1. B and I upgraded our cell phones a few weeks ago...we both have "smartphones". Even with the word "smart" in there I still have not been able to teach mine how to do the laundry. I keep waiting...I've even left it on top of the washing maching downstairs a few times...nothing happened. Sigh.
All joking aside, the phones are really pretty cool. I've been using the calendar on mine a lot, which is helping to keep me organized. It was especially useful last week as I helped get my niece to basketball camp and S to her summer camp...by Thursday, as I would pull out of the driveway, I had to do a mental check to remember who I was picking up/dropping off and if I was headed in the right direction! My niece greatly enjoyed basketball camp. She's pretty good (plus she's taller than me at this point, so that helps!)! The camp was held at a local college, which has a relatively new gym...I don't think I've ever been in a gym that big. I think I could fit my house in it a few times.
2. We have now gotten 5 or 6 estimates on a new roof. Cha-ching!! This is going to cost between $5000 and $9000, depending on who we hire and what exactly they do. Did you know it is aesthetically important that the roof and house shingles match?? I did not know this. The Hubster was assuming we were getting the garage done too....I was not thinking that at all, since there is nothing wrong with the garage roof! It is newer than the house roof and doesn't leak, so I wasn't including that in the job at all. He said it would look stupid if the roofs didn't 'match'. Ummmm. I don't think I have ever noticed whether or not the roofs match. I would notice if they were two different colors, but I don't think I would care otherwise. I was, needless to say, gulping a bit at the cost; the Hubster did get a bonus this year but I was hoping to use some of that to help fund a PWS-related trip later this year. So we haven't completely decided whether to do the roof this year, or wait another year.
3. Try explaining this bumper-sticker to an eleven-year old: "I Give Evolution Two Opposable Thumbs Up!". I read it and got it right away...I had a really hard time, though, trying to explain it to K.
4. Elder Daughter ("K") now has a cell phone. Hallelujah we have crossed that bridge. I don't think she is finding it as "all that" as she thought it would be. I gave her my most recent cell phone, with her own phone number. It is considerably less sophisticated than the iPhones I have seen other 11-year olds carrying.
5. Why would anyone in their right mind get an iPhone for an 11-year-old? I don't care what kind of cell plan you have, those phones are a) expensive, and b) much more 'phone' than a person that age needs. K can make phone calls, text, take pictures - that's it. And even though she's been wanting a phone for two years, and now she has one, you know what? It sits there. She's not constantly texting or calling friends. I've seen her with her DSi in her hands more, over the past two days, than the phone. Of course, maybe that will all change once school starts and she starts giving out her phone number to other friends (no boys though!). Although, if her grades start to fall, the phone goes buh-bye.
6. We are in the process of putting up the pool outside. We have so far purchased 28 bags of sand, trying to get this particular patch of ground as level as possible. We are going to need more sand. It is really hot outside, especially when hauling around bags of sand.
7. I can't believe it is already July 4th weekend. I have a feeling the summer is going to go by really fast. S has been enjoying her summer camp, although there have been a few minor food issues. I've become totally impatient with food-based "crafts" or activities!
Well, it's hot up here by the computer (although the computer does stay cool enough), so I'm off to go buy more sand...although it's hot doing that too! Thanks for reading,
Later,
Jen
Showing posts with label Little Bit 'A Random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Bit 'A Random. Show all posts
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Little Bit 'A Random
Hello? Hello? Anyone still checking in here? :-) Just some random stuff:
1. Last Monday, we went to the zoo and met up with my long-time friend Paula and her kids. We've been friends for, hmmm, 33 years now? We met in kindergarten, we have the same birthday, we are very much alike in many things. I will admit I chose a not-so-great day to do the zoo thing; on Mondays it is "residents of C. county get in free with identification" day, and WOW was it crowded. I have never seen the zoo that busy. Of course it would have been just as fun doing some people-watching as it was trying to get a glimpse of the animals.
2. Thursday S and I went and participated in a Prader-Willi Syndrome-related research study, being conducted by a team in Cleveland. She did great! I was really proud of her ability to go with the flow all day, do lots of 'playing' with the research assistants (which meant they probably asked her a zillion questions), and not get crabby about anything. It was pretty interesting. I answered a lot of questions too, pretty exhausting but well worth it if it helps the medical world understand PWS better. Part of the study involves some kind of questionnaire used to determine the presence of autism, and I can definitely say, S is not autistic even though PWS is an autistic-like syndrome and a good number of children with PWS have an additional diagnosis of autism. At the end of the day she and I tried, without success, to make it to the parking garage before a big storm hit; we ended up in the university bookstore, where a kind employee gave us two large trash bags to cover up with so we could at least get to the garage without getting soaked! Then we drove through HUGE puddles, and past an impressively-overflowing stream, as we got on the road home. Looong day, but S was a real trooper. I think she had a great time, actually.
3. It was either Wednesday or Friday last week, when one of the neighbor girls came over and asked S if she wanted to play. !!! This is a new experience for me/her; this little girl has lived in the house across the street since last September I think but this was the first time they'd played. They are pretty much the same age, but S will be in second grade in the fall and O will be in third. But they played really well together. I was really nervous about it. I shouldn't be. Sophie did fine, and O seems like a really nice girl. The whole subject of how S will make friends, and how other kids will relate to her, is a whole post by itself!
