Kinda Fond of My Household

Continuing with my theme of things in my life that cheer me up, I'd be totally remiss if I didn't mention the members of my  household. Every day I find myself smiling at something one of them does or says. Between the things the humans say and the things the pets do, there's no shortage of grins around here lately.

The humans have been exemplary lately. Lee has been incredibly patient and kind to me while I have been dealing with interpersonal issues and worrying about my lack of paying work the past few weeks. He works so hard, but still has time to do music with us, joke with the kids, and do important church work. Beccano (new readers, that is the code name of the red-haired child) plays his guitar and sings all the time, which soothes my soul, then he will come out with some zinger of humor that makes me wonder where he got this genius--wow this kid has a quick wit! And Tuba Boy (who no longer has a tuba) has matured incredibly since going to college, and is a joy to converse with--he really holds his own on any topic. Plus I enjoy all the kids' friends as they visit.

Scrunchy in his favorite spot.

However, I spend most of my time with the non-human residents. Poor Scrunchy is less than pleased with us right now, because we got a new sofa and loveseat. Both are recliners, and the loveseat has electric up and down mechanism (yes, an indulgence, but I have a weak shoulder). I think he's spooked by the moving couches, plus not happy that there's a center console, so he can't glue himself next to me any more. Now he plops his immense pug self on the wing chair and arranges the pillow to his liking. He's apparently saving his best snoring for night, so he can serenade us while we try to sleep.

Rose prefers to sleep at the bottom of the stairs, so she can't miss anyone going up or down.

Rose amused me very much yesterday. Every once in a while she gets a frenzy in her head and has to run. She runs in that funny hunched down ways dogs do. I heard a noise and went out on the balcony to see her running back and forth downstairs. When she saw me, she charged upstairs, wiggled a bunch, then went back down. After 4 of these events (which also sent Scrunchy into a wiggling and snorting frenzy), she finally fell down, exhausted. I do not know what starts these events, but they are fun to watch.

Buddy had been watching the rain outside before I disturbed him to take a picture.

During this event, Buddy realized something was going on, hauled his poor ailing legs up, and "rushed" up to participate. By the time he was halfway up the stairs, Rose was done. I encouraged him to come up and gave him happy petting, so he'd think he got to play too. Poor old guy, he doesn't run downstairs every time there's a noise that gets the other two in an uproar any more, but every once in a while he decides to play, and it's really cute how he lumbers over and makes happy dog noises, which thrills Rose and Scrunchy.

I enjoy the stuff the animals do, from trying to go out and pee on the plants in the front yard when given any chance, to stationing themselves at intervals so you can't walk anywhere without stepping over a canine companion. Since Gwen has been gone (a year now!), the barking around the house has diminished incredibly, and they are much better behaved when we have guests. Lee also has them eating very politely. I know I have complained about the dogs in the past, but things are way better in that department now. I don't know how I'd ever get through a day without the love in Buddy's eyes, Rose's smile, and Scrunchy's wiggling devotion.

Skkylight says, "Hey, that's rather bright light!"

But, there's even joy to be had from Skylight. That bird is quite the entertainer. She has been doing all sorts of climbing tricks and doing weird stuff with her toys a lot these days. Plus, it cracks us up how she seems to love certain songs and television shows and sings along as loud as her little chirper can sing. When Jeff's mom was visiting, about halfway through the visit she said, "Hey, is there a bird in here?" and then good ole Skylight started singing away. She doesn't talk or anything, but has always been a pleasant companion for me. She's at least 12 years old, making her the oldest pet we have!

I'm thinking of people I know who are dealing with flooding right now. Our rain is pleasant and good for our lakes and trees. The storms up north are another story! Stay dry, readers!

Life Snippets

A lot has been going on, so it's been hard to fit in time to write about it. This post is just chock full of little things I've been thinking about or have enjoyed.

My dad alerted me to this article in the Greensboro, NC newspaper, about his long-time neighbor, Hilda Fountain. She just turned 101 years old, and as you can see, still has a great sense of humor. I guess I'll have to take the photo off if I ever make this blog public, but for now, enjoy this photo from the article!


Hilda is really an inspiration. She is so "with-it" and has such energy, even after dealing with breast cancer at age 98. It would be so wonderful to still be able to contribute to society, grow plants and harvest vegetables, and have all my faculties when I reach her age.

I debated long and hard about whether to do this, but in the end, I let Beccano have his Christmas gift early, even though he was once again slacking off on school work. I just could not figure out how to hide this huge guitar anyway. It's a Fender Jaguar bass. with an apparently very cool red head stock. To make it even cooler, he let me get him red Converse All Stars to go with the bass.



The good news is that because the bass is going out of production, it was deeply discounted. Better news is that I could get it at Danny Ray's rather than the big guitar store in town! Always happy to support local folks' businesses. Wow, Beccano is a happy boy with this, and he seems fine about not getting a lot of Christmas gifts, since this pretty much ate up his share, plus a bit. Now he has all the guitars I am going to get him for a decade or so, at least.

We had a stressful, yet fun, week at work last week. The Big Boss came to visit, so we all had to be in the office, looking busy. Of course, I don't think he even popped his head into the room where all the regular people work, but we had it looking good anyway. I even brought cookies, and the Ninja Genius guy made pumpkin bread. In the spirit of Halloween, Tuba/Train Man decorated our collection of buffalo using the office supplies I had lying around. One buffalo is going as the Easter Bunny for Halloween, while another has buffalo wings. The third is a pirate (that is an earring and eye patch on the left buffalo).


Sometimes we get a bit giddy after a lot of technical crapola. I was describing how there had been a mistake on a document, and my attempt at fixing it had made it worse, when I came out with this gem of a statement, "Two wrongs make a very wrong wrong." Everyone insisted it HAD to go on my whiteboard with another couple of little gems, after which Ninja Genius just had to add his two cents.

We survived one of those "team building" outings with the Big Boss, which mainly for me involved not eating fried food and watching the guys play pool in a smoky bar. I did at least get to have a free beer. I did my best to be friendly and act smart, since they are still trying to get me a permanent position. I tried to appear valuable.

At least all this stuff has helped the time pass waiting for Lee to get finished with his endless work trip. He got sick over the weekend, and I know that must have been hard. I hate being sick all alone.

I got cheered up a bit, anyway, with more enjoyment of the high school band. Here's a bonus shot of them in the stands playing the school song, which none of us parents have any idea what the words are, other than "O Shenandoah."




