Monday

On Monday, the alarm goes off at 3 a.m.
Matt gets Jake to work by 5, an hour away.
Jake packs his lunch, he only gets half an hour and the cafeteria is too pricy for his pay grade. He eats breakfast, but never breakfast food. It's usually pepperoni based.

I leave at 1 and get to the parking lot by 2 and wait. Jake's out by 2:30, earlier if his boss can let him. So I am there, just in case.

I drive him 2 hours south in the 90 minutes we actually have before his training starts. There's always traffic and the closer to Christmas, the worse that will get. Jake grabs a nap. I just worry about slow downs and keep the radio off so he can rest a little. We do the best we can.

I wait in the parking lot and he works another 3.5 hours with the police officer training. Practicing serving warrants, working on traffic stops, making arrests. They have 12 scenarios they work through plus extras like uniform inspection, running laps, taking notes. He's slotted for firearms training and a ride along. He's helping with the upcoming parades in town. His hair is 1/3 of an inch long now. Too short to grab. Regulation. Afterward, they go eat but Jake hasn't joined them for that yet. On Tuesday through Friday, the alarm goes off at 4 and we still have an hour and a half to drive home.

The switch from kid to young adult happened so fast. His car is too crappy to drive himself-chances are that it would overheat in the stop and go on the Interstate-but he's setting aside money to buy a better one. He has this streak of seriousness that's new. Not the posturing swagger he still puts on at times, but something deeper, something I don't think he realizes he does. Something humble, something that makes Matt's chest puff with pride and my chest ease a little. He just needed the chance to prove himself and he's doing that in spades.

He's running with Matt, he's making plans with friends and is gone most of the weekend to hang out. He's managing his time and money and while it's everything I hoped would happen, it's been surprising to see it unfold so easily. In that unfurling, I have been moved from the center of his Universe to a ride on Mondays until he can do better. Which is exactly what is supposed to happen, even if it is equally exciting and crappy. Kind of like labor in a way.

Hair

Jake has been asking me to cut his hair for the last few weeks, since before Robin Hood was over.  The director asked him to leave it for the role of King Richard, so I was hesitant to just shave it off as he had wanted until I spoke with the new director about Alice.  I finally got to last night and she said he needed enough to pin the wig and ears to, so it could not be bald.

 My hair cut skillz are so bad that, at the time, I was certain I was cutting his hair in a straight line from left side to right side.  

It did not come out too badly!  He wanted it out of his eyes/mouth.

After he saw it, he put a box on his head and has been walking about like that ever since.
It will be perfect for when he plays Captain Hammer, if he will ever take off the box.

Short Update

Jake had his wisdom teeth removed today.  I can't say pulled because they never emerged.  He was a little loopy afterward, but seems totally over it already.  I am amazed.

We went camping over the weekend, had a great time.  Matt and I talked it over today and we decided to try doing all 22 miles of the Richard Martin Trail end to end and back.  We are in talks with a friend who lives close enough to come bail us out if it's too much, just waiting for the right weather for it.  There's some heat coming in this weekend.

I am down 45 pounds from 2 years ago.  These long walks are really pushing the numbers, we do 10 miles on Sunday and I am still losing weight on Tuesday!  I am glad, as I had stalled at 38-40 pounds for about 6 months.  I am loving the longer walks, I dread summer coming in because we won't be able to walk all day when it's so darn hot and dry.  Hopefully we will be able to just walk early, we can do 10 miles in less than 3 hours now.  5-8 in the morning should be cool enough most of the summer.

Sleeping around 7 hours a night now, with oak-pollen induced 10-12 hour comas from time to time.  I have been reading several sleep books, one recently done one by a Harvard-trained doctor has been interesting, he recommends taking your average sleep (when you are not getting enough) and say you get up at 7 and sleep about 5 hours. He says go to  bed at 2 no matter how sleepy you get and get up at 7.  The next night, go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier and so on until you're back on a 7-8 hour a night schedule.  It's called restrictive sleep and it resets your sleep schedule.

