Finally! My dad got one of the videos from Joey’s end of year concert up. It’s the first song of the night, so the video isn’t all the good since my dad was trying to get everything adjusted. But Joey does have a small solo. It’s his first improv solo and he was really nervous. But of course I think he did great.
I just spoke with my car insurance company. Seeing as Joey will be getting his license in the next four weeks, I figured it was time to assess the damage to my pocket book. I will admit, I was really NOT prepared for what I heard today. The addition to my current amount will be $1200. An EXTRA $1200? WTF?
I assumed it would be somewhere in the ballpark of $500. I just don’t understand it. Of course, that amount was AFTER the good student discount and the discount for taking Driver’s Ed. I’m completely shocked and dismayed.
I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do.
In other news, I heard from my sister yesterday and she has gotten new orders. In October she’ll be heading to Kadena AFB in Okinawa. She wasn’t expecting it, so isn’t too excited yet, but I’m thrilled for her. She’s wanted to go to Japan for years. And a huge plus is that she won’t have to go to Iraq in August! YAY!
It’s been WAY too long since I bragged about The Joe, so brace yourself. Some serious mommy pride is about to unleash itself all over this blog.
Last night was the end of year pot luck and Jazz Night concert at Joey’s school. Each year, all the bands (Freshman, Stage, Concert, Symphonic and Jazz) get together for a potluck with their families and to pay tribute to the graduating seniors and then have one final jazz concert with Stage and Jazz bands. Each band votes on various awards in their class, stuff like “best wind player”, “most inspirational”, etc. Then scholarships are given out.
Well, my baby went and won THREE awards: Best Brass Player in Concert Band, Most Improved in Jazz Band and won a scholarship for one semester of lessons paid for by the Band Booster Club. EEEEK! I couldn’t be more proud.
Then of course, they rocked it at the concert. He technically isn’t part of Stage Band anymore since moving up to Jazz Band, but he had a free period during the Stage Band class and would go in and play with them just to be able to play. So he played with both bands last night. It was freaking amazing. Video will hopefully be uploaded later this afternoon, so of course I will post at least one song when that’s done.
OK, all done bragging. Carry on.
In just two and a half weeks, my baby will be 16 years old. 16! Of course, he doesn’t care that he’s 16. Apparently, it’s not as big a deal to boys as it is to girls. But to me, it’s one more year come and gone, taking my little boy and turning him into a man.
Today he picks up his class ring from the jeweler. I’m both excited to see it and dreading it at the same time. It just means he’s that much closer to graduating from high school and (hopefully) leaving the nest. Which means I’m that much closer to having to figure out exactly what I’m going to do with all that free time.
We’ve been making lists of colleges to visit next summer. So far we have Berklee, University of Indiana, NYU and Ohio State. I’m hoping he’ll want to stay somewhere in state so I won’t be paying for his college for the rest of my life, but he’s pretty set on going somewhere that will advance his music career. And that means I’ll be broke for the rest of my life.
Of course, I do work for a company that has offices in almost every state, so I could always transfer so he’d be an In-State student. Although, I don’t want to go from one cold mess to another. I have my sites set on tropical locations.
It’s Tuesday. Which means only three days to Saturday! Woo hoo!
Saturday, we spent the day clearing the garage of all our boxes and furniture that has been stored there the last year and a half. It was quite the undertaking. On the one hand it was nice to see the “old friends” I thought might be long gone, and on the other hand I felt like I had lived without this stuff for almost two years and didn’t really miss it. The question then became “take it or trash it?”
There were a lot of things, heavy things, that needed moving and I wasn’t all that concerned considering Joey had no Saturday plans and I figured he and my dad would do most of the heavy lifting. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong if I tried. The Joe didn’t wake until almost 1:30 p.m. Long after all the heavy stuff had been loaded into the truck and taken to the new house. I’m telling you, the kid has impeccable timing.
It wasn’t all bad though. I feel like I got a pretty decent work out and I purged myself of some momento’s that I knew were just noose’s around my neck and needed to be laid to rest. If nothing else, moving is an excellent way to stay lean on the household items and “collector’s” crap.
