Making Spring Cleaning my Bitch

1-30-15

Dude, it’s 8 am and my blog isn’t written???

I kicked some major spring cleaning ass yesterday. I did as I planned and went through my closet and dresser. One bag of trash, one bag to go to Savers. I didn't hit up the shoe section yet, but perhaps that can be next week’s cleaning adventure. I also still need to get some clear plastic bins for inside the closet so I can organize some things on the higher shelves.

Once I was done with that, I hit up the boys’ desks. I about lost it when I found a giant sticky spot on Dax’s desk from a discarded otter pop wrapper. It cemented that it was my next task at hand. I tossed a ton of trash and paper work and gathered a lot of small toys. I then scrubbed the desks and dug out all the fallen debris under the desks. It resulted in books being put away on the shelf and trash put a bag and in the end, nice and clean desk space. I topped it off with some vacuuming and voila! My groovy gaming lounge already looks so much better.

Once homework was done, Stephanie and I took the kids up to the park. Dax pitched a fit because no one wanted to play actual soccer with him. Luckily Sabrina humored him and at least took shots on him. The park was quite busy, as normal, and sadly a lot of the busy was in the form of annoying bugs that kept attacking me. I don’t know that I was bitten, but I spent a lot of time swatting them off my arms. I suppose that’s my fault that I wore a tank top.

I ended up reading some spoilers for tonight’s Parenthood, but I am OK with this because I really did already know what would happen just based on this season. I won’t spoil it since I know not everyone who might read this is up to date. Either way, I am looking forward to saying goodbye to the Braverman clan this afternoon. I could always wait until Ken and the boys get home since it is always entertaining to them to watch me cry over fictional characters, but I think I will opt to savor this one on my own.

I was pleasantly surprised at the slight rainfall this morning. I hope it stays this dreary all day since it will make for a nice and cozy Friday night. I will let the boys and Ken play their video games and perhaps I will curl up with a movie. Maybe I will curl up with one of my many books and hang out in the lounge with my little family.

Ok, I have already polished off a gallon of water and two cups of coffee. I am amped this morning. I need more water what with the expected loss of fluids in a few hours.

I think Sunday during the Super Bowl I need to find something good to go do. Not being football fans make Sunday our play day. I have tossed around the idea of starting to have anti-super bowl parties. I know Jerry and Nicole were on board. Perhaps next year when things are so chaotic around the house. Ken also has some referee duties all weekend so a full day plan is out.

Ok, now to make the rest of the work day fly by!

underpants

1-29-15

Good morning, Thursday!

It seems that the study group sessions for homework these last few days has significantly improved the speed in which homework is finished. There is humor, there is the occasional banging on the table to get their spaced out attention, and overall there seems to be learning. I have also been pushing the boys to do a little more than what is asked of them so as not to fall behind or have work sent home that wasn’t complete enough. It looks as though the system has also helped our new group member. The boys and Sabrina almost seem to compete a bit to see who finishes first, which bodes well for us moms who have to monitor the festivities.

Tonight is the airing of the last episode of Parenthood. I am quite sad because I love this show so very much. I won’t watch it live, despite the fact that the net will be filled with spoilers all morning tomorrow. Instead I will gear up and view it when I get home from work tomorrow. I will make sure to hydrate fully beforehand so as not to pass out from all the tears.

Closet cleaning didn’t take place yesterday as I spent the first part of the afternoon at the store and the second part chatting with Sabrina about the drama of her friends. Boy, little boys can be mean to little girls. I am hopeful that my boys don’t act like such poo poo heads when they are dealing with girls in their class. I don’t believe they are, but I also hope that if they saw someone saying mean things to another kid that they would stand up for them. I know that Bobby would. He is a defender of the people.

I am all kinds of excited that next week Trusty will be out of the office both Wednesday and Thursday and I will be out on Friday. It means I have 5 full days of a Trusty-Free work place! YAY! It is important to always have something awesome to look forward to.