A real highlight of the past week or so came Saturday night. I decided I didn't want to spend Saturday night alone (Beccano had a date to see a movie with his girlfriend and a few other people). So I called Tuba Boy at the college and asked what he was doing. He said it was R's birthday--this is the girl from another country in their group, and it is her first birthday away from home. He was willing to eat with me, but also wanted to share her birthday with her.

So, his entire group of friends decided to join me at the Mexican restaurant near our house, where we had a very fun meal. She got sung to by the staff and had to wear the giant sombrero. Plus she got her first fried ice cream. It was incredibly cute. She is just one of those people whose adorableness quotient is very high.

Then they all trooped over to my house (8 kids in total) for tarot readings. They are all very interested (I had talked to the girls about it a bit in their suite last time I saw them), but one girl especially seems like she may be a real tarot person some day. It was a LOT of fun, though that many readings is tiring! They played with our dogs, which pleased the dogs a lot (they miss Lee). The kids paid attention, as much as college kids can, and asked lots of good questions. What struck me is how very lucky Tuba Boy is to have been assigned such a great group of kids to live and work with. Only one kid who was there was not a member of their "Living Learning Community," and he was the boyfriend of one of the girls--fit right in, though. I really enjoyed being around such a pleasant, intelligent and open-minded bunch of young people. Whoever assigned the living arrangements is a genius. They are like peas in a pod. What fun to get to know them all better!

I'm still trying to carve out time to write more. I just get real tired lately. All that reading and staring at the computer screen, I guess. But I really do like my job, so keep your fingers crossed that it stays!

Rain Rain for Homecoming

We had a few nice, if muggy days, but today it rained a LOT. Looks like it's drying off just in time for the Homecoming football game, which will be good! I am looking forward to having Tuba Boy home for a few days on his "fall break." I know he will be busy seeing friends and I will be doing a bunch of stuff too (marching band contests stop for no one), but it will be nice to know he's home for a bit. With Lee out of town, I will take all the large male relatives I can get to fill the house!

And here's a photo of him and Beccano from last week when we visited his college. Each of them had bought the same mirrored sunglasses, separately, and had wanted to show the other one their purchase. Cute. I know Beccano will be glad to have his brother around to go places with this weekend and Monday. I guess I don't have Monday off, but I can work from home, at least.

It's been another busy, busy week of meetings and more meetings. But, an advantage of them is sometimes you get to see newborn babies. This is Fiona at 11 days old. She is blurry because she is a Wiggle Worm! Flings herself back and forth all the time. I do love that name, and it reminds me of a friend we had when my kids were very little. Fiona was a great friend who moved back to England when her husband's time with the weird mathematical software company was over. But we sewed, cooked, knitted and chatted a lot while she was here!


I am excited, because next month I get to start a new tarot and spirituality group. I'll get to resurrect the tarot blog, I guess! Probably I should record the reading I did last week on there, too.

I am looking forward to the next week or so, because Beccano and I got some good food to eat at home, and I don't have quite so many meetings. That will be nice. I've been decluttering a little bit each day, but still, there is a lot to do. I can tell that my bedroom and the media room look better, though! And that is what counts.

I'll try to write more after weekend fun.

College and Moving On

I guess enough time has passed that I can write about Tuba Boy (back to that name, since I think I may take this blog public soon) going off to college. We actually had a very good weekend, and I believe he and Debate Boy are having a good first week of first-year classes.

Below is a picture of the "learning-living environment," or whatever they are calling dorms these days, where the boys are now ensconced. Their room is the first floor room in the bend of the building, so you can tell they have a nice view of trees and a pathway out their window. We really lucked out in move-in--there is only one room in the whole school closer to the drop-off point, and that is their suitemates' room, which I think hears a lot of door openings and closings at night. I saw so many fathers looking exhausted from carrying their daughters' many possessions up to the third floor. We, on the other hand, took 5 minutes, since each boy had two family members to help, and hardly brought anything (they had us bring a few more things later, and we did go to Target for more supplies--along with half the school).

Here's a bit of an inside view of their room (right after we brought stuff in--it looks nicer now). The odd shape at least makes a room with cinder-block walls and industrial looking furniture slightly more interesting. To the left is the door to their bathroom, which they share with the suitemates (who have turned out to be their new best buds--real nice guys). Not bad at all. They have a small fridge and we got them a nice flat-screen TV, so they are happy. I am impressed, too, that they actually fixed up their rooms a bit. I think the idea that girls might drop by inspired it. The suite has a small sitting area, and one boy's parents got them a couple of chairs, so that is not bad. Anyway, it's a place a parent can feel comfortable leaving their kid near. There is a building under construction nearby, but it looks like they are close to being done with it, so that noise won't last long. Besides, any new building at that place is gorgeous and fancy, so it will be nice to look at when it is finished!
The school does things in a nice way. Kids move in on Friday, and there is a nice dinner in the very snazzy dining hall (featuring a "Dan Rather Room" that is quieter than the rest of the place). Then on Saturday, the kids get IDs and do other busy things, while the parents attend sessions, punctuated by more lovely meals. It is a nice way to gradually separate. Sunday there is more of that kind of thing (we skipped a couple of events, since we went home every night), and plenty of time to also hang out with your kid. You know, so you can give out last minute advice and such, as I am doing below.

Finally, on Sunday, there is a "convocation" ceremony, which is like the reverse of graduation. All the faculty show up in their academic regalia and file in, very solemly, followed by the new students. Then there are wonderful welcome speeches by the President of the University and others. They all pledge to help each other and abide by the honor code, and everybody sings the alma mater. It was really a nice thing, and I like the idea a lot. After that, we went home and I got weepy, but not too badly. Anyway, very dimly pictured below is the convocation (I forgot to put the camera on the "night" setting).


I have managed to get through this week, and have tried not to bother the boys too much. Just one call and a couple of emails. I just like hearing how they are doing, and what their seminar this week was like. Luckily we got all filled in last night, since last night they came to town to hang out with the kids who hadn't left for college yet. We were able to give them the giant remote control we'd bought them for their TV and used DVD player (which had lost its remote). It has camouflage on it and is quite oversized. They got as much of a kick out of it as the cashier at the electronics store did. The guys stayed at our house a half hour or so and filled us in on all they were doing. Between the two of them, there were lots of good stories!

And in the rest of life, Beccano is tentatively back in a band with Parker, and we will see how that goes. Mending fences. He's still in his other band, too. Can't be too busy. He may also start taking karate again, which I think would be good. He would trade for guitar lessons with his old karate teacher. This would mend fences, too. He left karate rather suddenly during his hard times, and it will be good to see them work together again. I hope this year school goes well for him. Fingers are crossed--you just never know, but I do know he's trying!

