I’m so excited…

 It’s that time of year again. I go a little crazy and a lot overboard when it comes to seeds. Dada says, “none of those are food!” But I maintain that we gotta take care of our pollinators, so the plan this year is to use the back garden for our bee and butterfly friends, especially as the bunnies who are born in that garden eat all my pea vines anyway. There’s a crappy old trellis that has been falling apart for years that I’m tired of repositioning so I’m going to tear it out. We have an old box spring I plan to erect in its place so the morning glories can have full run of climbing areas. I’ll keep you posted!

April showers

April showers are a true thing around here. We've had some wet! This is our "leak" as the kids call it, extending back toward the house. To the left of these bushes is the neighbors' pond. We joke that we have one, too.

From "Into the Woods": "the path has strayed from you!"

A heron peeked at me on the way home from my walk. I said, "I see you" and he hunkered down a little more, but he didn't take off. Usually he sees us coming and skedaddles, so it's progress. I love when he hides in the culvert, out of the wind, under our street!

And this is the spot where I take the "Dead Marshes" pictures. We are past marsh and into small pond now.

Unrelated to the weather, Dada is home safe from his trip to Colombia, and Hin & Muggin got to go to Puerto Vallarta, so I painted my toenails a beachy, summery blue and joined them in spirit. Somebody's gotta hold down the fort, I guess!

 

Springtime snapshot

 

Our tiny daffodils are up and they make me smile! 

We are having our usual ridiculous wind. I went for a walk the other day and made it home just before another squall blew through. You can tell from the Easter windsock that the wind was crazy. It was about 23 mph while I was out!

Mondays be like...

Hair In His Face doesn't do Mondays, so it was a little harder to prod him out of bed to get him ready for school...

I am loving that April means air temps that don't hurt my face!

Poor Damonater caught whatever is going around with the terrible cough. Covid test was negative, but he's been napping which he usually resists. He went to school Monday morning but needed picked up after telling the nurse his head hurt behind his eyes and ears and he couldn't concentrate. He didn't have a fever, so I was surprised she let him go. He did run a fever that evening, but didn't have one yesterday so I was hopeful he'd make it to school today and tomorrow because they have Friday off for spring break. He told me that he hardly slept last night so he's still home. Poor kid.

 

Before the rain

It's supposed to storm all day today, so poor Honey will be beside herself. It hasn't started yet, so I've been out on the front porch swing, listening to the crazy birds' racket, enjoying the breeze, and loving the colors of the soft morning light. A furry friend stopped by, too!

 

For poetry fans

 

Damon had a poetry assignment for english class to write five poems, any style. After far more griping that one would possibly expect and perhaps more parental involvement that was strictly necessary, he ended up with the following. and got an "A". not that i'm keeping track. my favorite is the last one. apologies for the fuzziness of the photo.

Not only is it high in Vitamin C

It's not every day you get a fun message in your OJ. Yet here we are, with a heart made of bubbles right in the middle!

 

A boy and his saxophone

 Damon took the opportunity to travel to the OMEA contest last Saturday where he played a solo and in a quartet. The scoring system rates from 1-5, 1 being the highest and 5 being the worst. We discussed that there should be a 6, for if you throw up, pass out, pee your pants or all three from sheer nerves. There were a lot of kids putting on brave faces, but watching the stress roll off them afterwards was a lot of fun. 

I told that kid to plan for a 5 and then whatever he earned would be better than that. He wailed, "nobody has ever earned a 5 in our school!" Perhaps I should just never open my mouth. His usual sax, Otto, was in the shop so he had a loaner which he christened Botto. The OMEAs were held at Northwood high school, and a huge shout out to them for hosting. Their cafeteria ladies were very kind and cheerful and their school was clean and welcoming. 

Not only did he earn a 1 in his solo, the quartet also earned a 1! The kids were so excited. They were fun to watch rehearsing in the gym with a myriad of instruments around them also practicing, running in and out, buying snacks, sitting in on other friends' solos for moral support. He decided he wanted to ride the bus home with his friends, which was fine; I'd taken him since he didn't have to play until after lunch and the bus left the school at 6:45. He ended up sleeping until 9 AM anyway, so it was the right choice.

Overall, now he has a much better idea of the practice and prep that goes into an event like that and I think next year will be even better!

This crew makes up his quartet, though this was taken at a different event. They had the opportunity to join the high school and college saxophone students for a small concert last weekend. Dada and I had a ball! We were so impressed with the conductor and the group. What a neat experience for the young musicians. I hope they perform again. There was even a college student who played bass saxophone, which neither of us had ever seen before.  Such a great date!

How do you spell trouble?

 

It must be art.

