Game Day.

It's Game Day today at my kids' school. They will be outside most of the day. I equipped them with sunglasses and sunscreen...and a little hair-dousing with "Sun In."

Hey, don't scoff--they have naturally blonde hair--I'm just helping them along a little, especially if they are spending all day out in the sun! :-)

It could be WORSE. I could be the mom, who, when, in the early eighties all her boys had the "Dororthy Hamill" haircut, used a CURLING IRON to curl their hair under so it would fall right! Yes, on her boys. Don't ask me who it was, I am pleading the fifth. And if you guess right, I'll only deny it.

(But yes, I'm related to her! )

AHEMMOVINGONANYWAY, Thing One (who will be twelve in October) said she had a dilemma, because two of the boys on her Game Day team, like her.

ME: "Like you? As in a friend? What's wrong with that?"

HER: "No, they like me more. They told me. And I know they weren't kidding because they haven't really talked to me since and they blush all the time when I talk to them."

ME: "O-kay...so, you're not encouraging either of them, right?"

HER: "Well, I really like XXXX. He's liked me since third grade. He's twelve already. He's really tall and he even wears cologne."

ME: (after a long pause) That's nice, dear. Now go back up to your room. I will be Homeschooling you from now on."

I have a feeling I will be having many more scary conversations like this with my daughter. Heaven help us all. Maybe she'll fall on her head during the egg toss or something, and all the boys her age will see it, and think she's a klutz-- and decide they don't like her any more.

A mother can hope, anyway!

Impatient? ME????

I am...not the most patient of people. I tell my kids, probably fifteen times a day to "hurry up." Hurry up and eat your breakfast, the bus is coming. Hurry and brush your teeth, it's bedtime. Hurry up! I'll be fifty before you finish that math worksheet!

Yeah, I like things to happen, and I like them to happen YESTERDAY.

I need to stop it. I get impatient when I wait in lines. I get mad when the muffins don't bake fully during the allotted time. I get disgruntled when a s-l-o-w car pulls in front of me (I could actually murder the ones who drive UNDER the speed limit!) and don't even get me started on restaurant service and fast food lines.

I never used to be like this. I was a LOT more easygoing. I guess I need to relax. Maybe because I've spent thirteen years married to another VERY impatient person, who wants everything done yesterday, too. We're a pair.

Patience is a virtue...and I want some of it RIGHT NOW!!! NOW I TELL YOU!!!

Help.

Stream of Consciousness Post...

I shoved Thing Two out the door today. His fever is gone, the antibiotics have kicked in, and he is fine to go to school. As he was leaving to get on the bus, he turned to me.

"Mom, I never thought I'd actually say this in a million years, but I'm glad I'm going to school. Being sick is boring!"

HA!

You see, I am the sort of mom who makes being sick "comfortable" but not a "play day." The sick kid in question is quarantined to their room for the duration (especially if they are the only one sick) and Hubby and I don't allow TVs or computers in the kids' rooms, so no TV or video games. Only books and sleep. Pretty boring when you're an active 8,10, or 11 year old! Sure, you get your meals in your room, and some really great TLC, but it's still boring.

This is by design. So you will WANT to get better quickly and go back to school! See how sneaky I am?

Of course I woke up with a sore throat and chills yesterday, and today is not much better. I don't mind being sick so much, I can take Advil cold or whatever and muddle through it. I just don't want Hubby to get it, especially before back-to-back business trips. Yuck.

I procrastincated going to the dry cleaners the last two weeks. You should have seen their eyes yesterday when I gave them twenty three dress shirts, fourteen pairs of dress pants, and four suits. What's sad, is Hubby still has a ton of shirts in his closet, but those are "winter" dress shirts, and he won't touch them. Since I'm not in the fashion world, I'll take his word for it. He also has ties by season. THAT I do get. But dress shirts? Whatever. ;-)

They were somewhat relieved when I told them I only needed the suits and five dress shirts for this Saturday. I'm not THAT demanding! But I will say, I have the best dry cleaners EVER.

Through the years we've moved here and there, I've had to search for a good dry cleaner, because Hubby is very particular. It's gotten to the point where I've driven across town just for a good dry cleaners. One who won't crease the plackets of shirts, or crack/shatter/crunch the buttons on dress shirts. Or ruin collars.

Luckily for me, I found an an AWESOME cleaners, and they are right in my home town, five minutes from my house. WOO HOO! Since I like to remain relatively anonymous on my location, I won't give them a shout out, but they are AWESOME!

Well, the stream of Consciousness train has derailed. Thing Four wants a milk "cuppy." Have a happy weekend, all!

Golf?

Thing Two has been home sick for three days, now. I took him to the dr. yesterday and he has a sore throat, fever, and sinus infection that was affecting his eyes. (Thank goodness, I thought he had Pinkeye on top of everything!) He's on antibiotics, now, but he's still miserable. Poor kid. They're so sweet and innocent when they're sick. Makes all the devious crap they do 98% of the time seem insignificant...

