Oops! forgot to hit "Publish"

MONDAY
I got all of the containers planted today, so I'm feeling pretty accomplished. My gardens are still full of weeds, but at least I made some progress. L and I also worked hard at washing off and scrubbing the deck. I've been dumping birdfood out there all winter, so the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks could have a safe spot to eat. I see now that it wasn't the best idea, because it was pretty nasty and difficult to get off the deck. I'll have to come up with a better location this winter. The deck looks pretty good now. I'll tackle the patio next!

We had our Memorial Day cookout at my parents', and Dej & Luke joined us until they had to leave for work a bit ago. M is reading/sleeping at the moment. My dad & L are out in the garage, target shooting with a pellet gun. My mom and I are chatting as I type.FRIDAY

SUNDAY
We spent Sunday working on chores and protesting the Zor Shrine Circus, which is an annual event for us. This year was, by far, the most paltry crowd they've ever had. It was embarrassingly empty in the grand stands, which made us giddy! They couldn't have made much of a profit, if any at all! The protest was fairly uneventful, and we had a good group there for both shows.

SATURDAY
We got up early Saturday morning to take Logan back home, as he had to go somewhere quite early. Petey had an early morning appt. with the vet., so we came back, grabbed Petey, and went to the vet. His bladder was too small to get good X-rays, so I have to take him back tomorrow morning to spend the day there getting tests.

L and I came home, cleaned up, and dressed up for an Arrangatram we were attending in Madison that afternoon. One of the dancers from L's Bharatanatyam school was having her on-stage solo debut, which is kind of a graduation from the (very difficult!) dance studies. Lakshmy's performance was wonderful, and L and I are still amazed by her stamina throughout the two-hour long very high-energy performance and her ability to remember so many steps! They had a live orchestra and carnatic vocalists, so the whole performance was very enjoyable.

When we got back to town, M was actually home from work (he comes home every blue moon). I had to try to squeeze in my full day of Saturday chores, which took up a portion of our date night. He's been so tired from working all the time, and I had the chores to finish up, so we just stayed in for date night. It was very uneventful.

FRIDAY
Our friend, Logan, spent Friday evening with us at the air show and then stayed for a sleep over with L. The four of us went to the Friday night show, as it was much cooler than the Saturday or Sunday shows. Because the sun was going down, it wasn't nearly as hot. There is no shade out there anywhere on the airport premises, so it's hard to get comfortable. Evening is definitely the way to go!

We saw the Canadian Snow Angels perform and lots of other planes that I have no clue about. I like how my dad will ask me what kind of plane something is, as if I could really identify more than a color and whether or not it can hold passengers. Some carry people, and some kill people. That sums up my knowledge of planes. They are very cool to watch, though. I like the tricks and the very high risk moves they make and really wish I could go up in the planes to ride along!

The kids liked these two small propeller trick planes (according to my dad; according to me they are red and blue with propellers). One was painted red with flames, and one was painted blue and white. They were called "Fire & Ice". The kids were obsessed with these two planes and tracked them throughout the night, shouting whenever they saw Fire or Ice. When the planes landed, they were right in front of us, so we got to see the pilots step out. The pilot of Fire got out and waved at the kids--that was Logan's favorite, so he was very excited. My favorite moment of the evening was when the pilot stepped out of Ice--L's favorite--it was a woman! A tiny little woman got out of the plane and waved. L and I were really excited about that. It was the only female pilot there (at least that night).

The glow-in-the-dark skydivers were way cool, too. I also wanted to do that.

Here are a couple more pictures from Charlie, modeling the gown L dressed him in.

Charlie--Bringing sexy back.

It only ends once.

The girl and I are giddy over her new science books that arrived last week! We are going to use them for homeschooling, but we keep peeking and reading things now--it's hard to wait with books that good! We won't be able to wait until fall, so we'll be working through some experiments and labs this summer. One of the books has a lab on how to extract your own DNA from a saliva sample. I'm ridiculously excited about that one for some reason, so we might even have to jump out of order a bit, because it's toward the end of the curriculum.

Here are of the pups trying to keep cool Sunday afternoon. We had storms today that finally broke the 90+ degree weather we've been having. It's hell on the garden, the dogs, and the chubby menopausal woman (who should be losing weight from all the damn sweating!)!

We had a security system installed in our home last week. I feel a little stupid about it, because in my paranoid mental world, I think it looks like we are materialistic, when that has nothing to do with it. Losing our laptops would be a huge inconvenience, but we could get over it. The only “stuff” we have that I would be absolutely devastated to lose are pictures and things my kids or grandparents made. Since those things have sentimental and no material value, I think they are pretty safe from thieves. The reason we started looking into the security system initially was for the safety of our animals.

