And I think they just need to wave the white flag over the school of surrender. *I* am ready to wave the white flag. Although I didn't go help at Kayla's water day today, but Joey's water day is tomorrow and Sonia's was last week.
Water day? Oh, yes. The theme is water. They bring the fire dept here and they spray water and the kids get wet and they throw water balloon and have water related games. They didn't have this sort of thing when we were in school, that's for sure. I remember field day but that was a whole lot of 50 yard dashes and 3 legged races. Since when do you send your kid to school in a bathing suit? And since they have 1 water day for every 3 classes, the fire dept has been there for the past week. Good thing there wasn't something like a real fire in the area this week.
Oh, yes. The fire dept. That reminds me. This week I got to call 911 from work. That's always a blast. The guy was SICK SICK SICK and had called a cab to bring him to our clinic. The MA's realized that he wasn't doing well when he stumbled in the door, brought him in a room and found me.
Mind you, I was in the wellness clinic. WELLNESS. But, hey, go ahead, call up gasping for breath, talk incoherently and get an apt for the wellness clinic. Because you're well. Riiiigght.
So, the cab brougheth and the ambulance taketh away. However in the meantime it took an hour. And the fire department came first. Then the Ambulance. I had 6 hunky ( I assume) guys in uniform blocking the hall and our gay nurse hovering checking them out (why I assume they were hunky). yeah. I love my job.
That reminds me, I should go add up the hours I have and the hours I need and do some simple math.
Speaking of Math the awards ceremony that the note came home from school for Sonia's getting one was this am. Sonia got a writing award, one of the top 10% of creative writers in her grade. I assure you it wasn't handwriting. And an award for having 290 AR points (what they use to measure how much and how well you read- they take tests on the books they read and then are graded on those tests, ranked on how difficult the book is.
Now there are 6 teachers and each got up and announced their award (citizenship, math, reading, writing, something else I forgot and then the last teacher gets up and announced that she was giving out the perfect attendance award. The mom and dad pair I was sitting next to's daughter had not yet received her award (because if you're there, your kid is getting an award) and I could tell that perfect attendance wasn't the award they were wanting. And the girl was sulking. Kinda like getting "nicest personality" in a beauty contest, although I'd prefer nicest personality if they MEANT I had the nicest personality and wasn't really just saying I was terrible. We of course didn't get perfect attendance. We blew it the first week of school. hahaha. Joey didn't get any award, which he took fairly well. Alot of kids didn't get an award and this really hasn't been his best year.
More salt in the wounds today was the girl scout cookie selling awards. Most girls sold enough to get a patch. 4 girls with my creative accounting got a Tshirt and Sonia and said perfect attendance girl got the 200- box of cookies giraffe. Of course I didn't want to sell 200 boxes. We ended up with 200 boxes because attendance girl and her mom kept selling cookies and we keep having to order more cases and I'd sell the remainder of the case at the countless booth sales we had. The booth sales rules said we had to have 2 adults and 2 kids. So having 2 girls dressed in uniforms and dragging Larry along at least twice we sold alot of cookies and all were credited to Sonia because Kayla's an unregistered girlscout in our troop.
This of course infuriated Kayla that she sold more cookies (and technically she did because she's not shy) that Sonia but Sonia got the coveted giraffe. So I spent a month looking for a stupid stuffed giraffe to give her. In retrospect I should have looked online, but I was really aiming for the same. But finally I found one and she's happy she has a giraffe even if it isn't the same. One of my scouts said "oh, I have that, but mine is a webkins" which told me it should have been easier for me to find than it was. Although I looked it up and the webkin giraffe was $50 and Kayla's was $6. So overall it wasn't a terrible choice.
So tomorrow Joey's teacher would like all the kids to bring water balloons to school. Have I mentioned this girl hasn't got a really good grip on practicality as a family with kids? AND she suggested we transport them in containers filled with water to prevent them from breaking. Sure. I'll get right on that. I bought the water balloons. If I find 20 mintues tomorrow morning to fill them, I will. but if she thinks I'm going to haul a 50 lbs bucket of water balloons from the parking lot to school and add extra water to it... fuhgettabout it.
On the home garden front I've discovered you can dehydrate blackberries and dehydrated zucchini chips are pretty tasty and not a bad alternative to potato chips. Well, so I say. The kids still think Lays are better.
