Oh Facebook...

Say the above with a disappointed tone.

Some days I get so annoyed with Facebook.  I honestly don't know why I read the drivel but like a bad car accident I scan through the newsfeed a few times a day.  I post occasionally, but unless I can come up with a snide remark on the general human condition or report some happy or big news I don't say much.  The exception is that lately I've been posting a few articles here and there concerning the mess over in Ukraine as several of my FB friends are also fellow adoptive parents that are following the news.

Today though has really gotten my goat.  My news feed is filled with no less than the following:

2 different people angry at another for slights either real or imagined in their lives.  Both are serial drama queens who seem to be stuck living a version of Jr. High.

1 spreading the gospel of essential oils

1 proclaiming how fantastic home school is

3 daily bible verses - one from the book of Mormon

1 update on the newest recipe that happens to be gluten free ( I don't think that many people are medically in need of gluten free)

4 or 5 copy and paste status that start out "With let me see how this turns out.." 

2 recipes ( hasn't anyone heard of pinterest?)

15 southern friends playing in the 1/4 inch of snow in their backyards, wondering if there will be school tomorrow and freaked out over 0 degrees.

Don't get me wrong.  I like seeing that your kid made honor roll, you shot a monster deer and even a couple of your vacation photos.   What I don't like is pushing your agenda (even if I agree with it - I do admit to being guilty sometimes) Relationship drama of any kind. 

I think I need to whittle my friends list.

School is squashing reading

My eldest son was a rather precocious reader.  Sonny Boy was starting to sound out words before kindergarten, and reading picture books fluently by the end of kindergarten. His early ability translated to a love of the written word and a reading ability well above his age.

First grade brought with it the emergence of the reading log.  This dreaded requirement to read 20 minutes a day and log it down was a pain.  To be honest I didn't push it and simply signed off on it.  Sonny Boy may not read the required 20 minutes on Mon -Thurs but I knew he would more than make up for it when he settled with a book for four hours on Saturday afternoon.  The reading logs through 4th grade were much the same and while I didn't theoretically approve of them it wasn't really an issue and I didn't feel bad when I signed the logs.

Fifth grade has thrown a wrench in the system.  This year the reading logs have become more detailed, not only requiring that he log down how long he read but what he read, which pages and a weekly summary of the material.  This is also signed by yours truly.  This log is turned in the first of the month and is graded on the amount of time he logs.  Needless to say this log is a monthly battle.  Sonny Boy reads well above the required amount of reading time but forcing him to record it takes all the joy out of it.  What was once an enjoyable pass time that mom not only approves of but actually urges him to do has become just another homework chore.

I have seriously thought about telling the teacher to stuff her reading log but of course I can't do that. I fill Sonny Boy with platitudes about buckling down and doing work that you don't really want to do, etc etc but it breaks my heart to watch him put off reading because he will have to remember what  pages he read instead of just enjoying the story.

Reading logs are evil.

Life in the fast lane

Minor annoyances are chipping at my sanity lately.  Not one of them is a big deal in and of its self, but add it all up and I need a good stiff drink at the end of the day.

Monday I busted through Mom's yard in order to give her car a jump. ( doctor said she could drive though I still don't think it's wise, sure is easier on me though). I did this in an effort to save hubby the hassle and keep Mom from calling a tow truck and save her a buck.  I dragged out the jumper cables and handily got her car started -I'm awesome like that.  Mom backed out and went to the auto parts store to purchase a new battery.  I then was handily stuck fast in Mom's yard.  I was spinning all four tires on the truck.  I cussed a little, grabbed a shovel and Sonny Boy and we shoveled the snow out from behind the tires.  Spin.  Stuff some yard debris under tires and spin again.  I let fly a string of expletives and sent to the kids home while I threw a little fit in the truck before going home to leave the mess to Hubby.  Hubby comes home and has the same issues (isn't wasn't my lack of snow experience at least) and had to get a buddy to bring his truck over and give the truck a tug.  It amounted to the fact the truck tires are trash but both Hubby and I have been loathe to part with the several hundred dollars needed to replace them.  I suppose we really do have to get on the ball with this soon though.

