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elizabethblue
Nov. 21st, 2006
08:00 pm - A Proud Mommy Moment
Yesterday my 9 year old brought home his report card for the 1st 9 weeks of school. He's in 3rd grade now, which is the first year they start using the A - F grading scale. I was extremely pleased, and extremely proud to see that he made the A/B Honor Roll. :):):):):) I cried, I was so proud of him.
I'm just as proud of my oldest son when he gets good grades, too, but my 9 year old is hearing impaired and has been at something of a disadvantage, so for him to get on the A/B Honor Roll is something that pleases me to no end. He has worked very, very hard, and I think I might cry again just writing about it.
It's also thanks to his wonderful teachers. They (and the whole team, really) have done a stellar job not only creating his IEP, but executing it as well. They never miss a beat when the task is something he would not do well with because of his hearing loss. (Just as an example, he always receives preferential seating in any classroom or situation, and he takes orally-administered tests one-on-one.)
The teacher he has this year is particularly wonderful because she has always wanted to work with the deaf. She knows Sign Language, which is something I've been enouraging Matthew to learn with me, if, God forbid, he should ever lose his hearing completely.
In Kindergarten, he had such a horrible teacher. He learned very little that year, and as a result, was not prepared for 1st grade. He spent most of 1st grade behind and struggling to catch up. Because we felt there was no way he'd succeed in 2nd grade, his teacher and I decided to hold him back. That did him world of good. Since then, he's had struggles, and he always will, but he's a super-smart kid and I can't even put into words how proud I am of him. He's had a hard time of it since he started Kindergarten, and still he's got a great attitude, and he loves school.
Oct. 12th, 2006
Oct. 6th, 2006
05:50 pm - Dreary day
I thought I wouldn't mind the rain and cold weather because it gave me an excuse to stay inside, be warm and -- uh -- actually WRITE. But in order to feed my family something other than lentils or couscous, I had to go to the store. Mind you, I've got about 5 gallons of homemade vegetable soup, too, but it's unacceptable to serve it without some sort of carbohydrated accompaniment. Either hot rolls or grilled cheese sandwiches. To my horror, I discovered I did not have any sandwich bread with which to make grilled cheese and not enough flour to make hot rolls. So I had to go to the store.
I was so irritated by the weather and the traffic by time I got there, I got frozen rolls, which I feel is cheating, but so be it. I don't give a flying fuck. They're still good. Everyone will probably be bad tonight anyway, so maybe they don't deserve homemade rolls! So there! LOL. Anyway, I got frozen rolls. But then I decided to get flour, too, in case I decided to make something that requires flour tomorrow. That led me to want to bake banana nut bread, so I got some butter and some nuts. (I already have bananas and everything else I need for that.) But then I remembered one boy child doesn't like banana nut bread. He likes only chocolate desserts. So I got brownie mix, too.
Man, I love to cook when it's cold.
I got home, started heating up the soup and letting the rolls thaw, and on the spur of the moment, realizing it was after 5:00, I opened a beer. Now it's not very likely at all that I'll make either banana bread OR brownies. Instead, I think I'll do internetting tonight. Just goof off. Sounds like fun!
Oct. 4th, 2006
03:46 pm - Things that bug me
I just feel like complaining, that's all.
1. Condensation on my car the morning after I've washed it. Rain is even worse.
2. Store brand hot dogs.
3. Shitty customer service.
4. People who talk on their cell phones while driving. Whenever this topic comes up, everyone participating in the conversation agrees that talking on a cell phone while driving is annoying to other drivers, dangerous and just plain unnecessary. Goddammit, the world was still turning back before those things were invented! When you needed to make a call, you stopped at a pay phone, or you just waited until you got home. The world is not a better place now that we have cell phones and the ability to talk on them to whomever at any given time of the day no matter what the hell else we're supposed to be doing or paying attention to!
Why don't I ever hear anyone defend talking on their cell phone while driving during those times when everyone is bashing Cell Phone Talking Drivers? No one ever pipes up and says, "Well, I do it, and I'm proud to say so!" No one ever says, "I talk on my cell phone while I'm driving because driving in itself is boring, and I need to have something else to do to occupy my brain." No one ever says, "I get so much more work done by talking on my cell phone when I'm driving. Plus it boosts my metabolism, diminishes the look of fine lines and wrinkles on my face, makes my kids get straight A's in school, keeps me perpetually tan and good-looking, grows my grass green and healthy and cleanses my colon so I feel healthier and stronger than ever!"
Makes me wonder who, out of the conversation participants, really do talk on their cell phones while driving but cannot admit it in front of other people. If I NEVER hear anyone say they do it, and everyone I talk to ALWAYS says they hate it when other people do it, then who the hell are all these damn people I see doing it? I guess I've just never talked to them.
