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. =)

Juggling While Intoxicated

The title of the post says it all. Right now, at this point in the semester, I feel like it is all I can do to keep everything up in the air. I'm sure my students are feeling it too, because I can see their stress-level rising with each class they come to.

Tomorrow I will be meeting my class at Munson-Williams Proctor Art Institute. They are going to write an analysis of two pieces of art. I can't wait to go - I have always loved it there. My grandparents used to take me there when I visited Utica during the summer. After walking through Munson-Williams, we would go through Fountain Elms. When you first walk into Fountain Elms, there is a huge doll house in the entry-way. I loved staring in the little windows to see the lavish furnishings. I would imagine what the little family was doing in the giant doll house-mansion when nobody was there. =)

Yes, this whole "up in the clouds" thing started when I was very young. hehe

Speaking of juggling... I should be grading. (no, I'm not intoxicated...)

Until next time, then!

Things that Make Me Happy

The bright, sunny sky
On an end-of-summer day

A healthy body to take me to work
Where I love what I do

A family to come home to
That welcomes me with a giant hug from an adoring two-year-old

A safe, warm, cozy bed
To lay my head to sleep

Until the next day
When I get to live it all again.

School Supplies

I have no idea how to title my posts. And my friends and family think I'm soooo "computer savvy." =) (this just in! the title field was disabled. I found it, and enabled it!)

Today we went to church (for what I think was the first time this summer. YES I know the summer is almost over... I have enough catholic-guilt about it already..), then we went to the mall and to Walgreens. At Walgreens, they are having a kick-ass-crazy-cool sale on all-things school-supply-related. Woo!

Check out our stash:



At the mall I got a dvd player that was on sale at Best Buy, and some perfume I've been looking for all over the place. Like the school supplies, it is also kick-ass-crazy-cool.

Check out my stash:


While we were at the grocery store last night we rented three dvds from the Red Box. Have you seen these machines at the grocery store?? For $1 a day you can rent all kinds of movies. How does the Movie Gallery stay in business?? We rented College Roadtrip, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (guess who's pick that was??). We watched College Roadtrip today, and it left Emily and I in tears. Ryan thought something might have fallen on the dog, by the way we were crying. I told him we are just chicks, and that's what chicks do - cry at movies.

He's watching Transformers now, and that's why I'm blogging. =)

Have I been on the down-low??

No. I have been a blogger-slacker. Is this one of my journals with two entries, and the rest of the book blank? No. That is the beauty of blogging! No blank pages! Oh - and there are friends to ask where your next post will be up (thanks Rosie!).

I still plan on posting about our trip to CA, but I want to have some pictures ready to go up, and stories to tell, and it just seems like a big undertaking. So, I'll post this little mini-blog to get poor Tim Russert off the top of my blog for now.

Today I was all about domestication. Did some paper-sorting, some dishes, some drawing with the kidlets. I even took a little nap when the storm knocked the power out for about an hour. Whew ! Good d0-nothing day.

(and this is where I'm taking the lead of Pat Murphy...)

What do you guys like to do on a do-nothing day? Movies? Popcorn? Sourdough toast with butter and tea?

Here is the thing. You're likely going to see a lot of posts about this topic from me... because I often struggle with the concept of life, and time, and how quickly it all flies us by.

I just read that Tim Russert died today. He was only 58 , and he dropped dead of a heart attack while at work. Wow. I remember the Sunday mornings before we had kids.. we would try to catch "Meet the Press," which always seemed to be on sooooo early for a Sunday morning (hehe). I always enjoyed his no-nonsense approach to politics, and I think he did a great job at seeming very non-partisan about everything. How incredibly sad that he died so young.

It makes you take pause - in the middle of juggling so many things and running the the next activity, perhaps we're all just lucky to be here to juggle and to be running.

Little problems don't seem as big when you hear news like that.