Christmas, the great room clean up and surgery countdown

Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but just not been motivated.

Christmas was great! Very relaxing. Matt and Kristen loved all their gifts as did I. The kids gave me a Hairspray DVD, MacGyver boxed set and a cinnamon toast candle. Kristen loves her new dvd player and has spent many hours since Christmas watching dvds on her bed. Matt of course loves his bass most of all. When he is not playing it he is hugging it. Nice transition into the next topic...

They are doing these activities when they are not working on their rooms. Both rooms were just unbelievably trashed. Kristen finished tonight after about 6-7 hours of work since Christmas. Matt's room, well I am afraid to look. Randy has been checking on the progress. He has put about 10 hours of work and had finally gotten around the bed to access 1/2 the closet. At least 4 bags of trash have been removed. He is not allowed to take the bass upstairs until the room is done. The same goes for the purchase of an amp which he desperately wants, Hopefully, on Wednesay, because Thursday is...

Surgery day! He is very nervous about it. No surprise there. He is worried about having a foreign body(needle for iv sedation) in his body for a long period of time(procedure should last about 45 minutes once he is under) and he worried about the iv sedation not being able to knock him out and being half conscious and feeling the pain; he is also worried that pieces of his jaw will be removed never to grow back. I have done my best to assure him that it will all be fine-the needle will come out, he will not be awake and that he will not have gaping holes in his jaw. Hopefully, he will follow instructions(of course he will follow instructions because he will have his mom the supernurse overseeing his every move) and his recovery will go smoothly. On Sunday,

Randy leaves for Singapore. Welcome back to my old friend, single parenting.

National Treasure II

OH.MY. GOSH was this movie good. It is better than the first. Race to your closest theater to see it. Consider it a Christmas present to yourself. There are 4 or 5 things I am going to Google to learn more about. Helen Mirren was fantastic as Ben Gates mother! Wow oh wow! It was totally worth the 9.50 we paid per person plus snacks. I want to run back and see it again and again!

The most boring Christmas party ever

was held last night. It occured in a room above Shorty's bbq. 20 or so people talked and drank and did not mingle a whole lot. Randy made the right decision not to go. the food was good, but was taken away by the wait staff way to soon. I have gone for two years in a row. No more unless it is a job requirement.

Only 4 days to go

Well I think I am almost ready for Christmas shopping wise. My son is getting his heart's desire so the present count is extremely lopsided. It has been very difficult for me to get into the "holiday spirit". It is weird spending the holiday here with no family coming. Hopefully it will be relaxing. Unlike most school librarians I only get Christmas eve and Christmas day off. The weather is cold and damp. Southern Colorado is getting close to a foot of snow. We probably will only get an inch at most. Our plans for Christmas and New Years are pretty dependent on Matt's work schedule. The bowling alley is closed on Christmas eve so we will definitely be headed to church at 7pm that evening.

Kristen seems to be recovered from her bout of strep throat. I am loaded up on oranges and orange juice to try to thwart the rest of us from getting it.

Adding to my melancholy state at the moment is the fact that Jerry, the custodian at Altona Middle School died today. The teacher-librarian at that school found him dead outside the gym doors. He was the nicest soul you could ever meet. He used to be the custodian at Mead. Matt remembered him, but I doubt Kristen did. My heart is very sad right now. I put off dealing with it while I was at work, but now that I am home, I do not have that distraction. My office Christmas party is tomorrow night, but I do not feel like celebrating.

Kristen makes Christmas cookies

Kristen wanted to make Christmas cookies. Cutouts. Unfortunately for her, she has been burdened with a mother who hates rolling out any kind of dough. Her mother toughed it out and we made the batter. Kristen from this point on will be called Rachel Ray, does not feel the need to measure precisely. This was a bad, bad omen. She mixed and rolled and cut cookies out the thickness of biscuits. A batter that should have made 2 dozen, made 15 cookies. Then came the icing. Apparently, Rachel did understand the coach(me) when I said lightly ice the cookies. Her inner Rachel Ray stated more is better. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.

matt Christmas shopping, m/k shoes, where are my toys

Matt got paid so I deposited his checks(apparently he gets paid every two weeks but he did not know this) and showed him how to use an ATM. While I had him out, I told him to get enough money out to buy Christmas presents for at least his father and sister. Headed to Borders and listened to Black Sabbath on the way. Get into Borders he is flundering. Help him pick out something for Kristen, he manages to find soemething for Randy on his own. He goes to pay. I go to sit. He comes over to me with a very foul look on his face snarling i hope she appreciates this. The actual price was 3 times what we thought it was. OK, so now we have to go exchange it for something more appropriate in price. He grabs the 1st thing he sees with no thought put into it. Have the "do you want her to think this little when picking out your gift?" chat. Ok, make another suggestion which he takes. I go with him to exchange the gift. Get this process initiated and then go sit some more. He comes back looking less unhappy and gets the gifts wrapped and they are under the tree.

The night before, I took both kids shopping for more shoes. Kristen's sneakers were falling apart and Matt needed shoes that will give him some foot and ankle support. Let Kristen to her own devices and spend time helping Matt. I told him we are not going for style but functionality. Apparently this fell on deaf ears. he picks out skechers which have a plastic sole and no support. I pick out rockports. After suggesting many styles we finally find one. they are slip on and are relatively comfortable. Tonight will tell since he works.

Now for the toys. Based on furniture arrangement, the best place for the Christmas tree is at the side window, where the doggie's toys are. She watched me move them to the window seat behind the rocker. She sniffed at them there. We put up the new skinny tree that I like and Randy hates and a new fuzzy tree skirt. The dog insists that her toys are there and invisible. She digs around the tree skirt and sniffs with her nose touching the carpet like she is a bloodhound tracking those toys that any non-moronic dog could find, but with her tracking geniousness(to use kristen's word, she can not find them on the window seat. Brilliance. Every day I come home to the tree skirt disturbed.

Matt Christmas shopping, Matt/Kris shoe shopping, and where are my toys, huh?

coming soon....

The black and short of it

Matt wanted his hair dyed black. I wanted it shorter and neater. We struck up a deal.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

Well not yet, but I am hopeful. Laid down the law for the kiddos.
1. House must be cleaned including bedrooms before decorating can begin.
2. No Christmas shopping will be done before house is decorated.

If rooms are not cleaned before Saturday, I will clean without mercy Saturday so tree and other Christmas crapola can be dragged down from attic.

So what are they doing? Watching a rerun of the suite life of zack and cody.

Anyone want to make a bet on the date the house is actually decorated and shopping can commence? I take 12/24.

Kristen-her geniousness and then again not so much

Kristen tried out for Honor band a few months ago. She found out yesterday that she made it! Go, girl! What this means is that she will be playing in a concert with other middle school students from around the district. The concert is 1/30, the same week that she registers for high school.

Now for the not so geniousness moment. I got up at 5am to bake a cake since I have been assigned snack duty at work for today. I made a spice cake and went to get the cream cheese frosting that I knew was in the pantry. I opened it only to find it had been sampled and replaced in the pantry. I smell a sugar thief. I confronted public sugar enemy #1 who did not deny it. Her response"I was hungry and it was the only thing here to eat". Sure, the only thing edible in the pantry was this lonely container of icing.

This is going to be a vent

If you do not want to listen to me complain, do not read any further. It is cathartic for me so I am going to do it anyway.

Matt-He infuriates me at every turn. Yesterday he and Randy got into a huge fight because apparently Matt feels as though the world should stop and everyone feel sorry for him when he has a bad day at work. His supervisor told me he was not doing a good enough job cleaning(Who could not see THAT coming??). Well I agreed with Randy; Matt was extremely disrepectful towards both of us, but was especially mad at me because I took Randy's side. Well, Randy was right! So, now I have to choose between my husband and my son? Matt says he can not wait to move out. Whatever. His friend Scott is going to declare himself an emancipated minor in 3 months. Matt wants to do the same. Sorry, Buddy. Not getting along with your parents does not meet the criteria. Matt is even more upset with me because I told him he should not try out for a part in the next round of 1 act plays. He does not have a predictable work schedule and he does not have time to get all his homework done based on his grades. He is extremely self-centered and makes me cry.

Kristen-a princess through and through. She was annoyed that she had to spend two hours at the hair place yesterday. She was obnoxious to the point of embarrassing.
Hopefully today will be better. Matt is at work. Kristen seems in a less princessy mood.

Randy is a whole 'nother story.

Wath'up

Yo dogs!
Sabrina comin' atch ya with a post of my own. If I'm talking funny, its their fault. Mom left a totebag with the delectable smell of sweet and salty nut bars wafting out of it. Matt was working at the alley, the three of them went out to dinner. I could not resist that delicious smell. I had me some tasty sensations. I ate 3 sweet and salty bars and then what treasure did i find? Those delicate little morsels individual wrapped. Honey lemon Halls it said. I ate about 6 of those, topped off with about 6 wild cherry ludens. I found some comtrex, advil sinus and lactaid pills but decided to path. My tongue feelth weird. I hope they get home thoon tho I can have thom water. It was tho worth it.

Sabrina

Reno, Kids, Halloween

I got back from Reno late Sunday night. The conference was fantastic! No school librarian should ever miss it! It was so exhausting but so worthwhile. Tons and tons of free books. Met lots of new people including my second cousin's daughter's school librarian. What a small world! I stayed at the Circus, Circus casino/hotel. Very nice. but only outlets were in the bathroom. Everything else was hard wired. Reno like the rest of Nevada is a pit. I have no desire to ever go back except on my way to California. One regret is not taking an extra day to see Lake Tahoe.

Everyone seems to have survived without me. I probably missed them more than they missed me, even though Matt missed me running interference between him and his father. Sabrina was happy to see me!

Today is Halloween. This is my least favorite holiday. I don't remember ever liking it as a kid all that much. I don't like giving candy out to parents who dress infants up just so they get free candy. I especially don't like paying bribe money in the form of candy to teenagers who can't bother to dress up. I will see both groups tonight. Matt is going out as a Ninja. Kristen may or may not be going out. She and her friends decided at 4:15 today that they wanted to go trick or treating in different distant lands which involve me transporting her there to make it happen. Not happening with short of notice. All along she has said she does not want to go trick or treating. Bought her a bag of her favorite candy. Somehow her life will go on. She went to the fall festival at church where she got candy.

