Back into the Oven!

We have had the most unseasonable weather here this past week. The temps have only been in the low-to-mid 80s and we've gotten up to high 50s in the mornings. But that will end now, as we start to climb back up to the high 90s.

I'm grateful for the new car. Mensa Boy bought a 2010 Prius for me when the van decided to retire. Big Green had 182,000 miles on her, and she was going to need a couple thousand dollars of the work in the coming months. The most pressing of which was the air conditioning. Again. The new car cools off in minutes and this week I will be thinking about that whenever I get into it.

I have to confess I'm a little sheepish about the car. People exclaim and congratulate me, and my best pal has been teasing me unmercifully about it. But it seems so extravagant right now. I loved my van and could have happily driven it for many more years (if they'd ever been able to stop that creaking noise it made when I turned the steering wheel). With a kid in college and new carpet needing to be bought for the house, my salary and days being cut this coming year, and Bob's salary still the same as two years ago, I really feel dumb taking on a car payment. But at least this will be a known car expense and not something that bolts you out of the blue like car repairs do.

So when people exclaim over the vehicle and talk about it, I find myself wanting to just say "let's talk about something else."

This year's Independence Day was probably one of the most fun we've ever had. Mensa Boy organized the "First Ever Henry Nesbitt Grand Day Parade," which was a whopping 1/10th of a mile long. Henry Nesbitt is the end of our Shelley Mullis Rd as it crosses into North Carolina. Apparently you can't just let a SC road name cross the state line, so that last 1/10th of a mile is named for someone else. We still aren't sure who Henry was, but he was probably a war hero of some sort. Could be Revolutionary War, could be "The War of Northern Aggression," who knows?

So after the 10 of us marched down to the end of the road and then marched back, we repaired to our home for supper. We grilled portabello mushrooms and corn and had sliced tomatoes and watermelon. After supper we progressed to Kriz's house, where we lit a bonfire, shot off fireworks and had blueberry cobbler and homemade ice cream. A great time was had by all, particularly Taylor and Ken, who tended the pyrotechnics. Mensa Boy was too tired to stress about the explosives, so Taylor just went to town with them...I think maybe he'd never done that before.

All in all a very nice 4th and a wonderful weekend. Now it's back to the hard work of...oh wait! I still have a month of summer left!

Oh...the Tour! If anyone thinks watching a bike race is boring, they should have watched yesterday's stage 2. Crashes, underdogs, demonstrations...it was all there.

34th Regiment: Always Forward

Riley is in the 34th Regiment at For Jackson. Apparently "Always Forward" is their motto. Riley is proving himself to be always forward. At least in my mind.

His girlfriend said he got a cut on his forehead and suffered a concussion on the "Victory Tower." He went to the infirmary and they told him he may have to take 3 weeks of Basic over again. He said "no way," and went back to his platoon. That's rough.

He's struggling. I've been ok with him being gone. Ok with him being in Basic. But now I'm starting to be a little anxious. His letter yesterday said he was awaiting word on his punishment for a weapons violation. Apparently he shot his (it was loaded with blanks) prematurely during a training exercise. His buddies said they'd help him cover it up, but he elected to tell his drill sergeant about it instead.

He's lonely and usually has a lot of friends around him. He doesn't know many of the guys and I think he'll start to feel better as he gains friendships.

I'm proud of him. And praying for him. I hope you will too.

ILHS Class of 2010

Here they are. Well, I'm quite sure this isn't all 144 of them. But here is the Indian Land High School Class of 2010. Many thanks to photog Tim Champion for doing the post processing. He took a photo I thought was a lost cause, put a background on it, and recolored a hideous yellow shirt blue.

This class was much less cooperative than '09. It was seriously like herding cats. And because they are such a rowdy bunch, I kept getting administrators in the way because they were standing too close to the group, trying to mitigate any disturbances that might occur.

