caerula's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the end of the moving saga Written this morning, but I've been sitting on it waiting for Diaryland to come back up: So we spent the Labor Day weekend in Traverse City with my sister Kitty and her husband the ControlFreak. It wasn�t too bad. Everyone was fairly well behaved and I didn�t have to see too much of CF. They just moved up to TC last month, and it was the first time we�d been up to see their new house. It�s a nice house � a really cute tri-level. They have a huge fenced backyard and a deck, which I covet. However, they have next to nothing unpacked besides the basics. Kitty hasn�t been working, so I don�t know what she�s been doing with her time. And CF�s decided to build a garage, like right now. You�d think they�d want to get the house set up first. Kitty just started her new job, and it�s a retail job, so she had to work a good chunk of the weekend. We went to lunch Saturday with CF, who was well-behaved, and after lunch he offered to take YMB off our hands so we could walk around downtown. YMB adores the ControlFreak, and Blue didn�t have a problem with it, so we let him go, and they had a great time. I don�t approve of CF as a role model in general, but he is the kind of guy little boys love. Blue and I walked around downtown for a bit, but since we didn�t have any money to spend it wasn�t much fun to go into the shops, and it was a bit chilly to go down to the lake. For dinner Kitty and CF took us to Gordie Howe�s restaurant. Blue and YMB loved it, it�s filled with hockey memorabilia and a game room and all sorts of stuff. The table where we were had a huge portrait of Gordie and his wife over us, which was a little unnerving, and what I could only assume to be school pictures of his grandkids on the wall. I found that just a little weird. But, a good time was had by all; especially me since I had several opportunities to get digs in regarding CF's horrifically old-fashioned views of women's roles in relationships. Sunday the boys went fishing, and Kitty and I drove out to Suttons Bay. It�s a gorgeous little town on the Leelenau Peninsula, with the requisite antique and craft shops. Everything was way overpriced for the tourists, but we had fun looking around, and I bought a nifty cross-stitch pattern I want to do up for QueenV. I�d like to get it done for Christmas, but we�re probably more realistically looking at her birthday next year. I used the opportunity again to plant ideas with Kitty about CF's old-fashioned and sexist ideas about money; she was irritated because he hadn't left her any cash, and wouldn't "let" her take the checkbook. I suggested that now that she has a job, perhaps she should have her own account. She doesn't have a debit or credit card because he doesn't approve of them. They have one credit card, and he is in complete control of it. And sometimes she has to hide things she's purchased so that CF doesn't give her grief over them. I asked Blue to imagine what would happen if he told me I couldn't have a checkcard, or if he wouldn't give me cash. He said he preferred not to imagine things like that. We intended to leave early Monday morning to beat the traffic heading downstate, but at the last minute decided on a side trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes. We didn�t know exactly where we were going and followed road signs, so we ended up stopping where the sign said "Dune Climb," which is a little parking lot and picnic area drawfed by an enormous ledge of sand which people, supposedly for fun, climb up and over. Note to self: Memories of distances involved in climbing over large sand dunes when 5 years old are not necessarily accurate at 28. We took off our shoes and climbed the first steep dune. At the top, we naively expected to see water. We climbed the second dune. More sand. At the third peak, I gave out. The boys went a little further and claimed to have seen Lake Michigan, but they decided not to go all the way down, since it would mean climbing back up again. Note to self: When climbing back down very steep sand dunes, do not pick up speed. After several embarassing tumbles, we shook the sand out of our clothes and, in my case, hair, and embarked on the trip home. We left the Leelenau Peninsula close to 2 PM, and a drive that should have taken 4 or 5 hours proceeded to take almost 8. Stop and go traffic all the way down 27, from before Cadillac until after Mount Pleasant. And until you get to Cadillac, there is NOTHING to eat. Not, perhaps, the best possible ending. Poor Blue had to be at work at 11 PM, so slept part of the way back; Tuesday was YMB�s first day of school and we made him try to nap too. For a while I was alone in the car with two sleeping males, and I got away with playing Mary Chapin Carpenter to keep me awake while driving. Of course, I couldn�t play it very loud. When we finally got home, YMB and I stumbled to bed and Blue went to work. I woke up in the middle of the night and found that although I had actually changed into pjs, sand had crept unnoticed into my nooks and crannies. The sheets were full of it. And my sheets were nothing compared to YMBs in the morning, since he hadn�t actually changed before hitting the sack. Our new carpet is now full of Sleeping Bear sand. Note to self: must find the vacuum cleaner. Fortunately I was able to work from home with the handy-dandy little laptop on