Farm Days

3-30-12


Walking through the hallways of an elementary school with purple hair is an interesting experiment in human nature.

Mrs. Fasheh had seen my hair and I know she wasn’t thrilled with it, but at the same time, she seemed to accept that it was on my head, and therefore it was more than reasonable. She had seen the Brenans in all their wacky glory so much in the past that it was not even par for the course, it was under par.

Mrs. Kelly saw it for the first time on Wednesday, and she gasped and put her hands to her head in exasperation. She certainly didn’t approve, yet she also didn’t object. She is slowly figuring out, and based on her comment yesterday, that this is just who our family is. I mentioned yesterday about having fun with something at the house, and she said, “I would venture a guess that EVERYDAY is fun at your house.” Hee hee!

People who know me, don’t bat an eye. People who don’t, now here is the fun social aspect that I enjoy.

I walked through the entire length of hallways of the school yesterday, right when kids were entering their classrooms and teachers were often also out, waiting for stragglers. I had my yellow Visitor’s Badge on my shirt in plain view, although I kind of wish I didn’t if only so I could see if anyone would question my being on campus. I am pretty sure some people would have.

There was a lunch aid that looked at me, extremely blatantly, with hate in her eyes. I smiled, with her not even considering a similar greeting. I had parents stop and stare at me, chattering on in Spanish and pointing at the brightly colored hue I was rocking on my head. I simply continued to smile and say hello to folks.

Kids, btw, were never quite so freaked. I had many kids stop me and tell me how much they loved it. And kids who didn’t get it, simply asked me outright, “What happened to your hair?” I usually answered that I spilled grape juice on it. They always laughed. A couple of kids would say, “Your hair is purple!” I would respond, “It is??? What the heck?!?!” This also resulted in laughter. Kids are awesome. They don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t mind answering some questions about it.

Grownups, though, feel that it is impolite to ask. Or maybe if they don’t approve, they feel like they should somehow let me know this with glares. Either way, I found it humorous that anyone would even care.

In a shocking reaction, if only because it was from the principal of the school, Mrs. Sakurai told me she liked it, and actually called me a chameleon, which was clearly a compliment. She asked me about the blonde before, and we talked about hair color in general. She seemed to respect my choice to be different, and I appreciated this, especially from a person who guides children and teachers.

Most parents or administrators seemed to settle down a bit when I would say that the shade choice had to do with the boys’ soccer team colors being purple and white. They would respond enthusiastically with praise saying I was the best mom ever. I was confused. Wasn’t a fantastic mom before this point for coaching their team? Or even more importantly, for showing them that you should be yourself no matter what society thinks?

As much as I certainly don’t think that this can be directly compared to the recent freakouts from society regarding things like people wearing hoodies, there is some interesting similarities. Essentially, if someone does something that is different, or could possibly be associated with people who do bad things, it must mean everyone who does the trend must be evil. Trench coats were vilified after Columbine. Don’t even get me started on how often rock stars are preachers of death and destruction simply because one person who happens to listen to that style of music happened to kill a guy. Funny enough, I highly doubt you would ever hear anyone criticize something like country music if a killer said that it was after listening to someone like Toby Keith caused him to kill a bunch of people of Arab descent.

Mainstream should no longer be considered a stream. It is a vast ocean that contains all kinds of fish. There are the peeps that are close to the surface that yes, people may see a lot, but it doesn’t make them the best fish. There are fish at the bottom or in colder waters or warmer waters that all are still part of this great big wonderful ocean.

Ok, I am stepping down from my soapbox and now will regale you with tales of my wonderful Farm Fieldtrip!!

Holy crap, I don’t know that I had this much fun even as a kid! Being a grownup on a fieldtrip is way more enjoyable. Not only do I get to see cool exhibits, but I get to see 25 faces of kids who have never seen the likes of said exhibits. They light up in a way that can’t help but make you smile.

There was one close call on the way out there. Cries heard from the seat that contained Bobby and his classmate Mharyann caused Mrs. Kelly to investigate. I was called forward, since I was sitting at the emergency exit (they needed a grownup in that row) and at first I was worried that Mharyann was sick. Instead, apparently Bobby had bopped her in the face with his elbow. Upon further investigation, it sounds as though she started it, but ultimately, they were messing around and it resulted in injury. Sounds like typical kids.

