Hello there.

We'll skip through the typical slog that everyone has experienced and say . . .

WE HAVE MADE IT TO SENIOR YEAR!

That is right!  K (who was 4 when this blog started) finished her high school requirements this summer.  

Why is she still there?!  

Baby kid is continuing with her culinary studies and is squeezing every last morsel out of any culinary related experience she can get at the high school.  

She volunteered for a brief stint this summer at a senior living facility that was closing and needed some spot help after their staff left.  That was right before school started back up and knowing K, she would still be there.  Doesn't every 17 year old drive 25 minutes away to show up at 6 AM to cook breakfast and lunch for 55 seniors?  

She is running the coffee bar at school starting tomorrow.  She and her friend baked some lovely things to accompany the coffee.  She needs to be there at 6:45 AM.  She also stops to pick up a friend on the way.  Hello responsibility and being on time.  It's a grand thing! 

During the heaping helping of study halls she has (more on that in a second) she has been helping in the school cafeteria with packaging meal portions.  Since she is certified by the state in food management, she can legally do this.  (The very reason she was recruited for the senior living facility.)  

She is studying for her Food Handler's certification.  The school will shoulder the cost of the test.  Her previous boss, Chef J, said to get as many certifications as the school will allow her.  Take it in and do it all as much as you can.  You know what?  She is.  

She is networking with some different chefs.  

Oh my heavens, we have college applications to do.  I say we, but it is really her with a mama to proofread.  She has her eye on a few culinary programs and a friend who is looking to attend one along with her.  The ladies have plans and I think that is a fabulous thing. 

Just the other day, K was texting back and forth about the potential of an internship the summer after graduation.  She is looking to see what she can get and opportunities she can have.  

Last year K had no study halls.  The year prior she did have 1, but then COVID ate that last week of grading period 3 and of course the entire 4th quarter.  She took all of the classes she needed then, 2 the summer of 2020 and 2 this past summer.  It left her with nothing else required.  Instead of padding her schedule with a bunch of useless classes that honestly could trash her GPA, we decided to go the easier schedule route which would allow her to explore her culinary studies a bit more. She has a capstone project to handle in culinary and we wanted to allow her as much time as she needed to devote to that end study.  

Y'all, her stress is down to a much, much more manageable level and for the very first time in high school, she is sleeping at night.  The light is actually off when I pop up in the middle of the night for a bathroom visit.  She sits and can actually breathe.  She has time to talk to us.  She has time to hang out with some friends.  Kiddo needed a break.  I'm glad we could encourage her to take one before college and internships kick in.  

Hoping the world finds you well.  We're just two parents, watching this amazing girl reach out and progress to things of knowledge and life.  The work in progress is moving forward more and more toward her goals.  Such a delight to watch.  

So she's now driving . . .

That's right.  That girl o' mine has . . . a driver's license.  It's real!  It didn't come out of a bubble gum machine or anything.  Since she is now a newly licensed driver of just one week, when people find out, they ask her about driving all over and her car and . . .

She does not have her own car.  You see even prior to the replacement of both adult vehicles in the house in all of 8 months, we discussed having her drive with us for a year before helping her to get her own car.  She understood and agreed.  We told her that we wanted to have her experience all of the seasons prior to setting her off all on her own in her own car.

It's not to say that she hasn't taken trips in my vehicle.  It's not to say that the reality and gravity of the responsibility freaked her out so badly that she decided that she did not like driving by herself.  Period.

The local library saw her three days in a row last week.  It was important to set her off on her own and not to let her continue to hang out and be stressed out.  I sent her a few miles away with Life360 powered up to monitor, she still checked in, took care of business and came back.  Our agreement (at her suggestion which seems completely reasonable) is to have Life360 running on trips out on her own, but to shut it down when she gets home because we know where she is and when she is at school, she is at school.  It's a freaky thing to run with a GPS continually monitoring your moves, so I get completely where she is at.

I phoned our lovely local insurance agency.  Goodbye good insurance rates.  Oh yes, they went up $1000 per year because my sweets is driving our fully insured vehicles rather than a mobile heap with liability only.  :insert stressed out mama face and budget crunching calculator:  As a good consumer (who hates to do it after how well they handled this past year) we will be just shopping around for some new insurance rates.

But . . . kiddo is driving.  She won't be driving friends around.  Before reality hit, she wanted to make a solo drive to Cleveland.  She's got it in her.  She could do it easily.  We did it with her several times.  Still . . . K needs to still hang a bit more local.  She's got it, but mama ain't good with letting go all the way just yet.

F2: SHE'S HOME!!!

Hooray!  She's home!  We've put stickers on her.  We have claimed her as our own.

Let the healing begin!

State Farm: After 3 1/2 weeks and waiting for factory parts, F2 is coming home!

Thus far, our red girl has been housed at the repair shop for longer than we actually had her here.  Her first payment was made without her sitting in the drive.  However, I phoned shop B today to find out an update and SHE'S COMING HOME TOMORROW!

Y'all, somehow State Farm approved FACTORY replacement parts and what ended up being the replacement of the ENTIRE exhaust system, meaning the pipe from all the way up under the motor there somewhere to the back along with the two mufflers.  The body work has been handled.  The final work was being completed today and tomorrow late afternoon, F2 is coming home to stay.

We have missed her so.

Somehow all the stress, all the yelling, the hanging up, the sleepless nights and all has amounted to everything finally being handled in the way it needed done.  I can give Hertz their Nissan Sentra back, and I can go from being a Minnesota adoptee for a bit to back to an Ohioan.

Am I proud of the way that I/we have handled the situation?  Nope.  Unfortunately we did crack under the pressure and we did not ooze God's love, grace and forgiveness as we should have.  We have asked for forgiveness.  We have re-tuned.  The dust has settled.  :deep breath:

She's coming home.  May the healing continue and the drivers behind us stop before they reach us.

State Farm: Light estimates and low quality replacement parts. Gee, thanks.

My love texts me that State Farm has sent him the estimate for F2, but he can't open it.  I can't either, but I call shop B to make certain that they had the estimate before I went on to call State Farm.  They do, if they find that they need more done, they will phone the estimator.

I phone State Farm.  I was able to speak with a lovely woman from Georgia.  She was able to resend the estimate and  . . . it is $1000 less than the first one which was already a bit light.  They want my market muffler replaced with the cheapest possible muffler around-- one from O'Reilly's Auto Parts, which is basically the equivalent to buying fine china at Big Lots.

I hate State Farm.