Lee's contract job ended on Thursday, with a whimper (no farewell) but that will be fine. He is really looking forward to starting his REAL grown-up job next week. How I envy that! I still love my job, but they have stopped mentioning bringing me on permanently. Oh well, what do I expect?

Parenting Milestone

Today is a big day, the day my first child "leaves the nest." It is the day you think will take forever to arrive when you look at that tiny infant they hand you after the birth. You envision an endless stretch of childhood, and way in the distance a separation. But, here it is. It's today. We will take a few boxes and suitcases up the road a ways and deposit Tuba Boy, whose name is you can see on the cake (I think that's OK since it won't show up in a search) in his dorm at college.

It's been a week of as much fun and bonding with friends as possible for him. Here's the cake he and his girlfriend made earlier this week. It surely appears that he has a healthy self image, anyway! They had fun, and I even got them to clean up the mess they made baking it!

While he and Debate Girl have been spending a lot of time together, he has also been doing a lot with his other friends who are moving on. A great deal of game playing has occurred, for example. Every night this week he has been at one friend or another's house playing mostly board games. Below you see my kids playing D&D again, with three other boys who are not pictured. They do seem to be having a lot of fun.

Kynan also went to a farewell dinner with his debate coach. He picked up some fine things to take with him to college, like coffee cups and coasters, plus a giant clock. I know they will all miss each other as they move on to new and fun things.

He's still a bit of a kid though. He just realized Lee was waiting for HIM to do his own laundry for two weeks. So he can't pack until that is done. He didn't know what button to push on the washing machine to get it started, so I had to do that in the middle of weird and wild work events.

Work, yes, it is weird and wild. I will be glad when I can get back in the office, since all sorts of roofs are being put on houses in the neighborhood. And I will be glad when the next couple of projects are done, because folks are getting testy. I am being up-beat, though, knowing that this job is WAY better than any of the others I've done the past few years. I actually enjoy all the hubbub.

Lee and I had a nice dinner with one of his coworkers last night. I am looking forward to more relaxing stuff like that once work calms down. I had to miss my knitting group on Wednesday because I couldn't stop what I was doing!

Well, only 3 hours until we leave. Whee.

Catch-up 4: Graduation

Yay, this should be the final "catch-up" post for today! I am sure the one of you who reads this is having a great day of staring at photos and seeing my descriptions. I am not at my creative peak!

But, the front door says it all. I guess I have reached the initial "goal" of parenthood: I have a child who graduated successfully from high school. I guess Tuba Boy has put down the tuba and is ready to pick up...um...the fancy laptop he got from his dad, I guess! I am very proud of his high school achievements, mostly gained without all that much effort, so I am hoping he kicks it up a notch in the fall. Right now, though, he gets to enjoy himself a bit.

The day started with me doing a bunch of work starting at 6 am, so I'd be sure to get all I needed to do done. Then the kids' dad came to pick me and Beccano up to go to the ceremony, which was in downtown, where we saw Bruce Springsteen. Lee had a bunch of work to do, since graduation was at noon on a Wednesday, and could not afford to lose the hours. So I took a lot of pictures. I was glad that the ex gave us a ride, since there was no real easy parking. We got a spot just fine, though. I'm glad I put on a skirt and top and made Beccano wear a shirt that buttoned, since the ex wore his suit. I think it is nice to treat graduation seriously, though. A lot of people's families did not.

Anyhow, the above is the empty auditorium. Space for LOTS of graduates: over 600.

I'll spare you photos of lines of matching teens marching in, or the cool thing the ROTC did by making living stairs for the flag bearer to climb. Here we have Snow, the saludatorian, delivering his speech. It was a really enjoyable one, very human. Turns out it was his original speech that he was supposed to change around and make more perky. While I felt badly for the nice debate coach who rewrote the speeches for the principal, I do think the kids' originals were fine. I am happy they stuck with their guns. Neither speech was lewd or crude. I mean, for heaven's sake, these were stereotypical brilliant Asian-American kids--they weren't going to incite a riot!
There is only one highlight to graduation that matters to each family, and that is seeing their kid shaking hands and getting the diploma. Here Tuba Boy is doing just that. (Photos I took sometimes were blurred because I used the "night" setting and had to try to hold still.) I can tell that's him, though, shaking hands with Dr. Chavez the superintendent. That guy had to be dead tired after shaking 3000 hands on Wednesday!
Afterwards, we tried to get photos of Tuba Boy in his regalia, but by the time we found him, he was already trying to strip it off. But, we did snag this lovely image of him and Brilliant Girlfriend (look at all the stuff she had to wear on top of her gown--cords, tassels, mantels, awards!). Tuba Boy had a medal for getting an A average and for completing some rigorous set of standards. Go him.
And just one final shot to show that Tuba Boy's parents are very proud of him. His mother wishes she didn't look quite so...rotund. And this is after losing at least ten pounds! Oh well, just look at those lovely kids, with wonderful futures ahead of them.

We had a very late lunch at Chuy's restaurant near our house after the ceremony and a lot of traffic. I know the kids enjoyed a chance to dine with their parents, and the parents survived quite nicely. I guess we are all happy where we are in life and can now enjoy our family, in whatever configuration. Maturity. It shows up eventually, I guess!

That night we enjoyed a really fun party at Future Roommate's house. I had a great time talking to all the kids, and so did Beccano, who got to talk music with some of the "good" older musicians. The seniors tossed water balloons and had all kinds of fun. I'm glad I got to go to a party. And Lee at least got to show up there and give greetings (the kids' dad went home after we ate).

Tuba Boy has been partying ever since, and just driving around and having fun, visiting the school, being with friends. He is really looking forward to his gift from us, which is a trip to Alabama to see his friend Morgan compete at the national debate tournament. If I have already blathered on about this, forgive me. I can't remember what I typed...

Catch-up 3: Senior Bridging Ceremony

One of the neat traditions of our church is the senior bridging ceremony, which acknowledges that high school seniors and home schooled students who are heading to college are now adults in the eyes of the community.
Here are most of our seniors (one was late and I have no idea what happened with another one, plus a third is still at her boarding school, where she turned her life around for the better). They all appear to be looking with some apprehension toward the future!
Tuba Boy is receiving his box in this picture, as Rev. Kathleen (remember her from the wedding?) beams on. What is the box? Every year, Patty, who is handing over the box, makes a lovely little "instant Unitarian Universalist service" box for each senior. In it are various things that will allow a student to set up a little UU altar in his or her dorm, apartment or room! It has a tiny chalice and candle (UUs, for some reason, put flaming things in chalices rather than water--more info at uua.org). There was also some incense, which has already been burned, and some symbols of the four directions, and a nice booklet of UU sayings. It is a very sweet tradition.
Apparently, some very good joke was told after Tuba Boy got his box, which made the adults (all UU "elders" who have been in the deonomination at least 25 years) laugh their heads off. The girl at right says the look on her face scared her own self!

