I think...

I can safely say.....

that my youngest child.......

has had a lifelong obsession.....

a definite passion.....

a distinct affinity for....

water.....

and at this rate.....

she probably.......

always.....

will!!!!!

random, boring thoughts

Things I'm thinking about this morning:

I'm wondering how my son is doing at Scout Camp. I'm eager for him to get home but anxious at the same time. We've had typical teenager issues going on, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I was glad to ship him off for a week. I feel so guilty saying that, but I'm sure I'm not the first parent to feel that way. Still makes me feel bad. I love him and miss him, the boy I know him to be, not necessarily the stranger that's been bullying his siblings and doing other stupid, boneheaded stuff as of late. I hope he's having fun at Scout Camp and learning a lot. I hope he's safe and remembering to drink plenty of water. Unlike the rest of the scouts in his troop, he's inexperienced when it comes to camping and I don't necessarily trust the scout leader to remind him of certain safety issues. Scout Leader is a great guy but he's not big on the details.

I'm worried for a friend who's unsure about her family's future. I hurt for her and her other family members.

I'm sick of my house looking like an episode of Hoarders. I truly believed flooring issues would be resolved and I'd have everything back in its place within a week or so of school being out. What a joke that was. When 3 main living areas of your house are unlivable and their former contents are stacked to the ceiling in all of the livable areas, it just gets to be too much. I can't even clean because I can't get to the areas that need to be cleaned the most. I'm sick and tired of trying to vacuum around the bookcase that's still in the hall. At least I've quit bumping into it. Hopefully by the end of next week.......never mind. How many times have I said THAT before? I refuse to finish that statement because I'm starting to think I'll jinx myself if I say it again.

I'm looking forward to seeing an old friend tomorrow. We used to teach together. She probably knows me better than anyone else in this town, except for maybe the friend I mentioned earlier. The friend I'm meeting tomorrow went through a really rough patch a few years ago. We've kinda lost touch because after she left teaching and went through a divorce, her life has kind of taken a different direction. I hope to hear what all has been going on with her and I hope she's happy. The rough patch she went through was really, really bad. When you're part of a very prominent local family and you catch your husband having an affair with your sister-in-law, well.....it doesn't get much worse than that.

I'm a little nervous about the upcoming school year. We've had a lot of changes. Everyone is a little anxious about how rezoning will change our student body. I teach at the largest elementary school with the highest test scores and state grades of any school in the entire district. It's hard to climb to the top but it's even harder to stay there. Also, our assistant principal resigned. She and I were really good friends and I will miss her terribly. She's doing the right thing, though. She's been driving an hour each way every day to school for the past 3 years. Now that she's expecting a baby in October, it just doesn't make sense for her to continue that drive anymore. We also have a new principal. Everyone is a bit anxious about completely new administration for the upcoming year.

I had a great time yesterday with a teacher friend from school. We met at the pool and let the kids wear themselves out swimming for four hours while we talked about being nervous and shared gossip. She's moving from 3rd grade to 5th so she has way more reason to be nervous than me! At least I get to stay with my little Kindergarten babies!

I'm really disappointed that we can't go to my parents house this summer. This is the first summer since moving here 6 years ago that we won't be able to go. Flooring issues, kids' camp schedules, Dr. appointments etc. have eaten up the summer. The kids don't know yet and they will be devastated but there's not much I can do about it.

My favorite reality show, Big Brother, starts next week!! Today is media day when this summer's theme and houseguests will be revealed. I'm a sucker for stupid, shallow, reality shows.

I have mountains of laundry to fold so I need to close out this post and get busy.

What about you? What random, boring thoughts are you having today?

Spook-a-potamus

I've talked a lot about my five children, The Chef, and our busy activities. Today I'd like to introduce you to a member of our family that some of you may not know.

Meet Spook, our ten year old cat.

As you can see, Spook is a rather large cat. My daddy, Music Man, very accurately observed once that Spook rather resembles a small area rug. A rug with a tail and ears. When Spook crouches, like all cats do, he takes on a definite circular shape. He truly does look exactly like an area rug. Unfortunately I have no picture to prove it because its really difficult to catch him awake.