So now I have a call back.  We want the parts on the car we just purchased to be the parts that are supposed to be on there, not just whatever cheap crap they decide that they will pay for.  Will I get my way?  Probably not.

It was not our fault, yet we are the ones to suffer for people who don't freaking know how to yield.  UGH.
- - - - - - - - - -
Now that I have received my call back, pressing on with the saga that is State Farm  . . .

They finally passed me on to our "claim team."  The woman told me that she realizes that I haven't even made my first payment yet and that their insured hit me before we even owned the car for a week, but that State Farm was not going to approve use of parts any better than those that are presently on our vehicle. 

I asked for a manager. 

"He's busy.  He won't approve anything better anyhow." 

"What is his name?"

"I can't give you that."

"May I have his phone number or email?"

"I can't give you that."

"What is your name?"

"Cecelia."

"And what state are you in?"

"I'm not authorized to release that."

"Interesting because I spoke to two lovely ladies today.  The first woman was in Georgia and the second woman I just spoke to was in Arizona.  Why could they tell me where they were and you can't?"

"I can't release that information.  I can have him phone you back."  

I yelled at her and hung up.  I'm not expecting a return call from her manager.  

I phoned the shop where the Forester is being repaired.  Keith's lovely wife (I really need to find out her name) went over the estimate with me, explained the muffler part choice and the fact that they are both being replaced so that the back of the car looks right.  (State Farm initially only approved one.)  Keith gets dealer parts at auto parts store prices, so the car will be fixed right, will be in the shop for 2 weeks and all will be well.  

Keith and his wife will be getting a lovely box of homemade cookies.  

Thank you for allowing me to vent.  

State Farm: The continuation of twisting the knife slowly.

Today was the day that I drop F2 off for her $5000 beauty treatment.  Now, we knew that the estimate that M received from the State Farm authorized estimate shop was a lil light on comprehensiveness.  I take her this morning and the shop owner (we took her to a different shop than where the estimate was generated) asked which estimate we were using.

"Um, we only had one estimate."

In pure State Farm fashion, the left hand, right hand and the whole system of talking hands once again DIDN'T WRITE A FREAKING THING DOWN and somehow, they didn't realize that there was already an estimate done.  Yup.  You read that right.  The estimate was submitted by shop A, State Farm called us and said that shop A sent them confirmation that we had an appointment with them to drop F2 off and they were getting some more details.  We never made an appointment with shop A because, well, they sucked.  We told them that we were going with shop B because we had previous work done there and they are the shop of our choosing.  It took M quite some time to get the customer service agent to understand that we would not be going to shop A.  So, did she just delete the estimate?

Another estimate is being done-- I think.  I told Keith and his wife (the lovely shop B people) to do whatever they needed to do.  We appreciated their shop, their willingness to take State Farm (apparently many shops will not deal with them because of continued problems just like this) and for their kindness.

State Farm, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE A CONTINUAL PAIN IN MY - - - ?  The only thing you have been consistent on is your incredibly BAD service!  Neither my husband or I have ever seen such incredible incompetence in all our lives.

The rental car was fun.  It was scheduled.  Hertz was given the claim and they scheduled me to have a  full sized SUV.  I am 5' tall.  I told them children would go missing in the neighborhood.  They ordered up what they referred to as a "mid-sized" SUV.  It was a very large Ford Escape.  The guy, seeing the notation, decided to skip the SUV specification and put me in a Nissan Sentra instead.  The good thing is that it is smaller so I can see.  The pain with that is apparently State Farm automatically charges $30 gas responsibility off the top, so the very nice Hertz guy informed me to run it down to the very last drop because I already paid for the gas.  Will I use $30 in gas?  I have no idea.  However, if I only needed the car for 2 days, I can tell you that I wouldn't need that much and would be right irritated at the $30 charge State Farm applies without saying anything to you about it.  But, why would they?  Maybe the State Farm customer service reps aren't knowledgeable about that charge since THEY DON'T SEEM TO KNOW ANYTHING ANYWAY!

Rental car.  Check.
Flakes in the forecast for the first time this coming winter season?  Check.
Not an SUV.  Check.

So, we are hoping that State Farm pulls through and really does pay for the F2 repairs as they need to.   The back door WAS damaged and the muffler WAS damaged.  It's not light surface damage.  Since State Farm was nearly $600.00 light on the total loss amount, we decided to go through our insurance company and allow them to go back on State Farm for payment.

Gigantic. Pain. In. The. Behind.

State Farm: You suck and your claims process is wearing at the core of our souls.

This might be a long one.  No tl;dr.  Details are important, y'all.

Saturday, 10/12/19- K and I are two minutes from walking out the door for the funeral of a dear wonderful woman from our church.  Poised to put my eyeliner on, my cellphone rings.  It doesn't ring that often, so I look and notice it is my love.  I answer.

"I am okay.  I was just in an accident.  The car is totaled."

I found out where M was, took 3 seconds, threw the eyeliner on, threw out a few texts to the parishioners who were expecting us and off and away we went.

Sweet love, the drive to California would have been shorter.  I reach the hill where my love says he was hit and I don't see him.  K spotted the Yaris first.  She gasped.  He neglected to tell me that it was off the road and had gone into the woods.

I parked in a woman's front yard, threatened K not to get out because I didn't need her all up in whatever was going on and I didn't want her hit by a car.  I crossed the road, inspected my sweets for breakage and leakage.  Both were negative.  Once I found out I wouldn't injure him with a hug, I squeezed him tight for a long time.  Then he dropped the bomb-- the guy who hit him was on his phone.

There were no skid marks.  That is why initially I couldn't find the car.

It is now I will admit that I am not proud of the fact that indeed there were some hefty words that fell from my lips.  Not at the guy.  Not at Mark.  At the situation.  I was peeved.  Dude seriously had total disregard for my husband by cresting a hill and probably driving the equivalent of a football field down a hill and only knew my husband was there when he struck his car with his vehicle.  What was he doing?  He was changing a podcast.  He told M that as well as the troopers.

He launched M over the roadway.  The Yaris touched down on the passenger side (turfed the lawn) went through a split rail fence, through the woods, over some saplings and one of the larger ones stopped his continuation forward.

The man hit him so hard that his glasses flew off his face.

Insurance information is passed on.  Since his car is was an obvious total that had to be flat bedded out of the woods, I phoned our insurance -- Allstate -- to let them know of the situation.  They were all over it.  Phoning us daily to see if he was okay.  Do they need to handle the claim?  . . . Very attentive.

