Rain

Looks like it is going to rain today...again...just like the last three weeks. It is getting a bit tiresome. We've done absolutely no swimming this summer - the pools are constantly being closed because of thunder. That and the fact that the sun does not want to reveal itself to us anymore.
I had to mow my lawn today, since all the wet has made it look like a jungle. Plus, the mosquitoes love long grass and they've grown mean from lack of food. We had to rid them of their hiding places. Unfortunately, the ground is so wet that there are puddles in my grass, so it was like taking a shower as I mowed and edged (yes, I know you are not supposed to mow wet grass for a variety of reasons, but I chose to ignore common sense today).
It is not exactly neat (one reason why you don't mow wet grass) but at least it is short.

Birthday Boy

Did I ever mention that J's birthday is on the 4th of July? So every year we have a difficult time planning a party, since his friends are all out of town. We always manage to do something special, but not many come. I guess he has gotten used to this, since when I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, he simply stated that he wanted to "go to T & M's place to play with T's Wii (which is video console for those of you who do not know)" and "do you think maybe we can build lego's too?" "Uh...sure son...but don't you want to do anything else?" "Maybe we can go swimming too?"
Talk about easy to please. As far as what he wants for his birthday, it is a repeat of what he has wanted for the last 4 years: Bionicles, Legos, Pokemon stuff, and cash. He did mention that he wanted his own Wii or Nintendo ds, but that "that is just a crazy idea, mom". He knows how much they cost and believes that we would never spend that much on his gift. However, probably will get one for him, since he isn't haven't a "party" which would normally run us more than what they cost.

There is a vast world of work out there in this country, where at least 111 million people are employed in this country alone - many of whom are bored out of their minds. All day long.

Richard Nelson Bolles

I got a promotion at work and now everyone is commenting on how happy I seem. It's not that I'm happy for no reason, I'm happy because I get to learn something new, I get to challenge my brain a bit....it could also be because my new work area is in an area with piped in music, and I like to move with the music during the day. Whatever, at least there is a smile on my face.

Waking up

There are morning people and there are night people. I am a morning person - I love the newness of the day and I feel like I can get so much done when I get a head start on the day. This is good, since my job has me come in earlier in the summer.

The boy, on the other hand, is a night owl. He would rather not see daylight until at least 10am (unless it is Saturday, then he miraculously wakes up before dawn to watch his cartoons). This does not do us any good when I trying to get out of the house before 7 am. Today would be a good example of this - look at the time I post this.
He is a grouch too.

Pearls

The first night we got to Disneyworld, we decided to go to downtown Disney, which is mostly shops with varying themes, all which are destined to separate the tourist from his money. My dear boy J was swayed by many a store or booth, 2 catching his eyes the most. The first was the Lego shop. In fact, we were visiting downtown to specifically go to this shop; since when I was making the vacation plans I shot down the idea of going to Legoland in CA and substituted Disneyworld with the promise of the Lego store visit.
Being that this was the first day of vacation, we warned J not to spend all his money, since we could always come back another day. Plus, he might see something in one of the other parks that he could only get at Disneyworld, so he should save his money "just in case". Well, he did get a limited edition Lego toy that we have never seen in the stores around here, but he also wanted to go to another shop - the pearl shop. He insists that we return to it, that it has to be today, that we can not wait another day, risking not coming back.
There is a reason for this: on Mother's Day he wanted to give me a single pearl necklace, but due to circumstances beyond his control, he was unable to do this. So, when we passed the booth that had people shucking oysters to look for a pearl, he was intrigued. When I told him that they could set the pearl into a piece of jewelry, his eyes lit up. He insisted that we stop back at this booth so that he could get a pearl - he "just had to do it". I explained to him that this would come out of his souvenir money, but he was OK with that, he wanted to get me my pearl necklace.
Who am I to argue with the sweet thoughts of my son - I planned on letting him "buy" me the pearl and setting, but not actually take it out of his trip money.
So, we go through the whole process of picking an oyster, having the women give the story behind how the pearl is formed, picking the pearl out of the meat, cleaning it in salt, measuring it...now it is time to pick a setting for it. I look at J and ask him if he wants to put it in a necklace setting. He looks at me while rolling the pearl in his hand, asking if he has to or if he can keep it separate.

"Sure you can keep it separate, but I thought you wanted to make a necklace with it?" I say.
Looking at me with his sweet, open face, he says, "Hmm, I think I want to think about it, I might want to keep the pearl for myself."

Hmmprh...I guess little boys can't stay sweet for too long at a time...you better believe that money came out of his vacation spending money!

