Thing One is gettin' oooolllllldddd

A certain Thing One decided to join us so as to not spend spend a birthday alone with the brothers. That will make a lot more sense once you've read the following post. Anyway, we had a good time celebrating Thing One turning 22. Good gracious. How can we be old enough to have children who are old enough to be 22? Sheesh.

Kid knows how to eat, teehee.

And what to do next, haha!

I even got accompanied to treatment. Such a good bean. Happy birthday to our firstborn, who is a delightful, kind and hilarious human. We love you boatloads, as always. Thanks for taking such good care of your old Mum. And your Dada. And for keeping your brothers and the dogs alive whilst we were away. (More on that next.)

 

The Stickman cometh and other stories

The firstborn and I did a roadtrip last weekend in Ori, our white Accord. When we got to my parents' house, we noticed there was definitely an odd, unpleasant smell. My first thought was the toadstools blooming in my parents' yard. Thing One claimed to have smelled it at home, so we had to rule that out. Well, PaPa to the rescue and the debut of my attempt to add a "movie" via Blogger:

Yes, one very dead, stinky squirrel crossed state lines with us. Here's hoping we're not in trouble for transporting the body. 

We let Dada know we were there safe and mentioned dead squirrel. He informed us that his truck, Argus, had some warning lights appear on the dash. Upon further inspection, he had a squirrel nest inside his hood. The truck is now in the shop to see just how many Shenanigans those squirrels were up to.

This is probably where I should mention that Pepe, our Pilot, has rather extensive rust issues happening on the frame of his underside, courtesy of the salty brine used all winter on the roads around here. We've been joking about Pepe needing a buttlift wherein they will remove all that stuff from underneath and assess just how bad the damage is and what else needs done. Alas, that isn't scheduled to happen until December, what with supply chain issues, vacations, and everything else in Life. So we are trying to keep Pepe sort of grounded, for local runs only. 

Well.

Not to take away from Hurricane Ian and all the impending mess he's sure to cause; we had storms of our own here on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Around 4:30 in the morning, the firstborn hears two loud WHUMPS outside. Being a huge Person of Interest fan with Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson, the first thought was, "that sounded like a person falling onto something!" 

What I heard was Bosley, barking at Honey, who'd obviously heard the WHUMPS and who was attempting to climb over his crate to investigate. Or hide. Or who knows. I'd already been up from 11:50-2:15 with that dog, trying to keep her quiet and calm through a previous storm that night. Let's just say I wasn't thrilled to be awake again already.

So we go out to investigate. The lights directly above the dash are on, even when we lock and unlock the car using the fob. This is what we saw (though my pictures are obviously taken later in the day and not in the dark of 4 something AM):

The Stickman cometh. Or falleth. Or leapeth. Or something.

Poor Ori! So not his month. A dead squirrel under his hood and a tree limb out to get him. So now I'm on the phone with our insurance carrier who is laughing with me because Pepe "caught" a fly ball this summer from a little league game and had his windshield replaced as well!

In case you're wondering, because I'm sure some of you are (and some of you think it's ridiculous to name vehicles but whatever), Ori started off as Olaf (the snowman in "Frozen") because he is white. The firstborn decided, since he parks between Pepe the Pilot who is black and Argus the tank truck who is also black, that they all make an Oreo and rechristened him Ori. Argus has a half circle of rivets all along his... um... whatever the piece is that goes over the wheels to cover them. Fender? I know nothing about cars. Anyway, the firstborn was big into Greek mythology and all things Percy Jackson for awhile so christened the truck Argus because Argus in mythology is covered in eyes. He's the head of security in the Percy Jackson series. Makes sense to me.

Anyway, Grandmama is here and can help with our nutty running around in her vehicle, from which we have already chased several squirrels bent on mischief-making. I'm kind of afraid to accept the offer of the replacement vehicle lest we return it along with a tribe of squirrels!

 

Yet another dump o’random

This is Precious, Pap's dog. This is not her bed, it's Bosley's. He barely fits into it and she is larger than him, so it's especially funny to see her curled up like a rolypoly in it. She doesn't seem to mind and he knows better than to complain. 

