Long time

I have been away from my blog for almost a year.  Crazy, considering how theraputic I had once found it.
Guess this means that I was in a better place - Mom wise.

Still experiencing the trials and tribulations of raising sons, but the issues and concerns are no where near what I used to experience.

Guess I need to read my last post and then do a brief update from there.

Watch for it...

Big Update

Wow - I knew it had been a while since I had updated by blog, but I did not realize that over 2 months had passed!

A few things have been going on in our lives since March.

Mid-March was my last day at my old job.  It was sort of good day/bad day combination.  A good day because I received flowers from the Sales Rep, and a nice bag of goodies from my assistant - teas and such - and a bottle of wine from Boss.  Bad day because it was my last official day there.  I received a few phone calls from some clients wishing me all the best, so that was very nice.

We had a pretty quiet March Break - it was so nice to have that time off when the kids were home and no one had to be up and ready for any specific time.  I used my "off" time between jobs to clean, clean, clean.  I did major spring cleaning that I don't think I have ever done before!  Even the base boards were washed and sparkling.

During Easter weekend the A-man and I worked at the Pet Show.  It meant he got a day off school (on the Thursday) and then on the Sunday coming home with a pay that was more money than he has ever seen.  Made his birthday - that Sunday - pretty good dispite the whole "working" thing.  I was happy to have that little flush of money come my way, too, I will admit.

All in all, I was off for a grand total of 5 weeks before I got the call from the new job.  I was even starting to get a little panicked, I will admit.  Started to wonder if that "offer" had just been a wish and not a reality.  But, on April 19, I did report to my new position.

It's very strange going back to the 'starting' position with a job.  For years I have been the "go to" person - the one that would have all of the answers, and if I didn't, I would know who to get them from!  Then, suddenly, I am the new kid on the block that knows nothing and is constanting bugging someone for some details.  It probably took about three days for me to have my "ahhh haaa!" moment.  That wonderful moment when the task you are working on actually starts to make sense.  I was thrilled.
But, of course, that was the easiest part of the job!  I'm still making mistakes, but I don't think they are too major, and the "reminders" I received today didn't seem that major considering the amout of documents I have ploughed through.

My second and third weeks on the job involved working the afternoon shift.  It was half way through that second week that things started to come apart at the seams on the home front.  I had made arrangements for the boys to spend the two weeks I was on afternoons at my parent's house.  This would mean they boys wouldn't be home alone from after school until either Hubby or I got home after midnight, and it would also ensure they had proper meals, and the possibility of having a "living in town" life that they have never experienced before.

On Wednesday morning, I got a text from the A-man saying that S had taken money from my Dad's night stand, and now my parents didn't want them to stay there anymore.  This was not the first time that change had gone missing.  On the Tuesday morning my Dad had counted the change on his nighstand, and when he went to bed that night there was 8 loonies and 8 quarters missing.  Yup - a grand total of $10.  Of course both boys denied taking the money when they were asked.
So, my Dad felt that he had no option - he told them that if he couldn't trust them, they simply couldn't stay there.  It just so happened that I had been planning on going to my parent's house that day to work on my Dad's books, so I was able to pack up their stuff and bring it home with me.

I sent the A-man a text and told him that he and S were to take the bus home that evening.  I also told him that I would give them a call when I had a chance.  When I called home, the A-man informed me that S had admitted to taking the money and that he had put the money back on my Dad's night stand after my parents left for work.  Grand total that went back - $3.

What bothered me the most about this is that if S had indicated to my Mom or Dad that he wanted/needed money for lunch, they would have given it to him!  Neither of my parents have EVER denied my boys anything.  But stealing, and then lying about it?  That's a line you just don't cross with my parents.

When I spoke with the boys on Wednesday night, I also found out that report cards had come home.  The A-man's was a great report card.  81% average.  I was pretty pleased with all 4 classes grades.  When I talked to S, he told me his marks.  I wasn't quite a happy to hear his marks, but at least they were in the 60's and 70's.

Thursday morning I got up to get the kids off to school, and I asked to see their report cards.  Please note - I didn't get home from work until 12:30am and I had not gone to bed until close to 2.  This is now 7am.  Yeah - S had lied to me about his marks.  He got a 40 in Religion!  From what I understand, the only way a child can fail this class is to simply not do the work.  Needless to say, I wasn't happy.  When I asked him about why he lied (AGAIN) he said that he didn't want me to be mad at him.

Lovely.

I then explained - as calmly as I could - that yes, I would have been upset about the failing grade, but now I was upset with him for two reasons - because of the failing grade AND because he lied about it.  Add this into the fact that I was still reeling from the previous day's events, and I just was a very unhappy, sleep deprived Mommy.

Oh - and did I mention the fact that we were only a few days away from S's birthday?  His birthday was on Saturday - May 1.  That was to be the first day both Hubby and I would be able to sit and talk to S about the turn of events, and it was his birthday.  (Oh, and don't even get me started on the fact that my parents always GIVE HIM MONEY on his birthday!!)
He had asked that we go to the cottage to celebrate his birthday.  We did not go; we explained that if we couldn't trust him, and my parents couldn't trust him, we certainly we NOT going to take him to the cottage where we wouldn't be able to keep a close eye on him and we didn't know if he would take anything from any one else's house.

When Saturday morning rolled around, Hubby had prepared some information for S to read - a document he got off the Internet about what life is like when you have a criminal record.  He and S had quite a conversation about the week's events.  I felt it best to have Hubby lead that conversation - I was still too emotional about the entire thing.

There was, however, one thing that I could address.  The failing grade.  I called the school and left a message for both the Teacher and S's SERT.  I was furious about the fact that no one has even been in touch with me to let me know that he was failing.  He has an EA in that class for Pete's sake - someone should have been letting me know that he hadn't been doing that work.
When I called the school and left a message for the teacher, I discovered that he has gone on a religious retreat and the day before (the Wednesday) had been his last day.  Great.  So, I asked for the SERT to givve me a call.

Poor woman - I've never talked to her before.  When we finally had an opportunity to talk, I explained that I was very upset that no one had been in touch with me, etc., etc.  She admitted that this failing grade had been a bit of a slip up on her end.  Gee - ya think??  She had been in touch with both S's English and Math's teachers, but hadn't thought to ask his Religion teacher about S's status.  I expressed that I felt it was very unprofessional of both the teacher and the EA to allow things to get to this level and not to have been in contact.  She agreed - but with the teacher gone, what could we do?
I asked if S would be able to still hand in the missed assignments, etc. etc.  Needless to say, I made sure he worked each day in the resource room at the school to get the assignments done.

Then, on the second week of my night shift, my Father in Law ended up in the ICU at our local hospital.  Lovely.

