I'm still here!

 Hi! You may remember me. I used to be a blogger, haha.

Sorry. Summer sends routine out the window in both good and bad ways. I'd like to think I'm getting more sleep, but I am pretty sure it's only that bedtime anad waketime have shifted further back. The city pool is open, so I've been walking the lazy river... well, duck-walking it actually, as it's less than three feet deep and I'm trying to keep my top half submerged to use the water pressure as compression to do my arm exercises. We went on vacation and are home again, so that's another cause of radio silence. And now there's Christmas in July party prep and a family get together and a summer check-in with students and we went to the drive-in movies and we've had probably a literal boatload of ice cream this summer (for sure a kayak, maybe a dinghy) and we're doing yardwork when we won't melt or sink- we've had some wild weather- and I'm going to PT twice a week and we are still painting the basement around all the other things. If summer is supposed to be a time of rest then I'm pretty sure we're doing it wrong.

But if it's time to squish in as much stuff as possible, then we are probably doing "fair to middling" as the saying goes! 

Thing Three gets his braces off this week and is working albeit grudgingly on his required driving hours. Band camp will start up soon which is one of his favorite weeks.

Thing Two is jobhunting and living off PBJ despite us having all the meats. Dunno what he'd have done as a caveman. We giggle that he is indistinguishable from our plastic skeleton friend- the one currently on the front porch in swim goggles and swim trunks- both in circumference and paleness!

Thing One is plying tourists down South with caffeine and sugar at two different jobs and seems to be doing well despite the following text exchange:

Absolutely revolting start to the morning: smooshed a cockroach on the ground behind my counter and then five minutes later it appeared dragging its half-popped not-yet-corpse body along the edge of my counter.

To be fair, that's how a lot of people feel before coffee on a Monday morning. "I'm not dead yet."

Taking a stomp to the exoskeleton and then dragging all your innards up a vertical cliff is an entirely different ballgame...

I said "feel." "Must...get...to...Monday...morning...staff...meeting...nggghhh..."

Haha

***

Have a terrific Tuesday, everybody!

Oh shoot, I'm out of practice. Thanks to everybody who checked in about my blood clot! Poor Dada earned many gold stars for giving me all 60 Lovenox injections and now I'm back on twice daily Eliquis for the next few months. I have no movement restrictions so I'm going about business as usual, fighting through PT to get back range of motion and all the things. The party line seems to be "keep doing what you're doing and we will ultrasound the area this fall."

Me, shrugging, "okieeeedokieeeee."

AND today is my very last dose of the first year of a medication I'm to take for 3 years, so I'm a third done. Woohoo! My doc is pretty sure it's the main culprit behind my hair thinning, so it's looking like baby bird hair and no eyelashes or eyebrows for two more years. Good thing I didn't open the mascara I bought a year ago when it looked like they were finally making a comeback... it'll be all ready to go for back to school 2028! 

NOW y'all go and seize your week!

Blathering on

 Sometimes I really do forget I have a blog. Other times it's just a busy life season. Once in awhile it's both!

In the month of May, I've had about half a dozen physical therapy appointments and an OT check in on top of wrapping up the school year. Thing Three performed in both a band concert and the Memorial Day parade. I've had two follow up appointments from last year's docs, some dry needling, made a trip to my hometown for a weekend, snuggled babies at church, wrapped up one preschool class with a zoo field trip and an evening spring program, and this week is Thing Three's last week of school while I try to fit in all the online training I need to have done before the end of June. There was also a visit to a retirement home with the preK crowd in addition to my school fighting off yet another wave of germs. Yeesh. No wonder I'm tired!

Arm/shoulder-wise, things are... meh. I'm wearing my compression glove and sleeve daily, I'm doing my PT exercises more often than not, I'm still seeing more swelling than I'd like, but this may just be my new normal. I don't know how we're to know if the vein stayed open since the venogram without imaging, but none has been ordered yet and the follow up appointment isn't until the middle of next month. I'm wearing the reductor kit at night while I sleep, pumping in my cool Darth Vader vest and sleeve* daily and now have a mushroom-shaped pad? pocket? pouch? thing that I wear with the stalk end tucked inside a compression bra and the shroomy end sticking into my armpit. The thinking is that it will help bust up some scar tissue and increase range of motion by loosening all that up. Jury is still out. I've worn it to bed twice. I think I'll try alternating that with the reductor kit since when I do the kit then my hand is swollen in the morning but if I do nothing then this tightness isn't going to be helped even passively... I don't know. I now better understand being over something even while in the midst of going through something!

