In Which We Find a Birthday....

Because When.....

I paged your beeper with a 911 message after getting the results of my pregnancy test (our code for positive) when I was almost 20 and we weren't married, you came straight over after work and gave me the biggest hug and kiss in the whole world and told me everything would be OK.

I was cranky and tired and overworked and overwhelmed with taking care of a newborn 24-7 and feeling alone and unappreciated, you listened to my crap and loved me anyhow even though you were working double shifts at UPS so we could move out on our own.

I feel down the stairs when I was pregnant with Ms. Thang and sprained my ankle badly and scared the bejuzums out of myself and called you at work crying, you came right home and took me to my mother who x-rayed my ankle and sent me next door to my doctor to make sure she was OK too.

"God Made Rainy Days...

so gardener's could get the housework done." (unknown)






Garden... end of May (when first planted)

Hazy, Hot, and Random....

It's 90 degrees out and on it's way to near 100. Which wouldn't be so terrible, except that the relative humidity is 53% and the dew point is 71 degrees. What that means in plain English.. is that it's steamy out there. It's not the heat that kills you, it's the humidity. I wasn't surprised to hear that they've declared an air quality alert. I could tell as soon as I got up this morning that the air was bad. Thick, heavy, particle laden air never used to have a bad affect on me, until a few years ago. I like to kid that I breathed much better when I was a smoker, except no one but me thinks that is funny.

In Which We Find Some Reminiscing

One of my most favorite summertime activities is hanging clothes out to dry in the summer sun. A bunch of years ago The Boy got me the best Mother's Day gift.. an umbrella style clothes dryer. I've blogged about it here, and you can read about my OCD clothes hanging rituals. Today was the second time this year I've been able to hang out the clothes which is sad testament to how busy and crazy it's been, as it's almost the end of June.

As I hung out her jeans (that can't possibly fit her, look how big they are! And why are there jeans in this basket? I don't hang jeans out on the line!), and his shirt from archery this winter (wonder where that hole came from in the bottom.. his tool knife that he's been whittling sticks with?)... her soccer shirt (when she was number 8 the second year.. she loves number 8) and his favorite Star Wars shirt that doesn't really fit him anymore but he doesn't want to give up yet (I still remember his first Star Wars Tee Shirt that fit him for 5 years because it was huge when he got it).. I was brought back to the summer Ms. Thang was born.

Hold ON! I think I've Got IT!!!

It seems the key was to take the photos with the crappy camera.. and take them from the floor level so there was less light!! This is the color we painted dd's bedroom, isn't it beautiful?!
It is called Obi Lilac and it's from Sherwin Williams. The white is Heavenly White off the same color card. We (I laugh.. *I*) bought the Duration paint and while it may be more money.. it will hopefully last a long long time. See my entry below for more details.

In Which We Can't Take a Good Photo ....

I've tried early morning, mid afternoon and evening. I've tried flash, no flash, lights on with flash, lights off with flash.. Lights on with no flash.. and nothing I've taken can capture the color that I painted Ms. Thang's bedroom. Through the wonders of PSP, this is as close as you are going to get. It's not this color. It's close to this color. but not quite. It's darker, and a little more plummy. It's beautiful. I'm so disappointment with how the photos come out that I almost didn't share any with you. But after all this work I figured a bad representation was better than none at all.

Summer Reading List

"In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn; color your hair; watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five.Nineteen minutes is how long it took the Tennessee Titans to sell out of tickets to the playoffs. It’s the amount of time it takes to listen to the Yes song Close to the Edge. It’s the length of a sitcom, minus the commercials. It’s the driving distance from the Vermont border to the town of Sterling, NH. In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk two miles. You can sew a hem. In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world; or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge."

Random iPod

Forever Autumn - Moody Blues

The summer sun is fading as the year grows old
And darker days are drawing near
The winter winds will be much colder
Now you're not here

I watch the birds fly south across the Autumn sky
And one by one they disappear
I wish that I was flying with them
Now you're not here

The Future's Looking Good To Me.....

This morning we promoted our 6th grade class to middle school. We awarded them for a job well done, encouraged them to go on and do better things, and congratulated them for surviving elementary school. This class that sat up on the stage today, scared to death, is very similar yet very different then the class that sat out on the lawn 6 years ago and received their "what I'm most proud of" certificates in first grade. They've added some new faces (4 just this year alone) and lost a few friends. Out of 26, less than a dozen of them have been in school together this whole time. While we waited for the ceremony to start this morning, we watched the K-2 classes out on the lawn having their awards ceremony and reminisced (as much as we could with our necks crooked looking down from the 3rd floor window).

Take Me Out To the Ballpark.....

Some father's would be irate to learn that someone else had made plans on their big day. As Father's Day isn't a high priority item on my life list.. it never dawned on me when I was ordering tickets to the game. When the Fisher Cats sent my confirmation email and mentioned that the first 1,500 dads would get Golf Visors it finally clicked. I panicked. I told The Boy what I had done, and he was fine with it. I asked him about eleventy hundred times if he was sure, and he insisted it was OK. While I was inclined not to believe him, based on past experiences with other dads (mainly my own).. he really was OK. He's a pretty easy going guy, and it didn't matter to him one bit that I got tickets to the ball game on Father's Day and he wasn't going to get to decide what to do. He wanted to take the kids to a game, and this was the perfect chance.