It's been a bit of stress for the last couple of weeks, needless to say. 

As I was typing this, I found out that S has NOT completed any of his Religon.  He started to have a wee fit when I pulled rank and told him that I would be in touch with the teacher tomorrow.  At dinner he had told us that he was all done everything and just needed to hand it in.  This is what he told us yesterday.  When I asked him today why he hadn't turned it in, he said it was becuause the teacher was away.  Then after dinner when I questioned him, he said the teacher told them today...  "Wait a minute," I said, "I thought she was away."  The little brat has been lying again, and now has gotten himself caught up in them.

When Hubby heard him yelling at me he came up to see what was going on.  I have stayed calm, but when S explained that none of the Religion has been done, Hubby got upset.  S started to head for the door - time to take off and show us he is angry, I guess.  We suggested that he should rethink this action because he is lying again, and if he wishes to go out that door, it may not open again when he is ready to return.

I have had enough of this.  And he does not have the memory to be a good liar.  Apparently he hasn't done the work because he doesn't like doing homework.  Well, that is just too darn bad, Mister.  Life isn't all fun and games and doing what you want when you want to do it.

Busy Weekend - Quieter Week

I left last Thursday for a weekend at a trade show.  My last offical trade show as an employee of the company, actually.

Thursday was a pretty good day.  Boss and I had to slug/lug quite a few boxes as a number of clients didn't feel the need to show up and actually do anything to their booths prior to the show.  Friday morning dawned early, and I found myself at the show quite early to make sure we had everything ready for the opening.

I called home that night around 8.  S informed me that he had been 'dumped' the night before and that he was okay that evening because he had cried it all out the night before.  We chatted for a little bit about various things and then he gave the phone to the A-man so that I could chat with him, too.

Sometime around midnight my cell phone rang.  It was the A-man asking me to talk to S.  Apparently S was very angry and doing some pretty silly things, including trying to take the trim off his bedroom door.  I will never understand what possesses him to do certain things.
I spoke with S for a few moments, and suggested that he just go to bed and that things would look much better in the morning.  I knew that Hubby would be home within the half hour, so I knew that if the tirade was still going on he would be able to deal with it then.

When I called home on Saturday, Hubby told me that both boys were in bed when he had arrived home and it had appeared that all was well.  I explained about the convervation the A-man and I had shared at midnight, and asked him to follow up on things.

I got home on Sunday around 6:30.  We had dinner and a hot tub, and I was in bed before 9pm.

Last night I had an opportunity to speak with S about the events of Friday night, and he told me that he really did not know why he became as upset as he had.  Actually, it appeared that he was getting his nights mixed up.  We talked about some coping techniques, and things to consider "the next time" but I'm not really putting much hope on his doing the right thing "next time."

This is my last week at this job.  I've been putting together a summary of the various tasks that I do, and I'm trying to include step by step instructions for many of them.  It's quite the novel right now.  I've forwarded it to K, and she and I and boss will be going over it in the next few days to make sure I have covered off most of it.

I still don't have a start date for my new position, but I am quite looking forward to having a couple of weeks off!

Not a stellar evening

Last night was not one I would like to repeat any time soon.

The A-man had a rugby practise after school, so I picked him up at my parents after work.  When we arrived home, nothing had been done with respect to the required kitchen clean up.  It was a mess, actually.  A few weeks back, during a family meeting about the chores not getting done, it was decided that I would not begin cooking dinner for the family until the kitchen was in a presentable state.

Well, I was hungry - and I had been really looking forward to the dinner I had planned for the night.  (Seafood medley on sticky rice...)  When the A-man finished changing out of his school uniform and came in to the kitchen to begin the work, I called down to S to remind him that he needed to come and help his brother with the clean up.

Up the stairs comes my little black rain cloud.  Fists tight, heavy breathing... "WHAT?," he demands.

I remind him that the kitchen needs to be cleaned up so that I can start dinner.  He becomes extremely frustrated because he "just wants to finish watching this ONE show."  (Let's not even get in to the fact that he's been home now for the better part of two hours and could have more than completed the task way before "this show" began.  The A-man offered a solution... he would be more than willing to do the entire kitchen clean up before dinner as long as S would agree to doing all of the clean up after the meal.  S said, "Fine" and started back downstairs. 
Before I would let him downstairs, however, I reminded him that this meant all of the table needed to be cleared, all of the dishes into the dishwasher, and all of the hand wash items needed to be washed, dried and put away in order for this task to be labelled 'done.' 

I received a very sarcastic "Yes, Mom.  I am aware of what will need to be done.  I am fine with that.  Now can I just go?!"

I had my doubts.  (Hindsight:  I should have not let these negoiations take place.)

The A-man did the kitchen clean up and I started dinner.  While dinner was cooking, S was on the telephone with two different friends.  (For the record, supper was very tasty.)

Once I finished eating, I reminded S that he was responsible for the entire post-dinner clean up.  I reminded him of what the various tasks were - again, I received an eye roll complete with a "Yes, Mom... I know this"

I went downstairs to tackle the evening.  Move forward to an hour and a half later.  I come up the stairs to check on the progress.  Let's just say there had not BEEN any progres.  Sure, the A-man's plate and S's plates were off the dinner table, but for some reason my plate remained on the table, along with the rice pot.  None of the dishes were done, none of the counters wiped off... nothing was done.  I went looking for S.  He was laying on his bed watching 'Grease' on his laptop.

And then it began.  Screaming, yelling... tears, even.  Apparently I only had children so that I would have built in slaves that are just around to do my bidding.  The front door was slammed...  Oh yeah - it was a GREAT night.

Sometimes I just hate that kid.

Not really hate him - but I really, really, REALLY hate the way that he behaves and reacts to things.  It took my threatening to not allow him on the school downhill skiing trip on Wednesday or the Ice Fishing Trip on Thursday for anything to get done.

The attitude stinks.  I am really grateful that I have the house to myself this evening.  It will be nice to have some quiet time.

I'm really at a loss of how to get through to this boy. 

Lies - they are getting to me

I’ve been getting little frustrated with S lately. I’ve started to see an increase him is inability to tell the truth about many subjects, and it is a trend that needs to be fixed. Now. Sooner than ‘now’, actually would be better.


I realize he comes clean when pressed, but it just drives me CRAZY that he tends to automatically go for an untruth when the truth really won’t even get him in to trouble! Sure, if he’s going to get in to trouble for something, I can the whole “natural self-preservation” route, but he will even tell an untruth about things that aren’t that big a deal.

Notice I’m not saying “He lies.”

