Smellyann Strikes Again

Train Of Thought

Rob's mom, my dear MIL, recently suggested that we take Jack on a short train ride like Chloë did in September for her 10th birthday trip up to D.C. He is a fan of all things that go, especially if they have wheels and engines an' sech, so she rightly figured he would get a big kick out of it. To get the best prices, we had to go on weekdays, which meant Rob couldn't go along. So, I invited Jenny From the Block and her kids, M & G, along for our train trip to Richmond last week. Here are G and Jack playing Legos in the Newport News train station as we waited for our turn to embark. We got there waaaay early, so there was lots of time for that. Oops. I had counted on lots more traffic.

 

It was a splendid idea. Jack was positively giddy with excitement, and I think I heard the words, "Thanks for taking us on this train trip, Mommy," about 47K times in those coupla days. Not that I got sick of it, mind you. He was a born grump, so to make him really happy is one of my greatest pleasures.

 

Well, we were all pretty excited, truth be told. I'd love to take a cross-country train trip, with sleeper cars and the whole bit, some day. How fun would that be?!

It was hard to keep the kids confined to their seats, so fortunately they were free to get up and walk around, because they all wanted to watch the world go by as the train flew from Newport News to Williamsburg and then our final destination. (It was a very short trip, but the train tickets were cheaper than the gas to drive there, I swear!)

It took us a minute to figure out where to go for the proper bus, and I almost got into a smackdown with a woman at a different stop across the street, who was not listening to what I was telling her while I was busy not listening to what she was telling me. Heh. Eventually we got it sorted out and, thanks to her help and that of the actual bus drivers, we soon (not, more like two hours later) ended up at the hotel I'd gotten super-cheaply on Priceline. Woot!

 

While we waited for the bus, we watched more trains go by. I forget how many cars they counted, but this was a super-duper long one!

The hotel was mostly pretty nice, with respectful and attentive staff, but there were a few snafus, like the fact that they wanted a $50 deposit - which I didn't happen to have - and weren't going to waive the policy even though we'd already paid for the room (Jenny saved the day, thankfully), and the pool being closed for our entire first day, even though that's what the kids really wanted to go do most of all. So when we got in our room, finally, Jenny and the girls played cards on her bed, the boys played Legos some more, and I took a wee nap.

For dinner, we went across the street to the Chick-fil-A, because we wanted to let the kids burn off all their energy in the play place. They made friends with a gorgeous, statuesque young girl who is destined to be a model, from the looks of her. She was down-to-earth, though, and really enjoyed playing with our unsocialized, homeschooled kidlets. ;)

 

Jenny treated all the kids to ice cream after dinner, at the same place. Oh, there, you can see Chloë's necklace from her beau, S, can't you?

Before long, it was time to head back to the hotel and start getting ready for bed. Chloë & M both had "cute" sayings on their jammies, so they were all happy about that and posed for this "I'm Snow Cute as a Kitten" picture together. Then, after they had all brushed teeth, gotten their respective medicines and jammies on and found places to sleep, Miss Jenny read the five of them a bedtime story. It worked like a charm! I timed it: by 9:28 PM, all of them were sleeping soundly. Meanwhile, here it is 0420 right now and my daughters are still wide awake. What is the magic formula? A stricter bedtime routine, and a story. We used to do it. I think we will be starting that again, after this night. Ridiculous!

The following morning, we had a leisurely breakfast in our room (we'd both packed plenty of food) before heading to the finally-reopened pool for what was supposed to be most of the day. Um, hmm, seems they forgot to make it warm and not crank up the air conditioning in the pool room at the same time. We all froze! Even Jenny and I, and we didn't swim! Still, they braved it for as long as they could stand it, petering out one by one to wrap up in towels on the lounge chairs. Sophia's the second-youngest and yet the only one who could really swim. She was pretty dang cute swimming around with the other four hovering around the stairs together!

Oh, a funny: Sophia decided they were going to play spa, and she was giving all of the other kids massages on their chaises when an employee walked through the courtyard where we were. She jokingly asked if she could make an appointment for a massage, too, and Sophia didn't skip a beat before taking over to an imaginary sign and pointing out that it read, "For kids 10 and under only!" Just like that. There was no sign, let alone one saying anything about 10 and under; she's just quick with the humor like that. Love that kid!

To warm up the kids, Jenny decided to take us all next door to the restaurant, which was plenty warm, and treat us to lunch there. The décor was really cool and gave me some ideas...

Since we were in a "fancy" restaurant, M and Jenny decided we had to drink from our cups with our pinky fingers up and speak in British accents. Everyone but grumpy-boy participated, so it was a bit of a giggle-fest there for a minute. We were having a good time - even Jack, though he'd never have admitted it.

 

After lunch, we tried the pool again, but it was still too cold, despite the Engineer's best efforts to warm it up for us. So we went back up to the room, where Sophie and M took a "hot tub" together. M told met they were pretending to be two elbow macaronis cooking in hot water, which I found to be particularly amusing!

For dinner, we had the hotel shuttle drive us sort of across the street to the Steak 'n' Shake for a dinner of, um, ice cream milkshakes. Yup. That's all. Even I got in on that one, knowing full well it would make me sick to my guts. (And it did.) The cool part was I saw a Mattaponi Indian's truck, which I know it was because it said something about "Custalow Landscaping," and that's the last name of pretty much all of the Mattaponi tribe. I tried to find the owner, so s/he could pass a message on to Ol' George for me (remember our field trip to the reservation?), but I couldn't determine who it was. And, you know, I didn't want to assume too much. I did ask one darker-skinned man, but he was from New York and recognized me as a fellow New Yawka by my accent, too. Weird that I still have enough of a Hudson Valley accent to be recognized, though I haven't lived there since I was six! Anyway, blah blah blah.

 

The next day, our shuttle driver drove us to the bus stop we needed, after we checked out at noon. Time to get home again. We waited a while for the bus, so the kids checked out the mushrooms growing all around and had a quick lesson from us moms about different kinds of fungi. Hey, it's always schooltime 'round these parts.

 

Finally, we caught our bus, and no transfers this time. Only, the driver pointed out the wrong place for us to take a "short cut," and it turned out to be a really LONG cut, which wasn't terribly fun with all the baggage we were lugging around. Super annoying. And we couldn't find a bathroom soon enough for poor Sophia, who had a little accident and had to change in a dark stairwell during our trek to the right location. Thank goodness I'd brought a pack of wipes with us to clean her up well!

We eventually made it to the real, newer Richmond Amtrak station, which is actually quite nice. We found a parlor-type room unoccupied, so we claimed it for our rambunctious crew. We had a three-hour wait for our train! There was no place to stow our luggage and go wander around town, and neither of us had the energy to take it with us, so we sat and "needled," while the kids played various games with each other. It worked out okay; we were even eventually joined by a brave college student who we nicknamed "Anime Freak," because, well, that's what his shirt said. Shout out to Anime Freak!

I knit while Jenny crocheted, and then we made our way over to the platform when our train was called. There was another 20 or so minutes of waiting time there, where two elderly women glared at us, sniffed the air repeatedly and generally disapproved of our mere existence. Jenny later sent me this link on Pinterest for those women. Hee. When it was time to board, we lined up the kids between us, with a mom on either end as we'd been doing throughout the journey, and walked past those two snobby women. I couldn't resist. I smiled cheerfully at them and said, loudly, "Thanks for all the disapproving glares!" before marching past them with the rest of the gang. Anime Freak caught up to me and said, "Nice job! I hate people like that." I wonder what side the rest of the travelers were on?

For the rest of the journey home, it was pretty uneventful as the two mommies kept needling and the kids kept needling us to entertain them. Ha. No. So they busied themselves somehow, and we soon reached Newport News once again. Jenny had driven us up there, so as she drove home, I entertained the kids with that "A my name is Alice" game. M really liked that; she and Chloë played it between themselves about three more times while the younger three children dozed and chillaxed.

All in all, it was a pretty swell time. The seven of us survived each other, public transportation, the state capital, and non-child-friendly old maids. Win.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you've got bits & pieces rattling around in the ol' noggin to share with Mrs. 4444 and friends today! I have quite a few, so take a load off and stay awhile, won't you?

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I've got new news, so pop on over to this post if you want to know what big changes are afoot in my (and my older daughter's) lives!

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Likewise, I'd love your input on my Aloha Friday question for this week, which is here! Let me know if you have an AF post this week, too, so I can be sure to check it out!

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I've been playing around with the new Jafra color collection lately, so I'm experimenting with some new looks instead of my usual standby, which is closest to the bottom right in this collage. Which do you like best?

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Chloë, my oldest, was looking particularly adorable today, so I snapped this photo of her and then played around with it in Picasa by Google. I can't claim credit for those curls, which she gets from her daddy. His hair looks just like this when he's not, well, in the Navy for 19 years!

 

Chloë wanted a makeover, so we played around with some of my make-up on her for a little while Thursday evening. What do you think about make-up on a 10-year-old? Totally wrong, or okay if it's just for fun, like this? Obviously, we don't do this very often, but I think it's fine once in a blue moon, for kicks.

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Speaking of Jafra, I've been painting my nails with our wonderful lacquers faithfully, and they're actually growing and not breaking! I have paper-thin nails normally, and they break easily. My sister's nails are long and strong, so I sent her this picture on Facebook. Yeah. We bonded over nails. What can I say; she's a cosmetologist!

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Sophia and Jack have been having so much fun with their Kiwi Crates over the past few months, that I finally relented and renewed their subscription after being asked approximately 8700 times. They worked on it a bit Thursday evening and made parrots and treasure boxes. Can you guess the theme? Yep. Next we'll be making pirate hats and eye patches to go with them. Fun!

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After nearly two years of trying to get a table to our local Melting Pot's Girls' Night Out, I finally scored us a table - at 10:30 PM! It ended up working out to be a good time, albeit very late, because my friend Tabby and I had preview tickets for the movie American Reunion, the American Pie sequel, the same night. So for seven hours, I was out with first Tabby, and then Tab, and two of my "Turtle Friends," Saritah and Jenny From the Block at dinner. And oh, my gosh, I laughed so hard and often during both events. The movie was hysterical from start to finish, and we had ourselves a hilarious time at dinner, too. I hope we don't have to wait another couple years to do it again!

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Our tax refund check came in recently - well, partially, anyway, as the IRS denied Chloë as our child based on a clerical error on their part, argh - so Rob and I got some very necessary new tires for his motorcycle, Elsie, and my Odyssey, Penelope. The tire appointment was supposed to take about two hours, so I asked Jenny From the Block to keep our kiddos while we were there. I just wasn't up to deal with the boredom whining, basically! She agreed, so in the end, Rob and I decided to venture out together on his motorcycle for the first time, to use one of our Groupon-like certificates for a local Thai restaurant which we'd never tried. We were the only people there for quite a while, as you can see, but it certainly wasn't because of the food quality!

Our meal was excellent, although mine was spicier than I expected. I can't do spicy, and not just because of my sensitive gastric bypass pouch; I never could handle it. I just don't have the stomach - or tongue! - for it, sad to say. Still, it was good. But better than that was the fun of riding around on the back of the BMW with Rob! I had so much fun! I was a little scared, sure, but it was a breathlessly-exhilarating kind of fun. I hope we get another chance to do that again soon, too!

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So pretty much other than the pictures and details of Jack's birthday party, I'm all caught up now on my blahggy show-and-telling. I really ought to do that, especially since it'll be time to show Sophia's birthday party pictures in another week! On Friday the 13th, my youngest child will turn seven! We'll have her, 9-year-old Jack, and 10½-year-old Chloë. It' to face the music: my family is aging out of the "little kid" stage. I guess we're pretty well established by now, huh?

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And now to leave you with my old standby, a Cute Kid Quote. As you may or may not know, in my previous existence as a singleton, I was a marine biologist, studying shark feeding behaviour. My kids know all about that, and for whatever reason, it comes up frequently. Anyway, Thursday afternoon, we were driving around, when Jack suddenly asked what a car's muffler was for. Before I could answer, Sophia snapped at him, "She doesn't know! She's not a car biologist! It's not like she dives into cars!" I had quite a chuckle over that one! These kids. They kill me.

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On that note, thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous weekend!

Fin.

Something's Fishy At Sweet Pea Academy...

So with the help of my MIL and her brother, along with lots of bonus points from doing community service with the Scouts (both Cub and Girl), we turned in enough Labels For Education to get the following goodies:

(Photo from LFE site) A world map, which hasn't come yet, or I'd have a better picture to show you,

a dozen bottles of tempera paint for our artistic pursuits, and,

 

our new 5-gal fish aquarium! The kids are decidedly most excited about this new swag.

We ran as soon as possible over to Petco to get some gravel, silk plants, food, and dechlorinator to set up our tank, as well as figure out which fish we were probably going to get after the tank had time to set up for a few days. I put it together, and the kids were beside themselves the whole time. Jack kept saying, "I'm going to cry happy!" He said it again today when we went to go get our fish.

This is Steve, who helped us both today with our new fish and the other day when we picked out what we'd need to get the tank ready, pulling out Chloë's Starfire Red Glofish and Sophia's Galatic Purple Glofish (both are Danio rerio).

The girls with their new fishies!

Then, Steve plucked out a Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi) for Jack. We were originally going to go with something else, but Steve said no, too big. Jack recovered quickly from that setback.

Does Jack look like a little white monkey when he's super-excited, or what?!

We also picked out an algae-eater (Hypostomus plecostomus) for the tank, although eventually it'll get too big for our tank. That's okay; we planned on upsizing eventually anyhow. Sophia got to carry it on her lap on the ride home.