In the past 24 hours all of these things have happened to me: I got behind a guy going 30 in a 45 mph zone who was talking on his phone. That was just irritating. Another car, the driver of which was talking on a cell phone, started gradually veering out of his lane into mine. That pissed me off. You don't fuck with the 'Bird. Some stupid bitch in an SUV nearly rear-ended me on the highway while she was talking on her cell phone. (And don't even get me started on SUVs - especially when they park next to me in a parking lot.) I'm sure there were more cell phone incidents, but those are the ones I recall at this very moment.
I have a cell phone. I love it. It's great for when I'm at the grocery store and can't remember whether we need milk or not. I can call home and find out. It's good for roadside emergencies, too. It's cool to have at work since my voice mail doesn't work, and I can talk to people while I'm outside taking a smoke break. Comes in handy for all sorts of things. Free long distance. Fancy ringtones. (Right now my phone plays the Star-Spangled Banner.) I've never found it necessary to talk on the phone while I'm driving. Hell, I can't even hear the damn thing ring when I'm driving because the sound of my exhaust is so beautifully loud. Plus I have the radio up anyway. There's not anyone in this world I'd want to talk to badly enough that it couldn't wait until I was done driving wherever the hell it is I'm going.
5. Heavy traffic.
6. Bugs.
7. Parents who can't control their children in public.
8. Commercials on the radio. Except for the Burger King sausage biscuit commercial. I love that one.
9. Commercials on the television.
10. Reruns.
Oh, there's so much more. But I don't have time to write it all down now. I've got to get to work!
Oct. 3rd, 2006
10:32 pm - Too much to do in October!
It's a busy month. On Saturdays, through the end of the month, 2 of my kids play baseball. We're there until about 1 pm. This coming Saturday is free after that, so I'll probably just be Drinking and Cleaning. The following Saturday is Book 'Em, a book fair in Waynesboro, VA. That Friday, the 13th, I have to choose what I want to do the most: go to a high school football game (my son's school is playing my alma mater) or go to Street Wars - drag racing at Virginia Motorsports Park. I'm leaning toward the latter.
The following Saturday and/or Sunday, I need to drive down to the Newport News area and take pictures for my ghost book. And the following Saturday is my Halloween party.
I feel kinda stressed. I would really like a Remote Control Skeleton Robot. It would be even cooler if said Robot could throw pumpkins that explode.
This weekend I'd like to research different ways of making things explode. I think blowing stuff up is fun.
Oct. 2nd, 2006
11:53 pm - What I want for Christmas
A remote control skeleton robot.
Does anyone know where I can get one? Or know where I can find instructions for building one? I really want one. Seriously!
Tonight I'm making steak on the grill again - but it's early yet. Only 11:52, and I just took the meat off.
Oh, I do love meat. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I went through that vegetarian phase when I was 17. I LOVE MEAT!
Sep. 29th, 2006
12:48 pm - My first foreign language spam!
LOL. It was all in German. How disappointing. It might have been porn and I'd never know! German porn might be worth looking into, you know?
Spam marketing techniques really need to improve.
Sep. 28th, 2006
10:49 am - Fall is here
While it's warm today - 80's expected for the afternoon - it's supposed to turn sharply colder by Saturday. I'm bummed about that because it means my tanning season officially ended 2 weeks ago. If I have to go more than 2 weeks, my tan fades so much I may as well not bother anymore. Sigh.
On the plus side, it means I get to make my vegetable soup this weekend. For the last 13 years, I've it around this time of year because I crave it at the end of September. I crave it at the end of September because it's what I had for dinner the night before I gave birth to my first child. It was the last good meal I had for over 24 hours!
Weather changes call for wardrobe changes, too, and I'm having a strong urge to go shoe shopping. :)
Sep. 23rd, 2006
12:30 am - Midnight Grilling
Yum. It's midnight. And I'm cooking steaks on the grill. I just felt like it.
Sep. 20th, 2006
12:39 am - Pinks! rocks
Oh, man, Rich Christensen is just as hot in person as he is on TV. I had a blast watching the Pinks! shoot last Saturday. It is totally my favorite show on TV. I'm going to keep a close eye on the schedule, and if they film anywhere within driving distance for me, I am SO there. :)
Sep. 15th, 2006
12:56 pm - Beth's Redneck Night Out!
I am soooooo excited. Today I heard on the radio that Pinks! will be shooting an episode for season 4 at the Virginia Motorsports Park tomorrow night! Wooohoooo!
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ecstaticSep. 11th, 2006
10:01 pm - AFJROTC
Wow. This is pretty cool. Last year, when my son was choosing his classes for this year, he expressed some interested in the Air Force JROTC program at his future high school. He didn't express enough interest in it, at the time, in my opinion, so I talked him out of choosing that as an elective.