My tired boy

Matt now knows what work is like. He knows he does not want to do this the rest of his life.
He was too tired to:
1. get up and get a drink and something to eat even though he was hungry
2. argue with his father or sister
3. get out of the car right away when we got home
4. to drive home
5. to change the channel
Insert drumroll and scroll down













PLAY VIDEO GAMES!

Ohh the weather outside is frightful...

The front range is getting its first winter storm today. Howling winds last night ushered it in. This morning, it can not make up its mind between rain, sleet and snow(the current favorite). Unfortunately, we have not had fall here. Most of the leaves are still green and have not dropped. It was 80 yesterday and today it is ranging between 38-40. It would be a good day to stay in, EXCEPT Matt has to be at work by 10am and I need to see if I can find cheap, nice comfortable pants and shoes to take to Reno. That comes up Thursday. Looking forward to it, but it almost seems like too much work to get ready for it. Should be fun watching all those cold Bronco fans tonight. Expected temperature at game time you ask? 28!

Sabrina has a doggy cold. She spent yesterday sneezing all day and now she has a runny nose.

Home on the Range part II

The next day we woke up to temps in the 30's. Headed to Mt Rushmore. It was raining and the kids were none too pleased to have to get out of the car to look at a rock. George was kind of entertaining since it looked like he was bleeding from a head injury due to the wet rock. Matt was whining because apparently the soles of his shoes were ripped and his feet were getting soaked. Did he bother to tell me he needed new shoes? No, of course not. We left there and explored Custer State Park some more. It was snowing by this point. Drove around and eventually ended up at the Reptile Gardens. Apparently it had won some kind of award. Nice way to spend a cold rainy day. Both kids even agreed that is what they wanted to do. It was ok. After this, headed back to the hotel to chill until we headed out to a diner for dinner. Most of Hill City shuts down after Tourist season. Tough to find places to eat. After dinner the kids went down to the pool and Randy checked messages. After listening to a zillion old messages, we heard that Matt had a message to call Don at Centennial Lanes. OK. Took my phone down to the pool and Matt called Don and got offered a job. He started Tuesday. He works till 11pm tonight and 10-4 on Sunday. He is pretty much their grunt boy. Cleaning up trash, resetting lanes, putting bowling balls away, cleaning out ashtrays,etc. Congratulations Matt. He seems to like it so far.

Home, Home on the Range where the deer and the antelope play

I am posting this from one of my very favorite parts of the west-The Black Hills of South Dakota. I love this place almost as much as the beach. We started out from Lusk, Wyoming. The weather was so-so when we started but not so nice by the time we finished. We toured Wind Cave National Park. Unusual cave but fun. Drove around the park grounds looking for those roaming buffalo. Only saw a few. Did see lots of deer and antelope playing (all in Custer State Park) as well as wild turkeys by the 100's and wild burros looking for handouts and holding up traffic. They were so funny. One looked like he was bred with a dalmation. We drove the Needles higway with all these outstanding rock formations. Went out for dinner in Hill City(where we are staying). Town pretty much is rolled up. Matt got fried steaktips, Randy got buffalo steak. Kris and I got unremarkable fare. I did get corn nuggets as an appetizer which are bite size corn fritters.

Tomorrow there is a winter storm advisory. At least it feels and looks like fall up here. Did I say how much I love this place. The kids, well that is a different story entirely. They are not handling being away from technology too well.

Kristen's conference

Other than waiting an hour to see all the teachers and having her papers and CSAP scores out where every one could see them, the conference went fine. Teachers love having her in class and she is doing well. She may be adding an honors Language Arts class either this next quarter that starts Tuesday or next semester.

The middle of October

Hard to believe it is almost the middle of October. Life is cruising right along. Time for a family update:

Randy-having knee pain and same job stuff. Drives me crazy that he complains about them nonstop and then does extra stuff that they do not appreciate in the evenings.

Kristen-Volleyball is over. We have like a two lag before art club starts. Her parent teacher conference is tonight. Not expecting problems. I think she is "going out" with Trevor(the same Trevor she said she was going to marry in 2nd grade because he had a lake in his front yard).

Matt-School who knows. I think he is holding his own. Shhh. He has a new girlfriend. No one is supposed to know. Her name is Chantl and she is cute and in his English class. Matt has a job interview today at the bowling alley. I think he probably stands a decent shot at getting it. Matt is in an Anime/Manga club.

Me-working, working, working. I work at my job and then come home and have to be susy homemaker(failing at this miserably). Looking forward to going to Black hills area this weekend.

Decisions, Decisions

The Rockies won in a nailbiting 13 inning game.

http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=78358

Now they play the Phillies, a team I have rooted for since I can remember. Neither team makes the playoffs all that often. The rockies have not done it in 12 years. Kristen is rooting for the Phillies, however. Matt is undeclared as far as I know, but will probably root for whatever team I do not.

Game Plan

This is a a great movie. Funny and moving at the same time. Kyra Sedgewick is great as an evil agent. Matt used his bowling ball for the 1st time today. Right now my two spawn are the most ungrateful, irritating beings on the face of the planet, not to mention their drastic reduction in brain function-in other words, normal teenagers! I know I will miss these days, but right now I miss naptime for children.

Randy got home fine. I was late picking him up. The cable modem apparently died, so lots of 11th hour drama until that was replaced by Comcast. He brought back Mooncakes(authentic not counterfeit as stated on the container). Quite good. Filled with lotus paste(Kristen was worried that Randy said Locust paste) and duck egg yolks.

Sabrina is so stressed to see Randy come back that she has been unable to eat.

Letter to Matt

Matt,
Yesterday you turned 17. I can not believe you have been a part of my life for 17 years already. Life with you is never boring. You have entertained me, frustrated me, enlightened me and made me have a new appreciation for many things.

Some of my favorite memories of you:

• The beach, the beach you screamed as you slammed into the sliding glass door at Myrtle Beach
• Yelling shark, shark on the beach to see what people would do( this was not funny at the time)
• Having signup lists in daycare for a camp you were running and the field trip you were hosting( without my knowledge)
• Your civil war powerpoint
• Your biome project from a Ninja perspective
• Your relationship with Mr. Baker-you let him hug you when nobody else was allowed to even touch you.
• Your unfailing determination not to let other people's opinions affect or influence you.
• Your sometimes warped sense of humor( you inherited this from your grandfather.)

Love, Mom

Sorry so quiet, but a very busy week:

Da Kids:

Matt's conferences were Wed so I ended up serving dinner for 5 hours in a hot unairconditioned schools(the newspaper says that SHS needs 9 million dollars worth of repairs-like that will happen). His grades are Guitar A, Photo?, CDC C, Government C, Physics D, English F. I gorunded him for 2weeks or until his grades are up. (He can still turn that stuff in so tomorrow is homework day-I let them pick.) No yelling and screaming, just the facts. His sister of course delights in pushing those buttons with him so about 10 that night, she made some sort of snide comment and he punched her. Since physical contact was made, he is grounded from video games at least until Wed.

Kristen pulled a muscle or so she says. Not acting like she is in pain. She sent me a text message at 4:20 that VB practice was over and could I leave early. No is my response. Her response to that is "i don't feel like waiting". Must. Control. Fist .Of. Death.

Randy emails that he is not ready to come home yet. He is now coming home on Matt's birthday. The Videofest that Matt had planned is postponed due to the grounding and now because his father will have been up for over 24 hours. His father does not handle sleep deprivation.

SO, last night we three musketeers went to Sushi Cafe here in town and Matt got tons of his favorite Japanese foods including Green tea ice cream. I got crispy mushrooms that were filled with crabmeat and spicy tuna. YUM. Very expensive. So on his actual birthday I will make wahtever food he wants. Party will be at a later date.

Now, me. My spider bite is better. Still itchy and my leg is still swollen, but no redness or heat.
I am pretty frustrated with the amount of work my job entails. Iam doing the job of the coordinator but not being compensated that way. The tech fair, while worthwhile, is not library related and I am begining to resent it. So watching the job market right now. If something comes along, I will probably go for it. I am spending 32,000.00 on a degree in library science not instructional technology or being a help desk. I want to do library stuff! OK. vent is over.

Today Matt has bowling at 11 and then we are going to see the Mr. Woodcock movie. Massive cleaning and laundry in between and after.

My first high school football game

Last night I went to my 1st high school football game. Here are my observations:

1. High school football players are skinny
2. Halftime shows are not as good as colleges
3. The announcer does not have a good grasp of the game
4. The referees were obviously paid by the number of flags thrown
5. Obnoxious football parents are alive and well in Colorado.

The reason I went to the game is Matt's drama club was performing during halftime. They basically did a cheer/dance thing. I wish my camera would have worked at the time, but no such luck. I think it sensed the precipitation in the air. I asked Kris to go along so I would have someone to sit with. She invited two friends. We picked 1st friend up and realized I forgot camera. On the way back to get camera, Matt called. His friend Ian had a free ticket but would need a ride home. Could we give him a ride home? Yes, if I switch cars. Go get camera and switch cars. Pick up 2nd friend and go to the game. Pick seats. Kris and pals switch seats a minimum of 30 times. Game starts and none of high school students sit at anytime during game. This annoys obnoxious football parents who yell continuously down in front. Geez, leave them alone, this is their schools' game. All football parents had to do is move higher. Too much effort apparently. Anyway, all they were missing was SHS dropping passing, fumbling, missing tackles and generally stinking. (Matt does not want to go to anymore football games-too painful to watch). Kris and friends were bored almost immediately. Had to have the talk- you do not leave the bleachers without telling me. They found every reason imaginable to leave. I put my foot down when they wanted to go under the bleachers to look for cans. The concession stand only sells bottled drinks. AND THIS IS A HIGH SCHOOL EVENT! I did not want Kris and friends under there when I had no idea who else was under there doing what. I am the evil mother once again.

