June is a Busy Month

I can't believe it's June already. So much is happening. I finally filled out my paperwork for the school district so they can officially hire me (meaning: start paying me). I've been volunteering in the drama dept as a costumer this school year and I must have done a great job since they now want to pay me. This means I'm accountable for all the costuming and no longer just the assistant. I'm hoping to find a kindred soul (aka a parent who sews) who can step in if I get overwhelmed. I did find a student who is willing to be my in school assistant. She is a great kid and lives, breathes drama. She was a little hesitant as she doesn't know what to do. I told her I was winging it also so we were prefect for it together. I've got my first meeting with my new boss on Saturday morning.

Last weekend Rob and I chaperoned about 60 choir kids to a trip to Idaho's Silverwood Amusement Park and Music in the Park Festival. Our kids didn't get the highest honors but they did have a good time. I had 2 groups of girls to keep an eye on. One group was well behaved and kept in touch with me all weekend. The others, well, I just hope nine months from now, we won't have any little reminders showing up. All their boyfriends are in choir also. I hated riding in a bus for 6 hours but otherwise it was a nice trip.

Tonight Nicole has her final choir performance for the year. Saturday I drop her off at a friend's grad party then I have my meeting. Right after that, I've been invited to a garden party at one of my Zumba buddy's house. She lives in a gated community. It will be nice to see how the other half lives. Saturday afternoon, I take Nicole to get her hair done as she's got a date to go to the Prom! Late night for us, waiting for her to get home. Sunday and Monday I will be sewing, sewing sewing. I've been taking in alterations from the Zumba ladies. It's bringing in some vacation money, woohoo! Tuesday night is the drama club banquet. Then there is more grad parties, banquets, end of year Girl Scout parties, dance recitals, etc.

On June 25th we leave on a much needed vacation to Southern California. We are throwing in a couple of college tours but really we just wanted to go to Disneyland with Nicole since she has never been. Lucky for us (her) our good friends will be in Anaheim the same time and Nicole will have a friend to go on rides with instead of her lame parents. And her lame parents can act goofy and go on rides without the eye rolling. Got some really good deals on hotels near Disneyland. I think the cost of admission is more than our hotel costs. I'm very excited to visit Disneyland again. Last time I was there I was pregnant and fat. It will be so much fun to not worry about fitting into the rides and being able to walk for hours without pain or fatigue. I'm liking being healthy.

I haven't had time to work on my jewelry designs much lately. I do have some things in the works and I'm thinking of applying to sell at the Mourning Market, a dark inspired craft show in Seattle in August. I'm not sure my Steampunk style fits their criteria but I'll see. I will need an outfit too. So much to do and so little time.

Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman's got to hold on to

I was up at the butt crack of dawn this morning - that's 3:30am, to take my hubs up to meet his friends for a 2 day bike ride. The STP (Seattle to Portland) is a 1 or 2 day 200+ mile road trip for fun. I get the pleasure of taking him on Saturday morning to start and then drive to Portland on Sunday to drag his sorry ass home again. I've started taking Nicole with me so I have someone to talk to on the ride there and back. She gets to do some taxfree shopping at the mall so its a win win situation.

While we were driving at 3:30am this morning Rob and I started talking about small towns and their school systems. He was saying that he is staying in Winlock tonight and they only have one elem, one middle and one high school. This got me thinking about my first steady boyfriend I had when I was 16. He lived a one horse town and was bussed to a 2 horse town for school. All grades were housed in one building. His senior class had 6 students. I came from an inner city high school, we had almost 400 in just our class.