Since school started, he's done nothing but talk about how he wished he'd gone with JROTC. I understood that classes couldn't be changed once school started, but it turns out, one of his electives was cancelled so he ended up with an unwanted study hall. With an extra study hall, one can change to a new class. So he did. Tomorrow he starts in the AFJROTC program. I think that totally rocks.
optimisticSep. 8th, 2006
09:09 pm - Friday Night Football
Oh, boy do I feel old. My son went to his first high school football game tonight.
I pestered the crap out of him for about 20 minutes this afternoon, making sure his friends would be there, that they had a place to meet up, that they weren't going to make out under the bleachers or bring vodka in go cups to mix with their sodas or do any of the other things I did when I went to high school football games.
To keep from being obsessively worried all evening, I worked out. I feel better.
I told him I would come to the game with him, and he says, in a tiny voice, "Okay." But the look on his face said, "Oh shit, no fucking way!" I told him I would definitely come when his school played Freeman, my old high school. I assured him his friends would never see me. We'd come in separately, and I'd be sitting on my school's side anyway. ;)
11:47 am - Big Trucks Suck
Don't get me wrong - I do actually like big trucks - when they're driven by hot looking country boys. But I hate big trucks (along with SUVs and minivans) when they're parked next to my car.
I almost punched a lady in the nose in the Target parking lot the other night. She parked her ginormous Ford somethingorother truck inches - yes mere INCHES - away from my 'Bird. If I'd had a passenger, he or she would have had to get in on my side and crawl across. Not only was there not enough room to open the door, there wasn't even enough space between our vehicles for a toddler to get through.
I was livid. I looked around as best I could to make sure she didn't actually hit my car when she pulled in, all the while cussing and trying really hard not to go back into Target and buy a knife to slash her tires with.
I was just getting ready to write her a nasty note and leave it on her windshield when she came back to her truck. I took a couple of deep breaths, lit a cigarette and started up my car so she'd know I was there. Then I watched her carefully (and quite jerkily, too) pull the damn truck out of the parking space. My palms were sweating the whole time because I just KNEW she was going to hurt my car. I was yelling, "Go ahead. Hit my car! I hope you do, bitch, because then I'm going to jerk you right out of that truck and whup your ass right here in the parking lot."
Thank goodness she didn't hit my car. I'd have been very sad for my car, plus I may have gone to jail for assault.
11:17 am - Someone please tell me...
...why in the Helen of Troy a 9th grader needs a $75 graphing calculator for Integrated Math (translated = remedial math)? What's wrong with a scientific calculator? For that matter, what's wrong with NO calculator? We didn't use calculators in my high school math classes (algebra and geometry - which is basically what Integrated Math covers) and we managed just fine! In fact, we weren't even allowed to use calculators.
I'm going to chill and think about this a while, then I'm going to e-mail the teacher. I can't do it now because I'm afraid I'll come across as nasty. But I really want to know.
It's not required - just "strongly recommended." So what's the point in having them at all if not all students will have one? They should just install graphing calculator software on the kids' laptops.
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irritatedSep. 7th, 2006
09:55 am - When is summer break?
It's only the 3rd day of school, and already I'm ready for summer vacation again. I'm exhausted! have so much to do, it's unreal. I do not like it. I like summer better. Sigh. I have 178 more school days to get through.
Sep. 1st, 2006
09:59 pm - School Fees and Space Shuttles
OMG! $125 in school fees last night! OMG! This lab fee and that workbook fee and this other lab fee and yet another workbook fee and the vocabulary book and gym suit for a growing boy who can't fit into last year's and that damn laptop fee (and they better use the goddamn things this year or I'm going to pitch a fit with the school board) and some other thing and yet another thing. And then there is the yearbook, newspaper and magazine fee, which I had no problem with. A kid in high school needs a yearbook. And I'm all for them having the newspaper and the literary magazine, since I worked on those sorts of things when I was in high school, and the more reading a kid does, the better.
They have more vending machines in that high school than they've got at the Greyhound station and the Richmond airport combined! They have a Pizza Hut and a Subway! What the fuck? When I was in high school we could buy a can of Coke and a damn Ho-Ho and we thought that was really frickin awesome!
I don't think I can afford for my son to go to High School. Thank God I have only one in at a time.
I'm feeling really old today. It's a strange time for my son to be starting high school, too, because I have a high school reunion coming up in November, about which I'm very excited. So I've had high school on the brain the last week or so.
I sat down the other night and told my son all the things he's got that we did not have when I was about to start 9th grade. DVD players, laptops, PCs in the home, CD players, iPods, Swiffer Sweepers, and on and on. It makes me wonder what they'll have when he's about to go to his high school reunion.
