Feedback

I used powerpoint and Jasc's Feedback for the above image

I told my daughter not to. But, she did. With days left at the school she spoke negatively about her teacher. I told her "medical" to say medical reasons. She said the class was not what we expected it to be. The teacher is bristling. I am sure it didn't take long for the guidance counsellor to talk to her teacher. Lessons. Life lessons.

Rippled

As if my thoughts weren't scattered enough, I plunge down another hill on the roller coaster ride of life. A representative of the home school speaks to me and I want my daughter to be home schooled. The school supervisor speaks to me (yes, the same one I confronted about the hair issue) and I want my daughter to continue at the vocational school.

My few days in Columbus talking to my sisters (former teachers) should get my head straight.

The candidates have been close to my area. I am surrounded by superfluous political propqganda.

Oh, and pay no mind to that distorted being posting on my blog yesterday. That happened to be a stressed and perplexed desperado incurring the effects of a mid-life meltdown. Yuk, yuk.

Bare trees

Photo taken February 2007

Since I am not going anywhere these days for work, I pulled a photo from last year. All the trees are cold and bare in Ohio this time of year. Except for those pesky marcescence oak trees in my neighborhood. Their dry, brittle and brown leaves hang on all winter long. Annoying!

My spirits are low and my stress is high. Actually my spirits go up and down like a roller coaster. One day things are going smooth. This plan and that plan come together and it looks like all is going well for my March madness. Then, a phone call on Tuesday. Two weeks. I didn't even think to look to see when my daughter's 9 week school semester would end when we planned the surgery. Ugh. If I pull her she may lose all the credit since the beginning of January. What to do, what to do?

So, would you leave a 16 year old girl alone for a week by herself with all family over an hour away? Nope. Me, neither. Me and this school. We gotta work something out. So my stress soars again. Can they? Can she? Will they give her work to do while we are in Columbus? Will her absent days go over the horrific 18 that they allow students to miss before wiping them off the face of their school record for the entire year? Can I drive her home in the middle of the week, while my sister comes up to stay for two days to drive her back and forth to school for the rest of the week? Can she do a week's worth of school work in two days? Will they bend? Will my sister come up and stay with her? She is now the only money earner in her family. How can I ask her to do this for me?

One brother is watching my dog. He doesn't see very well. Three of my sisters will be with me in Columbus. One brother will be on a cruise. One brother barely speaks to the family. My sister was able to get a continuance to be with us during her son's surgery. She can't drive, but she can do some nursing. Washing clothes, cooking and taking care of household stuff. I'll be the main driver.

Pedal faster, Peruby. I'm dizzy. I have to get organized. I guess I have to tell the school that she needs to go to Columbus with me. I feel like a failure. I feel like I am abnormal in providing a home life and normal school life for my child. Why didn't I plan this better? Why couldn't I have suggested the surgery to be in the summer when she could come with me without missing school? The hospital said, "We recommend that he have this surgery sooner rather than later." I was thinking of him, not myself or my daughter (that sounds horrible).

I worry that the school may not understand why I have to take her with me to Columbus. I am sure they will ask "Can't she stay with anyone?" Okay, then I have to confess to them my trust issues. I won't leave my daughter with anyone but family for a week. I worry that they will think I am a freak who cannot provide adequate care for my daughter. Or, that I cannot make arrangements for her to stay with anybody while I go to Columbus. Why, oh why do I worry about this?

I feel like a failure. Why didn't I insist that she learn to drive a car when she turned 16? This way I could have a second car and she could drive herself to school. But, that wouldn't solve the issue of her having to stay by herself for a week. Why doesn't she have a friend pick her up for school? My daughter doesn't like asking her friend for favors. Sound familiar? Apple doesn't fall far.

When I mentioned to my sister if she could come up and stay with my daughter, she said "The girl is 16 years old! Can't she stay by herself?" Ouch. I feel like a failure. That maybe I have babied her too much. My sister has since said of course she will help me out by coming up and taking care of the cats and driving my daughter to school. Her first response stung and this is why I hate asking people for help. God, how I hope she never finds this blog. I don't mean to sound the way I am afraid it is sounding.

The school levy didn't pass last year. They don't run busses with-in 2 miles of the school. We live one mile from the school. My daughter has to walk 1 mile to get to the bus that picks her up at her home school and is going to take her to the vocational school which is 5 miles away. I know my daughter. She will say screw it and stay home (causing another absent day).

