is going to rise with the birds tomorrow and head out to PA to pick up the swim team luggage. Then he'll go back and rendezvous with everyone at the Y, and bring Megan home. I imagine she will want to shower and then sleep for a few hours and then we have a 5:00 dinner reservation. Of course, I see my favorite restaurant is dropping their own ball at 10, which we could have watched had we not planned this little teenager party - but I guess it's OK anyway, because this way we'll all be home all night. And Kevin's brother flies in on New Years Day for a few days' visit.

Oh, and as a surprise to Megan, I bought her a new mattress pad for her bed. I have all of the mattresses wrapped in hypoallergenic material, but hers was for some reason wrapped in horrible crinkly vinyl. So I took that off and bought a waterproof mattress pad for now. I'll look for one of the softer mattress covers later, but for now she has a nice soft bed that doesn't make all kinds of plastic-y noises every time she moves. I imagine it will feel much better too, but I can't wait to see if she even notices! She might be too tired by the time she gets here, probably not till close to 1!

goodbye 2009

Here it is, the end of the year. Today is the day that the swim team leaves for their trip to PA. I am a designated driver of luggage, just a quick drive there and back, and Kevin will go up Thursday to bring it all home again. So I forgot to set my alarm, and Kevin woke me up with his usual accusatory brusqueness, "IT'S TEN TO SEVEN!"

We were due at the parking lot by 7:45. But we made it! Only the bus didn't. So that worked out ok, the coach took them inside to swim here instead of at the college pool for their morning swim, and I was able to come home to fetch Megan's roast beef hero, which I had forgotten in our rush. Luckily I had packed up everything else last night. So we stood around and froze our toes for half an hour, then I got gas and came home for a few games of fetch the tennis ball with Wilbur.

I'm going to leave in a little while and should get to the hotel in King of Prussia by noon at the latest. I'll make sure they're situated and don't need anything else from the store before I head back. Kevin bought a family four pack of tickets to the Devils game tonight and Brian is bringing a friend (we think). The friend's father is also invited but if he can't go, then I will. I'll have to be back by five in order for that to work out.

Meanwhile, Megan is still planning a little New Years gathering with just a small group, and I'll have to clean the house and prep for that over tomorrow and the next day. I saw some nice looking bubbly beverage at Whole Foods that I'll probably go back for, and maybe some pigs in blankets as well. We'll have our annual New Years dinner at my favorite restaurant (probably no crab cakes just yet, for me!) and then stay home to make sure all goes well. Brian is still plodding through his schoolwork, and I'm trying to help him get it organized. It really is a tremendous amount of information he is being asked to compile, but the more I look through it, the more I think he should probably have had most of it compiled as the year went on, as it's all review work for the midterms. So we'll focus on that over the next couple of days as well.

In other news, I seem to have fully recovered from my crab cake attack. I should go and get some exercise myself over this week at home, but tomorrow I have to take Brian to the eye doctor in the morning and possibly to a tennis tournament that the club is running. He didn't sign up yet, but he usually does that the day of the tournament anyway. I just don't know if they're full this time, usually they call to see if he wants to participate, and they have not done so. Other than that, we expect a quiet week of catching up on laundry and organizing. Kevin spent hours yesterday digging a deeper trench (right in front of the shed door) for the water from the sump hose. Apparently the existing pit was filled to above the level of the pipe, so the pipe was backing up. I thought water would always find a way, but I guess it senses less resistance heading back towards the house than away from it. But the basement did stay dry. Not too bad, considering nearly two feet of snow was melting in a day-long downpour.

so that was christmas

And I will surely remember this one! It started out just fine, everyone was reasonably happy with their gifts although Megan didn't like the color of her new suit, the style (she chose this) or the print (I botched it) of her new wallet, and her sunglasses, although wonderful, were not the ones she asked for (the day after I ordered them). The drive to Philadelphia was uneventful and the brunch and ensuing visit were enjoyable and entertaining - food aside. Even the drive home was uneventful and we were back with the dogs by 7:30.

However, things took an ominous turn when the crab cakes that had smelled not right at all must have finally taken their toll, and I ended up in a terrible state for a few hours. Even today I am not quite right, although I can feel that I am winning the war. I don't know what was wrong, and I wish I had spoken up. As soon as they were set in front of me I smelled a funk, and Brian, across from me, smelled it too. I didn't take much comfort in that as he usually thinks anything that comes from the sea automatically emits a funk. But they tasted equally offensive, so I just mashed them up and pretended I was full. (I was) After the debacle with the french fries that were ordered as soon as we sat down, and then appeared several wisecracks and a good half hour later, freezing cold, I was worried about what would happen to me if I dared speak out against the offensive crustacean.

So I have learned a lesson, and perhaps the positive in this is that I don't have to count some of the calories of my Christmas indiscretions. I've been eating cautiously today, after staying in bed till nearly ten, and Kevin is now off at the Y with Megan, who has the first of a week of grueling practices. She has two tomorrow, and then leaves on Monday morning for their annual practice trip to PA. She returns on New Years Eve. Brian doesn't really have practice, he might one night but I'm not sure. Mostly they are just canceled for the holidays. We have to make sure we get him to the gym to work out, but he is buried in a ridiculous amount of holiday homework. The school is living up to its name. If he still continues to fail classes after all the work he does, something is very wrong. Although I don't know if any of the work he has done so far pertains to biology, the class he is failing!

Anyway, in other news, not a whole lot else is going on. Outside it is terribly rainy and most of the snow is washing away. My little cowboy snowman has disappeared and the yards are almost green again. Piles of white remain, but perhaps after a few days of sun, this will no longer be the case. I am still buried in boxes and wrapping paper cast aside, but I lack the energy or the motivation to clean it up right now. My main focus is on getting out of the house to try to forage for a meal that won't upset my stomach! I have dreams of chicken and rice somehow baking themselves in some sort of casserole dish.

ho ho humbug

So it is Christmas Eve at last. It always seems to sneak up on me, this year I managed to get around to ordering cards, I ordered 40, and they were almost all sent out before I even had time to stock up for the people I left off the list this year who might still be sending to us. I am really very disorganized in my holiday card mailings, I once had a computer file with all the names and addresses in label format, but that was multiple computer crashes and wiped-out hard drives ago, and I never recreated it.

Now what I do is go through my old address book, which has more names crossed out due to relocation, death, or other disassociation than it has actual entries. After I have exhausted all possibilities, I move on to school directories. Then, if all else fails. I break out the swim team directory. But this is imperfect, and I miss a lot of listings. So far I have gotten two cards from people I left out and one from someone I knew I had forgotten but thought I might as well wait to see if I had any cards left. Now I am all out of cards. But it's too late for those "oops" cards anyway. Although I put one in the box at the post office just today. At least it will be postmarked before Christmas.

However, it would appear that I am better organized or spirited than most of our card-peers, as the congregation of cards on the piano seems to shrink every year. So either we fall out of favor more and more each year or this electronic age is just taking its toll on the exchange of tidings. We didn't even get one from the Doll this year!

Anyway, speaking of the Doll, I suppose we will see her tonight. I think we will have to go out for dinner, as my agoraphobia kicks into high gear around the holidays. This morning I spent two hours at Firestone waiting for an oil change, then went to the bank and the gas station. I had to practice deep breathing every time I entered the highway. On my way home, I tried to stop at Acme, but there wasn't a spot to be had, so I continued on. People were driving like idiots anyway, one guy was turned into a lane when he decided he'd do better in the next, and he suddenly veered his car back into the lane he had just turned out of, which was by then occupied by my Explorer. I had had enough when he did that, so I came home.

I don't know if the Doll will want to drive tonight anyway - but I'm sure she will get herself to church. (Last year we went to her church and some sick woman coughed on Brian and got him deathly ill for New Years, not going near there this year. I remember doping him up with advil and cough medicine to take him to the New Years Eve party and then having to leave him and Kevin home from the Mummers parade because of the sickness.) So as long as she is out, she'll probably be happier to go somewhere on a plowed and salted road. Our neighborhood was plowed, but the sheet of flattened snow hasn't completely gone away. I don't find it slippery at all, but it is hard and bumpy, and I haven't driven the Honda yet. It still has a mountain of snow on its roof.

My three days in the class I worked in passed fairly uneventfully although it is exhausting. I do hope that I can find something permanent by fall. Of course, now I have a trip booked in April, and I will want time off in the summer too. So maybe it is best if I just can stay busy with the subbing until fall and then find something right when school starts up again. But I'll see. Hopefully it will all work out. I got my final paycheck of the year yesterday and although it was close, it was less for 2009 than the final 2008 total. So I will see what the new year brings in terms of work. I'm going to have to take more jobs and be less selective, but I always say that. I also applied to be a sub secretary and didn't receive so much as a call for an interview (again.) I guess I should give up on this district and expand my search elsewhere. I feel a little paranoid, as if something is going on of which I should be aware.

And in other news, the bad holiday weather has been pushed back to tomorrow night, so hopefully we can make our trek to Philadelphia before it strikes. This was the reason I wanted to get the oil changed in the Explorer, I think I missed at least one 3,000 mile change and I drove it to Boston and all over NJ not too long ago. So it's all oiled up and gassed up, and ready to go. Then, after Christmas, Megan leaves for the training trip in PA. They will be gone for three nights, returning n New Years' Eve. I told her she could have friends here this year, and she says that she is. So we'll have our dinner out early and then come home and just try to stay awake!

let the digging out begin!

