Updates

Well, obviously the fall rush has hit again and I’m back to being terrible about updating here. When I sat down to write this I can’t really put my finger on anything that’s kept us so busy that I can’t write but for some reason we just are.

So, a short recap of the past two weeks:

TL’s Back to School night was fun, enlightening and entertaining. I still think she has a great team of teachers and I think she will be challenged this year. Except for math (she is my daughter after all) she is in all gifted and talented classes (honors classes now) and is still getting all A’s. She loves middle school and the freedom it brings.

We had a great time at the lake celebrating all the birthdays. The weather was simply amazing and the girls had fun on the lake. TL woke me up Sunday morning with a text to let me know that there was a deer (with beady eyes) staring through the window of her tent. Of course only TL would think the large soulful eyes of a deer were beady (she says if you’re really close to them they’re beady!).

TL has started religious education classes with her father at the Catholic Church. She has approached it with her usual zeal and I’m glad he finally did this. She never took First Communion so she attends those classes one Monday night a month and CCD classes on Wednesday nights. She accidentally took Communion at CCD class last week and prayed at least 4 times to say she was sorry. That led to a long discussion about different perceptions of God and my beliefs that God is a forgiving and understanding being that doesn’t pass judgment or punish the sorry. Hopefully she’ll remember this week….

We spent the weekend staying at home for once. I had a PEO function at the house Saturday morning and spent Saturday evening celebrating The Amazing E’s birthday! Sunday was spent running errands, watching football and NASCAR and catching up on everything.

So far this week has been quiet. My new post doc started this week and I always enjoy the enthusiasm and new ideas they bring with them. She studies animal behavior and depression so we are hoping to develop several new models examining the interactions between pain and depression. Stay tuned—we keep growing. We are all abuzz today as The President will be honoring us with a visit. It is a shame that so many people with ugly thoughts live in this world and think it’s funny to post things like polls on Facebook encouraging his death (my soon to be ex-husband is part of that crowd). It makes his visits less joyous and more onerous as the stoic gentleman in suits now patrol our halls and keep us far away from him.

My week will end on a sad note as well as a happy one. On Friday I will spend about 10 minutes in court ending a 20 year chapter of my life. By his choice Ted will not be there which is a fitting end to this story. The day will end with a birthday party for TL which is the best way to end any day. We are staying at a hotel with several of her friends near a movie theater and her favorite restaurant (Pot Belly) so you can guess what we’ll be doing Friday night. It’s hard to believe she will be 11 in a few weeks.

So again, I’m sorry for the lack of attention to keeping everyone updated on our lives. I’ll let everyone know how the party goes. Have a great rest of the week.

Birthday Smiles

Last Sunday was my birthday! Woo Hoo, a whole 45! It was a great birthday and thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes. It was actually a birthday weekend more than just one day.

Friday night was probably the only quiet moments we had all weekend--perfect snuggle time with TL of course. If you notice, I finally finished my chair--and it's sturdy enough to sit in!!! I just need to stain it and it'll take it's place on my deck outside my bedroom.

My birthday was as amazing as always, TL and a friend decorated the house so that when I woke up Sunday morning I would be surprised. She also threw me a party and so I had family and friends over for lunch. I am blessed to have so much in my life.

Our week is already almost half over, how did that happen??? Wednesday night is back to school night and TL is doing part of the evening announcements so she gets to come along. This weekend we're off to the lake to celebrate September birthdays (and 13th birthdays as well).

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week and I promise to post more next time.

What Was He Thinking?

I did not watch President Obama’s speech Wednesday night (I know, shame on me but I was busy wrestling a pop diva into and out of the shower while I tried to set up my father’s new laptop). So, I was shocked yesterday morning when the news began to trickle in about the behavior of a certain Representative from South Carolina (my friend thankfully did not vote for him). How can we expect our children to respect others when people who are elected to represent their citizens can not? There is no excuse for what he did, regardless of the heat of the moment or any other reason—in fact I would have respected his apology more if he had just said he was wrong and it was inexcusable. Even more interesting were his comments to reporters where he basically said, I was told to apologize so I did—one could think that perhaps he made the apology because his parents told him to and there was nothing sincere about it???? Perhaps if he expended as much energy trying to fix the problem rather than heckle the President of the United States maybe he’d get something done.

I have some pretty strong feelings about the health care bill but more importantly I have even stronger opinions about the behavior of people who are elected to represent the people of this country. Their job is to legislate, not whine, cry and throw up road blocks every time something doesn’t go their way. They are not elected to bad mouth their counterparts and walk away from the table just because it’s not what they would do. And finally, it is unconceivable that they would actually stoop to out and out lies in order to “scare” the American public into thinking that health care reform is a bad idea simply because it’s not what “they” want. I’m not pointing fingers at any particular party here either. If you want to see just how bad it is visit www.factcheck.org . We wonder why our economy is in shambles, our children are disrespectful and no one is ever willing to accept responsibility for their own actions? Just look at the people who “represent” us for the answer. Personally, I think they all need to grow up, get to work and fix this mess—if I acted like they do at my work I’d have been fired years ago.

So, what was he thinking? Who knows, but maybe a better title for this posting should be “Stop Whining and Get to WORK!!!”

End of Summer

Summer is officially over and the traffic in DC makes it pretty obvious!

We spent our last weekend of summer in SC (big surprise, I know). I found tickets to the Taylor Swift concert and took all three girls this time (yep, it’s official, I’m crazy to go to the same concert twice in one year). All the girls dressed up in cowboy boots and a sun dress which is the dress code for all Taylor Swift fans I think. TL loves her new cowboy boots and wore them most of the weekend. The rest of our weekend was spent staying busy. We took a short drive in the mountains and just enjoyed each other’s company. We took Babe this time and she and my friend’s dog (and his kids) all got along great. Although, she was roped into howling Saturday morning to wake up my friend’s oldest daughter… On the way home we stopped in Asheville to meet some family for lunch. Traffic wasn’t bad and we were home well before midnight.

We are settling in to our new routines and TL still loves school! She has a science test next week and has already started studying for it. I’m looking forward to another year full of good grades and lots of activities. Our evenings are just as busy as we have dinner plans tonight, tomorrow night and family in town this weekend. No rest for this household!

Hope everyone has a great week…

Another site to visit

If you routinely search the comments sections on my posts you notice a comment on the posting titled "Middle School Orientation". This is from someone who found the blog through the search function. He has a website directed to helping parents transition into middle school and make the entire experience more positive and enriching for everyone. I skimmed through it and got some good ideas so I figured I'd go ahead and draw everyone else's attention to it. I will include the usual legal disclaimer here (remember who I work for) that the opinions expressed on this website are not mine (I paraphrased a little) but I do like the idea of having some additional guidance for the next few years...