Back Yard--360 °

Back Yard--360 °
Originally uploaded by greycharleigh

Here is a video of my back yard. I turn all the way around while I'm filming. Hopefully I don't make anyone too dizzy.

Wedding Picture

Here I am when I was young (27), the day I was married. Yup, I'm playing with Picasa again.

Jessica and I discuss her rocks

Jessica and I discuss her rocks
Originally uploaded by greycharleigh

This is a pointless video clip, but I guess you can hear my accent on it. You might need to see it twice if it skips a lot the first time. When I watched it, the second time was much better. I got that video camera, but just a few seconds of video make such a huge file that I doubt I'll put much on. My house is too messy to video tape, and there are things thrown around a lot of my yard. I'm likelier to shoot outdoor video, though.

Also, until I got this camera last week, I'd never used a video camera before. I'm not very good at it. I think I swing it around too quickly. Sometimes watching my videos makes me queasy. The first few I shot were sideways because I didn't realize which side I had to have up to film video. It's used like a camera held sideways.

I feel poor

Not only have I just got that new computer, but I just bought the four plane tickets we'll be using (all of us but Mr. K) to go home to Michigan for a visit in June. I bought today when the price per ticket dipped below $300. It's the first I've seen it that low since I started checking. I was getting worried it would be hard to find four spots on planes since June is getting near, and I didn't want to wait too long. I was actually thinking the price per ticket might go up soon because of the rising price of fuel.

It's a little inconvenient. I have to leave the day after school lets out. At least we leave in the evening so we have all day to pack. Mr. K is refusing to take me to the airport and drop me off because he says he'll be too busy with work so I'll have to pay $12 per day for parking for ten days, if the airport's price list is up-to-date. He tells me it would cost him hundreds if he had to take off from work at that time of year to pick us up. Also, he's got to get everything ready for a business trip right after we get back. It's required by his corporate office, and it's scheduled for one of the worst times of the year for him.

I picked my seats online, and I tried to keep us all together. On one leg of the trip I have us on the same side of the plane but one person is alone. In the next row, two of us are together. In the next row, one of us is alone. Hopefully the flight attendants will move things around when we get on. I understand they don't like to have kids sitting by themselves.

The Weekend is About Over

Mr. K's parents left yesterday evening. They flew home this morning, but we didn't see them before they left. I was glad to see them go because my cold has become so bad and my neck has started to ache. It was hard to have conversations by the end of yesterday evening. I'm glad they could come, though.

We skipped church this morning because I'm too sick to go. Hopefully I'll feel a little better tomorrow.

Our neighbor is still living in the shed in the bamboo behind the house. He met with some social workers and they saw how/where he is living. He's trying to get disability and/or welfare. It takes money to buy beer and cigarettes. He's also having some problems getting along with his former landlord (the owner of the house, but since my neighbor no longer pays any rent, it's not really his landlord anymore). The landlord has bought a locking mailbox so my neighbor doesn't really have mail anymore. I think he made a place to leave the mail if it is for my neighbor, but he isn't home that often and doesn't check the mail. Also the landlord has accused him of robbing some tools he'd had in the house. I'm not sure what the timing is on the alleged theft, but my neighbor hasn't had a key to the place in a while.

Anyway, it's hard to say how long my neighbor will be permitted to live in a shed with no plumbing nor electricity.

Pretty much my computer is set up now. I still need to have printer drivers set up in the office computer so I can print what I see on the screen here at home. It also still needs to be tweaked so it runs faster and probably some new software should be installed on it. I got the new software for the connection installed on my computer.

Testing Picasa

Here's a funny photo. It's of me about a week before J was born. I downloaded Picasa, but I have no idea what it does or why one would have it. Obviously I am missing something. It might help to figure it out if I knew what it was supposed to do. I think I'd better go Google Picasa so I have some idea what it's about.

