February 29, 2012

 This blog has never had a post on February 29.  The blog administrator (me) decided it needed one.  It's gonna be a zinger.  I should go through and find out what other dates have never had posts, and remedy that. It could be a project!  Because I need more of those.

So now that tomorrow is March 1st, NOW it decides to snow?  There is a furious blizzard going on outside my window right now, and the ground is actually white, something that  has not been seen in these here parts for quite a while.  It was an awful gray windy cold day.  A day that was much better suited to the last day of February than to the first day of March, so it was good timing for Leap Year.

We hung up purple curtains in Audrey's new green room yesterday, and suddenly Olivia decided she needs her room painted, and she needs new curtains.    She didn't seem to take any  notice of any of our redecorating projects until  she saw those purple curtains.  They are spectacular, I must say. Olivia wanted to paint her room pink. I am very much opposed to painting it pink, only because I know we will be repainting in two years, when she turns eight and decides she hates the color pink.  So we compromised on a very subtle shade of periwinkle that is named Cinderella's Glass Slipper.  How could you possibly turn up your nose at a color named something like that?   So I promised her that after I finish painting the downstairs family room with Toasted Wheat, and after the upstairs family room gets painted Pompeiian Red and Tea Time, and the kitchen gets a coat of Pale Honey, then we will transform her room to be every bit as colorful as Audrey's.  I may need to invest in a good sturdy paint sprayer though.

On a much heavier note, I am supposed to be sitting in a parent meeting at the high school right now, learning how to talk to my kids about the fact that in the past 3 days, two boys from the school have taken their own lives. I don't know if the boys knew each other.  Duncan knew one of them, but not well.  He was pretty stoic about the whole thing.   He asked me what was going on with kids these days, which was the exact thought I had. I told him I wish I knew.   It's a hard time to be a kid, much harder, I think, than it has ever been. Someone said that they don't think that the one boy's death could have been a suicide, because he was so happy all the time.  Wouldn't it be nice if it were that simple?    Unfortunately, most of us outgrow that kind of transparency before we turn two. Wouldn't it also be nice if we could cure kids from doing stupid, impulsive acts that change things forever?  I am so so sad for those boys, and even more for their families.

And on that somber note, we will say goodbye to February, and wait for spring.