Some Days...

Sick kids, a headache, crummy weather.

I'm going to bed.

Book Club Tonight

Tonight was organizing night. We planned the year. We all have a month.

And all of those fabulous recommendations helped tremendously. So many, many thanks for those.

For my month we/I chose Population 485, Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry. We thought it sounded like a hoot. And we were trying to get variety.

Although, now my list of books to read has grown substantially. So now I must find the time to read, read, read. And still keep up on my blogs. And parent. And teach. And be a spouse. Hmmmm. I need more hours.

The other book, that happened to be on someone else's list, was Suite Francaise by Irene Somebody Whose Name I Cannot Remember, Pronounce or Spell.

Am I Going to Have to Pay for Law School?

Tonight at dinner, I may have glimpsed the future. A few nights ago we watched the movie Underdog. Cute movie, too many references to butts and poo. Now it has become a topic of conversation, especially with sweetE.

We are sitting down to eat. SweetE, who is three, starts talking about dogs eating their own poo. Not exactly the kind of dinner conversation that I fancy.

Me: sweetE, we don't talk about that at the table.

Gets quiet. He gets down from his chair and walks over to the wall three steps away.

sweetE: I'm not at the table now.

And proceeds to continues to talk about dogs eating poo.

Me: We don't talk about that when other people are eating.

Topic ceases. He couldn't come up with a loophole for that one.

But at three, he realized that all he had to do was move. And he would be doing what I asked and what he wanted at the same time! At three!!

Must learn to be very specific. This is not the first example of his ability to find loopholes. He has the makings of an attorney. At three.

Fun Monday - The Bedside Table

AOJthelurchers hosts our Fun Monday fun this week. The assignment -- Continuing in the spirit of "being interested in people", I would like to know, or see, what's on, in or under your bedside table! So open those draws and bare your soul to us! Is there anything special there that has a story or a memory that you can tell us about? Books that you keep there to delve into from time to time? Trinkets that you don't know where else to put? Let's see!



My bedside table was recently moved and cleaned, but not by me. Ducky got a hold of it and right now it looks good. In the war we are currently waging, Ducky rearranged the room and got rid of a lot of clutter. He put most of my clutter in that box under the table. I'm not sure what is in there and I'm not going to look until I can deal with it.

The items on top of my table. My light, touch activated. My alarm clock that wakes me up to ocean sounds. I only use it when I absolutely have to. Sleepy the bear, my mother's day gift from the boys last year. They picked her, stuffed her and dressed her in a robe and bunny slippers. She is wearing the one and only item that I have knitted. A blue tube scarf. Very soft.



In my drawer, I have a heat pack, it smells good and looks good too. A sleep mask and peppermint chapstick. And the tooth pillow. It is in my drawer for safe keeping. Now whenever sweetP loses a tooth, I give him the pillow, he puts his tooth in the little pocket and puts it under his pillow. The tooth fairy thanks me. It makes finding the tooth easy and keeps the money safe. I made it for him a few weeks ago when he lost his first tooth.

I usually have a book on there, but I just finished one. I am choosing from the stack of books in my messy room to see what I will read next. Now if you looked at the top of my dresser, that is another story. It is currently stacked with clothes that need to be put away. Maybe tonight before I go to bed. Maybe not. We'll see.

Ordinary Days

So after my problematic Thursday, life has returned to the ordinary.

Yesterday, we did ordinary things. The boys went to the dentist. SweetE for the first time. And he did pretty well. He let them make his teeth shiny. He sort of let them take x-rays. His teeth were announced to be in good shape. SweetP went for his second visit ever. After the first visit three years ago, some time needed to pass. He barely let them look. But this time, it went swimmingly. And the dentist thinks that if his teeth come in straight, he won't need braces! Yippee. We have been thinking that there was no way we were going to avoid that.

We put together an Indiana Jones Lego set. Three of us took a nap together on the couch. We watched a movie. I got one set of papers graded.

It was an ordinary day and it was fabulous.

It Poured!

When I wrote that I missed the rain, I should have been more specific. Because today it poured. Problems. Today my life lived up to my blog title.

