Countdown to Graduation

I just looked at the calendar and realized that two weeks from tonight, my middle child graduates from high school. I finished the graduation announcements tonight and will mail them tomorrow. I failed the first of the "Graduation Etiquette Tips" on the box of announcements - they are supposed to arrive at least two weeks before graduation. I was thinking I still had plenty of time. So I'm just a little late - what's new? I'm pretty proud of being that close to the deadline. And it's a good thing - I just heard yesterday that stamps went up to 41 cents. When did that happen and why didn't I hear about it? I was planning to use some leftover 39 cent ones that I have laying around. Would it be bad graduation etiquette to stick 2 cent stamps alongside them on these formal graduation announcements? I don't think I'll risk it, bad enough that I'm late.

Eric has had some major changes lately. About a month ago he got a job at the Courtesy Corner Shell station where his girlfriend and three other best friends work. We were so proud to say he worked two jobs for a couple of weeks, but then he quit McDonalds because he was able to get extra shifts at Shell. Three years on the job at McDonalds, and on his second to the last shift, he finally got caught by a strict manager and ordered to shave the beard. He shaved about a one-inch line between the sideburns and the goatee and met the requirements! Nearly every time I come by Shell, he's sitting inside chatting with his friends. He always says, "You missed the busy time again! I just sat down!" Ha. This week I finally caught him working when I drove up.

Then he had to work really hard, because these buses drove up! I dropped off his Subway sandwich and left. You can see his white shirt at the back of the bus.

Across the street is Papa Murphy's, where I have picked up a pizza nearly every Friday night for the past couple of years. Another good friend of Eric's works there, and he talked Eric into getting a job there. He started training Monday. So now we can again say that our son works two jobs! We are so proud!

His last band concert was Tuesday night. Their band went to State this year and took second place. It was nearly a disaster for Eric, because he realized that morning that he no longer had black pants, having turned them in to McDonalds because they were part of his uniform. He thought maybe his dad would have some he could borrow, but Will never replaced the black Dockers that Eric split the crotch in a year or so ago at a band concert. Fortunately, I had some black pants I had bought for him in December that weren't a perfect fit that I had intended to return, but hadn't made it back to Salem. They fit well enough to make do. I love it when procrastination pays off. And the bonus was, in the bag with the pants was a bag with a purchase from Bath & Body works that I had completely forgotten about! Good grief.

Oboe players always get to sit right in the center of the front row. For some reason, I am not at all sad that I no longer have any obligation to sit through 2 1/2 hour band concerts at West Albany! Even though they are always excellent.

What a Great Truck!!!

The new pickup hauled its' first load of bark dust this weekend. How did we ever get along without a pickup anyway? Not only can you haul bark dust in it, you can sit in it to relax and enjoy looking at the fruits of your labors after your son has swept out the pickup bed! Nick was pretty disappointed, he had to miss out on some of the fun work because his friends thought he had to go paintballing with them. Lucky for him, he got home in time to help with barkdust and enjoy the pickup relaxation time.
Tonight I got some wave petunias and 50-cent geraniums planted around the trees. (I love working at a school with a greenhouse and a horticulture class!) I went nuts with geraniums. They are everywhere. I am nearly done planting flowers. Maybe. Unless I find another great deal like those 50-cent geraniums!

Another Mother's Day

Once again I got my favorite gift for Mother's Day - two able-bodied men working in the yard for many hours with me! Eric got out of it with a lame excuse about working a 15-hour day at the Shell station.

We have a landscaping project in our back yard. Before we began our labors, Will told me to sit down and not get offended. I braced myself, and he proceeded to tell me that he would be directing this project, because I get too sidetracked and scattered and waste too much time. I understood his point and agreed to let him be in charge. We had a few conflucts but we are aware he is a big picture person and I am a detail person, and both are important. Sometimes I just have to stand there and look at an area from different angles, and measure about three times to be sure things are going the way they should. But Will and Nick dismantled three old raised beds, shoveled the dirt onto a new area, prepared the area and dug three holes for the three birch trees we purchased.

That was an adventure in itself. We all got into Will's fabulous new pickup and drove out to Gindhart's Nursery on Peoria Road - a beautiful Saturday drive. Will was delighted with the opportunity to share his new CD, Roy Rogers Greatest Hits. He told Nick he had a special song that pertained to the day's activities called "I'm Livin' in Levenworth." It seemed to be comparing marriage to prison but the prisoner has a real good attitude about it. He sings, "Me and the warden have a ball." (Roy Rogers, not Will.)

I warned Will and Nick to watch out for old Mr. Gindhart. I have bought one tree out there every spring for about the past three or four years, and he always tries to intimidate me into buying the smallest tree. He has one gallon trees for $3.75, two gallon for $6.75, three gallon for $10, and then the normal size ones that other nurseries sell for $25 on up. The first year I started out looking at the normal size trees and he pretty much ridiculed me. "Why would you pay $25 for this tree when you could pay $3.75 now and have a tree this big in five years? " Maybe cause I don't want to wait five years? He always intimidates me into buying a smaller tree than I want, and I was determined this year to go away with at least a two gallon size tree. I told my guys not to make eye contact if they saw him and walk away.

