Musings

Since my entire premise for this blog was musings, that will be today's title. And it will be a compilation of random thoughts. Apologies in advance....

First, B. has announced that he wants to attend medical school. Now I know what you're thinking....'oh, you must be so proud'. Um, yeah. I'm proud of him. I know him - and if that's what he's determined to do, I have no doubt he will do it. Once he sets his mind to something, he does not let go. The kid is a fantastic musician who had absolutely no sense of rhythm and appeared to be tone deaf as a toddler - and now look at him. So, uh, yeah, he could be a doctor. And he might. I let him know that I completely support his endeavors and have absolutely no doubt he can do it, if that's what he really wants to do. However, his motivation for doing it is money. Doctors make a lot of money - and it's true, they do. But they do that AFTER years of struggling. And mountains of debt to get through med school. And because I'm his mom, I reminded him of that....because it's the truth. And I suggested that if he's doing it because he loves what he's doing, then it's all good. And the way to see about that is to go to college as a pre-med major and see how it goes. The first four years are 'on us'. After that, it's all him. There's absolutely no way we will be paying for medical school. No way. So it will take a lot of motivation and hard work on his part to make that dream a reality. Secretly, I think he will do it - I think he's born to do it. I've known from the minute he was conceived that he is no ordinary child - trust me on that. He is destined for something far beyond a normal life. ....I just don't know what that destiny is, yet. But I know it is destiny and trust it to play out as it should. Rock on, B.

H. reminded me a couple days ago that he'll be driving in a month - time to get his permit in November, around Thanksgiving. Within a few days after making that proclamation, he approached me to OPEN THE PLASTIC WRAP surrounding a package of frozen cookie dough. I sent him back to the kitchen to figure it out for himself and issued the gentle reminder that if he thought I was going to allow him behind the wheel of a CAR in a month, he really needed to figure out how to REMOVE PLASTIC WRAP from a package of frozen dough. Oh, and be able to turn on the oven, put the dough on a cookie sheet and make his own darn cookies. Again - not because I can't. But because holy heck - he's going to be DRIVING IN A MONTH and still regularly asks us to make him food. Good grief! He said 'it's not the same thing'. I said 'you're absolutely right it's not the same thing. It's PLASTIC WRAP vs. DRIVING A MACHINE THAT ACCELERATES TO 100MPH+ IN ABOUT A MINUTE - AND YOU HAVE TO STEER, SIGNAL, BRAKE, USE THE GAS PEDAL AND A WHOLE HOST OF OTHER STUFF ALL BY YOURSELF...WHILE AVOIDING OTHER CARS, PEDESTRIANS, PAYING ATTENTION TO STREET LIGHTS, ROAD CONDITIONS, TRAFFIC, ETC. So get yourself into the kitchen and make your cookies. It's good practice for driving. Arghh.

J. has been taking excellent care of me this weekend. I am still incredibly sore. Though I did get a lot of sleep last night, thanks to the over the counter sleep aid Doxylamine Succinate - it (Simply Sleep, Unisom, etc.) worked like a charm and I slept great. All night. And most of the day, too. So ...that's good. I needed it. I am one lucky lady to have a hubby who holds down the home front when I'm MIA.

H's girlfriend (who is NOT the girl that invited him to Girls Treat - he is going to that dance with another girl who is a 'friend'. Not his girlfriend 'cuz she doesn't go to his school.) is here and has spent the afternoon with us. And dinner. And is still here. Which is fine, except her mother is so incredibly protective that she rarely lets her come over. And yet today, she's been here for close to 7 hours and we have no idea when she'll be picked up. She's a sweet girl. Pleasure to have around. But it's bed time around here shortly. Oh well. [She just left. She is really a nice young lady and if I had a daughter, I'd be carefully watching over her all the time also, so I completely understand her mom].

While she was here, we hear a 'uh, Dad, could you please come to the kitchen'. The door handle to the refrigerator compartment completely fell off. We can still open it, but by grabbing the top of the door and pulling. Sears has been called and they'll be out on Friday, which is the earliest day they could come that one of us would be home to let them in. I think we have a service warranty on it - I hope.

The only errand I ran today was to the pet store for pet food. And I bought the large size bag of cat show 'cuz there was a $10 mail in rebate - but lifting that bag hurt a lot. And it was a mistake and definitely not worth $10. Now, in addition to my lower back pain, I have upper back pain. So I'll be taking medicine again to get to sleep - only I'll take 1/2 tonight so I hopefully won't be comatose at work tomorrow. That would be bad.

J. has been continuing to work on the music play lists for the reception - progress has been made. We got all the 'party cd's' I ordered from Amazon.com and he's adding songs from those CDs as well. I still have no idea what we're going to wear to the wedding - but we have music!

The audit team has left the building (at work) which means this will be a relatively 'calm' week, as weeks go. I have plenty to do in prep for our next Board meeting - and just general 'stuff' that's all been moved to the back burner during year end time. So plenty to do. But I don't think I'll feel compelled to go in at the crack of dawn this week. Try to get there by 7:30 and home by 5 - still longer days, but that's normal for me. Have a lot to do pre-vacation, in order to take the week off after our trip to Phoenix that I desperately want to take off.

Like most of America, we are feeling the 'squeeze' of higher prices. We are fine, completely fine. But I feel compelled to work harder at cutting expenses; watching our savings like a hawk.; etc. We didn't go to Costco - and we're trying to go as infrequently as possible because we spend too much when we go there. We've been using Smart and Final more, which has much of the same selection and fewer 'impulse' buy items. S&F has the food that we need at better prices than the grocery stores - but they don't have aisle after aisle of Christmas stuff, electronics, clothing, tools, appliances, books, etc. that tempt you as you shop. It's one of the biggest budget changes we could make - less Costco shopping. It's helping a bit. So is the 2nd hybrid - I am noticing we are spending far less on gas.

OK - musings over for now. Boring, I know. Sorry. It's just my life - such as it is. Thanks for reading - have a great week!