R is for Rampage

I got another "raise your hand poll"...

Raise your hand if you are ready for this year to just be OVER.

 Two shooting rampages in one year? 

Dave and I were coming back from a really nice time of xmas shopping, we'd had a nice lunch together and the moment we walked in the door to our house, there's the MIL watching the breaking news.

The Aurora Theater shooting was not 10 miles from our home.  This latest madness involves killing an entire classworth of kindergartners.

Then the Facebook bullshit starts flying. 

I own guns.  I'm not against background checks and waiting periods (although I DO think they are just a salve for the masses.  If someone wants a gun, it's easy enough to get one illegally.).  I also think it should be illegal for citizens to have assault weaponry.  That being said, I ALSO believe that placing blame anywhere but squarely on the shoulders of the killer is ludicrous. 

Dave brought up the point that if that man walked into the classroom with a tray of arsenic-laced cupcakes, we wouldn't ban KitchenAid.

And all those people that jumped on the "You're not taking MY guns away"... calm the fuck down.  And hey, as long as it's all about you, right?

Then there's the winners who were posting a t-shirt that said:
Dear God, why did you let this happen at my school? Signed, Concerned Student
Dear Concerned Student, I'm not allowed in schools.  Signed, God.

Which is essentially blaming the victims, so that's nice.  (Dave also pointed out that God is the CORNERSTONE of the Church and is also a large part of Boy Scouts, so what happened there?)  (Love that guy!)

And the media.  Shut the fuck up!  They were talking to profilers before they had ANY information other than there was a school shooting.  What are they profiling??  And everyone's begging for a motive. 

Does a motive matter?  Will it bring anyone back or assuage any of the pain for those left behind?  As if knowing this mentally ill person's motive will stop the next mentally ill person.

Bottom line, it is a horrible, horrible day in our history.  I wish I could bring all those people back and give them a do-over.  I wish that boy got the mental health help he needed. 

I wish this year was over, Ruth!

Q is for Quirks

Speed limit at my local Target....

This is the wild side of the street.

Across the street it's only 12 1/2.

Wondering how one clocks this, Ruth!

P is for Priorities

In the past ten days, I've received notice of two deaths.  That makes three for this year.  I think that's enough for one year, right? 

Nicole was one of the first friends I made when we moved from AZ to CO.  We met through our blogs, and since our kids were about the same age, we got together for a few playdates.  We lived at complete opposite ends of Denver, so we weren't able to get together often and mostly kept in touch through our blogs, emails, and Facebook.

About 4 years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was really tough going, but she beat it.  There were many complications along the way, but she was cancer free at the end. 

Four months ago, she found out it was back.  And it was in her bones.

I can't imagine how hard it was for her.  Just hearing about it devastated me, and I wasn't the one with cancer! 

I pm'd my Team Leader and told him, "I don't know how I can stand these people tonight.  I just want to scream, "It's back and it's in her BONES" when they drone on and on about their fucking bullshit VIDEO GAME problems."  He told me to take the night off.  I did.

Last Wednesday, someone close to Nicole posted that she passed away. 

I couldn't stop crying and my husband told me to sign off work.  I did. 

He took me out and got me nice and drunk.  And fed me pizza.  He's the best.

Truthfully, Nicole and I weren't as close as we would've liked to've been.  If we lived even remotely closer to each other, we would have hung out a lot.  We both knit and had little kids.

That's what devastates me the most about it all.  Her daughter is the same age as my little guy and her little guy is 3 years younger - 9 and 6. 

9 and 6 seems too young to lose your mom.  All I can think of is them having to grow up without her.  She was a wonderful mom and she will be so missed.

I also found out that my high school sweetheart's mom passed away a few days ago.  When Drew and I were together, things at my house were bad enough that I moved out when I was 17.  His family was closer to me (and treated me better) than my own.

Again, found out while I was working.  I cried a bit, but it was close to the end of my shift, so I held it together.  As soon as I was off work, I called Drew and we talked for nearly an hour.  I cried and we laughed about all kinds of stuff. 

