I love the extra hour of sleep on late start Wednesdays. I think school starts way too early. Most businesses don't even open their doors before 9:00am. Why should school start at 7:45? My boys are so much happier on Wednesdays, with that extra hour of sleep, I even come out of my room to do chores before they leave for school. I make an appearance after having woken them up. I don't have to go back and hide from grouchy tempers on Wednesdays.
We have a huge pile of laundry from the weekend and just life with clothes in general pile up. I have been doing loads. I tell Riley to please bring up the piles of clean. If he brings them up, I will put them away. He leaps at that bargain. A huge pile now appears in the upstairs hall. I have Riley dump the carrying bucket and take it back for more clean laundry and proceed to start hanging shirts and pants.
Some people are folders, some people are hangers. I am a hanger. I hang everything I can, from t-shirts to blue jeans, just like store displays. I even try to combine like colors or types; Button downs with button downs, polos with polos, dark with dark, sweaters with sweaters. I am much faster than my boys would be. I am done with most of it quickly.
Riley's regular chore is to unload the clean dishes from the night before. I call down to remind him. He doesn't even whine about two sets of chores. I love Wednesdays. I finally am completely finished with the laundry and head downstairs.
Trevor has been in the bathroom taking a shower. A shower for Trevor in the morning is so wonderful. He starts the day smelling clean and fresh with what ever manly soap he uses. the steam and clean cologne scent escapes into the hall, making everything smell good. He gets himself dressed and heads downstairs. He has time and is not feeling rushed. He realizes he has forgotten his socks and asks me to get some for him from the basket upstairs in Riley's big room, where we keep all the unmatched socks together. I am in such a good mood not having anyone baulk or be cranky. I go back upstairs and toss a matched pair down. He picks them up and calls out to me " by the way, the cats have peed on the sock basket. Yep, these are peed on". Lovely. He puts them on anyway, before I get replacement pairs.
While we had been gone this weekend at the beach, the cats had proceeded to lock themselves in Riley's room unable to reopen the door. They had used the sock basket as their litter box. Trevor had gone home on Saturday evening, to retrieve his scout shirt he had forgotten to take with him, a requirement for any scout outing. Trevor had discovered the cats because of their crying at the door when they heard him in the house. He was able to let them out with no harm done.
I was grateful that the cats had chosen such an easy to deal with and contained area to do their business while locked in the bedroom. They easily could have chosen to pee on the new mattress instead. They have done that to me before on my bed. They were mad at me though, for leaving them for the weekend. They also peed on my dirty laundry in my bathroom after they got out and were still alone until I came home on Sunday.. No one else was so gifted with a present so I do know they were mad. You could say "pissed off at being locked in".
I am having to wash all the socks again, but modern washing machines being what they are, that is easy in the grand scheme of things. I was happy Trevor told me, because Riley had been taking clean matched socks out of his father's basket in our closet rather than deal with the sock basket in his room. After doing the chores so nicely for me, I didn't get mad at Riley for not saying anything and avoiding the problem. It was Wednesday. Every one is happy on these mornings. Why spoil the moment. The socks will still be there to be tossed in the laundry after school. No big deal. Thank goodness it wasn't the mattress.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Cranky or Humor
Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Let things wash away with a laugh or you will give yourself a heart attack with the frustration. One of the reasons Tom and I made the big move was to de-stress Tom's life. Well, last night was a doozy for me.
We are refinancing the old house for a lower interest rate, which will allow us to include the cost of the taxes and rental insurance in the cost of rent we charge. The notary will come to our house for the signing.
The notary was supposed to arrive at 7:00 pm. We were home waiting. A little after seven the phone rings. The notary is at our old house, the one we are refinancing, where surprisingly the new future renters opened the door.
Two things were wrong with this picture. One was the notary had gone to the wrong house in the wrong state. The other issue was the renters were living in the house a week early. I just rolled my eyes as both issues were so predictably mismanaged. Surprises that had to be dealt with and quickly. Silver lining was we caught the renters, moved in early. We might never have known otherwise.
The notary was not licensed for the state we now live in and definitely wasn't up to the drive this late at night already, hours away. He said someone would call in the morning to reschedule. Meanwhile, I had to call the renter to find out what was up. Why was he moved in a week early with out prorating or fulfilling the deposit requirements. He said he would have all the funds on the first and thought I understood he wanted to move in early. HHMMM.
My next call was to the property manager to follow up on the early move in date. It would have been fine if he had followed protocol. Pro rated rent would have been more appropriate and definitely distressed me finding out this way. He said he was not finished painting yet, which I would have absolved him of the one weeks rent as a thank you.
I understand his thoughts though. He has a large portion of the deposit made already but the rest he is coming up with on the first. He probably didn't have the full amount. I was adamant about everything up front after our last renter experience. He had the key I had given him for painting before he moved in. He had turned on the utilities to his name. He had someone moving into his house and needed to be out. He pushed the envelope. I get it even if I can't condone it. If I hadn't been burned by our last renter, which cost us two more months mortgage until this family moved in, I might have been a little more accommodating. It is a matter of trust and again I may have trusted a bit too much.
The painting of the upstairs walls is done, he tells me. He has not done the ceilings, of which I paid for the paint at his request. Nor is the downstairs done yet. He said he needed a longer extension ladder for the two story entry. The world is not a perfect place. When you get good renters you try to accommodate. I don't yet know though if these are good renters. They do have more than half the deposit down, but they haven't paid the rent yet. At least I don't think they have. My property manager will be following up today. I warned him she would be calling.
I went up to the man cave to tell Tom the news. He asked where the notary was when I reached the top of the stairs. I smiled and laughed and said "Guess what happened". He smiled back at me with that "of course" look he gets when disasters strike that he is absolutely not going to lose his temper over. He reached out his arms to me to invite me to crawl into his lap where we can hug each other for endurance against the mad world outside. Not much we could do that night, but wait until morning.
Next time I guess I will just have to have the property manager run over and unlock the house each time work is being done. But my hope is that this is the last renter we will need. That this family will buy the house in a year or two. You can't beat the size for the price. The renter said he wants it.
The refi means we will owe more on the house as the costs roll into the new loan, and back to 30 whole years, but we should break even in a year with the lower mortgage. I just want to close my eyes and pretend it's not there to deal with. Every moment has been such an upheaval. I had heard that rentals are a pain. The income is not as passive as you think. Good renters are few and far between and worth accommodating to keep them happy. I am juggling between wanting to get pissed off and melting with gratitude that they did move in, and are fixing my bad paint job.
Hopefully, this is water under the bridge and we will move on to better communication and long term rewards on both sides. I did warn my renter that my property manager would be calling and she would be cranky. I do pay her to do the nasty stuff.
If he finishes the paint job I will over look the sneaking in early. I remember our need to be out of our house last summer and the unsuccessful attempt to be allowed to move into our new home early with the frustrations that entailed. I had given up the key. It was a temptation he couldn't resist with his own need to be moved. I just would have been happier if the money was in the bank first. So I am waiting two more days before I freak out and say "Not Again!!!". With any luck Tom and I will be celebrating over cocktails at the club Friday night, that we have new renters we can count on to pay our mortgage for the indefinite future, deposit in the bank. Celebrating life and financial stability, and our talent to move through potential disaster with equanimity.
I hadn't heard anything by 9:30 am so I sent off an email then a second one to the contact I had. He finally called me at 11:00am appologizing for the mix up. We are rescheduled. That problem resolved. I trust that our other problem with the renter will also be resolved in a couple of days. I will let my propertty manager do her business and after the first of the month we will know one way or another whether we made a bad choice again or not. At least this problem will not be as drawn out as the loan, which took two and a half months to hear if we qualified.
We are refinancing the old house for a lower interest rate, which will allow us to include the cost of the taxes and rental insurance in the cost of rent we charge. The notary will come to our house for the signing.
The notary was supposed to arrive at 7:00 pm. We were home waiting. A little after seven the phone rings. The notary is at our old house, the one we are refinancing, where surprisingly the new future renters opened the door.
Two things were wrong with this picture. One was the notary had gone to the wrong house in the wrong state. The other issue was the renters were living in the house a week early. I just rolled my eyes as both issues were so predictably mismanaged. Surprises that had to be dealt with and quickly. Silver lining was we caught the renters, moved in early. We might never have known otherwise.
The notary was not licensed for the state we now live in and definitely wasn't up to the drive this late at night already, hours away. He said someone would call in the morning to reschedule. Meanwhile, I had to call the renter to find out what was up. Why was he moved in a week early with out prorating or fulfilling the deposit requirements. He said he would have all the funds on the first and thought I understood he wanted to move in early. HHMMM.
My next call was to the property manager to follow up on the early move in date. It would have been fine if he had followed protocol. Pro rated rent would have been more appropriate and definitely distressed me finding out this way. He said he was not finished painting yet, which I would have absolved him of the one weeks rent as a thank you.
I understand his thoughts though. He has a large portion of the deposit made already but the rest he is coming up with on the first. He probably didn't have the full amount. I was adamant about everything up front after our last renter experience. He had the key I had given him for painting before he moved in. He had turned on the utilities to his name. He had someone moving into his house and needed to be out. He pushed the envelope. I get it even if I can't condone it. If I hadn't been burned by our last renter, which cost us two more months mortgage until this family moved in, I might have been a little more accommodating. It is a matter of trust and again I may have trusted a bit too much.
The painting of the upstairs walls is done, he tells me. He has not done the ceilings, of which I paid for the paint at his request. Nor is the downstairs done yet. He said he needed a longer extension ladder for the two story entry. The world is not a perfect place. When you get good renters you try to accommodate. I don't yet know though if these are good renters. They do have more than half the deposit down, but they haven't paid the rent yet. At least I don't think they have. My property manager will be following up today. I warned him she would be calling.
I went up to the man cave to tell Tom the news. He asked where the notary was when I reached the top of the stairs. I smiled and laughed and said "Guess what happened". He smiled back at me with that "of course" look he gets when disasters strike that he is absolutely not going to lose his temper over. He reached out his arms to me to invite me to crawl into his lap where we can hug each other for endurance against the mad world outside. Not much we could do that night, but wait until morning.
Next time I guess I will just have to have the property manager run over and unlock the house each time work is being done. But my hope is that this is the last renter we will need. That this family will buy the house in a year or two. You can't beat the size for the price. The renter said he wants it.
The refi means we will owe more on the house as the costs roll into the new loan, and back to 30 whole years, but we should break even in a year with the lower mortgage. I just want to close my eyes and pretend it's not there to deal with. Every moment has been such an upheaval. I had heard that rentals are a pain. The income is not as passive as you think. Good renters are few and far between and worth accommodating to keep them happy. I am juggling between wanting to get pissed off and melting with gratitude that they did move in, and are fixing my bad paint job.
Hopefully, this is water under the bridge and we will move on to better communication and long term rewards on both sides. I did warn my renter that my property manager would be calling and she would be cranky. I do pay her to do the nasty stuff.