It gets to Tuesday, 10/15/19 and we have yet to hear from State Farm.  Again, we have heard from our insurance several times.  Since we purchased a new-to-him 2013 Subaru Forester (later referred to as F2 since I have one we purchased in February) I needed to formalize insurance for our new buy. I explained to our agent office that we have not heard from State Farm and the accident was several days prior.

"I don't think he phoned the claim in.  Certainly they would have called at this point."  She looked the claim phone number up for me, I passed it on to M so that he could phone.  I thanked her profusely.  We seriously love Allstate and our Allstate agency.

M phoned and they said they hadn't phoned us because they didn't have our contact information.  We had the information from the guy who hit my husband.  We had his name, insurance and policy number.  We could have very easily done an internet search and picked it up.  M ended up talking to 5 different people that day who all asked the VERY SAME QUESTIONS.  My husband's stock question to State Farm has become, "DO YOU PEOPLE EVEN WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?"  I ended up being involved in the last call.  When I noticed M's head starting to smoke and he was looking like he was about to have a Sheldon Cooper lunch table explosion, I stepped in.

"How is it that you didn't have his contact information?  Don't you have a crash report?"

The guy said no, but different people say something different every time we phone.

I explained that no one phoned to check to see how he was.  I explained that no one offered a rental.  I explained that there was no attempt to advance the claim on.  He kept insisting that the car be brought closer.  (It was 45 minutes away and in a tow yard.)  After the third time with M telling him he gave the tow yard permission for it to be released to State Farm and that he got all belongings out of it, the guy wanted it closer so that it could be fixed.  M blew a gasket.  "IT CAN'T BE FIXED!  IT IS TOTALED!  DO YOU PEOPLE NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?!"

I continued,  "It was your guy who was on the phone, hit my husband probably driving 60 MPH, launched him over a roadway, through a fence, into the woods where he finally was stopped by some small trees.  It's not okay.  The car is totaled.  It can't be fixed.  We need to get this claim handled."

He told us and I quote, "You guys need to calm down."

Oh. no. he. didn't.

He told us that they needed to get the car moved because they were having to pay storage on it.  Kind of not our fault because they never contacted us.  So glad he was more concerned about storage fees than my husband's welfare.  I believe that I told him that.

I told him that I was so very glad that I didn't have State Farm because the way this claim has been handled has been appalling.  If he needed the title, let us know, we will get everything signed and dropped off or mailed.

The personal injury guy has not contacted M back.  M's initial call was on 10/15.  He has another appointment for adjustment this week.  He has suffered from whiplash and it sure would be great to get payment to Cleveland Clinic rolling along.

We finally got a total loss amount back.  M was so mad that he told the guy we were going through our insurance and hung up on them.  Then I asked my sweets what Allstate said because they could offer us $2000 and not the $4400 State Farm did and then we would be royally screwed.

Silence.

He phoned back, apologized profusely and they are keeping the claim open.  We are now waiting to speak to the Allstate rep so that we can have them review it for a total loss claim amount.

We received a copy of the crash report.  The distraction coding seems to have been changed to "distraction outside of the vehicle" rather than the admitted "phone use."  Yes, well, either he paid the OSHPatrol off or they ended up giving him a break for insurance purposes.  We have phoned them to have that amended and, as with everything else, we have heard nothing.

Sunday, 10/20/19- After an enjoyable day to Cleveland where K drove up and around, she handed driving back over to her dad.  I had forgotten my purse at home, didn't have either my license or my Epi Pen (yellow jacket allergy and they have been bad) so M drove.  We got off the expressway and were waiting to yield just like the two giant yield signs asked us to and WHAM!  Oh yes, F2 got rear ended.  No, I am not kidding.  The replacement car we just financed less than a week before was now damaged.

(She hit us at probably 10 MPH, so it is here that I tell you that we are all okay.)

Once again, I was not at the height of humor or love for humanity.  I jumped out of the car and started knocking on the woman's window with my pointer finger screaming at her about now this is twice in one week, a car we haven't owned for a week and what does she say?  "You weren't supposed to stop. I looked back, you stopped and you shouldn't have stopped."  At this point, my love was at my side.  "There was traffic coming.  I had to stop."  She went on, "This is your fault."

Step back for two seconds.  She rear ended us on an exit ramp as we were yielding to oncoming traffic at a yield.  It was not continuous turn with caution.  It said yield!

I phoned the police.  They were all concerned about which direction I was pointed.  Y'all, I don't know what direction I am pointed on any given day much less a day where my husband has encountered being hit twice in 8 days.  After asking me for the 4th time, I believe she gave up.  The police came.  We were on a ramp.  That was highway patrol territory.  Highway Patrol came out.  We explained to the trooper what went on.  We explained that the woman insisted we were at fault.

He laughed.

He spoke with her.  She insisted it was our fault.  He explained that we could stop anywhere we wanted on the roadway and it didn't give her the right to hit us.  He confirmed his decision by giving her a ticket.  He gave us her insurance information.  Who is it?  You guessed it!  State FREAKING Farm.

I tell my love that I can phone this one in since I was in the car with him.  I do, I get Kevin from Washington State (he is an ex-cop, super guy and you need to give him a serious raise) who I explain the situation of now a second claim.  He finds that the State Farm driver hadn't called the claim in yet, so he processes it with me as far as he can.  He will phone her and if successful, they will back to me in about a half hour or so.  In 45 minutes, Pam from Dallas TX (who is delightful and also deserves a big fat raise) gave me the claim number, rental car information and was a delight to speak with.

The State Farm delightfulness stopped there.

F2 went to the State Farm approved estimate shop that appears to be run by some nasticious troll who has an attitude worse than anything my husband has seen.  (It is here that I remind the gentle readers that my husband is a very kind soul.)  He phoned me during the estimate.  "I don't feel good about this shop.  I don't get a good feeling.  This guy isn't nice.  This is a production shop.  He has no attention to detail and this is terrible."

"You don't have to go there.  They told us that we can go to the shop of our choice.  The shop that repaired for us before is wonderful and you spoke of going there."

M talked with the awful shop guy who was trying to hard sell to him and in the end, contacted State Farm with an appointment to get the car repaired that M never scheduled.  Can I tell you how much fun that has been because State Farm was so insistent that we were going to Backyard Bully Bob's Collision Center that my husband just started chanting on repeat the name and address of the shop we will be having repair F2.  He said that the woman lost her patience with him.

Oh, and fun to add that this State Farm representative is confusing the two claims and thinks she is fixing the Yaris.  "IT IS TOTALED.  DO YOU PEOPLE NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?" was M's response.

