Blob-age. And Those Annoying "My Kid Rules" Bumper Stickers...

I was a blob yesterday. Seriously. Hubby is traveling, it was pouring rain outside, so I took a day off. Wrote 5K on a story. Played with Thing Four. Stayed close to home, and did some laundry. Not much else. It was FABULOUS.

So, today I have guilt, and I'm going 50 MPH. But hey, yesterday was pretty awesome!

It's raining again today. And it's cold--only 50-ish. I need to go grocery shopping, because I haven't this week, and we're completely out of bread. Ooops. Bad Lara.

My son was a "terrific kid" at his school last month. I guess a kid from each class gets nominated by his or her teacher every month, and Thing Three's nomination was for Kindness. We were invited to a special breakfast where they gave him an award and read an essay about how kind he is, etc. It was really neat.

Anyway, they gave me this bumper sticker that says "PROUD PARENT OF A TERRIFIC KID." Thing Three really wants me to put it on our car. I have to admit, I have seen these bumper stickers all over town. And I've always rolled my eyes when I see them. I LOATHE those bumper stickers parents put on their cars that say things like "Proud Parent of an Honor Roll Student" or "Parent of a (Name of School) Cheerleader" and crap like that. I think it's pretentious and cheesey.

I'm not alone in my attitude, because they've invented bumper stickers that say stuff like "My Delinquent Kid can Beat Up Your Honor Roll Student" etc. etc. But Thing Three REALLY wants me to put this dang bumper sticker on my bumper! He keeps asking why I haven't.

What to do? I think I just might. For a little while. After all, he is pretty Terrific. ;-) Thoughts?

Sugar Free Frosting is Gross.

Sorry Folks, it's been a bit of a hectic week. Thing Three (our catastrophe-prone child, it seems) has been having excruciating back pain, (it started a couple months ago and was coming and going, now the frequency has increased dramatically) and we took him to Ortho yesterday. He's getting an MRI. The doctor wasn't exactly reassuring, as he said back pain like Thing Three's is a definite "cause for concern" in someone so young. Thing Three is ten. I will be honest, I just want him to be able to run and jump and play soccer and not WORRY about pain, you know? We've been through a lot with him, healthwise. At this point, part of me is saying "what NOW???"

Hubby is traveling, and I'm a little nervous because the corporate jet is landing and taking off 16 times in the next few days and the weather is AWFUL. Raining fishhooks and hammer handles, and that makes me nervous. But I'll probably stay up all night like I usually do, catching up on all the DVR episodes of Fringe that Hubby won't watch with me because he thinks the show is "weird." It IS weird. I totally love it. :-)

Found out that Pillsbury Sugar Free Frosting is absolutely GROSS. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. I made a sugar-free yellow cake (the cake part was okay) with chocolate frosting, and the frosting had this nasty aftertaste and I think it should be avoided at all costs. Our technology hasn't advanced enough to make sugar free taste very good, I'm discovering. BLEAH. Save yourself the $3. Do not buy it!!!!

Boys and Weapons. *SIGH*

Quick post today--I have one of those days where I am tightly scheduled, and can't afford deviation.

Thing Two is leaving on his first overnight Scout campout (Hubby is going with him, hooray!) and we have to "buy" a few things. One of them being a Swiss army knife. What is it with boys and Swiss army knives? It's like, I'm buying him a COMPUTER or something, he's THAT excited. Well, I won't buy him an Airsoft Rifle like he wants ("But Mom, ALL the boys in the neighborhood have one!"), so I guess this is something. But I will have to Lay Down The Law concerning when and where he can actually have the knife on his person. (As in, only during Scout Campouts???) His brother is very jealous. But he will get his very own knife when HE goes on his first overnighter. For now, they get to have NERF guns, and be happy with them. **Lara rolls eyes** I know I'm so mean.

What is it with boys and weapons? Never mind. I get it. It's like, girls and barbies. They GO TOGETHER. :-)

I find it interesting, though, that it has been in the eighties and seventies here, and now that they're going on a campout, it's going to be FIFTY DEGREES (35 at night) and RAINING. Poor guys. I will be all cozy in my soft bed with my down comforter in my comfy jammies, and they'll be shivering in their Mummy bags in a tent.

It will build character, right? ;-)

Have a happy weekend, everyone! Although since my beloved BYU lost last night in overtime, (Florida DIDN'T get "Jimmered") it will be pretty somber. We're pretty broken up about it, over here.

:-(

Where Did I Go Wrong?