Doggie Day Care

The kennel now offers premium services. For 8.00 a day, you can have doggie day care where your dog gets to play with other dogs! Sabrina playing with other dogs=disaster, lawsuits, and possible death. They do offer one on one service for that personal touch while being boarded. This costs 30.00 a day

BTW, I have seen it on TV and in the movies, but I have never seen an owner with a dog dressed as a mini-me. When I picked up Sabrina last time at the kennel, there was this woman with whitish hair and a scrunchy. She was carrying a lasa apso dog with the same color scrunchy. Oh my. It was hard not to stare, let alone laugh.

Looks like Sabrina gets her favorite breakfast. Not enough dog food so Kashi for dog again. It is good she loves it-no one else does.

Poor Matt

The oral surgery consult was today. All 4 are impacted in the bone. Bring back memories Mom?
One of them has roots close to the nerve. They need to come out. Worst part is the IV sedation-IV being the the operative word. Dr. stated 5 day recovery period. Matt left there terrified. I am looking at the 1st week of January for the procedure. Kids will still be on Christmas Break. I can not afford it before then. Bill will be about 2000.00. My insurance max is 1000.00. Sad that I have to delay my child's treatment because of insurance but I work for the cheapo school district who gives a pathetic 3% raise and raises insurance premiums by 5%. Kristen mad because this seriously impacts the slim and I do mean slim chance she had of going on a 4 day science excursion to the Everglades and Key West in June. Wait till she finds out the concessions she will be making for Matt's convalesence-limited access to the good TV, putting up with her social being curtailed at least as far as this house goes etc.

Bowling, teenagers and squirrel season and homesickness

Matt joined a bowling league again, this time with kids more his age. I am getting him a bowling ball for his birthday-it has a green swirly design.

Randy is off volunteering for the weekend with the wetlands restoration project so it is just the kids and me. I thought it would be a fun weekend. It would have been minus the teenage attitude X 2. Apparently I am their slave as well as their verbal punching bag. Everything is a drama. The youth at church are going on a hike this afternoon and Matt wants to go, but he spent all day yesterday watching cartoon manga videos on youtube, so if he goes he will not have time for homework and I am supposed to take him shopping for clothes to wear to a homecoming dance.(Many students wear tuxes). BUT, he is not going to the dance. These clothes are for a DRAMA CLUB SKIT. Kristen bought a hair straightener yesterday, apparently an essential item. At 7pm last night she wanted to go practice her volleyball serves, only park that has a net also serves as a drug hangout at night. I say No, she says I am evil. I would rather be an evil mom than no mom despite the fact that they are driving me crazy. BTW, did you know freak is the replacement word for another unacceptable word beginning with F?

Squirrel Hunting-Fall has sprung and so have all the squirrels. Sabrina is spending a good portion of her day racing down the steps to watch a squirrel dart out of range. She then spends the next 30-45 minutes waiting for it come back. Then the process begins again.

Homesickness:
I read a book by Jodi Picoult that takes place in Lancaster. Then I watched the Penn State game and they talked about grilled stickies. I want to come home but no time or money. Well I have the time, but the kids and Randy would kill me(for different reasons).

Must go email my friend who is a die-hard Michigan fan.

Camping

This weekend was spent in Rocky Mountain National Park at the Glaciar Basin campground. Randy insisted it would be a breeze to set up since it was a pull in site. Well, it would have been if there was not a pinetree in the way. We ended up gouging the foot for the one awning pole. Not a real big deal. The weather was cloudy and cool the entire weekend. Saturday we went to Grand Lake, had lunch(K ordered spicy food and was quite amusing to watch as she downed a pitcher of water), we puttered around at the lake while Randy fished and then went back to the campground. The kids loved the fact that Grand Lake had cell phone service. Randy fished some more and the kids and I built a fire. Everyone was so full from lunch that I did not have to cook(score!). Randy agreed to putting up the tent since it was a long weekend. Matt was very happy about this, even retained a decent mood when K announced she was spending the night in the tent also. Kristen has never tent camped and wanted to try it. It lasted 3 hours. At 12:04 am, she came in the camper and said, I'm cold. No big shock there. Sunday, we hung out at the campground until about 4pm listening to the whining since this was funpark day. Thunderstorms, rain and generally not so nice weather. Kristen even took a 3 hour nap in the tent. Went out for dinner(pizza) and then dropped Randy at Lake Estes and the kids and I headed to the funpark. After Kristen's second trip on the bumper boats, she looked kind of green and said my stomach hurts. Ruh-roh. Picked up Randy and headed back to the campground where she promptly fell asleep at 8pm. I contemplated just taking her home, but knew the road from E.P. to home was twistier than the ride to the campground. Today her stomach was not any better so while the rest of us had grilled steak, she had rice. Not happy about not being allowed to have chocolate or icecream. Matt had to do a huge homework assignment for evil government teacher who assigned this to be done over Labor Day Weekend. He got the assignment Friday. Overall, a good weekend. Very evident how necessary it is to unplug them every once in a while.

Matt's no-good, horrible, very bad day

It started out with an argument with me, the evil computer nazi. Then he messed up making his photograph in photography class, then he found out his picture is scheduled to be taken while he is at CDC. Next, he got a government assignment which requires him to take a laptop camping and he ended the day with a trip to the dentist. Good news there is that his brushing is better. Bad news and this is very bad for all of us-he needs his impacted wisdom teeth removed. This same child pulled the needle out of his arm a year ago during an immunization. Call being made to oral surgeon tomorrow morning(Matt started to tear up upon reading the word Surgery on the business card). My poor little boy-I ungrounded him despite the name he called me this morning.

Nothing much to say-my life is boring

Picked Kris up at volleyball, ate dinner, watched TV. Fought with kids to get off of computer. Watched Kristen do homework. Listened to Randy complain about his employer. Same old stuff. Tonight, have to do laundry for camping this weekend. Tomorrow night is back to school night for both kids. Thursday is dentist appt for Matt. Kris has volleyball all week. Randy may be going to California in the next few weeks. Maybe Singapore too, who knows. Kids love when he is gone, because we have food that they like, but he doesn't like fondue. Next fondue will be a cheese one. Based on this post, my life is so incredibly boring. I will have to do something exciting soon that hopefully does not involve kid or husband drama. Hmm, what to do, what to do...Skydiving instructor-Nah, don't like heights. Professional scrapbooker-Nah, have not felt motivated in months. I can't be Susie Homemaker since I have tried this and failed miserably. I think I need a weekend away-Reno and Pittsburgh can not come soon enough.

Teenagers: the good and the bad

Matt had his job interview. He was actually nervous. He had to take a test and did not do as well as he would have liked. He now is nervous that he did not get it-the bad.

Last night Kristen HAD to watch the teen choice awards. For those of you unfamiliar with teenage girldom. This is an award show where teenagers vote for their favorities in virtually every category in entertainment including cell phone videos. Kristen giggled uncontrollably and clapped her hands loudly whenever her favorites were mentioned, appeared, or spoke. Who are her favorites you ask?
1.Miley Cyrus
2. Zac Efron
3. Ashley Tisdale
4.Anything to do with high school musical 1 or 2.

Oh yes, the winners got surfboards-the good.

Chores

I had class all day and I wanted the kids to help out a little bit. This is what they had to do:
Take out trash and recycling
Unload and Reload the dishwasher
swiffer the kitchen and entryway
Vacuum Living room

It should have taken them 30 minutes top if they moved slow. My children? It took them 5.5 hours. Matt's comment-I thought we did not have to do anything when we went back to school!
My response-Did you make any of the dirt, did you eat, etc?

Today we HAVE to go get clothes for Kristen(her idea not mine). This is my only day off and I want to go see Becoming Jane. Kristen won't go unless I buy her candy.

Good tasting, bad for you-Jimmy Dean's pancake/sausage on a stick. Kristen and I love 'em and Sabrina goes insane for them. She almost knocked the trashcan over to get to the sticks that had been dropped on the floor and not picked up.

The first week of school

Well the 1st week of school is under their belt. All seems to have gone as smoothly as possible. Lots of long hours for me and the house has suffered. I am in an all day project managemement class today. Matt has a job interview Sunday for a job as an inlinehockey referee. Kris starts volleyball Monday. Matt will be doing drama club and foreign media club. He said Algebra is going to be a struggle. Sorry so short, but life is crazy busy as it will be with two teenagers. Matt's friend Scott is coming over to teach him Karate. Hopefully I will not be getting a call to go the ER.

The worst yard sale ever and it is that time again

This past Saturday the kids and I held the worst yard sale ever. Our street always has tons of traffic-not Saturday. We advertised and this usually brings throngs of yard salers-not Saturday. We don't have a good track record for yard sales and we kept our record intact . It was so incredibly hot-about 90 by 8am, it was horrible to be outside. We sold a few puzzles, got rid of the free tv and microwave and sold a few items of clothing and shoes. I donated the rest of the clothes and will donate all the books to a local library. After the yard sale, Matt's teacher Mrs. Coniway came to pick up the bass. She is not happy and Matt is unhappy. She wants him to stop in and visit and come to all the concerts. Maybe next year it will work out. Who knows. Kristen wanted to go swimming so dropped her at the rec center where she went down the water slides "a million times". After that we went and got the stuff for beef fondue, corn on the cob and ice cream. After that, we watched Wild Hogs. Matt actually went to bed at 9:30, he was so beat.

Today we spent doing last minute school shopping and combined it with Matt practicing driving. He is getting better and better. We need to practice parallel parking. It is 10:20 and both kids are in bed. Kristen has to be at school at 6:45 and Matt has to be there by 7am to pick up the final version of his schedule. He is going to resist big time, but I insist on taking his picture for the 1st day of school. Kris will have her picture taken Tuesday since that is actually the 1st day for her. Tomorrow she is a WEB leader for "the little guys" as she calls them!

The contents of Matt's backpack:
a portfolio binder
a legal pad

The contents of Kristen's backpack:
calculator that does square roots
5 binders
composition book
graph paper
notebook paper
pens-12
pencil-about 50(enough for the 1st week)
3 colors of highlighters
colored pencils
scissors
glue sticks
4 spiral notebooks
folders
erasers
2 sizes of sticky notes

This does not include carrying the flute!