However, I do have this:

How's that for a size comparison?

I wear a size 8 1/2 or 9 so my foot is not small.

Neither is Spook, as you can see.

Spook came to be a part of our family in an interesting manner.

We didn't go to the humane society to find him.

We didn't search the newspaper for ads for kittens.

We didn't get him from a friend or neighbor.

In fact, we didn't even want a cat.

But as it turns out, Spook must have wanted us.

We were living in Laurel, MS at the time and on our way to a church picnic held at our friend Hank's house out in the country. When we got there, I noticed some of the youth walking around holding two kittens. One of them was light silver/gray with sky-blue eyes. Hank said the two kittens were strays that had wandered up that very day. Just my luck. That little silver/gray kitten was so beautiful I knew I'd fall in love with it if I gave it even a moment's notice so I made sure to avoid it the rest of the night. Peanut was only 4 months old at the time and we also had a chow-chow who would probably not welcome a kitten. Unless it was an appetizer. It was undoubtedly the wrong time for a new pet, much less a kitten. So I didn't hold it once, no matter how many times a youth kid tried to pass it off to me, not even once. Although I was tempted. But not once did I hold it and I made certain that 4 yr old Guitar Boy didn't either!

Once it was time to leave we rounded up all our stuff, the kids, the stroller etc. and started making our way to the car. It was a good ways from the house. Loading the car and strapping kids into carseats was a challenge because it was pitch black dark and I could barely see my hand in front of my face. Since we were out in the boondocks of south MS, there were no street lights and hardly any moonlight either, so you can imagine my fear when I heard a rustling in the bushes nearby. I had visions of rattlesnakes, coons, and skunks dancing through my head and I was just about to take a flying leap into the car when I heard the little mew of a kitten. Sure enough, that little silver/gray kitten thank You, dear Lord it wasn't a snake, jumped out of the bushes.

Chef, Chef, its that little gray kitten.

Don't get any ideas, Grandma Sandy was his reply.

But Chef why did it come all this way from the house?

Because I have incredibly bad luck was his reply.

Maybe so, Chef, but I made sure that neither Guitar Boy nor I paid any attention to this little dude whatsoever, so why would he chase us all this way to the car? Let me see if he will come to me.

I knelt down and my knee barely hit the ground before little silver/gray jumped right into my arms.

I think that was the point at which The Chef knew he was sunk.

We both knew that we had done nothing to encourage this cat to like us. None of us had even been close enough for silver-gray to know our scent. But for some reason, silver-gray hunted us down. We didn't choose him. He most definitely chose us.

I didn't even have to say a word. As I was kneeling, holding silver-gray in my arms, I looked up at The Chef.

Ugh. Ok. Get in the car. We'll stop at Walmart on the way home and get a litter box and some food, was his reply.

And with that, silver-gray, who was immediately named Spook by 4-yr old Guitar Boy, became part of our family.

Spook's favorite thing to do is sleep. At any given time, he has 3 favorite spots in which to nap. Every 3 months or so, he'll switch up those spots.

You can imagine Grandma Sandy's dismay when he once tried to establish territorial rights here:

How he managed to hoist his enormous self into Dogos' crib, I'll never know. But Spook has been known to pull off some pretty amazing feats.

For instance, when he was just a few years old, he went missing for a few days. We searched high and low for that blasted cat. I thought we were going to have to put Guitar Boy into therapy, he was so distraught. Then suddenly, here comes Spook walking down the hall directly from the boys' bedroom. We were so relieved to see him but could not fathom where he had been hiding for two days. And then, The Chef noticed that he was walking rather strangely. After having him checked at the vet, the Dr. diagnosed him with a broken hip. The break was comparable to one that would occur by having been hit by a car.

That's impossible, Dr. Vet. He is an inside cat. When he went missing, we assumed he'd gotten out of the house but once he reappeared, we were assured that he'd been in the house the entire time.

