Holpineville

Things are Speeding Up

Pneumonia is really not much fun.  First, I didn't realize I was officially so sick, so I didn't get much time off from my regular workload during the worst of it, although Rod did take a few extra turns at kid bedtime duty.  Second, although I am feeling MUCH better overall, it doesn't go away very fast, even with the big drugs I'm taking. For example, getting a little winded going to the grocery store or while shaving my legs is discouraging.  And third, it's not a one office visit problem.  I had the follow up CT scan done, which (no surprise) shows a lung infection, and apparently not a simple one, because now I'm being sent to the pulmonologist for a consult, and I get to buy another round of prescriptions.  After it's all over, I have to go back to my regular doctor for blood work and an x-ray to confirm I'm cured.  I'm not a religious person, but thank God for health insurance.

Suddenly we are busy again.  The kids have school, homework, piano lessons, dance class, and play dates, and Carl wants to start taking karate or some kind of martial arts class.  I'm also looking into a sewing class or two for Ruby, because there's a place nearby that offers them.  The weekends are filling up with camping trips, classes, and parties.  This week, there's a big school open house, a couple of committee meetings, and I have a very large quantity of volunteer work to accomplish. 

Tonight, Ruby is going to a sleepover and Carl is going to have a friend sleep over here.  I'm happy we can do it, since our ability to host sleepovers for both kids at once is diminished with our new resident, L. 

I'm trying to plan Carl's birthday party, but it's not coming along very well.  He keeps changing his mind about what he wants and I keep changing my mind about the scope and budget.  Carl does have his wish list firmly in place, which I will record here for his amusement when he's a grown-up: 1) a chihuahua (which he knows he's not getting), 2) a "video game" (handheld variety, which Rod the Mean Dad says no to), 3) a Hoberman sphere (I think a friend has one for him), 4) "a wallet that's satin with a little flashlight and velcro", and 5) "all the rest should be Legos."  Ruby bought him a Webkinz; we'll see if she can keep it a secret until the big day or not. 

Ready or Not

It's been busy.  Last week, the kids and I went with another mom and her kids to her lake house for a couple of days.  This was way better than the alternative of being home with the kids, and there were some definite highlights: kayaking, the dog's first birthday party (as planned by Ruby and her friend), naps, and so on.  And it was also a lot of cooking and cleaning and packing and unpacking and wrangling grumpy children.    

We came home Friday and there were birthday parties Friday night and Saturday.  Saturday's party kept me pretty busy all day with preparations and featured the highly successful debuts of Rod's foam machine and the "band" formed by four guitar-playing dads we know.  Ruby is suddenly a groupie.

Today we are getting a boarder?  guest?  housemate?  Our foreign student occasional babysitter needs a place, so Ruby has graciously moved out of her room and we are going to give it whirl.  Part of me thinks I am completely nuts because non-family house guests start to bug me after about four days. And then part of me thinks it will be fine because she's a nice girl who deserves help and we can give it, plus I can get some baby and cat sitting out of the deal, and she won't be here much, right?  However, this all was finalized at the very last second, and it's coinciding with a lot of other stress for the kids: being tired and going back to school tomorrow, for instance.  Therefore, we have had some really fine tantrums and battles as I moved stuff in and out of the kids' rooms upstairs, and it is just Not a Fun Day at Home. They are going to be some exhausted and crabby kids going back to class tomorrow.

Finally, I have been unwell during all of this, so it's all had sort of an exhausting underwater aura about it.  I had a really dramatic fever Friday night, and since then, I feel more energetic and slightly less coughy, so maybe it's finally going away?  I have a couple of doctor appointments this week, so if not, I can get the lung x-ray or TB test or whatever.

And now I have to go argue with Carl and then go buy stuff to help integrate Ruby's belongings into Carl's room, plus some school items I thought we had but (Whoops!) we don't.  There are over 900 e-mails in my inbox, and if yours is one of them, rest assured I will get caught up and answer you this week, yes indeedy. 

