Morning

7 a.m. - Glance at clock and determine that "just five more minutes" is perfect.
7:25 a.m. - Get up and fumble blindly to the bathroom to put in contacts.
7:26 a.m. - Start a load of laundry.
7:30 a.m. - Pop two pieces of whole grain in the toaster oven and unload the dishwasher while bread is toasting.
7:34 a.m. - Bread has skipped right past toasting and into burning. Get out two more pieces of bread and repeat.
7:40 a.m. - Low fat cheese, toast and a cold diet coke and the morning news.
7:50 a.m. - Begin making the pillow-wrinkled face presentable for the public. A light moisturizer, eye makeup (which I never do well... they never quite match... one eye has slightly more liner than the other or the shadow isn't evenly applied), creme blush and a dusting of powder.
8:00 a.m. - Let the hair battle begin. The hair is armed with humidity and natural curl. I am armed with anti-frizz gel and a flat iron.
8:15 a.m. - Still working on the stubborn cowlick in the front. Decide that cutting cowlick out is an impulse best not acted upon. It's really tempting though.
8:20 a.m. - Flip on the lights in the kids rooms so they can begin the: "Mooooommmm. It's not daytime yet..." complaints.
8:25 a.m. - Slip on skirt and hot pink shirt. Buckle wide black belt over shirt. Looks stupid. Take shirt off and pick our pink patterned empire waist blouse. Arms look too fat. Decide on the wrap-dress. But now my shoes don't match and the multicolored necklace doesn't match the pattern of the dress.
8:35 a.m. - Walk down the hall to the kids' rooms wearing one shoe (where the heck is the other one). "Rise and shine people! Hit the deck! Bathroom, brush teeth, get dressed... let's go!"
8:36 a.m. - Roaming around the house looking for other shoe. Not in the dining room, not under my bed, not in the laundry room.
8:37 a.m. - Kids still lumped under covers. Don't think they've moved since 8:20 a.m. complaint.
8:38 a.m. - Drag the boy out of bed by his feet (don't worry... no injuries) and push him towards the bathroom.
8:38:30 a.m. - Dress the girl WHILE she's sleeping (I'm very speedy at this... practice makes perfect), including shoes and socks. My missing shoe is discovered in her closet. Should've looked there first.
8:40 a.m. - Boy has made it the bathroom. But is just standing in nightshirt and underwear, staring at the mirror. "Teeth don't brush themselves son. Get cracking now. Please?" Boy picks up toothbrush.
8:41 a.m. - Began the hair battle with the girl. I am armed with the only hairbrush she will tolerate, two ponytail holders and a hairbow. She is armed with cranky and a whole lot of stubborn. I win. But only because I outweigh her by xx pounds. There is great wailing and gnashing of teeth (that bit is by me, the wailing is her) and I once again am thankful our neighbors don't live within earshot of our house.
8:43 a.m. - The boy has both the toothbrush and the toothpaste in hand. But one has not met the other and the breath is still stinky. Threaten to brush them myself and am rewarded with action.
8:45 a.m. - Tell the boy that the girl is ready. He manages to throw on shorts and shirt (backwards of course) and sandals in record time so he can beat her to the car.
8:48 a.m. - Everyone in the car and buckled. Yay! Backing out of garage. Make it all the way down the driveway and realize the boy's lunchbox is still on the kitchen counter. Pull back in and grab lunchbox. Repeat the reversal out of the garage and realize that I forgot the frozen yogurt for the lunchbox. Repeat trip back up the driveway, into the house and out again.
8:53 a.m. - Finally pull onto the road and realize I've forgotten my sunglasses. Crap. Glance at clock and debate another trip back up the driveway. Decide squinting is worth it.
8:53 a.m. - Kids begin argument over which song they want to hear. "Number 10! NO!! Number 4. NO! Number 10!" We comprised on number 7.
8:56 a.m. Pull onto Westside Road. Right behind a tractor. No passing zone for 3/4 of a mile. Lovely.
8:57 a.m. - Still behind tractor. Wishing I hadn't take that extra five minutes onto my snooze (okay I know it was 25 but work with me).
8:58 a.m. - Tractor turns off. Yay! Smooth sailing all the way to the raptor center. Green lights and all! I must have done something right.
9:05 a.m. - We are last arrival for Wild Life Camp. College age student with no kids and lots of knowledge casts me look of mild censure. Mumble apology.
9:10 a.m. - More green lights on the way to Abby's school. Lucky day! She insists on taking largish singing Frosty the Snowman in for show and tell. Teachers very impressed with my cleverness for selecting cold toy to 'beat the heat.' Smile and accept praise. Do they need to know that I argued against bringing that one? I think not.
9:15 a.m. - Everyone squared away. Looking forward to work! Nice, quiet work. Where there are grown-ups and there is no arguing over seating arrangements or music selections.