Ken ordered me underwear! I got the package addressed to me and I was all confused having not ordered anything. I opened it and saw that it was for Sexy Mama Joe! YAY! I am all kinds of excited being that I really needed to go get some new underwear, but the fact that he did this as a sweet surprise made me all giggly happy.

Ken looks to be gone much of the weekend reffing at the Extra playoffs. The cool news is that he gets to finally be evaluated at the U14 level so he can get his next badge, which rocks! I have some minor soccer activities. I am going to help Jimmy move some goals from Levy to Hull Saturday morning. Should be fun. I will drag the boys along so they can kick the ball on the field. Dax will appreciate this.

Dax is really happy to have Sabrina at the house. It is another active kid who likes to kick the ball around and play. I am considering taking the kids up to the park this afternoon once homework is done so they can run around. Plus, the pups get an outing. Crossing fingers that homework is minor tonight.

Google Eyes are a Must!

1-28-15

I am starting to look forward to watching some more soccer games.

With things being less chaotic this week, I found myself yesterday with just about all the laundry done and most of the house pretty decent. I even managed to go through the boys’ t-shirts to purge out many of the ones they don’t wear so that they had more room. I would like to go through their closet next so that I can make that a smidge more organized.

Although, if we are cleaning closets, perhaps I will tackle mine. I know I have things that could be organized and removed. I have to go take some deposits today, but perhaps I can also work on that this afternoon. It’s the late arrival afternoon due to sculpting class so I have some extra time.

Nancy Grace is crazy. She debated Dr. Drew last night on the legalization of marijuana. She is 100% against it because she assumes everyone is going to get stoned and start shooting their spouse. Yeah, cause that’s the thing that happens when you are stoned. You get so energized and angry that you shoot people. Sheesh. Dr. Drew schooled her but she was not even listening. It was almost a pointless debate since she wouldn’t even consider his side. Dr. Drew was logical and had good examples whereas she had strange statistics and she kept contradicting herself. At one point she talked about how “the people” (She used air quotes every time she mentioned the people) had spoken and that they don’t want pot. So Dr. Drew asked her if she would move out of the state she lived in if they voted to allow recreational pot. She said she wouldn’t move but she would fight to have the law overturned. So clearly, she is ok with what “the people” want as long as the people want what she wants. Sheesh!

Sparkly lotion and perfume is awesome.

I need to go through the box of craft supplies. I would like to organize it so that it is actually something I don’t have to toss, but I am starting to wonder how much crafting we really do. Then again, everyone should always have google eyes on hand.

Time to do some work. 

Housemates

1-26-15

The band aid was ripped off.

We have a couple of new residents at Steve. Stephanie and Sabrina will be staying with us for a bit. The big move took place on Friday, which could have resulted in a whole lot of crazy drama with Dave, but thankfully even with the sadness that comes with a big split, everyone has actually been quite civil and grownup about everything. I am so thrilled since all of them will be so much better off in an arrangement in which parents are not angry at each other around a kid.

The actually phone conversation took place Friday night in which I was present holding Stephanie’s hand while she explained to Dave what was going on. I have not been a part of this kind of support system in a while and it was nice being able to be comforting to someone. I am so glad I was there for her during this.

With Friday night behind us and my cold finally lifting, I took charge of things and kicked some ass.

I spent Saturday getting rid of anxiety. I finished up my audit and got the paperwork to our auditor. I cleaned up mine and Ken’s desk. I cleaned the living room. I cleaned the kitchen. I even was able to go through most of the boxes that I had to remove from the guest room closet and made the downstairs into a bitchin gaming lounge for my housemates. I then proceeded to make dinner. Yeah, I rocked this shit.

Saturday night, Ken and I watched The Interview. It was on Netflix, which was great since even though I had not heard great things about it, I still felt I needed to see any flick that caused such a tizzy for the studio that actually got them to pull the movie from its theatrical release.

