First Grade!

The hour was early...all was quiet in the neighborhood. No one should have been stirring yet, but today was the first day of first grade! I can't believe there's a first grader in our house (for those of you from different parts of the country, CT has a cut off date of 5 prior to the Jan 1 of the year they start kindergarten. So it made the decision a little difficult last year (in starting kindergarten - C's one of the youngest in her class!)

But in dropping off her supplies this morning (after getting her on the bus and waving goodbye - no following the bus this year; we almost couldn't get pictures because apparently first graders are too cool for that!) she was already at her desk busily coloring when we got there. There was only one little girl who was resisting going into the class, and everyone else was there.

It's a big first grade class this year - 28 kids. Everyone seems concerned when I mention the number of kids, and as I can only compare to my experience in grade school, am left wondering why. My teacher/pupil ratio was 1/30 for the majority of the 8 years I was in grade school - sure it fluctuated year to year, but was always around the 30 number. With only one nun to keep the order. Is that the difference? They don't make those sorts of nuns anymore? I guess we'll see. The first home school meeting is later this month, along with the meet the teacher night.

And so far, so good. No homework yet, but we did receive the first fundraising catalogue. (We decide to write a check for our obligation which makes life a lot easier). I hope everyone else has a great first day as well!

Penultimate Weekend of Summer (unofficially)

First grade starts Wednesday, so this is the unofficial second to last weekend of summer. It's dark now by 8 pm, and we're trying to get back into some sort of routine so 6:15 am for a 7:00 am bus isn't a horror show for some of us (who shall remain nameless but live in the same house as me and have been staying up late/getting up late). Ahem.

Saturday we went to the beach - in Rhode Island. The waves were big (no red flags this time, but an interesting assortment of people). We got "rocked" a few times (this summer's new slang term meaning the wave crashed into us and pushed us all the way down - "breadcrumbing" is the other new term, meaning when the child gets out of the ocean and promptly rolls around in the sand).

No pictures were taken on Saturday - I forgot the camera, and sometimes, it's nice to participate in the activities versus taking the pictures. We spent the better part of the afternoon there, until the waves reached our blanket (and one actually soaked everything!). We went to the little amusement area across the street from the Water Wizz where C enjoyed the carousel and another ride. We tried to play some games at the arcade but most were sadly not working.

Hopefully we'll get back to the beach at least once before it gets too cold (and weekend activities, birthday parties and friends from school start monopolizing our time). We'll have one more weekend for the pool at my dad's (because, in the great tradition started by my mom back in 80-whatever when they put the pool in, it gets closed right after Labor Day).

Today was some errands and the back to school haircut. Then home for some hanging around time and bike riding before bed. Our last two free days (since I have this week off) will be filled with another trip to the uniform store and the back to school picnic.

A dollar and a dream

So the Powerball lottery is up to $245 million for tonight. A co-worker and I have spent many minutes discussing the mechanics of what we'd do if we won...

I know my mom always used to say things like "you'd only have problems if you won that much money". I think it was her way to make herself feel better because the odds really aren't with you to win. However, she was also the first to call dibs whenever we said we'd bought a ticket.

And yes, I know that there's been some study saying most lottery winners end up bankrupt or near it, but I like to think I'd be smarter than that. Set up trusts, pay off bills, make some charitable contributions, live off the interest, that kind of thing.

Besides, having those discussions are a good way to pass 15 minutes on a slow August day in work!

PUI

I've been a neglectful blogger lately....something about the summer, and how warm and humid it's been, and really, no one wants to hear about the weather (again! Although I do like how the Weather Channel hypes "it could happen tomorrow" - of course it could. Anything could happen tomorrow. Doesn't mean it will!)

And I've have thoughts floating lazily around in my head (because August? In the insurance biz? S.L.O.W.) yet don't think to write them down and post a coherent post. In fact, you're getting this post courtesy of the 2006 Garnacha de Fuego (an "old vine" Spanish red). So I apologize in advance for any typos, etc.

The Godfather is on Bravo (again). I somehow always manage to only see the same parts over and over - it's either the wedding scene in Godfather 1 or the First Communion party in II. D gets mad at me because I can't get the quote right - supposedly it's "Leave the gun, take the cannoli"...but that makes absolutely no sense to me. Why would you leave the gun? It would have your fingerprints on it! Take the gun, leave the cannoli. Or, better yet, take the gun, eat the cannoli! Maybe because I'm not Italian, I can't understand that logic.

School starts in a few weeks, and somehow I'm now living with a first grader! How is that possible? I remember first grade - Sister Francine - a real live NICE nun. The first and only one of two nice nuns that taught (way back in the late 70's)...now there's only one nun at C's school and she's in the administration - doesn't even teach.

We have a few fun things left to do this summer - need to go to the beach at least once more, some more mini golf, definitely more time to be spent in granpa's pool... why does summer seem so much shorter than winter?

Questions

Why can I compose all these great (in my mind anyway) blog posts on my way home from work, and yet when I sit down to type them out, they vanish into the ether?

Is it me, or does John Travolta’s eyes in the Hairspray poster freak other people out too?

Why is 5 and a half kicking my butt? Everything is a drama (or at least a minimum of a half hour of crying huge tears while rolling around and throwing things – especially when overtired and/or hungry)…

Why is it already August 1 and we haven’t done half of the fun things on our to-do list for the summer?

Why is it already August 1 and school starts the 29th? When we haven’t yet gone to get measured for uniforms or tried on last year’s to see if any will still work? Or started shopping for school supplies?

Why do I read certain message boards and freak myself out about things like airfares, when I know perfectly well it will all work out because it’s vacation, for crying out tears?