Introducing....

By the hair on his chinny chin chin....

On a wing and a prayer....

With help from amazing teachers and awesome guidance counselors....

Courtesy of one dedicated, loving, inspiring Dad and all the gray hairs on his Mom's right temple....

[drumroll please]....

H. J. M. - Tracy High School graduate!!

Let Me Eat Cake

Through a very long day (and a fun one - more on that in a later post), I craved a piece of chocolate cake with a big glass of ice cold milk. Leftovers from H.'s party last night.

Got dinner started. J. finished getting dinner served.

Headed into the kitchen.....and found the last few bites of cake being devoured by the former birthday boy. He and his brother polished off about 2/3 of a quarter sheet cake today by themselves.

So I did what any rational person would do.

I went to Raley's and got another cake.

Correction

J. emailed me yesterday to correct that the person with the MamaG nickname isn't H.'s friend, it's one of his friends' mother.....still neat to have another mom around with that name that means so much to us. My mom was MamaG to her grand kids from day 1 40+-some-odd years ago and it should live on. Hmmm...maybe I'll figure out a variation of that for my grand kids someday. No hurry, though...

Party was a great success. H.'s friends kept the secret and when he walked in the restaurant he was surprised appropriately. It was a quiet dinner - with J. and I attempting lively, witty conversation and quiet, polite kids eating and making limited attempts at conversation. I'm sure they were glad to go on their merry way and 'chill' after dinner. But it was nice.

Still no update on grad status. Though we were told grades were due yesterday, there are some teachers still giving finals....so it may be a long wait today. J. will be checking the online grading throughout the day.....so we'll see. Cautiously optimistic is the flavor of the day....

Today is a glorious meeting-free day and like yesterday (two quick meetings in that day), I hope to plow through a lot of budget stuff. Can make steady progress when I have the chance to just sit and work. Tomorrow also promises to be a quiet day - though we have our annual retirement luncheon so that will be a forced mid-day break of some duration. Not too many retirees this year so it should go quickly - I hope. For more reasons than just that I'm busy....the person who left abruptly at the start of the new year will be returning for the celebration and there's a fair amount of 'concern' about how that will go. I'm sure professionalism and common courtesy will rule the day.

Have actually been conversing with son #1 the past couple days (I shouldn't say that like it's a rare thing but it is a rare thing - rarely see him and when I do see him, he's usually irritating the heck out of me....so a conversation that was pleasant and entertaining is a welcome change) - he was up very early with me yesterday because he hadn't slept all night. He thinks he's having 'sleep issues'. I think he drinks too much caffeine after 5PM, works out and watches movies that get him all ramped up between 9PM and midnight and then wonders why he can't shut down and relax. So yesterday, he stayed awake ALL DAY - a quick 20 minute cat nap before the party - and appears to have slept some - which is good. Hope he sticks to it. Sometimes listening to the sage advice of your parents is the right thing to do.

It's May 26th and the heater just came on - it's below 50 degrees outside. Our PGE bill is loving it!! but it's cold and cloudy and rain looks possible. Strange weather these days -

Just Stuff

Not all that exciting but things to highlight on this Spring day:

1) The New York 26 election yesterday has me somewhat a fan of the Tea Party. The TP candidate (I love that acronym, don't you?) drew votes away from the conservative candidate to ensure a victory for the liberal candidate. American politics at work! Considering the conservative candidate was campaigning on 'abolish Medicare', her loss is not all that surprising to me. But according to Yahoo this morning, conservatives are confused about the defeat. Hmmm.....confused.....

2) I wasn't the least bit surprised about our former Governor's confession that he'd fathered a child 10 years ago with a household staff member. I mean, they announce they are separating - and you know there has to be a lot more to the story....so it's finally all coming out. What does amaze me is how it was kept secret for so long. Behold, the power of money - and a great publicist.

3) My baby turns 18 today. My little HB (his baby nickname - it's really cute but I can't tell you because then I'd have to disclose his full name. I could also sing you the little song I used to sing for him when he was a baby wherein I compare him to a loaf of bread...but again, you'd hear his name....) is a man today. Sort of.

I've been thinking a lot about my baby - how he was as a little guy vs. how he is now. And there are some striking things that have come up the past few weeks that strike me as 'inborn' in him vs. acquired.

