Rants, bragging, etc.

Okay, I know I'm way behind on this blog thing. I'll update more later. Suffice it to say, we've been pretty busy and we had yet another visit from the exterminator. They at least did other apartments this time, although they didn't do the whole building like I had demanded. We'll definitely be having another visit sometime soon. This latest visit, unlike the three prior to it, actually seemed to do some good. Perhaps actually treating the apartment where the problem originated (which shares my kitchen wall) helped. Anyway, they actually kind of went away for about a week and a half. But they reappeared in my kitchen yesterday and today. I started looking at real estate and apartment listings again today. I have to say, though, that this whole experience has left me with a desire to never again live in an apartment/condo/townhouse or anything else with shared walls.

On a more cheerful subject, last month Ruby got an award at school for being the "most improved" student that month. It was mostly for her printing and coloring/drawing. She really has made huge leaps forward in that area since school started. We had parent/teacher conferences last week, too. Her teacher said that Ruby is really probably the most improved student overall in the class. She's at or above grade level in everything, works well, follows instructions, etc. It was just a really positive conference. Ruby's teacher also said that some of the girls are starting with the "you can't be my friend" thing and it's getting to be kind of a problem. I was amazed that they are already doing that at 5 years old. Anyway, one of the girls in the class is having some trouble making friends. She's quiet and reserved. Her mom was kind of concerned about it and Mrs. Viau (the teacher) suggested Ruby as a friend for her because Ruby is so kind and nice and it's not in Ruby's nature to refuse to be friends with someone. It made us feel good to hear about what a nice girl we have. I guess we must be doing something right. Of course, it also helps that Ruby really likes this girl and already was making friends with her.

Ruby didn't have school last Friday since it was an inservice day for parent-teacher conferences. We had done our conference earlier in the week, so I took the kids to the Oakland Zoo to spend the day. It was nice. We don't get to do too many all day activities like that now that Ruby is in school, so I seized the opportunity. The kids really liked seeing all the animals (and going on the rides). The elephants were a favorite. The kids thought it was hilarious when the elephants started pooping and peeing. It is rather amazing to see the large quantities coming out of them. Elephant pee looks rather like someone turned on a fire hose. They have a petting zoo area with goats and sheep, too. There were little brushes there, too. The kids had a blast brushing the goats. I got a lot of cute pictures of them at the zoo, which I will post later.

Some of you have wondered how it works having only one car. Ruby's school is 1 mile from our apartment. Charles works 1.5 miles from the apartment and 1.85 miles from Ruby's school. He generally takes the car to work. If I happen to need it during the day I either drop him off at work or, more commonly, after I walk Ruby to school I walk over to Charles' office to pick up the car. Then I just pick him up from work in the evening. He could really walk home from work or take the bus, but doing the bus frequently would end up costing us more than his car was costing us and we sold it in an effort to save money. He works so close and the bus is so expensive that it's actually cheaper to drive and pick him up. It's been working out fine so far. It's very rare that we both need the car. And we've managed to avoid rain during the walking to and from school hours so far. Except for yesterday. It was pouring yesterday, but Charles just went and got Ruby from school and brought her home in the car and ate lunch at home then went back to work. It's very convenient having him work so close.

That's about all the time I have for now. I'll post more later. Happy Thanksgiving!