Just like I told my TL - it's so hard to listen to people get all bunched up over a fucking game when people are losing their moms. 

Three in one year.  Two in the past ten days. 

Yep, that's enough, Ruth!

O is for Online

I don't think I've mentioned it, but my school COMPLETELY changed their program.  Someone warned me of this when I first started, but we were told that the catalog we got was the catalog we would follow for our graduation. 

They made every one in the entire school sign a form that said we had to follow the new catalog or we couldn't go to that school.  Sneaky, right?

In the long run, it doesn't really have anything to do with me.  It's mostly for people coming in fresh. 

The thing that bugs me about the school most is the software we have to use.  We get the software the first day of our first class.   We can't take the class that teaches us how to use the software until we are there for a year.  Nice.

I spend $15 a day on gas for my school commute.  I'm at a speed now where I don't have to be in theory class, and the academic I'm taking is the software class.  We don't have a teacher on-ground that teaches that class.  It's only available online.

So I decided to take a semester online.  I'd had experience with the tests the online students were given, and they are twice as hard as the tests they give on-ground.   One of the things they changed is that now, the online students get the same tests on-ground people get.  That was my deciding factor.

At least that's what I was told.  I don't get how they can constantly tell us one thing and then do whatever the hell they want.  Some of the tests are the same, but most are the much-harder tests of the past.

I did finally pass the speed test for Lit that was stumping me for so long.  And if I wasn't online this quarter, I never could have made the move to the new house the way we were able to make it.  So that was good.

I'm stumped at speed 140 now.  It's the speed I started this quarter with and I should actually be at 160.  For the first three weeks, I was on track for the Homework Challenge - doing 15 hours of practice a week.  Then we found the house and started the move.  sigh.

I gotta say though, it's SO awesome sleeping in an hour or 2 more a day than when I was on-ground.  It's nice to take the kids to school and pick them up.  It's nice to spend the time I'd normally be in the car commuting - to spend that time practicing instead. 

I'm going back on-ground in January.

Looking forward to seeing my school friends again, Ruth!

N is for November

Yes, I totally skipped the letter N.  Yes, I'm completely cheating by putting it where it should have been.

Raise your hand if you're ecstatic that the elections are over!  Those damn commercials. 
I always say that the presidency should be one term - six years.  It seems the second half of their first term trying to get re-elected instead of being presidential.

And WTF with everyone showing their crazy politics on Facebook?  I thought that was to be reserved for just plain crazy?

I am FB friends with this guy I knew in high school.  We'll call him Jerry.  I had the biggest crush on Jerry.  He was a year ahead of me and a popular jock, so he barely knew I existed.  Thing is, Jerry was kind to everyone.  He would go out of his way to be nice to people, and when another jock was being a dick to someone less popular, Jerry would step in and make them knock it off.

Now, on FB, he's posting this super-conservative teabag party type stuff.  It is flat-out RUINING my crush!  The childish part of me says, "If he had gone out with me, we would be married, and he never would've turned out like this!" hah!

Then there's this other chick that I barely knew in high school, but she friended me so, whatever.  She posts this super-crazy ass, compeltely unsubstantiated bullshit.  For some reason, when she posts it, it sucked me in every time!  Like other people would post things like that and I was all, "Who cares" but when she posted it, I'd have to call her on it.  I think it was the sheer amount and the so-over-the-top stuff she posted that would get me.

She would post stuff comparing Obama to Hitler.  I'd call her on it.  Then another friend of hers woudl say it's just a joke and I'd say, "yea.  Because Hitler's always SO funny."  She would post this incredibly divisive bullshit  - usually a phrase from a speech that was taken comPLETEly out of context.  Then when people would call her on it (not just me), she'd claim "freedom of speech". 

I saw her unfriend 2 other people for exercising THEIR freedom of speech at the crazy she'd post, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

After the election, she posted something from a blog called 2 Conservative Chicks (or something like that).  It said that if Mitt had won, the liberals would've made good on their promise, rioting in the streets and planning assassinations. 

??