It’s all over but the coughing

There are twelve days until school starts. I’m not ready, nor are the kids, for the return of the school routine, but I’m also not full of exciting ideas and enthusiasm for filling those twelve days, either.

We spent most of the last week visiting my in-laws.  Someone had one of those birthdays ending in zero, and that was a good excuse to get everyone together, so the kids got to spend time with their cousins and a rarely-seen great aunt and great uncle.   Rod even finished his business trip in time for the vacation.  I think it was a good time, but I was deep in the fog of illness for most of it.  Yes, after months of really good virus luck, I caught a whopper, and it’s been fever/cough/sleepless/yuck for the last ten days or so.  I do think I’m slowly getting over it, but I wish I were done already. I also thought for a couple of days in there that I broke my foot, but apparently not.  It was just a weird ugly bruise, combined with my loser spine doing a creative compression number on my nerves yet again.

Anyway, I’m just trying to make it through until I feel like being part of the world again. Today, I took the kids to the Health Museum, hoping I’d absorb some. Now we’re lounging at home.   Maybe I’ll take my germs to the pool later. 

As for the kids, they haven’t changed much this week.  Ruby is very, very hung up on Webkinz.  She is so very sensitive lately, and every little scratch or bruise requires intensive first aid, tea, and sympathy.  She’s having a crisis about her socks and shoes.  I think the latest growth spurt means most of her socks are too small.  We just bought her a new pair of shoes, after extensive shopping to find some that fit the parent acceptability criteria, Ruby’s fashion taste, and her narrow bony feet.  Ruby swore they were completely comfortable and that she would wear them.  Well, guess what?  Two weeks later, the shoes hurt and she just doesn’t want to put them on at all.  There goes another $60 down the drain.

Carl has been seduced away from Legos All the Time to incorporating some time playing Webkinz with Ruby.  He is beginning to get worked up about his birthday, which is a mere six or seven weeks away, and he can’t go near a store without wanting something to the point of tears.  Carl has also been interested in human reproduction lately; not so much where babies come from, but more how to prevent that sperm from getting to that egg. He’s pretty adamant that he doesn’t like babies. Rod is mighty pleased.

What more?  It’s way too hot here.  I’m trying to reorganize my closet, and to finish up some knitting projects.  I promise to come back with something more interesting to read, once I end my love affair with the Robitussin. Until then…

Party of Three

Once again, I am out of sync with the rest of the world.  Somehow, our vacation schedule doesn’t agree with the rest of the community’s.  Everyone my kids play with regularly, plus all the parents who keep me company and listen to me gripe, they are all heading out of town for the next week.  Yes, everyone: seven or eight different families, away to various cool places without me.  The nerve of those people.

And, to make matters even more desperate, Rod is leaving early Monday for ten days somewhere nice.  Yes, it’s a business trip, but it’s to somewhere nice, and he won’t have to cook, do laundry, wash dishes, or discipline children, so I call that a pleasant break.

Panic.

I will confess that my first impulse on comprehending that scenario was to get out of town.  If I have to be alone with the kids for that long in this lousy weather, we should get a change of scenery, go somewhere, do something different. And I am checking all the last-minute travel deal websites. Scotland looks good this morning. Alaska keeps courting me via e-mail.  There are some really great transatlantic cruise deals coming up in the fall, if you have the time.  Not to mention all the road trips I could plan. 

But even a good deal costs money, and I shouldn’t spend any extra, with the fall bills arriving soon.  So I’m also working on Plan B: Suck it Up and Deal.  Perhaps I will screw up my courage and call the parents of the kids we know but don’t play with regularly, and see if any of them are around.  We will go swimming often.  I will say yes when Carl asks to go to the museum (which he does almost every morning).  I will help Ruby with the play she is producing.  We can have a messy project or two.   Frankly, it sounds tiring. 

