Feel Like Complaining

With my daughter set to graduate next year, I wanted to do something to help out the group that makes it possible for them to have an awesome Grad Night party. It was so much easier to join groups in grade school; you knew parents for 7 years and the kids usually grew up together. Then they split off in Middle School and some rejoin in High School. But anyway, I took a gulp and dove in to join. We had our first meeting a few weeks ago. This meeting was only attended by the Moms but I know the Dads jump in when needed. They all seemed to know each other because they had other kids in high school and have done these events before. I felt like a virgin. The overnight party has always been held at the school and no expense has been spared to make sure they have a great time. Some years parents have raised up to 40K and given away prizes such as TV's, X-Boxes, and cash. A few years ago though because of the school renovations they had the party at another location and it was a big h...

For those of you with a wonderlust spirit, this is a fun blog to follow. His name is Darby Roach and he lived in Seattle, Wa., before he sold or gave away all of his worldly goods to ride his bike around the world. There seems to be no reason for it except for the adventure. He's now 62 and he'll make most of the trip by himself, which he estimates will take 3 years. He did have a partner for the first week or so, but now he's on his own. You can follow his daily posts written from his Ipad and when he can catch WiFi. I found him through a local news station,  where his daughter is a reporter. He rode through town at the near beginning of his journey and I got hooked on reading about his travels. Before this trip he biked a lot of the areas we have vacationed at, so it's cool to see the perspective of the bikers we often pass on the road. You can see the route he's going to take and since his trek is only about 3 weeks in, you can start following him now and e...

Since I schedule my posts so far out in advance, this is old news but still I'm sure other bad news has taken its place. There are so many horrible things that have been happening in town and I realize it's not just here, but where you live too. I'm not sure why the citizens of our fair city are so shocked by what is going on. I think it's that we still think of ourselves as a small town; we certainly are in our thinking. Gangs, graffiti, armed robbery, home burglary, shootings, and stabbings fill the evening news and Facebook news channel feeds. At the time of this writing, we had about a 4 day streak of stabbings. It's so hard to keep up, it makes us numb and one story blends into the other and you find yourself thinking "Wait, is this a new one or the one from the other day?" Needing money to fill their drug habits, homes and businesses are robbed and people are shot and stabbed over the drugs they want or didn't get. I don't care if the d...

I've been blogging for a little over 4 years now. I have also gathered some followers along the way. Some have come and gone, some are still with me, but most of them have never said 'Boo!' I've looked at some of their profiles, some are new bloggers, some are not. Some have even stopped blogging with posts clearly a few years old. And quite a few are from foreign countries and I can't understand what they write. They haven't said 'Boo!' either, in whatever language they speak. I've never really been into the whole stats thing, it could tend to make you crazy if you started following them and where your readers are coming from. Recently I saw I had several traffic sources from a site I wasn't familiar with so I clicked on it. It was a porn site! Huh? How in the heck does that work? It surely isn't a place I've been to so how can they be referring to me? See, all that can drive you crazy real quick. But what really baffles me is if I...

Sometimes it's interesting to live next door to a high school. Last month, with the help of the drama students and city fire/police, two schools in our area put on a Mock Crash demonstration. They've been done for years and depict a night of drinking on Prom night. I walked across the street as they were setting up and then stayed for the activity. The first thing I saw, which gave me the willies. They backed it up into the alley so it would be out of sight. Getting the cars in place, right outside of the main doors. Getting blood make up on. The man and boys were family of the 'dead' girl on the car. Juniors and Seniors came outside to this accident, after watching a moving true story presentation. Mostly somber faces, not counting the fools who thought it was funny. Friends yelling at the drunk kid (in middle) for causing the accident Other friends show up and are in disbelief Fire trucks and ambulance arrive and more yelling a...

We interupt our regularly scheduled blog posts to bring you a special news announcement. Kden has fallen, fallen hard. No not for another man, or ice-cream, or the new fitness craze. But rather she has fallen on a hunk of cement, which some of us use for sidewalks. It happned on Monday of this week. Her and her husband were walking one of the many routes they travel with their faithful mutt Nellie. He pointed out up ahead that someone had a dog. They are always alert of dogs on their walk so they can move accordingly. Being alert of what was in front of her instead of what was below her, caused her to trip over a sidewalk which had a raised edge due to large tree roots. She recalls holding her right arm out to catch herself and yelling, but it didn't work; down she went. Like a stubby redwood she crashed down entirely on her right side. She felt her shoulder smash into the sidewalk and the pain reverberated throughout her entire body. The breath was knocked out of her so she...

I'm going to apologize right off the bat; because I'm writing about my neighborhood....again. I know, it gets old for me too. I really do like some of my neighbors, they are responsible adults who care about the state of their yard and what others have to look at and listen to. Kitty-corner from us is a rental house and I briefly wrote about the new people right after vacation last year. Since last August we've had to listen to their barking dogs and watch their yard fill up with crap. I don't think they work but they come and go more than anyone else in the neighborhood. But can they see and hear? I'm starting to have my doubts. Not this bad, thank God! Why can't people hear that their dogs are barking nonstop when I can hear it just fine clear across the street. And get them fixed for God's sake, they're so busy humping each other I don't think they know which end is up. The yard is so full of crap, the two little girls play in another neig...

This is kind of a take off on where my last post about my daughter ended. As she is now a Junior there are so many things to do before next year. There are AP tests in English, SAT and ACT's, Culminating Project, pouring over college material, and it's all about ready to drive me bonkers. By the first of next year we will  have to start FAFSA forms and filling out college applications. I'm not sure how every other family is managing but she doesn't even want to deal with the college stuff. I can't say that I'm ready either but as a parent, I don't have a choice. If I don't push, it won't get done. She's always been self motivated but not in this area. They have a special class that they do a lot of college prep work in, but I don't really know the progress because she doesn't talk about it much. There is a plethera of help in the Career Center at school, but do kids really have the ambition without parents prodding to go get help an...