I found this on Post Secret a long time ago but it made me smile so I saved a copy...

Labels: neighbors, school

I guess it's probably official... I'm not going to attend my 20th High School Reunion that is coming up next month. I got the paperwork about 2 months ago and wavered sending it in so I tucked it away and promptly forgot about it. Right before I had received the invitation and request for information for the booklet they put out I had 'someone' contact me from out of the blue to see if I had heard anything about when/where it was. She seems to be excited to go although one of the first comments she made after I told her when I thought the date was is; "Guess it's time to get started on those diet pills and look into how fast I can have plastic surgery!"

And yes... she was probably serious. She was one of 'that group' back in high school and judging from her email she hasn't changed a bit in her adulthood.

As it is, I never sent in my reservation or money. As a matter of fact, just last week I pulled the paperwork out intending to just send in my current information for the "What are they doing now...." booklet only to see that I missed the cut off date. They wanted it by June 1st.

Ah well... there ya go. I ripped everything in pieces and tossed it in the trash.

Somehow that made me feel better too.

Labels: Childhood, rambling, school, Useless information

The paperwork for my 20 year high school reunion is sitting in the 'file pile' and has been for oh, 5 or 6 weeks now. I've glanced at it a couple times but I really don't know that I'm going. Part of me would like to - just to see the 4 or 5 people that I really might like to see. But the other part of me? Uh, not so much. I didn't have much in common with them 20 years ago and somehow I doubt we'll have much in common now.

Then again the visual of all the 'almost 40' year old cheerleaders sitting around discussing the best wrinkle cream or how to color the gray in their hair might be worth while... ya think?

Na.
Me neither.

Labels: Friends, school, Useless information

Yesterdays email read;

"Dear Meritt,

For Personal Living Skills and Consumer Science Class Coffeekid has a Clothing Design Book due tomorrow and might need your help to finish this project. Thank You."


(Ok... it didn't read EXACTLY that, but close.)

Me: Coffeekid, what homework do you have tonight?
CK: Uh, just some Math.
Me: And?
CK: Hmmm. Uh, oh yeah! And some art. I have a critique to do and then a couple sketch book drawings to work on. They aren't due yet but I'll get a start.
Me: And?
CK: And?
Me: And!?
Me: (waiting)
Me: What about Consumer Science? Your clothing design book?
CK: Oh yeah! That too, but I'm almost done.
Me: No you're not. Your teacher emailed me today to say it is due tomorrow and that I may need to help you.
CK: HELP me? Why!? I'm almost done! I have all the pictures cut out already!!!! I cut them out in class! She saw me doing it! I only have to glue them on the right page and put the book together.


Later that evening, he lays out his work to prepare his design book.......


Me: CK!~ This book is supposed to be about clothing design.
CK: I know, it is.
Me: But none of your pictures have clothes on! They're all scantily clad females!
CK: They're swimsuits... that's clothes!
Me: Great... the book is on clothing design and none of your models are even wearing clothes. NOW I know why your teacher emailed me that I might want to 'help' a little. :P


In the end, we had fun and laughed a ton. I went online and found more options for "warm colors" "monochromatic" outfits and "trendy" to add to his half naked females and he happily gathered up all the rest of his half naked chicks and announced since they were 'left over' he would just make his own poster collage with them and hang it in his room.

Labels: coffeekid, school

Ooops... got busy and never got back. LOL. Imagine that!

Ok - well as busy as we already are guess what? At 5:06 pm last night I was sitting on the kitchen floor cutting out a pattern for a 1760's style dress while I was also in the process of making dinner and talking on the phone to a board member of the Booster Club when my cell phone beeped, but I couldn't answer as I was already talking to the booster club lady. It beeped a second call but again, I had to ignore. Then the home phone rang as well - so I knew it must be one of the kids. Luckily Coffeehusband was here so he answered it and then walked directly to my youngest daughters school bag by the door and started rifling through papers.

The next thing I know I'm standing with pattern and scissors in hand while still listening to the booster club lady and my husband is trying to show me a bright red form from school. I glance at it and see "Track Club" at the top... I knew exactly what it was but geesh - why three phone calls and showing me while I'm already doing 4 other things? Ya know?

