constantly relocating

Yucky

2012-01-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!

Well, for me, it's not such a happy new year, yet. Why, you ask? Well...it's kinda hard to explain, but I'll try,

1. Bottom line is that as a teacher, I'm feeling sad about having to get up for school again in exactly 24 hours. I know, I know, no one is feeling sorry for me...nobody else gets two weeks off at Christmas. I get it. It's still part of my melancholy mood this morning. I do enjoy teaching SO MUCH MORE this year than last year, but if you ask me if I LOVE IT, I'll have to say no. I often look at the want ads and think about what other job I could do instead of teach. Right now, I think I should be a television anchorwoman...especially if I'm going to be up at 3am anyway.

2. I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. Been up since then. The heater seems to be cycling on and off rapidly...just another thing to worry about, I guess.

3. I had a nice visit with my family, and I miss them. When I graduated from high school, I voluntarily moved as far away from home as I could, but in my old age (43), I find myself wishing I didn't live so very far away. My brother and his family live only a few hours from my parents, and I will admit to feeling jealous that my parents can (and do) just go see them whenever they want to. It's such a production to come all the way to the (almost) West Coast to see us, or vice versa.

4. I have been reading books that make me feel yucky. Yes, I know, I can fix that.

5. I saw a (very good but) very violent movie TWICE over the holidays. Voluntarily...but I feel kind of steeped in ickiness because of it.

6. My sweet son is turning into a not-so-sweet teenager, and I HATE IT. I love my kiddo, and we have always been close. We really aren't close anymore, and it scares me. I know some of this is natural, and I actually remember pulling away from my parents as a teenager, but the sullen, argumentative, and kinda sneaky kid who has moved into my kid's body needs to GO AWAY. I want my baby back.

The bottom line is that I feel YUCKY. It feels like the world is out to get me, and succeeding spectacularly. It feels like my family is under attack, and we are failing miserably at defending ourselves. It feels like my kids are slipping away, never to be heard from again, and I simply do not have the strength to reach out and grab them back. It feels like I want to just be 12 again and start my life over. Ok, maybe not 12...but you get the idea.

I. Just. Feel. Yucky.

A good day!

2011-10-19T21:01:00.003-07:00

Are you sick of reading my posts yet? I told a good friend tonight (Hi Regina!) that I hadn't realized how much I had missed blogging!

Today has been a good day, for many reasons.

1. My kids were RELATIVELY good today, and the activities and lessons I planned were good ones. :)

2. I do not have another IEP for two weeks. After four in the past 10 days, I'm ready for a little break!

3. I met with my mentor today whom I adore, and she gave me some positive feedback she heard about me from my Administration, which feels good!

4. Chase has two (count em, TWO) friends who are spending the next four nights with us. Their parents are out of town, and we are good friends with the whole family, so we trade kids often. While I am extremely outnumbered in terms of testosterone, they are great kids, and we are anticipating a fun weekend with them.

5. I got a belated birthday present today from my favorite daughter! My sweet Megan and I share a love for many things, but the most recent passion we are sharing is for tea! She ordered a travel tea steeper for me which was apparently back-ordered or brought over from France by carrier pigeon or something, but it took almost a month to arrive. Crazy! But, I love it! It's very sleek and cool-looking, and I can't wait to try it out with some yummy loose tea in the morning. Sometime, I will have to extol the virtues of loose tea...maybe tomorrow's blog!

6. We are planning a trip to Hawaii for next summer, and I think we finally have figured it all out! I'm excited - I was born in Hawaii, and went for a visit to "find my roots" when I was 16, but haven't been back since, and have never been to Maui! Should be a fun trip. :)

So, it was a good day. I'm not going to lie; I wish tomorrow was Friday, but we can't have everything we want, now can we?? And at least, it's Thursday.

One last thought before Divine Hubby and I put the ten thousand children we have running around here to bed...I love my family!

Tales of a cross-country runner (no, not me, sheesh!)

2011-10-18T21:56:00.001-07:00

Two entries in two days...I'm on a roll! Now, I don't have to post again until 2013. :)

Just wanted to brag on my youngest kiddo a bit...he is a cross-country runner. Not just a runner, but a bonafide champion. He can run a mile and a half in 9 minutes flat. He's amazing! To be fair, God created those long skinny legs for running, and we did name him Chase...

He has done very well in his meets this year, and we are prouder than we can say. What we are most proud of, however, is not the shiny, new second place area-wide medal he has hanging in his room, but the comment I got tonight from another parent. Chase has come in second in all of his meets this season. Second to the same fast kid every single week. Along with coming in second every single week, he has (without prompting from anyone) gone up to the kid who won the race and congratulated him. Every. Single. Week. The kid never says anything in return except a mumbled thanks.

Tonight, that kid's mom came up to me, and after a little small talk about our speedy kids, she told me what a wonderful young man my son is. Now, that is NOT news to me, but since this woman really doesn't know us, I was led to ask why she said that. She told me that she has watched him go up to her son every single week and congratulate him. She said she has told her son to go up to Chase to congratulate him on a good race first, but he never did. She was very impressed with my sensitive, thoughtful, long-legged action-verb of a son.

And I am too.

It's times like these that make a mama proud...

sniff

Second year teacher...

2011-10-17T19:52:00.003-07:00

It's been almost a year since I last blogged!!! Yikes. Time flies when you are having fun...or are too busy pulling your hair out by the roots and not sleeping. :) I have news - I am officially a MASTER! UNLV has deemed me a Master of Education and I proudly answer to that now, so please adjust your address books to reflect my exalted position. ahem.

The Clark County School District drives its new employees insane with ridiculous rules, tests, events and classes we have to attend. Now that I am a second-year teacher, I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the end still eludes me. Last year, during all of the crying (you remember the crying, don't you??), I decided there was NO WAY I was going to do to the stupid New Teacher Academy they "suggested" we all do. 45 more hours, along with full-time grad school, writing 20 IEP's, lesson planning, grading, blah blah blah, oh, and TEACHING full time. (I am tearing up just thinking about it...)

So I just said NO. I think there might have been an expletive or six involved, but I digress...

Now that I am a second-year teacher, I have been given the "opportunity" to do it again. While I am still overwhelmed and a little bit berserk, it's a raise, and as you know, we teachers don't exactly make the big bucks, soooo, I'm in the New Teacher Academy. (gag) It's a GIGANTIC waste of time, and tonight I got to start wasting time, I mean being enlightened and becoming a better molder of young minds. I am in a group of six 20-something first-year teachers who are with Teach for America. All of this to say, they are all fresh-faced, idealistic, enthusiastic young teachers and I felt like I was a thousand years old in this group tonight. One guy must have LITERALLY said the word "literally" 47 times. It was his favorite word! I kept glancing around to the rest of the group to see if any of them noticed how often he said it - they didn't seem to...

So, the second year of teaching is starting off much better than the first year did. There has been no crying, no panic attacks, no papers, classes or UNLV. Even though I am still overwhelmed, overworked and underpaid, in comparison to the H$#% I went through last year, this year is a piece of cake.

Oh, and not to toot my own horn, but I got a M.Ed with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Sadly, they don't write "Summa cum laude" on your Masters degree, so no one will ever know...but I wanted all of you to know! :)

Relocating again...

2010-12-27T07:52:00.002-07:00

Let's see. I moved from Aiken, SC to San Antonio, TX. To Austin. To Green Bay, WI. To Littleton, CO. And finally to Las Vegas, NV. If you had asked me oh, say, ANYTIME before I actually moved here if I would EVER live in Las Vegas, I would have bet you a bazillion dollars the answer would have been no. Too bad you didn't bet me that, cause you'd now have a bazillion dollars! But, here we are. And apparently, here we shall stay. I will not pretend this is my favorite place to live, but it certainly has its benefits. The weather is spectacular - with the obvious exceptions of July and August. Larry loves his job. Everybody makes it here eventually, so we have seen friends we probably never would have seen if we'd lived anywhere else. And we have no lack of great entertainment, that is for sure!

All signs point to the fact that we are probably going to be here awhile. SO, we bit the bullet and bought a house. It's a small house in the neighborhood where we have been renting for the past 18 months. We love our neighborhood because it has a lot of kids who love to play outside, the people are friendly and nice and all of the houses are one-story. Seems like an odd thing to love, but I'll tell you why we love one-story houses. They are rare and precious in Vegas. Land costs so much here that they put houses practically on top of each other in order to house the 2 million plus people who lived here during the boom. And since land was so expensive, houses couldn't be sprawling ranches...so they became towering three-story stucco McMansions approximately 4 inches from the (mostly identical) stucco McMansion next door. In June, July and August (and really into September), that makes for $700+ monthly electric bills. Um. Nope. This past summer, we paid $220 as our highest bill in our one-story. Still expensive, but when it's 115+ outside every single day for two months, well...

We also love a one-story house because it is so very desirable here in Vegas. While every other neighborhood in Vegas (including the really chi-chi ones) has foreclosures on every street that linger for months and months, ours has absolutely none. When a for-sale sign appears in a yard, there are lines of folks interested in buying here. Of course, there are foreclosures (we are buying one...) but they go fast. Since we do NOT plan to live in Vegas forever and ever, amen...we are excited that this neighborhood offers such a great resale value.

So, that was a long story to tell you that we bought a house! We are very excited, and I will post photos soon. We closed last week and are having tile put in this week. We hope to be moving in the first week-ish of January. The house has a small pool (yay!) and is on a corner, so the lot is probably three times the size of any lot in the neighborhood. It's a well-built, nice house. It's nothing fancy nor is it really anything to write home about...yet. What we like about the house is its potential. Divine hubby and I have spent many enjoyable hours discussing what we can do, how we can do it and if we should do it. We have plans you can't even imagine at this point and are enjoying thinking about the possibilities.

So, pictures coming soon...but remember they will be "before" pics. We are looking forward to the journey of fixing up our non-fixer-upper and will share pics with you!

Anybody else get a house for Christmas? Thanks, divine hubby! Mwah.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T15:55:00.003-07:00

I am sure there isn't anyone out there still checking my blog, but just on the off chance that my mom hasn't quite given up on me...here's a new post!

What's been going on since September 3, you ask? Oh, not much. I've taught two full quarters of writing to special ed students, given tests, grades, discipline, praise, and hired the occasional sub. I got a couple of birthday presents, several Christmas presents and the occasional complaint that class was too hard, too easy, too boring, too stupid, too cold...you name it, and it's too much of it. I took (and passed with A's) four classes in my graduate program, which really should be against the law. On Monday and Tuesday nights, I went to work at 6:45am, only to return home by 10:30pm most days. Then, since I didn't have time to do any work after school, I was up at 4am to work and then back to actual work at 6:45am again. Can I tell you how happy I am to have all of that over with? Well, until January 18 when I have three more grad school classes to manage. Thankfully, one of them is online, so I will only have to go to UNLV from 4-10 on Monday nights.

As a teacher, one thing I have discovered is that most of the assignments I give are too boring. Unless they are too hard. :) I've discovered that most kids don't do homework. Even if it's assigned. Even if I make them write it down in their planners, even if it's only writing three sentences on a piece of paper and bringing it in the next day. Even if it is for a grade, for heaven's sake. So, I don't really assign homework much. I have gotten some grief for that from parents, but interestingly enough, those parents who complain are parenting the very kids I can count on NOT to bring the homework in. I think that's weird. I have attended more PTC's than I can count (teacher-speak for parent-teacher conference), but rarely for the ones who actually NEED a PTC.

I have written six IEP's and subsequently held six annual IEP meetings. With varying success, but none were disasters. I was very nervous for the first two or three, but have felt more in the swing of it with the last few. I have learned how to write present levels, accommodations and goals...and I've learned what happens if you don't plan ahead for a month in which you have three IEP's due back to back as well as three long weekends.

I have learned which students I love. And how to love the students I really don't love. I have learned that sometimes the student you love the least needs love the most. And I've learned that that is hard. I've learned to ask forgiveness instead of permission (most of the time), and I've learned to lean on my colleagues when I need to. I've learned that I married very well, and that my son can make it through the day (or several) without seeing me and still survive. I have also learned that a healthy dose of humor in a difficult situation can be life-saving.

I don't know if my students have learned a thing from me, frankly, but I have to be given credit for effort. It's a strange thing to be responsible for teaching students with special needs...but not given the information or tools to do it. It's a strange job where you have several AHA moments every day as you discover what you've been doing wrong. It's a strange job when you are given a class that no one has ever taught before in our school, where there is no curriculum, books or guidelines at all, and told to "have fun and be creative." Um, HUH? Can I tell you how much I hate my study skills class? HATE IT! Picture a class bulging at the seams with every single behavior-problem in the school and picture how hard it is to teach when there is no curriculum and I just have to make it up. Oh, yeah, and it's last period too. Give me English any day of the week!

So, that's what has been going on. I have been working myself to death, crying a fair amount, making wonderful bonds with an amazing group of friends, writing papers, doing projects, tutoring, taking tests, writing lesson plans, IEP's, modifying tests and homework, attending PTC's, grading, entering grades, creating tests and writing assignments, all while attempting to take 12 hours of graduate-level work and oh, yes, be a wife and mom.

I still have a 4.0, by the way... :)

A whole new adventure

2010-09-03T20:16:00.002-07:00

So...I've started teaching. (sigh) It is SO MUCH HARDER than I thought it would be!!! Monday was my first day and I will admit to you that when I left, I was in tears. By 7pm, I was hysterically sobbing and drafting my resignation. While I haven't exactly gotten past all of that, I am no longer crying and haven't resigned (so far). I have a calendar that counts the days down. I have ONLY 175 more school days until summer vacation. :)

It's terrifying to teach. Especially middle school. Especially middle school special education. Especially when you don't really know how to do it and aren't sure this is what you should be doing. Especially when you aren't sure how to do approximately 75% of the things you are responsible for doing. (sigh)

What makes it even harder is the fact that a lot of my friends in my Master's program are having a ball and really enjoying the whole teaching experience. I don't exactly hate it, but I am willing to admit that I breathe a big sigh of relief at 2:11 when the final bell rings every day. Especially that bell - 6th period is my WORST class by far. Today, my lovely (and 90-yr-old) aide told me that my worst student was "only bad in my class. He doesn't behave like that AT ALL in the rest of his classes." Thanks, Bertha. That means I stink as a teacher and he's taking advantage of the lousy classroom management skills I am presenting. 'preciate the help.

I will tell you that I do like some of my students. I am teaching English, which is basically writing. I have had them doing some quick writing assignments, and I got a great one from a student named Lamar today. I assigned three sentences and he wrote an entire page about how much he wants to do well this year and how it will make his life better if he can do well in school. I really like this kid!! Then, there's poor Rachel, who, at every possible moment discusses the fact that her dad is in jail and how mean it is that kids pick on other kids. And Bryan. Poor Bryan - I sat him right by my desk and he's so mad about it, he could spit nails! Then there's Jackie who is constantly asking if our class is a "special class." (Um, yep.)

Teaching is an interesting adventure. It's an adventure I am not absolutely certain I will make it through. If I think too long about everything I have to find time for (and figure out how to do) in the next 9 months, I may very well lose my mind, so I'm going to just think about the lesson plans I have to file by Tuesday. Oh, wait. I don't know how to do that either. (deep breathing...)

Maybe I'll just have another glass of wine instead.

Camp,letters, grad school, new friends, summer

2010-07-22T07:29:00.005-07:00

Chase has been gone for 11 days (but who's counting, right??) and comes home tomorrow! He has been at camp in Wisconsin with his good friend Brennan. I have been surprised how quiet and still the house seems without him bouncing around. I have spent a fair number of those days locked in the house doing schoolwork, which is a good thing! We have written him several letters and until yesterday, we had not gotten a letter back from him. We were beginning to pile his things up on the curb...

But, yesterday when I got the mail, there was a letter with familiar handwriting on it...could it be? YES! It was a letter from my boy!! I'm not gonna lie...my eyes filled up with tears when I saw that sweet chicken scratch the child calls handwriting. He said he's having a great time and told us about some of his activities. It was wonderful to hear from him because it's the first time he's been gone with NO contact at all. I guess the camp would call if he'd been mauled by a bear or drowned by an alligator, but it's good to know that at least at the time he wrote the letter, he was alive, well, and having fun. I miss that kid, and can't wait to see him tomorrow!!

Grad school is going well; three classes, three A's so far and I'm headed for A's in the two classes I'm taking now, so I'm feeling good about that. And the big news - I got a JOB for the fall! I'll be teaching middle school English Resource! I am just excited enough about that to keep from feeling totally terrified, overwhelmed and underqualified! It's been fun - there are 40 of us in our class and slowly but surely we are all getting jobs. Grad school itself has been interesting - and spending that much time with the same group of people has resulted in some new friendships which has been fun.

So far, the summer has been hot hot hot (115+ for the past week) and action-packed. I have managed to keep my head above water in school while still doing some fun things with Chase. We have not used the neighborhood pool nearly as much this year as in past years, but I think we may head there this weekend when Chase is home. Divine hubby and I checked out Cedar City, Utah last weekend and really liked what we saw. We are enjoying life in Vegas, but we don't plan to live here forever. We really like a cooler climate where we can have GRASS in our front yard instead of rocks. :) Just a place where it rains occasionally and things grow. Ya know what I mean? So, we are considering retirement in Utah or Northern Nevada up around Lake Tahoe. It's been fun exploring different towns, driving through neighborhoods and dreaming of living in a home with a mountain view (oh, and did I mention grass? My retirement home is gonna have grass, baby!).

You are now caught up on my life - it doesn't take long when life revolves around the 6 hours I spend in class three days a week and all of the work it takes to be prepared for those 18 weekly hours every day! But, I have two days off and Chase is gone until Friday evening, so I'm going to go get caught up on the work that's due next week. :)

Update on Rusty

2010-06-06T21:45:00.002-07:00

Rusty had a rough night, as I blogged about yesterday, but is now back to his usual crazy self. I was planning to take him to the vet tomorrow, but he seems to be full of spit and vinegar again.

I had several people facebook/email/text/call me about Rusty, so thought I'd update ya. He's still terrorizing the neighborhood children and all is right with the world... :)

Up with my sick kiddo

2010-06-05T01:17:00.003-07:00

Yes, I'm up with a sick kid. No, Chase is happily slumbering, and no, Megan did not come to visit and then contract H1N1. It's my furry kid, Rusty.

We adopted our middle child on December 20, 1996. He was about a year old then (the pound estimate). Nobody really knows his lineage, but he is clearly part Corgi, and a vet once told me he thought part Dachshund. Whatever he is, he has been a part of our family for almost 14 years now. He has always been "my" dog and has protected me, often when I didn't actually need protecting...He LOVES to go on walks. Even now, when he can't really keep up and the walks have gotten shorter, he gets very excited when he sees me put on my shoes. He can't make it too far, but always looks disappointed when we get home. I always let him off the leash when we get to the driveway and he runs happily into the house to "do the loop." Last week, I let him off the leash, and he took off running down the street. Thankfully, he's getting slower, so I finally caught up with him, but it was a funny decision on his part for a little freedom!

He has been sick only a handful of times during his life, and I only took him to the vet once to get medicine - he has always been a very healthy and happy dog.

In the past five years, he has gotten a little grouchy...

He started biting children - not my favorite of his character traits. Thankfully that behavior started AFTER he had most of his teeth extracted, so no real damage was ever done.

Now he bites most people if they try and pick him up, but otherwise, he's mellowed with age.

He's deaf, and I think he's going blind as well.

Over the past two years, he has developed a weird habit - he licks the floor. I don't mean just the kitchen where, he might actually find a crumb or two; he licks all floors. Carpet is his favorite. The sound of him licking the carpet nearly drives me insane, but I have gotten good at sleeping with a pillow over my head.

So, tonight I woke up from my nightly night-terror around 11:30pm, and then heard Rusty gagging loudly. It's now 1:30am and he is showing signs of calming down. For the past two hours, he has been frantically wandering around, panting, licking everything, and when he has his head up, he is licking the air and his muzzle. He stops only to gulp water, then gag some more. I have been sitting near him, petting him and trying to get him to calm down.

As I type, he is finally settled down and has snuggled into his bed and appears to be asleep.

My fear is that he is really sick and that he may be dying. My biggest fear is that when I take him to the vet in the morning, he won't come home with me. Rusty has been a part of our family longer than some family members have!! I won't know what to do if I have to have him put to sleep.

So, I am blogging, while listening to my old friend's labored breathing and hoping he'll get some rest tonight. I don't think I will.

Spring in Vegas

2010-05-05T09:07:00.004-07:00

We have gorgeous roses blooming in our backyard! This is what I see every day when I look outside. Spring is a wonderful time to live in the desert!!

Child rearing is NOT for the faint at heart!

2010-05-05T06:47:00.003-07:00

I got up at 3:00am this morning. Why, you ask? Well, my adorable, brilliant and amazing 6th grade son was due at school by 4:30 to catch a bus bound for California. His school has an "outdoor school" for the 6th graders, and usually they go to Catalina Island. However, apparently the ferry ride to Catalina has historically produced more than their fair share of sea-sickness, so this year they are bound for an outdoor camp called Pali Institute. Look it up - it's a cool place!

Anyway, Chase, all of his teachers and most of his classmates left on four gigantic busses this morning at 5am. Parents are NOT allowed to come, and I was surprised to see many parents in actual tears as the busses pulled away from the school.

One of the things I have discovered that is different about Las Vegas is that most parents simply do not allow their children to spend the night away from home. Period. Even if the inviting child is from a family VERY close to yours, it is just not done.

I think that's weird.

Chase had his first sleepover at the ripe old age of about 2, I think. He has never ever EVER called and wanted to come home in the middle of the night from a friend's house. He has spent many a night at a friend's house and every summer since he was nine, he has gone to see my parents on the East Coast for a week. Flying by himself. Last summer, he went to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama for a week. This summer, he is not only going to see his grandparents for a week, he is going to camp in WISCONSIN for two weeks with his good friend from Texas.

Since we moved here and I realized that sleepovers are simply not done...I have wondered about that.

And here is my theory on the subject. It is worth exactly what you paid for it. :)

I think there are two camps in child rearing.

Camp 1: My child may get hurt someday, and I plan to prevent that at all costs. Therefore, I will make sure he or she doesn't leave home much, and will keep him or her with me as much as possible so I can be in complete control of who he or she is exposed to and what he or she does.

Camp 2: My child WILL get hurt someday, and I plan to make sure he or she knows how to handle it when it happens. Therefore, I will raise him or her to handle disappointments (not avoid them) and learn from his or her mistakes. I will teach him how to protect himself and who to talk to or where to go and get help if he can't.

Camp 1: My child may feel disappointed and/or fail during his life. I plan to call any and all coaches to make sure my child is on the team he wants to be on. If my child doesn't get into a class I think he should be in, I will write formal complaints and berate any and all teachers until they see it my way. I will make sure my child's life is perfect in all ways, and I will make life difficult for anyone who gets in the way of that goal.

Camp 2: My child WILL feel disappointed AND fail during his life. I plan to prepare him for such eventualities as best I can, and while I will always stick up for my child, I will expect him to self-advocate. If he doesn't make a team, I will expect him to go talk to the coach and find out if there is something he could do next year to increase his chances. If my child believes he should have a higher grade on a test, I will expect him to talk to the teacher and see if the grade can be raised.

Camp 1: It is my God-given duty to raise my child to be safe at all times regardless of how much that process hurts my child.

Camp 2: It is my God-given duty to raise my child to be independent and learn to live without me, regardless of how much that process hurts me.

