Life On The Planet

The Boys' Room (La Deuxième Partie)

Tiger was green, I tell you - positively green, with envy over Sal's shelves.

"When?" he wailed. "When shall I get MY shelves, Father?"

(Or something like that.)

Not being one to like to favor one son over the other, The C.F.O. was honor bound to finish Tiger's shelves, and tout suite!

(My evil master plan is unfolding nicely, don't you think?)

And, of course, the entertainment section needed doing, as well.

(Rubbing hands together. Chortling fiendishly.)

Voila!

Tiger's shelves and the entertainment center!

I could cry I'm so happy. All of that stuff is either off the floor or out of my living room.

I. am. happy.

Tiger has room for books, and on top...

and photos, and puzzles, and small barnyard animals...

and, naturally, more books.

La troisième partie when we he finishes the rest!

For Kim Who Is In Another Country Without Her Children

They are alive!!!! They have bathed. They are dressed. Their dirty clothes are washing. Not sure about the tooth brushing thing. We're on the honor system here.

They have completed their schoolwork. Dirt Dude and Tiger are playing with the Wii. PB&J and Butterfly are straightening their hair. Again.

The cat and Sal are hiding. Great minds...

They had apples for snack.

Beef stew with brown rice and cornbread muffins on tap for dinner.

Plan to take them early to the kids' thing this afternoon so that we'll have time to run around on the playground.

All is well. Breathe. Relax. Enjoy.

And bring me a sea shell. Please!

Planetary Notes: 10-17-09

*Mulan rehearsals. Mulan, Mulan, Mulan. It's what were doing.

*Mulan costumes. (See above.)

*My root canal is scheduled for Wednesday. I can hardly wait.

*The cat has food.

*The front toilet is broken.

*The rabbit hutch has been winterized.

That's it, folks. I'm out of time. Have a good one.

Drama in Scrunchyland

The younger two thespians and I are currently involved in a local theater's summer camp. They will be performing Alice in Wonderland on Friday. Tiger is the Doorknob. It's type casting, I tell ya.

I am making headpieces out of hair scrunchies, felt, sequins and tulle for the GIRLS OF THE GOLDEN AFTERNOON, of which Butterfly is one. They're flowers.

And I thought I had time for this because...?!

My Father's DNA

Remember the Mom Song that everyone linked to awhile back? One of the best lines in it is when she sings, "It must be your father's DNA." I think it's my mother's favorite part.

My mom likes to begin sentences with, "Your father...." Like I had a choice in the matter! Jeez.

Not to change the subject, but have you heard me whining about my ears? No? How did you escape?! My family would love to know!

I have been having trouble with my ears. I am on my third, yes, I said third ear infection this year. (My second childhood is evidently upon me.) I have two weeks of antibiotics left, and if they don't work it's off to the E.N.T. for me. 

Tubes were mentioned.

I'm thirty-eight years old and possibly about to get tubes for the first time in my life.

That should rate at least a sucker and a Winnie-the-Pooh sticker.

So, I called my mom to tell her. "Well," she said, "Aunt S. had to get tubes in her ears recently."

Aunt S. is my father's sister.

Mom was right! It is all because of my father's DNA.

I don't know why I ever doubt her.

Autism

Recovery possible.  I'm a believer.

Happy Tired

Here we are in scenic Carencro, Louisiana, enjoying life and eating well. The kids and I arrived last night after an uneventful drive down. We were all pooped, as we had spent the rest of the weekend camping for Tiger's Cub Scout Graduation! We no longer have a Cub Scout. It was a bittersweet moment.

Sal helpfully packed the air mattress for us. Alas, it was the one with the hole in it.

Last week's exhaustion began Monday when Sal's Scoutmaster told me that Sal would need full Native American regalia for Saturday night's ceremony. Apparently they don't sell that at J.C. Penney. (You've got it right, I had to make it.) It was a hectic week, but the finished product was worth the effort.

I'll post photos of the cultural masterpiece a.s.a.p. 

Today was spent cleaning up for Mom, who recently had her hip replaced and isn't quite up to it, and doing odd jobs.

Shopping tomorrow with a side trip to our favorite Chinese restaurant will be fun. Later in the week we hope to make it to Old Tyme Grocery in Lafayette for po-boys. I'll feel like I'm in college again!

No school for the kids this week!

How will they ever survive?

Life is good for the planeteers in Louisiana. Exhausting, but good.

