Happy Birthday to me. I turned 45 years old today. Last night, Spy and Ash took me to dinner at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in Bellevue and the waitress carded me! Hee! Stephen said to me that it was nice that the restaurant hired handicapped people. And Jax told me that the waitress must not have been very smart. Nice. ;)

The kids are on spring break so we just hung out today, played a board game (Rumoli), we started working on a puzzle and we played Rock Band: The Beatles. Stephen baked me a cake and I received some very nice gifts from my family (including a pair of blue topaz earrings).

I cannot believe I am 45. It sounds so old and so close to 50! I feel 25 most days. Aging is so strange.

I met with Music Teacher yesterday morning. He showed me Jax's opera mask which was not nearly as bad as he made it seem. I told Music Teacher that Jax had asked him if he could colour it that way and Music Teacher replied "Be creative!" but then he told me that is not what he meant by "Be creative". He meant to draw little curlie-cues or triangles or circles within the mask. So why didn't he just say that?

And the schizophrenic comment? He explained that he really should have known better because he has a family member who is schizophrenic. I agreed again that the comment was really over the top.

Music Teacher said he will apologize to Jax in front of the whole class and initially, that is what I thought that I wanted. However, I started thinking that really I don't trust this guy and who knows exactly what he would say or how he would say it. I am sure he would qualify the apology so I told him that we'd prefer that he apologize privately to Jax.

I am just so thankful that next week is spring break then there are just 10 1/2 weeks of school (and one of those weeks we will be on vacation - more on that another time). After that time, Jax will not have to have anything else to do with this teacher. And this whole schizophrenic thing would not have been an issue if the peanut butter issue had not happened two years ago. At least, Music Teacher would not have made a huge deal about it.

Tomorrow is Friday and Jax comes home from camp. It has been a quiet week without him.

I met with the principal yesterday about the music teacher. She already knew what had happened because he had gone to see her and said "You will never believe what I just said...". She told him to call me immediately to tell me but he had seen me in the school so he found me and you know the rest.

Anyway, I told the principal that I just wanted him to stop saying stupid shit to Jax. Ok, I said inappropriate comments. And I want him to apologize to Jax in front of the whole class. She suggested that I speak to him so I am meeting with him on Thursday morning.

Jax is away this week at outdoor education camp so it is nice to give us this time to work things out because if he had to go to music before we had this all worked out I would be super mad.

And of course all of this emotion had made the rosacea on my face flare up. Ugh!

I taught Art today in Dex's class. The class is working on "Assemblage Art". I got the idea from DickBlick Art Materials. Today the kids assembled and glued their projects. Next week they will paint it with gesso.

While I was in Dex's class, Music Teacher came in and started looking at the kids' art work and he chatted for a minute with Dex's teacher then he came over to me and said that he needed to speak to me when I had a minute. I really did not want to talk to him after school so I said if it would just take a minute we could go into the pod outside of the classroom.

Now, before I go on, let me remind you that Music Teacher is the one who bullied Jax when Jax was in 4th grade. And the letter Jax wrote to him as well as my .

In the pod, Music Teacher starts by telling me about some masks they are making in music class (Opera masks) and how Jax made his 1/2 evil and 1/2 good and Music Teacher did not think that was the right way to make it and he told Jax that it made him look schizophrenic. Then Music Teacher said that Jax got really quiet and he thought he might be tearing up and he realized that calling Jax schizophrenic was probably not the best choice of words. He said he apologized and was going to look up Opera Masks to see if sometimes they are indeed painted that way... All of this was just gushing out of him. Then he said that because of their history, he thinks that Jax is a little sensitive about the things he says and he just wanted to be sure that we know he really did not think that Jax was schizophrenic and if he finds out about the masks he will be sure to tell the whole class blah blah blah.

I just kept looking at him wondering how he knew I was in Dex's class and once he said the thing about the history, I realized that he was just trying to cover his ass. I thanked him for telling me and said I would talk to Jax.

After school, when I asked Jax about it, he said that he was upset that he might have to redo all of the hard work he had done on his mask. I think the schizophrenic comment went right over his head but the fact that Music Teacher made a big deal about it in front of the class did not.

And I am still wondering how Music Teacher knew I was in Dex's class. He had not tried calling me at home or on my cell phone. I had signed into the school in the office before going to Dex's class but I don't imagine Music Teacher would have just looked through the log in the event that I might be there. I did see the principal when I was in the office so maybe he did go to her and she told him I was in the school somewhere. Curious...

And here's the 4th Grader's Art Work so far...remember, it will all be white-washed with gesso...



I'll post more after they are white-washed!

