Nesting

No -- not me -- our fine feathered friends!

We had a bird family in the corner of our porch two years ago. Once the babies learned to fly and the entire family took off, a man-made storm (hubbie with the hose on jet-stream) took out their home. Though I suspect they flew by last year, they did not take up residence.

This past weekend, they began building a new nest. These photos were taken yesterday.

Summer vacation

As you may have suspected--noting the infrequent posts--the kids are home.

We celebrated the last day of Vacation Bible School and N's birthday with a sleepover party last night. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, while I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, I am capable of learning. After surviving last year's party -- the one I called "the more the merrier/what's one more girl?" debaucle -- N was allowed to invite only four girls. Of those invited, only two could attend. This was the first of her sleepovers that the hubbie was home for and was the easiest one so far. While he takes full credit--suggesting that we all behaved better knowing the master was home--it did alleviate the stress level considerably knowing that there was another adult around.

Tomorrow is N's actual birthday so I may do something ridiculous like make the 45-minute drive to Chuck E. Cheese's or something along those lines and then we'll settle in for our summer! Poor C loved his graduation but now is so ready for kindergarten, he just can't believe that he has more "vacation" to get through! I'm sure he'll manage ~ we have cousins coming to visit, swim lessons to attend and even a trip or two with hubbie while he's interviewing.

For my relatives looking for dates here when we will be visiting--you won't find them. We will visit but I have not managed to plan that far ahead yet. It will not be June. I will keep you posted!

Thank You

Do you act your age?

You Are 35 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Catholic guilt?

I was exhausted after traveling with the kids all afternoon yesterday and yet still stayed up for an hour or two after they went to bed. I watched Jay Leno interview Julia Stiles who was promoting her new movie. She talked about her character who feels guilty that she has no love for her son: the Devil.

This interview came to mind this afternoon when my daughter, who was tired, hot and cranky, hit her brother on the arm because his new toothbrush was on the conveyor belt ahead of hers at the supermarket. When he wailed (it was quite dramatic as he, too, was tired, hot and cranky) she smiled with pure pleasure.

As siblings will, she alternated between torturing him and playing with him once we got home. Once everyone was settled in bed, she called me back up to give me a hug. She said she was "sorry for today" and is now praying her rosary!

I don't know whether to be proud that she has remorse or worry that she is just lulling me into a false sense of security before launching a new plan of attack tomorrow.

Then I left and now I'm back!

Without a coherent post but I wanted to say hello before everyone quits visiting altogether!

C was sick with a fever for several days last week and recovered just in time for us to head out-of-town on Friday! We visited one city that my hubbie is interviewing in before heading on to South Bend for his graduation on Sunday. It was chilly for the outdoor graduation but worth it to see the hubbie graduate (with honors!) from Notre Dame! He can now add M.B.A. to all the other letters that follow his name! He is still in Indiana but the kids and I returned last night.

Both kids had separate "field days" today so we are all light pink and very tired but we have lotion and at least they are already in bed!

I am very, very behind in my bloghopping but hope to catch up this week. (It is the last week of school for the kids and I'm certain that they have more activities in the last two weeks of school than the rest of the year!) So it may take me a few days to catch up but I will!

I'm still here...

Physically, anyway! I don't know where the past week has gone!

Mother's Day was relaxing. C got sick and is just now really recovering. A fever from Sunday through Tuesday night with no other symptoms! (Of course, we broke the fever with Motrin every six hours. If nothing else, that kid is consistent! (Or Motrin is!) The bottle says dosages should last 6-8 hours but with C, you can tell when six hours is up without a clock!

Otherwise, I did get some time alone to read upstairs (wrote a little and snuck a nap in too!) and I got a small digital camera! I've borrowed hubbie's from time to time but it's a few years old now and much larger than the cute little cameras I see moms bringing to school functions. It's almost like lugging the video camera and I have no idea what most of the functions on that thing are. Now I have one! All I asked for was for everyone to leave or duct tape for children's mouths! I did not get those but they behaved most of the day and now I can easily take photos of the little angels to share!

I've just got to figure out how to share now! Another little book to read...

Did you save room for dessert?

When you've finished reading that book on your nightstand and are wondering what to open next, you'll want to try a few pages of this.

