This won't be a
long post. I only have a few things to
write about. But I just got the girls to
bed and I find that, like always, I am reluctant to get started on the nightly
routine which involves getting everything out and ready for school so it's not
too rushed and panicked before the bus comes in the morning. So, what better way to put off doing what I
don't really want to do than to write?
Besides, I've already been on Facebook two dozen times tonight and
really don't want to go back there...tired of reading posts from my liberal
friends reminding the world that the difference between the KKK and Westboro
church and Christians is the same difference between ISIS and Muslims. I'm tired of reading posts with the F word in
them and I'm even tired of friends who feel the need to remind me exactly how
many Saturdays I have left until Christmas...
Of course, I don't
like reading that last one because then I get panicked. I don't even start thinking about Christmas
until after Ben's birthday (which is in two days). I can't handle all that mental pressure - one
celebration at a time!
***********************************
I got a little bit
of writing done this past week. I was
somewhere towards the end of the week when the ending for my book came
to me - out of the blue. I quickly
scribbled some notes and then yesterday I did the actual writing. It's just a few paragraphs, but it sort of
gives me goose bumps.
And then I started
the City Clerk manual this week, too. I
am not planning to quit my job up there but I have a feeling - an unexplainable
certainty - that my days doing that job are numbered somehow. Maybe I'm going to get fired with the new
mayor and council coming in. I don't
know! But I want to leave behind what I
didn't have - a training manual on how to do the work.
************************************
I found out Ellie
has preschool conferences in a couple of weeks.
Really? Conferences for
preschool? What are they going to talk
about - how well my child does at fingerpainting or refraining from biting her
classmates? The only value I could
possibly see would be to get the teachers' input on kindergarten
readiness. Although, as a parent, I feel
more than capable of assessing that myself.
Besides, she'll have pre-school testing to determine that in the spring,
anyway. So it's one more thing I have to
find time to do.
Today, one of Ellie's preschool classmates was at
church (a family in our church has babysat him since he was born) and so she
was enthusiastically waving and calling good-bye to him. Lizzie began to tease her saying,
"Jacob's your boyfriend!"
Of course, Ellie immediately protested this and I attempted to diffuse
the situation by saying I was sure Jacob was only Ellie's friend (while
mentally rolling my eyes - does the boyfriend stuff have to start this young?). Ellie agreed, but then added, "It's ok,
Mom. Jacob's a Christian." Yep - that totally makes dating at four ok.
******************************************
We had a nasty
storm last Wed. I guess I mentioned in
my last post about the possibility of that that they were forecasting at the
time. It came, just like the weathermen
said it would. Of course, I had no
intention of being out in it, but like a lot of good intentions...
A little bit after
3 I got a text from the school saying they were keeping the kids because of the
weather. But parents could pick them up
if they wanted. Darn tootin'...I wasn't
going to leave my kids for who knows how long at the school, possibly scared to
death. If it was a truly dangerous
situation, I wouldn't have gone, but I really felt like I would be ok. The sky was darkening and it was beginning to
rain, but it didn't seem super ominous, either.
So, David and I
rushed down to the schools. It was
pouring by then. He went into the high
school to get Ben and I went into the elementary school to get the others. I was absolutely drenched by the time I got
in. It didn't help that the zipper on my
trench coat broke a few weeks ago. I
found my kids and Sam's teacher commented, "I thought I'd probably see
you!" I think she's getting to know
my overly-involved self by now!
We should have
just waited in the school building for the storm to pass but I didn't know how
long it was going to rage. And I didn't
want Ben and David sitting in the van all alone. So, the kids and I ventured out into the
blinding rain and wind. It was awful and
seemed to take forever to get across the street to the van. We were all soaked to our underpants, but
finally we were in the van. Then, I knew
I needed to scoot and get to higher ground in case it began to flood.
As I drove out of
the parking lot, the rain began to lessen.
Are you kidding me?! I
just risked life and limb for these kids thinking this would be a long,
protracted scary time, and it was
already over? On the plus side, I
now didn't need to worry about driving into flood waters or being swept off the
road by a tornado. So there was that.
