aisforamy

I spent yesterday pounding the pavement and going from business to business trying to charm people out of free stuff for our school carnival raffle. Met some very nice people who promised to see what they can do. I was gratified to find three free sessions in a batting cage, three free rounds of mini golf, and three $15 gift cards for a local BBQ restaurant! So far we have some really nice raffle prizes, but not nearly as many as last year. Things have been tight all over with the economy.

Last night was the first public hearing about saving the elementary school my kids go to from closing. I think it went really well, and that we brought up some issues that the panel had not considered. We had some very articulate and passionate people speak, and only two complete nut jobs that (while entertaining) did not really help our cause. The main thing we have going for us is that we have close to 140 special needs kids attending our school, and moving them all to a new facility would be extremely costly and traumatic for the kids. The two other schools they want to divide the kids into are ill suited to providing the excellent Special Education classes that our school provides. One of the schools has NO Special Ed program at all, and many staircases it would be impossible for some of the kids to navigate; the other school has a single autism class that was only implemented this past year.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Today I spent copying and sending our fliers for neighborhood distribution about the remaining hearings, and about the PTO meeting tomorrow after school. Then I took my doggie to the vet and learned that she probably will need hip replacement in the future to the tune of $6000.00 to $12000 dollars - that we cannot afford, and that my husband will not pay. In the meantime we keep her comfortable and on pain meds and canine glucosamine.

I went to the comic store for the first time in two weeks and got Ultimate X-men, X-Force #1 and the most recent X-Factor. I must say that I used to love Ultimate X-men, but am not really enjoying it as much anymore, as it is getting too angst. X-Force looks promising, if incredibly violent (not always a bad thing); I can’t say for certain if I will continue to buy the title, but for now it’s on my pull list at the comic store. X-Factor used to be one of my least favorite titles WAY back before I took a ten year hiatus from comics, I am really enjoying it now. I LOVE Layla Miller--She knows stuff.

Other than that? Life continues much the same as it always does. Not enough hours in the day, not enough sleep, not enough desire to do laundry and clean the house., and not enough money to hire a maid.

I always feel like everyone else on my flist leads a much more interesting life than I do.

=D?

BTW - ALICIA! YES! YOU WHO LIVES A SCANT TWO HOURS FROM HERE, BUT I NEVER SEE! I MISS YOU!!!

I know I haven't updated with anything truly newsworthy in a while, but life has been going on.

My birthday was nice, even if I did get stricken with a virus of some sort halfway through the day that sent me to bed with a mega sick headache. Thank you to all of you lovely people who wished me a happy day. I am still fighting a cold, but nothing as bad as it was.

My good friend in Tennesee sent me the funniest birthday present EVER! She sent me the world's largest gummi bear! I swear it weighs something like five pounds. When my son saw it, he asked if he could have a slice of it! (I said no.) My family pooled money together and renewed my Zoo membership for another year, so I might start taking the boys to the zoo every Wednesdays, since they get out early from school on those days. I got some spending money from my mother in law, and my husband gave me some money to buy myself something as well. I got some nice new clothes, and got my nails done and a pedicure!

I got a letter in the mail the other day informing me that a proposal has been put before the school board to close down my kids' elementary school, and to send the kids to other schools. The distirct is facing the task of addressing a twenty million dollar deficit, and they think that consolidating schools is the best way. Obviously, we think this is a Bad Idea, and want to fight this. I am heading a PTO meeting tonight to try an organize our group and make us less like an angry mob, and more like a force to be reckoned with. We have several people who have formed little Save Our School things going on, and information being gathered, but no one is sharing it with anyone else, and it's just a mess. I hope we get a good turn out tonight, so that we can be coherent and on the same page when the time comes to address the board in the scheduled hearings. The final decision will be made in mid-March.

I started planning the school carnival, which will be held at the end of March, and that is also a lot of extra work on my plate at the moment. I am hoping to get some more volunteers to help, soon. I keep having people asking me if we are still having carnival if they decide the school will be closed next year, and I keep telling them, "YES!" I don't get why they think the world is going to just come to an end if this happens.

In other news, I had to take my dog to vet today. She has been limping lately, and not moving around very well, but she is a young dog. Her hips may be displaced, and one of her knees seems to have torn cartilage. I have to take her back tomorrow morning for sedation and X-rays, then will likely have to take her to an orthopedic specialist vet for a cat scan and maybe surgery. This could get to be majorly expensive!

I also had her nails cut and her booster shots given. You would think that they had come at her with a chainsaw and and a branding iron for all of the noise she made while having that done.On a positive note, she met a cat that didn't attack her, and she was completely fine with it. Now, if I can find a cat that is indifferent to dogs, I might be able to get one, some day.

Speaking of pets...one of my turtle tank filters died yesterday, so that was another expense I had to take up...I just got an inexpensive one, but one day, I am going to have to bite the bullet and get that pond built in the back yard with the really good equipment.

Other than that, life is just...life. Busy and full of mom-stuff. I have really been wanting to RP more than I have--especially my remaining Milliways pups, but simply haven't had the time. I think I am just going to have to put them in one day with warnings for all taggers that replies will be slow.

Tomorrow after I take Sadie to the vet, I am going to go and see the Spiderwick Chronicles movie while the kids are in school. I have been waiting a long time for it to come out, and while I don't expect it to be anything like the books (at least the trailers lead me to believe the story is quite different), I still expect to enjoy it.

That's about it for now. The boys get out extra early today, and I need to take them to get their teachers some little Valentine's gifts, and get ready for the big meeting tonight. Wish me luck!!