So I commented on the post, "What utter bullsh*t.  Where do you even find this stuff?" 

She commented back, "Do I ever post vulgarity on your page?" blah, blah, blah and unfriended me. 

Shocker.

This was my response on my page:
Just got my first de-friending.

You are right, Jewellee, you've never posted foul language on my page. Maybe because, unlike you, I refrain from posting poisonous, vitriolic, unsubstantiated, hateful things. You say, "so much for liberal "tolerance"" and, again - you are right. I have absolutely NO tolerance for anyone who regularly posts things that are blatantly taken out of context just to rile up a response. You post all this hateful crazy and then get mad when you get the ellicited response. Brilliant.

Just remember, posting all that divisive crap makes you part of the problem, not part of the solution.

After the election, I read that the main reason Mitt didn't win was because the GOP couldn't separate him from the GOP extremists.  Way to go Jewellee and company, ya'll shot yourselves in the foot! hah!

Also, when my friends and I were on a yarn crawl, we saw some guy on the side of a busy intersection with a homemade sign on some big, busted-ass piece of wood.  On one side, it said, "Obama is a Muslim", on the other, "Clinton is a rapist".  Does he really think this is going to work?  Like you're going to see this one-step-above-homeless sign and say, "Oh. My. GOD!  I had NO idea?  He's so right?  I better go vote another way."

Which is exactly how I feel about all the ad campaigns.  Do they really think an ad is going to change anyone's mind?  Of course, there will be the usual lemmings that only vote by what the ads say, but those are few and far between!

And let's not even start on the discussion of how much money was spent on those campaigns.  Billions?  Wow.  What a waste of money that could have been spent in about a billion different ways.

In any case, the elections are over.  We are safe for another two years.  Safe from those damn ads! 

Seriously, though - I do hope Obama (and the Congress/Senate that has to approve anything that comes his way) can get more done now that he doesn't have to concentrate on getting re-elected.

Back to our regularly scheduled programs, Ruth!

M is for Moving

Moving BLOWS.  JK, it's not that bad. 

 Awhile back, I saw someone on FB bitching about something stupid (like we all do), and someone posted, "first world problems".  I now continue that tradition on FB every now and then.  I also think about it a lot when my life is challenging.

Anyway, we moved!

When we moved from Tucson to Colorado, we moved to a suburb of South Denver.  We rented a house with 3 bedrooms, a basement, and a 2 car garage.  That was November 2006.

September 2009,  Dave bought a different business, and we moved to another South Denver suburb - about 15 minutes from the first one.   We went to a smaller place - a townhouse.  It had 2 master bedrooms w/big bathrooms, a half bath downstairs, a one-car garage, no basement.

After Dave's dad passed in June, we decided to look for a place where Dave's mom could live with us.  Our lease was up in September (though we never actually signed a lease last year).  Last year, our landlord (who is very cool, btw) was making noises about raising our rent, saying he could get $300/month more than what we were paying ($1100/mo).  He didn't do it then, but this year, he did.  It went to $1250 and he said it would go up another $100 each year for the next 2 years.

Early August, I told Landlord that we were looking for a place to move the MIL in with us.  We didn't find a place before September.  I told him we'd stay but that we were still looking and would cross that bridge when it came.  He said he'd bring the new lease over on Monday.  He never did!  We paid the higher rent, but weren't locked in to a year-long lease.  Nice!

Dave's mom on the other hand...
She lives in "luxury" apartments.  Not really by choice - she and FIL aren't luxury-type people.  And they aren't really "luxury" apartments, they are pretty normal.  But it was a price they could afford at the time and it had a garage for their car.  When they moved there 3 years ago, they were paying $800/month for a one-bedroom with a one car garage attached.  It's gone up drastically every year and now it's $1100 a month!!!

I went with them when they signed their lease again in May.  We explained back then that we were looking for a place for them both to live with us but hadn't found anything yet.  The manager explained that going month to month would cost TWICE as much!  He also explained that breaking their lease would be equally exorbitant.  Man, he wasn't lying.  It's costing her $4,000 to break the lease.  Two month's worth of rent PLUS an additional $2,000.

