Rural roadside distractions

My boy who is now 9. I finally got a photo of him. He's so handsome. I love him. Happy birthday nine year old.

Amazing scenery...

Every now and then on a weekend day we drive to a place called Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. It's along the river, and a neat little place tucked in between huge trees on a little - barely - two lane road. It's one of those roads you have to pull over to the side if two cars are coming until one of you passes. We love to go there because it's usually pretty quiet and we like to go into the general store that has been there since 1831. We pick out a bottle of soda from the fridge in the back, pop the bottlecaps off at the front door and go sit by the river and either play with the dog, watch river traffic or wave at Indiana across the way. Everybody who comes to visit us goes to Rabbit Hash at least once.

It's really not far from the house, along a super winding road with horse or cattle farms and fields, and cool old barns, old historic Kentucky architecture farm houses, and new beautiful mansions. It feels good to open the windows any time of year because the trees are so thick through here it is always nice and cool. Megan is channeling her inner retriever or something by sticking her head out the window.

It's a neat old place. It has an arty feel to it, with some of the local people who make and sell things. It also has turned some of the old buildings into dusty antique shops where the stores aren't manned. If you want something, you have to be honest and take it into the general store to pay for it. It's also hippy-esque at times, and also a place where biker people like to go. What a mix. But it's also just a neat place to go because everybody is friendly. Like today when I accidentally drove past the sign that said "No thru traffic due to festival" a man who I've seen there before, who I thought was going to yell at me when I rolled down my window instead was relaxed and said God Bless to me. Then to have a nice day. Whew.

Festival? There's never anything going on here when we've been here before. But today we rounded the corner and the street was closed off (until I had to go and break the flow of people traffic! While trying to avoid hitting children, dogs or people who were enjoying the festival a little too much with a beer in hand!) Mmm, then we could smell the smells and hear the music.

We had to park a little way down the road and this tractor came by and drove us in. It was funny because just the other day when I was pointing out the signs all over the place for the Halloween farm festivals coming up, Megan said, "I really want to go on a hayride this year!" Here is your hayride Megan.

We walked around, got sodas for the kids, petted animals, looked at artwork for sale, watched some old machine making corn into cornmeal and listening to music. I'm glad we ended up coming here when we did. It was a nice surprise to think that we'd come and do our usual hang out in a quiet place and instead find this. When we were driving home all three kids were telling me how much fun they had and that they loved making pots. I love it when something so small is so memorable.

Rural roadside attractions..... continued

The kids all got to make a pot or bowl on a pottery wheel for $2 each. This woman was wonderful, she was so nice and so patient with kids while she taught them how to make something on the wheel. They all loved getting their hands dirty and watching the clay turn from a ball into a pot or bowl. The boys both made pots, and Megan made a bowl. They are perfect, and each have little fingerprints and things about them that make them unique. Megan's bowl is slightly lopsided on the top, Matthew ran his finger on the outside of his cup to make lines and Trevor's cup has a lip around the top from pinching the top as it spun.

I think the pottery was by far the most fun thing to all of us.

I took this picture for my mom. Recognize that basket?? I fell in love with that color blue glaze that they used on so many of the pottery for sale. It was beautiful. But... I don't have room for all the things that I would like to take home with me.

This band was playing cajun music. They were really good. I would have loved to have sat down and listened to them more, but the kids were all wanting to go in different directions. Matthew wanted to walk down to the river and do what he loves to do whenever we go to rabbit hash....which is to throw sticks into the Ohio river. The boy loves his sticks. Yep... and we brought one home with us. Trevor was interested in the food that you could smell everywhere (HUGE onion rings! OMGOSH. kettle corn, roasted corn on the cob, BBQ....heaven.) Megan was watching all of the dogs roaming around or on leashes. (The 'mayor' of Rabbit Hash actually is a dog named Lucy Lu who always greets cars that pull up and park on less busy days.)

