Let's make some lists! #1 Medicine/Grooming

OK - it's official, Danny is going to college. For some reason, he does not want to stay home with Mummy and learn the violin. :::sigh:::  My goal is to send him on is way with a full larder.  So, I"m going to start with the medicinal/grooming side of things.  I'm making lists and making them here so that you can all use them when the time comes to send your own short people away to have their own lives. Also, I'm making the list so that those of you who have been-there-done-that can share.  Woohoo, look at me be a resource!  ;)


Grooming:


Soap -I'll make that and send it with him
Shampoo
Conditioner - poor Dan got my hair, he needs it
Shaving cream
Razors
Deodorant
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes
Floss
What else?  I think that's all he uses . . . it's pretty much all I buy anyway . . .


Medicinal:


Ibuprofen - most of his aches and pains are workout related
Aspirin or Tylenol???? for fevers?
Gold Bond Powder - cuz boys get different itches than girls sometimes
Hydrocortisone cream
Band-aids
Hydrogen Peroxide
Rubbing Alcohol
Q-tips
Benadryl 
Pepto Bismol
$$ for a flu shot
Chap Stick
Some kind of lotion - it's WAY colder in Tallahassee than it is in Orlando during the winter


WHAT ELSE??????

Cannon Ball!!!

That's me (when I was 7 and surprisingly tan and dark-haired - nah, not me, stock photo) jumping off the deep edge.  I was pacing around tonight and picking up kid clutter and cleaning the kitchen and in the near-back of my mind I was thinking, the house should look neat just in case the police stop by.  REALLY!!!!!!  That is my mindset.  It doesn't matter that we have four kids and an active life, it matters that the house looks nice should the neighbor opt to call the police after, say, 8 pm.  I don't want to stand out in the front catching malaria talking to them.  It would be incredibly weird if I met the police/animal control/code enforcement with a bottle of bug spray.  The other option, the sane option, is to invite them in and shut the bugs out.  So, yeah, CANNON BALL.  I think in this part of the pool, you know, the crazy part, I'm making the biggest splash.  :::sigh:::


Still, we're now three days with no official visits.  Yay us. Huh?

Shhhh . . . so far so good.

How sad that we've been reduced to measuring our weekend happiness on how many city/state vehicles pull up in front of our house ... but there we are.  You have NEVER ever seen a couple more pleased to see the group of Jehovah's Witnesses who knocked on our door this morning.  Mike and I were practically high-fiving them for NOT being law enforcement of some sort.  We did not convert, but we had a nice conversation with them and waited to do our chest-bump until they'd left.  Yep.  


For those of you who are not on Facebook, you MUST read this.  Really, click on it and read it.  I'm NOT a fan of birds, but I am inspired by this post.  The possibilities are just endless.  Be sure to read the captions on the photos.  I read this two days ago and I still crack up whenever I think about it.  


Bing and Pap are home.  Ian and Andy picked them up at the airport.  They were wired, jet-lagged and loopy when they arrived here (Ian drove Bing's car, so technically, Bing and Pap were dropping Ian and Andy off on their way home).  


They stopped in for tiny glasses of wine and we got to hear bits and pieces of their trip.  Uh-Mazing!!! I'm so jealous AND happy they had so much fun together. What an awesome adventure to mark 47 years of being married!!!!  I also, FINALLY, got to ask my mom if she meant, on my birthday (June 16 if it's not on your calendars), to send me an email with the subject "Happy Birthmark."  *snort*  Based on my parents hysterical reaction, I'm guessing no. Yeah, I hear they drink wine for breakfast "over there."  ;)  Still, it was funny and I'll treasure the sentiment forever. 


I'm feeling a little spoiled and selfish at having to give my mom's car back. It was so so so nice to have a third vehicle these past couple of weeks.  Waaahhhh - I want the clean, cute, easy-to-park car back.  Okay, this might take a while, talk amongst yourselves - it might help if you chant "love-the-suburban" while you chat.


I'm heading out to finish the laundry and stare at the empty hole in my driveway, whilst keeping an eye out for official looking cars.  Knock-knock . . .

Ahhh . . .

It's nearly ten and NO visits from city officials.  I guess that's a good night, right?  ;)  I barely slept last night. Funny how easily I could do that when I was younger.  Now, I can deal with the lack of sleep, but MAN does it show on my face.  Cucumber slices are not going to make those bags under my eyes go away. Sometimes I hate getting old - not always, but in this instance, I hate it. 


Mike and I are talking about putting in a fence along that side of the yard, but, damn, it's expensive.  The upside?  We would paint the outside of the fence, facing our mean neighbor's yard, with some lovely Caribbean colors - we're leaning toward pink and lime.  Our side of the fence will be planted with bougainvilla.  We'll see if the money works out - I resent having to spend so much money on something none of us want. But, the thought of a Caribbean fence facing our beige neighbor makes me a little happier than it should.  


