School's almost over

That title is wishful thinking -- the kids still have finals week ahead of them, and that's hardly nothing. But we're almost done. Teen A and I spent several hours yesterday working on his social studies paper and he just now finished the slide show based on the paper -- both are due tomorrow. I helped Teen B study for finals last night and maybe I can sit with him while he studies for his other Monday final.

Graduation was today -- of course, we're not graduating, but Teen B played, along with the rest of the band, the orchestra, and the choir, at the event, which was held at the CU Events Center. That's a good place to do it. Plenty of parking, plenty of seating. The only problem was that it was at 9 am, so Teen B had to be there at 7:30 am, so I had to get up at 6:30 am in order to get him up at 6:45 am so we could leave at 7:15 am. Bleah. I mean, normally I get up at 7:10, so 6:30 shouldn't have been so hard, but last night I stayed up until, oh, I don't know, 1:00 am? So 6:30 was hard. And now I'm a zombie. But it was good. I watched the livestream of the graduation until about 10 am, when they started calling the names of the graduates, because at that point the non-graduating musicians were allowed to leave, so I drove back to CU and picked Teen B up, and then we watched the rest of the graduation on the livestream when we got home.

I cried quite a bit while watching the livestream. Partly because I'm a zombie today, and partly because graduation ceremonies always make me cry. I have to admit, though, that even I got a little tired of hearing "Pomp and Circumstance" played over and over and over again (by Teen B and his buddies), as the hundreds of graduates walked in slowly. The band director just kept on directing. He must have really strong arms.

This afternoon, just out of curiosity, I watched the livestream of the "other" big high school in town, to see how it was different. It was rather amazing how different it was. After hearing the all-white cast of student speakers (the twins' high school had two white and two Latina speakers) talk about how you shouldn't compare yourself to others, a faculty member proceeded to ask all the various award winners (National Merit, International Baccalaureate, and many others) to stand up, each in turn, and be clapped for. If that's not comparing students to each other, I don't know what is. (The twins' high school didn't do that.) The principal went on and on about how theirs is the best high school in Colorado, how they've won this award and that award and that other award too. Again, the twins' high school didn't say anything like that. It's a good school, too, it's just not so in love with itself.

Another difference: At the graduation for the twins' high school, several students were wearing stoles that represented their country of origin or their culture (or their parents'). Probably mostly Mexico or other Latin American countries, but some I think were meant to be African, some maybe Native, and one girl had one that might have represented Vietnam. I saw a couple of people with that sort of stole at the "other" high school, but not very many. It might be that the twins' high school has a larger Latinx population -- I think they do.

Then they called the names of the graduates and had them walk across the stage and be photographed while shaking the principal's hand. (The twins' high school did this too, very nicely.) And -- this was the kicker -- they totally screwed it up. They had the students coming from both sides of the stage and the principal would forget to look the other direction and students would duck past her and leave without being photographed or shaking her hand. Then she would turn the other way and miss other students. Sometimes students waited for her to look at them and then just gave up and left. Teen B and I watched it together in fascination. The "best high school in Colorado" and they can't figure out how to graduate. I'm so glad my kids didn't choose to go to this obnoxious school.

Anyway, here comes finals week. Monday is finals for periods 1 and 8, Tuesday is finals for periods 2 and 7, Wednesday is finals for periods 3 and 6, and Thursday is finals for periods 4 and 5 (the twins have lunch 5th period, so no final Thursday afternoon). The finals are only from 9 to 11 and 12:30 to 2:30, so they're short days. And by 11:30 or so on Thursday, they'll both be home and done, and I will have no more time to myself until August 15th.

***

I'm trying to think of what else to write about today, but I'm so tired that ideas aren't coming. We didn't make much progress on the house this week. The furnace guys came back, and replaced some parts, but the furnace still didn't work. So now they think it's the circuit board, and they quoted me $1200 for a replacement. I told them we'd think about it. They also said they could put in a new furnace for $6000. I looked around online, and $6000 for a new furnace is on the high end, and $1200 for a new circuit board is REALLY expensive. It's the Boulder mark-up again. So we may sit on this one for a while. Rocket Boy would like to take another stab at it, since now we have a better idea what's wrong. And we won't need the furnace again (probably) until October, so we have some time.

