I just fell off the turnip truck don't ya know

So the other night #1 came home from work and sat down and told me about how it was his buddy's 18th birthday and there was somewhat of a celebration going on. No drinking or wild partying like back when I turned 18, just what appeared to be 15 year old shenanigans. #1 took his break when his buddy came by. Here's his story.

#1: Guess what happened tonight?

Me: What?

#1: We were in the parking lot next to the restaurant shooting off Roman Candles

Me: Why?

#1: 'Cause we thought it would be fun

Me: I see...

#1: And one of the fireballs came down and landed inside my shoe

Me: WHAT???

#1: Yep, burnt a hole in my sock, and my foot

Me: LET ME SEE!!!!

#1: Mom, it's okay. I treated it with some hydrogen peroxide and polysporin, it's okay

Me: Take your shoe off and let me look at it, right now!!!

#1: Okay....okay, relax

Off with the shoe, off comes the sock and there's the burn. And he was right, it wasn't too bad. He had cleaned it up nicely and it looked like it was already scabbing over. Now that initial shock was over I asked him to tell me what happened again. And he repeated the story of how the fireball came down and landed inside his shoe.

#1: What are the odds of that happening eh?

Me: Slim and none...and slim just left town....

#1: I know, we were really surprised too

Me: Do you honestly expect me to believe that story?

#1: Mom, it's what happened.

Me: Yeah, okay

#1: You don't believe me do you? I can phone buddy right now and you can check with him

Me: I don't need you to phone buddy, I know exactly what happened

#1: Go ahead, tell me then. Because no matter what you say, you'll be wrong

Me: How about I wait until you decide to tell me the real story and then I'll tell you you're right

#1: No. If you think your so smart you tell me

Me: I think you were playing dodge the fireball and I think that buddy was aiming the roman candle right at you and you were jumping out of the way of the fireballs and you didn't get out of the way of one the fireballs in time and it landed in your shoe and burnt your foot

#1: No. You are so wrong. It came out of the sky and landed in my shoe

Me: I see....

Fast forward a couple of days and #1 is limping around the house. Now, #1 often limps around the house in an attempt to procure the sympathy vote in order to get out of doing something that I've been harping at him for two hours to do. But I hadn't asked him to do anything. He was just hobbling around of his own accord. I asked him what was wrong and he said his twisted his ankle and it was sore. I stood there for a minute and watched him walk and knew that his ankle was fine. His foot wasn't, but his ankle was. I asked him to take off his shoe so I could see his foot and he said, no. With what seemed like a hundred red flags going off inside my head I insisted that he take the shoe off and let me take a look at his foot. I needed to see what was going on.

Several curse words later and a tossed in wrestling match in order to get the shoe off, the shoe came off. And, as I sat there and watch the foot balloon up to twice its size, I thought "this isn't going to be good". Then the sock came off and there it was. There was the problem. The wound from the fireball that just "dropped" into his shoe was an infected mess. I nearly threw up. Well, not really, but I could've. I said "Let's go." #1 looked at me like I was from another planet and asked where? I said we're going to the hospital to get it looked at. The infection was spreading through his foot and could quite possibly head up his leg and if we didn't get this under control right now, this very minute, there was a good chance they might need to cut off his foot, possibly from the knee down.

After a few arguments, one of which included a shot at me about how I was going to miss Grey's Anatomy if I took him to the hospital , and well, we all know how important Grey's Anatomy is to me, yeah, like its more important than having my kid lose his leg, we headed to the hospital. Besides, they have a TV in the waiting room...

It was at the hospital, when the doctor asked him what happened, that he looked at me and he realized that he had to tell the true story of what happened that night with the roman candle. I looked at him, raised my eyebrow in that way only a mother can do, and waited. As he turned all red in the face from sheer embarrassment, he said, "Mom, do you want to tell him?". I just smiled and said "No sweetie, you go ahead".

Here's what it looked like that night. I warn you, it's not for the weak of stomach. Well, maybe my stomach is weaker than most, but regardless, you've been warned.