7.5 minutes of free writing

I read on another blog that to get students to concentrate in school they need to download their brains by writing about what is in their heads for 7.5 minutes so I am going to give it a try. Here Goes:
I am very relieved that Matt's issues with his schedule got resolved. He got the CDC classes, he has guitar, photography, US govt, English, Algebra and physics the first semester. It looks like he did not get the afterschool job that he interviewed for. Bummer. Kris was so brave at the doctor when she got three shots yesterday. Looking forward to getting rid of all of the junk at the yard sale this weekend. I want it all gone, gone, gone. Connie is taking on too much and I am feeling her lack of attention to the library side of thing. Today will be the first day that I will spend the entire day in my office this week and also the first day that I will get to take a full lunch hour. What to do, what to do? Probably will go to Borders and get another book to read. It has been 6 minutes. I got a new camera and have even put batteries in it or looked at it. Hopefully tonight. Randy is going camping solo this weekend. I have no desire to go back to the Cameron pass area and I have so much to do . Matt picked out jeans when we got Kristen's new glasses. 4.00 for jeans at walmart. I expect them to hold for maybe one or two washings. I so am looking forward to the new Sams club opening but will probably be another year.

OK, my 7.5 minutes are up. Questions anyone?

Nothing like getting angry to get your house clean

Once again Randy pissed me off royally. Apparently that is the only thing that motivates me to clean. I think I need a new vacuum cleaner. This is the one I think I shall buy.

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=385986&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch%2Eyahoo%2Ecom%2Fsearch%3Fei%3Dutf%2D8%26fr%3Dslv8%2D%26p%3Ddyson%2520animal%2520vacuum

Our weekend in the mountains

I started a big long post about the weekend, but even I was bored. SO, here are the highlights:
The Good:

• Finding parts of Grand Lake we never knew existed
• Great dinner at the backstreet cafe at the Daven-Haven Lodge
• Seeing a glimpse of how the rich lived-boat garages! I want a house that NEEDS a boat garage.
• Seeing a coal powered-steam powered boat on Grand Lake.
• Finding a new campground that Randy and I actually agree on.
• Discovering there is a lot more to Lake Granby that we ever knew about.

The Bad:

Bluebird Motel

The Bear's Den

Glen Cove Restaurant

The Cafe in Granby-don't stop in for lunch after 1pm in a town where going postal means bulldozing your cares away. A little scary!

Now-off to have coffee with one of my best friends from MEMS-Michaela!

Trains

Tonight on my way home, I had to wait for a train. Nothing unusual in this town. I was at the crossing with the gates down and no train. The gates go up after a minute or two and just as traffic begins to proceed across the track, you hear this loud Blare! The train was right there and was right there. Fortunately, the guy hightailed it in reverse and avoided a collision. Heart stopping. Then to further irritate everyone in line, the train kept the crossing tied up for 45 minutes. This kept me from getting home at a decent time which meant hurry and make dinner so Randy could have dinner before his weekly conference call. Because of all this rushing around, dinner was not to Randy's liking and he stormed out to get mcdonald's. He came home and ranted and raved and then joined the conference call. I went back into work. 3 deadlines looming. Lovely evening.

Hairspray

This movie was outstanding. Zac Efron was better in this than High School Musical. I hope the outtakes are on the dvd. It is worth the admission price to see John Travolta and Christopher Walken dance together. Fun times!

New pictures on Flickr

I uploaded the Jackson Lake pictures to Flickr. Take a peek. It is quiet here. I should be taking the time to get some work done, but not motivated in the least. So Matt and Kris, relax-your rooms are safe for another day. Sabrina does not know what to do with herself. She has been stalking a few flies. Freaked out when she saw a long haired black kitty-cat in the next yard. The cat taunted her by strolling across our yard before crossing the street and watching her freak. Major storm here last night. Glad to have the rain, but it is hard on the doggie.

Their bags are packed, they are ready to go

They are leaving on a jet plane! Everything is looking good for their trip tomorrow. Zack is excited to play video games with the gaming master. Kristen is looking forward to beating Heidi and Nana at SPIT(insert maniacal laugh). The computer is going to go through withdrawal without Kristen's constant attention as will Sabrina. Sabrina may have a chance to catch up on sleep. Going to bed soon. 4:30 is going to come mighty early.

My favorite things by Sabrina

1. Riding in the car with the window down going 42 mph so my ears look like the flying nun.

2. Sleeping on furniture(preferably Mommy's bed)

3. Sauerkraut

4. Kristen

5. Central Air

The end of another week

Well another work week is over. Not nearly enough done. Working 10 hours plus another 2 or 3 at home. Randy's Singapore counterparts feel he should be accessible 24/7 which is why he desperately needs to get away. Hopefully the temps will not be as high as predicted. We are camping here:

http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/JacksonLake/

It looks beautiful, hopefully it will be.

Matt applied at Snow Mountain Creamery last night. He would be starting sometime in August if he gets the job. Evenings and weekends. Of course we had to get some icecream then. Kris got chocolate, Matt espresso choc chip and I got Peanut butter fudge. Then we played a game of Pennstateopoly. Very entertaining when you are bone tired and one teenager is laughing at the other one. Kris won. I am sure there is more going on, but can not think of anything.

Law and Order:SVU

What an unexpected surprise to find a TV show teach a very important lesson. The episode on last night focused on teen age drinking. It incorporated elements of social networking as well as some of the harmful effects of alcohol-not just drinking and driving, but the effects on your brain and liver. It also focused on the repercussions for breaking the law in this manner. We watched it with both kids. I hope more parents did the same.

Headed to Reno in October

My director approved Norm and I going to the American Association of School Librarians conference in Reno, NV in Oct. Tremendous speakers and workshops. We are staying at the Circus, Circus casino/hotel. Hopefully Norm and I will be going to the CODI conference in Pittsburgh in November. This is about the library automation system that we have.

Walgreens is taking over my city

Currently we have three and now they are building a 4th. The good news is they are tearing down a strip club to build the 4th one, but how many Walgreens can one medium sized city support? I would much rather have other retail go in there. Maybe a CVS or Medicine Shoppe? Other than grocery store pharmacies, Walgreens is it in this city.

Movies, 42mph,volunteering,

We recently saw Ratatouille(wait for the dvd) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix(race to your closest theater and see this one-it is that good!)

The dog likes to ride in the truck-with the window open-going 42mph, Any slower and it gets ugly.

Matt helped out at the St. Vrain State Park this morning. He and Randy volunteer there once a month. Apparently the moose is still hanging out there.

Really, I can not think of anything else to say. It is warm again here, but then again it is summer. Off to play with some more Web 2.0 tools.Stay tuned.

OK, i have updated a few things

On the right side of the the blog is a flicker thingy where I have some random pictures loaded. 12 I think. I will try to update more later. I also have something called twitter there also. I can type in comments as to what I am doing and you can follow my comments by clicking on it. These are both considered Web 2.0 tools and I am dabbling a little bit. Flickr is not new but twitter is.(relatively).

Happy Independence Day

It is hard to believe it is the 4th of July already. Sabrina is so ready for it to be over. The nightly fireworks have her nerves rather frazzled. The big show is tonight. We usually can see them from Kristen's window, but I am thinking Randy and I might actually venture a little closer tonight. He is fishing this morning and the kids and I will be venturing to the pool by 1pm. It is slightly cooler today but still has a forecast of 90 degrees. Thanks to Dad for the reminder about 1776! I purchased it last night at Borders as well as several items. Upon walking in that store I immediately see about 200.00 worth of books I want, yet my son can not find a single book that peaks his interest. He can not be my child. He eventually did settle for some viking warrior tale but not before the mandatory argument of why I won't buy Manga books. While I totally understand the genre of graphic novels, I want him to be reading traditional novels as well. After the pool we will grill hamburger and hotdogs and hopefully have a relaxing evening. It all hinges on the camper repair and the everchanging mood of the teenagers.

Camping at North Michigan Lake

This past weekend we camped at No Michigan Lake. This is located near Chambers lake for lack of a better point of reference. It is in the middle of prime moose country thus Randy's attraction to the area. We had been there previously but obviously not in the throes of bug season. Randy had literally been travelling up until we left for camping. Things don't tend to go as smoothly when this happens. This time was no exception. We got to a KOA store near the turn off and got out to purchase some things we forgot. When we opened the camper door a screw or something fell out. Got to the site and the kids basically sat back to watch Randy set up. I got a key stuck in a lock. Finally we were set up and had dinner.
Randy went down to the lake to fish while I did the dishes and listened to the whine begin. It was extremely buggy. Despite spraying repeatedly with off, the kids got bitten in excess of 13 times each. Not happy campers-literally. They both discovered the joy(?) of chopping wood over the course of the weekend. Went to dump the tank and the valve on the blackwater tank(the one for the toilet) stuck. Randy has decided to try and replace the valve on the 4th of July. Great. I will not be celebrating the holiday in the same manner.

Best Buy and Michaels

Kristen wanted to go to these two stores. While waiting for her to make her selection(HP 3), I sat in the most comfortable chairs ever made. They were pseudo suede and oh so comfortable. If they would have been blue, they would be in my livingroom tonight. Kristen got more beads, but when I asked her if she would like to take an actual jewelry making class, she refused. GRRRR

This is more than I should have to do

This past week was the Technology in Education conference at Copper Mountain(TIE). My boss and I were scheduled to do a presentation on the Technology Fair that was held in March. Totally her idea-I hate presentations and I hate being high in the mountains-I never feel well). She put the whole presentation together( I feel a little bad about that). Anyway, one of the reasons I did not want to go is my cheapo department encourages people to go, but will not pay for lodging. My boss has a friend with a condo in Frisco(about 10 minutes away) and said we could stay there as. in. together. 24/7 with my boss for a week? No-way. I went up Tuesday for the keynote who was outstanding. Will Richardson-buy his book if you are interested in Web 2.0 or the interactive web. Anyway, since the presentation was 8:30 am on Friday, I said I would come back up Thurs night. Ok fine. I found someone else to use my registration for the other days. Thurs at 3 pm she calls me ands says "just so you know..", her friends who owned the condo and their children showed up for the weekend and my boss's husband would be bringing an aero bed for me to sleep on. and in case I pick up any vibes, her friends pretty much hate each other and are staying together for the kids. I have never met any of these people and these new dynamics were way too much. I chose the hotel route. Boss not happy but knew I would do this once I found out. She actually considered not telling me. I got up to Copper Mt, we practiced until 10pm and then I went back to the hotel. Everything worked out, but I am pretty beat.