 

This is Hallie, the very friendly Scottish Terrier we met at Petco today. I always wanted to get a Scottie and name him Hamlet. Hallie was all over me; cute pooch!

 

I went against common knowledge, sense and practice and unceremoniously dumped our four new fishes into the tank, instead of taking the proper time to acclimate them to their new environs. Sue me. They seem fine.

I stopped at Jenny From the Block's house after Petco to bring her a few things, and we collectively decided that, since she's the tank "maid," we'll name the plecostomus Alice. Get it? C'mon, please tell me you get it. We briefly considered "Hazel" as well but quickly decided that was too old school for Alice. Hey, Alice? You lookin' at me?

And finally, we have Jack's Tetra, originally named "Little Frankie" but renamed "Speedy" since "he moves so fast" on the far right; Chloë's hot pink Glofish named "Moon" on the bottom left, and Sophie's "Starlight Starbright" above Moon. They all seem happy with their new home.

The kids are totally thrilled. I mean, it's been a couple hours, and they're still in their staring at the tank. Jack exclaimed, "This is even better than going to the Aquarium, because now we have our own aquarium!" Ha! I'm so happy they're delighted. So. Happy.

Fin.

P.S. Thanks, Mamacita and Unc!

 

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Thought I'd share these latest gems from today - one per kid:

At the post office, helping me mail a bunch of packages, Jack noticed the "in" door and the "out" door. He asked me, "Mom, why does that door say 'DO NOT ENTER,' but it has a handle on it?"

Me, looking and laughing, stupefied: "Well, that's a very good question, son!"

Tonight, it was dark, and we were driving around. I have both a new black case on my iPhone and a new black car charger into which said phone was plugged, and I was holding it up to help me navigate as I drove. From her seat behind her father, Sophia asked me, "Mommy, why are you holding a knife?" I was all, "What?! Why would I be holding a knife! It's my phone!" To which Chloë smartly - and altogether too quickly - replied, "Well, why should you be holding your phone while you're driving? Why should you hold anything while you're driving?"

And finally, on the way home from the same trip, I was making some small talk about how every itty-bitty car I saw that I liked was either a Smart Car or a Mazda Miata, it turned out. The kids got to talking about why it was called a Smart Car, which led to more questions about why it was so small. Sophia piped up, "It's like this van, if it was just Mommy's seat!"  It was an amusing comment... at the the time.

Hmm, maybe you had to be there for that one?

Anyway, that's all. Back to paying the bills and getting ready for some deal-shopping!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Hey, y'all, link up with Mrs. 4444s if you're fragmenting today!

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My husband texted the following to me, but he didn't ID which kid said it, so I can't give proper credit (my Mommy senses tell me it was 6yo Sophia, though): "Unicorns are real. They're just fat and gray and we call them rhinos." I was out shopping when I got his text, and I split a gut laughing and had to share it with the other person shopping near me, lest they think (correctly) that I was loony! Too funny!

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I shared this gorgeous yarn I received from The Knitting Goddess (in the UK, so shipping took what seemed like forEVER) the other day on Wordless Wednesday, but it's so beautious, I wanted to see it again. Hehe. Tell me those aren't some luscious colors?! I'll be using these for hexipuffs on my Beekeeper's Quilt. Why haven't I started yet? That's a darn good question. I will today, I think.

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My husband's alarm has been going off for 45 minutes now (it's currently 0645). Why don't I wake him up, you ask? Because. It's IMPOSSIBLE to rouse that beast. Hence the 45 minutes. Are you easy or difficult to awaken? Most of the time, I'm hard to wake, too. I don't sleep well or often, but when I do, I want to stay that way, thank you!

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My gardening friend, Miss C., was a guest presenter at my Daisy meeting yesterday, and while I was editing the pictures, this one popped up as the first one. Yes, that's MY kid disrupting the group, not in uniform (she had it on but yanked it off, as she always does) and being a total goose. Sophia!! She is such a pill. Or as Miss C diplomatically put it, "She's spirited." Oh, I'm so glad I'm the Leader, because I'd be mortified if she behaved that way for others meeting after meeting (and she does). Argh!

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As far as what Miss C. did with the girls, she read them the next chapter in our yearlong story (aka our "Journey," "Between Earth and Sky) and then talked to them about how plants clean the soil and air. She then gave them a project that I'm sure we've all seen before, if not done a time or two: made pinecone bird feeders with peanut butter and birdseed. However, her yard had a dearth of pine cones but plenty of gum balls, so she brought those instead, and they worked great to clump up with PB and seeds. Sophia rushed right home and tied hers to her special 4th birthday tree, out front, and waited immediately for the birds. And did they come! Mostly gulls and crows (?) or some sort, but we're hoping for something a little more exciting colorful. Anyway, it was a great meeting, and I'm glad we did it!

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Jack, who will be 9 in a month and a half or so, has been asking for his own digital camera like his sisters for ages. I mean, forEVER (I used that one already, right? So what) - and I found a killer steal on one for him the other day. I'm even going to get $40 back in rewards for it, making it an even sweeter deal. I didn't pay a cent for it, because I am one of those crazy coupon deal girls, when I get the chance, and I'm so ecstatic about both (a) the fact that I'm going to make him SUPER happy and (b) my great deal, I just had to share it with you!

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Speaking of deals, kids and birthday presents, I got a robotic penguin toy for Sophia of a Plum District deal the other day, too, as she is a penguin fanatic. I mean, she is nuts for them. She likes all birds (and bugs!), but penguins are her absolute favorite. So yay me for scoring goodies - with slick deals - to make their upcoming birthdays fantabulous! (She'll be 7 a month after Jack's birthday; my gosh!!!! I can't even stand it that my baby will be that old. I wish I could make another one or three. Hehe.)

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So I've had that iron transfusion, confirmed with the oncologist/hematologist that I do NOT need to continue taking oral Fe supplements daily, and yet I still get so dizzy I almost pass out when I stand up half the time. What gives? My blood pressure is on the low side, but still within normal range. It's wicked annoying. I mean, if I'm gonna get that dizzy, can't I have the fun of passing straight out, already? That would make for a much more interesting fragment, at least. I did it once, in 8th grade. I was the talk of my class. What fun! Haha.

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By the way, if you're a frequent www.Amazon.com shopper (hello, Swagbucks money!) and you know about their Prime free shipping but don't want to lay out the moolah to pay for that service, here's something I scored that you might want to know: If you have an .edu email address - even if you're a college alum! - you can sign up for Amazon Student and get free Prime shipping! I've been taking loads of advantage of that sweet deal, since I do get tons of Amazon GCs from Swagbucks, surveys and other things I do on- and off-line to save a buck, and it is Teh Awesome. Check it out. Rats. I just went to go link you to Amazon Student here, and the free offer is now gone and replaced by a half-off deal. Still, better than $79, right?

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It's 0708. Hubby finally woke up. Just keeping you updated, since I knew you were in suspense about that!

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If you're at all interested in Native American culture, be sure and check out my post here about our field trip last Saturday to the Mattaponi ("matt-upon-AYE) Indian Resevation 90 minutes north of here. It was cool as all-get-out, and I can't wait to go back up in June for their annual Pow-wow. Worth a read, I'm told!

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And, as long as you're here and I'm in demanding begging mode, answer my Aloha Friday questions, will ya? I'm nosy interested. And I like strikethrough.

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I've been struggling with constant, daily migraines the past few weeks again, so schooling has been sketchy lately. Anyway, a recent day last week was quite warm, but rainy. Once the rain cleared, I was ready to get up out of the house and go for a walk to get some exercise for my and the kids' young bodies. Instead of just walking, though, we did a lot of running and jumping and splashing in the ubiquitous mud puddles around our neighborhood lake. It was too fun, and Chloë declared it, "The BEST rainy day EVER!" I had to agree. Sometimes, you just gotta be a kid again, right? We were so soaked (and muddy), we jumped right into warm showers when we got home. But what a memory that should make for all of us!

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Guess I'm out of fragments for now - lucky you!! I'm off to email my Girl Scout troop about Thinking Day, which is coming up. It's a day when we think about the Girl Scouts and Guides around the world, every year, and we always participate. Anyway, blah blah.

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Have a great week! 'Til next time...

Fin.

Are You Lookin' At My Ass?

This is what you're in for tonight. (Click to embiggerate, as usual.) What? You want to see the pics individually? Well, all righty, then, I think we can manage that...

But first, I'm up to some, oh, 43 hexipuffs, and I've been asked several times what I plan to do with the darn things. Oh, but didin't I link you here, to the Beekeeper's Quilt, already? Eventually, they'll be sewn together for a fun, poofy, multi-colored and -textured blanket, and I simply cannot wait to do that. I'm hexipuffing every free moment and enjoying every minute of it. Won't you join me, oh, ye knitters of the world? You don't knit, you say? Well, there's also a free Ravelry crochet equivalent, if you're so inclined... but anyway, that's what they're for. Aren't they cool? (Say yes or I'll cry.)

So anyway... (ugh, I'm full. Chloë has been all about baking bread in the bread machine lately, and her latest creation, chocolate chip-honey-oat bread just finished baking. I had a rather-too-large hunk of it with nary a chocolate chip in the slice. Life is so unfair. But I digress yet again...)

We had a homeschoolers' field trip to the Hunt Club Farm Winter Wonderland tonight, so the first thing our kids ran to do after we got our wristbands and entered through the lighted arch was run through the light maze. Lots of these pictures are blurry, and I apologize for that, but I'm still learning the settings on my Nikon. Yes, I got it in February, and no, I have not yet read the instruction manual. All in due time. These were all taken on the nighttime setting, which would have been great if the little people were not in constant freaking motion...!

Sophia, as usual, was the fastest. You'd think she was running through a laser security light field thingy.

She did pause for a quick smile at Mom after the maze, though. Time to cut the bangs again, eh?

After the light maze, we happened upon the Nativity scene, where Jack was pointing at the donkey and saying,...

..."Hey! You ass!" Then, to us, "What? That's what they're called!" What could we do but agree?

 

Apparently there were llamas and alpacas at the birth of Jesus, too. Who knew?

The children running through the archway on the way to the Wonderland workshop

They were here last year, too, and it was very similar then, but that didn't stop them from being amazed and wanting to touch everything in sight.

I do like me some cocks. Peacocks, people. Peacocks. Sheesh. (Heh heh)

Sophia was the most hands-on of the kids, as usual. She's very handsy. She's not the type of kid you bring to a glassware store, you know what I'm sayin'?

There were lots of little vignettes set up of elves working at various tasks. I didn't care what they were doing. I just wanted to get all three kids in one decent shot. Watch. I tried again and again.

I don't know what Jack was looking at, but in this picture, my eye keeps being drawn to the fact that it looks like the fawn is trying to nurse from his daddy. Um...

My attempt at an artsy picture

There's just something about a praying mantis that screams "Christmas!" isn't there?

 

Another awesome shot of the back of the three kidlets. Hey, whatever, man. They're cute from any angle, I maintain.

Soapster petting the swan

The swan's nest of 'eggs'

Chloë's always reliable for a good pose, huh? The polar bear was pretty compliant, too.

More of the the three children's backs, as they admire the doll factory

What the hell is that? A bunny? Yeah, a bunny. And an unnaturally bright child. Maybe this is Sophie's audition for Twilight.

I forget what this was that was flying around, but I think it was penguins. Yeah, that's the ticket. Rob was mocking them, because, ah, penguins. Flying. You know?

Three faces! Score! Ten points for me. Nothing for you, except eleventy more pictures.

So this elf was totally drunk on moonshine, a fact that tickled Rob and I mercilessly. I mean, we weren't falling down laughing, but we had a few good giggles over it. I mean, this was supposed to be for the kids, wasn't it? And there was a damn drunk elf! Nice.

El niño, Jackalope

Oh, here we go, back to the backs of the chirren. Looking at skiing bears. You know, I've never gone downhill skiing in my life. That's on my bucket list, too. It's a rather long list. But I'm going on yet another tangent...

So I did a freaking spectactular job of capturing the three kids in a billion pictures, where NONE of their faces were visible. Go, me!!

Sophia admiring more elfin (elvish?) scenery

Train-obsessed Jack couldn't help but get down on all fours to admire this little set-up. Give that boy anything that goes and he's a happy little mofo boy.

 

Hey, guys, stand in front of that tree and smile! Or, well, do that!

Santa wasn't on his couch when we got up front to take pictures with him, so I had the kids pose in his absence. They no longer believe in him anyway, so they didn't care much. They were happy just to get the candy cane out of his basket and leave, but then...

 

...he showed up, like, a minute later. He asked them what they wanted for Christmas. Sophia told him, "Oh, you wouldn't know what it was if I told you." I died laughing. As if! Santa knows everything. He's like the god of toys. I forget what it was she thought would stump him, but it was something to do with Barbies. That girl is Barbie-crazy.

 

Immediately outside, Rob and the kids were drawn to this Blacksmith Shop, which was cool and all, except for this one creepy thing Rob found on the ledge:

A severed hand, with a missing finger! What in the hell? Merry, merry, ho, ho, ho!

Time to go back through the lighted archway to head toward the bonfires. We brought our own bag of marshmallows. We paid just over a buck for a whole bag. They were selling them there for five for a dollar. Um, yeah. This place is making BANK.

"Kids, run through the arches, so I can get a picture of your heads looking invisible like in Back to the Future!" Okay, so that's not exactly what I said, but it might as well have been.

The kids wanted to stop and look at the turkey in the chicken coop. So here are four turkeys...

