4 Day Weekend!

Hello all! As the subject line suggests, I'm in the midst of a 4 day weekend, and I hardly know what to do with myself! Got most of my chores done yesterday, so I'm ready to play...

This week was not as sleep deprived as the last. I DID take on a project that kept me late at work most days (who me, take on extra projects? never!). I'd pitched at "Back to School" week, with news-you-can-use stories about getting ready to get your kids back in school. That turned into a "Back to School" two weeks...so I had extra planning, phone calls, and in some cases field producing to do. So far, they're going well...getting on the air and playing in multiple shows...so at least I'm meeting my goals.

Speaking of back to school: Mercutio is ready! We got his placement 10 days ago...our 4th choice out of 4. Went to the central office and put in a transfer request, and Jeff cut through some of the red tape in the magnate office and got an application in there. The crazy thing is, they won't even tell us if the transfer's been approved or denied for 15 days...that means AFTER school starts. So, to find out what we were getting ourselves (our son) into, we met with the principal at the school he'd been assigned to. She was very nice, and helped answer many of the questions we had. Turns out, we kind of got assigned to a magnate school, without applying. Byck Elementary is a Waldorf-style school. Most of the teachers are certified Waldorf specialists...and people actually choose to go there because of that. It seems a little hippy-dippy, touchy-feely (even for me), but the weekly evaluations the teacher's do make me feel better about Mercutio's needs being met. I'm most worried about him getting bored, because when that happens you don't know what he'll do: check out, cause trouble, vibrate in place...your pick. Byck's got a lot of things going for it, though, and I'm trying to look beyond the low test scores (the principal explained why and what-for about those). On the upside, it's a very diverse school, both racially, ethnically (they have a special ESL program, with children who've immigrated from Asia and Africa) and socioeconomically; it has what's called an Advanced Program, where if Merc is pacing ahead of his classmates in any subject a special teacher comes in to work with him; and the Waldorf ideals have the kids learn through movement and art, with the boy loves.

He's a little nervous about starting at a new school. Jeff and I have talked to him about how many times we did it as kids, and how he'll make friends, etc. I think he's most nervous about riding the bus. We've talked about that too, so hopefully the fears won't get too big. Our bus stop is about 2 blocks away from the house, and we've walked the route, and driven by it several times to make it familiar. We got the last of his uniforms and school supplies this weekend...and boy did he need new shoes! He's been wearing flip flops all summer (or going barefoot) and when he had to put on his tennis shoes I'm surprised he didn't cry out! The new ones are flashy, and after running up and down the aisles at Target, he's given them the "I can run fast in them" seal of approval. Buying a belt for a skinny-mini is interesting, though...

We're still trying to get our bearings as to places to become "regulars" in Louisville. Sure, we're regulars at Krispy Kreme (duh), and I stop at Cafe Beignet every Saturday (duh x2), but we haven't found a butcher yet, or a grocery store that can satisfy all our foodie requests. Kroger is good for regular stuff, but finding some of the Asian or Mediterranean ingredients, or even some of the things good ole Mario Batali has in my new favorite cookbook "Malto Italiano". I highly recommend it, and I'm considering doing a Julie/Julia-like challenge of myself to cook everything in the book. Yummo. I am going to do a little research since I have time this loooong weekend, hunting down a good market...

The reason I'm home for 4 days: we're launching a Sunrise Weekend starting next weekend...and until staffing issues are all shaken out, I'm producing it. Wish me luck, because I have nothing on the books yet. Haven't gotten all the information I need to put together a template. Hope that's in by Wednesday...or I might have to truly wing it (not good for a producer in TV news, believe me).

We're planning a trip to Holiday World Monday. Should be fun, and I've promised that I'd ride several swirly-gig-type rides...hope I don't lose my lunch!

That's all that's going on in our world right now. Not much, when you think about it...but too much when you just don't want to go outside into the humid-smelly-hot world.

Catching you on the flip side

Sorry I missed writing last week...work seemed to take over my life and that meant I pretty much slept all weekend, hence no time to get on a computer or to (frankly) get out of my pajamas.

It is still incredibly hot, and unbearably humid in the River City.  We went driving through the country yesterday (more on that in a minute)  and the corn looks so dry, I will be surprised if yields are very good this year.  It's weird, because we got soooo much rain this spring that everything flooded.  And then it all dried up.

Last Saturday Jeff, Mercutio and I went to Locust Grove, the home of one of the founders of Louisville.  We went because I got a press release at work saying the place would be giving free tours and such, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the city/state acquiring the property.  Turns out the freebie day was SUNDAY, so we decided to leave and come back.  We took Merc to the spray-ground along the river to cool off instead.  It was nice.  
Merc ran around like a maniac with some other little boys, and Jeff and I sat in the shade and chatted.  The boy got a little pink on the shoulders, but otherwise was ok.