BBBCCenter guy never sent the estimate as he said he would.  M said he phoned the shop to tell him had never scheduled an appointment and has chosen to go to a different place.  We believe the guy is withholding the estimate out of spite because, well, that is how this fine trip with State Farm has been.

So, State Farm-- you are the worst insurance company we have ever encountered.  Never have we ever had to phone any insurance company to give our contact information.  Just February, my vehicle was totaled at the shop by our mechanic and their insurance was on with me within hours.  Everything was sorted within a week.  Hooray for Erie Insurance!

Ohio State Waterproofing hit me and K, spun us through an intersection and totaled our vehicle about 12 years ago.  Their insurance was all over it.  Thank you, Cincinnati Insurance!  

My vehicle was damaged at a friend's house by a husband, a strong weed eater and over zealous trimming before a party.  Hooray for Westfield Insurance as they had it handled and easily taken care of!

We have already said, but just to confirm, thank you Allstate for your kindness and caring in regard to questions we have had and advice you have been able to give.

State Farm, Step up and redeem yourself!  Get these two unfortunate claims sorted in a swift manner, please!  You have been absolutely terrible to deal with!

I just dropped my kiddo off for driver's ed.

Shy of 15 1/2 by a few days.  Temps coming up soon.  Just sayin'.

New folks in training: Spreading some love.

Our neighbors took down 5 arborvitae that divided our property from theirs, the street, the view of the cross street, the snow block and . . . we don't want to see what goes on at their house.  We aren't those people.  Though hotly irritated at how everything was handled, M and I came to the conclusion that we needed to put up four fence sections to provide sanctuary once again.  That sanctuary comes with about 40-45' of space ripe for a new garden.  While I am planning on planting a mural on the fence, I have been acquiring plants to place once the mural is done.

Perennials aren't cheap, y'all.

In years past, I have been able to score many clearance delights at Lowe's.  Such was the case yesterday.  Another customer and I circled the newly stocked clearance delights, checking for height, color, perennial vs. annual, price . . . Once I sorted through, I took my selections to one of the nursery registers.

"Oh, I am new.  I don't know if you want me."

"We'll train you.  It's all good.  We can work on this together."

We worked through, made mistakes (one at my suggestion ringing up a $10,000 error) but I encouraged her to press on.  No one was behind me and she needed some gentle love.

A gentleman (I will use that term loosely) and his wife were at the opposite register.  After hearing my tell the cashier that every single thing on my cart was clearance priced, the man blows his top.  "You mean to tell me that I have the EXACT SAME THING THAT I AM PAYING $14.98 FOR AND SHE IS GETTING IT ON CLEARANCE?"

His cashier was shocked.  He was so very rude.

"Sir, there are several racks of clearance plants," I said, "If you go down that way, I believe one of these planters might still be left."

He continued on with his fit throwing.  He wanted his purchase to be clearanced, too.  For whatever it is worth, his planter was a different color than mine and mine needed a lil wilty parts trimmed away.  Mine was not a pristine planter, but it'll fill out and be fine.  I couldn't take his fit throwing any longer.  His wife was standing by just silent.

"Sir, the fact here is that you have shopped poorly.  You could have chosen off of the clearance racks, but you didn't.  That is the difference in price."

He was already yelling that he wasn't buying anything from them, he was going to Ace Hardware and giving them his money.  His wife trailed on behind him.

"Have a wonderful day," I added.  "I hope that you find happiness today!"

The cashiers laughed.  I said what they couldn't.  Apparently, people yell at them and throw things at them all day long.

Unacceptable.

The woman who was in training thanked me again and again for being kind.

"Ma'am, I work retail.  I get it."

Be kind to the people behind the counters.  Consider them for just a minute.  Would you want to be treated in the same way that you are treating them?

Showing grace: When the mechanic accidentally totals your car.

This story starts well before the mechanic involvement.

I was asked if I would be willing to drop a meal off for one of our parishioners who is in-home hospice care.  Now we love Dottie and Dave.  For those people I love, I make a chicken pot pie nearly from scratch.  (I cheat on the crust.)

I made the pot pie.  K and I went to deliver it.  It was during the polar vortex.

Their driveway is a typical driveway for around here-- with a few twists.  It is narrow (that is the typical part) with a telephone pole at the corner and on the devil strip, and landscape block on the other corner plus a driveway with a hill.  Out of habit of driving stick, I pulled the emergency brake on the hill.

Something let go.

Despite my small heart attack, we went, visited, delivered said pie and went on.  I phoned the mechanic, brought it in the next day and replacement parts were ordered.  It took about a week for the parts to arrive and between that and my schedule, I was able to make an appointment on Valentine's Day morning for the fix.  It would be three hours, but no problem.  I'll just hang out.

It's a two man shop.  Nothing fancy.  I was sitting in their lil waiting room, shop cat begging for affection and the shop owner even turned Golden Girls on for me.  (I have no idea why that show, but it was thoughtful for him to do it.)

Then I heard what sounded like a sheet of plywood hitting a concrete floor.  There was no yelling.  There was no running.  I ignored it and went on with reading my phone.

Then the shop owner came in and mentioned something about an airbag.  I went.  I looked.  It looked like the airbag at my drivers side window went off and hey, that sucks but it's fixable.

The mechanic came out.  R asked how he was and he mentioned something about his back.  I had him pull up his shirt and he had an enormous welt that spanned the width of his back from where he got hit by the airbag.  And then . . .

. . . I found out that the side curtain airbags went off, both sides, all the way down.

:deep breath:

In the going back and forth with their insurance company, we were given a choice-- fix it or total it out.  We opted to total it.

Our totaled vehicle was a much beloved (by me) 2008 Toyota RAV4.  Now, she was a replacement to a previous RAV total.  I loved her, but she kicked and screamed nearly the entire time we owned her.  Almost a secret abusive relationship in regard to a vehicle and owner.  Sometimes damage would whisper.  Sometimes damage would thunk and scream.  Either way, as much as I loved her we knew that if we kept it, we would have continued problems, it would be tagged as airbags deployed, no one would buy it and frankly, we were offered a total out price that we could not get in a standard sale situation.

Rather than scream and yell, sue the shop and smear their name all over the internet, we opted to show grace.

Rather than berate the mechanic who, in a fine detail that should be said is also my cousin, we showed grace.

Hugs instead of giving the silent treatment. We opted to show grace.

My husband and I talked about this as a God intervention.  No one was seriously injured.  A welt was it.  We all screw up with our jobs.  I'm not perfect.  My husband isn't perfect.  This was an imperfect day for the mechanic.  He, in working on my parking brake, accidentally bumped the side curtain airbag sensor and that (I believe) my vehicle read as a rollover.

