More Fun & Memorable Moments

This week we spent three wonderful days with "Mr.D"s children, and their significant others. They are almost all grown up now, the youngest being nearly seventeen, which makes visiting a lot of fun on a different level. When our children were younger I am sure there was a lot of magic about the holidays, birthday celebrations, and visits with family. Now that they are older, there is a better understanding about the importance of spending time together.

Our journey began on Sunday morning with the road trip from NC to GA. We met up with his oldest son at a nearby gas station as they have moved to a new place, just he and his girlfriend. It's a nice wide trailer with a large living room, eat-in kitchen, guest bedroom, guest bath, laundry area, and master bedroom complete with garden tub, shower, and walk-in closet. We stayed in the guest room at the front end of the trailer which was equipped with a full sized bathroom. Since they were newly moved in and still getting set up, we brought along our airbeds, sheets, and blankets to make our room more comfortable for the stay.

After we finished setting up our room, we headed into the nearby town for some supplies for dinner. As part of our gift to them, and in thanks for them giving us lodging, we would cook meals for everyone during our visit. It made things a lot easier for his daughter, her fiancee, and his youngest son were able to come over for dinner each night before heading off to work. His youngest decided to stay overnight the last night of our visit.

"Mr.D" took the opportunity to speak with each of his children individually about what they wanted to do with their lives. It was one of the reasons he was excited about the trip down to see them. For years now he has been talking to them about moving north to explore the possibilities they were missing in GA. Please, don't get me wrong. I am sure there are areas in Georgia where one can excel in life, but the area in which they are living offers very little for young adults when it come to job opportunity.

While we were there we spent quality time with everyone. We had fun cooking together, watching comedy videos, talking and laughing together about all sorts of things, and getting to know their pets. We even managed to do some work around the house, including some plumbing. Even though Tiffany had two teeth pulled the day after we arrived, everyone still seemed to have lots of fun. I'm really glad we were able to make our trip down to see everyone!

After today's long road trip home it's time to turn in for a little rest and recuperation ... until our next adventure, goodnight!

Southward Bound!

It all seems to have come together nicely over the last couple of days. We found someone who wanted to watch the puppy until we get back, in the event the owner calls, or just adopt him should too much time elapse. Jenn and I are both sad that we are unable to keep him, but he would be a big expense as well as a lot of time and energy.

Ryan is all situated with where he will stay here in NC while awaiting for his former boss to call about his going back to work at the gas station. Whether he works while I am gone or not, I am sure he will have fun. Why not? He will be spending the week with his best friend and his family.

Jenn is going back to VA with Lisa and Steve later today after their visit with Grandma and Grandpa. She will be spending time with them until sometime after the first of the year. She wants to meet up with her brother Ted while she is there and they are all planning a trip in to Washington, DC to do some site seeing. Sounds like fun to me!

I'm packed and ready to go, will head into work shortly until 4 pm, and then I'll stop by here for anything I may have forgotten before heading west on the first leg of our trip south. All we'll have to do in the morning is load up the van and head south to GA to see "Mr.D" children. It's going to be a great visit I can just feel it!

Whooshing away now ... :)

Time Together Matters Most

If you were to ask me what one gift meant most to me this Christmas, I would have to say time enjoyed with loved ones. Yesterday my boyfriend, my oldest daughter Lisa, and her husband Steve came to town for the holiday celebration. The celebration is about more than gift giving, it's about sharing that one gift that no one else can give ... your time. Even though we do share gifts, being together is more important.

Today we went to my parents for Christmas dinner, and this year we had the honor of bringing the sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole. My mom and dad normally make most of the main dishes, including some of the most delicious side dishes and desserts. However they were both sick with the flu, so we offered to bring whatever they needed to help prepare the meal.

When we had finished feasting on the most delicious meals, we gathered all into the living room for the traditional opening of gifts.

Cameron is the youngest of my parents grandchildren, and as such ost of the paper flying during the festivities was from his opening his toys. He's 4 years old and Christmas is still so magical!