The most frustrating thing, though, is when he does tell the truth and we naturally don’t believe him. Little boy that cried wolf comes to mind here. We are told untruths so often, both Hubby and I aren’t able to tell when it really IS the truth. Add in the fact that he can tell a bold face lie without even a glimmer of regret/remorse on his face… well, that makes it doubly frustrating.

I’ve been doing some reading in to this, and it would appear the “specialists” are a little mixed on this particular subject. Some websites I read say that a person with Aspergers will be brutally honest, and others say that they can tell lies, and will be good at it because of their ability to do so straight-faced. I think I am going to have to try and find a local group to get some ‘real life’ answers.

Family Day Weekend

Yesterday was the first ever Family Day I have been home since the new holiday began three years ago.  The last two years I have been in Mississippi at the Governor's Conference.  The Conference was moved to two weeks later... and I'm not going to it this year since I'm leaving the company.

Anyway - since it was Family Day, I told the boys that if they helped with the house tidy in the morning, we would be able to use the afternoon to have some fun.  Hubby and I thought Family Winter Olympics on the Wii would be suiting since the Olympics are here in Canada right now.

S was looking forward to playing his actual Olympics game.  After everyone was ready, we got started.  The boys both had a turn at the skiing event.  Next up was Hubby and I.  We asked the A-man about the proper way to hold the romotes for this particular game, and the next thing we knew, S was having a MAJOR melt down.  He actually stormed off upstairs to "calm down before (he) screams his head off." 
Yeah - we sort of lost the joy of the game at this point.

Hubby turned the game off, and we decided to find a movie to watch instead.  I'm still not sure what brought on that explosion, but I just felt it was best to carry on and not bring it up again.

We had a pretty good weekend, though.  Hubby and I helped Nee move over the weekend.  She actually asked a crew of people to help her, and by the time we left on Saturday night, she was moved in and set up other than a few pictures on the walls.
Sunday the A-man had asked R out on a bowling date.  Nothing like a date with your parents and little brother along for fun.  We had a good time that afternoon.  Sunday evening was a chilling by the fireplace kind of night.

And now another work week begins...

Changes

Last week was a big week of changes in our household.


Thursday was the start of a new semester for the boys. S took advantage of his IEP during exams and actually had a scribe for both his Geography and Science exams. He felt very good about the Science exam, but wasn't as confident with his Geography one, however. He did spend a fair bit of time studying, so I hope he gets a good mark. (Geography was never a strong subject for me, either, so I understand that struggle.)

This semester he has Math, English, Phys-ed and Religion. Again, a nice mix of tough and not-so-tough courses. I've not sent my "letter of introduction" to his teachers, but I think I will send that with him next week.

The A-man feels very confident that he will have 80's in all of his classes except English. He's not quite sure what to expect in that class. Apparently he did quite well on the essay prep he had to do prior to the exam, so I'm hoping that he is pleasantly surprised at the end of it.

I guess we will know for sure next week.

Thursday was also a big day for me as I less Boss know that I had accepted a new position. I am actually not even aware of a start date yet, but I know it won't be until the middle of March at the earliest. I'm sort of hoping that I will have a lag between leaving this job and starting the new one; the kids would be on March break that week, and it would be really nice to have a full week off to get some organizing done around the house. But, as I said, nothing has been set as of yet.

My leaving came as a very big shock to Boss. And an even bigger one to my assistant. I explained to her - privately - that I was very confident in her abilities and that knowing she was in place was actually a factor in my decision. Of course, there were quite a number of factors, but it's good to know you are not actually leaving the company in a lurch. Especially when the company works with such a small crew.

Boss took me to lunch on Monday to discuss things further. I guess he'd had the weekend to digest the information and he wanted to use the private conversation to feel me out for what type of job I would be doing, the pay difference, that sort of thing. When I told him the pay I would be receiving at the new job, he realized that he would not be able to match it. I knew this - and had he surprised me and tried to match the pay - I'm not even sure what I would have done to be honest!

-----

On a different note, Hubby and I have some issues we have to work through with our darling S. Over the Christmas break S and I had a bit of a disagreement about the quality of time he had put into completing an assignment. After our discussion, I had gone to bed.

A short while later, Hubby came upstairs to find S standing near my purse, with a $20 bill in his hand. Hubby LOST it. He never yells - or very rarely - and he hollered so loud at S that he woke me up.

I was not privy to the discussion Hubby had with S - I thought the cooler head was dealing with the situation, so I left it alone. Of course, Hubby and I did discuss it later, but at the time I knew the right parent came across that situation. S and I did have a brief follow up discussion about the series of events that lead up to that, and he explained to me that he had never done such a thing before, and he wasn't really sure why he did it that night other than he was upset with me and that it was something he did on impulse.

My knowledge of ADHD does permit me to believe that this was an impulse, but it also doesn't allow me to not punish him and remind him that stealing is illegal.

On the week that Hubby and I were on holidays, and the boys stayed with my parents, my Dad noticed that three $2 coins went missing off his side table. When he mentioned it to Hubby and I, we both knew right away who to talk to. Of course my Dad did mention the missing change to both of the boys at the time and both claimed no knowledge of the event. Dad knew the money was gone, but he also had no knowledge of the event at Christmas, so he wasn't sure who wasn't telling the truth.

Hubby had a serious conversation with S to follow up on my Dad's situation, and then I dealt with it in a whole other way. When I gave the boys their bi-weekly allowance, I short changed S. When he asked me why he didn't get his normal amount, I told him the money he had taken from my Dad was an advance.

His head went down, his cheeks flushed, and I believe I made an impact.

I certainly hope so.

------

And, on a totally separate issue again - poor Nee was required to take very drastic measures with J. He was admitted to a youth centre for emergency treatment. He will be released at the end of this week, I believe, but when he was in for the past three weeks, he has been under 24 hour surveillance with no access to cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. He has also been receiving therapy and testings that would normally take upward of a year to receive.

On the down side, Nee and her partner have separated and she will be moving into a new place this weekend. J and her partner had an altercation before the New Year, and now he doesn't want J in his house. Ever.

What is a mother to do? Well, naturally she had no choice - her decision was made when he wasn't willing to come to a compromise.

My heart is breaking for my friend, and I am hopeful that some answers will arrive when J is released.

Been a while

I know it has been a bit since I did an update on here.  It's been a bit of a busy month, I would say.

Just got back from a week's holiday with Hubby.  We went to Cuba.  What a restful and relaxing holiday it was!

The boys spent the week with my parents, and it sounds like they had a very good time.

Hubby and I were delayed in getting home; we'd been looking forward to having an extra day to sleep in and relax, spending time with the boys before they started their exams this morning, but mechanical problems with the plane changed those well-planned intentions!  At least we made it home safe and sound, even it was a good 14 hours later than we expected.