He is a certified mechanic.

He works at a certified shop.

It is a Christian shop.

They had insurance.

We were able to find (thanks to the internet) a 2013 Subaru Forester at a dealership up around Cleveland.  In what turned out to be a whirlwind car buying experience, we were loaned the vehicle to have our mechanic (yes, the same shop who brought us to the need for replacement) inspect it, we stopped by a local Subaru dealership and went on to purchase it.  She reminds us of our old RAV, but with some thoughtful upgrade features that Subaru has added.  (Hello, heated seats!)  We will now have a small car payment, but I plan on paying it off in three years still making it a payment that we can absorb.

We wouldn't have been able to replace our ailing RAV without this mishap.  Instead of being mad, we look at it as a way God helped us to be able to upgrade a vehicle that otherwise was going to swallow us.

We look at it with thanks and grace.

Rag Wreath: Winter and Summer Edition

I realized that I didn't have the specific instructions I needed in my other posts.  Here are the two wreaths that I made this week.  My husband told me that he figured that they were de-stress projects.  Kind of.  :)

To start:
4 different types of fabric.  1/2 yard each of three.  Maybe 2/3 yard of a filler color.

How do I choose a fabric?
I generally have an anchor fabric or some type of color theme to go with.  In the case of my winter wreath, I knew that I wanted to go with grays and gray/blue.

I pull patterns that I find interesting.  Sure, the patterns below look whackadoodle together, but when you look at the wreath, it makes sense.  I try to have a dark, two middle tone and one light.

What size is the wreath?
I found a 12" "box wreath frame" at Joann Fabrics.  Works well for our size of door.

Cutting fabric:
Trim off the labeled end. Then fold your fabric so that you can cut the strips in one run instead of three.  Just remember to cut the ends so that you have 7" strips and not 14" strips.
7" strips
1 1/2" wide (in my case, the width of the ruler)

How many strips per ring?
There are 4 rings per wreath with 6 sections per ring.  I always start from the inside and work out.  There was one wreath that I did not have enough fabric (I've since figured that out) and I cut off the outer ring.  It's best to fix the goof like that from the outside than the inside.

Inside: 
8 strips per section
First interior ring:
9 strips per section
Second interior ring:
12 strips per section
Outer ring:
14-15 strips per section

Important to note:
Make certain to count the strips you have left before doing your final ring.  No matter how uniform we would love things to be, sometimes we are down a few strips.  This way you can take the number you have and divide them out by the remaining sections you have.  On the winter wreath, I ended up taking the darker fabric and using it as a double strip filler on the last ring.  You can't tell.  It was a lighter fabric and I had a lot of strips left.  Also, I needed to fill in a lil heavier than I had originally planned.

How to attach:
Well now, just go here and that'll tell you what you need to know.  Rachael did a nice demo on her link found in my fall wreath post.  My 4th of July wreath (the one I had to remove a ring from because a shortage of fabric) can be found here.

How to store:
Hang them on a hanger in the coat closet.

The Winter Wreath: 

Presently hanging on our door. 

The Beachy Colored Summer Wreath: 

Now go forth, check out your fabric scraps, orphaned bits and pieces, the Joann's remnants bins and sale fabric.  No need to pay an arm and a leg for the fabric.

I will caution that after 2 years of a harsh summer sun shining on my 4th of July wreath (I leave it up all summer,) the fabrics have faded some.  I'll give you a hint.  Just turn your wreath upside down and display it bottom side up!  That way, the faded sections hang down, the brighter sections are up and you can pull a bit more mileage out of your wreath.

Making it work and confirming that chivalry is dead.

When we went to leave work the other day, I had a coworker who's car would not start.  She looked, decided that it was because her kids had left her with a gas gauge on E and was officially out of fuel.

Our handyman was working on something and I asked if there was a gas can anywhere on the compound.  He mumbled something and went on to his thing.

With me, he is normally very helpful, but the one experiencing the fuel shortage has been in a bit of a tiff with him.  He was not at all eager to help.

With no gas can, no offer for help, K initially declined help . . . I decided to help anyhow.  I used what I had-- a windshield washer fluid container.  Handy guy says, "They won't let you pump gas into an unapproved container."  Now, I know this.  Here is the thing, the gas station is 3 blocks up.  This is our only option, so we opted to take it.

I filled my WW fluid reservoir to the top, dumped the lil bit left and went to buy a gallon of gas.  My other coworker was with me (I was going to drive her home that night) so she held the container for the 3 block drive back.

We decided that we needed a funnel.  A water bottle was used.  K had a knife that she used to trim off the bottom.

The next problem?  There is a flappy thing that closes off the gas tank.  We needed to push it open.  K suggested a stick, but we needed to make sure that it was thick enough to push and not break into the tank, but not too large to block the funnel hole for the gas.

I held the stick and the funnel, K poured the gas and all was well.  We got the car started and her on her way-- all the while the handy dude and the guy locking up stood and watched.  No, they didn't offer to help.  Chivalry.  It's dead.  Confirming that now.

In 15 minutes, we got everything handled.  We did not pause.  We worked together.  We made it happen.

Today, I get a text from K with a video.  She found out that it was not her kids being irresponsible, but a rather steady drip coming from her gas tank.  The vehicle is now in for repair.

No man, woman, child or empty gas tank left behind-- even if kindness wasn't given to us.  We would never leave them behind.  Hopefully we demonstrated kindness and working together in a way that will inspire them to pass it on.

Feeding the needy: When you have to say no.

On the 4th Saturday of every month, K and I help to serve breakfast to those in need at our church.  Our church program is one adopted from the church blend that we experienced with a closed church in our area almost 2 years ago.

The program is fairly simple.  If you feel you are in need, come.  We will provide you with toiletries, laundry detergent, dish soap and toilet paper.  We will serve you a hot breakfast on real plates with real silverware.

You do not have to qualify with some particular monetary proof.  You come.  We serve.

We have a lot of the same monthly visitors.  We've been able to develop a lovely relationship with many of them.

We have appreciative visitors.

We have entitled visitors.

We have people who complain no matter what.

Today, we had a record crowd.  We served 71 families and have basically averaged that out at probably 150 people served.  (Since we have many double/triple trippers, my guess is at least 180 meals were served.)

We started serving a half hour early today since we are also hosting homeless families for the week.  Another program our church is involved in helps to keep homeless family members together as a unit.  They travel on to the center each day, so we needed to feed them to get them on their way early.  The church member in charge of transport had no idea of serving time and was rather upset that we weren't serving breakfast at 8 AM.  She could see that we were not ready.  "The bulk of our donations come in during the 8 o'clock hour."  She was irritated, but I told her friend, "As you stand here, you can see that we cannot make it go any faster."  She agreed.