If he finishes the paint job I will over look the sneaking in early. I remember our need to be out of our house last summer and the unsuccessful attempt to be allowed to move into our new home early with the frustrations that entailed. I had given up the key. It was a temptation he couldn't resist with his own need to be moved. I just would have been happier if the money was in the bank first. So I am waiting two more days before I freak out and say "Not Again!!!". With any luck Tom and I will be celebrating over cocktails at the club Friday night, that we have new renters we can count on to pay our mortgage for the indefinite future, deposit in the bank. Celebrating life and financial stability, and our talent to move through potential disaster with equanimity.
I hadn't heard anything by 9:30 am so I sent off an email then a second one to the contact I had. He finally called me at 11:00am appologizing for the mix up. We are rescheduled. That problem resolved. I trust that our other problem with the renter will also be resolved in a couple of days. I will let my propertty manager do her business and after the first of the month we will know one way or another whether we made a bad choice again or not. At least this problem will not be as drawn out as the loan, which took two and a half months to hear if we qualified.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Went to the beach
It was our annual Gearhart trip this weekend. Tom is playing winter golf. One friend canceled because the weather was to be so horrible. It was horrible on Friday and Saturday. The hail and snow blew sideways across the parking lot of the hotel mixed in with beach sand. As we sat huddled over our drinks in the bar I cracked a joke that we wouldn't need to go to the spa for a skin ablation, all we needed to do was stand outside.
Tom came down early so he could play Friday. The boys had school so I came down Friday night. Driving down with a friend and her children and our dogs. Another golfing wife also asked if she could catch a ride with us. She would have her husband drive her home Sunday. She just had to find a ride down, like us she needed to go after school let out.
I do love mini vans. My girlfriend had a roof box which we filled with as much of our suitcases and food stuff as it would hold. I packed as light as I could. Riley also packed light. We had our dog. My girlfriend had her two dogs. I do love this particular hotel because it does allow for pets. in certain rooms. We were seven plus three in the car. The dog kennel was tipped up on its side in the back with the dogs snuggled in against the back door. I was surprised at how well we all fit.
Tom was in second place with his partner coming into the lodge the first day. We went out to dinner at a local restaurant that was lovely. First time I have ever left the campus for dinner. I am always with my boys and opt not to inflict them on others. This year just Riley came. He had friends to hang with so I could abandon him and go out to an adult night of great food and fun company.
Trevor had a scouting event. He was going to go Snow shoeing at the mountains. I was a little leery with the weather, but by Sunday when they were to go up, the worst of the storm had blown through. He had fun with snow ball fights and playing without us.
Watching the storm pass at the beach was incredible. Knowing Tom was out trying to play golf in it was even more incredible. Tom had me drive him over from our condo to the pro shop Saturday morning, just across the parking lot. He didn't want to walk in the storm and get all wet just yet. As he got out of the car and was buffeted by the 30 to 50 mile an hour winds, he turned back to me at the wheel and says of himself "I am an idiot". To be going out to try and play golf in this weather, I just laughed and smiled and drove away to my warm fire and hot cocoa in the condo.
Riley and I later went to pick out a movie from the front desk. As we are crossing back over the parking lot, I tell Riley to link arms with me as I think we might get blown away. Riley responds with linking arms then tells me "get low, Mom, get low". We crouch down and scrabble across the road like crabs on the beach. Staying low so the wind gusts don't catch us and blow us over.
The heavy deck furniture was completely flipped over when we got back to our room.
We had a great time. The adults played dice games in one of the rooms over cocktails. I had volunteered our room for the Saturday night dinner party. Our room was too small though to host such a gathering. thirty people showed up to the KFC and Taco dinner catered. Everyone pitched in $10 each and there was more than plenty of food for all. I sent much left overs home with party guests. But we were crammed into the space.
Our room was one of the older rooms and not as big as some of the other two bedroom suites. There was little elbow room and every seat was taken with standing room only for half the guests. If we volunteer again to serve dinner, we will have to get one of the bigger suites.
Riley and I went shopping at the outlet mall, Saturday. Tom asked me to pick him up a pair of jeans. Trevor wanted another pair, and I had Riley try on another pair. Riley didn't want to oblige at first but I waggled a $10 bill in front of his face and said he could have it if he went and tried on the jeans for size. He zipped off the the changing room reappearing shortly with the jeans, telling me they fit just fine. He took the $10 and headed to the candy store across the mall. He met me a few minutes later with a delicious looking Carmel apple happily munching his treat and a bag of chocolate fudge in his other hand.
Riley had not brought his swim suit. The girls we were with had plans to go swimming in the indoor pool with hot tub. Riley said he would like to have the option of swimming so we stopped in at one of the mall stores that had swim suits. The clerk had tattoos on his arms and a ring in his nose. Hard rock music blared on the speakers. Riley whispers to me that he already doesn't like the place, but the clerk says they have swim suits on the back wall. Riley doesn't like the plain grey one the clerk holds up. He sifts through the selection and grabs a suit he does like. Without trying it on he hands it to me and says "this one mom." I go up to the counter with my credit card out. The clerk rings up the suit for $59. $59!!! I choke. I tell Riley he had better like this swim suit.
My girlfriend's teen daughter mentions she needs a swim suit also. The women head to the same store where Riley had bought his swim suit. I had to laugh as Riley, who, moments earlier, had just informed me he was done shopping, ditches me to follow them into the store. Probably with hopeful thoughts of seeing this attractive young woman trying on bikinis. He waited patiently while the young woman tried on several suits, but she did not allow Riley a peak.
I swung by the wine store on the corner and picked out some really lovely bottles for the party. I also bought a few pairs of underwear at the underwear outlet store, while Riley was otherwise occupied.
We are done shopping. Completely tapped out financially even with the discounts. We head back to the hotel, where Riley wears his new swim suit down to the pool to go hang with the girls. I truly would have put money on his not going to the pool. He usually doesn't like to do the pool for all the splashing. But this weekend with the teen women. He left his book in his room and played.
Another girlfriend needed to be back early so we headed out, again with seven people in the fully loaded minivan especially with the extra shopping items added to the load. We also had a box of the left over catered food jammed into the roof box. Letting nothing go to waste and every cranny filled.
I tried to read in the car on the way home but made myself car sick. I had to close my eyes and nap. Waiting for the trip to end so I could get out of the car. I wouldn't dare ask to stop unless it was dire circumstances, with three dogs and six other passengers jambed in. Best to just get the drive over with as quickly as possible. We didn't even do our regular lunch stop, just drove right past the restaurant.
It was a delightful weekend. I texted Tom that we were home. He said they were in Second place still at the end of the day. didn't know yet how much that payed out. I asked him to pick something up in an extra large for Trevor if he has pro shop credit.
Glad to be home. My stomach has settled now that I am out of the car.
Tom came down early so he could play Friday. The boys had school so I came down Friday night. Driving down with a friend and her children and our dogs. Another golfing wife also asked if she could catch a ride with us. She would have her husband drive her home Sunday. She just had to find a ride down, like us she needed to go after school let out.
I do love mini vans. My girlfriend had a roof box which we filled with as much of our suitcases and food stuff as it would hold. I packed as light as I could. Riley also packed light. We had our dog. My girlfriend had her two dogs. I do love this particular hotel because it does allow for pets. in certain rooms. We were seven plus three in the car. The dog kennel was tipped up on its side in the back with the dogs snuggled in against the back door. I was surprised at how well we all fit.
Tom was in second place with his partner coming into the lodge the first day. We went out to dinner at a local restaurant that was lovely. First time I have ever left the campus for dinner. I am always with my boys and opt not to inflict them on others. This year just Riley came. He had friends to hang with so I could abandon him and go out to an adult night of great food and fun company.
Trevor had a scouting event. He was going to go Snow shoeing at the mountains. I was a little leery with the weather, but by Sunday when they were to go up, the worst of the storm had blown through. He had fun with snow ball fights and playing without us.
Watching the storm pass at the beach was incredible. Knowing Tom was out trying to play golf in it was even more incredible. Tom had me drive him over from our condo to the pro shop Saturday morning, just across the parking lot. He didn't want to walk in the storm and get all wet just yet. As he got out of the car and was buffeted by the 30 to 50 mile an hour winds, he turned back to me at the wheel and says of himself "I am an idiot". To be going out to try and play golf in this weather, I just laughed and smiled and drove away to my warm fire and hot cocoa in the condo.
Riley and I later went to pick out a movie from the front desk. As we are crossing back over the parking lot, I tell Riley to link arms with me as I think we might get blown away. Riley responds with linking arms then tells me "get low, Mom, get low". We crouch down and scrabble across the road like crabs on the beach. Staying low so the wind gusts don't catch us and blow us over.
The heavy deck furniture was completely flipped over when we got back to our room.
We had a great time. The adults played dice games in one of the rooms over cocktails. I had volunteered our room for the Saturday night dinner party. Our room was too small though to host such a gathering. thirty people showed up to the KFC and Taco dinner catered. Everyone pitched in $10 each and there was more than plenty of food for all. I sent much left overs home with party guests. But we were crammed into the space.
Our room was one of the older rooms and not as big as some of the other two bedroom suites. There was little elbow room and every seat was taken with standing room only for half the guests. If we volunteer again to serve dinner, we will have to get one of the bigger suites.
Riley and I went shopping at the outlet mall, Saturday. Tom asked me to pick him up a pair of jeans. Trevor wanted another pair, and I had Riley try on another pair. Riley didn't want to oblige at first but I waggled a $10 bill in front of his face and said he could have it if he went and tried on the jeans for size. He zipped off the the changing room reappearing shortly with the jeans, telling me they fit just fine. He took the $10 and headed to the candy store across the mall. He met me a few minutes later with a delicious looking Carmel apple happily munching his treat and a bag of chocolate fudge in his other hand.
Riley had not brought his swim suit. The girls we were with had plans to go swimming in the indoor pool with hot tub. Riley said he would like to have the option of swimming so we stopped in at one of the mall stores that had swim suits. The clerk had tattoos on his arms and a ring in his nose. Hard rock music blared on the speakers. Riley whispers to me that he already doesn't like the place, but the clerk says they have swim suits on the back wall. Riley doesn't like the plain grey one the clerk holds up. He sifts through the selection and grabs a suit he does like. Without trying it on he hands it to me and says "this one mom." I go up to the counter with my credit card out. The clerk rings up the suit for $59. $59!!! I choke. I tell Riley he had better like this swim suit.
My girlfriend's teen daughter mentions she needs a swim suit also. The women head to the same store where Riley had bought his swim suit. I had to laugh as Riley, who, moments earlier, had just informed me he was done shopping, ditches me to follow them into the store. Probably with hopeful thoughts of seeing this attractive young woman trying on bikinis. He waited patiently while the young woman tried on several suits, but she did not allow Riley a peak.
I swung by the wine store on the corner and picked out some really lovely bottles for the party. I also bought a few pairs of underwear at the underwear outlet store, while Riley was otherwise occupied.