Will write a better update when I have a chance this evening!

Quick update

It was a whirlwind of weeks, I will admit!


It was probably one of the best Christmas days I can remember in a very long time. I wrote a very long post that I thought had been published, but it doesn't seem to be here right now. I will have to try and find where it went!

But, that said, our family had a great holiday. We actually had three days in a row of seeing different family members, and each event was wonderful.

New Year's was a small gathering of friends at our house for a Thai-inspired dinner. I made the appetizers - chicken saytay and rice paper spring rolls, a beef/lime salad and yellow chicken curry with sticky rice. My friend made a Thai shrimp/squash soup, a shrimp pad Thai and a tiramisu with a Thai twist. It was a very yummy, yummy dinner, and everyone agreed that it tasted like anything you would find in a restaurant.

I took down the Christmas decorations yesterday, and had a very large fight with S regarding the completion of the Geography assignment. We actually had a couple of 'events' with S over the holidays, but I will have to take some time to compile those thoughts/actions before I post them on here. It was not some of his best behaviours for some of it - and yet some of his best of others.

An enigma; that’s my S.

The Christmas spirit

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… it’s even starting to feel a lot more like Christmas now, too. I am very happy for that, since I am normally so excited when this time of year comes around.


Not really sure what had caused my funk for a couple of days last week, but at least it is gone now! I went out with some friends on Saturday morning, and after our brunch, we went shopping for a little bit. We had two destinations in mind, and we were successful at both of them. I managed to get the last of the little things I needed for the boys – socks, etc. – and I even picked up a winter coat at Value Village for S. It’s nice a fluffy and should provide some good warmth for him.

While I was waiting in line at Value Village, the lady in front of me was having the cashier do an occasional subtotal as the items were rung through. I got the impression that she had a very limited amount of cash on her and was mentally cheering her on as she had the cashier ring through another couple of items. It got down to the last article – a white and grey top – and that final article put her over the number she obviously had budgeted for. She asked to have that item removed from her bill, then looked back at me and apologized for taking so long with having her purchases rung through. I was not in a rush and told her not to worry about it.

As the cashier went about folding the clothes and putting them in to the bags, I decided that I would try and spread a little bit of my new-found Christmas cheer. I quietly said, “Excuse me… um… can you please put that top in this lady’s bag and just ring the tag through on my order?” The cashier – bless her – didn’t even miss a beat. “No problem,” she said as she took the tag from the shirt and folded it to place in the bag. The lady in front of me just sort of stood there for a second, and then looked at me with a face I can’t quite describe. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, “Thank you. It’s such a pretty top, isn’t it?” I smiled and told her that is was a very pretty top, and then I said “Merry Christmas.” Just as she was finished putting the items in the bag, the cashier smiled and said to the lady, “Looks like you’ve just got your first Christmas present this year.”

When my one friend and I left the store to check for one item next door, I asked her if she thought I had embarrassed the woman in front of me. I was still perplexed by the look on the lady’s face. “No,” my friend assured me, “I wouldn’t say it was embarrassment. Just more surprise than anything else.” I explained that my intention wasn’t to embarrass, so I was happy to know that. I left that store with a very light heart and a very happy step. Such a small gesture, but it just made me so very grateful for all that I do have in my life, and that I could at least let that lady enjoy the top she so obviously really liked.

I think we sometimes get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas that we sometimes forget about the real reasons behind it all. Buying that top for a total stranger is what it’s all about; not the perfect decorations or the number of Christmas cards you have sitting on your mantle. It’s about giving to those without feeling you need to receive something in return. (I also strong believe that it’s also about time with our family and friends – just spending time together and being happy that we can do so.)

I think our family needs to put this in to practice more, especially now that they are older and really can understand what it means to give from the heart. In fact, the best Christmas we ever had was the year we adopted a needy family – all of us took so much time finding just the right gifts for the two children and that Mom. After she came over and we surprised her with all of our finds, we felt so wonderful knowing that they would have a happy Christmas morning. The boys knew what we were doing, and they were active participants, but I really don’t think they understood that what we had provided to that Mom was going to be the only things the children opened on Christmas morning. Having been fortunate enough to never live through a Christmas like that, how could they really understand something like that when they are only 12 & 10?

Now they are old enough to really ‘get it.’

Hubby and I discussed this quite a bit on Saturday evening when I got home – we also talked about it with the boys. Moving forward, we are going to make these types of gestures something we practice on a more regular basis. I told them it was a “pay it forward” in real life. They liked that idea a lot.

So do I.

Homework... and is it really the thought that counts?

I am feeling very annoyed and frustrated this morning.


I got an email from S’s SERT last night indicating that S has not completed a number of Geography assignments. Again. The email indicated that the teacher was thinking he might contact me about these last assignments – but he never had.

When I went in to meet with this man, I told him that I wanted him to contact me as soon as an assignment wasn’t turned it. When the school year started, I provided him with my home, work and cell phone numbers. I also gave him my email address. It is not a difficult thing to get in touch with me.

So, needless to say, I was very upset with both S and the teacher this morning. I actually woke up a full hour before I normally do this morning. It wasn’t that I couldn’t sleep – I had just woke up and got to thinking… and that was it for me. Up and at ‘em.

Last night I had made three different dry rubs to give away as Christmas gifts. I had also picked up a number of containers to make the bath bombs and scrubs all nice and pretty for gift giving. So, at 6:15 this morning, I was creating the labels I needed for each of these items, and figuring out how I was going to distribute them. Apparently I made quite a few things. (Happens when you start early, I suppose.)

When S got up, I was ready for him. The A-man told me that I made S’s day terrible for him by giving him such a hard time so early. I explained to both of them that it is important their school work is completed prior to all other things. I also told S that I am very happy he has made friends, and has been very social lately, but that if the school work is going to begin to suffer because of these interactions, I am going to have to put a halt to everything. I think I was able to help him realize that I’m not being ‘mean’; I am simply being a good parent.

S assured me that he will bring home everything he needs for the assignments, and he seemed to realize that he would be required to complete these in the next couple of days if he wants to have a peaceful Christmas break. I really don’t want to harp on school work when he is home for a break from school, but I also will not allow him to just coast through, either.

How am I going to get through to this boy?

Anyway, both boys were very happy to get their Christmas hats all ready for the last day of school. I even took pictures of the two of them before they headed off to school. (Will post them on FB with other photos showing off my Christmas decorations.) Before they left, I asked them if they would like to give a bath bomb package to each of their bus drivers and they thought that would be a really nice idea. Not much, but the thought was there. I know I would appreciate something like that, so I am sure these ladies will, too. (Who knows?)