I did mention to Mharyann later that she just had to say the word and I would kick Bobby’s butt, and she laughed. I love that these kids like me this much.

Our tour of the grounds was done by Farmer John (It is probably best this man never lead a bunch of teens around lest he would be teased endlessly). Farmer John was eleventy and spoke very softly. But he was incredibly sweet and tolerant of the kids. He even seemed happy when I asked him a bunch of questions.

The kids got to see a lot of the planted crops and even got to plant their own radish plant that they got to take home.

I am always amused when I get to be the calm, rational grownup with a bunch of kids when really, I am right there with them on my fear. There was a working hive on the grounds we got to look at, and we saw several bees working hard when we were wandering the garden. Many of the kids flipped out, terrified they were about to be stung to death. Funny enough, Bobby and I were two of the calmest. Both of us reassured his classmates that the bees were far more interested in the nectar they were collecting. When I get into this zone, even I believe this information, which makes me wonder if perhaps I need to use this super mommy power to allow myself less of the freakouts I get with things like the June Bugs and moths that haunt my dreams.

At first, I was sure the highlight of the trip would be the hundreds of roly polies that kids found through the dirt. I was clearly wrong since I forgot about how much children enjoy farm animals peeing.

The sheep, as if this was what he was trained to do, waited for all of the kids to gather around his pen, at which point he promptly peed and even pooped. The collective “eeeewwww!!!” was very satisfying.

We saw cows, oxen, sheep, goats, chickens and rabbits. I have say, even though farm smells are kind of gross, it made me think of being at Grammie’s house and even Uncle Bill’s house when they had all the livestock. It is a bummer that that property doesn’t exist anymore since I know it would have been fun to take my boys to see all of that.

The last part of the tour was being filed into this little room that allowed each of the kids to hold a chick. Some were clearly more comfortable than other with handling these critters, but all of them were really sweet while holding these fuzzy little babies. I got a picture of every student with a chick, which pleased Mrs. Kelly greatly. I was her acting paparazzi, and I know it is something that she is thankful for.

The bus ride home was certainly less eventful, with several students even falling asleep on the way. I know I would have, but I tried to stay diligent and awake to make sure that in case my services were needed, I was ready!

Ken took the boys with him to his class in the afternoon, allowing me to work on the photos from the field trip, along with several AYSO treasurer duties. I felt pretty dammed accomplished!

This was good since I was feeling a little frazzled with soccer practice last night. The kids were clearly suffering from Spring Break Fever and could not be contained. They were not listening, and very wired, which meant any instruction we tried to give them was ignored, or simply not heard. At one point, I had them in the middle of a drill all file in behind me and we ran the length of the field. I knew they had energy, so the run was a good way to settle them a bit.

Sadly, there was one casualty in this exercise. Dax apparently felt he was being pushed and cut in front of. He stopped about a quarter of the way. I passed him on the way back and he was in complete tears.

Dax has been uber weepy of late, still feeling down on himself along with getting very frustrated with potentially not keeping up with older kids. On top of that, every morning this week, he had broken down in tears right before he would go into his classroom. Mrs. Fasheh has said he is usually fine within a few minutes, but we are all baffled. He told me it was because he missed Ken and me. But it is still a strange reaction from this kid, the one who has no issues going to the bathroom by himself. Although, now that I think about it, he has been requesting somebody to go with him. His normal brave demeanor has diminished. I am frustrated, specifically because I feel so helpless. I worry about him. I also worry about him on the soccer field. We bumped him up to the higher age level because his skills were good enough to do so. However, his emotional maturity may not be quite to the right level. Sometimes his intelligence and stature caused me to forget that he is only 5. That is all my fault, and certainly not his.

The boys are with Ken today, going to his home school class followed by a class at American Martyrs. I am hoping the Lego stimulation will please them and leave them in good spirits, especially since we are dropping them off at my folks’ this evening so that Ken and I can go see the Hunger Games. I have to admit, their whining and fighting has made me anxious for a night off.

