1.  The Boy is back from debate camp.  Two weeks in a college dorm just north of us.  We got to see him half way through for lunch.  He says he had fun and placed respectably in the tournament.

2.  I really don’t know what to think of Sarah Palin resigning.  Other than to say I wonder why it’s okay to make viscious attacks against her kids, but kids of other elected officials are stricly off-limits.  Funny, that…

3.  On the world stage.  Believe me, I thought I would NEVER in a million years say this…I would feel much safer if Hillary were president.  I just get the feeling that Obama may be just making it up as he goes along and does not have a clue.  But time will tell.

4.  How much longer until we admit that Obama has worsened the economic situation he “inherited” instead of looking back and blaming all the money-spending on Bush.  Bush is no longer in charge…at least I thought he wasn’t.  Maybe I’m wrong….

5.  I find it funny that the vast majority of cars which qualify for purchase under the “clunkers for cash” program are foreign, while the government bought GM.  Does this make sense to you?  It’s like they’re just giving our money away to our new competition, since we all (well, all of us that actually pay taxes) now own a piece of GM.

6.  Our garden got hammered by the tornado a few weeks ago.  But the cucumbers survived and are producing, and we have a couple tomatoes.  The peppers keep having blooms which fall off and never amount to anything.  Maybe it was all too much for them…that, or all the weeding I do around them.  Can’t stand weeds.  Hate ‘em.

7.  I had the house to myself for almost five days last week while The Boy was at camp and the spouse was flying.  Very peaceful, those few days alone.  But also (surprisingly) busy.  Lots of weeds to pull, don’tcha know.

8.  The Boy turns 15 this week, and he also starts driving this week (being parent-taught by The Spouse).  One more year and he’ll be able to drive himself to and from tournaments!

9.  I’ve been counting calories.  Each and every one I eat or drink.  This is a tedious, time intensive process at times.  But….I’ve lost about 12 pounds give or take in the last three months.  Slow and steady wins the race!

10.  The best part about counting calories is I don’t have to totally deny myself anything…including fast food and alcohol…I just have to plan for it.

11.  It’s surprising how burning many calories working out each week will allow you to eat more calories and still lose weight.

12.  I know 4,200 calories sounds like a lot to have to burn, but did you know if you clean your house all in one day you will burn many, many, many calories?  And then…you will get to have wine after cleaning!

13.  Did I say I was worried about international events and the economy?

14.  Did I mention that I don’t want to be forced to put mercury-laden “green” light bulbs in my house?

15.  Well I am and I don’t.

16.  Did anyone notice that unemployment is higher than it’s been in more than two decades?  I’m just sayin’….does it make sense to throw good money after bad vs. letting the economy correct itself like it’s supposed to?

That is all.

That’s good anyway.  Just sitting here watching the Congress unravel and the government take over the means of production for autos, and also take control of our financial industry.

I find myself drinking more these days……

On the upside, we’ve got beautiful weather this week and The Boy will soon be considered a sophomore and on his way to Debate camp mid-June.

P.S.  I don’t wanna drive a crappy small car that’s WAY expensive and has no acceleration that puts me at MUCH greater risk of injury in an accident.  DO….NOT…..WANNA!!!!!

With my circle of women from the family.  Sisters, aunts, cousins, cousins’ wives.  It was…awesome.

Anyway, when I got back I heard there was Swine Flu in Texas.  My dad lives in south Texas.  Not good.  But I talked to him today and he and the entire step-family down there are taking precautions and being careful.  So I will keep my fingers crossed.  In the mean time, The Boy’s district has cancelled all extracirricular activities through the middle of May and an elementary school about 12 miles away is closed through May 7th due to three cases.  Nice.

I have to admit as addicted as I am to scouring political sites from all party affiliations, it was really nice to not have news and the only T.V. we watched was the Bio channel.  Otherwise it was music, drinking and dancing Thursday through Sunday of last week.

And then…when I get home…I come back to:

1.  Worldwide swine flu outbreak.

2.  North Korea making more threats.

3.  A budget approved by Congress that…let’s just say….astronomically increases the deficit dems complained about during the last election.  Not happy about that but I’m sure you could have guessed that without me saying it.

4.  More than $600,000 added to the deficit with a dumb-ass AF One flyover and a wasted trip to St. Louis just for a press op prior to the press conference tonight.

