MY BOGGY BLOG: find your way through the murk
Notes from the Homefront -- Theresa Jarosz Alberti, writer and mother... http://sapphire.albatross.org
Well, today was the big orientation day for high school. DD and DS seemed to fit right into the big school and the big crowd, and it was nice that each of them saw a friend they could talk to. We waited in several different lines, trying to learn the routines and expectations they will need to know for next week. They got their schedules-- mostly required classes, but DS is taking Chinese and DD is taking Latin (I studied it in college, myself). DD got assigned to take "intro to drafting" which she is not crazy about-- she wanted drawing, but we're not sure how flexible the HS will be about changing things around. She already has to try and switch from Algebra I (which she took and passed in middle school) to Geometry.
We found their lockers and all their classes, and the school seems big and confusing to find your way around. But I do think this will be good for both of them-- I hope it will be! They are both bright kids and they weren't challenged much in middle school, so I know there will be challenges for them here. A lot more homework than they are used to, I've heard. And that is fine with me. I want them to be challenged and to have to work hard for some of their grades.
Tomorrow we'll go to the open house at the elementary school for younger DS, and meet his teacher. And soon it will be really really BACK TO SCHOOL!!
I can't really tell you how it happens, but somehow DH and I manage to aquire free stuff all the time. Perhaps we're stupid or don't know how to say no or are just open to the universe, but I couldn't even begin to count the free stuff that comes our way.
(I suppose it helps if you are comfortable with trash pickin', wouldn't mind diving into a dumpster or two, and are generally curious about why would someone be throwing THAT away?!)
There was the perfectly good apartment-size dryer that DH (then DBF) saw sitting by someone's trash one day. He brought it home to his apartment, plugged it in and it worked. We've gotten used couches for our playroom from curbsides, office chairs that needed a few tweaks sitting by office dumpsters, and our alley has been a fine source of free finds. Something big left by someone's trash receptacle always gets a second look from us. We don't take junky or broken stuff... but there is often some perfectly respectable, usable item left that someone else has said goodbye too.
Today we have a free TV. In fact, DH and/or I have never bought a new TV-- lots of people seem to want to get rid of older working TVs for some newer model. The TVs we've had are not shabby, either. Today's TV is slightly bigger than our older TV, which will move to the basement to be used by kids on occasion. DH's friend didn't like something about this TV (it works just fine) and bought a new one, so DH brought this one home. It's nicer than the TV we had, which has a broken power button and can only be turned on or off with the remote. And now it seems like we have something "new," without the cost of actually buying it.
BTW, if you are really looking for free stuff, then check out the Twin Cities Freecycle--
It's a great way to find stuff you need or get rid of stuff you no longer use. We've used it to get rid of a couch and a cabinet, and we got a free used mattress in good condition when we needed to replace a mattress.
Okay, here's a blast from the past-- my past at least, if not yours.
http://www.clubcourtyard.com/ChickenFat.html
I remember being in 2nd or 3rd grade at Fair Oaks Elementary and our gym teacher would sometimes play "Chicken Fat" for us on a turntable on an AV cart. It might have been one of the first "exercise audios," though maybe Jack LaLane has dibbs on that. We little kids thought it was hilarious and we'd do all the exercises Robert Preston shouted out.
Then, when DD was in 4th grade, she had a teacher who had a morning exercise time, first thing of the day. The kids would do yoga or the Macarena for a short time, and one day DD came home and started singing "Chicken Fat." Ah, it brought me back.
Anyway, it's fun to listen to. And I just can't help but do a few movements along with it... it's so funny what constituted exercise back then!
Tonight is house full of teenage boys night. Older DS is having his belated birthday party with his friends, so there are 5 13/14 year old boys and 2 10 year old boys, not to mention DD, myself and DH. They came over at 5 pm and we had pizza for them, then took them off to Monster Den where they could play 3 hours of Halo 2. Then home for ice cream sundaes made with a variety of topings (DS's choice, instead of cake). They are loaded up with more video games for the night, Dungeons and Dragons to play, and DVDs to watch. And I just realized that I've been sitting in the attic for 2 hours after I set out the snacks for them... and it sure has been quiet. Too quiet. I think I'd better go check!
