Back to School Night

Met all of Fern's teachers, most of them are decent. None will accept late work. She will have three HSAs in the spring and possibly one AP exam in Spanish. Her Spanish class is a combo 4/5AP class. The AP kids will get more work through out the year and will have to take the AP test. If the Spanish 4 kids want, they can take the AP test too. If they pass, they will retroactively get credit for Spanish 5/AP (which is worth more GPA points).

Dan met Kevin's new teacher. He has the same classroom aid as he did last year, which is good. She'll help the new teacher get to know the students and will provide some continuity to the kids.

I know, fun stuff here at Anne's House. Back to school night, oooh, fun. On the other hand, we're heading to the beach for the weekend, regardless of what hurricane Earl does. That, will be fun.



 

Can I add any more links to this post?

It was such a lovely evening last night, after the the frigid rainy mess we had last weekend, it was a delight to walk around Capitol Hill with my kids and drink in the balmy air.

I have a guy who cuts my hair, and has been, on and off, for nearly 25 years. I did cheat on him with Nick Arrojo a couple of times, but I'm not going to let that bother me. I love catching up with Evan, hearing about his wife and kids, wow, they are getting so old now, but I guess we all are. I've kept with him from shop to shop, wherever he worked, and now he has had his own shop, Randolph Cree, on Capitol Hill near Eastern Market for many years. I'm please for him it's going so well.

I've needed a haircut for a while and Fern's been bugging me, too, she wants her hair cut also. So I finally remembered to call and made simultaneous appointments for us. Kevin went with us and sat still with a promise of a burger from Good Stuff Eatery afterwards. He'll do pretty much anything for a burger and fries, even sit in still in a hair salon for an hour. (Kevin could have stayed home with Dan, but my ulterior motive was to keep him from crashing in my bed at 7:00. I hate that.)

Good Stuff, or "Spike's" as we call it, is several blocks away down Pennsylvania Avenue. It's run by the Mendelsohn family, but Spike is most famous because of his appearance on Top Chef a couple seasons ago. The burgers are great and the Village fries are to die for. You should stop by if you're ever by there.

But I still couldn't believe how pleasant it was out last night, folks were dining outside and I hardly needed a jacket. Except for the fact there was homework to be done and Flash Forward to watch, I really didn't feel compelled to hurry home. I'm gonna miss this when winter rolls in.


 

Rounding up November

Wow, I've got two weekends to round up. I'll try not to forget any of the good parts and summarize the boring bits.

In this Issue:

• Gadget Corner


• IEP Season


• He did What?


• Teen Drama


• Thanksgiving vs. Mendoza


• High Def Rain

Gadget Corner

A while back on John's blog he got a comment from a fellow trucker who runs. I checked out her blog and she had written about a GPS pedometer. Since I walk every morning I wanted one. I want to know how far I really walk and how fast. I was thinking the $150 model would suit me fine. When I didn't get one for my birthday I used the Costco coupon for $40 off the model they have and got the $300 model for $160. I'm loving it, it's a fun gadget. It draws a trail where I walk and beeps at me when I drop below a 15:20 mile, which happens a lot when the three of us talk too much in the mornings. I've logged over 27 miles so far and end up finishing the 3.06-mile loop in about 44 minutes. Not too bad.

IEP Season

For some reason they wanted to change Kevin's IEP schedule from spring to fall. So last Monday I went in and met with Kevin's team. It was actually the first time I'd met his current teacher because the one who started the school year quit. The meeting was lead by the head of the Special-Ed department and not the new teacher.

Most of the plan was the same as last year, but I didn't think they had enough math concepts covered so I had comparisons added (less than, greater than, before, after) as well as a component of measuring. I also inquired about shop class. Kevin loves to put things together and I think with some supervised instruction, he'd do well. I'd like him to transition from pictorial instructions to reading and comprehending written assembly instructions. My inquiry was a general question, Is it possible in the future Kevin could take shop class, maybe next year? He's now signed up for Tech-ed for next semester. Ohmigoodness, that scares me and thrills me at the same time. He'll be in the regular-ed boys every-other day. I'm sure I'll report how that goes.

He did what?

Kevin caught a cold last weekend and by Monday night his voice was gone. We kept him home from school on Tuesday. Kevin hardly ever gets sick, Tuesday was his first missed day of school in several years. But that's beside the point. We don't stock a lot of liquid cold medicine for him since he doesn't usually need it, and had nothing to give him for all his symptoms except gel-caps. Which he swallowed without ceremony. I was stunned, Dan was shocked. We were both happy with this new skill.

Teen Drama

Applications for First Choice High (FCH) were due on the 21st by 2:30 pm. The application packet consisted of the form, copies of the 7th grade final report card and the first quarter 8th grade card, and an optional essay. I'm not sure how the whole thing went down but I found part of the packet for Fern's neighborhood friend on our kitchen counter on Saturday the 22nd.

I asked Fern why Amanda's application was in our house. She starts flipping out. "Dad was supposed to turn that in, Amanda's gonna hate me, her mom's gonna be mad at her and she's gonna hate me.....," talking fast and anxious like only teen girls can do. We can't ask Dan, who turned in Fern's packet on Friday morning, didn't turn in Amanda's. He was on a road trip to La Grange, KY for a college roommate's surprise 50th birthday party in another college friend's car and his phone was in his car parked at that friend's house.