Link of the day: Make your own girl scout cookies!!
http://bakingbites.com/2008/01/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas

Sadie graduated today from her intermediate training class!! Hooray! She also got a booster shot, which I thought she'd be freaked out about, but didn't even notice getting.

Now all that's left is to find a time and place to get her the AKC Canine Good Citizenship test! If she passes that, then she should qualify to be Therapy Dog, and I should be able to take her to hospitals, nursing homes, hospice, and special ed classrooms. I really hope she passes--they are very strict about the rules for it.

Other than that, I have a TON of laundry to do, and the house needs cleaning, and I need to dig a huge hole in the back yard...which leads me to:

Father's Day is tomorrow. I went and bought my husband a tree for our backyard for his gift We planted a tree for Robert when he was little, and one for Jared a couple of years after that, and now My husband will have his own tree. I got a relatively mature one, so it shouldn't die. He has planted three or four ficus trees that have all met speedy demises. This time I got him a Sisso, which we already have one of, and it grows very quickly, and very well in our yard.

I don't know how I am going to get the tree into the back yard, though. I got it out of the back of the truck and into a wheel barrow, but apparently it weighs too much, because the tires went flat, and I don't want to push it like that, or it will ruin the wheels all together, if they aren't all ready. I may have to just dig the hole, and let him help me move it tomorrow, when he gets home. I had hoped to have it planted by the time he saw it, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen, unless there is some sort of divine intervention in the next few hours.

For those of you who don't know it my own father passed away over ten years ago from complications related to him Multiple Sclerosis. I will be thinking of him, as I often do, and hopefully laugh with my sisters over some of our favorite memories of him.

If you have a father that you love, I hope you have a happy day tomorrow. If your mother raised you single handedly, wish her a happy father's day as well--she played both roles, so should get to celebrate both mother's and father's day.

That is pretty much all I have to report. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love you all! **hugs**

SO!

Yesterday, my kids’ school had a book fair, which was buy one, get one free! Oh, my God, you guys! I spent early a hundred dollars!! They had software, too, so I got TWO of the SIMS complete collection, a CIV CITY Rome (You can build Rome and protect, beautify, farm, and fill it with people and culture! It looks awesome!!), and a collection of games with Boggle, Hangman, Upwords, etc. I also got a few books. *sheepish*

My son’s little play went well…well, it was adorable, at least. They all forgot their lines at least once, the props were a little wobbly, and the music cues were off. It was very entertaining, and the kids put a lot of work into it. I am going to buy the DVD they’re making from it, so I can burn copies for my family.

Last night (early this morning) at 1:30, my dog needed to go out, so I let her out back, and waited by the door for her to do her business, so I could lock the back door and go back to bed. Well, on the way back into the house, she decided to stop and investigate the hole beneath our shed where a stray cat had had kittens. Oy. The mother cat attacked Sadie and chased her all over the yard. She wouldn’t back off until I came and scared her off, and took the dog inside.

The commotion woke my husband (and probably a couple of neighbors), and he went to investigate, and the mama cat came after him, too. My husband doesn’t put up with that crap, and stuck the hose in the hole they’ve been living in, and turned it on. His reasoning is that the cat could have rabies, or something, and if it will attack the dog and a full grown adult, it could seriously hurt one of our kids.

Evidently the rabbit we used to have living under there dug a hell of a burrow, because it took over an hour to fill it up. My husband said that the mother came bolting out and took off running at one point, and he saw at least one kitten after he’d blocked up the main entrance hole, so there must be a back way out of there. I hope the kittens didn’t drown, and that the mother came and took them away somewhere else, but they are wild cats, so they likely wouldn’t have been able to be anyone’s pets. If I thought that the kittens could have been salvaged, I might have made an attempt to nurse them myself until they were old enough for homes, but I don’t think the mother would have allowed it.

My father in law brought by a cat trap this morning, and we are going to try to catch the mother and her mate (who also hangs around, I guess). We can take them to the city dump/landfill and let them loose there, to live happily on mice, roaches, lizards and the like. I don’t know if they still do, but the landfill workers used to encourage this, when people would call to ask if they needed cats down there.

School is out after next Thursday. I am going to be the room mother for the last day of school party in my son’s first grade class. It is going to have a pirate theme, so I am going to be busy making eye patches out of fun foam or felt, or whatever, and finding fun little trinkets for “booty” and getting games ready. I also promised snow cones, so it should be a lot of fun.
That’s pretty much all the rambling I have for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Oh, dear.

I got up and got dressed to take the dog for a walk, and there were two hot air balloons hanging low in the air on either end of my street. Sadie spotted one, and started barking like nuts, scared to death (she never barks) and turned to run the other way. Then she spotted the other, and FREAKED OUT. It must have been like something out of a horror film for her. Poor baby!

I am glad I was holding her leash instead of Robert, or she would have been miles away. As it was, she dragged me back to the house, and scratched at the doors until I got them both open, then she bolted for my bedroom, looking for a place to hide, and actually jumped up onto my husband’s dresser, trying to find a way to get pasts the heavy blinds and out the bedroom window (which is impossible) to escape. She knocked everything off of the dresser (which is was very cluttered), then jumped down, jumped back up, jumped down, jumped back up…

I finally got her to lie down on the bed and settle, and I turned on the TV so that she couldn’t hear the flame thing on the balloons. She was shaking for a while after that, and still keeps looking up at the ceiling. I still need to walk her, but want to make sure the balloons are long gone before I even try.

Then I guess I’ll be cleaning up the mess she caused by jumping on the dresser.

It was exciting, anyway! I can’t wait to see how she handles thunderstorms. Yay.