;-)

Yesterday was busy, but overcast and rainy. Has been since Tuesday. I am ready for some sun!
I am feeling kind of sore-throat-ey myself. Hopefully it's just psychological. I CAN'T be sick. Hubby has back-to-back market trips to NYC starting Sunday. He'll be gone for two weeks, with one day home in between. Poor guy. He's going to be buuuuuurned out.

I have lots of projects to do around the house, so I'll be busy. Soccer ends in two weeks, and we'll have a breather before Tennis and Swimming lessons start up. I wanted to sign my boys up for golf, but Hubby was against it. He seems to think they'll brain someone with a stray ball. I say, teach 'em while they're young. I guess it's not on Hubby's priority list because he's not an avid golfer. Sure, he has clubs and all, and while we were in Hawaii he took lessons at the resort, but he's just not that "into" golf. His thing is Tennis. (Thanks to DVR, I'm not currently a French Open widow, either, hurrah!)

So, we'll see. I think Golf is almost a tool you need to know if you're going to be in the corporate world. Am I wrong in that assumption? :-) Then again, Thing Two wants to be an actor, and Thing Three wants to be a writer. Although I think he should go into acting. MAJOR HAM.

Golf may be optional.

Flowers, Birthdays, and a Bit of Advice...

Note to my children...when deciding to vandalize something in the house, say, a candle or one of my YOGA BLOCKS or any other item, carving your own name on said item is probably not the best of ideas, as it really shoots a hole in your "I didn't do it" defense, and implicates YOU, solely.

Just a bit of advice.

And a hearty shout out of HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend and partner in writing crime, Michelle, who happens to be hosting Jenny Storm (author of DIXIE DUST RUMORS) on her blog today. I hope it's a wonderful day, Mik!

Also, hop on over to my writing blog (link is on the right) because I am having a dilemma.

And here, by request, are some pictures of my flowers:

The front door:The back porch (a view of our fire pit--would be nice if the wind would take a break so we could actually USE IT...)I had to. I know, it's a satellite dish. But I had to "perk" it up.
Our beautiful yellow rose bushes died during the winter. So, being the lazy people we are, we just stuck planters on the bed where they used to be. Maybe we'll plant some next year. R.I.P. roses...

We have eleven planters, in all. MAN were we tired after all the planting! But they sure are pretty.

KIDS.

So, this morning, my eight year old (yes, he's EIGHT so this came as a surprise) suddenly sported a cut on his chin as we were packing up to get on the bus. It was bleeding quite profusely, and I asked him what had happened to his chin?

He shrugged.

I looked at him. "Are you serious? You don't know how you got a cut on your chin in the last five minutes?"

His reply: Another shrug of the shoulders. "I don't know, mom. You know me. I'm always getting cuts and bruises and I don't know where I get them!" (He said this practically verbatim from what I was lamenting the other day, as I observed his bruise-covered legs from rough playground playing).

It was a little fishy, so I thought back to where he'd been that morning. And then I realized. His brother is sick with a fever, so we told him to come down to our bathroom to brush his teeth. I ran to the bathroom, and there was the culprit--my razor I use on my legs. Apparently he'd picked it up, and wondered what it would be like to try and "shave" his chin.

He shaved it, alright. A nice chunk of skin. Hubby and I scolded him for even touching the razor (something I would expect from my TWO year old, not EIGHT year old!) and he was embarrassed. Of course he was. He did something stupid. Silly kids. Sometimes you think you're past a certain stage with them, and they go and surprise you. Don't even get me started on the incident with the basement blinds...

So, I wish I could say I had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. I WISH I could say it. But it was more like three days of hell, where we deep cleaned the house (windows and all) and did massive yardwork, including planting eleven (some of them HUGE) planters with new flowers, during which we were blitzkrieged by ravenous mosquitoes, despite generous applications of mosquito repellent. BOO.
We went to a nursery and got a good mix of flowers this year, tall purple as the centerpiece with light blue and yellow and hot pink mixed in. The house looks fabulous, and it's shining inside and out (we had Hubby's boss over for dinner last night) but I'm EXHAUSTED. I fell into bed Saturday, Sunday and last nights, completely DEAD.

This morning I have a lot to do, and I'm sitting here in my pjs. Ppphbbbttttt.

I hope everyone ELSE had a good weekend!

Grumpy.

It looks like Mother Nature is thwarting my three miles this morning. Wind and rain. Bleah. If it were just me, I'd probably go out, but I have to take Thing Four in the jogging stroller every morning. I can't exactly leave him at home by himself. (Well, technically I could, but I would end up in JAIL, and that's counterproductive...)

ANYWAY, I was a grumpy lump yesterday, because I had a lot going on and Thing Three really made me mad when I picked him up from soccer practice. His practice ran until seven pm, and lo and behold, our trainer was coming at 7. So I was going to pull him out early so I would be there when she arrived.

