Safe

Yesterday was a scary day on campus! First, for those that may not know, my office is a couple miles removed from main campus (I'm sandwiched between Upper Arlington and Grandview out with the cows). So if you hear about something happening at OSU, it's very likely I'm perfectly safe. That means that I was never in any danger (or even perceived danger) yesterday at all. But, all our phones buzzed with a Buckeye Alert just before 10am that said there was an active shooter on campus and gave his location as near Watts Hall. While that is nowhere near me, I have many friends with offices in that area since it is smack in the middle of the Engineering corridor. All of OSU went on lockdown (at which I sucked and snuck out to pee after a while - so I will definitely be the weak link if there is ever a real emergency way out here). We were on lockdown for a few hours while various stories (nearly all of which turned out to be false) circulated. My coworkers and I all sat together and listened to the police scanner and madly searched the internet for news. Just before noon, the Alert was lifted and our department chair sent us all home.
(Interesting side note in case of future emergency: Thank you to everyone who called and texted to make sure I was OK! I think the phone systems must have overloaded, because no calls came through until a couple hours later. But all texts came through immediately. So, if you are ever in an emergency situation: text, don't call! My department chair survived Hurricane Katrina and said the same thing happened then.)

It turns out there was never an active shooter or any guns involved. A crazed student drove his car into a crowd of people on the sidewalk and got out and started slashing at them with a knife. An OSU police officer responded in under a minute and had to shoot and kill the attacker after he refused to put his knife down. So the entire event took less than a couple minutes and no one was killed, other than the attacker. But it was very scary and traumatic for a number of my friends in the area. More than one of them actually saw the attacker killed and his body laying there from their office windows. The police then came into the buildings, guns drawn, and had everyone leave so they could sweep the buildings to make sure they were safe. While necessary, that was pretty scary for them! Most didn't have coats, purses, keys, etc. So they had to stand out in the cold for hours while the buildings were investigated. So, it was a very long, exhausting, traumatic day for most employees in Engineering. In fact, all the action went down EXACTLY where they are moving my department in a few years. I will relish my last 3-4 years out here on west campus!

I told Wm what happened when he got home from school, because I know he'll hear about it. I focused on the fact that neither I, nor even our friends at the scene, were ever in real danger because the police responded so quickly and so well. I also stressed that no one was killed and that this is a very rare event. Wm was sad that it happened, but was, as usual, unfazed. His school had actually had indoor recess just to keep the kids inside while all of this unfolded, and Wm had no idea why. He was like, "waaaaait...is this why we had to have indoor recess?" He was happy to know his school is keeping him safe!

And, to lighten the mood, here are the Boys (including the furry one) playing cards:

Thanksgiving

We have had a great holiday weekend so far! Wm and I were off on Wednesday and I spent the day in the kitchen while Wm screened it up. I made cheddar biscuits for breakfast, pie, and corn casserole - then really good sweet potato and black bean burritos for dinner! Steve made all this much easier by getting me a KitchenAid mixer! Woot!!

On Thursday, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for a great Thanksgiving. We had lots of fun, ate great foods, and hung out with the whole crew! It was a banner year, since we hit no traffic - and no rain or snow!

As is our tradition, we put up the Christmas tree and holiday decorations on Friday. We are feeling very festive!

We hit up RedBox last night and got the new X-Men movie. Wm LOVED it and now wants to watch them all (he said Professor X looks better bald because it is "more elegant"). Steve and I went to Trader Joe's today to pick up somethings and got hot chocolate mix and fancy marshmallows. We figure we can have a movie and cocoa night tonight! Wm has spent his day making a Google Slides presentation about astronomy. I actually learned quite a bit about the galaxy!

Steve was sad he didn't have turkey sandwiches, so I decided to make him one of his favorite dinners tonight: sloppy joes! (I am making the healthy recipe I have that Wm and I like way better and Steve doesn't seem to notice.) AND, to make it extra special for Steve, I made homemade hamburger buns. (Thank you, KitchenAid mixer!) I'm serving them with Steve's most favoritest thing in the entire world: tater tots (and some sneaky carrots).

From scratch buns! And minis for Wm.

I go get all my hair chopped off tomorrow. So everyone is having a grand time!

New Hobby

We celebrated the beginning of winter weather with some Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate! (Well, Steve did get some weird coffee drink that included caramel and god knows what else.)

Cheers!

And Steve is, as previously stated, the best husband ever! I went up to bed and he was cross-stitching away and listening to sports podcasts. He also told me a super cute story about how he made a cross-stitched snowman ornament for his 3rd grade teacher. I woke up this morning and he had made 3 times the progress that I had in half the time. And, of course, it was perfect. STEEEEEVE! Always making me look bad. In retaliation, I am making buttermilk biscuits and plan to use the bacon grease I have been saving in the fridge in place of shortening. We'll just see whose cholesterol is over 200 again at their next appointment! Moooooahahahaah! (Spoiler alert: it will be Steve's.)

