$2.22/gal

That's what I last paid for gas! It only took $18 to fill up my little Prizm! Prices have fallen more since then, as low as $1.96/gal in an outlying area called Plainwell according to the news. It is down 1/2 of what we had been paying. I wish it would stay this way but I would lay money on the fact that it will probably be back over $3 by the time everyone starts travelling for Thanksgiving.
Well, the first marking period is over for the kids & they all did very well. Rachel made the TCB Club & probably both her & Stephen will be on the Honor Roll. Joshua had a bit of an incident on the playground the other day but otherwise is doing very well too. We had parent/teacher conferences earlier this week so Mark & I spent Wed. afternoon going from teacher to teacher around the gym which is where the middle school teachers are all set up. Having 2 in middle school, there were only 3 teachers that didn't have at least one of our students. Some of them actually have both.
All three are a bit disappointed in the election outcome but it was interesting to see them get involved with all the discussions. Rachel's history teacher held a debate where 4 students were designated as the candidates & had to research their stand on questions the rest of the class had researched to ask them. The teacher said this really brought Rachel out of her shell to the point they think she will either be a reporter or a lawyer. Rachel, of course, was armed with a lot of the information that we had received via email concerning some questionable stands of Obama.
Other info, we are most disappointed in our last washing machine. We bought it less than 5 years ago & went with a Maytag thinking reputable namebrand. Well, it is dead. At first, we thought it was just the timer but when the repair man listened to it they said it would be over $350 to fix because it needed an entire motor & probably the timer too. So we have had to go washer shopping. So much for a laptop for a while. I've actually had to be taking all the clothes to the laundry mat for several weeks. That gets really tiring really quickly, not to mention getting very expensive.
Mark is going to Lake Ann Camp tonight for a Camp Captain's retreat. He took the day off today so he can leave for up there earlier than getting out of work. I think it actually starts around 6. So this morning he is volunteering to help with "centers" in Rachel's Language Arts class. He then meets with the guy he has been doing accounting on the side for and then it is down to his office to get his flu shot before he can leave town. He'll be back tomorrow afternoon though.
He also took off Monday & Tuesday because the kids are off of school on those days. The plan is to get lots of cleaning done during those days. With everyone here, working together, hopefully we can get some cleaning & organizing done that has been put off way to long. There are a few other things on the agenda for those days too such as visiting a high school that we hope might be good for Rachel to try to get in to next year but cleaning is highest on the list.