Campaign 2008

"Mom, do you think this looks like John McCain? I know this looks like Barack Obama."

Wonders of Nature

We took the boys on a hike yesterday, and saw this on a bridge. I think I've seen walking sticks about 4-5 times in my whole life, so seeing 2 walking sticks, uh, having fun, I'm sure we'll never see again. Quite remarkable.

Me and Buzz

A few nights ago I had to take Buzz to the library, since he forgot his book at school. I initially told my husband we'd be back shortly, but 20 minutes later we were still nose-deep in books, and we still hadn't visited the sale table. We were in our natural habitat: the library.
Fast forward to tonite, and it is quiet and still in the house, the younger two being gone with their daddy to the store, leaving me and Buzz in a quiet house. Both of us reading (yes, I know I'm typing right now), but both of enjoying the quiet of a good book. Sometimes I wonder if the kids will take after me in some way, and tonite I see clearly one feature that brings me very close to Buzz, and it tickles me. I wonder if he'll think about me in that way, too, someday when he picks up a good book.

Waiting

I'm playing the greatest "waiting game" now, called "beat the freezer." You wait to go to the grocery store until you've got almost nothing left. It's going to be close, but I'm really trying to wait this one out as long as I can. I've spent a lot of time waiting this week. Some of it is the general type of waiting: in line at the grocery store deli, waiting for the school bus to come. Some of it was the type of waiting you don't really like to do: waiting in the doctor's office, waiting for results, waiting for my bathroom cleaner to actually start taking the soap scum off the walls. I've even been watching and waiting, like the rest of the country, to see what is happening to our economic system, and I imagine I'll be waiting to see it trickle down my way.
It's kind of hard to wait in this day and age, since we can text each other (something I can do now--wow!), email, make that phone call and reach someone instantaneously. I can have a meal in minutes, thanks to the microwave. I can watch an episode of Law and Order apparently 24-7-365, so no need to wait for that show each week. I can also get a good bottle of red wine and enjoy it now, rather than letting it age. I can get to most any store in my area in about 10 minutes. I can even find out if I'm pregnant in a minute (I'm not--so no need to comment on that, okay?).

Last night, I found myself waiting for something I just dread: The bear was up, complaining of a headache. I gave him the appropriate medicine, which then upset his stomach, so I was up at 2 am waiting with a bucket to see what would happen next. I kept thinking, "well, if he barfs, then it's only a matter of time before the others fall. Then it's a matter of waiting to get everyone well again." Turns out, it was just the medicine, not the headache that upset his tum, and he eventually fell asleep, so I went back to bed to do something I love waiting for: falling asleep.

I suppose my purpose of writing this entry is because I believe it's all about how you handle the waiting. Do you sit and stew, worry, and plan for the worst? What do you do while you wait? Pray, plan, think, analyze, reorganize. Good lesson for grown-ups, really, to sit back and wait. Teaching my kids how to wait is an important lesson, too. They need to learn that they cannot always have a snack right now, they cannot go play right now, they need to sit and wait and that sometimes it just takes longer to find the outcome.

Well, I guess I'll go back to waiting, but I'll keep on living in the meantime.

Yum

Nothing like a nice grilled cheese sandwich, 2 slices of cheese, please.

The view from our house

The city balloon race is this weekend, and the test run for the balloons ran a path directly over our house. What a thrill for the kids! They lay on the ground, trying to spell out "hi" so the balloon operators would see them (they actually spelled "ih"), then attempted yelling to get their attention. We did get one to wave! About a dozen balloons altogether passed over the house.

Hurricane Ike's impact

Sunday, the remnants of the hurricane blew through our area, causing flash flooding of small creeks and rivers. Here's a few pics of the impact after the water went down. Note the water level on the fences.

Beethoven, he ain't

Change in the weather? Lunar Tide?