I am thinking that I may leave work a couple of hours early today. My house still isn’t fully decorated for Christmas – there are boxes still all over the basement, there are papers scattered among the decorations, and everything is just sort of out but not really placed. I have a lunch with my highschool friends tomorrow afternoon, and I think we may have people stopping by tomorrow evening, so I would really like to get a jump on things tonight. Half the time, when I get home from work I just have zero energy to tackle getting the house ‘ready.’

I love Christmas; I really do. But for the past couple of days I’ve not really been feeling the spirit very much. I’ve made these gifts for some friends, and now that I’ve put them together, I’m feeling like it’s just not very much, and I’m am questioning if the recipients will even like them. Now I feel like I need to go out and buy ‘more’ just to make the packages not look so… well, cheap.

Sigh.

Getting close to Christmas

The first performance by Cast A went well.  The A-man told me that there were a few minor 'boo boos' (such as the sound person missing a cue so the lighting just looked crazy) and the top of Rafiki's cane falling off, but he gave me the impression that everyone was quite pleased with how it all went.

He spent last night at my parent's house because everyone was asked to be at the school for 8am to get ready for a 9am curtain call.  He will remain in town tonight after school since the evening performance is tonight, and I will be picking him up afterward.

S continues to be a social butterfly.  He spends quite a bit of time chatting on the telephone with a number of friends, and he is also getting quite speedy with his MSN typing skills.  Amazing what a difference a few months can make.

I got an email from his SERT a few days ago indicating that S's headphones had broken somehow, and she was going to contact the Board to see about getting a replacement.  Her email didn't sound very positive about this option, but I would think the Board must have some contingencies for issues such as this.  I mean, things to break.
I will have to make sure that he has some new ones early in the New Year.  This school year is over on Friday and I highly doubt he will be doing much this week.  Seems like the week before holidays is a time for not doing much of anything.

I went to see Cuz this past weekend.  For a number of years she and I had an annual "Christmas shopping" weekend, but for the past two years I haven't been able to make it down.  Well, I know for sure I didn't make it last year, but I'm not sure about the year before.  Anyway, we had a great time catching up on Friday and then we shopped our way through the city on Saturday.  After shopping, we were able to go and visit some friends that have both moved in to new homes this past summer,  I haven't had the chance to see these homes, so it was very nice to get the opportunity to see them in all their Christmas glory.

Loonie's boys - aged 5 and 2 - certainly kept me busy.  I became the tickle-monster while everyone else had a chance to catch up.  I did get a bit of time to talk with my friend, though.  Her kids are just adorable, and her home is amazing.  She deserves it all, too.

Cuz and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" on Saturday evening, and yes, we both teared up at the end.  I may have seen this movie as a child, but I didn't have any memories of it.  Amazing.  I will be looking for a DVD copy of it before too long.

I got home mid-afternoon yesterday after spending a bit of time wrapping some of Cuz's presents.  I absolutely ADORE gift wrapping, so I was more than happy to do it.  After doing a few presents, Cuz indicated that she was feeling guilty because I was doing all her wrapping.  I assured her that I enjoyed doing it, and she only had me for a limited period of time and to take advantage.  When I got home and mentioned that I had done some wrapping, the A-man told me he was surprised to hear that I had left before all the presents were done!  lol. 
Yes, my son knows me well.

Hubby and I had a nice quiet evening catching up with each other, and figuring out what this coming week was going to bring.  He has a number of appointments over the week, but most things are quiet for me.  I just found out that I will be hosting my Dad's family Christmas on December 27th, so I guess that means I really should do the decorating I was going to pass on this year.  Well, maybe.
I am going to arrange my village tonight, I think, and then I will decide on the final kitchen do-dads.

S just called me - he asked if he friend could come and hang out tonight.  I said I didn't see a problem with that, and I will pick him up on my way through town.  Will actaully work out well since I will be having to drive in to town to pick up the A-man, so I can drop this young man off at the same time.

New Award

Thank you, my dear, Singapore Connection, for awarding me this great blogging award.

I'm happy to say that I AM a "Happy Blogging Mama!"

Since I don't really have many that follow my blog, I can't really 'award' this to people that will post it on their blog, but if they did blog, this would go to -

Cuz
Loonie
Nee
Bear
Jazzy's Mom
Heath
Lee

Snow storms and the Drama play

Poor wee little A-man.


For the past month or so, he has been laminating about wanting snow to arrive. “When is it going to snow?” I would hear at least a couple times a week. I always assured him that it would come, and when it did, it would arrive in abundance.

Well, arrive it has. It all started on Wednesday morning. I woke up to listen to the radio to find out if the gale-force winds were going to keep the busses off the road. I heard that the “red zone” busses to our school were not running, so I assumed that meant my kids were not going to school that day. I didn’t get the boys out of bed, and as I was sitting having my tea, the next thing I know – S’s bus is sitting at the end of the driveway!

I went outside – in my bathrobe and slippers – to tell the driver that I didn’t realize we weren’t in the red zone, and that S was still in bed. When I came back in, I informed the A-man that it wasn’t a snow day and he needed to get up. He rushed around like a wild man to catch his bus. I told him that he didn’t have to rush because I was going to be taking S in anyway, but he told me that whenever I drive him in to school he is always late, so he would rather rush to catch the bus. Brat.

Wednesday was also the first day that the A-man’s play was supposed to be performed in front of a live audience. The A-man is not is the performing cast for this run – his cast is in January – but his cast is responsible for all the behind the scenes items. The A-man’s job is lighting.

Well, since it was a ‘red zone’ day, a number of the students weren’t at the school, so the performance had to be cancelled. Thursday was to be a morning performance and an evening performance. Thursday was also a “red zone” day because of the weather. With this news, we were informed that the evening performance would happen on Monday evening.

This morning… yup, another red zone day. Talk about a grouch! “When is the snow going to stop?! I am sick of this weather!...” and on and on and ON he went. He looked outside our windows and couldn’t understand why it was a partial snow day. It looked fine to him. (Except for the blowing snow everywhere he was correct.) He was so upset about the idea of another day of the performance being cancelled; he didn’t even want to go to school today. “There is no point. No one will be at school – the teachers aren’t going to teach anything. It’s a waste of my time…” mumble, mumble, grumble, grumble...

Snarly-snarky went out to catch his bus. It was shortly after he left that a message came through on Facebook from the play’s page administrator. This student received a text from the son of the Drama teacher – he is also in the play – saying that the show was going to go on. She was not going to cancel today’s performance.