I was so glad that I convinced my son to go to the ceremony. I think it meant a lot to him, and I know the congregation loved seeing the kids.

How Do You Spell Relief?

I spell it "Southwestern," because that's the college Tuba Boy got into. That means he at least gets to go somewhere! He even got an academic scholarship award, though it will need supplementing with a needs based award, for sure! Hope he gets some of that, too. We are pleased that he got into a good quality school, and since this is the closest one to where we live, I like it a lot! (The school is in Georgetown Texas.)

I feel like I can relax a bit and wait patiently for the other results to come in, knowing he has a spot.

I am proud of him, too, for getting some academic recognition.

Now we just wait and see what's next. What's next for Beccano is driver's ed, since his "Driver's Ed in a Box" arrived in the mail. Both them boys are going to get some schooling, yep. And both are costly, LOL.

There's still no word on my job future, so I'm hoping something comes up soon!

That's it for me, just a small happy note!

Better! Thanks to Tuba Boy and Coleridge

I am feeling a bit better today, even after a trip to the dentist. I must have just had a case of the "nerves" or something. Tuba Boy was very sweet to me yesterday and said his girlfriend reminded him of me--I guess we both go whacky every so often. I told him how fascinating it was to me when I saw him starting to read books I read at his age, to get interested in topics that interested me, and well, reminding me a lot of myself at his age. He looked at me like I was SO silly, and said, "Well, what do you expect, Mom? You RAISED me, didn't you? Of course I'm like you!" I held my tongue as I thought of all the parents I know who wonder who the heck that kid they raised is, and how the heck they got that way.

Here's just an example. Last week, I think it was Thursday, we decided to all go out to dinner. We went to Chili's and had a most excellent time. Both boys were rather "up," probably from all those Love Hormones rushing through them, and chattered so long and hard during the meal that it's a wonder they ate. Afterward, they asked to go to Barnes and Noble. Well, who can turn down a child who wants a book? So, off we went. I got a knitting magazine, Lee got a Frank Zappa CD, Beccano got a guitar magazine, but Tuba Boy wanted a book of poetry. We'd had a long and deep discussion on poetry on the way to dinner--he was disgusted at a poem he'd read on a test, because all it's references were so superficial and not the fun, deep metaphors he prefers. We'd had quite the discussion on the merits of various poets you read in 12th grade. So, anyway, Tuba Boy had decided he liked Coleridge, and wanted to read more of his work. When we asked the lady at the kiosk where the poetry section was, she got that "OMG, a smart kid" look on her face, and took us WAY over to where they hide that stuff. There was not much of a selection, and only one giant illustrated Rime of the Ancient Mariner filed under "Coleridge." Tuba Boy was not pleased, but I pointed out some anthologies to him. Then I noticed that both of them were $56. Wow, those Norton Anthologies have gotten expensive in the last 30 years. At last, I saw it. A reasonably priced collection of Romantic poems, with a good selection of the stuff he wanted. Everyone left the store very pleased.

I have to tell you this. My very own offspring buying a poetry anthology because, "Mom, I think I really like poetry," makes me feel like the most successful parent in the world. I feel like I need to write High School Boyfriend a note and let him know that even though he never actually fathered a child, he sort of has a son. His legacy lives.

And really, between his love of Facebook Scrabble and this, all that financial aid form stress may well be worth it.

Suna, She Gots Issues

Just Some Pansies
Originally uploaded by sunasak

(The reader needing cheery perky stuff may wish to skip this, because below I try to figure out why I had a hard time coping with things that weren’t all THAT bad, really.)

Stress-a-Rama

This weekend we got up extra bright and early and went to a workshop to fill out Tuba Boy’s financial aid forms, without having filled out our tax forms because Lee does them via a guy in south Texas and does not do them early like I always have. Trying to guess all the numbers was an interesting experience. But at least we got the form filled out by the deadline for his first school.

The yarn shop was also more challenging than usual, which led straight into going home at 5 pm and finding out house guests were on the way. Turns out Lee’s family just gets in the car and shows up, unlike mine, who tell you months in advance if they are visiting. It’s just one of those different ways of doing things that frequently occur, but I was sorta ill prepared for this, since Lee’s step-son from the previous marriage had said he was coming a half dozen times before and not made it. I hadn’t even met him until he showed up after our wedding ceremony. I’d gotten ready the previous times when nothing happened, so I got lax and forgot which weekend it even was. (I thought last weekend was Valentine’s weekend, not Son of Lee birthday weekend.) And I had no idea they’d be spending the night (he brought the very well dressed fiancée too), so I had not made sure there were clean sheets and towels, plus there was an immense television on the guest bed. Son of Lee moved it. Now it’s on the old entertainment center that also needs to go somewhere other than the dining room (it seems to be the staging area for extra stuff and I can’t keep it the way I’d like it to be). Back to topic, it was good to meet another person from Lee’s family, of course, and I realize having the room ready, food available for visitors’ breakfasts, and the rooms made livable is not as important to others as it is to me (it’s a woman thing or something like that). As it was, they arrived at 10 pm, talked for two hours, went to sleep, went to church with us and left. I hope it was worth the drive from Houston! At least it was an interesting enough church service, and Lee seemed quite ecstatic about the time together, so it probably was worth it!

Stress Continues

Things didn’t really improve for me after church, though I had a nice time talking to Tuba Boy while waiting for a rehearsal for a church service band. I couldn’t even manage to sing “When the Saints Go Marching In,” a song I certainly know HOW to sing. They, accidentally written words on the wrong parts of the sheet music, so I kept trying to sing the chorus as the band played the verse. I am sure the choir director, who was just hanging out, thought I was nuts because I was having so much trouble on a simple song. At least she realized it when she looked at the music. And poor Tuba Boy had no tuba, so tried to play bass instead. He still has not learned the notes on guitar. That is amusing, since he is so good at reading music on the tuba. So, that was unpleasant and stressful.