And we now have close to 50 quail. we will be selling them online. Because there's a new batch ready to hatch next week and we'll likely have 30 more. And to think, we though breeding rabbits would be exponential. This is faster, I think.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
I was told to update my blog.
But you see, the trouble is I'm pretty uninspired about what to write about.
But here goes: A quick update from the week's events- Yesterday we went to an Indian Pow Wow. Or native American. Because I don't remember being to one and the kids have never gone to one.
I can honestly say that genre of music isn't my favorite, but there was chanting drum music. And dancing. It was interesting to see the costumes, too. The highlight for me was the indian fry bread, which was just like the fried dough I missed so much from home. For the kids it was all the vendors selling rocks, slingshots, beeds, and bows and arrows. Because they had their birthday money burning a hole in their pockets they spent it. there. The boys on weapons- Joey has a bow and arrow and JM has a slingshot. And surprisingly they both seem to work. Also surprisingly (or not) was they were not in fact made by native americans and were in fact made in China. So after going to 5 booths seeing all this Chinese stuff. I went to one of the guys selling stuff and said "you work here?" yes. "who owns here?" that guy over there. [walks to said guy] "you own this store?" well, my dad does.
And the conversation went "why don't you have stuff that's made my native americans or at least not from China" and the answer was because the chinese stuff was cheap and the native stuff was expensive.
And then on the way home I realized it's not just that the Native made stuff would be expensive, it's that there is no motive for the Natives to make stuff when they get paid just for being tribe members from their tribe's casino. So why would they make bows and arrows to make a $10 profit when they make $8000 just for being alive?
So, dear friends, if you know of a redneck who wants a business you can start making cheap bow and arrows and selling them with "made in the USA" stickers on them at these powwow events. Apparently there are quite a few of them. Who knew?
So we got home with the weapons and so far no one has shot an eye out or broken a window. And I wonder where it was that we crossed the line from cautious parents to the ones that think "eh. They'll be alright" Not sure where that boundary was, but pretty sure we passed it some time ago.
In other kid news, we have 1 week left of school. Which means we have about 15 parties to go to during school. They have water day, pizza party day and end of school day. And after the huge stink about the kids and the election and if taxes aren't raised by XYZ referendum they won't have a whole week of school. And I think "are you kidding?" they can miss a week of school and not miss a thing. Like this last week of parties. Sonia's teacher stopped giving out homework about 4 weeks ago if not longer and Kayla's gave up the homework ghost 2 weeks ago. Joey's is the only one who seems to think that it's business as usual. We're not going to miss this much next year.
The cars have all been running this week, although driving them in and out of our neighborhood has proven to be a challenge with the construction. It's hard to explain but they moved the state highway our road turned off of 50 feet further from our street, made the old street an access street for about 50 feet and then a new street/ramp winds up a temporary road to the new light at the highway for our street and the strip mall to be able to get onto the highway. But the part from our street to the windy ramp thing has been under construction. Alot. They've dug and paved and dug and hit water mains and dug and it's just been a mess. And a hassle. But this week, they decided they were going to pave part of what's been dirt for 2 months, which meant they had people standing with stop signs on sticks preventing you from going anywhere which the truck dumped the pavement and the steam roller went over it. Of course they choose to start this right when everyone's trying to get out and get to work/school. A few times of going in and out of this and I was about to drive off road and around the nuttiness. As it was I started going back over the dirt "short cut" which is infact an empty lot we used to occasionally use to get to the strip mall and home when the traffic was bad. Which leads me to ask "this is supposed to improve our lives and the traffic?!"
So while it's easier to get out onto the state highway, getting to the state highway hasn't been easy. But we're supposed to have a straight shot to it when it's done. or so they say.
Well, Folks, that's all there is to write.
But here goes: A quick update from the week's events- Yesterday we went to an Indian Pow Wow. Or native American. Because I don't remember being to one and the kids have never gone to one.
I can honestly say that genre of music isn't my favorite, but there was chanting drum music. And dancing. It was interesting to see the costumes, too. The highlight for me was the indian fry bread, which was just like the fried dough I missed so much from home. For the kids it was all the vendors selling rocks, slingshots, beeds, and bows and arrows. Because they had their birthday money burning a hole in their pockets they spent it. there. The boys on weapons- Joey has a bow and arrow and JM has a slingshot. And surprisingly they both seem to work. Also surprisingly (or not) was they were not in fact made by native americans and were in fact made in China. So after going to 5 booths seeing all this Chinese stuff. I went to one of the guys selling stuff and said "you work here?" yes. "who owns here?" that guy over there. [walks to said guy] "you own this store?" well, my dad does.
