what is the reason for the season?

I would love Christmas if I had the time. My boss continues to ask me when I can work longer hours (I am very happy with the hours that I have, by the way, regardless of kids or not) yet when I take days off, they are unpaid. It is the best and the worst of both worlds. But I drive around and see all of the lights and trees, and we just barely managed to get ours up over the weekend. Not even all, and somehow I never feel motivated to get the rest.

Traffic is picking up, and it's impossible to get anywhere. B is still having his math tutoring, which takes me up to the main strip twice a week, and the traffic is crazy. I guess with time having run out to make purchases online, shoppers are left with no choice.

I'm not even sure if the shopping is all done, although I am hoping that it is! I made one surprise last minute purchase for M, which I had told her she was getting but not until after New Years.

Speaking of M, perhaps the news has been seen that she did in fact get her scholarship to college! She wasn't admitted to the honors college which, while a bit insulting, is also somewhat of a relief. She would have lived in different housing, and she would have had additional requirements on top of swimming and the very specific program of the college to which she was admitted, the Speech/Language Pathology and Audiology program of the health sciences college.

Since her scores and GPA and class rank were high, I can only imagine it was either (a) her low science score on the ACT (b) something else in her application or (c) the fact that she will be an athlete on scholarship that caused her not to be offered that honors spot. No matter, we are very happy with the outcome. Oh, and she also did get into the other college to which she applied, with a $10,000 scholarship. I guess that validates that she made the right choice, as she'll get more from the one she chose anyway! And what a great city Boston is for a college student!

As for B, his grades continued to spiral downward with his venture into high school swimming. Although he's been enjoying the team, he isn't very good at time management and his grades have reflected this. Tonight he chose to stay home, because he has three tests tomorrow, his last day before break. One is in English, where he hovers at the low end of passing, and the other is history, where he's holding steady at a high C. The third is in math, where the additional tutoring funds are paying off and I no longer panic at the news of an impending exam. There are plenty of other opportunities for such panic, however.

And in other news, I'll get my car fixed on Monday and Kevin is off all week. My office is closed Friday and Monday and I'll probably take off one other day as well (maybe Tuesday). M will have to go to her training trip again, like it or not, and she will be back on New Years Eve. So that's our excitement for now. Run with it!

have no fear! we are here!

Whew.

It's just been one thing after another, and I don't have much time now. M has her big meet this weekend and she really crashed and burned in her first event, which was the 500 free, adding 10 seconds to her time! Luckily she took it all in stride, and came back and took half a second off the 50 free and then swam a pretty close to best time in the 100 today, so she's back for finals in that.

And tomorrow is the 200, so please keep everything crossed for that! Her coach to be emailed and wished her luck and I hope he reads any result but the 500 first !!! She said halfway through she just lost her legs and couldn't kick. They felt like they were being sawed off from top to bottom and every push off the wall was excruciating. Most of the girls on her team are not doing well, although almost all of the boys are excelling.

I think it will be good for her next year when her school has only a womens' team! This meet always seems to be problematic for her with the distance events, they do a lot of sprints at practice in the days leading up to this weekend.

Otherwise, still buried in holiday needs, I am about to run up to the dog park with Pompom, and we are going to try to get a tree today even though it won't go up till next weekend, most likely. I'm just trying to leave the little dog out of his pen while I'm at work, because where his pen is is where the tree will be, so I don't know where else to put it. Anyway, he's almost two. And he didn't eat anything major yesterday, so maybe he is over that. Lately the worst he's done (if you don't count the rubber bracelet he ate last week) is carry some socks and washcloths around.

And in other news, the headlight is repaired, but Kevin decided to put the claim through insurance so now I have to take the car back in to get the scratches repaired as well. That will be the week between Christmas and New Years, while M will be away and I can use her car. B is in a bit of a downturn with his grades, which I attribute to the nightly swim practices, which are good for him but wear him out and challenge his already remedial time management skills. He presently has four Cs and two As. This is frustrating. One of the As is in math, because of course he is being heavily tutored. We can't pay extra for him to be tutored in every subject just to get him to pay attention to them all! And on that note, off to the dog park before the temperature drops.

it's that time again

How can it already be the holiday shopping season? I haven't had time to pay off my credit card bills from the summer! How is it that the older I get, the less Christmas feels like Christmas? And working certainly doesn't help. At least when I worked in New York, there was Christmas everywhere. Somehow, the drive deeper into suburbia just doesn't pack the same punch.

Anyway, I did do a very little shopping online, and Kevin and I are going to take B to his swim practice and jump over to the outlet mall while he's there, hoping that the major crowds will have died down by late afternoon. M went to a friend's house and they were going to go to a mall by her house, before practice. M has opted to forgo her school's homecoming dance this year! Last year she deemed it 'boring' and left with the group she had gone with. I also think she doesn't like to put on a dress because of her hairy legs (it's a swimmer thing.)

The damage is in on the Jetta headlight and it's going to cost me just under $500 to fix. The good news is that Kevin paid for mine and B's plane tickets to Florida with a discounted fare through AMEX's new system so I won't have that $600 to chip away at this year. I could put the deer crash through my insurance, and as a comprehensive claim it "shouldn't" affect my rates. But the rep on the phone couldn't tell me that it was the best thing to do, and the woman at the body shop said she would pay it herself, because if another larger claim came in and they had a look at it, they'd sock it to me then. So we're coughing up an extra $400 to keep it off of the insurance. What a hassle! Insurance is a scam! Hate that deer!

Meanwhile, facing forward to the next month, I'm fixating on the merit aid issue with M and her college acceptance. I have been reading old postings on web forums where people posted how much money they were given, and what their SAT scores and grades were, and most with M's relative stats were given a fair amount of money. But one was given much less, and that was in 2006! So I keep thinking, what if they give her less because they know she already committed to come there? What if they give her less because they think they are not her first choice? (There was no way for her to indicate that they were, as far as I could tell.) And then I panic. It would be unfair of them to give her less because they know she has to attend anyway, since we were counting on this when she signed the letter. But the two awards are really separate, so we took a risk in allowing her to sign without confirmation. We should know in about three weeks.

And in other news,our Thanksgiving was a success. The food was well cooked, and the house weathered the guest without incident. The dogs behaved, no cats puked during dinner, and the dishes almost all fit into one running of the dishwasher (even if the soap dispenser did malfunction, requiring a second cycle to be imposed!) And the next few weeks will bring swim meets - M starts the high school meets on Friday; B's school has an alumni meet tomorrow, so that should be interesting. And M has a big club meet in two weeks, at which point she will finally be allowed to shave her legs!

oh deer me

And it has happened again. I've been accused of bloglessness. Apparently my weekly blog-ventures are not enough to satisfy those who live them along with me. So here is the latest: yes, I hit my first deer. Really, the deer hit me. Deer stories are like birth stories, and mine follows.

Driving along a 40mph road with B's school on one side and a county park and community college on the other, B had just told me that he may become friends again with a certain friend from his past about whom we have had concerns. I was lost a bit in thought, and made some random comment, never taking my eyes off the road. Well, never until B exclaimed, in someone else's deep voice, "MOM MOM MOM MOM!"

If you are driving in a car, and someone calls out to you in such an alarmist tone, what do you do? Do you turn toward this person, or do you think, "oh! a deer must be coming from my left peripheral vision, let me look AWAY from this person!"??

Well, I'll tell you what I do. I look at the person who is yelling at me. And then, when I look back, as if in a dream, a deer sails across my windshield, like a movie playing in hyperspeed. I slam on the brakes, but then I feel a crushing blow and what look like feathers fly up in the air. But the car moves on, and a van behind me slows, then picks up again. I pull over and find what seems to be a deer's tail in my headlight, which no longer has much of a plastic covering. In my rear view mirror, there is no sign of my victim.

So there is my deer-tale, in all its entirety. I believe that the deer was probably just bruised...the car sustained no apparent damage other than the cracked plastic and subsequent trips to the scene (where I noted a deer crossing sign when I came from the other direction) yielded no sign of an injured beast. I fear I may have weakened the poor thing just in time for the shootout at the park, scheduled for next weekend.

Anyway, animals aside, this is a nice short week! B is done, thank goodness, as he had taken to failing quizzes again. At the teacher conferences, most of them said he forgets homeworks, but three of them said he has been participating a lot more this second marking period. So that was good to hear. Hopefully he's getting the confidence we had hoped he would get from this school.

And M continues on her usual way: swims and does homework. We are trying to lean on her to enjoy her senior year a little more by participating in school activities. This year she isn't even going to go to the homecoming dance, and she had to forego the powder puff game because (a) she couldn't make enough of the practices due to meets and (b) the game is tonight and she had a paper left over to finish for tomorrow.

So she didn't even go to watch, which we don't like to see. She has distanced herself a little too much from the extracurricular life at school. Swim team has started but twice they sent the club swimmers home because there wasn't room for them on the bus to practice! They only have to go to six practices, but those six are their only chance to actually be part of the team, except at the meets.

Anyway, in other news, PetSmart has stopped carrying the litterbox liners that I like, and I'm really mad! I might just not change the litterboxes ever again. I am also troubled by the high cost of absolutely everything. I still cannot believe how much money I have spent on the pets in just the one month that passed. Wilbur must understand what I am writing because he stopped chewing his bone and is just looking at me. Oh yeah, and I discovered a crime map of Boston that shows the worst part of the city just on the outskirts of M's campus-to-be. Just great.

windy wednesday

Yes, here we are again, just us chickens and cats and dogs. Kevin is overseas this time and we are battening down the hatch. M and B are both swimming in high school now, which makes her charming and him exhausted. His practices are half an hour away, but I was lucky to have an offer from a former elementary classmate of hers to drive B home!! I am thrilled. I will have to thank him somehow - it isn't far out of his way but it saves me hours. I saw his parents at the meeting and they said he would be able to do it. It's nice because I'm able to have dinner ready.