I drive my daughter everywhere because my mother did not drive and I never had rides. (I won't even begin to tell you why I couldn't ask my Dad). I always had to beg rides from sisters, brothers and friends and Mom's of friends. When you see one too many eyes roll at the thought of them having to drive you home or somewhere, you learn real quick not to ask anymore. I did not want my daughter to go through this begging that I went through. I make sure that I offer rides to all of my daughter's friends. I will never forget having to ask for rides when I was young. I look back and I realize that I just quit the activity rather than ask rides from anyone. I always felt like a burden.

So, there. I feel pretty much like a failure. I can't control this. I want to, but it is fast slipping away from me and I feel that it is controlling me.

Big breath. Okay. I know I am not a failure. This is just the jitters. I'll call the school tomorrow. If they allow her to try and do the work until the 14th while she is in Columbus, that will be great. If not, she will have to make up all the credits. So be it. See? I'm feeling better already. Her home schooling orientation is scheduled for the 19th. Her surgery is scheduled for the 26th. Oh, I didn't mention her surgery? I'm getting dizzy again.

Golden

A Wine Cellar Restaurant

I moved to a small town when I was three years old. We moved once more across town when I was six. When I was that age it was 1966. My oldest sister had graduated college in 1964. She married in 1968. In that time frame she had a few cars and they were clunkers. There was a repair shop/garage. It is now a fancy restaurant.

What makes the evening a "good" evening? Is it the company? It is the food? It is the atmosphere? Is it somebody else picking up the check? LOL!

I would say the most important ingredient for me is the company. That was taken care of (my family). The second most important would be the food. The restaurant gets a super A+ for the food. I had filet mignon and it was superb. My daughter had the salmon (also superb). The third would be the atmosphere. Another A+. In fact the decor was golden and magical.

The prices were on the high side, but I had been forewarned so I was prepared. When the food was that good, you can make some sacrifices. And the food was THAT good.

One little itty, bitty flaw. Somebody had invited a friend who became drunk and a bit belligerent. He happened to be seated next to me. Now, he was an okay guy, but he was loud and a know-it-all. You know the type. Once we mentioned the fact that my daughter had been given some flak about her hair color at school he went on a rampage about how schools could not do that because of freedom of expression etc... And, when he found out she was interested in Graphic Arts he knew all about that. Then he proceeded to tell us all about Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Einstein and so on and so forth. The folks on his other side got the worm hole theory. He probably needs to be a college professor or something. Let him bore students. He has some great insight and appears to be well informed, but he was so full of hot air. Oh, well.

Otherwise, a splendid evening.

IT

What I'll be drinking tonight

Iced tea. Not the Long Island type, either. This has been a long awaited evening for most of us. We (family) are dining in a place where my oldest sisters used to have their cars fixed. Back in the 60's it was a garage. Now it is a restaurant. I'll take pictures. We have heard a lot about this place. I hope it can live up to it's reputation.

Funeral was very nice. The sun was dazzling on the snow. Things were slushy but there were no casualties. The procession was led by a huge fire truck and followed by an ambulance. All with lights and fanfare. She was a wonderful contributor to community service.

I am dragging but I hope to catch my second wind before the 50 minute drive.

Snow day cookies

Sob. What went wrong?

I follow the recipe on the Nestles chocolate chip bag. Maybe I shouldn't. My chocolate chip cookies come out flat. I need to research this on the web. They get hard quick this way. I will have to seal them up with some soft white bread. That will do the trick. Yum.

I baked the cookies this morning. My manager called at 7:30 to say that the office is closed. Forget the meeting. Problem is, he called at 11 p.m. last night. I was in a beautiful deep sleep. My daughter was too. I had wrapped my elbow and arm snuggly in the heating pad, turned it up on high and had drifted off into one of the most peaceful sleeps. I was so scared it was a relative calling about a loved one. Since my brother's MIL just passed, death is on my mind.

I may be able to go to calling hours this afternoon then instead of this evening. I have the Columbus group coming in for my niece's 21st birthday party. I am picking the carrot cake with cream cheese icing up at 5 p.m. This is the niece that lived with me for a few years and this is the nephew that will be having the heart surgery in a week. Their Mother is still unfettered. May be a different story on Monday. Oh, well.