Sonny Boy will officially leave Cub Scouts next week.  He will receive the Arrow of Light Award.  It's kind of a big deal, not an Eagle rank honor of course but it is an award he can wear on his uniform forever.  Igor and I will remain behind in the Cub Scout pack.  I hold a couple of leadership positions and frankly I've hit scout burn out.  I'm having a small crisis with what to do for Igor's day camp this year.  Previous years of day camp I have attended with Sonny Boy I was pretty happy with how it was ran.  Last year I attended as a chaperone and was not at all happy with how the camp was run.  This year I'm not sure I want to spend money on it this year, though Igor had fun.  I'm debating sending him to a local Y day camp that has roughly the same activities, smaller group sizes but does not have his scout buddies.

After 20 years of glasses I have made the leap to contact lenses.  So far so good though it is a little unnerving taking them in and out.  My left lens is a toric lens which is proving a little more difficult to adjust to but I think it will get there.  The strange part is how totally naked I feel moving around without my glasses.  Honestly I feel like I've forgotten an important article of clothing.  

Life in a nutshell.

Fun in Paris

Lots and lots of walking.   Dogs are barking loudly.

...and A Happy New Year

                On the way to a recent scout event after a morning at a wrestling tournament.

I can't say life has been boring, but compared to the wild ride our family has been on the last couple of years it's super calm.  I'll take it.

Christmas went off with little disaster.  We went north to the in-laws for the holidays.  Three hours or so into a 9+ hour drive I remembered that Santa's gifts were tucked neatly in my bedroom closet.  I promise that will give you a nauseous feeling quickly.  In coded language Hubby and I made the decision there wasn't much we could do about it and continued on with a plan to go shopping and replace the gifts when we got to our destination.  Thankfully stubborness to outlive video game begging and a benign gift wish list from the kids made the gifts easy to replace and I returned the original gifts (after I unwrapped them) to WalMart today.  Honestly I think we could have come to clean to the kids, after all they are 11 and 8.  I can't really believe Sonny Boy thinks there is such thing as Santa and I'm pretty sure Igor isn't fooled anymore either.  The two play the game well, so I suppose we will too.

Hubby in some grandiose need to plan for the kids decided the family should do it's own Santa Lucia ceremony.  Hubby's grandmother is Swede and Hubby and his sister were part of the local town festival as children.  So we dressed up the youngest three boys as Star Boys and the only girl as Santa Lucia.  I spent a day or two sewing and crafting those dunce hats (see picture previous post) and Mother-in-law planned the doings and baked Lucia buns.  Things went well, kids played along with little fuss and even the wild card niece playing Santa Lucia was cooperative, something we had all held our breaths for.  It was such a hit that Mother-in-law proclaimed next year we do Ukrainian Christmas, potatoes and vodka, I can do that. 

I'm getting antsy, in a couple of weeks I will join Hubby for a week in Paris, France.  I'm really excited and have been haunting travel sites and have no less than four guidebooks beside my easy chair.  The middle of January may not be the world's best time to see the city of light, but at least the crowds will be mild and compared to the well below 0 wind chills forecasts for this week it will be balmy in France.  I just hope my fat rear end can keep up with the massive amount of walking I'm sure we will be doing.  The weather cooperated for a few hours on Saturday so I logged 1.8 miles at a decent clip and my bum ankle let me know about my lack of exercise.  I'd sure like to get out and do more but I refuse to risk frostbite and I no longer have a gym membership.  No, we haven't won the lottery or anything.  Hubby's company has him going to meetings the week before and the week after my trip in France so he'll just stay between.  Easier and cheaper on the company anyway.  I cashed in all his frequent flier miles to boot.

