Five Things Friday, Two Days Late

Man, that was the lamest blog title ever. :)

1-
The boys and I are continuing with our quest to watch 80's-ish movies. It's fun to see them making all the connections (Bill Murray! John Candy! Chevy Chase!) at how the same actors/actresses keep reappearing in various roles. Favorites remain What About Bob and Groundhog Day. This week watched The Wedding Singer and Look Who's Talking. Rob and I agree that some of the movies aren't as funny as we remember them being. I thought Look Who's Talking was hilarious when I saw it as a teen. I blame the E-Trade Baby.

2-
I did something I said I would never do this week. Dinner was at that critical point of readiness, when all the different dishes and sides were coming together at the same moment. I needed kids in the kitchen, STAT. Called the boys and they responded from their various locations. Called Kate, heard nothing. Called Kate again, louder. Nothing. SHRIEKED for Kate at the top of my ever-loving lungs- nothing. I had too much going on to go get her. I glanced over at my cell phone, then looked away. NO. I always said I would never be that parent who texts my kid in my own house. If there is anything I should know by now, as a parent, it is to NEVER SAY NEVER.

Yes, I texted. And she came right away.
Hmmm.

3-
One of the best things about having kids is that it really does make you begin to understand God's grace. No matter how angry I get at my kids, no matter how frustrated or disappointed, every day is a clean slate and a new day. I am always happy to see them in the morning and that happiness overwhelms any lingering feelings I may have. They don't earn that love- it's involuntary on my part. It just IS.

4-
Kate had her Prom this week. She looked gorgeous and stunning. I can hardly believe that this time of having girls in the house, primping and giggling and preparing, has come to an end. It was a privilege to be a part of it.

Kate and her handsome friend Parker.

5-
Chris will be confirmed at our church today. I'm looking forward to the service and proud of him for the many hours he put in this year toward the confirmation process.

Five Things Friday

1-
Six hundred and seventy nine.
Did you read that number?
679.
That's 679 posts that make up this blog.
It was almost six and a half years ago that I started writing in this little corner of the net.
I had no idea what I was doing and I had no plan or agenda.
It was just a place to write the funny, the not so funny, the joyous and the sad moments of the life I share with my family.
Here I have chronicled tales of my children growing up, my fears and joys as a mother and a wife.
As my kids have gotten older, I've often struggled with what to say and how to protect their right to privacy.
I've wondered what to write about when the funny things little kids say slowly began to disappear.
Now I've just relaxed into writing whatever I want, whether it has to do with my family, or my kids or even nothing to do with us at all.
Thanks for being on this journey with me!

2-
I was listening to NPR today
and the story was about an interviewer who, over the years,
interviewed Louwana Miller, mother of Amanda Berry.
As you all know, Amanda Berry is one of the three young ladies rescued from captivity in Ohio this week after being kidnapped a decade ago.
The interviewer was saying that Louwana was like a Grizzly Mother Bear, absolutely unwilling to give up hope that her daughter was alive and could be found.
She yelled at the interviewer when she needed to.
She threw the FBI out of her house because she felt like they weren't doing enough.
She was afraid of nothing and no one- all she cared about was her daughter being returned to her.
She even met with a psychic, who told her that her daughter was dead.

Louwana Miller died at age 43 of heart failure.

43.

The interviewer said that she thinks Ms. Miller died of a broken heart.

I found myself swallowing a huge lump in my throat.
That may be the reason she died, or may not.
But I am so deeply sad that she died not knowing for sure that her daughter was alive.
My heart breaks that she didn't get to hold her again, to see her with her own eyes,
hear her voice and hold her close, whispering words of comfort into her ear.
God willing, there is heaven and she is able to see, and she knows.

3-
The kids jumped in the pool for the first time of the 2013 season.
This has been a cool Spring so far, and the water was a balmy 68 degrees.
Chris went first.
A little hesitation but then he went in full tilt off the diving board.
He surfaced screaming and yelling and gasping and laughing.

Trey was watching.. he was supposed to be next.
He was hopping about in agitation,
caught between a promise and complete and utter dread.
He must have gotten on and off that diving board twenty times,
with the rest of us reassuring him, then getting annoyed and irate after about the tenth attempt.