Yesterday our outing was to northern Indiana, and a family farm that's banking on the "agritainment" industry.  They have a bunch of orchards, and sells produce and fruit, jams and jellies...and then has add-ons like a restaurant, a fishing pond, several outbuildings to rent for events, and an ice cream parlor.  We bought  a big box of peaches (which are GOOD), some sweet corn, a cantaloupe that is to die for, and some garlic.  It was a nice drive up and down hills.  Everything looks pretty dry, especially the corn fields.  The farm is supposed to have grapes in the coming weeks, and we'd like to try them.  I've never had grapes outside of those you can get at the grocery store...oh and mustang grapes from Proctor (which I didn't like).  They're supposed to have a bunch of different kinds of apples coming in too...and I love a good apple, or 4.  So far, we've eaten peaches in the hand, on cereal, peach salsa with chips, and I've got the fixings to make peach ice cream.  All is good with the world.

We are continuing our trudge through the JCPS school district, trying to find the right place for Merc to go to school.  I filled out the application week before last, and didn't get a call until Thursday of this last week about where he'd been placed.  Of course, it was the last school on our list (you get to pick 4, 2 from a list of the lowest performing schools, 2 from the ones doing better).  It's actually the closest school in our group to our house, so he won't be on the bus for an hour each way, but we're still trying to figure out if it's a place he can grow.  As soon as we got the news about his placement, we went to the district office to apply for a transfer to one of the better performing schools.  Jeff also talked to the magnate office (who told me weeks ago: you have to apply by February, and if you don't you're out of luck) who let him get an application in for the boy.  I tell you, I'm so sick of gate-keepers I can hardly stand it.  I want to talk to someone who can GET THINGS DONE.  Anyway, the school he was assigned to is a Waldorf-inspired school.  Seems very touchy feely, and very humanities based...when anyone who meets him knows Mercutio is a math and science kind of kid.  We are meeting with the principal this week, and will base a decision after that.

Either way...we got the boy uniforms!  Old Navy had a sale this weekend, and Merc and I went Friday to beat the Saturday crowds.  All I have to say about that is:  I actually like the idea of school uniforms (he looks very good in them) and I can't believe how long of leg and skinny of waist Mercutio is!  Bought 2 pair of pants, that he will not be able to wear come December.  They are way too big in the middle, and I can tell his ankles will be poking out of the bottoms by Christmas!  We still have a couple of things to get (I was informed this week that he has no underpants that fit, so he's been going commando all summer...very matter-of-factly I might add, while we made dinner), but I think we're in the home stretch to be ready for school...which starts August 15th.

As to the work taking over my life:  WAVE3 is hiring a new Assistant News Director, and as part of the interview process each candidate sits through a round-table gauntlet-style interview with the middle managers (which includes me).  Of course, since most interviews don't take place at 2AM, which would be convenient for me but not for anyone else, I had a lot (4 out of 5) of long hour days staying for that meeting, or coming home and going back to the station.  In the end we talked to some pretty good candidates, and I hope our input helps my boss decide who her second in command should be.  Of course, then comes the real work.  All but one of the middle echelon people has been here a year or less (the news director's been here a little over a year), and there's still and "us vs. them" attitude in the newsroom, and a pervailing feeling that the people who've been here awhile and seen a few things are willing to keep on keeping on, waiting out the current regime.  I hope the new AND helps with that.

It's a HOT July

So glad that I'm getting a positive response to these emails.  Several of you have commented on them, and I appreciate it.  It's not a requirement, mind you, just acknowledged and like a bunch!

This week someone turned up the heat here in Louisville, and I saying it's hot doesn't really give it justice.  It's only in the 90's, but the humidity is, well, in the 90's (at least it feels like it).  Most of the time it's like walking through soup.  Again, my mother would melt.  I remember when she visited us in southern Illinois (where the weather is much the same), and how she just wilted.  Luckily, she'll be visiting us in the fall (fingers crossed!), so she won't have to deal with the oppressive, suffocating, unavoidable heat/humidity combo that pushes our heat indexes through the roof.  Seriously, a temp of 92 and a heat index of 115?  That's what we're living with... And I'm sorry to my lovelies in Texas, I know you've dealt with much higher temps, for much longer.  I want to wrap you in ice cream and dunk you in a pool every time I see it on the news-feeds.

Speaking of news-feeds, we made the national one this week.  You might have seen video of a huge water main break on the Nightly News Tuesday?  That was about 6 blocks from our house.  A 40 inch pipe, one of the biggest in the city, burst Monday night.

We had water running down our street like a river.  Most of the center of the city was on a boil order for 2-3 days...from the river all the way to the highway that loops around the city.  Some big companies downtown, even closed down for the day Tuesday.  Not too big a deal for us, personally.  Jeff just filled the huge stew pot, boiled it, and we used that for the 2 days it took to come off the boil order.  The biggest problem was getting dishes washed.  It's hard not really washing what we use for 2 days...they really pile up!