I hang up the phone and put away the pattern as it's crunch time with dinner and kids returning from track practice and I knew I wouldn't have time to deal with it. I look at the paper and laugh. Sixth graders (6th) are not allowed to participate in the Junior High Track and Field at their school until they are in 7th and 8th grade; instead, a lot of them sign up for the nation-wide association of the 'track club' instead to get them geared up. Sure enough, this was it.

It's 5:10 pm and registration starts at 5:30.

Bianca isn't a sports-personality. She is more like me. Her short lived soccer career ended after the season we had to have 'pretty curls' in her hair before the game and she would come off the field to throw herself in my lap and declare she was 'tired' and would just rest a bit before going back into the game. LOL. She was 4.

She did dance from the age of 3 until she was about 9 or 10 but since then? Nothing. The ONLY thing she is interested in and has been looking forward to is... track. She has legs that go up to my armpits, they are so long and she loves to run. She's been looking forward to track forever. Coffeehusband agree'd to register her as he had to go there anyway to pick up our son from practice. So... now it seems we have three kids in track practice only now when I pick up one child on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:40 I'm going to keep driving another 15 minutes to the next town to drop a second child off at practice. Meets are on Saturdays and Sundays and are all 'away' meets - sometimes up to 50 miles away. There go the weekends. LOL.

And you know what? In another 7 years when all the kids are graduated and gone I'll be missing every single crazy minute.

*This isn't even what I intended on posting today but you know what happens when I get a couple cups of coffee in me........ it's just the coffee talking!

Labels: Bianca, Coffeehusband, coffeekid, kids, school

After you've kept a kid for 17 years, is it too late to give them back? Change your mind? Ask for a new model? Sigh. I tell ya, Kat's been driving me insane for the past year. She has the personality and conversation skills of her fathers side of the family so communication with her is like pulling teeth... (out of a ferocious tiger in her case - she adds that little touch herself). Well, I had a nice 45 minute morning before I had to deal with her and now the rest of my morning is going to suck. I'm just not in a good mood anymore.

In Other News: Did I mention on the blog the whole 'concession stand' track schedule thing last week? Because there is now a second part to it.

Old News: My daughter practices with the track team to stay in shape and get conditioned but she isn't actually a competing part of the team. We don't go to track meets, she doesn't have a uniform, etc. She just practices with them 3 or 4 days out of the week. My son however, is part of the track team. So... two kids do track practice, only one is actually in track.

The day before we left on vacation I went into Coffeekids room to get some clothes to pack for South Carolina and saw a parents track schedule on his floor. Our name was highlighted in yellow.

I had never seen this schedule before. It was two weeks old already.

The schedule was for the track parents to work the concession stands during track meets. We were scheduled for Tuesday the 15th... when we would be 1800 miles away, in the middle of vacation. I asked my son about it and he said, "Oh, I know. I didn't give it to you because I saw the date and told the coach we were going to be gone. He said ok and not to worry about it."

Great. Cool. No problem.

Fast forward 1 1/2 weeks. We return home from vacation and there was an old message on our answer machine;

"This is the Booster Club just calling to remind you that you work the concession stand tomorrow at 4:30!" This was indeed, to work on the 15th.

Ummm... yeah. Apparently the coach never got the message to them. They probably think we bailed.

Nothing to do about a week later so I just let it go.

Last night I got out of the shower and Bianca handed me a telephone message; Reminder you work tomorrow at the track meet concession stand. She said you probably already know about it but they just wanted to remind you.


blink...

blink...

blink...


No. I don't already know about it. I actually have NO idea what she is talking about and after checking my calendar I don't even have a track meet on the schedule.

I don't have the ladies name but there was a number left so I called it. I introduced myself and told her I was returning a phone call re; the concession stand schedule.

I got a very stern, unhappy, "YES?"

Hmmm... no sunshine was shining out this ladies butt, that's for sure.

I told her I was confused. I didn't have any track meet on my calendar and had no idea I was to work.

She informed me in a very rude manner that it was on my schedule.

I've never seen a schedule.

They were handed out at the track meet to all the parents they could find.

(Umm, ok, like that is a good way of getting information out???? But anyway....)

I've never received one. Was it possible it was handed out at a track meet when we were away in South Carolina for a week?

Well, if they didn't catch you then, they would have tried to hook it up with your child at practice.

