I'm going to blog tonight!!! I'm really not in the mood, but I'm on a roll. And I'm not tired enough to go to bed yet, but not ambitious enough to do anything productive.
It's been a good day today, in spite of my failure ALL DAY LONG to call and wish Tammy a happy birthday. Aaaarrgghhhh! All of the best intentions in the world... they never get me anywhere! I'm just glad she's got some GOOD friends out there 'cuz if I was all she had it would be a sad, sad thing! Ha! She finally called me this afternoon so I could sing to her, but I was right in the middle of saving a lizard and was covered in olive oil and sap and was trying to stave off over-excitable children from doing more damage. So Tammy still only got a distracted birthday wish. I'll make up for it here:
I LOVE YOU, TAMMY!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! YOU'RE THE BESTEST FRIEND ANYBODY COULD EVER ASK FOR AND I WISH YOU A MILLION AND TWO JOYS IN THE COMING YEAR--YOU DESERVE THAT AND SO MUCH MORE!!!
A little over the top? Probably. Does it rid me of my guilt? Nah, not really. In any case, I really do hope you had a GREAT birthday, Tammy!
Aside from being a little hectic, my day was pretty good. I can't remember what happened this morning, I just remember it was another late start. We did manage to start school just a little after 11:00 (my goal is 11:00--it works GREAT), so that was good. Stopped for lunch. I love it that the kids are old enough to pretty much take care of their own lunch now. I'm working on training them to clean up the mess afterwards now! (Wish me luck!)
School was put on hold after that so I could help James pour cement. I don't know how to explain what we did--you just have to see it. James built the form this morning for a "footer" (I don't really know what a footer is, but it seems like the right word to use) for the wall we'll be building out in the garage--the one that will go on the outside wall where the garage door is now. We needed a 6"wide strip of cement going across the opening nice and level to line up with the cement on each side. This is what we'll (he'll) be building the wall on top of. Anyway, we did that today. Being the professionals that we are (this was our first try at cement) we had Katie measuring and pouring water into the wheelbarrow full of cement while James mixed it with a shovel, then scooped it into the form. I was the designated pusher-downer, smoother-outer and leveler-upper. My tool of choice (of necessity) was my hand, clad in a work glove. The glove got a little heavier and a little clumpier as we went along, but we managed! Ha! We also laid a board on top of the cement and tried to press it flat and smooth. It looks... well, it looks about like I would have expected, I guess! Not professional, by any means, but hopefully smooth enough and level enough that the wall won't tip over. That's what we were shooting for. ;-)
The other excitement of the day was of a reptilian nature. Joe came running in the house soooooo excited with those great big blue eyes bulging out. "Mom!!! There's a garter snake in OUR POND--the one we built yesterday for you and Dad! He's in OUR POND!!!" I can't help but adore him when he's so excited about something--he's just so stinkin' cute sometimes!
Katie had a bittersweet day. Bitter in school because Joe out-did her on the spelling test again. I give them a spelling test each day and any words that they miss show up again the next day. Katie does pretty well most of the time, but Joe is an exceptional speller and rarely misses anything. I give them the same 10 words, then tack on a more difficult "bonus" word at the end. Today they both aced the 10, but Katie blew it on the bonus word: Autumn. I figured they'd both blow it, but have it down by tomorrow. But, of course, Joe spelled it correctly. It just KILLS HER when he does something faster or better than she does. I showed her both tests, hers and Joe's, bearing the 100% at the top but it's no consolation at all. She just collapses on the table and the tears start streaming. ~sigh~ WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH HER?! Lectures, punishments, I've tried everything I know to do. I've finally just sort of given up and I tell her to go lay down until she can pull herself together and come back to the table with dry eyes.
Her day greatly improved later on, however, when SHE, not one of the boys, caught a lizard.
That's a first here--they see them often but have never been fast enough to nab one. She had him for quite a while before she realized that one of his hind legs was stuck to his tail with a big glob of hard sap. No wonder she caught him! Oh, that reminds me--I never did blog about her catching a bird a few weeks ago. Joe came flying through the front door with those same bulgy eyes and squeeky excitable voice as the snake announcement from today, saying, "Katie caught a BIRD!!!" James and I ran to the door in disbelief, but it was true. There she stood with a big, fat pigeon in her hands and a huge smile on her face. We listened for a minute as she rattled off the story of how she caught him, then we got to looking and realized that the poor thing only had one wing. The other had been lost in an injury. It was sooooo sad! When we pointed it out everybody's face just fell. Tenderhearted Joe immediately turned away and tried to choke back the tears, then wanted to know what we could do to fix it. James got to looking at it and told the kids that it was obviously an old injury--he'd been living like this for quite some time--so apparently he's been doing okay with just the one wing. Since he can't really fly (although he can flutter quite a bit and get a few feet off the ground), we're hoping that our yard will be a safer place for him than just "out there" somewhere. James always keeps birdseed out and most of it gets knocked to the ground. And, of course, there's the pond. Hershey MIGHT chase him, but would only sniff him if he did catch him. The only real danger would be the cats that sometimes come visiting--and that may be how the poor bird lost its wing in the first place! Anyway, we've seen our little one-winged bird once since we made Katie release him that day and he seems to be doing fine.
Back to the lizard. Katie was determined to save him from the sap, but he was just a little tiny guy and I was afraid she would accidentally rip his little leg off or something. He'd already lost the tip of his tail. I could only imagine the anguish if she DID de-leg him. So I found myself on the front porch with a tray of olive oil, working the sap off of a lizard's leg. The things you do for your kids, I tell ya'! It took about 10 minutes, but I managed to get it all out and I don't think I even broke a toe. ;-) We took him down to the kids little pond and washed the oil off of him, then I gave Katie a jar to keep him in for a little while. She put some grass in it, the boys caught a grasshopper almost as big as the lizard to "feed" it, and Katie found an extra communion cup to use for a water dish. What more could a lizard need?
About an hour later Joe came into the house with a grave expression. "Bad news and terrible news, Mom. Bad news: Katie has a bloody nose. Terrible news: we lost Lizorto." I didn't know he had acquired a name and wasn't able to mask my amusment at the choice. Joe didn't appreciate my laughter, however, and went to seek sympathy elsewhere. It's a rough life around here for lizards and birds and the kids who love them!
That's about it for our day. Stew for dinner. It was good, but not quite as good as last time. Still, it used up some left-overs that otherwise would've been thrown out. I read several more chapters of the Charlie and the Elevator book. It's really quite good! I actually think I'm enjoying it much better than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We've failed to have nap time or quiet time or whatever it is the past few days and it seems to be catching up with Sam. He fell asleep in my lap while I was reading. Katie and Joe were riveted and were DYING to know whether the vermicious knids were going to eat everybody or not. I think we're on chapter 13 now.
James and I watched some of the debate online tonight. For the first time in my life I've really been PRAYING about an election! I go back and forth from a carnal kind of fear that has to be prayed away (fear of our country stealing our rights away--the right to make decisions for your own family concerning schooling and healthcare and who knows what all) to a sort of excitement about "the end" coming and God wrapping this thing up! I pray for God to spare our country a little longer for the sake of our families and our children... but if that's not His will for Him to work a quick work and get us out of here! He knows best and He's in control. No matter what the liberal polls show. ;-)
Wow. When I start talking politics it's time to quit! Hope you all had a great day!
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