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Sunday, 05 July 2009

Currently
Eragon (Inhertitance)
By Christopher Paolini
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July 4th

It was a fun day here, and thankfully the weather cooperated. It was looking iffy this morning, but by parade time (2 p.m.) the sun was in and out and the clouds clearing up. Though you'd never have known it was July from the temps - it was almost chilly today with low 70s and quite the breeze kicking up.

We started out at noon heading over to a friend's house for their annual 4th cookout, followed by parade viewing from their front yard. The parade was a bit shorter this year than last, but still very good. Came home for a bit, then headed to another friend's house for the evening festivities. Their house is adjacent to the park where they hold the fireworks, so it is always a fun time hanging out there. The party starts around 4 or 5 - there are 3 or 4 bands that play, games for the kids, food vendors, bounce house, etc. The only disappointment this year was that they were closing down the games when we got down to the park so the kids were pretty disappointed at not being able to go on the bounce house/inflatable slide/whatever it was. We got them ice cream and they forgot about it quickly though.

Fun part of the night: I got to meet half of the infamous Xanga "Den of Fools"!! I spent some time chatting with Thankee, Dingdongdingbat, Seedsower, DonkeyGuy, Aloysius_son, Lorilily, Flash...I am sure I am forgetting people, there were so many of them! But it was great to finally meet you all!!

This was the first year I had my "new" camera (almost a year old now) and I was able to get some pretty good fireworks pics this year. But alas, it's midnight and as I am planning on geocaching tomorrow, I should get to bed. I will upload soon and share some of the better shots.

Hope you had a happy 4th!!

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Currently
The Last Lecture
By Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow
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Yeah, I know, it's been 2 weeks since last I wrote. Not much to say. Summer is here and we're keeping busy, but not much going on. Here's a quick rundown:
- Katy lost her 2nd tooth, probably a month ago, and has one on the top starting to wiggle
- The kids are participating in the town library summer reading game. They sign a contract to read for a certain amount of minutes (Katy chose 20, Michael 25) per day, five days a week. They go to the library once a week and get to roll the dice based on how much they read, move around a game board, get prizes, etc. Keeps them reading over the summer.
- Michael decided to continue with the cello next year. He'll take a couple of lessons over the summer, the first one being tomorrow. He still doesn't want to practice though.
- I think we need a new dryer.
- I got really good airfare and we decided to go to Florida to visit Mark's mom in August. It will just be me and the kids though, as we're planning a trip to Disney in the fall with my family.
- We'll find out next week who the kids will have for teachers next year.
- The kids and I are going to Connecticut next week to visit my family. My brother will be back from Afghanistan any day now, if he's not already.
- Katy is taking cheerleading camp this week. It's only 2 hours a morning, but she has fun and it gives the kids a break from each other.
- I am addicted to Facebook - in particular, a couple of the games. I spend way too much time on the computer, and not enough time on the house.
- We went to Seabreeze for the first time last week. The kids had a blast and then we got rained out. 14 more admissions on our season passes though!
- I just got my Passport Card in the mail yesterday, so I guess I can go to Canada again now.
- Michael just finished up a 4 week jr. golf course through the town and now he wants to golf. I have to look into something a little more "serious" for him as far as lessons.
That's about it in a nutshell. I am amazed that with the kids home, I have pretty much no motivation at all. I am getting less done, not because they are home, but because I have gotten lazy about it since school got out. Not in my routine...

Hope your summer is going great so far!

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

Addiction

I hear that the proclivity for addiction is genetic. As some of you know, there have been cases of addiction in my family - alcohol, cigarettes... Sad to say, we have another addict in the family. Yes, it's Katy. And while is not anything that is dangerous to her health, it's still pretty serious. You see, my five year old is addicted to Band-Aids. Bruised shin? Needs a Band-Aid. Bumped elbow? Needs a Band-Aid. Stubbed toe? Needs a Band-Aid. Someone breathes too hard on or near her? Needs a Band-Aid. The evidence of this addiction can be found in various places in the house, most noticeably, the bathroom. Yes, Band-Aid wrappers. And, of course, the little tabs covering the sticky part of the Band-Aid. She has discovered where they are kept and can reach them by climbing on the toilet to get into the bathroom cabinet. And does so, frequently, leaving a trail of Band-Aid papers strewn throughout the house. I tell her that unless she's bleeding, she doesn't need one, but I think she only hears the "Peanuts" voices when I speak - you know, the ones that all the adults use in the animated shows. We try to discourage her addiction, but there is no stopping an addict if they really want it... So for now, we wait, and hope she outgrows it, before we go broke buying Band-Aids (just in case someone actually needs one!).

