*Sigh*

Hello all -
I finished the week of teacher workdays, and with a few exceptions, I think I am ready for school to start. This last week was exhausting - meetings and in-services. Full days spent in meetings while stressing over the lack of time to do all of the other million things I needed to do before school starts. But I think I got pretty much everything done. And if there's a glitch or two within the first few days, that's to be expected.

Last night was the Pep Band's first performance at a football game. We weren't going to play this game because school hasn't even started yet, but last Saturday I started making phone calls, by Wednesday we were having rehearsals, and on Friday we had 25-30 kids ready to play the game. (I use the term "ready" quite loosely) We played the national anthem, the school fight song, Seven Nation Army and Louie, Louie. Obviously we will have to have more in our repertoire as the season goes on, but that was enough for the first game. I think it went well. It certainly could have been worse. The athletic director and other staff I have had to talk to to get to this game seem very supportive of the Pep Band, so hopefully we can only go up from here. Our team won, by the way, so that was an exciting start to the season.

Once we get into the swing of things, I think my schedule will calm down a bit. Luckily, I can do most of my prep work at home (score study, etc.) and I shouldn't have a ton of grading to do, except for midterm and final when they'll have written tests.

In other news, Jermaine is headed for the hospital soon. (or maybe the morgue...) On Wednesday, Chad got him home from work with a little bit of a struggle, and then on Thursday (Chad's day off) he wouldn't start. Chad spent the morning doing what he could to fix him. This included replacing the fuel filter. But alas, he could not be started. Later that day, Chad came to pick me up for lunch, and he was driving Jermaine! He started up just fine, and was doing well ever since. We drove him downtown with no issues, yesterday Chad drove him to work with no issues, and then we drove him (packed with instruments and stands) over to the football stadium (our "home" stadium is at the other high school in our district - about 10 minutes away) where we unloaded him, parked him, loaded him back up again, and drove him back to the school after the game. Chad had him parked up on the sidewalk to be closer to the building, and when everything was out of the car, he started him up again to go home. Except Jermaine wouldn't start. He put it in neutral and rolled down the slanted sidewalk back into the parking lot. We had Leonard there because we originally had to take 2 cars to the stadium because Chad got off work after I had to be there to meet kids. So I got in Leonard, and we pushed Jermaine home. Luckily we live really close to the school and it was 11:00 at night, so there was hardly any traffic. It was a little scary, and bumpy, and Jermaine's back bumper has a few scratches from Leonard's license plate, but we got home okay. So, if we want him fixed, we have to call AAA to have us towed to the garage, and then replacing the fuel pump (which people seem to think is the problem) will cost us $400-500. Who knows what's actually wrong with him. We were hoping the cars would hold out for another year while I worked my new job and saved the money for a car. The Subaru is running just fine after we took it in earlier this summer and had the spark plugs/wiring (or something) replaced - but the check engine light is still on. I'm not too worried about it, since when we took it in, they couldn't find anything life-threatening to fix. He's probably just requesting a breathing tube or oxygen tank or something, but he gets on just fine without one. We're trying to decide where we draw the line between paying $3o0-$500 every few months to keep the cars running, and just buying a new car and putting that money into payments. (I really wanted to pay for a car in cash... )

But what with that, and the baby on the way for which they are calculating we will owe around $4000 (plus who knows how much), we are quickly watching our expected "extra" money disappear. And it looks like we won't be headed to UT next weekend for the baby blessing... We are blessed though, that Jermaine made our trip to California/Utah and back, and to Yellowstone with Mollie - instead of stranding us somewhere along the way. Besides dying in the driveway, it probably couldn't have died closer to home. We do have the extra income, we just didn't want to have it spent as soon as it came in every month. And Chad and Lady and I are in good health and the house isn't falling apart, so things could be much worse.

In less depressing news, the baby is moving a lot now! His little jerks make my whole belly jiggle and that's kind of weird to watch. I had to go buy some new maternity work clothes and got lucky with 3 pairs of pants from Ross for $40. They all look pretty much the same, but at least I will know I'm wearing clean pants, even if no one else does. I packed away all of my non-maternity work clothes to make some space in the closet - I accumulated most of them after Christmas last year with shopping money from mom. It was sad to know they only got worn for a few months and then I had to replace my whole work wardrobe again. Being pregnant and having babies is expensive business!

Lady and I are currently lounging on the couch like the good ol' days. My side has been hurting since I woke up this morning - kind of like when you get a cramp when you're running or something - but it won't go away. I'm hoping laying still for a bit will do the trick.

Next week is the Eastern Idaho State Fair. We will have to see if we can squeeze in a trip to replace my lack of the Big E.

Piano lesson to teach in a few minutes. What I really wanna do is take a nap...