Whew!

It's fascinating to me how every time I have a day when I am literally ready to just quit parenting, it's immediately followed by a wonderful day with the kids with almost no fighting and very little yelling. Do they just sense that I'm really about to go over the edge and they need to calm down or did all my yelling and crying actually get through to them. I guess for now I'd better just enjoy it.

I did order a few more books on parenting last night so maybe one of them will have the secret decoder ring for Sunshine and all his issues. Or at least some kinda hint as to why all the handy parenting tricks that work for everyone else just don't work for me. I've waited 8 years for him to grow out of this phase and I am DONE. I'll let you know if they're good and post some reviews on my book review blog when I'm done.

Yesterday on our Mobile Loaves and Fishes run I learned that my kids actually do like boring homemade sandwiches on cheap white bread. It's me that doesn't like them and I've been blaming my refusal to have them as a real meal on them. So, tonight Mark and I had salads and the boys made themselves turkey and cheese sandwiches on white bread. It was nice not to have do to really anything at all for dinner and not really have a big mess when we were all done since I'm getting ready for yet another event at our house tomorrow.

Tomorrow we have a cub scout popcorn sales meeting at our house. How I managed to get myself put in charge of popcorn sales for the pack is a long story that begins with not having enough volunteers and ends with my inability to say no when I know the only other person who might do it is even more overcommitted than I am. I'm gearing myself up to be really excited about popcorn tomorrow. I love popcorn! Really. Yum. Go Popcorn! Does that sound sincere or what? And if anyone is hungry for popcorn, I'll have a garage full of it in a couple of weeks and would love to sell you some. But, wait. Don't walk off. It's not really about popcorn. It's for the scouts. Campouts and all that.

No kidding?

We're drought-free in Texas. Just in case anyone was wondering when the drought would end. I really thought the flooding for the past month or so made it obvious, but I guess we needed an official determination.

Diary of an Addict: Day 3

Well, today my resolve to stay off Diet Coke was really put to the test. My tin of green tea disappeared. I have no idea where it went. I spent 10 minutes looking for it while kids screamed for food before finding a single bag of Earl Grey back behind the decaf. herbal tea and the coffee I buy for when my mom is here.

That seems to be my biggest issue w/ giving up DC - it's sooo convenient. Tea, well, first I have to actually find it since it seems the man who says he'll clean the kitchen and leaves dirty utensils laying on the counter does consider putting the tin of tea away part of cleaning the kitchen. If only I knew where he put it. I've kept that tin, rarely used, right by the coffee pot for 6 months. So, naturally when I start depending on it to make it through the day it disappears. Then I have to actually heat water and steep it. So, a single cup takes about 5 minutes to fix, longer if the tea is missing.

So, it's 9 a.m. and after waking at 7:30 (well, really at 7 if you count the time I spent laying in bed pretending to sleep while the kids made noise downstairs) I just now sat down w/ my daily caffeine. I'm irritated. But also proud that I was able to cook breakfast and clean up the kitchen without any help. lol Now lets see how a I make it thru the day since I used up the last bag of caffeine, have an extra kid coming in 10 min. so I can't go get more and it's raining so these kids will be inside all day long.


Rain Rain Go Away
Don't come again any other day
this summer
Mommy is tired
Children need to play
The tomatoes are sated
The creeks are full
The lakes are ungated
And we just want to go
to the pool
Rain rain, just go away.

Dirty Laundry

Well, no clean laundry for me today. Ryan brought his dad w/ him and they figured out that they've been *ordering the wrong part*. Yes. that's right. That's why the first new timer didn't work and why the one they brought today didn't either. So, they'll be back NEXT week. With another timer. That probably won't work. The plus side to this is that 1. I'm getting used to holding the knob while the laundry runs anyway 2. if timer NO. 3 doesn't work, the way I read my agreement w/ the warrenty company means we'll be getting a new washer paid for by them and 3. I get a lot of sympathy from Mark for not getting things done if I just say "well, I was trying to do a load of laundry..."