Getting ready for company

K is napping, and I finally took a break. I decided I was done at 3 p.m., and N and J will be home around 4 p.m.

I've been too busy to have much fun with the computer lately. I've been busy setting the new computer up and being tired. N had a field trip Thursday, and I had to get him to the school by 8 a.m. (bus picks kids up at 9 a.m.). I had to set my alarm and get up early (poor me--to people with regular jobs, I still got to sleep in). Anyway, K fell out of bed just before 2 a.m., and I barely slept for the rest of the night. I don't sleep well if I have to get up in the night, and I don't sleep well if I know an alarm will be going off early Good thing I'm done with babies. It didn't help that I laid in bed and worried about my computer problems.

Last night, I didn't get to bed until late, and J woke me up in the night just before 2 a.m. She had wet the bed. I got her tidied up and the wet bedding in the wash. Fortunately, I was so exhausted from the night before that I fell back to sleep pretty quickly.

N's first communion is Saturday. Mr. K's parents are flying in this afternoon. I think they'll get here around 5 p.m. N's godparents, who are a brother of Mr. K and his wife, were planning to drive here with their little girl, Ella, who is half a year younger than K. We taught K to say "Ella" in honor of her arrival. I called yesterday to find out when they'd be here and to let them know that N is getting his Cub Scout wolf badge at the pack meeting tonight, and they could attend the pack meeting if they wanted to. They said they weren't going to come after all.

I'm irritated, but not that they aren't coming. I was surprised they were planning to come at all since less than a month ago when they told us they were coming, they told his wife, Heather, was six weeks pregnant with twins. I asked Mr. K's brother how she was going to fly while pregnant (it made me so nauseas the one time I did it). He said they'd drive, and make a two-day trip of it.

I fully understand why they aren't coming. Heather has been very, very sick since they told me they would be coming. She says it's twice as bad with twins.

What I'm irritated about is that they never called to tell me. I had to find out when I called them to find out their arrival time.

I made a Sam's Club this week to get lots of fancy easy-to-prepare goodies so we'd have something to eat after the communion. Before I knew they were coming and I thought just Mr. K's parents were coming, I figured I'd just get a dozen or two doughnuts from the doughnut store we go to every Sunday after church.

I went to the trouble to try to get things I thought little Ella might eat. I would have saved myself the trouble and money if they had told me they had changed their minds.

On the bright side, I won't be knocking myself out trying to get the place cleaned if it's just Mr. K's mom and dad. I saw their house a few times when they still had the last six or seven of their ten children still living at home. They'd understand three kids and a less-than-tidy house.

I've run out of typing energy for now.

Just life

It's raining. It seems like it has been raining for days, but when I stopped to count, I realized it only began during the early hours of the morning Sunday, and it's Monday afternoon. I think it's supposed to rain part of tomorrow and then clear up.

There's a million things I should do other than write, but I haven't in a while. My house is a mess, I need to put together some kind of a contract for a potential tenant for one of our properties. She wants to store stuff in the property for a week prior to signing the lease, and I need to make sure we are protected from liability for her stuff, and we don't have to go through the eviction process to get rid of her stuff if she doesn't sign the lease. The big thing is that we aren't going to give her the key until the lease is signed.

J's school just had a recording that called me. It told me that she only has $2.45 of lunch money left. I'm disgusted. I think she's been buying other stuff, like bottles of water, with her lunch money. I gave her $35 at the start of the month, and it should have lasted 20 days at school. I specifically designate the money as being for lunches only, but they seldom bother to process that properly. N never does stuff like this. J's the one who does whatever she wants. I'm going to make her work this money off. We'll be discussing it at dinner. How fun dinner will be. Meanwhile, I need to prepare another check for her to take to school so she can continue to have lunch.

We are supposed to have company next weekend and my house is a wreck, and my new computer is tucked sideways into a "corner" in my bedroom just to get it out of the way until I can hire someone to set it up properly and get it connecting to the office (which might require new software). Lots of other stuff is all over the place, too.