How was your morning?

Well HELLO there!

I'm back! I'm sure all ten of my readers missed me. We're hanging in the land of blah. Nothing exciting going on. Just muddling through the heat, kids activities here and there, trying to stay on top of the weedy garden, and the yard work. Did I mention muddling through the heat? My love/hate relationship with Summer continues. I hate the hot of summer. I hate the cold of our two week winter. A nice light sweater day is heaven. Wish it was that perfect temperature every day. On with the Meme... Stolen from here, from which it was stolen from Cathy Zielske.

TODAY....

Outside my window... Overcast morning skies have given way to sunshine. I would have preferred the overcast to stay... and bring some rain with it!

I am thinking... about my boy. He's spending an entire week with Grandma Pat and Poppy and 5 of his cousins. I miss him already.

I am thankful for... air conditioning. Can't imagine life in this heat without it. Even though I grew up without AC... I have no desire to ever live without it again. Ever.

From the kitchen... Fried okra, fresh from the garden! Grew it myself and quite proud of it.

I am wearing... pink/brown/white print sundress and brown sandals.

I am creating... checks! First of the month bill paying time.

I am going... to the eye doctor this afternoon. I keep getting some kind of funky build-up right in the center of my contacts, lending a fuzzy, out-of-focus quality to my vision.

I am reading... nothing. Must get to the library/book store ASAP. I want to get my hands on...

I am hoping... that Angel and I can do a girl lunch this month! I need some girl chat.

I am hearing... the drip of the faucet.

Around the house... things are a mess. Rob is the organized one while the rest of us could set records with the speed of our mess-making. Abby is particularly speedy while J.T. shoots for maximum diameter, leaving Spiderman and his friends (lego, Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, Transformers too) scattered in every. single. room.

One of my favorite things... a family holiday. We celebrated my mother's birthday on Sunday. My nephew turns 16 on the same day, so we had a massive joint celebration with lots of noise, food, and cake. J.T. made a card for mother that said: "Happy Birthday to you. You look lick (like... still can't spell) a Grandma... and you are one too!" He was very proud. Grandma Pat was thrilled.

Overheard ... (I added this one): Abby to Rob: "Sometimes your mother says bad words." Rob: "I know."

A few plans for the rest of the week... Clean-up before the cleaning lady comes. Find time for working out (but it's too HOT she whines), a glass of wine (or three), and gardening.

Mad Scientist

This little inquisitive thing captured a caterpillar yesterday. Or I should say, a "caller-piller". Who was subsequently named... "Calla".

Caterpillars, we discovered, do not eat hard corn kernels. Or grass. Or rocks.

Despite their squishy appearance and general snake-like characteristics... they also don't swim. A theory has been floated about the size of their legs in proportion to their bodies and their rather sluggish attempts at movement.

IF your "pet" caller-piller chooses (is dumped into) to swim (sink) in the pool (bathroom sink), it will need to "rest" (go gently into that good night) in a curled position until it dries out (up). The good news is that the next morning, your caller-piller will be so well-rested that she will have crawled away (been scooped up) to greener pastures (the compost pile).

Did You Know....

.... that one 4 year old girl can, in the space of 10 minutes,

* empty every drawer in her dresser looking for a swimsuit?
* partially eat, and scatter the remainder of, three bananas?
* spill contraband chocolate milk on her carpet?
* spill contraband chocolate pudding on her carpet... and track it around the room?
* empty out the domino container and leave at least one domino in every room in the house?
* get an unidentifiable sticky something in her hair?
* paint her toenails and adjacent digits with the nail polish you haven't been able to find in six weeks?
* make her mother long for a glass of wine and silence? Sweet silence.
* Say "I love you more" so sweetly that the previous ten minutes might not have happened?

Summer Lovin'

Summertime loves:
Sundresses and lipgloss
Strappy sandals
Ice cold watermelon
Hot boiled peanuts
Fresh veggies
9 p.m. sunsets
Heat lightening
Choc. Chip Mint ice cream (of course)
Popsicles
Butterflies
Crepe Myrtles in bloom
Thunderstorms

I have to point out the loves, because the big hate is the heat. We are hitting the 100's this weekend (103F/42C) tomorrow and I have offered to sell Rob's Star Wars collection in exchange for a trip to the arctic.

We're BAAACCCCKKKKK!

Yay! The best thing about a vacation is coming home. The dog was thrilled to see us. I'm sure she thought we'd fallen off the face of the earth, despite a very full food dish and multiple water dishes to keep her fed and watered while we were away.