The alternative?  I found a website that shows how to build a fence out of wine bottles.  This cracks me up as much as the crazy color fence.  If we go with that option, I'll let you know because that's going to be a LOT of wine bottles. (The picture is one idea - the other is to stack and mortar wine bottles like bricks which is more what I'm thinking lol)

I spent this evening doing water aerobics with my neighbors.  Oh my. We have been trying to walk together and then work out.  Tonight was the first night we tried an actual real water aerobics plan.  I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Bonus?  The kids were all at my house playing Risk and we had the neighbor's pool all to ourselves.  That NEVER happens.  Then, as we were finishing up, a huge thunderstorm moved in.  We were trapped at the neighbor's and the kids were trapped here with Mike.  Bummer.  So, we did what any sane women would do.  We picked a safe spot in the garage and drank wine and watched the storm.  It was a very nice, relaxing night.  Mike and all the boys over here seemed to have a good time too - world domination did not get out of hand and no one was in tears after the storm.  

Over this week, I've read the Hunger Games series.  I'm not a huge fan of the "young adult" genre, but this was a seriously entertaining series.  Andy has read the first one, Danny just finished and Ian is starting on book one.  It brings up lots of questions in the kids' minds and we've had some interesting discussions.  It's violent and parts are a little scary, but I would say a mature 11-12 year old who likes to read could handle it. Just tossing it out there for those of you looking for stuff for your kids to read this summer.  It's not terribly challenging reading, but it's straightforward and the storyline is compelling.

What a stoopid, stoopid week . . .

This week has been full of nothing but stoopid.  Tonight did not improve things.  Fortunately, it's not my family that's stoopid.  But, sometimes, external influences can make you cuh-razy.  Sunday night, batteries died on Cally's electric collar and she landed in psycho neighbor's yard for about 3 minutes.  Visit from Animal Control.  Monday night, Cally was contained in the yard, but still ANOTHER visit from Animal Control. Tonight, somehow someone turned down the dial on the range of Cally's collar.  While Mike, Ian and Andy played catch with a football out front this evening, Cally casually strolled into neighbor's yard. For about ONE minute.  Mike came flying into the house to check the controls on the fence and see if everything was working. (Can you even imagine having to react this way???  Most neighbors would not think twice about a 2 minute appearance by a dog in their yard. This is what we've come to.)  The border had been turned down all the way so that there was no shock.  I don't know who turned down the border control.  I also don't know who took Jenny either. I feel like I should install web cams around the house, but that's just too creepy. 


By the time I was able to figure out what the heck was going on and wander outside, a police car was in front of our house and an Animal Control van was pulling up behind it.  As an added bonus, all of our neighbors began wandering out to see what it is we've done THIS time.  That makes SEVEN visits from police, animal control and/or code enforcement since June 5.  


Lucky for us, the police officer that showed up was "our" New Year's Eve officer.  I'd love to meet his mom and thank her for raising such a nice young man - he can't be five years older than Danny.  The Animal Control lady was very nice as well.  And, still, there's nothing any of us can do.  As long as the neighbor calls, they have to come. AND, the nice police officer explained that she can simply swear out a statement to him saying our dog was in her yard, even if she wasn't AND if she does this, the next call to the police, they can start fining us.  $50 for the first fine and it goes up thereafter.  Our recourse?  Hire an attorney and take her to court.  WHY THE FACE?  We cannot afford either option.  And, moving is not an option either.  


Now what?  The reason we adopted Cally in the first place was that the family who originally adopted her could not keep up with her need for movement. She came to us because someone is around nearly all the time to keep her moving. Cally is an awesome puppy, but she's a puppy.  Scout's old, but back in her puppy days she'd test the limits of the electric fence.  Of course, back then, we had a sane family that lived in the current neighbor's house.  They'd either just bring Scout back or they'd call us to come get her.  End of problem.  ::::sigh::: 

I'm so frustrated and stressed out by all of this. Scout and Cally are not dogs that are happy with a 1-2 times a day leisurely walk.  Both dogs need hours and hours of being active.  If I have to leash them, this is not going to happen -there are just not enough hours in the day.   I do not have time to run with them all day.  I've reached paranoid level.  I'm so tired of being nice to police and the rest of them who have no real reason to visit our house and knowing that we have no recourse against this hateful woman.  It's no longer funny or just "ooo crazy neighbor is at it again, let's feel sorry for her because she's all alone."  I am fighting the urge to make Andy brush his teeth and hair and wear shoes at all times so she doesn't start calling Child Services.  


