Because I have. This week. Especially yesterday.
It started going downhill when I went to the Farmer's market to buy Pomegranates. I made the mistake of buying some last week and the kids loved them and devoured them. And they were $.50 each. Seriously. they're $4 in the store, but here in So Cal people grow them in their yards easily and they're cheap. LAST week they were $.50. This week they were all $1 each. Which is still cheap for a Pomegranate, it was still double what I was hoping to pay for them.
But anyway, we really were going because we had books due at the library yesterday and I was going to be there, anyway. And I had to beg and plead to renew a book for the 3rd time that I still can't find. But it's been 6 months since I've had an overdue fine. I'm still on a payment plan for our other overdue fines. Never ever ever keep 30+ books out past their due date. Because at .25/day/book it gets expensive. Fast.
They set up the Farmer's market on the street next to the library. And all the vendors parked their cars and booths so close together that to get from library to the Farmer's market, I had to go to the end of the block. Usually they're no problem getting from sidewalk to street, so it bugged me. And then once I got there, I was annoyed to find the price increase. On the way home I stop at the roadside stand in front of the feed store to buy avacados hoping for non-ripe ones and they're all ripe. But she had $.50 Pomegranates. After I just bought 3 of the $1 ones. And the sign says 15 Avocados for $2. 'Cept I get home and count and there are only 10 Avocados in the bag.
Anyway after I get home... I put the car keys down and misplaced and couldn't find them. (still can't) While I'm tearing the house apart looking for the keys, Larry called and told me a friend of his was coming over at 6:30, which meant I needed to get the house picked up and plan something for dinner. Go through the freezer and realize I don't have much that will work. Decide on baked pasta and bread. Since I had the makings for lasagna I'm supposed to bring to our small group on Monday. Start making the bread. it's not rising. at all. in 3 hours. decide I'll probably just buy some. I'll have to buy more ricotta, anyway.
But that'd be small time annoyances adding up.
The universe kicked into high gear on my way to school to volunteer.
As I was sitting at the stop light waiting to turn, a big water delivery truck forgot to keep his foot on the brakes and proceeded to run into us. The first jolt made me take my foot off the brake so we lurched forward and then he banged into us again. There is nothing quite as disturbing to feel your car get hit and look in the rear view mirror and see a massive international truck there. We're fine. The bumper has 2 imprints from the bolts from the front of his truck and it appears to be bent. But overall little damage. If only I was driving the minivan, I'd be getting a new one this week. I only say that because there weren't occupants in the very back seat..
The frosted bar cookies sitting on the front seat didn't fare as well as the humans in the car and slid to the floor getting the frosting all over the cover of the baking dishes. They were on their way to school for the pumpkin festival I was on my way to volunteer at.
And it gets better... so I was in Joey's classroom volunteering and at the end of school, I left him, Kayla and JM with the other mom and went to get Sonia. She's supposed to be across the hall. Her room was empty. I go to the front of school where the classes wait for parents to drive up, her entire class is missing. Back to the courtyard to wait and they never come. I panic about how an entire 2nd grade class can disappear. Consult Joey's teacher who also starts looking.... eventually they're found outside at parent pick up area. The student teacher took them out the kindergarten area, apparently. I think I have about 9 more grey hairs for the time it took to find the missing 2nd grade class.
But it didn't end there. That got us to 1:30
On the way to soccer practice I decided the wash the truck since the automatic car wash was working. Larry took the truck off roading last weekend hunting and apparently there was alot of mud and deep mud. It was in the door wells and windows. He washed it but it still had quite alot of mud. So I pay for the 'really scrub it good' car wash. And it gets 1 pass into scrubbing and soaping up 1/2 the truck and it stops. It gives the green arrow to move on. I'm covered in soap. Who has this happen to them? I never heard of such a thing.
At soccer practice, S+J's assistant coach show up limping and the coach is running late. The toy I brought for JM to use doesn't work and I was planning on running around the track during practice but instead it was being used by the Marines for training. And they weren't willing to not stand across the entire track to let people pass by, much less people with jogging strollers.
I stop at a grocery store on the way home because a. it's back to school shopping night and the school gets credit for the 3 hours that night and b. Larry's friend was supposed to be coming to dinner and the bread I had made to go with dinner wasn't rising right.
