This and That

I signed up for a pretty intensive bible study at church now that all three kids are in school and I have large chunks of quiet time during the day.  There are total of five people in the class and the other four class members are all old enough to personally remember the Truman administration.  It's going to be a long year.
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Evan's kindergarten class has themed snacks the first three weeks of school.  They got red jello cups on Red Day, carrot sticks on Orange Day, mint Oreos (how have I not heard of these?!?) on Green Day, etc.  Not having the energy for something all Pinterest-y and cute, I signed up for Circle Day, because what's easier than sending a box of Ritz Crackers to school with your kid, you know?  But wouldn't you know it, the pushy mom behind me in line whined (and I mean whined like a two year old), "Do you have to sign up for that day?  That's my daughter's birthday and I wanted to bring something cute."  Well, first of all, how am I supposed to know that day is her kid's birthday?  And second of all, she could have used a nicer tone because, well, she was definitely older than two.  So I quietly erased my name next to Circle Day and signed up for Square Day because I suppose a box of Wheat Thins is just as easy to send as a box of Ritz.

And then at Meet-the-Teacher last night, I had to listen to her girls whine through the whole presentation.  So I'm guessing the whining is genetic.  I feel sorry for her husband.
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Liam's teacher had a baby three days into the school year so now he has a substitute for the next ten weeks.  She told us at Meet-the-Teacher last night that she doesn't like to punish kids by taking away their recess time.  If anything, she thinks those kids probably have too much energy and need to work it off in order to function better in the classroom.  Hallelujah!  A teacher who gets it!  Hopefully when his teacher returns in November, she'll have a similar attitude.
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I got my Christmas gift early this year: a fancy camera that takes great pictures.  Well, it's supposed to take great pictures.  So far I've taken several so-so pictures of the dog (my only subject during the day since the kids are at school).  I'm taking a photography class over the next couple of months so maybe by Christmas I'll have figured out what I'm doing.  Maybe.
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We may have to look for a new kennel for the dog for when we're out of town.  Our vet doesn't have one so we've been taking him to one a couple of miles away.  He's well taken care of, but this place is a little too fancy (and pricey) for my liking.  Maybe it's because they offer stupid things like Labor Day meal specials (a mini hamburger and slice of watermelon!) or blueberry avocado facial scrubs and bedtime stories.  For dogs!  They want me to pay someone to read to the dog?  We, of course, don't purchase any of those things for Max, but I don't know if I even want to be associated with a place that offers such idiotic services.
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After several years of having it pretty easy at school, Syd has finally discovered why some kids say school is so hard.  Fifth grade is a doozy.  She had so much homework the other day that she only had fifteen minutes before bedtime to read a novel.  She lamented that her amount of "me time" has diminished greatly since starting middle school.  Poor girl.  She has no idea that this is just the beginning....

School Snafus

School started this week for all three kids.

They all handled the first day really well, despite two of them being at new schools.  There were only a few tears.  (And those were all mine.)

The year has gotten off to a good start, but of course, things can't always go perfectly.

For instance, Liam brought home a nasty stomach bug and missed yesterday and will miss today, too.  So there goes his perfect attendance a mere two days into the school year.

And Syd's bus forgot to pick her up this morning.  As I was driving home from dropping Evan off at his school, I saw her bus sitting at an intersection near the exit of our neighborhood with the bus driver shuffling through a stack of papers and looking confused.  I thought she'd already picked up Syd and was on her way out of the neighborhood to continue her route, but as I pulled on to our street, I saw Syd still sitting at the bus stop reading a book.

The operator at the transportation department told me that she thought the driver arrived at Syd's stop too early and she would ensure that the driver wouldn't get there too early next time.

Syd was at the stop a good ten minutes before her scheduled pick up time, so, yeah, I don't think that's the reason.

The bus completely skipped our street.

Thankfully, Ryan had the time to drop her at school before heading into work so that I could stay home with poor Liam who can't be more than ten feet from the bathroom.

Thank goodness we were home, otherwise she'd still be outside getting eaten up by mosquitos.

But it made me wonder: what happens to the kids in a similar situation whose parents aren't home?

And this isn't necessarily school-related but it was still an interruption to what was a fairly good first week of school.  I got a frantic phone call from our sweet neighbor on the left yesterday evening telling me to keep the kids in the house.   I'd heard some yelling coming from the direction of the house on the other side of us, but as they're always making a bunch of noise playing basketball, I didn't really give it much pause.  Apparently, our lovely (please note the sarcasm) neighbors to the right of us got into enough of a dispute with one another that the police were called out.  We had four police cars parked right in front of our house for a good hour last evening as they attempted to quiet the situation and fill out paperwork.