We are we having to defend ourselves for being normal people against this hateful woman?  The burden of proof is on us. Everyone we encountered from the police, code enforcement and animal control agrees with us but!!!!! they just shrug.  They HAVE to come if someone calls.  I am worn out by all of this.  It doesn't make any sense to me.  Sure, if someone calls because they're being robbed or worse, YES the police should immediately go.  Sure, if someone calls because there is a 120# pit bull in their front yard, YES Animal Control should go.  Yes, if you're worried about fire and someone is parked in front of the fire hydrant, call code enforcement . . . But where is the common sense???? 


Ugh ... I'm tired of being the nice, smiling neighbor ... we've done NOTHING WRONG.  


(And, yes, we've talked about talking to her, but after her cursing me out, cursing Tim out and getting into it with Mike, my gentle giant, I think it's gone beyond that. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is.)


Oh well, think good thoughts for us and especially for our neighbor.  

Monday, Monday . . .

Whew - I am so glad today is over.  It started early and got stupider and stupider as the day went on (and on and on and on).  I went to bed around 1 am, early for me.  But, I couldn't sleep and I got up and went to the kitchen to make sure the ice cream in the freezer was okay.  Imagine my surprise and delight when I realized as I entered the kitchen that I was nearly ankle deep in water.  Stoopid dishwasher. So much for finishing the laundry. I stopped the cycle, dragged out a bunch of newly (:::sniff:::: some were still warm) towels and sopped up the mess and left a note for Mike.  Upside, the ice cream was fine.  Mmmmm....ice cream.


Mess cleaned up, I went back to bed. Woke up early to make sure Tim and Ian made it to their final exams for summer school on time.  Heh.  Not early enough.  They were pulling out of the driveway.  Oh well.  Their exams went well and they both have two more college class credits under their belts as they head into their senior year. I washed the dishes from the dishwasher, did some laundry and basically puttered around until Andy got up.  He's had an ear infection that will not go away.  Hooray, today, I could touch his ear with no screams.  Actually, I could push on his ear, fold his ear and I dunno, what else can you do to an ear? It's clear.  We'll finish the drops and start using the ear plugs when he swims.  I was able to scratch calling the doctor from my list.

Ian and Tim got home.  We all had lunch and then Tim and I headed to the DMV for his "Class E" license test.  Jabba-the-Hut was nowhere in sight when we arrived.  It all went very smoothly, if slowly.  I wonder how long it would have taken if we'd NOT had an appointment.  As it was, we were at the DMV for nearly four hours. There are WAY too many cuh-ray-zee people at the DMV for my taste.  Tim is now a licensed driver and we are now Geico's favorite customers - 3 teen boys and a tank, what's not to love?


I paced around the house thinking about dinner, but not really inspired.  Mike came home.  Lucky for me, Mike loves food and is generally inspired.  He took over the dinner task.  The man has a gift with pasta, vegetables and leftovers.  Delicious.  After dinner, I got a taste of what life is going to be like with three teens with diverse interests and activities and two cars.  For now, we have my mom's car (God bless her but, only a few more days of that easiness!)  I was planning a quick run to the grocery store, but noooo . . . I ended up at the local convenience store buying Diet Coke and rushing back so Tim could go to work - Alone!!!!  Dan was headed out on a date and Ian already had one car at a play rehearsal at the college.  ::::sigh::::: It could be years until I leave the house again.

In the short time I was gone, our charming neighbor called Animal Control to let them know FOR THE SECOND DAY IN A ROW that our dogs were running wild.  Ummmm . . . no, not running wild.  One, Scout is 14, she doesn't run much.  Two, we have the electric fence (which neighbor knows all about, thank you).  So, yes, Animal Control has been here two days in a row.  Last week, we had a visit from Code Enforcement.  It's a weekly, bi-weekly thing these days and there is NOTHING we can do.  I will be visiting Animal Control tomorrow with all of our documents and licenses and evidence that we do, in fact, have an electric fence - it's that or pay the $100 fine for Cally not having her rabies tag on her collar - my fault, but I did have the paperwork.  Still, I will have to pay for a visit to our vet to get him to sign off on the rescue vet's paperwork for Cally, so that everything is in our name.  Thank you, crazy, mean neighbor.  I had nothing else planned for that $100.

This is getting tiresome.  I'm losing my empathy for my crazy, mean neighbor.  We have NEVER done anything to this woman. We are NOT bad neighbors. All she has to do is come out and say hello and be part of the very nice group of neighbors we have.  We'd welcome her and let bygones be bygones.  For now, I worry about our dogs' safety.  Mike says I'm nuts, but, too late, it's in my head. 