It's looking much better now, after 2 days of heavy duty meds and diligent cleaning and dressing changes. I don't think he'll lose the foot (but he could have...) And #1 is thoroughly enjoying the "keep the foot raised and stay off it" instructions from the Doctor. I think its the first time he's ever done what he's been told!

There's a new doctor in town

You know what tonight is don't you?

My official kickoff of the new television season. And it should be for you as well.

Grey's Anatomy. Two hours. Brand spankin' new!!

I am so stoked!!!

A little McDreamy, some McHottie, a bit of Christina, the wonderfully cheeky Bailey, George, Meredith, Alex.... oh yeah, it is gonna be soooo gooood!

So get your ass off the computer and go tune it in! Seriously. You have 15 minutes.

Go on now! Get!

To Cut, Or Not To Cut

That is the question.

When I pulled into the driveway tonight I couldn't help but hear the neighbours cutting their grass. Yes, the same neighbours that get out there on both their lawn tractors and do the synchronized lawn cutting thing. And I thought to myself, "for crying out loud, it's the 24th of September, why are you cutting your grass?"

And then I looked at our grass. Yeah, it's kind of long in spots and could probably use a trim before the snow flies, but we never, ever, EVER cut the grass in September. We've always taken the cutting deck off in late August and replaced it with the rototiller.

But then, I began to doubt our decision to not cut in September. I got to thinking about what the yard looks like in the spring (not a pretty sight if I do say) and maybe if we did cut it in September, it would be a little more eye pleasing after all the snow has melted.

Then I thought, No, it would still be dead and brown. And all those things that you spent a whole weekend last autumn begging your children to help you clean up and put away or toss into the trash can so they can be taken to the dump somehow re-appear.

Then I opened my email. And this was there. And I thought, "could the timing of this have been any more perfect?"

God's View of Lawns

GOD:
Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.

ST. FRANCIS:
It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your Flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD:
Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it - sometimes twice a week.

GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bail it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS:
Yes, Sir.

GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS:
You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD:
No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD:
Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE:
'Dumb and Dumber', Lord. It's a story about....

GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

Mondays...just go away

This getting back to school thing has been hard on me. Very hard.

Silly me, I thought that the return to routine and structure and some kind of semblence of order would be a good thing.

But I've been really out of sorts since the 3rd of the month. Feeling stressed and strung out in the morning. And I mean really, why shouldn't I? Making lunches, making sure there's clothes for the kids (oh, and me too) to wear, you know, washed, dried and folded (and for me, IRONED!!! crap I hate that), trying my best to get my butt out the door to the gym after having done everything else (no comment on the gym thing...except the mornings aren't working right now and the after work workouts just are not as consistent as they should be).

But today, well, it brought a different kind of challenge. Not only was I faced with everything above, I had to go to the dentist to get my broken tooth fixed. And I will honestly say, that if the busted tooth wasn't visible when I smiled, I would've put it off. But I was not going to go any longer than I absolutely had to looking like a redneck when I did smile. Sorry. Just wasn't going to happen. So I had to go and get it fixed.

And while I usually sleep like crap on a Sunday night, last night was fairly decent. I had spent the weekend getting organized, you know, closets, drawers, cleaning things like the fridge and the pantry, taking stock of what was what. I went to bed last night and felt pretty good about getting up this morning, thinking that it would be relatively stress free, due to the fact that I was so organized and despite the dental appointment.

I got up and went about my usual routine. A little of this, a little of that, the organization thing had been completely taken care of so I was somewhat carefree this morning. Came time to take care of me and get going with getting me going and I made the mistake of not closing the bathroom door when I was in there. I mean, I sort of closed it, but I guess it didn't "click" closed. But seriously, I'm the only one up at this hour, why should I be concerned? And then, who should show her pretty little face while I was in there doing my business, but the little Nikki girl. And as she sat her butt down, cocked her head to the side and looked at me, I couldn't help but think "Oh No!!!". Sure as, well, that'll be self explanatory very quickly, it was like a light bulb went on inside her head and she went "Oh! THAT'S what we do in here!" and then proceeded to stand up and crap on my bathroom floor.

Yeah, fun stuff at five thirty in the morning. I could've sworn I'd seen her squat down and do HER!! business when she was outside 30 minutes ago!!