The teens were excited to open their gifts too ... after all, green always makes for a good color in a gift. Each family had celebrated at their respective home before arriving at Grandma & Grandpa's so there is a less mess to have to clean up ... thank goodness!

Nearly everyone was in attendance, my parents, all four of my brothers, their wives, most of their children, most of my children, and my significant other ... "Mr.D" ;)
To all of the rest who were unable to be here ... Merry Christmas!
(Talena, Angelica, Nathan, Olivia, and Pamela)

Once we had managed to clean up from the dinner meal, we said our goodbyes for the day and headed home. It was wonderful to spend time with our friends and family, but it was time to get home to check on the puppy. When we arrived home we took him out for a stroll, fed him some dinner, and played with him until he passed out on the living room floor. He did really well during our absence today; I'm hoping his owner calls within the next 24 hours. For now, we'll enjoy having him around.

All in all, this has been a wonderful day, and now its time to relax. :)

Christmas Eve Rescue

When I headed into work today, the last thing I expected to do was rescue a lost puppy. Around lunch time a small Husky pup wandered by our door as we were talking taxes. Joann asked if we saw what she thought she saw, and then we all headed to the door. There he was, as cute as could be, even tempered, beautiful black and white Husky. As we all stood outside to figure out what to do with him, my boss went next door to get some puppy chow, puppy treats, and toys. As she handed me the bag of goodies she said, "Take him home, his eyes match yours." Very funny.

When I arrived home it was all Jenn could do to contain her excitement. She danced at the idea of owning a Husky and was so thrilled to see this little fellow on Christmas Eve. I immediately reminded her that like all of the other pets we had rescued, this one had to have an owner somewhere that was missing him. We would try and wait to see if someone claimed him before finding him a new home. For now, Jenn is in puppy heaven. :)

I'm not sure when we might hear something from an owner since its so close to Christmas, but we left our number with a nearby veterinarian, a no-kill shelter, the animal shelter, and the pet store. I hope we hear something soon. We all will be leaving town on Saturday for the rest of our holiday vacation. I wish we could keep him too, but now is not a good time.

The Rush Before the Calm

I know it's late and I promise to get some rest, I'll need it. This week will be a busy one indeed. I have to work both jobs most of the week and get ready for visitors for the holidays. Here's what my schedule will look like for the week:

Monday - Run Jenn to her friends before I go to work at 11 am to job #2. Get off work at 8 pm, head home to work on getting the house in order before my guests arrive on Wednesday.

Tuesday - Work from 9 am to 4 pm at job #1, then work from 5 pm to 11 pm at job #2. After work I will return home and hit the hay!

Wednesday - Work from 9 am to 4 pm at job #1, then return home to join my guests for dinner. I'm hoping my kids will fix some chili; it's an easy meal.

Thursday - Arise, fix breakfast, bake a sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and get ready for the day's events. Head to mom's before 1 pm. Visit with the family, eat Christmas dinner, open presents, head home around 5 pm with the kids, then relax.

Friday - Enjoy my time with everyone until 4 pm when I will head into work from 5 pm to 11 pm at job #2. Come home and snuggle in for the night.

Saturday - Say my goodbyes to my children before they head off to VA. If Ryan is staying in town I'll drop him off at his friends house. Then I'll head to work at job #2 from 7 am to 4 pm. After work it will be time to head out to the sand hills for our trip to GA to see "Mr.D"s children.

The following week we will spend with each other while visiting his children, then returning to NC to await a call from Lisa to meet her halfway to pick up Jenn and Ryan from their visit to VA. Before we know it, the new year will be knocking on the door. I need to get to bed, more later!

Homemade Gifts for Christmas

We have decided to make some of the gifts we are giving to each other for Christmas this year. Before Pamela arrived we purchased a large stocking, various stocking stuffer items, and supplies to make a special gift for her new apartment. Jennifer decorated the stocking as part of her gift for her sister. Then she helped me frame some photos we had taken from a previous visit, and a couple others from more recent times as her gift from all of us.

Pamela's Stocking
(design by Jenn)

Here Pamela's is trying to sneak a peak
into her stocking, imagine that!

