Bfth's Boring Blog

Multi-tasking:  I live it.  Every single day.  (Every single hour of every single day??).  I have plans and I have lists.  I may not be physically running (although I do walk pretty fast in the mornings...just not as fast as I'd like), but I am going, going, going all the time.  There's family.  There's work.  There are all the other "little" facets of life that pile up and need to be taken care of. For the most part, I can handle it.  My ten year old son, not so much. He entered middle school in early September.  He has a schedule that sometimes makes MY head spin.  I've marked things down on our weekly calendar so that I know what days of what weeks are early mornings (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday every week and Fridays every other week).  When he wakes up most days he doesn't know if he needs to be at school early or on "regular" time.  He only realizes it when I tell him he needs to hustle because the "music bus" is leaving at

Summer is officially over.  (And I was up when it arrived this morning at 4:22 AM!) The mornings and evenings are getting cooler.  My windows are wide open throughout my house.  I love getting the fresh breezes flowing throughout the house (and have to admit I dread the thought of winter and shutting everything up again).  I also love the "joyful noises” of my town that open windows let in as well. What joyful noises?  Living in a suburban community, there is plenty of noise.  There is traffic.  There are sirens.  There is construction.  The list could go on and on.  But it's nice to know that there is also joyful noise if we take the time to stop and listen to it.  The birds chirping, the insects buzzing; they are part of the joyful noise that can be found in our town. For me, my favorite joyful noise is the shouts, squeals and even shrieks of the neighborhood children.  Maybe my little street is unique (I certainly hope it’s not), but the children on my block

I keep getting sick...or do I?  I have the post nasal drip and the nagging cough.  I was miserable last Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday only to feel pretty good on Monday (a day I took off of work AND took my husband to the doctor for the third time because HE can't seem to get better).  I'm pretty good when I get up in the morning (which has gotten earlier:  my alarm may go off at 4:52, but I've been getting up at 4:20 or so), but I keep getting mid-morning cough and runny noses.  I can't seem to figure out if I'm getting better or worse. If this is the cold I had at the end of last week or a new one.  Right now I don't have time to be sick; my schedule will not allow it.  And my schedule is relatively crazy! I've always considered myself a relatively organized person.  With a family of (only) three, how hard can it be?  Maybe it wasn't hard when my son was in elementary school.  Maybe it wasn't hard when I wasn't on the Pastoral Searc

Do you remember that wonderful commercial for Staples a few years back?  Set to the holiday tune "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," it featured parents gleefully purchasing school supplies as they prepared to send their kids back to school.  It was run so often and hit such a chord with me that whenever I hear that song (I believe sung by Andy Williams), I immediately think of think of back to school shopping, NOT Christmas.  Obviously Staples did their branding right! This year my son went back to school before Labor Day AND he started middle school.  At least for our family (and I'm thinking there are more out there), it is the most CONFUSING time of the year. (And I think I'm usually pretty savvy about these things.)  Let me tell you why: This is our first experience with the middle school.  Sure I went there, but that was a zillion years ago when middle school was grades 6-8.  Now it's 5-8.  That means more kids.  (And "lunch&

...and in health.  That’s how it's supposed to go, right?  The only thing is it seems like for the past 19 years there's been a lot more sickness than health! It started even before we got married.  (Which I suppose means that I should call this post 20 years:  In Sickness.)  We moved into together in late September of 1995.  (Technically I moved in first in mid-June and then Steve officially moved in the last Saturday of September.)  We'd only been living together for 10 weeks or so when Steve fell in the parking lot of what was then The Bank of New York on his way to work.  He was only a block or so away from the house when he slipped on the ice (we'd had bad weather over the weekend; this was Monday morning) and shattered his ankle.  This was before cell phones were en vogue so he had to wait until someone showed up at the bank to work in order for the ambulance to be called.  (Next on the phone list was my mother, who made sure that he got an excellent orthoped

I'm sick (again).  I didn't sleep a heck of a lot last night (again) as a result.  It rained yesterday so I didn't walk.  I figured I was sick, I'd sleep in a bit and I reset the alarm at 3:30 this morning for 6 AM instead of 4:52. But I woke up at 4:45 and despite feeling crappy I decided to go for my morning walk.  I wasn't going to push myself.  I wasn't going to go far.   As I started out, I had to take a slight detour as I encountered a skunk rummaging through some trash.  So instead of just sticking around my immediate neighborhood, as I had planned, I headed a different way.  I still intended to stick relatively close to home (as opposed to my longer route), but I encountered yet another skunk. He definitely saw me.  I saw his tail go up and I crossed the street pretty darned quick.  Clearly, I needed to change my plan for the morning walk. So I headed downtown, as I usually do when I am doing a longer walk.  And as I got closer to the town s

