Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Stranger things have Happened

I'm always impressed by strangers that so freely start conversations with me in public places.  While I can totally drive some folks nuts with my inability to stop talking when the appropriate social cue is given, I'm very much one of those stare-at-the-elevator-door-silently-till-I-get-to-my-floor kind of folks.  So, today when I was sitting at Walgreen's waiting for my flu shot and a gentleman who was waiting for his prescription struck up a conversation with me, I was both in awe and honored.  We started with the weather, yes, so cliche.  But soon we were talking about his childhood, my clot, a career in medicine he somehow never managed to make happen, fear of needles (I don't have that fear...thankfully).  He was hard to make eye contact with as his glances were fleeting, but somewhere in the depths of his blue-gray eyes was a lot of pain and loss.  I kind of wish the shot hadn't been delivered so quickly...but I'm also quite sure he may have gone to a place where I don't need to be.  Wishing you well, dude, and hope your meds weren't for something terribly serious.

Inspired by the magic of Wonderlandia

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

All Aboard the Homework Express!

There's nothing like an evening of homework to make your kiddos groove through all of their personalities.  The good, the bad, and the oh, so ugly.  It's pretty much like there's a personality for each stage of homework grief.


Denial:  "I don't even know if I have homework.  How am I supposed to know?  I'm hungry."

Anger:  "I hate school!  Homework is STUpid!"

Bargaining:  "If you get me some food, I'll do my homework.  I'll start if I can just play with the puppy a little first."

Depression:  "What's the point of this?  I'm never going to use this math...ever."

Acceptance:  "I'm doing it, I'm doing it, can't you see I'm doing it?"


Ay-yi-yi!  I am not a fan of the homework drama train....


Monday, November 28, 2011

Embrace that Traffic Jam

Got a taste today of what many, many people deal with on a daily basis.  You guessed it...I was stuck in traffic.  Bleck!  Oh, my goodness, bless your hearts.  I have been blissfully oblivious.  As it was an hour's drive, in what should have taken 15 minutes, it made me wonder what constructive things everyone must be doing as I'm absolutely positive they're not all just sitting, looking forward, and being frustrated. 

I'm quite sure they're doing calf raises, one calf at a time, of course.  I bet they're doing thigh master type leg squeezes.  Even some work on their gluteus maximuses (maximi?).  And dare I say kegels?  Perhaps they're recording snippets of a story they're composing on their iPhone.  Maybe they're meditating, seeing the zen of the traffic jam driving experience.  I bet there are some who are listening to their dance routine music visualizing every awesome move they'll make on stage.  I'm sure it must be so.  There's no way all those thousands and thousands of folks wouldn't be making the best of that time.


Sunday, November 27, 2011

Well, I do declare!

So, a few days ago I'm at a restaurant with my family. This particular unnamed restaurant is one I frequented when I was in high school. Still love it! I went to the bathroom and I'm sitting there, doing what one does, and I look around the room. Everywhere, EVERYWHERE, are declarations of love. So, I try my hardest to imagine what goes through someone's mind when they declare such words of affection in a place where, odds are, their beloved will never see it (OK, I know this may not be true of couples of the same sex, but I did not see any such declarations on said walls).  I came to the conclusion that taking the time to write"Jane loves John" on a bathroom wall is tantamount to critters peeing on turf...marking their territory.  Once I figured this out it seemed perfectly reasonable to declare such passion in a bathroom, rather tidy, actually.

Throughout my childhood I was never one to engage in trouble-making, in spite of the fact that I most definitely looked like I was up to no good every time I left my home.  And I most definitely didn't engage in vandalism, so I never declared my love for anyone in this particular way.  OK, I admit it, in 6th grade there was this particular boy that I had a mad crush on.  I tried to carve our initials in the tree in my front yard, but dang it!  It's hard to carve into a healthy tree with crummy tools.  So, I think I stopped at the letter "K".  Guess I marked my own tree....  That's MY tree!

Anyway, I presented the drawing below to Dave today.  I said "Ta-da!!!" when I showed him...just like the girl in the picture.  :-)

No trees or bathroom walls were harmed in the making of this declaration of love.  Oh, wait, I painted on paper...I take it back....