In case you wondered, Divine Hubby and I are in camp 2... :)

I am sorry if I stepped on any toes out there, but honestly, there is a generation of kids who in part due to the fact that they can't spend the night at a friend's house at age 12, are learning that the world is a scary place and they had better just stay home to be SAFE. I believe that God gave me this precious child, not to cling to for dear life, but to love, teach, nurture and then set free to be an independent adult who can handle life because he HAS handled life all along. I mean, if the world is SUCH a scary place that you can't spend the night with a trusted family friend, then why would I want to be out in it...EVER? I know people who cry at the thought of their child going off to college. I know I will be sad and miss him when he goes, but I hope at that point to be proud of and confident in the young man he has grown into and look forward to the employee, husband and father he will become. I do not want my son (no matter how much I adore him) to live with me when he's 30.

SO. While I will admit to missing my son this morning, I know he is in good hands, and I know he can handle being away from home. This is part of an independent life - spending time away from home. I will NOT lie awake tonight wondering if he is sad and missing me, because I know he isn't. He is having a blast and will enjoy seeing me again on Friday. I can't wait to hear his stories, but he and I both know he can handle his life without me these next three days. That statement might make some parents sad, but it makes me proud. I love my independent kid!!!

Alone isn't always lonely

2010-04-25T16:58:00.002-07:00

I have had tickets for the Women of Faith conference here in Vegas for nearly six months. It's one of my very favorite weekends and I have attended probably 10 of the conferences in various cities in the past 12-13 years or so. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Denver and now Las Vegas. It's really a highlight for me and something I look forward to for months. I usually go with a big group of friends, and have led the group several times (with varying success...).

This year, I was going with a group, then I wasn't going at all. Then I was going with a friend. Then she was suddenly not able to go, so I was searching for a friend to go with me. Then the extra ticket was given to someone else, then I decided not to go. Then I got the ticket back and I still wasn't going to go. Then I finally decided that I WAS GOING, DARNIT, even if I had to go by myself.

Guess what?

I went by myself. (I did get a friend to go on Friday night, but she wasn't able to attend on Saturday, so on Friday, I was not alone...)

On Saturday, I had four seats around me that were unoccupied the whole weekend. Why four? I don't know, but it's true. So, it was me,two chairs to my left, two chairs to my right and 5,000 of my closest friends all enjoying the conference.

When I first realized that on Saturday, I was going to be alone in a giant group of girlfriends, I felt a little sorry for myself. (That's why I decided TWICE that I wasn't going.) Then I decided to make the best of it. So, I chucked myself under the chin and said:

"Self? Look on the bright side. If you want to go shopping instead of listen to a speaker, you CAN. If you want to eat both box lunches because you have two tickets, you CAN. If you want to dance in your five empty-seat suite, you CAN. Read the book you are enjoying during lunch. Don't worry what others are thinking...realize that they are NOT looking at you!!"

So, I took myself and we went to the conference together. Me and my self. And we had fun. We talked to other women around us, we ate both rice krispie treats in the lunch (we both love rice krispie treats) and we had TWO bottles of water instead of just one. We ate ridiculously-expensive chocolate-covered almonds, and we (shhhh) didn't share. We read the book that we are both loving, we danced and sang outloud with Natalie Grant and Mandisa. And we didn't care if we were embarassing, because we were not embarassed.

It was kind of hard, and during the hour-long lunchbreak when I watched everyone chatting and laughing with their girlfriends, I will admit to feeling a teensy eensy bit sorry for myself. But, when all was said and done, it was as good a conference as I've gone to. And I have learned just a little bit better how to be comfortable in my own skin.

I'm already planning next year, and I am going to organize a group of fun Christian women to go with me, but this year's conference was a good one, and I think it was good for me to just sit and listen to the speakers and not feel the need to comment or worry if the person next to me is enjoying the conference (or eating my chocolate-covered almonds...).

Karate

2010-04-05T20:25:00.005-07:00

As most of you know, Chase takes karate lessons. You may NOT know that he is a purple belt (next is brown, then black), so he is an advanced student. That is impressive, but it really means he gets to be in the teenaged class where there are a LOT of 16-18-yr-old black belts and he gets beaten up a lot. It's not nearly as much fun as it used to be, according to Chase. There are two big karate tournaments here in Vegas every year. They are both on Easter weekend every year. The Jr. Olympics are on Friday and then the US Open is on Sat and Sun. Because we are Christians, Chase has only participated in the Friday tournament, which, frankly, is fine with him. Last year, he got gold in kumite (fighting) and bronze in kata (a choreographed simulated fight). This year, he moved up a division...and he still got bronze in kata but got fourth in kumite. He was fairly disappointed, because with his long arms and long legs, his strength is really in kumite, not kata. Regardless, we were very proud of our boy. 30+ countries were represented in the tournament this weekend, and it's a real achievement to get third and fourth in your age bracket!

But now, he has decided he wants to take a break from karate. It was an agonizing decision for him, and for us to let him make. He has gone to karate three (and during tournament season, four) times a week for nearly two years. He has gone from white, to red, to yellow, to orange, to green to blue stripe to blue to purple belt. He has learned a lot of katas, a lot about fighting and about discipline and he has made some good friends. But, over the past few months, I have seen his interest wane. Once he graduated into the older and more advanced class, he just didn't like getting his teeth knocked out EVERY week, three times a week, by the older kids. And I totally understand that, but it's hard to see him stop (I can't say quit because my kid is not a quitter) so close to a black belt. I really hope he will take it back up again because his Sensai is amazing and these classes have been so good for him. But, one of the benefits of growing up is you get to decide what activities you participate in and which ones you would just rather not. Chase is a great kid, and he has put his all into karate. It's time for him to branch out a little more and put his all into something else for awhile. It's going to be weird not to head to karate every Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights at 7, though. And I'm going to miss the friends I have made sitting in that room for 90 minutes three times a week. So maybe I should take up karate, right? Yeah, fat chance. I have seen what they do to my kid - I ain't lettin those teenagers beat me up!!

So, it's the end of an era. But, Chase won't be sitting at home twiddling his thumbs now that he's done with karate. He is on his school soccer team and they practice nearly every afternoon, unless they have a game. It's a quick season (5 weeks, 8 games), but it's a LOT of practice. And he is really looking forward to playing tackle (gulp) football at school in the Fall. And this summer, he is going to volunteer at VBS at our church for a week in early June, go camping in Utah with Divine Hubby and some good Colorado friends in late June, then head to Wisconsin for a two-week camp in mid-July, followed by his annual week-long trip to see my parents on the East Coast in early August. So, I'm not sure he will miss karate much until, oh, say, Christmas. He's always been a man on the move.

Like I always say...if you name your kid an action verb, you get what you deserve. I sure love my little action verb. Wouldn't have him any other way!

And this is the one where my mom disowns me...

2010-03-07T19:53:00.002-07:00

It's time. To test the maternal relationship in the STQ family.

Chase has a very interesting project in his Math class. It is all about consumer math, and has five parts. We started part one today (and no, it's not due tomorrow. Sheesh - have a little faith, people!). Part one is to go on a "big shop" with your parents and write down all of the prices, then round the prices to the nearest dollar and when totalled, see how far that total is from the actual total. It was very interesting and I discovered a few things:

1. When you are actually LOOKING at the prices before putting things in your cart, you notice just how stinkin expensive the yummy stuff is.
2. You often put the yummy stuff back when you realize just how spendy it is (notice I said OFTEN).
3. You remember the prices when the checker rings you up.

So, as the checker is ringing my groceries up, I notice a few items are not the same price I remembered and that Chase wrote down. Like by a long shot in some cases. I was already causing eye-rolling and heavy sighing from the people behind me with my coupon issues (fodder for another blog), so I decided NOT to argue the $1.22 for tortillas that were clearly marked $1.00 or the $1.81/lb for red onions that were clearly marked $.88/lb. No, I didn't cause a problem, and no, I didn't let my ice cream melt while I complained. I came back later. With my highlighted receipt in hand. And yes, I went to the shelves to double-check and yes, I was right on all of them. So, I marched up to the customer service desk and explained my issue. He refunded me my $4.55 in cash and then just looked at me.

Me: So, is that it? Did you fix the prices?
Him: Um, I gave you your refund.
Me: Yes, but what about the fact that the prices are wrong in the computer?
Him: Oh, I can't fix that.
Me: Well, that doesn't really help anything, now does it? You give me my $4.55 back but what about all of the other people who are buying tortillas, red onions, Downy and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls? What about them?
Him: Sorry, what?

So, I left. As I walked out of the store, I stopped for a second (only two people ran into me with their carts as I stood there, and I'm fine, thanks). I realized that I should talk to the manager. But, I didn't want to talk to the manager. I was annoyed. So, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to write a letter and give them a week to fix the prices before I come buy onions, tortillas, Downy and cinnamon rolls again.

I know, I know, you are wondering WHY, STQ, WHY would your dear sainted Mommi disown you for this post? Cause after I left Wal-Mart, I was feeling a bit smug and like a rabble-rouser. So, I went to Smith's (the local name for Kroger around here) and spent an hour comparing the Wal-Mart prices to the Smith's prices. I was absolutely floored. I know Wal-Mart is not beloved, is often reviled, and even considered the root of many problems facing America today. But, it saved me $53.00 today. FIFTY-THREE DOLLARS in ONE SINGLE TRIP! That, my friends, is some serious savings.

So, Mom, I hope you will still love me and claim me in the morning. Cause I gotta say, I'm a Wal-Mart shopper. Except for produce, cause WM produce is just all kinds of nasty. And meat. Yucky. Maybe with my WM savings, I can afford to shop at Whole Foods for the rest! :)

Maybe I've been out of the South too long but...

2010-03-06T18:35:00.006-07:00

...I have discovered that it's possible to be too nice. Yep, I said it. Too. Freakin. Nice. I went to Bank of America the other day to pay our rent because although WE bank at Wells Fargo, our landlord banks at B of A. And B of A apparently has decided that the drivethrough is just not acceptable anymore, so they don't have one. Can you imagine? But, I digress...

So, I waltz in, Wells Fargo check and B of A deposit slip in hand. A Smiling Blonde Woman (SBW) approaches me with a gigantic smile worthy of a Miss America crown.

SBW: Hi, welcome to Bank of America! And what can we do for you today??
Me: Um, I need to make a deposit.
SBW: Oh, is it into your B of A account?
Me: Um, no. I don't bank with B of A, it's my rent.
SBW: Oh. Well, have you thought of banking with us? You could transfe-er it onli-ine (her singsong voice dragging out every possible sylla-ble) .
Me: Nope.
SBW: (No longer smiling, but still blonde) Ok, go see the tellers.
Me: (head bowed slightly in shame) K.

Stand, stand, stand.
(Enter New Smiling Blonde Woman (NSBW) approaching me with a clipboard clutched to her breast)

NSBW: Hello-o, and what can we do for you today?
Me: Um, I need to make a deposit.
NSBW: OH, is it into your B of A account?
Me: Um, I've already been through this once over there (gesturing to SBW who is accosting another victim, I mean greeting another customer) and she passed me through to the tellers.
NSBW: But, don't you HAVE a Bank of America perfect wonderful amazing checking account?
Me: No.
NSBW: Oh. (She is not quite sure what to do with this information)

It's my turn, finally!!! The Teller turns a 100-watt smile on me and says
T: Well, good MORning, and welcome to Bank of AMERica! How can I HELP you?
Me (thinking): For all that is good and holy, please deposit this check so I can get out of this place!!!
Me (saying): (nothing, just pushing the paperwork across the counter)
T: Well, have just the VERY BEST day, Mrs. Wood and PLEASE let us know if we can EVER earn your business here at BANK of AMERica!

I run out as fast as humanly possible.

I know it's good business to be helpful and friendly, but as a SOUTHERNER, for heaven's sake...I beg of you. Stop. Being. So. Nice. To. Me. I may make a sign for my next visit.

Can't they just have one little bitty drivethrough??? :(

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2010-02-25T11:07:00.002-07:00

So, just when ya think you've got your life all figured out and things are swimming along smoothly, BAM! Life hits ya right between the eyes, right? Our little STQ family knows that all too well. We have moved, relocated, transferred and just flat out disappeared from a LOT of different zip codes these past five years. Each time, we thought we were all settled, and GAZINGA! here it came. SO, I refuse to use the "s" word here in Vegas (the "s" word in question here is "settled"...sadly, I do occasionally use the REAL "s" word, but I digress...). It's funny, we love our little house and our neighborhood is wonderful and full of nice kids, but it's been almost a year in this house, and hubby and I are starting to get that "let's put all of our crap in cardboard boxes, rent a U-Haul and shlep it somewhere" look in our eyes. Not really, but kinda.

We are pretty settled here in Vegas. Not quite settled enough that we are buying a house, but settled enough that we are looking at open houses on the weekends. Sometimes. Except when we decide we are absolutely NOT going to buy a house and that's final. But then, we find one that is nice, in the area and inexpensive...and the whole process starts over again.

There was a house this past week that looked perfect. REALLY close to school, in our price range, nice neighborhood, one-story, pool... :) but it would have required an offer, oh, say, within two hours of our having seen it.

Hmmmmmm.

Divine hubby and I (ok, more him than me, but there's no surprise there!!!) wisely decided that it's not a good idea to rush into spending a gazillion dollars for something if it's not perfect and we don't have the time to really think, ponder, mull and otherwise study it to death. So, we passed. And I'm glad, except when I'm not. Ya know?

Anyway, the question is...ARE we buying a house? Um, not today. Maybe tomorrow? But definitely not today. Unless I see an open house sign on the way to school in a bit... :)

Grad school and the dog

2010-02-11T08:13:00.003-07:00

We have a 14-yr-old Corgi-daschund mix (read: mutt) named Rusty. We got him from the pound in Austin on December 20, 1996. He is our little red-headed dynamo! As a matter of fact, unless you look at his teeth (or lack thereof), you would never believe he's a day over 5 or 6. He has been a great dog, and we have enjoyed him over the years. He loves many things in life, but several specific things rise to the top:

1. His dog door (ok, we love that too. 14-yr-old bladders don't hold as much as they once did..)

2. His morning treat

3. Popcorn, cheese and any kind of meat that might drop from the table

4. His daily walk

Well, since I've been in grad school in the evenings and Divine Hubby is busier with Chase's activities, homework, etc., poor old Rusty isn't getting his daily constitutional every day. It's more like his bi-weekly constitutional these days. Consequently, he lays around in my view with a stricken look on his little graying face. It's pathetic.

We already get up at 5:15am every day...I should probably get up at 4:30 and take the mutt for a walk, right? It would be good for this graying girl as well as her pooch. I have great intentions, and I set the alarm and everything but alas. My body simply resists the urge to see the light of day before 5:15! Maybe tomorrow. Hope springs eternal, Rusty!!! :)

Conflict and resolution

2010-02-05T22:05:00.002-07:00

Ok, I'm taking a poll. Who out there just LOVES conflict? Raise your hands.

Anyone?

No one?

Oh, well there's you, but...

:)

Divine Hubby and I have decided to declare our house a conflict-free zone. We hope the children will join us in this new peace treaty, but find it doubtful.

I also think I'll have to wait until after Smackdown is over before all conflict will cease in the STQ household...it's pretty contentious and my boys just LOVE to fight during the show!

My parents are wondering "Who hijacked my STQ's blog and wrote such silly statements??"

When I was but a svelte young thing, I would argue the paint off the wall. I argued from my 13th birthday until the day I left for college (and if memory serves, I might have shouted a few arguments out the window as I drove out of town...). As a teenager, I loved nothing better than a good old-fashioned shouting match with my Dad in the kitchen.

Good times. :)

As an adult, I have grown to truly despise contention, arguing, strife and conflict in general. I'd like to say it's because I have become such a deep Christian and now represent the words of the Beatitudes (blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Children of God), but really it's cause it makes my stomach hurt, makes me cry and then my eyes swell up and I look like crap for 24 hours or so. I know, I'm deep. It's a gift.

Anyway, I have banished all conflict from my life. I'm moving to Tibet and going to live on a mountain with the goats and meditate on my navel for the rest of my natural life.

Except it's probably hot in Tibet. And cold. And is there humidity? I am NOT going to live there if there's humidity. Ooh, and are there bugs? Eeeewwww. Otherwise? I'm SO there.

Hangin out in Phoenix

2010-01-24T09:20:00.002-07:00

Divine Hubby and I have a divine daughter who attends Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. She is gorgeous, brilliant and in all ways, divine. (Ok, maybe not ALL ways, but she's 19...) She has a condo in Phoenix. Her condo is lovely, safe and was an amazing buy for our little family.

The water heater leaks.

Oops.

SO, she called the warranty company and said "come fix it!"

They came.

Apparently the water heater has been leaking since the Eisenhower administration, which is roughly when it was installed. Thankfully, she lives in Phoenix which has a humidity level of around -5. So, no mold, but the water heater is WAY past its prime. The insurance dudes who came to rob her blind, I mean install her new water heater, had all kinds of excuses and decided that unless we paid $1300, they couldn't install her water heater.

We are now in Phoenix installing her water heater and will probably only charge her $1100 to do it. Aren't we a peach??

As usual, things just didn't go as planned...it's no standard installation job and we've run into more than our fair share of snags. BUT, it looks like things may have turned a positive corner this morning and we're feeling hopeful that we can leave sometime before midnight tonight... which is good because we all have work/school tomorrow!

It's been a work weekend but we've had a little fun too. Funny, I remember my dad doing these things for me when I became an adult and YESICANDOITALLBYMYSELFBUTPLEASECOMEHELPDAD!! Dads are great for helping with things like water heaters...cars...bugs...leaky shower heads...volt meters...and all things relating to the IRS. :)

Bring it on, 2010.

2010-01-06T22:30:00.009-07:00

A LOT has happened in the STQ household lately and I find myself feeling like blogging. Rare these days, I know - my mom frequently reminds me. :)

We had a giant group of STQ family members from all over the US congregate here in Sin City for New Years. My parents from SC, my brother, his wife and the fabulous Haven (aged 2) from another town in SC, my aunt and uncle from TX, their 2 grown (and fabulous) daughters from Seattle, my aunt from CA and my (equally-fabulous) step-daughter from AZ all flew in to join me, Divine Hubby and the (oh-so-fabulous) Chase for four wonderful days of food, games, movies, laughter and fun. I did force my will a bit and we had a phabulous phamily photo perphormed (sorry, had to continue it).

Are we a gorgeous family or what? And what were the odds we would all wear red shirts on the same day??? We did look a little funny walking through the mall to the photo place - one person stopped us and asked what store we worked in. Extra credit points if you noticed Ziggy in the picture at first glance... :)

It was a wonderful visit with everyone. Miss Haven stayed with us (of course) while her parents enjoyed a little quiet hotel-room time at the La Quinta down the street. LOVE having a 2-yr-old around at Christmas time!

But, alas, all good things must come to an end and everyone got on their respective airplanes and left Lost Wages. After purging the house of chocolate (ok, so I ate some too...), we have returned to what passes for normal around here. School has started again for everyone except Megan (college student, don'tcha know). Chase has waxed VERY eloquently (and often) about how unfair it is that she gets two more weeks off. Life's unfair, my sweet boy. Time ya learned it! :) I'm such a sympathetic mom...

One of the biggest news flashes is that I am starting a Masters in Education program at UNLV this semester. Since I am (ahem) 41, and it has been (ahem) 20 years since I wrote a paper, took a test, pulled an all-nighter, etc. I am more than a smidge worried about the whole graduate-school experience. Luckily, I won't have to wait and worry too long...classes start next Tuesday. Eeeeek! I actually am looking forward to the whole experience - while subbing has been a very mixed-bag for me, I have learned that I enjoy teaching special-ed and it seems to enjoy me as well. I have also learned that I feel very passionate about low-income special-ed children in particular. They have everything stacked against them in life and I think it really takes an adult advocate to make sure those kiddos get what they need to succeed. So, in the Summer of 2011 (wow that's a long time) I will take my next deep breath and be a teacher. It's a fast-track program developed through the school system and UNLV and it's going to be a whirlwind, I fear. My next blog entry may begin with the words, "So now I have my Masters...now what?"

Thinking about all of that has made me feel many things.

Nervous - CAN I do it? WILL I do it? Will my family survive while I'm gone and/or totally distracted and overworked for 18 months? Will I notice if they DON'T survive?

Pride - yay, I made it into grad school!

Overwhelmed - Fast-track sounds like a euphamism for "lots and lots of work in a little bit of time."

Excited - You mean I get a career too???

I'm reading a book that I am going to recommend to everyone, regardless of their stage of life or age of their children. It's called Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by twin teenaged boys named Alex & Brett Harris. It's about the sad fact that no one expects ANYTHING but mediocrity from teenagers. They sleep until noon, they sneak out of the house, they experiment with drugs and alcohol, they don't turn in projects or homework just cause they don't want to, they don't listen, they are rude and lazy and they rebel. Basically, between the ages of 13-19 kids are absolutely worthless and we should just consider that time of life is wasted time. Then when they turn 20, they magically are supposed to become productive members of society and be amazing achievers. This book is about being different. It's about what can be achieved by teenagers if the expectation is there. It's about two incredible young men who were nobody special but have done really HARD THINGS and made a difference in the world! I am (ahem) 41 and these kids are really teaching me something about working hard! I am getting my inspiration from them to do this hard thing I am embarking on, while encouraging Chase to read the book with me. I think you should read it too. I would love to hear what you think if you do read it!

So, it's been a busy few weeks for us. And it's only going to get worse, I fear. I will try to keep you guys informed of my grad school progress, but I fear it will be spotty at best. We at the STQ ranch wish all of you a happy and blessed 2010 and can't wait to see what this new year will bring!

Ask and ye shall receive...

2009-11-29T16:46:00.007-07:00

The STQ family put up the outdoor Christmas lights yesterday. As usual, there was much bickering about WHERE they go, IF they go where, WHICH ones go where...but ultimately, I got my way, as usual... :)

Once everyone came to realize the brilliance of my plan, we realized we had a problem. We have a roof rise that needed lights but was high enough that divine hubby had to get on the roof to put them up. Our 6-ft ladder just isn't high enough to get to the roof. Hmmmm. So, I went to our beloved Vikings-loving neighbors to borrow their ugly purple-and-gold ladder...not home. I then went down to Frank's house, where he was out in the driveway contemplating his own Christmas light placement.

Me: Hey Frank, do you have a biiiig ladder?

Frank: Yep - 6 footer.

Me: Nope. Need a biiiig ladder to get on the roof.

Frank doesn't have a biiiig ladder. Hmmmm.

Me: (musing out loud with Frank, mind you) Wonder who might have a biiiig ladder I could borrow?

Camera pans to SUV slowly driving by Frank's house with a big COX cable sign on it and a (wouldn'tyaknowit) biiig ladder strapped to the roof. Seriously, right.as.I.said.it. It was kinda freaky...

Me: (jokingly) Like that one. I wonder if that guy would loan me his ladder?

Camera pans back to SUV as the brake lights come on and he backs up to Frank's house.

Frank: Oh yeah, I forgot COX cable is coming out here to do some work today. Huh.

Me: Huh.

The COX guy was more than happy to loan us his biiiig ladder and my boys got on the roof to string the Christmas lights. Needless to say, Chase was thrilled to be up on the roof and has already asked when he can get back up there again.

Now, I hate to trivialize God, and I DO know that He's got bigger issues facing Him and His time than my needing a biiiig ladder, but I sure do appreciate His divine intervention in sending me just the right ladder when I needed it! And our lights look beautiful!!

Bad Mommy

2009-11-16T09:16:00.002-07:00

So, my son's friend (with whom he spent a great deal of the past three days) has come down with H1N1. 103.8 fever, vomiting, coughing, burning eye sockets, and all the weird symptoms that come with it. My sweet boy has been absolutely perfect...until 6am this morning. He woke up all grumpy, coughing (kind of), flushed and hangdog. My initial thought was...riiiiiight. BUT, the schools are all paranoid and sending kids home for sneezing twice, and if I sent him, my thought is that he would be sent home by 10. So, I made him take a shower, dried his hair, gave him some medicine, clean warm pj's and sent him back to bed.