Thing Three ignored me completely on the field. He saw me, I KNOW he did, and he heard me too, but he kept running around and ignored my attempts to hail him from the car window. Finally, I just got out (dressed ridiculously as I was preparing to work out) and marched across the field and told him we needed to leave, NOW, and he pouted, and took forever to gather his stuff together to come with me. It was 7:05 by the time we got in the car, and I started yelling. He sat in the back, calmly sipping his juice, and finally, in exasperation I yelled DO YOU LIKE IT WHEN I YELL AT YOU???

To which he replied, with a straight face. "Yes. I do. It doesn't bother me at all."

Since launching myself at him while driving wasn't an option, I told him he was going to his room the MOMENT we got home. Little smart a**.

I got home in the WORST mood, I was already tired and sore from a hill I'd tackled during my morning walk, and the trainer proceeded to kick my butt.

I'm REALLY sore this morning, and still grumpy, and wondering what the heck my kids will be like as teenagers. UGH. Not to mention the fact that my 8 and 10-year old boys both had girls over yesterday, girls who reeeaaally like them. A taste of what's to come, if you will.

Kids. You want them to grow up, and when they acquiesce, you want to turn back the clock. Or at least, slow it down for a while. Waaaahhhhh!!!

FRUSTRATION.

Things have been so busy lately, I have had to force myself to sit at this computer. Today, for example, I have to mow the lawn, work out, bake cookies for a class party, go to Michael's AGAIN (because I forgot the styrofoam balls for Thing Three's Dragon project, grrrr!) go on a church visit, the dry cleaners, the Doctor (my annual checkup) and two soccer practices.

My good friend gave me a copy of WONDROUS STRANGE for my birthday, and I'm excited to read it. Have I had a chance, yet? I REALLY want to read it! But at night, I'm so physically exhausted I can't manage more than a page. I set it on top of a stack of books about eight inches high, to be read. The book underneath it I got for CHRISTMAS. Philippa Gregory's latest, which I am also dying to read, but have I had a chance? No.

Why? Because I can't put a book down. I am one of those people who will let the dishes pile up in the sink, the kids run around till they're filthy, and my house grow dust DEER while I sit on the sofa and block everything out while I feverishly turn pages.

I can't help it. So, I need to find a time where I can devote a good chunk of time to reading.

:-( I am going to try for this Sunday. Instead of collapsing for a nap after church, I am going to read WONDROUS STRANGE! I need a good escape! I need to feed my brain! My brain needs to have adventures!

Cross your fingers for me!

You know how some days you just don't feel like blogging?

This is one of those days.

Monday. Urhg.

Mondays are usually GOOD days for me. As most stay-home moms with school age children will attest, Mondays the kids are at school, the Hubby is at work, and you basically have the house to yourself (and the little ones who aren't old enough for school--in my case, ONE two-year old.)

In the basement my office is adjoining the family room, so I turn on the TV to Noggin (Or Disney) and he wanders back and forth between me and his toybox in the family room. Busy as a little toddler can be. His birthday was last week, and his favorite toy? A singing Handy Manny Toolbox with removable tools. And he has ALL their names down. So cute!

ANYWAY, I woke up this morning with a migraine. Seriously. It started while I was sleeping, but you know, when you're in deep sleep you ignore pain and it can be incorporated into your dreams. I was dreaming that I was getting kicked in the head by a kidnapper. No Joke. (Hubby and I watched TAKEN last night, could that be the culprit?) So, I woke up and immediately cried out in pain, scaring Hubby awake. Luckily it was time for us to wake up. But I couldn't move. Every movement brought on pain and nausea.

I made it to the kitchen and ate a TEENY bowl of Wheat Chex so I could take my Excedrin Migraine--and crawled downstairs to the movie theater room where it was dark and soundproofed. Hung out there, in agony, until the nausea and pain went away. THANK HEAVEN for headache drugs! Hubby was a saint. Got the kids ready, helped out.

I'm fine, now, but man, that could have been bad! What a lousy start to the week!

Had a great weekend, it was my birthday Sunday, and Hubby was awesome the whole day, doing EVERYTHING. And I got an unscheduled treat at church, I got to hold a two-week old baby for an entire hour while her mom taught a class! VERY DANGEROUS. Now I'm baby hungry. And we got invited to dinner at a friends' house, and they have a three month old, who LOVES to snuggle and fell asleep on me while I was holding him and I think everyone is ganging up on me because now that Thing Four is two, it "could be" "Have Another Baby Time." MUST RESIST...must resist...must resist...

ANYHOWIWILLNOTCAVEANDGETPREGNANT, the weekend was good. On Friday I queried two more agents, (I know I said I wouldn't but I folded) and now it's time to get back to the reality of soccer, cub scouts, school projects, and sticking to six-mile jogs every day. Well, I sort of jog and walk, then jog, then walk, because I'm not quite "there" in the full-on jogging department. Working my way up!

Have a GREAT Monday, all!