Superb Summertime

I'm having the time of my life - seriously. I haven't hit the lottery or anything else really amazing, but I am enjoying freelancing and just plain working less this summer.

Meanwhile, it seems the antidote to my kids' endless fighting is to play with them (DUH) and we've been enjoying backyard badminton, soccer, cornhole, ladder ball (aka horseball), sprinkler fights, etc. If life were absolutely perfect, the kids would also enjoy weeding :)

Oddly, a friend (and native Iowan) just told me she'd never heard of cornhole! Sure seems like a game that should have carved out a niche throughout the Midwest by now.

The same friend told me some parents she knows pay their kids for pulling weeds - like a penny a pop! I offered to pay my 13-yo $5 an hour and she LAUGHED. Which ticked me off so much I weeded myself and made her cook dinner. I really hate yardwork, but keep hearing gardening is good for you and I want to live green (in the suburbs). So I'm trying. Today I assembled my compost bin! It's very flimsy (I'm not handy enough to make a wooden one) and I will be surprised if a raccoon or other animal doesn't tear it down before I have compost.

Live & learn ~~~~ D.

Talking to Nutritionists

I've interviewed seven nutritionists in the past three weeks (for writing assignments). Among the many things I think I've learned: they're probably not the most popular guests at a dinner party!

Eliminate hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated anything from your diet, they say. (Good luck, I say.) Refined sugar is bad, they say. If you're not sure your diet gives you all the vitamins you need, they say, take a multi-vitamin supplement. Of course, dietary supplements aren't regulated by anyone, you know. So... pray a lot?

Not a bad idea.

Confirmed Crazy

So glad we could squeeze in this pic after Dawn's confirmation ceremony, before the kids' soccer games and Dave's birthday!

St. Patrick's Day is For the Birds

I thought I was done entertaining repairmen for a while. The first two weeks of March brought folks to our house to repair the mystery leak in our living room and a blown boiler valve. I was biding my time to talk to DH about maybe replacing the now-defunct dishwasher (also a March casualty) when the garage door broke.

That was Saturday.

Today, I realized that birds are nesting...IN OUR BASEMENT.

Before I had kids and before I was a homeowner, I'm sure, at some point, I must have been bored.

But I really don't remember.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's All Good

I got laid off on Monday; on Tuesday, my husband had a fender-bender in the gym parking lot, Wednesday found my daughter in the doctor's office with a sinus infection, on Thursday I had to transfer money from my savings account to pay a bill, and after dinner Friday night the water line to the dishwasher busted and we spent thirty minutes screaming at each other as we swapped buckets, fire-brigade style, until we could find a valve that we could turn off (because the ones we could access easily were so corroded we didn't want to risk breaking them, too).

There's a silver lining to every one of my laments. It was a small pipe. No one got hurt in the fender-bender and both parties are insured. The antibiotics trumped the sinus infection. I'm a freelancer - the job provided the majority of my income, but I've got plenty of assignments. It's important to keep the right perspective, you know?

Happy New Year

So if last year's epiphany was "kids grow up," this year's might be, "I'm mortal."

If the hernia surgery didn't teach me (gave me an excuse to take it easy over the holidays, anyway) then a trip to the dermatologist sure did. Those ugly spots on my hands and arms? Oh, yeah, they're precancerous, the doc said. And she prescribed a very expensive cream to treat 'em. Groan. I think I'm officially old now.

Well, look out world! I am definitely NOT going to age gracefully or "go gentle" into any night. ;) Happy New Year, to all.

Newsflash: Kids Grow Up

I have a little problem with other people's kids. You know, the ones I don't see all the time. I stick 'em in a sort of holding pattern in my mind, so my cute little cousins can advance to high school, but my brain can't really move them on to college...six years later.

Like look what happened to John and Rachel:(click on the pic for a larger image)

And thanks to a pic my "slightly older" cousin slipped in his Christmas card, I see not only is John officially grown up now, but his sister is looking a lot like my aunt!

And apparently, my kids are growing up, too - at an alarming rate.

Sigh. Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!