Concrete Day

Yesterday I got to be the hostess for 10 men who showed up before 8 AM to help with the RV concrete pad project Will and the boys have been working on for the past few weeks. (These 10 men included 4 McAnulty men, three of whom were thrilled to get up early on a Saturday morning!) Will told me since I hadn't done any digging, my job was to make food. I found a table in the garage that has so far escaped Will's junk elimination and set my offerings out.

It was quite an exhibition of teamwork. Our friend Fred was the pro in charge. He is very good at the process and at teaching people how to do what needed to be done.

Of course there was a bit of horseplay that went on while some team members were diligently working. I don't know why some of these guys like to pick on little Nick.

Will asked Nick to pull out a hose and apparently he was so intent on his task that he forgot about the wet concrete behind him. No one yelled at him, it was the kind of crowd that just laughed at him.

Then the cat came by and checked it out. The boys are sure that if someone wouldn't have tried to chase it off it never would have run across the concrete. Another do-over!


Here is the handsome crew, surveying with pride and satisfaction the lovely finished product of their amazing teamwork.


Left to right: Bruce R, Bruce H, Keith, Doug, Eric, Will, Jon, Nick, Fred, Craig

What a great group of guys! They are all part of the Pinochle group we have been playing with once a month for the past 10 years or more. Thank you guys, now I can run out to get something out of the trailer in my bare feet without hurting myself on the rocks that used to line the RV pad! It was worth the hours I spent slaving in the kitchen baking cinnamon rolls and the five pots of coffee I made! And of course, the most important thing is that Will is really happy and thankful!

This and That

A few challenges this week. Monday was originally a day off, President's Day, but the school board decided awhile back it would be a snow make up day. Of course many students were absent because in spite of announcements, readerboard, newsletters sent home, updated website calendar, and newspaper articles, no one in their family was aware that it was changed. One parent asked me why we didn't let them know. I listed a few of the aforementioned, and asked if she had received a newsletter from us a few weeks ago. She said, "Oh I don't know, I'm too busy to read all the mail!" I feel so bad that I didn't offer to call her once a week from now on to update her on school news.

Today was exclusion day for those whose immunizations weren't up to date. Each of those students had at least two letters mailed to their homes,and still there were shocked and outraged parents today, wondering why no one had informed them. One disgusted parent even asked why she had to do our work for us by providing documentation. We should just call her child's doctor and find out if his immunizations had been updated. Oh yes.

Then a male and female student were in the office at different times throughout the day complaining about the other one annoying them. At the end of lunch, the boy showed up again and said, "I need to know what to do about this person who is harassing me and ruining my life." My efficient office mate Cindy said quite seriously, "Here is what we do for students whose lives are being ruined. We send you to the Counseling Office to fill out a Harassment Report." I tried to wait til the kid was out of earshot before I laughed out loud.

Here's my latest text message goof up, yesterday at 5:50 pm. Nick: "When you coming home?" Me: "Just blaming off my desk." (Quite a typo for "clearing" to become "blaming"!) Nick: "What, is your appendix hurting?" He and Will have adopted a new habit that I find quite annoying. When they get a text from me that doesn't make sense to them, they respond with a message about my appendix. I don't get it.

I want a longer weekend...

I love weekends. This one contained a mix of many good things. Friday night we went out to dinner at a new restaurant with the brothers and their wives. Half our friends and acquaintances in Albany were also there. Saturday morning we watched Nick play a basketball playoff game,sadly they lost. Then I had time to exercise my housecleaning skills, which I don't enjoy but it's always a good feeling when it's done. Saturday night I went to the movies with my sweetheart,and what a cheap date he was! Senior citizens get in for only $5 at the lovely old Pix theater downtown!

A great Sunday today. All the boys were home for a wonderful Sunday dinner. After they helped clean up they went out to the park to shoot some hoops in the sunshine with a neighbor. I joined them for a bit and shot (mostly missing) a few hoops too. I had my camera and told them to just act normal. Eric has been looking normal every time a camera shows up since he was about five.

I didn't have much luck with candid shots so I took a posed shot of them. Later I realized I should have had their friend photograph of the four of us for a special scrapbook photo so they could always remember what a great basketball player their mom was. Not. I can't even dribble without looking! Even if I'm standing still, it just gets away from me when I take my eyes off it. Oh well, it' not like I practice or anything.


Then I got to take a walk in the sunshine and wear my sunglasses! I celebrate the small things!

