That's 0% Funny

I think most of us have experienced this. If not as a parent, at least as a child. You're trapped in a small enclosed space with your worst enemy (a sibling). It's a road trip. And it doesn't matter if they are trying to bug you or not -- they BUG you. At some point during the trip, you will hear someone say, "MO-OM! SHE'S LOOKING AT ME!"

We had a similar experience recently. We were in the car, which is much more crowded than the van. We were on a short trip... just to church. Lou and QB were rubbing elbows -- literally -- and that is NOT a good thing. Lou was tired and not in the mood to be trifled with, plus he was going to church -- not his favorite.

After the usually bickering about which seatbelt belonged to whom and who was touching whom(to which, of course, I had wisely replied, "Keep your hands to yourselves"), QB committed one final crime which could not be tolerated in even the worst of torture chambers:

"MO-OM!!! Her doll is LOOKING at me!"

Well, I'm sorry, but it was so funny I just had to laugh. I mean, her doll? That was one I had never heard. However, my laughing was also not to be tolerated (I probably did overdo it a bit-- but, dang it, that was funny!).

In utter exasperation, Lou turned his anger on me, "MOM, THAT IS ZERO PER CENT FUNNY!"

End of an Era

Yeah, that's right. School is out. Eighth graders have moved on. I have three days left to be at work, and I will have officially completed my first year at the new school. Put the kids out in the wading pool for the first time of the season today. I have all my grading done, so the only thing left to do is plan for the summer vacation.

First thing on the agenda is to go pick up our new puppy. We acquired her at the end of March, but left her with family until we could be home with her full time for training purposes. We'll do that next weekend. Should be an adventure... and I must admit I'm a little nervous. I haven't had to train a puppy for thirteen years.

Next thing will be to switch the kids' rooms and put the baby in his toddler bed. That usually requires my complete attention and all my energy for a few days. However, yesterday at nap time he climbed out of his crib, dumped a whole shelf of videos on the floor, crawled back into his crib and went to sleep without anyone noticing. I think he's ready to handle the responsibility.

With the switching rooms two new paint jobs are required. Anybody up for some painting? The boys (for some strange reason) refuse to sleep in a pink room. And as long as we're talking about painting, I have about half a dozen murals to finish too. I find it's much more amusing to paint with company than by myself (hint-hint).

Aside from that, I'd like to lose about 50 pounds. So obviously, I'm not expecting much from my summer. How about you?

I Was Wrong

... it's the paperwork.

Occupational Hazard

I've had a day.

Scratch that.
I've had a week.

I realized today that being an English teacher is far too risky for us non-confrontational types. No matter what I have on my bookshelves someone is going to complain about it. I may as well fill the shelf with Dr. Seuss and Mother Goose. Perhaps those are benign enough not to raise eyebrows.

Forget about how much more paperwork English teachers naturally incur. Forget about the widely varied curriculum we have to cover. Forget about the absolutely execrable essays we have to read on a daily basis. Forget about the behavior issues even. The worst thing about teaching English -- bar none -- is the ridiculously over-sensitive people who cannot, for the life of them, take responsibility for what their own children CHOOSE to read, so they have to blame the teacher.

At least that's how I'm feeling today... tomorrow I may think it's the paperwork.

You're a Beaut!

Leave it to Lou to brighten my day...

On Monday I was wearing a black shirt and black pants with a bright pink blouse over the top. When I got home from work, I was bombarded by a messy baby, so I took off my blouse and draped it over the ledge by the stairs. As I was walking out into the hallway, Lou was coming up the stairs. He saw my shirt lying there, so he picked it up and handed it to me. "You look great in this, Mom. Put it back on." I did. Then he said with a smile, "You're a beaut!"

For a second I thought, "What does he mean by that? Do I look bad in just my black pants and t-shirt?" Then I realized -- he's six. If he thinks I look bad, he just tells me. I don't have to read his mind.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS!?

I'm a beaut! :)

My Latest Projects

I haven't been able to write much this month. Here's why:

That's four down, two more to go. The next one is a boy quilt, so I get a change of scenery. The verdict's still out on the one after that. Certainly by that time, I'll have another couple to add to the 'to do' list. I didn't quilt this one. I tied it. It took like ten minutes to tie. I always feel a little guilty when I tie a quilt. Seems like cheating.

Photo Meme

If you want to play along, here are the rules: 1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer 2. Select the 4th picture in the folder 3. Explain the picture 4. Tag 4 people to do the same. NO CHEATING! (no cropping, editing, etc...). If you want to play, join in the fun! Sounds good but I don't know how to Tag someone.
QB's soccer team during the tournament this past spring. It was VERY hot, so a lot of people had shade structures up.

Just Ignore Me . . . Everyone Else Does

Late last night I finished a baby quilt for my youngest sister's new baby. Brand-spankin' new. Born December 10th. I think I was pretty timely on this one, considering the last two nieces' blankets (I worked on them concurrently) were a year in the making. I posted a picture and a heartfelt plea for some slack (see the last post). I mean, I still have two more baby quilts to go before I am officially caught up. And while I enjoy making the baby quilts, I'm only human... Yeah, a human with five sisters!

So, today after work, I stopped by my oldest sister's house (we'll call her Sapworth) because one of my younger sisters (we'll call her Amithea) was visiting there with her family on the way back from a long holiday trip -- just passing through, you know. My kids wanted to see their cousins, so we stopped in. I handed Amithea the two new quilts I had finished and asked her to deliver them to the appropriate sisters when she gets home. It's all good; don't have to pay for shipping that way. :)

"You know," she said. "You have to make another one."

"Oh no," I sighed. "I just wrote a special blog asking people to stop having babies, so I could catch up!"

"I'm afraid she didn't get the memo," Sapworth retorted with an evil grin.

I hope it's a boy. After four girly quilts in a row, I'm ready for a change of pace... and color schemes.

Three Down, Two to Go

A dragonfly quilt

I respectfully request people stop having babies, so I can catch up.

We Are Not a 'Sometimes' Family

As usual, my best stories come from Lou:

We were driving home from the store -- way past lunch time, if you know what I mean. The kids were hungry, and they rarely deal well with that. QB started to tease Lou about the baby growing up to be taller than him. She gets ornery... He gets fussy. Not a good combination, but we deal with it.

I was driving, so I listened to the argument in the back seat for a couple of minutes just to see if they would work it out.

"The youngest one is always the tallest. Mom said so."

"No they're not! Stop saying that!"

It went on like that for a while. Clearly they weren't going to work it out on their own. I stepped in. "I said, 'sometimes,' QB. 'Sometimes the youngest is the tallest.'"

Lou must have spied some kind of hope in the words. Adamantly, he informed his sister, "This is NOT a sometimes family!"