Some Before, During or After Photos

I had my whirlwind trip to Idaho and back and it has taken me a week to get over feeling so spaced and worn out.  I now have a cold and go through 50 tissues a day--I must have caught it from the four planes I had to take to get there and back.  I won't ever rush the trip again like I did but I am glad I did this time to get home before the airports turned Thanksgiving crazy.  Plus I managed to go and not get stuck in a snow drift (although at the Utah/Idaho state line the temp dropped and snow flurries began and I almost freaked out except the roads are nicely salted).  This past week my head has been full of memories of gorgeous scenery.

North of Salt Lake City I saw an In 'n Out Burger place and I had never been but heard so much about it so I pulled over.  I did like how the menu was very simple.  I have to say though that I was not in love with the burger.  However, I was blown away by the super friendly service of the young people working there.  I would return for service like that.

OK, onto some before and after photos..........of my hair.  I realized that my hair lady has been going a little crazy and rushing when doing my highlights.  Instead of highlighting thin pieces, she highlights chunks of hair.  She also loves to use low lights which is good, but also very dark lights, darker than my own hair.  I had become a lady with frosted hair.  Not good.  Check it out:

Take a look at the hair above my right eyebrow  That first color is not a shadow.  It is very dark hair next to a light chunk.  And at my left temple was a big highlighted piece which I hated.  In fact, right after I paid for this in mid-October, I texted my hair lady to tell her I needed to come back in to darken my temple areas.  Then I was going to counsel her on how we can no longer have such light and dark contrasts any longer.  But I couldn't get in to see her during the times she suggested and my so-called frosted life went on.  Then it became 5 weeks later so I made another appt and I told her about the issues.  What I wanted was not such blonde, thick highlights.  What did she do?  Gave me dark brown hair with an auburn look in the sun.  I think it is darker than my actual hair.  And she still managed to put in highlights, which she even had to tone down while my head was in the sink.

There is light shining on my hair here--I think it is actually darker.  Of course she still managed to get in some chunky highlights on top.  I picked up my youngest from school and he said all in one sentence, "Well, I liked it better lighter, but you look sophisticated and it goes well with your (brown) jacket)."
I am going to see if I can wait till spring before spending any money on my hair again.

Our master bath remodel began on October 31 and it is still going on.  The demolition took place by Hubs and the boys all during October so for two months we have been sleeping on our guest bed which is a queen and not a king.  Gah!  I still hang on to nine inches on the side because my other half gets in the middle.  I think the remodel would have been done by now except a couple weeks ago our worker only worked Mon and Tues as he got sick and then last week he only worked Mon and Tues.  But since he is paid by the day we are not mad.  But ready for him to get done and get the hell out. Lucky for us, this past week Hubs has been able to do some things we would have paid him to do.

Remember this photo of Oldest sweeping where an old garden tub was?  Well, that is my new closet now where he is standing.  Hubs taped up that big mirror which was above a garden tub which I never used.  The mirror is in our garage and will go above new tub). On the right, near his left foot is a vanity.  So popular in the '80's.  It got ripped out.

The new bathtub is along the wall where that vanity was.  Oh, and lots of insulation went into the wall--the other side of the wall is hallway to the kids' rooms.  I don't want to hear their loud noises when I do my future soaking.

Ignore that toilet in my closet.  That is just sitting there out of the way.  The bathtub is completely tiled now (more photos to come).

And now above is a shot of my closet--the floor is interlocking bamboo.  Hubs has since put in white floorboard molding.  Hubs painted the closets plain white.  That back white wall is where the mirror above the old tub was.  And there will be a pocket door to save room on that new wall between the closet and tub.  My closet is not big but I am still going to have a party in there.  There's a skylight toward the right inside.

One of the biggest changes is we have a large bedroom and then this funky shaped large bathroom but we had a little doorway going from the bedroom to the bathroom.  To the right of this doorway is the closet we shared and just inside this closet was a linen-shelved area which used seems like 10 trees worth of wood for the shelves.  It had to go since we widened the doorway to allow for French doors.

If you look at the ceiling you can see where the old hallway was vs. how it is widened.  It makes a huge difference.  And I don't know how we have remained sane for five years but we lived with that striped wallpaper in our cavernous bathroom.  The walls are now a taupe color:

The sink will go under that taped-up mirror and everything should be wrapped up soon.