I’ve long worried about a fire occurring when we are away from home. We have smoke alarms throughout the house (which I need to battery test!), but they do no good if we are away. I don’t want my precious animals burning to death in the time it takes for a neighbor to notice the fire and call it in! I like the concept of the security systems with the fire detection that has heat sensors and contacts the fire dept. immediately. It’s the only shot my babies would have in a fire situation (which I hope we never face!). This is one of the many thoughts that get me all worked up in the middle of the night and interfere with my sleep!

One would think, then, that I would have had a little peace once the installation was complete. Instead of panicking and worrying over fire issues (instead of sleeping), my brain decides to start a new panicky thought. It struck me that the security system’s control center allows for two-way communication with their monitoring service. Two-way communication means they can hear what is going on in our house! I do not like that idea at all! So yet again, I’m lying awake panicky over something that’s pretty stupid by the light of day.

I’m starting to adjust to the idea, but I still feel a little invaded by it. We will keep it, because I feel that I need to do everything in my power to protect the innocent lives who depend on me for safety. I will probably not have very many conversations in the room in which the control center is installed for a while. Eventually, I probably won’t be bothered by it at all, but for the time being, I just keep reminding myself of how much safer my babies are at all times now.

LOST. I'm seriously greiving this week. I would absolutely not let something as epic as the finale of the best tv show ever made pass without discussing it. I'm finding myself much more emotional over the loss of LOST than I anticipated I would be! It's semi-crazy! So, the LOST post(s) will be coming soon. I will have a little more time (and hopefully less sadness) later this week to work on that.

The End

Today was supposed to be an all-gardening day. We planned to maximize the day off from dance class (no drive to Madison, yay!), so we got all the plants for our containers yesterday after we finished chores. I got my inside chores done, and it was already over 90--way too hot for the queen of hot flashes to be outside! I was already drenched--completely wet t-shirt, sweat dripping off my face and arms--just from vaccuuming and cleaning the house this morning. We have the central air on, too. Mark gave up after a short lawn mowing session, saying it was too hot. Considering that my "too hot" is about 20 degrees cooler than his, I didn't even entertain the idea of trying to plant. I will have to work on it evenings this week.

I'm enjoying a short break before I have to get the daily herbivore room cleaning and feedings done. Then our dinner will be ready. Then it will be 6:00, and I will start my 24 hours of LOST. Poor Dej was so upset she had to work tonight! She's coming over tomorrow to watch it with me.

I saw this red bowl at the AFA's silent auction last week at the Fiesta and loved it. I thought of all kinds of wonderful things I could put in that bowl. It was donated by SERVV International, and I definitely prefer to buy fair-trade and handmade whenever possible, so I had to bid on it and was lucky enough to win! It was made in Uganda. I knew that all of the pretty little vignettes I had mentally created for the bowl would not be reality, because I know my Lila. She takes over anything basket-like and cozy looking, and there was absolutely no way that cat would allow me to use that basket. When she was just a tiny kitten, she and her brother would snuggle in one of several wicker baskets, and she's always been drawn to them since. I decided to just cut out the frustration of me trying to use the bowl for something other than Lila and just put it down empty. She immediately stepped in and took a nap.

She uses it most often, though some of the other cats love it, too. Tica naps in there sometimes, and we caught a picture of Ivan relaxing in it, too. It's a well-used and well-loved bowl!

Today in the herbivore room...

Kealy (the lovebird) has been busy building "nests". The nests themselves aren't very tidy or stable. They (lovebirds) just shred things endlessly, leaving massive piles of these shredded strips of paper. I provide plenty of paper, and the lovebirds are happy to shred. This is done completely with the beak. They basically perforate the paper with their pointy little beak, leaving a thin strip that is usually 3-5 inches long. The labor and very precise width of the strips is quite impressive. They are also very fast--it looks like you're watching speeded up video when you see it, because you can't imagine it being possible to go so fast! Kealy's strips are not as perfect as Touky's (our previous lovebird) were. Touky's looked like they were done with a machine--all the exact same width and length. It was amazing! They transport the strips to their chosen spots by tucking the strips (usually around 20 at a time) into the feathers of their back/tail, and then fly or walk to their destination. They usually drop around 30% of their strips by the time they arrive at their destination.

Jolsie, our sweet old guinea pig, loves the rabbits (especially Fergus, foreground) and grooms them frequently. Fiona is relaxing in the background--probably waiting for Jolsie to visit her.