Sunday, 07 June 2009

Currently
And Never Let Her Go: Thomas Capano: The Deadly Seducer
By Ann Rule
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Camping
I went camping with Cub Scouts this weekend. In a tent. Without Mark. With two kids. I was too cheap to pay someone to watch the dog while we were camping only 20 minutes from home and didn't want to leave her in the crate for that long, so the deal I made with Mark was he could stay home if he came and helped set up the tent, relieved me long enough on Saturday so I could go play cat-sitter and get a shower, then come back and help tear down this morning. I am not sure I would do that again... It was tough having to deal with both kids by myself under the circumstances (not like we were at home or someone else's house).

Friday afternoon, we packed up the car and headed to the campsite, with Mark stopping at McDonald's for food. He and I set up camp while the kids went off and played. Mark went home and I blew up the air mattress, set up the sleeping bags, etc. They had a campfire going already and Michael showed his first signs of trouble for the weekend. Michael is fascinated by fire. And wants to "play" in it (meaning poke at it with sticks, throw sticks and leaves in, etc). A few of us told him not to poke at or put anything in the fire. Every time I turned around he was back over there, stick in hand, poking at it again. I pretty much spent the entire weekend yelling at him (and ruining his camping trip, according to him) for being at the fire again. The Cubmaster set the rules down that nobody under 12 was allowed to put ANYTHING in the fire (the kids are all 11 and under), but Michael had to be reminded again and again and again, not only by me, but by a number of other adults as well. It was not fun.

The kids got tired and were ready for bed, so we headed to the tent around 9:30, only to discover my air mattress was deflated again. Damnitall, I grabbed the one with the leak (why I hadn't thrown it out, I don't know - probably thought I could fix it). So I ended up sleeping on the ground Friday night. I am still hurting from that. And it was pretty chilly, so between the hard surface and the cold, I didn't get much sleep. Katy woke up at 5 a.m. and had to go to the bathroom. That is, until she got out of her sleeping bag and realized just how chilly it was. She immediately declared she could wait until morning and then went back to sleep.

Saturday morning were the "organized" activities. Once again, the kids got a chance to climb the climbing tower, ride the "swing" and do some archery. Michael does not like archery at all and we lucked out in that it was our last rotation, so he just skipped that one. Partway through all this, Mark showed up and I left for a bit. Made it back in time to get lunch and then it was off to the pool. Technically, Katy should not have been in the pool without an adult in the water with her, but she is almost 6 (that's the "cutoff age") and she looks older, so I let her go in while I sat on the sidelines. I did stick my foot in the water - it was COLD! Supposedly heated, but I guess because they haven't officially opened the pool for the season yet, it wasn't heated yet. After about an hour, Michael was ready to go back to camp, Katy wasn't. And there was nobody at camp, so I couldn't let him go back alone. He, of course, got mad at me and started getting mouthy. Thankfully, Katy only lasted another 5-10 minutes and we all headed back.

Once the pool time was over, we split up into groups - some of the kids opted to stay at camp and just play/hang out (Michael included, big surprise), most of the kids (including Katy) went for a hike to the fish hatchery located in the adjacent park, and I took a group geocaching in the park. Both nearby caches were ones I had found already, so it was embarassing to come away from the first one not able to find it! The second one I remembered and was much easier - one of the first graders found it. Then, as we were only a third of a mile from the fish hatchery, we hiked over there and met up with the other group to walk back with them.