I get to the truck. Unlock it and can't find the keys. Empty the trunk, the grocery bags, my purse. Panic because it's Larry's keys since I lost my keys earlier that day. Finally find them. The kids complain they're starving the entire time home.And I forgot the ricotta.
Fed the kids dinner and decided I'd had enough of that day and we all went to bed. And Larry's friend didn't come at all. Supposedly he'll be here tonight. I'm not holding my breath on that one.
Today the universe hasn't plotted so much. I spent an hour waiting on hold for customer service to tell me that they don't actually service the treadmills they sell the extended warranties for and that I have to go back to the place I bought it at to request service. But apparently the problem I has was merely that the instruction manual for resetting the lube belt message was wrong.
I volunteered with Joey's class again and have vowed that I could never. ever. ever. be a teacher. But I wasn't rear ended waiting at the light to turn today, so that's always a good thing.
But after 2 days at school - Dear Lord. I understand why some teachers are really whiny. I'd be whiny if I had to deal with some of those kids all day. What do you do with kids that refuse to listen and run off?Not figuratively. Literally. Runs out the door of the classroom and no one know where he's going sort of running off. I wanted to strangle them or perhaps duct tape them to a chair, but I think that's not an option. Joey said one of the kids has been in detention weekly but I swear there were 6 that I thought were likely suspects for that. Again. Glad they're not my kids and that I'm not the teacher trying to make them stay in the class room and not get up and run around when they're supposed to be sitting. I think I'd be an advocate for equipping the teacher with IM haldol or tranquilizer dart guns.
Anyway...
Since I don't have a tranquilizer dart gun here, I guess I better go reinforce the 'you need to clean up your own stuff before we do anything fun tonight' rule.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Another week has flown by
And the phrase minutes drag while months fly pops back in my head.
Things remain at a lightly less than frantic pace. I'm proud to say that I did not volunteer for any further responsibilities. They needed a Daisy troop leader and I just.could.not. bring myself to do that no matter how much Kayla thinks I love Sonia more because I'm her Brownie troop leader. So Kayla's become an honorary brownie. She'll even get a vest as soon as I buy one. Joey's passing on that option, although he had a good time making Smores with the girls this week.
We have 3 weeks left to soccer. Not that I'm counting or anything. Or celebrated canceling practice for rain this week.
We had parent-teacher conferences yesterday. This being our first year in public school we weren't sure what to expect, but it was fine. (At this point friends can stop reading, this is mostly for the grandparents...) Kayla's teacher said she was doing well, smart and getting along well with other kids, no matter what Kayla's come home telling me that kids weren't her friends.
Sonia's teacher likes her. And surprisingly Sonia's been mostly paying attention in class. Her seat was moved to move her away from trouble prone boys to near girls, so I think that has helped a bit as well. Not bragging, but she's reading at grade 5 level. The books they take computer tests on are through grade 3 or 4 (AR testing) so she has little challenge there. Math, on the other hand... we're still working on getting her to focus. And writing. God bless the teacher that gets Sonia to write legibly. And her standardized test results should bring up the entire 2nd grade average a few points.
Joey's teacher had nice things to about him, he's sweet and well mannered. Joey's come home with 'excellent' behavior days pretty much every day. Joey really liking rules, order and structure, he's the one to remind the kids he sits with to be quiet and listen. So far his classmates seem to tolerate him doing this. I volunteer in his class for 1 hour a week every other week to see how he's doing. Not to say I love him more than the other kids. Nope. But his teacher sent out 'can you volunteer; forms I filled it out AND Joey remembered to turn it in. I filled them out for Kayla's and Sonia's classes as well, but I haven't heard back from their teachers or room moms, either. He tests poorly, still. Even worse than the standardized test at the end of last year. It's the same exact testing system, so it's not comparing 2 different tests. (MAP testing) *sigh* We'll have to find a way to work that out. Alot of it comes from his anxiety and rushing through things. Amazing how differently the kids react to the same situation.
Anyway.. That's about all the school related news.
In weather news.. we had rain. REAL rain for 2 days. incredible.
Of course it started with a thunder storm at 3 am. And I know for certain it was 3 am because it had everyone of us up at 3:12 am. There was a loud flash and crack of lightening that shook the house and had me thinking "are there any trees nearby that just fell on the house after getting hit by lightening?" Larry was thinking "oh, crap, I should have unplugged all things electrical, especially the TV because the house might have gotten hit by lightining" and the kids woke up. Not sure from the bang or the resulting howling dog who was as scared if not more so than the kids. Anyway. It was excitement. We almost never get real rain, much less downpour and thunder and lightening. Next time, if there is a next time, sometime in waking hours would be nice..
