Molly Has Fun

Today was one of those days marked by internal conflict, when I had a long talk with myself about whether or not I should go to the Y first thing this morning, or use the time doing chores and errands. Myself won out over my other self, and I did go to the Y. On the way home, I got a call from a friend who was going for a walk at one of the local parks, asking if I wanted to come along. I said I would, and initially planned not to bring Molly; but she had been so fond of park walks in her youth that it didn't seem right to leave her behind, so along she came, and she had the time of her life.

After our walk, we stopped at the dog park. Isn't it funny how dogs gravitate towards others of their own breed? How do they even know what they look like? Anyway, here are some pictures of Molly and her new friends, and the tall goofy one is, of course, Max, our walking buddy. He is a ::cough cough:: labradoodle. Hehe.

Otherwise, I continue to be unemployed. I must not really mind so much because I forgot to call personnel for the phone number of the sub caller until after 4, when it was too late. I don't really want to work tomorrow anyway, I have the cleaning lady coming (I hope!) and I have plans to meet a friend for lunch. I'll make sure I remember to call them tomorrow, and maybe get a job for Friday. Hah.

In other news, Kevin has been there and back to Ohio, and is finally in New York today, although it won't be long before he heads off to Finland. E continues to settle in and all seems to be going well; school offers its occasional challenge, she has had to adjust to changing classes and all of the different teachers assigning so much work (again, who says American schools are so lax?) but she has the ability to handle it all, once it all clicks in she should do fine. Megan is off from swimming today, so they're downstairs playing pool. I am about to go back to the Y to watch Brian swim a little, and to order their team apparel amidst great chaos (the reason I came home during practice today, as a matter of fact ... also because I left my AMEX in my pants pocket last week, so Kevin cancelled it, and the new one just arrived, but was at home, so I had to come and get it so I can pay for said clothes.

Just Another Manic Monday

Seriously, every Monday morning I find myself humming, "and the silicon chip inside her head gets switched to overload..." because all I can think is "I don't like Mondays." But here it is, Monday again, and at least it isn't raining. Well, unless you count Wall Street/banking failures and falling stock prices, then it's raining. This morning I had to work a half day, and Kevin was home until 9 because he was flying to Ohio. So I guess it wasn't terribly manic after all, but just by being a Monday, it always really does feel like it anyway.

This week also begins the more hectic phase of swim team, when they add the twice-a-week spin classes. Occasionally, when we go to a meet and a certain team has most of the strongest swimmers, I will look up their practice schedules to see what might be making all the difference. Many of these teams have double practices, but the one thing I do notice is that many of them have more convenient practice times, which allow the kids to come home from school and do some work and have dinner, then practice and still be home at a reasonable hour for bed. Tonight Megan won't be home till close to 10:30; and on Tuesdays and Thursdays she is gone from 3 until 7:30 or later. It is brutal.

Megan also just joined the Friendship Club, where students go and sit with special ed students, and they just talk and 'be friends'. It's a nice club, and one which she chose to join out of interest and not requirement. I will hate it if the Thursday spin classes interfere with this club; in fact, I plan to make sure they don't (Megan occasionally reads this blog too, by the way).

Oh, and work. My assignment today marked the end of the string I had been given by the old sub caller. I have received only one call from the new caller, and that was a 6am call, made because I had been requested. I have been told by a couple of subs that they call in and request days. I would do this, but I am not exactly sure which number to call! I guess I can try the old one, I probably should do that. If I ever want to work again. Having nothing on the horizon is not encouraging, especially after some recent spending sprees.

After seven years, I have felt pretty acclimated and accepted, and now I walk through the halls and see all sorts of unfamiliar faces taking over classes I used to sub in almost exclusively. It's weird. One of the paras jokingly (I hope!) refuses to speak to me because of a few of the subs that have come into the class with her lately. I keep trying to explain, I have nothing to do with it! (I don't think it helped that I had a good laugh over one of the subs last week!! Haha)

And tomorrow we can thank the Jewish populus for a free day off from school. I made appointments for Megan and Brian at the dentist, and I assume E will make some plans with friends, apparently some were discussed in school, but nothing had been finalized. I usually like to take these isolated days off to have them catch up on schoolwork and homework without the pressure of dinner and bedtime and swimming, rather than try to plan some exhausting activity that makes it hard to catch back up once the next day rolls around.

In other news, Molly's foot seems to be doing better on her new antibiotic. She hasn't been chewing it and the cyst seems to be deflating. I hope that it stays that way, because the last time she finished her antibiotic, it filled back up again. Brian is also still swimming, and he seems to be enjoying it. He is split between the group that's his age and the younger group, because he has a hard time keeping up with the kids his age. He loves the easier practices, and we can see improvement, but he misses seeing the older kids then. It's unfortunate that he can't hang in there better in that group, but we'll see if that improves as he gets stronger. I'm glad we had the MRI done, now that it's over. The other day he made himself a cup of coffee and began to shake like a dancing flower. A little food and water brought the shaking under control, and I made sure he knows to steer clear of the coffee from now on, but at least I know it isn't caused by any change in his condition!