What they died for

Nothing, in my opinion. I'm all for dying for something. I just don't feel convinced yet that the characters who died, were sacrificed for anything worthwhile.

I'm STILL liking Flocke so much more than Jacob! [strange interjection...I typed the sentence before, then moved with my computer to a different location. I don't proofread my blog entries EVER (or they would never get posted), but read the last sentence to see where I left off. So instead of sentence you just read, I had the word "licking" instead of "liking". Freudian? ;) ] There was a lot of Ben, Locke/Flocke, and Hurley time this ep., so I was pretty happy. I could only have been happier if they threw in more shirtless Sawyer time! I LOVE Ben, Alex, and Danielle, in the sideways flash! I also have to say Hurley was looking pretty debonair and hot in the sideways. I am a sucker for the long, curly hair. The European-flair to his clothing, the self-assurance...it made for a yummy combination. [or maybe I need to cut back on my bioidentical testosterone. ;P ]

I have to admit that part of me wants to see LOST end with our main characters finding happiness and some sort of personal redemption. The other part of me thinks the only happy ending, realistically, would be if the island was destroyed, taking all human life with it. The end. Truly the end. The biggest part of me thinks that's the only way the Earth and the rest of the beautiful creatures will ever be safe and happy. So, I'm voting for total annihilation--the end of suffering and therefore, a happy ending.

I have my semester grades entered and now will be using that time to catch up on and finish household projects that really need to be done! My headaches have been horrible again lately, and I am definitely more prone to falling into despair when I've had a headache for days and haven't slept. Still have a nasty, horrible headache today, but I've had enough drugs that I'm not nauseated at the moment. They won't take the headache away, but it's much easier to handle when I don't feel like I'm going to vomit from pain every time I move.

Weds. night L & I made a fairy house. She had asked me to do it Tuesday, but we didn't have time, so I promised we would do it Weds. I told her we could do it Weds. night after dinner/dishes and before we had to start our nightly herbivore room duties. It ended up being a "twofer" for me. She wanted to string vines around the one of the old metal decorative birdcage that I keep in the garden. I looked around and saw an endless supply of bindweed that needed to be pulled. I got to get some weeding done while working on our project, and that made me feel much better. She had the vision for the fairy house, so she kind of gave orders that I followed.

Once she felt that the fairy house was complete, she made furniture for the inside. Then she hid it in the garden and used rocks that she had gathered to make a path to the door. She also found a small piece of flagstone (that I hope she didn't pull from our flagstone patio but don't even want to know at this point) to use as a porch.

The weather was beautiful, and we had a nice time enjoying nature!

L has a new favorite story--"the woodchip story". She has ordered me to share it on my blog, because it makes her laugh really hard. We had the dogs out running around in the yard with us while we were working on our building project. I heard some really loud crunching, coming of course from Daisy (it's always Daisy). It sounded like she was chewing on a rock, but I saw that she was in the wood chipped area around L's swing and slide playset. I was concerned that chewing on the wood chips would damage her teeth or give her slivers, so I called her over. She came running, with the woodchip still in her mouth. She was trying to hide it, holding her mouth as closed as she could. It was too big to allow it to close all the way, though, so she was busted.

I reached into her mouth and gently removed the woodchip she was trying to hide. I was in the midst of talking to L, while doing this. Daisy tried to snatch it back from my hand, but I was too fast for her, quickly closing my fist around it. I then looked at it, for some reason, before throwing it back to the playset area where it belonged. I then saw it. It was slightly wet from being slathered around in Daisy's mouth, and even had some little tooth marks in it. It was not, however, a woodchip. And that's the point at which I yelled, "Eeeww, it is so NOT a woodchip!" L was doubled over laughing at me. I then quickly threw the turd with all my might as far away from me as I could get it. I have issues with poop, and can easily vomit at the though or smell of it. Daisy, just as quickly, trotted over to the tossed turd, picked it back up, and pranced away with it. I just pretended not to see it and continued on with the fairy house building (after a thorough hand washing).

Broken

L painted this to be auctioned off as a fundraiser for RBG. She's better with both people and animals than me. I'm passing the mantle on to her. I'm taking some time off.

I'm not taking calls or e-mails for a while, so if I'm ignoring you, it's not because I'm upset with you. It's not you. It's me.

Across the Sea

I feel a little guilty about being a bad blogger, but I’ll have more time available soon. M gets home tonight from his very long trip, and my semester ends this Friday. Him being home means I don’t have to do his chores anymore, so I will have more time. Between his absence, my semester finishing up, and the migraine I’ve had for the better part of the last several days, I just haven’t had any time to blog!