My weekend looks to be pretty basic, thankfully. There is the soccer game tomorrow at noon, which will undoubtedly be another blowout. After that, I think we can look forward to just hanging out the rest of the day. With Sunday being our actual anniversary, I would imagine we will just make sure to hang out together. Maybe we need to take the boys some place like the zoo or something. Don’t know yet, but either way, it is nice that we don’t have to stress about anything.

For now, I am left with a morning at work, catching up a bit from being out yesterday, but truly, just happy that it is Friday and that in a few hours I will be on my way home.

The woman still haunts us even after death

3-28-12


I am excited! Although I do have to deal with work today, I get to go to Costco later, and then tomorrow is farm day!! YAY!

It was very cute. Yesterday Bobby asks me as we were listening to the iPod if I had any farm songs since he is going to a real farm.

The boys, despite the funny comments they tend to make, were ready to be shipped to the orphanage yesterday. Their griping and whining finally made me snap. As I had just finished reading, Bobby in this uber nasally voice says, “Why does Dax get a drink of water?” Dax had taken the bottle of water we leave in there and had a quick swig. We have told the boys that they need to limit their fluids intake just to hopefully keep them from peeing at night. Although Bobby has mastered it, Dax is not there yet. Either way, we said a quick drink is not a big deal.

I was livid. It wasn’t that Bobby had been told he couldn’t drink. It was that he was more concerned with fairness. I know this because I asked him why he was upset about it. I told them both that fairness doesn’t exist. I explained to them that they were both very lucky little boys. They had things that not only their mom and dad didn’t have when they were little, but that they even have things that their friends don’t have. I told them that at this point we might just have to put them in separate rooms again, but in order to do this, we would have to get rid of the toys in there to make space.

The crying was pretty extreme on this threat.

Ken came in and the two of us explained what we need from them. They are a team. They are brothers. They should feel lucky to have each other. I stopped just short of telling them that in essence I was a single child and it would have been nice to have a partner in crime. I didn’t think they would understand that Matt wasn’t much of a brother (although, I think they are starting to get that. Dax was shocked that Matt is 35).

I don’t know if we got through to them. We did seem to get through to them before when it came to staying on green in class. We have not had any issues since Ken made the board. We may need to have the card system at home, too. It is something they get, and perhaps we should incorporate their known and effective punishment system.

Sigh. Parenting can be frustrating.

Thank goodness it is also rewarding.

I am feeling so very happy about my hair. It is a complete turn around from the blonde. I feel funky and groovy and positively hip. I don’t know if it is the color or cut, but it makes me feel good.

We decorated the boys’ sunglasses yesterday. It was slightly frustrating only in the idea that it turns out Elmer’s glue does not exactly stick well to plastic. In fact, those glue sticks worked better, which shocked me. Hopefully they last long enough to get a couple of fun pics. I will also pose with them since I got a pair of round glasses with purple lenses. The purple matches my hair (not that you can tell that in the pic).

It is also picture day today. Ken gave the boys a spiffy new Flowbee cut last night, so even though I miss the shag, they look very handsome. I will hopefully get some good shots of them this afternoon under our photo tree.

I took the time yesterday to make sure my AYSO treasurer info was all matched and I even took the time to make the deposit. I felt pretty damn organized, actually. It was kind of cool. I felt all important. I am still kind of dragging my feet quite a bit on enjoying this, but perhaps with a few more events under my belt I will get there.

It is really too bad we can’t ride our bikes to Costco. It isn’t that it is too far. It would just be impractical depending on what we get. LOL!

The boys are staying at my folks’ on Friday night. My mom had offered to watch them so we can go out for our anniversary. I am hoping we can possibly go see Hunger Games, but I don’t know what the plan is. Maybe dinner, too? I suppose if a movie is in our plans, we need to get tickets soon based on the sales last weekend!

I have considered the idea of using our old iPhones for the boys when we upgrade. They wouldn’t get to use them at phones. We had been considering getting them some kind of iPod for music, and why not use these? There is no way they would fill them up at this point and it would also allow them some games. Plus, it would mean we don’t have to get them anything since we would already have them. Hopefully Apple keeps with their standard procedure which is to release new iPhones come June since I would like to get a new phone soon. I have noticed my current phone isn’t as great as it used to be, and it would be nice to get one of the newer iPhones with Facetime if only so that when Ken is in Ireland, it will be easier for us to talk.

