I have been trying to post all last week, and the week before, but just kept getting jimmy-jacked at every turn. Interruptions, internet outage, slooow computers, puppy...you name it!
One Friday night my ten year old (as of Aug 3rd) had a friend stay the night. He brought his turtle which he had caught when he was out fishing somewhere...yeah, he really did. My boys had a great time, but Bobby and I were a bit disturbed by a couple of things. I put the lights out and TV off at 11:30. At 2:30 I saw lights on and heard giggling. When I went in to check on them, they were watching a really stupid cartoon that was recorded on the DVR, and Legos were scattered all over the floor. When I hit 'live TV', Adult Swim was on - not good.
The boys were up at the crack of dawn, and after cleaning up the breakfast dishes, I saw our guest on the computer loading some Alien vs Predator game and drinking a cup of coffee...what the heck?? Bobby told me he was going to take the motorcycle down to get some gas in it...said he would see me in a couple of hours...he was joking, but I know there was a spark of wishful thinking there, hee hee.
Our guest went home at noon, and we all did some cleaning, mowing, and gave the dogs baths, and then the guys went to the city pool. I had a blissful two whole hours to myself - yahoo!! That almost never happens! In fact it's so rare, that I waste precious time trying to figure out what I want to do, HA!
Sunday we shopped for school supplies, and $45 later, we still didn't have it all. We are asked to supply tissues, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and baby wipes (not sure what those are for), in addition to all the other stuff. We still need to get the backpacks, too, although I think Sully's is still good, but Tucker definitely needs a new one. Thankfully, there was no expandable on the list this year- those things are expensive and they don't last. Last year we spent about $50 on all the supplies, including backpacks and expandable, which was almost $10 by itself. So this year, I've spent $45 and that's without the expandable, and I haven't finished yet...what the heck?? Oh, and they raised our sales tax from 7.3% to 8.3% - isn't that lovely??
Sunday the 8th was the last day of swimming at the city pool, so I took the boys Saturday afternoon. Wow! Quite the collection of hairy backs, tattoos and just all-around poor taste were on display. The boys had a great time, and when we got home we grilled some hamburgers, and I ate the last dill pickle my friend Angie made. So sad...but, we're gonna get together and make some...yippee!! Later, we put on a movie and one by one, we all fell asleep. Woke up just in time to see the end credits, ha!
We have had a horrible heat wave with heat index temps of 113, 115, etc and no rain. Lot's of humidity, but no rain, and we need some rain. Our backyard has cracks in it, it's so dry. Early Sunday morning we finally got some rain. It woke us up pretty spectacularly with, what I call a flash-bang; a directly overhead lightning strike with an intense flash and immediate boom of thunder. There were actually two of them about 30 seconds apart. It lasted for a bit and then finally settled down to just a rain event. About 5:30 I got up to go to the bathroom and noticed that the house felt hot. I checked the digital thermostat in the hallway and discovered it was blank. Great...I woke Bobby up and told him and he went to WalMart to get another one. We got that hooked up and ...nothing. Fabulous...Bobby went outside to make some sun tea and found out from the next door neighbors that their tree got hit and the blast took out their A/C, 2 computers, 2 TV's, their phone, our A/C, and the neighbor's across the street A/C. The A/C guy was fixing theirs and he came outside right them and asked if we wanted him to come in & look at ours also...let me think- YES!! Turns out it fried our thermostat, and the transformer in the furnace, and after replacing those two things we were back in business! WOOT! We went over to take a look at the tree and discovered that the lightning had traveled down the tree and exploded out of the roots creating a hole and debris that looked like a small grenade had gone off. I don't know if they make small grenades, so maybe I should say m80 - quarter stick of dynamite?? Anyway, it also blew the water meter cover off-you know those things in your yard that look like mini manhole covers and weigh almost as much. We also discovered that the blast had knocked one of our front transom windows out, and knocked the charger to Bobby's portable radio right out of the receptacle, and, our dishwasher will no longer run through the cycles on its own. Honestly though, we were blessed because every other electronic thing in the house from the Wii to the computers is perfectly fine. Cool!
Open House was Monday. We got to go to two schools this year, and we thought it would likely take much longer as we don't know where anything is in Tucker's school. But, as it turned out, Tucker knew exactly where he was going because the incoming 5th graders went on a tour at the end of the school year. He even knew where Sully's new class was. I'm really not happy about the changes, and no one else is either. I heard a rumor that this was all to save one person's job. Apparently, when a school is consistently below standards, the state comes in and forces changes. The first person to go is the principal. So, that would mean that they did this to scramble everybody up and confuse the state?? Nice...
School started yesterday (Wednesday) and all in all it went well, even with all the confusion. And believe me it was mass confusion. The first day of school is always hectic, but this was a nightmare! Bobby took Tucker and dropped him off no problems. I took Sully, and because he was in first grade and not quite as seasoned at this yet as Tucker, I planned on going in with him all the way to his room. There was nowhere to park because fully half of the parking they have available was blocked off for buses (they changed where the buses go) and people who had found a space, were not leaving. You parked anywhere you could which was up and down all the side streets, driveways, and alley entrances. I didn't see anybody get a ticket, but I know there were complaints about blocked driveways! The end of the day was not much better; Sully wasn't put on the bus to come home because his teacher, although she knew he was a bus rider, asked him how he was getting home, and being 6 years old, he told her his Papa picks him up. Well, he does, at the bus stop, and then takes them to his house until I get off work. I had mentioned that to her also, but it was Open House, new people, lot's going on, so she obviously didn't remember that part. And Sully didn't volunteer the rest. I also heard that there were supposed to be shuttle buses between the schools for the after school program, so that kids in two different schools could be transported to be with their siblings, but there were in fact no actual shuttle buses. Apparently whoever was in charge of that part, either didn't know he was in charge, or forgot about it, but nothing was arranged for transportation.
So, I have survived a sleepover, the heat, lightning, Open House, and the first day of school. Wow! I'm tired :)
