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.

I had the misfortune of picking up the tummy bug that's been going around...how come these things always happen to me on my days off from work?

I am just glad that the children don't have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was a quiet day off of work. Did housework , went grocery shopping , cooked up a big dinner , watched a movie with the kids, etc. Baked brownies. Let Bill drive me down to town, as he has been one of the teachers at a soccer camp for little kids all week long.

Speaking of town, they have recently announced a couple more housing developments. One is for 8,000 new houses. The other is 10,000 new houses. That just boggles my mind. I don't know how they will be able to keep up with that sort of demand on water and sewer services, nor the greater traffic on the roads...this quiet little farming town will be changed forever by an additional 18,000 houses.

That's more houses than people who currently live here.