So ... last night they called for a delayed opening for today. Then they changed their minds...no school! And just like that, we had a three day weekend. Well, more than that if you happen to be Brian, who is off already until after New Years, but for the rest of us public school folk - it was a bonus. Although I hadn't minded the delayed opening, I was going to have a shorter work day for the same pay! Now I have to work tomorrow although the system doesn't have me logged in to work. The teacher told me if there was a snow day on Monday I should work Tuesday instead. So I am going to just show up and if they want me, they can add me; if not, they can send me on my way. I have enough to do to keep busy! Kevin is taking Brian into NYC with him for the day.

Anyway, the snow is the big news. It got a bit of a late start so Megan had practice on Saturday although Brian's tennis was canceled. Kevin and I got up and out early to go to the mall, expecting and finding the worst at 8am, only to emerge at 11 to find barely flurries, and roads that seemed not much worse than during a light rainstorm. Of course, by evening this was no longer the case. We holed up in the house and watched some movies, Brian and I fell asleep during Animal House (he probably because he was up the entire night before, celebrating his winter break and I because I drank a huge glass of wine while Kevin was out picking up a pizza) and then we all watched Elf together.

Yesterday was uneventful as we had no need to go anywhere - except for Kevin, who tried to take Brian's little Acer notebook to the Geek Squad, whose ad says they repair anything, even if you didn't buy it from them but who, in fact, do not. So that was a wasted trip. The computer screen is flickering when he moves it, and internet research says it must be a loose cable. Because we waited longer than the 90 days (although this happened well within that time, but he needed it and kept using it heavily until it was too late) we were no longer able to take it back to costco, where we got it, and we had to ship it back to Acer. So we'll see. Hopefully it will come back better than new. Getting a new one might have been worse, because then it might have had the same issue. I hope when they fix it, it stays fixed for good, because aside from this, and aside from the fact that the speakers don't work anymore, it's a great little notebook.

Today I had to run a few errands and then dig out the mailbox. The truck in our neighborhood just drives up and drops the mail right in, so he needs clearance to drive, and somehow we always have the highest drifts in the neighborhood right in front of our mailbox. Anyway, I did manage to make a pretty efficient drop-route for him, and I watched him use it while Wilbur and I put the finishing touches on a little snowman we made while the kids slept the day away. The problem is, Wilbur is now favoring what had been his good leg. I can't pop the knee back in, though, so I don't know if it's a subluxing patella issue or something else. Right now he is wiped out from all the air.

And I am worried about Molly. She is acting her age. Her legs are seeming weaker and she slips a lot more. She didn't bound in the snow like she usually does, and she didn't want to play in it at all. But she is 14, and she's doing great considering. Every day that she wakes up and is happy I consider to be a good day.

In other news, Christmas is coming! I hope that the weather will hold out. And apparently, Kevin has invited (with my blessing from a dreamlike state the other night during Animal House) the Doll for Christmas Eve dinner. I had thought we would just go out, as we are going to church at 10, and it makes it easier to stay awake if we're out, but it seems I said she could eat here with us! So we'll see if that happens. I have to get through the next two days of work and then a day of Christmas wrapping before I can think of Christmas Eve dinner!

And then Megan leaves for their swim team training trip. She will be gone for four days, returning on New Years Eve, and I told her she could have friends over. So we will probably stay at home and try to stay awake. I told her they can all sleep over, boys as well, just so nobody has to worry about being out on the road that night.

the week in review

I haven't written since Tuesday! I can't believe it's been that long since I splattered the unknown on the exit ramp of the GSP. Time sure does fly. I have worked most days since, just taking Wednesday off on purpose to get the house and food ready for the onslaught of high school swimmers. That went fairly well although I did just about run out of sauce. A few stragglers showed up and when I peeked into the crock pot, all that remained were four sorry looking sausages! So we went through a whole pot of sauce, about five pounds of pasta as well as another pound baked into a tray of ziti. Most of the guests brought bread as their contribution, so we're fairly well set now for this big storm that's allegedly headed our way.

Anyway, I did my half day job for the one school yesterday, and was home getting ready to go to Megan's meet when I started getting into some confusion about my job scheduled for today. One of my regular teachers was going to be out for a few days and wanted to request me, but since I was already booked for today, it wasn't showing me the job and she couldn't cancel it. But then I finally got hold of them, and they managed to switch it, but I felt badly, because the job I was switched out of was the one I had been looking forward to for two weeks! But it's OK, because this class is unique, and this is a three day assignment. So again, continuity and Christmas bills.

I'm really trying to maintain constancy of thought here, but Wilbur is repeatedly dropping a dead stuffed baby at my feet. He ripped all the guts out and it has become his favorite fetching item. He drops it at my feet and then paws at the couch until I throw it for him again. Molly, of course, completely ignores everything he does.

So this is it, the last shopping weekend of the season. I decided I'd better run up to the stores for a couple of things but then Megan came with me, and that as a bit of a hindrance. I have no stocking stuffers and since she came with me, I still don't. And she caught me buying her the SAT prep book, so that's just a thing I bought now. But I did manage to get a shampoo and a conditioner, at least.

Oh, and one thing I learned is that if you give people the option to bring something else or bread to a pasta party, they will bring bread. We now have enough bread to last us through the new year and beyond. That will come in handy if we're snowed in tomorrow, we'll all be passing around dried out bread. Even the cats, because I'm pretty sure I'm about all out of cat food now.

And so in other news, Brian got two progress reports. He is doing very poorly in biology, worse than before. I emailed the teacher again, and again, the teacher didn't email me back. I know there is s protocol of contact, but this teacher apparently said to his class that he hates getting emails from parents. Brian was initially begging me not to email him after the first report. But now I have decided that this is just too bad. We don't pay this amount of money for school, and then not be allowed to talk to the teacher of the class that our kid is failing! He is now off from school for the holiday break, but with serious midterms shortly after the return. He has packets to complete while he's off, as well as homework. Not much time to get into trouble, I hope!

road kill and other fun stuff

So last night I decided to take Megan to the 'new' outlets that opened a few miles south of us last year. Not a big success, but we did pick up a few gifts. I offered to take Megan to Chili's for dinner since that's our usual tradition after a swim meet, but it was just too late and too long of a weekend, with school the next morning, after this last one. This is where my fate sealed with that of a poor small animal.

Just as we slowed to get off at the parkway exit, I saw a flash of a small animal bolt out from the ravine on the side of the highway. I tried to brake, but it was already under my wheels, and I ran it over. This is the second time this has happened to me since I have lived in NJ, and it's horrible. I always remember being in a friend's car when I was a kid and we ran over a goose with the father driving and he was so upset.

Anyway, the worst part was looking back and seeing whatever it was (I hope not a cat but it could have been although no houses are within at least a half mile of that spot) was flopping all over the road, even springing up in the air, and the row of cars behind me had all stopped to avoid playing their part in the demise of this poor creature. There was nothing I could have done, but I felt terrible about, and still do.

That was quite depressing, but we had our dinner at Chili's and came home. No jobs were showing up and I was getting a bit discouraged about that, but this morning one did, and it was a fairly good assignment, so I took it. It was Spanish, of all things, but I know they leave you things that you can do even without speaking the language, which is my unfortunate state of comprehension. So I had a day of showing videos and making holiday cards with fifth and second graders. It wasn't bad.

Now I face the daunting task of hosting a pasta party for the school swim team, and I have absolutely NO IDEA how many kids to expect, or what to expect, or anything. I blocked tomorrow out as a no-work day so I won't be shown any jobs, and of course two teachers asked if I could come in tomorrow if they were out, both were feeling ill today in school. But I can't, I have to get the house ready, make five pounds of pasta, a pot of sauce and three pounds of meatballs, and a tray of baked ziti. Stay tuned.

And in other news, I found out Continental changed my flight home from Fort Lauderdale in April! I never even saw the email they claim they sent! But the flight I was on was at 11:15 and they cancelled that flight. Other options were 10am and 1:15, so they put us on the 10am. This means we'll have to leave the hotel by 8! And the swimmers stay at a different hotel but come back to ours for a visit on the last day, and we won't get to see them. Kevin might, he will probably get a later flight back, who knows - but that stinks! Megan will fly home with the team again.

I suppose I could have asked them to switch me to the 1:15 since I didn't make the change, but I don't want to start risking getting home too late either. The next day will be back to school for everyone, and I'll have Brian with me. So annoying. I only found out because someone asked which flights I was on, and what I had in my email didn't make sense so I checked online and the two didn't sync. Ugh.

monday morning

What a weekend that was! First on Friday Megan had the best time in the 200 free although not by much and then Saturday she didn't do so great in the 500 but she came back yesterday morning and swam great in the 200 back and the 100 free, even making it back for finals in the free, which allowed her to scratch the mile after all. And then at night, again, she didn't get a better time than in the morning. But it was OK because she felt good about being there and she has a great time now from the morning, although it's no longer the fastest on the team, which will bump her out of one of the relays. And one of these days she is going to have to swim those distance events again!

So Brian was the second-class citizen again, even though he was supposed to be working on schoolwork, and he has now fallen prey to Megan's virus/cold/whatever it was. He's just a little sniffly right now, and he went off to school, lucky for him (but not for me) there was not a single job showing up for today, so I was able to drive him in.

I'm surprised not to see a job, it has been really busy lately, but I do have some lined up for the end of the week at least. Tomorrow is the last day of the pay period and on Wednesday I have to have the house ready by 6 for a swim team pasta party, so I'd rather not work then anyway. And even though I sort of counted on working today and tomorrow, I have a lot planned for today, hopefully I'll actually accomplish it all: laundry, decorating the tree, making appointments, shopping for the pasta party, and vacuuming up the pine needles already all over the house.