NOW.

Since he was four, my child has NEVER taken a nap. Not when he was up at a sleepover all night, not when he was sick with a huge fever, not when I demanded it, not NEVER. At 6:30 this morning, I put him back in bed and told him he needed to try to sleep, but could read if he couldn't sleep. I took the DS so there were no electronic options. Five minutes later, I checked on him. Sleeping. It's been nearly two hours and he's still asleep.

SO.

I have decided I am now a bad mommy for doubting my cherub. Honestly, I shouldn't doubt him - he's a lot of things, but a liar, he ain't. And I didn't actually think he was lying, I just thought that EVERYONE thinks they have the Swine flu at 6am on a chilly Monday morning, and he needed to just go to school and shake it off. But, if he is still asleep at 10, I may just call the doctor.

Autumn in Vegas and other random thoughts

2009-11-10T08:30:00.002-07:00

My mom has accused me of abandoning blogging for Facebooking. I think she's right. I am certainly addicted to crackbook! I occasionally think of deleting FB from my computer, but then how would I know my friend Bevin is headed to the dentist or my friend Amy is tired this morning, or that Julie's family is driving her crazy? I mean, really! These are important things to know on a Tuesday morning when I can't find a job. Plus, I have a poll on my FB right now about whether or not I should get a Kindle...go comment if you have an opinion!

Living in Vegas has its drawbacks. The landscape is fairly pornographic, gambling is in every grocery store, bar and gas station, not just the Strip, it NEVER rains and the summers are absolutely brutal. HOWEVER, October and November are stunning. We haven't had our A/C on since the end of September and our electric bills are down to under $100 a month. The skies are crystal clear and brilliantly blue every single day (did I mention it doesn't rain? well, there really aren't clouds either...), the humidity is single-digit (and on the low end of the single-digit scale) and it's just lovely. We have roses in our backyard, and they are blooming beautifully. There is just nothing you can complain about in the autumn here in Sin City.

We went Trick-or-Treating over Halloween and had a strange experience. We have friends who have friends who live in a VERY swank neighborhood. So, we tailgated with those friends into said neighborhood to beg candy from the rich. It was enlightening! At one house, they told the kids that they were out of candy. The mom was coming up the walk and heard the dad say that. Her comment was, "That will teach me to only spend $500 on candy this year. Hate it when we run out!" Um. Excuse me? I haven't spent $500 on Halloween candy over my whole LIFE! I was sorry we missed that candy, cause I figure it must have been Godiva!!! Then there was the Rolls Royce. Yep, I said Rolls Royce. There was a little kid trick-or-treating by himself. His father (and the father's driver, apparently) were following along in the Rolls. Cracked me up, but made me sad for that poor little boy. I mean, ya can't walk with the little guy? And the dad is a local celebrity so I happen to know he's NOT in a wheelchair or something.

Our college-aged daughter is planning to come to Vegas for Thanksgiving this year - we are looking forward to it! I have never ever cooked a Thanksgiving meal. We always go to some relative's house or something, where I have helped cook, but never done it all by my lonesome. I'm excited!! There will only be 4 of us, but I'm planning a HUGE spread, just because that is what Thanksgiving is all about. So, if you read my blog and are in the Vegas area, drop by. We'll have leftovers. :) Oh and if you have your grandmother's recipe for amazing stuffing, I'll take that too...I'm recipe shopping at the moment.

What else...I'm still subbing and working for my non-profit literacy group, and hanging out with my family and friends. We are still leading Financial Peace University at our church, still working on our debt-snowball while keeping our daughter in her out-of-state college and our son in his private school. I got a new computer, which is great now that it's all set up (thanks, Lefty!!) and am reading every book I can get my hands on. Life is good!

Are you still out there??

2009-10-08T20:08:00.003-07:00

The beginning of the school year has kicked my booty! I've been busy, tired, lazy and just plain didn't wanna blog. But, I'm over it.

Some funny things have happened lately and I have been dying to tell you about them:

1. I subbed today in a 6th grade math class (heaven help me) and there were two funny things.

a. The teacher had a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Barack Obama standing in the corner. So, I had our esteemed commander-in-chief smiling over my shoulder all day. The funny thing is that I kept catching sight of a man standing in the corner and it surprised me all day. I kept thinking, "Who is that man in the corner." It was funny how often it surprised me when I caught a glimpse of him!!!

b. During my third period class, I was taking roll and while many of the kids had hyphenated last names, one in particular was funny. His name was Anthony Rodriguez-Rodriguez. Yep, sportsfans, his parents went to all of the trouble to hyphenate his name when they both had the same last name (even spelled the same!!). HILARIOUS!!

2. September 22 was my (ahem) 41st birthday. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you heard that once or twice...For my birthday, my parents flew me to SC to attend my niece's second birthday party. It was quite the soiree, I'll tell ya! It rained nearly the entire weekend, but mercifully the rain stopped during the actual party. Because the kids were all two-ish, the party was planned to be outdoors, and thankfully, the rain stopped long enough that the party was able to be held outdoors. There was a playscape (wet), swings (soaked), a big, beautiful backyard (drenched) and about 12 giant balls scattered around the big beautiful backyard for playing with. I will tell ya that I've never seen quite so many little girls in smocked dresses quite so wet, muddy and happy! The party was an absolute hit and I give total kudos to my sister-in-law and her mom for planning it!

3. After the party, I had to hop on a plane and head back to Vegas. I had to fly a commuter plane into Atlanta and it was delayed time and time again. We finally got on the plane and headed to Atlanta. As we were landing in Atlanta, it was flooding. The plane was silent as lightning crashed and crackled all around the plane for the last 15 minutes we were in the air. It was an eerie sight and I wondered how often lightning strikes planes...

Basically, over the past month Chase has had roughly 87 projects at school, I am juggling my two part-time jobs, we are in the middle of flag football season (5-0 baby - GO CRUSADERS!!!) and generally life is crazy. I am hoping to blog more often...no, I am planning to blog more often. There have been some other things that have happened recently that I deemed blog-worthy, but I can't come up with them all now...

Yeah yeah...

2009-09-09T21:36:00.003-07:00

We're knee-deep in meetings, subbing, projects (4 due next week, thanks SO MUCH teachers...), football, karate, Financial Peace University, fundraising galas and oh yeah, eating and sleeping and that extra stuff.

I got no time to blog. I'm exhausted.

I'll blog tomorrow. I promise.

Good night! :)

Just call me Perry Mason

2009-09-02T07:57:00.003-07:00

Ok, so Perry Mason was a lawyer and I was anything BUT yesterday, but as witnesses don't usually have NAMES in movies and TV shows, ya gotta cut me some slack.

On August 22, 2008, I was driving along Charleston Blvd and decided to go left on Decatur. I was behind one car with VERY dark windows in the left turn lane. The light turned green, and there was no movement of said car. I gave it a couple of polite seconds then tapped my horn lightly. Still no movement. I then honked louder. Nothin. Meanwhile, everyone is honking behind me and trying to change lanes, glaring at me as they scream past, etc. So, I put my blinker on and try, in vain, to change lanes. No one will let me. I sit WITH MY BLINKER ON through three changes of the light before some nice person let me into his lane and I got around the stopped car. As I drove by, I looked in and saw that the driver was slumped over the wheel.

Huh.

My first (admittedly, jaded) thought was that he was drunk and passed out. Then I realized that he actually could be DEAD! So, I called 911 and reported it. After reporting the incident, I decided I wanted to know if he was dead or not (did I mention I'm the nosy sort?), so I came back around and parked in a parking lot across the street to watch. The police showed up and tried, in vain, to rouse the guy. Finally, just as they were about to break into his car, he woke up, got out of the car and tried to stagger away. Did I mention that his car was STILL IN THE ROAD?? Well, it was.

Anyway, once I saw the guy was alive, I left the scene and didn't really ever think of it again. That was August, 2008, about two months after we moved here.

This past May, I get a call on my cell phone and the guy says he is a LV City Attorney. I immediately flush and my pulse increases. What did I do? I wonder. He asks if I remember the incident on August 22 of 2008. Um. Kinda. Can you elaborate on what incident? So, he elaborated and I recalled what happened. Well, the lawyer wanted to know if he could subpoena me to testify against this guy when it came to trial on September 1. So, I agreed.

Ok, long setup to tell you that I went to court yesterday to testify against said sleepy drunk. I didn't get to testify at all because he copped a plea (love the courtroom jargon), but several really funny things happened while I was at the courthouse.

1. When I first got there, I asked and was pointed to courtroom 5C. I took the elevator up and stood outside the gigantic wooden doors of courtroom 5C. Hmmm, was I supposed to go in? So, I did. Inside the gigantic wooden doors of justice, were some glass doors through which I could see the judge and lawyers doing their thing. And on the door, there was a sign that said: WITNESSES WAIT TO BE CALLED BEFORE ENTERING.
So, I went back out the gigantic wooden doors of justice and sat down on a metal bench. I sat there a few minutes, then looked at the guy next to me and asked him if we are supposed to check in with someone. The guy shrugged and said he didn't know. Later, I discovered that guy was the guy I was there to testify against... oops!

2. So, I decide to go into the courtroom and talk to the city attorney who tells me to cool my heels on a bench in the back of the room. As I am the nosy sort, and as I am a BIG FAN of courtroom TV dramas, I am giddy with excitement at the thought of watching the drama in real life. The first guy is called up (not my guy) and he is a young man (20's) who is accompanied by his dad. The guy is accused of domestic violence and theft. As they stand up to talk to the judge, I have a perfect view of the dude's back. The dude is wearing a dark suit. I see something on the back of his jacket and I strain to identify it...it's the security tag from the store. So, this rocket-scientist is in court for THEFT and he STOLE THE SUIT that he wore to court. Hi-freakin-larious! I had to stifle the desperate urge to laugh out loud, it was so funny!

3. Next, they call another guy's name. The bailiff goes through a door and comes in with the guy. He's in an ORANGE JUMPSUIT and SHACKLES! I mean, he is shuffling in because his feet are in leg irons and he can't raise his hands because his hands are handcuffed to CHAINS around his waist! I sit up a little straighter in my chair. THIS is gonna be good. This guy must be in here for something exciting like murder or something cool like that. Nope. He had a marijuana pipe in his car when he was stopped for DUI. Aw man! I was hoping for something really cool.

All of that made for an interesting hour in court - as I said, I never got to testify which was disappointing, but it really was an entertaining and educational hour or so. The judge was a tough cookie - he was about to let my DUI guy off with probation until he noticed that this was not his first DUI. After that, the judge got mad. He hollered at the guy awhile, showed him a poster with horrific bloody pictures of victims of DUI accidents, then said," You know what, sir? Your sentence will be suspended all except for the first 10 days. Those first 10 days you will serve in jail. Starting now. Bailiff, take this man away please." And they hauled him off in cuffs! I can't imagine what he would have said to the first guy if he'd known he was sportin' a hot suit!!!

Just another routine day in Vegas, my friends.

Ain't no way...

2009-08-26T06:50:00.003-07:00

So, the news is we're all going to get the H1N1 flu bug this season. Well, ok, at least half of us will. And of that half, like a gazillion of us will die from it. (Aren't you glad you clicked over to read this cheery-ness and joy this morning??)

My doctor "highly recommends" two things:
1. Get a pneumonia shot.
2. Get an H1N1 shot.

His reasoning is that most people don't actually die of the flu. When they get a particularly nasty strain of the flu, they often develop a secondary infection which kills them. That secondary infection is often pneumonia.

The pneumonia shot has been around, oh, forever.

I got a pneumonia shot.

H1N1 vaccine, ON THE OTHER HAND, has been around like 10 minutes. My doctor's statement was that "we're basically experimenting on the Europeans because they are all getting it months before the US does. We'll see how they do with it."

Um.

Idon'tthinksothankyouverymuch.

NOW. Do NOT place me among the folks who refuse all vaccines and/or innoculations. I am personally full of needle holes where I have gotten flu shots, vaccines, tetanus, etc. And my poor kid might spring a leak from all of the shots he's gotten in his nearly 12 years on this big blue marble.

BUT. I cannot get past the fact that doctors used to think thalidomide was a good idea. And Phen-Fen. And leeches, for heaven's sake. And whatever drug-du-jour came along that everybody just had to have. I figure my odds are pretty good. If people will be standing in line for hours to get the H1N1 shot, then lots of people around me won't get it. Statistically, that cuts my odds of getting it some. AND we're healthy, in general. That greatly lessens my odds of the worst happening, even if I do get it. My plan, if I sneeze twice in a row this winter, is to check myself into the hospital and put myself on a drip of some kind while eating bon bons and generally enjoying the solitude an iron lung affords you.

There's my soap box. If all of the poor experimented-on Europeans (and those of you who are braver than I) survive the vaccine, I may get the shot next year. But I don't like being anybody's guinea pig and with my general lack of confidence in the US government these days, I'm gonna get the regular flu shot, eat 12 oranges every day, pop lots of zinc, hold my breath around people who are coughing and hope for the best.

You can smugly refuse to feel sorry for me if I get the swine flu...I give you my permission now.

It's hard to be a mom

2009-08-24T08:16:00.004-07:00

My baby just started MIDDLE SCHOOL TODAY!!

I hardly slept at all last night.
He fell asleep at 8pm and slept like a rock.

I ran around this morning making sure we could get all of his school supplies in one trip.
He informed me that he did NOT need to take them all, I could NOT help him take them in and he would NOT need to call and ask me to bring them to him. (There may have been an eye-roll or two during this conversation, I'm sad to report.)

I made him take a shower this morning, insisted on drying his hair for him, ironed his clothes and fretted over which backpack he should bring.
He kept playing his DS and insisting that he WAS ready for school, he KNEW I loved him and NO, it did not matter which backpack he brought today.

School has been in for nearly 30 minutes and I still haven't eaten a bite.
He ate 2 breakfast tacos (2 eggs, sausage and cheese in each, thankyouverymuch) a banana and a waffle.

Bottom line.

I am worried.
He is not.

I should remember all of the other times I have underestimated him. It's funny. I'm his biggest fan. I know he's brilliant and wonderful and a good friend and will do fine, but when it comes down to it, I guess I really think he needs me to pave the way for him!!! When will I ever learn that he doesn't?? We're at the point where he doesn't actually NEED me around for much. I guess I'm at the point where I hope he WANTS me around...

It's a funny balance, this raising kids thing. On one hand, I want Chase to be fiercely independent. We have raised him to do chores, take care of himself, be able to cook, clean, and generally be independent of us. On the other hand, I want him to depend on me for things. Even though I don't. And he doesn't, really. It's such a hard thing to make sure he is confident, competent and able to take care of himself while I want to keep taking care of him. He's my baby, yet he's almost as tall as I am and regularly beats me at Scrabble!

I guess the fact that he kissed me goodbye in the car before he got out and told me he loved me, all while telling me that he could handle all of this without me says that we're handling the balance ok...

(sniff)

Growing up is scary!

2009-08-10T11:15:00.004-07:00

So, Chase is going into the 6th grade. He's nearly TWELVE!

One of the things of being a "tween" is that you are just too darn old to go to Vacation Bible School anymore. That is sad - Chase has loved VBS everywhere we have lived. He loves the skits, he loves the stories, he loves the macaroni art projects and he LOVES the singing and dancing. Even at the more conservative churches we have gone to, if you give a big group of children loud, happy music, they dance.

This year, Chase is going to VBS again, but in a different role. He's going to be a helper instead of a participant. He is at church this morning getting his marching orders and getting all set up for the first day of VBS tomorrow. I left him this morning looking very unsure and a little scared, with a group of middle schoolers who were enthusiastically hanging banners and creating skits. I'm going to go pick him up in about 45 minutes and hope to pick up a very different Chase. I hope he has gotten plugged in, met some kids and feels more connected. He likes to be in charge, so I'm hoping he will enjoy being in charge of the younger kids and have fun with his new role this week.

Chase has been very reluctant to talk about school, and for the first time, he is NOT looking forward to school starting this year. I finally got him to tell me he is really nervous about going to middle school. And, when you look at it from his point of view, it is pretty scary. A great big new school (6th-12th grades), changing classes, lockers, bunches of new kids, and starting without his good friend Bobby who is a year younger. I've tried to talk Bobby's mom into letting him skip a grade, but alas, she doesn't think it's a good idea.

So, no VBS, new class in church where he is the youngest and doesn't really know anyone (and they don't play games as much...), a new school with lots of new kids and new experiences. I'm a little nervous for him, just thinking about all of the changes.

I am absolutely certain he will be fine as soon as he gets into things, but for the next 13 days, we're all going to be a little nervous, I think!

On the road again...

2009-07-23T20:36:00.002-07:00

No, no, no, we're not moving again (don't even think it!). We're headed back East to visit some friends! Funny that when you live ALMOST on the West coast, back East is pretty much anywhere but California. So, Chase and I are headed to Colorado for a week-long visit. We are looking forward to many things on this trip:

1. Cooler temps (and by cooler, I mean under 100. I'm not so picky...)
2. Visiting good friends
3. Girls' Night Out! If you are in the Denver area, are a girl and want to go, let me know! :)
4. Visiting with family
5. A birthday party

We have missed our Colorado friends and look forward to catching up with all of them! We were also hoping to get to Green Bay this summer, but as it requires a plane ticket, the cost of the car repairs have made that impossible. (sigh) We miss our GB friends!! We also hoped to get to Austin, but see earlier excuse about the car...

One of the benefits of constantly relocating is that you have free places to stay with fabulous people everywhere you go!

It's hot here, man

2009-07-13T18:25:00.002-07:00

So, I'm in Vegas for my second summer. Doesn't it just seem like yesterday when I was whining about my FIRST summer in Vegas? It doesn't seem possible that we have lived here for over a year now.

And it's hot.

Not as hot as Phoenix, apparently...

But it's really hot.

We have enjoyed going to the pool in our neighborhood - there is always a good group of boys hurling themselves off of the diving board and Chase is happy to join in. It's great at the pool because, did I mention, it's hot.

One difference between my whining about the heat last summer and my whining about the heat this summer is that I have now experienced all four seasons here in Sin City. I remember when we moved here, I was always asking people why in the name of all that's holy would anyone LIKE living here. I got lots of strange answers, but often people said ya just can't beat the weather. WHAAAAAT?? I thought as I nodded politely, silently thinking that their brains must be baked from all of the heat.

Who in the name of Jehozaphat would like this weather??

Well, in July and August? Nobody likes this weather. It's a dry heat, but that only takes ya so far when it's 115. Walking out of my front door is like walking into a blast furnace. I often channel Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as I'm slogging through the flames in my front yard...

But I gotta say. It is dangerously nice here the other 10 months of the year. Even June isn't too hot - and the Fall is downright glorious. I even broke down and wore a coat a few times this year...I swore my Midwestern blood was too thick and I'd never be one of those thin-blooded Las Vegans...but alas. And don'tcha love that I consider myself "Midwestern?" I lived there all of 11 months. :)

So anyway, I'm in Vegas for another summer. Did I mention that it's hot here? Not sure I did...
But this summer is sooo much better than last summer. Last summer, we had no friends. Last summer, we had no church. Last summer, we had no community. Last summer lasted for 10 years. Last summer I probably could have used some serious anti-depressants. This summer, we have lots of friends. This summer, we are very involved at our church and attend regularly. This summer, we have book clubs, Bible studies, free movies, karate classes and lots of community. This summer is flying by - and we are having a blast!

Wildlife in Vegas

2009-07-10T06:50:00.004-07:00

So Paul-the-pond-guy called yesterday afternoon and said he's got some fish for us. I'm thinkin, wahoo! Salmon for dinner! No, no, no, not that kind of fish...it's koi...for our pond.

Paul-the-pond-guy (yes, I think that is his real name), keeps promising that once it really gets hot the algae will die. But, I'm a little concerned because he also keeps smiling lovingly at the algae and calling it an "ecosystem." Yeah, so is kudzu, but ya don't want that around, now do ya?? Not all ecosystems are to be cultivated, am I right? We bought a net and are scooping the algae out every day. Good times.

It's been 100+ every day this week. Not a cloud in the sky. Sun beating down on said pond. Algae seems healthy and is certainly growing. Am wondering just how hot REALLY HOT is?

But I digress...

So he brought us new fish. Four to be exact. Two of them are frankly enormous. I feel like we have whales in our little pond. But, it is fun to have fish - Chase and I spent as much time as we could stand in the heat watching the fish swim and eat. Guess what Koi eat? ALGAE!! Eat, little guys, eat!

We also have finally mastered the art of the hummingbird feeder. After about three beautiful blown-glass purchases (that leaked sugar water all over my patio thankyouverymuch) and one lovely terra-cotta feeder I found in a cabinet at the house (that leaked sugar water all over my $%#@ patio, thankyouverymuch), we have a very unattractive plastic one. That hangs from a metal hook on our patio. It does NOT leak and the hummingbirds love it!

So the moral of this story is: beautiful is not always functional. And at my house, algae seems to grow in the heat. Who knew?

Night terrors

2009-07-06T09:42:00.003-07:00

Not sure if I have shared this with all of my cyber-buddies out there, but I suffer from night terrors. I have suffered from this all of my life, but mostly they have been intermittent. Over the past couple of months, they have been occurring almost every night, and often several times a night.

The major cause of night terrors seems to be stress.

Om nama jama (that's me meditating)

The main treatment for night terrors is drugging myself up to my eyeballs every night.

Hmmmmm.

Om nama shlama (more meditating)

There are many different ways night terrors are manifested. Mine go like this:

Sleeping...maybe 30-45 minutes after going to sleep... when suddenly

BUGS CRAWLING ON WALLS, SMALL RODENTS INVADING BEDROOM, FLYING SPIDERS DRAGGING THEIR NASTY LEGS IN MY FACE, LARGE MEN ENTERING BEDROOM, SNAKES UNDER BED

I awake, freaking out about whatever flavor of night terror has graced me with its presence that night. The night terror continues until I turn on the light and/or wake up divine hubby with my screaming and freaking out.

Divine hubby just LOVES them, I'll tell ya. He has often said he has a letter with a lawyer somewhere so when the police find him dead in bed of a heart attack, they will know I've been trying to kill him for years.

So, the question is, do I drug myself to my eyeballs and enjoy marital bliss (albeit slightly dulled by the narcotics), or do I continue freaking out every night, several times a night, and possibly wake up one day and find that divine hubby has packed his toothbrush and moved on to quieter pastures?

At this point, divine hubby is considering duct tape...

I'm considering Yoga...

I have an appointment on Wednesday with a neurologist for a possible sleep study. It will be the only night I will wish for a night terror to happen! Of course, that night, I'll sleep like the dead...

Marathon bike rides, and why you shouldn't attempt them.

2009-06-26T06:48:00.003-07:00

Chase and I are trying to get some exercise every day this summer. Just to keep our girlish figures, don'tcha know. On Wednesday, we decided to take a bike ride. Harmless enough, right? Harrumph.

So, we set out of the neighborhood and headed down the road.

In case you haven't visited our fair city, Vegas is in a valley.
Surrounded by mountains.
The Strip (which is NOT where I live, thankyouverymuch) is pretty much the low point, geographically-speaking.

So, we're basically headed downhill.

NOW. Maybe I haven't actually informed you that I, sir, am no athlete. I can pedal a bike, and usually keep from falling off, but athletic? Nope. Not me.

I am very much enjoying our little downhill ride. Wind in the hair, bugs in the teeth, and all of that. It's 80-ish, with a lovely little breeze.

