Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Learning Curve

This post is dedicated to Ashley, my loyal fan....

Well, tomorrow is the start of a new school year and my cheesy little girl will be starting her sophomore year of high school.  She is ready for school to start, so she says, I imagine by the end of next week she will have changed her tune.  I can't wait to see what this year's theme's for Spirit Week will be.  Abby is a participator and was the freshman winner on Patriotic Day. 

Alex has been out of school going on 4 years now and is preparing for what I like to call Big Girl Prom aka her wedding.  Where has the time gone?!

Ray and I were blessed with two funny and intelligent girls that have kept us hoppin' for the last 22 years. What we didn't realize was that their abilities would often times be left to gather dust on a shelf while they spent their time picking and choosing where they directed their energies.  They have many times underwhelmed me with their attitudes toward learning.

Alex could memorize every line of every Disney movie ever made and could sing any television commercial on demand and all this before she began kindergarten.  When she began elementary school she did very well on her standardized test no thanks to me.  Despite all the suggestions by the faculty to make sure our children get enough sleep and have a well balanced breakfast during testing week the fact remains that I could never keep up when test week actually was.  She usually ended up eating ice cream sandwiches for breakfast because it was the quickest thing I could grab and I knew that at least she was heading to school with a full stomach.

 
As she advanced from one grade to the next we learned that her memorization skills were limited to items of entertainment value only and spelling words were not entertaining to her at all.  In fact, reading was so far down on the list of Life Achievements that we are lucky she graduated by high school.  Now, don't get me wrong, she ain't no dummy, she just could have cared less. 

Abby, born a short seven years after Alex displayed her obvious genius in unusual ways.  She didn't walk until she was almost two, because well, if she didn't then we'd all carry her and that required so little effort on her part as to be very appealing.  She used to look at all the other kids her age in the nursery as if to say "Sit down you nut.  They'll carry you if you'd just stop doing that!"

We spent the first three years of her elementary career thinking she had a learning disability and began the process of having her checked for dyslexia or anything else that could explain why she wrote her alphabet backwards or why she was so incredibly bad at the memorizing of her sight words sent home each week.  I was begining to wonder if the sole glass of wine I had drank during my pregnancy with Alex had somehow carried over it's ill effects to Abby.

Boy did she fool us.  Second grade CRTC scores alerted us to the fact that while Abby was unable to indicate to us that she could read anything other than the McDonalds Golden Arches sign as we passed it on the road, her test scores proved that she could actually read on a 6th grade level.  Imagine that.

We ourselves weren't complete morons so it stood to reason they should have a clue and they do.  Our two girls are  so up to date with today's technology that I'm starting to realize how my mom felt when call waiting was first introduced.

In an effort to prove to that we were not too old to learn something new, as well as keep up with our girls and the technology they love, Ray and I decided to really go out on a limb and get Iphones.  I have to say  it was Abby's encouraging remarks that gave us the confidence to keep trying when we didn't have a clue what we were doing:

Ray:  I wonder how I can send this picture to you...should I email it or text it.
Me: I think you should text it.
Abby: You two look like a couple of cavemen trying to figure out fire.

Alex is witty, moody and loving, Abby is snarky, hilarious and free spirited.  I cannot imagine my life without them and barely remember what life was like before them outside of a few vague memories of having plenty of clean towels and my clothes never mysteriously  disappeared from my closet.  I can't wait to see what lies ahead.....






Sunday, April 21, 2013

Nice Things

In the past six months we have had the misfortune to have to make the dreaded call to our insurance agent to tell them we needed to file a claim...three times. 

#1
The first incident occurred when on the way to a Sunday School Class fellowship my thirst for a coke (the real kind, fully sugared and caffienated) spurred Ray to whip it into Bill Arp Grocery to grab me one.

You gotta be careful when you whip it into a parking lot in a four wheel drive vehicle.  There are things such as 3 foot metal poles that are bent out at crazy angles that you would not see unless you were in a car instead of a truck that has a little lift to it.  Peeled the drivers side open like a can of Spam.
At Fault:  Me, for wanting a coke.

#2
About three weeks ago there was a weather system that came through in the late afternoon and dropped baseball and smaller sized hail on our house.  Abby called me and Ray at work and said it is crazy here at home with hail the size of baseballs hitting the house sideways.  We were skeptical and told her to not to get out in it 'cause hail that big could do her in.  She put some in the freezer to prove her story...

The top picture is the hail from our yard, the second is from my mother in laws house a mile down the road.  It did not snow, all that white stuff is hail.

The insurance adjuster determined that there was $13,000 damage done to our house and out buildings, roofs, siding etc.
At Fault:  Not me this time!

#3
This past Wednesday (the same day the insurance adjuster was checking out our hail damage) I was on my way to a doctors appointment and decided to mistake the white car in front of me for empty space and plow into the side of it.  No one was injured thankfully, but my pride took a beating.  This was the first accident I've had in 20 years, somehow I have to believe my insurance company will not be impressed.
At Fault: That'd be me.


In between the hail storm and me plowing into the white car this past Wednesday Ray was hit head on by a 15-year old learning to drive her dad's truck out on highway 5.  Thankfully no one was injured although both trucks took quite a beating.  (That one is on their insurance, although I am sure if they pondered it long enough I would be found at fault somehow.)


Wednesday while driving home with my tailpipe tucked beneath me I wondered what the insurance company was going to say at yet another phone call from us.  I pulled into the carport and Abby came out to greet me.  She took one look at my car and said; "Well, we just can't have nice things can we?"

Pretty sure that is exactly what State Farm is gonna say too.....