We picked out three two-gallon size birch trees, after much agonizing on my part. We didn't run across Mr. Gindhart until we were ready to pay for our trees. He looked at the trees, looked at me, and said, "You know, we have lots of smaller birch trees out there for only $3.75." I pleasantly but firmly said, "Yes, I know, but these are the ones I chose." Thank goodness he didn't argue with me!

So our trees are planted and the men of the house got to rest on Mother's Day. Except they all participated in a mother's day skit with me at church, playing their ornery selves. That was interesting. They also made a good Sunday dinner and did the dishes. My parents and Linda joined us.

Thank you, Eric and Nick. It is a joy to be your mother (most of the time). Thank you, Will, for appreciating me, helping me and sharing the parenting of these three great boys. Craig, it was great to talk to you last Thursday and you better keep your promise and call me tomorrow!

Thank God it's Friday!

What a day. The beginning of my work day, 7:00 AM, seems so long ago I can hardly remember it. Here are some of the things that happened today.

**The morning was already very busy before 9:00 when we got word that Linn Benton Community College was in lockdown because of a report of a man in a trench coat possibly concealing weapons. Staff and parents started calling the office asking what we knew. One parent called asking if what our plan was and if we were going into lockdown also. Soon we heard that they were evacuating. Our special ed teacher who had a professional day to go to various schools for transition meetings had children in daycare there, so someone called to tell her they needed to be picked up. She didn't answer her cell so I left a message and called the school where I thought she was and she soon called back, saying all her meetings for the day needed to be cancelled.

**Our administrators were behind closed doors, asking not to be disturbed.

**A problem student came to the office and started calling his mom, saying he was going home because his teacher yelled at him. I interrupted the meeting to inform our assistant principal, knowing he had a good rapport with the student. He was able to calm him down.

**I got a call from a teacher saying two boys had been observed sharing some pills at a drinking fountain, possibly vitamins. Not wanting to disturb our administrators again, my fellow secretary went down to get the boys and bring them to the office, returning with a packet of pills in her hand. (Pills of any kind are a big NO NO in school.) These two boys ended up spending the day in the office.

**A boy came down from PE asking for a bandaid, saying he had cut his arm falling on a PE locker. It was a fairly deep cut with blood running down his arm. I gritted my teeth, put some gloves on, and brought him to the next room to clean it for him. It didn't look that bad after I cleaned it and wasn't bleeding at all. I put some neosporin on a bandaid and managed to get the bandaid stuck to my gloves so had to start over with it. I finally had the bandaid on and asked him to step up to the sink to wash his hands because they were quite dirty. Suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground, crashing into the cabinet, the teacher mailboxes, and the garbage can on his way down. Inconveniently, this sink is in our workroom, and about six student aides were in there, gaping in horrified fascination. My fellow secretary heard my shriek of dismay from the hall and came rushing in. (Actually, I was told later there were three shrieks - one for each thing to child hit on his way down! Kind of embarrassing.) The boy came to and was briefly disoriented but remembered everything except being told to wash his hands. I ordered all the students out of the room at some point. My fellow secretary is very nurturing and stayed with him while I got a pillow and made him more comfortable on the floor because he felt dizzy when he sat up. I called his mother and she took way to long to get there. In the future, I will always make sure a student is seated when doing first aid. It really scared me.

**At 10:45, my fellow secretary had to leave the office for two hours for some family events.

**The subject at LBCC was located around 11:00. He was not carrying any weapons. I notified all the concerned family members at our school. People continued to call or come by the office to ask what was going on there.

**Another problem student was being sent home and was left sitting on a bench in the hall to wait for his mother. I was told to radio my assistant principal if he got up and left. Almost immediately, he got up and left. My AP would not answer his radio so I had to run over to the cafeteria to find him.

**At lunch time, a sixth grade boy who currently has to be escorted in the halls and spend lunch in the office wanted to go use the restroom. I had to tell him, sorry, you know you can't go in the hall alone, your escort will be here in five minutes. He started banging on things and ranting. He rapidly goes into meltdown mode, so once again I dashed over to the cafeteria to get our trusty assistant principal. He walked him to the restroom.

**Two more boys got sent to the office for kicking other boys in the restroom, along with a confiscated cell phone from one of them. They spent a good part of the afternoon in the office too.

**Some major conflicts about some changes for next year were causing visible tension and stress between key staff members, causing tension and stress for everyone working with them (including me!).

**I returned from a brief lunch break to find the office being covered by a very flustered 8th grade teacher. (I still don't understand why.) Chaos was reigning.

