Employment

Both kids are on the path of fiscal responsibility. Hannah went to Eastern Market at 6:30 a.m. today with our neighbor Amber. She is going to sell fruit and vegetables from Amber's family stand until she has to leave for her game at around 2:30. It'll be good for her. Hannah was outside too long in the sun yesterday during the school's Pitch, Hit and Run contest and has one heck of a sunburn. Hope she doesn't whine too much at work.

Jackson (and Denzel) are going to try out on May 1 for the Greening of Detroit's Green Corps. It is a group of 80 high schoolers who maintain the trees and gardens that the Greening's volunteers have planted over the years. It pays minimum wage and gives the kids 40 hours of time Monday through Friday during the summer. It is a three-step interview process that will be good for the boys. They have to run certain drills, participate in a Saturday planting and go through a formal interview. Cross your fingers!

We went and saw "Hairspray" at Cass last night. What a beautiful theater. The production was fabulous. Man, could those kids sing and dance. It was kind of odd seeing a nearly 100% African-American school do "Hairspray." Even the white kids in the story were black. Mama Turnblad was played by one of the big guys from the Cass football team. Hilarious. Nathan and Lynn went with us. Nathan is going to go to Cass next year with Jackson. He's an amazing actor so it was good for him to see that Cass will help support his acting "chops."

I'm home alone this morning which is so weird. Jackson is at an ROTC tournament, Hannah is working at the Market and Ro went to work after he dropped Jackson off. I leave in an hour for weaving but I am enjoying this peace and quiet quite a bit. (I stayed up past midnight last night dying some yarn for class this morning and it looks like crap! Should have gone to bed.)

Here fishy, fishy

I knew it had to arrive...but reality is here. We've lost all the men in our house until Fall. The boat is in the water. The guys were up and out by 6:30 this morning with Rick and his boys in pursuit of walleye.

Baby Dawson is being baptized today. You should have seen the look of glee in Ro's eyes when his Mom let it slip that the Mass is at noon, but the baptism didn't happen until after Mass around 1:30. "Is it OK if we skip the Mass and join you at 1:30?" More fishing time, you know.

Hannah has a softball game today so she's going to skip the baptism. Sure hope they win because she's feeling guilty.

Jackson and I did a 5K run yeterday morning at Belle Isle. For the first time in a long time, I felt pretty good. Still slow as molasses, but I felt good. Guess I'm getting my running Mojo back now that the weather is good. I skipped weaving yesterday (heavy sigh!) because I had a church budget meeting at 11. Three hours on a beautiful Saturday! Ugh...but we got it done.

My Chuckle of the Day!

Hannah Got a Scholarship

Hats off to the girl child! She is the recepient of the Gushee Language Arts scholarship at Liggett. Hannah had to submit a bunch of her writing samples and she won! I'm glad, not only for the bucks but for the self esteem it helps her build.

This is play week. Hannah is a mime in the St. Clare rendition of Godspell. Most of her buds are leads in the play but Hannah stuck it out in the background. She hates everything about the play this year but I'm really proud of her. It would have been easier to quit. When all of her friends go on and on about how hard it is to be on stage the whole time or how they don't like their costume or how they keep messing up their lines, I know it grinds her because she would give her eye teeth to be in their shoes. She has to wear all black and has no lines. She performs tonight, Friday and Saturday. It will be fun. Tim is coming down tomorrow and the Robars will be here on Saturday.

How do you reach a 16 year old?

Ugh....my fabulous son who is so good in so many ways is becoming a flake about school. He is missing assignments and getting weak grades on tests. All of this at the same time he tells you to your face that he wants to buckle down so he can go to West Point! I've never seen Ro so angry and disappointed. Do you take away things like girlfriends, baseball and drill team that he loves?....or do you ignore it and let him mistakes?...or do you lock him in the Grosse Pointe Library everynight for a few hours with only his books?

Relationships Today

It used to be that when two people decided to be a couple, the guy would give the girl a pin, a sweater, something and then tell their friends they are "going together." This usually occurred after they had dated each other exclusively for a few months. Today, they do it quickly and post it on the Internet.