I always have the kids say something when I take their picture, something silly, so they're smiling and laughing (theoretically) when I make the snap. Half the time, I catch them mid-phrase, so it looks like this. I'm no Annie Leibovitz, what can I say?

Finally, the moment we were all waiting for: marshmallow roasting time! I ate about six too many. I think I had seven. I like them on fire, roasted to a crisp. It's the only food I like burnt. Otherwise, blech. The kids, they like them practically raw, with no brown on them or anything. Rob has it down to an art form. They were disappointed we didn't get hot dogs this year, but hey, we were on a tight budget, and the 'mallows themselves were a splurge we could barely afford, this being the first half of the month, after all. But anyway, anyhow.

These are mine. This is how I like my marshmallows roasted. Crispy. Fried. Mmm. Hot and black, like I like my men... ;P (That will elicit a mock-indignant "uh!" out of the hubs, I know.)

Smoke gets in your eyes... and hers... and mine... and all of ours...

Chloë in the obligatory, singular black-and-white pose. of which I don't do enough, I think....

One last marshmallow-roasting picture before we decided to pack it in for the night. We'd have stayed longer, but I was freezing. It really is time for me to pack in the Crocs flip-flops, but I love them so dearly, I haven't had the heart to break out the sneakers or boots yet...

And so, we left. Good-bye, Hunt Club Farm. Until next year.

Fin.

The First Weekend In June

I keep feeling like I had this unproductive weekend, because I didn't accomplish my singular goal at all, so here is a run-through of what I actually did do, to make myself feel better. And to share with you, because I know you hang on the edge of your seat, waiting for me to post these scintillating things I talk about, right?

First, like I mentioned, there was desire to paint in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Now. So I painted the pantry door. And the little bitty corner of wall next to it, which of course meant that more painting in the kitchen would need to happen, or else that little green section of wall would like mighty curious, all by itself.

Well, the real first first was making the pizza cake, from Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning. 

And the second thing, immediately after finishing the cake, was scooping up the leftover cake and frosting and constructing these cake pops. These are long since gone, sold right away, but like I (think I) posted yesterday, more can be made if you need parting gifts for Teacher, or a special graduate, or Dad, or, well, anybody, because I really don't care whom you give them to, as long as you buy some. Heh.

So the third thing, then, was painting the door.

I went back and forth all day Saturday after that, moving kitchen furniture (that would be the full baker's rack, the deep freezer, and the table and chairs), scrubbing sections of wall piece by piece, paint first, second, and the exasperatingly always-necessary third coat... and coming back here to play on Facebook and run my stupid Farmville. (I call it "stupid," but I really like it. It gives me a quick opportunity to take frequent breaks from whatever I'm doing, and I've always been a girl who likes taking frequent breaks. Maybe I do have ADHD, but that's how I manage it. Whatever. Moving on.)

As part of this parenting course we're doing right now (more on that later), Rob and I are each supposed to spend 10 minutes of true quality time with each of the kids, twice per day. So Sophia and I spent one of our ten-minute sessions painting the back of the kitchen wall. I did all the cutting in around the edges, and she painted in the middle. I guided her with the correct way to hold the brush and move it back and forth, back and forth, and then she went and did it her own way. Which is fine. You can lead a horse to water...

Chloë wanted a painting turn after that, too, so I spent another segment of quality time showing her the same things I'd shown Sophia. She did it more exactly like I showed her, because that is her way. She, being a Virgo like me, is quite a bit of a perfectionist. I am doing my best, now, seeing this, and knowing how difficult it is to be that way, to guide her away from that tendency. It's not easy. Anyway, so they helped me paint the walls.

Jack wanted to paint, too, but he was never available when I was ready for him, because he spent a great deal of the weekend outside with the neighbor kids, riding his bike, driving his Cadillac Escalade Power Wheels, using the girls' scooter, and generally getting dirty and having a ball. So I didn't force the 10 minutes on him, although I do think it's especially important that he and I connect for those 20 min per day. I'll work on it, getting it in.

So eventually, the bottom half of the kitchen got painted, as far as I could go without moving the refrigerator. Luckily, I have plenty of paint left, for whenever Rob gets around to helping me with that. (I tried, but I'm a weenie.)

In the eight-plus years we've lived here, the kitchen has always been at the top of my "gotta change this" list, but for some reason, it has escaped my ministrations thus far. I even have the paint for the top half. Well, now that we've had to keep the windows open all the time (no AC), the cats have scratched out half the screens in the house, and they've all but shredded the café curtains covering the kitchen windows. I hate it. And I hate the country-cottage-y wallpaper on the top half of the kitchen walls, too. That's fine and good, but I am just not a country-cottage-y type of person. I like bold, striking colors that pop. 

So I got up on the chairs and started to RRRRRRRRRIP the wallpaper off the walls, tossing big strips of it onto to floor, to the kids' shock and dismay. "Mom! What are you DOING?!" they demanded.

I just laughed and let their father explain. That's often the way things go around here. I laugh, and he's left to explain why.

I pulled off all the copper molds from around the top of the walls, too. I'm going to sell them. I collected them years ago, when we lived in Panama City, FL. And while I still absolutely adore copper - it's my favorite precious metal - it's just not the look I'm going for anymore. So they have to go. I don't have them listed anywhere yet, but I do have some interest. Let me know if you, too, want to stake a claim. I'm willing to break up the lot.

Because we didn't get Rob's Navy paycheck the first of the month and things are uncomfortably tight right now, and also because I'm trying to walk more and drive less in the interest of Saving The Planet, Chloë and I walked to the grocery store late Saturday evening. The kids were begging, crying, for milk, so I decided to break down and spend some of our very little money on a gallon. I mean, it's milk, and they're kids. Not exactly a luxury. 

Chloë and I had the best talk on our way to and from the store. We discussed physical beauty and why that might not be the most important thing about a person, and what things might be more important. She decided that being healthy was the most important thing, and being safe, so we talked about ways she could be healthy and safe. She came up with lots of fantastic answers, like eating junk foods in moderation, always wearing her helmet when she rides her bike or scooter, and getting the proper amount of sleep. I was impressed.

At the store, she "helped" me shop, and by that, I mean she pushed the little cart around and mostly observed as I made decisions about what to buy and what to leave at the store. We talked about the importance of shopping the perimeter - she remembered what "perimeter" meant from her studies in math - and, like eating junk food, using the processed foods in the center aisles in moderation. I had decided to make a Key Lime Pie for dessert, to use up the Key Limes I'd picked up at a roadside citrus stand in Florida a few weeks ago, so we bought the condensed milk and graham crackers I needed for that, comparing prices-per-unit and all that we always try to do.

And since I have a partially-made batch of hummus in the freezer, I decided that I should get a lemon or two (of which there were none, so I'm going to try Key Lime hummus instead!) and the tahini I need to finish it. We spent about six years looking for the damn tahini, which used to be much easier to find, back when they had a separate section for "health foods." (Now it's next to the mayonnaise and other condiments, in case you're wondering.)

Having "gone green" by walking to the store instead of driving, I'd have felt pretty crappy about getting one of those God-awful plastic grocery bags in which to lug our loot home, so I bought yet another 99¢ canvas bag, too. I just can't stand those plastic bags. They, among other things like inconsiderate smokers, people who drink copious amounts of bottled water and don't even recycle the bottles, and folks who take nine hours to make the right turn in front of me, are the absolute bane of my existence.

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So we walked home, me lugging the bag full of milk-and-schtuff, and continued our nice, Mom-to-Daughter talk. Somehow it morphed into what life will be like as she eases into her teenage years, and how it's natural for girls to butt heads with their mothers frequently in those times. That really upset her. I made her promise to remember one thing: that no matter what she said or did, and no matter what I said or did, I would always love her more than she could understand until she was a mother herself. That eased her mind a bit.

Then that translated into a conversation about the pressures of being a teen and experimenting with things like drugs, alcohol, smoking, and sex. I told her my hopes and expectations, and she asked good questions. Overall, it was a very productive conversation, and I'm so delighted we had the chance to have it.

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So we got home, and I made the pie, and oh, my word, it was freaking delicious. Beyond expectations. I still have plenty of Key Limes, so I plan to bring another pie to our Gardening club this Thursday. Assuming I still have the gas to get there. Jack didn't like the pie, but everyone else devoured it with gusto. I had way more than I had any business having, but after cheesecake, Key Lime Pie has to be my fav... well, no, there's Dutch Apple Cream Pie, and Chocolate Chip Cookies, and... Uh. I just love sweets. I'm in the right business, I think. (And I'm glad I've discovered the power of prunes to help me take off any extra weight I might gain from sampling my own wares! Phooo, do those work well. Golly. *ahem*)

So that was Saturday.

Sunday, we didn't make it to church either, which was sad, especially since I'd visited their food pantry on Thursday after Girl Scouts, and they serviced us quite nicely. (That's something I've never done before in my life, and it's quite humbling. Thank you, to any and all of you who donate to the Food Bank. We haven't needed it before, but with this paycheck snafu, I'm certainly glad it's there for us in this time of need. Now if only there were a Gas Pantry, eh?)

I napped a lot on Sunday. Rob napped a lot, and Sophia did, too. The other two mostly watched Nova shows on the Wii, from Netflix. Jack is especially fond of the Nova programs, and particularly the ones that feed his transportation and mechanically-oriented brain. He'll watch the same ones about plane crashes or rockets taking off over and over, always going upstairs to get a toy that goes along with the program, and making-believe he's part of the action. It's pretty cool. Rob gets a huge kick out of his doing that.

For my evening 10-minute session with Sophia, she just wanted to play with the discarded boxes I'm trying to get rid of on Freecycle. She's decided she needs them for her tiny toys instead, like finger puppets and the Squinkies a friend gave her at her birthday party in April. Here she is admiring the bunk bed she made for her bunny finger puppet.

This is her favorite box, though, because "it's the biggest, and it has a window, so I can see what they're doing in there." She asked me to punch holes in the window with my knitting needle, so her bunny could breathe. And so I did, until she told me, "enough."

While Sophia had been napping earlier, I got started training Jack and Chloë on the way we do laundry, from beginning to end. They collected all the laundry in the house, sorted it into the proper piles, learned how to run the washer and the dryer, and then I showed them how to fold their own clothes. For now, I'll leave it at that, until I feel they're ready to start folding Mom & Dad's, and the towels and sheets. I've just always done the laundry myself and only had them run and put away their things. But with the parenting course, I see the error of my ways. I don't know why I didn't, but I guess I figured they would just pick it up eventually. Foolish. So now I'll be working on their "training," and we don't call them "chores" but rather "contributions." It's working out well. They feel important and significant, and Jack even commented that doing the laundry was "fun." (Not to me, but to his big sister. No way he'd let me hear such a thing on purpose!)

After dinner, when I wanted some knitting time on my sparkle! dress, and Chloë wanted a break from folding laundry, I asked her to spend a little quality time herself with Sophia. The two of them have been fighting a lot again lately, so I asked Chloë read Sophia some stories. She grumped and grumbled about it at first, but in the end, she read three stories to Soap without me asking her to go past the first one. And I made lots of progress on my dress:

Pretty soon, I'll be at the placket, which is my new favorite word to say. I can't wait to finish the front.

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Jack went to bed first tonight, so again, I didn't really get to spend my QT with him. I'll give him extra tomorrow. After story time between the girls, Chloë wanted her ten minutes with me. Sophia and Dad spent those ten minutes together, too, playing and Soph telling cute, six-year-old stories to her Daddy. Chloë and I went for a moonlit walk around the smaller lake.

I took the Nikon along, just in case I found anything cool to take a picture of, but most of my pictures didn't turn out. I liked the way these branches stuck out far into the light of the street lamp, so I snapped it.

Halfway 'round the lake, I spotted a "frog" hopping off the path, toward the water. I managed to catch it for Chloë, who immediately squealed when she felt it and dropped him. So I caught him again, and then, of course, I could see it was really a toad and not a frog at all. We agreed to bring him home to show Daddy and Sophia. We took turns holding him and talking about what we learned months ago when we covered Amphibians, about the differences between frogs and toads. Chloë surprised me by remembering quite a lot of them without my prompting her, and I felt a lot of pride inside me.

There were a lot of ducks and drakes pairing up along our walk, but those photos didn't come out. I'm glad this one of Mama and her four ducklings did, though - how cute are they?! I just adore baby aminals of all flavors and varieties. I'm definitely a Woman in that regard. Baby people, baby ducks, baby anything, and my heart melts.

Chloë could barely wait to burst in the front door and show them the toad. We had to shh-shh-shh her, because the windows are open, and our neighbors sleep early. Of course, they gave her all the attention she was due, and there was even more fun when Sophia, holding the poor toad, dropped him in the house. I was in the powder room when that happened, but the sounds of them all gadding about, trying to catch it, were amusing to hear.

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Chloë went to bed shortly after that - no, she had her ten minutes of Dad time first, and they looked through an American Baby magazine together, of all things - and Sophia and I shared some more time while I knit. She drew pictures of different things, like Chloë and I taking a walk, and of an "alien monster mouth" coming out of the sky and eating our entire unsuspecting family. I'm not really worried about that one, since she was giggling while she told me what it was. Sophia loves to color and draw, and she has become quite good at it, actually. I'll have to show you some of her drawings next time.

For now, though, I'm going to wrap up my weekend by trying to knit at least to the placket and making my To-Do list for the coming week.  I hope yours is a good one.

Fin.

The Party Of The Century

Okay, so maybe that's overstating things a little bit. But Sophia's birthday party today, a pony party held at the stables of one of our local Navy bases, was pretty freakin' great, I think.