Anticipating a larger crowd, I decided to make two egg casseroles this morning.  (I usually only make one.)  M came trucking in with two bags of produce from a farmer co-worker, so I made some veggie cups to give out.  I put everything in the oven this morning at 5:30 AM so that we could be there an hour early for our crowd.

Crowded it was.

There is one woman who we haven't seen for a few months.  K and I call her The Sausage Lady.  Others call her The Container Lady. She will come in and have us pile and I mean PILE food on her plate.  She yells at us if we give her subpar pieces.  (She doesn't like browned sausage.)  She yells at us if we give her small pieces.  She yells at us if we don't give her the piece she asked for.  She yells at me if I cannot see (I'm short) that there are some extra bits left behind.

We have the Pancake Kids.  There is a family of two adults and 8 rag tag lil kids.  They are very polite.  They have been taught to take only what you can eat.  They have been taught that after you eat what is on your plate, you may have more.  They do one pancake at a time.  Each kid.  Over and over.

We started running out of food at 9:15 AM.  The two ovens and warmer were empty of their contents at 9:30 AM.  We had to send someone out to buy more food.  We went through 6 dozen eggs in less than a half hour.  Usually, eggs are our fall back.  At 9:55 AM, they called last pancakes.

"You can't!  The pancake kids haven't been here yet!  Last time they came at the last minute and we can't go without pancakes for them!"

In the meantime, The Sausage/Container lady was rounding on her third trip.  She sits at a far back table, thinking that we cannot see that she brought a Market District freezer bag full of containers to place all of her food in.  She comes back for more.  She eats some, and containers more.  Rinse and repeat.  She wanted two pieces of a casserole.  My serving mate told her that she'd have to come back around.

At 10:15 AM, the pancake kids arrived.  One small scoop of eggs, one pancake, two sausages.  Repeat x 8.  They laughed.  "You knew that they were coming.  You wouldn't stop the pancakes."  No I wouldn't.

You see, the last time we served, they were here when we broke everything down into take home containers and people could take food.  They had no idea what was going on, but when I explained it, it was as if we handed their family a brand new car.  They were so excited to have the extra food.

It comes time to break down what lil bit we had left.  I start containering leftovers and low and behold, The Sausage/Container Lady rushes up.  She grabs two containers, an empty and is standing waiting to have it filled.  There are others standing behind her.  I couldn't hold it in any longer.  All morning, she saw our struggle to make sure we had enough to feed the masses.  I paused with the counter ladies and said, "We must pray."  I prayed that we would have enough food and patience.

"I know that you have other containers back at the table, too."

She looked at me and went on to get another container filled.

I went to bag up the remaining pancakes for the kids.  5 of them were standing in front of me.  An older woman walked up behind them.  She was holding two filled containers of food.  She wanted the pancakes.

"Ma'am, I'm going to give these pancakes to the kids."

"BUT I WAS LATE TODAY AND I HAVEN'T HAD ANYTHING."

"Ma'am, you have two containers in your hands and these children have nothing."

She yelled at me again.  I put two pancakes in a bag for her and told her, "I will be giving the rest of the pancakes to the children."

She mumbled something else crappy to me and went off.

Um, how low can you go?  Container lady bugs me, but she has never stepped in to take food from a child.

I almost cried right there.  I seriously could not get those pancakes packed up fast enough.  I passed them on and they were eating them as they walked like they were a bag of chips.  Those kiddos were so happy.  All they wanted were some pancakes.

Several of us talked about it later.  I don't regret anything I said.  But, a point someone brought up-- How hungry do you have to be to take food from children?

M has referred to it as an "eat or be eaten" mentality.  If you don't jump up and fight, you are going to starve.

Food insecurity.  It is real.  When do you say no?  I guess that I hit that point today.  I always said that if I had food in front of me, I would never say no.  Now I have.

At 10:35 AM and after the dust had briefly settled after the great pancake denial, we had a woman at the counter asking for food for three women.  "We just gave away the last of what we had."  "But I am so hungry.  We need food for three women.  We are late, but you have to give us something.  I'm just so hungry."

I got two of our men to bust out some pancakes and eggs.  The woman was mad.  She wanted the full spread at the end of the day.

"Ma'am, we ran short of some things today.  We had a record crowd.  The amount that we did have at the end, I was surprised that we did."

We served them, took care in making sure that they received their bags of goods and on the way out, I made sure to check the date for them for next month.  I told them when and what times.  "We do this on the 4th Saturday of the month."

Another volunteer chimed in, "Except for November and December when we shift it for the holidays."

"Well you DO something for the children at the holidays, DON'T YOU?"

"We actually do the same each day we serve."

"But I have three grandchildren who live with me."  (None were with her at this time though.)

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we do the same we do every month."

Her friend piped in, "And we THANK YOU for everything that you do!"

Appreciation, not expecting more.

These ladies would have been back up for more, but I think that they got the hint that we served each of them a beautiful hot plate of food, despite having most everything broken down and cleaned.  There will be next month.  There will be expectations.  There will be demands.  Sometimes you just have to say no.

Breakfast Casserole: Veggie Egg Tater Tot Bake

Once a month, K and I go to the church to serve breakfast to those in need in our area.  It's important to say that these folks don't have to qualify.  If they show up, we provide them with toiletry items/cleaning items (toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, soap, shampoo . . . ) that they might not be able to get otherwise.  We love this ministry.  For the first few times we came, we helped without bringing anything.  We really didn't know what to do.  After a few cracks at seeing what works, I have come up with a recipe that volunteers and visitors alike love.

Veggie Tater Tot Bake
Serves 12 or more (depending upon how you cut it)
NEEDS TO SIT OVERNIGHT.  (Don't say that I didn't warn you. ;) )
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Cooking time:  1 hour and a half

I have always made this in a standard sterno warmed foil pan.  (The kind that go into disposable catering trays.)  You could also put it together in a cake pan.

1 bag of frozen tater tots*
1 dozen eggs
A cup or so of milk
1 package of pepper jack cheese slices
Probably 1 cup of shredded cheese (I've used cheddar or colby jack)
2 1/2 - 3 cups diced veggies  (I use broccoli, carrots and sweet peppers)
Salt and pepper to taste.

I started creating this recipe by seeing what vegetables needed used in my crisper drawer.  Probably horrible to admit, but it is true.  Whatever you choose, chop up those veggies! 

