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.