The dreaded parent-teacher conference.

Why is it so terrifying to walk into a classroom and listen to a teacher talk to you about your kid’s successes and failures?  Do I want to know? Do I want to hear it?

I can’t put my finger on it…but for some reason these little meetings aren’t fun for me. Maybe it’s that I don’t really know the teachers all that well…

But today was crazy. I went to two of these suckers back-to-back with our new schools here in Burbank and listened to the respective teachers rant and rave about my kids. Nathaniel is reading at an “end-of-third-grade” reading level, and scores high in his class in every area. Noah is also doing well in his class…

So…I guess my kids are amazing.

I guess my question is, why am I so weirded out by a gathering that has the sole purpose of informing me of the awesomeness of my offspring?

I don’t know.

Last week our microwave pooped out. It started smelling like burnt electrical wire and stopped heating stuff up, so we tossed it (quite literally) out the kitchen door.

Since then, life has been interesting…I told Christy not to buy a microwave just yet (thank you, economy) but most of Noah’s food is frozen and needs to be warmed up in the microwave, so we’ve had to be creative…we’ve warmed up stuff in pots on the stove (the horror!) and cooked stuff in the oven (nooooo!). It has been troublesome and inconvenient.

But today…today was the kicker.

**Keep in mind that I woke up at 3:45AM to toss the kids in the car, along with Christy, to drive home from San Diego in time for school at 8AM in Burbank…

So we made it home at around 7AM, and since Christy was feeling sick, I got the kids ready for school. We woke up, we got dressed…we packed our lunches, and then we made breakfast. Being the caring, loving, father that I am, I got out some frozen waffles for Nathaniel and frozen french toast for Noah. AND…being the RESOURCEFUL person that I am, I immediately got out a frying pan so I could heat up the waffles and french toast. I put it on the stove top and Nathaniel pipes in,

“Dad,” he says, “why don’t you just use THAT to heat it up?” (Points to the toaster).

“The what? Why don’t I use the WHAT?!” I reply.

“The toaster!!”

(feeling like a complete dope) “oh…right…

…we have a toaster…”

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand to boot, we were late for school.

ugh.

I’m not ready for December.