Why must Wednesdays masquerade as Mondays?

So here we are, officially day 3 of summer vacation. Let me give you a brief glimpse of what I can see from my spot at the kitchen table.

Damon is facing backwards onto the back of our rocking armchair. He's spying on a bunny in the front yard who is happily nibbling away at the grass Carrie mowed last night.  I'm hoping Damon doesn't rock himself right out the window. He's also keeping an eye out for the garbage and recycling trucks patrolling the neighborhood. He looks like he wants to be sleeping by the way he's rocking, but I don't know what time he got up this morning.....

Liam is poking his way through his cinnamon toast crunch. He claims he has no idea what time they got up because he didn't look at the clock. He could very possibly be at the table all morning as he's playing with the plastic gemstone ring he picked out at Carrie's orthodontist appointment. It's flaming pink.

Carrie appeared briefly to announce that, "Triskal peed on the floor" and "itreallysmellsBAD", then had her rice crispies and skittered back down to the basement. Pretty sure she's got her computer down there and that she's trying to escape the smell. Naturally we've had the first real rain for awhile, and everything is damp, and the wind is blowing straight in the front windows across the wet spot and into the rest of the house. Blech.

What's that saying about life is what happens when you're making other plans? That's been us so far, haha.

Monday morning at 9 we were supposed to meet up with friends to go strawberry picking. Our fearless leader called as we were minutes away (because I'd actually already driven past it and didn't see the sign) to say that she WAS there already and there was nobody else. She found a worker and inquired where everyone was and was informed, "oh, the strawberries aren't ready yet." Yeah? Woulda been nice to have that information on your website. "Sorry." Bah.

So we went to a playground, since it was 9 AM and we were up, breakfasted, and dressed. Then we hit the 577 Foundation where we checked out their biodome and book room and outdoor musical instruments, etc. Definitely taking PaPa the next time he comes to visit.

Yesterday brought karate for the big kids while Damon and I hit the credit union (well, tranferred money not broke into) and the nursery to replenish our sunflower and thistle seed supply, Carrie's orthodontist appointment in which they placed spacers between her teeth to make room for the impending braces, and then a library trip all before lunch.

This morning brought dog pee in the living room. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I know we're cleaning this pigsty today since the floor looks like someone spread confetti made out of tissues, dead leaves, school papers, colored pencils, library books, a marble, and a plastic Easter egg. And that's just in the 3 foot radius that I'll encounter once I step down off my chair.

Tonight we'll be heading out with our favorite realtor to view two houses. Before you start panicking, we're just looking. These places we'll see tonight have land, which Dada says  "they're not making any more of", so we like to look into possibilites for the future. I do find it incredibly funny that we just heard a wonderful, sensible, thoughtful talk about money by Rick Warren this past weekend, including how you should make it work for you instead of the other way around and how money is a test to see if you'll be faithful in small things......... and then we go house hunting, which is practically the most expensive thing you could do. Ha!

I have to say that I've really been enjoying the birds this spring, perhaps more than any spring previous. This winter was so dreadful, blah blah blah, *insert tirade here*, that the colors and happy chirps are so very welcome. I like to hear the goldfinches and their squeaky-hinge calls and the more clockwork noises of the starlings (even though they're funny looking and I'm not particularly fond of them) and the incessant chatter of the sparrows. We've had white crowned sparrows show up this spring, which were new to us, but I haven't seen them in the last two weeks. I've heard the pair of cardinals who hang out in our neighborhood, and saw Mama cardinal a few days ago, and the kids have been laughing at the stupid mourning doves and robins strolling down the driveways instead of flying. I had a dove run up the driveway in front of our car and dash into the bushes and THEN explode upwards in a flurry of feathers after we'd already passed him. We've seen lots of soaring-around birds, but haven't found any being-still-so-you-can't-see-me watching birds for days. Today they'd be skulking around in damp, frizzed out feathers. I wonder if humidity affects feathers the way it does hair. I look like Merida from Brave.

My coffee mug is down to the dregs, which means, as Carrie giggles to me, "my coconut is empty." If you have no idea what that means, get a copy of "Father Goose" from your library and enjoy classic Cary Grant and Leslie Caron. One of my all time favorites.

PS Got a letter from Uncle Rob at boot camp- all's well and he's hanging in there! He's wishing for care packages of homemade chocolate ice cream and would be willing to do pushups until his arms fell off for it.