(At this point I'm still confused... thinking I already saw my sons 'old' schedule, which we were gone on our date so this is a new one perhaps? I had no idea. Still confused.)

I asked her if this meet was a rescheduled one due to snow or rain? Because I don't have a meet on my calendar at all.

She rudely and impatiently informed me (something I already knew that still didn't make sense); This is a Junior High meet! We schedule you to work when your child isn't competing. This way you can still watch your daughter compete in HER track meets. (With a silent 'duh' in the tone of her voice.)

They were talking about Kat! Not Coffeekid! Ohhhh.

Ahhh, that's why I didn't get a schedule. My daughter doesn't compete.

Silence.

She's not actually ON the track team. She practices with them to stay fit and conditioned for cheerleading but she doesn't go to the track meets and she doesn't compete. That's why I didn't get a schedule. I wasn't at the girls track meet. We don't even have those on our calendar.

She was not happy. Ok... she wasn't happy at the beginning of the conversation but she was even more rude now.

After I explained that to her she bit my head off. Apparently the coach had my daughters name down on the original roster. Obviously I didn't know any of this as again.... she's not actually on the team, we don't go to the track meets, she doesn't have a uniform and I have NO IDEA what the girls track team does or doesn't do. I personally know nothing about it.

I told her I wouldn't mind working if they need me but that was why I didn't know anything about the meet or the schedule and it's why we were never given a copy of it.

She angrily told me they obviously could always use help... and she went off on a mini-rant.

By this point I was tired of being friendly and smiling and trying to keep the conversation light hearted when she had not been friendly or smiled ONCE during our entire conversation. So... instead of volunteering to work anyway I just let it slide. When she was fuming and ready to hang up I WAS going to tell her I'd work today anyhow... but figured she was already ranting and hanging up so I'd just let her. And I did. I timidly just said "Ok... bye."

What a confusing phone call. It was half way through it before I figured out she was talking about my daughter and not my son. It just went downhill from there.

She needs to learn a little honey is sweeter than pure vinegar.

Labels: coffeekid, Kat, kids, school

Judy and Fantastagirl... your wish is 'kindof', 'sortof' my command. LOL. I heavily edited the faces of the kids friends (and one of them even my own kids faces!) so you could get a glimpse of some of the dresses.

Labels: kids, school

This years prom is almost officially over. Once the tuxes are returned and the kids are awake to tell me about it I will cross '2nd prom' off my list and think to myself; "only about 7 or 8 more to go!" Kat went last year as a Sophomore, of course this year as a Junior and still has next years Senior. My son went this year as a Freshman (the only male Freshman asked to go out of the whole school!) and quite possibly (probably) will be asked next year and then he has his junior and senior proms. By that time our youngest, Bianca has a possibility of being asked as a Freshman and Sophomore before her junior and senior proms. So? We could have upwards of 11 proms between the three of them. I should be able to pull this stuff out of my hat with a blindfold on by then.

The Boyfriends Mom picked up his tux the night before and brought it home after work. She got home at 9:pm only to find out the tux shop had messed up his order. Instead of a cool silver vest and silver European tie they gave him a vest that he described as "my old grandma's couch material" and a big old bow tie! He was mad! But his Mom went back to the store with his receipt in hand and showed them what was ordered and came home with a different vest and better tie.

The other little flub was actually two of them and they happened to my daughters friend J. J had ordered her flowers 4 weeks ago from a large florist in the area. She arrived to pick up her flower order yesterday morning only to be told they had no order on file. She placed it almost 4 weeks ago! Nope. No order. Next please! Wait... can you make one up for me now then? No. We are far too busy for that! Next please!

Wow.

Poor kid. But she went to another store that has a florist department and explained why she needed to place a last minute order and they got the job done. She returned home for her 11:00 hair appointment only to find out the girl was running late. Ok... but at 12:noon found out the girl bailed on her! She was also going to the prom and was running late and wouldn't have time to do her hair.

Wow. Again, J jumped in her car and went on a quest to find someone to do it at the last second. She found a CostCutters hair place way out of the way in another part of the city that wasn't holding prom that day so she figured they wouldn't be as busy and got right in. They were happy to do her hair and I must say it turned out gorgeous! So although stressful to have your flowers and hair appointment both fall through the cracks at the last second, all turned out well in the end.