And in other news, Kevin has departed for Toronto this morning, to return in time for dinner, allegedly. Wilbur is dancing around my feet trying to get me to notice the raggedy stuffed 'baby' that he wants me to throw repeatedly for him to fetch, and he seems to have no recollection of his indiscretion this morning: pooping on the floor because I allowed him freedom after breakfast. How long does it take to fully housebreak these little dopes?

day one so far

Well, I guess the cold had not been too much of a killjoy after all. We are back from the morning session of the swim meet, after scratching the 1000 (thank goodness) due to good performance in the 200. We'll be back to watch finals tonight, and seeded #6. That means that the worst position she can secure will be 8th place in the meet. And the time was a best time, by nearly half a second, taken off of the LZR-wearing-fully tapered-not sick time from Nationals in April. So that was a good thing.

Anyway, now we're home and the dogs are happy - Megan will have some sleep for a while and we have to be back there at 5:30. I thought of getting a hotel room but really it takes about 15 minutes to drive to the hotel anyway and then we'd have to check in and then find some dinner, and by the time we get unpacked and situated, we might just as well have driven home to save the 15 or so minutes tomorrow morning. Tomorrow she has the 500 bright and early and after that (I think) the 100 back. Then her best events will be behind her, although she does fairly well in the 100 free, which is Sunday. But she said she is seeded 40th (she was 18th in the 200 though, and is now 6th, so you never know.) On Sunday she also has the 200 back and (I think) the 1650, also known as "the mile." Ack.

In other news, Brian has a school dance tonight so we have to figure out how we're going to work that if we both go up to watch finals. I think the dance is from 7 till 10 so I did have someone offer to drive him both ways. I had asked if she could bring him home but the more I think about it, the more I think he will need a ride there and not home. We should easily be home by 10. Tomorrow Kevin will take Megan to her meet and I'll stay home with Brian, and probably get some decorations up as well. we had our tree cut down last Sunday and it's just been sitting in water in the garage. Oh, and I just had myself a nice drink of water. It tasted funny the whole time, and then I realized why: the dishes in the dishwasher were dirty! So I took out, and used, one of Megan's juice glasses!!! :-( I think I feel a tickle in my throat ...

Oh yeah, and in other good news: I don't think I mentioned that I finally gave up on searching for the missing phone and bought a new one. Well, I discovered yesterday that with my new phone, I can actually search for sub jobs from anywhere that I am! That is big excitement.

a moment's peace

This is what I have decided to take. I'm feeling anxious in general lately with Megan being sick, Christmas coming, and the uncertainty of my work week, although it did turn out perfectly fine. The class and I had a lovely last day together, they were pretty well behaved (with two absent - haha) for almost the whole day. When the worst thing that happens is you catch one of the "good" girls holding up a whiteboard for all to see that says "too late chubby fat boy" to a kid without an ounce of fat on his body, that's a pretty good day. The runner-up event was at the end of the day when I noticed one of the boys in the front row had taken the caps off of five of his crayola markers and put one on each of the fingers on his hand, and was just waving them around while I talked. Of course, the insides of marker caps are full of marker ink, so that had a pleasant aftermath.

I haven't heard from the teacher yet but I imagine she is busy being free and I am busy trying to get everything ready for tomorrow, and right now I'm cooking dinner and have just eight minutes while my pasta boils. Megan is getting a ride home, they got out a little early and Kevin didn't get there in time. I had her ask one of the boys if he could drive her but he was driving another kid and I didn't want to encourage law-scoffing, so I tried to get Kevin there in time but it didn't work. Another girl and her father are dropping Megan off. Kevin is going to the store to buy bone-in pork chops to boil with ginger and wild scallions for some ancient Chinese cold cure. I doubt she will take even one sip, but whatever he feels he needs to do, I guess, is fine.

And then for some reason tonight I was requested by another teacher I don't think I have ever heard of for tomorrow. The job came up and wouldn't go away, I didn't designate tomorrow as a non-work day just in case I had to do the same class again, but when I saw that one was stuck on my screen I thought I'd better give it up, so I posted the day as unavailable, and the job went away. I hate to do that, but I have to be at the pool with Megan by around 7 tomorrow. It's going to be a long weekend.

So she says she is feeling better and I hope that she is. She did stay home yesterday and rest, and she's been taking lots of advil, sudafed, and vitamins. Her voice is a little hoarse but she never did end up with a fever so I hope it was just a bad cold. Maybe the ancient Chinese brew will actually knock the rest of it out, we'll see. I hope he remembers the wild scallions. I just texted him about them.

Anyway, that's about all my time. In other news, the cleaning people came today and they don't do a very good job sometimes. The floors look ok but they use way too much polish on my good wood furniture, they break all my picture frames, and for what we pay them you'd think they would vacuum under the couch cushions, but they don't. The boss woman tried to bully me into letting them come the Saturday before Christmas because Christmas Eve is our next due date, but I think I might call and tell her no, don't bother. I told Megan she can have a swim team pasta party here on the 16th, and if she does, I'll have to clean up for that anyway. But wait and see. They'll be here on that Saturday before Christmas, ruining my furniture, not vacuuming under my cushions, and taking our money. Maybe Kevin will criticize them since he'll be home!

one more day!

So I found out today that I should have one more day left on this assignment. It turned out that I was able to stay in the same class I've been in for the entire week instead of being switched into the other. Although I feel badly not being able to cover for both, if I start for one I would rather stay in that class. Why should those kids have to adapt to a new sub, while the other class is going to have the same one for two days anyway? And that's how it turned out, and I heard the other class was good and well-behaved for her today, so that was good.

My class has not been bad. They're second-graders and they do what they do, but they're a bunch of good kids who look at you with wide eyes when you catch them doing bad things, instead of talking back and not caring. However, the wide eyes don't last long and as soon as you turn your back they're back to their old ways. I learned to bring a water bottle to class. My throat was dry and sore by the end of that first day!!

But the teacher said she thinks tomorrow is the last day she has to be out, their trial is over and they should be wrapping things up tomorrow. So she'll be back Friday and I can take a hopefully-much-improved Megan to her meet. She did stay home from school today, last night when she got home from practice she felt badly, and I took her temperature and it was 99.0. I know this is not a fever, and she had just had a 1.5 hour workout, a hot shower, and a hot dinner, but I also think it meant she was fighting something. So I left her home alone, but woke her up and gave her advil at 7:30, which somehow caused her to remain awake until 4:30, when she finally went to sleep. I woke her up at 6:30 for dinner.

She seems to feel better but for a terribly stuffy nose and the beginning of a wet cough, but she's swum with worse in the past and done well, as have others. It's going to come down to a mental thing which is why she needed this day. Also the horrific weather made it a good day to stay home. She was scheduled to go on a trip to the middle school anyway, and her group was going to the special ed class. So I think for the sake of all involved, it was best that she stayed home, disappointing as it was. And of course she is missing school on Friday for the meet, making this an extra unexcsued absence, because who takes their kid to the doctor for the common cold anyway? I'm hoping they will excuse her swimming absences, as other schools do. They bring in the meet sheets and prove their kids were there, and the schools excuse them. I have to look into that.

I also picked up the certification on Wilbur's unfitness, from my vet. I dropped it off at the pet store and she was fairly nice, of course she tried to say his leg went bad because he jumps off my couches and my bed (no way!) Also since I am not asking her for money immediately she is going to try to discourage me from doing so, ever. But we'll see. I hope it doesn't come to that myself.

Anyway, in other news, Brian still lives here. He has been busy trying to look busy with schoolwork so he won't have to go to swimming! He has not been to swimming in two weeks because he always has schoolwork due the next day. I think it's really important for him to swim, but something always seems to get in the way, like last Thursday we had the college funding seminar and this week he had a ping pong tournament at school and didn't get home until 4:30 and then needed time to get ready for those blasted cleaning people who seem to be coming the next day all the time! On that note - better go recharge my battery for my last day in second grade (for now!)

into the fray

And I have two more days of work lined up now. The teacher I was in for today put in for the next two as I was cooking dinner/stalking the system and I got them both. So I don't know what will happen after that but apparently there IS to be court on Friday as well, when I am supposed to take Megan to her meet. She can always get a ride with someone although Kevin is making noises about missing his annual holiday luncheon to drive her there and watch her. I have driven enough others to meets for one reason or another that I don't feel badly about missing a morning session for work, but he seems to feel that we are letting her down in some way if one of us doesn't go.

But unfortunately she is also sniffling and snuffling a lot now. The meet runs from Friday through Sunday and she has a LOT of swimming to do in that time. So we have her on vitamins, allergy pills, and airborne and we will see what happens. I suggested she go to her high school meet today just to watch or time and she did, but in retrospect I hope this was the right thing, she has homework to finish, was on her feet the whole time, and could have used that time to rest at home.

