What Spring Break?

Well, that week went fast! Last week was spring break for Athens City Schools, a week during which at least the girls and I usually do something together. Usually we go spend a few days at my grandmother's and a couple of years ago, Mr. Incredible took the week off and we went to Gettysburg for the week. It's usually a fun, relaxing, recharge your batteries time. Really.

But now that we have two teenagers who are both back in public school, it's a bit of a different story. The only day I didn't either go somewhere or operate Mom's Taxi was Monday. I kid you not. On Monday, the weather was really icky, Monkey Girl didn't have track practice, and we just hung out at the house in our pj's playing on our computers.

I figured she'd have practice on Tuesday, but then I got "The Call." It came from my wonderful sister-in-law, asking if the girls could go check out a consignment shop in Lancaster with them on Tuesday, since that seemed to be the only day that would work for them. This was great. The girls were excited to go. We'd only been waiting on a day that worked for everyone. AND I'd have the day all to myself to maybe do some writing. Except that three sentences later, my wonderful sister-in-law wonderfully asked me to go along and my girls wouldn't hear of my staying home. Now, for the record, I'm not being sarcastic about my SIL. She really is truly wonderful. And I really did have a great time hanging out with the girls, as well as their aunt and grandmother on Tuesday. It was a fun day. We even discovered a new consignment/antique shop between Logan and Sugar Creek. I'm giong to try to get some of my earrings up there for them to offer for sale.

Wednesday saw us retracing our steps towards Lancaster, as Monkey Girl need to get a cavity filled up at Children's Dental in Columbus. Total time of the appointment, from the moment we hit the hospital lobby? About 1/2 hour. I think only 10 minutes were spent on her cavity, it was that little. She didn't even need anaesthesia, it was so small. Now that's the time to get them taken care of. And we still had the rest of the afternoon before us. Heck, leaving Columbus by 4:30 meant next to know rush hour traffic yet, which absolutely amazed me. it also meant I wasn't exhausted from the stress of driving with crazy people, so I had energy to brave the Rivervally Mall in Lancaster. We hit Hot Topic and Claire's, then finished up our day with dinner at Waffle House. Waffle House rocks by the way. And, once again, I had a marvelous time hanging out with the girls. Tuesday and Wednesday let to some great memory-making hours well spent. And I wouldn't trade them for anything. I still didn't get any writing done, though.

Nor would I the next two days either. Thursday was a mini-adventure hauling various kids around - not all of them were mine - as Mom's Taxi. Oh, and we mixed up the time for track practice, which apparently started an hour later than it does during the school week. *sigh* Monkey Girl missed pretty much two full weeks for practice thanks to having a bad case of strep the week before spring break.

I did however think I'd be rid of them for the night - prime snuggle time with Mr. I. But then the girls shuffled around what was happening. MG did go to her friend's house, but Drama Queen changed her mind about hanging out at her friend's. Until one of them called and they all harassed her into coming over. (She had a blast.) Mr. I and I did get a few hours to ourselves, including time out of the hosue for dinner. Since the goal had been just to spend time together, it was a success. (Applebee's, however, doesn't really have anything on the menu for someone following a vegetarian diet, let alone the CHIP diet, which is what Mr. I. has been doing.) I picked DQ up at midnight, while reflecting that my mother never would have let me stay out that late when I was her age. Times have changed.

Friday? Ummm, I'm trying to remember Friday. I know I wound up running somewhere, but I can't remember where right now.

So, that was my spring break. Busy, busy, busy. It was good though. Only now, I'm behind where I wanted to be with writing projects. But then again, none of them are on a deadline for anyone but myself at this point and I got to spend some truly enjoyable, quality time with my kids and my husband's family. And whether or not I ever get the book finished or published rather pales in comparison to those experiences. I mean, I wrote the book in part because of my daughters. They're only really mine for a few years longer. As for my in-laws, well, I love them as well. It would have been nice to see my grandmother last week, but in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't have traded any of the rest of it for anything else.

Goin' for a Ride

Meet Rosie. She's my daughter, Drama Queen's best friend.

Hi, Rosie!

Recently Rosie reminded me of how much she likes car rides. I was off to pick up DQ after school a couple of weeks ago and she half-followed me to the van. On a whim, I asked her if she'd like to tag along. In she hopped through my door and up onto the driver's seat. After getting her to move over, we were off. It's actually less than a ten minute drive to the high school, but the poor thing whimpered all the way there. I'd thought about just picking DQ up and then heading to the Bulk Food Depot, but after the whimpering, thought maybe not.