The boys have a radio in their room tuned to KROQ that they listen to. It is nice because they enjoy the music, and it I think helps them sleep. However, it has occurred to me that they are going to be wise beyond their years when it comes to sex. Or they will be incredibly honked up. At 10 pm, Love Line airs, filling their room with subliminal data about everything sex. Should be interesting to see what happens when puberty hits.

I got to go over the ‘breakdown’ of expenses provided by the attorney in the Virginia estate debacle. For the record, I really don’t care. I am happy to get any kind of inheritance if only for the fact that I get some free money. I am glad the woman is dead. Yes, I said it. She was a vile creature who was cruel to my dad and in turn my mother and my brother. Sure sure, she was a horrid bitch to me, but that only adds to comic relief for me. I mean, how many grandkids can say they actually heard their grandmother say the words, “How’s the girl, what’s her name again?” Fucking bitch.

Anyhoo, the breakdown was about as general as you can get. It was vague and most importantly, it appears that my aunt Julia made out like a bandit. We had been in total shock at the funeral expenses being listed at $17K. I not so secretly wondered if this was only because when you put toxic waste into the ground it might take other permits that are expensive.

Instead, it appears that there was some kind of $7k amount that looks like the actual expense for putting that bitch in the ground. So what about the other $10k you might ask? Well, apparently it cost the estate $5k in lawyer fees for this. I think this is a bit extreme, but whatever. I can live with that. What I find to be total bullshit is that Julia also got $5K, for taking care of things. Yep, she was PAID to bury her mother.

Must be nice.

Never you mind that Julia got the condos (that my dad helped her secure after the family was unhappy about it). Oh, and don’t think about the $5K that she had been paid from the estate right before Virg died just as a thank you for helping her. Oh, and she also got an extra $2K randomly on the breakdown from the inheritance. Plus, there is a misc Discovery Card charge for $500 that was paid. We don’t know what this could have been being that it wasn’t like this woman was out shopping. In fact, for all we know, this charge was after she was dead!!

Devious people come in all shapes and forms. Julia was always my favorite of my dad’s sibs. She seemed them most down to earth and the most fun. I actually liked that I was compared to her a couple times. Now I am sad that the sister my dad was always closest to seems to have spit on her big brother.

My dad has said that he always felt the family didn’t care about Matt and I. He always felt like he was somewhat frowned on for remarrying and not sticking with Sandra. I have up until this whole event kept this in my heart. I knew that they didn’t care for Matt and I. In fact, I don’t know that they didn’t care, they just didn’t bother to see if they would like to care about us.

I worried that I had amped this up in my mind in order to just stay angry at grandparents who didn’t seem to give two cents about me. It turns out my anger was pretty reasonable.

I told my dad that it probably didn’t look too favorably on him when Virg died and none of his kids went to the funeral. He said that really, none of us needed to. He pointed out that Virg never knew Matt and I.

There is one amazing point in this. The share that I pointed out went to Doug was in fact factored in (yay Dad and Uncle George for fighting for that!) and that portion will be split between Sandra and my dad. Sandra told my dad that she would like to use that money to start a college fund for Bobby and Dax. Seriously, I know that woman did my dad wrong for many years, but she is making up for it in so many ways. What a doll!

I feel so very fortunate that my kids not only have my parents as grandparents, but that they have Ken’s folks. They also have people like Sandra, and the Braskins, and so many other people in our lives that treat my boys like their own. Of course, it does mean they won’t have recycled Christmas cards to show off to friends, but they will have something so much better in the form of a loving, giant extended family.

In still shocking news, Matt is not going to Utah with us. He has recently evolved into angst ridden teenager, which has made him surly and to some degree, he doesn’t seem to want to hang out with his parents. I find this humorous that my parents are having to go through a teenager when he is 35. We are all in shock, though, that he has zero desire to go to Utah being that the boys are going. He adores the shit out of them and we figured that he would enjoy all the play time he would get. Of course, there is still time for him to change his mind.