And as I was standing in the cool rain waiting to pick up the kids, one of the other moms said "you know why we have this rain?" and I said, no. and she answers "it's because my family is visiting from Canada. They called last week and asked what they should bring and if it rains. And I said it never rains and it's pretty hot in October" And I laughed. Apparently my parents aren't the only ones who can bring bad weather with them. And here I was thinking they were unique in that. At least her family only brought rain. My parents have managed to cripple transportation in Chicago and Philadelphia for snow and ice. Overachievers.
Things remain at a lightly less than frantic pace. I'm proud to say that I did not volunteer for any further responsibilities. They needed a Daisy troop leader and I just.could.not. bring myself to do that no matter how much Kayla thinks I love Sonia more because I'm her Brownie troop leader. So Kayla's become an honorary brownie. She'll even get a vest as soon as I buy one. Joey's passing on that option, although he had a good time making Smores with the girls this week.
We have 3 weeks left to soccer. Not that I'm counting or anything. Or celebrated canceling practice for rain this week.
We had parent-teacher conferences yesterday. This being our first year in public school we weren't sure what to expect, but it was fine. (At this point friends can stop reading, this is mostly for the grandparents...) Kayla's teacher said she was doing well, smart and getting along well with other kids, no matter what Kayla's come home telling me that kids weren't her friends.
Sonia's teacher likes her. And surprisingly Sonia's been mostly paying attention in class. Her seat was moved to move her away from trouble prone boys to near girls, so I think that has helped a bit as well. Not bragging, but she's reading at grade 5 level. The books they take computer tests on are through grade 3 or 4 (AR testing) so she has little challenge there. Math, on the other hand... we're still working on getting her to focus. And writing. God bless the teacher that gets Sonia to write legibly. And her standardized test results should bring up the entire 2nd grade average a few points.
Joey's teacher had nice things to about him, he's sweet and well mannered. Joey's come home with 'excellent' behavior days pretty much every day. Joey really liking rules, order and structure, he's the one to remind the kids he sits with to be quiet and listen. So far his classmates seem to tolerate him doing this. I volunteer in his class for 1 hour a week every other week to see how he's doing. Not to say I love him more than the other kids. Nope. But his teacher sent out 'can you volunteer; forms I filled it out AND Joey remembered to turn it in. I filled them out for Kayla's and Sonia's classes as well, but I haven't heard back from their teachers or room moms, either. He tests poorly, still. Even worse than the standardized test at the end of last year. It's the same exact testing system, so it's not comparing 2 different tests. (MAP testing) *sigh* We'll have to find a way to work that out. Alot of it comes from his anxiety and rushing through things. Amazing how differently the kids react to the same situation.
Anyway.. That's about all the school related news.
In weather news.. we had rain. REAL rain for 2 days. incredible.
Of course it started with a thunder storm at 3 am. And I know for certain it was 3 am because it had everyone of us up at 3:12 am. There was a loud flash and crack of lightening that shook the house and had me thinking "are there any trees nearby that just fell on the house after getting hit by lightening?" Larry was thinking "oh, crap, I should have unplugged all things electrical, especially the TV because the house might have gotten hit by lightining" and the kids woke up. Not sure from the bang or the resulting howling dog who was as scared if not more so than the kids. Anyway. It was excitement. We almost never get real rain, much less downpour and thunder and lightening. Next time, if there is a next time, sometime in waking hours would be nice..
And as I was standing in the cool rain waiting to pick up the kids, one of the other moms said "you know why we have this rain?" and I said, no. and she answers "it's because my family is visiting from Canada. They called last week and asked what they should bring and if it rains. And I said it never rains and it's pretty hot in October" And I laughed. Apparently my parents aren't the only ones who can bring bad weather with them. And here I was thinking they were unique in that. At least her family only brought rain. My parents have managed to cripple transportation in Chicago and Philadelphia for snow and ice. Overachievers.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Time Flies
Even if you're not having fun.
Well.. not that life is bad or anything, but there's alot more fun in this world to do than what I've been doing lately.
But there has been some fun..