The job has improved, at least for now. I can't say why, maybe it's just because my boss is not bad as a person, just sometimes as a boss. Also, I took a day off last week, so that helped a lot! That was when I went to watch M sign her letter and commit herself to the next four years in Boston, for a meager pittance. Now, fingers and toes are crossed for the rest. I ran into one of those people this weekend who always say the kinds of things that scare you, she did just that.

Told me that the NCAA won't let her have any other money until they approve it, that she won't be allowed to eat or drink certain foods and beverages anymore because they are on the banned list, and that we will have to be able to show proof of everything she bought with her own money for this entire year. So I don't know. If these things are true, we could be in trouble. Also, one by one, the girls she liked on her training trip are committing to other schools, except for one, so at least there is that one! And she also got a message from a very nice girl who used to be on her team here, saying that she wants to go to that school and has already applied early action. She might swim, but she's just be a walk-on. One more month till we hear from them about the aid and honors college!

All the pets are well now, thank goodness, even though Wilbur ate Molly's 5mg prednisone the other night when I put it down for her to eat in a chunk of meat roll and she failed to comply. In swooped the hawk and that was the end of that. But the only effect was that he ate all of his breakfast the next morning without enticement.

And now it is almost time for Thanksgiving! I am shocked. I didn't even realize that the time was already at hand until I was preparing my spreadsheet at work to keep track of my hours. I have two days off, the office is closed on Friday, which is nice, although I won't get paid.

And in other news, we had some bad news last week. A friend and fellow swim parent was killed in a terrible motorcycle wreck. It's very upsetting and untimely. And today there was an article in the local paper about helmet laws and motorcycles. Too bad the helmet didn't help him. Also today the Doll called to announce an untimely death in her family. Her brother's son died as a result of some sort of heart surgery, and she needs to sign some document and fax it to the funeral home. Something to do with the cemetery plot, and there's this crazed rush to get it back, but they don't even have it yet. I'm trying to help her, but I have to work tomorrow and they want it back by 4:30!! Sigh. And she wants Kevin to take her to the funeral mass on Friday morning, which I suppose he will. That was his day of recovery from the trip. She has been estranged from this brother for years, and now wants to patch things up.

quiet on the home front

So, here it is, another Sunday night. Just me, kids, dogs, cats, and the sneezing couch. The weeks have just been flying by. High school swimming starts this week (at least the practices do) and that will be exhausting. B is going to give it a try this time, and his school practices half an hour away from 5-7. No bus. I sure hope I can arrange some sort of carpool. As for M, her senior year! No pressure. At least she is already accepted into college but there are bragging rights at stake as well. I'll say no more about that!

My job is pretty lame. I really don't know if I'll make it. I have realized that there is one aspect I'm just not going to be able to do the way the boss wants it, and that's manage the list of people he wants to call. I just can't make heads or tails out of the names that fly at me from all directions, and although I organize them into list after list, I never see those lists again, so I just really can't do it if he isn't going to cooperate. And I don't think he wants to. He tells me that he will not change, and expects me to adapt. So, I don't know. I'll give it my best go for as long as I can but meanwhile I think I'd better not get used to having these paychecks! He's out for the week this week, so it should be quiet.

Kevin is also off for a conference in San Antonio this week. He just left this afternoon while Wilbur and I were at the dog park. He'll be back Wednesday right before things get really crazy with obligations and evening commitments.

As far as the hospital goes, patient zero (Rusty) is 100% recovered. The girls have been to the vet as well, at $106 per cat, and they are being treated but not having the miraculous recovery enjoyed by their brother. Fortunately it doesn't seem to have crossed the species barrier, and the dogs seem well. As well as can be in Molly case, anyway, and she is just about out of her pills, so I'll have to call tomorrow for more of those. More $$. Please note that I will not be replacing those who depart. Although perhaps Molly. It's going to be hard on the pompom when she goes.

B's marking period ended Friday. We thought he had two C's, a bunch of B's and an A (computers, which is an elective), but his religion teacher graded a bunch of papers and a test at the last minute and all of a sudden he had three C's. But this was still a much better marking period than any other, because aside from the initial failures in math (which may have been a blessing because it drove us to Mathnasium where he is filling in the gaps left as a result of his weak middle school information retention) he has gotten through the classes mostly without guidance from us, which is the ultimate goal. Incidentally, math is no longer one of the C's!

And in the case of M, we all trekked up to Boston yesterday for an open house at her college. We sat in on the speech presentation and also the honors college. We toured the new dorm, which is where the freshmen who are accepted into honors are offered housing, and Kevin took B to the computer science presentation, where B was floored by the availability of resources. He loved it, but didn't like the urban setting. So we're getting an idea of what he wants out of a college, and will spend next year helping him narrow down his options, and helping him prepare for the SATs. (I keep running college searches for him and Hofstra comes up as one of his best matches!)

The speech department is interesting. It's very small, and the woman who presented at first kept getting confused and saying the wrong things (like calling their five year MS program a four year program and misunderstanding the questions she was asked) but the woman in charge of the coops was great, and she really made it exciting. Then they had two students, one in particular I wondered if he might not have been advised to wear a sign around his neck saying, "results not typical," because the things he had already done were truly amazing.

The problem that I foresee is going to be a conflict with swimming and coop in her sophomore year. She will have to do a six month coop from January through June, and they have their championship meets as well as their training trip in January. But obviously this can't be her issue only, as the school is based on cooperative experiences, so all athletes must confront this issue at some point. She just wants to put it off until the time comes, but I keep telling her she has to discuss it with the coach and the coop advisor as soon as she gets there.

And, if she gets into honors, there will be additional conflicts, but she'll have to decide if she wants to take them on. Honors certainly sets her above but will she be able to handle it all? But I put the cart before the horse here - we have another month or more to wait before the acceptance even arrives - although the letter she has to sign for the scholarship should be here later in the week. The signing period is Thursday to Thursday.

And in other news, what other news is there? I've rambled on enough already, have I not? It seems I've run out of things to say!

spooky saturday

Last night when we went out for dinner, a black cat ran across the road right in front of us!! This after OUR cat finally captured the small furry creature who had been appearing only to B for two days. Kevin put the poor little thing outside in the cold, better then the fate it was about to have met. Hopefully it took up residence in a tree or a shed, anywhere but back in our house!

So the news on college may be well known by now, and M is going to go to school in Boston. Of course, she finally heard back from the coach of the small superior school yesterday, he told her that he was sorry that she wouldn't be swimming for them because she "really impressed" them while she was there. This may have been the case, but then why did he ignore her thank you email and her coach's call and email? But it's done now anyway as she's made the verbal commitment. The school will send official papers to be signed the week of November 8 (NCAA early signing period) and then we wait for the acceptance to come, hopefully with a nice merit award attached!

As for B, the first marking period is about to end so we're anxiously awaiting a couple of test scores. He's surprisingly off on Monday, I don't think about things like All Saints Day normally, and since it's the first day of the new month, I hadn't looked ahead on the calendar. He just found out yesterday in school. He'll have some time to sleep a little, and do a little work. Of course let's hope it's more work than sleep but I suspect this might not be.

Rusty is sick! He sneezes all the time. I have never heard a cat have this kind of cold. I was trying to wait it out but then I found a youtube video of a cat with the same sneeze, and that cat went to the vet and got antibiotics and got better, so I'm hoping for the same for the Rust. We're going today at 10:45. All three cats are behind on their shots and I have to get them in for those, but not while he's sick, so I guess it will have to wait.

The other news is that M was a 'school winner' in the Wendy's scholarship program. They were supposed to post the state finalists yesterday at 5, but they didn't. In fact, they still haven't. So we keep checking but now it's starting to look like they might have left for the weekend without knowing their site didn't update :/ So far she has gotten a $10 card to Wendy's and another of unknown value (you find out when you get to the store, that was the 'thanks for playing' card). The big prize is much more, but it's also much more competitive, obviously.

And in other news, we're now cleaning lady-less, as I went and told the cash-only, wash-rags-for-me, buy-me-a-broom lady that I was just going to do the house myself. So it looks like now that's what I'll have to do. Also, I have 'won' the Bookrags case in that they refunded money for two of my orders, gave me a credit for the third, and reactivated my account, but they tried to make it sound as if I was making up stories, or at least stretching the truth, because *they* would never do this to a customer! Anyway, I won't use their services again unless I use that credit. I don't think I'll have any such luck in the case of the Target VISA so I'll probably just pay that off and close it. I can't believe the interest rate is so high! With college real and on the horizon now, I'm trying to sock away as much as I can, which will be a tad easier without having cleaning people to pay every two weeks, and without so much available credit.

friday follies

The Eagle has landed in Boston! So let the last and long awaited college visit commence! M was on a flight out at 10 and was on the ground by 11. Not a bad way to travel, if you discount the two hours she probably spent sitting around due to Kevin's hyper-reliability when it comes to airport arrivals. So stay tuned. Nothing from the school last weekend yet, we don't know if that means they're not interested or just overwhelmed with the job of choosing from the pool (no pun intended).

I'm weary of work because it isn't getting any better. I am tired of the implication that I'm not performing up to par, I take pride in my work and think I've worked pretty hard. And my paychecks are still pretty paltry and when I say I have to leave at a certain time for an appointment, I don't appreciate being kept until five minutes past that time. I find it rude. The problem is that I can't do the work of another person, I can only do my work. If that other person wants to give me more work, then I will be happy to do it. But I can't be responsible for some of these things. I think 90% of people would have walked off this job months ago. Many did. Although not always by their own choice, amazingly. I now understand the pitied looks I got in my first few weeks.

