Questions without answers

Greetings....I am sitting on the sofa stuffing a tissue up my nose as I try to type. It seems that despite a flu shot and being meticulous washing my hands and staying away from germs, something nasty has caught up with me. And now...I suffer.....OK, I am being a bit melodramatic, but I truly dislike being sick....especially with my long teaching day in front of me tomorrow.


I doubt that my students will enjoy me spraying my special germs all over them as I try to keep a conversation going for eight hours. Can I cancel class? Sure, but I won't. It's not in my fabric to cancel anything. I have to gut it out. Then I will go to bed....that's my plan of action....now on to the more exciting and uncontrollable aspects of my life...my children and the events that surround them.



When I left the blog yesterday, I was on my way to visit a friend from work who is on hospice. Needless to say, my stupid little cold that has attacked my body is nothing like the issues that surround my very brave colleague. God bless you as you continue on your journey....

It seems silly to ponder the absurdities of life when my friend is dying, but this is what life is all about....you live until you die (duh...). What I mean is that we all know that life will come to an end at some point.  Therefore, laughter, family, friends, and love are essential as we move toward the pearly gates. We don't know where or when, but it is inevitable. As such, I will continue to love as hard as I can and laugh until I draw my last breath.

And so, let's change the topic.....

On to my crazed college students and how they are starting to figure out that life is not cheap. Talk is...life is not.

When I left off, the next important party was on the calendar. This is probably the most important night in any college student's life. Yes, it is the 21st birthday party. It is now legal to drink. Yippeee....

Big Red's friends had planned a big night out at a local bar and the guys were gathering at the formerly known as the 'party house' at 10:30 pm. I don't know about you, but 10:30 is waaay past my bedtime, so thinking about just going out at that point seems like a crazy idea. Yet, when I lived the college life in Ohio last year, 10:30 pm was considered early as we sought places that were still open to eat dinner. We usually landed up at IHOP for pancakes.

According to the big leftie, he was going to stay in study hall until everyone had left the house. In no way was he going to go to a bar. First, he is underage.....second, he had too much work to do...third, he just did not want to go. Were any of these statements true? Did he really stay in the library last night? I guess that he does not have a fake ID (whew). Or maybe I don't know about it. I throw no stones on this one since I had "borrowed" Big Sis's 'ID' a number of years ago and successfully used it (sorry mom). In those days we drank 7 and 7's which were so disgusting that it took all night to drink one. We would nurse one drink for hours and never actually finished them. Therefore, we never actually got drunk since the drink was watered down when the ice melted. The local bar was down the street from the house therefore we sauntered home with the rest of the neighborhood friends after we got bored with being big shots. Oy, why did I just admit that? I dunno, maybe because I do understand the college life and am not so different from the kids today.

In more college news, the southpaw reported that he had a 98 average in one of his classes. In my book, that is a solid "A". He did not share which class he was killing, but I know that it is great for his ego.

Speaking of egos, the kid finally threw on the mound yesterday. He hit low 80's which is where he left off when he was injured. He wasn't even throwing full speed which means that he may hit 90s consistently this spring. Talk about a happy guy....who needs a fake ID and access to the bar scene? Not my kid...all his passion is wrapped up in his arm and doing well in school Yeah, babeeee!

He was disappointed when the pitching coach did not say anything to him as he threw. It seems odd that your coach would not comment on your first day back from surgery, but he ignored him for some reason. What message was he trying to send? Was he nonverbally saying that the kid is not important to the team? Hmmmm.....the only saving grace came from the head coach who made several positive comments. Whaddya do? These guys have their reasons for what they do. However, I wish that they would discover what makes each kid tick. To get the most out of your staff or players, you have to motivate them. The only way to do that is to find out what they desire. In my kid's case, he wants to start, so use that goal to teach him and move him on.

Even the best pitchers have coaches working with them. If a college coach is going to ignore his players then how will they improve? Perhaps the coach does not like my son's attitude which has been sharpened over the years. He is now more of his own advocate than ever before and takes  what the coaches and trainers say into consideration then does what he thinks is best. He understands his body and is growing up, sniff sniff....Yeah, having the surgery last year and being misdiagnosed on a number of occasions has been a tremendous learning lesson for the guy. He now counsels the other injured players and shares with them his opinions. In the past, he would let it go. Now he tries to help when he is asked.

OK, the last topic that I will cover is the subject of when am I going undercover to spy on the party boys? Actually, I am not sure, but I will stop by some weekend, much to my chagrin. I don't feel right about it, but the porch is still broken and the walls are smashed in. I am liable as a parent and do not want to land up in court because some immature college students decided to go on a rampage destroying private property and getting hurt. it is a litigious society and I do not want to be on the receiving end of a law suit. And, most importantly, I do not want anyone injured because of the loose planks in the porch or breaking their hand because they want to match the holes in the house's dry wall. Someone has to fix the porch and spackle the walls.  Why oh why, do I have to worry about this from hundreds of miles away?