Saturday, November 26, 2011

And a mighty fine mornin' to ya!

As Dave would say, we were up at the butt crack of dawn.


Puppy started whining at 4:45...I woke up.

Puppy started barking at 5:30...big guy woke up.

Big guy decided we should all go out to eat and puppy was placed on top of sleeping Dave...Dave woke up.

Puppy left at home with Scout...mom had small panic attack as big guy drove us on the rainy roads (I suck at being the mom of a new driver)...and, yes, we were at Kerby Lane this morning at 6 AM. 

Little guy missed all the fun...the price of an overnight at a friend's.


Super great family good times!

Friday, November 25, 2011

New Vocab

I had the pleasure of hanging out with my dad today as he shared his love of rocketry with a young potential rocketeer.  As we were leaving his house he referred to something (I can't remember what) as an accidental combo of two words.  I spent most of the afternoon trying to remember what it was because I liked it so much.

Hmmmm...was it "funky" + ""yucky"?  No, that combo is totally not something that would even accidentally pop out of his mouth.

Was it "yucky" + "icky"?  No, that combo is already a commonly used word.

Gee...I remembered that I said I'd most definitely use the new word the next time I didn't like the weather.

Aha!!  It was "funky" + "lousy".  Eureka!  "FOUSY!!!"

Feel free to use it.  I'm quite sure my dad would approve of it becoming the next "go to" slang word.  SO much better than "sick" or "bad" (that dates me....).

Let's try it out:

"Yo, that outfit is fousy, dude."  Perfect!

"Man, that trick was fousy."  Awesome!

Yup...fousy.

This tree is totally fousy!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Still hungry!

Why yes I did eat till I was blue in the face.  Everyone here at the house is still rolling around feeling full and I'm freakin' starving!  Gee, how can that be?  I'm full of excuses, of course...I worked out for an hour this morning, and I could only eat a small number of things at the Thanksgiving gathering because of my dietary restrictions.  Course I took extra large portions to make up for that.  And I ate breakfast TWICE before we left to go to our gathering.  And I ate a piece of amazing pecan pie after my meal.

OK, whew, big guy just declared that he's hungry, too.  I'm gonna go eat!

I know, I know, quite possibly the worst self portrait ever...I need to stick to flowers. 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

What's on the dial?

The car radio has become its own battle ground these days.  Well, actually, not the radio itself, or the music, rather the fact that I actually get into the music my kids play.  I sing along, dance in my seat, put my "hands up in the air" when the lyrics dictate, hold up my pretend lighter, and shake my groove thang as best I can while wearing a seat belt.

What I've learned:

1. I am a "terrible" singer.

2. I am an "embarrassment" even if no one is around to see me.

3. If I sing or dance to a song I like, the radio station changes almost instantly (after a barrage of insults, of course).

4. If I sing and dance to a song I don't like, the radio station changes almost instantly (after a barrage of insults, of course).  Aha!  I can now use this against my kiddos.  Groovy!

5. If I sing really quietly and move almost imperceptibly, I can totally get away with it.

6. There is one exception to my kids' objections...for some reason Eminem possesses some sort of super power that allows me to full on sing and dance while his music is on the air.  This is super groovy...he's totally on my "like" list.


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Wassat you say?

" I love you.  I love you.  I love you.  I love you."  My little guy had me all in mushville telling me sweet wonderfullness through the closed window after I gave him a ride from his bus stop (it's only a few blocks away).  I was floating on air as I drove to pick up my big guy (much further than a few blocks away).  My little guy LOVES me!!!!  Yup, solid!

When I pick up my big guy he's standing oh-so-casually right by an old Corvette.  I begged him to let me take a picture of him beside it and he steadfastly refused.  "You should buy me a Corvette, mom."  Uh, yeah, right.  Every day when I drive him home we get to one spot where I have to have him recline his seat or lean WAY over so short little me can see clearly.  Almost every time he gripes about it.

"Hey, it's because you're a big kid with a big head, dude."  I grumble only half-way meaning for him to hear me.