Anyway onto some better news, the bookrags case has resurfaced. I think at last update I had been stonewalled through my own efforts, the PayPal refusal to help me, and more recently the LL Bean VISA's reported inability to help because I had 'accepted the service rendered.' So I went to other levels, notified the Better Business Bureau, as well as reported my story to consumeraffairs.com (although I have yet to find it posted there, as a matter of fact).

So this morning, all of a sudden out of the blue appear two credits, two of the three charges were reversed! I was happy to see that but I don't know what brought it about - was it the Better Business Bureau? I will have to wait and see. And what of the third study guide to which I no longer have access? I had that one for about two weeks instead of just one, as the others. Does that mean I have to pay for it? At any rate, two refunds are better than none. But I should never have had to go to such extremes to gain resolution.

And I'm on a new crusade. A month or two ago, I was looking at my Target VISA statement (and I know, this makes me a terrible consumer not to have known this) and noticed my interest rate on purchases is over 20%! On my LL Bean VISA, it is less than 10%. After reading all the articles on how to streamline your debt and reduce expenses, I thought I would give it a shot and call to see if I could get it lowered. Well, guess what? I can't.

The woman on the phone informed me that not only could they not offer me a better interest rate, but they would respect my decision to close the card! Not even, we are very sorry to hear that after ten years you are going to close this account, let us send you some Target coupons to offset the fact that we can't work with you. Just, "Ok. See ya!"

I had been considering keeping it only to use at Target to get the 5% off. I may be cutting off my nose to spite my face, but they can keep their 5%. That new store is weird anyway. I can't find anything anymore, and I cannot come to terms with eating meat bought at Target.

And in other news, B is doing better in school!! :::knock wood:: He now has a 75 in English and a 77 in chemistry, and all the other grades are 80 and above!! Let's just hope he can hold steady and let's see what the PSATs show. This math tutoring center, though expensive, I think was necessary and is going to help him in a lot of ways. So I feel pretty good about that, at least. And he enjoys going and his grade has come up considerably in just two weeks. He's also planning to try the swim team this year so he's been doing their dry land workouts and coming home sore and happy. I hope he likes it. It will be good for him to be part of a group activity at school.

So this weekend I plan to spend cleaning the house tomorrow, to see if I can do it. I'm really having strong reservations about using the woman who wants me to pay her in cash and always have a bag of clean rags for her, along with about $100 in cleaning supplies each week. And she won't clean under anything, so it all has to be picked up and put away. I'll see how well I do and then maybe cancel her before she starts. I might anyway, because at this point in my life I resent being told that I have to wash rags and go to the bank for cash so my cleaning lady doesn't have to. If I had all this spare time I wouldn't need a cleaning lady! I can barely keep up on my own laundry!

weekend in review

The weather sure is nicer here in NJ than it was up there in Central NY! But amazingly, for a weekend where everything seemed to be stacked against the school (the storm and their broken down pool, for example) it was a huge success, and M loved it there, as it seemed did the rest of the visitors.

So now next weekend she has her one more visit up in Boston, and then we'll see what everyone has to say as far as scholarship offers or not. I think both schools have an equal amount to divvy up but it depends on where the competition is greater, and how badly they want her, and just their general policies. This school this weekend seemed to be telling her that they have to cover the financial need of the athletes with their scholarship money, which means that we won't qualify unless nobody else does either, and then it can be split up as they see fit.

Anyway, we should know within a couple of weeks. The third school she applied to is having an open house today but she can't make it because she has a walk for the National Honor Society. B is going too, but he's just working the table for his school. Usually our church sends a small constituency, I guess they are again this year, but M&B will be representing other interests. It doesn't matter, all of the money goes to the same charity. But back to the college open house, since this is just a back-up, I guess we'll have to schedule it on our own time later on.

My plan for today is to try to clean the house. The new cleaning lady came last week, but she called when she was on the block, so I had to leave work in a hurry, luckily B was home to navigate her, and then, after telling me, "don't worry," in response to my query about what she might require, she came empty-handed and expected Brian to produce everything.

Then she said it was too late (2pm) for her to start the house, informed me that she doesn't pick things up off the floor, so if the kids leave their rooms cluttered, they won't get vacuumed well, and she gave me a list of items that will likely cost me $100 just to get her started! And demanded cash each time she comes so she won't have to go to the bank! I've paid cash for things like that before and it just doesn't work well for me. I don't pass a bank on the way to or from work, and although I can go to the grocery store and take cash back, I can't get enough. I never carry more than $40 or so in cash.

So I'm considering calling her and just telling her never mind. At this rate I have to do so much legwork for her to just come in and clean and vacuum that I might as well just do it myself. and save the badly needed money. How can I cry poverty and pay someone to clean my bathrooms? It doesn't really compute. No wonder all the schools are rejecting out applications for aid.

Well, really that appears to be my rant of the day. I have to work up the nerve to call her. The thing is, I never asked her to put us on the schedule. I asked her to come and see the house. And if she had come and seen it, then we would have taken it from there. She also made a comment about how big it was. I asked if she changed sheets and she said it didn't matter. Which to me means no. I have a feeling she'll be relieved. Our house is big and it's usually cluttered. I think she wanted a nice small easy one. And why pay someone if I know I won't be able to have the whole house impeccable? She'll end up just cleaning around everything we have left out, and it will never really get cleaned. Because she is "old." That's why she said she doesn't move things around.

And in other news, back to the workplace tomorrow. I'm not off any more days, at least I have none planned. Tomorrow we are supposed to 'discuss' my deficiencies, which basically means my inability to monitor things of which I have not been made aware. It's starting to wear on me. I was trying to think of ways to make myself more tolerant of the whole thing - like actively sending out resumes, or setting goal dates like through the holidays for things to take a turn for the better. Everyone in the office is nice, the boss included, and I do like him. But sometimes he can be downright rude, and when he forgets something and goofs, always tries to make it as if it happened because of something I did, or didn't do. I'm getting a little tired of it.

hello from the boondocks

Here I am. I’m in the casino hotel in upstate New York, and there’s live horse racing at night out my window, poor things, running with chariots behind them in the pouring rain last night, and perhaps again tonight. I booked the first night for a great price through Expedia, but only booked the second room when I arrived (thinking if it was a dump I’d find another hotel but it’s quite cozy here in my room.) They may make me check out and back into a different room, but I am hoping they won't. I'm all settled into this one.

Yesterday morning I worked, put up with the usual scapegoating where it’s implied that I should have done things I was never told to do (such as add someone’s phone number to the database when only ‘call Tim’ was written on the calendar and not by me), then came home for a hurried packing job, and we were on the road by 2:30. We got to the college just after 7, and I meandered through dark scary wet country roads for half an hour to find this beacon in the darkness. It was almost bizarre to see the huge expanse of bright lights in a circle around the track in the middle of the wet, dark night.

So my plans for today involve: nothing. I guess I’ll just read my Shopaholic book, go to the gym, eat lunch, and shower. Then maybe I’ll venture out for a drive if the rain isn’t too bad. I have to pick up M at 10 tomorrow. It’s supposed to be windy but I think the rain is supposed to be done.

As for the bookrags debacle, I did indeed lose the case, they’re not going to (a) give me a refund (b) acknowledge that they have disabled my account although they guaranteed it for a year or (c) even respond to my complaint at all. So I also sent it in to consumeraffairs.com and I reported it to the Better Business Bureau. At least people should know that if they want to do business with Bookrags, they’re likely to lose their money and their access, and then be cast out in the cold by their nonexistent customer service.

And in other news, yesterday I left Wilbur out all morning while I was at work and he didn’t eat a thing! (not even his breakfast). M got home first and she said he cried the whole time she was walking around before I got home. I told her that was because he was so excited and proud of himself. As for B, I didn’t talk to him yesterday on the harrowing drive, so I texted him at 8 and received no response. So I called his cell, called at home, had Kevin check with the guy he works with to see if he was on xbox, and he wasn’t on Facebook. I panicked for 45 minutes and was about to call a neighbor when I tried one more time and a very groggy voice answered on the second ring, saying, “it was cold. I fell asleep.” Buy stock in L’Oreal, folks. The grays are winning the war.

Oktoberfest!

Fall is finally here. The leaves are all over, the air is cool, and the stink bugs are trying to invade the house. They have been a little better this week than they were, but I think that is just because we had that little heatwave over the weekend. I expect they will grow in numbers in negative correlation to the mercury in the thermometer.

But at least they are not bedbugs! What a terrible plague! I have read accounts of them in local movie theaters, schools, police stations, shops...!!! There is this ominous invisible threat of them everywhere you go. And what can you do about it? Nothing. Yuck.

Anyway, as for life goes on. It does. The good news is that B is no longer failing any classes, at least not for the time being, and the general trend is upward. So we are hopeful. Math is looking a little shaky but we've embarked on a major investment and signed him up for one of those math tutoring centers, at fairly high expense, but I don't see that there are many options.

He's taking the PSATs on Wednesday and I'm just afraid his basic math skills are not where they should be. He had an evaluation yesterday but I haven't seen the results yet. His sessions will start on Monday and he'll go twice a week. Hopefully, it will help. He comes home from tests saying they were easy and then fails them, which is worse because it means he doesn't even know enough to know that he doesn't know what he's doing!

M is status quo. Tensions are high, and applications are starting to amble out. She submitted one, to her top choice school in Boston, but the high school's parts (recommendations and transcripts) will probably hold up the process for a week or two. Then another school, in NYC, sent her a free application online so she did that, and those final components are also pending from the high school. So, two applications so far. Next week, she goes up to the little college in upstate NY, and then up to Boston the following weekend, and back to Philadelphia (is the plan) for Halloween weekend. But that one might not happen.

My job also limps along. I'm a little disappointed in that it's failed to take shape as an actual role-playing job, rather I am more of a lackey and I heard my boss refer to me the other day as "my secretary." But, whatever. As long as I am not abused and I am paid I can stand it for a while. I really hope it takes on a more meaningful shape soon, though.