Rural roadside distractions... continued

After leaving Rabbit Hash we stopped at an old church that is on the side of the road. It is on a hill and overlooks the river on one side and has rolling corn fields on the other. I've always wanted to stop and never have. I told the kids since I didn't get to make a pot this is what I wanted to do. I'm in love with these doors. My next little photo shoot will be in front of these. Old doors are awesome. My Matthew who is in a phase where he doesn't like to show his teeth when he smiles.

This is the entrance. There is a date stamped into that step at the very front of the door - 1893. - Looking at this door I can imagine the years and hundreds of people who had their first wedding photo taken standing on that concrete pad. Or the babies that were baptised through those doors, or even families gathering for a funeral. I imagine some beautiful leaded stained glass window was above where the wood is now. Those things are in antique shops all over the place here. - I wish those doors could talk.

I picture these shutters thrown open on beautiful days, or hot ones when it would be sweltering hot inside this building. This photo was taken from the cemetary right outside and down a small hill. Some of the headstones were so old you could not read them. Some were relatively new - like the 1980s so some families are still buried together in huge family areas. Maybe I'm weird, but I love old cemetaries and their history. Not that I hang out in them.... but I think they are interesting.

For the longest time I would see these big metal stars on the sides of old brick buildings. I wondered what they were. They always looked as old as the buildings, so I knew it wasn't some badge earned for being historic or anything, and they are on some pretty run down brick buildings too, so they must have had some sort of meaning or purpose when the buildings were new.

I found out when my mom was visiting months ago that they are supports! Behind the star is a long metal pole that goes through the building every so many feet that goes through to the other side! The stars are like decorative caps on the outside of the building. Mystery solved.

AND THE FIRST PUMPKIN SIGHTING! This could only mean one thing.... fall is around the corner. There have been other signs as well... like the geese are starting to come back. It's a sound I miss all summer, hearing them fly overhead honking. It is the neatest sound.

happy anniversary

Have I ever mentioned that I have the greatest kids? Today is my 19th wedding anniversary. Spent with the kids. I had them out of school today for some other reasons, but we went to one of their favorite parks. They knew I was having a hard time and spoiled me all day. My favorite was the fact that I was given picked flowers that were brought to me all day long. Which at one point all ended up tucked behind my ears. Matthew said I looked like a princess with my crown of flowers. Stay sweet you little guys. If you think I look like a princess I will believe you. I felt like one today!

Megan even took my picture. I'm rarely in pictures. You'll have to excuse the gray hair.... which will be taken care of tomorrow by Liz at 10:00. - and then I'll be able to claim my prize of the most fabulous hair.... bestowed upon me by my friend June. Today, it didn't look so fabulous. Haha.

New school year.

One full week down! School started last week, but this was the first official full week. Everybody is happy with their teachers, new friends and even middle school has been a breeze so far.

Oh it feels good to be back on a schedule. That makes for a happy mommy, even though right now I'm just trying to catch up with all the stuff that has been put off during summer vacation. I'm hoping it will all level out within this month!

This week we also got a call that Megan's school already had a confirmed case of the H1N1 virus. I can bet there is no cleaner place to be than these schools right now. I swear the air smells like bleach and purell even outside!

I also just dropped off Megan at her FIRST middle school dance tonight. Wow, that was reeeeally weird. Those are not the things I was into at that age... but things like this remind me that she is not me and she walked in with a ton of confidence. I was painfully shy. - She was all dressed up in a skirt, top and denim jacket. She looked so pretty. She has a group of friends that she was going to meet there too. I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

It has been interesting getting used to getting up much earlier to get Megan off to school. Her school starts an hour before the boys. So we are up at the crack of dawn to get her ready and I drive her to school. As soon as I get back, it's time to do it all over again with the boys. it's strange sitting out on the front steps waiting for the bus to come with just the two of them.

