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!