Fired Up

B. is like a new person these days....he's absolutely LOVING school and comes home all excited about his day. He loves all his classes and says he's even starting to enjoy his theater class. He thought it would be about performing - and it's not. It's about the history of theater versus acting. But he's even getting into THAT. It's been such a pleasant change to have him happy (relatively speaking) and all fired up inside. What a difference. He's been more conversant, more helpful, less angst filled, etc. Hope it sticks.

H. is the exact opposite of all of the above - an angst filled, pissed off high school junior. We've walked this road before so we know how it goes...and that does make it easier this time around. Thank goodness for that.

It's been a hectic week as most week's are around here...but even more so because we've been dealing with the treatment plan for Snow, our big white/gray tabby. He was diagnosed with diabetes last week and this morning, at 5:45 AM, we gave him his first injection of insulin. It didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped - I had to hold him while J. did the injection and he was not happy about that AT ALL. He high-tailed it upstairs to his under-the-bed hiding place and is not speaking to us. We are periodically checking on him for signs of hypoglycemic reaction - lethargy, seizure, etc. - he seems fine. Alert. And pissed off. Good signs, I guess. Hopefully, he's going to start feeling a lot better and we will get into an easier routine. I'm up early most days and I'm hoping I can learn to do it and get it done by 5AM daily - we'll see. They say they get into a routine about it eventually and won't be as 'upset' about it. I hope so. We are committed to trying - though the $125/month this is estimated to cost us is a bit of a shock. But we'll manage.

I'm heading to work shortly for another long day but I am making progress on our year-end process. Sure helps to have so many people helping me this year vs. last year's 'on my own entirely' routine. We're making strides and the teamwork is evident. Very welcome change.

Off to the races (rat race) again.

A shout out and thanks to my sister K. who helped me through a rough patch yesterday. Love the e-cards and the support - and YOU, K. You're a blessing in my life -

Newness

So, I have a new boss. He is revolutionizing the place...and keeps me busier than I ever was - and I've always been pretty damn busy. Really like him. He's terrific. But wow.....

I have no time to write. No time to relax. Just stuff upon stuff upon stuff. I'm adjusting. As well as can be expected. Reminding myself that all things new are hard at first - change is hard. Hard adjusting to new expectations; new things to do and to think about. New challenges.

I'm on day 21 of the last 22 days - that is not a typo. I have only taken one day off in the past three weeks. Year-end stuff. 'Nuf said.

I bought Mega Millions tonight 'cuz I'm going to win. I will then give one month's notice (generous, I think considering we'd have $54 million AFTER taxes in the bank and I won't need to work ever again when we win) and then be done with it. I love my work - but I would not work if I did not have to. Would you?

B. starts college tomorrow. I just wrote down his schedule for him 'cuz the print out is not that clear....and because I know the campus like the back of my hand and can help him find where he's going. Printed a map for him - he should be home from work shortly. He's got 26 hours at work this week - and then school. Welcome to the real world. I sort of feel a little sad - realizing his childhood is officially over. It's now work and school for him - then work and work for another 5 decades or so. Poor kid.

Health

The health care debate rages on - at this point, I'm so confused, I'm just curling up in the corner with my thumb in my mouth and giving up on ever understanding it. I was fine - following along nicely - until yesterday's news that now, President Obama may 'give up' on the government run program. Huh? Isn't that the entire point of a program that provides 'insurance for all'? If you leave it up to insurance companies to insure people, people are going to get screwed. Isn't that how we ended up where we are?

In any event, our house is a constant stream of news...my husband is a political news junkie. There, I've said it. And as irritating as some of the noisy clatter is, there are some points in every day around here where he's just as noisy and just as clattering as the far right that irritates him so vehemently.

Yesterday, I proclaimed 'I'm ready to move to Mexico and just get out of this whole mess'. To which he replied (thoughtfully) 'hmm, I wonder what their health care system is like?'.

My reply: 'I don't know but I'll be too drunk to care'.

Which made him laugh.

I love making him laugh.

Brownies

I baked a big pan of brownies the other night for a staff meeting at work....we decided that a 'brownie sundae' party was the best thing to snack on while we chatted about 'stuff'. School starts TODAY so we are all incredibly busy - it was a nice break.

I baked the brownies the night before and felt that I had to safeguard them from the two teen boys who would devour them in an instant.

So, I put notes on them:

And B. added the little note on the left: 'LOL, the momma is awesome' and a smiley face and a heart.

Momma is not how you spell mama - but it's how B. has spelled it in every card he's ever given me. It's how he says it, too - heavy on the Mohhh sound of it.

It cracked me up and I just had to post it here.

And I did make a little pan of brownies just for them that were left to the right of this pan of 'don't touch these or die' brownies.

Hence the 'awesome' part of his note.

August Quiet

I'm enjoying the quiet of a weekend ALONE....J. took the kids to Los Angeles to visit family for the weekend. The main impetus for the sort of last minute trip is using the driving time for H. toward his license requirements. Little did we know the DMV is so backed up (apparently due to the closures caused by the state budget situation - offices of many agencies are closed most Fridays of the month these days), we can't get an appointment for H. anytime in August and September isn't looking too good, either. So we will be driving H. to school for the first month - and hoping he can catch a ride home with a friend. Oh well. More reason for us to be up early and get moving around here.

I am working - I did work a bit today at home but it isn't working too well...forgot to bring home the power cord for my laptop and I need both my personal PC (so I can print things I move to a flash drive) and my work PC - and only one power cord. So tomorrow, I will trudge into work and just plug away most of the day. I'll need to come home to check on the dog a bit since she will be alone.

Chloe is taking her 'protecting Mama' role very seriously this weekend. Our new neighbors are working very hard on the backyard and doing some renovations in the kitchen - a constant stream of noise and people in and out the side door of the garage. I'd never realized how little time our previous neighbors spent outside until new ones moved in - Chloe is beside herself with stress and frantic barking at every little sound. She is making me nuts....and my nerves are totally on edge. She will suddenly break out into a 'ripping your head off' barking attack - startling me to death...

This morning, there was a really pretty cat in our backyard - with a collar, so at least I knew it wasn't a stray. I watched it walk the perimeter of our yard and thought I was seeing it holding something in it's mouth....sure enough, as it jumped up the fence, I noticed a long tail hanging from the left side of it's mouth. A MOUSE!! IN OUR BACKYARD!! Nice to have a cat around to hunt and get them out of the yard.

Summer is winding down. School for H. starts next week. B. starts the week after. B. and I went to LPC on Wednesday and got most of his books - $300. Not too bad though most were used and all were paperback. That's a lot for 4 books. We still have to order one more book that he can pick up at the bookstore next Wednesday when he attends the freshman orientation.

I miss the beach. I miss guacamole and chips for lunch everyday. I miss feeling relaxed. It didn't last very long, really...that post-vacation 'hopeful' feeling. I'm back to being fully entrenched in year-end and it sucks. Playa del Carmen seems a lifetime ago.....

I'm 49 years old and I won't retire until I'm 67. 18 more years of trudging through day after day.......seems like forever. I know it's not - and I really do love my job and I know that right at this moment, it seems forever but it's really not....

J. and I are already planning our adventures for when he retires (about a decade before me) - and for me, two weeks in Playa del Carmen annually will be a must. We'll just budget for it in our monthly budget and save up and every July, head south for a couple weeks of sun and surf and R&R. With or without the boys tagging along.

I can do this. As long as I know there are two weeks of beach time in the plan each year, I can do it.