* Funny story- I was also issued a pair of shorts that attach to the pump because it's easier to order them and get it all at once than to add pieces later. I figured I'd never need the shorts, but whatever. Then I spent an afternoon vigorously yanking out honeysuckle bushes, including one extra hard yank which landed me on my "butt-ducks" as our kids used to say. I'd already been only a foot off the ground because I was using my legs in a squat instead of my back, but I still sat there laughing at myself for a minute. The next day, my butt-ducks and rear thighs were so tight and whiny that I thought, "hey! I can use the shorts!" So for two days that's what I did and, boy, if you've never had your butt-ducks rhythmically squeezed and released, it's really something. I don't know what, but it's something! I can just hear my Grammy and Gramps laughing at me!

I have little news to report on progress made in the basement since the death of the sump pump. We are looking at tile flooring because we know it's only a matter of time before the new sump pump also croaks and we have zero desire to rip out carpet and padding yet again. For the tile we have a first and second choice, we think. We have not taken measurements yet. We also have paint swatches since we were never wild about the color down there in the first place and it's been... well... this fall will be our 12th year here, I think, so we figured we might as well paint before we do the floor.

None of that was on the Bingo card for 2026. In fact, I have paint swatches taped up in the foyer because that's the room I'd painted most recently and it has held up the least well. When I showed Dada my colors, he sniggered and said it was exactly what was already on the walls and that at least I was consistent. I'd be offended except for the fact that he's right; they are almost identical. *sigh*

Thing Two made it home safely from his welding training this semester and has become a bump on a chair at the tall table. His basement bunker is out of the picture, so even though he's still not getting fresh air or sunshine, he's at least visible. Until he turns sideways, anyway, and then he disappears. He's so skinny! Miracles happen every day, and the proof is that my 20 year old Honda, Pepe the Pilot, survived the entire excursion of getting him to and from class daily through winter in Cleveland, involving both extremely rutted back roads and freeways of crazy drivers. Thank you for all the diligent prayers- they worked!

Thing One is working two jobs and having the typical summertime computer issues of something deciding to quit working and never mind that it has 8 years of art on it. Pshaw. Why should it boot up and do its job? This is in addition to whatever maintenance issues the jobs themselves run into. I believe the quote I heard was, "why is it whenever something happens we always have to tear out a wall??" Apparently when someone puts a coffee pot under a leak and then never checks it again... well, let's just say that we have all been introduced to our friend Gravity and that it doesn't bode well. Otherwise, having fun with the housemates and living the dream.

And we still have Boooooosley, who turned 9 on Cinco de Mayo, is no smarter than when we brought him home at 4 months old, and will probably live forever. Loudly. Ridiculous.

I hope all of you experience a GENTLE transition from spring to summer- goodness knows we all have whiplash here from Ohio being wishy-washy at best about what season it thinks it is- and that the end of the school year brings a routine in which you can breathe, and I don't just mean allergy relief. Take good care of you and revive your spirits. 

Another random rundown

 So this will be a load of random, I'd planned to blog about the last of the teas from January but at this point I don't remember, so tough beans. Or tea leaves, I guess. They were mostly yummy and I've remembered to drink more tea this year than ever before, so it worked, I guess? Haha.

We are experiencing technical issues over here, as well. Thing One graciously lent me a portable keyboard for this post because my poor laptop, above, was baptized with apple juice and some of the keys are not sticky to the touch but are sticky underneath which results in a lot of frustration, random j's, and so forth. As you can see, the space bar is also missing, which makes things a little more challenging and renders moot most of what I learned in typing class with Mr. Hovis many moons ago. 

So., My phone is chock full of photos of my preK crowd but since I don't know who has permission to see them and who doesn't, I won't be sharing those visually. I need to clean out my phone storage for real, which reminds me of one of my most recent favorite preK quotes:

My nana caught an octopus FOR REAL.

Sounds like a children's book waiting to happen...