Okay, so left to deal with that, can it really get any better?

Leaving for the dreaded dental appointment, after having told my children that they would not be getting a ride to school with me, that they would be taking the bus, I headed out to my car. I mean really, leave early to go to the dentist just so they can have a ride to school?

And then, as I approached my car, coming 'round the driver side to get in, I noticed that the window was rolled down. And I stopped. And then remembered....

It had rained while we were sleeping. And rained lots.

And there was the seat that I was suppose to sit my ass upon, soaking wet. And the floor too. And the dash. And I need not go on.

But I do need it to be known that it was not I who was last one in the driver's seat.

It was that son of mine that is apparently ready, willing, able, responsible, has just has enough activity going on between the ears in order to enable him to drive a car and know better so that he can get his driver's license to drive without me in the seat next to him that was the last one behind the wheel.

It was too bad the school bus had already picked them up.

I could've let him drive.

Looking for trouble

And I think I've found it.

You see, I’ve been going through stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. If you’ve ever seen our photo “crate”… really, it is a crate, a large crate… you’ll know exactly what I mean about STUFF!!!

I decided I needed to do a little Photo Therapy and remember why it is that I love my children.

Don’t get me wrong, there really isn’t any reason not to love them, but there are a few bumps along the way that I keep hitting that make me want to question: like that they’re deeply enveloped in puberty and are like night and day, not only in looks but personality and that alone is nothing but trouble, believe you me! but they both don’t have an ounce of patience where the other is concerned and both seem to have left their brains on their respective pillows because they certainly aren’t using them and both of them have no respect whatsoever for just about anything, and I may be biased here, but it’s mostly me, and no regard for any other parental responsibility that they require we bestow upon them.

But this isn’t what the post was originally intended to be, I didn’t want to gripe about my offspring (yes, today they’re OFFSPRING!!)

And while I was engaging in restoring my belief that I do indeed love my children, I recalled that I was given the pleasure, oh, probably about ten years ago, to hold on to all the picture albums that my mom and dad had. They were downsizing and didn’t have any room for a lot of their stuff so decided to hand it down to the children. I was given the task of holding on to the photo albums. I wasn’t offered any of the other stuff, just “Here, I’m giving you the pictures, take care of them, keep them safe and one day, split them up amongst your brother and sister.” Well, shucks, I’ll be! Thank you so much. But hey, what about the cherry dining room suite? Or the leather couch and chair? The china? And what about…..

Yes, I got the pictures.

And then I thought it might be time to see about splitting them up and handing some over to my siblings the next time I’m out that way, so I started going through the albums. But, as I was going through these albums and what seemed like a never ending stack of photo envelopes, I was finding that there were so many pictures that were so precious that I wasn’t sure I could hand them over just yet. I may need some more time with them.

I’ve got to tell you….well, let’s just say that if I can figure out how to get my scanner working, I’ll certainly be finding me some trouble alright! And plenty of it I might add!! Between emails and this very blog, my family may just never speak to me again!

You wanna talk about that dining room suite …...?

Randomness

Time
Goes by, so slowly….This week took forever and a day to get out of here…

A535
Make sure you don’t put a tube of that stuff in the same drawer as the toothpaste. I can see nothing good coming of that.

Short Sleeve Shirts
If you’re going to wear them, do us all a favour and scrub your elbows. Nothing worse than looking at dirty elbows. Put some moisturizer on them while you’re at it.

Points Card
Just what the world needed – another company offering points. They really don’t make a wallet big enough to hold all these cards.

Skyways
Are filled with geese….meaning one my favourite times of the year is right around the corner.

Biways
Is it better to cut 12 minutes off your travel time but travel 15 kms further? I’m just wondering, that’s all, you know, with gas costing what it is….

That’s it, that’s all! Enjoy the weekend.

so...i've discovered....

that if you need to type your password into the password field more than twice...before you get it right....you really shouldn't write anything ... LOL

so, no writing tonight.

just visual.

i hope you enjoy.

check out the frickin ears on this one!!

that would be the...."the full moon arising"

okay, just look at the cloud colour...amazing!

flower shot..

another flower shot ..very cool....

can you get any more awesome?

