Miscellania Roundup

These days I don't see much of my husband.

It's the beginning of the busy season for those in construction (or, at least, window sales), and he's generally working from about 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. So I've got to find ways to amuse myself.

Twice last week I took Koa to the dog park.

Yesterday I used a pass for the Chaminade's fitness facilities. Their workout equipment is so-so, but I wasn't truly there to work out. I was there to sit in the sauna and take a steam. I did, and came home a puddle.

Tonight I have my Weight Watcher's meeting, and then I'm starting something new: I'm going to co-teach my first community CPR class in preparation for my student teaching exam in June.

Squee!

I decided a few months ago that I needed a second job. We could use the income, yes; but mostly I wanted something flexible to keep me busy when my dearest moneymaker is at work until the wee hours. So I took a few classes and am almost certified as an American Heart Association CPR instructor. Once I am official, I can teach classes to community groups as much--or as little--as I'd like! It's fascinating material, and the classes are a blast!

While I'm concentrating on that (and on teaching myself Adobe InDesign CS4, in case you were interested), I'm also doing a little bit of globetrotting. Well, coast-trotting. West-Coast-Trotting.

OK, I visited family in Temecula with my mom and my sister. I only took three pictures the whole time.


This is my sister, Katherine. She's saying, "Dude, why the eff are you taking a picture of me now?" (I guess this is how I'll find out if she reads my blog!)

But I'll say some nice things about her in hopes that she'll let me leave this up. She's hilarious. She's honest. She's got an awesome sense of style (see the scarf and the cool sunglasses?) even if I tease her about owning "Golden Girls" shades. 

She's one of my best friends.

And here she is doing one of our favorite things in the world: Wine tasting.

You just can't go to Temecula and not go wine tasting.

I think that's the reisling that we fell in love with. The tasting room, Tesoro, was fun. Tesoro means "treasure chest" in Italian, and when you bought a flight, you got five gold coins to spend.

To learn more about our tasting experience, you'll have to check Mama's Wine Rack, because I owe her a review.

And just so Katherine doesn't think I'm picking on her:

Control

It will come as no surprise to most people who know me that I am a control freak.

I keep a tight rein on my life: I work set hours, I am rabidly organized, have a weekly meal plan and a scheduled social life. I even eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch on an almost daily basis.

Unfortunately, the Universe seems to have a different plan in store for me these days. Since I'm a big believer in not fighting said Universe, but sitting quietly and listening to what It's trying to say, I'm attempting to learn the lesson.

Which appears to be: Control is an illusion.

These days, I think of control like holding a fistful of feathers. Something is always going to slip out. If I rigidly control my work life and my eating habits, my house slips. If I get the domestic duties under control, finances spiral out of control. When finances are running smoothly, I'll learn that you can't control another person's actions.

And so on.

So where am I going with this? I wish I knew. See, when you're in control, you've got a plan, a path and a three-step process for getting from Point A to Point B.

When the Universe takes over and you slip from the driver's seat, all you can do is look around and really take in Point A. Forget Point B--if it's even there, it doesn't concern you at the moment.

Now that I think about it, that's not such a bad thing.

Maybe I'll even take a look at the lunch menu.

Being a parent can make you crazy

For the past four years, I have been proud to send my stepson to summer camp.

It's a day camp put on by the city of Santa Cruz, and it's awesome. Kids are filtered into age-specific camp-groups at a local park. They go on field trips just about every day, to the beach once a week, and do umpteen arts-and-crafts.

There's a low ratio of campers to counselors, and they used to take the kids to swimming lessons (before the budget cuts that forced Parks & Rec to sell the local pool).

The tiny issue I had with this camp is that it ran us about $600/month. And you had to register/pay for it in April, or it would fill up.

Shockingly, this year, we just didn't have an extra $600 lying around. (Heck, we don't have an extra $40 lying around right now!) As the deadline to register for camp grew closer and closer, I spent more and more wee hours lying awake, listening to this thought cycle:

We have to send him to this camp.

There's no way we can send him to this camp.

You see how each thought leads to the other, but neither is really good at problem-solving?

Finally, one week away from Deadline, I remembered that the Santa Cruz Boys & Girls Club also ran a summer camp. My printer recommended it to me, quite enthusiastically.

But these are my memories from my tenure at the Boys & Girls Club:

• Watching seven episodes of Gilliagan's Island in a row, followed by four I Love Lucys.
• Sneaking off campus to buy candy at the local liquor store.
• Sneaking off campus to what I thought was my cousin's friend's house, but really going to my cousin's first gang fight.

And then I remembered my sister's summer working at a different Boys & Girls Club. She told me one day about having to restrain a kid who took a chain off a door, wrapped it around his fist, and threatened to beat up another kid.

For two days, the 3 a.m. thought-cycle shifted to this:

We can afford the Boys & Girls Club.

There's no way I can send him to the Boys & Girls Club.

Again, not helpful.

Against my better judgement, I visited the Santa Cruz' Boys & Girls Club website, and discovered that membership is a whopping $15/year. And that summer camp costs $40/week.

That's five weeks of camp for $200, as opposed to four weeks for $600.

Hmmm.

The club is also open during his spring break, which typically coincides with no other local camps or schools.

Hmmm.

Then I read the outline of activities available at the club:

• The Arts: Fine arts, crafts, woodworking, movie making, newspaper club, music classes, photography and magazine club.
• Health and Life Skills: Cooking and nutrition classes, anger management workshops, swim lessons, SMART Moves and SMART Girls, Environmental Club, recycling and conservation
• Sports, Fitness and Recreation: Basketball Leagues, Karate Classes, Recreational Swims, Hockey Team, Aquatics Team, Camping, Hiking, Fishing Club, Special Events and Field Trips.

What the heck? The SoCal B&GC of my youth had three activities: TV, Bumper Pool, and stealing wires from the electrical box outside to make bracelets. Field trips were either to the movie room to watch such classics as "Arachnophobia" or to go see your cousin get beat up by some chick.

I read a little deeper, and found out about music lessons, a computer animation program and free swim time in their indoor heated pool. So I decided to take a tour and saw the library, aquatics center, full gymnasium, wood shop/crafts room, music room and cafe.

I saw that kids are now issued an ID card that gets scanned when they enter the club, when they enter and leave each activity area and when they leave.

I saw that the club is located about a block from my favorite public library.

I heard about weekly trips to the beach, and other outings to be determined.

Finally, my 3 a.m. thought cycle got productive:

The Boys & Girls Club sounds awesome.

It's got a lot more activities than the other camp.

We can afford it.

Why am I still thinking about this?

This summer, my stepson will join the thousands (millions?) of Boys & Girls Club alumni. And if I could, I'd join too!