Well, another thought. I'm in the middle of what seems to be a losing battle with the website bookrags, which I thought at first was going to be the answer to our high school English problems. I ordered three online lesson plans at the end of summer. I was supposed to have access to them for one year. Two or so weeks later, they blew up my account and I couldn't get to them. The tests for which I needed them came and went, and they stopped answering my emails.

I tried to dispute the charge in PayPal but they wouldn't do it because it was electronically purchased. So I disputed it with my LL Bean Visa. Without notifying me, they have 'resolved' it ... and since my balance didn't go down, it looks as if I have lost again. So, they get to keep my money, and they don't have to provide the service in return. Apparently their language, to the effect of: customers can download and print everything on the entire study guide, is enough to release them from any liability should they fail to provide the service for a year, as their site says they will do.

I got two emails back from them (ever, in response to my 7 or 8), and the first explained that they had had some sort of technical problems, and the second said that they had not been resolved. I am just appalled that they are allowed to get away with this, and that they are as seemingly successful as they are with the level of customer service that they (don't) provide. I'll never darken their web-step again, that's for sure. And my next step is the Better Business Bureau, if I can ever figure out what their operating address is. They have absolutely no contact information on their site at all, and now I can see why. Whew. They have me so mad. Good thing it's over only $50 but the ethical principle is more irritating. They are completely inconsiderate, and if the law supports them, that's completely unfair.

And in other news, Molly's birthday is coming up in two weeks. With the wet weather last week and her leg weakness, she had some trouble getting up the back steps, and she hurt her leg a couple of times when she slipped. But she seems to have recovered and she's back to her old farting and sleeping self. And as for this weekend, no major plans, just an open house at M's only in-state college choice on Sunday, so that will be a short trip for a change!

random rambling

Well, it's been so long I almost forgot how to login!! It's been busy and I've been lazy, and didn't want to trouble anyone as I went through my own panic over the false fibroid alarm sounded by my doctor, who told me that I had a uterus the size of a three month pregnancy. Is it funny or sad that I never once considered the possibility of actually *being* three months pregnant?

Anyway, the ultrasound did in fact show two fibroids but they are small and can be left unattended for now, so that was good news. In order to prolong some of my agony, I have scheduled both a mammogram and a dental cleaning for next week.

Otherwise, M's two college visits have not yielded a clear favorite. She didn't have the best vibe for the first, and she did love the second except for a few things: NO money, academic, need-based or athletic, will likely be offered, making this a $50K+ per year expenditure. I just don't know if the value provided is really worth that extra $10-25K! In fact, I suspect it may not be. (Not as if we have it, anyway!)

The other thing was that she had a cold when she left and while she was there there she attended a typical frat party! Not her cup of tea on the best of days, although she claims to have stuck it out like a trooper. Coincidentally, as I typed this, the coach called to check on her, which cannot be said for the coach of the first school she visited, which we found to be much less well-run anyway.

This weekend, she has her inter-squad meet at the Y and, next weekend, she wants to go to an open house at her 'back up' state school, which is TCNJ. She really liked it there when we visited a year and a half ago but we have never managed to make it back. The price tag is certainly attractive, and the quality of education is pretty high. I just don't know if she wants to stay in NJ, and I also don't know what major she would choose there if she still wants to end up in speech therapy or a related field.

Also to keep my life twisted, B's school went to an online grade reporting system, so I can log in now and see all of the grades up to the minute! (Subject to teacher reporting, of course.) The first day that I checked, he was failing three classes! I sent out a slew of emails. Thankfully, two days later, he was only failing one, and only by two points. We are working on this. M's prom date was here tonight tutoring B in chemistry, and refused to take payment! Hopefully, it was effective. He spent an hour and a half here, and all he would take was a bag of Skittles.

And in lieu of mock trial, this year B has signed up to work on the production team for the two plays that his school puts on each year. He also asked to go to Montana in November with the service club, but I said, let's see what happens with that GPA before we start signing you up for weeks away from school!

We also went to Back to School Night at M's school (her last one!) and saw some of the effects of the budget cuts: 29 kids in her section alone of AP English Literature, and a very unhappy teacher - then about the same number in her AP Spanish class, because it's mixed with Spanish 5. I was unable to see how this works in any way in favor of the AP students, but those in Spanish 5 are going to have one heck of a year.

And in other news, my cleaning people have got to go. Today they cleaned my stove with an SOS pad (which they took from under my sink, not something there for their use, actually), dragged a trash bag along the driveway, spilling clam sauce all over and then throwing the ripped bag into the garbage, which caused Kevin to have to rebag it and discover a thrown away dog license (reminiscent of the retainer debacle last month),knocked the cover off the baseboard heating and left it that way, left multiple pieces of furniture pulled away from the wall, unplugged my alarm clock which will cause me high anxiety in trying to resent the poor 27 year old thing, and left tufts of hair all over the floor. It does look like it's time to cut them loose.

Oh, and they left the scoop in the litter box again. IN the litter box!

holy cow! where does the time go?

Slow down the world! It's moving too fast! I can't even believe it. M is driving, B is a sophomore, a gangly string bean, and tomorrow I will have been married for twenty years. Too much to process for my aging cell-depleted brain.

Anyway, nothing is exciting. Dogs are dogs, cats are cats, kids are kids. B passed his summer reading tests! Of course, the year that he decides to pass them, with 76s on three so far, the school decides to grade them with numbers and make them count. Up till now they were always pass/fail. So of course, last year, he, um...didn't pass (where were his 76's when they would have been Ps instead of Cs??) Now I don't even know if that will matter, does it even count? And he has one more to take tomorrow, and it's the one with no online study guides. I'm a little more than anxious, I have to admit. Whatever. Separate. Breathe. Drink wine.

As for M, she starts her recruiting trips this coming weekend. Two now, two next month. We found out we have no financial need. None. Tell that to our checking account. Oh, and tell it to Sleepy's, who rejected me for their 0% financing. Well, in the end that was a good thing because, while humiliating, it gave me time to rethink my impulse purchase.

I was actually prepared to spend $1099 on a set they had on 'sale,' but for some bizarre reason, when my credit was rejected, the price dropped further by close to $300. They wanted me to give a deposit to hold the mattress, after they told me my credit was no good! How pathetic is it to be told you have no need by a school whose tuition is $50,000+ per year, and then the next day be rejected for credit when trying to buy a $1000 bedding set?

And guess what? I found the same mattress online for another $150 less. My 'bad credit' saved our bank account. I don't even know why they rejected me, unless because my income is so low. So low, in fact, that the government won't even tax me :-)

I guess this is all good anyway because I'm also in the process of being taken for a ride by the website bookrags. I bought three lesson plans to help B prepare for the summer reading tests. Well, they knocked out my account so I can't access any of them anymore, they won't fix it, won't answer questions about refunds, and now PayPal won't reverse the charge because it wasn't a material good. Ridiculous! Buyer Beware takes on a whole new meaning. I'm going to try to get credit through my credit card instead, but this is ridiculous! How can they keep my money when I can't even access the site?!?

And in other news, everyone is back to school. M's classes now have 30+ kids in every one, and B's school is under construction and is only having back to school night for freshmen. M is back to swim practices now, and it's so delightful having her drive herself. I have afternoons and evenings uninterrupted by having to run out in the middle of cooking dinner to get her. And she is adjusting to having the Explorer as her car. It's about time for the Honda to go back. I plan on driving it on some of the college visits to run up the miles, since we have to pay for them anyway. But then it goes back. And we love the little Jettawagen. It's comfortable, fun to drive, and cute to look at!

labor day blues

What a beautiful weekend! The air is cool and crisp and the sky is blue. The surf is calm(ish) once again, after the hurricane that never really was for the Jersey shore. But summer is over. One more day!

Yesterday, we drove M down to work and took a walk along the boardwalk, then picked her up and had dinner at one of the beach hot spots. She was grumpy today about the escort service, and I was tired anyway, so she drove herself. She texted that she had made it, so we'll see what the car looks like. Since being her work transport, the car has had several injuries: something sharp dragged across the rear bumper, something white opened into the side, and some seagull target practice all over everywhere. And this is the car that's up for lease return in a few short months.

B is in crunch mode for his summer reading test. He went in Friday morning for pictures and book issuance, and after that we went to see the neurologist, for a clean bill of neurological health for the half-year. No MRI! I'm sure this won't be forever, and I'll probably sweat it out even worse than ever when it's been more time in between, but for now I am happy about the outcome. And he had a strange little black thing removed from his face (to the tune of a non-reimbursable $175!!!) which was also pronounced nothing to worry about.

The problem he's run into is that the practice tests and lesson plans I bought from an online site are now no longer accessible, which they should have been for a year, and the only recourse is to send an email to the site, and they don't even promise to respond for 24-48 hours! This at $17 per lesson plan! I'm not happy about this. I found another site that had one of the tests on it, and paid $5 for that and printed it out ASAP. It's not as comprehensive, but hopefully he's done the due diligence already.

M is plugging through her summer work, and she ended up staying in the European history AP class, which added another huge packet to her first-day-of-school work. She emailed the teacher for extra time, but I don't think she has heard back. Her only real option to switch into was Calculus BC and she was more worried to do that - they had also had a large summer packet which she has not done. And yesterday I took the Explorer up, got a spare key made for it (the old one got severed by the power seat) and had it washed, waxed, vacuumed, etc for her to take to school on Tuesday. She wanted to take the Honda, but since it has to go back anyway, might as well start with the sticker on the other car from Day One.