I do keep glancing over my shoulder at the way back, but think to myself..."Self? It ain't that much of a hill, and just think of how good your butt will look after you get home."

So, we keep going.

Eventually, we decide that unless we are going to gamble our lunch hour away at the Bellagio, we should probably turn around and. ride. back.

K, so it's not that much of an incline. But, it's a continuous incline. For miles. And now, the lovely breeze has gone away. And the bank clock says it's 95 degrees.

Our lovely bike ride has become quite the ordeal.

But we press on for awhile. Huffing and puffing but making it. For maybe an hour. At which time little miss Lance Armstrong (that would be me) starts to feel kinda hot and dizzy. Images of me passing out, falling off of my bike into the street and having cars run over my head in front of my 11-yr-old son start to plague me.

So, it's a long, sad story, but I finally admitted defeat, called my friend Debi to come pick us up and we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying Debi's backyard pool.

Divine Hubby had a brilliant idea for our NEXT bike ride. Head UPHILL first, then when you've had enough, you can enjoy the lovely downhill ride home.

Huh. Brilliant.

That's why I married him! :)

Man, for a woman of leisure...

2009-06-24T06:38:00.002-07:00

...I sure don't get around to blogging very often! :(

Chase is back from his big trip to see his grandparents and to Space Camp. It was his first experience at "sleepaway" camp, and I have to deem it a big success. It was an odd feeling for me, though. My parents took him to camp, which was about 6 hours away from where they live (and they live 2000 miles from me). So, for the first time, really ever, he was sleeping away from home and he was not in the care of people who love him. I couldn't shake the feeling that that was odd.

Now, I know the current trend is that kids just don't spend the night at people's houses anymore. At least here in Vegas, it seems more the norm that a 10-yr-old kid has never had a sleepover. Chase has been sleeping over at friends' houses since he was 2. (I have good friends here who honestly question my parenting decisions when they hear that.) My good friend Kale and I had a babysitting co-op, and it quickly became obvious that it was just plain disruptive to everyone to pick the kid up at midnight. It made more sense to just let him spend the night and pick him up in the morning. So, Chase is one of the rare kiddos who absolutely NEVER has called in the middle of the night asking me to pick him up. He loves nothing better than a sleepover, and has never, to my knowledge, been homesick in any way. Which is good...except it does kinda beg the question - does he miss me at all when he's away?

Frankly, history has taught me that no, he does not.

Doesn't make the mama's heart happy.

BUT, sportsfans, we had a little development at Space Camp. HE MISSED US!!! :) He had the opportunity to call every night, and he never ever missed a call. He had a wonderful time with his grandparents (didn't miss us a bit, per usual), and loved Space Camp to pieces, but after 7 days away, he confessed to missing his dad and me. And not even "just a little" but he said he got pretty homesick the first day or so of camp. Awwwwwww (sniff). Does a mama's heart good.

But, he did not call and cry or beg me to come get him - even though he was homesick, he still participated, made new friends, told us great stories of his adventures on the phone every night and generally enjoyed himself very much. He didn't even admit to being homesick until he...WAS HOME!

So, the moral of this story is...it's wonderful to have a confident, independent child who can manage to happily exist outside of his mama's loving embrace.

Except when it's not.

If you're a mama, you understood that sentence completely. :)

Melancholy

2009-06-07T19:44:00.002-07:00

My baby boy (who yes, is nearly 12 and almost as tall as I am and regularly beats me at Scrabble, so I shouldn't really call him a baby, huh??) is leaving tomorrow. (sniff) I finally found someone who would adopt him, so he's out, baby. NOOOOO, just kidding. He's headed to my parents' house in SC for 6 days and then to SPACE CAMP at NASA.

Can I tell you how excited he is?
Very.

His mama?
Not so much.

I'm not too worried about his trip to see my parents since he's done that for the past three summers, but he's never gone to a sleep-away camp before. And ya know, I'm no geography whiz, but I don't think Nevada is REAL close to Alabama. I could be wrong, but since the flight is nearly 4 hours long, I think it might be kinda far away. He's going to be gone for eleven days. ELEVEN.

One day for every year he's been around.

I've never been away from him for so long before, and I'm feeling kinda melancholy. On one hand, I am excited for him and VERY proud of him for being so brave. He isn't worried about camp in the least. We found out there is going to be another kid with his exact name at camp at the same time. He's pretty excited about that.

I'm gonna miss him like crazy, that's all.

I'm back!!!

2009-06-02T15:30:00.004-07:00

Hey, howzitgoin? I've been out of touch for the past week or so because of our move. Yes, sportsfans, this constantly relocating chica relocated again. Thankfully, this time, it was only 8 miles away. No new schools, no new book clubs, no new doctors, no new jobs. Just a new zip code and a new house. After relocating approximately 8,435 times in the past five years, I thought this little jaunt across town would be a piece of cake. I was WRONG!!!

There is something nice about a real move and a real deadline. Because we were "just" moving across town, we didn't really have to pack, right? So, we basically didn't. What that meant was that Saturday and Sunday, we had to go through each room inch by inch and throw everything that wasn't nailed down into a box which we didn't label or seal, we simply threw in the U-Haul and hauled. Can I tell you? That's not the FDA recommended way to move.

Saturday: up at 6:00am, drop Chase at a friend's house
Move move move move move move, then the movers come for the big stuff.
Lunch.
Movers leave after lugging piano, beds, dressers, desks, etc.
Move move move move move move
Chase is invited to spend the night with said friend.
Move move move move move move
Dinner at 9pm.
Fall into bed exhausted at new house completely surrounded by boxes and junque.

Sunday: up at 6:30am (hey, we slept in!!)
Move move move move move move
Move move move move move move
Last Financial Peace University class at church
Last swim at backyard pool in old house (sniff)
Unpack unpack unpack unpack
Fall into bed exhausted at new house less surrounded by boxes but still crowded.

Monday: up at 5:26am
Divine Hubby goes to work and Chase goes to school
STQ goes to the old house and cleans like a madwoman.
Carpet cleaners show up, clean carpet and tile because I have to get the keys to the management company by noon or we will be charged for another day. More cleaning like madwoman.
Have to leave before I finished cleaning because carpet cleaners are in route to new house.
Swept quickly and left giant pile of dirt in kitchen and cleaning stuff in sink.
Carpet cleaners come to new house and clean carpet.
I drive 45 minutes in traffic to management company only to realize I left one house key and mailbox key in the house.
I go into the management company to beg and plead for them to let me mail it.
They say no.
I beg and plead to be able to bring it in tomorrow.
They say no.
I sniffle a little and then resign myself to spending roughly three more hours in the car driving back to the house, then back to the management company, then back to the house.
I go to the car and realize that yes, Virginia, there is a God...the house/mailbox key is in the car!
I tear back to the old house to finish cleaning, only to find a car with Ohio license plates in the driveway.
Thinking of the state in which I left the house, I. Freak. Out.
Luckily, it is a couple who saw it was vacant and snuck in the dog door to look around.
I ask them not to tell the management company I was there and sneak in said dog door to finish cleaning.
Three hours of feverish cleaning later, I sneak back out the dog door, am late picking up Chase from school and collapse in exhaustion at our new house.

And, did you know that there is not much need for substitute teachers during the last week of school? Huh. So, I'm basically unemployed for the summer. Which sounds good, but I was sure hoping to make a couple of hundred extra smackolas before becoming a woman of leisure again...oh well.

This woman of leisure has been unpacking all day, and honestly, it doesn't look like it! How much junque can one family have? Well, this family has a LOT.

So, think of us as you are living your leisurely, non-constantly-relocating lives. Personally, I'm hoping never to see a cardboard box again.

I'm kinda surprised at myself

2009-05-25T11:09:00.002-07:00

Ok, so anyone who knows me knows I LOOOOOOVE nothing better than to find something random to stress about. I wake up at night and can always find something to worry about that will keep me up for a good few hours. Fun stuff.

We are moving (sigh) again. No, not to a new city, just to a new house in Las Vegas. We bit off a smidge more than we could chew with our mega casa here. At least with a daughter in college ($$$), a son in private school ($$$) and me working semi-part-time as a Sub (many fewer $$ than the previous two categories). So, we are leaving the pool (wahh) and the hot tub (double wahhh) and moving closer to school to a much smaller house with no pool (did I mention wahhh) that is substantially lower in cost.

I have been excited about the move - really looking forward to getting back on budget and having a little more disposable income around here. Until this weekend, that is. We started moving into the new house on Saturday, and I started to freak out. I'm really surprised (and kinda ashamed) at my reaction. The house is a lot smaller than any of our past few houses, and a lot more modest than our current one, for sure. We're going to have to sell some stuff that won't fit into the house.

I've always considered myself a fairly non-materialistic gal. I mean, I like nice stuff, but I'm not one to be jealous over a friend's fabulous, gorgeous, gigantic casa. I like warm, cozy and easy-to clean better. Or at least that's what I've always thought. I'm really taking this move hard. Could it be that I'm more of a material girl than I thought??? :( I hope not.

Anyway, I've been surprised this past week how kinda sad I feel about the whole thing. Maybe it's just a matter of NOT wanting to move EVER again...but I'm anxious about our family and friends' reaction to our new house when they come visit.

I'm going to have to chant my mantra: "We are living like no one else so that later we can LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE!!" Dave Ramsey, don'tcha know.

So, if you're coming to visit me, don't comment on how small our house is. Instead use words like "cozy" "warm" "charming." 'Kay??

Thyroids, laryngitis, meningitis and goiters

2009-05-21T10:52:00.005-07:00

I had weird health issues this week:

Saturday night: massive headache
Sunday: Headache continued, kept me in bed most of the afternoon and finally settled into my neck. No amount of medicine gave me any relief at all.
Monday: Headache gone. Now I have laryngitis and a VERY sore throat.
Tuesday: Laryngitis continues, but add drippy nose and phlegmy cough.
Wednesday: Headache back. Plus laryngitis, nose and cough.

Wednesday, I had had enough and I went to the doctor. I was afraid of what horrible new symptom would show up next! I mean, really!! So, the doctor told me that no, I didn't have meningitis (thanks for that thought, SIL), Swine flu (gaaaaaahhhh) or the plague. I have an upper-respiratory infection and a headache. SO glad I paid good money for that special diagnosis!

BUT. It was a good thing that I went. As I have whined about to you before, my doctor has tested me 9,432 times for hypothyroidism. He seems to think that draining my entire body of blood, one vial at a time, will cure it. (sigh) So, we talked about it yesterday when I went in to be diagnosed with Typhoid fever. I had recently found out that my sweet mommi takes thyroid meds for hypothyroidism. Never knew that before, and when my doc heard that I have a family history, he called off all of the blood-drawing (thank goodness) and wrote me a prescription for Synthroid. So, I now will take a thyroid pill for the rest of my life.

BUT, that isn't even the good part. The really SUPER part of my little jaunt to the doc is that he said I'm getting a goiter. A GOITER! Oh. My. Gosh. So, I have to have an ultrasound of my thyroid next Friday to see this lovely goiter of mine and make sure that's really all it is. sigh.

Now, just in case you don't know what a GOITER is, I really would like to provide you with a visual aid, but frankly, it's too disgusting to put on my blog. So, if you're dying to see one, google it. And don't do it during lunch. It's a giant, softball-sized blob (or four) on your neck. That, my friends, is what happens if you DON'T deal with hypothyroidism. I filled my prescription about 10 seconds after seeing that lovely image. As long as you treat the condition, it won't grow like those disgusting images, but he said I have one starting.

So, the good news (because Divine Hubby gets all nervous when my blog isn't cheery): thyroid meds will help me lose weight (yay), will give me more energy (I'd do a cheer but I'm too freakin' tired) and stop the goiter (good grief) from growing. Also, I'm not dying of a rare and exotic disease...I have a cold. Yippee! The other good news is that he gave me a shot (in my buttocks, I might add) and it made me feel like 10,000% better. Still kinda phlegmy, and still singin' Bass, but my downhill slide has stopped.

And THAT, my friends, is something to celebrate!

Can you hear me now?

2009-05-18T11:07:00.002-07:00

Trust me, even if I had Verizon, you couldn't hear me now. I have laryngitis. (sigh) Yep, the one who never met someone she couldn't talk to now hasn't a thing to say. Hard to imagine, I know...

So, when I last left you faithful readers, I was frustrated. If I were being honest, I'd have to tell you that I still am frustrated, but things are improving. Things went significantly downhill for awhile, but seem to be on the upswing now. I hope so, anyway.

So anyway...I have had a weird combination of symptoms over the past 24 hours. Saturday night, we went to dinner with friends. I was feeling fine until I had the first sip of red wine. And then my head started to hurt a little. By the end of dinner, my head was pounding like a brass band. When we went home, I took some ibuprofen and went to bed.

Sunday morning, I awoke with a headache, and that spacy feeling I get when I take Nyquil (I had not taken Nyquil). Also, my voice was kinda scratchy and my throat was a little sore. I took more ibuprofen and we went to church. Throughout church, I started "sinking" and feeling worse. My head felt like it might break in two at any moment. And our church has a rock band, which didn't help matters much...

Anyway, I spent the remainder of Sunday in bed and by evening, the headache had settled into my neck. The ibuprofen never touched the pain all day long. This morning, my head feels fine, my neck is a little sore, but not much, but I now have laryngitis and a very deep, phlegmy cough. (That's what you kept reading for, isn't it. The word phlegm!! It's just not a blog without it.)

So, I think that is a weird combination of symptoms. I had to cancel my subbing job today, because who wants a sub with laryngitis? I'm waiting until about 2 to decide whether or not I can go tomorrow...

Frustration

2009-05-15T20:42:00.002-07:00

I'm frustrated.

I'm frustrated because of things that are out of my control.

And that, in itself, is very frustrating.

My stomach is in knots. I'm grouchy and not nice to be around. I felt like this nearly every single day for 10+ years. I had really hoped never to feel like this ever ever again. I have gone out of my way the past few years to make sure I never have this feeling again. And here it is.

It's partly anger, a lot of disappointment with a smidge of resignation thrown in for good measure. The resignation is from years and years of this same old stuff. Same old stuff. No matter what we do, the result is the same. Nothing we ever do is ever enough. And I really mean ever. I really had hoped that by now things would be different. But, they're not.

Anyway, it's a big sigh. This has been a really good day - I met with a woman who works for a company I am very interested in working for, we had a very nice conversation and I can really see myself getting involved with this organization! Karate was fun, I got to talk to my friends Jay and Danielle, I worked out and we have a good weekend planned.

And, as I always do, I'll shake this off. It will come and go and we will again be branded not good enough and things will go on as usual. But every time this happens, it hurts a little bit more. I'm not asking for engraved thank you notes for everything we've done. Just maybe NOT being called the same old names again and again. When we beat our heads against the wall giving what we're asked to give. Only to turn around and hear "that's not enough" again. Then we increase what we give to meet the requested criteria. "Still not enough." Is what we hear.

I'm just tired of never being enough.

And this blog wasn't even sponsored by ye old glass of red wine!!! :(

The perils of blogging while drinking...

2009-05-09T08:19:00.002-07:00

Divine hubby commented that last night's blog entry was a smidge "depressing." I read it again, and ya know, he's right! I thought it was funny last night, but I'd had a couple of glasses of wine, and I guess it was a bit of a downer...

So, let's keep up the theme and liven things up a bit!

I'm looking forward to moving to our new house because it looks like there are lots of kids in the neighborhood. That will be lots of fun for Chase and will go a long way towards solving the TV problem.

The neighborhood pool we will have access to has a big slide! We love a pool with a big slide.

Chase has a plan for his project and we can easily finish it this weekend.

I have a hubby who got up at the crack of dawn, but I got to sleep in! Aaaahhhh.

My friend Shelly told me about her hairdresser who is great and NOT too spendy! No Supercut for me!

My hair actually looked pretty good yesterday. It's still too long, but it showed me it can be done.

Our new house has a really cool koi pond in the backyard with soothing water sounds to sleep by.

We are really enjoying our "Financial Peace University" class at church and are well on our way to getting out of debt!

Dave Ramsey ROCKS!

We have tons of people coming to visit as well as plans to see friends this summer. It's going to be a fun summer!

Although our new house will not have a pool, we have something this summer that we didn't have last summer...multiple friends with a pool!

My potential thyroid problem will explain my exhaustion and my weight gain, and meds will fix them! So, personally, I'm lookin' forward to a little hypo-thyroid...

I have a wonderful hubby who makes a great living for us and supports me in my desire to be available for the kiddos.

Our daughter is pulling all A's & B's at college.

Our son is pulling all A's in 5th grade.

Gotta love kids who work hard in school.

I have a great life here in Sin City. A year ago, I couldn't imagine I'd have said that, but it's true.

So, no intervention necessary for me - I was trying to be funny last night, and I guess humor mixed with a little merlot makes for a little dark humor. All is well here in the STQ household. My family still drives me batty, but I wouldn't trade 'em for the world! And I hope they would say the same about me...

Deep Thoughts

2009-05-08T20:15:00.003-07:00

Honestly, I have no ideas on which to base this blog.

My son and hubby are watching Smackdown (sigh).

My son has a project due on Tuesday that he has not yet finished (double sigh).

My daughter has just finished her freshman year in college.

It's really hot here, and it's not even summer yet.

I subbed in a class I love today...and hated almost every second of it.

I almost had to do a "take down" of a kid today (no, that is not related to the Smackdown comment) and I am NOT allowed to do so.

I am exhausted all the time, have gained 15 pounds in less than a year and have been told that I may have a hypo-thyroid by my doctor.

My doctor keeps re-checking my thyroid. Which means every time he tells me I am borderline hypo-thyroid, he makes me an appointment for 3 months in the future to check it again. (We're currently on blood draw number 3...)

I mean, how many freakin' times do you have to check the silly thing? You're killin me, man.

I wonder who reads my blog from Marysville, Tennessee?

I pulled a muscle in my neck while WATCHING my kids do a music class at school today. I mean, what's up with that? Ok, so, I'm 40. Does EVERYTHING have to fall apart at once? Seriously.

I say "seriously" and "really " way way seriously too much. I mean, really.

I'm worried about moving into our new house. At first, I loved it. This past weekend I saw it again. I don't like it anymore and I'm worried about that.

I love our car! I did hear that the Ford Taurus tends to have transmission problems at 75K miles. And we have 62K. BUT, we have the warranty that will cover the transmission, so I've decided not to worry about that. Much.

My hair is awful - and I'm considering a Super Cut cause it fits in our budget. :(

I can't wait until summer. In general, I hate the summer. I'm worried about the inherent problems caused by the simultaneous utterance of those two statements.

My hubby is doing the dishes. Part of me feels guilty that I am drinking a glass of wine and blogging instead of helping or doing something constructive. The other part of me continues to drink the wine...

I wonder if my dog has fleas.

Divine hubby and Chase are discussing going to see the new Star Trek movie. I wonder if it makes me a bad mom to think about the nap I could take while they go see the movie.

I read a book to my kids today called The Berenstains Bears Watch Too Much TV and really identified with it. :(

I desperately love Divine Hubby but he drives me nuts.

Ditto for Chase and Meg.

I think I love the robo-dwarf hamster most of all. She's easy. As long as I feed her and clean her cage regularly, she stays alive and requires nothing more. Yep, that clinches it. She's my favorite family member.

I have a new square purple phone that I think I love more than the hamster.

I wonder if that makes me materialistic.

I wonder if it matters if I'm materialistic.

I wonder if anyone is continuing to read this silliness...

Absence, teacher appreciation, magic shows and Mother's day

2009-05-06T15:39:00.002-07:00

Yeah yeah, I know. It's been awhile since I blogged...sorry to the three people who regularly read my blog and have been complaining!

1. I have been absent because I have been working a lot, sitting at the soccer fields, helping on ten thousand school projects, having fun with family and friends who have come to visit and so on!! No excuses, I know.

2. This week has been teacher appreciation week at Chase's school. It's a small school and we recently had a big fundraiser that took up a lot of people's time. Therefore, a small number of us actually had time to help out. So, I've been helping out with that a lot. Today, I washed the teachers' cars for about 3 hours in the hot Vegas sun...

3. We saw a great magic show when the 'rents were here last weekend! Lance Burton is one amazing dude. He can make all kinds of things (and people) disappear!!

4. It's almost Mother's Day!! I got my present today from my sweet boys. A VERY cute little purple Lotus phone from Sprint. The best part is, it came with a holder that fits on my purse strap so it is always at my fingertips. I have enjoyed playing with it today!!!

So, that's what I've been up to. Nothing earth-shattering, nothing dramatic, nothing fabulous nor horrible, just life. It's funny how busy a life can get when you're just livin' it!!

So, here's to life. To busy-ness, to slow-ness, to school, play, sports, work, family, projects and all of the other things that take up all of our time. Enjoy them all!!

Fish Barbeque

2009-04-22T20:44:00.004-07:00

Yesterday, I subbed in a kind of class I haven't subbed in before. It was a mentally-challenged elementary class. I have often subbed in an emotionally-challenged class, but never mentally-challenged. I was unprepared for the differences. I guess I had never thought that the challenge for the emotionally-challenged kids is NOT their ability, it is their will to conform to your direction. Often, the emotionally-challenged kids are very bright. They simply don't want to do what you want them to do. Period. Makes it tough to get anything done, admittedly.

A mentally-challenged kid is perfectly willing to do what you want them to do, however, they often do not know how to do it. Several of the kids had Downs Syndrome, one had severe Cerebral Palsy (the always-smiling and adorable Angelica), and the others had various and sundry disorders not visible to the untrained eye.

One little boy, whose name was Logan, LOVED Star Wars. He also absolutely could not remember my name. He asked me no fewer than 9,347 times what my name was. (And, let's be clear. My name is easy. 4 letters. One syllable. Household item. Seriously.) So, finally I asked him what we could do to help him remember my name. He said he could probably remember it if I would call him Luke Skywalker when he remembered it. I thought that was brilliant. He (mostly) remembered my name for the rest of the day and said it every single time I walked by him, and then I would grin and mutter... "Hi Luke Skywalker." He would flash me the biggest smile when I did that. I promise you, he said my name 10,000 times after that, and every time, I answered him "Yes, Luke Skywalker," or "Hi Luke Skywalker," or "Good job, Luke Skywalker." He was adorable, and I hope he's up for adoption soon...

There was another little girl who had an interesting "style," shall we say. Let's call her T. T was about 10, but looked like she was 6. Her eyes were completely crossed, to the point that I'm not sure she could actually see very much. T loves pink, Hello Kitty, taking off her shoes and purses of any sort. T says very little - she mostly parrots what she hears. While many members of the class actually showed evidence of learning, T really seemed oblivious to everything going on. When T was left alone for any period of time, she would jump out of her seat and go hit someone. Just cause she wanted to.

Towards the middle of the day, T began to get out of control. She had her own aide, which helped tremendously, but even with her own aide, it was hard to control T. It was very hard to understand what she said, which by the end of the day, we were quite thankful for.

By the end of the day, T had degenerated to the point where she was sitting in the rocking chair muttering to herself and shouting two things in the teachers' general direction:

FISH

and

BARBEQUE

NOW, as I said, she has a severe speech impediment. She was ticked off because we wouldn't let her continue to run around and hit everyone like she wanted to and that we had taken her purse away due to her behavior. So, she was mad. Consequently, what she was actually saying was VERY different from Fish...and Barbeque. And actually Barbeque isn't accurate...it sounded like Barfaque. Say that out loud once (but not near your kids, please) and see if you can catch the swear word hidden in an innocuous-sounding word. I bet she said both words 500 times during the day. Mostly within the last hour of class. It was sad, because she was simply parroting what she hears. In order for that to be nearly the only thing she says, she would have to hear those two things A LOT in her life. The aide told me she lives with her grandmother because her mom is in jail. For prostitution. Again. Sounds to me like T has had it rough in her young life.

