9 posts tagged “drama”
It’s about time, but the drama is beginning to subside. Michelle is settling into her new place and she has an appointment with the guidance counselor at school to see what the plan is for her graduation.
She’s been by to pick up most of her stuff and is just waiting for a truck to be available to get her bed moved over.
She’s been living on Mr. Noodles for the last couple of days – payday isn’t until Friday and money’s been a little tight recently. She picked up a couple of packages of KD while she was here so at least she’ll have a little variety.
It’ll be interesting to see what she does about a car given that she won’t have enough for rent and her car before the end of the month.
In other news, Sherry’s birthday is this Friday and I haven’t found anything for her. Yikes. This is getting a little too close for comfort… At least we do have dinner plans for Saturday night.
Pastor George has invited me on a trip that he’s going on next week. He’s headed for a pastoral meeting a couple of hours north of here and wants me to come along. I’m not sure what our plans for our vacations days are this year – I’m not sure I can spare three full days off.
I’m thankful that I’m allowed to play
I’m thankful that I have some pretty cool toys
I’m thankful that we were created to have fun
I know that God created me with a desire to play and I know that He’ll encourage that aspect of my life.
Ok, so I’m tired enough that I can’t even think of a simile. Dang.
I need my sleep.
I get grumpy when I’m awoken at 3:24am and can’t get back to sleep.
When we told her that it was rude to do that she said “Isn’t it my decision when I come in?” Well, I guess it is, but it’s my decision when I put the Rape Chain on the doors. My house will go quiet at 9:30 from now on.
I’m collecting up my stories for my PD class this weekend. I have 10 people signed up from the church (Yaaa!) and I’ll only need to fill in a couple of spots to round out the class to its 12 student minimum.
There’s still so much to do to get the PD class ready for Feb 1st. Yikes.
At least my programming is going well, so I should have a little slack in the schedule shortly (whew). All of the hardware is in for the POS machine that I’m writing and the code is going fairly well. I’d like to bring in the UI for our graphics guy to look at shortly – hopefully he can make it look stunning!
The home renovations were put on hold for the most part of yesterday due to Sherry’s CPR training. The same will happen today and we have dinner guests tomorrow. It’ll be tight to get everything ready.
I need a faster internet connection. I’m downloading a 24M file and it says it’s going to be 18 minutes to download. That’s enough time to get another small project done downstairs. Sigh.
I’m thankful that programming is going so well.
I’m thankful that Sherry is so talented at interior decorating (as well as landscaping!)
I’m thankful that we can entertain in the midst of chaos in our house. Sherry is truly amazing.
Wow, it seems that apathy is the theme of the year for most of the city. We’re working on building relationships (it’s our theme for 2008) – we’re doing that in a number of ways.
First of all we’re planning on getting together with a small group of people once a month (well, in our case twice) to share either a meal or a dessert. The idea is that you get 4 couples to join and then you take turns hosting. That means you get to go out and enjoy yourselves 9 times a year and you host the party three times. Pretty cool.
We’re also working on building relationships between people by meeting them at our place for an evening of chatting and getting to know one another and then introducing like-minded people to each other and then backing off.
The other thing that I’m planning on doing is teaching the True Colours (now known as Personality Dimenions) so that people will know how to talk to each other in a language that the other understands and feels comfortable with.
Well. We’re having a hard time getting three other couples interested in hosting the once-a-month thing. We only had 5 people sign up for PD and no one wants to commit to our fist get-to-know-you evening.
Is it me?
Michelle appears to be in danger of losing her car again. The deal that was originally made when she got her car was that her grades had to stay ‘high’. We’ve modified that to something measurable by saying that in every class (other than math) she needs to have her mark above the class average. In math a pass is just fine.
She came within one percentage point of losing her car at midterms. Now she doesn’t seem to be putting any effort in to getting ready for her Year End Projects and her Exams. It’ll be a Long two months until midterms come around again if she’s below average in any of her classes this term.
On top of all this good news she’s taken on a new job. Her training is the last week before exams and she has three five hour shifts from 5:00 to 10:00. We don’t think this is a good idea. I guess it’s her car.
She came home last night at 3:24am. She woke the house when she came in. She’ll likely be grounded.
Sherry is a painting *machine*. She’s got almost the entire upstairs done and is ready to work on the wine room (we’re just waiting for insulation). She’s going to be taking the next two days to be re-certified in CPR and First Aid, so no work’ll be done on the walls for a couple of days.
We have Al and Nancy coming over for supper on Friday – they’re in the middle of a kitchen renovation and can’t cook for themselves. That should be fun (I’m just hoping that the painting is done enough that we can have our living room back!