My mother and father-in-law are flying in for N's first communion, and his godparents are supposed to be driving here with their little girl (half a year younger than K but already talking and outweighing her by five pounds). My house is not ready. I also need to make a Sam's Club run to get frozen appetizers so I don't have to stress about what to fix. I need to buy N a pair of black socks to go with his outfit for the ceremony.

Boy the rain started coming down hard just now.

Saturday, before the rains, I got a lot of plants going in the garden. I'm afraid this rain right now is flattening a lot of them. My zucchini, patty pan squash, and summer squash are under floating row covers to protect them from squash vine borers so I think they will be okay. I'll have to evaluate everything after the storms stop tomorrow.

Another new computer

I got my computer problem straightened out. Best Buys was very nice about it and I didn't have to pay a restocking fee. The same salesman was there, and he remembered me and apologized several times about the inconvenience. I now have a different Gateway that was part of a slightly cheaper package so I got about $23 back.

K napped again this afternoon, so I got a few things done on it. I tested out the Nancy Drew game I got last fall that wouldn't run on this computer. It works fine on the new machine. I've installed a printer driver for a printer that my not work with Vista. I also have to install some software so that it will use an adapter that makes a USB port into a parallel port for that old printer.

Most of my computer stuff isn't meant for Vista so I hope it will still run.

I was able to export and import my e-mail address book. I've still got a lot of stuff to move over and do, but I don't know how to set the DSL up on it. It might help if I had it connected to the modem so it wouldn't tell me that the address I enter is no good. I'm hoping it's just telling me that because I don't have it hooked up yet. I'm not sure I can figure it all out myself. I might have to hire the computer guy who set up my connection to our office and who just fixed the office computer crash. I guess it turned out that even the hard drive was bad. We have no idea what fried the computer there. Maybe it was some kind of power surge.

My incompetence--#$$%#@ Computer

I actually got K down for a nap around 2:30 p.m., and I took the computer out of the box and got it set up (but not connected to the Internet). I went to install WebRoots Spysweeper, and I got an error message about it not running on the computer because it wasn't a 64-bit application. What?

I called my dad, and we concluded that I had picked the wrong computer for my needs. It had Windows Vista 64-bit version installed, which would make it worthless with everything I have. None of my old software would run, and I'd be miserable.

While I was sold the computer package in the ad, and in small print there was a footnote telling me it was the 64-bit version, I had no idea what that actually meant. The sales guy didn't give me any warnings. I had mentioned I'd be playing my Nancy Drew games on it, and the Spysweeper and Microsoft Home office he picked out for me, neither of which would run on it because they require a 32-bit system. He apparently didn't know, either, or he'd have given me some warning and the proper software.

I called Best Buy, and to return it, there is a 15 % restocking fee. I might be able to get it waved if I exchange it for another computer. I got as much as I could re-packed properly, and I'll be taking the computer back tonight and hoping I can avoid the restocking fee. If I am forced to pay it (over $100), I certainly won't be buying its replacement at Best Buy. My dad thinks they should be really good about it, especially if I keep asking to talk to higher up managers.

The kids are out on the deck, enjoying the bubble machine K got for her birthday. I think I'll go join them for a bit while rush-hour traffic dies down.

New Computer

I got my new computer. I have no idea when I'll have time to remove it from the box and start to set it up because I don't want the kids around when I do. I guess if I wait for them to go away, though, before I set it up, it will be obsolete before it gets turned on.

A county social worker visited my neighbor this afternoon. I think he's trying to get welfare or something. He had told me he'd take them back and let them see he's living in a shed. I told him to watch out or they might call the county zoning people, and he'll be forced out because one certainly isn't allowed to live without plumbing or electricity in this county. The plumbing thing would be considered a health hazard. If the weather is acceptable, I'll go visit him tomorrow to see how the visit went.

