Life keeps you busy

It's amazing how fast life moves. I hadn't realized that it had been so long since I had updated here. The tattoo healed nicely. I probably ought to take a new picture just to show what it looks like now. My parents came to visit. My mom hates the fact that I had a tattoo, and then I got this one in addition. She doesn't mind the artwork so much, since she's into music herself. She just minds that it's "so big." Her other comment? "At least it's not a tramp stamp." :)

*******************************************


In the mean time, we've been struggling with issues with our son. He's in a regular placement at school, but he's been having more and more problems as of late. He gets upset at something and just lashes out. He's threatened to stab a kid with a pencil, *did* stab a kid with a pencil (it was a mechanical, and barely marked the kid - it was also a friend who then accepted his apology afterward), and then shoved a kid in class (who was bullying him) and got upset when the teacher came over to question him, shoving and knocking over equipment (in band).

We thought we had most of that stuff sorted out, and he was going to go back into band class (he took a couple of weeks off) until the teacher filed criminal assault charges against my son (he was 11 at the time, just turned 12). He was questioned by the police officer, who then decided that the whole thing was bogus and that she shouldn't have even had to question him. She was very gentle and we appreciated it. Still, it was traumatic. He had a couple of new incidents in class this week, so he only was in school 2 out of the 5 days (for the complete days). Something is going on in his PE class (first period) which seems to be setting him up for upset in the next class. Either way, it's frustrating. We were going to hold him back from band, since his teacher is afraid of him (and if he can't maintain control in other classes, she's got a point). The administration was agreeing with that (or suggested it to my husband when he picked up our son on Friday and we agreed with them). I talked with his special ed teacher last night, and she said that they had a meeting about it. One of the members of the group felt like he *should* go back. They had promised him that he would get to go, and since he didn't, that person wondered if it broke his "trust" with them, since they broke their promise. So he's getting to go back. It scares me, him going back to a class where a teacher now obviously hates him. It was his favorite class, though.


**************************************

On the personal front, I've lost 63 pounds over the last 10 months. I've got about 18 to go to meet my goal. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'm playing softball again this season, and we have practice today. I'm feeling pretty good about that, too. I'm moving around the bases much quicker, which is nice. I still need to have surgery on my other knee. I'll probably do it this fall. I need to build up some sick leave (and wait until summer softball season is over - although I might wait until after fall season since I might heal faster due to the lighter body weight). My surgeon should be happy due to my weight loss. It should help prevent me from needing full knee replacements earlier than it was looking. He was saying 10 years, and I really wasn't looking forward to having them done in my 40's. That's just a tad too young.

On the work front, things are going pretty good. I should be getting a couple of patents soon, which is exciting. I have to go present our work (I work as part of a team) at a conference in a month and a half from now. I need to go buy some new professional clothes, since my older ones no longer fit. I'm waiting until I get closer to the event.

***************************************

Various rambling notes: my cat is annoying on weekends. He doesn't like it when I sleep in, since he wants me to feed him at daybreak. He will sit there and meow with ever breath for 5 minutes straight, trying to get me up and out of bed. I shoved him off the bed once (he fell, since he has no tail and can't land on his feet - he landed on the dog instead). Second time, my husband threw something at him, to try and get him to shut up. Didn't work. I eventually got out of bed, but I would've loved to have slept in more. Now, he's curled up in my arms as I'm trying to type, purring and giving me dirty looks if I type too much.

I got a new softball bat. I like it very much. It's a Freak 98. I think I'll hit well with it this season. I think several members of my team might hit with it as well. We'll see.

I went to NYC during New Years and I came home with a Muppet. FAO Schwartz has a build your own muppet thing. I'm such a dork. I used to do puppetry in high school (at my church) and had a blast doing it.

I have a hat addiction. When my grandmother passed away this summer, my mom and my uncle gave me my grandmother's hats. I have her silver belly stetson. Mom had it cleaned and blocked for me. I now need to reshape it. It's a gorgeous cowboy hat. I won't have many places to wear it, but I still will enjoy it. Now I need to get some boots again. After I had my son, my cowboy boots no longer fit (my feet got longer), so I had to give them away. I miss them, though. They were pretty. My grandmother's boots didn't fit me - too narrow and my high arch wouldn't fit into them. My niece inherited her spurs and belt buckle and wore them to a national horse show (where she won). Pretty awesome.

I'm rewatching Buffy. My son has been watching it with me this time around (he was too young before). He's enjoying it, I think. We're in season 3 (I just skipped over season 1, so he didn't see that with me).

I am liking the new TV that I got for Christmas from hubby. It's a ginormous widescreen HDTV. I'm liking it a lot. So is my son. He named it "Harry Davidson" for HD. :)

My old dog is getting older and probably won't last the year. Of course, I said that last year. This year, he's on a special diet and 2 medications. Still, he seems happy, even though his joints are stiff and sore (he takes arthritis meds for that). We'll see.

And now, I guess it's time to bring this one to a close. Not a whole lot to say, really, but that didn't stop me from saying a lot of nothing.