So this bunch graduates Friday, May 28. That's five days from now. A lot will happen to me between now and then. I'm cleaning out their files so I can give them a lot of papers to keep, working up grades and transcripts for everybody, shuffling and re-shuffling diplomas. Just a lot of stuff.

In other news: Mensa Boy had a good conversation with an organization that fights human trafficking. They are interested in having him serve on their board of directors. He's pretty excited about that. It's a way he can be involved in this issue without changing jobs or having us move anywhere. Nate has been accepted to Winthrop University for the fall. It'll be sad for him to leave Erskine, but Winthrop is a much larger school with more opportunities. It's also a public university, so the cost will be considerably less (along with the fact that he can live at home).

Taylor is winding up his freshman year and did really well with his Algebra EOC. 91! We were very pleased. And Riley called home last weekend and talked for quite some time about his first week at Basic Training. He was mainly bored, but I'm sure by now the Army has solved that problem for him. For several days he was just waiting in lines a lot and not really doing anything else. "Oh, and they are NOT CAREFUL about how they shave your head," he said. "A lot of guys are BLEEDING around here!" Hopefully we'll get his address soon.

We'll make a trip back to Minneapolis at the end of July.

Entertaining Wrap

ChristmasWrap
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

If there were prizes on Christmas Eve for the most imaginative wrapping, Taylor would have taken it. The rest of us just put wrap on the gifts or tossed them into gift bags and called it a day.

Not my boy. He took the time to illustrate some boxes, either outside on the wrap or inside on the box. Here is Riley holding up a gift he unwrapped from Taylor. I have no idea what "kthxbai" means.

Here is one of mine. I guess "FTW" means "For The Win."


Oh! We are never sure if he spells stuff this way because he doesn't know how to spell, or if it's just bug us. We suspect it's the latter more than the former.

Teeth and the Medicaid System

"When was the last time you saw a dentist?" I asked Riley last night.

He did not remember.

I asked because Nate had his 6-month check last week and it reminded me that I'd not thought of that for Riley. Riley seems to be okay tooth-wise. They look good, he doesn't have bad breath, but still and all it's not good to go years between dental checkups. Although many students do.

The questions was interesting in its' timeliness. About 2 hours later he broke one side loose on his retainer. It's a permanent retainer that is bonded to the back of his lower front teeth.

And he turned 19 today, so his Medicaid runs out.

A couple of friends at church (that's where we were when it happened) suggested a dentist in Lancaster. Apparently he does lots of Medicaid work. I called there this morning and got a VERY UNHELPFUL person with VERY POOR GRAMMAR.

I explained his situation and mentioned that this dentist had been the one to do the retainer oh so many years ago.

"Nope, he's not our patient," she said. "He ain't in the computer." (at this I gritted MY teeth and took a breath)

"Well at any rate, is there any way you can squeeze him in today to either fix the retainer or pull it the rest of the way off?" I asked.

"No," she said. "We don't got no more appointments before the first of the year."

Now here, gentle reader, picture me using a tiny bit of my training in pranayama...breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out... and pulling on my knowledge of ahimsa (non violence)

"Hmmm...," I said. "Do you have any suggestions for me with this type of EMERGENCY?"

"No," she said.

Well, fortunately I am a woman with a network. I called our family dentist in Charlotte, who referred me to a dentist/orthodontist in Pineville. They do a lot of Medicaid work and were not at all concerned about navigating the system for me. I took him there at 11.

I sat in the dentist office with Riley for a while folding cranes, trying not to be sick about how much it could cost. The receptionist verified that he still has coverage through December. And they could bond the retainer back on. But that wasn't covered. Could I pay the $72? Yes. And I made an appointment for him to have a checkup on December 29. Now we have to get the paperwork done so he can continue with Medicaid after the month runs out.

I've baked his birthday cake (yellow, with cream cheese frosting. Yuck. He's getting plenty of grief about this boring combination), and tonight we'll order Chinese (his favorite). Right now there are LOTS of noises coming down the stairs. I have Nate, Taylor, Riley, Mitchell and Ryan up there. It's fun listening to them.