Pamela is wearing her part of her scarf and glove set
while opening some of the stocking stuffer items.
Although she doesn't have a microwave she says
she can fix her hot cocoa on the stove. Her stocking was
filled with all sorts of goodies including fruit, gum,
tootsie roll bank, a small calendar, and a small framed
photo of her boyfriend.

This is the finished framed gift of photographs.
Beginning with the top left and continuing clockwise:
Ryan (the rock star); Pamela and Jenn;
Pamela (a model photo); and Pamela, me, and Jenn

An Early Christmas Visit

Yesterday my second eldest daughter came to town for an early visit for Christmas. This is the first Christmas in seven years that we have been together. The timing is kind of odd, but I think she had a two-fold reason for her visit being so early. We have just started to decorate for the holidays, but she really didn't mind. We met in town, headed over to the local department store to pick up some supplies, and then stopped to pick up dinner for all of us before heading home

We had planned on spending the evening together but I got a call from work reminding me that I was scheduled and was two hours late. OOPS! My days have been running together so much lately, and for some reason I thought I had to go in on Wednesday, not Tuesday! Pamela stayed here with Jenn and Ryan watching movies. By the time I got home after work, the kids were in bed as they had school today, and Pamela was awake and ready to talk for a while. We managed to get to bed around 2 a.m. making for a short night's rest for me ... :/ stuff happens ... :)

Today she headed to Fayetteville, NC to see one of her high school friends. He is in the military, stationed in Hawaii, and was home this week to visit his family. Pamela has stayed in touch with her friend and apparently had made plans to see him during our visit. So, she will return tomorrow to spend the evening with us and then head home until some time in January of 2009.

If all goes as planned tomorrow, we will head to my parent's for a brief visit, then head over to my brother's before heading home. Then sadly, she will head north to return to her home and get ready for work on Friday afternoon. These visits are not nearly long enough and hard to orchestrate when we are on different schedules. This is not an unusual thing though, my boyfriend's children are also on overnight work schedules, so we have learned to make adjustments when visiting.

State Championship Slips Away

This past Saturday our high school's football team traveled to play in their first ever State Championship game. Though they had experienced an undefeated season, this was not their best played game. Some speculated that the news of one of the football team's players having been diagnosed with a brain tumor put a damper on their spirit. Rumors stirred at school today about particular players going out the night before the game who partied a bit too hard. Apparently the outing hampered their performance for the most important game of their high school football career. Regardless, it was an honor to make it to the championship playoffs; maybe they will repeat their undefeated season but go on to win the State Championship. It would be a great gift to their retiring coach!

Good Luck Red, White, & Blue!

Yes, tomorrow the kids high school's football team will go halfway across the state to play their first ever State Championship game! Can you tell, we are excited? Well, I won't be able to go, but Jenn will be performing during halftime with the band. She is riding a tour bus along with the rest of the color guard, band, football players, and cheerleaders. They leave here around 5:30 a.m. to get to the stadium before the game. Ryan and I will be cheering them on from the warmth of home. I would have loved to have been there, but the cost for all three of us to go was over $165.00. Right now, that kind of expense isn't realistic, so I've decided to spend it on the holidays.

"Go Big RWB!"

OMG, Who Elfed Me?

Imagine my surprise as I opened my email to see that I've been elfed! But not just me, it's my boyfriend, my son, and my youngest daughter! LOL! Honestly, I love it!

You can be "elfed" too! Just visit ElfYourself.com and follow the easy instructions. Before you know it, you'll be a dancin' elf yourself!

Go ahead, have fun with it! I dare you ... ;)

Merry Christmas,
KrisMsElf

Siblings

It has seemed like years since I had to deal with any of my children arguing about privileges based on age. There was a time when my oldest daughter would be allowed to do something, or go somewhere, and her younger sister (by four years) was not, thus causing discontent among them. No matter how much we tried to explain to Pamela that she wasn't old enough to do the things her sister was, she didn't get it. It didn't help that they were about the same height, adding to the argument in her defense. Nonetheless, the boundaries were set.