*** edit *** apparently some of you were thinking that I couldn't type my password in correctly due to perhaps, oh, let's say, over consumption of grape or hops.... truth be told, my brain wasn't getting the message to the fingers correctly. eg... sending out an email same evening to the entire PAC advising of the meeting date... and typing in two different dates... miscommunication between the circuits that transport messages between point a and point b. it happens. quit bugging me about it.

House Arrest - Oh Noooooo!!!!

For the first time ever, in almost 16 years, I had a parent call me and complain about my son. I’m not saying which son, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to figure it out.

And while I am going to tell you the story, first I’m going to do some bragging. Every single time my boys have been over at someone else’s house, I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. How they’re so polite and helpful and respectful. How they’re just a pleasure to have around. And how they’re welcome back, anytime! And when you hear this kind of stuff, you wonder if they’re talking about your kid, the same one who isn’t like that at home.

But all that changed this weekend.

It would appear that a trampoline cannot handle three kids bouncing on it. All three of them bouncing at different times, trying to send one of the others up so high that they could probably do a somersault over the safety netting. Bouncing so much that there was constant stress on the springs and the legs. Bouncing so hard that the springs give way and the legs buckle.

And when this happens, the trampoline is considered broken.

Then the parent calls to complain about your kid. And you’re speechless. Because you’ve never been put in this position before, so of course you don’t know what to say. All kinds of things go through your head, like, “Are you talking about my son?” “Are you calling the right parent?” “My son did this? This is so out of character for him” and so on and so on. And the conversation ends with the parent telling you that your son is no longer welcome back to their home. And you still don’t know what to say.


Because this has never happened to you before!

And then you have to have the “talking to” with the boy. Try and get to the bottom of what happened, why? where were your brains? did you not think that something like this might happen? and on it goes. You know, the "respecting other people's thing" angle, the "it's not your's to break" angle.... And then, you make your kid phone the parent and apologize for their behaviour and explain just what happened, from their perspective.

And you just know that this is the hardest thing in the world for your kid to get through.

And you smile.

And then you realize that punishment for his actions will result in some type of house arrest for the next week or so and you realize that this could be the hardest thing in the world for you to get through.


And you're no longer smiling.

However, having the parent of the broken trampoline call you later that night and thank you for having your son phone to apologize for breaking his stuff, and pointing out that the other kid involved in this fiasco hasn’t bothered to call and do the same, nor has his own kid even said sorry, well, that sort of makes up for the tough time you’ll be having while your kid is house bound.


Oh, and by the way, mine is now welcome back.

That's twice now

They say that bad things usually happen in 3's. And if that's the case and is really true, I am sooo going to be continuing in my paranoid state until the third one comes along.

And then I will relax.

You may remember my story a while back of how I came so very close to having what I considered would've been a horrific car accident. It was last winter and by the time the truck behind me came to a stop, it was right up at my door. I could've reached out and touched the headlights. I'm certain I would've been killed. Crushed between him and the guy in front of me.

Now, you need to know that I am a good driver. You're probably thinking that I'm not, but I am. I have the full load of merits, I've never been in an accident (unless you count that one time back when I was 18 and rear-ended someone at a stop sign because I was busy changing the radio station and thought my foot was pushing harder on the brake than it really was. It was never reported by her, or me, so it doesn't count), I've only received one speeding ticket and one running a red light ticket. I'm a good driver. A very good driver.

Coming home on Friday from the full time thing I do five days a week, it was a lovely, beautiful, sunny day. It was very warm and people were happy, it was the end of the day, end of the week, the weather was great, it was smiles and happy faces all around.

Now, I'd say close your eyes and imagine this, but then you wouldn't be able to read, so you're going to have to multi task now. Read and Imagine. Both at the same time.