I stared at photos this morning trying to decide which I could/should post. In the interest of privacy for the 'other' kids I decided I couldn't really post their photos so you get a close up shot of my daughters dress and my sons dates dress... just a random shot I snapped as they all lined up for a group photo. I love it though it doesn't show anyone's face.

The last kind of funny story is that I had bought the kids 3 bottles of Welch's Sparkling Grape juice for the limo ride. The limo provides ice, glasses and napkins but the kids are under age so no champagne. No problem! I searched 3 stores to find the bottled sparkling juice that looks like a wine bottle, wrapped with foil on top and very elegant. Last night I and about 200 other parents all were converged in an auditorium waiting for the Grand March to start where the couples are announced and walk out on stage for a picture. The last of the kids were still arriving to the prom and as our group walked in my daughter saw that I happened to be sitting in the front row and found me right away. Her eyes lit up and she turned to tell her brother something. As he walked around the corner sheepishly had to walk across the stage and over to where I was sitting, in front of all the parents and teachers that were in the auditorium waiting.... with two bottles of 'wine' in his hands! LOL.

They had not used all of the sparkling juice up and limo driver gave it to them as they exited the limo. Oh sure... make the Freshman kid carry the booze in front of the parents! Ha ha ha. As he bent over to hand the bottles to me he whispered, "You should have seen the principals face when we walked in!" LOL.

Yes, I made sure the WELCHES juice brand name was turned 'outward' the rest of the evening as I carried them in my hands. :)

The kids attended 'after prom' at the high school and got home around 5:45 am this morning. They are all sleeping, including the Boyfriend, who informed me he doesn't plan to get up until 3:00 this afternoon. Ha ha. As for Kat - she has dance recital practice and dance pictures today so she'll be up by 1:00 to get ready.

I can't wait until they are awake so I can hear about the night and how everything went!

Labels: coffeekid, Kat, kids, school

Here I was, all excited to tell my readers that the pesky sponsorship pop up was gone... but wait! It's not.

Ok, it's supposed to be. So come back! Come back! It won't scare you way anymore! I've wrote to the company to tell them it's still there and that it seems to have it's undies showing. Meaning... I can see its html coding as text. But they've been emailed and it should go away sooooooon so you can all come back now and not be scared of clicking through the sponsorship pop up.

Snow is indeed, still covering our ground and heavy fog is in the air. It's not typical - but you know the whole global cooling that is going on has given us an incredibly long, cold winter. And to tell you the truth I'm almost (?) glad to see the snow. Remember we are leaving for our family vacation in a week. If it's still cold and snowy here it will make our vacation to the beach all the more sweet.

Remember the girl that volunteered to make the reservations for prom about 6 weeks ago? If you are new around these parts or don't stop in let me quickly recap;

I have two kids going to prom this month. My 17 year old Junior is of course going, and my 15 year old Freshman son was asked as well (the only male Freshman in the entire school to be asked !?!). They are both going to be in the same 'group'. One of the girls in the group insisted on making both the limo and restaurant reservations. We said... OK and when asked about them 2 weeks later she said they were done and made but wouldn't give any details and avoided questions.

About 1.5 weeks ago my daughter finally got her to admit that she had not made any reservations when they insisted on knowing which company and restaurant it was.

One week ago I was on the phone calling every single limo company within 50 miles of our city to track one down for the 8 kids in their 'group'. I got lucky when I called one of the 25 companies back and got the owner himself who remembered he had just bought another limo and it would be delivered and ready by then and he let me book it.

Fast forward to the last two days.

My daughter and another friend were calling around the city trying to make reservations for 8 but 'this girl' turned up her nose at every single one of them. "I hate that place." "I don't like them." "I won't eat there."

Finally last night the ENTIRE truth came out.

This entire time she intended on their 'group' to go to her house and her Mom would make them dinner and they could drive to prom in their SUV. Because... 'that's what my sister did'. So - by telling the group she would make the reservations she was going to NOT make them, tell everyone they were booked solid and then have her Mom make them dinner and drive in their Tahoe.

Not a big deal if the whole group would have decided on this together and from the beginning, but being secretive and lying about it when the group is planning to go out for dinner is just not cool. (And I do like her, and she is a sweetie... she is just rather ditzy sometimes and obviously not all together truthful.) And no - it's not a money issue. They are actually quite well to do. (Edited to remove some details to keep this a little more anonymous).

