Wednesday Morning

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Stories

I am home alone. Kevin and Megan went to the Yankee game - or I should say Reds game - at the courtesy of the Favorite Boy's dad's contact. Well, on the ride up to the game, the contact was banished back to the minor leagues! So he is not even at the stadium, he is packing up his things. The rest of them did manage to get seats, but I don't think they got any special privileges. I will update later.

Brian had baseball practice in preparation for a tournament over July 4th weekend, and now he is at a friend's house. I came home to make sure Molly wasn't in the yard, and to have some lunch. The house is a mess but I don't think it's fair that while everyone else plays, I have to stay home and shuffle their stuff around. But I supposed at the very least I can scoop the litterboxes. All the cats are here, they haven't abandoned me.

And so after waiting since literally the first day of Nationals in April, they finally posted the time standards on the web site. It turns out they have been out since June 1, but they forgot to put them up for the world to see. Now they have the link posted, and it doesn't work! I am about to lose my mind over this one!!!

Anyway, that's about it. In other news, I am trying to figure out how to best rearrange the guest bedroom for E when she comes (seems more like 'when' than 'if' now). C from the Fresh Air Fund will probably share Brian's room and sleep on the bottom bunk, but I can't make E share a double bed with Megan. So I have to either take apart Brian's bunks or buy her a new twin bed and stick it in that room; without breaking the bank. I should start garage-saling! Anyway, it's fun to have a project like that.

Beach Bums

Today was absolutely perfect at the beach! I almost didn't want to go, I just didn't feel like it, and as we got to the bridge and the thermometer in my car read 74 degrees, I was really getting anxious. Last time we went it was about 90 at home, and the beach was freezing and windswept. Not so today. It was perfect weather, a nice breeze, no bugs, no ocean pests, barely a cloud in the sky, and a nice warm (not too hot) sun. No waves to speak of, but we weren't there to surf, so that was fine. And for the first time, I chose the spot rather than joining other people, and I chose it right on the crest of the sand-hill, so we had a perfect view of the ocean the entire time. Megan was happy because most of her favorite people were there: her two friends from school snuck across from the 'free' beach next door, and her Favorite Boy was also there.

We got there at 12:30 and stayed till about 6, when we had to leave to go to a party for the 'pilgrims' from church, who are about to embark on their 13 day pilgrimage to England to follow the ancient history of the Episcopal church. This is the trip on which we chose not to send Megan, for several reasons, and I am feeling pretty glad that I stuck with my feeling on that. We left Brian at the beach and he was thrilled. His group didn't leave until 9:30, so we all got home at 10.

So, tomorrow, Megan and Kevin are invited to the Yankee game with the Favorite Boy and his dad. The dad is in some sort of clothing business, and makes these shirts that have become quite a hit with the jet setters. He gives them out complimenentarily (?) to most of them, in fact I believe they were even featured on Oprah. So he is able to get them tickets to the game not through the Yankees, but through his customers, the Reds! They will be sitting with the Reds wives, and MAY be able to get onto the field! But I warned them not to dress as Yankee fans! Not that either one of them are, anyway.

In other news, now that it looks as if our fresh air and exchange student issues have been resolved, we await the word of the time cuts for the 2009 Y meet. They had been guaranteed to be posted by June 1, which has clearly come and gone. There is a message forum, and I have been checking every day to see what is going on. Just today, someone asked again when they might be available. The reply was that the webmaster would post them soon. Finally, we will have answers to all of the mysteries, hopefully by the middle of next week!

Davy Jones' Locker

So a few blogs back I was detailing my dramatic rescue of the little chipmunk from the jaws of the Wren. I saw the little thing scurrying across the deck a couple of days later, and have managed to keep Wren inside, except for one little slip-up the other afternoon, after which Buddy also got out and remained at large for several hours.

Well, today I had a half day to work in a resource room at a different elementary school. I came home and sorted through email and various other timewasting activities. Finally, I decided it was time to check out the yard, see what is blooming and what's sprouting up since last I checked (I'm awaiting the reemergence of the hardy hibiscus from last year; one started weeks ago, but the three smaller ones have shown no signs of life, until today. I think I saw small bumps emerging from the wood sticking out of the ground!!! I hope so, because these are my red ones, and I love them.)