Damon, waiting his turn at the eye doctor's office. It used to be a play area but thanks to Covid there are no toys or games in there anymore. So he just bounced around and flopped until they called him. Such a nut. Look how big those not-quite-12-year-old feet are. Sheesh. 

I especially love the light green of this tree against all the darker green surrounding it. I'm normally not a yellow-green fan, never have been, but this little tree makes it look glorious in the morning light or right after a rain. 

\

Found a new recipe that Dada and I enjoyed which the kids wouldn't touch- chicken breasts with tasty cherry tomatoes, baked garlic and chickpeas. It was easy and reheated pretty well too, wins in my book.

Bos loves being outside in the sunshine. He doesn't care how hot it is. If he finds a sunny spot, he stretches out and turns into a sun dog. I think he must be related to me. Of course there's the added benefit of chasing any squirrels stupid enough to come into his reach, and we have an amazing  number of stupid squirrels. I don't know if he knows what he'd do with one if he did actually catch one...

Speaking of dumb, we had a mourning dove I named Heather make a nest in the gutter outside the boys' bedroom. The father, Herbert, would come check on her. I think that's him on the edge and you may be able to see the top of Heather's head in the gutter if you click on the picture. The screen makes it hard to see. Sure enough, they had a chick that the boys couldn't agree on a name for. Damon voted Hershey and Liam wanted Hogarth, I think? Hrothgar? Hmmm... at any rate, Heather was smart enough to build her nest on the far side of the downspout, but she did look pretty silly sitting there in the rain with a waterfall coming down on her head at times. Good thing the baby didn't get washed down the drain!

And the robins also had a little one, who is out of the nest and was perched all alone, beak agape, in the middle of our front landscaping. I'd sit on the porch swing, hear rustlerustlerustle and a robin would hop up into the landscaping from lower down in the yard, wrestle through the bushes, feed the baby and take off again. I suppose that's one way to try to be stealthy and not draw attention to the sitting duck...?

Goofing off with the firstborn

Marvin the Martian goofing off on my oven controls

The firstborn and I went to see the senior art studio downtown and discovered there was also elementary art in a separate venue down the street. I'm ashamed to say I didn't get the artist's name in this photo to give proper credit, but we both giggled over the adorably smiling bug. Such cuteness! Well done, artists. 

 

A snippet of Christmas

I know. It's strange to look back instead of forward, but some of my photos have to go somewhere lest these library trips spent organizing them go to waste. 

Our stockings and the Leons, haha

I blame some Girlfriends. You know who you are.

Nobody makes sugar cookies like Thing One. Still. Forever.

After a small misreading of dates on my part, we did all end up in church clothes and at the appropriate service at the right building at the right time and even on the right day.

 

However, as Aragorn declares, "that is not this day," as you can tell by the number of people in pajamas. My apologies to my more polished family members; I just didn't have the fight left in me to get everyone back into them when they weren't thrilled about their sacrifice in the first place. Can you hear me rolling my eyes? I hope so.

Anyway, we hope that you have managed to take some of the sparkle and magic and love (and not just the pounds) of the holidays into the New Year with you. 

If this year is hard, or you feel like you're at a breaking point, please let us know. We'd love to help. We have room, ears to listen and shoulders to lean on. 

And a new cookie jar. Thanks, Grandmama and PaPa! The Honey Bear knocked our cookie bear off the counter and polished off all the freshly made almond crescents. All of them. The cookie bear had been given to us by Lisa's Grammy way back during our baby shower for the firstborn. Got that kid into adulthood, so well done, good and faithful servant, but man, we will miss you and your distinctive opening sounds that were a dead giveway of sneakage to mom ears. Out with the old and in with the new. RIP Cookie Bear 2003-2022.

 

Tales from The Ridiculous

School mornings continue around here about as you'd expect. I had to hold back The Fist of Death from Dilbert this morning when I commented to Liam that he needed to improve on his time management skills.

"It's just mornings. I'm pretty good at it."

Hooooooold me back! He was serious! He genuinely believes that he is good at time management.

Please excuse me while I go bang my head against the first hard surface I can find.