Nice.

And they wonder why I won't let our kids play with theirs anymore.

Well, That's Just Great

We found out yesterday which teachers the boys will have this coming school year.

I don't know anything about Liam's first grade teacher and I can't find anyone who does.

Great.

As for Evan's kindergarten teacher?  It's the same teacher Liam had last year for kindergarten.  I'm guessing she requested Evan after she found out during the kindergarten entrance tests that he could read.

Sigh.

The one advantage to this is that Evan already knows her and is comfortable with her making his transition to "big kid school" a bit easier.

But.....seriously?!?

Disturbing Phone Call

Nothing can compare to the horrible phone call I got a year and a half ago.  It's the kind of phone call I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.  Ever since the incident that prompted that phone call, Ryan has worn a medical ID bracelet with my cell phone number in case of another emergency.

Thankfully, he has been seizure-free since then and I haven't received another dreaded call.  However, every time my cell phone rings and it's a number I don't recognize, my stomach clenches up a bit and I answer it because I know that it could be another Good Samaritan looking out for us.

So today, I turned my phone back on after church and noticed that I had a voicemail from a number that I didn't recognize.  I knew it couldn't be someone calling about Ryan as he'd been with me all morning so I didn't get any kind of sinking feeling.  In fact, I was sure it was a sales call of some sort.

And then I heard this:

Man's Voice: "Uh, hello, this is Officer Smith* and I'm calling regarding a homicide that took place last night at a property you own."

My thoughts:  Oh God, our sweet tenant has been murdered in our rental house.  Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. 

Officer Smith:  "The property is located at #### Oak Street* and we need any footage that you may have recorded on your cameras.  Please give me a call back at ###-###-####."

The address he gave was not the address of our rental house.  Thank goodness.

I called him back immediately.  He asked if I represented the company that owned the property.  I informed him that I was a stay-at-home mom and we didn't own that property.  He recited the phone number he'd dialed.  I informed him that he'd misdialed by one digit.  He apologized for the miscommunication and I finally took a breath before hanging up.

Talk about disturbing.

I feel sorry for the person for whom that call was intended.

I wonder if they were as freaked out as I was once he finally reached them.

I guess I'll never know.


*Names have been changed in case a crazy murderer does a google search on his (or her - I don't discriminate when it comes to cases of murder) alleged crime.

Letters

Dear Neighbors to our Right,

It would be great if you could stop throwing your trash in our yard.  It would be great if you could stop playing basketball before 10 pm.  It would really be great if you would watch your mouths while playing basketball so that I can let my kids play outside again.  It would be great if you could learn how to work your car alarm so that it wouldn't go off every morning between one and four.  It would be great if you didn't tell your kid that he could play at our house all day (lunch included!) without asking me first.  It would be great if you could make your car payments so that we don't have to watch the repo men come and tow away two of your three vehicles.  But then again, if you're not keeping up with your car payments then you're probably not keeping up with your rent, either, and you will be evicted soon.

Here's Hoping,
A Neighbor Who Has Really Tried to be Nice
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Dear Neighbor Two Doors Down to our Left,

I realize that it's difficult to pack up a house and get ready to move with a five year old around.  But dropping her off at my house several days in row is not cool.  Neither is asking us to watch her as we pull into our driveway after getting home from our vacation.  And neither is asking the sweet neighbor who lives between us to text me and ask when I'm getting home so you can drop off your kid.  Not cool, man.

Find Yourself a Babysitter,
A Tired Mom
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Dear Netflix,

Would you please add the next two seasons of Sons of Anarchy to your instant streaming programming?  We're almost done with the seasons you offer and we are hooked.  Hooked.

About to Go Buy Some Leather Cuts,
Two Law Abiding Citizens Who've Been Dreaming About Motorcycles
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Dear Sweet Daughter,

You wanted to paint your room so we did.  You wanted white, whispy curtains so we got them.  You want a green lamp so I'm looking for one (although it would help if you weren't so picky).  And now that I've done my part, you need to do yours and put all your stuff back in your room.  I'm fairly certain your little brother would like to have his room back when he gets home from his grandma's house.

Get to Work Please,
Mom
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Dear Summer,

Please stop flying by.