She also finally got connected with the coach from a fourth school, who invited her for yet another official visit. So she has the two coming up this month in PA, and then one in NY and one in Boston in October, missing a day of school for each. I hope one of these produces a good fit for her and for us by November so she can be done with this process and focus on her classes for the rest of the year! Two of the schools are in the same league, and someone we spoke to sang the praises of this league for putting academics ahead of athletics. The other two may be more intense, which might mean missing more school for meets and meet-related travel. Stay tuned.

In other news, Molly's blood tests were all the same, meaning her Cushing's hasn't returned and she still needs the prednisone supplements indefinitely. This is a cheaper alternative to the drug that controls the adrenal glands, but it's a little dismaying that that drug killed them off so completely. It would seem to me they are never coming back. But this way of being for her is so much better than before. She no longer has 24 hour insatiable thirst, almost never pees in the house, and her rear legs are a lot less shaky. She rarely falls down the stairs, although she does still randomly collapse on slippery surfaces. But that could just mean it's time for a paw trim :-).

beep-beep-mm-beep-beep yeah!

Yikes! So $10 for the license and the orange stickers later, plus $900 a year more in insurance, guess what we have? A new driver! Yikes. So it begins. They picked M up at 6:30 for a refresher course and then had her in line early at the DMV. In fact she texted me the telltale: WOO before her appointment time had even arrived!

So that was a bit of a relief as we were worried about what would happen if she did not pass. I was worried about her coming home alone and moping all day, and then being afraid to face the world. I also worried about how we would ever schedule her next appointment, as she is having to miss school for these college visits already in the first month or two of school. And also because she had to go back to pick her sticker up, so she can park in the lot.

We received a letter that said she had to come in to pick up the sticker, and gave her a two day window, yesterday and the day before. I called and said she had to work, and anyway wouldn't have her license till today. The assistant principal assured me that this was the only time she could come, and also that she should just bring her permit (which was what the letter said) to get the sticker. I was minorly annoyed that they wouldn't accommodate our work schedule, but I wasn't going to rock the boat so we both told our jobs we'd be late and we set out early to wait on line.

Power freaks that they are, the secretaries made everyone wait out in the hall until at least 8, although they weren't doing anything but puttering around and talking on the phone. I went outside when I noticed I was the only parent there (most of the kids could already drive). Ten minutes later, M came out without the sticker! She was told that they didn't know where she got that information, but it was wrong. I was so incensed that, as soon as she got the license and subsequent sticker, I wrote a letter to that guy and told him what had happened. Whether or not this was what they intended, once they had it written in the letter it should have been honored. And this particular secretary is just a nasty one. We've dealt with her for years, beginning at our old school. She wields an awful lot of power for a secretary, if you ask me. And I finally just had had enough. In this case, they were wrong.

So see if it did me any good. He'll probably ignore my mail and M will not be welcome in the guidance office again :/

But one good thing came of that visit. She got her schedule, and on it her new guidance counselor was listed, and it's her school swim coach. So that was nice to see. Her old counselor had to go back to teaching after the budget cuts and she had always wished she could switch the coach but never had a good reason. So now she doesn't have to.

She does have a problem with her schedule though. She is in an AP History class that she put down as a second choice to Economics and she doesn't want to take it. So she has to try to change that, but they don't want them changing anything until the first day of school. I am really, really hoping B can last the whole four years at his school. I don't want to have to go through any more time in this district's public schools than I have to!

Anyway, in other news, one more week left of summer. I left work both yesterday and today around 1:30 and took B to the beach club. It was beautiful today, but there was a lot of garbage in the water, which is terrible. You see a lot less of that on the beach down where M is working. This weekend will probably be beautiful too, although they say it will be hot on Sunday. I have been loving this cool air! Windows open!!

planetary misalignment

Fortunately, M made it back home in one piece. There was some confusion because the flight before theirs was delayed and they ended up taking off a little late as well, and this time only had less than an hour to land, get off the plane and change terminals for the next one. They sprinted through DFW but they made it and their plane even landed a little early. So M had a ride home and we went to a work party. A little awkward because most of the people I feel I know the best didn't go (!) but it was pleasant enough that we stayed for three hours.

So M is home. She forgot her retainers, and left them in a plastic bag on the bathroom sink. She had texted about this situation earlier in the week, and I, not wanting anything to happen to them, had put them on a shelf in the bathroom closet. Fast forward to last night, and me with a headache and stiff neck on the couch, and she can't find them. Annoyed, I dragged up to show her what a fool she can be, always unable to find anything, even when it's right in front of her face. Only it's not there.

And at the same time, I have B telling me he left the $50 he got for his birthday on his dresser and it's gone and I'm thinking, just great, I have this cleaning lady that I'm not all that happy with, they use more cleaning supplies in one day than I think I have ever used in a lifetime of self-house-cleaning, they dumped a bucket of bleach-cleaner on our blacktop driveway, and now they are stealing money and throwing out retainers? But fortunately I did find the $50 in his top drawer, although he had "already looked there."

But no such luck with the retainers. Not good. I cannot even imagine how this happened, as these cleaning ladies have no business in that closet anyway. Did the bag get knocked to the floor and thrown out? Did they knock it down or did one of us? Did the dog get hold of it? But why is it just nowhere? Of course garbage is already collected. M happens to have what was supposed to be a regular checkup on Tuesday, but now I am going to have to call and find out what happens in this case. As if it's not bad enough that she forgot and didn't wear them for a week, now they are gone and can't be worn until they're replaced. I hope they don't need to take new molds, but they might. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out. Not the end of the world by far, but what a nuisance. And let me not talk about the cost :-(

As for B, he is done with camp. He has two weeks until he starts school and one book left to finish for summer reading, but he has all of them to review. I wish they would give them assignments over the summer instead of tests. It's much easier to judge preparedness when there's something he has to turn in than when he just says, yeah, I read the whole book. I'm trying to find tests and study guides online but not all of the books are commonly used, so I have only found help for one or two of the four.

M has a bunch of school stuff going on, too. She has to go this week to get her parking spot assigned, and she goes Friday for her driving test ::fingers crossed::. She missed a meeting for one of the clubs she is in and I'm annoyed about that because it was on a Tuesday and she could have gone. They did a makeup but of course that was last week and she wasn't here. And there's an orientation she is supposed to work due to her being in the club, and she won't be able to get off work at the beach for that, since she's already had so many days off and most of the college kids are out of the rotation by now. Plus she has packets of work for her AP classes that she hasn't finished, as well as the common app, which I think she needs to get started on, just in cases she decides to love one of these schools she will be visiting over the next two months and has to apply quickly.

But in other news, my job limps along. I don't hate it, so that is good, but sometimes it can be ridiculously unmanageable and other times unbearably slow. I did get a small raise but that's sort of had the effect of my being told to take time off when I need it! :-) Hopefully this will change after the summer ends, and the workload will stabilize and/or pick up. I need to start increasing my income! Oh, and sadly I will be officially resigned from my substitute teacher status effective next week. I couldn't string them along, as they would notice that I'm never available to work. Molly is hanging in there with her health although it is coming up on time to have her tested again. Another expense.

marinated cat, anyone?

So, who read the news on the cats last week? Poor cat, ill-tempered, greedy, wasteful, and ungrateful, was marinated and packed into the trunk of the car. Of course this story is not funny, but the thing is that the cat looked just like Rusty! I can't seem to resist the urge to suggest to Rusty that perhaps he would get me some salad oil and some crushed red pepper. To which he usually responds with a murr and jumps up onto the bathroom sink just as I am about to take out my contacts, demanding that the water be turned on for him.

I'm also tempted to leave my vacuum cleaner plugged in, just to see if he can turn it on and if any neighbors will call 911!

Anyway, on to the more mundane. We bought a car today! Kevin has been obsessed with VW Jettas for years now, and they have the cutest little miniwagon which suits all of our needs and guess what? It was being offered at 0% financing!! So we haggled a little, always a horrible experience, and we were ready to walk out when, lo and behold, they came back with an offer we couldn't refuse (so we were probably robbed in the end, but left feeling as if we were the robbers).

We have only driven it on one adventure, and we were almost killed when a fool turned right into the lane we were in, I guess she didn't see us down so low, from where she sat up in her SUV. But it handles so well that we were able to survive the misguided driving. Now all that's left to do is to return the Honda. What a pain. I hate leasing cars.

Tomorrow begins M's big week away at camp in Colorado. She has an early morning flight and won't be back till late Saturday afternoon. Thankfully, the cough has gone on its own and she is ready for the challenge. And she just lined up her third college 'official visit,' so that's about all I think that we can fit in. These visits are going to eat up entire fall weekends, Fridays included, and although they're an important part of this process, they also take away from her study time.

And in other news, B enjoyed another week of tennis camp, and I took Friday off from work, which was much enjoyed. My boss is away and things were very slow. Of course I don't get paid when I don't work, but the thought of sitting there for five hours just trying to stay busy seemed incredibly unappealing after two days of cleaning up loose ends. I was just done with it all, and I needed a brief respite! So I hung with my friends, Molly and Pompom, and M and B were both home as well.

back to the working world

That's how it was this morning for all of us: Kevin back to his job, M and I to ours, and B to his tennis camp again, for the next two weeks. He is wiped out, as am I. My boss has only a vague understanding of my outside responsibilities, so when I told him I would leave at 2:30, he chose (as usual) that time to give me a list of the things he still needed done, and then to close his door for a meeting with a colleague. Anyway, I managed to get out at 3, got gas and got to B around 3:15 or so so that wasn't too bad. Tomorrow M has a doctor's appointment at 2:30 so I have already told him I MUST leave at 1:30. I think B is going to do the extra clinic after camp so I won't have to get him until 6.

As for M, she has developed a cough, because of course she would do that before heading off to the high altitudes of the Colorado mountains for the week. She claims she feels fine but we'll see what the doctor says tomorrow at what was supposed to be a regular checkup.

