Hello? Anyone still here? Or is it just me and the spiderwebs?
It has been far too long since I posted here, and even farther back for anything of substance. I missed all of my blog friends, and realized that I could easily remedy that situation. I think I stopped blogging because it had become too much like tooting my own horn. That's a contradiction in terms, I know -- that's essentially what blogging IS, but suffice it to say that I was blogging just to hear myself talk, and what I was saying was boring the hell out of myself. So, I stopped.
But, even though I "see" a lot of you on Facebook, we aren't connecting like we used to. *That's* what I miss. I miss seeing your funny anecdotes about the kids; or the newest thing that's driving you bonkers.
You haven't missed much with me -- still here. Still trying to earn a living, and not to get arresting for trying to sell my teenaged daughter to the circus. Taking each day, moment by moment. How's by you?
Showing posts with label Happenings in My World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Happenings in My World. Show all posts
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Month in Review
Since I have not blogged in the last month, due to Christmas, vacation, and all of the yearly seasonal hullabaloo, I figured that I would pop in and let you all know that I am still firmly planted above ground, and give you the quick rundown of the last 30 days or so.
* November's end brought a culmination to my Fall Quarter class, in which I received an "A." Thank goodness. As I told my professor, going back to school almost 20 years after the original college experience, I had something to prove to myself, and the "A" confirms that I'm where I should be, and deserve to be.
* Thanksgiving was nice, including seeing my brother and my soon-to-be sister in law. We had a wonderful meal, good conversation, and lots of laughter.
* The end of November also heralded my 17th wedding anniversary. I'm STILL surprised that Juggling Freak picked me, and even more grateful that he's managed to put up with me after 17 years.
* The beginning of December brought torrential rain to our area, which put a dismal, gloomy mood on everything until it lifted. The kids at school were stir-crazy due to no outside time, and we were all champing at the bit to get vacation started.
* Our higher-up muckety-mucks tell us right before Christmas Break what a dire financial strait we are in, and make decisions to cut costs wherever possible, leaving people to freak out about losing their jobs right before Christmas. No firm decisions are made about who, specifically, or what programs get the ax, but we know it's there, looming over us.
* School ends on the 18th of December, and everyone is relieved to have some break time coming.
* Offspring, Juggling Freak, and I spend Christmas Eve with my mother; Christmas morning at our own house; and head off to his mother's for Christmas Day lunch. Many presents were opened, and much joy was shared. We had steaks and baked potatoes at my mother's, and we went out for our traditional Japanese meal with his mother. (That particular tradition was begun because his mother can burn Jell-O, and we'd like NOT to spend the holidays sequestered near the Porcelain Throne.) Christmas also confirms that Offspring is, indeed, one spoiled child. Spoiled, but hopefully, not rotten.
* We make a quick blitz trip to TheCityOfMyBirth to see my father, uncle, and Grandmother. Grandma is 90 years old, and getting to the point where I worry about how many more Christmases with her we'll have. So, we go up for one night, and pop in on her to give her our best and let her know that we are thinking about her. My father takes us to dinner, and we all hatch plans for my brother's wedding in May. All other family is occupied, so no other meet-ups manage to happen. (All of my mother's family are located there as well -- uncles, aunts, and assorted cousins.)
* We return home yesterday, getting slowed down on I-95 South several times by absolutely nothing. This is frustrating and gives me a tension headache. I stripped all the linens off our beds, and we settle down for the night.
* On tap for today was a trip to the optometrist for JF. He's having trouble with night driving and it looks like his previous prescription is no longer cutting it. Turns out he needs bifocals, which he jokes makes him feel old. Heck, as long as he can see, I wouldn't care WHAT kind of glasses they are!
* My elbow has been bothering me for days -- I was diagnosed with epicondylitis about 8 or so months ago, and it hadn't bothered me much until last week. The pain has gotten steadily worse, and now I'm constantly hugging that arm to my side. Squeezing the nozzle to get gas yesterday was excruciating, so it's off to the doctor for me on Thursday. Oh, joy.
You're all caught up now. Any questions? There WILL be a quiz later, which will count for 35% of your grade, so ask now if you're unclear on anything. :)
* November's end brought a culmination to my Fall Quarter class, in which I received an "A." Thank goodness. As I told my professor, going back to school almost 20 years after the original college experience, I had something to prove to myself, and the "A" confirms that I'm where I should be, and deserve to be.
* Thanksgiving was nice, including seeing my brother and my soon-to-be sister in law. We had a wonderful meal, good conversation, and lots of laughter.
* The end of November also heralded my 17th wedding anniversary. I'm STILL surprised that Juggling Freak picked me, and even more grateful that he's managed to put up with me after 17 years.
* The beginning of December brought torrential rain to our area, which put a dismal, gloomy mood on everything until it lifted. The kids at school were stir-crazy due to no outside time, and we were all champing at the bit to get vacation started.
* Our higher-up muckety-mucks tell us right before Christmas Break what a dire financial strait we are in, and make decisions to cut costs wherever possible, leaving people to freak out about losing their jobs right before Christmas. No firm decisions are made about who, specifically, or what programs get the ax, but we know it's there, looming over us.
* School ends on the 18th of December, and everyone is relieved to have some break time coming.
* Offspring, Juggling Freak, and I spend Christmas Eve with my mother; Christmas morning at our own house; and head off to his mother's for Christmas Day lunch. Many presents were opened, and much joy was shared. We had steaks and baked potatoes at my mother's, and we went out for our traditional Japanese meal with his mother. (That particular tradition was begun because his mother can burn Jell-O, and we'd like NOT to spend the holidays sequestered near the Porcelain Throne.) Christmas also confirms that Offspring is, indeed, one spoiled child. Spoiled, but hopefully, not rotten.
* We make a quick blitz trip to TheCityOfMyBirth to see my father, uncle, and Grandmother. Grandma is 90 years old, and getting to the point where I worry about how many more Christmases with her we'll have. So, we go up for one night, and pop in on her to give her our best and let her know that we are thinking about her. My father takes us to dinner, and we all hatch plans for my brother's wedding in May. All other family is occupied, so no other meet-ups manage to happen. (All of my mother's family are located there as well -- uncles, aunts, and assorted cousins.)
* We return home yesterday, getting slowed down on I-95 South several times by absolutely nothing. This is frustrating and gives me a tension headache. I stripped all the linens off our beds, and we settle down for the night.
* On tap for today was a trip to the optometrist for JF. He's having trouble with night driving and it looks like his previous prescription is no longer cutting it. Turns out he needs bifocals, which he jokes makes him feel old. Heck, as long as he can see, I wouldn't care WHAT kind of glasses they are!
* My elbow has been bothering me for days -- I was diagnosed with epicondylitis about 8 or so months ago, and it hadn't bothered me much until last week. The pain has gotten steadily worse, and now I'm constantly hugging that arm to my side. Squeezing the nozzle to get gas yesterday was excruciating, so it's off to the doctor for me on Thursday. Oh, joy.
You're all caught up now. Any questions? There WILL be a quiz later, which will count for 35% of your grade, so ask now if you're unclear on anything. :)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Strange Happenings
JF and I were watching TV in bed early last night, just being lazy on a chilly (to us) and rainy Saturday, when suddenly, we heard a loud "THUMP!" outside on our front walkway. Now, our house is surrounded by trees -- so much so, that if you try to Google Earth our house, you see one sliver of house, and mostly trees -- and we often hear pinecones thudding to earth during windy days. But, this wasn't a pinecone. It would have had to have been a giganto-cone in order to make the thud we heard.
JF went to the front door to investigate. "Uh....hon? Could you come here?" I got up and went to the front door, only to see JF with his nose pressed against the glass of the storm door. "It was a raccoon!, " he said, and pointed out towards the rainy night beyond our front steps. Lying on our walkway was a very stunned middle-sized raccoon. At first, we thought he had fallen off of our roof. This was a likely scenario, as we've seen raccoons up there before, drawn by the cat food we left outside for Blackie, our extra kitteh, and by the honey birdseed cake we hang in the big cedar tree right at the front of our house.