I will tell you....this morning I received a text from California's mom about the utilities bill. Now I have her phone number and I am not afraid to use it! I just need to get a hold of Gopher's and Dog's parent information and I am set. Ok, I know what you are thinking...she is going to "tell" the guys parents on them that they have been behaving badly. If this is your thought, you win 98 cents. Yes, I will use this information to take them all down including my own kid. They don't get it. They don't understand how badly their stupidity can end up as we try to bail them out of the pokey long distance. From what I know about Mama California, not only will she be in town if her boy breaks the law, she will let him have it, record it, and upload it on Youtube. She is not messing around. Therefore, I am keeping the information to myself for now. if they overstep their boundaries, I will be in touch with pictures and bills to pay for the damages. Then each parent can deal with their own wayward son. I can't worry about everyone, can I? Should I? Will I? Too many questions with not enough answers...

On to work....have a great day!

The Power of a Blue M & M

Good morning on this hot, sultry July day! I have to give the biggest BP mom shout out to the greatest neighbor ever....Einstein's mom who read the blog and has a television for Buddy's house. What a neighbor! Whatta friend! Whatta pal! Thanks Einstein's mom! You're the best-est! He'll be over to pick it up soon with some of the bakery's famous cupcakes.

On to the cupcakes....why is that a theme in most of my posts? Dunno....I guess that I like them like I like the monkeys especially the ones who ride on the back of sheep dogs. On Thursday night, there will be a big celebration at a local venue for charity. The best of the region's best businesses as voted upon by the readers of a magazine will be represented at a large gathering. The businesses such as bakeries, restaurants, and pubs will be there distributing their product to individuals who have paid for the privilege of attending the party. After paying for a ticket, the party goer can walk around and sample the cupcakes, cakes, pies, fish, special alcoholic beverages, entrees, pasta and so on. This is done until the attendee can no longer eat, drink, or walk. In my case, I had to be wheeled out. True, it was tough walking in my too tight jeans, but the memory lingers.

And so, Sparky, Big Sis, and I will join the Baker on Thursday night to work at the booth. We will be distributing samples of the best tasting cake in the region to whomever stops by the booth. Now that I will be manning the booth and distributing the product, I might find that I can leave on my own accord without a helping hand. I am thrilled to help out and join the fun of the celebration.

As regular readers know, the Baker creates the most amazing confections. She is also Buddy's boss who has accommodated his crazy rehab and work out schedule. He generally arrives at the bakery before 7 am and works until 2 pm, leaves, and works out until dinner. Day after day....Working at the bakery has taught the big kid a number of lessons such as the customer is always right, smile when you want to spit, and don't take what the customers say personally. The other day, a customer got angry because  he could not find his cake was in the back of the store. Of course, there is the famous blue M & M cookie story from the weekend where the customer had him look for a cookie with a blue M & M on top. A red, brown, or green M & M would not do because the blue ones have magical powers. As Sparky says: "we're not curing cancer here.....it's a cookie...." Yes, perhaps it is just a cookie, but maybe there is something that we do not know about the power of a blue M & M. Researchers are looking into its restorative powers now.

Yes, as the big kid comes home from the bakery, I noticed one odd phenomenon. Actually, it's not odd, it's weird..... It's not just weird, it's gross....yesterday as I was sweeping the garage, I noticed a trail of ants. Never wanting them in my home, I followed where they were headed. It seems that the trail of ants led to two dirty, stinky sneakers. The ants surrounded the shoes and were having a feast on the food that was crusted on them. What kind of food? How does flour, sugar, butter, carrots, apples, and coconut sound to you? To me, it is a ant-feast. It seems that the local ants invited their friends from surrounding neighborhoods and joined the festivities in my garage and in Buddy's size 13 shoes.

I am not sure what was going on, but there may have been a little ant band and little ant dance floor. There was definitely enough food to feed multiple colonies......

Which then made me regret (just a smidgeon) spraying the area with ant spray ruining their party. Not only did I spray the area but I sprayed the outside of the shoes and instructed the big guy never ever bring these confectionery ant party houses into my home. The sneakers actually have dual powers. They attract ants and they repel humans with the odor. Now that is magical.

And so, it is time for me to get some work done. I have to submit grades and finish some work for the fall. Dad has us thinking about a short vacation somewhere although we cannot agree on the location. He wants to go to Spain for a few days. Conversely, Tink and I want to go to Costa Rica and see the wild life and monkeys.  How cool would that be...sitting on a beach and having a monkey sans cowboy hat walk up to you without riding on a dog? Now, that would be a memorable vacation....BPM and her monkeys....maybe one of them will want to be my monkey friend. Perhaps I can pull out a note book and take notes on their habits. I could be a faux BPM Goodall....Come on dad.....please....pretty please! I promise I won't ask for anything ever again...never ever.....

Have a great day~