I met Steven at our vacation property. His grandparents had a place there and we met at the lake. It was a last minute summer romance. We decided to stay in touch via the mail. This was a long long time ago, before the Internet. It was snail mail all the way. He lived 50 miles from me, I didn't see him but about once a month or so. But as a teenager I gained ground with my friends as I had an actual boyfriend and none of them did. I was not a very nice girlfriend to him tho, I flirted with other guys, went to parties to hit on guys. I liked having the idea of a boyfriend, just not the responsibilities involved. Summer came and we headed out to our vacation property. My dad was retired so we spent pretty much all summer during the week out there. Dad didn't like the weekends there so we would go home for them. This was not good for my social life at the lake. All the good parties were on the weekends. I had made some girl friends out there so I started staying with their families on the weekends. At least that was what we would say. We would end up at someones empty cabin sans parents and get very drunk. One of these weekends I lost my virginity and it wasn't with my boyfriend. OOOPPS! My boyfriend I hardly saw as he was working most of the summer. He did finally make arrangements to come to the lake on the eve of our one year anniversary. I was so over him at this point and wanted to break up but thought it was too harsh to do it in a letter or on the phone so I just continued to have a good time and keep stringing him along until the big day. I plotted out the breakup, discussed with my girl friends what I was going to say. I so broke his heart, he cried. I was disgusted at his weak behavior. I was a cold hearted bitch. I loved it.

So I'm telling this story to the hubs this morning and he just looks at me like, WTF! I said, I had to break up with him, I was starting my senior year, I didn't want to be tied down! I asked him if he had ever plotted for weeks to break up with someone. He said, OMG no!

I then told him it wasn't nearly as satisfying as when I got rid of my first husband, the Sperm Donor. Rob just shook his head, kissed me goodbye and road off into the dawn's early light.

OMG! Joe is their idol!

My daughter went to see the Jonas Brothers concert last night. They had 3rd row seats and her friend actually got to touch Joe as he passed by. My kid was over the top about this event and she said it was incredible! The tickets were $100, yes one hundred dollars. It was our present to her for finishing up middle school.

This takes me back to my youth (a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) when my friends and I would go see shows. And they were cheap, just a babysitting job away. Most were under $20, closer $10 in most cases and just a bus ride to the Seattle Center away. My older sister used to take me with her to a lot of concerts when I was about 11 or 12. With her I saw the Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Marilee Rush, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Monkees. When I was 13 she gave me tickets to a series of concerts, Neil Diamond, the Cowsills, Bobby Sherman. As I got older I started liking my own music and I got to see Jay Geils at the University Street Fair, we went to see Chicago, Bad Company, Yes to name a few.

Being from Seattle we were big Heart fans. We paid good money to see them open for SuperTramp. Later they became the headliners. In 1975 I saw Elton John, this was the one of the most fabulous concerts I have ever since. As I got older I saw the Who, Styx, Billy Joel (many many times). I saw Harry Chapin, Jackson Browne, Indigo Girls, REM, Moody Blues...I wish I could remember them all.

The cost of going to most live performances has exceeded my budget. I find it harder and harder to convince myself to pay these prices for a concert. But for my daughter, last night, the joy in her voice, the excitement she felt, how hoarse her voice was from screaming...it was worth every dollar.

Yes my son graduated, I have the gray hair and ulcers to prove it!

The last week has been very hectic here at Casa O as we prepared for the miracle of Aaron graduating from High School. It was a tremendous battle, fought long and hard. I spent a good part of the final week before the big day cleaning and getting the yard in order, things I'd neglected while I was helping out Girl Scouts. I found out that it's not a good idea to weed whack in sandals. I now have pretty pink polish to coverup the blacken toe nail that got whacked by a bouncing off the wall (must be why it's called a whacker, eh?). So all week, I have been asking Aaron about his grades because as a senior, it doesn't matter that if he "needs" the class (for the credit or a requirement) he has to have a passing grade in every class the last quarter to graduate. As of tuesday he wasn't passing 2 classes. So I'm in panic mode, Aaron just keeps telling me to watch Skyward (the online grade book) and everything is fine. So I keep logging on and finally it looks good. I order the cake (only $16.99 for a half sheet at Costco with Congrats Aaron in orange and blue), buy a ton of food and drink, ask my friends to make salads and keep on deep cleaning the house. I spend $$$ on plants for the pots on my deck so we don't have to look at the dead bamboo and the thyme that has gone to seed. Everything seems nice until Friday morning when I decide to check Skyward one more time. AAARRGGGHH, the Graphic Design teacher has added a new assignment into the grade book worth 400 pts and Aaron has 0, yes ZERO! this drops his grade to F again and I start to hyperventilate. I text Aaron and about 20 minutes later he shows up at home. I ask him, WTF??? He says, Don't panic! He runs upstairs to grab something and heads back to school. He comes home again about an hour later and says everything is fine, he got 290 on the project and should be passing now. He tells me to check online, of course it's not updated and I'm not completely calm yet. He heads back to school for the senior video presentation and I keep checking online for grade updates. Just after 2pm, Aaron comes home and tells me to check now. So I do and woo hoo, he has a D+ and passes!! Before I can do high fives, he says, BTW the school just might call about an incident involving him and his BFF Susan. My stomach sinks down to the floor, I'm thinking, oh god, wtf has he done now? Well, it turns out that after the video, the seniors were to go to the football field behind the school to assemble for one last cheer for AMHS. Well Aaron and Susan decide to ditch that, instead they get in her car, drive into the bus only lanes that run next to the field and lay on the horn, cheering and waving to their astonished classmates. Someone or someones turned them in to the principal about this horrific prank they pulled. Susan's mom came home to a voice mail from the principal that she would not be walking with her class the next day, but Aaron was safe as he was only a passenger in the car. Er, durr... it was his idea! Anyway, Susan's mom managed to convince the principal that it was very harmless and that she should lighten up.