Poor little T. That's the tough part of teaching special ed. Sometimes you see the kids that simply have no chance whatsoever in life. I think T is one of those kids. I don't see her ever having a life of her own, nor having anyone who cares enough to give her any kind of life. I really wonder what will happen to T. It's really one of the things that makes subbing hard. You get thrown into these kids' lives for a short period and often you never see them again. Say a prayer for little T, Logan, Angelica and all of their friends. It's a tough world out there for them.

Hey, I get points for tryin.

2009-04-16T16:46:00.003-07:00

I, as a good environmentally-minded citizen, purchased those cool reusable grocery bags a year ago or so. I do, occasionally remember to actually bring them into the store, and then I pat myself on the back! Today was one such momentous day.

So, I proudly handed my cloth bags to the bagger at my grocery store to have them filled with my goodies.

I paid very little attention to the bagging process - frankly, I was wondering if the budget (or the waistline) would allow for a teeny tiny Reese's cup...

When I got out to the car and unloaded the bags into my trunk, I noticed that they were full of plastic bags. The bagger had loaded all of my groceries into plastic bags, then very helpfully transferred said plastic bags full 'o groceries into my environmentally-friendly cloth bags. So I made it home with 8 environmentally-friendly bags with a total of 23 environmentally-polluting plastic bags inside them.

Sigh. But you gotta give me credit for trying, right? And I didn't get the Reese's cups! :)

He loves me...

2009-04-14T21:04:00.002-07:00

It is 9:00pm here in Sin City. I realized that I had neglected to retrieve the mail, so I went across the street to our mailbox to get said mail. Upon arrival, I noticed that there was a set of keys left in the mailbox immediately to the left of our mailbox. That keyring had a house key and a car key on it along with the mailbox key.

Now, our next-door neighbor is an elderly single man named Chuck. Whom I love dearly. And who can talk the paint off of the wall...

I figured the keys MIGHT be Chuck's. So I went to his house and knocked on his door. They weren't his keys, but he wanted to discuss whose they might be. So he invited me in for a chat.

I was in his house maybe 3 minutes.

During that time, divine hubby and Chase decided that I'd been gone entirely too long and came out looking for me. Apparently they yelled and screamed my name. I guess it's a testimony to the insulation in Chuck's house because I never heard a thing.

So, deciding I had been abducted by aliens, divine hubby called 9-1-1. And reported me missing.

Luckily, I came home before the police showed up to drag the river for my dead body...

So, if anyone asks you if divine hubby loves his little STQ, the answer is a resounding YES!!! I feel loved.

Divine hubby, on the other hand, is a little peeved at me, but he'll get over it. :)

11 yr old boy free to a good home

2009-04-08T11:42:00.006-07:00

First, please let me tell you. I am 40. I have a college degree from an excellent school. I am well-traveled and consider myself to be well-versed in many different subjects. I am pretty good at Jeopardy, excellent at Wheel of Fortune and kick butt in Scrabble.

Scene: aforementioned ADULT mother and 11-yr-old son playing Scrabble.
Chase: Mom? Is alined a word?
Mom: Yep. (I looked it up AFTER THE FACT to make sure, and alined is another way to spell aligned, just FYI. I tried to get through that loophole, but alas)
Chase: Ok. (grinning slightly)

Please take a look at the top row in this picture and observe the word alined crossed with the word EQUATOR. Observe the triple word score under the T in said word.

Now look at the score sheet. An obscure rule that we follow here in the STQ household is that if you use all 7 of your letters in one turn, you get a bonus of 35 points. Let me help you with the math. Equator netted the little darling 17 points. Times 3, that is 51. Then you add the 7 points from alined to get 58. Then you add the 35 bonus points, and we are, my friends, at 93. For. one. stinkin. word. What was the final result you ask??

You will see that one side says 201 points. That side is MY score. The other side says 253 points. That, my friends is my ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD SON'S score.

This is what a cheeky little 11-yr-old looks like when he spanks his mama at Scrabble.

Feel free to come collect him at any time. He is currently sitting on the curb with all of his worldly belongings in a trash bag. We do not tolerate such disrespect in the STQ household. :)

Da Wind! Da Wind!

2009-04-08T06:48:00.004-07:00

I feel like Tattoo from Fantasy Island pointing out the obvious to Mr. Rourke! It's windy here in Lost Wages today, um, I mean, this week, um, I mean this month, um, well, it's just really freakin' windy here a LOT! Honestly, I'm surprised there is a single palm frond or leaf left on a tree anywhere here in Southern Nevada. And our pool pump has gotten all plugged up for the umpteen billionth time, so the handy dandy pool vacuum simply sits in one spot on the bottom, being useless. Our landlords COULD have some doodah installed so that wouldn't happen, but they refuse, so we are manually scooping plant life out of the pool on a regular basis (the horror!!).

Loved the pool last summer, but I don't think I'll miss it much when we move.

Yes, I said the M word.

Hide the children's eyes.

I guess I should have warned you that this blog had adult content today. Sorry to be so graphic in my language. My apologies if I offended anyone.

Cause MOVE is a 4-letter word, don'tcha know. At least, it is to me. Thankfully, this MOVE is simply across town. To another house that doesn't have a pool. I think we will miss the hot tub the most - with the nice cool evenings, you can often find me and Divine Hubby soaking in the tub with a glass of merlot. We have actually put "hot tub" as a budget item, in that we are saving to purchase one so hopefully by next Winter/Spring, we may actually have one of our own.

So, the point of this blog entry is just to say hi.

Howaya?

Howrthekids?

Gladtoseeya.

Nothing earth-shattering (thank goodness), no big moves or life changes (and for this, I will thank GOD) to report. We here in Las Vegas are enjoying the beautiful 75-80 degree weather, no 'midty, crystal-clear blue skies and oh, yeah, the WIND. Hold on tight Chase, we're going outside!!!

So no one got arrested.

2009-04-06T15:10:00.004-07:00

A rolicking good time was had by all and no one was arrested.

Well, maybe this one prostitute we saw, but that's a WHOLE other story!

Five of my college sorority sisters came in for the weekend and we had SO much fun! It's funny - a couple of these women I had neither seen nor talked to for nearly 20 years. But, when we all got together, it was like no time had passed at all. We sat up talking until 3am, we ate at least one meal entirely off of the appetizer and dessert menu at a swanky restaurant, we drank multiple fruity, girly martinis, we laughed and laughed, and we enjoyed being together. We told stories about people and events most of us had forgotten about, we reminisced about the good and bad times we went through together, we recited our pledge class order multiple times, we saw a TERRIBLE Vegas show that made us all deathly afraid of bunnies, and did I mention we laughed?

Friends are a very important part of any woman's life. I love my friends, and due to my constantly relocating lifestyle, I have friends scattered throughout the US. (And one in Singapore - hi Deirdre!!) The fun part is that although your lives take different paths, and even if you don't see each other for years, or even decades - when you live WITH other people and share your life with them, you take right up where you left off. That, to me, is the importance of friends. Sharing your life and your experiences with other people - notably women!

So, cheers to Valerie, Debby, Cathy, Dea and Serena. Let's make it an annual event and include even more of our sisters and friends. Thanks for coming here and making it a memorable weekend for me!! I love you guys.

Girls' weekend

2009-04-02T07:47:00.003-07:00

I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Five of my college friends are coming in for the weekend! I had to snort a laugh when my dad asked if they were all staying at my house. Um. NO! I'm not even staying at my house! I live in Vegas, baby, so we're all staying on the Strip.

Did you know that people who live in Vegas don't live in the Strip hotels? I didn't until I moved here!!! There are actually houses here...and schools...and churches...and grocery stores! Shocking news, I am aware. Although I wouldn't mind living at the Bellagio...or the Wynn. Hmmmm. Again, I digress. (Happens a lot, have you noticed??)

So my two college roommates and three other sorority sisters (yes, I was in a sorority, and you can stop laughing and making fun of me RIGHT NOW...) are showing up between 9am and 1pm tomorrow for a weekend of fun, frivolity, martinis, buffets and lots and lots of laughs. Maybe even a Cirque show or a massage but NO kids (well, one is pregnant, so we'll have to let Cathy bring her kid, I guess), NO husbands (ex or otherwise) and NO STRESS most of all. This is going to be a no-stress, no-pressure, no-responsibility weekend.

So, my friends, I'm off until next week. If I call you, will you post my bail??? Divine hubby has already said I'm on my own if I get arrested. And the way I remember some of these wild sisters of mine, it's a distinct possibility. (Just kidding, mom...)

I guess I'm on the right track!!

2009-03-30T06:38:00.003-07:00

So, I think I have shared our newest obsession - we are big Dave Ramsey fans and have drunk the Kool-Aid in a big way. Most of my sentences start with..."well, you know what Dave would say...". I think I'm getting annoying, but hey, it's a gift.

Anyway, we are facilitating his Financial Peace University class at our church and really enjoying it. We started with about 50 in the class, and at week 5 (a gorgeous Spring day here in Vegas, I might add), we had 40 in attendance last night. Not too bad! Dave loves nothing better than a good catch-phrase, and one of his favorites is: "If your broke friends are criticizing you, then you're on the right track."

Well, my friends, we are officially on the right track. I have had more people than I can count tell me that we are in danger of ruining our credit rating, never being able to rent a car again, will probably never again own a house, what will we do in an emergency, and on and on and on. Now, I do not know if those friends are officially BROKE, to be honest, but they are certainly in love with credit and think if I don't share that love-affair, I'm a nut.

The way I look at it is this:
1. You CAN rent a car with a debit card.
2. You CAN get your money back if a debit card is used fraudulently.
3. You CAN have a financial emergency and pay for it with savings (we now have 3 months' worth of expenses saved in the bank, which feels really good, I'll tell ya!!)
4. Your credit will NOT tank as soon as you cut up the credit card.

And as far as buying a house goes - with all of the money we have spent getting in and out of debt over the past 20 years, we could have bought a house with cash.

We are renting here in Sin City, and have decided to continue renting. We may buy a condo or something in the next few years, but not a house. We're saving for our retirement house, and barring giant financial disasters, we will be able to pay cash for said house when we retire. No, it won't be a 4-story mansion with a media room, an upstairs maid and a home gym, but we will be able to afford a nice place in one of the 4-5 areas of the country we are considering. And if the house is too big, the kids might want to come back and live with us, right???

So, as I said - we have drunk the Kool-Aid. We do not have a credit card any longer. We still have a balance...but that will be gone soon. I walk around quoting Dave and his catch phrases and will probably continue to.

"I am an American and I refuse to participate in this recession."
"I'm going to live like no one else so later I can live like no one else."
"Broke is Normal. Be Weird."
"Debt is dumb, cash is king and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice."

And my favorite one of all - and one I hope to scream into the phone on Dave's radio show soon:

"WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!"

Hey one more thing before I jump off my soapbox...if you're at all curious about Dave Ramsey, he's holding a town hall meeting that's being shown at churches around the country on April 23 at 8pm EST. Check out his website to find a location in your area - it's free and it just might change the way you think about the recession. Who knows, maybe you'll decide to join us in not participating in it!!!

Paranoia firmly in check once again

2009-03-24T14:48:00.002-07:00

When I went to bed last night, my paranoia was running high. Still no jobs on the Clark County website. I was almost certain that I was right. And ready to bust some heads over the issue.

I had a great self-righteous conversation with the head of sub services in the shower this morning. Full of "I did the right thing"s and "you have no right to"s and "you should be
ashamed"s and "I'm calling a press conference"s. I do some of my best work with scalding hot water cascading over my head.

Then I checked out the website when I got out of the shower. Full of boys' PE jobs, lousy with metal shop jobs at the correctional facility and rife with bratty elementary jobs. Luckily, I already had a job lined up for today, so I didn't have to choose from all of those lovely options. But that website told me that I'm not banned.

Whew.

I know, I know, no one who read my posting yesterday actually bought into anything I wrote. It was nutty, paranoid and out there, but that's how this particular blonde's brain works. When someone says they want to talk to me about something, I ALWAYS immediately figure I'm in trouble and start wondering what random sin I committed. It's funny. And pathetic, but honestly, that's my immediate response.

So, I narrowly escaped death and destruction once again, I'm pleased to say! I live to sub another day... :)

Cough cough wheeze and revenge

2009-03-23T19:52:00.004-07:00

So, most of you know, I'm a substitute teacher. But do you know that I have suffered through AT LEAST 9,546 colds since October? Well, I have. And don't challenge my math. I'm a teacher. I'll put you in detention.

I'm getting another one.

You know, I take Airborne. I use hand sanitizer and wash my hands as often as possible. I take obscene quantities of vitamin C. I exercise. I (at least attempt to) eat right. I get 7 hours of good sleep every night. And STILL. I'm sneezing, sniffling, coughing and chewing gum to soothe my stupid sore throat. These little germ factories are killing me!!!

I told you all of that first because I suspect most of you are reading this because it has the word "revenge" in the title. Thought I'd whine a bit while I had your attention...

I think I am the victim of some nasty revenge from the Clark County School District. Remember the Aide I reported for being mean to the Early Childhood kids? Well, on Saturday, I got a letter that said "At my request" I was no longer able to accept jobs from that school. WHAAAAT? I have a job at that school this Wednesday, this Friday, next Tuesday and another 3 times already in April (with a different teacher - I'm not working with Miss Maggie again). I did not request any such thing. So, this morning, I called the Sub Services office and asked them to fix that. They "fixed" it.

I also noticed that there were NO jobs listed on Saturday. NO jobs listed on Sunday. NO jobs listed Sunday night. NO jobs listed this morning at 6..6:30...7...7:30 or 8. And there are NO jobs now.

Hmmmmm. Call me paranoid, but I've never ever seen a Monday morning where there weren't at least 3-4 jobs listed by 6am. So, I think there are two likely scenarios. One is that they are having trouble with their website. The other is that they have freakin' blocked me completely cause I'm a troublemaker. Now, I don't usually dispute the title of troublemaker, but as a teacher, am I not supposed to do what is in the best interest of the children? Do I not have a duty to report abuse if I see it? And it's not like I called Channel 8 and did a press conference about it on the 5:00 news. I went through the proper channels and did what I was supposed to do.

SO...if there are still NO jobs tomorrow morning, I'm going to trot my trouble-makin' booty down to Sub Services to see what the problem is. I'm not going to take this lying down and they are NOT going to squeeze me out for following directions and doing the right thing.

Say a prayer for me...I'm kinda concerned about this. As soon as I post this, I'm going to check again. Luckily, I'm already working four days this week...

If you want something you've never had...

2009-03-17T22:59:00.002-07:00

do something you've never done.

That was one of the themes of the evening here in Lost Wages, NV. My dear friend Lora is visiting me from Texas, and she is a Director for Mary Kay (ooh, ahh). That means she has lots of bling, lots of lip gloss and (almost) has a CAR!!! While in Las Vegas, she planned to attend a weekly MK sales meeting...and she dragged me along...

In my defense, I told her up front that I wasn't interested in selling MK, and if this was a recruiting meeting, I didn't want to go. She assured me it wasn't, and although the "opportunity was presented to me," it wasn't. No pressure, no guilt and no disappointed looks when I didn't whip my checkbook out to sign up at the end of the meeting.

What was fun about the meeting is that it was completely, 100%, totally positive. EVERYONE got cheered for, hugged, praised and I think everyone left with a present (including me!!)! If you hadn't made any sales during the past week, you were praised for trying and encouraged to keep at it. If you sold $1, then "think of the contact you made in that person!" If you sold $2000, then WAHOO! Everybody's happy. It was almost uncomfortable, it was so positive.

That uncomfortable-ness made me think. And made me evaluate WHY in Heaven's name I would be uncomfortable because other people are positive, cheerful and encouraging. So, instead of feeling uncomfortable, I decided to enjoy it. Enjoy the yummy snacks (loved me a cupcake!!), the free makeup, the smiling women and the joy and celebration all around me. Enjoy the hard work and success being shared by this remarkable group of women. And enjoy that I got to enjoy it for the evening.

So thanks, Lora, for dragging me to a Mary Kay meeting. I'm still not planning to sell MK, I doubt I will return to another meeting next Tuesday night, and I really can't afford to use MK cosmetics right now, but it was a very uplifting, positive and fun evening. And Lora's a great MK lady, so if you need any makeup, call me! :)

It did not get better.

2009-03-11T07:32:00.003-07:00

So, I have had numerous emails and FB entries asking if day 2 subbing with this horrible woman was any better than day 1. Um, I thought yes, but ultimately no.

I thought yes because:
-In the morning, she actually smiled at me twice.
-In the morning, she was amazingly kind to one boy who is in a wheelchair, blind and has numerous disabilities. She was fantastic with him. I was impressed.
-In the morning, she was almost nice...I think twice.

So, I decided that yesterday, maybe her husband had left her for his 20-yr-old secretary, her dog ran away and her kitchen caught on fire. Benefit of the doubt. Everyone has a bad day, right? Yep.

Then came lunch.

Now, let me explain - this is a pre-K class, so they only come half-day. So, we had one group of 8 kids from 9-11:30 and another group of 8 kids from 12:45-3:15.

So, when lunch came (even before the kids arrived...), she became silent again. One-word answers (if she bothered to answer me at all), very little information, leaving the room without saying a single word about when she would be back, scowling, etc.)

I've decided her meds must wear off at noon.

But I digress...

The afternoon was HORRIBLE. She was horrible to me, but you know what? I'm a grownup. I can handle it, and I am aware that (gasp) maybe EVERYONE doesn't like me. (I know, I know, hard to imagine, right???) So, no biggie. The problem was, she was also horrible to the kids. Now, remember. These kids are FOUR years old. These kids are VERY low-income. These kids all have IEP's (meaning some sort of significant learning disability or challenge). THESE ARE FRAGILE KIDS WITH LIFE'S DECK STACKED AGAINST THEM.

And to these children, she said (all of these were either yelled or spoken in an icy, cold, you're-an-idiot tone of voice):

"What language do you even understand??"
"In Kindergarten, no one will help you open your milk or your lunch. You will have to do it all by yourself and not be such a baby."
"Hurry up!" (yelled over and over and over and over and over...)
"Why aren't you listening?"
"Go put that in your cubby. GO. Did you hear me? Do you understand? GO PUT THAT IN YOUR CUBBY!" (again, over and over and over to children whose mental capacity is extremely low and who barely understand English.

She NEVER said please. NEVER. She ordered the kids around all day in a stern voice.

She was completely annoyed all afternoon. She treated the kids (and me) like they were stupid. She constantly shouted at the kids for not doing things quickly enough.

The bottom line. While she never laid a hand on the kids, she beat them all day with her words and her tone. She is an unkind woman (after lunch). By the end of the day, the kids looked terrified and couldn't do a single thing without looking at Maggie to see if she approved.

So, I am going to the Sub office today to tell them and ask them what the protocol is for reporting her. She needs to be taken out of this class before she does any more damage to these precious, fragile, delicate and already-damaged children. I do not like confrontation, and I am terrified that this will be one. But sometimes you have to stand up for people who can't stand up for themselves. I teach that to Chase every day, and it's time for Chase's mama to practice what she preaches. This could go badly for me...but I hope clearer heads will prevail and she will be dealt with and removed from this class.

Say a prayer for me - I'm a peacemaker and this is not easy for me but she clearly hates the afternoon kids and something has to be done to protect them.

I mean, I'm a friendly gal!

2009-03-09T17:16:00.002-07:00

Today, I subbed in an early-childhood class. There was an aide (yay!!) and we'll call her Maddie. The regular teacher was there when I arrived at school, and we chatted a minute, then she introduced me to a woman saying, "And this is your wonderful aide. Maddie is so wonderful - I just love her!! She knows all about the routine and knows the kids, and will be soooo much help to you!" I'm thrilled - never have I disliked a class when there was an aide. So, I shook Maddie's less-than-enthusiastic, limp-wristed hand, introduced myself to her down-trodden face and accompanied her slower-than-a-turtle's-pace walk to the classroom. Where she sat in her chair. So, I sat in the chair at the desk opposite her and looked at her, expecting to have a conversation about when we get the kids, how we get the kids, how many kids there are, what to watch out for, what we're studying, or ANYTHING. I saw the top of her head.

WELL.

Ain't met nobody yet I can't carry on a conversation with, so I started...

Me: So, how many kids do we have?
Her: 8
Me: How many are boys?
Her: 4
Me: What time do we go get them?
Her: 12:40 (I subbed half day today)
Me: What are we studying this week?
Her: (saying absolutely nothing as she throws a set of papers at me with the lesson plan on it)
Me: Oh, the letter P! Are we asking the kids to tell us words that start with P? I have a funny story of when my son Chase was in pre-K, they were learning the letter P and he...
Her: (completely interrupting me) No.
Me: O...K... so what do we do?
Her: (again saying nothing, but looking at me like I'm an idiot as she shook her identical packet of paper at me)
Me: O...K... (so I study the lesson plans) Do I read the book first or do circle time first?
Her: (again with the idiot look) whatever.
Me: Well, I want to do it right so the kids have their routine...
Her: There's no routine. Like I said, do what you want.

So that's how the day went. Me trying my very best to be cheerful and get the kids to talk (collectively, they maybe spoke 20 words in 3 hours), to play with them while getting them to learn, etc etc etc, all of the things I have always done when subbing in an early-childhood class. If she spoke at all, it was to reprimand ME for helping the kids. "They're not babies. Quit helping them, miss!" I must have heard that a thousand times. So I started standing around watching the kids as they silently did whatever they were doing feeling useless and stupid. When the schedule said it was time for recess, I asked if it was time to start getting ready to go outside. She said, while again, giving me the idiot look, "If YOU want to take them, YOU can I'm NOT taking them. It's too windy." (20-30 mph winds do not constitute forcing 4 year olds to stay inside in MY book, so I took em while she glared at me.)

When I turned the CD player on, she yelled at me that I was pushing the tape buttons (I wasn't) and that it was a "C-D, NOT A TAPE" and again with the idiot look.

If I tied a kid's shoes so he wouldn't HURT HIMSELF, I got reprimanded.

If I attempted to help clean up a spill, I got reprimanded.

When I zipped up a kid's jacket, I got reprimanded.

At one point, she simply walked out of class. Didn't say, I'll be back in a sec, I'm on my break, I'm going to the bathroom, I'm going to go commit several felonies, NOTHING. Came back in about 10 minutes and reprimanded me that we weren't supposed to be reading books at this time. Couldn't I follow the schedule?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

By the end of the day, I was at the end of my rope. All I could get (if anything) out of her were one-syllable answers. Yes. No. And that's basically it. It's REALLY hard to have a conversation with someone who will only give you very basic information. So, we got the kids ready to go, and I said "Do all of the kids ride the same bus?" She said:

(you guessed it) No.

And we walked on to the busses.

Finally, all of the kids were gone, and I turned to say goodbye to her. She said, "See you tomorrow!" with a big smile and walked away.

...because I signed up for a two day gig (and tomorrow is ALLLLLL DAYYYYY). I'll NEVER do that again!

Adventures in subbing take...oh who knows?

2009-03-07T10:12:00.003-07:00

I subbed in a middle school English class yesterday. Am I crazy? Um, there's a distinct possibility, but that's really a topic for another posting.