No one specifically said to Dan, "here is Amanda's application, will you turn it in too, please?" But Fern swears we said we'd take it and knew about it. I left for work early that day and knew nothing about special requests. I turned it in to the high school on the way to the IEP meeting.

As it turns out, the head of the special-ed is good friends with one of the chairs of FCH and emailed her my story when I was there for the IEP meeting the following Monday. (FCH, is a special application-only honors program within the local high school.) In the mean time, I called Amanda's mom to explain what happened on our end and where the application was. She wasn't mad at us or at Amanda. It was her responsibilty after all. Amanda's not mad at Fern, and Fern is not mad at us. The FCH chair called me and accepted the app late anyway. Now, if Amanda gets in and Fern doesn't, heads will roll, baby, heads will roll.

Thanksgiving vs. Mendoza.

I'm still above my Mendoza line and am not happy about it. I get so close, then go and do something stupid like have cake at a birthday party Saturday night. Grrr. I'll be doing the "on the ball" class at the gym at lunch and I'll be back to my water aerobics class tonight. There were no classes last week, which didn't help the cause any.

High Def Rain

Three weeks ago I negotiated a fabulous deal with DirecTV for high def service and picked an install date of yesterday, it was the first Sunday appointment they had. I hate taking off work to wait for someone to maybe show up in a 12-4 window. The guy showed up at 2:00. Except it was raining. And the tech wouldn't climb up on the roof in the rain for an hour and install a new 40lb dish. Grrr. I complained and got free Show Time for several months. They are supposed to be coming back today and Dan, the great guy that he is, is going home to meet them when they call so say they are on the way. I bet they forget to call. Scattered showers in the forecast for the afternoon, too.

Pardon me while I take a moment to be overwhelmed...

OK.

I'm not exactly freaking out yet, but I'm starting to get anxious.

Spring Break. Less than two weeks away.

The travel documents came yesterday, which, without a true airline ticket anymore, amount to the itinerary and luggage tags.

Driving to Florida for a cruise is one matter, where you can stop at any Target or Walmart on the way and buy what you need. Flying to Europe and back on long flights is a completely different matter. Try going into a foreign land with a foreign language and asking for contact lens solution. Best not forget it in the first place (Fern).

I gotta buy some quart sized zip bags so the security guys will be nice to us. I gotta find mini shampoo bottles, enough for everyone.

I know I'm going to forget stuff. So I'm getting anxious about trying to remember it all now before it's too late.

I bought a new memory card for my camera. And extra batteries, too. I bought a solar charger for cell phones and iPods.

Oh, and laundry. I have to find that balance of washing clothes to pack and washing clothes to wear in the mean time.

And what to pack anyway? That kinda depends on the weather. And weather can be temperamental in mid-March. Don't want to over pack, but don't want to be spending time in foreign laundromats, either. I gotta pack the correct weight coat so I won't freeze or smolder. How many pairs of shoes? Do I even mess with "dressy?"

Got to come up with portable activities to keep the kids occupied. Got to set aside books and/or knitting for myself.

Did I remember the camera? Should I take the non-digital Nikon and film, too. With all the lenses. Tripod either way. Polarizer filter too.

eye yai yai.

Thank you for enduring this little moment of anxiety.
I'll write all this down in a notebook, before I forget.
But first, I have a killer headache and need to go get a coke.

Travel pillows for the plane?
And a copy of The Blade.....

Another day, another rambling

No-one bit on yesterday's Ferris Bueller reference. Oh well.

The kids had a 2-hour delay this morning, I guess because parts of the county had sleet & freezing rain and the roads were bad. We just had a lot of rain at our house. I got another couple loads of towels in this morning while I was waiting for the buses. The laundry pile is slowly shrinking. I'm almost down to "maintenance" level.

Lost went back on the air last night after a 8 month hiatus. Having Lost back really puts a hamper (ha ha) on my laundry accomplishments. And other household duties as well.

I'm glad Lost is back, I really like the show. Fern didn't like it when it premiered in 2004, it was too bloody. But now she's into it. I have a coupon for 40% off DVD sets at Borders so I guess I should get season three so I'll have a whole set so she can catch up with the whole story. Which means I need to track down season I lent to AM.

I read somewhere they only had eight episodes written before the strike started so I'm not sure how that'll play into the plan they made last year to have three more seasons in the show's run. Will they make a shortened season box set or will they wait for a full 16-episode season? I ponder the silliest things.

The strike is messing up a lot of things, not just my TV watching. All the folks with jobs in the TV business are out of work still, the caterers and the camera operators, and the like. I'm thankful I have a good job.

And now, I leave you with a photo I snapped the other morning on the way to said job. A storm front was rolling through and the clouds were awesome. Too bad I couldn't park and set up a tripod for a better shot.

The computer model shows the possibility of snow on Sunday. A large nor'easter storm could be headed our way. Spring break will be over and report cards are supposed to be sent home on Monday, April 16. Hmmm. I wonder what my honors daughter will bring home?

Everyday Kevin keeps saying "no school! School is over!" I'm going to have to drill into his head "spring break over," so he is not shocked on Monday. I still predict he'll be hard to get up.

Taxes are due on Tuesday. My husband reminded me they took charitable contributions out of his paycheck so I had to adjust the Schedule A. But, yay! now we owe less.