The orchid lives! 

Most of the buds fell off over a recent weekend, and the leaves are starting to look a little funky, but it's still alive. 

Not sure if I'm giving it too much/not enough water/sunlight/warmth.  Any orchid experts out there willing to share some advice? 

 Just a few photos from our visit with the J-Boy...

The Husband and the J-Boy make a home repair: 

You can see what a big help the J-Boy is being! 

A coffee place in the little town where we had dinner: 

The candy store, where I bought some old fashioned hard candy and the Little Missy got a caramel apple: 

Where we had dinner: 

The menu and the Husband's beer: 

All the kids: 

...it started with a kiss -- this past Monday was our 24th wedding anniversary! 

Beyond, that, the title refers to the fact that this entry is just random thoughts and playing a bit of catchup. 

Here's one photo for you: 

Two of the three plants (center and right) in the terra cotta planters were eaten down to nubs by the deer when the Husband put them out in the new landscaping in the front of the house to see how he liked them.  They were out for one night, still in their nursery pots, and the deer chowed down.  Since we can't afford to feed the deer in addition to all of us plus the dog and cats, he bought the planters and relocated them to the back yard, where they sprang back to life and even bloomed.  The plant on the left seemed to have died wherever he had it in the backyard, but once he potted it it began to thrive and it has since bloomed, too.  That is why the Husband handles all of the landscaping care and maintenance. 

Next topic:  I just spent a frustrating hour running through the ticketing service we use for the school with the parent who is supposed to work with the instrumental programs on the site.  OK, I get it, you are a programmer/applications guy and if you designed this it would be SO MUCH better.  Get over it, and get over yourself (can I get you a really tall ladder to help with that?).  There are shortcomings I see, too, but you have to remember that this service is designed for the average person to use.  Since the service focuses on schools, you might say it's designed for the average not-too-computer-savvy parent volunteer to be able to use.  So deal, ok?  Or start your own business and write your own program. 

Then:  It was a hellacious time the week before this one.  I didn't feel well Sunday and spent the whole day in bed and on the couch.  I was supposed to go to a volunteer thing Monday morning, but just couldn't do it.  Of course, Monday morning it was discovered that the primary server for one of our major systems had died.  And of course, this particular system is not redundant because the powers-that-be decided not to spend the $$$ when we purchased it five or six years ago.  It took the entire week, till Sunday, to get it back fully functional.  In the interim, part of the system continued to function so we didn't lose all of the data for the week.  And we do backups every Friday and every month, so the data that was wiped out when the primary server crashed is being restored.  But in the meantime, I have been abused way too much by way too many people about this.  'Nuff said. 

This past Monday I had lunch with an "old friend."  I put that in quotes because his older sister was one of my best buddies for the first couple of years of high school and he was her geeky little brother (who now says he had a huge crush on me then, but I don't remember being aware of that), so I can't honestly say he and I were friends back then.  Well, geek no more.  He's grown into an amazing man, very secure in and aware of himself, very easy to talk to, very intelligent.  He's well-educated, well-traveled and well-spoken.  I am thoroughly impressed with him and look forward to actually being friends with him now.  He lives in the northwest, as does his father whom I've kept in contact with over the years.  He and his dad are trying to get his sister come visit for a few weeks or so and if they do, I'll be finding my way up there, too! 

The Husband is on one of his guy trips this weekend.  I believe there are five of them out in the boonies with two Jeeps and an ATV.  This is the same weekend they got "mudded in" last year and ended up spending an extra day because they couldn't get the truck out of camp.  Keeping my fingers crossed for decent weather and no rain. 

We are in the process of refinancing our house (again).  However, this time we will knock over three years off the loan, reduce the interest rate by over a point and realize substantial interest savings.  Yay! 

The fall "benefit" concert performances for the school choirs were last Thursday and Friday; the ticket sales from this series helps to pay for the choirs' spring tour.  In the past, these have been formal affairs, with the guys in tuxes and the girls in formal, floor length gowns.  This year the choir director decided to do something different, and it was rock & roll with the kids in jeans, t-shirts and temporary tattoos.  The Little Missy had a little solo part in the final piece -- which, of course, was the "theme" song from the show Glee, Journey's Don't Stop Believin'.  All of the choir nerds are Glee fans, as is the choir director. 

Oh, and speaking of the Little Missy, she made it into the regional honors choir again!  And she's doing very well with her vocal coach, too.  And...she even has an "A" in Algebra II; I'm not sure how that happened, as she has always been the child whose brain freezes when she opens a math book! 

Don't remember if I mentioned in my last entry that we went to see the J-Boy three weeks ago for his birthday (he's 20!  I only have one teenager now!).  We got there Saturday afternoon and spent some time at this year's house.  He and the Husband made a couple of minor home repairs, which was very cute to see.  Then we took him, the Girlfriend, her sister who came down with us and one of his roommates to dinner at a cute little restaurant in one of the small beach towns.  Sunday we all went to a late breakfast, then back to his house for a while before we headed home.  A quick trip, but a good one.  This past week we've been talking about replacing his laptop, as it is now four years old and the battery no longer holds a decent charge.  I was supposed to be next in line to get a new computer (I have the oldest one in the family), but it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer.  Sigh. 

And although I'm sure there's more to write about, I have to go pick-up the Little Missy from the Boyfriend's house now. 

I'm outta here.