Last of Summer

The last week wasn't much fun. I have the end of summer blues, and so does the family.  Ruben is bummed that we don't have a house, that I don't have more money, that we haven't spent enough time outside, and that I'm making him clean.

I'm bummed that I have to go back to work, that the house needs more cleaning, that I have to spend the weekend by myself doing a yard sale, and that I have to go back to work.  Yes I said that twice.

Monday and Tuesday Ruben and I went to Jump Start at Judson.  For two hours in the morning we went to school, and he did various activities designed to acclimate him to middle school.  I took the time to unlock my cabinets, set up my desk, and put up some pictures.  Next Tuesday is my real start date.  Ruben complained of a stomach ache, saying he thought he was going to throw up.  I said I'm sure it was just nervous.  He disagreed, but it went away when he saw some people he knew...

Monday afternoon I did my check in for Zults War at Couthouse athletic club.  I have been working out 1-2 times a day, eating the plan, doing almost all the activities, and I stayed EXACTLY THE SAME.  At least I started out good. I feel a little stronger, but that's it.  So I haven't done much exercise the rest of the week.

Monday evening I taught Tang Soo Do at LeRina's house, her son David had a breakthrough and his side kick improved tremendously.  We stayed late chatting afterwards. Ru says her daughter Maya likes him likes him.

Tuesday we cleaned and sorted and got a big huge pile of yard sale items together. Fred shampooed the carpet in the dining room.

Wednesday Ru got his locker at Judson.  We met his locker partner Dylan there at 9:30am.  Being a staff kid has its advantages, they got to choose the locker they wanted.  They chose one right next to Mrs. Finicle's door. That's Ruben's first period teacher. A locker on the end of the row is always easier, and the combo is really simple too.  Both boys were happy.  Dylan keeps texting Ru, saying silly things.  He's either excited or nervous.

First Day of Jump Start

He won't fit for long

 After lockers Wednesday Fred got a job being a stagehand at the State Fair so we drove him some clothes.  I filed papers and cleaned off my desk while Ru tore apart a pallet.  We were going to use the wood to build a cat ramp but it was pretty well demolished by the time he finished with it. It was a fun project for him though, who doesn't like destruction. We went to Polynesian Dance class for more work on the Christmas Hula. Well I say "we" but Ru hung out upstairs with the other kids while I tried to make my hips move quickly.  I'm much better at kicking things hard than moving with any sort of grace.

Thursday we got up and didn't go anywhere.  I'm in the process of backing up all my computer data, and phone data, and  pictures.  I have two external drives and I keep one at school in case of apartment destruction, but I needed to update with this summer's pictures and documents. My little netbook is still plugging away with Linux, I uninstalled Ubuntu and installed Mint which works a lot more smoothly with its little processor. Since my computer is so rinky dink I do try to keep everything backed up externally.

Next project is to finish getting the VHS tapes onto DVD, and then take all the precious stuff to the safe deposit box.  Since school time is so busy its nice to have all my financial, safety, and backup stuff finished before September.  This Saturday our apartment complex is having an epic yard sale, for which I've been purging like crazy.

I can only stay at my desk so long though, its time to go throw some punches.

Friday and Saturday Aug 15 and 16

Ruben in the courtyard with his friends.

Friday I went to do a martial arts workout, then headed to the outlet mall. My wardrobe is pretty barren, and I really want to make an effort to look more professional this year.  I found only a denim jacket, sandals, and one shirt after a full 4 hours of trudging the Woodburn outlets.  I couldn't find women's dress shirts anywhere.

Snap circuits

Its not often you get a birthday toy for a kid that he's still playing with over a year later.  Snap Circuits are pretty cool. They get more play than lego.

Friday we played a game of Monopoly. It was the most even game we ever played. I won, but not by much. We all had houses on our properties.  There were some good deals made. 

 Saturday I got up and lifted weights, then did a martial arts lesson for Ru. Fred helped. Fred threw slow punches while Ruben looked for openings.

 After the workout the men decided to cool off in the pool so I made lunch. For me this was a smoothie and for them I called and ordered a pizza. Whenever I order a pizza for delivery I think that delivery pizza is the best perk of city living.