**Kids fnally went home. Teachers went home. Administrators went home. (The assistant principal looked a little frazzled.) My fellow secretary and I debriefed and agreed we would return with positive attitudes on Monday and try our hardest to make it a happy place to be. Things start going a little crazy this time of year. The school closes at 4:00. I was getting ready to leave at 4:10 to be sure I made it to Nick's last game on time, when three of our naughty 7th graders, including the one whose cell phone was confiscated, started banging on the front door. I knew that this boy's parent would need to pick up the phone, and 75% of the conversations I have had with the young man have involved him trying to argue with me. My fellow secretary and I agreed we would avoid what was sure to be and unpleasant confrontation and not acknowledge him. (He couldn't see us in the office.) I left out the side door and saw they had moved away from the front door so I hoped they were leaving. I got a call awhile later from my fellow secretary telling me they had returned and were banging and kicking the door so she and the custodian spoke to them. Just as we expected, he insisted he needed to pick up the phone and tried to argue with them. I felt bad that I had left without dealing with them first.

**Our boys lost their last game of the season, 4-0 but they played well. Nick was able to play catcher the whole game (after some limited playing the last few games because of knee issues) and threw out two runners to second. He actually jumped for joy after the first one! It warmed a mother's heart. Galen brought Brenden. Brenden isn't a baseball fan yet but he is very cute. How many three year olds do you know who would decline their grandpa's offer to buy them some candy, saying, "My mom says I've had enough candy!"

**We went out for pizza with the Rileys, who came over after the girls game just as ours was ending. The fathers got their teenagers in a contest to see who could find the ringtone made by the phones at CTU on the show 24. I started addressing graduation announcements when I got home, but I had to get on the computer to get my brother Mark's new address from an email. I decided to blog a little and got completely sidetracked. I'm going to go back to addressing envelopes now.

**If you made it all the way to the end of this, congratulations. I feel better for getting it all off my chest! TGIF!!!

West Albany Baseball Honors Another

It's been a long day - work, baseball game, worship team practice, skit practice, and finally home, but I have to share something new I saw at West Albany baseball stadium today that's pretty cool.

It starts with the sad news that Greg Miller, who I've known since our family started attending Fairview Mennonite Church back in 1972, died last Thursday at the age of 46 after fighting lung cancer (though he was not a smoker) for nearly two years. Greg was a West Albany wrestler and baseball player, and his oldest son is playing varsity baseball at West this year as a sophomore. His youngest son is a charming 8th grader at Memorial where I work, and I enjoy his frequent visits to "Fabio", the dog candy holder in our office. Greg was very involved in coaching and encouraging his boys and others in sports, and it has been a very sad week for all the people who love this special family.

Two weeks ago, we were watching the varsity play after the freshman game, and Greg was up in the pressbox watching as his son hit home the game-winning run. Today I was down taking pictures as the boys had their pre-game huddle, and I heard their coach telling them "We lost a great man last week. This is our first home game since Greg Miller's death, and I want us to win it for him." The flag was flying at half-mast in his honor, and the boys played their hearts out to beat South Albany (who had beat them last night), 9-7.

After the game as we parents were sitting there chatting, waiting for our boys, the talked turned to Greg and how his number 22 was being retired. Someone pointed out a plaque with his name and number up on the pressbox. When I looked up there, I noticed not only Greg's plaque, but one with Tyler's name and number.Tonight was our last home game, and I wanted to get a picture of Nick in front of the clubhouse. When I looked at it tonight, I noticed the last name on the list of donaters was Greg Miller.
Nothing can make up for the terrible loss of a loving father and husband, but I am glad for the respect and love that is being shown for Greg and his family.

Cars, cars, cars....

Great excitement for our boys this week. Eric bought a car, which I will post about after he's home in the daylight long enough for me to take a picture of him with it. That means the 93 Toyota Corolla, a bit worse for wear after being driven hard by Nick's two older brothers, is parked on the driveway, waiting for him to turn 16 in two short months.

Unlike those two older brothers, Nick feels great distress at the thought of driving a car with a damaged left front quarter panel for the next couple of years. (Craig came in close contact with a pole while backing up in a hurry.) Nick is busy trying to work out a deal with his parents to eventually obtain ownership of the car if he were to pay for repairs and improvements.

The first thing he did was replace a burnt out light bulb that lights up the gearshift. This project involved removing the whole center consul. During this procedure, he found two spoons, one cereal bowl, a buffalo nickel, two pennies and a small toy. The toy could either be a Mcdonald's Happy Meal toy or something left there when we purchased the vehicle from my neice Dawn four or five years ago! It's an ugly small plastic green critter.


Here's Nick with his tools, happy with the successful completion of his first Corolla project.

I took another picture from the front of the car when he was washing it but was too ashamed to post it. It showed five cars in our driveway/street. We didn't have company, and Eric wasn't even home. The Corolla, Will's pickup, Will's work car, my car, and a wonderful 1999 Durango that's for sale. Anybody want to buy a nice used Durango? We really don't have room for it here!