The poor little guy tried to stand up, but his hind leg wasn't working properly, and he fell over. He struggled to get oriented for a few minutes. JF and I both felt bad because we wanted to help him, but there was no way of knowing if he'd attack in his pained state, or if he was rabid or not. He seemed fairly calm, but then again, so did Cujo at first. I walked off to go to the bathroom, and JF wandered around to make sure both of the kittehs were safely inside. When we came back to the storm door, Mister Raccoon had disappeared. JF checked in the yard, all of the shrubs, and under both of our cars -- no raccoon. He was not moving very fast, so he probably didn't venture across the street.... As we sat there, pondering where he went, a large SPLAT! hit the pavement. It looked like vomit, to be honest. JF traced the trajectory, and up in the cedar tree, he saw four pairs of glowing eyes staring back at him.
We think maybe Mr. Raccoon was up in the tree to begin with, and fell out somehow. Maybe the branches were slippery from the rain. And, our cedar tree exudes this orange-y colored jelly instead of sap, so maybe he slipped on that. After his fall, he crawled back up the tree to where his "family" was, so they could take care of him. We think the vomit-y stuff was either him being sick after the fact, or a warning for us not to get too close, or it could have even been excrement, where he literally got the crap knocked out of him.
We just hope he's okay. I can just hear the raccoon gossip network..."Frank got so drunk the other night, he fell right out of the tree! Scared some poor human family out of their minds! That'll teach him to drink that cheap malt liquor!"
JF went to the front door to investigate. "Uh....hon? Could you come here?" I got up and went to the front door, only to see JF with his nose pressed against the glass of the storm door. "It was a raccoon!, " he said, and pointed out towards the rainy night beyond our front steps. Lying on our walkway was a very stunned middle-sized raccoon. At first, we thought he had fallen off of our roof. This was a likely scenario, as we've seen raccoons up there before, drawn by the cat food we left outside for Blackie, our extra kitteh, and by the honey birdseed cake we hang in the big cedar tree right at the front of our house.
The poor little guy tried to stand up, but his hind leg wasn't working properly, and he fell over. He struggled to get oriented for a few minutes. JF and I both felt bad because we wanted to help him, but there was no way of knowing if he'd attack in his pained state, or if he was rabid or not. He seemed fairly calm, but then again, so did Cujo at first. I walked off to go to the bathroom, and JF wandered around to make sure both of the kittehs were safely inside. When we came back to the storm door, Mister Raccoon had disappeared. JF checked in the yard, all of the shrubs, and under both of our cars -- no raccoon. He was not moving very fast, so he probably didn't venture across the street.... As we sat there, pondering where he went, a large SPLAT! hit the pavement. It looked like vomit, to be honest. JF traced the trajectory, and up in the cedar tree, he saw four pairs of glowing eyes staring back at him.
We think maybe Mr. Raccoon was up in the tree to begin with, and fell out somehow. Maybe the branches were slippery from the rain. And, our cedar tree exudes this orange-y colored jelly instead of sap, so maybe he slipped on that. After his fall, he crawled back up the tree to where his "family" was, so they could take care of him. We think the vomit-y stuff was either him being sick after the fact, or a warning for us not to get too close, or it could have even been excrement, where he literally got the crap knocked out of him.
We just hope he's okay. I can just hear the raccoon gossip network..."Frank got so drunk the other night, he fell right out of the tree! Scared some poor human family out of their minds! That'll teach him to drink that cheap malt liquor!"
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
My Time Is My Own Again
My final exam was tonight, and I am now finished with Fall Quarter! Of course, I will have to wait for the "official" grades, but I'm pretty sure I made an "A" on the final -- only missed one question (worth one-half of a point) out of the 50 questions, and that means that I make an "A" in the course! Sweet!
I have a long break, thank all the gods who are and ever were. We don't begin Winter Quarter until January 4th! That gives me a good bit of time to get rested and grow back the clumps of hair that I've pulled out during this quarter. My class was interesting, but it's hard to go sit in a classroom for two and a half hours after you've worked a full day.
Major, major props go out to JF who kept the family fed and in clean clothing during this quarter. I knew there were many reasons that I loved him, but he worked a full day EVERY DAY to come home and clean, wash dishes and clothes, and feed us every Monday, Wednesday, and some jam-packed Thursdays. Thank you, love. You are special to me, in many, many ways, and this is only one of them
I will keep you all updated to the official stats once they come in, and I expect to be blogging (and on Facebook) more now that I'm not buried under a mountain of school stuff.
I have a long break, thank all the gods who are and ever were. We don't begin Winter Quarter until January 4th! That gives me a good bit of time to get rested and grow back the clumps of hair that I've pulled out during this quarter. My class was interesting, but it's hard to go sit in a classroom for two and a half hours after you've worked a full day.
Major, major props go out to JF who kept the family fed and in clean clothing during this quarter. I knew there were many reasons that I loved him, but he worked a full day EVERY DAY to come home and clean, wash dishes and clothes, and feed us every Monday, Wednesday, and some jam-packed Thursdays. Thank you, love. You are special to me, in many, many ways, and this is only one of them
I will keep you all updated to the official stats once they come in, and I expect to be blogging (and on Facebook) more now that I'm not buried under a mountain of school stuff.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Not Dead Yet
I'm sorry that I have been posting even less than normal lately, but I seem to have no time at all. School is eating up my days, and most of my nights. All is going well on the college front (I got an A on my midterm -- hooray!) but we're heading down the home stretch towards finals. This means more studying and more assignments.
I spent today at home sick. Woke up this morning with a 101-degree fever and some stomach-churning. After being sick one time, the nausea thankfully subsided. Now I'm just left with the odd fever spike and a feeling like I have a box of Triscuits stuck up my nose.
Despite the yuck, I had an assignment to write and upload to my professor before class tomorrow. I'm a little mad at Blackboard -- they've removed the automatic grade average (the "weighted total") at the bottom, though this may be in my best interest, since I checked it rather obsessively. I got the assignment finished and uploaded, and made dinner (tacos) and some cupcakes for my troop's Birthday Party for Juliette Low on Thursday. Instead of posting, I should be working on my next assignment, but I am officially putting that off until Friday night.
Currently, we are observing a time-honored family tradition: the Annual Watching of The Great Pumpkin. This is a ritual strictly observed in our household, with non-believers being labeled as "commies." Offspring expressed an interest in NOT watching The Great Pumpkin this year, and her father questioned her paternity, and my truthfulness as her mother. There was even some mild cursing. JF then turned on BOTH televisions to maximize the Pumpkin-y goodness, and proceeded to insist that tradition be observed and maintained. I will keep you posted on whether Offspring remains shunned from the family unit or not.
I spent today at home sick. Woke up this morning with a 101-degree fever and some stomach-churning. After being sick one time, the nausea thankfully subsided. Now I'm just left with the odd fever spike and a feeling like I have a box of Triscuits stuck up my nose.
Despite the yuck, I had an assignment to write and upload to my professor before class tomorrow. I'm a little mad at Blackboard -- they've removed the automatic grade average (the "weighted total") at the bottom, though this may be in my best interest, since I checked it rather obsessively. I got the assignment finished and uploaded, and made dinner (tacos) and some cupcakes for my troop's Birthday Party for Juliette Low on Thursday. Instead of posting, I should be working on my next assignment, but I am officially putting that off until Friday night.
Currently, we are observing a time-honored family tradition: the Annual Watching of The Great Pumpkin. This is a ritual strictly observed in our household, with non-believers being labeled as "commies." Offspring expressed an interest in NOT watching The Great Pumpkin this year, and her father questioned her paternity, and my truthfulness as her mother. There was even some mild cursing. JF then turned on BOTH televisions to maximize the Pumpkin-y goodness, and proceeded to insist that tradition be observed and maintained. I will keep you posted on whether Offspring remains shunned from the family unit or not.
Friday, October 02, 2009
My Time Is No Longer My Own
You know, they say that when you have kids, your time is no longer your own. I had some of that when Offspring was small -- she needed more attention then than she does now, and these days all she really wants me for is to re-up her texting on her cell phone. But, it seems like lately, I've been gone more than I've been home.
I have class on Mondays and Wednesdays after work, so I leave home at around eight am, and I don't return until 8pm. Thursday afternoons are my Girl Scout meetings, so that's at least 5:30 pm. This week, we had a "field trip" on Tuesday evening, which was a one-off thing, and tonight Offspring has HER Girl Scout meeting. This comes on top of last week's commando trip to CityOfMyBirth to see my aunt in the hospital.