Like last week we went to the Air Show. It's occurred to me that so many people don't ever get to see an air show, let alone the Blue Angels and The kids and I have seen them at least a dozen times. I'm not THAT into jets, but I AM that excited about getting great photos of them. I didn't do that much of that this time. It was hot and the kids were complaining they were hot and bored so I was doing more juggling complaints and water bottles than messing with the settings on my camera. sheesh. Lack of gratitude, I tell ya. I bet their boy cousins would have thought it was uber cool.
And of course there was Soccer Saturday. It was picture day which meant we were up at the crack of morning getting in uniforms so we could be there 1.5 hours before the first soccer game.. fun times, I tell ya. And lot of cat herding. And someone didn't plan all that great when they scheduled. Or they did.. but the teams all have different color jerseys. Sonia and Joey are black and Kayla's bright green. And wouldn't ya know.. the older team with black shirts had their picture taking time slot at the same time as Sonia and Joey and both bright green teams were at Kayla's team time. Made herding cats by color shirt all the more challenging.
And this week we had rain. Real live rain. Whoot. Enough to cancel Soccer early Tues and completely on Wed, although not because it was raining, but because when you get rain on the sod fields they get soggy and muddy. Today.. it's back to soccer.
The first brownie meeting was Monday. I did little other than keep the girls in the room and try to field complaints of boredom and hunger from my 3 non-brownie kids. I'm in charge of planning the next meeting. They have badges they can earn, and we're going to finish up a badge. It requires making s'mores. Great. We meet indoors and I'm trying to plan something that requires fire. I'm thinking of using the sterno things we use for our fondue pot. I'll let you know if I get arrested for using fire in the community center. We meet every other week, so I have about 10 days to think about it and talk myself out of it.
Other than that, it's our 11 year anniversary this year. It's a bit hard to believe that 11 years can go so fast. We don't have any special plans. Larry was thinking of taking the all day hunter safety course and I don't really care if he does. Guess that's how we've stayed married this long with relative ease. I did tell him he will take me out to dinner. But I haven't even though about calling a babysitter and/or where I want him to take me. I'm thinking about the Brazilian steakhouse he took me to last year for my birthday. It was tasty and about as affordable as a one time a year event. Of course if he doesn't do the hunter safety course, I have a van that's parked in the driveway broken again he can use the time to fix. This van is getting on my nerves. But I have the Excursion and I'm 1 of 12 of them who pick kids up at school. When you add the 15 Suburbans who also sit in the pick up line, it's a regular large SUV parade. I haven't run anything over with it other than a few curbs. We'll call that success.
The Navy Ball is the following weekend. I still don't know if we're going to go to it. He said he's supposed to go, but hasn't been able to get tickets. Last year's Marine Corp Ball wasn't very exciting so I doubt the Navy one will fill me with excitement. It'd be more fun if I knew anyone there. I'll have more chance of seeing some of the people Larry did his internship with, I think, but they're kinda cool towards us. Whatever. We never really fit in with them anyway, being the only family starting internship year and Larry's not exactly a social creature, particularly under stress and his first year was alot of stress.
JM's been complaining of stomach pains again, so after a week of that he was dragged back in to the peds clinic. He's back on his reflux meds and they ran blood work because the NP who saw him must have needed to rule out appendicitis and pancreatitis. Eitherway. He didn't have either. I told her that. So did his labs. But it took the entire AM to accomplish the visit, the lab visit and the 2 hour wait at the pharmacy. I still can't believe that my cousin thinks government run health care will make her life better. She has no idea.
So.. with no other rambling ideas in my head it's time for me to get something accomplished in the next 15 minutes before it's time to get inline to get the kids. I think I"ll try walking today. I'm in a risk taking mood. Not skydiving or anything crazy. Just walking. And listening to the complains of "I'm too tired to walk...." the entire way home. The risk is more loosing my mind than anything else, I think.
Well.. not that life is bad or anything, but there's alot more fun in this world to do than what I've been doing lately.
But there has been some fun..
Like last week we went to the Air Show. It's occurred to me that so many people don't ever get to see an air show, let alone the Blue Angels and The kids and I have seen them at least a dozen times. I'm not THAT into jets, but I AM that excited about getting great photos of them. I didn't do that much of that this time. It was hot and the kids were complaining they were hot and bored so I was doing more juggling complaints and water bottles than messing with the settings on my camera. sheesh. Lack of gratitude, I tell ya. I bet their boy cousins would have thought it was uber cool.
