Summer school is over

Yes, the five weeks of summer school (plus 4th of July week in between) are over, and now we move on to the last part of summer. On the last day of summer school, parents were invited to come see what the kids had been doing. The photo shows Kid B and the moon rover he made out of graham crackers, frosting, mini marshmallows and I don't know what all. The whole classroom smelled like canned frosting (I was going to say "stunk of frosting" -- and oh, I guess I just did say that). After showing us their rovers, the kids went outside and tried to make rockets fly due to Alka-Seltzer tablets fizzing and building up pressure, but few people had any success. I guess summer school was fun this year, with its STEM focus, but I know Kid B is very glad it's over. Kid A probably liked it more, since he had a friend in the class and made several new friends as well, AS USUAL. Mr. Congeniality.

We had to meet with the literacy specialist afterwards (she had worked with Kid A every day) and she seemed almost overcome to hear that he's going to a special school in the fall. "Is that good, bad, or indifferent?" Rocket Boy asked, as is his wont, and she said, "It's wonderful. He needs it so much." Sigh. I know it's wonderful that we've finally got his problems figured out and he's going to get help. So what's the sigh for? I suppose a combination of (1) I'm sorry he has to have this problem and (2) why did it take so long to figure it out? And I shouldn't complain, because lots of people have it worse, and we're so lucky that he can go to the special school. I'm not complaining, really. I'm just sighing.

Rocket Boy also had a major job interview last week, for which he had to fly to Santa Barbara and stay two nights. For his sake I hope he gets the offer, but for my sake, oh my god. I can't really talk about it. How will I get Kid A to his special school every day if Rocket Boy is in California and I have to teach right through the time that I need to be driving him? OK, I'm not thinking about it. Too horrible to be considered.

My job has been extended two more weeks, which means I had to come up with activities for the kids during that time. So they are going to Lego camp in the mornings, starting tomorrow, and some camps through CU Science Discovery next week -- another Lego camp for Kid B and something else for Kid A -- an electronics camp, I think. The CU camps are expensive, and I couldn't get either of them into the ones they wanted, but we were really late signing up, so...

The camps meet in different places on campus, so Rocket Boy will have to transport one twin and I will have to transport the other, limiting the time I can spend working in between. However -- this JUST occurred to me -- there is a solution. Kid A's camp meets not too far from the CU library. After dropping him off, I can just STAY on campus and work there until his class is over. That would save me at least half an hour, maybe more. And we could even take the bus.

Speaking of Legos, I finally built the Lego set I got for my birthday, the Burj Khalifa. Here it is sitting next to the Playmobil sets. Rocket Boy does not like having it here, because he keeps knocking it over when he goes to close the window at night (an ongoing conflict in our almost 15-year marriage -- I like the window open at night, he likes it closed). But since this has become the toy desk, I do not know where else to put it. Maybe when I get a desk in my new department I can transport it there. It would be a conversation starter for nervous students during office hours.

Speaking of my new class, I am so not ready for it. I have only read one chapter of the book I'm teaching from. Tonight I made a new plan: I will devote half an hour each night to working on it. Tonight I seem to be blogging instead. But maybe after I finish this meandering post. Oops, no, not then -- have to make lunches for tomorrow. OK, tomorrow night -- oops, no, I've got book group. OK, Tuesday night for sure. Sigh.

I haven't shown you another group of birthday presents yet, so here they are: four Barbie Fashionistas, the new Barbie dolls that come in different heights, widths, skin tones, etc. Who gave those to you, you may ask -- and the answer is me, myself, and I. When the kids and I went to see Despicable Me 3 (not as good as the first two), we got there early, in time to watch all the commercials they show before the previews. There was a commercial for the latest batch of Barbie Fashionistas. And WHO got drawn in by the ad, WHO found herself desperately wanting to go shopping as a result? The pronoun is a clue. It was Mom. Mom who supposedly knows all about how rhetoric and advertising work. I was putty in the hands of the ad designers. Man-bun Ken, the one on the left, particularly took my fancy, but really they all did. I desperately wanted a Curvy Barbie too. So these are the four I ended up buying (four because they were on sale on the ToysRUs website for $7.99 each, and if you spent at least $25 you got free shipping). My favorite is the fat little redhead on the right. She has the most amazing hips and bottom (if you take her clothes off, which of course I did, causing my little men's eyes to pop). The African-American Ken next to her seems a little aloof, but that's OK. Man-bun Ken is a big goofball (and fat, too -- he's the "broad" body style). And tall skinny black-haired Barbie on the left strikes me as prissy, but not a bad person. Doll, sorry.

The dolls were sitting around on my dresser the other night and Rocket Boy noted that the girls look like Ginger and Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. He has a point, though Mary Ann was never ten feet tall. Still, it's given me additional insight into her character. The doll's character, that is, not Mary Ann's.

I don't know what I'm doing with all these dolls. I have promised not to buy any more Barbies -- until Christmas, maybe? Or my next birthday? But maybe my interest will have died down by then. I certainly hope so. At the moment I'm just entranced by them. They look so much like real people. And I have no idea what to do with them. I make up little stories about them in my head, but I'm not very good at PLAYING with dolls anymore. Which maybe is a good thing, since I'm 57.

Yes, 57. Why don't I want adult presents, like, hmm, a new purse? Bor-ing. I always want books, but I'm mainly patronizing the library these days (and trying to thin my collection). Music? I did end up with two CDs this year. Clothes? Well, I always want clothes, but at my current weight they're definitely not as fun as they used to be. I did use the gift cards from my sisters to buy some clothes and a hat, but all but a nightgown went back to the sellers. Nothing fit right. One shirt too big, one shirt wrong for my body type. The hat was too small (what else is new). At my weight I do a lot better if I can try stuff on, because a lot of things look really weird on me. Or I could just wear sacks or something.

No, come on, don't be so negative. I just got a relatively clean bill of health from my doctor. Other than being enormously fat, getting closer and closer to 250 pounds (I kid you not!), I'm doing OK. Liver function: great. Kidney function: great. Thyroid: great. B12: great. Blood pressure: improving from last year. Red blood cells, white blood cells, all the stuff they test. Just fab. I still feel like crap, can't breathe, etc., but it doesn't show up in the tests. OK, the second breathing test was still somewhat weird, but not bad enough to "count." My doc finally gave me a referral to Behavioral Health, which is like saying, "It's all in your head." But I accepted it and made an appointment (for late August, of course nothing available now). Maybe it is all in my head. Not.

Well, I guess this is enough meandering for now. Next week is our annual camping trip at Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA camp, so that'll be fun. Rocket Boy is dreading it, because the packing is always a struggle, but maybe this year will be different. I read all my old posts about previous trips, all the mistakes we made and we will NOT make them this time (we'll make some other mistakes instead). We're going to TEST the old stove, which has been a problem in the past. I'll make a checklist and check things off, so we don't forget our camping teakettle this time. The only thing I'm worried about is sleeping at altitude, but I have a new air mattress, and otherwise I'll just hope for the best. Wish me luck for a productive week, and I'll be back in a week or so with camping photos.