Monthly Archives: June 2014

Wednesday was the boys’ 15th birthday, Thursday was their middle school graduation/awards ceremony, today I’m on deck to help with the end of year picnic, and tomorrow we’re hosting a little party here at home with friends to celebrate all of the above.

In other words, no time to sit and think about all the thoughts.

I’ve had a lot of them this week but the over-arching one is how proud I am of these boys for slogging it through the three most difficult years of my their life.

Middle school, we are out of here.

Have a nice day.

PS – Deluge of pictures to come next week.

I’m still trying to soothe a bitter heart over the last second goal scored by Portugal in yesterday’s World Cup match.  I realize that 99% of the people reading this morning probably don’t care about soccer or the Cup but it is such a huge part of my childhood that I am compelled to come here this morning and mope aloud at how we were thiiiiiiiiiis close to winning the game and blew it.  And while a tie isn’t blowing it per se and there’s still a good chance that the US will advance (with a win or draw against Germany  – you are going to watch, aren’t you?) but we could have put it away had we held on for mere seconds longer.

Seconds.

Like, 15.

I need a few more cathartic screams.

The kids have been slightly amused at seeing their mother yell like a maniac, pace the floor, and jump up and down but they’ve gotten into the games even though they can’t understand a word the announcers are saying.  I’ve insisted we watch the matches in Spanish because a) that’s how I was raised, b) it sounds more exciting, and c) everyone knows it’s not a real point until the announcers scream and stretch the word “GOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!”  for five hundred forty-seven minutes.

The boys may also officially love soccer because I let them eat off paper plates in the living room in front of the TV while the evening game is played.

Because priorities.

In non-soccer related news, I suffered a workplace injury last week and I’m telling you all about it so you, too, can escape the danger presented by handling the incredible, edible egg.

Yep, was sporting a little Fat Albert look for a couple of days after burning my lower lip biting into a boiled egg that I’d reheated in the microwave on 50% power for a mere 40 seconds.  It was so barely lukewarm to the touch that I briefly considered putting it back in for another minute but decided to eat it anyway because I didn’t really care how cold it was and when I bit the end off, it released a burst of superheated vapor trapped between the yolk and the white and my lip was instantly like Melanie Griffith’s after one-too-many visits to her dermatologist for plumpers.

So, that was, um, attractive and NOT AT ALL PAINFUL and I hid at home for a couple of days and drank milkshakes through a straw and rolled my eyes at the utter ludicrosity (is that a word? I don’t think so but I’m leaving it in) of the situation that I’d been felled by food.

On the bright side, I lost two pounds.

GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

Have a nice day.

If anyone has seen the charging cord for my phone, feel free to let me know where it is.  And I’ve already looked in the car, my purse, the other purse, the kids’ rooms, and the scary basket that holds all the junk with no home.

It might be important at this point to tell the moms to either text or email if you need me today because I’m having to use the iPad until I have time to drive the car somewhere for half an hour to charge my phone because Toyota doesn’t think I’d want to charge it with the engine off.  People, please stop making decisions for me.

1.  I had to go to the dentist this week for a non-routine visit.  It started with a bad toothache two weeks ago and I managed to tough it out for a good long while hoping that the “wish it away” strategy would work and, sadly, it failed me.  So I called Gina on Tuesday to see if I could get an appointment and she said, “Oh, I can fit you right in today” and would you believe I told her no because it didn’t give me enough time to emotionally prepare for going in?

Yep, two-week toothache and I still needed a couple of days to gear up psychologically.

Somewhere there’s a therapist in need of a patient.

Or a village in search of its idiot.

So the appointed day came and I arrived and he took a x-ray and asked some questions and poked around and the good news is it wasn’t a bad tooth but was instead a perfect storm caused by bad sinuses, swollen ligaments, and jaw clenching (which  apparently I’m doing and didn’t realize it until he had me hold my tongue between my teeth and my jaw muscles started firing like crazy).

