If this is a dream will somebody wake me up?

Every week, I curse Monday and praise Friday. WELL THIS WEEK IS NO DIFFERENT-----WHOOOO HOOOOO FRIDAY!!!!!!!!

Little Drew, who actually isn't so little anymore, doesn't have a morning practice today. He has practice after school and there is a parents meeting at 5:15 in the gym. The coaches are required to have a parents meeting at the beginning of each season. They aren't really worthwhile if you have the same coach each year but for new kids and parents, it probably a good thing. I will go to Drew's but when Jess has one, I am skipping, I know what they have to say.

Speaking of Jess, she was part of the Academic Decathalon last night. It is a two night committment and they finished up last night with the big competition. She was VERY grouchy when she got home from practice becuase the coach didn't let them out until 6:15 and they had to be back for the Decathalon by 6:30. She had to come home, clean up and get dressed up. She kind of blew in, bitched for 5 minutes, and blew back out...lol

When she got home from the decathalon, she was in much better humor. She did well and had a good time. She said she got her two questions correct and one of them was a chemistry question. She said one of the boys from another team stood up and said "Jessica Nichols! How did you get that right, you haven't taken chemisty." She said she smiled and said, "I guessed".

Both kids have practice tonight. Jess has a scrimmage in some town tomorrow, not sure where and they both have games on Tuesday.

Three more days until Thanksgiving break and I couldn't be more thankful for that!

The huskers don't play this weekend so I won't be obligated to watch games or stick by the radio. This leaves the weekend a bit open and I am not sure what I am going to do. Maybe a little work around the house. I have a sink that is dripping and a few other things that I can work on.

Off to start the weekend!

Thursday wishin it was Friday!!!

Thursday, trash day, blah blah blah. Same old routine is running its course today. Actually, I am glad it is Thursday but wish it were Friday. The weather is chilly today but the outlook for the next few days and the weekend seems pretty good.

So we are being flooded, I mean flooded, with political commercials here in Iowa. As I sit here and type this, I have seen 4 in a row and I bet before I get done, I will have seen 20. Each evening there are more political commecials than anything else. It is getting a bit tiresome but I have to say, some of the commercials make me laugh.

I have been on a bit of cruise control at work. This yeas has been so full of changes and additions, I am just tired of it and am taking it easy for a bit. It is still hectic, answering phones, configuring systems, ect. but I am not taking on anything new for awhile. I guess you could say I am a bit burned out and need some downtime to get my battery re-charged. Thanksgiving break will be good and Christmas break will be even better.

Drew has morning practice again today. He enjoys it because he has his after school time free. Jess had practice yesteday and I had mentioned before that they only had 14 girls left on the team. They had some injuries and other girls quit. Well, last night two more girls went down with injuries. Both are varsity players and one is there three point shooter. The coach ended up calling practice off early for fears of more injuries. Just sent them home!

Hopefully Jess will stay healthy (I am knocking on wood).

One meeting today and then I am looking forward to the weekend.

I just took Drew over to practice. DAMN! It is cold and windy!!!!

I take Molly with us when I walk Drew over to the school. It is her favorite part of the day. She gets so excited and just loves that little walk to and from the school.

Ok, off to start my day!

Nobody wants a goiter!!!

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving break is when the count down begins. We don't have school next Wednesday so 5 school days until they get 5 days off.

Jess have a basketball game last night. Well, I am not sure you could call it a game. They had several teams at North Polk and they all just played 2 - eight minute quarters. It was varsity only but on the bright side, Jessica got to start both quarters. I am not sure if she will start in the regular season varsity games but she was in the starting lineup last night. That is kind of cool.

Drew is back to having a morning practice today. He is up at 5:30 and I will take him over at 6. I am writing this in between the times so I may have to stop in the middle to take him over. His first game is Tuesday so it will be a good way to kick off the Thanksgiving break.

Work has been lame as of late. We don't really have any big projects going on and there is a bunch of little stuff that is just irritating. Report cards are being generated at the elementary school and it is ridiculous how paticular they are with the most insignificant stuff. That is one thing that I would say about working in the district. There is a big difference between the personalities of the staff in the buildings.

The High School staff has some people that just don't get it but for the most part the problems they have a "real" and are school driven. The Elementary School is the exact opposite. They complain about the most insignificant things you could imagine. An example of this: A few years back the Middle school didn't have air conditioning. The classrooms in August and September could get really, really hot. So hot at times we would close school. The elementary has air conditioning and even the ability to set the temp in each individual room. The buildings and ground director set it so they could only change the digital thermostat in their rooms between 68 and 72. You should have heard the complaining about not being able to make it cooler than 68. You would have swore they were being kept as indentured servants and the world was coming to an end. How could they teach in this terrible environment. Yet, across town, the middel school staff was sitting in 95 degree classrooms or hotter and not complaining at all.

There are many, many, many stories I could go on about. One other one, a teacher that taught at the elementary was moved to the middle school. The cord to hook her computer to the network was 15 feet long, she moved her computer 15 1/2 feet from the jack and wanted a longer cord. We told her to move her table over 6 inches and she would be fine. She went nuts, saying she would have to change her whole teaching style if she moved her computer!!!!

I could go on and on but you get the drift.