The next couple of weeks I'll spend getting things in order.  You know a mom can't leave without a to do list being a mile long before she can go.  Mother-in-law is planning on coming to managed the kids for the week so I must have things smoothly running for her.

Can't complain, only kid logistics to manage..knock on wood.

Merry Christmas

 On

Pulled the plug

As of last Friday I am officially unemployed.  My crazy mother gave me the most gracious excuse for quitting ever that saved face all around.

As I told before I handed in notice to the director citing the crazy micromanaging behavior of my supervisor.  Director asked me to reconsider and she would discuss with supervisor and it could decide at the end of week if supervisor was trying to be more likeable.  To be fair, supervisor may have been sugar sweet but by now I just couldn't stand to be there anymore and was going to finalize things, however director was out for the day.  I was talking to a co-worker about situation (she was aware previously of my unhappiness) and the crazy behavior of my mother that I had just discovered was waiting 40 minutes early for the kids to get out of school (hubby was getting off work early and said he'd pick them up) bizarre being there that early.  Anyhow mom decided to come to my workplace, pulled into the parking lot, hit the gas instead of the brake, jumped a curbed divider bed in parking lot and sheared a 12 foot tall bush off at the ground.  How she managed not to hit a car or person is a miracle.  Police were called, reports were filed, yada yada.

Citing mom as the reason I was able to make a graceful exit with a good public story, though a few co-workers and director know this is only some of the reason.  The two people who would be in a position there to move into my job have flatly refused. Both with elegant excuses, but I know one is because she doesn't want to work for supervisor.

Either way it's worked out.  Mom is having some bizarre stuff health wise going on and her confusion is growing noticeably worse, even to her.  She has a neurologist appt soon and we will see how that plays out.  Sonny Boy was able to attend an after school activity that he is really thrilled about but couldn't before because I really needed him to walk his little brother home from school.  Igor's violin teacher was happy as his lesson could be moved up to a more reasonable time.  Not to mention Hubby's job called him down to Arkansas unexpectedly today with only a few hours notice to catch a flight.  My stress level has gone from a +10 to a manageable 5 or so.

It's funny I've never had whole days to myself before.  When Igor finally went to kindergarten mom had moved in, when she moved out I was working.  Sure I had my off days during the week but they were spent running errands, and attending doctor appointments with mom.  I almost don't know what to do with myself.  Haha. Not really.

Passwords

Have you ever stopped to think about how many passwords and pins you have floating around in your head?  No wonder I I have no idea what my husbands phone number is, I have to remember log ins for my phone, the tv, my computer, the iPad, computer at work, the back door, the car door (I don't really know that one) my debit card, eBay, Amazon, and half at least half a dozen other web sites.  It's crazy.  It's gotten to the point that if it requires a password input I will simply avoid that website or chore until I can no longer put it off anymore.  Honestly the fact that my phone has more computing power than Nasa put Neil Armstrong on the moon with cant we get some reasonable form of login that doesn't require seemingly random bits of information be stored in my brain?  God forbid you decide to change email it's a nightmare.

Hence accessing blogger has become problematic for me.  I can access it from the iPad but not from the laptop.  I know user name and I'm even sure I know password but something is whacked and getting to the interface from something with a real keyboard currently is not something that is gonna happen.

Life is happening.  My job basically sucks, my supervisor has sucked any joy I once derived from it.  She is a micromanaging, socially inept, person.  I honestly took my resignation letter into the director on Monday and explained to her that I can no longer work for M.  Director asked
 me to let her talk to M and see if it gets better, if I didn't feel M was giving a good effort at being less abrasive she would consider my resignation turned in on Monday and I would only have one more week to go.  I agreed and director told me that she talked to M and M was honestly surprised that anyone would think she came across as abrupt.  I honestly don't expect a big change, thankfully due to odd scheduling this week I will only work with her on Friday.  I'm not sure if four hours of work on Friday will be enough to judge if she has changed her ways, though it typically doesn't take her that long long to be ugly to me.  -- Just an aside, she is "abrupt" to everyone.  I've had more than a couple of co workers look at me stunned or tell me rather rude things she has said or done to them.  I doubt she can be let go as she has worked there 10 years in a different position, not as a supervisor.  Rumor also has it she is not well liked in her church or her husband's rather public position.--  But you know what really gets me is she doesn't seem to get social niceties.  She will often leave for the day without saying goodbye, up yours, adios amigos etc.  just gather her stuff and leave with me sitting there at my desk 6 feet away.  really?!  Really.  Either way it will improve or it won't.  I'm not going to stress about it anymore.