What explains people's swings in behavior? What is it that makes things go seemingly haywire? This past week was absolutely crazy, and yet oddly enough, smooth in the sense that everything that needed to be done was done. We started this week with one child home sick, by Thursday he had gone back and Friday, another was home sick. In between that time, there were the usual errands, but tossed in was a hair appointment, visit with friends, teacher meeting and parent/teacher meetings, trips to two doctors and a trip to the post office. By Thursday, we were also down one car: it seems our mechanics didn't communicate very well and one took a phone call while the other did a test drive to check our brakes. That part would be fine, except that mechanic #1 had drained all the oil out of the car. That didn't suit the car well at all, as you can imagine, and it died. In a big way. Like, it could never be used again, died.
Of course, this fell on the weekend that I work, so Friday I drove the spouse to work and today he drove me.
Now, I work at a hospital, and things were going crazy there, too. People were clumped in groups in the gift shop angrily discussing the cost of gas. Another person is shaking her cane because the cabby is late and berates the cab driver. I think I walked about 5 miles today, up and down 8 floors and 26 nursing units. Even the patients were, to say it gently, uneasy. News of hurricane Ike approaching our midwest towns has sent people 'round the bend!
Oh, and let us not forget the ants. The ants have started flocking into our house. This happens a couple times a year, and here we go: time to get out the ant bait.
Then my son points out that there is a full moon, or darn near close to it. Hmmm...I wonder. Lunacy or weather?

Taking stock

Today was supposed to be my first day where everyone is out of the house, at least for a couple hours. Generally, this event would be marked with a celebratory bagel or coffee, but not today. Instead, I've got the Bear in tow, as he is under the weather. But it was quite nice, actually. He took an exceptionally long warm bath, played a couple computer games and drank Gatorade. I think he relished the quiet--I changed beds and did laundry while he puttered about independently. So while I was looking forward to a few hours alone, this ended up being a nice surprise, since it is almost never just Bear and me. We did do some stocking up on things I would typically get in November or December: the tylenol, powerade (the non-colored kind), Shasta lemon-lime (only $.25 a can) and chicken noodle soup. We also had nice conversations, all about topics he wanted to talk about. Every now and then, I think kids need a "day off," just away from the others so they can be heard. It also reminds me to "take stock" of the blessings of just being around them while they're young. I really enjoyed the day with him, sickness or not.

How's this for good luck?

Went to the playground after school today, which was a lot of fun and the boys needed it after all the rain we've had. I found not one, but 2 four-leaf clovers (pictured above is the first one I found, I gave the other away). What fun! I actually find them pretty well--not as well as my sister, but let's just say I find some every year, usually when I'm not even looking. I know luck has nothing to do with it--probably more to do with focus and attention. Still it's funny when people say "how lucky!" Oh yea?

When we got home from the playground, my son clogged the toilet, and in my efforts to keep the clean and dry bathroom, well, clean and dry, I lost control of the tank lid, and it shattered in a million pieces. How'd you like that for luck?

I'm in here, they're out there

I'm in here, because I hear "No! Stop! No! You're bothering me!" over and over and over again out there. Generally the kids are good to each other, but every now and then, when one of them really makes the other mad, I'll hear "I'm not forgiving you!" This is a big one at our house--forgiveness, because it's a given: we're going to make each other mad at some point (sometimes daily), and when the perpetrator realizes they've hurt someone else, it hurts them. However, when the intended victim anounces there will be no forgiveness, it hurts more.

Now, it is quiet again, and I can hear them discussing the design of the latest marble run. The youngest has just run in saying "Come see what we've made." Cooperation. Ahhh...that sounds better.

Homemade Gifts

Saturday was the birthday party of a friend of my oldest son. Shopping for the gifts is always a chore, but in this particular case, this friend is easy to buy for because he is a lot like my son, so we had fun. We found a couple small things, but came up with this honey of a homemade gift: The Funnel Fone. It's great for using between bunk beds, or when you're at the top of the slide and your friend is on the ground, awaiting secret mission instructions. And, it cost $4 to make.