Family Update

Here is what Genius Golfer has been up to lately. He is (finally) building an entertainment center/bookshelves fro me in our family room. The first phase is done and we moved in the video library today. Eventually the book shelves will surround the (too big for my liking) TV and the little video cabinets will have doors. Baby steps are great in the mean time. Thanks GG! You're the best.

Here is what The Girl is up to today. She is blowing green gunk out her nose and hacking green gunk up from her throat. She is drinking lots of liquids and taking medicines. She will be staying home for the Young Women Broadcast in Salt Lake tonight. We are going to watch it on TV after the fact. Better that, than be sick and miss school, I always say.

Here is what The Boy has been up to lately. This is an older picture--he has outgrown the gear and the bike, frankly, but he loves to spent 20-30 minutes in the afternoon before dinner time turning donuts in the mud in the back yard. He knows how to play safe on the bike and in the mud, and he is happy to entertain himself this way. With all the time he is putting into play practice lately and the homework and scouts stuff, he probably likes letting off a little steam in the backyard, my himself, with his bike.

My update this week, I am happy to say, involved no more allegations of harassment of any kind. My first day back at the Sucker Table went off without a hitch, and I didn't leave wanting to kill anyone. Sometimes progress must be measured incrementally.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?!

Today is another day at the junior high PTA Sucker Table. Generally this is an enjoyable way to spend an hour or so. This week I am dreading it.

You see, last week I was a bit on edge and I let that affect my behavior there.

We were just a pair working last week, and when you have 20 kids surrounding the table with only two of you working and the money box is directly behind you up against the wall and everyone is yelling or talking loudly and there is lots of commotion, it is a little unnerving.

One child (I keep reminding myself they ARE children still) interrupted, quite rudely, while I was helping another kid with their purchase, and demanded the money from the till. Now, in actuality, he demanded the nickels, but it is the same idea. I told him no and that I can't give him the money.

Now, normally when a kid does that, it is meant jokingly and they get a reaction and they are done and they give it up.

This kid never backed off and instead, ratcheted up the belligerence. After a couple of intensified exchanges I told him to "Back off" in no uncertain terms. Now my job here was being completely derailed and my mind was racing about how much I would really like to throw this kid over my knee and give him a good beating. He obviously needed that! Still he would not leave it alone.

Luckily, Dear Friend Sandy was working with me and she calmly helped all the crazy kids at the table while I poked my finger into this kid's chest, stepping him back three or four strides and gave him that icy look I have nearly perfected with my own kids. Still, he did not back off. Plus, he threw in that now I was sexually harassing him and he could get me arrested.

That was it. I began to march myself down the hallway to find Mr. Principal who usually comes by to see how things are going for us. Today of all days, I couldn't find him.

In the moment that I walked away from this weenie kid, Sandy told him to get away from the table and go around the corner. He argued that his friends were here by the table so he wasn't going anywhere. She told him again to go around the corner and his friends would follow.

They eased away from the table but still near enough that I could hear their comments about me and about the situation and his grand plans to have me arrested on his delusional charges. I could feel my blood pressure rising. I'd have loved to smack this kid.

Finally an assistant principal came by and Sandy told him what was going on and then SHE identified this kid and then the AP gave him a talking too. Apparently he is no longer allowed to be at our end of the hallway--like a Sucker Table Restraining Order.

We'll see how it goes today. I feel like I am living the lyrics of the Clash: "Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble....if I stay there will be double." Great! My junior high volunteerism is now a song by the Clash. It figures though. Junior High is like adolescent Outer Darkness. I should be surprised that this is the first Sucker Table Restraining Order I have had to ask for.

A World of Friends

I took a moment yesterday and thought about the variety of friends I have. I am blessed with friends all over.

I got a call earlier this week from a childhood friend who is coming to SLC for just a day or two and asked if I had time, would I like to get together? I am meeting her for dinner this evening.

I have some friends with whom I have reconnected thanks to that crazy Facebook. It is fun to catch up and find out they are well and happy, or just know struggling everyday and just getting by, like everyone else.

I have former neighbors with whom I find ways to communicate now that they have moved and left the Circle.

