Jody had to make a little business trip to Montana this week. He called me today and I think he loves the place so much he wants to live there. Well, aside from the slow drivers. It sounds kind of like Arkansas. Lush green terrain with winding roads and people in no hurry to get anywhere anytime soon. I fell in love with Montana when I heard they're standing up for state's rights and telling the Fed's where to stick it but that's for the politico blog I suppose. Anyway, it was a short one, so we'll see him tomorrow and he had lunch with us before he left on Monday. Really it's like he was gone for all of one day. Not too bad, but I do miss the troublemaker. I told him the other day when he announced that he was going to try to sell his VP Free, that I'm going to write an entire blog entry about all of the "last" bikes he's had. The first one was cute, just cute. We were dating and he had taken a day trip up to Winter Park to go riding with a friend. He walked in with that little "bike grin" that I now know SO well and wheeled in his Jekyll 2000. He had gotten a great deal and it was his first full suspension."This bike will be all that I could ever ask or want from a bike." He told me the inches of travel and other bike lingo, something about xtr and whatnot. Three months later I see him looking at BMX bikes. Soon, he has acquired a BMX to take to the BMX track. Six months later... "I like the Jekyll, but the suspension just isn't quite enough... I bottomed out twice on my ride today." Sold the Jekyll. Next thing I know he's selling the BMX bike because he doesn't use it as much as he feels he should. Next bike was a Santa Cruz Heckler "There will never be a reason for me to get rid of this bike, I have wanted this forever." Several months later... "I really like the bike, but now that we don't live in Colorado, what I really need is something less aggressive." While still contemplating this all of a sudden one day, he bout a Giant Faith... Idk, but I think the Giant Faith was a little more agressive than the Heckler.... Now he had two bikes and took the Faith to Colorado for a good test run. Decided it wasn't the bike for him and sold the Giant. Now I'm getting fuzzy and it's weird because I'm coming up on more recent events. All I know is there is a dented bike frame from a bike that Jody loved. I can't remember if it was the Heckler or another bike alltogether. At any rate, we were heading to Colorado for a trip while living in MN and low and behold we hadn't gotten the bike rack pin in correctly and the whole thing came down WHACK on the interstate going about 70 MPH. It put a huge whammy in the frame of the... Heckler, that just seems wrong. I think it might have been a different Santa Cruz. Well, he sold all of the parts off of the frame and hung the frame on the wall and was completely bikeless for over a year. It was probably, in my estimation, the most emasculating experience of his life. We came home to Colorado, the home of Mountain biking... and he got the Santa Cruz VP Free... that was a happy man. You could not wipe the "bike grin" off of the man's face. I felt so free... Jody had a bike again, the greatest bike in the world. The ultimate bike... but alas, he couldn't use it for commuting to work, so he found a nice little commuter and then... announced to me.... that he is going to sell the VP Free because he doesn't ride it enough and he's going to take his time and get something different. I have now concluded, that it isn't about getting the perfect bike, it's about the hunt, getting to ride something different, and he can't claim that he wants something better anymore because he knows he has the best. Of course, this whole ramble is just to give the best man in the world a little hard time. I mean, after all, he is the man who moved 6 couches in and out of this house for ME in the last 9 months. That's love, tolerance and devotion there. Course it paid for the girls gymnastics so there's that too. LOL!
Anyway, we're just tuggin along, trying to wrap up our school year and today was no different. Eden's teacher sent me the upteenth email to tell me I had not done something I was supposed to. I am a teacher's worst nightmare. I forget to sign permission slips. I forget to put the Friday folder back in her bag on Monday. I forget to tell the teacher whether or not to add her to the headcount for pizza. I forget to return the library book on the specified day. I forget to take the "show and tell" item, as a matter of fact it's quite hard for me to locate the "show and tell" list so I know what "the theme" is. I forget the homework until the night before it is due and then make poor Eden slug through her whole week of matching, coloring and sentence writing in one night. I am horrid at being a school parent. Horrid. I mean well and always want to do things and participate in the classroom but I'm just a mess. Next year, I will have a day planner. I will leave it open to the next day every night before bed and I will have EVERYTHING in one place. It will be the beginning of the new me. I can just see it. Me, gliding into the girls room in the morning and gazing at their laid out clothes with pride as I gently open the shades and allow the sunshine to awaken their adorable little tow heads while I gently pad into Nicks room and gather his happiness into my arms and tug on his laid out clothing for the day. Because after all, in this fantasy, I kept track of the weather forecast and there is no need for me to dash downstairs and start the computer while simutaneously turning Jody's TV on and madly searching for the weather channel with no clue whether I'll get to weather.com or the local forecast on the news while the clock ticks and all children are still in bed with their usually clean but not folded laundry in various locations throughout the house and no thought in my mind as to where I will find a presentable shirt for Eden to wear without adornment as her dress code stipulates. No, in this fantasy of 1st grade, I will have TEN shirts for her to choose from and a little hanging stacker in her closet with days of the week on it, where she can proudly organize a whole weeks worth of clothes on a Sunday evening after our DAILY