Hey There! Family Update

Hello from me and Lee! It's hard to believe we are so calm and relaxed with a child going off to college in less than a week and a whole lot of meetings and work stuff in the next week. But, there we were this morning, waiting for the church Steering Committee meeting, looking happy. We are, basically, a happy couple. In two weeks Lee's "real" job starts, and at least I am still working full time as a contractor, so we can smile.

Beccano is going OK, too. He did a great job finishing summer school, survived his visit to North Carolina, even if his attitude wasn't ideal, and he did not have anywhere near as bad of a time with his first week of summer band as he thought he would--he didn't want to play vibraphone, but he is coping. That makes us proud of him. How could you have a bad time looking this spiffy? This is him wearing a fun paisley shirt he found at the Goodwill store, and his favorite shiny belt that I think we got at the same place last year. Disco boy!

I am much happier with the family member below (Rose) than I have been in a long time. Why? Because Lee bought us a Roomba (robot vacuum cleaner), and it cleans up all the black hair without me having to do it. She is still a bit itchy, but Benadryl has helped a lot. She is shedding quite a bit less.

This family member, Buddy, seems to be feeling a lot better lately. He had been practically crippled for a while (we think he pulled out a toenail), but I saw him running today. I think the new dog food that Lee got for all of them has helped him lose weight, and he feels better. He is barking a LOT less, even at Tuba Boy, and the Rooma is also getting his hair. Yay.

And finally (at least for pictured members), comes Scrunchy. His hair is growing back in and he has lost a significant amount of weight. And he seems very happy and playful lately. I think all the itching was really making him grumpy. Next he will have to get his teeth cleaned, I guess. I am relieved that all the animals seem at least marginally better.

And while I have no photo of Tuba Boy, he seems ready for college, though we are all rather sad to see him and Debate Girl leave for college. They are so much fun to talk to. And it is so much fun to have the Roommate and Debate King coming over, too. I had so much fun listening to them playing Dungeons and Dragons last night. Debate King at one point asked me if it was "OK if I use the 's" word?" I told him they were all legal adults and they can say any word they want. OK, Beccano was there, but he's heard that word before. I will really miss all the new college kids when they go, but at least I have holidays to look forward to!

Lee's dad is feeling so much better that he got a new tractor (see his blog, in the sidebar, for more on that). And my parents are OK. Things are as good as they have ever been here. I am hoping for improved job news next week, but am just fine with things the way they are there. The folks are still fun, fun fun, and the work is hard. That is just fine!

Let's see what comes next!

The Rain Clouds Part and It's SUNNY!

It rained all last week, which didn’t help my mood much. It cleared up yesterday and I have been feeling a lot better since then. It helps that the weekend was mostly very pleasant, and that the work week has started out with a bang, too! And look, even the birds are cheerier (taken from my vantage point on the front porch, watching the finches eat seeds off the rosemary bushes. I didn't even know they had seeds on them.)

There was lots of teen fun all weekend—almost always there was someone under 21 hanging around who wasn’t my child. They are really enjoying spring break! I broke out the dehydrator Friday evening and started cutting up fruit. The next time I looked up there were 7 sets of eyes on me—five kids and two dogs’ worth! All four original Triskelion members were there, plus a bonus boy, and they all seem to like fruit. It was fun chatting with them and tossing them bits of food as I loaded up the dehydrator. Later that night, we (and Parker) went to Mesa Rosa, which made a chilly evening much happier.

The dehydrator remained popular the next night, when it was Tuba Boy’s turn to have a bunch of friends over ( he also had ONE girl—must be the thing to do, and I do say they are less screechy when there is just one of them). As they played the Zombies board game, I chatted with Debate King (the one who won his specialty in the tournament last week) about the dehydrator for at least a half hour. He really, really liked it. He even asked me if you can dehydrate lunch meat. Hmm. Why not ham jerky? All the while this kid (a very tall, big-boned person with a beard, so it’s hard to call him a “kid” really) was playing Beccano’s acoustic guitar beautifully. He serenaded the other kids with hilarious blues songs all night.

It was so darned damp in the house that the dried fruit started to un-dry rather quickly, so we know we need to get better storage for it. But it is delicious and very nice in oatmeal, as I had hoped! I did strawberries, pineapple, kiwi fruit, bananas and oranges. Next: jerky!

I had my share of grown-up fun this weekend. I detailed a lot of it in the knitting blog, but I want to say how much I enjoyed entertaining Katie, who is overdue with her first child, little Abigail. I dragged her off to the JoAnn’s Fabrics store, and the next day went over and visited her at her new house, which they just got all unpacked and ready in time for the birth. It was nice talking to her and reassuring her it would be OK. I also went to a baby shower for Jen, a very traditional one with games and stuff. Wow, all my knitting pals are competitive. The organizers are scrapbookers, which meant all the decorations were very, very detailed and cute. I got tired just looking at them, but they did a really nice job.

It was just a fun, good weekend. I even got to spend some time with Lee—we made a trip to Fry’s, and we enjoyed a nice quiet evening last night. He hasn’t been feeling well—back issues, so he needs to take it easy for a while. I made dinner last night, but it wasn’t very good beans and rice. I’ll try to make something better next time!