They were doing their standardized testing this week, so the kids were nuts, the schedules were equally nuts and nothing was business as usual. Since I haven't been trained in the fine art of reading directions, handing out booklets and sharpening pencils, they told me I can't proctor the test, so they had me roaming the halls and helping out by escorting kids to the bathroom, watching the class while the teacher had a bathroom break, taking notes from teachers to the administration, etc. etc. etc. It actually was a lot more interesting and exciting than I thought it would be. First of all, I got paid to walk non-stop for 2 hours. Exercise bonus, right?? Plus, as I have divulged in an earlier post, I LOVE to solve people's problems, and for two hours, I was an official problem-solver! YAY!!! Then there was a teacher whose ex-husband is apparently stalking her, so I got to run to get security, tell them what I saw and heard which was all very exciting!

So, after the testing was completed, I started to follow the lesson plans for the remainder of the day. As usual, some classes were good, some classes were awful, but nothing really exciting happened...until we heard the announcement that we were now in "Shelter-In-Place" and for the teachers to prepare the classroom appropriately. (It's basically lock-down for the school and since they didn't say drill, although I figured it probably was, I was mildly alarmed at this point...)

Luckily, I am paranoid about these drills and have been told that they love to pick on subs during these drills. So, I had already found the emergency backpack and looked through it, mentally getting ready in case a drill (or worse) should happen during my day. I hopped to, put the green card on the door saying all students were accounted for, locked the door and told the kids to calmly continue working. The Asst Principal came to my door, smiled and gave me a big thumbs-up. YAY! And yes, it was a drill. Whew!

So, then the principal came in at the end of the day and asked me if I would stop by his office before I left. I said sure and mentally went over what I could possibly have done wrong...cause that's the kind of paranoid person I am... then decided it was probably about the stalker.

I was right, but as I walked into the principal's office, he greeted me solemnly and closed the door behind me. Gulp. Cue paranoia again. Anyway, it was about the ex-stalker dude, and after I gave my statement, he thanked me and I left. On my way out, I walked right into the middle of a fight between two kids. (sigh) Thankfully, the school administration was already on it, so I merely ducked to avoid blows and ran to the sanctity of my car.

Have I mentioned that subbing is definitely an adventure? Yesterday was, in spades!!! Can't wait to see what next week brings...

DST woes

2009-03-05T08:41:00.002-07:00

Oh my - it's been a LOOOONG time since I posted! In my defense, I've been subbing a lot lately, and it really takes it out of me! Sorry to my loyal readers...are there any left??? Were there any to begin with?? :)

I HATE when the clocks change in the Spring. I absolutely cannot believe it is time for that horrible event again already! Seriously, I just got used to the Fall one.

DST drives me nuts because my inherent sense of what time it is is thrown all the way off. I mean, honestly. It could be 4pm or 3am. I got no idea after this Sunday. And am I alone in the opinion that the Spring one makes every day loooooonnnnnggggeeeerrrr? When you are a sub, that's the last thing you want! Maybe I could only sub in the Fall and Winter? Um, probably not.

I've read and read about what this silly DST is all about, and it seems like it's about farming. Um, universe? I ain't a farmer (ewww bugs and wormy stuff). So, can I skip it already? We live in Nevada, and that's pretty close to Arizona (especially when you live in Vegas - AZ is in our back yard!!), so I think I'll just skip it this year. This is America, right? If we can teach our kids that there's no such thing as absolute truth, that everyone should win an award or no one should and that 1+1=3 is correct if it would hurt your self esteem to say you are wrong, then I should be able to say NO. I'ts not 2pm, it's 3pm and class is over. GO HOME NOW.

Right???

I hate DST...

Birthdays

2009-02-24T17:16:00.002-07:00

I turned (ahem) 40 this year (cough cough). It was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but I anticipated that it might be, so I spent the last year commenting (when asked my age) "I'll be 40 in September." Seemed like I might get kinda used to it if I said it umpteen zillion times. And, honestly, I think it helped. I still write (ahem) when disclosing my age, but it doesn't really bother me.

I have a dear friend here in Las Vegas named "D" and today is her birthday. She is (ahem) 50 today. We were supposed to go out to dinner with D and her hubby tonight, but her hubby called this morning and cancelled because D is too depressed about the whole shebang. I, being the control-freak that I am, tried to convince him that going out was the perfect antidote to depression, but he held his ground and it's all cancelled.

**My control-freak tendencies run deep, and I have a deep and abiding conviction that I am always right, so this was hard for me to take. Just ask Divine Hubby!**

I then tried to convince him to let me come over and give D her birthday present to cheer her up. He kindly, but firmly said D is in bed, has been all day, and that "It's just not a good time, STQ."

Harumph.

I truly believe if D's hubby would let me come over, I could help her climb out of the pit she's in. But, you know - it's not really my decision, is it? (again, harumph) I don't like it when things are out of my control. Or when people don't take my oh-so-brilliant advice as the gospel which it obviously is. :)

Maybe STQ has just a teensy bit too high of an opinion of herself? Yeah, maybe. It's been suggested before. But, it's absolutely out of love and concern for my good friend D. If I were in a birthday-induced pit, I would want every friend I ever had to show up, bring me presents, drag me to dinner, ply me with girly martinis and convince me that 50 is the new 30 or something. (Remember that when I'm under the bed crying in a deep blue funk 10 years from now, ok?? )

Anyway, say a prayer for my friend D. She is such a loving, giving, generous, warm and wonderful woman, and I am very sad that she is taking this birthday so hard.

On not getting a job today

2009-02-23T09:29:00.003-07:00

As most of you know, I am a substitute teacher. This job has its perks, and its drawbacks. At first, I didn't enjoy it at all. Since I've been doing it for 4-5 months, I have learned how to make it better. You take the jobs you want and NEVER EVER take the jobs you have learned you hate. Makes you life easier.

Its perks are that if your child is ill, you are ill, or something comes up, you simply don't take a job. What other position would allow that?? Um, none. Also, I get to spend the day with some amazing people and some amazing kids. I say that because I've learned where the amazing people and kids are and where they are not.

I have not been kind to our local public school district on this blog. I still believe that it is in our best interest for ME to immerse myself there so Chase does not have to be immersed there. In general. But, through subbing, I have met some truly wonderful, caring and amazing teachers. I'd like to make a little "STQ school" and hire those fantastic teachers I have met to teach Chase. Unfortunately, I couldn't really pay much, so I doubt that would work out well...

Today, the only jobs available were:

1. Teaching English at the local juvenile detention facility. (Um, I ain't doin' that under any circumstances and God bless whoever takes those jobs.)

2. A Boys' PE job. (Can't do that - cause I ain't a boy.)

3. A Severely-Emotionally-Challenged (SEC) job at a high school. (I've subbed there before, but today it started at 7am, and time-wise, I can't get Chase to school in time to teach that class. But otherwise, I'd take it.)

And that's about it. There was a specials job this morning at an elementary school, but through the magic of the internet, someone else got it before I did.

So, I'm hanging out here today. And it's ok. I'm hoping for something tomorrow, and I already have jobs lined up for Wednesday and Friday.

Today's post is brought to you by Kleenex...

2009-02-18T17:16:00.002-07:00

I subbed today in a preschool autism class. What an incredible whirlwind of a day! There was screaming, crying, laughing, spinning, clapping, running, whining and spitting. And that was the first five minutes!! We had 4 autistic 3-4 year olds and 2 non-autistic kids who are in the class to model good behavior to the others. And TWO aides (you know how I love a class with an aide - two is even better!!). One boy was brand new - this was his first day ever in school. He turned three YESTERDAY. Poor baby, by the time he left school at 3:20pm, he was hoarse. He cried the entire day, well, except for the hour or so he napped. He decided I was the one he liked and he clung to me. That is unfortunate because I'm a sub. So, poor little guy, his only friend won't be there tomorrow.

That makes me sad. Makes me feel bad that I ever even held him. Honestly, it would have been better if he had no friend today than have his only friend never show up again. I was trying to help, but I think I did the wrong thing. I can imagine his little face dropping when he comes to that horrible place where he cries all day and the only person he could tolerate at all and who hugged him tight and whispered to him to calm him down isn't there. (sigh)

It was a good day - I love special ed, and the autism class is quickly becoming one of my favorite classes. But, I realized today that I can do more harm than good even when I have only the best of intentions. I'm going to say a prayer for Brian tomorrow that he will LOVE the regular teacher right off the bat.

Poor Brian.

Things you learn when you blog...

2009-02-17T17:29:00.002-07:00

I have learned many things since I started blogging nearly a year ago. First, I have re-learned how much I enjoy the discipline of writing every day. Ok, well, almost every day. OK, ONCE A WEEK OR SO. Sheesh, people! Picky, picky. :)

I have also learned a lot about myself. I think that goes with putting your writing out there for everyone and his/her dog to read...and comment on. I have learned that some people think I'm hilarious (thank you to those!!), some people think I'm a good writer (thank you to those!!), some people are related to me and feel a responsibility to keep up (hey, thanks!) and some people just drop in occasionally to make sure I'm still breathing (and thank you for that too).

It has been fun to recount stories that, when they were happening, were not so hilarious, but in the retelling, can make you bust a gut! I especially enjoyed the most recent relocating story. If you have not read that one, check out the end of May 2008. It's quite a journey, and involved me contemplating murder, or at the bare minimum, assault. If I do say so myself, it's hi-freakin'-larious! At the time? Not so much.

Blogging has a way of making me introspective. For example, it was while blogging about it that I realized that I was actually kind of enjoying substitute teaching. I mean, what other job can give you the experiences I've had and allow me to meet such (ahem) colorful characters? Writing about it made me laugh, even when at the time, I was crying. (7-yr-old bathroom cell phoners crying wolf...)

So, thank you for reading, and thank you for commenting, and thank you for dropping in occasionally to make sure I'm still breathing. I hope you'll continue, and I'll try to keep it funny for the most part!

Yet another of my pet peeves

2009-02-11T08:56:00.002-07:00

I have lots of pet peeves, and as I get older, they seem to multiply!! My pet peeves run the gamut of silly (apostrophes, open cabinet doors, toilet paper rolls, grocery carts in parking lots, etc) to serious. I have a lot more silly than serious pet peeves, but today I feel compelled to wax eloquently about a serious one.

IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU LIKE YOUR IN-LAWS. IT ONLY MATTERS IF THEY LIKE YOU.

Ok, I said it. Now I feel better.

I remember the trip Divine Hubby and I took to his family's house for Christmas in 1993. I was meeting most of them for the first time (and there are a lot of them...), and I was very nervous. I NEVER EVER wondered if I would like them. I was EXTREMELY concerned that they. like. me. I was hoping to join their family, not the other way around. I was determined to make a good impression. I do not remember ever wondering or contemplating if I liked them. As it happens, I absolutely love all of them, but that was not the goal.

There is a member of Divine Hubby's family who is causing great strife and he or she is an in-law. He or she does not like other members of the DH family. He or she is very young, and I am convinced he or she is not aware of the damage being done because of his or her selfish behavior. It is very painful for all of us, and sadly, I see no change coming soon. The DH family has been through more than our share of heartache and sadness in the past few months, and this silly, petty, selfish behavior on the part of this one in-law is only making everything worse. It is such a sad situation, and relationships are becoming strained to the breaking point because of this ONE PERSON. The family member married to this particular in-law is aware of the situation (it is so nasty, it would be impossible not to be) but says he or she is operating on loyalty to his or her spouse as he or she was brought up to do.

On the off-chance the parties I am discussing actually read this blog, I have a message, a plea and a thought.

1. Family is everything. A large part of your family is gone forever, and any offenses or problems can never be fixed with that person. Don't assume the rest of your family will always be there. Will you be able to live with your and your spouse's recent actions if the rest of your family were gone tomorrow? I wouldn't be able to live with it, were it me.

2. Your family is struggling and suffering. I do not diminish your suffering, but all of us wish you would share that with us. We miss you. We love you. We want you to return to the family. Come to Christmas or Thanksgiving celebrations. Call your grandmother. Call your cousins and aunts and uncles. Check in. Get involved, like you used to be. WE MISS YOU!

3. Just a thought. I love Divine Hubby dearly, but if he demanded I have nothing to do with my family, I'd have told him to change his attitude or take a hike years ago. Learn from your family members: sadly, sometimes, spouses come and go. Moms and Dads are forever. You have a great family. DO NOT LET ANYONE TAKE THEM FROM YOU. You are young, and you will regret it bitterly later in life if you continue on this path.

Sorry to get so personal on this blog, but I have such heartache about this situation, and although we have all tried in various ways, it does not seem to have a solution. The only solution, in my opinion, is a 180 degree change in attitude for this one single solitary person. So you don't like a family member or two.

SO WHAT. Being part of a family means embracing them regardless of personality conflicts or dislike. Breaking up a family (which is what you have done) is a terrible terrible TERRIBLE act.

**I understand that there are situations where inlaws or family must be ex-communicated, due to blatant abuse or poisonous relationships. As far as I know, this situation is simply a case of personality conflict. I am not discounting your situation if it is different.**

Car woes

2009-02-10T09:30:00.002-07:00

So, I think I blogged about our BRAND NEW CAR!! Ok, so it's 9 years old and it's a Ford Taurus. But it's only got 55K miles on it and so it's nearly new, plus we paid cash for it, so no car payments...yahoo! We are thrilled with it and are now deciding which of our other cars to get rid of so we're back in the garage again. (Divine hubby is quite the "we manage our stuff so that we can park our cars in the garage" snob...)

The Saab is in the shop, probably forever. It has this quirky little thing about not starting sometimes. And it just won't start until it feels like it. It doesn't happen all of the time, but when it does, we are stranded until the car feels like working again. It's a pain, I'll tell ya. But, because it doesn't happen all of the time, no one has been able to figure out why it does this lovely behavior. So, now that we have the NEW car, we have left the Saab with our favorite Saab mechanic and said, "Please drive it until it won't start for you and then FIX IT!" So, he's had it a week. And although the last day I drove it (last Monday) it did its little thing THREE times in one day, it of course has not misbehaved at all for my beloved mechanic. Behaving like a champ. sigh But, the up-side is, that we have three cars now, so our plan was to leave it with the Saab guy until it happens.

That was the plan.

Until yesterday.

When Divine Hubby couldn't get the BRAND NEW car to start either.

sigh

So, now the plan is. DH comes home from work (30 minutes). We drive together to the Saab place (40 minutes). We pick up Saab. Drive home (40 minutes). The next day, DH and Chase and I drive to the Ford place (20 minutes) to drop off the Ford for repairs. Then I take DH to work (30 minutes). Then drive back to take Chase to school (30 minutes). Then possibly to work for me. All while praying the Saab doesn't decide to misbehave during any of that time.

It's exhausting just thinking about it! Thankfully, when one buys a 9-yr-old car (even with only 55K miles on it), one plans ahead and buys the extended warranty. So, we at least don't have to pay for this repair. And hopefully it will only take 1 day, in which time we will completely do all of the above AGAIN to give the Saab back to the mechanic so he can drive it some more.

I sure wish NASA or TSA or somebody would hurry up and develop that cool Star Trek beaming thing. Can you imagine how great that would be? I can't wait.

I am going to tell you how I am feeling RIGHT THIS MOMENT

2009-02-04T22:15:00.003-07:00

**...but first, I'm going to digress. I know, how unusual.**

So, I was wondering how a person gets thousands of people to read her blog and gets asked to write guest blogs and becomes a blog goddess. Then it occurred to me that I might have a better chance of any and all of the above if I wrote more than one entry a week.

Huh.

Ok, so back to the topic at hand.

So, STQ, how are you feeling RIGHT THIS MINUTE?

I am feeling superb. We have a new (well extremely used, but new to us) car in the garage, we have some friends who have invited us over for dinner on Valentine's Day, I am enjoying subbing (mostly), the weather has been amazing, I ate a chili dog for dinner (I love me some chili dogs...), we went to church and enjoyed a great service, I am anticipating a girls' weekend here in Sin City, we are leading a Financial Peace University class at our church in a couple of weeks, Chase is officially IN at the school where we want him to go, I have a new book club to look forward to every month, we may be FINALLY getting over the cold we've all been passing around for about 6 weeks, divine hubby enjoys his job, the kitchen is clean (hallelujah), and all is right with the world here in Vegas.

I hope things are great in your corner of the world too. I'm praying for my friends with marriage problems, for my sweet sister-in-law mourning her divine hubby's untimely death, for my friends who have illnesses and for those who have lost jobs or homes due to the economy. I love all of you and wish you a great evening and a great day tomorrow!

Adventures in substituting chapter...6?

2009-01-29T17:15:00.003-07:00

I have lost track of how many stories I have told you about my subbing adventures, but today was one of the best.

I subbed in a severely emotionally challenged (SEC) class in an elementary school today. There were 5 boys ranging in age from 6-8 in the class AND I had an aide. (You know how I love a class with an aide...) The boys were absolutely adorable, and the day was a real adventure. For one thing, it was field trip day!! We went bowling for the majority of the morning, and had a wonderful time. Field trips are always fun!

I know I have told you this before, but I love special ed. And these kids were no exception. There was a moment today when one of the boys lost control, overturned a desk in a rage and threw a world-class tantrum. That was a little bit scary, but thankfully, the aide knew how to deal with it and I simply stood out of the line of fire and let her handle it. She had to restrain him physically, and it was hard to watch. That kind of thing happens fairly often in SEC classes, and it was disturbing to me. Another reason I am glad to have an aide!!

Anyway, it was a great day - interesting, educational, entertaining and enjoyable. All the hallmarks of a great day subbing.

Things that have surprised me lately

2009-01-28T15:01:00.003-07:00

1. Subbing.
I have really begun to enjoy subbing, much to my surprise! I have figured out what kinds of classes I enjoy and which ones make me want to run screaming from the room, never to return. I am very surprised to realize that my very very favorite kind of sub job is special ed or resource room. And if it's in an at-risk school, more the better. I love those kids! I don't know if it fulfills some need in me to be needed, or if there even IS a deeper reason. I just love those kids and those jobs. So, since no one wants those jobs BUT me, I can almost always get them! The jobs I loathe are the ones I thought I'd like the most. Yuppie, upper-middle-class schools with little yuppie kids in them. Can't stand em!

2. Vegas.
So, although I will still tell you that this isn't my very favorite place that we've lived, it is really growing on me. For one thing, EVERYONE comes here! Or wants to, anyway. A friend revealed on her FB page that she is getting divorced. Within a span of 48 hours, we have a group of about 10 friends coming out here in April for a girls' weekend. And all I have to do is show up! :) No plane ride, no rescheduling my life, just driving the 10 miles down to the strip and having a great time. I am not sure I could have talked all of those people into coming to Green Bay for a weekend... Anyway, we are about to start teaching a class at our church, Chase has been accepted into our first choice school for Jr/Sr High, we have made some good friends and we are beginning to actually like it here. Ok, so I'm the only one who really needed convincing, but it was a tough sell, and I'm glad to report I'm thawing.

3. My book.
I know, I've not discussed my book recently here. Some of you have emailed and asked me about it. I'm sad to tell you that the agent was a fake. A scam. Giving me false hope and wanting my money. I need to start marketing it again, and I will. I just had to admit that first. I got scammed, and it hurt my feelings...

4. My family.
Divine hubby and I celebrated our 14th anniversary last week. It's funny that on one hand, I can't believe it has been that long, and at the same time, I can't imagine my life without him, Megan and Chase. We've had quite a ride - had more than our share of heartache, difficulty and pain, but also more than our share of love, laughter and joy. Sometimes it is easier to dwell on the problems and wonder "why us??" but we've been so blessed in so many ways, that when I think of the blessings, I have to smile. We've created a home in four states now...and we have the friends and family to show for it. I love my hubby and our life together! :)

So, that's my post for today. I'm feeling introspective and grateful for my life, my family, my job and even my zip code!

INAUGERATION

2009-01-21T16:20:00.003-07:00

So, now that I have your attention (I sure hope you spotted my mistake already!), I can say how sad it was when I was subbing today that I rounded a corner (in the office, thank you very much), saw a very well-designed board with a lovely picture of President Obama in the middle and the word "INAUGERATION" written across the top.

sigh

At a school, no less.

And in the OFFICE where the ADMINISTRATORS walk by it 1000 times every day. My hope is that it was just put up today, but since the INAUGERATION was yesterday, I'm guessing it's been there awhile.

And if you are wondering WHY, STQ are you so dismayed with the word INAUGERATION...then go back to school and take spelling again. :)

Hello, hasn't every single television station, newspaper, magazine and website written that word a gazillion times for the past 2 months?

It's INAUGURATION, people.

And if you're wondering, yes, I did inform the office that it was misspelled. They kinda glared at me, but assured me it would be fixed. My comment was "I mean, in a school, ya oughtta spell it right, ya know?" I've probably been banned from subbing in that particular school again...sigh

Mea culpa

2009-01-19T22:19:00.002-07:00

Today, I officially lost it. I listened to too much talk radio, I watched too much CNN and FOX news, I read too many blogs and news reports on TV, and I lost it. This blog has never been about politics (ok, occasionally a little bit) and I have absolutely NO interest in it becoming about politics. I got very involved in this election, and have not quite gotten over the results. I have even been considering running for office, but am now rethinking that.

The problem is, I can't turn it off. There is so much that is upsetting and disturbing and downright WRONG about American politics, on both sides of the aisle, frankly. It keeps me up nights when I am immersing myself in it. And I think even if I were President (heaven forbid), I couldn't actually change much of it.

Some people find that exciting, I guess. Or challenging, or whatever. I find it absolutely maddening, and it gets my blood boiling when I think of all of the idiocy that happens in the name of government. Our founding fathers are getting no eternal rest, rolling constantly in their graves at the insanity we have allowed our country to embrace.

And honestly, there is no fixing it. It's like trying to patch a leak on a giant water pipe made of chicken wire. The problems are too big, and too prevalent. (I'm getting all depressed again...)

So, I've decided NOT to obsess about it anymore. I allowed myself to get all manic and crazy today, and it absolutely ruined the day for me. Ruined a perfectly good MLK day where the temp was 70, the skies were blue and all was right with the world.

Tomorrow, I will let the world celebrate, and be happy for what I have. I have a great marriage with a wonderful man, 2 fantastic kiddos, a warm home full of laughter and love, tons of loving family, friends to die for and generally a great life. Tomorrow, I will take the burden of running the world OFF of my shoulders (whew) and let it run itself.

This is where I get political. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

2009-01-19T16:15:00.004-07:00

Today's post has been deleted by the author who is so angry, disgusted and outraged about the obscene spending in Washington this week that she got nasty.

Can't say tomorrow will be any better. I'll blog again when I am able to think clearly.

I pray for wisdom, perspective and patriotism for you, Mr. Obama.

Yet another reason Chase is in private school

2009-01-15T11:35:00.008-07:00

Tonight is the much-anticipated state of the state speech by our exalted Governor here in Nevada. As is the case across the nation, it's not going to be his most upbeat and positive speech, for sure. Nevada leads the nation in foreclosures, has a higher-than-average unemployment rate and has a beyond pathetic educational system.

So, how are we going to address these issues, you may ask? Well, one way they are planning to help out us little folks is by CUTTING teacher pay by 6%.

Um, what??

Yep, that's the brilliant idea here. The GOOD schools stink and are dangerous here. People are selling their excess organs on ebay in order to pay for private school. So, let's cut the pay of the already pitifully-paid teachers so the ones who are actually hanging on for the sake of the kids will quit and we'll be stuck with the ones who simply don't have the drive or initiative to quit and find something that pays more than minimum wage for your Master's in Education. FANTASTIC IDEA. Really thinkin' big picture, fellas.

Can't wait for the gazillion dollar study to be done on this little gem 10 years from now.

Question: Was this a good idea?
Answer: No. ($100,000)

Question: Uh, why not? It saved us tons of money!! Especially when the good teachers left in disgust and the only ones left were the ones who would never qualify for a raise in the first place. Think of the savings!!
Answer: Our children can no longer speak ANY language, no one has any idea what the capital of Ohio is (or on what continent you might find it) and the number of seniors who can add double-digit numbers has dropped to a single-digit percentage. ($100,000)

But think of the savings.

