A First

Tonight Alex will be attending his FIRST rock concert! I'm completely relaxed and calm about this milestone in his life because he is going with....his dad and his uncle!

Niece Holly got A.P. and U.T. tickets for this concert back in the spring. They were gifts for Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day. She also got a ticket for herself. Not too long after getting these tickets she decided that she may not want to go and asked Ted if he wanted to buy her ticket. He, of course, jumped at the chance. Recently A.P. was talking to Alex and commented that she might be interested in selling her ticket to him for the concert. Naturally he said YES!

So Alex will be going to his first concert tonight and I'm really happy for him.

I can remember going to my first concert. It was actually with Ted and happened to be our FIRST date on my 19th birthday, July 22, 1977. Ted had been to concerts before, but I hadn't and was SO naive! We went to the old Coliseum near Cleveland (although it was only a few years old at the time, it's now no longer there and the Cavs moved to downtown Cleveland). While we were waiting for the opening band to come onstage we were talking a little and I was taking it all in.

*Sniff* *Sniff* "What's that smell?" I said to Ted. "It smells like burnt pork chops."

He said, "No, it's not burnt pork chops," as he tried to hide his laughter.

"That's what it smells like," I said.

"It's pot," he whispered.

"What?" I said.

"Marijuana," he said again.

Loudly (naturally) I said, "MARIJUANA??"

He quietly said, "yes."

We've laughed about that SO many times since then.

By the way, we saw Climax Blues Band and Bad Company and I had a great time.

Tonight Alex, Ted, and Tim are going to Blossom Music Center, near Cleveland, to see Rush. I know that they'll have a great time too.

Alex is a big AC/DC fan, but he'll really like Rush tonight.

(But he HAS to go to school tomorrow!)

What a Kid!

The other evening Ted and I went out to our local Chinese restaurant for dinner. They always have flavored ice cream, but that night's flavor was blueberry, and we're NOT blueberry lovers. We decided to go to the park for ice cream...which means...

seeing the "boy" at work! We have NEVER in three summers of his working there, visited him at work. We really weren't sure of the kind of reaction that we would receive, but it was great. He didn't go off and hide. He didn't get all goofy and embarrassed. He just grinned and started talking to us. It was so cool to have your teenage son acknowledge you IN PUBLIC!

It was pretty obvious that the women (not the teenage girls) that work there just love him. One of them asked him if we were his parents, and then said that he should introduce us to her. He simply said, "Parents....Boss. Boss....Parents." Then we all laughed. She said that he invited her to our house to use the pool, but then wouldn't tell her where we lived. It just so happened that that day he didn't have time to eat lunch at school (locker issue during his 25 minute lunch period) and the ladies that work the grill at the park fixed him up. They made him a steak sandwich and he had some other stuff too.

It was nice to see him interacting with his co-workers, and we were thrilled that he didn't seem embarrassed to have his parents visiting him at work.

What a kid!

Names

My parents named me "Cynthia" and I've never liked that name. Fortunately they called me "Cindy" and that was acceptable. At the end of my 8th grade year I went through an identity crisis and decided to change it to "Cindi" and filled out forms for the following school year with the new spelling. Well, quite frankly, I got over the identity thing and sort of forgot about it until I went back to school in the fall and saw things that I had filled out using "Cindi."

Okay, it's a done deal then. I'll be "Cindi" from now on.

In looking for the baby picture that I needed for school today, I found a few in a small brag book type album. When I took out the ones that were marked "2 months old" and turned them over, I was surprised. My name was on the back, BUT it was spelled differently.

Not Cindy.

Not Cindi.

Not Cynthia (thank goodness).

But Cyndie.

Cyndie.

Cyndie.

I like it. I like it a lot. I like it MUCH better than Cynthia. I like it a lot better than Cindy. And I even like it better than Cindi.

I wish I would have known about this spelling as a child....I would have kept it.

I wonder if it's too late to change the spelling of my name again?

What do you think?

Thank You!

At school we have three BIG committees, and each of us is on one. Each committee has a variety of responsibilities, and one of the responsibilities for one of the committees (I'll call it Kelly's committee since she is the one who is taking charge of this project) is staff "stuff." Since school began last Monday, it has been announced that we had ONE WEEK to bring in a baby picture of ourselves and turn it in to her. Yes, we will get the picture back. It's due by TOMORROW.

