Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Quickie Observations Before Drafting Class

1) There isn't a pot scrubber as abrasive, yet as gentle, as a dog's tongue.

2) Two weeks ago, I was looking for hints of gold in the green corn. Now I'm looking for hints of green in the gold corn. Harvest is nearly here.

3) Last year at this time, I couldn't button my denim jacket around my hips. This year, I can, even when I'm wearing a thick hooded sweatshirt. I'm down to 225.6 pounds.

4) Even after 25 years, algebra still gives me a headache.

5) There is no #5.

6) The later a third grader is for the bus, the slower she moves. At least, that's true in my house.

7) I will be 43 on Sunday, September 24. I plan to spend my weekend helping my Mom in her garage, and also helping my aunt move stuff. However, I think Mom and Aunt Jane are taking me and my cousing Laura out for brunch. (It's Laura's birthday, too.) However, I still feel like 43 is old. Eek.

8) Speaking of my birthday, Carl is giving me the same gift this year that he gave me last year. He's painting inside the house. Last year it was the foyer. This year it's the dining room, first floor bathroom, the living room and hopefully the game room, too. And he only works inside when he can't work outside on reshingling the roof. This is what you call a working vacation.

9) Carl's employer is having a sweatshirt design contest. They want a shirt that depicts all of the projects they're doing for a certain vendor. I have an idea, and Carl's approved the rough sketch. I'll tell you if I win.

10) I need to leave for Drafting class now.

'Bye!

Monday, September 11, 2006

The Measure of a Man

Today in Construction Lab class, I learned how to run a circular saw. This is something I've wanted to learn for ages, but never had the time. Usually when The Men were working on a project, I was in the house minding the kids and making sure The Men got fed. I'm not complaining, mind you. I did my part and they did theirs, and I was always pleased with the end result, because I usually got a new bathroom or deck or something out of it.

But today, the roles got reversed. Mary (poor baby) has a cold, and she was coughing so hard she (and we) thought she was going to throw up, so she stayed home from school. I couldn't afford to miss Lab because our class is behind the others due to Labor Day, so Carl stayed home with Mary while I went to school. (He went in to work when I got home.) And because he was home, I asked him to do some laundry for me. I gave him detailed instructions on how to do it, and by golly, he did it and did a darn good job, too. But it was strange, me running the power saw and him home, watching Boo and doing laundry.

Now, some guys couldn't handle that. They could maybe stay home with the kid, but laundry? No way! They'd probably spend all their time on the computer or watching TV, but there is no way they'd do laundry. However, Carl is different. He's the kind of guy who can do laundry on Monday, fix a door lock at church on Tuesday, and then spend the weekend reshingling the garage. He's not afraid to tackle the challenge of laundry, because that's the kind of man he is. A real man. A manly man. And that's why I don't mind making him apple pies. He deserves it.

Thanks, honey. You stud, you!

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Curly Blatherskite

I got a perm this morning, so now my hair is curly on top. It's still short and straight on the sides, but the top of my head is doing the Shirley Temple Boogie. It looks nice.

Really!

Meanwhile, I'm nursing a strained ligament in my right ankle. I injured it walking on the treadmill at the rec center. My doctor gave me Celebrex to take (one a day) and told me to stay off the treadmill for a few days. She also told me to get a good pair of walking shoes. So I did, and I plan to try them out on Tuesday for 15 minutes. The doc wants me to ease back into exercize. Having an injured ankle is rather disappointing: I don't know if I'll lose the ten pounds I want to lose by my birthday. I hope I do. I've lost about eight pounds so far.

I seem to be doing well at school. I've gotten "A's" on everything I've done so far, and that's relaxed me quite a bit, so I'm starting to pay more attention to the other students around me. And the main thing I've noticed? These kids seem to completely lack a sense of humor. My instructors crack jokes, and I giggle (usually) but the kids just stare back with that "deer in the headlights" look. I think a Dave Barry-esque course on humor should be taught as part of the curriculum for Construction Management and Architectural Technology students. They could call it "Lighten Up 101" or something.

The girls are also doing well at school. Hannah's grades are holding in the A - B range, and the papers Mary brings home have good marks on them. Mary's very busy this fall - she's in soccer again, and she would have been in Future Stars basketball, too, but basketball practice and soccer practice are held at the same time on Tuesday, so we went with soccer since we'd already paid the entrance fee. We'd also paid dues into Girl Scouts, so Mary's doing that, too. Plus next Saturday she has "Cheerleader Clinic". That happens once a year - the little girls who go to Clinic learn a routine from the high school cheerleaders, and then they perform their routine at a home football game. It's really quite cute, and the girls have a good time, plus they get a t-shirt out of the deal. Hannah's in band, and she'll be marching in the Homecoming parade with the rest of the middle school band members. That should be good. I hope the weather is nice, because I plan to dash out of BSC class and go straight to the parade so I can videotape her. Since she plays trombone, she should be right up front.

And speaking of Homecoming and football, the Regular Season of NFL football shifts into high gear tomorrow, so I'll be watching games closely to see how our Fantasy Football team does. Carl and I teamed up this year. Hopefully we'll do as well together as he did alone last year.

Go Nuclear Coyote!

Friday, September 01, 2006

TGIF!!

As usual, folks, there's good news and bad news. We'll dispense with the bad news first: I failed my typing test in MicroApplications class. You needed 90% proficiency at 25 words per minute. I got 99% proficiency at 24 words per minute. Accurate, but not speedy. You can't have everything, can you?

And now the good news. First, when I weighed myself this morning the scale said 229.6. I haven't seen my weight in the 220's for years. Yeah, I know, when you round up it's 230.But I'm trying to round down, remember? And in keeping with the weight business, today I tried on my non-elastic waist jeans, AND THEY FIT!!! I could even do the "sit and tie your laces" test without pain. WHOO-HOOO!!!!!

Second, I did pass my math test. Barry (the instructor) told me I got 95%. I know which question I missed - I e-mailed Carl right after the exam with a condensed version of the question (a dreaded story problem) and realized that I'd put a zero on the wrong side of the decimal. Therefore, my answer was wrong. Oh, well. Better luck next time. I think I also aced my BCS vocabulary test. (BCS stands for Building Construction Systems.) So far, so good!

So now I'm packing. I'm spending the weekend at my Mom's, cat-sitting for her while she's out of town. I'm taking homework and I hope to complete it while I'm there. I'm still trying to decide if I should take along the ingredients for making banana bread. Mary asked me to make some, and I bought the nearly over-ripe bananas, and if I don't take the stuff with the bread will never get made, unless Carl does it. That's not all that scary of a prospect: in some respects Carl is a better cook than me. But I don't think he'll want to do it. He probably has other plans for the weekend that involve manly things, like doing repair jobs at our church. I assume he'll also want to watch football. And belch and scratch and grunt and so on and so forth.

Like I said, manly things.