So Saturday morning arrives, the weather is suppose to be nice, I'm excited to see my son accomplish something. Aaron comes bursting into the kitchen, irate. My phone charger isn't working!! You have to go out right now and get me a new one!, he yells at me. I pretty much lost it. I dropped quite a few f-bombs about what I had or had not "got to do" that morning. He stomps off to shower and get ready. I go back to nursing my coffee and Rob chimes in with a smirk, Just how is Aaron going to pay for this new charger? I said, I will pay for it since he spent most of his salary on clothes I told him to buy so he could follow the school's requirement of dress pants, a dress shirt and tie for graduation. Rob then changes his tone to the holier than thou attitude about responsibility. I lost it and told Rob to "stop effing lecturing me!" Then at 8:50 Aaron says, Aren't you going to take me to school? I'm like, Do you think you could have mentioned this sooner? He had to be there by 9am sharp! I race into clothes and off we go only to be gridlocked outside the school parking lot as 300 parents try and get their kids to school by 9 too. The whole way there, Aaron is demanding that I get him a new charger ASAP. On the way back home I realize my morning has fallen apart, so I call Mary to commiserate. I explain that I have alienated most of my family before 9:00, we have a good laugh and she asked if everything is set for the party. I told her I had enough chairs but people were going to have to eat with their plates in their laps due to lack of tables. I go in to find that Rob and Nicole have showered. I growl out that there had better be hot water for me, or there would be hell to pay. I zip in and out, get dressed and call Brianne at 9:50 to get her dad's number as I had tickets for his group. She was surprised to hear we were about to leave for the stadium as she had wanted to carpool with us. We knew that if we waited for Brianne, Aaron would have graduated without us, so we told her we'd save them a seat. I managed to meet up with the ex, find Rob and get seated well before the crowds showed up. Unfortunately I forgot to ask Aaron what side he was sitting on so we ended up not near him but we were facing him. I start talking with the woman sitting next to me and said that I was just happy that my son made it. She asked me who my son was. She screamed with I told her. Turns out she is Susan's mom, Aaron's BFF. She just loves Aaron. Out of 300+ grad families, I lucked out and sat with someone who loves my son!! My day was looking up. I will admit that even tho they told us not to cheer when our childs name was called, almost everyone did and I gave a big whoop for Aaron. I was quite proud.

After the ceremony and goodbyes, we drop Nicole off at a birthday party, drop Rob at home to set up tables (while we were at commencement, the Table Fairy came and left us 3 more tables!! Love the friends!) and Aaron and I headed to Verizon to see about his lifeline, er, phone. Turns out not to be the charger but the phone itself, it's under warranty and 45 minutes later, he has a new phone and we head to Costco for the cake. Hate Saturday at Costco. This takes us more time than it should have for one item. Off to Safeway for ice and back home. It's now 3:30 and guests are due in half an hours. Rob and I rush around like crazies and get it all done, right before people arrive. Time for a cold one or two. Aaron graced the party until 6pm and then begged off to visit other parties. We all had a great time, I got more cheerful and stopped swearing like a long shoreman. Everyone was gone by 9pm and we slept like babies.