Lego store

..... and then the ominous dark gray clouds began to part, as the sun's warm golden rays began to shine through and warm their shoulders, awakening the senses.... then the sound of angels beginning to sing.... (or more like the heavy breathing of Darth Vader and a Star Wars theme.) And there it was, right before them ...

the allusive....only to have been seen by their wishing eyes online, but never in real life...

AT-AT Walker! *gasp!* (Lego exclusive, motorized and will only be bought if I ever win the lottery! Holy cow!!)

Matthew lost a tooth the other day so the tooth fairy paid him a visit and a few dollars. He had a few dollars saved up in his room too. With a day to kill we decided we'd go up to the Kenwood Towne Center in Cincinnati to the Lego store. I had planned on taking the boys (and Megan of course but it's easier to get her to willingly go to the mall with me than it is them.) to the Lego store this weekend anyway, since I figured Trevor would want to spend his birthday money there. But those gift cards and cash burned a hole in his wallet earlier in the week and he already had picked out two other big Lego sets at Target and Toys R Us. Now Matthew had the same problem with his small savings. Why not? They get free Lego magazines and catalogs if we went up there anyway. I can't even begin to tell you how many hours are spent flipping through the catalog. It's worth the trip just for that. Matthew has been known to fall asleep with it in his hands.

Matthew ended up buying a little thing they have with a huge table full of bins and people pieces. You can put together 3 mini figures for $10. You got to pick from several leg colors, body colors, heads with various faces, all sorts of different hair pieces, hats and each mini fig came with one accessory... like a mug, or a shovel or something like that. It was fun. I had fun reorganizing pieces that weren't in their official bin. Because I'm all OCD like that. If a head was misplaced into a bin of legs, of course I had to pull it out and toss it back into the bin of heads! I think I may have found my dream job!

Lots of updates and lots of photos!

This week kicked my butt. I was SO tired today that I wasn't feeling well and fell back asleep until noon. I could have easily slept all day. So today was kind of a wash. Today is Friday, and I am so happy that tomorrow is Saturday so we can all sleep in a little bit again. School started on Wednesdsay. Megan started middle school this year, and believe it or not I took photos of her and then realized that the card was not in the camera until it was too late. I got some photos after school... but haven't loaded them yet. So I will do that one in a bit. Next week is the official first full week of school. I plan on getting a lot done next week.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle the mornings. Megan's school starts an hour before the elementary school. So she and I were up at 6:00 (after both not sleeping well that night) to get ready for school. Then after driving her to school I come back and get the boys ready for their school. It's like the movie Groundhog Day, going through the morning routine twice every day.

They were all very excited this year, and were all happy with their teachers! Matthew:

Trevor:

The bus route is a bit different this year. Last year it went down the street first before it picked up my kids, so when I sat on the computer and read the news I could watch for it to come up the street first. Then I knew it was time to go wait on the corner. So the boys and I were outside putting on shoes. The bus came, and Trevor was ready to go, so he ran to the bus stop to ride the bus. Matthew missed it unfortunately but now we know what time to be out there. I ended up driving Matthew to school. I wasn't the only one. There were a few other moms who pulled out of garages after that. Same awesome bus driver this year, but brand spanking new bus.

Trevor's birthday....

My dad came out for a short visit, which got him here on Trevor's birthday. After lunch, we went to Graeter's for ice cream. It's a Cincinnati company so it's a must go to place when somebody visits. My dad has even ordered it to have his favorite flavors shipped back to Phoenix.

Everybody was glad to see him, but Matthew was his buddy on this trip. He always asked to sit next to him when we'd go out.

The same day, we went to Petsmart. I had been telling my dad the night before when we were outside watching Jet roam the front yard about the last little russian tortoise left at Petsmart. I felt bad for it since there were three at the store for over 8 months according to the people who worked there. In fact, when we went to buy Flower (the new one) the man seemed shocked! When we said we needed to buy the tortoise he said, "Really?" There were three that lived together for months, but one was sold before we bought Trevor's. Then we went and bought our first baby, and we'd feel bad for this last little one everytime we went back to the pet store.