"I Don't Know about Tomorrow

I just live from day to day."

The words to an old Gospel hymn by Ira Stanphill, circa 1950.

Recently we've had a lot of things happen at our house. Complicated stuff. Nothing life-threatening, mind you. So don't worry about that. We've just found ourselves in situations where we are given opportunity to help some guys who have needed us.

We feel fortunate that we can help. Fortunate that we have the means to help.

But a question I get asked by friends and family is "what are your long range plans in this situation?"

Yesterday I felt kind of beaten down by that question. It's a reasonable one, but one I just could not answer. It's a question that I myself would normally would be asking. I'm a planner, a plotter, an organizer. And so my lack of a plan, and being asked about having one, kind of weighed on me. I began to feel inadequate because I don't have one.

But after talking it out, praying it out, thinking it out, I've come to the conclusion that, for now, it's best to just not have one. To just roll with the punches. To take each day...each minute...as it comes.

"I don't know
About tomorrow
I just live from day to day
And I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to gray
And I don't worry about my future
For I know what Jesus said
And today He walks beside me
For He knows what lies ahead
Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to under-understand
But I, I know, I know, I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds, who holds my hand
Oh yeah, yeah, yes, hey, yes
Who holds my hand"

I Have No Idea How to Title This

Today's recap:

We left for Mensa Boy's knee surgery (torn medial meniscus) at about 8:15, dropping Taylor at school. As we pulled out of driveway, we stopped and said goodbye to Nate, who was packing for his move back to Erskine.

The surgery went well. I think MB had more fun than I did. The surgery center waiting room was a bit of a zoo this morning...have I mentioned how much I had places like that? And wondered aloud why everywhere we go there must be TV showing tabloid journalism? It was a bit like a bus stop in there and I still feel a little of that bus-stop style grime on my person.

While there, I fielded phone calls from Nate about his room situation at Erskine. Somehow, they neglected to give him and his roommate a room. Huh. The guys had emails from Erskine this summer with their room assignments. They had both paid fees. It was not pretty. Nate vacillated between wanting to explode and sinking into despair. He gutted out the day, living out of his car and talking to me on the phone and texting Erin. Finally around 2 they got a room in the freshman dorm with a promise to be on the waiting list for an upperclassmen one.

MB's surgery went well. Before they took him in they gave him the happy juice in the IV and I commented that his eyes were starting to roll around in opposite directions. "must....save...world..." he muttered. After the surgery was over the nurse said "He was good. Happy. Smiled a lot." I told her he's that way all the time.

On the way home with a prescription for Demerol, we decided to have it filled at our Harris Teeter. I would pick up a sandwich and MB looked forward to going into the store because he always wanted to ride in the little carts. But HT's pharmacy said it's against SC law for them to fill scrips signed by a physician's assistant. YIKES! By this time I was just tired and hungry and anxious to get the scrip before MB's pain set in. So I dropped him at home, and drove back up into NC to get that filled. Have I mentioned how much I dislike CVS pharmacy? They are a study in slowwwww. I did get a good meal though, finally. I ate at the Amazing Wok while I waited the 40 minutes to get the Demerol.

So now we are all home. I have some chicken stock cooking from bones from Sunday and we'll have a light soup supper and settle in with the tube.

Riley at Lander University

RileyLander
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

It's been a wild ride getting Riley ready for school this past week. And none of it would have been possible without the help of our church and other friends.

Riley is part of Nate's group of friends. He has been living with a family on the other side of our neighborhood off and on for the past year. He's an unaccompanied youth...the official term.

This summer Riley came to me and asked for help getting everything squared around at Lander in Greenwood, SC. He'd been accepted quite late...July 27...and wasn't sure what to do because he had missed deadlines for orientation and housing applications, etc. He also did not have financial aid package.

And I noticed that he couldn't see. Glasses were broke, last contact ripped. No transportation...his friends drove him to work and back.