Tim took Andy to Rebounderz, where he is working this summer, to bounce around.  It was his first solo trip as a driver.  :::sigh::: Pulling into the driveway as he was coming home, trying to leave room for Danny to park my Mom's car (sorry, Mom, your pretty car now smells like teen boy but no scratches!) later, (and the only reason we have to do this is because crazy neighbor calls code enforcement if we park for more than 1/2 hour anywhere other than our driveway. Now lest you think I live in a fancy neighborhood where NO ONE does this, consider yourself corrected.  We all do it and no one cares when it's temporary.)  Anyway . . . Tim pulled too close to the Suburban and left big scratches on my car and Mike's truck.  Sigh, deep enough that rust is a worry.  At least he only damaged our own vehicles.  I was so surprised because Tim, by far, is the most cautious of our drivers.  I don't think the lesson is lost on him, though. He was very upset. 


So, that's our three for the day.  Could be much worse, could be better, right?  I'm going to wait up until Dan arrives safely home from his date and then crash.  

Happy 47th Mom and Dad!!!!

Today marks my parents' 47th wedding anniversary!!! I think 47 years is pretty awesome, how about you?


Thanks for meeting each other and getting married and having me, Lynne and Matthew, Mom and Dad.  

Venice Envy

I give - I am so beyond jealous of my parents right now.  They will be in Venice tomorrow.  I want to be in Venice tomorrow.  I want to be in Venice NOW if I'm being perfectly honest.  Waaahhhh.  


I used to read a lot of Anne Rice and I loved her descriptions of Venice.  I am also a fan of Cornelia Funke, children's author and her book The Thief Lord is one of my favorites.  I loved the book, but I'm a bigger fan of the audio version. The reader is absolutely perfect.  It's one of our "fall-back" books when we need something everyone can listen to on a drive.  I never get tired of it.  (The movie version is terrible, skip it.)

The beginning of the end . . .

I just bought midnight tickets for me, the boys and Bing to attend Harry Potter 7, Part II.  I'm excited AND sad that it's all coming to a close. I am thrilled, though, that all four boys and Bing will be there to finish our tradition of midnight madness. We've all stayed up late through the book releases and the movies and we have had SO much fun doing it. I'm going to be sad to let it all go.  


I had a great birthday.  The day wasn't much fun.  Our doctor couldn't squeeze Andy in and his (Andy's, not the doctor's) ear was making him miserable.  We ended up at one of the doc-in-the-box places and they set him up with ear drops and an ominous warning not to get wet for a week.  Nice thing to tell a child who mostly skips soap and shampoo when he CAN get wet.  I bought some Febreeze along with his medicine - we'll see how the Febreeze does. As a last resort, I will threaten to put on my bathing suit and "help" him get clean.  I've used this threat before and have never once had to put my bathing suit on.  Cross your fingers.


Despite his pain, Andy baked me all-by-himself-while-I-napped-on-the-couch an awesome, double-decker birthday cake. Can you say chocolate? Devil's Food with Dark Chocolate Icing. When his second layer crumbled, I found him in tears in the kitchen.  I, being baking-impaired, despite my last name, explained to Andy the beauty of frosting and how to smoosh a cake back into something that looks cakelike.  It worked.  In fact, when our neighbors stopped by to wish me Happy Birthday (isn't that awesome and just nice?) one of the kids remarked that it was a good thing Andy took ALL of those candles out as they had apparently been crushing the center of the cake.  It was hard, but I bit my tongue.  Damn candles and homeskool kids who can't count.  ;)  (kidding)  No matter, the cake was perfect - Andy definitely got some baking genes from his dad.  Someone dared use the "m" word  and I did not even disagree!  Shhh....

The other boys were working and at school so we didn't actually have cake or anything until around 9 pm. Ian and Tim replaced my completely worn our cd of Wicked - I'm singing with the original cast as I type! I just love Wicked.  Dan is taking me out for sushi tomorrow and Mike came home with an amazing bouquet of flowers.  To top it off, the boys even played Scrabble, in person on a real board, with me. I won't even try to explain the goofy things that had us roaring with laughter, but how lucky am I????  I'm so very, very lucky to have the family I have.  We have so much fun together doing the dumbest things.  I cannot imagine a better birthday! 


I bought myself these shoes and a pair of flip flops today - Payless Buy One/Get One 1/2 off.  They're stoopid, but I wore them today and thought of myself as Dorothy - what shoes would she wear without the ruby slippers.  I think these are those.  8) 

Today it's my birthday ...