Not that anyone cares, but Queen Elizabeth I, last of the Tudor line, died on this day in 1603. *sigh* The end of a wonderful yet turbulent and bloodshed-filled era. Is it bad that I'm like "Meh" about the Stuarts? ;-)

My daughter, who is thirteen, has ZERO interest in history. I am shaking my head over it. When I was young, I loved old things. LOVED them. Old books, old houses, old movies, everything. Mostly I was interested in the 19th and very early 20th century, but I loved reading about history, archaeology, Egyptology, Greek Mythology, anything that had to do with the past. Currently, I am hugely obsessed with Tudor history. I even have "Tudor Stuff." And yes, my iPhone has a Tudor Rose on the welcome screen. :-)

My daughter? She "hates" old stuff. Or so she says. She doesn't even like classical music. She is into her friends and her phone and the Internet and TV. She is interested in the Here and Now, not the How and When.

I am sad about it. Since she is my only daughter, I thought exposing her to historical things when she was young would ignite an interest. I took her to museums, antique markets, and went over Genealogy with her. We collected old books, we stopped at old churchyards where we looked at the churches and read the inscriptions on old gravestones, I told her all about Ancient civilizations (and pointed her to my many books on those subjects in our library) heck, I even took her entire Girl Scout Troop to an old local turn-of-the-century settlement where they could see what life used to be like in Pioneer times.

She seemed interested in those things. Now, she tells me, without batting an eyelash, that she "hates" History and thinks it's "dumb and boring."

To me, an amateur historian, these words hurt. I suspect the fact she's a teenager has some part in it, and I tell her I love History, and I'm sorry she doesn't share my enthusiasm. But I do worry. If we get enough kids like her, who have zero interest in the past, pretty soon we'll have a generation that truly doesn't care about History. It's a sobering thought.

Luckily, I have two sons who LOVE history. (Granted, one of them is more into "Military History" but I'm fine with that.) But, you know, I kind of wanted my daughter to be interested in it, too. :-(

FINALLY.

I'm less grumpy today. Although all my neighbors in the cul de sac get their lawns done on different days of the week, which means nearly EVERY day I have those fershlugging industrial-sized lawnmowers zinging eight inches from my house. And LEAFBLOWERS. Oy, don't get me started on those.

I am very excited. My nearly 12-year old son is finally, FINALLY taking an interest in what people think of him. Which means, since I am anal and won't let my kids out of the house until they've brushed their teeth, combed their hair and gotten clean (or at least SEMI clean) clothes on, I yell at him to do these things a lot less, lately. Which is nice. And suddenly he's interested in working out and lifting weights. I am going to encourage him in whatever he wants, of course, and I'm glad he's finally "getting it." Granted, middle school can be brutal, you need to be on top of your game to survive there, so I can understand his newfound interest in not appearing unkempt all the time.

His ten-year old brother, on the other hand...that's a whole other can of worms. He's the one who's worried about "looking dumb" since about, oh, BIRTH. He actually argues with me about clothes, because HE knows what the fashion is at his school. And he's VERY sensitive about his hair sticking up, when he wakes up. He wets it right down again. Then again, he's a bit of a "ladies man," and always has been, so this doesn't surprise me. And yes, this is the kid who comes home nightly looking like he fought with a muddy Mack truck...and lost.

Funny how different two boys can be, even though they came from the same two people. ;-)

And now it is time to run run run!
 

I'm GRUMPY Today.

Today is LAUNDRY day. Maybe that's why I'm so grumpy. Laundry makes me grumpy. I look at some of the clothes my boys have worn and I think to myself: "Really? Are you KIDDING?" I do this a lot, actually. Thing Three isn't happy unless he comes home grass-stained and covered in dust most nights. With marker on his hands and orange lips from Cheetos filched at a friend's house. UGH. Thing One is almost worse: she magically never has any dirty clothes. For WEEKS at a time. I have finally figured out why. Because she hides them. Somewhere in her room. And suddenly, one day she says "Mom, I don't have any clean underwear or socks or shirts or jeans." And she produces a pile of dirty clothes the size of a small automobile that she's been hoarding. Niiice. Then there's the whole "Wash-Two-Shirts" thing she likes to do. She's sneaky. When I'm off to soccer practice or some other errand, she runs and sticks two or three shirts in the washing machine, and runs a full cycle.

This drives me nuts. If you're going to waste all that energy, you need to have at least TWENTY shirts in there. Grrrr. :-(

And I'm especially grumpy because someone went through my sugar-free candy jar and picked out all my pieces of Dubble Bubble. SACRILEGE!!!