Sophia wanted a strawberry (her favorite thing in the world) cake, and I found these cool edible icing images on eBay, so all I had to do was bake, assemble, and decorate a double-layer sheet cake. 'Twas pretty simple, but the result made Sophia extremely happy. In turn, I was satisfied.

 

As an aside, Saturday (yesterday) arrived, with the party today, and the image still hadn't arrived. I was a little panicky. And then, I found it shoved all inside my tiny mailbox, squished up with the rest of of the mail, when the package clearly stated, "DO NOT BEND." I was afraid to look at it, thinking it would all be mushed in there, but it was perfect. After all that, it was a little humid in our house and the image started sticking together, so I thought it STILL wouldn't work out! But in the end, I got it unstuck okay, and it went on the cake perfectly, and all was well. And it looked great. Phew! (But between being strawberry-flavored and ALL that frosting - which I can't stand - ick! This was one birthday cake I was not sad to not be able to eat!)

 

I couldn't find horse-themed treat bags, so I made my own with generic pink bags from Party City and lots of paper cut-outs using my Cricut. I got all the goodies - pewter horse necklaces, horse finger puppets, miniature horse toys, mini-horse stuffies, and the pink cowgirl hats that of course didn't fit in the bags - off of eBay as well, along with all the paperware for the party. Much cheaper than Party City's offerings for basically the same things, I might add.

Finally, the time arrived to go set up for the party, and that we did. Only, the wind was whipping through the party pavilion, and we had a dickens (that's one of my kids' favorite words) of a time keeping everything on the tables. We had a few minutes before everyone arrived, so when a nice lady came walking by with her horse, the kids took the opportunity to question her about all manner of horse-related facts. And they got to feed Sunny some carrots, too. (By the by, I looked for a few boy- or generic-colored cowboy hats for the three boys in attendance at the party at Party City yesterday, but I could only find adult-sized hats. Bummer.)

Chloë cracked us all up when she asked, "Is the horse's tail just fur sticking out of its butt?" Bahahaha! Kids. 

 

I don't have much to say about this picture. It's pretty self-explanatory; I just thought he was cute petting Sunny!

 

Nice Lady said the kids could walk Sunny a little bit. Wow! She sure knew how to please a kid.

Then, Sunny decided to walk the kids a little bit, too. Whoa, Nelly! Nice Lady came and rescued them. 

Yep, this photo pretty much sums it up: Sophia was in Horse Heaven. Too bad we don't have the fundage for riding lessons. She'd love that.

In the end, Nice Lady said it was time to turn Sunny out for some heavy-duty grass consumption, so we said good-bye to him and returned to party duties.

There was a small petting zoo right next to the pavilion, so Jack buddied up to this li'l pony as we waited for our guests to arrive.

 

Best. Picture. Ever!!! Look at that poor sheep run! This photo makes me die, every time I look at it. So yes, the guests started arriving - all the ones invited, plus lots of their siblings, so we had 15 kids in all -  and followed Rob into the petting zoo. I'm so glad I got this picture...!

Soon, our party pony (that sounds terrible) was brought over, and I was told for the first time that one of US would have to lead the horse around the arena, walking each child on top of José. Um, what?! So I called out to the parents, "I need a volunteer!" and, thankfully, wonderful V agreed to be the pony puller. (We had TONS of parental help at this party, actually. If any of you happen to read this, please know we're so grateful!!)

The Birthday Girl made the inaugural ride around the arena, with a very sweet José and a very reluctant V. Poor thing. Her shoes got quite muddy. (Mine did too; they suffered to bring you this stellar photography, you know.) (At least, I think that was mud.)

Hee! No, that's not a miniature Lady Godiva! It's Chloë, with her curls whipping around her face. Silly. So, Rob helped each of the kids on and off the horse, helmet secured, until the very last child's turn. It took an hour or so. Jack was last to ride, but then he chickened out at the last minute and didn't go. That was after complaining about how long it was taking for his turn, for the entire hour. Really? Yes, typical Jack.

Meanwhile, Sophia and the rest of the waiters gawked at ladybugs and worms before another helpful parent, D, engaged them in a rousing game of "Simon Says."  What would we have done if all the parents dropped off their kids and left? Hmm. I don't know, but it would have been a lot more demanding for me!

After "Simon Says," they got back to playing in the dirt. Hey, free entertainment - I mean, it's dirt cheap! Heh. Sorry.

Sophia is my dirty girl. She's like Pigpen, from Peanuts. One of the other moms, N, said to me while I was busy taking pictures of the other girls, "You know Sophia just made a dirt angel, right?" Um. No. But I wasn't surprised!

We later decided that if we ever get a pet horse (psht, not likely), we'd name it Buttercup. My kids love 'em.

N took over from V, walking the last few kids around the paddock or corral or whatever the hell it's called, just in time for José to pee buckets and then, shortly thereafter, take a huge dump. Not thrilled, she grumbled, "What's he going to do next, puke?" Poor N! She's putting her game face on here! 

  

I figured on doing cake and presents next, but the tractor driver informed me that it was time for the hayride then, instead of at the end like we'd planned. Why? Because they were waiting to run the horses, and they couldn't be done at the same time. Or something. So we went on the longest hayride in history, but it was fun. We saw lots of horses, got whacked in the face with lots of trees, and... well, sat on hay. Don't get me wrong, I love hayrides - but it was LONG!

I sat next to the boy-child, who really does not have Inspector Gadget-length arms.

  

Finally, it was time to devour some cake! I handed over the camera to N, so I could light Sophia's candles. Except, the wind wasn't cooperating, and I could barely get them lit. After we all sang that well-known song to her, I ended up lighting each one and letting her blow it out individually. It took approximately thirty-hundred hours, but we got 'er done. (I hope she made six separate wishes!)

My beautiful girl, Sophia Lorelei, got the first piece of strawberry cake. She had seconds, too. I guess it wasn't so bad.

 

After cake, we did presents, natch. She got loads of wonderful gifts, and she kept squealing about each and every one. Not only did she declare it the Best. Day. Ever, but when she opened the three horses I bought her, she said I was the Best. Mom. Ever. Woot!  Nice that she said it in front of a few dozen ears, too. N helped me out again by writing down all of the gifts, so that will help with thank-you notes later. She told me the bill was in the mail.

Finally, the time came for what the kids had all been waiting so patiently for: the piñata! It was huge. Huge. Sophia, again, was first at bat, and Rob blindfolded and spun her around. She started toward the line of waiting kids. Eek!! I rushed over and redirected her before she could decapitate anyone, and BOOM! went the stick. Fifteen children had their turn, then 15 children went again, without the blindfold this time. It took nearly a third full round, before kabow!! Candy and little toys came out like a dime store deluge.

It was a pretty great time to be a kid at a pony party. Except for one. One of the dads noticed that Sophia was missing. What the?! We couldn't find her anywhere. Finally, she was located behind the small building in the pavilion, crying her little eyes out. Poor thing. She said she didn't get any of the candy, which she didn't, but I think she was overwhelmed by the rush of kids and wasn't prepared for it. Lots of the kids came over and handed her some of their candy, which was completely heart-warming, and I thanked them. We dried her eyes and brought her back to thank everyone for coming and say good-bye.

While Rob finished cleaning up (the parents had all helped!), I got the kids into the car and asked them what their favorite part of the party was. My favorite answer belonged to Sophia, who said, "The whole thing."

Win!

Fin.

P.S. The three of them have spent the last five hours playing with every single thing she received, giving each its due turn and appreciating everything. She's had a spectacular, fantastic, wonderful day.

 

Friday Fragments

 

Link up here if you're fragmenting along with Mrs.4444 today!

I can't promise my fragments today won't depress you. If you don't feel like it, shuffle on along now... ;)

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So I had this friend. A really, really good, close friend, who I cared a tremendous bit about. I knew him a very short period of time, but we clicked immediately and got along like two people who get along real well.

Anyway, things got too intense, and when I posted this, he had enough. It cost me the friendship.

That was what, a week ago? My heart is still broken.

Actually, for the first time since I was a teenager, I did this:

 

 

I never considered myself a "cutter," because I have always used my fingernails (I have attempted scissors and knives but couldn't ever manage to break the skin with them), but apparently that counts. It's worse than it looks in the picture; that was fresh. Don't ask me why I took a picture.

Right now it looks like this, though:

 

...because Hello Kitty was all I had in my First Aid kit. Hey, whatever works. It hurts like hell. I won't be doing it again anytime soon. That's a promise.

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I did try not to cut. I even put on my sneakers - which I never, ever wear - and went out for a run to try and stop the pain I was feeling. I don't run. I just don't. But I did. And I liked it. So I've been gathering up a Playlist of run-worthy songs on my iPod, and as soon as the weather isn't crappish, I'm going to keep doing it. I WILL run that 5K this year!! Another promise.

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Anyway, CM, if you're out there reading this (which I doubt, but you never know), please stop this nonsense and be my friend again. Please?

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Here's another thing I posted this week, that I think you should read. I'm actually kind of proud of it. I printed it out and mailed it. Kinda hoping it makes the old man cry again. Is that wrong?

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I have to admit, I feel like I've been falling down on the job when it comes to homeschooling. I think we do okay at it when we DO it, but we haven't spent enough time on it since Christmas. Granted, my 5yo went from not knowing all her letter sounds to READING, and my 7yo went from a mid-kinder reading level to a mid/late-first grade level so far this school year, and my 9yo went from being TERRIBLE at math to adding up $80 worth of groceries in her head and only being 3¢ off the actual total... and oodles of other things, but... I'm slacking. There. I said it. I'm slacking. Time to get back in the saddle and be more gung-ho again.

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We've been doing lots of Valentine's arts and crafts projects this week, including all these on Tuesday and more stuff today:

 

our bedecked chandelier, and

 

our Valentine (eucalyptus) tree, and

 

our bannisters, and 

 

this little love-note to my alma mater, the U. of Miami. Fun times. I had every intention of doing more academic stuff today, but we had a rough, tough morning, so I made it up to the kids with an afternoon full of buttons, ribbons, glitter and hot glue!

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Tonight, I continued the craftiness by finishing up the African Gray (amigurumi) parrot I've been making for a good friend of mine. I had no pattern or experience, really, with amigurumi other than one or two little things, so it was a real challenge for me. I can't show you the picture yet because she hasn't seen it and reads this blog, so I'll just show you my starting point a few weeks ago:

 

She approved of my color choices, but that's it! Everything else will be a surprise. Eek! I'm nervous!

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At Bunco last night, Skinny-Minnie T totally made my night by standing next to me and joke-angrily saying that SHE was supposed to be the skinny one, here! At the time, I was wearing size SIX jeans and really needed a belt!! :D

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I'll leave you now with this funny (and totally wrong!) little conversation that my husband texted to me. It happened a little while ago:

Hubs, to son Jack, 7: "I'm trying to take a dump, can you leave [the bathroom], please??"

Jack: "I'm trying to look at the damn [valentine] tree!"

I busted a gut. I probably shouldn't share that, but I think it's hee-larious. Some - maybe all - of you are shaking your heads, and I don't care. It's funny to ME!

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All right, good-night and happy weekend.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

 

Link up with Mrs. 4444 if you're fragmenting today!

I haven't done this in ages. I've been soo busy, since we started homeschooling this year and I started a Daisy Girl Scout troop, too. With those things, a return to regular mystery shopping, and everything else that life entails, I've barely had time to blog. So... happy to be back. I hope it sticks!

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I spotted this sign on the door at 7-11 yesterday, and it just made me giggle. Am I the only one who sees the humor in this? The clerk didn't find it so funny when I mentioned it... but I guess she wouldn't!

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Chloë's hair has gotten super-long again. Just above her tush. Well, it was, but after this, I chopped about 2-3" of dead ends off, and now it looks much better. She was upset at first, but then she looked in the mirror and couldn't even tell the difference, so I was spared a fit. Phew!

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So, here's some big news: I've lost 200 pounds!! I finally hit the mark, and I'm ecstatic. On January 26, 2009, I was a size 26. Now, all these months after my gastric bypass surgery that day, size 8s are loose on me! Woohoo!! After I get all my loose skin cut off (hopefully in the spring), I'll be in a 6 for sure - if not a 4!

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The Fall Product sale for Girl Scouts is in full swing, but WE are not! I have been very lazy (or forgetful) about taking the girls out to sell, so they've only gone this one time, here. Historically, Chloë has carried her troop for this and the cookie sale, but not this time if we don't get our butts in gear. Hopefully this weekend will be nice... but anyway, isn't Sophia the cutest Daisy ever??

And in her 5th year of Scouts, Chloë is now a Junior! Hard to believe; it's going so fast. Of course, she's still Daisy-sized, so she looks pretty teeny up against her fellow troop members!

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On Sunday morning, I crashed my new Odyssey. I'm upset, but I would be more so if I actually felt an affinity for Penelope (that's its name). I really don't. I miss Vanna, my old van, which I loved infinitely more than Penny. I just keep reminding myself that she's super-safe, and that's the most important thing. And I can't even get her fixed right now, because I'd have to be without a vehicle for goodness knows how long, and we can't afford to pay for a rental. It's a suck-suck situation, all the way around.

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Tonight after the regular meeting, I held an Investiture Ceremony to welcome my Daisies officially into Girl Scouts. It went really well, and the girls were adorable! What made me happiest, though, was that our audience was absolutely packed with proud family members. Such support made me so glad. I have great parents in my troop!

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I'm looking through the pictures that Jeff and Lisa Keeney took of our family in May right now, and there are just so many favorites, it was hard to pick just one to share with you. So here's one I love... would you like to see some more?

