Figures!

So the “Storm of the Century” has screwed up my evening!  They cancelled Sam’s gymnastics class tonight even though it’s not supposed to start snowing until 8 pm or later!  GRRRRRRRRR!  The makeup day will be during Chris’s R&R so odds are the storm just screwed me out of a gymnastics class.

Oh well.  At least they cancelled trash pickup for Wednesday already.  I won’t be digging out the cans to put them out just to take them back again.

I have to go and horde supplies now. 

Waiting on Weather

It was a sneak attack.  We got hit with close to a half inch of snow last night while we slept.  The horrors, the horrors!  The talking heads on TV predicted 3 to 4 inches followed by tomorrows 12 to 14 inches, making for a “hellish day of work and school closings!”  I am not sure how much school, if any, it takes to be a TV anchor but they all deserve their money back.  Hellish is supposed to be hot, not freezing.  Not to mention we live in Michigan, the “Winter Wonderland”.  I know it is the winter wonderland since it used to be on all the license plates.  Evidently after they took it off the license plates the weather was supposed to become more Florida like.  Well Al Gore be dammed but it is still a northern state and we get snow!  Yes, 12” of snow is a lot.  Or a little if you live in the Upper Peninsula, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Colorado, Maine etc.  The kids are dancing around like elves on crack singing “No School for us!” which means I get to stay home and listen to them tell me their bored.  Most likely I will tell them to go outside.  They will tell me what a bad idea that is and Sam will give me reasons it is a bad idea for 30 minutes.  We are preparing for the worst here at work and folks in Oakland County waited for an hour in line to put gas in their cars last night.  “Some drivers in Oakland County had to wait hours just to get gasoline on Monday evening.”  That is a direct quote from WXYZ’s website.  There are folks at Wal-Mart right now emptying out the shelves.  I am guessing it will be inconvenient for about a day, maybe two, but it will be alright.

OK, I am done ranting.  Everything else is going well.  I believe we found Jason a Boy Scout troop he will do well in.  They have structure and yet seemed to have fun within it.  That way Jason knows what to do without thinking they are barking orders at him.  Sam is still having fun with Girl Scouts and will start gymnastics tonight.  That should prove interesting. 

Wish me luck.  I am off to brave the “Storm of the Century!”

Sam

So I am 95% done with the paperwork project.  (I know the suspense was killin’ ya.)  Just a few binders to go through and all will be well.

I wish I was like those professional Bloggers who can produce stuff every day.  I am sorry but my life is not quite that exciting.  We have our moments but for the most part are just chugging right along.  I took Sam grocery shopping last night and that was just funny.  She wants to be older and I want her to stay my little girl.  I think she is winning.  Sam wanted to buy some gum with her money at Kroger.  So in the checkout she gets her money ready.  She suddenly remembers that she needs .50 cents for something at school so she will get change from a buck.  I gave her my extra key tag for the Kroger plus program so she is now all set.  The cashier tells her $1.37 for the two packs of gum.  She starts to hand him three dollars and then goes, “Hey I will get more than .50 cents back.”  

Damn.  She grew up.  

So I decided to tackle the paperwork monster.  I got all cocky when I started to pay bills.  Now I am attacking the files that Chris had in multiple places.  I emptied all the baskets and drawers.  They are all now folded into the filing system that Chris put in place when we put in the office.  I am not quite done but I am tired of date arranging papers.   (A giant tub sounds good right now.)

GRRR.  I just found another folder with the word “File” on the tab.

This is a much larger job than I thought but it is well worth it.  This moves 90% of the information back to the office where it belongs.  There needs to be a couple of binders upstairs but no more “basket to no ware.”   Chris is the most organized person I know.  She makes great sense of chaotic information.  She tried to make it easy for me, the pile maker, to put stuff away.  All the extra storage locations resulted in quite a mess.  I think it is easier for me to come around to her system, then her to try and accommodate me. 

Since I am easily distracted, (obviously) I need to dive back in.  (I am multi-tasking and doing laundry at the same time so distractions come easily.)

Bullet - Dodged!

Ok, so it’s not as severe as Chris dodging incoming rocket attacks, but annoying none the less.  Samantha’s school was closed for a water main break today.  I got a text on Chris’s phone (I need that magic text site) this morning that informed me of the pending disaster to my day.  As soon as I realized I would have to take another school forced day of leave, the phone rings.  I thought it was the school system calling to inform me of the closure.  It was our other babysitter’s mom!  She told me she could watch Sam since school was closed.   Oh happy day!  Sam had a great time with her and helped out around the house a bit.  She brushed the dog and helped make a cake.  When I picked Sam up they both seemed happy and had fun today.  Jason was mad.  Life is so unfair when you’re a fifth grader.  Sam got to stay home how come he couldn’t?  Life is just that way I told him. 

The water main break is not surprising.  It was 10 degrees and hit a high today of 15.  I am hoping this cold spell only lasts a few days.

Whew, that was a close one!

Neat stuff

The Detroit Tigers have a Traveling Caravan visiting different places to promote their event on Saturday and to answer questions.  So we got to listen to the coach, owner, a couple of players and the sports announcers answer questions concerning the upcoming season, trades, etc.  I was pretty impressed that I was able to stay awake for the whole thing.  The only thing more boring than a baseball game is listening to people talk about it.  They were nice though and took time to come and see us.  For that I am appreciative.  In the photo are the panel of folks that came out.  (Sorry about the photo - camera phone.)

After the Tigers left our boss took the opportunity to present awards.  I was presented with a step increase.  (Small raise for the non-government employees)  It was nice to be recognized for the work I do.

It was a nice ego boost and then I went home for the great equalizer – the kids.  I had quite the time trying to explain to Jason that two cursive paragraphs were not considered “excessive” homework.  He did not believe me. 

Jason 1 – Ego 0.

Sleep eludes me

So it would seem that sleeping with someone for a little over a decade affects your sleep when that person is not around.  It is 11:00pm and my alarm will annoy me promptly at 5 am and here I am typing since I can’t sleep.

Today went better than expected.  I got Jason’s hair cut, dinner for all of us and made it to the Pack Meeting with time to spare.  And this morning I got Sam signed up for gymnastics.  I freak about time, which is the opposite of Chris.  She is never worried about time and is late most of the time.  I needed to get Jason’s hair cut as he was disappearing under a mop of hair.  I was afraid I couldn’t get it all done and I would hear complaints about being hungry at the Pack Meeting.  Luckily the barber is right next to Little Caesars!  Ta Da! Problem solved!

Not much new here.  Work, home, dinner, argue about lunches, shower, bed.  I did fix the wall that was damaged in an excited Christmas collision.  Looks pretty good.  I am going to see if Chris can find it when she gets home.

Have fun.  I am going to attempt sleep again.