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.