Anyway, Molly was out with me, as always, and we were walking around after Megan came home. I suddenly remembered a shadowy shape I had seen earlier from the bathroom window. :-O Sure enough, there, in Davy Jones' locker, laid my beloved little rescuee. I was sad. I took a moment and studied the little thing, lying there still as if he were asleep, with his eyes closed and his little paws hanging in front of him as if he were saying, "No, Davy, No! Give me back to the jaws of the Wren!" With a heavy heart, I turned away, walking around the deep end of the pool. Shock! Horror! Strife! There again, in Davy Jones' OTHER locker ... was a relative of my small ex-friend. So, it is a sad day for the chipmunks.

Other than that, the Mets have now lost their playoff berth. They actually won the second game, so they lost the first, and then won the second, which obviously entitled them to play a third, which was Tuesday. The other team had one of the best pitchers in the division, and they had whooped us in the regular season game. I didn't expect much, and headed out to watch the game. When I got there ten minutes late, it was already the bottom of the second inning. Brian was on third, but I didn't know how he had gotten there. (I later learned he had gotten a double!) He did not score. At the end of that inning, the score remained 0-0. And it just got better - throughout the beginning of the game, it remained scoreless for several innings, until the Mets took a 2-0 lead.However, their opponents were not to be outdone, and quickly regained their status, and scored two runs of their own for a score of 2-2. Normally the little league games are six innings long. In the bottom of the TENTH inning, the Mets season drew to a close. It was very exciting, though, and a well played game by all. And now that other team has to go on to the next level, which means playing Saturday, in 90 degree heat.

In other news, nothing on the exchange student or fresh air fund STILL. The rep from the agency did call the other day to say that she had spoken to the secretary of the assistant superintendent, so we are awaiting his return call. She said she'd give him till Friday (now, tomorrow) and try him again. I will email him myself if he doesn't get her an answer by the end of the day. I am getting so tired of this, as I may have mentioned. I had Kevin speak to the guy who runs the baseball camp, I was starting to envision the fresh air people calling me the night before, that week, and sending me some little boy who really wanted to be in the camp, and then having the camp be filled. This is a very nice man, thankfully, and he is really great with the kids, too. He is actually a (haha) comedian in his spare time, so he just keeps the camp moving along. He was also very open to the idea of the camper, and said, sure! just remind me right before, if he comes. So that is one thing off my mind. I still don't know if we haven't gotten an assignment because of the confusion regarding the camp, or if we just have not come up on the list yet. And now, I am off to the orthodontist. Megan has just come home with a headache - wonderful.

Going Out with a Bang

It's a hit! Brian got a hit! And it was a good one, too. He got to first easily, and not because someone made an error. Brian has a terrible tendency to stand there and wait out the pitches, praying for walks. It's a strategy that has worked for him in the past, but I have also heard kids make fun of him for it, and it does get old quickly. However, he successfully applied this strategy in his first at-bat of the day.

The Knights were getting creamed by the other team, and Brian was up for a second time, in the bottom of the 6th with one out. We were down by, I believe, 8 runs. I always cringe when I see him come up, because when the walk-waiting strategy fails, the result is usually, "STRIKE THREE!". The coach who stands and runs a loud mouth commentary in front of the fans, he's their first base coach, started in, "come on Brian, let me see you swing, let's go out hitting, come on Brian, this is yours..." So my stomach went to knots again. I hate for Brian to just stand there like that.

The first pitch came in high, so that was a ball. Then he got a called strike. Finally, it kicked in. He swing, and fouled off two of them. One more pitch, and it actually cracked! His hits often thwack, but they don't often crack, and this one did. It went right between third base and shortstop, and the third baseman couldn't get to it in time - so it went out to left field before making its way back to the infield, and he had plenty of time to trot to first. Very exciting.

But then he was left on second; and that was the end of the game!