It was then determined that the only explanation for his broken hip was that he must've tried to jump onto the top bunk of the boys bunk beds, and fallen and broken his own hip. I've heard of humans falling and breaking their own hips, but never a cat. Pretty impressive, eh? And costly, I might add.

Spook even has his own blog. Yes, yes, he does. I think The Chef probably knows something

about that but I'm not sure. However, if you're interested in what Spook had to say a long time ago, then check out www.dcsworld-dc.blogspot.com

As I've stated, Spook loves to sleep. Currently, his favorite spot is a kitchen chair which Dogos finds hysterical. Every time she discovers him there, no less than 10 times a day, she breaks into hysterical laughter which in turn cracks me up.

This picture is to prove that he's actually a real cat and not a stuffed impersonation. His eyes look, well, rather spooky, but its just the flash on my camera. His eyes are still the exact same blue color as this text.

Besides breaking his hip, Spook does other strange things. What could be stranger than that? Well, how about refusing to drink water from any other source than a cup in a bath tub.

You thought I was kidding, didn't you?

He used to only drink it if it had ice cubes as well, but after the birth of the 4th child, he figured out that Grandma Sandy would no longer have time to make a trip to the kitchen to ice his drinks, so he gave up. He still insists, however, that it must be freshly poured tap water. Thank goodness he knows nothing about the existence of spring water from an artesian well.

Another strange habit is that he refuses to eat anything but dry cat food. He doesn't even eat that much, either. Pretty impressive that he maintains such a massive size with only a small amount of food a day. However, if his bowl gets even close to being empty, he'll literally trip whomever is in the room in order to get his bowl refilled. Usually he'll just stare at the refilled bowl a few seconds then walk away without taking a bite. Strange, but I liken it to his homeless days in Laurel before he adopted us.

There's no doubt in our minds that Spook is the only cat that could tolerate us. If there's any doubt in your mind, then take a look at this....

and this....

and this......

Seriously, what cat would ever put up with all of that?

Only Spook, bless his heart.

As infants and toddlers, my children have literally used him as a pillow, tried to ride him like a horsey, and played with his food bowl while he's trying to eat and he's never scratched any of them, not even once. Well, ok, there was that one time when The Boss pulled his tail so hard that he almost landed in another room and he scratched her, but I can hardly hold that against him.

Spook, you are a weird, strange, and quirky cat. In fact, sometimes I wonder if you really are a cat. When you chose us, I'm not sure you knew what you were getting yourself into, but you've remained true through the years. I can hardly fault you for your annoying habits because you've put up with more than your share of ours.

Thanks for choosing us, buddy!

Together again

The Chef has been out of town for two weeks.

Two very long weeks.

Grandma Sandy is very glad he is home.

And apparently, so is someone else!!

Laughing or cackling, I'm not sure which

Edited to add: I finally have the date for floor installation. Guesses, anyone?

At some point you just have to laugh.

The flooring guys came this morning to put down the final coat of sealant on the concrete slab. The sealant that has prevented me from being able to leave my house from the door leading to the garage (hello, front door, nice to meet you). The same sealant thats kept me from getting to my utility room for the past 3 days, although thats not a complaint because I'll take any excuse to avoid doing laundry. I'm choosing to consider the sealant as a friend and not a foe. After all, the sealant is what will allow Chester, the flooring installer, to finally be able to install the flooring thats been sitting downstairs for two months.

As we've marked off each day in this eight day process of applying layers of sealant and allowing it to dry, I've tried not to focus too much on when the flooring will actually be installed. However, I must confess that in the back of my mind I've been hopeful that we would have flooring by early next week at the latest. Its not like they don't know who we are at this point. After two months, I'm sure the various flooring employees are as eager to get rid of us as we are to wave goodbye to them for the last time. Finally, on the last day of the last step before we can have flooring installed and I can start to put my house back together as well as see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, I decided to just jump right in with both feet and ask the big question.

With a bright and hopeful smile I asked the sealant guy, "So, does this mean Chester will be here tomorrow to install the floor??"

hopeful, hopeful, hopeful, smiling, smiling, smiling

To which he replied......