Otherwise to report on the weekend travels, one of the schools emerged as a favorite while we were up there in Boston. But it's still early and lots can happen to change that so I won't get too excited or report on anything definite just yet. But everyone there was very nice, the campus was nice, and the coach was as well. So M will head up for a visit with the team later on in the fall. Now we have to visit a couple of Pennsylvania schools. Nothing south of that Delmarva area ever ended up working out, and for now there are enough to keep us busy. If nothing pans out by November, we'll broaden our horizons a bit. For now, it's the greater Northeast.

This is about all that's been going on lately! Trying to choose colleges and plan for college and decide which car to buy or trade in have been the dominant themes outside of Molly's status, which is still unchanged so that's a good thing. The Honda dealer crashed my car into a parked car while it was in for an oil change so they had me bring it in to be fixed which was a whole debacle because their loaner system is substandard as was the cleanup job they did on the car after they repaired the dent, which doesn't really make me want to buy another Honda from them! Although we are considering buying this out at the end of the lease. We'd pay for the car for eight years total but the payments would be less than $300 a month.

And in other news, it is time for me to fetch M from her beloved job in the swells. The surf has been rough lately with the tropical storm heading up the coast, and we went down for an hour yesterday to look at (and some to go in) the waves. It's been beautiful down there these past several weekends. I have been enjoying my morning strolls along the boardwalk every Saturday and Sunday! I'll miss those while she is away next week.

slow down please!

Time is just moving way too fast now! With M and Kevin just back, now she has to work a bunch of days in a row so I can take her up to Boston to look at some schools at the end of the week. I will have to take off two days myself, which is something I really haven't done in months, aside from when we went to Florida. I'm actually nervous about that part, and it's also time to start thinking about how much money I will actually make in the fall when I increase my hours.

Anyway, she was absolutely wiped out (of course) because they decided to go back to finals and stayed beyond the end of it, so they didn't get home until 1:30am. We went out for dinner last night, which was nice but it's packed in the summer, and a bit of a drive, so that also was tiring. And now she has to get up and do it again today. At least she was in bed by 10, but when I went to my room, she was on her laptop.

B thoroughly enjoyed his week at the tennis camp, wants to go back to it again. It costs more than I make in a week, so maybe one more week when M goes away will work. He still has a bunch of work to do to get ready for the return to school and I have to make sure he has all the clothes he needs. He has grown probably close to three inches this year, we'll see tomorrow because he has a doctor's appointment. I measured him last week and he was 66 1/2 inches, last year he was 64, so if the doctor's scale is in agreement that will be 2 1/2 inches. But this was a few days ago, and it could be the full three by now!!

Molly is also hanging in there, right now there has been no change. She is taking steroids and they have brought her appetite back without making her overly thirsty. I don't know if this will last, and I'm running low on the pills. I might cut her to half the dosage and see if that changes anything. Then she has to have the $300 test again :-(

And in other news, the laptop battery is about to die. I hear M is awake upstairs and I must get dressed and ready to drive her to work. Although the day had been supposed to be rainy, this has now been altered to a slight chance of showers in the afternoon. I was actually hoping for a bit of a gloomier day so I would stay in and get some things done! And it seems like every time she works, the sun is relentless. I think there have been two stormy days all summer so far.

and she's off!

B is back! He made it home without incident, although I must say, he is awfully skinny!! I guess he must have looked that way when he left, but it's shocking nonetheless. He went from being a round baby to a thinner child to a chubby cheeked steroid ten year old to a gradual transformation into what his father must have looked like at this age - a walking stick. We go to the doctor in a week for his annual check-up so that will be interesting. Last year he was 64 inches and about 105 pounds. I wouldn't be surprised if the 105 were still the case, just stretched out over a few more inches!

But he had a great whirlwind trip to the west coast. They didn't waste much of the time being idle!

And now M is milling about and packing for her trip to the meet. Kevin will go down and stay at a cousin's, caring for her ailing dog while leaving me to care for ours. M will stay with the team at the hotel, and they will all see each other at the pool. I'll be working although for the first three days the office will be quiet, with most of the workers out at the annual meeting. I'll watch M swim on the computer from there, and B will be doing a four day camp at the tennis academy.

Meanwhile, on the college front, things could get interesting or fizzle after this meet. M has had a couple of impressive calls this week, and she has been invited to an official weekend visit by one of the coaches. She had a fun run of lifeguard tournaments, and she did an ocean swim yesterday and was the first female finisher. She didn't ask her coach if it was OK, but of course he found out, he knows people everywhere, and she was worried about going to practice tonight but he didn't give her a hard time at all, just teased her a little and then said he heard she went really fast. So we'll see!

As for Kevin, he is on vacation starting now, for two weeks. He'll go to the meet with M, and then when he gets back, he'll spend some time with B. I, of course, will work. Although M and I may take another college-visiting jaunt later in the week up to Boston. It won't be long, possibly just one overnight.

And in other news, Molly continues her ups and downs with Cushings. I had her retested and she was still very low, so now she is still on the prednisone and will be retested in another month or so. But I'm not really sure what is going on because she peed on the floor in our room last night. So today I didn't give her the prednisone in the morning and she was lethargic and didn't eat again. Go figure. We gave her a whole pill then and she rebounded and came for a walk with us after the rain cooled things down. So it's one day at a time.

and he's off!!

So here I am, just me, PomPom and the cats. M is still up in bed, but she will soon get up to go do an ocean swim/run this morning. Kevin and B are on their way to the airport to catch B's 7:45am flight!!! I can't even believe it. He's all packed up, I got him two new bathing suits yesterday and tried to help him but he was very insistent that he must do all of these things by himself. He didn't want Kevin to get a gate pass and walk him to the gate, but he might not get that wish. I don't think either Kevin or I want him roaming the airport alone at 6am. His plane should land just before 11, so that's 2 for us. I'll try to keep busy all morning!

Molly continues to swing back and forth between lethargy and panting/drinking episodes. She pees on the floor if we leave her too long. I was supposed to start her back on the maintenance medicine this week, but I think I'll have them do that two hour test one more time, only because she still isn't really eating and she is wasting away to skin and bones rapidly. The drinking is a sign of Cushing's, and the lethargy is a sign of Addison's, so it seems strange to me that she would have both. The not eating indicates Addison's as well, but the drinking and peeing confuse that for me. I joined an online list about it, but all they really did was insist that my doctor wasn't treating her properly, so I can't ask them anything because all they do is tell me to go to another vet.

And with M, she is so busy that it makes my head spin. Between work and swimming and tournaments, there just is no time for anything! Yesterday she complained at dinner that her back hurt, this after she told me that she and another small girl tried to drag the lifeguard stand by themselves until two regular dudes on the beach came along and helped them. I am going to try to impress upon her that this is not a good idea!! And as far as the schools go, I guess we're in a lull. A couple of new schools have called, but they're not really schools she has interest in, and she hasn't had the chance to call them back yet, since she got her big Locks of Love haircut on Friday in her spare time. She sent off all her scores and info to most of them, so now we're just waiting to see what (if anything) they'll do, and we're planning a revisit to Boston in August.

And in other news, one thing I am missing this summer is my weekday beach time. Working every day has taken that from me! Although I am home in time to get down there by mid-afternoon some days, most of the time I am either too tired, have somewhere else to be, or don't get out in time to come home and pick up B and then head down. And the beach club can be so crowded on the weekends that it's barely worth going there when we have a nice quiet pool in the backyard. Also, having seen all these beautiful town beaches within a half hour's drive, I can't believe we spent so much time sitting on the dirty dingy one we belong to while the kids were little. These other ones are so much nicer and more kid-friendly because of the way the waves break and the ocean floor slopes. (ie not straight down like at our beach!)

And I guess that's about it for now.

long overdue: rain, sharks, college, work

The above about sums it all up. I have neglected the blog again, it is true. I'd promise to be better but I can't say for sure. There are so many minor distractions that I often just feel too tired to think too hard. This past weekend, my usual updating time, was spent at a swim meet. (Well, only in the evenings, but the days were spent rushing around because the evenings were to be lost).

Anyway, it rained!!! It didn't rain for weeks and then rained buckets on the night of the concert for which I had bought three tickets three months ago, which M took for herself and two friends. And it rained on the day when B said he would want to go to the beach. And it is raining again right now.

M said she had a lot of fun at work today. They swam out to the buoys, they played in the surf, and they paddled in the pond. People were getting stuck in the currents but there were no major mishaps. Half the day was somewhat sunny down there. But the scary part is the sharks! More seen just to the south. It's frightening. People claim to have seen them all up and down, but only a couple have made the news, and they try to downplay the ones that do. With all of these tournaments, they're way out there. And I thought the currents were going to be my major source of anxiety this summer!

As for college, it's the same old game. Trying to provide them with what they ask for, but not getting exactly the right documents from the school. Of course, I have sent whatever I can to the admissions offices, but the coaches want separate copies. I'd pay and have them sent if I could, but there is no code for that!

And the sadness again is Molly, who continues to deteriorate. She has been swinging back and forth between her panting and drinking episodes and her lying around motionless events. She falls down when she stands up because her legs are too weak to support her, especially on the ceramic tile. I cut the fur around her pads tonight so hopefully that will help her. Once she's up and walking, she does OK. Why is this always such a slow and helpless process with these pets? Most of the time, she still seems ok, just resting.

So that is about it for the 'big' news. In other news, B prepares for his west coast trip, which is to begin in just four days!!! I cannot believe it. His new shoes came yesterday (I ordered them online) and he has his fancy haircut. All we have to do is get him packed up and get his documents in order. I can't believe he's really going.

independence day

Here it is already, Fourth of July again. Where does the time go? Today is the two month anniversary of my first day on the new job. And I'm still there! I have come to the conclusion that although I do like the job, I dislike the way I am underpaid and yet expected to perform beyond the agreement on a regular basis. If I can get through the summer with these issues, I will probably be OK, because I won't have constraints at home as much once school starts. But getting through the summer might be hard, since, for example, when I have to leave on time instead of being delayed and leaving late, I have to start impressing in the morning the importance of my leaving at the proper time. A far cry from the initial email offering me the job through the agency. But of course, there is no more agency. I am up the creek with no paddle now!

