IT'S ABOUT ME, MY BOYS AND A LITTLE CRAFTING THROWN INTO THE MIX!
Sam had a pool get together to celebrate the beginning of summer. What really made me feel old was…that some of his friends drove here!
So weird. That’s something that I will have to get use to! Let alone that in three years he will be graduating from high school. (sniff)
…and welcome to the first day of summer vacation.
These were not set last night and it felt soooo good!
Here’s to no alarms and summer sleep in days!
Don’t get me wrong, I love a great inspiring quote just as much as the next person. I even print some off an hang them on my bulletin board. But, some days I feel like this…
Why is it that coffee, for me, makes me happy? When I really don’t want to get out of bed, I tell myself, you get to have coffee! My inner person knows what motivates me!
Jack ran the 200 leg in the sprint medley last Thursday. Jason suddenly said, “Check out the guy who Jack is running against!” Seriously? Yep. This team was in the same heat as Jack’s team!
What Jack might be thinking:
” I wonder if I am in the wrong race.” Nope
“If I run across the grass I may be able to beat him.” Nope
“Gosh. Someday I hope my beard comes in thick.” Probably.
What he said he was thinking, “Oh my word. This guy is going to dominate.” Yep.
Jack then asked me, “Did he dominate us?” and I thought to myself, yes Jack, he did dominate you. He was so fast, that you didn’t even see him! They may have finished the race before Jack even got the baton!
Just finished the bok The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian.
“From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest Room comes a spine-tingling novel of lies, loss, and buried desire the mesmerizing story of a wife and mother who vanishes from her bed late one night. When Annalee Ahlberg goes missing, her children fear the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. Once, she merely destroyed the hydrangeas in front of her Vermont home. More terrifying was the night her older daughter, Lianna, pulled her back from the precipice of the Gale River bridge. The morning of Annalee’s disappearance, a search party combs the nearby woods. Annalee’s husband, Warren, flies home from a business trip. Lianna is questioned by a young, hazel-eyed detective. And her little sister, Paige, takes to swimming the Gale to look for clues. When the police discover a small swatch of fabric, a nightshirt, ripped and hanging from a tree branch, it seems certain Annalee is dead, but Gavin Rikert, the hazel-eyed detective, continues to call, continues to stop by the Ahlbergs’ Victorian home. As Lianna peels back the layers of mystery surrounding Annalee’s disappearance, she finds herself drawn to Gavin, but she must ask herself: Why does the detective know so much about her mother? Why did Annalee leave her bed only when her father was away? And if she really died while sleepwalking, where was the body? Conjuring the strange and mysterious world of parasomnia, a place somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness, The Sleepwalker is a masterful novel from one of our most treasured storytellers.”
The first 2/3 of this book was a bit slow, but you you start to think everyone could have “done it.” The dad…the neighbor…the detective…just when you think you have it figured out, then Lianna talks to another person and you start all over again.
Some one needs to read this so I can discuss something that bothers me about the conclusion…let me know if you read it so I can ask.
Also, if you mom disappeared, wouldn’t you be a big sloppy, crying mess? I just felt as if this family was pretty laid back about their mom missing and possibly dead. No tears or breakdown. Like as usual. That I found strange.
Overall though, I would give this book 3.5 out of 5 starts. You won’t be disappointed, but might have a few Hmmms at the end.
Jack had his fifth grade track meet last week and he did a great job and lots of fun hanging out with his friends!
He and his buddies got first in the 4×100.
He got second in the long jump!
Then went on to get third in the 100!
And ended the day off with fourth in the 200!!
Looks pretty relaxed watching the workers in the background before his 200 race began!
Then checking in how the boy beside him felt how the workers were progressing…
He also decided to try his hand at the football throw.
I did not stay for the field events, so when he got home I asked him how was that football throw?
His reply, “AWFUL!!” But with a big grin on his face!!
Jason and his buddies took Sam to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert for his birthday. They showed him how to “concert it up.”
The boys had amazing seats! And if you are wondering, there were 750 cylinder lights hanging from the ceiling. Sam counted them. You can take the boy out of the math room, but not the math out of the boy!
After the concert the boys always head to Fong’s Pizza on Court Ave. for slices. This time was no different. Sam had a slice of Pepperoni and a slice of Red Hot Chili Pepper pizza.
Sam loved it all. He had SO much fun (his words) and can’t wait to do it again!!
But, maybe not on a school night.
The boys and I were having dinner when suddenly both boys told me they could burp the alphabet. Jack demonstrated his ability first, without a hitch. I thought I was going to gag.
Then much to my surprise, Sam belched the alphabet, too!
Such a look of concentration on his face!
Why such a surprise with Sam? Because he can’t stand anything that may resemble a vomit noise.
Can you guess what letter he is on at this time?
“O”
Good guess!
And Jack..just listening. Providing a bit advice as needed. A little more air, a little more effort.
These boys have goals.
I am going to try to make this story as short as possible without going into too many details.
I walked out of the house last weekend and found this baby raccoon, about the size of my hand, laying in the dirt under our front tree. We let it be during the day in case the mom would come back.
(It had nothing to do with me not wanting to feed the baby raccoon from a syringe and then having to take care of it for the next week while everyone went to school and work and this raccoon kept me up at night because it was nocturnal and kept crawling out of it’s box. Even though Jack begged for us to rescue it.)
Me: “Jack. If I lost you, I would want people to keep you were I lost you so I could come back and find you! If it still there in the morning, we will bring it inside.”
In the evening, we were gone and our neighbors came down to save the little guy, because it would have probably frozen through the night.
(Though everything I read said to leave it through the night so the mother can have the opportunity to come back and get it. )
The next morning, the neighbors brought the racoon back to our house because they had baseball games all day. So I ended up babysitting a baby raccoon for the day. Our neighbors had been feeding it warm milk with one of those nose suckers for babies. I encouraged the boys to help…that didn’t last long. Even after all the begging from the previous day. This is the only time Jack “held” the little guy.
(So, even though I had nothing to do with saving the thing I still ended up watching it, feeding it warm milk through the syringe and cleaning it’s poop up!)
The boys did check on the him periodically. If he got out of the box, they would come and get me instead of picking him up and placing him back in the box. “MOM! He’s out of the box again!”
It was still shaking, so I put a heating pad into the box. He curled right up on it and went to sleep for the day.
(No, those scratch marks on the box are NOT from the baby.)
He was pretty stinkin’ cute, but I worried about him waking up during the night, making baby racoon noises and getting out of its box! He could get pretty loud when he was stressed out and I enjoy uninterrupted sleep.
So, between both families calling around, we finally got a hold of a wildlife refuge gal and off Smokey (yes the boys named him) went to live with 18 other baby raccoons…at this gals house! She later text and said the little guy had eaten really well and was enjoying his time with three other baby raccoons!
(The DNR and ISU do not take raccoons due to rabies.)
Sam: “Do I have rabies now?”
Me: “Just let me know if you start foaming at the mouth!”
We shared this story with Jason’s mom who told us, “We raised a coyote and kept it for two years. It loved being with our dog, Penny.” (What?!)
Then Jason says, “Do you remember how dad use to bring baby raccoons home and feed them until they were good to go on their own?”
Seriously people!