Stress Tightens Its Grip

Sunday afternoon we decided to do something fun and different, which was go spend our wedding gift certificate to Ten Thousand Villages, one of those stores that sells fair trade doo-dads from around the world. I was counting my knitting and realized Lee had missed the only useful exit for getting to South Congress, which got us off on the wrong foot. Then it became difficult to find a parking space. And then on the way out, I didn’t look up in time to see that Lee was going straight into a road that was really a very crowded parking lot. It ceased to be fun, though it continued to be different. Suddenly we were in the car with someone we thought had moved out two years ago! Since one of the hardest parts about living with Jeff was when he (invariably) got angry in traffic, poor Beccano and I probably had post traumatic stress kick in, so we tried to just be quiet. We all did live through the journey and even had an OK time at Things Celtic, where I got Beccano a silver necklace that reminded him of his band’s name. I had not intended to get myself anything, but a similar necklace with a moonstone in it, which the owner of the shop had bought in Glastonbury made me feel a lot calmer, so I got it.

Love in the Air

That’s enough of me being grumpy about my weekend. The good news is both boys now have girlfriends. That’s a new one! I’ve always liked Scrabble Queen, the one who’s been hanging around with Tuba Boy a lot recently, and it is weird to see them dating only because they met in first grade. And wow, she is an amazing Scrabble player (we’ve been playing on Facebook, which is loads of fun). I don’t really know Parker’s Friend, who is the object of Beccano’s affection, but she seems just fine and cute, and Parker can vouch for her. The three of them spent Saturday together and it sounds like they, at least, had a great time. I must say having BOTH boys with girlfriends makes me feel old, but I am glad Becanno has started communicating with the opposite sex more.

Uh-Oh, More Self Analysis

I do know why it was so hard for me to get through the weekend, though. For the past week or two I have been even more sensitive to the mental states of other people around me than usual. That’s quite unfortunate timing, since I’ve been running into double and triple whammies of very strong, very scattered states of being. Nearly everyone I spent a lot of time with for the past few days has been overwhelming to me. I put on my bear necklace and it helped some. Even if it’s just psychologically helpful, that’s fine with me! It is no wonder I had more trouble than usual coping with various things—at times I felt like I was in a completely unfamiliar world, where the people around me understood what was going on and I was coming from some other culture and was just clueless as to how things work in the new world. (That’s how I felt when I had that unfortunately inappropriate job last year.) At least in the end I was kind, a good hostess, patient and more patient.

Spring Is Also in the Air!

But, all is not lost. At least time is marching on in a good way, and signs of spring are popping up all over the area. In fact, I looked up at the redbud tree Saturday morning and was really surprised to see some early pinkness. Woo! All the really early plants are saying hello, so I’ve enjoyed the “tulip trees,” some flowering pears, a shrub with very pink blossoms whose name I can never remember, and of course, my pansies. They are leftover from the wedding, but they are looking a lot better now that the really cold snap is over, and when I sit on the new porch, I am delighted by their fragrance. The yellow ones really smell good.

Everybody has a rough weekend occasionally, so I’m not too worried.

Looking Brighter on Darwin Day

Things are looking brighter in a lot of ways, which is always good.

But first, let me wish everyone a Happy Darwin Day! It's the 200th birthday of a pretty interesting naturalist and geneticist! I guess he was right there among the first geneticists. His work sure has made a lot of the mysteries of the universe more clear. But, he's not like a fairy, where you have to clap and prove you believe in him. The dude found out a lot about how life works. It's not something you have faith in. It's facts. I sure wish they had used a word less easy to misunderstand than "theory" when describing evolution.

As a digression, it really, really worries me that so many people find something there's NO proof of (some deity) to decide not to believe in facts. Saying, "La la la la la" in your head doesn't stop reality. Oh well. I have to remember we had a President for eight years who sincerely believed his God was going to come down and fetch him and his buddies pretty durned soon, so it was fine to use up the world's resources, kill off endangered species and ignore signs of planetary changes. His God didn't care about Earth, so why should he? Great, now he's just my neighbor.

Wait, wait. I didn't need to write any of this. Please go here and read what Roger Ebert, our Wednesday Wonder of the week has to say about Darwin! He's so good!

Off tangent now. I realize Lee already posted this picture on his blog, but I wanted to show you the patio furniture we put in front of the house. Doesn't it look inviting? And coordinated? Of course, it started to rain like the second the last piece was finished, so we haven't had a chance to enjoy it much yet, but we will! It's actually all wet in the photo. I'll try to get photos in nicer light at some point. We hope there will be fewer mosquitoes in the front, because even after getting rid of the pond, it is pretty bad in the back. Plus there's no grass. I'd hoped we would have funds to get the one big tree that's over the house and probably inviting critters into our attic cut down this year. Who knows. But the furniture's a bright spot.

Another nice bright spot is that Tuba Boy has been hanging around in the media room with us some the last couple of evenings. He's watched some TV with us, and we've been playing Scrabble on Facebook. He's good, too! That's just so nice and familial. Most nights lately we have at least one boy in the room chatting with us for a while. I like that. It's so easy for them to go in their rooms and type/play guitar all evening.

We are getting a few more positive leads on jobs, too. In this economy, that is all to the good!

By the way, it's birthday season for people other than Darwin, too, so happy birthday to all my wonderful February and early March friends. There, does that cover it? It seems like nearly everyone I know was born in mid-February through mid-March. I know it isn't true, but there sure are a lot of them!

Boy Meets Guitar, At Last!

Not much has been going on around our house. Lots of television watching (the Grammy Awards and Presidential press conference were both fun to watch as a family, because it sparked lots of conversation).

I did want to share this photo of one happy young man. Tuba Boy finally got to touch his guitar Sunday night. He returned from his debate tournament quite ill, but id didn't stop his face from lighting up with joy when he saw his new lifelong companion (people keep guitars longer than spouses--I read that somewhere). He kept saying it was so shiny. He didn't want to smudge it or mess it up. However, we soon heard sounds, so he did go ahead and touch it.

Last night I got to enjoy listening to both boys playing together. It's way more entertaining than Guitar Hero or Rock Band! I love how helpful Beccano is to his brother, as he shows Tuba Boy how to play various songs.

In good news around the house, it rained yesterday, and it's drizzly today. We have not had a rainy spell in quite a long time. We jokingly think that we brought it on by both watering the entire front and side yard AND spending two days building new patio furniture for the front patio. While I am happy for the rain, I sure would like to get more use out of the lovely spot we have created (which we hope will have fewer mosquitoes than the back patio). Of course, we'd like to be able to take a picture for our blogs, too!

(Send good job vibes to me and Lee, please--we need to start looking again, since we both expire at the end of March!)

Up and Down!