The movie was nothing that it should have been, yet it was strangely enjoyable. The direction of the movie was very, um, confusing? It tried to combine about 5 genres all in one flick. There was the straight forward, slightly raunchy comedy aspects, which Seth Rogan and James Franco shine in. It then took the turn of sharp, political drama with the spotlight on how evil North Korea is. It then veered off into a little bit of a romantic comedy with Seth hooking up with a North Korean guard. Next thing you know, it feels like a sequel to Hot Shots. Oh, and let’s not forget the subtle undertones of stoner buddy flick. But no movie could be complete without the Tarrantino aspects of squished heads and exploding bodies. Yeah, it was all over the map. I think they are quite fortunate that there was such a controversy over all of it.

Sunday was a day of rest. We had a couple of errands to attend to. We left the boys with Stephanie, and so Ken and I went and took care of them, stopping to have some breakfast which was really nice.

It was a lazy Sunday. We introduced Stephanie to Dogma, which is still a fantastic flick even after all this time. She has not been fully immersed in Kevin Smith which is something she will now be subjected to living at Steve.

My hair has been given another lighting treatment. The front is certainly much lighter. The color that is about midway down is still there and not much lighter, which surprises me a bit. At this point, I think I will need one more treatment. Once that happens I can do the purple again, which excites me greatly. I think then I will get a hair cut to about shoulder length, possibly even an undercut for the hell of it. It will be fun to have a new style for a bit.

It’s report week here at work, so tomorrow I will be knee deep in Excel, which suits me just fine. I like that it keeps me busy all day. It means today I prep. I also have an open enrollment meeting to deal with at 10, but once again, it breaks up my day which only means my day seems to fly by. Hopefully when I walk out the rain will be coming soon as it will make for happy homework hour.

A break in the sick

1-22-15

Better but still wishing for some relief.

When I got home yesterday I found myself moving from room to room working on clean up. Next thing I knew, my house looked pretty damn good. Thankfully Ken had handled the majority of the laundry and the living room so I was able to mostly concentrate on the downstairs. In some ways I suppose that much activity for a sick person isn’t a good idea. This is the case with normal sick folk. Cleaning is apparently my spinach. I felt much better even after just a little bit of de-cluttering.

I had the house to myself until almost 4 since the boys had sculpting class. The crazy lady that I am was bored enough that I did a lot of their chores. And when I say a lot, you of course know I mean just about all. It just made me feel better overall, so what’s a girl to do?

Homework wasn’t too bad, although Dax was getting stuck on some math. He is hung up on division having remainders. He is convinced all of the problems he had would have a remainder, which in reality there was only going to be one or two. It makes for some tear filled moments when I had to step in to explain. Luckily he was mostly open to my suggestions which was unlike him. Because of the struggle (and some minor dinking around) he still had 2 more problems at my deadline for them. Bobby came to me quietly and asked me to grant Dax a little more time. It was very sweet. I went ahead and gave him an extra 15 minutes, even though he only needed maybe 5.

I got to write up the letter for Dax’s class and I sent some choice videos to Mr. Chin that will be shared today. I do love that even now I can threaten the boys with this one video I took while both of them were throwing this epic fit. I wish I could remember why they were so upset, but man, it was entertaining to watch them get more upset as I filmed their meltdown. Boy, I am a bad mom.

My folks brought over their old television so that we could set it up downstairs so the boys can play the Wii. I am all frustrated that I can’t figure out where to set it up. We would have to move a lot of things around in order to put it in the one place I considered. That being said, it may be time to do another toy purge in order to move things. The couch could go where the toys are and the tv would go on the wall by the bookshelf. Decisions, decisions.

Bobby is now one of the room reps for his class! We went to all that trouble to make his poster but it turned out that only 2 people were running. He still gives his speech tomorrow, but I am kind of glad he doesn’t have to worry about a vote. He was quite pleased about it, so yay!!

It looks like there is no travel team so the boys will be playing in Spring League. I am thinking that they may end up playing on a co-ed team, which in itself will be an interesting thing. I am actually quite excited since it means they will learn different things by playing with kids that are all at different levels. I will find out more on Saturday since I think that I am going to a meeting for Spring League at 10.

