new fans! and a birthday

my blog isn't exactly the hottest spot on the internet but i'm happy to report i have two new fans!  self reported ones.  that sometimes helps since (as i always taught my english students) it's good to know your audience so that when you write you can meet your objective more efficiently.  or something like that.  (can i just say how happy i am NOT to be going back to school this fall?)  one of these new fans is an old high school friend, recently reconnected through the miracle of facebook.  she said she's been enjoying reading my old posts.  i took a day last week to review some of them.  WOW - the past feels so long ago!  i wasn't quite sure what to make of my emotions that came with reading about past relationships, troublesome students, fighting the good fight of getting certified as a highly qualified english teacher, and the random ramblings of my day to day experiences.  i was also reminded of many of my old fans of this blog.  i wonder if i've lost them or if they just don't comment anymore.  hard to say.  life moves on.  sometimes looking back is just weird.  anyway, back to the present!

so, with new fans, i feel i better write something!  i did have a birthday last week.  it was pretty good.  for the next few months i'm officially older than bret.  that makes me feel special but i have to make a concerted effort to remember we're not the same age since he can never remember his age and i have to do it for him.  my bday landed on a great weekend - one of bret's longer ones.  we spent one evening with his parents, one day with my mother and brother, an evening with friends, and then an evening with the neighborhood.  i got to help put on the 7th annual night out against crime for my 'hood.  i got to be in charge of organizing the kids' games.  luckily i have super nice and enthusiastic neighbors who agreed to help.  i also luckily have a good husband who is willing to do anything i ask.  we started working around 4:30 in the afternoon and didn't get home until 11.  bret didn't complain a bit.  he actually may have enjoyed himself.  no, now that i think about it, he said it gave him a lot to think about.  maybe that's like enjoying himself.  our neighborhood isn't exactly "upscale" by any means.  we'd more likely be referred to as the "other side of the tracks" although, the real tracks (for uta trax) are actually about four blocks further west.  but our residents tend to be multinational, limited english speakers, alternative family types.  hmm, this isn't coming out right.  basically there are a lot of rentals in the area.  not to mention the hood has a reputation as being a bit of red light district (at least a few years ago it did).  so anyway, the kids that came to our games weren't exactly polite or well behaved.  neither were the parents.  rules?  what are those?  as bret said, they didn't respond to the word "no."  they didn't respond to anything.  he felt a bit run over by the kids.  not exactly the thing a new husband needs to experience.  it's not like the idea of kids sounds easy breezy anyway!  when we were cleaning up i couldn't help but smile to realize that the people doing all the work were two old women, one middle aged woman and her 10 year old son, one old man and his pregnant daughter and her husband, and then me and bret.  not exactly the sort of crew that can haul tables and chairs for 200 after having worked for three hours setting up, grilling, wrestling kids, and cleaning up.  i was impressed with their fortitude.  i, however, lay on the grass and tried to relax my back as it was causing me some severe pain after all that.  we're thinking next year of hiring the hauling of tables and chairs.  the two old ladies that do most of the work are pretty good at getting donations from businesses, but not so good at getting members of the neighborhood to pitch in.

yep, so that's how i spent my big bday weekend.  the best part was having  a good husband intent on making me happy all weekend.  he let me eat apple currant crisp for breakfast on thursday.  he took me to moochies for lunch on saturday.  and he got me a box of see's.  who could ask for anything more?