Faux Pas

I remember the first time we drove past our house and saw the 'for sale' sign in the yard, after all, it was only two years ago.

This is how the conversation (sort-of) went:
"Look! - the yard is huge (for the kids) and fully landscaped (for my ego) with awesome, mature plants; we wouldn't have to do a thing to it (for G's mark one off the more-crap-to-do-on-Saturday list)."

Two Years Later...
"Man, I wish you made enough to hire landscapers; how much you think your bonus will be?"
"Shut up, who cares, I'm hot."
"You shut up and I care 'cause I'm sick of being out here with you and the mosquitoes, you freak."
"Your mom's a freak."

We digress from there, and well, this is a sort-of-PG blog, so...

WoW, is it ever alot of work and it never ends. Ignorance is bliss should probably be our family motto, at least G's since he's the REALLY ignorant half. BTW, we love each other passionately; yeah, it's still a pretty H.O.T. romance - War of the Roses-hot, - that's why we converse that way; see how that works? Back to the point...

Today was the perfect day for working outside: high around 70, sunny with a slight breeze and nothing on the schedule. So, we grabbed all our gear and went to work.

After a few hours, Gerald suggested Molly go over and ask our neighbor to come over and play since she had been standing by her driveway, on and off, watching our kids play.

She is Zac's age. She has two younger brothers and another sibling just a few weeks away. She just loves to watch our kids play and is always yelling, "Hi, Mooolly!" across the street. Last week her family came over and was taking a look-see at Anna's remodeled room and the rest of the house, as they had never been in it. We had told her then that we'd have her and her brother over soon, so today was a great day to come through on that offer.

The kids played quietly, running 'round and 'round the house; in and out, in and out the doors. They played basketball, put on the roller skates, took dolls in and out of strollers, played guns, pirates, dinosaurs, barbies and smoked a pack of Marlboros (just seeing if you're paying attention). I don't know what all was going on, I just know that they were entertaining each other and Zac had quit asking for popsicles every five minutes.

Pretty soon, Molly comes up to me and says, "Mom, look, Ella Grace is riding Zac's bike."
"Cool," I said, half listening as I was trying carefully to prune my two Azaleas to exactly the same height, while singing along to Faith Hill, Fergie and Macy Gray.

Zac had just had his training wheels taken off today; just a sidenote you need to know.

So, Molly insists again. "Mo-Om, LOOK at Ella Grace!"
I half turn and glance in her direction, "Mmm-hmm, make sure she stays out of the street."
"But Mom, that's the first time Ella has ridden without training wheels."
"Oh, I'm sure she's done that before, Molly; she wouldn't be that steady."

I go on pruning, pulling weeds, raking and doing an 80's dance-move that embarrasses my 13-going-on-30 (but turns on G - remember H.O.T. romance), until I see Ella's dad coming over to get her and her brother for dinner. We walk inside the garage door to the kitchen and the kids are eating Goldfish; Ella sees her dad and immediately makes a beeline out the front door. We look at each other and just shrug. Charlie, her brother, comes out of the bathroom having trouble with his belt so that distracts us. I tug Charlie's pants into a more decent position and we all walk back out the garage door.

We're chatting as we come out into the driveway and there is Ella with a bicycle helmet on, riding in circles. "Look, Daddy!"
"Whoa! You're riding without training wheels!"
Then, with slightly less enthusiasm, "We should have got that on vid....." and he trails off.

Awkward silence and a little huh-huh laugh as I realize, "Crap!" and want to jump into the back of the mower as Jake comes around the bend.

It HAD been her first time after all. Her Dad and Mom had missed getting video of Ella Grace on HER OWN bike, Dad holding onto the back, riding out HER OWN driveway all wobbly and wide-eyed.

She's not second or third in the sibling line-up either, she is their first. There will never be another first, first.

Sure, they can re-enact it but they'll always know it wasn't the VERY first time.

I have guilt much like Rex in Toy Story; yes, guilt THAAAAT big. At the least, I should have sent one of my kids over to get her parents and their video camera, just in case. Stupid, stupid, STUPID-Fergie.