In the meantime I have not yet bought one Christmas present, I didn't shop Black Friday for the first time in years, am very grateful we did not have to travel to Florida for Thanksgiving this year, and another change is that we usually buy our Christmas tree at Home Depot the weekend that just passed but we did not.  It was 71 degrees on Sunday!  Now it is 39 degrees so maybe tonight we'll get it.

Driving in Idaho

Have I mentioned there is occasional travel for my new job?  I have to visit Idaho in a week!  I think it will be an awesome place to visit in the summer, and that will probably happen, but since I have to go in November, you can best believe I have been consulting weather.com on a daily basis.  It indicates that there are snow showers going on.  I don't do snow in a vehicle.  Maybe I'll have to.

Do you see that town called Pocatello in the southeastern part of Idaho?  Once I land in Salt Lake City, Utah (where I have never been either) on my second flight of the day, I have to rent a car and get on I-15 and drive 2.5 hours north to Pocatello.  The client says it is an easy drive on I-15.  I bet the client has lived in Idaho his whole life.  Whereas here in Atlanta the entire state I think owns three snow plows so if it ices or snows families stay home and watch the news clips of cars slipping and sliding.

So, anyone ever been to Salt Lake City and had to drive on I-15 north to Idaho?  Please tell me.

The day I arrive there will have been snow showers for two days with a morning low of 12 degrees.  But it should get up to 36 degrees and be sunny when I'm there so at least it is above freezing, right?

On the bright side, I am coat and boot shopping this week.

Go Look at the Full Beaver Moon

A couple of nights ago I saw the moon almost full with a bright star just to the left of it.  Turns out that was Jupiter.  I was just now driving to the grocery store and the moon was so bright in the dusk sky I almost drove off the road looking at it.  Tonight that bright star to to the right of the moon is Jupiter.

Why was I heading to the store at 5:45 p.m.?  Because my oldest son just pointed out we were almost out of milk and there were no juices or anything else to drink (I just drink water about 80% of the time).  We go through 4 to 5 gallons of milk a week and oldest son alone would drink one bottle of cranberry juice a day if I let him.

Me: "Wha???  I have already been to the store twice this week!"

Him: "We are growing teen-age boys, Mom."

Well.

I've written about the Full Beaver Moon before.  This is when the Native Americans saw the beavers getting ready for winter. And then the fur traders expanded the West big time in pursuit of the beaver.  Did you know they are the largest rodent in North America?  We have a small one living in our house (a Russian Dwarf hamster).

Tomorrow is 11/11/11.  I know of someone getting married tomorrow for the date 11/11/11.  I would do that in a heartbeat.  One of my oldest friends and I will be chatting tomorrow on 11/11/11.  Ever since high school when we were together on 7/7/77 and talked about it then, we've made it a point to always remind each other of how we talked about the future and would we talk on 8/8/88 or 9/9/99 or 10/10/10.  There have also been conversations or messages left on 01/01/01, 02/02/02, etc. Can't really do it after 12/12/12.  Well, there is always 01/03/13.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods under this November Full Beaver Moon.

That down time is now a Vague Memory

The days are flying by!  But I am so glad that I have the flexibility to be here a lot when the kids get home or to pick them up from school.

Here is what Middle School son looks like when he sees me taking his photo after picking him up from cross country practice after school.  I couldn't help it.  He looked so vibrant and healthy (and I am so grateful for these blessings):

And Saturday morning was chilly but so crystal clear and gorgeous outside watching him run cross country:

(never mind that I get a photo in front of the porta potties).

After about five weekends our master bath is completely demolished.  I'll post more later on how it is a miracle we weren't electrocuted in the shower these past five years we've lived in our 30 year old house.

And the wallpaper in the bathroom included two layers on top of drywall so the only logical thing to do is take down the dry wall.

We have an excellent tradesman and his bad-ass daughter who were the latest crew to be given the tour of our crazy-designed master bath and who got the job of re-creating it this week.  More on that later.  Hubs and I are guests now in our own home being in our guest room and all.

So many areas of parenting are harder with kids getting older.....but not Halloween.  It was easier this year -- I found that out even though I've been lamenting the younger years and gazing at photos.  Being easier this year really worked out well because I haven't had a lot of down time.  The days of getting three pumpkins and carving them all fancy are over.  I did one:

And a couple weeks ago our youngest son (5th grade) told us he wanted to be an IRS agent and carry a briefcase.  He needed a suit jacket anyway.  He watches lots of TV (and is smarter than everyone in the house put together) and said he saw an ad for attorneys "Montlick and Asso" and then an ad for "Are debt collectors after you?" and he got the idea.  He asked Hubs for a week to show him how to tie a tie and Hubs showed him about an hour before trick or treating and now he is the best tie-er in the house and tied his own tie.