Crafty

We finally got see Fantastics Beasts and Where to Find Them yesterday! Steve and I really liked it - but Wm said he was disappointed. Apparently, he thought Harry Potter would make a cameo (despite not being born yet in the timeline). But, when we came out, it was snowing like crazy! None stuck, but we had our official first snow of the season. And it was 72 degrees the day before. How I'm not deathly sick, I'll never know. [knock on wood]

Today, I went to Friendsgiving at Suzanne's house. When I left, this is what the Two Sleepyheads were up to:

Snugglin'

Suzanne always encourages the bringing of craft projects to Friendsgiving. So, this year, I found an awesome cross stitch that I wanted to do. I have no idea how to cross stitch. But, Suzanne swore she would teach me. So, I arrived with all the fixin's to make this:

However, after 3 solid hours of work, I had this:

Almost every letter has some kind of mistake. Suzanne was very kind about my horrible crafting ability, but Steve was disgusted by my lack of perfection. I told him that he can finish it and we'll just see how he does. So...that's my Christmas present! Steve has been saying he needs a hobby, so doing a vagina themed cross stitch is PERFECT. Plus, I am going to hang that thing and light it up with a spot light and tell everyone, "My husband made this for me." SUPER EXCITED. Take that, Pence. VAGINA.

Wm and I have a 2 day week next week! WOOOOOT. Steve works on Wednesday, of course. Then we head to NE Ohio on Thursday for Turkey Day! 

The Understanding Male

Me: [comes back inside after my walk\jog] UGH.
Wm: Did you go far today?
Me: Kind of. But, it was a slog this time.
Wm: Did you get your best time ever?
Me: NO. My worst. I wasn't feeling it today - I was slow. It was rough.
Wm: Do you have your period or something?

Also, I thought this was cute....
Wm: [comes home from school]
Me: Did you have a good day?
Wm: A GREAT day!
Me: Wow! Awesome! What happened?
Wm: Well, I tried my best to be kind to everyone. I have found that you always have a good day when you're kind.

To wrap up, some bragging:
They did their benchmarking test in Reading yesterday (they are doing these tests with all the kiddos moving to middle school to see where they should be placed in various classes). Wm's teacher called him aside and said that, based on his score on the 5th grade test, he needed to take the 6th grade test. After she scored that one, she pulled him out again and said he needed to take the 7th grade test. So after she scored that one, I guess she went and got him again and before she could even speak, he was like, "NO MORE TESTS!" Ha! She told him that she did want him to take the 8th grade test, but that he could wait until another day. Wm is basically going to start high school English in 6th grade at this point! However, yet again, I'm not really sure any of this matters at all since he won't be going to the district middle school. But...whatevs. It's good practice.

Harmonizing

Wm has unearthed his old phone and now plays on dual phones. No. He's not a mega-nerd, why do you ask?

He plays some game where there is a chat function and you play against your friends. Have you ever tried to pull a 10 year old off his device when he is mid-game with 3 friends? It's a nightmare. A NIGHTMARE.

We had Wm's penultimate parent-teacher conference the other evening. Only one more left in his elementary career! Which is fine...they are a bit pointless even now. With 4 teachers who see him only about an hour and a half a day, it's not the same as when he had the same person all day every day and they got to know him super well. Still...Wm is not a kid who can be ignored. He was involved in Crayongate and we heard about it at conference. It went down like this:

Wm: [purposefully breaks crayon]
Teacher: Wm! Do not break crayons! You are eating your lunch with me today.
Wm: I didn't do it with malevolent intent.
Teacher: Well...good vocabulary. Still...
Wm: [smirk]

 So that tends to stick in the old memory. But he's also cute, so he mostly gets away with it. While we conferenced, Wm went to the school book fair and spent his college fund on books. But he loves them!

At his violin lesson yesterday, they were working on harmonizing. Wm is playing May Song and his teacher is plays Twinkle Twinkle. The two songs sometimes come together, and sometime drift apart. It may not seem hard, but if you play an instrument, you know how difficult it is to keep time, and keep your place, while someone is playing a different song at the same time! I was very impressed with Wm's ability to manage it! Look at this face when he's done - so proud of himself!!

Discovered Text

I found this text this morning as Wm madly texted me that the school bus didn't show up (awesome coordination by the middle school again!) After the bus madness got sorted, I scrolled up and saw this. It made me sad. Poor Wm is equally bummed. We were so confident. After Wm pushed the "Cast My Ballot" button to officially vote for Hillary, I said, "Dude. You just voted for the first female president!!!" If only.

Wm was over an hour late to school today because of The Bus Debacle. It will be bittersweet when this year is over. We will all really miss his elementary school, but we can't wait to get away from this middle school!!

Llama

Wm and his amigos have already updated their strange hand game to include Trump:



We spent yesterday with Wm's great grandpa. Who, I think, may be the first and only Trump supporter Wm has met in person. When they talk about living in a bubble...I guess we really do. We live in a neighborhood where 90% of people around us are liberal, I work at OSU (where the one conservative person in my department is tiptoed around since we all feel bad for him and his misguided ways), and Wm attends a very progressive school (where all the kids booed the one house around with a Trump sign in the yard during their Halloween parade).