We are done shopping. Completely tapped out financially even with the discounts. We head back to the hotel, where Riley wears his new swim suit down to the pool to go hang with the girls. I truly would have put money on his not going to the pool. He usually doesn't like to do the pool for all the splashing. But this weekend with the teen women. He left his book in his room and played.
Another girlfriend needed to be back early so we headed out, again with seven people in the fully loaded minivan especially with the extra shopping items added to the load. We also had a box of the left over catered food jammed into the roof box. Letting nothing go to waste and every cranny filled.
I tried to read in the car on the way home but made myself car sick. I had to close my eyes and nap. Waiting for the trip to end so I could get out of the car. I wouldn't dare ask to stop unless it was dire circumstances, with three dogs and six other passengers jambed in. Best to just get the drive over with as quickly as possible. We didn't even do our regular lunch stop, just drove right past the restaurant.
It was a delightful weekend. I texted Tom that we were home. He said they were in Second place still at the end of the day. didn't know yet how much that payed out. I asked him to pick something up in an extra large for Trevor if he has pro shop credit.
Glad to be home. My stomach has settled now that I am out of the car.
Friday, February 24, 2012
First Dent
First accidents usually occur in the first year of driving. Riley was backing the Jeep out and misjudged how responsive the car was to turning. He cranked the wheel too tight and scraped the front end of the car along the garage opening. The blue paint pealed away like shavings from a lemon rind. A three inch dent with a two foot scrape was the end result.
Riley was very sheepish as he showed me the oops. I didn't get mad. I remember my own scrapes and dents my first year of driving. That is why we have the boy working on his driving skills on an old beater car. Not that the jeep is that old, but it is showing bruises.
Not ready for the freeway yet, I drove the boys and myself into town to see my sister out from the east coast. The ride was uneventful. We had a great time at dinner. My nephew fell asleep on the couch after dinner. It had been a long day. They had flown in and arrived at Grandma's about 2:00. Then we descended on them around five.
My boys love their East coast cousins. While my nephew slept on oblivious of the party, my boys started to fight over who got to sit next to the sleeping child on the couch. Trevor tried to sit on Riley. Then the boys started bickering over the noise Trevor's DS was making. Their nephew didn't even know he was the center of attention, sleeping so quietly and peacefully.
Meanwhile I ended up packing my boys up and leaving, disgruntled that they couldn't behave. How old were they anyway? You would think that two teen age boys wouldn't be having such fits about sharing a small sleeping child.
It was an angry mother and a silent drive home in the dark.
Riley was very sheepish as he showed me the oops. I didn't get mad. I remember my own scrapes and dents my first year of driving. That is why we have the boy working on his driving skills on an old beater car. Not that the jeep is that old, but it is showing bruises.
Not ready for the freeway yet, I drove the boys and myself into town to see my sister out from the east coast. The ride was uneventful. We had a great time at dinner. My nephew fell asleep on the couch after dinner. It had been a long day. They had flown in and arrived at Grandma's about 2:00. Then we descended on them around five.
My boys love their East coast cousins. While my nephew slept on oblivious of the party, my boys started to fight over who got to sit next to the sleeping child on the couch. Trevor tried to sit on Riley. Then the boys started bickering over the noise Trevor's DS was making. Their nephew didn't even know he was the center of attention, sleeping so quietly and peacefully.
Meanwhile I ended up packing my boys up and leaving, disgruntled that they couldn't behave. How old were they anyway? You would think that two teen age boys wouldn't be having such fits about sharing a small sleeping child.
It was an angry mother and a silent drive home in the dark.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Computer issues
This morning Tom slept in. It was a day of rest. The boys got up to go to school. Originally this was to be a vacation day, but because of an earlier snow day they are having a snow make up day instead of the longer winter break vacation. Sorry boys.
Riley didn't keep his brother posted on the time, so Trevor wasn't ready when the bus drove by. Riley was at the stop waiting for the bus while Trevor was still putting his shoes on and finding his special sweatshirt for band and the book he wanted to read on the bus. I was trying to hush his loud wailing that missing the bus was all his brother's fault, so he wouldn't wake his snoring father from his lovely treat of sleeping in. Trevor has the voice of a fog horn, but Tom slept right through it, drowning Trevor out with his loud snores.
I didn't yell. I did roll my eyes. Trevor should be watching the clock himself. I told him so in a nice voice as I threw on my clothes to drive him. I dropped him at the corner across from the school to save me dealing with teen traffic in the parking lot. He was not happy to have to walk a block. I rolled my eyes again. He should be happy I did not give him a scathing lecture during the drive, over missing the bus. That is what I would probably do on a normal day, but today Tom is home and that puts me on my best behavior.
I tiptoe quietly around the house until I hear Tom getting up. I sit down at the computer only to find that the boys have picked up another virus. I have some standard treatments now for computer slow down. It takes hours though, of fussing and waiting to see if the cleansing of the system worked. Finally I have speed again.
In my ambition to control my children, while fixing the computer, I made the mistake of trying to put a parental control password access on to limit the children's access to sites. It only ended up frustrating me as any site unrated at all was flagged, including my mail box and each piece of mail. I had to remove the password control block so I could get on with my business.
Trevor is off to the big city tonight with the basketball team. The more the team wins the longer the season lasts as they go to the state playoffs. I gave Trevor $10 so he could have an after school snack and dinner at some point. The bus left soon after school so I didn't see any point in his coming home first on the bus, to get something to eat, and my having to drive him right back again. I told him that he owes me two hours of work tomorrow.
Sunday, my sister is coming into town with my nephew, from the east coast. It is their winter break also. It is a quick trip. The only day available for all of us to see her is Sunday, the day she arrives. I know she will be exhausted from traveling, but we are looking forward to her visit, and my adorable nephew.
I am going to go into town a little early so I can deliver the empty boxes to my mom. Have lunch with the other half of the family. I don't know if Tom wants to go down that early, so we will take two cars. The boxes take up a lot of room, so I can't bring everyone with me in the car anyway.
Monday, my college roommate and her son are coming down for a quick overnight visit on their way to visit family on their winter break. I am so excited to have these visits with friends and family. Considering, originally we had no plans for this weekend.
Tonight is a spin off jewelry party from my girls night out in January. I am looking forward to playing some more with all the jewelry. I love the ring Tom picked out for me, and the necklaces and ear rings I bought as my birthday present to myself. Mom gave me a lovely rhinestone choker that had been her mother's. It was a delightful month of pampering.
I also bought a few things from the store that did the fashion show at the club, so I have some fun new clothes to wear. I definitely needed a few things after the purging of my wardrobe a few months ago. Now I just have to wait for the warm weather to arrive so I can wear these spring outfits that are fun, light, and too chilly to wear now.
I got Tom on a vitamin regime that has improved his mood. He doesn't do much with eating fresh fruits and vegetables, so when he said he was feeling down and depressed I made him take some vitamins. A week later he came back to me and said he was feeling much better, surprise surprise. Spending so much time in doors this winter in this rainy climate saps the vitamin D right out of you and when you don't eat healthy the supplements are essential. He now is voluntarily taking vitamins every day.
Tom wont take the big vitamin pills that most people swallow. I had to search every store for months to find the tiny tabs that were the right size. Then wait for the right moment to shove them at him. New Chapter seems to be the only manufacturer of small tablets. I finally found them at a high end organic store in the city. I called our local health store, they are having to special order the tiny tabs for me, now that I know what brand to ask for. I kept coming home and opening vitamin bottles that the clerk swore were the small size, only to find them to be the big size. I fed them to the boys and myself, since I couldn't return them once opened. The vitamins did not go to waist.
Now that I have discovered the brand and size, I went on line and found them for 50% cheaper on Amazon than in the store. At least now I can get them local, special order, and by mail order.
I am stocking up, just in case this company decides to stop producing the small size.
Riley didn't keep his brother posted on the time, so Trevor wasn't ready when the bus drove by. Riley was at the stop waiting for the bus while Trevor was still putting his shoes on and finding his special sweatshirt for band and the book he wanted to read on the bus. I was trying to hush his loud wailing that missing the bus was all his brother's fault, so he wouldn't wake his snoring father from his lovely treat of sleeping in. Trevor has the voice of a fog horn, but Tom slept right through it, drowning Trevor out with his loud snores.
I didn't yell. I did roll my eyes. Trevor should be watching the clock himself. I told him so in a nice voice as I threw on my clothes to drive him. I dropped him at the corner across from the school to save me dealing with teen traffic in the parking lot. He was not happy to have to walk a block. I rolled my eyes again. He should be happy I did not give him a scathing lecture during the drive, over missing the bus. That is what I would probably do on a normal day, but today Tom is home and that puts me on my best behavior.
I tiptoe quietly around the house until I hear Tom getting up. I sit down at the computer only to find that the boys have picked up another virus. I have some standard treatments now for computer slow down. It takes hours though, of fussing and waiting to see if the cleansing of the system worked. Finally I have speed again.
In my ambition to control my children, while fixing the computer, I made the mistake of trying to put a parental control password access on to limit the children's access to sites. It only ended up frustrating me as any site unrated at all was flagged, including my mail box and each piece of mail. I had to remove the password control block so I could get on with my business.
Trevor is off to the big city tonight with the basketball team. The more the team wins the longer the season lasts as they go to the state playoffs. I gave Trevor $10 so he could have an after school snack and dinner at some point. The bus left soon after school so I didn't see any point in his coming home first on the bus, to get something to eat, and my having to drive him right back again. I told him that he owes me two hours of work tomorrow.
Sunday, my sister is coming into town with my nephew, from the east coast. It is their winter break also. It is a quick trip. The only day available for all of us to see her is Sunday, the day she arrives. I know she will be exhausted from traveling, but we are looking forward to her visit, and my adorable nephew.
I am going to go into town a little early so I can deliver the empty boxes to my mom. Have lunch with the other half of the family. I don't know if Tom wants to go down that early, so we will take two cars. The boxes take up a lot of room, so I can't bring everyone with me in the car anyway.
Monday, my college roommate and her son are coming down for a quick overnight visit on their way to visit family on their winter break. I am so excited to have these visits with friends and family. Considering, originally we had no plans for this weekend.
Tonight is a spin off jewelry party from my girls night out in January. I am looking forward to playing some more with all the jewelry. I love the ring Tom picked out for me, and the necklaces and ear rings I bought as my birthday present to myself. Mom gave me a lovely rhinestone choker that had been her mother's. It was a delightful month of pampering.
I also bought a few things from the store that did the fashion show at the club, so I have some fun new clothes to wear. I definitely needed a few things after the purging of my wardrobe a few months ago. Now I just have to wait for the warm weather to arrive so I can wear these spring outfits that are fun, light, and too chilly to wear now.