Glad I had the time away, but worried about the flu, North Korea, the quadrupled deficit and the rampant spending by the White House for photo ops.

But….I am being good.  No personal attacks.  Just disappointment over irresponsible spending.

Time to finish drink four.  Trying to wean myself slowly from the all day/all night drinking that ensues on girls’ weekend.

But…I will work out for an hour and a half tomorrow. At least I’m functional…..

1.  Smart move, Holder. You don’t wanna open that can of worms.  Just leave it alone.

2.  Our Homeland Security Secretary has absolutely no clue.

3.  CNN anchors and others have no class.  That’s all I’m gonna say about their behavior yesterday and the days leading up to it.  It’s hard, but that’s as far as I will go since I try not to make personal attacks.  But clearly they went WAY too far in their negative coverage and comments.

4.  Nancy Pelosi.  There are no words other than unkind ones so I will just let you go read and and decide for yourself.

5.  Don’t Tread On Me.

6.  The Boy is in a huge tournament this weekend which will determine if he goes to nationals for debate CX.

7.  I hope he does well, and it will be HUGE if he qualifies considering the stiff compeition and seasoned varsity players he will be up against.

8.  I’m glad Obama doesn’t see the need to mess with our gun control laws…for now.

9.  I am proud of the nonviolent, family oriented peaceful protests yesterday.  No flash mobs.  Just concerned citizens and parents.

10.  I am watching a DVR’d  Locked Up Abroad.  That show scares the hell out of me and makes me never want to leave my house again.

That is all.

I mean, really….Jiffy Pop butter popcorn.  Could there BE anything better?  Lately The Boy has become an expert at the popping of the Jiffy Pop….much to the chagrin of my waistline.  Excuse me while I go make sure he doesn’t eat all of it before I get a chance to have some more.

P.S.  Yes, it’s late.  And yes, we are still up while The Spouse is away.  And yes, I will be calling in for The Boy so he can skip the half-day school bus evacuation training tomorrow which he already took last year.  If there are no academics involved, I’m actually okay with sanctioned skipping.  But ONLY then (unless a trip to Ireland is involved, in which case there are actually educational components involved which can {and have} been used in later projects.

Looking over my past few (okay, several) posts, it appears I have had only one subject to post on.  In an effort to get back to my roots of random posts on random subjects, I have a list which contains (mostly) nonpolitical thoughts.  I think I can speak for all of us when I say this is probably a good thing.

1.  I have been doing laundry since eight o’clock.

2.  I am on my fifth load, and it is only 11 o’clock.

3.  I….have discovered…THE SPEED CYCLE!!!

4.  If you are like me, and recently purchased a front loading washer (yes I know…hard to believe…I did the right thing for the environment) you know that they add much time to your laundry duties.

5.  However…if you have a load of let’s say…jeans….that have been worn but have no apparant stains….you can use….THE SPEED CYCLE!

6.  Which….more than 30 minutes shorter…hello?!

7.  So I am happily awaiting my fifth load out of the washer while getting ready to mix my fourth drink.

8.  Could life BE any better?

9.  I have not worked since The Boy was in the middle of 2nd grade.

10.  SINCE THE MIDDLE OF SECOND GRADE!

11.  He is now well into his 9th grade year.

12.  Could it be possible that I have not worked for seven years, while I was (mostly) gainfully employed for the 22 years prior and now qualify for full social security benefits?

13.  Yup.  I guess I’m officially a “stay-at-home” or whatever….

14.  But…in the past seven years I’ve been to London and Ireland and Argentina (three times)..and we’ve taken trips back home to WI and to D.C. and had loads of family time.

15.  And…I’ve created some beautiful drapes, which…I am NOT Martha Steward but I discovered having custom windows there’s a downside which requires sweat equity if you want to have cool drapes.

16.  So I did that.  Just two more rooms to go.

17.  I’m so glad I’m not working because really we only have three more years with The Boy before college (unless he grauates early which is a strong possiblity).

18.  Speaking of The Boy….he has decided that the thing we need to do is get rid of all regulations and let businesses fail where they may and that although it will be rough for a couple years we will all come out of it for the better with better products and services and a true free market economy.

19.  Yup….it appears he leans Libertarian.

20.  But…he’s for McCain because “He stood up to torture.”

21.  As you know by know, I can’t argue with that.

22.  That’s it for politics…that wasn’t so bad, was it?

23.  Damn…the washer just dinged.  Time to switch the last load and make the last drink.

24.  Peace out.

P.S.  The Boy got a trophy at last weekend’s debate tournament.  WAY cool.