I sent the A-man a text to let him know, but never heard back, so I assumed he was in such a foul mood he had either left his phone at home, or had it off and wouldn’t get the message. I’m not sure how she is going to swing the performance today, but I am very glad that they are going to get to do something. These kids have been working VERY hard on the play – the sets, the rehearsals – and I am sure it is very frustrating to think that they may not get to show off their hard work. They only have Monday and Tuesday as viable options for next week because of the school mass on Wednesday and the Talent show on Thursday. Friday is ‘movie’ day, so it wouldn’t happen then, either.

Got a text from the A-man around 9 this morning: “Thank you sorry for being a chubi.” Not sure what a ‘chubi’ is, but I will assume he was apologizing for the grumbles I had to live through this morning.

This play certainly has opened many doors of conversation between the A-man and I. Since he was staying so many nights to work on the set, he and I have had a chance to enjoy many hours of one on one time. This past Sunday, however, was some one-on-one time I never expected to have with my son. I had to teach the A-man how to apply makeup.

On Sunday afternoon, both casts performed their final dress rehearsals. This was the day that both casts would be videotaped for the making of the play’s DVD as well. About half an hour before we had to leave to head to the school, the A-man tells me that he is nervous about having to put on his own makeup. I had assumed that someone would be helping each of the students with that, but apparently each student would be responsible for their own makeup duties. The A-man informed me of this as he was making his lunch.

As the time to leaving was getting closer and closer, I finally told the A-man to bring his lunch in to my bedroom so that I could show him the basics of makeup application. Cold cream. Foundation – make sure you get the spot under your nose! Setting powder – don’t normally do that step, but okay, I can show you how to do that… the entire time he was eating, and reading from his ‘step by step instructions’ and I was putting makeup on myself. I chuckled when he called it ‘rouge’ – haven’t heard blusher called that since I was a little kid! Anyway, I was pretty spruced up for my trip to the grocery store, and I think the A-man felt a little more comfortable with the process. I assured him that all of the girls on the cast would know how to do each of these steps, and I was pretty sure they would be more than happy to help the guys with the application. (Turns out I was right – shocking, really.)

So, I am looking forward to hearing about how the teacher pulled off the performance with some of the cast members storm stayed at their homes, but I am sure she will just switch some of the performers from Cast B to A. At least he will get the chance to do his lighting today.

Proper Grammar – a discussion

I had a bit of a dilemma at work today. When is it proper to use the word ‘do’ and when should you use ‘does’. Memories of my Grade 9 “Grammar Do’s and Don’ts” came back to haunt me. Why had I not paid more attention?!

The sentence under question:

"What do mountain golf and black bears have in common?"

When I first saw it, I thought it should be “does” instead of do. Then, after I looked at it a few times, I started to think that may ‘do’ was, in fact, the correct usage.

A quandary: indeed. What say you, fine readers??

More growth

Poor wee S and his immature social skills.


This morning he told me that he didn’t want to go to school today. Immediately my radar started humming, and I had to force the issue to find out what was causing his angst.

Historically, when S claimed that he didn’t want to go to school it was because either LB was picking on him, or one of LB’s friends had threatened him in some way, so I immediately became concerned. I asked him if he had a test that he hadn’t studied for – head shake to the negative. I asked him if someone had done something to make him feel threatened – head shake to the negative. At this point he informed me that he “didn’t want to talk about it.” Now, knowing my son as I do, I knew that was not the exact truth. He wanted to talk about it, or he wouldn’t have mentioned anything. He just didn’t know how to go about talking about it.

After a few more probing questions, I guess S realized that my “pit bull attitude” wasn’t going to let up on the subject, so he decided it was time to talk about it. He told me that he was afraid his actions of yesterday were going to cause him to lose a friend today. Then began the “which friend” question, followed by the name of a friend or two. Heaving a big sigh (such a drama queen, my S) he told me that he was worried that he was going to lose a girl’s friendship because he had ‘asked her out’ yesterday and she had told him “No.”

He was dreading have to ask this girl to “forget yesterday ever happened.” I asked him why she would want to do that and he explained to me that he had been friends with Lil A for years and then after they ‘went out’ for that time in September, she is no longer his friend because she now dating another boy. I told him that it doesn’t have to be that way, and that as he gets older, he will ask more and more girls, then women, out and will sometimes have to face being rejected. It’s just how things go. I then tried making light of the situation by telling him “It’s not like you asked her to marry you and she said no, you know.” He did share a little chuckle over that idea, and then started to get out of bed.

Amazing how just sharing something with Mom can make ‘huge’ problems not seem so bad. I’m just very grateful that both of my son’s feel that they can talk to me about various subjects. My hope is that this continues well into the future. (Cuz told me that sometimes her son’s share too much information now that they are in their mid to late 20’s, but I think I would rather that than not being aware of anything. Well, maybe…)

Last night the boys helped me pull out the Christmas decorations from the crawl space. I was in the crawl space, S was just at the entry way, and the A-man was lugging the boxes into the pool table room. After about the 6th box, S exclaimed “How many of these do you have, Mom?!” Apparently my children feel I have too many decorations. After I had all the boxes in the room, I was starting to think that way to!

The A-man and I managed to get the banisters decorated with both garland and lights. I then laid out the ‘snow’ on my dining room hutch and set up my snowman family. Still need to find the white twinkle lights to complete that area. Then S and the A-man both helped me get the Christmas tree set up. Tonight will likely involve putting the lights and decorations on the tree, and maybe starting to move the ‘regular’ nick knacks to decide where the Christmas things will go. My plan is to clean each area just prior to putting out decorations, but we will have to see what happens.
I don’t think I remembered how much I had decorated last Christmas until I started pulling things out last night. Case in point – I forgot that last year I had put garland and lights all around the cupboards in the kitchen as well as on the fireplace mantel and the windows in the basement. I must have really been in the spirit last year – will have to see if that happens again this year.

I’m also hoping to get the front entryway to the house cleaned up and maybe make it a bit more festive looking. Tomorrow or Sunday for that.

Ths and that

Hubby is going to make it. 
The dentist didn't seem too surprised to see him come in the office on Tuesday morning.  Apparently it is quite common to have follow up problems after such a complicated extraction.  They have put him back on antibiotics because it would appear the bottom of the extraction isn't healing at the same rate as the top and it is likely it's because some of the infection is still there.  The dentist also warned him that he could develop a dry socket.  I had one of those when I had my wisdom teeth extracted - not fun.  So far nothing like that for him, though.

Hubby took his T3's to work last night and he said that it was a rough night, but he plowed through.  He also told me that he is going to take as much overtime as he can in the coming weeks to make up for pay lost last week.

On the home front, things are going along pretty well.  The boys have done very well at making sure they keep the kitchen tidy each night, and last night I didn't even have to remind the A-man about garbage duties.  S, on the other hand, did everything in his power to avoid having to complete the recycling and litter aspect of his task.  Surprisingly - that didn't fly with me.

