"Off on an adventure!"

 Thing Three (and his old hoodie) had the privilege of joining the marching band with the rest of his fellow 8th grade bandmates for the home game last week. We lost, but it was a fantastic experience for him to test out the uncharted territory of Friday night high school football and corresponding nuttiness.

                                                      

The poor kid had missed three days of school last week so he was completely exhausted by the end of the evening. He had a great time, but he kept insisting his legs were "SO SORE." I reminded him he'd been unwell and was still recovering. He said he had fun but "it's soooo late at night! I can't do that!" So I reminded him that as he ages into his teenage years his daily rhythms will start to shift and he will prefer to sleep in and stay up later. I told him that even a year from now he will have noticed the difference and it won't be as huge of a deal. Dada and I sure had a blast watching. We walked back to the school beside the percussionists so I could feel all the booming in my sternum. LOVE IT. I'm still bummed none of our kids are percussionsits. Guess I'll have to borrow someone else's kid. Neither of us have been to a high school football game, we don't think, since...

high school?!

Out with the old...

This kid. He makes me laugh every day. He's campaigned for months for a Duck Donuts hoodie, which is a chain in the Outer Banks with super fun donuts. The plan was to get him this brand new hoodie for Christmas, but the day before it came in the mail this week, he showed me how he'd utterly killed his faithful OBX hoodie. He's worn this every day for over a year, and it apparently has had it. He lost the grommets off the strings. He eroded the cuffs off the sleeves. He wore holes into the kangaroo pouch and the back by the tag. He tore the elbow of his left sleeve previously, but when he came home the gash was much larger, having gotten stuck on a desk. Poor thing. He quipped, "well, you can't time it any better than that!"

 

Quit bugging me!

I don't know what it is with insects lately, but they are really bugging me!

 This morning I stepped away from my honeyed lemon tea to throw a load of curtains in the washer. As I'm tossing the curtains in evenly, an earwig comes out of... somewhere... and dives into one of the curtain folds. So I did what any hot blooded creature would do. I shut the lid and hit start. I figured either he will go the "all drains lead to the ocean" route (except we have a septic system so hmmm...) or he will survive and be thankful for his energetic, sudsy bath. I didn't see him in the tub of the washer when I took the curtains out, nor did I find him in the dryer lint trap, sooooooo your guess is as good as mine as to his location.

I went to recover my tea and not only was there a fruit fly perched on the edge of the rim, there was another one swimming merrily along!

AND one of my besties neglected to keep watch over her drink this weekend while she was outside and was stung right on the lip by a bee for her negligence. 

Just goes to show, ladies: never leave your drink unattended.

 

Current sticky situation

 

I’m not sure of the appeal, but someone I live with somehow acquired a sticky figure of some sort who is now hanging from our ceiling in the Old Lady Room. Is it maybe supposed to be a dinosaur? I do have vivid memories of cackling at those sticky toy octopuses (octopi?) as they “walked” down the walls but what’s the purpose of something stuck to the ceiling other than laughing at the poor unfortunate soul whose head it eventually drops down upon? 

Good old fashioned insults

 Getting ready for school this morning, Thing Three was slapping some Goober on his sandwich and had a lot in the middle but there was still a border of white all around it. I asked if he was going to add some more and he said, "yeah..."

"It works better if you stir it first, regardless of what your brother says."

"My brother is a *mumble*."

"Did you say your brother is a nincompoop?"

"No, I said 'buffoon' but that works, too."

Anatomy lesson

 I’m assuming everyone calls the ends of a loaf of bread “the butts” like we do, but I suppose it’s a good thing I defined it for any reader who may be more civilized than These People that I live with.

I gave two pieces of toast to Damon with his dinner and he lamented, “ohh, you gave me a butt.” 

“No, I didn’t. They’re still over here. I gave you whatever is next to the butts.”

With a twinkle in his eye, he schools me, “I believe those are called ‘thighs’.”

Unnnnnnbelievable

Our entire kit and caboodle was out of town this weekend and that's another post altogether, requiring two nights in a hotel. Dada was staying another day or two so the Thingz and I got back last night. As Thing Three prepped for bed, he discovered he couldn't find his toothbrush. We hunted a little bit, but I handed him a new one and the evening progressed. 

This morning before school, Thing Two announced he couldn't find A) his retainer, B) his toothbrush, C) his toothpaste, D) all of the above. We hunted more strategically for those because... retainer. Gave up and told Thing Two where the new toothbrushes are. 

Thing One is still fast asleep and has the day off. 

So I texted Dada about the retainer and he checked with the hotel:

Guess what he found at the hotel front desk?

Not one, not two, but ALL THREE Thingz' toothbrushes! HOW ARE THESE PEOPLE EVEN RELATED TO ME!? I share my mother's and sister-in-law's despise-ment of the feeling of "sweater teeth" but apparently none of my offspring are likewise affected. Bleah! I cannot WAIT to tell on them to our beloved dental hygienist at their next appointment. Muahaha.

And before anyone asks, the tattoo goo is NOT used for the brushing of teeth. A certain of-age Thing has acquired some body art which requires maintenance but that's not my story to tell. Let's see how long it takes that kid to realize there's a toothbrush missing...

Eek, a leek

Liam spotted the leek from our farmers’ market share and exclaimed, “is that a leek?!”

“Yes. Yes, it is.”

He promptly snatches it and proceeds to the kitchen sink. 

“What are you doing?”

“There’s a leek in the sink. Come on, you didn’t see that coming?”