Waking up with an active brain is called hyperarousal and it's because your brain is in overactivation mode.  There are relaxation and other things you can do to calm it down, though I have not had much success with any of them yet.  Mainly-the pollen and long walks are knocking me out.

Richard Martin Trail North End

Today Matt and I headed out to walk the northern end of the Richard Martin Trail from Elkmont to the Tennessee state line, about 6 miles one way.

We did the southern 5 miles last spring.

We had barely gotten started down the trail when we saw this! 
There were at least a dozen scattered along the trail, it was very exciting.

These guys are not due to bloom until June.

The northern end of the trail is prettier, I think.  It winds around and goes down a long hill for a couple of miles (which is uphill on the way back and somehow steeper!)

 Other than 3 horses and a couple with a dog, we had the trail to ourselves all day!

The trail ends at the TN state line at Veto.

Matt took this one!  I thought we were doing 10 miles total, so I wanted a pic with the 10  mile marker.  When we got back to the van, we had done 12.1 miles.

 Looking waaaay back over the road toward Alabama off in the distance.

I got excited, thinking I had spotted the Easter Bunny off in the distance under that mower trailer!

*sigh*  No bunny.

We drove back out looking for a cheese place that was not open, so we kept driving to get to the next intersection and viola!  My grandparent's old house!  I have not seen it in 17 years, when they moved to Kentucky to live with my aunt.  It was SO much bigger when I was a child.  Needless to say, I chattered Matt's ear off on the way to Athens about everything Granddaddy and I used to do together.  : ) 

It was a great day, I really enjoyed our walk.  It took just over 4 hours due to us stopping and taking pictures and milling around at the bridges and the TN state line.  I was pleased with our pacing!

Tomorrow, Jake goes for his wisdom teeth to be removed.  I am a wreck! 

16th Birthday

The boy turned 16 Monday!  I seems like I should feel older, but it's more like, the older he gets, the more I feel that he's just catching up with me.  I have not felt older in years, despite the cracking knees and achy joints I sometimes wake up with.  Mostly, I go back and forth between being happy at all the new stuff we can do as the kids get older and being morose about the loss of little kids.  Ben will be 13 next year, then I will have all teens and then they will be adults.  No more phases to go through.  They just...grew up.  I am an inch from being the shortest in the family already.  I can understand why some women go crazy and get a lot of cats.  I feel a little unsure about what's next for me. 

We celebrated his birthday with a big party with lots of friends, then 5 kids stayed overnight for a sleep-over.  They played D&D and airsoft and hide and seek and sardines and played on the Wii and who knows what all else.  They mowed through an astonishing amount of food, I moved my laptop into the kitchen because between cooking and cleaning up, I was hardly anywhere else.  At least I could listen to music. 

Britney and Evan stayed over a second night and that was fun.  I like having lots of friends over, but there's something to be said for one on one time, too.  They are both so easy-going, it was fun to just hang out.  We watched movies and the kid stayed up talking half the night.

On Wednesday, Emily came out to spend the day and I ran everyone back to meet their families late in the afternoon.  Not a bad 16th birthday at all!   I was allowed to date at 16, I never really thought much about when my kids could date.  I talked to Jake about it, asked him if he thought he would feel more pressured to have a girlfriend if he were in public school.  He said it wasn't lack of interest in girls, it was just that he's known all the girls in our group for years and they were more like sisters than real girls.  hahaha!  I wonder if Chan knows she's not real?

Evan, Britney, Jake, Kegan, Chandler
Zachary, Emily
Carson, Amanda, Griffin, Austin, Ben, Cody, Keilee, Kaitlin

Michelle, Suzette, Me, Karen, Gina, Cathy, Heather

 

 

Random shot that actually got all the kids that stayed overnight.

Last year, his cake was like a brick, this year, it was wonky and the icing was so sweet we had to wash down each bite.  Next year, I think I may just order one...

 

Changes!

