Taking the Boys to Camp

Both of the boys are working at a Boy Scout camp.  From our house, it's a two hour drive up there and then a two hour drive back down.  Since one chooses not to drive, and the other one isn't old enough yet to drive on Boy Scout properties, I get to drive them.  You need to understand, the boys live outdoors in a canvas tent all summer.  They each have a cot, and they are up off of the ground on 4 old wooden pallets.  The flaps are open all summer long, and they each have mosquito netting over their beds, but all matter of creepy crawlies roam through their tents.

Anyway, yesterday I got set to take them back to camp.  We took our daughter off to Girl Scout Day Camp first.  As we pulled out of the parking lot, I had the windows rolled down and I saw something big fly into the back seat of the car.  I almost drove off the road as oldest child - a very calm, unexcitable 20 year old, screamed like a little girl over this big fat beetle, flying around the back of the car.  I pulled over while he tried to flick it out of the back seat, stretched across the car so it wouldn't get him.  Finally, the 17 year old got out of the car, opened the back door, and flicked the beetle out.

I should have taken that as a sign.

We headed up 95, pulled off our exit, and were within 5 miles of camp when the road was closed.  Detour, back down the way we'd come and then up route 1.  It took us 40 minutes to make that detour. 

I got the boys into camp and turned around to head out.

Herd of mini-goats standing in the road, refusing to move.  The owner eventually came out and moved them off the road.

Continue on, make the left turn onto the big road that leads back to highway 1, go 500 yards, and end up behind a line painting truck.  Spent the next 45 minutes behind that truck, traveling the 2 miles down the road to highway 1.

Go down highway 1, work my way over to 95, and traffic comes to a dead standstill.  2 lanes are closed for construction.

I finally made it home many more hours later than I had planned on.  I took an unscheduled detour through a Target because I needed to get out and stretch after sitting still for so long... and I still had an hour to go to get home. 

Argh!

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

A Day With Mr. Murphy

I went with the robotics team earlier this week to the kick-off of the Summer Reading Program at our local library. 

Mr. Murphy (of Murphy's Law) decided to spend the day with us.

We were supposed to show up at 9:30. 

So, 9:30 rolls around, and I'm sitting in front of the library with my daughter and a 150 pound robot in the back of the van. 

No kids.

9:40 rolls around, and one other member of the team shows up.  There's still no way the three of us are strong enough to lift the robot out of the van, so we begin calling kids and rousting them out of bed.  Two of them are on a cross country road trip with their dad.  Two others are enrolled at music camp for the week, and are unavailable, others are at work.. well, you get the idea.  We finally tracked down the four kids who said they'd be there.

10:00 all kids are present and accounted for.  Robot is in the library, and the little kids are coming in.

10:05 robot is working, picking up balls and shooting them.

10:10 robot stops working.  The kids, in a panic, attempt to find out why it's not working.

10:10-11:30, I and the two young ladies with me, explain to all who come to stop that they are watching engineering in action.  Just look at the way those engineers are looking for the problem.  See?  They are going through each and every possible problem and testing it to make certain that it works.

10:30 - a mother starts to argue with me that that's not what engineers do.  They solve problems!  They don't get their hands dirty!  A long discussion ensues with an older gentleman who is a retired Civil Engineer of 30 years experience, hanging out for the day with his grandchildren.  Mother ends up leaving in a snit, because "Engineers have clean jobs!  They don't take things apart!  They solve math problems!"

10:45, in desperation, we pull one of the smaller FTC robots out of the trunk of another car.  We bring it in and realize that NONE of the kids present know how to work one of the FTC bots. 

11:15 - we isolate the problem.  We need one specific tool and it will be fixed in a jiffy.  I have a van full of tools, but the tool we need is in the warehouse.  We don't have the key to the warehouse.  We track down the parent who does have the key to the warehouse.  He answers his phone, would love to help us, but at that particular moment, he's in San Diego, getting ready to go into a meeting.

11:30 - Summer Reading Kick Off Ends.  Oh, and we manage to fix the wiring without the missing tool, robot now runs fine.

What a wonderful example of the thrills of technology! 

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

The Neighbors

Since we've moved into this house, we've had a pretty nice neighbors.  We stay out of each other's business, but we look out for each other, and keep an eye on the house when no one is home.

Our left hand neighbor is a really nice guy.  He, like my husband, is the child of the original owners.  He's a single father of a daughter who is now grown and got married in the back yard last year.  I like him a lot, he's a character, and I love unusual characters.  He will sit in his boat in the back yard and drink beer while listening to his radio.  No, we're not on the water, he just likes to be on his boat.  I asked him why once, and he told me that he didn't want to drink and drive.  If he had a beer out on the water, he'd still have to drive the boat back to the shore, and then he'd have to drive it home.  It's the responsible choice he's making... but it does always make me smile on Saturday afternoons when I see him sitting in his boat, beer in hand, listening to an Orioles game.

Things changed and got a little odd over there this past year.