With the help of Dr. Long, O.D. we got him fixed up with glasses. Hope Carter, his financial aid officer at Lander, helped us with his financial aid. Chandler Darling, Asst Director of Housing at Lander, helped us with the housing waiting list. Belair United Methodist Church gave him $1666 to put on his tuition bill and cover textbooks for the next year. Many friends came forward with dorm room supplies.

Riley is now (unofficially) our third son. We'll be his permanent address and emergency contacts. He'll stay with us during breaks and visits back to Indian Land. Lander is about 30 minutes from Erskine so Nate will be his transportation and overall helpmate. We feel very fortunate to have Riley as part of our lives. He's a very nice, gentle young man with a soft voice and calm personality. He's quite independent, just needing a little assistance every once in while with complicated stuff. The boy owns his own pots and pans!

So. The wild ride part. Here's where the entry can get long.

On Tuesday or Wednesday Riley had been told that he didn't have a dorm room assignment. He was on a waiting list. He thought he was going to have to just stay home. He had no idea what to do next. So I called Gayle Summey, our pastor, who is also from the Greenwood area. She put me in touch with the director of the Wesley Foundation on Lander's campus. Within a couple of days we had the name and phone number of a family that would take Riley into their home for a few days and provide him transportation to and from campus.

So we decided we would take him Sunday night since freshman orientation is Monday. I also emailed Chandler Darling to ask her if anything could be done to help Riley, due to his status as an unaccompanied youth. It was funny how I picked her. I went to the Lander website and there was a photo of all the housing people. I just liked how she looked. And she wasn't the top gun...I never think it's really good to go straight to the top. She's second in command. So I emailed her and she emailed back that same night. She thanked me for bringing his status to her attention. She couldn't promise anything but they'd consider it.

Saturday morning I sat down at my computer at 6:30. At 6:52 an email came in from Lander. It was a copy of an email they'd just sent Riley telling him they had a dorm assignment! I was so excited I ran into Riley's room and jumped on him as he slept. So we scrambled around and got the van packed to move him. None of us, including Riley, had ever been to the campus and we had no idea what the dorms were like, so we packed everything as though he were moving into something similar to Nate's room at Erskine.

Nate, Riley, and their friend Mitchell followed in Nate's car and we made the trip. It's about 3 hours.

When we arrived we found that Riley had been assigned to an upperclassman apartment right across from the main complex of buildings. Each apartment has four students in it. There is a small living room, bath, and full kitchen with refrigerator, microwave and stove. We found one bedroom locked so we moved him into the other room.

Then we headed out for lunch. When we came back we found the occupant of the locked bedroom there. It turned out he's also a freshman...he's from Clinton, which is about 30 minutes from school. Riley's apartment key is supposed to open his bedroom door, so that's why that door was locked. Riley was supposed to share the left bedroom with Daniel and there will be two other students in the right bedroom. AHA!

So when we left Daniel and Riley were getting acquainted and Riley was going to see if he could get the key problem resolved. He'll move his stuff across the hall then.

I felt sad as we pulled away from Lander. I was a little sad when we took Nate to Erskine last year, but not quite as much as leaving Riley. I knew Nate had a car, needed to get away from Indian Land, and would call us anytime he needed help. But Riley doesn't have a car and he never asks for help. He also is new enough to living with us that I'm worried he may not call if he needs something. But by the same token, he's more independent than Nate. More of a problem solver. He'll be okay. I'll be okay.

Apparently Unembarrassable

My boy. He started high school. Well actually he officially starts Monday. Friday was Freshman Orientation. They got their locks, they got their books, they visited teachers. They ate pizza.

Staff have been asking me if he will be horrified if I acknowledge his presence at school. Each time I've said that he and his brother have always seemed glad to see me there. In fact, they have, at times, asked me to come to school.

So I decided to test it out. "Watch this," I said to a staff member.