The house is a mess, kids doing as little as they can get away with. Randy tolerates it until he can't find something and then it is a disaster of national proportions. No money for a maid. Randy weekly sends an email that should get him fired, but hopefully that will stop now that his smarmy "friend" doesn't have the "numbers" to offer him a job and Randy can say goodbye to his current employer. Next week he will be travelling to SLC and the following weekend we go camping. That should go swimmingly since Randy will be tired and stressed and he handles neither one at all.

Summer school is a cake walk. They watched Pale Rider for two hours yesterday. I am guessing that ties into Westward expansion. Am debating checking with the teacher/principal.

Matt is going to the movies with a friend tonight. Kristen is jealous. I have tried and tried and TRIED to get her together with her friends. It just never seems to work out. I hate that I have to work in the summer, but it can not be helped. Maybe I will take one day off next week and they can both have friends over. I feel like such a loser mom right now. The intense heat does not help. Lately it has been at least 95 degrees every day.

Randy's cousin sent us a care package! Thanks Donna! She was so grateful for lunch and us showing her and her then boyfriend around RMNP that she sent us tastykakes and OTC. Scalloped oysters for dinner tonight. I said then boyfriend because while in Jackson Hole, THEY GOT MARRIED! They got married on a deck and I am sure it overlooked the Tetons. How great.
Got to go use the inhaler again. Thanks Copper Mountain.

Matt's 1st day of summer school...

Went well. He loved it. Teacher is entertaining. Not exactly the reaction I was going for. Tomorrow I head to Copper Mountain for a conference. Kristen wanted to go shopping....for something pink. She got shampoo and conditioner. I got a new Catherine Coulter book. It is not pink.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers!

Randy started the day by going fishing and then watched the Nascar Race. His new favorite driver won. Matt watched the race with him. Kris and I went to see Nancy Drew. We then went to Ragazzi's for dinner. Kristen ordered Mountain Dew which was a huge mistake. Kristen on caffeine and sugar do not work for her. She turns into "silly obnoxious girl". She and Randy just left to go fishing. Matt stayed here to help with laundry. Tomorrow is the first day of summer school, so I guess you can call him "irritated boy". Temp hit 97 degrees at DIA. I thank God every summer for Central Air.

Ocean's 13

Great movie. Well worth seeing(as if any movie with George Clooney and Brad Pitt could be bad!). Lots of plot nuances that make Oceans 11 and Oceans 12 pre-requisites though. Matt thought was the best Ocean's movie. I would have really liked to see Julia Roberts in them again, but other than that, I concur.

The Ren Fair

Yesterday Matt helped Randy in the morning at a local state park planting trees, etc. Kris and I planted flowers in the pots out front. Then we went to Colorado's Renaissance Faire. It is about 1.25 hours away. It was so much fun! The food was great! We sampled turkey legs, soft pretzels, cookies, lemonade, ice tea and this great strawberry shaved ice served in an orange half. The shows were great. Kristen got her hair braided with gold flowers. Thank goodness I took pictures as soon as she was done, because the flowers were missing by the time we got home. That turkey. Matt got a wooden sword and got to "battle".(Maybe making this not a forbidden fruit type of thing will lessen its appeal in his teenage brain). Kristen got a royal pain t-shirt. I just got good memories and sore legs. This was so much better than The Renaissance Faire I went to in Pennysylvania. Most visitors dressed in period costumes and you could even rent them. Next time, we might do that. Going to the outdoor pool this afternoon and then Oceans 13 after dinner. Tomorrow, I have to be at work at 6:30 am

What I did on my summer vacation

Since this is basically it for me....
We left to go camping right after work on 6/1/2007. We camped at Westlake in the Red Feather Lakes. Randy was a grump Friday night which made the rest of us want to turn around and go home. The rest of the weekend was better. Randy and Matt are so alike that they are CONSTANTLY pushing each other's buttons.

Monday-Went to the movies. Matt and a friend saw Spidey while Kristen and I saw Gracie. If you do not cry in that movie, it means you are not human. Friday night M/K and I went to the go kart track.

Tuesday-Randy left for a rush trip to Lexington, KY and the kids and I hung out.

Wednesday-watched a couple of movies-Deja Vue with Denzel Washington is outstanding. Kris went to the rec center to swim for a few hours. oH and the microwave spazzed and now we have a burnt mark on the inside which renders it unusable. Burned through to the metal.

Thursday-I decided to try a new recipe. Boston creme cupcakes. 1st problem, it says melt chocolate in the microwave. I could use the camper one since it is taking up half the driveway at the moment, but too much trouble. Use choc frosting. Bigger problem. I slice the cupcakes like I am supposed to, but my illogical mind does not pay attention to where I put the lids for each cupcake so you guessed it- i get done filling them and am missing two lids. GRRR. Immediately, called Kristen down to eat the evidence. She is still laughing at me. She says you never make cupcakes mom and when you do you mess it up. Nice Kid. Not sure what the rest of the week holds other than 2 must attend meetings, but I am making the most of it.

Let's catch up.

Well not sure how much I have told you so just skip over the stuff you know...

We leave tomorrow to go camping in the Red Feather Lakes region. Randy plans to fish his brains out. Canoe is going.

Today was the last day of school for both kids. Matt insisted he is passing everything. He owes 10.00 for a lab fee so I have to go pay that tomorrow. The dreaded lists for the kids start tomorrow.

Yesterday was Kristen's field trip to Elitch's. She rode the one roller coaster 11 times. She was asleep by 8.

Matt and I saw Pirates on Memorial Day

Kristen got a cell phone for her birthday and then we went shopping. We made grilled shrimp for dinner.

Times have changed and my brain dead children

I bought Trivial pursuit poptarts at the store today. The perfect food. It educates while it fills my children with sugar.

Kristen bought yet another teen magazine(or I bought). Instead of the headline who Zac(from high school musical for those unaccustomed to the teen idol crowd) is dating, the headline is who Zac is texting.

Matt was putting groceries away and could not figure out how to put an oversize box of cheerios away. Kristen told him to turn it and he still could not figure it out. Scary.

Someone thought that the measuring spoons should now be kept with the oversize bowls. Their logic is definitely not my logic.

Kristen seems to have developed an itchy reaction to something. Randy thinks it is Sabrina(gulp). Time will tell.

What's Happening?

Hey it is me, Sabrina here.

I have not posted for about a year because I can never get computer time. Those kids are hogging it when Mom is not on it. Personally, I do not see the attraction. They should be spending time playing with me. In Kristen's defense, she does "play" with me. I prefer a good game of fetch;Kristen prefers grabbing me from behind and pulling me onto her lap and then reclining so I have no chance of getting away. They think I have a limited vocabulary so they often torment me with my favorite words. I am not making much progress with the reclamation of the furniture. It is soooooooo comfortable, I fall asleep instantly and do not get off before they get home. Yesterday morning, the evil one caught me on the love seat( perfect name since I do love it) and chased me off. Stinkin ratbastard.

Teenagers in the house means lots of yelling. Matt seems to do everything possible to irritate the evil one. Will Kristen never learn that rolling her eyes and not listening to Mom is really not the way to get what she wants. All she has to do is sit at Mom's feet and cry and moan? Mom hates whining and usually gives me what I want to shut me up.

Yesterday was exciting. The power was off so Mom had to open windows and a fly came in. The hunt was on. I trapped it in the blinds and I took me about 4 hours to rid the house of the pesky fly.

I am starving right now and trying to look my cutest. MOm says I can wait a minute. Can anyone tell me what a minute is? Anyone, anyone.

Kristen's confirmation day

The day Kristen has been dreading has arrived. She is being confirmed this morning. What this means to the rest of us is getting up earlier and being showered and dressed and to the church by 9:30. It also means no fishing for Randy. He will deal.

What it means for Kristen other than the obvious-confessing her faith in God, reaffirming her baptism, etc, is confronting one of her biggest fears. She has to read the essay she wrote based on a verse of scripture in front of the congregation. Despite the fact that she knows most of these people and none of them will judge her for any mistakes she makes, this is a huge terrifying ordeal for my little girl. I have tried to reason with her, pointed out to her that God won't give her anything she can not handle, pointed out that she has had much worse trauma(starting at TRMS for example). Nothing worked....until I resorted to bribery. We are going to Olive Garden for lunch(she was told she had to pick something other than McD), and promised her she could get that Chocolate Lasagne desert. She perked right up with that. Chocolate-the supreme motivator.

She has two momentous Sunday's in a row. IN 7 DAYS MY BABY TURNS 13. I can not deal.

Well Kristen now has two new pairs of shoes. They are very similar to each other, but far dressier than crocs and sneakers. Not as dressy as I would have liked, but I can not take any more shopping with her.

Really bad rain/t-storms/hail last night. We did not get the worst of it. The flash flooding was terrible in other parts of the front range. At least two people died- a 3 yr old and a teenager.

No word on a job for Matt yet.

Happy Mother's Day

Randy gave me a pink fishing rod(told him that was the only way I would go fishing) and earbuds with comfortable ear pieces for my ipod. We will be grilling burgers and having homemade potato salad for dinner. This was my choice. Any decent restaurant around here has lines and noise and screaming children. I can listen to screaming children virtually any time. Since I have been so negative about motherhood in general lately, I decided to list what I love about each of mine.

Matthew

1. his creativity- I helped him make a Who Shot JFK version of CLUE for a class project
2. his " i don't care what you think" attitude-this may help him avoid the whole drug/alcohol scene.
3. his charm-he can always make me laugh even if I am so angry I do not want to laugh
4. his fun loving attitude-if it isn't fun, why do it? (There ARE reasons Matt!)

