WHAT'S UP

If I were my 10-year-old, I'd sarcastically say "the sky" or "the roof." Fortunately, he can no longer say "gas prices," as they have taken a nosedive lately. My favorite filling station currently has regular unleaded at $2.19 per gallon - a price I've not seen in over a year.

So here's what's been going on during my silence the past week or so...

• Tnk is returning to full duty next Thursday. I cannot believe she has recovered from that horrible accident, nor can my mind grasp that my little sister will be back on patrol, at night, with all the bad people and drunks (not that those are mutually exclusive). This is seriously messing with my sleep patterns. It was hard enough worrying about her when she was 100%, but I worry that there may be lingering effects from her accident that may, in the right (or wrong) scenario, compromise her safety. Oh God, I just worry. She would not be happy with me for writing all this, but I don't care. This is my journal and my feelings are relevant. My feelings are relevant. They are. If I could lock her in a little box and keep her safe forever, that's exactly what I'd do.
• Of course, we all know that wouldn't solve anything. She'd just hate me then.
• K played a great soccer game today, and his team won 9-0. This was a milestone for him because it was the first time he'd been on the field since his arm was broken during a game last March. Unfortunately, I missed it because...
• ...I was at BLT all morning. No, not the sandwich; Basic Leader Training for Girl Scouts. That's right, I'm becoming a Girl Scout Leader. I am optimistic about this because I know it will be great for my daughter and me both. I foresee lots of paperwork in my future, but hopefully not lots of tantrums. (Particularly not tantrums by parents.) The reason I'm getting into this now is because Pey's current troop consists of 18 girls - 17 second graders, and Pey, who's in 3rd. What that means in layman's terms is that at the end of this school year, Pey will be the lone scout bridging into Juniors. And next year, her leaders would have fun trying to figure out things that both the Brownies and a Junior could do. Trying to nip this in the bud, I attended Rally earlier this week and was successful in forming my own troop - 6 third graders, and 2 second graders. Not ideal, but much better, as no one will be alone anymore.
• Good news - Hubby has been offered a new job. He's really excited about it as he'll finally be using the two degrees that his parents paid for. He will finally be out of the heavy-deadline business, and cannot wait to get started. Right now, it looks like October 9th will be the big First Day. I'm so proud.
• University of Texas clobbered Rice today in a total blowout. By the end, UT had put in the third string and still managed to rack up more points. I felt bad for Rice because I think Texas was blowing off some steam from their loss to Ohio State last week.
• Fish, if you're reading this, email me because I have some puppet news for you. (Like how I buried that in the big middle of this post? Oops.)
• Pey's friend J is here right now. J called an hour ago and said, "Can I come over and spend the night?" Anyone else would have gotten a quick "uh-uh," but J is Pey's best friend, plus J's mom agreed to be my GS co-leader, and even attended BLT with me today. I kind of feel like I owe her, although in truth J is usually no trouble and Pey likes having another girl around. I guess the dog and I aren't enough femaleness.
• For the record, J's mom was mortified when she heard that J called and invited herself over. I just had to laugh. Some people are hard to get mad at.

That's about it for the rambling. I'm exhausted and will probably be heading to bed really soon. First, though, I have to make sure J and Pey (never noticed that that rhymes before) are down for the night.

Hope you all had a great weekend.