Just got home from work...lovely cloudless night for a nice change. The big full moon shone down, was gorgeous.

Read The Great Gatsby over the weekend, a classic I have never read before. The back of the book said it was the novel of Jazz age America, but I think it is a story that can be told of any time and any place where people have too much time and too much money, and not enough caring about other people (other than as celebrities, of course). Was a beautifully written little novel.

Kids are back in school. I have a long list of school supplies to go purchase tomorrow. I will try to get everything at Target, but might have to hunt around for a spiral notebook of graph paper for Bill's math classes...he has pre-calculus and also trigonometry, both for all year...as far as that goes, he can probably also use graph paper for chemistry...

Must force myself to pay bills soon, I always find that to be so dreary...but at least I have a four day weekend coming up.

The soccer game on Saturday was fun. The jv teams tied 1-1 and were very evenly matched. It had stormed heavily all night, (in fact, the thunder kept me awake most of that night) and the field was very wet. At one point Bill made a slide tackle and slid along the ground on his butt, causing a wake of water. He looked like he was on a slip-n-slide!!!!! Hilarious!!!

Today was a day devoted to running errands and doing housework...nonetheless snuck in a bit of watching the Olympics (got to see part of the women's pentathelon, which was very cool) and started reading the novel Snow Falling on Cedars , a seering work about racism, which follows my reading The Secret Life of Bees, another seering and excellent novel about racism...

Rulon Gardner earned another Olympic medal, a bronze in Greco-Roman wrestling. Steven and Bill were thrilled for him. and I think they will always remember how kind he was to the young ones when we took the tour of the Olympic Training center in Colorado Springs.

Ran all over the place this evening. Took Steven to his soccer practice, then came home to get Bill and take him to the football game , then picked up Steven and brought him home, then went back to town to get Bill and some pizza ...this on top of running errands today like going to the post office, getting Steven's band book, and buying cheese bread at the bakery  (and Bill finished off the whole loaf!!!!!!!!!)

Tomorrow will feature a soccer game down the road at Lincoln High School, and grocery shopping. It's supposed to rain, so I don't think I'll be able to get much done in the garden...

Got bit by a flea at work again tonight. The new hire who keeps bringing them in has got to go.  It is filthy, and a hospital does not need filthy workers. And the rest of us don't need to be bitten at work!!!!!!!!!Disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a more cheerful note, the train tickets to Chicago came today. I also ordered tickets to a good jazz concert  (Wynton Marsalis and the Rockefeller center Jazz Orchestra) in Ann Arbor next month, and to the Oslo Philharmonic next spring, when they come to Ann Arbor and those should be coming soon.

Dan went to the doctor this morning. They did not find anything in his MRI, but some of his blood tests came back odd, so they are testing his blood again...I just hope they find out what is making his head hurt, though he hasn't had any bad headaches since they started treating his blood pressure...

Time for chocolate!!!!! Need some after those fleas at work!!!!

Slept like a rock last night, needless to say. Cleaned the house, then went to work.

The soccer field is really coming along. When Bill was a freshman it was only a fenced in soccer field. That first season the parents got together their money and building skills and put together a very nice two story shed. It is for storage, and they use the balcony to film the games. It also displays the electric scoreboard. The second season they added little covered benches so the players can sit out of the rain and snow. They also have shelves and lots of hooks so that there is plenty of storage for gear bags and hoodies. This year they added a concessions building, which is very nice.  The boys play soccer in the fall, the girls in the spring...

Bill played well, got an assist, and did his usual of knocking opponents flying...he's on junior varsity again ths year, along with nearly all of the other juniors. That group was j.v. as freshmen...last year they were j.v. as sophomores...this year the coach made the seniors and sophomores the varsity team, and the poor juniors get to be j.v. one more year. I think its because the coach's son is a junior, and he is bending over backwards to not show favoritism to his own child. Last year the j.v. team had a better record than the varsity team, and they looked a lot better yesterday...