But, Wm was REALLY good yesterday. Like, the best he has ever been. He sat on Great Papa's couch for nearly 2 hours, just nodding along and being, otherwise, nice and pleasant. He never looked bored or bothered. I'm not sure I could have done the same thing at 10! He then endured a trip to Great Papa's store and out to dinner, where none of the conversation or activities were geared toward a 10 year old's interests. I heaped praise on him on the car ride home, and he practically glowed. He's turning into a really kind and compassionate young man! Great Papa gave him his father's pocket watch (which, therefore, belonged to Wm's great great grandfather and is over 100 years old). Wm received it with the proper gravitas and now has it displayed in its little glass case. So, basically, he's the best. And he made the trip to see Great Papa a wonderful day!

Sadly, I was wrong about the release date of the new Harry Potter movie. Wm is pretty sad since he really wants to see it. Next weekend!! So we are laying around like giant slugs today!

And, if you haven't already seen this, get some tissues ready. Neither Steve nor I could watch it dry-eyed. We are still taking this all pretty hard.

Butt String

Schroeder apparently ate the string off Wm's yo-yo. Last night, he started tearing around the house like a crazy cat and then ended his tear in the basement. He started making SUPER WEIRD noises. Steve finally got close enough to discover the string was hanging out of his cat butt. He had pooped out about a quarter of it, but the other bit was still inside him. After Steve chased him down, he had to pull the remainder of the string out of his cat ass. So that was pretty exciting. Wm, of course, thought all this was HILARIOUS. After the trauma, we gave Schroeder some treats for surviving, and he seemed fine. Steve, however, has PTSD.

I am off work today for Veteran's Day - woot! But The Boys still have work and school. The left about a half hour ago and I have bread rising and homemade stock in the fridge for chicken noodle soup tonight. Next on the agenda are reading, napping, and Netflixing. Alone days off are THE BEST.

Tomorrow, we head up to Marion to visit with Wm's great grandpa. And on Sunday, we are going to go to see the new Harry Potter world movie!

Wm takes a test next week to "benchmark" him for accelerated 7/8 Math next year. Since he currently has an A in 6th grade gifted Math, I think it's a good idea! I'm not exactly sure what happens with that once we change schools (since Wm won't be going to middle school where he is right now for math). But, it will be good to have the scores, I guess! I have arranged tours of the 2 middle schools we are considering for early December. Applications for the one are due in February and we find out in March if Wm was selected. For the other, Wm qualifies handily to attend Columbus Gifted Academy, so we know he can go there no matter what! The nice thing about that one, as well, is that he already has a number of friends that go there. And, I'm guessing a fair number that will also be heading there for middle school. If he gets into the magnet school, I think he will have to make all new friends! But, Wm seems undaunted. Before we tour, the STEM magnet school is his top choice! That may all change once he sees them. So exciting times!!

Terrible Day

We tried our best

What I am telling myself this morning:
- At least it's not Ted Cruz. (Trump says crazy, horrific things, but Cruz BELIEVES crazy, horrific things.)
- I guess this slightly minimizes our chances of being nuked by Russia in the near future.
- Maybe in 4 years, after seeing what Trump does, the Republican party will implode and never be heard from again.

- Also, we really should have moved to Canada after I filled out the immigration info months ago and got the green light. Now the whole site has crashed and we are stuck.

Caveman Cookout

Steve has a tournament at work, so he's been a busy guy this weekend. To make sure he has some fun when he is home, we had a cookout over an open flame. It's finally cool enough that the mosquitos are gone and it's fun to sit around a warm fire. So we set up a picnic lunch in the way back of our yard and had hotdogs and s'mores cooked over the open fire. Steve had a great time sitting out there and drinking a beer by the fire and relaxing after working all day!

Picnickin' like bosses

Cooking my hotdog

After dark s'mores

Daylight Savings Time ended at the right time for Steve! He got to sleep in an extra hour before heading back to work this morning. And it's a gorgeous day, so hopefully he is not having the worst time ever.

Wm, for sure, has been having a grand time. Yesterday, he dragged me to the park where we played Four Square, multiple games of HORSE, and tether ball. After that, I was exhausted, so Wm had a friend over to entertain him. Today, Wm and I went to Whole Foods and did the grocery shopping and then he went and played disc golf with Guy.  We are about to take an Autumn Nature Walk in the ravine once we have digested lunch. He's making noises about forcing me back to the park, so I may have to arrange for another friend visit! Steve can keep up with that kid...I don't know how he does it! When I'm flying solo, I need an early bedtime! 

Halloween

Wm said this was his last trick or treat. We'll see if he changes his mind next year! But, he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth and he likes handing out candy - so, we'll see! He did say he still wants to dress up next year, but just to pass out candy, not go out. He said, "I feel weird going to the neighbors and begging for candy." HA! Here is he is on Beggars' Night:

Kylo Ren...heading out

The coolest house ever had zombies that crawled across the lawn, a bonfire, a fog machine, ghosts that turned and cackled as you walked by...the whole nine.  The picture doesn't do it justice!

Best house on the street

The boys handing out candy

Wm with his haul