His parents, who have been divorced for 20 years moved back in together.  With HIM.  Yep, his little house is now home to his divorced parents. 

The house is literally not big enough for the both of them.  If one of them is inside, the other one is outside.  We came home a couple of weeks ago and saw the father outside, making up his bed for the night in the hammock, and heard him muttering under his breath while trying to tie up some mosquito netting over the hammock.

I've seen her outside in the early afternoons, listening to Sinatra and pulling weeds.  She usually has a big pitcher of Sun Tea brewing on the porch while she's working.  When she finishes pulling weeds, she sits outside watching birds and drinking iced tea.  If he comes outside for anything, she immediately stops what she's doing and heads back into the house.

We do hear the parents arguing about things.  We never hear what they're arguing about, but we can hear their voices coming from inside of the house, followed by the slam of a door.

Recently, I saw the son (who's a couple of years older than me) standing outside, under the trees next to our driveway.   He was drinking from a bottle.

"Is that only a beer?"  I asked him.

"Yep."  He looked at me oddly.  "What do you mean?"

"All I know, is that if my divorced parents had decided to move back in together with me, I'd need something stronger than a beer to see me through that event."

It was the first time I've seen him laugh in a couple of months.  He pointed to the treehouse in the back yard that he had built for his daughter.  "I've been thinking of moving out there for a while now".  He sighed.  "I still don't know how this happened.  We sent out the wedding invitations for my daughter, and the next thing I know, both of them have moved in with me.  My daughter says better me than her.  I've been thinking my only recourse might be to move in with her, and let Mom and Dad fight this battle out on their own."

He shook his head and walked back towards his house.

Last night, I noticed a light gleaming inside of the treehouse.  Not sure who took up residence, but it looks like they've moved in for a while.  I took a closer look this morning, and screens have been placed over the windows, and a screen door has been added.

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Simple Rules for Being My Friend

I had an odd experience today.

I went with our high school robotics team to demonstrate our robot.  The place we went is a place where I used to work over 5 years ago.  I thought we had departed on good terms.  And I thought I was friends with many of the people there.  Several of those people are my facebook friends.

I want to clarify one thing.  This particular employer is one of our sponsors.  They donate time and money, and resources to our team, and they invited us to come in and share the robot, our trophies, and our pictures during their lunch hours, in their cafeteria.
So, I showed up with the kids and robot today and we set up our display and set to work, showing off the robot and talking to visitors about who we are, what we do, and how we go about doing this. 

I saw people that I recognized, and waved to them in passing.  I didn't speak to them.  I didn't interrupt their work.  All I did was the equivalent of a chin raise and a "sup" as they passed by.

They looked at me.  I KNOW they recognized me.  I saw the recognition in their faces.  And then, they hastily looked the other way.

I saw other people that I didn't know well, who I never thought of as friends who took the time to stop by, say hello, and ask how I was doing.  They talked to the kids about the robot.  They thanked me for coming out and followed up with an "It was so good to see you again!"

Strange.

I thought about it for a while.  Friendship requires a certain level of acknowledgement of the existence of the other person.  I understand that you may be working, but a head nod, a smile of recognition, or even a quick wave, just to say "HEY" is what is required to let the other sojourner in the world know that someone else out there knows you, recognizes you, and claims you as someone they know.

What I saw today baffled me.

It's odd, since many of them are my facebook friends, and I had posted on my page last night "We're going to be there tomorrow during lunch time!", and several of them had posted back "Great! Can't wait to see you and the robot." 

Now, the root issue here is that they are my facebook friends.  I have very strict guidelines on my facebook family.  I have my page locked down very, very tight.  If you are one of my facebook friends, you are either family or you are a friend who talks to me.  You are someone I'd go get a couple of beers at Chili's with some Friday night and shoot the breeze.  You acknowledge me, I acknowledge you, and we care about each other's lives and families. 

I don't have random friends on facebook.  I don't friend people just to up my friend count.  My facebook friends are my real life friends. 

This behavior bothered me more than I care to admit. 

I called one of the ladies involved tonight and said "Hey!  I missed seeing you today at lunch!"  (Even though I saw her walk by and avert her gaze as she walked past.)  "Oh, you know how it is", she replied "I'm just so busy I never even got down to the cafeteria.  I got a promotion, you know, and it keeps me hopping.  I really didn't know what busy was before.  Well, I've got to go now.  It was good talking to you.  We'll have to do this again sometime."

Long story short, I unfriended the parties involved on facebook.  Not to be mean, not to be spiteful. But because I realized a truth about our friendship.

You know what they say.  With a real friend, you can go years without seeing each other.  The first time you then get together, it's like nothing has changed.  You sit down and start talking as if it was yesterday. 

Friendship does take nurturing.  It does need to be watered with love and care. 

I'm off to go nurture a friendship now.

I believe I see a Chili's gathering in my very near future....

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Jelly and Jam

I love making jelly and jam this time of year!  The fruit comes in so fast, I can barely keep up with it.