When I asked Middle School son what he was doing he said grunt, grunt.  Then suddenly on Halloween he told us that he and some friends were going to go around our 'hood and he got out the bag of past blood, scars and amputated hands and found facepaint and made himself a zombie with dirt and leaves in his hair and blood on his shirt and he left for a couple hours.  Oldest son left for a couple hours too to a friend's house.  I think it was a coed low-key party of sorts.  But he was back home at 9:00.   I walked around with some moms in another 'hood as our n'hood is too hilly for maximum number of houses to cover.  Fortunately Youngest was ready to go home the same time I was.

In one month there'll be a Christmas tree in our house.  Amazing!

Mama's Getting a New Closet

We have lived in our house for over 5 years and when we first viewed the house and stepped into the master bath it was almost a deal breaker.  That and the kitchen and the deck.  We had the deck turned into a screened porch but have lived with the crappy bathroom and kitchen ever since.

As previously mentioned, Hubs made a list of things to redo in the house when I got a job.  Well as soon as I got my job offer six weeks ago, the master closet and bathroom DIY project began.

Over the past few years I cannot tell you how many men have walked through our master bedroom and into our bath to give their opinion on how to renovate this monstrosity.  For example, a neighbor has had about 10 different contractors at his house (he's retired) over the years, and my Hubs moseys on over there and asks the contractors to take a look at our master bath.  I get about 3 minutes' notice and run in the bathroom and hide my retainers that I wear at night and keep next to my sink.  And then they always come up with a plan that is too expensive and then Hubs always tells me, "Well I can do most of the work myself except for the plumbing and the electrician."

But we did gain an idea from one of the contractors to make a new closet at the end of the bathroom where there is an old, 1980's garden tub.  People, I have not had a bath in five years.  Our master bath is very large with the craziest ceiling angles and wackiest layout ever.  Can you believe there was a lamp hanging over the bath?  There is also a skylight--anyway, the whole end of the bathroom will be a new closet for me.

(next to where I am standing is a hideous "vanity" although it was handy for my hair and jewelry and make-up stuff).

That huge mirror came down in one piece.  Hubs saw on You Tube that you cover it with packing tape and then remove it.

Of course, the boys were involved with the demolition, which they bought into at first.  But quickly they realized that it involved carrying a crap load of debris out of the house, over and over.  I once returned from a Saturday of food shopping with two of them running up to my car like a flock of turkeys, pleading, "Mom, this is the pits and out of nowhere Dad has us working and working and carry garbage that is way to heavy and we need to get started on homework!"

Fortunately we have an old truck so over a few weekends Hubs took it to a dump and pays about $30 to leave the debris there rather than paying for a dumpster at the house.

Here is Oldest sweeping all around where the bathtub used to be.  Take a look by his left foot.  That is the plumbing down in the floor for the old bathtub faucets.......

Hubs is a little obsessive with the weekend work.  One Saturday night at 9:00 I heard him in the bathroom breaking up tile (the former owner had put tile on top of former tile).  I came up to see what he was doing, annoyed that he couldn't just be watching TV like a normal person.  He chatted while he continued to jab at tile and was standing right in front of that faucet plumbing area and then he stepped back.....and his leg went right through the faucet area.


And now I know that my new closet will be right above where my car is parked in the garage.

Anyway he cursed and ranted at himself for not covering that area as he new it was a potential problem and I went into the garage to see debris all over the hood of my car.  Luckily no chunks fell on it.  His leg and hand got scraped up.  He then ranted and raved about how he hatred his drill as I stood by the step ladder so he could stand on the ladder and screw nails into a piece of plywood over the new big hole in the garage.

(see the ceiling above my car)

On a positive note he stated he was glad that at least he stepped through the ceiling over the garage and not a nice ceiling such as a hallway, which has happened a few years ago, where you actually have to make it look nice again.

The shower is getting ripped out this weekend.  To be continued...

The More Things Change...

It's another beautiful fall season here with the flowers loving the warm afternoons and cool mornings.