I got Tom on a vitamin regime that has improved his mood. He doesn't do much with eating fresh fruits and vegetables, so when he said he was feeling down and depressed I made him take some vitamins. A week later he came back to me and said he was feeling much better, surprise surprise. Spending so much time in doors this winter in this rainy climate saps the vitamin D right out of you and when you don't eat healthy the supplements are essential. He now is voluntarily taking vitamins every day.
Tom wont take the big vitamin pills that most people swallow. I had to search every store for months to find the tiny tabs that were the right size. Then wait for the right moment to shove them at him. New Chapter seems to be the only manufacturer of small tablets. I finally found them at a high end organic store in the city. I called our local health store, they are having to special order the tiny tabs for me, now that I know what brand to ask for. I kept coming home and opening vitamin bottles that the clerk swore were the small size, only to find them to be the big size. I fed them to the boys and myself, since I couldn't return them once opened. The vitamins did not go to waist.
Now that I have discovered the brand and size, I went on line and found them for 50% cheaper on Amazon than in the store. At least now I can get them local, special order, and by mail order.
I am stocking up, just in case this company decides to stop producing the small size.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Driving with Trevor
The boys were invited to go to the movies. Well really, I think Trevor invited himself along and then Riley thought it was fun sounding also and decided to tag along. It was Trevor's best friend and his little brother, our favorite two some. Four is always better than three. Especially with Trevor and his best friend as they tend to ignore everyone else. Adding Riley to the mix and the little brother, who is only a couple of years younger than the rest, helps keep stability within the ranks.
I told the boys they had to earn their money. Movies are almost $10 these days especially if they go to see a 3D. I told the boys they had to do two hours of chores with me. Trevor and I worked in the basement. We were able to smash or fold up half a dozen boxes. Trevor carried the flattened boxes to the garage where I will eventually load them into my car for a trip down to my Mom's house. She likes to save the old boxes. Some one is always moving every couple of years and they are handy to have. Either that or just sorting and tossing in er own home, having a stash of boxes is handy.
My phone rang a couple of times while the boys and I worked. They took advantage of my distraction to disappeared. I would call them back. Riley quit after an hour to disappear for good. Trevor had a timer set. He took a break after the first hour, then came back for another hour, watching the clock run down to the last minute.
When it was time to go, I thought the boys were getting picked up, but no, they needed to be delivered. That is when it began to dawn on me they were inviting themselves along. I told them I didn't want to drive down there, I was still working in the basement. Riley piped up and said he would drive.
I was surprised at the offer. Riley had said just a couple of days earlier that he didn't want to drive his brother anywhere yet. To see that initiative and encourage it, I agreed. Trevor wasn't thrilled as I told him to sit in the back seat of the car. Trevor wailed that he didn't want to put his life in his brother's hands. I told him to behave and get in the back seat. I also said no commentary from the back. He needs to be quiet. Those were wasted words. As we approach the train track crossing on the way to Trevor's friends, Trevor, from the back seat, does a "ding ding ding" sound of the train crossing bells. We hadn't been in the care for more than a minute. I turn round and bark at him to knock it off.
I can see the jealousy seething in Trevor's eyes that it is Riley behind the wheel and Trevor is a year away from this opportunity. I was pleased that Riley had offered to drive, as Riley knew exactly what he would be up against with the heckling and distraction. Luckily we don't have far to go and Riley does well, even with Trevor in the back seat, looking over his shoulder, reading allowed the speedometer readings. I was about ready to kick Trevor to the curb, but Riley was handling it with aplomb. My rule is the driver is in charge, if Riley didn't mind, and I think Riley was enjoying the one upmanship, then who was I to get overly angry. Had Riley handled it differently, I would have had him pull over and dump his brother out. Riley just quietly smiled and gloated. Not often does he get the upper hand over on his brother.
I had no interest in the movie so I checked with the boy's mom about the plans and left everyone in her hands.
I had two whole hours to kill before they would be home again. Tom and I watched the Pebble Beach Pro Am on TV. I remember the days when that wouldn't be what we did in an empty house with the children gone. We are content in the quiet peace.
The boys had to borrow another couple dollars from their friends in order to get snacks. I will put them to work to pay off that debt. Soon the basement will be in control. I am beginning to see the end in sight.
I want to put up a couple of walls and create storage closets. What monster house does not have storage closets somewhere. This house has none.
This weekend,Trevor is supposed to go snow shoeing with scouts. He has none of the proper gear. I really don't want to spend the money on boots he will wear once. I have picked up some water proof pants for Trevor as he doesn't fit anything in the house. I figure he can layer his clothes. I have gators which are ankle wraps that go over your pants and shoes. I think maybe he can wear his leather athletic shoes with the gators. We'll see. It is a couple days off, I could cave in and buy him real gear. He needs to show me what his scout book says he should have. His big feet are a problem since he needs shoes and boots that fit an elephant width, 4E. Those don't come cheaply.
Trevor has another infected hang nail on his big toe again. He soaks it every day after school. I wish it would get better and go away permanently.
Yesterday, his spotter in weight training wasn't paying attention. Trevor thought he had put the weights on the rack but he had missed one holder. The weights slipped and hit him in the head. He had a big bump. He said the coach told him he has a mild concussion and should be careful for the next week. This same spotter wasn't paying attention a couple of weeks ago and cause Trevor to pinch his fingers. I told Trevor to get a better spotter. The kid obviously was not taking the job seriously. Trevor does heavy weights. He needs someone paying attention. Trevor said this kid isn't even in their weight group. Get some one who can handle the weights, please, before you get seriously injured. Trevor and I trade stories of crushed wind pipes and head injuries of famous athletes who's careers were over due to a stupid preventable accident in the weight room.
I told the boys they had to earn their money. Movies are almost $10 these days especially if they go to see a 3D. I told the boys they had to do two hours of chores with me. Trevor and I worked in the basement. We were able to smash or fold up half a dozen boxes. Trevor carried the flattened boxes to the garage where I will eventually load them into my car for a trip down to my Mom's house. She likes to save the old boxes. Some one is always moving every couple of years and they are handy to have. Either that or just sorting and tossing in er own home, having a stash of boxes is handy.
My phone rang a couple of times while the boys and I worked. They took advantage of my distraction to disappeared. I would call them back. Riley quit after an hour to disappear for good. Trevor had a timer set. He took a break after the first hour, then came back for another hour, watching the clock run down to the last minute.
When it was time to go, I thought the boys were getting picked up, but no, they needed to be delivered. That is when it began to dawn on me they were inviting themselves along. I told them I didn't want to drive down there, I was still working in the basement. Riley piped up and said he would drive.
I was surprised at the offer. Riley had said just a couple of days earlier that he didn't want to drive his brother anywhere yet. To see that initiative and encourage it, I agreed. Trevor wasn't thrilled as I told him to sit in the back seat of the car. Trevor wailed that he didn't want to put his life in his brother's hands. I told him to behave and get in the back seat. I also said no commentary from the back. He needs to be quiet. Those were wasted words. As we approach the train track crossing on the way to Trevor's friends, Trevor, from the back seat, does a "ding ding ding" sound of the train crossing bells. We hadn't been in the care for more than a minute. I turn round and bark at him to knock it off.
I can see the jealousy seething in Trevor's eyes that it is Riley behind the wheel and Trevor is a year away from this opportunity. I was pleased that Riley had offered to drive, as Riley knew exactly what he would be up against with the heckling and distraction. Luckily we don't have far to go and Riley does well, even with Trevor in the back seat, looking over his shoulder, reading allowed the speedometer readings. I was about ready to kick Trevor to the curb, but Riley was handling it with aplomb. My rule is the driver is in charge, if Riley didn't mind, and I think Riley was enjoying the one upmanship, then who was I to get overly angry. Had Riley handled it differently, I would have had him pull over and dump his brother out. Riley just quietly smiled and gloated. Not often does he get the upper hand over on his brother.
I had no interest in the movie so I checked with the boy's mom about the plans and left everyone in her hands.
I had two whole hours to kill before they would be home again. Tom and I watched the Pebble Beach Pro Am on TV. I remember the days when that wouldn't be what we did in an empty house with the children gone. We are content in the quiet peace.
The boys had to borrow another couple dollars from their friends in order to get snacks. I will put them to work to pay off that debt. Soon the basement will be in control. I am beginning to see the end in sight.
I want to put up a couple of walls and create storage closets. What monster house does not have storage closets somewhere. This house has none.
This weekend,Trevor is supposed to go snow shoeing with scouts. He has none of the proper gear. I really don't want to spend the money on boots he will wear once. I have picked up some water proof pants for Trevor as he doesn't fit anything in the house. I figure he can layer his clothes. I have gators which are ankle wraps that go over your pants and shoes. I think maybe he can wear his leather athletic shoes with the gators. We'll see. It is a couple days off, I could cave in and buy him real gear. He needs to show me what his scout book says he should have. His big feet are a problem since he needs shoes and boots that fit an elephant width, 4E. Those don't come cheaply.
Trevor has another infected hang nail on his big toe again. He soaks it every day after school. I wish it would get better and go away permanently.
Yesterday, his spotter in weight training wasn't paying attention. Trevor thought he had put the weights on the rack but he had missed one holder. The weights slipped and hit him in the head. He had a big bump. He said the coach told him he has a mild concussion and should be careful for the next week. This same spotter wasn't paying attention a couple of weeks ago and cause Trevor to pinch his fingers. I told Trevor to get a better spotter. The kid obviously was not taking the job seriously. Trevor does heavy weights. He needs someone paying attention. Trevor said this kid isn't even in their weight group. Get some one who can handle the weights, please, before you get seriously injured. Trevor and I trade stories of crushed wind pipes and head injuries of famous athletes who's careers were over due to a stupid preventable accident in the weight room.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Chinese food drive
Riley is so tickled these days to be driving. Only five times behind the wheel and each time he gets better and better. He was even able to turn around in the bottom of our very tight driveway, doing a five point turn, but I was happy we didn't hit anything, garbage, house, concrete wall. There were a lot of obstacles to miss.
Tom wanted Chinese for dinner. He said he is picking the dishes. They are always the same dishes, Mongolian beef, Kung Pow chicken, broccoli beef , pork fried rice, fried pot stickers. I throw in an orange chicken for a spare. I ask Riley if he wants to drive to the restaurant for the pick up. He leaps up from his chair with alacrity, gathering up his wallet and the keys and heads for the garage. I have not seen this much enthusiasm from him in years. Considering how disinterested and fearful he was to get his permit, I have to smile. He must like me as an instructor.
The drive is uneventful. We are early so I ask for a pot of Tea for us, while we wait. Riley and I sit and just hang out talking. I love the camaraderie. I see a woman come in to the restaurant with the funnest looking shoes on her tiny feet. Red four inch pumps with bows and ruffles on the ankle. She hears my comment to Riley about how cool and wild the shoes are, as we are sitting close to the front door. She models them for use. Riley and I smile and laugh. The clerk at the counter calls out my name that our food is ready. Riley offers to carry the bag. What a gentleman.