Yesterday, I took Jackson and Arriana (a nice girl who goes to St. Charles and attends Regina who Jackson danced with at a Sweet 16 party a few weeks back) to lunch and the DIA after church. Then last night, I check out Jackson's Facebook page and wo, there is a photo snapped with his phone of the two of them at the Museum. His profile now says he is "in a relationship."

Maybe, I missed something but the two have gone on a total of two dates (three if you count the party where they reconnected) and have talked on the phone a lot. Is that a relationship?

I am so old.

My Mental Health Projects

Since I know your day wouldn't be complete without me boring you with my weaving projects, I thought I would show you what I just took off the loom. MaryBeth, my fabulous co-worker, had a birthday this week so I weaved over the weekend, washed and tied on Monday and gave this scarf to her on Tuesday. I wasn't feeling the pattern while I was weaving it but now I really like the verticalness of it. Very different. Usually, I have a little longer to bond before I give away my work but she's worth it. I used that rik rak for the first time and it really had a nice smooth feel once it came together.

My loom at CCS has a indigo-dyed tencel warp with big white patches ready to be woven on Saturday. I'll have to take a photo to show you how odd it looks. It reminds me of a blueberry cow hide. Not sure how it is going to all come together. My plan was to use a straight green tabby but maybe I need a new plan. At home, I just wound a forest green cotton warp for an overshot table runner that I saw in Handwoven magazine. I know I'm supposed to be creative and experiment but it is sure nice to have a pattern once in a while that tells you exactly how many ends, etc.

Jackson Left for West Point

Jackson, my over-the-top, 16-year old, ROTC-lovin' baby, is now at West Point in upstate NY. He left yesterday at 6 p.m. and they drove all night, getting there early this morning. Their schedule is grueling. He'll go to classes and sports with the student he gets assigned to for the next two days, eat in the dorms and essentially be a cadet for 48 hours. He gets home around 8 a.m. Saturday morning. I get a quick text this morning from him. All it said was "Is anybody there awake?" Guess he's already buying into the military intelligence thing.

I'm hoping it will be a great experience for him and that it motivates him to start thinking about college pretty seriously. Also hope he doesn't sign anything with a U.S. seal at the top while he is there!

The Blind Easter Egg Hunt

Aunt Sue made blindfolds for all the cousins today and had them find the Easter Egg candy, necklaces and other goodies on their hands and knees. It was a sight to see...or not see! Since the kids are getting too old for Easter Egg hunts and the smallest kids (Ben and Lauren) weren't there, it was a great compromise. It also gave the parents lots of laughs.


Baby Dawson also got lots of attention. I just got back from a short run. Man, I've eaten too much fabulous food this weekend. I'll be glad (not really!) to get back to my work routine tomorrow.

I love Easter

Just a little chocolate, a bit of church and lots of family time. Next to Thanksgiving, Easter is one heck of a holiday. No stress. Just togetherness. Perfect. Now if we could get Spring weather to go with it, it would be great. They're predicting 2-6 inches of snow this weekend. Unbelievable.

This and That

We had a great weekend...action packed but fun. Let's see....Saturday AM I went to Heritage Spinning and Weaving in Lake Orion with my CCS buds. I was good and only bought one skein of very cool hand dyed yarn and two small cones of green bamboo yarn. I'm going to use the bamboo as weft with a warp I dyed with indigo last week. We'll see. Mollie gave me the eyebrow in the store and said "why green?" She's much better at colors than me so we'll have to see how it all comes together when I do a small sample.

Hannah and I went to see the University of Detroit High School performance of Grease that evening over at the Detroit School of the Performing Arts. It was great. We parked the car at DSA and then walked over to Union Street and then back for the play. I love Midtown! Jackson went to a Sweet 16 party for his friend Alexus that night and I think he impressed a whole bunch of lovely ladies. They've been calling nonstop ever since.