Forgive me if I'm feeling a little tired.
My class is going well. I HAD a hundred-point average until Wednesday's quiz blew that out of the water. Now, it's an 89.87, but I expect that to go back up. Hopefully. Though, like last quarter, I'll be happy with a "B." I'd LOVE an "A", but I'll settle for a "B". More importantly, I like the class a lot, and I'm enjoying the back-and-forth with the other students.
I have 14 Girl Scouts this year. Only three are new, but I think they've got lots of personality, and I will enjoy my time with them. This means that we'll have a whole new crop of girls next year! It will be sad to see these babies move on, but it will also be fun getting to know a whole new bunch of girls.
Right now, I'm making Mexican Lasagna for tonight's Mexican-inspired potluck dinner for Offspring's Girl Scout meeting, and then I plan on coming home to clean up a little before Offspring has her friend over tomorrow for a Movie Extravaganza. Got to straighten up the living room, and then I plan to fossilize my butt to my bed and watch all the stuff that's been accumulating on the TiVo -- two eps of "Heroes", "The Other Boleyn Girl", and some other random stuff. And sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
I have class on Mondays and Wednesdays after work, so I leave home at around eight am, and I don't return until 8pm. Thursday afternoons are my Girl Scout meetings, so that's at least 5:30 pm. This week, we had a "field trip" on Tuesday evening, which was a one-off thing, and tonight Offspring has HER Girl Scout meeting. This comes on top of last week's commando trip to CityOfMyBirth to see my aunt in the hospital.
Forgive me if I'm feeling a little tired.
My class is going well. I HAD a hundred-point average until Wednesday's quiz blew that out of the water. Now, it's an 89.87, but I expect that to go back up. Hopefully. Though, like last quarter, I'll be happy with a "B." I'd LOVE an "A", but I'll settle for a "B". More importantly, I like the class a lot, and I'm enjoying the back-and-forth with the other students.
I have 14 Girl Scouts this year. Only three are new, but I think they've got lots of personality, and I will enjoy my time with them. This means that we'll have a whole new crop of girls next year! It will be sad to see these babies move on, but it will also be fun getting to know a whole new bunch of girls.
Right now, I'm making Mexican Lasagna for tonight's Mexican-inspired potluck dinner for Offspring's Girl Scout meeting, and then I plan on coming home to clean up a little before Offspring has her friend over tomorrow for a Movie Extravaganza. Got to straighten up the living room, and then I plan to fossilize my butt to my bed and watch all the stuff that's been accumulating on the TiVo -- two eps of "Heroes", "The Other Boleyn Girl", and some other random stuff. And sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
They Have Created A Monster!
So, in my new role for this school year, I am leaning sign language. The kids are delighted to be teaching ME, rather than the other way around.
I picked up the REALLY important stuff the first two days: "more", "cookie", "please", "sorry", "Good morning", "bus", "what", "which", "sit", and so forth.
Today, they started teaching me the signs for various foods: potato, bread, hot dog, taco, broccoli, banana, strawberry, spaghetti, oatmeal, blueberry, soup, cereal, lemon, bacon, toast, sandwich, cheese... I did pretty well when quizzed right after the fact, but the real kicker will be when I remember them tomorrow, or even a month from now. I've been told to prepare myself mentally for a "test" tomorrow.
I've been coming home and signing all that I can remember to JF and Offspring, and tonight at the dinner table, the following conversation occurred:
Offspring: (as she's walking to the dining room from her bedroom) "What's for dinner?"
JF: "Food!"
Me: (as she takes her seat) "Chicken, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. I know the signs for chicken and potatoes, and I know carrots and corn, but not peas."
(I proceed to demonstrate the newly-learned signs.)
Offspring: "Mom, you know -- I don't really care. I had enough of learning already today."
Feel the love, people.
-----------------------------
Speaking of school, we had a lock-down today because apparently come carjackers were in the area next to our school, and they were armed. After a harrowing afternoon involving many cops and police dogs and helicopters in the area, the all-clear was finally given. None of our students was harmed, and hopefully, no one got totally freaked by the experience, but stuff like that REALLY makes me nervous as all get-out.
Glad everything worked out.
I picked up the REALLY important stuff the first two days: "more", "cookie", "please", "sorry", "Good morning", "bus", "what", "which", "sit", and so forth.
Today, they started teaching me the signs for various foods: potato, bread, hot dog, taco, broccoli, banana, strawberry, spaghetti, oatmeal, blueberry, soup, cereal, lemon, bacon, toast, sandwich, cheese... I did pretty well when quizzed right after the fact, but the real kicker will be when I remember them tomorrow, or even a month from now. I've been told to prepare myself mentally for a "test" tomorrow.
I've been coming home and signing all that I can remember to JF and Offspring, and tonight at the dinner table, the following conversation occurred:
Offspring: (as she's walking to the dining room from her bedroom) "What's for dinner?"
JF: "Food!"
Me: (as she takes her seat) "Chicken, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. I know the signs for chicken and potatoes, and I know carrots and corn, but not peas."
(I proceed to demonstrate the newly-learned signs.)
Offspring: "Mom, you know -- I don't really care. I had enough of learning already today."
Feel the love, people.
-----------------------------
Speaking of school, we had a lock-down today because apparently come carjackers were in the area next to our school, and they were armed. After a harrowing afternoon involving many cops and police dogs and helicopters in the area, the all-clear was finally given. None of our students was harmed, and hopefully, no one got totally freaked by the experience, but stuff like that REALLY makes me nervous as all get-out.
Glad everything worked out.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
School, More School, and Other Assorted Stuff
Okay, so my first day back at work was today, and boy howdy -- was it HARD to get up with the alarm clock this morning! This was compounded by the fact that our lovely kitteh decided to howl every 15 seconds starting at 1am. JF finally drug his poor, tired self out of bed and made her lay with him on the couch. Of course, this was what she wanted all along, so it wasn't too much of an imposition on her.
The alarm rang at o'dark-thirty this morning, and I stumbled into the shower, bleary-eyed. (In the summer, I sleep as late as I can possibly manage. That's the only benefit that I can see to having a teenager -- sometimes, she sleeps even later than I do. And, if by some miracle she's awakens before me, she smooshes her butt into the crevice in the couch cushions and plays XBOX without bothering to wake me. It's at those moments that I am SUPREMELY glad that she no longer craves my company every second of the day. Where was I? Oh, yes -- the shower.)
I get into the shower, and am promptly clonked on the head by the hand-held nozzle while simultaneously having my back scalded by excruciatingly hot water because the last person to use the shower didn't turn that knob all the way off. What a way to start off the day! I'm just glad that I wasn't clonked in the jaw! (Speaking of jaw -- I was supposed to go see the oral surgeon about my TMJ, and his office called and said that they checked my insurance, and it doesn't cover TMJ. So, if I wanted to still go to that consult, it would be $568 out of pocket, and we don't do financing, thank you very much. Guess I'll suffer with a sore jaw for a while...)
I get to school, and go to my new assignment, and we find that our two adjoining classrooms have been reduced into one. And all the furniture from BOTH classrooms are now shoved, higgledy-piggledy, into one room. We spend all day moving furniture from one spot to another, trying to get most of it to fit. We worked our tails off in that room today, and it STILL looks like an educational supply store threw up and then exploded in there.
I'm tired, and I want to go to bed. The sleep I *didn't* get last night is now catching up to me. My jaw is beginning to ache, despite judicious application of ice cream, so it's off to get the ibuprofen with the naproxen sodium chaser, and then lights out. I have another full day of furniture wrangling and shelf clearing ahead of me.
I have yet to get my final grade for my class, but it should be posted some time tomorrow. I will post the final grade if I haven't committed seppuku. I have three more days in the classroom before kids arrive, and two weeks until I start my next class. So, the next few months are going to be OUTRAGEOUSLY busy, with work every day, school on Monday and Wednesday nights, and Girl Scouts on Thursdays and the occasional adult meeting on Tuesdays. If you don't see me for a while, check in to make sure that I haven't imploded.
