20 YEARS ALREADY?

Last weekend was our 20-year (gulp!) high school reunion. I've been on the planning committee for months, so the buildup for me was huge, lemme tell ya.

Y'all, it was wonderful. We had over a hundred of our classmates in attendance, not including spouses. Well, unless you count dh and me, who both attended the school. And maybe there were one or two other classmates who married each other...but I digress.

The big event was held at a resort just north of Houston. Hubby and I (and several others who didn't want to drive home after the party, if you know what I mean) stayed at the resort on Saturday night. It was great. The toiletries were all from Bath & Body Works, the bedding included a down comforter, and the pillows were feather. Surprisingly, the cost was not outrageous, and I'd definitely consider staying there again sometime.

Anyway, the reunion: As I said, I was on the reunion committee, and my big job was the nametags. That was a task in and of itself, as it was decided that our senior pictures should be on each nametag. So I've spent the last couple of months working on the project - scanning in pages from the yearbooks, cropping each picture down to a manageable size (and moving each into its own individual file), and typing in hundreds of names.

Here's an example:

Tracy
Maidenname
Marriedname



(yep, that's me in 1986)

Those people who didn't have a senior picture taken weren't spared the humiliation, though: I've got yearbooks from all four years of high school, and I found them all! Bwahahaaaa!!! Well, save one, but he was a newbie our junior year and I just couldn't get an old picture of him.

In all seriousness, the nametags were actually a hit. People came up to me all night and said how cool they thought having the pictures with the names was. That right there made all my efforts (and the high cost of printer ink) worthwhile.

Hubby, who had not particularly been looking forward to the reunion, even had a good time. He was as funny and engaging as always, and our old friends commented that he hadn't changed much over the years. (See, M? I told you.)

I know M wanted me to write all about the reunion, but I can't honestly think of much to say that wouldn't be painfully obvious. Some people had not changed at all; some had changed so much that they were virtually unrecognizable. Some were much friendlier than they were in high school, and some were still jackasses. Fortunately, the former was much more common than the latter. One example of the latter, though, came from a guy I went out with (for about five seconds) in high school: The Pussycat Dolls song "Buttons" was on, and I was sitting at the table singing along. This guy came over, knelt down, and said, "I know you think you look good singing that, but I keep picturing you in your minivan. It just doesn't work for you."

Jackass once; jackass always. I'm trying to chalk it up to the fact that he'd been putting away the alcohol for awhile, but it was a mean thing to say anyway.

Overall, though, it was fantastic to see people, and in many ways I was able to close out an unpleasant chapter of my life. Not that high school was particularly bad for me - I was on drill team and had good friends and enjoyed a fair amount of popularity - but you know how you always remember the bad stuff. Anyway, I got a bunch of email addresses and phone numbers, and plan to keep in touch with old friends - and I mean it this time!

WHERE THE HELL IS MY BLOG?

The template loads, but there are no words on it. I can edit any post I want, but I can't see it after it's published. I can even see Beth's and Pez's blogs, but not mine. Heaven knows if I'll be able to look at this post, either.

This happens all the damn time with Blogger. Where can I find a more reliable free blog site?

TITLE GOES HERE

First of all, "HI, BETH!" I know I've been slacking off on my blog lately, but that's because it's harder for me to blog in the summertime. Not because I have a teenager on the computer at night, but because my life has very little structure right now. Without structure, Tracy is a flighty girl who does not blog much. But never fear, school starts next week and I'll be living in structure hell.

Does anyone else dread the start of the school year like I do? I don't know what happened. When the kids were little, I couldn't wait for them to get to school so I could have some free time. Now that they're older, though, I like having them home. They are pretty much self-sufficient, plus they're fun to be around. I can even leave them here while I make quick grocery store runs by myself.

I guess what I'm dreading most is the homework. Most likely, that's what the kids are dreading, too. What I can't stand is hearing the complaining that starts the minute they get off the bus. Here are some of those all-too-common complaints, in no particular order:

(Betty/Susie/Bob/Ruie) was mean to me today!
My leg/head/stomach hurts!
I've got too much homework!
I'm hungry!
Ms. Park/Smith/Weimaraner is mean!

And the best one:

Mom, you forgot to send (money/my permission slip/cupcakes) today!

The list goes on and on.

Hopefully my fears will be mostly unrealized, but in the meantime, I'm a ball of stress. I wish I could go back to the early days when school was easier, but the grown-up in me knows that can't happen - and shouldn't. (I am not currently fond of the grown-up in me.)

I guess I was hoping I'd only have to go through growing pains once in life. The joke's on me.

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Big news: We got a new digital camera the other day. It's really great, except the battery doesn't seem to last as long as it should. Hopefully HP will take care of that when I contact them.

With thanks and credit for this idea to Pez, here are some random pictures:

K with Bailey. A boy has never loved his dog as much as this one does; I swear.












Pey pretending to have a broken leg. This girl is so creative. The thing on her leg is a slipper sock, but underneath that she had put a koozie around her leg. Her umbrella was brought into play as a cane. Completing the picture was the way she hobbled around the house pretending she was on crutches. It was hysterical. Oh, to be 8 again.



L-R: Me, K, and Ry at Reliant Stadium last Wednesday night watching two soccer games: Houston Dynamo (notice our t-shirts) vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, then FC Barcelona vs. Club America (a Mexican national team). In one night, we got to see the great Landon Donovan plus the even-greater Ronaldinho play. Live and in person. I swear our family is addicted to soccer. We even DVR the matches we attend, although to be completely honest, we usually do so because our seats (season tickets) put us in the line of the TV cameras a lot. LOL!



Well, that's about it from here. I've got to run now and take K over to my in-laws to mow their lawn. The kid makes a pretty good chunk of change by mowing just the family's lawns. Man, he's going to hate it when school starts. [sigh]