I'm not sure what to think.   I feel a lot like I did when I was very young, sometimes even when I was very, very young and then I try to spring out of bed.  Mostly I spring out pretty quickly, but the cracks and pops are a little disconcerting.  How did I end up being 46???? How did I end up with four kids, one adult, two almost adult and one 11?  How did all of this happen?  I love it. Still I wonder if saggy skin is the price you pay.  It's such a weird feeling to be "almost" done with 3 of the 4 boys.  The house stays clean longer (minus laundry), it's quieter, the conversations are FAR more civil (Andy's still on the light side of puberty) and yet, I don't feel done.  I'm NOT  done, I have Andy to ruin . . . but to go from chaos to calm so quickly is a little surprising abd disconcerting.  


46.  It seems weird to be THIS old.  I'm not unhappy with anything. I look my age, but I don't think I've aged badly - I just hate that I've aged. I got most of my hair cut off the other day - think pixie for curly hair.  It's a cute hair cut and I had something similar when I was about 19 (when I met Mike).  Still like the hair, but it's funny how the face is sort of the same, but not really.  That would be my face - young vs. old. Oh well, this is as young as I'm going to get, right?  This is the first part of my 40's that has freaked me out a bit.  I'm moving on as of NOW.


I mentioned, earlier, my parents being on a cruise. I'm so excited to hear about it.  In the past few days, they've been in Nice/France, Pisa/Italy, Naples/Italy and I think they're in Rome right now.  They'll move on to all kinds of amazing locations, including two days in Venice. There were never two people who deserved a trip like this more than my parents. I'm so excited for them that they actually took the plunge. I received a b-day card from them today (thanks Matt for sending it).  They'll be in Venice when they celebrate their 47th Anniversary.  How awesome is that?  I'm hoping my mom makes little notes about what they saw and what they ate while they're traveling.  In the meantime, Andy and I are looking up the cities they're visiting each day. Andy was wishing he'd sent my folks off with a watermelon to toss off of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Hindsight and all that.  


Tomorrow, nothing exciting. Andy has an ear infection, so he's going to the doctor in the morning.  Scout's last steroid shot didn't work so she'll be going to the vet in the afternoon to discuss options. Andy had Ian take him out this evening to buy supplies (with his own money - sniff) to make me a cake tomorrow.  There's a big bag of stuff on the counter and I've sworn not to look.  I'm a cheat, I made Danny look.  Danny wouldn't give details, but he said it should be an amazing cake even if Andy screws it up.  8) Cross your fingers!!!!!!

It's not easy living here . . .

I know I paint our lives to be a paradise of grace, grandeur and good fortune, but surprisingly, that is not always the case.  Hah!  I'm such a liar.  I never paint our lives that way.  And, if you are a teen boy in my house seeking a driver's license, for some reason this pursuit is cursed.  Cursed, I tell you!  


Tim is the last of the "bigs" to get his driver's license.  You can check the archives for Dan's and Ian's sagas.  I thought I had everything covered.  But, of course, I didn't.  Ian and Tim came home from their morning classes at  the community college and commented that one of the turn signals was not working.  I sent them to the auto parts store (Yay! Mike taught them how to do this stuff!!!) to fix it.  They tried a new bulb, they tried a new fuse.  No go.  BUT . . . no problem.  My parents are off on the most amazing cruise ever (more on that later) and they offered us the use of my mom's car.  So, we were still good for Tim's test . . . car with current registration, insurance and everything working.  Problem?  Tim has never driven anything remotely small.  


We headed out an hour before the test to let Tim get a feel for the car.  It took a while, but he got the hang of  stopping a tiny car without anyone going through the wind shield.  With confidence we headed into the DMV for our appointment.  A woman who was most surely George Lucas' model for Jabba the Hut greeted us with a snarl.  Tim gave his name and appointment time.  She said, "You're here for your Learner's Permit?"  and Tim said, "No, ma'am, I'm here for my driver's license." She hunched up her fat, piggy eyelids (covering mean, blank eyes) and said "That's not what I have here.  You already HAVE a license.  A Learner's License. You should have requested a Class E license."  Are you kidding me?  Tim and I just stared at her.  Finally, I asked, can he take the road test today, we don't mind waiting.  This woman could be the poster child for everything wrong with government.  She was even dressed in fleshy pink/purple/peach stretch gear to match the brain-numbing walls - think Jabba-the-Hut in pink/purple/peach stretch gear with some stains from lunch on the front of the shirt.  She rolled her soulless piggy eyes again and said "Oh, I don't think so."  And she waved her fat piggy hand to dismiss us.  


So, we left, made a new appointment online for NEXT Monday.  Please, please, please let it be that woman's day off.  Poor Tim was so disappointed.  I was furious and disgusted.  Has anyone else ever heard the term "Learner's License" before?  I never have and I've done this twice before within the past two years. Learner's Permit is the only term I've ever seen in writing or heard. I have never ever heard of a Class E license.  Well, now we know and we're filing it away for the day when Andy has to drag me to the DMV.  