The News:  This week, the kids went to zoo camp.  I think they liked it.  Carl learned about the rainforest and I hear he was able to see the komodo dragon and watch the elephants being washed, among other things.  Ruby’s class was all about poop, so she brought home interesting facts like “sea lions have the smelliest poop,” and art projects like a pooping monkey picture and papier-mache elephant dung. Unfortunately, her interest in cleaning the cat box remains unchanged.   

We also went to a party at Ruby’s piano teacher’s home.  It included the other kids who take lessons, and it was a play, with masks and sound effects and scenery.  The teacher was kind enough to include the little brothers in the action, too, so while the kids were rehearsing, the parents were playing pool and having a glass of wine.  Ruby was an obnoxious tropical bird, and Carl made a good hyena.

With the kids at camp, I tried to take care of a bunch of business like doctors appointments (the optometrist had the nerve to suggest I start getting used to the idea of bifocals in a few years!) and the never-ending grocery shopping and bill paying.  I had lunch with old friends on various days.  Since no one was looking, I sorted through a giant pile of the kids’ school papers and art projects, preserved a small sample for historical purposes, and pitched the rest.  Doing that gets a lot easier as time goes by and the paper piles up, I must say. When there is a stack a foot high and you know there will be another one at the end of the next semester, you realize not every piece is a priceless treasure.

This week Ruby will have her postponed seven-year check up.  She is counting on there being no shots, so if you know differently, please don’t tell her.  I am rather dreading it because I think it will be the first time I get the BMI lecture as regards her.  I suspect her layer of stored energy is a bit bigger that it needs to be, that’s all.  I am really in a stew over the whole topic on two fronts.  First, I was the World’s Fattest Child, or at least it seemed that way, and I have large trunks of emotional baggage in this area.  Every comment some adult made to me about it, and I hope they were all well-meaning, hurt instead of helped, and left a little scar. I think I got too much talk and ultimately not enough supportive action, although I remember both of my parents working hard to help me with the weight in various ways. 

Ruby isn’t stupid, and she’s noticed her own little belly, so I don’t want to treat the subject like we can’t discuss it.  And yet I am petrified of saying something that sears itself into her psyche forever, as I know how that can happen. Second, I had such hopes of raising healthy weight kids.  We really do work at feeding them a balanced diet, keeping junky food out of the house, teaching them to try new things, limiting their screen time, and getting sufficient exercise.  But evidently we don’t have the balance right yet, and I feel like I’m failing in an area that is important to me.   

I need something red to wear in a family photo in a couple of weeks.  My wardrobe isn’t as deluxe as I thought it was, and apparently red isn’t “in” this year, because I haven’t found the right thing yet.  Online shopping is required, given my above scheduling problems. Any suggestions?  Maybe Ruby can papier-mache me a shirt?

Vacation with Us! A Quiz

1.        An apparently healthy child is most likely to be struck by uncontrollable diarrhea:

a.       In the very long airport security line, just after checking the luggage containing all the spare clothes, and before a long flight that you really can’t miss.

b.      While visiting the lovely home of a distant relative, where there is one bathroom for forty guests.

c.       In the middle of a municipal bus ride through a less-than-attractive and unfamiliar neighborhood.

 

2.       Estimate, to the nearest $10, how much we spent on “souvenirs” (aka “priceless treasures” or plastic junk) for the kids.

 

3.       On a six day vacation to an area of the country known for good restaurants and fine cuisine, how many days does Carl eat pepperoni pizza?

 

4.       On a car ride through a beautiful redwood forest, you stop to:

a.       Take in the view from the scenic lookout

b.      Let someone pee, incidentally in a giant grove of skunkweed

c.       Photograph the kids with a giant redwood tree

d.      Administer fresh air and the “of course you are not car sick, what are you talking about?” speech.

 

5.       Describe the appropriate emergency procedures when your precious child vomits all over the back seat and you are 25 miles into a 40 mile stretch of twisty roads.  You have no plastic bags, no paper towels, no water, no extra clothes, no rubber gloves, and no cleaning supplies of any kind.  Bonus points for strategizing how to get the child back into the car for the rest of the ride.