On Sunday, we did our annual St. Patrick's Day shenanigans at the Parade in Corktown. Jackson and I ran in the Corktown Races (4 miles!). Jackson, Lynn and Lisa had great times. Let's just say I finished. I have a long way to go to get my running mojo back after the long winter. We then hung around with the Greening of Detroit and marched in the Parade. I wish I had brought my camera. Nathan was adorned in a tree costume again and Jackson was part of the shovel brigade. Think of six guys singing and performing precision drills with shovels. He did great. I can see why he is good at ROTC. He spun that shovel like it was a baton. Boy there were a lot of drunks in Corktown Sunday afternoon!

We got out of the Parade around 4 and made it to St. Clare for the Winter Sports Banquet at 6. Hannah's basketball team didn't have the greatest record but I really liked her coach. Ro even got an award as the volunteer of the year.

Last night, I treated myself to a little St. Patrick's girl time with Linda and Kim. So nice to kick back. Kim and Linda are both running successful businesses, balancing a family and enjoying life! I think we only gossiped about half our friends so we'll have to do it again soon. Linda does PR for Morton's Steakhouse so we ate like queens!

Tomorrow night, we have to go to a parent meeting for the West Point trip. I'm anxious to learn more. Jackson leaves next week for three days. Hannah starts her vacation on Thursday so she is going to a sleepover tomorrow at Alex's house. Not sure how I'm going to pick her up the next morning since I have to work but I guess I'll deal with that as it comes.

Back to American Idol......this season isn't thrilling me.

Kwame

I am sitting here as a national NPR story is airing about the sad, sad state of affairs in Detroit with our goofy Mayor's text messaging scandal. Our Mayor needs to resign. His ego is an embarrassment. Our family works really hard to continually convince people why we live in the city. Usually our arguments are hanging by a thread at best. Stuff like this makes it even harder. A story this morning in the Free Press brought it home for me. The mother of his former chief of staff was quoted in the paper about how worried she was about her daughter and her grandchildren. Christine Beatty at least had the guts to resign right away. Her Mama has to be proud about at least that fact.

Here's hoping the prosecutor finds something that sticks to King Kwame so we can kick his sorry behind to the curb!

Getting to Know You

My buddy Corinne sent me this quiz so I thought I would post my answers on this old blog. (Boy, I am so glad the writers are returning to work so I can get back to Desperate Housewives on Sunday night instead of goofing on the computer!)

Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your friends. Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to your friends including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00, with a slight hangover from last night's auction at the kids school (thought it was 6:00 but the time "sprung forward" on me) and a million things to do for Carolyn's shower today
2. Diamonds or pearls? Definitely diamonds, pearls are for old ladies
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Jumpers (it was stupid)
4. What is your favorite TV show? Grey's Anatomy
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Fiber One bar and coffee
6. What is your middle name? Marie
7. What food do you dislike? Tuna
8.What is your favorite CD at the moment? Sheryl Crow
9. What kind of car do you drive? Buick Enclave
10. Favorite sandwich? Grilled cheese
11. What characteristic do you despise? Petite :)
12. Favorite item(s) of clothing? My worn out green fleece Greening of Detroit jacket
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? China
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Dana Buchman (bought on sale on EBay)
15. Where would you like to retire? Asheville, NC
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? They're pretty low key
17. Favorite sport to watch? Anything the kids are in
18. Furthest place you are sending this? You tell me
19. Person you expect to send it back first? Not sure, I broke the rules by putting it on my blog.
21. When is your birthday? August 25, 1963
22. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning
23. What is your shoe size? 9
24. Pets? Java (goofy mutt we adopted at the zoo)
25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Hannah is going to go to Liggett and Jackson got selected to go on a recruiting trip to West Point.
26. What did you want to be when you were little? Stewardess
27. How are you today? Glad the busy weekend worked well and is over
28. What is your favorite candy? Swedish Fish
29. Favorite flower? Purple iris (I copied from Corinne)
30. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Hannah's 8th grade graduation
31. What is your full name? Colleen Marie Robar
32. What are you listening to right now? Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
33. What was the last thing you ate? Tom Yum soup from Sala Thai
35. Do you wish on stars? Doesn't everyone?
36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red
37. How is the weather right now? Chilly
38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Neighbor
39. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke
40. Favorite restaurant? Mama Rosas (closest one to the kid's school so I don't have to cook!)
41. Hair color? Definitely not gray
42. What was your favorite toy as a child? I can't remember
43. Summer or winter? Fall
44. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
45. Chocolate or Vanilla? Definitely chocolate
46. Coffee or tea? I am addicted to coffee, bold and black
47. Do you want your friends to email you back? Sure.
48. When was the last time you cried? Got teary-eyed at Carolyn's shower today when Sue talked about missing her Aunt Wilma
49. What is under your bed? Yarn (in a big plastic bin)
50. What did you do last night? Went to the Auction at the kid's school
51. What are you afraid of? Not having an answer to all these questions!
52. Salty or sweet? Salty
53. How many keys on your key ring? Way too many for stuff I don't even have any more
54. How many years at your current job? 6 months at Crain this time (although I was there for ten years from 1990-2000)
55. Favorite day of the week? Saturday (weaving class!)
56. How many towns have you lived in? Four
57. Do you make friends easy? Yes
58. How many people will you send this too? The sorry souls who come across my blog
59. How many will respond? Don't know
60. Who sent this email to you? Sammy sent it to Corinne who sent it to me.