I am excited that I get to not only do lunch with Dax tomorrow, but Bobby as well! Dax is allowed to invite friends and he wanted Bobby there, which is super cute. I am thinking I may go get the sandwiches tonight so I don’t have to worry about them tomorrow. I told them I would pick up Subway for them, which they were quite thrilled about. It’s a shame Ken can’t make it but he already blew off class last week for whale watching so this time it’s my turn.

I wonder how much longer my NyQuil will hold on. I can tell it is still keeping the congestion at bay, but I also feel cracks in the wall. Perhaps it’s time for another cup of coffee. 

sick sick go away

1-21-15

Please leave me alone, sickness!

My head hurts, but I am hoping it will feel better as my day progresses. I also am still quite congested. My eyes and nose keep leaking, which is quite messy if you ask me. I really can’t walk too far without needing a Kleenex as I don’t want to drip on the floor.

I also am not happy with how hot I feel. I know it isn’t warm in the office, and it isn’t just the tea I am drinking. I am reluctant to turn on the fan since I am betting that will just make me worse in the long run.

There is now question on the travel team the boys would have been joining. Lou has indicated he doesn’t want to coach anymore. If he doesn’t coach, and there isn’t a replacement, I will be signing the boys up for Spring soccer, which I need to do sooner than later. I am frustrated at the lack of info I have right now, but I know it will all work out in the end.

Once again, I am going through a bout of feeling slightly overwhelmed with things. I know it is going to be good, but it is one of those things where I stress that not everything is in order. The team party was a huge weight lifted, so I know that as things happen, it will work out. I just hate the crazy.

I get to go eat lunch with Dax on Friday, which will be awesome. I need to ask him if he would just like his normal lunch or if I should bring him something.

Everyone cross your fingers for my little politician for Friday. He is running for room rep again. He is so excited about it. It should be interesting to see what is future holds. Will he run for student counsel as time goes on? Have we influenced him with the soccer? Either way, it is pretty cool to watch him do all of these things. 

A busy sleep-free weekend

1-19-15

I shouldn’t be surprised that the sick is still kicking my ass being that my weekend was so active.

It turns out I can still stay out past midnight. It also turns out that I should not make this a regular occurrence lest I want to be dead on my feet for days afterwards. Both Ken and I were yawning even before dinner, which we had around 7. It was a lovely meal, as it always is when you go to P.F. Changs.

After dinner, we went and explored by the Chinese Theatre. People watching and random street performer watching is interesting on a Friday night. It’s always a wonder what these people think passes for a Batman or Tinkerbell. They are downright terrifying. There are also the overly aggressive music folks who practically shove their CD in to your bag and then would demand money. You have to really be on your toes when passing them by.

We got to the theatre that was showing our movie around 10. With only 2 people in line, we opted to go to the bar at Acapulco across the street. Sadly, despite the place looking quite empty, we were turned away because Ken was in shorts. Who knew a crappy Mexican restaurant with little to no patronage at 10 pm on a Friday night would be so elitist. I was not impressed.

We opted to just go hang out in line. It wasn’t so bad, and as a few other people showed up, we found ourselves surrounded by twenty something hipsters all playing their Nintendo DS games. It was a strange site for sure.

Kam ended up coming to the movie and hung out with us in line. I would have preferred just Ken what with it being our date night. That being said, I was too tired to really object.

The theatre is amazing. I highly recommend going to it even if for just a recent flick. It was built in 1923 and at one point in its history they removed rows for more leg room, which I have to say was fantastic. It only seats 400 people, but it feels like a huge arena. The Egyptian décor was gorgeous and well maintained. I felt all classy in there.

I had only seen Serenity once before. I am not the die hard fan that Ken is, but I enjoyed the showing a great deal. I did have some issue about midway when I started to lose my battle with sleep. Thankfully the action picked back up and I was awake enough to finish out the movie.

We didn’t stick around for credits or socializing. The guy who is in charge of these screenings of older movies was awesome, and it would have been kind of cool to chat with him and many of the fans of his work, but seriously, it was like 2:30 in the morning and both of us needed to be up in a few hours.

Ken left the house around 7, which is when I really started to wake up. I had planned on trying to get a little more sleep, and even forced myself to stay in bed despite being mostly awake. However, at about a quarter to 8, my mom called and offered to bring the boys to me, which was quite thoughtful of her.

