Archive for » February, 2006 «

Quick Update

26
Feb 2006

I have been remiss in my blogging duties. Apologies all around. Right now I am supposed to be grading papers and/or working on my own homework. And I was, but then I started searching my writing to look for things I might have written about my dad to help with my writing for one of my classes, and now an hour has passed with little to show for it other than a walk down memory lane.

I haven’t been a good daughter. I haven’t called mom as much as I should, and I don’t know how long it’s been since the last time I’ve seen her in person. She should report me. Mom, my lack of actually contacting you is horrible. I’m sorry. I love you and think about you lots more than I ever actually show.

I need to start thinking about making dinner and I have no idea what to make. Steve’s not hungry right this second, but that’s because the races are on.

My youngest child, age 7, wants to know why I no longer feel it’s necessary to make the kids lunch on weekends. I figure they are old enough to make their own lunch. How sad for him, that at age 7 his mom has already left him to fend for himself. That’s what he gets from learning how to make his own sandwich.

The children are now outside on the snowmobiles, driving them in slow circles around the house. They like it, and it’s good practice for them. The dogs, however, have to be relegated to the house. Especially Stupid Dog. In fact, SD even gets put in his cage to prevent him from escaping outdoors. Zeus is left to run from window to window to door by himself, peering out at the children as they have fun without him. Never mind that people might actually be sitting on furniture that is blocking the window that is demanding his attention. He just plows right over them.

Maxine swept and mopped the mudroom and kitchen floor the other day. She did so on her own, without any suggestions. She is turning into quite the Domestic Diva. On Thursday she helped her grandma do my dishes. But then everyone came in from the garage, getting wet feet all over the kitchen floor, and it dried with a white powder from the oil dry/cat litter used in the garage. Maxine came down to see the white powdery floor in the kitchen, bewildered about what could have happened. Poor girl. Welcome to my world.

Which reminds me. I forgot to do the weekly "Clean my house and leave no dirty dish in the sink" last Thursday. Because my MIL arrives at my house on Thursdays, bringing my kids home to get ready for bed while I’m at school and hubby is at archery. This week, I had left a sink full of dirty dishes, and my MIL did them with Maxine’s help. Yesterday, my FIL told me he told my MIL what I had said about her on Friday. (I mentioned that my MIL cleans things that I don’t even THINK about cleaning. And the things I do think about could never meet her standards. The woman scrubs the skins off her potatoes. For years, I wondered where she bought her potatoes. Turned out she bought the same kind I do, but she scrubs them beyond recognition.) I wasn’t worried about the scrubbing comment. I would have said it to my MIL, and as she said, I have in the past. But when I mentioned scrubbing things I never would have thought of, my MIL (fresh from doing my dishes on Thursday) said, "Like your cookie sheets?"

Um, yes. My cookie sheets. I have some that are black, and I don’t think they were always black. They are um, well used. How are you supposed to get some of that stuff off of them? I thought it was impossible. My MIL says she now knows what to buy me for Christmas next year — new cookie sheets. Hopefully, this time I’ll keep them cleaner. Or have her do it. :)

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Slipping & Sliding

22
Feb 2006

Steve and I were going to take a nice snowmobile ride last weekend, and in fact we had dressed up into all of our gear including the gloves and helmets and I even hooked my helmet up to the sled and we were riding along Merritt rode on our way to Houghton Lake when we stopped in front of the church. I wasn’t sure why, but I stopped.

Turns out Steve’s sled locked up and refused to go even a tiny bit further. Which was NOT good. But it was good that we were on the side of a main road not far from home. Because we could have easily been in the middle of the woods somewhere, miles from the nearest road. About that, we’re lucky. So Steve climbed onto my snowmobile and we rode double down to the corner where I made him drop me off. Because frankly, I don’t like riding on the back of a snowmobile when Steve drives. It scares me. Plus, the snowpants make my butt slippery and it makes it hard to stay on. Not that long ago I was on the back of a sled while Steve drove and I fell off. (We weren’t going fast.) But I remember just lying there on the trail, sort of like I was making snow angels. So, I went into the Corner and ordered a Coke while Steve drove back home and got the truck and trailer.