Otherwise (in other news) we had the Doll over for a BBQ dinner last night, since the house was already clean. Her days of employment are drawing to a close, since her employer will be closing up shop in three weeks. She loved the job, and the discount, but now that they have reduced everything by 70%, the clientele are, as she puts it, " a lower class of people". Rather than acting as personal shopper, she is more of a gopher and dressing-room cleaner, running all the clothes that people have left in piles back to the racks for the next rampage. She even wears a back brace to work now! So I am off to work for the next three days. Hopefully they will be good ones. I know I have my little special ed friends tomorrow, but today and Wednesday I must 'float', so I never know what the day holds in store. All I do know is that it usually means small blocks of time in each class, as long as the meetings are well booked throughout the entire day. If not, I am stuck with lots of down time. Finally, maybe some exchange student news today, let's hope. The agency rep will call the district this afternoon. Also nothing from Fresh Air, and it's beginning to get troublesome. I would like to know which week we will be hosting, if in fact we get anyone at all! And my other source of irritation is the YMCA National board. They still have not posted the qualifying times for the 2009 meet in Florida, although they said they would have them no later than June 1. (disclaimer: post not proofread - must go shower)

It's Gotta Be a Strange Twist of Fate

And so I had to work today. I was not so much looking forward to it, four nice days off in a row, and now to go back to a third grade class of which I am not particularly fond. They have a very strict teacher, and they always sort of break down when she isn't there. But, I sucked it up...and for the most part they were glad, or at least not surprised, to see me. Just two major mishaps: the boy who fell backwards in his chair and hit his head on the rolling bookcase, and the girl who got on the bus when she was supposed to be picked up by car; and her bus left before the mom realized it. Oh well. Noone told me she wasn't supposed to get on the bus, or, in fact, what she was supposed to do at all! I am sure they will just say "she had a substitute."

Anyway, the odd thing is that the principal at school has been out quite a bit. Rumor has it she had a hospital stay a couple of weeks ago, when she was out and unreachable for the entire week. Well, when a principal is out, there must be an administrator in the school for arrival and dismissal of the students. I noticed a tall, dapper looking gentleman who I had never seen before, and assumed he must be the substitute principal. I wondered who he was, and thought that perhaps the principal of the high school. So I asked a woman I have seen around for years, who works in the before-care, but also happens to be a board member. Well. Knock me over with a feather. This man was none other than the man we have been trying to reach regarding the exchange student approval! I hurried over.

He was extremely nice and open to the idea. I explained the whole thing to him, and he said that he had grown up as one of six, and they often had exchange students in their home. He even asked if we would give them back one of ours!!! Haha! I should have asked if he had one in mind. But I didn't. He gave me his card, with all of his information on it, again gave me the excuse of how busy the other woman has been with the testing assessments, and we went our separate ways. I called the regional manager, knowing I could get hold of her as the local rep works during the day, and gave her all the info, and the details he had requested. She said she would get on it.

Later in the day, she told me she had spoken again to his secretary, and was again put off, and also that she spoke to the secretary of the woman we keep being pushed onto, and she was quite rude. So, I fell to discouragement again. However...not to be outdone, the local rep scored some victory of her own. Just by chance, she called this guy to follow up, and he actually picked up his own phone!!! So she got him, and he was very kind to her as well, and he told her to go ahead and send the packet, and so she is! It is most exciting. And to think I was on the fence about this whole exchange student thing at first. As soon as they make something difficult to attain, that's when it seems to be the most attractive.

So that was the news of the day. I woke up and the day was not going so well. I let Molly out, and Wren escaped. Damn cat! She's been doing that a lot, but it was 7:45 and it's lawn cutting day. Nobody else would be home until Megan got home at 2:30, and the stupid fool would be out all day. The other night she had some sort of skirmish with another cat, and now noone would be home to protect her. Then I dropped off Brian at school and went to Dunkin Donuts, and it was packed! I was in such a funk! My car was saying "check fuel cap", but I have not even gotten gas since Friday. All was just not well. But then! I came out of Dunkin Donuts, and there on the ground, there it was! It was a heads-up penny!!! I thought, I can use all the luck I can get today! And I grabbed it. So maybe it worked its wonders. Who knows.

Anyway that was that. Today was a hellish sort of day. I had already volunteered to drive both ways for the swimming carpool, which on Wednesdays entails a half-hour drive to the beach. Normally I enjoy this, and I will walk and have myself a nice glass of wine at Stewart's by the boardwalk. However, tonight there was a rescheduled baseball game for Brian's travel team. Well, I didn't realize that this was a playoff game, and a makeup for a game that had gone one inning in a previously rained out event. So here is what I did: picked up the carpool boys at 4:45. Drove them to Long Branch for the 5:30 practice. Drove home, got here at 6. Took Brian to his game by 6:15 (half an hour late for warm-ups). Left him there. No other team at the time. Drove back to beach, got there at 6:45. Waited 15 minutes for the kids, then drove them all back to their homes. Went to see Brian play right field as their team was mercied in only three innings of play (add to the inning played the other time for four innings) of which Brian played exactly ... one. Fun with Jane.