Procrastinator that I am, this morning, I finally went looking for the picture. At our old house I would have known exactly where to go. Top drawer of my nightstand in a little small photo album that I snitched from somewhere YEARS ago. Sounds like a good place to start, doesn't it? So I went there...and couldn't see it anywhere. Okay, it had to be in there SOMEWHERE.

I took the drawer out and put it on the bed. I started looking all through the drawer and eventually took everything out of the drawer and.....CLEANED IT OUT! Unfortunately the album wasn't in there though. HOWEVER, I had cleaned out a drawer in my nightstand, hallelujah!

After I put that drawer away, I pulled out the second drawer and laid it on the bed and did the same thing. There was stuff in there that didn't belong in there, so I put that stuff where it belonged. Heck the drawer is only about a third full now...because I CLEANED IT OUT TOO! But still, no photo album.

Okay, let's try the THIRD drawer, sigh. I've only been in that drawer twice in the last year and a half, so I knew it wasn't messy, and didn't pull it all the way out. I did, however, move a couple of things and YES!!!!! saw the photo album!

As I looked through it, it made me smile. I was cute when I was a baby, hahaha....and I had a LOT of dark hair. Even my younger brother was cute as a newborn. Two of my cousins were in there too, and although they were cute, they weren't as cute as I was! Because my cousins were in there, I'm wondering if my Grandma had given me the photo album at some point in time.

Anyway, I have a picture and I want to thank KELLY and her committee for the OPPORTUNITY to clean out my nightstand drawers! What a feeling of accomplishment!

Now I'm just anxious to see what they'll do with the pictures....it will probably be one of those things where you match up a baby picture with an adult picture. Guess we'll find out soon!

College Books

Joey is starting his third year of college on Monday. He bought his books yesterday, mostly used books. He paid almost $500 (of my money) for these books. The sad part is that most of his instructors will rarely use the books.

FIVE HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS. FOR BOOKS.

I can remember my junior year in college and buying books for the spring quarter. It was the first time that I'd ever spent $100 on books. I was beside myself the whole way home for spring break. I tried to tell myself that it was "okay" because after all they were education books and I would be using them for reference once I got a teaching job. Yeah, right.

Those books were never opened after that quarter and are somewhere in my parents' basement collecting dead spiders, dust, and grime.This precious little boy (with his dad hiding behind him) is spending his inheritance...at the college bookstore. Maybe it's time to have that little talk with him where I tell him that his goal in life is to support his parents in their old age.

Nah, I'll let him enjoy life a little longer.

Working

Well, I'm trying to get back into the groove and it's not real easy. I wouldn't mind working the 10:00 am to 6:00 pm shift, in case anybody's asking.

Mornings are sort of rough. I'm handling it okay, but it's still a challenge. I don't like going to bed at 10 pm, but I know that I need to at least try so that I can function in the morning.

Once I'm at school, it's not all that bad. It's almost kind of nice to be back with other people. During the summer I tend to be a real "homebody" and don't interact with many people besides my immediate family. At school we tend to take a few days to get all caught up with each other and that's always fun.

We have a new superintendent this year. Most people from our building know him, as he did a few inservices for us several years ago. He's FULL of energy and vitality and is just what we need. At our opening breakfast on Monday morning, he had us all laughing, and that was so very nice. He also did a great job of motivating us for the upcoming school year. He's been extremely visible throughout the district too. And of course, one of the most IMPORTANT things he did for the teachers was to say that we can wear JEANS on paydays as long as we wear a shirt with the district colors! I'll have to get a few brown and orange shirts, but I definitely don't mind! Wearing jeans can bring up morale more than anything, except a raise of course!

Sunday night, before going back on Monday morning, was very typical for me. I couldn't sleep. At 11:20 pm, I got up, went to the den and got online to check out the state teachers retirement website. I want to know exactly how many years I have in and when I will be able to retire. I also need to find out about the possibility of buying some years back.

Because I taught for a while, then quit and took my money out of the retirement system, then decided to go back to teaching, I no longer have some years of credit. From what I understand, I can buy them back, but I need to find out a few things, like how much it will cost me! If it's worth it, then it's something I may consider. My biggest concern is insurance after I retire. I need to know how expensive that will be. After I got home on Monday, I called the retirement system to change my address and then asked about buying back years. The woman said that she would send me forms to fill out. They came in the mail yesterday but I haven't gotten into them yet. Filling out the forms is just the first of several steps in finding out how much it will cost to buy those years back. It's just a thought for now, but we'll see how it goes.