Our office computer died. Mr. K had remotely entered data Saturday. I tried on Sunday but couldn't connect with the computer. I just assumed it needed rebooting. When the office manager came in this morning, she thought the monitor was dead. I didn't think that was it because my ability to connect has nothing to do with the monitor. She was finally able to get the repair people in. They determined that the motherboard was dead. They're ordering some new parts which will be overnighted to them, and hope to have it up and running by tomorrow afternoon. In theory, the hard drive survived, but that won't be confirmed until the hard drive can be accessed.

J napped a good part of the evening, and now she's up when she should be in bed asleep. I should go and start getting ready for bed myself.

Kate is two!

It's her birthday, finally. She's wanted one since N had his last month and got a second round of birthday last weekend when he had his friends from school over.

We picked out a cake at the supermarket bakery this morning. This one isn't as fancy as usual because I'm sick and tired of the thick frosting over pound cake. This is a yellow cake with a thinner layer of frosting. Except for saying, "Happy Birthday Kate" it is plain white.

She fell asleep shortly before the kids got home from school. She's still asleep. FedEx brought her a couple presents and some old clothing for her and J from her Aunt Sherri. She can open presents when she gets up if she wants. We're supposed to get McDonald's for dinner since we know she likes it.

It's hard to believe two years have passed since she was born, but I can't wait until she's done with diapers and sippy cups. I definitely feel as though I'm finished with the baby part of my life.

Lunch with N

K and I had lunch at school with N since we ate with J last week. We went to Five Guys and got me a burger, N a hotdog, and lots of French fries for all of us. K doesn't like the burgers or hot dogs so she just had fries.

I saw N's teacher briefly as she dropped the class off in the cafeteria, and she wanted to know what I had decided to do about N testing as gifted in math and English. I told her he'd remain at his school and do the enrichment activities.

She also asked me if N had told me about how she's getting him extra math work if he finishes stuff early. I said he hadn't mentioned anything about it. She asked if I had taught him some little technique with double digit subtraction, and I said that as far as I know, she's the only one teaching him math right now. Apparently I need to get him to show me some technique he came up with himself.

I'm glad he's doing so well in math. I love the beauty of mathematics and the fact that there's only one right answer but often many ways to arrive at it. In the end, you are either right or wrong.

Unfortunately, I've forgotten lots of the terms and definitions from math. I think some terms are different from what I learned years ago, too. About all I'm good for in helping him with his math is to check it over to see if he has any errors and to send him back to redo it if he does. He doesn't usually ask me to look at his homework, so I seldom do.

I'm glad the weekend is over

I've been too busy this weekend. I spent a lot of the weekend trying to clean the house up enough for N's birthday party with his friends this afternoon. I felt really sick a lot of the time. I think I'm coming down with a bad cold and a minor tummy bug. Friday evening, I got the kids into bed by 8:30 p.m., and I put on my Battlestar Galactica DVD (the original series in which Starbuck is a man), sat in front of my new TV in the recliner, and I got a ways into the pilot episode before I got to sleepy to continue.

Mr. K had to work Saturday morning so I couldn't get much cleaning done. When Mr. K got home from work, we walked up my (busy) street to the church at the corner where they were having an Italian festival Because of all the rain we've been having, we called it the Italian Mud Festival. Sometimes we were sinking in the mud at the church's athletic field, where they held the festival. In some places, they had laid out boards. I thought my porchetta sandwich was icky. It wasn't warm (and it was supposed to be). It's a sliced pork sandwich with gravy. The gravy was cold and messy. I dumped most of it. On the bright side, I had the best cannoli I've had since I left New York state (where I lived for a bit over a year after college). There were a lot of police there, and I had to ask why. This part of town just isn't the kind of place people get into fights, and certainly not at church, and most of the people at this event looked like families. Most of the police were volunteering for the shift, and they didn't expect any trouble. It was because the church was allowing the sale of beer and wine that they wanted the police presence. They asked us when we arrived if we were going to buy beer or wine. Mr. K and I just started laughing. We both hate beer and don't like wine very well. Considering we'd both been rather ill, it just seemed like such a bad idea. N piped up that we could get some since we walked. We said, no, we weren't going to buy any beer or wine. I think they would have made the age determination (believe me, no carding would have been necessary for us), and stamped our hands if we wanted to buy beer or wine.