The last few days have definitely had their ups and downs. Rather than wax philosophical, I'll just give you some examples. The photos you see here are part of one of the "ups" I'm talking about. This is Dan of Danny Ray's Music (remember, he was my first Wednesday Wonder--now they have a better website) pretty darned excited to be opening the case of a new guitar. The guitar I had ordered for Tuba Boy in November. It finally came on Friday! I took a series of photos of him taking it out of the box, opening the case, etc., and I'm showing three of them here. Isn't it pretty? It's a Schechter Corsair with optional Bigsby thingie on it. So what's down about this? Poor Tuba Boy set off for Dallas on Friday for a debate tournament. He came home for three minutes this afternoon then ran off to work. He'd been patiently waiting for this new lifelong companion (OK, maybe not so patient--he asked me close to daily whether it was here yet or not), but has had to wait three extra days to see it thanks to his schedule. Oh well, I know he will love it.

Saturday was mostly good, but there was the downer that I seem to have been attacked by allergies again. Still, I got to see a few knitting friends, do some teaching, and go with Lee to get some wonderful outdoor furniture for the new patio (we'd been waiting and waiting for Home Depot to get some in, so we could use wedding gift certificates on it. Photos of that will come as soon as there's light to take a picture. Lee had quite the challenge putting it all together. That makes two weekends in a row of putting together furniture for him.

We did take some time out Saturday night to have an early Valentine's Day, since the kids were both otherwise occupied (Beccano was with his dad). Lee made the big sacrifice of going to a loud restaurant, and took me to Z Tejas. I love that place. We did have a delicious meal. We had these sizzling dumplings with shrimp and pork in them for appetizers, and for the meal I had crispy salmon with an amazing avocago/crab salsa on it, while Lee had seafood enchiladas. He had some rich chocolate pie for dessert. My dessert was a mango margarita. I probably paid for that with a poor night of sleep (that would be a "down") but it was worth it to me. As we were leaving I said we needed to go to a store to get dark chocolate to put in my Big Bowl of Self Esteem for my big boss at work. Then I heard, "Hi, Sue Ann!" and there was the big boss, right behind us! Good thing I hadn't said anything bad about him ('cause I don't have anything bad to say, actually--nice dude).

Today was a real mix. We did a song I like a lot in choir and I think it went OK. I hope we went up to the front and exited fast enough. And we got new church t-shirts, whee. Unitarian Universalist shirts are always so so lovey-dovey. But, they are cute.

After that, I am very proud of myself. I got through a music committee meeting AND a steering committee meeting. I had not been to a steering committee in a number of years, since some guy insulted me, called me names and raised his voice at me and no one defended me. The dude was mistaken, but I decided it wasn't worth trying to participate if I couldn't feel safe. I hadn't felt safe there for a while at that point, anyway. I finally decided things had changed enough that I could go back, and I decided I was needed again, too. Go me.

Of course, there was a down today. Darn me. I was a little stressed with all the meetings (I must have unresolved trauma or something, bwa ha ha). And I managed to leave my brand-new just-finished sock AND my Blackberry in the little room where the music committee had met. This was in a building I do not have a key to. Darn it!! Wah! I do hope I can go fetch it tomorrow at lunch. What if I missed an important text message? A fantastic job offer! Free ring tones! ACK!

I guess I'll survive. Anyway, those were my ups and downs, thank you very much. Now Lee, Beccano and I are enjoying the Grammys. I am now going to admit to this: I thought Miley and Taylor singing a duet about being teens was very, very sweet.

Ahhh, Proud.

I have heard it so many times today: I feel proud to be an American again.

So do I, for the first time since I was really young.

I realized I also feel something else, as I was driving home from work. I also feel noticeably less fearful. I think I was really afraid someone was going to bomb us at any minute the entire time that Bush was in office, with all that braggadocio and belligerence towards other countries. I worry for Obama's personal safety, but feel like we Americans are much safer now, at least for a time.

I love how today's speech reflected a call to work together with all Americans, all political factions, and all nations. You've heard me go on and on before about how I think the only way things will get better is if people work together. Finally someone with some influence agrees.

I don't have a twelve-page post today. Just a nice picture of my fresh new adult in his late-arriving birthday shirt. This is the official inaugural shirt and I am glad it came in time, though I wish he could have worn it to the MLK Day march he went to yesterday with his debate friends (what great future leaders they are!). I got a little "44" in a blue oval to put on the back of my car, too. Hee hee. It's nice and subtle. I can take off my big ole bumper sticker, now.

Thanks again to all who responded to my last post. I have been uplifted and feel validified by the kind and thoughtful reactions from all sides. I have great friends and fans. Thanks for being here.

And comment! I love them!

A Long Time Ago

Baby Tuba Boy 2 mo
Originally uploaded by sunasak

18 years ago today, this little person showed up. I'd worked so hard to prepare for a lovely natural childbirth. It was really cold, too, in Urbana, Illinois that day. We have lots of photos of me looking large holding snowballs. I remember on January 14th driving to the hospital and feeling like I was going to die every time we hit one of those "road humps" that melting and refreezing ice cause on the roads up there.

But, by 6 am the next morning it was clear he was not exiting the normal way, so they got him out the other way. I was really disappointed about this, and so worried I'd get paralyzed form the spinal injection, but I lived. My strongest memory is when the midwife brought this little bundle around to me and a messy, wet head was looking at me. They took a picture, and he and I were both amazed looking. I swear, he LOOKED like the little thing in the sonograms! I recognized him!

Tuba Boy was the best baby ever, even though I was in total learning mode through his entire infancy. I think he was the first infant I ever knew. So, I talked to him a lot, mostly to tell him "thank you" for sleeping a lot. When he was awake, he was the most cheerful, sweet and funny guy ever (just like today). He learned to talk very early; his first word was "moon," uttered when we went into the back yard to look at a particularly lovely full moon. He pointed at it and said, "Moon!" as clear as a bell. He went on to make up a lot of words, to the endless joy of friends and family. He called music "Bydoo" and called our friends' cuckoo clock the "Bydoo Clock" for example. I remember him being pretty tiny as I walked him around the neighborhood and at every round object he said, "Ball." Over and over. One fun baby.

Today, Tuba Boy is one fine 18-year-old young man. He is still about the most verbal person i know. That kid can talk fast, and he loves to argue his viewpoints with anyone who'll engage with him. His sense of humor is not barbed, just sweet and hilarious. And he is a wonderful friend. Former Lovely Girlfriend really made a mistake, because he really treats women he cares about respectfully and kindly. He has such impressive morals and beliefs too--it is quite appropriate that he shares a birthday with Martin Luther King, Jr., who is one of his heroes.