Oh, and so I did a bunch of shopping on amazon on Saturday and a bunch of stuff came today, including my 2010 Golden Retriever calendar. This is really creepy though, because we sort of feel like we keep Molly alive by getting this calendar every year, like if we don't get it one year, she will die. So this year, the mall didn't have the calendar kiosk!!! I was in a bit of a near-panic when I found the calendar on amazon. But when I opened it, I read the 'deep thought' for January and I am scared! It goes like this:

Near this Spot are deposited the Remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferosity, and all the virtues of Man without his Vices. This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human Ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of BOATSWAIN, a DOG, who was born in Newfoundland May 1803 and died at Newstead Nov. 18, 1808. When some proud Son of Man returns to Earth, Unknown by Glory, but upheld by Birth, The sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of woe, And storied urns record who rests below. When all is done, upon the Tomb is seen, Not what he was, but what he should have been. But the poor Dog, in life the firmest friend, The first to welcome, foremost to defend, Whose honest heart is still his Master’s own, Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone, Unhonoured falls, unnoticed all his worth, Denied in heaven the Soul he held on earth – While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven, And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven. Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour, Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power – Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust, Degraded mass of animated dust! Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat, Thy tongue hypocrisy, thy words deceit! By nature vile, ennoble but by name, Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame. Ye, who perchance behold this simple urn, Pass on – it honors none you wish to mourn. To mark a friend’s remains these stones arise; I never knew but one – and here he lies. ~ Lord Byron

Uh oh.

and so it goes

I should have known when I was sitting here wallowing in boredom and self-pity that my party would soon be over, and I should have done some more laundry, or grocery shopping, or even picked up a vacuum. But no. I didn't. And so the tides turned, just like that. Yesterday, although I had designated the day as a 'stay at home and catch up because next week might be crazy' day, I worked. There were three jobs that were not going away. One was gym, and the other was at an unfamiliar school. The third was only a half day at one of my better schools, so I decided that I'd take a quick shower and if the job remained, I'd do my duty and take it.

It remained. The day wasn't too bad, it was an active fifth grade with a bunch of cute kids who knew they were cute, but unfortunately haven't realized that they are not nearly as cute as they used to be. Their cuteness to me wore off about fifteen minutes after the teacher left the room. But we didn't have a terrible time, for the most part they did what they were supposed to be doing. Then I came home and I called and took all of the kids' money out of their mutual funds so we can put it in bank accounts for their college funds. We'll probably put Megan's in our own name now since it's our money anyway. Of course, we will have to take a tax hit but that's only if the stinkin' funds made money, and I have a feeling they may have not. I was shocked at the small value of the initial shares, just under $2000, and that's nine years after I opened them with probably about that same amount of money. The rest was from contributions we have made over the past few years. I wonder how much we lost on that part, if any.

Anyway after that I paid my own bills and then fed the kids and Kevin and I had dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, always very good to do. Megan has been getting out a little earlier as she is preparing for the meet next week, so that was also a pleasant switch. And Brian stayed in and claimed to be tired, but stayed up late on xbox anyway.

Today Megan had to see the dermatologist, our bi-annual donation of $90 to his practice, as all he does is look at her face and write the prescription for the vitamins she's been taking, and the topical medication that she uses only occasionally. I bet the pediatrician could do this at a fraction of the cost. Then we hit the mall, fairly disappointing, and the weather was terrible, so I came home and got a lot of shopping done on amazon. One click shopping is the best! I even got the golden retriever calendar that I didn't see at the mall. I was worried when I didn't see it that it was a bad sign! We always have a golden retriever calendar: it's what has kept Molly alive for 14 years!

The week is going to be crazy. Tomorrow we have church obligations in the morning, an open house on our block (a party, not a realtor's) in the afternoon, then the church's annual spaghetti dinner at night. I have a job for Monday and will also possibly have the same job Tuesday (long and confusing story) and the rest of the days are in question. The teacher I have is on a jury, so I released two half day jobs so that I could be available, worried that it would make me look bad but thinking it was best for everyone, and then found out that I may be called in for my OTHER regular class instead, for Wednesday and Thursday (rumor has it.) Why do all my people always go out at the same time? But it looks like I may work every day this week, although I hope not Friday. Megan has that big meet and I have to take her there at 7am Friday. There, I told the long and confusing story in spark notes form.

And in other news, I looked into the puppy lemon law a little and found out that Gimpy is still in his 'warranty' period of 180 days. I called the vet and they will write up a letter stating that he is unfit for sale. The consumer apparently has the right to keep the animal and try to cure it (I didn't realize but I could have exercised this right in the beginning with the ear mites, coccidia, and giardia as well, but I was just so ashamed that I had bought a puppy mill puppy for the second time that I just sucked it up and ate the cost.)

But this time, if he ends up needing expensive corrective knee surgery, then I will at least have the law on my side, for all the good it will do. And this is where their overcharging gluttonous ways come back to haunt them: their liability is "limited" to twice the purchase price of the dog. So their 'bargain' price of $1199 will limit their liability to almost the entire cost of the surgery, if he ends up needing both knees done. If he only needs one, it should more than pay for the whole thing, this imaginary payout.

But I'm sure it won't be that easy. This is my first and hopefully only experience with this type of situation, and they do it all the time, and probably know very well how to twist the knife and elude the law. They can require me to see their vet but I think there is no disputing that the dog's knee pops out of place several times an hour. And the last thing I want to see is him go through surgery; although that is not quite true. The LAST thing I want to see is him go so lame with bad knees and arthritis that he can't be helped at all anymore, before his time. So stay tuned for the saga, I hope it doesn't turn ugly but I'm afraid it has the potential to do just that.

another be careful what you wish for day

Well, after I had about hit rock bottom on this whole subbing thing, as they do, things picked up a little. Of course, I have bought Brian a new box of contacts, registered Megan for another SAT and taken Wilbur to the vet; and several other major things I can't remember which now have cost me a fair amount of money that I don't really have.

But anyway, yesterday after the meet (which they won, by a large margin, and the new pool is beautiful) I came home to find that the sub phone had called. As I was starting to get food ready for dinner, it called again so I came in to check on the computer (I'd rather see it in writing) and found a morning job, actually for the teacher to go to the funeral of the boy in Brian's grade who died on Sunday. So I took that, and then checked my email, and found notification from another teacher, although I hadn't seen that job posted.

Well, I later learned that the other teacher was out yesterday as well (she had jury duty,) and I was initially baffled as to why I never saw her job go up, when I remembered that I had blocked myself out from 3pm on for the swim meet! Had she called me, I could have removed that, but I didn't, so I didn't get the job. And the same person who got it yesterday got it again today! But my day was OK, because I had the morning for the other teacher, their classrooms are right next to one another, and they teach as a team so I always have the same lesson plans no matter which one I'm in for. We had an assembly for most of the morning, and as I was on my way out, the secretary hunted me down and asked me to work at a different school in the afternoon.

I usually say no to these requests, but today I felt like I really should take it. So I said ok, but I have to go home first and make sure that I locked my front door (long story that involves kids who have keys and never use them). They said that I could get to the other school at 12:30, that was fine. It was noon when I left the first school. I rushed home, slightly panicked, and was horrified to find that my fears were not unfounded, that the door was, in fact, not just unlocked, but unSHUT as well. I entered with great trepidation and noted that the house, in its natural state, already looked ransacked, so it was hard to tell if any damage had been done by intruders.

Molly was, as usual, playing dead and unresponsive. Wilbur was, as usual, standing up in his pen. The one I worried about the most, Wren, was on the counter, having some chow. So I let the dogs out, inhaled some lunch, and ran back out for a fairly pleasant afternoon at the school where I had the horrible para experience two years ago, when I was almost hired and then unceremoniously dismissed when they had to give the job to someone else, who was already in the para union.

After I left this second school, I ran up to get the contacts I had ordered for Brian, and stopped into the grocery store. On my way home, I received a breathless call from Brian, aghast at being accused of being responsible for the demise of the beloved Rusty, who was nowhere to be found. Trying to stay calm, I pulled into the driveway and parked in front of his favorite hedge. (Rusty rarely goes out but when he escapes he usually climbs into a hedge and screams his head off until I finally manage to drag him out.)

So cautiously I tried his name: "Rusty? Rusty?" I thought I heard a rustling so I tried again. Then it started - the panicked yowls coming from the hedge. Whew. (right on cue, Rusty has just appeared behind my shoulder.) He was not so happy about his situation but he seems pretty glad to be out of it now! So it ended better than it could have, this house opened up to the world for four hours. Good thing I came home.

Anyway, after this, I saw that the sub phone had again called, so I checked in and saw a job posted for the teacher on jury duty, so I quickly snatched it up. I sent her an email just to make sure she hadn't intended to get the same sub back, and she wrote back, so I ended up talking to her on the phone. She is on a case now so it will be day to day but the problem is that I have two half days booked for next week, and I would like to drop them but don't want to cause trouble. So tomorrow I'll call the secretary and see what she says, and if nothing else, I can call personnel and see what they think I should do. Good thing I took that afternoon job today! I think court is closed on Fridays in our county, so the job will start Monday and could run the whole four days of next week. So I won't have to worry about this stalking of the system for a little while, at least!

And in other news, tonight Kevin and I attended a little seminar on how to pay for college. It was interesting, we did learn a few things we didn't know about the process and about where to keep your money (ie not in accounts with the kids' names on them.) They also told us about a few colleges that are not very free with their financial aid, one of which unfortunately is one of Megan's picks. But it will be OK. There are plenty of others and I am sure it will work out. I also signed her up for the January SATs so we will have a better idea what her starting point is before she takes them in May. If she does well enough, she might not have to take them again anyway - then she can just take another subject test and the ACTs and be done with it all! (until the GREs) One of the points that the speaker highlighted was how schools have to utilize their money as it best suits them, and his case example: Hofstra football. I know there are many sad men in America today!

do you remember ...

I remember five years ago today. It was not a clear and brisk but beautiful December day as it is today. It was an ominous, rainy, windy and spooky day. I didn't know why, but I awoke with a feeling of foreboding that centered around the appointment I had with Brian, his first at the neurologist to investigate his shaky hands. Little did I know that morning what kind of journey we were about to embark upon: the neurosurgeons and hospitals, the MRIs and the anticipation of their results, and the many, many follow-up visits that we still enjoy twice a year.