 

6.       You are driving through wine-making country.  The weather is perfect and the scenery beautiful.  You decide to stop for lunch:

a.       On the terrace of a café advertising tasty creative dishes made with locally-grown ingredients.

b.      You don’t.  Instead, you grab a plate of cheese, charcuterie, fruit, and crackers and enjoy it with a nice half bottle at your next winery stop.

c. At the Taco Bell/KFC in the gas station near the freeway entrance ramp.

We’re back from a few days far away at a family reunion, and my quiz had nothing to do with the high points.  It was wonderful.  No one wanted to come home.  I am trying to get back into the regular life groove today, and it’s not much fun so far.

 

Answers: 1. a.; 2. $115, but I could be forgetting something; 3. Four, I think; 4. b and d; 5. We stripped him to his underwear, used a map to mop up what we could, had him swish the dregs of a lemonade to rinse his mouth, used a tablespoon of flat diet soda to rinse our hands, and it was so awful I don’t remember the rest; 6.  If you picked anything but c., you’ve never traveled with little kids.

Back from Mommy Rehab

Carl took a break from clowning around with his friend on the way home from school yesterday to ask, in his most formal grown-up voice: “Did you enjoy your vacation time, Mom?”

“Why yes, Carl, I did,” I replied.

“Glad to hear it,” said the four year old.  Then he and his friend went back to gleefully eating penis-shaped Cheetos.

It was a glorious weekend away, filled with nothing of consequence: lots of hotel-provided cable TV (a treat for those of us in the too-cheap and/or too-busy for cable community); some beer; a low-fiber, high-fat diet; a mani & pedi; a couple of light-to-medium weight novels; a whole lot of walking around San Antonio; a chick flick; an art museum; a day of serious shopping; staying up late; and sleeping in.  The low point was talking to my sobbing children on Friday night, who were begging me to come home, and Rod with that “I am seriously cranky, things are tough here, you are not helping, and I don’t want to speak to you right now, or possibly ever” tone in his voice as he practically hung up on me.  However, I have had the benefit of feeling that way a time or two when he is out of town, and so I only let it make me sad for an evening. 

Other than a very rough Friday night, I think everyone here was fine without me.   Ruby discovered the joy of karaoke at a party on Saturday night, and her world may never be the same.  I hear they went to the children’s museum and rock climbing and swimming. They mostly ate out.  To his immense credit, Rod sounded normal all the other times on the phone.

The kids and I had a conference before I left about care and feeding household plants and animals. Ruby even made me write out separate cards with instructions as to the cat food, tadpoles (oh yes!  We have some again this year, because I am a Really Nice Mommy who also believes it’s an educational thing to do), birdfeeders, and plants.  [Confession: I have not done a good enough job of making these things the children’s responsibilities, so it was some extra work.]  It appears that they remembered to feed the cats at least a couple of times and it rained on the plants.  I had to do a little remedial work on the tadpoles and the birdfeeders when I got back, however.  We are going to work on Household Responsibilities over the summer, yes we are. 

So.  I am sitting in a messy house, with PMS, tired from a workout so minor it doesn’t even deserve the name.  Swine flu has felled half the children in the neighborhood, but hasn’t made it to my house yet.  The kids have seven days of school remaining.  I have a lot of paperwork to do. Our wedding anniversary is this weekend; as usual, I have absolutely no good ideas about how to celebrate it, nor do I have any great Memorial Day weekend plans.   I am thinking of getting some hens for the backyard; Rod did not say “Hell, No” when I mentioned it in a tentative way, so I am thinking about it deeper and consulting with all my chicken-owning friends, of which there are surprisingly many. 

 

My Son is a Genius

I had an end-of-year conference with Carl’s teacher yesterday.  She says he’s doing just great and has made huge strides this year.  He chooses appropriate work and goes at it with appropriate diligence. He’s interacting well with the other kids, to the point where she thinks he’s modeling good behavior for some of the less compliant others.  He has a big vocabulary and uses it well.  He is in great shape academically for next year.