So we were there and my dad bought Flower. Flower has a new home now. I couldn't bear to have him sitting in that little aquarium at the pet store all by himself. He loves to roam and eat weeds in the front yard now. I love these little guys. They have the neatest personalities, and are so zen like when they are outside. Jet is a little more used to us so far and responds to our voices. He also eats out of our hands and lets us pet his soft little neck. Some torts always hide their heads. These two are very social with people! So here is Flower:

Tank mates reunited. Jet is darker and Flower is lighter.

"Jet I think you have a little something stuck in your teeth there." He loves dandelions. Fortunately my yard has plenty of them.

Trevor's birthday...

I swear this boy was skipping out into the parking lot after going to Target. This is one of the coveted Lego sets he was wanting for a long time. It took 4 1/2 hours for him to put together. Legos are the best! The theme this year seemed to be Star Wars/Lego/Turtle. He had also picked out a light saber with some of his birthday money. Why are boys attracted to long sticks? This one makes light saber noises too. Yay. So far no severe accidents of anybody getting whacked by it. ;) Thanks to all the family who made this possible! There was also another trip BACK to Target... for another Star Wars kit that I will get a photo of in a bit.

Organizing them is my favorite part. Lego moms know that muffin pans make the best organizers. We had one mini muffin pan for the tiny parts, and two big muffin pans for the bigger pieces. 568 pieces all together.

Matthew really wanting to help and becoming more and more impatient that his birthday is still a couple of months away. It is kind of nice when both boys are into the same thing.

More clone troopers to find around the house. They actually make me smile quite a lot. I love finding places the boys have hidden these guys in.

ALMOST done. Happy birthday T!

While you were at the grocery store....

Some people may freak at the thought of one of their kids borrowing their camera, but because it sits on my kitchen counter all the time and they have been allowed to use it before, every now and then I find an image when I download all of my pictures that I know I didn't take.

Sometimes they are pretty funny. I find a lot of Lego people photos. But this one that I just found got me. Matthew spent YEARS carrying a cheapy $1 spot stuffed Curious George in his hand. It went everywhere. One even got lost once, and when I bought another one to replace it I tried the mom switcheroo. He looked up at me with the most serious, confused and furrowed brow look and said, "What is THIS?" Like he was disgusted. I learned that honesty was the best approach from that point on should we lose another prized possesion.

Matthew got older (it was probably a little into first grade that George stopped going everywhere with us, but he'd still sit on his bed.) Obviously nobody could pass up a stuffed monkey and not think of Matthew. I bought spare $1 spot Georges when I could, one of those is wearing jammies that I bought him for when he had his surgery, the big one came from Santa (because at that time - that big ugly George was the ONLY thing he specifically asked Santa for! You can't break the santa wish.) Megan went to a carnival here last year and won a George and was so proud to give it to him, a Webkinz monkey, etc.

Tomorrow is Trevor's birthday, and already the kitchen table is covered in lego pieces. We stopped at Target because he knew exactly what he wanted to get! Photos later! It's a work in progress... and it may take even longer since mommy is not the best at following directions for those big Star Wars ships. Aaa!

Well I get the award for the worst mother of the year. I totally forgot that today was the day I was supposed to go to the school to get teacher assignments for the boys. I even had a reminder on my noteboard in the kitchen about it. It wasn't until I went to pick up Trevor from a friend's house that I remembered when the mom asked me who he had for a teacher next year. UGH.

I can get it on Monday, but still.... I feel bad. I have been so off about what day of the week it is for awhile now. I need a schedule again. With school starting, I know I'll be back on my game!

New hair and new supplies - one more week.

One more week until the first day of school! This week all three kids have gotten their hair cut. The boys wanted the normal.... the least amount of time involved both with the actual cut appointment and time to devote to it in the mornings. Megan wanted to do something a little different this year. It's hard to tell from this photo but it's the best that I could get at the time. She is becoming less patient with me getting photos. It's probably a combination of getting a little older and it's not too pleasant outside right now. It's kind of sticky. So this was my one shot.