My daughter and her friend found two restaurants downtown near where the prom will be held that are not booked so they made reservations at both and will be checking them out this week to see which one they think will work best.

Labels: Kat, kids, school

*newest update - if you can't wait to see what happens next.... it's at the bottom*
This post has *ongoing* updates.......


A month ago when prom plans were first underway I asked my daughter about her 'group' she and Boyfriend would be going with. It was still being finalized but they basically knew and one of the girls said she would be in charge of finding the limo. Knowing her parents would be helping her out I said ok and put it out of my mind, sure that they were setting that up... a month ago.

Fast forward to this week when my daughter has been 'texting' with the other girl only to find out she just this week started to make phone calls. Not her parents... her. The girl that you have to repeat things to. Twice. Oh my. It was a sore subject to my daughter so my questions were rebuked and rebuffed and granted, I have a short temper so we didn't have good 'conversations' about this.

They have 8 couples in their group (?), so a 16 passenger vehicle is needed. Apparently one of the companies she has been talking to gave her a verbal "yes" but then days ago stopped returning or picking up her calls. When she got a hold of him yesterday he told her he was booked. And that is where I stepped in. After launching a couple of lectures to my daughter about how adults are going to blow them off because they are teenagers, and quote them outrageous amounts and as she has already seen, not return their phone calls, etc. that the other girls parent MUST get involved and it was KILLING ME not to step in and get this done.

So last night I received an email from my daughter with 3 website links and a "I give you permission to call...." note attached. LOL.

Of course, being just 4 weeks from prom every single one of them were booked solid. I got busy online and called a few more.... I had to endure a lot of snide remarks about how they've been "booked for 3 months" and "that was reserved a month ago..." "shouldn't have waited..."

Yeah. I know. I wasn't the one that was supposed to be making the reservation!

Grrr.

Apparently every single limo company in our entire city is booked solid with all the proms going on. The only thing I could come up with is a coach style limo 'bus' that holds up to 26 and has a 5 hour minimum (and has coach style seats - which won't work with fluffy prom dresses!).

As a last ditch effort I called one more that I knew would probably be booked as well, but while speaking, she told me she only had 1 vehicle left ... a hummer. Exactly what we want!

And before I could yell out YES, and shout out my credit card number to hold it, she told me she was taking a reservation on another line and asked if she could call me back....

Now I had a meek 'yes' to offer, and gave my name and number and.....

She hasn't called back.

And I am not very good at waiting.

It's been about 30 minutes and I'm going insane. I am just sure that the reservation she was taking on the other line was probably for 'my' vehicle... the last available one in the city outside of that ugly coach mini-bus thing that is overpriced.

My husband said to call back and tell her I just stepped out for a bit and didn't know if I missed her call. :)

I'm tempted.

Sorely tempted.

Ahhh the waiting is killing me.

Labels: kids, rambling, school

It's officially Spring Break 2008. School is out until the 24th and all of my kids have very different plans. One is heading to Florida with a friends family, one is starting a brand new part time job and my oldest is going a short trip with The Boyfriends family to a neighboring state, not only to see family but to also do a college visit. Ah yes... college visits. It seems like just yesterday she was quite literally in Kindergarten, but now, every single day brings college postcards, invitations and brochures to our mailbox and recruiters visiting her school.

The marketing that colleges use is getting quite creative as well. While looking at Ketterling, which is rated one of the US News Best Colleges (and the number one University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in its annual "America's Best Colleges Guide for 2008), I had to laugh at their 'stickman' recruiting videos. Their humor in the School Daze episodes made me smirk, especially the bell tower and ninja jokes.





Kat doesn't currently have an interest in pursuing mechanical engineering or the other majors offered by Kettering, however, I do love the co-op education style that the college uses. Definitely worth checking out if you are looking for such a school, but also worth checking out just to see their funny stickman recruitment videos!

Labels: PP, school

'Cinderella' changed at school so I never actually got a picture of her in the last minute "Mom I need to be Cinderella by tomorrow morning" dress, but I did dig it out of her school bag and toss it on the floor to snap a picture since I talked about it on the blog. Missing from the photo is of course, the matching headband I hot glued together at the last second and the black choker necklace that Cinderella wears. (She also wore a long sleeve white shirt under it as straps thinner than 3 fingers are not allowed to be worn in school).