Of course, the wonderful Tuba Boy has flaws. He procrastinates most irritatingly (I wonder if his college application materials are in the mail...?). He has a typical teen male ego in that he really doesn't think too much of the family's needs. He's pretty durned messy. And he could do a bit better at communicating with the family, though he's improving lately. But, that stuff just makes him human.

I have enjoyed the past 18 years in his company. He made my life worthwhile. When you first have a baby you think, "Wow, I am stuck with this person for the next 18 years!" but you know, I hope I am stuck with him a lot longer. I know he needs to go and stretch and find his own way, but I hope the bond we have will stay strong. I'll try to stay strong, though I think it will kill me to be without him, for quite some time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TUBA BOY!!!

And I'll be back to raving about Lee and Beccano next time!

Whirlwind Continues

Tuba Boy and Lovely Girlfriend
Originally uploaded by sunasak

The countdown to the wedding and the accompanying whirlwind continued yesterday. We had fun at church showing people the remnants of the fancy hair thing, then ran home where I cleaned and baked an absolutely awful cake (cake mix and diet soda--I think I messed up on the "recipe" somehow) that the kids like anyway.

Then I ran off to Deanna's house to a jewelry party. I certainly do like that kind of thing. It was good quality costume jewelry, and I got a couple of rings that I know I will enjoy, even if they aren't "real." One is a very dainty pearl. She had mighty good food, but I was good and didn't eat too much, thinking ahead to my need to fit into that dress.

When I came back, I tried to do more chores but was incredibly frustrated to discover that I could not get the vacuum cleaner to work. The brand new one. It simply won't come on. What on EARTH did the maid to do THIS one??? We can't afford a new one with all the other expenses right now, and besides, we JUST bought this. So, at some point in my busy week, I will have to call customer service.

While trying to clean the birdcage and discovering the vacuum didn't work, my cake baker and her helper arrived with tons of stuff. They had made a sample rose-flavored cake, and it was very good. The proceeded to bake the chocolate layers, and tried to do a fancy white/rose layer, but it didn't come out too well. She is going to try to get that one last layer to work right at home. But they sure worked hard on the project, I must say!!

Meanwhile, I was helping Beccano with his history project, and Tuba Boy and Lovely Girlfriend came by to hang out with us. They sure were a lot of fun. I enjoy listening to them interact--at one point they said they were completing each other's thoughts, which just made my heart melt. It's nice to see them having such a positive influence on each other. And they are so funny! Beccano took a bunch of pictures of them goofing off, which you can see by clicking the top picture and going to Flickr. Mostly I find it weird how similar they look--if Tuba Boy had straight hair they'd look like siblings.

Being around young love and appreciating the relationship Lee and I have developed made me quite happy. We had a delicious dinner of ham, sweet potatoes and carrots cooked in maple syrup in the slow cooker, which let Lee do a lot of work outside in preparation for the Big Day. He got me some more pansies (awwww) and some purple petunias, too. He expanded the bed in the side yard and it looks super.

To top the evening off, Beccano and I laughed our heads off at the Colbert Christmas special. Man, that was funny (especially Willie Nelson), but the ending song, where all the guest stars harmonized, was beautiful. I hope it repeats, since Lee had a bunch of phone calls and missed it (his family suddenly realizes he is getting married--it is so funny how mine wanted every detail months in advance, and he didn't even start telling his until recently--that's family dynamics, huh!).

We were tired from cleaning and yard work, but very happy by the time bedtime came.

This week we both have a lot of work to do, and want to earn money since we will miss two days of work this week and one next week.

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!

Two Clean Rooms, and Weekend Hilarity

The task for this past weekend was to get the formal areas of the house in reasonable shape. Both had been beaten up pretty badly in the recent painting and freeze warning--plant debris everywhere, all the nick-knacks spread all over the place, and things not where they should be. Parker volunteered to come over and help (earning some kind of high school girl sainthood award or something), so after my time at the yarn shop on Saturday, we got to work. Some of the pieces of china and stuff were really disgusting, so it took quite some time to clean it all. I do feel good that all the things on the wall have been cleaned, and the areas BEHIND furniture are in good shape, even. The picture here shows her and Beccano taking a break to pay attention to Rose, world's neediest dog.

And not only did we deal with dust and dirt, but we put away some things. Yes, I actually decluttered. You'd probably not know it to look at the space, but there are way fewer "things" sitting out now. All the glass coffee cups emblazoned with the logo of the Dysfunctional Nonprofit Organization that I received as thank-yous over the years are now packed away, along with a number of small items and the scary collection of dusty nutcrackers from Becanno's previous obsession with them. Ahhh. I let the kids decorate the corner hutch, and it is a festival of fall harvest vegetables, which I'll let stay until after Thanksgiving, I guess! The photo of that shows poor Suna trying to untangle the incredible mess the workers made of her blinds in the dining room when they replaced them (sorta backwards--Beccano fixed it).

I really hate dusting and decluttering, so it truly helped a lot to have someone to chat with while I did it. I need to rent a helper more frequently, then the house would look way more better. Becanno helped some, but was rather busy sulking because his brother was so busy texting the out-of-town Lovely Girlfriend that he didn't help at all. Kids, sigh. But, we stopped eventually, and dealt with some frustration with the Avery website, which tried to hold the correct template to the nametags we want to print customization on for the wedding (photo shows Parker rather disgusted with the site, and Suna trying to navigate).

To reward Parker, and so I wouldn't have to cook, we went out to dinner at the very local and quaint Catfish Parlor (food was good, waiter amusing, and conversation grand). I have to say, three high school kids discussing relationship issues is most entertaining. They were talking about Lovely Girlfriend, every single person Parker ever dated, everyone the band had dated, why Beccano hasn't dated, etc. It soon became clear that Beccano had a reason why he didn't think this person was compatible with that person for about every past or potential couple discussed. Parker brought that up, and then Tuba Boy said, "Yeah, Beccano, you are like the Johnny Appleseed of doubt, spreading it all over the world."

At that we about wrecked the truck from laughing. And Beccano has a new monicker. That Tuba Boy, when in a good mood, certainly has his way with the words. It is a lot of fun going out with those young people, though sometimes they do ask some weird personal questions of me. That's what I get for being honest and open, I guess. I do think servers in restaurants enjoy us, too.