Once the boys arrived, we set out to get our errands done. It felt like we had a lot to accomplish. Luckily most of it could be done at Target. We had a birthday present to obtain, supplies for an election poster, Epsom salts for Dax’s thumb, and a couple of other random things.

Dax’s thumb has been hurting him for a few days. Sadly, he had no idea what he had done when he first complained about the pain. He also didn’t tell us it hurt until he was in bed. Clearly, interrupting play time was not going to happen but delaying bed time was reasonable. He has been known to do this many times over, and we mostly assume the wolf is a delay tactic. Plus, his thumb on inspection looked fine.

Then on Friday, we noted the swollen parts and realized he had what appeared to be a bad hang nail that had now become infected. Sigh. It figures.   We had him soak his thumb on Saturday night in Epsom salt and warm water. It started to drain a bit on its own in just the liquid. He was incredibly brave based on how bad it must have hurt. Ken got most of the pus out and the pressure pain was certainly helped. Last night Ken drained a bit more and he put some Neosporin on it to help with the germs. It should be ok in a day or two now.

Our errands also took us to get some cupcakes for the team party on Sunday. I was quite pleased that they had a pack of red velvet ones since the team is red and all of the frosting colors on the chocolate ones were rainbow or other mixes. Of course, being the ding dong of a mother I am, I buckled to their pleas and also picked up a small pack of the chocolate ones for home.

Once we arrived home, with a full hour before I said we would, I opted to give the boys a little time to play before we had to set to work on Dax’s Pilot of the Week paperwork and Bobby’s election sign. I gave them till 1 to eat and play. I crashed out on the couch and watched some Parenthood.

1 o’clock came and went because I fell asleep. The boys said later that they checked on me but opted to let me sleep. I was appreciative of their decision. I didn’t sleep a lot, but a nap was certainly welcomed. I am actually pretty shocked I woke up at all. I couldn’t believe how tired I was.

Once I did, the boys and I worked on their respective school projects and then because I noted the reminder on the computer, I realized that we needed to go to the cemetery still. It was Leslie’s birthday and we always go and put flowers on her grave, and then we explore random sections of the cemetery. I had forgotten to pick up flowers, but luckily I had a teddy bear I had picked up in clearance at some point to just have on hand for emergencies. Ken got home around 4:15 and we set out for Inglewood.

The visits to the cemetery are always interesting. I know that I took some pictures of graves that I will spend some time researching this morning. I had hoped that I would have some graves I could look for since I spent much of Friday looking through the old Torrance papers for people buried there that had stories, but sadly I didn’t have any. Either way, it is always really peaceful and insightful going there. The boys enjoy it, too, which is fun. I also got to see one of the rock smileys that a person I met on Facebook places. She is a cemetery walker that lives local and I am all excited to have seen one of her rocks in person.

Sunday I tried to sleep in. Sadly, my bladder wouldn’t allow me past 8, which I suppose was ok since we still had to go to the team party.

The team party started at 11 and went to 1. It was a fun time and all but two of the kids showed up. You could tell everyone had a good time. I was bummed Becky couldn’t make it, and it was even worse because I knew it was due to her chemo treatments. Lou was quite emotional telling us all about it and it just broke my heart to see him so sad. I was glad that his daughter comes back from the Navy in a little over a month since it was a nice thing for his whole family to look forward to. Any light in that dark tunnel is a good thing.

After the party, we headed up to Field of Dreams where the Area Playoffs were being held. The BU10 final was happening at 2 and I just so happened to know the coach! Nikki from the Gunners coaches this team from South Torrance. Her son is on the team and I was excited because she had mentioned on Facebook that they were playing in the finals. We wanted to go say hello to all of our soccer peeps anyway, so it was a good time to go. We watched the championship match in which they won the game 3 to 1. The coolest part of this was that Mike, my old Gunners coach and dad to Nikki is the assistant coach. I had no idea! I got to say hello to both of them which was very cool. It was a bit of a shame that the game was a bit heated because of some referee issues, but I will choose to just like that I got to see my Gunner family.