Anyway, M got her first paycheck ever and it's made out to "Morgan." I don't know if she can even cash it, and it's pretty small, only for the first two days, anyway. But they will certainly have to fix that. She has gone out tonight to sit around with a pair of friends from the team, after working all day. Tomorrow she will work and then we'll all watch the fireworks at the beach club. It will be a late night for her, and she has a morning swim practice at 6, work, and a night practice on Monday. But she will be off on Tuesday, at least.

And some more of her scores are in. She did very well on the ACTs despite doing just so-so in the science section, and she scored 4's on the three AP tests she took. And she heard from a few college coaches over the last few days, two of them who were quite notable and two of them who never even got through to her.

B has one more week of his camp, then he can work on some schoolwork and sleep a little before I get home to take him to the beach or somewhere fun for a couple of weeks, and then he leaves for his San Diego trip. I know he is looking forward to that. Otherwise, tennis and hanging around the house have been his life this summer so far.

As for Moll, she is not doing so well. Her follow-up test showed that her Cushing's had been overtreated and she basically has Addison's disease now. So she's taking prednisone but barely touching her food. She has been drinking better the last couple of days, and perhaps part of the reason she isn't eating is due to all the hamburger she's been getting just to entice her to eat. Why eat kibble when you can have hamburger, I guess ...? But she does seem more comfortable than when she couldn't even stop panting and was desperate for water all the time. The worst thing aside from the lack of eating is the weakness in her back legs. She doesn't really want to take walks or stay outside for very long.

And in other news, I had a flat tire in my truck this week. Turns out it had a nail just hanging right out of it, and Kevin managed to get it off and put on the spare. I'm trying to find the time to get it in for an oil change anyway, so I hope they can just patch the other tire up when I do that. Oh, and M was selected for the swim camp in Colorado. She got the official word last week. We haven't booked her flight because we're hoping that she and her friend can fly with their coach, and we don't know what flight he will be on yet. We hope to find out on Tuesday. But she will be there the week of her birthday, which meant I had to reschedule her road test. If she passes on the first try ::knock wood::, she will have her license for the last week of summer.

weekly review

So here I am a day early, who knows - maybe I will manage a double update this weekend! Much has gone on, I hope I can remember it all. First, B finished his whole week in tennis camp. He's pretty low energy in general so it about wiped him out. Then I took him for new glasses because I found out that he hasn't had any he will wear for a while. He's just been keeping his contacts in until it's time to go to bed, then he takes them out and goes to sleep because he can't see anything anyway.

As for M, she is FINALLY done with school. All she knows is that she got a B on the physics final and a B+ for the class for the marking period. I don't know when report cards will come with the rest of the info. But that was a pretty good grade for that class. Her one friend got a 95 on the final, the highest grade ever for the final with this teacher.

Today she started her rookie training at the beach. Of course, as luck would have it, we had our semi-annual skin review for her face at the dermatologist. She also has ringworm (ew) but that's going away. He gave her something stronger than what I had, even though it did look a lot better than it had. He says this new one is better. But he gave the whole speech about sun protection and skin damage even with sunblock. I told her maybe next summer she can look into a study-abroad program for a few weeks so she can get a practical application for the Spanish she's been studying and she won't have to spend 400 hours in direct sunlight.

She got her SAT2 scores back and she scored quite well on the Spanish test, for a non-native speaker, I think. She did even better on the US History test. Now I'm anxious for her AP scores, which will be out during July. She's also waiting to see if she got a position with the National Honor Society (she is going to be secretary of the Spanish Honor Society) and also she's awaiting the ACT scores. And July 1 is the first date that college coaches can make actual contact with her, so that will be an interesting day - will she get lots of calls, or none?? Much to anticipate this month.

But, oh. The biggest milestone is B's trip, which we booked using Kevin's miles. He is going to fly out to San Diego in July, leaving on a Sunday morning and returning on a Friday night.I can't believe that I am going to put him on a plane alone for six hours! But it's a great opportunity for him to have an experience that's all his own. He has really never been able to do that. I'm trying to find ways to help him build his confidence.

And in other news, Molly is still on her "loading" dose of the Cushing's medicine. She takes it twice a day and once a day I give her prednisone. He had said to do the latter twice, but it seemed to be making her worse. I'd like to not give it at all but the danger is that the dogs can crash. This way, she's pretty mellow and doesn't pant a lot during the day, but at night after the prednisone, she starts the whole panting thing again. And her limbs seems a lot weaker too, but I don't think that has anything to do with this medicine. And the one thing she is enjoys is that the medication is fat-soluble, so I have been giving it to her with hamburger. Wilbur enjoys that, too.

As for Kevin, he is trying to fix cars today. He replaced the mirror on my Explorer and only lost 1/3 of the screws that hold it on. Should be OK, right? (Don't drive too close behind me). Now he has gone off to try to pick up a part to repair the blower in his truck, which lost all the speeds from 1-4 (of 5), as I discovered on Monday when I went to return the tables and chairs from the party. And I should be off to procure food. The cupboards are bare of anything with any nutritional value.

weekly review

So here I am a day early, who knows - maybe I will manage a double update this weekend! Much has gone on, I hope I can remember it all. First, B finished his whole week in tennis camp. He's pretty low energy in general so it about wiped him out. Then I took him for new glasses because I found out that he hasn't had any he will wear for a while. He's just been keeping his contacts in until it's time to go to bed, then he takes them out and goes to sleep because he can't see anything anyway.

As for M, she is FINALLY done with school. All she knows is that she got a B on the physics final and a B+ for the class for the marking period. I don't know when report cards will come with the rest of the info. But that was a pretty good grade for that class. Her one friend got a 95 on the final, the highest grade ever for the final with this teacher.

Today she started her rookie training at the beach. Of course, as luck would have it, we had our semi-annual skin review for her face at the dermatologist. She also has ringworm (ew) but that's going away. He gave her something stronger than what I had, even though it did look a lot better than it had. He says this new one is better. But he gave the whole speech about sun protection and skin damage even with sunblock. I told her maybe next summer she can look into a study-abroad program for a few weeks so she can get a practical application for the Spanish she's been studying and she wont' have to spend 400 hours in direct sunlight.

She got her SAT2 scores back and she scored quite well on the Spanish test, for a non-native speaker, I think. She did even better on the US History test. Now I'm anxious for her AP scores, which will be out during July. She's also waiting to see if she got a position with the National Honor Society (she is going to be secretary of the Spanish Honor Society) and also she's awaiting the ACT scores. And July 1 is the first date that college coaches can make actual contact with her, so that will be an interesting day - will she get lots of calls, or none?? Much to anticipate this month.

But, oh. The biggest milestone is B's trip, which we booked using Kevin's miles. He is going to fly out to San Diego in July, leaving on a Sunday morning and returning on a Friday night.I can't believe that I am going to put him on a plane alone for six hours! But it's a great opportunity for him to have an experience that's all his own. He has really never been able to do that. I'm trying to find ways to help him build his confidence.

And in other news, Molly is still on her "loading" dose of the Cushing's medicine. She takes it twice a day and once a day I give her prednisone. He had said to do the latter twice, but it seemed to be making her worse. I'd like to not give it at all but the danger is that the dogs can crash. This way, she's pretty mellow and doesn't pant a lot during the day, but at night after the prednisone, she starts the whole panting thing again. And her limbs seems a lot weaker too, but I don't think that has anything to do with this medicine. And the one thing she is enjoys is that the medication is fat-soluble, so I have been giving it to her with hamburger. Wilbur enjoys that, too.

As for Kevin, he is trying to fix cars today. He replaced the mirror on my Explorer and only lost 1/3 of the screws that hold it on. Should be OK, right? (Don't drive too close behind me). Now he has gone off to try to pick up a part to repair the blower in his truck, which lost all the speeds from 1-4 (of 5), as I discovered on Monday when I went to return the tables and chairs from the party. And I should be off to procure food. The cupboards are bare of anything with any nutritional value.

summer starts soon!

The party is over! The big surprise :-) It was a lot of fun. Lots of cousins, and long lost friends, and some we have not seen in decades. To me, everybody looked exactly the same, especially Koke, the birthday boy. And now the balloons begin to deflate and we are polishing off the leftovers and pouring the flat soda down the drain and following the adventures of those were lucky enough to move on to Cape May rather than work, finals, and tennis camp.

So, back to reality. Molly has Cushing's disease, whatever that is. She's starting her medicines tomorrow morning, she'll take some adrenal-gland-killing drug and then, ironically, some cortisone as well. She goes back in a week for more testing to see if it helped. Meanwhile, we're just glad the huge disgusting bloody growth she had on her eye rolled off right in the middle of the party! She looks great now!

And for M, one more final: physics. As if the year could end on a more stressful note. But I'm glad it worked out this way, she's able to study and spend the time on her own. And ew, now she has ringworm. Good grief, can she not get a break. After weeks in the podiatrist's office for an unsuccessful attempt to eradicate the return of the plantar warts I spotted a bright red circle on her calf.

"What is that?" I ask. "I got a pimple from shaving and scratched it," she responds. But I'm not buying it. It looks like ringworm, but I treat it for eczema and staph. Yeah, not the right thing. It gets bigger and uglier. We go to the EMO, and it's ringworm. He tells her to put OTC medication on it for up to six weeks, four times a day. I think, great. We'll take his advice for exactly six days, which is when we have her regular appointment with the dermatologist, thankfully. And it looks stable for now, on the Lotrimin.

