Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Better, kinda...

So, homeschooling is going better. I'm trying to be more relaxed about it, not stressing over every... single... thing. :) I'm not saying that every day is a glorious, education-filled dream of living, but it's getting better for the kids and me. I can say that I'm very thankful for Schoolhouse Rocks and chemistry experiments! They're even wanting to listen to the Schoolhouse Rocks while they go to sleep now.

Last week was pretty crazy. My life kind of crazy. We traveled to Missouri for a big race where Rokimus was somewhat a guest of honor. The Saturday before the trip, I had to go work a golf tournament that was named after Mother. On the way there, I hit a rabbit with the Honda and kept on going. Just a rabbit, right? I said my usual prayer to Francis and kept on. Speedy was home working on gokarts and trying to get the video ready for upload on our racing site. He broke the camcorder trying to get a tape in/out. Great.

Fast forward to Monday. Took the Honda to work and to transport two of the dogs and one cat to the vet for boarding/spading. The kids and I smelled something on the way home, but figured it was Charlie the basset mix who is notorious for getting car sick. I washed all protective coverings when I got home.

Tuesday - day before trip. Get in the Honda after schooling to run errands in town. Smell something horrible. Go next door to my in-laws to tell kids bye. Open hood. Proceed to almost toss my cookies in near by bushes. Remember hitting rabbit. Shit. Figure I probably hit it harder than I thought and there must be pieces left in there. Go in the house, very kindly, very beggingly ask Grandaddy Chief if he would power wash the engine compartment. We go up to the shop and open the hood again. Then we notice that the front bumper where the grill is located is broken. He takes off the top part of the bumper. There's the entire, dead, putrid rabbit laying there. That rabbit broke the bumper grill, bent the AC compressor into the radiator and now I'm on my way to the body shop for $2500 worth of damage. From a rabbit. The day before our trip. Thank goodness we were taking the BAT. (big ass truck) Finally go to nearest big town to get replacement camcorder for big race weekend. Get back home and work on laundry until late in the night. The last load, which held my good shorts, some of Speedy's work clothes and some children clothing also contained a red crayon. A crayon that proceeded to melt all over my dryer and the load of clothing.

Friday. We've made it to Missouri. Rokimus is practicing in his newly won kart. Only it's not the body he can race in. They don't know where that one is. Should be in that night. I'm shooting (photographing) the practices. Life is good. Then... nothing. My beloved Nikon D80 stopped. Completely. Err flashing at me. No pictures being saved by the memory card. Shutter still working. It's dead. Luckily, my sister is there with her Coolpix and lets me use it.

Racing - The body did get there. The pit crew we were told would be in charge were great until their kart started racing. The kid (probably early 20's) supposed to be helping us didn't even show for one of the races and then didn't get enough fuel in for the qualifying of the big race. Rokimus gave 100% and I am proud of the way he kept on going even though things weren't running quite as smooth as we'd hoped. A tire came off in one of the features, so he didn't even get to finish that race. Just stuff like that. The kind of race night where you're just ready for it to be over. Don't get me wrong, I'm still humbled and thankful that Rokimus was chosen for this and that we got to meet some really neat racing people that generously donated the kart, motor, clutch, graphics, tires and time. I just wish that we would have had a clearer picture about how the pits and racing would be handled. How we run the pitting and kart set up is a bit different than how they do it and that's an adjustment, especially when mistakes and overlooks keep happening and you feel like you have no control over it.

So, right now, things are better. I'm certainly glad to be back in the land of red dirt. I have the Honda back and it looks great and smells even better! We've got a new kart sitting in the shop ready to head to the track this weekend for another big race. Schooling is going smoother and I'm really enjoying being around the kids to watch them learn. The new camcorder has a few bugs and we're undecided about returning right now. My camera has to be sent in for repairs and that will take at least two weeks and who knows how much money. I'm trying to plead my case about getting a Nikon D300, but when I look at my old refrigerator, it's hard to justify spending that kind of money. The crayon load of laundry is soaking in the washer right now, so we'll see about that. Shout and Tide Coldwater can do amazing things for crayons. I should know, I've used it before!

Take care - Me