In Which We Find Tuesday...

Seriously people..if you are in need of some comic relief, or stress management.. get a kitten. Bailey has provided us with hours of entertainment in the last 2.5 weeks. She is currently sitting half on my belly and half on my laptop, sleeping with her head about resting on my keyboard. Prior to me nudging her, she was asleep in the crook of my left arm. Hard to type with no left arm. She comes out in the morning to greet me, and I have to sit on the couch and snuggle her for 5 minutes. If I don't pick her up right away, she attempts to climb my leg to see me instead. It's a great way to start the day. After about 5 mins she hops down and goes about with her mischief making. She loves the washing machine. The first 3 times I ran it after she got here she sat and watched it (we have a front loader) like it was the best movie she'd ever seen. She's still not sure about the mop, loves to pounce on the dog's ever wagging tail and the cursor on my laptop screen provides her with a plaything and me with some level of frustration. It's been years since our older cat has run and jumped and spun and chased her tail and carried on in such a way. I am enjoying it very much. Do you see how adorable she is? Moving On.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Boy thought I was kidding when I told him I wanted a vegetable garden for my birthday this year. "We can plant a vegetable garden," he said.. "Now what do you want for your birthday?" Even after we had it all built, and planted.. he was adamant. But for real this is what I wanted and I love it. I read about the idea of Square Foot Gardening on Rachel's blog, and went for it. I figure even if it doesn't work out so well this year, it will be a great jumping off point for nex year. This sunny spot did fabulous in my "will it get enough sun?" test last summer (note that I took this photo late yesterday around 5:30 pm) and so we put in two 4'x4' boxes.

Play Ball!

There is no better way to spend a warm summer night then sitting in the stands watching your team play ball. Especially if they win their home opener 8-1 and the opposing team didn't even get their run until the top of the 9th inning. June brings the return of NECLB (New England Collegiate League Baseball, which is a summer league. ) to our area.. and this summer in particular brings the 10th season of our hometown team. The crowd in the stands set a new record for most fans at a home opener game ever (3,041). We set the old record last year, despite the rain that was forecast (and came with a vengeance) and it was funny to be there to break it tonight. The team played great, the weather was perfect, and we were able to have our home opener fireworks. When was the last time a total of $10 got you so much? (tickets went up a dollar this year, but the family pass is the best deal this side of the Mississippi). A great way to end the week.

A Tale of Two Cats.. and a Dog

We have been having the wackiest weather! If my vegetables survive it will be amazing. Between the torrential rains, and the frigid temps... I'm not so sure it's almost summer. Except my calendar says so.. and there's only 9 more school days to go. I've almost finished the first coat of trim... it's slow going with trim... can't get it on the walls. My goal was to be finished by this weekend.. I think we'll make it. (minus the floor) I got a message on voice mail today that the furniture will arrive bw. 10 and 2 pm tomorrow. So not ready for furniture yet. So. Effing. Tired.

The Color Purple (or why I can't take a good photo of it)

What a busy weekend. The storms that wracked out state yesterday missed us entirely... and I managed to get my lawn mowed and finished the vegetable garden. I'll share photos of it the first sunny day we get. (looks like Wednesday) It came out fabulous in my opinion. I didn't quite follow the directions, but hey.. I'm not a follower. I painted the second coat of the ceiling yesterday, but I was fighting a sore neck, a horrific headache and called it a day. The ceiling paint was a shade of white, that was on the same color card as the purple, called Heavenly White. It has a light purple tint to it, that is only visible against the white of the primer. It looks sooooooooo good next to the wall color.

TGIF

Ya'll.... I'm tired. The kind of tired that creeps into your body and drags you down until you feel about useless tired. We're heading into the home stretch at school, and then it will be time to rest and rejuvenate. (no one better mention the yard work, painting, spring cleaning that won't get done until summer or mom's visit until tomorrow. I need to believe in the rest and relaxation dream TONIGHT.)

It was a busy week at Chez Dust Bunnies Galore. On top of meetings and general business, the kids participated in the District Band Show. Students from 3 of the Districts 6 towns spend the afternoon practicing together and then put on a show in the evening. It's always a good time (even if it's hot) and they did a great job. This is the only year my kids will play in band together until they are both in HS (assuming they are both still in band). She plays the clarinet, and he plays the trumpet. They did a great job and I am proud of them both. (I am proud of me too, I bought Ms. Thang her first pair of heels (kitten but still!) and a little black dress to match).

Speeking of being proud, I started painting her bedroom tonight after school. What the heck was I thinking. It was dark, due to a thunderstorm outside, and having to take down the ceiling light to paint, but I managed to get one coat of the ceiling finished. I had hoped to do them both, but with the 4 hour dry time, I feel asleep around the time it was ready for coat 2. (see above about being dog tired). Probably it's for the best, and I'll do the second coat in the morning. I'm hoping to at least have the ceiling and walls done this weekend. Then it's all trim work. We discussed sanding and refinishing her floor while we have the room apart, but I'm not sure if we'll get to that this time around.