And the conversation went "why don't you have stuff that's made my native americans or at least not from China" and the answer was because the chinese stuff was cheap and the native stuff was expensive.
And then on the way home I realized it's not just that the Native made stuff would be expensive, it's that there is no motive for the Natives to make stuff when they get paid just for being tribe members from their tribe's casino. So why would they make bows and arrows to make a $10 profit when they make $8000 just for being alive?
So, dear friends, if you know of a redneck who wants a business you can start making cheap bow and arrows and selling them with "made in the USA" stickers on them at these powwow events. Apparently there are quite a few of them. Who knew?
So we got home with the weapons and so far no one has shot an eye out or broken a window. And I wonder where it was that we crossed the line from cautious parents to the ones that think "eh. They'll be alright" Not sure where that boundary was, but pretty sure we passed it some time ago.
In other kid news, we have 1 week left of school. Which means we have about 15 parties to go to during school. They have water day, pizza party day and end of school day. And after the huge stink about the kids and the election and if taxes aren't raised by XYZ referendum they won't have a whole week of school. And I think "are you kidding?" they can miss a week of school and not miss a thing. Like this last week of parties. Sonia's teacher stopped giving out homework about 4 weeks ago if not longer and Kayla's gave up the homework ghost 2 weeks ago. Joey's is the only one who seems to think that it's business as usual. We're not going to miss this much next year.
The cars have all been running this week, although driving them in and out of our neighborhood has proven to be a challenge with the construction. It's hard to explain but they moved the state highway our road turned off of 50 feet further from our street, made the old street an access street for about 50 feet and then a new street/ramp winds up a temporary road to the new light at the highway for our street and the strip mall to be able to get onto the highway. But the part from our street to the windy ramp thing has been under construction. Alot. They've dug and paved and dug and hit water mains and dug and it's just been a mess. And a hassle. But this week, they decided they were going to pave part of what's been dirt for 2 months, which meant they had people standing with stop signs on sticks preventing you from going anywhere which the truck dumped the pavement and the steam roller went over it. Of course they choose to start this right when everyone's trying to get out and get to work/school. A few times of going in and out of this and I was about to drive off road and around the nuttiness. As it was I started going back over the dirt "short cut" which is infact an empty lot we used to occasionally use to get to the strip mall and home when the traffic was bad. Which leads me to ask "this is supposed to improve our lives and the traffic?!"
So while it's easier to get out onto the state highway, getting to the state highway hasn't been easy. But we're supposed to have a straight shot to it when it's done. or so they say.
Well, Folks, that's all there is to write.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Still here. Still crazy
And this week's gem from the kids- JM. JM specifically had been testing the limits of gravity. (an aside here, he's been going by Jonathan at his friends house/daycare, so he might no longer be JonMichael by the time school starts)
I don't know why he consistently needs to test to make sure gravity still is present in his life, but he does. Lately he's been jumping. From tall things, like top bunks. The boy is a thrill seeking daredevil and will not be getting a motorcycle or car that exceeds 45 mph until he gets this out of his system. Somedays I'm not sure he needs a bike, either since sidewalks and roads are just too mundane for his need to jump off stuff, like say side walks and retaining walls.
Anyway. Last night he comes crying to me that he hurt himself. (and I try hard not to roll my eyes and say "DUH! that's what happens when you TRY to hurt yourself) and as I ask him what happened he cries " I accidentally, accidentally, uh, accidentally, uh jumped. It hit my head"
No. No, son. You don't ACCIDENTALLY jump. Of all the things in life you can accidentally do, I'm pretty sure jumping is never on that list.
In further crazy news, the word is now on the street that we have chickens. The warden didn't know until we said something about it on Memorial day. He was pretty speachless on it but his wife said she thought it was great and was happy to take a dozen eggs from us.
In smaller gamebird land, Sonia's class hatched quail also, and it appears there are 25 of them. Although they move so fast it's hard and the kids won't stop touching them and picking them up, I'm not sure I have an accurate count yet. Kayla's class flock of 12 is now 3 weeks old and half way to mature and laying. Our incubator can house something like 100 quail eggs, so really, we're just getting started on our exponential experiment.