***

I made the mistake of leaving the "Bath and Whatever" (as Uncle Jeff calls Bed, Bath, and Beyond) catalog on the kitchen table and as any distraction is a good distraction, Liam dove for it. He found "toilet golf" and "toilet fishing" and declared them to be good ideas. I'm not even kidding. These are real things one can actually purchase. Check your catalogs, people. Thing1 and I shook our heads ruefully that anyone anywhere would think that more games to be played in the bathroom could possibly be a good idea. Her money is on single guys. I mimed holding someone by the shirt and punching them repeatedly in the face.

Clearly I'll have to circle back and have a discussion on how toilet anything can not be conducive to any kind of time management... 

***

The firstborn announced this morning, "I have a great idea! We should make pepperoni for dogs and call it pupperoni!"

Totally bursted that bubble: "They already make that."

"Oh NOOOOOO!" Giggles ensued from both parties.

***
Then the firstborn knocked authoritatively on the bathroom door to chivvy Thing3 along. 

Startled, he calls "what!?" and then opens the door.

All the way downstairs I hear, "why are you naked!?"

More giggles. And blindness.

Happy Hump Day, everyone...

First October post

Hello!

It's been awhile, sorry. We just finished the first quarter of the school year (already) and are experiencing the frigid (to me) mornings and (mostly) pleasant afternoons that are autumn in Ohio. It's dark for the big kids at the bus stop around 7 and that makes me sad. I am a heliotrope, and I can't get warm.

We added to our family a Great Pyrenees named Miss Honey "White Shadow" (you need to see "Turbo", the movie about the snails, in order to get that reference) who had been running as a stray with a male of her kind in the Dayton area. She ended up at a rescue north of us and on paper she sounded perfect: quiet, large, fluffy, loving. She and the Bosley Fool are adjusting fairly well. He finds it unfair that she is about 30# underweight and therefore gets second breakfast and lunch in addition to breakfast and dinner like him. She has a wonderfully deep, low bark, you know, like a real dog. Come on over and love on our fuzzies! 

She has a possum tail right now because she was so matted when she was rescued that they had to shave her butt and her tail, but it is growing back in. We love that it's curly at the end like a piggy, haha! 

Deal me in, would ya?

Dada and the firstborn are responsible for telling their own story of their survivalist training weekend but I think they've forgotten that, so y'all will have to remind them. I can't wait to read it all, too!  

We had some trees trimmed and one taken down completely. The guy who climbed it to trim it said, "uh, this one should probably just come down. It's not in great shape." Having friends who have been displaced by a tree falling on their home, we figured we might as well take care of it while he was here. In falling it took out one of my clotheslines, heh. We've been burning the leftovers slowly, but I expect that will pick up as it's colder now and less windy. 

I'm participating in a new-to-me Bible study on Thursday mornings with the neatest bunch of ladies of all ages, churches, walks of life, and I am loving it. We are studying Exodus, which is nothing I've ever camped out in before (haha!) and I'm amazed at the ties between the Old and New Testament that I'd never have found on my own. God is SO good. Always.

And I'm also back on Friday mornings pulling first graders one on one to read to me. As usual, I'm fighting off the temptation to pop them into my purse and sneak them home. They are so clever and cute and I just love them! 

The big kids are going to their youth groups on Wednesday nights which means Dada and I get one on one time with the Damonater. The first few weeks it was hot enough still that we spent the hour and a half waiting for the big kids to finish at a park where he made friend after friend playing tag and running around. Now that it's colder we've spent time catching up on reading minutes, browsing through Bass Pro, we've gotten some milkshakes... I imagine there may be some library dates coming up and before you know it we will be Christmas shopping at "Bath and Whatever", haha! 

Health-wise, everything is great. Just doing maintenance meds; I've done 150+ days of the one I'll do for 365 days. Next oncologist appointment is just before Thanksgiving. As always, thanks again for your prayers and support; it has meant so much over the past year and a half. If you would be so kind, my friend Cori has just been diagnosed as triple negative. She is married with five kids and is also surrounded by our amazing church. Please, when you think of me, lift her up as well as she starts her treatment journey. Thank you much!

Have a terrific weekend and thanks for being patient between posts! I'm sure there will be a birthday one sooner or later as Gozer the Destroyer, I mean Liam, turns 14 on Halloween!