Saturday, October 28, 2006

Driving

B. starts driver's ed this morning. In class this entire weekend, again Monday afternoon and then all day Wednesday - all scheduled around the Tracy High School schedule - the kids don't have school Wednesday. Supposedly for conferences and planning but I think educators have just realized that attempting to get kids to focus and calm down after a night of sugar excess is pointless - so now they close school on Nov. 1st. After he completes these classes, he will be able to take his permit test. Then more behind-the-wheel training at the driving school + 50 hours with his parents and then, hopefully, in May, he can get his license. They have to have had their permit for 6 months before they can try for their license.

We are glad he has something 'new' to work towards and look forward to since sadly, he did not make jazz band this year. He had a bad audition - knew it when he came home that evening and wasn't 'surprised' to not make it - but of course, he is very disappointed. We are taking it as a positive - an opportunity for him to work hard on his tough Sophomore year academics and look forward to next year when he'll try out again and hopefully make it. His first semester grades were OK but not his usual outstanding - so I don't think having more after school time to devote to studying will hurt him a bit. On a good note, the jazz quartet he's in at the music store has a paying gig tonight at a crab feed. AND J. snared us two tickets to the crab feed so we can enjoy the music AND unlimited crab legs. I've actually never found crab feeds to be 'worth it'. All that work for a few bites. But it will be fun to hear B. play with this group and he is excited to be 'paid' for playing.

We now have the new washer AND a new matching dryer - my husband is generous and sweet and knew that NOT having the matching dryer would make me 'dissatisfied'. And we've had ENOUGH dissatisfaction with our laundry appliances these past 5 years so we bit the bullet and sprang for the dryer. The credit from Sears for the lemon washer paid for about 1/2 of the washer. So it was some serious $$ out the door - but worth it. They are blue, lovely, quiet and so far, working great. We will get a PGE rebate AND a City of Tracy water rebate and sell the old dryer - little things that help offset the cost. I am spending the weekend 'catching' up - washing comforters, dog blankets, etc. PLUS the usual zillion loads of laundry we do every weekend.

No word yet on the Tracy school job but that's not unexpected. These things take time. My boss informed me that they are still trying to 'change' my job into a higher classification so we'll see. That would be great. But I'm not holding my breath and didn't (nor won't) withdraw my application - reclasses are a crap shoot and I know that - so I'm not keeping my eggs in one basket. What's meant to be, will be. And I'll be fine either way.

Dani is still coughing a bit but is a lot better. She is still taking the cherry flavored bright pink liquid antibiotics and is improving. Eating well, playing more. The vet in town has called several times to have us bring her in for a redo of the chest xray and possible biopsy of the lymph nodes in her chest (which were swollen in the first xray). I'm not incined to spend more money for nothing - the 'emergency' procedure at the specialist in San Leandro was a waste of $1400 - told us no more than the xray did and never resulted in any firm diagnosis. So we are taking a 'wait and see' approach - she's improving, eating, playing, etc. and is almost back to her old self.

That's all the updates for now. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Friday, October 20, 2006

Love

J. and I have been together for over 18 years, now. We will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary in March. There aren't many 'suprises' in our relationship - we are steadfast and true and love each other in a way that 18 years creates. Bonded thoroughly and completely - sometimes because we have kids; sometimes because the mere thought of 'splitting up' involves more logistical and financial quagmires than either of us want to navigate. Marriage isn't easy, as anyone who's ever been married knows. Ours has been 'easier' than most, I think, though we've had a few 'rough spots'. He is my best friend and the person I most like to spend my time with. He makes me laugh everyday (not in a 'yeah, that was funny now leave me alone' way but in a real, deep THAT WAS FUNNY way). And when someone makes you laugh everyday, you know everything's OK.

And lately -

J. calls me a couple times during the day. Usually once during the day to say "hi" and again when he's on his way or close to home. And lately, when he calls, as soon as I say 'Hello?' he says 'Hey, baby'. And my stomach sort of 'lurches' when I hear his voice. Like it used to way back when - when we were 'dating' and I couldn't wait for him to call again. And then when he did, my tummy would 'tell me' how excited I was to talk to him. And that feeling is BACK. It's the way he says it - the tone, the inflection. And then he comes home and I'm cooking dinner and I ask him 'how was your day'? And he says, 'it's getting better'. And I say 'oh, why'? And he says 'because now I'm kissing my baby'.

