Too Much...

You know what? I was going to tell you what happened just before we took this picture, but I think I'm going to let someone out there in cyber-land do that.

Any guesses?

Livin' la Vida Loca

I'm experiencing a moment of utter bliss. I'm sitting at Panera Bread, listening to some smooth jazz while I drink a coffee (and yes, have an unmentionable pastry!) while I wait for Chloe the wonder-beagle to be bathed and get her nails trimmed. ahh. Oh - and the "ahh" part of that sentence comes from the fact that I am completely alone. No kids to juggle!

To make this even better, I am sitting right across the room from a couple that appear to be on one of their first dates. They are in their 50's, and they just finished telling each other a story that had them both gasping for air and holding their bellies from laughing so hard. I love laughing so hard it hurts. Is there anything better, really?? (okay - I know there probably is, but it's still good stuff!) I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but I have a strong suspician that they were making fun of SP. (You betcha! ::wink::)

Today the family finished the roof. Well, they finished the big part of the roof, but haven't touched the porch part of the roof. You know, the part that everyone can see. I asked Chris as they were cleaning up "So, not to seem nit-picky... but are you guys going to do the roof on the front porch?" he looked at me and said "No." I said "Are you joking?" he looked at me and said "No." I said "Am I allowed to ask why?" he said "We didn't order enough shingles." I said "Oh. So, are you going to do that yourself, since it's such a small area, and it's probably low enough to get to yourself?" he looked at me, winced, and said "Uh, probably not."

Oy.

So, if you visit the house, don't look at the part of the roof you can see the best. Look at the rest of the roof. Maybe we can all have such a good laugh about it that our bellies hurt.


I in noooo way want to sound like I'm complaining. My BIL and FIL took time (a lot of time) out of their busy schedules to do the roof with Chris, and it sooooo needed it. I am very grateful, and I know they worked their freakin' asses off to get it done before it started to rain this afternoon.

Beware: Potato Peelers Can be a Major Hazard

I suppose it was just a matter of time before we ended up at Urgent Care with one of the kids. Okay, I guess it was just a matter of time before we ended up at Urgent Care with one of the boys. I don't think Emily has ever done anything that could remotely prove dangerous enough.

Today started off like any other in which people were tearing shingles off the roof - hectic. Yes, we are *finally* doing the other half of our roof (the first half was done four years ago or so). There were many phone calls for a dumpster, shingle delivery, and deciding what to make the masses for lunch.

One thing was already decided. Dinner would be a roast my brother-in-law generously transported from West Winfield. It was cooking in the crock pot all day - filling the house with its mouth-watering aroma. My father-in-law had brought bags (and I mean BAGS) of potatoes, so I thought we could make mashed potatoes to go along with our roast.

The kids were thrilled. They each wanted to help, so I got the extra potato peeler out. I ran to the bathroom for a second (or two), and heard the kids bicker in the kitchen. Then I heard a scream. More screams. I couldn't get out there fast enough - I ran into the kitchen and find Ryan holding his hand, screaming, begging for help. Emily is screaming and crying and keeps yelling Ryan's name. I can't get anyone to tell me what happened, but I knew there was a cut involved, based on the amount of blood on the floor. I got Ryan over to the sink, poured water over his finger, and tried to assess the situation . Then, I applied pressure to it. All the while everyone was screaming, except for Alex, who was walking around the kitchen with a finger in each ear (Yes, I'll get the application for mensa asap. That kid is a freakin' genius!).

I asked Emily to go outside to ask Chris to come in to help. I didn't like what his finger looked like, so I assumed I would need to take him to the hospital. More drama ensued before Ryan and I were on our way to Urgent Care.

On the way, I thought I would share an inspirational story of a cut-that-went-bad with Ryan that had a happy ending. On Chris's first day at work (five years ago, I think), he tried to fix a jammed machine. The jammed machine had something called a "heat knife" to cut the tops off of plastic bottles. When he tried to fix the jam, the tip of his finger was sliced off. They rushed him to the emergency room where they cinched up his finger tight (without the pad of his finger..). He lived to tell the tale, and today he's an urban legend at his work.

I turn to look at Ryan, expecting to see a hopeful look of relief. I instead was the recipient of the most horror-struck look I've ever seen. He said "That was the most awful story I have ever heard. Do not ever tell that story again!!!!!!" He cried and wailed some more, and told me he had never been so scared. He said the last thing he wanted to think about was his daddy's finger being sliced off.

I'll put that one in the mom vault of "stories not to tell in a time of crisis."

Bottom line: Ryan is okay. His finger tip was nearly cut off, but not quite, and he has cool steri-strips and a large gauze bandage on tonight while he sleeps like a little wee boo upstairs. Poor baby!

It's a beatuiful day in the neighborhood...

This weekend is a perfect weekend (weather-wise). The trees are colorful (not at their peak, though), the sun is out, and the temperature isn't too hot or too cold. Yay! I love the fall.

The week hasn't been such a great week for our bank account, however. The car died about a mile from home on Tuesday. Chris was able to get it home, but it was very hot and melted the belt that had broken off of... something. We needed a new compressor. $780 later the car is back on the road. sigh. I wish this stuff could happen right after we get our tax return, or after we come across an extra $800 in our coat pocket (no, I know that doesn't happen). This tooooo shall pass.

I'll add a picture of the beautiful day we're having later. Emily is at a birthday party, Alex is sleeping upstairs, and Ryan is outside doing God-knows-what. I'm going to either go check on him now, or take a nap. =)

A blog for me has sort of been like buying a new, clean journal to begin writing in. I have bought many of these pretty, empty books... only to write in them three times and forget they are there. I found this blog shell all set up by someone with my name and location back in 2005. Zero posts!

So here I go. We'll see how it goes.

Today is hot and humid in Central NY. We spent the morning on the soccer field, since both Emily and Ryan are playing this year. Her game was at 8:15 a.m., and his was at 11:00 a.m. We were late, of course, because we stopped at the grocery store for the snack on our way. I was going to go last night, but we had just left the Cato pool and my hair was all fluff-tastic. =) I will not have a picture of that, so don't worry.

In other news, a young kitten has adopted our house as it's new family. We haven't fed it, but we have certainly given it lots of cuddles. The neighbors across the street said that they would feed it, but it keeps wandering over to our porch to meow at the door. We hope it adopts the family that is feeding it, instead, because the Beagle does not dig having a kitten on the porch.

It is a hot and humid 86 degrees here today. Summer is here!