And of course there was Soccer Saturday. It was picture day which meant we were up at the crack of morning getting in uniforms so we could be there 1.5 hours before the first soccer game.. fun times, I tell ya. And lot of cat herding. And someone didn't plan all that great when they scheduled. Or they did.. but the teams all have different color jerseys. Sonia and Joey are black and Kayla's bright green. And wouldn't ya know.. the older team with black shirts had their picture taking time slot at the same time as Sonia and Joey and both bright green teams were at Kayla's team time. Made herding cats by color shirt all the more challenging.
And this week we had rain. Real live rain. Whoot. Enough to cancel Soccer early Tues and completely on Wed, although not because it was raining, but because when you get rain on the sod fields they get soggy and muddy. Today.. it's back to soccer.
The first brownie meeting was Monday. I did little other than keep the girls in the room and try to field complaints of boredom and hunger from my 3 non-brownie kids. I'm in charge of planning the next meeting. They have badges they can earn, and we're going to finish up a badge. It requires making s'mores. Great. We meet indoors and I'm trying to plan something that requires fire. I'm thinking of using the sterno things we use for our fondue pot. I'll let you know if I get arrested for using fire in the community center. We meet every other week, so I have about 10 days to think about it and talk myself out of it.
Other than that, it's our 11 year anniversary this year. It's a bit hard to believe that 11 years can go so fast. We don't have any special plans. Larry was thinking of taking the all day hunter safety course and I don't really care if he does. Guess that's how we've stayed married this long with relative ease. I did tell him he will take me out to dinner. But I haven't even though about calling a babysitter and/or where I want him to take me. I'm thinking about the Brazilian steakhouse he took me to last year for my birthday. It was tasty and about as affordable as a one time a year event. Of course if he doesn't do the hunter safety course, I have a van that's parked in the driveway broken again he can use the time to fix. This van is getting on my nerves. But I have the Excursion and I'm 1 of 12 of them who pick kids up at school. When you add the 15 Suburbans who also sit in the pick up line, it's a regular large SUV parade. I haven't run anything over with it other than a few curbs. We'll call that success.
The Navy Ball is the following weekend. I still don't know if we're going to go to it. He said he's supposed to go, but hasn't been able to get tickets. Last year's Marine Corp Ball wasn't very exciting so I doubt the Navy one will fill me with excitement. It'd be more fun if I knew anyone there. I'll have more chance of seeing some of the people Larry did his internship with, I think, but they're kinda cool towards us. Whatever. We never really fit in with them anyway, being the only family starting internship year and Larry's not exactly a social creature, particularly under stress and his first year was alot of stress.
JM's been complaining of stomach pains again, so after a week of that he was dragged back in to the peds clinic. He's back on his reflux meds and they ran blood work because the NP who saw him must have needed to rule out appendicitis and pancreatitis. Eitherway. He didn't have either. I told her that. So did his labs. But it took the entire AM to accomplish the visit, the lab visit and the 2 hour wait at the pharmacy. I still can't believe that my cousin thinks government run health care will make her life better. She has no idea.
So.. with no other rambling ideas in my head it's time for me to get something accomplished in the next 15 minutes before it's time to get inline to get the kids. I think I"ll try walking today. I'm in a risk taking mood. Not skydiving or anything crazy. Just walking. And listening to the complains of "I'm too tired to walk...." the entire way home. The risk is more loosing my mind than anything else, I think.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Propaganda
So we have "Handy Manny' on TV today and it's topic today was about conserving water.
It wasn't ok to have a garden because it wasted water. So they planted a cactus garden instead.
Bah.
In other news.. it's air show time again.
We'll be heading down to see it shortly. Something about watching the Blue Angels calls be back to 8th grade when I thought "Top Gun" was the most awesome movie in the world.
In fact. I think it's based on Miramar. Miramar is where the air show is.
Maybe I'll rent it to watch again sometime.
It wasn't ok to have a garden because it wasted water. So they planted a cactus garden instead.
Bah.
In other news.. it's air show time again.
We'll be heading down to see it shortly. Something about watching the Blue Angels calls be back to 8th grade when I thought "Top Gun" was the most awesome movie in the world.
In fact. I think it's based on Miramar. Miramar is where the air show is.
Maybe I'll rent it to watch again sometime.
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