It's really cute though, and seems so strange to see a couple of inches in length missing. I can still pull it back in cool little pigtails though.

The turtle is awesome. We take him out front everyday to walk around the front yard. He's getting used to us and has been letting us watch him eat. We're going to work on him eating out of our hands soon. It's taken a few days to get used to each other. He's funny though because when he is inside his habitat indoors he recognizes voices and peeks out from his little burrow. He's incredibly spoiled. Not bad for a guy who lived for a year in a small aquarium at Petsmart. (The girl told us that they've had the same two turtles for a year now and didn't get a lot of one on one time at the pet store.) His personality is so neat.

So next week I get to reclaim my house and do a whole top to bottom regrouping and cleaning. Sadly, I look forward to that part. As much as I miss the kids and even some of the noise when they are gone. It will be time for the annual loud U2 music, bleachy smells and rubber gloves. And then a mom who sits on the couch until they come back and tell me about the first day. :)

Welcome Jet!

I think Trevor's first word had to have been turtle. He's loved them for as long as I can remember and has wanted one forever. I told him after we had moved that we would get him one for his birthday, and this year we were ready. For months now I have been buying pieces here and there to get the habitat ready for buying the tortoise. Today I asked Trevor if he wanted to wait until his actual birthday in 10 more days when school starts, or if he wanted to get him early and have some summer days to spend with Jet. I pretty much knew what his answer would be. ;) (By the way, his mouth is orange like that because he had carrots for lunch at PetsMart before we bought him. It's not normally that orange!)

We've been visiting Jet at PetsMart every week. It was nice to bring him home! We had him out in the front yard for exercise for about an hour today. They are not slow!! This little guy would start out at the bottom of our hill and with some sort of purpose he'd walk all the way to the top. I'm not sure what was up there he was going for, but we'd pick him up and take him back down to the bottom. Just to do this over and over about 100 times. I had pictured sitting out front with the tortoise a little differently.... like sitting in a chair, while he crawled around. Nope.... there is a lot of exercise for people in watching a tortoise.

I think he loves him.

Back to school... 19 days and counting.

Not that I'm looking forward to the kids being gone all day... I do miss them when they are at school, but I have to admit that I am tired and mentally exhausted as to what to do to keep us busy anymore. Plus my house could use a deep, deep cleaning. Which is nearly impossible when it's three against one, and sometimes even more than that depending on who is over at the time. On that first day back I am reclaiming my house! I don't even know how it happens because they do all help me pick things up but it seems like a futile battle right now.

So far we've finished a little clothes shopping and supply shopping. I have a few things left that are the weird specific things that every store is out of right now. Like the specific color plastic folders... with two pockets.... No brads.... etc. Of course you can't just go buy regular folders anymore.

For the most part it's done though. Today I got these shoes for Megan. I always slow down at the Converse shoes when I'm at Target and today these were begging to come home with us. The big sale sign made me come to a skidding stop. I love them. I only wish they were my size so that we could share them.

Thinking of you....

No you haven't stumbled upon a cooking blog, Lord knows I am NOT known for my cooking! - and yes I did feel kind of silly taking a close up photo of part of our dinner tonight.... but mmmm, I had to share.

My dad told me before we moved here last summer to make sure we bought home grown tomatoes. Something about the soil out here. My mom said when she was little growing up in Ohio that she remembered stopping at roadside stands and getting a tomato and would eat it right there, on the side of the road. I think I remember her telling me how my grandma carried a salt shaker in the car just for this purpose.

Another one of my favorite things out here is all of the local produce. There are several organized farmers markets, but my favorites are the pick up trucks you see on the side of the road somewhere selling a tiny bit of produce from the back, or the houses along farm roads with signs of what they have for sale. It's the BEST part of being right on the edge of such a rural and farmy area. But I can be in a huge shopping area in 5 minutes, or downtown Cincinnati in 20. It reminds me of growing up in the Chandler area when I was a kid and there were still farms out there.