Everyone that loves her (including a relative that talked about it to the lawyers she works for) is telling her to tell the apartment complex to go fuck themselves.  It's going to get sent to collections which is going to ruin her credit score, but she's 83 and not likely to purchase a car anytime soon.

She's determined that they are going to sick a lawyer on her.  She named one of those overly-commercialized ambulance chasers you see on TV - named him by name specifically, as if THAT'S the one they'll call.  We've all explained that they'll just send it to collections and even there, they can't touch her Social Security money or her annuities that she lives off of.  She's not listening. 

ANYWAY...
The new house...

couldn't BE more perfect!!

Five bedrooms.  One is a ground-floor bedroom with an attached bathroom for MIL.  The bathroom even has a walk-in shower which was a request of hers. Come ON!  Perfection!

The other bedrooms are all upstairs.  The kids FINALLY get their own rooms again.  One of the bedrooms is ALREADY set up as an office (cable hook-ups and whatnot).  The Master bedroom?  Oh, bejeebus.  It's quite large.  It has TWO closets.  A normal size one and a larger one (with its own vent AND it's own window??).  Guess who got the larger one?

There's an unfinished half-basement.  One side is for the kids (xbox, wii, etc.).  The other side will have the guest bed, but it also has an entire large corner just for me and my craft stuff! Splee!!  (Only has one outlet right now.  Same with the garage.  Only one outlet.  Weird, but we will change that.)

How much for all this luscious space?  $1595 a month.  Sweet!

We have SO much junk!  We live like freakin' ANIMALS.  Dirty ones.

Years ago (while we were still in Tucson), FIL made the boys underbed boxes.  They are large and blue and side-by-side, they take up all the space under a twin bed.  They have furniture sliders on the bottom and are open on top.   I pulled them out from under the bunkbeds at the old place and JUST those two boxes and whatever else they shoved under their beds filled TWO large black trash bags.

Our room was no better. 

And my books!  I own over 300 books.  I've read about a third of them.  Dave is so funny.  He pointed to one specifically and said, "What about that book?  I KNOW you read that book.  Can you get rid of that book?"    I told him I wasn't going to spend this whole move listening to him nag me about my stuff.

A day later, I told him this:
"I have a deal for you.  It's a pretty good deal and you should take it.  I will move EVERYTHING in this house AND your mom's place except the furniture and the electronics."

He agreed!  I packed the whole house.  Mostly by myself, and mostly so he wouldn't see all my crap! hah!  He picked up some big boxes for me, but other than that - it was mostly me!  I got the hookup at Target with Produce Pete.  Pete saved all the apple and bell pepper boxes for me.  The bell pepper boxes were PERFECT for the books.  I could cram them full of books and they still weren't too heavy.  The apple boxes were so plentiful that my minivan still smells like apples!  (After moving, I did go through the books, and there are 2 bell-pepper-boxes-full going to resale at Tattered Cover.)

The previous tenant was a peach!  Kevin let us start putting stuff in the garage 2 weeks prior to our actual move-in date.  I'm also thankful that he has such good taste in lighting fixtures - they are exactly what I would've picked AND he left them all behind for us!  AND he gave us a fridge!  The place didn't come with a washer/dryer or a fridge. (Oh, did I mention that the laundry room is ACTUALLY on the same floor where the clothes live?  Love it!  I don't understand Colorado's fascination with putting the laundry room 2 floors away from the clothes!) We had a washer we'd brought from Tucson.  It's been in our garage ever since we got to CO. 

THEN we found another ganga!  (And by we, I mean Dave)  He found a women in our town that was remodeling her house and was selling a dryer for $50 and a fridge with ice and water in the door for $100.  Dave doesn't want world peace, he wants ice and water in the door.  The fridge Kevin gave us, while free, was a very basic fridge and was also quite small.  The one we bought is stainless steel and, like the dryer, is worth about 10 times what we paid for them!

