Wow almost a year...

gone by without a post. Truly I have been hyper-busy... the time has flown along at lightspeed. Plus a series of very depressing events last winter/spring really was not conducive to electronic blather.

1. My beloved daughter is now in kindergarten, where she has rapidly become a HELLION... who knew? Yesterday her daily "tattle-note" from the teacher said that Michela was "slapping butts in the hallway and licked Parker's (a classmate) ear and told him, 'You're hot' "..... WTF????? From a FIVE year old??? Holy crap. The day before that she got in trouble for punching someone and the day before that it was throwing food in the lunchroom. Not a day goes by that she is not in the principal's office. [And let's gloss over the horrifying repetitive experience with LICE. EEEEEUUUUUWWWW.]

This is not a good sign. She is not allowed to exhibit this type of behavior at home... but hopefully a change in classrooms (from "developmental kindergarten" - where they placed her because of her age) to the regular kindergarten will help. I think the new teacher is a little more of a hard-nose, at least I hope so. Michela had the previous teacher's number - I can only imagine that her discipline style was too sugar-coated for Michela to take. I am very matter of fact at home - wheedling or entreating Michela to behave usually has the opposite result. Everyone agrees that she is super-smart and able to do work well beyond her age group. She just has ROTTEN social skills. Go figure, given me and her introverted father. Sheesh.

2. I've changed jobs FINALLY at work, and I'm now an automotive CAD designer. YAY! Summit is giving me a tremendous opportunity to climb the ladder and I'm going great guns. At least, I don't feel like crying on a daily basis.... and I'm going to college [argh, night classes] next semester to take some design classes. Actually I was encouraged to pursue a degree, and just a few days ago the decision was made corporate-wide not to offer tuition reimbursement... but they made an exception for me to at least take next semester's class... and see where we end up in 6 months. Being an automotive supplier is very scary right now - we have had our 401K employer-matching funds eliminated as well.... but you know as long as I have a desk to sit at and a paycheck coming in then I am doing well.

3. Horses, yep I still got 'em. Zyggy is hale and hearty. Ellie will be 4 in the spring and I hope to begin riding her this winter. Ginger will be 2 in the spring and ditto.... she's gonna be huge. Coco, Michela's new pony, is cute as a bug and should be going to fair next summer. Last August Michela borrowed a mini from a friend of mine and did her first horse show... I was such a proud mom. Even though the pony was a nasty little thing (it would buck and kick and generally misbehave) Michela took no nonsense from her and showed in halter, lead-line and costume class. Upon receiving her 3rd ribbon for the day, she was heard to exclaim, "Oh man, not blue AGAIN!" but accepted it graciously nonetheless.