Should be a busy weekend. Friday is the home football opener, and I know the kids will want to go. Saturday Bill has a soccer game at Lincoln High School...and I really want to find time and weather to weed the garden...and plant some tulip bulbs for the squirrels to eat.

 

Here is a message  I sent out to some friends earlier today:

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Oh, what a day...its 5PM here now, and my day started yesterday morning...

Got up yesterday and worked second shift...came home after midnight, picked up Californiababy and took him to University Hospital for his MRI appointment at 2AM (there is so much demand they schedule them 24-7)...came home and got the kids ready for the first day of school (their bus comes before 7AM)...got a couple of hours sleep, but it was a half day and my younger son got home all too soon...then we drove to town because my older son had a soccer game after school...then brought the kids home after the game...ran some errands (bought school supplies, etc.)...now have a few minutes before running younger son to his soccer practice...then can finally come home and make dinner, then sleep....

thank God they let me have the day off from work...

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Home now, safe and sound. Dinner is in the oven, Steven is in one shower, Dan in the other. After dinner I can have my shower, then blessed sleep.  :)

 Today is going to be a very long day...

I am working second shift. I will get home around 12:30AM, then turn around and take Dan into Ann Arbor for his MRI, which is scheduled for 2AM. We will be there who knows how long. At some point I will have to get home and make sure the kids get on the school bus for the first day of school. The bus comes before 7AM. If Dan was not able to come home with me, at that point I will go back and get him. I can try to get a couple of hours sleep then, but its a half day of school, and Steven will be home on the bus sometime in the morning. I then immedicately must get himself and me (and Dan if he is awake enough) into the Jeep and head down into town to see Bill's soccer game which is right after school, then bring him home after the game. By the time the game is over, it would be about time to get ready for work...

I have requested tomorrow off from work, as I do not function on a couple of hours of sleep, and I should not be making iv's for real live human patients, but the supervisors have not yet approved it. I will call in sick if need be, as I do not want to be making any errors that can hurt a patient, and that is possible with the serious lack of sleep...

I suppose after getting home from the soccer game,  I will collapse...

We are continuing to take great joy in watching the Olympics.  I am especially enjoying things like the women's shot-put from ancient Olympia, and watching the women's marathon today, as it was run along the ancient route from Marathon to Athens.

Last night the Tigers game was a lot of fun. It was a high scoring game that went into extra innings, with the Tigers winning. For once they did not slip their fans one of these: . We sat in an odd area of the stadium, like nothing I have seen before...it was a small area behind the regular seats of the main bowl, tucked underneath the luxery boxes. It was perhaps ten rows deep, and ran quite a ways along the stadium. Rather than having stadium seats, they had oversized and comfortably padded large wooden lawn chairs, and litttle wooden tables for you to put your food and pop on. People can (and do) move around the furniture as required by their group. It was very relaxing, and happy there. It was like watching a baseball game from a back yard deck, or while attending a picnic. And the chairs were infinately more comfortable than the usual stadium seats.

In addition, Ticketmaster had sent us a coupon for a free bobblehead when they sent us our tickets, and they were giving away backpacks to all of the kids Steven was pretty happy to get those.. They also had a very nice foreworks show after the game. All in all, it was a good experience, and Stevie especially seemed to have a wonderful time.

Before the game we ate dinner in Greektown, at Hellas restaurant. The food was good, and we enjoyed the flaming cheese. It is a short walk to both Comerica Park and Ford Field fron Greektown, so that is where we parked.

Bill's high school soccer season begins tomorrow, and the first day of school is Tuesday. It will be a half day...and there will be a soccer game right after school at 11AM...

A cold and rainy day, wore a turtleneck today, it was so chilly. Took the kids out to breakfast, then run a multitude of errands, including buying train tickets for our weekend in Chicago.

Bill is off now for a soccer scrimmage in the rain and cold. I was so glad Dan volunteered to take him! I really don't like getting soaking wet in a cold rain!