Throw them into a bowl with the FROZEN tater tots.  My salt and pepper measurements are by pepper grinder and salt mill.  For me, it is 12 cranks of each one.  Toss in your shredded cheese.  Stir all of this together and place in a pan sprayed well with Pam.  

Into a 4 cup measuring cup, I crack 1 dozen eggs, top off to the 4 cup mark with milk then add 5 more cranks each of pepper and salt.  Scramble all this up in the measuring cup then pour evenly over the tater tot/veggie mixture.  

If I was thinking, I would have taken a picture but I didn't.  Here is where you place the slices of pepper jack cheese on top. 

If using a foil pan, place your pan on a cookie sheet, cover with foil SPRAYED WITH PAM on the side of foil closest to the food, fold the foil edges down over the sides and leave in the refrigerator overnight.  

Place your oven rack one step down from the middle.  (Meaning not the bottom rack.)  Bake at 375 F for an hour and a half.  You may want to double check baking times and adjust for your own oven.  

This is done when you can cut into the middle and see no liquid sloshing around. 

Enjoy!  

*Don't use hash brown potatoes.  You'll be tempted to.  They were bland and watery.  I've already made the mistake for you.  Trust me.  Avoid them, please.  

My child chose a project beyond her reach and we didn't stop her.

My 14 year old daughter had STEM this quarter.  STEM was a rough road last year, so I knew that it would wobble a bit this year, too.  At the beginning of the quarter, K told me that she chose to tackle the VR project.  It was a tough assignment, warned to be so and no one else chose it because of that.  Encouraged by the teacher that she would help her along, K went for the challenge.

I knew that it was beyond her reach, but I said nothing.

It turns out that the same encouraging teacher who stated that she would be there to help my child was always out.  Meetings, off for the day . . . The supplementary help K had bargained for didn't quite work out as she thought.

It is here that I pause and say that K is certainly not the teacher's only student and I didn't expect her to hold her hand.

Time went on, K worked and worked.  She did what she knew, checked in with the teacher as she could and the end of the quarter came.

She bombed the project.  It dropped her grade from a low B to a middle D.  K cried and cried.  "Mom, I really tried."  M and I didn't question that she did try.  She wasn't in trouble.

It was more important for us to have K challenge herself and falter than to choose an easy project and learn little to nothing.

K's previous advocating for herself had kicked in and at the last hour, a project that K wasn't terribly successful in, but had permission to do again gained enough points to tick her up to a C.  The teacher had the re-grade in her possession for over a month and I am thankful that she allowed a redo and that she remembered that grade before grades closed.  But . . . if K walked away with a D, the world wasn't going to give way.  She chose to challenge herself and while the end result on paper didn't look to be a success, it didn't kill her and she learned.  She did her best.  Her projects were turned in on time.  She learned.

Will she dodge a challenge for a safe grade next time?  Nope.  She'll make the same choice and we will encourage her.

For the love that is all good and right, please stop all of this testing.

For those wondering how all of this standardized testing affects our kids, my child is in therapy for test taking anxiety and the anxiety from all of this testing has caused the kids to fall apart, causing one class to be so very disruptive that my child cannot even concentrate anymore.  She has grades suffering because of worry, lack of sleep, general ill feeling . . . Just when she thought that the AIR testing was all done, now MAP testing is coming down the pike.  Fabulous!  :scowling mama face:

Her therapist talked with her yesterday about the illing class that she has.  All year she has gotten A's and B's.  This seems to be the class that the wheels fell off the bus.  The train is no longer on the track, but she is turning everything in on time and the in class work is just sinking her.  She is trying but she cannot concentrate in this one particular class-- the class she has generally done the best in all year long.  We are dragging her through these last few weeks, hoping that this class can pull around and give her a good feeling before the end of the year.  We want to end the year on a positive note.

If the administrators who put these tests in place could just experience what the kids are feeling.  Teachers stressed to the max because their performance evaluations are riding on these test results, telling the students that they could fail the grade if they do not perform well.  (Incidentally, this is untrue.  These tests are placement tests for next years coursework.)  These are statements that further damage those amongst us with test taking anxiety.  Kids are falling apart.  Teachers are falling apart.  The educational system is teaching to test.

Please stop the madness.

Please don't stop writing thank you notes.

This was a photo that we used on some handcrafted thank you notes that K sent at the age of 4. 

I know that there are people celebrating the recent story about the "gift of no thank you cards."  How very little time it takes to write a thank you.  I have to say that it is probably far less effort for you to write a thank you than for what the person went through to choose your gift, wrap and present it to you.

Most people put a lot of thought and caring into the gifts that they give.  I know that in my house, we do.  Granted we miss the mark every now and then, but we look at the person and really try to choose something for them.

Our society has turned into quick, easy, dash in and dash out, e-mails, texts, Facebook and Twitter and how thoughtful it is to receive a handwritten note of thanks.  Not that much effort involved, but certainly very appreciated.

Please don't stop writing thank you notes.  I know that we won't.

The one with the wardrobe malfunction.

My dear sweets had the annual Solo & Ensemble event just yesterday.  She had prepared a violin solo and was doing a string duet with a friend.  The girls go, play their string duet and do a fairly decent job.  It was a lot of shifting and frankly, other than saying that apparently that is very challenging in violin playing, I have no idea what I am talking about.  However!  The girls did a great job, particularly since they hadn't a lot of time to prepare for it.

K had worked on her solo for months.  My friend, Heather, is her violin instructor.  Bless her soul, she sees K and does not charge us for it.  She has prepared K.  She has tweaked.  The other day, she sent me a text stating, "Perfection and I don't say that to my students."

K finished playing her duet with C, then she was the very next time slot.  She had to wait for the judge to finish writing her comments about their duet before she started playing.  She patiently waited for a few minutes.  While she did that, she had the bottom of her violin resting on the top of her thigh.  When it was announced that she could begin, she raised her violin and  . . .  her dress.  The shoulder rest grabbed hold of her dress and pulled it up!  I gasped, but we all laughed.  Most importantly, K laughed.  Thankfully, she had some legging capris on under the dress, so all we saw were pants, but . . . At 14, I would have rather ended up sinking into the surface of the floor than to continue on, but she did.  She continued on beautifully.

K earned a I on her solo.  (1 out of 5, with 1 being the best.)  She and C earned a II, and both girls were elated.

It was a great lift for her, not only to her esteem, but also to her dress hem.

Advocating for our kids: Let's allow them to use their own voice.

All too often, I've run into parents too concerned about speaking on behalf of their children.  Just today, we had a woman in with her daughter and she was speaking for her.

