For everything there is a season - if you're not too busy to notice

Fall's here, and we've got a lot going on. I've had all sorts of blog ideas running through my head, but have been so incredibly busy that I haven't had time to write. So here's what's going on:

- I spent a week in training for a systems certification. The credential is worth something inside my company; not worth anything anywhere else unless that company uses the same system.
- Everything started this month: music, soccer, riding show season. We have activities going on 6 days a week with Sundays off (unless you count church).
- It is amazing how many checks I write now that school started. Lunches, pictures, field trips, class parties. I skipped the wrapping paper and magazine fundraisers. I would prefer the option of just doing a lump sum donation for the year.
- I've gotten really good at starting house projects, but not so much at finishing them. So far, I've decluttered my office but haven't finished sorting papers and filing, so those boxes are still in the living room. I've started decluttering Sweet Pea's room but haven't moved the boxes out or donated anything. Seasonal clothing changeover has begun, with clothes everywhere in the guest room. And we haven't finished painting the primed doors we had installed - in 2005.
- I love cleaning lady day. At least it forces us to pick up every two weeks. One might think I could keep the house up while working from home, but the point is I'm working - I can do a load or two of laundry, but it's hard to scrub a bathroom when you're on a conference call. And I hate doing bathrooms.
- The best part of fall? Fair season! We've been to two small local fairs, and last weekend went to our favorite fair of the year, The Big E. We've been to the Big E every year since 1993, through good and bad weather, pregnancies, babyhood, toddlers - nothing stops us from going. We graze our way through the states, look at the craft displays, watch the product demonstrations and go through the animal exhibits. The Big E is a huge regional state fair, and we love it.

No wonder I haven't been blogging lately!

Remembering ...

I wrote this post last year on the seventh anniversary of the horrible day we now refer to as 9/11:

Remembering

Ever since that day, when the anniversary would dawn crisp, sunny, with blue skies so deep and clear, the memories come rushing back, still raw as if the wounds have reopened and I'm living those moments all over again.

It's cloudy, cool and rainy today. For that, I'm grateful. Maybe the wounds will start to heal.

It's 1977 all over again

I just got back from Princess' middle school open house. Wow. This is not what I remembered about middle school, 30 some-odd years ago:

- Instead of "periods," classes are in "blocks." Blocks A through G, and then there's X block. Why it's not called H, I have no idea.
- Class schedules rotate on a 6-day schedule, not 5 days. So what you did on Monday this week is not the same as Monday next week. Considering these kids have to get up at the crack of dawn to catch buses before 7 am and then pay attention to what they have to do and where they need to be, that's just mean.
- What happened to blackboards? Everyone has a whiteboard. And something new called a "smartboard." The teacher taps the board, and poof! A new screen appears. I guess the saying "fingernails on a chalkboard" has officially gone the way of "repeating yourself like a broken record."
- Science is no longer text books and experiments, but has moved to "inquiry learning." Um, what?

But as much as things have changed, some things still stay the same:

- I could not get from one end of the building to another without getting lost. It didn't help when they handed me a map and said, "By the way, the map's not really drawn to scale, and there's stairs on the map that you can't use." Great. Not good news for the directionally challenged.
- I kept waving to my friends as we passed in the hallway: "Where are you headed?" "Art." "Math." "Ok, catch you in science!"
- Each class I entered, I looked for a friend or at least a vaguely familiar face. The same parents I knew from elementary school were either friendly, stand-offish, or hanging around in cliques like we were 11 and starting seventh grade for the first time.
- Just as the teacher would start getting interesting, the bell would ring.
- I talked way too much to my neighbor, who finally told me, "Shhh! Turn around before we get into trouble!"

I enjoyed getting a glimpse into my daughter's day. I felt the anxiety, the newness, the pressure. All of her teachers were friendly and welcoming (although I didn't exactly get the warm fuzzies from her math teacher). Princess is entering a wonderful and exciting time in her life, and I know she will thrive in this educational environment.

Want to know how I'm doing? I'll pass you a note in study hall.