We got some hail
at the house, but no real damage. I lost
half the leaves on my burning bush and I found a huge limb from the willow tree
nestled inside it. A lot of the willow
branches ended up on the opposite side of the house. All the deck furniture was blown to one
corner of the deck. And a few days later
I discovered my metal pumpkin garage
door decoration became a fatality. The wind
ripped that thing right apart.
Later, we found
out that an EF 1 tornado did hit Knoxville (10 min, south of Pville). It tore off part of the roof of the
Walmart. I guess one of Sam's classmates
was in there at the time...
But all's well
that ends well. I have a particular
horror of tornados that probably has a lot to do with growing up in the
Midwest. But I also have vivid memories
of the aftermath of the tornado that hit my grandparents' home in Nov. 1975
when I was only 4 years old. You don't forget
things like that. I have a Facebook
friend who was a real-life friend of Paul's.
His home was destroyed by an Omaha tornado when he was 5 years old. He, his mom, and his siblings cowered in the
basement. When it passed, all that was
left was the basement. He references
that event frequently in his FB posts to this day, 40 years later.
*****************************
Onto war...
Every year the
school hosts a Veterans Day program and Sam came home, deeply moved by the
event. I have noticed his growing
interest in American history over the last few months, anyway. Well, they told the kids the story of how our
national anthem was written. I am pretty
familiar with this story, myself. Sam
related it to me and I explained to him the part of the story they left out.
The reason our
flag was still standing that quiet morning after being fired upon all night
long at Fort Henry was because the bodies of the dead soldiers and patriots
held it up. Because of those noble
sacrifices Francis Scott Key received an affirmative answer when he asked that
morning if the flag still flew.
Sam was in awe
when I told him that part of the story.
This afternoon he
and Lizzie were working on a Thanksgiving placemat project my friend Deb
brought them today. I happened to look
at Sam's and under the pre-printed, "I'm thankful For:" he had
carefully printed
I'm thankful for the revulonshune woor. We the U.S.A. We world be stuck. It world be bad. I'm so happy. that we live in ir U.S.A. I'm happy.
Actually, he had
first written he was thankful for the "sivill" war which confused me
until I realized what he was talking about.
I couldn't imagine why we'd be thankful for the Civil War, but then I
realized he was referencing our conversation earlier in the week about the Revolutionary
War. Anyway, Sam stood there with actual
tears in his eyes and explained that if it wasn't for those brave soldiers we
wouldn't have our country today and things would be very, very bad.
I really like the
person this kid is growing into.
Monday Morning
I ended up needing
to help Will with a paper last night so
I wasn't able to finish this. He's
writing on the expectations of fatherhood and how sitcoms influence fatherhood. I think it's for his Comp class. He's in a lot of pain right now. It might be sinus related. It's in his
teeth. It was so bad he spent the night
sleeping upright in the recliner. I
tried to convince him to let me make him a doctor's appt today but he doesn't
want to miss work. But that goes until 9
tonight. So I hope the Advil is enough
to hold it off until he can get to the dr which probably won't happen until
Wed.
Today I am going
to lunch with a couple of older widow friends.
Technically, I guess they're elderly.
One of them anyway. She's in her
80s. But I don't see either one as
elderly. I suppose the older I get the
more that happen. The word,
"elderly" will be something I only reference to centurians before too
long!
Then I need to run
some errands. I am on the hunt for a
short trench coat and I thought of a couple more stores that might carry
them. It would be great if I could find
one today because the zipper on mine is completely broken and I really need to replace the coat. Today would be a
great day to do that because it's cold and raining! Tonight I have my mom's group.
Tomorrow is Ben's last
IEP meeting. It's also his
birthday. I think I might bring cupcakes
to that to celebrate that it's his last meeting, along with his birthday. Wednesday will be super busy. I have to take Ellie to preschool, run up to
DMACC and get my FAFSA filed, run back down and pick up Ellie, and then drive
over to Newton for a pre-admissions interview at Buena Vista. Thursday is open. Friday night my scrapbooking ladies are
coming over. Saturday David will be at a
teen conference up at Faith.
And like that,
another week will be wrapped up.
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