The good news? They're done for the season (the travel team). Little League has their second game on Saturday. They almost won yesterday, in fact. Brian not only had a hit, he also scored! It was most exciting. But the coach switched everyone up the last inning and the other team scored, and they beat us by one. It's double elimination, so if they lose on Saturday, they're out. Ironically, they are called the Mets and they played the Marlins; I heard on the radio that yesterday the Mets beat the Marlins, 5-3. Unfortunately, in our world, the Marlins beat the Mets, 6-5.

In other news, Kevin is still in Denmark. He returns on Friday. I am working again tomorrow (4th grade) and on Friday ('floating' as of now) and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. After that, it may be done. (heh heh ... one can only hope!) Megan got her classes for next year, and holy God...I could never survive a schedule like that: Geometry, Pre-Calc, Chemistry, English, History, Spanish 4 (all Honors). She is doubling up on the math this year, so she can do something later (I forget what) but she has no electives. However, when you do it this way, you have an easier time your senior year. So let's hope our exchange student (more on her later) is as serious of a student as all of her application answers say she is!

To Bat or Not to Bat

That is the question. I have been hearing about this lawsuit against Little League, Sports Authority, and the maker of the unfortunate bat that delivered the near-fatal and life altering blow to the chest of then-12-year old Steven. I vaguely remembered having heard something about it, but I couldn't remember what had happened to him that he was suing the batmaker. Did he get hit by the bat? What on earth could the bat have done to a kid?

So this morning I decided to review the story. Hit by a batter!!! Hmm. Let me think about that. I read the article and a few things hit very close to home. Particularly the description of the boy's pitching abilities: he didn't throw very fast, but he had good ball control. So what does that mean? It means that he usually throws strikes, but they don't pack much power. That's what it meant to me. Most of the time when I have seen these pitches returned, they don't come back with that much force. Actually, when Brian pitches, the best batters are usually lucky to get a lazy fly ball to centerfield.

I remember a few years ago hearing lots of talk about heartguards, and I think this accident was the impetus; although this is certainly far from the only one. I remember last summer reading about a girl killed by a returned softball she had just pitched. Probably to an aluminum bat. They're lighter, and they're all you see on the fields. Nobody plays with wooden bats.

So what is with the lawsuit? I'm not sure what the parents expect to gain. I understand every time Brian steps out there the risk we all take. In fact, it's the reason I hate to see him pitch, and secretly thank my lucky stars that he is one of the 'alternates' and only has to face those smacked balls in about half the innings on his travel team. At one game, such a batter did smack the ball right to the pitcher. Luckily, he had cat-like refexes and put up his glove to deflect the line drive. I do not believe Brian has this reactive ability.

Should we sue football makers for concussions received when players are tackled after making a reception? Can we sue the maker of a swimming pool, when a child falls in and drowns? How about the maker of a skateboard, when the child rides it down the steps of a large building and ends up in a vegetative state? I understand they are devastated, and of course they should be. It just seems to me that the focus is in the wrong area. I don't see how they can win a thing. Focus on the heartguard rule; focus on safety concerns; make the pitching distance longer if the batters are hitting harder.

But, perhaps I am mistaken. Certainly there are bats that create a more impressive thwack than others. Our Little League has rules regarding the size of the bats that were allowed to be used, no wide bodied models were permitted, at least not at that age. On the other hand, we knew a woman whose eye was permanently damaged as a result of being hit with a wiffle ball when she was a child. Sometimes you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Well, that was all I felt like saying. In other news, there is no news on the Fresh Air or the exchange student. The CCI woman sent a letter to the principal at the high school last night, and attached a picture of an unsmiling, rather butch looking chinese girl instead of our smiling blonde Swede. I am not so sure they will be thinking too highly of us by the time this whole thing is resolved. I guess it falls on me to contact the powers that be to see what we have to do to set this process in motion. Right now, I can't assigned until I can get approval to enroll a student. And in the meantime, the poor girl's application is on hold. In order for her to be released, we need an answer, one way or the other. In poring through old meeting minutes, I discovered that they have accepted many students over the years and in 2005 discussed it at a board meeting. However, they have no published policy on their website, which makes it difficult to know from which angle to approach. Our system is so entangled in bureaucracy; and we've been through about four superintendents in the nine years that my kids have been enrolled in the schools.