I hate to be a nay-sayer, but I think this is a very bad idea. The other reason it's a bad idea is because teachers' pay is protected by LAW. So, as soon as our idiot legislators pass this, the teachers' union will sue them.

More money for lawyers, less money for everybody else while they battle this out. And the state will probably lose, so we'll have LOST money while trying to squeeze savings out of the LAST PLACE THEY SHOULD HAVE EVER LOOKED.

When in heaven's name will they realize that cutting EDUCATION is a terrible, pointless, heartless and truly stupid idea? I mean, really. I'd rather drive through a few more potholes than have our future generation knocked down yet another rung on the importance ladder. Or, (heaven forbid) pay our legislators a little less...

I rubbed elbows with royalty today...

2009-01-14T18:22:00.005-07:00

I subbed in an early-childhood classroom today. My favorite!! :) Why is it my favorite, you ask?

1. I always have an aide
2. The kids are 3-4 years old
3. They are too young to be sneaky and nasty (I have learned that second grade is NOT too young...)
4. They only come half a day, so I get two classes, which I prefer!
5. Did I mention I always have an aide??

An aide is so helpful because the kids are not quite as out of control when they know at least one of the teachers in the classroom. Plus, the aide knows the routine, which makes it infinitely easier. I absolutely love having an aide...

And today was fun - coloring, playing with blocks, singing kid songs, refreshing my knowledge of colors, shapes and letters (always helpful)...

But, today of the 9 kids in the afternoon class, I had the privilege of teaching royalty.

There was a kid named...Caesar
There was a kid named...Emir
There was a kid named...Princess Jasmine
And last, but absolutely NOT least, there was a kid named...Emperor.
And on the other end of the spectrum, I had a kid named Damien, so the demon-possessed folks were well-represented as well.

I kid you not - I was running around after these kids today calling them these exalted names!! Love calling the one girl princess - she insisted on both names, by the way. As would I!

Family day trips

2009-01-12T12:53:00.005-07:00

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day in Las Vegas. Clear blue skies, tons of warm sunshine, 65 degrees...as my friend Kale would say, "a Chamber of Commerce day!" So, the STQ family took a little day trip to Red Rock Canyon. Not nearly as far away as when we went to Death Valley (I still haven't blogged about that), but it was fun.

I don't know how many of you know this, but Las Vegas is a valley. A valley as in, surrounded by mountains. And to those of you Colorado folks, YES, real mountains! There are even a couple of 13'ers within two hours of our house. Now, the difference between Colorado mountains and Nevada mountains is that we have no trees on ours, but if that pine beetle has its way, you'll be there soon! :(

But I digress...

We went to Red Rock Canyon. There is a very interesting visitors' center and then a 13-mile scenic drive with about 7-8 locations where you can park and go climbing and exploring those big red rocks. If you know Chase, you know that climbing rocks is right up his alley. If anyone had allowed him to bring his pick axe, he would have done some rock-hounding too, but we're just mean like that. So, we climbed rocks (ok, some of us did and the sensible one stayed at the bottom to observe for insurance purposes...), hiked trails, looked for snakes and generally had a great time.

At the end of the day, Chase ran pretty far ahead of us, and when we rounded a corner, we saw an amazing sight. Chase was on the ground holding his bleeding knee and a group of teenagers was tending to him with their first aid kit.

Teenagers.
No adults.
Tending to an 11-yr-old who just fell.
With the FIRST AID KIT they brought.

Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I cannot imagine a situation in which I, as a teenager, would have thought of a first aid kit, much less brought one along when I was going hiking with my friends. Be honest...can you? And I'm an adult (and a mother) now, and I didn't have a first aid kit with me! After thanking the boy with the kit profusely, I asked him if he had been a boy scout at any time in his life. His comment was, "Nope, I'm just a Mexican. Mexicans are always prepared for emergencies."

So, the moral of this story is, make sure your hiking group includes at least one Mexican, and you'll be safe from all boo-boos.

Amazing...

Sunrise, sunset...

2009-01-08T17:04:00.003-07:00

***First, I wanted to update you all. The literary agent emailed me and said that due to the holidays, they have gotten behind and will need an extra week to evaluate my manuscript. Just in case you were curious!***

I'm having a crisis.

I'm (ahem) 40 and I am still wondering what I'm going to do when I grow up.

I have spent the last 11+ years as a stay-home mom. I have always had some kind of job, but it has taken a back seat to taking care of Megan and Chase. In Austin, I worked from home managing a database for our church. In Green Bay, I wrote a book. (didn't pay so well, but kept me off the streets.) In Denver, I worked 7am-noon in the office at Warren Tech, the local technical high school. All of these jobs worked out absolutely perfectly with the kids' schedule, and I was able to contribute to the household and fulfill my desire to be there for my kids.

Since we have moved to Las Vegas, I have not found a job. Unemployment is higher here than the national average, and with the casinos laying people off right and left, there is a lot of competition for every job. I have been substitute teaching, but even that has gotten more competitive, and I was only able to get one job this week.

All of this has left me feeling at a loss.

On one hand, I'm simply unwilling to sacrifice this time I have with Chase. On the other hand, I have no interest in staying home alone while he's in school all day. As good as that sounds, it gets old fast, trust me. I have a college degree, lots of experience and would like to exercise my brain more than just figuring out what is for dinner tonight! I have loved my time as a stay-home mom, but it's time to do something else.

So, I've been looking at my options.

My first thought was to go back to school. To do what?

My second thought was hmmmm. Nursing? 3+ years and about $25,000. Nope.

My third thought was something LIKE nursing, but not quite so spendy. CNA! 1 semester, $1000 and I'm ready to go. Then I researched what a CNA does. Mostly bedpans? No thanks.

Then I went and toured a school today for Pharmacy Tech. $14,500 and 9 months full-time school. sigh.

So, I've decided to be a blackjack dealer. Or a cocktail waitress. Wait, no one is hiring? I'm simply unwilling to enter the adult entertainment industry, so where does that leave me?

Wondering what I'm going to be when I grow up.

A very wise woman (hi Mom!) pointed out to me yesterday that substitute teaching, while not my dream job, fulfills my need for flexibility. It pays fairly well, considering, and probably once we get away from the holidays, there will be more jobs available. MAYBE I should stop whining about subbing and see it for what it is. A means to an end.

But I LIKE WHINING!!! :( I mean, what would this blog be if I stopped whining???

Another friend (hi Amy!) suggested that subbing could be my superhero alter ego. Whiny substitute by day, fabulous amazing (hopefully published someday) author by night. Only if I get to wear a cape! So, I think these are good suggestions. Until something better comes along.

(the following must be said in a VERY whiny voice)

I REALLY HOPE SOMETHING BETTER COMES ALONG!!! :)

Would you like my autograph now?

2009-01-05T18:07:00.003-07:00

So, about three years ago, I wrote a novel.

Yes, doesn't that sound impressive? Well, I was impressed too, until I tried to get someone (anyone, frankly) to publish said novel.

I wrote roughly 5,643 query letters to literary agents.

I received roughly 5,640 rejection letters. (Some were rude and decided I wasn't worth the stamp, apparently.)

Now, although the letters were ALL rejection letters, they were only rejecting my query letter, as I had yet to have any of said agents actually want to READ my book. It still hurt my little blonde feelings. I mean, how good could my NOVEL be if my QUERY LETTER stunk that badly?? I was depressed.

So, I stopped sending the letters. Seemed like a big fat waste of time, I don't need all that rejection, and I have not sent a query letter for oh, say, a year. Then last week, I started thinking about it again, and how much I don't want to be a substitute teacher forever, but how much I want to still have time to be with Chase when he isn't in school and go on field trips, etc. Really, any other job (including teacher) will keep me from being able to be as involved in his life as I have always been.

I started to think of my options.

1. Win the lottery. Problem with this one is that you have to actually PLAY the lottery, which to me has always seemed a lot like flushing dollar bills down the toilet.

2. I live in Vegas - put it all on black and let it ride! For the problem with this one, see #1. Flush.

3. Knock off my parents and live on the gigantic inheritance I am sure to receive. Problem with this one is that I actually LIKE my parents, and there's that whole pesky murder rap/life in prison thing to contend with. I don't look good in horizontal stripes, so that's out.

4. Hey, dummy, you wrote a perfectly good book and it is just sitting upstairs gathering dust. Why not dust it off and shop it around again? Then, after my multi-million dollar advance and 5-book sequel deal from Doubleday, all my problems would be solved.

So, I googled awhile, found a literary agent that I hadn't bothered before and sent off a hilarious, informative, thoughtful and utterly-delightful query letter. Two days later, I got a response. THEY WANT TO READ MY MANUSCRIPT!!!!!

Say what?

So, I sent it to them, and they promise a one-week turnaround. They will email me this week and either say "What bank account would you like the million dollar advance deposited in?" or "Thanks, but your manuscript is kaka, we hate you have blocked your email address and think you should not even write shopping lists in the future, you are so untalented." Well, that's how I am going to interpret it, anyway. In truth, even if they love the manuscript, there are several more hurdles to jump before I can consider myself a published author, but this is the first step, and I am excited...and nervous.

So, say a prayer, keep your fingers crossed, knock on wood, rub your lucky rabbit's foot, throw salt over your shoulder or whatever you do for luck and think of me. I'll update you later in the week!

Football

2009-01-02T07:38:00.003-07:00

I know, the topic will probably ensure that no one actually reads this entry...

Those of you who knew me three zip codes ago when I lived in Texas are probably very surprised that I can even spell football, much less that I would write a blog entry about it. Living in Texas for 19 years should have created a football fan, if there was one buried anywhere in me. But it didn't. When we left Texas, I didn't actually know what a down was, and if you asked me, it was silly to call ANYTHING in football a safety since they all just try to kill each other and there just ain't nothin' safe about it.

Then we moved to Green Bay, WI. Within two weeks of moving, divine hubby was out of town on a business trip, Chase was in dreamland and I was up watching Monday Night Football and screaming at Brett Favre to STOP THROWING INTERCEPTIONS!!! Now, just the fact that I knew what an interception WAS in two weeks was impressive in my book.

Since that fateful September evening nearly 4 years ago, I count myself among the throngs of the Packer faithful. I've been asked WHY I became a football fan, much less a Packer fan, and I can only tell you that Green Bay is a very special place. We lived about 2 miles from Mecca, I mean Lambeau Field and on a really cold, clear night (there were a lot of those) you could hear the roar when Brett got it done. When we moved to Denver, I was told by well-meaning but delusional friends and family that "Denver fans are just as crazy about the Broncos as Packer fans are." Um, no. They aren't. Having lived in GB and in Denver, I can say there just is no comparison. I know, I know, the fans love the Broncos, but it's just not the same. You see, in Denver, there are other things going on during football season to distract you if the Broncos are losing. In Green Bay, after a big loss or a big win for that matter, that is the ONLY topic of conversation. I mean it - I promise you that Obama did NOT get discussed as much as Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver after the election. It is a city (maybe state)-wide obsession.

And I happily joined in. Of course, it helps that one of the requirements of being a homeowner in Green Bay is that you have to show them your Packer tattoo...

Anyway, I have many many many good memories and friends from our year in Green Bay. Our little house there still ranks as my favorite house so far - it was simply perfect for us, and I would pick it up and plunk it right down here if I could. We miss our friends the Gudgeons and the Wagners, I miss my book club (hi Grace), we miss Door County and the fish boils, we miss fresh, squeaky cheese curds and yes, we miss the bitterly-cold weather and snow too. I gotta say, though, that one of the things I miss the most is the comraderie that comes when 200,000+ people all worship at the same place on Sundays in the Fall. And of course I am speaking of Lambeau Field!

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T08:36:00.003-07:00

So, it's New Year's Eve. We are about to pull the curtain on 2008 and usher in a brand new year. It has certainly been a year of change, don't ya think? Whether or not you wanted big changes in your life, times they are a changin.

Personally, this has been a tough year for our family. We moved...again (hopefully for the last time!!), and with me not having a steady job, it's been tough financially. But, we're working on that, and are hoping and praying for more stability in 2009. We lost a beloved family member in a truly horrible way, which has left all of us feeling kind of sad this holiday season. The economy has taken a toll on our savings and retirement and on our friends and family. The election, while exciting, has left many of us wondering where we fit in in this new world of ours. We at the STQ family are praying hard for our new President and truly hope he can fulfill the ambitious promises he has made. Our country needs him to be a fantastic leader.

2009 is going to be challenging, but my prayer is that it will also be a good year for all of us. As for tonight, we are having friends over and ushering in the new year with prayer and hope. We wish all of you a safe and happy New Year's Eve, and a year filled with blessings and answered prayer. God bless all of you, and see ya next year!

A Southern Christmas

2008-12-29T09:58:00.002-07:00

I packed up Chase, Divine Hubby and myself, sent the dog to "Puppy camp," put a giant bowl of food in the hamster's cage and we flew South for Christmas. My parents still live in the small town in SC where I grew up. It's funny that after being gone for 20+ years, I hardly recognize the place! It doesn't help that the 'rents moved and are now living in a different area of town, but really, it's not that big...

One of the things that hurts the most is that Baskin Robbins is gone. Location of my first job, and where I spent most of my free time during my high school days. Many good (and weird) memories there. It's now a Waffle House. That's just wrong... Also Cato - a cheapo clothing store where I worked (and the site of yet more weird memories) is now part of a gigantic Home Depot. sigh

Most of my friends have relocated around the country as well. There are a few still lurking around, but this was such a quick trip, there just wasn't time to visit with them. I did run into a friend I haven't seen since, oh, 1986...we had a great time catching up, and I feel like I have a new friend. I remember why I liked her so much in high school and hope we will keep in touch this time!

My brother and his wife also joined us for Christmas, and that was a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah, seeing them was good too...but they brought my 1-yr-old niece Haven with them. Not sure I remember actually seeing or talking to anyone else once she showed up! I love to hold and play with other people's babies, and it's particularly good when she's my adorable niece!!

We also enjoyed spending time with my 'rents and with my Aunt Susan who came all the way from California to spend Christmas with us! She is so much fun to be around - has a great big laugh and fantastic stories to share.

It was one of the best Christmases we have had in awhile - it was fun to be back in my home town and it was fun being with family there. Hope your Christmas was fun too!

My eldest is all grown up

2008-12-24T10:23:00.003-07:00

Meg is a freshman at Arizona State this year. We have enjoyed being so close to her - she's brought friends home and spent three weekends with us this semester! It doesn't hurt that Vegas is a fun place to visit when you're 18...

Meg has always been the easy-going child. Except for doctors and dentists, she has rarely shed a tear or thrown a fit. As a child, she had a sunny disposition and was really fun to have around. She enjoyed family get-togethers, had good friends and rarely gave us a second of trouble. As a teenager, she got a little more challenging...but still, no big problems. Just a little (ahem) mouthy and superior. Of course, I don't know anything about being a mouthy and superior teenager, right Mom and Dad?

She has always loved sports - specifically soccer. Meg started soccer when she was about 6 months old, I think. We spent more time at soccer fields in many different cities in Texas than anywhere else, I think. She's a fantastic player - long and lean, and has a mean corner kick that scored many a goal for her team.

There were times during her teenage years when we felt distant from her, and worried about our relationship with Meg. We tried not to hold her too tightly, while worrying that we weren't holding her tightly enough. She has a level head, a good sense of right and wrong, and is just generally good, so she got through (and so did we) with flying colors. Since she has started college, our relationship with her has changed and become more adult and less parental. (Except for that pesky paying for college thing...) Meg is beautiful, physically, and is really becoming a beautiful woman, all the way around. We look forward to celebrating graduation, career, marriage and grandchildren with her.

My baby is growing up

2008-12-23T08:02:00.002-07:00

The signs are all there. He can take showers by himself and dry his own hair, he can iron his own clothes (yes, really!!), he can change his own sheets, he talks on the phone to his friends, he cops a 'tude with the best of them, and now the child has braces. Yes, braces!! Well, the beginnings of them, anyway. They put an expander in his mouth yesterday, and we have the adventure of turning it every night for 28 nights to make his mouth bigger for the gigantic chiclets that are replacing those lovely little corn-kernel baby teeth he used to have.

I remember when he was a baby. Colicky, fussy, refused to breastfeed, very high-energy and high-strung. And that's all before his personality began to show itself! My Chase is most definitely his own man and has been since the word go. I have often said that we got what we asked for when we named our son an action verb...

But, despite all of the difficulties we've had, Chase has grown into an incredible young man. The principal at his school recently singled me out to tell me just that. And it was in the context of Chase being caught doing something wrong! The principal said he was so impressed with Chase's contrite attitude, apology, and willingness to make it right, that it made a real impression on him.

I remember one time when Chase was in the 2nd grade. When he got home from school, I told him I had missed him, and that it was lonely at our house when he was at school. He looked bewildered and said, "Mommy, you're not alone. God is here with you when I'm at school!" Brought tears to my eyes.

Funny, Chase was so (ahem) challenging as a little boy, I would have bet you cash money that we were going to have terrible trouble with him in school. The exact opposite has occurred. He's in the 5th grade, and every single teacher he has had has absolutely loved him. He is a good student, but I think even if he was pushing straight C's, he'd be a favorite. He's just a loving, kind, helpful, attentive, cheerful kid, and what teacher doesn't love that kid?

So, tis the season of the annual family brag letter. I didn't get my act together to get one sent (again) this year, so I thought I'd just brag here in my blog. Stay tuned - there is more bragging, um I mean info coming tomorrow!

Travel worries

2008-12-22T07:34:00.004-07:00

We are headed back East for Christmas this year. Spending the holidays with my parents, my brother and his family and my Aunt Susan. My family is really fun, and we all enjoy hanging out together. I know it will be a great vacation.

HOWEVER...

Before the merriment can begin, we have to TRAVEL. (sigh)

Everyone loves to travel, except me. Now, don't get me wrong. I love going to new places, seeing new things, lying on new Caribbean beaches, etc. etc. etc. I just hate the whole process of getting there. Nobody is looking forward to the NTSA coming up with the whole Star Trek "beaming down" process more than me. I hate worrying about traffic and getting to the airport 3 hours before our flight leaves. I hate standing in line lugging bags. I hate getting stranded due to weather. I hate long flights. I hate sleeping sitting up. I hate turbulence. I hate finding the rental car place. I know, I know, I'm a whiner. But I honestly do hate almost everything about traveling!

I think it's because I am such a worrier. I don't really worry about the safety of the plane - I figure smarter folks than me have figured that all out, and I've flown enough to trust the airline industry. It's more missing the flight, forgetting our documents, losing our boarding passes, losing our luggage, not being able to find the rental car, flight cancellations, etc. Just the whole process of traveling is stressful to me. But, I have minimized our travel worries as much as possible. We are flying from a warm climate with no weather concerns to another warm climate with few weather concerns and we are flying nonstop. That means, once we get in the air, we're golden. Other than that, I'll have to just deal with the rest.

I'm not currently on any anti-anxiety or anti-depressant meds, but sometimes I think I should be. Maybe just for travel, I could snag a Xanax??? :) Might make the whole process easier and better for everyone involved!

My love/hate relationship

2008-12-19T08:30:00.002-07:00

I have a cold.

The kind that makes me wonder if someone has snuck cedar into my house and is secretly putting it in my face soap. (I'm desperately allergic to cedar, by the way)

The kind that made me let Chase watch WAY too much TV and play WAY too many video games yesterday during our snow day.

The kind that makes me wish I could take Chase to school early just so I could be back in bed right now.

The kind that made me take the most dreaded of all pharmaceuticals: NYQUIL

OH, how I hate that nasty stuff! It is certainly better now that they have put it in a liqui-cap and I don't have to actually taste it, but it's not only the horrible horrible, vomit-inducing taste I object to. I object to how I feel RIGHT NOW. I know you're not dying to hear the list of my complaints, but it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to. sob, sniff

Nyquil is good for only one thing. Sleeping. When I take that stuff, I sleep like the dead. That, my friends is a good thing. The bad part is waking up. I am convinced that Nyquil contains at least 12 shots of Mad Dog or something equally vile. When I woke up this morning, the room was spinning, and I wasn't sure exactly where I was. After realizing that the piece of carpet someone had apparently stuffed in my mouth while sleeping was ACTUALLY my tongue, I managed to stagger out of bed and stay upright.

Nyquil makes me feel fuzzy and thick. That is the best way to describe it. I will spend today feeling stuffed up, chilly, sorry for myself, fuzzy and thick. YAY! That's how I want to spend a Friday, how about you?

No Nyquil for me tonight - I'd rather be tired!

Toto, I don't think we're in Vegas anymore...

2008-12-15T17:40:00.006-07:00

One of the perks of living in Las Vegas, is that we don't have weather. Other than HOT, of course. So, imagine my surprise when I looked out of the window and saw this:

And really, should a backyard pool look like this? Now, before you get too jealous, remember, it's a rental!!!

It's cold here, baby. 30 degrees and falling. And snowing. Of course, the streets are clear because it's usually 1000 degrees here, but I still saw many people skidding off of the roads while I was driving home from work this afternoon. The locals say it's because of all of the oil on the roads since it never rains... yeah, whatever. I think people are distracted by the foreign concept of ANYTHING falling from the skies here, and they are so busy looking at it, they are driving off of the roads.

But, it sure is beautiful, and reminds me of Denver...and Green Bay...two of my very favorite cities. And bonus - no shoveling of driveways, so we are very much enjoying the unseasonably-precipitous weather!

One of the perks of living in Vegas

2008-12-13T23:31:00.002-07:00

...is the fact that it's a fun place to visit. We have had more people visit us in the 6 months we have lived here (can you believe it's already been six months? Me either...) than the nearly 2 years we lived in Denver! And NO ONE came to visit us the year we lived in Green Bay! My dear darling stepdaughter Meg has even come three times this semester! She is here this weekend with her friend Becca.

It's really fun having an adult daughter... well almost an adult - she's 18! She sure THINKS she's all grown up, that's for sure! And she looks all grown up too. She's gorgeous and full of spit and vinegar. She's got lots of personality, and has really become an incredible young woman. We are proud of her, and it's been fun having her come visit.

It's also fun having an 11-yr-old son. Chase is just so bright and full of life. He is great fun to have around, and has some great ideas about things, if you can get him to stop talking about Pokemon and talk about real things!! He's into lacrosse, karate, school and (of course) Pokemon.

So, all of that said - Vegas is starting to grow on me. It's finally NOT a thousand degrees, and I'm enjoying the cool weather. We love having guests, and there are just so many fun things to do here, it's astounding. So, if you are in the minority of folks I know who have not yet come to visit, call and make a reservation at our casa. We'd love to have ya!

Adventures in Substituting Chapter 2

2008-12-09T20:42:00.004-07:00

So, yesterday, I had the best day subbing I've ever had - bar none! I subbed in a pre-K class, and met the absolute most adorable, cutest and most fun little 4 year olds in all of Vegas! I loved it, and would sub in that class every day, if asked!

Today, I got a job subbing in a good suburban school - nice neighborhoods, certainly NOT at-risk, brand new school, etc. Subbing in a second grade classroom. I mean, how hard can second graders be, right? I have subbed in the 'hood, man. Where I am SURE the kids were on crack, if not outright dealing in front of me. I can handle it - I'm tough, and these are 7 year olds! Again I ask you, how hard can it be?

OH. MY. GOSH.

Let me just say that as long as I've been subbing, I've not been reduced to tears once. And like I said, I've subbed in the 'hood. I cried today by 11am. I had a 7-year-old take his cell phone (who knew 7-yr-olds had cell phones, but I digress) into the bathroom with him and call his mother to report that the substitute was HURTING THE KIDS IN THE CLASS.