Nicole's 8th grade graduation will be a snap. She has her dress, I have to make the little bolero jacket but I've started that. There is no party here, she is going to one via a limo ride. Nice to have rich friends. She is getting to go to the Jonas Bros concert as her present.

I've looking forward to some quiet time starting next week.

Good Mom, Bad Mom

Good Mom: I let my daughter rent a movie on PPV last night with her friends.

Bad Mom: I didn't check the rating on the movie before hand.

Good Mom: When told it was a scary movie, I asked if they could handle it.

Bad Mom: I didn't check with other parents if this was an acceptable movie.

Good Mom: I let them stay up as long as they wanted.

Bad Mom: I let them stay up as long as they wanted.

Good Mom: I let 13 yr old daughter crawl into bed with me and hubs at 5am.

Bad Mom: I made her sleep in the middle just under the comforter.

Good Mom: I didn't tell her friends she got scared and crawled into bed with us.

Bad Mom: I made them all get up before 10am to eat Chocolate Chip Pancakes.

Good Mom: I make chocolate chip pancakes.

More Good than Bad. I think good out weighs the bad, so I'm not going to hell.

Learning to live within your means....

So yesterday I spent the day with a hundred 8th graders at Junior Achievements Finance Park. The kids all got a scenario. Their age, yearly income, married or not, kids or no kids. They then had to create a budget. Then they had to make choices, like what kind of car, how big a house, how much to save, etc. All within a certain net pay. Sounds like real life, eh?

Some of the kids were on the high end of things. Large salary, no money sucking kids. Those that were unmarried, really had it made. One kid in my group was on the low end of things. He was making about $3,000 less a month than all of this friends. As his buddies were talking about the Porsche or Lexus they were going to buy, he said, "I'll probably get to buy a 10 yr old Buick." These kids were really cracking me up. One of my daughter's friend was indignant that they didn't list feminine protection on the shopping list. One of the boys suggested buying the paper towels and wadding them up.

Some of these kids took it very seriously. One girl who is known for being the religious police for all things Mormon by reminding her friends to stay on the straight and narrow. No caffeine, no dating non Mormon boys, etc. She told another girl that she had better plan on tithing 10% to the church, that her budget better reflect that. Well, she didn't because she wanted that Disneyland vacations more.

I had a great time working with these teens and the other adult volunteers. Did the kids learn anything, god only knows. I think they were just excited to get away from class for the day!

Where's the beef?

My son decided to become a vegetarian. He calls me up and says he isn't eating meat anymore and then gives me a list of items he wants me to have around the house. Of course I'm astounded. This is the kid that as soon as breakfast hit the table he would pounce on the bacon plate and ask how many piece did he get. This was the scale that he would use to rate a successful meal, if he got enough bacon. So I did what any mom would do, I asked if his boyfriend was a vegetarian. I also said that just because someone only eats french fries, it does not make them a vegetarian. He rolls his eyes (yes, I can tell over the phone when one of my family rolls their eyes at me). I tell him that I will give him some money and he can buy a vegetarian starter kit at the store. He comes home with Quorn Chckn Nuggets and Tofurkey. He's got lunch and dinner covered as I always have fruit and vegetables on hand.

I'm ok with his choice, hey, I even made sure he has vitamins so I can be sure he is getting the right stuff. But what I don't like is the fact that the stuff he is eating is fake meat. It seem kind of hypocritical to eat products that resemble what you are giving up. But then I figured I put non dairy creamer in my coffee because I'm a bit lactose intolerant, so there you go. So Aaron eats his fungus nuggets (I haven't told him what quorn is and I don't think he looked into it) and I have the pleasure of making his sandwich with the Tofurkey, or as I call it faux turkey or tofunky. The stuff feels and smells nasty. For god's sake, have a cheese sandwich. When ever I handle the stuff I have to immediately wash my hands with hot hot water. It's kind of like the reaction I have when I get canned cat food on my hand when feeding the cats. EWWW GROSS. Anyway, he is eating meatless and it costs me a fortune as this stuff is expensive.