We have one more stop to make. Tom has asked us to pick up a can of Copenhagen, a horrible product, but at the bottom, it was the motivation for his offering to buy Chinese for dinner. We go out for him to pick up the can of chew, and get Chinese as a reward.
Safeway is across a busy street. Riley gets in the car and drives. We stop at the edge of the parking lot of the restaurant. Riley looks both ways to make sure we have time and clearance. He has to cut across three lanes to reach the turn we need to get into the Safeway parking lot. He does the driving really smoothly. It is Saturday evening, so traffic is fairly light, but we do time the signals for breathing room between clusters of cars. The Safeway parking lot is busy and somewhat crowded with weekend shoppers. Riley finds a parking spot. We both go into the store, pleased with the driving experience.
Riley asks if we can get Cinnamon rolls. I say for tomorrow's breakfast, after all we already have fresh hot Chinese waiting in the car. He comes back with a four pack of muffins. He couldn't find the Cinnamon rolls. I get the Copenhagen. It costs almost $10 a can. I lecture Riley on the expense and what a waste of money a tobacco habit is. He nods, agreeing that his father is crazy to not give it up and to have started in the first place.
Riley drives us home. It is funny how you don't pay attention to directions until you have to drive. We have been driving the same route often, with me behind the wheel, and yet Riley isn't sure which way to go when he is driving. Things don't look familiar until we are close to home. Now that Riley is a driver, he will learn how to get around in town, remember directions.
I walk in the door of the house with Riley carrying the Chinese food behind me. I call dinner and the thundering steps of man and boy are heard from both sets of stairs. Tom unpacks and opens all the boxes. I tell the boys Tom goes first. Trevor says he needs to get to his game. The school basket ball team made the playoffs so the season is still not over. The Pep band is playing at the game. Tom tells Trevor to grab some food and take it with him. Classic Trevor, he picks up a whole family size box of orange chicken and says he'll just take this box with him to go. We all shout "no". He has to fill up a plate like the rest of us. He can't have a whole box for himself. He shrugs and starts dishing himself up a plate of dinner. I remind him there will be leftovers when he gets home. He can have seconds after the game. He is content. He wolfs down his plate and heads to the car.
I tell Riley I will drive Trevor as we are in a hurry. Riley responds with a shrug. He doesn't want to drive again. When the call to pick up Trevor comes two hours later, I ask Riley if he wants to drive down to get his brother. He says "No, Trevor would be too much of a distraction."
He is probably right. All Riley needs to ruin our good experiences is for his brother to be heckling him from the back seat. Another few drives though, and Riley will be ready for passengers, perhaps even his father. We will wait until the school program is over and he has done freeway driving, then Riley will really be able to show his stuff, with out everyone giving him commentary.
At a girl's night out at a friend's house, I heard the horrible story of her son's accident. He had stopped at a stop sign. A van was blocking the view of the other street. It looked clear so he pulled out, and was immediately T-boned by an oncoming car. He was seriously hurt as he was hit on the driver's side door. since he had the stop sign, the accident was ruled his fault initially.
While in the hospital, the police started their investigation. They found the other driver had been in several accidents exactly the same. Hitting cars at stop signs. Turns out it was an insurance scam. The van blocking the view was gone when the police arrived, but the van was the signal vehicle telling the car when someone is pulling out from the stop so they can purposefully hit them from where they sit out of view, hiding behind the van.
The driver that hit the boy, my friend's son, is now in prison for insurance fraud and probably numerous other charges. They almost killed a young man. I tell the story to Riley so he will be cautious and a defensive driver. He stops well back from the intersections and inches forward, peaking out to see if any cars are coming. I also warn him not to trust turn signals on other cars, they may have not realized their signal is on or decide to go straight at the last minute. Wait for the car to slow down to really tell if they are turning before you pull out. Check to make sure someone is not running a yellow light when you pull out into an intersection. Riley absorbs it all and becomes more confident and improves every time he gets behind the wheel. I know the instructors are also giving him pointers for good driving. Riley has a good sense of self preservation. I have great expectations that he will be an excellent driver in a month.
Tom wanted Chinese for dinner. He said he is picking the dishes. They are always the same dishes, Mongolian beef, Kung Pow chicken, broccoli beef , pork fried rice, fried pot stickers. I throw in an orange chicken for a spare. I ask Riley if he wants to drive to the restaurant for the pick up. He leaps up from his chair with alacrity, gathering up his wallet and the keys and heads for the garage. I have not seen this much enthusiasm from him in years. Considering how disinterested and fearful he was to get his permit, I have to smile. He must like me as an instructor.
The drive is uneventful. We are early so I ask for a pot of Tea for us, while we wait. Riley and I sit and just hang out talking. I love the camaraderie. I see a woman come in to the restaurant with the funnest looking shoes on her tiny feet. Red four inch pumps with bows and ruffles on the ankle. She hears my comment to Riley about how cool and wild the shoes are, as we are sitting close to the front door. She models them for use. Riley and I smile and laugh. The clerk at the counter calls out my name that our food is ready. Riley offers to carry the bag. What a gentleman.
We have one more stop to make. Tom has asked us to pick up a can of Copenhagen, a horrible product, but at the bottom, it was the motivation for his offering to buy Chinese for dinner. We go out for him to pick up the can of chew, and get Chinese as a reward.
Safeway is across a busy street. Riley gets in the car and drives. We stop at the edge of the parking lot of the restaurant. Riley looks both ways to make sure we have time and clearance. He has to cut across three lanes to reach the turn we need to get into the Safeway parking lot. He does the driving really smoothly. It is Saturday evening, so traffic is fairly light, but we do time the signals for breathing room between clusters of cars. The Safeway parking lot is busy and somewhat crowded with weekend shoppers. Riley finds a parking spot. We both go into the store, pleased with the driving experience.
Riley asks if we can get Cinnamon rolls. I say for tomorrow's breakfast, after all we already have fresh hot Chinese waiting in the car. He comes back with a four pack of muffins. He couldn't find the Cinnamon rolls. I get the Copenhagen. It costs almost $10 a can. I lecture Riley on the expense and what a waste of money a tobacco habit is. He nods, agreeing that his father is crazy to not give it up and to have started in the first place.
Riley drives us home. It is funny how you don't pay attention to directions until you have to drive. We have been driving the same route often, with me behind the wheel, and yet Riley isn't sure which way to go when he is driving. Things don't look familiar until we are close to home. Now that Riley is a driver, he will learn how to get around in town, remember directions.
I walk in the door of the house with Riley carrying the Chinese food behind me. I call dinner and the thundering steps of man and boy are heard from both sets of stairs. Tom unpacks and opens all the boxes. I tell the boys Tom goes first. Trevor says he needs to get to his game. The school basket ball team made the playoffs so the season is still not over. The Pep band is playing at the game. Tom tells Trevor to grab some food and take it with him. Classic Trevor, he picks up a whole family size box of orange chicken and says he'll just take this box with him to go. We all shout "no". He has to fill up a plate like the rest of us. He can't have a whole box for himself. He shrugs and starts dishing himself up a plate of dinner. I remind him there will be leftovers when he gets home. He can have seconds after the game. He is content. He wolfs down his plate and heads to the car.
I tell Riley I will drive Trevor as we are in a hurry. Riley responds with a shrug. He doesn't want to drive again. When the call to pick up Trevor comes two hours later, I ask Riley if he wants to drive down to get his brother. He says "No, Trevor would be too much of a distraction."
He is probably right. All Riley needs to ruin our good experiences is for his brother to be heckling him from the back seat. Another few drives though, and Riley will be ready for passengers, perhaps even his father. We will wait until the school program is over and he has done freeway driving, then Riley will really be able to show his stuff, with out everyone giving him commentary.
At a girl's night out at a friend's house, I heard the horrible story of her son's accident. He had stopped at a stop sign. A van was blocking the view of the other street. It looked clear so he pulled out, and was immediately T-boned by an oncoming car. He was seriously hurt as he was hit on the driver's side door. since he had the stop sign, the accident was ruled his fault initially.
While in the hospital, the police started their investigation. They found the other driver had been in several accidents exactly the same. Hitting cars at stop signs. Turns out it was an insurance scam. The van blocking the view was gone when the police arrived, but the van was the signal vehicle telling the car when someone is pulling out from the stop so they can purposefully hit them from where they sit out of view, hiding behind the van.
The driver that hit the boy, my friend's son, is now in prison for insurance fraud and probably numerous other charges. They almost killed a young man. I tell the story to Riley so he will be cautious and a defensive driver. He stops well back from the intersections and inches forward, peaking out to see if any cars are coming. I also warn him not to trust turn signals on other cars, they may have not realized their signal is on or decide to go straight at the last minute. Wait for the car to slow down to really tell if they are turning before you pull out. Check to make sure someone is not running a yellow light when you pull out into an intersection. Riley absorbs it all and becomes more confident and improves every time he gets behind the wheel. I know the instructors are also giving him pointers for good driving. Riley has a good sense of self preservation. I have great expectations that he will be an excellent driver in a month.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Driving school
On a scale of one to four Riley said he got a two on his first excursion with his instructor. Riley told me he is "a natural". He is loving driving school. They have a pet lizard in the class room. Last night the lizard climbed all over Riley during class. Riley was so happy when he came out of class. He also said he passed his first written test with flying colors, which is a very good sign.
He asked if he could drive us home from the class. He gets out at 9:00 pm so traffic is light. I put on my calm face and voice and got out of the car to switch places. He needs practice, much practice, but we made it home safely. I always stress he will hit a parked car or forget to break in time. But I hold my words unless there is eminent danger.
He even drives down our funky steep and angled driveway and into the garage. I fearfully wait until we are parked and fully stopped. I keep thinking he will hit something, the support pole, the side of the door, the bench at the back of the garage, something. The relief of safe delivery is euphoric each time. I show an exterior cheerfulness and calm. Riley is happy. I am glad one of us is enjoying the experience.
He asked if he could drive us home from the class. He gets out at 9:00 pm so traffic is light. I put on my calm face and voice and got out of the car to switch places. He needs practice, much practice, but we made it home safely. I always stress he will hit a parked car or forget to break in time. But I hold my words unless there is eminent danger.
He even drives down our funky steep and angled driveway and into the garage. I fearfully wait until we are parked and fully stopped. I keep thinking he will hit something, the support pole, the side of the door, the bench at the back of the garage, something. The relief of safe delivery is euphoric each time. I show an exterior cheerfulness and calm. Riley is happy. I am glad one of us is enjoying the experience.
Old house
I drove down to the Home Depot near our old house to meet the new renter. He said he would paint if I bought the paint. We agreed on the color selections. I figure if it helped him love our house to the point of wanting to buy it in a year or two I didn't mind allowing him to pick the colors as long as I kept right of veto. He didn't pick anything horrible. His choices were fine. The main body was a grey mocha and the bedroom just a little different from that. For the children's rooms he chose a pretty soft yellow.
Tom wouldn't like the color yellow, ever, but I have no bias towards yellow and was sad when Tom made us paint the exterior of the house a different color just because it was yellow. Tom said he could never live in a yellow house (Go Beavs).