This morning, however, S did manage to get out to the end of driveway before I remembered that he had to take the blue boxes curbside.  At this point of the morning I knew that he wouldn't be doing that job.  The A-man told me not to worry about it - he would do it while taking the garbage and the green bin out. 
What a great guy he has become.  Very much like his dad.

Yesterday on our drive back from the school, I asked the A-man about R.  I haven't heard much about her lately, so I didn't know if she was still on the scene.  Apparently he has lunch with her as often as he can, but since one of our relatives has latched on to R, he doesn't eat with her as often as he would like.  R has told the A-man that he has to be nice to this young lady, so he tolerates her for R's sake.  He admitted to me last night, however, that R doesn't even really care much for this girl, but feels sorry for more than anything.  So, they eat lunch with her.

Apparently S and a few of his friends sit with R every now and then too.  I asked if R had a problem with S and his friends sitting with her, and the A-man said, "Mom, they call themselves 'The 5 Idiots'.  What do you think?"
R is just too nice for her own good.

Did I mention that S saw his old EA and a past teacher the other day?  I guess it was on Monday that the boys' Volleyball team had a tournament at the high school, and S saw these two ladies.  Apparently both of them were quite surprised at how deep his voice has become.  I guess I had noticed it changing over the summer, but since it was gradual, I never really thought about it.  He thought they may have commented on his height (which isn't really all that much from June) but apparently it was his voice that shocked both ladies.
This pleased S to no end, needless to say.  I know this because that was the focus of our dinner conversation on Monday night.

It would appear that Boss is doing well,  He has found a computer in a common area at the hospital, and has sent a few emails my way today.  He will be released tomorrow probably - after he has a chance to eat solid food.  Not sure how solid the food will have to be, though.  They just took a big chunk out of his tonge - they can't be expecting 'real' food for a while yet!

Spoke with Nee for quite a while last night.  J seems to be doing better, but he is refusing to spend time at his father's house.  Last Saturday her Hubby 'made' J go home with him "because it was his week."  Within the hour J was being brought home because he had run away and told his father that he would continue to do so until he was returned to his Mom's. 

When he arrived back at Nee's house, he laughed and told Nee that while getting his guitar from his Dad's trunk he had taken the "first aid" kit kept in the trunk and had thrown it in to the lake.  He told Nee that if she didn't want him doing drugs, maybe his father shouldn't be doing them either.

Nee's ex claims that he doesn't do drugs, but both boys have said that he does (and to his face they have said this), and it would appear J just does not want to be at the 'home' where he has both access to stuff and where his 'friends' know how to reach him.  Nee and I concluded that while J is at Nee's house he is safe because these 'friends' don't know where she lives, and she keeps a much tighter reign on him. 

At least it appear's J recognizes this and is doing what he can to avoid the tempation, but every time his father shows up and demands his time with the kids, J relieves that stressor by cutting himself. 
Nee is trying to do what she can to help the ex realize that it's not about him, but there are only so many things she can legally do.  Besides, she knows that her ex does love the boys and should spend time with them, but right now just isn't the time to force the issue.  J didn't even want to go to his Dad's for dinner on the weekend!

She's coping, but I'm worried that she is just hanging on by her finger tips.  We have a social function together this weekend, and I'm pretty sure the break will do her some good, but I'm also sure she will be calling and texting the entire time to make sure all is fine at home, too.

Looking forward to a quiet night tonight.  Going to finish addressing Christmas cards and watch some of my new favourite TV shows!

Time is flying

I am still having a hard time believing that tomorrow is December 1.  I'm still not sure where the month of November went!

Boss is going in for some surgery tomorrow.  Should be very interesting for the next couple of weeks to have a marketing professional not able to speak.  He will not be a patient patient, I'm expecting.  I just hope he isn't in too much pain while the healing process takes hold.

Last Thursday evening I went over to Laur's for the annual "Putting up of the Christmas lights."  I guess I have done this task for her for the past 6 or 7 years. 
One afternoon she and I were chatting on the phone (this was before I started back to work full time) and she had said how it took her and her Hubby hours to put the lights on the tree.  Now, I have been the official putter-of-the-lights-person since Hubby and I were married, so I just couldn't understand how it would take so long to do this job.  I told her I would be over in 20 minutes and help her get the job finished.
From starting to pull the tree out from the box, to stringing the lights and calling the job "done" was just over an hour.  She and her hubby were amazed.
I have been doing the task ever since.  (Except for the year I broke my wrist at the Christmas party.)

On Friday night, I went off to the city with Jazzy's mom and M to celebrate M's birthday.  Friday was her actual birthday, so it worked out well.  We went out to dinner, had drinks, met up with a bunch of people.... it was a very, very fun time.  The next morning none of us were feeling 100%, but we all perked up after breakfast and were just about normal by the time the play we went to see started.
The play was called "My Mother's Jewish Lesbian Wiccan Wedding" and was quite humourous.  I think what made it really funny was the fact that it was based on a true story.  Sometimes you just can't make these things up!

When I got home on Saturday evening, Hubby told me that I was looking at the person that used to be my husband; the grouch of the previous week had been banished.  I welcomed him back with open arms.

Sunday dawned with very few plans.  We ended up doing the pheasant slaughter - I even cooked one of the males for dinner.  I may have over-cooked it a wee bit, but it was quite tasty.

I managed to get about 80% of the laundry done, and tonight I am hoping to get Christmas cards addressed and ready for mailing.  I made a few more bath bombs yesterday (mandarin orange this time) and I advised the A-man that it wasn't a snack to be enjoyed.  ;o)

We were just finishing up dinner tonight, and the front door opened.  Hubby is back home with an ache in his mouth again.  This time it is just in front of the tooth he had extracted.  Hopefully it's just something to do with the stitches.  He will go in to the office in the morning.

Report cards and sore teeth

I have found myself reading the boy’s report cards again and again. I can’t help it - I keep checking to confirm that my memory hasn’t gone and left me.


The report cards are both just so… positive! The life skills section – initiative, homework completion, working well with others, etc – is always the section that I read first. For S, I was never surprised to see a “Needs Improvement” for cooperation with others, initiative or homework completion. A “satisfactory” was always much better, and if we saw a “Good” that was always cause for celebration in our household. An ‘excellent’ was rarely (if ever) seen on S’s report card. (Maybe in kindergarten…)

I would say that was pretty much the case for the A-man too when he was in elementary school; maybe not for the majority of the skill set, but definitely for a couple of the categories.