First thing: the kid doesn't want to work too hard. He was a breast fed baby - no, this won't turn into a breast feeding vs. bottle feeding debate - but he was easily frustrated at the amount of effort it took. He just didn't want to have to give it sooo much effort to be full. I actually had a breast infection of some kind that required me to pump and give him my milk in a bottle - and from that point forward, the little bugger refused to nurse. He wanted his milk from a bottle....so for three months, I was a human cow and spent huge chunks of my day attached to a pump. He's like that now - just doesn't want to put in too much effort on things.

We're still awaiting the 'will he graduate on Saturday or not' - hopefully, we will know by today.

Second thing: he's a charmer. He has this quiet, almost reclusive demeanor about him and people gravitate towards him. Sure, he was an adorable (ADORABLE) baby - all hazel eyes and thick brown hair and who doesn't love a baby - but he was really aloof most of the time to most people. But if he attached to you, he attached with all his might.....he's loyal and loving and such a hoot so much of the time....and he still is. He's just taller and bigger and older - but much the same as his baby self.

We are celebrating with a party tonight. Shhh....don't tell him. It's a surprise. (Don't worry - he doesn't read my blog....).

Also, H. is now wearing contacts - and I think the thing he likes the best about them is how he can order different colors and change his 'look'. He paid for a box of 'light brown' - they look just like the color of Edward's eyes after he's been hunting [if you don't know who Edward is, read Twilight...you won't regret it] - H. says 'yeah, Mom - the chicks really dig that whole vampire eye thing'....the kid is deadly handsome and charming (see above) and now, he can switch up his eye color too. Though his hazel eyes (which are like mine and change color on their own depending on what he's wearing) are still his most striking feature and I don't know why he feels compelled to change them with lenses - but oh well. He's got his own money and if he wants to spend it on lenses, it's ok with me...

4) I was signing some stuff at work yesterday (sometimes I feel like signing stuff is all I do all day....my signing folder is typically brimming and I'll sign a massive amount of stuff and leave for a meeting and come back to find it massively full again - repeat several times per day, everyday) and realized what the date was. Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of my mom's death - and for a minute, I felt my body just sort of 'collapse' at that reminder. 11 years is a long time to be without your mom. I miss her. Life goes on without her - but I miss her. On a happy note, yesterday, J. told me that H.'s newest 'friend who happens to be a girl' has a nickname that everyone calls her - MamaG. Not sure where that nickname for her came from - but H. told her that was his grandmother's nickname and she got a kick out of that. She'll be at the party tonight so I can't wait to find out about that nickname.....she's a sweet girl....and her dad's a cop! If that doesn't keep H. on the straight and narrow, nothing will!

OK - it's just after 5AM and I promised myself I would be at my desk by 6. It's budget time.....that time of year when I work way too much and stress a huge amount about a document that has to be board approved by the end of June. On a good note, we are not having to take the drastic hit to our revenue that we were planning for - so that's good news. Though I'm implementing a budget based on things that haven't actually been approved by the Legislature.....which is always true. The State rarely has a budget when school districts are required to prepare theirs. It's so odd....but this is my fifth time doing this process so I'm used to it.

Fireplace in May

Mother Nature has been really switching things up. The day started sunny. Then cloudy. Sky full of BROWN clouds....a sign something was happening up there. Sure enough - HAIL! Lots of hail. Enough that B. made a large baseball sized lump of it and posted it on his Facebook page. Hail has fallen several times in the past few hours.

It's May 15th and we have a fire going in the fireplace. Homemade turkey chili and cornbread for dinner.

Other family news:

H. got contacts this week. He has an astigmatism - like his mom. And glasses just aren't 'cool' so he's paying for contacts. Our insurance covered part and he's paying the difference.

B.'s leg is improving, slowly. I gave him advice that I got from someone who's had shin splints - and NOT moving and 'taking it easy' is the worst thing possible to do. So he's back to doing some 'impact' running - and walking. And we encouraged him by buying him a new pair of running shoes with inserts - hoping that a new pair of shoes [he was in need of a new pair - he was running a lot and his old shoes needed to be replaced] would help get him off his toukas. It worked. He's back at work and finishing up his last week of school.

