40 b00ks...That's how many DQ has to read this school year. She can't just read them. She has to do a project for each as PROOF that she read them. 40 b00ks. That is more than one per week. It is almost October...she's managed to read one. Okay, correction, WE have managed to read one. I'm not sure what happens in her head when she reads silently...but I can tell you...it's not reading. She remembers nothing of what she reads unless we do it orally. 40 books...I wonder how many she has to read to pass...what do you think...30?

On top of the books...that we are...trying to read...she has MATH homework almost daily. Clearly I slept through my math classes cause I have NO clue how to help her most of the time. Which is okay since she doesn't want MY help...only her dad's. I am chopped liver these days...is that a requirement of being a pre-teen...being rude to your mother? Okay, okay, she's not actually rude...she just doesn't believe I know anything about...well...anything. Bless her.

In addition to the 40 b00ks...and the math...she has to practice...her clarinet every night. Have you ever heard a beginning clarinet player? Yeah, think dying duck squawk...that's the sound reverberating through my home each and every day. She hates math, hates reading but LOVES the clarinet...go figure.

And on top of all of DQ's homework I still have my own. Why the HECK did I think being in grad school for four years was a good idea? I should have stopped after the first master's degree...really...I am SICK of homework.