Weatherwise, we've gone from snow angels to throwing windows open and walks in the sunshine and the corresponding sinus headaches with the temps and pressure being all over the map. Most people I know are still dealing with a cough of some sort, or sinus congestion, or both. Why March feels the need to go from 20s to 70s and then back to the 40s and wet when we could all use weeks on end of 60s is beyond me, but I'm not in charge.

Arm-wise, I'm still playing phone tag with the big city folks about what they want to do to me next. There's been talk of involving a vascular department but I have zero ideas as to what that would actually entail other than thought bubbles containing, "stent?" "Removing a rib?" "Ballooning something back open?" Yeah, not getting all bent out of shape until we talk to the pros. I am against rib removal, though, for the record... and this is why you don't google things or talk to people who don't work in the spoecific department.

Meanwhile, I am still wearing The Reductor 23ish of 24 hours, including sleeping in it, getting stuck to my wool blanket because of the velcro, trying to put on/take off makeup and brush teeth when I'm not wearing it because it's hard to make my elbow bend to those angles while in the darn thing, and ain't nobody wants to see me do eyeliner left handed. It's been two and a half weeks of my 2-4 weeks, so we are getting there. 

I also graduated from my bag of foam chips to stuff into my bra to a small bag of beads. I find it completely ridiculous that I'm wearing a padded bra sans boobs, but the PT gal says that she does notice my scar tissue softening, so I guess it's working. I'm doing my exercises and my stretches and all the things, though I can't do them as often as recommended due to the limited mobility because of The Reductor. That's okay. I'll get there. Just keep chipping along. 

Thing One just teased me, "laundry basket emoji!" which is our shorthand for "Get your stuff outta the washer (or dryer)!" Must rescue the sheets. Be back in justasec...

Last week, we asked one of our brand new four-year-olds what his take was on the weather. He looked out the window and reported, "it's foggy... and rainy... and gross!" Spot on, my friend.

I texted Thing Three from the dentist and asked if he was doing okay. He replied, "i was kidnapped and im being waterboarded right now

it stings"

I can't even.

Thing Two informed us that the house shook and he wondered what was going on only to discover later that he'd been about 3 miles from the 2.9 earthquake Ohio had last week. I told my mother that it often feels like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs anymore. Otherwise, he says he is doing fine and that he prefers snow covered roads because it helps fill in the potholes. Poor Pepe. I hope he can keep it together through all the spring thaws...

Overall, we are doing okay. Hanging in there like everybody else between high points and valleys. Take good care of you!

Another side of randomness

 Last week was just nuts. In addition to the gas line at the high school being struck which caused school to be cancelled for Thing Three, I also had a two hour fog delay. We repeated the process on Tuesday, and though the gas line had been repaired, school was still cancelled for him as well as for me this time because the fog was still hanging around come bus time after the two hour delay. I think Wednesday everyone was on time, but I was subbing in first grade instead of hanging with my preK friends. Thursday I was back with my 3 year olds and then Friday was a work day and aides weren't required to report, and Thing Three also didn't have school because his teachers had a work day as well. 

My Mommeee arrived Monday afternoon and left Saturday morning, so we had a great, long visit this time. Thanks for making the trip! I miss you! Dada had been in Mexico for work since Sunday, and he made it back safely to us on Saturday after my Mom arrived home.  

This week will hopefully be a little less bananas, though I'm back in first grade on Wednesday again, and Thing Three has no school for conferences on Friday. Our school has them next week. I can't believe it's the end of the first quarter already...

My hindsight-is-always-20/20 observation is to not schedule surgery wherein your recovery requires no lifting within the same year as having lymph nodes removed in your arm. Hopefully none of you will ever go through the experience, but if you do, be forewarned that the second surgery and no lifting will set back your PT and stretching exercises rather alarmingly. I've been experiencing a ton of tightness throughout the right side of my chest, right armpit, shoulder, and neck. Over two weeks ago it was so bad that I whimpered when bending over to tie my shoes; the combination of extending my arm while having it tightly in front of me pulled all kinds of muscles in what felt like all the wrong places. At times, while stretching, I sounded snappy like a KitKat bar. As anyone with cording can tell you, the snap kind of takes your breath away a second and you're wincing the whole time you're working, either because it actually does hurt sometimes but also in anticipation of it zinging another stab of pain. For instance, I do 10 reps of various exercises, and sometimes the snap won't come until the 9th rep! Then you hesitate in dread a moment before starting the 10th, and breathe deeply when that set is done. I'm not particularly a fan of sounding crispy. Dada, however, is enjoying working on me with the massage gun we got; meanwhile, my vision when he's doing it makes me feel like the Blair Witch Project choppiness and it reminds me of how we'd vocalize as kids riding our bikes on our brick street, "heeeeyyyaaaaheeeeeyaheeeeya"... oh well. This, too, shall pass. I certainly won't win any Heisman trophies anytime soon!