I love him. He makes making macaroni and cheese something to write about.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Lost

My theory is I got there 'too early'. I told J. 'the machines weren't primed yet'. Lost what I was willing to lose in just over an hour - so I did the practical thing and headed home. Spent the afternoon 'comp shopping' the Sears website for a new washer.

YES, the washer has FINALLY been declared a LEMON. One year after the thing went COMPLETELY on the fritz - it's not been right since. So now, we 'shop' to compare the model they based their offer on to the model we have. Since they don't make any machine that has EVERYTHING our washer has, we'll have to come up with some kind of 'happy medium'. In the end, we'll get a brand new washer though it will probably cost us a bit - since we WON'T buy their latest version of the Calypso - called the 'Oasis'. FORGET IT. NO WAY. We're looking at front loaders. BIG capacity. The only thing I really regret is that now, they make them in some really cool colors - but if I buy a new 'colored' washer (which is less expensive than white - why??), my dryer (which is white) won't 'match'. And though J. is quite possibly the most reasonable, generous person on the planet, even HE has drawn the line at buying a brand new dryer just so it will 'match' the soon-to-be brand new washer. I even tried to convince him that we could (in theory) hook up the 'old' dryer in the garage (will take some 'plumbing' work to get a gas line hooked up out there) so we'd have two - our own little 'laundromat'. He was unconvinced. So white is what we'll get.

The two days off have flown by. I have answered emails off and on both days so I won't arrive tomorrow 'buried' both on my desk AND my email. Thankfully, it will be only TWO days until the weekend!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

PlayDay

I am taking two 'mid-week' vacation days. Spending today preparing for our "Fall Cleanup" event where the trash company will take ANYTHING you put out. So we are cleaning out the garage and backyard of 'stuff' that we don't need and don't care about trying to garage sale. (Since we NEVER have a garage sale even though we 'save' stuff for it throughout the year). We are also starting to box stuff and inventory to take to Goodwill, etc. - again, stuff we've saved for the garage sale we never have. Time to 'declutter' and get rid of stuff we don't need.

I applied for the Tracy job - now just 'wait and see'. Know from past experience that it can take weeks or months before you hear anything - whether it's a letter of 'thanks but no thanks' or a call for an interview. One job I applied for way back took SIX MONTHS before I got a letter advising the position was filled and thanked me for my interest. I found out at a conference I attended that the person who had the job actually came back (she didn't know I was one of the people who had applied while she was gone and then returning). So you just never know. I will wait and see what happens.

Tomorrow, I plan to drive up to Jackson for the morning - play some slots, hopefully win or break even, grab a bite to eat and head back home in time to pickup B. from band practice.

Off to tidy up the kitchen.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Buffalo

What does it say about someone who reads the headline 'Freak Snow Catches Buffalo; 3 die' and their first reaction is 'wow, that must be some storm to kill 3 buffalo. I really thought they were pretty hardy creatures'?
It says they're TIRED, folks. REALLY, REALLY down to their BONES tired.

So I slept 11 hours last night. That should help.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Sneaky

J. says 'the mice are sneaky bastards'. They left little turds RIGHT NEXT TO EACH trap. Great. Tonight, I'm loading the traps with banana nut bread AND cheese.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Leaving