I’m thankful for Sherry’s work ethic.
I’m thankful that our house is looking even more amazing than it was.
I’m thankful that I finally have (most of ) a wine room.
It was a bad day.
Not just for me, but for everyone that I came across. People that are normally laid back and even keeled snapped at me. People that I like and that like me walked out on me.
Nothing seemed to go right.
It was Monday.
I’m just glad that the day is over and we can get back to a regular week. It’s really weird how poorly everyone’s days went.
Michelle came home crying because her friends are giving her grief because she taxis them around town and every now and then asks for gas money.
I haven’t written a line of code in a long time.
Sherry had the removal job from hell – she only worked the morning and came home exhausted.
The list goes on.
Anyway, Sherry is almost done, Christmas is almost here, my glass is always half full and the sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar there’ll be sunshine. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you’re always a day away.
I’m thankful that today is not Monday. Yuck.
I’m thankful that days like that are so uncommon that it takes my whole blog to get it out of my system.
I’m thankful that each season takes its turn on stage. I love fall but I’m glad to see snow, I love winter but I’m glad to see new life, I love spring but I’m glad to see the dry weather come, I love summer but I’m glad for the cool refreshing winds to blow.
Well, ok, not the whole day, but the training that I’ve been looking forward to for so long has been cancelled.
Bummer. Now I have to wait until next year to be trained as a True Colours teacher. Bummer.
Michelle had a meeting with a counselor at school yesterday and came home amped about going to college again. She found out that she can transfer her credits from her first year of General Arts to the program that she decides on after first year. She had assumed that the first year of GA would be a waste of time and money.
Of course I feel that even just for the opportunity to mature in a higher education environment that it would be worth the money to do a year of GA. It’s a lot better than working at Tim Horton’s for a year!
Good progress is being made on my current project. I had to write my own scroll bar yesterday since the teeny tiny ones in Windows won’t be nearly big enough for the Sausage FingerTM UI that I’m writing. It was kinda cool. I love my job.
Sherry was told yesterday that her end date should be the end of November again. which is a good thing if you look at the forcast! (Of course we’ve seen this before…)
I hope he means it this time. I need her to run interference with Michelle.
(Ok, one quick tale out of school. She came home yesterday and the dishwasher was full and dirty. She put soap in it and turned it on – it took less than 30 seconds AND she complained about how much work it is. If that’s how much she values the family…)
I’m thankful that we have a full set of really nice dishes. It makes entertaining a lot more fun. I also have a full set of really nice cutlery.
I’m thankful that this house is better insulated than the last house. We were able to move some of the heating budget into other, more productive, places.
I’m thankful that both of our cars are ready for winter. The van is in really good shape and our car is ready too. The car even has a remote starter for mornings that you really don’t want to go out. Very nice.
When I first got my Wii I fell in love with the bowling simulator.
I read on John Dvorak's blog:
"Unbeknownst to most readers, I was a 200-average bowler in high school and college and found myself on the University of California at Berkeley varsity bowling team (yes, they had such teams). I was also on two championship intramural teams. I mention this only to give myself some standing in evaluating the Nintendo bowling simulation, so I can better convey that Nintendo has done a stupendous job of coding. Did I say stupendous? Yes I did."
So I was impressed when I bowled a 240 - but I threw my shoulder out doing it and it took about three weeks to heal. I stopped bowling so competitively.
My new game is Guitar Hero - which is a BLAST, but before that was Tiger Wood Golf - I was able to play Pebble Beach and get a 1 under par!
In seemingly unrelated news I've been having problems doing my regular exercise routine becuase of elbow pain. So I stopped most of my upper body workout waiting for my elbow to heal, but it hasn't in the last three or four weeks, so I went to my Doctor.
Yup.
I have Golfer's Elbow (just like Tennis Elbow, but on the inside instead of the outside). Uh oh.
She prescribed some anti-inflamatory drugs and given me a physio routine to go through until the elbow heals, which she says will take a while.
Darn.
At least Guitar Hero should be safe for a while.
I'm still recovering from the loss of sleep Sunday night that Michelle's drama caused. I feel like crap and can't concentrate at all. I have to teach tomorrow night, Alpha was last night and I volunteer tomorrow during supper. I'm too busy to put up with Michelle's whining and complaining.
I'm thankful that I'll be able to start my second honeymoon in less than 10 months. We didn't really get a first honeymoon and I really feel ripped off about that. When Michelle moved out a year and half ago I accidentally started my second honeymoon and now I'm really anxious to start it for real.