Honestly, I haven't finished it yet. I'm three-quarters of the way through but savoring every page. This book is like a whole cheesecake. I could not possibly eat the whole thing at once; it is very rich; I enjoy a little at a time but it is so good!

When I finally finish the entire book, I'll give you a more complete report. In the meantime, as you look through the menu of books available, I highly recommend this one! And you won't just find it on the dessert page; it can be a light snack or a hearty entree, too!

As an appetizer: Feiler's humor is a great place to start! Even when you start to feel tired and dusty with him in the dessert, he'll say something to make you laugh!

Nutritious salads: Along with gaining a great appreciation for the locales of the Middle East, Feiler introduces you to some fascinating people.

Entrees:
*all entrees are served with a nutritious salad, a soup of ancient history and a reminder of manna.
Comfort foods: Adam and Eve, Noah and Moses are all here. They haven't changed but you might look at them in a new way.
Nouvelle cuisine: Feiler gets into some heavy topics and personal growth but finishes them off with a light sauce of common sense and a garnish of humor.
Milk and Honey: Walking through ancient cities in modern times, Feiler offers a new perspective on some of the messages and history of the Pentateuch.

Dessert: Rich language and vivid descriptions of life in exotic locales. (If that isn't enough, the photo on the back cover is a treat, too!) ;)

I did not make it

I kept putting the B4B entry off this month. To write honestly about cheating would be awfully revealing and to come up with a clever way to cheat on this one was beyond me!

Then, in the shower today, only three hours after the official deadline had passed, I remembered something I could use.

I took a look and it looks like the comments are not actually closed but I can't enter it now. That would be cheating. I lied but I'm not cheating.

Hooray!

The last day of classes was yesterday;
The hubbie has earned his MBA!
His graduation is later in May!
Yay!

I'd invite you over but then I'd have to clean my house

So I blog. This way, I can sit down and "chat" without having to wash the kitchen floor.
(OK--those of you who actually do visit know I rarely do that anyway--but you get the idea).

I keep saying that I can write from home. I say I can have a load of laundry washing, pay a bill and write all at the same time. I usually do wash laundry, have a snack, pay a bill, have a snack and read blogs. Though I keep saying that I need to physically leave the house and go to a coffee shop to write, I rarely do it. So I'm usually pleased with myself when I write 300 words in a day.

Wednesday I decided to take action. I grabbed the hubbie's laptop and went to a coffee shop attached to a discount bookstore. In a little over an hour, I'd written 1,535 new words for the WIP!

This was a good idea! I had coffee, I had no internet access and I was surrounded by my favorite authors!
This was a bad idea! I had too much coffee and after a successful hour, I decided to go shop for my favorite authors.

I'm a slow learner but I can be taught. I will go back today but I'm only bringing $5.
(That might not be enough for two cups but it certainly will keep me from adding another book to the TBR pile! It should cut down on unnecessary posts, too!)

Pass it on! B4B is Live!

It's time again for Blogging for Books! I WILL get my entry in this month and I hope you all will join me!

...blog about cheating. Any old kind of cheating will do. Games, Lovers, Tests, it's all fair game until you admit in writing that you've cheated on the ever-faithful IRS....
GO!

How to play: You blog on a chosen topic. You post a link to your blog entry in the comments below this entry on Joshilyn Jackson's blog.

B4B closes next Monday when the comments close on this entry, EXACTLY seven days from the very second this posted. <----note the slight rule change. If you have no blog, you write the essay and cut and paste it (no attachments please) into an email to Ann Fitten (the Bloggess behind Edgy Mama) and ask her sweetly to host it for you.

Purple Haze II

These were my first photos, with the flash still on...
but these are what inspired the title of this and the last post.

Purple haze

There was a pretty pink sunset to go along with these but I did not capture it.
(Though I FINALLY stopped trying to take photos with the flash on and at least got something!)
I thought the hedge was lilac but after looking up the word online, it turns out lilacs look like this. That photo helped me identify what is growing in my backyard but I still don't know what my hedge is made up of! The blossoms are very fragrant, they're lavender-colored and the more we trim the hedge each summer, the more blooms we have each spring! I'll try to get a close-up of whatever these are when the sun comes back out but it's a blustery, dreary afternoon!

