Last week of school

I wrote that title several days ago, before various other things happened. But yes, this was the last week of school, and Thursday, May 22nd was the last day of school. It seems like forever ago already. 

In last week's post, at the end I wrote "Whatever happens, it will be an OK week." I knew when I wrote those words that I was tempting fate. I was going to write "a good week" and then changed it to "an OK week" just to be on the safe side. I would say it was in fact a sucky week. But maybe that's wrong. There were good parts to it too. So maybe it was an OK week.

The twins took their finals. Monday was math for Teen A and that horrible language arts paper for Teen B. Teen A's final math grade still hasn't been posted. Teen B, however, managed to pull out a B on that paper, leaving him with a C in the class. For him, that's a huge win. Tuesday was language arts for Teen A and German for Teen B. Teen A got a C on his final, which is fine. Teen B got an A on his final, which is amazing. (His teacher is an easy grader.)

Wednesday was US History for both kids, plus Teen B had to go to his Health class to get participation credit in order to (barely) keep his A. We still don't have Teen B's history grade, and that's a worry, because he's on the verge of failing the class. Teen A got a D on the final, but I think he'll probably get a C in the class. He'll pass, anyway, which is all we care about.

It's so interesting, having kids who don't do well in school. Rocket Boy and I both were never happy with anything less than an A. We worked hard for those A's, all through school. How is it that we are raising kids who can't do it and don't seem to care?

Teen A drove them to school all week, because the seniors were gone and so the senior parking lot was available. On Wednesday after the history final, Teen B stopped at the restroom and then headed out to the parking lot to find Teen A. Teen A was already driving out, with a friend in the car, but he had to stop at the light, so Teen B climbed in. He heard Teen A's friend saying, "I didn't know you had a brother," as he got in. Teenage boys are so obnoxious to each other (at least ours are).

Teen A drove Teen B home and then turned around and drove his friend home (somewhere in north Boulder). On the way back home again, around 1 pm, this happened.

He tried to call me, but I was at Trader Joe's, annoyed because they were out of avocado oil. When I got home I looked at my phone and saw that Teen A had tried to call twice, but hadn't left messages. "Wonder what that was about," I said to Rocket Boy. Then I heard the front door open and went to greet Teen A.

"Mom, there's a problem," he said to me.

I don't really understand car accidents anymore. Teen A could not have been going more than about 30 mph, because Broadway near the university is stop and go, speeding is impossible. The car in front of him stopped and he didn't, or at least not in time. And thus, our car is totaled (apparently the other car is not badly damaged), even though the air bag didn't even deploy. How can cars be that fragile? (Teen A is fine, by the way, not a scratch or a bruise on him.)

We are going to try to fix the car. This is the lovely car my sister gave us last summer. It is well maintained, with only about 87,000 miles on it (10 years old). Our insurance company is going to give us about $12,000 for it, and we are planning to put that toward fixing it. Our mechanic thinks he can fix it, though it may cost more than $12,000. But considering that we got it for free, we think it's worth investing some money in. Cheaper than buying a new car, even a new used car, and potentially much more reliable than any other car we could afford.

But officially it's totaled. That means that we have to re-title it as "salvage" and then when it is fixed, we can try to re-title it as "rebuilt," assuming the State of Colorado agrees with our mechanic that it is road ready.

I will say, going through something like this puts you in contact with a lot of nice people. The tow truck driver was nice. The insurance adjuster was nice. The insurance appraiser was nice. The girl at the front desk of the towing company was nice. The mechanic was nice. The girl at the front desk at the car repair place was nice. 

On Friday afternoon, when Rocket Boy and I met up at the towing place to "release" the car from storage and have it towed to the repair shop, it was such a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was achingly blue (although clouds were moving in), the trees and bushes and grass were achingly green, there were flowers blooming. It was as though we were living in heaven. We were smiling, laughing at each other, laughing at the absurdity of having a 17-year-old son who does things like this.

The next day it was cloudy and we were both crabby with each other. But I remembered the happy day. Marriage (with children) is an interesting life experience. I should also note that I keep stopping and thanking Fate that Teen A is fine. It could have been so much worse! He's not injured, the other person isn't injured. We'll try to fix the car. We might sign him up for some more driving lessons, to work on the little tailgating problem. Life goes on.

So, what else happened this week? I was planning to restart my political activity, but I wasn't very successful. On Monday I made a quick list of plans for the week, and then I did my first task. I wrote another letter to Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska. I know, I know, I'm sure my letters get thrown away the moment they realize I'm not his constituent. But for some reason I feel the need to go on writing to him, one of the very few Republicans in Congress who doesn't (always) follow Trump (though he did vote for the "big, beautiful bill," grrr). He calls himself a Reagan Republican. I hate Reagan Republicans! But I'm willing to try to work with him, because he's not a (total) MAGAt. So I wrote him a letter about my trip to Nebraska and how my relatives were talking about climate change and their favorite TV show -- on PBS! What if "Backyard Farmer" is damaged by Trump's withdrawal of funding from PBS??? 