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And now, a few cute kid quotes:

Sophia, 5½, was watching a documentary about the fauna in Antarctica when she suddenly exclaimed, "Mommy, look! It's a beach beaver! A beach beaver! Wait... oh, no, it's just a sea otter..."

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Chloë, 9, proclaimed, "Elbow macaroni is America's favorite macaroni. I will NOT eat any other macaroni."

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Sophia was explaining to someone about how she lost her two front teeth: "It didn't hurt when I was hanging ON the treadmill. It didn't hurt until I fell OFF the treadmill."

(Which I thought was hysterical - the explanation, not the fall!)

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Going door-to-door, selling for Girl Scouts, Sophia wanted to know why she couldn't go by herself. I answered that she was much too young, and Girl Scouts requires a girl to be 13 before they can do so. She replied, "Mommy, can you hide so they know I'm old? Can I pretend I'm 8? I mean, 10?"

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Chloë said about Jack, 7½, "He doesn't even like brown sugar - and that's, like, the best sugar there IS!" when telling Daddy how to make Jack's oatmeal.

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Have I told you this one, before? We were in the mall, walking along, when Jack shouted, "LOOK, DAD! THE ESCALATOR STOPPED!!" all incredulously. Rob looked back, stopped, and then said, "Those are stairs, son."

I died.

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Have a great weekend!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Is it Friday again already?! Sheesh, I am way behind on "regular" posts here, sorry! Well, thank goodness for Mrs.4444, or y'all would NEVER hear what's going on in our lives... wait. You might like that. Anyway!

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Last weekend, Sophia went to the birthday party of her former preschool teacher's little boy. I didn't take any pictures of anyone else, ever since I got in trouble with the school for having pix of other preschool children here on the blahg. *insert eyeroll here* So here's Sophia having tons of fun at the newly-updated Chuck E. Cheese. I couldn't believe it when I walked in there - it's all different since her party in April! New games, new rides, new layout... too bad they didn't have new (organic) food. I let her eat, though. She was THRILLED and totally pigged out!

I talked to her teacher quite a bit; we get along swimmingly. Seems Sophia is a "fave" of hers from class, and she behaves like an angel while at school. Ha! She could not believe how seriously naughty Sophia is at home. Maybe I should send her back to preschool...? I mean, really, wth?

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As we left that party, Sophia told me she was going to marry the 2yo birthday boy. I pointed out that she was quite a bit older than him, at five, but she seemed nonplussed. My daughter, the cougar!

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Hahaha, this picture kills me. Not only am I wearing Ye Olde Fashioned Scary Mud Mask, but it looks like I have a giant boog on my face! Awesome.

This is part of a review I'm doing for my giveaway blog, Fishing and Wishing. I'm having lots of fun giving away goodies every night there, but I tell you what, it is starting to become a lot of work to keep up with it! I'm thinking about getting an assistant... and at times, I think about handing off the blog to someone else entirely! I just don't know how I'm going to have time to keep up with it AND this blog AND running this household AND homeschooling. Something's gotta give!

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I am pigging out like crazy this week. I don't know what it is; every once in a while, the former appetite seems to come back, and I feel like eating constantly. And I eat when I'm hungry, so I'm afraid to step on the scale this week! I haven't been keeping up with my protein, either, so... yeah. Maybe I'll skip that mean ol' weighin' machine for a few more days.

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Two things about Sophia: She loves birds, and she loves bugs. She loves the cool bugs she catches, like this grasshopper, so much that she wants to keep them for pets. Mom never lets her, though. Today, she asked me, "Can we put him in a bucket and poke lots of holes in it so he can breathe?" I declined, asking, "But what would we feed him, honey? We don't want him to starve!" She had a ready answer: "We'll just go to the pet store and get grasshopper food, Mom!"

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I usually get my crabcakes already made from the fishmonger at the Farmer's Market, Uncle Chuck. His are the best in the world, I sh*t you not. 

But the last time I went, he was out of them! Wha?! Didn't he know I was coming?

I had to settle for a pound of lump crab meat, instead.

That was at the beginning of this month, and yesterday, I finally decided to break down and make my own crabby patties. I had asked Steph how she made hers, but I lost where she told me (it was online, on Facebook I think), so I turned to the old standby: The Joy of Cooking. Reading the recipe, it sounded pretty much exactly like Steph's, so I decided to go for it (mustard and all! Eek!)

 I had to make a few subs: I didn't have scallions, so I used the organic red onions from the organic food shoppe. I didn't have bread crumbs, or even bread to make my own, so I used cornmeal (yeah, don't do that). Otherwise, I think I followed the 'structions pretty much exactly... and you know what?

Uncle Chuck's were a zillion times better. Seriously. If you're ever in Virginia Beach on a Thursday-thru-Sunday, get thee to his stand at the Farmer's Market and pick up some of his crabcakes! *drool*

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Oh! Oh! Oh! I have perhaps the most exciting news you've read all year minute: We now have air conditioning!! I'm no longer stuffing freezer packs down my bra and underwear all day long, to keep from melting! Hee. Ahhhh. Everyone is feeling MUCH better, thanks. And I no longer have to listen to the poor dog panting like crazy. That was driving me insane in the membrane. (I'd yell at her, "Stop BREATHING, already!") Aw, poor pooch.

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Jack, 7, is at Cub Scout camp this week. I heard from his Leader, Beth, that he's having a fantastic time and has gone boating and rock wall climbing. I didn't believe it - he's quite a chicken, and a whiner - but she said she has the pictures to prove it! I can't wait to see.

We miss him so much, Rob and I. It's very different without the little feller. The girls got along for the first time EVER yesterday, and played like sweet little sisters. Today, however, the fighting was worse than usual. It was outrageous! I felt like shouting, SHUT UPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!

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So that's all from me this week. Hope y'all have a fan-flipping-tastic week, and I'll see ya back here next time!

Fin.

Who You Callin' A Cracker?

 
I'm in a Picasa collage frame of mind, lately. If you couldn't tell.

So I started this homemade cracker recipe on Monday night, around 0200, when I had expected to stay up all night. For various reasons.

I got out all my ingredients, mixed them properly in my lovely red KitchenAid mixer, and then... I started to go blind. Or, I thought I was going blind. My head was all pinched-in feeling, and my eyes couldn't focus right. There was no way those crackers were getting made, not then.

I thought for a minute about waking Rob up, and then I thought it was a horrible oncoming migraine.

And then, wait a minute! I know this feeling!

Yup. Sure enough.

I went to the cabinet where we keep all our meds, and looked in the spot where I reach for the same four bottles every night: Effexor, Abilify, Iron, Vitamin D. But the D was missing, and in its place? My Trazadone! My sleeping pill!

Sigh. Nope, those crackers weren't getting made right then. I quickly threw the mixer bowl full of ingredients into the fridge, stumbled heavily across the downstairs, and crashed on the the couch.

Zzzzzzzzz.

I didn't wake up for a very. long. time.

You see, before my surgery, I used to take a whole pill, and sometimes even two, to knock myself out at night. But now? I rarely take one (not that I don't need it), because it hits me SO hard. And when I do, I only take a half a pill, and sometimes only a quarter.

But I took a whole one, thinking it was my Vitamin D. D'oh! I blame Rob. It's at least 3% his fault, for moving the pill bottles around in search of his own. Right?

Right.

(He disagrees. Oh, that Rob, always refusing to take responsibility for my foolish mistakes. Some husband he is!)

Anyway.

After I roasted a marvelous 100% organic free-range chicken on Tuesday night for dinner, and Rob made the accompanying locally-picked green beans, plus organic mac & cheese for the kids, I decided to pull that mixer bowl out of the fridge, and continue with the crackers.

The pictures above are all Chloë's work. I ordered her suggested she photo-document the process. She eagerly complied. Didn't she do a great job?

And so did I:

That, there, is one satisfied customer, enjoying his homemade organic crackers topped with fresh, local, organic tomatoes and organic herbed cheese. (Yep, we're still doing the organic thing. Even though the world is going to end. Never mind. It's not. Carry on.)

He raved, at my prodding, about my creation. He said it was "the best snack I've had all night."

I almost forgive him for the Trazadone mix-up, after a compliment like that.

Fin. 

Friday Fragments

Friday Fragments are brought to you by Mrs. 4444s; link up if you're fragmenting today!

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I just love melon-balling. (Not to be confused with "balling melons." This isn't American Pie, here.) I love the digging in, the wrist-turning action, and the pulling out of a nice, round hunk of fruit. I could do it for hours on end. It's very satisfying to me. Weird?

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Our first tomato, from the plants given to us by the Keeneys, finally ripened and was ready to eat! I'm not a raw tomato girl, but still, it's our very first fresh produce, and I'm excited about it! There's another little one coming along behind it... now if only the hubs would get those raised beds built so I could plant the rest of our garden. *ahem*

 

Chloë, nearly 9, a serious raw tomato fanatic, dug into it within minutes after I plucked it from its vine. She declared it "delicious!"

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Speaking of Chloë, today she had an achievement at the pool. She and Jack, 7, are both HUGE chicken-sh*ts, so while brave Sophia, 5, is completely comfortable with taking a running leap into the pool, the older two are more comfortable going slowly down the steps. Hubs and I have been trying to get Chlo to jump from the side, too. Today, I offered her 20 "dad dollars" (our rewards system) and the chance to stay up as late as she wanted if she would just give it a try. After several false starts, she finally did it! And of coure, as we knew she would, she loved it and did it about eleventy-nine times after that. Way to overcome your fear, Curls!

(By the way, it is 0225, and that little girl is STILL up. A promise is a promise!)

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While the girls were busy jumping in and out of the pool, Jack and I sat most of our time out, underneath an umbrella. Why? We are the fairest of the bunch, and even the SPF 8000 I had was not enough to keep us from feeling the oncoming sunburns. So while I knitted, the boy played games on my iPhone. When it's just the two of us, he's very companionable and sweet. When the girls join us, he totally tuns into Mr. CrankyPants.

Note to self: Schedule in lots more one-on-one time with the boy-child.

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Speaking of knitting, wow. I love this yarn, which I won in an online giveaway. It has Teh Awesome, as my friend J would say. (I'm knitting Ysolda's Ishbel, if you're of the fibery sort.)

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Today, a friendly lady on Freecycle gave us a case of Oberweis chocolate milks. When the kids and I arrived to pick it up, she asked, "How many kids do you have, again?" I told her "three," and she told me to wait a minute, disappearing back into her house. She returned with an Oberweis ice cream bar for each of the kids, just as a special treat. What a sweet surprise! I was touched... and Chloë was so thoroughly pleased by the gesture herself (and the ice cream, natch), she asked to write the woman a thank-you note! I'm bursting with pride about that!

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The other day, Rob informed me that when he dies, he wants a green funeral. "You mean eco-friendly?" I confirmed. "No," he retorted. "I want everybody to dress like leprechauns."

Har, har, honeybunch. (He makes me giggle.)

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And now, finally, I am in the mood to post some recent Cute Kid Quotes. Here we go:

Sophia came up to me out of the blue and said, "Mommy, when you're old, and you die, I'll drive you to the stones, and I'll bury you."

Aw. ♥

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With all the talk in our household lately about eating organic foods, this conversation that we overheard between The Littles really cracked us up:

Jack: "... and we're going to tear all the buildings down and build organic buildings..."

Sophia: "Yeah! And it'll be Organic Town!"

Hey, I kinda like the idea.

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Sophia asked me, "Can we go to other planets, and live on other planets?" Thinking she meant "we the species" and not "we the family," I said, "Well, right now we really can't..." and she replied, "Yeah, because we don't have a rocket!" I informed her, "Well, no, we do have rockets..." and she interrupted excitedly, "Where?! In the attic??"

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Something made Sophie laugh, and imitating her older sister, she exclaimed, "Oh, that's definitely going in my diarrhea!"

Chloë, rolling her eyes, explained matter-of-factly, "DiarY. Diarrhea is a kind of poop."

That was over a month ago, and it still makes me giggle.

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So, wanna win a hundred-dollar dog collar? Mrs. 4444s does! That's one of our giveaways over on my review blog, Fishing and Wishing, so check it - and all the others - out if you wanna win! Some have really low entries, so your chances are outstanding!

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Have a great weekend, y'all!

Fin. 

Friday Fragments

 

Friday Fragments is brought to you by Mrs.4444. Come join us here if you're fragmenting today!

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We did our shopping at the Farmer's Market today (might post about that later), continuing on with our big push to buy fresh, local and organic (FLO) food - only. When my oldest daughter, 8½ -year-old Chloë, saw these humongous blackberries, she just HAD to have them.Are they not freaking huge?! Delicious, too. Of course, she didn't end up liking them! Rob (the hubs) sprinkled hers in sugar so she would eat it, but I told him not to spoil the natural taste with that mess. Whatever, she ate it and liked it that way. But dang... huge!

Btw, eating "FLO" is NOT cheap. I spent our entire food budget for the month today, almost. Eek! Good thing I don't require much food since my gastric bypass surgery, or else this NEVER would have been possible!

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These last couple of days have been much more bearable, heat- and living-without-AC-wise. Instead of being over 100º, it's been more like 80º. Which isn't exactly a cold front, but wow, it makes a huge difference.

As for the fleas, we still have them, but we're searching for a local source of insecticide-free diatomaceous earth to get rid of them. It's a natural maritime product that's like tiny shards of glass; they cut the exoskeletons of the critters, which dehydrates them to death. (I didn't say it was humane, but it's safe to be around.) The one source we knew of is now closed, so I'm on the hunt... Much better than nasty chemicals I wouldn't want around my kidoodles!