Let's see, I dragged the boys to the mall on Friday evening. They survived the dreaded spot and were only seen by a couple of people they knew, I think. They ended up really enjoying the staff at Men's Warehouse, which consisted mostly of people barely older than Tuba Boy and equally thin. I was very nice and got Tuba Boy two nice ties and dress shirts so his debate wardrobe would fit better. I didn't get him a new jacket, and sure enough the new pants do slightly differ in blackness from the old jacket (old being just a couple of months old). And of course, when I got home I found the "lost" dress pants all balled up in his desk chair. Ahem. I believe I know who will pay to dry clean those pants...not Suna. I guess I got him the shirts to make up for kidding him about having evidence of his dating life on his neck...which he immediately told to Lovely Girldfriend. Who was embarrassed. But, then they seemed gleefully ready to share a story about getting caught making out by her mother last night. They could not be cuter, and seem to be showing signs of good sense.

Sunday Lee and I were very bad and ditched church after Joys and Concerns (where, because this is right around our two year love-a-versary I said how happy I was to be marrying such a nice guy, and he later said he agreed, to which someone shouted, "What, you agree that you are a nice guy?" and sent the church into gales of laughter). Just too much "stuff" to do. Like get my engagement ring inspected, buy a lamp to replace the one the dogs broke, and oooh, order curtains!!! I am really happy with the formal living room now that we got a new lamp and replacement shades for the teeny lamps a departing friend gave us as she was moving. When you turn on the switch, the room now lights up! What a concept! And Lee installed stuff that makes it impossible for crazed barking dogs to tear up the electrical cord by the front window, I hope. He can be so "handy"! I think that once there are finally curtains in those rooms, I will feel completely moved in (after 11.5 years). Lee also planted some pansies for me in the new flower bed. I love pansies. Have I mentioned that???

We did get a little chance to rest and watch football last night, which was very nice. Tuba Boy came home from greeting his returned girlfriend (photo shows him texting her every few minutes while she was out of town), and informed me he had gotten her roses for their one-week annivesary. He said that was what you have to do in high school. I think he is just a very nice young man, whom any girl would be happy to date. Sniff. Reminds me of my high school boyfriend and me. Sniff.

Woo Hoo! The Week Is Over!

Tuba Boy Basks in the Limelight
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Whew, what a long and busy week. This is the first "free" time I have had to blog since last weekend. but, as the photo shows, everything was triumphant in the end. You see Tuba Boy without his tuba, basking in the glory of being announced as "Marcher of the Week" at the football game. He didn't have many chances left to get this, since he's a senior. so, even though the team lost the game (heinously--they were awful) and the lower brass got completely off during the fight song before the game, it was a triumph for him. He gave a very fun and funny acceptance speech upon coming back up the stands after the halftime show, too. Funnier, he saw I had gotten an embroidery on my band parent shirt indicating I was his and Beccano's mom. His comment was, "Nice to see you acknowledge who came out of your uterus, Mom." Suave, son.

I'm really happy with both boys this week, even though Tuba Boy had his car hit by a friend (not too badly). Both are doing great at school, and I have been encouraged at how well they are paying attention to the upcoming elections--TB and his best friend watched the debate last Friday very intently, and B tried to follow it. Both older boys had very good criticisms and comments on what they had heard. I think their debate and AP history classes have done great job preparing these kids to be good citizens.

I am also happy with our musical life. After a slightly rocky rehearsal on Monday, our hour of singing at BB Rovers on Tuesday went really well. I didn't let myself get intimidated by all the "real" musicians who showed up (Edge City, Chip Dolan, and Jeff, to name a few). It was the best we ever did, even with a touchy sound system. So, yay to my colleagues Bill, Austin and Lee! Trey Bone rocks!

Right now we have gone into wedding prep overdrive. We are trying to get our Evite sent out, but having trouble getting an image on it. Oh well. We put up an album with a few photos of us on it. When we have sent out the invitations, they will be here:
http://preview.evite.com/party/event/public/sunalee-- and if you are local and want to come, please visit the site and let us know you are coming! I don't have email addresses for everyone I'd like to invite, so don't think you aren't welcome if an email doesn't come. This wedding thing is mainly a great excuse to get together with friends and make music, eat, and enjoy each other's company.

Honestly, I have a lot more to say, but my brain is tired. I should have time on breaks at work again next week to blog, so you will hear more from me soon. And speaking of work, Lee starts Monday. Woo hoo again for two incomes!

Watching Them Grow

My boys are getting big, both in size and mental maturity. I am a proud mother in that I am happy to see how well adjusted they are, for the most part, and what good choices they seem to make. Sure, they have their lapses, some of which are doozies, but mostly they seem on the right track. It is weird watching them grow up, knowing that soon I will have to send them out into the big, wide world. I see signs of maturity in both of them, which is nice, but it's bittersweet to see them need me less and less. On the other hand, it's right on schedule!

Let's take Tuba Boy. More like, let's watch numerous attractive girls take Tuba Boy. Just LOOK at him--this is a senior picture candidate--lots of hair, but a good looking boy. He's quite the charmer as well, though he seems to be pretty careful not to let himself get entangled after last year's episode that led to heartbreak of some sort. He is always at one lovely person's house or another watching movies (or with his male friends--he is not exclusive to anyone). But I did note, when I heard him on the phone to one of these girls, a tone of voice that would have made ME swoon as a teen. A soft, suave sound that he definitely does NOT use with his parents or brother. Mostly, though, I am glad he is having fun, coming home at OK hours, and letting me know where he is. He is pushing things just enough to remind me he is 17.5, but not so much that he loses privileges.

I can't help but be impressed with his choice of friends, his choice of dates (lots of Asian girls, reminding me of my Asian boy trend when I was young), and his reasoning. I make sure to listen to him when he explains to me why he doesn't want to do something I want him to, or vice versa. And many times he has good reasons. I make sure that I change my mind some, and not just impose my will "because I say so." I want him to know I am still the mom, but I trust him and will back him up if he has good reasons for what he's doing. So, this morning I let him skip band camp, for good reason.



Beccano, an endless source of amusement in my life, is also really maturing--and in some ways faster than his brother (he is showing a lot more signs of fiscal and family responsibility). I can't help but get tickled at his sense of humor. Check out the photo that he wanted me to take, since it depicts "two heavy metal fans, in black." "Lot's o' LULZ" is what he'd say about that. He is a lot of help to me and Lee, as well as a lot of fun to be around.

Last night he had me re-do his hair braid. I noticed he had cut a bunch of it off. That really surprised me. He'd never have done that all on his own. And, whoa. Is that child's hair LONG. When you un-curl it, it's to his mid back. You can see in this mandolin photo that it's copious, but like Lee, his hair seems to want to stay around his shoulders. Ah well, youth is the time to have lovely long hair, I guess! And he's still playful and fun, so he isn't leaving us any time soon.

Both boys right now are very sore from band camp. That's what sitting around all summer does for you. (Though Tuba Boy worked a lot, so he got some exercise.)