Sunday

Well, alas the party was a bit of a disappointment. Not that you'd be able to tell from the amount of time we spent there, but it was a bit of a drag. IWe sat around for a while, ate some good food (there was that) and then were split into two groups. The kids went in and we stayed out. That was about it.

We just came home and hung out, but I took Brian to a local fair so he could meet up with some boys and have a little fun after being subjected to the orientation. He had a good time, and today we're heading down to the beach for the second-to-last day. Unfortunately, the beach has lost some of its appeal for me as I am fighting this cursed melasma. Every time I feel the warmth of the summer sun I imagine my brown 'beard' darkening instantly. I have to slather on sunblock, wear a hat, and sit under the umbrella, and even that only helps a little. But for today and tomorrow, I'll take it. We go down late these days, and then stay later into the evening. The beach is so nice later in the day anyway.

In other news, Molly is chewing at her foot again and this time I noticed an ugly gray growth. Which may mean more vet bills. I hope it isn't like the one that cost me $600 to have removed a few years ago. That was horrible. She hated it. So did I. Not much else going on this weekend. Just getting ready for the big day on Thursday and then a week from today we are having a barbecue for the end of summer.

Saturday Morning

Megan is off to her beach practice with Kevin, and then she is babysitting two new children, referred by our old neighbor, Judy. She won't be able to steal them as regular customers, but perhaps she can become a first alternate when Judy's two girls are unable to do it. She seems to be a preferred sitter for the kids next door, even though the dad told us he came home and found one in bed naked the last time Megan watched them. (He was complaining that it was too hot, so she said 'so take off your clothes!' and, apparently, the kid did!)

I am waiting at home for the air conditioner company to come and check the charge on the new air conditioner, at any time between 9 and 1. At 10, we have the "landscape architect" coming to look at the front of the house, and I am awaiting a call from another electrician. He did call me yesterday while I was working, but by the time I got home and called him, he didn't pick up the cell.

Yesterday was not such a bad day at work after all. I only had one kid shut down and refuse to work, because the math was so confusing. Sometimes they just make it so irrational that it takes forever to explain the simplest thing. The afternoon para is great, though, and even though he is not her charge, I asked her to sit with him, since she was the only continuity in the room. Eventually he did the work and was fine. And that was only a brief 40 minute period anyway. Oh, and I saw the little boy of ambulance/seizure fame. He looks as good as anything, new haircut and all, but his attitude is multiplied times ten. I asked his para what they did to him in the hospital and she just shook her head. I would have loved to see how he treated the nurses!

When I came home, Brian greeted me with the news that there was puke everywhere. While this turned out to be a bit of an overstatement, it did become clear that Molly had had a seizure during the day. There were a few piles of dog puke, and she had peed twice in the same area. It's been a really long time since she had one, at times she was having them twice in a three or six month period, and I can only recall one in the last two years. She seems fine now, and I threw out the mat that was most affected, and replaced it. Can't have a pukey-peed-on-mat for our Fresh Air visit on Monday! Which reminds me, I must get cleaning for that.

In other news, Brian's friend was suspended yesterday, so he didn't really have anything to do last night. There was a middle school dance, but since he didn't have anyone to go with, and the last time he came home smelling like smoke and claiming not to know why, we just left him home and we went out to the local "inn" for dinner at the bar, before Kevin had to pick up from swimming. Megan went to a party up the block for the last hour after she got home, at 10. She's getting her hair cut at 2, and she has to fry 30 tortillas by Sunday night for her Spanish class. I'm thinking of making her use the basement oven. It's never been used, so if there's no additional post by midweek, call the fire department and inquire about us.

Lingering Headaches

I guess the stresses are surpassing my power to ignore them, because I was unable to contain the headache to one day. I turned down a sub call and tried to stay in bed.

I just have daily gripes that I chose to blog.

1. Molly is leaking. She leaks mainly in her dog bed (I think) but weeks ago, I remember she was leaking by her water dish. A major expense and a step down the road to demise, I don't want to rush into the vet; particularly because of Gripe #2.

2. Puff peed on the dog bed. I was able to wash it with Molly's dribble but I saw Puff showing interest in it, and folded it in half. A few minutes later, in the midst of a hot debate on Divorce Court on whether or not a woman should be paid $400 a month by her husband for doing housework, I heard scratching. Puff had peed on the back side! So, I threw it out.

I consider it unsalvageable once a cat empties a full load onto there. Minorly in her defense, she is in heat AGAIN. I am finally able to take a stool sample to be rechecked for worms. Once she is rid of them, she can be spayed. They don't do it until she is six months old, which seems a little rough, since she seems to be in heat every 2-3 weeks. This will be her third time. It's very irritating, even without the peeing around. But she is now, at last, at the magic age of six months. I was trying to hold off until after the holidays ... but after that -- don't think so.

3. Swimming conflicts. That gripe just speaks for itself.

4. Groups that you belong to who feel like they should choose adopt-a-families after you have already adopted children for the season. The church group is adopting a large family, and they are not rationing out the gifts in an organized manner. I can hardly wait to see how this turns out. It may extend my time in purgatory, at the very least.

Anyway, those are about all the gripes I have time for. Since I spent the day nursing my headache, I feel very gripey. Now I am off to try to breach security at the army base, so I can commit the heinous act of watching my very first high school swim meet.