We ran into another family who also had walked that lives in the neighborhood across from the church but in another direction from us. Mostly the kids played at the playground, which was very small. They also had a moon ride N and J enjoyed.

The Italian Festival was very loud. We could hear everything clearly from our house, and there is a small stand of woods between us and where it took place, although I could see some of the tents from my front porch through the trees.

I managed to get the vacuuming done before we went to bed Saturday night, and I got the cake baked and decorated, and I got my grocery shopping done.

We did church and doughnuts this morning, and I continued trying to get the house clean. We put up some decorations, and Mr. K and N blew up a couple packs of balloons that we threw around the house. Most ended up popped. The girls drew faces on some.

Mr. K said the kids could play out in the mud, so I called the parents before the party to warn them not to wear good clothing. It was only in the 50s and rained on and off, but I was so glad to have the kids outside. They were horridly noisy, and here were only three extra boys, and two extra girls (who were younger sisters of the boys who were invited to keep J busy). The girls were so much quieter.

Mr. K did some archery with the boys for a while. We ate pizza that I ordered shortly before the kids arrived. We had punch, Doritos, and birthday cake. I guess it went okay. N was happy, but I felt like a limp rag as everyone left.

We cleaned up, and finally we went to the other grocery store as a family. I do the Saturday evening shopping alone, but we all go to Kroger's (a different store) if Mr. K needs stuff from there. He did this week.

Then I had to write up some sort of a contract this evening so that we'll hold our rental house until May 3 off the market and in turn, this potential tenant commits to signing the lease then or losing the money they gave me to hold it. We are being generous and not actually charging them "rent"" of any sort for this near-month as long as they actually sign the lease. If they don't sign, they'll lose what they give Mr. K tomorrow night. We just don't have the clientele who can afford to pay rent if they aren't actually there. They always have trouble scraping up cash. If we hadn't done it this way, they wouldn't have been able to rent from us. We are hoping they will turn out to be good tenants.

It's getting late, and I need to get some sleep.

About 20 years ago

I was finishing up my freshman year of college. I lived in the dorms. I think the end of the school year was around April 23. I was probably getting nervous about final exams in things like Calculus 2, Chemistry 2, and Macroeconomics. Never would I have guessed that two decades later I'd be married to a handsome guy who is very unusual (I always knew if I married, it would be someone out of the ordinary), have three kids, be a stay-at-home mom, and live in Virginia.

The only thing that is as I expected is that I have a small house with a big yard with lots of garden areas. I always knew I was in love with plants and dirt.

I wonder what happened to the girls (but not enough to try to hunt them down--I'm hiding from a crazy ex-boyfriend that I started dating shortly before my freshman year was over). My roommate Ronda was going to be a physical therapist. I think she changed to nursing a couple years later. I wonder if she married the guy she'd been dating since high school. If they did, I bet they're divorced. I didn't think it was a good match.

My suitemates Stacey and Theresa were nice enough, but we had nothing in common. Stacey was studying to be an elementary school teacher. She's schedule her classes around her soap operas. I heard she finished up and got a job in Okalahoma. Theresa was studying accounting but changed it to human resources and development, considered to be the easiest major at the college. I'm sure it is important to do. I knew lots of people who switched to it, and it made them a whole lot happier. Theresa was nice enough, but generally a sour person. I'm sure she married her boyfriend. He had a best friend who'd cheat on his girlfriend frequently so I imagine he wasn't so good with fidelity, either, but you never know. I've noticed people who like to engage in such things like to encourage others to so they can share the guilt or feel less guilty since everyone's doing it.