In fact, I have not even confirmed that all was well with the most recent MRIs in September, but we did call about that swine flu vaccine and nobody mentioned any problems. Brian has had no complaints about any of the related issues, so we'll coast through the next two months and hear it from the horse's mouth at our February appointment. I can't believe that it's been five years. Just yesterday, we heard about the death of one of Brian's former classmates, a 14 year old who had the misfortune to be born with a muscle-wasting disorder. I never really knew what it was, but he started elementary school just a little clumsy, but left in a wheelchair for middle school. All of this reminds us how lucky we are to only have a "little chiari," although I follow many who suffer a lot at the hands of this mysterious affliction. We are very grateful that the last five years have turned out so well for Brian, and we are cautiously optimistic for a continuation of this outcome.

On a slightly lower medical note, Wilbur continues to sublux his patella several times a day. I figured out that when he holds it up, it I pull it all the way bent, it pops back into place! He doesn't seem to mind, in fact, as soon as he feels the pop, he knows he's ready to run and off he goes. It's quite a bizarre malady my dog has developed. We met an older couple when we were out the other night and their pom-a-poo has it in both knees. They called it a 'trick knee.' Theirs is just bowlegged, though, her knees don't actually pop out all the time and make her go lame. Although Wilbur is getting pretty good at getting around on three legs. The problem with that is that his other leg is similarly affected, and if he stresses it too much, it might start subluxing its patella as well.

So I haven't worked in a while. I saw a few jobs yesterday but my head was exploding from the sweet drinks on Saturday night and the headache that took two days to get rid of. This morning I saw two, but they were not jobs that I would have been comfortable in. Also this is getting very old, this never seeing anything all day and then having to drag myself, bleary-eyed, to stalk the computer for anyone who might have woken up ill or with a sick child. I also cross-referenced to last year and I was not so busy at this part of the month, but it picked up as the actual holidays drew closer, when teachers start to take time off to shop and decorate. So we'll see. I really just have to be able to pay down my credit card bills by the end of June.

Anyway, in other news, the first high school swim meet is tomorrow at our new pool! There's a pasta party for the team tonight, which Megan will go to after her Y practice. I hope she doesn't have a lot of homework, she still needs to bring the grades in those few hard classes up a little. Oh, and she got her PSAT scores yesterday. She did pretty well in the math and writing, but her critical reading, as usual, was the weakness. Still, the score wasn't terrible, equivalent to about a 570 on the SATs - but there is room for improvement in that. We're counting on her to win some of her own tuition, either academically or through the pool - so the higher she scores, the more likely that is to be fruitful. Thursday night there's going to be a workshop for us first-time parents on how to afford college when you really can't. (Actually that isn't what they call it, but I hope it will be what they discuss!)

diagnosis confirmed

Yesterday when Wilbur started limping badly again, I decided it was irresponsible of me to not at least confirm my internet diagnosis of his knee problem. Kevin, ever the pretend optimist, continued to insist that he either had something in his foot or that he had sprained his leg in the slip on the stairs. He got hostile when I researched the cost of the expensive and extensive corrective surgery.

I was willing to wait for my favorite vet, and was surprised to hear that he would be in today. So I made an appointment for 9:45 this morning, and off went the fountain drooler and I for our assessment. I told the vet what was happening and that I had already looked it up. He said, what did you find? ... I said, what are you going to tell me I found? And then he popped the right knee out of place. And then the left. And then the right again, so I could feel it. And then he let me put Wilbur back on the floor, where he promptly fell down, because his knees were out of place.

But the good news is that although I was right, the vet is conservative. He doesn't operate on these dogs unless they need it, and an intermittent popping out that isn't even seeming to cause pain is not cause for surgery. So we will have to keep his weight down, feed him well and make sure he gets certain vitamins and supplements, and hope for the best. The worst case is a $1,500 surgery per leg. And possible arthritis. He said he is Stage 2 of 4. Some dogs will stay there for life. Only time will tell.

Last night was the homecoming dance, so Megan went off to that. It was fairly uneventful or at least as far as we are to know. Last year we had E to fill us in on some of the details, but this year, we got nothin'. Brian and Kevin are off today to watch the Devils game with the church youth group, which ended up being Brian and Kevin and the leader and his grown son, who used to be Brian's guitar teacher before he let that fall by the wayside along with the piano. Brian has hopes of going to see the Jets with his new friend, but the friend uninvited him when he found out that Brian couldn't sleep over. So we're not sure if he is really invited or not, or what the plans are for tonight.

In other news, my lost phone has not resurfaced. I see that I last used it a week ago at 4:31 to call Kevin. The only place I went after that was out to dinner, although I'm not sure if I was at the grocery store at that time or if I was back. I guess I could check my email and see if I sent any around that time, then I would at least have some more evidence. But I'm getting less and less optimistic of ever finding it. I'd like to get an iphone, and would be willing to pay the one-time charge, but having to add $30 a month to my service is a bit extreme and I'm just not willing to do that to have a little fun with my phone.

It's inconceivable to me that so many people actually pay this money each month. Am I missing something? I already pay over $150 a month for the three lines (well actually four, because I'm waiting until it will cost me nothing to drop E's old number, and it's a good thing too, because at least I have that junky phone to use while I wait to decide how to replace mine - but even that only adds $13 a month) so I can't imagine adding another $30 to that. I should shop around for plans.

Consumer Reports says that Verizon is best and at&t is the worst! I haven't had any problems with them but then I get mad when they tack on all these extra fees, like charging ME $18 to commit to them for another two years and calling it an "upgrade fee" when I also have to pay for the phone, it's just stupid. But T-Mobile also seemed to be held in fairly high regard. I don't know. They have usually worked with me in the past so I guess I'm going to have to head to the mall. Only the actual at&t shops can make changes to my plans, since the franchise store in Middletown was making unauthorized changes to my account.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll post some news while Kevin preps the bird. After that I have to get the potatoes ready and straighten up the house for the Doll and her dog, who should arrive around 4.

We were all up and out in time for the start of the football game, which our team won by an overwhelming margin. They were up 35-0 at the half, so they stopped stopping the clock on plays and just let it run continuously for the entire second half. Nobody scored after they did that.

But the big news was the naked boy who ran across the field between the first two quarters! He ran across, had some trouble getting into his shorts, and then finally gave up and scaled the high fence, shorts in hand. A cop commenced pursuit, although he hit a little rough spot at the top of the fence, but did make it over, and, perhaps with backup, apprehended the poor kid in the woods behind the field. Turns out the boy was one of E's friends from last year! I hope he won't get into too much trouble. He really didn't disrupt the game, and other than the cop who had to climb the fence, noone was ever in any danger.

Anyway, my unfortunate news seems to center around Wilbur. Yesterday morning he started hopping around, only using three feet when he walked, and not really wanting to go up and down the stairs to the yard, or to jump the three inch high gate to get into his pen. I googled "limping pomeranian" and discovered that there is a trait common to many small, especially ill-bred dogs, called 'luxating patella.' His symptoms and his profile fit the description perfectly so although Kevin is trying to blame it on a slip on the stairs in the morning (and I hope he is right), we may be looking at more of a problem. The good news is that it may be correctable and is not life-threatening. The bad news is that correction means surgery, it is often bilateral when present, and dogs with this condition are more prone to develop arthritis. Just great. He's lucky he is so cute. And with Baxter coming over later, I hope that he won't get himself overly excited. (as if)

Anyway, we'll get him to the vet when it's feasible. I suspect that my favorite vet, and the only one I'd trust to make the diagnosis, is probably off for the weekend. And that will give it time to heal if it's going to. It isn't broken, because it's intermittent limping.

And so that will be a new expense, on top of Christmas and on top of the plane tickets I just purchased for Brian and myself to fly to Florida in April. They dropped from over $400 to under $300 so I decided to snatch them up. But last year I paid $250 total, this year with taxes they came to about $322 apiece. But I didn't know what the airlines would do, and I figured at best I'd save $100 and at worst I could end up losing much more. So I went ahead and reserved our seats. We'll fly out of Newark on Tuesday after Easter and fly back in the following Sunday. Kevin will get his own tickets using miles, and Megan will fly down with the team.

And in other news, the holiday season is now upon us. I am going to call for a Charlie Brown Christmas this year, which means don't expect glamorous gifts from our household! The kids will have to deal with it, Brian's Christmas present for the next four years will be his continuing high school education! And Megan's will be the car she is going to get without having to contribute much of her own money, even though she complains that she is going to get the "old Explorer." How many people get a car for free when they turn 17? And now, I have lost all focus due to constant nags and requests from the kitchen, where Kevin is just putting the turkey in but wants us all to come in immediately and cut up potatoes for five people, so we can have them ready two hours in advance and he can sit and drink beer. Happy Thanksgiving!

my tuesday morning adventures

But allow me to start with yesterday afternoon. I was browsing my email, as I do all day every day, and there were two emails from the company that runs the widget that was checking for jobs for me. One referenced a refund, and the other explained that my district has 'opted out' of the service. No idea why. So I am scrambling to figure out what to do. I did find out that there's an add-on that will continuously refresh the page for me, so I don't have to keep hitting F5. But it won't alert me to any changes on the page and it has to be run with Firefox. So I installed Firefox, got the add-on, and now I have to use windows of different sizes so I can see if the red words announcing no openings fleetingly turn to the black text of an available job.

This morning, nothing. The red letters remained. It's a half day two days before Thanksgiving, and there are teacher conferences, so I don't expect much. Then Megan called and said she had forgotten something. I had to drop it off at 8, it was for a party of sorts at school. Just then, I noticed the red had gone black. And it was a job I would have liked! Fifth grade at the closest school. I pondered my capabilities as far as showering, driving the cups to the high school, and still getting to the job by 8:30. I decided I could do it. And just like that, the black was red again. Wow! You have to move fast.

