I'm Baaaaack!

I made it back from summer camp around 1:00 in the morning yesterday. So now I'm back, doing laundry, cleaning house, and generally getting back to normal before I have to worry about going back to school in a few weeks.

Camp was fun. The first week's group of kids seemed to be a bit more mature and seemed to "get it" a bit more, but overall they were a good group of kids. I did have one little guy who had already made a name for himself within the first two hours - this is rare in a camp for gifted kids. He was a terror. He did pretty good in my class until the last two days when he decided he wanted to play in the bathrooms (not a good thing to do at a University) and run in the halls. The last day he didn't want to go outside to fly the kites they'd made that week because he wanted his parents to bring a purchased kite from home. When they didn't, he got MAD. So, after I told him that he was coming with us regardless, he sat and screamed and threw rocks and generally pitched a fit because his "dad ruins everything" and "I don't want to fly a stupid homemade kite." The other kids gave him "what the hell is wrong with you" looks and proceeded to have a blast running around flying their kites and ignoring him. His folks showed up to pick him up and apologized up and down for his behavior, went on about how he has attitude problems, doesn't deal with disappointments well (really, you think?) and so forth and so on. Truth be told, after seeing how his dad got mad and lost patience with him I can see where the anger management issues come from. He was the first kid in eight years of camp that ever pitched a fit in my room, so that's saying something.

My favorite comment from him during the crying and rock throwing episode was, "I don't want to come stand by you because the other kids will think I'm a baby!". Well, hon, they already think that.

Mrs. Cardinal, who I stayed with, and I had a blast. We took her oldest daughter to Dayton, along with one of her teen friends, to see the Harry Potter movie and just loved it. Really dark, but a good film. I'm ready to see it again so perhaps Mrs. Eagle and I will do that before school starts. We did lots of walks with the baby Cardinal (going on 2) and just had a fun time. The baby is adorable, although she's getting into the terrible two's and can have her moments. One thing that staying with the Cardinals and the four kids does is make me appreciate how quiet my own home is. Let's just say the two oldest kids, 15 1/2 and 13, are masters at driving each other crazy and do it at every opportunity.

I did get to see a lot of my old college friends, and despite our 2001 graduations, at least three of them still can't find teaching jobs in Ohio. They just aren't there. People aren't retiring and when they do, they aren't replaced. This community is very family oriented, with large families, and many of these gals just can't bring themselves to leave and move somewhere to get a teaching job (like I did), especially if they have husbands who have decent jobs in the area. I can understand that, and am thankful that we didn't have the family ties and were able to leave like we did. My one friend's daughter ended up getting hired in Dodge City, Kansas, along with her fiance, so many of the best and brightest are leaving the state. It's sad, really.

So now I'm home, sleeping in my own bed, snuggling with my cats and just enjoying being home. Mr. Bluebird is out of town on business so he'll be home late tomorrow - can't wait as I miss him tons when we're apart. My new Harry Potter book arrived yesterday so I'm going to sit and try to get it read as soon as I can although part of me doesn't want the saga to end and I certainly don't want a favorite character to die.

On the down side, I have, for the first time in at least 20 years, had a reaction to some food or something. Woke up in the middle of the night and my upper lip felt swollen and this morning it's huge...so something I ate (perhaps the new flavored decaf coffee I tried for the first time last night?) caused an allergic reaction and I look like I've been in a fight, but without the bruising. It's not painful, just hideous and uncomfortable, so I'm laying low today. Hopefully it will be down by tomorrow as I have a two-day in-service to attend and I'd rather not go looking like this.

Sigh.