After soccer, we took the boys to the birthday party they were invited to. Bobby’s best friend invited both Bobby and Dax to Gable house and then Laser Storm. This allowed Ken and even more kid free time, which was very strange. We went to dinner at Souplantation, which I will tell everyone, don’t bother with. It was over-priced for their selection and overall we were not impressed.

The boys were at the party till 7. Ken and I had considered doing stuff around the area but realized there wasn’t much to do so we went home. I suppose I could have taken Ken up on his offer to just have him go pick the boys up while I went to bed. I of course didn’t because I wanted to hear about the party. I still go to bed by 8, so it is all good.

I didn’t sleep great and I find myself in a bit of a haze this morning. I didn’t even bother with makeup since my eyes are watery from the sick and it would be just a smudgy mess if I opted to even go with some eyeliner.

The boys and Ken are planning on cleaning up my house today, which will be nice to get home to. I still have some things to tend to, but overall I am hoping to use this afternoon as a resting time. I don’t like being sick and it is in my best interest to get this cold over with.

So for now, I will try to make this day go by quickly. I have been here 2 hours already, which seems promising overall. I still think our company is awful for making us work on a day that much of the country is off, but what I am gonna do, right? 

Let's hope for a fast Friday

1-16-15

Never assume the sick is going away.

Yeah, sleep would have been nice. It was bad enough coming home late from the meeting in which I had become all pumped up with ideas which meant settling was hard. On top of that my nose was no longer a faucet externally. It was all draining backwards which made for a massive sore throat this morning. In addition to this, my ear hurts. This one is my fault since I switched out the jewelry on my cartilage and now it is angry at me.

It should be all good since it is Friday. I am all jazzed for Dax who is going on his whale watching trip today. I am hopeful for it since there has been a crazy increase in whales right now. There had been some Orca sightings too, but I think that pod moved on. That being said, the thought of Dax getting to see a real live Orca would be so fantastic!

The boys are heading to my folks’ tonight. Ken and I are rockin the Vista in Los Feliz at midnight for a screening of Serenity. I know I am a little nervous about my being conscious at that time, but hopefully I will perk up once I am no longer at work. I am considering taking a nap when I get home as opposed to watching Parenthood, which will actually drain my energy even more. We shall see. Ken and I are going to probably head out that direction early and have dinner out that way. Since the seating is general, I know he also will want to get in line to allow for good seats.

Tomorrow I will help Bobby make a poster for the upcoming room rep elections. We also can work on his speech. I may show him how to type it up.

I also want to go to party city and possibly other places to get some small goody bags for the team party. I also need to get a gift card for Lou. The boys and I have some errands slated for after I pick them up in the morning.

Sticky Bomb

1-15-15

The sick fog is starting to lift.

The boys came home yesterday, chattering on like monkeys. They were worked up due to a conversation with a friend and subsequent sprint home. Their friend, Chris, with whom they walk to and from school with was apparently feeling the need to brag yesterday. While the three discussed the WWII book Bobby had checked out from the library, Chris explained that his father had been in WWII. In addition to this incredibly unrealistic tale, he proceeded to tell the boys about the full arsenal of weapons he has at his house. He then, in a hushed whisper, told the boys that he had a sticky bomb in his backpack.

Bobby, being sensible, didn’t want to take any chances with this data. He was familiar with the term sticky bomb and knew that if Chris was telling the truth it wouldn’t be a good idea to be near him while carrying something that could injure them all severely. So he instructed Dax that they needed to be far away, and they proceeded to run the rest of the way home.

Of course, I don’t want to be one of those parents whipping up the community into a needless frenzy over some kid who was most likely just bullshitting his buddies in order to feel accepted. That being said, I also don’t want to be one of those parents who is interviewed after the school is in rubble due to a kid having brought some explosive because no one believed him.