And B started his tennis camp today. We were lucky to have cousins and aunt and uncle here this morning, to pick M up from school so she didn't have to stay for the time when she would have had a history final, and B led himself across to the tennis academy. He said he had fun, and knew one kid there, as well as met a bunch who will be freshmen next year. By the way, his report card did arrive last Friday, and although I was prepared to say, "I never thought I would be so excited to see so many Cs," this is not quite true, as there was an actual 85 in the midst! In Spanish, of all things. The rest, sigh, were Cs, but one was a 77 so that was encouraging. Of course, these are year-grades, and include the first semester when a lot of work was just review and there were some higher grades.

So now it's time for the summer reading. Apparently they are doing things differently, and the books are being applied to the first marking period grades in the various subjects rather than to a random score which, if you fail, means you have to take gym your senior year. I find that bizarre, but - whatever. You fail summer reading and have to take gym? Not a real strong motivator to try too hard. I'm going to try to make him study guides; I told him after each chapter to stop and write all the new characters, the main things that happened in the chapter, and what he thinks will happen next.

Anyway, as for Kevin, he is back from Europe yet again but carrying on that he needs to fly 3,000 more miles before September to maintain his status with SAS. Maybe we can go to London again ;-) That'd be worthwhile!!

But really, there will be no big trips this summer for us. Maryland for M, maybe Colorado in August, and B will go to San Diego if we can work that out. I'm saving my (unpaid) holidays for the fall to take M to visit some colleges. The next few weeks should be interesting with a lot of important milestones: she starts her job next weekend, gets SAT scores this week, ACT scores possibly next week (although I accidentally registered her with a 1983 birthdate), colleges can begin calling her July 1, and she'll get her AP test scores in July. So stay tuned!

And in other news, I am committed to my job through the end of summer, which is when I figure my boss will break even on his buyout of me from the agency, and hopefully he will pay me enough to make it worth my while to stay there and do the work I have been doing for less than it's worth! I am just happy to be able to hack away at bills, knowing there will be another paycheck along in a couple of weeks.

a new beginning

So it's Sunday again and I realized it's time to update although again there is not much to report! But I was prompted to investigate new blog templates so I decided it was time for a facelift after all this time. Hope it's pleasing to the eye!

Anyway, this was a hectic week for me at the job. Since I have been bought out I seem to be facing increased demands, which might be OK, but they always come at the time that I'm supposed to leave, and they often seem to involve things that did not come up at the last minute. I'm beginning to worry, but I am committed to see this through the summer before making a final decision, although as long as I keep showing up, there is no decision to be made on my part! And who was beating down my door before I had this anyway? No one.

As for B, there's been no news of grades. I came home with my heart in my throat every day when I checked the mail, but not a thing showed up. Yesterday we went to the school picnic to commemorate the 50th anniversary, complete with the groundbreaking for the new building improvements, and someone told me that the notices of failures went out last week and we would have received them by now! Oh, I hope that is true !! Although the one I most worry about is the one from the last day, which had a couple of essays on it. But I do believe that the teachers were supposed to come in the next day and it was called 'rating day,' and then the day after that the grades were due. So hopefully this source provided accurate information. I will be SO excited if this is the case. I am praying that we'll get the report card this week. I just want to close that chapter (hopefully) and move on.

The other night we had the Doll over with her other son and companion, and it was a lovely dinner although I was harboring stress from the workday. But they made a proposition for Brian, inviting him to come out and spend a few days with them on the west coast. I think this is a great idea, although of course, I'll be a nervous wreck if and when he does go, quite a long flight and what if they have an earthquake? They have had a few recently already ! But I will send him if it turns out he doesn't have to go to summer school. That will take care of one more week for him this summer.

So he has three weeks of tennis camp, that week away, and I may put him in another week or two of tennis camp at the indoor Academy where he takes his weekly lessons. Then Kevin will have a bit of vacation, and B also has his summer reading. I was also considering putting him in a geometry class, so that when he starts school he'll already have an understanding of it. I want to make sure we don't watch history repeat itself next year (good luck with this). The stress was unbearable for all of us, at times.

As for M, she is still in school. She had the ACTs yesterday and she said the science section was horrible. She spent so much time on the biology that she didn't have time to complete the chemistry, and she just filled in bubbles. She said the physics was fine, but she's in physics now. So I'm not terribly optimistic for those scores, but it won't really matter unless her SAT2 scores from last week aren't good, and hopefully this will not be the case.

And she has swimming all the time still, they don't even have a weeknight off, which has been a real pain. They start their outdoor practices this week, and she has a meet today. The meet started Friday but this is the first and only day I signed her up for, because of the ACTs. She missed her better events, but at least she'll get into the pool and do a few races before Nationals in July. She won't start her job until after school gets out, probably around the 26th.

And in other news, Molly has her test for Cushing's Disease this week. It's a two hour test and she has to hang out at the vet the whole time. If it's positive, she'll go on a one week trial of the medicine, and repeat the test at the end of that week. If the test shows improvement, she goes on maintenance medication with repeat testing at three month intervals or so. If not, we are in trouble. And Kevin is off to his softball game this morning, the first since The Accident. Hopefully he returns in one piece. Otherwise, we prepare for the upcoming gala this weekend, keep our fingers crossed that the weather gods cooperate, and that a good time will be had by all!

june again and all is well?

Yet another week gone by. Kevin is back from Denmark and the kids are winding down their schools, especially B. (I have decided to write about them in stealth format. It's faster and it protects their privacy, Facebook-style). He is upstairs now, studying for his last two finals, math and history. Of course, he forgot the history study guide, lost it, whatever. And who knows if he understands the math. I wanted M to sit with him for another hour tonight just to review a few things, maybe help him to remember some formulas or something.

She has had a sluggish weekend. Yesterday morning she took the SATs, US History and Spanish, and then we went to a confirmation dinner, which was quite fun. We left B at home, at his insistence, and it was good that we did, as we left at 3 and didn't get home until 9:45!! And then today, she had to do her re-certification class for CPR. She's all set to begin her job now, whenever that may happen. After she gets out of school for sure, which is the 23rd of June.

As for me, I plug along. I am still underpaid and am beginning to need some days off (or half days, which for me is really a half of a half-day). I still feel that it's unfair that I am required to work this many hours every week, although I am not held to it, but I can't have too many days off in one month or it would appear that I was not working the full number of hours. And the job is OK, not what I would have probably sought out, but I don't usually feel bored, and I like the people in the office, for the most part.

Kevin is back from Denmark and working a lot in the yard. We got our new carpets downstairs on Friday so we have to set all of those rooms back up again with the furniture where it belongs. I'd do it now but my feet are up!!

Anyway, I guess our lives are somewhat boring for now! I like that. In other news, I have to make an appointment with the vet to get Molly checked for Cushing's disease. It's moderately expensive to treat at first, but if you get it right the first time, the cost is not too bad and then it becomes manageable. And Wilbur is about due to go back for his next annual visit and rabies vaccine. He won't be happy about that!

and it's sunday again

Well, this is becoming a weekly column for me instead of a blog! The week just went by so quickly. I always feel like it's dragging on Tuesdays and then it's Wednesday and there are just two days left, and before I know it, it's Friday and the weekend again! This is moving too fast!

And so I am officially employed. I don't know how I'll be paid, I have to set that up myself, but I'm no longer a temp. I have a job! Time will tell how it will play out, well for all, I hope. For the summer, the conditions will remain relatively unchanged but beyond that, I guess it depends on the way things go over the next three months or so.

Megan as well is going to be gainfully employed. She had her meeting yesterday, so she'll have about a week of training and then shadow someone for several days. She might take on a side assignment, working with the younger kids, that will be fun for her. They have a huge competition, though, held where she will be working, on the last day of her big summer meet. So we'll have to see about that too. Obviously she will have to miss something, whether it be the last day of the meet, or the tournament. More unknowns.

Brian is in the home stretch of his finals prep and I'm quite concerned with the volume of material he has to review, and how long it takes him to do everything. He likes to talk about what he is going to do and then take too long to do it all. Writing seems to elude him. I think sometimes he thinks too hard about what he thinks the answer is rather than just writing what he really thinks.

Incidentally, I read Megan's SAT essay on the website, and I see she actually did something similar. Although well written, she skirted the issue a few times, while it seemed like she was trying to wow them with her history knowledge or her use of famous quotes, as if she had been told this would bring her a better rating. However, by doing this, she wasn't able to effectively answer the question, which was, do you believe small decisions can have a larger impact in the long run, or something like that. She could have written a top-rated essay if she had talked about something like her first decision to be on a swim team at age 5 in the summer, and where that has led her today, but instead she chose to write about the Puritans decision to form their own church and how it led them to America. An OK response, but it ended up sounding more like she was trying to showcase than really answering the question.

Anyway, I am rambling. I got up early to go to the last church service preached by the pastor and I didn't even go. Someone had said to me that it would be very crowded, and it was only being held in the small hot church. They were having a building dedication afterward, but I missed that too! So now I'm making sure Brian gets started on his work, and then I think I'll ride out to see if I can find a place to park to watch Megan swim in the end of this brutal race. She has opted to swim the 2 miles although 1 was an alternative. Kevin got her a wetsuit, so I'm curious to see how she likes it. Her coach lent her his wife's last year, which he had accidentally thrown into the bag instead of his own.

And in other news, today is a beautiful day. Kevin embarks upon his Danish journey this evening, so we will be a one-parent household for the week. Megan will probably want to spend some time at the beach club today or tomorrow, and Brian will be locked into this studying for the rest of the weekend. Yesterday they spent the whole day volunteering at a fundraiser, so he got barely anything done. Just that he spent four hours working on an essay about a short poem about a man who shoos away a bird and then regrets it.