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My Head is Spinning!!!

So my summer is OVER:( I am back to work and it is the hottest week of the summer. I think about the beach all day and wish I enjoyed my summer more and didn't take it for granted!

There is so much to do before school opens in a week. I have a monster list of what needs to be done and keep hopping from one thing to another and I cant focus! Parents have no clue how much school secretary's do, and if they did they might be a bit kinder and understanding of the undertaking that it is so they can stay informed and their kids are taken care of!

When you get the packets in the mail of all that information of your child's class, medical forms, permission slips, lunch crap, and all the other paper work REMEMBER someone (like me) has taken the time to copy and stuff those envelopes. Oh, the paper cuts and dry hands one gets is redunkulas! We have over 1200 student at BHS and I feel like I have killed the Rain Forest single handedly...

I am glad I have a job and a lot will be changing at BHS, but just needed to vent or I may have just snapped tomorrow.

Lesson for next week, "Learn to say NO" . That might be a tough one...

A New Chapter for the Hines

We have been super busy this summer with kids at camps, Halee and I in Cali, Kurt doing the training every morning with the football players, and life in general. As we get closer to school starting we are moving into a new stage for all of the Hines Crew. Halee flies out on the 21st to begin school on Sept 2nd. She will have so many new experiences good and bad that will have her grow. Room mates, classes, friends, job, homesickness, and money issues will all be challenges at one point or another. This is the time when one find out how to be comfortable with themselves and not have to rely on others.
Abby is off to HS. This is going to be a MAJOR step for her. I wish Halee would have been in the HS another year to guide and direct her, but now Ms. Abbster will have to learn some challenging things on her own. I just hope that she remains a leader in the right direction! High school can suck if you make some wrong choices! Trust me on that!!!
Brock will be heading into 7th grade which is on the other side of the middle school so he and Sophia will be separated. I know the two of them would never admit it, but I know they watch out for each other. I will be such a growing time for all four kids and hope I can support them the best I know how!
As for Kurt and I we too have a lot of changes this school year. Kurt will finally have a football team with seniors! Since the school opened 2 years ago with only Freshman/Sophomores the time has now come for all four grades to be housed at BHS. Not saying the players will be big by any means, he still has to work on the players size issue... Also he has a new Athletic Director to report to that is very by the book and I hope supports the football program, and understands the challenges Kurt faces with such a new squad.
I am heading back to work in a week and have to face a new boss. I am not sure of his personality and if he can understand mine... There is SO much to do to get BHS up and running correctly. I cant sleep some nights freaking out about all the little stuff that people/parents just dont realize. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it, $11.80 an hour is worth being this crazy and stressed! Sometimes I wounder if I went out into the real world and did what do I would be paid a heck of a lot more! But I love my vacations and the time with my family so I will suck it up and medicate.
Oh ya, I just bought a non-mom car today, a 2010 Toyota Camry XLE, red and is loaded with everything. A new chapter indeed, now I have a car payment after 4 years of not having one...

Summer 2009

Where to begin... I will start backwards and go from there...

Today Halee's boyfriend of 10 months (which is an eternity to HS kids) leaves today for the Army. Not sure how Halee is going to handle this whole experience but we are all supporting her and Jon in what ever direction they choose. We had Halee's Grad/Going away party on Saturday. It went well. Reality is setting in on her leaving for college.

Halee and I just got back from Cali. We had to go to her parent/student orientation so she could sign up for classes. We did get to see the dorm she is living in and it is a bit far from her classes and right in the center of all the athletic areas... ( https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/map/display.cgi?scaleFrom=medium&zoom=low&zoomX=829&zoomY=1500 ) University Towers...

We all know how much Hal loves sports and working out:) Halee has decided to go Undeclared so she can figure out what she wants to do. She is leaning towards something in the Health Care industry. Oh, she did get a job too. She will be working at a melanoma center... I-Tan... She will be making pretty much what I will be per hour and looking bronze while doing it.

We had a great time in Southern Cal. We hit the beaches, malls, and highways. Mind you the driving out there is freak'n re-dunk-u-las!!! I dont understand going from 80 MPH to 0 and there is no accident or reason for it. Don't even think of leaving yourself room for safety cause some D-bag will just slide in and cause you to break hard. Also I am not sure some of the drivers there realize that the left lane is for high speed and passing is on the left. People would go by us like we were going 20 MPH but we were going 80 to keep up... After the week there I did get a hang of it.

While Halee and I were gone Kurt had his Relentless Training Football Camp that was a great success! Brock got to attend this camp as well. I realized that Kurt can live w/o me, I came home and the house was clean, not just picked up but CLEAN. The laundry had also been done and put away. Not sure I can compete with that.

Brock leaves tomorrow for Acadia National Park in Maine for a 3 day bike trip... I hope he makes it.

He has been going with friends up to Lake Winnipesaukee boating and four wheel'n.

Abby got to go with friends to a resort for a week down on the Cape and then she came home and was off with friends in Hampton for a week. She has been very busy, but that is coming to an end with try-out for field hockey starting Aug 17th.

Sophia has been staying close to home, shocking I know, but she is a home body and loves it.She has been watching a lot of the Food Network and has been doing food art... Yes, that is strawberries in the shape of an elephant from Horton Hears a Who...

We have gone to Ogunquit quite a bit this summer and look to have a few more trips up before school starts.