'Kat' is being... well, herself. Which totally drives me insane. Yesterday after she got home from track practice I asked her if she had plans for the night, since, you know... it's Friday and all. She sighs. I ask; "Do you have plans with Boyfriend?" She rolls her eyes and says; "Yes... (sigh) he wants to come over and hang out."

Blink.

Blink.

Me: "Well... yes.... he IS your boyfriend and people that are dating tend to DO that...."

Kat: "I would really just rather hang out in my room by myself, watch a movie and play Nancy Drew on computer all night."

And when he did show up, with a movie, ready to hang out with her she was indeed, still in this kind of mood. *And it's not playing hard to get either!* It's Miss Completely Independent. (If you haven't clicked on the "PLAY" button on the movie clip on the left, in which I explain just WHY my two girls are nicknamed Kat and Bianca... you really must do so. The scene where the guy is trying VERY HARD to ask Kat out and she tells him she would rather vomit is quite telling.)

Go ahead... watch. I'll wait. LOL.

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Kat is a very awesome, fun, sweet girl... but very much "This is who I am and I'm not going to fake it for you nor change for you. I'm strong and independent and if you don't like it, you can always leave."

I guess in a way that's good... she certainly stands up for what she believes in, is sure of herself and doesn't try to 'change' to blend in. She certainly doesn't have a complex about wanting 'everybody to like her'. She stands tall and proud and in the end, when she leaves the 'nest' next year... she'll fly.

Labels: Bianca, Happy Housewife, Kat, kids, school

Coffee: Eight O'Clock French Roast - strong
Mug: Harry & David

After my post yesterday I did look into (briefly) the cost of classes - online as that would work best for our family and my schedule of full time Mom, all-but-single parent and all... Far too much $$$ right now. Thanks Mrs. P for the vote of encouragement though. I would dearly love to teach high school. It's funny that I never once regretted not getting my degree... until now. The first time in 20 years it's ever mattered to me.

As I look around for inspiration for a post I admit I've got nuthin' this morning. I see the pile of tax papers. Nope, still not done. They would be, actually, if I had $40. You see, I use Tax Cut software to do them and I am ready to do this years, but it's $39.95 for the 2007 upgrade and I don't have forty bucks until Friday so they just sit waiting on the counter for me.

Oh - had a "thats odd!" moment yesterday when an old high school acquaintance emailed me. I had left my email addy on a high school reunion site years ago. I recently went in and updated it since we no longer have that email. She saw it and emailed me to see what I was doing now and if I knew who was going to plan our next reunion. It was only after the shock of hearing from her wore off that I figured out the point of the email. She and her 'group' are supposed to be planning it.... but for all those nitty gritty gossipy details that I can't put in my blog because I'm not as anonymous as I'd like to be - I can't tell you why this is important.

LOL.

But it all made sense when after I told her who I believed had taken over planning it (since no one else was) and I shared some other info and some photos I got a "thanks for sharing" have a great day - answer and that was it.

Just like in high school I thought perhaps she was being friendly this time, but was really on a fishing expedition. LOL. I am still going to email her again, as I promised to once I knew the date they were looking at holding it... but I do so with a knowing smile on my face.

I don't think she is happy with the two people planning our reunion. Nope, not happy at all. LOL.

Labels: Childhood, Friends, school

Coffee: Folgers Gourmet Selection; Lively Columbian
Mug: Tall Starbucks ceramic
Kid Count: 2 extra and 1 more on the way


This morning I woke at 5:56 am and listened to the sleet and ice hitting the window. I figured school might be an hour or two late with the sheet of ice covering everything so I dragged myself out of my nice warm bed and came downstairs to check my email. As I turned to quietly shut the bedroom door behind me I noticed a bright flash of light at my back. It was lightening! Odd! Cool... but odd. It's the first of February, with snow on the ground, ice falling from the sky and lightening. Winter storms like that are few and far between, but we've had two this season already, one came complete with thunder!

Although the school has a phone call warning system in place when school is late or canceled, I opted out after the first test call rang loudly through the house on all the phones at 5:30 am a couple weeks ago. I lost no time emailing to say 'remove me from the list!' and I opt, instead to read the cancellation emails on my computer. Thus, getting out of bed to see if school was late.