I was on dinner duty last night, so came back, washed up, and helped out with that. After dinner, we cleaned up and they broke down camp (loaded all the grills, etc. back on the trucks to take home this morning). Then it was campfire time, complete with s'mores. This was the one time I let Michael at the fire, as he was setting marshmallows on fire for me. ;) It was the last campout with our current Cubmaster (his son will be moving to Boy Scouts next year) so he gave his "farewell speech" and introduced the new Cubmaster. Went to bed around 10:00.

After a much better night (I traded out air mattresses during the day yesterday), got up this morning, quick breakfast (cereal, muffins, leftovers from yesterday reheated...) and broke down. Mark came to help take the tent down and cart stuff home - we were home before 10 a.m. Now I feel like I should be out geocaching - it IS Sunday, after all...

Highlights of the weekend (the good, the bad and the ugly):
- Katy spent almost the entire time playing in the dirt/sand in the baseball diamond near camp (I may have to soak her for a few hours to get all the layers of grime off of her!)
- We had a deer go running right across the field we were camping in Friday night
- We encountered a snapping turtle, not once, but twice (last night and again this morning) near one of the trails leading to the bathrooms
- Discovering my son is a pyromaniac
- One of the den leaders presented our outgoing leaders with their own personalized hats, which they were made to wear, along with t-shirts that they were told to put on and let the kids sign while they were wearing them
- Having the Cubmaster's son with me while geocaching and having him fall off his bike (he rode with us instead of walking) and land on the wrist he had already injured once from falling off his bike
- Getting to know some of the new parents/kids, both the younger boys as well as new kids in Michael's den this year
- s'mores!
- Caterpillars everywhere
All that is left now is to download the camera (pictures to come) and take care of the nasty laundry. And catch up on sleep, of course. But for now, I have some cats to go feed...

Monday, 01 June 2009

Wow. Can you say "insane"? That is how my life has been lately with school ending, Scouts ending, new sports starting (Katy starts soccer this week, Michael started golf on Saturday)... And I don't really have a lot of time to write now, so here's a bullet recap of life here:
- Michael finished up Cub Scouts for the year (sort of) and has earned his Wolf badge and 3 arrow points for doing 30 electives. Still to come, camping this weekend and a year-end den picnic.
- Katy finished Girl Scouts this week and not only earned all of her Daisy patches and petals, but has also gotten patches for participating in karate, Earth Day cleanup, and Scouting for Food drive.
- I had another sinus infection and am finishing up 15 days of antibiotics (can you say overkill). On the plus side, I only forgot to take it once.
- Michael had his 8 year checkup last week and is growing right along the curve. His weight is a bit low for his height, but not much (85th percentile vs. 92nd for height). He's grown 2 1/2" in the past year and is just 10 lbs. or 4" shy of getting rid of the booster seat (depending on who you listen to). Tomorrow: dentist (for both kids).
- Michael has made it into the Enrichment (gifted) program at school. Barely. I was very surprised when I found out. Not that Michael isn't smart, the kid is VERY bright and ahead of a lot of his class in most subjects, but he doesn't like to work and has issues focusing for any length of time. Turns out he scored just on the brink and when the Enrichment teacher asked his regular teacher whether to include him or not, she said yes because "he really is that bright" (her words), but warned Mr. C that you just can't push Michael too hard and sometimes he needs to do the work on his own terms. So far he's doing okay with it - their first unit was on Egyptian math and now they are doing a section on Old English and words that aren't used anymore (did you know that "snot" was originally what they called the wax drippings from candles?).
- Michael decided he is quitting cello and wants to play double bass next year. On the plus side, there is only a $50 "usage fee" and we can use a school instrument (apparently the strings shops don't rent those) instead of paying $200 to rent one from a store.
- I actually scrapbooked this weekend for the first time in over 2 years! Got my Disney album done from when I worked there. Now I just need to get caught up with everything else!
- Been doing some geocaching, but not as much as I'd like lately. I have some great pictures, too, and will post them one of these days.
- I entered an amateur photo contest being sponsored by our town. I wasn't thrilled with the way the pictures printed (a little dark), but we'll see what happens.
Lots to do still and I am in the school library this afternoon, so that's all for now. Just wanted to check in seeing that it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post.

Happy Monday!