The alarm rang at o'dark-thirty this morning, and I stumbled into the shower, bleary-eyed. (In the summer, I sleep as late as I can possibly manage. That's the only benefit that I can see to having a teenager -- sometimes, she sleeps even later than I do. And, if by some miracle she's awakens before me, she smooshes her butt into the crevice in the couch cushions and plays XBOX without bothering to wake me. It's at those moments that I am SUPREMELY glad that she no longer craves my company every second of the day. Where was I? Oh, yes -- the shower.)
I get into the shower, and am promptly clonked on the head by the hand-held nozzle while simultaneously having my back scalded by excruciatingly hot water because the last person to use the shower didn't turn that knob all the way off. What a way to start off the day! I'm just glad that I wasn't clonked in the jaw! (Speaking of jaw -- I was supposed to go see the oral surgeon about my TMJ, and his office called and said that they checked my insurance, and it doesn't cover TMJ. So, if I wanted to still go to that consult, it would be $568 out of pocket, and we don't do financing, thank you very much. Guess I'll suffer with a sore jaw for a while...)
I get to school, and go to my new assignment, and we find that our two adjoining classrooms have been reduced into one. And all the furniture from BOTH classrooms are now shoved, higgledy-piggledy, into one room. We spend all day moving furniture from one spot to another, trying to get most of it to fit. We worked our tails off in that room today, and it STILL looks like an educational supply store threw up and then exploded in there.
I'm tired, and I want to go to bed. The sleep I *didn't* get last night is now catching up to me. My jaw is beginning to ache, despite judicious application of ice cream, so it's off to get the ibuprofen with the naproxen sodium chaser, and then lights out. I have another full day of furniture wrangling and shelf clearing ahead of me.
I have yet to get my final grade for my class, but it should be posted some time tomorrow. I will post the final grade if I haven't committed seppuku. I have three more days in the classroom before kids arrive, and two weeks until I start my next class. So, the next few months are going to be OUTRAGEOUSLY busy, with work every day, school on Monday and Wednesday nights, and Girl Scouts on Thursdays and the occasional adult meeting on Tuesdays. If you don't see me for a while, check in to make sure that I haven't imploded.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Commander Bun-Bun
In our house, we love animals. We are mainly cat people, though we like other types of animals, but all we co-habit with is kittehs.
JF and I both had dogs and cats while growing up, and the living with a dog wasn't something we really wanted to repeat. Not that there's anything at all wrong with dogs -- I guess we just find them too high-maintenance. Our cat doesn't really require much in the way of output on our part -- feed her, change her litter, and occasionally snuggle when she's in the mood. She was easy to take care of when we had a toddler running around the house.
So, the other day, Offspring and I happened to go into the pet store to get some dog cookies for my mother's Westies. We were going to take a trip out to Mom's while they were away to make sure the house was still habitable. Mom had someone coming in daily to make sure they had food and water, but she said she'd feel better if she knew that there was someone who cared about them to come and check on them. While we were in the pet store, there was a display full of the cutest little bunnies you have ever seen! They were all playful, and hopping around like mad. I immediately spied this one brown bunny in the middle of the cage, who was just standing on her hind legs, looking up at me. I think that's when I lost my heart to her.
JF wanted no part of bunnies. He said that bunnies stink, and that if we got a bunny, he was claiming no responsibility for it. AT ALL. The bunny would be our bunny -- Offspring's and mine -- and he would not clean up after any bunny, period. He just wanted that clear. Yep. Got it. Our bunny. Crystal clear.
After we came back from visiting Mom's dogs, we went to the local PetSmart. I got a rabbit starter kit compete with cage, bedding, treats, toys, food bowl, and water bottle. We took all the bun stuff home, and set it up underneath Offspring's loft bed. Once Offspring had cleaned up her room, we went back out to the small pet store to pick out the bunny.
The little brown bunny was still there, and I asked the clerk to let me hold her. I was just wanting to see if she was as sweet as she seemed. Offspring wanted one of the black-and-white bunnies, but I was all about Little Brown Bunny. She *was* as sweet as she seemed. She immediately snuggled up to my shoulder, and burrowed her face into my neck. I could feel her whiskers tickling my neck, and I was a goner. Offspring held her while I paid for her, and talked baby talk all the way back to the house to her. "It's okay sweetie -- we're almost home. One more turn!"
We named her Hershey. She's the cutest thing, EVER. The geniuses at the pet store didn't know whether she was male or female; "She came in a box marked female, but sometimes they're wrong..." And they had no clue how big she'd get, or how old she was. So, we're going with "female", and "still pretty young" because she's so little. She fits in your hand, and stretched from the end of your palm to the tip of your middle finger, so basically one hand length. So far, she like strawberries, and loves to lick Offspring's fingers. She's very placid, and content to roam around her cage or snuggle with you as long as you like. I guess I was missing the snuggling. Now, I have it in spades!
JF and I both had dogs and cats while growing up, and the living with a dog wasn't something we really wanted to repeat. Not that there's anything at all wrong with dogs -- I guess we just find them too high-maintenance. Our cat doesn't really require much in the way of output on our part -- feed her, change her litter, and occasionally snuggle when she's in the mood. She was easy to take care of when we had a toddler running around the house.
So, the other day, Offspring and I happened to go into the pet store to get some dog cookies for my mother's Westies. We were going to take a trip out to Mom's while they were away to make sure the house was still habitable. Mom had someone coming in daily to make sure they had food and water, but she said she'd feel better if she knew that there was someone who cared about them to come and check on them. While we were in the pet store, there was a display full of the cutest little bunnies you have ever seen! They were all playful, and hopping around like mad. I immediately spied this one brown bunny in the middle of the cage, who was just standing on her hind legs, looking up at me. I think that's when I lost my heart to her.
JF wanted no part of bunnies. He said that bunnies stink, and that if we got a bunny, he was claiming no responsibility for it. AT ALL. The bunny would be our bunny -- Offspring's and mine -- and he would not clean up after any bunny, period. He just wanted that clear. Yep. Got it. Our bunny. Crystal clear.
After we came back from visiting Mom's dogs, we went to the local PetSmart. I got a rabbit starter kit compete with cage, bedding, treats, toys, food bowl, and water bottle. We took all the bun stuff home, and set it up underneath Offspring's loft bed. Once Offspring had cleaned up her room, we went back out to the small pet store to pick out the bunny.
The little brown bunny was still there, and I asked the clerk to let me hold her. I was just wanting to see if she was as sweet as she seemed. Offspring wanted one of the black-and-white bunnies, but I was all about Little Brown Bunny. She *was* as sweet as she seemed. She immediately snuggled up to my shoulder, and burrowed her face into my neck. I could feel her whiskers tickling my neck, and I was a goner. Offspring held her while I paid for her, and talked baby talk all the way back to the house to her. "It's okay sweetie -- we're almost home. One more turn!"
We named her Hershey. She's the cutest thing, EVER. The geniuses at the pet store didn't know whether she was male or female; "She came in a box marked female, but sometimes they're wrong..." And they had no clue how big she'd get, or how old she was. So, we're going with "female", and "still pretty young" because she's so little. She fits in your hand, and stretched from the end of your palm to the tip of your middle finger, so basically one hand length. So far, she like strawberries, and loves to lick Offspring's fingers. She's very placid, and content to roam around her cage or snuggle with you as long as you like. I guess I was missing the snuggling. Now, I have it in spades!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Surgery Update
I am recovering nicely, and expect the worst to be past me. The surgery itself, I don't remember at all. I just lay there in the chair as they hooked up my IV, oxygen, and blood pressure cuff. They asked me a few questions, and shortly after, the surgeon came in, ran two drugs into my IV line, and that was all she wrote. It seemed like only a few minutes, and they were hauling me up out of the chair to head to recovery.
This time around, I was feeling a lot less "out of it", and apparently wasn't talking nonsense. Or at least, none that anyone told me about. As JF was leaving to pull the car around, the nurse walked him out with my post-surgery instructions, and I heard her tell him, "The lights are on, but nobody's home", meaning I was still under the influence of the meds despite how lucid I seemed. Hey! I take exception to that! I came home, read for a bit, and once JF had loaded me up with my prescriptions, I napped off and on.
Woke up a little more sore than I expected today, but that was still well within normal range. I still feel like I got punched in the jaw, but it's not like I got punched in the jaw by Ali. It's more like I got an uppercut from a clumsy bodybuilder -- one who's strong enough to put some hurt on you, but uncoordinated enough not to land the blow to maximum effect.