Turns out something in the crank (engine part) of his sled broke. He has put 387 miles on it since he bought the sled used. Total it has just over 1200 miles. It’s sort of sickening. It just seems too new, ya know? Plus this winter hasn’t given us a lot of snow that is good for sledding, and then just when we were going to take our really first long ride of the season, the sled breaks. The good news is Steve is a mechanic and it looks like it can be fixed for a reasonable amount of money.

The Houghton Lake Bobcat Boosters has been paying for the district’s middle school and high school coaches salaries since last year. Last night they had a meeting to get input and volunteers to help raise the last $50,000. Last year they raised $130,000. This year they want to raise about $100,000. It’s very cool to see this kind of community support for the schools.

Last week we had that horrible winter storm come through, and it was such a nice change. I didn’t go anywhere at all Friday, just stayed home with the kids. It was so nice! Now that all the roads are cleared off, I didn’t even think twice about getting out and about. So it was rather shocking that I got stuck yesterday.

I had pulled over to the side of the road in order to talk on my cell phone. When I ended the call, I tried to get off the side of the road and all my tires did was spin. That’s when I realized the sides of the road was covered in ice. I couldn’t get any traction at all. I wasn’t really stuck, but I wasn’t going anywhere on the ice.

I was like a turtle upside down on its shell. I had just gotten out and placed newspapers in front of all of my wheels, hoping that would give me some traction when a guy in a truck pulled over to help.

He grabbed a shovel, tossed some snow on the ice as I picked up the newspapers. Then when traffic cleared, he gave my van a push off the ice. I was free. I was also in the middle of the road with traffic coming, so I yelled my thanks and then took off. Silly me. I really should carry cat litter or something in my vehicle to use in those kinds of situations.

That’s all I have today. Thanks for playing.

Category: Choppy Thoughts  Comments off

Slipping & Sliding

22
Feb 2006

Steve and I were going to take a nice snowmobile ride last weekend, and in fact we had dressed up into all of our gear including the gloves and helmets and I even hooked my helmet up to the sled and we were riding along Merritt rode on our way to Houghton Lake when we stopped in front of the church. I wasn’t sure why, but I stopped.

Turns out Steve’s sled locked up and refused to go even a tiny bit further. Which was NOT good. But it was good that we were on the side of a main road not far from home. Because we could have easily been in the middle of the woods somewhere, miles from the nearest road. About that, we’re lucky. So Steve climbed onto my snowmobile and we rode double down to the corner where I made him drop me off. Because frankly, I don’t like riding on the back of a snowmobile when Steve drives. It scares me. Plus, the snowpants make my butt slippery and it makes it hard to stay on. Not that long ago I was on the back of a sled while Steve drove and I fell off. (We weren’t going fast.) But I remember just lying there on the trail, sort of like I was making snow angels. So, I went into the Corner and ordered a Coke while Steve drove back home and got the truck and trailer.

Turns out something in the crank (engine part) of his sled broke. He has put 387 miles on it since he bought the sled used. Total it has just over 1200 miles. It’s sort of sickening. It just seems too new, ya know? Plus this winter hasn’t given us a lot of snow that is good for sledding, and then just when we were going to take our really first long ride of the season, the sled breaks. The good news is Steve is a mechanic and it looks like it can be fixed for a reasonable amount of money.

The Houghton Lake Bobcat Boosters has been paying for the district’s middle school and high school coaches salaries since last year. Last night they had a meeting to get input and volunteers to help raise the last $50,000. Last year they raised $130,000. This year they want to raise about $100,000. It’s very cool to see this kind of community support for the schools.

Last week we had that horrible winter storm come through, and it was such a nice change. I didn’t go anywhere at all Friday, just stayed home with the kids. It was so nice! Now that all the roads are cleared off, I didn’t even think twice about getting out and about. So it was rather shocking that I got stuck yesterday.

I had pulled over to the side of the road in order to talk on my cell phone. When I ended the call, I tried to get off the side of the road and all my tires did was spin. That’s when I realized the sides of the road was covered in ice. I couldn’t get any traction at all. I wasn’t really stuck, but I wasn’t going anywhere on the ice.

I was like a turtle upside down on its shell. I had just gotten out and placed newspapers in front of all of my wheels, hoping that would give me some traction when a guy in a truck pulled over to help.

He grabbed a shovel, tossed some snow on the ice as I picked up the newspapers. Then when traffic cleared, he gave my van a push off the ice. I was free. I was also in the middle of the road with traffic coming, so I yelled my thanks and then took off. Silly me. I really should carry cat litter or something in my vehicle to use in those kinds of situations.

