There is a severe case of preschool senioritis going on in my house. I have twin four year olds and we are in our third and final year at a cooperative preschool.
You remember that last couple of months your senior year of high school? You knew where you were going to college. You knew you were accepted. You knew you just had to go through the motions, but they felt like torture. You were just -done.
My kids are still into school. I am the one with the problem. My body is driving The Goon Squad to preschool, my mind is in full day Kindergarten.
After two and a half years of co-opping about once a week and serving on committees and holding a board position I think I snapped.
I'm not kidding. I totally blanked the other day when I was supposed to be the parent in my son's classroom. I didn't even realize that I was supposed to be at school until I was already 20 minutes late.
We came prepared. I had my camera. I had my iPhone. I had snacks and toys for my daughter. I even brought my video camera to capture some voting footage for BlogHer. I was ready to spend all day at our polling place.
There was nobody in line.
Well, there was one guy in front of me, but that hardly seems like a line.
It took me less than 10 minutes to vote.
I am actually giddy. I thought this would be grueling. I knew I had to vote. I was happy to vote. For the first time since 1992 I was voting for a candidate instead of against one. It was wonderful.
I'm closing in on my third year of living in the D.C. Metro Area and I have learned some things about the richness of our area and the poorness of my patience.
Anyone who has ever driven in the district knows how difficult it is to navigate. I get lost on a regular basis in Washington D.C. even with a G.P.S. This is problematic since I work outin D.C. twice a week.
Last week I got lost on the way home from the gym. I have no idea how this happened. I think I was trying to be tricky and take 395 back to the preschool to pick up my children. In any case I made a wrong turn. The bad news was that there was only one way out of where I had gotten myself. The good news is that the only way to go was right by Arlington National Cemetery.
I have been reading blog posts all over the place about the first day of school.
So why doesn't my school start for two more weeks?
Seriously, Fairfax County schools never start until after labor day. (My neighbor who grew up here calls it "The Kings Dominion Law". School doesn't begin until after Kings Dominion closes down for the summer.) I know that is much later than most counties, but Fairfax Public Schools start on September 3rd.
But my kids aren't old enough to go to public school yet. We're still in preschool and my preschool doesn't start until September 11th.
Yesterday I decided not to take the kids to the pool (no, that is
NOT a euphemism) because the weather report said there was going to be
rain. Instead we were watching a movie. Well - The Goon Squad was watching a movie, I was writing a post for one of my sites.
So I was deep in thought when I hear this terrible noise. I looked up from the monitor and glanced out the window.
It was raining sideways.
The trees were going crazy and it was loud. Not just rain loud, but scary noise loud.
I don’t know if I have been watching too much news or if The Wizard of Oz scarred me for life, but I immediately thought tornado.
I'm trying to get into this weekday cycle where I get up at 5:00 am and use our elliptical machine.
Let me explain. Besides the obvious - I need to get into shape, and the maybe not so apparent - we spent a lot on the damn elliptical machine and I want to get my moneys worth. You may be asking yourself why the heck I am getting up at 5:00 in the morning when I am a stay at home mom. Why indeed?
The first reason is easy. I have tried to use the elliptical in the presence of The Goon Squad.
The last time I tried that I had to get off the thing three times in the first five minutes. Two of those times were to break up fights. The other time was because Ian needed an emergency glass of water. It just isn't worth it.
The second reason is that by the time Gabe gets home at night I really just want to sit down. I am done. Wiped out. I just want to sit on the couch and drink a beer and watch "Top Chef".
When my house first started shaking I thought it was a sonic boom. As I've mentioned here before, I am from Florida and so my first reaction was that The Space Shuttle was landing.
Being fairly certain that I hadn't heard the Shuttle from Northern Virginia, I did what any good blogger would do - I immediately twittered about it. (That is knows as tweeting to those of you who frequent Twitter.)
A couple of months ago I was shopping at Safeway. The bill came to $164.72 and the cashier asked me if I would like to round up to $165 and give the change to breast cancer research. Of course I said yes. I am a huge supporter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Every year I participate in The Race for the Cure. I give them money anyway and I have no problem giving them another twenty eight cents.
A couple of weeks later I went grocery shopping and I was asked if I wanted to round up for Easter Seals then it was March of Dimes then it was some other thing. It isn't just Safeway either. I've been hit up for money at Giant and other places too.
Here is the thing. Most of the time I don't mind. I will give $.28 to anybody (within reason) but now they are asking for a dollar. Every single time I go to the store. I go to the grocery store a lot. Seriously. I probably buy food six times a week. If I said yes to giving a dollar to charity every time I went to the store it adds up to $2,160 per year. That is a lot of money! And it is a good deal of cash to be donating to just whatever organization filled out the appropriate forms for Safeway this week. We do well and live comfortably, but not that comfortably. Hell, for $2,160 I could buy that new MacBook I've been eying and have change to give to a charity of my choosing. I could also have a record of that donation and I could write it off.
I was at Safeway yesterday and I remembered that I needed shampoo. I don't normally buy hair products at the grocery store but this was kind of an emergency. I had been using baby shampoo because that is all that was left in the shower.
So I was browsing in the shampoo aisle when I saw it. Paul Mitchell Shampoo One. I didn't even know they still made Shampoo One, but there it was.
Yes, yes, I remember the commercial where Paul himself said that they didn't guarantee their products unless I bought them in a salon but I couldn't resist.
(Don't worry, this story will eventually go somewhere.)
I live in the suburbs, so let me ask you D.C. residents a question:
You know how you have those license plates that read "Taxation Without Representation", are you proud of it or are you complaining?
I mean, it seems like it would be a negative thing, but that is the spot on the license plate that is traditionally reserved for bragging. Usually that place says things like "First in Flight", "Land of Opportunity" or "The Garden State".
Don't get mad at me. I am going to assume that it is a complaint, but it sure looks like you are boasting about your lack of a vote in the Senate. Maybe it is just me, or maybe you should really think about getting a new PR person.
There is a severe case of preschool senioritis going on in my house. I have twin four year olds and we are in our third and final year at a cooperative preschool.
The first reason is easy. I have tried to use the elliptical in the presence of 
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