Tomorrow is a busy day, too. I like snow days, but this will delay my home school plans yet again. I can't call to get direction if all schools and their personnel are not in the office. Sigh. Figures. Time keeps pushing the deadline to the edge. I am in a slow panic. The funeral should slow me down and give me something peaceful to reflect on and to put my universe into perspective.

Rage

I wanted something warmer and prettier than my day

Rage. It is a wild emotion, isn't it? You have a bad day. You begin to feel a cold coming on. You are sneezing, you are stuffy, sniffling and your sinus begins to ache. Your elbow pain from the day before comes back in that dull ache. Your co-worker won't shut up.

One thing goes wrong. Then another. And still another. Okay. Don't let it get you down. You have had setbacks before. Then a big setback. This one concerns the plans for March when I will be out of town. Somebody told me the wrong information. I began to scramble. My mind began to race. Action, action! Start making phone calls, get the paperwork out of the car, if possible fax the information, right? My head begins to ache. My co-worker asks if she can help me. I tell her "No, thanks." I want her to just leave me alone. But, she continues to talk about trivial stuff. You want to know how you can help me? Shut up! The rage begins to boil.

I want to blame somebody. Pulling my daughter out of a school. I don't do this every day. In fact, I have never done this before in my life! How do you think I would know what to do? I have lost sleep over this decision! Deep breath. Just move quickly. Phone line is busy, redial. Fax line is busy, redial. Don't give up. Don't stop to think, just keep pushing. Get the paperwork in order. Co-worker is still chatting endlessly about what, now? Her exercises that her physical therapist has her doing? Is that what she is jabbering about now, or was that her diarrhea of the mouth episode this morning?

Oh, no. That's right. This morning it was all about her will and finances and how I should be doing my taxes the way she does hers, because that is what is best for her. She goes into minute detail about how she is claiming a cup of coffee from McDonald's because she bought it on a drive to one of her doctor's visits. She said that she can claim any uncovered medical bills and how I should do the same thing. How in the hell does a cup of coffee qualify as a tax deduction? She has it written down in her little daytimer that she bought just for this purpose. Oh, I could go on.

My daughter needed some new clothes for the funeral and dinner we are going to this week-end. I drive her out to the store. She picks a few things out and we check out. I get into a tiff with the sales lady. She is selling me a magazine I don't want, because it has a coupon in it - blah, blah, blah. I made her show me in detail how this was saving me money. She finally did, but come on. Explain it to me, just don't tell me to take your word for it! Sheesh! I came this close to returning the merchandise and closing my account. I can't do that to my daughter. We hate shopping and we want to just go home.

My nerves are shot. I made a commitment and I am going to stand by it, but give me a break. Why does everything have to catch on a snag with each turn I take? My pain has radiated down from my elbow into my arm and wrist. The heating pad helps the elbow but makes the wrist and forearm ache.

To put the icing on the cake, I have a department meeting tomorrow at my home office. I have a lot of anger towards my manager and some co-workers at this time. I have not been in that office since May. I was wondering if I was going to go one year before they had a meeting with us. My co-worker in my office has been down several times for her particular job description. My department has not met to discuss work and the organization since May. I know that not everybody likes meetings but get real. We need to have some kind of communication. Something to tell me in which direction is the company going? What is expected of me? What is in store for me? Instead of me getting surprised when they tell my clients (schools) what I am going to be doing before they tell me? Breathe. Let it all out.

Could be I may not have to go at all. We are under a winter storm watch from 7 p.m. to 7 p.m. My drive is 60 miles one way. My manager stated that if we have bad weather to postpone the meeting one hour. What ever.

My wrist is really hurting and my rage is finally dissipating.

Edit: After much research I found the problem with my elbow. It is rare and you probably won't find much information out there about it. It has a name, I guess. Some call it scotomukitlit syndrome. (Scooping too much kitty litter). Yep. Besides the computer and writing, that hurts the most. Scooping.

Bend

The "taken-for-granted" elbow

I am surprised that it hasn't happened to me before this. Yesterday shortly after writing my last post, my elbow began to hurt. It started out aching, like the old folks say their joints are aching when there is rain coming or something like that. I may have taken some Advil, I don't recall.

I went to bed with a heating pad on it. The kind that shuts itself off automatically after an hour. I awoke at 2 a.m. I was in severe pain. I stumbled around, took a couple of Advil and turned the heating pad on and tried to get comfortable. I watched French Connection II with Gene Hackman. You know how I like him as an actor. I have not seen the first one. The movie was strange in the fact that it kept freezing. Must be a digital thing. I would have been on the computer, but I could not move my fingers without severe pain, let alone type anything or move the mouse.