Apparently there are other programs that will actually *accept* the jobs for you. You set the parameters: schools, dates, even teachers if you like; and it will accept them as soon as it sees them. I wonder if others are doing this already, hence my not seeing anything? Although this new reloader reloads every 10 seconds, where the widget wouldn't go more frequently than every minute. So technically, as long as I can sit and stare eternally, I should stand a better chance at snagging something. At least until I leave the house. Or walk out of the room.

And so I lost the job for today. I dropped off the cups for Megan, then went to the gas station and the bank and came home and took a walk. I was about to have my shower when I noticed a large, rottweiler-ish dog just out walking around. She was going up people's driveways and walkways and looking a little skittish. I could see she had a collar on, so I assumed she had just gotten loose, but I didn't want her to get hurt OR to bite me. So I called animal control. "Right away" turned out to be over half an hour, and of course, she didn't stay nearby. So I went out in the car to stalk her, as she continued trying to find her house. She stayed on the sidewalk side, but she did cross the street at one point.

Finally, along came Animal Control. As I was showing him where she was (not where I had said when I called, obviously), I found his partner already with her. And just as the two of them were leashing her up, a man in an SUV pulled alongside and opened up his back door. So I guess she was saved in the end. It made me think that if Wilbur ever got out, nobody would know who he was. He doesn't wear a collar because he chokes and hacks when things squeeze his throat. When he goes for walks, he wears a harness which we don't leave on. He is micro-chipped but I don't even know if that is registered. Maybe I should put a collar on him just for decoration and then he can wear baubles like Molly does. Even Molly has outdated rabies tags on her collar, and probably outdated dog licenses as well. They're such a pain to get off and on that I just hope if she got away and was found, they'd call and find out that she's up to date on everything.

And in other news, I found another lucky penny today. So the phone rang and it was actually a call in response to a resume I sent in. Sadly, they wanted someone for (of course) nights and weekends. I'm pretty sure the job was listed as part time days or I wouldn't have sent it in. And I almost wish I could take a job on nights and weekends and then switch to days. But it isn't worth it at this point. Megan is only home for another year and a half, why would I want to spend my nights and weekends at work? (Oh, that's right .. to help pay for her to go .. haha)

But at least I finally got a call. That's more than has happened in the several weeks I have been working at this. And I do expect things to slow down now that the holidays are here. Maybe they'll pick up again in the new year.

Meanwhile, I am still watching this whole flu thing. Now we have mutating virus samples, resistant strains (they reported this months ago and now they're acting like it's news), and severe reactions from vaccines in Canada. I don't think the fog will ever lift on this one. Maybe we should all move to France. Swine flu seems not to want to mess with them so much. But it's good to be able to be at home in case anyone does get sick. ::knock wood::

monday morning again

It always seems to be Monday morning! Of course, this morning, when I have decided I won't take any jobs unless I know the teacher posting it, two came by my screen this morning! I have to get to the store to pick up a turkey, potatoes, and cider, and I have to cook baked ziti for Kevin to take to work tomorrow, so I'll make one for us for dinner tonight as well. I also have to pick Megan up at school and drive her to the HS practice at the new pool, and I'll probably just wait and bring her home with me, so she can get here earlier and start her homework, because she still insists on going to Y practice, despite a physics test tomorrow.

And Kevin has taken my GPS. So we may not even find the new pool.

The cleaning woman finally called and told us she would come around 1:30, which was perfect because we would be out and then come home to a clean house. But no. We came home to a being-cleaned house and had to lay low for almost another hour! So they must have come more like 2:30 or 3. It was a bit annoying and the house really only needed a quick vacuum and dusting (and always a mop) so it was more trouble than it was worth.

Megan must have done something to make her coach mad, because she had to swim the 200 fly at the meet on Saturday! She's never done it before and she struggles with the butterfly but - amazingly - she came in second in the heat! Oh, but wait. It doesn't count when you do the flutter kick in butterfly! So she was caught, and disqualified :) But now she likes the event, because she feels like she can do better if she can learn to keep her feet together when the stroke starts to break down towards the end. So she'll probably swim it again.

Otherwise, it was a quiet weekend. Kevin blew off more of the never-ending leaves off the lawn (I think the town is picking them up soon) and I just puttered around, searching for jobs online and taking my walks. Oh, and we bought a new cat condo for the bedroom, the cats have been sleeping on a collapsing pile of boxes for three years now, and I had a Petco coupon, so I got it for 20% off. Nobody used it last night, but they all checked it out. Rusty is always up for new things, so he spent the most time on it, but usually it's Wren who likes the window seat. But bad Wren had busted out and was outside all day, so she must have felt like she didn't really need to see out at night.

In other news, this is a short week. Brian has school today, then mass and tests and labs due tomorrow. Megan has 2 1/2 days of school, getting out early on Wednesday. Thursday is the homecoming game against the across-town high school, so I hope the weather will be nice, and Friday is the homecoming dance. Kevin and Brian are going to a Devils game on Sunday with the church group (which really won't be many people, apparently) and E tells me that Brian's friend and his family are coming to their house for dinner one night this week. They're in town at some sort of time-share, and the older brother is looking at the colleges there.

what's in a dream

I had the weirdest dream last night. I guess Wilbur started to whimper around 7:30 so I woke up in the middle and remember some of it. It obviously won't make any sense, but in part of it, I was trying to get a job at my last employer, only the offices were the old World Trade center offices of the one before it. There was something about a road trip to visit colleges, and we had the car all packed for that. Then at one point, Kevin was brown-nosing my old boss, and when I looked into the room, I saw that one of my fellow substitutes was in the front of the room, also scoring major points, while I tried to even get in the front door.

Just then the job bell went off, and when I opened up the listing, it was 'Big Top Operator,' and I was trying to find the job description because I couldn't imagine what that would have been. Other random people were wandering around, including one of the 9/11 widows from our town. I have no idea how all of these things tie in together, they must be all of the issues that haunt my psyche, but I don't know why they were all in there troubling me as I tried to find a job!

Anyway, now we are all up and still no call from the wayward cleaning lady, who demanded to disturb us on a Saturday so she could get her pay in lieu of skipping the week, since her day falls on Thanksgiving Day. I had told her she can't come before 11, so if I know her, she plans to just show up then. But she did tell me that she was going to call, she said she had to call her other customers. So I have to get the laundry and clutter all straightened out.

Last night our high school won their last playoff game, so they will play for the state sectional title next, last year they failed to achieve that goal; the venue has yet to be announced but one of the possibilities is Giants Stadium! That would be cool. I hope we can go, but with swimming conflicts, one never knows.

Anyway, in other news, Brian went to see 2012 last night so now he can worry about the end of the world AND aliens, which he worried about after he saw The Fourth Kind. I am still hoping to somehow get to see New Moon - without E here nobody else in the house even cares about it, and Megan is too busy to be dragged out to it this weekend. Since it looks like next week will be slow work-wise, I should have the mornings free Monday and Tuesday. Brian is off from school from Wednesday, and Megan gets our Wednesday at noon. I still don't have a turkey, but I also plan to do that Monday or Tuesday. Last year after I bought mine, I saw it for about $8 less at Costco. So I'm going to go there one morning and brave the mobs.

sigh.

Well, I now understand the conference set-up. All the teachers line up along the wall with their grade books and laptops, and the parents take a spot on a queue to have their few minutes. I headed straight for science, but the guy was late to his desk, so I jumped over to the history teacher, who had nice things to say and we went over the grades and everything was going pretty well. So then I saw the math teacher's line was shorter and headed to him next. We had a pretty good talk, he's a nice, young, and enthusiastic teacher, and it seems that Brian has missed some homeworks as well as had some poor grades on recent tests. So we agreed that I will check that he has done his homework, not just by asking but by checking the homework log online and then seeing the actual work, and that Brian will come in to the teacher in the morning if he is ever unsure of the material.

On to science next, and I had a bit of a longer wait for him. Apparently it's the labs in that class, Brian won't answer in enough detail and he isn't following the proper 'rubric' for these assignments. So that's mainly what has dragged his grade way down in there; for the most part he has had respectable test scores. I moved along after this to religion (doing OK but missed an assignment so will lose points on that, he claims he emailed it and it was in his drafts folder, not really a viable excuse and also probably means he submitted it late anyway because I think they're usually turned in in hard copy) and Spanish (not much to say here, this is oddly enough his best class, his only A, and she said that his '96' average on tests was "unusual.") Hmm. She's not kidding. (haha)

Finally, I glanced over to the longest line and yes, I had to wait on it. English. Brian is sitting right at 80 in that class, which is generally where he sits in English classes no matter what. So I introduced myself and explained that Brian seems to be lacking the family's English and writing gene, and what can I do about it, and where is he falling short...and again it seems to be that he has come in unprepared for a few tests, like on poetry pieces and outside reading, mainly. His writing grades were more solid, so that was good, but his grammar test scores were not so impressive.

But overall I left the night feeling that there is hope. At least I didn't have an experience as I overheard next to me at one point, where a parent was being asked, "does he want to be here?" All of his teachers (except for science) seemed to feel he was on the right track and would be able to bring his grade up substantially. The science teacher didn't say he couldn't, but he did have some of the lowest grades in the class, consistently, on labs, which would also annoy me as a teacher, if the student showed no motivation to improve or change.

And here I sit, yet again, not having a job for the day. Usually on Fridays, the job bell goes crazy but this morning Megan was late which caused me to be gone for a longer period at a more critical time, and I also think that fact that it's a short student day and a conference day is making less teachers take the day off. I expect this may continue up through the Thanksgiving holiday, but then usually they take days during December. But this year is a new animal and things have not been the same at all. I'm afraid my job search will probably slow down a bit as well (as in I won't see any more listing for which to apply and be ignored,) so that will be depressing. I don't imagine most companies are heavily into hiring in December.