Although this week I was in a sleep deprived daze, apparently, when I went to feed and water them. I removed the water bottles, added food and left the door of the last cage unlatched thinking I was coming right back with the water. Although I forgot what I was doing, left the water bottles out and the door open. So we're down a quail from that. I caught one who didn't go far but another has never been seen or heard from again. So if I keep this up, exponentially growing won't happen.
The kids have 9 days left to school, Sonia's been nominated for some sort of award, so I'll be at her award ceremony next week to see what said award is. I'm guessing it will be for the child that had read every book in her teacher's class room and nearly all in the library or something like that. I'll let you know what it ends up being.
Both cars have been running this week. And we've had some mexican friends here to do a tiered landscaping project between our wall and the actually property line/ditch. Larry' hoping to get a few more feet of gardening space out of it and possibly netting it to keep all things squirrel related out of the garden. If that doens't work we have a friend who thinks it would be a blast to sit on our back wall with a beer and bb gun and target practice all night. Actually I think I'll go get some beer tomorrow and invite him over.
I don't wonder why people look at us in disbelief when they ask what DH or I do and I tell them he's a dr and I'm a nurse practitioner. We;'re wayy to redneck hillbilly for those sort of refined professions. We should be taxidermists with a side plumbing business or something like that. Or we should just recruit more redneck hillbillies for medicine. Yeah. I'm voting for option b. Or option c- look for a different job since medicine isn't what it's all cracked up to be. And that's a post for a day after I have my 540 hours to get my furnishing number and my paperwork signed off. Until that time it's OPSEC still. Nothing to see here. move along. Check back later.
I don't know why he consistently needs to test to make sure gravity still is present in his life, but he does. Lately he's been jumping. From tall things, like top bunks. The boy is a thrill seeking daredevil and will not be getting a motorcycle or car that exceeds 45 mph until he gets this out of his system. Somedays I'm not sure he needs a bike, either since sidewalks and roads are just too mundane for his need to jump off stuff, like say side walks and retaining walls.
Anyway. Last night he comes crying to me that he hurt himself. (and I try hard not to roll my eyes and say "DUH! that's what happens when you TRY to hurt yourself) and as I ask him what happened he cries " I accidentally, accidentally, uh, accidentally, uh jumped. It hit my head"
No. No, son. You don't ACCIDENTALLY jump. Of all the things in life you can accidentally do, I'm pretty sure jumping is never on that list.
In further crazy news, the word is now on the street that we have chickens. The warden didn't know until we said something about it on Memorial day. He was pretty speachless on it but his wife said she thought it was great and was happy to take a dozen eggs from us.
In smaller gamebird land, Sonia's class hatched quail also, and it appears there are 25 of them. Although they move so fast it's hard and the kids won't stop touching them and picking them up, I'm not sure I have an accurate count yet. Kayla's class flock of 12 is now 3 weeks old and half way to mature and laying. Our incubator can house something like 100 quail eggs, so really, we're just getting started on our exponential experiment.
Although this week I was in a sleep deprived daze, apparently, when I went to feed and water them. I removed the water bottles, added food and left the door of the last cage unlatched thinking I was coming right back with the water. Although I forgot what I was doing, left the water bottles out and the door open. So we're down a quail from that. I caught one who didn't go far but another has never been seen or heard from again. So if I keep this up, exponentially growing won't happen.
The kids have 9 days left to school, Sonia's been nominated for some sort of award, so I'll be at her award ceremony next week to see what said award is. I'm guessing it will be for the child that had read every book in her teacher's class room and nearly all in the library or something like that. I'll let you know what it ends up being.
Both cars have been running this week. And we've had some mexican friends here to do a tiered landscaping project between our wall and the actually property line/ditch. Larry' hoping to get a few more feet of gardening space out of it and possibly netting it to keep all things squirrel related out of the garden. If that doens't work we have a friend who thinks it would be a blast to sit on our back wall with a beer and bb gun and target practice all night. Actually I think I'll go get some beer tomorrow and invite him over.
I don't wonder why people look at us in disbelief when they ask what DH or I do and I tell them he's a dr and I'm a nurse practitioner. We;'re wayy to redneck hillbilly for those sort of refined professions. We should be taxidermists with a side plumbing business or something like that. Or we should just recruit more redneck hillbillies for medicine. Yeah. I'm voting for option b. Or option c- look for a different job since medicine isn't what it's all cracked up to be. And that's a post for a day after I have my 540 hours to get my furnishing number and my paperwork signed off. Until that time it's OPSEC still. Nothing to see here. move along. Check back later.
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