That’s all I have today. Thanks for playing.

Category: Choppy Thoughts  Comments off

NYC, here I come!

21
Feb 2006

Now that it’s all official, I can mention it — I am going to NYC!

That’s right. And when I’m there I plan on meeting Lani Diane Rich. She even gave me her cell phone number and hotel where she’ll be at! That way, I’ll know where she is so when I go into a bookstore to forge, er sign, her books, I won’t have to worry about running into her. It may have been OK to do in Michigan when I was sure she wouldn’t show up, but with her being in the same city, a girl’s got to be careful. And if I’m on my Best Behavior, Lani will get drunk with me. Or at least introduce me to some drinks that are a bit more unusual than my usual order of Bud Light in a bottle. I am such the trend setter, no?

OK, back to NYC. I need help. First of all, this will be the first time I’ve ever flown in an airplane. Yes, I’m serious. Really, no, I haven’t. I’ve traveled to most of the continental US states, but all of that traveling was using the Interstate Highway system, not planes, or for that matter, not trains either. Stictly automobiles. And campers, er motor homes.

Now, I will be going to the College Media Adviser’s Spring Convention, Mar. 16-18. (If you are a burgler, don’t add my house to your list of places to knock off because although I will be gone, there will still be people inhabiting my home, not to mention the four dogs including the tiny ferocious one and the big scary one).

So, I’ve been looking up what I need to do to make it through Airport Security, aka the beefed up post 9-11 Airport Security. But I don’t think NetFunny.net, and PoliticalHumor.About.com are really going to offer the kind of information I’m looking for. For that matter, www.aa.com isn’t that much help either.

For instance, I was reading up on carry-on bags, because I’ve watched Meet the Fockers. I know everyone truly in the KNOW knows they don’t check their luggage. Or was that Guess Who? I’m getting my meet the parents movies mixed up, but that’s not the point. The point is that I know I need to try to cram in all of my stuff into one carry on piece of luggage. Right? Right. Well, 1.5 pieces of carry on since I can also claim space in Steve’s right? Plus, I will rethink my whole view of carrying a purse because it turns out they don’t count as Carry Ons, and I know my mom has some seriously large roomy purses.

So I was reading the guidelines for determining a carry on. It has to weigh less than 40 pounds and measure less than 45-inches. And I was thinking that’s pretty generous. That’s when I continued reading and realized the 45-inches was based on measuring the height+length+ width. So if I were to have bought that 21-inch pilot’s bag, would it have worked? I don’t know. You’d like to THINK so, but without a measuring tape, it might just be a big mistake.

Luckily, the plane will also not count our winter coats as carry on items, which is GOOD since it IS March in Michigan, and that translates to still possibly WINTER.

Now I know where I’m staying. And when I’ll get there. (Hubby is going too.) There will be trips to the local media outlets. But I’m more worried about how I’ll get from LaGuardia to the Roosevelt Hotel and back, and not putting another mortgage on my house trying to pay for the taxi/shuttle. If a shuttle van charges $15 one-way per person, how does that compare to what a taxi would charge? What is the mathematical equation for that one?

I could have gone to NYC by the way of Georgia, BTW. I thought about it because it could give me an excuse to make AGK come to the airport and see me. BUT I figured I was just going to tell her that’s what I’m doing, but not really do it. She has some type of aversion to Michigan. Did I mention I don’t think her brother is really moving there? So, AGK, please stop reading at this point. I’ll see ya in Georgia soon, Sugar.

Now, for everybody else but AGK, I’m not going to take the route to GA. It was 6 plus hours, and one was even an overnight stay. NO. I am going to take the nonstop flight from Detroit to New York City and back. Don’t tell AGK. I also have a window seat. That is, unless Steve tries to steal it.

Steve was thrilled to learn that when I booked the flight, I took advantage of squeezing every possible moment in NYC. For instance, we will be boarding the plane on Friday at 6:10 a.m. Steve said, "You do realize you’re supposed to arrive hours before that because of security, right?"