We stayed in the '90's, home of computer diskettes and laptops:

There were three pools at the hotel - we had no desire to use any of them, since our days were so full of adventure, by the time we came back we ready for bed.

The hotel itself was nothing great - hubby referred to it as "Disney's version of Motel 6". The room had two beds and a little table at which to sit. However, it served our purposes: clean with free transportation to all the parks. Plus, the maid service was willing to be silly. Each day we came back, we found J-man's collection of toys rearranged in some interesting manner or another:

"All hail Super Pokey"

Disneyworld

What a great trip we had to Disneyworld. We decided to fly down and stay at one of the resorts located in the area, so we chose the Pop Century resort. It is a themed hotel, based on the last century. The buildings were designed to look like "themes" from each decade. The 50's had the jukebox:

Back

We're back from vacationing at Disneyworld and boy, do I have stories to share -which will have to wait until tomorrow - I'm beat! Now if only the luggage would come back from its vacation!

Quote of the Day

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.

- Horace Mann

Last Day of School (almost)

Tomorrow is the official last day of school, and J could not be more excited. He is just falling over with excitement.

However, I need some help keeping that excitement alive. We are going to Disneyworld (YAY!!) for vacation (our first family vacation not to relatives homes), but what else would you suggest to keep an 8-almost-9-year-old busy? I'm looking for something different, something other than trips to the library, movies, etc. Please, open my world to some new experiences. Just keep in mind that we do live in Texas, where everything is bigger, even the heat in the summertime.

Nature vs Child, part II

And as of yesterday, we found out that there was another poisonous but innocent looking bug in our midst. It would be this beauty:


An assassin bug. With its rostrum, it injects a powerful poison which cause extreme pain to its victim, know here as the J man. He came in to confirm that he had indeed been stuck/stung by something, then went on to tell me that "it really, really, hurts, owie, owie, owie". When asked if it was worse than the time he was stung by a wasp; he nodded his head vigorously as he continued to dance around on one foot, shaking his hand in an effort to get rid of the pain.
Of course, having never dealt with this type of bug bite before, I was clueless as to treatment options. So I did them all - hydrocortisone cream on the bite, antihistamine (Benadryl) by mouth, then ice on the wound to reduce the swelling. One of them worked, since his hand was doing much better later on.
J had just been holding the bug gently on the palm of his, observing it when it decided to plunge the rostrum deep into the fleshy pad of palm. Needless to say, he was not so gently when he threw the bug to the ground. We found it crumpled into a ball on the cement. It gave us a chance to identify it.

Child vs. Nature

Poor J man has not had much luck with the great outdoors as of late. He loves exploring and discovering all the creatures that live around our house. He knows the creatures he is to stay away from, with these little rhymes is his head to always remind him, "red and black, friend of Jack" and " black near yellow, kill a fellow". Plus he knows how to recognize a black widow (hourglass on the back) and a brown recluse spider, and knows that the fire ants will make him miserable for weeks to come.
However, we did not realize that this little fellow:

would bite when handled ever so gently.

Happy Mother's Day

A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all.

Washington Irvin

Happy Mother's Day. As a mother, this is one holiday where I feel that I do deserve some recognition. Being a good mother is a tough job. In fact, I often wonder how my mom did it, with three children all within 2 years of each other. I still don't know where she got her patience from - I have only one child and am often out of it by mid day. She laughs at me when I ask her, must be that her secret stash of patience will run out if she tells the truth as to where it is located. Seriously, I am truly lucky to have a good role model as a parent. When I think of my childhood, I always knew that my mom was there to back me up, that she would defend me against all the evils of the world. If I was wrong, I was certainly punished, but she was fair and always listened to my side of the story. I hope one day I can be as strong as she is.

To all the mothers out there, have a wonderful day

Hell must be freezing over

Sorry to tell you , but the world is ending today. I know, I know, you had so much planned, but I have proof that it is ending. I went to try on bathing suits yesterday, a chore I absolutely desist with every essence of my being;but a necessary one since we have a vacation planned that involves lots of water time and the bathing suits I currently posses would not be suitable for anyone or animal for that matter to wear out in public. I brought 5 bathing suits into the changing room and.....drum roll....everyone one of them fit. Not only fit, but were flattering.
Hell must have frozen over. I have never ever in my life had that happen.

Now, you men out there might be saying, "What's the big deal?" since you can pretty much just grab a pair of trunks off the rack and take them home with absolute confidence that they will fit. For an average woman to be able to find the right bathing suit on the first try is equivalent to winning the grand prize in the lottery without even playing, it just does not happen.