Tomorrow, for our baseball game, it will be cold, but it is not supposed to be raining.

Bill's ring worm is nearly invivible now. I am so glad it is getting better!

Watched the movie Chicago last night. The singing and dancing were great -- I didn't have any idea that Richard Gere, Rene Zelwenger, and Catherine Zeta-Jones were capable of that (though I suspected Quenn Latifah was, coming from a more musical background). But the satiric message of the movie -- that with a bit of celebrity and a slick lawyer you can literally get away with murder -- left me cold.

Took the dog out for his bed time "business" a little while ago, and the back yard was filled with fireflies, and the singing of crickets and tree frogs. Very very nice.

We've been watching the Olympics as much as we can. Steven gets very happy and excited whenever they mention the US training center in Colorado Springs. We have been having fun watching the sorts of sports you rarely get a chance to watch, such as the women's shot-put (from the ancient ruins at Olympia itself), the women's long distance bike rode race, and equestrian dressage.

They sprayed for fleas at work again tonight. I fear that it is a helpless battle until the person who brings them in is identified, and actions are taken to deflea the person, that person's home and car, and that person's poor pets.

This is the last full week the kids have off from school. I will miss them when they are back in school. We will be going to a Detroit Tigers game this Saturday and hopefully having dinner in Greektown in Detroit, to celebrate the last "free weekend"...and we've never had a chance, in this rainy summer, to set off those Roman candles from Boomland, either...hopefully the weather will cooperate with us!!!!!!!!!!!

One breakfast and a can of diet Coke later, and I am feeling much more human and much less grouchy than I did earlier this morning. Ah, the miracle of caffeine.

All of the rain this summer has done wonderful things for wildflowers. I have never seen so many in my life. The black eyed susans are blooming everywhere right now...very pretty. Our garden is filled with tiger lillies and tall perenniel phlox. The blooms smell so sweet, the odor from the garden fills our whole house whenever it is warm enough to open up the windows.

Busy weekend. had to run a lot of errands... Bill had a soccer scrimmage -- current players against an alumni team. The alumni team spanked the current players, winning by something like six goals. The alumni guys were yelling that they needed oxygen and ben gay, but they played very well. Afterwards was a soccer team meeting and pot luck picnic. Our contribution was a cheesecake, which went quickly.

The new cream is working well on his ringworm. I hope it gets killed before I get it.

Steven will start practices for his travel team this week. Dan signed him up again without telling me, though I will probably be the one to have to haul him all over the place for his weekend games. Whoever invented travel soccer for little kids should be executed. Why does a preteen need to travel an hour or more away in each direction to play soccer when they have a perfectly good in-house league that plays all of its games right here in town? Its ludicrous...and costs a lot more to sign up, too -- not to mention all of the driving time... If Dan had to take Steven to all of the road games himself, I am willing to bet that he would not sign him up...I am not ashamed to admit that I often will take a nap in the car and miss half the game anyway.  Especially if it is pouring rain, sleeting, or snowing, like it sometimes does during the fall season.

I am planning on getting away for my birthday weekend in October. Going to Chicago...I can only turn forty once, so might as do it in a place I like, with people I enjoy being with.  I got a room in my favorite hotel, now have to work on getting train tickets.

Have been staying up late watching dvd's of some mini-series the last few nights, which accounts for my grouchiness today (I need more sleep). We are doing a group read at one of my book discussion boards of the science fiction classic Dune so I watched the Dune miniseries, and last night began watching the Children of Dune miniseries. For tv they were well done, and the special effects were better than what I was expecting. Not up to today's CGI feature films, but good enough considering what a tight budget they would have had to work with.

Took Bill into school today, got him his electives...he will have a gym class for half the year, and an architecture class for half the year...then we went out for lunch, then I got to take him to the doctor for the ringworm infection on his face, then took him to the high school for soccer practice (I have to go and pick him up in a few minutes).

Tomorrow he has a soccer scrimmage in the afternoon, then there will be a pot luck soccer party...hopefully the weather will cooperate, its been pretty chilly lately...