And I walked up to the lunch table where Taylor and 7 or 8 of his buddies were munching on pizzas. I squeezed my way in between Taylor and buddy Eric, curled my arms around their shoulders and said "HI!" In my perkiest voice.

They introduced me around the table. Each friend saying something to me.

Made me proud.

Church: The Whole Family

I couldn't be happier. Well, I imagine there are things that might make me happier, for right now? I'm delighted that Nate, Erin and Ryan are all coming to church with us. We'll be filling that second pew!

"I am familiar with Potato Gun safety," he said.

That was the end of the last conversation Mensa Boy had with the kids last night. All four of them (Nate, Taylor, Ryan and Erin) had disappeared around 8 o'clock. After asking me if they could "shoot my onions."

"No," I said. "I need my onions." I didn't even bother asking them to clarify.

We went to bed around 9:15 (yes, on a Saturday night) and shortly after that we started to hear sounds from the garage. Bear was also barking from his perch in Taylor's room.

Mensa Boy went down to investigate. He came back and said "At least there are no flames involved." Apparently they were building a potato gun with PVC pipe and cement. They had a can of hairspray and planned to use that as a propellant for potatoes.

"Three of them are adults now," MB said. "I hope they don't get in trouble with the police."

He said they were going to take it down to one of the stalled developments where there are no houses being built right now and shoot it off. He was tense. I reminded him that he and his friends had done a lot worse than that. "Yeah," he said. "We tended to use fire."

There are several videos of people making and using spud guns, or spudzookas on YouTube.

Shannon's Speech to Erin

Lauren, Erin, Shannon. Photo by Jennifer Kirby

Nate's girlfriend Erin has a sister who has autism. Shannon is not the autism. The autism is just an aspect of her personality that makes her unique. She has come a long way from the little girl I met years ago when I drove the drove the bus. That little girl cried loudly all the way home because I could not turn the bus around so she could go back and get a book she forgot. This Shannon is more mature and outgoing and self-assured.

On the morning of graduation...oh here. I'll let her mom, Jennifer, tell you. This is an email she sent out last week:

"For those of you who didn't know, Shannon secretly prepared this speech and planned to deliver it at the Indian Land High School graduation ceremony. I discovered her plans on the morning of graduation when I asked why she was carrying around her Hello Kitty tote bag all morning (which contained her secret speech). She was highly disappointed when I gently told her that she wouldn't be able to deliver it at the ceremony because Mrs. Faris wouldn't have time to add her to the agenda at the last minute. Things worked out all right and Shannon gave us this highly entertaining speech at our cookout later that evening."

And so, without further ado, here is Shannon's speech. I'm leaving it pink because that's how she typed it. But I've darkened the color so you can read it a little better:

SPEECH FOR ERIN’S GRADUATION

Erin Leigh Kirby, my older sister and role model, I have many things to say about you and anything else that is related to you. But first, I have this introduction. I won’t be saying stuff like how much you mean to me or what a wonderful person you are because I find those such speeches so formal that they are tacky. Instead, I shall use a speech that is the most suitable for my tastes and therefore have decided to make one my own way. I don’t care if this gets criticized because it is my speech and I can do whatever I want with it. The only thing that will not change about this is that it is for you and you only. So to all those who may not find this speech appropriate for the occasion, I suggest you either shut up or pack your bags and get out of here because, again, it’s my speech and I can do whatever I want with it. Back to the subject, we all know you’re great and have made a big impact in our lives, Erin, but I have these things to say. You are, in fact, the greatest nitwit that I have ever known. Note that this is the first time that you have been called by a supposingly insulting name in public and it may be your last so enjoy that while you can. Also, I wish you and your current boyfriend good luck in your future relationship. Speaking of which, I know what sort of future you want but I remember one thing that, if I remember correctly, is on a pillow that Dad owns. “You never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychologist’s office.” In other words, should your dream of becoming a psychologist come true, you may as well be the first one to have their own motorcycle and hopefully still have some sanity left to function normally. Forgive me if I just happen to embarrass you in front of a lot of people especially those that you may not know very well, but it is part of my job as your big little sister. It is my speech, after all and I do not wish to change anything. Now, without any further ado, I shall start with the past, continue until I get to the present, and finally present the grand finale of the speech. No, I won’t give any of it away because you will have to sit there and listen just like everybody else. That means all the impatient little rugrats out there. I know you’d rather be playing your silly games than listen to what I had to say.
Let’s start with the time when we were little kids. As a little sister, I wanted to be just like you: social, easy to get along with, and have a lot of friends. Of course, the goal was extremely difficult for me because of my condition, which, for those of you who did not know already, is autism. But I never gave up. I overcame the difficulties even though it took a long time to become who I am today. By a long time, I mean many, many years of my life. I was able to fit in as a student of the schools we went to together from an elementary school in Jefferson County, Kentucky, to a middle school in Madison County, Alabama, and from there to this high school in Indian Land just because of that goal. However, I don’t want to spoil anything to our listeners now because I have yet to tell them about all the details. Back when I was the youngest of the family, I was learning how to communicate. You helped me use the power of communication by playing with me. Our favorite game is a pretending game inspired by one of our favorite movies, The Lion King. You remember how much fun that was and so do I. When our little sister Lauren was born, we were pleased to have another kid to play with. Soon, I started disliking her because I find her annoying and difficult to live with. Everything was fine with life in Kentucky because we were able to go to places that are fun such as the Louisville Zoo and Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Then we moved to Alabama. At first, everything was exciting to us, but during the first few weeks of school I met someone who eventually became an enemy. You know who I am talking about, but I refuse to mention her name. I don’t want to upset anybody at an event that was supposed to be a happy one. I was barely able fit in because of my condition in which I knew nothing about until my curiosity found it. Another reason why I was barely able to fit in the school environment is because of the old hag I mentioned earlier. I would tell everyone the whole story, but I still don’t want to turn a happy event into a sad one so I decided not to say anymore about the horrors I’ve been though because that would ruin your day, would it? You probably remember that creek in the forest we sometimes went to, the beautiful tree that used to be next to our Alabama house, the ditch behind that same house, the giant pool area we used to go to every summer that had the concession stand, visiting your friend’s houses, and even that large place near where we used to live that belong to one of your friends. Man, he had his own lake and everything! I know it disappoints you a little when we had to move to Indian Land, but this place has benefitted me a lot. I was too miserable to stay in Alabama, anyway so we had to move for my own sake since Mom and Dad are very… no, EXTREMELY worried about me. It’s been a good few years since we first settled in this quant little town. Our school bus broke down on our first day of school, we got cable again, my vocabulary grew significantly, you got to drive, we got to go to the Renaissance Festival and an anime convention, I broke my pelvis, our little sister Lauren survived a car accident with a whiplash, we got ourselves an HDTV, we got Ginger, we experienced Smokey’s death, and Mom won a car of her own. Now, it is this.Look at you now, Erin. You are ready to go to college, and I could not figure out how I should feel. I was sad that you won’t be with me the next couple of years I’ll be in high school. I was proud that you got your high school diploma and get to go to a good college so you can get the career you wanted. I was disappointed that I didn’t get any awards this year because I tried my best this year. I was happy that we had fun together all these years. But unfortunately, I’m afraid I might burst into tears because of all these emotions and reasons for feeling that way. I just can’t decide how I truly feel and why. Lots of things you do have inspired me much more than anything else. I mean, look at me. Why else would I be wearing my hair like this? Or wear these glasses? Or read a lot of manga at the school library, play some video games, listening to rock music, and have fun on the Internet? WELL?! You helped me become who I am, for crying out loud and thanks to you, I’m one of the greatest people in this school! Now I have friends, good teachers, a great life, and a cat. As for the boyfriend part, I’ll have to work on that because I don’t have one right now. Anyway, congratulations on making me feel improved despite the fact that I have been living with autism my whole life. I sure appreciate it. By the way, I hope you’ve decided what to get for me for my birthday. If not, I’ll just have to take back everything I just said. PSYCHE! No, seriously, I do hope you got me something. Now, that’s it for the speech. I hope you and everyone else had enjoyed it. Thank you.