Approaching one of a few railway crossing's I encounter on my drive, I notice that the lights are flashing, telling us that there's a train coming. The guy in the right lane, in a big blue van, one of those older ones that doesn't have windows and is probably being used to haul tools and stuff around (I say this because SG's brother has one and in my mind, all big blue vans without windows are hauling tools of the trade around in them) puts on his brakes. And so do I. A quick glance in the rear view shows me that the car behind me however isn't stopping. Not even slowing down. I take my foot off the brake and move ahead a bit, while sorta moving out of the way to the left. I have room, probably 15 feet before I'd be too close to the tracks. I look at the train tracks and can't see how far away the train is because the big blue van without windows is in the way and then I hear tires screeching and I look in the rear view again and the car behind me is right there, is going to hit me and hit me hard! I move forward more, streering the Cav a little more to the left and the car behind is still coming. I notice the big blue van cranks it to the right and moves up and I crank it to the left and move up and now, I can't move up any more... because I will be sitting on the train tracks.

And then I waited, for what seemed like hours but was really only probably a millisecond, for the car behind me to hit me. I think I even had my eyes closed and was bracing myself for it. "Here it comes, here it comes" I'm thinking. But it didn't. When I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror and out the window, I saw that the car behind me had managed to stop right between me and the big blue van. And the front end of the car was right at the front door of my car.

I looked up and there's the train. About 2 1/2 inches from the front end of my car. Seriously, I was that close.

Now, I'm not a traffic accident inspector and don't even pretend to be one, but I do know that if she (yes, it was a she who nearly took me and my car out) had hit me at even the reduced speed she was doing while slamming on her brakes in an attempt to not hit me, the impact would've been enough to push me on to the railway tracks, right in front of the oncoming train. Not only would the rear end of my car be crushed, I would've been to.

So, that's two now. Two that were too close for comfort. Two that I really wish had never happened. Two that will keep me on guard for a very, very long time. Two that have made me not a very trusting person when it comes to others navigating their vehicles down the highways and biways.

The guy in the big blue van, thank you for being aware and being smart.

The girl driving the car behind me, I don't know what you were doing that took your attention off of projecting your vehicle down the roadway at what was probably too fast of a speed given the traffic volumes and what not, but next time, maybe you shouldn't be doing it...?

I think I'm going to start taking the bus. I feel it might be safer.

*** Edit ***
I've received a few emails telling me that they were somewhat pissed that there wasn't any random this week....uhmm... hello?? I could've possibly and potentially been in a life ending accident... Honestly, do you really think I have anything random bouncing between the ears right now??? Shit...

It will however return next week, you know, barring any traffic issues. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Whoops, My Bad

So, like, if you've come back to read last night's post and are saying to yourself "WTF? I know it was here last night??", yeah, it's gone.

My rambling editorial, which I thought was stellar, and not particularly well written, well, it had to be deleted.

Not that you need an explanation, I'm gonna be nice and give you one.

I have some stuff going on in the background known as my "real life" and it was oh so kindly pointed out to me that maybe, just maybe, I may want to tone the blog thing down a bit for the next little while. Subject lines like "eat chocolate. have sex."...well....can be attention grabbers and I don't want to be attracting that kind of attention right now, at this point in my life, with what's going on.

So...hopefully once I'm through these events in my life, once I'm done jumping through hoops, I'll be able to return back to regular posting. But for now, it's all sunshine and rainbows people.

Sorry....

Early Morning Night Owl

I've been up since 3:19 am.

And while you all know how much I enjoy my early morning time to myself, when the whole house is still asleep and no one is talking to me, or calling me, or asking me to do or get something, this is just ridiculous.

But, it also happens when you lay down for a little "nap" at 8:30 and well, just stay napping. Hot time Saturday night in this house I'll tell ya!

So, y'all are no doubt wondering what I've been doing with myself. Well, I did try to go back to sleep. But THAT didn't happen. I gave some thought about sandblasting the bathroom, but that would wake everybody up. And then there was the supper dishes that didn't get done whilst I was off in dream land, but again, that might wake people up. Who am I kidding? They're immune to the sound of housework being done so I probably could've done it all without them hearing a damn thing and they would wake up to sparkling clean. Not a pleasure I've ever been afforded however, and I don't think I should start something I may not want to keep up with!

So I did what everybody would do. I got on the internet. And I'll tell you, the transmission speeds are much quicker in the middle of the night on this dial up gig I got going here! And I did research that I've been wanting to do for some time now. Well, not really, but I did have a few questions that I needed answered. Actually, I just surfed aimlessly about and whenever something popped into my head I entered it into a google search and away I went.