School has been entertaining. For the most part, the kids are a hoot and I love the staff. I am tired of the squabbling over who is the line leader, but generally I am having a ball. I'm thrilled to be able to help. I missed so much time last year. 

Our weather has finally cooled off, I'm super behind on #Inktober, I have plenty of small projects to keep me busy when I'm home, and I'm glad for the time we had with my Mommeeeee. Too bad she didn't take Bos with her when she left. (I can hear you laughing, Mom. Pipe down.)

Did I blog that we had to put Honey down? I don't think I did. Our Honey girl was elderly and way past decrepit, so we made that worst best decision and our wonderful vet helped us send her off pain-free. Bos never even noticed. He still scurried to her dish for days afterwards to see if she'd left him any morsels and then he'd look at us like, "how rude." I think the only reason he'd miss any of us is because he doesn't have opposable thumbs.

One more football game and then the marching band season winds down. They've already had their concert and we learned the hard way to sit in the center of the auditorium versus towards the back. Having a line of trumpets three rows behind you is not recommended. Had it been drums, I'd have been great! I love to feel the beat in my sternum!

Have a wonderful week, everybody, and stay healthy!

Oot and aboots

Tell me it's hot and dry without telling me it's hot and dry. Cue the toad in Bosley's outdoor water dish the last two mornings. He keeps looking at me like, "what?" Completely unconcerned with the loud, ferocious beast I'm tying out there with him. 

These were all taken this morning in the mist. We found a huge spider and I kept maneuvering around to get the best shot. Personally, I like the above one where he's on the right, looking roughly the same size as half a wren...

Thing Three spotted the deer crossing the road, fortunately sans traffic at the moment, and he whistled at them to get their attention. So kind of them to pose!

 

Sharing the gorgeous

I love my time with Thing Three at the bus stop. Sometimes it's foggy and we can both see and feel the approaching mist. Sometimes it's windy and we sneak glances for the bus over our shoulders if the wind is in our face. And some mornings are just gorgeous, even when he groans as I take out my phone to shoot "yet another sunrise." Perhaps I need an intervention. Until then, I'll share. 

I especially love it when there is a sunrise ahead and the moon quietly setting behind! 

 

Sir Squire

Band camp is this week so naturally it's back in the 90s and this crazy child decides to wear a knight costume for one of the theme days. Dude, it's black and long sleeves and I'm going to get a call saying you're in the hospital for heat stroke...

 

Random beach snippet snaps

Can you guess whose sandy feet are whose?

I wonder if the crab is mad that his sun was blocked or if he was glad for a second of shade.

Fairly early morning sun on a glass ocean.

Proof of a busy beach! Check out how many different species used the same space.

The solo Thing Two beach sighting. We beach very differently!

Thing Three, with waves that were just warming up. He did get some fun ones before we left!

And Duck Donuts, because we can't beach without them. Blueberry lemon, lemon coconut, chocolate peanut butter, maple bacon, glazed, sprinkles, and cookies & cream. Of all summers to not be running, haha...

 

More beach pix

Our beach week featured a lot of calm, glassy ocean days and few clouds. Definitely my preference of ocean. Thing Three was a little grumpy that there weren't huge waves to smash into, but this was a good year for me to be calm and serene and slow. I kept my promises to my radiation doctor and have the ridiculous tan lines to prove it, but enjoyed the beach nevertheless. How could I not?!

I always forget how BRIGHT it is at the beach!

Small child sized footprint beside Thing One's. I like investigating the sand and thinking about how many critters have left their marks.

If anybody needs a road trippin' partner, I highly recommend Thing One. There's lots of singing, laughing, good talks, snacks, and carrying on whilst being an excellent, cautious driver. So proud of this kid!

 

Oh yeah, I have a blog!