Dave's mom isn't in with us yet.  She's having a hard time with the move.  It's really stressing her out, and she wants to make the move nice and slow.  I'm all for that, but it's been nearly 2 months since we originally found this house.  She's having a hard time budging.  Kung fu grip on that one.  She keeps saying that she can only do so much.  We keep telling her that she doesn't have to do ANYthing and we will pack and move it all for her but she's all crazy about it.  I understand.  I really do.  But she has to know that we can't wait until the last minute to move her out of her place!

And she keeps saying "your house."  I keep telling her it's "our house."  Once she moves in... that's when the fun really begins!  She and Dave are often like oil and water.  I've already talked to Dave and said, "I know you don't like her to get away with most of the odd that comes out of her mouth, but when you call her on it, it starts a fight.  You gotta be like me and try to let it roll off your back as much as you can because I don't want the boys living in a house where there's constant fighting."  He's been practicing and is getting really good at it!

We are moving her this weekend.

Let the games begin, Ruth!

L is for Locks

On a much lighter note....

Every year, my kids' school does a Locks of Love event.  Last year, D2 got it into his head that he wanted to participate! 

At first, Dave was adamant that D2 get a haircut, so he got one.  It was still a bit long.  I talked to Dave and got him to see reason.  D2 was so dedicated to the idea!  (I think, in part, because it irritated Dave so.)  He put up with vaguely rude comments from Grandma...
Gma: T - your hair looks so nice!" 
D2: What about mine?
Gma: [shrugs]

He put up with waiters CONSTANTLY getting his gender wrong...
Waiter: And for the Senorita? 
Me: Senor. 
Waiter: Yes? 
Me: No.  Him [pointing to D2] - he's a Senor. 
Waiter: I'm sorry - Senor.

(T always helped with that - whenever anyone mistook D2 for a female, D2 would never say anything.  T would always politely and patiently correct the person's mistake: "He's a boy.")

He put up with the physical hassle of long hair.  He discovered the joys of conditioner and de-tangler spray.

After a year of growing, here's what he ended up with....

 

 

The day of the cutting, the whole school got to come out and see it.  My friend and neighbor, Holly came to check it out.  We were talking about D2 and a stranger next to us asked, "Is that your son?"  I said yes and she said, "He's the talk of the whole school!"  Apparently, he was the only boy out of the 26 people signed up for it!

 

The school didn't have any stylists on hand for this event.  The teachers put the hair in ponytails and the teachers did the cutting.

As you can see in this next pic, the left-side pony is different from the right-side pony.  This should go well...

D2 was in the first batch of volunteers.  He got a rousing cheer when they introduced him!  And then the cutting began....

 

The whole event was very sweet.  The kids that cut their hair were all walking around with little baggies full of their hair.  Quite a few of the girls got a bit teary-eyed about their short hair, but none of them seemed to really regret it. 

 

D2's hair wasn't actually long enough to donate for wig-making.  The way it works is that if it's 10" or longer, it's good for wig-making.  If it's not quite that long, the school gets money for the donated hair.  D2's was about an inch too short.  If Dave hadn't've made him cut it that first time, he would've had the 10". 

 

Shortly after the event, my BIL and his wife (Jerry and Jackie) went to a fundraiser for a kid they know that has cancer.  There were gift baskets for auction.  Jackie was determined to get (and did!) the movie basket.  Next time they saw MIL, they gave her the basket to give to the kids, and it included a pic of the kid with cancer.  He had a bald head, and D2 was convinced that this particular kid was the one who would get his hair!  Dave tried to explain that probably wasn't going to be the case, but I said, "Let him think it if he wants to.  What's it going to hurt?"  So we did.

 

Here's the aftershots...

 

Very 80's mod, right?

 

 

I clipper cut him to even it all out...

I asked him if he wanted to grow out his hair and do it again.  He said, "No way."  hah!  I asked T if he wanted to do it next year, and he declined, too.

It was a very sweet day.  All the girls that cut their hair were given a pretty, beaded bracelet.  They made a special boy bracelet just for D2!  It was a black cord with a silver-looking celtic bead.  Cool!

Miss brushing his long hair for him, Ruth!