The only good thing about this is that I only have one wisdom tooth left, so if that one has to come out, I shouldn't have to see the oral surgeon ANY MORE! He's a nice guy and everything, but I hate dental work. At least with him, over the actual dentist, I'm asleep for it all!
This time around, I was feeling a lot less "out of it", and apparently wasn't talking nonsense. Or at least, none that anyone told me about. As JF was leaving to pull the car around, the nurse walked him out with my post-surgery instructions, and I heard her tell him, "The lights are on, but nobody's home", meaning I was still under the influence of the meds despite how lucid I seemed. Hey! I take exception to that! I came home, read for a bit, and once JF had loaded me up with my prescriptions, I napped off and on.
Woke up a little more sore than I expected today, but that was still well within normal range. I still feel like I got punched in the jaw, but it's not like I got punched in the jaw by Ali. It's more like I got an uppercut from a clumsy bodybuilder -- one who's strong enough to put some hurt on you, but uncoordinated enough not to land the blow to maximum effect.
The only good thing about this is that I only have one wisdom tooth left, so if that one has to come out, I shouldn't have to see the oral surgeon ANY MORE! He's a nice guy and everything, but I hate dental work. At least with him, over the actual dentist, I'm asleep for it all!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Whine/Anti-Whine
Some of you lovely people read the Wednesday Whine, a sort of blog-Brigadoon that I've been involved with for quite a while. Some of you are not familiar with the concept, so I'll (briefly) explain:
A long time ago, a delightful bloggy friend named Phantom Scribbler hosted a weekly bitch-fest at her personal blog. It was a place where friends could complain and commiserate with each other over the joys and flops in their lives. It became a task too heavy for lovely PS, who allowed a collection of moderators to take over the idea and give it its own home. WW, as it is familiarly known, has been a great community, and I've greatly enjoyed taking part in it.
But, since I am colossally lazy, I have decided to repost here my submission for the WW, and this will keep all of you three dear readers updated on what's going on here at Chez KLee. Here follows my tale, told in whine/anti-whine format.
--------------------------------------------------
W: I'm in a bad bad BAD situation at work. It hasn't been very much fun for several weeks. Tensions are high, and with only 2 days of school left, we're all testy and short tempered. But, most of the bad bad BAD situation makes me look bad to everyone else, even if that isn't actually the facts.
A/W: Got accepted back to school, so that mitigates some of the bad bad BAD stuff. I'm excited about it. It will allow me to mark off one of those things on my major "To Do" life lists.
W: Was supposed to have a scholarship to cover cost of tuition for Summer Term at said school, only to find a bill for almost 3K (that I seriously DON'T have) in the mail today. Uh.....guys?!? Hello?
A/W: If I am still going to school, it'll get my mom off my back. Plus, President Obama is urging people to further their education in times of economic crisis, so it's almost like I'm *helping!*
W: Am still sick. Not as sick as I was about a month ago, thank God. But, still sick. And, apparently, I now have high cholesterol, too. Thanks for that! Sickness involved almost accidentally overdosing on migraine drugs the other day, and a cyst on my neck that will have to be cut out at some point. Trying to save the day surgery for after school is done so I don't have to work or move during the recovery process.
A/W: At least I DIDN'T overdose, though I had double vision and serious nausea. And, I gotta figure that every day I'm not taking the Great Dirt Nap is a good day. So, yeah -- I'll count being alive among the anti-whines these days.
A long time ago, a delightful bloggy friend named Phantom Scribbler hosted a weekly bitch-fest at her personal blog. It was a place where friends could complain and commiserate with each other over the joys and flops in their lives. It became a task too heavy for lovely PS, who allowed a collection of moderators to take over the idea and give it its own home. WW, as it is familiarly known, has been a great community, and I've greatly enjoyed taking part in it.
But, since I am colossally lazy, I have decided to repost here my submission for the WW, and this will keep all of you three dear readers updated on what's going on here at Chez KLee. Here follows my tale, told in whine/anti-whine format.
--------------------------------------------------
W: I'm in a bad bad BAD situation at work. It hasn't been very much fun for several weeks. Tensions are high, and with only 2 days of school left, we're all testy and short tempered. But, most of the bad bad BAD situation makes me look bad to everyone else, even if that isn't actually the facts.
A/W: Got accepted back to school, so that mitigates some of the bad bad BAD stuff. I'm excited about it. It will allow me to mark off one of those things on my major "To Do" life lists.
W: Was supposed to have a scholarship to cover cost of tuition for Summer Term at said school, only to find a bill for almost 3K (that I seriously DON'T have) in the mail today. Uh.....guys?!? Hello?
A/W: If I am still going to school, it'll get my mom off my back. Plus, President Obama is urging people to further their education in times of economic crisis, so it's almost like I'm *helping!*
W: Am still sick. Not as sick as I was about a month ago, thank God. But, still sick. And, apparently, I now have high cholesterol, too. Thanks for that! Sickness involved almost accidentally overdosing on migraine drugs the other day, and a cyst on my neck that will have to be cut out at some point. Trying to save the day surgery for after school is done so I don't have to work or move during the recovery process.
A/W: At least I DIDN'T overdose, though I had double vision and serious nausea. And, I gotta figure that every day I'm not taking the Great Dirt Nap is a good day. So, yeah -- I'll count being alive among the anti-whines these days.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Please Don't Share Your Germs
Offspring stayed home from school today, citing fever and nausea as the main reasons. After JF and I thoroughly grilled her about what, exactly, it was she was wanting to miss at school today, I gave in and took a sick day to be with her.
We have left her home by herself for a full day on VERY rare occasions, figuring that I was only three and a half minutes away through traffic, but leaving her home alone didn't seem like a good idea today. We had storms in the area, and coupled with the fact that I felt pretty sure that she would spend the bulk of the day on the couch playing the Wii and 360 and do no ACTUAL resting, I stayed home, too. Mainly to prevent said brain drainage on the video game front.
Offspring has a very bad habit of spiking fevers into the 103 - 105 range with very little effort, so I wanted to be home in case this was what was happening with her.
The fever lingered in a low-grade state all day, but apparently the nausea has gone bye-bye, since she ate both lunch and dinner with no difficulties.
I began feeling a little yucky about 30 minutes ago, and now have a very seasick-feeling stomach. I hope I don't have whatever she had. I hate it when she shares the bad stuff! Why couldn't she have just given me her wallet? Or her carton of Ben and Jerry's Cake Batter that was in the freezer? Why did she have to share the nausea?
We have left her home by herself for a full day on VERY rare occasions, figuring that I was only three and a half minutes away through traffic, but leaving her home alone didn't seem like a good idea today. We had storms in the area, and coupled with the fact that I felt pretty sure that she would spend the bulk of the day on the couch playing the Wii and 360 and do no ACTUAL resting, I stayed home, too. Mainly to prevent said brain drainage on the video game front.
Offspring has a very bad habit of spiking fevers into the 103 - 105 range with very little effort, so I wanted to be home in case this was what was happening with her.
The fever lingered in a low-grade state all day, but apparently the nausea has gone bye-bye, since she ate both lunch and dinner with no difficulties.
I began feeling a little yucky about 30 minutes ago, and now have a very seasick-feeling stomach. I hope I don't have whatever she had. I hate it when she shares the bad stuff! Why couldn't she have just given me her wallet? Or her carton of Ben and Jerry's Cake Batter that was in the freezer? Why did she have to share the nausea?
Friday, March 27, 2009
The Three B's
The first of the three B's was: Baltimore. I just traveled there for a work conference, which was great. I had never been that far north before, and I was looking forward to the trip, not only for the educational information that I was going to get out of it, but also for the complete change of scenery. Last year's conference was in Washington, D.C., and that was the farthest north I'd been up until that point.
JF was worried about me being in the Big City, so he told me not to go wandering around after dark, and to try not to walk anywhere alone. Knowing that Baltimore has some...um...*healthy* crime stats, I agreed. Plus, I've been held up before, and it's not a scene I care to repeat ever again.