Random questions . . .

I couldn't resist the picture. It's been cracking me up all day.  Now, on to the questions.


Who gardens? What in the world do I do with rogue tomato plants? I have a couple that are nearly 7 ft tall with baby tomatoes on them - how do I save them and stake them?  We only have another few weeks of tomatoes and I want to get all I can from them.  


Is your refrigerator organized? If so, how?  Our fridge died about a week before our party last week.  Mike picked out a new fridge.  It's gorgeous and kind of space-ship-like.  BUT . . . I'm struggling to figure out the shelves and how to make sense of it.  It is bigger than our old fridge, but it seems wrong.  Tips?


Those of you who have let your children leave home to go to college . . . is there a list of stuff they'll need somewhere?  I think I have a decent start on a list, but I'm struggling with the concept of supplies for one person. How many towels, sheets? What else? I think most of the kitchens are furnished, but we'll send him off with a good knife.  What else?


Have you all heard of Terrapass?  There's the link if you want to check it out.  I saw several TerraPass bumper stickers while we were in Tallahassee.  I sort of looked at the website, but I don't get it and I was tired so maybe I missed something.  I'm all for saving the planet, it just seems weird to me to pay someone so you can get a bumper sticker to tell the world you're saving the planet. I'm not necessarily opposed to something like this but I just don't understand it.  Can someone help me out? We compost, garden, buy recycled clothing and household goods when possible, we carpool, though we did  recently switch back to incandescent light bulbs b/c after 18 months, I hate the spirally ones and the warning about sitting with one of them close to my head freaks me out. Still, in our defense...we are huge library supporters.  But, TerraPass?  I have to pay for us being alive along with living responsibly?  Maybe I am missing the point.  WHO am I paying when I pay for my car or my family with TerraPass? Why do they benefit from my "sins" against the planet? It's a gorgeous website - someone is paying for this and whose money are they using?  I'm sore confused.

Bloggish thoughts . . .

I've been such a slacker-blogger lately.  I went long enough without blogging to really spend some time thinking about why I blog and did I want to keep blogging.  Blogging is a weird thing.  It IS a selfish, kind of arrogant thing to do.  Who am I to think anyone cares what I do? And, I DO think that often when I'm typing here.  BUT . . . mostly it's selfish and I'm okay with that - this blog is open to anyone to read and/or comment and all you've lost is your time, right?  


I love being able to go back and read about dumb stuff we did.  I love stopping each day to think about mundane things and what makes them interesting.  I love making myself find something in each day that is worth writing about.  Sometimes it's funny or insightful, often it's not. To me, a blog is not like keeping a paper journal. With a paper book to write in, I write some of the fun stuff, but I tend to focus on the negative stuff and, really, I'm enough of a glass-half-empty kind of person that I don't need to spend my time doing that. The blog has really helped me put into words what a great, even when it's stoopid, life I have. And, sometimes, someone reading picks up something they can use or avoid in their own lives. I enjoy that much more than being all mean and angsty in a paper journal.


So, my wishy-washy-ness is over.  I see how fast the years have gone by since I started this blog and there are so many posts here that remind me of things I would have forgotten long ago had I not taken 10 minutes the night after whatever happened to write it down.  I'm glad I did and I think I'll keep doing it - my goal is for a daily post from now on.  Obviously, the blog will probably be less kid-centric as time goes on, but who knows what's next? So, I'll keep at it for selfish reasons.  8)  

Better Dan than me . . .

I've never spent a great deal of time in Tallahassee.  I always thought it was pretty and very un-Florida-like with its hills and trees. (stock photo, not Tallahassee) Before we had kids, I used to come here for work periodically. But, I never saw much more than the hotel I was staying in and the meeting rooms. But now, after a long day trekking through the city and its apartments and various stuff, I have to say I'm glad it's Danny who will be living here and not me.  (No offense to anyone in Tallahassee - I'm sure for people who live in "real" places see a whole different side of the city.)  We visited six apartments this morning with Andy in charge of my cell phone and the GPS.  That we found the one place after Andy changed the language to Mandarin is a miracle.  