I started by waking up at 4:30 and not being able to go back to sleep. Silver lining, at 6:20, sweetP wakes up and we create static electricity in bed together. For about twenty minutes he rubbed the flannel sheets and the blanket together and watched the "quiet fireworks."

At 9:30, Ducky calls with a banking problem. So I try to fix it, but I don't have access or authorization. It is a joint account. I'm supposed to have access. Ducky gets to finish fixing it tomorrow. I try to log into online banking at another bank and manage to lock myself out. I can't remember the answer to one of the 80 security questions that I have answered. They politely, hook me back up.

My students cannot stop talking. Nothing seems to work. Rewards, punishments, humor, encouragement, crankiness. Nothing.

My projector died last week. And the replacement came in today. So I spent all of my afterschool time getting it hooked up and getting the broken one boxed up.

5 pm was the highlight of my day. A massage. But I was so tense that we couldn't get to many of my 2000 parts. She focused on my migraine points. Which is great, but I am not totally relaxed like I usually am.

I ordered one of my favorite meals to be picked up on the way home. It is from a restaurant in our old neighborhood and I don't get it very often. So I picked it up and it smelled great all the way home. And then I started to eat it. Someone clearly wasn't paying attention when they added the garlic. It was almost to the point where I couldn't eat it. I like a light garlic flavor. Not bruiser garlic flavor. So I am no longer craving my chicken & broccoli calzone with no onions.

SweetE has been complaining all day, off and on, that he doesn't feel good. So I put him to bed and hoped for a miraculous recovery. Tomorrow is a busy day. He is supposed to go next door to play while I go volunteer at sweetP's school. Then I have a conference with sweetP's teachers. SweetP's best friend is supposed to come over for a play date.

And at 9:30 pm, sweetE starts crying. His crying during the night only means one thing. Vomit. And he had, all over himself. So now he is upset and he has to take a quick shower. His sheets, blankets and pillow all need to be washed. All of his stuffed friends survived unscathed.

I get his bed made and him tucked back in. And head off to wash the sheets. Why is there water on the floor under the washer? Why, tonight of all nights. When I have vomity sheets and a soaked pillow. Why, why, why? 10 pm we are investigating the washer. The leak is coming from the hose in the back. I bought the really good hoses that are guaranteed not to split. So it is the connection. Home Depot is closed. If we need a new washer, we are not getting it tonight. The hose comes off and it is leaking because the screen is filled with bits of our disintegrating hot water heater.

Yippee, we can still wash the sheets tonight. Boo, the hot water moved up the list of things that must get done. I was hoping it wouldn't go kablooey until we could afford a tankless, instant hot water heater.

Putting the doors back on the laundry closet is a challenge. And they don't close right, but it is late and we no longer care. The doors for the laundry closet move higher up the list too.

So I am off to check off assignments. So we can let parents know if their little angel is staying on top of things or should spend the weekend doing homework.

The misadventures of adulthood. In living color.

*Update*
SweetE woke up and seems to have made a full recovery. Oh, happy day!

I Miss the Rain

I never thought I would utter that phrase. But walking home from taking sweetP to school this morning my face hurt it was so cold. I'm sure I am more sensitive because of the potential frostbite I talked about here. And I realized, that when it rains it is warmer. I really like warmer.

I would really be in trouble if I lived in the Midwest. I would then drive sweetP the three blocks to school. Which I don't believe in, but my aversion to cold supersedes my green, environmental, frugal side. If I had my way I would hibernate over the winter. Or at least become a hermit.

The photo is me a few weeks ago after making the same trip home. Everything below the rain coat was wet. Soaked, really.

SweetE has it made. He gets to stay in his jammies. I put on his coat, hat, mittens and slippers. Then he get wrapped in a blanket in the stroller. The water proof cover goes over the top to keep out rain, wind and cold. He is snug as can be in there. Most of the time I wish I could trade places with him.

The rest of the time I can pretty well deal with it. But cold mornings are torture. It is 25 degrees out right now, so I know I will be experiencing another dose of BRRRRR in the morning.