I have been at my new job for four weeks and it is going great.  Some mornings I practically pinch myself to make sure the job I wanted really did come along at the right time.  The items needed for working at home have not arrived yet and so I go into the office almost regularly (my choice to get to know people and fortunately it is just a 15 minute drive).  Starting a new job means no one has seen your clothes before.  I have more wrinkles than just about everyone there.....but my fingernails look fabulous.  I received a Blackberry about 10 days ago and I have not taken time to learn it yet.  I got an Iphone six months ago and I was actually trying to touch the Blackberry's screen to make it work (!)  So many programs and systems to learn for work.

On the homefront I am still my boys' personal shopper and bring home clothes from TJ Maxx for their choosing.  I learned from last year that high schoolers need Homecoming clothes in October and I made sure the pants and shirt were purchased well in advance.  The shoes slipped my mind until the day before so Hubs took him to DSW and he found a pair.  Last year's Homecoming shoes were found there as well, and worn only once.  I lamented this but quickly got over it after I realized that boys don't require many shoes or accessories.

Sidenote--on the morning of homecoming our area was having many n'hood yard sales and in one driveway a college-aged girl was selling a bunch of designer purses of hers.  I realized how easy it is to not have to buy all of those items, hair care, make-up, etc. (a fact that my high school son reminds me when he calls to ask if I can pick up deoderant or face wash for him).

Back to the items needed for Homecoming: my high school son exclaimed that he and some buddies were going to wear bowties instead of regular ties so I told him to find what he wanted online.  Well, it was not a clip-on and we ran out of time for a tying-the-bowtie practice and on Homecoming day he had a baseball game until 4:00 and he needed to be Homecoming dressed by 5:00 (easily accomplished for a boy).  But then the pressure was on to do the bowtie.

That was Hubs' job but he had to recruit Youngest son to sit in front of the computer and click Pause and Play on the You Tube bowtie-instruction video:

It got pretty intense and I stayed out of the way except for a few photos.  Then our son got picked up by a parent up the street and photos took place somewhere else and for the second year in a row I was not involved because our son told us he had his rides all figured out (no dates, yay).  That is until 12:30 a.m. when he called to say he and a neighbor needed a ride home.  Luckily Hubs is a night owl and was still up.

That same beautiful weekend morning we had Thanksgiving dinner visit us in our front yard:

The night before this, Hubs was telling his mom, who was visiting, that not only are deer crossing the road and in our yard, but that there are turkeys in the 'hood.  I had not seen any in our hood, and then I got up Saturday a.m. and they they were in the front yard.

After we watched them for a little bit and they wandered off somewhere I had to run an errand and when I backed out they came running over--not shy at all.  I had to get out of my car to see where they went as I was not finished backing up.  They were making gobbling noises when I took the photo about 2 feet from them.

(what is that weird feather thing sticking out from their chests?)

So, everything is going well.  Lots of projects going on here that I will feature soon, two boys out of three are taller than me (I am 5'6") and one still fits under my chin (I sing that to the "Under My Thumb" tune to him), and one out of three will be trick or treating a week from today.  This week's errand is to find a dark suit and hat because he wants to be an IRS man for Halloween.

Update on that Teacher Situation

After Hubs and I decided we needed to meet with this teacher and an assistant principal, I contacted one of the assistant principals (AP) to set up a meeting with an AP and this teacher, who teaches an Advanced Placement class, to talk about some classroom concerns and grading on projects so far.  One thing on which I hadn’t previously blogged is there were some summer projects and seems teacher didn’t even read the work and graded based on volume (this is when son asked about it and teacher answered with a “yup” and didn’t even look at son).

It took a few days to get the meeting date and then there was another teacher invited who is the leader of the school’s advanced placement program.  Prior to the meeting the teacher decided to send us this email and I didn’t respond:

Mr. and Mrs. Last name,
It has been communicated to me that you would very much like to have a
meeting with myself to have a discussion about your son, (name) in my
class.  I look forward to satisfying this demand.  Please let me know the
best time that is convenient for you to meet with myself.  I have time
available in the mornings or in the afternoon.

I got all riled up at this email.  He is going to satisfy this demand.

The meeting went well for us parents.  It did not go well for the teacher.  I liked the AP who was present.  He took pages and pages of notes. 

