So, gosh... it's been a long time since I blogged.

Both my kids had a birthday in the last week leaving the tally at: Daughter - 12, Son - 6.

So, Friday was my daughter's birthday and we were going to take her out to dinner at a restaurant, her choice, and we were waiting for Rich to get home from work so we could go. My daughter comes running inside to tell me that this girl that used to live next door to us for a few months, but has since moved out into a hotel, put makeup on my new car. I go running out there, and sure enough there is liquid foundation in several spots on my new car... (out of curiosity, how long do you get to call it your 'new car' for?) so I take some pictures and then clean it off so it won't ruin the paint, at which point, Rich called to say he was on his way home from work and I told him what had just happened and he was MAD and said I should call the police, and after much discussion, I do, and then proceed to stand there and wait for an hour and a half for them to show up. I explain what happened (again) since I had already explained it all, down to what the girl was wearing and where she lived now, to the lady on the phone when I called. They looked at my picture and said they would 'try' and go talk to her mother and that if I see her in the neighborhood again, that I should call them (and presumably wait another hour and a half for them to show up) so they can tell her she doesn't belong here since she's no longer a resident.

Now if you want to know *why* this girl would put make-up on my car... that is another story entirely. From here on out we'll call her 'J' a.k.a. Hooker Girl. So 'J' and her family moved in next door and she is a year older and a grade ahead of my daughter making her, at the time, 12 and in the 7th grade. So my daughter and her best friend, who lives three doors down and across the street, tried to befriend her, thinking 'she's our age and goes to school with the best friend', but as it turns out, 'J' is a pot smoking, cigarette smoking, dresses like a hooker, told my daughter she was going to the doctor to have an abortion, boy crazy, can't even go to the regular Jr. High cause all the girls there want to kick my ass for being such a... child. So my daughter's best friend was told by her mother that she wasn't allowed to hang out with 'J' and I agreed, too. Thing is... it's pretty hard to make that happen when you live next door without keeping my own kids shut inside which isn't really fair to them, so I said that she should be nice, but stay in our yard, etc. Well it turned into a whole 'I can't play with you if she's there' thing with the best friend, so my daughter ended up saying she couldn't play with 'J' either, which was just fine with me, and then drama ensued. Name calling, threats, acting like... no 12 year old should ever be allowed to act, and my daughter and her friend asking me to watch them walk three houses down and across the street cause they don't feel safe in their own neighborhood anymore. Well, they finally moved out into a hotel, and then it was summertime, and 'J' kept showing up in the neighborhood to 'visit her friends' I was told, and my daughter would want to play outside and ultimately ended up trying to be nice and talk to her again. Again, drama ensued in the form of older boys stopping to talk to the 'Hooker Girl' and one boy riding past on his skateboard and yelling at her, "You're an H!" and she asked, "What did you call me?" and he repeated himself and she said, and I quote, "You're so dumb, it's WHOR..." and I was done... FINISHED! Of course, it came with the standard, 'that's not fair'; and 'it's not my fault' complaints which resulted in the 'it's my job to keep you safe and hanging out with her is not safe, so the answer is NO!' speech accompanied by the one that goes ' you know the boys only like her cause she dresses like a hooker' speech. Harsh, I know, but totally true. Anyway, so 'J' is obviously mad and hurt, but whatever... not really my problem, and I have gone WAY out of my way to be understanding and nice to her and talk to her Mom, etc... moving on.

Anyway, Tuesday was my son's birthday and we were grocery shopping the weekend before and I asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted me to make him and he said, "Strawberry, with pink frosting." Now, the beauty of this is, that for, gosh, a long time now, Davey and a few of my other boys have been joking around that he is 'so gay' and mostly it's little stories and sterotypical occurances that they pick up on and joke about and we have fun. So, I told Davey that my son wanted a strawberry cake with pink frosting and he said, "That's my boy! " and Jeff said, "LOL, little queer!" and we were all having a good laugh about it and Rich was like "You guys need to stop before you give him a complex or something." But he knows in the end, he'll be what he is, regardless, plus it's not like we're saying it where he can hear it, we're on the phone or chatting so, no worries. So, I make the cake and frost it and I put sprinkles on it, and Rich is like.. sprinkles? So I said, "Heck yes! Us queers like things sparkly!" and he was like So we're sitting down to eat and I ask my son if he wants to know a secret and of course he does, so I lean down and whisper to him that I put sprinkles on the cake and he was SO DAMN excited. So excited, in fact, that he has to get up three times while we're eating to check if the cake is still in the refridgerator So while we're eating, we're discussing a birthday party for them and possible themes, and out of nowhere my son says, "I want a rainbow party!" so I smirked and looked right at Rich who was trying SO hard not to laugh and said, "Rainbow you say?" HAHAHAHA!

So today I had jury duty, first time ever. I get there at like 7:20 a.m. and park in the parking structure and then walk the block over to the courthouse and check in and pick up the blue brochure to read, and read it as instructed to do and wait, and finally at 8:15, some girl comes out to go through some power point presentation about how it all works and the rules and show us a video for all the idiots who didn't read the blue pamphlet. They call some people, not me though, and I sit there reading my book that Dhruv sent me for my birthday all the way from India and then they call some more people, again, not me, and I read more and then they dismiss us for lunch so I walk the block back to the parking structure with Kathy, the lady I met on the way in and spent all day with, and we went to lunch for two hours and then walked the block back to the courthouse where they told us they still weren't sure if they needed us and to expect another announcement by 2:30 p.m. So at 2:45 they come out and announce that another courthouse in our county called and needed more prospective jurors and so if we lived in one of the following cities, which I did, that we were required to go there and check in. So I drove over there, 45 minutes in traffic to get there, and check in at 3:30 p.m. and at 4 p.m. they took us to see a judge who explained the case would be three or four days long and if anyone couldn't serve he would listen to their reasons why and decide whether or not to excuse them. After I listened to about ten people say financial hardship, business owner, health problems, my grandma died, etc... I raised my hand and said, "I'm a mother with two kids and work nights so I can pick them up after school while my husband is at work, and they are 6 and 12," and he said, "You're excused." at 4:30 p.m. and I was home by 5 p.m.

So since I was there all day, Rich had to take a two hour lunch today, as opposed to the normal half hour he takes, so he had to stay late and just called me at 9:30 p.m. to say he was on his way home. So I didn't cook, and instead opted for fast food tonight, and needless to say my choldren are now grounded for the weekend, my daughter for the exact same thing as last time and my son for lying to me. :wacko:

In other, much more exciting news, the last and final chapter of FBTE is halfway written and will be extra long for all of you have waited such a long time to see what happens to Stephen and Jesse. I hope it will live up to all your expectations... and should hopefully be done in a week, and then I can get UTBOS - Part 3 done for the anthology!

So, about this book Dhruv sent. I'm horribly invested in the story now, and a third done, and while it is set in a different culture and therefore hard to follow sometimes because of my lack of knowledge of that culture, it's not hard to figure out and I'll say that in the 104 pages I have read so far, I have been more saddened than I have been in a while. I have another 200 pages to go, so we'll see what happens, but for anyone who's interested, the book is called, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.

I'm off to argue with myself about which I should do, read more or write more...

Hugs,

Viv

P.S. Gigantic welcome home hugs to Jonny and Chris!