I finally drifted back to sleep at about 5:30 when my alarm is set to go off at 6. Figures. I was so tired all day. You could see the pain and fatigue in my face. A couple of people gave me that double take when looking at me. Advil kept the pain at bay, but I couldn't wait to run home and wrap the heating pad around my arm again.

I typed this morning with my left hand. Or, I should say I tried to type. It was comical. I moved very slowly doing everything. So much I take for granted! Now I can relate to the expression "Like losing my right arm". Wow.

Things are better and I should be resting it instead of typing, but here I am. Restless.

My sister-in-law's Mother passed away today. They knew it was going to happen. Two nurses yesterday said "She will go in the next 24 hours." I guess they have seen death so much, they know. The massive stroke had left her nearly brain dead. She was a very special lady. So gentle, so kind, and so very giving. May she rest in peace.

An angel of hope

From Warther's Museum 2007 Christmas display

I am consumed today by a total and complete feeling of sadness and despair. I wasn't this morning. I was fine at my meeting. I do believe it did start after the meeting. It put me into a deep and dark despair. Sometime after lunch it began to envelope me. There are a lot of contributing factors to this particular episode, most of which I won't go into much detail.

I have a relative who is facing the death of a loved one. Her Mother had a massive stroke and is not doing well at all. She is not coherent and she does not know where she is most of the time. The hospital sent her home saying that there was nothing they could do for her. You wonder. Who at the hospital decides this? A team of doctors? The Administrator? Both? The Insurance company? Medicare/Medicaid?

Things are not working out for me as far as my scheduling family to help me out with pets and my daughter. They are not working out at all. I am trying, but I feel like I am getting nowhere and that things are taking longer than I anticipated. I am beating myself up for not starting arrangements sooner than I have. It isn't like I do this every year. People keep asking me questions and I don't have any answers. I don't know. I don't know what I am going to do. I don't know who is going to do what. I am too timid to tell people I need you here this day and this day and I need you to do this, this and that. I don't often "need" anybody. Ugh.

I want to stop my addiction to Ginger ale. I am losing. I want to stop my addiction to news on the web. I read and read about what is going on. I am an information guzzler. I read article after article. I branch off when something interests me. It has a price. I get depressed. Serial killers, hackers, missing children, drug abuse, politics, terrorism - it is bringing me down. I can't seem to stop reading. I want input. More input. I am thirsty for information. What is this addiction?

What is it that a therapist would say? "You are not getting all of your needs met." Who the hell does? And how in the hell are we supposed to know what our needs are? Shelter, food and clothing. Oh, you meant emotional needs! Most of the time I am fine. This is one phase of time (perhaps 4 hours, perhaps 24) out of weeks of content living and feeling good. Everybody gets the blues. Good Time Charlie. Come to think of it I found myself singing that song four times within the past month. Maybe my blue period is lasting longer than 24 hours, eh? Well there you have it. The winter doldrums. Pass the sugary donuts. I'm wallowing in my self pity tonight.

Dusting off my black suit

I turn, aroused from my slumber
A noise, a presence floats from the hall
I hear a hushed and haunted footfall
Ominous death has come to call.

Snow Doe

I've misplaced my camera. Again. I used my daughter's Olympus a couple of times, but I am not familiar with it, so pictures come out blurry. I reached back into my archives from one year ago this month for the above photo of the deer in the snow. Salt Fork region.

I have not received the promised new cable modem from my ISP. Our connection has been cutting out for the past three days, so I am not real certain what is going on. Kids are complaining because they are using the Xbox 360 online and when the Internet cuts out, they get dropped out of their game.

The winter doldrums have set in. I am looking at a busy March. I'll be out of town for about half of the month taking care of things for family. I am busy this month scheduling and rounding up family/friends to take care of my pets and to help out with my daughter. I'll probably be doing a lot of driving back and forth. This will give the little green car a workout. It is now 12 years old as of last month. Since the odometer worked on and off for 2 years, I am not exactly certain the mileage. Since we put the new one in and started at zero, it has over 16 thousand on it. Prior to that the old one read over 150,000. I am estimating we probably didn't register 10,000 to 15,000 miles. Around 190k.

I am not exactly sure why my spell checker quit working. Maybe I should post in Explorer to see if it starts working again there. I am running Firefox 2.0.0.12 version right now.