On Tuesday I was very busy because my parent support group had its end-of-year lunch, and that lasted a long time, so I ended up not getting much of anything else done. I did, however, mail the letter.

You know what happened on Wednesday. 

So, OK, it wasn't a good week for getting political things done, but the fact is that I'm getting really depressed about everything Trump-related and it's hard to get myself to do things. In June, after I get back from Michigan, I'm going to have to think about this some more. I don't want to give up. I just have to figure out a way to keep going.

Michigan! I can't believe I'm leaving on my trip in three days! Tomorrow I will have to start working on getting ready for it. I am planning to take carry-on baggage only, which means I have to be sure I have little containers of liquids and things, something I don't normally worry about. I will also have to choose small things to bring, like a small nightgown and small shoes. I'm staying with friends, so there's no swimming pool and no need to bring swim stuff. It's going to be somewhat rainy, though, so I'll need an umbrella.

I was going to bring my cereal with me, but my friends that I'm staying with have already bought me a box of Heritage Flakes. So sweet of them. I'm really looking forward to seeing them, after 19 years.

I'm also glad I'm going to be not quite so fat when I go. The other day I saw myself reflected in a glass door and I was cross to see that I still looked fat. I feel so slender, having lost all this weight, and with lots of my clothes being loose. But the fact is that my loose clothes are very large sizes, that's why they're loose, and I am NOT slender, I am still obese. So everyone who sees me in Michigan will think, hmm, she certainly got fat.

I will just have to deal with that, knowing that I am doing better than before.

Time for the Mounjaro report.

• Weight the morning I took my first shot: 254.6
• Weight last Sunday: 222.8
• Weight this morning (after 48+ weeks on Mounjaro): 219.2

I'm not putting much stock in today's weight -- I went up and down all week. Thursday morning I was 224.2, and I don't see how I could drop five pounds in three days. But still, it's good, 35 pounds down since last summer. I'm really excited to be in the 210s, hoping to work my way through them all summer.

I'm sure I'll gain weight on my trip, and then I'll work on taking it off again in June. There's a plan.

Anything else? It feels strange to be starting the summer like this. I keep telling Rocket Boy we'll really start summer when I get back, on the 31st. Sunday, June 1st, will be our real kick-off to summer. I hope "the boys" do OK without me for a few days. They managed all right when I was in Nebraska, but this is one more day, one more night, and they won't have school as a distraction. Our weird cat, Sillers, has decided that she's afraid of Rocket Boy -- this, despite the fact that she likes to spend the night sleeping on his stack of pillows (above his head). How is he going to get her to eat her food if she's afraid of him? Well, it won't kill her to miss a few meals. I suppose he could always hire the cat-sitters to come in and feed her once or twice, if things get desperate.

This is the gloomiest Memorial Day weekend I can ever remember. It just keeps raining. I feel bad for the Creek Festival, and then tomorrow is the Bolder Boulder race. Teen B and I went to Starbucks during a break in the rain and he got the new summer drink, the Summer Berry Lemonade Refresher, but it didn't seem like the right weather for it. Our high today is supposed to be 56! I considered getting the new Iced Horchata Oatmilk Shaken Espresso, because I like horchata, but I didn't want a cold drink, so I just got my usual cafe mocha (hot). We debated getting Teen A the Iced Lavender Cream Oatmilk Matcha because it's so pretty, purple and green like a lilac bush, but I'm not sure they even still have it -- it was a spring drink. We got him a Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino instead.

I bought our tomato plant yesterday (finally) and some marigolds to go around it, but I haven't planted them because it's so wet. Rocket Boy said he'll do it while I'm gone.

I also want to get a fuchsia -- the nursery guy had a whole bunch of them hanging there -- but I might just wait until next weekend. One thing about all this rain, it makes everything so green and gorgeous, and makes me want to plant more stuff. Rocket Boy has been planting grass -- he bought a mixture of native grass seeds, and he's trying to regenerate the lawn, especially in the backyard, which had all gone to weeds. The rain helps with that. 

OK, I think I'll stop writing this and go do some housework. The dishwasher needs emptying, the cat boxes need cleaning, and I promised Teen A I'd make a pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie in May! Sounds delicious. I realize that many (most) people would be punishing their teenager who just crashed the car, not buying him frappuccinos and making him pies. But oh my goodness, I am so glad he's still alive.