Today at work was great. I had some good stuff to do show up, which I liked. And I got three job-related phone calls. They ranged from yet another call about my own job, to a call about a marginal possibility that is sort of far away, to a guy calling me up and offering exactly what I’d love to do and had hoped to do at 3M—using that fun e-learning software to create training modules. This guy had some good ideas and the place sounds great. I have an interview there next week, so we’ll see how it goes! At least that’s all encouraging!

But wait, there's more! When I came home, there was a request for an interview in my email. Turns out to be another of the places they contract with at work. I sure know that stuff. Wow, this was not a bad day to be in the job market, considering!

When I got home from work, there was another surprise: Parker had straightened Beccano's hair. It wasn't straight, but it was straighter. I put it in a nice thick braid, which is what you see here. Wow, that boy has thick hair!

Tomorrow Tuba Boy and I are taking the afternoon off to go look at Southwestern University, where he might go to college. That sounds like fun! I guess I'll be missing a few hours of work over the next few days. But for all good reasons!

Ooh, We Had a Theory

Sweet 18
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Today I was chatting with my office-mate and neighbor, who is always interesting to talk to late on a Friday afternoon. I was telling her about how Tuba Boy has lots of mature aspects, but exhibits a severe lack of the ability to plan ahead, and not much spatial sense. I pointed out that he had a band event to go to this evening, but had no idea where it was until some point this morning, and I was pretty sure he had no clue how to get there as of 4 pm (he had to be there at 6). I indicated he'd probably text one of the other kids a few minutes before he had to leave, get directions, and be just fine.

Office-Mate pondered that. She mused aloud at how the teens all communicate constantly on their phones and computers, so they really don't need to know everything. As long as one of them has a clue, the others have access to that knowledge practically instantly. We nodded at that wisdom for a while.

Then, her eyes grew wide. "You know what our kids are turning into? It's like that Star Trek thing..."

"The Borg?" I asked. "Yeah! They are like one communal mind!"

Then she reverently wondered about how much of their valuable brain power is being saved by not having to keep all their upcoming events, dates, assignments, phone numbers, addresses, and such, all in their heads. We had to remember much of this (or remember to write it in our little Hallmark yearly calendars that fit into our denim purses).

Wow, they could be having all sorts of innovative ideas that could save society. Or their heads could be full of the lyrics to every song on their iPod.

Hormones

Tuba Boy is getting quite hormonal as he approaches his late teens. Makes sense, he is less than two months away from what was considered adulthood at his age (I could drink AND vote at 18 in the Good Old Days). Yesterday, as I was texting him warnings to not hang out in his bedroom with Lovely Girlfriend when Lee and I were at choir, he told me he did not intend to do anything potentially harmful to her, but then informed me that, "It's hard to control my charm. And you know, it is entirely possible to be TOO sexy." This, of course, made my screech at my desk.

Then last night, after The Daily Show and Colbert, he came into our room, bearing his laptop. He said, "Mom, I know what you could get your teen son that would make him very happy!" I laughed, knowing exactly what it was going to be, since I'd already said to Lee, "I bet Tuba Boy wants one of those." So, I did order him one. I figure it will remain a souvenir. This is my kind of political memento! And besides, it implores one to, "use with good judgment," so I think it's a fine product.

Speaking of good judgment, Lee and I are most bemused or amused by the souvenirs we got while at the courthouse today. Not only did we get a very fancy, suitable-for-framing marriage license (which then got all folded up and put in an envelope), but we also got a handy photocopied brochure about whether or not to get an HIV test. Geez, they really should just make you get one. But, you should have gotten one long before you filled out the license. We are relieved to note we don't have it, by the way. But, now I know where to get anonymous testing.

We also got a much nicer, glossy booklet with a beautiful wedding cake on it, called "When You Get Married..." (the ellipses are in the title). It talks about why people would want to get married, then there are a bunch of questions for you and your prospective spouse to discuss. What is your definition of husband? Name some ways you are alike! Name some ways you are different! (He eats a lot more salt.) It tells you how to deal with conflict, with handy illustrations of wooden artist models. And the image they use to discuss children is a baby bottle, which does not incline this former breastfeeding advocate to view the rest of the booklet fondly. There is a lot of space devoted to chastising you if you don't pay your child support (we are fine there, as is the kids' dad). Then you get to plan your budget! Actually, that is good. I hear lots of people get married without knowing their spouse's actual financial state or bill paying habits. Don't do that, single readers!

I uploaded the photos a few days after originally posting this. We didn't dare bring the camera into the building, with all the security and such. Of course, Lee made the alarms go off like crazy, even after taking off his coat and belt. He had to be lightly searched. I say lightly, because the fellow did not spot the actual source of the metal detected: Lee had a spoon in his pocket. Sure, every guy carries around a spare spoon! I think it got detoured on its way to the dishwasher!

All in all, it's been a nice few days. I hope that keeps up as the frenzy builds, and the guests start to show up. Who knows if I will have blogging time then? Rest assured that LOTS of photos will be taken in coming days, though!