Time for Tea

Last Wednesday we went to a local Tea Party. As we were running from one event to another, we were a little late for the speeches. However, we made it in time for the sign waving, car-honking portion of the evening. Free speech at its free-ist.  Breathe the clean air, I told my children. We live in a constitutional republic. It's a good thing. 

Favorite signage at the rally:

"Congress: You're Fired!" - The guy holding this one oddly resembled Donald Trump. Go figure.

and...

"We owe WHAT?" - I think that every time I hear the word trillion. My poor future grandchildren.

I'll have to double check this with the CFO, but I don't recall seeing one anti-Obama sign at all. Maybe they were gone by the time we arrived. Mostly, the annoyance was directed at our Pork-Rich Congressmen. We are in Mississippi, after all. Politicians here seem to thrive on pork, and I don't mean barbecue.

We didn't take signs. We just wanted to show our faces and let the kiddos say they were there when. It was a great Civics lesson. Government for the people, by the people, etc. It was all very polite and happy and an overall good experience.

Imagine my surprise to get home to discover that because I attended a Tea Party, I am considered a pawn of that right-wing media, Fox News.

If I'd know that, I would have at least registered Republican.

I guess I missed the memo.

Susan Ryan and Elisheva Levin have write ups on their Tea Party experiences. You might find them interesting.

Life At 4 In The Morning

Why am I up at 4 in the morning? This is not a quiz. It's a rhetorical question. I don't expect you to know. How could you possibly know? I sure don't.

Anyway, as I am awake and it is 4 in the morning, I thought, "Why not call Aunt the Major?" Don't you call your sister at 4 in the morning? I do. Or, I would, if I could find her phone number. It's one of those long international jobs, so it's not like I have it memorized. It's in my phone book, where ever that is. I vaguely remember someone of the short persuasion asking me for it a week or so ago. Which means it is probably under someone's bed. Or desk. Or on their closet floor. Closets are not to be trifled with at 4 in the morning. Sorry, dear sister. I'm not calling. And it's not my fault.

Insert change of subject sticky note here.

(Or, as my military sister would say, "Break. Break.")

(Maybe you had to be there.)

So, I would like to announce that it is officially slug season here on the planet. That's right, you heard me correctly. I said slug. S.L.U.G. One was oozing up the wall behind the washing machine this evening. Ew. Naturally, I screamed like a little girl for The CFO. I told him that it was his husbandly duty to get rid of it. I told him I was certain it was somewhere in our pre-nup that he had to deal with slugs. (Probably right next to the clause that explicitly states that he MUST leave the toilet lid down.) I reminded him of the time that he was in Tennessee and I was in Louisiana with three children, a dog, a cat and sixteen chickens, who later exploded, and I had to deal with the mouse that the cat brought in. The mouse that was still, gulp, ALIVE? Remember? Don't cha?!?

He dealt with the slug. Maybe just to shut me up. I can't be certain.

Now that I've shared that sad insight into my marriage, I've nothing left to do. Calling the sister is out. Lesson plans? They may not make sense if I write them now. Oh, sure. They'll make sense now. But when the kids try to read them on Monday, they'll be total gibberish. Lesson plans are out. Watching T.V.? If it's something scary, I'll freak out and never get back to sleep. If it's something funny, I'll laugh and wake everyone else up. If it's an info-mercial, I'll throw something at the television. Not good. T.V. is definitely out. Too much reading or computer and my eyes will be puffy and red the rest of the day.

Maybe I'll go and stir up the cat. It's better than nothing.

4 o'clock in the morning. 'Tis the hour of my discontent.

Nada

As I sit here with a blank, white screen before me, I realize I don't have much to report. The Planet continues to spin. Laundry is done. Floors are scrubbed. Fractions are taught. But do you really what to read about the cleaning of the cat box?

I think not.

I could tell you that the garden has been planted. Only, I'm not certain what was planted, as it was a CFO orchestrated job. So, I'll just tell you that I'm grateful I didn't have to do it!

I could tell you of my quest to buy decimal cubes. I have fraction cubes, and I love them. I hope to get my decimal cubes soon! I am delaying my lesson on decimals until they arrive, so we'll leave it for another post, shall we?

(I'm excited about decimal cubes. Has it come to this?)

I went to Wal-Mart this morning. There were no announcements asking people to please stop their children from running, no screaming hysterics in Español, no one arrested in the parking lot. It was sadly lacking in spice. I was a little disappointed, truth to tell.

It's quite obvious to me that my life is on the dull side at the moment.

I think I'll go grab a book, stretch out on the sofa and enjoy my nothingness.

I'll get back to you when something blows up. Dull never lasts long in this house.