The daughter had the ability to speak.
The daughter used that ability to speak.
The mother continued to speak for her, but when the daughter was speaking she did pause her interruption.

I believe that the daughter was mildly learning disabled.  She spoke on her own behalf.  She made her needs known in appropriate ways.  She responded appropriately.

So why was mama speaking for her?  I believe that she has probably protected and advocated for her all of her life but since this young lady is probably ball parking 16, she is going to have to have mama loosen those communicative apron strings a bit.

As parents, letting those strings out can feel uncomfortable.  As parents, letting those strings out could also cause us more work.  As parents, we need our children to learn to live outside of our protective or hovering presence.

There was another young woman who came into work to inquire about a job.  As you can guess, mom was with her.  Mom ran her over, ran to the counter, interrupted her and was completely overbearing.  The child could not speak up for herself and she was 18 and going into college.

Parents, we can't do this to our kids.

We need to teach our children how to advocate for themselves.  We need them to learn to speak their needs, themselves, and to learn to be (as my kiddo would call) problem solvers.

I was just talking with M this evening and said that it was a blessing for K to move to a school system that I have not been all involved in.  At her elementary, every teacher knew me.  I was the PTA president, was there all of the time and wrote the monthly newsletter.  K was there with me all of the time schlepping tables for book fairs, decorating things, setting up different events and I think that in some small way, this earned her a bit of a communicative pass from some of her teachers.  Now this isn't to say that K didn't communicate at all, but she was far more shy about making her needs known.

Fast forward to 6th grade.

M and I dropped K off to a strange school with a building full of kids she did not know, no one knew her mama and she had to make it on her own.

Honestly, at the end of her 6th grade year, she fell flat on her face.  It was ugly.  We knew that it was happening because of a series of poor choices, but she needed to learn.  She was in big trouble.  (Lying and not turning work in.)  Her teacher allowed her to turn her work in late, but at a maximum of 50% score.  It sucked, but we had to let it happen.

She pulled through and in the end, open enrollment continued for her 7th grade year.  (We have to re-apply every year, making this mama quite nervous.)  K dusted herself off in middle school, found the book club, volunteered at the library, helped her Language Arts teacher during lunch (we didn't even know this until the end of the year) and was chosen to be Student of the Month for October.

She did this all on her own.

It's not to say that there weren't gaffs in 7th grade, but she really pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made her needs known.  She discussed some inappropriate speak that was going on with one of the young men, asked me my opinion and I gave her both sides.  The next morning she told me, "I've decided to go speak with Mr. L about it.  I know what can happen, but what is going on isn't right and I need someone to know."  Though retaliation was a definite possibility, she spoke with the Vice Principal about her concerns and throughout the remaining part of the year, he would check in on her and make sure that all was okay.

She did this all on her own.

Children's choices may not be our choices, but we need to allow them to make decisions.  We need to allow them to learn to effectively speak for themselves, make appropriate choices and speak out when wrongs need righted.  They need to know ramifications of poor decision making. (Clearly we need to make certain that they are safe and keeping others safe.)

We need to help them to model good behavior and good citizenship.

We need to be an example to them of:

  . . . love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.  Galations 5:22-23

We need to allow them to use their voice.  We needn't speak for them.  We need to guide them.  We need to be there to listen.  We need to allow them to do it . . . on their own.

Goodbye, 7th grade.

K's last day of school was yesterday.  If you don't think that we're having what my friend refers to as a "Super Nothing Day," you have another thing coming.  M has been downstairs playing guitar.  K has been binging on TV.  I have watched TV, read more about our loss of Chris Cornell, sent a few e-mails and watched The Village.

We needed a SND.  7th grade took everything we had.

K had projects and papers, tests and exams.  This is all pretty typical.  This year was her first year for exams.  Prior to exams, she had two A's, three B's and one C.  After exams, she had two A's, one B and three C's.  You know what?  That is fabulous.  Exams for a kiddo who has severe test taking anxiety are pretty rough.  I will give credit to her social studies teacher though.  Not only did he tell the kids and parents from day one that there would be a final exam, but he had them save every paper from the entire year and helped to prepare them for their first exam.

I would love to say that the math teacher did the same, but not so much.

Mr. Math Teacher decided to tell them of the exam on 5/15.  He told them that this exam would cover the entire year and it would begin on 5/17.  It started on 5/16.  It was a group exam and despite her being grouped with some super smart kids, their grade was a 48%, which dropped her 85.5% down to a 71.4%.  Gee, Mr. Math Teacher, thanks for that kick in the gut.

She had an A or a B in math all quarter long.  If she would have ended up with a D or an F for the final quarter, she wouldn't have been in trouble.  Why?  Because she tried her best and she could only study for what she could.  You can't cram studying over an entire year just overnight.

Her social studies grade was a B, dropped less than a percentage point, but that kicked her .22% into a C.  Some teachers have kicked the teetering grades up.  If he doesn't, I certainly won't ague.  The final report card isn't posted yet.  That will be this afternoon.  Still, she rocked it out.  The 7th grade social studies curriculum that they used he referred to as "the equivalent of the pass/fail course of Ancient Civilizations that all of you parents may have taken in college."  Sweet love, he didn't lie.  I never studied the Peloponnesian War, The Roman Crusades . . . in school or in college.  It was some rough stuff to wade through.  Yet, as the teacher guaranteed, they would make it through.

There were nights I was up studying for tests with K until 12:30 AM.  There were times I had her back up at 5:45 AM studying for the same test.  John Calvin, Sir Francis Drake and others, you arrived to me in my nightmares.

Flash cards.

Chapter reviews and the 30 question kid written quiz.

Last year was rough.  Super rough.  Transition to a different school where the kids didn't really accept her all that well didn't go over particularly well.  She found a place for herself this year.  Middle school rocked for her.  She participated in Solo & Ensemble, Music in the Parks and other orchestra performances this year.  She participated in book club, she was a library helper, a class lunch time assistant, and though orthodontia made perfect attendance impossible-- the child never missed one single day of school this year.  There were a handful of days where K was late because of bracket appointments . . . nothing we could do.  (The orthodontist isn't very accommodating in regard to certain appointments.  Otherwise, they are spectacular.)

K rocked it out.  The year wasn't without a catch or a hitch.  There were certainly times I would have loved to sling her over my shoulder and haul her to the car.  (She's over 5'8" and there will be none of me doing that.)  Some mornings, girlie fell a bit behind.  Last week, I asked her if she thought that my car had wings because it certainly does not.

But . . . summer.  :sigh:  We have arrived.  😀