Backtracking a bit...we went to the Blues and BBQ festival down by the river last weekend, this time on the Louisville-side, at a place everyone calls "the water tower".  There's a big, old water tower (obviously) and a cleared out space where they hold concerts and festivals.  It was nice.  

We ran into some work friends there, by accident.  The three of us had just walked in, and were getting the lay of the land, when something hit me in the back!  It felt like someone had shot a rubber-band at me...I had no idea where it came from.  Turns out it was my producer David, and a chunk of ice.  He was surprised he hit me, it was quite a distance, and there were people milling about.  He's lucky he didn't hit somebody else!  We enjoyed the music, and have decided that we'll visit the brick and mortar restaurant of the booth we tried.  Very tasty.

I'm still jumping through the hoops of the Jefferson County Public Schools gauntlet, trying to get Mercutio into a decent school.  I've heard different things from different people, and it had started to stress me out.  See, they have an assignment plan, designed to increase diversity in the schools, and even out the playing field between lower and higher economic neighborhoods.  Sounds good in theory, in practice...not so much.  I finally found a number for parent assistance buried on the JCPS website, and got the straight poop from someone there.  Of course, like I've said already:  I've heard differing accounts with every person I've talked to, but I'm choosing to believe what this woman said.  Basically, you go to your point school, fill out an application and choose your top 4 schools.  Merc will be assigned to one of them.  We've done our research and picked our schools.  Unfortunately you have to pick 2 from group "a" and 2 from group "b".  We don't know which schools are in which group, so if all of ours are in group "a", we have to come up with a plan "b". Understand?  Yeah, neither do we.  I've already gotten my mama-bear weapons sharpened.  I'll dive in to do battle this week.

In our quest to try out local restaurants we walked a block and a half to Carly Rae's.  We won't be going back.  Food was all pre-fab, and over-priced.  They had a nice patio though, where I snapped this:

It might have been nice back in my drinking days...but now, not. so. much.  The only time we might try it is for the brunch buffet they have of Saturdays and Sundays.  Other than that, no thanks.

Catching Up

So my hopes of bogging more than
once a week haven't come to fruition.
But I figure if I can make use of my
Saturday mornings ( which seem to be early and quiet-very quiet) by posting all at once.
Here goes.
Produced the 6 am this week b/c my producer was on vacation. I joked that
I'd get into the groove" of it by Thursday.
That joke turned out to be exactly what happened.

Tuesdays have become my least favorite day of the week. With Derby planning,
staff/ mgt meetings and my 3rd shift schedule-it works out I get about
4 hours of sleep between midnight Sunday and 3pm Tuesday.
This in a word: Sucks.
Had to have a strange conversation with the boy. Jeff started it with,
"Dude, we live in a boy house."
What followed was a discussion of how some behavior that's acceptable at our
house (dominated by males-because I'm the only female, and not super militant about it)
There had been an unfortunate incident at a friend's house with an insensitive
action I have no idea where he learned.
We had to talk about the difference between acting like a boy a "young gentleman."
It was strange.
I've never thought of myself as girlie but also hadn't realized that my gender status had taken 2nd fiddle in my home.
Don't know how I feel about this.

I can't get enough of the Steig Larsson books on tape. I've made it to "The Girl who Played with Fire."
It's riveting. I highly recommend it.

Books on tape (on MP3 on my phone) are quite possibly the greatest thing ever.
I can scratch my itch for books while on the road and pretty much doing whatever.
Love it.

My Saturday mornings have been getting earlier and earlier.
I've started a habit of heading to Starbucks.
The boy orders a hot chocolate as I walkout the door.
Not sure about this.

I've come to the conclusion having a Bengal Cat is not much different than having a toddler in the house.
He gets into everything and is immensely entertaining.

Lightbulbs

Ever have that aha moment?
When a light bulb goes off over your
head and you realize you are exactly
where you are supposed to be?
I have.
This weekend I met with a former co-worker,
a friend who made my last year at work more bearable. He still
works there, I got out... moved up and
away about 5 months ago.
Talk about light bulb.
Things at my old station have gone from bad to worse.
Where I am now only seems to get better.
And the lightbulb seems to illuminate things.
Things I can now look back and see how God was telling me it was time to move on.
Is can see how my body took the brunt of the negative energy.
I can see how I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.
I hope things gett better for my friend.
Until then, I will pray that I will continue to see the signs of where I'm
supposed to go.

first step

I think I have figured this out.
I really, really want to blog
but Im still trying to get into a
groove. I'm not a ludite, seriously,
but I have had difficulties figuring
out my new computer and how to
get this off the ground. That,
and my schedule. Still trying
to figure out how to live while
working overnights.
This is the first try.
Hope it works.