I'm thankful that Sherry's done work for the season in just over two weeks. We have plans to do some renovations and she'll be here to absorb most of Michelle's bitching.
I'm thankful it's just Golfer's Elbow and not something more serious. I was a little concerned when my elbow hadn't healed over the course of a few weeks. My Doc said that she loves 'the easy one's'. It's common enough that she has a photocopied treatment sheet to give to me with the information and exercises I'm supposed to do. Whew.
Wow, I managed to get a stress-free day in! Yesterday's programming day went extremely well (although I did find a major snag with Excel 2007... bummer). Supper was a combination of fresh and leftover food and Michelle didn't come home, so there was absolutely no drama yesterday. It was really, really nice.
Ken called last night to firm up the details for his wedding. We videotape weddings for fun and profit and we'll be giving
him his video as a wedding gift. We've also arranged for a still photographer to come down with us to do the stills as part of the gift (Ken's a really good friend).
It's a little complicated getting to the wedding to make the timing work. It would be best if we could all take Friday afternoon off work - but I don't know how that's going to work out with Paul... I'll do some e-mailing today and find out what's up.
It was nice chatting with Ken, and it'll be fun spending Friday with them before the ceremony. It looks like a bunch of people from here will be headed into Michigan to attend this thing... hmmmm - I wonder if Paul could car-pool with one of them...?
It looks like I have a bit of organizing to do - at least I have a couple of days to get it worked out.
-
Sometimes I wonder if I taught Michelle everything that she needs to know. I've taught her to think on her feet - to see the motivation behind the things that she's being sold (or told). I've taught her to ask the questions that will keep her from being sold a bill of goods. We've taught her the value of money, how to budget (her money and her time) and how to run a household.
I didn't teach her to obey authority blindly. That would have made this year a lot easier. And there'll be times when she doesn't understand why a boss tells her to do her job a certain way (and there may not be a good reason), but the boss *will* have the power to fire her.
Hmmm.
So faith based schools are a hot topic right now. Should the government help fund faith based schools (like the Catholic or Christian schools)?
I think so, under a couple of conditions. The teachers need to be qualified to teach the children that they are trusted with and the ciriculum needs to be the same as the public schools.
By putting a child into a faith based school you are doing a couple of things - you're teaching them a set of moral values and you're making one more space in a public school.
Of course I can see how this would be likened to private health care... hmmm. Should people that have more money get a better education than those that don't? Should wealthy people get better health care than those who aren't?
The answer, of course, depends on whether you are wealthy or not.
I'm not voting Liberal this time because of McGuinty's famous promise not to raise taxes. He even signed a legal document with the Canadian Taxpayers Association saying he wouldn't. That really ticked me off.
I would consider myself a small-c conservative. I think every government should spend less than they make, should strive to do as much as they can with as little waste as possible and should be responsible for the money that I'm forced to give them in the form of taxes.
I really enjoyed having Paul Martin as the Canadian Finance minister. He sucked at Prime Minister, but he was a great Finance Minister.
---
Michelle had a fight with Michael (the uncle that spearheaded the effort to get her a car for her 16th birthday) over the car last night. She was loud enough after the fight to wake me just as I was drifting off.
I had a terrible night's sleep last night and I'm in a nasty mood today.
I really hate that car.
Ok, so I seem to be stuck on this whole car thing. Michelle really really really stresses me out over this.
She refuses to share 'her' car and I'm paying for the whole thing (which stresses my budget - Sherry and I typically go through about $150 a month in gas, Michelle has been going through an additional $200 a month).
Something has to change.
Michelle and all (and I mean all) of her friends have jobs - so we're going to offload (like a good politician) all of the car
expenses on to them. If they can't each kick in $10 per week for gas then they've been abusing my generousity (and Michelle's willingness to drive them - she's the only one that has access to a car).
So, they'll be responsible for gas and maintenance of the Cabbie - Michelle will be required to drive Sherry into work in the mornings in exchange for us insuring the car (which she actually can't afford - no matter how many of her friends have jobs). Sherry and I will make do with one car until Michelle goes to College this time next year.
Michelle gets so dramatic (Drama Queen Academy Award level) when we talk to her about her car. And it's really stressful. Sherry misses all of that drama because Michelle is at work by the time Sherry gets home and we're in bed by the time Michelle gets home.
I need it to stop
In slightly more mundane, but happier, news I'm back down to my all-time lowest weight (I now weight around 190 - down from an all time high of 220). My goal is 185 (I'm 6'2") and it looks like it's in reach now. I'm also back to 3 miles a day which I complete in about 25 minutes on the treadmill. I get the advantage of comfortable weather and I get to watch a movie while I run. Pretty cool.
