AJ lucked out and got a ride to school this morning because just as we were headed out the door, it started to pour. I, however, am less lucky about the weather, because today is the day the contractor is finally supposed to begin work on diverting the stream that is currently going under our house, through our basement (once over the floor, now in pipes), and out the other side. However here it is, 11:30 and no contractor. No phone calls either. As I said to Mr. Spy this morning, I will believe the work is happening when the workers are on my lawn. I never thought I’d be looking forward to someone digging a 10 foot deep hole in my flowerbeds.
Yesterday, however, our contractor tried to call us several times and kept disappearing into the ether. At first I thought the problem was the fax part of my printer, which, after several months, I finally hooked up over the weekend (it involved running wires through the drop ceiling which is dusty and gross and I was lazy). But then it turned out to be the phone, which is dying a slow death after over a decade of hard use. So this morning, living in fear of missing a call from our contractor, which, as everyone knows, adds days to your project, I went out and bought a shiny new phone. Now I just need someone to call me so I can try it out.
AJ had a fabulous first day of school yesterday (a half-day, actually). The information is coming out, as it usually does with AJ, in bits and pieces. We know that he is sitting between two girls, one of whom just moved to our town and the other who is probably his favorite girl from his class last ytear, and that most of the class is sitting boy-girl. We know they didn’t have any homework last night, nor even one piece of paper for us to look at — this is incredibly rare at AJ’s school, kind of like a day without junk mail. It just doesn’t happen and it makes you suspicious that something has gone awry when it does. We also learned they had recess and that the girl that always chased him last year didn’t this time. I can’t tell whether he’s happy or disappointed about that. Possibly a little of both. And also, he got to play kickball with his friends, “and I haven’t done that in a while,” said AJ sounding blaze but looking thrilled. AJ would play kickball every day if he could.
His favorite thing, though, was science. The school has adopted a new science curriculum this year which is very hands on. AJ will be doing lots of experiments and he will love it. Yesterday every kid was given three pairs of rocks of different kinds. They had to try to grind bits of them up and then the teacher collected the powders and measured them to show, I think, that softer rocks released more powder. AJ was very excited about it, because one of the books he picked out over the summer was about gems and gemstones and it had the hardness scale in it. He is now thinking about conducting more experiments at home. I’d better hide my jewelry.
And now it’s back to waiting for the phone to ring. Sigh. I don’t think my contractor loves me. I think I might need to go write a moody song about him.
August 28, 2008 at 11:32 am
I can hear those harmonies now! I hope they call soon–I think I need a new phone too!
August 28, 2008 at 11:49 am
God, I hope Dusty gets some decent science lessons this year or she might explode. Glad AJ had a good day! Sorry about the contractor. I guess when he’s broke, he’ll call you. I hear they like to get paid.
August 28, 2008 at 11:58 am
Actually, freshhell, one of the things I heard from my water aerobics ladies (the font of all neighborhood information) is that he doesn’t always remember to invoice. And actually, we find this happens fairly frequently. Our tree trimmers never remember to bill us either. I wonder how these people stay in business.
August 28, 2008 at 12:05 pm
And re science: if you follow that link, there are some interactive things that look kind of fun. I wish they’d started this program when AJ was in kindergarten, but better late than never, I guess.
August 28, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Around here, they never return calls from potential clients (me) and I do wonder how they stay in business. I only knew our carpenter guy was done was that he a) removed his sign advertising his business from the yard and b) he left his bill.
August 28, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Maybe your contractor is waiting for his dad to die. (Sorry, I had to put that in). I finally called mine back and he’s “swamped” but “will call me soon”. I preferred waiting for his dad to die.
Glad school is starting well. How small a town do you live in that you can walk so many places? Atlanta is just not a walking kind of place.
August 28, 2008 at 3:44 pm
We live in a very small town (500 people or so) surrounded by a slightly larger small town, which is where the schools are. It’s not really a walking kind of place here either. AJ and I are often the only ones walking to his school. But I feel strongly about walking when you can. The chielf obstacle is that there are very few sidewalks, so walking to somewhere actually can take a bit of planning and it means I can’t usually let AJ go on his own, even to places very close (like school). But there are a few things not too far away, even if we sometimes have to cross busy streets. Sadly, my yoga studio is no longer one of those things. This fall my favorite yoga teacher is moving to her own studio in the next town over.