I tend to dedicate one day a week to jelly making.  And I really only make it at this time of the year.  My family only likes one kind of jam: triple berry.  A delicious concotion of Strawberry, Blueberry, and Raspberry, it is irresistible.  I stumbled upon the recipe not long after we moved into this house.  I had planted a stawberry bed, and we had an unbelievable number of blue- and rasp- berry bushes growing in the back yard. I found a recipe for triple berry jam in the Sure-Jel box when I was looking to make some strawberry jelly.  I figured I had nothing to lose, and an instant family favorite was born!

Jam really doesn't take much time to make.  It's an investment of a morning, or an entire day if you're really into it and making huge batches all at once.  You do need sugar, and you do need hours of uninterrupted time.  You aren't going to be able to leave to go to the store in the middle of the process, because once you lose your momentum, you just won't be able to get back into the jelly making.

We use our jelly all year long.  It goes onto our toast.  I buy only vanilla yogurt at the store, and we add a couple of Tablespoons of jam to the yogurt, stir, and I swear to you, it truly is the best yogurt you've ever had!  You know exactly what went into that jam, and you were the quality control agent, cooking and canning it on the same day - or the day after you picked it.  I don't care what you say, store bought jelly just can't hold a candle to home canned jelly.

You do have to make a one time investment in canning jars.  And you have to invest in lids.  But, considering I've been using some of these jars of ten years now, it was an investment well worth making!

If you've never made jam before, give it a whirl!  I'm posting my link from last year's jam post here.  As always- you MUST use a pectin agent of some kind.  Sure Jell, or Ball, or whatever you can find in your local store- the pectin makes the jam set.  Also - you MUST follow all directions and measurements exactly.  No short cuts, and no substitutions.  Canning food for long term storage is a science, and keeping the food safe and healthy to eat months later requires exact attention to detail.

So, go grab some fruit and enjoy your own home-made jelly!

(Just in case the link above doesn't work, here it is again)
http://librarynut-momsview.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-jelly.html

An Investment in Your Future

We've been touring college campuses up and down the East Coast since Saturday. While the campuses have begun to blur together in my mind, there is one thing that stood out: every college touted how important it was to make an investment in your child's education, and went to great lengths to tell us just how easy it is to get student loans. They brushed off annual tuitions of $40,000 (at state run, public universities) as trivial in comparison to the gains they would have through life, beginning as soon as they graduate. I'm not sure what most kids earn starting fresh out of college, but I'm pretty sure it's not enough to pay that debt off in a timely manner and start their lives out on the right foot.

I paid my own way through college. No debt when I graduated. Yes, I had to work while I took classes, but I have forever been able to say that I paid for my own education. I went in state, and I went to a nationally recognized school. My husband also worked his way through college in the co-op program - a decision that earned him a higher starting salary upon graduation.

So, we've been looking at schools with an eye on tuition and expenses. We want our kids to have an excellent education, but we don't want them saddled with debt, either. Graduating with $160,000 or more in debt is out of the question.

We've found absolute gems. Hidden within the maze of public universities, we are finding amazing campuses with fantastic programs at reasonable prices. (We found one today for $15,000 annually.). We've found great scholarship programs at some of these schools, and we've found amazing business partnerships. It's been an eye opening experience.

The true investment for our kids is going to be the investment in time, the time to make certain that they find an excellent, affordable education so that they can begin their journey into adulthood debt free.

We had some wicked, wicked weather in the Mid-Atlantic Region over Friday night.  Tornadoes tore up and down the area, but fortunately, no one was killed.   I watched the storm clouds roll in from our hilltop.  I was poised to run, but stayed outside,  fascinated by the interplay of the clouds.  

Funny story here.  The kids were at school in lock down.  The storm rolled in at 2, and the tornado warnings were announced at 2:15, prompting the high schools to hold dismissal (at 2:20) until after the storms rolled through.  This was the last day of school for the Seniors.

Just how much extra time did the Seniors get to spend in school on their very last day?  3 HOURS.  You read that right - THREE EXTRA HOURS.

You know, that's just not right.

The storm clouds gather.

The sky is looking ominous.

More clouds.  I watched these little clouds form into a funnel, break apart, and form up again.
They finally broke up, but it was a sight to behold!

Random Pictures

Some random pictures from my camera phone from the past few weeks:

We had an empty bowls fundraiser at the high school.
The art classes made the bowls, and had a soup lunch.
Diners paid for a bowl of soup, and got to keep a bowl.
All proceeds went to our local food bank.
Here, you can see our many bowls!

This cute little mousey was a desert at a teacher's lunch last week.
Isn't he cute?
Chocolate covered cherry on an open Oreo cookie,
Hershey kiss and almonds.
Someone is amazing patient and detail oriented!
These guys were so cute!

Mango Salsa.   We found the recipe on Pinterest, and had it for dinner.
Isn't it beautiful?

The pinata for the robotics end of year dinner.  The kids named him Alfred.

Alfred and Tiger make friends!