I need to work!!

Settle

3-27-12


I am feeling positively adorable today. What’s up with that? Although, I suppose I should not complain about this.

Last night, I had yet another AYSO activity. I know, shocker, right? I had to meet the comish over at Starbucks to pick up the registration checks, and to cut a check for something. I still feel as though this is a lot of random meetups for this ‘job’ but last night I did get a bit of relief in the form of admission.

Fred told me that he felt bad in general for micro managing, but that since the last treasurer was not exactly forth coming with info, nor did she turn out to be trustworthy, he has decided he needs to be more in tune with what is going on with his region. I can respect that. He is the one who’s ass is on the line if something goes wrong. Hopefully with a little bit of more time under my belt, I can get this running smoothly enough in which I won’t feel the burden of the time spent.

I did write up my own spreadsheet this morning with all of the checks and players in my own reconciliation fashion so that I had it for my records, and so that it was typed out instead of handwritten. I am pretty pleased with it, and will hopefully get things more organized with some time.

The other nice thing about needing to go up to Starbucks was that we all rode our bikes up there. Man, I am sure we are saving money on gas, while having fun and getting some exercise. Talk about all around good!

I enjoyed hearing all of the kids in Dax’s class chattering about Dax’s mother’s hair. Dax seemed pretty proud. One little girl did approach me and asked me what happened to it. I explained that I squished some grapes in my hair, and she seemed ok with this. The little boy that seems obsessed with saying hello to me didn’t bat an eye at it. Mrs. Fasheh clearly didn’t know what to make of it. I realize that Mrs. Kelly has not seen it yet, so I worry it will be an issue for field trip day. I will plan to wear a hat just to minimize the crazies. Mind you, I don’t think the kids will care, but she seems far more fragile as a person.

I had not realized until mid-morning yesterday that the boys have no school starting Friday, and they have their Spring Break next week. Thankfully Ken knew this, and he already is ready to hang with them. I am not proud of myself for something this big to have slipped my mind. I may be losing it. LOL!

I am telling you, Pinterest was clearly designed for time suck purposes. I get lost in there sometimes.

Turning Violet

3-26-12


Friday brought the Brenans bicycles.

We went over to Walmart and picked up a new bike for Ken. I was very adamant that he get one he felt comfortable on as I didn’t want him injuring himself again like he did on the loaner from my dad. He found one he seems to really like so hopefully it will be much nicer for him.

We planned on getting a new bike for Dax since the one he has is really too small. They had lots like the one Bobby has, and one that was a little different. It still had foot brakes, but also a hand brake. It was like a hybrid! Bobby loved this particular bike, and Dax and he decided to just go ahead and have Bobby get this new bike and Dax would happily take Bobby’s old new bike. LOL! It was remarkable. If only they would do this kind of teamwork all the time.

This meant it was 3:30 in the afternoon, with us not needing to be anywhere until 5:15. So we loaded up the bikes onto the van and headed down to Redondo Pier. There, we mounted up and rode up towards PV along the strand. It was perfect! Not too many people along with a really nice weather day. We rode up to Redondo Riveria and up to Good Stuff where we had a nice dinner out on the patio. What was really weird and sweet was that the waitress there came out to us randomly to tell me that I was the nicest person and that my laugh was great. She said I made her evening! Hee hee! We then rode back to the car so we could get over to the bank to meet the AYSO commissioner.

Saturday was crazy busy in the morning. I was bummed I could not sleep in since we all had to be out of the house by 7. Ken and the boys went over to Columbia field to do set up. I had to be over at Torrance El in order to help set up for the registration event. Instead of driving, I opted to ride my bike. It was very refreshing being out so early in the morning.

I got there a smidge early, but luckily I wasn’t the first person. I helped get things set up, and even bonded with one of the women there who also was diagnosed with diabetes last year. We swapped weight loss tips, although apparently I have been more successful. She has lost 12 pounds this last year. I have lost 85. Either way, I think we helped each other just in the whole cheerleading aspect. I also was trying to inspire her to finally, at 51, go ahead and color her hair despite her mother’s objections.