She says Carl likes journal time, to the point where she sometimes has to ask him to stop and move on to other work.  He’s not writing yet, but she says he narrates while he draws in it, and that’s good.  He’s starting to work on learning letters, although he won’t be working on the all-important moveable alphabet work until next year.  The teacher suggests that over the summer we keep Carl journaling, because it helps with dexterity, discuss books to encourage reading comprehension, keep giving him responsibilities around the house, try some fun but educational activities, and encourage any interest he shows in reading/writing. 

The teacher seems pretty overwhelmed by all she has to get done these days: report cards, parent conferences, getting the kindergartners up to the requisite levels, testing three different grades on multiple subjects, end of the year activities… to the point where she says she’s not able to devote as much time to the younger kids’ lessons (including Carl’s) as she would like. I completely understand, but I am also  not so thrilled to hear that. 

I am walking out the door to my weekend Mommy’s Going Away trip.  It should be fun, although one of the friends I am going with has some things happening in her life this week that affect the festivity level.  The kids seem sadder about me leaving this time than they have before, but since I have done it before, I know they’ll be fine.  And, I’m not going so far.

Going to Buy Canned Goods, Water, and Soap

Apparently, that really stupid movieI went to see last month is wrong.  The world doesn’t end this October—it’s next week, or maybe the week after. 

Evidence: The economy’s crashing and taking my bank account with it, it does nothing but rain and flood here, Carl routinely forgets to flush, and oh, yeah: we’re suddenly in swine flu annex!  Two neighborhood schools are closed already with suspected cases.  My kids' school can’t be far behind. My friends who work in essential-function jobs (healthcare) are calling to set up back-up childcare plans.  Unfortunately, the two-day meeting I don’t want to attend this weekend is still on, but I'm guessing the whole city will be in lock-down mode by next week.

What really irks me is that I have been making big plans, people, and I want them to work out.  First, we just shelled out to join a new pool for the summer, and I am guessing it’s the sort of recreation that’ll get ixnayed once people start getting sick.  Second, I have my sort-of-annual Mommy is Going Away Trip in two weeks.  I’m going to San Antonio with a friend or two for a spa day, and the art museum, and the sleeping late and the book reading and margarita drinking, with a stop at the outlet mall on the way home.  Third, I’m going to see my sisters and my favorite uncle in June, plus (fourth) we’re taking a tiny family weekend at some waterpark later that month (bet that’s a good virus-transmission environment!).  Fifth, in July, there’s a big, hugely exciting family reunion for which I just bought plane tickets.  Sixth, I have an idea for a little vaycay in August, too.

Tantrum over.  Here is a status update by family member:

Rod: Goes to work in his fireproof coveralls most days, so there must be some serious engineering going on.  Got some more prizes for filing patents (new foodprocessor, yay!) He’s also working on some household fixing-up and cranking hard on his Daddy role.  Lately, he’s earned bonus points for letting me sleep a little late and getting the kids ready for school most mornings—I got some muscle relaxants to experiment with for the back/hip pain and they make me really woozy in the mornings.  I think I won't be refilling that prescription.

Me:  Some days, it seems like my whole life revolves around shopping, laundry, cooking, and child-chauffeuring.  But then I also go to many meetings for a couple of school-related committees, and I go to the doctor: I’m going to get weight loss surgery in the fall, and although I don’t think my insurance will ultimately pay, I’m doing my best to persuade them, and my, there’s a long list of stupid things they requre before they will even entertain the petition, plus I try to schedule all my non-urgent medical care during the school year (dentist, endodontist, dermatologist, scoliosis guy, routine physical etc.).  Feeling cash-poor, I sold some of my kids’ excess stuff on eBay, which involves trips to the post office.

