A Random List of Thoughts

Can a list be random? Or does it have to contain related items in a certain order? I hope it can be random, I'm feeling rather random on this Saturday morning. My kids didn't wake me up but Fenway did - she decided she needed to go out at 4:30. Argh. I'm tired. I stayed up to watch the Red Sox win (finally!) a game against Tampa Bay. Jason Bay makes it all worth it. Here's a list of random thoughts in my head. Or a non-list. Whichever.

1. There are several things I have to do before I go shower. And I really should shower soon because I'm working this morning. I'm not so much in the mood to work, but I always like it when I'm there. Anyway - I have to clean the counters, and my bathroom. And it was on my list that I should write a blog post, but here I am doing that, yay!

2. Today is my friend Heather's birthday. I miss Heather, she moved away about 3 years ago. I still feel like we're close friends but communicating by email and phone calls definitely isn't the same. Last year we were able to get together in FL in March, and the year before that she visited MA in May and we all celebrated birthdays together because Heather, both her kids and both my kids have May/June birthdays. I'm not going to see her until August this year and I miss her and her family. I really want to go visit her in MI - maybe in the Fall I'll be able to fly out there with the kids. I hope so. Happy Birthday Heather!

3. I only have about 6 weeks of work left this year. The seniors are done in two weeks and then there are four weeks left for the rest of the kids. Sadly, because of one too many snowdays our last days of finals is on a Monday. We didn't think the administration would make us come back to end the year on a Monday, but they are. It's so annoying. I did find out that I officially got the summer job that I wanted, working in the special needs preschool. I did it last year and loved it. I'm really glad I'll do it again. It's 4 mornings a week, so I am able to both make some extra money and have a ton of time with my kids. Which would be perfect, except....

4. Summer camp. Specifically - Jewish Day Camps north of Boston. They are so expensive. I had planned on sending my kids to camp half days during the 5 weeks I'm working. But half days of camp for both kids is more than I am making working at the preschool. So, the logical thing to do would be to not work, except we already pulled a few thousand dollars out of Rich's salary to put in the dependent care flexible spending account. And that won't cover the cost of camp but if we don't use it we'll lose it. I think I came up with a good way to deal with the whole thing, because I really want my kids to have the experience of a Jewish day camp. I'm going to send them for three of the five weeks, and then use a babysitter for the other two weeks, during which my sister has agreed to watch them a few days. A babysitter is much less than even one of the kids' camp costs per week. The whole thing is so annoying.

5. There is, of course, an alternative to the camp situation and it's an alternative that could work, but I don't want to to send my kids there. But because it exists and I get emails about it, I can't not think about it. The ultra-observant Jewish organization runs a day campt that is so inexpensive it's ridiculous. They don't have an outdoor pool, but they have a campground area near the JCC and they use their pool. They don't have a bus, and they don't have a half-day option, so it would be difficult to send the kids there, but not impossible. A whole 4-week session is less than one week at the camp my kids want to go to. Argh.

6. Ok, I'm done thinking about summer. In November when we have to elect our flexible spending money I'll have to figure out what to do about next summer. But this summer I'm going to stick with my original plans, and the kids are excited to go to the camp I chose. They love the pool there. I'll have to send in the camp registration forms today. And I have to clean my counters, and scrub the bathrooms. I have to make sure I sign the Mother's Day Card I bought for Nana, because they kids are going to see her today and I want them to give her the card and gift we got her. I may make some soap as well, I bought really cute sheep molds to make the cutest soaps. But the kit didn't come with any instructions, and the one time I was going to attempt the sheep soaps I gave up. If I have some time today/tonight, I may investigate the whole idea again. We'll see.

7. I just finished Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. All my high school students (well, the girls) are so into these books. And the movies. And the actors in the movies. So, I decided to read it because Lissa had a copy of it. I wasn't really interested in it, but then again, that's what I thought about Harry Potter and I quickly became a huge Harry Potter who does things like wait in line to buy books or see movies at midnight. So even though the idea of a teen vampire book leaves me cold, I thought I'd try it. And all I can say is, what's the big fuss about? It's a 400-page book that doesn't become an iota interesting until page 388, and even I knew that what's his face, the bad guy, James, was pulling off a hoax. It was predictable, boring, and I just don't get it. At least now I know.

I am going to go scrub the bathroom before I shower. Really. I'm not going to check Facebook and play Bejeweled Blitz. Honest. Happy Mother's Day!