 This art installation is called, “I’m lazy.” This is what it looks like when one comes home from school and yeets one’s apparel all over the loveseat before hopping into the armchair in just one’s skivvies and eating Cheezits straight out of the box. Thankfully you’ve all been spared that actual glimpse and must rely on your own imaginations. 

These offspring!

 “Are you sure you want to stay in your coat at the dentist or do you want to take it off?”

“Yeah.”

“That was an ‘or’ question; it can’t be a ‘yeah’.”

“What?”

Three guesses

 

It's Friday! Let's play a game. I'll give you clues and you guess what's going on at our house. 

                                                                               Clue #1:

Clue #2:

Lest there be any wild rumors flying around, those are not pregnancy tests. Those, my friends who may yet be uninitiated, are covid 19 tests and they read positive. 

Those are the final two of the five in our household. Full house. What do we win?

Damon reported feeling sick to his nurse at school last Friday. She called me and said he should come home. He spent the weekend coughing and sleeping. Upon taking his covid test, he started off the chain of positives.  Friday the right side of my sinuses were blocked up and annoying, and I'd started to sneeze. Our winds all weekend were around 20+ mph so I assumed the wind was bringing whatever from wherever and the dogs were bringing it inside for me to be allergic to more conveniently. We watched church from our couch and stayed in, going through our stock of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup (the kids) and the homemade soups I'd made (grownups- the kids refuse to try them). We should purchase stock in Campbell's... maybe we'd get some of our money back.

Liam succumbed next, but only because he tested before Dada, who also left work early on Tuesday because his boss didn't want him contaminating anyone. Love her. Five stars. Highly recommend. 

Finally, the last two of us standing gave in and received our positives. Joined the club, as it were. My sinuses had gone from feeling solid on the right side to doing the Cha Cha Slide anytime I rolled over: "Sliiiiiiiide to the left. Sliiiiiide to the right." God forbid I attempt to bend over. 

Dada and Thing One take the awards for worst coughs. They both sound like a kid named Jeremy from my neighborhood growing up. I commented that to my brother and he guffawed and said that kid should be The Example for horrible coughs, that you could hear him along an entire quadrant of the neighborhood. Since that was 40ish  years ago, the kid made quite an impression!

Needless to say, we are drinking tons of water and taking our meds and sneaking in naps and taking it easy. We held off until Year Three before succumbing for our first round, but apparently the Borg were right: resistance is futile.

In all seriousness, we are doing okay. We've had offers of help and with all the delivery systems in place we certainly won't starve to death anytime soon. Damon went back to school today after morphing back into his mostly cheerful, squirrely self. His nurse said he could report back on Thursday but I felt he needed another day to rest. I figured one school day and then a weekend ought to be just about right. Here's hoping he remembers to bring home everything he needs to catch up on, and thank heavens there was no school on Monday so it was a short week. 

I felt less sick with covid than I did with the flu (also in February, several years ago), but I did have moments of chemo-like brain fog and energy drain. I felt like someone had dialed my energy level way down, but noticed that, as usual, I felt better with movement. We haven't been going for our walks and I miss that, but I know enough to take it easy until we are fully back to ourselves. I figured if we'd all been healthy, it would have snowed two feet and there wouldn't have been school anyway to it all evens out.

I also noticed that I didn't have a muted sense of smell or taste until about Wednesday night even though my sneezing and sinus issues started last Friday. Really couldn't taste much this morning. Fireball candies are still hot but less... zesty? Zippy? Cinnamony? At least they didn't fry my mouth and sinuses like they did during chemo, haha!

The real question is: where are we booking a vacation next February so we can get away from this ridiculous weather and these germs!?

Golden pond

I love light on our neighbors' pond in the morning. It was glowing and golden this morning, even though it "feels like 14" outside. Even the resident twelve year old noticed this morning and was amazed at the difference in the light since a week ago. 

Sure doesn't look like February, does it?

 

Winter weirdness

Um, how does this work?

We seem to be experiencing technical difficulties: it is indeed winter in Ohio, but Ohio doesn't seem to know that. We've had rain and high fifties and low sixties and wind. And more wind. And more wet. And I've seen two bluebirds. 

Not a lot of snow. I'm trying to decide if I mind.

I've restarted as a substitute teacher, and was speaking with a colleague from Virginia. He was a little puzzled about how similar the weather has been to what winter is like in his home state and confessed he expected more cold and snow. I confided that the only predictable thing about Ohio is its unpredictability. I'm sure there will be more Weather. I only hope it's not saving ALL of it until March. In the meanwhile, I'll try to not let any school kids blow away at recess and I'll savor not freezing to the ground at the bus stop!

 

Thank you, God, for food.

 I do believe we have a herd of Cookie Monsters loose in the house. I made chocolate chip cookies last week and I swear the next time I turned around there were three left.

