Running out of time

And thus begins the end, the end of Paul's high school running career. You have only 9 more months to read my posts and look at pictures of Paul running, so enjoy them (or not) while they last.

Friday was Paul's last time trial for the high school Cross Country running team. One of the mothers, Julie B, walked over to me, shedding a little tear along the way, and said, "I'm gonna be a mess all season."  She has senior twins on the team--one girl and one boy. The boy is one of the best runners the team has seen in many years.  She is also the team photographer.

Let the pictures begin!

Before he could run in the time trial, he had to put on his spikes.

It took him several minutes to tie his shoes.  MINUTES.

Maybe he needs a refresher course in tying shoelaces.

Finally the shoes were tied. And now, it's time to play "Where's Paul-do?"

There he is!

And there he goes!

Paul came in second, behind Steven B, whom Paul knew he wouldn't and couldn't catch. Forgive me for bragging, but it was quite nice to hear another mom tell me after I had said that my runner was a senior, "So your son is one of the fast ones."  I wanted to reply, "Only at CC. He does everything else, like tying his shoelaces, at a snail's meticulous pace."

Run, Paul, run!

Cheeky bits

Cheeky as in Hayley.

I took my little baby girl who used to like to dress up like Pikachu and wanted me to draw "thundershocks" on her cheeks to the HIGH SCHOOL today for pictures and to find out where her locker was.

The little girl who once (when she was 2) posed for a picture wearing only striped tights and 3D glasses posed for this picture wearing slim black jeans, a dressy red shirt, a dragonfly pendant, and new glasses.

Seriously, one of my "little kids" is in high school. I am floored. I always knew the big kids, aka Katie, Other Jim, and Paul, would grow up. That's what big kids do.  The little ones, though, they are little.

We had trouble opening her locker at first, but after a helpful parent gave her a tip, Hay-dle-dee finally managed to opened the metal beast (which she can probably fit into).

I know many many other schools in other states have started already, but we haven't yet. I have a little time still to consider her my baby girl.

(also, Matt's voice is deepening. I am in shock.)

There's a hole in my bucket list, dear Liza, dear Liza

(Or if you are one of my brothers, the last part of that line is "dear Iva Saliva," said with a slight lisp, I believe. And no, I don't know why. But that's how we as kids sang it OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER...........all the verses.  By the way, whoever is holding that darn* bucket is a complete and utter bonehead for his inability to solve his own problem)

Uh....

Anyway(s)

Oh yeah, my bucket list. It kind of does have a hole in it, in that there isn't much on my personal bucket list.

But I did add one thing to it this week. In the newspaper recently, there was an article about a hiking area that is pretty close to my house. I read the article and thought "Hmmm, I'd like to go there and hike the trail there." But then I finished my cereal and started on my long journey to work (a trip of about 20 feet from where I was eating my cereal). I forgot all about the hiking trail until later in the day when Other Jim got out of bed and was reading the newspaper. And he saw this article about the hiking trail. He brought it to me and said, "I wonder where this is." He seemed interested in it.

Then I remembered that I had this book:

I got the book out and we looked up the trail that was featured in the newspaper. Sure enough it was in there. I've had the book for a year or two, but hadn't looked at it much since I saw it in the bookstore. So I started paging through it, looking at the trail maps and reading some of the descriptions. I've even walked a few of them already, Wood Lake in Richfield, Cleary Lake just a couple miles south of where I live, and Murphy Hanrehan, also very close by. When I was a kid, I walked around Carver Park (I was forced into it) and have even camped there. 

And then I got the idea of something to put on my bucket list: I want to hike all 60 of these trails. If I did 6 a year, it would take me 10 years, but I think I could do it.

The next Friday I have off work, I am going to walk one of the trails, one I haven't walked before. Maybe the one featured in the newspaper. And I'm going to take my camera.

*or other word of similar length

Many pictures from Many Point

Many Point is the Boy Scout camp that our boys (and my my brothers) have gone to lo these Many years. Jim took Many pictures while Matt and his Many friends were there (Jim was there too, for not Many days).  Matt had Many fun adventures and learned Many new things.  When he came home, he had Many good things to say about his time at Many Point.

Matt is on the right, playing "greased watermelon" in the water with the rest of the scouts in his troop. Jim said Matt is a good swimmer. I don't know why I find that so hard to believe; maybe because when he was much younger, he was afraid of the water.

One of Matt's jobs (I'm so glad he had jobs to do) was washing dishes. Look at those little twiggy arms of his! They are getting longer!

The service project involved boys cutting down trees. Boys and hack saws sure do get along.

Matt and two of his good friends from church. Matt is still a little shrimp, but consider that these are two of the very tallest kids in his age group, and one of them is actually Hayley's age.

Matt went sailing without an adult in the boat! Granted there would not have been much room for an adult--those boats are so tiny! Jim said it was very strange to watch Matt maneuvering a watercraft around on a lake by himself. He's steering in this picture.

No boy can go to scout camp and not shoot at things.

 Many thanks to the leaders who provide Many opportunities for these Many boys to have.....Many much fun.

Optical Delusions

I took Hayley to the eye doctor today (luckily they have late appointments on Tuesdays so I could take her after I finished work). I'm always a bit nervous going to the eye doctor.

You wouldn't think I'd be nervous because #1 this appointment was for Hayley and not for me, and #2 even if the appointment was for me, I actually enjoy getting my eyes examined, except for the part where the dr puts the drops in to dilate my pupils. And that isn't so annoying since I had dilated eyes for 8 years when I was a kid, so I am used to it.