I had the boys tell me the story and I wrote down key components lest I forget anything. I then proceeded to have them tell Ken when he got home so as to make sure we were all on the same page. Ken is going to speak to the principal this morning just to make sure that the boy understands that if he was lying, this is something to not joke about. If he wasn’t lying, he shouldn’t be bringing a bomb (active or not) to school!

As much as I could be freaked out, the emotion that stands out this morning is pride. Not only did my boys do the right thing by not sticking around, their first instinct was to tell me everything that took place. In addition to this, Bobby’s first sentence to me was, “Mom, I don’t think we should hang out with Chris anymore since I don’t think we can trust him.” I am beaming!

As if my mommy ego wasn’t fluffed up enough, Bobby also brought home the slip of paper informing me of his award he would be receiving on Friday. He was selected for the creativity award. Yay!

As much as I had planned on being lazy yesterday, I ended up taking some time to clean the old cat tree and move it up to the living room. I had not expected it to be quite so heavy. I felt like I was lugging a body up the 3 steps, which seems like it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is. My perseverance paid off in the form of quite the acrobatic show staring Bits and Sissy swinging and chasing one another all over both cat trees at top speeds. Totally worth it!

I also found myself inspired randomly to clean out the pantry. It has come to my attention that small amounts of pot tend to not relax me so much as energize me to do things. It is a strange phenomenon. I certainly cannot complain since it means not only am I productive, I am all kinds of chipper doing it.

Tonight is the second half of management training. I made sure that the boys were ahead of the game yesterday with homework. I am grateful that this afternoon Ken is home which means he can help Dax with the math work. I am horrible in helping them with that. I find myself getting lost in the question which then is complicated when Dax argues the way I do the problem. He is dead set on working the problem the way Mr. Chin showed him, but if he is wrong in his answer, he can’t see that since he used the “correct” path. He had division problems last night that were relatively straight forward like 49 divided by 7. He would then use the procedure he was taught and kept coming up with answers with remainders, which was not ever going to be the case. It was frustrating all around.

I sometimes wish I could take a class on how to explain things to people. I don’t have the correct words to express how a problem is done. Or in the case this morning, I have a customer that doesn’t understand that 3 invoices can be part of one sales order and one purchase order. He thinks the 3^rd bill must be a mistake, yet he hasn’t reviewed his entire PO to determine what was ordered. It is hard to explain these things to so many people. I don’t know that this is always their fault.

Sigh, time to dive in to the land of work.  

classes

1-14-15

8 hours and then I can rest.

I am rockin serious amounts of tea this morning which is helping clear my nose and soothe my throat. Plus, it has the added benefits of caffeine and all the other cool stuff green tea does. I just hope it all makes for a quick morning.

We went to our management training class last night. Even though a class on that sort of thing should be a snooze fest, it wasn’t bad at all. I am sure it helps that all but two of the people in the class were from our region, and Tori, the instructor, is a friend from the region, too. Plus, we got Panda Express, which was nummy.

The boys were quite well behaved and practically silent the whole time which looks good for me. Yeah, I’m gonna take credit for that one.

In random news, one of the houses we had considered was practically all the way torn down. 23085 Walnut is fenced off and being systematically torn apart. It’s crazy since I thought the people who had bought the house seemed to be working on the inside based on the activity we would see when driving past. It was a small place, but it had a pool and it was in our current neighborhood. I am so very glad we didn’t press for that one, though, since it is closer to the train tracks which are still loud at Steve.

I wish I could remember when the boys start their sculpting class. I don’t think it is until next week, but it doesn’t mean I am correct. It only matters in the idea of when do they arrive home today.

Duck Purge

1-13-15

The sick is aggressive and has taken hold in my head.

I am super congested and achy. It is just a cold, but it isn’t fun, especially when I know the week will be long. I used some of the boys’ cold meds last night since we were out of Nyquil. It had a similar effect, but I know it wasn’t as good as grownup meds. I could totally use a nap right about now.

Despite feeling lousy yesterday, I managed to hit the gym at work and I took the pups for a brisk walk when I got home. I was hoping for some of that walking to help my headache, but sadly it didn’t.