As a fan of the late, great, and much-lamented TV show "Homicide: Life on the Street", I was curious to experience Baltimore for myself. I wanted to get a chance to take a picture on the station house steps, but, alas, that was not to be. We just didn't have enough down-time. It would have required a bit of a taxi drive, or a jaunt by Water Taxi, and it wasn't in the cards this trip. Maybe one day I'll be able to return, and that will be a must-see. Plus, I was under orders not to go alone, and truthfully, I didn't want to go all over Baltimore by myself anyway.
Our hotel was right next door to Camden Yards. I was surprised to see Camden Yards smack in the middle of downtown. Usually, the ball fields/stadiums are on the outskirts of town. My room was on the other side of the hotel, but some of the people in our group had great views down into the park. If only there had been a game.
The second B was: Binsk, as in La Binsk, an internet friend from waaay back. We were both denizens of a newsgroup devoted to the previously mentioned "Homicide", and have been friends for what seemed like forever, but without any chance to ever actually meet up. This trip provided us with a good reason! We made plans to grab a bite to eat down at the Inner Harbor, which was only a few blocks from our hotel and conference site.
Binsk brought her mother along, and we all had a lovely dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was great to finally meet her, and her mother was a true hoot. Unfortunately, they had to leave early the next morning to drive to Oklahoma so time was of the essence. If Binsk gives her permission, I will upload the photo of the two of us.
I arrived early, a few minutes before Binsk and Mom did, so I stepped out of the back door to check out what the Inner Harbor had to offer. I turned to the left, and saw the beautiful National Aquarium, so I took a picture.
When I turned to the right, there was the U.S.S. Constellation and the Constellation Museum. JF loves sailing ships, so I figured that I would take a picture of museum AND ship for him. I raise my camera to my eye, and I hear a strident voice say. "Ma'am? Ma'am! I need you to NOT do that!" I lower the camera, and realize that there's a security guard talking to me. I said back to him, in a very confused manner, "Um...I'm not taking a picture of YOU, I'm taking a picture of the *museum.*" He says, "I need you to not do that right now."
As I look around, Ol Eagle Eye me realizes that there are quite a few security guards about, and that though this is obviously a pedestrian area, no one's walking through. We're all milling about on the steps. At the end of the walkway, there are sawhorses, preventing the pedestrian traffic. (I'm a quick one!) In front of me, there's a small dock area where there are plenty of paddle boats available for rent. Only, strangely enough -- none are rented out. With this many people hanging around, you think they'd have some business. Hm. Odd.
After a minute, a man steps out of the dock house, and he's carrying a long hook on a pole. It looks like a fireplace poker with a really long handle. As we (the crowd and I) watch, the guy goes over to the corner of the harbor and begins poking around with the pole in the water. After a few minutes, he snags something, and begins laboriously tugging it over towards the dock.
Updated to add: Binsk approved my adding the picture of the two of us, so find it above!
Right about now is when I noticed the news helicopters hovering around. (Nothing gets past me, I tell ya!)
The hook man finally tugs his burden into somewhat of a viewable area. And.....that brings us to our last B: the body in the harbor. As fond as I am of police procedurals and forensic shows, all I had to see was a wet mop of hair to know that I was out of there. I bolted for the restaurant. Maybe my choice of pasta for dinner wasn't the best course of action, now that I think about it.
I called JF later that night to tell him about my first day. When I get to the part about the body, he had the same reaction that I did -- "Welcome to Baltimore!" Later in the trip, we encountered a homeless man in McDonald's who managed to talk the entire 20 or so minutes that we were there without seeming to take a breath. The day after the nonstop talker, we encountered a junkie in full-nod passout mode who was still managing to stand, by some miracle of gravity. She tottered in the doorway, and had occasional bouts of lucidity before she'd appear to pass out again. At one point, she pulled out a cigarette and stuck it between her lips before succumbing again. After a few minutes, she pulled out a lighter. I nudged my companion and told her that I'd pay her ten bucks if Junkie Lady lit her own hair on fire. Unfortunately, I have no idea if Junkie Lady survived unroasted because she left shortly afterward.
All in all, it was an eventful trip. The train ride was long and mostly uncomfortable, but it was an experience. I hope one day to return to Baltimore, despite all the colorful characters we encountered. Maybe the next time, I will have more time to explore.
JF was worried about me being in the Big City, so he told me not to go wandering around after dark, and to try not to walk anywhere alone. Knowing that Baltimore has some...um...*healthy* crime stats, I agreed. Plus, I've been held up before, and it's not a scene I care to repeat ever again.
As a fan of the late, great, and much-lamented TV show "Homicide: Life on the Street", I was curious to experience Baltimore for myself. I wanted to get a chance to take a picture on the station house steps, but, alas, that was not to be. We just didn't have enough down-time. It would have required a bit of a taxi drive, or a jaunt by Water Taxi, and it wasn't in the cards this trip. Maybe one day I'll be able to return, and that will be a must-see. Plus, I was under orders not to go alone, and truthfully, I didn't want to go all over Baltimore by myself anyway.
Our hotel was right next door to Camden Yards. I was surprised to see Camden Yards smack in the middle of downtown. Usually, the ball fields/stadiums are on the outskirts of town. My room was on the other side of the hotel, but some of the people in our group had great views down into the park. If only there had been a game.
The second B was: Binsk, as in La Binsk, an internet friend from waaay back. We were both denizens of a newsgroup devoted to the previously mentioned "Homicide", and have been friends for what seemed like forever, but without any chance to ever actually meet up. This trip provided us with a good reason! We made plans to grab a bite to eat down at the Inner Harbor, which was only a few blocks from our hotel and conference site.
Binsk brought her mother along, and we all had a lovely dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was great to finally meet her, and her mother was a true hoot. Unfortunately, they had to leave early the next morning to drive to Oklahoma so time was of the essence. If Binsk gives her permission, I will upload the photo of the two of us.
I arrived early, a few minutes before Binsk and Mom did, so I stepped out of the back door to check out what the Inner Harbor had to offer. I turned to the left, and saw the beautiful National Aquarium, so I took a picture.
When I turned to the right, there was the U.S.S. Constellation and the Constellation Museum. JF loves sailing ships, so I figured that I would take a picture of museum AND ship for him. I raise my camera to my eye, and I hear a strident voice say. "Ma'am? Ma'am! I need you to NOT do that!" I lower the camera, and realize that there's a security guard talking to me. I said back to him, in a very confused manner, "Um...I'm not taking a picture of YOU, I'm taking a picture of the *museum.*" He says, "I need you to not do that right now."
As I look around, Ol Eagle Eye me realizes that there are quite a few security guards about, and that though this is obviously a pedestrian area, no one's walking through. We're all milling about on the steps. At the end of the walkway, there are sawhorses, preventing the pedestrian traffic. (I'm a quick one!) In front of me, there's a small dock area where there are plenty of paddle boats available for rent. Only, strangely enough -- none are rented out. With this many people hanging around, you think they'd have some business. Hm. Odd.
After a minute, a man steps out of the dock house, and he's carrying a long hook on a pole. It looks like a fireplace poker with a really long handle. As we (the crowd and I) watch, the guy goes over to the corner of the harbor and begins poking around with the pole in the water. After a few minutes, he snags something, and begins laboriously tugging it over towards the dock.
Updated to add: Binsk approved my adding the picture of the two of us, so find it above!
Right about now is when I noticed the news helicopters hovering around. (Nothing gets past me, I tell ya!)
The hook man finally tugs his burden into somewhat of a viewable area. And.....that brings us to our last B: the body in the harbor. As fond as I am of police procedurals and forensic shows, all I had to see was a wet mop of hair to know that I was out of there. I bolted for the restaurant. Maybe my choice of pasta for dinner wasn't the best course of action, now that I think about it.
I called JF later that night to tell him about my first day. When I get to the part about the body, he had the same reaction that I did -- "Welcome to Baltimore!" Later in the trip, we encountered a homeless man in McDonald's who managed to talk the entire 20 or so minutes that we were there without seeming to take a breath. The day after the nonstop talker, we encountered a junkie in full-nod passout mode who was still managing to stand, by some miracle of gravity. She tottered in the doorway, and had occasional bouts of lucidity before she'd appear to pass out again. At one point, she pulled out a cigarette and stuck it between her lips before succumbing again. After a few minutes, she pulled out a lighter. I nudged my companion and told her that I'd pay her ten bucks if Junkie Lady lit her own hair on fire. Unfortunately, I have no idea if Junkie Lady survived unroasted because she left shortly afterward.
