Wednesday, August 5, 2009

It's a beautiful day in the 'hood

Michael says that last post was cheating. Whatever.

Ben is going to a Math, Science & Technology middle magnet school in a few weeks. In the ghetto. That's the thing about magnet schools. When Ben & I did a "drive by" of the school, he made note that it was right next door to a coin laundry. The girls also attended a magnet middle school, but in not such a bad neighborhood. It also wasn't such a great school. Not enough research our part,as far as the school goes, but we had a nice carpool & Megan, in particular made some lifelong friends. Ben's new school, however, has a great reputation & we think that the Math, Science & Technology focus will be right up his alley.

When we got home from our cruise, there was a letter from the school informing us of an Open House at the school, 2 weeks before school starts. That's unusual for this area, as all of the Open Houses are usually the night before the 1st day & we end up running around like fools trying to make it all of them. I was so excited about this, but disappointed when I realized it was on a Wednesday night & I would have to rearrange Ben's drum lesson.

Ugh. You see, I hate, hate, hate calling "people". I will call my friends every day, especially if I need to clean my house. (I think I've mentioned before that I love to clean house while I talk on the phone, but I can't find it right now & if I EVER want to get this post written, I'll have to forgo a link to it...), but "people", ugh no. Appointments? Tech Support? Reservations? Placing To Go Orders? Parent/Teacher issues? Lawn guy issues? Nope. If there is any way out of it,
I. just. won't. do. it.

Unfortunately, his drum lessons are at a small local music shop that "doesn't do" online appointments. So after putting it off for about 10 days or so (and, I know it sounds crazy, but I really stressed about it), I finally called Monday morning & had his lesson pushed up an hour. No big deal. Really. (Except that I have to also change next week's appointment, when Ben will be out of town...but that's a nervous breakdown for another day)

Meanwhile, I've nagged the be-jeezus out of Michael for the past 2 weeks, to make sure that he had no appointments this evening & that he got home in plenty of time to escort his boy & I to "the hood".

And I ironed a nice outfit, so as to make a good first impression.

And I straightened my hair.

And I made a casserole for dinner so that Megan could heat it up, no-fuss while we were gone. (Jordan had soccer practice)

And, for a reason that really doesn't matter, we had to make a stop at Joanne's, where Megan was babysitting her brood, to trade out cars.

All went as planned. We even made it to the school with half an hour to spare...which is great because I didn't know if parking or finding a seat would be an issue.

You know where I'm going with this, right?!

The gate was closed. The sign on the school looked something like this...

So, it looks like we're heading back to the 'hood tomorrow. At least I don't have to call anyone about it.

3 comments:

Ben said...

don't you be hating on meh 'hood.

Unknown said...

Mwah ha ha ha ha ha...

And I LOVE that you knew how to make a sign like that. You are so techy.

Joanne said...

oh my ... another trip to the hood! No worries, I've done that before ... Mom's can't remember anything all the time.