Now it begins again. Tonight Ryan won "meet the band" tickets for a concert that he and his best friend are attending tomorrow night. His friend is coming home from college for the Christmas break, and they thought it might be fun to go to the free concert in a nearby town. The band's name is "We The Kings" and they have a current hit song titled "Check Yes Juliette". Well, Jenn wants to go too, but she has a full day of school the following day. She had asked me if she could go and she assumed since I didn't answer, that she could go anyway. You can imagine her disappointment upon hearing my answer.

Thus ensued the argument between them, but only for a few moments when I stepped in and ended their heated discussion. During their arguing I heard "that's not fair" to which I thought, "that's life". I would imagine that next year, there will be a whole new set of challenges as we experience the "only child" syndrome with Jenn being the only child at home. Oh wait ... perhaps she won't be the only one. ;)

You Make the Call

If the absent parent is $10,239.00 in arrears with his child support, is not making his payments on a consistent timely basis, is not even attempting to make small payments to the arrears, should he send his child, whom he has had little to no contact with, a cell phone? Keep in mind, that a mobile phone, whether pay-as-you-go or one added to an existing plan, is an ongoing expense. Right? And if you are not currently paying the support needed for your child, does it make any sense to spend money monthly in order for the teen to have a luxury item?

I understand that a lot of teens have cell phones, but how many of them pay for their own, and how many have parents or someone else who have afforded them that privilege? I cannot afford that expense, and Jenn can't either since she is extremely involved at school with band, drivers education, and being an FFA officer. For some reason, she thinks that since her cousin down the street has had one for a long time now (in teen time a year is a long time) and he brother now has a cell phone, she should have one. Ryan lucked out for now. He has a friend who added him to their plan. It may not be the smartest move, and could flop should he not soon get a job.

As a single parent on a limited budget, I tend to watch what we spend money on as closely as possible. A cell for either of them is out of the question. There is no argument when it comes to my owning one since mine is paid for by my oldest daughter and her husband. She used to call me on my home phone and was running up her cell bill. Her husband suggested they combine their services and add me to their plan. This would keep their bill to a minimum and give her unlimited minutes to talk to me. Nice son-in-law!

In my opinion, if my ex-husband cannot pay his child support on a consistent timely basis, he shouldn't be sending gifts that someone else will have to maintain monetarily. A gift such as a watch, book, teddy bear, DVD movie, music CD, or something personal and not too expensive would be appropriate, and this would only seem natural if he were in their lives on a consistent basis. Since he is not, these types of gifts would be empty in value, and the phone would be an inappropriate to say the least.

Another One Bites the Dust

Here we are, the end of the month, and still no child support. Hmmm ... can we say repeat performance? What's different about this month from the others? Why is it what the ex always seems to miss a payment just about the time I am getting back on some sort of footing financially? Who the heck knows! I could be jumping the gun here a bit, after all I won't really know he has missed the month completely until I check my account next week. Sometimes when he pays it on or near the end of a month, it won't show up in my account until about 7 to 10 days later. So I'll wait to sing that ever popular tune ... "another one bites the dust, and another one's gone, another one's gone, another one bites the dust" bump, bump, bump, dadada da da!

Yeah :/

PS It's a good thing we got our Christmas bonus early on November 1st, it paid the rent, so "Merry Christmas" and thank goodness we have all our needs met this month in spite of the ex's absent behavior! Tomorrow is a new day :)

Surprise, I'm Home!

Wow, what a fast three days this has been! We were prepared to meet my daughter; Pamela, in Wilson on Tuesday morning, but I was awakened by a call around 5 a.m. letting me know I could sleep in as she would arrive at the house around 7 a.m. Her ride had decided to bring her all the way to my house and spare me from having to make an early morning trip. Thank goodness!

She pulled in the driveway about 20 minutes before Ryan and Jenn headed out the door to school for the day. Since she had been up all night, we talked as I got ready for work, and then she headed off to bed for some sleep. Pamela works as a waitress in an all night diner and sleeps during the day, so we did our best to allow her to set her schedule for the visit.

When I got home on Tuesday we all spent the evening together, catching up on our lives, and as the evening ended everyone turned in for a good night's rest. On Wednesday I was surprised by a car load of guests for lunch. My boyfriend had arrived for the holiday weekend and brought the entire family in town to take me out of the office for a quick bite to eat. It was a great!