All in all, it was an eventful trip. The train ride was long and mostly uncomfortable, but it was an experience. I hope one day to return to Baltimore, despite all the colorful characters we encountered. Maybe the next time, I will have more time to explore.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
On The Road Again
...or, more accurately, on the tracks again! I'm off this evening to catch my train to Baltimore. I hope to get some "fun" time in among all the "professional learning" time, but I'm not sure how much opportunity to do so I will have.
I plan on taking pictures, and hopefully, some of them will be interesting enough to share!
I'll be gone until Monday, so hold down the fort until then, okay?
I plan on taking pictures, and hopefully, some of them will be interesting enough to share!
I'll be gone until Monday, so hold down the fort until then, okay?
Friday, March 06, 2009
Woman On Fire
I know posting has been down to an all-time low here lately, and for that I'm sorry. I just don't how many ways I can say "I'm not dead yet, but I'm fresh out of blog fodder" without making your heads explode. I know *I'm* getting tired of hearing that, and it's my blog!
School has been a bug-bear. I seem to have the royal knack for pissing people off lately. There's a lot of pressure on teachers these days -- it seems like if we sneeze, we piss a parent or three off. I have a child who is a Jehovah's Witness, and while we don't want to offend the family, we DO still have to teach the child about holidays and the like. If for no other reason because we teach calendar skills, and if we ask what the holiday in March is, the answer would be St. Patrick's Day. That is not a deliberate slight to people who don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but we can't NOT teach that because one family doesn't approve. You know what I mean?
My new Girl Scout troop is going well -- there are 17 of them! I was worried that I wouldn't have enough to make up a troop (which is five) and here I am with one of the largest troops in our area! I'm liking it. Most of them seem very excited to be there, and they seem to be happy with all of the things we've done so far. I've got some not-so-attentive parents, but I chalk a lot of that up to the fact that I don't see them every meeting.
Juggling Freak's birthday is next week. I was torn with what to get him this year, and seriously considered a unicycle. He, understandably, wants to TRY OUT a unicycle first to make sure he doesn't kill himself on it. This sounds awfully cautious of him. This is also the man who wants to flamethrower our big oak tree in the backyard because it sheds bushels of leaves no matter WHAT season it happens to be. This is also the man who got on a wild hair at a woodpecker who was pecking our house, and would have killed it, had we actual firearms in the house and not just a black powder replica. Now, I freely admit that by the end of that particular situation, I would have gleefully killed that woodpecker myself for pecking my bedroom eaves at seven in the damn morning every Saturday. Instead, we tried all the things the avian vets recommended: nasty-tasting sprays, decoy birds, changing the wood out. None of that worked. JF finally paintball-gunned it away. I hope he didn't kill the bird, but I also hope he's too scared to ever come back.
Offspring is tempermental. It's the age. Half the time, she pretends we're not there, and when she's forced to actually --UGH -- *interact* with us, she does a lot of eye-rolling and grunting. Then when she wants something, I hear "Mommy...." She hasn't called me Mommy since she was about seven. Not unless she's angling for something. We've actually all been sick, and she's been more lovey since being sick. I think we all sort of revert to childhood when we feel unwell, and she's holding true to that.
Speaking of sick, we've all been passing around a virus of some sort within our family. I have spent most of this week with sinus congestion of massive proportions, so much so that I had supressed hearing in one ear due to cloggage on Wednesday. My throat has been so raw that I have honestly LOOKED FORWARD to taking NyQuil just for the numbing effect. I took Mucinex, which tastes like bug spray, just to get some relief. This illness, whatever it is, has kicked our collective asses in a MAJOR way this week. My throat is no longer on fire, but JF has been stumbling around with fevers of 102 and 103. Not good in adults. I'm surprised he's been able to function. I know I got all muzzy-headed, and I wasn't battling fever, just congestion.
So, that's all I got. Not much. Still alive, though not really feeling like "alive" fits after this week. Just surviving.
School has been a bug-bear. I seem to have the royal knack for pissing people off lately. There's a lot of pressure on teachers these days -- it seems like if we sneeze, we piss a parent or three off. I have a child who is a Jehovah's Witness, and while we don't want to offend the family, we DO still have to teach the child about holidays and the like. If for no other reason because we teach calendar skills, and if we ask what the holiday in March is, the answer would be St. Patrick's Day. That is not a deliberate slight to people who don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but we can't NOT teach that because one family doesn't approve. You know what I mean?
My new Girl Scout troop is going well -- there are 17 of them! I was worried that I wouldn't have enough to make up a troop (which is five) and here I am with one of the largest troops in our area! I'm liking it. Most of them seem very excited to be there, and they seem to be happy with all of the things we've done so far. I've got some not-so-attentive parents, but I chalk a lot of that up to the fact that I don't see them every meeting.
Juggling Freak's birthday is next week. I was torn with what to get him this year, and seriously considered a unicycle. He, understandably, wants to TRY OUT a unicycle first to make sure he doesn't kill himself on it. This sounds awfully cautious of him. This is also the man who wants to flamethrower our big oak tree in the backyard because it sheds bushels of leaves no matter WHAT season it happens to be. This is also the man who got on a wild hair at a woodpecker who was pecking our house, and would have killed it, had we actual firearms in the house and not just a black powder replica. Now, I freely admit that by the end of that particular situation, I would have gleefully killed that woodpecker myself for pecking my bedroom eaves at seven in the damn morning every Saturday. Instead, we tried all the things the avian vets recommended: nasty-tasting sprays, decoy birds, changing the wood out. None of that worked. JF finally paintball-gunned it away. I hope he didn't kill the bird, but I also hope he's too scared to ever come back.
Offspring is tempermental. It's the age. Half the time, she pretends we're not there, and when she's forced to actually --UGH -- *interact* with us, she does a lot of eye-rolling and grunting. Then when she wants something, I hear "Mommy...." She hasn't called me Mommy since she was about seven. Not unless she's angling for something. We've actually all been sick, and she's been more lovey since being sick. I think we all sort of revert to childhood when we feel unwell, and she's holding true to that.
Speaking of sick, we've all been passing around a virus of some sort within our family. I have spent most of this week with sinus congestion of massive proportions, so much so that I had supressed hearing in one ear due to cloggage on Wednesday. My throat has been so raw that I have honestly LOOKED FORWARD to taking NyQuil just for the numbing effect. I took Mucinex, which tastes like bug spray, just to get some relief. This illness, whatever it is, has kicked our collective asses in a MAJOR way this week. My throat is no longer on fire, but JF has been stumbling around with fevers of 102 and 103. Not good in adults. I'm surprised he's been able to function. I know I got all muzzy-headed, and I wasn't battling fever, just congestion.
So, that's all I got. Not much. Still alive, though not really feeling like "alive" fits after this week. Just surviving.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
So Freakin' Junior High
I am currently embroiled in an Unbloggable, but I will let slip my guard enough to say that grown ladies who are supposed to be of strong moral character and hardy constitutions are being very childish right now.
As one of my friends commented: "I think it's time we all put on our big girl panties and dealt with this."
I thought I was long past the histrionics and teeth-gnashing of junior high. I'm sorry to hear that I was misinformed.
As one of my friends commented: "I think it's time we all put on our big girl panties and dealt with this."
I thought I was long past the histrionics and teeth-gnashing of junior high. I'm sorry to hear that I was misinformed.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Nothing New to Report
I'm here, but have nothing of great import to tell you all about. I got off work early today to go to the local Girl Scout store to get some needed items for my troop meeting on Thursday, and then I went to Sam's Club, where I got some chicken sausage with mozzerella and roasted garlic for supper.
What a life, right?
I know. Try and stop yourselves from swooning from the glamor of it all.
What a life, right?
I know. Try and stop yourselves from swooning from the glamor of it all.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Life in the Fast Lane
My time has been booked pretty solid for about two to three weeks now. I have had a lot to do since starting this Girl Scout troop. There is a lot of planning that goes into those meetings, and most parents never see all that. Plus, there's been the continuing craft workshops that I'm trying to offer, and family stuff as well.