In other news, Megan has swimming for both teams after school again today, and then next week she has to get in three more high school practices. They have it on the schedule for the days before and after Thanksgiving but I don't know if they thought that through. Friday is also their homecoming dance.

And our college search is more or less on hold now, because of all this swimming - over Christmas we may take some day trips to schools close by in NY, NJ, and maybe PA (she will be at Villanova anyway for the training trip) and then it will go on hold again until after Easter, and then she will be preparing for her AP tests in school, as well as the SAT and ACT tests. Our summer vacation will probably be a driving trip to the south, Virginia and North Carolina perhaps, to have a look at some schools down there, and maybe in Maryland as well. Also, for some reason, University of Miami keeps coming up. Maybe we can somehow have a quick look at it, even without her, while we're down there in April.

sloooowww week

This is a week that drags. I worked a half day Monday, then a full day yesterday. For Tuesday, I did see a few jobs but I didn't take them and I probably should have. The elementary schools are having early dismissal for teacher conferences from today through next Tuesday, and then all the schools close early Wednesday for Thanksgiving break. So I should be taking whatever I see, but for some reason, I didn't. But at least I had a lot of time to go food shopping and get dinner ready for what was a crazy night with everybody on a different schedule.

Brian's report card came home with him the other day and it was as he said. The overall average is in the 80s so that's fairly respectable but math and sciences in the 70s are not. I'll go tonight to the school for their "parent teacher conferences" although I have no idea what that means or how it works, does everyone just go into the gym and stand in line waiting to talk to a teacher? It runs for two hours in the gym tonight. The public high schools don't have any such thing, so I can only guess that this is how it's going to be? I didn't get any request for a conference or anything that I could send in requesting one, so I hope it is not by appointment only!

And Megan is now two practices down towards the mandatory six to swim in the first high school meet. I think she is going to have to miss her Y practice Monday night because she has a physics test the next day and that's one of her lower grades, which she really could bring up with just a little effort. This is one of the hardest times of the year for her. But at least this year she doesn't have the added stress of an adversary living in her house! Hopefully that will ease the pressure of the times this year.

And nothing else of much interest is going on. The trees are shedding their leaves, I took both cars through the car wash over the past two days and just noticed what a horrible mutilation job the place did on the front license plate of the Honda. It's all curled and twisted as if it had been used as a battering ram. All of the pets are just lying around, Molly is harder and harder to rouse from her rest. Yesterday she didn't go out with Wilbur except on one or two of his many outdoor visits, and after dinner, I guess it caught up with her because she suddenly squatted down and dropped two turds on the family room rug, right in front of Kevin!

another manic monday

All of Megan's Mondays will be manic for a while, starting with today. Today was the first day of high school practice at their brand new pool (half an hour away) So she had to go there and swim for two hours, then I had to pick her up and take her straight to the Y where she will remain for four hours. And on the way there, she told me that she has a B average in Calculus. This might sound good, and I suppose that it is, but it's actually one of the lowest grades she's ever had. And there may be others. And I attribute this not to her intelligence or effort, but due to the fact that she flat out refuses to sacrifice any of her Y time to study for tests in these more challenging courses.

So she has to attend six high school practices before she can swim in a HS meet, and their first is going to be December 2. This Monday and next will be the worst, because she plans to do this again next week. She'll go on Wednesdays and Fridays but she doesn't go to the Y on Wednesdays and on Fridays she doesn't have to worry about schoolwork, or getting up the next day. So this is when I get stressed over her schedule. And to top that, some fool parked in the bus loading zone so when the bus pulled up it angled its way in and blocked ME in, because I had left it room behind the fool so it could unload. Then I had to wait so long for it to finally pull away that a JV football game had just let out by the time we started moving, and it took us 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot.

Brian, meanwhile, has officially withdrawn himself from his high school swim team. He wasn't all that keen on it anyway and he doesn't have to do it if he doesn't want to. He hopes to try out for tennis in the spring, but that may be challenging. The swim team would have been nice because he probably would have been able to stay on the team, they don't really cut a lot of kids although not all get to swim at every meet. But it was going to cost us extra money and I was going to have to drive him pretty far, and every day. And they were not going to be flexible about the three other clubs to which he belongs. He had a meeting today, and he's going to a Mexican restaurant with the Spanish club later in the week. And hopefully he can sign up to go hand out sandwiches to the poor again. He would have had to give up all of this to do a sport he doesn't even enjoy.

And now he will have no excuse for not bringing his Cs back up to where they belong, at a B minumum.

Imagine if I had been my own parent.

Anyway, in other news, I had a half day assignment today which was one of the easiest ones ever. I was covering for a teacher who went into two meetings the entire afternoon, for about five or ten minutes each. I stayed with her the whole time anyway, just in case she got called into another one, which she never did. So it wasn't very trying, and I got to watch a teacher at work, which is always helpful with my own skills. When I got home, the bell rang again and I picked up another full day for Wednesday, that same class that I have been in so often. Amazing how I don't see anything else for days on end. I'm pretty sure a lot of jobs are just filled by a phone call and a handshake these days. I stalk the thing constantly and almost never see anything, aside from first thing in the morning.

randomness from the week

This was one of those weeks that seem to go by really quickly even though every day you wake up and think, "it's only ...??" The trip to Delaware and Pennsylvania was a success (thanks for the noodles and gravy and beef, mushrooms a little) despite the weather and the overwhelming bulk of college information we are now trying to process. We don't have all the information we need yet anyway, such as times from this season, grades from this year and ANY testing scores aside from the SAT2. So this is all factfinding, which means we don't have to hear every little detail about every single school we see. In fact, it's too overwhelming!

Also this week in school, Brian found out his grades. Two are still C's! I am ripping out my hair. Clearly he is aware of these things but his reasoning seems to be that if he doesn't tell us about poor grades and issues that come up, he won't get in trouble at that moment. So he only needs to get in trouble eight times in the entire school year (every progress report and every marking period end) and that's better, in his eyes, than every time he gets a bad grade. But he doesn't seem to realize that he REALLY gets in trouble for not telling us, when we ask all the time if he has gotten any tests back. And instead of "you should work harder next week," he gets his phone taken away at night and spends the weekend indoors, and not on his xbox - that would be too much fun and not motivational in any way.

On the plane home from London, I watched He's Just Not That Into You. The premise is that the main character is somewhat of a junkie for bad relationships, and the worse the guys treat her, the more she rationalizes that they are really just too busy, or they haven't gotten around to calling yet. Lately I have been thinking that this sort of sums up my job hunt. No matter how many online resumes I send, or letters I mail out with no response, every time I find a new one, I hold my breath each time I check for messages. It is the same thing!

So in other words: nothing is going on. I worked my morning job today for the assignment where someone else snatched up the PM part of it while I was accepting the AM. It was fine, but then one of the other teachers I usually cover for was out all day so I probably could have had that if I hadn't been in just for the morning. But I did manage to get all of my Thanksgiving food drive shopping done as well as one holiday gift project. So at least there is that.

Yesterday, Wilbur got his stitches out. He didn't appreciate it much, but I think he is much happier now. I dropped another stool sample to get him checked out since he had so much trouble when he was new. I haven't heard yet, but last time I think they didn't call for a couple of days either. Hopefully no news is good news, though. I think last time it was over the weekend. They should have the results back today, I think. Uh oh. Phone is ringing.

Well it was Kevin. And while I was talking to him my job search bell went off, but by the time I logged into the system, the job was gone anyway. It was only a half day for Monday afternoon. I hope to work a lot next week, as it's crunch time on the summer bills. I like to have them paid off before I run up the holiday ones.

Anyway, in other news, high school swim practices start on Monday. It doesn't look like Brian is going to be able to do his high school swim team after all. For one thing, it costs $350. For another, I have to drive him to the pool, which is about half an hour away on the parkway, and he has to be there right after school, which means I can't work. And finally, they demand complete dedication, which means he would have to give up his three other after school clubs. Since he isn't really that into swimming anyway, I think the cons outweigh the pros in his case, unfortunately. He can keep on swimming at the Y for his workouts, and maybe next year it will fit better. But he actually needs to have more free time anyway to stay on top of his schoolwork, so perhaps it is for the best.

Incidentally, that job just reposted, so I took it. It's only for the afternoon Monday, but that means I won't be home until 3:30, and I won't be able to drive him to the pool. But he has to go to an important mock trial meeting anyway, so he will do that and won't be done until 3:30 or so anyway. Theoretically, his Y practices should count in lieu of school workouts, and the Y practices on Sundays. So if his coach would allow him to substitute the Sunday workout for Monday, then we might be able to swing it. But at this point, I just don't see it happening.

onward and onward

Well, Brian had off from school yesterday. It was a beautiful day for a surprise day off, but it cost me a day of work because I stayed home to get him in to the orthodontist, so I won't have to do it tomorrow and I am free to be in Delaware all day if I like. (weather permitting?) He went to see The Fourth Kind which is a movie I would never even think of seeing! It kind of scared him (who isn't scared of alien abductions?) but he couldn't really explain it very well. Maybe he was hiding under his seat the whole time.

Megan did well at the second day of the swim meet on Sunday, she was third and fourth in a couple of events after being fourth in the one on Saturday. It was ridiculously long again, though, and they didn't get home until 9pm, nearly a 12 hour day for them. And she was back to school yesterday. Next week high school swimming will start. That's going to really complicate things for us all.