Okay, enough of this school stuff for now...it's the WEEKEND!!

Back to Work

Yep...life has come to a screeching halt. I went back to work yesterday, and my time is no longer my own. We had meetings all day yesterday, and a work day today. Open House is tonight, then tomorrow is professional development. On Thursday, the kids show up.

I'm not a morning person, and it can take me a while to roll out of bed. There are many mornings that I'm awake by 8:00 or so, but just can't seem to get out of bed until 11. And then there are the days that I can't even seem to get out of the bedroom until noon.

For the past two mornings, I've been out on the road by 7:40. And I even get the bed made before I leave. I usually wake up to the radio instead of the alarm, because it's a lot smoother to hear music or talk in the morning than a sudden BLARE of an ANNOYING BUZZ. However our local radio station doesn't come in too well these days, so I found a different nearby station that plays country music.

Yesterday I awoke with Kenny Chesney, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... can life get any better? He was gently singing in my ear... then I heard the famous words, "She thinks my tractor's sexy" and Ted made a comment. It was something to do with Kenny's sexual preferences. That made me mad. Why is it that so many males think he is gay? And as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't make any difference if he is. He's still easy on the eyes. That smile, the voice, that Tennessee accent, those rippling muscles, the attitude that he projects...oh yeah, I'm a Kenny Chesney fan alright.

After his song was over, I just hit the snooze button. I didn't need to hear anything else for the next 9 minutes...just let me lie and dream about Kenny.

That's enough for today...I need to go listen to one of my Kenny Chesney CDs...ahhhhhhhh....

One of My Many Issues

I'm a procrastinator.

There. I've said it. And it's SO true.

I think my worst problem with this issue is sending out cards on time. It's nothing for someone to get a card from us for a birthday, anniversary, or some other important thing a month after the fact. And that's totally my fault. I'm taking ownership of the problem. (Can you tell I watched "Dr. Phil" a few times this summer?)

Believe me, it's not that I don't think about the person or care about them. It's not that at all. I just keep putting it off. And off. And off. Heck, I usually even have the cards right here at home, and some are even addressed and stamped and all ready to go. But that final step of actually mailing them seems to elude me.

We have some very good friends (with three children) and during the summer they have 2 birthdays and an anniversary. I was SO proud of myself when I sent the first birthday card so it would arrive on time! Their anniversary came and I think I actually mailed the card ON their anniversary, so they would have gotten it a day late. The next birthday was 4 weeks ago. Okay, so I'm hanging my head in shame here...the card is on a table in our bedroom and hasn't been mailed yet. Sigh.

It's not that I don't care...I really do. I'm just a procrastinator. I've tried everything. I've gotten cards months in advance, gotten them ready to go, and where the stamp goes, I've lightly penciled the date that I have to send the card, planning to put the stamp on and send it on that date. The date comes....and goes...and no card has been sent. I've even got a box with all kinds of cards in it, for every possible occasion, so that I'm ready for anything. I have stamps. I have return address labels. I have pens. What's the problem???

Okay, time to go on to another area where I procrastinate. Summer. I had a few things I planned on doing this summer. Just a few...I was being realistic here. One thing was to clean out one of the closets in the den. Another was to clean out the closet in the living room, and then the "stuff" closet in our bedroom. I also wanted to organize my recipes a little better and read the foot and a half stack of magazines that I have accumulated.

Well, in the past two weeks (like how I wait until the last minute here?) I have taken care of the closets...with help from Ted. I haven't done anything with the recipes. And I think I read about an inch worth of magazines.

Yep, I'm a procrastinator through and through.

In two weeks Ted and Alex are going on a Labor Day weekend jaunt to Gettysburg, PA. They've done this a couple of times before and they have a wonderful time. Joey is always invited, but prefers not to go. I'm not even invited anymore. I've been to Gettysburg twice in my life and both times there were car problems, so I don't even want to go again. It's okay...I'm perfectly content to stay home.

My plan is to clean out my bedroom closet and organize my clothes, and to clean our bedroom really well. That's the plan, anyway.

Unless it's really hot, then I'll go swimming all weekend.

Or I might actually start to watch my Miami Vice DVDs. Or my Dallas DVDs. Or my Grey's Anatomy DVDs.

Or maybe not.