I know one boy brought extra Mountain Dew for himself so he could stay up all night playing games. Ugh! But we'll see about that!
It's funny-- in years past, we've had these parties for the boys and they used to wrestle and tumble and literally bounce off the walls. Now, all the energy seems to get sucked into these video games like a vacuum cleaner. Where does all the energy really go?
Off to check on what they're up to now...
Today I went to the funeral of a 15 year old girl at our church who died after complications to a gall bladder surgery. I didn't know her, had maybe met her mother once, but I did have the 12 year old sister in the church school class I taught last year. They needed a lot of help for the service so I volunteered and was assigned to be a door greater. The church was packed. It felt good to be helping, like there was at least something I could do to support this grieving family.
I have never been to a Unitarian funeral before, even though I've been one now for 17 years. My experience is mostly with Catholic funerals with a Lutheran one or two in there too. The service was yes, so very sad, but beautiful too... the minister gave a very touching sermon, telling us a lot about the girl, and then friends and family got up to speak and give memories, share bits of their relationships with her. So different from the Catholic funerals where the main focus is on everlasting life and God, and they barely mention your name or any details about your life. I'm sure it is comforting on some level to the believers, but it definitely seems cold and impersonal to me. I did give eulogies at two funerals, my grandma and my grandpa, and that at least made me feel better about celebrating their life, remembering who they were to me.
So my heart is still heavy on this beautiful summer day, and I am hugging my kids and remembering how prescious our famlies and friends are. You might want to do the same...
We're back after a week-long vacation to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, where DH's birthmother K. lives. We went there last week so that DH could celebrate his birthday (#43) with her for the first time ever since he was whisked away from her right after his birth, with her never getting to see or hold him. We've known K. for 12 years now and have visited her in other locations several times or she has visited us, but we'd never been to Tennessee since she moved there 6 years ago. And we'd never driven down south before, so that sounded like an adventure, too!
It really was a nice trip, very relaxing and satisfying on so many levels. We left last Saturday morning at 6 a.m., drove to Springfield, Illinois, our half-way point, where we stayed overnight and visited Abraham Lincoln sites-- a house where he lived, his very impressive tomb and memorial. We drove again on Sunday all day, arriving in Pigeon Forge about 8 pm. We met up with K., had some dinner and went to our cabin rental. It was a very new, pine-log-cabiny place with bedroom jacuzzi, hot tub on porch, kitchen, high ceilings... a good place to hang out and relax.
During the week, we shopped, visited touristy sites in Gatlinburg, swam in the pool, went to a cave, went on beautiful mountain drives, one where we saw lots of dear and even a black bear and her cubs. We spent lots of time with K. and enjoyed the beautiful Smoky Mountain views, swam in the resort pool, and the kids got obsessed with the cabin pool table and dish TV.
We drove home yesterday, doing it all in one giant gulp-- left Tennessee at 7 am, got home at 10:30 pm (crossing one time zone and gaining an hour). Gee, it was a long day! It makes home look especially welcoming and feel especially relaxing (it helps that we left the home relatively clean and uncluttered, too!).
It feels good to be back!
Today my DD and DS turn 14-- how far we have come from the end of my 6 weeks of bedrest in the hospital and those two tiny 4.5 lb premies! I can still see their little baby faces in my mind, as they looked in the incubators at the NICU. Now they are both adult-sized people, DS towering over me even, changing and growing so much in so many different ways. Such bittersweet mother feelings! Pride, love, fear, sadness... but mostly love and pride. :-)
DD is having her party today (we'll do DS's when we get back from a vacation), and I'm not quite sure how many friends she invited-- maybe as many as 12? They are really a good group of kids, and they are playing games together, giggling and being silly, will watch movies later-- not much for the parents to do but keep providing food throughout the day. They will stay from 2-10 pm. After some brainstorming on what do you feed so many teens on a hot, humid day that you don't want to do any cooking, I came up with tacos. I can make up spiced ground beef mix, open up cans of beans, put out lots of fixins like cheese and sour creams, and they can make what they want.
Maybe I can stay up here in the attic and get some writing done...