Tonight, we ordered two pizzas online from Dominos.com to pick up on the way home from church. I ordered online for them to be picked up at 6:15pm. When I arrived, they told me the pizzas were not ready and that "the system" said they were to be ready at 7:15". I showed them my confirmation that I ordered them for 6:15 and the girl behind the counter said "Well, that's not OUR fault that the online system gave us the wrong time". Blink. Blink. Blink. So I said "It is not MY fault either". Blink. Blink. Blink. She then told me it would take 20 minutes to make the pizzas for me. I said "Great, please deliver them to my house in 20 minutes!". She told me she could not do that unless I paid for delivery "because of insurance purposes". I looked at her and said "Are you the manager?" and she said with a heavy sigh (and an eye roll) "No".

The manager came over and apologized and said he'd make the pizzas right away (the girl told me she would put the in the queue which is why they would take 20 minutes instead of the approximate 8 minutes that it actually takes to make and bake them). He also refunded my money (reversed the charges to my credit card). Meanwhile, the girl is blinking away and rolling her eyes at me. I didn't dare leave the store less she spit on my pizza.

Next week we are going back to Papa John's.

I am now an American Citizen. Time to register to vote!

I went back to the eye doctor today and she tweaked my prescription and will remake my glasses (I am assuming on her dime). It is just the right eye. She lowered the astygmatism number back to what my current one is. She had me try on these horrible glasses with my prescription (and the changes) and walk around her office. I was so embarrassed. One lady laughed and said to the doctor "I am glad you like ME!" Anyway, I should finally get the non-barf-and non-headache inducing glasses within a week.

I also had a dentist appointment today. Once again they told me that I need replace my silver fillings with porcelain onlay$. $eriou$ly?! *After* insurance (which pays 50%), it would be $487.50 out of my pocket. I think I can live with my silver fillings. And I have 4 that they want to replace. I am sorry but I just do not have $2000 laying around to make my molars look prettier. Besides, I am saving up to buy me some Shania teeth.

TGIF! I am glad I made it through the week. Only two stress-induced migraines and one near anxiety attack. Life is good, no?

Last night we had to rush to drive to Redmond right after Cars' baseball practice to GET OUR NEW CAR! Yes, after 9 months of looking and nearly 4 months after we ordered it, we got our new car. It is BIG. And the colour is so pretty. It was well worth the wait!

Well, I did it. I went to my U.S. Citizenship interview and I passed.. I get to be an American! I will be sworn in next week. They would have done it today at 2pm but Stephen had a meeting at work (and it was about 8:45am when they told us) so we picked a day for next week.

The questions in the guide that they give you to study from are pretty simple but some are a bit tricky. I was given probably the six easiest questions of the 100 questions. I was asked the following questions:

What is the supreme law of the land?
What is an amendment?
What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
Who did the United States fight in World War II?
What is the capitol of our state?
Who signs bills into laws?

And the English portion of the test was super easy, of course. I had to write a sentence that the immigration officer spoke:

"The White House is in Washington D.C."

I imagine they make it very easy for non-native English speakers.

The immigration officer reviewed my application form to make sure that nothing had changed from the time I applied (November). My anxiety over the documentation for speeding tickets that I received 17 and 20 years ago was ridiculous because in the end, it was a non-issue.

Twice during my interview, Stephen's immigration officer interrupted to ask about when the best date for our swearing in would be. The first time I thought "well, this is premature" since I had not received the "pass" yet.

So next week I become an American. Then I need to figure out how to register to vote. Can't wait!

I took my new glasses back to the eye doctor today because I cannot wear them. I get sick (have almost thrown up) and they are migraine-inducing. I forced myself to wear them for longer than 5 minutes today (I wore them for 15) and now I have a wicked migraine.

The doctor's office checked them out and said they were made to spec to now I have to go for an eye re-check to see if my prescription is right. My astigmatism changed and I believe that is the part of the new glasses that is making me sick. So I am going back next week.

And while I was in there, another woman was complaining of the same thing. I wonder if it is the doctor? Hmmm...

If I make it through this week with less than one stress-induced migraine it will be a miracle!

We were supposed to get our car tomorrow but Stephen decided he wanted to wait another day or two because Toyota does not have any current deals listed on our model and the ones that are listed expire today so he thinks there will be new ones listed tomorrow (and it would be nice if our model were listed). Anyway, so we are holding off getting submitting the paperwork for the loan until tomorrow and then it takes about a day.

We also have our interviews/citizenship test on Thursday which is stressing me out.

Oh and I am about to fall off the roof so my hormones are raging.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...