I just had to go and mention to him that when I started high school we had not had a space shuttle explode in the sky, but by the time I graduated, we had. For some reason, that sticks with me to this day. My 9 year old brought a book home from the library about the Challenger disaster. I haven't been able to read it to him. I choke up every few paragraphs and have to put the book down. I just cannot read it. I was able to read another one to him about Challenger and Columbia. The difference between the two, I noticed, was that the first book was written about the people. The second book was written as more of a scientific explanation for the disasters. It was impersonal, and I was able to read it with few problems. He may as well take the first book back to the library or have someone else read it to him, because I just cannot. God, I hope he never brings home a book about 9/11.
Aug. 29th, 2006
02:34 pm - Jack O'Melons and School Supplies
It rained last night. That was enough as far as I'm concerned. But now, there's rain in the forecast every day for the next 10 days! That's too much! Especially if Ernesto travels up the coast. My tomatoes will drown for sure. They survived the rain in June. They've survived semi-drought. Now that I've gotten them healthy again and producing fruit, they'll probably drown.
Watermelons might be okay. I have 4 or 5 new ones. Two probably will just drop off the vine while the others grow. I'm hoping to have at least one big one right before Halloween so I can have a Jack O'Melon on my porch this year.
School is right around the corner. I've left everything for the last minute, as usual. I've got to go supply shopping, and I'm putting it off as long as I can. I like buying school supplies, but I hate some of the crap I've got to get, and I really hate that I end up having to spend roughly 8 million dollars each September. Someone please tell me why, in affluent Henrico county, I have to provide Clorox Antibacterial Wipes for my son's classroom? What the hell is wrong with the stuff they used to clean classrooms with? When I went to school, tax money paid for the soap in the bathroom (or, at least, it certainly came from somewhere - soap fairies maybe, if not taxes.) But I think soap has been cut out of the Henrico County Public Schools budget or something because every year, for the last 3, one of the items on my elementary-age son's supply list is liquid soap! And hand sanitizer gel! Oh, and get this - they specify BRAND on the supply list. Purell (for the hand sanitizer.) Fiskars for the scissors. Crayola for the crayons. (If I didn't think any brand other than Crayola was worthy, I'd purposely buy Rose Art or Dollar Tree brand. For the other items, I usually buy whatever brand I freakin' want, and I DARE the school to send it home and tell me I got the wrong thing. In fact, I would LOVE it if that happened.)
My oldest son is starting high school. I like the middle and high school supply lists. They just need the basics - paper, pencils, pens, etc. But I don't really catch a break in the end. I have about $30,098 in "fees" to pay. These are not fees associated with any sport, club, school organization or extra-curricular activity. These are "administrative" fees and other fees for certain classes. Like science and technology classes. I wouldn't be surprised to have a "study hall" fee that pays for the teacher's crack habit.
I suppose I should be thankful, though. On my 9 year old's supply list this year, one thing is missing: 48 pencils. Until this year, he has always been required to bring 48 pencils to school. WHY? He cannot, as far as I can tell, write with more than 4 at a time - and that's if he uses his feet, too. So why the hell does he need to bring 48 cottonpicking pencils to school? (I know the answer, but it's one of those things that pisses me off that I don't feel like talking about right now.) I send my son with 5 or 6 pencils at the beginning of school. When he loses/breaks them and he needs more, he tells me. It's that fucking simple! When he's out of glue, he tells me! Sometimes, in like Grade 1, I'd get a note home from the teacher telling me my son needed more markers - all his dried up. So I'd send more! No big deal. With all the other Back to School expenses, every penny counts, so I'd really rather not buy 48 pencils if I only really need a few. I'd rather not buy a case of glue sticks if I only need 2. I need SOME money leftover for booze, you know!
Aug. 27th, 2006
09:30 pm - Watering Restrictions
Damn. Because of local watering restrictions, we were unable to wash Sarah's car on the lawn with the sprinklers this weekend. Bummer. I hope it rains soon, so we can do it over Labor Day weekend. I also hope it rains soon because I don't want my car to go more than a week without a bath! Black cars really show their dirt.
Aug. 25th, 2006
12:16 pm - Batshit Crazy! Plus other stuff...
As if anyone needed further proof that I'm batshit crazy, let me tell you what I have planned for the weekend: Sunday afternoon, my bestest friend Sarah is coming over. We're going to pull her car into the front yard and wash it by drizzling it with Car Shampoo and then turning on the hose, which will be connected to my Hosey Dal. Just to see if we can get her car clean that way. :) I'm not washing mine that way, though. No, indeedy.
We're going to do this while playing 50 Cent and dancing around the yard with beer. Should be a good time!
I have a new favorite online store. Uncle Bob's Electronic Warehouse and Beef Jerky. (http://www.unclebob.com) I ordered 1 3/4 lbs. of meat sticks from them the other day. I love meat sticks! It's an essential part of the Drinking Mom's diet. Meat sticks, cheese sticks, V-8 juice. And of course, booze.
Tonight I'm going to see Snakes on a Plane. Finally! I can't wait!
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