"Both of those things are your fault, mom."  Oh, guess I don't have a snappy comeback for that one.  He's got some variety of accuracy on his side, after all.  (I love that kid!)

He did lean over, though, so I suppose I got my way in the end and still managed to show him who's boss. 

We got home and I went in to get more love from little guy, since he was being so generous and all.

"I love you, I love you, I love you, too!" I say as I enter his room.

"I was saying 'alligator food' not 'I love you.'"  I turn, leave the room, and go to a mirror in my bedroom.  I mouth "alligator food" and, dagnabbit, it does look just like "I love you."  Fricka-fracka!  Little guy wanders in and finds me testing the similarity of the two phrases.

"You should try mouthing 'vacuum'"  I did...done...check...note to self, don't ever mouth the word "vacuum" around my boss or my students' parents...things could go terribly wrong.





Monday, November 21, 2011

Sock Love

Our new puppy, Hazel, has a serious sock fetish.  She seriously loves them!  I've actually seen the little toot run in our bedroom, lean over the edge of the laundry basket, and snag a tasty sock.  She also runs in the little guy's room and snags his socks from his floor (his floor IS his dirty clothes basket).  Tonight my big guy was taking his socks off and I told him he should just throw them right on Hazel's bed, you know, to save her a step.  He certified me "unfunny" and left the room.  Sigh...

No socks have been destroyed as a result of her sock passion, though to this anti-moisture chick, the results have been decidedly disgusting.

I'm happy to report that my socks are, to date, undesirable.  I'm good with that.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Family Style

I had the pleasure of grocery shopping with my little guy this afternoon.  He was funny.  He kept commenting on how poofy his hair was when it was humid outside.  He'd hold his hair with his hands, pressed tightly against the sides of his head, then release and say, "POOF," over and over again.  Yeah, yeah, this big Texas haired girl knows what you're talking about, kiddo.

He brought up how his older brother used to "always" wear button downs and slick his hair back with gel in elementary school.  Tis true, for a couple of years my big guy was quite stylin'.  I reminded my little guy that his brother had a phase before then, one where he only wore tie dye shirts, every day, without exception.  We agreed it was a pretty funny switch from total hippie tie dye kid to slicked back hair button down dude.  I thought it was awesome!

My little guy's style?  Well...aside from having long curly hair for most of his childhood (it's short these days), his clothing style has always been "grab the top shirt, top shorts, and any two socks" method. I dig it!

I love my super stylin' guys!


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Juicy material, but no....

Uh oh, I just found myself threatening to use my blog to curb a family member's behavior!  Ack!  That must be violating some prime directive or something, right?  Blog must be used for good and not evil or some such thing.  So, I hereby vow to never do that again...sigh...it could be such an effective threat.  About that behavior, well, I'm creative, I'll come up with something.  :-)





Friday, November 18, 2011

The Dog ate my Homework

While our new little addition has managed to not destroy anything of value, she has not been destruction free.  All the toys we have around the house that Scout has lovingly moistened (but not chewed) over the years have remained undamaged and intact, as have our shoes and all pieces of furniture.  No small miracle, I'd say.  Cardboard, however, and bits of paper left strewn about the house have become fair game for that little one to turn into confetti.  And, man, she likes to spread it about.  Looks like we celebrated with cascarones in our front room!  Well...last night the little toot was running across the room with a sheet of paper in her mouth.   She settled in on her bed for a good ol' happy chomping session.  That paper looked a little familiar, and on closer examination it was obviously little guy's french horn practice record.  It was perforated across the end and crumpled throughout.  It was reminiscent of the old computer punch cards from my mom's job at UT in research and development we had in my house when I was a child.  We were supposed to use them for phone messages and such.  It was a tricky thing writing notes around all those little rectangular holes, frequently deceived by those nasty little hanging chads, our pencil lead popping through to the other side. 

Anyway, little guy had to redo his practice sheet.  We scanned it immediately and emailed it to the band director...you know, just in case the puppy got the munchies again.


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Hold your Nose!

