6/31 - On high school & 18th Birthdays

Well before the long hot summer began, I flew home to CA solo for a quick weekend to watch my little sister graduate high school.  There is a 10 20, um, "significant" age gap between us and I never lived nearby while she was growing up so I didn't spend nearly enough time with her, but she turned out to be a fairly awesome woman despite my absence.  I hope she has a wonderful birthday.  Good thing it's on a Saturday since I don't think engineering students are allowed out into sunlight during the week -  Enjoy your 20 minute celebration!

parrr-teee!

She's going to school two states over so I'm hoping she'll land here at least one or two school holidays (HINT HINT).

Trips home are always dripping with emotion to start but I will tell you I got a little something in my eye during the principal's speech, "I attest the students, having completed all the necessary requirements..."

Whoompf. There it is.  My girl hasn't even entered kindergarten yet but that was a fun reminder of all the battles and modified curriculum to come.

Disturbing.  Yes, I agree. 

My second take away was the speakers - in a complete reversal of my high school experience, the jock got up and lauded all the diversity in the school, the languages, nationalities, and yes, even the different abilities.  I might have gotten something else in my eye just then.  Damn pollen.  Then the kid with the school's highest GPA got up and tried to sell us on the opportunities in failure and how much he learned & grew as a person after MIT rejected him, forcing him to attend the clearly second rate University of Chicago.  I'm not going to mock an 18 year old kid's speech (my public speaking attempts are stammeringly incoherent), but I bet you can guess which kid I'd rather hire to mow my lawn during the summer.  Do kids even do that anymore?  Maybe not the ones going to U of C.

Three smart cookies.  

I want to stress I'm not against smart.  My family is chock full of various advanced & professional degrees (yours truly being the lone exception), my career floats on the heads of some very bright lawyers, and my daughter would not be alive today if it weren't for a certain cardiac surgeon.  But this child of mine will be traveling a different path, one that is unlikely to pass thru any hallowed halls, and I fret about those unable to see it's value.  That the "jock" applauded it gives me a little sliver of hope & comfort.

Then the speeches were over, caps were thrown, we went home, and I had a large piece of cake.

And appetizers.  I can't show you the cake because it was a brilliant copy of her birth announcement and that's way too much information to share with the internet.

 There was also wine.  There is ALWAYS wine.  

My brother's creation mid-progress.  Isn't it pretty? Curving paths, er, I mean walls.

Back!

What's this?  A post?!?!  Hold onto your hats everyone, I know it's been a while.

Jeez, I hardly know where to begin or what to write about.  Apart from losing Maude, things have  actually been.... GOOD.  I know in writing that the universe will be forced to squash my exuberance by sending us more plumbing problems or a three year old hospital bill, but I'm going to try to enjoy it for a bit and, since y'all put up with my venting the rest of the time, I like to reassure you it's not always gloom & doom around here.

The Boy, with the electrical board he got for his birthday.
Hie thee to engineering school, young man!

Health?  The last come-get-your-kid call from daycare was a full two weeks ago.  That might almost be a record.  *I* have a snaky lingering cough but haven't missed work and it hasn't stopped me from running lately.

Which I have been doing!  After spending six months on the couch, I dug my running shoes out of the deep recesses of the closet, shook out the spiders, and applied liberally to my feet.  I've even moved (slowly) past that painful start up, single, 20 minute-I think I'm having a coronary-mile.  I'm not running as often, far, or as fast as I'd like, nor have I magically dropped 20#, but even my little somethin' is a vast improvement over the ass-widening last six months.  I might even sign up for another half marathon this fall, for a little motivation and to snag another T-shirt.  

NOT running shoes.
We were late for speech, I grabbed The Girl's sandal, and...
yeah. 

The weather has not helped with the running.  We're in the middle of a brutal heat wave, so most of my recent miles have been on the treadmill in the musty basement (which doesn't help the cough) - but we have been going to the pool almost every day I'm home.  The Boy can now swim underwater from one side of the pool to the other and the The Girl has been jumping into my arms from the ledge.  Today she even released her Grip of Death and bobbed around in her floatie (this is huge!).  Finding swim lessons has been a colossal FAIL but I'll resume the search on Monday.

Work?  I try not to write about it too much, especially since I may have been xxxxx enough to check this previously anonymous site from my work computer, but it had been, um, hard lately.  Really hard.  But there was a long conversation/general clearing of the air which broke the tension and, bizarrely - because it changed nothing - made me feel better.  I have less flexibility now - which really, actually, makes my life IMPOSSIBLE (see above, re: calls from daycare), but I can still work 4x10s, so am home on Wednesdays with the kids, and Matt's schedule is flexible, so we'll figure it out.  Ultimately, I really enjoy what I do and since I keep picking the wrong lottery numbers, this is the new normal.  So there.  Cryptic enough for you?

This is the best part:  in four-ish months my commute will be cut by more than half.  From 35 miles one way, to 15.  You know what that is?  TIME.  Precious, precious, life sustaining, family building, sanity preserving TIME.  90% of my kvetching here has got to be about work/life balance issues, yes?  But the great gods of Corporate America have just given me back 80 minutes a day.  80 minutes to spend with my children.  80 minutes to make them a dinner that doesn't come out of a box, to yell at The Boy about his homework, to work on The Girl's fine motor skills, maybe even work on potty training, to go running, to go on a bike ride with The Boy, to have a dance party with The Girl, to take them both out for ice cream, to unearth the vacuum cleaner, maybe even use it, and maybe even to go running with our e'er shedding dogs.  80 minutes to tuck the munchkins in and read them an extra story without stifling that voice in my head that's yelling, "SERIOUSLY!? JUST GO THE EFF TO SLEEP. I HAVE TO BE UP IN 6 HOURS."  80 minutes to check in with you guys, leave the occasional comment, and to maybe even spend some time with my husband.