I will be grading over the weekend, and once that’s done, I’m free for a few months. The extra free time will be so nice! I have my post-semester melancholy this week. I gave a take-home final exam, so last night was the last class for them. I will miss them, and that makes me sad. A few will stay in touch, but most will go on and I won’t see them again. I definitely get attached to my students, and it’s hard to say goodbye! I always enjoy hearing from with updates from their lives. I always remember and recognize them--even years later. I may not be able to recall the name until several hours later (it always comes back to me--the only issue is WHEN!), but I can recall everything else about them.

We had this sweet little bunny spend the afternoon & night with us last night. My mom & L were looking out the window yesterday and saw a crow drop a baby bunny into the road in front of the house. The bunny was struggling to flip off her side and hop away but couldn’t. L went and grabbed her and brought her in and called me. They kept her safe and warm until I got back in town to pick her up. When I got her home and tried to get her to take fluids (dehydration is a big threat to baby bunnies!) she wouldn’t swallow and just let them run out. She had a nasty abrasion around her little mouth/chin, which bled for quite a while. I turned our first floor bathroom into a locked, secured, sauna, to help keep her warm—she was definitely still in shock.

I did not expect her to make it through the night. Baby rabbits are VERY hard to keep alive after an injury. They have so many susceptibilities as a result of their strange anatomy. As an aside, I often say that rabbits are one of the best arguments against “intelligent design” babble! They are so very poorly ‘designed’ that if any creator actually came up with such a bad idea, it should be shot. Really. So anyway, I was shocked that she made it through the night! It was a long night, and I kept checking and trying to administer fluids. I couldn’t believe that not only was she alive, but seemed to be slightly improved and showing a little spunk. Her little eye is white, and she’s at least partially blind in it. I hope it’s an injury that can be fixed, or she won’t be able to be re-released. My dad was free this morning, so he very kindly volunteered to take her to Fellow Mortals, where she could be better cared for and with others of her species. I would love to keep her and rehab her myself, but I know that she will be happier and get better care with the pros.

LOST last night was…amazing! I was so happy with it. And I am still firmly on the side of MIB/Flocke. I do not like Jacob, and I never have! I am feeling very satisfied with the direction I believe it to be taking and am not at all worried about being disappointed with the finale. Well, let me rephrase that. I will not be disappointed with the content of the finale but will be crushed that it is the FINALE! I have already taken a personal day on the Monday following the finale. I will no doubt be up long afterward, participating in the live chats and watching the follow-up show(s) after the finale. Then I will need to read the boards and ponder the episode. Then I will have to re-watch all six seasons in their entirety, analyzing it with the new knowledge. Then I will have a deep, long mourning period, because I’ve never loved any show like this before, and I doubt if I ever will again.

M didn’t get to watch last night’s episode. He tried to tell me a good wife would wait to watch it until he was home. I laughed. Dej & Luke came over last night to watch with me, as usual. There’s just no way I could ever come up with the self-control to wait another day to watch it. He will watch it tonight, and I’m looking forward to rewatching!

The Candidate

M is gone at a conference (again!), so L and I are enjoying our girl time. We went to get our hair cut today. I've been fighting with a migraine/headache--I seem to have one or the other--all week long and feel like hell. I wasn't paying attention to her cutting or even when she showed me the finished 'do, and didn't notice until I got home that I wanted it quite a bit shorter. I was paying attention to L's hair but not my own. And because I look like hell, I don't have a picture of my shorter hair, but L's is cute. Hers is about as short as her daddy can handle. It also has to be long enough to pull it all back for dance performances, so this is as short as it will be. She was very clear and detailed about exactly how she wanted it cut.

Our stylist at least refrained from bitching me out for cutting my own bangs (more than once) and randomly chopping off pieces that irritate me, nor for waiting a year in between cuts. I mean to go more regularly, but my hair isn't really a priority. I don't even think about it or really look at it unless it's irritating me somehow. L had to go and open her big mouth, too, and share how I cut her hair last time but couldn't get it even, so it ended up being much shorter than I intended. And because that's not quite bad enough, I had to remind her that we don't use shampoo or any hair product. Gotta wear my freak flag wherever I go!

The weeds are continuing to grow and threatening to take over the garden, and I haven't had the chance to get out there to weed yet. I am realizing that I may have to just admit my defeat and hire someone to weed, at least until I get out of school and can get a little extra time to get out there, or it will be a lost cause for this year. I'm still trying to talk L into doing it for me, and she wasn't going for it at first. Then she ran across something that she wants that is expensive--really expensive, so I reminded her of my offer and how she could earn enough to buy the Wacom tablet that she wants. She's thinking about it, so I'm hoping it all works out well.

