Kristofer is 15! Eeek!

Kristofer went and turned 15 today. He's getting taller and more angular every day. He's a great help, especially in the endless task of taking out the trash. He told me this morning that if he gets his driver's permit today, he can get his driver's license when he turns 16. Doesn't he know I have high blood pressure issues?

Kristofer, when not engrossed in some kind of video game, enjoys talking about his history and art classes. He's not too keen on algebra and he hasn't been bringing home much algebra homework. I'm not so sure what's going on with that, since Keri Lynn was inundated with homework from that same class last year.

Our county has started a computer system that enables parents to keep track of their kids' progress in school by going online. It should also help parent/teacher communication. I'm not worried at all about the kids skipping school or having behavioral problems, but it will be nice to keep track of what's going on with their grades using the computer.

Today, I finally started feeling human again after my bout with that horrid UTI. Ugh, was that hard on me. I think I exaserbated it by watching Olympics until all hours of the night. Yesterday, I got up at the usual time, put the kids on their busses and came back in, put Kody in the bathroom for safe keeping (toilet seat down, thankyouverymuch), and went back to bed until noon! Boy, did that feel great. Then, I felt groggy the rest of the day. I had to get myself together to go to the elementary school open house, leaving the other kids to figure out what to do about dinner. Nothing like going in and meeting all the teachers looking like death warmed over.

So what did I do last night having learned my lesson about staying up too late to watch the Olympics? First, I took a shower at a respectable time, planning to NOT watch the Olympics. But I got sucked in anyway, when the Chinese gymnasts kept getting the really high scores and looking like they were going to edge out the Americans. I figured I had to be available to cheer them on. My country was depending on me. Bed time came very late. Is this a problem on the west coast? You all are probably all getting the main events in prime time. Lucky ducks.

I wasn't sure this morning whether or not I should try to get a subbing job yet. As it turns out, I've been doing pretty good today, finally! I did one productive thing and two wasteful things. Confession time. I played Spades on pogo.com. Anyone want to play Spades with me sometime? Let me know! Then, I played a game that Keith put on his laptop (so it's Keith's fault!) called Ballance where you try to keep a ball in balance through all these maze -like contraptions. I failed miserably, but enjoyed it enough that I'll try again another time. Then, in order to redeem myself, I went online and went through an Excell tutorial. Job opportunities always call for Word and Excell. Having gotten a basic introduction to Excell, I think it was a good use of my time!

Money worries have been getting me really down lately, but when I opened up my email this morning, I saw something from the lady that sends out our Bunco group information. She had just found out that one of neighbors who lives just a few houses from us lost his daughter in a house fire. We haven't met these neighbors, but it was so very sad to hear this devastating news. They will be having a memorial service at their home tomorrow and Keith and I are planning to be there. I called our pastor who also lives in our subdivision to see if he could make a stop to visit with these people. I think that they are a retired couple. Anyway, our own money worries seemed so very inconsequential when I read about that. And it has reminded me of life's unexpected ways. Are you ready to die?