Day: February 23, 2009

Weekend Top 5 is hosted by Kristi at The Wheelz are Rolling

Hot showers have really never been my thing. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a hot shower, but overall, I prefer my water to be a little more on the lukewarm side. My body tends to run hot much of the time, so honestly, a lukewarm shower is more comfortable for me.

But this weekend, my showers have been so hot that my skin is actually starting to bubble in protest.

Okay, my skin is not really developing blisters, but our water is now so hot that it could!

The plumbers paid us a visit Friday. They replaced our 33 year old water heater with a slightly bigger, more energy-efficient tank and let me tell ya, that baby CRANKS out the hot water! In the past, we would have to alternate when we took showers because if we ever made the mistake of taking showers at the same time (you know, one person in the front bathroom, another person in the back bathroom), then we inevitably ended up stumbling out of the stalls shivering and blue because the hot water ran out after about five minutes.

But now. Wow. We can run both showers, the dishwasher AND the washing machine and STILL have a ton of hot water to spare!

The guys are in heaven, they love it. But me? Well, this sucker is SO hot that I have to nearly turn it all the way down to “C” just to get something a little more lukewarm. I’m not complaining; I just don’t care for sweaty showers because to me, that defeats the purpose of taking a shower! HA!

The guys’ passports came in the mail Saturday.

Mine did not.

*blink*

Should I be worried about this?

Kevin was forced asked to volunteer for the annual Sertoma Chili Cookoff. Sertoma stands for, “Service to Mankind” and it’s an event sponsored by area businesses to raise money for the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Springfield.

Businesses cook up batches of chili and customers can pay a fee to get in the door and sample these chilies. They then vote for their favorite and the winning company receives a trophy.

In addition to the cookoff, the event coincides with the downtown Mardi Gras pub crawl which means there are a lot of drunk, crazy people running around with tons of beads around their necks and sporting risque costumes.

Not exactly an event for children, but surprisingly, there are always a lot of children that show up.

Kevin was stationed at the back door to dissuade people from trying to get in without paying. He had to stand at the door for nearly four hours and turn away quite a few drunk people.

I didn’t go with him. I wasn’t about to pay $12.00 to fight these crowds:

Ugh. I don’t do crowds very well. I was really glad I wasn’t invited to volunteer. (Though I would have, if asked).

You can watch a video of the event, if you’re interested.

And here we go …

I’ve been watching the pollen counts steadily creeping up in our area. Kevin and I have noticed a difference just in how our sinuses have been acting up, but I’ve been keeping a watch on this chart via weather.com:

Right now, Cedar and Elm are high. When Oak appears on that list, I’ll have to dig out the Singular and Zyrtec and drug MK up.

Have I mentioned I hate this time of year? Yes? Then I’ll shut up about it. Suffice it to say, I’ll be GLAD when April is over. (Typically the time Oak trees bloom around here).

GD and I spent nearly three hours making out his schedule for next year. Not because it was terribly complicated or confusing but because the boy simply wouldn’t pick any classes!! ARGH!

GD is the type of boy who will take the easy way out, each and every time. He doesn’t like to use his brain very much unless it involves some sort of game strategy that will increase his ranking status among his peers. And then? Watch out – the boy is sharp as a tack and BITES.

But the whole “this is important because this is your future” thing? Not so much.

I was proud of myself though. I patiently sat next to him as he asked about possibilities and I read the class descriptions to him. I absolutely did not give him my input, well, not MUCH input, anyway. I gently guided him in the direction that he needed to go, but ultimately, I didn’t make any suggestions or pick any classes out for him.

And this is why it took so long for him to make any decisions. Because in the past, he would ask me what I thought, I would tell him, and that’s what he would settle for. This go-around, he would say, “What do you think, mom?” And I would come back with, “Actually son, the question is, what do YOU think? You’ll be taking the class after all. Is this something you think you might be interested in?”

In which he would reply, “I don’t know.”

And so, we sat around while we tossed nearly every class listed on the form until he finally made some decisions. He got very frustrated but I think it was good for him to actually THINK about what sort of future path he would like to explore. The only time the boy perked up was when we talked about the computer programming classes the school offered.

Only, one of the prerequisites was Algebra II. Which he hasn’t taken yet, but is scheduled for next year.

He got very frustrated with the prerequisites. But it was an opportune moment to teach him the importance of careful planning.

Here’s what we ended up scheduling him for next year:

English III (required), Liberty and Law (required), Civil War (he actually picked this one and acted interested in it), Japanese II (he picked it, but is nervous because it’ll be more challenging), Algebra II (required), Intro to Computer Programming (this is contingent on if he passes Algebra II with a C or better), Biology (required), Computer Applications (elective), Personal Finance (required – and a good idea, IMO), P.E. (required – he’s just retaking the weight class again), and an ACT Prep course (elective).

It was recommended that we go ahead and look at some possible courses for senior year – which was fun because by the time he is in 12th grade, the only thing he HAS to take is one more English class. So, for senior year, he’s what he has tentatively picked out:

English IV, Technical Writing (which is basically business writing and yes, I suggested this one *ahem*), Psychology, Economics, Advanced Computer Programming, Accounting I (I thought this might be fun for him since Kevin is an accountant and though a busy class, it’s not a terribly hard class), Earth Science, Relationships (which he rolled his eyes at, but honestly, his choices were pretty slim by this time) and Contemporary Living (which teaches kids to be smart shoppers).

I have no idea if he’ll stick with those classes come senior year, but I feel pretty good about his choices as those are pretty well-rounded and yet practical at the same time.

They gave us a copy of his transcript so we wouldn’t accidentally schedule him for a class he’s already taken and I was very proud of his grades, so far. It looks pretty decent, if I say so myself. I hope he can maintain the momentum.

Two years. My baby will graduate from high school in two, short years. *sigh*