Ruby:  Seems to be in a better mood lately.  She finishes a month of swimming lessons tonight.  Next week will be rough; she has her “gifted and talented” project due, and her dance class has rehearsals every night and a big-deal sold-out performance at a real theater on Thursday.   (Assuming no swine-flu shelter-in-place order, mind you.)  Her G&T project is supposed to be about wild and domestic cats and what would happen if you take a domestic cat and put it in the wild or vice versa.  Somehow, it has morphed into a really funny poster Ruby drew of a cat giving birth, plus a “gym class” she wants to lead consisting of cat-like motions, and maybe a video of our cats doing something.  Rod and I try to help or advise and she gets mad.  I know there are no grades, but I really don’t know what realistic expectations are for this sort of thing. 

Carl: He has been saving his $3-a-week allowance, along with any gift money, any change he finds, and any incentive bribes (I gave him a bonus one week for behaving for the babysitter).  He has about $35 saved, I think.  What he is saving for changes from one Lego set to another several times a week.  Last weekend, he did buy one small set for about $7, which surprised me because he didn’t waiver at all on the Lego aisle about what he was getting and how much money he had. Carl is making huge progress in swimming lessons, too.  He’s such a cute, smart kid, and lots of fun.  Except lately he’s been getting disproportionately upset over minor things, like me telling him “no,” or having an accidental collision with someone at school and crying because he thinks he’s in trouble for it.  I can’t wait for this phase to pass, because it takes sooooo loooong to calm him down and get him to express himself in words, not shrieking and tears and pounding fists.

So, there you have it.  Normal life.  Plus a hint of impending doom.  How are things with you?

 

‘Cause I’m a Natural Woman

We camped!  Three nights!  And I had fun!  Really! 

Okay, so it was not exactly roughing it, only a few hundred yards away from a hot (if yucky looking) shower and flush toilets.  The weather was wonderful except when we were close to frozen at night, it was a pretty enough state park, and we found lots to do:  we rode horses!  We rode bikes!  We hiked!  We visited the playground!  We rented a boat!  Carl swam!  (Everyone else was smart enough to stay out of the freezing cold lake.)  The kids played harmoniously together the whole time, and made friends with a girl from the neighboring campsite.  We made a fire and s’mores every night, thereby making sure that I would not burn off one extra calorie the whole trip. 

Even though we all had a great time, and probably we will go again from time to time, camping still seems weirdly fake to me—“let me leave my pampered upper-middle-class existence and go prove I can live without central air…but not without my fancy gear!  And not too far from a flush toilet!”—and I never fail to be impressed by how much hassle it all is.  It took us days of joint effort to plan, shop and pack for it.  We ended up buying more supplies than I thought we would.  Rod barely got everything into and onto his car.  To go when the weather was pleasant during the day and relatively bug free, we had to endure very cold temperatures at night, and even with the ultra deluxe old lady orthopedic camping mattress Rod got me, it was still not a comfy way to sleep.  Imagine me, eyes red from campfire smoke, stabbing pains in my back and legs, huddled into my jacket and three blankets, with one arm pinned between Carl and the cold ground,  the attached exposed hand nearly frozen solid, attempting to will Ruby’s top blanket back onto her body using my brain waves alone, and listening to Rod snore…. Then, there’s all that setting up and taking down, and a giant mountain of laundry to do back at home.

But the days were so nice.  Peaceful, even in a full-up camping area.  Relaxing, mostly.  A good change of pace.

And now we are home, and the kids are at back at school today. I am debating which termite company to hire and dealing with taxes, school committees, errands, summer plans, and many other uninspiring issues.  Rod thinks he’s heading to the UK in a few days, and I am trying to be a brave little soldier about it even though he will be gone at least a week, I’ll bet.  We signed a lease for our rental property, which is a relief.  Of course, it's not my ideal lease, but at least it’ll staunch the financial bleeding for another year.  We’ve been working on little projects around the house and there is another flock of doctor/dentist/etc appointments on the calendar.  The kids have swimming lessons in April, which will suck up a bunch of time.  Writing this all down is not improving my mood.  I think maybe I need a date night?  A fun new project?  (Free) weekend trip?

Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

The birthday:  It was really, really, really good.  Shaun Cassidy did not come to lunch on Friday, but it turned out better: the big secret was that I was getting the ultra-deluxe, super-hygienic mani and pedi, complete with salt scrub in the scent of my choice, paraffin dip, other luxury touches, and bonus margarita, courtesy of my fabulous in-laws, and in the company of some of my best friends of recent years.  Most of whom are already in Club 40 and assured me that it’s fine, better than the 30’s, even.  And lunch after was sublime as well, even without Shaun.

Friday night I worked on our tax return, which was comforting in a “the truth shall set you free” sort of way, and watched a movie courtesy of the library (if you almost never go to the movies, there’s plenty to check out years later).  I found my groove on Saturday.  I was in a really good mood, maybe by sheer force of will, but whatever.  I got to sleep a little late, and then Rod took the kids outside to wrap presents and do projects or something while I took my own sweet time getting clean and dressed.

I got some lovely gifts (thank you!  Thank you!  Really, thank you!) and a bouquet of fruit “flowers” that everyone helped eat at lunch (formal thanks to follow).  Rod had my diplomas framed as a present, which apparently took months, but they are lovely and the sheepskin is no longer rotting away in the garage attic.  Ruby was pretty interested in them; she spent a lot of time asking me what lawyers do and what magna cum laude means, and why Rice’s diplomas are vase-shaped.  And, she made me a beautiful bracelet from wire and hex nuts and other shiny doodads.  Finally….drum roll…..from Rod, I got a framed, autographed Hardy Boys picture.  Yes, Shaun! in all his shaggy seventeen year old beauty (Ruby says he looks like a girl) and Parker Stevenson, too!  All my friends are mighty impressed that Rod would do that for me.

In the afternoon, I got a sappy e-mail from my dad that made me cry, in a good way, Rod hung a bunch of pictures for me, and I spent a while feeling productive, cleaning out some boxes of stuff that have been cluttering up my bedroom.  Don’t laugh; it was good to start a new decade, feeling as if I were making progress on something. 

My big surprise was dinner with a bunch of our friends at this swanky haute cuisine Mexican place.  Rod went to great trouble to arrange it all and keep it more or less a secret.  He even engineered an off-the-menu tres leches birthday cake that was really good.  Most of all, it was my kind of party; festive, with only about as many people as I could deal with at once, and no singing waiters. My friends did make me play charades at the after party, but they did let me pass on the truly hard ones (A Clockwork Orange, (the movie) oh, please!) 

This week, it’s back to regular life.  I’m working on some things for my kids’ school gala, which is next weekend, and our tenants moved out, so I’m coordinating some cleaning and repairs and basically begging everyone who calls about the house to just rent it, trust me, you’ll love it!  Today I hosted three of Carl’s classmates for a play date.  They are all older than he is, but also Lego fanatics, and I figured I should try to encourage Carl’s friendships and I should get to know their moms a bit more.  It all went fine, but it was a production for me to clean up and engineer appropriate snacks and then make chit-chat.  Why is it so hard for me to be social?

Also, today I made reservations for spring break.  Given the current ‘economic uncertainty’ (depressing stock market, weird stuff going on at Rod’s work, our need for a new tenant, some other possible looming expenses), and my general lack of enthusiasm for various options, we decided to stay close to home.  We’re going to go to the Rodeo!  We might hit the indoor water park in Galveston!  We’ll goof around in town!

 And, we’re going camping!  Yes, I am going to brave the great outdoors, and for more than one….more than two…yes, three whole nights in the wilderness!  Well, semi-wilderness; it’s not far.  Can I say that we do not live in a camping-rich part of the world, and yet there are a bazillion options to sort out; it was really hard to decide where to go.   In the end, I picked a park with horses/canoes/bike trails/swimming/fish/playgrounds/showers, and we will see how it goes.  I know it won’t be completely cheap, after horse and canoe rentals, and after I buy a few pieces of gear we need and supplies, but the reservation fee?  I think it will end up being $15 a night.   My frugal self is so very pleased.