What is Spanish for "Delayed?"

I announced via text message this morning that we would be having a Taco Fiesta tonight. Mensa Boy left a note on the counter for the guys (& Erin) saying, "Taco Feastesta at 7:00 tonight. vamos a comer!" (Sorry, don't know how to type the upside-down exclamation point before "vamos" on blogspot.

So I get home from my wonderful massage and commence cooking the meat for tacos. And I reach into the cupboard for the unopened jar of Herdez salsa that I've had in there for 2 months. When I placed the jar in there I put a note on it that said, "DO Not Eat!"

This worked for some time. I don't know for how long, but I kind of think the jar was still in there last week.

And now it's gone. And Taylor has drunk it. And Nate has gone to get another jar. "It's by the Mexican part by the deli, not in the 'international" aisle,' I told him.

"Yes," he said. "I know exactly where it is. I've been through this before."

Les Miserables vs Less Miserable

We are back from a wedding and watching Les Miserables. The version with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman and Claire Danes. Looking at the box, the pairing of Neeson and Rush was critically acclaimed. Not a word about ole Uma And Claire. Were they deadbeats in this movie, not pulling their own weight? We'll find out. Believe it or not, neither of us has seen the story.

On the "Less Miserable" front...I declared today my emancipation from the boys laundry. This came about as a result of having my note requesting that they do a couple of loads yesterday go ignored. As a result, I counted up something like 8 loads of laundry that needs to be done this weekend.

You might think I just snapped. But to be honest, my body is sore and, after bending down into the dryer to get article after article out and fold it, all of Nate's or Taylor's, I decided I'd just not fold it anymore. They never put it away anyway. I fold it and put it on their couches. They just pick stuff off there and put them on.

That morphed into "why not just have them do their own?" And so that is what I'll do.

Girls in the Mix

We are house of boys. There's Mensa Boy, of course. Then Nate, who is 19. And Taylor, who is 14. We've always just been a house of boys.

And now we have Erin, Nate's girlfriend. She is 18. We love having her around. She's not real girly so it hasn't really changed the dynamics around here much. But she does have a woman's mind, and so it gives me someone to roll my eyes with around the dinner table when they are all going on and on about "Survival man" or "really tall flagpoles that reach out into space and what it would be like to be sitting on the top of one."

The other night we were are the supper table and Erin and I started talking about haircuts. This caused Nate to just sit and move his head back and forth, like at a tennis match, watching us talk to each other. I think he was surprised that either of us would talk that long about hair.

My friend Paula has a house of girls. One in college, one just graduating high school and the other a rising sophomore. Her two older daughters have boyfriends. Her daughters are fairly girly and so she is she.

I bet it's much weirder to bring boys into a house of girls than it is to bring girls into a house of boys.

Family Meeting

We just finished a nice supper of turkey burgers (courtesy George Foreman...so glad I have him around for these days when the sky suddenly explodes), sweet potato chips (some rather charred, but great nonetheless) and steamed cauliflower. Oh, and of course the homemade hamburger buns.

May I never buy a hamburger bun again. I'm certain I will at some point, but for now, while I have a nearly endless bowl of bread dough in the back of the fridge, there's really no point in buying the tasteless, doughy variety at the grocery store.

I had a chat with the children about summer and am hoping to get the three of them involved in some painting this summer. Buddy Julie is coming for a week in June and she and I will get the two upstairs bathrooms done. Then the bonus room and guest bedroom will be left. It sure would be cool to get the guest room done before she gets here. Erin says she likes to paint. I wonder if she could get that done with Nate the week before Julie comes? Hmmmm.... I have to work 10-hour days that week, so I won't be wielding a paintbrush in the evenings. We'll be lucky to get a decent meal that week.