I am not really a headache-y kind of person (excluding allergy-induced headaches).  Today was the exception.  By noon, I was nearly in tears with the most incredible headache EVER. I paid a fortune for a bottle of Excedrin and downed three quickly.  Good stuff. Feeding Andy coffee and donuts early in the morning was probably not the best strategy in hindsight.  Oh well.  We saw the apartments.  I have them mapped out and I have a list of five more to look at tomorrow morning. I'm ready to go to graduate school or something - some of these places are seriously nice. The kind of nice that would be lost on Dan, but I would certainly enjoy it! ;)


Still full of donuts, we headed to the Tallahassee Museum. More hindsight - we should have done THIS in the morning and saved the apartments for the afternoon.  Much of this museum is outside and it was about 95 in the shade by the time we arrived.  It was pretty cool - as in neato, though.  If we lived here I'd definitely have a membership if I had very young children - great playground in the middle.  We explored a Florida plantation house, kitchen and slave quarters.  Next we walked through a late 19th century Florida farm.  My hat is off to anyone who was insane enough to live down here pre-air-conditioning.  For sure we would have starved.  


Still, Andy and I had fun.  He was such a hard baby and toddler that I'm still surprised by how easy he is to be with now.  He'll talk and talk and talk and then is perfectly happy to sit quietly with his own thoughts for 30 minutes.  And, he just cracks me up.  He packed NOTHING but blue and orange clothing for this trip  I did not even realize he owned so much blue and orange clothing. (blue/orange are Gator colors - Florida State's biggest rival and Mike's and my alma mater).  The child is fearless.


On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the local grocery store.  Sure, it's the same chain as our local grocery store, but it was totally different (the produce was on the RIGHT!!!!) so it was fun.  We bought chocolate, a hair brush, wine and a corkscrew (the Excedrin can only do so much).  Then we spotted a Goodwill.  We had to check it out.  You can tell a bunch of energetic college kids work there.  All kinds of interesting, artsy displays ... we didn't see anything we had to have, but it was fun to check it out.  


After eating some sandwiches in our room, Andy swam for an hour or so while I read under an umbrella.  We went back to the room, watched an awesome thunderstorm from the window while we debated the merits of ordering a pizza or getting back into the car for dinner.  The storm was enough that we ordered pizza, put on our pj's, set up our ironing board and finished up our Monopoly game while watching Scooby Doo and a bunch of Fraser reruns. It really doesn't get much better, does it? 


We've got the car mostly packed and I think I set the alarm correctly for tomorrow - we'll see, I guess.  Not a terribly exciting trip for us, but definitely worthwhile based on my very brief conversation with Dan this afternoon.  He is not enjoying being "programmed." He called it college with cookies and juice boxes. Still, he really liked the advisor from the Engineering School that he met this morning.  Dan's community college math and science classes were accepted with no problems.  From what he said, a lot of the kids who had taken AP high school classes were going to have to repeat.  Whew - dodged a couple-thousand-dollar bullet there!  I was so uncertain when we first started along the path we took with Dan.

We head home tomorrow, late afternoon. It'll be nice to be home for a few weeks with everyone together and nothing huge looming over our heads (I hope).  Cross your fingers that we beat the afternoon thunderstorms on the trip home.  See y'all tomorrow night!!!

Road Trip!

Like every road trip ever planned, we left much later than expected today for Tallahassee. We had a long stop at the bank to get Dan's official "homeschool" transcript notarized (why in the world a notary stamp makes it more official is beyond me) and then, my parents were nice enough to swap out one of our crappy cars for one of their nicer ones.  We picked up my mom's Toyota, left the ancient truck and hit the road.  Ahhh the joys of driving something so clean and in good working condition!!!!!!  


It was tricky trying to find something Dan, Andy and I could all listen to on the drive.  Finally we agreed to revisit Harry Potter IV - The Goblet of Fire. I had forgotten how funny the parts of the Quidditch World Cup are in the book. We timed our drive to match a HUGE band of thunderstorms.  That made things fun and MUCH slower. But, we made it in plenty of time.  Checked into our old, but very clean, hotel and then went for some dinner before dumping Dan on the curb of an anonymous dorm for his "programming" session.  (Programming is the school's choice of words, not mine. They even have special parent programming sessions.  Bummer that I'm not available.  I'm sure I would have enjoyed it.) I dunno, I should feel bad that I'm not one of the parents standing around with their kids, but Dan really does not need me to hold his hand at this point . . . right? No, I know I'm right.  He'd feel stoopid and I'd feel stoopid and we'd end up fighting.


This hotel came nicely recommended from a few sources. Really, we just need a safe place to sleep, a small fridge, a pool for Andy and wifi for me. For under $50/night, what we have totally fits the bill - plus the lady in charge when we checked in was amazingly nice. Still, I have to admit, I keep screaming when I look in a mirror.  When I'm just sitting here, I feel like I'm on a vacation in the 70's with my parents - you can then imagine my horror when I glimpse in the mirror.  The room has that almost smoky smell - not quite, but you know it would pop out if you picked off the paint. The only thing missing is 10-year-old me and the rabbit ears for the tv.  So, nothing fancy, but just right for me and Andy. Andy swam for a while when we got back to the hotel - but something in the middle of the city was burning to the ground and the smoke was simply too thick to sit in.  Finally, we headed back to our room.  


