Blog From Home

     I finally broke down and bought myself a laptop for home use. I've been unable to update my blog at work - partly because I am entirely too busy to take a break, let alone type a blog, and, partly because I no longer have access to write or post them anymore at work.
     I walked into the mall on a mission today. I was determined to buy a laptop, and a purse.
     It took me approximately 15 minutes to  annoy a very young man and purchase a laptop after grilling him with questions he didn't seem to find to be relevant. He sort of reminded me of Joe, except this guy has to stifle his overpowering urge to tell people they are idiots, or he will get fired, and Joe has no such filter. I deposited the laptop into the van, and headed back in on a purse mission that took over an hour. I am still not entirely convinced that I like the purse I ended up with.
      Not sure that finding the purchase of a purse more traumatic than the purchase of a laptop says much about my ability to look or be terribly put together in public, but, I suppose it will serve it's purpose either way.

     So what's been going on since before the Holidays? I don't even know. It all seems to be mostly a blur, truthfully. Shortly before Christmas, Kaila passed her road test! She had put lots of money into her car, and, on New Years Eve, approximately 24 hours after she had it on the road in running condition, it died on the side of the road. While we wait to get it fixed again, she has mostly driven my van when she needs to go someplace. We had to have a discussion regarding the difference between calling it "THE van" and "YOUR Van" as in she may call it "THE van" when she begins to contribute to the payment of "The Van" as well as fuel and maintenance. Otherwise, it needs to be referred to as "Your van" as in, "May I borrow YOUR van". At which she  nicely told me that the same may also be said for my constant use of her phone charger. Which triggered the reply that her charger is connected to my electric. Anyhow. Kaila is driving now. It is frankly terrifying, to watch your kid drive away alone.

     Joe and I were both home sick the other day. Sitting and listening to Joe talk is never dull. I discovered that the Jr/Sr high school has recently blocked access to You Tube for the 7th grade. Joe had figured out ways around all blocks by the end of the school day.
     Joe, who has always planned to be a Scientist, has joined the "Youth Court" at school. Youth Court is where school kids form a full court, including judge, defense, prosecution and jury, for real cases involving other kids in our county. Joe appears to have memorized most of the law book they were given, and is able to recite laws for various offenses without even thinking about it. Should that kid ever change career goals, and head into law, I imagine he will be a brilliant attorney.

     One week ago, we celebrated keeping George alive for eight years! For the rest of my kids, we celebrate birthdays as birthdays. For George, we celebrate keeping him in one piece for another year. George spends as much time as possible outdoors, but, he is still cooped up more than either he or the rest of us are happy with during these winter months. Shout out here to the neighbors across the street who gifted us with their Wii recently. It has managed to keep George active and occupied when he gets sick of remote control cards, nerf guns and legos. Seriously. I am still trying to think of an appropriate way to thank the neighbors, that would somehow convey how handy that Wii has been for cooped up kids. I am overall anti electronics and video games in my household, but, this Wii has been a Godsend.

   

   I am finding that, writing this blog at home has garnered sudden input from my children. Joe has mentioned that I could write about how wonderful they are, but, then he thought about it and decided it wasn't nice to lie. Lexi is currently playing sad music because I am clearly writing about her last, so this must mean I like her least. That being said, before they began to interrupt with Blog content suggestions, I was getting ready to mention that Lexi is on what she calls the "Nerd Squad" at school, with three other kids from her grade. Next weekend they will compete with other schools in some sort of trivia competition? Honestly, I am not even entirely sure what it's about, because, Lexi hasn't talked about it nearly as much as her flute solo for solo fest tomorrow. I might learn more about Nerd Squad after the flute solo trauma settles down tomorrow. She is currently a complete mess over the flute solo and subsequent grade.