Heard this song on the radio the other day and now it's stuck in my head and not just because of the catchy tune or lyrics.  It resonates with me and I'm sure with plenty of other people who are working hard just to get by.  Maybe it's just me, but it seems like more and more people are working harder and harder to keep afloat.  I'm beginning to feel like I am a hamster running on that wheel and getting nowhere. I have always been a hard worker.  Or so I'd like to think.  There are times when I have worked hard and been rewarded financially for it.  But mostly (and more recently), the money that I work so hard for, is just not where I'd like it and need it to be.  I'm supporting a family of three. (My husband doesn't work; this is not by choice so if anyone in the Northern NJ or NYC area is looking for a computer repair type or a non-programmer computer guy, let me know.)  I am making the around the same amount of money I was making in the early 200

A year ago today I was speeding along New England Highways trying to get from NH to NJ as fast as humanly possible.  What had started out as a fun weekend away to celebrate the wedding of a good friend had turned into a nightmare.  One that would last for several months and rob me (and my family) of most of the autumn and winter. My son had started school on Thursday.  On Friday my husband and I had sent him off; then the two of us headed northward to New Hampshire.  It was a rarity; a time for the two of us to get away.  We love being a family of three, which is why we rarely, if ever, go away without my son.  But we knew he was in good hands with my parents. The plan was simple.  While we headed to New Hampshire for the weekend, my parents would drive up from the Jersey Shore, pick up my son after school and take him for the weekend down there.  We would return to Northern NJ on Sunday afternoon and they would bring him back around the same time.  They had fun plans for him

With the advent of spring and warmer weather comes the ice cream truck.  There are actually two in the town.  Each plays their own annoying little tune.  My son claims that one is better than the other.  I don't know why.  But I do know that he will only go running after one.  I think most kids on our block would run after both. Autumn will be upon us in just a few short weeks and I wish the truck would go away.  Or at least not come by our block so often (which is a couple of times a week).  I understand why he, or I should say they, since there are two trucks, do.  I live on a short block where there are plenty of kids.  There is always someone who will get ice cream.  Pull up on our block and you are guaranteed at least 2 or 3 sales.  On a good day you'll get a dozen.  Everyone needs to make a living.  In the grand scheme of things, the ice cream man's season is short and certainly he needs to make every dollar that he can.  I don't begrudge him that. There

I don't know who the first day of a new school is a more momentous occasion  for, my son or myself.  I think it's me.  My son, who stuns me with his fits of maturity, is pretty blase about the whole thing.  The transition from elementary school to middle school (where four elementary schools merge) does not seem to phase him.  (I know it phased me as a kid!) He was nervous that first day of kindergarten, but that was five years ago.  Now he's the kid who can stay at home by himself for an hour or so while his father and I run to do the weekly grocery shopping.  (This is made easier by the purchase of a cell phone for him.  He knows if he has any problems or concerns he can call or text.  And let me tell you what a silly thrill it was the first time we had a text conversation.  All of a sudden he was grown up in ways that I had yet to imagine.) How did we get here?  How did the years fly by so quickly?  Where is that little boy who rode home from the first day of kin

Just last week I was blogging about how the summer season is over; if not officially, at least scholastically.  Traditionally, most schools in my area (the NY tristate), start after Labor Day.  This year with Labor Day being "so late" (the last possible day it could be and still fall on the first Monday of the month), local school start ups are a complete mish mosh!  Some started Monday.  (School in AUGUST?!!  What has this world come to???)  Some start Wednesday or Thursday.  Then there are those "lucky" ones who don't go back until September 8, 9 or even 10!  Seems like this school year is going to have an interesting calendar when trying to coordinate with other school districts.  (Because of the early start this year, summer vacation will begin on the 17th of June in 2016!) I have no problem with going back to school before Labor Day.  My kid has had over 9 weeks of vacation.  He's kept very busy.  (Thanks to this obsessive SOMWaD.)  However, as the