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If you have checked out my new giveaway and review blog, Fishing and Wishing (please do! I've got 99 followers and will do a happy dance when I finally hit 100!), you might remember Gymbohannah, who sponsored our first giveaway of a funky silver skull necklace.  Well, her real name is Michelle, and she lives here locally. She invited me to an artsy-fartsy street fair in downtown Norfolk tonight. I was excited to finally meet her, after "knowing" her through Etsy for a few years. Anyway, after the groceries were semi-put away, we went to go find her. We never did, because that stinker didn't end up going, but we did see lots of fun street performers, including this belly dancer. Apparently, there was also a flash mob, but we missed that. Darn; I've always wanted to be a part of one, or at least an enthusiastic observer!

Near the bellydancer, here were a couple of (I think) college girls, who jumped up and sang a cute song. We all joined in after a few choruses (chori?) were sung. Fun times; the kids loved it.

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By the way, I love that I needed sunglasses at 8 PM. Summer is freaking awesome. 

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I'm trying to think of a joke about my daughter (5yo Sophia) mounting a big, black lion... but none of them are even remotely appropriate. So, never mind.

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Here is Chloë, almost 9. After walking around the street party for a while, we decided to stop and have a pizza. (Fresh and local, maybe, but most definitely NOT organic. Oh well, we try.) I'm just noticing now, in the picture, that she still had her bathing suit on from Girl Scout camp earlier in the day. Silly girl! You see those curls? Beautiful, right? Well, she hates them. She whines about them every. single. day. She's insane!

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Well, he still doesn't like having his picture taken ... so I can't decide, is this shot of 7yo Jack being "all BOY" better than him hiding, or not?? I think it is. He's so silly.

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Ah, Sophia. Every chance she gets, that thumb is in her mouth. Maybe I should have pushed the pacifier on them, after all... 

By the way, if you like these flowers and headbands the girls are wearing, stay tuned for a giveaway on Fishing and Wishing, coming up on Monday!

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I'm still feeling too lazy to check my phone for cute kid quotes, so I'll just leave you with this one I remember from our pizza dinner tonight:

Our kids like to blow straw wrappers at each other. Chloë blew hers at Jack, to which he complained back, "Leave me alone! It's not funny to blow people while they're eating!"

Rob and I just gave each other The Look over that one. We giggled inwardly. 

Don't blow me while I'm eating!

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Okay chickadees, have a lovely weekend, an awesome and amazing Independence Day if you're of the American variety, and don't light yourself on fire when you're playing with those sparklers! ;)

Fin. 
 
 
  

Friday Fragments

 

Friday Fragments is brought to you by the wonderful Mrs. 4444 over at Half Past Kissin' Time. Link up with her here if you're fragmenting today!

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Ahh, Friday again, already? It seems like you were just here.

This summer is shaping up to be a dreadful one. First, it was air conditioning season again, and we are out of freon. We're suffering without it right now, because with starting homeschooling and our garden, there is just no wiggle room in the budget for anything else.

But then?

It was over 100º today!!!!

Seriously? I am sitting here nekkid right now with the sweat dripping down me. And it's after 1 in the morning! I know you are so glad I provided such lovely imagery, too.

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Oh, also? More loveliness? It would appear that at least one of our mongrels has a flea infestation, and now we are being bitten, too. Probably not the sort of thing one normally wants to share publicly, but I am nothing if not an open book about such things.

Cat #2's flea meds are due to arrive tomorrow or the next day... I wonder if we can, uh, share it with Cat #1, she of the fleas?

We have been flea-less for 7 years and now this. Suckage.

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I have been working my hindquarters off on my new blog, Fishing and Wishing. It is a review and giveaway blog, and holy COW, I didn't *quite* realize how time- and labor-intensive it would be, at least at the beginning.

I'll spare you the details, but I would absolutely adore it if you'd come over and enter one or two or three or all four of the current giveaways! Check out the list on the right, and stop back again tomorrow, because I've got more in the works.

Thanks!

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Hmmm, what else... Oh! I'm excited, because my friend Gloria from Pieces of Me may very well be coming for a visit - and she may very well be staying with us!! (Though she may reconsider, now that she realizes we have don't have AC and we do have fleas... lol) If she comes, it'll be in a week, for four days, and we'll go to the big 4th of July party at the park down the road together.

Eeeeee!

I'm excited! We've never met in person and are just friends through the blogosphere. So that's fun!

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These three days - Weds thru Fri - have been utterly awesome, because unlike the past, well, ever, there has been absolutely NOTHING on the calendar. School is out, dance is over, camp hasn't started yet ('til next week), and we are FREE!

Needless to say, with these crazy temps, I'm so thankful we have a pool and the beach at our disposal!

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If you could keep my IRL friend Stephanie, and her husband Tim, and especially their baby Luke, in your thoughts and/or prayers, I would appreciate it. He's had a number of seizure-like "episodes" in recent days, and had undergone all manner of neurological testing. Thankfully, it would appear that he does not, in fact, have a neurological disorder, but they still don't have a diagnosis and are understandably worried and frustrated. Thanks!

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After all the frustations of posting on Blogger - I love that it's free, and that I can have and snag buttons and other gadgets, but dang, it's annoying - it's so lovely to be posting back here at my wonderful Typepad. Thank you, Typepad, for not being an intense pain in my neck.

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I guess those are all the bits I can pepper you with for today. I do have some cute kid quotes to share, but they're on the iPhone, which is busy syncing right now, so it'll have to wait 'til next week!

Oh, I can think of one off the top of my head, from this morning: I was cooking bacon and eggs for the kids' breakfast, and the bacon pan started smoking. One of the kids, Jack maybe, started freaking out about it, and Sophia, 5, soothed him by saying, "Don't worry, if it catches on fire, we can just put bacon soda on it!"

Bacon soda! Hee!

(She really did say "bacon," and not "bakin'," because there was a whole follow-up conversation about which it was, but that takes away the funny, so I'll leave it at that!)

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Have a lovely weekend. Don't forget to visit Fishing and Wishing for some goodies. Thanks!!

Fin.

Your Name Rhymes With Snot

On Friday morning, I drove out to EBF Chesapeake to pick up Stephanie and wee baby Luke (who, at 8 months -8 months already!!!! - is really no longer "wee" at all) and carry them back to our house.

They spent the entire day and well into the night with us, so that I could knit Luke a redeux pair of wool shorties that would actually fit his cloth-diaper clad little butt this time, unlike the last pair that came out, well, rather ginormous. (As Steph says, "They go up to his boobies.")

As for the title of this post, I believe it was Chloë who joked to his mama, "Lucas Mucous, your name rhymes with snot!" I giggled and was relieved when I looked up to see if Steph was offended and found her giggling, too. Phew!

The knitting took about 10 hours. We tried the shorties on at one point, but since I was using DPNs (double-pointed needles), a bunch of stitches fell of the needles. Even though I'd used big rubber bands to hold them in place. Fecking stitches. Steph quickly grabbed me a crochet hook, and I was able to save every last one of them (sending a silent "thank-you" to the anonymous yarn shop employee who taught me how to do that, four or five years ago). Phew again!

I didn't take many breaks, knitting almost continuously through the full 10 hours. To say my hands were cramped afterward is an understatement! The only real break I remember taking, aside from inhaling a crab cake and using the powder room, is getting up to show Steph my dance skilz to "Cotton-Eyed Joe" on Wii Just Dance. I think she was impressed and amazed. Or amused. I don't really know.

Oh yeah, and I took a shower, because we were going to go go this awesome (so I heard afterward) Etsy-sponsored crafting party in Norfolk, but we mutually decided not to go and continue on with the knitting. My new mail-order bathing suit arrived from Land's End, and I tried that on. I'm wearing all size 12 stuff from Old Navy right now, but since they were out of size 12 suits, I bit the bullet and ordered a size 10. Well, it fit!! I had to squeeze it on, but Rob said I looked "hot" and that a 12 would probably have been too big. Yay! That means that after I get my abdominoplasty, I should be at least an 8, if not a 6. (I have a LOT of skin to remove.) Single digits, baby!! I can not WAIT.

Anyway, the shorties finally got finished, and I held my breath while Steph tried them on Lucas Mucous. The final decree? They fit!!! Woohoo!! The hard work paid off.

He does look rather cute, doesn't he? I mean, with the shorts. He could wear a brown paper bag and look cute, though. =D

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In other yarny news, I had to work through the night into Friday morning, but I finished crocheting the blanket I was working on at the HEAV convention last week:

Oh, my bad, did you want to see the whole thing? Here you go:

I like the finished product very much. I didn't like it at all at the beginning, because it's made with icky-crappy Red Heart yarn (with my apologies the people who donated the yarn to CARE Package the day before I started making the blanket from a pattern book donated by Bunco-friend-Linda) that squeaked throughout the process. I wasn't a big fan of the colors for the first half of the blanket, and maybe the first 7/8 of the blanket but finished, I actually think it looks pretty. And it's softer finished than it is started, if that makes any sense. In the end, I'm satisfied that it will make a nice blanket for the full-term baby girl who will be unfortunate enough to need it. :(

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In much happier news, Thursday was Bridging Day for Chloë's Brownies troop. The girls are now officially Juniors! After a year of Daisies and three years of Brownies, I couldn't be more proud of her and the girls, most of whom have been together since they were five. I spent a good deal of time on Thursday sewing on the patches she'd received in December and asked me to sew on ever since; after the ceremony, I sewed on all the rest, in completely the wrong places (ie, non Try-It patches on the front, since I ran out of room on the back). But she's never going to wear it again, so does it really, truly matter?

(I also sewed the patches Sophia has earned on her Daisy smock (Early Bird registration, plus a Make-It-Build-It patch from Lowe's for the trellises they made me for Mother's Day, and a soccer patch from Fall Soccer), and the ones Jack has earned on the back of his Cub Scout shirt. I KNOW those are in the wrong place, so Rob will probably have to take them off and re-do them, as the boys actually have uniform inspections.)

Miss Nikki, the Troop Leader, introduced the girls and sent them across the bridge, and Miss Karen, the assistant TL, gave them their certificates and pinned on their new insignia. Congratulations, Chloë!!

Is she giving me that tween look that says, "Moo-ooommm, stop taking my picture"?? Is she old enough for that yet? My word.

Before the ceremony, we ate dinner, and Miss Nikki passed out all the patches and things the girls had earned. She even gave me a Volunteer certificate and a gift bag with goodies and a couple of patches of my own. Everyone had to bring something to eat to the potluck; we brought the McNuggets and fries and all the Shrek godies that we were supposed to have at our Shrek party last Sunday. Since almost no one was going to come to that, I canceled it and decided to bring the Shrek party to Bridging Day, instead! It worked out.

After the party, during which the girls also sang and recited some things for us, Chloë was completely exhausted. She passed out immediately, which sucked, because we had more than an hour's drive (with traffic) up to Newport News for an audition.

H, the casting director, had called us as we were literally ON OUR WAY to the Girl Scouts party, asking us to come up immediately. Um, no can do, sorry. He said that he was sure that if they saw her, they would want to hire her, and since it was a national commercial, I hemmed and hawed and finally decided no, we really have to go to this party. He countered by saying they would stay late just for her, if we could come up right away after the party. Well, we had plans to go to Michaels to make a Father's Day craft for Rob, but we couldn't really say no, could we?

So we went.

Rob took The Littles downstairs to Maggie Moo's for some amazing (but not cheap) ice cream, while Chloë had her on-camera audition with H. I had forgotten to mention her teeth situation (she's missing several, and others are half grown-in, at the moment) on the phone, but he said it was no big deal. She "slated" for the camera, which is basically saying your name and age and whatever else they want you to do by way of introducing yourself. She was much too tired for that, so it wasn't great, but then she had to take a potty break.

During the break, she really woke up and became her regular, silly, "on" self, so the rest of the on-camera part was really cute. You never know how they'll perceive you, though, so I'm not holding out much hope. H said we should find out by Tuesday if she gets it. It would be a great gig, though!

********

Lookee!! Rob was a busy boy today. He put together our new compost bin, hauled all the compost we've been making from behind the bushes in the front "yard" and filled it up. Doesn't it look great? I'm SO excited to have a proper bin now.

Also, he built the first of our two cedar raised beds. Unfortunately, he had a dickens of a time actually getting them into the ground, so he had to take it all apart again! D'oh!! Poor Rob. He's going to put it in separately tomorrow, I guess. But still, it looked nice, right? LOL

Can you see my two pretty Tiger Lilies under the tree in the bag? Love. Those are my faaaaavorite flowers.

And finally, Jack snagged my camera and took about 800 pictures with it. Most were crap, but here are a few I kept. Chloë, busy playing games on my iPhone - a favorite activity for all three kiddos.

Sophia, looking completely enthused.

An amusing self-portait

Daddy working; see his hand all bandaged up? He got some horrible blisters trying to pound the box into the ground. Poor Daddy!!

That's all. Back to working on promoting the new blog. If you haven't entered the giveaway, please, please, please go do. :D Thanks, I really mean it. Thank you. There will be a new one posted later on Sunday!

Fin.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  

You Know You Want Summa Dis

So, excuse any weird caps in my typing. I shaved off another nail yesterday! This time it's my pinky, and I REALLY hacked it off but good this time. I cried and wailed aND sobbed; it hurt a ton. And it's messing up my typing.

Friday was an interesting day. Jack slept late, and Rob came home from work late, so I didn't get to go out and do all our organic food shopping until after 10 am. I went to the Farmer's Market first, to get our seafood from Uncle Chuck, but he wasn't open until after 1400. And I never went back, so no luck there until 1 June.