You know how when you're in traffic you're careful to not pick your nose when you're sitting at a red light.  It's something you only do when moving at high speed with no one right next to you, right?  Right!  Course I see tons of folks violating this basic social rule every time I'm out driving.  Gee, people.

Well...I had a most embarrassing moment tonight that kind of relates to that.  Not because I did anything unusual, or gosh, even taboo, it just wasn't what I would have planned, and everyone knows how much I prefer things that are expected to those that are unexpected.  Anyway, I'm in the laundry room being such a good wife/mom moving a load of laundry from the washer to the drier.  Dave's in watching some show about Regis, the boys are in their rooms doing their own thing, the dogs and cat are sleeping lazily on their beds.  I'm all alone when the urge strikes and, yes, I tooted.  Would've been just fine, only the walls would've known, and they weren't talking...but, out of the corner of my eye I see something lurch.  I turn to look and there's Dave, appalled look on his face, backing out of the room as quickly as he could.

"Um..." I say sheepishly, "I tooted."  You know, I like to state the obvious and all.

He left the room making some comment about being so happy that his nose was stopped up.

Yeah, he totally loves me...there's no doubt!




Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Heart and Soul

My little guy sat down to practice french horn last night...a bit under duress.  He played a few scales and then gently put his horn on the kitchen table.  I watched him out of the corner of my eye to see if he was going to consider himself "finished" or not.  He went to the piano and started playing.  He played and played and played the lower part of the "Heart and Soul" duet.

"Mom, come 'ere!"

He scooted over on the piano bench, giving me room.

"You play the top part," he pointed at the upper 44 keys.

We played it over and over and over, and each time we repeated he'd change the player mode (it's an electric piano and has a bunch of different instrument sounds).  I think we went through every delightful option available.

"Whew, my hands are tired!" he declared...finally.

"Let's switch parts," I wasn't ready to stop, I was having too much fun.

We switched sides on the piano bench and continued our duet, again with all the instrument options.  This was seriously so much fun!  When he did a flourish that let me know it was the last round we stopped in synch.  He reached his recently beefed up muscly arms around me and pulled me to him.  There we sat, side by side on the piano bench, embracing one another.  I closed my eyes and leaned into him, our heads touching, and blissed out on this beautiful moment we were having.  After a long while he loosened his hold on me, and I released him as he slipped off of the bench with nary a word.  Sigh....

I love you heart and soul, kiddo.


Fighting the Urge

Went for a walk with my students this afternoon.  We were on a puddle quest.  We successfully found puddle after puddle.  And, my goodness, those kiddos did not give in to the temptation to jump right in and make a huge splash, which is exactly what I was fighting the urge to do, myself, though I know I'd be so sad to have wet pants and shoes the rest of the day.  There was one very cautious toe test to see just how deep the puddle was, but that was it.  Wowza!

Got me thinking about urges, things we love, and the difference in our perceptions as children and as adults.  Flossing popped into my mind (probably because I'm flossing as I type...multi-tasking talent, yes, I know, amazing).  I HATED flossing as a kid.  My teeth literally only got flossed at the dentist office, though I always told them I flossed regularly at home, my bleeding gums a dead give-away of my deception.  These days when I go to the dentist they never ask me if or how often I floss.  I like to think it must be quite obvious that I do it every chance I get. 

My other big childhood "hate" was loading the dishwasher.  I swear I recollect it taking WAY over 30 minutes to do that nasty task.  These days it's done in just a few minutes and I sort of feel like I do when I finish a fabulous novel, I longingly miss the characters just a bit.  Yup, I do have that lingering feeling of wishing there was just one more bowl to fit in.  Sigh....


Monday, November 14, 2011

Smile!

I had someone stop by my classroom today and tell me that they feel better just seeing my dependable smile.  "Super awesome!"  I'm thinking.  Don't tell them, but there's a certain percentage (way under half) of the time that I "fake it till I make it".  It's OK, I'm pretty good at it; I used to play a happy person on TV.  And, hey, the strategy mostly works!  Today was NOT one of those "fake it" days.  I felt pretty darn much purely happy all day long, from the moment my alarm woke me up till now.  Groovy!

