Another One Bites The Dust

Catherine joined the grounded crew this week. Her grades are not the problem, her room was. It was nasty. Dirty dishes, old dirty clothes, nasty old trash. It was awful. The strange part is she is willing to clean everything else. She’ll scrub the toilets, clean the kitchen, and take out the trash. But she just refuses to clean her room. So there went her shot at NaBloPoMo, since her computer has been taken. I had a parent teacher conference with Catherine’s teacher today. She made the honor roll, of course, but she is slacking off on doing her work. Apparently, she thinks she is so smart, she doesn’t need to do more work. She has also been slacking on her reading, so her teacher and I discussed upping her reading time from 30 minutes Monday through Thursday to 90 minutes every day. That way she can finish her larger books. Also, her teacher would like her to expand her selections from just Harry Potter. Overall, she is a good student. Her teacher says her social skills are getting better too. She does need to learn to match her clothes. Maybe if she could find them in that mess of hers. We are getting it cleaned out this weekend.

Carolynn’s grades improved this week. She also did all of her chores and homework. So she is being permitted to go to her friend’s birthday party tomorrow. She is still grounded from internet, her phone and going anywhere else. If her behavior continues to improve, the grades climb, and the chores get done, she could be ungrounded before Christmas.

Speaking of kids in trouble… Tabi and Kathy’s son Ethan is with us tonight. Apparently, he didn’t do some school work and was told he would not be permitted to go on a family outing this evening to his brother’s choir performance if he didn’t get it done. As you can guess, he didn’t get it done. So he spent most of the night sitting at our kitchen table reading. He read all the books he brought with him, and two we had here. He ate some macaroni and cheese and now he is helping Catherine burn old school papers in the fireplace. It’s our first fire of the season.

If you’ll remember, last year at this time I made a deal with the world… If I promised to volunteer, the world would give me a job. (Check it out here.) Anyway, I went then and volunteered at the Salvation Army. Last winter I spent many of my hours ringing a bell and collecting donations. And the world provided me with a job at a prison. All was good. Not too long ago, the prison gave me a special award for my volunteer service. That is when I realized that the world didn’t think one winter of bell ringing was worth the amazing job. So when Gary from the Salvation Army called last week, I knew I had to go. Yesterday David and I went down there to fill out the forms. So starting soon, you will find me ringing a bell in front of the Stater Bros. on Saturday nights. You will find David there on Monday and Tuesday nights. You will also find us down there several days a week, counting out the kettles for deposit. We are doing a good thing.

Our TV is broken. We just got it in March so it is still under warranty. They are very willing to fix it for free, but I have to take it to the nearest repair shop. The nearest repair shop is in Yucaipa. So it’s kind of a pain, but what can you do? I can’t afford to buy a new TV. (This is what my Grandpa would probably do. But I love him.)

Yesterday was Aunt Chris’ 60th birthday. We went over for cake and took her a present, despite the fact that she specifically said no presents. Mary and Tonya (some wonderful friends of theirs, and now of mine too) were there and their friend Connie (who I have met a couple of times). It was fun. I hope she had a nice birthday.

David is sick. I have been pumping him full of medicine and he has been asleep most of the day. I have been making him drink orange juice and take vitamins too. He has no health insurance, so he needs to stay healthy.

If you recall, I am doing a blog swap for NaBloPoMo this year. I did it last year too. (Check it out here.) So for tomorrow, look for a post from Rammi right here on Tropical Fruit. And head over to her blog and look for a post by me. There are four other sets of swappers joining us in the swap for tomorrow so check out these great blogs tomorrow and see the results.

Stacey of Say Something Stacey will be swapping with Brandi Hassouna of The Day After

Bonnie Kaplan of BK's Reviews and Reflections will be swapping with Miranda of Compost Happens: An After School Special

Aurora McBride-Moore of Tales Of A Frumpy Mocha Princess will be swapping with Roxy Adams of ...snippets...

Katie Conrad of Gnomes At Night will be swapping with Johnny Pez