If only there were a magic pill

I've been overwhelmed with the idea of putting the whole book together. I know I have holes but I have so many scattered files that need to be edited and merged together. So I thought I would do a better job if I printed everything out, sorted it into piles/chapters and then started going through it.

I have killed at least one adult tree.

That may not be the only casualty.

My plan is literally spiraling out of control. The idea of neat stacks was a dream. I have parts to insert so right now, I have what looks like a white and black pinwheel on my office floor. So much for a linear progression!

While I complain, whine and stress about daily parenting issues, parenting is a different type of stress than I used to experience in college and the working world. The kind that would put my back in knots. The knots are back today! I just have not determined if the stress is over the thousands of words strewn about my floor, crying to be organized or if the pain is a result of the HALF-HOUR I had to fight with my printer to get it to start spitting out pages. That fight brought back many memories of fighting with printers, copiers and computers back when I earned a paycheck. So maybe I could finish this book with less stress if I went back to an old manual typewriter.

(As you can see, the whole project is affecting my judgement!)

It will all be fine. I will keep printing and tonight I'll have a glass of wine as I sit down with the papers and the red pen.

Or maybe I can find one of these!

Oh, I have issues!

(But you already knew that!)

I just love meeting new people and making new friends in the blogosphere!

Meet Margie! She commented on my post about mowing the lawn alongside a 7-year-old and invited me to email her. A couple of emails later, I have lots of pretty compliments, ideas on how to make my site a little more colorful, and a very pretty, colorful award button over there! (Look to the left!)

Margie is giving awards to moms who blog in honor of Mother's Day. If you're a mom or know one who blogs, get in touch with Margie! (Click on that cute button over there or here).

Margie---Thank You! I am honored to be included in your list

And then there was the buzz about the bee*

It's a good thing that neither child actually saw the deceased hare. We had enough trauma with a wasp. Maybe it was a hornet. It could have been a bee. It was certainly enough to strike terror in the hearts of C and N.

Good Friday was a whirl of activity. N had invited a friend over, which I thought would give me time to clean the house. It turned out to be a very nice day so the girls played outside, came in for drinks, then needed towels for a "picnic" outside, then came back in to ask if they could don swimsuits and play in the sprinker. So they changed and they played in the water. Came back in, changed and had lunch, changed again and went back out. They came back in, dried off, changed, played in N's room, changed again, went back out...and so it went.

By the time the friend left, I had a little over an hour to run an errand, shower and clean the house. (As we attempted them in that order, you can tell which one did not get done). Especially as the "little over an hour" changed to "less than an hour" the moment we let the wasp in the house with us. He stayed up in the large window that no one can reach but the concern over what he could do was all-consuming. I explained that if they just left the insect alone, he'd leave them alone.

When we returned from the store to find it still in the window, the questions just increased.
"How does a bee sting?"
"Is it a bee or a wasp?"
"What does it feel like if it stings you?"
"If it's a bee it'll die when it stings us. Is it a bee? If it dies, does it go to heaven? Can you see when you are in heaven? Can you see bees in heaven? How can you see in Heaven?"

By the time the babysitter arrived, they were distracted showing her their new sticker books and forgot about the bee/wasp issue.

The next day, the wasp was still in the window, desperately searching for a way out but not leaving that particular window. As the day wore on, you could tell the little guy was getting weaker.

By the end of Saturday, after I mowed the grass and finally got a shower, I came out to find the wasp crawling outside my bedroom, at the top of the stairs. I asked my daughter to keep an eye on the wasp while I looked for a big shoe or book to put it out of its misery. She backed into her room (partly to stay away from the bee and partly to make sure I did not use her shoe). My son started to come upstairs, volunteering to "keep an eye on the bee," when it occured to me that after dead bunnies, wavering faith in the Tooth Fairy and my constant assurances that the bee would leave them alone if they left it alone--maybe I could still get this little guy out of the house alive. I could save the day for someone--even if the someone was a bug. I told my son to go ask his dad for a shoebox while I kept an eye on the wasp. My thinking was maybe I could put the box on the step below and slowly scoot the wasp into the box with the lid. My son came back with my hubbie, who came with one of N's new shoes, and smacked the wasp.

Though they were stunned for a moment, they recovered as they were at least released from the fear of that ever-present stinger. However, for the week afterwards, every time my son went up the stairs, I'd hear him muttering "poor little bee."

