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.