Thursday, August 28, 2008


Meredith and I are finally starting to get our acts together. Yesterday, we were both dressed and ready to greet the heating and air guy at 7:30 a.m. (This is a vast improvement over my two previous days of 11:00 a.m. showers.) I needed to mentally prepare myself because the company always sends the same guy to service our heating and a/c units. So, Paul and I have quarterly visits. Dear Lord can this man talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. Knowing me as you do, this is a statement. Paul was chattering away as I told him we were heading for the bus stop and he was still talking when we returned home.

Merdi and I were having company for coffee, so I didn’t really have time to chat with Paul as much as he would have apparently liked, because he talked to me the entire time I wiped the finger prints off my appliances. After Paul backed his van out of our driveway, my friend Annie and her kiddos pulled in. Not that I don’t like Paul, but Annie is much better company.

The kids road their bikes outside and played on the swing set before we headed in to photograph Annie’s latest piece of artwork. By the way, if you need a creative outlet and have an idea swimming in your head, Penny Pickles Art is holding a contest to select some new themes for tiles. I’ve seen your nurseries; you guys are full of ideas, so pop over to her site and offer your suggestion. There are prizes involved!

Before Alex got on the bus yesterday we talked about doing his personal best at school. Each day the kids sign in and the slip of paper on which they sign comes home at the end of the day. Let’s just say it’s pretty obvious The Gator is anxious to sign in and get on with his day. I asked Alex if he was doing his personal best when signing in and he said, “Mom, if you hafta ask, you probably know the answer.”

Alex also brought home a book the class created for us to review. Each student had a page and on the page they were to write their name and tell about something they liked. The page was illustrated. Some of the pages were excellent! Well written with outstanding illustrations. Alex wrote Legos illegibly, with the “L” backwards and slopped something sort of resembling a Lego tower with a boy in the middle onto the paper. I wasn’t thrilled after comparing his efforts to those of his classmates. Yes, I know I shouldn’t compare his work to that of others, but let’s face it, someone is resting on his laurels. I said, “Alex, geez this is going home with everyone and other families are going to see this. Are you proud of this page? Is this honestly the best you could do? The boy on the page doesn’t even have hands or hair!” Alex said, “Have you looked at a Lego guy? Their hands are stumpy and they don’t have hair!”

I’m never going to win, am I?

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