What makes me nervous about going to the eye doctor is the person who we have to deal with to purchase eyewear, both contacts and glasses. Whenever I go in, I get the largish woman with weirdly dyed hair and severe glasses. She looks like she was once a goth, but as she has neared her middle age (and she is probably close to my age, and maybe she's younger by a few years), she toned the look down a bit, but only just enough so she could get a decent job. I don't mind the adult goth look; what wigs me out is that she is SO FRIENDLY. Way too friendly. Friendly to the point of her asking personal questions of me and then answering them on my behalf. The worst thing is most of the time she gets it wrong, but I am always too uncomfortable to correct her.

So I was relieved tonight when the insurance rep/sales guy was someone different.

My hopes of a quick painless glasses-buying session for Hayley were dashed when he started asking Hayley if she had any nicknames. I think both of us were uncomfortable when, once she told him one of them, he started calling her by that nickname! No one wants their optical salesperson calling them "Peaches." Then Hayley spilled the beans about my 6th grade nickname and I had to spend the rest of the evening being called "Sarge."

To top it off, we were stuck at the front desk while my credit card was being authorized, listening to him muse out loud about mating dragonflies who, while in the process of coupling, mangle their mates.

Oh sweet baby Cheezits, mating dragonflies who kill their mates. His point was: "wouldn't you think the other dragonflies who were watching would be less likely to try to procreate?"

I think I'll just let myself go blind from now on.  Hayley too.

The Gir who makes things up herself

Yes, I meant to type "Gir."  You'll get it in a little bit (if you keep reading).

So the little Cheeky girl has been a-crafting lately. She likes to get into my yarn and leave yarn poop trails through the house. (no, she doesn't really poop the yarn out, but it is her mess. She is a yarn-cutting-leaver-arounder)

So this most recent craft had her making black pompoms (with my help), and crocheting with lime green:

 She found a pattern for this hat on the interweb somewhere and printed it off, only to discover that it was for knitting, not crocheting. She doesn't like knitting, so she decided to make up her own pattern. And, to make matters even harder for her, she only crochets in a circular pattern. But she was not afraid of the obstacles, and pressed forward in her quest for a crocheted cartoon character's head as a hat.

The cartoon character's name is Gir, by the way (do you get my little pun now?). She made the hat so she could dress up like Gir with some friends who want to dress up like other Invader Zim characters (I am "woefully" ignorant of this Invader Zim cartoon but you can see the top of Gir's head on Hayley's shirt in the above picture).  Here is a picture of Gir the cartoon character:

 Hayley did a pretty good job.

Busy week in review

Do I have to apologize for not posting on my blog over the last week? If you require an official apology, write me a letter (yes, with a pen and on a piece of stationery. If you need stationery, request a sheet from my mother who has plenty) requesting the apology. Send your request, along with $5 shipping and handling, to:
Shoebox Princess
PO Box NA
Never-neverland.

I've been in South Dakota (again) for the bulk of the week. We have a new employee in our fold and the office needed my official presence to help the good work of caring for the insides of people's teeth move along.

It's hard to blog in SD because I can't take internet in a box with me and I don't stay in a place that has internet access. Hopefully that will change soon, since Mike and Jen are closing on a house next week and future trips to SD will see me lodged with them in their internet-laden and very colorful home.

We had a birthday in the house last Sunday and it is time for me to celebrate that special day.

Other Jim is now 19. His birthday fell on a fast Sunday, which meant that we were all super hungry when we got home from church. I spent part of Saturday baking a cake for him, which he decorated with chocolate sauce, crumbled Andes mints and lots of Rolos, and it was sitting on the counter, waiting for us to sing OJ into his new age. I went into my room to change out of my skirt and heels, and by the time I got more relaxing clothes on, OJ had already cut himself a large piece of cake and was eating it.

HE DID NOT WAIT FOR US TO SING TO HIM.

I hope the birthday police don't come after us! Hayley and I sang to him while he ate (Jim and Matt were up at scout camp and Paul was getting ready for work) and hopefully that was enough to satisfy the laws of birthday celebration.

Here are pictures, which I am required by birthday law and blogging custom to post:

In other OJ news, he is rapidly approaching re-employment with Wally world. This time, though, he will not be pushing carts; instead, he has chosen to work the overnight shift (which will pay $2 more per hour than daytime shifts), mostly likely stocking merchandise. He is already preparing for his overnight shifts by sleeping in til late in the afternoon and staying up all night. Sigh. But in his defense, he is more helpful than he was when he lived here before.  And he gets along really well with Hayley now. They like to watch weird cartoons together (Mike, you have compatriots in my children in your liking of Adventuretime).

A post about Katie

Ten things about Katie

1. She is just finishing up doing Wizard of Oz in a community theater. She played a crow, a poppy, and a citizen of Oz. It's been nearly 7 (7???) years since she and I did the same roles with PL Players, and she had heard about this opportunity and decided to audition. She has had some fun doing it and met some cool people.
2. She is moving to Provo in a few weeks...
3. ...because she's going to start at Utah Valley University in September...
4. ...which accepted all of her Normandale credits...
5. ...so she is a junior in college...
6. ...majoring in some kind of science.
7. To help finance her university venture, she started looking for jobs, but one found her! Through a contact at her current place of employment, she was told of a job opening as a peak time teller (basically a substitute available on certain days to go to any of several Provo area bank branches) and so she applied, and interviewed...
8. ...and she just found out today that she got the job!
9. She'll be coming back to MN for a Christmas-time visit...
10. ...so we'll have a full house during the holidays!