I had to work both jobs in order to have the next five days off. Yes, I said five days! I'm sure I'll end up working as much while on vacation as at my regular jobs, but I'll get to spend it with loved ones, and that is not work but a labor of love. Even though I knew today was going to be a long one, it seemed even longer at work knowing that my daughter would be going home to NJ sometime tomorrow. Hopefully later in the evening but not too late; I want both she and her friend to arrive safely at home before midnight!

So much for making this a short post, everyone is still awake, they have fixed a pizza and some snacks, and they are ready to start the movie. So, more about our vacation later ... and "Happy Thanksgiving!"

A 10 Day Stretch

As I mentioned earlier, this ten day stretch is going to be a dozy! Pamela will come in on Tuesday morning, she'll sleep while I am at work, then we will get to spend the evening together before I go to work on Wednesday. Thank goodness the kids are out of school that day, they can all spend time watching movies, talking, and having some fun. The around noon my boyfriend should arrive adding one more to the mix of fun. I'm hoping to see him for lunch should he sneak by the office first before going to the house.

I'm not real happy about having to work while either of my guests are here, but at least we will all get to spend Thanksgiving day together at my parents house. I just wish Pamela could stay longer as she and I rarely get to spend time together. Fortunately, this will not be her last trip home, she is planning one around her birthday during tax season. Let's hope she comes before our mad rush and long hours. She will leave Thursday afternoon and drive straight through to home. Ever notice that now matter how old our children are, we worry about their safety?

Friday we all plan on relaxing around the house. Saturday we want to get the dryer hooked up so we won't have to go to the laundry mat again. Perhaps Sunday we can find some alone time for just us, "Mr.D" and me of course. Right now, I'm just hoping I'll have the time to get all of the things done before anyone arrives next Tuesday. Laundry and work today, work and housework tomorrow, I'm going to be like that lady on television in the bathtub ... Calgon, take me away! We definitely need one of those cast iron tubs ... yeah!

:)

Sheesh, is my hearing ever going bad!

The other day I was talking to my daughter who loves doing wild things to her hair. She has changed the look of her hair at least five time in the last three years. She offered to style my hair next time she visits, which will be this coming week. Both Pamela and Jenn think it's time for me to get rid of the 70's style long hair. I like my long hair! During our conversation we were reminiscing about some of our favorite hair salons in Virgina, and I could have sworn I heard her say she had been looking for an opening for one of the Manhattan jobs she had seen in the newspaper. When I asked what Manhattan had to do with Madhatter's she laughed so hard she fell off the couch. I really didn't think it was that funny, but she said it was more the look on my face and not the mix up on the words that made her laugh. Great, now not only am I hearing funny, but I'm funny looking! :/ Remind me not to use the web cam next time! :P

A Busy Week Ahead!

This afternoon I had the opportunity to talk to the administrator at Jenn's school. We set up an appointment for Monday at 8:30 a.m. which is normally my day off from my bookkeeping job. I had planned on working this coming Monday in an effort to maintain my pay for the week. If the meeting with the administrator and campus officer is completed before lunch, I should be able to get in at least 4 hours of work for the day.

After work I'll need to get home to prepare for the week of visitors. We are expecting my daughter Pamela to arrive on Tuesday afternoon, my boyfriend sometime on Wednesday, and my daughter Lisa, and her husband late Wednesday or early Thursday. It should be a wonderful week filled with family, friends, fun, and lots of good cooking! I even get to work on Thanksgiving day! Thank goodness it's in the earlier part of the day (7 a.m. to 11 a.m.) ... LOL!

Next week is going to prove to be a busy one indeed!

Diet Pills for the Mind?

If you think about it for a moment, it may make perfect sense. How so? We live in a day and age when there are so many different types of media, where people are continually being bombarded by images and ideas both positive and negative. Wouldn't it makes sense then, that limiting the negative input we feed ourselves might be a lot like taking diet pills for the mind? Why not?

