August Shenanigans

I am still working on editing some older blog posts and on my new pages. I'm giving myself another week to work on the blog (and maybe another week after that, if I so choose), but I decided that I can still continue to post.

Moose started speech therapy this month. He really enjoys it. His biggest problem is closing his mouth correctly for "m," "b," and "p" sounds. She suspects that his teeth are a bit big for his mouth. He CAN close it properly (as he says MA-MEEE loud and clear), so it might just be a bit of sheer laziness. Who knows. I do know that he naps like a champ when he gets home from speech.

Bean started karate. Similar to soccer, I don't think there's a lot of natural ability there. He often whines about practicing and has trouble paying attention, but I think all that is pretty age-appropriate. Tonight is his first class lesson, which is earlier in the evening. I'm hoping the earlier time will help a little bit. His private lessons were at 6:30, which is pretty late for him.

Bean has kindergarten testing next Thursday, I guess just to evaluate where he's at. I'm not sure if they mix the kids up or separate the higher- and lower-scoring kids. My school teacher friends tell me it depends on the school, and the school will never admit which way it goes. He starts classes the following Monday, August 23. Thank goodness, there's been A LOT of togetherness this summer!

Moose starts Mother's Day Out on September 1 from 9 a.m. till 1 p.m. twice a week. Can you imagine eight hours a week of NO KIDS. Oh, how blissful. We visited the class last week and liked what we saw. He didn't want to leave.

Both boys got haircuts today (nothing major). We have family pictures scheduled for Saturday morning. It's our fifth wedding anniversary, so we have a sitter for the afternoon and evening. We're going to Painting with a Twist and to dinner (still undecided, we have a free meal at Outback, but we're really craving Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro - it's a tough call, but I'm guessing FREE will win out).

I also submitted a personal essay to a contest. I'm not sure when they announce the winners. I have my eye on two more writing contests by the end of the month. It's good for me.

I'm in the middle of several books, most notably Barbra Ueland's If You Want to Write. I have another on urban gardening (still) and another on Unitarian Universalism (very insightful - I become more and more convinced we're in the right place there). I went to the downtown library branch last week - what a wonderful place. It's not kid-friendly like the one I usually go to, but it feels so smart and urban with all its levels and such.

The boys and I are headed over the church to work on one of the gardens (of course, we don't have medians in the parking lot, we have GARDENS) this afternoon. Will probably come home with a nice selection of tomatoes, peppers, and whatever else is hiding amongst the weeds (we are going there to clean it up, not to pick ... but pick we shall).

Sweet Home Louisiana

Made it back Thursday morning around 6 a.m. I took two 5-Hour Energy Shots to make the drive and it took me like two days to recover from the stuff. I had a similar experience with caffeine pills in college (took them for a week, completely melted down, and never touched them again). On the plus side, I made the drive in 13 hours and 20 minutes (including stops) AND painted the office when I got home. I finally passed out and proceeded to have a pounding headache most of the next day.

The house was standing and the boys, dog, and plants were alive. I suspect my husband makes a better homemaker than I do (the house was certainly tidier). However, all three guys were happy to have me home AND I was happy to be home with them (you know, after the energy shot hangover passed).

My mom is doing OK and will hopefully be back at work by the end of the month. It's been a long and miserable process for her.

My husband had a PET scan while I was gone. We got great news Thursday. The scan was clear. Thank goodness.

Not wanting my mom's lousy kidneys and my husband's cancer to take all the attention, I decided to FALL at a bookstore yesterday. It was the perfect storm - flip flops, long dress, door with metal slates, carrying a box of heavy books. I went down hard, dislocated my pinky and skinned and bruised my knee. I was so embarrassed. I don't remember falls sucking this much as a kid. My finger is in a splint (most the time, the darn thing gets hot and itchy) and my knee hurts every time my pants touch it. So, umm, fun times.

Post-fall, I dropped some items off at a locally-run thrift shop and saw TONS of plastic pots in their dumpster. I asked the employee (or, more likely, criminal doing community service) if they were just throwing them away. He said yes and agreed that it was wasteful and loaded 20+ into my trunk. Plastic pots aren't my first choice, but FREE plastic pots certainly are.

I am convincing Husband to build me a chicken coop and run. He's surprisingly on board with the idea. City ordinances OK chickens, but we need to get the by-laws for our neighborhood. Hopefully no one has thought to ban them.

Bean starts school in exactly one month! He'll be a real kindergartner at a new school. I should probably figure out how to register him for that foolishness. I am also hoping to get Moose into a private pre-school a couple days a week starting this fall.

It was Artist Sunday at church today - church members and people from the community came out to sing, read, dance, and play. There were belly dancers, little ballerinas, violin, piano, drums, poetry, stories, etc. Artists also had artwork (jewelry, paintings, collages, books, etc.) on display and for sale in the church classrooms. Very neat.

Am in the middle of three books right now - Urban Homesteading, Cutting for Stone, and a book written by a local friend. I'm enjoying all three and having a hard time deciding which one to pick up each time I get a chance to read ... now wonder I can't keep the house tidy. Ha ha.

No Word & More Stuff

Husband called the urologist's office several times Friday and was told they may not have the results until as late as Tuesday. So, that's fun ... waiting a week to find out if you have flipping cancer.

The appliances did not show up. Apparently, they left the warehouse June 10 and will call us this week to schedule delivery. So, it's just me and you for another week GE P7, you 1961 time machine you.

Zulu has completely recovered. She is still getting medicine and has a follow-up appointment and her annual exam tomorrow. At 8:50 a.m. No worries, I will be awake and alert as ::someone:: and ::someone else:: have decided that 6 a.m. is the new waking hour.

