Kindergarten Round-Up.

This afternoon was Kindergarten Round-Up for Jack, and he's been pretty excited about it ever since his big packet for registration arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Of course, being that he has pinkeye at the moment, I checked to make sure it would even be okay for him to attend. Since he had four doses of antibiotics in him at the time, he was good to go.

We arrived at our usual time - 3:05 - to pick up A.J. from school. The boys ate a small snack in the car, and then we entered the school at 3:30 for the Round-Up. I'd already filled out all the forms needed before arriving, so it was a breeze to go through the stations set up around the school. And since A.J. has attended the school for four years now, Jack's already a pro at knowing where everything is, etc. And most of the staff already knows him as well - it's quite the friendly school, after all. :-)

Many folks weren't nearly as prepared, so it took some time to wait for them to ask questions. When the receptionist asked me if the boys were going to attend summer school, she stopped herself mid-sentence and said, "Oh, that's right! You are! You already signed up for it on the very first day!" And we had. I registered the boys for summer school two weeks ago, knowing how quickly the spots fill up.

I gave the school nurse Jack's forms, but I explained that his November dental exam wouldn't be the most current by the time he started school, as his next check-up is May 14th anyway. He also has his physical scheduled for April 17th, so she had me turn in a copy of his current stuff, but I'll bring in the newer forms as soon as his appointments are completed.

Everyone commented on Jack's height, too. It doesn't seem that he is remarkably tall to me, but then again, I'm used to looking at him, I suppose. And as happens everywhere that we go - including each time we go to the school - we hear exclamations of, "Oh my! Doesn't he look just like his brother!" Philip has definitely got some dominant genes. ;-)

The dramas in my life.

(Though this is very likely the one-and-only time I will ever use this filter, please do let me know if you'd like off of it. No hard feelings, because I do understand what it's like to be stuck between friends.)

So I made a long post a week ago or so about St. Patrick's Day, and the lovely time that we all had as rafferty's guests at his family's house. He has offered to take the boys fishing over the summer for me, which is fabulous for two reasons: 1) I don't really know how to fish. You'll recall that when I took the boys myself, we caught nothing, and I'm sure I'm to blame for that, and 2) it gives the boys some much-needed "man" time. They absolutely crave time with men, but you don't really see anyone else that I know offering to spend time with them, do you? So it's a great idea, but I wanted a chance to meet his family first, as those will be the people who are also fishing with my boys.

And then, about 24 hours after the post first went up, I received a comment from minivan_mom (though she'd read the post many times by that point, even so far as checking in to see what the other comments were saying first), and her implications were quite clear. I was gobsmacked that someone who is supposed to be my "friend" obviously doesn't know me well enough to consider something like that! I defended myself a bit, but it became obvious that my defense fell on deaf ears, so I left things stand as a "let's just agree to disagree" sort of thing. However, in order to circumvent further things being accused of Herb, I froze the replies as they stood.

And continued about my merry way. I read my friends' list as normal, I commented to one of her posts, and I was just going along with things, even though I was still deeply wounded by her outrageous accusation.

And then - apparently hours after the fact - I noticed that she'd unfriended me. She even went so far as to unfriend me on MySpace at the same time, and I'm liable to only check in there every 3-4 days or so. I guess she was THAT MAD about not being able to reply anymore to that post (though she still could've started a *new* comment, if she'd wanted to - I only just froze that particular thread). She covered all her grounds, and she covered them quick. And that was that. So I dropped her as well.

Now, as some of you might know, I have tracking bugs in my journal. While I find them to be very interesting as well as very occasionally leading me to a new friend, mostly these sorts of things are used for the purpose of tracking my readers. And since I'm just geeky enough, I do check the stats for this each night. Well, isn't is surprising - not really - to learn that Jamie is now reading my journal even more than she ever did before, despite the fact that she unfriended me. Since she's known about these bugs from the beginning, she must think she's found a way around them, though - she consistently reads my journal from her friends' pages instead (mostly gardenmama while she was having her baby, then hetterrific and adiasplat [whichever one has updated the most frequently], and then also through poohbaby). In fact, when I ask the program to make a graph of my "most avid" readers in the last 48 hours, Jamie manages to keep a consistent hold on the #6 spot!

She emailed me, saying that she "wonders what my appeal" is. That I'm someone to pity, rather than envy, and that reading my life is just like reading the tabloids - she can't keep herself away from the attention-seeking, pathetic, self-absorbed lives of those who "live their lives in a fishbowl." She even dug so low as to say that she doesn't believe I was ever "robbed" (and yes, she used the quotes) once, much less twice - that my believability is nil.

...

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I CONTINUE TO LET "FRIENDS" LIKE THIS INTO MY LIFE WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT THEY ARE TRULY LIKE INSIDE?!

I mean, yes. Looking back now, I can see that she joined LJ at the exact same time as the Maria drama was going on - meaning I should have known that she's "into" that sort of thing. And she never once seemed sympathetic about the robberies, though she wasn't even mean about them either. But are police reports not enough? Do the CrimeStoppers website links not give enough proof? How about the pastors and Stephen Ministers at my church - the same church that she attends - are they all lying as well? Is Heather lying for me too, pretending that she comforted me at the scene both times while the police were questioning me and photographing my bruises from the duct tape?

I'd felt her pulling away from me for a couple of months, but I had no idea that things would escalate to something like this. Even when I felt the distancing, I didn't want to drop her on LJ because we *were* friends in real-life, and it's nearly impossible to do something like that without drama ensuing. Case in point, I suppose.

The silver lining in this cloud was knowing that at least I'd really only have to continue seeing her on a day-to-day basis for the next two months, until preschool lets out, as Jack and her son have been in the same class for three years. Oh, but guess what? They were registering Noah for Kindergarten at our elementary school this afternoon. And they were absolutely as snotty as all-get-out. Though her husband said hi, and Jack and Noah chatted a bit, Jamie wouldn't even look up.

*headdesk*

Pitter patter, my dear rain shower.

I do not mind lovely rain showers at times when I have nowhere to go, nor anything to do. Times when I've just returned home from grabbing a few movies with our free rentals, just missing the beginning of the downpour.

Times just like these. :-)

It is ironic to note that the movie A.J. picked out with his coupon is Flushed Away. So poetic.