They are going to keep Riley's room the soft blue. My friends did such a nice job on that room when Riley was sick. It is the only room he will probably leave untouched. He has daughters, so he will probably be repainting the bathroom from the manly steel grey to that perky yellow.
I bought two cans of yellow for the play room, two cans for the master bedroom in the softer grey, and a five gallon bucket of the other grey for the whole house coverage. The renter also asked for ceiling paint, so I went with an egg shell in a soft white. I don't care for flat ceiling paint.
He is going to wait on the kitchen as he likes our red color, though I did try to patch curtain rod holes and my job looks amateur. He said he will get to it eventually. It kind of gives the kitchen wall depth like a stucco with the tone on tone color streaks. He has so much painting to do he will tackle it last.
He said he had renters moving into their home so he would be homeless without ours. I like that commitment. I like that it only cost me the paint to have my house redone. I was a little worried when talking to my property manager. The official contract is not signed yet. I asked her what was the delay. She said she had another family (personal friends perhaps) in the wings waiting to see if this deal fell through. There was some question on income to debt ratio on my renter. She thought it had to do with their paying for a mortgage and renting our house. As long as their old house is rented so they aren't trying to come up with both payments they are good.
They have to prove rent ability on their old home, turning it into investment property from primary residence before they qualify for a mortgage on our home. Up sizing from a three bedroom, one bathroom 1300 square feet into our four bedroom, two and a half bath over 3000 square feet. I think his significant other and his daughters are going to melt with glee over their new house.
The one draw back is he has three dogs. He will be paying the full deposit as a result, that and the questionable income to debt ratio, but that should resolve itself in a year with rental history. Meanwhile he will also be proving his capacity to pay the mortgage on our big place for his future mortgage to purchase. Banks like to see that kind of financial dedication also in the loan aplication process, at least they used to before everything went whacked.
I had turned off the heat to the house this month as the bill was just another hole gobbling up funds. The house was too cold to paint. The renter called and got the gas to be reinstated in his name but the gas company couldn't be out until Monday to restart service. It got me off the hook for helping. The renter also said he has a landscape service he uses to mow the lawn at his old house and will use it on ours so I need to take my lawn mower. I loved it. The only problem was I had driven down in my fun sporty car and didn't want to cram the lawnmower into the back seat for the drive home. I will come back at the end of the month to give the house one last mow and bring the jeep to haul home the lawn mower. I also have the little eco friendly push mower which will also need to come home. I also am looking forward to seeing the new paint job at the end of the month.
The truck the renter drove was newer and clean. He has a side business with his brother renting equipment and hauling. He also has his regular job. Tom would probably like him as he is ambitious and energetic and young, and trying to break out as a self employed in control of his own fate. I haven't met the rest of the family. But he seemed a step up from our last renter with her smoking and her old beater car that kept breaking down. He looked like he was ready to go to work and was forward thinking. He had already knocked on our neighbor's, across the drive, door on another visit to introduce himself and let them know he was going to be renting the house. I loved that positive outlook also. My neighbors were happy about the changes when I spoke to them.
After the house inspection, I left to swing by my old job. Trevor needed new black shoes for school. He likes black better than the athletic look Riley wears. It was an excuse to stop by and just say "hi" to everyone. I walked in on a shoe show display from a New Zealand Company brand that the store carries. I asked to sit in and listen. You know me, I love to absorb information.
It was fun listening to my old boss lecture the sales rep on what they ought to be making versus what they are making and showing him. He has been in the shoe business longer than I have been on this planet. He knows shoes and the customer market. He knows his customer base. It tickled me just to hear his sage wisdom. He hopes it doesn't fall on deaf ears.
I enjoyed the brief time and treated myself to a new pair of shoes, getting the ex employee discount, missing the old whole sale discount the employees get so they can afford to wear the products the store sells. These are incredible shoes that you can wear for hours without pain or discomfort and they can be pretty also. The boss struggles every time the sales reps come to the store to explain that healthy shoes don't have to be made to look ugly. There are some basic needs that can be met without making a shoe look hideous and bulky. There are also some needs that must be met on the flimsy strappy shoes so they don't cause permanent damage to a woman's foot or be too uncomfortable to wear at all. My old store didn't carry shoes that weren't comfortable to wear. That is the policy, aiming for healthy feet first and then fashion.
I found out the store is moving to a new location, bigger and newer. They want a newer mall. The one they were in had an awesome location, just off the freeway, but the mall itself and the other stores located in the mall were not drawing in enough traffic. The mall was dated. The new location will hopefully encourage more traffic and interest.
I left the store having also warned my old manager she may be getting reference calls as I job hunt. I have an application in somewhere right now that I hope will call for a fun job working in a clothing retail store.
In the parking lot I found the New Zealand sales rep and his employees stuck with a flat tire on their rental. I felt so sorry for them. Having just been in a two hour meeting with my old boss can be exhausting enough, working through lunch, let alone coming out to a flat. They had all these big suitcases of shoes to schlep around, that had to be unpacked from the trunk in order to reach the spare tire. I was just glad it wasn't raining at the time. I looked around the parking lot and noticed the tire store located just on the other side of the mall in the parking area. I suggested they drive with the flat still on to the tire store. The tire store can change the flat fast without hassel. The sales rep physically melted at the thought. Everyone looked so grateful at the idea. I figured they may not have recognized the tire store for what it was, being in America as a foreigner, and the tire store would be a lot easier than trying to figure out how to change the tire themselves.
I started to drive away then stopped again and went back to suggest a couple of restaurants in the mall for them to get some good lunch while they waited for the car tire to be changed. Not that the tire store would take more than a couple of minutes, but I figured they must be starving having had their meeting during lunch hour. I was hungry, but I had just blown my lunch money on a new pair of shoes and would have to wait until I got home to eat.
On the drive home a friend called. I had left her messages that I was in town. She had been working so unable to meet me. But she was free to talk and keep me company while I drove home, with her on speaker phone. The ride home always goes faster with company in the car. It was a satisfying day. The day could only be made better when we finally get the contract signed and the security deposit so I am not stressing anymore the old house and I know for sure it is a done deal.
Tom wouldn't like the color yellow, ever, but I have no bias towards yellow and was sad when Tom made us paint the exterior of the house a different color just because it was yellow. Tom said he could never live in a yellow house (Go Beavs).
They are going to keep Riley's room the soft blue. My friends did such a nice job on that room when Riley was sick. It is the only room he will probably leave untouched. He has daughters, so he will probably be repainting the bathroom from the manly steel grey to that perky yellow.
I bought two cans of yellow for the play room, two cans for the master bedroom in the softer grey, and a five gallon bucket of the other grey for the whole house coverage. The renter also asked for ceiling paint, so I went with an egg shell in a soft white. I don't care for flat ceiling paint.
He is going to wait on the kitchen as he likes our red color, though I did try to patch curtain rod holes and my job looks amateur. He said he will get to it eventually. It kind of gives the kitchen wall depth like a stucco with the tone on tone color streaks. He has so much painting to do he will tackle it last.
He said he had renters moving into their home so he would be homeless without ours. I like that commitment. I like that it only cost me the paint to have my house redone. I was a little worried when talking to my property manager. The official contract is not signed yet. I asked her what was the delay. She said she had another family (personal friends perhaps) in the wings waiting to see if this deal fell through. There was some question on income to debt ratio on my renter. She thought it had to do with their paying for a mortgage and renting our house. As long as their old house is rented so they aren't trying to come up with both payments they are good.
They have to prove rent ability on their old home, turning it into investment property from primary residence before they qualify for a mortgage on our home. Up sizing from a three bedroom, one bathroom 1300 square feet into our four bedroom, two and a half bath over 3000 square feet. I think his significant other and his daughters are going to melt with glee over their new house.
The one draw back is he has three dogs. He will be paying the full deposit as a result, that and the questionable income to debt ratio, but that should resolve itself in a year with rental history. Meanwhile he will also be proving his capacity to pay the mortgage on our big place for his future mortgage to purchase. Banks like to see that kind of financial dedication also in the loan aplication process, at least they used to before everything went whacked.
I had turned off the heat to the house this month as the bill was just another hole gobbling up funds. The house was too cold to paint. The renter called and got the gas to be reinstated in his name but the gas company couldn't be out until Monday to restart service. It got me off the hook for helping. The renter also said he has a landscape service he uses to mow the lawn at his old house and will use it on ours so I need to take my lawn mower. I loved it. The only problem was I had driven down in my fun sporty car and didn't want to cram the lawnmower into the back seat for the drive home. I will come back at the end of the month to give the house one last mow and bring the jeep to haul home the lawn mower. I also have the little eco friendly push mower which will also need to come home. I also am looking forward to seeing the new paint job at the end of the month.
The truck the renter drove was newer and clean. He has a side business with his brother renting equipment and hauling. He also has his regular job. Tom would probably like him as he is ambitious and energetic and young, and trying to break out as a self employed in control of his own fate. I haven't met the rest of the family. But he seemed a step up from our last renter with her smoking and her old beater car that kept breaking down. He looked like he was ready to go to work and was forward thinking. He had already knocked on our neighbor's, across the drive, door on another visit to introduce himself and let them know he was going to be renting the house. I loved that positive outlook also. My neighbors were happy about the changes when I spoke to them.
After the house inspection, I left to swing by my old job. Trevor needed new black shoes for school. He likes black better than the athletic look Riley wears. It was an excuse to stop by and just say "hi" to everyone. I walked in on a shoe show display from a New Zealand Company brand that the store carries. I asked to sit in and listen. You know me, I love to absorb information.
It was fun listening to my old boss lecture the sales rep on what they ought to be making versus what they are making and showing him. He has been in the shoe business longer than I have been on this planet. He knows shoes and the customer market. He knows his customer base. It tickled me just to hear his sage wisdom. He hopes it doesn't fall on deaf ears.
I enjoyed the brief time and treated myself to a new pair of shoes, getting the ex employee discount, missing the old whole sale discount the employees get so they can afford to wear the products the store sells. These are incredible shoes that you can wear for hours without pain or discomfort and they can be pretty also. The boss struggles every time the sales reps come to the store to explain that healthy shoes don't have to be made to look ugly. There are some basic needs that can be met without making a shoe look hideous and bulky. There are also some needs that must be met on the flimsy strappy shoes so they don't cause permanent damage to a woman's foot or be too uncomfortable to wear at all. My old store didn't carry shoes that weren't comfortable to wear. That is the policy, aiming for healthy feet first and then fashion.
I found out the store is moving to a new location, bigger and newer. They want a newer mall. The one they were in had an awesome location, just off the freeway, but the mall itself and the other stores located in the mall were not drawing in enough traffic. The mall was dated. The new location will hopefully encourage more traffic and interest.
I left the store having also warned my old manager she may be getting reference calls as I job hunt. I have an application in somewhere right now that I hope will call for a fun job working in a clothing retail store.
