Hats Off to the Graduate

Ben graduated from pre-school. Hip hip hooray.
It was hot, hot, hot, but the kids sang their hearts out and looked pretty cute walking down the aisle.. Here are some highlights.

Next stop........Kindergarten. Ben, we are proud of you!

Double Vision

I awoke from sleep grabbed my glasses and wandered into the kitchen to turn on the tea kettle. "Man my eyes are cloudy this morning." I thought to myself. I blinked. I blinked some more.

In the spring my eyes are itchy probably due in part to the "A" word which we were never allowed to say as children......"allergies". My mom doesn't believe in allergies. I haven't told her we had the boys tested. Nor have I informed her of the results. She did recently declare that something in the air must be bothering her. Not sure what that something might be.

Anyhow, I thought my undocumented allergies must be affecting my eyesight.

I went to the bathroom to wash my eyes out in the hopes of clearing up my world. I scrubbed but still blurry. "What is going on? Could my eyes have deteriorated that much in one night?"
I was bewildered.

I took off my glasses to spray them down with cleaner only to discover I had on Kevin's glasses.

Mommy brain strikes again.

Night Out

Kevin enjoyed an evening out with the guys.

You guessed it....a baseball game.

Gotta go. Single mom night. Baby's going upstairs.......bedtime.......everbody needs me.

Congratulations

Here's a special "shout out" to my nephew Devin who graduated recently from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is pictured below with my brother Jay and my nephew Leigh.

The speaker at Devin's graduation was astronaut Cady Coleman via satellite from an international space station. Check out her hair in the picture.

Congratulations Devin! We are proud of you. Woohoo!

I Checked the Calendar

and I swear it says May. However, we have been freezing in 40 degree weather and contemplating the length of a cubit as we prepare to build an ark. The weather today takes the cake. The morning was lovely. Will, friends Ethan, Bea and I went for a gorgeous walk in the sunshine. We frolicked and jumped together.

We held hands and counted to three and ran down the hill. We climbed fences and smelled the columbine. During naptime, I was upstairs sewing and heard strange noises on the roof. I looked out to see a hailstorm.

This was the view of High Street from inside the comfort of our van.


What next? I may sleep in the basement tonight....just to be safe.

ROAD TRIP

Some people say I take after my mother.

Once while helping throw a high school reunion brunch at my Mom's house, a fellow classmate of hers took my sister and I aside in the kitchen to sing my mother's accolades. "Your mother is one of the prettiest women in Greene County," he went on to say with a 60 year old twinkle in is eye. "You....you look like your father." At least that's how we remember it.

Last night I took after my mother. Alarm set for 5:30 a.m., I toss and turn and am wide awake at 5:00 a.m. Somehow the anticipation of the day's events (and a crying baby) lead to lack of sleep when perhaps you need it the most.

Today I am road tripping to my Alma mater.....C.O.W. the College of Wooster. While in college they decreed that the "the" shall not be forgotten when referring to the institution. Hence forward The College of Wooster. Note. The college erected a huge sign at the northern in of the campus and somehow FORGOT the "the". Consistency people please.

My dear niece, Miatta, is graduating with a degree in English, minor in Education and my husband said, "You should go I'll take care of the kids." Okay! Always appreciative of a day off.

So I am going and planning to listen to grown up music and not settle any property disputes in the back seat.

Congratulations Miatta! Of course, you know I think you are awesome!Miatta was at my college graduation too!

Excuses

Instead of blogging this week I have......

• gone out for breakfast with my man (actually two men b/c Will came along)


• cleaned 2 and 1/2 rooms between my house and friends house. We started full of energy and vigor to share the duties of a thorough cleaning of one's house. 2 1/2 rooms later we are bored out of our minds.


• frolicked around Lowe's dreaming of endless money and endless handyman talents to fix all the project around the house.


• volunteered at E's school


• endured a cub scout meeting as future Co-Wolf Leader. (Not sure how that happened)


• drove out to my Mom's to make sure her house wasn't submerged due to flash flooding.