I had a good coupon for JC Penny so I left the boys to their delectible smelling pizza and after dropping some suit jackets off at the tailor's house I went to the mall.  All the dress shirts I didn't buy last week when I looked were on sale and with my coupon I got 6 shirts for $80.

I stopped by the make-up counter for a new eyeliner that wouldn't make my eyes itch and burn and ended up with a complete makeover and some sweet new make-up too. What fun!

I gave a hefty tip to the boys playing duets in their underwear

The intimidating make-up display

Fred and Ru and I are still eating the fitness plan menu, our challenge is over on Monday when I do my final bodpod test.  I'm planning on making zucchini muffins to celebrate.

Ruben has been spending a lot of time with the neighbor kids.  He has quite a few friends around. They talk about computer games, video games, have nerf battles, dig holes, and throw pears at each other. Sometimes the ride bikes or climb trees.  He got grounded for going into a friends apartment without asking, but while he was there he fixed his buddy's computer.  So I was proud of him but grounded him anyway.  He spent the day reading.

Fred has been working hard at job hunting.  He has an interview Monday for a teaching assistant job, and he got a job offer from my friend Jeremy to work installing heating/AC systems. He has also applied at a movie theater, and a grocery store.  We worked on a good sound resume for him and he will take that to the local sound companies next week.  He has two jobs coming up in Eugene at Cozmic doing sound.

Next week is housecleaning to prepare for school.  Ru has two days of Jump Start next week... more on that later.

If you are looking for business casual clothing, here are my recommendations:

Skirts: Fred Meyer
Slacks: Target or Ross
Blouses: JC Penny if on sale
Jeans: Gap outlet
Socks: Fred Meyer (great selection of women's wool socks)

I'm now having a terrible time finding shoes, if anyone finds an epic shoe sale let me know. I'm waiting for a good sale, because the shoes I have will hold out a few more months. I'm looking for mary jane's with a heel, and high boots with a medium heel (more than an inch, not more than 2.5 inches)

I LOVE August

General: Ruben has been fascinated by his phone. Its an older phone, a dumbphone in that it does not connect to the internet, but it sends texts, has a touchscreen, and makes calls. It also has a memory card in it. He figured out how to transfer songs from his computer to his phone, and he's been playing music from his pocket all the time. Often its Weird Al, or some hip hop. He has a variety of styles of music he likes, and his choices are limited to what I bought and he has access to.
I was outside watering the garden and I looked up to see Ruben standing on the pegs of Bryce's bicycle, holding on to his shoulders as they flew down the hill behind our apartment with the Indiana Jones theme song blasting from his pocket at the loudest volume that tiny speaker can handle.  I almost fell down from laughing so hard.  Last night he was taking a bath to the Mario video game cave music, and this evening he's laying next to me clicking his tongue to the Addams Family theme.

Monday the 11th of August:
I got up and went to a class called Group Power.  Its like group weightlifting with cardio thrown in.  It toasted my legs, but that's not all bad. I was feeling tired and crabby, and just puttered around the house, in 100 degree weather, wishing it was only 90. Ruben's friend Cameron came by and the boys played together so long that it was dark. Ruben wanted Cameron to spend the night, and so I was up playing Yahtzee with them till 11, and Fred took over kid watch till 2am when he was tired of listening to them whisper and giggle and came to bed too.  Ruben told me the next day that they had stayed up till 3 playing Yahtzee and Lego. Crazy kids.

Tuesday the 12th of August:
I got up and did nothing. It hurt to go down the stairs my legs were so sore, and as the day went on it got worse.  As I was laying in bed procrasting about leaving the apartment Fred got a phone call from Judson Middle School asking him to come in for a job interview next Monday. It would be really handy if he lands that one. Its only a 3.5 hour IA position, but its a start.

Fred wanted to go downtown to apply for jobs at the state fair, and I had some errands to run so I drove him. Ru and I dropped by the bank, then the library, then we went to the mall downtown.  I need new work clothes pretty badly. When Fred met up with us (they had already hired everyone they needed) he asked how long I'd be. Well I can usually shop for a few hours so he took Ru to the movies.  They saw Guardians of the Galaxy in 3D at Cinebarre (its a cinema, and a bar).