Lila, Jasper, Petey, and occasionally Ivan, love to sit on this newel post. They can look out the window, the front door, over the living room--it's quite a prime bit of real estate! Charlie and Basil have been looking at it longingly, and Charlie finally decided to give it a try. He didn't quite reach it the first time. The second time, he got a hold with his front paws, and strained and pulled and finally got his back end up there. He's A LOT bigger and heavier and didn't find it quite as comfy and cozy as the other cats do!

Now I'll get back to my huge list of chores until Dej arrives. She's supposed to be coming over tonight to hang with me, but I never know exactly when she will grace me with her presence. Cthulhu knows, actually sending me a text with her ETA would be much too much for her.

shhhhh

We took the kids to the UW-Arboretum today after dance class, or the aboratorium, as Hunter calls it. It was such a nice day, and we were able to catch the very tail-end of the magnolias blooming. The crabs and lilacs were going strong. Our backyard lilacs are blooming now, too, and I haven't yet had the chance to spend time in the backyard enjoying the wonderful smell.


The kids were so happy to have the time and space to just run and enjoy the trees. They were going from one tree to another, trying to climb each of them. Several times, the kids called me over to take some shots of them, posing in the trees. They were cracking me up with that--"Here mom, take a shot of me here." "Amy, take a shot of me jumping from the tree."


When we got back home, the kids played outside while I made lasagna for dinner. They played outside until H's dad arrived to take him home for the night.


Last night was date night. I woke up yesterday morning at 4:00 am with a screaming migraine. I was in absolute agony! I muddled through the day, taking Imitrex & Excedrin, amassing about three days' worth in a period of 12 hours. I had to get chores done (the animals won't clean and feed themselves!) and we had date night, and I knew M had made plans already.


By the time we got ready to go, the migraine had scaled back to a headache, and I was a little shaky and queasy from the drugs--still better off than I was, though. I put on a lot of makeup in an effort to look less dead. I left the house hoping that M's plans for the night did not involve music.


He wanted to go to a new Mexican restaurant (neither of us can remember the name of it, though) in the old Chi Chi's (which I still miss!) We got in with no wait and really liked the decor. The walls, seats, tables, etc. were handpainted in bright, vivid colors and gorgeous! There was a chair with a pink cockatoo on it that was to die for. It was a little odd, as the 'pink cockatoo' is native to only Australia, but it was pretty.


We got right in and placed our orders fairly quickly. We were enjoying our beverages (M had a mango margarita that was delicious!!). We've been SO busy that we've had very little time to chat and catch up. We were deep in conversation, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that stopped me cold. A man was walking into the dining area, and that man was carrying a guitar.


He started to play the guitar. Then he began singing. La Bamba. Loudly. Really loudly. Oh my hell my head started pulsing and throbbing again. He got louder. He finished the song, and as I feared, he started another and another. They were all loud. He started walking around to tables. We had to lean over across the table and shout to hear one another. So much for our conversation--one of the things that is really important to us on our date nights! I was trying to rub my temples, and also took another round of imitrex. I asked M if he would just go tell our server to put our food in a box to go, and we could eat it in the car. I was in pain, and I was really pissed off. I felt that had we wanted a LOUD musical performance, we would have purchased fucking tickets for one! M wouldn't go tell the server but wanted to just eat as quickly as possible and get out of there.


I don't think we were alone in our feelings, because the people at the other tables had similar pissed off expressions, as they shouted their conversations to one another. I was just dreading him standing next to our table. He was traveling all over the restaurant. OMF It was so wrong! The food arrived. It was very meh. The beans were okay, if unmemorable. The "salsa" on top of the burritos was quite thin and tasted like salty tomato juice. I ate half of mine in the time he ate significantly more of his. ;) We got our box and got the hell out of there. We made it before he meandered over to our table to assault us at close range. We agreed that we don't need to visit that restaurant again.

We left there and got into our quiet car, where we were able to resume our chatting. We went to hear a swing band at the Edgerton Performing Arts Center. We also agreed that it was good but one of the loudest performances we had ever attended. Our ears were still ringing when we arrived at our car after a long walk from the EPAC. I hit another round of drugs in the car. It was a long, painful night. We can laugh about it today and for years to come, though. Plus he felt a little bad for me after we got home last night, and he was extra sweet and solicitous. :)




We saw this tree and I fell in love. I need to get it for our yard!