Last night was one more in the litany of evenings filled with screaming, rage, tears, imprisonment, and volcanic rumblings and eruptions. Yes, I'm talking about Micah and homework. It would help if his teachers could organize their way out of a paper bag. Consistency would help. And a little sanity. How about some well-written sentences and comprehensible instructions? Steve went ballistic and wrote Micah's English teacher a note about the assignment she gave- an unwieldy word definition matching exercise four pages long taken from "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry". At least one word, "undaunted", had no match. I told Micah to yes, mention the non-matching word. My feeling is the teacher has got the wrong definition for the word anyway. Well, I told Micah if he gave the teacher Steve's letter he'd probably just incur more wrath and, well, what good would it do? The assignment looks 25+ years old, typed on an ancient ribbon-eater. It's just one more in the shoddy-looking lineup of assignments I've seen over the years, some of which are replete with misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and even out-of-date or wrong facts altogether.
We are all prone to mistakes but I'm really getting tired of this so-called award-winning school district. It's really slipping and when I talked to Steve about changing schools for Micah in the past, it's all "we pay taxes, blah blah blah, for these schools, blah blah blah, I don't agree with the (pick your choice- Catholic, Baptist) dogma, blah blah blah". I think he's softening just a little now. The question is will we get any better quality education AND discipline in another school, public or private? Right now the quality of discipline in Finneytown is abysmal. I think I may be able to actually help Micah cope with anything if there is some kind of discipline that works in a school.

Micah did the pinewood derby on Sunday- very cute. Little boys with cars. Micah was in the older division- scouts, as opposed to the little bitty boys, Weebelos, I guess. They were cute. Now some of the parents just get plain weird. But hey, I snuck a peek every now and then in the next room of the Steelers/Broncos game.
So now it's the Seahawks and the Steelers. That will be fun to watch, indeed. What a tight game they each play. I just can't imagine Seattle fans in Detroit. Pittsburgh fans will go there and tear it up, but Seattle- I hope they get out of their Starbucks and go. At least so there are half and half fans. A Sea hawks fan in Detroit? Strolling the 8-mile strip, feeling the cold seep through his grunge boots. An Eminem wannabe leaps onto him. Response: "Hey, sorry to sound forward, but can you put that gun away, please? I'm sorry, but it DOES make me feel a little uncomfortable." It's beer, not latte. And that smell? It's called pollution.
Nathanael's grades were stellar this semester. All A's except one weighted B. Which somehow is closer to an A than a regular B. Don't ask me how it works.
Micah's fell short...though there was some improvement. New semester, new start. He seems motivated. Pray he stays that way.
Dave has an amazing new person in his life. Not a girlfriend but his kids' nanny. Maria lives at his house. She's such a wonderful person. For the first time in, OK, for the first time, period, I go there and there's no smell. No mess. Order. The chaos is gone. The kids are managed. They sleep on time. They're happy. Well-adjusted. She's definitely a gift from God and she has had a great influence on my brother and his kids. She's a single mom (her daughter lives there, too) who comes from yet another family who put the "fun" in dysfunctional and she has risen above it with God's help. She's fun, goes out and has a good time with friends, and has a beer or two. She is active in her church and helps run a prayer group. It is wonderful to have a sense of order. Heck I wish she lived HERE! She is so amazingly perfect. My brother is not attracted to her except as a friend, definitely not as a girlfriend, though everyone always makes that speculation. I think it's perfect that there is no attraction because that will not ruin this perfect arrangement.
Knock on wood!!! OK, I'm not superstitious. But I don't want anything to jinx or dissuade the whole thing.

Your chance to opine:

Tell me what you think.

Did the Bengals get suckerpunched?

You tell me!

I don't know. I'm asking for all your opinions.

Oh, the humanity!

Great weather (we opened our windows today). Beautiful skies and wind. No coats.

City exuberant.

Giants lose to Panthers.

Then....
First play. Carson Palmer- throws long pass to Chris Perry. Carson is tackled. Writhing in pain.

Torn knee ligament. OUT for the quarter.

Out for the game.

Out until July.

John Kitna prays and does well the first two quarters. Polamalu gets unsportsmanlike. Steelers keep making stupid penalties like that.

John Kitna loses it in third and fourth quarters. Throws two interceptions. Gets sacked. Wastes yardage wandering around in a daze a couple of plays.

Bengals

lose.

Pittsburgh

fans

tear

our

city

apart.

Throw your ugly yellow towels over your faces!!!!! You will NOT stand a chance against the Colts! You didn't 2 months ago and you won't now!

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!

I do like Ben and the Bus but the fans....ooooh ugly!

New Year's was quiet in Oxford accompanied by Boggle, Scrabble, Balderdash, and my dad's BBQ chicken. Micah and Nathanael have been playing Boggle about non-stop for the last few days. Today I was up at Vir and Doris' with a few other people. She made us all lasagna and 3-fudge cake. I gave her a purple pot full of chocolate kisses and she gave me more soap and some perfume of frankincense and myrrh. It is an anointing perfume with a lily-like, citrus aroma. Wonderful. If anyone wants some GOOD handmade soaps and perfumes, (no animal fats in any of them either, for all you vegans out there, etc.) let me know. Business name: Balm of Gilead. Under aromatherapy, soaps, scents, bath salts, hand creams, etc. Lavender and lemon hand creams. Some beautiful stained glass soap. Also some masculine scents that are more woodsy (like cedar, for example), and some sorta hippie scents too like patchouli (love it).

It's the best stuff ever.