Ever notice how when you're happy there's always someone who wants to mess with ya?  One of my kiddos tried to burst my happy bubble by proclaiming that "It's good to fart in the dogs' faces because they enjoy it" and then proceeded to test the theory...and, yes, he was correct.  Yup, I was unfazed. Please don't tell him I was also a bit amused.  Oh, geez, he just did it again...seriously!


Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pee Party

Backyard scene these days...


Hazel:  "Yippee, yippee!  We're outside, we're outside!!!  Oh, wow, I have to pee."

Scout:  "Hey, you're peeing in MY backyard.  Must pee on your pee."

Hazel:  "Yippee, yippee!  Oh, wait, what are you doing?  Oh, look, you're peeing, I must do just like you and pee in that spot!  Yay, me!!"

Scout:  "Hey, you're peeing in MY backyard.  Must pee on your pee."

...repeat as needed.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Da Crud

I've got the crud...and some weird part of me wants to determine ground zero.  Yeah, I want to know where I got it.  I've narrowed it down to two sources:  other humans and something I ate.  I'm going to go with the food theory as I find a particular restaurant much easier to avoid than humans in general.  Back to bed for me.  20 of the last 24 hours spent sleeping is not enough.  :-)


Friday, November 11, 2011

Blood is thicker than water, unless you're me, of course....

So I'm at a lovely celebratory party tonight, having lovely conversations with lovely people.  My phone alarm goes off reminding me to make my meds.  I give a brief explanation for why I have to leave and as I casually spill it I take in the look of the lovely person I'm talking to and I realize how uncommonplace it must be to live with something that could take you out with no notice.

"Bless your heart."  Huh?  Oh yeah, I suppose it is a big deal, but, honestly I hardly give it a thought.  I can't see any reason TO give it a thought.  Aside from remembering daily meds, getting regular lab tests, and being super rigid with my diet, it really is a non thing for me.  I'm totally at the laugh about it stage.  Anytime somebody wants me to do something I don't want to, I pipe up with, "I can't, I have a blood clot!"  If the kids pick me up and want to carry me around, "Stop, I have a blood clot!"  I get asked to take a long overdue turn at washing the dog..."blood clot!"  It's a VERY useful excuse...it's also highly unsuccessful.

Tonight Dave and I were joking around about my medical issue as I was picking the green "avoid" veggies out of my Chinese food.  I was saying something (bragging?) about how my flukey clot makes me "special".

"You're not special, you're obsessive."  Yeah, he's right, I can't argue with that!



Thursday, November 10, 2011

Mama knows Breast

This afternoon our little pup, Hazel, was nuzzling Scout's underside.  Scout wasn't aware of what was going on, but it was obvious to us.  I could imagine Scout thinking, "a little higher...go a bit to the left...yeah, that's the spot," as her hind leg started reflexively scratching at the air.  Until...ZOW!  That little puppy nipped at Scout's nonexistent teats!  Hazel got told, that's for sure.  Guess it's confusing having your new BFF the same size as your mom whom you hadn't fully weaned from yet.

Made me think of nursing my own guys (occasional nippers, too, I must add).  Most of my memories of nursing are absolutely fabulous, beautiful, and amazing.  One, though, stands out as truly humiliating.  I walked the trail around the lake most every day when they were wee ones.  It was my bliss and both boys loved it as babies.  I can't remember which of them I was with, but here's what happened.  OK, I should say something first.  For most women it's probably no big deal, but for a "small" woman, when you have a baby and your upper frontal torso accessories come in, it's a bit of an out-of-body, most amazing thing.  So, one day I was walking around the lake feeling quite sassy about my reconfigured figure and I kept noticing that people were checking me out.  Checking ME out...seriously not a common experience in my life.  Well, after it happened over and over and over again, I started noticing that my accessories were drawing the eye contact.  Well, "hot dang!" I thought, "this is what it's like to be objectified and checked out."  And, true confession, I liked it.  I think I even improved my posture just a bit, you know, for other people's benefit and all.  Well, I made it all the way around the lake, the stares of awe continuing throughout...hey, I'm just sayin'.  By the time I got home my head was rather swollen with the pleasure of my physical attributes and the gift they were to others.  I went to the mirror to check myself out and see what everyone was lovin' so much and...oh...oh, no...I had HUGE milky circles on my adorable jogging top.  Beads of milk could be seen penetrating the material.  Egads!  Big swollen head deflated...big swollen accessories in serious need of draining.  "Come here, kiddo, I've got a job for you, STAT!"


