Lazamania

And there it is, folks. The suit you've all been waiting for. With a modest price tag (snort), no doubt, this suit is one for the record books regardless of how well it performs, or those who wear it perform due to its mythical effects. Stay tuned in two weeks, and we'll let you know.

Medieval Times was fun as well, I have to scan in the photos and post those too. There was a lot more pepper on the chicken than I remember from my previous visit, but it was still good. Our knight didn't win the tournament, in fact he was the first one to die trying. I guess he isn't senior enough. He did quite well in the preliminary rounds, and always made it to the winners' circle. He put up a good fight, too, but in the end his sword just wasn't fast enough.

We went today in the pouring rain and tagged a Christmas tree. Someone last year told me about this place, and said they had only paid $25 for theirs, which was beautiful. Of course, it was actually around $50, but that's still half what we've sort of gotten used to paying, and we have to cut it down by December 6, so it will be fresh and hopefully last through New Years this time. Most of the trees were very small or growing too close to other trees to develop a perfect shape, but there were a couple that would work. They did have some precut trees as well, but I wanted to give this a try.

I can't believe that there are now three full weeks of school. That's more than we have had since October with all the holidays and convention days and early dismissals! I can only hope I get some work out of it, but it's hard to say, because the new sub caller was supposed to start this week. I guess I will soon find that out as well.

In other news, Kevin is watching the Jet game, the girls are upstairs, presumably doing homework, and Brian is at a friend's house for dinner. Kevin, Brian and I went to church this morning and then we had to go get the suit for Megan. The rain is heavy, which makes it not fun to do much of anything. I'm not ready to put up the Christmas decorations but I did get a couple of pictures of the three kids last night, so maybe I can photoshop in some holiday cheer and make a card out of it!

Black Friday

So we are through Thanksgiving now. It was a nice mellow day, as usual, the turkey came out just fine, as did all the trimmings. The high school football game was a bit chilly and very crowded, there's a lot more room at our home field than at the other one. But our team did win again, despite rumors that they would perhaps lose, since they're also resting up for States next weekend. I had to leave at halftime to start the turkey, but even with their JV team playing at the end, they still way outplayed the other team, on the latter's brand new field.

During dinner last night, we uncovered the cause of Brian's B in computers. There was a PowerPoint assignment, which Brian did, and the instruction was to omit any animation from the titles/headings of each slide. So Brian had them all come flipping in from the side, or sliding in from the top, or appearing from a central spot. He lost three points for each slide because of this. However, he was baffled. He had understood the instructions to mean that he wasn't allowed to use cartoons in his headings!

So today he is home, and just milling around. He half-heartedly tried to find something to do, but as the neighborhood boys are ostracizing him again, and he wasn't able to get anyone else to hang out, he's outside having a catch with Kevin. He'll go to his practice later this afternoon and then probably waste the evening away. Tomorrow night we're going to Medieval Times for Kevin's birthday. I want to see E have to eat with her hands!

Megan is off to swim so she can be free tonight for Homecoming. She's just going with her girlfriends this year after last year's debacle when she had a date, and her date asked her to be his girlfriend, and she said no, and he hasn't spoken to her since! So I think she will have less pressure this year. E will go with her friends, but she's a little confused because she does have a date, and he is not friends with her friends. So we'll see. Meanwhile, she has basketball tryouts today. They already went from 9-12 today, but she has to be back at 3:15 for another couple of hours. At least she said it wasn't too hard, but she was disappointed because she was grouped with the JV team, and everyone she knows is in the varsity group, although the teams haven't officially been posted yet. But this should keep her busy, anyway, and out of trouble for the next couple of months. I hope.

Kevin and I were out this morning. We had to go to Costco to get some things for a food table we're running tomorrow morning to raise money for Nationals. I was afraid to go, but it was surprisingly uncrowded, I guess because Costco's deals are pretty much the same every day. Afterwards we stopped at one of the local shopping centers, and even that seemed no worse than an average shopping day. Unlike the Valley Stream Wal-Mart, which should be so ashamed of itself for allowing their worked to be trampled to death by a bunch of maniacs created by this whole Quick-Save frenzy that's created by all the retailers... I just don't understand how saving even a couple of hundred dollars is worth it to endure a deadly crowd as a shopper - let alone the poor employees who have no choice but to be subjected to the insanity. It's disgusting.

