Silver Liningness, Vol. 2, part 2

It's all grey and overcast outside. A little misty. Like one big cloud from horizon to horizon. Perfect setting for silver liningness!(?)

Hard to believe that August is already coming to an end. The kids are well established into the school year now it seems. Had a back-to-school nite thing at Meego's school. I'm getting the vibe that it will be a good year for all of the kiddos.

Just yesterday, I kicked off another LSAT class. It's always nice to start another round with new fresh-faced law student wannabes. They all seem nice. Hopefully the feeling is mutual.

On that note, there was a parade going on downtown not far from where I was teaching yesterday. It was a Welcome Home/Military Appreciation parade for our local troops. I was giving the class a test after we had discussed not letting ambient noise and other things distract their focus, when along came three F-16's in formation to thoroughly buzz our classroom! What timing! It reminded me that I am thankful for our military. And thanks to those pilots for helping with yesterday's lesson. Twice!

Speaking of lessons, Chaco is coming along nicely with the driving. He's pretty much got his clutch/gas coordination thing down and is able to drive me around to run errands now. I think he takes pride in knowing how to drive a stick when he knows adults who don't have it. Yesterday's excursion featured hydroplaning potential, poor visibility, malfunctioning traffic lights, and a particularly bad driver in a parking lot. Chaco, I, and the car all survived!

We have a new dentist (oh boy!). Our insurance provider changed, so we needed to find another and did so. Someone right in the neighborhood. Magnum went last week and gives them good reviews. He's getting a crown that he's needed for a while. A gold one ("so I can harvest it from your body if you die before I do"). This is his first crown. I, on the other hand, have had 6 crown procedures in regards to the 3 crowns currently in my head. This makes me still and forever The Queen.
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just checking

Friday, August 28. About 8:30 a.m.

For some reason, I started pondering the New Year's resolutions. Did I make any? I vaguely remember sitting at the mall food court with the family, slurping on ice cream cones, while we knocked a few around.

So I went digging around in the archives, and YES, I really did make some. Did you? Remember them? How's that workin' for ya??

I thought I'd do a little rehash, a little check-up, a little examination - check the pulse and all that. This is what I said I'd do this year:

Regarding my job, I wanted to add some more responsibilities (a.k.a more cash). I think I've done what I set out to do. I'd say I'm happy with my current level of hours and responsibilities, at least until the end of this year. Then we'll slurp on an ice cream cone and decide what's next.

Regarding the housewifery, I wanted to get a better handle on the food stores and whatnot, stocking the pantry with provisions in case of emergency. Uhm, maybe it's a little better stocked and better organized than it was at the beginning of the year, but could be better. B minus on that one.

Nextly, on the physical front, I wanted to run more miles this year than I ran last year. Right after I made that resolution, I was sidelined with a pesky foot injury for 3-4 months. Doesn't look that I will top the mileage from last year, BUT I'm happy with where I am NOW after my return to running, so that works for me.

I wanted to improve some friendships. Hmmmm, that's kind of vague. I should work on that some more, and be more specific.

For the Mom wars, I wanted to help the kids become more responsible and independent. I think they're doing well. And then there's that "Pay The Putzfrau" program in place. CHA-CHING!!

Magnum and I resolved to go on more dates. I think we have. Then there's those old folk's strolls we've added to our evenings. I think we get A's here.

So. Okay. I'm glad I went digging around in the archives. I'm glad I have archives to dig around in. Four more months 'til deadline!

You?
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who are these people?

As I was taking my early morning jaunt around suburbia this morning, it seemed a little less populated.

There's usually a fairly good sample of early morning walkers, joggers, dogs walking their humans, etc., but this morning was relatively deserted. There was the old couple that I pass, almost always about at the same place. They walk single file - one behind the other. Sometimes she's in front, sometimes he is. They're always very friendly in their greetings to me, though, so I guess they just like single file.

Then there's the oldish man jogger I come across on the trail. This is a narrow trail, suitable for only one person at a time. It's in the midst of Preble mouse town which some may remember as the setting for my crazed deer encounter.

There's no development allowed in Preble mouse town, so that early in the morning, it's kind of dark (no electricity) and tricky on this trail. One must pay attention lest one trips and falls on one's face.

In fact, one can get so focused watching the trail immediately in front of them, that one does not become aware of another person coming straight at them until... well.... the two of them collide. This has yet to happen with the oldish man jogger and myself, but we've come close. Side note: that HAS happened to me, embarrassingly enough, with a different jogger, and that's maybe why I keep myself aware of oldish man jogger, while also managing to keep from falling on my face.

These two encounters, I can almost set my watch by them. The locations are always the same. Their greetings are always as friendly. Almost as if we look forward to our friendly yet very brief crossings. I guess I do, in a way, look forward to them. If they weren't there, where they are supposed to be at that given time, I might worry.

There's another woman I see walking on Sundays when I run later in the day. Again, our paths cross at the same location each time. I'm pretty sure she is on her way to work... somewhere... based on how she is dressed. We always exchange pleasantries.

Not too long ago, I'd changed my routine a bit to work around a class I was teaching. I didn't see this woman for a while. When I saw her again, she visibly perked up. "There you are. Hadn't seen you in a while, I got worried". I was glad and a bit relieved to see her too.

And I don't even know her name.
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get yours today!

I've reinstated "Pay the Putzfrau".