Andy went to take a shower - he was cold - it was only 80 when he got out of the pool - gah, Florida kids. I fired up my mom's laptop (have I mentioned how awesome my parents are? car keys, a computer AND a pack of double stuff Oreos!!!) and started checking out apartments for Dan.  


Sorry, Dan, you're 18, you do not deserve nor need a state of the art gym, a tanning dome (whatever the hell that is - Dan is Vermont-pale and the thought of him near a tanning anything makes me shudder) or a kitchen with (I'm NOT joking) granite counters and a double oven in your first apartment. I'm anxious to see what exactly it is we can afford. I'm hoping Danny is not over-programmed when I show him what we've found and is willing to accept less than hardwood floors and bidets in every corner. He's grown up with stories of the "less-than-perfect" (understatement) apartments Mike and I both had in college and I think we've had 
more time to program him.  I'll keep you posted.


After Andy's shower and my shocking online visit into off-campus housing, Andy and I set the ironing board up between the two beds and started on a MONSTER game of Monopoly.  We played for nearly four hours! We're not done but the game is safely packed away for tomorrow night.  I LOVE having this time with him - no brothers, no dogs, no chores for either of us.  He's such a weird, funny, awesome kid. (He gave Dan a tip for meeting new people.  "How much does a polar bear weigh? I don't know, but enough to break the ice. *stick out hand for a shake* Hi, I'm Dan!" Weird, but better than anything I had. 


He set up the coffee pot and the alarm (so we'd be up in time for hot Krispy Kremes) for the morning before climbing into bed. He double checked with the lady at the front desk that we'd get a paper in the morning. It's like he's 70! I told him he could get his news online, but he insists he likes the paper - no big argument here.  


Wish us luck on our apartment hunting tomorrow. It's supposed to be hot and stormy here tomorrow, so I'm looking for a good indoor activity for us in the afternoon.  I think the antique car museum might be a hit.  


(Sorry, no camera with us and the hotel is refusing to upload my fun google pics of a 1970's vacation hotel.)       

I am not yet dead . . .

Stoopid computer viruses!!!  We got a monster here - still working it out, but slowly we're getting back online.  Gah! (And, yes, that is an actual picture from the garden.)

It's been crazy busy here - finishing up our TENTH year of homeschooling (Dan for the last time), finishing up the painting and pillow-making (that no one here but me gives a hoot about - it's all pretty-ish for a house with five men living in it, though) and putting together a big graduation party for Dan.  

Usually, I'm not big on high school graduation parties - but, heck, it felt like a celebration for me too - yay Amy, you didn't totally ruin him and all his future prospects by homeschooling!!! - he graduated with what I would say is beyond high honors.  No speeches just a lot of people, a whimsically decorated back yard (I think someone took pictures), a lot of food and exceptionally perfect weather!  To say I'm tired is beyond things - I'm completely worn out.  Still, I'm glad we had the party - it was a fun afternoon/night.  Very memorable.  Mike's parents even came for the party - we have not seen them in seven+ years. (Long story, you're not going to read it here.)

So, because life does not occur in well-timed intervals, Dan's MANDATORY orientation at Florida State is tomorrow. A lot of people think Florida is a small state - it's not.  Tallahassee is a good five hour drive from here and it's the most boring drive EVER. I'd be more enthusiastic if I saw anything on the agenda to make this trip MANDATORY (their capital letters, not mine). From what I can see, if a kid is smart enough to get into the school, he should be able to negotiate a map, manage to sleep when he's supposed to without being locked in a dorm and the rest could be easily and MUCH more cost-efficiently done online. :::sigh::: I don't work, I can't imagine what this is costing the parents that do work!!! 

Dan, Andy and I will be trekking to Tallahassee for the next 2 1/2 days (Ian and Tim are taking summer classes and I can't just leave Andy sitting home making toast and watching bad tv for six hours a day now can I?). Woohoo - if you're not working for the state government or going to school there, there's not much in Tallahassee.  Cross your fingers the hotel pool is nice - it's Andy's only hope!  We'll be spending much of our time finding an apartment for Dan (he missed the housing deadlines and the dorms are full!!! I'll spare you my feelings on this . . .) - I see much boredom in Andy's future.

And, for the very curious, we alerted our local police force about our wild party.  Not one police car showed up here last night.  Hmmm.... their loss, I guess, we had a lot of great food. The neighbor WAS spotted by a few party goers, but she is not against bad music, lots of beads and sparkly lights or flamingoes.  I need to start a folder . . .