I do have to say that everything in life seems much brighter when you have a Mom's night out/in coming up. This one will be at my house, but I get to send the kids away. I've had way more energy today than I have in a week. I got some cleaning done and I made the kids wash the dog and clean the back patio. I also got myself motivated and Superman and I went for a loooong walk this morning while Sunshine was at ceramics camp. I'm going to try to do that a few times a week and see if it helps me get rid of some of the pounds I've packed on the last year or so.

Clean laundry

Great news! Ryan, the washer repairman, will be returning to my house tomorrow with yet another new part for my defunct machine. I'm not sure if this one will actually work, but after a 2-week break between visits it'll be great to see his smiling face.

And maybe, just maybe, I can get some laundry done without standing in the laundry room helping the machine along.

And now for a random quote from Superman's visiting friend "He always gets hurt when I'm over here. Then I have to listen to all that crying."

Yes, dear Dario, I feel your pain. Great news for you is that you get to go home and play in a nice quiet house later. I, on the other hand, must stay here all night.

Another day

Another dollar. Or so the saying goes. Here, it's another day, another injury and another screaming kid. But, enough about that. Thought I'd show my proof that the sun is finally shining around here, at least a little:

The portaluca is *finally* blooming. Here is what 2 weeks of straight rain and then me out of town for another week did to my garden:

Anyone ever have "white beauty" eggplant and more importantly, would anyone who I might see soon like one? I'm the only one here who eats eggplant but I thought it'd be fun to try to grow. Apparently these are ripe when they turn golden yellow so unless I get some comment or email that that's wrong info I'll be back out to pick them later today. I had to come back in to get some scissors and got waylaid by some kid needing something.

I'm also planning to pawn off some peppers on the girls when they come over tomorrow night. You know who you are so remind me when you're here. We have a few varieties, but I was pretty impressed with the production of the hot banana peppers.

And finally, the mystery plant of the day:
Sunshine is convinced it is a random veggie sprouted from last years seeds and won't let me pull it. However, I think he is wrong and it is ugly and needs to be pulled. What do you think?

Dy won last weeks contest with the answer of Beautyberry. I'm not 100 percent sure but I like the sound of her answer better than Delaine's answer of "weed." I resent the weed label on anything that grows in my yard and looks pretty with no effort at all. So, Dy is the lucky winner of a free evening at my house playing games. As the second runner-up, Delaine will also get a free evening at my house playing games. Candy gets an honorable mention for trying, but there were not any peppers so that can't be right. So Candy can come over too. haha.

I thought I had some photos of the kids on the camera, but apparently not. Maybe next time.

Tomato thief

I finally discovered what's been nibbling on my tomatoes. Squirrels! I finally got the netting up to protect them from the birds and now the squirrels have decided they like tomatoes better than acorns. I can't seem to get a photo, but I've seen them scampering toward the corner of the netting that keeps getting pulled back, then back across the yard. I guess if it ever stops raining I'll figure out something to do about it.

What doesn't make sense is that the pesky critters are only eating the tomatoes in the main part of the garden and ignoring the extras I planted in pots. No complaints, though. At least we're getting a few to eat! Luckily I haven't been watering this year with all the rain so I'm not as irritated as I might be - I haven't worked too hard for those tomatoes. Still, I'd like to eat a few and Mark's going to be disappointed if I can't make up extra spaghetti sauce this year.

Sadly, my cucumbers don't seem to be producing much, so all I've really got to show for all my springtime gardening is a peck of peppers and several almost-ripe eggplants. Oh well. Better luck next year. I'll try to post some pics of my overgrown veggie garden later.

What a way to start the day....

Mark: "Are you awake"

Me: "No."

Mark: "Well, it's 5"

Me: "Mmmmphhh"

Mark: "Denise.."

Me: "I'll get up later."

Mark: "Superman's ear hurts"

Me: "Uh huh. Did you give him something."

Mark: "Like what?"

Me: "ANYTHING!"

Mark: "No. Well, it's almost time to leave for the airport anyway. Do you know where the Tylenol is?"

Note that this conversations occurred in Superman's room because I'd been shoved out of my bed at 3 a.m. when said kid crawled in complaining of an earache. So, as you can see the morning started well. Woken at 5 a.m. to take care of a sick kid because my hubby who needed a ride to the airport at *6 a.m.* couldn't figure out how to give him some Tylenol. I love that man, but I think I may kill him one day. One early morning to be more precise.

