Oh boy! It's been awhile, huh? Life has been busy in the household. Honestly, the last 2 months have probably been the busiest we have ever had.
Of note: I ordered the doomed lobsters today. I continue to have my doubts about my ability to kill my dinner. I also remain convinced that this could be traumatic for the kids and myself, and fuel stories pretty much forever.
Also, we have ordered the house paint. After at least a year of agonizing, paint samples, paint swatches and mind changing, the paint is ordered for better or for worse.
It needed to be specially ordered, because it is so dark that the Home Depot does not keep the correct base on hand. As the doubtful paint associate pointed out, "MOST people normally go for lighter colors. We don't see them this dark that often. I am not even sure I know how to order it...." At this point, I wanted that color purely on principal.
It is with great hopes, that this color will turn out respectable. There is a house near mine that is painted dark gray that I have privately named "Gru's House", (think "Despicable Me") and I hope so much that my house does not look like an Evil Villain's home when we are done. You can always tell an Evil Villain by their home. In retrospect, we have looked like Evil Villains for the past year or so.
The past few weeks have included Kaila's 13th Birthday, for which she requested permission to swear like a sailor for an entire day. Permission was denied. Friends and family were impressed. No one I know had ever thought to request the ability to spew profanity for an entire day as a kid, before. This not only called into questioning my parenting once again, but, the people I hang out with.
The busyness also included Joe's 9th Birthday, Joe's First Communion, the end of baseball season, my Brother's wedding, a parade, school concerts and whatever else I forgot to throw in there.
Watching Joe this Spring, I can honestly say it's the first time I have been able to visibly see one of my kids transition from "Little Kid" to "Big Kid". Joe really hit his stride this year. He went from a kid up to bat who couldn't hit a thing, to a kid who could suddenly smack the balls into the outfield. He began to read. With an appetite that we couldn't satisfy. So, he was hauled off to the library for a library card. Sometimes late at night, I catch him trying to read via nightlight. He continues to be smarter than I can keep up with, constantly firing math questions at me. "Mom? What is one trillion minus one?" Hard to answer without thinking about it for a minute.
In other news, today is the official last day of school for my kids. The girls have been dreading it, because it means they have until July 5th to clean their room. Which sounds like more than enough time, unless you have seen my daughters' bedroom. Which is completely unbelievably horrendous. A state that it gets to within a few weeks every single time it has been hauled out and cleaned. At the ripe old ages of 10 and 13, however, they are old enough to clean their own room and keep it respectable. Mama is not responsible. So, clean it they will. Which will mean an entire week of misery, as they will indubitably carry on as if they are slave laborers, and we are unreasonable abusive parents. The promise they have been given has been, whatever isn't cleaned by Saturday July 5th, will be going directly to the dump. This promises to be a hellish week for the entire household, truth be told. Of course, with the sacrifice of 11 lobsters thrown in for fun, as well. If I was a good parent, I would think of some positive reinforcement, or some sort of reward for cleaning such a mess. But, it's not like they haven't been threatened, cajoled, begged, pleaded with, ordered, told, bribed, and whatever other adjective seems appropriate here thrown in, to clean their room forever now. Time to get tough. Past time, really, but, life happens, and sometimes we don't have the ability to give them an uninterrupted week to clean.
Last weekend, I decided we needed a fun day. I told the kids we were going on an adventure. Which is Mom speak for "I don't want to do housework today. Let's go."
Kaila and Joe were off on their own adventures, so, it was Lexi and George and I. They elected to go see a movie first. I even sprang for popcorn and soda pop. It cost approximately half a mortgage payment for day old, cold burned popcorn and large glasses of ice with about 4 ounces of coke thrown in for flavoring. Memories and all that.
After the movie, it was off to the Greenhouse, to buy pots and flowers, to make end of year teacher gifts. There was also the vague idea of throwing some veggie plants in the empty half of my favorite flower bed. But then the perennial section happened. My flower bed, after hours of work, looks amazing...
After the entire family was back together again, we were off to a local festival. Rides are the most fun, when they are ridden at dusk, or after dark, when all the lights are on. It was the best day ever! I even found out that George loves the Tilt a Whirl as much as I do. The Tilt a Whirl, however, does not love me nearly as much anymore.
In the very near future, It looks like I will be picking up overtime back up at the Buffalo VA hospital on the weekends. I am so excited, to get back to hospital nursing, even if it's just a few days a week. This could really affect the frequency of these posts, however. We'll see what happens!