In my Sunday paper I get The Parade section. It lists the world's worst dictators. I find this interesting as I get older. After watching the movie The Kingdom and researching as to why Americans choose to live in Saudi Arabia, it answers some questions. But, how dangerous. After reading about the way these dictators run their "kingdoms" are just plain scary. And why does the United States keep in contact and trade with them? Oil is an obvious reason, but there are others. Sudan because of gum arabic? An ingredient in soda and candy. Ugh. I chose a great week to stop drinking my beloved Canada Dry Ginger Ale, didn't I?

Zimbabwe for stainless steel. Or rather the stuff that goes into making stainless steel. We do like our stainless steel. The economy in this country appears to have gone kaput, but the United States is owed a great deal of money from them and so we continue to keep negotiations open hoping someday to collect on that debt.

And, as for Uzbekistan, isn't it rather ironic that the largest importer of uranium from that country is given the name "Nukem"? Is that some sort of a joke?

We went to see Jumper at the theater the other night. I wore my ear plugs, but I think I even got a headache from them being in my ears. It was quite uncomfortable and I am not sure I can get used to them. I'll keep trying different types, I guess. The movie was okay, but had a rather lame ending by my account. It is about teleportation.

Like my frill?

Triceratops display at the museum

I read that the frill on the back of the neck quite possibly changed color when facing a potential mate and when facing a potential foe. I guess like a peacock this creature strutted his stuff when mating was a possibility.

First remains were found in Denver, CO. and was thought to be those of an extinct buffalo.

We've had a couple of days off from school because of inclement weather. Did not get much done because inclement weather equals headaches. We did catch a movie The Kingdom. About Saudi Arabia, terrorism, oil and the Bureau.

Lucy didn't fall

Dinkenesh

She only moved around the corner. Well, she may have fallen - but it would have been 3.2 million years ago. And it could have been from out of a tree where she spent most of her time.

It had been a few years since I had been to Cleveland to visit my friend Lucy. The last time I was there I told her that we were kind of growing tired of the trip and we had pretty much exhausted our interest in the area. She said she understood and that she would be there if and when we decided to return. Somewhere along the years, she moved from the East Wall to the South Wall. I told her that change was inevitable. She laughed and said "Don't I know it!"

Lucy is full of stories. You can't imagine her experiences. She doesn't tell me in so many words what her life was like, I pretty much have to make it up as I go along. There was a gentlemen there that was telling everything he knew about Lucy to a man from Nigeria. I already knew how she got her name. What I didn't know was that she was christened during a beer drinking party. Well, I guess they were celebrating, because Lucy was a very special female.

I thought it was Richard Leakey, but it was Johanson. He happened to be the curator of the Cleveland museum during the time that he and Gray discovered Lucy and this is how she ended up in Cleveland. Except she isn't in Cleveland. I was a bit dismayed when I discovered she really resides in Ethiopia, but came to realize that was her "real" home. I have heard that she may be visiting in Houston Texas this year. Just a replica of her resides in Cleveland. Oh.

It was a 93 mile trip one way for my daughter and I. But, we learn. We broaden our brains just a little bit more. For more museum photos, click on the link on the right side bar of the blog "See more of my photos."

Moving on, does this sound legitimate to you? Yesterday in the mail I received a notice from my cable/Internet provider. They stated that they realized they had made a mistake when I added turbo Internet to my service. They realized that I didn't have the correct modem for this service. Not only are they going to send me a new modem to set up, but they are going to credit me for all the months I have had turbo Internet but (by their words) have not had the speed I should have been having. Okay.

I haven't called them to complain in months. What gives? I am suspect. Have you ever heard of a cable company admitting a mistake and compensating you for it? And to top it off, admitting it before you even ask or question the bill and/or service? This is just too fishy for me. I may have a problem with trust, but I have my reasons.

Is there anything in my previous posts that could be incriminating to me? Did I go too far with my daughter and her school? Did I say something about work that I shouldn't have? Hmmm. Interesting. Is this modem going to monitor everywhere I go and each word I type on line? I just don't trust them. Here are their exact words:

(begin letter)

It has come to our attention that the cable modem we provided to you for use with your "Name of Internet Provider" Turbo service needs to be replaced. In the next few days, you will receive a replacement modem via UPS which will allow you to take advantage of the full speeds of Turbo. In the meantime, in order to minimize any inconvenience to you, we have credited your account the difference between the Turbo price you have been paying, and the price we charge to regular customers. Depending on your billing cycle, you should see this credit in your next statement, or the statement after that.

