No Minivan

Sorry my first post back was so incredibly bitchy. The funk has decended this week and I can’t seem to shake it. Hopefully, it will pass soon.

In other news, did I mention I just got back from the motherfrakking Netherlands?!?! How cool is that? I stayed in a great litle village just a few miles from the sea and took a gorgeous bike ride to the beach one night. I was there for work, but I made sure to make time for fun this time since I was there for a week. On Friday night, I stayed at a hotel near Schiphol Airport and explored Amsterdam Centraal. For those up on your voetbal, you already know that was the night that Holland won against Brazil. Needless to say, there was great merryment in the streets. I’ll post some pictures and video soon.

During my mad travels over the last 3 weeks, I also made a stop in Raleigh, NC and picked up my very first designer handbag (yes, you heard that right: handbag. Not purse. Don’t be hatin’.). I was so impressed with Marty’s story of the stolen bag and the designer’s willingness to replace it for her, free of charge (who does that?!). Plus, the bags are so cute and damn near indestructable, I had to get one of my very own. Unfortunately, the bag I bought is too small for the great wealth of crap I carry around from day to day. Lucky for me, the very awesome Holly Aiken agreed to let me exchange my bag for a larger version when I return to Raleigh later this month since I haven’t used it!

Another exciting (to me) purchase was my new brown work shoes. My old ones were falling apart and I was having a terrible time finding a new pair that was comfortable and looked decent with a pair of khaki dress pants. These little gems fit the bill, with the caveat that I have to put band aids over the bone under my big toe otherwise they rub very painfully on that spot.

In kid news, the Kid smacked his little brother in the mouth with the metal gate that’s between the kitchen and the living room and chipped his front tooth. Luckily they both already had an appointment witht he dentist that week. Boo’s tooth is OK and the dentist filed off the sharp edge, but he’s going to have a chipped smile until his baby teeth fall out in a few years. The Kid has had a bad run of doing things that end up with his briother crying lately. I think now that Boo is getting a little older/bigger, he forgets that he still outweighs him by 50 pounds. I’ve got an older kid off the charts in weight/height and a younger kid below the 30th percentile. Add that to the fact that they’re 4 years apart and you can see that it’s a dangerous combination when they play rough (as boys are wont to do).

We have an appointment with the Kid’s principal and one of the teachers tomorrow. We had the school administer some additional tests to see if he could be accelerated to 2nd grade next year. Really, I’m not sold on him skipping grades (even though socially he does do better with older kids), I just want the school to formally recognize his “smarts” and teach him accordingly. It was ridiculous that a kid who reads on a 4th grade level (according to the school) be teached the basics of the alphabet and letter sounds for an entire school year. I want him taught on his level and to be challenged (more than just once a week in the gifted program), whether that’s in 1st or 2nd grade.

I’ve got a few other things I want to talk about, but I’ll save that for another post!