The Final Countdown

The senior year schedule looks like this:
1st: Database Programming
2nd: Networking III
3rd: AP Statistics
4th: Economics / AP Government (each is only a semester)
5th: Web Design II
6th: AP English Literature Composition
7th: IT Internship

They don't technically offer a 7th period this year, thanks to budget cuts, but the internship option was still available and will count as an extra class. The internship is working 2 days, 5 hours a week, with the school's IT director, helping to fix things around the school once classes have let out for the day. They also have internships working with area businesses, so I'm not sure how Alex ended up staying at the school. Luck of the draw, I suppose. It still should be interesting and good experience.

We were a little disappointed that he still didn't get the AP Psychology class. It didn't work out with his schedule either this year or last year. He's otherwise pleased with his classes this year, which is good. It was sad to think this was his last "first day of school" as a "child".

No, I haven't been boxing

Did you know that while poison ivy reactions on your regular skin (arms, legs, etc) creates the little bumps and itchy rash, getting it on the bridge of your nose and corner of your eye also causes the area under your eye to swell up? I feel like Rocky Balboa.

Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but it is quite disconcerting to be looking straight ahead and have your face within your line of vision. Especially when it is just on one side.

Particularly annoying is that I knew I was pulling out the ivy, I've tangled with it several times already this spring and summer, and thus I was being crazy cautious about handling it. I was almost successful, too. I have only one little dot of outbreak on my right arm near my birthmark, about half the size of a dime, and it didn't even get me enough to be itchy. Except for my eye. I wear glasses, so how in the world did it get under my glasses to get near my eye yet didn't touch me anywhere else? Inquiring minds want to know!

The Senior Year Has Begun

Alex had his senior photos taken today. Oh dear, I think I'm in for an emotionally tough year! I'll get the previews in about two weeks so I can select the ones for purchase. I think most of them came out pretty good, so it will be a tough choice. We got them to take one of the head shot photos of Alex with a laptop. He's got it open, appears to be looking at something on the screen, but has his head turned toward the camera like he's trying to look at you but just can't tear himself away from the screen. It pretty much sums him up perfectly!

Recent Activities

I keep thinking of things that would be fun to post, but have been so busy that by the time I get to it, I've forgotten what I wanted to share. I'm sure I'll regret that later, since it is fun to look back over some of the previous posts to see what we were up to.

I've been really busy with my contract work. It's not great gobs of money, but it is enough to keep the bills paid. Thank you, Lord! It also means a lot of driving to get from job to job. That means a lot of time away from computer, email, etc, so my communication habits have deteriorated. Sorry. It's not that I don't think of my friends, just that I don't think typing and driving are a good mix.

The "road warrior" lifestyle is not conducive to good exercise habits, so my weight loss hit a plateau six weeks ago and had firmly stayed there. I really need to find more time to work on it. The first 25 pounds were wonderful to lose, but I really want to lose at least 30 more.

With school being out, I've dragged Alex along with me on a few of these trips. Thankfully, I've been able to find hotel evaluations to accompany some of my jobs, so we've done overnight trips that allowed us to do some sightseeing along the way.

• We went to Panama City Beach, FL. We mostly just enjoyed the beach and some fantastic waves, although we found a few touristy things we would like to do if I can swing another trip over there.
  
  
• I dragged him to Albany, GA to visit the Flint Riverquarium. Alex didn't think he wanted to go to this, but then I think he ended up enjoying it more than I did. I did get a few great photos from it that I'll try to post later. We also learned a bit of history of the area. It turns out Mr. Tift started the city, and he was the uncle of the Tift that founded the city of Tifton, which is in Tift county. They were shippers from Connecticut, moved to the Florida Keys, then went back up into Georgia to pursue agricultural interests.
  
  
• Tifton, GA provided some historical education at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture, also known as Agrirama. They have recovered all sorts of old buildings and stores from places throughout Georgia and have moved them all to create a little village. There's the home of the Tifts, the subsistence farmer, the progressive farmer, the drugstore, the general store, the doctor's office, the schoolhouse, the Mason's lodge, a sawmill, a printing press, a turpentine still, a miller's workhouse, a blacksmith, etc. That would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been upper 90's and really high humidity. I did buy some grits that I watched being milled. They don't get much fresher than that!

Anyway, that's what we've been up to. Hope you are all enjoying your summers, and I certainly hope your temperatures are a lot lower than what we are enduring. I truly do not know how people existed in this weather prior to air conditioning.

Egg Nog, second try

Last year, we attempted to make our own egg nog. It was ok, but really thin. Alex really wanted to make some again over the Christmas break, but we didn't want to use that same recipe this year. Which one should we try? The cooked ones deliver a thicker product, and that's what we wanted. Since there were so many options, we decided to make two different recipes and compare.

This Cooked Egg Nog from About.com was one choice. My sister offered this Homemade Eggnog recipe from Food & Wine for another option.

While the Cooked Egg Nog was better than last year's attempt, the Homemade Eggnog was the clear and definite winner. We even made it again the next day, adding a splash of vanilla. With or without the alcohol, this is quite a tasty treat. Just make sure you keep the temperature really low, especially if you choose to skip the double boiler part and just cook it directly like I did. Otherwise, the egg could start to solidify, and nobody likes chunky egg nog.