In the parking lot I found the New Zealand sales rep and his employees stuck with a flat tire on their rental. I felt so sorry for them. Having just been in a two hour meeting with my old boss can be exhausting enough, working through lunch, let alone coming out to a flat. They had all these big suitcases of shoes to schlep around, that had to be unpacked from the trunk in order to reach the spare tire. I was just glad it wasn't raining at the time. I looked around the parking lot and noticed the tire store located just on the other side of the mall in the parking area. I suggested they drive with the flat still on to the tire store. The tire store can change the flat fast without hassel. The sales rep physically melted at the thought. Everyone looked so grateful at the idea. I figured they may not have recognized the tire store for what it was, being in America as a foreigner, and the tire store would be a lot easier than trying to figure out how to change the tire themselves.
I started to drive away then stopped again and went back to suggest a couple of restaurants in the mall for them to get some good lunch while they waited for the car tire to be changed. Not that the tire store would take more than a couple of minutes, but I figured they must be starving having had their meeting during lunch hour. I was hungry, but I had just blown my lunch money on a new pair of shoes and would have to wait until I got home to eat.
On the drive home a friend called. I had left her messages that I was in town. She had been working so unable to meet me. But she was free to talk and keep me company while I drove home, with her on speaker phone. The ride home always goes faster with company in the car. It was a satisfying day. The day could only be made better when we finally get the contract signed and the security deposit so I am not stressing anymore the old house and I know for sure it is a done deal.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Renters Maybe
We are very hopeful. A local family has put down a non refundable deposit of $200 to hold the house for March 1 move in. They are working hard to gather the required deposit, which I was adamant about after our last experience with the eviction. It is the equivilant of first and last month's rent. In case of an eviction which takes 21 days, we have funds available to pay the mortgage on time.
The two months it took to get a renter meant we had to pay two months mortgage for an empty house. Tom was so torn. He was talking about trying to do the short sale or Deed in lieu again. The housing prices are still falling. Our house price has continued to decline since last year. To me the rental is the only way to go if we can just get a good tenant in the place.
I could kick myself over last summer when I had choices. I made a very bad choice in tenants. This time I am hopeful that the credit history will be good and all will go smoothly. The family would like to eventually buy our house. At least that is what they tell me. No one seems to be able to do it right now though.
Foreclosures are still coming on to the market. I know from a friend's case that there are more still out there waiting. Four years have passed without paying mortgage and her house still has not officially been foreclosed and sold. With this kind of trickling back up of foreclosures the market could continue for a long time wallowing further down.
Hopefully the rental prices will continue at these levels. Which helps us out tremendously. We are about to do our taxes. From everything I read, we can write off everything having to do with the old house, up to $25,000. If we can keep to that $25,000 ceiling, we may come out OK.
The only glitch is if we want to depreciate the rental. If we depreciate the house, then when we do sell it, if we sell it within five years and treat it as our primary residence, we have to pay back all the depreciation. I am thinking though that with this economy there is no way we could sell in five years at a price that would even work for us. Going beyond five years we have to consider capital gains, but again, at these prices even in five years I don't think we have to worry about capital gains.
Tom has been doing research for a book he wants to write about America and how did we get to this position. During his research he read an article published regarding the Great Depression. If you bought a house at the peak of the market, just prior to the 1929 crash, it took 40 years to recover the purchase value of that house. We have a thirty year loan. We bought in December 2006, the very peak of the market. We potentially wont see a recovery to our original purchase price for decades. Meanwhile the house depreciates in value with age. More things can go wrong. The roof will need repairing in 15 years. I dread the big expenses.
We are in the process of doing a refinance for a lower interest rate. Special programs are out there now to help people even if it is a second home. 100% financing to stop the flow of foreclosures. Government backed FNMA programs are in place. We don't know for sure though if they will work with us as Tom is self employed. The lower interest rates are tantalizing. It is one of the few reasons Tom is still willing to stay in the game with the house. We started the process back in early December and are still waiting on processing as we move into the middle of February. Government bureaucracy is still at work faithfully slow and cumbersome.
It is a huge boost to us to have the house rented as that is one of the criteria. Proof that the house is rentable. With the lower interest rate, virtually all the known costs can be covered under the cost of the monthly rent. Taxes and insurance, which are now out of our pockets, would roll into rent. It is an exciting thought. It still wont cover repairs that may come up. But I am looking at the positive side.
The new mortgage would be 30 years fixed. We would lose the five years we paid into the old mortgage. The cost of the new loan, which will run about $5000, will be recovered in less than a year. I look at that $5000 as the amount I was paying out of pocket anyway to cover the taxes, $4400, and the insurance, $1200. Insurance on a rental property is higher than on a primary residence since the care for the house is less than it would be if you lived in it yourself. The care of ownership has value at every level, even insurance.
So we explore every avenue of options. That is what I tell Tom. Patience, as we weed our way through the muck of the housing market. Rent, short sale, Deed in lieu, foreclosure, there are options. They just aren't pleasing. I am grateful we are one of the lucky families. We have a roof over our heads and we own our house that we live in now. Having a rental property has always been one of my ambitions. I just didn't quite expect it to be this way.
The two months it took to get a renter meant we had to pay two months mortgage for an empty house. Tom was so torn. He was talking about trying to do the short sale or Deed in lieu again. The housing prices are still falling. Our house price has continued to decline since last year. To me the rental is the only way to go if we can just get a good tenant in the place.
I could kick myself over last summer when I had choices. I made a very bad choice in tenants. This time I am hopeful that the credit history will be good and all will go smoothly. The family would like to eventually buy our house. At least that is what they tell me. No one seems to be able to do it right now though.
Foreclosures are still coming on to the market. I know from a friend's case that there are more still out there waiting. Four years have passed without paying mortgage and her house still has not officially been foreclosed and sold. With this kind of trickling back up of foreclosures the market could continue for a long time wallowing further down.
Hopefully the rental prices will continue at these levels. Which helps us out tremendously. We are about to do our taxes. From everything I read, we can write off everything having to do with the old house, up to $25,000. If we can keep to that $25,000 ceiling, we may come out OK.
The only glitch is if we want to depreciate the rental. If we depreciate the house, then when we do sell it, if we sell it within five years and treat it as our primary residence, we have to pay back all the depreciation. I am thinking though that with this economy there is no way we could sell in five years at a price that would even work for us. Going beyond five years we have to consider capital gains, but again, at these prices even in five years I don't think we have to worry about capital gains.
Tom has been doing research for a book he wants to write about America and how did we get to this position. During his research he read an article published regarding the Great Depression. If you bought a house at the peak of the market, just prior to the 1929 crash, it took 40 years to recover the purchase value of that house. We have a thirty year loan. We bought in December 2006, the very peak of the market. We potentially wont see a recovery to our original purchase price for decades. Meanwhile the house depreciates in value with age. More things can go wrong. The roof will need repairing in 15 years. I dread the big expenses.
We are in the process of doing a refinance for a lower interest rate. Special programs are out there now to help people even if it is a second home. 100% financing to stop the flow of foreclosures. Government backed FNMA programs are in place. We don't know for sure though if they will work with us as Tom is self employed. The lower interest rates are tantalizing. It is one of the few reasons Tom is still willing to stay in the game with the house. We started the process back in early December and are still waiting on processing as we move into the middle of February. Government bureaucracy is still at work faithfully slow and cumbersome.
It is a huge boost to us to have the house rented as that is one of the criteria. Proof that the house is rentable. With the lower interest rate, virtually all the known costs can be covered under the cost of the monthly rent. Taxes and insurance, which are now out of our pockets, would roll into rent. It is an exciting thought. It still wont cover repairs that may come up. But I am looking at the positive side.
The new mortgage would be 30 years fixed. We would lose the five years we paid into the old mortgage. The cost of the new loan, which will run about $5000, will be recovered in less than a year. I look at that $5000 as the amount I was paying out of pocket anyway to cover the taxes, $4400, and the insurance, $1200. Insurance on a rental property is higher than on a primary residence since the care for the house is less than it would be if you lived in it yourself. The care of ownership has value at every level, even insurance.
So we explore every avenue of options. That is what I tell Tom. Patience, as we weed our way through the muck of the housing market. Rent, short sale, Deed in lieu, foreclosure, there are options. They just aren't pleasing. I am grateful we are one of the lucky families. We have a roof over our heads and we own our house that we live in now. Having a rental property has always been one of my ambitions. I just didn't quite expect it to be this way.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Drivers Ed
Riley is now well into his sixteenth year. He was in no hurry to get his license. Cars are dangerous weapons, like guns to me. I did not encourage the driving experience. I was in no hurry to have him get a license. But now that he has been cleared to get on with his life, Tom says it is time for him to "man up", get his drivers license. Funny thing is Tom says he wont ride with Riley, I have to take Riley out driving.
Riley had gone with me a month ago to try and pass the permit test. He failed twice. Not having experience behind the wheel some of the questions seemed tricky to him. I had a friend who's daughter just finished the drivers ed school and was pleased with the results. I signed Riley up. 30 hours of classes, two hours three times a week for 15 days. The permit written test is waived in lieu of the class. It does cost $260 but I figure its worth it. The driving school will take Riley driving 6 times. He needs at least 50 hours before he can even get a real license. I am thinking he can go until he is eighteen with his permit, because once he gets his license our insurance goes up $65 a month.
He did not get the good grade discount either this semester. He oopses on the homework in his Honors English class. The teacher has moved him to her regular English class. Riley is not used to having a lot of homework. Well, he better get used to it and fast. Other classes were disappointing also. Though he passed Honors Biology with flying colors.
I took Riley out to a neighborhood recommended for first time drivers by the school instructor. Big wide streets and no traffic, an undeveloped area where the roads had been put in but nothing else. We drove around for thirty or forty minutes in circles in this area. Riley practiced backing up and cornering. He practiced staying in his lane. I had my foot pressed to the floor, trying to look completely calm. Every light pole looked like a hazard to me, an obstacle to be hit by inattention. after a time Riley felt comfortable enough that he wanted to try a different area.
We went up the street to the next neighbor hood which did have parked cars on the street and children in the yards. Riley drove around this neighborhood for a while. He liked to drive about 15 miles an hour. I was comfortable with that speed also. We next drove up to a stop light to cross a major road. My heart was beating a bit fast but we made it through the light and down the street without incident. I told Riley to ignore the car close on our bumper, we would be turning off the road within a block.
Riley signaled and we pulled into a big church parking lot, vacant and empty. We practiced some parking. We will practice more parking later. Riley's confidence was up. He suggested we go to a friend's house that lived nearby. He left the parking lot and got on a road with a speed limit of 35. He continued to drive a conservative 25. We pulled over and let a car pass us.
Once we arrived at my friend's house, she suggested we try the road she had her daughter practice on. We had to go up a hill and down some windy roads. Riley was hugging the white line on my side of the road. I kept asking him to get more in the middle of his lane. As I looked down these steep drops on my side, with Riley virtually in the gravel going over cliffs, my heart raced.