The kitchen is now functional!!!  Yay!  We still have some trim work to do, I can still see rough framing around the windows and doors but there are cabinets, countertops, a sink, stove etc.  For now we've had to stall finish work in an effort to get other things going that must be done before cold weather - one of those turning the heat back on.  It makes a HUGE difference in the house.  I think I might can like our house again, for a while there I was hoping for a fire when we were out of town.

The boys are running rampant activities but it's fun.  I would like a few days of no activities though.

The end of summer

The pool has closed, school supplies are purchased, football has started and school is looming next week.  Summer is over.  It has been a blur, all seasons seem to speed by but this one has been in super sonic mode.  Constantly fretting over the next step in the kitchen remodel, the never ending scratching up of meals and actually having a paying job have taken its toll.  Things I had hoped to do this summer have simply fell away, a trip down to Chicago so the kids could see a "big city" and go the museum, not done.  Not one single night of camping ( though scratching meals in the camper daily has given a camping quality to life) and no trips north to see the in laws there hasn't been too much fun this season.  I hope the kids forgive us.  The boys do admit to liking the large amounts of junk food they have consumed.

Hubby is in France this week.  He called to inform me he could see the Eiffel Tower from his hotel room.  Pfft on him.  I saw the business end of a paint brush for three solid days!  I read on the inter webs that a volcano in Iceland is gurgling and could possibly shut down air traffic like it did a few years ago.  If he gets stuck there I hope all he finds to eat is stinky cheese!  Though we are somewhat accustomed to cheese eating being Wisconsinites and all.

I am so glad school is starting.  The boys really need some routine to their exsistence.  Currently they are both grounded from electronics for various infractions, from the wailing and teeth gnashing one would think I had reduced their diets to bread and water and shot the dog.

Looking through the various bits on the i pad the kids have been playing with...dang they won't upload.  You would find them humorous.

Yep, I'm not dead yet.

It's been more than a little wild around here with the kitchen remodel going on.  Nearly every spare minute has been spent with some construction project or searching the inter webs for stuff and ideas.  The kitchen is finally staring to come together with the installation of the cabinets starting late last week.  If things go smoothly we should be able to cobble together a functional kitchen within two to three weeks.  I'm not holding my breath cause you know how construction stuff goes.

On other fronts Mom is still being herself, though I'm letting her.  The last couple of doctor visits have subtracted two different meds from her LONG list.  She was still getting dizzy just this last week though nothing is showing on her implanted heart monitor.  Hopefully the removal of these meds will prove fruitful.

Sonny Boy has started football now full force.  Four days a week, two hour practices.  You might think this was the NFL, not 5th grade peewee.  He likes it though, and he's comfortable with his coaches, a big improvement over last year.  Igor is rather bored this summer.  Both boys go down to the pool daily but Sonny Boy generally hangs out with a group of kids his age that are there while Igor swims.  Igor's social circle is smaller and he is not near as social as Sonny Boy and being on the younger side of the pool crowd leaves him out a bit.

This week it was officially announced that my hometown school district is closing.  It's not really unexpected, the place has been in decline for a long time.  Low enrollment, poor achievement, and plagued with mismanagement it is time.  This will be the last nail in the coffin the small town has been filling for a while now.  A strange feeling knowing your school (heck the whole district) will no longer exist.