 Summer proves both delightful and challenging for me, and for the same reason: the lack of routine. During the school year, my alarm is set for 5:15 and I'm good about getting up when it goes off. Most of that time it's dark because we live in Ohio. I enjoy the quiet, laugh to myself about having to share the single bathroom with three other people in the house where I grew up and delight that I don't have to do that here, and then I get both my quiet devotional time and my 15 minutes of yoga in before other people start rolling out of bed. While it's early, I crave that time and that quiet because afterwards it's anything goes! I might be called in to sub, a kid could miss the bus and would need a ride, someone else might need dropped off at class elsewhere, errands might need run, and so forth. Just life. Nothing seemingly stellar or amazing, but if I don't get that quiet stuff done first, all day long I feel behind and slightly aggravated that I "threw off my groove," to quote one of our family's favorite movies, "The Emperor's New Groove". In summer, there's no need to get up early because there's no bus to catch or school to help out, so I don't set an alarm. Consequently, I wake up all over the place timewise and it's been making me crabby because I feel like half the day is gone and I've accomplished nothing. I guess that's why our identity isn't supposed to be tied up in our occupation or what we do to make money. We are human beings, not human doings. 

Our weather systems have just been parking and idling and playing havoc with allergies, sinuses, headaches, and I don't just mean me. It hasn't really cooled down at night so we haven't opened windows to air out the house and it hasn't rained enough to matter for what feels like weeks. The predicted rain seems to continue to not materialize despite my weather app showing more rain clouds than not. The poor dogs are SO hot, Honey especially. I've tried opening windows first thing, but as first thing isn't as early as it would be 9 months of the year, I got a faceful of "soup" (humidity) so the window got shut pretty fast. I know it won't last forever, and I despise being cold, so I'm trying to not let it get to me, but it irritates me to be boiling outside and then freezing inside because of the AC. Yes, I know it's a #FirstWorldProblem and there are people with actual hardships out there, but as my blog is free therapy, I may as well get my money's worth. Wait...

I've been telling Dada that this summer of 2025 is my Summer of Pout. Not much is looking like I expected it to look by this point in the year. I assumed (ha, there's my first problem) that with the end of the stereotypical cancer treatment that I'd get to go on my merry way, maybe with some new longterm meds, but otherwise unscathed. 

Fool.

I didn't count on my right arm measurements landing me in a compression sleeve during tank top season. I didn't anticipate wearing a rash guard on vacation and not soaking up every available sunbeam to help get me through Ohio winters (because that's seriously how my brain works- I am solar powered!) I also didn't foresee having the rest of my lady parts being evicted and starting menopause for real, having already been in chemically induced menopause from chemo. Twice. And because the eviction is surgical and not magical, that means no baths or getting in any bodies of water for swimming for the rest of the summer, essentially, as our pool closes when school starts. I wasn't allowed in until my radiation blasted skin healed and now I won't be allowed back in. Another #FirstWorldProblem, but definitely a contributor to the Summer of Pout. I don't even get in a lot of the time normally, but now it's the "I can't" factor.

Also, high protein diet yet again to prep stores for healing after surgery, and no alcohol. Why do I only want it when I can't have it? 95% of the time I'd take ice cream over a fun drink, yet here we are again needing to abstain medically. Yes, I KNOW it's actually a poison and isn't good for anybody anyway, but I have a six pack of those fun, colorful Smirnoffs and I just want one. Grrr. *sigh*  #FirstWorldProblems!

With the lady parts eviction comes the "no driving" mandate until I feel better and am off any heavy painkillers, which I don't even want to start taking, so of course that's when band practices start up. Would you believe that there are already SCHOOL SUPPLIES in stores?! I don't want to talk about it. I want to kick something. Like a box of school supplies or something. It is not even the middle of July!

Now that I sound like a total Debbie Downer or Negative Nancy, let's pivot to the blessings. 

We had a lovely vacation in OBX again and there will be post(s) about the ocean and all that. We got quality time with my brother who hadn't joined us there the past few years. The sweet old man dog at the beach house is still alive and kicking and will still smile over his shoulder at you when you give him butt scratches. The young pup will play until she drops and was also happy to see us. We missed my aunt who was traveling on her own adventures at the same time, but enjoyed all the talks and time with my wise uncle who gives fantastic hugs. My great aunt, who will be 96 at the end of this month, is also holding her own and we had a few hilarious visits with her. I want to be back there already.