In other news, tomorrow is Kevin's birthday. E's is coming up as well, on Friday, and on Saturday we have our exchange student Christmas party at the rep's house. The students are supposed to make a dish from their home country, and they are responsible for buying all the ingredients and cooking the dish themselves. I should probably remin her, I don't think she realizes that it's next weekend. Not much else goes on day-to-day, which is good. Report cards finally came on Wednesday, and Megan had all A's and A+'s except fort he blemish caused by the B+ from her chemistry teacher. Brian has two of everything from B through A and then one A+. The two B's were a bit of s surprise, the computer B as told above, and the science B seemingly caused by a lab notebook issue, although I can't get a clear answer from either Brian or the teacher. He missed high honor roll by 3 points. But at least he made honor roll this time. And E's report card was also very respectable.

Here Comes the Sun!

We awoke to darkness so convincing that Molly didn't even think it was morning until 10 or 11 AM. Brian is now sick, as Megan continues her recovery. Yesterday morning he had a sore throat so I kept him home, thinking it might be strep. But as the day progressed it became obvious that it was just a harbinger of a whopping cold, and so I packed him up and sent him off grumpy to school this morning. I gave him some benadryl and told him to see the nurse if he needed motrin; he informed me he would not only get the motrin, but would also lie down in her office for a while! He is "that sick."

Anyway, the sun is out as I type this, and blazing away as the garbage man rides by in his yellow poncho, clinging to the back of the garbage truck.

But apparently work was not in the stars for me today after all, despite having been asked by the teacher to cover her morning. I don't know if they called someone else or if she got out of having to go to the meeting, which I know she would have preferred. I wonder if they'll call me for tomorrow, I was also asked to work then, but by a different teacher. I never can tell these days.

Yesterday, I managed to get all the fixings for the turkey dinner on Thursday, but after I purchased a monstrous bird for $30 at Shoprite, I found nearly the same at Costco for $17. It didn't occur to me that they would have actual whole turkeys there. I must remember that for next year. Of course, I wasn't going to fight the crowds and embarass the poor thing by hauling him back in and pronouncing him overpriced, so I just sucked it up and we'll eat him after all.

The Doll called this morning all upset because the one school Brian is looking at apparently has gotten word to her that he won't be able to use a laptop. I'm pretty sure this is going to be the deal-breaker for us anyway, even if he does get in, not to mention the fact that the tuition is outrageous and perhaps not necessarily worth the benefit. That would leave him with the two Catholic school options, one of which he hasn't actually applied to just yet, and the public school. So we'll see. Things have been ::knock wood:: going OK for him lately. I expect report cards and PSAT scores to come today.

In other news, I have accomplished very little today, although I did finish New Moon and now feel the overpowering urge to go out and get the third book in the series. I cheated a little and read wiki on the whol series and ruined one aspect of it for myself. I googled "does Bella become a vampire". Oh well. I won't tell here.

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

Well, now that I have finished Twilight, I'm anxious to see the movie, although I don't expect it to compare to what I would hope after reading the book. It's hard to portray perfection as 'Edward' is described.

However, after the (imaginary) blood and gore in last night's rendition of Sweeney Todd, I'm ready to wait on seeing anything that might be even remotely disarming. Instead, I have started reading the second book in the series, New Moon. Equally riveting so far.

Yesterday turned out to be "one of those days" at first. I had a terrible headache, then realized I hadn't eaten lunch and it was 2pm. I asked too late if anyone wanted to come with me to the craft fair at the middle school, and E took quite a while to get ready so I thought we would be rushed, Megan and I, as Megan had to be at school for the bus to try-outs at 1pm. But with my pounding head, I didn't really mind only having a little time, the place was so crowded, and despite an established ban, I passed three baby strollers, as well as a woman in a motorized scooter, and another woman who had what appeared to be some sort of shopping cart to tote around her purchases.

Really too much for me even on a good day, so I burned through about $50 and got out of there. I bought a sign for house with the house number on it; I am tired of watching people drive around in circles because they don't see the painted numbers on the curb or the lighted sign by the lamppost. Even the fire department couldn't find the right house when they accidentally were called after our smoke detector went off; and it doesn't help that the address is wrong in MapQuest and GPS systems. The only place I've ever seen it right is the township tax map - speaking of which, we got our revaluation letter yesterday. The value about doubled. But no mention of the "new" tax rate - there had better be one!

But it was hurry up and wait. Megan and I arrived at the school only to find the doors locked and all the swimmers waiting in the parking lot in cars for a bus that never showed up. So in the end, she missed her Y meet for nothing. But I suppose that was for the best, because if I had tried to have her do both, if she didn't have this cough (which is improving, I think) I would have driven up to Ridgewood, a minimum of an hour away, and taken her early directly to Asbury Park, only to find that no team had shown up. I just hope they're getting credit for showing up, because they have to attend those mandatory six practices.