Kristen

1. her tender heart-she feels deeply her friends pain(her brother is not included in this)
2. her childlike innocence-she is growing up before my eyes, but I love the fact that she still will play with sidewalk chalk and playdoh
3. her desire to succeed in school-I love the fact that for the most part, I do not have to think about her homework. I am grateful God blessed me with Matt, but also that he only gave me one like him!
4. her fun-loving attitude-she also likes to have fun but in a more physical way than Matt.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Last night

After Kristen's dental appointment, she and I went shopping. Yes, this is the beginning of the dreaded confirmation shopping. She also needed band concert clothes. She found white pin stripe pants after rejecting virtually every other pair of pants,skirts, etc in the store. She also found a pair of black pants for the concert. She rejected every black shirt in the store and tried a few white shirt combinations, but even most of those were rejected. I want function and cheapness. She wants Paris Hiltonesque style. Finally we left with only the two pairs of pants. What I really want to know is when does shopping with your teenage daughter become fun again? Anyone, anyone out there in internet land please answer this sanity saving question. This morning she comes down wearing a black shirt. GRRRR. Amazing what happens when you clean your room. Speaking of rooms, they both have until the weekend and then I clean with trashbags. My new motto for room cleaning will be show no mercy. I wonder how much it costs to rent a dumpster.

Mom, I mailed your mother's day card and it is the best card ever. I think you will agree.

Matt, Matt, Matt

Matt has this obsession with knives. He has always been fascinated by sword fights,etc. Today Randy find a like new letter-opener in his bed. Matt of course states he found this on the way home. Could not have happened. So of course they get into it over dinner. Matt accuses Randy of stealing his stuff(bad move Matt). Randy tells Matt he owes him 4.00 for his spaghetti dinner and Matt will not get behind the wheel until he loses the attitude, gets the room somewhat cleaned up and gets a job. Matt stormed out and slammed the door(headed to church to run the soundboard). Randy went after him and made him shut it nicely. When he comes home, he will be applying for a job at Kmart online. They are hiring. And to think I said I had a boring weekend. Thanks for making my life exciting in a not so good way, Matt.

Now onto the financial woes: The federal govt issued a check to us for over $17,000.00. Unfortunately it is wrong. I got my paperwork for repayment of the student loan. It says with interest I will owe over 45,000.00. I do not think that number is correct. Will have to double check on that. Payments start 8/16. I have to mail them to Wilkes barre.

I found out today that a second middle school in my district is cutting the media clerk position(assistant). This is a very disturbing trend. I do not feel I can take this lying down. I feel as though I need to address the school board. C, get ready to prepare B for this.

$1000.00 poorer

Last weekend was the TV and this week was a canoe. Quite dicey getting it home from Bass Pro shops. We also now have digital cable so we can take advantage of the High definition TV. Matt showed me how to use the remote to change channels. A few new channels(two new cartoon channels. Just what we need). It is a shame the weather was not nice enough to take out the canoe. BTW, we now have 1 bass in the freezer and 12 trout. I need to find a new recipe. Getting tired of the lemon/butter baked version. Kristen and Matt both worked on projects and Randy fished. My life is just a little boring today.

The weekend

Matt finished his paper
Matt drove for 15 minutes(he was driving with Randy until he blew through a red light-the cars in front of me went was his reasoning(banging head against a wall here)
Matt went fishing with Randy
Matt caught a fish

Randy went fishing and caught 3 fish
Randy burnt himself to a crisp
Randy went canoe shopping and came home with a 32 inch Sanyo tv

Kristen mowed the lawn(with many tears I am told)
Kristen watched Cadet Kelly on the new TV
Kristen beat Mom at 2 games of Uno

Holli cleaned the house
Holli worked on but did not complete laundry
Holli started scrapbooking again (with Kristen's help)

Sabrina hid from the vacuum cleaner
Sabrina recovered with living room floor with dog hair
Sabrina "played" with the pit bull next door(she likes it as long as the fence separates them.
Sabrina falls asleep immediately when she puts on her head on the window sill of the bay window.

The latest

Today we received a check for $2400.00 from the state of Colorado. They saw the tax return with 0 income and are refunding us. Now Numskull accountant will have to amend the amendment. Randy's appt is 9am on Thursday.

Matt a good portion of the day working on his research paper contrasting Ninjas and Samarais.

I spent this same amount of time cleaning the downstairs. Vacuum got clogged 12 times. Dog has crew cut in her future. Still have to do the kitchen and the DR table, but I am headed outside to enjoy this beautiful evening. It was 77 today and tomorrow should be 85!

Tax update and Sabrina's pack

The taxes are still not resolved. Numbskull acct office called back and said earliest they could give Randy an appt was next Thursday. Not sure if he made an appointment or not. We are not sure what to do anymore. The taxes are still not filed. This has to be fixed and soon.

Someone once told me that dogs lean on people to claim them as members of their pack. Sabrina's pack includes:
All of us
Any person who pets her
the sofa
the loveseat
the recliner
the stove
the dining room chairs
the speakers
the sliding glass door
the speakers
you get the idea

My brilliant dog has mostly inanimate objects in her pack

Dodged a bullet

While the rest of the front range was hit with spring snow storms, tornados, sleet, and other freaky weather, all we got was torrential downpours for the entire day. I can not remember the last time it rained for an entire day. By the end of the weekend we may hit 80 degrees. Colorado is just freaky.

Randy picked up our taxes yesterday and of course they were wrong. So back he goes again to day to get them to do it right.

The next drama in the tax saga

They called Randy back and said they efiled and it was rejected because one of our social security numbers was rejected as previously submitted. Huge panic all day that we were victims of idenitity theft. The Numbskulls then said the amended tax return would have to be mailed and it was not ready for us to pick it up. Randy eventually called the IRS and was told not a SS # problem, but the efiled without income or deductions listed. Say what???? Isn't that the whole purpose of fileing a tax return? Then they efiled again and it was rejected for some other reason that I can not remember. The line got silent when Randy called them back and told them this. SUPPOSEDLY, our tax return will be ready this morning. Randy will go pick it up and go over it with a fine tooth comb. Stay tuned....

Our crazy busy life

Let's see to catch you all up(all 2 of you who read or care about this blog):

• Took Matt driving last weekend-did well unless we followed cars. He does not get that just because the light is green, you might have to reduce your speed. He needs more experience driving in traffic(so hopefully today Jack (daniels) and I will be taking him out again.
• Our taxes-we still don't know. Our good for nothing accountant efiled them but could not tell us whether we owed-how much, etc,etc. Said they would not be ready for pickup until Thursday(4/19). Randy went Friday and the office was closed. If you know Randy, you can guess what happened.
• Randy has expanded his fish repouirtoie to bass. Very tasty. We now have one bass(who died a painful death in the cooler Friday evening) and about 10 trout in the freezer. Randy is fishing today for more bass.
• Matt's conferences were this week-passing all classes except Math. I gave him an incentive to pass all classes C or better. Matt and mom secret.
• Matt's unity class held a car wash yesterday. Then he and I went to the Longmont Symphony concert. He chose a wolf t shirt and shorts. Walking in, he made the comment, I guess maybe I should have dressed nicer. My little boy is growing up.
• Kristen is fine. Keeps getting a recurring cold. Running low grade fever this weekend.
• Matt wants to know if he can have a motorcycle for his 17th birthday.BAHAHAHAHAHA
• I am fine as is Sabrina. Nothing too exciting there.
• Making potato salad for a potluck lunch after church
• Went out with the girls Tuesday after work. Had two Singapore slings-my new favorite drink.

I wanted a snow day

Well no snow, not even a flake. So much for the 6-12 inches. Two all day meetings got cancelled in anticipation of this blizzard. DIA cancelled flights in anticipation. Stupid, stupid people. Castle rock and south will get some snow but for us on the northern front range-NADA.

Still working on cleaning up the house after the trip. Laundry is not progressing quickly. I have finished two books-Leavimg Microsoft to change the world and Shopaholic and Baby. I am currently reading Crunch Time, Motor Mouth and the most recent Robert B. Parker book.

I did not get out of jury duty, so I am trying to get stuff done at work in anticipation of this. I am about to give up. I feel under appreciated in the work arena right now. I really needed this snow day. Oh well, maybe I can find a quiet place in the office to work or least do something that might make me feel like a librarian. My attitude is not the best. I think maybe Randy and I need to go out. We shall see. He has had gout since before we got home and it is slowly getting better but not completely there. Kristen, matt and I all came home with colds. Kris stayed home one day from school.

Kris will be taking honors science next year and Matt's social studies teacher has recommended him for honors government next year. That grade is up to a C. Now only pesky math and science. His mp3 player broke a while ago(has not mattered since music was supposedly taken away), but told him I would buy him a new one if he passes all his classes.

This weekend I want to do more driving with him and take him to apply for summer jobs to pay for summer school. If he passes all his classes this time and passes the makeup final for math last semester, he will only have to attend one summer school session and we might be able to go to Hawaii in July.

Spring break is almost over

Well, Spring break week is almost over. It has been a fun staying with Heidi and Zack in Damasus. We toured Mount Vernon, spent 2 nights at the beach where we watched and listened to the waves come rolling in. Water temp was 42 degrees so not much swimming in the ocean. All three kids had fun swimming in the pool though. I beat Kristen at a game of pool. We ate great food while here. Matt even ate octopus sushi(EWWWW). I got together with my college roomate for lunch and caught up a little bit. The weather was not always cooperative, but it was still a lot of fun and gave everyone a much needed break. Back to Colorado today and work/school on Monday.

Day one of Spring Break

We went to Mt. Vernon today. I have not been there in 30 years. Everyone had a good time. We took a 40 minute cruise on the Potomac and walked around. Line was too long to go in the house. We went a on a walking tour of the slave areas. The interactive visitor center was loads of fun. Everyone is pretty tired. Kristen is helping Heidi make all kinds of things to take to the beach in addition to beef pot pie for dinner.

Happy Birthday Randy!

Today is Randy's 49th birthday! To celebrate, I am taking him out to lunch at a French restaurant in Niwot.(I have to attend another school board meeting in the evening ).