Last night he called me from Dallas while visiting his dad. He is informing me that he is giving up milk. That it just grosses him out now and he can no longer drink something that is like pus squeezed from a cow's breast. He continued to rant on and on but I missed part of it as I was dishing up ice cream. So I said, "What about ice cream?" He was silent for a moment. Then he said, "there's always Tofutti"

Nicole's House Tour or Nix Cool Pix

Nicole did a photo essay of our house for the hell of it. Most of Nik's pics are those of herself.

The chill chest
















The family room AKA the bike barn












Tidy bowl woman










Living room as viewed from under the coffee table









Nik's closet










Mom's sewing room










Toilet's eyeview of the bathtub










Nicole playing Barbies in the Playroom

My Son the Fashionista

My gay son went clothes shopping because just everything was so not right. He got 2 pairs of very straight legged jeans and I asked him why he got that kind. Didn't they have any gay legged jeans? I got the eye roll (I'm so glad the eye roll is not just a hetero thing, as I'd miss it if one of my kids stopped using it). The jeans were too long and he asked if I could shorten them but he was concerned that it would look "gay" if I just cut them off and hemmed them. I said, I thought "gay" was a good thing. It seems the term gay can mean good or bad. Just like once bad, could mean good or bad. I'm so confused. Anyway I got so excited as I know how to cut the hem off and reattach it so the ratty looking hem looks like its been there always. He says, That's it, that's what I want. He asked how I knew to do this. From Queer Eye for the Straight Guy show, but I figure I could work it as Straight Eye for the Queer Guy. I got a head shack and an eye roll.

This morning he showed me his newest purchase. A hoodie with no sleeves. He was wearing it without another shirt underneath. It was a minty green. I said, Aaron, that's great! You look so gay. He said, I'm going to wear something under it. He comes back later to show me his new look. He's got a blue and white wide striped hooded shirt under the sleeveless hoodie. I told him he reminded me of Gordon MacRae in Carousel. He said, huh? I said, you look like a carnie, you know those guys who work the rides at the fair. He walked away shaking his head, rolling his eyes and muttering under his breath.

I'm getting so hip with today's gay fashions. Was Gordon MacRae gay? He sure dressed it.

Shopping for Unmentionables

I went bra shopping with my 13 year old daughter tonight. She is still at that age that it's kind of embarrassing to shop for these. She is a bit self conscious about rifling through the racks and just wants me to hand her a bunch over the fitting room door to try on. So I pick out some really bright colored ones, some stripes, polka dots, flowers and a basic black. I'm no longer allowed in the room nor do I get to see how they look or fit. She gets a couple of colorful bras and the basic black convertible bra. "Oh goody", she says, "I get a black convertible"

Fun with Kids

My middle school daughter and her BFF went to the high school football game tonight. I was on tap to drive them home after. As I'm driving to pick them up, I realize it's 70's night on the radio! I'm rocking to vintage Elton John, the Bee Gees, etc. It was just like when I was coming home from a HS football game. We stopped home so Nikki could pack up her huge makeup bag and some clothes. As we are driving over to her BFF's, I'm rocking in the car. I'm enjoying 70's deja vu. Good music, our team won. It was like I was 16 again. Nikki and her friend are telling me to stop with the waving of arms and keep both hands on the wheel. We pull up to the stop light and off to the left are the team buses!! Hey! Opportunity is knocking!! I roll down the windows and start woo hooing and wave my arms out the window at the buses! The driver in the front bus opens the door and the team starts cheering, we are all honking! It's a great night in our town.

I turn around to see how the girls are enjoying it since they seem very quiet. They are slunk down in their seats moaning in embarassment.

It was a great night, I love being a mom! I figure in a day or two, Nicole will speak to me again.

Ross: Dress for Less, or Less than Less

Just after spending $60 on a new swim team suit, Nik mentions that M and S have cute dresses that sparkle and she doesn't. Her BFF is having her birthday this weekend and her parents are taking her and 4 of her friends to see The Phantom of the Opera with dinner first. So it's bling time! I'm an indulgent mother and I love seeing my girl decked out and being cute but we are on a budget, big time. I said, lets go but cheap or nothing! Off we head to Kohls. They had some sparkly dresses but frankly, I don't want my daughter to look like a hooker and that's all the special occasion dresses they had in Jrs. So off we go, Marshalls -nothing, Nordstrom Rack, nada. Then we see Ross. I don't like going into Ross. It's kind of shabby and the customers and staff always are rude (ok, maybe not always but every time I darken the door). The racks are all too close together and I hate having to try and slide by all the skinny gals who seem so put out that I ask them to scoot their cart over.

