In case there is anyone still out there.....

Wow - I really let it go!!  FOUR YEARS since my last post.  That is just ridiculous.  It has been a tumultuous, interesting, difficult, FULL four years.  Far too much to post at one time.  So for today I am going to stick with most recent events.

Yesterday we dropped my baby to camp.  Baby - ha!  She is 14 going on 30.  Full of personality and drama and confidence.  Last year she went to this camp for one week.  She fell in love.  She attended hockey camp where she stayed for a week and loved that as well.  But she truly fell in love with the traditional summer camp experience.  Her goal was to go for the entire summer, except our Bear Lake week, but she would have had to earn the money for that (camp is $500 per week).  She did not earn as much as she hoped, so she is going for three weeks instead.  She is there now for two straight weeks, we pick her up for one week at Bear Lake and then drop her back for a final week.

Her excitement and nerves all week have been forces to reckon with.  She has been all over the board, with highs and lows.  It's all very understandable but also a bit exhausting.  Once there, however, she really fell into place - she is ready.

It was fun to share the trip with my husband and my son - last year it was just my son and I.  It would have been nice to have my oldest daughter along as well.  We borrowed a car to give ours a break and it just would have been a pretty squashed fit for all of us and the stuff headed to camp.  My oldest chose a quiet day at home.

Once we dropped Natalie, we went out to dinner at a local place in Oscoda.  Good, homemade food and good beer (lemonade for the boy).  We took the Scenic Byway through the Huron National Forest and made some stops for oooing and aaahhhing and some great pictures.  A final stop at an "up north" ice cream parlor was just the thing.  It was a quiet, dozy ride home from there.

I've only checked the website once for pictures of her at camp.  And only one email so far.  Trying to strike that balance between letting her know we are thinking of her and not smothering.  It's a tough one!

August again!

I will spare you the usual full paragraph of mea culpa for not posting in..... holy crap, nearly another full year.  Clearly I am not disciplined or consistent in my writing.  CLEARLY!

What is it about this time of the year that brings me back?  Is it a craving for order and routine (SO unlike me)?  A winding down of the casual randomness of summer?  That doesn't sound like me, but the only consistency I see of late on here is that I "check back in" right around this time.  Woops - that was a full paragraph mea culpa after all, wasn't it?  Sorry!

Anyhooooo.... this year finds me very restless and more than a little discombobulated.  I am at loose ends in more ways than I can count.  Perhaps it has something to do with being ill on vacation and feeling like I never really got the "break" I revel in each year?  Surely it is exacerbated by chaos around me in the lives of those I love - it is a tumultuous year for family and some of my dearest friends.  Most definitely it is aided by my lack of organization right now, my inability to focus on bringing anything to order. 

August has never been my favorite month.  It represents an end to me.  It is often unbearably hot, although this year, the worst seemed to come much earlier.  This August in particular is rankling me. 

My two favorite months are November and May.  They are gateways, full of promise and anticipation.  The former to my favorite holiday season, the latter to freshness of summer.   I don't know why I can't look at August similarly and consider that is gives way to September - a month I also enjoy as the beginning of a season I treasure.  But I can't.  It's as simple as that.

What are your favorite months/times of the year?  Why?

Will this Week Never End???

I never thought I would want to rush the final full week of summer, but GOOD LORD this is week dragging on!!!   Can we just get on with it already?  It certainly didn't help that Wayne started classes, which raised the bar on hectic in my office.  Walk-ins were, as always, a treat.  The first day was by far the most bizarre, but the next four had their own doozies.  Every day feels like it should be a day later.  Every hour seems like it is two hours earlier than it should be. 

Of course, it could be the prospect of a four day weekend (I took the first day of school off) that has dragged this one out.  Next week will seem like a breeze.  In the meantime, when the whistle blows at 5pm tomorrow.....look out world!!!!

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be.....Walk-ins!

Anyone who has been my friend for any length of time, either on Facebook or "for real", is well aware of the term "walk-ins" and what it means in my world. For the few souls who have escaped my kvetching - I work as an undergraduate advisor for a major university and, while I usually see students on an appointment basis, ocassionally we have "walk-in days" to accommodate "emergencies" and/or the chronically underprepared. That Latter part of that sentence is largely redundant. And, as a wise woman once said, there are no EMERGENCIES in higher education. But I digress.

As we are fast approaching the start of the semester, our five-day walk-in period started today bright and early at 8:30am. (Actually I am guessing more like 7:45am for some, as we had a line all the way through the computer lab from our front door when we came in)

Now, I distinctly recall only a few years ago being adamantly required to register my son for soccer by August 1st or risk him missing the entire Fall season, NO EXCEPTIONS. So it makes me CRAZY when my students wait until late August to register for classes. This is your EDUCATION, people!!! Registration for Fall opens in mid-March! With a few tiny exceptions, everyone should be able to register. Tuition is not due until August. Save your spots!!

But no, every year we have a parade of students who sit forlornly for hours in our lobby. Some bring parents, some have small children in tow, many have the nerve to have attitude about the length of their wait. Today was no exception.