devotional and she has done her DAILY flossing and brushing. First grade will be phenonmenal. While the children naturally rise from their beds at 7:00, I'll be in the kitchen whipping up scones and bacon or waffles and scrambled eggs with fresh squeezed orange juice and a bowl of berries for good measure. As my shining children enter the kitchen (having remembered to go the bathroom BEFORE sitting down to eat) they will glow with happiness that I have made them a beautiful breakfast, there will be no "oh, blackberry scones, I had hoped you would bake blueberry..." The beauty of 1st grade will not end there. As the deadline for getting to the car approaches, from my fabulously organized coat closet I will be able to pull hats, mittens, coats and snow boots if necessary without tripping over the vacuum cleaner or the yoga mats or even the tool kit that has lost all of it's useful tools and I will snug each child into their cozy winter gear without a memory of slamming my poor baby in his jommies into his carseat with a blankie and his half finished cereal that I have poured most of the milk out of so he won't scream all the way to the school while dashing back and forth looking for my other two, one who can't find a shoe, the other who can't get the sleeve right side out in her jacket, the left hand pink mitten is missing and all she can find is her little brother's red one. And finally, in the new world of 1st grade, when we get into the car, I will have remembered to stock her bag with a snack, her water bottle and whatever various and sundry items the teacher has requested. I will not get halfway to the school before I realize my middle child is still struggling with her seatbelt, grunting and moaning completely unheard by my befuddled mind still clouded with the lack of tea and dreading the return home when I finally take the tea bag out that has been steeping for at least a half an hour. 1st grade will be phenomenal! I just know it.
Anyway, we're just tuggin along, trying to wrap up our school year and today was no different. Eden's teacher sent me the upteenth email to tell me I had not done something I was supposed to. I am a teacher's worst nightmare. I forget to sign permission slips. I forget to put the Friday folder back in her bag on Monday. I forget to tell the teacher whether or not to add her to the headcount for pizza. I forget to return the library book on the specified day. I forget to take the "show and tell" item, as a matter of fact it's quite hard for me to locate the "show and tell" list so I know what "the theme" is. I forget the homework until the night before it is due and then make poor Eden slug through her whole week of matching, coloring and sentence writing in one night. I am horrid at being a school parent. Horrid. I mean well and always want to do things and participate in the classroom but I'm just a mess. Next year, I will have a day planner. I will leave it open to the next day every night before bed and I will have EVERYTHING in one place. It will be the beginning of the new me. I can just see it. Me, gliding into the girls room in the morning and gazing at their laid out clothes with pride as I gently open the shades and allow the sunshine to awaken their adorable little tow heads while I gently pad into Nicks room and gather his happiness into my arms and tug on his laid out clothing for the day. Because after all, in this fantasy, I kept track of the weather forecast and there is no need for me to dash downstairs and start the computer while simutaneously turning Jody's TV on and madly searching for the weather channel with no clue whether I'll get to weather.com or the local forecast on the news while the clock ticks and all children are still in bed with their usually clean but not folded laundry in various locations throughout the house and no thought in my mind as to where I will find a presentable shirt for Eden to wear without adornment as her dress code stipulates. No, in this fantasy of 1st grade, I will have TEN shirts for her to choose from and a little hanging stacker in her closet with days of the week on it, where she can proudly organize a whole weeks worth of clothes on a Sunday evening after our DAILY devotional and she has done her DAILY flossing and brushing. First grade will be phenonmenal. While the children naturally rise from their beds at 7:00, I'll be in the kitchen whipping up scones and bacon or waffles and scrambled eggs with fresh squeezed orange juice and a bowl of berries for good measure. As my shining children enter the kitchen (having remembered to go the bathroom BEFORE sitting down to eat) they will glow with happiness that I have made them a beautiful breakfast, there will be no "oh, blackberry scones, I had hoped you would bake blueberry..." The beauty of 1st grade will not end there. As the deadline for getting to the car approaches, from my fabulously organized coat closet I will be able to pull hats, mittens, coats and snow boots if necessary without tripping over the vacuum cleaner or the yoga mats or even the tool kit that has lost all of it's useful tools and I will snug each child into their cozy winter gear without a memory of slamming my poor baby in his jommies into his carseat with a blankie and his half finished cereal that I have poured most of the milk out of so he won't scream all the way to the school while dashing back and forth looking for my other two, one who can't find a shoe, the other who can't get the sleeve right side out in her jacket, the left hand pink mitten is missing and all she can find is her little brother's red one. And finally, in the new world of 1st grade, when we get into the car, I will have remembered to stock her bag with a snack, her water bottle and whatever various and sundry items the teacher has requested. I will not get halfway to the school before I realize my middle child is still struggling with her seatbelt, grunting and moaning completely unheard by my befuddled mind still clouded with the lack of tea and dreading the return home when I finally take the tea bag out that has been steeping for at least a half an hour. 1st grade will be phenomenal! I just know it.
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