He still asks me at least once a day how you can see in Heaven.
____________
* After initially posting this, I looked for our "bee" online and found that it was a European paper wasp.

My karma ran over my dogma

[This post is rated PG-13--or at least PG-10! ]

Last Saturday arrived, cloudy and dreary in the morning but I thought I'd at least get the grass mowed before the rains came. The hubbie had some errands to run so he took our son with him and my daughter stayed home with me. We'd had a full week of me accusing her of not listening to me and her accusing me of being the worst mother ever so I was surprised when, rather than riding her bike or making chalk pictures in the driveway, she walked alongside me as I mowed.
(OK, I'll admit that initially I was irked. Usually mowing the lawn gives me a little distance.)

Then she ran ahead and picked a flower (dandelion) for me. I gave her a kiss and thanked her and she beamed! She ran inside to add it to a cup of water that held 2 "flowers" that she and her brother had picked the day before. She ran back out, walked alongside me again for a minute, then spotted more. She'd pick one, I'd give her a kiss and she'd go get another one. I had to stop mowing the grass many times and finally had to get a big fancy glass out of the cupboard to hold my yellow bouquet. Cutting the yard took two or three times longer than usual but it was worth it. We don't get much one-on-one time together and while I'm not sure this counts as "quality time" we certainly were having fun! (When I asked her if she was tired of walking back and forth across the line with me, she answered "I'm getting my exercise!")

She finally moved to the driveway with the sidewalk chalk and drew a portrait of me. Then she drew this self-portrait! .
Just in case you can't read those words in her thought bubble, let me zoom you in a little...


Can you read it now? YES! It says: "Mommy Rules!"

I won't tell you what she usually writes about me in the driveway...I'll just say this is quite the opposite!

By now the sun is shining brightly (yes, I'm still in the self-destructive mode of mowing without sunscreen) which means I'm HAPPY to be getting color, I'm getting something productive done, I'm spending time with my daughter and TODAY SHE LIKES ME! I even look up and say a little "thank you!" As I do, she says she's hungry and I ask for one more minute and then I'll go in and make lunch. She asks if I will please sit with her while she eats her lunch. (She's afraid I'll make her a sandwich, turn on the tv and go finish the lawn). But right then, the hubbie and son return from their errands with McDonald's Happy Meals in hand!

Sun shining...birds singing...and Happy Meals, too! Life does not get any better!

I help them carry the drinks inside and cheerfully tell my daughter, "This worked out great! Now you have lunch and you can sit with your Dad and brother instead of a dirty, stinky Mom!"
The look I receive back looks a little like this:

However, I know once she gets to her french fries, she'll be fine and I head back outside to mow the backyard. I start the mower and move several yards along the fence before I get to the garden with more dandelions, a few blooming poppies and a dead rabbit.

I stop the mower and just stand there. I know I have to take care of this but I can't move. I know my daughter is going to finish that Happy Meal and come bounding back out here and I can't let her see this. It takes me another minute but I finally head back to the house.

A rational, good mother would have picked up the shovel. I walk right past it, go into the kitchen and give my hubbie this look:

I relate what I've found and explain how I'd really like him to take care of it for me. (In my defense, I've scraped half of a mouse off our frozen porch that a cat left behind before my kids could realize it was not, in fact, a "funny looking leaf." I've also picked up a dead bird--I blame that on the same cat--and a squirrel that a driver kindly left in my front yard. So while you may be thinking that I've worked my way up from the tiniest animals, I thought it was time to take turns.) This was only days after I'd read this post on Joshilyn Jackson's blog and I was inspired by her husband's offer to come home from work to help her. I thought maybe my hubbie would be as willing.

His initial response was "just get a trash bag."

As I try to explain the amount of difficulty I had getting the little squirrel into one of those, my daughter has caught on to the fact that something is not right. Remember my cheerful little shadow from the beginning of this post? The girl that brought me flowers and thinks I "rule?" The first question out of adoring daughter's mouth is "did you run over something with the lawn mower and kill it?"

This is where the karma kicks in. Three years ago--the Saturday before Easter, I believe--I hit a rabbit with the car. The kids were in the car with me and they did not witness the event itself but heard me gasp. Not being a clever enough mom to lie quickly enough though, I told them the truth. (I did go back to see if we could save the bunny but it was a rabbit and I'd been driving a Suburban.)