And he was nearly jumping out of his skin with excitement when I let him know we wouldn’t be departing NYC until 8 p.m. or so on Sunday, which puts us back in Detroit by 10 p.m. or so. Which would be lovely, really, if you don’t consider the four-plus hour drive north to our real home. He was so excited to learn we’d arrive around 3 a.m. or so. Apparently he has no confidence that I will have any money left by Sunday. "So I guess I should take Monday off from work too," he said.

And about that carry on thing? How am I going to fit gifts for four kids in my carry on luggage? Maybe I’ll just have to claim the rest of Steve’s .5 piece. Maybe, I can convince him to carry a "merse" (men’s purse). Or I could just give him a briefcase. They’re free too.

So, if you are reading this and you CARE for me, and you can offer BETTER advice than what I seem to recall from the movies, feel free to do so. Because I am a NYC Virgin. I’m sure Lani will be thrilled to hear she’ll be breaking my ch…..  (Can’t go there. This is a G-rated blog. Primarily because my MOM reads this stuff.)

Thanks for playing. AGK, see you in GA!

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Writing Lessons

21
Feb 2006

My oldest daughter, Autumn, broke her thumb a while ago. While in a cast, she couldn’t participate in gym, so she would go to the library and was supposed to write a one-page essay for every class she missed. However, for some reason, my daughter didn’t do what she was supposed to do, and instead …. I don’t know what the instead was.

Anyway, last week she brought home a note for us to sign. She’s getting a D in gym because she failed to turn in 4 essays despite having time in class to do them. As soon as she turns those in, she’ll get an A.

So on Wednesday (yes last Wednesday) Autumn sat down at the computer and started typing. She was in there for a while when I walked in. I about flew through the roof (I actually steamed up) when I noticed 1) she didn’t have Word open and 2) she was on Google. I started yelling without asking, and I ended up being wrong.

Turns out she had a wordpad document open, and the Google search was a search for cheerleading to help her with her essay. Let’s just say I opened my mouth wide and managed to get my entire foot inside it.

That’s when I noticed the first essay she’d printed off. Right up on top it referenced the Web page that she got it from — Wikipedia. And I started to read it. Now, I have smart children and they are talented writers. However, even at 11, Autumn is not yet capable of writing complicated sentence structures. Plus, in the first sentence there was the word "origin." I decided to not blow my top right off. I’d be more subtle.

"What’s origin mean?" And Autumn’s response was "Huh? What?" I figured, ah ha! I’ve caught her. And then, again without engaging my brain or removing my foot, I accused her of Plagerism. That’s Plagerism with a P. Because there’s no way that she would use "origin" and besides, it was spelled wrong.

OK, so I was wrong yet again. She did come up with origin on her own. Even told me she recently learned it in social studies class. However, much of the essay on cheerleading was Plagarized (again with the capital P).

So then I started telling Autumn she’d have to rewrite it. And Autumn whined. And cried. And objected. It has to be researched she said. She didn’t Plagarize. She changed words! That’s OK!

I’ll spare you the rest of my highly-polished parenting skills in action. (Ugh!) Later Steve pointed out that I managed to interupt a girl that was doing her homework, cause her to cry and become frustrated and upset, and ultimately prevent her from finishing her homework. That was Wednesday.

Thursday, Autumn was given time on the computer to work. She didn’t get a single essay written. Friday, the same thing. And again on Saturday and Sunday. Can we say Procrastination? (Why yes, that is right. It is another P word that deserves capitalization.)

Finally, there was today, an in-service day. No essay. Five days off from school and she hadn’t done anymore work.

Autumn says that the essay she basically copied, chaning just a word or two is perfectly acceptable. Steve says that I should let Autumn’s teacher grade her work, and since this is a gym teacher, maybe it is acceptable. Let her turn it in and find out, says he. Autumn no longer understands how to research because she doesn’t think there was anything wrong.

I say, my daughter is Plagarizing and Procrastinating. Two horrible habits, one of which I battle daily (that’d be the Procrastination Battle).

Several times this weekend, I suggested to Autumn to write using pen and paper. You’d think I asked her to open up a vein.

I wish that I could respond to my children by a method other than yelling. Steve told me he works hard NOT to yell at the kids. I know I’ve said lots of times that yelling is my biggest downfall. I just open my mouth, and out a bunch of crap spills. It upsets me more when I yell than if I just talk, but it doesn’t seem to have much impact on my kids (they tune me out). But have I really worked hard at not yelling? I don’t think so.

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