Old longtime readers of this blog may recall a few years back when I was inspired by a certain globe hopping blog friend to start charging my children for my cleaning services. No, this friend didn't do so, but when he was in Germany, he had a Putzfrau, a cleaning lady.

It was the word "Putzfrau" that so inspired. A program of pay-your-mom-when-she-cleans-up-your-messes-that-you-are-perfectly-capable-of-and-responsible-for was just too exhausting to try to enforce, I felt. But what an endearing term, this "Putzfrau"!

And it was from that that I fashioned my own handy Pay The Putzfrau home service kit. It includes the lovely handcrafted receptical shown above, and the program works as follows:

1. Someone leaves a mess
2. You charge them money

Not too complex, eh?!

What? Someone splashed juice on the floor and now walking in your kitchen feels like walking in a movie theater? Pay The Putzfrau!

Snack remains left behind while the snacker has gleefully gone off to play? Pay The Putzfrau!

Forgot to flush? You know it!!

The photo above shows my lovely handcrafted receptical. It has two slips in it - I.O.U.'s because my current "clients" happen to be currently broke. The Putzfrau fees will be garnished from their next wages.

Want your own kit?? I'll ship it for a small fee. Really, it pays for itself in no time!
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Silver Lining, part I, vol. 2

I'm starting a new volume of silver liningness. Since I made the 1-year mark last weekend, I decided to start back with a part I. Plus, the Roman Numeralizing was getting challenging.

So welcome to the first edition of volume 2!

School started this past week. That first week back always feels a bit disjointed with everyone still getting used to getting up on time and meeting schedules and having stuff ready to go. I think at this point, we've smoothed out most of the rustiness and are back into the swing.

On that note, I'm glad that all the kids enjoy school. Chaco and Wolfgang have met all their teachers and seem to like all of them and have enjoyed seeing their school friends. I wasn't concerned about which teacher Meego would get, as all the fourth grade teachers at his school are well-liked and competent. He's already become good friends with a new kid, and his best friend from last year is in his class too.

There was, however, that little incident with the "inappropriate school computer use". I think Chaco was really worried that Magnum and I would be pissed, but no. In fact, I knew he was able to do this as he'd told me before that he and his friends had figured out how to hack their way into checking craigslist ads from school (also an "Access Denied" site) - only during lunch break. If anything, we see this as a marketable skill to have. Just don't do it at school, please.

For work, I attended a workshop yesterday - a "bootcamp" - thrown by my newish boss. I knew he'd be a good boss to work for when he moved into that position just a few months ago. He's better than good, though. He's excellent! The workshop was very beneficial and I'm psyched to utilize my new bootcamp skillz. Plus, he brought FOOD.

OH, and I was also reminded about some employee discounts we're eligible for that I often forget about. I loves me some employee discounts!

Remember back when I said that the husband and I had started going for walks in the evenings (mainly for lack of anything better to do)? Well, that was several weeks ago now and we've consistently kept at it. It's turned into a nice ritual for us, a nice bit of quality time. It's become a priority, and we find ourselves taking care of other things more efficiently in order to not compromise the nightly stroll. Gag, like an old married couple! Yet another reason to not have cable.

And... as always, I'm thankful to have such cool blog friends! I look forward to another year of silver liningness.
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access denied

Okay, so today. Day freakin' two of back-to-school for Chaco, I get one of those phone calls. You know the calls? The ones no parent wants to get? (Please tell me you know the calls...). I wasn't home at the time, so it was just a message left on the machine:

"Hello Mrs. Normal, this is Mr. Vice Principal at Hoopa Choopa High School. I've got Chaco here in the office and I'm just calling to let you know that he was inappropriately using a school computer today. His computer access is suspended for one month, and we've discussed making better choices. He'll get his access back in one month. Call me if you have questions."

Well, YEAH I had questions! What??

So I've got these scenarios running through my head. "inappropriately using a school computer" - geesh, that's like language from a news story about pedophilic teachers trolling for hook ups! Vagrants surfing for p0rn! What WAS he doing? Online gambling? P0rn surfing? Drug dealing? Chaco?? Chaco the techno-geek?

I decided not to call Mr. Vice Principal and instead let Chaco tell me what he was doing.

"Soooooooooo...... whatwereyoudoin'??", when I saw him after school.

"I wuz just editing code on a website"

"What website??"

"The 'Access Denied' website..."

"WHICH 'Access Denied' website?" (Gambling?? P0rn?!? Methamphetamines?!?!)

"An 'Access Denied by the school district' website"

*SIGH*, could he beat around the bush any more?? "WHICH website were you trying to access?"

"xbox dot com"

Oh, seriously.....

I mean, WHEW, but how can we be smart enough to know how to edit code to get around the "Access Denied" firewalls at school, yet clueless enough to actually do it?
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exchanging glances

He looked an awful lot like Wilford Brimley. Had to be over 70 years old.

I saw him one day recently as "our ships passed in the night".

Actually it was broad daylight. My ship was my trusty road bicycle. Wilford was in a late model viagra-blue Ford Mustang.

I was waiting at a traffic light for the oncoming traffic to make their left hand turns. Wilford approached the intersection in the Mustang, made his turn in front of me, and gave me this debonair wave.

At first I thought that maybe he was someone I knew, but upon closer scrutiny, I saw it was an elderlyish man in a macho car giving me the eye. Gosh, and here I thought it was just third graders that I sometimes had that affect on.

Things are looking.... "up"??

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