H. appears to be on track to graduate. I write that feeling like I'm jinxing something - but he's pretty sure he's doing OK and J. concurs. Hoping that's true. He picks up his cap and gown this week and pays for Senior Beach Day tomorrow - only nine days of school left for him. Graduation is the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

J. and I enjoyed a wonderful date night last night. We had Thai Cafe for dinner and then walked across the street to The Grand Theatre and enjoyed a benefit concert for the Tracy Free Clinic. Our family doctor - Dr. V. who we all love - is one of the founding doctors of the clinic. We enjoyed an eclectic jazz by Mads Tolling Quartet. Not your typical jazz - no reeds, no horns. Just Mads on violin (and oh my gosh, he is so incredibly talented - you can search for him on You Tube - Mads Tolling - and see his performances), a bass player (standing bass and bass guitar), drums and electric guitar. It was terrific!! and two hours flew by. Nice to get out just the two of us - and we were both making each other laugh so much before the show started.....we are a good pair for each other. And we can both laugh about getting old together. I tried to lean to the right to put my head on his shoulder - and I couldn't bend my neck that low.....in his defense, he didn't know I was going to lean or I'm sure he would have sat up straighter....we're getting old. We were laughing and laughing.....it was a fun night.

We're watching the finale of Survivor: Redemption Island - I'm rooting for Boston Rob!

Another busy week ahead (is there any other kind of week, ever?). I'm out of the office so much this week that I will have to attempt to be in early, early to get my 'work' done before the day officially starts at 8.

Still working on recovering from my ear/sinus thing. Getting there....I hope. This wacky ever-changing weather isn't helping.

Our garden is coming along. We've got spinach growing and the squash plants look like they will have 'fruit' soon. Lettuce is getting there though we've lost some to slugs. Even with the copper tape across the edge of the raised beds, there's still slugs! Flowers are pretty and J. planted all my herbs this weekend. The hail gave them quite a beating but hopefully, they'll make it.

Mother's Day was good - quiet. We ate a dinner out on Saturday - Dave Wong's Chinese. The boys weren't home much of Sunday and J. played music at church that day - so it was quiet.

Pets are good, too. Fofy has been spending time down here with us - J. moves her to her 'little' cage and she spends the day chirping away in the study with us. She seems to like it.....

Back to Survivor....

Final

I mailed off our final payment for the condo rental in Cancun this morning. So we've paid to get there and paid to have a roof over our heads....all that's left is......

Well, that depends on who you talk to.

My idea of a beach vacation is that: a beach vacation. I'm perfectly, blissfully content to sit idly and watch waves. Get into the pool...or if I feel enough inertia, walk down to the beach (very close). Even go to the beach club and rent a chaise for the day - making them wait on me all day with beverages and food possible - only effort required there is to settle the bill at the end of the day. Read. Sleep. Veg. Watch the ocean. Watch people. Take a nap. Whatever. Nothing, basically. I want to do nothing. And nothing is cheap.

Not so the men in my life. They want to go, go, go...and all the things they want to do cost money. Jet skis. Scuba. Snorkeling off a boat. Visiting ruins. Para sailing. Sure, those things are a blast - and they cost a fortune.

I've paid for a celebratory graduation trip that won't be. For sure for B. as he is not graduating. Long story and I'll spare you the details. He didn't finish classes he needed to graduate. And H. is a 'maybe'. He thinks he is. Thinks he will. But it's up in the air and at this rate, I'm not positive. I won't believe it until he participates in the ceremony on 5/28 and then we go to the table where we have to go to pick up his actual diploma.

We may be spending a small fortune for four air tickets and 7 nights in a beach front condo to celebrate two graduations that aren't happening. You can imagine my enthusiasm about spending all this money on a grand celebration - when there may not be a reason to celebrate.

So - from this point forward, here's what we're celebrating: this is the last vacation I will plan and pay for as a family. From here on out, J. and I will be going to the beach annually - and if others want to join us for some or all of the time, that's fine. If they can get themselves there (their dime), we'll allow them to 'room' with us. We'll even spend the money for a multi-bedroom condo to encourage them to come. But we're not paying for their air fare anymore. They'll have to 'afford' it themselves. And we'll treat for dinners - but all other expenses are on them.

Which at the moment pretty much ensures that me and my sweet hubby will spend 7-10 nights in paradise alone - 'cuz there are 'no visible means of support' happening around here.....

I have an ear infection and sinus infection and feel like I've been hit by a truck. Picked up antibiotics on the way home - (conveniently already had an appointment scheduled to get referrals to specialists for my 'maintenance' things) - so I should feel a lot better by this time tomorrow....hope so, 'cuz it's a board meeting night....