September

I may be jumping the gun by switching to the next page in my calendar this morning but I really use the calendar to look ahead and not behind. I was also tired of looking at the bull moose. I bought a cut rate wildlife calendar for the office this year. The pictures are technically perfect and they depict a variety of different animals but they aren't all appealing. For the month of September I get to share my snoffice with a cute little otter chewing the tail off a fish. Charming.

Itchy!!

I made a rookie mistake while celebrating the end of summer with the kids last week. We went to the local waterpark for the day. It was fabulous! We ran in to two of Sheela's friends while still in line to enter. She spent the day essentially with Brooke and Ashland leaving Sunil and I play together. We rode the Pineapple Express water slide a bunch of times (It is the only real "ride" for which he satisfies the height requirement), the lazy river most of the day with an hour or two in the wave pool for variety. But back to the mistake, I changed bathing suits late in the year and the previously unexposed skin around my edges turned purple in spite of the sunscreen. "Purple" may be an exaggeration but I was plenty sensitive for a few days. Today we've entered phase two of the that-is-what-you-get-for-being-stupid punishment... itchy, peeling skin. I have meetings all day. I bet I'm the wiggliest one in the room.

School is in

Welcome to the first day of the 07-08 school year here in Texas. This year Sunil is in the first grade and Sheela is in the fourth. Time flies. I like the new grade level t-shirts. The color for Sheela's is much better than the washed out blue she had the last two years. Sunil's is very pretty but I did like him in the orange from last year. I assume that they will get new shirts every year now (since they put the grade level on the back). Best wishes to my kids and to everyone else's too.

Texas Tigers

Claire, Sarah and Sheela ran in the Dog Days 3 x 3K relay race this morning. They finished first in the 45 and under category (cumulative age). Sarah also placed first in the Jr. Sprint and Claire finished 3rd (girls 9-12). Travis placed second for the boys (8 and under).
Here Sheela is finishing the third leg (with the baton) and Claire and Sarah are running back with her.

Fleas

Gina is suffering her first flea infestation in 10 years or so.  It isn't too bad yet but she isn't as limber as she used to be so she can't scratch her back.  At this stage in her life she rarely even comes downstairs so that she can look outside (she hasn't looked out from a window in years either).  So I was a little bit surprised that we are even having this problem. She is spending the day at the vet getting a flea dip and bath along with standard yearly check-up type stuff.  The vet told me not to take the fleas personally -- the rain has allowed for a huge increase in the flea population.  While she is out and the kids are with friends for the day we will bomb the house that should get us through the rest of the fall flea free.

 

Back to school

Both kids received their "letters" this week. The letters come from
their new teachers as an introduction and an invitation to come to
"Meet the teacher" night. Sheela is thrilled to have her first choice
for her main teacher. Ms. Oonk will teach math and science. The
second half of the teaching team Ms. Nortman. She will handle
Language Arts and Social Studies. She is also Jack's Mom. Sunil
considers Jack to be his best friend (most of the time).

Sunil has been placed in Ms. Hayden's class. I don't know Ms. Hayden
but she lives just a few doors up the street from us and my kids play
with her kids sometimes. I met her husband the day we moved in here
but still haven't managed to meet her. Sunil was thrilled to find out
that he needed to purchase a binder this year. Last year he did not
need one. Obviously this year is going to be pretty cool.

Meet the teacher night is only three nights away. The kids may expire
from over stimulation before then but we'll try to hold them together.
Sid is staying home with them for a few days, then they will have a
day with some friends. I will take off Thursday and Friday. Thursday
I hope to take them to a local water park for some end of the season
fun. Friday we will keep friends for the day.

Saturday Sheela will race in the "Dog Days" 3 x 3K relay race with two
of her friends. I think they will do okay, but their age category is
actually 45 and under (or an average of three 15 year olds) so I doubt
they will win any awards. I'll be impressed if they all finish.
Sunil and his friends will be running the Jr Sprint again afterwards.

Sunday Sheela has her last official soccer game (I think). But if it
goes like last week where she was supposed to play two games and they
were both cancelled we may have to alter our plans. The first game
last week was a forfeit by a team that hasn't showed up even once all
season. In order for us to earn the win we have to show up anyway.
We filled in with a scrimmage against a team of boys a year younger.
Our girls really had to hustle to keep up on speed. Ball handling
skills made the difference -- we won but it was pretty close.

The second game was against one of our two sister teams. We only had
two members and they only had three. We are supposed to be playing 4
v 4 with 2 subs each. The third sister team was stood up by the other
first place team (only two players showed) so Sheela and her teammate
played for the competition. That was an excellent game. The other
girls are all at least 6" taller than any of our girls and very quick.
It was hard to root for the red team when Sheela wasn't actually on
the field but they did manage to win in a very even match. Those are
usually more fun to watch than a blow out. They will make up the
inter-team game during practice this week.

Monday is the first day back to school!

Perspective

I'm preparing to have my "baby" lose his first teeth (they still
haven't let go) and start 1st grade. My cousin (only two years my
senior)'s oldest just became engaged to be married. I guess
everyone's life moves at its own speed.

The grandparent switch...

On the outbound side we have the Sharmas leaving today to go to India for six months.  They will finally get to see their new apartment.  It has been under construction and in the planning stages for quite some time now.  It has two bedrooms and a balcony and is located in the city or Pune about two hours Southeast of Mumbai.  They will stay in a hotel for a few days before settling in.

 

On the inbound side we should have Dad and Eileen back from Turkey.  I've not heard from them yet but they should be in Florida by now.  I hope to track them down tonight.

Life in the suburbs

Well, I’m up early and watching the man across the street get arrested.  We now have four police cars (no sirens) and six policemen standing in the yard across the street.  The neighbor at whom they were actually pointing rifles is now handcuffed and standing on his front porch talking to the first set of officers to arrive.  His wife is around the corner with the second set of officers.  The remaining two are sitting in the police cars in the street.  Both their midget dogs are out here too.  The only one missing is baby Love – I hope that she is still asleep.

Retirement

We held another retirement party yesterday.  This time it is my friend Brenda who's leaving.  She's been here our document control clerk/supervisor for 11 years, which is almost my whole career here.  Oddly enough she took early retirement from her previous company two years before she started here.  She is our second retiree in two weeks and fourth ever in the company (according to our unofficial-we-know-everybody-and-everything network).  I wish her well.  I think she choose a good time to leave, her area is about to undergo some major modernization and it will be pretty stressful.  I can't wait to see it when it's done, but she would have missed the old ways.

 

Their days are numbered....

Sunil's center two bottom teeth are both very loose now and his first adult tooth has broken through (well inside of the tooth line). I will be surprised if he doesn't loose one tooth today and both by the end of the week. Stay tuned for an "after" shot.....

Fixed

It turns out that I had a small problem with my lovely new dryer.  After I posted the pictures I couldn't get the dryer to turn on (or the interior light to turn off).  Even when it wasn't working I still loved it.  The soonest the repair man could come to fix it was today, so Sid spent sometime fiddling with it over the weekend.  The top latch wasn't catching, it could be pushed closed by pushing on the top of the door.  So I did manage to dry clothes all weekend long.  I did not call to cancel the service call.  The gentleman came out today and reversed the door (the original installation guy started to and then chickened out -- it isn't an easy door to switch).  When he reversed the door he lined it up correctly and now it closes properly.  Once again all is right with my world.

Yay for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Behold my new washer and dryer.... aren't they lovely?!?