     I think maybe sorcerers moved in next door. Our old neighbors moved out for good last week, and a few days later, we noticed that the house seemed to be occupied again. There were no signs of any moving in. No trucks, trailers, people, movers, vans. Just, suddenly lights were on, and the kids mentioned that there are two new dogs outside sometimes. Anyone that can move in with no signs of moving in are obviously sorcerers, so, I decided we should probably get on their good side, because, not only would it be handy to be on the good side of magic, but, it would probably not be terribly good NOT being on the good side of the next door sorcerers. I am not entirely sure how one goes about befriending such entities, but, I am sure we'll figure it out somehow.

     I haven't been to my sister's salon since before Christmas. When last I entered her lair, she informed me that she hated my hair and my hair color, and it was all wrong, and was going to be changed completely. I left with a sort of red/purple look that I really loved. I have found that it has faded enough to have a very spring like pink and lavender hue to it under the florescent lights that I spend most of my work days in. So, it has worked for two seasons! She is nothing short of brilliant. As we were wrapping things up last time around, a woman came in for a haircut.

     "So?! How is she? How is the baby??" My sister asked as soon as the woman walked in.

     "She's at the hospital now, finding out."

      "Crazy that she didn't know she was pregnant for five months!"

     "I know!"

     "Is, you know, her husband the, you know, father?"

     "Yep! Definitely."

     "And, the baby is okay?"

     "I know she is! The spirits told me. I was talking to them last night."

     "Oh! And things were good, then?"

     "The spirits were with the baby when I was talking to them. They said she is fine. And that it's a girl. And, I know they were right, because even the doctors agreed that they are fifty percent sure it's a girl too!"

     "Awww! a GIRL! I bet they are so excited about that!"

     "I think so! They are at the doctor's now making sure everything is okay, and confirming that it really is a girl, but, I already heard all that from the spirits, so, they are pretty much just confirming it all."

      I never did hear if the spirits were right, because I had to leave then. I should probably ask my sister for an update.

     Update on Sunday School. It's pretty much the same. The one other teacher who is the nicest, sweetest and probably one of the most genuine and beautiful people I know, continues to smile kindly at me, even though I always seem to be at my absolute worst around her. Things worked out with that student months ago, who was having anxiety about moving up and into my class. That student seems okay now, and, I think is mostly fascinated enough by the insanity of my teaching style that she stays to see what will happen next.
     Last Sunday, however, I managed to be a monster again. Joe had been having headaches the few days before Sunday. Sunday morning, he seemed fine, so, we headed off to church. Upon arrival, he announced he was going to be an Alter Boy this week, and headed off to get ready. I am not sure when I began to notice Joe on the alter, but, I was positive he was going to be sick. Once I began to notice, I couldn't stop watching his apparent distress. He made it through church, and we all headed down to Sunday School. The nice teacher noted Joe wasn't looking too well, because, Joe was loudly announcing he didn't feel good, and his head was hurting again. (He inherited the migraine gene from my side of the family, unfortunately...) Anyhow, Nice teacher smiled kindly and told me Joe wasn't feeling too well, and I was distracted, and said "He's not going to die." which is my standard phrase for pretty much all ailments in my household, stolen directly from a GI doctor that I work with every Wednesday morning. Nice teacher was suitably horrified, and I closed my eyes in resignation that my monster status was still intact. I ushered my students into the music room, and excused Joe and his migraine from music this week. Upon re-entering my classroom a short time later, I found Joe with his head on the table and a message on the white board reading "Please be quiet because Joe has a migraine".
     Once we were home, he took Tylenol, rehydrated, and was just fine. I left to go grocery shopping once he seemed stable, and, lo and behold, there was the nice teacher at the grocery store. I marveled how she managed to do her shopping in high heeled boots, especially having been on her feet in those boots for the last two hours, and thought about approaching her to let her know Joe had decided to remain with the living, but, I just knew I would make it all worse once I opened my mouth, so, I didn't.

     There's your updates for the last month that I was Blog-less. Hopefully I will be better able to keep up again! I'm finding it's harder to write this blog at home, than it is during the relative peace of occasional breaks at work!