The tree guy was supposed to come tomorrow, but he called this morning and asked if he could postpone until Friday. I said sure. We're not in a hurry.

No word from the bathroom door people, nor the handyman who thinks he can fix the porch roof. So, yeah, not a very productive week in that respect.

Plans for our trip are in good shape -- I know where we're all sleeping every night except June 4th, and I know where most of us are sleeping that night. I just have to decide on a hotel for Rocket Boy. Maybe this week I can pin that down.

I'm also keeping up with my credit card -- paying it down every week, anything to reduce the shock I'll feel when we come home and I have thousands of dollars of charges to pay off.

I've thought of a couple of little projects I might do this week (if I'm in the mood). The first one I've started already: a little booklet with all the information I have about each day of the trip on a different page (route, hotel info, people we're seeing, possible restaurants, possible rest stops, etc.). And the other is to draw a family tree, because whenever I tell the twins who we'll be visiting, they ask how they're related to that person, and when I try to explain, their eyes glaze over. I tried to draw a little chart at the restaurant last weekend and even I was surprised by how complicated it got, and how quickly.

My Mother's Day card from Rocket Boy finally arrived -- maybe on Thursday? After opening it, I put away all the twins' birthday cards except for one that makes me laugh every time I look at it, and gave the Mother's Day card pride of place on the piano.

I was a little iffy about the card. It seemed, I don't know, a bit retro.

I mean, look at the inside. The woman is on her phone, cooking something in the microwave, using a broom and a dishtowel, and perhaps even dancing, while a cat and a dog misbehave, and there's just a glimpse of a kid's leg as he/she heads off, probably to play video games. 

I wasn't sure I wanted to be that woman. Though possibly I am her.

I asked RB about the card and he said it reminded him of me, how I do everything around the house, manage the twins' lives, etc.

So I decided to look at the card in a positive light. He wasn't criticizing me, or trying to turn me into a "tradwife," he was complimenting me, or trying to. Still, not sure. I think the bottom line is that I'm tired of being this woman.

Oh, I know what else happened this week -- I finally made the decision to try Mounjaro. I have really been dragging my feet about that drug, but on Wednesday at my book group meeting I realized that one of the members has lost a LOT of weight. She and I have kind of gotten fat together over the 20+ years of book group. But she looks so good now -- she's down 56 pounds in five months. And it turns out it's all due to Mounjaro -- or, in her case, Zepbound, which is the name for the same drug if you take it when you don't have diabetes.

She's started to be able to shop in the regular size women's department again, no more Plus sizes. I'd probably have to lose more than 56 pounds to be able to do that, but hey. She hasn't experienced any side effects. It's all been easy. And she's so happy, you could tell.

So I went home and emailed my doctor, and by Friday the prescription was waiting for me at King Soopers. Sort of. What I mean is, there's a current shortage of the drug, so they were only able to fill one month's worth of the prescription, when I was supposed to get two months. But I picked up that one box and took it home and stuck it in the fridge.

The way Mounjaro works is, you give yourself a shot once a week. So I have to decide on a starting day. I'm thinking Tuesday night. But then I have to decide whether I should wait until we get back from our trip. If the side effects aren't bad, I could take it this Tuesday and next Tuesday, and bring a needle along to use on the following Tuesday (it doesn't have to be refrigerated all the time). But if it makes me feel awful, maybe I should just wait to take my second shot after I get back. Or, I could wait to start the whole thing after we get back.

I'm going to stew about this for another day or so. Part of me is like -- what have I done? I still have all the same qualms about the drug that I had before. It was just seeing my book group friend, how the clock seemed to have turned back 20 years for her. I thought, wow, maybe this stuff does work. Maybe even if I don't get to stay on it very long (due to changing insurance), it would be worth it to take it for a little while. I'll have to see.