Tuesday, so after Blue and I took YMB to school he was able to come home and crash, instead of waiting up for the air conditioner men to come sometime between 11 and whenever-we-feel-like-it. Also good as I was, inevitably, developing a cold. Taking YMB to school was insane. His elementary school has a less-than-adequate parking lot and bus system, and there were zillions of cars parked all over � on the grass, in the thruways, in the drainage ditch. We saw a Taurus that had gotten hung up on a pipe in said ditch, and its left rear tire was suspended precariously a good two feet off the ground. His kid probably thought it was the coolest thing ever. There are three elementary school clustered right together there, with about two thousand kindergartners through fifth graders between them, and although most of them ride the bus, since we are in a very rural district, many are also dropped off every day. The all-wise administration has yet to come up with any kind of solution to this problem, besides wanting us to pass yet another millage to build yet another school. This, after the millage we passed three years ago resulted in a new junior high that opened on Tuesday at capacity, in a district that is seeing enrollment increase by leaps and bounds. Insane. Blue dropped us off in the parking lot, where some crazy mom promptly tried to run us over with her SUV, and drove off looking for some place to stick the car. YMB and I made it in finally and found his classroom without any problems, and guess who was waiting there for us? That�s right, Dementor #1. He�d driven down an hour and a half so he could take a picture of his grandson at his desk on that all-important first day of third grade. Give me a break. Heaven forbid they relinquish any sort of control, or let us have one moment with the child not tainted with their presence. No, they have to be there for everything. What worries me is that YMB�s teacher this year is a new teacher, fresh out of school, and that she�ll cave to their pressure. His wonderful 2nd grade teacher last year handled them extremely well, and didn�t bend even when they complained to the superintendent. This year, who knows? There�s no reason for them to be involved in day-to-day stuff, but I�m sure they�ll try. They are free to come to open house, science fair, all those special elementary school events, but they really don�t need copies of everything that gets sent home with YMB (as they demanded last year) or to be there for every little thing. Urgh. YMB was fortunately not at all upset or embarrassed. Everything is par for the course, for this kid. We said hi to his teacher (who looks very young), looked around the room, saw his locker, and said goodbye. He cheerfully waved us off. When I picked him up at 11:45 (it was a half-day), he was practically bouncing with enthusiasm for his teacher, his class, their activities, his locker, his desk, whatever. What a relief, and what a change from the kid we dragged silently to school last year. Blue last night picked up on one explanation for this that I hadn�t thought of. At dinner, YMB was telling us how good he�d been and how Miss H. had used him as an example, pointing out the class what a good listener he was being. Blue looked over at me and said, "It�s because Miss H. is cute." I laughed and looked over at YMB, expecting his usual eye-rolling. He'd gone beet red. Oh my. It is because she�s cute! Who knew this happened as early as 3rd grade? But hey, at this point, whatever works. If YMB is inspired to do his work and follow the rules because he wants Miss H. to like him, fine by me. There are worse motives, and few eight-year-old boys are going to pursue knowledge for its own sake anyway. So things have gone fairly well so far this week. We haven�t gotten much done in the way of unpacking, although YMB's room is looking better and I did go through much of our bathroom stuff and put it away in a vain hope that I would find the cold medicine while I was at it. And I got paid today, which means that we might be able to go to the Gigantic Home Improvement Store on Saturday, depending on how much of that gets devoted to bills tonight. And, I�ve been able to let off some steam via SSX, one of YMB�s Playstation games. Who knew how much fun virtual snowboarding could be? I never thought I�d be fighting the boys off for a playstation controller, but there we all were on the floor last night arguing over whose turn it was next. It�s very addictive, and good for releasing tension. You can knock other racers over, run into them, smash through glass, and all sorts of fun things. And suddenly I�m very competitive and will race the same course over and over until I win. Huh. Who knew. So finally, that brings us up to today. Work, blah blah blah. We really busy with this stupid project that is now supposed to be done by November, but the good news is we might get overtime approved for it (as opposed to just staying late and taking work home without compensation, as we have been doing). I still have a cold and still have not found either cold medicine or Kleenex. Blue is home asleep, YMB is at school, I am here at my desk, and for once all is right with the world. Note to self: Don�t say that too loud. Something terrible is sure to happen. Don�t tempt fate. 2:32 p.m. - 2001-09-06 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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