S’s report card still shows 78% for his average mark. He has almost 90% in Music, and the teacher marked him “excellent” in all of his skill sets. The same teacher also has S for his lowest scoring class – Geography – which is 67%, and even that is showing a number of ‘Good’ and ‘Satisfactory’ comments in the skills set. Actually, there isn’t any “needs improvement” notations in any of his classes! Heck, in Science the teacher even commented that S submitted “very well written lab reports”.

I love high school!

(Okay, well, as a parent I love high school. When I was actually attending high school, not so much…)

On the home front, my poor Hubby has been having not a very good week. He awoke on Sunday evening (early Monday morning, really) to a terrible pain in his mouth. He called in to work on the Monday morning and went to see the dentist at the first appointment he could get. He has an abscessed tooth. The abscess is in a tooth that had a root canal a few years ago over the Christmas holidays. (NOT a fun holiday, I will admit)

The dentist prescribed some antibiotics to help clear the infection, and some Tylenol 3’s with codeine to help with the pain Hubby was experiencing. On Monday evening, Hubby was still in a lot of pain, and wasn’t actually able to sleep much (again) that night.
Tuesday evening he went back to the dentist at the urging of our friend (a hygienist in the office) to see if the other dentist would be able to prescribe something stronger for the pain. But, since Hubby hadn’t been on the antibiotics for more than 48 hours, the other dentist wasn’t willing to give him anything else. (I wonder if he might have thought differently had he been living with the pain…)

Yesterday morning the original dentist called to see how Hubby was feeling. When Hubby told the dentist that he pain was actually getting worse, they made an appointment to have him come back in yesterday morning. They ended up pulling the tooth, even though they don’t like to do so when there are still signs of infection in the area. Apparently this does happen to some 25-30% of the cases.

Hubby said the best he had felt in days was when the dentist gave him the first freezing for the extraction. Apparently they aren’t willing to continue to give Novocain every four hours… imagine. The extraction itself, however, wasn’t very pleasant to hear about, never mind living through. Hubby said it was terrible when the freezing started to come out, but I have got to believe that now that the tooth is gone he has to start feeling better once the infection has the ability to drain.

His jaw was actually visibly swollen from the infection.

So, it hasn’t actually been a whole lot of fun in our world for the last few days. The boys and I have been trying to stay as quiet as we can to ensure Hubby can sleep whenever he needs to, but he is still a bit of a grouchy bear. I get that.

Here's hoping he starts to see some improvment today.

A weekend of birthdays

Whew – what a weekend! I got to see so many people that I haven’t seen in a very long time, and although it was quite tiring to do so much driving, it was totally worth it.


Friday night was a quiet one for us. I left work earlier in the afternoon with plans on taking a nap before the kids got home from school, but then I ended up running into Laur when I was downtown and went to have a coffee with her. That ended up getting me home about my normal time.

I laid down for a bit when I did get home. After about half an hour, I told Hubby that I was going to get up and get supper started. Next thing I knew, an hour had passed and I was still in bed. I’m thinking I fell back asleep! I made dinner for the family (we have been dining late!) and then sat with Hubby to watch a bit of TV. Hubby went to bed around 10 or so that evening, and although I had a nap, I ended up following him around 10:30 and I slept quite soundly until after 7 on Saturday. (I was obviously very tired.)

Saturday morning I had both of the boys make sure their rooms were tidy. Hubby and I were heading to Cuz’s house for the night and I had a friend coming to my place for the night. She was coming with her mom and son, and I didn’t quite know how the sleep arrangements were going to work for the evening, so I wanted all of the linens to be fresh and clean, and all of the rooms straightened up – just in case. I got all of the linens changed, set out fresh towels for everyone, and prepared a note for Bear.

Hubby and I got on the road about half an hour later than I had planned, but that was still okay. We had a few hours before the start of the surprise 50th birthday party, but I wanted to have a bit of time to just catch up with Cuz before we had to get moving again. We had a great afternoon followed by a very tasty Moose roast for dinner!
Off we went to the 50th birthday party. It was very nice to have the chance to see everyone again, but it can sometimes be overwhelming to have that many people in a house. I found at the end of the night that I hadn’t really had an opportunity to spend much time with as many people as I would have liked.

The next morning I was quite surprised at how late Hubby and I had slept! This time Cuz had put us up in the basement, and I guess the darkening blind really made a big difference for us. Hubby and I woke up about half an hour before I had been hoping to get heading home. We were just getting our first coffee of the day when the birthday girl called to let us know she was coming over for some additional visit time. It was very nice to have that extra hour with her, that is for sure.  (Even made some plans to come and visit Cuz again in a few weeks so that I can have a chance to see some friend's new homes.  Both now live near Cuz and I was complaining about not getting to see their homes!  I am going to be missing a group dinner, but I won't be too upset about missing that!)

Hubby and I made really good time coming back home. I arrived to the 100th birthday party only about 15 minutes after it began, and I had even made it in time for the guest of honour’s entrance! He had a piper lead him in to the hall. I must say, for someone that is now 100 years old, he was quite spry. I can only hope that if I were to live to that age that I would be able to walk myself into the party at the clip he walked!

I’m not sure if my favourite part of the day was the opportunity to get to see so many faces that I haven’t seen in so long, or watching the ‘birthday boy’ take a drive off the 10th hole of the golf course. Now legally blind, he hasn’t been able to play golf in over 5 years, but yesterday afternoon, he was lead by the bagpipes out to the course where he took an honourary drive for his guests prior to having some family pictures taken.

I didn’t have a chance to spend near enough time with Bear, but it sounds like the A-man did his very best to make sure they were comfortable in our house with Hubby and I not being there. It sounds like he was keeping them in stitches for most of the night, and also made sure that everyone was ‘taken care of.’ He prepared the pizza, and in the morning even made scrambled eggs for Bear’s mom! Who knew I had such a host in my eldest son?! (I’m not really surprised, though, given the amount of times Hubby and I entertain, it only makes sense that he would know what sorts of things to do and offer to guests.)

Had a pretty quite Sunday evening where I got all the laundry caught up and spent some time just taking it easy.
~~~
The boys both received excellent report cards. The A-man ended up with a 76% average with his English mark pulling him down a bit. There is some room for improvement in both that course and his Math course, but I am not upset with anything any of the teachers had to say.

S brought home a report card that shows him with a 78% average! I am so proud of him! His Geography mark isn’t quite as high as I believe him capable of, but that isn’t really a subject that he is overly interested in (I never was either) so I have just reminded him that he needs to make sure he gets everything done and handed in on time. He did very well in both Skills for Success and Music, and his Science mark was quite good for him, too. All of the comments were very positive.
The beams were just shinning as they were coming out of his smile when he gave me that report card.

I am very proud of both of them.