Now, what I have failed to mention was that the reason the hair color thing was important was that this was me, now with bright purple hair, telling this woman to go ahead and do something wacky. Friday night, after the bank outing, we stopped and picked up a bottle of semi-perm purple hair color. I decided to go with purple for two reasons. One, I figured it worked well as team cheerleader for the purple dragons. Second, I was tired of the blond to the point where it actually made me sad. Purple seemed like a fun thing to do.

Tori, the soccer lady, was so impressed with my boldness. She told me that despite being 51, having 3 teens and being married and whatnot, she is still worried about her mother giving her crap. She apparently had a hissy fit when she got highlights once. I told her to just go bold one time, and give her mom a total freak out moment, then every time she does something a little less crazy, her mother will probably not notice. My plan now is to be this woman’s cheerleader. She was telling me how she has very little support when it comes to weight loss or diabetes, etc. I was bragging about my family, both immediate and extended, and my work family, and my facebook family, and even just random folks I meet. She seemed bummed she didn’t have this. It made me sad, and it made me realize just how lucky I am.

At about 9:30, I had to head out from the whole registration thing to get over to Columbia Park for the soccer game.

It was again, an awesome ride. I love commuting via bicycle. I could do without the stupid helmet, but it is tolerable overall.

The team is not good. I know, what a horrible thing to say as a coach, or even a mother. But seriously, they really are not good. Some of them are ok. But overall, they are out of shape, they are timid and they just don’t have the soccer instinct needed.

Like I said, some of them are pretty good. But sadly with no support system, it is hard. We got blown out of the water. I was especially frustrated since the coach on the other team, who was a sweetheart, felt the need to call every single trip or hand ball or anything that truly was not a real issue, but he stopped the plays constantly. It was annoying. He meant well, and in all fairness, I think he may have just been trying to give us a chance since every call was against his team. LOL! I was also frustrated that the team didn’t seem to listen to me when I was trying to help them with plays. Sigh. I wonder if they actually assume I wouldn’t know what I am talking about because I am a girl.

After the game, Ken had one more game to ref, so the boys and I went and got us all lunch. My Bobby was tired, so he napped in the car, which was sweet to hear his little snores in the back seat along side the sounds of Dax singing Dream On.

Once Ken was done, we headed over to the Beauty College on Carson. I was getting my hair chopped. Ken and the boys were going to drop me off, go down and pick up a movie at the Redbox a couple blocks down, and then come back to retrieve me. I wandered in and assumed I wouldn’t need my purse or anything since I assumed I would be paying when Ken got back. Sadly, I was mistaken. You have to pay up front there. I went to call Ken, and I realized I had loaned him my phone earlier and had neglected to get it back. Crap! So I headed out the door, figuring I could meet them at the Redbox.

What I didn’t know is that the boys told Ken that they wanted to watch me get my hair cut and they had actually parked in the back only seconds after I had walked out the front door to go find them. Ken and the boys went through the salon, asking for the girl with the purple hair. They explained I had gone looking for him, and they drove down to get me. It was all very entertaining, and if anything, I got a little walk out of it. LOL!

Ken urged me to cut more than I had planned, so I felt good about the amount cut. The lady who cut my hair was sweet, and I really think I need to go to this place more often. Many of the students there liked my hair color, and were amused because they saw the boys in their uniforms and knew this was why the shade choice. One lady even told them that they had the best mom ever for dying her hair for the team.

We got home and had a nice evening of dinner and a movie. We watched Thor. It was good. Not as good as Iron Man, but fun. I am looking forward to the Avengers flick, so we are trying to make sure we are up to date on the team of heroes. Next up will be Captain America, then I guess we will need to watch the Incredible Hulk.

Sunday provided us a much needed sleep in day. The boys didn’t sleep in as much as I would have liked, but they always stay in their room and play, which allows us to relax in our wonderful bed. Ken seemed to actually be sleeping, so I ended up reading my book a bit just so he would stay in bed longer.

I decided I wanted pancakes. I know, random, but sometimes you just have to give in to a craving. It was a beautiful, rainy morning, so we went over to Denny’s to have a nice family breakfast.