After doing some back to school shopping today we took the long way home down Kentucky 18. It's a pretty road I like to take when we're not in a hurry to get home. Today it was dotted with people selling homegrown produce. I bought these gorgeous tomatoes, some yellow squash, sweet corn and blackberries. My car smelled so good and earthy the rest of the way home.

The best is, I was over at a neighbors house telling her about my finds, and she said she had a ton of basil growing in her backyard. I got to go out and pick a bunch. We've been eating quite a few plates of tomatoes like this, with mozzarella cheese and a drizzling of italian dressing. The basil was .... awesome.

I entertained the idea of growing a garden sometime, but honestly I like it better this way. Enjoying what other people have grown or made. I have heard that there is a blackberry farm near here I'd like to take the kids to. One of my friends said that she picks enough to make blackberry wine, pies and homemade jam. Mmm.

WILL WORK FOR STAR WARS LEGOS.

The blower and Matthew is kind of like a cat and a can opener. He hears it from inside and runs out so that I can 'blow him over' with it. He thinks it's hysterical. Today he decided to help. (Just as I was about finished which is why there is nothing really left on the sidewalk for him to blow!) Thanks for the late help. He ended up kind of pushing a couple of pieces of mulch in a circle on the driveway.

I'm just waiting until he is tall enough to push the mower up the hill.

random

This picture makes me smile so hard that my face hurts.

These insects are really bugging me....

Such a pretty day.... and nothing to do. We did stop to see these adorable baby horses on the side of the road. Anybody who has been out to visit me knows about my favorite little drive on Richwood since I've always had that as part of my 'tour of my favorite Kentucky things.' There were 6 mommy horses and 6 babies.

One thing I have learned in my temporary role of single parenting is how much I really can do. There was a line on Designing Women that I remember exactly how Delta Burke's character Suzanne said, "The man should have to kill the bug." Even when I say it to myself while killing bugs, I say it with that accent. Somehow it gets me past the gross factor and makes it possible for me to do what needs to be done.

A couple of weeks ago I was totally disgusted by my pretty topiary tree outside my door. It was covered with those same creepy cocoons that one of our bushes had last year. Last year I was feeling charitable and left them alone but gave the bush a huge berth when I walked by it. As long as we left each other alone, maybe they can stay for a short time. But then when you're done... off with you. (Until I found out that they weren't even butterflies... they were MOTHS. Double ew.) Like Mike joked with me, that line in Indiana Jones when he sees the snakes by the light of his torch, "Snakes.... I hate snakes." That was me.... "Moths.... I hate moths." This was a nightmare. Where is the man to kill the bug?

If I was going to be able to use my front door for the next month, they had to go. Not to mention this year I wasn't feeling nice about them being there. I learned that they ruin the plant and there is no way those mofos were going to kill my swirly topiary tree. They are too expensive to replace, and having one would look stupid.

Off to Home Depot to buy spray and find out what I had to do. I spent 3 hours on a weekend with gloves and a bag, picking over 100 of these cocoons off the tree. Then I sprayed it with the poison and stuff to nurse my sick little tree. I did it. I killed the bugs, helped the tree and felt a sense of pride.

Today I opened a window to let the breeze in and I noticed some wasps going under the fake shutters on the window. I took my can of wasp spray out and noticed that there were A LOT of them. Going into at least 4 of the 16 shutters on the front of the house. When I sprayed under one of the shutters about 20 of them fell out dead. Then I found two nests. OK... this is war. I had to go to the hardware store and buy several cans of wasp spray. We're ON wasps. You don't know who you're messing with. This girl can kill the bugs.

I knocked down the nests standing on a ladder and reaching with a broom handle. The kids were inside all crammed into a window laughing at me and pointing to wasps that were getting away so I could spray them. Megan took a video of me twirling the broom and acting tough. Those years in the color guard paid off mom.... I was like a broom twirling, can spraying wasp killing ninja.