It took all we had not to just shove his ass in.

Ultimately he jumped in, off the side, when none of us were looking.
The little sneak.

The big surprise is that the boys managed to get Kate to jump in.
I would have bet MONEY that this wouldn't happen.
I think that she did it for them, and also for herself, as she realizes that these moments will become fewer and farther between.
She wanted to make a memory with them.
I think that's a big part of growing up- the realization that these things, these moments COUNT.

Kate jumped in fully clothed in a tee shirt and jeans.
I wanted to run and get my camera but I didn't.
I made myself stay and took a million pictures.. with my heart.

4-
Apparently I sent Trey to school earlier this week with moldy strawberries.
Obviously I had no idea
but this was reported to me IMMEDIATELY upon his entrance into the house in the afternoon.

I apologized and asked him to give me the container, so that I could put them down the disposal.
Somehow, though, I've been convinced to let the Gladware container of strawberries sit on the deck table so he can watch the mold grow.

There was a time I would have been repulsed or grossed out, but I've been the Mother of a boy so long that I wasn't even bothered.
Maybe I'll try to work in a lesson about penicillin. :)

5-
I have a million things to put out for the Purple Heart pickup tomorrow.
It's so many things that the pain-in-the-assness of moving it all outside almost outweighs the
feel-goodness of it!

Smoking is Awesome! and So is Drinking! (Things not to teach your kids)

Trey: "Hey Mom! Didn't people used to smoke a lot more than they do now?"

Me: "Yes, I guess so. People didn't know it was bad for them back then."

Trey pauses, considering this.

Me: "Did you know that even your Mimi used to smoke? And back then, women even smoked when they were pregnant!"

Trey, aghast: "Did Mimi smoke when she was pregnant with you?"

Me: "No, I don't think so."

Trey: "When she was pregnant with Uncle Richard?"

Me: "I don't know. Maybe at first."

Trey, excitedly: "Maybe that's what made Uncle Richard so awesome!"

-------------------

Trey: "Hey Mom, did you ever throw up at a party?"

Me, puzzled: "No, I don't think so. I don't remember doing that."

Trey: "Not even when you were drunk in college?"

Me: "Oh, um, well, yes I suppose I did, then."

Trey: "Weren't you EMBARRASSED?"

Me: "Well, probably not at the time but certainly the next day I was..."

Trey: "How did it feel? Did things SPIN?"

Me, grasping an opportunity: "Oh yeah. It is the WORST. You feel SO SICK and it's like when you ride those teacup rides and someone is spinning it really fast and you know you are going to puke and you want to get off but you CAN'T because where ever you go you are still SPINNING and you can't get away from it because it is YOURSELF."

Trey, mind clearly boggled, considers this.

Me: "LOOK, A SQUIRREL!"

Five Things Friday!

Another week, come and gone. Craziness!

1) Kate turned 18 this week! I am now the parent of an adult-person. GET OUT!! I don't even understand what that *means.* But I do feel a bit of puffy pride that we seem to have gotten one kid to 18 without completely wrecking them.

2) Kate's day-before-she-turned-18 Surprise Birthday Party was a rousing success! The girl had NO CLUE. It was magnificent. And a friend of mine made queso and guac for the Nacho Bar from scratch because SHE IS AWESOME!
Kate has really wonderful friends. I am a lucky parent because Kate has always brought her friends around and helped us to have a good, friendly, open relationship with them.  We'll see if the boys are the same way or not. I've been spoiled!

Eating- we served Chickfila Nuggets, a Nacho Bar and there was a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pretzel rods, marshmallows and rice krispie treats!

They ended up watching this movie together. Rob and I could hear them laughing and screaming in the family room when we were OUTSIDE!

Great group of friends. A lucky girl is Kate!

3) Trey had his Chorus concert last night. He did very well; Rob and I were awful. We are just so ready for the boy to be out of elementary school. We were like bad kids- sitting in the back of the auditorium making snide remarks to each other. He really did do well though. Promise! It just makes us laugh, sometimes, seeing all these parents jockeying for the best seats, videotaping the entire performance. I mean, there are like 180 kids up there! Does anyone ever actually WATCH chorus performances again?

