12-2-2003 - Reporting In...

I haven't written in awhile and thought I'd report in.

My new computer hasn't arrived at work yet though the office manager did come by last week to tell me it had been ordered. I am, however, going to get the better, more expensive machine. That was the tech guys doing, not mine. I picked the better (you know those things are always "good," "better," "best") and upgraded a few things and had it at about $1500 plus tax and shipping. The Tech guy started with the "best" machine, I didn't really understand his complaints with the one I configured, and then added stuff on. Now I'm getting a faster processor, more memory and a bigger hard drive. All very keel things. Hopefully it'll arrive tomorrow.

The GirlChild spent Wednesday night before Thanksgiving with the DogDoc. She seems to be taking RangerDoc's absence harder than I would have expected. Of course it's all 9 year old "how is it going to effect me" sorts of stuff but sad nonetheless.

She asked me what would happen to DogDoc if RangerDog got killed. I asked her what she meant,
GC: Well. . .she'll marry someone else.
Me: Well. . .she might.
GC: Then she won't be my Aunt anymore.
Me: Sweetie, DogDoc will always be your Aunt.
GC: But she won't love me anymore.
Me: Of course she will love you.
GC: You think?
Me: I know.

Her absence was a lucky break for us. The SneakyDog and the StupidDog killed an even more stupid cat which we discovered late on Wednesday. It's hard to say which one did it. They work well together as a team.

Thanksgiving went better than expected. The PsychoSister was in her usual form. The week before Thanksgiving she got pissed at the Baba. She picked a fight with the GranMa. Then she picked a fight with me. The DogDoc is still mad at her over that e-mail thing with MartyrMom. The consensus was she wouldn't show at the festivities. I knew that was too good to hope for and true to form, she showed up for dinner an hour late just after we'd sat down to eat. She was, of course, put out because we hadn't waited for her. No one paid much attention to her histrionics and she and the WeirdBoyfriend sat in the kitchen. They kept a low profile and then left without saying good-bye to anyone.

The GirlChild and the Husband saw Elf over the long weekend. It was so bad even the GirlChild didn't even like it and she's not a very discerning movie goer. The GirlChild and I went to see Brother Bear. It was a sweet little story. Phil Collins has sold his soul to Disney but he sings a sweet song.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving my book club had a meeting with an author. I signed up on one of the publishers web sites to have a meeting with an author and we won this month. We read a book by this author and met at one of the members homes and talked to the author on a speakerphone. The publisher sent us a phone card to use to call the author. I can't imagine what it cost. I thought the author said she was in Italy but some of the others thought she said she was in England. It was interesting to talk about the process and how she created characters and why characters did certain things.

The publisher sent a big box of books. One of the books was the author's next book which was signed. Another was one I'd never heard of before but I will probably read. There were several others she just threw in for good measure.

On Monday morning we met at the elementary school with the psychologist, the special ed teacher, the principal and the GirlChild's teacher. They said she has a minor deficiency; normal is between 95 and 110 and she scored an 87. They said she was impulsive and easily frustrated. They said it might be maturity and she could outgrow it. They said she is a concrete thinker and doesn't draw inferences. They said she sounds out the beginning sounds but can't sound out the middle and ending sounds. It really wasn't anything I didn't already know.

We have let her quit going to Sylvan. We agreed if she read out loud to the husband or me for 10 minutes every day for a month, without being reminded and without giving us any grief about it, and continued to do that, that she could quit going. She was motivated and has done that so we let her quit. I offered to make her the same deal with her Kumon, but after thinking about it and she decided she would rather just do her Kumon worksheets.

Basketball season starts on Saturday. She loves her coach, it's the same guy from last year, and she works hard for him. I think she might have some talent for it.

The BoyChild is sickly. He's had a runny nose for a week or more and over the weekend started running a fever. We took him to the doctor on Monday who diagnosed a sinus infection. The BoyChild H.A.T.E.S the medicine. Sometimes it takes both of us to hold him down to get it in him. It's always touch and go about whether it will actually stay in him because he gets so upset he sometimes vomits afterwards. Nothing like a little baby vomit to complete your day.

And on that pleasant thought, I'll stop and head off to bed.

Be Safe,
M&Co.


12/18/2003