I did however make the standard birthday cake(chocolate with peanut butter icing). I have learned to make a double batch of icing since the kids tend to ice the cake skimpily so there is more icing for them which they will fight to the death over. They are eating other somewhat healthy things for breakfast, but there is just no beating this icing. 3 cups of 10X sugar, a tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup of milk and a cup of peanut butter=children actually agreeing on a food group. Priceless!

BTW, Matt's new favorite word is "discern". He uses it repeatedly trying to set the record for the most uses in a day.

Land lines

Last night around 10pm we discovered our main phone line was not working. For how long who knows. We almost never use it. Everyone I care about has my cell phone #. Randy flipped out(no big surprise there). He can not stand it when something does not work. We placed a work order with Qwest and it will probably be fixed today. The only people who will not be able to contact us because of their refusal to use the technology that the rest of the planet has embraced are Randy's parents. They have his cell phone number but tend to not want to call it. Depending on the cost to get this fixed, maybe they will be forced to. I personally don't see the need for it any longer

I am taking today off to do laundry, etc and get ready for my trip. After watching some of the kids fashion choices lately, I will be packing for them. Camo socks were just not meant to be worn with shorts.

It has been a while

Crazy busy here. Life has been on hold while I wrote a grant. (this process normally takes 2-3 months). I did it in 9 days. House is a wreck. Out of food as usual. Eating out way too much. Today we have bowling, our tax appt, haircuts. Tomorrow the kids have a game night at church. Monday I am taking off, but will probably do some volunteer work in a library. Wednesday is Randy's birthday as you probably know. I will be baking a cake Tuesday night. Wed I will take him out for lunch since there is a school board meeting. The girls from Trailridge who won the grand champion prize at the teen tech fair are being recognized and my director says I should introduce them. Great. My only hope is laryngitis. Anyone know how to bring this on? Hard to believe we leave a week from today. Need to clean up and start packing. Borders is having 25% off for educators, so will probably head over there. Need to charge my ipod, etc.

This week

Another busy week. Spent more time working than I wanted to. My boss and I are writing a grant that will benefit another department that is under my boss. The people that will directly benefit are not being very helpful in providing information. Very frustrating that the people who should have buy in are putting no effort into this while Connie and I are working weekends and evenings to meet the 3/23 deadline. Today she and I are going to a CAL(Colorado Association of Libraries) networking events. It is lunch at an Irish restaurant. Should be fun.

I worked on the grant until 11:30 Friday night after meeting my family for dinner. There was a Sangria induced nap inbetween. Saturday the kids had bowling(Kris did great, Matt not so much). We did a basic cleanup downstairs and then went to Gateway for the go karts for a few hours. Then onto the grocery store and I actually cooked dinner. We had the exciting meal of Hamburgers, fresh veggies and buttered noodles. The nice thing was the burgers were cooked on the grill. 1st cookout of the season(it is actually summer here). Goes along with our summer like temps. 77 yesterday. A/C has been running for several days. Kids have been wearing shorts to school for a few days. There was a scary moment Thursday morning when it began snowing, but then warmed up again. It seems everytime I hold a library meeting at Matt's school, it snows in some form.

Things may be turning around for Matt. He had to do this brochure on a biome for science and the teacher told him she is not giving it back. She told him it is the most creative she has ever seen and wants to keep it as an example for other students when she teaches that unit again. GO MATT. He got an hour of internet back a day as a reward.

Last night Kris and I went shopping. I bought a few new things. I need to take her and get her a new bathing suit for when we go to the beach. Kristen's confirmation class is going to see Amazing Grace tonight. I bought Casino Royale so when I get back from Denver, we will probably watch that.

The Concert

I gave Randy concert tickets to a combo Asleep at the Wheel/Ray Price/Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson for Valentine's day. Tonight was the big night. It is a night I will never forget. I made a new friend. His name is Bruce. Bruce and his girlfriend Mary were given tickets by Bruce's daughter and included a DD(designated driver for you non white-trash, rednecks). Apparently the daughter dropped them off early so they could get started with their buzz. Bruce was a large gentleman with long stringy hair and 3 teeth. I do believe that beer is his main source of nutrients. Anyway. Apparently, one of Bruce's buddies came along but paid for the expensive seats way down on the floor. His nickname is UGLY. So every 45 minutes or so, Bruce is yellings"UGS" to get the attention of his friend. Bruce also shared that his heart's desire was to share weed with Willie in Willie's bus. Great. Bruce had a box of Marlboros that did not have smokes that could be bought in a 7-11. But the real kicker, is the horseradish party hosted by UGS. Apparently the highlight of Bruce's social season is this horseradish party where all the men dig it up and all the women peel it. Bruce apparently passes out after this, because I doubt he does anything sober. My guess is that they either smoke it or distill it. I will never think about horseradish in the same way. At one point Bruce was rubbing my arm, saying it was ok if my leg rubbed up against his. NO-IT-IS-NOT-OK.
BTW, the concert was really pretty good, better than I expected.

The Teen Tech Fair

Well, it is finally over. A few loose ends to tie up, but it was held last night and was a huge success. We had 56 entries from 9 schools and for a first time effort, it was overwhelming success. I have never seen the director of my department smile like that. I thought he was going to dislocate his jaw. We had over 200 people show up. The superintendent as well as several school board members. The entries ranged from digital art(mostly summited by the art teacher from my former school), to power point presentations to websites, to instructional videos, etc. The prizes for students were monetary for groups, and ipods for individual entrants. There was also a grand champion prize of 280.00. Kristen's school had one entry-a promotional video for the elective teachers and it won 1st prize for middle school and also grandchampion so these three 12 year old girls split 480.00. Awesome. Axel is now my friend for life. The newspaper was there as well as the local TV channel who videotaped it for broadcast after spring break. So there you have it. I started this whole thing 1/23/2007, so a mere 6 weeks later, we have fulfilled my director's dream, showcased the school distrit in a positive light. After the whole thing was over, 5 of us went to Outback to celebrate(I never got a chance to eat) and the director picked up the tab for me to eat and several rounds of drinks. My day started at 7:30 and ended at 10:30 that night. Not bad for a 15 hour day. I made my department look like stars. I really feel like I have accomplished something and made a difference.

Weekend

Friday night: Dropped Kris at church to go to youth quake and Randy, Matt and I went out to Mexican restaurant. Most unflavorful Mexican food ever.

Sat-Matt did bowling and did great. Went over to Connie's house to work on the Teen Tech Fair. I will be so ready for this thing to be finished. Bill(her boss)has acknowledged several times the work we have put in on it. Sat night, Randy, Matt and I went to Ankor restaurant for Cambodian food. very good and large portions

Today-Picked Kris up after church and Matt and I went to see Wild Hogs. Very funny. Off to grocery store shortly. Then watching Grease and then more work, work, work.

So much for embracing anonymity

I had this whole long post typed about my evening last night and somehow bumped the wrong key and wiped it out. Ok here goes again:

For the past month I have been working on a teen technology fair. It is the district's 1st attempt at this and a dream of the director(my boss's boss). Last night was the school board proclamation that next week is Teen Technology Week. Connie and Bill the director were going to be speaking. I said I would go as a show of support- after all this is my project. I have lost countless hours of sleep, had many mini-nervous breakdowns, etc. First there were mind-numbing bond committee reports, followed by coma inducing financial reports(how anyone can find this stuff interesting is beyond me). Finally it was time for the proclamation. Connie and Bill went up to the podium(everyone has to speak into the mic there for the TV audience(all 5 of them). Bill motioned me to come up.(uh oh, this was a bad sign). He whispered to me that he wanted Connie to introduce me to the board(I already knew three personally) and wanted to give me credit for all the work I had done. Ok, kind of nice, but since I still had not spoken I was still somewhat anonymous. They then started asking questions which Connie did not have answers for. So I had to speak. No longer anonymous. Thank goodness I had changed into something nicer than what I wore to work.

I wanna be a boy!

Apparently Sabrina has decided she wants to be a boy dog. We went for a walk last night and she practiced. Every time she would pee to mark territory, she practiced lifting her leg. Quite unsuccessfully, I may add. At least she did not do fake limping this time. And then later, all brain cells apparently liquidized. Matt was sitting on the loveseat watching Criminal Minds and the dog came down and started barking at him. Stupid dog.

Not much happening

Things seem to be progressing for R. to move to a different company. Time will tell. Weather has been warmer, but way too windy. Kristen has morphed into an 8th grader-Heidi you probably know what this means. In case you have forgotten what this means:

• minimum of 20 eyerolls a day
• comments such as "what do you think I was doing?
• "why do I have to do everything around here?"
• You expect me to do ____(translates to not enough time for text messages, email, or playing my nintendo ds

BTW, Sabrina will someday drown in her water bowl. She has yet to learn that if she puts her entire snout all the way in the water, both nostrils will begin to fill with water. Stupid dog.

Sabrina, Matt, and the washing machine

Sabrina's new favorite snack is ice cubes. Lately she has not been wanting her food until she is sure no one has anything better.

Matt and Deb are no longer together. I had him drive home from the dentist and he made me nervous since he was not braking soon enough. (Stop laughing Mom)

Hopefully by the time I get home tonight, the washing machine will have a new timer and will work.

The two best quotes I heard yesterday:
Adolescence is a disease for which there is no cure.
Grandchildren are your reward for not killing your children.

Rainbow laundry,status of Randy's job and the Washer Repair guy and Kristen

We spent our afternoon at Rainbow laundry doing 6 loads of laundry. Kristen found it fun, Matt was annoyed we had to be there. Join the club. The tv only got the spanish channel. (channel buttons were missing). about 2 hours later we headed for home.

Saturday night we went to the worst production of Charlie Brown ever put on. Not sure what was missing but something major was.