Down the hall was Bernie. She wore clothes and makeup sort of like a model. When she walked into a room, everyone knew she was there, especially the men. She dated a Red Wing (professional hockey player) for a little while, but I imagine she ended up marrying someone more like a doctor or a lawyer. Once in a while, you could say I'd seen her with her makeup off (not literally). She'd be deep in tears over some breakup in her life, afraid no one would ever lover her again. I liked her. She was very nice under the makeup.

Bernie's roommates were Pat and Maya. Pat loved athletics. I bet she's still jogging even today. Maya wore makeup well, but she was a size bigger than Bernie from the waist down, and she didn't have Bernie's presence when she entered the room.

Next door were Jen and Pam. Jen was studying finance. She had natural platinum blond hair, and would have been very pretty if it weren't for her personality. She was very moody so I usually stayed away. Pam was studying nursing. She was very pretty, had long curly light brown hair, and was short. She was very nice. She had a car, and I'd go to church with her sometimes.

Across from them was Angela and Zina. Angela became my roommate the next year. We're still in touch. She became an accountant. She met the perfect older guy (someone who already graduated and was a computer programmer at a car company) when she was a freshman (the year before I was), but it ended up not working out because she wanted to date other people. Years later, Angela is looking for a nice guy like that but hasn't found one (as far as I know). The timing was off. I might stay with her when I'm in the Detroit area this summer.

Zina was from Jordan. She had an aunt and uncle who lived in a town near the college. I heard she stayed through the summer semester and had a personal sexual revolution. By the next year she had transferred to a more prestigious university.

A bit down the hall were Karen, Jen, and Denise. Karen and I were in the same major (electrical engineering) so we had a lot of classes together. She actually completed her degree, while I transferred schools and got a degree in chemical engineering. Jen and my suitemate Stacey had lots of classes together. I heard she also went to Oklahoma to be an elementary school teacher. Denise was my boss when I catered at the university for events. She was very nice. Later Karen said it was really weird--things were getting stolen in their closets, and only Denise could have done it. Sometimes they'd turn up in Denise's stuff and she'd have no idea why. Something strange was going on there.

Michelle (or if that wasn't her name, I can't remember what was) and Bonnie lived down the hall from them. She liked alternative music and was studying to be a high school math teacher. She often had a grumpy look on her face, but she was very nice. She had a collection of items that she melted, such as toothpaste tubes and plastic wine glasses. She understood my love of lighting alcohol on fire to see which drinks were high enough proof to burn (too bad I no longer remember). Bonnie was going to be an electrical engineer, but the math got to her and she changed majors to psychology. She liked it a lot better. She was gorgeous in a Baywatch sort of way.

Erica and Laurel lived down the hall. They were from the area, and had rich parents. They had computers when no one else did, new cars, and fantastic clothing. We had nothing in common, but they were nice. They had a suitemate named Sherri who was a year older. She was nice but a bit moody.

Back around down the hall were Kelly, Beth, and Amy. Beth was tall, blond, and beautiful, and other than that, I can't remember anything about her. Kelly was going to be a journalist. She and I were the only ones on the floor in the Honors College. She was smart and witty and very, very nice. Amy was nice enough, but she had a lot of black moods and was a bit of a martyr. She was going to be a physical therapist.
********

I guess this was a pointless post. I sort of wondered how many I remembered. I know I left out the RA, but I forgot her name. I'm afraid she isn't alive by now. She'd had a liver or kidney transplant, and she used a cane because the antirejection drugs destroyed her hip bone. I think more was wrong with her by the end of the year. She wanted to be an actress.

The one thing we all had in common is that we requested to be on a non-smoking floor back in the days when everyone smoked everywhere. It was the only non-smoking floor on campus. I hope those girls are doing well. Now they're somewhere around 40. I turn 39 this September, and I was one of the youngest.