We value your business tremendously and apologize for any inconvenience this situation may cause you. We look forward to providing you with blazing-fast Turbo services for many years to come.

(end letter)

We watched Jodie Foster in The Brave One. It was okay. I didn't like it as much as her recent movies. Too gruesome for me - the violence. Ugh.

Deluge

On my drive today

We've had some rain. It spit a bit of snow, but for the most part - it is warm enough for rain. A little flooding east of me. I captured this image while driving to a school today. The wind was biting cold when I stepped out of my car to take the photo. I didn't tarry.

I am watching Dragonfly with Kevin Costner and it is freaking me out.

What is it?

It's a freshly opened container of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter"

My daughter was amazed at the swirl and had to take a picture. I am thinking this is about four years old - the photo. I think it kind of looks like a diaphragm. Sort of.

As for her hair incident. It seems to have blown over. Monday the supervisor was much nicer to her and let her go to class. The next day in the newspaper I read that the school had to deal with a kid who came to school drunk. Wow. He got something a little bit more interesting to take up his time than my daughter's hair. It only cost me a 12 pack of beer, but hey - it was worth it. The hard part was getting the kid to drink it on a Monday morning. He wanted to wait until Friday. JOKE people, JOKE! I would never buy an underage kid alcohol.

Well, okay. There was this one time. No, no, no I didn't. Just kidding. Again.

Dipping oil

The first time I was at a restaurant that served dipping oil with their bread I almost became physically ill. The other night I found that I couldn't resist it. The spices were perfect.

This may be the recipe for the one served at Carrabbas.

We tried

We had the hair stylist re-color my daughter's hair. It didn't make much of a difference. The photo is a little blurry because it was snapped at 6:30 a.m. with my daughter's camera and I am not familiar with her camera. The school supervisor said to her, "I can see that you are working on it" and he let her go to her classes. He mentioned that he had spoken with the Cosmetology teacher and she had told him how difficult it is for the color of red to hold onto blond hair. Whatever. We'll see what he does tomorrow. We have not done another thing to her hair tonight. She is tired of this and so am I.

She asked me "NOT" to go into the school with her today. I didn't go because she asked me not to. I wanted to confront him again. Probably a good thing that I did not.

Thanks to all who commented that they are as baffled by this as I am. Again, the two reasons are "Unnatural hair color disrupts education and they (as a Career Center) must teach the students to have employability." Somebody said this guy has too much time on his hands and he needs to get a life. My daughter said another teacher told her this.

I know for certain that I have a headache. My daughter is tired of people dying her hair. I don't have much money to spare to hire a lawyer (if I wanted to go that far) and the ACLU makes the comment on their web page for our district that they don't have enough man power to answer the phones, they recommend that I write a letter. Ugh. If push comes to shove, I will ask to meet with the entire Administration staff and the board that supervises this entity. Why does the song by Jeannie C. Rylie keep running through my head? No, on second thought I'll just pull her out for the rest of the year and sign her up for home schooling. Screw it.

On a lighter note, my nephew chose "Carrabbas" for dinner Saturday night. It was packed. We had a party of 8 and had to sit in two different booths, but we were next to one another. The food was great. Better than great. It was a wonderful time. I ordered the zucchini fritte with a roasted garlic aioli dip for an appetizer and my entree was the whitefish wulf in a delicious creamy artichoke sauce. I wonder if they flew it in from Wulf's in Boston? My daughter had the grilled salmon. Exquisite.

Here's the hair

she cannot wear...
in school.

No time

I closed my eyes and picked a photo

This is what you get. I didn't have much time to look for a photo that kind of describes my life right now. This is a picture of a rarely used water fountain in my office building. We have the water coolers planted in three places in the building that serve up delicious cold fresh water. Only rare visitors passing by the men's restroom use this fountain.

My daughter had to sit in "In school suspension" on Thursday because of her hair color. I went a couple of rounds with the school supervisor. I did not win and I did not expect to win. I wanted to argue my point on my daughter's behalf. She had me convinced that it was the amount of the unusual color in her hair the last time instead of the unusual shade. Au contraire. Because of conceding at the beginning of the year to her choice of hair color, I knew that he was going to keep throwing that up in my face. He did. Here is the beginning of a letter I wrote to my newspaper editor (which they did not print, probably a good thing for me, because I signed my name).