More on Mother's Day

Ok, so I can sit for a few minutes and tell a tale or two. First off, the confirmation story has been pretty much told, so I will fast forward through that. On to the baseball game.

Last year, Brian was on a travel team called the Hilltoppers. They lost every game they played, and most often by the 'mercy rule' which states that if one team is ahead by ten or more runs at the end of the fourth inning, the game is called as an act of mercy to the losing team (and to all the poor parents in attendance.) To make a long story short, the better players on the Hilltoppers all switched to other teams, and Brian found himself a spot on a team called the Knights. The Knights are doing OK, they have lost a few, but they have only been mercied once. The Hilltoppers managed to ressurect without their defectors, but they don't seem to have gained any edge as far as their playing record.

Today, the Hilltoppers faced the Knights. Brian, who usually shares the position of right field with another player in alternating innings, got to be the starting pitcher today! He only gave up one run, and that was on an error! So it was a very exciting game for him, although it was absolutely freezing cold, and he was also thudded in the thigh by a pitch. He has a bruise the size of a small grapefruit already, and it's only been a few hours.

After a brief visit at the home of Christine, Megan's fellow "confirmand', we headed off to our Dinner With the Doll. It was at a (relatively) new restaurant, and it was fairly ok. First, a little background: our neighbor ran over her son's foot on Friday, fracturing one of the bones. In her defense, he got out of a moving car, and she didn't know she was on his foot. But he has this fancy black boot on it now. He showed it off to us yesterday. They're sort of like the neighbors in 'Home Improvement' - they come and talk to us across the fence.

The restaurant in question is a little fancy-ish, and although they have just about 12 parking spots in a tiny lot, they valet park the cars. So we came out, and had them fetch the Doll's car first (our old Volvo, just recently repaired since she crashed it ... and I can see how she did, as we were approaching the lot she rolled across the street in front of us, from a lot across the street, without even looking to see if anyone was coming.) Megan, Brian, and I all stood at the top of the walkway, trying to avoid the chill in the air while Kevin helped the Doll put her flowers in the car. The nice valet, an older-ish middle Eastern-ish man had held onto them while we ate.

As we waited, a stocky man with a wild mane of hair came out of the restaurant on crutches. I looked and he had the same boot as our poor run-over neighbor. I, never have been one to think before I spoke, said to him, "did your mother run over your foot, too?" To that he returned a witty response, and then bantered a little with Brian, asking him his age, grade, and if he is getting out of or going into seventh grade this year. I told him, that remains to be seen.

Once the Doll and her flowers were safely removed, and our car was pulled up, the valet returned. To our humourous new colorful friend, he said, "aren't you on tv?"

=:-O

The gentleman did not want to admit to much, but he eventually did confess to being the owner of one of the most pretigious restaurants in the area. Well, I have since googled him, and have discovered him to be none other than David Burke, Executive Chef. It was quite humorous. He had told us that he was on his way to visit his mother, and then he got into a town car with a driver, and sped away. I still don't really know who he is, but clearly, I am in the minority. I bet James, Pastry Chef, would be impressed.

We ended up behind them for several miles, and just as we came to a spot where the road split, they suddenly peeled off to the right, furthering our impression that they thought we were Star Chef Stalkers!

And that was our brush with greatness for the day. Pictures of the festivites, and maybe even a video, if I can figure out how to do it, may be forthcoming. No pictures of our new friend, alas. He left us as fleetingly as he found us.

In other news, I will stay home tomorrow and await the arrival of the electrical and gas inspectors for the final inspection on the new air conditioner. So far, no sub calls, and I hope that there will be none. I am sad that the forecast is so gloomy, as I would like to see some sunlight if I am to be home all day; but I'll try to get laundry and other chores done. No word on a shed permit yet. Our pool is being opened on Friday! I hope it warms up by then. Of course, the weather must be bad for tomorrow, because Kevin has planned a day trip to Toronto. The last time he went there, they ended up cancelling ALL the flights, and he had to spend the night in the airport.

Spring is in the Air

OK, so I am a damn fool. I realized that there is a link to this blog in the admin area of the swim team site. So, since now anyone who has access to that page has access to my blog, I have had to make 'life goes on' private. Now I will have to fomulate a list and actually invite people. Oh well, at least I won't have to watch what I say anymore. Never trust the internet.