4) I lost weight doing low-carb. So did Rob. I gained weight back when I stopped doing low-carb. So did Rob. Why are we surprised by this? Yet somehow, we are!

5) Our garden has been planted! Tomatoes, red pepper, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, "burpless" cukes, strawberries, and string beans. I've been walking around singing "Inch by inch and row by row" and making everyone nuts. It's awesome.

Five Things

I'm borrowing (stealing?) an idea from a fellow blogger (http://whocanitbe.blogspot.com/2013/04/five-things-about-felicity-on-friday.html) to write Five Things. I often think of a thing or two I want to say, but it's not enough for a blog post. So it ends up on Facebook as a status update instead. BTW Nic Rogers, if you read this blog post, the blog writer I linked to sounds exactly like you in my head. Does that even make sense? When I read her blog, I can hear your voice.. same kind of stream-of-consciousness style. Makes me smile! :)

1- Gracie has a "stampled" (http://richardclewis.blogspot.com/2013/03/stampled.html) paw. She sliced it open on the hinge mechanism on the underside of the recliner. Poor girl. The bandage the Vet put on it lasted about two days so we have been inventive since then. Right now she is wearing a Fila sock of Trey's (because it's a tight fit) with a rubber band on it to keep it on. Then, when she goes out on a wet day or a dewy morning, we put a baggie over that with another rubber band. It's kind of comical really. Sadly, her issues don't seem to be with her joints but either with her back or a neurological problem. Either way, very expensive and money that we simply don't have. So we are loving her up and are grateful that she's over two years beyond the average life span for her breed.

2- I got so annoyed yesterday! First, I was at Bed, Bath and Beyond trying to buy an item. I was having difficulty locating it, so I asked for help. The Sales Associate told me to look in one area while she checked another and she'd be back. MANY minutes later, I finally realized she wasn't coming back. I went off in search of her and asked for her at Customer Service. She came back, looking annoyed, and said "Didn't xxx come to help you? I told him to." I told her no, but even if he had, I didn't know to look for him. So she found xxx and asked him about the item, which he then looked up and told me that they didn't have it. And the whole time, all of them look annoyed. HELLO? Isn't your job to sell things to people?

3- So I am leaving Bed Bath and Beyond, quite aggravated at the complete lack of customer service, and am backing out the car. Now, I am backing out slowly and carefully but at some point, you have to look in front of you to make sure you aren't going to hit the cars in the spaces beside you when you turn the wheel. Right? So this FREAKING MORON walks behind my car (which is 3/4 out of the space now, and in motion.) When I glance into my mirror again, I see him and slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him. I was INCENSED. I had a few words with him (completely mild, no cussing, just telling him that walking behind a car like that is dangerous. Think that was effective? Of course not. Sigh.)  Why are people such effing morons? I swear, everyone is in SUCH a hurry anymore and everything is about them. It makes me sad.

4- Rob and I aren't big drinkers during the week, we are more social drinkers. But the other night, on a whim, we decided to take our beer and wine and go relax on the hammock together. We jokingly called it "being old people." So out we go, all ready to relax and discuss our day, when what do we see? Trey on the trampoline. He spots us just as we spot him and our relaxing time was thereafter interrupted by "Mom, Look at this!" and "Dad, look at me!" We had to laugh. We will have plenty of time for quiet in just a few years. I did think we had moved out of the "look at me!" stage though. Maybe he just doesn't get enough opportunities to say it.

5- Why is it that things break when money is tight? Our appliances are in cahoots. First the faucet breaks in the kitchen and is leaking water down into the basement. So a new faucet was purchased and the plumber out to fix it. Then, literally at the same time, the dishwasher breaks. We have the plumber back to see if he did something to it while he was doing the faucet- nope. Then another plumber out because the line broke while we were pulling it out to take a look at it. Finally, another person out to fix the dishwasher. And now, the coffeemaker is on the blink. I've descaled it twice but it is still unhappy. It tried not to brew any coffee this morning but thought better of it when I smacked it HARD. Maybe I'll just have to beat the coffeemaker up every morning for my caffeine fix!