randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I’ve begun plotting my search for employment. Going to get a part-time job while Gage is in school. I picked up an application at the Conoco up the road already. Just gotta fill it out and stuff. It’ll be fun looking up all the past employment information. Especially since my last job is no longer there (it was a seasonal Kiosk), I don’t know the last name of the manager I had at Harry and David — he’s just “Louie.” I’ll have to look up phone numbers and stuff. Fun fun fun. I think I’ll put all the info in a notepad so I can reference it without having to look it up over and over again. There are a few other places in walking distance here. A dry cleaner, liquor store and dollar-scoop chinese place off the top of my head,not to mention a Lamars donut shop (yummy yummy). There’s more further away.

Had some stuff on ebay that did pretty well. Got almost $40 for my waterford crystal bowl, which is most excellent. Gotta pack that very carefully for shipping. The person who bought it didn’t opt for insurance. I plan to insure it anyway. Just chalk it up to “CMA” covering my ass. I didn’t price them before I listed it, so no doubt the buyer got a good deal. It’s not like I used it much anyway. It was (feel free to laugh at this) used as a condom bowl. All in all I made about $60 before shipping, so that’s not too shabby. Sold my frog tea set as well. I don’t use it anymore anyway… might as well go to someone who can use or display it. Need to continue going through stuff for ebay.

Still waiting on Gage’s bus assignment, so he hasn’t started school yet. I hope to hell they call me today with the information, so he can go to school tomorrow. If I don’t hear from them by noon, I’m calling. Thus far, I’m not filled with confidence as far as his new school and placement. We weren’t able to see his classroom or meet his teacher. This whole bus thing is a little ridiculous — it would have been nice to have been told before registration that it takes up to a week to get a bus assignment. Knowing that, we would have registered him on Monday or Tuesday for pete’s sake. They were supposed to give me an information packet at registration (apparently), but they didn’t. So I know nothing about school policies. According to the district website, his school has a uniform. I have no idea what that is. Not that it matters, I’m not awfully fond of public schools trying to dictate what my child can wear outside of school appropriate attire. I know for most public schools it’s a specific style/color of shirts and pants (or skirts)… but I’m not really down with that. I’d like to know how big his class is, and what the age range is. It’s definitely not encouraging that I haven’t been given any of this info. So, I mailed a letter expressing my lack of confidence yesterday to the Denver public school system — and to the Colorado board of education. I always say “I’m writing a letter.” Well, this time I did.

that Gage should be in school but isn’t.  I’m seriously irritated with his school and the district.  This is also day two that Gage got stung by a wasp.  Yesterday I thought it was a freak occurrence.  He stepped on a wasp — it happens.  Today he’s got a sting on each of his hands.  So I went over where he was playing and looked.  There’s an underground wasps nest.  Maybe it was irrational, but I was very pissed off at the wasps.  So (not having any wasp spray), I dumped half a bottle of developer down the hole and covered it with a big rock.  For the record, developer is the active ingredient in hair dye.  The ingredient that makes your scalp burn.  If I’d had any bleach I would have used that.  Fuckers stung my son.

For the past few years, I’ve been thinking about how interesting (not to mention lucrative) it would be to do a little real estate investing. I’d love to own a rental property or two, something really nice. I’d also really love to do some fix & flip stuff. Which is something I’ve been interested in for about a year. There are a lot of old houses in this area, pre-World War I, actually. They’re beautiful on the outside for the most part. But all of the ones I’ve been in are run-down and badly in need of repair and upgrading. Don’t get me wrong, they’re solid houses. I doubt a tornado could take them down — they just need a little TLC. PEI University has an online program that teaches real estate investment strategies and techniques. It’s nice that you can Learn how to invest in real estate FREE. I’ve been checking out the site to get a little information and see if it’s something that I should look into when the time is right. It’s definitely something that I’m interested in. Admittedly, part of my interest comes from having watched a number of “Fix & Flip” shows on TV and thinking, “Hey, I could do that.” Not just that I could do it, but that I would love doing it.

Ok, I’ve been slacking. I have no batteries for my digital camera at the moment. Gage killed them. And while I can use the video camera to take photos, transferring them can be a pain in the butt. So this week I’m posting an older picture. I don’t believe I’ve used it before for a photo of the week (I hope not, anyway). Anyhoo, this picture was taken before we moved. It was raining one day, about 3 o clock or so. It got really dark and it was POURING. So of course, I went outside to take pictures of the roses. What could be more natural, LOL. I took one with the flash and one without. I liked the one with the flash better — and this is it. Enjoy.

First of all, let me say that I love this song. Especially Johnny Cash’s version, which never ceases to bring a tear to my eye (the video makes me cry).

But this… is fucking funny:

Thank you Aaqron

I am irritated as hell.  School started today, but I was never called back by the district’s special ed department with Gage’s bus information.  Apparently, it’ll take a few days to get Gage’s bus pick up and drop off set up.  I was admonished for not registering Gage at the beginning of the week so that the bus could be taken care of in time.  I wasn’t told that it would take so long!  I told her “Well I’m sorry, but I had to wait until someone could take off work to take us up there to register.”  Her response?  “You should have told me that before, we have family liaisons who could have taken you Monday morning.”  Jeez.  If I’d been told that they needed me to register him earlier in the week I would have mentioned not having a car and having to depend on someone else for transportation.

I did get to talk to his teacher on the phone today.  She sounds nice.