"Naw, Chester's on vacation. They'll have to schedule you later."

At some point you just have to laugh. Sigh.

Priorities

Today has been one of those days where nothing seemed to go right. Sometimes you have that kind of day and then thankfully something jerks you out of your funk and sets your thinking straight.

It started off with my alarm waking me up early because the flooring guys were coming. Yes, that's right. The flooring guys. Two months after the flood and we still don't have flooring installed. Moisture readings were still so high that we were forced to remove the lord-only-knows-how-old-vinyl that we'd hoped to leave as a moisture barrier. Turns out that the vinyl itself was holding all the moisture so out it came. Today was work day 5 in the process of applying sealant on the concrete slab so I was up bright and early after a late night of watching The Bachelorette on tivo with LaLa. Floor guys have been getting here by about 8am. Today? 9:30am. Maybe not that big of a deal but we're on "summer schedule" so that was a major bummer.

Oh well. No worries. I'll just check a few things online on my Blackberry. It's only fair that I state publicly at this point that I am completely, totally, 100% addicted to my Blackberry. It is with me at all times. It stores pretty much every photo and video I've taken of my children over the past 2 years. I am a complete idiot when it comes to computers and technology but I understand my Blackberry and it understands me.

Until today.

Today the trackball decided that it was tired of allowing me to scroll down so it went on vacation. I guess. There's no other explanation for it's misbehaviour other than its constant overuse by me! I can scroll left, right, and up, but not down. What does this mean? It means I can't access my address book, text messages, email, photos, videos, recipes, web browser, or twitter. Basically I can call people as long as I know their phone number. Well, shoot. I can use the house phone for that! I spent 3 1/2 hours googling, removing and cleaning the trackball and sensors with compressed air.

Removing, cleaning, removing, cleaning, removing, cleaning.

I even put the trackball in upside down and guess what? I could scroll down but not up.

The story goes on from there and I will spare you the boring details, but it really didn't get much better from that point on! Did I mention I'm addicted? They don't call it crackberry for nothing!

I finally took a break from that frustrating experience and fixed the kids lunch. My two youngest daughters decided that today would be the day they would both act as if they were in a 12-hr-long competition with each other to see who could throw the biggest fit. They both put on such impressive displays that if I were forced to declare a winner I would have no choice but to declare it a tie. All I know is that I feel as if I've been verbally abused all day.

The afternoon brought better news with this little guy here.

Can you guess what he brought me?

If you guessed this, then you are right!!

My lifelong best friend and I worked out a deal for her laptop that she no longer uses. Here's to hoping I can figure out how to use this thing because my technology track record ain't the best, as we all know.

And guess what else she sent?

ONLY THE MOST AWESOME T-SHIRT EVER.

When I say I have a best friend, what I really mean is my twin in a former life. No, I don't believe in reincarnation but I can't think of any other words to better describe the relationship we have. We've been partners in crime since our mothers used to stroll us together on Pecan Way. We even have our own language but since that sounds way too creepy to put on a blog I'll leave it at that for now. tgdfde mmm hmm...

As I started working on this post several hours ago, I was in a frustrated state. But then I uploaded my photos and was reminded of how incredibly blessed I am to have a lifelong friend that sends me t-shirts and with whom I share 41 years of experiences and memories. I was reminded that although my two youngest daughters drove me completely bat-crazy today, I've been blessed with 5 beautiful healthy children and how dare I take that for granted? There are so many couples experiencing infertility or others that've lost a child and I'm frustrated by temper tantrums? and a stupid phone?

I was reminded of The Pastor who last week was in the hospital after having a TIA but is home tonight. I cannot put into words the admiration I have for her and other cancer warriors like our family friend Susan N. They are my heroes without a doubt.

I'm most grateful that because of today's test results, my own Mama will not yet join the ranks of my Cancer Warrior Heroes. It's all good!

So I'm off to bed. I am thankful for all of my many blessings and I will have a conversation with my Heavenly Father about all of that.

What are you thankful for?

Drive-by update, updated

VICTORY IS MINE!!