Sunday was also spent cleaning house. It was determined that every particle of clothing in the house needed washing. Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but it sure seemed like it. Luckily, I got all but maybe 3 loads of it done. The boys got their bedroom and playroom cleaned, and Ken cleaned the kitchen. It was a productive day. It also was done pretty quickly, which meant the Brenan Boys could play Star Wars Wii for a few hours. I spent this time alternating between book reading, laundry and other random things. It was a good way to spend a Sunday.

A follow up on Happy the dog; it appears that his owners came and got him. He wasn’t on the site anymore and it was before Sunday, which was the day he was allowed to be adopted. This made me very happy that he is home with his people. Yay!

This week will be exciting. Wednesday, the boys get Spring Pictures. It is also the last of the Wacky Wednesdays, which is sunglasses day. Tonight we will go over to Dollar Tree and get some glasses that we can decorate.

Thursday I get to go with Bobby to the farm out in the OC. I am very anxious to go on that trip. I am hoping there will be enough parental support that I can take lots of pictures.

Friday, the boys don’t have school. I am still doing the work thing, though. I would love to take the day off and all of us go to the Discovery Cube, but I think I should probably work. Maybe Ken can take them down there, although I think he has to go to classes.

OMG! It also just occurred to me that this weekend is our anniversary! Holy crap! Sunday, Ken and I have been married 12 years. WOW! Awesome! My mom offered to watch the boys for a bit, so I think we will maybe take them up on this and go to lunch and a movie on Sunday? Seems like it would be a nice, simple outing.

Man, I love that man of mine.

I am very excited this morning. I put on this necklace that had been crazy tight on me. It was almost choker like. But right now, it is loose and dangly and really awesome! Yay!

I have texting thumbs. Yes, that’s right. My thumbs hurt. I wondered what it was, but after thinking about it, and feeling the pain when I text or use my phone, it dawned on me that this is what I am feeling. So sad!

My right foot hurts. I think I pulled some kind of tendon. It isn’t horrid, but it is getting annoying. Thankfully it doesn’t hurt when I ride, or even do a lot, but especially in the morning, it hurts. I assume there is not much I can do about it, especially since it isn’t swollen or anything. I will keep an eye on it, though.

Did I mention that I have purple hair?

distractions

3-23-12


It has been decided. My hair has got to be fixed. This blonde thing has given me a poor self-image to the point of feeling pretty gross when I look in the mirror. My hair is fried and it just isn’t right.

I plan on a cut and doing color to it. I would like to do both this weekend if at all possible. I think Ken is right that I will color first to see how much it helps or other to my hair. Then I can go get it cut and go from there.

Now it is a question of color choice and style of cut. I was starting to lean towards just making it some kind of chestnut brown, Ken told me since my hair is not a lost cause, I might do something fun first. I had been considering a fun pink shade, but after going to Wondercon I noted it seemed to be the go to color of geek chic. I can’t be that mainstream, so I will have to do a different color.

The idea of blue has crossed my mind. Also, as I browsed Pinterest this morning for a good shade of blue, it dawned on me that purple might be even more fun. Especially since I can use it as a fun way to cheer for the boys’ team being that they are purple. I still can cut it once it is colored, and if I use one of the temporary shades, it would be easy enough to take it back out and do a nice brunette that suits me.

Either way, expect changes to my look soon.

I intend on staying at work until noon today. I bailed yesterday way early, but that was due to the splitting headache that I was dealing with. I don’t know what caused it, but after I rested for a bit at home, I felt better. Ken and I ended up riding up to the post office, then back to get the boys. Since the post office was too crowded the first time, we went back with the boys at this point and then stopped at the grocery store. It was a nice ride, and I enjoyed the time spent.

The plan this evening includes needing to go to the bank for petty cash for tomorrow. Sigh. It is going to be a crazy morning tomorrow. I am going early over to help with registration, something I am not looking forward to. Mostly because I get all freaked dealing with that many people. On the plus side, I don’t anticipate crazy hoards of people. It will probably be pretty mellow.

I really want to go see Hunger Games. I think we will take up my mom’s offer to watch the boys and go see the movie on our anniversary.