I hope this is my last battle with infestation of any sort of bug. Even though this girl can kill them and kick their butts.

cheapy facelift

Here is my newly updated kitchen table. It looks nice, but I still have two more chairs to do. I plan on eventually putting some sort of fabric on the seat covers. Ideally I'd like to get some sort of big print/loopy floral or something for some color in the kitchen. I just don't know if my ideal fabric exists since I haven't been out yet.

I give up on trying to start and complete anything during the summer anymore. The mom countdown is on until school starts. One more month. This has been a nice summer and I think we've kept pretty busy and well rounded. I'm just ready to claim my house again.

Not that I want to rub it in or anything - you know I'm a weather geek - but we are enjoying low 70s today! Last night it was in the low 60s and we were actually cold. Which is also the first good nights sleep I've had in a long time without the help of ambien. It's supposed to be like this all weekend, and then heat up again next week. At least I know that the cooler temps get me out of taking the kids to the pool this weekend, which the boys have been driving me crazy about all week.

I'm feeling like a road trip this weekend.

Right now...

It's still summer vacation. No "I'm bored" statements yet. Some days are more exciting than others. Nothing really to blog about, so I'm going to do something I saw on Ali's blog then. These are interesting to go back and read over the years and see how many things have changed.

Right now...

Outside my window... the street is wet from rain that we had earlier, sunny, breezy. Every body's lawns are trimmed for the weekend and my neighbor has the most beautiful hydrangeas.

I am thinking... about feeling overwhelmed, but at the same time happy of my accomplishments today. (cleaned mini blinds outside on the driveway and vacuumed the house.) Made dinner and it's all cleaned up already.

I am thankful for... the boys playing a video game together so nicely. Sometimes they really do love each other! Air conditioning (it's a little humid thanks to the rain.) and a game of Sorry on the front steps with Megan.

From the kitchen... chicken breasts sauteed in garlic and butter, spinach, rice and rolls.

I am wearing... denim shorts, a brown Old Navy Tshirt and a ponytail.

I am creating... a puddle on my desk from the condensation from my cup of ice water.

I am going... to take a shower and go to bed early tonight. (with help from an Ambien.)

I am reading... The Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. - and several books on Russian Tortoises before getting one for Trevor for his birthday next month. I'm educating myself in all things tortoise.

I am hoping... for a good night's sleep, for my kids to have good solid and long lasting friendships, for Mike to be safe, for comfort and stability, less stress and a super miraculous job offer with the same amount of pay for Mike in the United States.

I am hearing... the boys in the same room as me playing a Lego Star Wars video game, a lot of laughing and Megan's phone letting her know she got a text. (She's texting a friend back and forth.) Nickelback on the Direct TV channel.

Around the house... Piper is at my feet, folded laundry is on the couch waiting for little hands to take it upstairs, Legos all over the floor.

One of my favorite things... something as simple as waiting until 9:00 tonight to go sit outside and watch the fireflies. I do this nightly until they are gone for the season. Sometimes the kids go out and watch with me. Hearing the cows near the house moo.

A few plans for the following week... go to the pool, go to Cincinnati for errands, library, daily chores. Maybe scrap something.

random monday

Another week... they just keep melting into each other anymore. Today I started painting my kitchen table. That table used to be so beautiful but it has a sad abused past. It was so pretty when it was new. I was so proud of having a piece of furniture that was brand new and that I had picked out. It was my pride and joy. Then within that first week Megan accidentally dumped a bottle of nail polish remover on it and it stripped the stain on a huge area on the top.

It was as painful as that first dent or scratch that you get on your brand new car. It hurt, but I couldn't do anything about it at that point and Megan felt awful. Getting mad wouldn't have done a thing.... and she's the kind of kid who punished herself because of the guilt. (OK, but yeah inside my mind I was FURIOUS!) Mike tried his best to sand it and re stain it, but it was never the same.