Anyway, I hope I got their stories right, but after 20 years, who knows what I can still remember correctly, who I mixed up, and who I forgot.

None

K and I went to the supermarket, picked up a couple sandwiches and potato chips, and took them to school today to meet J for lunch. She had no idea we would be coming. Unfortunately, N and J's lunches overlap, and N saw us and got mad and told me we came at the wrong time. I explained that we didn't; we came to eat with J. I told him K and I will stop by next week to eat with him one day.

The problem is that K can't behave herself long enough to sit through both kids' lunches. We've tried it once, and I swore I'd never do it again. Since J eats second, she got really ripped off because I couldn't talk to her much because K was so fussy and getting into everything.

I called to set up my annual ob/gyn appointment for about six months from now. Last year in May I tried getting a September appointment, but all I could get was an October appointment. She filled up that fast. My doctor gave up obstetrics at the start of this year because it was getting in the way of her family life. She started her own practice the first of April. Last fall I had been informed of that and was offered the chance to have my records go with her or to remain at her old practice but get a new doctor. I wanted to keep her. Now the receptionist tells me that the old practice has refused to turn over the patient records to her, so I'll have to pay $10 plus copying and move them myself to the new office. The doctor is recommending only moving two years worth of records to save money.

K woke up soggy with a diaper that half came off, soaking her sheets and her pillow. Fortunately I discovered I had sprung for a water proof pillow cover under the pillow case, so all I had to do was take it off and the case and wash them.

Mr. K had a dozen appointments at the rental house for this evening at the peak, but I've had two people who were considerate enough to cancel and didn't just refuse to show up.

None

I'm having a heck of a time getting N to do his homework. He keeps getting distracted. Spring break has messed up his routine, which he had trouble sticking with anyway.

I took an old transistor radio and a watch with a broken band (and it has Indiglo) over to my neighbor, Mr. T's house. He's officially living in his shed now. It has no electricity. His landlord left the phone on the back porch so he has access to a telephone. At this time, the porch is covered with Mr. T's old mattress, the old carpeting, and old carpet padding. It looks like the landlord is getting rid of the junk and planning to make the house look better. These houses have nice hardwood floor under most of the original parts of the house. Perhaps he's going to re-do the hardwood floor. Hopefully he'll make a run to the dump soon because his porch looks like a landfill right now (as does a lot of my house because of all the toy and paper explosions).

Mr. K now has eleven or twelve appointments scheduled at our rental house for tomorrow night. Hopefully something will pan out. It was awful when it took months to get a tenant in the last rental, and now week keep starting the eviction process with her.

I still need to go computer shopping. I didn't get around to it tonight. Tomorrow night Mr. K has to show the rental so he won't be available to watch the kids. The next night I think N has a Cub Scout meeting.

Yesterday J came home with a permission slip form for a field trip which required $8. I thought that was steep, but I rounded it up for her. Usually the trips have been under $5. I think she's going to a playhouse to see some Aesop's Fables skits.

Today N told me he had a field trip permission slip, and that it required $26. I accused him of playing an April Fools' joke. He denied it and showed me the form. I grumped about it for quite a while and finally signed it and wrote a check. The money is due in ten days. I am stunned they can ask for so much money in so little time. N is going to a museum of some sort in Newport News, about two hours away. They're taking a charter bus and not a school bus. A lot of people at the school live in apartments. I know from experience as a landlord, that a lot of renters have trouble getting the rent together in a timely fashion. I don't know how they'll all come up with the extra $26 in ten days. I called a friend of mine who has six kids, the youngest of whom are in the same grades as my kids. She said around $30 is typical for field trips, and that the most she's had to come up with is $65 so her middle school child could go to Baltimore.

I'm just stunned at how much the "free" public school system costs. I don't think the school should be paying for these trips. That would irritate me more since it's my tax money that pays for the schools. I don't think the kids should go to such expensive places at all.