After that things got a little better. I ate and took advil, and my head pain subsided. I took Megan and E to the mall, so E could return an ill-chosen Halloween dress and search for that elusive perfect winter coat, and then we had dinner and went to the play. This morning we took it easy, dropped off Brian at church school but picked him up afterwards, skipping the service so I could hit the grocery store before the pre-Thanksgiving crowds hit. Megan had her usual 6:30am practice, but she came home and fell asleep after her shower. Now Kevin has taken her up to order her LAZR suit! She wore one at practice the other night and said it felt very strange. Let's see if it has any effect on her times at the meet in three weeks.

In other news, Brian has a friend coming over (thought he would have been here by now, though) and E has gone up to start some homework. I am doing a little laundry and babysitting some simmering tomato sauce with meatballs and sausages. Kevin is going to stop by the Doll's and hang some curtains for her, on his way back from ordering the suit, and Puff is sitting behind me, enjoying a brief moment of quiet. This is obviously a short week coming up, and I have no work yet although I was asked to work both Tuesday and Wednesday. But as always, I believe it when I get that call from the sub caller, whoever she may be this week. And Friday is the homecoming dance at the high school. E has a date for it, but Megan most likely does not; she'll go with her girlfriends, I assume, in a red dress.

The Deep Freeze

OK, so it turns out the jump-start of the propeller plane was not true. I don't know if the plane was even really stalled. But Kevin made it home from Arkansas the other night, at nearly midnight. The following morning I got another 6am call, so I went in and covered for the art teacher. It wasn't so bad, because the elementary schools are having early dismissal for teacher conferences, so I only had to work till 1:30 but got paid for a full day. Each class was only half an hour long, and I only had five, three 5th grades and two 1sts.

But who turned off the heat? I've been parking my Explorer in the garage because it's easier to back up (it beeps when it senses something behind it) and then driving the Honda once the frost melts off of its windshields. It's been below freezing in the mornings, and windy and cold all day long. Last night the high school was in the playoffs, and they won by only 3 points, so now they'll get to play in the state championships. But it was so cold that none of us went, not even E, although she did drive by trying to catch the end. Her dad was in town and stopped by on his way to a business trip; and it looks pretty definite now that she will not be returning home after this school year, but rather to her new home in the US. So that was some welcome news for her, and it was nice for us all to meet.

Megan, meanwhile, still has her cough, only now she has attacks in the middle of the night where she can barely catch her breath for all the hacking. During the day it seems like the antibiotic might be working, she did start taking it, but after swimming, she coughs a lot more. Hopefully it will stop because there is new concern that competitive swimmers are at risk for airway/lung damage from the concentrations of chlorine gas that accumulate at the surface of the water when they practice hard and in large groups. Then each time they turn their heads for a breath, they breathe in the gas and it burns their airways. So I hope that's not what's going on with her, but I'll ride out the ten days on biaxin and reevaluate with someone who knows what they're talking about, who won't tell me it's "allergies". I almost want to break out an inhaler and see if that helps her. Actually, I have a peak flow monitor, I should have her do that when she coughs and see how far she can get the little pin to go. Just thought of that now.

So I emailed the coach for her saying that she wasn't going to be able to come to the meet today because she has to go to her high school tryout. I suppose she could make it, if I drove up to Ridgewood and then brought her to Asbury Park, leaving early. But she would have to be at the Y by 9:30, and with all this coughing, it just wasn't something I thought was a good idea. She would need to be at Asbury by 2. But I also included in the email that she won't be at practice, or she will be late, on Tuesday.

So when he saw her last night, he read her the riot act, saying,"you missed your high school practice because you were sick, and now your problems become my problems..!" So she was mad at me because ACTUALLY she missed her high school practice to GO to his practice, but I didn't say that in the mail. I guess I gave too much of the wrong information and not enough of the right. Wait till he hears she has to miss another Tuesday to go to her first HS meet. Good thing I failed to mention that. Also good thing she went to practice last night. We went back and forth on it, because it seemed wrong for all of us to go to dinner with E's dad, and without Megan.

This is another usual weekend for us - Megan will skip that Ridgewood meet, which is a little unfortunate, but she has to go to Asbury and she still is not quite well. Brian has a meet down by Princeton, and then tonight they both want to go see Megan's friend Emily in her play at the other high school. I think E is also going. And tomorrow will be the usual, practice and then who knows ... maybe we'll go to see Twilight. I'm reading it now, and it is addictive. I should finish it by the end of today, it's hard to put down once I start reading.

