Hi there! I Live.

 This blog, not so much. Sorry about that. It's been limping along for so long, and I feel guilty for abandoning it. Blogging seems to have gone the way of cave paintings. 

Anyway, everybody's well here. The grandchildren, aka the Kid and the Prince and the NC girls who (mostly for privacy reasons) aren't discussed much here are all doing great. The adults are too. 

I remain plugged in to the insanity this country is going through, and because this isn't my first recession disaster movie, (though this one is truly the most insane) I have not picked a firm retirement date yet, because yeah. My employer is still paying me, appreciates me, and wants me to stick around, so whee, it looks like I'll still be working full time until I'm closing in on 68, if not beyond. I will never, ever forgive the ASSHOLES WHO VOTED FOR THIS AND FUCKED UP MY RETIREMENT. FUCK YOU. May your children go no contact.  

And that's all I have to say about that.  Well, I have a lot more to say, but blood pressure, etc.

Anyway, I'm focusing on gratitude for all the things that AREN'T fucked up for me and mine.  

The Kid's volleyball team will be playing in New Orleans and I forget what other city in competition next spring, and this and the age of her mother's car means a family Disney cruise in spring 2026 ain't looking promising.  

She's planning her high school plan, and trying to decide between the IB program at the school she's zoned for that offers it, or AP classes at her local HS, which is the school her mother and uncle attended. It was A rated when they went there, now it has a Republican government C. 

Despite that I honestly am leaning AP for her, because while the International Baccalaureate program is certainly something she's capable of doing, between the commute and the course load and her volleyball, it just sounds like too much. High school should be fun and have time for exploration of choices. She could do what her mother did and knock out her freshman year of college via AP classes and still have a life beyond the academic grind.  

IB = a leg up on her dream of an Ivy, but let's get real, she's very smart and ambitious FL girl who probably should focus more on thinking about her future beyond college. Regardless of her choice,  she'll get into a good school NOT in FL, do well, etc. etc., but I want her to choose something she genuinely finds interesting and worth her time.

If I'd had the chance to do that, I'd be retiring as an environmental biologist or a zoologist right about now, instead of a former paralegal who was lucky enough to transfer her previous life into a decent research gig that pays the bills but isn't very stimulating, but hey, pays the bills and I shall be grateful. I AM grateful. 

The Prince is splendid. Truly splendid. Sometimes I think about his birth and the hole in his heart and the weeks in the NICU and all that DRAMA, and about how many things could have gone wrong with him and his mental and physical development. He's not just normal, he's splendid.

He's not just healthy and normal for his age, he dazzled his pediatrician at his checkup. His doctor said the usual height-weight calculations do not do his overall development justice, and his grandma was so glad to hear it.  (He's also developing above average on height-weight etc., but his personality is already way above average.) I am not surprised, because both his parents are very above average humans, but the Drama surrounding his birth did leave us all with fingers crossed that he would emerge unscathed. He did. Case closed. He's just an above average and ridiculously cute little boy. 

I was so happy when they got him into his amazing school. This daycare/preschool has been in business since his mom was his age, and it's one of those legacy places where parents who went there send their kids there, so he was lucky to get in (I didn't get his mom and uncle in). They mixed their own waffle batter and ate their own waffles! I mean, seriously!!  

He has had a haircut at Daddy's barber since these were taken. 

His awesome mommy made the best Thanksgiving plans ever: Reservations! We will be doing Thanksgiving at Raglan Road again. It's been a couple of years and I'm delighted to do it again.  Then we'll do a bit of the Christmas Tree Stroll, and maybe hit my two favorite stores:  Basin and Bowes Candles.  I'm also taking a couple of days off post Thanksgiving. We will hit the Epcot Festival of the Holidays, because the Prince is now getting up to speed on what Christmas is all about (yeah, at 18 months he's figuring this stuff out) and needs to meet La Befana and Father Christmas, our two must visit holiday storytellers.