DQ and her friend, whom I also give a ride home, were excited to see Rosie and she was very excited to see them. Ion (the name of one of his gaming characters) was happy to let Rosie ride on his lap, which left her really happy and excited. And wouldn't you know it, her whimpering increased! She was happy to be with DQ after Ion got out and yet she whimpered even more. By the time we got home, it was obvious that her whimpering was actually her excited sound. Half an hour later she followed us back out to the van, wanting to go again, tail wagging and ready to go.

Off we headed to the Bulk Food Depot, where she was not happy to be left in the van. I knew we wouldn't be in the store all that long, so she wasn't alone for long. And she totally enjoyed the trip.

Fast forward to last week, which happened to be Ohio Graduation Test time. Athens City doesn't require students who aren't testing to be at school until 9:30, so I cut DQ slack and drove her to school at the later time all week. (Normally Mr. Incredible drops her off on his way to work.) So, Tuesday morning we're getting ready to head out to the van. My hand's on the doorknob, DQ's about halfway into the dining room grabbing her bags, and Rosie's right behind her, head perked up and looking hopeful.

I'll be danged, but she followed us, right up to my side of the van, and in she hops. I tell her to move over out of my seat and she hops into the passenger seat just as DQ is reaching up to unlock it. Rosie totally stole her seat and got away with it! Half-exasperated, DQ says, "Fine! Be that way!" and plops down in the middle seat behind her. DQ wasnt' really upset, which is what made it even funnier. And that's when she snapped the above pic of a very happy dog. Happy at least until we got to the school and Drama Queen got out, leaving Rosie behind. She was most definitly NOT happy then.

She followed us out again the next morning, but we made her get in the middle seats for that trip. It was very cute watching her tail bounce as she followed DQ around the van and to the open door. I took her with me yesterday to pick the kids up again and she actually let me know that she prefers that door. At 11 years old, she doesn't quite have the umpf she used to have for jumping into cars. The sliding door lets her get in at the floor level and then climb into the seat. And it's been HIlarous watching her get her car legs and find her balance while the vehicle is moving.

She's a pretty sweet dog.

Welcome 2011!

Well, I survived NaNo another year. And yes, it really was more like survival this year. Some sort of GI virus swept through the household the weekend before Thanksgiving, which left me decided to toss in the towel. However, some folks wouldn't accept that and badgered, er, I mean, encouraged, me to finish it out. I wrote over 22,000 in two days and finished the event in at Donkey Coffee with a couple of friends so tired that I was loopy. I'll need to go back and revisit the novel later, finishing it up and doing some revision before I let anyone really read it, but I still think there's a lot of good material there to work with. (Note to self: Sex scenes get boring to write at around the 5000 word mark.)

I also started another long term sub position at the end of November, which became a regular job for me in mid-December. Yep, I'm not regularly gainfully employed as an educational aide at the school, working mainly in a kindergarten classroom. It's great. And at only 4 hours a day, I still have time for writing and to help our eldest with her online academy work. (And I can start paying on those student loans again. Yes!)

Christmas was great. Since I was working, the normally barely there budget got tossed out the window. We didn't go crazy, but it was nice to have some extra to spend. Drama Queen got her keyboard and some of her American Girl wishlist. Monkey Girl got Steps High from American Girl plus her cell phone. (Look out world, she can text now!)

And then, the week after Christmas, my father-in-law had a heart attack. They life flighted him to Riverside, where he got two stents put in and seemed to be making a recovery. However, his heart never really got its function back. Sometime this past Saturday his body started shutting down. He passed away Sunday morning. I'm in a bit of a disconnect over it all, as the last time I saw him was Christmas Eve as we were opening presents. A particularly lingering upper respiratory infection started to set in the day after his heart attack and I never made it up to Columbus to visit. Nor did the girls. It makes it all a little odd as to how to process everything. And even though he had health issues, it still seemed a bit sudden. I cared a great deal for the man, although we sometimes had our differences. He could be bull-headed and stubborn, but he was also very kind, generous, and caring. And totally dedicated to his family. He will be missed so very much.

Okay, I've got myself all teary-eyed now. Time to end this thing. Here's wishing you all a wonderous new year.