In other news, Brian seems to be expecting a very good report card this marking period. I don't know if something has clicked, if he has better (or easier) teachers, or if he just put in extra effort because he knows he screwed up last year's report card and this is his last chance to look good when he applies to the other high schools. But he has nothing lower than a B+, according to him, and there are even a couple of A's and one A+ (in Spanish, of all the things, the class they didn't even want to place him in after his sixth grade Language Arts performance). Hopefully he will maintain this level of scholarship all year, or even throughout high school! Megan's perfect streak of A's since sixth grade will be broken by a B+ in chemistry, but she is lucky to be getting that from this guy. I don't know if she knows any of her other grades yet, but the report cards come on Tuesday.

MidWeek Blues

So I forget if I mentioned that the new sub caller quit already and we have one now who is filling in temporarily. She seems to prefer the morning calls, and she called again this morning, but the job was from 12-3, so I agreed to go. It wasn't really fun. I had to cover a Spanish class and they were supposed to work independently. The fifth grade class was fine, but the first graders were enough to make me want to just walk out of the room and find a new career. I think I had three or four of them in tears because I wrote their names down, or said the class was horrible, or whatever I did or didn't do.

I was so glad to see them go, although I felt bad for their teacher. I know they got in trouble. One of them actually said to me, "were we good?" WHAT? My salvation was a special ed class they sent me into for the last 45 minutes. They were all well behaved and there were three good paras in the classroom as well. This wasn't at my regular school, which also makes me feel more incompetent. Every school has a slightly different way of doing things.

Megan is still coughing, and she said she feels pressure between her eyes now, so I filled the prescription for the biaxin that we got at the doctor. Hopefully this will knock out the cough. My doctor mom instincts tell me this is not allergies at all, and is a sinus infection from being run down and catching a cold then swimming right through it. She has to do her mandatory six practices with the high school team this week too, so she can't afford to be weak and sickly.

Kevin, meanwhile, is in some flying go-kart somewhere over Kentucky, an hour after he texted me that they couldn't start the plane and they were going to have to jump start it. Someone was outside the window manually rotating the propellers in an effort to get the thing to start. Of course, at that moment the Doll called so now she will worry about it too!

In other news, E is going to a concert tomorrow night, some strangely named group I have never heard of, and then on Friday afternoon she will have a special visitor in the evening. Megan is going to see her friend in the other high school's play across town on Saturday and some of us may accompany her. She has a swim meet on Saturday but won't be going, because she has to make that mandatory practice for the high school team that day. she skipped yesterday because of her sickness and her other practice at the Y.

Weekend Update

Well, I took Megan and E to the premium outlets today. It was a bit of a disappointment for me, the traffic was UNREAL. Unreal. I have never driven in anything like that to just shop. It was like traffic for an event, with backups stretching for miles on all roads that approached the shopping center. Once there, of course there wasn't a spot to be found, so you had to stalk walkers in the parking lot and just be lucky enough to find one, which we were.

The shops themselves were fairly crowded, but not what I would have expected given the number of cars in the lot. Two stores, Ugg and Juicy Couture, actually made shoppers wait on lines just to browse inside the store. I waited on the line for Ugg, and was sorry to find they didn't have the Tasmans that I wanted, so I looked around a little and then left. There were no lines at the register despite the throngs of shoppers. It did look like Juicy had a good line going inside as well as out, but I didn't go into that one :-) Some other stores had some good sales, but it wasn't like I would have hoped, with bargains at every turn. It will be interesting to see how their opening weekend sales compare to their projections. If it's always going to be that much of a hassle to shop there, I'll be happy just to go to the mall and hit Macy's on a sale day.

Yesterday was a wet one. Brian said the test at SJV was a lot easier than the one he took two weeks ago. We'll hear from both of the schools in January, so now it's a waiting game, although we are first waiting to see the report card, which is due to arrive on November 25. Now he is leaning again towards SJV, because he felt the school seemed more modern on the inside, and he can't wait to get his hands on the laptops they use in their program. Afterwards, M & B both had meets, but neither was remarkable. Megan and E went to a party last night, and Kevin, Brian and I tried a new restaurant, CJ Montana's. I don't think we'll be going back there. Most of the staff was friendly enough, but my food, a pricey entree from the specials menu, was drowned in pepper, to the point where I couldn't even taste the food.

Still no work on the horizon for me. I am not going to complain for a day or two, I'll have some time to get myself back together from having had all the steady days of work and business on the weekends, but as a few more days go by, I may become agitated without the prospect of income so close to Christmas time. I guess I'll just have to put in a call and request work if I don't hear anything in a day or two. So we'll see.

In other news, this will be a full week of school, the first in several weeks in NJ, and the last before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm hoping to get to the gym a time or two, and also to cook some actual nutritious meals. I have been slacking off on that lately. I'm trying to plan some activities, including a trip to Medieval Times at the end of the month; we also have another exchange student party to attend in early December, which should be interesting as some new students have joined the group since last we met.