Found out the lack of Northern Lights this summer is due to very little solar activity. Turns out that when there are storms on the sun, explosions happen and this interferes with the magnetic field of the earth and as such, causes the Aurora Borealis to dazzle us with its light show. And I bet you thought it was the spirits fighting, didn't you?

Discovered what looks to be an awesome recipe for pumpkin muffins. Which won't do me any good this year as the pumpkin plants didn't put forth one single pumpkin that I could use. The honeydews had a couple, but somehow, I don't think honeydew muffins would be very good.

Continued in my pursuit to try and have a better understanding of U.S. politics. Yeah, uhmm, no. There's some things that I just can't wrap my head around.

Been thinking about watching the NFL this year and did some reading on that. I'm still on the fence in this regard. There's just too many teams and the game takes too long to play and the amount of money these guys make is insane and well, I think I'll just stick with my own football league.

Got re-acquainted with this. I had forgotten about this and how good it makes me feel. It's a little more commercialized now but hey, everybody's gotta make a buck somehow. The photos are wonderful.

I did give some thought to going back to bed, but with two cups of tea in me, the brain activity has started and well, now I just can't.

Besides that, a quick video that I want to see from the Food Network has finally "buffered" itself in and I may be able to watch it in its entirety without getting upset with the computer and wanting to pick it up and toss it out the window.

Friday Randomness

WEATHER
The people in my house are asking me to turn the geo-thermal unit to heat. I am standing firm in my decision that they should just put on a hoodie. Try living in Mommy's body for a day boys!

94.3 CURVE FM
They've messed with one of my radio stations again (just for the drive in...my afternoons are spent further up the dial)...but it might end up being okay. A little alternative, a little indy, not so much Rhianna or repeats...they ARE overplaying that new Pink song however...you know the one that sounds like an Irish jig?

FRUIT FLIES
Why is it you only see them in the fall, after you start bringing in the vegetables? It's not even fruit for crying out loud! And why are they attracted to my wine glass? They're FRUIT flies, not wine flies (once grapes get turned into wine, they're no longer considered fruit just in case you didn't know).

GARDEN
Will be cleaned out sooner than ever before. Didn't give forth much at all due to the lousy weather. And....it will be scaled back quite a bit next year. Pickling jars for sale, anyone?

GRASSHOPPERS
Are not very nice. And they're really not nice when they decide to jump up and end up landing on you....underneath your skirt....on your body! THANK GOD!!! no one was around when the skirt found its way to the grass....or to hear my girlie screams!

It's the weekend, enjoy!

Survived Another One

Summer that is.

Well, actually, I should say having the kid’s home from school for two months.

I didn’t mind getting up a little bit earlier yesterday as #2 headed back to grade 8. Or today for that matter as #1 headed to grade 11 (can you believe that…grade 11???) I really didn’t. As a matter of fact, I was awake before the alarm went off.

I was checking backpacks and making lunches and making sure wardrobe choices were available (like they ever wear what I think they should wear!!) and doing it all with a smile on my face and with a slightly lighter step! Almost a hop and a skip if you will.

And I’ll tell you, the difference between them being in school and not being is school is amazing.

The phone hardly rang at the office yesterday and today (well, I mean it rang, but the calls for me were substantially fewer) and it’s been two days and I still have two bars on my cell phone’s battery meter.

Yesterday, the kitchen looked like only a “mini-tornado” tore through it as #1 was the only one home. This is in comparison to the downright disaster I’ve been walking into for the last two months. I mean, really…I didn't think there wasn’t enough food in the house to have that many dirty dishes!! #1’s finally getting the “you can use the same glass twice you know” that’s been repeated and repeated for years now.

Today, if the sun had been shining, I’m sure the glare off the clean counters would’ve blinded me! And this is just the beginning…by this time next week, they’ll be so tired and brain exhausted, they won’t have the energy to fight and argue and do all that stuff that makes me absolutely crazy…

The best part…this will continue for the next fifteen weeks. That’s right, fifteen weeks until Christmas break.

The not so good part….I’m fairly certain it will be here before I know it.