I became more and more stressed we would end up in a ditch needing a tow, or falling over a ravine. Finally my girlfriend, who road with us in the back seat told Riley to stop right in the middle of this country road. There was no traffic. She had him get out of the car and walk around the car to see where it sat in the road. The car did not take up as much room as it looked. Riley could hug the center line and still have space for on coming cars to pass on the other side.
Riley did much better at not driving off the edge of the road after that stop. But I felt better when my girl friend was safely delivered home. It did raise my stress level knowing there was another person to worry about in the car. It is one thing to take risks with my own life with my children, but to have to worry about other people in the car just added to my stress. Besides she kept telling Riley he needed to pick up the pace. I was thinking he was doing just fine the way he was. He will start driving fast soon enough, once he is more comfortable behind the wheel.
My car has the washers on the same bar as the signal lights. Every time Riley tried to signal a turn the wipers would swing. He will eventually get the hang of all the gizmo's. He asked what the hazard light button was. I showed him. He decided that turning them on to warn people he was driving cautiously and was not going to speed up for anyone was a great way to drive, since we didn't have those student driver signs on our car.
We got two hours under his belt. But we were both exhausted afterwards by the stress and concentration. He will need a total of 50 hours before he is allowed to get a real license. I drove us home and went upstairs to take a nap.
I feel good about our experience. Riley was pretty chipper about the whole thing also. I am going to have him out on the road again this week so watch out. If you see a slow car with hazard lights, figure it may be a student driver.
Riley had gone with me a month ago to try and pass the permit test. He failed twice. Not having experience behind the wheel some of the questions seemed tricky to him. I had a friend who's daughter just finished the drivers ed school and was pleased with the results. I signed Riley up. 30 hours of classes, two hours three times a week for 15 days. The permit written test is waived in lieu of the class. It does cost $260 but I figure its worth it. The driving school will take Riley driving 6 times. He needs at least 50 hours before he can even get a real license. I am thinking he can go until he is eighteen with his permit, because once he gets his license our insurance goes up $65 a month.
He did not get the good grade discount either this semester. He oopses on the homework in his Honors English class. The teacher has moved him to her regular English class. Riley is not used to having a lot of homework. Well, he better get used to it and fast. Other classes were disappointing also. Though he passed Honors Biology with flying colors.
I took Riley out to a neighborhood recommended for first time drivers by the school instructor. Big wide streets and no traffic, an undeveloped area where the roads had been put in but nothing else. We drove around for thirty or forty minutes in circles in this area. Riley practiced backing up and cornering. He practiced staying in his lane. I had my foot pressed to the floor, trying to look completely calm. Every light pole looked like a hazard to me, an obstacle to be hit by inattention. after a time Riley felt comfortable enough that he wanted to try a different area.
We went up the street to the next neighbor hood which did have parked cars on the street and children in the yards. Riley drove around this neighborhood for a while. He liked to drive about 15 miles an hour. I was comfortable with that speed also. We next drove up to a stop light to cross a major road. My heart was beating a bit fast but we made it through the light and down the street without incident. I told Riley to ignore the car close on our bumper, we would be turning off the road within a block.
Riley signaled and we pulled into a big church parking lot, vacant and empty. We practiced some parking. We will practice more parking later. Riley's confidence was up. He suggested we go to a friend's house that lived nearby. He left the parking lot and got on a road with a speed limit of 35. He continued to drive a conservative 25. We pulled over and let a car pass us.
Once we arrived at my friend's house, she suggested we try the road she had her daughter practice on. We had to go up a hill and down some windy roads. Riley was hugging the white line on my side of the road. I kept asking him to get more in the middle of his lane. As I looked down these steep drops on my side, with Riley virtually in the gravel going over cliffs, my heart raced.
I became more and more stressed we would end up in a ditch needing a tow, or falling over a ravine. Finally my girlfriend, who road with us in the back seat told Riley to stop right in the middle of this country road. There was no traffic. She had him get out of the car and walk around the car to see where it sat in the road. The car did not take up as much room as it looked. Riley could hug the center line and still have space for on coming cars to pass on the other side.
Riley did much better at not driving off the edge of the road after that stop. But I felt better when my girl friend was safely delivered home. It did raise my stress level knowing there was another person to worry about in the car. It is one thing to take risks with my own life with my children, but to have to worry about other people in the car just added to my stress. Besides she kept telling Riley he needed to pick up the pace. I was thinking he was doing just fine the way he was. He will start driving fast soon enough, once he is more comfortable behind the wheel.
My car has the washers on the same bar as the signal lights. Every time Riley tried to signal a turn the wipers would swing. He will eventually get the hang of all the gizmo's. He asked what the hazard light button was. I showed him. He decided that turning them on to warn people he was driving cautiously and was not going to speed up for anyone was a great way to drive, since we didn't have those student driver signs on our car.
We got two hours under his belt. But we were both exhausted afterwards by the stress and concentration. He will need a total of 50 hours before he is allowed to get a real license. I drove us home and went upstairs to take a nap.
I feel good about our experience. Riley was pretty chipper about the whole thing also. I am going to have him out on the road again this week so watch out. If you see a slow car with hazard lights, figure it may be a student driver.
Body spray
Trevor is not a morning person. He is all teen and male teen at that. Coming home from school, waking in the morning, he smells locker room male. It's in his gene pool. My dad was a two shirt a day guy to avoid the odor. I tell Trevor to bath every day.
Some nights Trev will stay up and read late. This makes getting up a challenge. He wakes ready to fight. He will argue with anyone over anything. Firstly, he wants to argue over the need to take a shower. I have to get cranky to force the issue.
The other day, though, I did not hear the water running for the shower. Trevor came out of the bathroom reeking of body spray. It was a gift from his Grandma at Christmas. Little did she know how he would abuse it. I could smell the cologne in my bedroom with Trevor in the kitchen downstairs. He was already dressed and making him go back upstairs to shower would also make him miss his bus to school. I let him go, but couldn't imagine the smell of that cologne in the closed space of the bus. It is winter and cold, and I could imagine seeing every window being forced open as Trevor sits down in a seat.
This week, Trevor was off to pep band for a performance during a basketball game. I had to drop him off. While in the car with me, sitting in the front seat, he lifted his arm to scratch his nose. I received a whiff of underarm odor, no anti- perspirant. He had forgotten to put on deodorant again. I warned him of the smell. His response was to tell me not to worry he had his handy bottle of body spray in the outside pocket of his backpack at his feet. I tell him to use it in moderation, after he gets out of my car. Spray underneath the shirt to control and minimize the strong smell.
Oh, no, this is wonderful body spray he informs me. The proper way to use it is to hose your whole body in a misty fog. I was just grateful he did it after he got out of the car. I wailed at him to quickly shut my car door so I didn't choke on the fumes. I drove out of the mist as quickly as I could.
He tells me he has been spraying his PE clothes so he doesn't have to bring them home to wash. I have visions of the clothes standing up all by themselves. He said Coach makes you bring the clothes home to wash if they stink. If you forget to bring the clothes back , he docks you points each day you don't have the proper uniform. Trevor doesn't want to take the chance that he might forget to bring the clothes back if he takes them home to wash. His option is to saturate them in incredibly strong body spray cologne until all other odors are masked completely.
I can't imagine he is alone in this vicious plan to kill the olfactory senses of the coach, and anyone within a three to five room radius. I would probably put Vick's under my nose to cover the sent in the locker room, like going into an autopsy of a week old cadaver.
This morning, I stood outside the bathroom door just to make sure the boy did use water. I checked all the clothes on the floor of his room for odors and tossed in the laundry hamper those that needed washing and hung up the clean stuff.
I did the same in Riley's room sorting the piles of laundry that needed washing from the piles of clean laundry that had been dumped on the floor instead of being properly hung up. There will now be plenty of laundry for us to do over the weekend. The boys can help put away the new clean clothes that I collected to wash.
I just can't help cringing and crinkling my nose at the thought of the smells in that school locker room full of teen boys and excessive body spray. Hopefully Trevor doesn't run into any one with allergies or he'll put them in a coma. No wonder paint always seems to be pealing off the walls and ceilings in locker rooms. The air is toxic.
Some nights Trev will stay up and read late. This makes getting up a challenge. He wakes ready to fight. He will argue with anyone over anything. Firstly, he wants to argue over the need to take a shower. I have to get cranky to force the issue.
The other day, though, I did not hear the water running for the shower. Trevor came out of the bathroom reeking of body spray. It was a gift from his Grandma at Christmas. Little did she know how he would abuse it. I could smell the cologne in my bedroom with Trevor in the kitchen downstairs. He was already dressed and making him go back upstairs to shower would also make him miss his bus to school. I let him go, but couldn't imagine the smell of that cologne in the closed space of the bus. It is winter and cold, and I could imagine seeing every window being forced open as Trevor sits down in a seat.
This week, Trevor was off to pep band for a performance during a basketball game. I had to drop him off. While in the car with me, sitting in the front seat, he lifted his arm to scratch his nose. I received a whiff of underarm odor, no anti- perspirant. He had forgotten to put on deodorant again. I warned him of the smell. His response was to tell me not to worry he had his handy bottle of body spray in the outside pocket of his backpack at his feet. I tell him to use it in moderation, after he gets out of my car. Spray underneath the shirt to control and minimize the strong smell.
Oh, no, this is wonderful body spray he informs me. The proper way to use it is to hose your whole body in a misty fog. I was just grateful he did it after he got out of the car. I wailed at him to quickly shut my car door so I didn't choke on the fumes. I drove out of the mist as quickly as I could.
He tells me he has been spraying his PE clothes so he doesn't have to bring them home to wash. I have visions of the clothes standing up all by themselves. He said Coach makes you bring the clothes home to wash if they stink. If you forget to bring the clothes back , he docks you points each day you don't have the proper uniform. Trevor doesn't want to take the chance that he might forget to bring the clothes back if he takes them home to wash. His option is to saturate them in incredibly strong body spray cologne until all other odors are masked completely.
I can't imagine he is alone in this vicious plan to kill the olfactory senses of the coach, and anyone within a three to five room radius. I would probably put Vick's under my nose to cover the sent in the locker room, like going into an autopsy of a week old cadaver.
This morning, I stood outside the bathroom door just to make sure the boy did use water. I checked all the clothes on the floor of his room for odors and tossed in the laundry hamper those that needed washing and hung up the clean stuff.
I did the same in Riley's room sorting the piles of laundry that needed washing from the piles of clean laundry that had been dumped on the floor instead of being properly hung up. There will now be plenty of laundry for us to do over the weekend. The boys can help put away the new clean clothes that I collected to wash.
I just can't help cringing and crinkling my nose at the thought of the smells in that school locker room full of teen boys and excessive body spray. Hopefully Trevor doesn't run into any one with allergies or he'll put them in a coma. No wonder paint always seems to be pealing off the walls and ceilings in locker rooms. The air is toxic.
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