I baked Monday Morning Muffins yesterday. Don't get excited- they're just blueberry muffins out of a box, but I figured they'd work some magic to kick off the week. I'm debating freezing six of them so they last until next week's Monday, haha.

Dunno if you've seen these, but they make edible glitter and put it in chocolate chips. Woohoo! Had to try some. I made another batch- my first with glitter chips- since the first batch of cookies didn't stick around long. I figure it's because we've been out of ice cream *gasp* for several days now. I'm not sure this batch will last long enough for anyone to notice the glitter, but I had a good time making them so that's enough.

Last weekend I made pork bone broth but this weekend it was chicken. I can't even tell you how good my house smells with this simmering overnight. I'm sure it had nothing to do with why I couldn't sleep. That's not drool on my pillow...

Shattered sleep

You know it's going to be a long night (or a very short one) when your brain is busy constructing limericks when you're supposed to be asleep.  

There once was a fellow called Pop

whose snoring at night would not stop.

His wife meant no ill will

but went in for the kill;

her pillow gave him a big THWOP!

Honey (AKA That Awful Dog) was barking for no discernible reason, Thing Two was up way later than he should have been, and a certain someone who shall remain nameless snored, it seemed, no matter which sleeping position was utilized. I hate nights when I get ganged up on, though I am well aware how good I have it most nights. We are in our own home, most of us in our own rooms even, not stuffed in a tent in a refugee camp somewhere. I can't even imagine. Talk about there by the grace of God go I. So blessed. Even on a Monday, even after shattered sleep. Let's hear some limericks! (Keep it clean, people; my kids read this!) 

Have a super week!

Puzzling times

Since Christmas vacation, we've been doing jigsaw puzzles. Yesterday we finished this 1000 piece one and now guess what I want? 😏

 

Dreams, dreams.

 Yesterday Dada made it downstairs before the Damonater left for his oh-butt-ugly bus time and announced, "I had SUCH a weird dream last night. I was cutting my toenails..." He proceeds to tell the story about a gecko coming out of a hole in his toe. Way too much weirdness for me pre-coffee. Then this morning I awoke from a dream that our superintendent called to announce a delay due to freezing cold temps. Imagine my dismay when, upon checking the news and my Twitter feed, I discovered no such declaration had been made. Bah. It's past cold out there and solidly in the category of "friggin' ridiculous" but we got Thing Three on the bus on time just the same. The small dog is whining to go out. Fool. I tried to keep them in as long as possible to give Mr. Sun a chance to help a bit. Alas, it's time to get on the stick! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and stay warm and toasty and safe!

Casting about for positive small things

Now that I'm singing, "these are a few of my faaavorite things," (now you are too and you're welcome), I just thought I'd throw out some things that have made me smile in the past week. 

Ignore the Ninjabread cookie kit in the background. I bought those years ago and ended up pitching the actual cookie mix because it was so old I didn't even want to try it. I've found a replacement gingerbread cookie mix that I tossed back in the box and still it waits on the counter...

Anyway, that would be a birthday cake because I'm now officially in my late 40's, according to my little brother anyhow. I added green and silver sprinkles despite the fact that I'd be a Hufflepuff and not a Slytherin. 

These nightstand plants don't have names, but they are buddies hanging out in my bedroom. The cactus has been around for at least a decade and was so dusty and pitiful that I felt sorry for him. I switched nightstands and gave him a friend and he's all perked up and glossy and blooms! Amazing. Just goes to show we all need time with our friends. And sunlight. The one on the left was from my parents' bathroom at their old house. It's also growing every which way and probably needs a new pot and to be rotated. They don't look as green as they actually are in this soft, furry morning light.

These incredible pumpkin chocolate chip cookies were mailed to me by my bestie, who also offered the recipe. I had to turn her down because if I knew how to make these bad boys, my two remaining pairs of appropriate-for-work pants are certainly not going to keep fitting either! YUM.

I believe this is called a Thing Two Placeholder...

My cart at Aldi had a sticker! I think it was meant for me. *beam*

What small things are making a big difference in your outlook?

 

Thing One and Thing Two are so busted.

 

These people that I live with drive me crazy for myriads of reasons, but I think you'll be able to tell why in this particular case.

In their defense, the dishwasher was full so that's why there is a handful of dishes in the sink not including things I tend to do by hand. I'm not mad about the dishes. 

Let me give you some facts:

1. Dada brought home both those ice cream containers on Tuesday.

2. It is now Friday morning.

3. Dada had none from either ice cream container.

4. I had none from either ice cream container.

5. The dogs, to their intense dismay, had none from either ice cream container.

(Not a fact but a speculation: I don't think the Damonater had any from these ice cream containers.)