Then I started finding marks on the back of the chairs that I couldn't figure out where they were coming from until one day I saw Matthew whose mouth was at the same height chewing on the back of the chairs! nooooo. Can I have a nice piece of furniture? Please? Who chews on chairs?!?!

So basically I decided I was going to work with the 'distressed top' and paint the legs and chairs black and put a new fabric on the seat covers. So far I've done the table and I'm working on the chairs. I have no idea how long it will take to complete my little project, but in my mind it will look great. I hope to be able to find fabric like I have in mind too. Then I'll post pictures.

On top of that today, I mowed my lawn and decided I'd be mom of the year and make some cupcakes. Megan comes in from being out for several hours and says:

"Oh those brownies look gooood!" (I used my silicon heart shaped muffin tin thing that I have made brownies in before, so surely she was confused.)

me: Those aren't brownies, they are cupcakes.

megan: no, they are brownies.

me: no... they are chocolate cupcakes.

megan again: No.... they are brownies.

me: Ok whatever (I'm starting to get a little irritated and wondering who she thinks she is to start getting an attitude with me.) if you are going to argue with me then you can't have one.

megan: Oh, well they smell and look like brownies.

Me.... after getting so angry I go to get the box out of the kitchen garbage to prove her wrong. "Dammit. They ARE brownies." smart alec.

I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but he's been coming back to the top of our tree since yesterday. He's beautiful, and this is one of the times I'd really love to have a zoom lens. We get cardinals and blue jays like crazy, so maybe this guy is just claiming our tree.

Today should be a more promising day for fireworks. Yesterday we had a steady rain all afternoon all the way into the night. Some people still were setting off fireworks, but it wasn't like it was last year where there was so much smoke from all of them that it looked like fog. The country club usually has a huge display that we can watch from our driveway. Yesterday when I drove by they had huge tents outside like they were expecting a lot of people. Hopefully it was just delayed until today and we'll get to see them tonight.

We ended up lighting some sparklers in the garage. Woohoo.

Yesterday was a nice day though. One of Trevor's friends had called and asked if he and Matthew could come over and play. They were there nearly all day. So Megan and I took advantage of our alone time and went to the grocery store and had Panera Bread for lunch. It may not have been the typical 4th of July (cold and rainy) but it was still nice. I hope everybody else enjoyed theirs!

4th

Happy 4th of July!

How I spent my summer. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Remember that movie Groundhog Day? Sometimes my days feel like that. Or it looks like I rarely do laundry. Because Matthew is one of those kids who has a daily routine.

Surprise... Reds hat, another Reds shirt (we had to have two to alternate with the other one.) and the familiar sounds of Star Wars coming from the little movie player. I can't tell you how many times I hear that theme song or the song that plays when Darth Vader shows up. You know the one. I do love the little pile of Lego people next to the movie player.

If life had a soundtrack this summer.... it is Star Wars. And the kid follows me around telling me about it. You know, how Luke is really Darth's son? But how Darth started out as Anakin Skywalker, or how Obi Wan Kenobi's name is really Ben? The boys are constantly playing with the Star Wars Legos. When did things get so Star Wars crazy around here? At least when daddy is home he does the best Chewbacca sound. If you want to get every body's attention just do that! Or do that little hand thing that Darth Vader does to choke people with the force.

Can it really BE 65 degrees on a summer day? I mean for real. I feel like I'm going to wake up. Last week I was complaining about being a little too hot. Thank you whoever sent this weather. Can we please have this for a few more weeks?

Another thing that has become so routine is what is actually going on right now. At noon on Wednesdays the tornado sirens go off for testing. As soon as I hear it start I just yell out of habit, "It's Wednesday Trevor!" Sure enough he comes down the stairs at the same time saying, "Is it Wednesday?" He hates those things. Everybody else ignores them. I just hope there's never a real tornado on a Wednesday at noon because I'll be upstairs doing life as normal.