J. is leaving on a business trip tomorrow morning. He departs leaving me with the following:
  • The clothes washer is on the fritz again (see this time last year). Leaking water all over the floor with every load. Finally figured out how to just get it to spin so the load of my 'fine washables' that I tried to do could be dried out enough to actually toss in the dryer. Repair scheduled for Friday, the only day one of us (J.) can and will be home.
  • What started as one mouse is now a family of mice. Or colony. Or army. I'm not sure how to classify them. I just know they exist. Last night, we trekked to Ace hardware just before dinner - I went along because I was fully prepared to buy every kind of trap known to man regardless of how barbarian and cruel I perceived them to be. I just want the mice OUT of our garage and away from my house. I can 'hear' them, I think - and with J. gone, will invariably being waking all night 'hearing' sounds - I don't need troops of mice scuddling across my garage floor. He has loaded the traps with peanut butter and I'm hoping they are 'tripped' while he's away. Thankfully, they have 'indicators' of a catch and you don't actually have to see the deceased mouse. Just toss them out. B. can help with that if we 'get' any. They seem pretty 'smart', though, so I'm not optimistic. If these traps don't work, I'm ordering the super-duper multiple catch trap from a website I found yesterday. Or moving.
  • One son (H.) with a sprained wrist. J. is taking him to the doctor tomorrow before he heads to the airport - the way H. is acting about how much it hurts, you'd think it's broken. Though he can move it slightly - but couldn't cut his food at dinner, nor write his own homework, nor hold it up for any length of time. So J. will get it checked out tomorrow. (If it turns out he's broken something or torn a ligament, I'll feel terrible about how I think he's just over-reacting a tad).
  • The other son (B.) is apparently so 'lovesick', he can't sleep. I don't know if he's 'lovesick' about a particular girl or just girls in general. But I DO know he is completely and totally distracted. Lost items in the past two weeks include: bus pass ($5 replacement fee which he paid from his allowance), student ID (another replacement fee from his allowance), wallet (with student ID & $3 in it), history book (just recovered today when he finally asked his History teacher 'so what is the procedure for replacing a lost book?' And his instructor reached under his desk and said 'you mean like this one'? It had been there for the past week and a half while B. borrowed books or just used his notes. And today, he skipped Band after school to come home and catch up on homework and sleep, only he's so used to NOT being home first, he didn't have a house key so he sat in the back yard and did homework outside until Hunter got home to let him in.
  • Me with a migraine. Day 3. It's not a 'sending me to bed' migraine - it's just a 'on the verge of sending me to bed' migraine.
  • Dani is still 'sick'. She's improved. MUCH improved. But she's still coughing a bit and still a bit lethargic. But she is 'active' more and playing a bit more now. She also is back to her old 'barking' self which is the one thing that told us she was REALLY sick - she stopped barking. Now, she's back to barking at strange noises, doorbells, etc. So that's back to normal. Jim will call the vet on Friday with an update and they'll decide what we should do next.
  • Me missing him. Every day, all day. Every night, all night. It's just not home when he's not.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Rain

We had the first bit of winter rain today. Love how fresh the air smells. We had an 'excuse' to stay out in the rain for a bit since the house is being painted on Tuesday and tomorrow, the painting company will powerwash the outside. So everything near the house had to be moved 5 ft. away. I enjoyed the sprinkles - not enough to get soaked but a little wet. The dogs got excited because I was excited - then came outside and quickly ran back in...over and over like 'why is she so excited? It's just wet'. They don't like the rain much but I LOVE IT. (I will need to read this post sometime this winter when I'm sick, sick, SICK of the rain, which invariably happens). B. was excited because rain here usually means snow up north and he is looking forward to snowboarding - counting the predicted rain storms and planning to hit the slopes as soon as possible. Missing last season because of his knee was really hard and he's really looking forward to this season.

B. has also decided to drop the jazz class at the college on Mondays. It's just not working. He's up most nights until midnight doing homework. On Mondays, we don't get home until close to 11 which means his 2-3 hours of homework is done until the early morning hours of Tuesday. It isn't worth having the class be an extra 'stressor'. It is supposed to be a 'treat' and fun. But it's not going to work. If we didn't have the 30+ minute commute to and from, it might be more do-able - but I pick him up after jazz band at school and we have an hour or so at home before we have to head back over the Altamont to the college. No time for him to make much headway on the homework. It's too bad because he was enjoying it. But he's been asked to play for the Main Street Music jazz band which practices on Saturday mornings and plays various gigs in Tracy. He's enjoying that.

I am going to apply for a job in Business Services at the school district the kids attend in Tracy. It pains me to think of leaving the college - specifically, the people at the college. But applying doesn't mean I'll be leaving - so it can't hurt to apply. I would take the job in a heartbeat if it were offered - a 10 minute commute vs. an hour. I would be close to home, close to the kids and working for a growing school district. So it's worth considering. I will get my letters of reference in order tomorrow and get the application process going. We'll see. I'm not good at 'change'. But jobs in Business in a school district don't open up very often so I can't miss out on applying. This job may not open again for years. So I'll go for it. I've looked at other opportunities and typically, the benefits don't compare - making any savings in gas and any increase in salary a 'wash' or even have me bringing home less. The benefits at the college are INCREDIBLE and having them is something that is hard to walk away from. So we'll see.

March

I'm starting to think maybe I will just do a monthly post and call it what it is - whatever month we're in.  Here we are winding dow...