This weekend was made of FAIL.

See, I had the best of intentions with this whole "Blogtember" thing.  You know what they say about the road to hell, right?

Anyhow, yeah.  FAIL.

Friday morning brought me to my stepdaughter's IEP intake meeting.  She has binaural hearing loss, mild to moderate.  She also has inattentive type ADD.  Oh, and a proclivity to lie if the mood strikes ... as it does pretty much every time her mouth moves.  The meeting went relatively well, with the psychologist planning to do some executive function testing to help the teachers help her learn more effectively.

As we were leaving the school, I noticed that my back passenger window was down.  I thought to myself "self, that's odd.  You didn't leave that down, did you?"  I tried to roll it up and a disconcerting crunching noise occurred.  I almost vomited.

After making a $400 donation to MAG BMW, my window regulator was replaced.  I know this is an issue with E46's, but still I am PISSED that I had to borrow money from Panda (his "my kid screwed up and doesn't get to go to Disney money), and I'm PISSED that I had to waste it.  Well, it's not wasted, but you know what I mean.

Saturday brought my stepdaughter getting assaulted by some neighborhood punks in the front yard because of what she was wearing.  My formerly nice neighborhood has been run over by morons that think it socially acceptable to form a "community" and exclude everyone else.  Then they allow their children to assault others, because they don't like the color of their skin / religious preferences.  Um, not OK.  So the cops were called, a report made, and now my kids can't go out in their own front yard and play.  Awesome.  I was already considering Catholic school for the kids, and I think that this is pushing me even further toward my decision.

Today, as a result of not sleeping much last night, I laid down for a short nap after Sports Reporters ... and slept right through 12:15 Mass.  UGH.  At least I finished making most of our shirts for Disney.

Speaking of Disney - I now have New Moon and Twilight on iTunes and my iPod Touch for the trip.  My daughter is excited - she's wanted to see Twilight for a while and I'm saving it for the airplane ride.  

This week will suck - I just need to make it to Friday. I can do this!  This time next week ... I'll be a college graduate!  My dad, his lovely wife, and my grandma are coming down to witness the ceremony.  I haven't decided what I plan to wear yet.

Time for bed.  Just watched a damn good Cowboys loss. 

Dear Immune System:

Why hast thou forsaken me?

Here we are, just 25 days until we leave for Disney.  And I've got what is likely the tail end of a sinus infection.  I thought it was allergies, then maybe a simple head cold.  But clearly, it's more than that.  It's been a week, and I feel horrid still.  And very tired.  I'm hoping that this is the end of the nonsense, since I don't have much time to get back on the straight and narrow.

This weekend needs to involve lots of prep for the trip, and I have very little energy to do it.  My to-do list involves:

• Purchasing my daughter a new swimsuit, as she's outgrown all her others
• Returning the skirt and jeans that I purchased without her, as she moved up a size in the past month
• Exchanging the t-shirt paint I purchased for more feminine colors ... I bought red, black, and gold ... I think FusserBug will want her Spiral Mickey Head Shirt to be very girly, since Panda and Princess LiarPants aren't going now. 
• Ironing on all the transfers I've gotten completed already
• Having Panda order a new printer, since ours took a dump
• Picking up a few pairs of shorts (on clearance at Avenue) for myself
• Meeting my daddy and his beautiful wife for lunch at 1 on Sunday
• Making the transfer shirts
• And I'm sure about a kabillion things that I've forgotten.

I also want to make it over to the dollar theater to see Eclipse.  OH and I need to pick up Twilight and New Moon on DVD so that I can add it to iTunes and to my iTouch for the trip.

But the most important thing?  COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARTS TOMORROW!  Hurray for GameDay!

Yeah.  No rest for the weary.

Inspiration.

subtitled: get off your ass and do something already.

My buddy Lunasea suggested that a few folks challenge ourselves to write something - anything - every day during the month of September.  I think that's a smurfy idea.

Right now, however, I think I've gotten lazy again.  For some reason, I just haven't felt much like writing the past few days.  I've had plenty going on, just don't feel like writing.  I have no excuse.  None.  I can even blog from my beloved Droid (thanks, Blogaway!), but my lazy ass just hasn't.

I have, however, started re-reading Twilight.  Twilight BFF tells me that I have now officially crossed over to the dark side.  Whatever.  Just don't call me a Twi-Hard, or I'll have to cut you.

I'm spending a lot more time actually concentrating on the story line and the character development with this run-through.  As a mom of a preteen with questionable self-esteem levels, I find it a challenge to like Edward.  I find him pushy, overbearing, domineering, and bordering on emotionally abusive.  That said, I understand him a lot better now.  Knowing what I know now ... and considering the fact that he's actually 117 not 17 ... makes a lot more sense. 

Also, since vampires have heightened senses and emotions on all levels after the conversion ... it stands to reason that Edward would be quite a bit more emotionally invested in Bella. 

But do you know of a single teenager or young adult with the cognitive ability to analyze a character's actions that deeply?  Didn't think so.

Off to read a bit and then crash out.  I'm quite tired lately.  Back to school is every bit as tough on the momma as it is on the kids.

Speaking Of The Matching T-Shirts ...

I'm working on getting the t-shirt transfers created over the next few days.  I plan to print them and take them with me to iron on over the weekend.

Usually, several friends and I go to the cabins to scrapbook the weekend away.  And by "scrapbook" I mean "drink".  But instead of working on my woefully inadequate scrapbooks, I will be spending the weekend working on our matchy-matchy t-shirts for Disney.

I finally finished my shirt design for the Halloween party:

Yes, that's the Twilight font you see.  I couldn't leave the opportunity to join a few of my favorite things - Twilight, Mickey, and video games (for those uncultured heathens, the artwork is actually from a Game Informer cover).   So now I need to figure out what to do with Panda's shirt ... I have the paint Mickey from the Epic Mickey game, and I just don't quite know what to do with it yet.  I have a few days to decide.

The kids go back to school tomorrow - WOO HOO!  For the last three months, Panda hasn't really dropped the hammer on bedtime.  So sadly, this means that my alone time (and "alone time", giggedy) has been severely curtailed.  I really am looking forward to having the necessary peace and quiet after 9 PM.  I love my kids.  And I love them a lot more when they're well-rested and not stalking me all evening, thanks.

37 more days.  Well, in about 20 minutes, about 36.  But hey ... who's counting?

So, fellow Twilight fans, you've been vindicated by those snooty academic types.

Via my friends at GeekOSystem ... may I present ... your ammunition.
  
Twilight To Be Taught in Cambridge Literature Class

Soon, students at Cambridge University will be getting a new supplement to their educations: books from Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series.

According to BBC News, a newly-opened Cambridge center for the study of children’s literature (they call it a “centre,” naturally) will cover, among other things, Twilight, the Harry Potter series, and video games as works of literature.

In an interview, the soon-to-be director of the center/centre dismissed suggestions that Twilight and other contemporary series are “trash,” and even said that academics had something to learn about the ethical development of young people from children’s series and video games: BBC News:

Professor Maria Nikolajeva, who will be the centre’s first director, said it was important to get an understanding of what was influencing young people.

She said: “It’s easy to say that these things are just kids’ fashions or that they’re trash, but I don’t believe that’s good enough.

“If what we regard as trash is popular with young people, we need to know why and whether, as researchers and teachers, we can offer them something that addresses the same needs but also deals with these themes in a critical and ethical way.”

She added many trainee teachers did not understand the significance of the latest children’s books or films when they went into the classroom.

“Studying this can help us deal with questions which are important not only for the children themselves, but for adults as well,” she added.