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Mommy Self Restraint...sorta

I was so very proud of myself last night. I let my big guy drive me for a few blocks and, for the first time, I didn't make any noises or jerky motions or do anything irritating at all. My pattern thus far has been to go totally freaky on him. I'm a terrible passenger to an experienced driver (I don't backseat drive or anything like that, but I do twitch, grab hold of the handle, and other totally annoying things). When I'm with a brand new teenage driver I'm cross-over wacky. I have a very hard time keeping my cool. I thrust my foot at pedals that aren't there, I gasp, I even shriek a little. So, after last night's successful mommy behavior, I almost forgot to congratulate him on how great he's doing with driving as I was so busy patting myself on the back. I accepted my well-deserved eye roll. My big guy really is doing so, so great...in spite of my behavior.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

It's all in a Name

Turns out naming a dog is no simple task. Today felt like a mini version of when we named our kids. Except now there are four decision makers that must come to consensus, rather than two. One thing that's easier is that we didn't spend time worrying about what her initials would spell...you know, so she wouldn't be mercilessly teased in middle school for having her initials spell some weird word or something. We didn't worry about a middle name at all! We went through many, many options and there were so many reasons to NOT use a name. "I had a boyfriend/girlfriend who had that name...no way!" "I knew someone named that and I didn't like them at all." "That's not a girl name." And the gut response that it just didn't fit her, of course.

Well, Dave and I are partial to older names. You know, Madge, Franny, and such. Little guy was home so he helped by having VETO power. After MUCH discussion, internet research and, as a bonus, determining what names meant, we decided on "Hazel". It means "commander" by the way.  We didn't have big guy's approval yet, but we went ahead and started test driving the name. "Come here, Hazel." "Let's go out and pee, Hazel." "Who's the cutest puppy ever...that's right, you are, Hazel!!"

When I picked up big guy at drivers ed I told him we had come up with a name. I was prepared for the onslaught of "That's a stupid name." "Who names a dog THAT?" What I got was, "That's a good name for her."

Awesome! Yay! Wowza! Four votes! Hazel it is!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Puppy Love

I got home from work today and the house was empty, dog and cat were there, but no people.  That counts as "empty".  This is a rarity so I did a little "yippee" dance and went in to start making chicken soup from scratch and embrace the silence.  I was chopping carrots when I heard Dave pull into the driveway so, since I think I'm hilarious, I waited by the door with a butcher knife in my best threatening pose.  I raised the knife as he opened the door and there he was, goofy grin on his face, holding the sweetest little puppy ever (well, at least since Scout was a puppy, anyway)!  I ran to the kitchen to put the knife away (please don't lecture me about running with knives...I know, I know), and ran back to get me some puppy love.  Delicious!

Scout is beside herself happy with the "gift" we gave her.  The boys are absolutely delighted.  And, I'm not usually one to like surprises, I prefer things to be highly predictable, but Dave totally rocked it with this one.

And, I don't think he even noticed my little butcher knife routine.  Good.  I'll save it for next time.

A little "empty" house bliss.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Impersonal Shopper

I had a dream that I was at a thrift store where they offered "personal shopping" services. Can you imagine? I woke up all out of sorts because, seriously folks, what's the point of that?!?! Personally I love the quest that thrifting is. The challenge is at least half the fun, right? In my dream I was just waiting in the dressing room (which was delightfully funky, of course, gum on the walls, graffiti scratched into the mirrors, a lock on the door that I didn't trust one little bit and just knew someone would open the door and I'd be seen standing there in only my underwear). The personal shopper was bringing me items to try on and taking my rejects away, which was everything because she was clueless about what little style I can call my own.  She was also a little too "put together" and sure seemed like she'd be better placed at Anthropologie (which I also love!).