More tomorrow about my weekend as a single mom. Assuming I get some sleep tonight, that is.

June showers bring...

All the rain in late June and early July brought strange, out of control plants to my backyard. If this plant was in my yard 2 weeks ago, it was just barely starting to grow. The kid next door verified that it was *definitely* not here two weeks ago. Here it is now, along w/ the rest of the overgrown stuff in the back corner of my yard:

That spike at the top above the other plants but not quite as tall as the neighbor's tree is part of this same plant. I know what most of that stuff is - it's all the plants that Mark chopped "too far" back in the early Spring. They are now taking over our yard. Here are a couple of closeups of the mystery plant:

It has white flowers:

And dark pink flowers:

Which turn into green, then dark purple berries:

The berries kind of look like blueberries but don't really have any flavor. (shhhh. Do NOT tell you-know-who I tasted strange plants growing in our yard or he'll have me at the ER before you can say "yuck"!)

It's a really pretty plant and I'd love to know what it is. Anyone know? I'll likely have to cut it down or at least chop it back. And if the berries are edible..... hmmmm.. Strange berry pie anyone?

We also have a few other "not planted" but at least recognized plants out there. Looks like I have my weekend plans set for the next month or two.

I'm back

Hello. I'm still in the land of the living. The kids went to visit the grandparents for a week so Mr. Fantastic and I headed off to Las Vegas for a few days. All in all it was fun, because how can 4 days alone with your husband without the kids NOT be fun? We stayed at the Mandalay Bay hotel, walked several miles a day, but ate enough to gain weight anyway. For my birthday, hubby took me to a restaurant called Hugo's Cellar in downtown Las Vegas, Fremont Street. It was possibly one of the nicest and most romantic restaurants I've ever been to and the food, service, everything was fabulous.

Other than that, we did the usual Vegas stuff. I didn't have much luck gambling. I tried to spend $5 on a video poker machine, but the computers in the casino went down just then and it wouldn't work so it gave me a ticket thing to use on another machine. I spent about 10 minutes trying to gamble, then gave up and cashed in my ticket. We saw all the fancy hotels, went to our hotel pool and spent a bit of time lazing around in our hotel room doing nothing, which is what vacations are all about anyway isn't it?

After we got back I headed to Lubbock for my Uncle's 70th birthday party. Here's the birthday boy with his daughter:

Looks pretty good for 70, huh? We all had ice cream sundaes and the kids swam. When I'm 70 I hope I have a pool with a basketball goal and kids who will throw me a surprise party! Here's a picture of the kids with their cousins and second cousins:

I'll have to admit here that I'm not exactly sure which boy cousin is which. The teenage girl on the left is my cousin Stacia's daughter Kelsey and the other two girls are my brother's daughters. You know my two.

I met up with the kids and my parents in Lubbock and they took me back to Midland for a few days. We did a few things there, but mostly just hung out while the kids played outside. Dad is in the middle of radiation for skin cancer (basel cell, not the bad one) so he was a bit tired after having the kids all week then trekking to Lubbock on Sunday. Mom and I did take the kids to the children's museum and an old-fashioned soda fountain.

I had a great vacation, but it's good to be home. Right now my boys are playing upstairs with the neighbor and I plan to repot some plants tonight. My eggplants are finally getting ripe so I had grilled eggplant for lunch. Ahhh. Life is good.

I've got photos!

While I'm on the desktop, though I'd download and put up a few recent photos.

Sunshine and Superman on the first day of cub scout camp:

Sunshine on the BB gun range:

Part of my den doing a skit at the end of week program:

Superman with a strawberry he grew on the front porch:

Sunshine blowing out his birthday candles:

So they do notice

Something was said about reading yesterday and Sunshine said "Mommy reads a lot. She reads those really *thick* chapter books all the time."

Thanks for noticing. I didn't really know they paid any attention to what I was doing when they came in asking for more food and drinks. Yippeee. They may not think I'm smart, but at least they know I can read hard books!