Tiny Bubbles and Breaking Boards

There are tiny bubbles in my radiator, apparently signaling the imminent demise of my head gasket. Brian thinks the answer is not repair, but the purchasing of another car. For me. Because he can't afford a car payment right now. Hello, like I can? But I digress. He has found some lower priced, high mileage cars that he thinks I might like. My school of thought: better the evil that you know. We know my Camry. I know its' noises, its' smells, I can notice even the slightest decline in tire air pressure (although I don't always do anything about it right away), alignment, etc. I'm actually feeling very stressed about the idea of taking on a monthly car payment. I'll know more Friday when Brian returns to town.

Jacelyn is doing well. Still loves school, still love girl scouts. She received her magenta petal patch last night, which stands for "Respect Authority". Five minutes later, walking out to the parking lot, she flagrantly flouted said authority by running away from me (while I kept repeating, "Jacelyn, stop running and wait" over and over), down the sidewalk and almost into traffic on 57th, resulting in a lecture from mommy in the car and going to bed a half hour early.

She has karate this afternoon, which she still loves with a burning passion. Jack thinks she is only a couple more weeks away from her yellow belt. I read something online about Jack and his training, about how he basically sells belts on a monthly basis - if you participate in class for a month and pay your fees, you move to the next belt on a monthly basis. This bothered me slightly until I considered what dear Mr. Clark always has to point out to me: she's 4. It's really not that big of a deal. If she does decide, at some point way down the line, that she wants to continue on with karate, or maybe move to taekwondo or whatever, she might have a big fish little pond moment, but that will just inspire her to work harder. I don't really like the idea of her not really earning the higher level belt, but, again, she's 4. Not that big of a deal.

The older kids in her karate class have been breaking boards the last week or so, and Jacelyn is chomping at the bit to do the same. Jack, who calls Jacelyn "sister", keeps telling her to wait, that he will get some smaller boards for her and the other smaller kids. She insists that she does not need the small board, that she can break a big one, but he has managed to persaude her to wait. I have not been able to go to one of her classes since the one that we watched, so I'm looking forward to going with her next week. There's no girl scouts the first Tuesday of each month, so next week I will take her to karate at 6pm instead. Woo-hoo!

There is a place in town that will make an iron-on transfer of your last name along with the name of your karate school to put on the back of your uniform. Jacelyn wants her name on her uniform really badly, but the cost is, I'm sure, outrageous. I told her that's something she can ask one for from of her many doting relatives (auntie, Uncle Joe, paw-paw). She also knows that she will not survive to live another day unless she obtains the Daisy Girl Scout uniform in its' entirety - she has the smock, but she wants the shorts and the t-shirt. Together they will cost about $25, and then soon enough I'll have to buy pants. She's about to need some warmer school uniform stuff - some pants for non-PE days and sweatpants for PE. She has a sweatshirt, but no pants. I need to get her some tights to wear under her jumper. Just the apparel costs for her schooling and activities are breaking me, not even to speak of the cost of the schooling and activities themselves. But it's all worth it, it's all worth it.

Need to do some work and drink some coffee. Later!