We have gone to the pool a handful of times and I've gotten in once to float along the lazy river. In my rash guard. But hey, I got to get in! Maybe next year will be better. 

Thing Three had his annual Dr Jon appt and he's doing really well. All our kids are string beans, so he weighed in at 113# and 5'8 and 3/4". He's freshly 15 and is all limbs and feet. He's changed so much just in the year since Thing Two's graduation that my brother thought he WAS Thing Two when he first saw him. Completely cracked me up.

Thing Two has been improving with the driving practices. Still unsure about what this fall holds for him school and workwise. Sometimes life is TBD!

Thing One has met an online friend in real life, which is always an adventure, and they've been hanging out a good bit. I know a lot of art is happening! 

I'm thankful that my arm measurements were trending back down closer to my normal and that I never made it into the actual red zone for lymphedema. I'm back in the green, but just by a hair, so the recommendation was to keep the compression sleeve on and do some exercises. The sleeve in summer is a right pain in the butt, but I do know that it's to help and not frustrate me. I'm trying to get back into my yoga and quiet time routine because downward dog and child's pose and so forth are exactly the stretches recommended. Two birds, one stone, etc.

I'm thankful we have a home. It's easy to take for granted until you see footage of Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan or the floods in Texas or whatever the next disaster is that rolls in. Trying to be thankful when things are going like they do everyday, not just when something big happens. Or doesn't!

I'm grateful for my "elite of husbands" and the time he's taken to haul me around to all these appointments. He has every right to be crabby as they're cramping our style, but he cheerfully escorts me around and I don't know what I'd do without him. Love you, babe.

I'm excited to have breakfast with some girlfriends on Monday morning. That should be a thing. Everyone should get breakfast with their friends on a Monday morning! I bet attitude and productivity would improve across the board.

I'll try to not let it be a month before I blog again. We are doing well. Thanks for checking in! If you want something to pray for, please ask for the surgery to go textbook smoothly with no complications, no infections, etc. We appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.

I'll end with a joke Thing Three told me:

What's the difference between a snow man and a snow woman?

That decking hole

Apparently I don't have a photo of the actual hole, but out of the frame to Dada's right there was a soft spot caused by water and ice collecting under a large ceramic pot. I stepped onto said soft spot and turned it into a hole. No, I wasn't hurt, but we had a gaping crater in the deck.

Dada and Hope Depot and a long weekend to the rescue!

He and Thing Two did a nice job, and Thing Three also helped with some replacement slats along the side down to the yard. There's more to be done, but isn't there always?

 

Timber

 And once again I managed to load the photos exactly backwards. I'm going to blame chemo brain for the rest of my life! *sigh* Okay, audience participation time. Scroll down to the bottom and work your way back up here. =)

Thing Three is now taller than me so that gives some scale as to how big that root section is. We keep hoping Bosley will enter the underneath section and that the tree will magically stand up again, but no such luck... yet.

However, our basement stayed dry (thank you, sump pump) and our roof seems intact. Definitely blessed to add intact house and cars despite trees crashing down and figuring out logistics to deal with that mess. Thank you to those of you who've reached out to check on us. We're all good! Please pray hard for and help others who were not so fortunate. It seems like the more I read the news, the more I wonder how insurance companies still want to be in business at all between the fires and floods! Stay safe out there, people. We aren't even halfway through April! 

Darn near full ditches and the arrested fall of the pine tree.

Dada's 30th birthday present also toppled over and that is one heavy sucker so it gives me a very good idea of how hard the wind was blowing. It has been righted but not yet used, so here's hoping it still works. If not, you know what Dada will be getting for his 50th birthday...

Along with the buckets of rain, we got the wind. Miraculously, our party lights survived and didn't get smashed to the ground by falling branches. Nor did our playhouse get squished when a big pine tree decided enough was enough and toppled over, taking my clothesline with it, only to be sort of arrested by a locust tree...

Sorry the screen got in the way, but look way out towards the far trees on the horizon. Those are all fields up to the trees, and you can see all that shining water. There's not supposed to be a lake there! We've had geese and ducks wading in fields all week.