I stopped at the Market's creamery after that, to see what I could find for local/organic dairy. They had some GREAT semi-local milk products (from a Maryland dairy farm), but they don't actually practice organic. They call themselves 'better than organic' since they don't use preservatives, which apparently organic still does. I don't know. It looked great, and I was going to go back, but I didn't.

Instead, I went to the organic market there, and I spent our entire $200 food budget and then some on not too much stuff. I mean, I got six big canvas bags full, plus a huge glass bottle of the most crazy-delicious organic apple juice (I guess I don't have to keep saying 'organic' about the stuff I bought there, since it all was/is) - but normally, I can fill 15-20 bags for that much money. So this 100% organic business is going to be a REAL challenge, financially, but we are committed.

To do it, we're going to keep burning through our stockpile of non-organic foods until it's all gone, while I stock up on organic whenever I can get a good deal, to supplement it. We're cutting out junk food entirely - sorry, kids - and won't be buying anymore Coke or anything like that. Of course, we'll have the proceeds from our garden - our seeds have already been shipped! - so the kids are going to have to learn to eat, and love eating, lots of fresh veggies at every meal. I'm going to do without meat as much as I can and drink more protein shakes, since the organic meat is crazy expensive. And I'm going to make my own laundry detergent when our supply runs out. Some people have reported spending about $15 a YEAR on it when they make their own!!

I'm also wanting to learn to make our own things like cheese, yogurt and such. I really want to move into a house further out somewhere, where we can keep some chickens and maybe a couple of goats. Rob would like a cow, but I don't know about that. If we end up giving the boat thing up for the time being, that is.

I don't know whether we'll still be able to feed our family of 5 organically on $400 a month, but we're so determined to try, and you know what they say, "where there's a will..."

So what did I get?

Well, here's that big, giant (as SophiA SAys) bottle of apple juice. OMG, hands-down the BEST juice I have EVER tasted. I'm absolutely in love with it AND will buy a bottle every time I shop. It costs ten bucks, though!

You can see some of the produce I picked up in the background, there: a few apples, some pears, a lemon, garlic, green onions, some oranges, and ginger. I don't know yet what I'll do with the ginger, but it's cheap, and I'm sure I'll find lots of tasty recipes. We used to make a salmon dish, new-style sashimi, with fresh ginger, when I was pregnant with Chloë. Until I started barfing it up, which is why we stopped. I got the recipe from Chef Nobu when he was on Martha's show. Muy excelente; I'll have to find it again.

These cashews were also the tastiest I've ever hAD. Seriously, so good. Really, organic food is not only healthy and wonderful for you, but it is delicious!! I picked up a bag of sunflower seeds, too. I've been enjoying them immensely, but I'm the only one, since they're not salted. 

Rounding out my order, I picked up some organic Nutella-like stuff, peanut butter, two jellies, 6 packages of spaghetti, milk, butter, lots of cheeses, 2 cartons of eggs (over five bucks a pop!!), and for Rob and the kiddies, a package of bacon. The owner of the shop, Michele, was very nice and has been running it for over 25 years. She was very helpful in deciding what to buy, and she even gave me a discount on the items I had coupons for, though they don't accept coupons. I told her I'd probably be in twice a month, on paydays, and she seemed thrilled about that. She even teaches a class on 'going organic,' which I might attend if it's free or nearly so.

So I had a great time, and I can't wait to shop again. June 1st can't come soon enough!

********

While I was shopping, Dr. A called about Jack. Have I mentioned here that he hasn't been hearing me at home? I had made an appointment with Audiology, but it wasn't until mid-June. Since I was having to shout at him more and more in order to be heard, I was growing increasingly alarmed and imagining myself having to learn (and teach him) sign language. I called Doc A when I decided mid-June was just too far away to be playing around with his hearing like that, so he called in an walk-in appointment for me.

No one at audiology seemed to be aware of this walk-in set-up, so we waited over an hour before being seen. Finally, the audiologist took us back and gave him a battery of tests. It was stupefying. He has significant hearing loss in both his ears!! (I feel like calling up his teacher/the school and saying, "Hey, he wasn't 'not paying attention,' he coulding flipping HEAR you!!!") There were no 'waves' on his ear drum test. When air is blown into the ears, there are supposed to be mountains on the chart indicating movement of the drum; instead, the line was absolutely flat, indicating lots of fluid behing them. I was pretty devastated when I saw that. 

The rests of the tests were the kinds you might remember from grade school, where you raised your hand when you heard the noise? Except he didn't hear the noise at normal decibels, 20 db and below. He couldn't hear until at least 40-45 and sometimes not until 60 db! So no wonder he would be completely 'ignoring' the teacher when she was talking in a normal speaking voice; he couldn' heAR A DAMn thing she was saying to him. That makes me so sad for him.

What do you think; should I tell her? I would be nice...

Anyway, the plan now is to go back to Doc A on Thursday and see what the course of action will be, whether it's antibiotics, decongestants, wait-and-see (not my favorite choice, since his hearing is worsening daily, I think), or something else. 

My poor little guy. He has already been through so much.

********

Saturday marked the second day of Rob's motorcycle class (take three). He was gone almost the whole day. I was exhausted, so the cleaning I planned didn't happen; instead, we watched movies and rested on the couch for most of it. Oh, well. 

In the evening, Steph came over so Rob and I could have a date. We saw the movie Date Night, which was pretty funny. We laughed a lot, although i probably could have waited to see it on DVD.  But one of our tickets was free, from ShopAtHome.com (I'm not sure why, but hey, I'll take it), so it was a cheap date.

Late at night, Jack, who had taken a long, late nap, stayed up past the kids' bedtime to help me bake some bread. I want to start baking all of our breads, sandwich and otherwise, to save even more money. We chose sunflower bread, since I've bought and loved it from the store. I found a great recipe on AllRecipes.com, and he did all of the measuring and mixing. I'd forgotten I have a dough hook for my powerful new mixer, or I'd have been baking bread every day since I got it. And boy, did it knead that dough quickly. I ♥ my KitchenAid! I wish I could get the pasta attachments for it, but they're too pricey for now. I showed them to Jack, online, and he really, really wants them, too. he is a pasta fiend!

Baking is great for many lessons. This time, the lesson was all about the properties of yeast. Jack was amazed at how much our bread dough rose in the bowl, and he liked punching it down for the second rising. Doesn't it look like nutty mashed potatoes, here?

 
  
 Our two loves came out perfectly. and oh, they were scrumptious!! Especially when paired with the organic cream cheese I'd picked up. Mm, so good. I've eaten way more than I should have. Don'tcha want a wee slice?

********

Sunday, I woke up early, around 0600, after onlyl about 4 hours of sleep. I couldn't get back, so I rose for another slice of sunflower bread. I'd added some of the hemp hearts that Michele - from the organic food market - gave me as a saMPLE. LOts of protein and omega fatty acids in those! It was just as good the following morning, too. Yum.

Rob went off to his final day of bike class, and the kids finally rose for breakfast. They couldn't agree on any one thing, so I had to play short order cook. Chloë pigged out on organic eggs and bacon and sunflower breAD WITH CREAM CHEESE. Jack had pancakes and bacon. Sophia had breAD, PANCakes and bacon. They all had the organic apple juice. They ate well, and I know it did their little bodies good. Probably cost $25 for the meal, too!! Heh.

I took a nap after that while they watched some PBS Kids-via-Netflix, until Daddy came home. 

HE PASSED!!!!!

Rob is now a licensed motorcyclist. Hallelujah!!!! Now, watch out, drivers. My baby daddy is on the road!

After i got over the excitement, the kids and I HEADED upstairs to clean. I did umpteen million loads of laUNDRY (AND AM still only half done; so much for keeping on top of that) while the kids supposedly cleaned their rooms. EVery time I turned around, Sophia had run downstairs to watch TV, Jack was lying down, and Chloë was reading. I can't blame them, reALLY; I hate cleaNING, TOO. But it has to be done, and they have to learn.

********

In the afternoon, we drove out to a new-to-us park for Tabitha's baby Lily's first birthday party. She was sassy in her little tutu and bow, eh? I love her blue, blue eyes.

None of us were prepared for how cold it was going to be. It had been hot and sweaty back at our house, but it was cold under the shelter. All the poor kids froze, as did most of us parents!

Tab had an owl piñata there for the bigger kids, so i already broke our new rule of 'no more candy or junk'. but how was I supposed to say 'no' after it was handed to them? As Jack explained to his complaining father, "It was a PARTY! You're supposed to eat candy at a PARTY!" 

I did not, however, let them eat the burgers or hot dogs. Nope, not gonna do it. Too much risk involved there.

they were pretty happy with their goodie bags, declaring it 'the best party ever.' Even though we didn't stick around for cake and the present-opening, because they were cold and hungry, they were happy!

Steph and Luke were there, too. He looked so cute in his little sun hat!

 
  
The birthday girl got her grub on; she has a GReAT APPEtite!!

After we left and arrived home, I went back to my laundry, the littles went back to 'cleaning,' and Chloë started some practice tests for the SOLs coming up this week at school. on the one hand, I really don't care about them, but on the other, I want her to do the best she can so we can establish a baseline for her skills. So we're preparing as much aS WE CAN, given the limited amount of time she has. (I'd have had her practice all day SaturdaY, BUT I plum forgot about them!)  When she needed a breAK, she came upstairs to visit and ended up having a good time being 'airplaned' by Mom & Dad. Don't her curls look AWESOme??

Of course, Sophia had to come running for a TURN! Jack was sound asleep by then (and still is), so he was a no-show for the fun.

Girls being silly

This is the face I usuALLY get when Sophia waNTS TO Have her picture taken!

Anyway, that's about it for this weekend. I think I'll go throw some more bread in the KitchenAid!

Fin. 
  

PS Sorry again for the crazy caps!
  
  

 

Friday Fragments

Friday Fragments is brought to you by Mrs. 4444, mother of two of the most gorgeous children on the planet. Join in the fun!

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So I'm still de-schooling Jack, my middle child. He's enjoying it. A large part of his day involves watching movies and TV streamed from Netflix (educational stuff, though, mostly PBS fare) at the moment, and that's intentional. We could be doing other, more stimulating things, and we will, but my plan is to give him some time to do absolutely nothing. I really feel it's important to give him a break right now. We do other things when he wants, and most of the time that involves making something in the kitchen. I swear, I have never seen him happier in his entire seven years. Mama is devoted entirely to fulfilling his desires during the day right now, and I just know he needed that boost. (No, I don't normally make it a habit to cater to my children's every whim!) 

If you want to follow our homeschooling journey, which I plan to begin in earnest around the beginning of August, you can do so here. I'd love to have you along for the ride!

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I'm getting really excited about our lifestyle makeover. Be sure and answer my Aloha Friday question in the previous post; I really am interested in your answers! I don't want to reiterate what you can already read in that post, so basically, I'll just say that we are planning to eat a fully organic/local diet.

Since Hubs just got paid today, I'm thrilled to make our first organic shopping trip tomorrow. I've been doing research, although there is still lots more to do. I'm going to start at the Farmer's Market, with what will become a regular pit stop at the fishmonger's shack and then another at the organic grocer's hut.

From there, if we still need things (I'm not going to go crazy; all we really need at the moment are basics like milk, eggs, cheese and bread), I'll visit the Organic Food Depot near our house. I never even knew it was there until I did a search for "my town" and "milk," and it turns out it's literally right down the road!

And if that's still not enough, I'll hit up Harris Teeter, which has an extensive selection of organic items and which, thankfully, takes coupons. I've had some coupons for Organic Valley in my coupon box for at least six month now, and it's to make use of them!

So go, answer my Aloha Friday and tell me your feelings on the matter!

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Well, as you can imagine, all this organic eating is going to put a serious dent in an already battered budget. We don't generally fritter our money away (anymore...), but we've had such a hard time since September or so, that it was finally time to sit down and make up a true budget. I signed up for the free trial at HelloWallet, which helped a great deal. I recommend it if you need help with a budget, too. I mean, I totally could have made up our budget without HW, but it helped me think of some spending categories that I would have forgotten about on my own, and that would have gotten me into trouble again. Now, we are budgeted right down to the very last penny.

Another great feature, aside from the budget developer, on HelloWallet is one which will help you pay off your debts faster. Thanks largely to paying out-of-pocket for my gastric bypass surgery last year, we have a large amount of credit card debt. I used the calculator on HW to find out how long we'd be in that debt, and it was shocking. I didn't think we could manage to pay it off any faster, but after spending all night crunching some serious numbers and using their tool to show me how much faster I'd pay off those Visa bills - and how much we'd save in interest - if we increased our monthly payments, we are now committed to some serious belt-tightening.

With all that help, I even managed to find some extra room in the budget for our currently recurrent dental bills, home improvement, gardening, and the children's homeschooling expenses. And yes, eating organically. So it's a huge relief, like a heavy burden has been lifted.

(Unfortunately, Chloë's and my somewhat-obsessive Webkinz habit doesn't fit in the plan. Oh, well.)

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I just found out Thursday night that Sophia won her mommy a nice prize!

At the Girl Scouts pre-registration event last week, she entered a drawing for a night of pampering at The Body Shop - and she was one of the winners! I could take her with me, and some of her little friends, but the lady on the phone recommended I take my grown-up friends instead. And so, that is what I will do! There will be massages, a make-up therapist (her words, not mine), and goodness knows what else, for free! I can't wait. She had me at "massage." So, d'ya wanna come?

