120° and melting

I was excited there was rain again this morning, but completely forgot that suffocating humidity comes with it.  

If you don't already know, the ghetto van does not have AC.  And normally, just opening the windows is good enough for the little running around I have to do.  Everything is so close that even if I did have working AC, by the time it got the van cooled, we'd be home.

Today, today was pure torture!  

S and I went to book distribution at the high school (exactly 2.6 miles from the house) around 9:30 this morning, then made a quick stop at the Wal-marts (on the way home) when we got done around noon.

In that very short time in the van, a total of 10 minutes, I contracted a severe case of the sweats.

It was so gross.

I was soaked from my head to my toes by the time we got home.  It's so hot and sticky out, diving into the pool isn't much help.  The only cure is to stand directly in front of the fan with it blasting on high.

I wondered what the humidity and temps were (I was thinking it was at least 90°), so I looked it up and guess what?

It was only 88°, but the humidity level was at 58%!

58%!?!?

I'm surprised I'm still alive!

We'll see if I make it when I go out again to take S back to school for cheer practice.

If you don't hear from me by tomorrow, I just may have melted....

The start of school. I love it, I hate it.

School starts in two weeks.

I can't wait for that first day.  (These kids need to GET OUT!) 

Yet I can.

High school is the worst.

I sometimes wish high school was like it was when I was a kid.

Other times, I don't.

Let me explain.  

I did not go to a traditional high school.  I went to a school that had grades 5-12 in it.  

Yeah. 

That's right.

You heard me.

All 8 grades in one building.  It was a pretty big building.

My graduating class had 51 students in it.  98% of which I went to kindergarten with.  And I knew their younger/older brother(s)/sister(s), cousins, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles....

You get the picture.

When I went to school and got to my Freshman year and wanted to take an art class, I did.  I picked what art class I wanted, what period of the day it in fit amongst my other required courses, and which art teacher I wanted.

When my siblings wanted to join the band, they did.  

We wanted to take pottery.  We did.

Now, my kids, if they want to take an art class, choir, dance, ceramics or anything other than Math, English, History or a Foreign Language you have to pay for it.

That's right.  We have to pay for our kids' elective activities.  And any sports they wish to participate in.

All students have to pay a dollar activity fee.  No matter what.  If they want to take, say choir, like S does, that's a $30 activity fee PLUS a course fee of $50.  

So for one kid, that's $80 to take one elective.  

FOR ONE KID!!

I remember S had a friend her Freshman year who was in cheer, on the swim team, the softball team and I also think the volleyball team.  That's a lot of activity fees to pay.

Not to mention; when did she have time for homework?  Or socializing?  Especially with the schedule they have in cheer.

Despite all the fees, I wish had the choices they do in electives.  They have a ton of art choices, apparel and design, merchandising, photography, ceramics.  The list goes on and on.  

I'd probably have a hard time choosing. But I might've been able to figure out what to do for a career.

Because I still have no clue what I want to be when I grow up.

OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!

Just the other day I changed my signature so it now at the bottom of every post it says Ramblings by the Insane Queen.

That same day S was telling her sisters I was like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

S: The Queen says 'Come play croquette with me.  We'll have lots of fun.'  Then yells 'OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!'  With mom it's 'GO TO YOUR ROOM!'

She's now out of the will.

Now GO TO YOUR ROOM!!

I don't play the saxaphone. So get over it.

I come from a family of musicians.  My mother played piano and my three sisters and brother all played various instruments in our high school band. 

I, on the other hand, did not play an instrument. 

Oh, I tried.  Believe me, I tried.  Like my sisters before me, and my sister and brother after me, in the 4th grade I took up the flute.  Not because I really wanted to learn how to play, but because it seemed expected of me. 

Don't get me wrong.  I love music.  I love singing.  And dancing.  

Although I should only do either one in a room with no one in it!  

I'm rhythmically challenged and tone deaf.  Not a good combination for someone who may want to play the flute.

Or dance.

Or sing.

I soon learned my artistic talents lay in the art room.  The first time, in the fifth grade, I set foot in the art room, I was in love.  All the sights of colors and designs around me were like a crackhead in a crack store.  

I could live in that room.

And the smell.  Oh, the lovely scent of the art room.  

Don't even get me going on the smell of the art room.  There is no better smell (other than fresh cut grass and rain) than paint, turpentine, clay and whatever else there is in that lovely room of creativity.

I took art all four years in high school, and while Mom and Dad went to every single band concert my sisters and brother were in (dragging me with them) there were very few art exhibits. 

In fact, I think our school had a total of three exhibits!  And all were all held on the same nights as the damn band concerts!!  I couldn't even get my own night to show off my talent!  

Can you tell I'm a little bitter with the band?? 

Damn band geeks.

Unfortunately, as much as I loved the art room and drawing and painting, I have done very little over the years. 

Painting a wall, or chair does not count.  I still have my charcoals from back then, and my sketching pencils, gum eraser and calligraphy pen.  Oh, yes, I even did calligraphy.

But now, all that is done on the computer.  And although designing on the computer can be fun, it's just not the same as getting out the sketch pad, pencils, water colors, or acrylics and scribbling away.

And it sure doesn't smell the same either.

*'The Boot' was done by me.  Click on the image for a larger view.  Notice in the lower right hand corner the date (1983) and my grade (95).

First grade paste eater

The other day S and I were talking.  About what, I can't remember.  But some how we got on the subject of eating things.

Things that you really shouldn't eat. But most kids have.

One of those things was grass.  And by grass, I mean the green stuff that grows on your front lawn.  Not the other stuff.  

I grew up in New England where the grass is way different than the grass here.  And I told the girls that, yes, I've eaten grass when I was a kid.

Horses and cows eat it.  I can't be that bad.  My sisters, brother and I have all tried it.  

Some of it is actually kinda sweet.

That lead to "What else have you eaten that's not food, Mom?"

Well, here is what I've eaten* as a kid that wasn't food.  For humans.

*horse grain (Not bad.  Kinda sweet.  The molasses we'd mix into it is gross) 

*clover (yum!)

*I've licked a salt lick (Yuck!)

*chewed on a maple branch (Oh so sweet & yummy!)

*honey suckle (we'd suck out the 'sweetness' from the centers)

*crayons (They're nothing like wax lips!)

Do you see a pattern here?  Other than the salt lick and crayons.

The list grosses them out.  And makes them think I'm even weirder.  Probably because they live no where near a farm, and I grew up down the road from one.

And the last thing I told them I've eaten, is the very common kid eaten item of paste. 

Which, if I remember, wasn't all that bad because I don't ever remember gagging and throwing up.

Every kid in the first grade has eaten or tasted paste.  It's like a rite of passage in elementary school.

And every elementary school had that one kid who was always eating the paste!

During art time, he was the one who would cause the teacher to whisper to her aid; "Remember to watch Randy with the paste.  We're running low."

C'mon, admit it.  You've eaten paste, too.  I know you have.

You've probably chewed pencils, too!

What weird thing(s) did you eat as a kid?

*By eaten, I mean I've tasted a small amount of it.  Unless it was grass and clover.  I ate quite a bit of those growing up.  I don't eat them any more.  Only because AZ doesn't have the good stuff like they have in MA!  I'm just kidding.  Okay.  I'm not.  I'd probably still eat grass, and definitely clover if it was near by.