These woods out back edge our property line and you can see the low, pond-ish area in there. Last year we dug out some small trenches to help get the water to drain from the perpetual puddle in the woods to the drainage ditch. We had just cleaned out those trenches the weekend before all this rain hit, so it was immensely gratifying to see them running full!

The kids generally call this right side The Leak because on the other side of the treeline is our neighbors' pond and the whole area is low enough that we get water laying there forever as well as the lobster-looking crayfish and their mud towers. However, it's not usually that deep OR anywhere near that bad on the left side of the driveway...

We had tons of rain during those storms that were dumping water all over the central US. Welcome to mud season, for sure. Some of these photos were taken from upstairs windows to get better vantage points. I don't remember seeing water pretty much from the fire pit to the garden before...

Fun date night

This handsome fella had a band concert last night and, as usual, it was terrific. Our band program is excellent, with passionate teachers and invested students. We got to hear from the Jazz Band, the Big Band, the Concert Band, and the Symphonic Band. Each performed three pieces and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them!

(All critical thinkers just crossed me off any type of list for judging panels of any kind, haha!)

Way to go!

 

Only a few more days of January. We can make it...

 Hey! Have you blown away? My mother says they've been experiencing our leftover wind. Sorry about that. It was a little crazy here for a few days. Sadly, Bosley is too fat to blow away... darn.

We are all hanging in there. I had funny things to say that I thought of in bed last night when I was supposed to be sleeping, but I forgot them. We're back in the swing of classes now that school is happening regularly. I'm done with an entire month of chemo appointments. Trying to stay healthy. Going to test out my immune system by spending some time with preschoolers this week. Enjoying that we've had actual sunshine for a few days! Amazing how just that will elevate my mood, even if it's still cold. 

Thing Three finished up his pep band requirements for the season. He seems to be enjoying phys ed this semester and is still lamenting having physical science. I don't think any of our kids have liked that class.

Thing Two also hasn't blown away as he plods around his college campus, so it must be all that hair holding him down. Or maybe he just faces the wind sideways and it slices right past him. 

Thing One, awaiting more art commissions, has been cheerfully taking me to chemo and giggling through the doodles and sketches that happen there. I love watching the glee and the passion. It makes my heart happy.

Dada's been really busy with work this week, but not traveling and we're all thankful for that. They've moved back to the office three days a week so there's been finagling of who is getting or taking Thing Two to class and all of that. For the most part it is working out. If someone would get his driver's license, things would smooth out even more, but there's this saying about leading a horse to water but not being able to make it drink... yep, that fits. 

Overall, we are doing okay. I'll knock wood and say a little prayer that it stays that way! Stay warm and enjoy that sunshine!

Rite of passage

 Ugh, the photos all loaded exactly backwards, so you'll have to use your imagination and replay them. Thing Three got his braces on and refused to give me a decent picture so I said, "fine, I'll just keep taking them and put them on the blog!" 

So there.

He asked, "is it a law that all kids have to get braces?" I cracked up and related that to my bestie Lisa, who replied, "yes! It is a rite of passage, haha!"

Here he is, plotting, not laughing at our answer...

Yes, he wore his crocs sockless in the snow to his appointment, just as he does to church on Sundays. I blame all those years of karate barefootness. Thing One is the same way- barefoot or wearing mismatched socks and making Maudie crazy. Thing Two is the one voted most likely to be in socks and slippers. Personally, our floors are freezing so I'm also in socks with slippers or at least wearing Thing Three's old rubber sandals. 

At any rate, the orthodontist optomistically quoted 15 months for the braces, dependent, of course, on brushing/flossing participation. I hope that holds true! After a few days of soreness, he seems to be holding up well and has already planned his next color change for rubber bands. Time will tell!

A first on a 26th

Today is the first two hour delay of 2025, much to Thing Three's delight, and it brings back lovely memories of our wedding, 26 years ago, when a blizzard blew through, closing the turnpike, preventing plenty of our wedding guests from attending, and prohibiting the arrival of our wedding cake. But it is so pretty out there today!

It is much sunnier out there than I remember it being 26 years ago and is shaping up into a much more forgiving, if still below freezing, kind of day. 

Thanks again to those of you who were crazy enough to brave the weather, no worries to those of you who couldn't make it (believe me- we understand!), and thanks for joining us to all of you whom we've met since then! Thank you all for blessing our lives and our family. 

We love you bunches! Stay warm and safe!