Ken got us tickets to see April Foolishness for our anniversary. I am really looking forward to this. It is too bad my folks are out of town that weekend, so we will need to get a sitter. Thankfully we have a very good one now, and she will probably be more than happy to help out. Yay!

It appears that my family may have sorted out Virg-Gate. I have a new form to sign at home that does correct the lack of inclusion of Doug, and to some degree covers this $2k charge that has been deducted from the total. I know my dad will sign at this point, but he is livid pissed. He feels like his sister is keeping things from him, which don’t need to be kept. This will undoubtedly make waves for the coming years. All I know is that I have never wanted to write up a will more now, and to actually write a whole letter with it. I don’t have lots of money or anything, but I never want my boys to ever fight with one another after I die. I don’t want any issues with my next of kin. It would be truly awful and certainly not the way I want my death to be dealt with.

Sigh-lots of distractions this morning. Mind you, I am so not complaining!!!!!!!!

Happy the dog

3-22-12


I really liked getting home early yesterday. And even though I had loved the previous weekend that was full of rain and cold and darkness, I felt very refreshed riding my bike to the school in the fresh, spring weather. It was really nice out, and the sun felt good.

We managed to finish all but a couple of items of homework, which is good since it means today Bobby should be able to complete the rest even before I arrive home. It will allow me to straighten up the house a bit before Stephanie and Sabrina arrive.

I had to meet up with the region commissioner and co-commissioner at Wilson Park, so we opted to ride our bikes up to the park. We got there much earlier than my soccer people were there, which allowed us to ride around the park several times. It was a nice way to workout and hang with the family.

I had to write a handful of checks and sign several things, and it really wasn’t too big a deal. I didn’t like that I had to do all of this on an uncomfortable bench, but in the grand scheme of things, it really wasn’t that big a deal.

When I was done, it was relayed to me that apparently our children take after us. The boys had somehow found a dog and when I walked out of the community center, they were sitting on the ground by the bikes, Bobby with the dog very content in his lap. It was really cute.

He was a cut little terrier mix of sorts. Actually, he was kind of like an all white, tiny Panda Dog. He had clearly been bathed recently because I could smell the perfumed shampoo on him. He also was pretty decently groomed and didn’t look like he was a street dog. Sadly, he was unaltered and lacking in a collar. We rode the park, seeing if we could find his owner, but there was no one that seemed to be missing their companion.

I had him in the basket of my bike, which brought back fond memories of riding around with Panda in my basket. That was one of those things that seriously was the best thing about childhood. It was just me and my dog, and life was good.

We opted to take the pup to the shelter since if someone was looking for him, they would stand a better chance finding him at locations where they could look. The boys and Ken stopped for a bit to watch the train pass, and the dog and I rode on ahead since he seemed to enjoy it more when we rode faster.

He was a super sweetheart. Tiny dog, couldn’t have been more than 8 pounds. He was quiet and calm and truly would be a great dog to own. Dax dubbed him Happy and both the boys seemed quite fond of this little pup.

I felt bad turning him over to the shelter if only because I hated seeing him so scared. Ken laughed at me since I had been cradling him since I had gotten him out of the bike basket. I also had taken to rocking him, not even realizing that my hips had begun the gentle swaying I used to do when I held the boys when they were babies.

I have Happy’s number at the shelter, which means I can keep track of him. Granted, even if his owners do not come for him, Happy will easily be either adopted by a nice family or swooped up by the rescue groups. I would be extremely tempted to adopt him myself, but I know better than that. I have 4 very needy cats, a bitchy old dog, a dingy young dog and numerous rodents. Not to mention the whole people aspect of peeps I take care of. Although, Ken pointed out that Luna and Happy would really enjoy each other.

http://animalcare.lacounty.gov/LostFoundDetails.asp?AnimalID=A4408004

On our way out, I noted the building next door which I have always seen, but never knew what it was. It is apparently some kind of foster care service for kids. We decided that really, it seemed wrong to have some kind of orphanage next to the animal shelter, unless of course they team up!



Seriously, why not offer a special. When you foster a kid, the kid gets their own critter to take home! It is like a two for one special! You go into the main office and say, “I would like a sandy haired blonde, and a sandy haired blonde.” Come on! The jokes write themselves.