The cat ate my password

I see we have some catching up to do, you and I.  You haven’t been getting the posts I compose as I’m falling asleep or sitting in traffic, have you?  Let’s see what I can string together for you:

The news:

Ruby spent one weekend throwing up, but recovered quickly.  Carl has had a snotty nose and I can’t tell if it’s getting better or about to get way worse.  Many of their friends have had the dreaded H1N1, but so far we are clear.

Rod did some much-needed caulking and painting around the house and has been working long, long hours. 

We have new tenants moving in next door this weekend.  Everyone please cross your fingers, light a candle, whatever, and hope that they pay us on time and take decent care of the place.

Carl says he is just one lesson away from being done with Pre-K work at school.  I have no clue if that's true or not, but if it's motivating to him, that's awesome.  Ruby was trying to teach him to read one night, using the highly-motivating book Super Diaper Baby (one of the highlights is the bad guy accidentally transforming himself into a turd).  Anyway, I mentioned to Carl that I have a book about teaching your child to read and maybe we should get it out sometime.  “Get it now!” he shouted, an hour before bedtime.  I would like to say that I used that window of opportunity and that he’s now reading well above grade level, but I made him go to bed instead.

Grandma paid a visit for a quilt show, but made time to have dinner with us all and to take Ruby and me to the show one afternoon.  Ruby really enjoyed it and has big plans for the kitty fabric she got.  Ruby also enjoying calling people on the phone these days, especially Grandma.  It’s strange to see my little baby casually picking up the phone, paging through the speed dial, and calling people all by herself.

Ruby has replanted her garden for fall. Now being tested are onions, spinach, swiss chard, lettuce, cilantro, and pansies.  The excitement was darn near overwhelming when she discovered a lone petite cantaloupe on her half-dead cantaloupe vine.  We’re still holding out hope that it will ripen enough to harvest, and not just rot on the ground.  She keeps harvesting the occasional okra pod or pepper, too, but the eggplant has been devastated by caterpillars or bugs or something. 

Ruby had the honor of introducing the arts showcase at her school today.  She Who is Never Nervous seemed to have a touch of the stage fright, but did fine.  Here is a lovely cell phone photo of my little star, a few minutes before she said her lines:

As for me, what have I been doing?  Nothing, and everything.  I harvested and froze a ton of basil, read a kind of interesting book about the pilgrims, went to my knitting guild meeting, kept plugging away at my volunteer projects, played phone tag with a speech therapist for Carl, went to the spaghetti dinner at school, got the kids’ hair cut, sorted through a giant pile of old papers (sadly, there are many more piles to go), took my pregnant friend to the doctor a bunch of times, cooked more than I really wanted to, did 96 loads of laundry, and ran all those time-sucking errands (cleaners, post office, grocery store, grocery store, grocery store, drugstore, cat food store, school, school, school, school, you know…..).

Last week, I volunteered at another sort of –related to my-kids’ school- Montessori –school-for-underprivileged-kids’ fundraiser.  Ruby and Carl had to be there with me for a while until Rod could collect them.  To my delighted astonishment, they didn’t want to amuse themselves with coloring books; they wanted to help.  And they did, setting tables and filling glasses just like the grownups.  Too bad I can’t get that kind of support at home.

This weekend, the cat is going to the vet, there are a bunch of birthday parties, the kids want to carve pumpkins (even though I explained they will be slimy and black by Halloween, given our lovely climate), and I need to figure out Carl’s costume(s)—the bat, and the Skippy Jon Jones he wants to be for the storybook dress up parade at his school.  How hard can it be to come up with something that makes Carl look like a Siamese cat who thinks he’s a Chihuahua on a mission to Mars?

 

Comments

[Lee (the most common name on earth.)]

Ha! Just wait until you find out that the routine never ends. You will never be rid of your children's problems even when they are married off and gone. Husbands still think they have to be fed, clothes need washing, kitties have to go to the vet, cars need servicing, etc., etc., etc.. Life goes on only with different subplots. Don't forget there will be grandchildren at some point.

Don't be fooled. Of course you do have the advantage of a brilliant engineer husband. And he has the advantage of a brilliant author, attorney, and bon vivant without portfolio, wife. And you both have beautiful, strong, self reliant children none of which would ever phone you as an adult to ask a question like, "Junior has a fever, what should I do?" Oh my. Look ahead to the time when you may want to be rocking, reading and listening to beautiful music but just don't have the time.

These thoughts have been brought to you by one who knows. If you don't believe it ask your dear old dad about his own rockin' chair days.