Anyway, I ended up giving up on my thrifting because I simply wasn't having any fun.

Lucky for me it's discount day at the thrift store tomorrow and I'll have some time to get my fix and satisfy my challenging quest need while I wait for the big guy to get out of drivers ed. Me? Yeah, I'm goofy excited!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

It's not Rocket Science (OK, actually it is)

Spent the morning in Hutto, TX today launching rockets. I tell ya, if you want your kids to grow a love of science, this is the way to go. I mean, what's not to love? It's permission to "play" with explosives. It's loud. Sometimes things accidentally blow up (a little sad, yet totally awesome). They go really high. The parachutes are super cool. You get to learn lots of multisyllabic words like apogee, waypoint, etc. It's a cutie-pie dork fest. This mom is in heaven! Oops, forgot I was talking about the benefits for kids.

Anyway...

My dad launched a large Marge of a rocket today. It was an amazing launch and little guy and I had the pleasure of retrieving it once it landed. It was a bit rough as the main parachute didn't deploy. One of the fins snapped off, but, other than that, it was in fine form.

My little guy launched two rockets. One had a camera and a GPS as payload. It was a beautiful launch, too. Here's the video from the camera. Beware, you'll get dizzy! It's upside-down on the ascent, then right-side up on the descent (Notice those two fabulous scientific words I just used in a sentence?).



His second launch was also pure perfection...it kept going up and up and up and then the chute deployed. Turns out he had put a way too big parachute on his rocket. The wind caught it and off it went...and went...and went...and disappeared from sight. This rocket did not have a GPS as its payload. Rats! We had some good data though for the waypoint (Yup, using those big words again! Check me out!!). Good-ish data, anyway. We knew the line upon which it landed, but we didn't have any data for the distance. "Approximately" one-and-a-half miles-ish. So, we loaded up the car and made the trek...some serious "over the river and through the woods" action. With binoculars, an electronic gismo in hand, and a slight fear in our hearts that we'd get shot for trespassing, we searched up to the point where the woods started (I know, "gismo" is not a scientific term). That's where we abandoned our search as chiggers and ticks have a particular love for my blood and I'm no fan of them.

It's all OK, now we get to make another rocket! Yay for science!!!

Let me know if you ever want to go to a launch!!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Out of the Mouths of my Wacky Babes

Got a call from my big guy this afternoon 15 minutes before I was set to leave work. 

Him:  "I'm sick, I think I have a fever, come pick me up NOW!"

Me:  "I've got a few things to do and then I'll ride home and get the car and come get you."

Him:  "You don't care about me...you love your work MORE than your own son!"

Geez!  Following was some boring back and forth conversation about me saying he's just slowing me down.

Let me be clear right now that I absolutely love my kid a ton more than my job (which I love a lot).  But, seriously, it's no contest, kiddo.  You win!


Then...as I was driving out to my dad's with my little guy so we could work on his rockets for an upcoming launch he tells me I could never handle his days at school, not mentally, not physically.

Me:  "Really?  Why do you think that?"

Him:  "There's the football practice, the laps, the sprints, the push-ups, and the classes, history, language arts, [and on and on]."

Me:  "Well, you could never handle my job either."

Him:  "I could, I just wouldn't like the stinky factor and the annoying noise factor."

Me:  "What's stinky, and what's noisy?"

Him:  "You know, poopy diapers.  And you have a lot of toys and equipment that make annoying noises and the kids make noise, too."  (This from my kid who makes annoying noises CONSTANTLY, often unconsciously, and not just from his mouth.)

Me:  "I hardly even notice the stinky diapers any more."  Appalled look from him.  "And I want my students making noise, that's communication."

Him:  "You must have permanent poop lining your nostrils if you don't smell the dirty diapers."

I'm pretty sure this makes me tougher than him and I totally win this argument (if that's what we were having).