I’m sure everyone reading this is aware that I’m writing a cookbook. It’s been a work in progress for a few years, actually. I recently decided to make it a “series” of cookbooks focusing on specific items. Starting with soup, stew and chili — those being 3 things that I cook very well and make a good variety of types (always adding to the arsenal, of course). I’ve also been doing a lot of looking into the steps one would take to Publish a Book . After all, I’m not deluded enough to believe that someone will snatch up my cookbook and want to publish them for me. There are a lot of people out there who are trying to get their cookbook published. The only thing that makes mine different is mine. But I’m not against self-publishing and promoting the heck out of the book on my own (and with any aid the company I use to publish offers, of course). It could be very economical, actually. Especially having read the horror stories a new author posted in her blog about her publisher not paying her monies he owed and all of that.

I added a few things to the cafepress store. Stuff with scans of some of Gage’s paintings.

This is a postcard with one of Gage’s paintings on it.  It’s very cute, no?  He used a piece of a sponge to do this, after pouring a bunch of paint on the paper.

This is a tile coaster with a part of a larger painting that Gage did.  For this one, he was given a pie pan with a bunch of different colored tempra paints in it.  He swirled them in the pan and then poured the paint onto the canvas — it came out really pretty.  There’s a poster print of the full painting also available.

This is a greeting card that, like the postcard, was painted with a bit of sponge after he poured a bunch of paint onto a piece of paper.  He’s a very creative little boy, no?  I think so.  He really enjoys painting, so I try to let him do it whenever he wants.

I have a lot of really cool paintings that Gage has done that I’m looking into things to do with, particularly for gifts for his grandmothers.

and blinding me as I sit on the porch.  What can I say, it’s nice to sit on the porch and watch Gage play while getting stuffs done online.  Nice to having that ability.  Got the dog laying at my feet… at least he’s not laying on my feet — that would be too hot.  Gage is watching Animaniacs.  His newest obsession.  He sings the theme song all the time, which is really cute.  I also overheard him singing the Pinky & the Brain song a few days ago.  The only bad thing is having him get in my face and yell “Please pass the ketchup!” which happens in the “Camelot” episode.  He thinks it’s funny as hell.  I think that if he keeps it up I’m going to start dousing him in ketchup every time he does it.

It was raining a little while ago.  It cooled things off nicely.  Unless of course you’re sitting in direct sunlight (which I happen to be), then it’s hot enough to make that irritating, tickly bead of sweat run down your back.  Bleh.

Except when he’s being a butt.  There were a few tantrums yesterday.  So far today there’s been a little bit of a… well, not a tantrum, but not shiny happy behavior, either.  It’s frustrating to say the least.  School starts next week, and that’s a good thing.  Maybe he’ll behave better once he starts school.  Not sure entirely how I feel about this new school.  I hope that it’s as good for him as his last school was, but so far I’m not terribly confident.  He’s in a specific “Autism Class” but no one has told me what that means beyond “it’s a class for Autistic students.”  Does that mean that he’ll be in a class with students of different ages?  He might do ok with that… or he might have issues with it.

I don’t know… I’m hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

I’ve always loved the story of the Nutcracker. When I was a kid, I would watch a production on TV that was half movie and half ballet. I haven’t seen that in years. I remember a sequence with a bird that was especially beautiful. While I loved watching that on television, I never had the opportunity to see it live. It seems like every year in the late summer/early fall nutcracker tickets go on sale, and are sold out before Halloween. I’ve always wanted to see The Nutcracker, but either couldn’t afford it or didn’t have anyone who would go with me. Or I have both, and they’re sold out. This year won’t be any different. I have no one to see it with and I certainly can’t afford tickets even if I did have someone to go with. I would love someday to be able to go and see it. Even more, I’d love to be able to take Gage to see it. I think that he would enjoy it. He loves music, and I think that he would enjoy the dancing. The sheer spectacle (or so I’ve been told) is enthralling, even to children. When I was a kid, I had a friend whose family went to see it every year around Christmas. I was so jealous and secretly wished that they would invite me along one year. Alas, it never happened. Someday, though. Someday.

it’s that time again… time to go through stuff and find things that I can get rid of in an attempt to help pay the bills. Here’s what I’ve listed so far:

Strobe Light	Waterford Crystal Bowl	Tea for 1 Set
Challis Fabric	Dragonfly Satin Brocade	Lot of Tulle/Mesh Fabric
Pair of baby blankets Blue & multicolored	USMC My Rifle Shirt XL	USMC To Err Shirt XXL
Kevin Smith Mallrats Shirt XL	Apoptygma Berzerk 7 Shirt XL	Johnny the Homicidal Maniac Shirt XL
	2 Croft & Barrow Shirts XL

Groceries acquired.  Did pretty good.  I managed to save a total of $60, half of that with coupons.  24% overall.  I’m getting there.  My goal is to save 40% or more every time I go grocery shopping between sales and coupons.  More than that might happen occasionally, but I don’t think it’s realistic to expect more than that.

Sure, there are people out there who go grocery shopping and get $200 worth of groceries for a quarter or something… here’s the thing.  You see them on the news every now and then right?  When’s the last time you saw one of those shoppers buying fresh produce or fresh meat?  Not often, right?  Personally, I can’t remember EVER seeing that.  Yeah, if you’re buying all packaged foods, you can definitely do that.  But I probably spend at least $50 on fresh meat and produce every time I go grocery shopping.  Sure, meat and produce might be on sale… but you’re not likely to have a coupon for them (ok, sometimes you can find one…).

Ok… I might be crazy.  It’s ok.

going to register Gage for school today.  I really hope this new school is as good as his preschool was.  He made so much progress in preschool.  I’d really like that to continue through kindergarten.  He really loved school last year, I hope he loves it this year too.  Once he starts, I can start looking for a part time job in the area, which would be good.

We’re also supposed to go grocery shopping today.  That would be good.  We’re down to cereal (no milk), french toast sticks, spaghetti and fries.  There’s a can of ravioli, but Gage doesn’t seem to be interested in eating that lately.  The animals are also out of food, so definitely need to get some today.