I had originally linked to the Y page, but then deleted that link as soon as I realized that, in so doing, I had linked them to me as well. But the link on their site stayed, for some reason. I am surprised that it took someone this long to finally click on it. Now I'll just have to never enter the building again, or find a new swim team for Megan, or something.

So it's finally feeling like spring. Sometimes. Yesterday was a beautiful warm day. Today - not so much. But it's at least warm enough to go out in a sweatshirt, and it's good weather for walking, or it would be if I didn't have to work all the time!!

On Friday, I thought I had the day off. Well. I was mistaken. They called for me to work AM, so I thought that was not so bad. At 7am, the phone rang, and it said 'Middletown School'. Thinking, as I always fall for the same trick, that it was Megan, I picked it up. It was not Megan. It was the daytime sub caller, the woman at central office. I felt bad for her, she was begging, so I agreed to go to the farthest school from my house in the entire town, just for the afternoon. Turns out the teacher burned her hand on an iron, trying to protect a dog she was petsitting.

You know you're in trouble when the other first grade teacher comes in and tells you you are going to have a rough afternoon. The kids didn't listen at all. They were not terrible, really I have had worse. But they were definitely worse than my original plans for the 80 degree afternoon; as I had expected when I got dressed that morning! And then another sub at the morning school said she had turned that one down when they called her. So I wasn't even their first choice for the torture! But I did manage to get through it; and I know all they expected was that, so it's all OK.

Yesterday we went out and picked up some more garden items, a rhododendron to replace the one that died last summer, and some hanging plants. Oh, also a lighthouse! I'll try to remember how to put the pictures up here, once I figure out where we're going to put it. We will have to get electricity run through the yard, to the other side of the pool, but we actually needed that anyway. I am just plodding my way through the design of the yard. I don't know if Kevin appreciates it, but that is sort of too bad right now.

(haha. Since Kevin is one of the only readers now that I have had to make this a private blog!)

In other news: Brian is off to a baseball game with the Knights, his travel team. The Mets, his rec team, are awful. They lose every game. The Knights are 1-1. They're headed up North somewhere today for their game. Megan has to go to her 'God class' from 4 till 8 this evening, so I am going to try to get some spring cleaning done, after I go to Acme to get some food, of which we have none. This week, so far, I have a day and a half of work lined up. An AM only tomorrow, and all day on Tuesday. So that should not be too bad, at least I am not expecting it to be. hah.

Wasting Space

Yep. That is what I'm doing this week, just wasting space. I've been catching up on all the chiari blogs and carepages that I follow, two in particular are very alarming. It's never good when a child goes in for surgery, but when they aren't recovering well and the doctors don't have any idea why - that's when it's really bad. Just as I typed that, I got an email alert to an update on another little girl. Her joints are so swollen that they don't work right anymore, as a result of arachnoiditis, which is her body's inflammatory reaction to all the surgeries she has had. It's incurable, and causes a lifetime of pain. Right now she is in the hospital waiting for an umpteenth shunt revision. Her mother writes that she is more upset than ever before.

So on Sunday night, I turned down that sub call, and she has not called again. I will work tomorrow, but that will be it for me for the week. Maybe she'll call with some more. I don't mind the down time, I even went for a couple of walks, but I would like to have the paycheck.

Brian has a baseball game tonight, the first time he will play with the Little League team. It should be interesting, he missed their first game on Saturday while we were away, and kids told him that his team got clobbered. I don't know why, but perhaps will find out tonight.

It's nice not having to drive to swimming, but weird. Megan decided not to do spring track after all, since she has already missed almost half the season. The coach won't know her, and she probably won't get many opportunities to run. She certainly doesn't need to do it for exercise, as spring training at the Y starts in just another week (actually it starts Monday, but she doesn't have to go for an extra week since she went to Nationals). I'm still waiting for them to post the 2009 Qualifying Times so we will know if she is guaranteed a trip back next year, or if she's going to have to swim her butt off again to beat the new times.

On that note, she has stayed after school to catch up on some missed work, so I must go fetch her and prepare to shuttle Brian to his ortho appointment and thenback for baseball. Stats to follow!

