Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Bedtime.

It has been an exhausting week, what with a dad with a helicopter ride from hospital to hospital,  all this talk of graduations and wedding, and a boo with the flu.....I can totally second Jill's proclamation of being exhausted. So tonight, Seth and I went and got our hair cut.  On the way home, I told him I was just unbelievably tired.  And said that I was going to go to bed early.  And that if anyone in this house sees me awake after 11pm, they need to shoot me.

He just came upstairs and poked his head in the office and announced "It's ONE HOUR till your bedtime, young lady."

Now I'm worried.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Hand written

Jill texted me Monday night to let me know how her first day of her last semester of undergrad went, and said she was exhausted.  Rightfully so, since she's in school full time, working three jobs plus being a teacher's assistant in another class.  Girlfriend has got to be tired.  She called me yesterday and I was with a patient, so I tried calling her back, to no avail.  Texted her to be sure everything was ok.  She texted back later on saying she had just called to tell me about her first day of class, and that it was exhausting.  She's so tired she's repeating herself a bit, but that's ok.

So she called me today, and of course I missed the call.  Called her back and she said she is having great fun as a teacher's assistant for a class of 144.  She was particularly excited, however, that she had gotten an email from one of the grad schools she's applied to.

"Mom, it was a hand written email."

I'll give that a minute to sink in.

I figured that girlfriend was just exhausted, but no, she repeated it two more times during the conversation which, hilariously, was interrupted simultaneously by Michael calling Jill's phone from the next room, and Jim, who has the flu, was calling my phone from his sickbed upstairs.  Kind of the equivalent of the days when I used to IM Thomas to tell him to come down to dinner.  I did not, however, hand write the IM.

There are, after all, those who lament the passing of cursive writing, may it rest in peace.  And some day, the kids of the next generation will lament that passing of the hand written email.  And just in case you are wondering, the "hand written" email was, as Jill explained, not a canned response to her application.  It was an email that was obviously written to Jill, not "to whom it may concern."  Keep your fingers crossed that the acceptance letter isn't far behind.  I know I am.

Monday, January 14, 2013

It's Been a While........

Since we've enjoyed a bit 'o Sethanese.  And so it was that tonight, the Spare to the Throne came upstairs and handed me a piece of paper and a pen.  It's the beginning of the semester, which means Mom signs syllabi that promise his teachers that I have read it (at this point, I don't) and that Seth will do everything the instructor requests (he does).  I signed it.  Handed it back to him.  Told him to go. to. bed.

He walked away.  I said "hey, here's your pen."  He looked at me blankly and said "it's not my pen."  I said "You gave it to me."  His reply?

"That means it's YOUR pen."  He wandered out, shaking his head at my lack of comprehension.

See, this is where Sethanese both makes perfect sense, and drives the mother to the brink of madness.

Monday, January 07, 2013

Just Enjoy the Moment

Well, Christmas and New Year's have come and gone, so we can all heave a big sigh of relief.  We started out with our normal tradition of getting a tree together -- likely the last Christmas that we will all be here to do it, so we waited for the Bratty Girl and her Young Man to get home.  Jill decorated the house in her typically festive spirit, but before we could do Christmas (on the 23rd, mind you, because I had to work on Christmas Day -- or so I thought....), we had Jill's birthday.  We didn't do anything special really, just dinner at Boston Market, then she and Michael headed to Christmas at the Zoo.  They do love the zoo.

Well, the 23rd came quickly enough, and I figured they'd be chomping at the bit to open presents, as soon as Jim and I got back from church.  But NOOOOO.......first Thomas informs me that he still has to wrap things.  Now, Thomas' and Seth's version of wrapping is this (and I sure wish I had the picture of Jill's birthday present, wrapped by The Heir and The Spare):  Plunk gift down on wrapping paper.  Cut wrapping paper bigger than the present.  Crunch the paper up with no real regard to neatness or hospital corners.  Engulf entire parcel with Priority Mail packing tape, rendering it virtually impossible to get open.  Yeah, it's man-wrapping.  But I digress.

Thomas wrapped whatever it was that he needed to wrap, then Jill disappeared.  Now, I was on call, so I had to do all of this in between phone calls on a VERY busy day, so the mother was not amused by the brat's absence.  Whilst she was gone, quiet Michael, who speaks sparingly, informs the boys that while they were at the zoo, someone got engaged "and yeah, Jill was not too happy after that."  I'll bet not.........

And then Jill walked in, stuffed my stocking full of Almond Joy and other assorted coconut filled candy, and we were off to the unwrapping races. Thanks to Dave Ramsey, I was able to have a credit-cardless holiday and still have a crazy stack 'o loot under the tree, and everyone was quite happy in the end:

It even wore the dog out.  And may I add, that couch is ugly as sin, but Thomas says I can never get rid of it, because Boo is certain that it's his.  And I'm sure that Thomas is right about that.  But I digress.

But the highlight of the day was the last present, presented to Jill by Michael:

Yep.  A whole lotta bling going on.  And one VERY happy girl.  And mother too, I might add.  There were some tears, a kiss and a hug, and then the bratty one runs up to me, hugs me, then steps back, panic stricken, and says "what do I do now?"  The poor dear looked terrified.

"Just enjoy the moment, sweetie.  Just enjoy the moment."