Some of my favorite examples:

*My very first student of the day, returning to school after a few years. She was a talker. Talk talk talk. Told me her story endlessly, talked through my questions to her for clarification. Talked through my answers to HER questions. Told me all about her need to pursue Psychology because she has been told she is "an excellent listener who really helps people." Did I mention she was a CLOSE talker? When looking at her registration on the computer, she leaned so far over her nose was less than a foot from my cleavage. Honey, you're going to have to by me dinner first next time.

*Sisters who argued with each other throughout 95% of their time in my office. One sister was already a Junior while the other was an incoming Freshman. The Frosh did not attend Orientation because Sis told her she didn't need to and she would help her register. The problem? Junior sister is a Business major and Frosh sister is Pre-Med. Only one of the courses she scheduled could be salvaged. Their 5% moment of total unity? When I dared suggest that, in the future, the girls seek advice from actual advisors. Apparently I was unappreciative of Junior's obvious um, talents and knowledge. "She was just trying to help and she has done just fine and she's only seen an advisor once." I sneaked a peek - I couldn't help it. The "talented" one is carrying a 2.17 gpa.

*The incoming transfer student who was admitted in April and has met with an advisor not once, but twice and is STILL NOT REGISTERED! Allegedly that is a lot of pressure to commit.

*Numerous, NUMEROUS students who applied and were admitted since August 20th. It frustrates me to no end that we allow it in the first place. But really people? Take a little responsibility here. You want full college services in ten days or less? Oh yes, and classes that work for YOUR schedule. Um, did I mention? Soccer - August 1st - for ten year olds!!!!

I could go on and on. As a matter of fact, I just might. But it will have to continue another time. I have to rest up for Day 2. It only gets more desperate from here.....

The Cake was the Boss

Soooooo......the next time you hear me say bake without "ry" at the end of it - QUICK - distract me! Break out the wine, bring up some good gossip, just gently lead me away from the kitchen. It is definitely time for an intervention.

I'm not a bad cook. I'm not inspired and effortless like my mom and sister, but I can churn out a decent family meal and occasionally the "PTO cookbook worthy" appetizer or salad.

Baking is a different story. Why oh why did I not listen to my mother last night when she responded to my enthusiasm for baking a cake from scratch with the observation that Costco makes excellent red velvet cakes??? Not only does this woman know all things food, she has a pretty good beat on me, having known me for some 42 years!

How bad is it, you might ask. Really Kim, what could possibly go so wrong? Well, it started with red velvet cake. And I mean so red I felt like I was channeling my inner Twilight. Truly, it looked a little scary.

Then against all of my self-knowledge, I started "multitasking" - finishing up the cake while making cookie dough and prepping the cream cheese frosting all the while putting away staples like flour and sugar. Which explains why I emptied the flour bag into the sugar bin. ARGH!

I also should have paid attention to the multiple times my 15 year old dropped into the kitchen and then walked back out shaking her head and giggling.

Thankfully I was nearing the end of what I planned to accomplish when my finger got caught in the mixer. And it's probably testament to my baking induced insanity that my first thought was "I'll be pissed if I'm bleeding in the white cream cheese frosting - why couldn't it be the cake batter.". (FYI - I wasn't bleeding). My remedy was to brew a cup of tea and lick the icing bowl and spatula until my finger stopped throbbing.

Surprisingly, I think the results may actually be more than just edible. In the meantime, that's an entire Monday evening I can never get back.

Fair Weather Writing

So another month has passed in silence.  My resolve to write daily, or at least steadily?  Back in the toilet.

Why? Why? WHY?

Lack of time?  Nope, not this time.  Busy as ever, but not too busy to jot something down.

Lack of energy?  No, I have had highs and lows but for the most part pretty steady.

Lack of material?  I had one kid start high school and another middle school in that time period.  Material I've got.  In spades!

I think material may be the problem, but not "lack of".  As I scroll back over posts, most of them deal with funny anecdotes, proud moments, interesting observations.  Other than describing my breast cancer battle which was written well after and even then from a fairly humorous point of view, I don't "do" frustration and anger.  And that, my friends, has been my problem for the past month or so.

July saw me ramping up my 3-Day training and getting into yoga - I felt GREAT and was excited about where it was taking me.  And then my knee began to ache.  And ache.  And ache some more.

And then it caved.

So for the past month I have been dealing with the ridiculously long, drawn-out process of diagnosing the problem (A minor tear to my meniscus, thank you.  And minor?  What would MAJOR feel like - yikes!)  Never mind the curing of it.  Other than fully staying off it for a week, which definitely helped, and some great drugs I've had nothing.  Physical therapy has not yet started (they are clearly overbooked) and I am left wobbling around, wondering about my 3-Day status.

You see?  I don't do grumpy well.  It's just not my thing.  I have a hard time expressing frustration in writing and believing anyone would want to read it.  Hence the absence.  

I recognize this is something a GOOD writer should be able to do.  So I am.  Or at least I am trying.

Here I go with the cross promotion again!

You would think two sisters would be capable of bullying each other enough to keep us motivated and on track with our training, right?  Apparently Eileen and I are WAY too nice to be successful via a mere training log.

So check out our new "tool" - our training blog: 

http://chicktheattitude.blogspot.com/

Feel free to bully us via comments.  Also, enjoy all the crazy antics and observances as we walk into oblivion.