I was so overwhelmed that I bought all of them. The cashier asked what I all those bathing suits for - I had to laugh. I didn't need them all, I just needed to bring home proof to someone (hubby). Plus I needed someone else's opinion on which bathing suit I should choose. I narrowed it down to 2, and will return the rejected ones later this week.

I had to share this news. I'm sorry if you had plans for this week, but this evidence proves that the end of the world is near. Enjoy your last few days - I'll be laying out in the sun in my new bathing suit.

Bending, not always a given

If God wanted us to bend over he'd put diamonds on the floor.

Joan Rivers

On my day off Friday I decided to take a "power pump" class at my local YMCA. I had run into a friend and she was taking it, so I decided to join her. I now know there was a reason why I never take that class - lunges, lunges with weights. Lots of them.

So, my legs are just now starting to get their mobility back. My leg muscles (and butt) were so sore. Who really needs to bend their legs anyway? The stiff legged, looks like boards have been permanently attached to my legs look is coming into style I tell you. Really.

Time for me to hobble off to work.

No more good deeds for me

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I volunteered to be the coordinator of my son's cub scout "Scout Fair Ticket" (SFT) committee. The chairperson of the SFT is responsible for having their pack sell tickets and then turn-in the correct amount of money and leftover tickets.
I knew I would have trouble with individuals following deadlines, so at the start of all this I handed out a printout outlining the rules along with all the important deadlines, including last Tuesday's date as the final deadline for money/tickets to be given back to me. Each week i sent reminders of the deadlines through email. As you may have guessed, tcome deadline time the materials were not all returned . Luckily I built in some leeway for my procrastinators and have been sending out reminder notices to the deliquent folks.

I had one parent tell me (because I've also been phone calling) that she ignored the emails because she didn't think it had anything to do with here. Well, since the email and phone call addressed her by name, I would say yes, it did have to deal with her.

Then there is the den leader who has ignored all 14 emails and 7 calls I've made to him until this morning when he finally responded. He stated that he believed that he didn't need to turn tickets in, since they did not have to do that in the past. Well, buddy you are wrong. Why would I waste my time begging you for the money or tickets if I didn't need them? Do you think I enjoy stalking you? Sometimes people make me so tired.

Then there is the dad who insists that he received only a partial packet of tickets, so he is not going to pay the $60 for the 6 missing tickets. No one received partial packets - I personally counted all 125 packets and verified the 10 tickets in each packet. I also had the den leaders verify as they handed out the packet to the individuals that there were ten tickets in each packet.

Luckily, after tonight's turn in I am done. I don't think I will step up and volunteer for this next year, since it was the scout leaders who gave me all the trouble.

This is a reward?

We finally finished the year end business at my work; things like reviewing budget, overages, shortages, and figuring out what the future year will hold. My manager, the district manager, and the regional manager all got together on this. I could hear them in their meeting and kept hearing phrases like "she'd be great for that" and "definitely detailed oriented enough for it". Without hearing my name, I knew they were talking about me - but exactly what about, I did not know.
After the meeting, my boss came out and said, "Great news Dawn, you get to teach training seminars this summer on Fridays, you know, the Fridays we are normally closed."

Reread that sentence - what word sticks out for you? Could it be the "closed" part, the day I don't normally work? Yes, for whatever reason, my boss actually thought I would be excited to work on my day off (which also means an extra day of daycare for J). Other than my hourly pay, there is no extra incentive for this project. I understand that I should feel honored to be nominated to train other folks in my region, but still, I would prefer to spend my summer Fridays at the pool with my son. Call me crazy, but that is just the way I am.

Quote of the day

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

-Woody Allen

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Here in Texas, where we are used to 80 degree weather for the holiday we are looking at icy rain and snow! We don't even get snow in the wintertime, never mind spring. Needless to say, any easter egg hunts we have will be inside. We'll be hip-hopping around just to stay warm!

Spring Cleaning

I had a thrilling weekend of helping J clean his room. Usually this is a task I leave to him, since it his stuff and his room. However, biannually I need to get in there to "assist" in the cleaning since his idea of cleaning is shoving everything under his bed or behind an open backed shelf he has. When I point this out to him, he tends to agree that this is not the best way but does not necessarily clean it up. So yesterday I rolled up my sleeves and plunked myself down into the middle of the endless mess. He got everything out from under his bed and I helped him resort it all. On paper this does not seem like the Herculean task that it truly was especially since one of the members of the cleaning task force had to be reminded repeatedly that this was a cleaning effort and not a rediscovering effort. Two hours, two bags of trash and one box donations later and we sawthe floor again in his room. J rediscovered several toys he thought were lost for good, and we found a check from his grandparents that has been around since last Halloween.