HOW'RE BOTH CONTAINERS EMPTY BY THURSDAY NIGHT?!

Drat those two Thingz!

Do you wanna build a snowman?

I took the above photo (I think of it as Frodo's "Dead Marshes") at lunchtime on January 19. I liked that you could see pieces of blue sky in the standing water amidst dormant grass.

The photo below was taken Tuesday at 5:45 pm.

This next photo was Wednesday around 1 pm. We certainly didn't get the 8" that was the predicted high end, but as the photo shows it's always hard to tell what we officially got because ours doesn't stay put. We'll have multiple inches in some spots and bare ground in others. We did have a tremendous amount of slush. I attempted to shovel and decided the tiny walkway was all I was going to do. It's supposed to get up to 35F today though right now it's saying with windchill it feels like 7F. 

You may have seen BGSU's snowball fight with one of their mascots, Freddie Falcon, taking a snowball straight to the beak. Here's a clip of some of the chaos: Sent-Tribune link

Our kiddos have yet to go build a snowman or start a snowball fight or anything as none of them appreciate cold weather. I guess if you have to be out in it, might as well have some fun!

 

Baby, it’s cold outside!

I was all excited to go play with “my” kids today as I was scheduled to sub as the art teacher. Alas, it’s the second snow day of the week. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a blessing to be able to stay home with my family and I appreciate being safe and warm at home. I’m just bummin’ for a few minutes.

Snuggle up with a friend and stay toasty!

 

Award winning

 I hereby declare, in an officially fancy-looking font, that Thing Three is certifiably the World's Worst Umbrella Holder. He is legit, folks. 

I should back up. Last week, I went for a walk in the rain all by my onesies, as Captain Jack Sparrow says. I don't mind rain. I have boots and I have, in theory and in name, a raincoat, and even a rain hat. 

Well, I forgot the hat but I did have my hood. I schlepped along pretty contentedly, skirting puddles and obvious mud-sucking areas. My good-for-nothing bangs snuck out from underneath my hood and began to drip water down into my face and along the sides of my hood. I stopped to shake like a dog a few times as my "raincoat" isn't truly waterproof, at least not anymore, and I'd rather get the wet off before it soaks in. 

I did about three miles and laughed at myself in the mirror when I got home. For the first time in a long time, I was wearing colorful eye shadow and some of that had run along with the not waterproof colorful mascara. All in all, I looked like a sad water color painting, haha.

I texted all that to my bestie, who asked where my bumbershoot was. I told her that I hated umbrellas because they always either turned inside out or busted, and I'd rather just be in my hood and/or rain hat and hope for the best. She laughed and agreed.

This morning it wasn't truly rainy, but very wet and drippy and heading towards foggy after a night of rain and temps in the low 40's. I figured it'd be a good day to wait at the bus stop under one of our big umbrellas. Damonater, dancing with delight, announced he'd love to hold the umbrella. However, he had difficulties getting it open, so he returned it to me. Voila, I found the button and WHOOSH. Inside out. First thing. Not even out in the wind. There's me standing there, holding what looks like an enormous flower beginning to open, huge drips of water from our oak trees plummeting down around us, this fool laughing beside me. *siiiiiiiiiiiigh*

After some good-natured piratey, black scribble griping, I got the darn thing set to rights and it actually stayed put. He took over from there but I sure didn't stay any drier. I try to watch down the street for the bus and he holds it so it blocks the horizon. He straightens it uprightish and tilts it back so it catches wind from the passing cars. It's still dark out there at 7 AM and this kid is cackling, "I LOVE umbrellas! They're so fun!"

"Child. It's purpose is to keep us dry. Hold it over us!"

*more waggling around* Bear in mind the child is 12. Twelve!

"Ahem. I can't see if the bus is coming. Hold it UP."

*more spinning and giggles*

"You are officially The World's Worst Umbrella Holder Ever."

"Yeah. I'm a doofus." *more chortling*

Oh my stars. One of us is going to end up at the funny farm for sure. At least there I'll be dry...

And we're off...

Happy New Year! 

It's been a slow start this morning, the first whole weekend of 2023. Someone called me at 8:37 which led to me grumbling, "who in the world would be calling me at 8:30 on a Saturday morning!?" They didn't leave a message, so I guess I'll never know. 

I was slouched at the dining room table with the Christmas lights plugged in, savoring my first few sips of hot coffee with coconut creamer when Dada strolled in, paused at the light switch and warned, "light."

"Whyyyyyyyy?" I slap my hand over my closed eyes.

No click.

He brings his coffee to the table and sits, his bottom lip poking out.

I peek out from under my hand. "That's not light."

"No, but you threw a lot of shade."