Whew....I finished!

Isn't Baby Dawson cute???

Live in the Moment

My Mom sent me this and I thought it was beautiful. These are great words, especially as Hannah and Jackson are getting closer and closer to college and independence. It came from Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist & Author:

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything.

One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.

When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome.To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China . Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined i n the 'Remember-When-Mom-Did ' Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, 'What did you get wrong?'. (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life.

When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top.And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

I love snow!

We got socked with about eight inches last night. Both kids are off school. Jackson and Denzel are over at Autorama helping the Explorers get their 400 hp. convertible Cobalt ready to go for this weekend's show. Hannah has been goofing on the computer all day. It was strange to just come to work today without first dropping off kids at school. I got in at 7:30.

We have a crazy couple of days ahead of us. The school auction is Saturday night and Carolyn's shower is Sunday. Autorama happens all weekend so we'll be back and forth to Cobo quite a bit too. It is probably a good thing the kids got a chance to chill a little today.

Late Breaking Leap Day News!

I'm an Aunt! Carolyn and David welcomed Dawson Elliott tonight at 8:06 p.m. He was 8-1/2 pounds and 22-1/2 inches long. That's a lot of baby out of five foot Carolyn. She had to have a C-section but all is well tonight. Dawson makes for a total of eight nieces and nephews on the Robar side. Here's a fun photo of Dad David from a party last year. I think he'll be a make a fabulous papa for Dawson. We're supposed to have a shower for Carolyn next Sunday. Let's see if she'll be up to it.

Think about how much money we'll save only having to buy this little dude birthday presents every four years!

High School Dilemma

OK, I want Hannah to go to Liggett and she wants to go to Mercy. Now what? Should I let a 13-year old make the decision because only she knows what will suit her best? Or should Dan and I overrule?

The freshman Liggett girl who gave Hannah her "shadow day" experience told her she hated the school. Obviously, the Admissions Office did not pick the best ambassador to answer all of Hannah's questions. I've tried to point out to my lovely daughter all the wonderful people we know that go there but she won't hear it. I think I am going to have Alex from church or Emmanuelle from St. Clare call Hannah this weekend.

Mercy is just too far. Twenty-seven miles each way is ridiculous. There is no bus so it would be up to Dan and I (and the Barrows) to get the girls there everyday in rush hour.

Or, she can just go to Cass with her brother! How easy would that be?

Asheville!

Ro and I leave tonight for our annual trek to the Arts & Crafts Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. My fabulous Mom is going to hang with the kids. Woo hoo!

Our Sanitorium

Ro is down in the clay studio all the time. But look who was helping him??