::Someone else:: (the smaller of the someones) has also decided that he needs to poop at least five times a day. This has recently in a bleeding diaper rash come today. THERE IS NOTHING I WOULD RATHER DO THAN TEND TO MY CHILD'S BLEEDING AND POOPY BUTT, GIVE THE DOG MEDICINE TWICE A DAY, AND WAIT ON MY MAYBE-HAS-CANCER-BUT-WE-DON'T-KNOW-YET HUSBAND. Oh, it's been a long week and if Sunday is any indication, this week isn't going to be easy either. At some point, I must mow the lawn.

In interesting news, I woke up Saturday with terrible, terrible shoulder pain. It literally felt like the weight on the world was resting on my neck and shoulders. I got in for a massage (wha wha, I have time and money for massage) while the boys were supposed to be sleeping. The massage helped my mobility, but it seemed to spread the pain across the entire span of my shoulders (so, instead of just knots of lactic acid, my whole upper back was flooded with it). She said even the bottoms of my feet were tight and it would take more than one session to work out (please, like I have time and money for another session). Anyway, I was grateful for the improved mobility, since I'm the only person who can pick up anything over 10 pounds. After the boys went to bed for the night (for real, not like nap time), I escaped to Michaels and walked down to the dollar store. They had some muscle cream there (for a $1), and I bought it on a whim ... expecting it to at best do nothing and at worst burn all my skin off. But you know what? I worked WONDERS. Oh, it makes me reek of menthol, and it's not 100 percent better, but the relief is AMAZING. I'd still like another massage, but I have no complaints about the dollar I spent on this stinky cream.

Also at the dollar store: two foam swords for the boys, a book by Rosie O'Donnell, and a book by Mary Pipher (one of my favorite writers). Score!

I went to the newcomers meeting at church today and asked them: What do you say when people say, "Unitarian Universalism? I've never heard of it. It must be a cult." The chaplain said: Well, three of our first six presidents were Unitarian ... The education director said: Oh, just tell them we'll never be organized enough to be a cult.

So, there you have it.

Now, to put ::someone:: and ::someone else:: to bed. I'm sure I'll pass out shortly there after.

Oh, another good thing:

We finally found a piano and are expecting it tomorrow. It's an upright from William Knabe from he late 1800s. It's beautiful and still plays quite nicely. It's more than I expected, that's how beautiful it is. We might have it tuned as our anniversary gift this year. The piano is actually for our anniversary last year, but we never found anything we liked or could work out logistics to move it. Our moving money leaves us with enough cash to pay for it and for professional piano movers. Now, who in the household will learn to play this beast?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday marked the big 2-8 for me. Despite being far away from friends (newer and older) and family, it was a wonderful day. I woke up to a house smokey from turkey bacon :) with eggs and toast. We took the boys to the big park and played in the fountain. I chatted with a mom there about things to do around here. We went home for lunch and then opened presents! Of course, I had already opened everything from my mom and my in-laws (hey, it's not my fault it's here before my birthday), but Jonathan and the boys had some wonderful things for me - a new Fossil purse, gift cards to Michaels and Kohls, three pairs of Target flip flops, and a new feather pillow. (I left my old pillow at the hotel and was very sad about it.) Then I took a nap with my new pillow. Later we went to Copelands for dinner, they serve New Orleans-type food, and it was SO good. We came home and did cake and then I headed to a journaling group. The group meets at the church and was very, very good. We did free writing and made goals for next week's meeting. So, so nice to be writing again.

My mom sent me a couple Cricut cartridges - new releases at that! I was very impressed. I didn't inherit my love of crafting from her, but it's nice to know that she pays attention when I rattle on and on about my crafting.

My in-laws sent me True Blood Season 2 (so I got to cancel my order - wahoo!). I watched it all up and am now having Sookie withdrawal. I've read all 10 books and seen both seasons and the new season doesn't start till June ... and we don't have HBO anyway, so I'll be waiting for that DVD season to come out in a year. The horror!

I have read two books recently, The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio and I'll Fly Away. Both great reads.

On my birthday, Bean got a new big kid bike with no training wheels. Mind you, he could barely ride a small bike WITH training wheels, so he's got a lot of practice to do. His little buddies two doors down both ride bikes without training wheels, so he has some peer pressure which should help in this circumstance. Also, I think he's starting to get a little self conscious about being cool. When his friends knocked on the door today and Husband said, "Bean, you want to go play?" he jumped up and said, "Yeah!!!" then he quickly collected himself and said, "I mean, I'll meet you guys outside." What was that all about?

I somehow talked my husband into going into a junk store antique shop today to look for a coffee table. We actually found lots of cool stuff, but nothing suitable for our coffee table. There are lots of antique stores around, so I'm sure we'll find something eventually. There is a trunk at Pier 1 that I like - maybe that'll go on clearance mid-summer or something.

We also ate a somewhat famous Southern diner for lunch called Strawn's. OH SO GOOD! We are quickly understanding why the Southern states are typically the most overweight. Anything that isn't deep fried is smothered in butter and/or lard and/or gravy. Even the kids' pancake platter came with a HUGE dollop of HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM. Amazing.

So, yes, we continue to love Louisiana. The only downside so far is the smelly, yucky-tasting water. All in all, though, it's a small price to pay. Oh, the flipping 8.6 percent sales tax too. Ouch. Oh, and car insurance rates (do you here DAT, Louisiana, learn how to drive!). Still, though, I'll take Louisiana over North Texas any day.