News flash. They aren’t supposed to do that.

Huh.

So now I have antibiotics, decongestants, a round-the-clock Advil regimen, and jaw exercises to see if I can’t stop grinding my molars.

PS – He also said the occasional glass of wine and a deep breath wouldn’t hurt as well.  

I might actually love my dentist.

2.  I put a sign on the bulletin board that hangs above my workspace.  In big bold letters it says, “CALM THE HECK DOWN.” (see #1)

3.  Our Sunday School class is doing a summer video series about priorities. One of the recommendations the speaker gave was “make first things first” and start your day with a quiet time.  Mornings never have been my strong suit and when I’ve had a semi-consistent quiet time, it’s been easier to do it at night before I go to sleep.  The problem with the strategy, though, is that I forget by morning-time what I was going to change or do different.  So this week, I’ve switched up my quiet time to first thing in the morning while I’m drinking coffee and before I peruse the usual news sites, social media feeds, and Pinterest and it’s been a better play and I’ve been able to think about/put into practice what I’ve read right away (and James has a lot for a person to think about and put into practice).

4.  I bought a specialized cutting tool for a quilt and have the inkling that it’s the first step down a deep, dark rabbit-hole.

Though that step might have come earlier when I was pulling out my stash pile for a scrappy quilt and set aside a particular quarter-yard of fabric because “it’s too special for scrappy.”

5.  On a personal note, wishing the happiest of Father’s Days to my precious dad.  Many of my friends have lost their fathers and I feel very fortunate that he is in good health, is active, engaged, busy, and enjoying a wonderful life.  I am grateful to still have him to lean on, to talk to, seek advice, and learn from. He loves the Lord, his wife, and his children and is well-respected in his community.  He is a good, good man and I’m proud to be his.

I love you, Daddy.

Have a nice day.

1. A friend of mine who’s a food writer for the local paper tweeted a recommendation for a canning cookbook which reminded me that I had it on the shelf. The book is called “Food in Jars” and it’s perfect for those days when you have just an hour to spend messing around in the kitchen. The recipes are simple, make only small batches, and don’t require specialty equipment.

Craig and I went to the farmer’s market last weekend so I took a little bit of time and pickled a few jars of purple cauliflower and, on a whim, some red, sweet cherries.  They’re supposed to cure for about a week so I’m looking forward to breaking them open for a taste in a few days.

2. In the “just try and see how you like it” category, Tommy is joining the junior varsity football team at his new high school. His only prior experience with the game is pictured below (thanks, NotNed, for sending it to me) in an ill-fated flag football experience during elementary school affectionately known as The Season of the Bad News Bears.

It may or may not have scarred him and his dad/coach for life.

He survived the first two days of weight room orientation this week and will begin working out in earnest (4 days a week) in July. I’m learning how to be a hands-off mom (he lost cool points when I walked in with him to the weight room on the first day – he quickly and summarily dismissed me) and he’s learning that it’s not as bad as he thought it would be.

 3.  The boys attended the end of year 8th grade “gala” which meant they were required to dress nicely.  (I tried to die on the “dress nicely for school dances” hill at the beginning of middle school but once I realized they were only going for the $1 pizza, track pants were really quite acceptable.)

JJ didn’t want to mess with trying on clothes so I bought an assortment of ties and dress shirts from which he could choose and I got a little misty at how grown-up he looked as he headed out the door.

4.  I finished my quilt top early this week and the seams almost matched.  There’s one that makes me twitchy but considering all the places it could have gone wrong, I’m going to learn to live with imperfection and move on.  I’ve also learned that I will never love the quilting part and so it’s going to be quilted by check.

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

5.  I cut four inches off my hair yesterday.  It was time.

And I didn’t have time to put on makeup or shower or in any way get presentable before taking the picture this morning but this is as good as it’s ever going to look because I haven’t washed it yet.

And a big “thank you” to the filters on Camera + for sort of hiding the worst of the bags under my eyes. 

Have a nice day.