I was the substitute.

I'm teaching to a fairly rowdy and difficult group when suddenly the Assistant Principal came in and gathered the kids around her to have a "chat." She then explained the situation (right in front of my astonished face) and asked,

AP: Now, children. Has Mrs. STQ asked you to do anything dangerous (huh)?
Angelic children: Nooooooooooo Mrs. Swan
AP: Has Mrs. STQ asked you to do anything illegal (what)?
Angelic children: Nooooooooooo Mrs. Swan
AP: Has Mrs. STQ hurt any of you in any way? (at which point I nearly lost it)
Angelic children: Noooooooo Mrs. Swan
AP: Has Mrs. STQ yelled or called names to any children? (nearly lost it again)
Angelic children: Noooooooo Mrs. Swan.
AP: Now, children. Let's talk about the boy who cried wolf.

And she proceeded to tell the kids the story of the boy who cried wolf while I was reeling from the accusation I was hearing towards ME!

AP: Now, children. Let's get back to work and let's all pay close attention to Mrs. STQ the rest of the day.

And she left. Just like that - no explanation or discussion to me, no secret wink that everything is ok, no nothin. She just left me alone with my accusers.

At that point, I WANTED to hurt the children...no, I didn't really, but I sure was mad and upset, can you blame me?

During my 15-minute lunch, instead of eating, I found the AP and asked her what the heck was going on! Apparently one parent was called from the cherub with the cell phone in the bathroom, and that parent called her closest friends with kids in the class and they were gathering an angry mob to run on my class with torches to run me out! (This was the part where I cried...a little)

Oh, do you remember that these kids are SEVEN? I repeat. OH. MY. GOSH.

I was then abused by these pint-sized terrorists the rest of the day (should have called my mommy to report it I guess) and left feeling like I'd been beaten with a stick. One of the other teachers said this as I left:

Mrs. Way-Too-Cheery-To-Be-Believed: Bye, Mrs. STQ - be sure to leave your phone number so we can call you again soon!

Me: (thinking silently, as I waved and ran as fast as possible from the building) Yep, I'm gonna just run right back in to do that. I'm dying to come back to this FANTASTIC place...

Can't wait.

Houston, funerals & family

2008-12-04T16:04:00.003-07:00

Houston:
traffic was atrocious, steamy and 80 on Wednesday, great airport, airport VERY FAR AWAY from where we stayed, seeing nephew and wife's new and beautiful house, playing guitar hero (FUN!!), windy and rainy, BAD for STQ's hairdo...Very very bad...

Funeral:
beautiful service, fun reminiscing about Don, lots of great food, lots of great family, loads of laughter remembering Don and his big laugh, life and love, and loads of tears remembering Don, his big laugh, life and love.

Family:
Marcelle, Maresha, Sharlyn, Myrline, JC, Cathy, Ryan, Janie, Adam, Shannon and the STQ family. Plus the Laws family, old family friends and Don & Janie's friends in Houston.

The trip was grueling, the humidity was uncomfortable, the clothes were hot, but the family was close, the tears were shared and the love was palpable. So many people were surprised Chase and I went to the funeral, since he wasn't my brother, and it cost a lot of money and time to get there. I am so very thankful we went. It was a fitting goodbye to a big man who had a big impact on our little STQ family. I know I have devoted a lot of time to him in this usually random and kind of silly blog, but this has been a real tragedy for our family.

So, one last time - we love you Don. We miss you, and we expect to see you first in line someday at the pearly gates saying "KISS MY FACE" like you used to as you crush us in a big bear hug. I wonder if you can have the air crushed out of your eternal body like you can your earthly one? Well, I know he will try his very best.

Bye Don.

In Memoriam

2008-11-29T22:29:00.002-07:00

Donald Wayne Wood died at 9pm this evening in Houston, TX. Janie, his wife of 28 years was with him, and he had family all around. We will all miss him very much, and personally, I don't know how I will ever get over this unspeakable tragedy. I have peace in the knowledge that Don was a man of very strong faith, so I know where he is and that he is just fine. That really does make it better for all of us, to know we'll see him again someday. Like I told Chase, that is one of the very best things about being a Christian. No one is ever really gone and we will get to be together for eternity someday.

We will miss you, Don.

Thanksgiving/update on Don

2008-11-29T16:57:00.005-07:00

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving - we went to East Texas, and Chase and I have arrived safely back in "Sin City." Divine hubby stayed in Houston, where his brother Don has been in ICU for a month. Thursday, the family made the awful decision to take him off of life support, and he is still hanging on. He is on incredible levels of morphine, is completely unconscious, and hopefully pain-free.

This has been an awful month for our family and we are all now praying for a quick end to his suffering. We would appreciate any and all prayers on Don's behalf. I will keep you up to date, and thank you for your prayers. We are saddened beyond measure at this terrible tragedy. Don was only 49 and had a LOT more life to live. We will miss him immeasurably.

My Christmas resolution

2008-11-24T07:32:00.002-07:00

I used to absolutely LOVE getting the Christmas tree, decorating it, decorating the house, driving around to see Christmas lights, etc etc etc. Over the past few years, I've kinda "lost that lovin' feelin" about Christmas, and it has started to show. Last year was so bad, we didn't even get a TREE! And it was even worse - we didn't EVEN put up the fake one we had in the basement! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

So, I'm turning over a new leaf. This year, we have already (kind of) started decorating, and I have actually bought a few new decorations, can you imagine? Did you know that JoAnne's already has their Christmas decorations at 50% off? I may have to do a little more shopping before it's all said and done, but shhhhh, don't tell Divine Hubby! :)

We probably won't get a REAL Christmas tree, but I'm ok with that. The fake one is in the garage and a few real garlands for the mantle will scent the house nicely without all of the mess and expense.

Divine hubby and I even put a pretty good dent in the shopping this weekend - and we really had fun together. Daniel, one of Chase's friends came to visit from Colorado, and his dad took the boys to the Hoover Dam on Saturday, so Divine Hubby and I had some shopping time. I know, I know, you are amazed that Divine Hubby would go shopping with me, but we have always really enjoyed Christmas shopping together. Divine Hubby is a GREAT shopper - we have the same philosophy and taste in stuff, and it's something we have always enjoyed doing together.

So, my Christmas resolution is to put the fun back in Christmas. Chase and I made some Operation Christmas Child boxes, we're decorating a little, and we're firmly in the spirit. AND, the neighbors have already paid big bucks to have their lights put up (cracks me up that people pay for that...), so the neighborhood is starting to look a lot like (a Vegas) Christmas!

Adventures in Substitute Teaching

2008-11-20T10:06:00.005-07:00

I've been substitute teaching for a few weeks now, and have come to a couple of conclusions.

1. Kids just don't behave well for subs. (yeah, I know... duhhhhhhhhhhh)

2. It's really hard to get the attention of 30+ people of any age when they are all talking at once without shouting.

3. Sometimes shouting works.

4. Subbing is hard, and I'm not sure it will get any easier unless I take a long-term job.

I subbed in a fairly at-risk school this past week. I was a remedial reading teacher to 7th graders. I know, I know. Luckily there is a full-time teacher's aide in the class. Her name was Mrs. T#$%^^&*&^%%$#. Completely unpronounceable, so everyone called her Mrs. T. She was a GODSEND, let me tell ya. It was complete and utter chaos, nearly the entire day. Mrs. T said that it's pretty much that way every day, which made me sad. I don't think more than 5 of the kids all day did any work, nor did they get anything out of any of the lessons. Mrs. T was tough on the kids, and sent quite a few of them packing to the Dean's office. One boy felt that the scolding he got was unwarranted (and I agreed, frankly), so he stopped working completely and sat in the corner with his head down and a scowl on his face. I tried to talk to him and say that just because he felt like he was picked on was no reason to get an F on the day's work and ruin his grade in the class. His assignment at the time was a creative writing one. I told him to write about how it feels to be picked on and unnecessarily punished. He ignored me.

Then there was a boy named Robert. He was part of the worst group in the worst class I had all day. Talking back, refusing to work, refusing to sit in his seat, picking fights with other kids, you name it. He was completely disruptive ALL PERIOD. Finally, Mrs. T sent him to the Dean's office. He immediately freaked out and said he'd be expelled if he went to the Dean's office one more time and to PLEASE give him a second chance. So, she did. About 2.5 seconds later (and that's generous), he was picking a fight AGAIN. So, she said that's it! She sent him to the Dean's office, ostensibly to be expelled. As he was leaving the class, he tore a piece of notebook paper, wrote something on it and handed it to me. With a lecherous wink, he whispered, "Call me." The note had his phone number on it! Remember, this is 7th grade. He's probably 14!!! AND he's being expelled, as we speak. I told divine hubby to watch out - he's got some competition! :)

Then there was another boy who has haunted me since I left the classroom. His name was David. He was unkempt, his shirt was dirty, and he had awful buck teeth. So bad, he honestly could not close his mouth. He sat by himself, did his work quietly and didn't hang out with the other troublemakers. As a matter of fact, they ignored him completely. His work was nearly illegible, and the way he wrote told me that he is probably a barely-functioning illiterate. He had such a look of sadness, it was palpable to me. I am not sure why, because he had no visible marks on him, but I have a feeling he lives with something terrible, like abuse. I just got that feeling from him. I tried to interact with him, but to absolutely no avail. He has stayed with me. I hope I'm wrong and he was having a hard day, or one of his parents was sick or something, but I just got a feeling of hopelessness from David.

This is the main problem with subbing. You just don't get to know the kids at all. And they don't get to know you. I could take a long-term position, but that would take away the flexibility I enjoy in being a sub. I don't know what the solution is, but at the moment, I've got the week off for Thanksgiving, so I think I'll worry about it next week!

Adventures in book clubbing

2008-11-16T13:13:00.003-07:00

Since we moved here, I have been looking for a book club. Most of the people I have met are not readers (can you imagine NOT being a reader?? I can't...), or are not in a book club. So, I've tried a few "public" book clubs at bookstores, libraries, etc. None have really met my needs. But, there is an area here in Vegas called "Summerlin" that is a gigantic master-planned community and is jam packed with soccer moms in minivans. Perfect! So, I called the Summerlin library, and they have a big book club that meets once a month at the library. So, I slogged through a book I didn't really love (truth be told, I didn't actually finish it...) and went to the book club yesterday morning with high expectations.

I walked in the conference room and immediately realized my mistake. I was the youngest person in the room. By 30 years. There were more oxygen tanks than minivans, for sure. But, I decided to go ahead and stay for the discussion anyway. It was an interesting and entertaining morning!! Here are the highlights:

A woman who was at least 80 wearing an animal-print sequined ball cap, leopard-printed leggings (tight leggings, not pants), a not-long-enough tunic and about 10 wooden necklaces with large wooden African animals on them. Oh, and she carried a giant canvas bag that looked like a rainbow absolutely exploded on it...sequins too.

Two women who walked in together, sat together, finished each other's sentences, and seemed joined at the hip. One woman had dyed blonde hair and an orange shirt, and the other woman had dyed orange hair (I swear it was exactly the color of the blonde's shirt) and a light yellow shirt (exactly the color of the blonde's hair). Made me laugh!

A Jewish woman who, every time someone said anything was "the fault of the Jews" (in the book, not globally), exploded in a tirade.

A Catholic woman who, every time someone said anything was "the fault of the Catholics" (again, in the book), exploded in a tirade.

note: there were lots of things in this book that, it could be argued, could be the fault of the Jews or the Catholics...so it got interesting a few times!

One woman mentioned the word "bisexual" and the whole place went to pieces for about 5 minutes! I don't even remember WHY she said the word, as there wasn't anyone in the book who would fit that description, unless it was part of the book I skipped in an effort to finish the darn thing!

Then there was a discussion of euthanasia (only barely touched on in the book) and a woman started shouting "MURDER" randomly and glaring at the other women who disagreed. Just as a sociological experiment, I wanted to stand up and say "let's talk about ABORTION" and see what happened, but I was afraid for my life, frankly.

The moderator passed around some color copies of pictures from historically-relevant art and I never got to see them, because two of the women in front of me took the copies, folded them and put them in their purses. Even though they had passed through several rows before, somehow, they decided the copies were for them! Cracked me up.

It was a very interesting morning, but not really what I am looking for in a book club. For example, January's book is an 800 page biography of John Adams...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Update and thank you

2008-11-12T13:14:00.003-07:00

First, I wanted to thank all of you who have emailed and commented to say you are praying for Don and his family. Please keep praying - he is certainly not out of the woods yet. He will probably be in the hospital for several months longer. We are still hoping and praying he will recover and with no brain damage. To complicate things, he has recently developed pneumonia in the hospital, but that seems to be clearing up with antibiotics.

Our family went to Death Valley last weekend, and I'll be blogging/uploading photos about that trip soon. Stay tuned!

Donald Wayne Wood

2008-11-06T08:11:00.004-07:00

My brother-in-law has been involved in a terrible accident. He is in the ICU in Houston and it is touch and go. He may not survive, and if he does, there may be brain damage. Our family is requesting prayers for both Don and his wife Janie and their son Adam. Please, if you are the praying sort, get down on your knees and pray for healing, and pray for strength, and pray for peace and rest for his family.

Don has always been larger than life. Literally. He is 6'6" and is built like a linebacker. He was a star football player in his hometown of Atlanta, TX. My mother-in-law loves to tell stories of how she would come home from work and the yard was FULL of cars, and the house was FULL of girls. He was quite the BMOC. He graduated and got a full-ride football scholarship to Rice. He met and married Janie Laws, and they have one son, Adam whom they have always loved passionately. Don's career has been in sales, and he has sold almost everything you can imagine. He owned a fish store for awhile, he has sold furniture, GPS tracking devices for truckers, telecom, office supplies, you name it, he's dabbled in it. He is an amazing salesperson, and has been extremely successful in his career. One of those "could sell ice cream to the eskimos" kind of guys.

He loves kids. He and Janie wanted to have a houseful of children, but God blessed them with one son, Adam. So, Don has always doted on all of the nieces and nephews in the Wood family. I remember one day when Chase was 3 or so. We were at Divine Hubby's mom's house and I came into the room just in time to see Chase balancing himself on the back edge of the sofa. Well, I freaked out, called him by all three of his names in that mom-voice and asked him what n the name of Jehozephat he thought he was doing. Don sheepishly leaned into my sight and said, "Um, he's jumping to me..." and Chase launched himself off of the sofa into Don's waiting arms. That's the kind of guy he is. He has taken Chase fishing almost every time we have gotten together, just Chase and Uncle Don. He always brings a BB gun, and they go out in the woods together and shoot soda cans off of logs. The last time we saw him, he gave Chase the BB gun, and it is one of Chase's prized possessions.

He is a teaser. He loves to say, in his big booming voice, "Kiss my face." Or, "Go play in the street." Then he swoops whatever kid is around up in his arms and tickles or rough houses with them until the kid can't stand it anymore. 5 seconds later, the kid is back for more. Don can play with kids for hours. He has volunteered his time at the local elementary school to teach Junior Achievement classes on handling money, credit, etc. and the class has a waiting list. Kids LOVE Don.

His wife Janie says that the neighborhood kids come around to ask to play with him. And Don is 50! He'll go out and play basketball for hours, laughing and rough-housing with the neighborhood kids, his big booming voice and laugh echoing down the street.

This big, vibrant man is now fighting for his life, and we are not sure what kind of life it will even be at this point. I ask you to kneel, where you are right now, and say a prayer for Donald Wayne Wood. If you will comment or email and let me know you prayed, I'll tell his wife how many people who don't even know this man, are petitioning God on his behalf. God moves mountains, parts oceans and sends Saviors. I pray He will listen to our prayers and heal this wonderful man whom we love so much. Thank you.

Congratulations, President Obama

2008-11-04T22:24:00.005-07:00

The USA has just made history. We have elected our first African-American president. I wish I could say I was enthusiastic about it, but I'm not. I wish I was excited, but I'm scared. I wish I shared others' happiness, but I'm full of trepidation and fear of this unknown and unproven man.

Now, you all know that I have gone out of my way NOT to make this a political blog. And it's still not. This is about me (go figure!!). I hope you will refrain from commenting negatively about my politics - this blog entry is about my concerns and hopes for the future, and I am speaking as an AMERICAN. Not a Republican.

Many of you know how involved I have been in this election. I have done voter registration, I have poll watched and I have campaigned for months now. John McCain was not my first choice, but as the nominee, I supported him. I was then, and am now very worried about Barack Obama. I am worried about his loyalties. In the Senate, he has been very liberal, much more liberal than I think this country would like their president to be, and I am worried he will continue on that path. I am worried about what kind of Supreme Court justices he will nominate. I am worried that he will expand the boundaries of Roe vs. Wade and continue the horror of partial-birth abortions. I am worried he will spend us into the ground. I am worried how he will handle an attack like 9/11. I am worried...I am worried.

BUT, a long time ago, I had to decide if I am first a Republican, or first an American. (A question I hope each of you will ask yourselves too.) It really took some soul-searching to decide this question, because if I say I am a Republican first, then I have to work against a Democratic president, hold my breath and wait for him to screw everything up. If I say I am an American first, then I will embrace whatever president my fellow Americans decide to elect and work with him or her to make this country even better than it is. It's a hard decision, because I am very conservative, and that value really goes right to the core of my being.

Ultimately, it is undeniable. I am an American. And as such, I congratulate Barack Obama on being elected president of the US. I also began praying for him tonight with Chase, a practice I will continue. I prayed that he will be an amazing president. I prayed that he will energize this country like we've never seen. I prayed that he will be blessed with health and wisdom. I prayed that in 4 years, I will be proud to vote for him for re-election.

During this election, I have learned a few things. I have learned that it really is fun and rewarding to be part of the process. I have learned that I don't ever plan to sit on the sidelines again, and am looking for my place in politics. I have re-learned that I am proud to say I'm an
American, and that I accept Barack Obama as my president. It's not easy for me, and I will not say that I am thrilled about the outcome tonight, but as my dear friend Kale said...God is in control, and God is NOT worried about an Obama presidency. God is bigger than any concerns I may have, and He has a plan that is being carried out. God never wrings His hands in worry, as I do. I did my part, now I need to step back and watch God do His. It's not mine to worry about, it's His, and no matter how much I think He may need my help, honestly, He can handle it without me (can you imagine??). So, I'm going to let Him handle it and I'm going to pray only for the best for the US. I hope those of you who, like me are feeling disappointed and worried tonight will join me in this prayer. It's in all of our best interest if President Obama is a fantastic president. I'm hoping and praying for that, will you join me?

The Shack

2008-11-01T18:49:00.003-07:00

God and I conspired and gave my mom a book (it's such a cool story, and I LOVE being in cahoots with God on something!!) while she was visiting here in Vegas. It's called The Shack and everyone's book club is reading it at the moment, so I'll bet a lot of you have already read it. I have just started it, but quickly am on page 120, to my shock. It's a fantastic read, and really speaks to having a personal relationship with God. In this book, a man meets God in a shack in the woods. When I say he meets God, I mean face-to-face with a real, live incarcation of God. Not some ethereal feeling or presence. God is present, and has a physical body. (The kind of body God has is a surprise that I'll keep to myself so you can read the book.)

When I was a child, both of my grandfathers died the year I turned 8. I was very distressed by these events, for obvious reasons. Death, loss, grief, watching both parents deal with the loss of their fathers, all had a huge effect on me, and I remember those days vividly. I had a "Shack-like" experience with God in those days. I had an incredible dream after one particularly bad night where I was sitting on a log with Jesus. I was allowed to ask anything I wanted, and He answered me.

Yes, I said He answered all of my questions. I still remember the questions, but by morning, I did not remember any of the answers. I felt so much better about everything after that dream. I have always loved that very personal experience I had with God. I know, many people have and will suggest that it was just a dream. God and I know better! I do wish I knew why grandfathers had to be taken away from 8-yr-old girls, but I remember that God's answer to my question completely made sense to my 8-yr-old soul, so I know there is a good answer to that question.

It's amazing when the creator of the universe comes to meet you where you are, isn't it? Sometimes when I'm feeling really low, I forget about that gift I was given. Thinking about that gift reminds me how important I am to Him. That's a great feeling! Reading this book brings back those feelings and I'm enjoying experiencing them again.

Vegas Wildlife

2008-10-29T21:15:00.010-07:00

So, you all know we live in Vegas. What you may not know is that there are three lakes in our neighborhood that attract all kinds of wildlife. I have taken some pictures to demonstrate:

**We have two gorgeous black swans with bright red beaks...which I saw last week...once...and didn't have my camera. So visualize with me...no photos, sorry. I'm still hopeful I will see them again.**

We have one other swan-y looking guy. He's not as pretty as the black swans, but ya know.

These are your basic wood ducks. I love the iridescent green look of the male's head. The poor little mousy female is swimming behind him, but she sure has a lot of these gorgeous guys fighting over her!

There are about a gazillion of these guys. They fight a lot (or that's what I'm calling it in this family blog anyway), which is interesting to watch. They have very white beaks.

And we have a ton of pigeons. Not so beautiful, nor rare, but there are so many of them, I thought it worth a mention (and a picture).

Then there is this guy. He is the weirdest looking duck I've ever seen. He's got kind of a turkey-head thing going on, and we've named him Chuck. He has a wife (who has a little of the turkey-redness but is much better looking) named Mrs. Chuck, and this summer, they raised a family with two little Chucklets. Not very original, I am aware, but it provided much entertainment for us this summer.

Sometimes, we get a flock of Canadian geese who will spend a little time on our lake, but they don't stick around long. I will keep an eye out for the black swans - they are so beautiful, I'll probably have to blog about them again.

And last, but not least, Chuck gave me a little dance this afternoon when I was taking his picture. I captured it on film, and thought you would all enjoy it. Listen for his little "hissing" in between the sound of the passing cars and the sound of the ducks quacking. It was hilarious and I was thrilled!

Day 9

2008-10-28T14:39:00.002-07:00

Ok, so I'm done. I just cannot choke down the lemonade anymore. I have to give this experience an A+, though. I made it through 8 days, and I feel better than I've felt in a long time! I am down 11 pounds, and I have more energy than I've had in a long time. My ONLY complaint about this cleanse is the boring-ness of it. I tell you, I may never drink lemonade again... although, I'd like to make this cleanse an annual event, so I may end up drinking gallons of it again someday...

Hope you're not disappointed in me! I sure gave it my all - and I'm really glad I did! Now, what in the world will I talk about tomorrow? Who knows, but I'm going to talk about it with a cup of hot tea in my hand...I've sure missed it!

Cleanse...days 7 & 8

2008-10-27T16:09:00.002-07:00

Hey, hate to "Reader's Digest" ya, but I worked all weekend at the early voting polls, and was just too exhausted to blog! Who knew...

Let's see. There's not that much to say, honestly. I'm still on the cleanse, my tongue is getting pinker, so I feel like I'm on the downhill slope. THANK GOODNESS, because I HATE HATE HATE that dad-gummed lemonade. Honestly, I am hungry these days because I just can't stomach 2 quarts of the stuff anymore. I know, if I would drink it, I'd be less hungry, but it's hard. So, I'm really on mostly water. I figure it's kinda cheating, but it's not like I traded the lemonade in for chocolate milk!

So, I would still recommend it, but say that it's hardest at the end. Not harder to resist the food, just harder to keep drinking the lemonade. I really feel healthy, energetic and strong, I have lost more than 10 pounds, and with 2 days to go, am hoping for another 2 or so. I'm looking forward to eating again, but mostly out of boredom. I have to say this has been a really good experience for me, and after I have forgotten how MUCH I HATE THE LEMONADE, I'll probably do it again someday.