Seriously. What you feed your mind and body, is what makes you who you are, in more ways than just physically and mentally. So the next time you think about feeding your children visual imagery that is not positive, remember that it will stay with them for a lifetime. It makes perfect sense to utilize effective diet plans to eliminate the affects that junk foods have on our physical health. Why not have a similar plan to limit the "junk food" that affects our mental health?

I wonder if you can have too much positive input for the mind? Nah!

Waiting for the other shoe to drop ...

Today when I arrived home from work, I watched my daughter head to her room to take a nap. She was emotionally drained. Why? This week has been a hectic one for her. There is a classmate who's ex-boyfriend decided that he wanted to pursue someone else and asked Jenn if she wanted to "go out" with him. Jenn was excited to say the least, but her happiness would soon be threatened by the old girlfriend. You can read more about the kinds of verbal intimidation and cyber-bullying this classmate has put Jenn through over at Adventures in a Lifetime.

We are still waiting for the administrator to call to set up an appointment to talk with the officer on campus. News as it develops ... sigh ... hopefully good news!

Chewy or Crisp?

A couple of weeks ago, two of my coworkers and I went to one of our favorite lunch spots instead of ordering out. It's famous for its Greek cuisine, but the also cook American favorites. Since their large subs are too much for one person to eat, and only a $1.00 more than their half subs, Joann and I will split a large BLT sub, and order a large order o onions rings.

As we began to eat our lunch, Joann and I both gave each other a puzzled look. At nearly the same time we asked, "Is your bacon chewy or crisp?" The answer was a resounding "raw"! There is nothing worse than undercooked bacon on a BLT. We asked the waitress if she could have them cook the bacon a bit longer and send our sandwich back out. She said they would just have to make another sub, and then huffed off.

For a moment before realizing that the bacon was undercooked, I thought perhaps the restaurant had joined some kind of bacon of the month club and were experimenting on their customers. Boy was I wrong! For the time being, when we order lunch from this restaurant we do not order our usual BLT, instead we stick with the tried and true Veggie sub. I guess you could say we are "pork" shy from the experience.

Chewy or crispy, I like my bacon COOKED!

Who's Got Senior-i-tis Now?

Meet Ryan, he turned 18 this last summer as he entered his last year in high school. He's a Senior. He is active in the FFA, plays on the high school's club lacrosse team as a co-captain, and is looking forward to graduating this coming June. He plans on attending college about an hour from home at a private school. We went yesterday to participate it's "Visitation Day" only to find out that the administration assistant had emailed us an announcement of the day's events from last year. It's all right though, they invited anyway us up for a private tour and lunch.

Meet Mike, also a senior in high school and one of Ryan's best friends. Mike is active in the FFA as Sentinel on the officer's team, he is on the wrestling team, and plays lacrosse for the high school's club team. This is Mike's third year as an officer for the school's FFA chapter. He previously served as Reporter as in his sophomore year, and as Secretary in his junior year. Last year, he, Ryan, and their friend Andrew, all served as part of the officers team. In fact, last year's team was what some might call a "Dream Team" of sorts. More about that another time. As we arrived at the college parking lot, we met up with Andrew.

Photographed below are some highlights from our tour.
Enjoy!

Arts & Science Building

Ryan and Mike head to admissions to meet with
the admissions assistant while Andrew
went back to class until after lunch.

One of the first stops on our tour was a visit to the Cafe.
One thing is for sure ... these boys will not go hungry!

As we left the cafe we got a glimpse of some
sunshine and a beautiful view of the gazebo.

We headed over to the library, but stayed outside
as we didn't want to disrupt any real studying. The
building that linked to the library houses several
classrooms for the Science and Math departments.

As we crossed the campus to see where the music
department was located we passed by the Chapel.
Apparently you can earn a scholarship by simply
committing to work 80 hours events for the year.

Next we stopped by the weight room, aerobics
classroom, gymnasium, and racket ball courts. We had
completed our tour, it was not time to discuss what
was required for the guys to attend the college.

Finally, after a nice hot lunch, we met up with Andrew.
He had a couple of hours before he had to head to work
on the campus, so he gave the guys a tour of the dorms.