 

Long day today. Took the kids into their schools this morning for registration.

 Bill's schedule, for once, was OK. The other two years he has been in high school,  half of his initial schedule said "see counselor". This year he has all of his core classes (English 11A, precalculus, chemistry, American history, trigonometry, and French III) but he didn't have any electives listed. I can take care of that on Friday for junior counseling day. I told him I was putting my foot down and insisted that he will sign up for something fun like art or gym.  He got his picture taken (had to pay a bit extra for them to touch up the pictures so the ringworm and wrestling scabs don't show), we picked up the forms for him to park his truck and carry his cell phone, we ordered a red soccer hoodie with his name emboidered on it, prepaid for at least a couple of months worth of lunches and/or milk, paid his class fee (in leiu of participating in fundraisers), and ordered his homecoming hoodie.

Steven's classes were all fine, and we prepaid for his yearbook and for food/beverages...

At work they finally sprayed for the fleas tonight. We all devoutly hope they have all been killed!!!

One of the guys who works up in the kitchen was arrested for helping to murder an entire family, including a little baby, last year in Ypsilanti. It was some sort of robbery drug related thing. I am very glad I did not know said person.

They still have not caught the peeping tom, but they have changed the air grills in the bathroom doors so you cannot look through them any more.

Movies recently watched:

Confessions of a Teen Aged Drama Queen  I thought it would be more all-ages friendly, like The Princess Diaries, but this one is definately meant for tweens and young teens. The big moral of the story is "don't lie". The school production cracked me up. I don't think there are many schools out there that can afford to put on a musical like that, worthy of at least off-Broadway, if not Broadway itself...

I am about halfway through Nicholas Spark's novel The Notebook and a couple of passages have really gotten my attention.

The first is the inner thoughts of a woman named Allie, thinking of her fiance, Lon.

Quote: But there was something else that made her want to wait, and it had to do with Lon himself. He was driven in his work, and it always commanded most of his attention. Work came first, and for him there was no time for poems and wasted evenings and rocking on porches. She knew this was why he was successful, and part of her respected him for that. But she also sensed that it wasn't enough. She wanted something else, something different, something more. Passion and romance, perhaps, or maybe quiet conversations in candlelit rooms, or perhaps something as simple as not being second.

You start out being second, but things change over the years. You and your husband join a church or a social club, and he discovers all of the potential business connections there. You slide down to third. Children arrive, and you slide down to fourth...fifth...Hobbies come and you slide down some more until eventually you are no more than an afterthought, and sometimes, in the stillness and the darkness of the middle of the night, only the tears trickling down your cheeks give you the evidence that you still exist...

After being unwell all weekend, I am feeling a little better today, though, of course, it is a workday. Have to take the kids in for school registration this week -- the summer has been much too short!!  Next summer's will feel even shorter, I am sure, with Bill going off to Europe for a class trip for a couple of weeks...

A couple of movies I watched over the weekend:

Hidalgo was the story of a cowboy and his mustang (the horse's name is Hidalgo) who find themselves competing in a 3000 mile long endurance race through the Middle East. Somehow this movie just didn't do it for me. It was a gorgeous historical piece in a stunning setting, but the movie just lacked soemthing, and I can't even put my finger on what...but Viggo is always worth watching.

 

X-Men 1.5 was a pretty good comic book adaptation. The last three comic book adaptations I have seen (this movie, Spiderman,  and Daredevil ) have all been pretty good, so I am starting to wonder why I assume most of this sort of movie are poorly done? Perhaps because of all of those awful Batman  and Superman  sequels? Anyway, this movie was well done, with good performances in particular from Patrick Steward (of course) and the guy who played Wolverine. And a plot that did make sense, decent special effects...

13 Going on 30 was a delight. Very very cute. Jennifer Garner was completely charming, and is a gifted comedienne. Told the story of a girl whose birthday wishes come true, and that, of course, what you wish for might not be all that good of a thing.