I see PTA friends, YW friends, or classroom helper friends almost everyday. They are still busy doing good wherever they go.

Yesterday I had two occasions to sit and visit with local friends. There is something about the way women talk to one another that is just different than talking to Genius Golfer. Not to say GG isn't a good one to talk with for me, but he listens differently than my girlfriends do. It isn't a bad or good way--just different.

I recognize the blessings the Lord has given me in the forms of my friends. And today I give thanks for that, For you. Thank you.

Its About Time...

Have you seen this little video? Remember when the Homefront ads were on TV regularly? Here is a new generation Homefront ad that I just loved. When I first saw it I thought it was an ad for a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It is darling. Enjoy!

PBS Triggered the Pervert Alert?

Did you catch David Copperfield on Sunday night's PBS Masterpiece Classic? I finally got to see it yesterday while doing laundry. This was a encore presentation from the original broadcast almost a decade ago. I prefer Jane Austen, but Charles Dickens is no literary slouch.

My question in light of this show is this: How warped am I, that as I watched this version (and Oliver Twist a few weeks ago as well) I get creeped out when seemingly nefarious adults take these abandoned children in? I feel the hairs on the top of my head stand up--like a pervert alert.

Maybe it is Dickens, who wrote it that way--just too vague in specifics to pose damage the innocent reader's tender sensibilities--or, I am overly sensitive to the disintegrating world we live in now to believe that things are all that different than in Victorian times. Why would scary looking grown men (Fagin for Oliver and McOmber or Heap for David) want to help these kids otherwise? I'll give McOmber a break--he was a little slippery but in the end, his heart is good and does a lot of beneficial work. That said, I still get the Pervert Alert feeling when I see characters like that.

I don't get that feeling very often in real life--though I have in the past, especially when little kids are around or when my kids were smaller.

Is this naturally occurring distrust of scary looking people normal? Am I being overly judgemental? Or just prejudiced? I don't usually think of myself as a social snob, but in this case, I guess you could say I have proven myself as such already.

Do any of you ever get that Pervert Alert feeling? Or am I being irrational? Now, I am just worried. Great. Paranoia is settling in for the day too.

Nearly Interplanetary

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was having a terrible time getting my Internet connection to hang on long enough to use it. It is fixed now. Genius Golfer assures me that it is just the sort of thing only I have to deal with around here.

I'd like to tell you about a short journey I took to another world. This was Planet Pageant. And Saturday night I was asked to photograph candid, back stage moments.

Actually, I have been asked to be the official Strawberry Days informal photographer. The committee would like to have photos from every Strawberry Days event this year that they may or may not use on the soon to be installed LED marquee on State Street as well as on the Strawberry Days website. All that has still to be seen, but the offer was nicely made and it is a good way to get myself "out there".

That said, on Saturday night, The Girl and I headed to the auditorium at the high school to see the main event.

Now, I have never been closer to a pageant than brushing past a friend or neighbor months after they were crowned Garlic Queen. So, there you have my pageant experience in total.

Our town has the longest running city festival in the state and 87 years worth have included a Strawberry Days Queen. This pageant is Miss Pleasant Grove. Fifteen young women, all seniors or graduated last year, vied for the crown.

There was hairspray, sunless tanner, glitter, sequins, mascara, rhinestones, high heels, and entourages up the wazoo. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen.

Not to say, the girls were not sincere. They were most definitely sincere. But they were also not nasty to each other. There is a lot of just off-stage waiting time together. It they wanted to, they could make it miserable for each other. These girls did NOT do that.

For all my experience and previous interest in this sort of thing, I felt transported to another planet. Nowhere in my real life does that sort of thing happen--big hair, taped swimsuit to bum, fake eyelashes, spray tan, silicone "enhancers" (chicken cutlets of sorts), and gowns. Wow. Gowns.

My visit to this outer station of reality was actually a pretty fun evening. I felt I was doing some good for my community and having a good dose of "Aren't you glad you live the way you do?".

My only worry was that The Girl didn't find herself too enamored with all the bling and big hair that she might be sucked into the vortex that is pageant planet. I am happy to report we returned home unscathed and still disinterested.