Your Permanent Record

So I've been MIA of late because anytime I was in front of my computer I was trying to avoid writing my report cards, so obviously I was distracted by Spider solitare and that damn refrigerator that really needed to be cleaned. Conferences start tomorrow, so this week will be quite busy as well. But seeing as I've scheduled all of those, there's really no avoiding the work that will happen as a result. Damn!

But play catch up with me now on what the hell else has been happening...

Thanksgiving morning I met lovely Manoa Missy for a rousing breakfast. First people in the place. And yes Dale, when you go to breakfast early, you actually do beat the crowd (except at the Chinese place). Later, I went with my dad out on some errands. See, my dad tends to get a little fanatical about things. Back in the younger years it was cars, now it is firewood. But he has to get it for free. He was working at Lowes prior to the back problems, and learned where they dispose of wood. My mom refuses to take him to get this, but I took him where I found myself looking through a dumpster for this wood. We filled up about a third of the truck with this stuff. My dad was thrilled. So Friday, he sent about an hour cutting up wood, and he just couldn’t have been happier. Meanwhile, I’ve become a dumpster diver. So the next time you are at our cabin and see all the lovely wood next to the stove, you’ll know how it got there. The only price was my pride…

After that, things improved. The weather was still gorgeous yesterday, so I went to the beach later with Jodi and the dogs. Charlie (my parents’ dog) caught and killed a gopher and then proceeded to bring it to me and drop it at my feet where I watched the poor thing twitch for a few seconds and then die. Happy Thanksgiving!! He was quite proud and I was quite disgusted, so we (ok, she) quickly buried it and kept on walking.

I did receive a classic Brad invite to dinner last week. He said he was making cheeseburgers for he and Zach since Erika wasn't going to be home. I said I'd bring a salad and fries. I got an email from him that afternoon and he needed me to bring pretty much everything but the meat. Lucky for him they were quite good burgers. This was followed by getting my ass kicked by Zach in xBox, and a hotly contested backgammon match with Brad. I would like to say I let Zach win, but given that I would never throw a game (and I think you all know that), I have to admit I just got schooled. I can only improve though. We played a Star Wars game and my score was -2. I didn't kill any bad guys and killed 2 good guys. Oops.

And last week I got to experience a kid having a two hour crying fit. I subbed for the morning teacher, and she got a new student fresh from Mexico. Not a word of English, and he became frantic and hid in the girls bathroom once his mom left. And I'm not talking silent tears here. Sobs and pleas for me to call his mother. And vows that he will not be coming back tomorrow. All before 8:15. It was quite a morning. It finally passed when I sat down with him and we colored a picture together during the recess. After that he was fine. Thank. God. And we got to listen to Peter and the Wolf which I've always liked, so that made things better. Nothing like 5 year olds listening to classical music...

This little boy in Luis did the funniest thing the other day. There is a boy in our class named Randy who is the quietest kid--never says boo to anyone. Luis started saying his name rolling the r and kind of growling at the end with this funny twist of his head. It was like he was saying Zorro, or someone tremendously exciting. I couldn't stop laughing. Still makes me laugh now. This is also the kid that during the class picture I told everyone to smile and show their teeth. He heard the teeth part, but not the smile. He is actually kind of snarling in the pic. Its quite a photo...

Thanks for catching up with me...soon I'll tell you about my weekend of Hooters and Burns. Not to be confused with Burns' Hooters.