At a school near you students are pulled out of the hall in Hitler fashion and being placed in the gas chamber (In-school suspension). Why? Because they are not blond hair and blue eyed. Well, close. Because they have unacceptable hair color or eye make-up. Shades of red, pink, blue green and purple. Anything deemed unacceptable by the Administrator. The reason they cannot wear the unnatural color? It is an educational distraction or it may affect how they are judged in the future when they go off into the world to make a living.

My daughter does not want to change her hair color, but I am taking her tomorrow.

Her junior year in this school and her time with this school administrator is a blip on the radar in her beautiful and creative life. Screw him.

For the record, my daughter is NOT being discriminated against. They are pulling kids out left and right because of hair color and eye shadow and hair style (such as mohawks). I am not certain about piercings and tattoos. I had to wear a dress (or skirt) to school until I was in the 8th grade and I am bristling. Hair color harms nobody nor does it threaten other students. She is not using a lighter and catching paper on fire. She is not dropping banana peels in the hallway in an attempt to get someone to slip and hurt themselves. She is not squirting soap onto the bathroom floor. She is not sassing the teacher. She is not flinging rubber bands at staff or other students. She is not misusing school property. She is not throwing food in the cafeteria. She does her work, she does well. She is not a straight A student, she gets an occasional C.

I understand that limits have to be set. If they let her get away with a magenta/red hair color (even just a patch in her bangs) then they have to let another student get away with lime green, plum purple and Easter egg blue, and so on and so forth. He refused when I offered to have her cover it with a headband or to hide it behind the blond hair with a paper clip. Not acceptable, he said. I understand rules have to be followed. But the handbook was too vague for his argument. The rulebook reads:

"Hair color is to be of a natural shade as deemed acceptable by the Administrators."

There are 10 administrators and only 2 have seen her hair. I asked. He said that all Administrators are on the same page and in agreement with him. Hmmm. I asked him if he had a chart to determine what shades of red are acceptable and what shades are not. He said "No." I said then it is a matter of opinion. He agreed. He kept repeating "A color they can be born with or close to it." I scoffed. Another opinion. Oh, bother again. I am getting fired up. Again.

For the most part we are getting her hair changed because it did fade into a lot of pink. That is not what she wanted. She told me she wasn't going to do it. She wants me to pull her and home school her. It is something I have been against for years. I would consider it if it is just for the remainder of the year. Another point is the fact that we are very unhappy with the school's graphic arts program. I figure if she can do her math, English, government and science at home, then I can take her to the University for Graphics arts classes. Directly across from her current school.

Walking in the mall yesterday, I saw girls with green hair, red striped hair, and other various darker colors. I asked them where they went to school. "Home schooled" was the answer from each and every one of them.

I swore I wouldn't do it. The homeschooling. Arrgghh! Then where would she go for her Senior year? There is open enrollment. Worry about that when it comes. I have another reason in favor of homeschooling that I won't go into at this time. Big decisions. The pro's column of homeschooling is getting longer. I work at the place that actually offers the orientation and arranges the schooling. How convenient is that? I talk to the staff daily.

I cannot get in touch with my nephew who is supposed to be coming into town for a birthday dinner and a lot of family are waiting for me to let them know where the dinner is. He has not picked the restaurant or let me know what time he will be arriving. He didn't even answer his cell phone or return my call. This has me beyond worried.

One of my cats vomited and my daughter found a worm in it. The vet is diagnosing the worm as I type. I told them I want to treat all my cats and my dog if necessary for whatever it is. Yuck. I am about ready to hurl my coffee. Moving on.

What else? Oh, I have had a migraine on and off all week. Silent scream. I really didn't want to take any more medicine today, but guess what? It won't stop. It begins in the eyes and then I get really sick to my stomach. Sleeping makes me feel much worse. The medicine works wonders, but how many times a week am I supposed to take it? The weather in this Ohio Valley has been nuts, that is for sure.

I have a cake to bake and a house to clean. I have no time for migraines.

Well, the vet's office just called. I am off to get my babies their worm medicine. I chose the drops on the back of the neck instead of 2 pills for each cat. Could you imagine? I wouldn't have any skin left on my arms or hands if I had to force 2 pills down each cat's gullet.

My head is really pounding, now. My 3 Advil didn't last long. Ugh.