Jake passed his permit test today, I am so excited!  And a little freaked, but mostly the excited bit.  To be honest, I did not think he would pass it the first time.  It was a new situation, he's never been tested for anything and the women in there talked the whole time-he has always needed it quiet to concentrate.  When he came out, he was teary-eyed and I thought, "oh well, next time" and went to offer comfort and he blinked and said, "They made me pay them $23.50 for my card!"  hahahaha!

To be horribly honest, I did not think he would pass because *I* had not quizzed him.  hahaha!  He did all the studying and prep on his own, so there was really no way he could have passed, since he had never been taught study skills.  : P

I was delighted and talked about it for the next hour, saying wow and being amazed and telling him it was a huge right of passage and so on.  Finally he turned and started rubbing my back and gently said, "Mom, you have to let this go." 

On the way home, I let him get a Whopper and fries and a Coke with the corn syrup and everything and then we checked the mail and he got a birthday card with $50 in it.  And the next disc of Supernatural.  He thinks his karma is on high today. 

I stopped at the thrift store and got 4 pairs of pants, 2 fit and 2 are too small.  That won't be an issue for long.  Woot!  I got 3 shirts, 2 fit and one is Chan's size.  I just liked the pattern and it was an L so I tossed it in.  Too bad it was a girls L.  She loves it at least.  : )  I needed more clothes, I sent another bag off yesterday of things that were too big!

21 months and 5 thousand dollars. Not counting the gas.

Don't Want Anyone To Miss The New....

Fantastical Awesome Toy!

Oil Change

Yes, after Monday's fun, the next biggest event of the week was getting my oil changed.

This is actually big news because Mr. Holmes was closed until Monday getting his hip operated on and doing rehab after that fall back during the icy weather.  He's still on crutches, but looks MUCH better than when I last saw him.  Yay!  Plus, he's open again so I did not have to find someone else to change my oil.  Though I did postpone it to 5k miles, I have never gone over 4k in the past.  It was cutting it close at any rate.

Don't forget to feed the toothless gators

Pink brackets

Practicing a neutral expression in case they won't let him smile for his drivers permit photo next week.
See the wasp sting remnant on his cheek?  Owie.

Jake rehangs the maypop, SO glad to have that out of the trunk.

Still on crutches!
He replaced my other rear tire today, it had a crack in it.

I mapped out a new walking route on the way home.  I need to step up my efforts, I have not lost anything at all this year and my recent blood work revealed unpleasant things about my future.  

Ken Cussion

Jake has started writing a script.  Ken Cussion is a crime fighter/video game tester who looks EXACTLY like Jake, thank goodness, or they'd never be able to cast the part.

His powers were activated when he received a blow to the head from radioactive material.  That may or may not have come from outer space.

The current wardrobe considerations involve a belt of power that has so much bling, I am unsure if it's safe to wear outside.  The crows may attack.  The kids are so hyped up, I wish we had a decent video camera, but at least we have cameras with video!  It could have been a flip book! 

Stay tuned for updates on KC!  if you can handle the AWESOME, that is.  I, myself, currently have purple glitter nails in honor of the event, fingers AND toes.  And...the leg of my pants and one knuckle and also a little on the couch.

Jake!

Jake is going to apprentice with Mr. Holmes, so today he went along to start learning how to change a tire.

My rear passenger side tire has been patched 4 times and had about 1/176 of the tread left.  I have no idea what's up with that tire, I bought it the same time as the other one, which still has about a year of wear left.  The van has been balanced and aligned twice in the last year...anyway, it needed to be replaced.

Mr. Holmes had a couple good used tires from a recent job that had as much tread as my other rear tire, so he sold me one for $35.  Score!

after a quick safety check, Jake is let loose with the lug nut removermabob.

I only have to buy one new
nut and bolt.

It's off!  So exciting!

He helped with taking it off the rim and putting the new one on, but I hate that machine and had run away outside.

Back inside at the much quieter balancing machine
That thing is pretty cool.

At any rate, I have tires that will last me another year, easy and  that noise is fixed, oil changed...I could not be more pleased about how everything turned out.