• bonded with oldest son who has been a big ball of grump lately.


• cleaned out one of the toy closets and vowed to purchase NO MORE TOYS. (Let's see if that happens.)


• sewed on a couple of bags to give as teacher gifts.....still unfinished. End of school quickly approaching.


• weeded front flower bed.


• reprimanded children for wrestling and grumpy talk 10-20 times a day.


• attempted to cook as few meals as possible

See? I am not just sitting around on my duff eating bon bons and painting my nails (though right now my toes are a lovely shade of fuschia and dark purple glitter). There seem to be many things to do and little time to do them.

Breakfast Musings with Benjamin

While eating breakfast with Ben this morning, the conversation revolved around his poached egg and canines.

Mommy: Did you know these eggs came from L and J's farm? They gathered them from the chickens. Would you like to live on a farm someday?

B: Maybe. If we don't have a dog. I like cats better than dogs.

M: Well growing up we had lots of dogs. Kublai, Gretchen, Jezebel, Jake, Molly. Dogs are kind of crazy at first when they are puppies but then they calm down and become a lot of fun.

B: You mean like dogs that stand still and wear clothes?

M: Ummmmmm

B: (with mischievous look in eye) I love poached eggs more than I love you.

M: No you don't.

So Long Raffi

As I cook supper tonight Ben and Will are downstairs blaring Nirvana and dancing.

I didn't even know they liked grunge.

Learn something new every day.

Unfortunate Cookies

We seemed to have received a bad batch of fortune cookies.
Either that or the proof reader was recently fired.

Here are a few exactly as written:

"Remember to order your take out also?"

"Ones always regrets what could have done. Remember for next time."

My personal favorite:

"Sometimes in life, you just have to play hardball."

Things you learn at the Body Shop

Since the van needs to be inspected next month, I decided to conquer one mundane task on my things to do list and take it to the body shop for an estimate.

I have no problem talking with strangers. My mother did not read the Berenstain Bears book, "The Truth about Strangers" to me when I was young. I also will not read it to my children as it describes people as good apples and bad apples. As you know it is hard to tell one from the other. Seems a bit extreme to me and therefore I let them chat with unknown folk in small town America. A perk of living where we live. Apparently I married into the right family as my mother-in-law has never known a stranger and could at one point tell you the life stories of most, if not all of the cashiers at Big Bear. Jealously prevents me from telling you about her adopted family at the Acura dealership. I think she added a clause in her will for those folk.

Anyhow, I was at the body shop a total of 20 minutes. I didn't even sit down but stood leaning against the wall holding Will on my hip. These are some of the things I learned from the unknown woman in the waiting room:

(Feline names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

If you have cats and want to keep them off the counters, you need many, many empty cereal boxes. Line them up on the counters and then when "Fluffy" jumps up she will be scared because of the noise.

If you want to keep "Shadow" from jumping on the table, put a dish of jelly or some other sticky substance that he will not like to get on his paws. (She did not mention how to clean up the kitty prints that are certain to ensue.)

Her 8 year old cat, "Sparky" was angry at an animal outside the kitchen door. He proceeded to take his anger out on her, an innocent party, by inserting his fangs into her left leg. She proceeded to lift her pant leg to reveal the scars. In Sparky's defense, she also has taken her anger out on the next person who enters the room, even if they are not involved in the conflict. Sparky, although old, was promptly taken to the vet. where his fangs and claws were removed. Sparky was a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She receives numerous phone calls every day of people looking for the Smith garage because it is the same as her last name. She intends to place the phone number of the garage near the phone so that she may courteously provide said number.

If I want to fix the broken third tail light on my van, I should search at the salvage yard for it. (Perhaps the boys would enjoy such an activity!)

She had a friend who in an attempt to toilet train her dog brought a stump into the house. (Thought this may be applicable to my life as Will is getting closer to potty training age.)

Also such toilet training can happen on a "diaper" as she calls them, placed on the floor.


Estimate for replacement of rear light: $120.00
Wealth of knowledge gained from Chatty Cathy Smith: Priceless