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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Good Morning Again

The two pictures of Elcie below are an experiment. They took the girls' fall pics at school two days before payday and want the money up front (sight unseen of course). This time I just couldn't do it. I took a couple of pictures of her student i.d. just to see how it would work. Not very well so I'll try it with the scanner next. Rebecca has her's too - Rochelle's is missing (after less than one day?) The extra pic of Max was on the camera and it's more trouble to take it off the post than it's worth. He's eating tuna out of Elcie's hand.

Incidentally, I think Max went back home. We let three cats out at night - only two came back. He's probably one of these "visiting" cats and no doubt he'll turn up again when he gets bored. At least I hope that's what happened.

I forgot to tell the missing cell phone story. First of many I suspect. Long story short - I suspended service. Rochelle's teacher called me on Friday (I think) to tell me another girl in the class had confessed to stealing it, a school worker was picking it up, and "action" would be taken.

The minutes are fine - I checked. The little girl (Rochelle's best friend at school) wrote her a note yesterday saying she was sorry. She wanted the phone and she took it because "I'd eaten too many candy" that day. "Will you be my friend again?" Does anyone but me remember Supervisor Dan White in San Francisco and the "Twinkie" defense? His lawyers used his poor nutrition habits as part of the reason he murdered our Mayor (George Moscone) and another Supervisor (Harvey Milk). It worked, sort of. He was sentenced for manslaughter instead of murder, came out after five years, and killed himself inside a year. Meantime the President of the Board of Supervisors took over as Mayor (Diane Feinstein) and is now our Senior Senator.

Much more to that story of course but, if you're interested, it's quite famous and on line someplace. Google Dan White or "Twinkie defense".

Pause.

Okay, just came back from taking R & R to the bus stop and Elcie is waiting for her bus. No writing class again today; Ray has a doctor appointment this morning.

Yesterday was a reprise of last Tuesday - driving much of the day. And then Blogger was down for maintenance in the late afternoon. Two of my favorite t.v. shows had their season premieres at 9 and 10 last night. I barely stayed awake for both of them.

Long pause.

I've been doing laundry, a few dishes, and put a couple of turkey legs on for dinner tonight. Haven't quite decided what to do with them. Maybe turkey and dressing with some veggies. Or maybe curry? I'll decide later.

A Merced blogger has found me. Quite a pleasant surprise. He's 82, a retired teacher, and still gets around town fairly well. We're trying to coordinate a coffee meeting at the Starbuck's closest to him. I should do a Blogger search and see if I can turn up any others. We can't be the only two.

Perhaps one of you can identify the vine that has overgrown his wall. We've eliminated kudzu (we don't have it here thank heavens) and probably grape (although it resembles a grape leaf). It's been cut down but I bet it will be back. Vines do that. Our main horticultural plague here is mistletoe overwhelming our tall trees and killing them off. It grows faster than the city can get rid of it.

Elcie did not miss her lunch hour due to incompleted make-up work. Probably the note I wrote to her teacher "we spent two hours before she collapsed into her math book" helped. We finished it last night (all working with fractions - I had to relearn dividing them, it's been a while). I tried to explain a "reciprocal", finally gave up and said "just remember to turn the second fraction upside down and multiply". Three easy pages of capitalizing and punctuation and then memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution. She had it down cold this morning except for mixing up insure and secure. She said there is pizza involved if she gets it right.

Rebecca, who was promoted to 6th by the skin of her teeth, brought home her progress report. All the Language related classes were straight A, math was a very high C, almost a B-minus. I knew she was doing much better and I'm proudest of that C. My son Tim and I had both noticed how much she seemed to have matured over the summer. Rochelle is having some problems but I know her teacher well. I'll call her and find out what's going on and where Rochelle may need a little help. She's always been the independent self starter and still is but I hadn't really checked her homework line by line. Told her next time ask for help; meantime, I'll start looking at it more closely.

It's a little after ten a.m. here. Perhaps I should go do something useful like make sure the turkey hasn't boiled dry and take the clothes out of the dryer. Or catch up on a few of my blogging buddies. Choices, choices.

Take care everyone.

20 comments:

Susie said...

Lots going on here! Of course I remember the Twinkie defense! I even remember where I was when we heard the news about Moscone's murder.
Too bad about the cell phone. Do they still sell sweets at the middle school?
They've been banned at many of the schools here and campuses are closed We also have full time police on the campuses at all times..

Anonymous said...

The girls sound like they're really motivated to do well in school this year. Way to go!

I'm glad the phone has been returned--hopefully the little girl that took it was scared enough that she learned her lesson.

I wish you lived closer--I'd do the girls pics for you. I'm dying for new models... :-)

Gail said...

I lost my cell phone once when I was working and went out to pick up lunches. I went to 2 places to pick-up take-out. I forgot about the first place I went to. I called the second place, they said it wasn't there. I asked if they could look outside because I thought I left it on the hood of the car. To make a long story short, I finally called my cell phone. And when someone answered it, boy was I mad. I said,"Who's this? The girl said "Taco Johns" I said, "So, that's where I left it." What a panic attack I had.
I read in your profile your a liberal in a conservative town. I'm a democrat in a republican town and state. Montana, sure isn't like NY.