And my job search is fizzling again. I love that you can just go to these websites: hospitals, schools, banks, etc, and send in your resume, but what I hate is that you have to re-enter the same information over and over and over again, while at the same time attaching a resume that says it all anyway. But of course, I've had no calls, my background is not entirely right for most of them. What I want is just a basic money-making mind-occupying job that will maybe turn into something more in 3-5 years. At least for this year, I would like to be able to get home by 3. Next year when Megan drives, 4 or 5 will be more acceptable.

Of course, this morning in my email I found a job for which I actually seemed qualified. It said they want someone with excel and database experience, which are the words that are all over my resume. I am half tempted to send it in anyway, to see if I get any interest, but the problem is that it's full time and half an hour away. They don't say the hours, if it were 8-4 I might be able to pull it off, although then my little dog would become a latchkey dog, home alone every day from 7:45 till 2:30. I guess I won't send it in after all. I can't even do 7-3 because I drive Megan to school at 7. Even if I drove her to the bus, we'd leave at 6:45. I guess 7:30-3:30 is manageable, but anyway, I doubt that I get to set the hours. It's probably 8:30-4:30 or worse, one those 8:30-5:00 jobs that gives you an hour for lunch, unpaid.

I've actually decided to try to volunteer a day or two a week at one of the hospitals if I can. That way they will know me when the right job comes along, and hopefully, they'll like me and hire me. And it is something I've always wanted to do anyway, so it's worth a try.

But this morning I am up and already showered, so I can accept the jobs that pop up at the last minute. There was one job at 5:30, but it was at the middle school and while I was still wiping the sleep out of my eyes, someone snatched it up anyway. Then another came up, just now, but it was at a school that I don't want to go to. So I let that one go as well. For someone who hasn't worked much lately, I am awfully selective.

Oh, and yesterday was terrible! I got one job for a half day tomorrow at one of my favorite schools. I accepted that one right away, I have to earn $40 to earn back the money I spent on the annual subscription for the widget that alerts me to postings so I don't have to keep refreshing the page. Then another job came up, but it was split into two postings, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. I accepted the morning one first, and then went back as fast as I could to get the afternoon, and it was already gone!

It's just covering meetings so I don't think it will matter but how stupid! Now they will have two separate subs to cover their full day of meetings. I just hope it's busy. Oh, and to make things better, after I accepted it, I realized that it is covering meetings for the people to whom I submitted a resume for consideration as their new secretary, and they never even called me in for an interview. So, on Friday the 13th, I will have to humbly serve them while sucking up my humiliation at being rejected. Great fun. I can't even release the job because that would make me look bad. They probably already got confirmation that I have accepted.

In other news, Kevin is flying off to Chicago. I told him he will have to go into quarantine when he gets back, after spending time on an airliner in swine flu pandemia. He'll be back late this evening, but he is also off tomorrow. He is semi-invited to attend University of Delaware with us, but he might just stay at home. I guess it depends on the weather and whether or not he feels like getting up. I think we need to leave around 7:45am.

sunday morning thoughts

Well, yesterday's meet was forever long. We got there at 1:10 or so, and I lined up with the masses around 1:30. They let us in almost an hour later, which was almost an hour behind schedule for them. By the time we got in, the place was packed to capacity and we had to sit on the cramped bleachers until the meet ended at 7:30. It was a long day and I don't think the conditions were any better for the swimmers on the deck bleachers.

But Megan swam pretty well, as did most of the team, and she and Kevin are back there today for an even longer go - they have to get there at 11:30 because she's swimming the 500. I didn't see as many sick people as I expected to, I only heard a few mild coughs from time to time (of course mostly from the man right behind me!) and there were way fewer scratches than I had expected. A lot of people apparently have already had access to the vaccine in school, so many of them don't have to worry about the flu in that respect. And of course, I am still unsure what I will do when I get that call. On the one hand, now lots of people have gotten the shot with no ill effect. On the other, the more time goes by with the virus running around and us not catching it, the more I begin to believe in my hope that we had it in January when we were so sick. ::knock wood!!::

And Wilbur continues to heal well although he is having potty issues. When he goes, he makes a big mess of himself almost every time now, and this started before his surgery. I'm going to have to take a sample in for testing; possibly the cats have something that doesn't affect them, but when he feasted on the litterbox, he may have picked it up for himself. Molly is fine and the litterbox never has anything like that in it. But I was texting Kevin my litany of complaints about the meet yesterday: hot, crowded, too many kids in each event, running an hour late... and he texted me back: dog with s*** in his a**. And so I conceded.

In other news, Brian's school is closed tomorrow. They have a bishop coming to visit so they closed in honor of this visit, and I think they are going to sanitize the school to try to slow the spread of the flu, which had picked up during the week. He is happy about that, and I'll try to get him in to the orthodontist two days early because he has a wire bothering him, and I want to take Megan to University of Delaware for a visit on Wednesday, when he is supposed to be at the ortho at 4. She and Kevin are both off for Veteran's Day, but Brian is not.

some notes from our trip

At last, a true update. It is nice to be home, as always, but the trip was a very nice one as well. The only thing I really didn't like was driving in Boston. Their intersections are very long, they have the one way of traffic, then the two ways of the "T," and then the other way of traffic, but the light hangs about halfway through. So I would cross the T tracks (which had no crossing bars like our trains do here) and see the other cars sitting there, and not know if I was supposed to go or stay, because I couldn't find the light. Also, they had lines painted that I didn't know what they meant, they had bike lanes that made me nervous when I needed to make a right turn and had to cross into them, and they had drivers who seemed to think they were the only ones on the road. They would pull out in front of other people, cut across traffic, and just pretty much do whatever they wanted. The only thing I did appreciate was their willingness to honk at me when I didn't know if I was supposed to go. The honking would spur me on, out of my confusion.

We arrived around midnight on Tuesday, after hitting just a little bit of traffic on 95 in Connecticut. We had a great hotel room, because it was at the end of the hall and had some extra space which they used to put a desk and chair into, leaving the rest of the already-large room feeling like a suite. I don't know if all their double rooms are like this, but it was great. We were sharing with Megan's friend and her mother, and we didn't even feel crowded at all, aside from having to coordinate the four of us with the one bathroom.

Our big visiting day was Wednesday, so we got up and out pretty early. We drove through Northeastern, didn't really see a place to park or see anything we wanted to get out and look at, so we moved on to the BC campus, which was, as we had heard, beautiful. We dropped off the girls and drove around until we found the parking garage, then went to Admissions for a brief info session. I can see that these get old after a while. You pick up a little new information at each one, but usually they are just sales pitches for the school.

When Megan gets to the point where she is ready to choose between schools, if she has interest from the swim team, she can go on an "official visit," and stay with a swimmer, which will get her a better feel for what the schools are all about. Otherwise, many schools offer this as a visiting option without the sports connection. If she can get academic money (she found out she was ranked pretty high in her class for last year), then it would be better to take that than to be an indentured swim servant. But we have to see how she does this year academically and in the pool. She has a tough course load, which, if she does well, positions her perfectly for any schools to which she wants to apply.

After BC, we were onto BU, which knows how to sell itself and is quite a sophisticated school. Megan loved it there, so it is her first choice of the three. She and her friend went on a behind-the-scenes tour with a girl they know from swimming while I sat alone in yet another info session. One thing I learned here is that many schools prefer the ACT over the SAT, which I hadn't realized until recently. Apparently the ACT is more of a knowledge-based test than IQ-based like the SAT, and certain kids (perhaps like Megan) tend to do better on the ACT. Both BC and BU require the ACT with writing, but in lieu of that you can take the SAT and two subject tests.

Megan just got her math scores back on the SAT2 and she got a 660, which was pretty good for her, since math is not her absolute strongest point and she should have taken the test in June when it was all fresh in her mind. She will probably score quite well on the Spanish SAT2, so those two scores should make her strong, as long as she does well on the regular SAT, whish she'll first take in May. But now I'm signing her up for the ACT in June, if she scores well on that and the schools she chooses accept those scores, I won't have to worry about those expensive SAT prep classes that everyone takes, but that don't even seem to help some kids. I don't like that it's a big game. It angers me.

So, after the school visits were done, we headed back to the hotel for a short break before we ventured into the city on the T, an adventure within itself. We walked around Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, and searched almost in vain for the 'Cheers' bar, which we found at the last minute and went into only to see the Phillies retired 1-2-3 in the first inning of what turned out to be the last game of the World Series. Then we got back on the T, and realized we hadn't noticed where we had gotten on, so that was a little challenging. We had to look out for CVS on the corner so we would know when to get off. Good thing it was above-ground at that point! Oh, and I forgot to mention we met an old friend of mine for lunch, which was nice. The last time I saw him he was feeding seal meat to whoever would eat it (not me.) That was a long time ago.

On the way home, we drove through the campuses of Holy Cross and UConn, just to get a glimpse of some schools other than the urban ones. We hit a pocket of traffic in Connecticut and a two mile backup on the Cross Bronx, but otherwise we made it home pretty smoothly. The girls had to go to swim practice, and I came home to find Wilbur beside himself. He seems to still be a little sore from his surgery but he is up to all of his old badness already.

And in other news, the swine flu is making the rounds more heavily at Brian's school, and I guess the other Catholic schools in town. Without the outlet of the public schools, it has had to attack elsewhere, but I'm sure it will pick up again in time for Thanksgiving for those who managed to elude it during this week out of school. We have a swim meet this weekend, which I am a little nervous about, and I am calling it 'FluFest.' Hopefully I will be mistaken! Otherwise, this is Megan's last day home on the break, although they have a day off next week as well for Veteran's Day. (Maybe another road trip day?) Our next destinations will be in PA, DE, and VA.