I shopped at JC Penny and found nothing I wanted. I shopped at Kohls and found nothing I wanted, and I went to Macy's, and had a personal shopper, and found nothing that fit well that I wanted. It was weird to go shopping with a huge list of things to get, and find nothing. I was looking for dress slacks in various colors, tailored jackets, a denimn jacket, crisp white and colored collared shirts, high boots with a medium heel, a colorful handbag or two... I'm going to try Target and Fred Meyer next, then head to the outlet mall.

Our neighbor Mary came by and offered us a free piano. Fred took her up on it. We all know there is no such thing as a free piano, but this one was small and only one key didn't work, so he said yes.

Wednesday August 13
My team pretty much gave up on our fitness challenge.  We have the lowest score of all the teams.  Its kind of sad because I really did well, I did all the challenges, kept my journal, went to the classes, and ate the diet.  Problem is we are all teachers, and during summer we travel, party, visit, and relax.

This morning after our breakfast burritos we went to the UHaul store and rented a moving dolly.  We got the piano home with the help of our neighbor Ray, and it perfectly fit into the dining room. It is terribly out of tune, but the pedals work. We got a tuning estimate of $95. I think it will sound really nice once we get it tuned up.

After the piano moving, I lifted some weights and then went to dance class. We worked some more on our Christmas hulas.  I'm not the most coordinated dancer, and I'm the tallest in class, and one of only two white girls. I think  the word that describes me best is gawky.

Trying on a jacket. Fit in the shoulders, too large in the chest/waist.

Its really quite a small piano. Its made by Wurlitzer. 1950's. He has the lid open which makes it look a little taller.

A Fun August Weekend

Friday morning smiling eggs

You know its going to be a good day when the eggs are smiling at you from the bowl.  We started off the weekend with big plans.  Fred was headed to a gig, Ru to his dads, and me to Jodi and Jeremy's. Before the big take off however we did a brisk housecleaning, thorough watering, and I did a weightlifting workout.

We headed south to Springfield where I dropped off both guys with Jeff for further transport. I went over to Jodi's house to hang out with her, and fix her computers.  I decrapped (one p or two?) her computers and got everything running smoothly.  She's almost finished her master's thesis and is applying for a job with the state. We put on going out clothes and met my friend Jeremy for dinner then I took her back home and went to Jeremy's for the evening. I fixed his son's computer which was completely bogged down with malware. 

Dear reader: (If you aren't on a mac)  Install the adblock plus extension in your browser.  If you see a popup that says you have viruses, malware or your computer is running slow DON'T CLICK ON IT ITS MALWARE. Uninstall your crappy antivirus (even if you paid for it) and use AVG free or Clamwin.  Download CCleaner and get rid of programs you don't use, (or anything you don't recognize) make sure only programs you want to start up with your computer are starting up, and clean your registry. Then download and install Malwarebytes. Run the program and let it get rid of the rest of the crap.

In the morning Jeremy and I woke up and went out to breakfast, then went for a hike up Fall Creek. 

Fall Creek

When we finished hiking, three sweaty hours later, we had a snack and drove to the disc golf course at Dexter. I played the best I ever had thanks to Jeremy's advice to start off with the disc close to my arm. Jeremy made a funny comment about the majority of the people we saw using aiming liquid (beer) or vapor...
We were remarkably sober, but nobody else was.

Thank goodness there are no fashion police at a disc golf course

Jeremy said this was not good form

We decided to take a swim and cool off but the lake was green with algae, and I declined. I took a quick shower to cool off when we got back to Jeremy's house, then I took off for home.  I had left the cat inside and needed to water the garden.

The fence behind the 10th hole was coated with beer caps.

I came home and watered, let the cat out, and sat on the couch until bedtime, when I slept soundly.

Fred's shirt design from Ghostbusters

Sunday I went to do Tara practice with my friend Judy, then drove to meet Jeff, Ruben, and Fred in Brownsville. I was happy to see them and all the way home we shared about our adventures.  Ruben had gone berry picking at the ponds behind the weigh station, and brought home a bag of blackberries.  Fred had met up with a great group of friends on Friday, played a few songs with his old band on stage, and ended up on a couch covered in beer. On Saturday he did sound for three goth bands in Eugene.  He wore his Gozerhead shirt, but only a few people got that it was a joke.