*Tanyetta* said...

I've never heard of the twinkie defense. Sounds interesting.

So glad the phone was returned. Danyelle's cellphone was lost on the school grounds and a kid found it used it to call HOME.

Needless to say the phone was returned but, not after the kid told me I should be glad he's going to return it.

Really? Ok, I'll be sure to thank you when I see you--THIEFT! He said, "i'm not a thief" I said, when you find something and keep it for yours, that's stealing. You were supposed to turn it in to the office. He said I deserve a reward. I told him he would get one in heaven. Talk about giving him a guilt trip!

I said, LOOK!!! Whatever! that phone better be in the main office in the morning or else!

It was actually hilarious! The kid used it only to call home and a few friends.
Dumb criminal~ LOL

Gina said...

Sometimes those C's are hader to get than A's, depending on the subject. I was happy if I got a C in Math.

I hate when you have to pre-pay for pictures when you don't even know how they are going to turn out. We took some at Mr. P's preschool, only because they had a satisfaction gaurantee.

TJ said...

hi Miz Granny...I love turkey and dressing...Diane has a wonderful recipe for crockpot chicken and dressing...I made it and it turned out very good!
:-D

Rowan Dawn said...

the kids here are studying the constitution too. we did pics today- they take checks. i showed up 5 min before tessas picks with a new outfit for her- all she has are uniforms!

walmart has cheap professional photos. they try to get u to buy the big package, but you are not obligated. less than 10 will get you a bunch of pics!

Val said...

I was thinking about that incident just recently, although I could only remember Harvey Milk's name. Didn't hear that Dan White had commit suicide. It was such a shocking thing to happen.

Am I missing something? I didn't see any photos...

oshee said...

I hate the money up front with school pictures too! You sound busy. Super Granny!

Peter said...

Hi Ann, I feel a bit foolish in asking, but can you give me a few pointers on Bloglines as Margaret is visiting this weekend and I thought I might be able to show her how to use it....
some joke that!!
If I'm right in assuming you can list your blog roll and only need to visit the ones that show up as new it would be handy, I can't figure how to get names up there in the first place though??
If again I'm right, do the "new" signs go away after you visit?
Sorry to be a pest but I hate to let things beat me and time will as far as Margaret is concerned if I just keep puddling around.

Merle said...

Hello Ann ~~ Busy times as usual. Glad you got the phone back. I am sure your turkey was delicious. Glad the girls are doing well at school. Thanks for yur comment. Like you, I don't know why we call things by different names. When I typed silverside, I thought to put in
corned beef and lucky I did. Take care,
my friend, Love, Merle.

PS Peter used to be a school photographer years ago.

The Cluck Wagon said...

Our school pics are like that too - you have to pay up front and have no idea what the pictures will even look like. And last year my daughter smiled like a goof. :p
Sounds like you are busy as usual and the girls are settling into school well.
Hugs!

Carole Burant said...

Ann, it's no wonder you are so exhausted by night time, you don't stop!! Those girls are so very lucky to have you...it's amazing all the help and love you give them! I had never heard of the Twinkie defense so I will certainly do some research on it! How odd that girl would say she stole the cell phone cuz of eating candy!! Take care!! Hugs!

Her Bad Mother said...

I laughed out loud when you brought up the 'Twinkie Defense' because I actually thought of it immediately when I read the line 'too many candy'... really!

Anonymous said...

sounds like you are right back on the fast track. that sickness didn't keep you down for long!

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Ann,

Too bad about the cell phone theft, but at least you got it back. I remember the Twinkie defence, and I thought it was really lame! Why is it when a drunk kills someone they get the book thrown at them, but it should be okay some how it the person had O.D. on sugar?

Janice~

Puss-in-Boots said...

Hi Ann, Glad to see you have bounced back from your bug of whatever type was doing the rounds at the time!

My granddaughter had her phone stolen at high school last year and has never got it back. It was one of the new ones and she had been to a rock concert and of course had video'd the whole thing on her phone. She was more upset about losing that than having the phone stolen. Hmm, too much candy, hey? I've never heard that excuse before. But there you go...

Glad all seems well with you and yours.

All the best

Pat said...

Now just you be careful Granny - gadding about with strange young men!
I sympathise with your falling asleep in front of the TV. I was really looking forward to the new Sopranos and fell asleep three times and every time I woke up someone was getting beaten up.
The pics are sweer.

JBlue said...

I think we just spent $66 for school pics. Sharks! That's for two kids. Three would have been $99!

I remember that Twinkie defense story! Did A&E's City Confidential do a piece on it or something? Or perhaps it was American Justice? Dunno. But I know that story.

Didn't Avril Lavigne come out with a statement awhile back that her sugar addiction had caused her to be aggressive. I don't know much about her, but I heard that and thought it was hilarious. (Wait till you get on the whiskey, girlfriend. Snorts.).

Two sick kids here, Gran. I'm wiped out.

peppylady (Dora) said...

I looked back at your first blogg. When I first started to blogg if I recall I didn't even get in three sentence.
Happy bloggveristy to you and many more.