In other news: Molly's leg seems ok today. She had pulled off almost all of the fur, but she hasn't tried to go at it at all since yesterday. I'll leave her helmeted anyway. Kevin continues the Battle of the Moles, half of one now lies bloodied in the middle of the street and our yard looks like it's strewn with mousetraps. They came around and picked up the leaves and itchy balls today, but we didn't know, so our yard is still littered with junk on top of all the metal traps.

But now the sun is coming out! Let me go and join it.

Weekend Update

Thank goodness this weekend is over. The pressure on Megan, and then on all of us, leading into the meet on Saturday was just too much. In the end, she swam fine. The only thing was that others swam better. But she did great. Apparently some teams take this meet more seriously than her club team does, and they taper their swimmers. Not her team.

The boys and the girls meets both had a common thread: swimmers from one particular area team all did exceptionally well. Which means they were tapered for the meet. Megan got third in one event, and second in another. It's still respectable for a freshman, and she beat her time in the 500, and swam right on it in the 200.

We had to go to another long but unimportant meet yesterday, so that was just tiring. That same tapered team was there, all shaved and in their fastskins, while everyone else had hairy legs and 'slow' team suits on :-) ... but sometimes it's nice to have a meet with low pressure.

The bonehead's newspaper coverage of Saturday's meet started with a paragraph on how two senior swimmers had a "friendly conversation" and agreed to win their events and take the meet back for seniors. One was the one Megan had to race twice, and the other was the one who had hoped for the MVP award at the county meet. Obviously, the latter is still harboring sour grapes, because neither of the two has lost their events yet, so they had nothing to take back, except for the one wanting to see Megan get beaten. In a nice twist of justice, Megan's club coach had seen the article, and made fun of the girl for actually giving that kind of information to the paparazzi.

And who still has that MVP plaque, anyway?

Brian started with his new travel baseball team last week, and they had an indoor practice yesterday. Apparently it went reasonably well but he got tired at the end. Tonight he is supposed to have a basketball practice at 9pm! I am not sure if he's going, because it's so late, it's freezing cold and windy, and he has the neurology appointment tomorrow, where they check his reflexes and muscle tone. I might send him, though, because I noticed one of the other kids wasn't passing the ball to him at all last weekend. I didn't like this, but can't really complain if he skips practices (which he hasn't done yet, but I don't like him to either)

Well, I must wrap up my wrap-up, because the other night, when I was flossing my new back filling, two small pieces of it came off on the floss. I am terrified. This filling hurt me for days, then was sensitive for weeks. It finally stopped hurting, and now it has broken. I hope they can patch it, but I am not optimistic. I am off to find out now.

Stupid Bowl Sunday

So, here it is. The Giants are in the Stupid Bowl. Mass hysteria prevails. Everyone is on the bandwagon. If the Giants win, there will be a tickertape parade down the Canyon of Heroes on - what - Super Tuesday?!? That ought to be interesting. As luck would have it, Tuesday is a school holiday. Maybe we can take the ferry over and watch them throw paper out of the windows. I saw them do it for Nelson Mandela once. That was cool. I don't think anyone even knew it was going to happen, and suddenly, there he was.

I woke up Tuesday morning thinking I had no work for the week. At just before 7am, the phone rang. One of the teachers was sick. I went in for her, and ended up going back again the next day. I never thought they would call me again, but they did, the next day. A second grade teacher was sick and had requested me, I guess because I so meticulously cleaned out her science kits when I had some down time as a floating sub. So, exhausted, I came home that day and went straight to Megan's rescheduled swim meet, starting at 8pm. During that meet, I got another call! I worked four days in a row. The life of a sub. I will enjoy the paycheck.

Megan had her big meet against the 200/500 free champ from the other county. The girl swam different events! We will have to wait until the conference champs next weekend for that race. Megan had an undefeated season, but she had two races in which she had to actually fight for the win. (not counting the two she won at counties, obviously the best races of the whole season so far). Yesterday she had to go swim the 1000 free. That's so grueling. I know she can make the National time in that, but I hope she doesn't. To have to go down there and swim that would just take all the fun out of the whole trip.

Meanwhile, Brian is going to play on a different travel baseball team this year. That should open up a whole new spectrum of challenges for me. With all of Megan's swimming, I am running around all the time. Now I will also have to worry about where he is going to be. I think this team even goes to Cooperstown for a tournament!

And so begins the month of February. I really do hate football, but I can't wait to see if the Giants have a chance.