Autumn in Vegas and other random thoughts

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??

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...

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

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...

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

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!

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!