This is the Freshman dorm room. As you can see it's small.
As you enter the room there are two single beds and a small
refrigerator. The chair is to the desk on the other side of
the closets seen to the right of Andrew.

The other side of the room has a desk, bookshelf,
dresser, and closet on each side.
Can you tell they don't do much cleaning?

The guys stopped for a few minutes to play guitar.
All three of them have played music together
for the last two years. They are hoping to all
share an apartment in a couple of years.

Andrew escorted us to our van as the guys all
said their goodbyes. All Ryan and Mike could talk
about on the way home was how ready they are to
get to college. Seems I'm not the only one suffering
from senior-i-tis!

When was YOUR last Tetanus Shot?

My doctor asked me that very same question and I quickly answered the spring of 1999. Wrong! After talking with Lisa I was reminded that we both had our last tetanus shot on the first of our Disney vacations with her high school marching band. So that means it was in the spring of 1995 thus making us both overdue for our shots. Ryan may be overdue for his too! At this point Pamela, Ted, and Jenn are probably the only ones who are up-to-date on their immunizations.

If you've not had your shots lately, please, stop by your doctor's office or local health department and get them soon. I'm getting mine before the end of the month, as there's no need to wait until we go to Disney next year with the marching band and color guard!

"See you real soon!" ;)

Teens & Appropriate Jobs

Ryan started his new job this week and is finding it a bit overwhelming. He is cashiering at a local gasoline station and one of the duties is to sell tobacco and alcohol to customers. Most adults are able to handle this since they have life experiences that help them identify those that are trying to pull something, or are too drunk to have another drink. For someone who is not accustomed to dealing with people that are deceitful or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it can be very intimidating. His new boss has told him that if after a week's training if he feels that this line of work is not something he wants to continue doing that she will understand.

At this point he is already looking for another job at something a little less intimidating, and less danger of personal and physical harm. This past week alone there were over 20 robberies in our area, most at convenience stores. Apparently the store that Ryan works at keeps a scanner on site to stay atop these types of situations. Regardless, he is not comfortable with either the prospect of selling tobacco or alcohol to the wrong person, or putting himself in harms way should there be a robbery at his station.

Hopefully one of the jobs he has applied for at the grocery store will call soon!

Class 5A

Last night Jenn and her fellow guard and band members performed their last show for the season. Thought they are normally in a Class 4A classification for competing they were bumped up to compete with six other Class 5A bands. Since I had to work until 5 p.m. today, I made it down to the competition just as her class was to perform on the field.

The bands were great! They really had their work cut out for them. It was a good thing that the host band was not competing tonight as they would have been an additional threat. The most interesting and best performances of the night was by a band who were all dressed in black and white. As the musicians would turn to the music it was like an optical illusion.

Their uniforms were like a circus outfit of sorts, all black on one side, and all white on the other from head to toe. Their color guard changed outfits at least three times from white with diagonal stripes, to solid white, then to solid black. Their flags were also varied but all were black and white as was the name of the show.

The most thrilling moment of the night for Jenn was not so much the competition as it was the air gram she got as she entered the field. As the announcer read them we heard, "Jennifer, I said I was going to ask you something tonight ... will you go out with me?" Jenn is now officially no longer single. The look on her face was priceless!

Their band finished in 4th place out of seven, receiving Superior marks for a grade!

Moen, Moen, Moen ... oh, Mowing!

As the season changed the grass in my yard started growing slower, thus making it a bit easier on my budget. Having to mow 1.5 acres of grass each week with a 20" mower takes a bit of petrol. We've been able to put off mowing for the last four weeks with the cold weather, but it's time now. I asked Ryan if he wouldn't mind making sure the mowing was done, especially the grass next to the house, before I got home from work. The look on his face was priceless, sheer puzzlement! He scratched his head and asked what do Moen faucets have to do with the grass outside? Nothing. Ryan was suffering from a "deh, deh, deh" moment. When he heard me say we needed to get mowin' he couldn't figure out what the grass next to the house had to do with our faucet which needed fixing was in the house.

Can we say selective hearing?!