Steam cleaning the fluff chair

When we got home I discovered kitty had pooped in her litter box, on Ruben's bed on top of his new school clothes, and in our fluff chair. I think next time we go away overnight she is staying OUT.

We finally tracked down the other boy who is going to Judson from Ruben's class last year. Ru wanted him to be his locker partner. He didn't have the number so I called his elementary school and the nice secretary called and gave my number to Dylan. I was so happy that Dylan called back and was excited to be locker partners with Ru. They are meeting at Judson next Wednesday to sign up. Here he is texting his buddy.

The First Week of August

Staying home in summer is both good and bad.  Good because we get more rest, bad because we do more work.  Some things had to get done though, and if I'm away too much I can't help my team in the fitness challenge by going to the gym.
We got our new menu Saturday and went shopping for all the delicous food. We went to Natural Grocers to get whey protein for smoothies and Ruben did his magic and made the door open just by waving his arms in front of it.

Ruben doing magic to make the door open

 We were really happy when we got home to see Ruben's friend Cameron. He had taken off trucking with his grandpa for a month and went all the way to New York.  We took him swimming when we got back from shopping.  Ru likes to play vid games with him. Here they are munching cheese biscuits and omelettes.  MMmm breakfast for dinner.

Ru and Cameron

  Ruben only gets an hour of video game time a day, so he gets up and plays first thing in the morning, usually before me.  So when I get up this is what I see.

Every morning

The chef

 I have been doing this great diet plan, its super healthy, and has plenty of calories that I don't lose weight, and can gain muscle.  Ruben however isn't always thrilled by the menu, and learned to cook mac and cheese all by himself.  He calls it crap and squeeze.

Wednesday was library day, and Ruben had read his 20 hours to get his ticket to the summer reading party.  We got there, checked out our books, then heard an announcement that there was a magic show starting in 10 minutes.  Of course we went.  The magician/comedian/entertainer was great.  He had the entire crowd laughing, even the toddlers and moms. He started off with a 4 legged trick.

I didn't catch his name, I think it was Heimlich.

Yea its a glove

8 plates (and only one broke)

 The finale was the plate spinning.  He was fantastic.  The whole crowd was on the edge of their seats to see if he would drop them.  There was a 4 year old sitting by Ruben who was so adorable, he kept covering his eyes, then his ears, then he would peek, it was so exciting.  Best free show we saw all week!

When we got home I helped Fred with job hunting.  He applied for 20 jobs with Salem Keizer School District for an Instructional Assistant in special ed classrooms.  He doesn't have a lot of experience working with kids, but as he told me he wants to be a teacher eventually it is a great starting point. 

Then I went to my Polynesian dance class. We are learning Christmas Hulas.  We will have costumes and performances and everything.  So everyone who reads this, expect to see me dance to Melikilikimaka in December.  I never imagined, in my wildest dreams, that I'd end up part of a dance troupe, doing hula, in Salem.

Today (Thursday) Ruben had an early appointment with his speech therapist.  She is working with him to stretch out his words and say them slowly so his brain has time to come up with the words he wants to say, and he stutters less. This really works for him, when he doesn't get frustrated and refuse to slow down.

I dropped off Ru and home and went to an appointment at Courthouse Athletic Club. Our fitness challenge "Zults War" is more than half over and our team needed to check in. I think we are all doing our best. Its been fun so far. I went to Club Dance class on Monday night and it was crazy fun.  Like zumba but with more hip hop. I took a hip hop class a few years ago so it was familiar, but I'd have to go a lot to really catch on. Anyway, after that appointment I stopped off at Judson to talk to my administrator and check in with  the registrar.  I have some kids who are going to be in some gened classes and wanted to make sure it was all going to happen smoothly. I also got Ruben's class schedule for this fall.  He's got all the best teachers... and I didn't even bribe the registrar :)
Per 1 and 2 Literature block, Per 3 Science, Per 4 Math (which means he'll likely have second lunch, same as me) Per 5 Choir, and Per 6 Avid.