4. This weekend was K's all-school dance recital. We are talking a 4-hour rehearsal Saturday morning, 4 hours at the performance location Saturday night, and another 4 hours on Sunday. This is I think her third or fourth one of these, plus other performances, so we are used to the routine by now...but it is still exhausting. She does so well onstage, though! She has never gotten nervous about any performance. She doesn't even seem to get butterflies. And really, I have sat through enough of these now to know that as the girls get older, the quality of these performances gets better and better. K has been attending this school for 8 years now, and the teachers do an excellent job of getting the students to dance well. So it is a long weekend but it is fun. I'm proud of K for sticking with this; it has been a challenge for her as the school is not in our neighborhood, so she only sees these girls twice a week, whereas some of them go to the same school. She has made some friends recently, though, so I'm thinking she may continue on with this until she graduates high school, unless she gets involved in sports or some other activity which would conflict.
5. I will have to do a separate post about Father's Day. I'm a shmuck as I did not get any presents ready, from myself or the girls, for B for Father's Day. So dealing with huge guilt about that. And Father's Day has always been just an odd day for me anyway, as my relationship with my own father...well....there really isn't one. Anyway.
6. S starts camp tomorrow. I am hoping like crazy that I can get her up and ready, get myself ready, get her stuff ready (lunch, snack, bathing suit, towel), and out the door by 7:30 a.m. to get to camp by 8 a.m.. I've already warned her teacher that, until I figure out what the traffic will be like, we might be a few minutes late. I've been sort of dreading having to get out the door so early; but, on the other hand, I'm kind of looking forward to it as I'm hoping it will help me get more stuff accomplished in a day. I'm going to try really, really hard NOT to come home and sleep...I just have so stinkin' much on my to-do list, plus I have a conference call at 11. I will have to drink a bit of coffee I guess. I'll probably end up going to be at 10 p.m. tomorrow night.
Well, not a very interesting post, but oh well! Thanks for reading-
Later,
Jen
1. Last Monday, we went to the zoo and met up with my long-time friend Paula and her kids. We've been friends for, hmmm, 33 years now? We met in kindergarten, we have the same birthday, we are very much alike in many things. I will admit I chose a not-so-great day to do the zoo thing; on Mondays it is "residents of C. county get in free with identification" day, and WOW was it crowded. I have never seen the zoo that busy. Of course it would have been just as fun doing some people-watching as it was trying to get a glimpse of the animals.
2. Thursday S and I went and participated in a Prader-Willi Syndrome-related research study, being conducted by a team in Cleveland. She did great! I was really proud of her ability to go with the flow all day, do lots of 'playing' with the research assistants (which meant they probably asked her a zillion questions), and not get crabby about anything. It was pretty interesting. I answered a lot of questions too, pretty exhausting but well worth it if it helps the medical world understand PWS better. Part of the study involves some kind of questionnaire used to determine the presence of autism, and I can definitely say, S is not autistic even though PWS is an autistic-like syndrome and a good number of children with PWS have an additional diagnosis of autism. At the end of the day she and I tried, without success, to make it to the parking garage before a big storm hit; we ended up in the university bookstore, where a kind employee gave us two large trash bags to cover up with so we could at least get to the garage without getting soaked! Then we drove through HUGE puddles, and past an impressively-overflowing stream, as we got on the road home. Looong day, but S was a real trooper. I think she had a great time, actually.
3. It was either Wednesday or Friday last week, when one of the neighbor girls came over and asked S if she wanted to play. !!! This is a new experience for me/her; this little girl has lived in the house across the street since last September I think but this was the first time they'd played. They are pretty much the same age, but S will be in second grade in the fall and O will be in third. But they played really well together. I was really nervous about it. I shouldn't be. Sophie did fine, and O seems like a really nice girl. The whole subject of how S will make friends, and how other kids will relate to her, is a whole post by itself!
4. This weekend was K's all-school dance recital. We are talking a 4-hour rehearsal Saturday morning, 4 hours at the performance location Saturday night, and another 4 hours on Sunday. This is I think her third or fourth one of these, plus other performances, so we are used to the routine by now...but it is still exhausting. She does so well onstage, though! She has never gotten nervous about any performance. She doesn't even seem to get butterflies. And really, I have sat through enough of these now to know that as the girls get older, the quality of these performances gets better and better. K has been attending this school for 8 years now, and the teachers do an excellent job of getting the students to dance well. So it is a long weekend but it is fun. I'm proud of K for sticking with this; it has been a challenge for her as the school is not in our neighborhood, so she only sees these girls twice a week, whereas some of them go to the same school. She has made some friends recently, though, so I'm thinking she may continue on with this until she graduates high school, unless she gets involved in sports or some other activity which would conflict.
5. I will have to do a separate post about Father's Day. I'm a shmuck as I did not get any presents ready, from myself or the girls, for B for Father's Day. So dealing with huge guilt about that. And Father's Day has always been just an odd day for me anyway, as my relationship with my own father...well....there really isn't one. Anyway.
6. S starts camp tomorrow. I am hoping like crazy that I can get her up and ready, get myself ready, get her stuff ready (lunch, snack, bathing suit, towel), and out the door by 7:30 a.m. to get to camp by 8 a.m.. I've already warned her teacher that, until I figure out what the traffic will be like, we might be a few minutes late. I've been sort of dreading having to get out the door so early; but, on the other hand, I'm kind of looking forward to it as I'm hoping it will help me get more stuff accomplished in a day. I'm going to try really, really hard NOT to come home and sleep...I just have so stinkin' much on my to-do list, plus I have a conference call at 11. I will have to drink a bit of coffee I guess. I'll probably end up going to be at 10 p.m. tomorrow night.
Well, not a very interesting post, but oh well! Thanks for reading-
Later,
Jen
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