The Guilt Trip … It Worked!

I'm still not really back to blogging but I couldn't stand another cute little sad plea for my return. LOL! Angie, Sondra — YOU CRACK ME UP!! Plus, I thought it was time to supplant that pic of the stuffed dog with a photo of real poochies.

Life is still rolling along here. Older son has deferred college until the Spring semester and is currently working two jobs. One is at The Cheesecake Factory, where he brings home TONS of tip money, more than should be legal for an 18-year old! The other is at The St. Pete Times Forum (in downtown Tampa), where the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL hockey team) play and bands, shows, etc. perform. That job usually runs through the middle of the night when he and the rest of the "Conversion Team" change the floor from or back to ice. Thursday night was an Alice Cooper & Black Sabbath show and DS floated back home after actually talking to some of the (geriatric) rockers. ;-) DS is really liking that job and has been interested in sets and stages since his Drama days in high school. Who knows, maybe it will actually lead somewhere for him.

DS#2 is a sophomore this year. Our district changed their schedules and we've been adjusting to that. Until this year, we were on the "block" system, which meant four 90-minute classes per day, and only one semester per major class. So for instance, Biology would only take one semester instead of a whole year. Now, because of budgetary and legislative class-size concerns, they are on a traditional schedule with seven classes per day and all classes (except electives) last the full school year. Apparently you need less teachers/classrooms this way. DS is in all Honors and AP classes so he's a bit loaded down. But he's doing great and was the only kid in his World History class to make a 100 on a surprise test the other day. I hope he keeps that up!

And, yes, there's football. I'm still in the middle of the annual tee shirt sales and still doing the Varsity meals every Friday. DS#2 was supposed to be on the JV team this year. He is only a sophomore after all. But the Varsity second-string Center quit the team and so the Varsity coach moved DS up to the Varsity team to fill the gap. It's a mixed blessing because what it really means is that he won't play much and that disappoints him (and us). And no, he doesn't have a choice. Even with me as the Team Mom, there's no extra pull. LOL! But he's adjusting and the current Center is a senior this year so DS is definitely IN to be the starting Varsity Center his junior and senior years. I suppose it's good for him to learn some patience, right?

The biggest change around here is that DH and I have decided to get out of the self-employment biz. DS has been in training classes for the past couple of weeks with two more weeks to go before he moves into a slot with his former employer, a major transportation company. It will be nice to have regular paychecks and company-paid benefits again. But it also means DH will be on the road traveling a lot, leaving me to man the fort at home alone. That will take some getting used to after 15 years of a set-your-own schedule. Sigh.

The second biggest change is we're down to one vehicle between DH and I right now. The lease was up on our gas-guzzling SUV last month and we've just been too busy to slow down and decide/shop for what we want. So, of course, I've needed a vehicle during the day more than I usually do and we've had to do some shuttling. Ugh. With DS's Mustang in the shop the first 3 days of this past week, it's been ugly. But his car is out (long rant coming on that another day), and he's actually buying an old Jeep tomorrow to be his daily driver, so we'll be back to 3 vehicles in less than 24 hours. And once DH is out of the classes, we'll shop for our second and the family's fourth. Oh Lordy, be still my insurance rates! But I will say it's been nice to NOT have to $$fill up$$ the honkin' big V-8 SUV anymore.

And me. I haven't sewn a thing for myself since whenever I last posted I did. But I have been sewing. A LOT. And not doggy diapers, although I'm still doing them in dribs and drabs. I stumbled on to some private customers that at another time I might have turned town, but it's been lucrative so I'm giving it a shot since we need the income right now with DH in training mode and me officially un-self-employed. But, man, that Burda top is still calling to me every time I open the stash closet and see that beautiful fabric. Sniff, sniff. It will be hot/warm here for quite a while yet, so I haven't given up on it. And I will have to convert a football tee to a female version very soon. So, hang in there … there will be sewing on this blog again soon.