Three years later, I'm still honest. I respond that I did not run over anything. "Can I come in the back yard with you now and pick the yellow flowers out there?" she asks.

"Not yet."

I go out to take care of the rabbit. While my hubbie's solution could work, I know I can't hold the trash bag open with one hand and get the job done with the other. I think I can bury it in the garden instead. I come back and tell him. He rolls his eyes and I bat mine. He caves and goes out to take care of it.

Yay!

Well, a cheer that he'll take care of this, anyway. My daughter wants to know what he's doing.

"Just helping Mommy. He'll be right back."

She isn't stupid. "I'll just look out the window," she says.

"No, come over and talk to me instead."

"Mom, just tell me what is going on." I sigh. Right or wrong, I'm stuck now and decide to level with her. I utter the words that will haunt me later: "You are old enough to know the truth."

I tell her I found a dead rabbit in the garden and Daddy will clean it up. "Did you hit it with the lawn mower?" she wants to know again. I repeat that I found it and I think the bunny lost a battle with a cat. "Whose cat?" Whoops. I tell her I don't know, that Daddy is taking care of it and everything will be just fine. I ask her not to tell her brother who has been watching tv all this time and is blissfully unaware of the whole situation. "Why?"

"He isn't as old as you. Let's just not tell him."

"OK. Can I go pick those flowers yet?"

Whew! She's OK! I start to say no but her Dad walks in, saying the deed is done. So I go back out to mow and she picks another bouquet of dandelions.

A little later, the yard is done and I'm upstairs getting ready to take a shower. So of course, this is the time my daughter wants to have a discussion.

"Mom, can I ask you a question?"

"If it's quick. I just want to jump in the shower. Can it wait five minutes?"

"I guess so. I just wanted to tell you that I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy anymore."

For the second time in the same afternoon, time (and I) stand still for a second while her words circle around my head for a moment.

"Honey, why would you say that?"

"Well, a boy in my class saw his mom and dad putting money under his pillow when he lost a tooth, so I'm guessing that's what you and Daddy do, too." Her eyes are welling up and she's trying not to cry.

I wasn't expecting this and before I know it, I hear the words "I haven't put money under your pillow" jump right out of my mouth. I try to think how I can retract that and give a more pseudo-lie rather than a real one. What I say is, "let Mommy take this shower and we'll sit down and talk about it, OK?"

She nods and leaves. I take an extra-long shower, pondering exactly what I should tell her. Is she old enough to learn the truth? Should I come clean on the day before the Easter Bunny arrives?

Eventually I arrive downstairs to find her playing with her dolls. I quietly ask the hubbie his opinion. I say maybe I could tell her that sometimes parents help the Tooth Fairy. He nods vigorously. "Yes! Tell her that!"

I wonder how to bring it back up but she's playing nicely. So I wait for her to ask. She doesn't. She's fine, she's cheerful and hours later, rather than worrying about whether tooth fairies exist, she is asking to put carrots out for the Easter Bunny.

For a nanosecond, I wonder why she doubted the existence of one and not the other. Then I realize that I specifically told her that she was old enough for me to tell her the truth. So when she popped her question, she believed the first response that came out of my mouth.

That's going to come back to bite me somewhere else.

Whew!

You know that feeling of relief when you've narrowly avoided an accident?

There was no other car swerving toward ours. It is difficult however, to drive safely while you want to clench your eyes shut and put your fingers in your ears (singing "la la la"). I did not exhibit such behaviour outwardly but only so that we could avoid a real, physical accident.

The conversation began with a simple question on the way home from school.

My 7-year-old: "Mommy? Did you know that there is a bad word in the word: peacock?"

Me (inside my head): please don't go there, la..la..la
Me (out loud): "Really?"

7yr-old:"Yes! There is!" (She is smiling at her brother) "Do you know what it is?"

Me: "Ummmm....no."

7yr-old: "It's PEE!!" Bwaahaahaa!!! (Both children are delighted!)

Though I've complained in the past, some days I'm quite thankful for potty-humor!

I'm still here...

...but FINALLY had a new idea as to how to pull the book together.

I'll let you know how it goes.

HAPPY EASTER!