I did get some very sad news that one of my favorite students drowned in the river last weekend.  I will hopefully make it to his funeral weekend after next.  He was doing so well in High School, he even joined junior ROTC. Its just so sad.

Moment of silence

 

Minesweeper, Ruben style

Later today we took the car to the dealership for an oil change, tire rotation, and wash. They have a computer to entertain kids, but sadly we didn't come on massage chair day.  If you look carefully you'll see that Ruben modified the Minesweeper game to have 100 squares and 62 bombs. It was amusing watching him play.

We got home and I taught Ru some martial arts.  He's finally showing an interest.  He gets frustrated, silly, then he nails the technique, then gets frustrated and or silly again.  Its a struggle for him, but he's sticking with it. I'm one proud mama.

While I practiced madrigals Ruben and Fred were also being musical.  Ru has been playing songs on his little keyboard through the amp with distortion. and Fred was downstairs recording the Fred version of I Can't Help Falling in Love With You.  Go ahead, say "Ahhhhhwww"

He was playing the intro to an Eminem song

Recording an Elvis song

At madrigal rehearsal tonight we discussed a challenge thrown down by the Pearwood Pipers and the Sherwood Singers, the two other area madrigal groups. During the Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire coming in September, there will be a little competition to see who can sing the most FaLaLa's during the madrigal mob.   We have eight songs the include the falala in them, some are more promintenly featured than others.  We may create a medley.  I think its so geeky fun.

After all the music died down we watched Ben Stiller try and keep up with Bear Gryllis on the new NBC show, and went to bed. I still get bedtime snuggles from Ru :)

Friday August 1st, Day of Rest

We woke up late after staying up late last night to see a baseball game.  So at 9am we rolled out of bed and I made pancakes with bananas.  I was excited to get started on my new edx.org class that teaches the basics of the linux operating system.  Fred was excited to get to work on his sewing, and thankfully also cleaned the kitchen and did laundry.  Ruben played outside showing the neighbor kids how to start fires with magnifying glasses.

After a delicious hamburger barbecue lunch we went to the pool. I wrote out our weekly menu and made a shopping list while I basked in the sun, and Fred and Ru played a myriad of games that involved seeing if it was possible to be any wetter.  After the swim Ru figured out how to run a line from his game boy to his computer and he made and altered recordings of his favorite video game music.  Fred read a book of science fiction stories, and I worked on my linux class.  I'm almost ready for command line interface.
I didn't wash the car, work out, clean much, get dressed till after my swim, or stress about anything.  Nice day I'd say.

I do swim wearing sweatbands on my wrists.  Its for the zults fitness challenge. We get points for taking a picture of us doing active things outside with our wrist bands.

How Ru handles the heat. Sitting in his underwear eating pickled beans and watching TV.

Ems Game

This morning I went to aerobics class, threw some punches and kicks, and attempted to fix my computer again.
Fred worked on his pirate coat, and Ru cooked mac n cheese and watched Hook on Netflix.
At 4 we all showered and headed south to meet my siblings at a minor league baseball game.

The Eugene Emeralds are in the same league as the Salem Volcanoes. The Volcanoes are leading this season. I prefer Ems games for many reasons. Better food, music, promotions, seats, and a more interactive crowd.

Today was toga day. They were showing Animal House on the jumbotron after the game and had decorated the stadium with toilet paper. We ended up on the jumbotron because we were one of maybe 6 people who actually showed up in togas.

Betsy and Robert were kind enough to provide us not only tickets but hot dog vouchers. Ruben was so excited to get a hot dog, chips, and a PEPSI! I've never seen Ru on caffeine before, it was very very entertaining.  He was cracking jokes right and left. Chicken butt. Max came in time to see the excellent second inning.  The game went like this. Exciting first inning, exciting second inning, boring for a long time, ice cream, boring, &th inning stretch during which we were featured on the jumbotron singing in our togas, exciting 7th inning, boring 8th inning, 10pm time to go home. When we left the score was 10-3 Ems.

It was also Pabst tall boy Thursdays. $3.00 crappy beer.

Ruben photobombing Fred drinking Pabst in a toga. Awesome.