I did manage to jaunt off to a crafting meeting on Saturday, and spent the afternoon with 16 other ladies, learning all about the new products that our company is offering, and getting to make some great projects with said new, pretty stuff. If you'd like, I'll post some pictures.
Offspring spent most of today making a "Wanted" poster for a school project. May I say that I was very happy to be able to slightly seduce her to the Crafty Side with distressing tools, parchment paper, and a judiciously sponged application of brown ink to "age" her poster. There may be hope yet for her eventual assimilation!
JF got a begging "please come back to us!" plea from the makers of "Star Wars Galaxies", so he's been playing that all weekend. The verdict is not good, folks. He says he won't re-up past the 2 week free trial.
Offspring and I are gearing up for Girl Scout cookie time. It's right around the corner, much to my dismay. I enjoy the fact that we get to do a lot with the money that comes from selling cookies, but it's such a time-suck for about six weeks. Ah, well. We're planning trips to West Virginia for some snow-skiing in early April (most of our girls have never been skiing) and then a trip to Sea World in May, and an overnighter at Kennedy Space Center in June. Plus, all the while, we'll be saving for London next summer. So, we'd better sell a bucketload of cookies.
What's new with all of you?
I did manage to jaunt off to a crafting meeting on Saturday, and spent the afternoon with 16 other ladies, learning all about the new products that our company is offering, and getting to make some great projects with said new, pretty stuff. If you'd like, I'll post some pictures.
Offspring spent most of today making a "Wanted" poster for a school project. May I say that I was very happy to be able to slightly seduce her to the Crafty Side with distressing tools, parchment paper, and a judiciously sponged application of brown ink to "age" her poster. There may be hope yet for her eventual assimilation!
JF got a begging "please come back to us!" plea from the makers of "Star Wars Galaxies", so he's been playing that all weekend. The verdict is not good, folks. He says he won't re-up past the 2 week free trial.
Offspring and I are gearing up for Girl Scout cookie time. It's right around the corner, much to my dismay. I enjoy the fact that we get to do a lot with the money that comes from selling cookies, but it's such a time-suck for about six weeks. Ah, well. We're planning trips to West Virginia for some snow-skiing in early April (most of our girls have never been skiing) and then a trip to Sea World in May, and an overnighter at Kennedy Space Center in June. Plus, all the while, we'll be saving for London next summer. So, we'd better sell a bucketload of cookies.
What's new with all of you?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
It Ain't A True Southern New Year's Eve 'Til Someone's Blown A Hand Off
Yet another New Year's Eve in the Nation's Groin, and already the fireworks are loud and numerous.
We got back early this evening from a quick commando blitz-style trip to CityOfMyBirth for what I sincerely pray is the last little bit of festive family togetherness until at least Spring Break. We spent some time with my grandmother, who will be 90 this year, and God Bless her, she spent about 20 minutes of the time we were there whacking my father for one thing or another. May I say that I absolutely *adore* the fact that my father was getting called on the carpet and smacked like a naughty toddler by his mother?! It was truly a Christmas Miracle. I will hold the vision of my grandmother and my father elbows-deep into a bitch slap fight in my mind's eye until my dying day. It means I have ammunition against my father, and that, dear readers, is more precious than gold.
The next time he tries to verbally spar with me, I shall remind him that I saw his 90 year old mother kick his ass, and I shall win. Period. Enough said. My reign shall be awesome to behold!
Ahem. Sorry. Got a little sidetracked there. Seriously though -- if you lived with my father, you would totally appreicate the need to have ammunition like this ready against him. I have been at his mercy for far too long.
The trip was otherwish uneventful, other than the Ben and Jerry's scoop shop in CityOfMyBirth has closed, and that bummed Offspring out to no end. Our local scoop shop has been closed for about four years, so we always capped off a family trip with an ice cream, and it peeved Offspring that she was denied Ben and Jerry's. We had to settle for Marble Slab Creamery, and it wasn't nearly as good.
The trip home was scary -- the major highway was populated by idiots who were determined to run us off the road, and after we bumped through the median grass after a game of chicken with an SUV and a semi, we said the hell with it, and took a two-lane road in towards town. Then, some total knucle-dragger decided to pass a slower driver by coming at us head-on. We did another fancy slide through the soft shoulder, and crammed our hearts back in our chests. Luckily, after that, we passed over the river, into our state, and our town. We headed through the downtown area, to see cop cars with people pulled over virtually EVERYWHERE! Nothing says "welcome home!" like a squad car's light bar.
We stopped on the way to the house to grab fast food because I think our luck had run out. We're staying in tonight, and hoping that's fireworks we hear, and not gunshots.
Happy New Year, everyone! May 2009 be a helluva lot better than 2008!
We got back early this evening from a quick commando blitz-style trip to CityOfMyBirth for what I sincerely pray is the last little bit of festive family togetherness until at least Spring Break. We spent some time with my grandmother, who will be 90 this year, and God Bless her, she spent about 20 minutes of the time we were there whacking my father for one thing or another. May I say that I absolutely *adore* the fact that my father was getting called on the carpet and smacked like a naughty toddler by his mother?! It was truly a Christmas Miracle. I will hold the vision of my grandmother and my father elbows-deep into a bitch slap fight in my mind's eye until my dying day. It means I have ammunition against my father, and that, dear readers, is more precious than gold.
The next time he tries to verbally spar with me, I shall remind him that I saw his 90 year old mother kick his ass, and I shall win. Period. Enough said. My reign shall be awesome to behold!
Ahem. Sorry. Got a little sidetracked there. Seriously though -- if you lived with my father, you would totally appreicate the need to have ammunition like this ready against him. I have been at his mercy for far too long.
The trip was otherwish uneventful, other than the Ben and Jerry's scoop shop in CityOfMyBirth has closed, and that bummed Offspring out to no end. Our local scoop shop has been closed for about four years, so we always capped off a family trip with an ice cream, and it peeved Offspring that she was denied Ben and Jerry's. We had to settle for Marble Slab Creamery, and it wasn't nearly as good.
The trip home was scary -- the major highway was populated by idiots who were determined to run us off the road, and after we bumped through the median grass after a game of chicken with an SUV and a semi, we said the hell with it, and took a two-lane road in towards town. Then, some total knucle-dragger decided to pass a slower driver by coming at us head-on. We did another fancy slide through the soft shoulder, and crammed our hearts back in our chests. Luckily, after that, we passed over the river, into our state, and our town. We headed through the downtown area, to see cop cars with people pulled over virtually EVERYWHERE! Nothing says "welcome home!" like a squad car's light bar.
We stopped on the way to the house to grab fast food because I think our luck had run out. We're staying in tonight, and hoping that's fireworks we hear, and not gunshots.
Happy New Year, everyone! May 2009 be a helluva lot better than 2008!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Lazing About
Hi, all! Just a quick note to say that we're all still alive, and enjoying the time off. We have plans to head to CityOfMyBirth tomorrow to visit my family for the very last little bit of holiday gifting and assorted hijinks.
School starts back in exactly a week. I'm not looking forward to having to follow a schedule again.
Juggling Freak is busy playing with all his new gadgets, I've been messing with the Wii Fit that I got for Christmas, and Offspring has been MIA since about seven minutes after she opened the cell phone we bought her. (Thanks to all who offered advice about the cell phones -- we actually have had one for her for over a month, waiting under the tree, but I couldn't say anything about it here in case she read about it. Not that I'm "cool" enough to warrant her checking my blog with any regularity. Anyway.)
I hope all of you had a good holiday, and I send you all wishes for a great upcoming new year. May your 2009 be healthy, prosperous, and full of joy!
School starts back in exactly a week. I'm not looking forward to having to follow a schedule again.
Juggling Freak is busy playing with all his new gadgets, I've been messing with the Wii Fit that I got for Christmas, and Offspring has been MIA since about seven minutes after she opened the cell phone we bought her. (Thanks to all who offered advice about the cell phones -- we actually have had one for her for over a month, waiting under the tree, but I couldn't say anything about it here in case she read about it. Not that I'm "cool" enough to warrant her checking my blog with any regularity. Anyway.)
I hope all of you had a good holiday, and I send you all wishes for a great upcoming new year. May your 2009 be healthy, prosperous, and full of joy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