Sincerely,
A Mom Who Likes Sleeping Past 6am

Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

Backstory: Our church has a weeklong camp in which the kids get to focus on their favorite hobbies and interests and try out new ones.  There are classes for science, woodworking, fishing, photography, art, etc.  Liam chose Legos for his primary class - no surprise there.  Syd chose Hogwarts Academy for her primary class.  While her Harry Potter obsession may have waned, she still adores the stories and mentions something from the books at least once a week.

So in preparation for her class (which, according to the mom running it, is going to be loads of fun), Syd has been re-reading all of the books this summer.  She's currently on the sixth one and as quickly as she reads now, I have no doubt she'll finish the seventh by next Monday.

Since my little overachiever is determined to be the most knowledgeable student in her class, she asked me to quiz her on Harry Potter details.  While I've read the books and I enjoyed the story, I quickly ran out of quiz questions so we turned to Sporcle for some trivia questions.

One of the quizzes gave us a list of first names for 50 or so characters and we had to type in the last names for those characters.  These quizzes are timed and she can't type very fast, so she stood behind me and shouted out the answers for me to type for her.

It went something like this:

Q: Harry
A: Potter! (because she was excited and shouted the answers at the back of my head)

Q: Ron
A: Weasley!

Q: Albus
A: Dumbledore!

All was well until we got to a certain name and I wound up laughing so hard at her answer we had to pause the game.  What got me so tickled?

Q: Colin
A: Firth!

The answer is Colin Creevey, but my sweet girl has obviously lived with me for so long that a bit of me has rubbed off on her.

I still chuckle when I think about it.

I don't know that Ryan found it all that funny, though.  I don't know if he can handle two Colin Firth obsessed females in the house.  :)

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On a related note, I saw the trailer for a new movie called Austenland the other day and about died laughing.  I definitely have to go see this movie.  Too bad it's rated PG-13; otherwise, I'd take Syd with me and make a girls' day of it.

Guess I'll just have to drag poor Ryan to it instead.

Haunted by a Movie

Have you ever seen a movie that haunted you?  I've read books that have stuck with me (I still think about the characters from "The Poisonwood Bible" more than a decade after I read it), but I've rarely had a movie do the same.

While scanning the grown-up movie selection at the library last week (the kids' movies section being completely depleted by this point in the summer), I came across one called "We Need to Talk About Kevin".  I vaguely remembered hearing that it was good and since Ryan and I both like Tilda Swinton, I grabbed it.

Oh my.

It took us a while to figure out what was going on because the scenes jump back and forth in time, but once we got the gist of the plot, we were riveted to our seats.

The plot revolves around a woman (Swinton) who, along with her oblivious husband, raises a sociopathic son.  From the earliest age, the son is devoid of feeling and is quite simply, a monster.  The mother really tries to be affectionate with him when he is younger, but grows increasingly colder toward him and eventually becomes frightened of him.  I won't give away any spoilers, but I will say that the son does something absolutely horrific and the mother spends the next few years dealing with the aftermath of what he did.

By the time it was over, Ryan and I looked at each other in disbelief.  We were left with the question of whether the mother became cold and distant because her son was sociopathic or if he became a sociopath because she was cold and distant.  The filmmakers did a great job of leaving it open-ended.

Honestly, it reminded me of a family we know.  Sydney is involved in an activity with the daughter who is a perfectly lovely girl.  She's quiet, sweet and eager to please.  Both of her brothers, however, are holy terrors.  They are overtly rude, mean-spirited and generally terrifying to be around.

I felt sorry for their parents.  And then I talked with their mother.

Now you never really know what goes on in someone else's home, but if the little snippets of conversation I've had with the mother are any indication, theirs is not a very happy one.   Even when she attempts to say something nice (a very rare occurrence), her tone is insolent and surly.  Ryan, who is a much more easy-going person than I am, can't stand to be around her.  That says a lot.

We've only known this family for a few years so I really wonder if her boys act like they do because of her attitude or if she developed the attitude because of how her boys have acted.  I guess we'll never know.

After watching the movie, however, I am kind of worried about how those boys are going to turn out.  And I really worry about their sweet sister.

I briefly toyed with the idea of anonymously mailing a copy of the movie to their house.  I won't, of course, but I wonder what would happen if the mother saw it.  Is she capable of changing her overall tone and attitude?  Would her sons' behavior change?

I just don't know.