Tattle Tale

Last week I pulled Jamon out of school a bit early so he could join his dad down at the BSU spring scrimmage game. This alone was enough to make it the best day ever. It only got better though, because after the game Justin had to run into his office to do a few things. When you are a kid there is NOTHING better than going to the place where dad works. Jamon was in heaven sitting at the desk, going through the drawers, pretending to be big.

However, something he saw in those draws caused great concern and finally, this morning, he got up the nerve to tell me about it.

"Mom there's something you need to know about what dad does at work." The tone was very much a "you'd better sit down for this" tone. I feigned shock.

"Oh no! What?"

"He has stuff in his drawers at work." I assume this means stuff I wouldn't approve of.

"Like what?"

"He has a toothbrush....(said with emphasis)...hot chocolate packets...AND... (growing louder with more concern) chocolate-covered raisins in there!"

"You're kidding??!!" I said so as to validate his obvious worry.

" I know" he said, "when I saw it I said 'does mom know about this?'

I was trying so hard not to laugh as I pictured Justin in my mind asking permission to keep hot chocolate in his desk at work. I understand where this is coming from, though, because if I saw chocolate anything in my kids' rooms or their toothbrushes anywhere but in the holder in the bathroom I would come unglued. Jamon knows this, so it stands to reason (in his mind) I would come unglued when I heard this disturbing piece of information about my own husband.

"I'll be sure and talk to him", I said.

Justin, if you're reading this.....put down the raisins and go back to work!

Application Denied

“Never awake me when you have good news to announce, because with good news nothing presses; but when you have bad news, arouse me immediately, for then there is not an instant to be lost.”

As most of you know, I applied to graduate school two months ago. I tried a year ago, but they said I was missing five 100 level classes. They obviously weren't required for the degree I earned but they are required to get into this Graduate Certificate program. So, I have spent the last year back at BSU taking these stupid classes to fulfill the requirement. Waste of time and money. Almost. My Eastern Civ professor and I became friends and he was the one who wrote me an incredible letter of recommendation into the program. With my two letters, my good grades, and my passing scores on the three Praxis Tests I took, I figured there was no way anything could go wrong. I fully expected to get into the program. I applied and then waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally a letter from Boise State came on Saturday. I wasn't home so Justin called my cell. "Did you open it? Open it!" My heart was racing. He read the letter out loud over the phone. My heart sunk. We cannot admit you to the program at this time because your application materials are incomplete. We have not received the following information:

*A passing score for the PRAXIS II examination for Social Studies.

What?! I passed all three. There must be a mistake. Unfortunately this was Saturday and I'd have to wait until Monday to get to the bottom of this. Yeah, I got to the bottom of it alright. I TOOK THE WRONG TEST! I took the Social Science one, not the Social Studies one. The State of Idaho doesn't recognize the one I took. If we ever move to Maine, I'll be covered, though.

I wanted to cry! How could this have happened? I remember writing down specifically what the guy at BSU said to take. Oh well. No matter now. Time was wasting. They said I had until April 16th to provide them with this information. UUGHH! The test isn't available until April 24th. More bad news.

However, this morning I got an email saying that if I take the right test (and pass it) they will consider allowing me to begin classes in May. The test results won't be available until after the graduate program starts, but without sounding too arrogant, I promised them a passing grade. If I can pass the wrong Social Science one, shouldn't I be able to pass the right Social Studies one? I hope and pray so! When I registered for the test, I included and on-line study guide. Best $14 I'll ever spend. I know what I'm going to be reading for the next three weeks! Wish me luck everyone!

Thanks to the merciful people down at BSU for not writing me off completely and thanks to my sweet family for not making me feel like an idiot over this.

Anyone else have a "stupid" story?

Baseball and frozen cats....

Carter found a frozen cat down in the little vent well of the backyard this weekend.

He was trying to retrieve a baseball that had rolled down in there. When he reached in he said, "There's something furry in there."

That's when Justin found this

He pulled it out and buried it in the back berm with the bunny.

It was really disgusting. Carter wanted to let it thaw out and and then keep it as a pet. Uuuhhh, not really how that works. Sorry kid.

I Wonder Why....

"It's difficult to decide whether growing pains are something teenagers have-or are."

It's here. I knew it would come eventually, but I thought there would be warning signs, giving me time to prepare.

I was wrong....

Puberty just came out of nowhere and now my 12 year old has a mustache. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's not like he's shaving or anything, but there's definitely hair on his lip. There's definitely attitude in his actions and definitely anger and frustration in his soul. In fact, when I asked if I could take a picture of it he said this:

"I'm always doing nice things for you. Now can't you do something nice for me and just leave me alone?"

Ouch!! Yes, it's here alright. He's never denied me a picture and a chance to blast his life over the Internet before. I guess his privacy is something I'm going to have to learn to respect. There's a lot of things I'm going to have to learn as these boys grow into men. I'm grateful to have Justin to help answer the tough questions. Like this one...

When Carter was potty training, I'd march him into the bathroom first thing so as to avoid an accident. And. Well. It was always morning. So things were always "stretching". One morning Carter asked: "Why is my ladder always up?"

I don't know Carter, go ask your dad.

When this is all over I'm writing a book. I already know what I'm calling it. You know the "I Wonder Why" series? Books like "I Wonder Why The Wind blows and other questions about our planet". Or "I wonder Why Castles Have Moats and other questions about long ago". We have some and they're great.

I'm calling mine: " I Wonder Why My Ladder's Always Up and other questions about Becoming a Man".