The meeting was in the teacher’s classroom, with five desks arranged in a circle.  Hubs sat to my left and the AP to his left.  The leader teacher was to my right.  Directly across from Hubs was this teacher.  When we sat down the teacher started by saying, “What can I do for you guys today?”  As you know, he is arrogant.

At first we addressed one of the summer projects.  I was prepared with a copy of the assignment posted in the summer and my son's assignment--it states to read a certain book choice out of 7 books, and list 30 quotes and then comment on each quote in page number order to show you have read all parts of the book.  A friend of my sons did not read the book, and responded with 2 sentences on each and listed 40 quotes.  he got a 100.  This killed my son because he read the book and listed 30 quotes and gave 6 thoughtful sentences on each.  When assignments were handed back just prior to this meeting, Son had asked teacher if he had listed and commented on 40 quotes would he have gotten an A and that is when teacher said “yup” to him.  So at meeting we had to discuss how son was looking for guidance but we also had to discuss does advanced placement mean a student gets graded on poundage?  Hubs stated how a teacher can know in 10 problems if a student read the material and gets it or not.  Teacher had hopped up looking around for the assignment rubric (I had a copy) and he defended that he told the kids on 1^st day of school he’d give them a few more days to add more to assignment.  The AP spent a very long time looking at son’s assignment and concluded he saw son add a few more quotes and he could tell he read book and had good sentences.  Teacher defended self on how with 3 classes and how there are almost 30 kids in classes this year that would be reading thousands of answers.  Ummmmm, yes?  It was clear that teacher stated he’d take another look at his work.  This is foreshadowing.

After this teacher says, “So we are meeting about his grades?”  We told him there was a lot more to discuss.

Next we moved on to the distractions.  Don’t think the leader teacher knew all this was coming.  Hubs brings up that teacher is kicking a soccer ball against wall during quizzes.  Teacher does not deny.  He states that he will stop if it is distracting our son.  Michele’s blood begins to boil.  AP does not interject to say that it is inappropriate for any child in any of his 3 classes, but AP is writing notes big time.

Then we bring up using the cell phone during quizzes and how there are noises that make the class giggle such as a baby crying and laughs and an animal noise.  Teacher denies using cell phone in class and states that perhaps the noise is coming from classroom next door.  Michele knows he is lying and keeps calm face while blood temp reaches 200 degrees.

Then we bring up the group presentation at which one student keeps his backpack on and the teacher mocks him and gets class laughing (and group received a failing grade even though they thought their presentation was better than two others that rec’d “C”s.  Teacher knew exactly what this was and said he gave the student a chance to take off backpack.  Hubs wanted to know that although this was unusual, maybe it was his “schtick” since there are presenters in the world who walk back and forth as they present, etc.  Teacher does not deny that this all happened and teacher said he directed the class’ attention back to the presenters (ummm, yes, due to you, teacher, is why the kids were giggling).   In addition, there was a two-page paper due along with this presentation and even though the boys had a good thesis, the teacher circled the bottom two inches of the 2^nd page to show that the 2^nd page was not complete and gave them an "F".  Again, a conversation about grading on poundage and Hubs mentions how a writer can knock a one page paper out of the park vs. two pages in many cases.    We state that son will ask to meet with teacher to LEARN how he can improve on future papers.

Then we get to the laser pointer infraction.  Hubs starts by saying that as a fellow teacher in this county, he hopes that of the following he hopes he heard wrong.  I then described that apparently during power point presentations the students take a few minutes to take notes in between each slide and during this time the teacher is pointing the laser pointer at kids’ heads and people giggle (I did not mention that according to my son he mostly chooses girls’ heads).  Teacher did not deny this.  By this time teacher is glancing at AP.  Hubs continues on for about 7 minutes on how this is against policy is the school system handbook (leader teacher is nodding), and how his students have been suspended for acts less than this, and how horrible it would be if it hit an eye and, as teacher to teacher, we do not need anything like this to get around and have a teacher story in the news.  This was serious stuff. 

Meeting was concluded with the AP stating that they will address the distraction concerns and we would have our son approach the teacher to set up a time to review work and be able to ask questions.  Everyone shook hands and then the lead teacher took us to the elevator (it needs a key) and she thanked us for the meeting as “she knew it was difficult but they really appreciated it and that they do now want students to leave the advanced placement program.”

As we drove home we had the feeling that teacher was not going to be having a good night.

I’ll write another post on the situation and an email from teacher in the two weeks since this.