Highlights/Lows

• Got a kitten from shelter
• Put kitten down after $500 of vet bills and 72 hrs due to liver issues
• Our other cat disappeared after bring kitten home...
• Rain for 28 days in June, 18 in July, but Aug looks good:) Just in time for football double sessions...
• My garden is growing tall but not producing due to all the rain.
• Had my 20th reunion, so glad I went!
• Start back to work Aug 17th kids come Aug 26th...

Hope your summer has been going great as well!!!

What to "DO"?

As most of you know I am a chameleon when it comes to my hair. I am always doing new things with it like color, or cuts. This stems back to my HS days with my best friend Karen. After school we would get bored and we would do things to my hair. We did do a few piercings but the pain was to much so stuck with the hair stuff. Now that I am older I think I do it because it is easier for an instant change than weight loss. So the dilemma ... I have an appointment on Tuesday for a real hair color... Not just a box dye job ($10), a real, I am going to pay big bucks hair change... I have been about every color and every style. I currently have dark hair highlighted by gray, yes gray. I didn't realize how gray I was when I was blond. So I have been going through magazines looking for the perfect color and style. I am so worried that they will make me "porno" blond, which I am sure Kurt would love but I have to be somewhat mature...
So I am off to keep looking for that great color and style but I think they will have to cut a lot of my hair due to the "fire hazard" it has become. So as my 20th HS reunion approaches I will have a new look or will I? I might bail...

Summer Begins...

Due to the massive ice storms the East Coast endured this past winter we are finally out of school (June 23rd). Now we are dealing with RAIN. June has seen only 3 days of sun. From what the forecasters are saying the jet stream has changed and we are getting Seattle's weather. I really don't know how people living in Washington state can do it. I am ready to freak out! I have a hard time getting up in the morning and when I do I am back in bed by11:00 am. I pray to God that July has something fabulous in store.



Abby left yesterday for camp for a week. She is living in tents and I am sure she is a muddy, stinky, and bug bitten mess already. We left it up to her if she wanted to go. At the last minute she decided she would go and make the best of it. I am thinking she is re-thinking her decision. Abby will also be going to lacrosse camp at SNHU for a week, then off to Hampton Beach for a week w friends. Brockton has been off at wrestling camp up in Concord. Not sure what he thinks of it yet. I pick him up each day and he is sweaty, stinky, wiped out. The middle of July Brock will be going to football camp, and then in Aug he will be biking Acadia National Park for 4 days. Sophia has been kick'n it at home and at friends houses. She will be doing volleyball camp later in the summer. Halee is working this summer and then we are off to Cali for student/parent orientation for a week. Halee is planning on leaving around Aug 18th for college.
Kurt has been doing the strength and conditioning training every morning at BHS from 8am till 10 am. Mid-July he will be running his first football training camp for this area. I am just going with the flow and driving kids around and keeping the house running.


Each day I get my horoscope text to me, today I really thought about it... Not like other days....
" What is your main objective? Happiness? Wealth? Peace? Evaluate where you are going..."
I realize that all I want is to remain happy and that my family comes first! I would rather be poor and happy, then wealthy and unhappy! So I am going to enjoy my family this summer and make due with the limited funds we have and enjoy each day!

Blessing in Disguise...

So there I am all snuggly on the couch after a crazy day at Bedford High School. I am enjoying something on the TV and eating something even better. Halee and her boyfriend Jon come home and Jon plops down on the other couch and Halee just is standing telling me about Jon's first experience at an all you can eat buffet. As she is telling me this fabulous story... I see her look out the front window with a look of horror! Holy %$#@! (mind you she is not prone to swear, well in front of me anyways) She is screaming, " My car is rolling down the driveway"!!! Come again? Did she really just say that? I have NEVER seen Halee move so fast in all my life! She flew down the stairs and out the front door. Jon is shocked, but jumps up and tries to catch the car. REALLY? Great effort on his part! By the time I realize what is happening I hear Halee screaming. I am thinking, oh my gosh did someone get killed, hit , hurt? Nope... Her Jetta rolled down our 250 foot hill of a driveway crossed the road, hit a stone wall and ended up hanging in some trees. Shocking!!! It was something from out of the movies. As many of you may know I don't handle these situations very well. I think my kids were shocked when I dropped the F bomb every other word. They just stared at me. Halee's boyfriend looked shocked as well.
As we all calmed down, Halee called the police and GEICO. The police arrived and he was shocked no one was injured, but did say he has not seen something like that before. An hour later the tow truck arrived and the big scrappy guy laughed when he exited his truck. He said the noise that the car would make being pulled out would be ugly... Um, he was right.
I was freaking out because Halee was going to sell her car($1500) before leaving for school in California. She doesnt even have the deductible of $500. OMG what is she going to do?
The next day we went to go get a rental car... Ya, Halee is driving a sweet Mazda 6, my car that I want to actually buy, and I am driving my stinky mini van with no radio or air conditioning... Something is not right.
I just got off the phone with the insurance adjuster, the car is TOTALED! OK how much is it worth... She paid $4500 for it 2 years ago... They said Geico will give her $4089 for it... She has her loan to pay off and her deductible, but she walks with $2800. What a blessing! She now has some money to use at school and to get her started in Cali. The down side for me is we have to share a car for 2 months. Oh well, I will take it for the blessing that no one got hurt and Halee is ahead of the game for a bit.
Did I ever think that this would turn out in such a positive way? Obviously not seeing my kids think I have a truck drivers mouth. I need to learn to have more faith!