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Can't think of anything else I need to share with you that hasn't already been posted, so I guess it's time for some Cute Kid Quotes:

To keep her busy, I set Sophia, 5, to work building a cave in the living room. She excitedly got down to work and was all business as she shouted back at me over her shoulder, "Mama, I'm moving out! I'm going to the North Pole! I'm going to DO everything and PLAY with everything, and that's ALL I'm going to do!"

I love that. "I'm going to do everything and that's all." Not much, is it?

☼

Chloë, 8½, asked me thoughtfully the other day, "Does the President know our names? Does he know we're good people?"

I doubt it, but it warmed my heart to know she thinks we're 'good people.'

☼

I sang a song the other night to my little girls, making it up as I went along. After I sang, ♫ Good night, little girls! ♪

Sophia returned with her own lilting melody, ♪ Good night, Big Mommy! ♫

Hee.

☼

Sophie said, "Mommy, can I have one of those oranges in the fridge? You know, those orange, little, circle things?"

So glad she clarified that one.

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That's all, folks! Have a great weekend!

Fin.

 

 

 

Friday Fragments

Here I am back again with some fragments. Fridays keep slipping away from me before I know it, but hopefully I'll get back in the groove. Link up with Mrs. 4444 if you're playing along today!

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If you're interested to hear how I paid just $7.59 out of pocket for all of the above, stay tuned for the next post!

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So I've lost 180 pounds now! Since January 26, 2009, I've gone from this: 

to this:

(I look more hippy in the picture than IRL because I wasn't thinking and had all kinds of things shoved in my pockets!)

I'd still like to lose at least 20 more pounds, but somehow, I think I can do it!

☼

Yesterday was officially my son Jack's last day of public school. Starting today, we are homeschooling him. You can read more about that new chapter in our lives at my new blog. Wish us luck!

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Oops, it's 0830, and I just realized that I have an appointment at 0900! It's only 10 minutes away, but Jack is still asleep, and Daddy isn't home yet like he should be. And here I was telling Jack last night that he was free to sleep as long and late as he needed. Argh!

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And now for a couple of cute quotes, though I've let most of them slip away unrecorded lately:

Sophia, 5, interrupted Jack, 7, and he spat at her, "Young girl, you don't talk. You want me to throw a pumpkin at you?!"

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Jack said to Sophie, "You want me to kick your butt?" I said, "Excuse me? We don't talk like that!" And he replied, "What? It's just a butt. It's just a big old butt!"

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That's all, folks. Have a Happy Mother's Day on Sunday - if you're a mom, that is. :D

Fin.

 

Strawberry Fields Forever

I just love this picture. On Sunday afternoon, after mostly lazing the day away, we jumped up around 1530 to go strawberry-picking. I had gotten a coupon from a local farm for a per-pound discount, but it was only good for Friday and Saturday. They were open Sunday, but it turned out that Chloë had just gone to that very farm for a school field trip, and I didn't want to duplicate her experience in any way. Plus, they weren't open as late as this farm, and they were more expensive. And farther away.  Pretty sure the one we went to is Cromwell's Produce. The mother and daughter were running the stand, and they were super-friendly.

I told the mom it was our first time (although I went myself many times as a kid, Rob has never been to a you-pick farm, and the kids haven't, either), and she walked right out of the stand with us and took us to the strawberry field. She showed us the area where we should concentrate our efforts, how to tell a ripe strawberry from an unripe one, the best way to pluck the berry, and more. Very nice. Go see them!

Not surprisingly, Sophia was the hardest worker of the kids. She carried the heaviest (full) basket, and she never complained. She was a little over-eager, picking unripe berries as well as ripe, but she stopped once I reminded her they were no good. (The girls were wearing bathing suits because it was so hot, and Daddy was outside spraying them with the hose and water guns before we went to the farm.

Chloë was quite willing and eager, too, although she does not have the strength and stamina that her little younger sister possesses.  She never complained and happily kept picking until Rob and I decided that we had more than enough berries.

Jack, of course, complained constantly! That should surprise no one. He started bellyaching after about five minutes and five berries, and he never stopped. Half the time, I can ignore him and not be affected by his constant complaints. The other half, though, it drives me crazy! Thankfully, it was the former for our field trip, because I was in a good mood and happy to be out there in the field, working. Two years ago, before my gastric-bypass, there was NO WAY I could have been out there for five minutes, let alone an hour. I couldn't have done the walking, the stooping, the heat - none of that. This time, none of it bothered me, and I had a great time. Jack did not. He wanted to stop almost as soon as he started. I don't think it's laziness, per se. He's very willing to work on things that interest him. This just happened not to interest him much, after a few minutes anyway. Ah, well.

My family at work

This is what my basket looked like after five minutes. It didn't take long at all! Don't they look delectable?

We found many huge, perfect specimens. Chloë, especially, delighted in finding the biggest berries and showing us each one.

After less than an hour, we had picked eight baskets of berries. (I keep wanting to type 'buries'!) I could have kept going, but Rob kept warning me that we had no place to put them. Ah. Right. Quittin' time!

Sophia looked especially adorable carrying her share of the harvest back to the farm stand. Mom, recognize the footwear she chose for the occasion? These usually live in the dress-up box, and I think she was indeed dressing-up earlier in the day and decided to keep them on.

Who could resist posting another delicious berry picture? The Cromwells' daughter helped us buy our berries. In the end, we had picked about 33 pounds. It cost us somewhere between $45-50; I forget the exact amount at the moment. It was more than I expected, but far less than the $80 or more that we would have spent on the same amount of strawberries at the grocery store. And these were fresher, had no chemicals, and were local. I read somewhere that some government agency - the EPA or the FDA, maybe - recommends not even eating the ones you can get in the supermarket, because of all the chemicals in and on them! Unless they are organic, and even then, you never really know...

I was scratching like crazy while she was weighing our fruit, so she (the Cromwell girl) offered us their garden hose out back. I rinsed off the kids and then myself and oh! what a difference it made. I don't remember being so itchy when I did it as a kid, but that was 20-25 years ago, after all. (Damn, I'm old.)

I can see my mother and grandmother in Jack's face, in this picture. I can often, but no one else seems to see it but me. Maybe I am imagining it. Anyway, after the berry picking, we were headed home, when I saw the appetizing sign for Pungo Pizza and Ice Cream on the side of the road. I'd noticed it on the way down, too. I quickly asked Rob if he wanted to go there for dinner, he answered in the affirmative, and I yanked off the road into the parking lot. We'd never been there, but Rob had been wanting to eat there since we were last in Pungo (the more rural area of southern Virginia Beach), two years ago for the Strawberry Festival. 

Everyone was in great spirits. Even Jack. We were hot and sweaty, and Rob wasn't enthused that the kids decided to eat out on the porch instead of in air-conditioned comfort, but we were happy nonetheless. It was a good family moment.

Well, how was the pizza? I would consider myself something of a pizza connoiseur, and I have to say, it was excellent! Just the way I like it, with the perfect cheese. The right flavor, the right amount, and a terrific crust. If you're in the area, definitely stop by there sometime.

Even Jack ate a whole slice! He and Sophia both ate more than I did! Which isn't saying a whole lot these days, but I managed most of a slice myself. I don't know how it always seems there's room for pizza where there wouldn't be room for something less yummy, but Oscar the Pouch knows what he's doing, after all.

I'd promised the kids they could get an ice cream cone if they ate a good dinner, and I had to make good on the promise for each of them. I was disappointed the ice cream wasn't made locally and turned out to be Edy's. I would have liked some myself, but they didn't have sugar-free, and I wasn't in a Dumping Syndrome kind of mood. Jack chose Cookie Dough, Chloë picked Birthday Cake, and Sophia opted for Strawberry. Hers was the only flavor that appealed to me, so I had a couple small but strawberry-laden bites of hers. Delish! Well worth the extra calories.  

So that was fun. A great outing. I'd like to go again next weekend to pick sugar snap peas, but I don't think the funds will hold out. We'll go again soon to pick something, I'm sure, I hope.

When we got home, I took each of the kids, in turn, into the shower with me for a good scrubbing. A good, cool shower, since it was still hot out. I think it was up to 92º that day, and still about 82º by the time we got home after 1800. 

I had planned to go downstairs to work on hulling and preparing the strawberries for shortcake (a few) and freezing (most), but the day suddenly caught up with me, and I decided to lie down on the bed for "a few minutes" that turned into several hours. During my nap, I kept waking up slightly with the awareness that my throat and ear were becoming increasingly painful. By 2200, I woke up and went downstairs.

Rob had put the kids to bed, thankfully, and headed out the door to work. I wanted to do the strawberries then, but I just did NOT feel well.  I was tempted to try and stay awake to do it, or at least sit at the computer and wake up a little more, but it wasn't happening. I went to the couch to try to get some sleep.

I slept, barely, fitfully, until about 0200. I don't even know if I actually fell fully asleep, because I was in severe pain. Agony, really. My throat hurt so much, and I could tell my glands were huge. My left ear was throbbing and was even worse when I swallowed. 

I could take it no more. I went into the kitchen to take my pills, including a Trazadone so that I could sleep through the pain. I knew I wouldn't wake up for the kids, so I called Rob to ask him to come home early to take care of them. After speaking to me for a few minutes - I don't know what I said - he decided to come home immediately.

When he came home a half-hour later, I was still awake. The Trazadone was NOT working. And I took a whole one, which I haven't had to do since my surgery (I usually stick with a quarter-size dose), so it definitely shoudl have knocked me out. He grabbed a flashlight to look at my throat, and apparently it was really bad, because he decided to take me right to the ER. I protested, saying I just wanted to sleep and would go in the morning to my regular doctor, and I didn't want to wake up the kids, but he insisted it looked urgent.

When we arrived, I was immediately taken into Triage. Rob had to help me answer the questions, since I was starting to get dopey from the Traz by then. We forgot to tell them he'd given me some Tylenol. He thought I had an allergic reaction to the strawberries, but we didn't mention that, either.

I was immediately taken to an exam room. I was freezing, even though it was warm. They brougt me a heated blanket, and I think I may have fallen asleep. Not sure, but I do remember overhearing the Triage nurse say, "Not the worst I've ever seen, but pretty bad," after looking at my throat.

The doctor came in, looked at my throat, and asked me if I'd ever had mono. I told him I did, as a Freshman in college, so he said, "Well, never mind that, then. But you definitely have an aggressive case of strep throat." He said a lot more stuff, but I'd have to be hypnotized to remember it, I think. I DO remember telling him I could NOT take NSAIDs because of my gastric bypass, so I'm annoyed that he prescribed me Naproxen for the pain. It's an NSAID. Hello! I feel like calling up the ER and telling them to get some gastric bypass training.

They gave me scripts for 30 Amoxicillin pills (what's wrong with the Z-pack? Humph), the Naproxen, which I didn't realize at the time, and Darvocet, since I'm allergic to the oxycodone in Percocet. Or at least, I was in 2008, and I really don't want to risk it again. The last time, my face swelled up so badly; I looked like a gorilla!

 
My gosh, her boobies look just like mine do right now! That's hot. Thankfully my belly doesn't look like that. Is she pregnant? Is she even a 'she'?

Anyway.

Once home, Rob put the kids back to bed, and we decided to keep them home from school on Monday, since they'd been up from 0230 to 0530. Oops, it's time to get up for school on Tuesday now, and I haven't written their 'excuse' notes yet. I headed straight to the couch and crashed, feeling MUCH better after the triple-dose of the steroid Prednisone that they'd given me at the hospital to bring down the swelling. It worked very well. Thank God. I had been crying from the pain. It's been much more tolerable ever since.

I slept until 1430; Rob and the kids mostly slept in and watched TV during the day, I guess. I make them pay me 8 Dad Dollars per movie or TV show, but he's pretty lax about it and doesn't make them pay, so they can get away from that. Hope they don't think that's what homeschooling is going to be like!

The girls worked on the clay-animal craft that Sophia got from my sister for her birthday, while Jack played with his cars. Daddy went for his own appointment, and after trying to stay awake at the desk, I went back to the couch. Nope, still dizzy and sleepy. I almost fell at the ER from dizziness. It's been a big problem for me, lately.

[One good thing, though: I stripped down and weighed myself, and I'm down to 162.0 lbs! I'm just a fraction of a pound away from having lost 180 big ones!! Woot! The last time I weighed in, I was up to 171.2, up from 168, so I was completely elated to see the scale. I even weighed Chloë to double-check that it was working properly. Yay!]

Finally, when the boys left for Cub Scouts at 1900, I got up to work on the strawberries. It took about two hours to hull and wash them all! I still felt pretty out of it, so I didn't make any dinner. The girls sat with me and ate yogurts and strawberries. I made Sophia eat all the mushier berries, the ones that weren't so bad I had to chuck them, but didn't quite pass muster for freezing. Eventually she asked me, "Why do I keep having to eat garbage, Mama?" I burst out laughing, but I didn't make her eat any more mushy berries!

When the menfolk returned, Rob made them a quick dinner of mac & cheese and green beans, and of course they snacked on more berries. We all did. They're damn good!

Right now, my kitchen is filled with them. I sliced and sugared a huge bowl of them for shortcake tonight, and I rinsed and am drying the rest for freezing.  They have to be completely air-dried and then placed on a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, they can be placed in a container; this keeps them from sticking together. Since we only have space for one cookie sheet in the deep freezer, this is pretty slow-going. I only have the second sheet in there now! But since I had time, I looked up some strawberry recipes and decided first to make these streusel muffins. I had a half of one when they came out, and I ate the other half several hours later. Mmmm, so good! Definitely worth trying. The recipe doesn't say so, but they make a dozen big ones.

Welp, time to wake up the wee ones for school. I'm excited thinking about not having to do that anymore, and letting get their fill of sleep.

Fin.