Honor

A couple months ago Bugaboo received a letter saying she had been nominated for the National Honor Society. I didn't think she'd want to do it, but the day the application and essays were due she scrambled to get it all in on time.

A few weeks after that I got a letter saying she had been accepted. Woo hoo! I thought it was very exciting but she didn't seem to share my enthusiasm. She took the letter and put it in her room.

As she was leaving for school on Monday the 3rd of this month she said, "Are you going to be there tonight? It starts at 7 and I'm supposed to work until then, but maybe I can get someone to take my last lesson and cover for me." Huh? SSB was out of town for the day and Taz had a guitar lesson from 6:45 to 7:30. That's all I knew about.

As I stared at her blankly she said, "The NHS ceremony is tonight." I told her the obstacles in the way but that I would try. Really hard. She left saying OK and still acting like it was no big deal.

I got Dupree to take Taz to his lesson and Pootie watched the younger kids so I got to go to the ceremony. As I was driving into the parking lot Bugaboo texted me, "Are you coming????" Geez. For someone who wants to seem like she doesn't care about this, she sure was caring a lot about this!

Her boyfriend The Cradle Robber met me at the auditorium door and we sat as close to the front as possible. We saw her over on the side and made faces at her, which got us both an admonishing text message. :)

I texted her to just wait because we were going to jump up and down and scream when her name got called.

We didn't do it though. The ceremony wasn't too long or boring and she didn't trip as she walked across the stage to sign her name in the book so it was all good.

All of us are very proud of her.

Bandicoot

About a month ago I had the Novasure endometrial ablation done and I went for a follow up visit with my OB/GYN the other day. Unbeknownst to me there were stitches IN THERE that she took out during the visit. *Shudder* I didn't really feel anything but driving home after had me squirming in my seat the whole way.

It was Pootie's birthday and Bugaboo was going to get her a pair of shoes. I had picked them up earlier that day but forgot to mention it to Bugaboo so I called her to catch her before she went to get them. She answered the phone all out of breath and said, "We just got here. I'll call you right back." I started to ask "Who got where?" since she was grounded but she just repeated that she'd call me back and hung up.

Now I squirmed even more.

And waited. And waited and waited.

Finally she called back and said, "We're on Parkview." What does that mean? I said, "WHO is?"

B: "Me and the other girl."

Me: "What other girl? What are you talking about?"

B: "The girl that hit me!"

Me: "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?? I called about SHOES!"

B: "Oh. Well. I was on my home after school and someone in front of me stopped really fast and so I stopped really fast and the girl behind me didn't."

OMG. She has had her license for less than 4 months. The day she got her permit last summer, as we were going home from getting it, she was hit by a car also. Sideswiped by a guy coming out of a parking lot 2 lanes over. that first one definitely wasn't her fault and technically getting rear-ended is always the other person's fault, but there are things a more experienced driver may have done to avoid both situations. I can't bear the thought of teaching 5 more kids to drive and worrying every time they get behind the wheel.

Happy VD

The sweetness of my little Bugaboo is being squandered.

Although I have always felt she was just a little too special for us and we didn't quite deserve to have such a perfect child, I know without a shadow of a doubt that the shining magnificence that is her is utterly wasted on the boy she has.

Until they are about 10, little boys are sweet and thoughtful and loving and considerate and will give their Mommies a Valentine with unabashed enthusiasm. But as the testosterone level rises, the thoughtfulness diminishes. (Usually. There ARE exceptions that prove the rule, such as my SSB!) The women in their lives - moms, sisters, grammas, girlfriends and wives - get fewer and fewer tokens as the years pass. Women are fully aware of this phenomenon but we somehow keep holding on to a thread of hope anyway. Eventually after enough slamming of doors, stomping of feet and glaring of eyes the boy will learn what to do on special occasions, but what he really is learning is that he HATES special occasions. Especially Valentine's Day.

Last night Bugaboo went straight to work right after school then to Wal-Mart to get her boy a Valentine present. She came home just before 9:00 and stayed up late making a homemade card for him. Here it is:

Isn't that cute?

And she bought him a little purple hedgehog holding a heart that says "Kiss Me". It was the most masculine thing she could find. She put it in a bag that she decorated. She really is a very talented artist. Wouldn't you love to get this for Valentines Day?

So every morning they write notes to each other and before school she puts his in his bag while he's swimming and gets hers out. This morning, Valentine's morning, he asked if it was OK if he didn't give her a note because his mom woke him up 10 minutes late and he was rushed. I told her he's probably just playing with her, making her expect nothing when he really has a great Valentine for her. I knew in my heart of hearts that was probably not the case, but I clung tightly to that thread.

Alas, testosterone won out over the ever-present female hope and there was nothing there for her. Oh foolish, foolish boy. Even if he somehow thought he could survive the fury of a woman scorned, that is nothing compared to the fury of the mother of the scorned. The story actually does get worse, but you all are already thinking he doesn't deserve her (and rightly so) and I don't want to be TOO hard on him in public. Not during Lent anyway. But he better lay low for a while and stay away from me. It could be ugly otherwise. Grrr!

Local Celebrity

The results of the District Swimming and Diving championships were published in the local paper on Monday and the accompanying picture was none other than our very own Bugaboo! She's famous! I guess since her times weren't fast enough to print, they just had to include her picture because everyone in town loves her so much! :)

She thinks its an ugly picture, but she was pretty happy about it.

Doryboo Grumpy Gils

Remember this song Dory sings in "Finding Nemo"? (I KNOW my sister and her daughter do!)


Bugaboo had Swim and Dive Districts last night. There were about 8 schools there and only the top 6 swimmers from each event get to go on to Regionals. She did not make it, but we are very proud of her anyway. She was first in her heat for the 200 and 2nd in her heat for the 500.

She is not too disappointed. She didn't really expect to go on. She WAS upset during her 500 though because her lap counters forgot about her so no one was down at the end showing her what lap she was on until about the 5th. It was actually OK because she was neck and neck with the girl next to her and it was early on, but she didn't know if they were going to remember her or not. She had to just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

She kept her chin up throughout the race and was nice to the girl who won, but as soon as she got out of the water she started to melt. Her BF swims for a rival school, which happened to be at this meet too, and he tried to congratulate and talk to her, but even HE got the big blow off. Wow! She MUST have been upset!