Me:  “It’s time for bed.”

The Boy:  “I’m going to bed at one.”

Me:  “Well….what are you doing?”

The Boy:  “Not being tired.”

Okay…I admit it…I caved.  I’ve had a cold for a week and I cleaned the whole house today topped off by a trip to the store for weekly groceries.

All I could think to myself was – “Damn, I wish I could say that.”

Hopefully he’ll go to bed when he says he will.  As for me…I’m too tired to make an issue out of it.

Goodnight.

The Boy picked up his preliminary schedule last week during orientation, and I couldn’t believe what was printed on the page.

Get this….HE HAS ONLY FOUR CLASSES PER SEMESTER! That’s right….the bell will ring for only four classes each semester in high school (each class is about an hour and a half, plus lunch). Which means…..his higher level math class? Doesn’t happen until second semester. P.E.? Only half of the second semester – the other half is Health. And the list goes on. It seems the only class he attends for the whole year is his Gifted English/Reading/World Geo combo.

Since when did they move to this college-esque type of schedule? What happened to having P.E. all year instead of just half of a semester? I remember having at least six classes all year, every year. And I only got out of P.E. because I was on the Varsity Pom-Pon squad. Hey…waving those poms around and doing all those routines is VERY hard work! Oh, shut up. It IS.

Geez…talk about college prep. And more pressure to do well since most classes only last for one semester….nowhere near enough time to make up for very many bad grades.

Textbook pick-up is tomorrow. School starts on Monday. And The Boy seems completely unphased by the prospect of attending his first day of high school.

I, however…am a nervous wreck. I think I need a drink.

I’ve been reading to The Boy since he came home from the hospital (well…after I got off the meds …so let’s say since about week three). A book a night when he was little. Hey…those kids’ books can be quite fun…the first ten times. Like all kids, he had his favorites and by age 15 mo. could go and get whichever one I said was okay for that night.  And he chastised me if I skipped sentences, paragraphs, or pages.

Anyway…we read. Around here. A lot. I don’t know if there’s a correlation, but by the 5th grade The Boy was reading at the sophomore in college (or grade 14) level……at age 10 (he turned 11 the summer after 5th grade).

So…we’ve read to him. We’ve read the paper and had it around since he was little. The comics and weather used to be “his” section. We still all read the paper. And a news magazine or two which he picks up daily when he tries to procrastinate on his Algebra homework. I look the other way because really….how can I yell at him for catching up on the news and maybe also picking up the sports section to check on the hockey playoffs? No way.

And every school night I try to sit in his room with him and read a little bit. Because if you don’t show your kids that reading matters and it can actually be fun….then they will perceive it as “work” and do anything they can not to do it. Lately he’s been into Terry Pratchett. That guy can write. And to be honest, it can be quite difficult to work my way around his phraseology after a few glasses of wine, but we try….

Anyway, tonight…horror….HE FORGOT “WYRD SISTERS“ IN HIS LOCKER!! And so…being the diligent parent that I am…I read the headlines on the news site of my choice. Tonight we learned:

1. Electric shock can, indeed burn your clothes off.

2. One lawmaker Rhode Island wants gays to have the right to divorce there, even though they are not allowed to be married there. Man, he must really have issues. We both thought, “Who cares?”

3. You can receive serious prison time for switching candy for vitamins, but if you run over and kill a plice officer you might have to pay a small fine and get a few points taken off your license. At least…that’s the way The Boy summarized tonight’s news.

God, I hope he remembers the book tomorrow…..although, the news was an “interesting” change for a night.

Another example of global warming this week in Texas for you.  Brrrrrr!  The Boy asked me to go outside and have a snowball fight with him…but what he should have said was “Hey, can you come out and be a target?”  He had stockpiled a ton of pre-made snowballs in the bed of the pickup truck and was standing there behind the cab ready to fire at me as I walked out the door.

I didn’t stay out there very long.  Sneaky kid.  I have to ask…wasn’t Christmas like almost three months ago?  What gives with all this snow in March?  We moved here to get away from storms like this.

But The Boy is having a blast, so it’s not all bad.  It’s rare he gets enough snow to even make a snow ball.  He’ll just have to find another target.