Our trip to Wild Adventures certainly was an adventure! The GPS kept changing it's mind about the directions and we added a few miles to our course along the way. Post-baby bladders aren't built for long road trips in sparsely populated (meaning very few bathroom opportunities) places. Each pit stop was greeted with sighs of relief and a mad dash to the bathroom. One tiny store in the middle of nowhere apparently catered to all of the needs of it's citizens as it featured the usual beer, candy, chips, newspapers, magazines... and a "lifestyle" dispenser in the one unisex bathroom. Luckily the smallest one can't read and the ADD one was lost in a daydream and never inquired about goat weed and it's herbal cure for certain male dysfunctions or the other 'items' available for only 75 cents each.

It took us four hours plus to get from our house to the hotel and the kids decided the long, boring drive during which stretches of millions of pine trees were broken up by the occasional intersection of country roads and small towns, was worth it once they got a peek at the pool... and the pizza parlor next door. Pizza first, then pool workout to burn off pizza calories. Our hotel also featured a gym, so Rob set the alarm (after I tried to set the alarm, but instead changed the time by about 6 hours), and I got up and went downstairs to workout. I rushed back up so Rob could go down and squeeze in a workout... but he decided to sleep an extra 30 minutes instead. Slacker.

While I sweated on the elliptical machine watching the morning news, the weather forecast scrolled across the screen: 96 degree Fahrenheit... heat index to hit 100. Great day to spend outdoors... all... day.... long.... don't you think?

Since we like to keep things up-tempo and dramatic, we started the day by losing Rob's blackberry. His work-issued Blackberry. We called the number. No Answer. Rob and his dad went on a hunt, back-tracking every step of the morning. I called the number again, and someone answered! The lost had been found. Phew. NOW we're ready to adventure! Rob tried to pay for our $7 parking fee with a $50 bill... which the parking attendant couldn't accept, so we scrounged up 6 singles and enough change for the $7. Luckily we had a buy two tickets, get 1 free coupon, so our park tickets only cost us $30 each. Good thing we had that discount. Little did we know we had just purchased our way into the land of $3 bottles of water and $4 cokes the size of a 12 ounce can.... $35 for a hamburger/fries lunch for 4 (2 kid-sized portions included)... on the hottest day yet of the summer.

I now have a new get rich plan! Build an amusement park, charge modest admission, but don't allow any outside drinks/food, etc. inside and charge insanely high prices for said food and drinks inside the park. Brilliant, huh?

Any who... J.T. LOVED the animals.... black bears, alligators, birds, snakes, tigers, elephants, giraffes... all of which were rescue animals or retired circus animals... (we had to stop through the Alapaha preserve on the way out to say good bye to the alligators) and Abby was enamored with the magic show and safari train ride. We walked for miles in 100 degree weather, sweating like marathon runners and sucking down $3 bottles of water and sharing the $6 souvenir cup (only $2 for refills all day, anywhere in the park) while trying to keep up with Abby (we only briefly lost track of her once) from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. before retreating to the hotel and its nice, cool pool.

The kids loved it, the adults survived and the washing machine is back to it's normal never-ending cycle. And the dog is lavishing us with happy whines of delight to remind us that we were missed and loved.

P.S. I will post pictures tomorrow. I can't find the thingy that connects the camera to the computer to upload the photos and I'm far too tired to search for it now.

Vacation Week

The view from the backseat:




Day 1 of Vacation begins for Rob and I today. We have led up to a week of off days with a hectic weekend schedule that included a haircut for the boy, a pre-trip shopping excursion, cleaning and laundry duties, car maintenance and garden upkeep (my tomatoes have been ruined by bugs)! J.T. had a swim party for a friend and I came home with a vicious headache and went straight to bed.

This morning we left the house at 9 a.m. to get J.T.'s vaccinations updated before meeting my sister and her boys at Splash in the Boro. We have walked in the door a scant few minutes and I still have to clean their ears with alcohol so we don't run into any issues with swimmers' ears. Rob cleaned out and washed my car, poor fellow, while we were gone... and took it by for a car wash for a thin coat of wax (Mr. Details is dictating this bit over my shoulder right now).

Tomorrow we have our annual Anniversary Trip to Savannah. The 11th time we've made this trip. He has a list, I have a list... the car is gassed up and ready, babysitting plans have been set, the bank run completed.

Wednesday we leave for Wild Adventures. Part zoo, part amusement park, part water playground... what's not to love? Something for everyone. This is our first big car trip with Abby. Valdosta is a 4 hour drive from Statesboro.... and she is the child who thought her Easter bucket was a throw up bucket for the car and was quite excited by the idea of trading the plain one for a pink one with eggs on it. We haven't had a car sick episode in several months... so.... fingers crossed!

We return Friday. I know you'll miss me. Aunty Evil may need medication just to get through the week. Actually it's just Abby, her "proxy child" she'll miss. Probably sending her evil vibes as I type, to make sure my vacation doesn't get too dull. So if you don't hear from me until the weekend, don't be surprised. I'll take pictures for show and tell later.