Ken tried to set the kitchen on fire last night. He was trying to de-stale some potato chips in the oven. The temperature was much too high and he left them in too long when they caught fire. On the plus side, we know that the smoke alarms work quite well. The smoke filled much of the house, putting many of the cats into a tizzy. Lucy and Breezer especially were quite upset. It also put some distraction on homework time.

Bobby came home with his permission slip to run for room rep again. He really likes doing this, so I gladly signed off on it. We will make him a poster this weekend so he can put it up in his classroom. We will also need to work on his speech. I am proud of his interests in “politics” and that he doesn’t even seem to get too down when he loses.

We finally got the team party scheduled. Sunday is the day which is great because I feel this huge weight lifted from my shoulders.

Also, it has been confirmed Big Lou will in fact coach the travel team, which means the boys will be playing on his team instead of Spring League. This will mean practices each week and going to tournaments. I like that they will have good exercise and that they get to keep playing for Lou. Even Bobby was quite jazzed. Dax is antsy to start playing again. When I told him we had the soccer party on Sunday he was a little bummed it was just bowling and not soccer.

I still need to start work on another party. Bobby is turning double digits in a few weeks, which is crazy! I think he just wants to do another Minecraft party, which I am all for. I just want to get out invites so we can get it ready.

I purged myself of quite a few ducks! I went through about 3 smaller boxes of ducks and duck related items and put them all in a giant box that Stephanie and I carted over to Savers. It was rather freeing. I know that they were cute and wonderful, but since I have been in Steve, I know that I don’t want that kind of collection on display. I don’t want much up at all, really. I have my knick knacks up, but with the ducks, it would have required multiple shelves along with possible cabinets that I don’t really have a spot for. I kept the ones I loved, I took out a few that will be good for gifts, I even distributed a few already. I feel very good about my progress in de-cluttering my life.

Happy 2015

1-12-15

Happy New Year!

Not to start this with a downer, but I really am starting to think my lack of enthusiasm for my work place is having negative effects on my health. Friday I stayed home due to some random, yet epic cramps and today I find myself all sniffly and dealing with cold-like symptoms. Mind you, even with all the work and chores I attended to over the weekend, I still felt great and chipper. I was even happy to deal with registration for Spring soccer. I need work vitamins.

It’s a true bummer my office isn’t like Don Draper’s since I could get used to drinking scotch in my office, even if I don’t enjoy scotch.

Soccer is the word this week what with two classes we are taking this week for management training for the region. Luckily it is broken up into two nights, both of which include dinner which means even less work for me. I also have some more work on the audit to attend to. The weekend also includes refereeing for Ken for the Area Playoffs, which is where he spent much of his time this past weekend. We also should be finding out if a travel team is being formed in which the boys would be a part of. If the team doesn’t form, they will instead be signed up for the Spring League, which is still going to be a lot of fun. The topper for all of this is the long awaited team party that should be taking place this Sunday. So much to do!

I started using the gym at work again. We have fancy new treadmills that are quite nice. I am quite fond of the little fans that are on them since it keeps me from crazy sweating. I am only doing 20 minutes since I wanted to get back into routine slowly. Today, I am going to go back to my routine in which I used to get home from work and would quickly change and do a walk. I have 2 and a half hours every afternoon when I get home from work in which I can do my walk and still get home in time to work on some chores. If I make the walk the priority, I think it will help a great deal.

I have some random and painful bruise on my leg that popped up yesterday. I am never surprised when I hurt myself. I mean, hell, last week I managed to severely burn my wrist when I accidently dumped boiling hot macaroni noodles on my wrist. Normally, though, I know what happened. On this bruise, I don’t remember getting it, which always concerns me.

Friday night, the boys are going to stay with Gramma and Poppy since Ken and I are seeing a midnight showing of Serenity. I know this is ambitious for me, what with the late screening, but luckily I can most likely nap much of Saturday.

Friday also is Dax’s whale watching trip, which I am hoping will be amazing. There have been an increase in whale sightings recently, so hopefully he sees some cool critters out there. Ken is going with him and I know Dax is super excited about doing this trip.

Now to make the most of my day and hopefully have it go by quickly.