It is.

Last night my oldest daughter called from work to tell me her best friend had texted her to ask; 'can i spend the night?'

A little odd since it's a 'school night' but I love this kid like she's another daughter of ours so; "Of course."

When BabyGirl got home from work we sat down at the kitchen table with all the paperwork that was due in to school the next morning regarding next years Senior Class Schedule, Course Description Booklet, Graduation Requirements, Credits Needed to Graduate and Electives and Extra Curricular Activities.

When her best friend showed up around 10:00 p.m. we had just finished all the school paperwork when her mouth dropped open and she said, "Is that due tomorrow?"

So... I helped her plan her senior year schedule as well!



The best friend is one of the 'extra' kids in the count this morning of course, the second is one that called at 7:00 to see if she could hang out here during the 2 hour delay while her Mom goes to work. The other kid is on her way, doing the same - although she comes here about 3-4 days a week anyway at 7:06 every morning. (Didn't know I usually had an extra kid here every morning did ya?) LOL. She lives in a different school district and is open enrolled in ours.

And for all the guilt and straddling the fence I feel and do about making the decision to leave the office and be a housewife and mother right now, it's mornings like this, when I hear the voices of children (my own and others) echoing through my house and I'm sipping my coffee while I watch the sleet come down outside the window... that I thank God I had the guts to resign.

Labels: Happy Housewife, Kat, kids, school, work

Yesterday from 12:00 - 5:00 was spent....







The price of a prom dress... ouch! Average price on the dresses we tried on yesterday; $350.

Labels: Kat, school, shopping

A few nights ago during dinner my 15 year old son announced that his project for art class was that they had to build a 'building' and in the end, the teacher was going to use the buildings from the entire class to set up and form a town. Buildings were not being assigned, each student has to decide what kind of building they want to design and build.

Never one to miss a great chance to tease my kiddo I ask;

"What building are you going to make?"

"I don't know."

"How about a strip club?"

He laughs out loud and his eyes open wide. "Mom!"

"What?! I bet none of the other kids will do a strip club." LOL.

"No Mom."

"What? You don't have to draw naked bodies. It's just a brick building and you can put up some dorky sign outside like 'The Lumber Yard' - or 'Big Earl's Goldmine'."

He rolled his eyes and laughed at me.

"Ok," I continued, "Then make it a bowling alley."

He shook his head and laughed.

I smiled and ate my dinner.


Dang I love my kid.

Labels: coffeekid, school

Over the years it's been a learning experience, but I've learned to celebrate the differences in my children. God gave them each a very, very different personality, different talents and different lifestyles. Given what I see in them now at 17, 15 and 12 it will be great to see where they are 10 years from now.

Last night in the Living Room just before bed Coffeegirl comes into the room and gets on her Dads laptop and goes online for a minute;


"Mom, I just checked my grades online. He hasn't entered todays test results yet but when he does I'll have a B in Science!"

I gather my things to go upstairs to bed and read before falling asleep. I stop into BabyGirls room to say goodnight.

"Mom, I'm so worried about Semester Tests this week! I've been studying and making note cards for over an hour and I've only gotten through three pages!" said as she holds up a small pile of note cards to show me.

I was then approached by my son with a grin on his face. The son that has the same huge Semester Tests today and tomorrow as his sister....

"Mom, look! I got a luggage lock stuck on my finger and it won't come off and the key is somewhere in my room but I don't know where."

Labels: Bianca, coffeekid, Kat, kids, school

My son was sitting in the living room with his sweatshirt on, his hat on, his backpack on his back. He was ready to leave for school and had been that way for 15 minutes.

The morning litany of "Hurry up" "What is taking you so long?" "Come ON BabyGirl!" had started from my lips.

Her brother, having given up long ago, resigned himself to sitting silently in the chair with his elbows resting on his knees and his jaw in his hands.

After one hour and 20 minutes (since she woke up) BabyGirl finally comes down the stairs to drive to school. Almost one and a half hours and she is wearing jeans and a t-shirt with semi wet scrunched hair pulled back on the top.

"One and a half hours and you look like that? You could have done that in 7 minutes!"

She wasn't happy about my comment.

But that's ok.

I'm not happy about how slow this child is every morning.

My son?

He's desensitized. He doesn't say a word.

Labels: Kat, kids, school