I put it off for as long as I possibly could.

The kids and I started raking the front yard this morning.

Bummer.

Five seconds away from my office, followed by five minutes away from the office.

Oh my goodness, am I lame or what?

Today marks another uber nerd anniversary.  Three years ago today I made the first post on this blog.  (it has since been moved to the private page because it mentions the kids by name)

Three solid years of insufferable, pointless, blathering idiocy.  Yeah.  Three whole fricken years of this stupidity.  The only thing dumber than that is that there hasn’t been a single day during that time period when I have failed to post something.  That’s 1095 days of dumbassitude.

Is it any wonder that no one reads this crap?  (I do appear to have a small number of somewhat regular readers.  Most of them are family members and real life friends.  Hi family members and real life friends!  I see two regular hits on site meter that I have yet to match a human to.  I have a guess on one, but can’t say for sure, and have no clue on the other.  The little hit counter at the bottom of the page links to a summary of visitors that includes a location for most hits.  Unfortunately the location is actually the point where the local network hits the internet.  I am in Framingham right now, but the summary says I am far, far away.  When I hit the page from home it usually says Methuen, but sometimes Verizon monkeys with their network and I show as North Andover or Lawrence.  I can sometimes guess who the hits belong to, but often I don’t have a clue.)

So wish my bloggie a happy bloggie birthday.

In other, unrelated news:  This weekend is going to be crazy busy.  We have the regular Saturday kids events, followed by Mike and Tammy’s daughter’s birthday party.  On Sunday we have the annual dead relatives tour where a bunch of family members get together and visit the graves of my grandparents and aunts and uncles, and then we all go out to lunch together.  As I say every year, it sounds morbid but it is far from it.  It’s always a good time.  It’s a celebration of those we love who are no longer with us, and those we love who are still, thankfully, around.  After that it’s the first meeting of what hopefully will become a new band.  I have no calluses on my fingers, so it’s going to be painful.  I’m looking forward to all of the events we have planned this weekend.  I still have half a house to clean, and those leaves in the front yard ain’t picking themselves up, and we’re hosting Thanksgiving next week, but I am really happy to have so much stuff going on.  It’s hectic as hell, but it sure beats the alternative.  Well… once in a while it beats the alternative.  I still love a slow, quiet weekend at home with my family.  I guess I’m just still not 100% used to actually having a life.  I love it, and it’s all Jen’s fault. 

That’s the other thing I’d like to take the time to state publicly.  I love Jen.  I am crazy about her.  She means everything to me.  Her and the kids letting me into their lives the way they have is the single greatest gift that I have ever received.  When Thanksgiving day comes and I tell everyone that the thing I am most thankful for this year is Jen and the kids, it’s not me being uncreative, or not taking the time to think of something original, it is the complete and total honest truth.

Today was the first school day that the kids woke up at our house since their Dad moved.  The morning routine needed to change accordingly.  We all got up earlier (urgh) and left the house earlier so that we could get to Daddy’s which is now further away.  We left the house at 7:05 and I got to work at about 8:45.  That should be doable.  The only downside is that after a few weeks we’ll start getting lazy and slow in the morning and we’ll be leaving at 7:10… then 7:15… then 7:20… and so on and so forth.

I tried to get the kids talking about their experiences at the new school.  I never had to change school systems so I don’t know how tough it really is, but I do remember kids coming into our schools and having trouble with it.

Q: What is your favorite part of the new school?
A: The special classes (art, music, ect) and playing team handball in gym.

Q: What is your least favorite part of the new school?
A: Whole wheat bagels and recess is only 20 minutes.

Q: Are there any school subjects that you are doing in class that you hadn’t started at your old school?
A: Negative numbers and Geography.

Q: How are the other kids treating you?
A: Fine, everyone is nice.

I also asked my step daughter if she had started saxophone lessons at the new school and she said she hadn’t and wasn’t sure how to go about starting.  I recommended she ask her teacher.  I asked about chorus too and got the same response.  I told her to ask about that as well, but that she might have to wait until after the Christmas concert before she can join.

The one issue my step son was having was that he still doesn’t have his lunch ticket yet.  His sister does, and yesterday the lunch lady found him in the computer system, so he should be all set.  He just needs to ask his teacher how to get the card.

Obviously I have been worried about how they are going to handle the new school work and the new rules, and how the other kids would treat them.  I think they are the two best kids in the universe and I want everyone else to agree with me.  I insist that everyone else agree with me.  Still, changing schools can be tough and I want them to succeed, so I am going to keep needling them for information.  Today they were very open and up front with me.  There was no shyness when they answered my questions.  There was no anger or stress in their answers.  They seem to be cool with the whole situation.  That’s a huge relief.

Patches thinks the open drawer on Jen’s dresser would make a pretty got place to sack out.

Today’s commute was a touch under 90 minutes.  I got stopped for a bit on 213, got stopped for quite a bit on 495, and from there it was buses.  Five of them.  The first one was on North Street in Tewksbury and I think it made a slew of stops.  There was one that the car in front of me stopped to let pull out in front of us.  There was another that cut me off.  That’s the same one that made a stop and the driver decided to shoot the shit with a parent.  There was that great moment that did not happen, but almost happened, where the school bus I was stuck behind almost got stopped by a school bus heading in the other direction. 

Most days I have nothing but good luck with school buses.  Surprisingly good luck actually.  Most days I manage to avoid them all together.  It’s really rare to get stuck behind more than one.  I can’t say for sure if five is the record, but if it’s not it’s got to be pretty close.

Did you see the Bruins game tonight? They beat New Jersey 4-3. It was a lot of fun to watch. Each time we scored to take the lead they came right back and tied it. Both teams had tons of scoring chances. That’s the kind of game you want to see. The opposite of that piece of garbage between Tampa and Philly last week. (Google it, but suffice to say the highlight was players standing around doing nothing. Literally.)

Oh, while I have your attention let me change the subject and publicly state that I am already 100% sick of Christmas. Every store I go into is playing Christmas music. The cafe at work is playing Christmas music. I drove past a house on the way home tonight that was decked out with Christmas lights. It’s November 15th. Screw this. I’m sick of it already.

End rant.

495 North, again.

Do you live in New England?  Have you noticed the weather?

We had a small snow fall followed by a couple of days later by a more serious snow fall in late October.  Other than that, and the leaves on the ground, I can’t tell if we’re in the late stages of Fall or Spring.  It’s in the 60’s again today.  I haven’t needed to wear a jacket for the last three days.  This morning I actually wore shorts outside to take out the trash.  It’s that crazy.  Two days ago we had the air conditioning on in the car.

Yes, I am aware that I am jinxing things, but I just have to acknowledge this seasons ridiculously warm and happy weather (again, excluding those two days with snow.  Especially that second day when most of the region lost power.  That sucked).

I am dreaming of a green Thanksgiving.  Hell, I’m dreaming of a green Christmas and New Year’s too!

This caused a short back up on 495N.