Thursday, November 3, 2011

Winter Coat

I have to say that I'm not a fan of the colder weather. I, probably the only one around, rather loved the 100º+ days. I was comfy, what can I say. So, I'm going into the frigid season lazy style. Cutting back on washing my hair to every other day and washing it at night rather than the morning as I can't bear riding my bike with wet hair in the cold. I've also been admiring my beautiful cat, Pug, whose hair is ever thickening and SO luxurious. And I'm thinking he's on to something. Makes me wonder if our body hair thickens in the winter, too. Well, in the season of jeans/pants/leggings I think I'll do a luxurious legs experiment. Sorry Dave....

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Oh so distractible....

I cannot take my eyes off of the guy standing in front of me. He's got big brown Birkenstock sandals on, khaki pants, a grey shirt, a dark baseball cap, AND a band aid on his right big toe that has day-glow hearts and stars all over it.  The band aid, not his toe.  It's flapping in the wind (again, the band aid, not his toe), hanging on by only half the adhesive.  So, I'm sitting her, admittedly with some anxiety, wondering if it'll stay on or not.  Particularly wondering if, as he paces back and forth in front of me, if it'll fall off and a gust of wind will lift it up and carry it in my direction and, gag, hit me in the leg or something.  Or will it fall off and end up in some creek and flow down to the Gulf of Mexico and end up an accidental meal to some poor, unknowing fish?

OK, whew, he's walking away so I can sort of concentrate on my kiddo's scrimmage...ay-yi-yi!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Haste makes Awesome

In Parsons tradition, we didn't decide if we were even going to dress up for Halloween until the night of. Well, with the exception of my little guy who brought home his football helmet because he thought he might want to use it as part of something.

Dave and little dude: "We need costumes!!!" Gee, turns out I'm the "go to" girl for such things.

Dave was first. "Well, do you want to wear some of my belly dance stuff?" His enthusiastic response lead to a sequined bra top, socks to fill said top, a veil as a skirt, a wrap around the veil to snazz it up, and a hip skirt on his head. Voila! He's was GORGEOUS! Well, sort of. Lots of complaints about sequins being scratchy and such (I get it, I can't handle womanly clothing like that either) and suddenly the outfit was off. Thankfully not until after I'd taken some pics and posted them on facebook. :-) OK, back to the drawing board. He pulled out a red and gold vest that used to belong to his grandfather. I was asked to find what else would go with it. Um...OK, back to the belly dance chest for some purple velvet leggings that were losing their elastic so I didn't mind him stretching out and ruining. I must say, here, that he looked pretty hot in them! Shoes? Well, cowboy boots, of course. Duh! He thought it was still lacking something, so we added a lovely fuzzy scarf of mine and his amazingly long elf hat. Ta-da!!! OK, Dave's finished, check! I think we spent about 20 minutes on each outfit, but I'll only count one because that's all he used.  And what was he?  A "Ballet Parking Attendant," of course!

Little dude was next. OK, well, just what goes with a football helmet? Hmmmmm... Well, maybe a cape? "No." Maybe a clown outfit? "OK." Yay, we were getting somewhere, and fast! I pulled down the bag of clown outfits my mom made or bought for me as a kiddo. First one was WAY too small. Second one fit, but, I must say, it was slightly rude to his hind quarters. He went for it anyway. OK, little guy was finished, check! That only took about 10 minutes! I was rockin' it!  The Football Clown was in the house!

Me. Jeez! I went to my closet and stared. Nothing! I pulled out some overalls just to see if something came to me as they've been the "go to" base of many a costume over the years. Idea!  I ran to my computer and googled pics of Pippi Longstocking. OK, I had a mission! I dug out my two pairs of striped high socks, put on one of each. I tried the overalls and it just wasn't right. Back to staring at my closet. Ah ha! A dress I had grabbed at the elementary school's clothing swap. I had never even tried it on. Happy to report it fit and it was just good enough to fly as Pippi's dress. I slid on my black Ropers and looked in the mirror at my limp pigtails. They were in serious need of Viagra. I found my fix in a wire coat hanger. A little shoving, a little bending and I was seriously rocking some amazing Pippi braids. It took me about 20 minutes. Whew!

So, in under an hour I had us all looking Parsons fabulous! I love Halloween!!!