But the weekend draws to a close. Just watched a movie from the new digital Comcast on demand, now a little reading before I face another crazy work week. Last week my boss announced her resignation effective at the end of the school year. On Friday, about 15 people at my school got pink slips notifying them of the possibility of layoffs in the next 30 days. Everyone in the district who has been employed there than two years got pink slips. Of course they are not all going to get laid off, but there will be some layoffs. No one knows yet how many or who. There are many dramas playing out each day. My to-do pile overflows, the phone keeps ringing, money needs to be deposited, copy machines keep jamming, supplies need to be ordered, bills need to be paid, boys can't keep their pants up and get sent down to ask if we have any belts, paperwork needs to be prepared for our spring fundraiser coming up, and staff is anxious about what the future holds. So it is very important to take time to talk to people and do whatever I can to help. Keeping chocolate in the office dog (a candy container) is essential right now!

But never mind all that. I need to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Each day has enough trouble of its own!

Basketball Fun

We've been enjoying Nick's basketball team the past month or so. They were coached by Pastor James again, and this year there are some guys on the team who can actually shoot the ball. They scraped into the playoffs, which I understand will be this weekend. Nick has thoroughly enjoyed playing with this team. Last week he fouled out, and from the big grin each time a foul was called, you'd think he was right pleased with each and every one. For some reason the ref seemed to really like him in spite of his aggressive playing style. In fact, he said something about suspecting that Nick was carrying a knife. I didn't really get it, but he was laughing when he said it, so it must be alright! It was the only game I took a camera to. I got no good action pictures, but I really like this one!

The Sweetest Boy

At the middle school where I work, students receive "Character Counts" coupons from staff members when they are caught being kind, responsible, trustworthy, honest, etc. etc. They can save these coupons and save them for various items at our student store.

Yesterday a cute little 7th grade boy came in with a big stack that he had been saving for a long time. He had 100 coupons, enough to get a Memorial Middle School sweatshirt. He asked for a size too large for him, and the teacher asked if he was sure he didn't want to get one that would fit better. He said, "Oh, it's not for me. My big sister (in 8th grade) really wants one, so I want to give it to her."

Periodically on Friday afternoon we have drawings of the coupons that have been turned in. We had a drawing today, and guess what. That little guy won a sweatshirt for himself!

What a great kid!

I'm Smarter than James!

TV Reviews

I can't believe it!!

http://reorienting.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/im-so-smart/

Am I a Braggart?

So yesterday I was tagged on Facebook to write 25 random things about myself. The reaction to this light-hearted, unthought-out revealing of my deepest secrets has revealed a heretofore well hidden fact about myself. I am a proud braggart.

I had no idea how arrogant I was until my loving husband pointed it out to me. I wrote: 1. "I love to read and am a fast bookworm who can easily read a book in a few hours when camping. It is hard to take enough books to get me through a week long camping trip at the Metolius. Sitting with my feet up with a view of the Metolius on a warm summer day and a good book in hand is paradise to me." Apparently Will translated this to, "I am a really fast reader. I can read faster than everyone else. I am really proud that I am the fastest reader in the world and you're not.Nya, nya, nya, nya, na."

I truly did not in tend to brag. There's nothing special about reading fast. If I wanted to brag about any of my amazing talents, I would have mentioned the really good ones, like, hmm, let's see, I would have mentioned, oh, I know! I would have made sure to casually let it slip that I can type 93 words a minute! I am very proud of that enviable talent. But there I go again, bragging about how cool I am. I must break this bad habit!

It's interesting how one person's perception of something can be so different than what is intended. For example, tonight at dinner Nick told us that his name was mentioned twice on the morning announcements at West Albany High School today. According to him, the announcement went something like this, "The following FBLA members qualified for the State Competition by placing at District....Nick McAnulty took first place in Spreadsheet Applications...other students blah blah blah...Nick McAnulty placed in Computer Apps...Please congratulate these students for being the biggest geeks in the school and be sure to give them a big ole wedgie any chance you get." For some reason, he just didn't appreciate his name being announced to the whole school twice under these circumstances. (Although he personally has no fear of any of his classmates attempting to give him a wedgie.)

I could tell you about several FBLA awards that I myself won in high school, but I must control myself. Let me just say that being really really fast in Shorthand did not enhance my popularity then or now. Then again, my FBLA accomplishments were never announced to the entire school. Had this occurred, I assure you it would have ranked among my proudest high school moments.

So if any of you read number 1 in the 25 random things about myself and turned up your nose in disgust at my conceit, I humbly beg your forgiveness. Obviously I need to work much harder at being humble. Maybe you can understand now why it's so difficult for me, with all these exceptional abilities I have been blessed with. But in spite of all that, I resolve to start being humble tomorrow.