OK.  I might need more than 80 minutes to do all that.  But for all that is sweet and glorious, it sure as hell helps.

[For all the eco-judgers out there, there was a whole string of decisions and factors that led us to buy where we did.  It wasn't because we hate Mother Earth and are trying to choke her with our gasoline emissions.  Not that you wouldn't know it by the oceans of gas we've been burning these last years.]

With Aunt Mary at MoBot during the Chinese Festival.
That Dragon is made out of... china.  Plates & cups, specifically:

What else?  This is the first weekend we haven't had visitors and/or fun things planned in six weeks.  Aunt Mary was here (when The Boy got sick on his birthday - boo!), Tima was here the following weekend (yeah!  rescheduled party!), I went to CA to see my little sister graduate high school (whaaa?), we went to the Lake of the Ozarks to celebrate my 40th birthday (*gulp*)... I think I'm forgetting something.  Oh yes!  Last weekend, in which the washing machine ran for 48 continuous hours because we hadn't done laundry in 5 weeks.  I think next weekend might be open but then.... WE ARE GOING TO THE NDSC CONVENTION IN DC!  I can't wait to meet you guys!  (Yes, even YOU).  Any fellow-eventers wishing to de-lurk, now's your chance.  Also, any other cheapskates skipping the big banquet, let me know - we're having a pizza party in our room on Saturday.

I still want to write about the graduation, I have a bunch of miscellaneous idle thoughts & tidbits on special needs I'm going to lump into one post, and at some point I will be forced to vent about the amount of money we're spending on private therapy this summer because Oh, Dear G*d, The Money... but then I will joyfully announce that WE HAVE WORD APPROXIMATIONS.

YES WE DO.

And one more... late. again. of COURSE.

Without calendar
I appear to be. So lame.
A million sorrys.

Happy Birthday little-
est brother. Not so little
today. L'chaim!

What's with the party hats? 

Sabotage! and Schedules

This week has just kicked me in the rear.  I started this post last night and gave up after rewriting the same paragraph for the 3rd time.  No particular reason, I just felt like a bug squished on a dirty windshield.  I have a long post that I've been wanting to write all week but I couldn't pull it together and now only have a little time before my niece's birthday - so y'all're getting more smorgasbord.  [Is this why people tweet?  Consider these long trial tweets.  I knew I'd get sucked in eventually.  Who wants to bet I'll be on facebook by Christmas?]

~~~ My brother & the rest of the family finally came back from their wildly long exotic sailing trip.  I didn't mention they were gone because I didn't want my internet addiction to be blamed if their homes were robbed*, but it's been terribly quiet these last few weeks.  My brother & I either have similar work tempos or the same level of ADD because we email.  A LOT.  Instead, I sent out sad little missives to random other people who didn't think I was nearly as funny as he does and who don't think emailing back & forth 37x a day is normal.  This bit, of course, is in no way intended to guilt him into getting thru the 400+ emails he mentioned so he can start entertaining me at work again.
     *Except they were anyway.  Maybe not so much "robbed", as shenanigans with the cat sitter who crashed my baby sister's car, but drama nonetheless.  And she gave him the keys, which was an allegedly questionable call.  And her insurance carrier just offered her twice what she paid for the thing.  And there's that whole "exotic sailing trip" thing.  So you have my permission not to feel sorry for her.  (Sorry, C!)

~~~ In the last nine days, I managed to miss my niece's, my sister's, AND my sister in law's birthdays because I am a terrible, terrible person.  We mailed my son's lovingly crafted cards (Ha! Though those were late too, natch) but I forgot to call on the actual days thereof.  It was made tragic when I emailed the family a not-at-all subtle hint thereabouts, perhaps even on of one of their actual birthdays, about my daughter's desperate need for more Signing Time DVDs, in celebration of the 3rd anniversary of HER arrival into this world.  Except that auspicious day is weeks away.  Nice.  They will be getting their very own birthday posts & haikus forthwith.  Happy Belated Birthday Everyone!

~~~ I'm now convinced Matt is trying to sabotage my blogging career.  After trying to make my laptop die faster, he did finally get it running again (and I'll concede it was zippier) but his Dexter-like tendencies got the better of him and on Wednesday he dumped a glass of chardonnay on it.  We now have a new no drinking and (hard-)driving rule.  It dried for two days and he swears it'll work just fine - as soon as we hook up the spare monitor and order a new keypad.  I wanted to keep the current one as it smells like butter (with hints of citrus and pear) but its little circuits seem to have fermented.  Also, the whole point of a laptop is that it's portable - usb cables and separate screens remind me of work.  The laptop lets me kick back in bed with pillows and a glass of win...  oh. 

~~~ And last, as much fun as continuously complaining about my lack of sleep & funky running times would be, I'm going to try a Brand New Schedule.  I even wrote it out (what can I say? I'm a geek visual learner).  I've been staying up later & later (& getting to work later & later) and my TV watching had skyrocketed because I'd be wide awake after running at 10pm and trying to wind back down.  I just gave away all my books in January because I didn't have time to read anymore - yet I've recently found myself at 12:30 in the morning on my third House*.  T.R.A.I.N. W.R.E.C.K.   We'll see how this works - stay tuned for another thrilling edition of Suburban Working Mom Trying to Do It All!
     *In the theme of always being late to the party, WHY didn't I start watching this sooner?  I love-love-love the one offs.  The random statistically impossible events which make me tick are the entire theme of the show!  Actually I do know why...  I have my very own brilliant-yet-difficult people in my life (hi dad!) and the first show I watched, when I initially decided (wrongly) that I didn't like it, just came up in repeats, and it involved a pregnant woman and sick baby.  Blech. That one was deleted.  But the rest?  Fun!