Nicole and I maneuver ourselves to the dresses and start sorting thru. They had a few very small dresses (Nicole is very petite, until she came around, I had never looked in a size 00 rack before) She finds 2 dresses that don't look like a street walker or Las Vegas showgirl might own and we head over to the fitting rooms. Nicole is in there about 30 minutes. It's 2 dresses, come on! I start texting her - do you need help? are you dead? wtf? Finally she's out and she loves this little black dress with a big rhinestone decoration just under the bust. It's all floaty and very nice. We head to the racks again to see if we can find some kind of coverup. We did find a wispy chiffon scarfy thing that's beaded.

We finally get in line and what a line it is. Everyone in front of us has a cart filled up and while we are waiting, they have family members adding to their ever growing pile of stuff. Our clerk is in no hurry and doesn't seem to know how to count cash. So she counts the cash she is given 3 or 4 times. I think one person gave her about 80 one dollar bills. Doesn't anyone use plastic anymore. I felt like I was in that Visa commercial where everything comes crashing to a halt when the idiot brings out cash. We waited another 30 minutes in line before we finally get there. I'm nearly comatose and my feet are achy. The clerk rings us up, I pay and off we go. As we head home, I asked Nik what the total came to. Yeah, yeah, I don't always pay attention. She says, $17. Wait a minute, the dress was $14 so what about the scarf? Nik, "oops, she didn't ring it up." So with the help of the clerk, we just sorta shoplifted from Ross a $10 scarf. And no, I didn't go back right then and there. This morning I asked Nicole where the receipt was and the tags from the scarf. In the trash, outside, at the curb, and just moments ago I heard the truck. I'm a poor excuse for setting a good example.

Our Swim Team Star

Nikki is on Swim Team. She loves to swim, enjoys competing and doesn't seem to care that she's not going to make the Olympic team, ever. So now is the start of swim team season, which runs until March. She still swims in the off season and competes but it's more for fun.

We started off with Fall Festival yesterday. Drove 2 hours to see her compete in 3 races. We were gone 8 hours. She spent most of her time playing DS with her friend. There were lots of teams at this event so that's why it was so long. Looking in the stands, there are the parents with notebooks in hand, charting their kid's times, checking against the standards, already playing the trip to regionals. We are not quite as rabid as that. We always say words of congrats or encouragement but mostly we check that she is having fun. This is a rec team and I thought that they were suppose to have fun. Just one word to parents: Don't make your kid feel bad in front of their peers. Nik is pragmatic, if she does well, she's cool, gives herself a pat on the back. If she doesn't make at least her best time, she says, "I'll need to work at that."

Would we like our daughter to be a star? The best at everything? Or anything? Nicole is a star to us. She's a great team player, she sets a great example, she's a nice person who believes in fair play and she always tries her best.

Eye on Silver

Tonight I took my Girl Scout troop to the Silver Award Workshop. The Silver Award is a very involved project taking months of preparations just to get to the point you can do some worthy project for your community. You would have thought I'd dragged these girls to watch a politcal debate. We were by far the largest group there, our 8 girls and 2 adults being half the total there. And they did me proud. When asked what they knew about the Silver Award and why they were there, they all replied, "We know nothing, and our leaders made us come." So we learned about the steps we need to take, how long it might take us and some ideas and way to make our project good for our community.

So my thoughts on this:

Could our girls do a Silver Award Project? Yes. Will they? I'm not taking bets on it.
Do my girls understand more about the SA? HA! At least they have their handouts.
Will my girls come up with ideas on their own about projects? Huh? What's a project?
Out of 9 girls, how many can now identify the IP book and tell me what an IP is? Repeat the question?

So what are Jackie's and my goals for the troop? To supply them with opportunities to do great things, to have a place for fun and be safe.