I feel like I should send over an expensive apology dinner and a card stating something like this:

"I'm sorry for that moment...that you'll never get back...because of me (and Faith, Fergie and Macy)."
Love (or not),
Your Idiot Neighbor (who has five kids, the last of which hasn't seen a video camera...ever.)

Squirrely

I stayed up really late last night, after having spent all day at school and then going straight to a middle school track meet with my kids. The meet ran a couple of hours behind and was 1/2 hour from home so by the time the kids fell into bed, it was close to 10:30.

Molly had a field trip to our state capital, Montgomery, yesterday--fourth grade here, being the year of the dreaded state history reports and the state capital trip. She had to be at school yesterday morning at 5:15 a.m. so she and I had awakened at 4:30 so that she'd have time to get ready and download songs on her MP3 player.

I came home last night with the intention of sending out a quick email to all the room moms, outlining the plans about our upcoming teacher appreciation week (which is May 5-9th if you have a teacher you appreciate). Well, by the time I outlined all the details, it was way past my bedtime.

But did I go to bed? NO. I stayed up, looking online for something so important I cannot even remember it now. Imagine that. I didn't get to bed until 5:30 this morning, which means that I was awake for 24 hours straight.

So, is it any surprise that this morning, I turned my alarm off without knowing it and with storms rolling into town today, it was dark outside. Gerald woke me up in a panic saying, "Do you know it's 7:45?!?" Duh, if I knew that, would I still be sleeping? We're supposed to be leaving for school at 7:45. I told him to get ready and I'd bring the kids in late.

After dropping the kids off at school, I was pulling into the drive and I see a squirrel and what I think is another squirrel in the first squirrel's mouth. I stop and stare to no avail because I'm so tired my eyes won't focus that far away. The squirrel is sitting at the bottom of a tree at the property line of us and our neighbors and I'm thinking, "Aren't squirrels vegetarians?" But I'm not really certain if they are and I'm not really certain what the squirrel has in his mouth. But it was something with a tail EXACTLY like the squirrel's that was holding it and the "captured mystery-animal's" tail was moving around like a squirrel's does. At this point, I'm just thinking that I need to go in, chew on a handful of coffee beans and then go back to bed for an hour. As I walk to the front door, I keep staring, craning my neck and squinting my eyes, trying to figure it out. Then, I see my neighbor peer out her window looking at me like she thinks I'm staring at her inside her house; I'm staring at the squirrel-in-a-squirrel. I quickly retreated to the front porch and ran inside.

It's just been the oddest morning. I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode.

Well, my washing machine just kicked on. I set it to delay for an hour so that I could take a hot shower - instead, I've obviously blogged for that hour. I'd better go before storms and lightning start blowing in or the hot water runs out...again. I can't believe I've been sitting here, reading emails and blogs and typing this post for an hour. I think I'll just go back to bed.

Maybe I'll dream about the squirrel...s

Whatcha Readin'

I read more than one book at one time. Usually, it's at least three. Have no idea why. I guess there are so many books and so little time?

Right now, one of the books I'm reading a friend gave to me to read after her S.S. class finished it; it's titled Love and Respect. Actually, I've been NOT reading it for about three weeks now because chapter two of the book irked me and I'm still working through it--which means that I disagree with the book and I haven't had time to sit down and study the problem through. Been thinking about pulling my readers into the controversy but I don't have time right now for a post that deep or the ensuing comments. My friend had a problem with the book at the same point but her S.S. teacher worked them through it; I'm not buying the logic/interpretation though and I think she and I are gonna have to go for coffee and discuss it further.

Flipside of that, another book I'm reading I hate to put down every night. I read it until my eyes start going in and out of focus. So I blink hard and try to force my eyelids open, usually to no avail.

The book is Lord, Save Us from Your Followers and if I start to summarize it, I'll end up telling you too much so I won't even begin. It's a great read--actually, an excellent read in my opinion. It's not a deep book and yet it is. Just go buy it.

Or request to read it in my comments section and I'll happily send it along on a journey when I'm finished dissecting it.

Seriously, I will. Recycling at it's literary finest? Maybe.