Today the washer repair man came to save us, except he will probably be saving us on Thursday or Friday. After 69.00, he determined it was the timer. Has to be ordered(shocker). Actually, it was to me. I expected his truck to be stocked with everything my washing machine needs. The whole thing will be about 245.00, but still cheaper than a new washer. At the exact moment of his arrival, Kristen got up to stay with the dog and twisted her ankle. It started swelling and she could not put weight on it, so off she and I go to Kaiser. I gave Randy instructions on dinner since Matt had to leave early which he promptly ignored since it did not directly affect him. Matt still had plenty of time to eat. So tonight after Matt is back from sound system practice, he and I will go grocery shopping. Tomorrow evening is back at Rainbow laundry. Broken appliances, fill in the expletetive.

Randy's job:
His company is making some bonehead decisions and Friday, the same day as the washer demise, his key person in Asia quit. So Randy took it upon himself to inform the CEO of everything that is wrong with the company. They are on a two day break for an Asian holiday so I expect him to be fired tomorrow night. He insists this one guy has guaranteed him a job with a competitor, but we shall see. He is having lunch with this guy on Friday.

Hopefully, my boss will be back tomorrow, because I am done with being the boss and dealing with staff members petty(at least they are petty to me) problems at work. Doing two jobs this past week was difficult at best.

A beautiful day

The sun is shining, the hellacious winds have stopped, temps above freezing. A beautiful day in the neighborhood.

We just got back from bowling. Kris did great, Matt not so much. Leaving shortly for a hair appt.

Then mountains of laundry at the 'mat. Good thing is I should have tons o time to read.

Then going to see you are a good man charlie brown at SHS.

Tomorrow is church, maybe a movie, maybe more bowling. Definitely shopping.

Monday, don't know other than washer man is coming between 2-4 pm.

And Randy thought it was going to be the TV

For months now, the TV in the Living Room has not had the color green. We have gotten used to pink grass, etc. The TV screen also narrows to a single line every other day or so. I am the hold out until it does not work at all.

This morning I decided to do a load of laundry. The washer filled and then stopped. Apparently that is all it is willing to do. I thought I would help out by emptying the washer with a small bucket and getting all the clothes out before he worked on it. I made a huge mess. Then I find out, he does not have to pull the back off, but the front. Oops

I told the kids I would take them to see the SHS version of Charlie Brown. Changed my mind when the hurricane force winds have settled in this area for the entire day and evening. That mixed with yet another snowshower makes it a good night to stay home.

Do you know someone painfully thin person(has to be) has come up with cheescake filling in a tub where you can just eat with a spoon. Talk about evil.

Valentines Day

Valentines Day was a little different here. The kids gave me flowers. Randy gave me another gift card to Borders-always a plus and a gift card to starbucks. He and I went out for lunch which we almost never do and I can not recall doing it for VD ever. Kids had hair appts that night, so we had pizza for dinner. Would not have wanted to go out anyway since we got another 2-3 inches of snow. I got Randy tickets to a willie nelson/merle haggard/Ray price/asleep at the wheel concert. Kristen got three flowers-all from girlfriends.

Potzilla

Check out this link:
http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=64749

Historical vs the beach

While planning a trip to the east coast to visit relatives, the kids were given a choice: a two trip to the beach or seeing the treasures of King Tut.
Matt: I have seen mummies before and the only thing that sets him apart is that he died young and was wealthy. I don't get many opportunities to go to the beach.
Kristen-School related stuff or the beach? Seriously? You are wanting an answer to this question? Can we get one of those double rooms? Will the hotel have a totally cool pool? How long will it take to get there?

The beach it is.

If she doesn't see it, it has not happened

Sabrina-If she does not see you put food in her bowl, you have not done it. Nevermind she hears you do it and she smells it.

Kristen-had 3 detentions for forgetting a paper. She is now researching ancient romans in school.

Matt-He is on new medication. He takes 4 small capsules before school. He is not happy because the pills are the colors of his school's crosstown rival. Deal. He was presented with three options and chose this one. The other one was taking an extra dose of the same thing at lunch and the 3rd choice was a medication that could impair liver function and which would require blood tests monthly. The big news is that Matt has a new girlfriend. Her name is DEb and she is in his social studies class. So far progressing slowly. She has invited him to a dance and her b-day party in March.

I don't feel like thinking up a cute title

Last night I came to dinner already made. That's right Randy made dinner. Chili. It was great and I was glad not to have to cook.

Matt is selling cookie dough for orchestra. I want to buy 70.00 worth. Matt and Kristen each want their own tub. The flavor choices are:
Snickerdoodle
Extreme Chocolate made with Reese's Pieces
White Chocolate macadamia
Lemon Cranberry
Peanut Butter
Chunky Chocolate
Triple Crown(basically choc chip with white choc, dark choc and milk choc)
Sugar
Night and Day(dark choc cookie dough with white choc chip)
Key Lime White Choc
HOney Raisin oatmeal.
Each sells for 14.99. Want to help support the orchestra?

Each Saturday we go to the bowling alley for their league. They have the best french fries and fried mushrooms. And yes we have them for breakfast. Yummmmmmmmmm.

Kristen is out front playing basketball with the dog. Expect a quick game.

I love snow

Sabrina here. They think I don't know how to use the computer. Who do they think really emails all those pictures of animals? I love snow. I didn't use to, but I love, love, love it. It is 10 degrees outside(they think I don't know how to read either)which makes the snow crunchy on top and soft and melty when it is in my mouth. I don't really mind the cold until my mouth is numb from the snow or until my runny nose has frozen to my lip. Then I know it is time to go in and rub my cold wet face on what ever skin mom has exposed. Mom is hoping for a snowday since the high will be 7. I just have to figure out how to bring snow in without melting it. Mom tends to want to brush all my snow collections off and then all my efforts are wasted.

Hunger strike is over

It lasted about 4 hours. BTW, in case anyone cares...we are supposed to get 5-10 inches of snow overnight. We can't win. We are so close to onstreet parking.

It sucks to be Matt

Matt's grades came today. He had F's in Social Studies, Math and German. He has had music,internet,video games taken away from him for the semester. He has to sit and do some sort of homework for an hour every day. The Bass lessons are gone. I will have to arrange for the bass to be picked up. Randy wants him pulled from Orchestra, don't know that I agree with that. He is one unhappy dude. The comments have ranged from "I will be leaving on Monday"-don't know what is special about Monday to You are not my family anymore, to I am on a hunger strike. His point is we are killing him. NO, don't think so. He has an evaluation on 2/7 with a psychiatrist for a medication adjustment.

Snow again

We are now 7 for 7. 7 weeks straight it has snow. Kristen made the comment, it will never melt. Matt's response? No lawnmowing. Today is bowling and shopping for Kristen and me. Matt and Randy will be going to run some model trains. No food in the house so I plan to get fried mushrooms and coffee at the bowling alley for breakfast. Matt had a lean cuisine meal, Kristen had pizza rolls. My boss has yet another funeral in Louisiana next week, so I will be quite busy this week. I also have a presentation in front of 16 principals, Connie's boss, and the asst superintendent. Once that is over, the rest of the week will be a piece of cake. Of course my most important question for this type of event is what to wear, what to wear!

In honor of Valentines day

I changed the template. If you don't like it, don't worry, it will disappear eventually.

Musings

Matt had his 5th schedule change this semester(which started after Martin Luther King day). Hopefully this latest one is a keeper.

The dog is mesmerized by headlights-I think she believes she is on stage or something.

Kristen is doing well in school. Her report card showed one A and the rest B's. Still waiting for Matt's.

Matt's orchestra festival is Monday night. Today Kristen's new school plays her old school in b-ball.

The temps are getting warmer. Should have tons of meltage going on in the next two days before the temps drop by the weekend. For the 1st time in 6 weeks there is no storm forecast for the weekend.

Kristen is having a change in teachers. Her English teacher is going to a different school mid year. She will meet her new teacher today.

Finally watched the last of the movies I rented weeks ago. Little Miss Sunshine was extremely funny. I think that is the only Academy Award nominee I have seen.

Hopefully we will be back to a 4 burner stove tonight.

Bored yet?

Snow again.

No, this is not 1/14/07 entry reposted. We woke up to yet another snowfall. This one apparently is 2-6 inches. We have 1.5 inches at 8:16 am. Joy. But the good news is Randy is home and can take charge of the snow removal once again. We had snow flurries yesterday and silly me thought we would get lucky for once this season. Oh well, we are not as bad off as the plains. They had blizzard conditions yesterday.

Sigh

The house is a wreck, I have to pick Randy up today and snow is on the way again and my son picks this morning to share about his life. So what do I do. Spend the time with Matt of course! Kristen wants to go to a kids night out at the rec center tonight so easy to motivate her, Matt and me not so easy!

Off to more cleaning!

Matt and the coffee table

Matt called me at work on Thursday stating the coffee table spontaneously fell apart. The glass cracked and broke and 2 pegs broke off. He thought the glass might still be able to be used. No, not if it was in pieces. The table was old(it was David's). Later I found out it had help from Matt's size 13 workboots that were resting on it.

Anyway-Here is the link to what I want to replace it with.

http://www.afwonline.com/ic280frm.asp?prodno=T353-O&COMBO1=3001&FurnType=OccTbl

Snow again

We woke up to snow again. Supposed to get 1-3 inches. Well we have that already and it is only 8:30. Kristen's confirmation fundraiser/dinner is supposed to be tonight. I hope they postpone it. Kristen made a room for the dog in her closet. Why the dog needs her own bedroom escapes me. The dog bed is in there as well as animal posters and a nightlight. Where did the dog sleep last night? With me. She better get used to her new room, because the constant sighing is getting old.

BRRRRRRR

It is so cold here. I have the heat cranked and still can't get warm. It is 5 right now and feels it. The kids and I went to see Night in the Museum. Totally cool movie. Matt and I loved it and K liked it more than she thought she would. K is now doing surgery on ducky's wing. Tomorrow is the confirmation fund raiser. Got K a white shirt at the mall. She wanted to do mucho more shopping but I wanted to get home before the temps dropped below 0. Making mac and cheese for dinner and maybe an apple spice cake. The cooking magazine came the other day. Thanks Mom. Planning on watching the Eagles game tonight. Fortunately, I won't have to stay up as late as you eastcoasterites to see it. Anytime you want me to ship snow and ice east let me know. Glad you checked out this totally boring post?