Update on things in Dumont NJ

Yeah, my car will finally be ready today. I dropped it off Monday morning at the body shop and have been using a rental car from Enterprise this whole week. The car is a Dodge Caliber which I HATE. It is a bright electric blue and small. Luckily I have only had to use it for a week. Brian is 16 now and had a great b-day. Friday night he and a bunch of friends went to the NJ Devils hockey game, Saturday night I had 9 boys, including Brian at my house for pizza & bbq wings and then a sleep over and then Sunday night my family came for dinner. A busy weekend, but Brian had fun. I am surprised though he has done nothing but talk about getting his permit, and I have already spoken to a driving instructor who will take him to get the permit and give him the 6 hours behind the whell driving he needs, but he has not studied for the written test so he can't go. They don't do drivers ed in school until after the Christmas break. I had a meeting yesterday with Brian, his guidance counselor and his geometry teacher. He has an A-/B+ average, but because he does nothing but doodle, he does his initials in graffiti everyday, and does not participate in class, his talking can also be a problem, his grade will be a C for the final grade. It blows my mind that he has done this to himself. The teacher did say that for the past week he has been much better. We can only hope it stays good. Brian plans on going trick or treating today, although he doesn't like candy which is bad for me because I do. Anyway, I do miss the days of him picking out a costume and the parade at school, but I guess that's all a part of growing up. He did go out for Cabbage Night last night with shaving cream and toilet paper. I will not allow him to go out with eggs.

Brian turns 16 in 5 days

Not much is new with Brian and me other than on Sunday he turns 16 and is sooooo excited about getting his driving permit and being able to finally get a job. My parents and Sean will be coming for dinner on the 26th, my sister is busy with her kids and football, so they won't be able to make it and my brother and his family are in Maryland. Brian will hang out with his friends both Friday and Saturday nights, as a bunch of his friends all turn 16 within a week or two of each other, so they will celebrate this weekend. His best friend Larry's b-day is this Thursday. He wants to join a gym so he can start working out all the time, which is great, but I will have to drive him everyday. My car is finally being fixed on Monday, 10/27/08. I received the check from the other insurance company and they are going to pay for a rental car until my car is fixed. Brian and I still miss Kira, but are getting used to her not being there, and I must admit it is nice not to have to worry about anything being left on the floor. I do still check the Animal Shelter's website occassionally to see if she's been adopted yet, which she hasn't, but I'm still confident she will be. Our other cat Roxy seems to be doing ok, but we can tell she does miss Kira also. The weather is definately changing in NJ. No longer going out without a sweatshirt or light weight jacket. Tomorrow is supposed to be very cold and windy. I guess it's time to get my winter clothes from my sister's and put my summer clothes away. Brian continues to do well in school - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Goodbye Kira

Well I finally did it. Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life. I've been putting up with Kira, our long haired Tabby cat that we've had for 2 1/2 years, peeing on anything left on the floor. She was marking her territory because of the other cat we have, Roxy. I have had to replace 2 carpets, 1 in Brian's room and the other in the living room because of the smell of cat pee. I have been threatening to do this for a while now, but sometime Saturday she peed on Brian's bed and then Saturday night she peed on a throw blanket that had been on the living room floor while Brian was having some friends sleep over. She has peed on more bath mats than I can remember, anyway, you get the picture. After much arguing Brian finally helped me "capture" her to put her in the carrying case. She was running all over the place hiding under anything she would fit under. Finally got her caught and then drove her to Teterboro Animal Shelter alone. Brian refused to come with me. It was horrible, she cried the whole way there and then once there I had to transfer her to one of their cages and after paying $30.00 to leave her there and sign a bunch of papers, it was over. I did not tell them that she pees everywhere, I just said she needs to be in a one pet household. The drive home was horrible. I called Sean hysterically crying. I just hope that she gets adopted by a great family. It was very strange all day and night not having her there. I think Roxy misses her also. Other than the peeing Kira was a fantastic cat. A little shy around people she didn't know, but great with us. She would sit on my lap at night while I watched tv and she slept on the foot of my bed every night. It was really a very difficult decision, but in the long run, it was definately something I had to do. One time Brian went to school with a sweatshirt on and during the course of the day people kept saying, "gross what's that smell?" Turns out Kira had peed on Brian's sweatshirt and he didn't know it. There is nothing worse than the smell of cat urine.

My car and Brian

Well, first off Brian's thumb is fine!!! A lot of drama about nothing, but I guess it's better it was checked out. The girl who hit my car called last night and informed me that she has decided to go through her insurance company, which is fine by me, so I faxed my estiamtes to my insurance company and so now I guess it's now in their hands?. I got a Progress Report for Brian over the weekend and for the first time since before 6th grade, IT WAS GREAT!!!!! Two teachers said great things about him and he's not failing any classes - YEAH! Actually I went on line to look at his grades and he has 1 A, 2 A-, 1 B and 2 B-. I can't be more proud of him. He's still talking about college in California - Cal State. I explained to him that I don't have the money to fly him home everytime he will have time off from school, so I hope he has nice friends out there who will let him go to their houses for various holidays. It is still 2 1/2 years away, so who knows hopefully he will change his mind about California by then. He is taking the PSAT's 1 week from today, in school. The school pays for them and they are just for practice to see where the kids stand. Life with Brian is actually a lot calmer now and he seems to have buckled down and taking school seriously. Now if I can just get him to get out of bed in the mornings, life would be perfect :)