I think the rest of the week is pretty open. One meeting this afternoon and I think a tech directory meeting on Thursday but other than that it is a pretty clean schedule. Things will start to pickup again after Thanksgiving with all of the activities getting in full swing.

Nancy Sawyers son is ok. Has two broken legs, one a compound fracture with a lot of tissue and muscle damage, bleeding spleen that they aren't too worried about, cracked skull with a little bleeding but they aren't overly concerned with, a fractured bone in his neck and a bunch of scrapes and bruises. I am not sure how long she will be gone but we will have to rotate going over to that building for tech coverage a couple times a week.

That Christmas tree is blocking my view of the Thanksgiving turkey

Tuesday is here and it is significate to note that this may be the turning point of the fall weather. It is going to be in the upper 60's today and this is going to be a last hurrah from what the lying weather people say. Highs are going to be in the 40's and the shift towards winter will begin.

I always have mixed emotions about this time of year. Common sense tells me to use this last bit of good weather to get my Christmas lights out. On the other hand (You can picture me talking to myself like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof) I hate to get Christmas in front of Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving and feel it cheapens it a bit by doing Christmas early.

Jessica had her club volleyball meeting last night. We were late of course. The HS basketball practice ran long and then he wanted to hand out their uniforms last night so it pushed us even later. It only take about 30 minutes to get to Ankeny so it wasn't too bad. We were 45 minutes late but Jess met the other girls and they talked about the season. The coach is really nice and she us very understanding of what Jess has to go through with the other sports she plays. They start practicing after Thanksgiving.

There are two girls on the team that live about an hour from Ankeny so they drive a long way to practice. Another girl lives almost an hour and a half away so she is really driving a long way.

They ended up forming two teams. A maroon and a white squad. The maroon is the "A" team and the white is the "B" team. Jess is on the maroon team. It was kind of wierd seeing her in maroon colors. It reminded me of the good old Exeter Eagles days.

Drew is now back to afternoon practices. He made the "A" team for the 7th grad basketball team. There are three teams, A, B, and C. They play against other town's A, B, and C teams. Drew is happy to be on the A team. I am not sure if he starts or not but they have a game next week at home so I will find out then.

Jess has a game tonight and it is away. It is in a town called Alleman, I have no idea where that is. I think the basketball team is going to be weak this year. The one thing about basktball that is different than the other sports is that you have girls that only play basketball and they think they are just awesome and there are a lot of egos. The one thing about our girls right now is they have talent but the reason the are bad is they don't have chemistry. A bunch of individuals not a team.

The tech support person that works for me at the elmentary, Nancy Sawyer, her son was hit by a car last night while he was out jogging. She rushed to KC last night to see him in the hospital. He has two broken legs and his spleen is bleeding. Doesn't sound good but I am sure she will let me know when she finds out more. I am not sure how long she will be gone but I would think it would be the rest of the week.

Things like this remind me of how life can change with the blink of an eye. Knock on wood we are all safe as the holiday season approaches.

Oh! I made casadillas last night for dinner. They were wonderful!

Off to start my day.

Is there a self help book for Monday!

Today, yet again, reinforces how much I hate Mondays!!! I am not sure what the deal is but Mondays just are the worst for me. Some may like them, a new start of a week and all, but from the alarm going off to the start of another work week, I think it stinks!

The weekends was pretty good. Jess was name to the Second Team All conference team for volleyball. She was the only Perry girl that made the team. We had a couple girls get honorable mention but she was the only one to make a team. We found out because it was in the paper. Her coach called and said it wasn't supposed to be in the paper yet and she was mad because she wanted to be the one to tell Jess.

Drew is on the front page of the sports section in this weeks paper. They showed the 7th and 8th grade team photos and talked about thier seasons.

The huskers and broncos both won this weekend which was a pleasant change. The huskers finally put a game together and the defense didn't lose the game for them. Too late for Callahan but good for the seniors and the remaining players. I have mixed emotions about a bowl. I want it for those kids but I would maybe just rather have the season overs so we can get a new coach and get the changes underway.

Jess played in a basketball scrimmage on Saturday morning. I think there were 5 teams and they kind of had a round robin scrimmage. It is an opportunity for teams to get some games in before the "Real games" start. She has practice and then we have to go to Ankeny for her club volleyball meeting. I am hoping the basketball coach doesn't have a long practice tonight because we are supposed to be in Ankeny at 6:30. We will be late for sure but I don't want to be an hour late. It takes about 30-40 minutes to get there.

Yesterday day we spent the afternoon raking and bagging leaves. That is a sucky job but the kids didn't complain too much. It helps to have the three of us out there. We did the back and the front but left on of the sides. There is a tree over there that still has a bunch of leaves on it so we will get that another time, unless it snows! I think we had 18 leaf bags full when we stopped. It was day outside and we were able to play a little basketball after we finished. Nancy had her grandkids over and they came over and played. Jess and Drew love those kids and really like it when they are around.

I am not sure what the week ahead will hold. I would imagine Jess will start club volleball practices this week. Drew has morning practices again this week. The team likes them better so they are going to go mornings. Drew likes the morning practices too so it all works out.

I can't believe how dark it gets and how early it is when it gets dark. I swear 6 pm seems like 8 or 9.

The coffee is good this morning and it is making me feel better about the day. I am not sure what I would do without the comfort of a hot cup of coffee to start my day.

Off to start my week. More tomorrow.