Hi all. Happy February! It’s been awhile, so I thought I’d pop in and post some updates, in no particular order.

New Car

The old Ford Focus Electric (2014) drove it’s last mile two weeks ago. The battery was holding less and less charge, but we were getting by and it was keeping the teenagers close to home. :) One day they were trying to get somewhere and the car gave an error message saying “Stop Safely Now” and wouldn’t drive. A little Googling that evening taught us that the error message is an all encompassing message Ford uses when there’s an issue with some system or another. The only way to fix it is to get it to a shop and have them “hook it up to the machine for diagnostics.” Unfortunately we couldn’t’ drive it to the dealership, though fortunately it was stuck in the garage and not on the side of the road. I paid for a tow truck to take it to the mechanic and two days later was told that the high voltage cables that run through the car in a sort of haphazard way (just that particular model, others are done better) are corroding. The estimated cost of the repairs was $4,500! I asked what the alternative was and they said I could pay to have it towed back to my house and pay the $800 diagnostic fee!! Ha! I said aw hell no. I ended up selling the car to the dealership for the price of the diagnostic bill and walked away from the whole thing.

The following week, after juggling three busy lives with just one car, we went car shopping. I took the kids since it’s primarily for them to drive. We ended up getting a 2020 Chevy Bolt that was part of the battery fire recall. The work has been done so the car is safe, but because of that it only has 3000 miles on it and is in like new condition for a used car price. VT also has great incentives to buy electric vehicles, so I basically got it for about half price. More than the nothing I was currently paying for the Ford, but overall not a bad deal, IMHO. Eve loves the car and has named it Leda, after a dnd character. She even jazzed up her key fob with a lizard and some flowers.

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Photography

My library, in conjunction with a local photography club, runs an annual amateur photography contest each year. There are different categories people submit to, including an Under 18 category. My co-workers told me that they hardly ever get many submissions in the Under 18 category, so I took it upon myself to fix that. LOL. I emailed the local art teachers I knew and the tech center that has an awesome graphics program. I also sent it to Eve, her friends, and some other people I know. We got more Under 18 submissions this year than ever before! 😁 Eve submitted two photos and even won an Honorable Mention in the Under 18 category. I was not involved in any judging, btw, and names were all on the back so the judges didn’t know who the photographers were while judging. There was an opening reception with awards ceremony that Eve and I were going to go to, but on the day it felt too much like work and she didn’t want to go anyway, so we skipped it. Her print is hanging in the gallery with a ribbon on it though. So that’s kinda cool.

(You may notice in that picture that she’s going by the name Eno now. I’m trying to adjust to that, but it’s not easy. She hasn’t asked anyone to call her that, but she’s been using it when she signs up for things. Her friends still call her E and I’ve been slowly moving from Eve to E.)

Dean’s List

Lex and Alan both got an email saying Lex made the Dean’s List for the fall semester. For some reason I didn’t get the email. 🤔 The bill comes to me though, so I guess all is good. 😄 Lex said there are a lot of people on the list (over a thousand, I think) but also acknowledged that college courses are much harder than high school courses and seemed proud of himself for earning that recognition.

Murder Mystery

E and her buddies went to a Murder Mystery event organized by my fancy new library. It was a teen program, so I wasn’t involved, but I helped promote it to my teenage crowd. LOL. They had a BLAST!

Jobs

We’ve had some job changes around here as well. Eve had been looking off an on for something for awhile. She has particular places she will and won’t work, so the process took some time. Last week she got hired at Old Navy as a sales clerk. She went in on Tuesday for her first day. She said it was really good. She was supposed to go back on Thursday, but had an emotional breakdown that day and called out sick. Sigh. Her ups and downs are coming fast and frequent these days. We’re working through those together and may enlist advice from the doctor soon too.

R went to work today and came home half hour later, shortly after posting on Instagram that he got fired, but got a cupcake to go, so all is well. Sigh. He made it clear to his boss and everyone else that work is a low priority for him, and he regularly skips work for no real reason, and he always shows up late. He has a loose grasp on time. No one was really surprised by the firing, but I think he was surprised that they actually did it. He got himself some takeout and went to a friends house for the evening. He’s going through a lot these days so maybe he’s better off not having a job for awhile anyway. We’ll see.

My job is going well. Not fired yet! I’ve been picking up responsibilities and finding myself bored less and less often. I organized a program about AI a few weeks ago, and I’m starting a Sci-Fi book club in March. So far the responses has been overwhelming! One lady checked out the book and came back a week later saying she loved it so much and “just can’t wait until March so we can discuss it!” I’m also running a weekly tech drop-in program that has been gaining in popularity. I now have people waiting at the table for me each week when it begins. I got a (contracted) six month raise recently and was surprised that I was at six months already! I’ve been hanging out with friends from DBS sometimes (dinner and lunches here and there) and while I love hearing the stories and miss (some of ) the kids, I’m regularly reminded that I made the right choice to switch jobs. (Remind me of that in two weeks when the kids and all my teacher friends are on vacation and I’m still working!)

Road Trips

We have a busy weekend coming up. R is off on a road trip with a friend to “visit a college” (ie: visit a friend in college and eat tons of chicken wings and maybe watch the Super Bowl). E, Simon, and I are going to WPI to visit Lex and watch a bball game. Well, really to watch the pep band at the bball game!! I’m excited to give my boy a big hug!! I miss him. 💗

I found out literally just now that Lex’s Winter Percussion Group will be performing on April 7th (HBD Dad!!) at a school right near where Eve and I will be heading for a college tour. We’ll be doing a several day road trip to check out four colleges in April. Lex’s group will be performing the day before her first tour. I’m THRILLED that that dates/locations line up so well! Yay!