Hope everyone else has a less grumpy day.

Well (Insert Curse Word) My (Insert Curse Word).

We've been without hot water since Saturday night. Can I just say I never realized how dependent we were on hot water until it was gone?

I could say a few other choice words as well, but I think brevity is on order today.

Sunblock for--ONE ARM??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FRIEND, AIMEE!!!! Hope it's a great one!!! :-) XOXOXO

It's supposed to be 85 today. Can I just write that again?

It's supposed to be 85 today. Holy Cow I love it! We are grilling hamburgers tonight. And eating them outside. WOO! I love being outside. Although I'm going to have to start putting sunblock in the car, for my left arm!

I think I've mentioned this before, but I have to wait about 30 minutes in line to pick my middle-schoolers up from school. They get out at 3:45. If I am not there by 3:15, the line of cars is so long (all the way out to the street sometimes) It's actually 4:15 before I even GET to them. So, I leave my house at 3, get there by 3:15-ish, and sit in the car and wait. And the sun always shines on my left arm. I can't block it. Yesterday was bad. I had to sit in the passenger seat after a while, because I could feel my arm burning. So, I'm going to put some SPF70 in the car, for my left arm. Hey, don't laugh, my dr. told me that's one of the most common places for skin cancer for people--the left arm. Because it's the one the sun usually hits while driving! So, don't call me crazy just yet!

I'm taking Thing Four to the "jumpy castles" today. He loves them. And it gives him an outlet. He sure has a lot of energy sometimes.

Things are busy, but good. Thing Three had soccer last night and he proudly proclaimed he's one of the best players on his team. Well, THIS year they've put him with other 10-year olds, he is no longer playing up with 11-13 years olds. (We signed him up late last year because we'd just moved and they already had a ten-year old team so they played him up on the older team.) I liked that he was getting challenged last year, and he certainly held his own against those older boys, but he just looked so...tiny out there! Now he looks like he's where he's supposed to be.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Hopefully Spring is "springing" wherever you are!

Happy St. Patrick's DAY!!!

Better wear green today! (I know, but it's fun!) Being part Irish, I like to play along.

Got my test results back from the Dr. yesterday, and I'm healthy, but apparently I'm Vitamin-D deficient? Huh? I've never heard of that. So, I'm taking a Vitamin D pill, once every week, and then I will switch to daily doses of D vitamins. Interesting. Then again, I don't drink milk (not on this diet) and I hardly go in the sun, and when I do, we're talking SPF 70. My neighbor told me about the Mystic Tans (a.k.a "Spray Tans") at Palm Beach, and I plan on going that route this summer. A) Because I don't Tan, and B) I don't want to look like a dried raisin when I'm 50, and a very big whopping C): Melanoma. Don't want it.

She was very tan all last summer, and now that I know her secret, I think I'll do it too. ;-) Apparently Mystic tans have come a long way since the "orange" days. ;-)

Speaking of GREEN, everything is turning that color, now! It's going to be in the 80's for a bunch of days this week and next, and I think I'm in love with Charlotte in the Springtime! Pretty pretty!

I hope everyone enjoys today!

Pink-Slipped? Or a Promotion?

I'm a little sad. I was teaching the 3-year olds in church, and I've been reassigned to teach 9-year olds because their current teacher is moving. And the class has TEN of them. Granted, I have my good friend team-teaching with me, but DANG. I'm going to have to work on my hog-tying skills. Yes, I'm totally kidding, and I'd like to think they think I'm such an awesome teacher they moved me to this class, but I'll miss my little cherubs. Because teaching them was so much fun, and so easy. Nine year olds--not so much.

I'm off to the Salon tonight. I went dark for Winter, but Winter is over. Time to lighten up the highlights. Just a shade. I love my hair person. She's fun, she knows what looks good on me, and I totally trust her.

Okay, I have nothing exciting to say. I guess because it's Wednesday. Not a whole lot going on! ;-)

I'm not going to lie, I'm still very upset by what is happening in Japan, but I've done what I can, from here. If you want to donate, you can do it here and here.

My ten-year old son wants to plan a school fundraiser to get hygiene kits together to send to the more ravaged parts of Japan. He's going to discuss it with the asst. principal today. I am not sure if they will go for it, but I like that he's motivated to do it. I am going to encourage him, even if they might not deem it worth their time.

Every little bit helps, right?