The hardest part, to me, will be getting colors chosen. I really need to come up with a plan for the master bath. The master bedroom is a rose-y brown. But it also could use a new coat of paint. I dread choosing.

Anyway, I've told the three of them that I will try very hard to find gas money for them to make a road trip back to see Grandparents this summer if they will help out with some stuff here at the house. We'll see how that all goes.

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Here he is at 11. Today he is 19. Maybe when Mensa Boy wakes up we can figure out how to scan one of his baby pictures. The new scanner is a bit beyond me!

Today we will go to Greenville to meet Nate for lunch for his birthday. We'll do that at 11 because the weather is pretty dicey today. We want to be on the road back as early as possible.

CollegeMoney

CollegeMoney
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Last year I was surprised by how easily the money came together for Nate's freshman year at Erskine.

Friday I was surprised by how easily I screwed up my calculations. Failing to notice that an invoice I received last fall was for just the FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR has cost me an additional $2,300. A costly error on my part. And one for which I had to transfer money from our home equity line of credit this morning.

Ouch.

But Nate is thriving. After a serious academic misstep this fall he seemed to rally over J-term (the period during January when students take just one class on a very intense basis) and raised his GPA significantly. He aced that class, which is really the least I can expect of a son of Mensa Boy's taking that particular subject: The History of Ancient Israel. So now he is hurdling headlong into spring semester and will try his level best to get his GPA to a level that will allow him to maintain part, if not all, of his scholarship money.

It was a quiet weekend here in Indian Land. My other two guys went to the beach with SCUMYs...South Carolina United Methodist Youth. They had a good time. I had wine with good friend Nannette and her beau Chuck on Friday night.

Saturday I hit the Jazz class in Fort Mill and then stayed to attend a Yoga class afterward. After that it was pretty much all downhill. The exercise was good, but quite a bit for this body, which proceeded to seize up and say "ouch" in as many was as possible. But it's a good ouch.

I read more of "To Kill a Mockingbird" which, I have to say, I'd forgotten was so. darn. funny! And I watched episodes of "Private Practice" on the internet. What can I say? I fell victim to the crossover episode of "Grey's Anatomy" and PP and had to find out what the heck she could have said to make him stop the proposal process?

And now my guys are home, it's beginning to darken outside, and it's time to start settling down for the work week ahead.

Are YOU on the list?

Senator Obama says he'll be announcing his Vice Presidential running mate via text message.
Are you on the list?

Today Taylor starts back to school. I admit that, in my flurry to get kids registered at the high school, I really hadn't thought too much about him starting. I have intentionally NOT shopped for his school supplies, just getting him some paper and writing implements. There is usually a list as long as my arm of supplies and then he ends up not using them all. Last night he said, "What time does the bus come?" Hmmm...hadn't really thought about that one too much. I told him to shoot for 7:45 and the driver would tell him more in a few days. We are happy to have our favorite driver this year again. We didn't have him last year as his route got too large and he was moved to the other side of the neighborhood.

So Taylor will be getting himself up and out to the bus on time. This scares me a bit because he has never been good at getting up. I told him last night that he gets three times to miss the bus and then he has to come to work with me for the rest of that semester. That would mean he'd have to get up at 6 instead of 7 and come to work with me at 7. There would be nothing for him to do for 90 minutes while he waits for school to start. Hopefully that will be enough incentive to keep him on track with getting up.

We aren't leaving him out there to sink or swim, though. Mensa Boy will try to get him up before he leaves the house and then will call him 10 minutes later. I'll call or text him when it's time to get out the door. So really? He should be able to do this.

It's time. Time to get greet the kids coming back to school! Big Day! I LOVE THIS!

Just Like His Father

"Here Taylor," I said as I handed him my old cell phone.

"Sweet! Is it broken?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Uh. No. It's your own cell phone," I told him.

Well of course that made him even happier. I asked him if he minded getting my old one. "I don't care," he said.

Cool kid, huh?